After the biting incident things seemed to calm down in the Berry-Lopez household. The girls who had had their breakfast and was now dressed, were playing nicely together in their room. Santana had taken her shower first and was now sitting in one of the gliders just watching the twins. It was so cute to see them interact with each other. They had started off working together dressing one of their baby dolls and now they were playing with a puzzle. Every time Sierra would hand Samara a piece, the little girl would examine it and either try to put it in the puzzle or shake her head and hand it back. It was like she was telling Sierra that that wasn't the right one. Santana found herself silently laughing at the concentrated look on Samara's face on more than one occasion. The way she scrunched up her eye brows and narrowed her eyes at the puzzle piece was too cute to handle.
"Are we ready to go?" Rachel asked while poking her head into the nursery.
"I think so." Santana replied as she stood up. She had already let the dogs out to use the bathroom, they had plenty of water and food and their potty patch was set up in the bathroom if they needed to go before Santana and Rachel returned home. Really that thing had been a life saver on more than one occasion when something had came up and Santana or Rachel wasn't able to make it home on time. Whenever that happened, Santana always made sure the dogs got extra snuggles and play time, especially now with the twins here. She never wanted her fur babies to feel like they were being neglected or over looked.
"Let's go lady bugs." Rachel walked over to the girls picking Samara up and handing her to Santana before picking Sierra up herself. "I hope you guys are prepared because there is no telling what your grand parents have in store for you once they find out you're home for good."
"I can only imagine." Santana mumbled as the family exited the cabin and made their way towards the jeep. Santana was thankful that the first snow fall hadn't been a big one and melted in a timely fashion. There was so much that she needed to get done around the cabin that she just hadn't had time to do yet. Hopefully this weekend after the holiday she would find the time, for now Thanksgiving and spending time with her family was top priority.
The trip out to Leroy and Bayani's cabin was a loud but short one. The entire time the girls babbled and talked up a storm to their mother's who answered them like they were having a real conversation. Santana smiled as Sierra yelled something about "buh flies" and "wed." There was no telling what the child was actually talking about. It was amazing just how many new words the girls had learned in the time that Rachel and Santana had known them.
Rachel couldn't help the excited giggles that began to bubble over as she and Santana made their way up the side of the mountain towards her fathers cabin. All of the parents were clueless to what was about to happen, or so she thought. There was still the possibility that Santana's mother knew, however Rachel felt like if she did know, she hadn't said anything to anyone. Through the numerous conversations between Leroy and Shelby, neither of them let on like they knew anything. Time would only tell.
"I swear, I fall in love with your father's cabin every time we come up here." Santana couldn't help but to be in awe. Did she love Leroy's cabin more than her own? Of course not, nothing would ever replace the amazing home that her Abuelo had built and that she kept modern, but she just loved cabins and Leroy had picked a good one.
"It's so pretty." Rachel agreed as Santana parked the jeep out front. The cabin itself wasn't as big as Santana's and Rachel's, but it was still three bedroom, two bath, large dining room and kitchen, spacious living room with high vaulted ceilings and a study that was to die for. Santana knew that if she had been a writer like Leroy instead of a painter she would have the same office. As the women climbed out of the jeep they took note that they were the last ones to arrive, just like they had planned.
"Do you want to get the stuff now or wait and just take the girls in so none of the parents come out early and see them?" Santana asked as she unbuckled Sierra from her car seat.
"Uhm, let's just go straight in and come back out for the stuff. The longer we are outside the more chance there is of them coming out." Rachel replied before she stepped back to the back passenger door to get Samara out of her seat. The twins were looking around with big eyes, they were at a new place and it was all just so exciting for them.
"Tur tur?" Sierra asked Santana as she lifted the tiny girl onto her hip.
"Yeah baby, we are going to have lots of tur tur." Santana chuckled. They had mentioned turkey once in the car on the way here and Sierra had already picked up on the word. It was true what they say about children being sponges, they literally soaked up everything. Sierra clapped her hands excitedly. She didn't know what tur tur was exactly but it sounded yummy!
As the women made the short walk from the jeep to the front door, Rachel saw the curtain move out of the corner of her eye as soon as she stepped onto the porch. "Your mom was just in the window." Rachel stopped and turned to look at Santana who was already trying not to laugh.
"I told you she knew." Santana adjusted Sierra on her hip. "Let's go in before they all bombard us." Before Rachel could even reach her hand out to turn the door knob, the door was jerked open by Leroy who was already on the verge of crying. Immediately all of the parents were behind him trying to see out of the door.
"You have them?!"
"How long are they staying with you? Just the holiday's?"
"Oh my gosh, they've gotten so much bigger than the last time we seen them."
"Leroy, honey, move let them in the house."
"I love that they have their mothers eyes."
"Mami, really?"
"Okay! Enough! We will explain everything in a moment." Rachel interjected. All the questions were making her head spin.
"I have one more question?" Marcus raised his finger tentatively.
Santana groaned. She knew to expect this and had even mentally prepared for it, but holy crap she wished they would back off for a moment. "Yes, Papi?"
"Did you bring the apple pie?" Marcus asked sheepishly.
"Of course we did. Rachel made her pasta salad too. It's in the back." Santana dug into her pocket and handed her father the keys before rolling her eyes and finally following Rachel into the house. Now that the parents had decided to actually move out of the way, they could sit down and begin to explain everything.
Once Rachel and Santana had settled in the kitchen they began to answer any and all questions that had been or were going to be thrown at them. Everyone was ecstatic to find out that they finally had the girls permanently and to no one's surprise the entire room burst into tears. Sierra and Samara watched with mildly concerned faces, they had no idea why everyone was acting this way.
"Can we ask what names you all would like to be called? You know since the twins are officially your grand children now." Santana trailed off as she looked at everyone's grins. She should have known that they had probably picked out names ages ago and was just waiting on the perfect moment to use them.
"Well, I stayed traditional and chose Pap." Leroy stated proudly before looking over to Bayani.
"I also stayed traditional but in my language, so I chose Lolo." Rachel smiled at the men, those were good names.
"I like them both very much. Girls, that's Pap and that's Lolo." Rachel pointed to Leroy and Bayani who beamed when the girls smiled at them. "Mom? Cass? What did you two pick?"
"I went with Nana or Nan, whichever one the girls prefer." Shelby shrugged her shoulders, it didn't matter in all honesty what the girls decided to call her. She was just happy that Rachel was back in her life and now she had two beautiful grand daughters.
"When I was little I used to call my Grandmother, Minny. I would like to stick with that also, if that's okay?" Cassie knew that she was a part of the family, but for some reason she felt like she needed reassurance.
"Cass...we asked you to pick out a name. If that's what you want to be called then that's what you shall be called, or well at least a variation of it until the girls can say it properly." Santana laughed, making Sierra and Samara laugh as well. Who knew what Mami was laughing at? They just wanted to join in. Once again Rachel properly introduced the girls to the new names for their grandparents before moving onto Santana's parents.
"Mami? Papi? Did you two stay super traditional and go with Abuelo and Abuela?" Santana knew her parents could be very formal, hence the reason she always called her Abuelo, Abuelo. She just wasn't sure if they would remain that way with the girls.
"No honey. We actually wanted to be called Lita and Lito." Maribel replied as she walked towards Santana with outstretched hands. The younger Latina woman had no idea what was happening until she looked down and saw Sierra's outstretched hands for her Lita.
"Wita!" Sierra yelled as she made grabbing motions because Maribel wasn't moving fast enough.
The older woman chuckled as she finally took the baby into her arms. "Yes, I am your Lita and that is your Lito." Santana watched in awe as Samara decided that she wanted to be smothered in love and kisses too and climbed down out of Rachel's lap and made her way over to Leroy and Bayani. Both girls squealed with delight as all six of their grandparents descended on them at once. This was already turning into the best Thanksgiving ever and they hadn't even eaten yet.
After all of the grandparents successfully created two little loved up monsters, the entire family sat down to eat. The dining room table was filled with all sorts of food from the traditional turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and stuffing to several traditional Spanish side dishes, courtesy of Maribel. Santana had no idea where her mother may have cooked some of this stuff other than here at Leroy's. She was still suspicious about a hidden move, but today wasn't the day to ask. Today was their first Thanksgiving together as a whole family and it was going to remain a great day.
As expected, Leroy and Bayani did in fact have two high chairs hidden away just for the girls. That was only the tip of the ice burg when it came to gifts. Maribel and Marcus both had mentioned that they had a few while Shelby and Cassie tried to deny theirs hidden in their car. Santana honestly had no idea what to get the girls for Christmas since they were receiving all of this stuff now. It was honestly stressing her out just a little bit.
Rachel who had been eating noticed that Santana was really thinking hard about something as the parents kept talking about presents. She reached over and rubbed Santana's thigh to get her attention. What's wrong? Rachel asked with her eyes and general facial expression. Santana shook her head indicating that is was nothing to worry about now. Rachel gave her signature pout and was quickly kissed to make it disappear. The table erupted into ooes and awes at the two women. Both shared a smile and shook their heads. This was their family, the teasing, the warmness and the all around greatest feeling of love imaginable. Despite the early stress of Christmas, the possibility of Santana's parents moving to McKinley and the girls already on the verge of being strung out on sugar...Today was a good day.
I knew there would come a point when I had to write this Author's Note and it's bittersweet to finally be at that point. This story is set to wrap up at around Chapter 100. To say that was the goal from the start would not be truthful. I never intended for this story to become as long as it is or is going to be. There will be a small time jump (2 weeks at the most) to put us closer to Christmas and the wedding, but I promise that everything will be tied up neatly into a little bow. I also want to say that fear not, this isn't the last you have seen of the Berry-Lopez Family, I do have one shots planned but those won't be out for a while. After staying on such a strict schedule with this story I need a break from writing for a while, plus a coworker just gave her 2 week notice so that means my work load is about to increase tenfold until someone new is hired. I have no idea when that will be since we are in the middle of a hiring freeze right now. Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me throughout this story and I hope you stay until the end (I know some people stop reading a story once the ending is announced.) If you're one of those readers, that's okay. It's been nice having you around and happy reading to you.