Chapter 34

Santana's POV

I was busy at work the day before Thanksgiving, everyone getting their appointments in before the holiday. It was good for me, since, as much as I enjoyed the holiday season, I knew that once it was over, we'd be trying to get pregnant again. My anxieties were worsening as it drew closer, despite having nearly two months until we'd try.

Arriving at home after work that day, Brittany was in a frenzy. Everly was nowhere to be seen, but Max kept getting in Brittany's way as she cleaned and packed for our trip to Lima.

"Hey, B," I said, letting her know I was home.

"Hi," she replied. "Thank goodness you're home. If we want to eat before heading out, one of us needs to be cooking."

"Why don't you get the food ready, B? Just make something simple. I can continue packing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. What have you all packed so far?" I asked.

"I packed my bag and most of yours, you'll just want to look and make sure I got everything. Everly's bag is started, but, you know how it goes with her. And we still have to bring a key to Jessie's so they can check in on Max. Plus, the house is a mess-"

"It's okay. I've got it, Britt." I smiled at her, trying to get her to calm down. "I'll ask Jessie if they can come over and pick up the key before we go, and I'll get started on Everly's bag right away."

We'd had a "Friendsgiving" dinner with Jessie the night before and had forgotten to bring them a key to our house, since they were so nice about watching Max while we were in Lima. I knew why Brittany was stressed (the holidays could be incredibly stressful), but I also knew how much she loved Thanksgiving, and I needed to make sure she loved it this year too.

"Hi Evie," I said when I opened Everly's bedroom door to see her playing with her doll.

"Mami!" she squealed, running up to hug me.

"I missed you, my girl. Now, we have to pack your bags for Thanksgiving in Lima."

"Can I bring all my toys?" she asked, and I laughed, knowing what Brittany meant about it being a struggle to bring Everly anywhere those days.

"Well, I don't think we can fit all of your toys in the car, but we can definitely bring some. You know that there are lots of toys in Lima too, so why don't you pick four of your favorite toys?"

"But Mami…"

I gave her a stern look, and thankfully, she seemed to understand.

She handed me her doll before making her way over to the rest of her toys, a stuffed elephant, a bag of blocks, and her doll's stroller soon joining the doll.

"And we need to bring Bubbles… and my books," she stated, grabbing her stuffed dolphin, Bubbles, from her bed.

I smiled at her persistence. "How about four books?"

"Fine." She made her way over to her bookshelf and picked out her four favorite books. She loved having us read to her before bed, and I was glad to do it, so I had no problem with bringing books along to Lima.

I packed her books and toys she'd picked out into a bag (excluding Bubbles because she would need him for the drive), and also grabbed her favorite blanket that she needed to sleep before moving over to her clothes.

There was still a lot of room for clothes in Everly's pink suitcase after packing her hair brush, toothbrush, and other hygiene products. I picked out weather-appropriate clothes and Everly decided which ones she wanted to pack, since we'd learned the hard way that she knew what she wanted and wouldn't often accept anything else when it came to clothes.

With her suitcase and bag of toys packed, I carried them to the living room, Everly carrying Bubbles close behind.

"Why don't you help Mama with dinner," I told her. "It looks like she's making macaroni."

"I love macaroni!" she exclaimed, running into the kitchen.

Right then, Jessie showed up, and I opened the door before they could ring the doorbell and gave them the house key, thanking them once again for coming to check in on Max while we were gone. If Everly knew they were at our house, it would have taken much longer than we wanted to get on the road, so I just whispered to Brittany to let her know before heading to our bedroom to get the rest of the suitcases packed.

After eating, we loaded our bags into the car, put on our light jackets, and buckled Everly into her car seat with Bubbles and some snacks to keep her occupied. We turned on some Disney music for the drive, and I climbed into the driver's seat.

It was close to Everly's bed time by the time we got to Lima. Pulling into Brittany's parents' driveway, my eyes were struggling to stay open.

"We're here!" Everly squealed, excited to get out of the car and see her grandparents.

I grabbed her and her things from the back seat, and Brittany grabbed as many as our bags as she could. Her parents came out to help us bring everything inside, and Everly said 'hi' to her grandparents before we told her it was time to get ready for bed.

"But, we jus' got here, Mama," Everly tried to argue with Brittany.

"I know, E, but you'll get to spend all of tomorrow and the next day in Lima with everyone," Brittany replied.

"I'm not tired."

"Okay. How about we just have a bath now?" Brittany asked, knowing that baths always made it easier for Everly to fall asleep.

"With bubbles?"

"I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa have some bubbles for you."

"Okay."

Brittany's parents helped bring our bags to Brittany's bedroom where a makeshift bed had been set up on the floor for Everly. They left us to do our bed time routine, since we knew having her grandparents there would make it harder for her to calm down.

She ended up sleeping between Brittany and me, but we were alright with that, since it was our first night in Lima in a long time.

The next morning, Brittany and I were woken up by Everly trying to climb over us to get to the bathroom. It was still dark outside, but we knew we wouldn't be falling back asleep.

Brittany's parents were already awake, muffins set on the kitchen island for breakfast, preparing the Thanksgiving meal. We'd be spending that day with Brittany's family and the next with my parents, even though we'd continue to stay the night at Brittany's (switching between houses would have been far too much work).

"Good morning, girls," Susan, Brittany's mother, said.

"Mornin' Mom," Brittany greeted, setting Everly down on a bar stool and handing her a muffin.

"Can we go to the park today?" Evie asked as she held her muffin.

"I don't see why not," Susan replied. "It might just have to be after we eat the Thanksgiving meal, though."

Thankfully, Everly didn't insist on going to the park immediately, and after we all ate and got ready for the day, all of us (including Brittany's father) started helping in the kitchen. Jessica came just over an hour later, unable to ride back to Lima with us the evening before due to homework, and her and Everly ended up playing together in the living room.

The food was ready in the middle of the afternoon (which, for some reason, was usually when we had our Thanksgiving meals), and we all sat down around the table, Everly having changed into a second appropriately themed outfit after spilling juice on her first, ready to eat.

The rest of the time we spent in Lima was filled with visiting my parents, going to the park, and also spending an afternoon with Finn, Rachel, and their kids. Still, I was glad to go back home. Even with all the people we loved that lived in Lima, it never really felt like home.

A/N:

Sorry for the abrupt ending. I was kind of done with writing Thanksgiving, since I'm Canadian and Thanksgiving for me was a month ago already. I'm already in full Christmas mode, so expect a longer Christmas chapter within the next few weeks.

Also, I didn't keep Brittany's canon parents because I wanted them to have different personalities than in the show.

Thanks for reading!