"Oh, thank goodness. There you are Chloe. I called up front and asked where you were, Martha said you were headed back this way doing a tour." Stephanie, the nursery room monitor, breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She had a baby cradled in her left arm while she swayed back and forth, patting it's little diapered bottom.
"Yes..here I am and I have two new volunteers with me. This is Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry." Chloe stepped farther into the room so that both women could come in behind her.
"Hi. I'm Stephanie Nantz." The woman stuck out her hand in greeting. Santana studied the woman for a moment, she honestly couldn't be older than twenty or twenty-one. Her piercing blue eyes that contrasted vastly with her dark hair seemed to glow in the soft yellow light of the room. Why was it so dark in here? The back area where all the cribs and toddler beds were located was dark, most of the babies must have been asleep already.
"It's very nice to meet you." Rachel responded as she leaned forward on her toes to try and see the baby. Santana took a moment to scan the room. There was a set of folding doors to the right that were open to reveal a washer and dryer. Next to the folding doors was another door that appeared to lead into a bathroom. It was a nice set up with a set of counters and cabinets, a desk and a large wooden table where three high chairs sat mixed in with the tables matching wooden chairs. The back portion where the small play area, cribs and beds were was carpeted and contained a roll of wooden cubicles along the main back wall.
"Oh, this is Matthew." Stephanie dipped her arms so that Rachel could get a better look at Matthew's face. He had both his little fists scrunched up under his chin as she suckled on a pacifier. "He's our newest little guy." Stephanie smiled as Matthew pushed his pacifier out of his mouth a little and immediately began sucking hard on it as if he was afraid he was about to lose it.
"Oh San...look at how cute he is." Rachel cooed at the baby as she reached out and ran her finger along the back of one of his fists.
"He is pretty adorable." Santana agreed as she looked at the baby over Rachel's shoulder.
"Would either of you like to hold him. Because I have situation which is the reason I was looking for you Chloe." Stephanie looked at the two women trying to determine who was going to take the baby. Rachel of course was the first to reach out, making silly faces and babbling even though Matthew remained sound asleep.
"What's going on?" Chloe asked mildly concerned. The atmosphere was calm and collective in the room. It couldn't be a huge emergency.
"It's Sierra and Samara, they were sent down from the classroom because they kept crying and throwing their puzzle pieces and blocks. Nicky thought that after this morning..." Stephanie cast her eyes towards Santana and Rachel not wanting to say too much. "Nicky thought they would be happier to get lunch early and then take a nap. But, when he dropped them off, they went and hid. They're both quiet until you try and get them to come out and then they scream and cry. I have three babies and two toddlers already asleep. They will wake the whole room up. So I need help to get them out and calm anybody who wakes up." Stephanie wrung her hands together, she didn't want to leave the babies where they were. They still needed to eat lunch and take a proper nap on top of their beds, not underneath them.
"How long have they been hid...where ever they are." Chloe stood with her hands on her hips surveying the room. In all honestly there were very few places to hide in the room.
"They're under their beds, respectively. They have only been under there the time you have been here. I had just hung up the phone when you opened the door." Stephanie rubbed the spot between her eyes. Both girls had their favorite stuffed toy and blanket under the beds with them. Heck they had probably already fallen asleep.
"Can I try to get them out? Which beds are theirs?" Santana asked with a pensive look on her face. Chloe looked a little surprised that Santana was asking to interact with the children so quickly, but she needed to see if Santana could deal with this.
"Sure, because I have tried everything. Sierra is the second bed on the right and Samara is the third. They're siblings, fourteen month old twins actually." Santana nodded her head as she listened to Stephanie explain. Before she could say anything else, Santana took several long strided steps and quietly walked onto the carpeted area. Instead of just peaking under the beds, Santana lay down in the floor and looked from underneath one bed to the other. She was instantly in awe of the beautiful African American girls. Sierra lay fast asleep underneath her bed, her tiny fist clenching tightly to her purple blanket covered in giraffe's, while her stuffed giraffe lay snuggled underneath her arm. Santana turned her head to the left. Samara on the other hand was not asleep, but she was laying in a similar position to her sister. They must have been watching each other, Santana thought in her head. Samara was sucking on a blue pacifier watching Santana warily with her big brown eyes.
"Hi cutie." Santana whispered. She knew not to reach out and try to grab the girl for fear she would start screeching. "Do you want to come out?" Santana made a come hither motion with her hand. She had no idea if a fourteen month old would understand what she was saying but it was worth a shot.
Samara remained quiet, content to just suckle on her pacifier and watch Santana. Who was this woman? Samara had never seen her before but she had a warmness to her that Samara had never felt before. It still made her anxious, was this woman going to pull her out of her hiding spot? She didn't want to leave this spot, Sierra was still in her spot, the woman had left her alone too.
Santana tucked her arms underneath her head and watched Samara watching her. "I like your horsey you have there. You know I live on a farm but I don't have any animals except two puppy dogs. Do you like puppy dogs?" Santana knew she probably sounded crazy at the moment but it was all worth it when Samara's eyes lit up at the mention of puppy dogs. Santana quietly chuckled. "I bet you would love to meet my puppy dogs. They might try to knock you down though since you're so little." Samara listened to Santana talk for a moment before she decided that maybe it was okay to scoot a little closer to her. The little beads in her hair clicked together as she moved her head slightly. Santana held her breath waiting to see the next move that Samara was going to make. She could hear Rachel talking quietly with Chloe and Stephanie. Hopefully none of them would come over here and disrupt what little progress was being made.
"Are you going to come out and see me now?" Santana continued in a whispered tone. Samara made no other move than stretching before she snuggled up against her stuffed horse again. "That's okay. You can stay under there. But I am going to hang out with you." Surprising herself, Santana turned over to lay on her back in a casual position. She tucked one arm behind her head and let her right hand drop casually by her side and slightly under the bed. Samara studied the hand for a moment before she released her hold on the stuffed horse and turned sideways, scooting on her belly to get just a little closer. Santana silently cheered in her head.
Rachel, Chloe and Stephanie all were trying to listen to what Santana was saying. However, she was speaking so quietly that they just heard soft murmurs. Rachel grinned when she saw Santana's legs turn over, she was getting comfortable. Santana was making plans to stay in that floor as long as she needed to.
"Neither of them are crying. She's good." Stephanie stated with pride in her voice.
"She used to have to talk her, well our niece out from under her bed sometimes. She liked to hide from her father when he would get her for the weekends. Santana doesn't realize how good she is with kids. She was so worried that they all were going to hate her for some strange reason." Rachel laughed as she finished talking and rolled her eyes. Obviously Santana really had nothing to worry about if the twins were any proof of that. Rachel shifted Matthew from one arm to the other. He wasn't heavy at all, but her arm was getting a little tired from holding it in the same position.
"I can take him if you want. He has been asleep long enough that he shouldn't wake up when I put him in his crib." Stephanie moved closer to Rachel raising her arms to take the baby.
"It's okay. I was just adjusting him. Besides if you go over there right now, whatever progress Santana may have made will be undone." Stephanie stepped back with her hands in surrender. Chloe barely surpressed her laugh, these women were going to be spit fires to work with. It was great, they would definitely make things more interesting.
"Do you like stories? I know a few good ones." Santana had been talking to Samara for almost ten minutes and the little girl was so close that Santana could easily reach out and touch her. She still wasn't going to make that move, this was Samara's choice. "Once upon a time there was a large castle that sat on the greenest land in the world. In this castle lived a marvelous queen with her tiny puppy dog." Santana spoke excitedly at the revelation of the puppy dog, hoping it would entice Samara. "This was puppy was so tiny, but his ears were huge. They were so big that they drug against the ground when he walked." While telling her story, Santana didn't notice that Sierra had woken up and was slowly making her way out from under the bed. Instead of trying to figure out how to dodge Santana, Sierra decided that she was going to make her presence known by turning Santana into her personal pillow. With her blanket and giraffe in hand, Sierra scooted close enough to Santana that she could rest her head on Santana's shoulder. Swinging her arm, her blanket billowed as it landed on Santana's chest. Momentarily stunned, Santana was afraid that moving even an inch would scare Sierra off. Sierra grunted as she snuggled herself as far as she could into Santana before tossing her little foot onto Santana's side. Deciding it would be worth the risk, Santana pulled her arm out from underneath her head and wrapped it around Sierra so that the child felt protected. She knew she was going to have to get up soon because laying flat on her back in the floor was going to be painful.
Seeing Sierra snuggling up to her new person lit a fire in Samara's belly. She was NOT going to take this new person away from her. She was so close to getting snuggles and what does Sierra do? She wakes up and takes them away! It wasn't fair. Samara squeezed her stuffed horses leg tightly in her hand as she too began to make her way out from under her bed. Santana was looking at Sierra but she could still see Samara out of the corner of her eye. The baby had such a determined look in her eyes with a deep set frown showing behind her pacifier. Someone was definitely jealous. Santana wanted to cackle at how cute Samara was, but it looked as if Sierra was dozing back off and she didn't want to disturb her.
Samara had reached her destination. Instead of getting into the same position as Sierra, Samara let go of her horse and placed both hands on Santana's arm, raising herself up. She was preparing herself for battle. Before Santana could register what it was exactly that Samara was doing she raised her little fist and hit Sierra's giraffe not once but twice in the head before grabbing it and giving it a hard yank. Sierra stirred instantly, big tears welling up in her eyes because some one was trying to take her giraffe. Samara gave a satisfied smirk that she had woke up Sierra. Realizing that Sierra was about to unleash some heavy water works, Santana sat up wrapping her arm around Samara so that she wouldn't fall.
"No love, we don't do that." Santana pouted and shook her head to emphasize what she was saying. Samara looked up at Santana with her big brown eyes and patted her on the cheek before dragging her hand down to Santana's mouth. Santana playfully bit at Samara's fingers making the little girl giggle. Noticing that her sister was laughing Sierra immediately dried her tears and done the same thing to Santana wanting her fingers bit too. She squealed in delight and buried her head into Santana's shoulder. Santana wrapped both arms around the girls and held them close. Using the strength in her legs, Santana pushed herself up onto one knee before standing up completely. Her knees popped from staying in one position for so long. She smiled triumphantly when she emerged from between the beds with both girls in her arms. "Are you two lovely ladies ready to eat lunch? Ms. Rachel and I have to go see the other kids now. I promise we will be back before we leave, okay?" Santana sat each of the girls into high chairs that Stephanie had cleared off for them. Both girls looked ten times happier than they did before. Santana was proud of herself...she done that. She had the power to make two babies happy...that was more than she ever bargained for.
If you need a visual for Sierra and Samara, think Zola from Grey's Anatomy. She is actually played by twins, Jela K. and Jael Moore, (most baby actor and actresses are) however it's impossible to find pictures of them outside of their Grey's work. That's because babies typically aren't credited until they are older unless they are a major main character. Anyway, I love GA and I love Zola and every time I wrote Sierra or Samara, she is who I pictured.
Stephanie visual - Liz Gillies