Brittany can feel the tiredness slowly begin to take over her body as she sits curled up in the armchair in the living room of the Lopez household. It's not long after eight o'clock and although she believes that she shouldn't be tired, Brittany is well and truly ready for bed She's not been feeling too well over the past few days, one of the main reasons being that she's had a cold and the other reason being that she just generally feels tired and sluggish from the pregnancy.

Looking over to the couch opposite her, Brittany finds Santana and Cassidy curled up together and she smiles at the sight. The two of them are still in their dresses that they wore throughout the day when they were visiting the extended Lopez family and the blonde thinks that both of them looked absolutely fantastic. Although she had bought a dress for the occasion, Brittany herself ended up opting to wear a pair of jeans and a loose sweatshirt because when she tried her dress on, she felt that it was too tight and it made her look extremely big. Santana had tried to talk her into wearing it, promising that it didn't make her look big at all, but the blonde just couldn't believe her. She's now wearing a pair of sweatpants and one of her old hoodies with her hair tied up in a messy bun because she really can't be bothered looking good for anyone right now.

The blonde is broken out of her thoughts when Maribel places a mug of hot chocolate down in front of her and then proceeds to drape a blanket over her lap, being sure to tuck her in as she does so. Brittany is extremely grateful that she has Maribel looking after her, she knows that the elderly Latina is doing it because she has the natural motherly instinct that wants to make her look after people, but also because she wants to give Santana a break. Brittany isn't stupid, she knows how much her behaviour and well-being is effecting her girlfriend and she feels bad for it. Just because she isn't sleeping at night or is emotional at crazy times, it doesn't mean that Santana should be too. She kind of wishes that she could turn her pregnancy off for a couple of hours or so.

In a very motherly fashion, Maribel rubs Brittany's shoulder and down her arm lovingly before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "If you need to speak to someone I'm here, Mija." She whispers in Brittany's ear, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Thank you." Brittany replies just as quietly, the sincerity clear in her voice. "I really appreciate it."

Brittany isn't lying when she says that she truly appreciates it because she well and truly does. Apart from her nanny, she's never really had a motherly figure to look after her. Even then, her nanny was paid to do that, so caring for her while growing up was forced. However, when it comes to Maribel you can see it in her eyes that she does it because she wants to, and because she loves the people she's looking after. She wishes that Maribel was her real mother.

From the other side of the room Santana watches the exchange between her girlfriend and mother with a small smile on her face, all while running her fingers absent-mindedly through her daughter's hair. Recently, she's noticed a change in Brittany's behaviour and she's one hundred percent sure that it's all because of the argument that she had with her parents. Even though she wasn't present in the room to hear it, Santana knows that the words that came out of Mr and Mrs Pierce's mouths hurt their daughter and have left her extremely upset. Every time she's tried to bring up the topic of conversation with her girlfriend, Brittany has immediately shot it down which is beginning to frustrate Santana as she feels as if she can't help her because she doesn't know exactly what's going on. All she wants to do is support the love of her life, but so far she's at a loss of how to do that. In the end, Santana hopes that Brittany will eventually open up to her soon and explain to her how she is feeling because she hates seeing her so broken. The whole household feeds from her positive and up-beat energy, so when she's upset, hurt and angry, they all feel it too. The Latina just wants her to be happy.

When Santana snaps herself out of her thoughts and looks back over at Brittany, she isn't surprised to see that her girlfriend has fallen asleep in the chair. She's about to get up so that she can put an extra blanket over her and move her hot chocolate, but it seems as if her mother has read her mind because before she can, Maribel is already over there doing just that. Santana makes a mental note to thank her mother for all her support later because she knows that without it, she would probably be going insane right now. She loves Brittany to death, but Santana needs some time and space to herself as well, and now that her mother is helping both of them out, she is finally getting that. Her mom truly is a hero.

/

It's dark when Brittany wakes up. She has no idea what time it is but judging by how quiet and empty the house seems, she's guessing that it must be quite late. She blinks a couple of times, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness and once they do so, she spots Maribel sleeping on the couch opposite her. The sight immediately makes her feel guilty because she's aware that the elderly Latina would have stayed down here during the night simply to make sure that she was doing okay. Maribel truly does have the heart of a saint.

Tapping the button on her iPhone which is resting on the arm of the chair next to her, and sighs when she sees that it's just past one in the morning. She knows that she should probably go upstairs and go to bed since sleeping on an armchair isn't any good for her, but she honestly doesn't think she can move. She's just so tired and her body feels so heavy right now. However, the idea of sleeping cuddled up with Santana seems like too good an opportunity to miss and so she wills herself to stand up from her seat, ignoring how drained she feels.

Before she can even take a step towards the exit of the living room, Brittany feels and hears her stomach grumble and knows that she needs to have something to eat before she goes upstairs. She's not eaten in a while and she's aware that she can't skip meals while being pregnant. She looks over to where Maribel is sleeping and debates on waking her up, but she decides against it, not wanting to disturb her before slowly dragging herself through to the kitchen. The light of the room practically blinds her when she flicks the switch in the kitchen and so Brittany blinks rapidly until her eyes adjust to the light, and once they have she scans the room in search for something to eat.

Deciding that she can't be bothered to make something proper to eat, Brittany makes her way over to the fridge and opens it up for a better look. She's just about to pull out the ingredients to make herself a sandwich when the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind her startles her, causing her to spin around. When she does so, she finds Maribel standing in the doorway with a warm smile on her face and her hands on her hips, she looks tired but Brittany knows that the woman will not rest until she knows that she has been looked after properly.

"Take a seat Mija and I'll make you something to eat." Maribel orders softly as she walks across the room before guiding the blonde over to one of the seats at the kitchen table. "You slept during supper so I'm going to make you a nice bowl of tomato soup and some bread, okay? I have some left over from yesterday, so it's a good way to use it up."

"Thanks, that sounds great." Brittany shoots her an appreciative smile because the idea of having some soup sounds very appealing. "Sorry about waking you up, I was doing my best to keep quiet."

"Don't worry about." Maribel waves her hand dismissively as she gets to work on heating up the left over soup she has in the fridge. "I'm doing what mothers do best, I'm looking after my babies."

Brittany allows Maribel's words to sink in as she sits at the table in silence. She sometimes finds it so difficult to understand how both Maribel and Carlos can be so accepting of her after she took their only granddaughter away from them for almost four years. However, with that being said, she's extremely grateful that they are so accepting because she knows that she can rely on both of them for absolutely anything. She loves them both so much and thinks of them more as her parents than her own ones. She knows that there would be no way that her own mother would be making her something to eat at one o'clock in the morning, and it's the small things like this that make her truly appreciate Santana's parents.

It takes Maribel ten minutes to make their meals for them and once they're ready to eat, she places them down on the kitchen table and takes a seat opposite Brittany. As soon as the bowl is put in front of her, Brittany immediately picks up her spoon and tentatively takes a mouthful, blowing on it to cool it down first. The soup tastes like heaven in her mouth, but she didn't expect anything different coming from Maribel since her cooking has always been on point. She swallows the mouthful of soup and then quickly takes another one, realising just how hungry she actually is. In the back of her mind she knows that she should be taking better care of herself and eating more regularly but that's easier said than done, especially when she's got so much going on in her life.

"Thank you for this." Brittany smiles gratefully, lowering her spoon back down into the bowl. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble, I would have just had a sandwich or something."

"Nonsense!" Maribel dismisses the comment with a wave of her hand. "A sandwich wouldn't have been enough for you, and besides I'm just doing what a mother does best – I'm looking after my babies."

Deep down, Brittany knows that when Maribel says this that she's talking about her and the two babies that she's carrying, and it makes the blonde's heart swell. She wishes that her parents said things like that to her and stayed up to make her food, but all they seem to do is remind her how disappointed they are in her. She shakes that thought out of her head though because she doesn't want to be thinking about it right now, especially not when Maribel is sitting right across from her and is being so kind.

"Thank you." Brittany almost whispers, lowering her gaze down from Maribel to her bowl of soup. She wishes that she could have Maribel as her real mother because Brittany is sure that right now, she feels more love for the elderly Latina than she does for her biological mother. "I really appreciate this."

Maribel simply smiles in response and the pair of them continue to eat their soup in silence. Once they're finished, Maribel pours them both a glass of fresh orange juice and tells Brittany to drink it, which proves to be no problem at all for the blonde since she absolutely loves it. When the glass is empty, the two women make their way back through to the living room and take a seat on the couch. It's colder in the living room than Brittany remembers and so she grabs the blanket that's lying beside her and wraps it around herself in an attempt to become warmer.

Whilst she's warming up, Brittany glances over at Maribel and finds her staring back at her. The look that the eldery Latina scares her a little bit because she knows what the look means. She knows that Maribel wants to talk to her about something and right now all Brittany wants to do is disappear because she doesn't want to talk about anything. However, she knows that she can't do that because Maribel has done so much for her and so the least that she can do is have a heart to heart with her. Shifting in her seat, Brittany turns her body so that she's facing Maribel directly and swallows the lump on her throat, watching as Maribel opens up her mouth to speak.

"Brittany, I think you've been keeping a lot inside and to yourself lately." Maribel says, breaking the silence between them. "I'm worried about you, in fact we all are, and I just want you to know that no matter what, you can talk to me."

Brittany nods her head ever so slightly in acknowledgment of Maribel's words, and then takes a moment to let them sink in while she gathers her thoughts. She's more than aware that ever since she came home from visiting her parents that she's been more withdrawn from everyone in the Lopez household, and she has spending more time alone, but she didn't mean to isolate herself from everyone completely. All that she wanted was a little bit of space so that she could think clearly, but she now realises that by doing so, she has began to push the people she loves the most away from her.

"I know I can talk to you Maribel, I'm extremely grateful for that." Brittany eventually speaks, smiling as she does so. "It's just difficult coming to terms with the fact that no matter how hard I work or what I do, that my parents always have something negative to say about it."

"Oh Mija, don't listen to anything they have to say!" Maribel pleads with a sigh. "It's their fault if they can't see how beautiful a person you really are."

"Thanks." Brittany shifts in her seat, breaking eye contact from the woman in front of her. "It's just upsetting, all I've ever wanted to do is impress them, but I don't think they'll ever be proud of me."

As she's speaking, Brittany begins to feel her emotions take over her and she silently curses herself for allowing it to happen. She doesn't want to cry in front of Maribel, because she doesn't think this is a situation worth crying over. If her parents don't want to be a part of her life then that's their loss. However, in the back of her mind she knows that she can't be strong all of the time, and the fact that she's pregnant and her hormones are all over the place probably aren't helping. Still, she takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, regaining some control.

"They may not be proud of you, but I am." Maribel boldly states, reaching over and taking the blonde's hand in her own. "Everyone makes mistakes in life, but it's clear to me that you are learning from the ones that you have made. You have given me one of the greatest gifts in life, and you're shortly going to be giving me another two and I can't thank you enough for that. You also make my daughter extremely happy Brittany, and for those reasons among so many more I love you like my own daughter. So even if your birth parents are distant in your life, just remember that Carlos and I will always be here for you, no matter what."

"T-Thank you, it really means a lot." Brittany stutters out, trying to think of something to say. She's finding it difficult though because no one has ever said anything like that to her before so she doesn't know how she's supposed to respond. She's always been grateful to have the Lopez's in her life, but Maribel's words have made her love them even more. She didn't think that was possible. "I love Carlos and you so much, I already think of you as family."

/

After speaking with Maribel for another half hour or so, Brittany finally makes her way up to bed. As she's walking up the stairs, she begins to feel her eyelids fall but she forces herself to stay awake. She only needs a few more minutes to go to the bathroom and then climb into bed where she can fall asleep in her girlfriend's arms. When she enters the bedroom, Brittany finds Santana sprawled out in the middle of the bed on her stomach. She's lying on top of the blankets in only her boxers and bra, and judging from the pile of clothes at the edge of the bed Brittany guesses that the Latina must have been tired and crashed as soon as she lay down. The blonde smiles at the sight before quietly making her way through to the en-suite bathroom to get ready for bed, grabbing a pair of pyjamas on her way as she does so.

Out of habit Brittany closes the bathroom door over slightly and switches on the light, being sure not to disturb her sleeping girlfriend and then begins to strip out of her clothes. After taking off her jeans and sweatshirt, she throws them into the laundry hamper that's in the corner of the room and then looks into the full length mirror that is right in front of her. She places her hands on her swollen stomach, her eyes widening in realisation when she notices how big it's getting and then turns to her left so that she can see the view from side on. Brittany feels her stomach drop and her heart beat begin to increase when she looks at her protruding belly and crosses her arms defensively over it, in order to cover it. She can vividly remember being at this size when she was pregnant with Cassidy, but it was a lot later on in her pregnancy. Of course she knew that she was going to start showing sooner due to the fact that she's carrying twins, but she thought that she'd at least have a few more weeks to get used to the idea.

As she stares at herself, unable to look away, Brittany thinks back to her mother's comment about gaining weight and a lump forms in her throat because she can't help but think that that's exactly what is happening right now. She's getting bigger. People are going to notice. People are going to think she's fat. If she's this big already, Brittany knows for certain that she's just going to get bigger and bigger, any by the near end of her pregnancy she's going to be huge. There's no chance that anyone is going to love her by that point, especially when she can't love herself in that body. The thought of it disgusts her.

A tear rolling down her cheek and onto her lips, breaks the blonde out of her own mind and she wipes away the tears that she never even knew she was crying. However, it's no good because as soon as they are away, more begin to silently fall. Her legs suddenly begin to feel weak and her body feels heavy, and so she slowly slides down onto the cool tiled floor and brings her knees up as close to her chest as possible. As her sobs become deeper and louder, Brittany screws her eyes tightly shut and scolds herself for acting like this. She doesn't even know why she's crying or in a state like she is, and she hates it. She's been through this before and she promised herself that she'd never go back there. When she was pregnant the first time around, she was completely on her own and right now she feels like that. In the back of her mind, she knows that it's not the case, but she can't seem to focus on the reality of the situation with all of her thoughts that are swirling around in her head. She can feel herself slipping back into her old shell.

"Britt?" The sounds of Santana groggily calling out to her causes Brittany to suddenly sit up and dry her eyes with her sweater. However, she doesn't do it fast enough because as she looks up in the direction of the doorway to the bathroom, she finds Santana standing there looking both worried and confused. As soon as their eyes meet, Santana can tell that something is seriously wrong and so she rushes over to her girlfriend and kneels down in front of her. "Britt honey what's wrong?" She asks, tentatively reaching out and enveloping the blonde in her arms.

Brittany doesn't answer verbally, but instead tucks herself into Santana's body, resting her head just below the Latina's chin. She begins to cry again, so she brings her arms up to lock them around Santana's neck and then cries into her shoulder harder than she had been doing so before. She just feels so emotional right now, but having Santana by her side makes everything just a little bit easier.

Santana wordlessly holds her girlfriend in her arms and gently begins to slowly rock her back and forth. She has no idea what's going on, but when she woke up in bed alone and heard the blonde crying in the bathroom, it was obvious to her that Brittany needed her. If the Latina is honest with herself, it doesn't really surprise her that Brittany has had a sudden outburst because she had a feeling it was going to happen as soon as Brittany had become more distant with her. She knows that the blonde didn't do it intentionally, which is why she isn't upset by it, but she knew that not talking about her problems is one thing that her girlfriend isn't good at, and it's what usually leads to these kinds of situations.

She doesn't know how long she sits with Brittany in her arms, but as soon as the blonde starts shivering, Santana begins to slowly stand up, pulling the other woman with her. She can tell from the stiffness of her knees and the soreness of her back that she's probably been kneeling on the floor for a while, but she doesn't care. She'd do anything for Brittany. She picks up the discarded pair of pyjamas that are lying on the floor and helps Brittany into them. Usually Santana loves it when they do little things like this for each other, but tonight she doesn't because she's far too concerned about what's going on with the blonde. She knows that Brittany has been going through a tough time, but she didn't think it was that bad.

Once she's helped her girlfriend with getting changed, Santana leads them both back through to the bedroom, turning the en-suite light off as she does so. Pulling the blankets down, the Latina helps the blonde lay down and then pulls them back up, tucking her in. She's then about to move around to the other side of the bed so that she can get in and cuddle Brittany, but before she even gets the opportunity to move, Brittany grabs onto her hands and silently pleads for her to stay. Obliging with the request, the brunette perches on the side of the bed and gently pulls one of her hands out of Brittany's grip so that she can begin running her fingers through the blonde's long hair. It's something she always does when Brittany is upset because she knows it calms her down. As she's doing so, she leans down and places a long and tender kiss to Brittany's forehead, and then kisses her softly on the lips.

It doesn't take long for Brittany to lose her battle with sleep, and five minutes later Santana slowly stands up from her seat on the edge of the bed and makes her way around to her own side. She carefully slips in, careful not to wake the sleeping woman next to her and wraps her arms around her, holding her tightly. The events of tonight have confused her and she really doesn't know what's going on, but one thing that she knows for sure is that she's going to be there for her girl every step of the way.