As soon as Rachel and Santana left the children's home they began going over everything that they needed to accomplish by Tuesday. It really wasn't that much, just things here and there that needed to be put up and organized. The girls books still sat in bags in their nursery because the shelves that the women had ordered still hadn't arrived. Hopefully they would come Monday, which they did. As soon as they arrived Santana quickly put them together and then continued to spend almost an hour organizing the books. Rachel couldn't help to giggle at Santana's antics. Santana was glad that they didn't have to resort to getting shelves at Shuebury's because there was a chance the shelves wouldn't match the nursery theme and that just wasn't acceptable.
Sunday the two women had spent all day baby proofing the cabin. Every outlet was now covered, all of the cabinets had locks on them and several baby gates had been purchased. There was one for the stairs, one in front of the cellar door and one that was specially made to keep the girls off of the hearth when the fire place was lit. Santana had a smaller one for the fireplace to keep Dax out of there, but this new one came out farther so as to not even tempt little fingers. All in all, Santana was proud of everything they had done, now it was just a waiting game for Alison and whoever else was coming with her to show up. In order to get a better idea of what was going to happen, Santana had contacted some of the parents that they had met at the adoptive parent meeting. Pretty much everyone had said the same thing, the social worker of the children came with their child placement specialist and some one from the agency to basically do a walk through of the house. They were looking to see if the parent(s) had everything in order to bring a child or children home. The parents that they had met were already becoming a great source for peace of mind. Santana and Rachel were both really glad that the meeting had been a requirement. These people understood exactly what they were going through.
"Santana, honey you are going to have to stop pacing, you are wearing a hole in the floor." Rachel observed from her position at the kitchen island. She and Santana were having a bite of breakfast trying to kill time before Alison showed up.
"I'm sorry." Santana whined, wringing her hands together. "It's just, what if we forgot something? What if the specialist hates dogs and refuses to let the twins come because he or she thinks the dogs will have some kind of manic outburst?"
"You're being dramatic. Alison knows we have dogs and she knows that they are well trained and that they would lick the girls to death before they ever thought about biting them." Rachel rolled her eyes. "We've been over the cabin with a fine tooth comb several times and we have everything, the only thing we don't actually have is our double stroller. But, we have the little ones from Halloween which will suffice for now."
"I'm scared." Santana's lower lip quivered before she could stop it from happening. Immediately Rachel was on her feet and wrapping herself around Santana's body.
"I know, and it's okay to be scared because I am too. This is also a time to get excited because we are going to have our girls here in a few days. It's overwhelming knowing that they will be here with us for the first time alone for two whole days, but we're going to be fine." Rachel rubbed her hands up and down Santana's back, trying to comfort the woman.
"We uh, we need to go to the store and get some snacks and stuff for them." Santana sniffled and wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. She of course was trying to change the subject and stop crying. She didn't want to have a full fledged cry face going on when Alison got here.
"Let's get the home study over with first and then we can make a list of what we need and what you would like to cook while they are here, okay?" Rachel wrapped her arms around Santana giving the woman a tight hug. "We're going to be okay baby." Rachel whispered.
"Yeah we are." Santana pulled back from the hug a little in order to kiss Rachel. They stayed like that for a moment before they were interrupted by a knock on the door. "They're here earlier than we thought they would be." Santana mumbled before heading towards the front door.
"Show time." Rachel took a deep breath and put on her best Broadway smile as she joined Santana to greet whom she presumed was Alison at the door.
Santana held her breath as she unlocked the cabin door and swiftly pulled it open. Outside stood, not only Alison and the placement specialist but Mercedes' also. "Good morning ladies. Please come in, come in." Santana stepped back and motioned for the women to step inside. Realizing the door was open, both Dax and Dahlia decided that now was the perfect time to go out. Santana smiled and shook her head, at least the dogs would be outside during the walk through.
"Santana, Rachel, you already know Mercedes' and myself, but this is Misty Graham, St. Lawrence Child Placement Specialist." Alison introduced the woman that was mildly intimidating to Santana and Rachel. She had a strong take charge presence accompanied with a warm smile. She definitely meant business, despite her casual dress of skinny jeans and a flowy top.
"It's lovely to meet you. Here, let me take your coats and we can sit down in the kitchen, if anyone would like something to drink? Coffee? Tea?" Rachel immediately began playing the perfect hostess while Santana introduced herself and Rachel again formally.
"I'm fine for now. You two really have a lovely place up here. I'm going to start off by saying I truly appreciate your level of security, the lovely man at the gate refused to give back my ID until I left the premises." Misty smirked a little.
"Yeah, he knew Alison, but since he didn't know us he wouldn't let us through otherwise." Mercedes' laughed as she handed her jacket to Rachel.
Santana groaned, she was going to kill Duncan. He knew that Alison would be visiting sometime today and that she would be bringing new people with her that were cleared already. That was just like Duncan though, he always pulled out all the stops. "I apologize..."
"Nonsense. I'm not going to lie and say I haven't seen media coverage of you two from the past, because I have. I respect his level of professionalism and the lengths he goes to make sure you both are safe. That's the first sign that I know the twins would be safe here with you two." Misty waved off the apology. "And yes, obviously you two know why I am here, my title kind of gives me away and Alison spilled the beans that she had mentioned for you two to hang around home today." Alison had enough decency to look genuinely sorry to her boss, however as soon as the woman's head was turned she gave a friendly wink to Santana who grinned in response.
Rachel came over to stand next to Santana. She clapped her hands in anticipation. "So how about those drinks? We could also give you a tour or would you rather just wonder around by yourselves?"
"Mercedes' and I would like to wonder a bit if that's okay? Those drinks would be lovely afterward though." Misty looked to Santana and Rachel for permission, yes this was her job but she wasn't going to just take off into the cabin.
"That's perfectly fine. Since we know you're looking for specifics, down that hallway is a guest bedroom turned playroom and an in home studio. This door is the nursery." Santana pointed to her left. "Through the archway behind me is the kitchen and bathroom. There is also another hallway back there that is all storage cabinets on the left, my studio on the right and the cellar door at the end. Up the stairs is Rachel and I's loft bedroom." Misty smiled her thanks as she and Mercedes' took the initiative to head down the hallway next to the fireplace.
It felt like ages before Misty and Mercedes' came back into the living room before making their way into the nursery. Santana, Rachel and Alison who were all waiting in the kitchen smiled at hearing the excited chatter coming from the two women who were looking around.
"Rachel and Santana, could you come in here for a moment please?" Mercedes' called out. Rachel and Santana looked at each other nervously before exiting the kitchen with Alison on their heels.
Misty was standing in between the beds studying them closely. Santana couldn't figure out what she was actually looking for until she spoke. "Do these beds have guards or rails for them?"
Santana and Rachel both sighed with relief, this was an easy fix. "Yes, ma'm. They just slide into the side of the beds when not in use." Santana walked over to one of the dresses and picked up a handle that also served as a key. "You squeeze the handle into the slot under this wooden slat and pull up until it clicks into the height you want it. There is a sliding release button on the bottom but it won't do anything unless the key is in place."
"We actually didn't know the beds had these until Santana and a family friend put them together. We have bed rails that we purchased separately in the closet." Rachel explained. Of all the things to get called out on, it had to be something that they had chosen not to do to make the room look neater for now.
"I really like the way that works." Misty complimented as she nodded her head in approval. "Who decorated the nursery?" The woman asked with curiosity.
"This was all Santana, being the artist that she is there was no way were going to hire a decorator." Rachel gave Santana a one armed hug. She was beyond proud of everything that Santana had done.
"You should expand your painting to include interior design." Misty complimented thoughtfully.
"This was fun as was painting my godson slash nephew's room, but I think that's the extent of my interior designing." Santana clicked her teeth as she thought out loud, Misty nodded her head. She understood where Santana was coming from, she enjoyed doing this one particular thing, it didn't mean she wanted to do it all the time.
"Shall we see the rest of the cabin?" Mercedes' asked to break the silence. To be honest she was tired of standing here looking for any little tiny detail. The room was perfect and it was outfitted to the tip top standards of safety, any child would be happy to live in this room.
Everyone made their way into the kitchen where Santana, Rachel and Alison sat back down at the bar while Misty and Mercedes' continued to look around the cabin. They first dawdled in the kitchen checking out all the cabinets and child locks before moving on into the bathroom and down the hallway. Santana breathed a sigh of relief as she watched them disappear around the corner. She knew they weren't going to find anything but the incident with the bed rails had definitely left her a little shaken up. Everything was okay though, they were going to get through this and they would have the girls with them this weekend.
"I just have one more question." Misty asked as she and Mercedes' came back into the kitchen. "Can we go into the cellar and upstairs?"
"Of course. The cellar should be unlocked because I was down there earlier this morning looking for peaches...which reminds me...somehow we only have a few jars left." Santana looked pointedly at Rachel who was finding the ceiling very interesting at the moment.
"How much stuff do you normally can a year?" Misty asked as she followed Santana down into the cellar.
"A bit of everything that I grow in my garden. So all together a couple hundred pounds of stuff. I also pre make soups and stews and can them. I make jerky's and freeze dry other stuff. We only grocery shop for certain basics that I don't have the tools to produce and luxury items like soda's, ice cream, or chocolate." Santana responded as she reached the bottom of the stairs and flipped on the light. She couldn't help but to smile at the gasp that Misty and Mercedes' both let out.
Santana and Rachel both took a minute to show the women around the cellar before they went back upstairs to check out the loft. Just as they had expected, Misty and Mercedes' were amazed by the view from the loft windows. The appreciated the fact that the gates were high enough to each place that they had to be unlocked and opened because none of them could even step over, that was a major plus.
When Misty and Mercedes' decided they were done looking, they all gathered in the kitchen where they chatted about what to expect. They would be receiving a call to let them know what time to pick up the girls on Friday. So did that mean? Yes, they were definitely getting the girls for the weekend. This weekend however would determine how soon permanent placement was going to happen. If the girls had a rough weekend, they would test the waters some more, do some one on one visits in the office and go from there. If everything went well then the next visit would most likely be the final visit because the girls would get to stay.
Santana and Rachel began to dance around the cabin when everyone left. Their girls were coming home for a visit. They had to make a store list and go shopping! Rachel grabbed for a pad and pen as Santana began to excitedly ramble about what all they would need. It was finally about to happen and life never felt so good.