Rachel huffed and turned over in the bed trying to drown out the constant knocking on the cabin door. Really? Were most of her mornings destined to start out this way?! It was Saturday, her first day off all week and someone was knocking on the door at...eight in the morning?! Rachel's eyes widened when she noticed the time on the clock. Where in the world was Santana? If Santana had still been in bed, Rachel wouldn't have been able to see the clock. Both women had made plans to sleep in since they hadn't had the chance too all week. Today was supposed to be a free day until around six this evening. Rachel sighed as the knocking stopped and her cell phone began to ring.
"Uggghhh." Rachel covered her head with her pillow. Maybe if she ignored everything it would all just stop. She knew she should get up, it could be Sue with an update about the plea bargains. Nah, if it was Sue she would be pounding on the door, not knocking.
"Rachel?! Are you awake yet?!" Santana shouted as she ran up the stairs. "I have made a huge mistake. Please don't hurt me." Santana nervously wrung her hands together.
"What did you do? Does it have something to do with the knocking on the door and my cell phone ringing?" Rachel asked from under her pillow that she had yet to move.
"Maybe." Santana gave an impish grin even though Rachel couldn't see her.
"I'm going to ask one more time. What did you do Santana Lopez?!" Rachel tossed the pillow off her face. Her hair was ruffled and splayed all over her pillow.
"I couldn't sleep so I got up to work on my paintings. My phone was laying on the kitchen counter and I had a few missed messages and calls and one was from your dad asking about wedding stuff and I answered him back and told him it would probably be best to ask you and he said great that he would round up Shelby and Cassie and they would come over in a while. I didn't know in a while would be right now." Santana took a deep breath. Speaking really fast was something she had became better at through out her relationship with Rachel. Rachel..her beautiful fiance'...Rachel whom looked as if she was about to murder Santana. "I'm so sorry, I just didn't have the heart to tell him no. Besides, we need to get some of this stuff done anyway. I swear I will make it up to you."
"Fineeeee..." Rachel whined while tossing her arm over her eyes. "Go let them in before they leave. I actually want to see what all they have done already."
"Okay. I love you and I will make some coffee and breakfast. If they're eating they can't talk as loud or as fast." Santana grinned before she kissed Rachel on the cheek and then sprinted down the stairs to let the parents in. Today was going to be a long ass day.
"We know your wedding is on the twentieth and that you don't want a Christmas wedding, but you realize you're walking a fine line with the colors you picked, right?" Shelby asked Rachel and Santana as they all sat at the kitchen island. Wedding magazines and book galore covered the counter.
"What's wrong with burgundy, hunter green and gold?" Santana asked in a slightly offended tone. "We can do those colors without going full blown Christmas. We didn't do white or blue because we will have a natural winter wonderland, we didn't need to make a fake one."
"Calm down Lopez. We just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into. We've already picked the best flowers in our opinion that doesn't scream Christmas, now you guys need to decide what you like. Don't pick something just because we like it either, it's your wedding. We're just here to make all this easier." Cassie was looking through a magazine as she spoke. Today Leroy and Shelby had tasked her with picking name cards for the tables. That was easier said than done since there were so many.
"We trust your judgement, we can pick from your recommendations." Rachel responded before taking a bite of her toast. True to her word, Santana had came downstairs and fixed a large pot of coffee and breakfast for everyone. The food had only worked for a little while before Leroy and Shelby became anxious and started unloading all of their books. Cassie was more or less just along for the ride.
"We honestly don't have much left to do in terms of picking things out. You've already picked your invitations, you have a meeting soon with the decorating company, that's why you have to pick your flowers. With them you will also pick your chairs and their covers, your dishes, silverware, and glasses; oh and your arch or background where you plan on standing. Brittany and Blaine are recording and taking photographs, Kurt insists on designing your dresses or a pant suit if that's what you want to wear Santana. You have a cake tasting next Wednesday and we have to call the catering company with meal and drink plans after we have a finalized people count." Leroy looked up from his legal pad that he had everything written on. They were far more ahead than any of them anticipated.
"There is one thing that you guys are forgetting." Cassie mumbled from behind her magazine. When no one acknowledged her she lowered the magazine until her eyes were peeping over the top. "Really? None of you know what I am talking about?" Still no answer. "Their wedding bands. We have almost everything in order and no one realized except for me that they haven't chosen their wedding bands?" Cassie tossed her magazine down on the counter before tilting her head back and rubbing her hands up and down her face.
Santana rolled her eyes. Sometimes Cassandra July was over dramatic. "We have plenty of time to pick our wedding bands. What I really want to know is why are we going to see a decorating company? I thought that's what you guys were for?"
Everyone except for Santana began to laugh. "Honey, there's going to be at least one hundred people there. The wedding and reception is on one of the sound stages at the studio, they can't set all of that up by themselves. Especially given the fact that everyone is so busy right now. We're doing a lot of this right now because Shelby and Cassie just went back to work and Dad's first movie will start filming in a month or so. Plus, we got them involved in volunteering and decorating the children's home. They need the help, plain and simple."
"Oh...well I guess I see your point. Speaking of, are you three coming to the giant cook out tonight at the children's home?" Santana asked while she began to doodle on a legal pad that Leroy had provided for her and Rachel to take notes.
"Of course we are. I think all the volunteers are coming that way any of them who haven't met the children can go ahead and meet them." Shelby, who had been going over the name cards that Cassie had suggested, answered.
"I'm so excited, I feel like I haven't seen the twins in ages." Santana pouted.
"It's only been two days love." Rachel rubbed Santana's back. It had been two whole days since they had been at the children's home, but they had to be fair and give other people the chance to volunteer.
"Who are the twins?" Shelby asked with a pensive look on her face.
"Their names are Sierra and Samara. They're fourteen month old African American twins and so damn adorable. Sierra has a thing for giraffe's and Samara prefers horses. They're perfect little angels and the last time we were there, Samara learned a new word! She said bath, well her version of bath but still!" Santana continued to gush about the twins while Shelby hung on to every word she said. Rachel could tell that Santana was making everyone fall in love with Sierra and Samara.
"Why didn't we get to meet them? We were there yesterday for a while." Cassie wondered out loud.
"Friday's are appointment days. Doctor checkups, dentist checkups, social worker meetings. They try and fit as much as they can into one day." Santana explained. Admittedly she was worried, if the girls weren't there then they must have had some kind of appointment. What if the girls weren't there at the cook out this evening?
Rachel could tell that Santana was starting to get herself worked up. She leaned over and kissed Santana on the temple. "I'm sure they are okay. We can check on them when we get there this evening." Santana smiled sadly and nodded her head. Rachel knew just how to read her and calm her down before her head could spin away.
Santana stood anxiously waiting on the babies and toddlers to come out of the building. Everyone else was running around the yard while other volunteers worked the grills and helped set up the food. Rachel was chatting with some of the older kids who had gotten their music test scores back, Shelby and Cassie were chatting with some kids who were interested in taking dance lessons, Leroy was inside with Bayani, Puck and Quinn unloading some batches of new books into the classrooms and everyone else was getting to know the rest of the kids.
Finally, Santana saw Stephanie and Rich leading out the group of toddlers except..two were missing. Sierra and Samara were not in the group. Santana quickly made her way through the large crowd of people, she could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Hi Santana! It's good to see you. Did everyone make it this evening?" Stephanie asked enthusiastically, she hadn't noticed how upset Santana was becoming.
"Yeah, pretty much everyone is here. Some are on their way. Listen Stephanie, were is Sierra and Samara?" Santana looked over Stephanie's shoulder, maybe Nicky was going to bring them out or something.
"They're inside." Stephanie said with a frown. "They had a rough night."
"What's wrong? What happened to them?" Santana was starting to freak out a little bit since she wasn't getting exact answers.
"They had doctors appointments yesterday and were behind on some shots." Stephanie sighed and looked back towards the door. "Let's just say it's been a long day, they just want to cry and sleep. We've tried everything, warm baths, rocking, reading stories and nothing has soothed them. It took forever to calm down enough to eat a little bit of lunch. I think they need a special touch that we just can't provide for them and that kills me. Those girls have been with us since they were six months old. We've been through evaluation after evaluation and no one has stepped up to take them or completed a case plan for them. Sometimes all a child needs is a mothers or fathers touch and that's something we can't provide." Stephanie shrugged her shoulders, she wasn't giving up but she was at a loss as to what to do.
"Can I go see them?" Santana asked quietly.
"Sure. Nicky is in there with them right now. They were asleep but with all of this going on, they might be awake." Santana nodded her thanks and turned around to get Rachel's attention, motioning that she was going into the building. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows at first until Santana mouthed Sierra and Samara at her. Rachel nodded once that she understood and watched Santana take off into the building. She would give Santana a moment alone with the girls before she followed her, Santana would come and get her if she needed her sooner.