As their parents had carried out their discussion in another room, Stevie and Antonia had remained in a peaceful slumber, unknowingly curled up beside each other in Stevie's bed. This arrangement lasted until about six am, when Antonia kicked Stevie in her sleep. He woke up with a start and rubbed his eyes. When he saw that Toni was next to him, he jumped out of bed, scowling in near horror.

"Ewww! Why are you here? In my bed? Get out of it before I catch cooties!" he declared, pointing towards the door as though to make it very clear where Antonia should be going.

Sitting up groggily, Antonia rubbed her eyes, scowling and kicking at the covers. "I do not have cooties! You are the cootie boy! You are a boy. I am a girl. Boys shouldn't oughtta sleep with girls. Gross."

"You do too. Cooties girl," Stevie scoffed. "I didn't want to sleep with you! I don't know why you're in MY bed."

"Do not!" Antonia hollered. Jumping out of bed, she ran at Stevie and kicked his leg. "You were touching me! Touching me with your cootie germs! This isn't neither your bed!"

This despite the obvious fact that the bed and all the objects in the room clearly wasn't hers.

"It is too my bed!" Stevie's jaw dropped as Antonia's foot kicked out at him, and he hollered, " You kicked me. I'm telling on you!"

He ran out of bed and out to the kitchen, where Sam was standing at the stove, starting up breakfast. Without even so much as a good morning, Stevie launched into his tale of woe. " Sammy, Toni kicked me and she slept on my bed! Get her out!"

"TATTLETALE!" Antonia hollered out from the bedroom. Delighted to have the bed to herself, she promptly stretched back out with the covers over her head, snuggling back down. "All mine!"

Sam rolled his eyes and sighed, already feeling a headache coming on. "Stevie, why can't the two of you get along? I'm trying to make breakfast here… and Santana is still asleep, please try to be more quiet."

Stevie folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Because she's sleeping in my bed! And she's acting like a boss. Get her out of my bed, Sammy. Please…"

Just to make sure he gets the message, Antonia shouted again. "MY BED! I AM GONNA SLEEP IN THIS BED THAT IS ALL MINE RIGHT NOW! THAT IS WHAT I AM DOING I AM SLEEPING!"

Sam actually laughed when he heard Toni shouting. Stevie was scowling at him and he pursed his lips to stop from laughing. "Alright, let's get this over with."

He shook his head again and headed to the bedroom with Stevie holding onto his hand. As they came up to Toni's little blanket-covered body, Stevie addressed her with as much authority as his five year old self could muster up.

"You get out of my bed or Sammy will put you on time out."

"Stevie!" Sam chided, shaking his head. "I am not going to put her on time out."

Antonia pulled the covers tighter over her head, shouting back. "He will not! See! I'm sleeping! Sleeping like a good girl! Sleeping is good and you are being bad, Stevie!" Suddenly sitting up, she pushed the covers back from head and looked at Sam overly innocently. "Isn't he being bad to me, Sammy?"

Sam didn't even bother to hide his laughter. That earned him an eye roll from Stevie. "It's not funny," Stevie grumbled. "Make her go away."

Picking Stevie up on his hip with a sigh, Sam addressed Toni. "Toni, why don't you get up. I'm making pancakes for breakfast."

Perking up at the mention of pancakes, Antonia nodded enthusiastically. "Ooooh yummy!"

She threw the blanket back all the way, then, seeing that Sam had picked Stevie up, held her arms out to him, wanting to be carried too. Stevie latched on even tighter to his brother when Toni asked to be picked up, shaking his head.

"Nuh uh. He's my brother. You can ask your mommy to pick you up. Sammy's all mine."

"You can share, Stevie. Just this once." Sam looked down at the little girl and stretched his free arm out. "Up you go, Toni."

Antonia pouted at Stevie's response, sticking her lower lip out and holding her arms out even further to Sam. "Share! Sharing is nice! You gotta be nice 'cause grown ups say that ALL THE TIME!" She beamed when Sam lifted her, wrapping an arm around his neck and resting her head against his shoulder.

"Sammy, she's being mean again…" Stevie grumbled, pouting and shoving a little at Toni. "Stay on your side."

"Am not! I'm being nice and sharing! You're being mean, you're pushing me!"

Sam who now had Toni in his arms couldn't really concentrate on their bickering. He was more worried about not dropping the kids while he juggled to balance them and walk to the living room. Once he was near the sofa, he set them both down, sighing in relief. "Alright, I gotta go finish making breakfast, you two behave, okay?"

When Sam set her down, Toni stood up and attached to his leg, hugging him. "I like you, Sammy. Thank you!" She pulled back, seeming to realize at last she didn't know where Santana was. "Mami! Where is my mami?"

Santana, meanwhile, had heard most of this and stayed put. No way was she giving herself a headache this early in the morning, so she pretended to sleep.

Sam was trying to get away, to go back to the kitchen and to be completely honest, away from the bickering kids, but Toni wasn't going to let that happen. "I like you too, Toni," he laughed. "Your mommy's still asleep. Why don't you sit here and I'll go get her for you."

He deposited her back on the sofa, where Antonia gave a little bounce.

"Okay…Mami! Mami I'm in here!"

Still shaking his head, Sam made his way into his room and sat on the edge of his bed, leaning over to gently shake Santana's shoulder. "Babe, you gotta get up, the kids are killing me."

Santana curled into a ball, groaning aloud and pulling the blanket over her head rather as her daughter had done. "Aw, let's do shifts…you get morning, I get oh, I'll start at noon. Sound good?"

Sam, hearing Santana's pleading was not at all moved by it. Instead, he pulled her up, so that she was curled up in his arms and gently pinched her cheeks. "No, we don't have a deal. Toni is asking for you and Stevie is going to kill her if you don't play referee. Babe, please get up, I can't handle this alone."

Santana groaned again, turning her face away, and then snuggled close, burying her face in his neck. "You know we will never sleep again, right?"

Back in the living room, Toni, still bouncing on the couch, got up and started to run down the hall, still calling for her mother. "Mamiiiiiiii I can't hear you!"

Sam chuckled lightly and stroke Santana's hair. "I know, and I'm used to it." Hearing Toni's shouts made him laugh. He smacked Santana on the butt to wake her a little. "You hear that? You better get up, she's looking for you."

Santana smacked back at Sam's hand but laughed, pulling away slightly and yawning. She could hear Toni calling her again, an edge of panic in her voice, and called back to her. "I'm here, baby, I'm coming." Looking at Sam, she explained. "She gets scared sometimes when she doesn't know where I am."

As though to prove it, Antonia burst through the door without knocking, her eyes huge. Her little face registered relief when she saw Santana, and she threw herself bodily onto her, snuggling against her chest. "Mami you were hiding from me."

Santana stroked her hair back, rubbing her back as she sat up a little more. "No, I was here, baby."

Pulling back, Antonia looked around as though she were seeing the room for the first time. "How come Sammy gets to sleep with you and I don't? Isn't he big enough to sleep alone?"

Relieved that Santana was getting up, Sam sat back and blew out a breath. "Oh, now I understand. Stevie was like that a few years back." He smiled, his heart melting at the sight of the mother and daughter's affection for each other.

He wanted this, he suddenly realized. All of it. The two beautiful girls and his brother, and possibly more kids in the future. He wanted it all because in that moment, he realized that he loved her. He loved Santana. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. It made his heart jump, and a smile that he was sure couldn't be erased spread across his face. Sam blinked at Toni's question, laughing as it dawned on him in a delay.

Seeing Sam smile, Santana looked up questioningly, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

Ignoring her, Sam addressed Toni. "Your mommy was borrowing my bed to sleep in because there was not enough beds. And big girls sleep alone. Aren't you a big girl?"

Stevie entered the room, looking annoyed] I'm hungry. Can we eat now?

Distracted then, Santana eased Toni off her and stood, stretching, then reached for her hand, which Toni took. Smiling at Stevie, she nodded. "Food is definitely a must about now."

Holding Santana's hand, Toni considered Sam's reply, then nodded decisively. "Uh huh. I'm a big girl…but do big girls still get to play? And get picked up sometimes?"

"Definitely," Santana answered this immediately, thinking of herself, being held by Sam just a few minutes. When Toni reached out a hand for Sam to take too, she smiled, her heart full. It was amazing to her how quickly her daughter too has accepted him.

Stevie rolled his eyes, then stuck his tongue out at Toni. "Big girls don't get carried, that's for little girls."

"Okay, before a war starts, we better get you two fed." Sam kissed Tana's forehead and took Toni's hand. "Big girls have to play and they definitely get carried, but only sometimes… Isn't that right, Santana?"

Scowling at Stevie, Toni held tighter to the adults' hands. "They do too! They get carried! Sammy said so!"

Santana rolled her eyes, keeping out of this, and just swung Toni's hand playfully. As they entered the kitchen she started to help Sam prepare the breakfast, still sneaking looks at him, and said in an undertone when the kids were seated, "What was that look?"

"What look? I wasn't giving you a look." He shrugged and started in on the pancakes.

Santana smirked at Sam, giving him a little hip check. "Right. You looked like you were about to start drooling."

Sam smiled, but he wasn't giving in. "Of course I am. Have you seen yourself lately? You're drool worthy."

"I am, but that was a long drool session." Santana laughed, then after a fast glance at the kids, walked her fingertips up his neck.

Sam closed his eyes, feeling her fingertips tickling his eyes. "Baby, if you don't stop that, I'm going to burn the pancake.

Only because Sammy wasn't really listening to him, Stevie leaned forward towards Toni, teasing her some more. "Sammy's wrong. You're a little girl and little girls get carried."

"You are being mean to me! I am not a little girl! I am a big girl! And you are a little boy then because Sammy carried YOU!" Antonia shot this back at Stevie, sticking her tongue out at him as she sat across from him at the table.

"Whatever. I'm not a little boy. I'm a big boy. You're the little girl."

"Little boy little boy little boy! Big girl big girl big girl!" Antonia stuck her tongue out again, waggling it around.

"You're the little girl. You still suck your thumb!" Stevie fired back, laughing at her.

Because this was absolutely true, and also something she was sensitive about, Antonia exploded. She started to kick her legs against the back of her chair, rocking back and forth in it hard as she hollered at him. "I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL!"

When she fell backward in her chair because of the rocking and kicking, Antonia momentarily stopped, wide eyed with her surprise. Then, more out of anger and embarrassment than actual hurt, she burst into tears, starting to flail her arms and legs in a full on tantrum.

Santana had been walking her fingers through Sam's hair, lightly scraping his scalp as she leaned close to him, when Antonia's shriek pierced her eardrums. Pulling away reluctantly to see her daughter thrashing on the floor, she sighed, moving closer to her.

"Okay. You need to take four breaths, take a drink of milk, and then have some quiet time. Come on, Toni."

"I didn't do it! She fell on her own!" Stevie shouted, pointing at Toni's flailing form.

Sam groaned inwardly and raised a brow at Stevie. "Oh really? You didn't provoke her?"

"What's provoke mean?" Stevie asked, looking down at his feet and pretending to not understand his brother's question.

"You know what it means." Sam folded his arms. "Now spill."

"I didn't do anything. I promise! It was all her fault. She taunted me, so I said that she sucked her thumb. Then she started kicking and then she fell. So it's not my fault!" Stevie spouted out in one breath.

Toni ignored Santana for the first few seconds, continuing to scream, but as Santana kept talking to her in a normal tone of voice, ignoring Stevie, and telling her to calm down and sit up, she gradually did, sniffling.

"I fell….I fell and I hurted my leg!" She stretched out her leg to Santana, which only had a very small red spot on the shin. Santana rubbed it for her for a few seconds.

"There, all better. You wouldn't be falling and hurting your leg if you hadn't been kicking, and you wouldn't be kicking if you hadn't been fussing with Stevie, would you? Pick your chair up and come sit in your seat. You can't have breakfast on the floor."

Antonia picked the chair up, still sniffling, but she didn't get in her seat. Instead she went to Santana where her mother was kneeling in front of her and hid her face in her lap. Santana patted her briefly but spoke firmly. "Take a breath, get in your chair, and drink some milk, Toni. You're okay."

And after a few more moments she did, refusing to look at Stevie. Santana stood, sighing as she mumbled to Sam. "Hurry on the pancakes, babe."

"What did I tell you about leaving each other alone? You should have listened. Do you want to get grounded?" Sam was speaking to Stevie.

Stevie shook his head violently. "No. I don't want to. I'll behave."

"If you don't want to get grounded, go sit down and behave yourself." Sam looked back at Santana, acknowledging her. "Getting to it, babe."

Antonia sat quietly, sulking, and several times brought her thumb up to her mouth, then with a glance at Stevie, dragged it back down. Looking back at her and Stevie and how downcast they both looked, Santana shook her head, returning to stand next to Sam as they frequently glanced back to check on them.

"I swear I want to cuddle the shit out of them both when they look like that. Sometimes the discipline thing is hard."

And Sam had to agree.