A/N: Hey everyone. So this chapter is a little bit like filler. Stuff happens, mostly to move the story along, give you information and set up the upcoming drama. Yay? Let me know what you think.
Enjoy ; )
When Brittany woke up, she knew she wasn't going to make it in to work. Even as she turned to switch off her alarm and got out of bed, she just had a feeling it was all for nothing. It was a feeling she'd been having since New Year's. Usually she was excited for the new year and all the promise it held. It was like wiping the slate clean and starting over. She loved making New Year's resolutions, loved making Santana and Quinn make resolutions as well, knowing full well they all probably wouldn't keep up with them.
Usually Brittany was excited, but she wasn't excited now. It didn't feel like a new year, it felt like she'd taken a few weeks off and come back into the same old routine.
Still, she went into the bathroom and took a shower, then she picked out an outfit for work and laid it on her bed.
There was a gentle knock on the door as she sat on the bed and oiled herself. She looked down to make sure her towel was covering her up properly, then called out,
"Come in."
Kyler came in.
Brittany had to smile as soon as she saw him.
"What did shirts ever do to you bud?"
He barely smiled, before sitting next to her and leaning against her.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"I have a headache."
"Again?" She frowned. She was beginning to get worried about Kyler. He'd had a headache every day for the past week, sometimes so bad that the school called her. She pressed her hand to his forehead, but like always, he wasn't hot. He wasn't coughing, no fever, no running nose. He wasn't sick. So Brittany couldn't understand what was wrong.
"Have you been drinking water?" She asked. Kyler nodded. "Maybe you're not drinking enough. You're an active kid you know? You need to stay hydrated."
"Okay." He said quietly.
"Come on." She patted his leg. "I'll give you some Tylenol."
He stood up sluggishly, waited for her to stand as well, and then wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his face into her side.
"Oh baby….I'm sorry."
"Can I try what mami does?"
"What's that?" Brittany asked, stroking his hair.
"A wet cloth over my eyes."
"Oh yeah." Brittany nodded. "Get dressed and meet me downstairs."
"Okay." He reluctantly let go of her and left the room.
After that Brittany quickly got dressed. Before going downstairs she stopped by Sophia's room to make sure she was awake, which she was, and then Mateo's.
Mateo's room was always a mess. Always toys all over the place, his duvet and pillows were never actually on his bed and clothes everywhere. She and Santana had stopped trying to get him to clean it up. They'd decided that in the greatest scheme of things, if having his room in complete disarray made him happy, then it wasn't a big deal. He only had to tidy it up once a week.
This morning she found Mateo asleep on the floor with his toys strewn around him. She assumed he'd woken up at some point in the night and started playing, only to fall asleep on the floor.
"What am I gonna do with you sir." She said, looking down at him fondly. He was chaos personified, keeping her and Santana on their toes all the time, definitely their most difficult child and Brittany loved him so much.
Leaving him to sleep for a bit, Brittany took out his clothes for the day and set them on the bed. She'd come back after sorting Kyler out and making breakfast.
"Mama." She heard called as she made her way out of Mateo's room. She walked to Sophia's room.
"Yes love?"
"Can you help me with my hair?"
"Yeah." Brittany walked fully into the room and took the brush from Sophia's hand. "How do you want it?"
Sophia shrugged.
"Okay." Brittany chuckled, leaning down to kiss the top of Sophia's head. She brushed the hair absently as she thought of how to style it. Sophia didn't seem to mind.
"I like it when you brush my hair."
"Yeah?" Brittany locked eyes with her in the mirror, smiling.
"Yeah." Sophia nodded. "It feels nice."
"That's nice to hear baby. I like brushing your hair."
An idea came to her, so Brittany set to work styling the hair. She had to use the spray bottle a few times to get the hair to co-operate, but in ten minutes she was done. Sophia smiled happily, turning around to hug her.
"Thank you mama."
"You're welcome my love. Ready for breakfast?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Soph…" Brittany sighed.
"I'm not mama, please." Sophia begged. "I just woke up."
Brittany eyed her, unsure of what to say. She'd been fighting Sophia about eating everyday since Santana had left, and today she just didn't want to do it. She'd just pack her an extra snack and tell her teacher she hadn't had breakfast.
"Fine." She put the brush down. "Go fill your water bottle."
Smiling happily, Sophia picked her bag from beside her desk and skipped out of the room.
Brittany followed, making a mental note to call their pediatrician and ask him if they should be more worried about Sophia's refusal to eat breakfast.
Half an hour later, they were heading out the door. When they were in the car they facetimed Santana, like they did every morning. It was answered almost immediately by Jesus. He told them they were in dance rehearsals, showed them Santana surrounded by all her dancers, and then talked non-stop until they got to school. They had to hang up after that, because Brittany needed to talk to Mrs Akley, Sophia and Kyler's teacher.
Mrs Akley stood up to meet her at the door.
"Mrs Lopez-Pierce." She said happily, shaking Brittany's hand. "How are you today?"
"Good." Brittany smiled as well, watching Sophia and Kyler take their seats. "I just wanted to talk to you."
"Okay?" Mrs Akley walked out into the hall and shut the door. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes. Well…" She cocked her head. "Kyler had a headache this morning, so I thought I should let you know in case he gets another one. If he does, please call me, I'll come pick him up."
"Okay." Mrs Akley nodded. "Not a problem."
"Okay. Also, Sophia didn't have breakfast today, so I packed her an extra snack. Just yoghurt and some fruits. If you could get her to eat it at some point during the day, I would be really grateful."
"Okay." Mrs Akley nodded again. "Is she okay? Is she sick?"
"No, but you know her dietary needs."
"Right. Not to worry Mrs Lopez-Pierce. I will be on it."
"Thank you." Brittany glanced into the classroom, glad to see Kyler laughing with Nicholai.
"Was there something else?'
Brittany's eyes snapped back to the teacher. "No." She smiled. "Thank you."
"Have a good day."
"You too."
On her way out of the school, Brittany's phone rang. She answered as she walked to her car.
"Hey Theo." She said cheerfully.
"Brittany good morning. Are you…are you busy?"
"Well I'm on my way to work-" Brittany paused as she heard crying in the background.
"Yeah…right of course you're going to work, it's Wednesday."
Brittany unlocked her car. "Theo?"
"Yes?"
"Where are you?"
"At home."
"So is that Quinn crying?"
"Oh you can hear that….shh baby it's okay. It's oka-"
Theo was cut off by a clearly hysterical Quinn screaming at him that it was in fact not okay, and that she found his continued assurance that it was so irritating that if he said it one more time she was going to strangle him with his tie.
Brittany cringed, her hand lightly gripping the car door handle.
"Theo?" She asked cautiously, afraid Quinn might overhear her and scream at her too.
"Yes?" Theo's shaky voice came.
"Are you okay?"
There was a short pause.
"Um…I know you need to get to work, but if you could..I don't know just-"
"Pass by?" Brittany asked, finally pulling her door open and getting in.
"Yes." Theo breathed, sounding relieved. "I just have no idea what to do and she's…she's really upset."
Brittany nodded, keeping the thought that it was pretty obvious that Quinn was very upset to herself.
"Yeah, don't worry I'll be there in a bit."
She got to Quinn's twenty minutes later, with many scenarios running through her head of what she was going to find. One thing she knew for sure was that whatever was wrong was being made much worse by baby hormones. As she rode the elevator up, she had the amusing thought that Santana was going to get a real shock when she came back to find this crazy emotional Quinn. The jump from five to six months pregnant had brought with it a whole host of changes in Quinn. One of them being an unstable emotional state. Theo opened the door as soon as she rang the bell.
"Thank you for coming." He breathed quietly. "She's um…" He glanced behind his shoulder. "She'll be glad you're here."
"Right." Brittany chuckled. "What's wrong with her?"
Theo ushered her into the apartment, shutting the door quietly.
"We're behind on wedding planning."
"How?" Brittany asked, genuinely shocked. "She's been planning this thing for months already."
Theo shrugged. "She woke up this morning, started panicking because of flowers I think, and then it just snowballed."
Brittany shook her head, taking off her shoes. Watching Quinn spin herself into madness over this wedding really put into perspective how lucky she and Santana were to have Eve. They barely did any actual planning. They just had to show up to appointments and choose what they liked. Now Quinn was doing it pregnant.
"Where is she?"
Theo pointed into their spare room.
Nodding, Brittany made her way into the room. Quinn pacing in front of their bed, with wedding catalogues laid out on her bed and and her phone in her hand.
"Quinn?" She called tentatively.
Quinn spun to face her. Her nose and cheeks were pink, tears falling from her eyes, hair a mess. Brittany fought to keep her face neutral.
"What's up?" She asked, pretending Quinn didn't look a mess.
"I'm just…I'm freaking out."
"Yeah." Brittany walked to the bed, picking one of the catalogues. "What's wrong?"
"I'm behind." Quinn dropped her phone on the bed and ran a hand through her hair. "I haven't finished the wedding registry, I-I haven't con-confirmed the florist, I haven't chosen my…my….my dress or the bridesmaids dres-dressses."
"But you've done a lot." Brittany tried to reassure. "I mean you still have six months-"
"I'll still be bus-busy. I have to book the musicians and w-work out the catering. Theo and I ha-have to go to premarital counseling, get his t-tux, groomsmen outfits, t-the c-cake," She sniffed, her breathing erratic, "and that's just the w-wedding. We also have a lot of ba-baby prepping to do."
"Okay stop." Brittany took Quinn's hand and sat her down on the bed. "First of all take a breath."
"Brittany I don't-" Quinn tried to stand but Brittany pushed her back down.
"Stop it. Freaking out like this can't be good for the baby. Take a damn breath Quinn."
Frowning at her, Quinn took a deep breath.
"Good. Another one."
Quinn obeyed.
Brittany made her do it several more times until Quinn's breathing was even.
"You're worried about too much. Theo can worry about his tux and what his groomsmen will wear."
Quinn shook her head instantly. "I can't just leave it up to him."
"Course you can." Brittany shrugged. "He's not useless. He knows the colours, all he has to do is send you pictures and you can approve the one you like."
Quinn looked thoughtful for a moment.
"You have to trust him, it's his wedding too."
Looking reluctant, Quinn nodded.
"Okay. About the cake, I know some really good bakeries. I'll call them and set up some appointments, just show up, taste the cakes and choose one."
"Okay." Quinn was calming down now. Her tears had stopped at least, so Brittany figured she was doing the right thing. "That'll help a lot, thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Okay." Quinn said again, picking one of the magazines on the bed. "Then I can set up a few bridesmaids dress shopping trips. I'll have to tell Shelby and Beth and give her time to plan a trip up here, so…" She got up and picked a thick diary from the dressing table, flipping through it. "Maybe early Feb?"
"That works."
"Will Santana be back?"
"She's coming back on the tenth."
"Okay." Quinn picked a pen and made a note in the diary. "That leaves the band and the registry."
"Do your registry now."
"What?" Quinn looked up, frowning. "We can't-"
"Why not?" Brittany took Quinn's hand and pulled out of the room into the living room. Theo jumped off the couch, looking nervous.
"Hi baby." He said, glancing at Brittany. "Are you…are you okay?"
"Yeah." Quinn nodded.
"Theo you love Quinn right?"
"Of course." He answered easily.
"Crazy hormones and all?" Quinn asked, sniffing.
"Crazy hormones and all." He chuckled, walking to Quinn and wrapping his arms around her.
Brittany smiled at how content Quinn looked.
"Sorry I screamed at you." Quinn said quietly.
"I forgive you."
"Great." Brittany clapped her hands. "So, Theo, you need to step up."
"How?" He pulled back and looked at Brittany.
"With the wedding planning. She's doing it all and growing your child, no wonder she's losing it."
"I've tried." Theo glared playfully at Quinn. "She won't let me."
"Well she will now. Right Quinn?" Brittany raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to give yourself high blood pressure and affect your baby right?"
Quinn sighed, nodding.
"Good." Brittany smiled. "Then Theo, you need to do your gift registry today. Now preffereably."
"Sure." He nodded. "Let me call work and tell them I'm coming in la-"
"No, no, don't do that." Quinn wiped her eyes and stepped back from him. "Go to work, we'll do it in the evening."
"Quinn." Brittany warned. Quinn huffed.
"Fine." She stormed off, back to the spare room.
Brittany turned to Theo, whose lips were pressed firmly together.
"Good luck friend." She joked, patting his shoulder. "She's not crying anymore, I did my part, the rest is up to you."
Once again, as Brittany was making her way to the car, her phone rang. She answered it quickly when she saw it was Santana.
"Hey ba-"
"Brittany it's Eve."
"Oh." She tried not to let her disappointment seep into her voice. "Hi Eve."
"Hi. How are you?"
Brittany shrugged, then remembered Eve couldn't see her.
"Fine."
"Good, good. I'm sorry for calling, I know you're at work."
"I'm not actually." Brittany got into her car, feeling like she'd already had a really long day.
"Oh…" Eve paused, clearly unsure of how to proceed. "Uh, anyway um, Santana seems to have forgotten one of her notebooks in her home studio, and she was wanting to go through some of the songs, refine them and such when she has some free time."
"Well, I'd love to swing by and drop them off, but I'm not sure I have the time to fly out there."
"No." Eve laughed. "A picture would be fine."
"Okay." Brittany pulled on her seatbelt. "When does she need them."
"Whenever you have time."
"Alright."
"Thank you Brittany. I'll let you go-"
"Uh Eve…"
"Yes?"
"How is she doing? With the touring so far."
"She's doing great." Eve said, and Brittany could hear her smile. It made her smile too.
"Good."
"Yeah. She's really fallen back into it. Having a lot of fun I think."
"Good." Brittany nodded to herself. "That's good. I'm glad."
"Well I'll let you go, and get back to not working."
"Thanks." Brittany chuckled.
She really ought to have driven straight to work, after that. She was an hour late after all, but neither Syth or Kaleb had called her yet, so she figured no one was missing her. She could drive home, get Santana's notebook and finally head in to work.
Brittany hadn't counted on Mercedes. As soon as she walked into the door, Mercedes was practically throwing Nathan at her.
"Perfect timing."
"No Mercedes I need to go to-"
"I'll just be ten minutes." Mercedes said over her shoulder as she walked away. "Mama needs a shower."
Brittany looked at Nathan, who was also watching Mercedes walk away.
"She just ditched us dude."
"Bitney."
"Yes baby boy." She walked with him down to Santana's studio.
"Snack."
"You want a snack?" She asked. "Are you hungry?" He nodded.
"Okay kiddo. Aunty Brittany's gonna get you some food as soon as she finds Aunty Tana's notebook."
"Aunty Tana."
"Yeah. She left it and I need to find it so I can go to work as soon as your mama comes out of the shower.
"Mama sower."
"Yup." Brittany put him down, letting him walk around the studio as she searched. It took her ten minutes, but finally she found two of Santana's newer notebooks. She had to fight the urge to look through them, since she hadn't heard the songs Santana was writing yet and she was insanely curious, but she knew Santana would let her listen when she was ready. So she didn't open them.
When she turned around, Nathan was gone.
"Nathan." She called, rushing out of the room and praying he was not on the stairs. Not seeing him in the hallways, she ran to the stairs, but he wasn't there. "Nathan!" She checked in her studio, though she knew he wasn't in there because the door was closed and much too heavy for him to push open. "Baby Nathan where are you?"
She heard giggles coming from down the corridor.
"I'm going to find this baby."
She followed the laughter into the small bathroom, finding him standing in a pile of toilet paper.
"Oh." She groaned, detangling him and picking him up. "You found the toilet paper huh?" He laughed madly. "Let's go before you make even more of a mess."
She would come back and clean it all up in the evening. Better yet she'd get her kids to do it.
Mercedes did not take ten minutes. In fact she took forty-five. Syth and Kaleb had now both called Brittany, wondering if she was okay and if they should expect her at work. She'd told them that she was coming, just held up. Finally when Mercedes did come out and Brittany was free to go, Nathan ran up to her hugging her tightly around the leg and smearing the banana he was eating all over them.
"Oh." Mercedes cringed. "Sorry."
Brittany pulled her lips into her mouth and shook her head, looking down to try and see how bad it.
"It's fine. I'll change."
But changing wasn't so simple, because she couldn't find pants to go with her top, so she had to change her top, which took a while to choose. Then she had to pick new shoes because she'd changed her pants. It took thirty minutes.
And just when she was out the door, her phone rang again.
"Oh my god." She groaned, thinking it was Kaleb again. It was the school. "Hello?" She answered quickly.
She sighed heavily as she listened to Mrs Akley talk, thanked her and hung up.
"Everything okay?" Mercedes asked.
"No." Brittany dropped her bag on the glass table in the foyer. "I need to go pick Kyler."
"I can go." Mercedes offered. "You need to get to work."
"Thanks but you can't." She fished her keys out of her bag.
"I can, it's not a big deal."
"No like you actually can't. They won't let you in."
"Can't you just call them and tell them you've sent me?"
"No. They don't allow that. You have to be on the list, and we give in the list at the beginning of the term."
"Oh." Mercedes said. "I feel bad I kept you hostage here."
Brittany closed her eyes for a second, refusing to get into a bad mood. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and smiled at Mercedes.
"It's fine Mercedes, I promise. This would have happened either way so, I'll see you in a bit."
"Okay."
As she got into her car for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Brittany decided today was a coffee day. She wasn't tired, but she needed the pick me up. She'd get some after she picked Kyler and called the pediatrician. She dialed Syth and told him she wasn't coming in because Kyler was sick and she needed to stay with him.
Looks like she'd been right about not making it to work today.
Santana was having the time of her life. As she danced up on stage and pointed her mic to the audience, listening to them sing the chorus word for word, she finally felt like she was back. This was what she'd been missing. This exhilarating rush of performing. This was the feeling she'd been craving ever since deciding to come back to music. It was a shock to realise she'd actually missed it all. Even the interviews. She was finally having fun. And in this moment, as she began singing the bridge, looking out at the maybe two thousand people, she finally felt like she'd made the right decision. All the late nights, and guilt over missing dinner or bedtime, the horrible feeling she'd had the entire week she was working while her family was in Lima doing Christmas-y things, all of it was worth it. She loved this, she couldn't deny it. Maybe she'd forgotten, because it had been six years since she last performed, but as the song finished and the crowd cheered Santana couldn't deny it. She loved performing. It was a part of who she was. This was who she was meant to be.
"Thank you." She yelled out to the crowd, waving her hand. "Thank you, I want to say something."
It took a while, and she had to say it a few more times, but eventually it was silent enough for her to speak.
"It feels amazing to be back on stage, you guys don't even know."
They cheered some more. Santana laughed.
"Well I guess yeah, you do know cause you're all here…Thank you for coming out by the way."
"WE LOVE YOU!"
"I LOVE YOU TOO." She screamed back sincerely.
The stage manager was in her ear, telling her it was time to get off stage, but Santana wasn't finished.
"They want me to leave." She said, pointing off stage. "But I'm not done with you guys just yet."
More screaming.
"Now Brazil, you guys know that you hold a special place in my heart. So, let's have some fun yeah?"
Even more screaming.
"Yeah I thought so. Alright so I'm going to be pulling some people out from the crowd. Six people. And they're all going to give us some song suggestions, and I'm going to sing them. Jade are you up for it."
"Hell yeah." Jade called from behind her.
"Lucas?"
Lucas winked at her.
"Good. So….let's see…" She scowerred the crowd and found a girl who looked like she just turned twenty if she was old. "You." She said. "The one holding the 'I love you more than food' poster." She watched the girl realise it was her, scream relentlessly while clutching the girl beside her, and then rush towards the stage. Security opened the gate and let her through, and then she was running towards Santana, hugging her fiercely. Santana laughed.
"Okay, okay, calm down." She pulled back but left her hand on the girl's back. "Breathe please."
"Oh my god I can't believe it. Oh my god I actually can't believe it."
"Better believe it baby."
The girl screamed, the sound was picked up by the microphone, resulting in loud feedback. Santana jumped.
"Woah." Santana pulled the mic away, holding it behind her back.
"I can't believe it, I can't believe it."
"What's your name?" Santana asked again.
"Sha-Shailene. Shailene. Oh my god you picked me. Oh my goooood." She screamed again, but this time it at least wasn't picked up by the mic.
"Please stop doing that." Santana laughed, rubbing her back. "How old are you?"
"Twenty two."
"And you've been a fan-"
"Since I was thirteen. I've loved you since I was thirteen. I knew I was a lesbian because of you. I came out to my parents when I was fifteen by telling them I wanted to marry you. I have all your albums and know all your songs and I follow you on like….everything. Brittany liked a post of mine on Instagram once and it was the best day of my life."
"I'll be sure to tell her." Santana chuckled. "You're American."
"Yeah."
"And you just happened to be in Brazil?"
"No." The girls was shaking, but she'd at least calmed down enough that Santana wasn't worried about her spontaneous screaming anymore. "My girlfriend and I flew out here yesterday."
Santana's mouth dropped open.
"No way."
She nodded emphatically.
"We saw your announcement on Twitter that you were in Brazil and might do a show-"
"So you hopped on a plane?"
"YES."
Santana was genuinely shocked. She'd been shocked by the number of people that made it to the show, considering they'd announced it only four days ago, but learning that some people had travelled for this, she suddenly had a lot more love for her fans.
"That's insane, but thank you." She hugged the girl again, this time a more controlled, more sincere hug.
"I love you, I love you so much. Can I take a picture-"
"Later." Santana pulled back again. "Okay so what song do you want me to sing?"
"Santana"
"Emma don't start." Santana said as she pulled on the jacket she was being given by Eve and walked down the steps backstage.
"Did you not hear us telling you to get off stage?"
"Here." Eve handed her a bottle of water.
"I heard." She accepted the water. "And I ignored you."
"I thought after six years maybe you'd grown up."
"Oh please." She scoffed. "Emma you and I both know that my interacting with fans is basically marketing. You're not angry I did it, you're angry you didn't think of it."
Eve turned to Emma, raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips.
"And it was only what….twenty minutes?"
"Twenty three." Eve said.
"Thank you Eve." Emma said tersely.
"Where am I heading to?" Santana asked, realising she wasn't headed in the direction of her dressing room.
"Interview." Eve told her. "And then you have a few fans who bought some backstage time with you."
"Can I do that in my dressing room?"
"I don't see why not." Emma said. "We'll arrange for extra security."
"Great."
"Do you mind my asking why?"
"Jesus has tuition."
"Ah." Eve nodded. "Yes. And he wanted me to tell you that he doesn't like his teacher."
"Of course not." Santana laughed, rolling her eyes. "She's making him sit and learn when he could be bossing all of you around."
"He takes after you." Eve said with a smile.
"I sympathise with the tutor." Emma said. "Managing a Lopierce who would rather be doing something else is not for the weak."
"I love you Emma, you know that." Santana smiled cheekily.
"Yeah, yeah." They stopped at a door. "Interviews in there."
"Do I have to do it like now, now or can I get something to eat?"
Eve took off the large purse she'd been carrying and placed it on the floor. She rummaged through it for a few seconds and then produced a container.
"Oooh what's in here?" Santana asked, taking it.
"Cesar salad."
"Eve." She said seriously, staring at her. "You are the best."
Eve laughed, slinging the bag back over her shoulder. "I know."
"Alright let's do this." Emma pushed open the door.
The fans were already lined up outside the door when Santana walked up to it. They screamed and cheered and one fainted. Santana basked in it all. Man she'd missed this.
"Sorry everyone." She said once they'd kind of calmed down. "I know you've been waiting. I'm really sorry. Can you give me just two minutes?" Of course they all happily agreed. "Thank you. Two minutes." She held up to fingers, then disappeared through the door the security guard was holding open for her.
She just caught Jesus turning off the tv. She stopped dead.
"I was just taking a break." He rushed out.
"What was the agreement when mama and I said you can come on tour?"
Jesus looked down. "I have to do my schoolwork."
Santana walked forward.
"You only have to do two hours a day Jesus. It's either two hours a day here, or seven hours at home."
"No, no, I don't want to go back home."
"Then stop wasting your teacher's time, and Eve's time complaining to her, and my time because I have to make sure I'm around so you behave."
"Okay."
"Apologise to your teacher."
He turned to his teacher, who was seated on the couch with his books.
"Sorry Mrs Miller."
"And you're going to listen to her now yes?"
"Yes." Jesus mumbled, dragging himself to sit beside her.
"Good."
Turning away from him she found Jessie sitting in the corner, grinning.
"Why do you let him get away with walking all over everyone?" She asked him.
Jessie shrugged. "He's the boss' kid. Technically he's the boss. No one can really tell him what to do except maybe Eve. When he chooses to listen to her."
Santana frowned, looking back at Jesus.
"Jesus is not the boss of you."
"Eh." He shrugged again. "If he says he wants a soda, I can't exactly tell him no. If he says he wants to go somewhere I can't say no. I just have to make sure he's safe wherever he goes. Unless you've already told me he can't go, or he can't have a soda, in which case your orders trump his."
"Oh my god." Santana took off her shoes and coat. "No wonder he's been going wild. None of you can tell him no."
"None of us can tell him no."
"Well I'm giving you permission. I trust you." She walked to the closet and pulled out a hoodie and sweatpants. "Keep him in line."
"You got it boss."
"Don't start that again." She pointed at Jessie.
"Santana are you ready?" Eve poked her head through the door.
"Let me just change and then we're all good."
"DONE" Santana yelled, smacking her hand over the pile of cards. Jesus groaned loudly, rolling on the bed.
"Mami!"
"Hey I'm not going easy on you just cause you're my kid."
"You cheated."
"How?" Santana laughed.
"You shuffled, and now you win, you cheated."
"I did not! I shuffled the last round too."
"But that was straight our of the box. They were already shuffled nicely."
He reached out to the head of the bed where their pile of snacks were and grabbed one of the Doritos packet.
"You wanna shuffle?" She pushed the cards towards him. "Go ahead."
"Yeah I will." He shoved a chip in his mouth and began collecting the cards. "Then we'll see who wins."
As he arranged the cards and prepared to shuffle, Santana took one of the gummy bears packets and popped one in her mouth. She couldn't believe she wasn't tired after the days she'd had. They'd been up at five and had barely had a single moment of rest, yet she was still feeling so buzzed. It was nearly midnight and she didn't feel like sleeping at all. It was probably a bad decision to allow Jesus to stay up this late, much less eat candy, but she felt like celebrating, and since she couldn't exactly take him out to a bar, this was the next best thing. In fact it was better, because this way she wouldn't be drunk or hangover the next day. She could enjoy the high she was feeling in its entirety.
Tomorrow was a slow day. She had a tiny concert of about five hundred people, possibly less, in the afternoon, and nothing more. They could sleep in.
"Okay let's see." Jesus said, laying the cards out neatly. "If you don't win, I'll know you cheated."
"I'll win just to prove you wrong."
"Wanna bet?" He said. "Here." He picked his Doritos pack and dropped it beside the cards. "If you win you get my Doritos."
Santana narrowed her eyes, biting her lip. "Okay." She took her half-eaten pack of gummy bears and dropped them beside his Doritos. "If you win, you get my gummies."
Jesus narrowed his eyes as well, holding his hand out for her to shake.
"Deal"
"Deal." She shook his hand.
She won, much to Jesus' dismay. He demanded a rematch, which he then won, and back and forth they went. At one AM they called Brittany, who was in the middle of dinner and very shocked that they were both awake, and then decided to watch a movie. They fell asleep watching Transformers.
The next morning, Santana woke up at eleven, with Jesus' legs draped over her, to the hotel phone ringing.
"Hello." She croaked, her eyes still closed.
"Santana are you still asleep?"
It was Emma. She should have known.
"Yes."
"Well I need you to wake up."
"Why?"
"Apparently the label has organised another concert."
"What do you mean?" She yawned.
She was waking up slowly now, which meant she was more aware that she needed to pee.
"I guess there were a lot of people still trying to buy tickets after the ones for yesterday sold out. So they sold day 2 tickets."
Santana frowned, sitting up.
"Day 2?"
"Yes."
"Without talking to us?"
"Yup."
She finally opened her eyes.
"You're telling me I have another concert today?"
"Yes."
She looked down at Jesus.
"Yeah I'm not going to make it."
"Wha-"
"Emma I slept at like three o'clock. I spent the night eating sugar. The one at three is fine, it's small, intimate, and only one hour long. It won't take too much out of me, but a concert like yesterday….I'm not prepared. I can't perform like this."
"I know" Emma said, sounding annoyed. "I know it's not fair, and we can deal with that later but Santana I need you to perform."
Santana sighed. The label. The damn label. She was really getting sick and tired of them. They really seemed to be doing everything they could to sabotage her come back. From the unreasonable timeline for writing the album, to this tour, now they were throwing in concerts without even discussing it with her. It wasn't exactly the most supportive attitude. Right now Santana really wanted to say fuck them. Not show up to the concert and show them that they couldn't just do this to her. She wouldn't be at fault, since this concert wasn't in the contract. They wouldn't be able to sue her.
But the fans. The fans would be so disappointed. It wasn't worth it for her to stick it to the label execs, as much as she wanted to.
"Urgh." She groaned, throwing off the duvet. "Fine. What time is it?"
"Eleve-"
"The concert."
"Oh. Seven."
"Okay. That gives me at least two hours to prepare. Make sure there is food and lots of hot ginger and lemon tea otherwise my voice is going to go."
"Thank you Santana."
"It's not like I had a choice." She scoffed.
"Of course you do." Emma said knowingly. "And you're making the right one."
"They're just lucky I've missed performing to much."
And it was true. As annoying as this whole thing was, Santana was excited to be going on stage again so soon. She was already thinking about how to make this concert different from last night. She was already imagining being up on stage, with the lights and the screaming fans and her band. The more she thought about it the less annoyed she was.
Sure it wasn't planned, but it was going to be a lot of fun.
Yeah Santana was definitely having the time of her life.
During sound check for the spontaneous concert, Santana forgot how tired she was. She and her band were up on stage trying to rearrange last night's set list so that it didn't feel like they were just doing the same thing again, while Jesus was over with the dancers warming up.
"Do you want to add anything?" Malek asked.
"Maybe, but we don't have enough time to rehears it."
"Who are you talking to?" Jade scoffed. She was gently strumming her guitar, making sure it was perfectly tuned. "We have to deal with you suggesting we play literally any song a fan can come up with on the spot. You think we can't play your songs unrehearsed?"
Santana smirked at Lucas nodded in agreement.
"Alright fine, let me rephrase. I don't have enough time to rehears."
"So what?"
"So." Santana laughed. "Singing other people's songs badly is one thing. It's part of the fun, like karaoke. The fans will love seeing me scramble to remember lyrics and imitating their favourite artists. It's different from not being able to sing my own songs to perfection."
"Then sing them to perfection." Malek said, shrugging.
"Are you forgetting that I have just come from a concert? You of all people shouldn't be encouraging me to do anything crazy. I'm supposed to be resting my voice, not performing for two hours."
"Oh come on." Lucas said. "Spice it up, it'll be more fun."
"More challenging." Malek said, smirking at her. "Unless you're saying you're scared."
"Fuck off." Santana shoved his arm, but it had worked. She was already feeling excited by the idea of performing without hours and hours of preparation, and she knew exactly songs to do. "Alright." She said, feeling giddy. "Get ready to do some songs from BSP."
"Yes!" Jade cheered. "I love that album."
"Which ones?" Lucas asked.
Santana smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see."
"Oooh." Malek said, clearly amused. He draped his hand over Santana's shoulders. "I guess tonight we see how good we all really are."
"Santana." Emma and Eve walked onto the stage. As Santana turned to face them, she noticed a crowd of about one hundred people filling the field. Malek dropped his arm.
"Woah, what's going on?" Jade asked, walking forward.
"Is it time already?" Santana asked, frowning. "We haven't even done sound check."
"No, this is another one of the label's surprises."
"Bloody hell." Jade cursed.
"They sold a few premium tickets." Emma told her.
"Of course they did."
"They get to watch sound check."
"They're really milking this for all they can get huh?" Santana said, watching the fans walk right up to the stage, beginning to scream.
"Yup." Eve nodded. "But that's more money for you too."
Santana shook her head.
"Whatever." She walked out to the edge of the stage, waving at the fans. "Hey guys."
They screamed.
"So you really paid to watch me sing out of tune and mess up lyrics."
"Not possible." One fan screamed.
Santana laughed. "You'll see."
Jesus ran up to her colliding with her side.
"Mami, Mami."
"You're gonna push me off the stage." Santana laughed, as Jesus scrambled to get in front of her. She understood why seconds later. Malek came running up to them. He tried to get to Jesus, but he was using Santana as a shield, so they just kept going round and round.
"Give me my stick little dude."
"Let me drum." Jesus countered.
"Can you guys discuss this without me in the middle."
"Yes."
"No!" Jesus squealed as Malek reached round Santana and caught his shirt. He pulled himself free quickly.
"I can't let you drum dude, we're basically playing Russian roulette with the set list."
"I know all my mum's songs." Jesus said. "Please!"
The next thing Santana knew, she was being lifted off the ground. So in front of one hundred fans, her dancers and her son, she screamed.
She could hear the fans laughing, a few cheering, and Jesus' giggles as he set her down on the side.
"MALEK!"
"I needed to move you."
Malek now had direct access to Jesus, who was too busy laughing to realise this. He grabbed him quickly, lifting him as well with one hand, while the other took his drum stick out of Jesus' pocket.
"Oh." Jesus pouted. Malek dropped him.
"Maybe one song. We'll see okay?"
"Yes!"
"If it's okay with your mum."
"Mami?" Jesus looked at her hopefully.
"Sure." Santana shrugged. "Are you sure you're up for it?"
"So sure!"
"Then go for it."
Screaming with joy, Jesus launched himself at Malek, dangling on his back with his arms around his neck.
"Thank you!"
"Let's go practice a few."
They walked away like that, with Jesus hanging off Malek and Malek twirling both sticks in his hands. Santana chuckled as she watched them, now feeling even more excited for the concert. It would be so fun to have Jesus drumming on one of her songs, and if he did well, like she knew he would, maybe they could make it a regular thing on the tour.
"Santana what are you waiting for mate?" Jade called. Santana blinked and focused on her.
"What?"
Jade lifted her guitar and shook it. "Sound check."
"Oh yeah." She jogged to the center of the stage where her mic was. "You guys ready to hear nonsense?" She asked the crowd. They cheered. "Alright then let's do this."
"How's your head." Santana gently pressed her hand to Jesus' forehead.
"Good." He said, pushing her hand off and returning to staring out the window.
"And now the truth."
"Mami." He whined.
"Jesus." She mimicked.
He turned to look at her.
"It hurts a little but it's okay. I feel okay."
Santana shook her head. "That's why I keep telling you to put on the ear muffs."
"No I hate those."
"It's too loud Jesus. That's why you keep getting headaches."
"But I can't hear well with them on."
"That's the point." Santana laughed. "You don't wanna go deaf do you?"
"I won't go deaf." He rolled his eyes. "Can we get out and walk?"
"Walk all the way to the restaurant?"
"Yeah!" He bounced in his seat. "I wanna see everything."
They weren't too far, Santana knew that, and his excitement was rubbing off on her. She should be exhausted, they both should given the day they'd had, but much like the night before, she was just buzzing. So she turned to Jade, who was sitting behind her.
"Really?" Jade asked.
Santana shrugged. "I love Rio."
"I was born here." Jesus told Jade. "That's why she loves it."
"That's true." Santana nodded, pulling him to her and kissing all over his face.
"Mami." He giggled.
"Rio gave me my babies. It's my favourite place in the world."
"Okay, okay." He pushed her off, still laughing.
"So do you want to walk?" Santana asked Jade.
"Why not? It's a nice night."
So they stopped the car, and she, Jade, Jesus, Jessie and their other body guard walked leisurely down the street. They admired the colour on the walls, Jesus taking everything in with wide eyes. There were still many people out and about, most dressed like they were heading to or just getting back from the beach.
"Can we go to the beach?" Jesus asked.
"Tomorrow." Santana told him.
They stopped at a building which had a huge mural painted on its wall. Three heads, one red, one green and one yellow, drawn with exaggerated features. Jesus giggled.
"I love it here." He said, staring at the artwork.
Santana gently gripped the back f his neck. "Me too love."
"You should see it during Carnival." Jessie said.
"Oh yeah. For sure!" Jade agreed.
"I can imagine." Santana said.
"You've never been?" Jessie asked shocked. Santana shook her head. "How is that possible?"
"We've never been here during February and we've never been able to."
"How is that possible?" Jade asked.
"You've been?"
"Of course I've been. It's Carnival."
Santana rolled her eyes. "Right."
"Can we come mum?" Jesus spun to face her. "For mama's birthday?"
"It'll be before mama's birthday."
"Still."
"Amor." She giggled. "Let's talk to mama about it, what if she wants to do something else for her birthday?"
"Okay." He pouted.
"Malek and Lucas are there." Jade said, flashing Santana her phone. "We should get going."
"We'll explore tomorrow, promise."
Nodding, Jesus took Santana's hand and pulled her down the street.
This was definitely a new way to experience Rio for Santana, and she was really liking it. She wished she had time to come back for Carnival, but she knew she didn't. She'd either still be on tour or have just gotten back home to start recording.
Maybe next year.
Brittany's lungs were screaming, and every muscle in her body was begging her to stop, but she did not. She'd long since stopped actually trying to choreograph, because she'd been getting nowhere with that, now she was just dancing out her frustration. And she had a lot of frustration. The song started again, looping for the seventh time, and Brittany pushed herself, eyes closed, feeling the music and letting it move her. She didn't allow herself to think about anything, instead emptying her mind and giving herself over to the music.
Quinn and Mercedes watched from the door. They'd come down to let her know dinner was ready, called her twice to no avail, and then they'd just watched.
"Does she seem sad to you?" Quinn whispered to Mercedes. Mercedes nodded solemnly.
"Come on." She tugged Quinn's elbow and left the room. "She's definitely not herself." Mercedes said at full volume, as they walked up the stairs. "But I don't know what's wrong."
"Of course you do." Quinn scoffed. "We all know what's wrong."
"I don't-"
"Malek. That slimy sleezeball."
"Quinn." Mercedes laughed.
"We're all thinking it." They got to the top of the stairs and crossed the corridor, past the front door and into the living room.
"Girl, we've never even met the guy."
"I've met him." Quinn said conspiratorially. "Didn't like him."
"You barely met him. He just came out to tell you Santana was busy."
"Well he knew who I was. He wasn't even friendly."
Mercedes turned to her, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Noah's really gotten to you huh?"
Ignoring the teasing in Mercedes tone, Quinn stepped closer so that the kids in the dining room wouldn't hear her.
"He thinks Malek likes Santana. Likes her like, wants to get in her pants."
"Oh please." Mercedes laughed. "You two need to stop being so damn dramatic."
"Come on Mercedes." Quinn stepped even closer, lowering her voice even more. "Didn't you see that video?"
Mercedes sighed, nodding her head slowly.
"You don't think that was a bit…suspicious?"
"I mean they're friendly, but…." Mercedes shrugged. "I can't say it's more than that. I just can't. Santana would never-"
"Of course not." Quinn snapped. "But Brittany obviously feels some way about it. She won't even talk to me."
"Me neither."
"Every time I bring it up she just closes up. Says they're just friends and walks away or something."
"It's probably not fun for her to have you asking her questions about it all the time though."
Quinn glared at Mercedes.
"I'm just saying." Mercedes held up her hands defensively. "I had to deal with girls accusing Sean all the time, DM-ing me to say he slept with them after a party or something. It can drive you crazy. I trusted him but it was still a lot for me. I can't imagine how it would have been if my friends were always trying to convince me it was true."
Quinn looked down guilty.
"I'm not trying to convince her it's true. I'm trying to get her to talk to Santana about it. Santana doesn't even know this is bothering her. I bet if she did, she wouldn't be so touchy with him."
"Oh Quinn." Mercedes shook her head. "I'd hardly call it touchy. He picked her up for less than five seconds."
"Did you see the way she was looking at him?"
"Brittany says she was looking at Jesus."
"Maybe. Probably. But it's those kinds of looks that have the tabloids insisting they're having an affair."
"Then why don't you just tell Santana yourself?"
"Because Santana will just call me crazy. She'll say Brittany hasn't said anything to her and I'm just being dramatic."
"You are." Mercedes laughed.
"Mercedes our friends' marriage is in danger here!"
"Sshh" Mercedes clamped her hand over Quinn's mouth, both of them staring fearfully at the kitchen to see if any of the kids came out to ask what had happened. None did.
"Girl if you don't calm down." Mercedes removed her hand. "Their marriage is not in trouble."
"Look I've seen their relationship in so many different states. I saw it when they were hiding it from everyone, when they were in love with each other but broken up, when they just got married, when they became parents, I've seen it all."
"And?" Mercedes frowned, wondering what the point was.
"And I've never seen them keep things from each other. The way Brittany keeps saying she doesn't want to disturb Santana, oh Santana is so busy and stressed. She keeps saying she's being supportive, Mercedes what the hell does that mean?"
"It means I'm being supportive."
Quinn and Mercedes whirled around to find Brittany standing behind them, arms crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed.
"Britt-"
"It means that I'm not going to add on to everything Santana has to deal with, by telling her that I kind of don't like the man who is helping her the most with her album, and I can't even tell her why. She's trying to finish the songs on her album while also touring and I'm supposed to also burden her with my weird feelings about the tabloids? No!" Brittany dropped her hands. "You guys don't understand it, I get that, but when I say I'm being supportive it means I'm being supportive. If you're not going to be supportive then maybe you should leave."
Quinn gaped at Brittany, Mercedes bit her lip, looking down ashamed.
"Okay." Quinn stepped forward. "We're not…" She glanced back at Mercedes. "We're just worried about you."
"I know, and I get it, but you guys don't know everything that goes on in my marriage. Quinn I heard you okay? I hear you. You don't like him, you think he's sketchy, I get it. Please let it go!"
"Okay." Quinn took Brittany's hand. "Alright."
"Thank you." Brittany sighed.
"Dinner is ready." Mercedes said awkwardly, unsure of how to proceed.
"Mama I don't want to eat broccoli." Mateo came walking out of the kitchen his face scrunched up in disgust. "It's yucky."
"It's healthy."
"But I can't eat it."
"You're going to eat six and then you can stop."
"Six is too many."
"I'll help you." Brittany walked forward, gently ruffling his hair. "We'll play a game."
Mercedes and Quinn watched her walk away. When she'd walked into the living room, Quinn turned to Mercedes.
"Yeah whatever is going on, it's definitely not good."
Mercedes couldn't help but agree. She wasn't sure she would go as far as Quinn in saying that Brittany and Santana's marriage was in danger, but she had to admit that for the first time ever, they weren't this annoyingly perfect, ideal couple. And that worried her.
"The donkey had not said anything as yet; he now began to throw doubts. He said there had never been anything as beautiful as this before, and probably wasn't now. He said that when it took a whole basketful of-"
"Mama."
Brittany paused, looking away from the book to catch Mateo looking up at her.
"Yeah?"
"Did…" He shifted anxiously. "Did I do something bad?"
Surprised, Brittany dropped the book into her lap.
"No love. Why?"
"Cause you didn't do the voices." He pointed at the book.
Brittany's mouth opened, then shut as she realised what Mateo meant. She was in a mood, that's what he was saying. She was in a bad mood, which had him thinking she was angry with him. She shook her head.
"Usually you do different voices for all the animals and now you didn't."
"No baby." She pulled him closer to her, bending down to kiss his head. "No you didn't do anything bad. I'm just…I'm just a little tired."
"Oh." He said perking up. "Mrs Knowell says that when we're really tired we should take a nap. Maybe you should take a nap."
Brittany smiled. "It's night time love. It wouldn't be a nap, that's just going to bed."
"It's a looooong nap."
"Okay." She chuckled, scooting down lower in the bed and picking the book once more. "What do you say we both take a long nap then?"
He tucked himself into her side and nodded.
"Okay. Then let's finish this story."
"Can you do the voices?"
"Yes. In fact let me start again and do it properly."
"Okay." His small voice came.
Brittany flipped back to the first page and cleared her throat, putting on her best narrator's voice.
"Once upon a time an artist painted a small and very beautiful picture. He hung it on the wall across from a mirror so that he could see its reflection in the mirror. Said the artist, 'This doubles the distance and softens it, and it's twice as lovely as it was before….'"
Mateo was asleep by the time she was finishing the story. She lay there with him for a few minutes, then carefully got out of his bed, tucked him in and switched off the lights. Back in her room, Brittany quickly changed into her pajamas and got into bed. She sat with her duvet pulled all the way up to her chest, her arms crossed over it, lost in thought. She was angry, and she hated it. She was angry at Quinn, for always poking her nose into her business, always nagging her, acting like she knew best. She was angry at Malek, because she just really didn't like him, and the longer this tour went on, the less she liked him, and she was angry at Santana. Because even if she and Malek were suddenly the best of friends, Santana shouldn't be okay with the rumors and the tabloids and all the speculation. There was no way Santana hadn't seen all the magazines and online articles. Today Brittany had been shown a compilation video on YouTube, of all the cute and sweet moments between Santana and Malek. Every day on this tour seemed to add more fuel to this 'cheating' scandal, and Brittany hated it. Mostly, she hated that Santana wasn't doing anything about it.
She was jealous.
It had to be said, even if she said it in her head. Brittany was jealous. And she couldn't tell Santana about it because it was such a stupid thing for her to feel. Why should she be jealous of Malek? She was the one married to Santana. She was the one who got Santana in her free time. The one Santana spent time with when she wanted to have fun and relax and just be. She only spent time with Malek because she had to. She was under contract. Brittany shouldn't be jealous of that. She hadn't even been jealous when Santana was spending hours a day in the studio with Dani. So why did she care so much about Malek, who was even a man.
Maybe the problem was that Santana never had time to have fun and relax. Malek got all her time now. Literally all of it. They were off, traveling around the world, having the time of their lives from what it looked like. Brittany wasn't even sure Santana missed her.
Brittany rested her head back against the headboard and sighed. God she needed to get a grip. She was making herself crazy. No Quinn was making her crazy. Quinn and Puck and all of their suspicions and drama. Of course Santana missed her. This was Santana she was talking about. It had just been six years since Santana had gone on tour, and Brittany was having some kind of separation anxiety.
She reached over to her nightstand for her phone. It was obvious what she needed to get rid of the crazy thoughts.
She paused, looking down at her phone. Two missed calls from Julia. One message. Frowning, Brittany opened the message.
"Good evening Brittany. I'm not sure if you still have my number, this is Julia St Claire. Sorry to call you so late, but I do need to speak with you. If you could call me back when you have a moment that would be great. Hope all is well. I'll be waiting for your call."
Brittany was perplexed. Julia wasn't someone she had ever expected to hear from again. She couldn't even imagine what it could be about, let alone what would be so important that Julia called her at eight PM. Her first thought was that Sophia and Mateo had another sibling somewhere that had just been found, but then she remembered that their birth mother was dead and birth father was in jail, and had been since Mateo was days old, so there was no way. Her next thought was that there was just a poor kid somewhere who needed an emergency home and Julia had thought of them. That was the most likely option.
She felt bad, she really did, but she could not handle another child right now, let alone one who would need the love and attention a foster kid deserved. She didn't have the emotional bandwidth for anyone other than her own kids right now.
So she didn't call Julia back. Instead she called Santana.
It was answered on the third ring.
"Hello?"
Santana had been sleeping. Brittany cringed at how sleepy she sounded. She quickly tried to remember the time difference between San Jose and Manchester, feeling her stomach drop as she realised it was around four in the morning for Santana.
"Britt? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. Hi, sorry." Brittany rushed out. "I completely forgot that it's not nine o'clock for you. I'm sorry go back to sleep."
She heard Santana shifting.
"Why did you call?"
"It's okay we'll talk tomorrow."
"It is tomorrow."
"Santana…"
"Britt I'm already awake. Did you just want to talk? Is something wrong?"
"No." Brittany played with the duvet cover, feeling a little like she was lying. "I just miss you."
"Oh." Santana yawned. "I know babe it's almost over."
"Two weeks right?"
"Yeah. We're going to London in a few days and then the last one in San Diego then we're home."
"I can't wait." Brittany breathed. She was sure that having Santana home would get rid of all these weird, ugly feelings she was having.
"Mmmh" Santana hummed. "This tour's actually been a lot of fun."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I feel excited about music again you know? Like I was in the beginning. I'm not just going through the motions, I'm actually feeling it. Loving it."
"That's great baby." And she meant it. Of course she meant it. She was glad Santana had rekindled her love of music and performing, she really was. But a small part of her had been hoping that Santana would hate touring, and hate being away from home. That way she wouldn't want to do it anymore. "Maybe we'll come down to San Diego for your concert."
"That would be awesome!" Santana yawned again. "That would really be awesome Britt. The only thing that sucks about this tour is that you're not here."
Brittany smiled, the crazy thoughts in her head instantly disappearing.
"Then we'll be there."
"People still love your songs. Clearly the best I've ever written."
"My songs." Brittany laughed. "Santana they're your songs not mine."
"I wrote them for you. About you. They're awesome just like you. They're your songs."
Brittany's felt warmth flood her. She lay down flat in bed, getting comfortable.
"Okay." She gave in.
"People love it when I perform them. Last night…."
They talked for over an hour, then Brittany couldn't remember if they hung up or she fell asleep with Santana still talking. All she knew was that she wasn't in a bad mood anymore.