Written with Nephewsnixx.
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The gang woke up extremely early a la Rachel's suggestion, Rachel had gotten them breakfast and coffee before waking them up. Once everyone was up and at 'em, they started loading the moving truck with almost every box that got packed with the exception of a couple. Rachel had taken her own suggestion and had on a flannel as a way to entice Santana, which made moving things harder on Santana due to Rachel having her stomach exposed and seeing it glazed with light sweat did things to the Latina that Rachel will for sure pay for later on. They get to the new house, now Rachel, Santana, and Dani have seen what the place looked like, but Marley and Elliot wanted to explore around the house, which made Santana and Rachel giggle at them. After familiarizing themselves with the house, the group started unloading the boxes into the house; everything that was Dani's went to her room and everything that belonged to Rachel and Santana went to their room, the miscellaneous boxes stayed in the living room. Then when it came time to move the furniture a couple of neighbors came around to help out, and they even helped set up the new entertainment stand that Rachel had bought, and she decided to give the old one to Dani since she was going to have a nice sized TV in her room as well. After a good amount of things got unpacked, Rachel and Santana gave both Marley and Elliot some money for their help, then decided to take the Rose kids home.
Dani stayed back to get some extra unpacking done in her room; she struggled to move some boxes that were in her way, also cursing in Spanish that she learned from Santana yelling at people on the phone. "Ow.." Dani lets out as she presses her hands against her back then leans back, "I think I should go with mom to the gym, I am really getting out of shape." She blew some air then shrugged. Dani walked to the box she had placed on her bed, opening it up and almost instantly she saw a book sitting there. "Oh, sweet." She says to herself as she picks the book up, flips some pages to see pictures of her and her moms, this made Dani smile quite a lot. "Oh my god.." She continues to flip through the pages and eventually found a picture of her and her family on her birthday. "Shit.." She sits on the bed and stares at the picture even more, beginning to remember that moment in her life.
February 15th
''My fifteenth birthday with the people I love.'
Dani's first birthday in her new life was nowhere near what she expected. When the clock hit midnight, Dani got a called for a very sleepy Marley, who said she wanted to be the first to wish her happy birthday. In the following morning, Rachel and Santana woke her with a song. They kissed and hugged her, while wishing her everything they could think about. They told her she can pick whatever she wants for them to do, so she chose to go ice skating; it was something she wanted to try for a while and it sounded fun, plus she thought it could be a bit romantic for Marley and her. Rachel told her they'd let Kurt and Blaine know and she'd let Marley and Elliot. They also told her that she'd get her presents later that night, and then left the room. Before getting up to brush her teeth, Dani got a call from Elliot, who also sang her. She blushed at his words, telling him it's too much. The call ended with Dani telling about the plans for tonight and asking him to pass it on to Marley. After she finally washed her face and brushed her teeth, Dani walked out of her room. Before getting into the kitchen, Blaine and Kurt ran to her with balloons and squeezed her between them in a tight sandwich hug. Dani was sincerely overwhelmed with the love she got. Her birthday was never celebrated or even mentioned and now she was getting all that love. She held back the tears and thanked her uncles, and then they all ate breakfast together.
Later that day, the family drove to pick Marley and Elliot up, and then made their way to the ice skating where they met with Kurt and Blaine. The grownups went to rent the skates for the group, leaving the kids alone, but not too far from them.
"It's so cold, but the snow makes the city look even more beautiful." Dani says and tries to pull Marley closer to her; both to get warmer and to be close with her girlfriend.
Elliot winks, then walks away from his sister and best friend.
Marley rolls her eyes at her brother "So, you enjoying your birthday?" She asks with a smile on her face.
"So much." Dani answers with a big smile, "What I thought it'd be doesn't even come close. Thank you for being a part of it."
"Anytime." Marley kisses Dani's forehead, then watches the people skate.
"Okay, it took some arguing with the guy at the counter, but I was able to get your favorite color in ice skates." Rachel said as she handed Dani the pair she was talking about. "Marley here are yours, and where's your brother?" She asks.
Marley pointed over by the coffee shop that was by the ice skating rink.
"Thanks, mom." Dani says and pulls her girlfriend by the hand to the closest bench. "Will you teach me how to skate?" She asks once they're seated.
"Elliot, skate first, hot beverage later!" Santana says loudly at the young teen direction. "I'm so going to get back home with a bruised ass." She mumbles as she walks to a different bench.
Rachel was right next to Santana when she mumbled, this alone made her comment. "Don't worry, later tonight I will take care of you." She smirks towards Santana's direction.
Elliot reluctantly walked back mumbling various reasons why he should get a coffee, but then settled with, "You all have people to hold, I was going to spend 5.39 for something to hold and keep me warm since I have no one." He points out then proceeds to walk over to the bench Dani and Marley were sitting at.
Marley nodded at Dani's question, but then furrowed her eyebrows at her brother's comment, now feeling a little guilty that she has someone but Elliot doesn't. "Dani, I think we should hook Elliot up with someone.."
Dani glance at Elliot and tells Marley she's right, "But I don't know many people." She scratches her head. "We need to come up with a plan!" So far, her plans always work, so why not come up with another one? "And for now, I can skate a bit with my moms and uncles, and we can also do it as a group." Dani tells Marley, then turns to Elliot again, "Hey, no sadness at my birthday. You have us until you'll meet your prince." She nudges his side with her arm and smile.
"I doubt it, not that I am really looking.." Elliot looks away somewhat nervously.
Marley ended up getting her skates on then carefully stands up. "Dani, I have to let you know I was an all-state junior ice skating champion." She boasts with confidence.
"You were? Wow." Dani is impressed by that piece of information. "It means I got the best teach and you won't let me embarrassed myself." She smiles and reaches her hand out so Marley would help her get up. "And you will, trust me. Now come on, let's have some fun!" She says to Elliot.
"You're damn right." Marley helps Dani up.
"Language." Rachel states, not even looking in their direction.
"Uh.. You're dang right.." Marley chuckles nervously, and then looks over at Elliot. "Come on!" She lets out while walking with Dani to the ice rink.
"Yea, yeah.. Keep your beret on.." Elliot stood up and walked to the ice rink with his sister and best friend.
The three friends skated together; Marley kept her promise and didn't let Dani fall, she kept her close and taught her how to skate right. Dani kept hers too, and split the time at the rink between everyone, not leaving Elliot alone for too long. Not only the teens had fun, the older ones had their as well; Kurt and Blaine teased Santana about her lack of skills and when the Latina tried to skate after them, she fell. Luckily, Rachel was there to help her girlfriend get up and they stayed close. Later, the group walked to a near coffee place and enjoyed hot chocolate and cake; there they also gave Dani her gifts. Dani got very emotional; she was surrounded by those she calls family and she could not have been happier. For years she spent that day looking outside her window at the snow or crawled up in her bed and now her one wish came true; she was saved. Later, they said goodbye to Kurt and Blaine and took Elliot and Marley home, then drove back to the apartment.
Santana closes the door behind her and hurries to stop Dani before the young girl has a chance to go to her room, "D, we have one last gift for you." She smiles at the girl, "Let's sit." She gestures at the living room.
Santana closes the door behind her and hurries to stop Dani before the young girl has a chance to go to her room, "D, can we go to the living room for a second?"
"I really don't need anything else; you gave me more than enough." Dani says. She steps into the living room and sits in front of her moms.
"I left it in our room, babe. Let me go get it." Rachel tells Santana and quickly walks away to their room, it takes her a few, but she came out with a rectangular box that was wrapped then handed it to Dani. "Here you go, sweetie."
"Thank you." Dani takes the box, then unwraps and open it. "W-What..?" She mumbles in confusion. In the box there is a medium sized book with her name, her picture, and two dates she knows well - her birthday and the day Rachel brought her to the apartment. Dani gently opens the book and on the front page there is a dedication and it says:
"Dani, our dear daughter, today is your fifteenth birthday and the first one you celebrate with us. The day you entered our life was the same one we became a family; it wasn't simple, but with every moment that passes, we come closer together. You are a strong, creative and beautiful young girl. You had to overcome hard times and we know you'd be able to keep doing that with every future struggle. The difference is that now you have family and friends, standing beside you for the good times and bad.
You managed to charm many people in such short time; you got into their heart and brought more joy and light to their life, our life.
On this day we want to wish you a long, happy life. We wish you go after your dreams and make them come true.
This book is for you to save important and big moments in your life, our style of a baby book. We want to give you a fresh start and for you to be able to look back, remember and see how far you've come and get strength to fill the blank pages. Hopefully this is only the first of many to capture a great life.
We already put in some picture that we think are worthy. We love you with all our hearts,
Your moms"
When she finished reading the words from her moms, Dani is in tears. Rachel and Santana gave her a new start, hope and a future. She flips through the few pages that already have pictures in them, Dani smiles. She wasn't aware of some of the images, but remembers all the stories behind them. She closes the book and holds it against her chest. This is the best present she could ever receive and she tells that to her moms, "I'm going to keep it forever. Thank you." She says and scoots to hug her moms.
After the tears were stopped and the faces got cleaned, the family took a picture together. A picture that was the first one Dani added to her book.
January 13th
'Sessions and Life'
It was another regular day at school for Dani; she, Marley and Elliot went to classes together, mostly got bored and enjoyed their lunch together. When the school day ended, Dani and her best friend stayed behind for a jam session. Since the Winter break, Dani feels a lot more comfortable playing in front of someone and she once again enjoys it. This way of spending time became their preferred activity when they're together.
The two waited a little bit for the school to clear out and entered the choir room. Each took a chair to the middle of the room and they start playing together with a smile on both their faces.
Elliot moved Dani's hand up the neck of the guitar, and then pressed her finger on one of the frets. He then went back to strumming his guitar for a few more minutes, but then suddenly stopped and looked at Dani with curious eyes. "Say, kiddo.. What was life like before Rachel took you in?"
The subject Elliot asked her about is not one Dani like to discuss, but she trusts her best friend and she was told sharing can help. She moves nervously in her chair; even if she's fine talking about it, doesn't mean it's easy for her. "Any word I'd choose would be an understatement.." She looks at her guitar, then at Elliot, "No real home, no real parents.. Just a house with people.. I wouldn't call it life." She bites her lip, not sure if she should go there, but decides to try; she knows if Elliot won't want to talk about it, he won't. "How was yours?"
"W-Well, where do I start.. Marley already told you about how I got adopted, right?" He asks with a raised brow.
"You can understand it from my question.." Dani lowers her head for a brief moment, "Are you angry?"
"I overheard Marley tell you when I was walking to get a cup of water that night." Elliot explains then reaches to ruffle Dani's hair. "I can't get angry at you, so I guess I can explain a bit.."
"Only if you want." Dani gives him a small smile and set her guitar aside.
"Let's see.." Elliot sets his guitar beside his chair, then rested one leg over the other. "Well, when I was younger, like 8 I had my first ever inspiration.. My dad was a big fan of the band Kiss." He smiles a slight amount at the memory, but then his face went back to serious. "My mom hated it, and she hated the fact my dad and I had a close relationship. One night my dad had tickets to see a Kiss tribute band; it was playing at one of the theaters here in New York. I told my dad I wanted to be like the guitar player, and he explains to me that the lead guitarist was known as the Starchild, who was the glue of the original band." He continues. "This inspired me to use that name as often as I could.. My dad passed away on my 11th birthday.. He had a weak heart, and he took a nasty fall during work which stopped his heart for good.." Elliot's eyes began to water. "My mom blamed it on me.. I was 11 and it was my fault my dad died.. The last thing he said and did was hand me this pendant." He holds it up. "It was the Starchild graphic that Paul Stanley used one time.. My dad bought it for me, and said that I will always be his Starchild." Elliot bit his lower lip to hold back any more tears.
Dani listened carefully to every word her best friend and her heart broke; Elliot's father loved him, they had a good relationship and one day the man was taken away from him. Dani clears her throat; she can't let herself cry right now. "I'm so sorry, Elli." The pink haired girl gets up and pulls her friend to her arm, "Life isn't fair." She shakes her head. "But at least you had him for your childhood and you have good memories.. If it means anything, he sounds like he was a great dad."
"He was the best, he understood me better than I did myself." Elliot gently grabbed Dani's hand and circles his thumb on the back of it. "Say, who did your nails?" He asks.
"You have a terrible problem focusing on one subject.." Dani tells Elliot. "Why do you ask? Is it bad?" She looks down at her hands.
"No, I love it." He smiles a slight amount. "I hate focusing on the bad in my life, I left it and I prefer to keep it away." Elliot keeps his eye on the nails.
"Well, it that case, I did them myself." She says proudly, "I watched some videos and decided to give it a try." Dani smiles a bit. "I'm glad we're friends." She turns to him and kisses his cheek.
Elliot rolls his eyes and smirked, "Yeah, yeah." He says, and then ruffles Dani's hair once again. "Here is something to talk about, when did you come out of the closet?" He asks not caring if it embarrassed Dani any amount. "No judgment."
Dani moves back to sit in her chair and looks anywhere, but at Elliot. "I never really came out.." If the previous topic wasn't easy on her, this one is way harder; it brings memories she's yet to deal with. "M-My dad found me kissing a girl.. I had those feelings that I wanted to check, it was then that they kicked me out." She gulps. "When I got to Rachel's and Santana's place, it didn't take very long for it to come out."
"Oh, I see." Elliot slowly nods, and then picks his guitar up again. "When I came out, I was 13, but when I was wanting to act on a feeling I had was at a gathering, not really a party but it was close.." he bit his lip. "I kissed my first boy. He had lengthy brown hair, and was nervous, he also has dyslexia.. But it didn't last, since he changed schools."
"That's too bad.. But I'm sure you'll find a nice boy here." She smiles and reaches for her guitar. "What do you say we play something for your father?"
"Sure." He smiles slightly at Dani. "You lead. I'll follow." Elliot nods and waits for Dani.
Dani nods and starts to play 'Reasons' by Hoobastank. Their stories might be totally different; Elliot had a loving parent that passed away and Dani had none until Rachel and Santana, but they know the meaning of lost, they both know what pain is and that you need to cherish every happy moment in life. Though their friendship isn't based only on that; the two share a love for music and the arts, a similar sense of humor and they support each other. It's true friendship.
Before they left the choir room, Elliot placed his phone on the piano and the two took some picture together and with their guitar. One of the goofy pictures Elliot gave to the moms to add to the book.
March 4th
'To family.'
School has ended for that day and Dani, Marley and Elliot were in their lockers to put the books they won't need to take home. Then they walk hand in hand outside and said goodbye. Dani expected to see one of her moms waiting for her in their usual place, but instead she sees her uncles waving at her. She frowns and walks with caution towards them. "W-Where are my moms?" She looks between the men, "Did something happen?" She asks nervously and wonders why they look happy.
Kurt smiles quite a bit, "Well, Blaine and I told your moms to take some time off; they're on a date now." He explains while holding his hands together. "So I figured we could take you to somewhere fun, wherever you want."
Dani matches Kurt's smile and claps her hands in excitement, "Cool. Can we go see Lion King?" She asks and bites her lip.
"It's your choice, hon" Blaine answers her, "And Lion King is a great choice." He says and opens the door, "Come on, let's go."
"Well, Lion King is a good choice, personally not a favorite of mine.." Kurt rambles then looks over at Dani with a smile. "But it's your day sweetie, so I will learn to enjoy it." He ruffles Dani's hair.
"Kurt.." Blaine sends his husband a warning look.
"We don't have to see it; we can do something else.." Dani stops at the car door and looks between the men.
"We can see it, I don't mind at all." Kurt nods towards Dani then looks at Blaine with an innocent smile. "Why the face?"
"You know why, mister." Blaine shakes his finger in front of Kurt, "We agreed to whatever she wants. Don't make her feel guilty."
"Ohh, someone's in trouble." Dani giggles, looking through the window at her uncles.
"We also agreed that I get to drive, which means I have control over what we listen to." Kurt takes the keys from Blaine then pecks his lips once. "That also means you two are going to be tortured by my awesome music taste." He jokes as he circles the car to the driver's side.
Blaine chuckles and gets in the car, "Yeah, yeah, such a torture.." He says sarcastically.
Dani rolls her eyes and takes her phone from her pocket, "In this rate we won't go anywhere.. You promised fun, can we go have some?"
Kurt rolls his eyes as he gets in and starts the car. "Yeah, yeah, let's do this." He says.
They drove to the theater and while Kurt bought the tickets, Blaine and Dani had a little talk. Dani was excited to see the play; it was one she wanted to see for a while. The pink haired girl sat between her uncles and they chatted until the show started. Kurt that into that, but he didn't say anything, not when he saw how happy his niece was. After the play ended, the group decided to eat lunch at a new place. They walked around a little; it gave Dani and Blaine a chance to talk about all the parts they loved in the play. Finally, they found a nice dinner and were quick to order.
"So.. Am I ever going to be a cousin?" Dani smirks as she takes a sip using a straw.
Kurt's face lit up due to the question, not that he didn't think about it or anything. "W-Well.. You will be a cousin in due time, sweetie."
"Yeah, with our jobs now it's kind of difficult.." Blaine adjusts himself, feeling a bit guilty. He knows it's mostly his job; he works crazy hours for an average salary, not an ideal situation to bring a baby into. "Like Kurt said, in due time."
"You're together for almost a decade.. That's so long," Dani says as she eats her burger, "I wonder if Marley and I will be like you."
"I think you two are like your mom and mama, almost identical with your actions." Kurt points out before taking a bite of his sandwich. "What do you think, Blaine?"
"I think they're more like us, high school sweetheart that actually made it." Blaine smiles brightly at his husband. "It doesn't mean everything was smooth for us," He leans back with his cup of water in hand, "But we worked things out, we grew and changed and here we are now." He sighs in content, "Although I do agree you are very similar to your moms."
"We're all cheesy couples living on the same floor in New York City.. Great." Dani says and chuckles, "Well, Marley doesn't live with us, but she's there so much, it should count."
"And we all love each other very much." Kurt raised his cup. "To family." He looks between his husband and niece.
"To family." Blaine and Dani say together with a big smile.
"Blaine, can you ask the waiter to take a picture of us?" Dani asks and blush a little. Blaine nods and stops one of the waiters, who gladly take a picture using Dani's phone. Maybe it wasn't a big moment in her life, but Dani wants to remember the normal, regular days she had as well. Just hanging out with her family isn't something she wants to ever take for granted.
"Now Dani, I saw this awesome comic book shop few blocks from here." Kurt says as he leans in a bit to look at Dani some more. "If you want, Blaine and I will take you there, and us two geeks can go nuts over some issues of Batman while Blaine stalks the Nightwing comics." He winks.
Dani's face light up; this boring day turned to be a great one. "Yeah, let's do that." She drinks the little that was left of her drink and put the glass on the table, "I have some new ones that I want to check too." Blaine rolls his eyes at the two next to him, but can't help the smile on his face. He always amazed that Dani has a different connection with everyone in her life, that she somehow finds a way to create a special bond. He pays for their food and the trio walks together to the comic shop.
April 23rd.
''Aftermath cuddle session.'
The day after the big announcement and the argument that followed it, things were quiet, in fact very quiet. Although they briefly talked about it after things settled down, it was still weird between the three. Rachel and Santana were very clueless as to what they could do to change things, or at the very least make things less weird between them and the grounded Dani. Sadlyת neither of them could come up with anything, and it was irritating Santana to the max, she wants her girls happy and right now they can barely look at each other, she needed some time to herself, at least a bit of time to think about how to fix things. So, Santana let Rachel know she was going out for a bit to clear her head, got on some decent clothes for the weather, and proceeded to leave the apartment. Rachel decided to take this time to catch up on her reading while lying in bed, she had a few more pages left so it'd be nice to finish this book before she moves on to another book.
From her room, Dani could hear the door opening and closing. She doesn't hear any voices; it means one of her moms left. It's the first day of her punishment and she's bored. Not only that, she's missing her moms and feels weird about how things are now. She's tiptoeing out of her room and looks around, but no one was neither in the kitchen or the living room. She walks around a little, not sure if she should go for it or step back into her room. Dani needs something, but she's not sure she's in a place where she deserves it. She takes a deep breath and walks to her moms' room, slowly opens the door and sees her mom reading a book. Dani is not sure what to do; she lowers her head and stays quiet.
"What do you need, sweetie." Rachel asks as she flips a page in her book. One thing about Rachel was she could tell what Dani's footsteps sounded like, and how far she is from their room. It's almost like Rachel's special ability if super powers were real.
Dani moves uncomfortably at the entrance of the room. She feels a little like it's her first night with her moms and she only wants Rachel to hold her, but can't express it. She's not even sure if Rachel would agree, consider everything that happened. "Ma'.." She says quietly, "Can I..?" It takes all of her courage to ask that vague question, but she's knows Rachel would get what she means.
She looks up at Dani for a few moments then goes back to her book "Go ahead." Rachel says as her eyes remain focused on the book.
With her eyes down, Dani makes her way to her parents' bed. She gets in and scoots close to her mom. Rachel hasn't said anything, so Dani slowly place her head on her mom's lap. Though it's what she wanted, Dani's body is tense as she waits for the response from the older woman.
"What's up?" Rachel asks.
"N-Nothin'." Dani answers quickly. They told her everything is fine when the talk ended, but Dani woke up with a weird feeling. She's not entirely convinced they love her same as before. And maybe it's lame because she's older, but Dani really wants her mom to give her one of those warm, tight hugs.
"You sure?" Rachel continues as she closes her book, sets it on the night stand. "It seems like something is wrong."
"I don't know.." Dani tells Rachel, glad that her mom can't see her face at the moment. "Are we, like, ok?" She asks, "I d-don't want to lose you.." Dani gulps and nervously taps on Rachel's leg.
"What makes you think you'll lose me, exactly?" Rachel continues to ask, she wants to play it safe before she answers any of Dani's questions.
Dani brings her knees to her chest and looks around, "I love Marley and y-you, not so much.." She sighs and tense up some more. "You brought me here and I let you down. The last time it happened.." She doesn't finish her sentence, but she doesn't need to.
"Yeah.. That sounds collected.." She says, and then sighs at Dani. "I'm sure Kurt has told you my intentions at some point, my reason for grounding you and being very cautious about what you do with Marley.. So I don't need to add on." Rachel leans back against the headrest. "Look, I really don't hate Marley, what I said to her was me being severely stressed... You saw your mama in that bed, and what if it was Marley in that bed, I am sure you would be as stressed out as I was."
Dani nods and she turns to face her mom. Her body shakes a bit and her face covered with a blush, "I don't want to disappoint you." She lets out with a quiet voice, "And I miss how we used to be."
"You ran away.. Even if you and Marley didn't have sex, you still put yourself in danger." Rachel's voice started to rise a bit, and then it started to sound shaky. "U-Understand that your past is just that, the past.. You live in a home, with family that loves and cares about you.. You can't just run off like that!" She had tears already forming; she wishes she had let all this emotion out in the first place.
Dani sits up and lower her head, "I got angry and sometimes it's not that clear to me that things have changed." She stutters. If it was a few months ago, Dani would get up and leave the room, but the therapy did help her and she knows it's better to stay and talk about it. "I don't know how to explain, I felt so much and I just wanted to see her."
"Dani.. What if something happened while you were defiant? Someone could have taken.." Rachel brushed aside some tears. "Someone could have taken your life and the last memory you could have had with us.. Was that..."
The young teen doesn't say anything, only lean forward and wraps her arms around her mom's body. She rests her head on Rachel and hold tight, "I'm sorry, mom." She mumbles quietly, trying not to cry.
Rachel's lips quivered as she held Dani as close to her as possible, not wanting to let go for anyone. Her hand runs through Dani's hair slowly, Rachel leans to kiss her daughter's forehead. "Am I that bad of a mom for you to do that?"
"Mom, don't say that." Dani tells Rachel and shed some tears. "I thought I knew what family is.. That I need to be thankful no one hurt me before I went to sleep or that I need to earn any meals by being quiet and obey.." Those words Dani only said to her therapist; she opened up to her, but wasn't ready to share so much with her moms, until now. "Those people were never my parents, you and mama are and I love you." She sniffles, "It feels too good sometimes, like I need to keep an eye open in case it'd end."
"So, it's still a matter of trust.." Rachel sighed; she hoped that Dani's past would be just that in her mind. That the life Dani has now would take over.
"Dr. Martin says it is a big part of it.." Dani nods. "I have a lot of other issues." She shrugs and takes a deep breath. "Do you.. Regret bringing me here?"
"Regret?" Rachel asks. "Dani, in this city I did a lot of things that I regretted. But you? No, I don't, and I never will regret you." She looks at Dani with a slight smile. "Dammit, you're my girl."
Dani smiles and relax against Rachel's body, "Can you hold me for a little while?" She asks, and then tries to hold back the smirk, "Do you think mama would be ok with you saying that word next to me?"
"Saying what word?" Rachel asks while returning the smirk.
"Oh, I'm not falling for that, mom." Dani answers, starting to feel a bit better, "You're not dragging me into your trouble with mama." She states and snuggle more against Rachel's body.
"Smart girl." Rachel chuckles.
"I am your daughter." Dani looks up at Rachel with a grin. "About that hug?" She asks and slightly pouts.
"Hmm, I dunno.." Rachel looks off to the side. "I don't think you deserve such affection quite yet." She says with a slight smile. "In fact, I think I need to extract more punishment, my child." Rachel's fingers lightly scratch against Dani's side.
"What are you.. No!" Dani tries to move away, "I won't tell mama.. I'm sorry.. Just please, don't." She says and places her hands on her sides, trying to protect herself.
Rachel quickly let go then nervously gulps. "You don't like tickling?" She asks with a slight frown.
"Mom, that's what everyone does when someone tries to tickle them and besides, I'm very sensitive to it." She kisses Rachel's cheek, "Everything is cool." She lifts her hands, "Here, go ahead, tickle me 'till I can't breathe."
Rachel shook her head, "You sounded very uncomfortable, so I don't want to put you through that." She says while looking towards the floor. "I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry." Dani sighs, "It happened with Marley too. I should control how I react to things; I don't want you to get worried." She rests her head on Rachel's lap once more, her eyes looking at the ceiling. "C-Can I share something? It has to do with Marley and I and what happened, but nothing weird.."
As much as Rachel wanted to not hear any portion of what her daughter and Marley did, Dani seemed like she wanted to let everything out. "Fine, what did you want to share..?" She lets out.
"W-When.." Dani start, but decides to skip to the main thing she wants to tell Rachel. "Marley saw my scars. A-And I was.. I don't know what it was because it wasn't really fear.." It's frustrating because she doesn't know how to put to words what's in her mind. "I don't want her to feel sorry for me or feel uncomfortable.. I wish they weren't there.."
Rachel slowly nodded and sighed, she then rested her hand on Dani's forehead. "Well.. In due time, you will not remember them as scars of the bad parts of your life." She rises up a bit to look down at Dani better. "You will see them as a reminder that you made it out of the terrible life you had once lived."
"I hope so.." Dani turns her head and gives Rachel a small smile.
"I promise you will, and it'll be amazing." Rachel gives Dani a lip bitten smile. "I would know.. I made it out of my hell."
"I hope I'd be as strong as you one day." Dani lets out and adjusts herself again so her head is now on Rachel's chest and she has one arm around the older woman stomach.
"You're already stronger than I am, why would you want to settle?" She asks with a brighter smile on her face.
"Were you always that cheesy or did it start when you start dating mama?" Dani looks up with a raised eyebrow.
"I was always this cheesy, mainly due to me being deprived of a loving relationship up until your mama, and then it was too late." Rachel pokes Dani's nose then lies back, yawning quietly.
"I guess we had to suffer to appreciate what we have or a similar deep cliché.." Dani says and snuggles into Rachel's side, "Nap time." She smiles and closes her eyes.
"Yeah.. Cliché.." Rachel mumbled before falling asleep.
Shortly after mother and daughter fell asleep, Santana returned home. She drank a glass of water, and then made her way to her and Rachel's room. She thought maybe they should do something, at home, as a family to break the ice and she wanted to talk about it with Rachel. She entered the room to find her girls cuddled up together and a big smile spread on her face; maybe alone time was all the girls needed. She's happy that life is getting back on track. Before leaving her girls to it, Santana snaps a photo to capture the moment and then close the door. That picture found its way to Dani's book shortly after being taken by her mom.
July 13th
'Second chances.'
After Santana left Dani to go check on Rachel, Beth ran over to Dani and pulled her into the living room, and onto the couch next to Shelby. It was rather awkward for the first few minutes, but both females ended up easing into the idea of being around each other. Shelby was still somewhat shaken by the night prior, and the fact that she turned down Dani before actually getting to know her, which she was determined to change as soon as she could.
"Dani, this movie is so cool. It has Brad Pitt fighting off zombies!" Beth bounced on the couch a bit.
"It does sound cool." Dani says and giggles at the girl's enthusiasm. "I'm not that into action, but who can say no to zombies."
"I know!" Beth says while adding emphasis to that response, she then lays on her side, her head propped up on Dani's lap. "At the same time, who could say no to Brad Pitt, he's so handsome."
Hearing that made Shelby look over at Dani and Beth, and almost instantly she saw Quinn in Beth, and Rachel and Santana in Dani. This made the older woman chuckle and smile, "Well, while that's true, he's also old enough to be your grandfather." Shelby points out while patting Beth's back.
"Yeah, your mom is right.." Dani leans back and place her hand over Beth body, "There are much better looking guys now anyway." She tries to hold back her laughter and not to look at Shelby; if the woman is really related to her mom, she's got to see her response.
"And those better looking guys will be guys you don't touch until you're at least 50.." Shelby mumbles and takes a sip of her Pepsi.
"Yep, like mother like daughter." Dani glance at Shelby with a small grin. Humor makes it less stressful and actually makes it enjoyable for Dani.
Shelby returns the glance, and then paused the movie. "Bethany, could you get us all a pop from the fridge, please?" She asks.
"Uh, sure mom." Beth says as she gets up to walk to the kitchen.
Once Beth was not in hearing distance Shelby looked at Dani. "So, I'm thinking that next month, Beth and I will move to New York." She announces.
Dani looks surprised at the older woman, not sure how to take it; all it took was one rant for her to want to reconnect with her daughter and her family? To take her kid and move their life to a different state? But Dani can't deny the joy she feels; she'd be close to Beth, who seems like a great kid and hopefully develop a relationship with her grandma. "That's sudden.." She's choosing to be careful about it.
"I know, but so was your speech." Shelby simply retorts with a smile on her face. "The three of you all wanted me to be closer, and for me to step up, which in turn made me want to be closer and step up.." She admits. "I don't ever admit defeat, but I can't lie.. It was you that got me the most."
"It's far from being a defeat, though.." Dani says and looks away, "You, wanting to try, is the right move, the brave move.. Giving up and shutting all of us from this chance would've been a defeat." She speaks honestly, "And with what happened to mama a few months back, we know how important it is for a family to be close, in all aspects." Dani looks back at Shelby with a small smile. "Oh, and be prepared, because they're not going to make it easy on you."
"Well, your parents will never believe me if I told them I came here to be around you three, no matter how much I try to explain to them." Shelby lets out a sigh.
"I've heard a lot about you, never thought you're a quitter." Dani raises her eyebrow and sends Shelby a challenging look. "Prove them you're here to stay and you'd get shocked by the amount of love you and Beth will get. Or just go home; spare all of us the pain.." Dani shrugs and glance at the kitchen, to try and see what's taking Beth so long.
Beth ends up walking back in, her shirt was a little wet for some reason. "I had to get these pops from the freezer in the garage and some ice fell on me." Beth explains while handing the pops to her mom and niece. "Mom, since Dani is Rachel's daughter that like.. Makes her my niece, and I am younger than her." She jokes and smiles.
Shelby chuckles, "Yup it does, and one day Santana will be your sister in law too." she adds on to the joke then looks at Dani. "I think Auntie Beth wants to cuddle." She announces with a smirk.
"Yeah.. That's weird." Dani laughs, "But I never had an aunt, certainly not as cool as you and I never says no to a good cuddle." She moves a little, to make some more room for the younger girl to lie on.
Beth gets comfortable in between Shelby and Dani, then sees that Dani's phone is sitting beside her leg, a smirk appears on Beth's face as she quickly grabs it, and opens the camera app. "Everyone, look at the camera." She says while switching it to face-cam, and then she sticks her tongue out at herself in the camera.
Shelby shrugs then leans in a bit to make a surprised face.
Dani was about to protest, but she likes the idea and immediately scoots closer to Beth and smiles to the camera.
Beth hits the "take" button then hands the phone back to Dani, "I know you probably have a lot of pictures of your time here already, but I wanted one with us in it." Beth looks up at Dani while nervously biting her lower lip.
"Great thinking, B." Dani smiles, trying to calm the girl, "We're family, we should have pictures together." She glances at Shelby, then back at the girl who is her aunt, "Maybe your mom can send it to her phone while I.." She gets closer, place her phone on the sofa and reach for the sides of Beth's body, "Tickle you!" She says loudly and starts tickling the blond.
"Ah!" Beth squeaks before giggling, her body squirms a bit against Dani. "N-No more, ahh!" She can't help but laugh more when Dani tickles her. "Auntie B wants you to stop, please.." Her face is red from laughing as hard as she did.
Shelby shakes her head and chuckles some more. "Okay, you two relax, we got a handsome man to watch and seeing him make a dorky still face for longer than two minutes tends to ruin his good looks."
Before Dani could say anything she hears her mama's voice, "Miss Corcoran, May I speak with you outside?" Dani stops and frowns at the tone Santana is using. She watches them exiting the house, knowing very well it won't end up good. Dani hopes Shelby won't let her moms' walls bring her down and make her give up. She likes Beth and she wants to have a young family member to hang out with. And Shelby might have much more to offer than her cold attitude, she saw glimpses of it sighs and takes the remote, pressing play and turns to Beth, "Come on, let's watch this handsome man saves the earth." She smiles and waits for Beth to lie back down.
Present time
Dani smiles at the memories that were within these pictures, and at times couldn't help but tear up at how great those memories were. She never once thought that things would change so much, in so little of time; it was nearly a year since Rachel took her in, and yet every day felt like she was learning something new. She keeps her eyes on her book for a few moments longer, and then sets the book aside to lie back on her bed and think about how much fun she's had, and how much fun she will have in a new home.
On the first floor, Santana and Rachel made some progress unpacking the kitchen boxes; they agreed that the most important part of the house that needs to be ready for use is where they make food and eat their meals. It was exhausting and they just started, but picturing their future in this place is worth it. After a while of them working they order food and when it arrives, Santana goes up to call Dani.
"Hey, D. How.." Santana enters the room and looks around, finding her daughter laying on her bed, "Wow, you got so much done." She says dryly and laughs. She makes her way to the bed and sits close to where Dani's legs are.
"Sorry.. I got caught up in memories." Dani points towards the photo book. "It just took me back through some of my best moments in life, even if it was something as simple as getting a fat stack of comic books to read."
"Oh, that's nice. I'm glad you can look back at positive moments." Santana kiss Dani's temple and brush her hand on the book. "And you have to be sorry for, unpacking and all that will take us some time, so a day more or less make no different." She smiles and gets up. "Come on, we ordered dinner. The weather is so nice, we can eat outside if you'd like."
Dani sits up and smiles. "Yeah, that sounds awesome." She gets off the bed and keeps her eyes fixed on Santana. "I'm glad we're a family, you know that?"
Even after a good amount of time had passed, Santana still gets emotional about things related to them being a family. Hearing Dani is happy, about them and life is general, makes Santana's heart warm and with Rachel feeling the same, Santana's life is perfect. "I am too, baby." She places an arm around the teen's shoulders and they walk together downstairs to the kitchen.
Rachel was portioning out the food on the paper plates, after she does that she grabs the plastic cups and pours the soda in each cup. She hears footsteps coming closer to the kitchen, she looks towards the entry way to the kitchen and there was Santana and Dani. "Well, there are my two favorite girls." She says.
Dani giggles. "What did ya' order?" She asks as she moves away from Santana to look at the food, licking her lips.
"We ordered Chinese food." Rachel answers and smiles at how Dani is acting.
"We order from them so much, they can buy a house with a pool." Santana chuckles. "Can we eat at the table outside, babe?" She walks to her girlfriend and wraps her arms around her, "Nice weather, under the stars, only the three of us in our backyard.. Perfect."
"Of course." Rachel kisses Santana's lips once. "I'll move the food if you two get the drinks." She says while grabbing the plates of food and carefully carrying them out to the table that was outside, luckily the back door was open.
Dani grabs her and Rachel's drink and followed her mom over to the table that was sitting on the back patio. "It is a beautiful night." She points out.
Santana walks outside with her cup and sits down. She looks at the sky, then around and finally, at her girls. "And I get to eat dinner with my two beautiful ladies." She smiles. "I think it's safe to say we're living the dream." Santana would like to add two more beautiful souls to it, but either way everything is perfect now.
Rachel sets the plates on the table, then sits close to Santana, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "I can't wait to see what winter looks like here, I mean.. I know it'll probably look the same, but it'll be our first winter in our new home.. Cheesy, huh?" She partially looks up at Santana.
"But it's cute." She says and pokes Rachel's nose. "Now we have an actual house to experience those first and create a great life." She looks between her girls, "And our parent can come here more often and for holidays.."
"Very true." Rachel sits up and gently hooks her arms around Santana's neck. "So many firsts and so much heartwarming moments." she says before softly kissing Santana's lips.
Dani smirked at the sight, then quickly pulled out her phone, stood in front of the table and turned on the camera app, she made sure to get her face and her moms kissing in the frame, then she made a goofy smile and took the picture.
Santana opens her eyes and looks to the side, her lips still connected with Rachel's. She rolls her eyes and breaks the kiss, looking at Rachel with eyes full of lust. Santana shakes her head and smiles at Dani, "Great first picture of us here." She jokes and reaches for her chopsticks. In a corner of her mind, there is still a thought of a different kind of first her and Rachel are going to experience, soon she hopes.
Rachel blushed a bit, and then grabbed her fork. "Is that one going into your book as well?" She asks sarcastically.
"Yup, and it will be called 'New house, old women.' Catchy, right?" Dani jokes and giggles.
"Really?" Rachel felt insulted by it and frowned slightly, "I'm not that old.." She pouts.
Santana isn't sure if she's insulted or humored by it. She pecks Rachel's lips, not caring that they both have food in their mouths, "You're not old, babe." She finishes her bite and continues, "Our daughter just loves teasing us, but she forgets who has the real power here." She raises her eyebrow and smirks at Dani.
Dani can't help but smirk at her moms' interactions; it really makes her feel at home, even more so than she already does. She takes her fork and digs into her food, and of course she enjoys it, she gets the same thing every time they order from this Chinese food place. Even though things were different and it wasn't the apartment, with the big comfortable couch, and the internet TV with Netflix installed. Dani was quite fond of being outside, instead of being in a city like environment where she had to worry who was behind her; she was in a nice country area with a backyard she could roam free in. Dani Lopez was indeed a happy, young girl.
What do you think about this flashbacks chapter?
Much more ahead :)
'till next time.
