a/n: and we are almost at the end. Meet their families,have a good time, and see you in the next and last two, soon to come. No sexy times, this a family chapter. -GEK
Chapter 8: Moms and Mistletoe
Wednesday both the Lopez and Pierce family landed at JFK airport with very little issue. The weather had spared them that year, and not a single piece of luggage had been lost. Santana and Brittany arrived in a rental mini van to pick them up, which had just enough space for everyone to be seated. They carefully loaded the luggage into the trunk and got out of the airport as soon as possible. JFK was always busy, and during the holidays it was an absolute nightmare. Their families are excited to get into the city and see the girl's apartment for the first time in real life. First, however, they get them settled in at the hotel. Brittany's sister, Lizzy, is brooding the entire time- she's fourteen and she's been dragged away from any chance of illicit partying to visit her sister and her wife. However, it would be pretty school to be able to be in Times Square for real on Christmas, so she wasn't entirely pissed. Still, Santana understands Lizzy's reasons for being upset, and can see how hanging out with your older sister, her wife, your parents,and your semi-parent-in-laws was probably incredibly unappealing.
"Do you think Liz might want to hang out with someone her own age?" Santana whispers to Brittany who is rolling her eyes at her sister who is aimlessly tapping away at her phone.
"You mean Dino and Lia?" Brittany raises an eyebrow and Santana nods "I guess we can ask. I'd want someone with them no matter what, even if it's just Brody."
"That's reasonable." Santana agrees "why don't you reach out to Dino and Lia first. I don't want to get Lizzy's hopes up."
"Will do. Go check on your parents, okay? We'll meet you in the lobby in ten minutes." Brittany directs, and Santana goes down the hall to her parents' hotel room. They let her in and she smiles. Her parents have already thrown the hotel provided bedding aside in favor of their own.
"Making yourself right at home then?" Santana asks and Hector shrugs while Maribel smiles sheepishly. Her parents had always insisted on bringing their own bedding to hotels. Santana thought the best part of hotels was completely destroying sheets she wouldn't have to wash. She always had a nice tip for housekeeping left behind in the pillowcase. Her and Brittany weren't exactly kind to hotel sheets, and they'd had to do research on what to buy for their first apartment. They couldn't afford to be washing sheets all the time.
"I think if we're staying here we should be comfortable. What's wrong with that Mija?" Hector says, crinkling his nose at the pillows. "If we bought pillows would you and Brittany keep them in New York for us?"
"Papi, por que?" Santana groans "Si, si. Dios Mio."
"That's my girl." Maribel rolls her eyes "Anything for Papi, right?"
"I'd do anything for you too Mami, you know that." Santana crosses her arms.
"You came around. Well, I'm hungry, so let's meet the Pierces and head to lunch." Maribel said and they by chance got in the elevator at the same time as the Pierces. Santana's hand found its way to Brittany as they made their way to one of the girl's favorite diners. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was delicious. Lizzy seemed displeased with the options and excused herself to the bathroom, to which Brottany followed.
"What's going on Liz, you've barely said two words since you got here. Did I do something?" Brittany asked.
"No, it's just been a long day already." her sister brushes off "and I guess I'm on a bit of a healthy food kick so this stuff doesn't really appeal."
"I'll help you get something light and healthy. Don't worry. I am sorry you're missing your first chance at a high school New Years Party." Brittany smiled softly.
"That works under the assumption I was invited to any." Lizzy crosses her arms "I'm not like you Britt. I'm not popular or even unpopular. I'm a loner."
"Have you considered joining any clubs? What about academic decathlon? That one was fun." Brittany offers.
"I'm not really interested in wasting my mind on the trivial questions they're asked." Lizzy shrugs.
"There's not a single club you want to join?" Brittany questions "Rachel was in all of them, I'm sure there's at least one you could at the very least tolerate."
"I'm fine Britt. I'm not social, and that's fine." Lizzy shakes her head "Let's go back out there, and please tell me there's a secret salad menu."
"I've got you covered." Brittany winks and slides back into the seat beside Santana. The waitress takes their order and while they're waiting, Santana tells everyone about her new promotion at work. Her parents gushed over her, excited to see what life had in store. Brittany shares similar news and her parents are probably even more excited than Santana's were. They had worried dance instructor was a dead end thankless job, but it seemed Brittany had really pursued her passions successfully. Liz shared that she had as usual excelled in her classes, and Santana and Brittany were sure to shower her in praise. She deserved it- Santana knew that doing well at McKinley took a fair amount of effort, and Brittany knew her teachers probably went in with incredibly low expectations. Liz was proving them wrong. Their food arrived and they shared little stories while they ate, and discussed their plans.
"I'm so excited to see Times Square." Maribel smiled wide, "Is it as amazing as it looks?"
"I'll let you find out for yourself, Mami." Santana promised "but it's really better at night. Plus, we'll be there for hours on New Year's Eve. I thought we'd start with Central Park. We can go ice skating and you can see our small slice of nature in the big city."
"It's honestly a serious breath of fresh air. I cut through the park to get to and from the studio all the time. The trees remind me of home." Brittany smiles.
"Oh yeah, good old Lima Ohio. I'm sure you miss it soooo much." Lizzy rolled her eyes.
"We'll make it worth your while. You can meet our new friends, the Thompsons. Lia is my student and so is her friend Dino. We had Christmas dinner with them." Brittany explains.
"I'm glad you found family in the city besides all your high school friends." Pierce says "Family is the most important thing of all."
"Lizzy, it'll be nice to hang out with people your own age, won't it?" Whitney asks.
"It won't hurt I guess." Lizzy agrees "they're nice right?"
"I wouldn't let them meet you if they weren't. And if they do anything Santana will unleash Snixx." Brittany crosses her heart.
"I hope I don't have to in front of Tony." Santana admits "Lia's little brother" she explains "Her big brother Brady will keep him occupied though. That way you teens can cause all sorts of mischief without an eight year old."
"Well, let's get a move on then!" Whitney and Maribel say, and after ordering some cocoa to go and paying, they make their way to Central Park. They find Brady, Lia, Tony and Dino by the ice rink already.
"Tana! B!" Tony says running up and hugging their legs "Merry not Christmas no more!"
"That's funny saying you got there Tony." Santana says, picking him up "It's almost New Years you know."
"But what are ya 'sposed to say in the in-between time?" Tony asks.
"Just hi usually suffices." Brady says, catching up to the little boy "How many times have I said not to run off?"
"But I was runnin' to Mrs.Tana and Mrs.Britt" Tony whines.
"You don't know who's with them though, do you?" Brady questions.
"Can I guess?" Tony asks, and Brady shakes his head, the lesson clearly not landing.
"Go ahead, guess." Santana encourages.
"Well I think that's your mommy and Daddy Mrs.Tana and that is Mrs.Britty's. And that looks like Mrs.Britty's sissy. I didn't know you had a sissy." Tony points correctly, getting nods.
"I do, this is my little sister, Lizzy." Brittany says.
"Hello Lizzy. I'm Tony." he smiles and Santana puts him down and he smartly shakes Lizzy's hand. "I can be a gentleman and show you around. I know Central Park really good."
"Is that so? Well I think I should probably meet your sister and her friend first." Lizzy says and Tony nods introducing Lia and Dino.
"Will you keep an eye on her while we take our parents around the park?" Brittany asks Brady "I don't want to impose of course."
"She's fourteen, I'm sure I'll be fine." Brady promises.
"You will because I personally would like to skate rather than walk around a park." Hector says, strongly hugging Brady's shoulder "Pierce, what do you say we let the ladies have their girl talk?"
"Okay! See you later." He waves to his wife and daughter. Hector helps everyone get skates while Brittany, Santana and their mothers start their walk.
"New York is really beautiful in the winter. I'm glad we came to visit." Whitney says "and Lizzy seemed happy to hang out with some other teens for a bit."
"Fourteen is a rough age. I remember it not so fondly." Satana admits "Then again, I was also in the closet so my memory might not be the most reliable."
"That's true, but I think it's reasonable to be moody. You're starting high school, and gay or straight or otherwise, you're figuring out who you are and who you want to be. It's a lot." Maribel recalls.
"If my students have shown me anything, it's that no matter who you are, being a teen is hard. I think all of us in Glee thought being so different just made it harder and couldn't grasp that that's just how high-school is." Brittany advises "But Liz seems really worse off than we were which is really saying a lot. Worse than Rachel."
"You're worried about your sister?" Whitney pauses and motion to a bench. They all take a seat "Why are you worried?"
"She said this, and I quote, that she's a loner. I'm not saying she needs to befriend the whole school, or even more than one person, but no friends? Since when?" Brittany asks
"I guess no one has been over since high school started. I think all her friends joined clubs and she didn't. I know a few of her friends are playing sports, some joined Cheerios, even one or two joined Glee. I asked why she didn't join, but she kind of just ignored me." Whitney admits "I kind of thought she was just being moody."
"She says she isn't interested at all. Which is fair but there's plenty of non-club people to befriend." Brittany sighs "I mean she could join a less serious club but not even that…"
"Maybe she just likes to be alone." Santana offers, getting a bunch of confused stares "I mean it. Some people really just don't like to be around people all the time, I get it. People are judgemental."
"But those people still usually have a person. I was your person when you were like, I don't know, the entirety of our childhood?" Brittany points out.
"Of course, but Lizzy probably hasn't found that person." Santana explains "I mean was she ever super close with any of her friends?"
"Not that I recall, no." Whitney says "No BFF talks like you two. Certainly no, 'I think I'm in love with her' talks either."
"What 'I think I'm in love with her' talk?" Santana asks and Maribel and Whitney look at Brittany in shock. "What am I missing?" Santana questions impatiently.
"Ma, I told you to never tell that story to anyone again after I found out you told Mami when San broke up with me." Brittany crosses her arms "Guess I better tell you…" Brittany says sheepishly to Santana.
"Considering my "I love you" talk is forever burned in our memories, certainly this one can join." Santana points out.
"We don't talk about the locker incident San, c'mon." Brittany sighs "But it sort of starts this story. So that day I went home, and told my mom about what happened. First of all, she told me that what I had been doing before most certainly had been cheating." Whitney nods "But she understood why you had lied and told me not to be mad at you. She explained that, kind of like you said, you were really scared. That Ohio, heck anywhere, isn't an easy place to be gay. I didn't really get it- I made out with everyone but no one seemed to care. Regardless though, I tried to understand how you felt. Plus seeing me with someone else, it probably hurt. I said it hurt when I saw you with people too, though. And that I never tried to pressure you into breaking up with them for me. Mom said that wasn't what you were trying to do."
"Because it wasn't. I was trying, finally, to stop hiding all the time. I was in love with you and the denial was breaking me apart." Santana shook her head.
"That's what I told her." Whitney smiled softly "But I also told her she was right to not break up with Artie, so long as she loved him too. And did you?"
"I did." Brittany admitted "At least, I felt like I did. But now I know the love I felt for him is nothing like the love I've always felt for you. He was just a placeholder, so was Sam. It was, and always has been you. And I told my mom I thought that might be the case. And then I said it."
"That you thought you were in love with me?" Santana asked.
"Yeah. I said 'I love Artie, but I think I'm in love with her." Brittany smiled at the memory.
"This was one in a series of times she'd said this since she met you, but this time I took it seriously. I mean, she'd always said "I love Santana, I'm going to marry Santana, Santana is the love of my life. But this time she said 'in love', she'd never said it before about you or anyone else, and you're still the only person she's ever said it about." Whitney reminisces.
"She said it to me too." Maribel says "Through tears when she started dating Sam. Sam made her happy but she was in love with you. Always."
"I was always in love with you two." Santana kisses Brittany softly "But I think we kind of lost track of the conversation about Lizzy. Maybe there's something more going on. I can try and talk to her."
"You think she'll open up to you?" Whitney asks and Santana shrugs.
"No idea, but I know that I opened up to Quinn before my mom or even Brittany sometimes. She was a lot like me- too smart to be making the bad decisions we always did, but doing it because it felt safer than what we really wanted to do. A no nonsense person who was a realist when I needed it. Brittany's optimism was sometimes too hopeful." Santana explains "Perhaps that's what Liz needs."
"It can't hurt. Give it a shot." Maribel says and they go back to the ice rink. Lizzy is skating around alone, and Santana sighs as she rents a pair of skates.
"Sorry we aren't skating with your sister." Dino said when he saw Brittany "We did for a while, but she asked for some space and we didn't want to push. She seemed sad though, so we kept an eye on her."
"She's nice Mrs.LP, but Dino is right. She's not optimistic like you. Kind of quiet too." Lia shrugs "Even Tony couldn't get through to her anymore. Is Santana going to help?"
"She's going to try. Enjoy your skating. Thanks for trying." Brittany joins her mother's who found their husband's taking a break with Brady and Tony on a bench relatively close to the ice rink. Santana, on the other hand, finds her footing quickly on the ice and glides up next to Lizzy.
"What's up Liz?" Santana says and the blonde shrugs "Come on, somethings going on, talk to me."
"You're just going to blab to my mom and Britt, just like Brittany's spies from her classes." Lizzy huffs.
"Is there something you don't want them to know?" Santana asks.
"Why would I tell you?" Lizzy pulls Santana to the side "again, you'll just tell my mom and Britt."
"I won't, not unless you're gonna hurt them or yourself." Santana promises "Trust me?"
"Not in the least. You tell B everything." Liz says.
"I'll let you tell them, I promise. I know how it feels to have someone else share your deepest secret. Please." Santana pleads.
"Fine. Let's skate too though." Liz says and so they skate slowly and talk.
"So what's bugging you?" Santana asks "Britt told me you've decided you're a loner?"
"Okay, you can see the trust issues now?" Liz points out.
"Brittany has to think out loud with someone else. She was worried. We're all worried." Santana says.
"Right. Well, I just don't really have any friends. I've never had any good friends who I could just talk to without judgment. And I can't join the Glee club to find them like you two did. I don't sing or dance." Liz sighs.
"Neither does Sugar." Santana shrugs.
"She's rich." Lizzy says "I don't think I can buy my way in."
"You say you don't sing, but I know you can." Santana says "I've heard you."
"That was just for fun. Not seriously and certainly not in front of a crowd." Liz shrinks.
"So what? You'll get used to it. Glee is the perfect place for that." Santana smiles encouragingly.
"You think?" Liz says "I mean, a place without judgment would be great,and at McKinley that's still exclusively the choir room."
"Why exactly do you need to be in place without judgment?" Santana finally asks.
"So I can drop the L and go by Izzy." she admits.
"I don't think changing your nickname will bring a whole lot of judgment." Santana raises an eyebrow.
"Being…" she sighs "Being nonbinary will."
"Oh…wow." Santana stops "Really?"
"Yeah…" Izzy looks down "Are you going to tell them all now?"
"Definitely not. Even if this was some silly little thing like not liking chocolate I wasn't going to. But I will never out someone." Santana is steadfast. "But I do feel bad if I'm forced to call you the wrong name and pronouns in front of them- speaking of?" Santana questions.
"They/them and Izzy. It's kind of why I've failed to make friends. Everyone thinks I'm a total weirdo." They sigh.
"For one you're not, and for two, I really think you should tell your family. I won't force you, because that's just as bad as outing. But Izzy, I know they'll understand. Britt even has a nonbinary student named Jess. You'll feel better if you tell them. And I want you to sing with me tonight. We're going to a family friendly karaoke club tonight. Our parents wanted to see some of the Glee club while they were here, so we set it up. What do you say?"
"I'll sing with you…but I'm scared about the other part. Will you…help me?" Izzy asks.
"I'll stand right next to you, but you have to say the words. If you can't, you're not ready." Santana advises.
"Deal. Let's do this." Izzy smiles and Santana leads them off the ice to their families.
"How was skating?" Brittany asks and Santana gives her the shut up and listen look.
"Good." Izzy says and they look at Santana who squeezes their hand. "I have something to tell you. First, I think Imma tried to join the Glee club. Secondly, I am nonbianty. And my name is Izzy. And my pronouns are they/them."
"Wow." Brittany says "Well, it's nice to meet you Izzy, my…sibling?"
"That works, yeah." Izzy looks at their parents nervously.
"Oh. Yeah we approve. Of course. We're more in shock about the Glee club thing actually. Santana, you're a miracle worker." Whitney says.
"So what, you knew or something?" Izzy asks her parents.
"Yes." Pierce says and Whitney slaps his arm "I did though! They have been saying this for ages."
"What do you mean dad?" Izzy asks.
"You asked for all these new clothes, asked us not to buy you anything with Lizzy or Liz or Elizabeth on it, and your science partner called you Izzy and used they/them pronouns." Pierce says smartly.
"You heard him?" Izzy asks, "He literally said bye at the door."
"I have super hearing." Pierce says as if this is obvious.
"Wait, I thought everyone at school thought you were weird for being nombinary." Santana said.
"Well, Josh doesn't, but he's literally a football player. I can't just be his friend. Besides, he's only my partner because he's failing. The teacher said if I couldn't teach him something, no one could." Izzy shrugs.
"And this Josh, he's nice to you?" Maribel asks.
"More so than I thought he'd be. Especially when I told him. I'd been working alone because people were going into groups of three to avoid me. Him and his buddy were failing so me and one of the smarter kids got allocated a partner by requirement." Izzy explains.
"Good. Boys weren't so kind when Santana came out. Particularly another boy who happened to also be named Josh." Hector crossed his arms.
"That asshole doesn't deserve any name Mami." Santana growls.
"You've got that right." Brittany shakes her head "I wanted to kill him."
"Calmate." Santana says to Brittany "So Izzy, you have a friend?"
"I have a science partner." Izzy insists "He'd never be seen with me outside of class."
"And yet he walked you home?" Whitney questions.
"I missed the bus because I was tutoring him. It was getting dark. He wanted to make sure I would be alive so he could cheat off my test the next day." Izzy brushes off their accusations. Josh wasn't their friend- not as far as they knew.
"Did he cheat off your test?" Pierce asks.
"No- stop with the interrogation. He's never said anything to make me think we're friends so quit it." Izzy crosses their arms, annoyed.
"One last question" Santana shows Izzy a picture on her phone "Were you going to tell us he was in the Glee club?"
"I…I didn't think it mattered." Izzy lies. Of course it mattered. There was very little doubt in their mind that his involvement in the Glee club had a strong hand in his acceptance of them.
"Well now that you're back to lying, I guess the interrogation is really over." Santana says "You know, Finn was once just another football player." Santana winks and walks away.
"She's an ass, you know that right?" Izzy whispers to their sister.
"I know she has a great one." Brittany whispers back, not breaking her stare at Santana's retreating figure.
"Let's go, you two." Whitney says, following the Lopezes "Santana has promised me a home-cooked meal that I don't have to break a single sweat over."
"I'll tell her to turn down the spice level to zero in that case." Brittany teases, jogging to catch up with her wife, intertwining their fingers. Santana does so without hesitation, not even breaking her ongoing conversation with her mother. Now that their families are here, Santana's stress has dissipated, and she's glad the situation with Izzy didn't send her spiraling. It could've been bad, but luckily it wasn't.
They arrive back at the Lopez-Pierce apartment, and to everyone's surprise, Lord Tubbington immediately greets Izzy.
"He must remember you." Brittany comments "Go ahead and hang your coats and take off your shoes by the door."
"Pierce and I are going to get the present from the car really quickly." Hector says and Brittany nods as the men head back down the stairs. Izzy takes a seat on the couch and Lord Tubbington is glued to their side, and Lady Tubbington follows suit on their other side. Izzy had never been LT's favorite person, but he'd been left home with them during Brittany's time at MIT and it ended in a lot of bonding.
"I can't believe he remembers you. Sometimes he still won't let me near him when Brittany isn't home." Santana shakes her head, glancing at the couch from her spot in the kitchen.
"It's because you fat shame him Tana. He's very sensitive." Izzy jokes.
"Dios Mio, I fell in love with crazy cat people." Santana groans.
"You know I love pussy" Brittany purrs quietly in her ear.
"Just cause I can't hear what you said doesn't mean it's not repulsive." Izzy says and Brittany sticks her tongue out at them.
"Stop it you two." Whitney sighs "Maribel, remind me why I didn't stop at one like you?"
"Because you have more patience than me." Maribel smiles "Now where are all the family pictures, hmm?" the elder Lopez woman sees no pictures hung on the walls.
"There's one on the coffee table and one on the dining table, each of us have one on our nightstand and we're still figuring out the rest. We were hoping to get one on your trip to get framed for the wall. The ones from the wedding have too many other people. It's not just the family, somehow we missed that." Brittany says while Santana works on dinner in the kitchen "I promise we want a nice big one. Santana is very picky about the design of the house though. A bunch of mismatched photo frames don't fit the aesthetic."
"Don't poke fun at my interior design. I designed the entire lobby at my new office space and it's gorgeous. I can't wait until we have a bigger place where I can really go crazy." Santana sighs hopefully.
"One day mi corazon, all your dreams will come true." Brittany swoons and Izzy makes a barfing noise as Hector and Pierce return.
"Did we interrupt girl talk?" Hector asks "Girl and uh…person talk?" he tries to correct.
"It's okay Mr.Lopez, I wasn't participating other than to add some interesting commentary." Izzy says.
"We saved you from the lovebirds and their mothers?" Pierce asks and Izzy nods.
"Santanita, what are you making, it smells amazing!" Hector peeks into the kitchen and his smile grows seeing what's cooking. "Tacos al pastor, that's my hija!" he rubs her shoulder supportively "Are you sure your amor can handle the heat?"
"Si papi, it's her familia who need to be worried." Santana grins like the devil.
"Sanny, I told you to not make it to spicy for my Mom." Brittany whines "you promised."
"Mi amor, that's what sour cream is for." Santana exclaims "Spice is the flavor of life."
"But if it's too spicy I can't eat it." Brottany pouts.
"No llores mi amor. Menos picante. Para tu mama, si?" Santana asks and Brittany just nods. "Esta bien?
"Si, esta bien mi corazón." Brittany smiles softly. Santana brings everything to the table a short while later and despite the slight spice, the Pierces enjoy the food a lot. Izzy offers to help Santana with the dishes and while they do so, Brittany brings the rest of the gifts out.
"So, there's nothing between you and Josh?" Satana asks and Izzy rolls their eyes "What, I'm curious. Give me the deets."
"You're so nosey. But no, really, I swear if we weren't forced to be partners he wouldn't notice me. He joined Glee because he idolizes Finn." Izzy explains "Which, I get it. Finn's awesome. And being like him is a good thing, though Josh could at least try a little harder in class. He's actually super smart, he just doesn't apply himself. It's like he thinks that subpar grades are fine as long as he has football and Glee. No one seems to realize how badly that actually turned out."
"I hear you. Okay, so nothing on his end but…" Santana raises an inquisitive eyebrow.
"I might have the tiniest crush, okay?" Izzy finally admits.
"There we go. I mean, he's good looking for a dude. And a kid." Santana shrugs.
"No doubt about that." Izzy says dreamily. "But it's not the looks, he's got a great personality. The fact that he didn't blink an eye at my pronouns or name, legitimately tries to learn from me and doesn't just use me for grades, walked me home despite my protests, and he even got all up in one of the other guys' faces for slushying me." Izzy tells Santana.
"Kiddo, it sounds like, at the very least, he wants to be your friend." Santana smiles "Is he single?"
"Yeah, which is super weird for the QB right?" Izzy asks.
"Yeah, as Freshman Quinn and Finn were already together." Santana sighs "Go for it kid. Seriously. Get close as friends first if you want, but don't be surprised if he makes the first move. Just, don't be like me and your sister. And definitely don't be like Quinn. Rachel and Mercedes had the right idea. Wait for the right person and the right time."
"Trust me, I have no interest in any of that right now. I'm not totally at home in my body. Another person seeing it and touching it sounds awful." Izzy dries the last dish.
"Do you wanna talk more about that?" Santana asks as she starts the hot water kettle and pulls out tea and cocoa mix.
"Yeah, but maybe not tonight." Izzy requests and Santana nods in understanding. Her reasons for not feeling at home in her body were likely a lot different than theirs, but talking about it was never something she wanted to do. Santana has everyone make their own drink, and they all gather in the living room to exchange a few final Christmas gifts. Brittany had made both their dad's and mom's homemade knitted scarves and made Izzy a beanie. Santana had gotten her dad a fancy watch, Pierce a cassette player (he swore by cassettes and had recently broke his last player), Whitney gold earrings with small sapphires and her mother silver earrings with small amethysts. They also got everyone the cheesy "I heart NY" shirts that they knew would sell out due to holiday tourism. The final gift that everyone got was tickets to a Broadway show the next day. They'd decided on seeing The Book of Mormon because it would be a good laugh that everyone should enjoy. Admittedly, Christmas had cost them a bit, but it was worth it. The final gift was from Santana to Izzy and it was a personalized Yankees jersey with tickets to a game in the next season. She was so glad she'd gotten Pierce rather than Lizzy on the back at that moment.
"You're gonna fly me out, just me, for a baseball game during Spring Break?" Izzy asked.
"Duh! We're going to take your whole Spring Break if you let us." Santana revealed.
"Nothing in the world could be better." Izzy throws their arms around the Latina's neck, happy as ever to have a sister in law.
"Glad you're excited." Santana said, patting the younger blonde's back in hopes they'd let go. They got the message and pulled away with a shy smile.
Santana and Brittamy received some more practical gifts. Their fathers had pitched in together to get them a whole proper tool kit so they could build IKEA furniture themselves, along with fixing everyday problems. However, neither man missed a chance to spoil their daughters and each got heart earrings with the other's birthstone. Their mothers gave them each a new pair of winter boots. Whitney gave Brittany a Joann's gift card so she could get all the sewing supplies she needed. Maribel gave Santana a Visa gift card so she could shop wherever it was she needed to add new interior design touches to their house. The women also promised to pay half and half to get their soon to be taken family photo framed. With gifts given and night falling, it was time from their families to head back to the hotel. Izzy was not looking forward to going back to the hotel with their parents and Santana knew that her sibling in law was feeling vulnerable. She knew the feeling. Even after her parents accepted her she hid for days, afraid something would change. It wasn't until she worked up the nerve to tell her abuela and was completely devastated that she fell into her Mami's arms.
"Why don't you stay on our couch tonight? If you think you'll be comfortable enough." Santana offers.
"Girls, it's okay, Izzy you have a hotel bed waiting." Whitney says.
"Please mom?" Izzy begs.
"I really don't want to impose." Whitney sighs, and Santana moves to her.
"It's not an imposition, for starters, and I think they need the space of a quiet room alone tonight." Santana explains "My mom can tell you, but no matter the reaction, coming out is a really stressful and scary experience and you don't really don't get to process your emotions because you're so focused on everyone else's reaction."
"Okay…just please take care of them. I'm worried. Do you have something they can wear to bed?" Whitney asks.
"I'm sure we do. I'll take care of them. Both them and my wife. I promise" Santana ushers Whitney out and secures the locks on the door. She checks the window locks like she does every night and then sits on the side of Izzy Brittnay isn't occupied.
"Alright kid, Santana fought for you to stay, so why the insistence?" Brittnay questions.
"Well, I was telling Santana earlier how I don't really feel at home in my body and it just…it just is really bothering me right now. And I think maybe if I talk about it I'll feel better." Izzy looks down "I'm sorry if I'm imposing."
"You're not." Santana assures "So talk to me, tell me what bothers you. I bet I can offer some great solutions. Not only do I, in my own way, understand what you're going through, but I also know a lot about it."
"And I can go or stay. Whatever makes you more comfortable, okay?" Brittany says and Santana knows it's hard for her wife to say that. Brittany feels suddenly like an inadequate older sister because her little sibling is latching onto her sister-in-law instead.
"I want you to stay Britt. I think…I think I need one of your hugs that never ends while I say this." Izzy admits, embarrassed. Brittany complies and pulls her sister back against her and wraps her arms around her. Izzy goes on to tell Santana about her gender dysphoria, and Santana offers a lot of safe and non-permanent solutions as well as some that are a little more permanent. It's a lot for everyone, and by the time they finish talking, it's late and they need to sleep. Santana finds pajamas for Izzy while Brittany gets blankets and pillows. In the meantime, Izzy brushes their teeth and washes their face, using a spare toothbrush that Santana had given them. It's not long before the younger blonde is crawling under the blankets on the couch and the wives head to bed. Unfortunately, Izzy is all but sleepy and they refuse to purposely disturb the sleeping women in the other room. They'll pass out eventually- right?