A.N.: Ok so, there's nothing going on in this chapter, really. I just pissed off my woman and she made me write to make it up to her, so I tried to make it kinda cute. Although, now she's gonna be more pissed that I said that haha ;p So anyway, here's just an update on Brittany's and Santana's lives. There's gonna be another update again soon. Thank you guys for your reviews, follows and favorites :)
I was leaning on the side of Marley's desk, watching as she booked an appointment with a client.
"So, I'll see you next Tuesday then." My smile was professional, I perfected it over the years, as I shook the woman's hand and watched as she left the office. I sighed and ran a hand though my hair. "Too many divorces, Marley." I commented and she hummed her agreement as she typed something on her computer.
"And too much cheating." She added.
"I mean yes, it's my job and I actually make a living out of people's pain over their failed marriages but I don't get it." I frowned. Marriage was hard, I knew that for sure. You had to work for it in order to have a successful marriage. Love, money and sex weren't enough. But cheating was definitely not the solution to whatever the problem was. I knew I would never cheat on my wife, no matter what we might be going through. I just wished Brittany shared the same thoughts about cheating as me. I was pretty sure she did.
"Makes sense that you don't. You're actually happy in your marriage and it's obvious to anyone who meets you. Like, your wife literally made me force you to have at least an hour of rest everyday when you were pregnant and she made me give you something to eat every two hours. Oh, and no caffeine." Marley reminded me of how protective and caring Brittany was being when I was pregnant. And she still was. "Mrs. Pierce can be a very intimidating woman." She added, making me chuckle. Brittany could be intimidating, and it was more intense when I was pregnant. It made me feel loved and protected.
I gave birth to a beautiful boy almost two years ago. The name of our son was George, like Brittany's father. When we found out that we would have a boy, I suggested we named him after my wife's father but only if she wanted to. And it definitely took her a long time to think about it. But when George was born, Brittany said that she wanted it only if I was 'ok' with her teaching the kids German as well as Spanish. I figured that Brittany wanted to honor her father by naming her son after him and honor her mother by teaching German to her kids. And I definitely didn't have a problem with that, so Alice started learning German too when she was seven.
Brittany was taking George with her at the dance studio when she had to be there. She was actually spending the whole day with him, but I got to see him in the mornings when Brittany was still sleeping. I got to feed him and bathe him. And I got to spend time with Alice as well and what made it a thousand times better was that I got to see my kids interact. One of the advantages of Alice's and George's seven years of age difference was that Alice could actually take care of him. She could hold him, read to him, teach him to talk and walk. And whenever I was watching them interact, I was reminded of why I was doing this. Why I loved my family and why I didn't want to find myself somewhere that wasn't my home. Anywhere away from my kids and my wife was a place where I didn't want to be. Spending time with my kids in the mornings made me feel like I wasn't missing on anything when I was at work. Although I was always missing both of my kids and my wife.
"So, what now?" I asked and Marley checked her computer before answering.
"You have an appointment in an hour." She informed me. Brittany would stay at the dance studio later than usual that day, so I would pick up Alice from my mother. When Brittany couldn't pick her up from school, Maribel was doing it for us and so Alice was spending a couple of hours with Maribel and Mario some afternoons.
"Alright then." I turned to leave the office and headed to the small kitchenette of the floor to make a cup of coffee. And after a couple of minutes I heard voices coming from outside the kitchenette.
"Dude, I just hate her. She most probably slept her way up there, she's not that good of an attorney. She's just hot." I knew that voice. It belonged to Jacob Collins, the intern that was under my supervision for the past couple of months. I took my cup of coffee to take a sip and turned towards the door.
"Are you high? I've learnt more from her in those three months than I've learnt through all of my years at the university." That voice was Liam's. He was under my supervision two years ago and he got a permanent job at the firm. Liam and Jacob were standing outside the kitchenette where they couldn't see me but I could hear them. Loud and clear. "I mean yeah, she can be a bitch sometimes but if you actually listen to her, you learn things and she becomes fun after a while. Lopez is like the best from all the lawyers I've worked with during my internship. I mean Pierce. I mean Lopez-Pierce or whatever, I'm confused." Liam confirmed my suspicions that they were talking about me and if I wasn't seriously pissed off and annoyed at the moment, I would laugh at his confusion.
Lots of people were confused about my last name. I was not particularly proud of my family's name and when I got married to Brittany, I changed my last name to Pierce. But I had already a name at the firm and I thought that I should keep the Lopez too since it was the name that everybody used to address me and it was the name with which I started my career. So, my name was Santana Lopez-Pierce.
"Wait, she's married? You mean there's a poor man out there suffering with her?" Jacob asked.
"No, she's a lesbian." Liam answered. I didn't hear anything so I figured that Jacob just had a surprised look on his face. "Yeah I know, you should see her wife man. Maybe you saw her around, that blonde with the piercings and the tattoos. Sugar's friend."
"Are you serious? Those two are together? Like those two are having sex? Together? Now that's a hot picture. They're both getting some." I could almost imagine the look of pure awe on his face and it made me cringe. So, I decided to speak up.
"Well, thank you." I stepped out of the kitchenette to see that Jacob had gone pale when he heard my voice and that Liam was looking everywhere but me. But I didn't care about him, I knew I could be a bitch, I was just glad that he recognized the help I gave him. I turned to Jacob with a sarcastically sweet smile on my face. "You just made it easier for me. I won't have to think of a name to recommend between you and Olivia." I took a sip from my coffee and arched an eyebrow at him over the rim of the mug. Not that I was going to recommend Jacob before I heard that conversation.
I turned to go back to my office but I could hear him following me.
"Wait." Jacob told me but before he could say anything else someone else called for him so he couldn't talk to me. That was good, I didn't even want to know what excuse he would come up with. He certainly made up a lot these past two months.
…
I was descending the stairs outside the building, thinking that I had to pick up Alice from my mother and then quickly go home and get ready because Quinn and Mike, who were a married couple now, invited us over for dinner. It would be casual, Anna and Jake, who was working with Quinn, and Sugar and Puck would be there as well. But when I looked up I saw that Brittany was standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding George in her arms as the two-year-old had his tiny hands on her face.
I let a surprised smile take over my face as I neared them. Our son's skin was paler than mine and his eyes were green but he's hair was dark like mine. His appearance was a mixture of Brittany and I and he was probably the cutest little man that I had ever seen. And Brittany was getting more and more beautiful as the years went by. I just loved seeing them together, it warmed my heart and it made me fall in love with my family all over again.
"Hey." I said softly when I was right in front of them, making Brittany smile her perfect smile at me. And when George heard my voice, he started calling for me.
"Mamamamama!" I knew he wasn't going to stop if I ignored him, and his voice would only get higher and louder. And so I leaned in and kissed his forehead but before I could take him from Brittany, a voice called my name from behind me.
"Santana." I turned to see Jacob descending the stairs and I inwardly rolled my eyes. I didn't want him anywhere near my family. "Look, I didn't mean that earlier."
"Save it, Collins. I don't care about what you think of me. I only care about the research paper that you haven't finished yet. Apparently you're too busy gossiping." He obviously didn't like that.
"Why should I finish it? You said that you'll recommend Olivia." He challenged me. The last thing I needed was a twenty-year-old giving me attitude. In front of my family.
"How 'failed to complete a simple research paper' would look like on the recommendation letter you'll get from one of the most highly-ranked law firms of New York? I'm sure it would look great on your résumé. Everyone will want to hire you, it looks so promising."
"What are you talking about? I do all the hard work and you get the credit." He retorted angrily as he raised his voice and I felt myself starting to get angry.
"You think doing research on previous cases and the way they were handled is hard work? You're in for big surprises." I chuckled humorlessly, causing him to cross his arms in front of his chest and frown at me angrily. "I want it on my desk by tomorrow morning." I said dismissively as I threw a glance at my wife. This was making me uncomfortable.
"Why would I do that?" Jacob almost shouted, obviously wanting to start a fight with me.
"Because I said so!" I snapped as I glared at him. It was probably the first time I got so angry at work. Brittany picked up on it because she took a step back from Jacob and me. I let out a long breath and tried to calm myself, I really didn't want my son hear me shouting. "You do the research, you give it to me, I represent the client and I get the money."
"That's not fair." He frowned.
"I don't care if it's fair or not, that's your job and I shouldn't even argue with you about it. We've all been there, if you don't like it then you chose the wrong career." He clicked his tongue in annoyance, which did nothing to calm my anger.
"What's your problem with me? Is it because I'm a man? I should've known. Of course you'd recommend Olivia for the position, she's a woman and you're a lesbian." He actually looked like he believed what he said and I stared at him like he was stupid for a few seconds, until he squirmed under my gaze and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. I was painfully aware of the fact that Brittany was there but I was glad that she didn't say anything.
"Olivia's working overtime right now while you're here trying to convince me that you shouldn't hand me a research paper for a case that's so simple, my nine-year-old daughter could've completed in half an hour. You're so lazy and disrespectful, Collins, and you have only a month to get your act together, learn to respect your supervisors and get your assignments done. With that attitude, you won't be going far and I guarantee you that." I stared him down until he finally realized that he couldn't really fight me.
"Fine." He almost huffed and turned to leave, but not before spending a few seconds staring at my wife in all her short shorts and tattoo-exposing tank top glory. And so I thought it would be a good idea to 'punish' him since he pissed me off and checked out my wife. I wasn't such a big fan of 'I'm the boss and you have to do whatever I say' attitude but this intern needed to be put in his place.
"Collins." I called and he turned to me again, looking expectantly. I looked in my bag and pulled out a file of a mock trial case and held it out for him to take. "I want a summary of your strategy decisions and arguments you'd make on the client's behalf on my desk by tomorrow morning." It would take him a few hours to do that, so I guess he would have a long night.
"Do you even take into account our ideas?" He glared at me as he took the file. But I ignored him. I would take his ideas into account if he happened to think of something that was smarter than my ideas. Call me arrogant but I highly doubted that something like that would happen.
When he realized that I wouldn't answer his question, he huffed and left. I clicked my tongue in annoyance and ran a hand through my hair. I didn't get mad at work often, but something about Jacob set me off. Maybe it was because he was arrogant and smug or because he questioned my abilities as an attorney and how I got my job or because he accused me of discriminating against him. Or maybe it was because he was picturing my wife and me naked, like we were some kind of real life porn he could play in his head for his own entertainment. Or maybe it was because he was picking up a fight with me in front of my family.
I turned back to Brittany to see that she had an eyebrow arched at me. I sighed as I took George from her.
"Hey, baby." I nuzzled his neck and smelled his tenderness, allowing my son's tiny body to calm me down as he curled against me. I pulled back and kissed his forehead and he leaned his head on my mouth. He was probably already tired and sleepy. "He pissed me off." I told Brittany, because I wanted to explain.
"I'm so turned on by you right now." She bit her pierced bottom lip and looked at me through her eyelashes, making me roll my eyes.
"Seriously, babe. I'm sorry you had to see that." I whispered and she smiled softly. It was a rule for me that work problems stayed at work and home problems stayed at home. Brittany came closer to me and slid her arms around my waist as she brought our bodies closer, trapping our son between us.
"It's fine." She whispered against my cheek before kissing the skin there and I allowed her touch to soften my tensed shoulders. "You just amaze me." I pulled back from her to arch an eyebrow.
"I just snapped in the middle of the road at a stupid boy." I said pointedly.
"Yeah well, if it was me I would punch him in the face. It's probably my biggest failing as a person." She shrugged. I didn't agree though, because she made a lot of progress these past few years at controlling her temper and I told her so many times. "But you use your words and sometimes I just wonder how much patience can fit in five feet three." She smiled teasingly and I couldn't help it when a smile formed on my lips as well. Brittany had the ability to calm me down and make everything seem so simple and easy.
"I'm just gonna ignore your comment about my height." I shrugged and my wife shrugged too. "So, this is a nice surprise." I commented then as I hoisted George further up on my hip.
"Well, someone missed you and started to get grumpy so I thought we could surprise you." At first I thought that she was talking about George but when I looked at him, he was just watching the people passing by, always curious about everything.
"Was it you?" I asked suspiciously as I returned my narrowed eyes on my wife.
"Yeah." She sighed defeated, causing me to chuckle.
"I missed you too." I shrugged and she smiled again as she kissed my forehead.
"Come on!" She exclaimed then as she pulled back from me and grabbed my free hand. "Ali's waiting for us and Quinn gets annoying when we're late."
…
We were sitting in Quinn's and Mike's living room after dinner. Beth and Alice were in Beth's room while George was sleeping in the guest room.
My wife was sitting with Anna, Jake and Sugar at the other side of the living room while I was with Quinn. But I wasn't talking to her because I was too busy watching my wife. It was ridiculous, I was in love with every little thing about her. Like her smile, or the way she would frown disapprovingly or the way her tongue was playing with her piercing or the way she would let a smirk take over her beautiful face when she was teasing someone.
I was probably not supposed to be so smitten after so many years but I just loved seeing her being open and happy and carefree. Because you can't live if you keep hating the world. It was something that was eating her inside.
I sighed after a couple of minutes when I remembered that Quinn was sitting quietly next to me and I turned to find her looking at Mike and Puck who were having a conversation.
"Does it bother you?" I asked her quietly, effectively bringing her out of her thoughts.
"No, I just want to know what they're talking about." She shrugged. It was probably weird for Quinn watching her husband and the father of her child interacting. But they seemed to get along just fine.
"They're probably planning how to destroy Tom." I nudged her shoulder with mine, causing her to smile. Tom was Beth's boyfriend and I knew it because I actually met the guy. He was probably the most polite person on earth, and that was why everybody liked him. Even Puck who was the most protective one.
I didn't know how Puck and Quinn wanted it to be but since Beth was basically living with Quinn and Mike, she quickly started to like him. They didn't have a father-daughter relationship but they were actually really close. Closer than Beth and Sugar were, those two were more like friends. And what I knew for sure was that Mike loved Beth like she was his daughter and that was what made all this tangled up issue easier.
"I'm not your math monkey, you know." Brittany mumbled bitterly as she stood up, getting my attention. I smiled because they probably asked her to do a calculation or something and she would always say that she wasn't a calculator. But she was and I was pretty sure she knew the answer but she didn't tell them.
"No, where are you going?" Sugar frowned but Brittany ignored her as she made her way to me. She sat next to me as she lifted my arm so she could lean on me and I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to my body. I sighed when I smelled her scent and felt her leaning against me, only then realizing how much I had missed my wife being close to me.
"No!" Puck groaned as he glared at Brittany and Anna laughed satisfied, causing me to frown. "Dude, two minutes. Couldn't you wait for another two minutes?" He frowned disapprovingly as he looked at his watch.
"What?" Brittany asked, clearly she was confused as well.
"Come on." Anna held up her hand, like she was waiting for Puck to give her something.
"I hate you." He told Anna bitterly, making her chuckle, as he reached in his pocket and pulled out some dollar bills and gave them to her.
"What the hell, guys?"
"Puck said that you guys could go for fifteen minutes without touching each other, but I know my sister so well." Anna smirked, causing me to roll my eyes. Apparently they had put a bet on.
"I trusted you and you failed me." Puck said dramatically, causing the others to laugh. But Brittany and I weren't amused. We spent the most hours of our days not being together, so when we had the chance we wanted to actually be together.
"We can't be in the same room and not touch each other. It's wrong, it's like it's not supposed to be happening. It's like dividing by zero, it just can't happen. The universe may explode." My wife said, causing everybody's laughter to die down.
"That was weirdly sweet." Quinn commented and I smiled because that was as far as Brittany would go to confess real feelings in front of other people. Well, maybe except our wedding. She definitely wasn't shy, and she didn't have a problem with showing affection, but it was different talking about it.
My fingers tickled her exposed arm, causing her to cross her long legs as she turned her body to me. I was momentarily distracted by her strong pale thighs but she cupped my jaw and turned my head so I would look at her.
"Hi." I smiled when my eyes connected with her beautiful blue ones and she smiled back, making my heart skip a beat. It amazed me that Brittany still had such strong effects on me. "Did I forget to mention that you're not allowed to wear those short shorts anymore?" I whispered so only she could hear me, as my hand went on a strong thigh and caressed soft skin. It caused her hand to drop from my jaw and she placed it on my arm instead.
"Why not?"
"They're too short." I frowned disapprovingly as I looked at my hand that was on her thigh. They certainly were short, so short that I could see almost the whole tiger that was tattooed there.
"So?" She shrugged and I looked up at her with narrowed eyes.
"You're married." I reasoned but she didn't seem to find that a good enough reason. "You're taken, Britt. Deal with it."
"Well, you're married too and I don't want you wearing those tight skirts at work." She shrugged and I frowned.
"I can't do that."
"But they're too tight." She tried to mimic my tone from earlier and I rolled my eyes. "Your ass looks great, I almost don't want to let you leave for work in the mornings."
"That's different." I let my fingers disappear under the hem of her shorts and rubbed her skin, completely ignoring the fact that there were people around us. Brittany looked at my hand, before turning to connect her piercing blues with my browns.
"Are you trying to seduce me, babe?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Is it working?" I asked and she shook her head 'no'. "Then no, I'm not." She chuckled.
"You're so fucking cute right now." She smiled. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help it when a smile took over my face as well. I wasn't going for it but if Brittany thought that I was cute then I would accept it.
But I didn't have time to say anything because some started whistling and others groaned. I was just glad that they couldn't actually hear the conversation, I would never hear the end of how whipped I was.
"Lesbian porn!" Puck exclaimed and I turned to glare at him because the kids were in the next room. "What? You are doing it, I'm just saying it." He shrugged with his disgusting smirk in place. You would think that because he got married, he would stop smirking like that and making inappropriate jokes but some things never change.
"Stop acting like you guys just started dating." Sugar frowned as Brittany took my hand that was on her thigh in her hand, so we wouldn't give them a reason to talk about us anymore.
"Yeah, what's the next step in your relationship? Sex above the sheets? Sex with the lights on?" Puck added sarcastically. I would answer to that if my wife didn't hate talking about sex in front of others.
"What do you mean? Those are things?" Anna wondered which made Brittany groan because, although Anna was twenty-six and obviously a sexually active person, my wife still didn't like it. I just thought her frown was cute.
"No, I don't know. It depends on your body issues, I guess." Puck shrugged.
"Oh well, I don't have any." Anna said smugly which caused Jake to roll his eyes.
"You know, as you get older you're becoming more and more like your sister." He said pointedly, which made my wife arch an eyebrow at him. "Oh come on! I think we all know how 'confident' you two are." I was pretty sure he wanted to say 'arrogant' or 'full of themselves' and he was kind of right, which amused me. I was glad to see that he wasn't intimidated by Brittany anymore and he could actually tease her like that.
"Yeah, you two definitely don't need to have any body issues." Puck nodded with his disgusting smirk.
"Dude." Jake frowned disapprovingly at him as he tightened his hold around Anna and Puck held up his hands defensively.
"Oh my god, Puck. Leave them alone, they're actually lucky enough that they never had anything to do with you." I frowned at him. It was messed up because Puck had sex with Quinn and me and obviously Brittany and Mike didn't like that. And I knew Puck was thinking about it because his smirk never faltered.
Brittany shifted so she wasn't in my arms anymore. She took my arm away from her shoulders, so she could put her own around my shoulders and pulled me so I was practically leaning my whole weight on her. The truth was that it wasn't that difficult to wake her possessive self. I loved being in her arms anyway.
"And don't even be smug about it. After that, one found out that she was a lesbian and the other joined the celibacy club." I told Puck pointedly, and that caused his smirk to falter.
"Leave my husband alone." Sugar spoke up but Puck just arched a challenging eyebrow at me.
"Two can play that game, you know." He told me and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"What?" Brittany looked at me with a confused look but I didn't have time to say anything because Puck stood up and got everybody's attention.
"Ok, so here's Santana in her early twenties, right?" He stood in the middle where everybody could see him and I huffed because I knew where this was going. He was going to mock my dancing skills. "So, we're in the club and everybody's dancing around and San's like this." He pretended that he was holding a drink and he was shifting his weight from one leg to the other in time with an imaginary beat, supposedly 'dancing'. He puffed his chest out pretending that he had my breasts and puckered his lips to make his own look like my full ones and it made everybody start laughing, including my wife. His impression of me was awful.
"I was not like that!" I protested but he held up his hand to stop me.
"This is exactly you." He flipped his imaginary hair over his shoulder, making everybody laugh again. "And then a hot chick passes by." He bit his bottom lip as his head followed the imaginary hot chick and then he nodded appreciatively, still moving in time with the rhythm. He winked at the nobody and sent a kiss, making everybody burst out laughing. I definitely wasn't winking or sending any kisses.
"You're so full of shit, Puckerman!" I snapped but it only made him laugh. I turned to look at my wife to see that she was still chuckling. "Stop laughing, I wasn't like that." I defended and she chuckled one last time before mumbling 'ok' and kissing my temple.
"Yeah, she was." Puck nodded with a smirk on his face.
"Shut it, Puck. You don't wanna start telling stories now." I warned him and he held up his hands defensively.
"No, I don't. But if we start telling stories then the most embarrassing ones belong to…" He trailed off and I smirked as we both turned to Quinn, causing her to roll her eyes.
"No." She shook her head with finality.
"I wanna know." Mike spoke up.
"I'll tell you." Puck immediately said and went to sit next to him, making Quinn stand up and go to her husband, probably to defend herself. But my wife got my attention and so I zoned everybody else out.
"I'm gonna check up on George." She told me and when I mumbled 'ok', she kissed my cheek and stood up. My eyes followed her movements, focusing on the curve of her lower back and her ass, her long legs and the way she walked as she left the living room. I turned to see that everybody started talking with each other again so I stood up and followed Brittany.
She was bent over the bed, trying to reach George who rolled at the other end of the bed and he was face to face with a pillow that was against the wall. She was adjusting the pillow to make sure that he wouldn't get hurt, when I quietly went behind her and grabbed her waist. I thought she would gasp startled or tense or freak out or at least something, because I knew for a fact that she didn't really like sneak attacks, let alone someone sticking themselves on her ass like that while she was bent over. But she didn't react at all.
"Did you miss me already?" She asked me amused as she straightened up but I slid my arms around her waist so she couldn't turn around.
"How did you know that it was me?" I asked as her hands went on my arms that were on her stomach. She was taller than me but that was perfect because my lips immediately went on her exposed shoulder blade and started leaving small soft kisses on her painted skin.
It was amazing how her tattoos represented her. The phoenix looked wild and scary but when I was touching her skin she was soft and smooth. Just like Brittany. She looked wild and distant and unapproachable but once someone got to touch her, they realized how soft and warm she could be.
"I can feel your eyes when they're on me, baby. And they were on me all night." I hummed, not bothering to ask how she knew that because I definitely didn't want to start talking about energy and dynamics and the sixth sense and metaphysics with Brittany. It wasn't that it was boring, it was just that I couldn't really follow and I always ended up just watching her lips moving. Pink, soft, warm and perfect pierced lips.
"Well, maybe it was because I wanted something from you. And I still do." I tugged her waist so she would turn around and she immediately put her arms around my neck as her piercing eyes bored into mine.
"I'm sorry, I can't kiss you in front of the baby." She whispered teasingly, obviously understanding what I was talking about.
"But he's sleeping." I leaned forward to connect our lips but she pulled back before I could kiss her, causing me to groan. "Kiss me." I frowned disapprovingly.
"Nope." She shook her head. I knew that teasing look and the truth was that I didn't always like it.
"Come on! You haven't kissed me today at all!" I whined. I just wanted those pink lips on mine.
"Hey, that tone won't make me kiss you." She scolded me.
"Brittany." I said strongly, already knowing that she was a sucker for my 'lawyer voice'.
"That tone will." She leaned in and connected our lips as her arms tightened around my neck. I sighed satisfied in the kiss as my hands slid around her waist and I let my whole body lean against hers. The kiss was soft and loving. Its purpose wasn't to turn us on and lead us to mind-blowing orgasms. Its purpose was simple. To convey the love we felt for each other. And those soft lips moving lovingly against mine felt perfect. Just perfect.
But I didn't have time to really enjoy that because someone cleared their throat behind us. I pulled back from my wife's addictive lips and dropped my arms from her waist as I turned to see that it was Anna standing by the door.
"I'm sorry." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Apparently, she was apologizing for interrupting us.
"Hey, it's fine." I smiled at her reassuringly and she forced a nervous smile back.
"Uh…" She came to stand in front of us. She was looking between us for a few seconds as she played with her hands nervously in front of her.
"What's up, weirdo?" Brittany asked and I chuckled because Anna was acting weirdly.
"Ok, so I know this isn't the perfect time to tell you guys but I don't think I can wait."
"Tell us what?" I asked as I crossed my arms in front of my chest. Anna looked behind her to make sure that nobody was there before turning to us again.
"I'm pregnant." She whispered and bit her bottom lip to hide her smile. My eyes widened in surprise, and although Anna and Jake got married a year ago, I still didn't know that they wanted a baby.
"Pregnant?" Brittany asked. Anna looked at her sister, whose face was expressionless, and sighed. She obviously didn't know what reaction to expect from Brittany and honestly, I didn't know either.
"Yeah." She nodded and waited for Brittany's reaction. My wife studied her sister's face before looking at me and then at Anna before looking at me again.
"My baby sister is pregnant." She whispered but her face was still expressionless as she turned to Anna again. "Oh my god, my baby sister is pregnant." She let a beautiful smile take over her face as she pulled Anna in her arms for a tight hug. Anna sighed relieved as she melted in Brittany's embrace and my heart warmed at their interaction. "I'm so happy for you, honey." Brittany said when she pulled back and she meant it so much, it made Anna's eyes water. "I'm probably the happiest sister on earth right now." She cupped her sister's cheeks and kissed her forehead.
"No, I think I am." Anna said back. It probably meant a lot to her that Brittany reacted like that. It wasn't that Anna needed Brittany's approval for anything, she was a grown up woman, but she needed her sister to be happy for her and be there for her. And Brittany obviously was.
"Hey." I said softly to break their staring contest and Anna smiled wider as she fell in my arms as well. "Congratulations." I smiled at her when she pulled back from the tight hug.
"Thanks." She chuckled.
"I'm gonna have to have a talk with Jake." Brittany frowned and it made Anna roll her eyes.
"Well, now it's kinda late. You should've done that before I married him."
"Oh, I did then too." My wife said pointedly, causing Anna to widen her eyes. Apparently she didn't know that Brittany and Jake had that talk for probably the thousandth time. She looked at me with her still wide eyes but I mouthed at her that it was fine. And it was fine. Jake knew that Brittany needed to look after her sister, although she really didn't have to with Jake, and so he let her say what she wanted to say. And then they just joked about it. Although I was pretty sure that Brittany meant every single word.
"He wants the baby so much, Britt." Anna said reassuringly. "He was ecstatic about it when I told him. We had talked about it in the past too but we weren't really trying, it just sort of happened." She shrugged but then she looked like she regretted what she said. "I'm sorry." I realized that she apologized to us because she knew that we went through a painful time when we were trying to get pregnant with George.
"Oh honey, don't be sorry. It's fine." I looked at Brittany to make sure that she agreed with me and she nodded as her arm went around my waist. I turned to smile at Anna again. "This is probably gonna be the best experience of your life. I'm not gonna lie to you and say that you'll enjoy every second of it, but when the baby is born you'll know how much it's worth it. Don't let anything take that away from you." I squeezed her arm and she smiled at me gratefully.
I couldn't help but remember what it had been like for us. It had been more than a whole year of trying to get pregnant and failing and it drained us. Brittany was trying to be the strong one, which made it even more difficult for her. But when I finally passed the first trimester of the pregnancy without losing the baby for the second time, we were finally able to breathe. And thankfully that happened before I had time to give up. I never regretted it though, I never could. Because having a baby was a blessing. It was the most precious gift.
…
"Hey, beautiful." I smiled as I stepped in Alice's bedroom to find her ready for bed. She immediately came to meet me halfway and hugged me tightly.
"Hi, mom." She giggled as she looked up at me, her chin resting on my chest. Alice was constantly joyful and cheerful, even when George couldn't say her name or when he couldn't say 'Pierce' or when he was messing up her things. She was like a ray of sunshine in our lives and I couldn't help but think that Brittany was like that too when she was nine. Someone that everybody liked.
"Ready for bed?" I asked as I ran both hands through her blonde hair and she pouted. "Oh no. You're already way past your bedtime." I said pointedly and she sighed defeated.
"Ok." She dropped her arms from my waist and went sit on her bed. She took her school backpack from the floor and took out a sheet and held it up for me to take. "You have to sign this." She told me and I took it to see that it was a test in Science that she got an A.
"Oh wow! You answered every question correctly!" I smiled big as I looked over the test.
"And I answered the bonus question too!" I really couldn't get enough of her smiles and good mood, no matter how tired I was. I sat next to her on the bed and took the pen that she was holding.
"That's great, honey. I knew you'd do great because I saw you studying." I commented as she turned around so I could sign the test on her back. It was like a rule for us that I always had to sign like that.
"Mom helped." She told me as I signed and she turned around again to take the pen and the test.
"I think you did all the work." I kissed her forehead and she smiled as she placed her things back in her backpack and then fell in bed. "I'm so proud of you, baby."
"Thanks." She giggled looking up at me and I chuckled.
"Alright, now sleep." I leaned down and allowed her to hug me before kissing both of her cheeks and standing up again.
"Wait, where's mom?" Alice asked me.
"I don't know, honey. Downstairs maybe." I answered and she nodded. "You know that she comes here while you're sleeping and leaves kisses all over your face, right?" I asked just to make sure that Alice didn't think that Brittany forgot about her.
"Yes, I can feel it when I wake up." She told me and I smiled amused.
"Ok then."
"Night night." She mumbled as she turned on her side.
"Goodnight, sweetheart." I left Alice's room, but not before turning off the light and closing the door.
I sighed when I went in George's room to make sure the baby monitor was on, thinking that he was growing up fast and that in a couple of months he would be able to climb over the crib, so I had to talk to Brittany about getting him a bed.
I could feel the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with me as I left my son's room and made my way to my own. I turned on the switch in the bedroom but there was no light.
"Oh come on! Why?" I cried. I was too tired for this.
"There could be a number of reasons." Brittany said behind me and she startled me because I thought that she was downstairs. She went inside the room and reached for the lamp. "But it's probably because of the temperature. Some materials expand when it's hot and they contract when it's cold, so the lamp was unscrewed by these forces." She explained to me as she screwed the lamp back in. She came back to me and turned the light on.
"Jeez, babe. I didn't ask for an actual reason, you know." I mumbled. She was always so perfect, it was like she knew everything and sometimes she was making me think that if I had never met her, I would be hopeless. Like, how was I supposed to know this? I loved that about her though, she was a genius. Like the definition of genius.
"Well, my wife's a lawyer and she told me that if I don't want the answer then I shouldn't ask the question." I rolled my eyes. Besides genius, she could be a smartass as well.
"Well, thanks for fixing that." I mumbled as I passed by her to get in the room.
"You're welcome." She told me amused as she closed the door behind her.
I watched my wife as she changed her clothes and I frowned skeptically.
"Hey." I called to get her attention when she was done and she turned to me. "Will you be permanently turned off if I take this off?" I asked and held up the strap of the bra that I was wearing. Brittany stared at me for a few seconds before looking around the room, seeming like she was looking for something. "Britt?"
"Am I being punk'd?" She asked me and I sighed as I let my hands fall by my sides again. "Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm your wife." She said pointedly as she extended her hand. I rolled my eyes at her and grabbed her hand to tug her closer to me.
"I just feel like my breasts are gross." I whispered. I stopped breastfeeding George a few weeks ago, and although Brittany had seen them, she didn't say anything. She didn't just see them actually, but I tried to not let any sexy thoughts invade my mind.
"Honey." Brittany sighed as her hands disappeared under my tank top and unclasped my bra. I let her slide the straps down my arms and she took off the bra from under my tank top and threw it on the dresser. "You're so beautiful. You're breasts are perfect, they always were. You are perfect."
"My body changed, Britt." I sighed as I hid my face in her neck and she hugged me tightly against her.
"Yeah, it did. You're actually more beautiful now. Your skin's constantly glowing. You lost all the weight but you still have some stretch marks which I'm in love with. I'd be pissed if your body didn't change because I want to remember that you had my son inside of you, Santana." She squeezed my shoulders and I hummed. "Ok?" She cupped my cheeks to pull my face away from her neck and looked at me questioningly.
"Ok." I sighed. I could hear in her voice how much she meant that and I could see it in her beautiful blue eyes. And it was the easiest and hardest thing for me to do to believe her. And I chose to believe her, because she was my wife and I completely trusted her.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Brittany narrowed her eyes at me and I nodded while she was still holding my head in her hands. "Where are your dimples then?" Her finger poked my cheek, where my dimples were supposed to be and I couldn't help but smile, and therefore show her my dimples. "Oh thank god." She sighed relieved.
I smiled gratefully at my wife because she made me get my body confidence back with just a few words. Actually it wasn't just her words, it was the look in her eyes and the way she touched me, and I just knew that she meant what she said to me.
Not long after that, we found ourselves in bed. Brittany was lying on her stomach, leaning her weight on her elbows, and I was on my side, watching her beautiful face as she focused on her fingers that were drawing random patterns on the bed. Well, random for me. They probably meant lots of mathematical stuff for her.
It was quiet and we would normally be sleeping by now, but I hadn't been alone with my wife that day and I was missing her. We could also be having sex right now since it was the only time that we weren't with our kids, but I needed something else more.
"Tell me something." I whispered. I just needed to listen to Brittany talk about anything. Things like that the trunk of an elephant has 50.000 muscles or that most people blink over 14.000 times a day or something equally insignificant. Brittany hummed questioningly and I took her hand that was in front of me and lifted it up to my lips so I could kiss her knuckles. "Anything." I added and when she smiled softly at me, I knew that she felt the same way.
"Well…" She trailed off as she leaned down to connect our lips for a soft kiss. "For starters, I love you." She mumbled against my lips and I hummed, wanting to say that I loved her too but preferring to have her lips on mine. But she pulled back after a few seconds. She looked away from me, seemingly thinking about something to say and I just watched her face, thinking how lucky I was to have her by my side for the rest of my life. "Oh, I know." She whispered then like she just remembered something and then chuckled at the memory. "There was this new girl today at the studio and Mike sent her to me and I don't know, someone probably told her that I was a bitch or something."
"You're not a bitch." I interrupted her and she rolled her eyes as she leaned down to peck my lips before pulling back again.
"And she was so scared, she was literally shaking. I mean, I was holding George, how scary can that be?" She chuckled and I smiled at her. "So anyway, I thought that I could try and be 'friendly' because honestly, I didn't want her to faint. And she probably got the wrong idea because before she left she went like 'look, you're really sweet but I'm straight'." She said it in a high-pitched tone, probably trying to mimic this girl's voice. I couldn't help but laugh at that though.
"You're sweet but she's straight?" I chuckled and she nodded amused.
"I was like 'what, what and what'? I fucking stared at her for a few seconds because she couldn't actually mean that. First of all, I'm not sweet, that's offensive. And she's straight? Please, I could turn her gay for the night if I wanted to, that's for sure." She said arrogantly as she rolled her eyes and I chuckled at her.
"Sure you could." I said sarcastically and she arched a challengingly eyebrow at me but I ignored it. She probably could. "What did you say?"
"I said that it's ok and that my wife will help me get over it." She shrugged.
"Oh my god. She must've been so embarrassed." I laughed but Brittany shrugged again, obviously not caring about it.
"Take a fucking hint, like I'm holding my son." She mumbled. "She heard that I was a bitch and then I was nice to her, so she thought that I was flirting." She clicked her tongue and shook her head. "I don't even know how to do that. I don't think I've ever even flirted with you." She chuckled.
"You don't need to flirt. You're charming even when you're breathing, baby. You probably just blinked and she thought that you were giving her the bedroom eyes." My hand went up her arm and over her defined shoulder until it reached the back of her neck before going back down. She rolled her eyes at me, letting me know that both of us knew that I was kind of exaggerating but I also meant it too.
"A twenty-something year old certainly couldn't handle me anyway, no matter how hot she was." She shrugged and pushed my shoulder so I would turn on my back and she lied by my side, draping her leg over my thighs and supported herself on her elbow as her hand held her head so she could look down at me. "Like I'd ever even turn to look at somebody else when I have you." She whispered as her hand went down my arm until she reached my hand and entwined our fingers together.
"Have you thought about it though?" I asked before I could really think my question, causing my wife to arch her eyebrows in surprise.
"To cheat on you?" She asked as she looked at me incredulously and I shrugged at her. "No." She shook her head confidently. "Who cheats on a family lawyer anyway?" She chuckled humorlessly making me roll my eyes. "You'd divorce me and take the kids and the house and all our money and even my fucking underwear. I'm not stupid."
"So, that's why you wouldn't cheat on me?" I asked and she shrugged.
"Yeah, what other reason do I have? But if I decide to throw my life out the window, I'll do it with someone really hot. Like really, really hot." My face screamed how not amused I was but it only caused my wife's teasing smile to grow bigger. "Really hot. Someone like…I don't know. Do you have a twin sister? Or brother?" I was still staring at her with my not amused face. "No? That's a shame."
"Is that your way of saying that you'd never cheat on me, Britt? Because that's what you're supposed to say." I said pointedly and she smiled at me as she leaned down to kiss my jaw.
"It's devastating how my wife can't appreciate my sense of humor." She mumbled against my skin as her kisses slowly reached my neck.
"Britt." I sighed as I squeezed her hand that was in mine and she pulled back from my neck to fix me with a serious look.
"I wouldn't, honey. Ever. I love you so much and it makes me sick to even think about anyone else in that way. Sex for me is a way to show you how much I love you, how beautiful I think you are and how much you mean to me and I don't want to have that connection with anyone else. Sex isn't about fun for me anymore, it's intimate and so special because it's with you. If I can't have that intimacy with you then I don't want to have it at all. And I'm so glad that we can talk about this. And that I can tell you about that girl today and not have you be all mad and stuff and cause a scene and blah blah blah. I'm really happy that we can actually laugh about it because it means that you trust me and you know how committed I am to you and our family." She whispered and I swallowed thickly at her words. It made my heart expand inside my chest and skip several beats.
"I love your little speeches." I whispered back, making her blush. She smiled at me anyway as she leaned down to kiss me again.
"Have you thought about it?" She asked me then and I immediately shook my head 'no'. "Good." She nodded as a frown appeared on her beautiful face.
"Baby?" I called to get her attention because she wasn't looking at me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just thought what would happen if you cheated on me." She took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "It'd be like my world tumbling down for the second time in my life but this time…" She cleared her throat because her voice was coming out shaky and hoarse. "But this time I won't be able to handle it. This time I'll fucking lose it, I'll be like a crazy person."
"Brittany." I sighed as I dropped her hand and cupped both her cheeks. "You're way stronger than that, honey. You're seriously the strongest person that I know, not a lot of people can go through what you've been through. And I'm so proud of you."
"This is different, San." She whispered.
"Well, we won't have to find out because you're my wife and you're it for me. I love you and our kids and I wouldn't want to do this with anybody else. Sharing a life with you is the best thing that could ever happen to me." I shrugged and smiled at her as my hand found hers again. "Can you go back at teasing me now?" She chuckled as she pecked my lips before bringing my hand that was holding hers up to her lips and kissed my rings.
"I knew you like it even though you keep rolling your eyes every time."
"Not always." I mumbled and Brittany hummed amused as she climbed on top of me and settled between my legs.
"Can we make out like a couple of teenagers? Like the hottest couple?" She asked me and I chuckled.
"Ok."
"Ok." She echoed as she leaned down and connected our lips. Our 'make out session' was basically an exchange of I love you's, an exchange of confessions that words couldn't do justice, and an exchange of promises. Promises that I would never get tired of making and keeping because, no matter how long we had been together and no matter that we were now married, I would always want Brittany to know how I feel about her. I wanted her to know how important she was to me. Because I loved her. Because my wife and kids meant the world to me.