Day 5: Family Life

Title: You're Beautiful, It's True

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,717

Warnings: None (slight spoiler of the Born This Way episode)

Pairing: Quinn/Santana

Summary: The moment when Quinn and Santana first saw how beautiful their daughter was and the moment they had to remind her of that beauty.

Probably the smallest and cleanest (as far as content goes) submission I've written. I thank you guys for the reviews on the last submission, I appreciate them so much. They're actually doing REALLY well and the turn out is absolutely remarkable. I love you guys, so two more days of submissions. Free day (which is Day 7) a new story will be posted. Heads up now, other than that; enjoy this and look out for tomorrows.

…

The door of their brand new house opens quietly and with a suitcase in Santana's hand and her other sitting on the small of Quinn's back while she holds a bundle in her arms with a big smile on her face. She can't tear her eyes away from the little girl sleeping soundly in her arms.

Santana closes the door softly and places the bag off to the side, before wrapping her arms snug around Quinn's waist. She lays her head on her shoulder as an adoring smile plays on her lips. She places a kiss on her wife's cheek as she leans against Santana's hold.

"She's so beautiful," she whispers into her ear and Quinn nods in agreement. "You did so good baby," she adds, kissing her cheek again, before picking up the bag and carrying it into their bedroom as Quinn walks to the nursery, placing their daughter into her crib.

She bites her bottom lip as she watches her sleep so soundly, thinking about the last time she watched her newborn sleeping just as soundly behind a glass window. She remembers how sad she was watching her, not being able to hold her or know what to do with her. She was so young back then, but to think she got another shot when she was actually ready and planned it right made this moment so much more worthwhile.

"Babe," she hears down the hall and reluctantly walks away from the little girl and out of the room to see Santana walking out of their bedroom, before advancing towards her to wrap her arms around her waist. "You should get some rest. She isn't going anywhere," she whispers, placing a kiss on her forehead and Quinn turns back to the slightly ajar room, before sighing in defeat. She nods and walks into the room as does Santana.

They change their clothes and lay on the bed to relax. Quinn immediately cuddles up to Santana's body as they keep the baby monitor close to them.

As Santana holds Quinn close to her body, she never imagined they'd be in this position. Back in high school, she always imagined she'd be in this position with someone else—who will become Juliana's aunt instead, but after reconnecting with Quinn while she was in college in Connecticut, Santana went to a college in New York. They were close enough and saw each other any chance they could, then one thing led to another and they went on their first date; the rest is history. And now with Juliana sleeping peacefully in her room for the first time and Quinn molded next to her, she couldn't be happier with where her life is.

…

The door slams closed and Santana looks up from her laptop as she hears stomping up the stairs of their suburban house. As she continues to stare up at her ascending daughter, her wife walks in with a slight huff. Santana watches her carefully, blinking a few times. She really was unsure what to do in this situation because quite frankly, Juliana is a lot like Quinn and when they were mad, she's learned to venture away from them so they could cool down.

She clears her throat. "So—um," she begins to speak, but she wants to be cautious of the situation. Dealing with a girl who's about to enter high school is a big deal; she's barely a teenager, but still a teenager no less.

"I don't know what's going on with her San," Quinn finally says leaning against the kitchen counter. Santana closes her laptop and leans back in her chair waiting for her to continue. "I picked her up at school and she had that glare on her face—you know the one where she's really angry and upset,"

"Yes I know that one, you get it when I leave my clothes on the floor and my shoes by the door," Santana smirks and Quinn rolls her eyes, shaking her head furiously.

"Because it's irritating San! How hard is it to place your shoes back in the closet and put your clothes in the hamper? I mean really," Quinn rants and Santana holds her hand up to show she got her point across.

"This isn't about my mess baby, this is about our daughter," she pushes and Quinn breaths out a sigh, relaxing.

"You're right, I'm sorry, but anyway, she got into the car, slammed it shut and I asked her what happened at school and she said nothing and that she didn't want to talk about it. Halfway home I asked her again and she said the same thing, only her voice got an alcove higher and then I just left it alone. I really don't know, so maybe you can try—somehow you can get her to talk about things more than I can," she says, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and Santana sighs, before nodding and getting up from her seat.

She walks over to her wife and kisses her on the forehead tenderly. "You're amazing mother and trust me, I can't teach her half the things you can," she tells her softly as Quinn wraps her arms around her waist, resting her head against her chest.

"I certainly cook better," she mumbles and Santana chuckles, pulling away, placing a kiss on her lips.

"That you can and nobody tell you differently," she says poking Quinn's nose softly, before making her way up the stairs to talk to their daughter.

Juliana's room is the last door down the hall and she sighs heavily, before knocking on it. She waits for the confirmation that she can come in, but all she gets is a muffled "I don't want to talk about it." Santana sighs and as much as she hates to be the pusher, she needs to know why their daughter is so upset because if it's not with any of them, then it must have had something to do with school and if it's terrible then they need to get a handle on it—get the right people involved.

She opens the door and sees Juliana's face buried in her pillow. Her body is shaking and Santana sighs sadly seeing her daughter this upset. She walks over to her and sits down, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Baby girl, tell me what's going on, please?" Santana presses and Juliana finally looks up. Her skin is usually a pale complexion, much like Quinn's—in fact she's pretty much a spitting image of her, however it's more like she's a spitting image of Lucy; the part of Quinn that she tries to forget.

"Why am I so ugly?" Juliana asks sadly and Santana closes her eyes, feeling her heart break when her daughter asks her such a question. She knows of Quinn's past and how awful the kids treated her back then—it's what made her into that thick skinned person she is now and for her daughter to suffer that possible fate, tears her apart inside.

"You're beautiful honey," she tells her softly and Juliana shakes her head.

"No you're beautiful and Mom's beautiful. I'm ugly! Why do I look like this? Kids tell me I'm ugly and fat every day! I look nothing like you two. I'm not adopted because you told me so, right?" Santana nods, letting the young teenager vent to her. "So was my stupid donor ugly or something and I have all of his genes?" She sobs and Santana feels tears welling up in her eyes and she pulls the girl into her letting her cry. She kisses the top of her head and rocks her back and forth.

"You're beautiful to me and your Mom and you're most definitely not fat, but I think you may need to talk to your Mom about this because she can help you better than I can," Juliana looks up at her Mami's soothing words and scrunches her eyebrows up in confusion—that's definitely me, regardless of her not having anything to do with the pregnancy, eventually a child will start doing things and looking like the other parental figure, regardless of its gene makeup.

"She wants you to be able to talk to her about things too, so I need you to start now. Plus, you're right—your Mom and I are beautiful; we tell each other that every day because it makes us feel better on the days we don't feel that way, but I've never had the problem of being tormented for my looks because to others—I was beautiful," she explains, pulling away from Juliana and kisses her forehead, before walking downstairs to find her wife on the couch, almost as if she's waiting for her wife's return.

"Well?" Quinn asks and Santana gives her a tight lipped grimace. "What is it San? What happened to my baby at that school?" She's getting furious and Santana wraps her arms around her to try and sooth her down to a more calming manner.

"You have to tell her about Lucy," she tells her into Quinn's ear and she pulls away instantly at that, looking into Santana's eyes. "She thinks she's ugly Q. She is getting hassled for her weight and her shaggy dirty blonde hair, her glasses," she tells her as the tears sting at her eyes again. Quinn's eyes well up and she shakes her head at the thought of her daughter dealing with the same things she did at her age.

"But she's not overweight San. I was at her age, but—she's not overweight," she breaths out and Santana nods frantically.

"I know that and you know that, but she's going to be in high school soon and she wants to know why she's so ugly and why she looks nothing like us. I think she's beautiful and I try pressing that on her, but she won't listen because she doesn't feel it. You have to tell her why she looks the way she does and why she doesn't look like you at least," Santana exclaims and Quinn nods, sighing deeply before kissing Santana's lips.

"I love you," Santana tells her before Quinn makes her way upstairs.

"I love you too," she replies halfway up the stairs, before going the full distance and to Juliana's room. Santana left the door opened so Quinn knew it was okay to come in and since Juliana never closed it, she knew it'd be safe to. Quinn pops her head in and sees Juliana sitting on the side of her bed, looking down in her lap as she waits for whatever it is to come.

"Can I come in?" Quinn speaks and Juliana looks up and sees her Mom's pleading eyes, so she nods slowly, looking back down at her hands in her lap. Quinn walks in and sits down on the bed next to her, taking her bottom lip into her mouth and wetting it.

"Mami said you'd be able to talk to me better," Juliana mumbled and Quinn nods slowly, shifting herself so she rested her back against the wall. She pats the spot next to her and Juliana moves to sit next to her. Quinn wraps her arm around her almost protectively, before clearing her throat.

"I have a story to tell you about a girl named Lucy," she says, pulling her class picture all those years ago out of her wallet. She hid it behind her license to remind herself she was never going back to that person again.

She hands it to Juliana and her eyes widen at the picture. "She looks like me," she breaths out and Quinn smiles at that slightly, before nodding.

"Yeah she does, but Lucy was a chubby child, living in the shadow of her beautiful sister and mother, both blonde and striking—everything she wasn't and she didn't know why. Kids at school would call her names like Lucy Caboosey and the typical Four-eyes, but Lucy Caboosey seemed to be a crowd favorite. She was sad all the time and all she wanted to do was be pretty like her mother and sister were, so she begged her dad for a nose job and he did it, he let her dye her hair blonde and get contacts and eventually she shed the weight on her own—she finally felt like she fit in with her family and that she was beautiful, everyone else seemed to think so too at her new school when she transferred," she narrates and Juliana finally looks up at Quinn and waits for her to continue, but she had so many questions that she wanted answered.

"What happened to Lucy?" She asks and Quinn smiles softly, taking the photo back and placing it under her license again.

"She grew up, went to Yale, married an amazing woman, and had an amazing daughter who's about to start high school," she tells her and Juliana's eyes widen and she looks at her Mom for the first time, realizing exactly where she was going with this story.

"You're Lucy?" She asks in disbelief and Quinn nods to her daughter. "It all makes sense now," she breaths out and Quinn giggles at her words.

"I'll make you a deal, you can't have cosmetic surgery because even though I did, I condone it and so does your Mami, but we can get you contacts and you can dye your hair before you go to high school, that way you'll feel beautiful on the outside, but you have to learn to love yourself on the inside, okay?" Quinn says and Juliana nods frantically, wrapping her arms around her, thanking her constantly.

Santana pops in and smiles at the interaction, clearing her throat to let them know she was there. They smile at her and Santana sits down on the bed with them.

"I have a story for you too. You remember how I told you I never really had anyone put me down for my looks?" Juliana nods. "Well besides my abuela, calling me garbage face my entire childhood, it was true. However, it didn't mean I was happy with myself, so I did something drastic in high school. The summer before my junior year, I got a boob job, hoping I could get noticed more and your mom told our coach, and I got demoted from Captain and—," Santana stops to chuckle at the memory. "I kicked her butt right in the middle of the halls while your aunt Brittany said 'stop the violence'," Santana was full on laughing now at the memory and Quinn began shaking her head in amusement, as Juliana just watched on in confusion.

"The point is your Mami realizes how stupid it was to get the surgery so she actually got them removed after high school and the rest of her body parts are real, although her lips are up for debate," Quinn jests and Juliana giggles as Santana stops mid laugh, holding her finger up.

"Oh you was not sayin' that when you were latchin' on to these lady lips earlier," Santana points out as Juliana and Quinn laugh hysterically at her speech, knowing full well how she busts into it on random occurrences.

After their laughter dies down, Quinn and Santana leave the room so Juliana can work on her homework. They close the door behind them and as they're about to walk down the hall, Santana stops Quinn mid step and pulls out her wallet, showing Quinn that she has her old Lucy picture in her wallet.

"I think Finn had the right idea—for once he wasn't such a moron. But I think my wife looks beautiful here and she looks beautiful right in front of me. So either way, you'll always be perfect to me," Santana tells her as Quinn wraps her arm around her wife's neck, kissing her passionately—like it was the first time all over again.

Day 6 is Crossover!AU and since I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games (undecided fan), and Twilight, I had to go through the two shows I actually watch other than Glee. Since Monster Man is not an option, it came down to 2 Broke Girls and The Walking Dead, take a guess what I chose and ponder it, otherwise wait till tomorrow.