Small cries from the monitor by the bed wake me up. It's just after 3AM and he's up and crying. I don't move, waiting to see if he'll soothe himself back to sleep or if I really need to get up. After a few moments he doesn't, and I hear you groan and mumble my name so I take the hint and slide your arm off my stomach and slide out of bed.

I pad into our son's bedroom and find him, he sees me open the door and his little face wrinkles even more, almost like he's putting on a show for the audience. Which he is, because we can't not go to him when he's crying and he already knows it. We really have to work on that, baby.

I pick him up from the crib and pull him into me, his little head buried in my neck and his little body curled into me. When he does that, when he curls into me like he wants to be as close as possible to me, I feel my heart growing and melting at the same time. It's one of the best feelings I will ever feel, being his mom has opened up my heart in so many ways that I never expected.

I bounce over to the rocking chair and sit, letting him cry out whatever is bugging him. If he lasts longer than 20 minutes I'll get up and grab him a bottle that you pumped, but for now, I'll sit and sing to him softly. He drifts back to sleep after about 10 minutes but I stay with him to make sure that he's really sleeping for a little while longer, when his breathing is still even and full, I set him back down in the crib and head back to our room.

The sight I find on arrival would make me laugh if I was more awake, and makes me smile a big smile. You're flat on your stomach, spread-eagle in the middle of the bed. We have a giant bed, but I don't even know what to do, baby. It's like you grew to take up as much space as possible, and it's so damn cute I don't want to disturb you to move, but I'm so so tired. I find a corner on my side, not knowing where your head is, not finding any blonde hair to help, and sink into the sheets. I'm not in bed for long before I feel your long limbs wrap around me, pulling me into a cocoon of you and your warmth, you hum in my ear and I feel warm all over, letting out a sigh and drifting back into slumber.

Before I know it, he's up and crying again. Your arms are still around me, and you're breathing deep in my ear, so I know you haven't heard him. It's only been about an hour since last time, so again I slide out of bed and pad down the hall, pulling him from his crib and taking him to the kitchen to get a bottle. He won't stop this time until his bottle is warm and in his mouth, and now he's looking at me with happiness in his eyes as he eats.

I love the way he looks at me, but I love the way he looks at you even more, baby. I know I'm his Mama and that he loves me, I can see it and feel it. But it's different when he looks at you, because you were with him for nine whole months before. He is bonded to you in a way that is bigger than all three of us, and that's ok. I have time with him now, like these mornings when no one else is up yet but the city outside, to feed him and soothe him and sing to him.

And, baby, the way he looks at you makes my whole world shine. He looks at you like you're the most fascinating, most incredible, most beautiful woman he's ever seen. And, he's right, you are.

He drifts off again in the middle of his bottle, and I set it down, burping him gently before laying him back in his crib. He should sleep for a while now that he's had something and I silently hope that I'll be able to get some sleep.

You're on your back when I crawl back into the bedroom, and I climb under the sheets and snuggle up to you, my head claiming its spot buried in your neck and my arm around your tiny waist. Our legs tangle together and I feel your deep breathing, your steady heartbeat, and drift away.

You're nudging me. Why are you nudging me? I turn over and burrow deeper into my pillow, away from your nudging and back into my dream.

But you don't stop and now you're sleepily calling my name.

"San… Santana…"

"Mmmph."

"The baby."

"Noooo…sleep…"

"Today is your turn."

"I've been up with him all morning…"

"Please, babe…. I'm really tired, I need sleep."

Your words ignite an anger in me I haven't felt in a long time, and an annoyance I haven't felt with you in a while either. I'm out of bed quicker than I'd like fueled by the emotions swirling in me and slam the door behind me. I can't believe you said that. You need to be up in a little while to pump anyway, and I've been up with him all night. Not to mention the fact that you'll be auditioning new company members and I will be with him all day. No break for Santana, today. Just like it's been for the last few days.

My anger doesn't subside when I find him wailing again. He's up for good now, this is his morning wake up call.

I start talking to him to soothe some of my frustration and it works a little. I change his diaper and put him in a onesie for the morning, taking him back into the kitchen with me. He's stopped crying now and is looking around the house, propped up on my arm. He's so damn cute that I don't know what to do with myself. Mornings are his best time. Yes he's up early and he needs to be changed and fed, but he's so content and giggly in the morning. He's a little ball of sunshine and its pure magic.

You don't join the two of us until over an hour later. I hear your bare feet coming towards the kitchen before you say anything and steel myself. I'm still pissed at you, and even though I've enjoyed the morning giggles with our son, he hasn't been able to cheer me all the way up.

"Good morning!" your voice is cheerful and happy, you sound well rested. You come over to where we're sitting at the table and drop kisses all over his face. "Hi little man!"

You give him some attention as I watch quietly out of the corner of my eye. Your attitude is just making me more annoyed and I don't want to say something I shouldn't. I see you stand up and walk over to me, placing a kiss on my head. "Hey, baby."

I grunt out a short hi and return to my coffee. You don't seem to notice anything is wrong.

"Ugh, my boobs are killing me…I have to pump. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Are you kidding right now, Britt?"

"What?" you look surprised.

"Ugh, nothing."

You still look surprised and I stand up and leave you at the table as I rinse out my coffee mug.

"Don't look at me like that, Brittany."

"Santana, is something wrong?"

"Just drop it for now, Brittany." I see you flinch a little bit at the use of your full name for the second time.

"No, I'm not going to drop it. Something is bugging you and I don't know what it is. Did I do something?"

"You asked me to get up with him this morning."

"Ok… "

"Please, babe… I'm really tired." I mimic in my whiniest, meanest, voice. I hate it just a little bit.

"I honestly don't remember saying that but I don't know why it's a big deal, we alternate all the time." I hear myself scoff at your answer, calling bullshit on you not realizing what you said. You're still not getting why I'm mad, and it's making my anger worse and you're looking at me like I'm a horrible person.

"It's not a big deal! What is a big deal is that I barely slept last night because he was up more than once, and you didn't wake up at all!"

"How many times was he up?"

"It doesn't matter how many times he was up! I handled it. But I don't fucking need you nudging me and practically pushing me out of bed, out of sleep I had finally started getting so I could take care of him again this morning!"

"I only nudged you because it was technically your morning with him."

My temper has officially reached its breaking point. "You know what, I can't even fucking deal with this right now."

I storm out of the kitchen and back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind me, and the one to the bathroom where I start the hot water.

I hate fighting with you. I hate getting annoyed with you. I hate arguing in front of people, especially our child. I know he can't understand anything yet, but he can sense emotions and hear the way our voices change.

And, I really hate feeling like this. I feel guilty for being upset, even though I know its ok for me to be upset.

The bathroom steams up quickly and I throw my pjs on the ground and step into the hot stream. It feels glorious on my tired, aching body. I stay in the shower for a while, knowing that I'll only have a pissed wife and a discussion waiting for me on the other side. I just need a few minutes to myself this morning to calm down and organize my thoughts. I don't want to yell anymore, but I want you to know why I was upset.

I hear you gingerly knock on the door a little while into my shower. You step into the bathroom without waiting for my reply and brush your teeth. I hear you get ready for the day and you simply, quietly, tell me that the baby is back down for his nap and the monitor is on the counter by my towel.

"I'll see you later… love you, S." your voice is so quiet and sad, but I will not falter in my annoyance. I love you, baby, but sometimes… sometimes it's really hard.

The baby is asleep when I leave the shower and I take the opportunity to curl up in bed and nap while he is. It's going to be one of those days. My anger at you as cooled a bit and I realize that I was acting like a jerk earlier but we need to have a discussion about how we handle his crying at night. You've been working extra hard, extra long hours this week and I've been accommodating and understanding. You're exhausted when you come home and you still have to feed him and you want to spend time with him. But then you check out and once he's asleep you're a zombie. And because your attention is devoted to our son, as it should be, when you walk in the door that leaves me to do the cooking and cleaning up of dinner after having been with him without a break all day. All week.

Baby, I'm exhausted too. He's a full time job.

I sleep a little bit and spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon with our son. He's in a great mood which makes my day easier. We go for a walk around the neighborhood and work on tummy time and hang out and I love every minute of it. Just as I'm setting him down for his afternoon nap, I hear the front door open. I walk out to the living room and find you standing there with a takeout bag and a shy look on your face. My heart warms my whole body, and my anger from this morning is all but gone.

"Britt?"

"I brought you your favorite from Breadstix."

I walk over to you and kiss your cheek, taking the bag from your hands. "That's so sweet, babe."

You seem to relax at my actions and words, and smile. "I have another surprise for you."

"Oh?"

"I'm done for the day so I can take over mommy duties from here." You're relaxed but still shy.

At that I kiss you lightly and feel my smile taking over.

We sit and eat lunch, you brought enough for both of us, and gently talk about our mornings. It's quiet. There's still a lot we have to say. I still need to tell you why I got so worked up this morning. But, we're not there yet. We need to reconnect a little bit before we can open up again. Sometimes it's better to remember why we're a couple before we talk about our fights, it strengthens us.

You stand up and clear the table as I move over to the couch. The baby monitor is with you and I curl up under a blanket, sleepier than ever with a full belly of food. You come back to the living room and sit on the couch with me, a little bit further than I would have liked but you're still dancing around my weirdness from this morning. I feel you look at me and I know; I can sense the shift in the air and know this is when we're going to talk about it.

"So."

"So." You sound annoyed and sad. "Baby, what was all that about?"

"It's about me being tired, Britt."

"I'm tired, too, San. We're a team, remember?"

I can feel myself getting annoyed again and I take a breath.

"I know we're a team, and I love my mornings with him, but it's so hard when I'm the only one who hears him in the middle of the night."

"Ok. Why didn't you wake me up when he was crying?"

"I thought you would have heard it… I let him go for a while to see if he'd soothe himself down."

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't hear anything last night."

"I know and I think that's part of the problem. You've been so tired and exhausted from auditioning with the company and working on this new piece, that you're sound asleep at night. And I don't want to wake you up. I feel guilty waking you up."

"Santana…" you gesture for me to come closer and I shift, sliding up to you, feeling your warmth around me. You kiss my cheek, where my dimple usually is. "You have to wake me up, you can't be the only one… that's not fair to you, you're right."

"And I got really mad this morning when instead of getting up you just nudged me out of bed, it was around the time you usually pump and I know it was technically my day, but I wish you had just let me sleep."

"I'm sorry, I really didn't realize what I was doing this morning. You know sometimes I'm not really up up yet."

"I know and I shouldn't have been so ragey, but it just didn't make sense, B."

"It's ok. We both knew that me going back to more full time again with the company after he was born was going to be a big shift. And it is. We just have to work on our routine together."

"We do."

It's quiet for a minute as we both soak in the fact that we don't have this down yet, this whole parenting thing.

"San, I just… I'm sorry, baby."

"It's ok, B. It's ok. I'm sorry..." I have to kiss you. I need to kiss you. I'll die if I don't kiss you. So I do. I pull your face to mine with my hands and kiss you with everything I've got. And just like that all the anger, all the annoyance, all the tension I felt all day melts away.

And you melt into me, and I push you back on the couch and we keep melting into each other, our clothes falling to the floor.

And after, lying on top of you in a cocoon of love and trust and renewal, I feel whole again. When he starts crying from the monitor you scoot me towards the bedroom with a slap to my naked ass and a wink, while sliding your panties and my shirt back on. "Go nap. I've got it from here, babe."

As I crawl into bed sleepy and naked I feel better than I have all week and more in love with you than ever.

A/N: Thank you everyone for your continued support! This fandom has died down a little bit, but you're all here with me on this journey and I'm so so grateful! I have some more ideas planned for these two, but if you have something you'd like to see let me know.