AN: This a reminder to the readers that the point of this story is Quinn's journey in understanding herself, her relationships, her sexuality and her friendships all with the help of Brittana.

Chapter 36

Later that same evening, Quinn stands at the front door of her home with Kelly in her arms and takes a deep breath. "This is it. Be positive." She turns the handle and walks in to the aroma of pancakes, bacon and coffee. She surveys the living room and is surprised to find it isn't in total chaos. There are a few stray socks and a beer can left by the couch but it could've been much worse.

"You made it," says Puck, reaching out to take Kelly from Quinn.

"Yah, how late am I? Smells like I missed dinner and you're already serving breakfast."

Puck sits Kelly in her seat at the dining table and buckles her in. "Oh, sorry. I wanted to cook for us but I only know how to cook breakfast foods or grill and I didn't have charcoal." He runs his hand through his hair and rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Maybe we should just go out and eat."

Quinn kicks herself for her negative comment and stops him from taking Kelly out of her seat. "No, no it's fine. You know how much I love bacon. This is like the perfect dinner."

"Okay... well everything is ready." He pulls a chair out for Quinn at the head of the table - two seats down from where he placed Kelly.

"I think I should sit near Kelly, don't you?"

"Oh, right, of course. Sit there. I'll move her closer." Puck moves Kelly then goes into the kitchen and brings out the food and a bottle of red wine.

Quinn frowns at him. "Wine? With pancakes?"

Puck puts down the bottle. "Oh. Um, we've got orange juice."

"That sounds better." She follows him into the kitchen and her eyes go wide at the mess. The counter is covered in flour, broken eggshells, dirty measuring cups, used ladles and much more. "What happened?"

"Pancakes."

"Why are there so many dirty dishes? Why three ladles?"

"I didn't know which one would make the right size pancakes."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense." Quinn rolls her eyes internally.

"I'm gonna clean it up."

"Yes, you are because I'm not..." Quinn catches herself before she finishes telling him that she's not his maid. "I'm sorry. I just came in to get a bowl for Kelly's apricots." She grabs a bowl then sees a Starbucks box of coffee on the counter. "What's this?"

"Coffee."

"I know it's coffee. Why didn't you use the machine?"

Puck glances at the Keurig and doesn't want to admit that he doesn't know how to use the fancy machine. "I like Starbucks better."

"What flavor did you get?"

"Just regular coffee."

Quinn sighs and makes herself a cup of Wild Mountain Blueberry. "This will go great with pancakes."

Puck feels the irritation rising in him and becomes physically hot. He goes to the refrigerator and grabs a beer. Quinn eyes him incredulously. "What are you doing?"

"I need a drink."

Quinn shakes her head, turns on her heels and goes back to the dining room. Puck downs an entire can of beer then grabs a second to take with him to the table.

The two eat silently - neither having any idea what to talk about. Puck finishes first and takes his dishes to the sink then starts washing up - leaving Quinn to sit there and converse with their child who can't talk yet. She sighs and pulls out her phone.

QPDoll: This is awful!

BFF: Keep trying :o) It's only been an hour.

QPDoll: Ugh. The kitchen is a mess and his dirty socks are all over the place!

BFF: Stop being a bitch and relax!

BFF: San typed that!

QPDoll: I knew that, B. :)

QPDoll: Tell Santana she's right.

Lopez: Resend that last text to my phone so I can save it forever!

Lopez: For those cold, depressing nights when I need a pick me up.

Lopez: I'll read that Q finally admitted that I'm right and it will warm up my bones.

Q: Bitch :)

Santana pockets her phone and returns to dinner. "Think they'll survive the night?"

"I hope so."

Tony throws a roll at his mama. "Catch."

Brittany catches the roll but scolds, "Tony, don't play with your food."

"I don't want this," whines Ella as she pushes her plate away.

Santana asks if she's full and Ella shrugs. Tony says he's still hungry and starts shoveling food in his mouth. Santana turns to Brittany, "What's going on?"

"I think they're over tired." She turns to the kids. "Okay, bedtime. Let's go."

Both children seem almost relieved and immediately hop down from their seats and trudge upstairs. Ella lifts her arms for Brittany to pick her up and is asleep before they reach the bedroom. The girls help the twins through their nighttime routine and tuck them in bed.

They return to the dining room and Santana drops into her chair with a sigh. "I'm so exhausted. They came back from school so hyper. It took forever to calm them down. Is this what we have to look forward to?"

"It was their first day. They're just getting used to things."

"I hope they settle into their routine quickly. I'm not a fan of this ADHD-ness."

"I know. You used to hate coming home when they were younger."

"Can you blame me? You were all bouncing off the walls. There were pictures tacked up with paint dripping down the walls, play-dough in the carpet and every room was a mess."

Brittany takes her wife's hand warmly. "I admit, it was much better when you took over. Are you looking forward to doing it again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Another baby. I'll carry him or her but aren't you going to stay home once I finish breastfeeding?"

Santana frowns. She hadn't actually thought about that part of what it meant to have another baby. "I don't know."

Now, it's Brittany's turn to frown. "What do you mean you don't know? You want to send our baby to a sitter?"

"No, but now that you know how to take care of kids that age wouldn't you do it? Your job is more flexible. Maybe you could add a daycare to the studio."

"I knew how to take care of them. They were healthy, well fed and happy! I may not have had structure but I was perfectly capable of taking care of them."

"I know, I didn't mean that. I just meant... I mean, my job might be changing. If this article goes well I might be out in the field more. I won't be able to stay home with a baby."

Brittany ignores Santana's last comments, still hurt by the previous one. "Did you agree to stay home with the twins because you thought I was incompetent?"

"What? NO."

"You did." Brittany's eyes well with tears. All her insecurities of inferiority and inadequacy bursting to the surface. "You thought I wasn't good enough to take care of our children just because I didn't use charts and workbooks and have nap time!"

"No, B that's not what I meant."

"Fine, what did you mean?"

"I meant that... you didn't... I mean, it was a new situation and... you didn't know..." Shut up! Stop focusing on what she didn't do. "You were so amazing when they were babies and I don't know how you did it. I know that I couldn't have -"

Brittany jumps up, her chair flying back and falling to the floor. "You don't know how I took care of them as babies? Why? Because breastfeeding and changing diapers was too difficult for me?"

"NO, that's not what I meant!" Santana reaches out to take her wife's hand but Brittany steps away and runs off to the basement. "Shit."

Quinn wipes off Kelly's mouth and places her in the play pen. Stop being a bitch. She picks up the remaining dishes and takes them to the kitchen. "You wash, I'll dry?"

"Don't we have a dishwasher?"

"It broke a few months ago."

"Why didn't you tell me? I could've fixed it."

"I only found out recently that you could fix things." She turns to him pointedly. "I wonder why I never knew that?" Puck shrugs. "Apparently you fixed Brittana's car, their AC and their washer. Why haven't you fixed any of the things around here?"

"I would've gotten to it eventually."

"Hmmm, really? Okay, then tell me, what needs to be fixed in our home?" When he gives her a puzzled expression she continues. "I asked why you haven't fixed any of the broken things here and you said you were going to so that means you know what needs to be fixed and would do it when you had time. So, I'm asking you, WHICH THINGS IN OUR HOME NEED TO BE FIXED?"

"You don't have to yell, I'm right here." Puck gauges her reaction and swallows nervously when she arches an eyebrow but continues firmly. "You just said you didn't know that I could fix things so you wouldn't have told me about them." He crosses his arms smugly, secretly patting himself on the back for standing up to her.

"I may not have asked YOU to fix them but I did tell you to call someone to have them fixed. That's the problem with you Puck, you never listen when I talk."

"Why couldn't you call to have it fixed? Why did it have to be me!"

"Because that was your responsibility! I cooked and cleaned. The least you could've done was make a damn phone call to get something fixed!" She slams her hand down on the counter then holds her hand up, "No, I take that back. The LEAST you could have done is PAY ATTENTION WHEN I TOLD YOU SOMETHING!"

Puck grabs the magnetic To Do list pad off of the refrigerator and a pen and tosses it so that it slides across the counter and lands near her. "FIne. I'm listening now. Write down all the shit you want me to fix while I'm here this week."

Quinn's face contorts in confusion. "You'll actually do it?"

"I said I would, didn't I? Or were you not paying attention?" He opens the refrigerator for another beer.

Santana washes up the dishes and waits for Brittany to return. She paces the living room, does push ups, rearranges the furniture, does crunches and still no Brittany. It's been almost two hours. She goes to the basement door and presses her ear against it, trying to hear if there's music being played. She doesn't hear any and places her palms flat on the wall to feel for a beat and still feels none. She opens the door cautiously and peers in. The room is dark except for the light of the television. She doesn't see Brittany but assumes she's laying on the couch.

She walks down the stairs - her legs trembling anxiously - and grips the railing for support. When she reaches the bottom, she waits to be acknowledged but when she isn't she goes over to the couch. "Babe?"

Brittany is asleep, wads of tissue strewn around her. Her eyes are swollen and she's still going through what Brittany calls the crying aftershocks - a sign that she had been crying heavily.

Santana sits beside her on the couch and Brittany instinctively scoots back and turns to face her. Santana smiles at brushes the hair back from her wife's face. "Baby, are you coming to bed?"

Brittany opens her eyes slowly, takes in her surroundings and looks at her wife. She cries, "You didn't think I was a bad mother, did you?"

Santana moves to lay beside her and holds her tight. "No, absolutely not. That thought has never crossed my mind. Never."

"What did you mean?"

Santana rests her head on the pillow so she's eye to eye with Brittany. "Honey, we both have strengths and weaknesses. You taught me that. I wasn't implying that you were incompetent. I would never think that about you. You are an amazing mother and I do not think my parenting is better than yours. I've even told Q that I thought you were the better mother."

Brittany nods, accepting the explanation. "If you don't want to stay home and I don't want to stay home then how do we have another baby?"

"I guess we need a sitter. We could talk to our moms and see if they would be willing to split the week between them. If the four of us took one day then we'd only need someone to do a second day to cover the whole week. It's not that bad. But, it is something that we need to make sure we have in place before we get you pregnant." Brittany nuzzles her face in Santana's neck. "Have you thought about when you want to get pregnant?"

"No, not really. I was just so happy that we were actually talking about another baby. I didn't have a plan or anything. Let's talk about it later. I'm so tired."

"Okay. Bed?"

"Yes please."

After cleaning the kitchen, several more arguments and Puck agreeing to fix the items on the list, Quinn and Puck sit on the couch watching TV. Quinn is rocking Kelly. "Do you remember that time you helped me babysit Mr. Shue's nephews?"

"How could I forget? They were terrors."

"I think we did alright."

"How did we get them to calm down?"

"We sang. You know, we've never sung to Kelly."

"You kicked... Sorry. Yah, we could sing to her now."

Quinn looks down at her sleeping daughter. "We're too late. She's already asleep." Her nerves bubble up now that they don't have Kelly as a buffer between them. Should she lay Kelly down? Should they leave? "I guess we should go."

"Oh, okay... unless you want to watch a movie?" Quinn opens her mouth and Puck barrels on. "No, I am not asking you for sex. I will even go sit over there in the armchair so you don't feel pressured. I'm just saying the other night was nice when we were watching that cookie monster chef and I wouldn't mind doing it again."

"Could you lay a quilt down for her?"

"I could or you could put her in her room. I bet she'd enjoy sleeping in her own bed. I know I have been."

Quinn nods and takes her upstairs. She returns with the baby monitor receiver and places it on the side table.

"Is that a walkie-talkie?"

Quinn's first instinct is to roll her eyes and call him an idiot but she bites her tongue. "No, it's a baby monitor." She lifts the device and presses a button to turn the screen on. "See."

Puck squints at the small screen and smiles. "There's a camera in her room? Nice. We should put one of those in Santitany's room." Quinn slaps his arm. "I was kidding."

"You know I don't like when you call them that."

"Hey, I'm not the one who mashed them up that way. S did it herself."

Quinn goes over to the entertainment unit and spins the DVD carousel in search of a good movie. "I can't believe how many of us dated in high school. Do you keep in touch with any of the other girls?"

"Nah. I saw Lauren a year ago and met her husband. Some wrestler dude. I haven't seen Rachel since graduation. You?"

"Actually, I just saw Rachel last week. We had a mini reunion to watch Mercedes sing."

"I thought we were talking about seeing people we dated?"

"Oh yah, sorry." Quinn holds up Jurassic Park III. "How about this one?"

"Fine but what is it with you and that movie? It's so lame."

"Shut up. I know you like the Pterodactyls."

"Well, yah but that's the only cool part." Quinn returns to the couch and Puck side eyes her then stands to move to the armchair. Quinn grabs his leg and pulls him back. He asks, "Are you sure because I don't want you to get the wrong idea."

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Shut up and cuddle with me."

Brittany and Santana are snuggled in bed with Santana as the big but short spoon. Their hands are laced loosely over Brittany's stomach.

"Babe?" Santana asks. "Are we okay?"

Brittany turns to face her wife. "Yah, why?"

Santana shrugs. "That was kind of an intense argument. We don't fight often."

"Do you want to fight more often?" Brittany asks with a smile.

"No, definitely not."

"Good, me either." Brittany turns again and settles her backside into Santana's front but moves their laced hands to rest over her heart. "I love you, Santana."

"I love you too, Brittany."

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