Epilogue

"Santana, please honey, stop being dramatic, you don't want the kids to see you upset." Brittany says, rubbing her wife's back.

"Has she been drinking?" Quinn asks, half perplexed and half amused.

"Don't start with me Fabray."

"Why is weepy Santana here at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning? You must be drunk, because Santana Lopez doesn't cry", Quinn says.

"My babies", Santana says through sobs.

"They going to pre-school not prison", Quinn says.

Brittany enters the kitchen with Lucas and Lillian, excited with their little backpacks on, as Brittany makes sure each has their snacks and favorite family picture placed into their backpacks.

"Mami, we goin' to school now" Lucas says excitedly. Santana tries to put on her bravest face.

"Yes you are mijo, you're going to learn so much today."

"We already know our ABC's and 123's" Lillian says proudly.

"That's awesome, maybe you can teach your mami." Quinn says.

The twins giggle excitedly.

"You're being silly, Auntie Quinn." Lillian says.

"Mami, don't worry, I'm gonna take care of Lilly, you don't have to worry about us." Luke says, always so in tune with his mami's feelings, no matter how hard she tries to hide them. Luke is very much his mami's son, her little buddy. He loves to watch sports with her and to make up silly songs and dance around the kitchen. He is a protector, and Santana really encourages him to show his feelings because he has a natural tendency to try and be strong. He is very protective of the people in his life. He's 4, but he will gladly remind Lilly that he is 17 minutes older than her. Santana sees herself in him, and he must see himself in her, because it's almost like cuddle time is their little secret sometimes, just two people with hard exteriors and soft interiors who sometimes just want to go into a corner and feel the healing properties that unconditional love can provide.

Lilly is loving, and sensitive and artistic. She loves to draw and dance and lecture her dolls about how they should get along. She's an insane ball of energy, even for a four year old, and a total social butterfly. She's openly sensitive, like her mama, and she's always asking Santana to sing for her. She loves to dance with Brittany, she thinks watching her mama dance is the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. While Luke appreciates the athleticism of dance, he's all for the flips and tumbles and acrobatics, Lilly is all about the artistry and beauty. She loves the way dance looks and feels and makes her feel. She also feels the same way about painting, which Brittany and Santana can tell she will already be talented in.

Each have traits that each of their mommies can help strengthen, each has their something that connects them in a special way to Brittany or Santana. Aside from their temperaments, Luke finds it awesome and gross in a cool way that his mami fixes hearts and thinks it's the best thing in the world that his mama does aerials. He wants to learn how to do them because he thinks it will help him become a superhero when he grows up. Lilly loves all things that are the arts, so Santana singing and playing guitar and piano are the best things ever. She loves animals like her mama Brittany and she loves doing things to make the people she loves feel extra special like her mami Santana.

Santana hugs her babies and then she hugs Quinn who doesn't tease her because she remembers the feeling. They're growing up too fast. Logan is already 20 months old. Santana had given birth to the final member of the Lopez-Pierce family when the twins were almost 3 years old. As they had always said, they wanted all of their children to be around the same age, so they wasted little time planning to have Logan. Santana and Brittany agreed that she would go through the process this time, and after her maternity leave would go straight back to work while Brittany stayed home with the kids. Once Logan was a year old Brittany began making the necessary plans to get back to work.

Brittany has been planning the opening of her studio for almost a year, and with Mike's off-Broadway stint completed he will be able to partner with her. It was time for the kids to start pre school so Brittany could work again. They enlisted the help of the Pierces, who were already staying in Santana's old apartment more and more since Logan was born. Now that Pierce had retired, they would move in for a while to help with Logan and the twins while Brittany started the process of getting her studio up and running. Abuela and the Lopezes would come and help sometimes as well. Even though Santana had slowed down her job was still demanding and sometimes stressful, but coming home every night to her wife and kids was the best thing that could have ever happened. It was also a win for the Pierces, who had increasingly began to feel like they were missing so much by living so far away from the daughter they almost lost and their grandchildren. Everybody seemed to be happy with the arrangement. Whitney's parents would look after the Pierce home and only lived a couple of hours away if anyone needed them. They would visit sometimes as well because let's face it, everybody was crazy about those babies and honestly the elders had all become great friends as well.

Santana was so supportive of her wife as she worried about how the twins would turn out. Despite the fact that she had been attending therapy regularly she was still afraid that the twins may show some of the same struggles that she did growing up. Not only do they not, but they inherited the best of her. She also loves the way they think she is the coolest mom ever when she dances, and how Lilly said she wanted to be a calculator when she grew up just like her mom when she heard Santana bragging about how her wife can solve math equations better than a NASA scientist. She loves being their hero.

Just like Santana loves how the kids try and write with their left hands because of her. How Luke throws a ball left handed and Santana says that will serve him well if his desire to play baseball remains throughout the years. She loves to hear them speak Spanish and how they insist on teaching Brittany how to speak Spanish as well.

She loves how the kids manage to look like both of them because they were diligent when planning their family to try and represent to the best of their ability how their children would look if they could biologically belong to both of them. So these two babies with their curly light brown hair and light brown eyes, dimpled smiles and slightly tanned skin, they were simply striking. Oh how their moms loved when they would go into wonder twins mode and seem to instinctively know what the other felt or needed, or when they would curl up and sleep in identical poses. Abuela's camera can't handle the cuteness.

Logan was everybody's baby. The twins doted on their little brother. Brittany wanted to cherish every moment since this would be their last child. Santana clung to him a little more with every milestone the twins reached, knowing that Logan would also grow too fast for her liking. They had done the same as they had done when having the twins, they were diligent in finding a donor that looked like Brittany and thus had a child that reflected the two of them. He looked very much like a fairer skinned Santana though, with slightly lighter hair and eyes than her. He has her mischievous smile, as a matter of fact one of Brittany's favorite things is when they both smile at one another in that similar way, both looking like they are up to something, both with the same twinkle in their eyes. Her two conspirators, she likes to call them in those moments.

Therapy had been the best thing the Lopez-Pierces have ever done for themselves. They still attend. They now alternate between individual sessions and couples sessions. So every other week they work to make sure their family stays strong and healthy and on the off weeks they continue to work on themselves. That first argument had been a blessing in disguise. They no longer avoid tough topics, they know how to patiently wait to address issues, they've discovered things about themselves that they never knew, and have addressed whatever trauma and self esteem issues have come up from their pasts.

Since Santana started therapy not only has she successfully addressed her traumatic past but she has also had an outlet to deal with the stresses of work. It's hard watching people die. Sometimes it would scare her. Her family was already so small. All she had was her parents, abuela and Quinn. Four people. Sure, she still wants them all to live forever, but she has the comfort of knowing that she has so much more family now. She has a brother in law and a nephew and the Chang Changs, since Mike finally popped the question and he and Tina's wedding is less than two weeks away. One day she will be an abuela herself, hopefully back upstairs in her apartment with the amazing view being a dirty old woman with her wife.

Santana thought she had her shit together before she met Brittany. Focused doctor, great at what she did, moving up the ladder at warp speed. When she wanted a woman to spend time with she would find one. Everything was wrapped up in a neat bow. Then finally that someone came along to let her know it was great in one area but there was no balance, and challenged her to truly get her shit together. Now that she has, she's an awesome mother, and so is Brittany. She finally understands what Tino meant all of those years ago about finding balance. It took her some time, but she's finally got it.

Brittany thought money wasn't an issue in her life. Today, that's true, but when she married Santana it wasn't. She realizes now that when you're a struggling dancer $100,000 is a lot of money. Even when she toured as a backup dancer she made about $45,000 a year and that was considered decent money. She got to see the world for free and she did the thing she dreamed of doing as a child. So when she saw Santana's nice house and car she thought maybe she made $150,000 a year as a surgeon, which was a lot of money to someone like her, to everyday people. She had been so naive. Santana didn't live how she imagined people with money lived. She had no idea how much a house like that in the Hamptons cost.

The most important thing she learned in all of this was that to people who grow up with money and people who grow up without it a lot of money means two different things. She learned to respect both what having it and what not having it means, and how people treat you on both ends of the spectrum. She likes Santana's approach. Her kids will have the best of both worlds like Tino tried to create for Santana, because Santana truly understands the struggles they will face. Tino was first generation money, he thought a lot like Brittany in some ways, and he couldn't really understand how growing up for Santana would be. Their babies are lucky to have Santana to guide them through something she had to navigate mainly for herself.

Then there was the lesson they learned about love, hot passionate love. It can be amazing, but it's not enough. It has to become balanced at some point to have longevity, to endure the trials of real life. It can't be too cautious like Santana was or too innocent like Brittany was. It can't run so hot that the first trial that comes along cools it to the point of totally extinguishing it. Real love has to be somewhere in the middle. You can have the fairy tale as long as it's rooted in reality. Fairy tales teach us about happily ever after, they don't teach us how to sustain and endure to achieve it, though.

For Santana and Brittany, working on themselves in order to work with one another taught them that. Now they have three bundles of joy, and more joy than either of them ever imagined.

Quinn and Joe are going strong, and Joey is very artistic as well. He loves music, and so all 3 kids will be attending a music class together in the near future, with Logan likely following in a year or so. They will also attend class at Brittany's dance studio once it opens. The kids all get along well and the twins look up to their big cousin. Abuela visits often. It gives her an excuse to be around the babies, and all four of them love their abuela. She will come and stay with Tino and Mari for the weekend and they will all have time with the kids. Tino and Mari live just outside the city in Westchester county, so his commute to his teaching job as well as to Santana and Brittany's house is under an hour. Everyone seems much closer now, and much happier.

Quinn and Joe are thinking about having another baby but keep putting it off. The timing never seems to be right. Santana thinks it will be soon now. As they speak Quinn has picked Logan up from his high chair and is sniffing him yet again. Santana's too heartbroken at the image of her babies about to walk out of the door to tease her about smelling her child again. Quinn gets all sentimental over the new baby smell. Who doesn't? Santana decides to let her enjoy it in peace. Since Logan is getting so big so fast she wants to reserve the right to sniff Quinn's baby in peace when it gets here.

"Santana, I came here this morning so you could go with your wife to take your children to their first day of pre-school. Don't you dare chicken out now. You go and put on your brave face and snap a hundred thousand pictures for abuela like you promised."

"I'm afraid they're going to get sad if I go and all of their excitement will vanish. You know Luke can read me like a book."

"Get out Santana. Now. Brittany is ready to go."

Santana sighs and gives Logan a huge hug and kiss before she walks towards the door with Brittany.

"Bye Auntie Quinn" they both yell excitedly.

"Bye sweethearts, have a great day at school today."

"Okay, bye Logie." Luke yells

"Bye Lolo", Lilly yells. Lately, the twins have been battling over choosing a nickname for Logan.

"Bye Bye Bye Bye", Logan coos as he waves vigorously. He throws kisses at the twins as they throw them back.

Quinn finally gets them out the door so she can enjoy her time with Logan. Since the Pierces had moved into the old apartment she rarely was asked to babysit and honestly she rarely had the time, but since they had gone to Bethel to check on Brittany's grandparents they wouldn't be expected back until later in the day. It was a rare day off and she had dropped Joey off at school, so she was able to have some Logan time.

Santana managed to stay strong while dropping off the kids at school, sizing up the other kids, parents and teachers to make sure she didn't have to hide in the bushes outside of the school to keep an eye on things. Yeah, she was being that parent right now. Brittany finally got her out of there while the kids sat for circle time.

The one thing that made her feel better was that Lucas and Lillian had each other. For most of her childhood her abuela was her best friend. Logan is a couple of years behind them but at least he will have siblings to come home to and he will have Joey, too.

Santana had worked through most of her pregnancy, and since she was already performing less surgeries as chief of surgery it was manageable. She had worked until her eighth month and took two months maternity leave. During that time her parents stayed in Santana and Brittany's upstairs apartment. It was an easy commute to Tino's work and Mari was there to help with everything. Once her maternity leave was over the Pierces came to stay when Logan was 2 months old for an indefinite amount of time. They all even help out with Joey. The Lopez-Pierces and the Harts truly have a village raising their children.

With everything going so right in the world, marrying off Mike and Tina and waiting for the day the Chang-Changs start their life together has become kind of a big deal. The Harts, the Lopez-Pierces and the Chang-Changs have become amazingly close. Abuela teases them often about having children to join the child care center that has become Santana's first home.

That weekend the Pierces along with abuela would be staying at the apartment in order to have a massive sleepover for the kids. The following weekend Mike and Tina would be getting married and the couples needed time to do what has become a tradition amongst the group.

The bachelor/bachelorette party.

Quinn and Joe's party had been epic and Santana has the video to prove it. It involved the Hamptons house, a party bus, strippers and a club where Quinn apparently engaged in a drunken dance battle with the ladies that revealed her secret former life as a cheerleader. She executed her splits so well that the group would have believed her without the pictures, but the pictures she pulled up on her phone were nice as well. So were the ones where she had dyed her hair pink and gotten a nose ring. She drunkenly admitted that a Ryan Seacrest tattoo was involved but Russell Fabray forced her to have it removed. It may be the only thing he's ever done that Santana has agreed with. Santana made sure to record the gory details of the evening and forward the pics to her email address. She promised Quinn it all only exists in the Cloud, where it will remain unbothered as long as the evidence from her bachelorette party remains undiscovered.

Now it was Mike and Tina's turn. Same tradition. Hamptons house. Party bus. Strippers. Clubs and booze.

And video.

Mike and Tina have no idea what's on the horizon, but it's going to be awesome. It's tradition. It's the tradition they created with their chosen family.

But before that happens, Santana has to make it through the first week of school, but she's not as sad as she was when they first dropped the kids off. As she walked with her wife hand in hand back to their apartment she just felt overcome with love. She and Brittany wore soft smiles as they walked without speaking, each in thought about the wonderful path their lives had taken. As they past a small flower shop Santana stopped and purchased her wife a bouquet of flowers.

"Why are you buying me flowers, San?"

"Because you gave me the world, mi amor."

She kissed her wife softly as they continued to stroll hand in hand back to their apartment. The doorman greeted them with a smile, they're one of his favorite families in the building, so loving, kind, generous and down to earth. They take the elevator back to their apartment and watch as Logan excitedly scrambles to the door grabbing both of them by the legs.

"Mama!"

"Si mijo, tus mamas estan en casa", Santana says. Just as she had done with Lucas and Lillian she speaks to Logan primarily in Spanish so that he will learn the language along with English.

Santana scoops him up in her arms and she and Brittany both rain kisses on his cheeks. Santana looks at Quinn sitting on the couch and Quinn catches her eye. It's more than those two wounded souls from med school could have ever dreamed of.

It seems like just at that moment they have the same thought.

'So glad you made it here, my friend'.

Thank you all for reading, for reviewing, or simply encouraging me to continue the story. I enjoyed writing this for you guys and hope you enjoyed reading it. Your comments along the way made this so much more enjoyable for me. I appreciate you all for taking the time to read this. Hope you all decide to check out my future works. Thanks!