A/N: Much love for the love :) Muchness of fluff for our Brittana bubble :)
Short, sweet. Let's get this show on the road. I think I've kept you guys waiting long enough, right? :)
Ch. 50 has been re-posted because I made quite a few changes. I'd suggest you guys read that before this one.
Onwards and up!
-H
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :(
CHAPTER 51
"Guys, this floor is way too slippery," Santana ordered her stage hands. "I don't need my cast sliding and breaking an ankle in the first number. Get some wax or something."
They jumped into action. Santana looked down at her to-do list, which was ridiculously long, but very meticulous. Everything had been covered down to the last detail.
"Trevor!" she called.
Her male lead jogged up to the stage. "What's up, Ms. L?"
"Have you checked with your AV buddies that the problem we were having with the spotlight yesterday has been fixed?"
He nodded and smiled. "We went through a tester at lunch and everything was perfect, Ms. L."
"Ok, thanks." She checked one more thing off her list before rushing backstage to where the costumes were stacked, ready for the cast to change into when they arrived in a few hours.
"We have the red lipstick for Hilary, right?" she asked Chloe, who was unpacking the make-up from boxes and stacking them on the different tables. "The last thing we need is for to have another allergic reaction."
"It's all sorted, Ms. L," Chloe said quietly, systematically stocking each dressing table with the make-up that each girl would need.
Santana paused. "You ok, Chlo?"
The teenager sighed. "I'm freaking out. My mom's going to be here tonight."
"Well, you said that coffee went ok yesterday, right?" Santana asked, holding her clipboard to her chest.
"It was awkward as hell," Chloe grumbled. "She didn't know what to say to me, like asking me about how my day was and what I've been doing isn't something that she can actually ask me anymore."
"Well, do you think that she should be asking those questions?"
"I don't know. And that's the frustrating part! She was rambling about frigging Bianca half the time. Like I need any more reminders of how frigging perfect my sister is."
"Hey, hey," Santana said, placing a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "You're overthinking things right now. Just forget about your mom and have fun with your friends on that stage. Don't forget the reason you're doing this."
"Because you made me." Her voice had a teasing tone.
The Latina chuckled. "One of the best decisions I've made, I think."
"Yeah, I'd agree to that."
"San?"
Brittany. She sounded freaked. That could only mean one thing…
"Britt? I'm backstage."
Her fiancée almost collided with Santana as Brittany came running through the curtains. Her eyes were wide and she held her phone in her hand, looking at it nervously.
"It's ok, baby," Santana said soothingly, smiling at Brittany's adorable nervousness. "Let's walk for a bit. Is she on the phone?"
Brittany just nodded frantically. Santana took it from her.
"Dr. Marlowe? It's Santana."
"Good afternoon, Santana. How are you today?"
Santana took Brittany's hand and pulled her off the stage and to the corner of the auditorium, where they were out of earshot of everyone and had a little privacy. "I'm good, thanks. A little stressed out with some last minute things." Brittany looked at her pleadingly and she smiled, wrinkling her nose. "Do you have some news for us?"
"Yup. All Brittany's blood work came back clear. We'll have to do some more tests when you come in next week, as I mentioned, but I really don't think you need to be worried."
"Oh, I'm not," Santana chuckled. "My beautiful fiancée is going a little crazy, though. Thanks, Dr. Marlowe. See you next week."
She hung up the phone and was immediately bombarded with questions. "What did she say? Am I ok? Do I have a life-threatening disease? Am I going to die? Oh my God, I'm going to die, aren't I?"
Santana felt her heart swell with love at how ridiculous Brittany was being. She normally took everything in her stride, but on rare occasions, when confronted with something really important to her, she went completely paranoid. Considering that paranoia was generally Santana's department, it was too cute seeing Brittany all flustered.
"Baby, everything's fine," she murmured, tucking an errant strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Your blood is one hundred percent healthy."
"It is?" Brittany breathed out.
Santana smiled. "It is."
"Oh, thank God." She flung her arms around Santana's neck and the Latina just let her smile grow as she hugged her back.
"Everything's going to be fine, baby."
"I'm sorry. I totally freaked out," Brittany said, her voice muffled against Santana's neck.
"B, it's fine." Santana pulled away slightly so that she met Brittany's eyes. "How about we make a deal right now. At any point during this whole process, you are allowed to freak out about anything and everything and I'll be the calm one for once." She paused and smiled. "It just occurred to me that I haven't even thanked you."
Brittany smiled curiously. "For what?"
"For carrying our baby. For giving up control of your body for the next year so that we can expand our family."
"Oh, honey, you don't need to thank me for that. This is something that I'm so excited about doing. With you."
Santana bit her lip, but it didn't stop the grin from spreading across her face. "I really wanna kiss you right now."
Brittany wiggled her eyebrows. "After celebrating the resounding success of the musical tonight, you and I will have our own celebration."
"Are we talking about the kind of celebration that involves very little clothing?"
"No, we're talking about the kind of celebration that involves no clothing at all."
"My favourite kind."
Brittany leaned down for a quick peck. "Love you, baby, but I'm going to fetch our daughter from her play date before I'm too tempted to drag you into some long forgotten room backstage and have my way with you."
"So tempting," Santana murmured, holding onto Brittany's hand as she walked away, reluctant to let go. Bella's friend, Caitlin, had invited her to a play date after school and both Brittany and Santana had encouraged it knowing that their day would be crazy and Bella would want to be with them instead of Rachel or Kurt. She'd seemed pretty excited.
"See you soon, baby," Brittany said with a wink, letting their arms stretch out, their fingers connected until they were too far apart.
Santana sighed. She knew that her dependency on Brittany was probably unhealthy. They lived together and worked together. There were very few hours in the day that they didn't spend together. But she wouldn't have it any other way. She couldn't live without Brittany and she sure as hell didn't plan to.
"Ms. L! Problem with one of the speakers!"
Santana rolled her eyes and headed onto stage to solve yet another last-minute problem.
"Mommy, you look so pretty!" Bella said with a big smile.
"Aw, thanks, Little B," Brittany said with a smile as she applied some lip gloss. She smacked her lips together and surveyed her reflection in the mirror. Yeah, she looked good. Turning to her daughter, she let out an exaggerated gasp. "What happened to my little Bella?"
Bella giggled and twirled. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a dark blue dress with little black pumps that had the tiniest heel. It still astounded Brittany how super alike Bella was to Santana.
"Baby, you almost ready?" Santana called in a panicked voice.
Brittany rolled her eyes and knelt down next to Bella. "Mama's super stressed about the musical so we're just going to be super supportive, even if she goes a little crazy."
"I heard that," Santana said, flashing her a smirk as she exited the bedroom.
Brittany ran her eyes up and down her fiancée's body and she bit her lip. She couldn't wait for their celebration.
"You look beautiful, San," she said, taking Bella's hand and standing up.
Santana rolled her eyes. "B, you've seen me in this dress before."
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean that you don't look beautiful every time you wear it." She was wearing the same green dress that she'd worn on their first excursion to New York back in junior year. Brittany was a little jealous that she could still fit into it, but Santana had always been small and her body had always been smoking.
The Latina flushed and held out a hand. "How about the three prettiest girls in New York make their way to the event of the year?"
"Well, until the next biggest," Brittany added with a wink.
"Definitely." Santana leaned in for a quick kiss.
"Mama!" Bella whined.
Her moms chuckled. "Baby girl, you know we love you, but you're gonna have to get used to seeing a lot more of that," Santana teased.
Bella pulled a face so reminiscent of Santana's disdainful look in high school that Brittany burst out laughing. Santana rolled her eyes and pulled them towards the door.
"We're going to be late if you don't hurry!" she urged.
"Baby, calm down. The show starts in two hours. It's a miracle that we even got you to come home with us to change."
"There's still so much to do, though!" Santana fretted, opening the door. Bella broke away from their hands and ran to the elevator.
"Hey." Brittany gripped her wrists, forcing Santana to look at her. "Now it's my turn. You can freak out all you want and I'll stay calm. But you don't need to freak out because you've directed an amazing show and everything is going to be perfect."
"I could tell you the same thing, you know," the brunette teased, pulling the door closed behind them and locking it.
"Yeah, well, when you're calm, I automatically feel better. Like today…"
"Elevator!" Bella called.
They walked quickly to catch the opening doors – their daughter was forbidden to – and Bella started humming the opening song from the musical on the way down. As they headed through the lobby, Bella sighed heavily, causing her moms to look down at her in alarm.
"You ok, baby girl?"
"Yeah. It's gonna be weird not being on stage with everyone."
"Aww, Little B, I do know that everyone is gonna miss having you to follow up there," Brittany said seriously. "I'm sure your Mama will be happy to discuss some dance classes for you."
"I don't need dance classes, Mommy. You're the bestest teacher ever."
Brittany smiled. "Thank you, sweetie. If you want to be on stage, though, it's best to go to classes cos they have shows."
"That sounds awesome," Santana agreed, waving for a cab. "I think we should definitely look into that next week. What do you say, baby girl?"
"Yes!" Bella said excitedly, jumping up and down.
They climbed into a cab that had pulled up to the curb and spent the drive to Griffin Hill talking animatedly about the types of dances Bella would learn.
"Bella!"
Immediately after they'd exited the cab, Rachel's voice echoed down the steps leading up to the school. Santana rolled her eyes, but Bella didn't waste any time running to meet her favourite surrogate aunts and uncles.
"Baby, she looks absolutely gorgeous," Brittany whispered to Santana, slipping an arm around her waist. "Good job."
Santana smiled bashfully, knowing that Brittany wasn't only referring to their daughter's dress. It still astounded her that Bella had turned into the most selfless, honest and caring daughter ever. She often couldn't believe that Bella was really hers because she hadn't been like that.
Well, according to Britt, she had. She just hadn't realised it.
"Santana! Brittany!"
The couple looked over to where DC was walking towards them with a smile.
"Hey, DC," they greeted simultaneously.
"Don't you two look absolutely amazing. I just wanted to come over and wish you both the very best for tonight. Although, from what I've heard, I don't think I need to worry. It sounds like Santana has created a well-oiled machine of a show."
The Latina flushed. "It's not difficult to make a good show with people who are passionate."
"And you found them! I'd like you two to pop into my office tomorrow morning. I'm really interested in any other ideas that you two might have regarding the performing arts at this school."
Santana's face broke into a delighted smile. "Really, DC?"
He nodded. "See you tomorrow, ladies."
"Thank you!" Brittany called after them. She squeezed Santana's waist tighter. "You hear that, babe?"
"Uh huh." Santana was in a little daze. Everything that she'd worked for was becoming a reality. She felt like she was living on cloud nine.
"This has been the best year of my life."
The Latina blinked back to the present and met her favourite blue eyes with a smile. "Mine too, B," she said, nuzzling her cheek.
"Hey, lovebirds, get your tooshies up here!"
They laughed. "Sometimes I really want to call him Puck because he's just still so…Puck," Santana muttered.
Brittany and Santana made their way up the stairs, saying hi to several students who greeted them.
"Mama, Mommy! Max is here!" Bella announced with a big smile as they reached their friends.
"Hey, little Maxie," Santana cooed, pinching his cheek from where he say on his dad's hip. He squealed and swivelled to hide his face. "Well, that brings back memories," she chuckled.
"What memories?" Bella asked.
"You used to do that whenever you got shy," Santana explained to her daughter. "Not that you got shy very often."
"Honey Bee!"
"Oh, dear God, no," Brittany muttered.
Santana laughed. "Babe, I'm sure they'll be fine."
Brittany just grumbled under her breath, so Santana linked their fingers together for comfort. As awesome as Britt's family were, they did tend to get somewhat…embarrassing. At dinner the previous night, they'd been politely asked three times to keep their noise levels down because other patrons were complaining. They were at a Burger King. That was the Pierces.
"Hey, Mom, Dad," Brittany greeted her parents. She gave them each a hug, refusing to let go of Santana's hand. "Where's Hails?"
"I believe there was a handsome teacher that caught her attention," Natalie said, waving her hand dismissively.
"But we don't have any good-looking teachers," Santana commented. "You know, besides us."
"Different strokes for different folks," James said in his booming voice and Santana could feel Brittany cringe next to her.
"James, might I have some words with you over hither?" she asked. She had a certain…way with him.
"Sure."
Santana kissed the back of Brittany's hand before dropping it and guiding James away from everyone else.
"What's up, Brown Sugar?"
"James, we both love that you're here, really. But this is Brittany's place of work, a place where she's respected and well-liked. Could I please ask that you tone down your awesomeness and let your daughter have her deserved spotlight?"
"Sure," James replied simply with his boyish grin. "Not a peep."
Santana arched an eyebrow.
"Ok, two peeps. I'll be on my best behaviour."
She smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Thanks, Pop."
James winked at her and they headed back to their group of friends. Santana glanced at her watch. "Um, I'm gonna head backstage and just do a double check that everything's ok."
"Baby, you already did a quadruple check before you left. You're spending the night with your fiancée, daughter and friends."
Santana pouted, but Brittany just pecked it away.
"No arguments, San."
Noah made a whipped sound, which James echoed.
"That's one, James," Santana teased. He looked forlorn.
"Rachel!"
Everyone looked up and saw Chloe jogging down the stairs.
"Hi, Chloe. Oh, I love your make-up," Rachel said approvingly.
"Ugh, it's about twenty times more than what I usually wear. But I know it's necessary. Um, I just wanted to say thanks for coming. And for, you know, letting me stay with you."
"Oh, sweetie, you don't have to thank me for that," Rachel replied, pulling her in for a hug.
"And Ms. L, Ms. P. You guys have been so amazing through everything. Especially you, Ms. L. I'm gonna dedicate my first published book to you."
Santana felt herself tear up. She knew that Chloe would be able to do anything that she put her mind to. Chloe stepped into a hug from her English teacher and Santana felt Bella holding her leg. She broke the hug and leaned down, looking at Bella earnestly. Her daughter had a sad look on her face.
"Talk to me, baby girl," she said quietly.
"Mama, I'm s-sorry about what I said ab-bout Chloe," Bella hiccupped.
"Oh, Bella, I told that everything was ok. We moved past that months ago, didn't we?"
"Y-yes, but I was m-mean."
Santana scooped Bella into her arms and held her close. "Isabella, I love you so much and nothing or no one will change that. You said sorry for what you did and said and I accepted your apology. I forgave you a long time, baby girl. You need to forgive yourself."
"H-how do I do that?"
Santana glanced at Brittany, who immediately came to stand next to her, placing a hand on Bella's back.
"Little B, remember what I told you that day?"
Bella nodded. "I'm Mama's number one and she wants to help her students."
"Exactly. She's helped Chloe a lot these last few months. Mama couldn't love anyone the way she loves you. And because she loves you that way, she's not angry. Yes, you hurt her, but as soon as you said sorry, she forgave you because she loves you too much not to. Now what you need to do is accept that Mama has forgiven you and that it's in the past. You've both learned from what happened. You think you can work on being ok with what happened?"
"But…Mama, I was mean. That's not good. Why must I forget that?"
"We're not saying forget it like pretend it didn't happen, baby girl. We're saying that yes, it did happen, but it's ok. Sometimes we need to hurt to grow."
Santana met her fiancée's eyes as she said that and Brittany just smiled her favourite smile back at her.
"I'm pretty sure that we're going to have arguments and say mean things to each other as we grow up, but we'll always love each other and we just have to work through the hard times."
Bella nodded and wrapped her arms around Santana's neck, holding tightly to her.
"You wanna sit on my lap tonight, Bella?"
She nodded into her mama's neck and Santana smiled, placing a kiss on her head of dark hair. She glanced up at her friends and gave them an apologetic smile, but they just gave warm understanding smiles back.
"Chloe, break a leg. I know you're going to make me so proud," Santana said to the teenager, who was looking a little uncomfortable. "Hey, don't worry about it, ok? It happened a long-"
"She's here," Chloe said flatly, her eyes looking past them.
Santana and Brittany both turned around and saw a woman a few steps below them looking at Chloe nervously.
They look alike, Santana mused.
"Baby, can you go to Mommy for a second?" Santana asked her daughter.
Bella just held on tighter. Brittany smiled and rested her hand on Santana's lower back. "It's ok, San. You keep her. She needs you now," she whispered.
"Chloe, you should go and say hello," Rachel suggested.
Santana was surprised by her friend's encouragement. Then again, she hadn't really ever reconnected with Shelby, so she knew what kind of regret that felt like.
"Rachel, I don't-"
"Chlo, you should listen to her," Brittany cut in gently.
The teenager sighed and descended the few stairs to where her mother was waiting. A few words were exchanged that they couldn't hear. Eventually, Chloe turned around and stopped in front of Santana and Brittany.
"Ms. L, Ms. P, this is Julie Stemmet, my mom," she said in a decidedly flat voice.
Santana frowned at her, but put on a smile, extending her hand to Chloe's mom. "Hi, Santana Lopez. Pleasure to meet you."
"Brittany Pierce," the blonde greeted, shaking her hand. "It's really great that you could make it tonight. Chloe's amazing."
Mrs. Stemmet just nodded meekly. "Pleasure to meet you both. I, um, I would like to thank you for being there when I wasn't. It's…I've had a lot to think about and it was a great comfort knowing that Chloe has teachers like you looking out for her."
"Mrs. Stemmet-"
"Julie, please."
"Julie," Santana amended. "I'm glad that you're here for Chloe, really. I know that even though she's putting the surly teenager role that she's perfected over the last few months to good use right now, I know that it means a lot to her that you're here too."
Julie nodded and Chloe took a deep breath before walking past Santana and Brittany to where Rachel and Finn were standing.
"Babe, let's go," Santana whispered to Brittany.
"Yup," Brittany agreed, walking around them. "Quinn, how about we show you to your seats?"
"But it's getting juicy!" Noah protested, earning him a slap on the head from both Quinn and Santana.
Brittany intertwined her fingers with Santana's as they headed to the auditorium. They were stopped by a parent, Santana assumed.
"Hi, you don't know me, but my daughter has English with you, Ms. Lopez, and I'd just like to say that you have been an absolute godsend this year. She's developed a love for the subject and for school in general, and she's been talking about this musical for weeks."
"Oh, thank you so much," Santana said with a big smile. "This is my fiancée, Brittany Pierce. She teaches dance here."
"Pleasure," Brittany greeted with her standard charming smile.
"Oh, yes, Jessica can't stop talking about you, Ms. Pierce. You toured with Beyoncé, right?"
"Uh, no, I'm not that lucky," Brittany chuckled.
"She danced with Rihanna and Madonna and Justin Timberlake and she was on Dancing With The Stars," Bella rattled off proudly.
Santana and Brittany chuckled.
"This would be her number one fan, after me, of course. This is our daughter, Bella."
"How do you do?" the woman greeted politely, with a smile.
"How do you do what?" Bella asked.
The woman laughed. "Precious. Well, I hope that you two have a long legacy here because this school can only grow with you spearheading the arts program."
"Well, that's definitely something that we're interested in, Mrs…?"
"Oh, forgive me. My name is Mary Tipton. Jessica Tipton is in your class, Ms. Lopez."
"Oh, yes. I remember her now. Quite tall, blonde? She plays tennis, right? Pretty good from what I here."
"Thank you. Well, I'm sure you have many more people to say hello to so I won't keep you any longer. I just wanted to thank you for the effect that you've had on my daughter's education and, I'm sure, many other students here."
"Uh, um, thank you," Santana stammered. Her head was spinning. It was too much for her. She wasn't used to this kind of praise and attention. Being a teacher in a class of kids was very different to having parents constantly praise her.
"Enjoy the show, Mrs. Tipton. We hope to see Jessica in next year's musical, maybe?" Brittany asked.
"I have no doubt," Mrs. Tipton replied. "Good evening, ladies."
"Am I dreaming or something?" Santana murmured as they continued towards the auditorium.
"Nope. This is very real and all because of you," Brittany replied, kissing her cheek.
"Baby, the musical was your idea. And you're the dance teacher. You started all of this. And don't think that I won't let people forget that just because I wrote and directed this thing."
Brittany wrinkled her nose as they entered the auditorium. She glanced down at their daughter, who had rested her head on her mama's shoulder again. "You doing ok there, Little B?"
She nodded.
"I think we should go and see the ensemble. Maybe there's time for a little jam session before they have to get ready for the first curtain," Brittany suggested. "What do you think?"
Bella lifted her head to look at her mama. "Can we, Mama?"
"Ummmm," Santana mused, pretending to think.
"Pleeeeease?" Bella begged, sounding more like her old self.
"Yeah, ok. But if Mommy says it's time to go, then you listen, ok?"
"Yes, Mama." Bella kissed her cheek and Santana lowered her to the ground.
"Thanks, baby," Brittany whispered, with a wink. "See you in a bit?"
Santana nodded and kissed the back of Brittany's hand, her lips grazing her engagement ring. The smile she got as a result sent butterflies rioting in her stomach. She'd never get tired of that feeling.
She sighed as her fiancée and their daughter bounded down the stairs of the auditorium, a scene that she'd gotten so used to after seeing it daily for weeks. She was going to miss it.
"Wow, I gotta agree with Noah, Santana," Quinn commented. "You are so ridiculously whipped."
Santana grinned. "I know."
"Mama!"
Santana looked up immediately at the sound of her daughter's voice. Bella was climbing the stairs towards the row where they were all sitting.
"What is it, Bella? Where's Mommy?"
"She's waiting for you backstage. She said that they need you."
Santana rolled her eyes and took Bella's hand. "So much for tonight being about my fiancée and my daughter. Ok, baby girl, let's go and sort out this disaster. It's ten minutes before curtain up so I hope it's nothing too bad."
"We'll keep your seats open," Blaine promised.
"Thanks, guys. If I don't make it back in time, enjoy the show!"
Bella pulled her hand and Santana took the hint. She followed her daughter towards the stage and walked around to one of the back doors.
"Did Mommy say what could be wrong?" Santana asked, wracking her brain as she mentally went over her checklist. She was sure she'd checked everything at least twice. Ugh. She should've just gone backstage when she arrived instead of mingling.
"I dunno, Mama. She just said to find you super quick."
"Ok, ok." They entered the backstage area and she saw a big crowd of people. "Alright, I'm here. What's the emergency?"
"No emergency," Brittany said, appearing next to her. "The cast just felt that before the inaugural musical of Griffin Hill Academy began, they wanted to thank the person who got them to this moment."
"B, I told you not to do this," Santana warned, giving her fiancée a pointed look.
"It wasn't her, Ms. L. We wanted to," Hilary said, stepping forward.
Everyone was in full costume and they looked pretty spectacular.
"You guys look absolutely amazing," Santana gushed with a smile on her face.
"Thanks to you. We know that Ms. P totally started this whole thing and that she was really involved in a lot of the musical, and we love her for what she's done, but without you, we wouldn't be here," Hilary continued. "This is just a very small thank you from the cast and crew for your tireless hard work and passion in bringing an idea from your head to the stage."
Santana smiled a watery smile and sniffed. Hilary walked forward with a huge bouquet of dark pink roses.
"Oh, wow," she murmured. "Guys, thank you. This means so much. God, I can't believe you're gonna make me cry!" A few chuckles went around. "This show is so much more to me than just a musical. This represents the start of a new family. Not just for me, but for you guys as well." She reached her hand out to Brittany, who took it immediately, Bella latched onto her leg. "I have the utmost respect for every single one of you. Not only are you all amazing performers, but you're a truly great bunch of kids and I feel honoured that I got to know each of you." She pulled out one rose and handed it to her love. "For you, my love, for coming up with this amazing idea and bringing all of us together."
Her eyes said so much more and Brittany met her smile, completely understanding. She pulled out another rose and held it out to Bella. "And this one goes to the most amazing supporter of the arts that Griffin Hill has ever seen."
The cast cheered and Bella accepted the rose with an adorable little curtsy.
"Alright, people! Let's break some legs!" Brittany cheered.
A/N: I know this probably feels like a filler chapter, and maybe it is – I don't think it is. I hate the idea of a filler chapter. They don't serve a purpose and I'd like to think that what I write is purposeful. It all ties up. I don't write something for no reason, just for the sake of putting words on a page.
Some fics to read, if you'd like some recommendations: Never Knew I Needed – justsomebrittanagleek (you must be living under a rock if you haven't heard of this one :p), As I Am – emisummers, Not Attracted To You – BrittanaxLove
Twitter, Tumblr, Ask – hlnwst
