A/N: Sorry I've not done one of these in a while, I've just not had much to say to be honest. Thank you so much for all the reviews, I really appreciate all of your feedback. It helps me to see what you all want to see more of and gives me more ideas for what to write.
I especially want to address what many of you have been writing about in your reviews. I've had a lot of feedback on the Quinn/Santana friendship, understandably so as the story is told entirely from Santana's POV and much of her discussions regarding Brittany happen with Quinn. I love the Quinntana friendship myself and I wish that it had been explored more on the show so I'm glad that so many of you are enjoying it in this story.
I'd also like to add that Santana and Quinn are NOT alcoholics (by my standards anyway). I find the alcoholic Santana storyline to be a bit overdone so I don't plan on including it in this story. Quinn and Santana are just friends who enjoy a drink together. They are partly inspired by my own mum and my neighbours who would drink in the garden when they looked after us in the summer holidays. It was just something they did and most of my friends mums did it too. None of them are alcoholics either btw.
The 'Mom's Brigade' reference I used in the sports day chapter was also taken from my mum. It's what she called the stay at home mums at my primary school who were at every school event and always came in to help in classes. She worked full time and found their chirpiness and constant digs about her not staying at home really annoying. She gets great joy from the fact that the majority of them are divorced now since their kids have grown up and they have nothing in common with their husbands anymore while my mum and dad are still married after twenty six years because they made sure they still had a life outside of me and my sister. My mum is really nice, I swear. She's just not really a conventional mother ha.
Anyway, here's the next chapter. It's the longest so far so I hope you're all happy with it. If you want to ask me anything about the story or just leave a genereal comment about it, please leave a review and I'll get back to you on this. Hope you're all well :).
Chapter Nine
'This is going to be awful,' Puck groaned while he adjusted the box of wine under his arm as we walked around the side of Kurt and Blaine's house to get to the backyard. Quinn and I were carrying presents for Amelia while Carter and Lucas ran in front as Josh toddled after them.
'Why is it going to be awful for you?' I snorted as I looked at his pained expression.
'Because I'm going to have to deal with you two after you drink this entire box of wine between you,' he moaned, 'and the parents at these parties are irritating as hell. The dudes are so boring and the wives are so straight laced.'
'Don't complain about me and Santana then, Noah,' Quinn smirked as she chastised him. 'Would you rather we were like those women?'
'Of course not,' he retorted, matching her smirk, 'but I'd rather you weren't functioning alcoholics either.'
'Asshole,' Quinn laughed as I smacked the back of Puck's head as we all walked through the gate into the backyard.
It looked beautiful; Kurt and Blaine really knew how to decorate. It had been split into two sections. On the patio there was a large table with Amelia's birthday cake on display while snacks were arranged neatly in little pink bowls around it. The rest of the patio was covered with deck chairs for the parents to sit on and the occasional round table to rest their drinks. The grass had been turned into a giant play area. A large bouncy castle stood in the middle while little stalls littered the rest of the grass. There was a bubble machine, a clown, a man spinning plates, a po- wait, is that a petting zoo?
'Jesus Christ, she's turning 5, not getting married,' Puck muttered as he swatting a piece of the bunting that was hung up all around the yard away from his face.
'There you are!' Blaine exclaimed as he came towards us with open arms. 'I was starting to worry that you guys weren't going to show up!'
'The invitation said twelve, it's only a quarter past,' Quinn frowned as she hugged Blaine and handed him the gift bags.
'I know but Tina and some of the other moms came round early to help out, it was really nice of them,' Blaine smiled as he moved on to hug me, 'but then I remembered that you two aren't really like that and that you'd be a few minutes late.'
'Like what?' I asked him sharply. Who gives a fuck if I didn't come to a stupid birthday party ten minutes early to put out some chairs? I had other things to deal with, like the fact I had to prepare to come face to face with Brittany and her boyfriend.
'You know, motherly,' Blaine mumbled. He quickly back tracked when he saw the looks of Quinn and I's faces. 'Not like that! I just mean that you two aren't overly 'momsy', most of the other moms here are on the PTA.'
I looked at Quinn in disbelief before opening to my mouth to fucking destroy Blaine.
'I'm sure if you'd asked Quinn and Santana to come round early they would have,' Puck interrupted quickly before I could get a word in. He looked pissed. 'Just because they have lives outside of their children's doesn't mean that they're bad mothers. Besides, it your kids birthday, set up your freaking bubble machine by yourself. Come on ladies, let's go sit at the 'irresponsible parents' table.'
'You didn't need to say anything, Puck,' I told him as we sat down at a table near the back of the patio, 'we could have handled it ourselves.'
'I'm sick of people acting like you and Quinn are bad mothers,' Puck ranted as he took a bottle of wine out of the box that he had been carrying, 'So what if you're not on the freaking PTA and like a drink? It's not against the fucking law! You two are the best mothers I know. Yeah, you tried to kick the bucket but that was two years ago, everyone needs to get over it already. You're not an unfit mother. I wouldn't let my daughter live with you if you weren't.'
'Your daughter?' I asked him confused. Beth didn't live with me, what was he talking about?
'Natalia. I looked after her a lot when you were sick and I kinda think of her as my own. I'd do anything for that kid,' Puck mumbled shyly as he looked away.
'Really?' I smiled warmly at him. 'That is so sweet, Puck. Thank you. I'm glad she has a guy like you around.'
'Aw, Noah!' Quinn cried as she kissed him on the cheek. 'I knew I married you for a reason! Thank you for sticking up for us.'
'Don't sweat it,' Puck said as he put his arms around us both. 'You two are my girls. I kinda think of us as a three way marriage.'
'We're sister wives, Q,' I smirked at her.
'I would invite you into the marriage bed if I didn't know that you'd be more interested in my wife than me,' Puck laughed.
'Shut up, Puckerman,' I snorted as Quinn smacked him round the back of the head.
'Speaking of the little cutie, here she is now!' Puck smiled as he pointed to the gate.
I turned to see Natalia running towards me. This weekend was Brittany's so I hadn't seen her yet. She looked so cute as her long dark hair billowed behind her as she ran. It was a shame me and Brittany didn't have more kids, they would have been gorgeous.
'Mami!' Natalia cried excitedly as I picked her up and snuggled her on my lap. 'I missed you!'
'I missed you too, baby,' I whispered as I kissed the top of her head. 'What have you been up to?'
'Yesterday I went to Aunt Mike and Uncle Tina's house. It was fun because I played ponies but then I wanted to go home because Aunt Tina made me eat cauliflower cheese. I don't like her anymore,' Natalia grumbled as she crossed her arms, her frown making her look like my double.
'Quinn smirked at me before she turned to talk to Natalia. 'Don't eat anything nasty Aunt Tina makes you if you don't like it, Talia. I would never make you eat cauliflower cheese because I know that you don't like it.'
'You make the nicest food, Aunt Quinnie,' Natalia grinned back at Quinn as she clapped her hands excitedly. 'You're my favourite Auntie.'
'Oh, really?' I asked her as I tapped her nose playfully. 'And why's that?'
'Because she's the nicest,' Natalia smiled at both of us before turning to Quinn and giggling, 'and I like it best when you and Mami drink lots of adult juice and laugh a lot and dance really weird in the kitchen. It's funny.'
'You are too cute,' Quinn smiled as she squeezed Natalia's cheek and kissed her forehead.
'Let's keep the adult juice and dancing a secret from Mommy though,' I whispered in her ear as I stroked her hair. Brittany and her lawyer would have a field day with that information.
'Does Uncle Puck get a hug and a kiss from his favourite little girl in the whole world?' Puck asked Talia teasingly as he held his arms out to her. I smiled as she clamoured out of my lap and into Puck's. I could see what Puck meant as thinking of her as one of his own. He was so loving with her. Natalia adored him. Take that Brett.
'Here,' Quinn said as she thrust a glass of wine into my hand, 'I have a feeling this is going to be a long afternoon.'
Two hours and three bottles of wine between us later, Quinn and I were having a great time. We were in the bouncy castle with Carter and Lucas whilst Puck stood laughing watching us as he held a sleeping Josh in his arms. Talia had been with us too but she'd gone off with Rachel and Sophia to pet a goat or something. Quinn and I were having a great time with the boys trying to see who could jump the highest. I was definitely winning; I had it in the bag.
Thump!
Oh shit. I was on the ground. Ouch, that hurt...
'Shi- umm, golly, Santana,' Puck corrected himself as he noticed all the kids around us, 'are you okay?'
'Oh no, I've fallen out the tower!' I yelled as I looked at the blue sky above me. I was flat on my back in the middle of Kurt and Blaine's yard at a five year olds birthday party where no doubt about thirty other parents were staring at me. I would have cared that they were judging me if I wasn't thinking about how nice the sky looked. The clouds were so pretty.
'I'll save you, queen Santana!' Lucas yelled as he jumped off the bouncy castle and kneeled beside me.
'Oh, Prince Lucas, you saved me!' I played along as I fluttered my eyelashes at him. Maybe I could play off my blatant drunken state by pretending I was playing a game. Although, a drinking game would be much more fun. Or body shots...
'Hooray, Prince Lucas saves the day!' Quinn hollered as she waved Carter's hands in the air. 'Bring her back to castle so that we can have a royal banquet!'
'Come on, my lady,' Lucas smiled sweetly at me as he held his hand out to help me up. What a sweetheart. And people said Quinn was a bad mother. Here we were playing kingdom with her sons whilst the 'perfect moms' sat at their little crappy tables on the patio with each other. Quinn and I were the best moms ever...
'Why thank you, kind sir,' I curtseyed as I stood back up. Wow, I was dizzy. Were we having an earthquake?
'Oh my God, Santana,' Kurt hissed as he scampered towards me. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'
'I was thrown out the castle by an evil dragon,' I told him as I pointed at Quinn. He rolled his eyes as she growled at him before I continued, 'but then I was saved by a handsome Prince!'
'No, Santana, you fell out of the bounce house because you and Quinn are on your fourth bottle of Chardonnay!' He hissed at me again as he grabbed me by the wrist. Hiss, hiss, hiss. He was like a snake. A creepy little slimy gay snake.
'That may be true, but I think I covered it well,' I whispered to him as I gave him an over exaggerated wink and nudged him in the side. 'They have no idea.'
I pointed at the other moms who were all sitting on the patio. They were all looking in our direction and whispering. It was probably about Kurt's outfit, he totally didn't suit yellow.
'They definitely noticed, Santana,' Kurt growled as he looked between me and Quinn, 'what the hell is wrong with you two? This is a children's party!' He looked over at Puck exasperatedly. 'Why aren't you doing something?'
'Hey, I'm looking after this one,' Puck nodded at the sleeping Josh in his arms, 'besides, they're big girls. It's not my job to boss them around.'
'Yes, but you have a responsibility to tell them when to stop drinking. You know that they don't know when to stop,' Kurt hissed away. He was still holding onto my wrist. I pouted as it began to hurt. He kept flapping it about.
'Lighten up, Kurt, it's just a bit of fun,' Puck shot back. 'Everyone has a drink at these things, you need to or else you wouldn't last!'
'Not everyone,' Kurt huffed as he looked between the three of us, 'I haven't, Blaine hasn't, Brittany hasn't-'
'Oh, well if Brittany hasn't then I suppose none of us should,' I scoffed as I rolled my eyes at him. He steadied me as I stumbled back a bit. 'Everyone should do as Brittany does because Brittany is a perfect human being who is always right. Hey, you should walk out on Blaine, Kurt, because that's what Brittany did!'
'Not now, Santana,' Puck said quietly as he stepped towards me. He looked worried now and his eyes were darting around us.
'No, Puckerman, don't tell me what to fucking do,' I snapped back as I finally yanked my wrist away from Kurt, 'Where is that bitch? I have some things to say to her.'
'Seriously, Santana, you'll regret it,' Puck whispered as he stepped closer towards me. 'You're going through a divorce now and you'll have to come to a custody agreement. She'll use this against you.'
'Use what against me?' I slurred questioningly at him. 'This is her fault. She did this to me. Poor Brett, I'm sure he's a nice guy but she'll probably screw him over too. She's no doubt on her knees in the pantry right now with some other guy.'
'What are you talking about?' Puck asked me, his eyes widening as he took in what I said.
Fuck. I'd never told anyone that Brittany had cheated on me. I didn't want them to know. It was embarrassing. I'm Santana fucking Lopez, no one cheats on me. I'm a hot bitch with magic lady loving fingers. Ooh, lady fingers. What I'd do for some trifle right now...
'Nothing, I just want some water. Go and fetch me some if you would be so kind, bum boy,' I snarled at Kurt as I snapped my fingers at him.
He flared his nostrils angrily as he looked between me and Puck. I could tell he wanted to say something but he sighed and walked away in the direction of the kitchen instead after Puck gave him a look. Dude, chillax. It was a joke. Since when did Kurt have such a big stick up his ass? Surely Blaine wasn't that big. Ha ha, I crack myself up.
'Right, Lopez, time to sit down,' Puck sighed as he led me towards one of the deck chairs.
'Don't worry, Pucky, I'll be fine,' I sighed back as I closed my eyes. I was so sleepy...
'Santana.'
I thought my eyes had been shut for about thirty seconds before they snapped open to the sound of that voice but the colour of the sky told me otherwise. That voice. That voice was the last thing I wanted to hear right now.
'Yes, Brittany?' I groaned as I opened my eyes to look at her. She scowled down at me.
'Are you drunk?' she asked me angrily.
'I'm about as drunk as you are slutty,' I replied airily, closing my eyes again and leaning my head back. 'So, yes. Incredibly.'
'Don't talk to me like that,' she shot back angrily, 'I'm trying to be civil.'
'I don't know the meaning of the word when it comes to you,' I said monotonously as I rubbed my temples. Where was Kurt with that fucking water?
'Stop it, Santana,' Brittany snapped, 'and open your eyes. I want you to meet someone.'
'Oh, I wonder who it could be?' I asked sarcastically as I opened my eyes. Sure enough, there was Brett, looking all six foot two muscle and blonde. Urgh, I want to barf.
'This is Brett, my boyfriend,' Brittany said as she introduced us.
'Hey, Santana, it's great to meet you. I've heard so much about you from everyone,' Brett smiled at me as he held his hand out for me to shake. Poor guy, he didn't know what he was getting himself in for.
'Why hello, Brett, it's nice to finally meet you too,' I replied in a sickly sweet tone as I ignored his hand, 'I've been told a lot about you as well.'
'You have?' Brittany asked me looking confused. No change there then.
'Yeah, I had a great conversation with Kurt the other day,' I smirked at her, 'It was very informative. I learned all about Brett.'
'Like what?' Brittany asked me warily. She looked worried and she had a good fucking reason to be.
'You know, the usual. Like how he loves lasagne and moved here from Columbus. Oh, and I almost forgot how he calls Natalia, our daughter, 'Natty'. Isn't that just precious?' I asked her viciously.
Brett looked between us nervously as he watched Brittany and I stare each other down. She was in the wrong this time, not me. She knew she was busted. She was crazy if she thought I was going to go easy on her.
'Can we go somewhere to talk for a minute please?' Brittany asked me quietly.
'Why not, it's not like I've got anything better to do,' I sighed as I stood up and looked at Brittany straight in the eyes. 'Where to then? I've not got all day.'
Brittany turned to Brett and gave him an apologetic look and a peck on the cheek. He smiled back at her and then at me. I glared at him. Was this guy retarded or something? Brittany rolled her eyes at me and told me to follow her inside. As I walked behind her, I turned around and searched for Quinn. She was stood at the bubble machine with Natalia and Lucas looking worried as she noticed that I was with Brittany at her. I gave her a small nod to show her that I was fine and she gave me a short smile in return. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a friend.
As we entered the house, I realised that is was going to be difficult for us to find somewhere to talk alone. There were people everywhere. Blaine was in the hall talking to some of those stupid moms about a macaroon recipe, Finn was in the kitchen with some of the others going over prices for those stupid granite worktops he makes, Rachel was in the living room trying to convince Alexis that she wasn't too old to be at a kid's birthday party and Tina was sitting on the stairs breastfeeding (yes, breastfeeding) her THREE YEAR OLD CHILD. That woman is fucking batshit. Wait til I tell Quinn about this...
'Come in here,' Brittany sighed as she pulled me inside the bathroom. It was small so she put the toilet seat down and sat on it while I leaned against the sink. We stayed in silence until she spoke up. 'We have a lot to talk about.'
'You bet we do,' I snorted as I looked her straight in the eye, 'I'll give you a chance to explain yourself.'
'I'm really sorry I didn't tell you about Brett, Santana,' Brittany began after taking a deep breath. ' I should have told you sooner and it was wrong of me to introduce him to Talia without telling you first. I went on vacation to Lake Baldwin last week, Louise is his sister. I was meeting his parents.'
'Why didn't you tell me?' I asked her coldly.
'I wanted to wait until it was serious to tell you,' Brittany answered honestly. 'We've never done this before so I wanted to make sure that it was a stable relationship before I mentioned it.'
'So you waited until you met his parents to tell me but you let him meet my daughter before that? What would have happened to her if you had broken up? Are you going to do this all the time, introduce her to your boyfriends and not even tell me?' I was so angry. She couldn't apologise her way out of this one, I was too pissed.
'It was wrong, Santana, I'm really sorry. I completely understand why you're hurt.'
'Do you really though, Brittany? Of course I'm fucking hurt. Why should you be the one that gets to move on and be happy? You left me. I tried to fucking kill myself, I cried out for your help and you fucking walked out. You left me with nothing and now you're practically getting ready to give Natalia a Dad? How the fuck do you think that makes me feel?'
'Santana, I'm really sorry, I am,' Brittany pleaded. I could see the tears in her eyes and hear them in her voice but refused to give in. 'I would change so many things that I did if I could but I can't. You need to let me move on.'
'Maybe you don't deserve to move on, Brittany,' I snapped at her, 'maybe you should think about what you did. You weren't innocent in this marriage falling apart.'
'I know I wasn't, San,' Brittany whispered as she stood up to come face to face with me, 'it was all my fault.'
'You're right, it was,' I told her shortly. 'I was always there for you whenever you needed me, always, even for silly stuff. The one time I needed you was fucking huge and you deserted me.'
'I was scared,' Brittany told me quietly as her tears began to stream down her face.
'And you think I fucking wasn't?' I asked her in disbelief. 'I was fucking terrified, Britt! I didn't have a clue what was going on! I felt so empty and all I need was for you to tell me that you were there for me and you didn't!'
'I couldn't,' Brittany mumbled as she tried to brush away her tears. They kept falling.
'Come on, Brittany, you brought me in here to talk so fucking talk!' I yelled at her. I was past being civil, I wanted answers now.
'I didn't know if it was going to be okay!' she cried as she finally spoke up. She stopped bothering to wipe her tears away and let them flow freely. 'I didn't know how to help you, you weren't my Santana anymore! You were always so strong and confident but after the baby you were a mess. I didn't know what to do and I freaked out, okay! I couldn't bear to see you like that anymore so I left. You have no idea how scary it was for me when I found you, Santana. When I pulled you out from under the water I thought you were dead. You didn't even recognise me. I thought I'd lost you but then I realised that I'd lost you a long time ago. So yes, I left you but you left me long before that!'
'That is such bullshit, Brittany!' I screamed at her. 'You just couldn't be bothered anymore! You probably wanted me dead so that you could carry on screwing other people!'
'I would never wish you dead, Santana, don't say that!' Brittany cried as she grabbed my arm. 'I love you too much to ever want you to die!'
'You love me, huh?' I laughed at her as I tried to pull my arm away from her. 'Well, you've got a funny way of proving it.'
That's when it happened. I went to turn around to leave the bathroom but she spun me back round. I didn't know what was happening at first, it was so fast. My face felt warm. A forgotten but familiar feeling came into my stomach. I felt her soft lips against mine and I melted. She was kissing me. It was open mouthed, both her lips wrapped around my bottom one. We stayed like that for a while, neither of us moving as we remembered what it felt like to be this way with one another. Then our lips slowly started against each others like the past four years had never happened. The kiss was soft and slow to begin with but then it began to get faster as we remembered what each other's mouths felt like. I couldn't tell you what was going on, I couldn't think. All I could feel was her lips against mine. It wasn't until I felt a wet tongue swipe across my bottom lip that I came to my senses.
'What the hell are you doing?' I yelled at Brittany as I pushed her off of me. 'Get the fuck away from me!'
'Santana, please-' Brittany pleaded as she reached out for me with her hand.
'You have no right to do this!' I whispered angrily at her as I pushed her hand away. 'Not now, not after everything that's gone on!'
'Santana, please, let me explain!' Brittany cried as she reached out for me again in vain.
'No! I'm not letting you do this to me again!' I was shaking with anger and tears. 'You ruined my life, Brittany! I'm not letting you do to him what you did to me! You're not using me to cheat!'
'Don't leave, Santana, please,' Brittany howled as her tears overwhelmed her. 'I love you so much, please don't leave.'
'Maybe you should have thought of that before you left me,' I whispered as I took one last look at her and walked out the bathroom door.
