Santana knew that there was supposed to be a three day wait rule on any contact made to a potential romantic interest in between dates…if they could call their initial encounter a date, given the circumstances. Still, she found herself thinking of Sam and his little brother so often over the next day and a half that she found herself on the verge of giving in the very next day. She was relieved when the phone rang the following evening and Sam's name lit it up, ending her own dilemma. Keeping a watchful eye on her daughter, who was busy coloring on the kitchen table as they waited for their dinner to finish heating up in the oven, Santana picked up.

"Hello?"

"Santana? Hey. It's Sam. If you didn't put my number in yet. You know, Sam with Stevie?"

"Right, hey," Santana said, trying to keep her voice nonchalant, even as she felt her heartbeat quicken and a smile come over her face. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's good, just practiced playing catch with Stevie and we'll be eating soon. He's getting better with it, but he can still use some work. How are things in the Lopez residence?"

"Oh, it's a proud day here, Sam, Toni learned how to tie her shoes, and she is absolutely thrilled with herself," Santana laughed a little, more at herself than at Toni. Why the hell was she holding the phone so tightly, as if it would bring her closer to him?

Hearing Sam's name, Toni's head perked up, and she beamed, giving an excited wiggle in her seat before she jumped up, hugging her mother's leg. "Mami! Is that Mr. Sam?"

"It is," her mother confirmed, reaching down to smooth a hand over the top of her daughter's head.

"I wanna talk to him!" Toni said enthusiastically, and she was speaking loudly enough that Sam too could hear.

Giving a laugh, he said to Santana, "Sure, give her the phone a minute, I'd love to talk to her too."

Santana couldn't help but smile as she watched her daughter's face beam with pride as she handed her the phone. As Toni spoke into it hesitantly, Santana leaned close, wanting to hear what Sam had to say.

"Toni! How are you doing today, beautiful lady? I heard that you learned to tie your shoe string. I'm impressed."

"HI!" Toni trilled, giving a wiggle of excitement at his compliment. "I am doing very awesome! I'm very smart and my fingers only got a little messed up! When can we get ice cream again?! I bet Stevie can't tie his shoes good as me!"

"I can see that you are very smart. You should be very proud, I know your mom is," Sam told her, and Santana could hear the smile in his voice. "You have to ask your mom that question about ice cream. I'm fine with whenever… Stevie's already tying his own shoes. He's a big boy and big boys tie their own shoes."

"Here, give me the phone back now, baby," Santana said to Toni, taking the phone back to her own ear. Her daughter stayed close, seeming to want to listen too as she addressed Sam. "She's really taken with you. You sure you don't wear some kind of cologne that smells like ice cream too, to reel in the little kids? And yeah, I just realized how totally wrong that sounds."

Sam laughed again, shaking his head, and the sound sent a shiver down Santana's spine. "Yeah, just a little bit it does. I'm glad she likes me. I think Stevie might have a little bit of a crush on you too. He couldn't stop talking about you."

"Oh, yeah? You mean you got some competition?" Santana asked playfully. She looked down at her daughter, who was pulling at her arm again, pointing at the phone . "Toni's tugging at me for the phone again, hang on a sec."

"Sam I wanna go get ice cream today," Toni announced once she had the phone in her grasp again. "Can we? Sam, aren't I a big girl 'cause I'm tying shoes even though they fell off a little? I'm still a big girl, right? As big as Stevie. Bigger!"

Santana tried not to snort at this. Not even waiting for Sam's answer, she reached down again.

"Okay, okay, Antonia, phone back…a five year old has a crush on me, huh? Or is that your way of saying YOU do, blaming it on the kid? …Toni, stop tugging at me, what?"

"I got something very important to tell Sam," Antonia said insistently, stopping her tugging, but not releasing her mother's leg from her grasp. "I just wanna say one super important thing and that's all."

Santana heaved a sigh, addressing Sam again in the phone. "Okay, she says she has something very important to tell you…brace yourself, is all I gotta say, 'cause the last time she said that she threw up on my feet and that was what she had to say."

Giving the phone back to her daughter, she waited, curious in spite of herself. But nothing could have prepared her for Antonia's important announcement then.

"Mr Sam I wanna say you should be my daddy now!"

She didn't wait for him to answer, instead just smiling proudly and handing the phone back to her mother. It took Santana a few moments to actually take hold of it with a hand she could be assured wouldn't drop it.

"Uh…sorry about that…um, you know, she's four, and she hasn't had a dad, so just…yeah, ignore that. She's four, right?"

"I…uh, can't say that didn't surprise me," was Sam's more than slightly taken aback response. "But it's okay. She's a kid, and, well, it's hard for kids to grow up without a daddy."

"It would have been harder if she had a sucky dad that didn't help out or spend time with her or didn't treat her right, so don't feel sorry for her. She has me and I love her more than anyone else ever would," Santana countered, immediately defensive.

Maybe she was too sensitive; her mother had said as much, over the years. But she hated it any time someone made remarks about her poor daughter, with only a mother to raise her. How could they make it a bigger deal that her shitty father wasn't involved, then the fact that her mother who loved her was?

"Hey, I wasn't saying that anything was wrong with being a single parent," Sam said gently, hearing her tone. "I'm one myself and this is to my little brother, but you know kids…They want to fit in and she probably sees that her friends have two parents instead of one and she wants that. Can you blame her for wanting that?"

Santana went quiet as she thought about this. She knew that Sam was right. Toni seemed to have lost interest in this more serious turn of conversation and was wandering back to her coloring as she spoke.

"I don't like to think about her wanting that or feeling different. I'm doing the best I can."

"She does," Sam told her quietly. " I can tell that she's a happy little girl. Don't be too hard on yourself. I've heard that frowning could lead to wrinkles. You don't want to look 30 when you're only 21."

"Hey!" Santana protested, knowing that he was trying to lighten the mood and deciding to play into the banter. "I will NEVER look 30. Unless I'm 50. Then I might look 25. You're the one who should watch your facial expressions, one day those humongous lips of yours might end up stretched out to your ear."

"Hey, no mocking of the mouth!" Sam laughed, but she could tell he wasn't upset. " Just so you know, I've been told I have sexy lips….but you, just so you know, if you keep frowning and being sad, you're going to look older than you are . And I know just the way to make you start smiling and being happy, at least for one night."

"Who told you that your lips are sexy, Angelina Jolie? Mick Jagger?" Santana laughed, realizing that she was almost cradling the phone, to her own annoyance, but she didn't adjust her stance. "Oh, you think you can do that for me, huh, make me smile? Is this gonna be one of those typical male assertions here 'cause I do have a four year old across the table."

Toni looked up at the mention of her, calling out "Hi Sam!" again as though to prove this.

"Well….tempting as that is, what I mean is our meeting. The one we said should happen. I happen to be free tonight, and I know it's short notice, but if you wanted…"

He trailed off, waiting for her response. Santana felt her heartbeat spike up slightly as she tried to control the broadness of her smile.

"Sure. I can drop Toni off at my mami's, I guess. Seven?"

As they wrapped up the conversation, and Santana turned her attention back to her daughter and thoughts of the preparations she would have to make for the night, she couldn't quite stop her smile.

88

Santana took longer than she would have ever been comfortable admitting getting ready for her date. Incredible as it seemed to her, it had actually been almost a full year since she last went on a real one. She was glad that she had dropped Antonia off with her mother so the little imp wouldn't be buzzing around asking why she was getting so fancy and drop yet ANOTHER comment about him being her new daddy. Finally satisfied with how she looked, having chosen a snug, slightly short dress and straightened her hair, she waited impatiently for Sam to arrive, trying not to pace or fiddle too much with herself

Sam was actually a little nervous about this date. When was the last time he actually went out with a girl? He didn't do it in college because of the responsibilities he had caring for Stevie.

" Wow, I haven't been on a date since High School… "

He blew out a breath and let out a slight laugh on the drive over to Santana's. His palms were sweating, heart beating a thousand miles a minute when he got there.

"Okay you need to calm down or you're going to pass out for real."

He spent the next five minutes taking huge breaths and blowing the air out, talking to himself in an effort to psyche himself up to go to her front door. When he was a bit more relaxed, he walked out of his car and to her door where he pressed the doorbell and waited with a smile that he hoped didn't look too creepy. As Santana opened the door, Sam's smile immediately became more relaxed, and he swallowed again before greeting her.

"Hey…um, you look really beautiful… This is for you." He shoved the bouquet he had chosen in the last minute in her face rather quickly, narrowly grazing her pretty face. Flushing, he swallowed again. "Sorry…"

The first thing Santana saw was his lips; regardless of what she said to him to tease, they are mad hot to her. Her eyes traveled down, taking in the rest of him, and she smiled, reaching for the flowers with some surprise.

" Uh…you need to drop these off at a cemetery on our way first or something?" She wasn't really trying to give him a hard time. It was just that no one had ever given her flowers before.

God, Sam stop being a klutz.

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he feels his cheeks burning.

"They're not for anyone in the cemetery. They're for you."

"Well aren't you the gentleman," Santana smiled, toying with one of the petals. " Glad to hear you don't want to give them to dead people, I always thought romancing the dead was kinda necro."

She accepted the flowers, smelling them, and as she smelled them took the opportunity to hide her huge grin in their blooms. Putting them in a vase and plucking one out to give to Antonia, she turned back to him.

"Ready. What, no red carpet rolled out for my benefit?"

"No. Alas, I am but a poor blond. I can't afford the red carpet kind of date yet, but you might be getting your wish once I go pro."

He winked at her and put his right hand to the small of her back, to help usher her along. Santana felt a faint shiver run up her spine at Sam's touch, trying to fight from letting him see this second smile. When they got to his car, he opened the door for her and stepped back.

"Your chariot awaits, m'lady. "

Turning to face him, Santana teased, "Chariot? Looks like a boring old car to me. And here I was thinking I was special enough you went back to friggin' old ages to get me a sweet ride."

"Hey, don't mock my ride. It's bitchin' ." Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, Sam laughed again. "Note to self, never use the word bitchin' again…you will just have to deal with my boring old car. I ain't made out of money, you know… Now get in so we can get to the other part of this boring date."

"BITCHING?" Santana burst out laughing, shaking her head as she got into the car. "Do you know how white you are when you say that….come on, Vanilla Ice, let's see if we can liven things up."

"I'm a white boy, what do you expect…." Sam laughed, closing the passenger door, even as he heard Santana's retort.

"You could try shouting it out just a little less proudly with your actions, just sayin'."

Sam laughed again, taking the teasing in stride as he got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the driveway. "Another note to self, no wannabe gangsta words…so how was your day?"

Santana made a face, scrunching her nose as she replied, pulling at the hem of her skirt slightly. Sam's eyes drifted to her legs immediately at the gesture.

"Day was okay. One of the kids puked at work so I'm just praying Toni doesn't get it, because she is absolute torture when she's sick. How was yours?"

Sam pulled a face in sympathy. " Ugh… That must have been a mess. I hope she doesn't get sick too. I know how Stevie is when he's sick. He's worse then a baby. My day was pretty good. Got to spend some time with my uncle and Stevie. He's been like a father to us ever since our parents death. If he wasn't in the Army he would have taken custody of Stevie, but I think things worked out perfectly in the end."

"God, Toni is a baby too when she's sick. She cries all the time and wants me to hold her constantly, and she won't sleep. And god forbid I leave the room to go to the bathroom or something, you would think I was dumping her off at the side of the road." Santana laughed, shaking her head at her memories. "I hate to see her miserable though, so even though she is such a little terror I can't help babying her." As she listened to Sam talking about his uncle, she smiled, glad to hear that he had someone for support. "That's cool. I'm pretty close to my mami, she helps me a lot with Toni."

"It sounds a lot like Stevie and Toni are the same, they're both whiny when their sick," Sam agreed. He got quiet for a moment, remembering, before he spoke his thoughts out loud. " Stevie would always call out to our parents when he's sick. So I try to be his security blanket."

Noticing his sad look, Santana reached to touch his shoulder on instinct, her expression soft. When Sam cleared his throat, speaking up again, she let him change the subject without comment.

" It's great that you have a supportive mom. I wouldn't know what to do if my uncle wasn't in our lives. My parents came from the East Coast and the only relatives they have here is my uncle."

They arrived at the restaurant then, and as Sam went to park the car, he looked to his left and smiled. "Looks like we're here. Ready to be awed by my non fancy restaurant of choice?"

Getting out of the car, Santana smiled back, holding out her arm to him.

"A true gentleman escorts a lady."

"If an escort is what you want, an escort you shall get."