"Rachel!" Santana yelled as she came through the front door carrying a bag of food for dinner. "Where are you?" She asked as she kicked off her shoes and tossed her keys into the bowl that sat on the end table beside the couch.
"Upstairs! I think I have most of these papers for the adoption agency done. Besides the stuff that you have to sign and fill out because I don't know a whole lot about your family history." Rachel called from the loft.
"Well, get ready for more papers. The home sent a case plan layout with me." Santana softened her tone as she made her way upstairs after sitting their food in the kitchen.
"What..wait can they do that?" Rachel questioned with a pensive look on her face. "I mean we haven't even turned in this stuff yet?"
Santana shrugged her shoulders. "They seem pretty confident that we are going to be cleared. Besides it's more of a check list of what all an actual case plan covers. So, more paper work and a home visit to make sure we have the room for the girls, back ground checks, drug tests, everything we have already done at some point or another." Santana stated as she stretched out beside Rachel on the bed. She knew she couldn't lay there long, she had dinners she had to make for Quinn, Puck, Beth and Davis.
"I'm sorry I missed seeing the girls today." Rachel spoke quietly as she pulled at a loose string on the hem of her pants.
"Hey." Santana rolled over onto her side and rested her head on Rachel's thigh. "Don't be sorry, it's okay. You had to work. We missed you though, we colored and hung out. Here I will show you pictures." Santana reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. She began scrolling through tons of pictures that she had taken throughout the day of the girls coloring, playing with baby dolls, having lunch and finally snuggled together on her lap asleep.
Rachel reached out and tentatively ran her finger across one of the pictures of the girls sleeping. "I can't wait until they are here with us and I can hold them while they sleep."
"I know." Santana sighed and closed out the picture album. "I will get my part of these papers done so we can take them to Mercedes' office Friday evening or Monday morning. Hell, maybe we can even have her meet us Saturday or something. The sooner we get them to her the better." Santana stuck her phone back into her pocket and rested her head back on Rachel's thigh. "Ugh, I need to get up. I still have cooking to do before Quinn and Puck gets home."
"Do you need some help?" Rachel asked with a hopeful expression on her face. She really just wanted to be close to Santana right now.
"I could always use your help. I also have some other stuff to tell you." Santana grinned as she stood up and held her hand out for Rachel who smiled back and gladly took it. The adoption papers could wait for a little while since they were almost done anyway.
"So what is this other stuff you have to tell me?" Rachel asked as she sat the kitchen island cutting up a plethora of green peppers, onions and garlic.
Santana paused momentarily where she stood in front of the stove frying up some ground turkey for a lasagna. Rachel was going to be so happy when she heard this news. To be honest, Santana was excited to tell her. "I called my parents today."
Rachel's knife clattered against the counter top. Had she just heard Santana right? "And? You can't just tell me that and then not tell me what happened." Rachel threw her hands up in the air.
"Nothing really happened." Santana turned around to face Rachel.
"Santana, something happened. You haven't spoken to them in...I don't even know exactly how long." Rachel got up from her stool and crossed the short distance to stand in front of Santana.
"They're coming Friday and they know about the twins. I told them everything in as few words as possible. I also told them that if they had any ill intentions to not even bother showing up." Santana shrugged her shoulders as she crossed her arms over her chest. Yes, she was excited to tell Rachel what she had done and she was happy that her parents were coming. It was just...overwhelming. Like Rachel said, she hadn't spoken to her parents in a long time now and Friday would be here before they knew it. Speaking of..."What are we going to wear Friday? Normal clothes or semi fancy ones?"
"I think they will respect your wishes, at least I hope so. This is their second chance at being your parents and their first chance at being grandparents, if I was them I wouldn't want to mess that up." Rachel wasn't sure what else to say, Santana obviously wanted to change the subject. "I figured we would wear semi-formal. I mean we are only going to the court house, we should look a little nice." Rachel bobbed her head back and forth thinking before taking Santana's hands into her own. There weren't many differences, except that Santana's hands were just a tad smaller and a little darker. Rachel ran her index finger over Santana's engagement ring. "I can't wait to marry you and I am so proud of you for inviting your parents."
"Thank you and I can't wait to marry you either. Mrs. Rachel Berry-Lopez." Santana pulled Rachel close before taking her right hand and spinning her around so that Rachel's back now rested against Santana's front. "I love you so much Rachel." Santana whispered into the shorter woman's neck.
"I love you too." Rachel tilted her head back so that Santana could give her a kiss. "Now, let's get these lasagnas and casseroles done before Puck sends a text letting us know they are on their way home." Rachel patted Santana's hands so that she would let her go. They still had a lot of cooking left to do.
"Where did you find these warming bags at babe?" Rachel asked as she loaded the last casserole up. Puck had texted a few minutes ago letting them know that they were about twenty minutes out.
"At Shuebury's. The glorious luxury of having a whole sale store in town." Santana responded as she closed up the bag that she was packing. The warming bags had honestly been a lucky find, something that Santana didn't know she needed or necessarily wanted until she came across them in one of the isles. They were made like your everyday pizza delivery bags except they opened like duffle bags so that you could stack pans in them.
"Was this all you were taking up there?" Rachel called over her shoulder as she walked from the kitchen into the living room in order to put her shoes on.
"No, everything else I got I took up there this morning. I even unloaded it and put it all away. I was half tempted to leave it in the kitchen floor, but I am not that big of an asshole. By the time they start running low on anything they will be settled enough that Puck can run out and get it. If not, they know we're only a phone call away." Santana grabbed her warming bag and followed Rachel out to the living room to grab her keys. She had already put her shoes on before she came into the kitchen. Dax and Dahlia were hanging out in their beds, not very interested in what Santana and Rachel were doing. They knew they couldn't go, at least not this time around.
"They should be home by the time we get up there." Rachel studied the clock on the wall. They would have perfect timing if they all pulled up at the same time.
"Let's go see." Santana stood at the cabin door as Rachel went outside to load her bag into the jeep. She locked the door before following her out with her own bag.
Turns out, Rachel had been right. As soon as Rachel and Santana had parked their jeep, Puck, Quinn, Beth and Davis pulled up in Puck's Range Rover. The only car that he liked to own besides his old beat up truck that he took hunting. Santana could remember all the nights they had sneaked out in that truck to go hang out with their friends at their favorite camping shelter. Their summers had been filled with adventures many times.
"Welcome home!" Santana yelled then abruptly lowered her voice in case Davis was sleeping.
Quinn laughed as she climbed out of the Range Rover, very slowly. Puck jumped out quickly in order to help her. "I'm fine Puck, stop making a fuss." Quinn waved him off. Instead of pushing anymore, Puck just nodded his head and stepped away with his hands in the air.
"I thought she was going to punch the nurses because they wouldn't leave her alone when we were leaving." Puck turned to Santana while resting his fists on his hips.
"I can walk just fine. I may be a little slow, but that's it." Quinn explained exasperatedly. She was more than capable of doing things for herself.
"Yes, yes we know. Mrs. Independent." Santana huffed and rolled her eyes before she walked around to the back of her jeep and opened the hatch. "Okay, we have lasagnas in one bag and casseroles in the other. Everything else is already in the house."
"Did you get Beth's..."
"Sport's drinks? Yes." Santana nodded her head at Quinn.
"What about the..."
"Unscented wipes that actually fit Davis' wipe warmer? Yes."
"Well, did you remember to save..."
"The receipts? No, because I told you, that it was on me. I got everything that you actually needed and plenty of stuff that I thought you may need. Quinn, the only thing you need to worry about right now is getting your two big babies and your little baby in the house. Dinner for the next two weeks is on me. Well this is only about a weeks worth, but I have plans for some soups and stews too, I just ran out of time tonight." Santana raised up the warming bag that she was holding.
"You two are truly life savers." Puck was beaming with gratitude.
"We know, we're amazing." Santana smirked and grabbed Rachel around the waist pulling her into her side before kissing her on the temple. Glancing over at the Range Rover, Santana noticed that Beth was quietly gathering stuff to take in the house while Quinn unbuckled Davis's car seat. Her smile slowly faded as she watched Beth, something wasn't right. "Will you take this please?" Santana whispered to Rachel as she handed over her warming bag.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked worriedly. Instead of answering verbally, Santana nodded her head the side towards Beth. Oh, Rachel understood instantly also that something was wrong.
Santana stuffed her hands in her pockets as she made her ways towards Beth. Quinn was heading into the house with Davis, Rachel followed along behind her while Puck ran ahead to unlock the door. He would come out and help Beth as soon as he got Quinn and Davis settled. "You okay kiddo?" Santana asked as she stopped beside Beth who was struggling to pull her duffle bag out of the back of the car.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Just tired. School felt like it was never going to end today." Beth sighed and sat down in the open hatch. She blew a piece of her long blonde hair out of her eyes.
"Is that it? You're not feeling anxious now that Davis is home and he is definitely here to stay?" Santana leaned against the hatch but didn't sit down.
"Maybe a little." Beth looked down and drug her shoe through the gravel.
"This is the part where it can get overwhelming, so just remember what we talked about a few months ago. You can always call me or Aunt Rachel to come and get you okay?" Santana nudged Beth in the shoulder to make her smile.
"I really am excited that he's home though. Now I can see him whenever I want." Beth turned to look at the cabin as Puck came back out of the front door. "Dad already promised that he would take me to school and come and get me as much as he can. And mom was telling me about stuff that she has planned for us when Davis gets settled. I think Davis is that last little drop of glue to help us all stick together." Beth nodded her head like she was agreeing with herself.
"That's a really deep and mature thing to say. You have done some major growing up since we first talked about this stuff." Santana wrapped her arm around Beth to give her a side hug.
"I'm in middle school now. I have to grow up sometime." Beth shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.
"Oh, child. Just don't grow up too fast." Santana kissed Beth on the top of the head before standing up to help her with the bags. "Let's get what we can and your dad can get the rest."
Puck caught the end of that sentence as he finally made his way around to Beth and Santana. "Sure, you two are going to leave me with the heaviest bags aren't you?" Beth and Santana just laughed as they carefully chose what bags to carry into the cabin.
I am aware that this chapter is fairly rushed, the next few are kind of similar in moving things along. Honestly I just want the loose ends tied up so that we can move on and focus on the home, the twins, the actual big wedding and Santana reuniting with her parents. This story obviously isn't going to end any time soon, but I do want the bigger things to get here quicker.
Thank you for all the views, reviews, favorites and follows. I appreciate everyone who has stuck around for this many chapters and will continue to stick around until the end. You guys really make this writing thing fun.