When Santana opened the nursery room door, she wasn't exactly sure which scenario she would be met with. Stephanie said the girls would either be asleep or awake and possibly crying. Santana's heart broke immediately when she noticed that both girls were indeed awake and crying, however their cries were muted by their pacifiers. Nicky was walking back and forth up and down the length of the beds, bouncing a little with each step trying to sooth the girls the best he could. Santana smiled sympathetically.
"Can I have one?" Santana motioned to the twins.
"Oh, Santana. I didn't even see you come in." Nicky smiled tiredly, he had definitely had a long day also.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you." Santana chuckled as she linked her hands behind her back.
"That's okay. It happens sometimes." Nicky shrugged his shoulders, dislodging Sierra who had laid her head down on his shoulder. She immediately began to cry; big, angry tears running down her cheeks. Nicky looked to the ceiling, he was ready to cry himself.
"Here, let me take her." Santana motioned to Sierra. Nicky stepped over to Santana and let her take Sierra out of his arm. It took the little girl a second to realize who had her before she started crying all over again, successfully spitting out her pacifier. Santana would swear later on that it was happy tears. "Shhhhh. You're okay. Sanny has you. It's okay baby bug, you're okay." Santana coaxed, trying to get Sierra to stop crying before she triggered Samara into crying louder. Sierra laid her head on Santana's shoulder as the woman rubbed her back and rocked side to side. "Are you hungry little one?"
"They both have those Gerber self pick up trays ready to eat as soon as they both calm down." Nicky was holding Samara in the same fashion as Santana was holding Sierra since he now had both arms free. "They're in the first cabinet there and they have sippy cups of juice in the fridge."
Samara took notice that Sierra was being held by Santana and began to whine wanting to be held too. Nicky just wasn't cutting it anymore. She reached her little arms out, opening and closing her fists in Santana's direction. "Okay, let's put you in the high chair and let me get your sister and then I will feed both of you. I think that sounds like a pretty fair plan, just..don't start screaming please." Santana begged. Hopefully the girls would catch onto her desperation to make them feel better and listen.
Nicky and Santana made quick work of putting Sierra and Samara in their high chairs, the twins must have heard Santana because neither made very much fuss. That was until Santana turned around and squatted down on the balls of her feet in order to grab the sippy cups out of the mini-fridge. Immediately they began to cry when she was out of sight. Standing up quickly, Santana started to laugh as the twins instantly stopped crying. "You two are so silly. You're just being mean to Nicky now with all that crying." Santana said as she walked around the table and sat Sierra's giraffe sippy cup and Samara's monkey sippy cup on their trays. "Okay, let's get you ladies something to eat so that you can go outside for a while. We can go see Ms. Rachel and see what she is up to. They are allowed to go out aren't they?" Santana looked towards Nicky who was now checking on the babies still in the room.
"Yeah, they can go out. They're not sick or anything just super fussy because their little legs are sore." Nicky frowned at the girls, he understood their pain. When you have sensitive skin, shots always hurt worse.
Santana nodded her head as she pulled two Gerber Graduate's trays out of the top cabinet. "Which one of you wants mashed potatoes and meatloaf nuggets?" Samara began to reach her fist out making a grabbing motion. "Okay, that means you Sierra get the chicken and pasta wheels." Nicky stood back and watched how Santana moved around the room gathering things for the girls and keeping them entertained. Neither girl was even making a whimper. As soon as she had came into the nursery and both girls seen her, they had done complete one-eighties. It was truly something to see, Stephanie had mentioned the immediate connection that Santana had with the twins, but this was the first time that Nicky was witness to it first hand. Santana Lopez was the touch that Sierra and Samara had been craving for comfort.
"Rachel! Do you want to come inside and help me bring out the babies if any of them are awake?" Stephanie asked as she walked up to Rachel who had been playing with Alexis, Gavin and Cameron. The little ones seemed to be opening up more as they had recently found friends in some of the slightly older kids. Rachel thinks they liked the attention considering all the older children in the home loved to dote on the toddlers.
"Sure. I should probably check on Santana too, she hasn't been back out since she went in to check on the twins." Rachel replied as she tossed the wiffle ball she was holding to Andrea, a thirteen year old who had only introduced herself to Rachel tonight.
As Rachel and Stephanie made their way into the building, Rachel couldn't help but to look around at everyone. There was a lot of people here tonight. Every volunteer that Santana had recruited, all the volunteers already at the children's home, their workers and all the kids, Rachel wasn't sure how they all were fitting out here in the back yard. Rachel chuckled to herself, this cook out had been a surprise of sorts. A celebration to officially start the transition of preparing the new home since almost everything was on schedule to start decorating Monday. It was a little surreal to know that soon this home would house a whole new set of children and their volunteers. That had been the plan all along though, The St. Lawrence Children's Home would combine with two other homes and this current home would house a whole new group that actually fit in the building. It was time for someone else to grow in this beautiful home.
Stephanie pushed open the door of the nursery and was surprised to see two smiling little girls eating dinner in their high chairs. She wasn't sure who was more messy, the chairs or the girls. Santana was laughing as Samara stuffed another meatloaf nugget into her mouth. "Is that good baby?" Santana asked as she tried to wipe Sierra's mouth who was having none of that. Santana knew they both would need baths anyway soon.
Rachel stepped into the doorway and lingered by the washer and dryer doors. Santana had made an amazing connection with the twins and it was beautiful to watch. However, Rachel realized that she hadn't been making that much effort to get to know the twins. Admittedly she was too afraid to get attached to them. It was something that she hadn't dared divulge to anyone but herself. She had been putting more effort into not getting attached than anything, it was a real struggle when her walls were slowly crumbling and she found herself wanting to be as close as Santana was to the twins.
"Hi guys." Santana turned around to great Stephanie and Rachel. "We got a little carried away with dinner. They need baths before coming outside."
"That's okay. Rachel and I were just coming to see if any of the babies were awake and would like come outside for a while." Stephanie spoke as she made her way towards the cribs. She could see that Hunter and Princeton were awake. Two out of four wasn't bad, but the other two needed to wake up so that they would be able to sleep tonight.
"Uhm...actually. Could I stay and help Santana with the twins?" Rachel wondered. Stephanie and Santana both looked a little surprised. Maybe she hadn't been as secretive about her plan to stay unattached as she had thought.
"Yeah, Nicky can help me right?" Stephanie looked in Nicky's direction as he was looking through Sierra and Samara's cubicles for clothes for them to put on.
"Of course. Rachel can finish picking out their clothes if she wants." Nicky shrugged his shoulders as he stood up and offered the jeans and short sleeved little button up that he had pulled out for Samara to Rachel.
"Oh my gosh. San! Look! She has clothes that look like yours!" Rachel gushed over the outfit as everyone laughed lightly. Santana shook her head in amusement. Not only did the outfit look like clothes that she had at home, it actually looked like the clothes she was wearing at the moment. The only difference was the fact that Santana had on a long sleeve green and blue button up with rolled sleeves. Samara's was yellow and orange with short sleeves. Rachel was only slightly jealous as she began to search through Sierra's cubicle in an attempt to find Sierra something to match her. It was only fair.
As Rachel searched Santana started to get the girls ready for their baths. Nicky and Stephanie was preoccupied with the babies. Getting two babies into the bath without getting yourself covered in their food was a trip and a half. Santana cheered when she was able to get both girls in the bath without any major clothing disaster's, now she just had to avoid splashing. Rachel came running into the bathroom a moment later proudly holding up a sundress that she had found for Sierra. It didn't exactly match what Rachel was wearing but it was close enough that Rachel was happy.
"Are Stephanie and Nicky still out there?" Santana asked as she rubbed the wash cloth up and down Sierra's back. Samara had made a quick getaway and was sitting at the opposite end of the tub with a pout on her face. She did not want a bath tonight.
"No, they left just a second ago." Rachel said as she walked over and kneeled down next to Santana. "What's wrong pouty?" Rachel asked Samara as she reached into the tub and grabbed the wash cloth that Samara had been playing with but let go. She could tell that Samara had yet to be washed if the food on her chest was any indication.
"She's not that fond of having a bath tonight seems like."
"Well that's okay." Rachel spoke in a slightly higher pitched voice. "We can give Mr. Ducky here a bath instead." Rachel picked up a rubber duck that was floating around in the water and began to wash him with the wash cloth. Samara watched curiously. She wanted to wash the duck too! Samara scooted closer and held her hand out indicating for Rachel to pass over the duck. Rachel did so happily. She was very pleased with herself when Samara switched from rubbing the duck to rubbing her chest with the wash cloth. "Can I help?" Rachel reached out for the wash cloth and began to wash Samara when she handed it over. It was such a simple gesture but to Rachel it meant the world.
"Can you imagine us...at home...with these two doing this?" Santana asked quietly. She had been lost in her thoughts about the idea since Rachel had started interacting with Samara. "Every time I picture our family in the future...I see Sierra and Samara. Maybe I have just became too attached to them or maybe it's because I know how badly they need a family. Stephanie said that no one has ever been able to complete a case plan for them. Something always happens. They're almost fifteen months old and they have been here since they were six months. They deserve a family and I can't see anyone else but us being that family for them. I know we agreed that we weren't ready, but when is anyone ever actually ready?"
"I agree with everything you are saying, but it's only been a week since we decided we weren't ready. Do you think this is all a little fast? However, I do believe all of this means something because, I remember right after you proposed...we were talking about kids and you mentioned twin boys. Obviously Sierra and Samara aren't boys but I really think that eventually these two are meant to come home with us permanently." Rachel was finishing up bathing Samara at this point who was still happily playing with her rubber duck.
"So what are we going to do?" Santana asked a little warily.
"I think we should take the rest of the weekend to think about it, talk to our therapists next week and then go from there. We are the only ones who know how we truly feel but a little outside input can't hurt. There's just two maybe three other problems that go along with all of this." Rachel mused as she picked Samara up out of the tub and wrapped her in her hooded penguin towel.
"What kind of problems?" Santana wondered curiously as she picked up Sierra, wrapping her in her respective towel and followed Rachel out of the bathroom back into the nursery so that they could dress the girls.
"We wanted to be married first, that's still almost three months away. Our schedule's are going to be huge factors in deciding if we get the girls or not and last, but very important. We don't have a bath tub." Santana knew that Rachel was being serious but the bath tub thing really threw her for a loop. She furrowed her brows before she began to laugh out loud.
"If we do this, I promise we will get everything worked out. Quinn can help work your schedule, like she always does when you have something else you need to do. We can get married and still have our big wedding in December and I will even add building you a bathroom with a tub into our vows. We can do this, those aren't problems, those are just little hurdles that we have to get over." Santana finished speaking quietly as she stepped over to Rachel and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. Sierra and Samara who were still being held didn't like being squished and began to squeal. "We should get these two dressed so they can go see everyone too." Santana bounced Sierra on her hip and smiled when she began to clap and laugh. There was no doubt in her mind that hopefully soon these two little girls would be hers and Rachel's. It was impossible to see their life any other way.