40. Party
"Hey Mom" Mia greets as she enters the living room.
"Hey Honey did you have a good day at school?"
"Yeah. I performed my song in glee club today."
"That's great Mia. Your Mami is waiting for you in the dining room by the way" Rachel says.
"Why is she in the dining room?" Mia asks.
"She wants to discuss you quinceañera."
When Mia walks into the dining room she finds her mother sat at the table which was covered in papers.
"Hey Mami. Mom said you wanted me."
"Your birthday is in a couple of weeks so I just wanted to go over the plans. I thought we could go and look at dresses this weekend, and I also have some catalogues that we can go through to give you an idea. You also need to decide on your color scheme so we can order you cake and decorations" Santana explains.
"I don't care what the cake is like as long as it's vegan."
"Why would you want a vegan cake?"
"Because of Mom. She's your wife remember?"
"A vegan cake will suck and your Mom won't mind not having any. I think you should go with something simple and elegant" Santana says.
"Fine, whatever."
"I've also ordered your limo, so I can cross that of the list. You also need to decide on a song for your dance with your grandfathers. I was thinking you could use De Niña a Mujer."
"That song is older than Abuelo" Mia complains.
"No it's not. Plus It's traditional."
"Well, it looks like you've got everything under control so I'm going to leave."
"Wait. I need you to go over this guest list to makes sure that I haven't missed anyone" Santana says handing her daughter a printed list.
"How many people are here?"
"Nearly three hundred" Santana replies.
"Three hundred? Who is on here?"
"All of your family from my side and your mothers. There are your friends from school, some of mine and your mom's friends and I said that Brice could bring some of his so he wouldn't be lonely."
"It's too much" Mia says.
"I've already cut the list down as much as I can."
"I didn't just mean the list, I mean everything. The dress, the cake, the limo. It's all too much."
"It's your quinceañera."
"Exactly it's my birthday and you're running it. I don't want any of that stuff Abuela did for you. I should get to decide how my party should be not you" Mia yells before running out of the dining room.
"Well if there was any doubt she was your daughter" Rachel laughs as she enters the room.
"Excuse me. That was a perfectly executed Rachel Berry storm out."
"Is everything okay? I heard yelling but I couldn't tell what it was about" Rachel asks walking over to her wife before sitting on her lap.
"Mia said I'm ruining her birthday. I was only trying to make her quinceañera special just like mine was."
"You have to realize that even though she's your daughter she's not the same as you. Things are different now and the way you had your quinceañera may not be the way Mia wants hers. You need to stop trying to force your family's traditions on her and let our daughter have her quinceañera the way she want it. Now, I'm going to go upstairs and talk to Mia."
Rachel places a quick kiss on her wife's lips before removing herself from her lap and heading upstairs.
Rachel gently knocks on Mia's and waits for her to answer before entering.
"Hey honey, you okay?"
"Mami has turned into a quinceañerazilla. All my friends keep asking me why I'm having a big party for my fifteenth and not my sixteenth like everybody else."
"You're not like everybody else, you have a very cultured background. It is Latin tradition for girls to have a quinceañera at fifteen to celebrate your coming of age."
"I thought I already did that at my Bat Mitzvah" Mia says.
"Well yes you did, but you had your Bat Mitzvah because you wanted to embrace my Jewish heritage so now you should embrace the Latina inside of you and celebrate turning fifteen with a quinceañera. You know this day is just as important to your mother as it is to you."
"Okay, I'll try to talk to her again."
Mia makes her way back downstairs and finds her Mami in the living room instead of in the dining room like she expected.
"Hey Mami. What you doing?"
"I threw away all of my plans for your party. Your Mom was right, this is your birthday and we can celebrate it however you want."
"I'm not saying I don't want a quinceañera, I just want one my way" Mia explains.
"Okay, how about I get my notepad and we can plan out what you want together."
Santana leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with her notepad and laptop. She opens her notepad and looks at her list.
"So first we need to decide what band you want."
"I don't want a band, I want a DJ" Mia says.
"A band is more traditional and can play traditional songs that the DJ won't have."
"I don't want everything to be traditional" Mia argues.
"Why don't you have a band play for an hour or so and then you can have a DJ for the rest of the night" Rachel suggests.
"Are you here to be the mediate?" Santana asks.
"I was just passing through but I can stay to officiate if you want" Rachel replies.
"It's okay Mom, I think Mami and I can work this out together."
"Okay well I'll be in the kitchen if you need me" Rachel says before leaving.
"So what about your cake, do you still want a vegan one?" Santana asks as she jots something down in her notebook.
"Yeah, we can order it from that vegan bakery Mom goes to."
"Okay so we can go to the bakery on Saturday and look for a dress at the same time" Santana says.
"I want something elegant though. I don't want a big dress like you wore for your quinceañera and before you ask how I know Abuela showed me the photos."
"The food is all being catered by the banquet hall so the last thing on the list is music for the dances. I think we should do these with the band so it's traditional and then by the time the DJ comes on you don't have to worry about any family obligations."
"I want to use De Niña a Mujer for my dance with Abuelo. You danced to the same song with him at your quinceañera so I want to do the same. Then I want to use Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle for my dance with Grandpa and Granddad" Mia explains.
"Your Abuelo will love that."
"I think we've got everything we need. You leave this to me and I promise you'll have an amazing quinceañera" Santana smiles.
"Thanks Mami."
It was the night of Mia's fifteenth birthday and so far the night had been perfect.
Mia had danced with each of her grandfathers and even gave in and danced with Brice who had taken dance lessons from his Mom. Once the band had finished their set the DJ had taken over the music and more people started to get up and dance.
"Hey Mom are you having fun?" Mia asks.
"Yes I am. I've never experienced a quinceañera before" Rachel replies.
"What about Mami's? She told me that she invited everyone in her year at school."
"Yes well there were certain people that she didn't invite and I was one of them."
"Mami was a bitch in high school huh?" Mia says with a smirk that is identical to her Mami's.
"I think she was just struggling to deal with some things. Okay so maybe she was a little bit of a bitch."
"You wouldn't happen to be talking about me would you?" Santana asks as she wraps an arm around her wife's waist.
"We were actually. Mom just told me that you didn't invite her to her quinceañera."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, sorry."
"It's okay you were forgiven a long time ago and look at it this way, you gave me a beautiful daughter who gets to have her own quinceañera that I can enjoy." Rachel says and places a kiss on Santana's lips.
"For the next song we're going old school. This is a special song for Mia and her mothers Rachel and Santana" the DJ announces.
The opening bars of Whitney Houston's So Emotional fills the room causing Rachel and Santana to smile at each other.
"Come on Mom, Mami let's dance" Mia says grabbing both of her mothers' arms.
She pulls them over to the dance floor where her Abuela and Abuelo were already dancing together. It doesn't take long until her Grandpa and Granddad join them on the dance floor and for Brice to start dancing with their Grandma Shelby.
Mia spots her friends from school and goes over to join them leaving Rachel and Santana to dance alone.
"I can't believe our daughter is so grown up" Rachel says.
"We did a good job."
They continue to dance as they looked on at their daughter who was turning into a beautiful young woman. They couldn't have been more
proud.