Santana laid back in the grass in front of the sign she has just finished painting for the new St. Lawrence Children's Home. During the past week, any free time that Santana found she had was spent working on paintings. Now that this sign was done she only had one left to do for Peter and her contract would be complete. The rooms that everyone had been working on at the new place were coming along nicely. In a few days the first floor rooms would be ready to decorate also. Rachel and Marley were beyond excited for that.

After the incident at the cook out at the old home last Saturday when Natasha was removed from the property and taken to the jail, Rachel and Santana had made a call to Tina to get in touch with a family lawyer. The decision had been made and a plan of action had been set into motion. On one hand it was the easiest decision they had ever made and on the other hand, not so much. Both Santana and Rachel had went to emergency therapy sessions and even a couples counseling session, everyone said the same thing. They were in a great place in their relationship and if they waited for the perfect moment to adopt then they could be waiting forever, so why not now?

Santana could still feel her body buzzing with excitement. First things first, she and Rachel had to go ahead and get married. Telling Leroy, Bayani, Shelby and Cassie had not been an easy task, however, once they had explained their reasoning, everyone was on board. After they moved past their initial concerns and questions, they had taken on the task of being grandparents very seriously. Rachel and Shelby had even taken a huge leap in their relationship. Apparently more good than a little had came about from the announcement. Hopefully things stayed on this amazing path throughout the whole ordeal.

Wednesday Evening At Santana and Rachel's Cabin

"Santana, are we sure we want to tell them about this? I mean they are putting so much work into a big wedding and we are just going to go to the court house and get married." Rachel paced around the kitchen as Santana was cooking. She was listening, really she was, it was just...Rachel had been worrying about the same thing for hours now. There was plenty of other stuff she could be worrying about.

"Rachel, it's going to be fine. We are still going to have the big wedding, we have to, I mean we didn't pick that cake out today for nothing. We're just doing a part of it early. We're telling them so they can be there. If we had done it my way, we would already be married by now." Santana turned around and tossed the dish towel she had been holding over her shoulder. They had opted to tell the parents here at home instead of a restaurant in case there was any yelling.

"Are you going to call your mom and dad and tell them what we are planning on doing?"

"You mean, tell them about the adoption?" Santana waited for Rachel to shake her head yes or no. Of course Rachel shook her head yes. "Nope."

"Santana...you know that is part of your therapy. You have to at least try and have some form of a relationship with them. Even if it doesn't work out, the trying part is what matters." Rachel had moved so that she was now standing at Santana's side.

"I tried to have a relationship with them. They told me that I would never amount to anything if I went to art school. They were never around when I was a kid, but suddenly they care when I don't want to be a doctor or lawyer. The last time I seen them, we were in the hospital after the car crash. They know I got a phone because Puck told them. Instead of calling me, they call him when they want an update or hell they probably read all that gossip that the magazines write." Santana turned around and angrily opened the oven door to pull out the loaf of bread that she had baking for dinner. She was so over this conversation, if her parents were never around when she was little, why would they suddenly start coming around because of the adoption? Why would they want anything to do with her life now?

"I'm sorry, okay. I just think..maybe they might change. Prove themselves as parents now by being there for you and be great at being grandparents. You never know if you don't give them a chance." Rachel apologized as she walked up behind Santana and wrapped her arms around the woman's waist. Before Santana could respond there was a knock at the front door. Rachel stepped back and took a deep breath. "Show time."

Forks and knives clattered against plates as everyone sat around the dinner table eating. Conversation had been light most of the evening, talking about all the cakes that Rachel and Santana had tried earlier in the day. Both women were bundles of nerves, if they didn't do this soon they were definitely going to chicken out. Rachel took a sip of her wine before clearing her throat. She looked to Santana, silently conveying that this was the best time since everyone was almost done eating.

"We...Santana and I, have something that we would like to talk to you guys about." Rachel started the conversation by looking around the table at everyone.

"What's going on?" Leroy asked as he wiped his mouth on his napkin.

"Whatever it is, you can tell us." Shelby had a feeling in her gut that something was going on, but she couldn't pin point exactly what it was.

"Well...we want to go ahead and get married." Rachel said as she reached over and grabbed Santana's hand in support.

"What do you mean? We've just now started to order everything. Nothing is actually ready yet. You only just picked out your cake." Shelby was starting to panic a little. This was not what she thought Santana and Rachel wanted to talk about.

"We still want the big wedding in December, we just want to go ahead and get married. You have no idea how much we appreciate everything you are doing and have done. But, we have a reason for doing this. We swear." Santana was trying to calm the situation before anyone got truly upset.

Santana looked to Rachel who nodded her head before looking at Leroy, Shelby and Cassie. They all were sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the reason. "We are trying to get everything together so we can adopt Sierra and Samara. While it's not impossible to adopt as girlfriend and girlfriend, being married looks better on the application."

"Are you sure you're ready for something like this?"

"That's a big decision."

"Is this something you really want?"

"Who is your lawyer? Are they any good?

"Have they done other adoptions before, because you don't want some newbie handling such a high profile case."

The questions began coming one after another. Rachel and Santana wasn't being given any chance to answer anything."Hold on!" Santana yelled as she stood up from her chair. "Now, I know this is a giant bomb that we just dropped on you guys. We will answer your questions one at a time. However, you have to listen to us first. Yes, it is a big decision and we have talked about it in length with each other and our therapists. We will even be talking about it more at some adoption support groups that the agency requests you go to. There is no doubt that we are ready to do this and of course it's something we really want. If we didn't we wouldn't even be here at the moment talking about it."

All of the parents shared looks with each other. Yes, they had just been properly chastised for jumping to conclusions and assuming that Rachel and Santana couldn't handle something like this. "I think we can all agree that if you are set on doing this, then all we can do is offer the utmost support. We just worry because you all are doing this so quickly. I mean, how much do you know about the twins situation? Are they even up for adoption?"

"The twins are in fact up for adoption. Their mother was allowed to visit them when she got out of jail because they were listed for an open adoption. It's been changed to a closed adoption for their safety." Rachel replied to Shelby who seemed to be the most vocal at the moment. "We realize it's a bit fast, but we have been volunteering at the home for a couple of weeks now and those little girls are like our own already. This past week I have spent more time getting to know them when we are there and I can't imagine them not being ours anymore. Santana has had a connection with them since the first day they met."

"So...I'm going to be a grandpa? Two little beautiful grand babies! Oh, Bayani will be so excited. He hated he couldn't come tonight. I swear he should just be listed as co-owner of that damn lodge. I'm going to call him right now." Leroy jumped up from his chair and headed towards the living room to retrieve his phone out of his jacket pocket.

"What happens now? Like, how does all of this work?" Cassie asked. All she knew about adoption was everything that she knew about Shelby being a surrogate. This was a different situation entirely.

"Well, Tina got us in touch with a family lawyer that actually has worked with the main agency that oversee's adoptions for The St. Lawrence Children's Home. Her name is Mercedes Jones and she is waiting on a call back from Sierra and Samara's social worker. After our paperwork is approved, which they still haven't sent yet, but they're working on it, the agency will send a case manager out with the twins social worker for a home study. Get to know us, our intentions, take a tour of the cabin and just make sure that the twins will be in the best place possible. Normally after the home study is when you visit the children and basically pick one, but we already know who we want." Santana explained as she began to clear the table. She could see Leroy talking excitedly, waving his arms around.

"So, there's a chance that the adoption could move quicker than a couple just starting out from scratch? I mean you guys already have your foot in the door with the volunteering at the home." Cassie looked over to Shelby who honestly looked like she may cry at any moment. Without saying anything, Cassie reached over and placed her hand on Shelby's back and began to rub circles on her shoulder blades.

"Pretty much. We want to get married soon so we don't have to update our paper work later and draw out the process even more. Normally there's several families; more or less in competition for a child or children, but the home itself requires case plans for a family to even look at their children." Santana continued to answer Cassie's question while Rachel watched her mother. She had been vocal but now she wasn't saying much. Maybe she was thinking about the time she gave Rachel up for adoption. If anyone could have even a little bit of perspective from the birth mother's side of things, it was definitely Shelby, even if she willingly gave up her child. Rachel just wanted her to say something, anything else. It was possible that Shelby was just filled with questions she wasn't sure how to ask.

"Mom? Do you have any more questions?" Rachel asked, not even realizing what she said. Leroy abruptly stopped talking and walked back into the kitchen with a shocked look on his face. You could hear a pin drop in the room. Rachel looked around confused for a moment, thinking about what she had said. Oh..she had just called Shelby Mom for the first time again in years.

Note that this is still the flash back. We return to the present next chapter.