Both Sebastian and Santana were standing in the kitchen looking worried after being caught by her mother. Sebastian looked awkwardly at the ground and rubbed the back of his head nervously. Mrs Lopez still sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen with both of her hands on the cup of coffee that was still warm.
"So," Mr Lopez finally spoke, "Are you gonna tell me what's going on here?"
"Last night," Santana said, "I asked Sebastian to come and keep me company whilst you and dad were in work but we both decided that he would leave before you came."
"But we accidently fell asleep," he continued, "And when she woke up in a panic we both realised that it was morning and we panicked more."
"We didn't mean to," Santana continued, "We honestly didn't because I told him if my dad found out then he would be six feet under."
"That's true," he agreed, "She did tell me that and we were gonna leave but we just fell asleep and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect you because I've always been brought up to respect my elders."
"Good answer," Mrs Lopez replied, "But that still doesn't mean that I'm okay with this."
"And I understand that," Sebastian told her, "I'm sorry that I did this, that we did this because I had no intention in disrespecting you, I didn't want this to be the way that I met you and Mr Lopez. I didn't want to disrespect you. Please, please, don't kill me, but most of all, please don't stop me from seeing your daughter."
"Take a seat, Sebastian," Mrs Lopez told him as she gestured down to the stool in front of her at the breakfast bar. He walked towards the stool and Santana started to walk towards the stool also, Mrs Lopez held her hand up in front of her. "Ah, ah, ahhhh," Mrs Lopez told her and Santana stopped to look at her, "I just want to have a word with Sebastian, you can leave the room."
"But-" Santana said but Mrs Lopez interrupted her by looking at her and shaking her head. Santana looked at him and sighed, he looked over his shoulder nervously and smiled small at her. She turned around and walked out of the room, she stepped into the hallway and pressed her back against the wall wanting to listen in on the conversation.
"Santana," Mrs Lopez called, "I don't want you listening in either, go upstairs and make sure that your dad doesn't come down whilst we're having this conversation." Santana stomped her foot on the ground and walked up the stairs quickly, she pressed her back against the wall of the upstairs hallway trying to listen in on the conversation but also look out for her dad. Mrs Lopez looked towards the door and then looked back at Sebastian, she placed the cup of coffee down on the breakfast bar and clasped her hands together. "So, Sebastian," she continued, "I want to have a conversation with you, just with you."
"Okay," he nodded and swallowed nervously.
"What you just said then," she continued, "About Santana, you asked not to put you six feet under but then you said don't stop you from seeing my daughter, does my daughter really mean that much to you?"
"She does," he said quickly, "She really does. I know that I haven't known her long but when I'm with her, I'm the happiest that I've ever been." He smiled when he spoke about her.
"You do know that what you both did was wrong," she told him.
"I know," he nodded. "I totally understand that."
"I'm very angry with the both of you," she told him, "Not because you stayed over but because you didn't ask for my permission first."
"I totally understand that," he told her quickly, "And like we said, we didn't mean to. I was gonna go just before midnight but I just didn't want her to be on her own."
"She's on her own most nights," she told her as she leant back onto the chair folding her arms across her chest, "Unless you do this all of the time without us knowing because then you would be disrespecting us."
"No, ma'am," he said quickly, "This is the first time that I've actually been here without you in the house. You see," he paused as he leaned his forearms on the breakfast counter, "Santana tells me that she's on her own most nights because you and your husband work the late shifts sometimes so that you can pay the bills and put food in her mouth, so I don't want her to be alone and I worry about her."
"You worry about her?" She asked innocently.
"Yes, ma'am," he said politely, "I call her up every night to make sure that she's okay. I also call her up so that I can talk to her about how her day has been and other stuff, but mostly I call her up so that she feels that she has somebody to talk to and that she doesn't feel alone because she has a voice to hear."
"I see," she nodded.
"I'm sorry if you felt disrespected," he continued, "But that wasn't my intention. I just wanted to make sure that Santana was safe because I know that, no offence, that this neighbourhood aint the safest and I don't want my girlfriend to feel as if she's alone or she doesn't feel safe in any way."
"But she was okay before," she told him, "Why's it so different now?"
"Because I didn't know her then," he replied, "If I did then I wouldn't ever have let her be on her own because she tells me that even though she acts tough, she hates being on her own, but that's not the reason why I do it. I do it because I feel protective over her, being her boyfriend I just want her to be safe, and I know that it most probably sounds weird that I'm calling myself her boyfriend and calling her my girlfriend, but that's who we are and I really am sorry for disrespecting you, I really am."
"So," she said softly, "You care about her?"
"Of course I do," he replied, "I've never cared about somebody as much as I care about her and I know that I've only known her for a couple of weeks, but those couple of weeks have been the best weeks of my life." She smiled at him and tilted her head to the side softly, "And I know you're most probably thinking that I'm just a dumb teenager and I don't know what I'm talking about but I've never felt something so real in my life."
"Tell me, Sebastian," she said leaning forward, "How old are you?"
"I'm seventeen," he replied.
"Are you the same age as my daughter?" She asked him again.
"No, ma'am," he replied once more, "I'm a junior but that doesn't matter, does it?"
"Of course not," she told him, "Age is just a number and it doesn't really matter about your age and I wasn't gonna refer your age to the relationship," she paused, "I was merely gonna say that for such a young guy you sure speak older than what you are."
"Thank you," he smiled.
"I'm gonna let you in on something," she continued, "I'm not gonna tell Mr Lopez about you being here over night."
"You're not?" He asked in shock, "But doesn't he already know about me being here because of the car?"
"No," she told him, "When he's coming home from work he's too tired to function properly because he works his ass off so he didn't notice it, me, I noticed it straight away because that's what mom's do, they notice things." He nodded at her and looked down at his hands. "What you just said about my daughter," she whispered, he looked up at her again, "Was the most amazing thing that I've ever heard."
"It's the truth," he told her honestly.
"I know that," she answered, "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Santana doesn't usually bring guys home, I've never actually met any of her boyfriends before and I'm pretty glad about that."
"Why's that?" He asked curiously.
"Because I know my daughter," she admitted, "You're not her usual type. You see, my daughter usually goes for bad boys and I can tell that you're not one of them."
"No, ma'am," he answered her, "I'm one of the good guys."
"I can see that," she said to him, "Look, Sebastian, you have to promise me one thing."
"Absolutely," he told her.
"You have to promise me that you'll take care of her," she told him, "Because she makes out that she's a tough cookie but she's not, she's vulnerable and I don't want her to get hurt."
"Of course," he told her quickly, "Of course I promise that I'll take care of her. I'm aware that she's vulnerable because she's a human being even though some people don't think that, I do, I know the real Santana and I promise you that I would never hurt her and I will always look out for her."
"I knew you were one of the good ones," she smiled, "But I don't think that telling Mr Lopez would get you in the good books if he found out that you'd stayed the night, in the same bed with his little girl, do you?"
"No," he said shaking his head quickly, "I don't think that it's a good idea. I want him to have a good impression of me and this wouldn't be a first good impression even though my intentions for your daughter are good."
"I know that," she said to him, she heard footsteps coming from upstairs, she looked up and then looked back at him, "You should go, it sounds like Mr Lopez has awoken from his grave."
"Right," he nodded quickly, he stood up from the stool and turned around heading towards the door, he turned back around and looked at her, "Thank you, Mrs Lopez," he said to her, "And again, I'm sorry if I disrespected you, I didn't mean to."
"I know," she nodded, "But you better go, I may understand the whole young romance but Mr Lopez on the other hand won't see past the fact that you stayed in the same bed as his daughter, so go." He nodded again and darted for the door, he looked up the stairs and noticed Santana standing on the middle step, she smiled at him.
"I have to go," he mouthed, "But I'll call you when I get in."
"Visit me at work?" She mouthed back to him. He smiled and nodded. She smiled back and waved at him.
"I would kiss you," he mouthed at her, "But I don't want your dad to kill me."
"I know," she mouthed back, "You should go." She blew a kiss towards him and he smiled at her. He turned around reaching for the front door handle, he opened the door and left quickly without making any noise. He looked up to her parent's bedroom window to make sure that he wasn't looking out but there was no sign of him, he darted towards his car quickly, clicking the alarm of his car opening the door, he climbed into the car quickly, starting the engine and darting off down the road.
Santana walked down the stairs and headed into the kitchen where her mother still sat at the breakfast bar, she walked over to her slowly and smiled small at her.
"Thank you for being kind," she said to her, "He really is one of the good guys."
"I can see that," Mrs Lopez replied, "But if you ever bring him back here again without our permission, I'm gonna have to tell your dad about it and I don't want to have to do that because I like him."
"I'm sorry," she said apologetically, "I'm really sorry, we really didn't mean for it to happen."
"I know," Mrs Lopez told her, "But don't let it happen again, okay?"
"I won't," she told her, "I promise." There was a long pause as Mrs Lopez picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip of it.
"So," she finally spoke, "Did you hear what he said about you?"
"I did," Santana nodded, "I know that I wasn't supposed to be but I couldn't help it."
"I'm glad that you did though," she told her, "That boy's a keeper."
"I sure hope so," Santana told her honestly, "I really like him, momma."
"I know you do," she told her, "And I know that he really likes you because no boy goes out of his way to make sure that you're safe if he doesn't care about you, and I can you something else, no boy is protective over a girl if he doesn't care about her. He's really protective over you, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Santana nodded, "I've been honest with him, something that I've never been with any other guy. I trust him."
"And so do I," she told her, "And don't worry, I'm not gonna tell your dad about it, but if it happens again."
"It won't," Santana said quickly, "I promise."
"Good," she said as she stood up, "Do you want some breakfast?"
"I would love some," Santana said to her, "Thanks." She sat down at the breakfast bar and smiled. She was thinking about what Sebastian had said to her mom, how romantic he was, how truthful he was, how he cared about her. She'd never had somebody who cared about her as much as he cared about her. He knew about her vulnerabilities and he didn't care. He knew who she really was, well, without the past with Trey and her criminal record, but he knew everything else and she felt comfortable with him, she'd never felt so comfortable with anybody before and she was happy with him, and she didn't want to lose him any time soon.