"Are we here sissy?" Quinn asked excitedly from the back seat when she saw Santana was parking up.
"Yeah baby we're here now. I know the car ride was pretty long, but you did so good" Santana praised chuckling when she looked in the rear view mirror and saw Quinn blushing.
"Britty's still asleep" she said, her voice laced with worry, "we can't go without her!" Santana laughed and turned around in her seat.
"We aren't gonna go without her silly girl" she said reaching between the seats and gently shaking Brittany's leg. Brittany's eyebrows scrunched as her eyes fluttered open, "Mama?" she whispered huskily rubbing her eyes with her fists.
"It's Tana baby, we're at the carnival remember?" she asked keeping her voice soft and soothing, loud voices were the worst after waking up in her opinion. Santana reached over and gestured towards Quinn's blankie and stuffed lamb that the girl was clutching, "can Sanna have those? We can put them in the diaper bag so they don't get lost" she asked, hoping Quinn wouldn't have a meltdown at the thought of not having Lambie, that kid carried it with her everywhere.
Luckily for Santana, her little sister nodded and smiled, kissing her lambs nose before holding the items out towards Santana as far as she could with the restriction of her car seat straps over her shoulders, Santana reached back to grab them from her.
"Good girl Quinnie" she praised, "could you pass me Britt's blankie too please?" she asked sweetly, thanking her when she passed it to her. Brittany whined when her blanket was taken from her hand but didn't make a fuss, she rubbed her eyes again slowly waking up more and stretched cutely in her carseat.
Santana got out of the car and opened Quinn's door, deciding to get her out first so Britt could take a little longer to wake up. She gently pulled Quinn's arms through the straps and lifted her out of the car, setting her on her feet and laughing when Quinn stretched too. She didn't blame the girls, those car seats were awful, little San hated hers, it was so itchy and uncomfortable.
"Can I has my jacket please? It's a wittle cold" Quinn asked with a shiver, Santana nodded, grabbing it from the car floor and helping the girl with the zipper after she had put it on.
"Stay close to me Quinnie" Santana warned gently, taking her hand and leading her around to Brittany's side of the car. The last thing she wanted was one of her sisters getting squished by a car within 10 minutes of being there.
"Hey there sleepyhead" Santana cooed to Brittany as she unclipped the straps across Brittany's chest and gently pulled her arms through. Brittany yawned and held her arms out so she could be lifted from the car, Santana held her steady when she wobbled a little as she was set on her feet.
"Okay girls, you hold my hands at all times and no running off" Santana warned sternly, making sure they were both listening, after receiving a tired nod and "mhm" from Britt and a "okay Sanna!" from Quinn she lead them both towards the entrance.
Soon tiredness was over taken by excitement when Brittany spotted a big slide, "lookie Tana!" she squealed trying to pull her two sisters along.
"Woah! We go on that?" Quinn asked hopefully, staring up at Santana with wide puppy eyes.
"Of course you can, we have to get our tickets first though" she informed them, laughing when both girls let out a dramatic sigh.
"Oh I know, life is so hard" she teased.
The first ride the girls decided on was the high swings, Santana went with them just incase one, or both of the girls didn't like it and freaked out. However, by the end of the ride both girls were giggling their heads off and begging to go again, Santana let them ride it two more times before deciding it was time to choose a different ride. She helped them both down from the swings and took their hands, leading them out of the ride.
"Tana dat was so high!" Brittany squealed pulling on Santana's hand and jumping up and down, Santana smiled, "yeah it was princess, you were both really brave!" she praised over dramatically. To her it was just a kids ride but she knew what a big deal it was to Quinn and Britt in their little mindsets, it must have seemed huge to them.
"Are you gonna tell Mommy what big brave girls you were?" she asked Quinn who was buzzing on the other side of her.
"Yeah! I bet she's gonna be pwoud of us!" Quinn nodded, pleased when Santana agreed with her.
Brittany decided that they should go on the big sack slide they had seen from the carpark next, as they were walking towards it Santana felt a tug on the diaper bag that was hanging from her shoulder. She looked down to see Brittany trying to unzip it with her hand that wasn't holding Santana's and peer in, "what are you up to cheeky" she asked with a smile, not wanting Brittany to think she was mad or in trouble.
"Do ya gots any milk in dere Tana?" Brittany lisped cutely, pointing to the bag hopefully. No matter how hard Santana tried to make people think she was a badass bitch with an icy heart, she was pretty sure Brittany had just melted it.
"You're so cute" she said grinning and ruffling Brittany's hair, "sure do baby" she added as they stopped walking so Santana could pull the bottle of milk from the bag. Santana was thankful that her Mom remembered to pack the girls milk and juice, she would've definitely had meltdowns and tantrums on her hands if Brittany missed out on her mid-morning bottle.
She passed it to Brittany and rolled her eyes when the girl took her pacifier out of her mouth and handed it to Santana so she could drink her bottle, "you hold dis" she said cheekily adding a "pease!" when Santana reminded her.
"You want your bottle too cutie?" she asked Quinn, ruffling her hair the same way she did to Brittany. Quinn rolled her eyes and muttered "it's a sippy not a bottle" but nodded and took her purple sippy cup from her sister, "Thank you Sanna". They got a few looks from other people because to everyone else it looked like two fully grown girls were drinking from baby bottles, which was kind of true, but the looks didn't bother them. Judgemental people were the main reason little San hadn't been outside of the house yet, she really wanted to but she had a lot more anxiety about it than Quinn and Brittany. Santana simply glared at anyone who looked at them and they soon turned away.
"Hold Britt's hand up the stairs please Quinnie so she doesn't fall, okay?" Santana asked as she took the girl's bottle and sippy cup from them to hold whilst they went on the slide. Brittany still wasn't the best at stairs and Santana didn't want her falling down, "I promise Sanna" Quinn nodded, taking Brittany's hand, "let's go Bee!".
It was about an hour later when Santana decided it was lunchtime, they had been on pretty much every ride and she had even won a stuffed duck for Brittany and a stuffed lion for Quinn from one of the stalls which the girls were currently clutching tightly and making them "talk" to each other as they walked.
"You girls hungry?" she asked, receiving the eager head nods that she had expected, "starvin'!" Brittany exclaimed patting her tummy, making both Santana and Quinn laugh.
"Let's go find you hungry monsters some lunch then" she said finding the concession stalls, there was a lot of choices but she decided to go simple and get something she knew the girls would eat without a fuss. She ended up buying some fries for them to share, chicken nuggets for Brittany and a hot dog for Quinn, whilst she got some fries for herself.
"We're gonna have to sit down here babies" she said gesturing to the curb after realising there was no picnic benches available, every one taken by families with kids of their own. Quinn and Brittany didn't seem to mind, plonking themselves down on the curb and waiting for Santana to pass them their foods.
"Should Sanna put your stuffies in the diaper bag so you don't get food on them?" she asked taking the duck and lion and putting them safely away in the bag.
She got the girls settled with their food on their laps before sitting down in between them, "take your paci out please Bee" she asked, trying to hide her amusement when she saw Brittany trying to stuff a chicken nugget in her mouth whilst still having her paci in her mouth too. The toddler frowned but did as she was told and put her pacifier on the ground beside her, Santana tried to stop her but it was too late. Being only 3 Brittany obviously didn't think of all the germs on the floor, Santana sighed but didn't scold her, knowing that the girl had no clue of the dirtiness of the ground. She picked it up and put it in the diaper bag so Brittany wouldn't put it back in her mouth when she was finished eating, she knew the girl wasn't even supposed to have it unless she was taking a nap or it was bedtime but she had had it firmly between her lips since they left the house that morning.
Brittany whined and reached out to Santana, "mine! my paci!" she cried, not impressed that her sister had taken her comfort item away. Santana held back an eye roll and gently explained that it was dirty now and she couldn't have it anymore, "you're eating anyway Bee, you don't need it right now" she added more sternly when Brittany just continued to cry and reach for her.
Through her childlike point of view it just wasn't fair, that was her paci, not Santana's! Santana decided to just ignore her tantrum and begging and let her calm down in her own time, she had learnt from Shelby that pandering to Brittany and acknowledging the tantrum just made it worse.
Her and Quinn had to listen to Brittany's crying for a further 10 minutes before the girl's hunger got the better of her and she calmed down so she could eat her lunch.
"It's okay Bee Bee, you can has a different paci when we get home" Quinn said sweetly, trying to make Brittany feel better, she hated seeing the usually happy girl so sad. Brittany just scowled at her and covered her ears with her hands so she couldn't hear what Quinn was saying to her. Quinn saddened and pouted at Santana, unsure if she had done or said something wrong.
"It's okay honey, Britt's just grumpy right now" Santana explained, rubbing circles on Quinn's back and kissing her cheek.
"I not gwumpy!" Brittany yelled, crossing her arms and turning away from them both, Santana raised her eyebrows, she was willing to look past the small tantrum, but she would not let plain rudeness slide.
"Brittany Pierce say sorry to Quinnie right now, she was just trying to make you feel happy again" she said in a no nonsense voice, Brittany looked at her for a minute deciding whether to argue back or not, she decided against it and apologised to Quinn, a mad Santana was wayyyy scarier than a mad Mommy.
"Now fix your attitude or I'll take you straight home" she threatened, "Mommy gave me spanking rights" she added, Santana hated telling either of the girls off but she couldn't just let Brittany act however she wanted without any consequences, Shelby definitely wouldn't allow it.
Brittany's eyes widened when she heard she could still be spanked and immediately stopped her tantrum and sat quietly to finish her lunch.
Santana grabbed the baby wipes from the bag and gently cleaned off the girls messy hands and faces, throwing their trash away before leading the girls to the next ride.
On the way she noticed Quinn was pulling at the front of her shorts and walking slightly off, "do you need to go potty sweetheart?" she asked, thankful that she had noticed the potty dance before it was too late.
Quinn nodded shyly, "I needa go pee" she whispered, Santana smiled, god that kid was cute.
"Hey it's okay, you don't need to be shy around me silly. Let's go to the bathroom" she said reassuringly, Quinn had always been a little shy about needing the bathroom, much different to herself and Brittany.
Quinn did a little potty dance the whole way to the bathroom, Santana was sure she would trip over her feet at one point but luckily they made it without any injuries.
They went into the baby changing stall so they could all fit in together and Santana wouldn't have to separate herself from Brittany whilst she helped Quinn. Quinn quickly pushed down her shorts and panties and lifted her arms up to Santana for her to lift her onto the toilet. A look of relief washed over the five year olds and a little sigh passed her lips, Brittany giggled and shook her head, her sister was so silly!
Santana smiled hearing Brittany laugh, the girl still hadn't said a word since her little meltdown over her pacifier and she was starting to get worried, she wasn't being naughty, she just looked down right sad.
"Did you go potty too baby?" Santana asked running her hand through Brittany's soft hair as they waited for Quinn to finish peeing. She had noticed the toddlers leggings sagging a little when they were walking to the bathroom so she knew she was wet.
Brittany sighed and shook her head no, before laying her head on Santana's chest and fiddling with the bracelet hanging from the older girl's wrist.
"C'mon princess, what's got you so sad?" she asked gently not wanting to send her into another tantrum.
Brittany shrugged, "miss Mommy and paci" she whispered sadly, feeling slightly better when she was pulled into a cuddle by Santana.
"Oh baby, I'm sorry about your paci but it was all dirty and you'd get sick if you used it" she explained, "and I bet Mommy is missing her girls too but we can go home and see her soon, okay? Let's not ruin our fun day being sad, maybe we can go get cotton candy?".
Santana knew she shouldn't be bribing her and that Shelby wouldn't approve if she found out, but she hated seeing either of the girls upset. Brittany grinned and cheered up considerably at the mention of cotton candy and Santana took this opportunity to ask again if she needed a change. This time Brittany nodded and said "I made pees", Santana smiled knowingly, "okay princess I'll change your bottom after I help Quinnie clean up" she said when she saw Quinn reaching for her.
She grabbed the wipes from the bag and lifted Quinn from the toilet, wiping her down and pulling up her panties and shorts.
Luckily Brittany was small enough for Santana to lie her on the changing table in the stall, she pulled down her leggings and ripped each side of the pull up so she wouldn't have to pull the dirty pull up down Brittany's legs.
"Do you need to do anything else on the potty while your pull up is off?" Santana asked, not wanting to have to do too many changes if it could be helped. Brittany shook her head, "nuh uh don't gotta poop" and watched Quinn pass Santana a few wipes.
She gently cleaned Brittany up and rubbed her tummy to soothe her when she began to whine and kick her legs from the cold wipe, "shhh I'm sorry baby, almost done" she cooed. Santana added some powder when she noticed the girl was a little red then pulled a clean Elmo pull up up her legs and redressed her in her leggings.
"Okay honeys, pick one last ride each" Santana said when she checked the time and saw it was already past 1pm, it wasn't late but she knew Shelby would want Brittany to take a nap before dinner so she wasn't grumpy.
"I wanna go on the horseys again!" Quinn said immediately, referring to the carousel, it wasn't a surprise that that was the ride she chose, she hadn't stopped talking about it all day.
"Wheel wheel!" Brittany shouted pointing up at the ferris wheel after they had finished on the carousel, Santana nodded and lead them both towards it, "okay sweets, Sanna's gonna wait down here. You stick together and don't fight up there, yes?" she said warning the girls not to mess around.
In all honesty she was starting to feel a little queasy from all the round and round rides that day and she could stand at the entrance of the ferris wheel and make sure they got onto the ride okay so she didn't mind letting them go by themselves for this one.
"Otay!" both girls squealed, excited that they were allowed to go alone...even if Santana could see them at all times.
Santana smiled and waved back at them when she saw the girls waving at her from the ferris wheel, the love she had for those kids was immeasurable.
"C'mon squirts time to go" she said taking both of their hands when they go off the last ride of the day, immediately both Brittany, and surprisingly Quinn, started crying and whining that they didn't want to leave.
"But Mommy will be missing her little girls so we have to go home and see her" Santana tried to reason, knowing Brittany had been missing Shelby earlier and she hoped the thought of seeing her would calm her down. Boy was she wrong.
Both girls cried the whole way back to the car, Brittany only stopped for a second to ask Santana to carry her, she had missed her afternoon nap and was exhausted from all the walking. Santana knew that was why she was so upset, but she wasn't sure why Quinn was crying, the girl barely ever threw a tantrum or cried about having to go home from somewhere.
"Qbear why are you crying?" she asked softly, shifting Brittany onto her hip so she could look at Quinn properly. Quinn shrugged and sniffled wiping her nose across her sleeve, Santana grimaced, kids are so gross.
"Just sleepy" she said quietly looking up at her with watery green eyes.
"Oh baby, you can both take a nap on the way home" Santana prayed they would both fall asleep because there was no way she could put up with this the whole way home and not snap.
She got the girls settled in their carseats, which proved to be pretty difficult when Brittany began kicking her legs and stiffening her arms so they couldn't be pulled through the straps.
"Lambie please?" Quinn asked politely, blinking through her tears.
"Sure honey" Santana said digging through the diaper bag and finding the girls stuffed lamb, Quinn calmed down a little but was still softly crying. Santana grabbed Brittany's blankie from the bag too and rubbed it against her cheek, just how she loved, "here baby, here's your blankie" she cooed over the toddlers screaming and covered her with it, hoping if she was warm and comfortable that she would fall asleep.
The car usually soothed the girls to sleep but after 20 minutes when both were still crying Santana was so close to losing her shit, Brittany was crying because she was so overtired and Quinn was crying because Brittany was, they were bouncing off each others negative energy and although she knew they weren't crying to misbehave or be naughty Santana still wasn't sure how much more she could take.
She realised how patient Shelby was with all three of them, she never lost her patience or snapped.
"Girls please" she begged, her words fell on deaf ears and Santana sighed as she felt the start of a headache coming.
She pulled over and climbed between the seats, sitting in the middle of the girls.
"Come here Quinnie, you want cuddles?" she cooed, unstrapping her and lifting her from the carseat onto her lap, she decided to leave Brittany in her seat hoping she could soothe her to sleep since it was past her nap time already. She held Quinn close to her rocking her gently and used her free hand to stroke light patterns on Brittany's face, it always sent the girl to sleep, it even worked on big Brittany. Santana would often use that technique to get her girlfriend back to sleep after one of her nightmares.
After 10 minutes or so Brittany had finally stopped crying and fell asleep, suckling on the corner of her blankie like a pacifier, Quinn calmed down too once Brittany had stopped crying and she cuddled into Santana's chest, the familiar smell of her big sister soothing her even more.
"Are you feeling better princess?" Santana asked, moving some blonde hair that had fallen over Quinn's face. The younger girl nodded and reached a little hand up to play with the necklace hanging around Santana's neck, "I sorry for being bad Sanna. Just sleepy and it make me sad when Bee Bee cry" Quinn explained guiltily, she had loved her day out with Santana and she was worried that she wouldn't take them out again because of all their crying.
"Oh sweetheart, it's okay you guys weren't being bad you're just tired and it makes me sad when you guys cry too" Santana said reassuringly, "thank you for apologising though" she added.
"You not gonna take us out again are you?" Quinn murmured quietly. Santana frowned, yeah they had drove her crazy with their crying but they were really well behaved the rest of the day and she would happily take them out again.
"Of course I will silly girl, it'll take a lot more than some crying to make me not want to spend time with you gorgeous girls" she said as she placed kisses all over Quinn's face, making her giggle lightly.
"Let's get you back in your carseat so we can go see Mama" Santana gave Quinn her phone to play with, hoping to keep her busy the rest of the drive home and climbed back through to the front seat, she turned the music on quietly so it wouldn't disturb Brittany and continued to drive the further 20 minutes home.
By the time they pulled up at the house Quinn was almost asleep too, her eyelids lidded as she loosely held her lamb in one hand and Santana's phone in the other.
Shelby heard the car pull into the driveway and quickly went to meet them at the door, the time alone was handy to get her work done, but she felt a little lost without her girls at home.
"Hey babe!" she said happily when she saw Santana lifting a half asleep Quinn from the car, "here let me take her" she offered holding her arms out.
"Thanks Mami" Santana smiled, "I'll bring Britt in, she's passed out" Shelby laughed, it wasn't unlike Brittany to pass out fast asleep in her car seat. Santana carried Brittany inside and carefully sat down in the armchair, deciding to hold her for her nap rather than putting her to bed, she held her close to her and was sure not to jostle her.
"Do you want to take a little nap too Quinnie?" Shelby asked, moving Quinn so she was laying down in her arms, rubbing soothing circles on the half asleep girl's back. Quinn yawned and shook her head "naps for babies" she murmured, her speech slurred from sleepiness.
"Naps aren't for babies, Mommy had a nap whilst you were at the carnival" Shelby told her, "and Santana took a nap after school the other day" she added.
"Mhm nap" was the last thing that left Quinn's lips before she fell asleep cuddled into her Mama's warm chest. Brittany whined and wiggled on top of Santana opening and closing her lips in a suckling motion. Santana reached over and grabbed a pacifier from the coffee table, slipping it between the pouty baby lips and watching as Brittany relaxed back into her sleep.
"So how were they babe?" Shelby asked once they were sure both girls were settled, Santana smiled and nodded, "they were really good Mami, Britt had a little meltdown over her pacifier and they both drove me crazy by crying the whole way home but they were well behaved" she said, her Mom knew they weren't little angels so she didn't mind telling her the truth.
Shelby winced, "did you handle it okay babe?" she asked apprehensively half afraid of the answer.
"Yeah, I took a minute to calm down so I didn't yell at them or say anything mean and then I pulled over and got in the back with them until Quinnie calmed down and Britt fell asleep" she said blushing at the look of pride that washed over Shelby's face.
"I'm really proud of you honey, I know they aren't the easiest kids. You'll be an amazing Mama one day" she praised, she truly was so proud of how far Santana had come since they started all this. She was much better at handling her anger and didn't just act on her feelings without thinking anymore.
Santana smiled at the statement that she would make a good Mom and looked down at Brittany, it was hard to imagine being a Mom with her when the girl was in such a little mindset, but she always pictured herself and Britt raising the most perfect little girl together. The thought made her swell with happiness.
"What did you give them for lunch?" Shelby asked pulling Santana out of her thoughts. She knew Quinn and Brittany would try their damn best to get Santana to feed them crap so she wanted to make sure they at least got a little nutrition and not just candy.
"Britt had chicken nuggets and Quinn had a hotdog and they shared some fries" Santana said before adding "I got them a bag of cotton candy to share too but they didn't eat it all, the rest is in my car" hoping her Mom would approve of her lunch choices.
"Well I'm very impressed with you San, thank you" Shelby said sincerely, smiling at the girl trying to hide her smile.
Santana didn't receive much, if any, praise from her real Mother when she was growing up so Shelby made sure to praise her any chance she got. The girl still wasn't used to receiving it and would blush every time, but she loved hearing how proud her Shelby was of her.
"Hey Mami?" Shelby looked up and hummed in acknowledgment watching Santana bite her lip anxiously.
"I was thinking I kinda wanna go out as little San" she said quietly, unsure of her Mom's reaction, she was fine with Quinn and Brittany going out of the house as their little selves so Santana didn't see why it would be any different for her, but she was still nervous.
"It's just the girls had so much fun today, they were so carefree just like real little kids and I couldn't help thinking how much more fun I could have if I was little too-" she rambled, stopping when Shelby let out a little chuckle.
"San, san, honey stop rambling" she laughed, "of course you can go out as little San, I have no problem with that at all".
In all honestly, Shelby was over the moon that Santana wanted to try ageplay out of the house, it showed her that the girl was getting more comfortable with her role and more sure of herself within their little family.
"How about when we go grocery shopping tomorrow?" she suggested, hoping San would agree. Santana nodded, her lips curling slightly into a nervous smile, "no pressure though honey, if you want to stop at any point, we stop" Shelby promised, sensing the anxiety in her daughter. Shelby couldn't wait, she loved taking little Quinn and little Brittany out and now she would get to take her littlest baby out too.
"Thank you Mom" Santana said sincerely before looking down at Brittany who was still napping against her chest.
"She feels so warm" she whispered, gently pressing her lips against the pale forehead to see if she could feel a fever.
"She does? Did she seem okay today?" Shelby asked worriedly. Santana shrugged, "I mean she was fussy but I just put it down to the fact she was trying to push me to see how much she could get away with" Santana said causing Shelby to laugh, yep, that sounded like her girl.
Santana felt slightly bad that she hadn't thought about how the toddlers fussiness could've been down to her not feeling good, Brittany in her little mindset never knew how to explain that she didn't feel good so Shelby always had to look out for the signs, Santana felt awful that she may have missed the signs.
"I'm gonna take her clothes off" Santana decided when she felt her heating up even more. She very carefully pulled her shirt over her head, thankful that Brittany was a deep sleeper, and hung it over the arm of the chair before doing the same with her leggings, leaving her in just her pull up. She cuddled the naked baby closer to her and patted her padded bottom gently.
Hopefully she was just warm and not getting sick, because no one liked a sad, sick Brittany.