Chapter 9
Santana's POV
I had Costa sleep in the bed with me last night. I didn't want to be alone. Noah reminded me so much of Adrian last night, it was scary. I really don't want to ride with him to Quinn's house but I know I need to. At least Brittany will be in the car too. I hope.
"Mami?"
"Good morning mijo." I prop myself up on my elbow and smile at him. He leans up and kisses my cheek before plopping back down on the bed.
"Morning mami." Then he bolts upright. "Today is Beth's party! I get to wear my costume now."
"Yes it is." I reply with a laugh. "But first we have to take a bath and eat breakfast. We have to hurry so we can make sure your sister has her costume on time too."
He jumps out of bed and races to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He's so excited, it's adorable. I head to the bathroom behind and start running his bath water.
"Do you want bubbles mijo?" He nods in response. "Should we go out to eat or do you want me to cook?" He spits out the toothpaste to reply.
"Go out. Can Puck come too mami?"
I freeze at the question. "I-I'm sure he isn't up this early baby. We'll see him later at Beth's party."
"Please mami can I call and ask?" He pouts. I nod with a sigh.
"But after your bath." He does a little fist pump and starts to strip out of his pajamas. "Be careful mijo. You don't want to hurt yourself."
After Costa takes his bath and gets dressed, I let him watch cartoons while I take a quick shower. When I got out, I heard Costa talking to someone. A man. I quickly wrapped a towel around myself and grabbed the nearest thing to me that could pass as a weapon. It happened to be a plunger.
I quietly exited the bathroom, plunger raised over my head. Once I round the corner at the end of the hall, I find Costa and Noah talking animatedly about the show on the television.
"W-what are you doing here?"
"Oh hey San. I found this little guy knocking on my door going on about breakfast." Noah says with a smile. "Were you gonna plunge me to death?" He adds with a laugh.
"Costa you know you're not supposed to leave the house by yourself." I tell him, ignoring Noah's comment.
"Sorry mami." He says quietly with his head down.
I notice Noah leering at my body and I realize I'm still in just a towel. I clear my throat loudly, getting him to make eye contact with me.
"Thank you for bringing him back over here. We're just going to grab a quick bite at the diner down the street. We'll see you at Beth's party." The smile on his face left as disappointment marred his features.
"Do you mind if I join you guys?" He asks.
"Umm I-" "Please mami? Can he come?" Costa interrupts me. He's giving me puppy eyes that he apparently learned from Callie. "Okay yea you can come. Let me just go get dressed." I pull my towel tighter around myself before going into my bedroom.
Once I was done getting dressed I shot Quinn a good morning text and asked if she wanted any help setting up. I really just want to see how Callie is doing but I don't mind helping.
I go into the living room and find Noah holding Costica over his shoulder tickling him. His squeals of laughter brings a smile to my face. Which quickly turns into a frown as I slap my hand over my mouth and rush off to the bathroom.
When I come back Noah is looking at me worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. Probably still a little nauseous from yesterday."
"Mami always gets sick in the morning. And sometimes at night." Costa adds. "Like yesterday."
"Ok let's go. I'm sure you're both starving." I say quickly, ushering them out the door.
Breakfast was pretty uneventful. Noah and Costa chatted away about dinosaurs or something while I practically inhaled my food. Quinn still hasn't responded to my text. She's probably really busy trying to get everything set up.
"Hey can we go to Quinn's now? Callie is a handful and I want to make sure she's not in the way too much."
"Sure let me just pay and we can go."
"Oh you don't ha-"
"It's fine. Breakfast is on me." He says with a wink.
Quinn's POV
I wake up to the constant ringing of my cell phone. I blindly reach over and grab it off the nightstand.
"Hello." I answer sleepily.
"Babe I've been calling all morning. Did you get my texts? When are you coming home?" A man's voice responds. Babe?
"I think you have the wrong number." I tell the guy, ready to hang up.
"Rachel?" I sit up and look at the phone in my hand, sure enough it's Rachel's phone and some guy named Brody is calling her babe. "Rachel you there?"
"No she isn't, this is her girlfriend Quinn. Maybe she's told you about me." The line goes dead. I guess he does know about me.
How could she? How long has this been going on? Is she living with him? I feel tears running down my face. I quickly wipe them away and go to the bathroom to get ready for today. I will not let this ruin my daughter's party.
I cried a little more in the shower but once I was out I put on a fake smile and a bit more makeup than usual. I heard the girls giggling away in Beth's room. I knock on the door before letting myself in.
"Good morning mommy." "Good morning Quinn." They greet me at the same time.
"Morning girls. Who wants to help me make breakfast?" They both excitedly volunteer.
I start on the bacon and have the girls mix up the pancake batter. It wasn't long before the counter was a mess. Then there was a knock on the door.
"Don't go near the stove girls. I'll be right back."
I open the door to find Santana, Puck, and Costa on the other side.
"Sup Q." Puck says before walking past me. "Where's my little princess?" I hear him ask as he goes further into the house.
"Good morning Quinn." Santana says. "I sent you a text to see if you wanted help getting everything ready. But you didn't respond and I know Callie can be a handful and would probably get in the way somehow so I came. And I brought her clothes to play in and also her costume and-"
"San," I put my hand on her arm to stop her rambling. "I'm so glad you came. I could use all the help I can get. And sorry I didn't reply, Rachel grabbed the wrong phone when she uh, went to her dads' house." I tell her. "Hey come in we're making breakfast."
"We already had breakfast with Puck." Costa is the one to respond. "And mami ate A LOT! Like this much." He spreads his arms out wide. Santana looks embarrassed and ready to burst into tears.
"Whoa little man. I'm gonna have to teach you the right way to talk to the ladies." Puck says as we walk into the kitchen.
"You won't be teaching him anything Puck. That's the last thing we need."
"Why not? It worked on you baby momma. Hence this little angel." He says referring to Beth. I scoff and roll my eyes.
"Come on San." I grab Santana's hand and lead her to the kitchen.
"Buenos dias mami!" Callie greets her as we enter the room.
"Good morning baby. Did you have fun last night?" Callie nods and tells Santana all about last night and this morning.
"She wasn't any trouble was she?" She asks me.
"Not at all." I tell her with a smile.
"Mami did you bring my costume? I wanna show Beth!"
"It's in Noah's car sweetie. You can show her later. Let's get you a bath first and put on some regular clothes." Callie pouts in response.
"Don't worry Beth isn't putting on her costume until later either." I tell her.
Santana takes Callie into the bathroom to get dressed and I finish up breakfast. They're back in about 15 minutes and I serve everyone. Puck, being the human garbage disposal that he is, also got a plate while Santana just stole bacon and sausage off of Callie's plate. Costa was in the living room playing with some of Beth's toys that were out. He sounded like he was having a lot of fun.
Santana's POV
I couldn't help but sneak a few pieces of bacon of Callie's plate. I was a bit self conscious after what Costa said but I was really hungry and the bacon smelled special, like it was made specifically for me. She wasn't going to eat it all anyway.
"So where's my Jewish princess?" Noah asks.
"She has a name Puck." Quinn snaps. "She's not here. She's...at her fathers' house."
"Uh oh trouble in paradise?" He smirks.
Quinn tenses. "No she just hasn't been to see her dads. Now shut up."
"Sure." Quinn takes her plate and slams it in the sink before walking out. "Aww come on Q I was just joking!" Noah calls after her.
"I'll go see if she wants to start setting up." I tell him before following after Quinn. "Where did Quinn go mijo?" I ask Costa once I'm in the living room. He points to the front door.
I find her sitting on her porch swing, swaying slowly with a sad, far off look in her eyes. I sit down next to her.
"Hey." I start. "Are you okay?"
"Yea it's just...why don't I know anything about you?" She blurts out.
"I-uh what do you want to know?"
"I don't know. Anything. Everything."
"Well I'm from uhh Boston. I went to college for a year but didn't finish once I got pregnant. Umm I'm an only child. I-"
"Where did you go to school?" She interrupts me.
"I went to NYU." I don't want to give too many real details from my past life.
"And that's where you met their dad?" I nod. "Where is he?"
"He uh, he died." I say.
"Oh my god. I'm so sorry." She pulls me into a tight hug.
"It's fine."
"That's why you don't want to talk about him. I'm so sorry about Rachel asking all those questions. And her interrogating Callie. She can be a bitch sometimes. I'm sorry. Oh god and your baby. It had to have been recent." She covers her mouth as soon as she says the last part. I look back at her in shock.
"Y-you know?" I ask.
"I'm sorry. Frannie accidentally told me last night. She mentioned you had morning sickness and it wasn't my food that made you sick. Well it kinda was but not really. She thought that I knew already. She didn't mean to. Please don't tell on her." Quinn let's out in one breath.
Quinn's POV
Santana still hasn't said anything. Suddenly she stands up and runs inside the house.
"Santana! Wait!" I call after her. She keeps going. "Dammit." I move to go in after her and see Costa staring at me from the doorway. How hadn't we noticed him? "How long have you been standing there?"
He shrugged. "You're not supposed to talk about daddy. Now she's sad." He says with a frown.
"Quinn?" Costa calls out as I'm sitting on the couch. Santana has been in the bathroom for the past 20 minutes. She refuses to come out.
"Yeah buddy?"
"Am I gonna have a brother or a sister? I hope it's a brother cause I need help protecting Mami and Callie."
"I'm not sure yet. Your mom won't find out for a while. The baby has to get a little bigger." What do they need protecting from? Maybe he just feels like he has to be the 'man of the house' since his dad is gone so I ignore that bit.
"Oh." He pauses. "Quinn?"
"Yes?"
"I don't want my daddy to come back. And I know mami doesn't either." What the hell, what does he mean by that?
"Why not?"
He shrugs his shoulders and looks down at his feet.
I squat down to his level and look him in the eye. "You heard what me and your mom were talking about right?" He nods. "Do you know what it means when someone is dead?" He nods again.
"They don't come back, but daddy isn't dead! He's just a stupid meanie!" He shouts, startling me in the process.
"Sweetie you daddy isn't going to come back."
"You promise?" He asks with tears in his eyes.
"I-I promise." I say hoping I don't break that promise. I'm going to have to have a real talk with Santana about their father. After Beth's party of course.
"I-I'm sorry." She tells me when she finally comes out of the bathroom.
"You have nothing to apologize for San." I reply. I'll ask her what Costa meant later.
We go check on the girls in Beth's room, they have Puck in make-up. He looks like the Joker honestly. I burst out laughing and Santana is trying desperately to hold hers in.
"You look adorable." She tells him and it stops my laughter almost immediately. "I take it Callie did your lips?"
Puck nods and then starts voguing, making Santana laugh even harder.
"I did his eyes and hair!" Beth exclaims. We all laugh again and then I hear the front door open. I know it's Rachel and I don't want to deal with her, not right now.
"Jew babe!" Puck shouts when she walks into the kitchen.
"Noah." She replies with a small smile then looks at me. "Hey Quinn."
"You grabbed the wrong phone." I say, holding out her phone. "A guy named Brody called. It seemed pretty urgent, maybe you should call him back babe." I give her a pointed look with my eyebrow raised.
"Yea I realized that when I kept getting texts from Santana." She challenges me.
"Oh, you mean about helping me set up the party for our daughter that you haven't even bothered to help with at all?" She scoffs.
"Hey Beth why don't you guys go play in your room." Puck says. "Ladies chill out. What the hell is going on?"
"I-I think I'll go join them in Beth's room." Santana says quietly, heading towards the hallway.
"No. You stay." Rachel commands and Santana freezes. "I'm talking about the loving goodnight texts Quinn!"
"She's not a fucking dog Rachel." I growl.
"Seriously what the fuck guys?" Puck asks again. "It's Beth's day, so whatever shit you two have going on, put it on hold."
"Did you sleep with her too Puck? Is that why she's your Jewish princess, your Jew babe?!"
"What? No, she's like a sister to me Q. I wouldn't do that to you. You know me better than that."
"I thought I knew Rachel too but she's been fucking some asshole named Brody behind my back for god knows how long!" I say with tears in my eyes.
"Everybody CHILL THE FUCK OUT!" Puck shouts, silencing everybody. Santana rushes off in the direction of the bathroom again.
"Seriously what is wrong with her?" Rachel asks, referring to Santana.
"Rachel shut the hell up!" Puck yells again. "This is my daughter's day and she will fucking enjoy it. You two can deal with your bullshit drama tomorrow."
"Sorry." We both say quietly, hanging out heads in shame. I go to the bathroom to check on Santana.
"Santana?" I call to her. She doesn't respond at all. I knock softly and call her name again. Still nothing. Just as I'm about to go in, the door opens and she comes out.
"Sorry I-I umm, I felt nauseous and didn't want to puke on your floor." She tells me.
"No need to apologize. Do you want to lay down?"
"N-no I'm fine. Maybe the twins and I should just come back when the party starts. I-I don't want any trouble." She says.
"Hey, don't worry about her. Stay as long as you'd like. Please." I say putting my hand on her arm to keep her from walking away.
"Mommy Costa is crying!" I hear Beth yell from her room. Santana rips her arm from mine and rushes to the kids. When I get to the room Santana is cradling Costa in her arms while he cries.
Santana's POV
"What happened?" I asked the girls. They both shrug.
"I don't know he was just sitting there and then we heard daddy yell and then he was crying." Beth tells me.
"Shhh mijo it's okay. I'm okay. No llores." He hiccups as I comfort him. "MÃrame, I'm fine I promise."
"Is he okay?" Quinn asks me as she comes in the room.
"Yeah the uhh, the yelling scared him a bit. That's all." I tell her and my eyes cut to Noah who is now standing behind Quinn. He looks away slightly embarrassed. Then he walks over to Costa and I, crouching down in front of him.
"Hey little dude. I'm sorry for yelling. I didn't mean to scare you. I just sometimes have to talk louder to make sure people hear me."
"No you're mean. You're not supposed to yell at mami." He says and then buries his face in my neck. Noah backs away and Costa mumbles something that I can't quite understand.
"What was that mijo?"
He lifts his head up and looks at me, "I think he's a bad dinosaur like daddy." He stage whispers.
"Did your father yell a lot?" Rachel asks, obviously having heard what he said. Noah looks at me expectantly waiting for an answer. Quinn looks uncomfortable and turns to Rachel.
"That isn't any of your business." She tells her and then turns back to me. "You ready to start setting up for the party?"
I go to respond but hesitate, my eyes darting down to Costa. I don't want to leave him. I'm not sure he'd be comfortable. She notices and takes him from my arms.
"Costa can help us too. We're gonna need all the muscle we can get." She says while tickling him causing him to giggle. "So how about it big guy, wanna help us?" He nods and I mouth a 'thank you' to Quinn.
We finished setting up about an hour before the party started. After I got the twins dressed in their costumes. They looked adorable. Quinn snapped a few pictures of them before the party officially started and a bunch more during.
In the beginning, Costa stood next me as still as possible pretending to be an actual knight. I tried to get him to go and play with the other kids a bunch of times but he refused. Quinn eventually got him to go play by promising him the second biggest piece of cake because Beth was obviously getting the biggest piece.
I mostly made small talk with the other parents that were there. I didn't want anyone, mainly Quinn, to corner me and ask about Adrian. I know they had questions after what Costa said earlier.
Luck isn't on my side though at the end of the party, as Noah and Quinn corner me after I come out of the bathroom.
"San can we talk for a bit?" Quinn asks.
"Umm...we should get back to the party."
"It's over and we'll be quick, I promise."
"Look Q has noticed some things." Noah starts. "And frankly, so have I. In both you and the little guy. You're both-"
"We agreed I would do the talking. San I just noticed that Costa is a little clingy and you...you're really nervous and jumpy and-"
"Was your husband abusing you and the kids?" Noah blurts out angrily causing me to jump.