Matt looked up at the soft knock and raised a surprised eyebrow at the sight of his ex-wife. "San. Come in." Santana nodded and stepped into the office. "Do you want something to drink?"
"I'm good, thanks." Matt nodded.
"Why aren't you at the diner?" Santana sighed.
"I have the day off. I have some things to take care of." she said, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. "Why the change of heart? I know you said Rachel's call, but that's bullshit and we both know that." Matt looked down before standing up and closing his office door.
"I'm getting married. When my fiancée found out about the twins, she... Well, she didn't like that I just stopped talking to my kids and after some thinking I realized that it was a huge mistake." Santana stared as he walked back to his desk.
"Back up. You're getting married?" she exclaimed. Matt nodded. "When?"
"Next year." Santana sighed. "And no, she's not pregnant." Santana let out a slight chuckle. "I did love you, San. You were my high school sweetheart, but when I left for college-"
"Things changed. I get it." Santana whispered. They'd been strong for the three years they were both at McKinley but when Matt graduated and she was still in high school, they grew apart. Running into each other a few years later was just a coincidence that they both got caught up in. "We worked as teenagers, but not as adults." Matt nodded. "Fine. You can see the twins, but... I need to be there for the first few months and I keep full custody."
"Deal. What about their birthday? I know it's today, but..." Matt trailed off.
"I don't want the initial meeting to happen on their birthday. They may not react well and I don't want to ruin their birthday. I'm taking them to a Yankees game in a week, what about the day after?"
"Sounds good. Oh, and Mariah wants to meet them." Santana bit her lip.
"I don't have a problem with that, I'm not going to be one of those exes that refuses to allow the new wife to be around the kids, but not until I'm comfortable with you being back in their lives and I want to meet her first. It'll make me feel better if I've met her before she's around my kids. Oh, and for the first time she meets them, I need to be there. Just in case, okay?" Matt nodded.
"This is on your terms, San. You're in control. I know I have to earn your trust back." Santana smiled slightly. "I actually have a meeting in a few minutes."
"Yeah, I should get going. I have an apology I need to make before I pick up the twins." Matt raised an eyebrow.
"An apology? You must feel really guilty, I've never heard you apologize to anyone." Santana rolled her eyes.
"That's not true."
"You didn't even apologize when you broke my mom's oven in high school." Santana scoffed.
"That wasn't my fault. It was a stupid oven." Matt laughed loudly.
"It's great to see you, San. You know my number, call me when you're free so we can set something up." Santana smiled and nodded, walking out of the office.
"Can I help you?" Santana smiled politely at the receptionist.
"I'm looking for Rachel Berry."
"Do you have an appointment?" Santana bit her lip.
"I don't, but I'm an old friend. I was trying to surprise her." The receptionist eyed her for a moment before looking at a calendar.
"She's free this afternoon. Her office is the third door on your right." Santana smiled. "She doesn't get many surprises. She's been really happy these last couple of weeks, but today she's been really upset. I hope your surprise cheers her up."
"I think it will. Thank you very much." Santana walked down the hallway, knocking on Rachel's office door. The brunette looked up, gasping slightly.
"San." she whispered, dropping her pen. Santana smiled. "Come in. Is everything okay? Why aren't you at work?"
"I need to talk to you. You didn't come to the diner yesterday, so I had to come to you." Rachel nodded. She'd wanted to give Santana some space before attempting to talk to her again.
"I'm so sorry. I never thought my actions would cause Matt to ask to be back in the twins' lives. He's not trying to get custody, is he? I don't think I'd ever forgive myself." Santana chuckled.
"Calm down, Rach. All he wants is to see them. I know Matt, I could tell that he wasn't just saying that to get me to agree to it so he could have an in." Rachel smiled. "He's actually engaged and his fiancée wants to meet the twins. There's a lot of details to work out, I told him I needed to see how he was around them and then meet her before she could meet them."
"That sounds reasonable. The twins are the first priority." Santana smiled and nodded.
"I'm not here to talk about that though. I'm actually here to apologize. I was out of line the other day. I shouldn't have acted like that, you didn't know that would happen. Hell, you didn't even know I had kids until you called Matt, how could you have foreseen that?" Rachel smiled. "I want to make it up to you."
"You don't have to do that, Santana. I wasn't mad at you."
"No, please. You... Come over for dinner. You can meet the twins. It's about time, you practically know everything about them by now and you are going to a baseball game with us in a week."
"You still want me to go?" Rachel asked. Santana laughed.
"First of all, you bought your ticket, you don't need my permission to go. And of course I do." Rachel smiled. "Come over. It's their birthday, you can celebrate with us."
"Wait, today's their birthday? Why aren't you with them?" Santana chuckled.
"They're with my neighbor at the moment. She wanted to take them and her kid to some kid place for lunch and I thought that would be a good opportunity to take this. Anyway, Kurt's coming tonight."
"Kurt? You talked to Kurt?" Santana nodded.
"Yeah, he came by the diner yesterday for lunch. We talked over some stuff and when I let it slip that today's their birthday, he insisted on coming so he could bring them gifts."
"That sounds like him." Santana laughed.
"Actually, Kurt and Mickey both made me realize I was a total bitch to you. I mean, I would have figured it out on my own, but they sped up the process." Rachel chuckled. "Come on, Rach, it'll be like old times but better because my babies will be there." Rachel smiled.
"Okay. I'd love to. I need to know what kind of things they like, though." Santana raised an eyebrow. "For their birthday presents. If you could give me a couple of options, just in case I can't find one of them, that would be great."
"Um... Yeah, sure. Miguel likes trucks, you know those little toy cars? He loves them. Lilly loves coloring. Both of them love stuffed animals." Rachel nodded, writing the information down.
"Did you get them anything aside from the tickets? I don't want to get them the same thing you got."
"Yeah, I got Miguel some Legos and Lilly is getting some game she was wanting." Santana explained. Rachel nodded. "You don't have to get them anything, Rach." Rachel set her pen down and looked up with a grin.
"Don't be silly. However, I don't know where you live nor do I have your phone number in case I need to contact you." Santana laughed and wrote the information down. "Excellent. What time should I come over tonight?"
"What time do you get off?" Santana asked.
"Five, but I'll need time to get presents.
"You can come over around six if that works for you." Rachel smiled and nodded. "I'll see you then."
"I can't wait." Santana smiled. "Oh! Are you getting a cake or would you like me to?"
"I've got that covered. Miguel loves chocolate cake and Lilly loves vanilla, so we made cupcakes last night. Thanks though." Rachel nodded. "See you tonight, Rach."
"Bye Santana." Rachel whispered, smiling to herself as Santana left her office.
A/N: When I first uploaded this story, I told myself I was only going to update once a week, but... Yeah, I don't have the patience for that lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be up soon!