Author's Note: This chapter may seem a bit like filler, but it's setting up a lot of what's going to be coming into play soon. I hope you enjoy and thank you for all the reviews!
"Hi, mami," Santana said, leaning in to give her mother a peck on the cheek. "Good morning, Rita," she said, leaning in to give Rita a kiss on the cheek as well. "How were my little angels?" She asked, taking Nico from her mother.
"Delightful, as always. He's a feisty one, Santana, he obviously takes after you." Santana smiled, giving her son a kiss on the top of his head.
"You're in a good mood," Rita noted as she dropped the overnight bags by the door. "Where's Brittany?"
"Making breakfast," Santana said, leading the women back to the kitchen.
"Good morning!" Brittany sang as she placed a bowl of scrambled eggs on the table. "You're just in time for breakfast! And thank you for taking care of our little babies," Brittany said, briefly slipping into her baby voice, "it was lonely here without them." She glanced over at Santana who nodded back at her, and placed a light kiss on Nico's head, who was still in Santana's arms. She quickly placed another light kiss on Santana's lips.
"So…I take it you two made up?" Rita asked cautiously, very much aware of the chipper mood of the household.
"Well," Santana said, "we had a lot of time to talk last night, and we actually wanted to talk to you two about something," Santana said. Rita looked nervous. Brittany took off her apron and took Olivia from Rita.
"Take a seat," Brittany said. Everyone sat around the table and passed around the food in silence.
"So…" Maria finally said, wondering if the girls were ever going to spit out whatever it was they had to say. "What's on your mind, ladies?" Santana took Brittany's hand and took a deep breath.
"Well, I'm sure you all know things have been…tense around here. I probably lost my job, although I won't find out until tomorrow, I'm taking a personal day today. I realized last night that perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. Britt and I did a lot of talking about how to…adjust to the stresses of having two children the same age and being working mothers. I have been thinking about branching off on my own for awhile now, and this may be the opportunity we've been waiting for."
"We have quite a bit of savings, and we were going to use it to soundproof our room," Brittany said with a smirk, "but we thought instead we may put an addition on the house."
"Add a second floor, to be specific. Britt already has the studio out back, so she can continue to do a lot of her choreography from home, and we are going to start working out the plans to add three bedrooms upstairs."
"And a porch," Brittany added. Santana couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Yes, and a porch. Eventually these two will need their own rooms," Santana said, gesturing to Nico and Olivia."
"And eventually, in a long, far off eventually, we'd like to give them another sibling," Brittany added, tentatively.
"So then we'll have our bedroom, a bedroom for each child, an office for me, at least while I try and get the firm started, and, hopefully, a bedroom for you, mami."
"I know you only said it in passing, Maria, but we'd love if, eventually, you'd be able to spend at least part of the year staying with us."
"And we totally understand that Carlos and Daniel are still in Ohio and you have six other grandchildren, but we wanted to put the option out there in the event that you'd like to, you know, stay with us for a bit." Santana looked up nervously at her food to find her mother's face. Maria, of course, was beaming. If Santana didn't know any better, she'd think there were tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Mija," she said softly, "I would love to. Absolutely love to."
"Really?" Santana asked. "I don't know if you remember, mami, but I'm kind of a pain in the ass to live with."
"Of course I remember, but how could I say no to those angels?" She asked, gesturing to the babies.
"I have no idea," Santana said, laughing as Nico spilled apple juice from his sippy cup down her blouse. "I think he did that on purpose."
"Boobs!" Nico said, clapping.
"You hear that, baby?" Brittany said to Olivia, nuzzling into her head. "Your abuela is going to come stay with us, just like mami's abuela did when we were little girls. It will be so much fun!"
"This is delicious, Brittany," Rita said, taking another bite of food.
"Seriously, Britt, thanks so much for cooking," Santana said, leaning over to give Brittany a peck on the lips.
"Of course, honey," Brittany said. "So, what did you all do last night?"
Quinn lay on her stomach in her bed with her laptop at her fingertips after putting the girls to bed. It was nine, and she officially had gone 36 hours without a drink. She wasn't an alcoholic, she knew that, both of her parents were alcoholics, but she was a problem drinker. She didn't want to join a program. There was something about the finality of it that she couldn't deal with. She didn't want to be like her mother, who couldn't have a glass of champagne at her daughter's wedding, but she also didn't want to be like her father, who was slowly dying of cirrhosis. She would just take a break, she reasoned, and drink when it was appropriate, which was certainly not a bottle of wine by herself on a Sunday night. Quinn was trying to figure out how to register for classes
when a screen popped up on her window.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Yo, Q
Quinn Fabray-Scott: You're just way too old to say 'yo', Santana.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Ignoring that. What's up? You never use your computer.
Quinn Fabray-Scott: I'm registering for classes.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: For what?
Quinn Fabray-Scott: Classes, S. They're those things you supposedly attended for twenty years to become a lawyer.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Fuck you, Q. Classes in what?
Quinn Fabray-Scott: The writers program at UCLA Extension.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Awesome. You were always an awesome writer, Q. Listen, I was wondering if you could email me the info about that contractor you and Justin used when you were expanding your kitchen awhile back?
Quinn Fabray-Scott: Why?
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Just send it to me.
Quinn Fabray-Scott: Not until you tell me why.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Are you six, Q? Britt and I are going to add a second floor.
Quinn Fabray-Scott: Why?
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Because we want our house to be pimp.
Quinn Fabray-Scott: God, why can't you talk like a normal adult. And why are you being so sketchy?
Quinn Fabray-Scott: OMG YOU'RE PREGNANT, AREN'T YOU?
Santana Pierce-Lopez: OH MY GOD, Quinn. NO, I'm not pregnant, Jesus. You're so fucking nosy. If you must know, I'm thinking about branching out and starting my own firm so I need an office, eventually Nico and Olivia will need their own rooms, Britt and I need help around the house and with the twins so my mother is going to potentially be living with us, at least some of the time, and ONE DAY, IN THE EXTREMEMLY DISTANT FUTURE, we may have another child, so we decided it was time to expand.
Quinn Fabray-Scott: Why didn't you just say so?
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Because that took too long to write and I have shit to do, Q. Are you going to send it to me, or not?
Quinn Fabray-Scott: Of course.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: Thanks. I have to go.
Quinn Fabray-Scott: See you Saturday.
Santana Pierce-Lopez: For sure. Bye,Q.
"So," Kurt said, swinging his Big Brown Bag from Bloomingdales as he walked arm in arm with Rachel. "Can we talk about the giant elephant looming over our shopping trip?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kurt."
"I beg to differ, Ms. Berry. One, you pulled a drunk Santana on Sunday when we went out. You know I like my drunk-Berry giggling and singing, not weeping into my new Marc Jacob's suit. Two, I read Variety. I know you got the part in the new X-Men movie."
"Well, I'd be crazy to turn it down. I know it's a change of my usual taste, but my agent thinks it would be great move to make me into a household name. Besides, plenty of academy award winning actresses have tried their hand at an action movie. Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie…"
"I'm not talking about taking the part, Rachel. I'm talking about being back in LA."
"It's not a big deal, Kurt," Rachel said, shaking her head as they took a seat on a bench by the park. "I still have a place in LA, and I'm going to keep the place here. If Santana gets me the numbers she thinks she can for this role, it should be no problem maintaining two apartments."
"I'm just going to spell it out for you, Rach. What are you going to do about Quinn?"
"I'm not doing anything about Quinn." Rachel said, matter-of-fact. "My career comes first, Kurt, you know that. You're the one who taught me that. Being caught in a lesbian affair with the wife of a professional football player would be devastation for my career right now. Besides, Quinn has made it perfectly clear that she is not going to change her relationship with Justin for me."
"Are you sure?" Rachel shrugged. "You're being awfully rational, right now, Rachel."
"She called me the other night," Rachel said softly. "I didn't answer though." Kurt nodded and squeezed Rachel's hand. "You know when were younger, and it seemed like love was the solution to all of our problems? That as long as you loved someone, everything else would fall into place?" Kurt nodded, thinking back fondly on memories of traipsing through the city with Rachel first in high school, and later in college, when they thought that love could conquer all. "I miss that feeling," Rachel said sadly. Rachel took a deep breath. "Besides, it's not like she's the only person I know in Los Angeles. There's Sarah."
"That girl you dumped?"
"And there's Brittany and Santana."
"Satan and Brittany and their twins who are rapidly entering their terrible twos."
"Still, Kurt, they've been really good to me, even though everyone knows they're totally overwhelmed right now. Anyway, Kurt, it's not like you're not bicoastal too."
"I'm not bi-anything. My heart will always be in New York."
"But you're body spends most of the year in Los Angeles." Rachel pointed out.
"True. Brittany did call me about Thanksgiving a few weeks ago."
"Are you going?"
"Of course. I haven't missed a Pierce-Lopez Thanksgiving in 7 years."
"Well, I'll have you in LA as well then, right?" Kurt nodded. "Enough of this depressing conversation. Coffee?"
"You read my mind!"
"How'd it go?" Brittany asked nervously, skipping toward the front door when Santana came in from her first day back to work. Santana put her briefcase on the floor and threw her keys in the duck bowl by the door.
"They didn't fire me," Santana said, relieved, taking Olivia from Brittany and kissing the top of her head and then kissing Brittany on the lips. "What's wrong?" Santana asked, noting the drop in Brittany's face.
"Nothing," Brittany said, walking over to the couch and laying down with Nico on top of her.
"Britt, you know we can't do this. What's wrong?"
"I just…I guess I was just excited about you starting your own firm and us figuring out a way to make this a little more manageable."
"Who said anything about that changing?"
"Well, you still have your job."
"Right. I still have the job with the boss that I hate and I am still overworked. This just means that I can still bring in an income in the next couple of months while we get everything worked out with the addition."
"So…the plan is still on?" Brittany asked, excitedly.
"Of course the plan is still on, baby." Brittany squealed making Nico look up at her with wide eyes.
"You're scaring our son, Britt." Brittany smiled.
"In that case, we got a spec of the plans for the addition from the contractor today," Brittany said, getting up and leading Santana toward the kitchen. She was practically bouncing. Santana smiled.
"I can't wait, Britt-Britt."
"Daddy coming home this weekend?" Harper asked as Quinn helped her get changed out of her ballet clothes and into a green and black striped dress. She slipped a headband with a bow into her youngest daughter's blond hair.
"No, you know that, Harper."
"He said he'd come home more often."
"Well, he has to work, dear."
"Why do we have to go to dinner at Aunt S and B's?"
"Because it's nice and they invited us and you haven't seen your cousins in a little while."
"We saw them like, a week ago, and they're not even really our cousins."
"What's gotten into you, Harper?" She didn't respond. "Why would you say that about Nico and Olivia?"
"I dunno. Cause we're learning about family trees in school and Auntie B and Auntie S aren't really your sisters so then Nico and Olivia can't really be our cousins."
"Brittany and Santana are like sisters to me, though. Much more like sisters than my own sister ever was. See the thing is, it's not blood that makes a family, it's love, and I love Brittany and Santana like they're my sisters. Do you understand?" Harper nodded.
"I miss daddy."
"I know you do." Quinn said, hugging her daughter. "I'm so sorry he's not here." Quinn hugged her daughter.
"What's wrong with her?" Hannah asked, leaving the changing room, having changed out of her clothes.
"Nothing," Quinn said.
"She's such a baby." Quinn rolled her eyes.
"Don't start a fight, Hannah. Let's go." She took a hand from each of her daughter's and they headed to Brittany and Santana's.
"I can't believe you're really doing this, S," Quinn said, leaning over the kitchen table and looking at some preliminary blueprints the contractor had brought over the day before for the second floor.
"It's now or never," Santana shrugged. "I'm lucky enough to still have my job, so we need to get the addition built while I still have a steady income, you know?"
"You'll have a steady income after you start your own firm."
"Obviously. I'm just trying to be smart about the transition period. And we all know it's only a matter of time before my boss actually does get tired of dealing with my bullshit and fires me, so it makes the most sense to do this now."
"It's amazing," Quinn said, running her hand across the blueprint.
"We were thinking, we'd build ourselves a big master bedroom in the back here, so that we have the balcony, and then Nico and Olivia can have the other two bedrooms upstairs, then my mother can take our old bedroom, the guest room will become the office and Nico and Olivia's room will become the guest room."
"Slash…new baby's room." Quinn said, nudging Santana.
"Yeah, new potential maybe one day in the very far future baby room. Jesus," Santana said, shaking her head. "Everyone is crazy. Can't we just take it one step at a time here?"
"We are taking it one step at a time, honey," Brittany said, entering the room and placing a kiss on Santana's cheek. "Dinner's ready."
"Baby, are you sure you should be drinking that?" Santana asked Brittany, eyeing the dark coffee in her hand.
"I'm an adult, I can drink coffee whenever I want."
"I know you can, but should you? You're going to be up all night if you drink coffee this late."
"I've never heard you complain about that before," Brittany smirked.
"Okay, guys, gross. I'm still here." Quinn said, interrupting the conversation. They had finished eating and Nico and Olivia were in bed and Harper, Lily, and Hannah were in the next room watching Lady and the Tramp.
"Sorry," Santana said, sheepishly. "So, how are you doing, Q? I didn't want to ask in front of the girls."
"Six days sober," Quinn said.
"Impressive," Santana replied, "you going to join the program?"
"I don't think so," Quinn said. "I'm not planning on quitting drinking forever, just relearning how to drink. In times of celebration, and not as a solvent for my problems." Santana nodded, understanding.
"Good for you," Santana said. "You know I've been there." Quinn nodded and Brittany smiled proudly at her wife.
"And, I made an appointment with your therapist for Thursday before Lily's guitar lesson."
"Awesome. You're going to love her." Santana said, smiling. "She's great, she's just really fucking great."
"Well, we'll see," Quinn said nervously. "I had better get the monsters to bed, before it gets too late," Quinn said, nodding at Santana who stood up. Santana helped her get all three to the car. Harper and Lily were asleep already and Hannah seemed to be on her way out.
"What's going on with Rachel?" Santana asked after the kids were in their car seats.
"Nothing," Quinn said, the hint of sadness in her voice. "I've called her a couple of times, but she's not picking up the phone."
"It's probably better, Q." Santana said. Resting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "How are things with Justin?" Quinn's face hardened.
"Who knows?" Quinn scoffed. "I listened to his bullshit again about being better, and yet here I am, week after week, just as alone. I don't know why I put up with this anymore…" Quinn mused, fighting back tears.
"Because you took vows, I guess. Because, somewhere, deep down, you still love him?"
"Took vows to what? To be miserable and alone the rest of my life? To be walked all over and treated like his nanny and personal assistant? This isn't a marriage," Quinn whispered, the anger seething through her teeth. "This is a financial arrangement, a child-rearing arrangement, but it is not a marriage. That," Quinn said, pointing to Santana's house, "is a marriage. The union of two people who share their lives together. Who support one another and make compromises and make one another better people. I want that, Santana."
"Why are you telling me this, Quinn? If you know this, why don't you do something to change it?"
"I don't know how," Quinn said softly, wiping a tear away from her cheek. "I have to go. Sorry for that…whatever that was."
"It's okay, Q. You know I'm always here to listen."
"What were you guys doing out there?" Brittany asked as Santana entered the house and lay down on the couch with her head in Brittany's lap. Brittany absentmindedly played with Santana's hair.
"You know, Q. She's unhappy, yet refuses to do anything about it."
"I'm sad for her, Santana. She's so sad all the time."
"I know, B," Santana said, rolling over so she was propped up on her elbows. She leaned up to give Brittany a kiss. "So…what was that earlier about staying up all night?" Santana asked playfully. Brittany got off the couch and began seductively walking toward their bedroom. Santana jumped up to watch her as she slowly peeled her shirt off.
"Aren't you going to come and find out?" Santana jumped off the couch and ran after her wife down the hall.
Quinn rolled her eyes to herself she was greeted by Santana's therapist. Of course this was the therapist Santana had finally stuck to. Well, now her therapist too, she guessed. The woman was tall and blond, very thin, and wore a power suit that accentuated her stature. She reminded Quinn a little of the substitute teacher they sometimes had in high school. What was her name? Quinn couldn't remember…maybe she was getting old, after all.
"So, Quinn, what can I do for you today?" Dr. Phillips said, pulling Quinn out of her head.
"I'm not really sure…my friend Santana referred me to you."
"Santana Lopez, I presume? There can't be that many Santana's in Los Angeles County. She's been a patient of mine for many years now."
"I know, and she's really just grown so much since she started seeing you…" Quinn trailed off, not sure of where to go from there.
"Well, what can I help you with today?" Quinn didn't know where to begin.
"I don't know where to begin."
"Well, generally I find that there are two ways most people choose to begin. Some choose to begin at the beginning, and some choose to begin with today. Either way we get to the same place."
"I had a baby when I was sixteen. I gave her up for adoption." Quinn blurted out. She looked up at Dr. Phillips, expecting some sort of reaction, but instead the woman just smiled slightly and nodded her head for Quinn to continue. "I had a baby and I lied about who the father was. Everyone found out. Now I'm married and I have three children, not including the daughter I gave up, but my husband is never around, he travels for work, and I'm pretty sure he's been cheating on me for years, and I love him, but I'm not sure I'm in love with him anymore. And I'm having an affair. Or I was having an affair. I'm not really sure where I stand with…with the person I'm having an affair with. And that's it." Quinn finished, nervously, looking at her hands.
"And some people like to start by getting it all out there at once. I noticed you started off with the baby you gave up for adoption, despite the fact that there appear to be pressing issues with what's happening in your life now. Why did you start with that?"
"I don't know," Quinn said. "I guess because, maybe, that's the first time I really remember acting one way and feeling another. I guess it's the first time I really started lying."
"Lying about what?"
"About how I feel. About what I wanted. And it's a little like, once I started, everything became this huge lie that has been snowballing until it reached this point where I can't tell the difference between a truth and a lie anymore." And so Quinn talked. She talked about Finn and Puck and meeting Justin and her children and Beth. She was surprised when Dr. Phillips warned her that there were only 15 minutes left.
"Quinn, it seems you have a lot going on that you haven't really acknowledged for a long time, if ever." Quinn nodded. "Should we make an appointment for next week?" Quinn nodded again. "You can set that up with my assistant when we're done. In the last couple minutes we have here, I'd like to give you some advice for the upcoming week. I want you to talk to your husband, actually talk to him, about the places you'd like to see your life moving. Talk about getting back into the writing, and talk about the reality that you can no longer, realistically, sustain a relationship when one half is missing most of the time. Now, I'm not going to tell you what to do about your infidelity. I think you should go home and think about how you'll feel if you sustain keeping this secret from your husband, and how you'll feel if you continue this extramarital affair."
"I can't imagine a life without them." Quinn said.
"Without whom?"
"Without the person with whom I'm carrying on the affair," Quinn said, careful to dance around her gender specific pronouns. "I mean, not in a crazy, soul mate, Santana and Brittany sort of a way…it's different somehow. Like, we've always known each other, and sometimes it's negative, and sometimes it's positive, but, it just feels like, like we've spent a lot of the last 15 years affecting the way one another's lives progress, you know?"
"Do you think they feel the same way?" Dr. Phillips said, careful to stick with Quinn's gender neutral pronouns.
"I don't know how they feel." Quinn said, pausing. "That's a lie. I know that the person I'm seeing loves me. Or I think they love me."
"Do you love them?"
"I don't know that I understand what love is anymore."
"Well, maybe that's something else to think about this week."
It was the Miller's turn to take the girls to dance class and so Quinn just had to pick up Lily after school. Between piano, swimming, soccer, powderpuff football, and her new guitar lessons with Santana, there wasn't time for her middle child to continue dance. Quinn got out of the car to help her daughter get her backpack off and into her carseat.
"You remember my guitar, mom?" Lily asked as Quinn drove away from the school.
"Of course," Quinn said, gesturing through the rearview mirror to the little ¼ size guitar in the backseat.
"Aunty S is going to teach me a song by Flea and Mack today. She says they're one of her favorite bands."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah," Lily said, nonchalantly. "It's called earthquake. I took my glove and I took it down," Lily began to sing. "I climbed the mountain and I turned round. Cause I've been 'fraid of changin'," Lily continued. Quinn chuckled lightly to herself.
"You know Aunty S sang that song to Aunty B once when we were in that singing group in high school."
"That must be why Aunty S likes it so much. She gets all silly and goofy looking when we practice."
"Must be," Quinn said.
"Do you love daddy like Aunt S loves Aunt B?"
"Of course, dear," Quinn said.
"But then why don't you get all mushy like Aunt San? And why don't you make those stupid lovey faces?" Quinn thought for a moment about how to answer this question. She didn't want to lie to her daughter, yet she knew it was not her place to let her child know that Mommy and Daddy had marital problems.
"How old are you, Lily?"
"That's silly, mommy, you know how old I am."
"No, but I want you to tell me."
"I'm six. I'm in first grade."
"And how old is your sister?"
"Which sister?"
"Hannah."
"She's eight and she's in third grade. And Harper is five and she's in kindergarten, cause she's the baby," Lily said, exasperated.
"Well, Aunt B and Aunt S have known each other since they were Hannah's age. And they were best friends then, and now they're thirty."
"Woah," Lily said, "they're thirty?"
"Yup," Quinn said. "They're thirty and they've been a couple, in some capacity, for like, 15 years."
"Woah. So that's why they're different from you and dad? They've been together for so long?"
"Yup," Quinn said.
"That's pretty cool," Lily said as they pulled up in front of Brittany and Santana's house. "And you've been friends with them all this time?"
"I have, more or less," Quinn replied, leaving out that awkward time when Santana was a bitch and Quinn was pregnant and Santana kept stealing her boyfriends and fighting with her in the halls. She could learn about those stories when she was a little older.
Santana laid on her back with her son on her chest as she read through the contract for X-Men that she had just received from Rachel's agent. Nico had been asleep for an hour or so now. His new bedtime books were his mami's contracts instead of Goodnight Moon, although she always managed to throw it in every once in awhile for good measure.
"It's no wonder you're asleep, baby," she whispered to her son, "this shit is boring." No sooner had she got the words out than she heard Brittany's squeal from the kitchen. Nico yawned and attempted to crawl off of his mother. "Well, there goes your afternoon nap," she said to him, picking him up and sitting up. She started for the kitchen, but stopped when she heard the doorbell ring. She checked her watch—it was still early for Quinn and Lily to arrive, so she turned toward the door instead of just yelling to let whomever was outside now that they could let themselves in.
"Oh, shit," Santana said, opening the door. Before either one could say anything, Brittany came running down the hallway.
"RACHEL!" Brittany yelled, pulling her friend in for a tight embrace. "I'm so glad you're back! So much has happened since you've been gone, and I'm just so excited to see you!" Rachel giggled at Brittany's enthusiasm.
"I missed you, Britt," Rachel said, returning the hug. "And hello to you too, Santana."
"Hey there, dwarf," Santana said, softening slightly. "It's good to have you back, it's been feeling way too peaceful around here."
"I missed you too, Santana," Rachel replied. Brittany took Rachel by the crook of the arm and they skipped off to the kitchen, both talking rapidly about New York and renovations and Rachel's new project. Santana stayed in the living room and let Nico down on the ground to play with the puppy. He, however, seemed more interested in Santana's cell phone. Santana got on the ground with her son.
"Let me see that, little man," Santana said, popping the phone open.
Quinn Fabray-Scott:
On our way.
"Shit." Santana said out loud, for the second time in ten minutes in front of Nico. The text was from twenty minutes earlier. "Hey, Britt," she yelled toward the kitchen, "can you help me with something for a second."
"What do you need, honey?" Brittany said a moment later, skipping into the living room.
"It's Thursday. Quinn is on her way here with Lily for guitar lessons." Brittany's face dropped.
"Well, I guess we just give them both the heads up? I mean, they're going to have to get used to seeing one another, right? We're not going to just abandon one of them," Santana nodded. Before any decisions could be made, however, there was another ring at the doorbell.
"Shit." Santana said. Number three.
"I'll go let Rachel know and you get the door," Brittany said, picking up Nico. She walked back to the kitchen with the dog nipping at her heels as Santana walked to the front door.
"Aunty S!" Lily said, jumping into Santana's arms.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite niece!" Santana said, easily scooping the little girl up. "But don't tell your sisters, okay?" Lily nodded. "Hey, Q," Santana said, placing a quick kiss on Quinn's cheek.
"Hi, Santana. I have to tell you about my day, you won't believe it—"
"Hold up, I have to let you know, Rachel is here…"
"What?"
"I didn't know, Q. She just got back in town and just dropped by. If I had known I would have told you sooner…"
"Rachel is here?" Lily said, excitedly. "Can I go see her, mom?"
"Of course, dear," Quinn said. Santana set her down and Lily ran toward the kitchen.
"What should I do?" Quinn asked after Lily was long gone.
"That's up to you. I mean, the adult thing to do would be to say hello, but it's just me and Brittany here, you don't have to abide by social graces if you don't want to."
"You're right," Quinn said. "It's not that big of a deal. I'll just go in, say a casual hello, and then we can get back to lessons as usual." Santana nodded and gave Quinn's hand a squeeze and they walked back to the kitchen.
"Welcome back, Rachel," Quinn said politely as they entered the kitchen. Rachel was holding Olivia and Lily was wrapped around her leg.
"Thank you, Quinn. It's nice to see you."
"You, as well. How was your stay in New York?"
"It was nice. It felt good to be home." Santana and Brittany made the briefest of eye contact at this awkward exchange between their friends.
"Why are you two acting so weird?" Lily asked. Santana wasn't sure if she had ever kept her mouth shut for so long. First, the conversing automatons, now the honest statement from the mouths of babes.
"I think we're wasting precious guitar time, don't you, Lily?" Santana interjected before she said something she regretted. Lily nodded and ran over to grab Santana's hand. They began walking down the hall back toward the living room. "Quinn? You coming?" Santana asked, realizing Quinn was not following her.
"Oh! Yes, sorry," Quinn said awkwardly. "Well, it was good to see you, Rachel."
"You too, Quinn." Quinn nodded at her and turned down the hall.
"Why is my mom being so weird?" Lily asked, leaning into Santana as she adjusted her hands on the frets of her guitar.
"Your mom is always weird, who are you kidding?" Santana replied, nervously looking over at a dazed Quinn.
"True," Lily agreed. "Yo, mom!" Lily said, yelling over to Quinn who was leaning back on Santana's couch, staring at the ceiling. Quinn looked over at Lily with her eyebrows raised. Santana nudged the little girl, who smirked a smirk much too close to Santana's for Quinn's liking. "If you don't start paying attention to my lesson, I'm a have to gets all Beverly Hills Adjacent on you. I don't think you want to mess with this." Quinn rolled her eyes.
"Santana, do you think you can focus on the guitar for just one lesson, please?"
"What? I have to make sure she can defend herself. Nobody messes with Lily Scott, right?" Lily nodded excitedly. Santana returned to fixing Lily's hand on the guitar.
"Aunt S?" Lily whispered to Santana. "Do you really have razor blades in your hair?" Santana smiled the smile usually reserved only for Brittany.
"No, honey, but that's our secret, okay?" Lily nodded excitedly.
"So…what's going on with that?" Brittany asked Rachel. They sat in the backyard, each with a baby in their laps.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, c'mon, Rachel. I've known you for years and I happen to have spent many years having a secret lesbian affair, so I know all the signs. I mean, I practically have my doctorate in the secret lesbian affair."
"You were a teenager, Brittany. When it's appropriate to carry on secret lesbian affairs."
"So you admit that you are having a secret lesbian affair with Quinn?"
"Was. Emphasis on the past tense." Rachel admitted, looking nervously up at Brittany.
"How are you?"
"I've been better."
"You know, it's better this way, Rach. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to let someone you love go because they're not ready."
"But you've always had Santana."
"That's not true," Brittany said. "You always forget that I dated Artie when we were in high school."
"But you were still sleeping with Santana, weren't you?" Brittany blushed.
"Not my crowning moment, but yes, I still had stuff going on with Santana on the side. Have I ever told you how I first ended up dating Artie?" Rachel shook her head. "Santana and I had been making out, which was nice in our old Cheerios uniforms…they really were inappropriately short…"Brittany trailed off, eyes glazing over.
"Brittany?"
"Oh! Sorry. Anyway, we were making out, and Mr. Schue assigned us that duet competition. Where you and Finn sang that awful song? Why did you sing that song? And you wore that nun's uniform, which was kind of hot—"
"Yes, Brittany, I remember."
"Well, I asked Santana if she wanted to do a duet with me. She told me, and I quote, that 'I'm not making out with you because I'm in love with you and want to sing about making lady-babies. I'm only here because Puck's been in the slammer for 24 hours now and I'm like a lizard, I need something warm beneath me or I can't digest my food.'"
"Wow. She said that to you?" Brittany nodded.
"So, I started dating Artie, at first to make her jealous, but then I really did grow to love him. And I realized that there was no point making myself miserable while she figured out who she was. If I had done that, she would probably still be in the closet today. And I wouldn't have these darling little lady-babies." Brittany cooed to Nico on her lap. Rachel smiled down at Olivia. "Who knows what will happen with you and Quinn in the future, Rach, but it was good that you stopped it now. She's married, she has three children, she has to figure her life out before there's any hope that she can make anyone else happy."
"Has anyone told you that you're very wise, Brittany?"
"Once or twice," Santana said, walking outside. Lily ran over to Rachel and sat in her lap while Rachel handed Olivia to Santana.
"How was your guitar lesson?" Rachel asked Lily.
"Good! We're singing Earthquake."
"Landslide," Santana said, gently.
"You know your Aunt B and Aunt S once sang Landslide with our Glee Club?" Rachel asked. Lily rolled her eyes.
"I know, I know. My mom wouldn't stop talking about it in the car, and then Aunt S was talking about it…"
"Hey, Santana," Quinn finally said, chiming into the conversation, "you guys sang Landslide with that substitute teacher, right? What was her name?"
"Ms. Holiday," they said in unison.
"Ms. Holiday! That's right. I was trying to remember today because your therapist looks so much like her."
"Your therapist looks like Ms. Holiday?" Brittany asked, raising her eyebrows.
"What were you doing at Santana's therapist?" Rachel asked Quinn. Lily rolled her eyes. She didn't understand what was going on, but she knew the tone of voice everyone had. The grownups were about to get serious, and it was about to get boring.
"No she doesn't," Santana said, "Quinn's crazy, we all know that."
"You're lying."
"No I'm not."
"Santana, we've been together for 15 years, why bother trying to lie to me anymore?"
"Technically, we've only officially been together for 13 years, Brittany. Plus, if you count that month in college…"
"That's not the point, Santana."
"I mean, maybe she bears a slight resemblance to Ms. Holiday. Tall, blond, blue eyes, legs that go on for days."
"And people make fun of me for having a type?" Rachel asked, causing both women to glare at her.
"Wait, did you have a thing for Ms. Holiday in high school?" Quinn asked.
"Not a thing, Fabray, god, that's gross. She was hot, okay? It's not my fault I noticed."
"Ew, Santana, she dated our teacher."
"What does it mean to be 'technically' together? Is there a non-technical together?" Lily asked. Everyone silenced for a moment.
"You know, I think it's time we get going," Quinn said, picking up her daughter's guitar and extending her hand to Lily.
"Me too,' Rachel added quickly. They all quickly said their goodbyes to Brittany and Santana and walked out of the house toward their cars.
"It was nice to see you again, Rachel," Quinn said as they stood by their cars. "I hear you are working on another movie deal. Does that mean you'll be staying in Los Angeles?"
"Part time. New York will still be my home base." Quinn nodded.
"Go give Rachel a hug goodbye," Quinn said to Lily, who ran over and hugged Rachel tightly around the legs.
"It's good to see you, Lily. You too, Quinn," Rachel said, briefly making eye contact with Quinn. Lily went back to her mother.
"Maybe we could get a bite to eat sometime, you know, catch up?"
"I'm pretty busy these days, but you can always have Santana put you in touch with my assistant," Rachel replied, turning and getting into her car. Quinn aggressively fought back the tears behind her eyes as she buckled Lily into her car seat and got in the driver side. She sat for a moment collecting herself. She couldn't go home and drink. She was eleven days sober and she didn't want to break that. She had to pull herself together.
"Mommy, are you and Rachel not friends anymore?" Lily asked from the back.
"Of course we are, dear," Quinn said quickly. "Let's go home and get dinner started, okay?" Quinn said, glancing back at her daughter in the rearview mirror. Lily nodded and Quinn turned her keys in the ignition and drove off.
Rachel kept it together for about ten minutes before she had to pull over and cry. She knew she was doing the right thing, but she also couldn't help but feel bad for being so cold to Quinn. Quinn was her friend, and Quinn was obviously hurting. It was just lunch, they could just eat lunch as friends. Rachel knew that wasn't the case. She and Quinn weren't just friends anymore, and reopening that relationship would just reopen that can of worms. Rachel took a deep breath and wiped her eyes before pulling back out into traffic.
"Brittany. You must realize this is the silliest fight we've ever had, right? You're talking about my therapist who happens to bear a slight resemblance to a substitute teacher we had in high school whom I mentioned I was attracted to, in passing, and after she helped me deal with my confusing sexuality." Brittany smirked.
"I just like to see you get defensive," Brittany said, "it's cute. Plus, I really couldn't deal with their sexual tension. It seemed like a fast way to get them out of the house."
"That was manipulative, B." Santana said smirking.
"I learned from the best," Brittany said.
"Hey! I'm not manipulative," Santana said, pouting again, "anymore," Santana added on.
"See," Brittany said, kissing Santana on the lips. "Defensive. You're cute."
"I got it from you," Santana said, returning the kiss.
"Up, up!" Cried Nico. Santana picked her son up.
"Don't get jealous, little man."
"He's gonna have all the ladies swooning over him when he's older," Brittany said tousling his hair. "He may give you a run for your money," she said to Santana.
"Don't bet on it, Nico," she said. "No one will ever match Santana Lopez's game. Besides, I got the prettiest girl in the world, so you can never really live up to your mami," Santana said. Nico looked up at his mother's wide-eyed, clearly not understanding what was going on.
"You don't have anything to worry about, baby," Brittany said to Nico. "You're mami doesn't have game. Just a nice rack. You'll do just fine." Brittany said. Santana just gaped at her wife. "What do you want to do for dinner, honey?" Brittany asked.
"We're ignoring you," Santana replied. Brittany just shrugged, picking up Olivia and heading to the fridge with Lola on her heels.
"We have more fun without them anyway, don't we girls," Brittany said to Lola and Olivia. Santana laughed and walked over to help Brittany start dinner.