Liam finally gets to meet Max. Though Santana had wanted it to be a day earlier, she and Brittany have a conversation and make the decision that given the circumstances, the best thing they can do is have him come up and help take Max home, and let him peer through the NICU window to see Oliver. It unsettles Santana a little, missing her son as she does, but once she finally puts on a happy enough face to FaceTime with him, letting him see both Max in her arms, and a little later, Oliver in Brittany's, she feels more secure in the choice they made.

Once Santana is dressed, everything aching as she pulls on maternity leggings and her Columbia sweatshirt, she perches on the edge of the bed, watching Brittany dress Max. She thinks, maybe, in all of her life, after all the things that happened to her, today might be the most painful day. Knowing that the third car seat in Brittany's car will be empty, knowing that she has to leave her youngest son in the hospital, knowing that she'll feel a perpetual sense of emptiness until he comes home has her in such a state that she can barely get her sneakers on her feet. But she keeps watching Brittany, her driving force, as she carefully guides Max's head through his I Woke Up This Cute shirt, and his legs into cloud printed sweatpants. She tries not to mourn the fact that Oliver's I Like the Nightlife outfit sits unused in her hospital bag. She just has to be in the moment, because if she's not, then she'll never survive.

"Look who's here." Whitney whispers in the doorway, holding Liam's shoulders in front of her. He grins from ear to ear, pressing out his chest to show off his Super Brother sweatshirt, and even Santana, in her state, can't help but grin back at him.

"I'm here! I'm here! I get to help take Baby Maxie home!"

"Baby Max is very much looking forward to it." Brittany beams, cradling the baby in her arms as she approaches Santana and the bed. "Look who's here, Max, it's your big brother Liam."

"Lemme see! Lemme see!" He scampers into the room, hugging Santana as he cranes his neck until Brittany brings Max down to eye level. "Whoa. You is very little."

"He is, isn't he?" Santana laughs. "He's going to have to eat a lot to catch up to you."

"Gramma said we can has pizza for dinner! I share my pizza with you, Baby Max."

"That's so nice of you, Li." Brittany ruffles his hair. "But remember what we told you? Mommy is going to feed him with her body."

"That's silly, Mama." Liam laughs the same way he did when they first explained nursing to him. "Pizza is yummy and Mommy Noodle's body is not for eating."

"How about as soon as we get home, I show you how Max eats from my body, Sir?" Santana runs her hands through her hair, exhausted. "I promise, he doesn't bite. He has no teeth yet."

"Okey Mama, if you say so!"

"Where did you learn that one?" Brittany chuckles.

"From Grampa! He says it all the time!"

"That's true, he definitely does. Now what do you think, Liam, do you want to go have a peek at Oliver through the window?"

"And then I hold Max?"

"As soon as we get home, you can definitely hold Max."

"And show him my trains?"

"I think he'd love that a lot, Li." Brittany kisses his forehead. "Let's go."

They go out into the hallway, Brittany holding Santana's bag, Max, and Liam's hand, and Whitney following a few steps behind. When they get to the door of the NICU, Santana tells Liam that she's going to bring Oliver close to the window, and she slips inside the door. Brittany understands that she needs to hold Oliver one last time before they leave—even though they'll be back later—and Santana nods her gratitude through the glass, before going over to his incubator. Oliver is asleep, which Santana is grateful for, always hating for him to be awake when one of them is not around, and carefully, she lifts him up. She kisses the opposite side of his head from where the shunt is, and she cradles him close to her, trying to impart all the love she can into this little boy, before she carries him to the window.

On the other side, Brittany holds both Liam and Max in her arms, and Santana's heart aches, wishing she could bring Oliver over to them. Instead though, she leans into the glass, more careful than she's ever been, and she presents her third son to his big brothers, and to Whitney, who's already met him several times. At the sight, Liam waves wildly, his mouth moving quickly with words Santana can't hear, and she smiles at him, letting him know that everything is okay. Letting herself know the same.

"There are your brothers, sweet boy." She whispers, though Oliver doesn't wake up. "Mommy has to go home today, but I'll be back so soon. I left bottles for you, and tonight we'll nurse again, okay? I'm not going to forget about you. I love you more than you know, my Oliver. I love you so much."

She doesn't spend more than ten minutes with her son, laying him back down to sleep, and checking his monitors herself before she goes, though she knows that Holly, the interns, and the nurses will all do the same. He's content, and she's content with that, when she eschews the wheelchair in the hallway, and insists on walking beside Brittany as they exit the hospital.

If she said she didn't cry when they put Liam and Max in the car, she'd be lying, but she forces herself to stop. She forces herself to remember that this is a happy day for Max, and she wants to remember it as such. She's taking her son home. The son she grew inside of her for eight months, along side the son she's so lucky to have been given, and Liam chatters away to Max, telling him everything there is to say, even with the empty car seat on his other side.

Whitney beats them home, and with her mother and Pierce also in the house, it feels like a lot for Santana. But she can't ask them all to leave, not when they've done so much to help her, not when they'll continue to, more, now than ever. So she just sinks quietly into the overstuffed chair in the living room, and she makes space for Liam beside her. Once he's settled, Brittany places Max in his arms, and even though the physical and emotional exhaustion, Santana can't help but beam at her beautiful sons, and the way Liam squeals when he feels the warm weight of a baby in his arms.

"I'm holdin' you, baby Max! Do you know my name? I'm Liam Connelly Pierce and Lopez. And you are Max—" He looks up at Santana, asking her to help him finish.

"Max Xavier Pierce-Lopez." Santana tells him, leaning to kiss the top of his head. "And your other brother is Oliver Wyatt Pierce-Lopez."

"Those is some big 'mportant names like me! I like you, Max, you can be my baby brother forever and ever and ever and ever."

"I think he'd like that a lot. And look, Sir, he's opening up his eyes for you, you see?"

"He has brown eyes like me. Now I can draw him eyes in my pitchers. You have the same eyes as Ol'ver?"

"He does, remember what we told you? How they're going to look the same?"

"How we gonna know this one is Max?"

"Well." Santana sucks in a breath, looking at Brittany, and thinking of the scar Oliver will have from his surgery. "We'll know them in a lot of ways, but when Oliver comes home…" She grazes her finger over the scar on the side of Liam's face. "He's a little smaller than Max, and he's also going to have a little scar from his surgery, and that will make it easier to tell them apart when they're still very small."

"I got stars too, Max. You got any?"

"Let me tell you a little secret." Brittany lifts up her shirt a little, revealing her naval. Santana furrows her brow, trying to figure out what she's doing, when she points to it. "Did you know, Li, that your belly button is made from a scar?"

"Mama, that's silly." He giggles, rubbing his face against Max's. "Mama's silly."

"It is very silly, but it's true. And guess what? We can't even see Max's scar yet, because he still has his umbilical cord attached to him, from when he was attached inside Mommy's belly."

"Can I see? Can I see?"

"I'll tell you what, next time Max needs a new diaper, you can come help me, and I'll show you."

"Okey, Mama. Mommy Noodle sayed I can see him eat her body too."

"It's true, I did." Santana touches the soft skin of Max's face. "And I think he's getting hungry now, so what do you think, are you ready to see?"

"Yes! Yes! Max, you cannot eat Mommy Noodle up I love you so." He warns, shaking his head. "I needs my Mommy Noodle."

"He won't, Liam, don't worry." Santana takes Max from Liam, pulling up her sweatshirt and down her nursing bra. "Okay, little guy, let's show Liam how gentle you are."

Liam watches in awe, little eyes wide, as Liam nurses, and through her exhaustion, Santana manages to find a certain sense of peace. She's incomplete, more incomplete than she's ever felt, but when Brittany perches on the armrest of the chair and squeezes Santana's shoulder, she at least finds the ability to breathe, to be in the moment with two of her boys.

"He's not bitin' my Mommy Noodle, see, Mama? He's slurpin' like in a straw!"

"That's one way to put it." Brittany chuckles, handing Santana a clean burp cloth. "Now he'll probably fall asleep for a really long time, Li."

"Okey, then I can plan with my trains, and I come back later?"

"If that's what you want to do, go right on ahead. I bet Grandma Maribel or Grandpa would play with you."

"I'll check!" He wiggles down from the chair, and runs into the kitchen, looking for someone to go in the playroom with him.

"They don't all have to stay in the kitchen." Santana murmurs, wiping Max's chin and putting him over her shoulder. "I feel like I'm making everyone really uncomfortable."

"They're fine, honey. Mom and Dad got a hotel on 66th, and your mom's going to go back home for the night after we get back from the night visit with Oliver."

"Britt, they don't—"

"They do." Brittany shakes her head. "We need to get into a routine, and having three extra adults in the house every night isn't going to help anyone."

"A routine." The words sound hollow coming from Santana's lips. "How is anything going to feel routine while he's not here?"

"We have to try, Santana. I'm worried about you, and what this is going to do to you."

"I'm starting my meds again tonight. I shouldn't have skipped the past few days, it has me even more messed up than I would be anyway. I just need—" Santana sucks in a shuddering breath, trying to fight the tears back. "I need to be stronger. I'm trying, but I need to not feel like I'm going to collapse in anguish every second of every day. I keep telling myself how I've told so many parents so many worse things, and they get up and just keep going. Liam and Max and Oliver need me to keep going, but I just feel so tired."

"You're going, I'm watching you go, and I'm watching how strong you seem, even just since yesterday. And trust me, Santana, it was hard for me to get up and face today too."

"I can't believe last week I was sitting here complaining about how much I missed work, like being home was the worst thing in the entire world…and now…"

"It's not the worst." Brittany shakes her head. "It feels like the worst, but God, we're so lucky it's not, and we're so lucky that he had one of the best surgeons in the world. Holly is…"

"She's the only one who would have put a shunt in right away instead of waiting it out. I know, Britt, I know. And you're right. I just…don't even know how to manage all of the things going on right now."

"I know this sounds really simplistic." Brittany slides into the seat vacated by Liam, and puts her arm around Santana. "But after you get a little sleep this afternoon, and we go back to see Oliver, we need to work out a schedule. We're going to feel torn in three directions no matter what we do, but…maybe that'll make it easier."

"I have to talk to Shelby, I can't go back in six weeks if he's not ready…"

"Sue is aware of the situation, and so is Shelby. If one of us needs to stay home longer, we'll work it out, Santana."

"You're the head of plastics…"

"And I'm the mother of that little boy. I don't want you to feel like it has to be you who does everything. I still have my hands in my department while I'm on maternity, so I can do the same if I need family medical leave. Let's just see what the next few weeks bring us."

"I still don't understand how you manage to think so clearly when everything feels like a jumbled, chaotic mess in my head."

"We cope differently. Planning is part of how I keep myself from snapping."

"I feel like I haven't kissed you in a week." Santana realizes suddenly, though it could have been hours, for all she remembers.

"Better?" Brittany asks, slowly kissing Santana's lips, and stroking her hair, while Max lays asleep on her shoulder.

"I think so, yeah. I'm trying not to feel so sad."

"Please talk to me if it gets to be too much. I know how heavy things settle on you, sweetheart, and I don't want you to feel like you're alone."

"I don't. I feel so much less alone since yesterday…you kind of…I don't know, snapped me into the real world, I guess."

"What else can I do to help you?"

"Britt, you haven't slept in days, you should rest, instead of worrying about me."

"Santana, I can do both. Do you want to lay down for awhile? Liam's going to need a nap soon anyway, and this guy—" Brittany caresses Max's forehead. "—is out."

"I was going to try and wait an hour, and act like I could function enough to talk to our parents…but honestly, I'm so tired that I can't even care about that. A nap sounds really good."

While Brittany rounds up Liam to rest, Santana shuffles into the kitchen holding Max. She's so sore that she's dreading walking up the stairs, and when she walks through the doorway, Pierce is on his feel before she can even see him. But though she appreciates his kindness, getting up from the chair in the living room was enough of a struggle, and she doesn't want to do it again anytime soon.

"It's okay." She shakes her head, imagining how ravaged she much look. "I'm going to lay down upstairs for a while. But I just wanted to…I don't know, thank you for being here. I know you're our parents, and you wouldn't be anywhere else, but…this isn't what we expected, and just knowing you're here…thank you, really."

"Sweetheart." Maribel stands up, careful not to hug Santana, though Santana can tell she wants to. "I think I speak on behalf of all three of us when I say how much more we're willing to do."

"I know. We're going to figure it all out later…we might still need some help with Liam and Max…or we might just have to alternate who's where for a while, I don't know." Santana sniffles back tears. "Christmas is in two weeks."

"I think, then." Whitney whispers, looking up at Santana. "We'll all have the same Christmas wish."

"Yeah…thank you. I can't even dare to hope for it, but…if it happens, that would be the best thing in the world."