And here we go again...I still only own an idea and the phone I write this on...lol...Enjoy

Five days later it was Friday and Santana was sitting at the table reading first drafts for Lavish. It had been kind of a quiet couple of days. They'd sort of worked out a routine. One of them would wake up and make breakfast. Rachel had gotten sort of a temporary substitute/teacher's aide job at McKinley with the new New Directions, so now she spent mornings driving Mr. Schue completely bonkers. If Mateo didn't go with her then he stayed with Santana and they did something fun outside of the house. When Rachel got home she sat and worked with Mateo on workbooks she'd picked out the other afternoon or they read together. She'd wanted to argue that maybe all this work was a little overkill, but Mateo liked doing it and Rachel loved helping. Who was she to tell her to stop when she wasn't hurting anything? One of them would make dinner (which was only tedious because usually it included two meals). They'd settled into a rhythm that made living together easier.

The only hitch was that they were still sharing a bed. Santana still couldn't bring herself to ascend to the second story. They avoided the topic of her parents altogether. She knew Rachel wanted to talk about them, about both her and Mateo's feelings, but she was allowing them the space they needed. That was probably the reason why Rachel wasn't pushing for a more suitable sleeping arrangement. Crazy as it was she was comforted by the little diva's presence. She didn't plan on letting her know that, she didn't plan on letting anyone know that.

Santana sighed and shook out her hair. She'd read and corrected three of the five articles she was suppose to and those were a struggle. She couldn't concentrate. She could hear Mateo reading softly in the living room, every now and then there would be a pause and Rachel would fill in with whatever word he had been struggling with. It made a twinge in her gut, a fluttering of rightness that she couldn't control nor explain and it caused her to pause.

She couldn't possibly like the woman, could she? Like she didn't genuinely enjoy Rachel's company even when she was being completely domineering and batshit crazy, there was something about her that made Santana laugh; not at the smaller brunette, but with her.

Dammit Brittany.

"Hey Santi, are you don'now so we ca' go?" Mateo interrupted her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed the reading had stopped.

"You know, the fair's going to be there all night , we don't have to go at this exact moment." She laughed at his excitement,

"Yes we do! You promised..." He whined pouting.

"Oh, San, let's just put the boy out of his misery, you're not even typing anything..." She'd already come to terms with the interjection of the nickname every now and then, especially when they were joking.

"How do you know what I'm doing?"

"Oh I don't know just the sound of typing ceased about ten minutes ago and your screensaver is on." Rachel answered smugly pointing at her screen where indeed the banner: Santana fuckin Lopez sweats Awesome Sauce was scrolling across the screen.

"Shut- up..." She mumbled heat creeping up her face.

"Awesome sauce, huh?" Rachel giggled.

"Oh my God shut-up, elf."

"Think you've gone soft." Rachel replied not taking the name to heart.

"I'm ready let's go, let's go." Santana rose and ushered them to the foyer. "Do you need to grab anything? Potty run because we are not using the porter pottys." She was looking at Rachel who was looking at Mateo.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm a grown woman and I want to touch those germ farms less than anyone here." Rachel grabbed her purse and whisked pass her.

"See, I told you to use the toilet before we left, but nooooooo..." Santana mocked as they walked along the fairway. They'd been on the grounds for over two hours and now Rachel was squirming because she had to use the bathroom.

"You're not helping the situation." Rachel gritted out.

"You shoulda gone potty, Rae, why did't you jus'potty when Santi askeded?" Mateo chimed in.

"Asked. Is this like a double team, because it's the very last thing that I need right now." Rachel hissed dancing on her left side and they both burst out laughing.

"Well, this looks promising, happy family enjoying themselves this evening?" All three turned to see Ms. Jenkins walking up to them holding the hand of a small dark skin girl.

"Yes Ms. Jenkins." They replied in unison.

"Good, good." She lowered herself to look into the boy's brown eyes. "Mateo, how are you?"

"I-I'm ok, Santi won me this elfant." He thrusted the blue stuffed animal into the case worker's face. "Rae tried, bu' she hit the dude 'n the hea' wit' the bassball. An' Rae, she buyed me...um...wha'd you say it was, Rae?" He turned big brown eyes up to her.

"Funnel cake...we all shared a funnel cake and I hope that vendor wasn't lying when he said it was cooked in vegetable oil."

"Yea, yea...fun'l' cake. We're havin' a great time!" He smiled.

"Good, good. Well, I'll let you all get on with your fun and I'll be doing a suprise home visit sometime in the coming weeks."

"When?" Ever meticulous about their scheduling, Rachel asked.

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise."Ms. Jenkin's sing-songed grabbing the quiet little girl's hand and walking off.

"Hold my hand.." Rachel stage whispered "...she's watching."

Santana quickly scooped up her small hand obediently. "I bet you're not even thinking about the potty now, huh Rach?"

When they returned to the house Mateo was completely knocked out and being carried in Santana's arms. At the base of the stairs she froze. She looked up the stairs, down at her brother, and then over at the woman beside her. She repeated the cycle a few times and then straightened her shoulders resolutely. She put one tentative foot on the bottom stair. She couldn't do it. She began crying uncontrollably.

"I'll do it." Rachel reached over and tucked Mateo against her. She got a good hold on the boy who was probably a third of her size and got him to his bed as quickly as possible, not wanting to leave the sobbing woman alone for too long.

When she returned she found the Latina sitting against the wall opposite the stairs, arms curled around her knees, silently crying. She sat down next to her and put an arm gently across her shoulders.

She didn't know what to say, she'd never experienced the grief that Santana was feeling. Both her fathers were a few neightborhoods over, safe. They sat there silently with Rachel tightly squeezing her with one arm. Santana finally began to calm and Rachel adjusted so that the older woman was laying on her side, dark head resting in her lap. Rachel ran her fingers through Santana's black hair soothingly as she quieted.

"This is s-so weak..." Santana whispered, but didn't make any attempt to move.

"It's not weak to need people, San."

"It is weak to not be able to go up flight of stairs, Rach." The other woman sniffled.

"No, it's understandable, and it's going to get better." Rachel paused. "We can talk about it if you want, or you can talk and I'll listen."

"Not tonight." Santana sighed.

"Okay..." Rachel tried not to sound dejected.

"Hey..." Santana shifted so that her dark eyes were peering up into Rachel' face "...when I'm ready you'll know first."

They continued to sit there, Rachel stroking Santana's hair, silently. She hear Santana stifle a yawn and then she covered her mouth as one escaped her lips. The taller woman snuggled more into her body and Rachel leaned more into the wall.

"Thank you, Rachel..."

So, what's the verdict? Next chapter has a little time jump...thanks for the continued good vibes...

Ink