After their babymoon, Santana's body decides it wants to present every symptom of pregnancy all at once. Her feet swell, her face swells, her hands swell, she's perpetually hot, even as summer turns to fall, her back aches, she develops hemorrhoids and gets a yeast infection, but is still somehow in a constant state of arousal. And as a result, she becomes an absolute bitch at work. She was never a warm and fuzzy attending, she doesn't consider herself a warm and fuzzy human, but she finds herself losing patience faster than ever before. Never with her patients, she's good about that, but when she shares an OR with Anderson, and he makes the mistake of calling her Rosemary, she nearly uses her scalpel to castrate him.

It's intolerable for her, but she refuses to stay home from work. If she's not at the hospital, what the hell else will she do all day? Page her residents to make sure they're not fucking up? Paint the nursery that they have already changed the paint color of twice, because the green made her angry, and the yellow made her feel like she was in that short story about the woman in the wallpaper? Walk around Buy Buy Baby crying when she sees tiny clothes, because she's afraid her babies are going to be born early and have to wear them? No. She's going to stay in this hospital and doing surgeries until she is physically dragged off the floor.

Unfortunately for Santana, when she hits twenty-four weeks, that is exactly what happens. It's supposed to be a routine visit with Roz, and Santana is late. Brittany waits for her in the waiting room, and when Santana finally gets up there, her face is flushed and her chest is hot. She'd worked on a piggyback transplant with Mercedes, and the surgery took almost two hours longer than she'd thought, giving her no time to change out of her scrubs before she bolted upstairs, groaning at her lower back pain as she leaned against the wall of the elevator.

"Roz is going to fucking kill me." Santana lowers herself into the chair beside Brittany, pulling her ponytail out, before putting it immediately back in. "If my back doesn't give out first."

"Santana…" Brittany eyes her with concern. "You…really don't look good."

"Gee, thanks." Santana rolls her eyes. "I just did a six hour surgery, so…I wasn't exactly at the hair salon."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it." Brittany turns to face her, raising an eyebrow. "You're flushed, and you look like you're in pain."

"I'm fine. It was just a really long day, and I want to get home and take a bath."

Santana looks at Brittany, and softens a little, taking her hand. Maybe she's being a little…bristly, but she really is exhausted, and she feels bad for snapping at her. Brittany rubs Santana's shoulders, breaking up some of the tension, and it's possible that Santana lets out a little moan right in the empty waiting room.

When Roz comes out to get them, Santana holds her back as she goes into the exam room. She swore she wouldn't be that person, she swore she'd power through her pregnancy symptoms, but lately, it just feels completely impossible.

Brittany stands beside the table as Roz takes Santana's blood pressure, and they both see the look that crosses her face. They've both given that look, and Santana's heart drops into her stomach. Without skipping a single beat, she grabs Brittany's hand, and squeezes it as hard as she can, sucking in air.

"What?" She looks at Roz. "What's wrong?"

"Your blood pressure is a higher than I'd like to see it. I want to do a urinalysis to check your protein levels."

"Do I have preeclampsia?" Santana gasps for air. "Because I read that it's more common with twin pregnancies, and—"

"Santana. Take a breath. Your blood pressure is high, but that's the only thing I can see right now. We'll do the ultrasound, and then when you empty your bladder, we'll do another test."

"Fucking Christ." She hisses, and Brittany puts her arm around Santana's waist, holding her close and tickling her side.

"It'll be okay, honey. It'll be okay."

"You don't know that." Santana grits her teeth, not wanting to snap at Brittany.

"You're right." Brittany shakes her head. "I don't, but I believe that it will be. You've been so overwhelmed, a spike in your blood pressure is natural."

Santana doesn't say another word. She can't say another word, she just feels so overwhelmed by the mere idea that her worst fears are coming into fruition that she starts crying when she hears the babies' heartbeats. It's not good crying, it's not happy crying, it's ugly sobs, and she can't catch her breath. Even when her two beautiful babies show up on the screen, one's little hand on the other's face, she can't stop. Roz keeps trying to reassure her, telling her that everything looks good on the ultrasound, but Santana is just an emotional wreck. It's too much, and when she finally pulls her scrub top down over her taut belly, she moves faster than she has in weeks to get into the bathroom and give her urine sample.

When she comes out, she hands Roz the cup, and she sits back on the exam table, not saying a single word to neither her nor Brittany. She feels like she's going to be sick, and she reaches over and takes the ultrasound photograph from the table. She looks at the babies, who look more like they're hugging than she'd realized on screen. She thinks of Liam, and the surgery on the conjoined twins she and Brittany did together not long after they met, the huggin' babies. She sees her unborn babies, touching each other in the womb, and she feels such a sense of panic that she can't breathe.

"Your protein levels are normal." Roz tells them, after what feels like an eternity of waiting. "So no preeclampsia, which is great. But, the high blood pressure isn't good. How many hours did you spend in surgery this week?"

"Um." Santana looks at Brittany, while she calculates in her head. "Maybe thirty-five, forty?"

"And how many hours were you in this hospital?"

"Sixty…ish. Seventy, maybe? I ended up covering the overnight for Shelby on Tuesday."

"You need to take a break."

"No, I'm fine." Santana shakes her head. "I'm not having any problems, I have three months to go, and I'm going to make it to the end."

"Dr. Lopez." Roz's voice turns serious. "This isn't a request. I'm prescribing a week off of work, and when I take your blood pressure again next week, if it hasn't gone down, I'm going to put you on temporary bed rest."

"That's insane. I have patients, and scheduled surgeries, and—"

"Two babies who need their mother to be healthy. I could see when you came in here how red and flushed you were. Let's see what a week out of the hospital does, and we'll go from there."

"Okay." Santana mutters, though she's not happy about it, and she that Brittany knows she's not happy about it. "But I'm telling you right now, not working is going to stress me out more than working."

"We'll see about that." Roz rolls her eyes. "I'll see you next week. I'll fax a note down to Corcoran."

Santana leaves the room frustrated. On one hand, she's so grateful that Roz seems to think her high blood pressure isn't a permanent condition, but on the other, the idea of having to stay home from work makes her positively nauseous. As they walk down the hall, Brittany gives her space. Santana knows that her wife knows she needs to process everything, about a thousand times more than any normal person, so when Brittany goes to get Liam from daycare, Santana goes into her office, trying to manage her patient files for the upcoming week so she can go see Shelby and drop them off before they leave.

Dragging her feet down the hall, Santana gets to Shelby's office. The lights are on, so she knocks on the door, waiting to be called in. When Shelby waves her inside, she takes a breath, and clutches her files to her chest, shifting her weight between her feet—something that makes her feel so much more unsteady than it ever had before.

"Dr. Washington is putting me on a mandatory week off." Santana blurts out, face burning in embarrassment. "Apparently my blood pressure is too high, and if I don't take it easy, I'm going to end up on bed rest."

"Sit." Shelby tells her, nodding toward the chair across from her desk.

"Are you pissed?"

"No, I'm not mad, I'm concerned is all. You have been running yourself into the ground for as long as I've known you, and I'm going over surgical reports as we speak. You've done more surgeries in the past month than you've done in any single month of your career. You seem to be pushing yourself harder than ever, when you should be doing less."

"I'm pregnant, not dying. Remember when scrub nurse Ruby had her baby? She worked up until the day she went into labor, and she never stopped being the best nurse in this hospital."

"That's all well and good, Santana, but you and I both know a twin pregnancy is different." Shelby sets down her pencil, and Santana rubs her hand over her abdomen as one of the babies kicks. "I think we should talk about modifying your caseload when you come back, and limiting your new patients until after you come back from maternity."

"Excuse me, Shelby, I know you're my boss, but why is everyone obsessed with taking away the sanity I find while I'm working today? I know Brittany is thrilled that Roz wants me to take time off, she's been trying to get me to do it since I got back from Arizona."

"Because while I may be your boss, I've told you before that I care about you, and I certainly care about the first set of twins born to someone in this department. I'm certainly not asking you to take off beyond what your doctor tells you, you're my best surgeon, I'm just asking you to consider making some changes. If it makes you feel better, we can even set up a meeting while you're off, so you feel like you're working."

"I'll think about it. As long as I can do surgeries, I want to do surgeries. I have relationships with these patients and their families. You know how much I hate passing them off."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, and it's commendable. But I want you to be well also. When you make a decision, we'll work together to come up with a plan. And I'll let HR know you're taking a paid medical week off."

"Okay." Santana nods, knowing she looks sullen. "I'll let you know what I decide after I talk to Brittany."

"That sounds good. Just get some rest, Santana. After all the work you've put on here, you've earned it."

Handing over her files, Santana thanks Shelby again, and she leaves, finding Brittany and Liam in Brittany's office. Liam jumps up from where he sits on the floor coloring, running toward Santana, and wrapping his arms around her midsection. He squeezes her tightly, and she bends the best she can to wrap him in her embrace. He smushes his face into her abdomen, and pats the sides of it.

"Hi Mommy Noodle, hi little baby friends. Yous can be kickin' me if you want now! I misseded you!"

"I think they might be sleeping, Sir." Santana smiles at him. "They had a very busy day getting their new pictures taken."

"Where are them? Where are them? Where are them? I want to see you, babies!"

"How about we show you at home, Li?" Brittany offers. "It's very late, and we need to get home and eat the lasagna that's waiting for us."

"Yum! I loves lasa-nia! Okey, we can go now."

Santana is quiet in the car on the way home, hands rubbing over her belly. She knows she was snappish with Brittany, and she feels bad about it, but she's just…overwhelmed by the idea of not going to work. She's overwhelmed that her blood pressure is too high. She's overwhelmed that her babies could be at risk. She's just…overwhelmed with herself, and she hates that sometimes she lashes out on people who don't deserve it.

When they get home, Santana sinks down into a chair in the kitchen, and Liam scrambles up beside her, anxious to see the ultrasound picture. Brittany puts the lasagna in the oven, and she comes over to stand behind Santana's chair, watching as she pulls the picture out of the folder in her briefcase and sets it down so Liam can see. As soon as he looks at the babies, his little eyes light up, and he points frantically at the photo.

"Look! Look! Them babies is huggin'! Them babies is huggin'!"

"They are, aren't they Li?" Brittany ruffles his hair. "They're very close together inside Mommy's little belly."

"Mama." He looks up at Brittany seriously. "Mommy Noodle's belly is very big."

"It is, isn't it?" Santana lets out a big laugh, the kind of laugh she really needed to have. "But they're still a little squished in there, so they're very close together."

"I want to hug them too!" He slides down off the chair, and wraps his arms around Santana's middle. "Look, now I is huggin' them too."

"Take a picture of this, Britt." Santana looks up, and Brittany already has her phone out, snapping the shot of Liam with his arms stretched out as wide as they can be. "They love that you're hugging them, Liam."

"Are they comin' out yet?"

"Not yet, Sir. But hey, I bet tonight when we're reading your books, they're going to wake up to play with you."

"Why do they always wake up in bedtime?"

"You're telling me, Liam." Santana chuckles a little, thinking of how much they keep her up at night with all their activity. "They like to sleep when I'm busy, they don't have so much fun when I'm busy doing work all day, and you and Mama aren't near me to feel them."

"Hmm. Okey." Liam accepts that answer. "I see you later, babies. Almost lasa-nia time!"

Liam does much of the talking through dinner. Afterwards, Brittany takes him up for his bath, and Santana regrets how hard it is for her to lean over the tub. Instead of stewing on it though, she goes into Liam's room, and she straightens up a little, before taking his pajamas out of the drawer, and his lotion from the dresser. When he's done in the tub, he tears into the room naked, and when Brittany follows him, she just smiles at Santana, shaking her head.

"Alright you, over here." Santana calls to him. "Pajama time."

"Pajama time! Pajama time! Pajama time!" He dances naked, before he runs to Santana. It still shocks her how big he's getting, and when he gets close, she hugs him, kissing his damp head.

She's always so gentle with his lotion, still, after all the time she's been around him, a little nervous about hurting his sensitive skin. But he's so used to having it put on him that he doesn't squirm, he just lets her do it, and then wriggles into his pajamas before pulling six books from the shelf.

"Six tonight, Li?"

"Six, Mama! Two for me, and four for them babies."

"I can't even say no to that." Brittany laughs. "But let's see if Mommy is up for reading six books, okay?"

"I think six books sounds good. Come here, Liam." Santana lays back on the bed. "The babies are waking up, and they want some big brother cuddles."

Once Liam is down for the night, Santana really just wants to soak in the tub. Everything in her body feels tight, and she's just exhausted. At least, she guesses, while she's home moaning and groaning about having nothing to do, she'll be able to take all the baths she wants. It's a small consolation, but what else can she do?

"Hey Britt?" She looks at her, standing at the dresser and taking her earrings out. "You feel like taking a bath with me?"

"Yeah?" Brittany raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah…sorry…I was really kind of a jerk to you in Roz's office today."

"You're worried."

"I'm really worried. Like, more fucking worried than I've ever been about anything in my life. And I know I'm lashing out about not being able to work for the next week, but…" Santana shakes her head, not wanting to let herself cry. "I really don't want to fuck this up. Nothing can happen to them, Britt. Nothing."

"Hey, Santana, look at me." Brittany tilts her chin up. "You're doing everything Roz says to do. If taking a little time away from the hospital doesn't help, then you'll go on bed rest, and I'll figure something out at work. You're not going through this alone, okay? I'm here, I'm right here."

That's all it takes for Santana to start crying. Big, ugly, hiccuping sobs as she lets Brittany engulf her in an embrace, rubbing her sides, kissing her head. It's the stress, yes, but also, it's knowing that she really, truly isn't alone. That her wife, the same woman who took care of her after her surgery, the same woman who trusted her enough to adopt her son, the same woman who wanted to have these babies with her, just won't ever let her go.

"Our babies are okay. They're in good hands, they've got two doctors for moms, and one of them happens to be an incredible pediatric surgeon who is the biggest rule follower I've ever met, and that's coming from me."

"I hate that I'm such a stressed out mess."

"You have a high stress job." Brittany shakes her head. "You save kids' lives every day. Come on, let's take a bath, and then if you want one, I'll give you a massage."

"Yeah…okay." Santana nods. "Just remind me not to forget to do the cocoa butter after. I feel like I get thirty new stretch marks every day."

"I'm kind of a fan." She kisses Santana's temple. "But I won't forget."

When the tub is filled, Santana realizes that she's so grateful for the size of it. It's not like she and Brittany bathe together often, they're usually running around with Liam, and work, and everything else, taking quick showers while fighting exhaustion. But tonight, it feels really good to slip in between Brittany's legs in the bath, and lay back against her body. It feels good to watch her belly poke above the water, and watch Brittany turn the tap with her foot until it covers her completely. It feels good, the way the babies move more than normal, and Brittany's hands move with them, exploring their movements.

"Mmm. They like the bath." Santana hums, closing her eyes.

"They do. This is the most active I've felt then so far."

"They were pretty active when I napped in the on-call room the other night, but I think this is the most I've felt them too. I can't believe they're opening their eyes."

"Ten more weeks until the goal." Brittany smiles into Santana's hair.

"To Roz's goal. I'd really like to make it to at least thirty-seven."

"New Years babies."

"I'm really not trying to be in the hospital for Christmas. You know how insane it is there."

"But if you had them at Christmas, we'd both be on leave, and I wouldn't have to work the overnight on Christmas Day." Brittany sing-songs, and Santana knows she's just trying to convince her it'll be fine if she goes when Roz says she will. "Thirty-six weeks is healthy, Santana, just don't forget that."

"I know." She shakes her head. "Hey Britt?"

"Yes?"

"You still don't want to find out?"

"I don't, but like I told you, if you really do, we can."

"I think I'm getting more okay with not. There's not really a surprise that could top finding out there were two humans inside of me, so we'll just find out when they come out."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure." Santana nods. "I mean, you know, for today."

"Honey, whatever you want." Brittany laughs. "As long as we don't change the color of the nursery again."

"I swear this one is good." Santana takes Brittany's hands in hers, really feeling how the warm water has made her soft and sleepy. "We do have to start picking other things out though. I know I said I was superstitious, but…if I end up on bed rest…I really don't want to go baby shopping on Amazon. This is the first time we've done this, you know? And the last, since shop is closed after this. I guess I just want it to be special."

"Do you want it to be just us? Or Liam too?"

"No, definitely Liam too. I think he'd have fun, since he's already including them in everything."

"What if I come pick you up after work tomorrow, and we go downtown, go make a registry, and have dinner?"

"Yeah." Santana nods. "Okay. I think that would distract me from the fact that I'll be stuck here all day. I guess I'll probably go get waxed and get a pedicure or something, since I'm supposed to be relaxing."

"I still don't understand how you count getting waxed as relaxing. And you know you don't have to do it on my account, right?"

"I know. And you know I love that you're a little more natural than I am, but I just can't kick the habit. I've been waxing since I was sixteen, so…I don't think I'm ready for that."

"Whatever makes you comfortable. But I think going to get pampered is good. And I'm sure your mom would come down and spend time with you this week too."

"Britt, I love my mom, but I think that might stress me out more than anything. I don't know, I guess I'll catch up on reality TV or something, introduce the babies to the Housewives."

"Sounds like quality television." Brittany laughs, kissing the side of Santana's neck. "Have you ever had time to just sit at home and do nothing by yourself?"

"In my adult life? Never. The few times that Shelby forced me into taking days off because I worked too many hours in a row, I pretty much just took a pill and slept all day. So, this'll be interesting."

"It'll be good. You'll get rested, and be back in surgery soon."

"God, I hope so, Britt."

Throughout the night, Santana's sleep is restless. She swears, knowing about her high blood pressure is only going to make it higher, and finally, at two-thirty, Brittany gets up, goes downstairs, and makes Santana a cup of SleepyTime tea, before rubbing her back until she falls asleep.

She ends up sleeping in. Brittany comes in with Liam to kiss her goodbye, since they'd decided he should keep with his routine and go to daycare, and she only wakes up for a few minutes until they leave, rolling onto her other side and setting her hand on the opposite side of her abdomen before she falls back to sleep. If nothing else, maybe staying in bed with the blackout shades drawn for two hours later than normal helps her to feel a little less exhausted.

When she finally gets up, Santana changes the sheets on the bed, starts a load of laundry, and sits down with her coffee and an English muffin. Her appetite in the morning has come back, except on the days where one of the twins is shoved up under her ribs and she can't breathe, and she sits and enjoys her breakfast, picking up their copy of The Ultimate Guide to Lesbian Pregnancy, and paging through until she finds where she left off. While she reads and eats, she can feel the babies go from as active as they are throughout the night, to subdued and sleepy inside of her. Absently, Santana wonders how they'll adjust to her relaxation routine, and if they'll even know what to make of it, but she has her mind set on not worrying today. She has her mind set on turning off her pager, and probably falling asleep in the pedicure chair while she has her feet rubbed for an hour.

Once Santana's waxing is done, she feels good about herself. It's a confidence thing for her, she guesses, feeling smooth and soft from between her legs, and all the way down to her ankles, maybe because her scars down always make her feel smooth and soft elsewhere. She loves the feeling of her own legs rubbing together, and so she doesn't do it for anyone's beauty standards, as people might assume, and she doesn't do it because oh, Daddy will be excited, as her esthetician tells her, and she almost throws up, because number one, her babies definitely don't have a daddy, number two, she definitely would never call Brittany Mamaduring sex, and number three, Brittany definitely doesn't need her to be freshly waxed to want her. It's just something she enjoys, and Santana sinks back into her pedicure chair, closing her eyes as her smooth legs are exfoliated and the dead skin is scraped from her feet.

Completely relaxed from her morning, Santana comes home and lays down on the couch, catching up, as she'd told Brittany, on her episodes of The Real Housewives of New York. Halfway through the third one, she falls asleep. When she wakes up, she gets a little twitchy to at least check her work email, and since it's hard to lay on the couch with her computer on her lack of a lap, she swipes through her phone, glad to see there isn't much she missed. She's trusts Rose and Adams with her cases, she does, but still, she wouldn't be her if she ignored her emails all day.

When it gets close to the time Brittany gets off of work, Santana goes upstairs and finally peels off the yoga pants and Columbia sweatshirt she's been wearing all day, and takes a quick shower before switching to maternity jeans and a sweater. Her back feels a little less sore than it did yesterday, but she can't help but wonder if she's actually relaxed, or she was just so lazy all day that she's been tricked into thinking she is. With a sigh, she deals with the stairs again, considering for the dozenth time in a week to just start sleeping downstairs to avoid them all together, and by the time she gets to the bottom, she swears, she could pass out.

Brittany calls her when she's outside, and Santana grabs her purse and goes out to the car. Liam is wiggly and excited in the backseat, and Brittany rolls down his window so Santana can kiss him before she gets in. When she gets into the passenger seat, she leans over to Brittany, letting her kiss linger on her lips for several seconds, before she struggles to pull the seatbelt over herself, and grabs her hand on the center console. She's so glad she's with them finally. Even after her day of relaxation—or more likely, especially after her day of relaxing—she's so grateful to be with them, that she smiles the whole way downtown, listening to Liam sing his heart out in the backseat, holding Brittany's hand tightly, feeling her babies wiggle and kick inside of her.

They eat dinner first. Though Liam began to get sleepy in the car, his macaroni and cheese and ice cream gave him a second wind, and by the time they make it to Buy Buy Baby, he's all over the place, dancing and jumping around as Brittany and Santana look at cribsets and breast pumps and seats that do nearly everything but actually feed the babies.

"Hey Liam." Santana calls him over, while she attempts to try on one of the dozen twin baby carriers. "Look at this."

"You is a kangaroo, Mommy Noodle." He giggles, standing directly in front of her and looking up at her face. "Can I go in?"

"You might be just a little big." She laughs. "But won't it be funny when we have two babies in here?"

"They can be huggin' inside! Just like your belly!"

"That's true, they can. I think they'd like that, while you're at gymnastics, and Mama is away sometimes."

"I may try cut down my travel a bit when they're young, Santana." Brittany comes up behind Santana and rests her head on her shoulder. "Three kids might be a lot in the beginning."

"We definitely didn't expect to go to three from one." Santana turns her head to kiss her lips. "But I have my mom, and I love how much you get to share your work. We'll work it all out. I do think we should get two single carriers too though, so we can both get our baby cuddle on. Honestly, Britt, being here is so surreal to me. Even when we decided to try, I guess I never even really dared to hope that we wouldn't even be married a year that we'd have one baby on the way, let alone too."

"I'm really glad you've adjusted to the idea of twins." Brittany whispers in Santana's ear, handing Liam a package of train printed baby socks to look at.

"Now that they feel more real to me, I guess I can't imagine anything but."

"Mama! This is only one! We got two babies!"

"That's true." Brittany laughs. "We do, but there are quite a few pairs in there, and I think they'll share a lot of their clothes, Li."

"I can share my clothes too!"

"I think they'd love that." Santana attempts to squat down, and Brittany steadies her. "And they'd love if you helped us decide how we should decorate their nursery."

"But what about my room? They can sleep with me!"

"That's so nice of you." Brittany helps Santana stand again. "For a little while, they're going to sleep in mine and Mommy's room, so it's easier to feed them at night, but I think when they're big, they might love to have sleepovers with you. But just like we picked out your room when we moved to New York, we want to pick them out their own special room too."

"I pick stars!"

"Stars, huh?" Santana looks at Brittany. "I like stars."

"Me too! Me too! Me too!"

"Stars sounds really good to me." Brittany nods in approval.

—-

The whole process of registering is weird for Santana. They have the money to buy the things they need for the babies themselves, but she knows how it goes. She knows her mother and Brittany's are going to want to throw them a baby shower. She knows every time a nurse or one of the surgeons in another department have a baby, it's a thing at work, and it's just…necessary. So they scan the things that they want. They choose the double carrier, and the single ones. The double stroller, and the board for Liam to stand on the back if he wants. The cosleeper so it'll be easier to get to them when they're nursing during the night. The towels and the baby bathtub, and the duck that lights up when the water of the right temperature, even though Santana had laughed along with Rainbow when she made fun of it on Blackish. The twin breastpump and the bottles and the stupid drying rack that looks like grass. The ridiculous rocking, vibrating baby seats, and the Pack and Play so if Brittany is away, and Santana is losing it, she can pack up the kids and go stay at her mother's for the night.

And then they buy. Santana hadn't expected to go in to the store to buy anything, but she can't help but her weepy over the some of the tiniest baby clothes, and neither of them can't help but let Liam put books and toys and various other accoutrements into the cart. They buy the crib sets, beautiful grey and yellow moons and stars. It'll go perfectly with the furniture they ordered, and are patiently waiting for. Some things, they wanted to buy themselves, and the things for the nursery are just that. Santana wants it done, superstitious as she is. She wants the babies to have a place, even if they won't be sleeping in the room just yet. And she wants them to buy it, because it feels like something they should do.

By the time they finish, Santana is tired, and Liam is half asleep, riding in the shopping cart. It's way past his bedtime, they know that, and the store is closing, so they finally load the car, and Brittany settles Liam into his sleep, tucking him beneath the blanket they keep in the car for him. Santana wishes she had one, but she lays her head against the window and closes her eyes, not even realizing that she'd fallen asleep until Brittany is carefully shaking her awake in front of the house. For the very little she did throughout the day, she'd just ravaged, and she can barely find the strength to bring in her own purse from beneath her feet.

By the time Brittany puts Liam into his bed, Santana is in her pajamas and beneath the blankets of their bed. While Brittany changes, she smiles at her, and Santana realizes how much she'd missed her. When she's done washing up, Brittany wastes no time climbing into bed, and Santana curls into her arms, pulling her hands to rest on the sides of her belly where she can best feel the babies. They're all over the place, but Santana is so glad the one place they aren't is on her bladder, since she's not sure she could actually manage getting out of bed.

"Was staying home today as bad as you thought?" Brittany murmurs in her ear.

"It was…okay. I mean, I hate that I missed three surgeries today with patients I've been working with forever, and I miss you and Liam, but…I feel a little relaxed, so…hopefully it did something. I don't know."

"I wish I could stay home with you too." Brittany kisses Santana's neck. "I wish make you breakfast in bed, and give you massages, and take you to lunch."

"Obviously two meals were in there." Santana shakes her head, laughing. "I ate like five times today."

"Well, you're eating for three, so…"

"I'm eating for three." Santana smiles. "And two of whom are going to be very spoiled by their big brother."

"Without a doubt, and it's the greatest thing."

"It really, really is."