Antonia was very, super excited to live in Sammy and Stevie's house now with her mami. It was a big, pretty house, way bigger and prettier than the apartment she and Mami had been in, and it had a nice big yard she could run around in and Sammy said that he would make her a playhouse. There were lots and lots of rooms and she could live with Sammy and he would be her daddy, and she had always wanted a daddy. Antonia could tell that he really loved her a lot, just like she loved him, and she thought he loved her mami too. That was nice. It was very super nice, and she didn't even mind too much that dumb Stevie was living there too because he even told Sammy to make her a playhouse.

But there was a problem with the house and that was that it was just too big. Antonia was sure there had to be monsters hiding somewhere, because how could they resist a house that was this big, when there were so many places to hide? There were so many closets and beds and couches and all kinds of places they could be under or behind, and even though Sammy said that there weren't any in her room, Antonia wasn't sure. What if they disappeared in the day time and came back in the night time? And anyway grown ups couldn't see monsters, everyone knew that.

She didn't want to go to sleep all by herself in her bed. She just wanted to go sleep with her mami because monsters were scared of grown ups. Everyone knew that too. But her mami wouldn't let her, which wasn't even fair, because her mami got to sleep with Sammy instead of all alone like Antonia was. After she had been tucked in for the night, Antonia leapt out of bed, turning on her light and opening the door to her bedroom. Then she got scared, because what if there wasn't a monster in her room right now, but it would come in through the door? So she jumped up again and slammed it shut and locked it.

But then a new thought came to her. What if the monster was in her room, and she needed to run out fast, but the door was locked and she couldn't get out fast enough? So she jumped up again and unlocked it, then started to rearrange her stuffed animals in a circle around her bed. But then a new thought occurred to her- what if the monsters ate all her stuffed animals on the floor like that? She better put them in her bed to protect her.

So Antonia carried all her stuffed animals into her bed, but she didn't have a lot of room for herself in there too. Her brow scrunching up, fitful grunting noises escaping her as she tossed and turned, she finally sat up, certain that she had seen something move. Hollering at the top of her lungs, she yelled out for help.

"MAMI! MAMI I NEED YOU! DADDY SAMMY HELP!"

"You hear that?" Sam asked after a few minutes of silence. "Silence." Stevie and Toni were asleep and they were finally free to go to bed or do other extracurricular activities, and right now, he felt like doing the latter. "You know what that means?" He wiggled his brows, "It means that you and I get to have some fun…"

Sam pulled Santana on top of him and claimed her lips in a heated kiss.

Santana grinned, tangling her fingers into Sam's hair and kissing him back just as intensely. She wrapped her legs around his waist, starting to grind herself against him, until her daughter's screech pierced her eardrums and nearly gave her a heart attack. Sam was even more shocked than she was- as was evident by his shoving her off of him and onto the floor. Temporarily numb from the pain in her elbow with her concern for Antonia, Santana scrambled up and followed in Sam's trail, heart pounding.

"Toni, are you okay? What's wrong? Did somebody hurt you?" He asked her in a frenzy and panic as he looked around the room.

"Toni, what, what's wrong?" Santana echoed.

But she stopped short as she looked frantically around the room, realizing that there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary except all thirty stuffed animals crowded in Antonia's bed, barely leaving space for the child herself. Antonia's chest was heaving, her face puckered up as though near panic herself, and she reached out her arms immediately as she saw Sam and Santana.

"I heard the monsters! They are gonna eat me up!"

Santana couldn't stop herself. She facepalmed, complete with a loud sigh. This was life with her daughter, all right.

Sam still looking around the room in a panic, wondered if an intruder had gotten in the house. When he heard Toni's words however, he was positive that nothing like that had happened. He blew out a sigh of relieved and looked down at the little girl.

"There are no monsters here, Toni. I check before you moved in. Even Stevie checked." He reassured her.

Hearing the commotion next door, Stevie grumbled and got out of bed. He went to check to see what was going on and let out a chuckle seeing Toni looking scared and surrounding by her stuffed animals.

"I was trying to sleep, you know." He said sternly, with his arms folded.

"Are too monsters! You can't look 'cause you can't see them even when they're here! And they can come in through walls, they came in again since Stevie looked," Antonia insisted. She hugged a very unfierce looking stuffed cat to her chest, looking up at her mother and Sam pleadingly, and ignored Stevie entirely.

"I hear them growling. They wanna eat me up. And my stuffed animals are not being very good guards. They said they don't wanna get eaten up too."

Santana sighed again, moving to sit on the edge of her daughter's bed. This was rather difficult and meant there were about four animals under her butt, but when she tried to throw some down, Antonia shrieked again.

"Mami! You are gonna throw it down and it will get eaten!"

"There's no monsters," Sam and Stevie says in unison, Stevie's tone a lot harsher than Sam's.

"I told you this house is monster free, I left a few stinky socks under your bed the other day to make sure they're gone for good," Stevie added, lying through his teeth. He resented the fact that he was still awake at his bed time and if lying meant that he would get to go to sleep, then he would do it gladly.

"It's true. Stevie did put the socks in the room," Sam backed up his little brother, grateful for his smart retort. Maybe, he'd be able to get some intimate time with Santana after all.

The sock solution is about the dumbest thing Santana has ever heard. But if Antonia buys it, she'll go with it.

"Hey, yeah, remember, they hate socks, Toni."

Antonia frowned, protesting. "But Mami, I looked and I didn't see no socks there…" her brow furrowed, and then her eyes grew huge as a new idea popped into her thoughts. "MAMI!? WHAT IF THERE IS A NEW MONSTER AND HE LIKES TO EAT STINKY SOCKS?! HE MUSTA ATE IT CAUSE ITS ALL GONE!"

Stevie rolled his eyes, Toni was panicking again and he was getting tired of listening to her. "There's no monsters! I took the socks away. Didn't think you wanted to sleep with stinky socks lying around. And there's no new monster." He looked at his brother to back him up.

Sam put a hand on Stevie's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. He was glad that Stevie was trying to help, even if it wasn't working very well. "Toni, I need you to stop panicking okay? There are no monsters in here. I know this because I sleep here sometimes. Even Stevie do that and we've never seen a monster in this room or in any part of the house."

"You took them AWAY?! But you said they keep monsters away! They comed back down 'cause the socks are gone! And all my socks are gettin' washed and they aren't stinky!"

Antonia was fast nearing tears, not even dignifying Sam's calm answer with a response. To her, Sam obviously was not aware of the reality of this terrible, terrible situation. Sighing, Santana decided on her own course of action, which was to ignore the monster situation entirely and just put Antonia to sleep. She lay down, uncomfortably feeling several stuffed animals digging into her back, and put her arms around her daughter, rocking her slightly and beginning to sing.

"Waves will race in, storms will rage in, but you will be safe in my arms. Rain will pour down, wind will crash around, but you will be safe in my arms…"

Stevie and Sam were both speechless. They didn't know what to say to the crying little girl. Both have never had to deal with the likes of Toni before and now with her in a near meltdown mode, they couldn't say a word to her. Thankfully, Santana was taking care of her.

"Maybe you should go to bed, Stevie," Sam suggested, ruffling his brother's hair, "Come on, I'll take you."

Stevie nodded and walked out of the room with his brother behind him. Then he settled in bed and asked, "Is this going to happen every night? I don't want it to. I don't like hearing her screams…"

"I hope not, buddy. Toni is getting adjusted to living here, so she gets scared sometimes. I'm sorry it's disturbing your sleep. But I am proud of you for not making things worse," Sam smiled. "You are being a big boy."

"Don't like waves. Don't like rain. Yucky," Antonia whispered, but her eyes were drifting shut, her thumb moving to her mouth. She let Santana rock her, singing softly, and gradually her body started to relax.

As Santana eased her arms from around her, stroking her hair and her forehead to try to settle her more, Antonia seemed to be drifting off. Santana gave her a few more minutes, still stroking her hair and face, and then slowly stood, following Sam down the hall. Peeking in on Stevie, she went forward and gave him a little hug, kissing the top of his head.

"I'm sorry, she's never slept in a house this big before. She'll settle down…eventually…I hope," she added the last three words under her breath. "Thank you for being so nice to her today, Stevie. Sleep well."

Stevie smiled at his brother and Santana and let out a yawn. "You're welcome. I'm sleepy now…" He rubbed his eyes. "Can I go to bed?"

Sam chuckled, Stevie had never been the kind to beat around the bush, especially when it came to sleeping. "Yeah, you can." He kissed his brother on the cheek and ruffled his head again. "Night, buddy. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Then, he got up to leave. Shutting the door quietly behind him. "Disaster averted. You ready to have some fun now?" He asked, once again wiggling his brows at his sexy girlfriend as he pulled her in his arms, carrying her to their room.

"Good night." Santana patted Stevie too, then backed away out the door with Sam. As Sam lifted her up, she grinned, wrapping an arm around her neck and kicking the door closed. She pulled Sam down on top of her on the bed, her lips crashing into his.

But in her room, Antonia has started to stir awake, registering unconsciously that Santana isnt' holding her and has stopped singing. Sitting up, rubbing at her eyes, she stumbles out of bed, shaking her head as she tries to think again of what she can do to keep the monsters at bay. An idea occurred to her, and she ran with heavy, stomping footsteps to the kitchen, starting to loudly open all the drawers she could reach in search of a spoon.

Sam went into action, quickly removing Santana's clothes when they got inside the room. After tonight, he needed to move fast. He had only started removing Santana's shirt, when he heard what sounded like someone running through the house. "What the…?" He scrunched his brows, "Please tell me that's not Toni again. Please…"

Sucking in an annoyed breath, trying to calm her breathing, Santana slowly pulled away, slipping her shirt back on. It's backwards, but she didn't care.

"Ha, it's a monster. My little three foot monster."

Exhaling loudly, she got out of bed, shaking her head. "You can stay here if you want."

Sam slump back down to the bed, feeling completely defeated. "I can't believe this. We will never have sex again…" He mumbled, then got up with her. "No I'll go with you." He righted his appearance and opened the door for Santana. "You first."

In the kitchen, Antonia was busy noisily dragging a chair across the floor, scraping its legs all the way. She had a stack of books on the floor, knocked over across the kitchen, and she continued to struggle with the chair as her mother and Sam entered the room. Santana put her hands on her hips, giving a loud sigh again.

"Antonia Cristina Lopez. What are you doing?"

Antonia looked up, still dragging at the chair. "I'm gonna make a monster trap, Mami. See, if I put all these chairs in front of my door I'll hear the monster come in. Then they will knock over the chairs and books and the spoon will get hit and fly up and hit them in the eye and then they can't see me to eat me."

Santana just stared at her. She didn't know if she wanted to burst into hysterical laughter or scream.

Sam's jaw dropped. How could one small child make this much mess in such a small amount of time? It wasn't possible. He looked around the room and ran his hands over his hair. He was sort of a neat freak and couldn't go to sleep unless the place was clean, so he set out to clean the place while Tana dealt with Toni.

"Antonia….Cristina…Lopez," Santana took another breath, trying to keep herself calm as she responded. "You know it's night time. And you know that means you stay in your room, in your bed, until morning. It's not morning. And even if it was, you don't go moving things around in the kitchen that don't belong to you."

"But Mami, I'm catching the monster," Antonia said earnestly. She let go of the chair, coming over to Santana and tugging at her arm. "It would be faster if you would help me out and then I can go to bed."

Santana's lips twitched as again she tried not to laugh. "No. Put that spoon back and stack those books back up, you can pick them up in the morning. It's time to sleep. I'm pretty sure the monsters are scared away by all this noise."

"No, they aren't," Antonia shook her head. "They like noise. That's why they growl."

Santana marched her back to her room, depositing her with somewhat less patience in her bed. And Antonia jumped up and threw herself at her legs, trying to keep her from leaving.

"Mami! Mami, no, don't leave me! Monsters are gonna get me!"

It took another back and forth round of Santana ordering Antonia into bed and Antonia begging before Santana ended up singing to her again. Twenty minutes and she was PRETTY sure an asleep child later, she returned to Sam, shaking her head.

"Still think you want another kid?"

Sam picked up all the books, and any mess that Toni had made. Any normal man would have been mad, he found this hilarious however because things seemed to always happen when he and Santana were trying to get intimate.

20 minutes passed and he was finally happy with the state of his home. He went back into the bedroom and picked out a book, knowing full well that any kind of sexual acts would not be happening tonight.

He started reading and only put his book down when Santana entered the room. He laughed a little at her remark and pulled her into his arms. "Yes, I want kids with you, but for right now, we are not going to talk about that. Let me hold you for a little while." He told her, kissing her on the cheek and then snuggling up to her.

Santana curled herself up close, wrapping her arms around Sam's waist and tucking her head against his shoulder. She pressed her legs into his, exhaling into his chest.

"Sounds good. As long as you don't start singing because I swear if I go to sleep and she wakes me up, I'm gonna be teaching her some new and inappropriate words."

Sam chuckled, stroking her hair back, his lust was building again, it was hard not to feel anything when he had Santana curling up to him and rubbing up on him. He was a guy after all…

"I won't sing, and if she makes a sound, I'll go see what she wants so you can sleep." He kissed her on the forehead again, "Go to sleep, baby. I love you…"

Santana murmured, content with the feeling of Sam's touch. She closed her eyes, very comfortable, even as she mumbled back to him, "No, not going to sleep. Keep doing that."

Meanwhile, in Antonia's room, the little girl was stirring again, forcing herself awake. She stumbled and staggered, eyes barely open, and knocked into the dresser, falling down. For a moment she is too stunned to respond, but then she kicked the dresser in anger, yelping when it hurt her bare toes. Scowling, more awake then, she started to pad down the hallway. She eased open the door to the adults' bedroom, peeking just her nose in, and blinked in surprise to see her mother being held by Sam.

"Are you scared of the monsters too?"

"Sleep, baby." After a while, Sam's eyes began to drift close. It was nice to have Santana in his arms. She made him feel comfortable, safe and loved, and it was a feeling that he hadn't had…at least not for a while now.

Sleep had almost claimed him when Toni's voice woke him up. He let out an internal groan and smiled at the little girl, "No, I'm not. I'm trying to go to sleep. You should do the same too. Did you want me to bring you back to bed?"

Santana has drifted off, and although she vaguely heard voices, she assumed them to be part of her dream. She snuggled in closer to Sam, subconsciously wrapping more around him in her sleep. Antonia stared at them with open curiosity, her fingers in her mouth as she spoke around them.

"I never saw my mami get held like that. Did she get scared of the monsters?"

She tilted her head, considering Sam's offer, and shook her head. "No…can I sleep with you and Mami? I would be very safe then I think."

Sam considered letting Toni sleep with them, but after looking down at a comfortably sleeping Santana, he decided against this. Their bedroom was the only place where they could find some privacy and he wasn't ready to give that up.

"No, Toni, she's not scared of monsters. She just likes being held when she sleeps. I do too, so we sleep together. That's what adults who are in love do." He smiled at the little girl.

"You need to be a big girl and go to bed. There is nothing to be afraid of."

"Oh. I like being held too," Antonia said simply, still looking at her mother with fascination. "It's nice."

The mention of her mother being in love skimmed past her as she frowned, focusing on his statement to go to bed. "But…I'm not even sleepy. I think I should stay awake. Can I stay awake if I be super quiet?" Even as she said this she was rubbing her eyes with one hand, sucking on her fingers with her other.

"I know you do, but your mommy is asleep and I don't want her to wake up. If you laid down with us, she would be waking. You wouldn't want that to happen, do you?" Sam asked in a light yet pleading tone.

Toni wasn't having that apparently and told him that she wasn't tired. The evidence showed differently. She was rubbing her eye and sucking her fingers. The little girl was tired. "You should go to sleep, Toni. It's late and we have a long day tomorrow. We were going to paint your room and build you a playhouse, remember? I'm going to need you help with those two things, so you need to go to bed."

Antonia kept rubbing her eyes, shaking her head, but she was barely keeping them open. This time, it might actually be for good that she goes to sleep; she had reached the point of near exhaustion. "I don't wanna go down the hall by myself. It's dark and the monsters might see me. Can you go with me…can you carry me and be stompy so they hear your big feet and don't wanna come back?"

Sam, despite being hesitant to leave the comfort of his bed and his cuddly girlfriend behind, decided that he was just going to be 'uncomfortable' for a few more minutes and do as Toni request of him. Getting up slowly, he placed a kiss on Santana's forehead and gently let her go. Then, he went to Toni and carried her in his arms. "Alright, let's do this, but this time, you have to sleep."

He did as she requested, stomping his feet once they got outside the bedroom. He even went as far as to place a used sock that he had grabbed from the laundry basket in his and Santana's room and placing it on the floor near the foot of Toni's bed. "For your protection."

He then tucked her in, and kissed her goodnight. He sat in her room for a few minutes and once he was sure that she had fallen asleep, he quietly left the room and went back to his own. Sleep came fast after that. Thankfully, Toni never woke up again that night.

88

Santana and Antonia's first week with the Evans boys in their new home had finally passed, and Santana was way more than ready for a getaway, already. It had been a lot of adjustment for them both- for Antonia much more than for Santana. Although Antonia clearly loved her new home, and especially being so close to her new "Daddy Sammy," she was a fearful child, slow to adjust to change, by nature, despite her feisty personality. She was very used to her own small, familiar apartment, and to only having her mami around, with no one else to divert her attention from her.

With Santana's attention now often fixated on Sam or Stevie, Antonia was somewhat disgruntled at times, and would come up with ways to guarantee it was focused back on her. Not to mention, she was unsettled at night for many evenings of the first week, waking up crying from nightmares or running out of her bed in fear of the "monsters" that Santana was sick to death of hearing about after night one. And every night that she didn't sleep well, she would be grumpy and teary in the morning, wanting to cling to Santana or Sam and refuse to go to pre-K or be very cooperative until well after lunch time.

Santana loved her daughter to death, and she didn't in any way regret moving her to a safer, more comfortable home. But man, did she wish that she was a more easygoing child who would take change in stride, because it would be just so much easier for them both. And she REALLY wished that she and Stevie were best buddies instead of frequently clashing and locking horns over what to her were completely ridiculous reasons.

But by the end of the week, Antonia was finally starting to settle down, as long as Santana repeated a very structured routine before bedtime, involving a bath, hair brushing, snuggles in her bed with a story, and an exact number of kisses on her face, as well as a kiss on each hand, the top of each foot, and her belly, because Santana had finally come up with a stroke of genius to lower her fear of the monsters. Not only did monsters hate smelly socks, they also hated kisses, because they were mean and grumpy and thought they were gross. So as long as she put kisses where they couldn't "bite off her toes" or "gobble up my hands" then Antonia seemed to believe she was safe.

Finally.

But as difficult as the week had been in some ways, it had been wonderful in others. The more time Santana spent with Stevie, the more she realized how much she really was starting to love the little boy. He was quieter than Antonia, and he was much less open about his thoughts and feelings, but he was earnest, eager to please, and very sweet in his own way. Santana couldn't resist hugging him, ruffling his messy hair, and talking to him about his games and his friends at school, trying to see just how his little mind worked, and how it differed from how her daughter's did.

But most of all, far and away the best part of the move was Sam. Spending every day with him, watching him in all situations interacting with his brother and Toni, how patient and loving he was, how he rarely complained and always tried his best, made Santana love him more and more deeply without even having to try. Every time he cooked a meal or scooped her daughter up for a hug, every time he touched the small of Santana's back or kissed her forehead or shoulder with casual affection, she wanted to throw him down on the bed and show him just how much she thought of him.

Problem was, there weren't always uninterrupted opportunities to do so. They could hardly lock the kids into their rooms at night, and with Toni's first rough week, sex was an absolute no go. By the end of their first week they definitely needed a break, and when Sam mentioned his uncle's cabin in the woods, right near a lake, Santana had been enthusiastic. Sure, she had never gone to the woods, ever, for any reason, but if that meant time alone with Sam, for an entire weekend, while Sam's uncle took Stevie and her mother took Antonia, then she was all for it. She pictured a sparkling clean, sprawling chalet of a place, with several hot tubs, thick Persian rugs in front of a fireplace, deer happily frolicking across the lawn, and maybe even a host of Disney-like animals singing and flitting about to complete the picture. Camping and hiking and getting herself around anything potentially creepy in nature was not her thing, but that hardly dampened her excitement.

She would have TWO WHOLE NIGHTS with Sam alone, and damn, were they gonna make the most of it.