After four months, Santana finally felt comfortable letting Matt's fiancée meet Miguel and Lilly. The twins had a great relationship with their father and everything went great when Santana and Rachel met Mariah.
Everything was going great in their own relationship as well. They'd gotten in the habit of spending time together every night and Rachel has started staying at Santana's apartment on the weekends and spending time with the twins when Santana would go to work.
At first, Matt had been a little upset when he found out that Rachel was spending time with the twins without restrictions and rules when his fiancée couldn't even meet them and he couldn't even spend time with them without supervision, but Santana quickly put him in his place.
FLASHBACK
"Matt, you don't get a say in this. You gave that up when you walked out. And Rachel came into their lives as my friend and had been in their lives for a while before we started dating." Matt sighed. "I'm sure your fiancée will be great with them, but I need to be sure about you first. I need to be sure you won't let them down again."
"Yeah, okay. Sorry about that little freak out." Santana smiled.
"It's fine." Matt smiled softly.
"Rachel's really good with them. I can tell she really loves them." Santana grinned.
"Yeah, she does. It only makes me love her even more." Matt chuckled.
END FLASHBACK
Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Santana looked over to find Rachel staring at her.
"What?"
"Are you okay?" Santana smiled.
"Yeah, babe, I'm fine. I was just thinking, that's all." she explained.
"You nervous?" Rachel asked as they watched the twins play in the park. They were meeting Matt and Mariah there so the twins would have something to do while they waited.
"No, why would I be? The twins and Matt get along great and Mariah seems really nice. I got a good vibe from her, did you?"
"Yes, I did." Rachel said, smiling as she grabbed Santana's hand. Santana nodded. "I think everything will be fine."
"Yeah, me too. Thanks for coming with me." Santana whispered, kissing her girlfriend's forehead. Rachel leaned closer, but pulled away when she saw Matt and Mariah approaching.
"Good morning!" The pair smiled as the women stood up and hugged them. Santana smiled at Mariah.
"You sure you want to meet them? There's no turning back once they've smiled at you, just ask Rach." Rachel laughed.
"It's true. I was hooked." Mariah grinned and nodded.
"Okay. Miguel, Lilly!" The twins looked up and grinned when they saw their father.
"Daddy!" Matt bent down and hugged the kids before looking up at his fiancée.
"Guys, this is Mariah. She's going to be my wife soon." The twins stared up at the stranger before looking over at their mom.
"Say hi, guys." Santana said, smiling softly. Miguel spoke up first.
"Hi." he said, grinning at the woman before nudging his sister. Lilly looked up at the woman before shuffling closer to Rachel. Thinking the girl didn't like her, Mariah's smile fell slightly.
"It's not you, she's pretty shy." Santana explained. Mariah nodded and Rachel bent down slightly to talk to Lilly.
"What's wrong, pretty girl?" she whispered, smiling softly. Lilly shrugged. "Mariah is really nice. I bet you'd like her."
"But I like you." Lilly whispered. Rachel chuckled.
"You can like us both, sweetheart. I won't be mad if you like Mariah." she said. Lilly nodded slowly. "Give her a chance, sweetheart."
"You won't be mad at me?" Rachel shook her head. "Okay." Rachel was about to stand up when Lilly hugged her. "Love you, Rachie."
"I love you too, sweetheart." Rachel whispered, kissing Lilly's head before standing up. Lilly looked up at Rachel one more time before walking over to Mariah.
"Hi." Mariah smiled softly. "I'm Lilly."
"Hi Lilly. I'm Mariah." Lilly smiled as Mariah crouched down so they were at eye level.
"Rachie says you're really nice." Mariah chuckled.
"I think she's nice too." Lilly nodded. "Are you and Rachel close?"
"She's my best friend." Rachel chuckled softly as she leaned into Santana. "Maybe you can be my other best friend. Uncle Kurt, he's my other best friend right now, but he won't mind if you take over."
"Yes he will." Matt, Santana, and Rachel said at the same time, causing each other to laugh. Lilly looked up at her mom and the woman knew she was about to cry.
"Mija, you're allowed to have more than two best friends. Daddy had five best friends when we were younger." Matt nodded.
"It's true, baby girl. You can have Rachel, Kurt, and Mariah all be your best friends."
"And Miguel?" Lilly whispered. Rachel smiled softly.
"And Miguel too." Lilly nodded.
"Okay. I don't want to hurt anybody." Santana grinned.
"You're not, mija." Lilly nodded. "Does that mean Mariah is your new best friend?"
"Yeah!" Mariah smiled.
"Great. How about we all go to lunch?" Matt suggested, scooping up his daughter.
"So how did the twins get along with Matt's fiancée ? What's her name again?"
"Mariah." Rachel said as she scanned the menu she was looking at. Kurt nodded. "They seemed to like her. Lilly was a little hesitant at first."
"Why?"
"She thought I would be upset if she liked Mariah." Rachel explained.
"Are you?" Kurt asked. Rachel looked up.
"Excuse me?" Kurt shrugged. "Of course not. I mean, yeah it's going to be weird having someone else play a similar role in their lives, but I would never be upset with them for liking their stepmother."
"Just making sure." Rachel rolled her eyes just as their waitress walked up.
"Are you two ready to order?" Rachel looked up and saw the waitress smiling at her. Smiling politely, she nodded and closed her menu.
"I'll have your soup of the day and a house salad." Kurt nodded.
"I'll take the same, please." The waitress sent Rachel another smile before walking away. "She is so into you."
"Really?" Kurt nodded. "Unfortunately for her, my heart belongs to another waitress. It has since high school and now that she's finally mine, I'm not giving that up." Kurt chuckled. "Oh! Did I tell you that the twins are starting school in a couple of weeks?"
"Oh my god, that's right. School is starting soon. Now that I don't get summer breaks, I kind of lose track of that kind of stuff. Kindergarten, right?" Rachel nodded. "How's Santana?"
"She's a wreck. The other day, commercial for school supplies came on and I mentioned that one of us will need to take the twins to go get some supplies soon. She started crying." Kurt laughed. "I don't know what she's going to do when she drops them off on the first day."
"She's a really good mother." Kurt commented. Rachel nodded.
"Yeah, she is. She's a great girlfriend too. Kurt, I've never felt this loved, safe, and protected in a relationship before." she admitted.
"I've never seen you this happy in a relationship before." Rachel smiled.
"I really love her and I love the twins." Kurt smiled softly. "I know we've only been together for four months, but I can see myself marrying someday." Biting his lip to keep his smile from growing too wide, Kurt nodded. He wanted to tell her that Santana had said the same thing to him recently, but it wasn't his place.
FLASHBACK
"God, she's so amazing. Kurt, this woman... She is literally the best thing that could have ever happened to me besides my kids. I am so in love with her." Kurt chuckled as he ate his lunch.
"So it's going well?"
"It's incredible. I can see this lasting, I really can." Santana admitted, smiling shyly.
END FLASHBACK
"I hope that happens, Rach. You two are perfect for each other." Rachel smiled softly.
"Yeah, we are." she whispered.
A/N: Here's Chapter 12! Only two more chapters and then the epilogue left! I hope you guys enjoyed this one, the next chapter is about the twins' first day of school and Rachel deciding to take another step in her relationship with Santana!