Hi everyone! I think I'm going to split these chapters into different perspectives. One chapter could be Cassidy's perspective and the next chapter could be Santana or Birttany's. Let me know if you like this idea and enjoy the chapter!
"Mama." Tiny hands tapped on my face, "Maammaaaa." Another set of taps against my cheeks. "I, I'm hungy." Luna, always our early riser. Our way too early riser.
"Good morning, Luna girl." I cracked open my eyes, peppering kisses to her sweet little face. "We must be quiet, okay? Mami is still sleeping, we must let her get her beauty rest." I chuckle, throwing my hair in a bun before scooping her up to carry her downstairs. "Okay, what should we make for breakfast, hum?" Asking her softly, I placed her on the counter to get out ingredients.
"Waffles, cause Cassie likes them best." Lunas love for her big sister never ceased to amaze us. The way this little girl looks at her big sister, she looks at her like she literally hung the stars in the sky.
"Yeah? Okay, we can make waffles." I chuckled, kissing her nose as I got the waffle maker out from the cabinet under her feet. "So, are you excited to start school?" I hummed, setting low music for us to listen to as we made breakfast.
"I guess so." My girl mumbled with a shrug. "All the other kids are gonna be bigger than me. I'm little." she said sadly, eyes drifting toward the ground.
"Lun, not all the kids are going to be bigger than you. There's going to be some kids that are even younger than you going to school this year." Okay, it wasn't a total lie. There were going to be kids the same size as her, but barley. For her age, Luna was short and skinny, the spitting image of her Mami.
"Really?" Seeing her little eyes suddenly light up made me remember why we decided to have another baby in the first place. To see the world through a set of pure and wonderful eyes.
"Yep, and I bet you guys can have your own activities to do in class, so the bigger kids aren't mean to yah." We tried to reassure her; her size didn't exactly worry us. If she was anything like Santana, which she is, she's going to hit a growth spurt by the time she's eight and won't have to worry about being 'too little' anymore.
"You're probably right, Mama. You're the smartest person in the world, besides Mami and Cassie." Luna giggled, warming my heart with every word she spoke.
"Anyone ever tell you you're the sweetest girl in the world?" I pepper kisses against her forehead and face, causing her to erupt with the world's cutest giggles.
Halfway through breakfast, Santana woke up and made her way downstairs, already dressed and ready for her day. That was our routine. Luna woke one of us up in the morning, usually me, and we made breakfast until the other woke up after getting ready for their day and we switch. By the time Santana got downstairs Luna was full of insane energy, coloring all sorts of pictures and demanding a thousand snacks before breakfast was even on plates.
"Good morning, beautiful Mama." Her words were so soft against my lips before they contacted hers.
"Good morning to you too, hot Mami." I teased with a smirk, pecking her lips again quickly. "I need to get ready, uhm, and probably wake up Cassidy since it's almost seven thirty and she hasn't made a sound. But Luna's breakfast is on the table, have fun trying to get her to eat, we're still on a food strike I guess. Even after we made it together." Rambling off to my wife, I headed off upstairs to finally get ready for my day.
"Hey, Cass, it's time to get up for school babes." I called into her room, cracking the door open. I hadn't been in there to gather her laundry all week, her room smelled like dirty gym socks. "Ten more minutes and I'm coming back in." I gave her the last warning before closing the door.
As I get ready, I can't help but think about the conversation we had the other night and how to help our girl figure out how to grow up. So was so much like me, I guess that's what I get for carrying a child of my own. But her heart is so big and beautiful, just like her mind, we can't help but worry she's just stretching herself too thin to make us happy. Not to mention the fact that she thinks we hate her playing soccer. Because we don't honestly, if it were up to me, I'd let her keep playing. But San has this crazy idea that she's going to be some big lawyer. That is not who our girl is. She's been playing soccer since she was three-year-old, she's truly born to play the game.
"Ma." Cassidy's voice broke me from my deep thought as I finished getting ready. "I don't feel good, can I just stay home today and do my classes online?" I could see the exhaustion in her face, which lead me to believe she was up all night either crying or stressing herself into an anxiety attack.
"Cass, I'd have to talk to Mami and you know how she feels about you missing school-"I trail off, watching her eyes fill up with tears. "Okay, okay. You know what? You have such good grades and are the best daughter in the world, so I guess you can stay home today." I half teased, kissing her forehead as I watched the small light come back into that beautiful face.
"You're the best mama in the world, did I ever tell you that?" The smile on her face was worth the fight I was going to have with Santana about it later. Hopefully I can defuse the situation by announcing a promotion at work. I've been fighting for this spot the last few months and today would decide the fate of my career.
"I know, now let's go eat breakfast with Mami and your sister." Pulling her in for a tight hug, I reminded her softly that I loved her and would always be here if she ever needed me.
I barely make it home in time for dinner. It's disappointing, having to miss dinners or barely make them three to four nights out of the week. It's time with the girls I could be spending, but our jobs are what's going to send these girls to amazing colleges.
"Mama! Mama! You were right! I wasn't the littlest kid in school t'day!" Luna's happy cheers rang toward me as she sprinted town the hall to attach herself to my leg.
"See! I told you." I laugh, gently pulling her off my leg to bend down and kiss her nose. "Come on, let's go finish dinner and then I promise you can tell me all about your day." I led her back to the kitchen; the tension is thick, and I already know Santana found out Cassidy didn't go to school today.
"Have a good day, gorgeous girl?" Santana mumbled against my lips, kissing me a few extra times. At least she's not mad at me? I can't tell. Maybe madder at Cassidy than me, but that couldn't be the case. Whatever it was, it was making the air around the two thick.
"I did, we should talk later." I whisper, trying my best to keep my tone neutral. With that, she nodded, and I added a kiss to her forehead before grabbing the plate she made for me already made from the microwave and sat to join the rest of our girl group for dinner. Afterwards, Cassidy did her chores of the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, while Santana and I helped Luna with her kindergarten homework.
"Baby, you know what these colors are, we do them all the time. "I sigh out of frustration; Luna never gave me this hard of a time while we were doing these activities over the summer before school started.
"But I only know them in Spanish." I glared over at Santana, that was her fault. Teaching both the girls' colors, shapes and number in both Spanish and English, we thought, would be a good idea and keep them connected to their culture, but it turned out to only confused our girls more. Cassidy was quick to learn both ways, it was however taking Luna an incredibly longer amount of time.
"Okay, we can just... do these later. Go get ready for bed, and brush your teeth, I'll be checking." I send her off, shaking my head as I run a tired hand through my hair. We do our usual bedtime routine, bath and a story, tuck ins and bedtime kisses. San and I haven't had a moment to ourselves to talk about Cassidy, let alone what we're going to do with her.
"Are you upset with me?" I didn't want to ask, but she had barely looked at me all night and now as we laid in bed, she was barely looking at me, more so at her book.
"Why did she stay home today, Britt?" I knew it, and by the tone of her voice, she wasn't happy.
"You didn't see the way she looked at me, Santana, she was going to cry if she went to school today. I didn't see a big deal; she's got straight As for what it's worth." I bargain, sitting up in bed a little.
"She's got her head all in the clouds, you know. With this soccer thing and going out every weekend when she should be studying and getting ready for debates." Finally, she puts her book down and sits up in bed to match my level. "She's so smart, I just don't want her to waste all of her knowledge on a stupid game."
"Santana... You know she loves the game more than anything. Why are you pushing this so hard? She's still a teenager, we have to allow her to live and experience life for what it's worth. With the obvious restrictions and rules, of course." I add the last part softly, nervous for her response.
"College is important, Britt, you know that. Look how hard we struggled to graduate with no money, no help from our family, nothing. Just the two of us in the crappy New York apartment. And now we live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city. I want our life for our girls. And Cassidy will not have that if she keeps going with soccer. She needs to be focused on school and debate; the things that are going to take her incredibly far in this life."
"Wow, okay." I spoke softly, that felt like I was getting the lecture instead of Cassidy, she owes me for this one. "I understand where you're coming from, I do. I want all of what we have and more for the girls, but if we... if we stop her from soccer, if we take this away from her, I'm afraid it's going to cause a divide between us and I don't want that, I don't." I felt the tears swelling in my eyes. "I just think we should sleep on this a little more and talk about in over the weekend when we've had some time to weight the options." I end the conversation there, kissing her softly, assuring her I did still love her despite the disagreement. Lately, I've felt like our marriage hasn't been in the best place, I can't tell you exactly when I started to feel this way, but its obvious to me that we aren't exactly in the best place of our marriage right now.
