Author's Note: Thank you again for all of your reviews, I really appreciate them! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Brittany stood outside of Santana's house. She knew she should just walk in, but she could hear the family boisterously laughing and she didn't want to interrupt. She had walked into the house uninterrupted so many times, and yet this time, after her talk with her father, it seemed so difficult. She finally pushed the door open, surprised with what she saw.
"B, baby!" Came a screech from the couch.
"Oh, my little Britt-Britt, come here," came another yell."
It took Brittany a moment, maybe more than a moment, to process what was going on.
"Rita? Steph? Jodi? What are you doing here?" She said, still deadpan, as usual, but this time more out of shock than confusion.
"Well…Baby D called us over the weekend and we were concerned…" Steph began.
"And Steph and Jodi have never been to the great state of Ohio, so I thought it best that they experience our country's heartland…"
"So we took a vacay…but we weren't expecting to see you until tomorrow, Britt-Britt," Steph said.
"Baby, what's wrong? What happened?" Came the most familiar of the Lopez voices from the couch. Brittany stood completely still, not knowing what to do with the family she had adopted and the family she was born into. She had no words. She could feel Santana around her waist, but she still was so confused.
"He's not mad anymore…" she finally choked out. "He just wants me to be with a boy…he doesn't understand…." Santana grabbed Brittany and held her tightly.
"You can stay here, Britt, you know that right?" Brittany nodded. "And you're father is reasonable…you know it's only a matter of time…" Brittany nodded again.
"We brought libations, Britt," Steph finally said, after everyone watched the two girls hold each other for long enough that it was beginning to feel creepy.
"Where are your parents, San?" Brittany asked, confused, as she became aware of the fact that Santana, Rita, Steph, and Jodi had been sitting around the coffee table. That, in itself, wouldn't be unusual, however, there was an open handle of Tequila on the table, surrounded by a deck of cards.
"They went to be already," Santana shrugged. "They won't come down because they assume they left me in the care of 'responsible adults,'" Santana said, putting air quotes around "responsible adults" and smirking at her aunt and her friends.
"Can we call the other gleemos?" Brittany asked, timidly.
"Of course, B," Santana said. Santana sent a quick text to Kurt and Blaine, and they all sat down to hear Brittany's update on her life since the summer.
It was fifteen minutes before Santana's doorbell rang. She opened the door to find Kurt, Blaine, and an older woman she didn't recognize.
"Jesus, Santana," Kurt said in a rush, "what the hell is wrong?"
"Nothing," Santana said. "We just wanted you to drink with us."
"You texted me, 'If you don't come over here right now, I'm going to end it all.'" Kurt yelled.
"I just really wanted you here?" Santana said.
"NOT. FUNNY. SANTANA."
"Sorry," she said, somewhat sheepishly, realizing how not funny her joke had been. "Will you stay though? Britt's had a rough night with her family, and my aunt and her friends are here." Kurt rolled his eyes. "We were about to play Kings….they're lesbians?" Santana said, hoping to make Kurt a little less red in the face.
"Fine, Santana, but don't think I'm letting this go. I was so worried that I brought my Aunt Anne. She's a lesbian…" Kurt's aunt rolled her eyes, "I thought she could help…"
"I have, like, 35 lesbian pseudo-aunts," Santana said, glancing over at Jodi and Steph, "but I appreciate the gesture. It's nice to meet you Anne," Santana said, shaking Kurt's aunt's hand.
"You too, Santana. And I'm glad to know everything is okay. Kings?" She asked, glancing at the cards strewn round the table. "I'm totally in." Kurt rolled his eyes at his aunt as they all entered Santana's house and took a seat around the coffee table.
"Categories!" Brittany yelled, holding up her 10. Santana groaned. "Types of ducks!" Santana shook her head.
"Baby, I don't think we can do types of ducks."
"Why not?" Brittany asked, disappointed.
"Because you and I are the only ones who will no any kinds of ducks."
"That's not true!" She said looking around the circle. "There are so many! There's the Mallard, Cayuga, Ancona, East Indie, Crested, Saxony...?" Everyone was staring at her in disbelief. "Fine. No ducks...what about animals that live in water?" Santana nodded. "Dolphins!" Brittany began. Santana smiled as they went around the circle. Brittany rested her head on Santana's shoulder.
It was the fourth Ace, and Santana didn't know if she could maintain waterfall much more. Unfortunately, she was next to Brittany, who never stopped until her drink ran out. Finally, Brittany's drink was empty.
"I hate you," Santana said, putting her drink down.
"You love me," Brittany said, grinning.
"I do love you," Santana said, grazing her nose with Brittany's.
"I love you more," Brittany said.
"Impossible," Santana said. Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Baby D's! Get it together!" Steph yelled.
"Why do you call them Baby D?" Anne asked.
"They're Baby Dykes," Jodi said, bluntly. Santana glared, Brittany grinned, and Kurt's aunt threw her head back in laughter.
"Why are we hanging out with all these lesbians?" Blaine whispered over to Kurt.
"Because, Santana tricked us." Kurt said, giving Blaine a peck on the lips.
"Hey!" Rita yelled, listening in on the boys' conversation. "I'm not a lesbian! I'm bisexual." Santana, Brittany, and Anne all raised their eyebrows.
"Let's have a dance party," Anne said. "Do you kids have school tomorrow?" She asked.
"Well, it's a Monday," Kurt said, the most sober of everyone, although pretty intoxicated himself, "so, yes, we have school."
"Fuck it," Steph said. "I mean, still go to school, but who can't sit at school a little hungover?"
"No one," Blaine said, clearly very drunk. He turned on the radio and the dance party commenced.
Maria tapped on Santana's door at 6 in the morning to make sure her daughter was ready for school. When there was no response, she opened it slowly, just in case, but was surprised to find it completely empty. She then tapped on the guest room door a few times and opened it, and was yet again surprised to find the bed completely made and no one in there. She worried about what she'd find when she went downstairs. She entered her living room. On the coffee table was an empty handle of Tequila, all of her shot glasses, 8 empty cups, and cards strewn everywhere. Jodi and Steph were cuddled under a throw blanket in front of the TV, and her youngest sister was on the pullout couch in an intense spoon with an unknown brunette. She walked into the kitchen. The first thing she saw was a bowl of popcorn on the floor, followed by a foot twitching in a sock. She followed the foot to the kitchen table, under which slept Blaine, Kurt, Brittany, and her daughter. They all had Gleemos written on their foreheads again. She rolled her eyes. This was the last time she let her sister drop in for an impromptu visit.
"I DON'T CARE HOW HUNGOVER YOU ALL ARE!" She yelled, going for the direct route. The four under the table began groaning and rubbing their eyes. "ALL FOUR OF YOU WILL WAKE UP RIGHT NOW, PUT YOUR CHEERIOS UNIFORMS ON, AND BE ON TIME TO PRACTICE IN EXACTLY 48 MINUTES." All four teenagers looked up at her confused.
"But…I'm not on the Cheerios, Mrs. Lopez." Blaine said, while the rest of the group groaned and rubbed their eyes.
"I could care less. We have three showers in this house. Santana, get in the one in your room. Kurt, I'll bring you to the one in my bedroom. Brittany, get in the one down the hall. Blaine, you'll shower last since you have to be at school last, but please stop calling me Mrs. Lopez. You stay over here enough that you must know by now that my name is Maria." All of the children nodded and silently complied.
"Can I sleep here until it's my turn to shower, Mrs…Maria?" Blaine asked. Maria nodded, trying desperately to conceal a chuckle and began breakfast while the teenage boy slept curled up under her kitchen table.
"Why is Mr. Schue yelling?" Blaine whispered over to Brittany. Brittany raised her hand. Mr. Schuester nodded over to her.
"Why are you yelling, Mr. Schue?" Mr. Schuester scrunched his face, confused, yet again by Brittany. He took in the image of the four in the front row. They all had sunglasses on. Kurt was holding his head, and Blaine and Santana each had their heads on one of Brittany's shoulders.
"Are you guys hungover?" Mr. Schuester said, incredulously. Blaine just shrugged. "Not this again. Especially you two, Brittany and Santana. Need I remind you of last years Tik Tok debacle?"
"Please don't remind me," Santana said, feeling nauseous at just the thought of last year's assembly performance.
"It's not our fault," Brittany said.
"What? Did someone force you to drink?"
"Kind of," Kurt said, not looking up.
"My dad was mean to me," Brittany said. "So I went to San's."
"And my aunt and her friends came to visit from LA because I told them about all that was going down and they wanted to be there to support us."
"And they brought Tequila."
"And Santana texted me that she was going to kill herself."
"So we came over and brought Kurt's lesbian aunt."
"And they made us drink with them."
"And I'm pretty sure that my aunt and Kurt's aunt hooked up last night…" Kurt made a disgusted face. Mr. Schuester shook his head.
"Just don't let it happen again, okay guys?" They nodded their heads.
Santana, Blaine, and Kurt sat silently in Kurt's Range Rover, waiting for Brittany to come out of her house. Brittany had snuck in the side door to pick up some clothes. She was just about to sneak back out of her room when she heard her parents' voices rising from their bedroom.
"Well, you're just going to have to learn and accept it!" Her mother yelled.
"You can't make me accept this. You can't make anyone, accept anything!" Her father yelled back.
"Do you think I'm happy that Brittany is dating Santana? Of course not. I wish things could be different, I really do. But I, unlike you, accept reality. And the reality right now is that Brittany is in love with Santana and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. So you either accept that, or you lose her." There was silence, so Brittany tiptoed to her parents' room to see if she could hear what they were saying in now hushed tones.
"I just don't think I'm ready."
"Our daughter has always been a little bit different, and you've been able to accept her and love her for her differences. She's never going to follow in your footsteps as a lawyer, and she talks to her cat, and, to be honest, I'm not convinced she knows the alphabet…" Brittany scoffed at the other side of the door through held-back tears. She did know the alphabet, no thanks to them. "But if you can't learn to accept this, we will lose her."
"I just need time."
"You don't have it!" Her mother said, raising her voice again. "They're nearly 18! Santana is only applying to colleges in the Los Angeles area and Brittany is going with her because there is more work for dancers there. A year from now, they will have their own lives. Where do you think they'll go in a year when they come home for the holidays? To the house where Santana isn't welcome or the one with a family who loves and accepts them? I do not want to lose my little girl, so you have to figure out a way to deal with this." Brittany had heard enough, she turned to leave just as her mother opened the door to her room. "Brittany," she said slowly.
"Don't worry. I'm leaving. I don't want to remind dad of what a disappointment I am." She ran downstairs and out of the door.