I wrote a lot more this week than I had planned, but it felt too long for just one chapter, so I divided it into two. I will put both of them up this weekend, since they're pretty much done.

There were a lot of reviews this week so I'm going to try to answer and comment on what I can remember... Uhhh, Quinn does not have a terminal illness, but that's actually a really good guess, and not a half-bad idea, lol... Willow will have a more prominent role in the sense that she will bring about some important changes in her mother's life, but she will not appear as frequently in the story as the rest of her siblings... And, it's super interesting to see how people have reacted to the Jaeger-Santana relationship; some people love it, some people hate it. Which is sort of how I feel about it myself; I wanted to write about a young mom who loved her child with no boundaries, but that's not always a good thing.

Thank you so much for all your comments, reviews, questions, etc. You guys are incredibly sweet, and I can't believe people are actually reading this story.

When she comes back later they're gone, both of them. There is only a little black book left on her bed, and she picks it up mindlessly, before Sam can sit on it. He glances at it suspiciously but doesn't ask what it is, and Santana wonders if he remembers that she had many of them, years ago, when he first fell in love with her.

She wouldn't show him anyway, even if he asked, because she feels like she's protecting a seven-year old's secret, and what's more precious than that? She doesn't know how she knows that it's a secret, only that hers always were, and that when you're a kid like Elliott, everything always seems like a secret.

She steps out into the hallway, shutting the door quietly behind her. Book in hand, she sits outside, on the soft, carpeted floor. Everyone must still be downstairs at the pool, and she hopes that no one will come disturb her, or, even worse, realize she's about to look through a little boy's journal.

She would never do it if it was Jaeger's. But Jaeger's never even had a journal, because for her son everything is public and must be communicated immediately after it happens. He doesn't need one, the notion of privacy and secrets is unknown to him because he's never found either to be necessary, and honestly, Santana knows him so well that she wouldn't even need to read his journal if he did keep one. But she guesses that things aren't like this at Elliott's house, that whatever his situation is, it can't be so easy.

Elliott's pages have no words, which doesn't come as a surprise; she remembers Jaeger mentioning that he wasn't very good with them. Instead, they're all doodles and traces, marks and spots and prints; textures and colors that he must keep very hidden, because they seem nothing like the boy she talked to today. She thought she'd find plenty of drawings of beetles or insects, that was what sparked her curiosity, and she does find a few drawings of animals, but larger and more complex; bears and wolves and even mammoths.

In reality, Elliott's sketchbook is a scattering of everything, finished and unfinished. Some of the drawings make her smile, bored still lifes of shoes and furniture, the kind made by someone who obviously longs for but lacks a live model. Others, like the one of Quinn rubbing her forehead tiredly, are shockingly accurate for something that must have been constructed solely from memory; Santana would never in a million years imagine Quinn posing in such manner, and yet he's captured something so essential to his mother's character that Santana feels he must see her much more clearly than he lets on, certainly more clearly than Finn. How many ways there are, of knowing someone, even when they don't want you to?

She hears the elevator doors open, footsteps running down the hall, and shuts the book quickly, fearing she's been caught. And she has, only it's by the only person she would have had catch her, but even so, she feels guilty her son's caught her snooping. He's looking at her in disapproval, and she hangs her head.

"I shouldn't have, should I?"

"You know you shouldn't."

"I couldn't help it. I was curious. He draws animals so well."

Jaeger sits down next to her. "Yeah. Those were my favorite, too. I felt like I knew them from somewhere."

Santana smiles. "Maybe you do."

Jaeger extends out his hand and Santana reluctantly hands him the sketchbook. "Tell him I want him to draw something for me sometime."

Jaeger nods."You want me to tell him you looked through it too?"

"If you want."

"Maybe I will. It doesn't feel right, not telling him."

Santana nods and kisses the top of his head. "You're gonna go now?"

"No. I'll give it to him tomorrow. I wanna look through it some more."

"Does that boy have a tattoo?"

They're at a fancy restaurant, all of them, having dinner to celebrate the team's win. They make a pretty long table, so Santana's family is nowhere within earshot, but close enough to be able to see Jaeger's drawn-on arm from a distance.

The idea is so ridiculous that no one looks up from their food to explain this to Quinn, which only causes her to become louder; something that happens whenever she's ignored. "Finn, did you hear me? I think that kid has a tattoo."

Elliott feels instantly irritated, as he's beginning to feel quite often with his mother. Even Finn sighs.

"Quinn, I know you don't like Santana, but no one in their right mind would allow their seven year old to get a tattoo."

"They let that kid do whatever he wants, I wouldn't be surprised-"

Even Willow butts in this time. "He didn't have it during the game, I don't think he just went to a tattoo parlor right quick, and no one would risk tattooing a kid that young anyway."

But Quinn keeps squinting at Jaeger's arm, like she didn't hear anything. Willow sighs in exasperation. "Why don't you just go and ask them, if you're so curious?"

Elliott is so afraid she will actually do it that he speaks up. "It's not a tattoo, mom. It's a drawing." He thinks, for a minute, of Santana's tattoo, and decides, then and there, that he will never bring that subject up with anyone, not even Willow.

Quinn shakes her head. "You don't know that. It looks like a tattoo to me."

"I do know. I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't."

Quinn raises her eyebrows at his tone of voice. "And just how are you so sure?"

"Because I drew it on him."

It sounds like a confession, but for Elliott, it's not just one. The secret he had been holding on to so dearly is out, not in what he would have thought would be a big production, but instead, in the most mundane of ways. Willow is watching him with concern; she knows how badly Elliott had wanted to hold on to his one talent without having to share it, but he's just blurted it out, for no real reason. This, however, has flown right over his mother's head, but his father is looking at the picture on Jaeger's forearm with a lot more attention. "You drew that?"

"Yeah."

Finn makes eye contact with Jaeger and waves him over. "Jaeger, bud, can you come here a minute?"

The flush on Elliott's cheeks doesn't go unnoticed by Quinn, and Jaeger's intuition is just as keen, like he knows what they were talking about, because he extends his forearm out to Finn, who examines it closely. "That's really nice."

Jaeger nods as he catches Elliott's eye. "Elliott's a good drawer."

Quinn drums her manicured fingernails against the table top, for once not at all concerned about ruining them. "OK, I think Jaeger can go back to his seat now."

Jaeger looks straight at her, in that frank way he sometimes does, and she feels uncomfortable because even though his eyes are his father's, something in that look reminds her uncannily of his mother. He shrugs and goes back to his seat without a word, and Willow glares at her mother silently from her chair. Finn pats Elliott on the head. "Who taught you how to draw like that?"

But Elliott's quiet.

"He taught himself," Willow answers automatically.

Finn looks impressed. "How come you never-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Finn shrugs, accustomed to his son's odd temper. "OK."

But Quinn is turning sharply toward her son.

"When did you draw that on him?"

"When you guys were in the pool."

"Where?"

"What do you mean where? It's on his arm."

"No, I mean where were you when you did it?"

"In his room."

"You went to his hotel room without asking for permission?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to."

Willow cuts in. "Why are you acting like he did something wrong? He didn't do anything."

"Of course you don't think so, that's why you're not his mother. Elliott, you don't know those people, something could have happened to you-"

"I... I didn't think-"

"Of course you didn't. And what is this with drawing on people's skin? You know that's what they do in jail?"

Willow raises her voice."Don't be ridiculous, how do you even know-"

But in a flash, Jaeger is back by Elliott's side. "They do do that in jail."

All of the Hudsons turn to look at him and he shrugs. "That doesn't mean it's wrong. It's just something they do to pass the time."

Quinn looks so mortified at the turn this conversation has taken that Elliott wishes he could somehow telegraph a signal to Jaeger, telling him to shut up. Only Jaeger never does. "I mean, it's something people have always done, cultures from way back. Even some mummies had tattoos." Finally, he takes a breath and pauses. "And we weren't going to hurt Elliott, by the way. My mom likes him and she thinks his drawings are cool."

"She's only ever seen one."

Jaeger shakes his head. "You left your sketchbook in the room."

Elliott should feel upset by this, that someone got a look at his sketchbook without permission, but he finds that he doesn't mind Santana seeing them, and knows he wouldn't feel the same way if it had been his parents.

Quinn looks back and forth between the two boys, then back at her son. "Your sketchbook?"

Jaeger cuts in. "Yes, his black sketchbook, the one where he keeps all his-"

"Shut up, Jaeger." He says it almost without meaning to and very low, but for Jaeger, who isn't used to being told to be quiet, it's wounding to the core. He blinks and fixes his eyes on Elliott, then heads back to his seat, the three words more effective than Quinn's earlier dismissal.

Quinn shows every intention of continuing with the interrogation of her son, but Finn lays a hand on her thigh, a clear message, and she stops. Elliott feels confused in a way he's never felt before, and wonders why, in all of this cross-examination, no one thought to ask him the questions he could answer most easily, without hesitation.

What did his skin feel like?

What kind of beetle was it?

Was it your best drawing ever?

Or, the one that's been in his head all day, the one that he doesn't have an answer to.

Why you? Why did he ask you?

Quinn and Finn are lounging by the pool the next morning when Jaeger approaches, carrying a thick, black notebook in his arms. Finn smiles at him, but Quinn brings a hand to her forehead. In spite of it all, it is her Jaeger has a seat next to.

"You guys didn't know Elliott drew, did you?"

Finn glances at his wife, then shakes his head. "Elliott doesn't talk a whole lot."

"Yeah, I noticed. If I was as good as he is, I'd be telling everyone."

"Yeah, we don't doubt that," Quinn mutters.

"But you would think he would at least tell you guys."

This annoys Quinn to the core. "Do you tell your mom everything?"

Jaeger's answer is plain with sincerity. "Yeah. And even when I don't tell her, she knows. She knows everything about me."

This stuns the Hudsons into silence, and finally, looking to break it, Finn gestures to the sketchbook Jaeger's carrying.

"What's that?"

"Elliott's sketchbook."

Quinn immediately reaches for it, but Jaeger doesn't budge, and Finn lays a hand on her arm.

"Quinn, I don't think he would want us to. Not without asking first."

The way Jaeger's hugging the sketchbook makes it look like he would have put up a fight for it anyway.

"Even Santana's seen it, Finn, and I can't look at something my own child did? He didn't seem to mind her looking at it."

She could care less what's in the sketchbook, really, it's only the feeling of being kept out that upsets her.

"I think he didn't mind because my mom is a stranger."

Finn turns to Jaeger. "Have you seen them?"

"Yeah."

"Did you ask him if you could?"

"No. He showed them to me."

"Oh."

"He's really good."

"I knew he'd find his thing. Sooner or later."

Jaeger nods and gets up. "I'm gonna go look for him. He'll want it back."

Once he's gone, Quinn turns to her husband. "I don't want that kid hanging out with Elliott, he's a bad influence on him."

"A bad influence how?"

"Elliott's keeping secrets from us."

"Somehow I think he's kept this one for longer than he's known Jaeger."

"And that thing he drew on him-"

"It was a beetle."

"That's not like him at all."

"That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, Quinn. You heard Jaeger."

"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to."

"I thought you wanted Elliott to make friends."

"Not those kinds of friends."

"You're acting like he's a juvenile delinquent. He's the son of one of my best friends. He's from a good family. I don't understand what the problem-"

"Sam does whatever she wants and you know it."

"Oh, so that's what this is about."

"This isn't about anything. I just want what's best for our son."

Santana is not a big believer in God. It's hard to be, when you've only ever had eyes for what's factual and real, and a son who's such a handful that he's the sun, the only at whose altar you've ever worshiped.

It is one of the things that attracted her to Sam, that even though he grew up in a religious family, and probably did believe in some form of deity, he never made the time to go to church. He wouldn't insist on a wedding, he was fine with shacking up, and he'd much rather spend Sunday mornings sleeping in than at church. He is, whoever, a social church goer, and adamant about going whenever his mother visits or when the occasion calls for it.

Apparently the occasion calls for it on Sunday, because the whole team is going to mass. Santana, not wanting to fight, agrees to go. They are, of course, late, after Sam makes her and Jaeger change twice because their clothes are not to his satisfaction.

Finn's family is sitting in one of the front pews, half of which they have saved for them, as evidenced by the way he keeps glancing back to see if they're coming. Santana, who walks in first, sees him but pretends not to, and has a seat in one of the back pews, next to Tina and her husband. Sam has no choice but to follow, and though he shoots Santana a supremely annoyed look once they've sat down.

Santana tries to pay attention to what's being said in the sermon, but for all her brains and schooling, none of this has ever made any sense to her. Sam seems to be taking it in stride, however, and Santana wonders if the peaceful look on his face is feigned or real. Nearing the end of service, she finds herself playing with Tina's daughter Tammy, who is adorable in ways Jaeger simply isn't.

By the end of it, both families walk out together, and are met at the entrance of the church

by a couple of the others. Finn sees Santana carrying Tammy and winks at her.

"Wishing you'd had one of your own?"

She frowns, confused. "One what?"

"A little girl."

Santana laughs. "Oh, no way. I wouldn't know what to do with a girl."

"That's what I thought, before we had Willow."

"And?"

He laughs. "And I still don't know. But she stole my heart. Much like this little other one," he says, picking up his Daisy from the floor.

"What are y'all talking about?" asks Sam as he joins them.

"About how you need to start putting in extra hours, 'cause Santana wants a girl."

Sam frowns and turns to Santana. "You do?"

Their eyes meet and Santana knows they are in as much agreement as they seldom are about anything. They don't want another child. They can't have another child.

Finn laughs. "Don't tell me you don't want a little girl, Sam?"

"I can't say I don't, only... I think we have our hands full with Jaeger."

Would he have wanted a little girl?, Santana wonders. In other circumstances, in another life, with a different woman?

Finn shakes his head and kisses Daisy. "You guys should really give it some thought. They really are the sweetest things."

They all go silent at that, long enough to overhear what the group of women next to them is saying, commanded, of course, by Quinn.

"Yeah, we can meet there at ten."

Finn glances at his wife. "Meet for where?"

"That club that just opened downtown."

Santana butts in. "I thought you had injured your foot."

Quinn shoots her an icy glare. "It's doing much better, thanks for your concern."

Finn grins. "My wife. Never one to miss an opportunity to go dancing."

Everyone laughs at that, even Quinn.

"So, who's going?"

"Everyone."

Finn glances pointedly at Sam and Santana, who seem to know nothing about this. Quinn glances at them, an afterthought.

"Oh, yeah. You guys can come, too."

Tina sighs as they look through the endless racks of clothes at the boutique. "All my nice clothes are from before I had Tammy and none of them fit anymore. I haven't bought new ones because I don't want to stay like this."

Santana glances at her. "Your body's perfect, Tina."

"No. You should have seen me before. I was tiny. I feel like this isn't even me." She glances at Santana enviously. "I would've thought you had all sorts of nice clothes to go out."

"Nope. You're the first person I ever tell this to, but this is actually my first time going to a club."

Tina gasps. "But you're so pretty. And you were a model."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, aren't models supposed to go out to parties all the time and stuff?"

"Only if you want to."

"But why wouldn't you want to? If I had your body, I'd be showing it off."

Santana shrugs. "It was never my thing. I didn't model because I liked it, I did it to put myself through college." She plops down on a nearby armchair. "There aren't many things I find difficult, but shopping for clothes is definitely one of them."

Tina snorts. "Please. You could wear a paper sack and you'd look good." She pulls an orange dress from the rack. "What do you think?"

"I think neither of us is qualified to be shopping for ourselves." She waves over one of the store attendants, and, without getting up, gestures to Tina. "Miss Cohen-Chang and I are going out dancing to a very trendy club today and we have no idea what to wear. Would you be so kind as to help us?"