Mario sits in his living room staring at the blank TV much like he had the night his wife died. He can't believe that he basically not only kicked his only daughter out, but also cut her off just because she wouldn't do what he wanted. She's pregnant and he should be taking care of her instead of yelling at her. The phone has been ringing non-stop for the last hour, but he hasn't answered not caring.
'Hello,'
'Finally,'
'Connie why have you been calling?'
'Because sir it's ten and you're not here.'
'I'm taking the day off.'
'Well you're supposed to have a settlement meeting today, but you're not here and neither is Brett.'
'Reschedule it for next week.'
'Sir,'
'I'm taking the rest of the week off.'
"I fucked up," Mario says to himself.
It terrifies him that he has no idea where his pregnant daughter went. All he can hope is that Brett found her and is taking care of her. He doesn't have high hopes that this happened as he guesses that Brett must have been really pissed.
"God this is fucked up. I'm talking to myself instead of searching for my pregnant daughter." he says punching the wall.
He closes his eyes and prays.
"Honey I know that I haven't been the best dad ever. I worked too much and left Santana to her own devices for so long, but Brett really is good for her. She's pregnant with Brett's child and I know you'd be upset that they're not married, but Brett's a good guy and he'll take care of them. I just hope she doesn't push him away. Maria please show her that Brett really loves her."
He swears he feels some wind and a light kiss on his cheek, but when he opens his eyes no one is there.
"Dad!" Santana shouts walking in.
Mario frowns thinking he's hearing things, but then he looks to the entry way and sees his daughter.
"Santana-"
The words die in his mouth when he sees his daughter dragging Brett along with her. He looks nervous, but the fact that he's here makes Mario like him even more.
"Brett it's good to see you." Mario says loving the smile on Santana's face.
"You too sir," Brett says very nervous about what will happen now.
"Brett how many times do I have to tell you call me Mario." Mario says motioning for them to sit.
"Daddy we have something to tell you." Santana says sitting across Brett's lap.
Mario can only imagine what these two have to tell him. For all he knows they could be married or worse decided just to be friends. He'll settle for the first one.
"Well sir as you know Santana's pregnant and well I'm the father." Brett says really fast as fast that Mario almost misses it.
"And we're back together." Santana says wrapping her arms around Brett's neck.
All Mario can do is smile like an idiot. This is all he's ever wanted for Santana to settle down with a nice young man that will help her out with the company when he hands it over to her.
"We're really happy," Santana whispers looking at her dad waiting for him to say something.
Brett's arms tighten around Santana to calm himself down. He's terrified that Mario will get pissed at him for getting Santana pregnant.
"Good," Mario finally says a giant smile plastered on his face as he pulls both of them up and into a huge hug. "So you two are really back together?" he asks.
Brett nods unable to speak out of fear. Santana wraps herself around him knowing how scared and uncomfortable he is.
"Yeah daddy we're together and everything's really good." Santana says snuggling into Brett.
"And I would like to not quit and come back to work." Brett quietly says barely looking up.
"This is truly the best news I've ever got." Mario says hugging both of them again.
Santana smiles as the two most important men in her life smile at each other. She never thought she'd see the day that her dad actually approved of one of her boyfriends. It is almost surreal to her that everything is working out so well for her.
"Well Brett all I can say is welcome to the family." Mario says still smiling.
"Dad stop scaring Brett." Santana sternly says.
"I'm not-"
"Yes you are, now I'm going to go shower and change for dinner as I'm assuming you want us to stay." Santana says getting up.
"Um…"
"Brett you know I'm really happy that you're dating my daughter and even though I think it's too soon to be having kids I'm glad you're the father." Mario says knowing that the young man sitting across from him is very nervous.
"You're not angry that I got her pregnant?" Brett asks knowing how protective his boss is.
"When she told me I was because the thought that I would have to deal with one of those dead beat guys she normally sleeps with made me angry, but knowing it's yours I can only be happy. I know that you'll always take care of them and that's all I've ever wanted plus now I can rely on you to help her run the company when I retire." Mario says smiling when he realizes that his plan worked he's going to get Brett as his son-in-law one day.
Santana has stopped halfway up the stairs when she hears her dad talking to Brett. Tears fall down her cheeks as her dad says all these wonderful things to her boyfriend and it just cements the fact that she's chose the right guy finally.
"I will do anything to protect her and the baby." Brett says finally smiling as he realizes that Mario isn't going to kill him and approves of him.
"You know you're the first boyfriend she's brought around since she dated this little prick named Eric her senior year in high school." Mario says wanting to make sure that Eric doesn't ever pop up again.
"No need to worry about him." Brett growls.
"What are you talking about?" Mario asks frowning.
Brett really wants to tell Mario everything about what Eric had done to Santana, but knows he can't. It's not like it will do any good as Eric is already in jail and will never get out so he keeps it quiet.
"I did some research after she told me about him and found out that he's in jail on murder charges." Brett says.
"Well that's good I never did like that boy." Mario says having always gotten a bad vibe from Eric.
"Isn't there a football game on?" Brett asks after they spend several moments in silence.
"Yeah it's Cincinnati against Greenbay." Mario says flipping the game on.
"How's your fantasy team doing?" Brett teases as they both settle in to watch the game.
"Horrible you little thief." Mario jokes back.
Both men are happy to be on a subject they both like and can talk about without feeling any uncomfortableness.
"It's not my fault you decided to trade me Peyton for AP." Brett laughs.
"Exactly you stole him from me." Mario says shaking his head.
"What are you two arguing about now?" Santana asks coming back in.
"The fact that I'm owning our office fantasy league." Brett says kissing her cheek when she sits next to him.
"Oh is that that thing you're always looking at Saturday night to make sure you have the best team possible?" Santana asks scooting over towards Brett even more.
"Yep,"
"Your boyfriend here is going to win the overall points and Superbowl." Mario tells Santana.
"Not my fault I'm just good at guessing who's going to be good." Brett shrugs wrapping an arm around Santana.
"Didn't you win last year too?" Santana asks wishing football season was already over.
"I've won the last three years." Brett says proudly.
Santana smiles wrapping her arms around Brett's neck.
"We're considering not letting him have a pick in the first two rounds to try and even the playing field." Mario says turning and smiling at the couple.
"My baby would still win." Santana says running her fingers over Brett's stubble.
000000000000000000000000000000
By dinner time Brett is a lot more comfortable around Mario and Mario actually enjoyed seeing his daughter acting all cuddly with Brett so long as it stays PG.
"So Mario did you cook all of this?" Brett asks looking at the roasted chicken, mash potatoes, green beans, ham, corn, salad and various other carbs licking his lips.
"I wish my house keeper slash cook did before she left for the night." Mario says motioning for Brett to start eating.
"Rosa is one of the best cooks ever." Santana says smiling as she piles her plate up.
Brett stares as Santana starts to shovel food in her mouth like she never has before.
"You'll get use to her eating like this when Rosa's cooking is involved." Mario chuckles.
The only sounds heard while they're eating is moaning coming from Santana. Brett finds dinner with them fascinating at his parents they'd be talking about deals and other family business. No speaking at all is weird to him.
"Is it always so quiet?" Brett asks when he thinks everyone has paused in their eating.
"Sorry, but your baby is hungry." Santana says swiping a chicken leg off of Brett's plate.
"Oh so that doesn't mean you can steal my food." Brett says taking back his chicken leg.
Mario shakes his head knowing the young father just made a big mistake. When a Lopez woman wants something you just give it to them especially when they are pregnant.
"Brett you have five seconds to give that back to me or I'm not giving you any tonight." Santana lowly growls glaring at Brett.
"Here," Brett softly says handing her back the chicken leg.
"That's right you better give me what I want after all I'm carrying your baby." Santana huffs rubbing her flat belly before taking a big bite out of the leg. "Mmm so good."
"Sweetie please don't kill the only man you've ever brought home that I actually like." Mario says pouring dressing on his salad.
"Why would I do that? I needs someone to take care of mine and the baby's every need." Santana says between bites.
Santana frowns cause her dad really confuses her sometimes. She scoots her chair over towards Brett so she can a. eat off his plate and b. snuggle into him as she is feeling really clingy. Wrapping an arm around her Brett continues to eat. Right now the only thing that could make this dinner better would be if their child was here.
"I love you so much baby." Brett whispers allowing her to take ham off his plate.
"Do either of you have Christmas plans?" Mario asks not wanting them to completely ignore him and start making out plus he wants to know if Brett's going to introduce Santana to his family.
"Um…." Santana gasps realizing that yes her dad is still here.
"I was thinking of taking some vacation after Christmas, but staying local for Christmas and….." Brett trails off as he hasn't talked to Santana about what he wants to do.
"So you two haven't talked about plans yet?" Mario deduces from the looks on their faces.
"Nope, but I'll do whatever San wants." Brett says smiling.
"Well if you already have plans I'd love to take part with you." Santana shyly says hiding her face in Brett's shoulder.
"I'd love for you to come with me." Brett whispers kissing her forehead.
"Can I have the days off too dad?" Santana asks surprising everyone that she actually asking.
"Of course sweetie, but you don't even know where he's planning on going." Mario says wondering and worried about where Brett is going to take his daughter and future grandchild.
"Dad, don't do that." Santana says moving onto Brett's lap. "Brett's the father, my boyfriend and I thought that you liked and trusted him."
"I do, but that doesn't mean I don't still worry about you." Mario says.
His arms wrap tightly around Santana's waist as he watches her and her dad argue about his plans that they know nothing about. If they would just shut up for two seconds he will tell them his plans, but no they're Lopez's which means they don't know when to be quiet.
"So Brett where are we going?" Santana asks running her fingers through his hair to get his attention.
"I was planning to head down to Florida and hitting up Disney World, Universal Studios and maybe take a cruise." Brett says really excited to go to the happiest place on earth.
"That sounds amazing." Santana gushes secretly loving Brett's obsession with everything Disney.
"So you're going to leave me alone after Christmas during the post-Christmas blue season." Mario says pretending to be hurt.
"Daddy we need to spend some time alone as a couple before the baby comes." Santana says pouting.
"I know sweetie I'll miss you though."
They all get up and head into the living room. Mario has noticed it is already nine and realized they will have to leave soon. It saddens him that they will be leaving, but he knows that they won't stay.
"Well dad we'd better be going." Santana says getting up.
"I'll see you tomorrow at work."
"Drive carefully,"
