Four Years Later...
Santana couldn't believe it had only been four years since Rachel had come back into her life. It felt like they had never been apart.
That's not to say that their lives had been perfect. Far from it. They fought, particularly in the beginning when Santana and the twins and first moved into Rachel's apartment. The transition was a lot harder than they'd imagined. It had been one thing when Rachel would stay at Santana's apartment or Santana and the twins would stay at Rachel's apartment because there were two apartments that all of their belongings were split between. Once the four of them lived under one roof, Rachel realized just how much stuff they had collectively.
After a few arguments, they finally came to an agreement. Everyone would keep their stuff in their respective rooms and if they needed to use it in one of the common areas, they would clean up when they were done and put it away. Rachel and Santana had also decided that they would save up for a year and try to find a bigger apartment that they could move into as a family. Rachel knew that Santana felt like she was encroaching on Rachel's space and the brunette wanted to stop that feeling, but she knew they couldn't afford to move at the moment.
Despite the arguments and disagreements, there was never a moment when either woman felt the relationship was going to end. They knew it was forever.
And they made sure to see as many Yankees games as possible.
The past four years had also seen some career changes for both women. A few months after Santana moved in, Rachel had been called into her boss's office. She'd immediately began worrying about rent and groceries, only to be told the opposite. She was being promoted and if she kept up the way she was working, it would be the first of many in her career. When Santana had found out, she had been so happy for her girlfriend and so proud of the woman.
Santana had decided to go back to school and had decided to study law. It had taken a year for Santana to quit her job at the diner. Rachel hated seeing her girlfriend so exhausted all the time but she also knew that Santana didn't want to seem like she was freeloading off of her, which was why she hadn't said anything to Santana. It took Santana a month to admit that she wasn't as stressed now that she wasn't working at the diner. She had more energy to spend time with her family, who she'd felt she had been neglecting.
Now, it finally felt like the pieces of her life were falling into place.
The ring on her finger just confirmed that.
FLASHBACK
"Rach?" Santana frowned as she entered a dark apartment. Sighing, she set her backpack on the floor. She'd had a long day and she just wanted to curl up with her girlfriend and her kids and watch a movie, but it looked like nobody was home. Disappointed, she made her way to the bedroom, gasping as she saw rose petals and candles surrounding the room. She finally spotted Rachel smiling from the bed. "Hi."
"Hi baby." Rachel whispered, standing up and kissing her girlfriend.
"Where are the twins?"
"They're spending the night with Matt and Mariah." Santana nodded. "How was your day?"
"Exhausting and stressful." Rachel smiled sympathetically. "I could use a distraction."
"Oh yeah? I think I have something that just might take your mind off of school for a little bit." Santana smirked as she started to move to the bed only to stop when she saw Rachel getting down on one knee.
"What are you doing?" she whispered. Rachel smiled.
"Santana, you've been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Even though you weren't in my life for five years, I still considered you to be one of my best friends. For the past three years, you've not only been my best friend, but you've been my lover and my partner. You keep me calm and level. You understand me better than anyone else. I am so happy that you have allowed me to be a part of your family and I want to continue to be a part of it for the rest of my life. I want to be there for everything." Santana smiled through her tears. "I love you so much, I always have."
"I love you too." Santana whispered. Rachel bit her lip as she opened the ring box.
"Santana Maria Lopez... Will you marry me?" Santana nodded.
"Yes. Of course I'll marry you." Rachel grinned and stood up, kissing her fiancée before slipping the ring on Santana's finger.
END FLASHBACK
The only thing she missed about the diner was seeing Mickey every morning. She'd looked forward to that interaction, but even though she didn't work at the diner anymore, she was still close with him and saw him at least once a week, if not more. Apparently, he'd gone with Rachel to look for engagement rings while she was planning Santana's proposal. He and wife also babysat for the twins sometimes when Santana and Rachel were busy or wanted to go on a date.
Santana was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of her phone vibrating. Checking the Caller ID, she grinned when she saw Rachel's picture on the screen. "Hey there future Mrs. Berry-Lopez." They hadn't been able to decide who would take who's name, so they'd decided to hyphenate. When trying to choose who's name went first, they'd ended up flipping a coin. It took Santana a week to admit that Berry-Lopez flowed better than Lopez-Berry.
"Baby! Guess what?" Santana chuckled as she put the cap back on her highlighter.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I spoke to someone at the venue we chose and I explained that, since you're in school, we would need a date either in the summer or during your winter break. They have dates in both! I personally would love a December wedding, but I know how stressful finals can be and summer break is longer, so if you would rather have a summer wedding so that way you don't have to stress about studying and making sure everything's done for the wedding during winter break, that's okay with me. It's up to you, okay?"
"Babe, I promised you a dream wedding, right? Your dream wedding?" Santana said, smiling softly.
"Well, yes."
"And your dream wedding takes place in December, correct?" Santana asked, smirking.
"Yeah, but San-"
"But nothing. Rachel, I personally don't care when I get married so long as I'm marrying you." Santana whispered.
"Baby... This is your wedding too."
"I've been married before, Rach." Santana pointed out.
"Yes, but you told me you didn't get a big wedding."
"True... Fine. I want a December wedding. We can go on a honeymoon after New Year's so we can spend the holidays with the twins and we can still be back before the spring semester starts." Rachel let out a cheer.
"Yay! That's one more thing crossed off the list! I told you we could do this." Santana grinned. "Mickey's coming over for dinner tonight, right?"
"Yeah, I think so. I'll call him in a little bit to confirm." Santana said.
"Okay. I have to go, I have a meeting. I'll see you at home?"
"Definitely. I love you." Santana whispered, smiling softly.
"I love you too, baby. Bye beautiful."
"Bye love." Santana said, hanging up the phone and turning back to her textbook.
"What is this?" Matt grinned.
"A surprise for you. We're paying for your wedding dress." Santana raised an eyebrow, looking at Mariah as she nodded.
"Yeah, we want to do this. It's our gift to you." Santana shook her head.
"I can't let you do that." Matt scoffed.
"Just pick a dress, Lopez." Santana bit her lip, trying not to smile. "Let it be about you for a minute." After a second, Santana nodded.
"Come on, this is where I got my dress. Everything here is gorgeous." Mariah said, leading the woman into the store.
"I finally got Miguel to go to sleep. I'm going to kill Kurt for giving him all of that candy when he was babysitting." Santana chuckled as Rachel wormed her way into her arms. "What are you thinking about, beautiful?"
"Do you want kids?"
"We have kids." Rachel replied, looking up at her fiancée. Sure, they were technically Santana's kids with Matt, but she'd had a hand in raising them over the last four years and Rachel didn't think of them as her stepchildren, but her children. The twins liked to tell people that they had four parents - their mom, their dad, their mama (Rachel) and their ma (Mariah). "I mean, they're yours and Matt's, but... I was presumptuous, right?" Santana chuckled.
"No, babe, of course not. They see you as a parent. You are their parent, one of them anyway." Rachel nodded. "Would you want to have a baby with me? A child that would be just ours?"
"Yeah. I would love to experience being pregnant and even though technically the baby can't biologically be both of ours... I want us to bring a child into the world together." Santana smiled.
"That sounds great, Rachel, it really does. I would love to have a baby with you." Rachel smiled softly. "We can start looking into it after the wedding."
"That sounds perfect." Rachel said.
"Miguel, sweetie, please stop pulling at the suit." The boy scowled at the woman. "Hey, what's with the face?"
"I don't like this." Rachel chuckled. "It's not comfy."
"You only have to wear it for a few hours, honey. Don't you want to look nice for me and your mom?" Miguel nodded. "That's my boy. You look really handsome, sweetheart."
"Yeah, yeah." Rachel laughed before looking over at Lilly.
"And you look beautiful." she whispered, wiping a tear.
"Oh come on, Rach. Why are you crying?" Rachel scoffed as she looked up to see her fiancée walking into the store.
"You bawled when they started school. Don't even go there." Santana rolled her eyes, kissing the woman. "How was class?"
"It was okay. How are things here?"
"Miguel hates the suit." Santana looked over at her son, chuckling.
"You look adorable, mijo." she said, kissing his head before looking at Lilly. Grinning, she took a picture. "My beautiful girl." she whispered.
"Guys, is she crying?" Rachel teased. Santana shook her head, wiping a tear. "Go get changed. We'll stop and get some dinner." When the twins were gone, Rachel hugged her fiancée. "You okay?"
"They're growing up too fast." Rachel chuckled. "It's not fair."
"I know, love." Santana smiled. "You know, December is going to be here before you know it."
"I can't wait."
Eventually, December came. The ceremony went off without a hitch and Rachel could finally call Santana her wife. When she'd had a crush on Santana and kept it from the other woman, she'd never believed they would get married. When Santana disappeared after a kiss from Rachel, the brunette never thought she'd see her best friend again, let alone end up marrying her. Now they they were officially married, she knew she was never letting go.
"Oh Mrs. Berry-Lopez." Rachel grinned and allowed herself to be pulled into her wife's arms. "You know, that day I saw you in the diner all I wanted was for you to leave."
"Nice." Santana smiled.
"Now I couldn't be happier that you basically interrogated my family in an attempt to find me because if you hadn't, I wouldn't be here in this room with you. I wouldn't be in school, my kids wouldn't have a relationship with their father, and I wouldn't be in love with the most amazing woman in the world." Rachel blushed as Santana kissed her.
"I always knew you were in love with yourself." she teased. Santana frowned in confusion for a moment before catching on.
"Don't be mean to me." Rachel laughed. "I'm so in love with you. I wish I hadn't disappeared all those years ago."
"I don't." Rachel admitted.
"But we could have been together all this time." Rachel smiled.
"If you hadn't run after I kissed you, you never would have run into Matt and you wouldn't have gotten pregnant with twins. I wouldn't give up them up for anything, not even those five years with you. Besides, we were young. Who knows if we would have made it then? I think we started at the perfect time for us." Santana stared at Rachel for a moment before pulling her into a kiss.
"You're amazing." Rachel leaned into Santana just as Kurt walked up.
"Any chance I could get a picture with the Berry-Lopez family?" The women smiled and nodded.
"We want one with the twins, too. We took some with the photographer but we want one on our phones too." Kurt nodded as Rachel motioned for Lilly and Miguel to join them. Once the pictures were taken, Santana pulled Rachel on the dance floor, grinning as they danced.
"Wake up, wifey." Rachel groaned as she felt her cheek being poked. "Come on, babe, wake up. The twins and I made you breakfast. They wanted to do something special for you now that you're officially their mama."
"I've always been their mama. I was their mama before the ceremony, right?" Rachel mumbled, giving her wife a tired smile.
"Yeah, but to them... To them, our marriage confirms that you're here to stay and you're not going to leave them. That's always been a fear in the back of their minds." Rachel sat up slowly.
"Was it something I did?"
"No, of course not. But these kids... You're the best thing that's ever happened to them, and they've always believed that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. That's definitely my fault." Santana admitted. Rachel bit her lip. "They just wanted to do something special for you, that's all." Rachel smiled softly. "Besides, we need to cherish these moments before they're teenagers and want nothing to do with us."
"True." Rachel said, laughing. Santana smiled. "But then we'll have a little one to do these things with while those two are going through that phase."
"I can't wait." Santana whispered, kissing her wife. Rachel hugged the woman for a moment before pulling away. "Come on, sleepy head. Let's go eat breakfast before Miguel eats everything himself again." Rachel giggled as she got out of the bed and followed her wife to the kitchen to see the twins eating.
"Morning Mama." Miguel said as he bit into his waffle. Rachel smiled and kissed their heads before sitting down. She took a moment to watch her family before looking down and smiling at her left hand. When she looked back up, she saw Santana grinning at her.
She never imagined this is how her life would go, but she wouldn't trade it for anything else.
A/N: That's the end of Order Up! I hope you guys have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it! I'm currently working on a new story tentatively called Mine, which will consist of six chapters. Two of those chapters will be in Rachel's POV, two will be in Santana's POV, one will be in Sam's POV, and one will be in Dani's POV. In my opinion, it's got a little more angst than I usually write, but I think you guys will like it. I want to try and write the entire story before I post it since it's only six chapters, but the first one should be up soon. There will be more details in the authors note at the end of that chapter.