The day before the first day of their junior year, Santana and Rachel were busy juggling taking care of the twins and getting their own stuff ready. Santana made sure that her Cheerios uniform was washed and hung it up. Rachel made sure that her carefully chosen first day outfit was hung up and ready to be worn the next day. The twins made sure that their parents were stressed. "Okay, I've fed him, burped him, and changed him. What more can he possibly want?" Santana asked as the two sat in the nursery. Rachel looked over and saw Santana holding baby Thomas Joesph Emmet Miguel, who the two had affectionately dubbed TJ. She smiled at her wife and son.
"Maybe he wants his mommy to rock him." Rachel said. Santana looked at Rachel.
"Maybe he wants his mama to shut up and let his mommy be frustrated." Santana teased. Rachel smirked and rolled her eyes before looking at baby Braylan Emmalina Abigail Melinda, who Santana occasionally called 'Beam' due to her initials, to make sure she was okay. Santana sat down in the rocking chair and looked over at Rachel. "Tiny, are you sure you're good to go back to school? It's only been a little over a month since they were born." Santana said. Rachel turned around and smiled at her wife.
"Sanny, its been seven weeks since they were born. Most women only take about six weeks for maternity leave. I'm okay. I'm ready to return to school and return to Glee Club. We really need to focus if we're going to win Nationals. By the way, you're sure Kristy is okay with watching the twins while we're at school, right?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.
"Since Mia is starting kindergarten this year, all Kristy has to do is watch Dex. She said she needs craziness in her life. And what's more crazy than a one year old and two seven week old babies all under one roof?" Santana asked. Rachel smiled.
"Okay. You know how hesitant I was to ask that of her." Rachel said. Santana nodded.
"Yea, I know." Santana looked down and noticed that TJ had fallen asleep. She smiled and put the boy in his crib. It didn't matter that Santana was not actually the twin's biological mother. She loved them as if she had carried them and given birth to them. "Is Bray asleep?" Santana whispered. Rachel nodded. "Okay. Let's go." Santana whispered, quietly shutting the door behind her. Rachel fell onto the couch.
"Tomorrow's going to be a big day." Rachel said.
"Yea, I know. I can't believe Matt transferred." Santana said, sitting next to Rachel.
"Neither can I. I know he never said much, but his dancing was incredible." Rachel said.
"We still have Mike. And Brittany's an amazing dancer." Santana said.
"So are you." Rachel said. Santana smiled.
"Thanks, but B's better than me. She's been dancing as long as you've been singing." Santana said.
"I'll have you know that I participated in dance classes as well." Rachel said.
"You did ballet and tap. Britt did hip-hop. Which can you adapt to songs better?" Santana teased. Rachel smirked.
"I see your point." Rachel said. Santana smiled and pulled Rachel's legs so that they were lying across her lap. She sighed thoughtfully as she rubbed her hands up and down Rachel's legs. "What are you thinking about, Sanny?" Rachel asked. Santana smiled softly at Rachel.
"Do you ever wonder if we rushed things with getting married? Don't get me wrong, I totally love it and I love you, but... we were only engaged for about five months. And what if I don't get into any colleges in New York?" Santana asked. Rachel bit her lip.
"Yea, I've thought about it. But honestly, I don't have to go to Julliard." Rachel said. Santana put a hand up to stop her.
"I won't let you go anywhere else. Its always been your dream to go to Julliard." Santana said.
"My dream is to be wherever you are." Rachel said.
"And my dream is for you to fulfill your dream of being on Broadway." Santana said. Rachel smiled.
"Sanny, you are an amazing student. You can easily get into any college in New York. And with your singing and dancing abilities, you could get into Julliard if you wanted." Rachel said. Santana smiled at her wife.
"I don't want to go to Julliard. I'll leave that one for you." Santana said.
"Where do you want to go?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know... its between NYU and Columbia." Santana said.
"Take me out of the equation." Rachel said. Santana looked at her.
"You'll be the deciding factor." Santana said.
"Sanny." Rachel said.
"UCLA or Texas A&M." Santana admitted.
"Why those two schools?" Rachel asked.
"UCLA is really far away from Lima, but Texas A&M's colors are maroon and white and I look really good in maroon." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"You'd choose a college because of how good you look in its colors?" Rachel asked. Santana smiled.
"Not only that. I love the tradition there. Plus, my dad went to A&M and he loved it. And their winters aren't nearly as bad as an Northern winter." Santana said.
"S?" Rachel said.
"What?" Santana asked.
"You'd come home for winter." Rachel reminded her. Santana thought about that before smilng sheepishly.
"Oh yea. But that doesn't matter. Because I've decided I want to go to NYU or Columbia. Besides Texas and California are really hot." Santana said. Rachel smiled.
"You're adorable." Rachel said. Santana smiled and kissed her wife. "We need to get to sleep." Rachel said. Santana looked up at the clock that was in their living room.
"Tiny, it's eight thirty. We just put a couple of seven week old babies to sleep and you want to go to sleep now?" Santana asked. Rachel shrugged.
"What else is there to do? The babies are sleeping and we don't have homework because school hasn't started yet." Rachel said. Santana smiled.
"I can think of something." Santana said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
"Santana Lopez, we are not having sex with our kids in the next room." Rachel said.
"But we haven't done it in a really long time." Santana complained.
"We did it last week when Finn and Kurt were watching the babies for an afternoon." Rachel said.
"But that's seven whole days." Santana argued.
"Santana." Rachel said. Santana sighed.
"Fine. I guess there's always the janitor's closets at school." Santana said.
"San! No." Rachel said.
"Why not?" Santana asked.
"We could get in trouble for that." Rachel said.
"What? We're already married." Santana said.
"No." Rachel said. Santana laughed.
"Fine. Hey did our schedules ever come in?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.
"They're on the counter. I never got around to opening them." Rachel said. Santana moved Rachel's legs and stood up to walk into the kitchen. She grabbed the two envelopes labelled:
Santana Lopez
3201 Redding Rd
Lima, OH 54321
and
Rachel Lopez
3201 Redding Rd
Lima, OH 54321
Santana always smiled when she saw Lopez next to Rachel's name. She walked back to the couch and handed Rachel her schedule. "Here you go, Rachel Lopez." Santana said, smiling over at her wife. Rachel smiled back and opened the envelope. Santana read her schedule.
Santana Elena Lopez
Grade: 11
First Period: Choir - Mr. Schuester
Second Period: Pre Calculus - Mrs. Ordell
Third Period: AP US History- Mr. Ellis
LUNCH
Fourth Period: Spanish III: Mr. Schuester
Fifth Period: Physics - Dr. Nelson
Sixth Period: Film Editing - Mr. Olsen
Seventh Period: AP Environmental Science - Mr. Jobson
Eighth Period: AP English III - Mrs. Wilson
Santana smiled as she went over her schedule. She had been waiting since Freshman year to take Film Editing. "What's your schedule like?" Santana asked. Rachel handed her the schedule.
Rachel Barbara Berry Lopez
Grade: 11
First Period: Choir - Mr. Schuester
Second Period: Pre Calculus - Mr. Ordell
Third Period: AP US History- Mr. Ellis
LUNCH
Fourth Period: French III - Mrs. Lasell
Fifth Period: Physics - Dr. Nelson
Sixth Period: Film Editing - Mr. Olsen
Seventh Period: AP Environmental Science - Mr. Jobson
Eighth Period: AP English III - Mrs. Wilson
"How is that we get virtually the same schedule every year?" Santana asked as she smiled at her wife. Rachel shrugged.
"Luck?" she guessed.
"Maybe. Maybe its fate." Santana said. Rachel smiled and stifled a yawn. "Oh wow. You really are tired. Why don't you go to bed." Santana suggested.
"Will you come with me?" Rachel asked.
"But I'm not tired." Santana protested.
"Then you can cuddle with me until you fall asleep." Rachel said. Santana smiled and nodded. The next morning, Santana woke up at six in the morning, before Rachel did. She carefully got out of bed and went into their bathroom to shower. Once she was out of the showere she blow-dried her hair. In the middle of straightening her hair, the door opened. She smiled over as she saw the sleepy figure of her wife walk in to their bathroom.
"Morning beautiful." Santana said. She laughed as she recieved a grunt in response as Rachel set the baby monitor down on the counter so Santana could hear it while Rachel showered. Santana had learned long ago that despite what Rachel said about morning rituals, she was not a morning person. As soon as Santana had finished straightening her hair and unplugged the straightener, she heard crying through the monitor. "Impeccable timing." she muttered as she grabbed the monitor and walked out of the bathroom, through their bedroom and into the hallway to the nursery. She walked over to TJ, the one crying. "Hey buddy." Santana said softly. Santana picked up her son and set him on the changing table. "Amazing how Rachel always seems to be busy when you guys need to be changed." Santana said. She heard soft laughter from behind her. She turned slightly and saw Rachel standing in the doorway with wet hair.
"I'm gonna blow dry it, I just wanted to check on you and make sure you've got this under control." Rachel said. Santana nodded.
"Yea. Bray isn't awake yet, but I'm hoping that she waits until I'm done with TJ to wake up." Santana said. Rachel nodded and went back into their bathroom. Santana returned to her task of changing her son. The moment she had set him back in his crib, his sister woke up. Santana smiled over. "You two are on a roll today." Santana said as she picked up her daughter and proceeded to do the exact same thing. Right as she was done changing Braylan, Rachel walked in, completely dressed for school. Santana looked over, eyed her outfit, and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Rachel asked. Santana hesitated before shaking her head.
"Nothing." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"Santana, I know when you're lying to me." Rachel said. Santana sighed.
"What happened to the new and improved Rachel Berry wardrobe that your dads bought you? You know the one that Q, B, and I helped pick out last week?" Santana asked. Rachel shrugged.
"I wanted to wear this. I thought I looked good." Rachel said.
"You look like Ms. Pillsbury." Santana teased. Rachel glared at her, but the smilng threatening to come out gave her away. "Seriously, Rach, that bow looks big enough to have its own zip code." Santana continued.
"Just go get dressed. We have to drop the twins off at your parents house and something tells me Mia is going to want her big sister Tana to take her to her first day of kindergarten." Rachel said. Santana shook her head.
"Dad always takes us on our very very first day of school. He did it with me, he did it with Isaac, and he'll do it with Dex in the future. And today, he's going to do it with Mia. All the other first days, it didn't matter who took us. I mean, usually it was Dad, but it wasn't as important as that first one, you know?" Santana said. Rachel smiled and nodded. Santana kissed her wife before going to put on her Cheerios uniform. She walked into the bathroom, put her makeup on, and put her hair in a ponytail. When she was done, she checked herself out in the full body mirror Rachel had hung up on one of their walls. 'I may be married, but I'm still the HBIC.' Santana thought as she looked at herself.
"Sanny!" she heard. Santana walked into the nursery.
"What's up?" Santana asked Rachel.
"Can you take Braylan and feed her?" Rachel asked. Rachel had decided not to breastfeed the twins. Santana nodded and accepted her daughter. "Thanks, I'll be in there in a few with TJ. I just want to spend a little time with him. I spent so much time with Bray yesterday." Rachel said. Santana smiled and nodded.
"Come on baby girl. Let's go eat." Santana said as she walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle from the fridge and put it in the bottle heater. Normally when she did this, whichever baby she had at the time went in a high chair, but Santana felt like holding Braylan while the bottle heated. Her back turned to the entrance to the kitchen, she softly rocked back and forth. Braylan tried to eat Santana's Cheerio uniform, as well as she could with no teeth. Santana laughed. "Oh no you don't." Santana said, pulling the girl away from the very expensive uniform. "And don't even think about throwing up on this either. You want to throw up on clothes, do the world a favor and throw up on that outfit Mama's wearing." Santana said. She heard a throat being cleared from behind and turned around. She smiled sheepishly at her wife. "Hey Rach." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"'Hey Rach?' That's all you have to say?" Rachel asked. Santana bit her lip and put Braylan down in her high chair.
"I love you?" Santana tried. Rachel rolled her eyes.
"Do you really want me to go change?" Rachel asked.
"Its just that you look really hot in those outfits we bought." Santana said. Rachel sighed.
"Santana, I am a mother." Rachel said.
"You're also a hot sixteen year old. Don't hide that." Santana said. Rachel smiled slight before handing TJ to Santana, who put the boy in his high chair before putting a bottle in the other bottle heater for him. She took the first one out when it was ready and fed Braylan. She turned around when she heard Rachel reenter the room and seriously almsot dropped her daughter. "Holy hell." Santana managed to get out. Rachel smiled and didn't even lecture her about cussing in front of the twins. "You look freaking hot, Tiny." Santana said. Rachel smirked and grabbed the second bottle when it was ready. After both babies were fed and burped, Santana and Rachel got their bags together and put the twins in their carseats in Rachel's Malibu. Santana's Mustang was not exactly baby friendly, so if she had to drive the babies around, she had to drive Rachel's car, meaning Santana had to do something she swore she'd never do the day she got her license. She had to let someone else drive her car. She grabbed the keys from Rachel's outstretched hand. Rachel had no problem letting Santana drive, espesically when the babies were in the car. She was always afraid she'd mess up and hurt them. Santana drove them to her parent's house. When they arrived, they unloaded the babies and walked into the house. "Hey!" Santana called.
"Tana!" Mia yelled, running down the stairs. "I'm going to school today." Mia said. Santana laughed.
"Yea you are. That excitement disappears after awhile, by the way." Santana said, smiling down at her little sister as she walked past to set TJ down. Rachel smiled at Mia as she did the same with Braylan. Santana sat down on the couch and motioned for Mia to join her. "I'm really proud of you." Santana said as her little sister jumped into her lap.
"I'm a big girl, just like you." Mia said. Santana smiled and kissed the top of her sister's head.
"Almost." Santana said. Isaac walked down the stairs. "Hey." Santana said. He nodded in response and stopped in front of the babies.
"Wow. They're getting bigger." Isaac said. Rachel nodded as Isaac walked over and hugged her.
"What about me?" Mia asked. He shook his head.
"You're still short." he teased. Mia pouted and Santana hugged her reassuringly.
"It's okay. Rachel's short too." Santana said.
"Santana!" Rachel said. Santana smiled up at her wife.
"Hey do you need a ride?" Santana asked her brother. Isaac was starting his freshman year. He nodded.
"Yea, I meant to ask you about that. I'm gonna need a ride like every day. I figure you have to come over every morning to bring the twins over and you'll be coming by after school to pick them up, you won't be going out of your way." Isaac said. Santana grinned.
"You're such a freeloader." Santana teased. Isaac shrugged and went into the kitchen to get breakfast. "Hey, we're picking something up on the way." she called out. He instantly returned. "This is a one time thing. Don't think I'm buying you breakfast every freaking morning." Santana said. Rachel smiled as she walked over to make sure the twins were all right. Dr. Lopez rushed down the stairs.
"Hello Rachel." he greeted his daughter in law.
"Hey Dr. Lopez." Rachel said.
"Rachel, how many times do we have to go through this. You're my daughter in law. Call me Max." Dr. Lopez said. Rachel nodded and smiled. Dr. Lopez walked over and kissed his oldest daughter on the head. "Hi mija." he said.
"Hi daddy." Santana said. Dr. Lopez smiled down at the twins before looking up at Mia.
"Are you almost ready to go, Mia?" he asked. Mia nodded. "She's been up for three hours." he said to Santana and Rachel. Santana raised an eyebrow.
"It's seven twenty." Santana said.
"I know." he said. Kristy came down the stairs carrying Dex.
"Hey girls. Let me put Dex down and then I'll say hi." Kristy said. She put the boy in his playpen. "Hey." she said, hugging Santana, who was now standing. "Now there's nothing special I need to know with these two right? They aren't allergic to anything?" Kristy asked. Rachel shook her head.
"No. Neither of them are allergic to anything. If you need anything just call me. I'll find a way to get out of class." Rachel said. Santana smiled.
"It'll be okay, Rach. Kristy knows how to take care of babies." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "Hey we better get going if we're getting breakfast. Isaac, let's go or you're walking. I don't have all day." Santana said. He nodded and ran upstairs to get his backpack. Santana and Rachel leaned down in front of the twins and said goodbye. Santana hugged Mia goodbye and Mia hugged Rachel goodbye. As soon as Isaac was downstairs, the three were out of the house.
"San, what happened to your Mustang?" Isaac asked from the backseat of the 2010 Malibu.
"I can't hook car seats up in that thing." Santana asked.
"Do you still have it?" he asked.
"Yea, I just can't drive it if the twins are going with us." Santana said. Isaac nodded. The three got their breakfast and headed to the high school. "You know where your locker is, right?" she asked her brother as they got out of the car. He nodded. "Okay. Just text me if you need anything. Oh and if a guy named Jacob Ben-Israel asks you any questions about Rachel and I, don't answer them. Tell me and I'll take care of him." Santana said. He nodded again and they went their separate ways. Santana and Rachel made their way to the choir room. "Now remember what we talked about. We need to open to new members because we need at least one to fill Matt's spot." Santana said, grabbing Rachel's hand. Rachel nodded and they entered the choir room.
"Well if it isn't Mrs. and Mrs. Santana Lopez." Puck said, smiling at the girls. They smiled back at him. "And how are my two favorite godchildren?" he asked.
"How many godchildren do you have, Puck?" Santana teased.
"Two." he said, smirking.
"The twins are fine, Noah. How's Beth?" Rachel asked.
"She's good. She's staying with Quinn's mom during the day." Puck said. Santana started to say something, but Mr. Schue walked in.
"I hope you all had wonderful summers. As you all know, Matt has transferred. If we're going to attract new members, we need to get out there. Let's give them the biggest song of the year. New Directions style." Mr. Schue said. That day at lunch, they all changed out of their normal clothes and got ready for the performance they choreographed. Suddenly, Empire State of Mind was playing on the sound system and the New Directions were singing. Santana made a point to dance with Rachel whenever she could as she sang the chorus. When it was over, they went back into the locker room to change. Rachel immediately jumped into Santana's arms.
"You were amazing, Santana." Rachel said. Santana hugged her.
"So were you. But uh... why the hell are you wearing a skirt? The rest of us are wearing pants." Santana asked.
"I felt like wearing a skirt. Oh. I saw this one girl watching us. I'm gonna talk to her later." Rachel said. Santana smiled.
"That's awesome babe." Santana said. That afternoon, Rachel paced worriedly in the choir room. Santana walked in. "I got your text. What's wrong?" Santana asked.
"That new girl, Sunshine? She can sing. Like really sing." Rachel said.
"And the problem with that is...?" Santana asked.
"What if she comes in and takes all the solos?" Rachel asked. Santana stared at her in disbelief.
"Tiny, we want to beat Vocal Adrenaline. If Sunshine can help us do that, then don't you think we should welcome her with open arms?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.
"I guess you're right." Rachel said. Santana walked over and gave her wife a reassuring hug. If only Santana could tell what Rachel was plotting in her mind.