It had been two weeks since they settled into their apartment, and the kids had finally settled into their new schools, new home, and new neighborhood. There were some rough nights but it finally seemed to be evening out. Santana has settled as well into a full on routine with schoolwork for herself and finally feels she had enough time to really focus. Sam had been practicing daily for his baseball team and now his hard work was about to pay off at his first game. Santana had the closest seat in the stadium she could get, and with Antonia in her lap, Stevie beside her, she prepared to cheer with everything she had for her fiance. She's never been a sports fan but her chest was tight with excitement and nerves for him now as Toni wiggled in her lap, bouncing with equal excitement.
"Daddy's gonna WIN, Mami!"
Stevie was full of excitement this afternoon. Sammy was playing his first game for the Yankees and they all came out to support him. Stevie had on a Yankees Jersey and baseball hat. He would have worn his brother's numbers, except they didn't have one seeing as he was new to the team.
"He is!" he agreed with Toni, for once.
As nervous as Sam was to be starting his first game, he was even more so afraid of failure because Santana and the kids were watching. When he walked up to the pitcher's plate, he looked up and spotted them. He smiled brightly before going into game face.
You can do this, Sam… You can do this…
"Gonna win! Gonna win! My daddy's gonna win!" Antonia chanted this happily, clapping her hands and bouncing on Santana's lap until her mother put her hands on her thighs to still her.
"Baby, hold still, you're gonna fall off my lap if you keep moving around like that." Santana was grinning too, also wearing a baseball hat matching Stevie's. She caught Sam looking up at them and grinned back, cupping her hands to call out to him. "Make 'em work for it, babe!"
Stevie giggled watching Toni squirm around like a worm for a few seconds. His attention went to his brother who was walking towards the pitcher's plate.
"Yay! Sammy!" He clapped and cheered.
Sam smiled seeing Santana and the kids, before he put all his focus on his game. It seemed to pass in no time at all for him, with his strike out average better than he had even hoped. It was a great start for his first game of the season.
Santana and Antonia both cheered loudly, clapping and waving their arms, as Sam struck out the final batter. Antonia jumped up, not noticing that she stepped on Santana's foot in her enthusiasm, and hollered "Daddy Daddy Daddy WON" repeatedly.
Santana had to restrain Antonia from racing through the crowd down towards the field. Holding both kids' hands tightly, Santana carefully made her way down to greet Sam outside the dugout, buzzing with pride and excitement for him. Stevie had a great time at the game. Sammy did a great job and he had so much hotdogs that kept him smiling. After the game, he followed Tana and Toni to the dugout and jumped into his brother's arms.
"Sammy! You did so good!"
Their team won that day and that was the best feeling in the world. But it was nothing compared to the feeling of seeing his family's face though. They were smiling and congratulating him. He swooped Stevie into his arms and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you. I played well, because I knew that you guys were watching." He turned to Tana and kissed her sweetly. "Hey, babe. You look gorgeous." Then he put Stevie down and picked up Toni. "Hi Princess. Did you see me out there? Did you have fun with mommy and Stevie?"
Her face a full on grin, Santana kissed Sam back, short but intense, giving him a tight hug before letting him swoop up Toni. "You were amazing." Then, whispering where Toni can't hear, "And damn sexy. I want to slap that ass in those tight pants of yours."
"DADDY!" Toni hugged him around the neck, chattering away. "I ate a pretzel and a hot dog and Stevie was a big pig and ate a whole lotta hot dogs and I got a balloon only I dropped it and you were super cool out there!"
"I saw you. You did so good. I'm gonna tell my friends at school that my brother is Sam Evans. They're going to be so jealous," Stevie announced proudly and when he heard Toni, he rolled his eyes. "Sammy, she called me a pig. That's not nice!"
"Thank you…" Sam winked at Santana, chuckling when she swatted at his ass. "You're going to pay for that later…" His concentration went back to the kids. "Toni, it's not good to call people pigs. Stevie is a growing boy, he needs to eat a lot. You wouldn't like it if he called you a pig, right?"
"Toni." Santana swatted at her foot in reproval. "Tell him you're sorry."
Antonia's eyes widened as she spoke earnestly. "But he was a pig. He had lots of hot dogs. I'm a growing girl and I don't eat hot dogs like a pig."
"Toni!" Santana shook her head at her, tugging at her foot again as she spoke to Sam. "I wanna hear about how exactly I'm gonna pay, but maybe we should wait until the small fry are gone."
She looked up then, noticing that two women and one man were approaching, professionally clad with microphones in hand, and she nudged Sam. "I think they're coming to us…wow, Sam, I think they want to talk to you!"
"You're mean. I'm not going to share with you anymore. No more Ipad for you." Stevie grumbled, folding his arms.
He had been nice and sharing his stuff with Toni, and he knew how much she loved playing games on his Ipad mini. Now she was just going to have to pay for the consequences. He was not going to share with her anymore and he didn't care if she cried or not.
"But Princess, that's not nice… You shouldn't call people pigs." Sam could only shrug when Stevie said he wasn't going to share his Ipad anymore and turned his attention to Santana. "I'm a patient man. I can wait." He winked at her.
Sam was ready to go change, the only reason he was out here was because of his family, but before he could do that a few reporters came to talk to him. He smiled at them all and agreed to an interview.
"How do you feel about your start with the Yankees? Do you think they are satisfied with your performance? And who are people with you?
"Thank you. I'm very happy with my performance and I could only hope that my team feels the same." Sam hugged his family to him. "This is my family. This little lady here is my daughter, Toni," He tickled Toni's belly. "This is my little brother, Stevie." He ruffled Stevie's head. "And this beautiful Latina, is my Santana Lopez, she's my fiancee…: He winked at Tana and leaned a little so that he could give her a sweet kiss.
Antonia's mouth dropped, and she squawked indignantly, "But I am not neither mean! I just told the truth! You are very mean if you won't let me play!"
"Antonia. Until you apologize I'm not going to ask him to share and I'm sure Sam won't either." Santana raised an eyebrow at her. Antonia looked even more scandalized.
"MAMI! Now you are mean!"
They were distracted by the reporters coming up and Santana automatically moved closer to Sam, tugging Toni closer and holding her hand. She smiled as she was introduced, kissing him back, and spoke to them.
"I know his family is impressed with him in every possible way. His team has a find here in this guy."
Toni, thrilled with the new attention, beamed into the camera one reporter's staff member is aiming towards them, waving with new cheer.
"Hi! I'm Antonia Cristina Lopez and this is my new daddy! He is super awesome and he is the bestest baseball player ever! And now he made a bajillion dollars so we are super rich!"
"Antonia!" But Santana was trying not to laugh.
Stevie rolled his eyes at Toni when she refused to apologized. "Fine, you get no more Ipads." He huffed then smiled at the cameras and waved. He didn't say anything because Toni was busy hogging all the attention, so he settled for waving.
Sam smiled with pride. Nothing could beat this feeling. His family was proud of him and that was what really mattered. He chuckled at Toni's antics and simply kissed her cheek.
" Isn't she a doll?"
"You have a very cute family, Sam," one of the reporters said.
"Thank you. I love them all."
"No, Daddy, that's silly. I'm not a doll. I'm a girl. A big girl. Really big 'cause I can ALMOST tie my shoes now! Plus also I can count to 100 and I only forget numbers a little bit sometimes if I wasn't paying attention!" Antonia announced this proudly, still staring directly at the camera as though this were a daily and standard ocurrence in her life to talk to it. She beamed at the camera men as Santana did laugh this time, gently tugging her back.
"Pretty sure they want to hear about Daddy playing baseball and not what you can do, Toni."
"Oh, okay! Daddy plays baseball super awesome and they told us to move here all the way from Lima, Ohio, 'cause they wanna make him super rich and then me and Stevie can have whatever we want, and it don't even matter Stevie is mean and won't share his Ipad 'cause I can get one too with Daddy's rich money. Right Daddy? Right?"
Santana sighed, half smirking at the reporters. " If you want to know any actual facts about baseball I'm gonna have to take the kids for a hot dog or something. It's the only way you'll hear about Sam Evans from Sam Evans himself, long as this one is around."
Stevie couldn't even get a word in. Toni was hogging the spotlight the whole time.
"Typical…" he grumbled, rolling his eyes and stood out of the way so that the camera wasn't facing him anymore. He fidgeted around until Tana said something about bringing them to get hotdogs.
"Can we not get anymore hotdogs? I think my tummy's going to explode."
Sam couldn't help but chuckle at Toni. His little girl definitely knew how to draw attention to herself. The reporters were all chuckling, looking really pleased at the show Toni was putting on. As much as he loathed to be parted from Tana and the kids, the interview would go a lot smoother and not to mention faster, if he didn't have any distractions.
" Alright, Princess, you need to go with mommy and Stevie now. Daddy has things to do." He kissed her on the cheek and sat her on her feet. Then he ruffled Stevie's hair and kissed Tana sweetly on the lips. "This shouldn't take too long. I'll call you once I'm done."
He kissed her again and waved them off before continuing with the interview. A few of them congratulated him on his game and having his beautiful present, and he thanked them, feeling proud of not only his game, but also for being able to show off his skills to his family.
It took fifteen minutes for him to get cleaned after the interview. Once that was done, he called Tana and met up with them.
"Alright, who feels like having pizza tonight?
"Ooh… Pizza! I love Pizza!" Stevie cheered.
"I know you do, buddy, that's why I suggested it." He picked up Toni and kissed her nose. "What about you, Princess? You want some pizza too?"
Santana dragged the kids to look at the souvenir cups and T-shirts and ended up buying shirts for herself, Stevie, and Toni. She kept them occupied during Sam's interview, and when he came to find them, she kissed him again, still feeling so proud of him and what attention he's already bringing to his skills. Discussing the interview with him for a few minutes, she smiled after as the kids clamored for their pizza, Toni nodding enthusiastically as she detailed how she wanted chocolate chip pizza for dinner and showed Sam her new shirt. Walking beside them, Stevie's hand in hers, Santana smiled. It had been a good day.
88
It was now Sam's second game, and again, he had performed exceptionally well. Santana and the children had cheered and hollered for him throughout the late afternoon event, with Antonia narrating the game for an annoyed Stevie, as though he couldn't see for himself what was going on. Even Santana started to lose her amusement as Antonia continued to inform them that Daddy was pitching, "that guy just missed the ball," and "that guy is running very fast to that white flat thing!" practically nonstop.
She was thrilled when it was over for many reasons- not just because she was bursting with pride for her fiance and wanted to physically show her approval, but also because it meant Toni's monologue was coming to an end. Taking both kids' hands in hers, she manuevered her way through the bleachers, trying to make her way down to Sam outside the dugout, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She stiffened, turning her head, and then froze, every feature going taut as she saw who it belonged to.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she blurted out to her ex- Toni's biological father- even as Toni tugged on her hand.
"You said a bad word, Mami!"
"Well that's a fine way to talk around a child," Kyle shook his head as though disapproving, ignoring Stevie entirely as he zeroed in on Toni. "Your mama shouldn't talk like that around you, should she?"
"She isn't s'posed to," Toni agreed, nodding."But she forgets sometimes."
"Come on, Toni, Stevie," Santana said stiffly, trying to pull them away, but they were standing awkwardly on stairs, and she didn't want the children to fall. Kyle spoke to her again, his voice a drawl.
"What's your hurry? You don't want our child to get to know her own father?"
Again Santana froze, her back going rigid. She released Toni's hand, turning to face him very slowly before she spat out, "I don't know how you even found us or why you drove HOURS to come here but whatever the hell you want-"
"Time is nothing when it comes to your child," he said, smirking, as Antonia frowned, confused.
"Mami, this guy talks funny."
Stevie's throat was getting sore. No, he wasn't getting sick. Although, if he really thought about it, he was. He was getting sick of something. Okay more like SOMEONE named Antonia screaming in his ears. She was giving a play by play on what Sammy was doing as if Stevie and Tana were both blind. Stevie, not wanting to be rude, told her to hush up several times with a light tone, but as the game progressed, he was getting more and more irritated, until in the end, he turned to glare at her and said, "Do you ever not talk?"
By the time the game was over, all Stevie wanted to do was get out of there. But while they made their way to the dugout, a guy that they saw back at the restaurant a few months before showed up. He was saying things that didn't make any sense to Stevie and he was making Tana uncomfortable. Stevie decided to say something and tugged on Tana's hand. "Tana, you okay?" He asked this as he eyed the man suspiciously.
Meanwhile, Sam had just finished talking to the players and the coach, so he went towards where he knew Tana and the kids would be waiting for him. The minute, he saw them, his stomach dropped. Kyle was standing there, and he knew that the man was only here to create trouble.
Pretending not to be bothered by the man's presence, he walked over and wrapped both arms around Santana from behind, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "Hey, babe…" Then, he released her to reach out to Toni, picking her up and kissing her on the cheek. One hand was still protectively wrapped around Tana's waist. "How's my Princess doing?"
Stevie must have sensed that something was going on because he had a death grip on Santana's hand. Sam decided not to acknowledge the man and instead turned his attention to his family. "Well, I'm all done. Who's ready to go have some early dinner?"
Santana squeezed Stevie's hand back, her eyes on Kyle. She swallowed, trying to think of a response to give Antonia, a way to extract herself from the situation. She couldn't take off running when they were standing on steps and she wasn't strong enough to carry both children. She took a step back, noticing when Kyle stepped forward with her, as well as Antonia's curious eyes taking it all in before she announced, "Hey! I seen you before! You said I was pretty!"
"Good memory, kid," Kyle told Antonia. He reached out one hand, fingering the edge of her curl before Santana yanked her back hastily, almost causing Antonia to fall. Indignant, Antonia scowled up at her mother.
"Mami! You moved too fast!"
Santana was grateful to feel Sam's arms around her, though she initially panicked, stiffening up at yet another touch out of the blue. She relaxed when she heard his voice, and even more so when he had Toni in his arms, safely out of Kyle's reach. She picked Stevie up, squeezing him, and turned towards Sam, choosing to ignore Kyle as he was.
"We are. Let's go."
"Daddy, don't you remember this guy?" Antonia pointed out, pointing at Kyle. "I do!"
"She calls you her father?" Kyle said in a low, almost conversational tone, eyebrows raised. "Interesting. I don't see the family resemblance."
Stevie was big enough not to get carried, Sammy never really did that for him and he understood, but now Tana was carrying him and he knew instantly that something was wrong. "Tana, you okay?" He asked, looking worriedly at his sister. Lucky for them, Sammy was there, if anyone could make things better, it would be his brother. "I'm hungry. I didn't eat too many hotdogs this time…"
Sam had his eyes on Kyle. He wasn't going to let the man hurt Santana or Toni for that matter. "Yeah, I remember him." He smiled at his Princess. "But it's time to go eat. I'm sure that man has other things to do with his time." He added as a jibe at Kyle. "We can go eat, Stevie. You probably didn't eat the hotdogs because you ate too many the last time." He laughed to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I got sick of them." Stevie replied with a sheepish laugh.
"Well, we'll eat something else for dinner." Sam reached over to ruffle Stevie's hair. He gritted his teeth at Kyle's remark before retorting with, "It takes more than blood to be a father, Kyle, but then again, what would you know about being a father, you've never been one."
Santana didn't answer Stevie. Not because she didn't hear him, having asked her twice now, but because she couldn't answer honestly, and she didn't trust her voice not to shake if she lied. She just squeezed him again, feeling her temples pulse and her stomach churn with dread and rage both as she tried to walk several steps back. Kyle didn't follow this time, ignoring the exchange between Stevie and Sam as he addressed Sam.
"And yet birth certificates are what count to the court. In fact, by law, my rights far outweigh yours, whatever fantasy you have the child believing."
Santana couldn't stop herself. She didn't want to talk about this, not now, not ever, and certainly not in front of her daughter. But she snapped, spitting back at the man with venom to her tone. "You lost all your rights when you called me a liar and a slut and walked away from me! You lost your rights when you suggested I get rid of my child! You lost your rights when you refused to see her or pay for her or show your face to do anything but piss me off and-"
"Mami," Antonia's little voice interrupting her was enough to finally make her cut herself off, stopping from saying too much as she looked between them. "Why are you so mad?"
Taking a shuddering breath, Santana met her gaze, swallowing again. "Don't worry about it, baby. I'm fine." Without even trying to make herself sound honest, gripping Stevie, she turned and walked away, trusting Sam to follow.
Stevie could sense Tana's distress. She didn't say anything, but he felt her squeezing him tightly and knew instantly that she wasn't comfortable. If that wasn't enough, her biting words confirmed it and that made Stevie sad and so he did the only thing that could help. He kissed her cheek and whispered, "It's okay, Tana, we love you…"
Sam has had it with this guy. He was not only disrupting the peace, he was also making things uncomfortable for every single one of them. If the kids weren't here, he'd have kicked his ass all around the field, but he couldn't do that. He had to set a greater example for the kids. Tana had blown up and walked off, and he wasn't going to stay a minute longer, so after sending Kyle a glare, he walked off too, hurrying towards Santana. "Babe, wait up…"
They walked in silence all the way to the car and they each buckled the kids in. Then, before Tana could get inside herself, he pulled her into a warm hug and kissed her forehead, "I'm sorry about that. I didn't know that he would be following us all the way here."
The little boy's kiss and kind words to her almost made Santana lose it. Tears stung the back of her eyes and clogged her throat, and she squeezed Stevie back, kissing his forehead, but didn't answer. As she helped Sam buckle the children into the car, Antonia too had gone silent, her eyes wide and worried as she watched her mother, and that hurt Santana's heart even more. For her chatterbox oblivious daughter to be concerned, this had to be bad.
As Sam embraced her, whispering his words of apology, she felt a shiver run through her spine, and it took all she had to hold back a sob. She hugged him fiercely, then pulled back, averting her eyes as she got in the car. Sam felt like he had failed Santana in the biggest way. He couldn't protect her like he promised that he would and that stung more than anything else. The hug was way too brief and his fiery fiancee didn't say a word to him. All she did was accept his hug before getting into the car.
Sam followed suit. After buckling in, he looked into the rearview mirror. "Guys, we're not going out to dinner tonight. I'll order us some takeout and put on a movie in the entertainment room, okay?" He smiled at them both slightly before starting the car and driving them all home.
The drive was silent, even his chatty Toni, didn't say a word and it kept on until after dinner and he set up the movie he had promised the kids in the entertainment room. Once he knew that the kids were distracted, he went into the room with Santana and asked, "Did you want to talk about it?" He was careful not to push, keeping his tone light because he didn't want to jar Santana even more.
As Sam had settled the kids into the entertainment room, Antonia had again looked up at her mother with concern, biting her lower lip unconsciously. Santana had wanted to snatch her up and breathe her in, to keep her close, but if she did, she knew she couldn't protect her from her own dark thoughts and feelings. As she backed away with Sam, avoiding his eyes too, she felt her shoulders slump under the gentleness of his voice, and she covered her mouth with her hand in a futile gesture to hold back the tears that had been present almost from the start. She tried to keep quiet as she choked out, "He fucking followed us, he was calling her his daughter, right in front of her, what the fuck is he doing, why is he HERE?!"
Sam couldn't help his next reaction. He pulled Santana close to him and began stroking her hair. There wasn't much he could do, but this, for now at least, "I'm sorry, babe… I didn't think that he would do something like this. We could put a restraining order against him, but maybe he did come to watch the game and just happened to see you guys there? We never know, Tana. This could just be a coincidence."
He wanted to believe that his statement was true, but he knew better. There was no way that this was a coincidence. Kyle was following them and by the way he was claiming Toni as his child, Sam knew that he was up to no good.
Santana let her head come to bow down against Sam's shoulders, her back shaking with her effort to suppress her tears against him. Her nails dug into his back as she shook her head fiercely. "I don't believe that. No, I don't. He doesn't give a shit about baseball, he's following me, Sam! Why is he following me, why does he keep saying that shit to Toni! There's no way he wants her after four years, he didn't even want me to have her!"
Santana was going into panic mode now and Sam felt even worse about himself. He couldn't protect her. He couldn't protect Toni. What could he do at this point? Nothing but to talking soothingly to her. "We'll keep him away from Toni, there has to be a way out of this. Like I said, we can have a restraining order. He's harassing you and that's not going to fly with me. Don't worry about Toni, he won't be able to do anything. He's not even in the birth certificate."
This wasn't enough to convince her. She shook her head again, sniffling. "We can't get a restraining order. They'll laugh at us. What will we say, Toni's biological father calls himself her father and says he wants to see her? He hasn't made any threats, they won't give a shit." She went stiff at Sam's last comment, sucking in a slow breath, and her voice was small when she spoke. "He is on the birth certificate. I…I didn't want Toni to grow up and think when she was older that I was such a slut I didn't know who her father was. I didn't want anyone to say that about us. And I thought maybe once she was born he would change his mind and want to see her…"
If Sam held hope in the past, he felt all his hope evaporating in this single minute. There was nothing they could do. Kyle was on the birth certificate and according to Santana they couldn't even file a restraining order against him. "That can't be true. There has to be a way for me to protect you and Toni. I won't let him hurt you."
He pulled her even closer and pressed a kiss on her forehead. Sam had to think of a way out of this. There had to be a way out and just when he thought that there was nothing left to be done, an idea struck him. "We'll get bodyguards. If we can't keep him at a distance, then the least I could do is have someone be with you guys whenever you're in public." This plan might have some holes in it, but it was the best he could do, at least when it came to last minute plannings.
Santana let Sam hold her, her body going slightly limp against him as she took a breath, trying to relax. This plan didn't seem all that likely to her. "Sam, what is a bodyguard going to do, keep him from talking? Keep him from looking? I'm not scared he's going to steal Toni or hurt her, I'm scared he's going to just say shit to her over and over and harass us, and no one can stop that. She's already asking what he's talking about. I don't want to tell her about him. She's four years old, she's too little to hear that her father didn't want her. And what if she wants to see him?"
Now, it felt like Sam needed Santana. He was afraid to lose her to all this. He was even more afraid that Kyle was going to do something and hurt Toni in the process. He couldn't picture not seeing the beautiful smile on his little girl's face. He had to do something, but if this idea he posed wasn't going to work out, then he had failed as a father and failure was a hard pill to swallow.
"I don't know what you want me to do now. I can't protect you if you're not going to let me do anything, Tana. Do you think this is fun for me? I don't want to have to think about my little princess getting hurt. I hate even the thought of it, so I need you to help me out here. I need you to offer some solutions if you're only going to reject my ideas." He said, feeling frustrated now.
Santana lifted her head, frowning at him. She doesn't understand his change in tone and gets a little defensive in response. "I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying I don't think it will work. Why are you being like that? I don't think it's fun for you but it sure is hell for me. I don't know what to do, I don't know what we can do!"
Sam didn't want this to turn into an argument, but he was sick of having to come up with the solutions and having Santana shoot them down.
"Well if it's not going to work, you tell me how to do things. You don't know what's going to work or not and yet you're immediately shooting my ideas down. I'm trying to help but if you don't want it then I won't say another word about it."
"I don't know how to do things, Sam! I don't know! Didn't I just say that? I don't know, if I did I would tell you, but I don't! It's not going to help if you get all mad at me! I can't help what I did four years ago and I can't change it now so stop acting like this is my fault! Can't I have five minutes to be upset about this without you yelling at me? You didn't yell at him, why are you yelling at me?"
Okay, so his voice wasn't raised, but it felt like yelling to Santana, and despite her defensiveness she was on the verge of tears again.
Santana was blowing Sam's mind and not in a good way either.
"I'm not yelling. I'm trying to help but all you're doing is making me feel terrible. I'm trying here, but you're not letting me in and I don't know what to do anymore." He didn't raise his voice, there was no need to. "I'm not deaf, Tana, you don't have to raise your voice." He folded his arms defensively and raised his brows, for once, he wasn't initiating contact, wanting instead for Santana to come to him when she wanted it.
Santana's hands cupped her elbows, and her head lowered as her shoulders slumped. She blinked furiously, but tears spill over despite herself. She pressed her lips together firmly before she spoke, her voice shaking. "I don't know what to do, Sam. I feel like it can't ever be right and it's my fault. Please don't be mad at me, I'm already mad at me. I'm sorry, okay, I'm just…I'm scared. What if he can make it where he has to see her and she has to be alone with him and he tells her all kinds of lies and awful things about me? What if he changes her?"
Sam listened, his heart breaking for his fiancee. She didn't want him to be mad at her and how could he be when she sounded so broken at the moment? Letting go of his own hurt, he moved close to Santana and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her forehead repeatedly and said, "I'm not mad. I just want to help. I don't want you to get hurt and I don't want to see Toni hurt too. Nothing will happen to her okay? I won't let him take her away from you. There has to be something I could do to make him go away. Maybe I can bribe him." It was a desperate man's attempt to make things right, but he had to try.
Santana let herself melt into him, clutching at his shirt front. Burying her face in his neck, she took several breaths, trying to nod. "I know. I know. I'm sorry, okay? Sorry. I'm trying to get it together." She took another breath, kissing his shoulder. "He probably does want money."
"It's okay. I just didn't want you to push me away." Sam said, feeling a little relieved that at least they were back on the same page now. He pushed her at arms length and stared down into her eyes. "So do you think I should bribe him? But what if he wants more after that? I wonder if we could get a lawyer involved in this… I mean, if we could get him to sign a confidentiality clause or something, that would make it illegal for him to harass us in the future."
Santana snorted, rolling her eyes. "You can try babe, but he's enjoying having this to dangle over my head. I don't know…we should call a lawyer though, I guess. Just so we know our options and what's legal and what isn't. I don't even know. I'm just scared I'll find out he's in the right."
"We won't let him dangle anything. I'll call my lawyer tomorrow morning and I'll tell him what's going on. I hope he can come up with some type of resolution for us because I can't have that man terrorize my family." Sam said kissing Tana on the forehead again. "I just feel so useless now…Like I've failed you."
Santana nodded slightly, taking another breath. "Yeah…okay. We'll do that. Call the lawyer." She sighed again, resting against him. "It isn't your fault. You didn't do anything. This is me. I got with the dick, I put his name on the certificate." She was quiet for a few minutes before saying softly, "I feel like I'm failing you. You never messed up this badly with anyone. I'm coming with all this baggage and I'm making it your problem."
"Hey, you're not failing me, okay? You didn't tell him to be an asshole. He did that all on his own." Sam couldn't have Santana that this was her fault. It wasn't. She couldn't have known that Kyle was going to be such an asshole.
"Alright, we need to stop talking about this." He said, standing up and helping Tana on her feet. "I say we join the kids in the entertainment room for that movie. They are probably wondering where we went to anyway."
He didn't give her much of a choice in the matter. Sam simply, took her hand and led her back to the entertainment room. Once seated, he wrapped his arms around her and began watching the movie. For now, he was determined to forget about Kyle and the mess that he was starting with them.