It's been three months since Santana became the successor of Sedgwick LLP and Brittany announced her pregnancy and things have been stressful.
Brittany's hormones have been at it. One second she's the happiest and loveliest woman of all time the next she's watching Bambi and crying hysterically over his mothers' death. Thankfully, Mike can manage the dance studio while Brittany, well, is pregnant and preoccupied with the lovely gifts that comes with being pregnant.
Brittany has been experiencing a horrible case of morning, although it's not only in the morning, sickness that's become worst and worst. Anything Santana cooks or brings home smells horrible to Brittany and she throws up right away.
The girls have become more lively, especially Ava she's been talking and nonstop going here and there around the house breaking and running into things. The puppies have gotten bigger and much more active. Santana and Brittany haven't gotten around bringing the dogs to obedience school and training. The girls and the puppies make an infamous group of making a mess in the house and Santana comes home to a weeping Brittany, messy house, and overly excited bunch of kids she calls her children.
Being a successor was not easy. She has to work sixteen hour days to know how things function, daily routines, procedures for these types of cases, who's best at taking which type of case, and etc. It's been hectic and will continue becoming hectic. Santana and Brittany need help.
Santana was at work, Valerie is at school and Brittany and Ava were asleep in the bed.
Brittany's phone started ringing which woke her and caused Ava to stir in her sleep.
"Hmmm? Hello?" The sleepy blonde answered her phone.
"I'm sorry for waking you up, Britt." It was Mike calling her.
"No, no. It's okay." It was nice hearing from her best friend.
"I have a little situation in the dance studio." He confessed defeatedly. "There's this girl who won't leave."
"Well, Katie already went to the studio a day after I told her to come, sooo…?"
"It isn't her, but she's looking for you. She's been in front of the studio for three days now. Every day she asks if you're coming."
"Well, is she a student of ours?"
"No, she isn't. But it looks like she sleeps in the street…" he said sadly.
"Oh, really?" Brittany pouted. "I'm coming down there. Give me twenty-two minutes."
Mike apologized.
"Don't worry about, Mike. I need to see her. She's been waiting for me."
"See you soon, Britt." Then he hung the phone up.
Brittany sat up in bed and dialed another number.
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
"Hi, baby." Santana can be heard smiling on the other end of the line.
"Hey, San? I am going to the dance studio, ok?" Brittany got out of bed and put her stretchy denim pants on and a large shirt the hugged her round stomach.
"Oh. Why? Did something happen? File these papers for me, please? Mr. Sedgwick will be here in five minutes. Get his coffee too. He'll come and go right away." Clearly, Santana is super busy at the moment.
"Yeah, so I will leave you Mrs. Important" smiling at her busy wife on the phone. "I'll pick Val up on the way home and I shall see you later!"
"Mk, thank you, Brittany. I love you."
"Love you too!"
"Drive safely!" and she hung up.
Brittany went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. After she was done she picked up the sleeping Ava from her bed and headed downstairs.
"Do you guys want to come to?" She asked Belle and ABC and the dogs barked happily.
"Just behave yourselves and don't pee on my studio!"
They went to the garage and got in the car. Ava still slept in her pink and purple onsies.
Twenty minutes later Brittany pulled up to The Dancing Bar. As she got out of the car, Mike went outside in stride to her.
"She's fainted! I took her inside! I am sorry Britt." The worry in his voice caused him to sweat.
"Mike it's fine! You did the right thing!" She took Ava with her and walked towards the studio.
"Mike, can you get the dogs please? And bring them inside?" She yelled back as she went inside.
The lounge area was occupied by one really, really, pale girl. Brittany laid Ava down in a couch, still sleeping and jogged to the kitchen getting water.
"What the hell is wrong with her?" Brittany grabbed a water bottle and some uncrusttables.
Thank god it was only eight in the morning or this would have caused a commotion.
Mike and the dogs went inside the studio not long after Brittany came back.
"Mike, I want you to call the teachers and inform them that the studio will be closed for today, please? ASAP!"
He rushed to Brittany's office and does what she told him to do.
Brittany bent down in the side of the girl and looked at her carefully.
"I don't know you." She bit her lip in concern and confusion. "You don't even look like your sixteen yet."
"I'm actually seventeen." She girl grumbled out. Her voice was raspy and dry.
Brittany immediately grabbed the girls back and lifted her up pouring little amounts of water into the girls' dry throat.
"Are you, okay?" Brittany was going to cry, her hormones are getting to her at the moment.
"I'm just really dizzy and tired. I've been waiting for you for a week now."
Brittany's surprised that the girl answered back and how long she waited. Mike said she's only been outside for three days but not a week!
"A week? What the hell are you doing here?"
The girl smiled weakly and whispered, "To learn and live a dream." And the girl fainted into darkness once more.
"SHIT!" Brittany panicked. "MIKE!"
Santana's phone started vibrating in her pocket.
*BZZT* *BZZT* *BZZT*
She checked her phone and it said Dance Bar.
She looked at it. Brittany never called using the Dance Studio.
Santana answered fairly confused, "Umm,.. Britt?"
"No it isn't." Pause. "It's Mike."
"Is everything alright?" Now, she's just worried. "You need to tell me now or shit's about to go down, Chang!"
"Brittany went to the hospital because there was an emergency and she-"
"The fuck? Why didn't you tell me that?" She sounded angry while whispering so people won't hear her going crazy.
"NO! SANTANA! YOU GOT IT-"
She hung up and dialed Joseph Sedgwick's number.
She got out of the main office and slipped into the closing elevator.
"Sir, it's an emergency!" She huffed and panicked in an elevator that seems to get smaller. The people in the elevator just looked away from her direction and looked at different corners. "Brittany is in the emergency room!" She bit her bottom lip. "Yes, thank you so much and I am sorry for the delay. Thank you."
The elevator did not stop and just went straight to the underground parking lot.
Santana didn't like this. The last time she went to the hospital was when she got into the car accident and…
"No, she's fine."
The elevator door barely cracked open but Santana ran to her Benz in a heartbeat and drove off speeding towards the hospital.
"She won't answer her phone, Britt!" Mike sounded upset over the phone.
"Hmm, Santana's on her way here already." She let out a heavy sigh. "She probably thinks something happened to me or the baby." More sighing. "I shouldn't have forgotten my cell at the studio though. Ugh!" Brittany grumbled at the hospitals pay phone.
"Hey, it's okay. I'll bring your cell home once I pick Valerie up." He seemed to lighten up.
"Mike, thank you. I seriously owe you so much. How's Ava?"
"She's doing fine. The dogs are keeping her company. And Britt," she can tell he was smiling on the other end of the line, "you're my best friend. You owe me nothing. What are brothers for?"
Brittany smiled in acknowledgement until a frantic Latina entering the automatic sliding doors caused her to clench up.
"She's here. Gotta go." She hung up the black, enlarged phone on the wall.
Brittany met the worried chocolate eyes in an embrace, almost in tears.
"ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT'S WRONG?" Santana's hand frantically searched Brittany's bump, to her heart and finally resting her hands on pale cheeks.
Brittany grabbed the tan hands on her cheeks and kissed them one by one.
"Santana, calm down. I am fine." She gave her most reassuring smile.
"Brittany, please don't joke around. What the hell are you doing here?" The tan woman isn't convinced at all.
"Okay, before you can talk anymore and not listen to me, let me tell you from the beginning. No interrupting or I will be super pissed." Brittany dragged her to the chairs and sat her down.
For minutes, Brittany explained the situation to Santana and what's been going on, why she's here, who this nameless, random girl is, and how this happened.
At first, Santana's facial expression of worry melted into understanding, but by the end of Brittany's tale her eyebrows were raised and had a disapproving look.
"Who the hell is she and the fuck does she want?" Santana asked more rhetorically than anything.
"San, I don't know but she needs our help and-"
"No. Britt," Santana stood up from the seat, "this random girl did not show up just to make a scene. She clearly WANTS something."
"San, she's seventeen!" Sounding appalled.
"We were seventeen once, and I remember clearly all the shit I did." Santana said this in a way that she seemed proud of all the mean things she's done to people.
Brittany became furious. "You know what, Santana? Some kids actually have hearts and are nice, kind and generous! Not every teenager or seventeen year old is a bitch like you!"
Santana's eyes widened. Brittany never called her a bitch before and meant it. If another person had said that to her, she would have ripped their heart out, but this was Brittany; she will never hurt her in forever.
"Excuse me, but would you take your heated conversation outside please?" A nurse asked.
"Sorry. We're done talking." Brittany apologized and gave half a smile. Santana just nodded.
"Ah, Brittany." The doctor came out to greet her. "The girls' fine now and stable. I just need to monitor her for a few hours. She has suffered dehydration, hunger and fatigue." He smiled reassuringly. "She can go home with you in a few hours."
"Thank you so much!" Brittany never sounded more relieved in her life.
"Is she a relative of yours?"
Santana looked at Brittany, eyeing her for answer.
Brittany remained oblivious of Santana's glare, "Yeah, she is. Well, my side of the family use to go hiking and one of us would go missing. It used to happen to me all the time and I would show up a week later. She got lost but found her way." She explained in confidence, smiling.
The doctor seemed dumbstruck and just took the blonde's explanation "Well, that is rather odd and interesting. No more camping for you or your relatives!" He nodded and walked away.
"Britt, why did you lie?" Santana whispered frantically.
"I am not talking to you." Brittany sighed and started walking away towards the girls' room.
"Britt-"
The nurse interrupted Santana's sentence, "Excuse me ma'am, but here's your hospital bill."
Santana sighed, watching her angered wife disappear through double doors. Her eye contact never broke from Brittany, she hopes she'll turn around and smile knowing that's the sign of forgiveness.
But no.
The blonde never turned around but just disappeared in the hallway. She will not forgive Santana that easily.
Santana turned to the nurse in disappointment and said "I got it."
The three went home. The stranger rode home with Brittany and Santana drove by herself, following the Range Rover home. She was still being ignored.
The clock struck 12:00 midnight and the house was quiet.
Mike had put the girls to sleep hours earlier and babysat the puppies and Valerie and Ava. He even cleaned up the place since he had nothing better to do but wait in anticipation.
Mike carried the tired, sleeping seventeen years old in a spare bedroom on the second floor of the house next to Santana's office.
He kissed Brittany on the forehead and smiled at Santana as he passed her, leaving them.
Santana felt awkward in her own home. A stranger is sleeping in their house and Brittany isn't talking to her.
Brittany still ignored Santana's existence and went upstairs to the masters' bedroom. She locked the door so she doesn't have to see Santana and went to the bathroom to shower.
"You're okay. Just breathe." She inhaled and exhaled three times. Then she patted her belly.
She let the warm water cool her body off of all the anxiety, worry and anger from today.
"After I am done putting clothes on and brushing my teeth, I have to dress her comfortably."
She brushed her teeth and put a very loose night dress on and headed downstairs.
As she cracked the door open, she saw the Latina wiping the unconscious girl with a towel damped with warm water.
"I hope you get better or Brittany will be more upset." Santana sighed in sadness.
Brittany just hid behind the door watching and listening to her wife.
"Please get better." Then she put down the towel and changed the girls' clothes from hospital gown to loose pajamas.
Santana tucked the girl in the blanket and turned on a little night light for her.
Brittany saw Santana coming so she quietly hid on top of the stairs in darkness just to spy on her wife.
Santana went into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle. She drank as if she walked through a desert, nearly finishing the bottle. She checked all the doors and windows. Santana then went to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Brittany took this chance to check on the girl.
Santana left the girl a note on the bedside table saying, "When you wake up, go upstairs and to the master bedroom. Just knock, I'll be waiting." She even noticed that Santana left the girl a glass of water and a banana just in case she gets hungry.
Brittany smiled and felt guilty calling her wife a bitch. She heard the bathroom door open so she hid in the side of the bed. Brittany felt silly, it's like how she and Santana played hide and seek when they were little.
Santana looked into the room one more time and closed the door. For a minute she stared up the stairs hoping Brittany would go down and tell her that it's okay to sleep in the same bed.
Disappointed, she went into her office and laid on the couch. Today was a stressful day and if sleeping in the couch is the best sleep she can have tonight, she'll make that happen. Besides, being this tired, sleep was no problem.
Brittany heard the office door close and got up. It was hard for her to get up considering her stomach was getting bigger and bigger. She looked at the sleeping girl who seems to be getting her color back and kissed her forehead.
Brittany shut the door quietly behind her and tiptoed up the stairs into the bedroom.
She's been laying bed for two hours now and she can hear the grandfather clock in the hallway strike 3:00.
The empty space next to her caused her to stir, toss and turn.
The guilt in her stomach went to her heart. First, she called Santana a bitch. Second, she's been ignoring her. Third, they have not spoken for more than nine hours. Fourth, she isn't sleeping with her in the same bed!
Brittany could not take it anymore so she got up and walked downstairs, only stopping in front of Santana's office.
She had to say sorry and she can't sleep; she needed Santana in bed with her to sleep.
Brittany opened the door slowly and slipped inside, not wanting to stir the sleeping, brunette.
Santana looked uncomfortable in her sleep. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her teeth were chattering horribly. Santana wore a tank top and girl boxers and she barely had a small duvet covering her upper body and keeping her legs exposed to the cold.
Brittany started sobbing; her guilt and hormones overpowered her.
Santana woke up from her shitty sleep because she heard crying and when she opened her eyes.
"Britt!" She jumped out and hugged her sobbing wife.
"Baby, what happened?" Santana's freezing ass melted away and her shitty sleep was shaken off by the sad sight she's looking at.
"I didn't mean to call you a bitch." Heavy crying. "I was just mad." Intense crying. "I am sorry." And she finally dug her head in Santana's neck.
Santana smiled weakly and said, "It's okay, Britt. You are right to be angry at me."
"San, I am sorry." No longer crying but hiccupping her sorrows away.
"Me too, Britt. I am sorry." Then, she gave a kiss on her weeping wifes' forehead.
"Can you sleep with me upstairs and cuddle until we fall asleep?" The blonde half smiled.
Santana smiled from not only getting forgiven but also relief that she'll actually sleep well today. She held out her pinky and said "You read my mind."
In less than five minutes, the blonde and the brunette fell asleep upstairs in their room and in their bed, holding one another in a loving embrace.
Santana took Valerie to school without having Brittany waking at seven in the morning. The blonde certainly looked happier in her sleep than she did earlier this morning crying.
Santana parked in the front of the house instead of opening up the garage because it would certainly wake the sleeping beauty.
She ran to the house because it was drizzling and very cold and slipped inside the house quietly.
Santana smiled at the thought of sleeping with her wife as she walked upstairs, but she noticed a vaguely familiar figure in front of the doorway of her room.
It was the girl.
The girl had the note in her hands and she just stared at the double doors in front of her. She's nervous and she didn't know how to explain herself. Where would she start?
Santana cleared her throat to get the attention of the girl, and instantly, the girl turned her head in Santana's direction, surprised, scared and relieved at the same time.
"Morning, want to have breakfast? I know you haven't eaten." Santana said it without feeling nor anger.
"Umm, I-" The girl couldn't think.
Santana walked towards the girl and held her right hand out. "Santana."
"I'm Kelli…" The girl said quietly and shook the Latina's hand.
"Let's go downstairs. I'll cook bacon and eggs and you can help me by buttering and toasting the bread." Giving a fake smile. She can't scare this girl because 1. She's recovering. 2. Brittany would kick her ass again.
Santana started walking down the stairs but the girl stayed upstairs and said in almost a whisper, "Um, Santana… I am sorry… I can explain-"
"We'll talk later when my wife's awake. Right now, breakfast." She said that firmly but not in a scary way. She kept on going down the stairs and into the kitchen.
The girl trailed behind her and stood awkwardly in the kitchen, looking around and inspecting.
"You have a very lovely house, and I love your kitchen."
"Thanks. Kitchen is my territory really. I go Iron Chef on people's ass here." She started letting go of her nerves. "Here," she tossed a loaf of bread to Kelli which the girl caught without moving, "start toasting."
Brittany smelled food cooking downstairs, and for once she didn't feel the morning sickness. Instead, she smiled and went straight downstairs.
"Good morning, San-" Her eyes lit up. "Oh! How are YOU?" Brittany laid her eyes on the girl. She walked over to the cooking brunette and planted a kiss on her temple.
"I'm… Great." Kelli's nerves grew again. "I feel twenty times better now." She's fiddling with her hands and looking down. "Thank you."
Brittany smiled and walked towards the girl, examining her from her now colored skin, her rested face, and her nerves. "Hey, it's no problem." She hugged the girl and almost knocking her over with her protruding stomach.
"What's your name? I heard you've been waiting for me." Brittany cocked her head to the side.
"My name is Kelli." The girl breathed out. "I have been waiting for you."
They let go of their embrace and Brittany examined her once more.
Kelli is seventeen years old. She is slightly taller than Santana but only like an inch. She's a brunette but she's light skinned. She definitely has a dancers body, Brittany can see that.
"I am guessing, you want to dance." Santana interjected.
Kelli gave a little smile and nodded shyly.
Santana put the things she cooked in four plates and started handing them out. After she gave them the plates she asked, "Kid, where are your parents? I don't want them lashing out on us." She needed to say that, she knows how these things work, she's a lawyer.
"I really hope you don't have a vendetta or any shit like that." The Latina said bluntly.
"San!" Brittany looked at her wife in anger.
"Just keepin' it real." Santana shrugged and took a bite of the toast.
"No, I understand!" The girl squealed out.
"So," Santana gave her bitch smirk "spill the beans."
They all sat down at the table in the next room. Santana sat in the center and the other two flanked her at the sides taking their seats.
Kelli breathed out slowly, closing her eyes, trying to focus. "Well, my name is Kelli Buchelli. I am seventeen years old. I am from Phoenix, Arizona. I am a foster child. I lost my little sister and my parents five years ago because a group of teenagers thought they'd have fun and they set our house on fire. I am the lone survivor of the family and I became a foster child. I came here to learn from my favorite dancer and my hero, Mrs. Brittany Peirce-Lopez." Looking at the blonde across from her.
Santana couldn't help but feel guilt punch a hole in her heart.
Brittany reached across the table and held on the girls' hand. "I am sorry to hear about your family." She smiled a bit.
Kelli squeezed the pale hands and started tearing.
"Hey," Santana said putting her hand on the tearing girl's shoulder, "don't hold it back."
Kelli stood up abruptly and hugged the startled Santana, sobbing and crying. She slumped on the floor and Santana followed, awkwardly trying to comfort the girl.
She thought in her head, "FUCK! I am not cut out for this shit! Say something dumbass!"
"It's okay." That's all she could think of.
Brittany got up and knelt beside the weeping girl and her wife, hugging both of them.
"Hey, Kells…" Brittany already had a nickname for the girl. "It's okay. Santana and I are here for you." She smiled and looked at Santana urging her on to continue the comforting words.
"Yeah,.. You can stay with us as long as you want…" Pause. She started panicking and the voice in her head just started yelling at her. "PINCHE LA CABRONA! YOU ARE SO STUPID FOR SAYING THAT! YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET THIS, PUTA MADRE!" Her eyes went wide.
"San! That is a perfect idea!" Kissing the Latina on the nose. "I need help around here anyways." Brittany loved the idea.
Kelli cried even more at the generosity. She hugged the tan brunette even tighter. She also put an arm around the tall, pregnant blonde.
Brittany's excitement could not be contained because she started vibrating with joy. She let go and started gyrating where she sat, mumbling words of joy and happiness. "Santana, this is why I love you. You have the kindest heart in the world."
Santana rolled her eyes and whispered quietly that no one heard her say, "Yeah, you called me a bitch, sweetheart. Totally screams out Mother Teresa." She then gave a fake smile.
Both Brittany and Kelli seem to be very happy with the arrangement.
As for Santana, well, we'll see.