Santana sighs happily as she looks at the pictures in her hands. She had taken several of the nursery once she and Puck had finished putting together the other bed and dresser before moving both beds into place. It had taken them a good portion of the afternoon, nonetheless, they were finished right when Rachel walked through the door from work. Santana couldn't help thinking about the squeal Rachel had let out when she seen that the room was done. It was absolutely perfect. Both beds sat in roughly the same spot in the middle of the room where the old big bed sat, there was enough space between them and on each side for night stands. One dresser sat to the left of the closet doors that were on the left side of the room, while the other sat opposite underneath the window. There was still plenty of room left on the back wall behind the door for the shelves they had ordered and now that Santana thought about it, there was also room to get each girl a trunk to put at the end of the beds. Those might have to wait a while, as they posed too much of a climbing threat at the moment. They didn't need anything that the girls could potentially fall off of when their room was supposed to be their biggest safe place to play.
"Do you think these will help us out at all?" Santana asked as she turned to hand the pictures back to Rachel. The woman was seated in the passenger seat of Santana's jeep. It was Wednesday morning and they had just left the doctor's office where they had had a series of tests done.
"I don't know babe. They might. We just have to see what Alison and Mercedes say." Rachel gripped Santana's hand that was resting on the center console of the jeep. "Do you think they will mention Sierra's incident at the art gallery? I mean she was there to see us when it happened."
"To be fair, they weren't just there to see us. They were there also because the show was about them and the home they have been raised in. I don't see how that can penalize us when we weren't there yet when it happened. They were under Stephanie's care during that time." Santana couldn't help but to get a little snarky with her last comment. She knew Stephanie wasn't to blame, babies can be wild sometimes and they can get hurt in the split second it takes you to blink. But why didn't Stephanie or anyone with a bit of authority that was there at the time tell them to stop running sooner? The fall could have been prevented had anyone been paying better attention.
"Santana..." Rachel sighed. She wasn't about to have this argument, especially right before they went in to see Alison and Mercedes.
"I know, I know. It's just..those are our babies and it's our job to protect them. It broke my heart to see her in so much pain and I couldn't do anything about it." Santana shook her head, she still felt guilty over the fact that she couldn't go with Sierra to the doctor that night.
"But, you did do something about it. When we got back you held her and snuggled with her. She was with you all night until she finally got brave enough to visit with our parents. Those moments when it was just you and her, made her night." Rachel smiled sadly. She knew that Santana let things bother her for a long time after they happened, this was just one of those things.
"They kind of made my night as well, besides raising so much money for the children and being there with you of course." Santana gave a cheeky grin.
"Of course." Rachel laughed as she tossed her head against the headrest of her seat. "Are you ready to go in now and see what Mercedes and Alison have to say?"
"Yeah, let's go." Santana replied with a confident nod as she reluctantly let go of Rachel's hand. It was only for a moment as she happily laced her fingers with Rachel's as they walked into Mercedes office.
Santana looked around the bright lobby of Mercedes office. It was a small place, but the numerous windows made it look bigger with all the bright light coming in. There were several chairs against the walls of the room and a large brown oak desk where Mercedes secretary sat. "We have a one o'clock meeting with Ms. Jones." Santana told the secretary. She smiled when the older African American woman smiled back.
"Mrs and Mrs. Berry Lopez, I presume?" The woman asked as she adjusted her glasses on her face.
"Yes, ma'm." Rachel replied with a smile of her own.
"You can go on back, she and Ms. Hall are waiting for you." Santana and Rachel both thanked the woman before walking to the right of the desk and down the hallway. They knocked once on the door and waited for the okay to come in.
Mercedes and Alison were sitting at Mercedes desk discussing Santana and Rachel's case. They were aware that both women were very serious about adopting the twins and to be honest, they were ecstatic. It felt like everything that could go wrong had already went wrong before, several times in fact. This time around though, things were going to be different. These girls were going to the best home possible for them. Now the two women just had to tell Rachel and Santana that. Mercedes looked up when she heard a knock on her door, looking at the clock, she knew it could only be two people on the other side. "Come in." Mercedes said loud enough for whoever was out there to hear.
"Hello." Rachel greeted as she came into the room, leading Santana by the hand.
"Good afternoon, ladies." Mercedes smiled in greeting as she stood up to shake Rachel and Santana's hands.
"How are you two?" Alison asked as the women sat down and made themselves comfortable in the large brown leather chairs that sat in front of Mercedes desk.
"We're great actually...a little nervous." Rachel gave a sheepish grin.
"Ah, there's nothing to be nervous about. We just wanted to have a chat and check in, see how things were going on your end of the adoption." Alison waved in a circular motion before resting it on her arm chair and propping up her head.
"Things are...progressing, I guess. We've just been getting things together for the eventual home visit coming up. We had our doctors appointment this morning, as you know." Santana rattled off.
"Yes. I already received a copy of the release forms for the drug tests. The other release form won't be signed until the results come back and you're cleared. It's a formality just in case something was to come back. It gives you both time to...cope...deal with...take care of...anything that may be wrong. I'm not saying there will be, it's just you know, just in case. We would hate for something to be wrong and we hear about it before either of you." Mercedes felt like she was struggling to explain all of this, she was a lawyer for goodness sake. She could talk herself out of a wet paper bag if she needed to, but she just couldn't find the right words today for some reason.
"We understand. We're confident though that everything they tested for will be clear. We get regular check ups and we had several tests done when we started volunteering at the home." Rachel laughed a little as she assured Mercedes and Alison that they were both healthy as a horse.
"So tell us more about getting things together for the home visit?" Alison asked with excited eyes. This was probably one of her favorite things about being a social worker. When soon to be parents started preparing for children to come home they sometimes went a little over board.
"Well." Rachel pulled out the pictures that Santana had handed her in the jeep. "Their bedroom is all set up. It's not decorated yet, but Santana is working on how to incorporate both bed colors without their room being...too loud. We have tons of clothes ordered for them to fill their dressers and closet. A few things we would prefer to let them pick out, you know like their cups and eating utensils. Shuebury's is adding onto their baby section, so we are going to look at stuff like car seats and high chairs there. Like we said, it's progressing." Rachel explained she watched Mercedes and Alison look at the pictures.
"I love their bedroom sets." Alison awed over the pieces of furniture. "It sounds like you two are really getting things in order."
"We are trying to. We want them home with us as soon as possible and we figure the faster we get things together the faster that may happen." Santana explained with a bit of eagerness to her tone.
"Well, that is one of the things we wanted to talk to you two about today. There is a parent adoption meeting coming up and two spots have opened up. We thought it would be great if you two could fill those spots instead of waiting until the next one, which is next month." Alison looked to Mercedes and smiled.
"That's perfect! We would love to attend. When is it?" Rachel asked eagerly. No way was they going to wait a whole month if they didn't have to.
"It's this Friday at ten. It's at the adoption agency office over on tenth street." Alison supplied the proper information they would need.
"What exactly happens at these meetings?" Santana asked curiously. "I mean we have heard that we would have to attend these things and they are a type of support group, but what exactly happens?"
"They're just meetings to help you build up bonds with other adoptive parents. You talk about yourselves, your children, parenting advice, stuff like that." Alison shrugged her shoulders. "It's a safe place for you as parents to share your experiences and struggles of being adoptive parents. Not everyone understands how people make the decisions to take on children that are your heart babies and not tummy babies. Those people get it. The twins have one too that they will attend when they get older, right now at their age, it's just a play group though. You have to have at least one of these meetings under your belt before we can move on with the adoption."
"What exactly are you saying? Is our adoption going to be completely halted for a month if we don't go to this meeting?" Rachel furrowed her eyebrows at Mercedes and Alison. She studied them both closely, they looked like they were going to burst at the seems at any moment.
"If you wait for the next meeting then yes. However, right at this moment we're saying that with this early meeting and great tests results, pending the home visit...the girls could be with you in the time frame of a few weeks or less." Alison cheered as she finished talking. Santana and Rachel weren't sure what to say. A few weeks? The girls could be coming home to them in a few weeks? There was still so much stuff left to do, stuff to buy...how were they going to get it all done. It was extremely exciting and a bit overwhelming all at the same time.
"I can see you panicking...you have plenty of time. This is good news I swear! We'll work with you to make sure that everything is prepared." Alison was lost now. She thought the women would happy.
"Wha...what about the case plan for the home? We have to complete it too before they can come home." Santana was the first one to break the silence.
"Everything on the case plan is basically the same thing you have been doing for us. There was just one more drug test on there for before hand and they cleared that with the test you took to volunteer. You're in the process of getting everything the girls need and the rest comes after they're in your care. You're on the right path." Alison reassured both Rachel and Santana.
"Are we going to have enough time to get everything that they need? I mean a few weeks is normally equaled to three weeks or so." Rachel was still slightly panicked. It was like she was still processing everything that Alison had said.
"Babe, she said they would make sure we were prepared. They're not going to through us into the deep end of the pool knowing we don't know how to swim." Santana reached out her hand for Rachel to hold. The moment they touched hands, it was as if the world itself began to calm back down.
"We'll do progress meetings like this to see if you need more time or if Lord forbid something come back on the tests. This won't be the last you will be seeing of either of us, especially because of a minor detail that no one has mentioned yet of adoption fees." Mercedes joked lightly.
"Oof, we hadn't even thought about that part of all of this yet." Santana cringed a little. The money portion of this hadn't even crossed her mind once.
"Well seeing as we are a non-profit agency and this is a voluntary adoption, it will cost a bit more. However, the twins aren't newborns meaning that the fees are only at about six thousand. If they were newborns, you would be paying anywhere from ten grand to twenty-five." Mercedes explained.
"That's not too bad honestly, besides the girls are totally worth it." Rachel smiled as she leaned her head on Santana's shoulder. "We will discuss this more in length at our next meeting, yes?" Mercedes nodded her head at Rachel's question.
"I think that about covers everything we needed to chat about today. But before you two go, I just want to say something. We know how badly you want the girls at home with you, we want them there just as bad. So go to this meeting Friday, work on getting everything done for the home visit and I promise we will have the girls to you as soon as possible. I've been the social worker for the twins ever since they were brought into the system and I can honestly say I have never met two people more perfect for them." Alison was trying not to get emotional, but it was hard when two of your best babies was finally going home.
"I agree. You're going to be one big happy family and you all deserve it." Mercedes leaned back in her chair as she studied the two women. She knew from the beginning that things would work out for the best with these two.
"Thank you..thank you so much...for everything." Rachel and Santana stood up and hugged each woman before leaving the office. It still hadn't sunk in just how quickly everything was really moving along. They would be parents in just a few weeks. Two little ones running around the house, playing with the dogs. There was still so much left to do, but it would get done. They were going to be parents...everything just felt right in the world. Until they remembered that they were going to be parents, their lives were about to be totally and completely turned upside down.