February:

The tensions loosened up a little with Brittany and Santana breathed a sigh of relief. They were still consciously avoiding each other when the kids weren't present, but they started doing things like dinner and bedtime together, figuring it would set a better routine for Ava and JJ than if they kept alternating. Often, Santana thought about the fact that they had been together from the time they were in high school until the time they were twenty-eight and they were capable of being in sync, even if it felt really difficult given their current situation. Of course, Santana was dreading telling Brittany that she had Valentine's Day plans, hoping it didn't upset the tentative peace between them.

Two days before, Santana decided she finally had to talk to Brittany. She knew that she probably should have given her some more notice, in case she also had plans that she hadn't told her about, but Santana was kind of into this girl from work and she really wanted to take her out for Valentine's Day. It had been awhile since she had any kind of feelings for anyone and scoring a date for February 14th was kind of a big deal. So, while JJ was in his high chair and Ava was still upstairs getting dressed, Santana approached Brittany in the kitchen.

"Hey, um, so I kind of have plans for Wednesday night." She wrung her hands in front of her body, bracing herself for Brittany to react poorly. "I was hoping you didn't mind having the kids on your own that night."

"Oh. Yeah, I mean…it's Valentine's Day, so I should have assumed you had plans."

"And you don't?"

"Well, dating is kind of the last thing on my mind right now."

"That's not—"

"I'm not saying it as an attack." Brittany shook her head. "I'm just thinking out loud."

"So you don't care?"

"Why would I care? We've been broken up for two years."

"I mean about having the kids."

"Oh." Brittany pursed her lips. "No, I don't care about having the kids."

On Valentine's Day, Santana worked from home. She closed her laptop at 4:30 and went to pick up JJ from daycare and Ava from aftercare. She'd bought each of them little Valentine's Day presents and she let them open them up while she waited for Brittany to go home from work. Ava was upset that she wasn't going to be home for bedtime, but Santana promised her that she'd read two stories to her the next night, placating her a little bit. When Brittany came home, she went upstairs and started getting ready, spending a lot of time in the shower shaving and exfoliating. It had been awhile since she'd been on a date and she was really excited about it, even though she wasn't exactly expecting it to be more than dinner, especially because she had to make it home by seven-am to help with breakfast and getting the kids off for their day. Still though, she prepared just in case.

She kissed Ava and JJ goodbye and she got in her car. Part of her thought about just taking an Uber into the city, but she liked the control of having her car and maybe she was a little old fashioned and liked the idea of picking a girl up for a date. Wendy was cute, she wanted to impress her, and she thought that pulling up in her expensive car might do exactly that. She never exactly had much game, but she was really trying to change that, figuring that since dating was going to be more difficult and would essentially involve Brittany's approval every time she went out, she'd have to be super impressive to make girls like her.

"I can't believe you're raising two kids." Wendy smiled at her once they were seated at the restaurant. "That must have really thrown you for a loop."

"I'm still processing my friends dying, to be honest." Santana shook her head. "The kids are kind of a distraction from it."

"You know, if this were a rom com, you'd totally be falling for Brittany right now."

"I'm—" Santana took a breath, thinking about how she'd never actually stopped falling for her. "That's not going to be a problem."

Santana's phone rang before the appetizers came. She looked at it, saw that it was Brittany and hit ignore. She rolled her eyes a little, unsure of why Brittany would feel the need to interrupt her date, but then she thought that maybe she wasn't as fine with it as she said. Truth be told, she probably would have tried to interrupt a date that Brittany was on, but then she shoved her phone in the pocket of her coat and listened to Wendy tell a story about coming out in college. She was really enjoying her date, so when the phone rang for the third time, she started to get irritated. There was absolutely no reason that Brittany should be calling her so many times, she'd said she was fine with the date, so she figured she was just going to answer the phone and tell her to stop bothering her.

"Just give me one second, I have to get this." Santana hit the answer button and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"I called you three times." Brittany snapped.

"Yeah, and I'm on a date."

"I'm at the hospital with Ava."

"What?" Santana inhaled sharply, feeling panic rise up in her and instantly feeling bad for ignoring the calls. "What happened?"

"She was jumping on the bed and she fell off. Just…can you get here?"

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"So was that the call?" Wendy asked, looking forlorn. "Not having a good time, so you have to go?"

"No, Wendy, I promise, it's not like that at all and I'll totally make this up to you, I swear." Santana stood up, putting on her coat and leaning over to kiss Wendy's cheek. "Ava's in the hospital. I just have to go."

Santana tossed her credit card at their waiter, telling him to put whatever Wendy wanted on the bill and then she raced out of the restaurant and to get her car from the valet. She had never been so glad in her life that there wasn't traffic as she sped, weaving in and out of lanes, to the hospital. When she got there, the receptionist directed her to the emergency room and she found Brittany sitting on the side of a small bed holding Ava's hand as the little girl clutched her arm to her chest sobbing. Santana's heart broke, thinking of how much Ava had already been through and she hated the fact that she hadn't been there to help right away.

"They haven't seen her yet?" Santana demanded, looking between Ava and Brittany.

"Aunt Santana, my arm hurts." Ava cried.

"They're really backed up tonight, apparently Valentine's Day is a big night in the ER with s-e-x injuries."

"Oh, fuck that. Someone's going to see her, and they're going to see her now."

Leaving Brittany and Ava behind the curtain, Santana stormed off to find a doctor. When she came across an intern, she threatened his life and then dragged him to Ava's little cubicle. He looked stunned, but Santana didn't care. She wasn't going to let her niece cry in pain while other people were being treated and she hovered over the intern as he inspected Ava's arm.

"That hurts!" She screamed as he touched her and Santana felt Brittany hold the back of her dress as she went to lunge toward him.

"It looks like we're going to have to take some really cool pictures of the inside of your arm." The intern told Ava. "Have you ever seen your bones before?"

"Nuh uh."

"Well I'm going to take you down to the x-ray room and then we'll check it out."

Santana and Brittany both stayed by Ava's side as she was x-rayed, Brittany telling Santana that she had called Cassidy's mom to watch JJ after Ava fell. Santana was completely impatient as they waited for the results of the x-rays, but then another doctor, one who looked much older than the intern, came in to tell them that it looked like Ava was going to need surgery. Shaken up, Santana held back her tears and looked at Brittany, who nodded to the doctor confirming that they consented to it. Ava screamed and yelled as she was wheeled away from Brittany and Santana, but they kept promising her that she was going to be fine, that she was going to go to sleep for a little while and they'd be waiting for her as soon as she was done.

"This is all my fault." Santana lamented, sinking down into a chair in the waiting room. "I'm the one who let her jump on the bed when you kept telling her no."

"It's not your fault." Brittany shook her head, though Santana could almost tell that she was itching to say I told you so. "Kids jump on beds, you can't blame yourself."

"She's having surgery, Brittany. She's just a baby, she's lost her parents this year and now she's in there scared and alone. And I didn't answer your calls because I was annoyed at you that you were interrupting my stupid date."

"Look, are we going to do this self-pity thing all night? Because I'm exhausted and honestly don't have the energy for it. It's no one's fault, Santana. Leave it at that."

"You're scared."

"Of course I'm scared. I'm terrified. She's in there having surgery and there's nothing I can do to keep her safe. All of my rules and routines don't matter."

"They matter." Santana murmured. "You're the one keeping order in the house while I'm just…trying to keep my head above water."

"I'm trying to keep my head above water too, you know. I don't sleep at night, all I do is think about how we lost them and how much it hurts. I just…really try not to show it."

"You've always been the stronger one."

"Not showing it doesn't make me strong, it makes me scared." Tears glistened in Brittany's eyes. "It's like, if I start crying, I'm never going to stop. I know you were closer to them than I was…"

"They loved you, Brittany. When I went there after we broke up, Cass made it clear that they weren't picking sides, that you were always going to be just as important in their lives as I was. That you were Ava's aunt and they loved you just as much as they loved me."

"She said that?"

"She did. I was pretty pissed at her for it, to be honest, but she made it work. I think…if they'd chosen someone to raise the kids after we broke up, it would have been you. I was always dependent on Cassidy to be my rock when things were falling apart after…I knowyou were the one who would plan things with the kids and actually be a better friend than I was."

"I wouldn't know what to do with Ava if you weren't around. JJ is easy, he's just a baby and he's not grieving like Ava is, but you get her. She's really only calm when you're around. That's why I needed you here tonight."

"I hardly even comforted her. I was so pissed about the doctors taking so long to get to her." Santana sighed.

"She knows that's how you love people. You were able to get that intern when I couldn't and you'll be there when she wakes up." Brittany yawned.

"You really are tired. Do you want to…borrow my shoulder and sleep for a little while?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"It's just a shoulder, Brittany. I don't bite."

Brittany debated for a few seconds before she leaned her head on Santana's shoulder and promptly fell asleep. It always impressed Santana how she could sleep anywhere and she tried not to move once Brittany was sleeping. She had to push down her feelings about the situation, reminding herself that it was just a shoulder, it was just…a friend offering a friend some comfort when things weren't going well. She tried not to think of all the times on the Cheerios bus in high school where Brittany slept like that, all the times on the subway after they'd gotten to New York, all the things that reminded her of the feelings she shouldn't still be having. She was still mad at Brittany for their breakup, that was for sure, but she also just hadn't been able to put aside the feelings she had, no matter how much time had passed.

When the doctor came out a few hours later, Santana gently shook Brittany awake. Brittany stood up quickly, not meeting Santana's eyes, probably regretting the fact that they'd just done that, and they followed the doctor back to the recovery room. Ava looked so small in the hospital bed and her eyes were still closed. Santana walked to the side of the bed and picked up her little hand. Slowly, Ava blinked her eyes open and she whimpered out in pain.

"Aunt Santana?"

"I'm here, honey."

"Aunt Brittany?"

"I'm here too."

"I want to go home."

"Just a little while longer and the doctor will come tell us we can take you home." Santana promised. "So soon."

Once the doctor signed the discharge papers, Santana helped Brittany get Ava into her car. It was tough getting her in the car seat because of the cast on her arm and she screamed as they were getting her in. Santana felt really bad about leaving her, but she had to go back to her own car, she had to drive home. She followed behind Brittany home and when they got in the driveway, Santana jumped out of the car and went to Brittany's. Ava screamed again and Santana carried her inside, bringing her upstairs so they could change her into her pajamas and get her into bed. Brittany stayed behind for a few minutes to talk to Cassidy's mom and thank her for staying with JJ, but Santana was so wrapped up in Ava that she couldn't even thank her. Santana got her settled into the bed and sat on the edge, stroking her hair until she fell asleep.

"I didn't thank you for coming tonight." Brittany stood in the doorway. "Or apologize for interrupting your date."

"It was Ava, I wasn't not going to come." Santana shrugged. "It's whatever. I'm going to check on JJ."

"Alright. Goodnight, Santana."

"Goodnight, Brittany."