Hi readers!

Here's a new chapter for you guys! I'm sorry I don't update as frequantly as I used to do before, but I just don't have as much time as I used to have. I really hope this fanfic isn't starting to bore you guys!

Oh, and special thanks to AshleyDonovan, who made me find out Naya's mother's name! 'Cause I couldn't find it anywhere, haha.

Thank you very much for all the reviews and alerts I keep getting on this fanfic! It still suprises me how far I've gotten with this fanfic. I don't wanna sound sappy, but I just have to say that I couldn't have done it without you guys.

Enjoy!

Impossible Heartache

Chapter 37

Heather was glad Naya's mother prepared fajitas. If it hadn't been so damn delicious, she was pretty sure that her nerves wouldn't allow her to swallow anything through her thick throat.

She was sitting across from Nickayla, who was shoving her fajita into her mouth almost whole, barely chewing before swallowing her huge bite. Her mother, who was sitting next to her, nudged her gently and raised an eyebrow at her.

Under the table, Naya was softly brushing her leg against Heather's. Heather knew it was meant to comfort her nerves, but the gentle feeling of her leg against her own sent shivers down her spine.

Naya's father was sitting at the head of the table, taking a zip of his water before turning to his daughter and her now still secret girlfriend.

"So how is work nowadays? What episode are you working on?" He asked.

They had finished shooting 'Sexy' the week before, and were now almost finished with shooting 'Original Song'. Sexy would air in a few days. You could say that this was the perfect timing to tell Naya's parents that they were together. Naya- Santana would confess her love for Brittany. It just seemed so right to tell them now. But how? Heather felt her muscles tense as she looked at Naya, asking for direction.

Naya had a careless smile on her face, shrugging her shoulders as she dropped her hands on her lap, hiding them under the table.

"Sexy airs this Tuesday. We're really excited about that episode." She shot Heather a smile as she gently brushed her fingers over her bare arm under the table, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. Heather gave her a shaky smile in return, trying not to look nervous as she did so. She was pretty certain that she looked like a nervous wreck at that moment.

"Oh yeah, the episode where you realize you wanna make lady babies with Heather!" Nickayla squealed as she swallowed another bite of her food. Her mother shot her another warning glare.

Heather tensed and reached for Naya's hand under the table. Naya took it eagerly and intertwined their fingers, giving her a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"Exactly." She chuckled, her nose wrinkling in that adorable way it always does when she's laughing. She didn't seem nervous at all. Heather didn't understand how Naya could be so calm at that moment. "Brittany should totally break up with Artie." She added, shooting Heather a sweet smile that made her heart throb heavily against her chest.

"Yeah, Heather." Nickayla said accusingly with a playful look on her face. "What's not to like about this girl?" She smiled as she waved her fork at Naya.

Heather felt her heart hammer in the back of her throat, making it unable for her to let any sound come out of her mouth. She didn't think she had ever been so nervous. Nickayla was practically handing her their coming out on a silver platter. It would be so easy to say someting like "Nothing. There's absolutely nothing not to like about her." Or "Yeah, Brittany should totally dump Artie for Santana." but her nerves were choking her.

She only realized how hard she was squeezing Naya's hand when she felt Naya's other hand fold over hers, gently unwrapping Heather's fingers from around her own.

She had to say something. Just something. Anything. Not saying anything would only make them think she was crazy or something. How would they ever accept their daughter to be with some crazy girl who was choking on her own words in her nervosity?

"Are you okay, honey?" Naya's mom asked, her eyebrows knitted together in both worry and confusion. Heather shifted her eyes towards her and was suddenly sure that she looked terrified. She tried to calm herself down by taking a deep, shivering breath while clutching Naya's hand.

She couldn't do this. She couldn't tell Naya's family that they were together. What if they wouldn't accept it? What if they wouldn't let them see eachother anymore? Maybe they would be disgusted by her. She thought of the possible disgusted looks on their faces. The way Nickayla had shot her that glance before when Naya used the word 'gay' — Had she looked scared? Afraid of finding out the truth?

She forced a smile on her face and nodded her head as she let herself look down at her plate. She felt as if she might faint. She hated herself for being so sick with nerves. Only this morning, with Naya in her arms, she had been so sure of telling Naya's parents. She hadn't been nervous at all. Naya had been so happy when she called her parents and told them they were coming over. She couldn't back out. Not now.

"Heather?" Naya asked, her voice suddenly weak and almost sounding scared as she held onto Heather's hand. Heather slowly turned her head toward her and saw Naya looking at her with fearful eyes.

She looked scared, but Heather knew she wasn't afraid of telling her family about them. She was afraid that Heather would back out of telling them. She was afraid that Heather would go back to denying her love for her. She was afraid that she would leave her. Heather could see her fear in her eyes. She could feel Naya's clammy hands clutching hard onto hers.

It broke her heart to see Naya so terrified like that. She never wanted Naya to think Heather was going to leave her. As long as Naya would have her, she would stay by her side. She would do anything for her. She would do anything to keep her from getting hurt. But this— this was different. If they told her family and they wouldn't accept them, she would definitely be hurt. Heather wanted to do anything to keep that from happening.

She looked deeply into Naya's dark eyes, searching for an answer what to do. Naya wanted to tell them, she knew that. Her family was important to her and she wanted them to know her. The real her. Heather knew she had to accept that, even if there was a chance of her getting hurt. Heather couldn't back out from this. If she did, she would hurt Naya even more. This wasn't about Heather's personal issues telling people about them. This was about Naya, and Naya wanted to tell them.

So they would.

"W-we have something to tell you." Heather said. Her eyes were still fixed on Naya's, and as she spoke, she slowly saw the fear disappear from her eyes and being traded for something different. Something warm. Her frown disappeared and the corners of her lips slowly turned up into a grateful, proud smile. Heather could see the love in Naya's eyes. It was as if she could see into her heart through her dark orbs. It made her whole body tingle with love.

Naya finally broke their gaze and turned to her family, who were all looking at them expectantly, silently swallowing the bites that were still lingering in their mouths. Heather kept her eyes on Naya and watched her take a deep breath. A small, calm smile washed over her face as she looked at each of her family members.

She didn't say anything, but instead she slowly lifted their intertwined hands from under the table and rested them between their plates. Heather could feel the eyes of the people in the room on their hands.

The room was silent.

All Heather could hear was her own hitching breathing. She was still looking at Naya, who was shifting her eyes across the tables, trying to read the reactions of her family. When nobody said anything for a time that seemed like forever, Heather watched as insecurity suddenly washed over Naya's face. She could feel Naya's grasp on her hands falter.

No. No, no, no, no.

She slowly forced herself to look at the other people in the room to check their facial expressions. Naya's parents' eyes were fixed on their clasped hands on the table with blank expressions on their faces, but Nickayla was shifting her eyes between her parents, also checking their expressions, maybe looking for how to react.

Then she turned her head towards their intertwined hands, and finally she shifted her eyes towards Heather. As she held her eyes, she suddenly broke into a smile. Heather felt her longues finally relax as she sent Naya's sister a relieved and grateful smile. She felt like she had saved her from being unable to breathe.

Then Nickayla turned to her dad, and snapped her fingers. "You owe me five bucks!" She said enthusiaticly, finally breaking the forever-lasting silence that had filled the entire room. "They told us!"

"No I don't. They didn't tell us." He pointed at Naya and Heather's hands on the table. "They just showed us." He chuckled, and Heather shifted her eyes towards him in amusement. She felt all the stress leave her body as soon as she heard Nickayla's ringing laugh echo through the room. She watched with a smile on her face as Naya's father nudged Naya's elbow with a smile on his face.

They were okay with it. They seemed natural about it. Had they made a bet? Had they already expected this? That would explain Nickayla's look from before. She felt the relief wash through her body as she watched Nickayla and her father interact.

She shifted her eyes towards Naya, wanting to see the happy smile that she was sure was plastered on her face, but when she did, Naya was tentatively looking across from her, into her mother's eyes.

Heather's smile immediately disappeared when she looked at Naya's mother, who was looking back at Naya with an intense look in her eyes. Her heart dropped as she felt Naya starting to retreat her hand, but Heather held on to it. She wasn't going to let go. Naya had been the strong one before, but right now she needed to be the strong one.

Then in just a split second, her mother's eyes turned to Heather before they turned back to Naya's and slowly, the corners of her mouth turned up and her eyes grew soft. Heather could feel an enormous smile creep onto her face as she saw Naya's mother smile at her daughter. She suddenly looked so proud. Proud at her daughter. Proud that she had found love. Proud that she had told her parents about it. Proud for everything she had accomplished in her life already at such a young age.

Naya's hand finally relaxed in hers, and she let a deep, shivering breath escape her lips as she smiled back at her mother, grateful and loving.

Heather couldn't avert her eyes from Naya. She had never seen her so happy. Surrounded by the people she loved, accepting and embracing her biggest secret. The one thing she kept from them. She was glowing. She was as a bright light that lit up the room.

With a smile on her face, Heather leaned forward and pressed her lips against the dimple on Naya's cheek, feeling her hot skin pierce through them like sunlight. She wasn't afraid to show them her affection towards their daughter and sister anymore. They accepted them. They were happy.

Naya was happy, which meant Heather was, too.
_

"Dinner was delicious, Mrs. Rivera." Heather smiled at Naya's parents as she held Naya's coat behind her, waiting for Naya to slide her arms through the sleeves.

"You'd think you would have learned to call me Yolanda by now." she laughed, as Heather sent her a smile.

"So when is Mychal coming home? Can you tell Nickayla not to tell him yet? I wanna be the one to tell him." Naya said as she brushed her hair out of her coat, letting it fall over her shoulders.

"Of course. He'll be home for the weekend in two weeks. Maybe you can come over for dinner again then? You know we love having you two here." Naya's dad said. His words warmed Heather's whole body. She couldn't have dreamed of Naya's parents being so accepting and loving about this whole situation.

Naya accepted the invite for the two of them as she kissed her parents goodbye. Her parents wrapped Heather into a deep hug, making Heather feel extremely welcome and loved. She deeply wished that her own mother would react in this way when she would tell her about Naya and her. She knew she wasn't ready for that yet though. She knew that the chance of her accepting them wasn't very big, and she wasn't ready to see disgustment and disappointment wash over her mothers face.

She didn't want to have to choose between her mother and Naya, but she knew that if she had to make a choice, it would be Naya. It would always be Naya.

Before they could leave the house, Nickayla emerged from the stairs and hugged her sister goodbye with a flushed face, a warm smile on her face, and her phone in her hand. When she pulled back and Naya spotted the phone and the almost love-sick smile on her face, she raised an eyebrow at her sister.

Nickayla grimaced, looking almost embarrassed as she hid her phone away again. "Shut up." She muttered, eventhough Naya hadn't said anything. Then she hugged Heather, wrapping her arms around her neck and bringing her mouth close to her ear.

"Don't break my sister's heart." She whispered. Heather smiled. She admired how much Nickayla and Naya cared for eachother. She didn't have that bond with her own sisters. She loved that Nickayla was looking out for her big sister and wanted to keep her from getting hurt, just like Naya did with her.

"Never." She whispered back, squeezing Nickayla's shoulders. "I promise." And she meant it. She wasn't ever going to break Naya's heart, no matter what happened. She would always choose Naya.

Nickayla let go of her and looked into her eyes, searching for something that might imply that Heather wasn't telling the truth, but when she didn't find anything, she nodded once and smiled brightly at her.

Naya looked at Heather questionally, curious about what had just happened between her sister and Heather, but she hadn't heard their quiet conversation. Heather simply took her hand instead of explaining.

Naya smiled brightly in response, again lighting up the room, sending vibes through Heather's whole body.

Hand in hand, they left the house and walked through the sheltered garden, feeling the eyes of Naya's family on their backs as Heather placed another soft kiss on Naya's cheek.

She was never going to break her heart. She had promised that to herself and to Nickayla, and she was going to do anything to keep that promise. She knew that she had to tell her own mother eventually, and she also knew who her choice would be if her mother made her choose between her and Naya.

She would always love Naya.