Chapter 33

October – Age 19

Fall Break

Finn and Santana were elated to have a fall break. They had off Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Finn's last class ended at 6:30 Wednesday night so Santana got home at her normal 1:30 time and began packing. It was only like an hour and a half drive, so they could just leave as soon as Finn got home. Charlotte got to pick out her outfits and Santana packed a few extras as well. Finn mentioned going out one night for their anniversary so she packed a nice outfit. After she had all the girl stuff packed, she double checked what Finn had packed the night before. There were a few shirts she switched out so things matched a bit better, but overall, he didn't do a bad job. They had one large duffle bag for the three of them for the five days they were going to be home. Santana made sure she packed her backpack, and made sure that Finn had his already packed. They planned to get a few hours of homework in as Carol already planned on stealing Charlotte for a while when they got home. She had two lab reports to finish, a three page paper, and a statistics packet. Finn had at least an essay for Spanish, a paper for sociology, and he needed to work on his morals and ethics 15 page paper.

Finn pulled in their little drive way at quarter of seven. "Daddy!" Charlotte squealed. She ran and hugged his legs.

"Hey baby!" Finn said, picking her up. "Did you and Tan get packed to see Nana and Poppop?"

"Yes!"

"Good girl," he praised. Then he turned to Santana. "How'd it go?"

"Better than I thought. I let her pick out her outfits," she replied before giving him a peck on the lips. "Much easier."

"Good. I need to eat a sandwich or something, and then we can go," Finn said, walking over to the fridge. When he opened the door, there was a sandwich already made and chilling. "You made me a sandwich?"

"I knew you'd be hungry" she shrugged. He retrieved the sandwich and walked back over to her.

"You're the best girlfriend ever!" he announced before giving her a big kiss. Charlotte giggled. "Alright, I'll eat and then we can go."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was around nine by the time they pulled into Carol and Burt's driveway. Charlotte was passed out in her car seat. Santana got her back pack and Charlotte, while Finn grabbed his back pack and their duffle bag. Carol and Burt were in the living room watching TV when they arrived.

"Hey!" Burt whispered excitedly. He got up from his chair and gave Finn a manly hug. He went to kiss Charlotte softly, and then kissed Santana's cheek. Carol followed up shortly after.

"You can go put her up in her room, we just put new beds in your rooms," Carol said. Santana nodded and took Charlotte up to lay in the middle of the queen sized bed. When she returned, Carol was fussing over Finn. He would never be too old to be her baby.

"So how's school going?" Burk asked, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"It's a lot, but we are managing," she said honestly. "We brought some homework with us to get done."

"Well, we do want to see you two, but we can certainly take Char for a while so you can get work done."

"We'd really appreciate it," Santana said gratefully.

"Are you guys' hungry?" Carol asked.

"I could always eat," Finn admitted, his stomach agreeing with him.

"I'm a little hungry," Santana replied. And with that, they let themselves be parented. It was a nice break.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Carol had to work Thursday but Burt took off so he could hang with Charlotte. He told them to sleep in and get some work done. They would be home later. They slept in until eight, which was never a reality. "So what do you want to do on our first child-free morning?" Finn asked.

"Morning sex" Santana replied with no hesitation.

"I like the way you think," he grinned. With that he rolled over and kissed her.

"Condom," she bit out. Finn reached in his book bag and grabbed one out. Santana took it from him and put it on. She then clambered her way up on top of Finn and sank down on him. Finn rather enjoyed the view in front of him. They barely ever were able to have sex with the lights on since Charlotte still would occasionally wake up and come into their bedroom.

They took their time in finishing, enjoying just being with each other. Finn went down first and cooked breakfast. Santana got a quick shower before bringing their book bags downstairs. They took their time eating before starting homework. Finn ran off to get a shower as Santana got started on her biology lab report. She had gotten through the introduction and materials while Finn showered. It felt nice to be able to get work done without feeling on guard every second.

Finn began typing out his essay in Spanish. He would read sentences out loud to see if they sounded right. Santana finished her biology lab report and started her statistics packet. Since she was boss at math, that packet only took her an hour. Finn finished his essay and began writing his sociology paper. It was only two pages and he already had a bunch of resources. By noon they finished quite a bit of their work. They decided to snuggle in Burt's lazy boy chair and watch some trashy day time TV for their well-deserved break.

Burt brought Charlotte back around 1 and found them making out in his chair. "Daddy!" Charlotte squealed. They couple broke apart and blushed.

"Did you have a fun morning with Poppop?" Finn asked.

"Yah," she replied happily. She ran over and scrambled up on the couple.

"What did you do?"

"Swings!"

"You went to the park?" Finn smiled.

"We fed the ducks," Burt filled in. "We walked around, did the swings, see saw, I helped her climbed the monkey bars. I'm beat."

"Well, I'll make some lunch, then you two can have a nap," Santana smirked.

"Sounds good to me," Burt said. Santana went in and made a few hot dogs for everyone. Once they were consumed, Burt took Charlotte up to take her nap. Finn and Santana realized that after about a half hour, Burt hadn't come back down.

"I'll go check" Santana replied. "You start your ethics research." She got up and went to check on the duo. It was the cutest scene, that she couldn't resist taking a picture. Burt was curled up on the bed next to Charlotte. Once she snapped a few frames, she closed the door and rejoined Finn downstairs. "This had got to be one of the cutest pictures ever."

When she showed Finn the picture, he burst out laughing. "Char must have really worn him out," Finn commented.

"I couldn't help but take these. I'm gonna send them to Carol, give her something to laugh about at work," Santana replied. Once her texts were sent off, she curled up on Finn, getting some much needed alone time with him. They each did get periods of alone time, but rarely together because they were always exhausted or Charlotte would wake up. It was nice to relax in a big arm chair, watching daytime talk shows. Carol came home at six to find Finn and Santana on the couch, feet out, two lap tops open, working on papers.

"I can't thank you enough sweetheart," Carol said in lieu of a greeting. "That picture made my day."

"I'm glad it did," Santana replied. "Burt has her out back on the swings. But they both slept for a good two hours."

"I'll bet Burt was pooped. But the exercise is good for him, his cholesterol is a bit high," Carol said. "Were you two able to get some work done?"

"Yeah," Finn said. "I've gotten my essay and a paper done, and I'm still trying to source my other paper."

"I've gotten my stats packet done, a biology lab report, and most of my chemistry lab report done. Just one more paper left," Santana replied.

"You guys are so smart," Carol praised. "So what are we going to be in the mood for dinner?"

"Oh, Carol, I'll cook, you worked all day," Santana insisted. There was a battle of wills, but Santana won out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Finn got up and went to the shop with Burt for the day – one of the guys called out Friday and Saturday. He would be getting his usual pay, which would be great, since Finn wanted to take Santana out on a date for their one year anniversary. Santana had intended to spend the day with Carol and Charlotte, but Carol ended up taking Charlotte to go grocery shopping. Santana was at loose ends. Alone time was definitely a foreign concept to her anymore. The first thing she decided to do was get a nice, hot, long bubble bath. She put Pandora on her phone and sank beneath the bubbles. A full hour soaking and listening to music did a world of wonder. She felt fully refreshed and able to finish her three page paper as Carol kept Charlotte entertained.

"Hey, Santana," Carol said as they ate their sandwiches. "Have your parents actually talked to you since you've been in town?" Carol asked.

"I texted them yesterday morning, but I haven't heard anything back yet," Santana shrugged.

"I'm sorry sweetie," Carol replied.

"They liked me better when I was a horrible person," she replied. "I'm still living my dream, but they can't accept the fact that I'm doing that with Finn."

"I'm not sure they 'liked' when you say you were 'horrible'," Carol reasoned. "I'm sure it was something they understood. But you dating a guy with a child is a little outside of their comfort zone."

"I know. It was out of mine too, but we are both going to school and raising Charlotte as best we can. We have our schedules worked out to be able to have one of us at home at all times," Santana explained. "We do our homework – mostly when she sleeps. But we are doing well. Finn really helps me out since I have some more involved classes. But I couldn't do this without them."

"Have you ever told them that?" Carol asked.

"That would require them having an actual conversation with me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Carol and Santana chatted and played with Charlotte until the boys got home around 6. "Hey," Finn greeted all three of his girls with a kiss. "I made a reservation for our anniversary tonight at that little Italian place across town."

"Yum. I call shower first then," Santana claimed. "I need to do my hair up nice."

"No problem," Finn replied. He went to take Santana's place playing with Charlotte while Santana went off to shower. It definitely helped his psyche to get back into the shop and do some manual labor. College was hard for him, but he was so determined to make it and be a success, it was his drive. Charlotte was his drive. He wanted to provide the best possible life for her.

Soon enough, Santana was out of the shower and Finn got to scrub away all of the grime of the automotive business. He even scrubbed super well under his fingernails. In some ways, he was still in disbelief that they had been officially dating for a year now. His life had come so far in the past three years. When they were both ready, Finn drove them out to the restaurant. They had never been this place before. Their group mainly went to Breadstix because it was cheap, had endless breadsticks, and mostly everyone from McKinnley went there. Now that Finn and Santana had left Lima, it wasn't something they felt like reliving. This place was awesome. Finn was surprised by how good this place was, especially for Lima. They felt more like grown-ups going out for their anniversary. They got to chat about their classes, struggles, and triumphs.