Chapter 33

Brittany's POV

Working twice a week made time go by even quicker if possible, and soon the end of October was near.

"B," Santana said while we were at the park with Everly, wearing jackets since it was getting cooler out. "Do you think we should invite Quinn and Hazel over for Halloween? At Oliver's party, we said we'd invite her over sometime soon, and we still haven't yet."

"Sure," I replied. "Does that mean we're taking the girls trick or treating? I was really hoping we could take Everly this year, since we haven't before."

"I'll talk to Quinn, but I'm sure we can take her trick or treating. Do you have any costume ideas?"

"I'm not sure, but I have a feeling Everly will want to be a princess… or possibly a cat."

"I think you're right about that." Santana laughed.

So, we invited Quinn and her daughter over for Halloween. It was on a Monday, but thankfully Quinn was still able to make it for the evening and to stay overnight, since she didn't often work in the mornings.

When they showed up at our front door just after we finished eating dinner on Halloween night, we were glad we'd invited them. Even though Everly wasn't as comfortable around Hazel as she was around Finn and Rachel's daughter, she warmed up to her very quickly. We knew it would be a good thing for her to have another kid to trick or treat with.

"So, what is Hazel going as?" I asked Quinn while getting Everly's costume out.

"She was very intent on being Elsa," Quinn replied. "What about Everly?"

"Rapunzel." I laughed.

We gathered the girls and got them into their costumes. Santana helped Everly with her Rapunzel wig, but she didn't like how itchy it was, so instead she styled her blonde hair in a braid like in the movie. Thankfully, we avoided a meltdown.

Once the girls were ready, we loaded them up into our wagon and started down the street.

We knew they wouldn't last long, since, even though their costumes had long sleeves, it was really cold outside. Besides, we wanted to be done before too many older kids came around.

"Do you want to knock on the door?" I asked Everly when we were at our third house, me having been the one to knock on the previous two doors.

She shrugged, but when I walked up with her and Hazel, she did knock, albeit super lightly on the door.

The girls grew tired by the end of the street, so we brought them home and made hot apple cider before getting them ready for bed.

"You know," Quinn said, "I'm really glad you invited us over."

"We're glad you could make it," I replied. "Hopefully it won't be so long next time."

She nodded. "Maybe I'll have to invite you over next time."

"That would be nice."

The next morning, Quinn and Hazel went back to Lima, but it was great to know that we weren't so distant anymore.

Everly and I came home from dance class one day in November after I'd spent nearly the entire class coughing to see that Santana wasn't home. I checked my phone to see that she'd texted me to say one of her patients had gone into labor and she'd be gone for a while.

I found some leftover food in the fridge to eat, since my legs shook when I stood, exhausted from class and my oncoming sickness.

Everly seemed fine as she ate her food, but I hardly touched mine.

"You okay, Mama?" she asked when she finished her food.

"I'm just feeling a little sick, baby," I replied. "It's okay."

After dinner, Everly played with Max while I sat on the couch with a cup of tea hoping to sooth my throat from all my coughing. And even though it wasn't quite Everly's regular bed time yet, I brought her upstairs after I finished my tea.

I couldn't remember if it was a bath night for Everly and decided that it probably wasn't the best idea to give her one if I could hardly think. So, I helped her change into her pyjamas and read her a story, trying to hold my winces when speaking started to irritate my throat.

Once Everly was tucked in, I collapsed in my bed, physically unable to change out of my dance clothes. I pulled the covers over my shaking body and let myself fall asleep.

"Hey B."

I woke up to Santana whispering.

"You're still wearing your dance clothes. Are you okay?"

"I think I'm sick," I croaked.

She pouted, looking as adorable as ever. "Should I help you change?" she asked.

I nodded, longing to be in my warmer, softer pyjamas instead of my dance clothes.

"B, you're really warm," Santana said. "Would you like a bath first?"

"I'm so cold."

"I know, but we should really try to bring your fever down."

"Okay."

Santana went into the bathroom to start the bath before returning to the bed. "Is Evie sick?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I mumbled.

"That's good."

"How're you home so fast?"

"It's nearly midnight, so I was gone for nearly twelve hours," she replied. "It's her third kid, so I wasn't expecting to be gone for longer than that."

I nodded feeling myself slip back into sleep.

"Britt. You can't have a bath with your clothes on. Come here." Santana helped pull me out of bed and took off my tight dance clothes. Her lips touched my forehead (why did they feel so cold?) before she fixed my bun to keep my hair out of the water.

The bath water caused my body to become covered in goose bumps. I shivered as Santana helped me lean back in the bath tub.

"I'll be right back with some medicine, okay?" she asked once I was settled.

I nodded and watched her leave the bathroom.

When she came back, she gave me some medicine, which I took, despite how much I didn't like the taste.

"Britt. B, you're almost sleeping. Let's get you back to bed."

Next thing I knew, I was in bed dressed in my softest pyjamas with the blankets pulled over my body.

Santana climbed in bed next to me, and I fell asleep right away.

When I woke up the next morning, my body still ached, but I could tell that my fever had broken. The clock beside the bed said that it was nearly noon, and I was shocked that I'd managed to sleep so long.

I wasn't awake for long when Santana came into the bedroom with a cup of tea, some water, and more medication.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, kissing my forehead.

"A bit better," I croaked, my throat burning.

"That's good. I brought you some more medicine and some tea for your throat. Evie and I just finished eating lunch."

"Okay," I whispered, taking the medication before grabbing the mug from Santana.

"I took the day off," she continued. "I was thinking I'd take Everly outside, but you can text me if you need me, okay?"

I nodded, grinning when Max jumped on the bed and curled up next to me. He usually fell asleep with me after lunch, but it still made me happy.

Santana smiled at Max and me before exiting the bedroom, leaving the door open a crack so Max could leave when he wanted to.

By the evening, I managed to make my way downstairs for a movie night. Everly in her beanbag chair (which was her favorite chair ever), and Santana and I on the couch. We watched the Disney movie of my choosing, since Santana hated picking kids' movies and Everly didn't have enough movie knowledge to pick one we hadn't already seen at least ten times.

I fell asleep before the end of the movie, and when I woke up the next morning, despite my cough, I was feeling much better.

Despite feeling mostly better, I called sick into work to give my body another day to recover and spent the warmest hours of the day outside with Santana and Everly, since we knew it wouldn't be long until we got the first snow.