"Santana Lopez-Pierce!"
"Yes" Santana nodded, smiling.
"You go by Lopez-Pierce now right? Officially?"
"Yes. Officially. I would have done sooner, obviously, but the legal stuff and whatever. I won't bore you with it."
"No, I get it. I definitely get it. I'm just glad to have you here."
"Thank you so much" Santana smiled again. "I'm glad to be here."
The reporter smiled and Santana could tell she was nervous.
"So umm….let's get started then"
"Great"
"How are you?"
"I am…let's see. I'm a little tired, but I'm good. Drinking lots of coffee against my manager's orders" she lifted her coffee mug and smiled at Emma, who was behind the camera.
"When have you ever done anything according to my orders?" Emma asked. Everyone laughed.
"HA! Did you hear that?" Santana looked at the camera. "She said when do I ever do anything according to her orders? Too true. That's funny." She laughed some more. "But anyway, I'm good."
"Good, good. How's your wife?"
"Brittany is fantastic. She gets to still be in bed right now so she's really doing great." The room laughed. "No I'm just kidding. She's actually working on a new project which is super, super exciting. So she's not even at home right now."
"Oh what is she working on?" The interviewer asked excitedly. Santana smirked and took a sip of coffee.
"You'll have to wait and see won't you?"
"That's cold"
Santana laughed.
"It'll be totally worth the wait trust me."
"Hmm, I guess I'll have to won't I?"
Santana wiggled her eyebrows.
"So I know you know this already, but I'll say it just so everyone knows. All my questions are going to be fan questions. We told them to send them in on twitter, so I'll be reading them off my phone."
"Yup. It's super cool-" there was laughter from behind the camera that made Santana pause. "Why are you laughing?...What?...Oh…" she burst out laughing as well. "Uh sorry, what was the question again?"
"There wasn't a question, but what was that?"
Santana giggled, shaking her head. "So I came here with Jade, she's one of my best friends."
"Plays the base for your band." The interviewer said nodding.
"Yeah. She's just being stupid. This week she'd made it her mission to point out all the ways Brittany has rubbed off on me. That's why she was laughing, cause Brittany says super a lot."
"Oh, I see. That's cute."
"Yeah, yeah. Just shut up Jade, I'm trying to do an interview here woman!"
Everyone laughed.
"Okay so the first question is, do you have any plans for Christmas?"
"Oohhh…." Santana broke off, laughing as she heard Jade laugh. "She may have to leave the room. Uh…yes. We definitely have plans for Christmas. This is Brittany's holiday. Like I mean there is no one on earth who loves Christmas as much as her AND goes to the extreme lengths that she does."
"Oh yeah? Does she go over board?"
"No, not overboard. She manages to do it in a way that it works, it's just crazy. She has our kids in on it too, and there's like, outfits we all have to wear so we match at least once a week, and a list of things like build a snowman, build a gingerbread house, Christmas hunt, Christmas arts and crafts, dinners, lunches, themed parties, I mean the list is honestly endless."
"Woah. That is crazy."
"Yeah. But it's loads and loads of fun. It's seriously top five highlights of the year for me."
"What are the other four?"
"Hmmm actually top 7" Santana said quickly, then she smiled. "Isn't it obvious?"
"She wants you to say it obviously. Don't be a hardass" Jade shouted. Santana rolled her eyes.
"My anniversary, Brittany's birthday, my kids' birthdays and then Christmas."
"What about your birthday?"
"Jade would you like to come and perform this interview?" Santana laughed. The interviewer giggled nervously. Jade shook her head. "Then shut the hell up please bitch" the attitude she put into the delivery was so dramatized everyone had to laugh again. "Please cut that out"
The interviewer nodded. "We'll bleep it out."
"Cool"
"Next question. Will you confirm that you now have four kids?"
Santana grinned, her tongue between her teeth as she crossed one leg over the other. She debated for a long moment.
"Yes. I will confirm that."
She saw the interviewer get visibly excited. "You have four kids?"
"Yes."
"Will you tell us how it happened?"
"Well, Brittany and I were going to talk about it later on, like in an interview together, so I won't say too much, but uh…basically we adopted two kids, a girl and a boy. I know everyone has already seen them thanks to the wonderful paparazzi, obviously that's where the question is coming from."
"Yeah"
"So you know what they look like…more or less. But don't worry, once Britt and I do the interview, there will be more posts of them from us. You know we like to show of our gorgeous babies."
"Yes and we are eternally grateful" the interviewer said. Santana laughed. "Next que- oh congratulations!
"Thank you" Santana clutched her hands to her chest. "Thank you so much. They are the loves of my life. Seriously."
"Aww…That's lovely. So uh…next question. Will you tell us about Brittany's abrupt exit from the heat convention?" Santana licked her lips and shook her leg gently. "I mean there's a lot of speculation and rumors…."
"Yeah…" she shook her leg faster and looked off to the side of the camera.
"Can you tell us a little about that?"
"Noo…I don't think so."
The interviewer looked shocked, obviously not having expecting Santana to refuse.
"Oh….okay?"
Santana sat up straighter in her chair, a look from Emma telling her she was being too intimidating. She smiled. "I mean, I just don't have anything to say, but also it's not my place. I will say that Brittany has reasons for everything she does. Everything. If or when she's ready to share those reasons with her fans, then that's when people will get their answers."
"Yeah…okay that makes sense."
Santana felt bad. The interviewer looked on the verge of tears.
"On the first day of the convention though, our kids got a stomach bug, and then Britt and I got it the next day, so I mean, you can imagine the chaos our life was in for a few days."
"Oh nooo"
Santana smiled, proud of herself for calming the interviewer down significantly. She nodded with pursed lips.
"It was a fun time."
"I'm so sorry"
"Aww…it's okay. We're fine now, but thank you."
"Next question. Tell us about your newest song."
"Love will light the day?"
"Yes. The most recent song you released."
"Yeah. No you know sometimes everything gets mixed up for me because I have so many songs that haven't been released yet or we're still working on or something, and I can't remember which ones are out and which aren't."
"Oh I see. Yeah Love will light the day."
"Yeah" Santana chuckled. "It's a little different huh? I guess my fans picked up on that." The interviewer laughed.
"Yeah, they sure did."
"I don't know. I don't really have a reason why it's like that. I just felt like writing a proper love song." She shrugged.
"Eloquent answer"
"Bugger off Jade!" Santana laughed, half standing from her chair. Jade laughed hard, bending over. "I'm speaking in your language since you clearly didn't understand me the first time."
"You're such a bitch"
Santana sat back down, laughing. "Now they're going to have to bleep you out too." She held up a hand to stop Jade from answering her. "So my song…"
The interviewer laughed. "Is it to Brittany?"
Santana tilted her head to the side. "Yeah. When I wrote the song I wasn't like…thinking of her specifically, or writing it for her….you know like, speaking to her through the song." The interviewer nodded. "But hers is the only love I know." Santana shrugged. "When I think of love, or imagine how to translate love into words, all I know is how I feel about her."
"Awwww" Jade cooed annoyingly. Santana ignored her, wanting to get her point across.
"Brittany is the only person I've ever loved, and I've loved her for a long time and in many ways. Friendship love, high school love, long distance love, we're broken up but you're still my person love, facing the real world together love, and let's build a life together love. And I'm pretty sure there will come a day where I realise that I'm feeling a whole new kind of love for her…who knows."
"Yeah. What made you write it? Cause there's only one other song that's similar to this one."
"What made me write this….that's a hard question."
"Sorry"
"No, no. It's a good one. Uh…gosh. I think the answer is probably going to be pretty boring."
"I doubt it."
Santana laughed. "The moment I remember thinking that I wanted to write a love song, was when uh…what's the song called? Crap." Santana snapped her fingers, looking up. "I can't believe I've forgotten what this song is called. Brittany and I listened to it on repeat for like a month."
"Which one?" Jade asked.
"And if we only live once…I wanna live with youuu" Santana sang.
"Oh" Jade nodded. "Yeah I know which one that is. Shit I can't remember either."
"Okay" Santana stood up and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. "Sorry, sorry." She held an apologetic hand up at Emma, who she knew without looking was scowling at her. "Let me call Brittany."
"Really?" Jade asked laughing.
"Yes. It's going to disturb me until I remember and I won't be able to concentrate on the interview. You don't mind do you?"
The interviewer shook her head frantically.
The phone rang twice before Brittany picked up.
"Hey beautiful?" Brittany said.
"Hi mi amor"
"Did you finish your interview already? That was quick."
"No I'm still doing it"
"Oh…" there was a moment's pause. "Am I supposed to be saying something interesting right now?"
Santana laughed. "No. I was calling to ask you something."
"Oh, okay. Shoot!"
"What's the name of the song we jammed to like all of last summer?"
"Uh…somethi-" there was another voice on the other end. Someone was talking to Brittany. "Just give me one second babe"
"Sure"
There was some rustling, Santana assumed because Brittany put the phone against her chest. They could hear the muffled sound of voices, but couldn't make out what it was.
"A few, hours, later." Jade said, in the spongebob squarepants' narrator's voice. Santana laughed.
"You're a fool." She told Jade, shaking her head.
"Okay I'm back. Sorry."
"No problem."
"I have to go to Cedar"
Santana frowned. "Why?"
"Je- am I on speaker?" Brittany asked.
"Yeah"
"Okay I'll tell you later." Just as Santana was about to protest, Brittany spoke again. "Actually just take me off really quickly." Santana did so.
"Okay. Why are you going to the- to Cedar?"
"Jesus threw another tantrum, apparently he fought with another kid and now he won't go back to class so he's sitting in the parking lot waiting for one of us to pick him up."
Santana sighed heavily. "Great."
"Yeah. It's fine though. I'll just go calm him down and talk to the teacher, he'll be fine."
"Okay. Text me with updates."
"Will do. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
As she hung up the phone, she locked eyes with Jade, who immediately walked up to her and took the phone. She bent down to whisper in her ear.
"I'll tell you if there's anything you need to know."
"Thanks" Santana said back. Then, taking in a deep breath, she looked at the interviewer. "I have completely forgotten what we were talking about."
"You were telling us how you got inspired to write a-"
"Oh….crap" she laughed, clapping her hands. "Hermione come back. I called B for a reason."
Jade laughed, bringing the phone back. Brittany picked up immediately.
"No S I'm not there yet."
"No. I need to know the name of the song love" Santana laughed.
"Oh" Brittany giggled. "Something I need."
"Something I need!" Santana exclaimed. "That's it. Thank you babe"
"You're very welcome mi amor. Talk later."
"Bye." She hung up, smiling. "So Brittany and I found something I need. And I loved it. And it kind of hit me that I have a love like that. That feels so right and perfect and just…like it's all that matters in the world, and I haven't written a song about it. So a week later, I sat down and started writing a song."
"Goals" the interviewer gushed. Santana grinned.
"We try"
"So the next question is about your career."
"Okay" Santana nodded, re-crossing her legs.
"How would you describe your career in one word?"
Santana licked her lips and looked up. "Oh man…these questions are really not messing around" she laughed.
"Is it hard to answer?"
"I mean…one word is hard. There are so many aspects to my career…" she trailed off. "Uh, a rollercoaster."
The interviewer cocked her head, looking amused. "Really?"
"Yeah. Before you get on, you're super excited, and then you get in and the ride starts and there's no going back. Then there's this slow build up filled with anticipation, and excitement, but there's also fear, maybe a little bit of regret."
There was some laughter in the room.
"Wow. And that's how you felt at the beginning of your career?"
"Definitely. I was terrified, but also happier and more excited than I'd ever been about anything in my life."
"Okay go on"
"So you get to the top, and there's this lull, where you know something is about to happen, and you think you're prepared but you really, really aren't. Then the drop comes, and it's exhilarating."
She turned to Jade, who smiled at her.
"That's incredible."
"Yeah. And even just in the broader sense, where there are ups and downs, it still applies. There are periods where I love my job. I'm thriving off the energy and the late nights and all that, and then there are times when I really hate it."
"When do you hate it?"
Santana smirked. "You know."
The interviewer laughed. "Yeah, I can imagine."
"So yeah. That's my word. Rollercoaster."
"That's the most detailed answer I've ever heard to that question."
Santana smiled, wagging her eyebrows. "Come on, what else you got?" she rubbed her hands together. "Bring it on."
"Hahaha, okay. Is it hard for you to balance your career with your family?"
Santana cocked her head to the side. "If you'd asked me that a few months ago I would have said no, but right now I'd have to say yes."
"In what way?"
"Well" she licked her lips and ran a hand though her hair. "I don't know. It may be that we need an adjustment period since our family has grown, but the last couple of months have been really hectic."
"Yeah"
"I think that…" she trailed off, sitting up straighter. "Okay, so when my wife and I first became parents, everything was new to us, so we were determined not to screw up. We both took nearly a year off work, and when we went back I was still working from home, primarily, and Brittany was working really reduced hours. We wanted to really focus on our kids you know?"
"Yes I do"
"After a while we got into a flow, and started taking on more work, I started touring again and Brittany took on these really heavy projects, because we were a bit more experienced, you know? We knew what our kids could and couldn't handle."
"Okay?"
"But this time, we didn't really…have…a lot of time to prepare for our two new kids" Santana said slowly choosing her words carefully. "So we didn't have that opportunity to take as much time off work. My wife and I are still bound by all these commitments and contracts and stuff, which there really isn't a way to work around, but at the same time we have to adjust to four kids."
"That seems a bit overwhelming."
"Yeah it can be, which is why I would say that now, balancing work and family is difficult. But, I don't think that it will be for long."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. My family is the most important thing to me, in the whole world" the interviewer nodded. "So I think….as soon as I can, I'm going to be stepping back from music for a while."
The interviewer's eyes went wide, and Santana just had to laugh. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, you get a little exclusive there"
"Wait. You mean you won't be releasing any music?"
Santana nodded. "Yeah. I need to focus on my kids, and give them the attention that they deserve. Plus, like I said, Brittany is working on a project, so I want to give her time to do that. She's always been so supportive of my career and my dreams and I want to do that for her as well."
For a while it seemed that the interviewer really had no idea what to say. She was looking at Santana with wide eyes, blinking quickly.
"Are you okay?" Santana asked.
"I'm just shocked. I mean, I'm sure this will come as a huge shock to all your fans."
"Yes, I'm sure it will. Honestly it isn't something that's set in stone, it's just something I'm thinking about."
"So it's not like a definite thing?"
Santana smiled, licking her lips. "No, it's not a definite thing, and I don't even know when it would happen. I'm currently working on an album, as I'm sure my fans know, so I mean…there's a lot of things to consider. It's just...an option."
The interviewer relaxed significantly.
"Can you breathe now?" Santana laughed. The interviewer laughed nervously.
"We would really miss you if you were to stop making music."
"Thank you, that's sweet."
"Wow, okay. Ready for the next question?" Santana nodded. "Would you ever consider living the tour life?"
"No" Santana answered easily. Everyone in the room laughed. Santana shook her head as she giggled. "No way."
"Why not?"
"Look. I love touring, but it just would not be possible at all. I have four kids under the age of five. Let's start there, and while Jesus and Kyler literally thrive off the tour energy, it would not be good for them in the long run, I don't think. A tour life has no structure, or stability. Its late nights and long hours on the road. Always staying in hotels. I mean I wouldn't be able to keep track of their diets or sleep schedules. They wouldn't be able to make friends their own age, which…I mean must be bad for their social skills. Then how would I raise a baby. Tours are overwhelming and exhausting without having to take care of a baby as well." Santana shook her head like the thought was too much. Jade laughed, making her laugh as well.
"My wife and I would have to basically split custody of the kids because she has her own job that also includes travel sometimes. So it's not like she can just follow me around the world. So what would we do? Would they always come on tour with me, or would they stay with her sometimes? Goodness, no. It's too much and just definitely not the life for us."
"I mean it makes sense. But some people do it."
"Yes they do. And hats off to them seriously."
Everyone laughed.
"No. It wouldn't be fair to me or Brittany or our kids. They have a family right now, a routine. They see their grandparents regularly and my best friends are basically their second family. There's a lot of familiarity. If we constantly went on tour they would lose all that. I mean…" she broke off laughing again.
"So that's a no?" the interviewer asked. Santana shook her head.
"Yeah. A no."
"Okay" the interviewer laughed. "Next question."
"Okay?"
"You mentioned the album you're working on."
Santana nodded. "Yesss"
"It's called BSP"
Santana grinned. "Yup"
"There's a lot of speculation as to what it stands for"
Santana laughed.
"Nah. My fans are smart. They know what it stands for."
"Brittany"
Santana grinned, but didn't answer.
"Are the rumours right in saying that it's an album full of love songs like 'love will light the day'?"
Santana raised her eyebrows. "I wish I had some wine to sip right now" the interviewer laughed. "It's an album full of songs I've never done before."
"No kidding" Jade said.
"There was a video on instagram about two weeks ago" Santana smirked biting her bottom lip, turning to look at Eve. "You know the video?"
"Of course I know the video. Do you know how many people tagged me in it?"
"So you didn't know it was being taken?"
Santana shook her head. "I had no idea"
"That makes it so much cuter"
Santana pursed her lips, refusing to smile. Unbeknownst to her, Eve had taken a video of her singing one of her new songs 'closer' to Brittany while they were in the studio. In truth, it really was a very cute video. It started with Santana singing to Brittany while she was sitting on the couch in her studio, and then she pulls Brittany up, dancing around her. Around the time she hits the second verse, Brittany starts to dance, taking the lead while Santana continued to sing. Jade and the rest of her band joined in with the instrumentals and you could see how happy she and Brittany looked. They were both smiling like fools, and more than once Santana had to stop singing, because she was laughing. She loved that video. And she only knew of its existence because Eve had posted it on her instagram account.
The fans had gone mad. Literally mad. Hers and Brittany's phones had blown up with twitter and instagram messages for days. It was so bad she had actually deleted both apps for a few weeks. Emma had praised Eve's genius, saying she had just guaranteed Santana's album would top the charts, but at the time Santana hadn't seen it that way. She'd been furious.
The video was so intimate. She and Brittany had kissed at the end, something they never showed on the internet. It was a private moment, she thought. With raw emotion and love and happiness. Sharing that with the world without her permission was just…it felt like a violation of trust.
Eve at least had the decency to look ashamed.
"Is that a song from the album?"
"Yeah" Santana said. "I think it's the…fourth?" she looked up in thought. "Yeah the fourth song in the album."
"How many songs are in the album total?"
"12."
"I can't wait for it to come out"
"You're not the only one" Santana laughed.
"What is your favourite album?"
"Of mine, or…"
"Do you have a favourite album of another artist?"
Santana thought. "It changes from day to day honestly. But I think currently it's Demi Lovato's tell me you love me."
"Oh that's a good one."
"So good. I love her."
"Do you think you'll ever do a collab with her?"
"If she was willing? For sure! That would be awesome."
The interviewer laughed.
"Okay the last question"
"Already?"
"I'm afraid so"
"Okay, go on"
"You have a massive fan-base" Santana smiled, nodding. "Very dedicates as well"
"Yeah, they are awesome, it's like having my own personal army."
"What's the craziest thing a fan has ever done?"
Santana laughed, her hand combing through her hair.
"Oh man….I don't know. They're very enthusiastic, but most of the time pretty respectful. Especially when I'm with my kids. Umm…. I've had a few proposals, which are always nice." The room laughed. "Uh…some people try and get my clothes"
"Like off your body?"
"Yeah" Santana laughed. "Once there was a woman who gave me a whole presentation on why she deserved my shirt. It was very convincing."
"She gave it to her" Jade said, laughing hard.
"What?" the interviewer asked in astonishment.
"Yeah. Brittany wasn't very pleased with me when she found out."
"You just stripped your shirt off?"
"Well it was after a show, and I was going to change anyway so…" she shrugged.
"It was drenched with her sweat," Jade added, "cause like she said, it was just after a show"
"I can't believe it" the interviewer gaped, looking at Santana in awe.
"Neither could my wife"
Emma waved a hand to get the interviewers attention, and she sobered quickly.
"Unfortunately, our time is up. But I've have a great time talking to you."
"Thank you for having me" Santana said, standing up. One of the technical crew came to remove the microphones and wires from around her.
"So you're going to the school?" Eve asked quietly, once she was free.
"I think I'll go see Britt. I don't think there's any reason for me to go to the school. She'll have been done by now."
"Okay." Emma said. "Well you don't have anything to do for the rest of the day-"
"Actually I got a call from Julia"
Santana's heart stopped momentarily. There wasn't really any reason she should be so scared to hear from her kids' social worker, but there had been so many issues and bumps in the road to their adoption that a part of her couldn't help feeling like something else had come up.
"What did she say?" she asked.
"Not here" Emma said, looking at the interviewer who was standing a bit too close to them.
"Right." Santana said. She grabbed her bag from Eve and smiled at everyone in the room. "Thank you guys so much, that was fun"
"Thank you for coming!"
She waved and followed Jade out of the room.
"What did she say?" Brittany asked her, as she sat across from her on the floor.
"She said that the judge has an opening tomorrow at 9 am."
"So…."
"If we wanted, we could move up the date of the adoption."
"But…no one is going to be able to make it. Ashley still has school and our parents don't get in until Friday."
Santana nodded. "I know B but I need this to be over. I can't take the anticipation and fear anymore."
"I get that…." Brittany bit her top lip and stared at the ground.
"If you really don't want to, we can wait the week and a half."
"No" Brittany replied, looking up. "Let's do it. We can still hold the party when everyone gets here."
Santana smiled in relief. "So tomorrow…"
"We'll officially be the mothers of four kids." Brittany beamed at her. Santana leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips.
"It's crazy, and not how I expected it to be at all, but I'm so happy this is our life"
"Me too"
"What happened with Jesus?"
Brittany sighed. "There was a kid who wanted to play with the truck he was playing with, Jesus didn't want to share and the kid snatched it from him."
Santana shook her head. She really didn't know how to help Jesus. Everything he was struggling with wasn't his fault. She just wished she knew what to do.
"What are we gonna do B?"
"I think we might have to get someone to come help him….someone trained in this stuff."
Santana didn't respond. She didn't like the idea of some stranger coming and handling her son, but she had to admit that she was out of her depth.
"I don't know…"
"I don't want to do it either" Brittany said, taking Santana's hand. "I remember how awful it was sometimes to have to work with my coach but we don't know what we're doing" Santana remained silent, feeling close to tears. "Baby" Brittany tilted Santana's head up to look into her eyes. "We take them to the doctors when they're sick because we don't know anything about medicine. This is the same."
Santana sighed. "Okay. Let me just read on it okay?"
"Sure babe" Brittany said, smiling gently. "Whatever you need."
Internally she was hoping Santana would find something they could do so that they didn't have to get a coach for their four year old son.
Santana calmed down a bit, but her mood had turned sour. She stood up. "I'm going to call Julia, then I'm going home."
Brittany looked up at her sadly. "Okay. I'll see you at home."
Santana nodded, already on her way out.
Julia came running down the corridor with a piece of paper in her hand and a huge smile on her face.
"I found it!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Yaay" Jesus said excitedly, clapping his hands. Santana giggled at him.
"What's that?" Kyler asked. Julia smiled at him.
"Your sister's birth certificate."
"You found it?" Brittany asked, shocked.
"Yes. I had a lot of people looking…and here it is" she handed it to Brittany, who was holding Mateo. He tried to get it, but Brittany quickly held it out of reach.
"Oh my god" Santana said. She had moved behind Brittany to read the piece of paper over her shoulder. "Her birthday's on Saturday"
Brittany's wide eyes fixed on her. "That's not enough time."
"I know"
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know"
"She has to have an awesome birthday. We can't just….we have to-"
"Calm down Britt" Santana said, turning her around to face her. "It'll be fine. We'll start planning today."
Brittany took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Okay"
"Thank you so much Julia" Santana said, taking the paper from Brittany and putting it in a file.
Julia smiled. "Are you ready?"
Brittany looked at Mateo, who was babbling about something behind her.
"More than you know"
The court proceedings went almost exactly like Jesus and Kyler's. The judge talked about why they were there, confirmed that the social worker approved the adoption, went through all the documents to support the adoption. Proof of no next of kin, background check on Santana and Brittany, and so on. Finally he set everything down and asked them what names were to be on the new birth certificates. When that was over, Santana and Brittany signed the adoption papers, and it was over. Sophia and Mateo were officially Lopez-Pierces, and just like when they went through their first adoption, both women cried.
Three days. Santana and Brittany had three days to plan Sophia's birthday, and it had both of them on edge. Sophia wasn't particularly excited about it, but Jesus and Kyler were, and this fuelled Santana's desire to make the day special.
Despite not thinking they would be able to pull it off, when the day arrived everything had been done.
In anticipation of their toddlers' excitement, Brittany and Santana didn't wait for them to wake up on their own. Instead, they woke Sophia up with balloons and kisses and lots of glitter. Then they woke Jesus and Kyler, they left Mateo to sleep, and went down for breakfast. Since her diet was still very restricted, the breakfast spread was more for everyone else than for her, but she was as equally as excited about the rainbow pancakes and strawberry cupcakes as the twins. She didn't eat more than a few bites of either.
After breakfast she got her first gift from Santana and Brittany, a crown and sceptre. When Quinn arrived at half past 8, Brittany took them all upstairs to get dressed. This was what she had been most excited for. From her closet she pulled out six outfits, all matching but one. When they were all dressed Santana couldn't help but gush.
Jesus and Kyler were in black jeans with pockets lined with silver and LP bedazzled into one of them. They had plain pink muscle shirts, and on top they wore black letterman jackets. On the back, in the same bedazzled design as the LP on their jeans, was written 'Her big brother'.
Santana and Brittany were wearing the same thing, except instead of muscle shirts they had spaghetti tops, and their jackets read, 'Her mami' and 'Her mama'.
Sophia was in a silver sparkly princess dress that ended just above her knees, and on the back her jacket, which was pink instead of black read 'Her'. They all wore silver high-top shoes.
Jesus, Kyler, Brittany and Santana all had their hair styled in the same way. Two large French braids with some glitter in it. Santana tied a pink ribbon in her and Brittany's hair, but figured the glitter was already a bit much for the boys. She wouldn't have put even that, but Sophia had begged for it, and the boys had been happy to oblige. Sophia's hair was in two French braids as well, but only at the front. In the back it was open and as curly as ever, falling all the way to the middle of her back. In the few months since they'd had her, Santana had taken it upon herself to improve the state of Sophia's hair. After many trials and errors with shampoos and oils, she finally found a combination that worked. Sophia's hair was no longer unruly or wild, but soft and curly.
In Brittany's opinion, there was no cuter family in the world.
"Well done B" Santana said as they dressed Mateo in the same outfit as Jesus and Kyler. His jacket said 'Her little brother'. Brittany beamed.
"Thanks"
"How did you get this on such short notice?"
"I have my ways" Brittany said.
"Mama let's go. Let's go, everyone is here!" Kyler rushed.
It was true. They had wasted a lot of time upstairs, getting ready and taking pictures, so now most people had arrived.
When they got downstairs, they saw that a lot more people were there than they had thought. Santana's parents, Brittany's parents and sister, Jade, Lucas, Syth, Chad, some kids from their pre-k class and their parents, and to Santana's utter astonishment, her cousin Miguel.
Miguel was a month older than her, and since the day she'd been born, had been her best friend. They were raised as siblings, and they acted like it. They competed over everything and fought all the time, but they loved each other fiercely. Until the day Santana came out to her grandmother. She had not heard from anyone on her father's side of the family after that day, including Miguel.
As people hugged her and gushed over how cute they looked, she and Miguel stared at each other. He looked nervous and uncomfortable, and so different from when she'd seen him last. He had a beard, and no longer had the toned body he'd had in high school, though he wasn't fat. His face looked familiar, but older. In fact he looked like Santana remembered his dad to look. Slightly tired but still handsome. She couldn't bring herself to speak.
Brittany, who had continued with the greetings, stopped just before hugging Miguel. She frowned heavily and took a step back.
"Why don't you go say hi to uncle Noah" Brittany said to Jesus and Kyler, who were holding her hands. They immediately let go and ran to Puck, who was outside by the pool. Sophia clung to Santana's hand, shrinking away from everyone around them.
"Here" Jade said, taking Mateo from her arms. I'll tell Noah to come get her." Santana nodded gratefully. Jade had really become one of her best friends, in more ways than just being able to tolerate her for extended periods of time. They had developed the kind of friendship that was easy and light. Full of laughter and fun times, but also which Santana found easy to open up in. She trusted Jade a lot faster than she thought she could trust another person, and it was something she'd never experienced. Her friendship with Quinn and Puck was more out of familiarity and shared…darkness, and her friendship with Brittany had never just been a friendship. There was always the feeling that Brittany was special. Was more.
She therefore found it so weird when Jade knew things about her, like when to intervene or give her space, even when she didn't know what was going on, like now. Quinn would know, Puck would know, and Brittany would know. But having another person know her like that was still strange. She was glad she had Jade though. It was a fresh friendship, without the baggage and regrets of high school.
Santana hugged her mother, who she hadn't seen or really talked to since Australia, and then her father, who she hadn't seen in longer.
"You look well Santanita" Stephen said. Santana nodded.
"I assume he's here because of you" she said, picking Sophia, who was tugging on her jacket. Her father's eyes roamed her face as her mother smiled at Sophia. This was the first time they were meeting Sophia and Mateo.
"He asked to come. Just…listen, will you?"
Santana didn't speak. She couldn't really focus on her anger with Sophia literally shaking in her arms. Seconds later Puck showed up, a huge smile on his face.
"LP mommas, how you doing?" Santana couldn't help smiling at him. She hugged him, let him hug Brittany, and then handed Sophia to him. She went easily. Aside from Jessie, who Sophia adored, Puck was the only male she would ever allow to hold her or take her anywhere.
"Thanks Noah, we'll see you in a bit."
"No rush. I got my princess right here."
Sophia giggled as Puck tickled her sides. He winked at Santana and walked off.
Santana sighed and turned to Miguel.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too" Santana narrowed her eyes. "Okay, too soon."
"Why are you here? I didn't invite you."
"We told him he could come" Maribel said.
"Great" Santana said rolling her eyes. "Anyone else you'd like to invite back into my life without my permission? Is Tia Sylvia going to come out of the bathroom? Am I going to walk into my kitchen and find abuela cooking?"
"You don't know what it was like for the rest of us Santana. Abuela was like…she refused to let any of us have anything to do with you or she'd…"
"Disown you? Wow, how horrible that must have been. The threat of losing your grandmother, who you've known and adored your whole life. Never being able to go to family functions, birthdays, church. Yeah, I totally understand your decision to cut me out of your life."
"It wasn't like that. I tried to fight for you, but my parents…they wouldn't allow it. They said they'd cut me off if I kept picking fights with everyone over what abuela did. They sent me to some church camp that Christmas just to wash off any influence you might have over me."
Santana clenched her jaw, looking at her father. He was conveniently looking away.
"I figured I'd just wait till I was away in college, but then you just disappeared. You changed your number and I had no idea how to reach you. I didn't go back to Lima for like…4 years, and then the next thing I knew you were famous and I just…"
"You were a coward." Santana said. Miguel looked down. "All you're giving me right now are excuses. You could have asked my parents for my number. You could have asked Brittany. I'm pretty sure you still had her number, unless you deleted it when you deleted me."
"Santana I know I was shitty. But I was a scared teenager, and I was confused."
"Confused? Confused about what?"
"You just…all of a sudden were a different person. You hadn't told me you were a lesbian, and I needed some time to-"
"Accept that? I don't need you in my life if you had to take some time to decide if you could accept who I am"
"No, no….I didn't care. I was just mad I guess. That you'd kept this huge secret from me. You were my sister and you'd been hiding this whole part of yourself…I was a bit ashamed as well. I should have been a safe place for you, and I wasn't. I told myself I didn't deserve to be in your life anyway so…"
There was silence for a long time, everyone tense and waiting for Santana to react. She turned and stared out at her kids. They were all chasing Pierce around on the grass, Puck had Sophia on his shoulders and Susan was standing to the side talking to Jade and holding Mateo. There were two kids Santana didn't recognise. They looked about Sophia's age. She realised they must be Miguel's.
Sighing she turned back to him. "You're an idiot"
"Of massive proportions" he agreed quickly.
"And you owe me BIG time"
He nodded seriously, clearly not believing she was so calm.
"Are those your kids?" she asked, jerking her head in their direction. He turned to look, smiled and nodded.
"Yeah Lily and Abigail. They're 5"
"I had twins and you just had to copy me huh?" Santana joked.
"How old are your boys again?"
"4" Santana answered.
"That's what I thought. So who's copying who again?"
Santana laughed. "Well, I have more kids than you so…I'm still better."
"Dios" Maribel said, shaking her head but beaming. "Right back into it?"
"I'm just letting him know where he stands mami"
"Hi Brittany" Miguel finally said. Brittany hugged him, but her smile was basic. It didn't hold the usual brightness that her smiles usually did.
"Hi. I'm still mad at you"
Miguel rubbed the back of his head. "That's okay. I hope you'll let me make it up to you."
"Yeah, but it won't be easy."
"I know. You've always been so protective of my little cousin."
"That's right" Brittany nodded. "Now come on, we have a party to celebrate!"
Miguel slung his arms around Santana's shoulder. "I'll introduce you to my wife."
"Considering your kids' skin tone, I'm going to guess she's white" Miguel laughed. "Another win for me" Santana said smugly.
As the day went on, Sophia relaxed into the party and began to enjoy herself. Jesus and Kyler stayed by her side the whole day, like body guards, but she didn't seem to need it. She took to Lily and Abigail pretty quickly, though Brittany had to pull her aside to tell her to stop telling them they weren't real twins. They weren't identical like Jesus and Kyler, so to her they weren't real.
The cake was a massive castle. When Santana had seen it she'd instantly regretted putting Brittany in charge of it. It was unnecessarily large and fancy, with little people on balconies, and a unicorn on the front lawn…. yes there was a front lawn. Sophia had squealed when she saw it, hugging Brittany and Santana so tight her body was shaking with the effort, then she'd taken out all the little people and the unicorn and set them aside to play with later.
After cutting the cake, came Santana's favourite part of the day, the photo shoot. They had gotten Quinn and Ashley jackets like theirs that said 'her Tia', and the granparents ones that said 'her abuela', 'her abuelo', 'her gammy' and 'her poppy'. Puck had one that said 'her uncle'. They all took pictures with their backs facing the camera, thumbs pointing to the words, while Sophia stood facing the camera. The gigantic smile on her face made Santana's heart soar.
There were two pictures that Santana knew she would hold with her forever. The first was during the photo shoot. It hadn't been planned, but she guessed that was why she liked it so much. During a break in between the pictures, Sophia had jumped into Santana's arms, talking excitedly about how she had just realised she was the same age as Jesus and Kyler. The photographer had nudged Brittany, telling her to get closer to Santana. Sophia threw her arm around Brittany's neck, but the position was awkward, so Santana shifted her to sit on her arm facing forward. As the camera clicked away, she turned her head and placed a kiss on Sophia's cheek. Then it was over. Later, when she was looking through the pictures, she saw that Brittany had done the same thing at the same time, and Sophia had her eyes closed, a big goofy grin on her face.
The second picture was one she didn't know about until she got the flash disk with the pictures back from the photographer later in the week.
This one was inside the house, when they were opening presents. Jesus, amped up on more sugar than he was allowed to eat in a week had been finding it impossible to sit still as Sophia opened the piles of gifts, so Santana had picked him up and put him on her shoulders. Brittany was standing next to her with Kyler in her arms as well, showing him how to take a video with her video recorder. They had identical looks of concentration on their faces. Santana couldn't even remember what present Sophia had been opening, but it must have been from her and Brittany, because Sophia was halfway in the air, launching herself at them. Neither of them had noticed yet. Santana had caught her probably seconds after the picture was taken, but that moment just before, with Jesus tilting down over her face, her sticking her tongue out at him, Brittany and Kyler's faces pressed together as Brittany pointed to the screen of the camera, and Sophia' look of pure joy and bliss as she floated in the air, was just perfect to Santana.
That night after the party, Santana collapsed on her bed just before midnight. Brittany fell on top of her, her hands snaking underneath her to wrap around her stomach. They both sighed.
"Tired?" Santana nodded into the bed. "Yeah today's been a long day." She lifted her head "What was that?" Brittany asked, as Santana mumbled something.
"She had a blast though."
"Yeah. And she warmed up to a lot of people. I think school will be easier for her now."
Santana nodded. "She definitely liked the gifts."
Brittany laughed, rolling off her. "My parents made sure of that"
"He bought her a house" Santana laughed.
"And told her we'd buy furniture for it."
"Your dad's the best"
"It was nice of your parents to get her a car like Jesus and Kyler's"
"Yeah" Santana said, her laughter dying out.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing I just….I don't get why my dad can't just…" she trailed off.
"Be a dad?" Brittany asked.
"Yeah" Santana said, turning to face Brittany. Brittany moved closer to her, her arm once again wrapping around her. "I don't expect him to be like your dad, no one can be" Brittany smiled sadly, "but something. I want my kids to at least know him you know? To feel like they have an abuelo."
"I know babe."
"Even my mum is trying. She's doing her best, and I'm the one being difficult. I know that, and I'm working through being able to let her in. But he doesn't even try. It's like he doesn't care at all."
Brittany wanted to say something. To tell Santana that he must care. He was her father after all. But she couldn't. She wasn't all together sure that he did. She'd never seen anything to suggest that he did. All the years she'd known Santana, her father's solution had always been to give her money. It was like he thought that was a substitute for any sort of relationship. Brittany hated it.
"Maybe he doesn't know how" she finally said.
Santana didn't say anything, so neither did Brittany. They lay in silence for a long while, soaking in each other's company.
"I've been thinking" Brittany finally said. Santana hummed. "Today with Miguel and you being able to make up with him...it feels like a sign."
"A sign?" Santana asked, frowning.
"Yeah." Brittany took a deep breath. "The boys keep asking me about where we grew up and where gammy and poppy live. They say they miss Tia Ashley."
"Okay…"
"And Quinn keeps talking about it. I think she really wants to…so I was just thinking that maybe…." she stopped talking. Santana had a feeling she knew what Brittany was going to say. She moved closer to Brittany.
"What were you thinking Britt?"
"Maybe we should go for the reunion."
Santana continued to stare into Brittany's eyes, not sure how she felt about the idea, and not wanting to react badly.
"Do you absolutely hate the idea?" Brittany asked.
"I don't love it."
'It's just…we said that we'd always go back. Glee gave us everything we have."
"I know"
"And It would be nice to show our kids where we grew up and maybe for you to...maybe see some of your family, like Miguel. And I feel like it would actually be a lot of fun to see the choir room and glee club again."
"I know"
"But you still don't want to"
Santana remained silent again. Usually she would be complaining and whining about all the reasons why going back was a bad idea, but right now Brittany was in one of those moods where she took everything Santana said to heart. If Santana said that she didn't want to go, Brittany would drop it immediately.
"A part of me does" she finally said slowly, "but we have so much going on here with the kids and work…"
"We can figure it out" Brittany said hopefully.
"It's in a week"
"I know. Eve said she's gotten two emails from Rachel"
"What? When?" Santana asked in disbelief. "She didn't tell me that."
"She said she promised Rachel she'd try her best to get us there, and figured she had a better chance with me"
"Looks like she was right" Santana laughed.
"Is that a yes?"
Santana sighed. "You really want to do this don't you?" Brittany nodded. "Then it's a…let's see if we can make it work" Brittany squealed, pulling her in for a kiss. "But if it's too hard or complicated, or detrimental to either of our jobs then I reserve the right to cancel."
"Deal" Brittany said, kissing her again. "You're the best."
"Yeah, yeah. This feels like when you convinced me to join glee in the first place."
Brittany laughed. "I'll tell you what I told you then. It'll be fun, I promise."
