"Sweetie, why are you crying like this? Aw your cheeks are all red, Kitten," Mommy whispered in her sweet voice, holding his hand and walking him into her room. She kneeled down in front of him, rubbing his back gently until he calmed down enough to speak, completely out of breath still. "Is this just about mommy and Santana? What's the matter? Kitten, I want to make you feel better but I can't help you unless you help me out a little bit."
"She- she kissed you!" He whimpered loudly, wiping at his eyes. "For the millionth time!"
"Oh," She blinked in confusion but then eventually sighed, "Is that what made you upset? You have your Mami's timing for sure."
The dark-haired boy blinked in confusion, his brows drawn together and head tilted to the side in confusion as he tried to piece together what she meant by the last part. Then he started to sob again, covering his face with his hands as a fresh flood of tears came to his eyes and he pouted his lips.
"She- the Devil Lady is gonna to take you away and you'll forget all about me, your son," He barely managed to get out, finally admitting to what was really bothering him. "She's just gonna hurt you like all the other mommy stealers! You're gonna love her more than me and- and everything's gonna change forever and I won't be your special kitten and we'll never have special movie nights or anything again!"
His mom's eyes softened, full of concern and she pulled him into her arms, hugging him tightly. She sat on the bed, setting him on her lap and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, sobbing into her chest. It was tradition whenever he got scared or couldn't sleep for his mom to let him sleep in her big pink, fluffy bed with her. Her room was really girly and bright pink, unlike his own but her bed was really soft and he always slept better knowing Mommy was there with him.
"Shh, you're getting all worked up, Sweetie. One thing at a time. It's okay, Kitten. We didn't mean to hurt you - when Mommy kisses Santana it doesn't mean she forgot about you or doesn't love you anymore. Remember what we talked about before, okay? Let me tell you something your Grandma once told me, Kitten. Sometimes you love someone so much that you don't know how you'll ever love anyone else even a fraction as much- but your heart can grow. When I got pregnant with you, I already loved your grandma and grandpa, Auntie Stacy and your Mami so much… but then I loved you right away more than I ever thought it was possible to love anything even before you were born. You were the smallest, cutest little screaming peanut and when they put you in my arms, you just went quiet and stared up at me with those big, beautiful, dark brown eyes. I was a goner. You were the cutest baby to ever exist, you know. Even if I love someone else too, it doesn't mean I will ever stop loving you. Hey, let's face it; you know your mom's a flirty bimbo, right? I might kiss someone if I really like them because hey, your mommy can't help it sometimes but I'll always be your mommy first. No one could ever steal me away."
Val frowned, still not understanding the part about her not being able to help kissing people but the other things she said did kind of make sense.
"You'll always love me?"
"Of course, Kitten. I'll never stop. It wouldn't be possible for me to stop loving you, no matter what you do. You know you'll always be my little baby boy even when you're a big man," She kissed him on the forehead and his sobbing eased up as he closed his eyes, snuggling against her. "Oh and Kitten, don't you worry about changes. Even if Santana comes to see us sometimes, that doesn't mean we'll be doing things different around here. She's just going to have to get used to it, right? You're the man of the house - well, Lord Tubbington disagrees with that but don't mind him - so you have to show Santana how we do things around here, right? You tell her."
"Right! Okay. I'm the man!" He accepted that after a while, proud of his status and she smiled gently at him, kissing him on both cheeks.
"Honey, there's just one thing I ask. Could you please be just a tiny bit nicer to Santana?" His lips tightened in a serious frown, wanting so badly to refuse but his mom was looking at him with big, puppy blue eyes and it was impossible to refuse anything she asked. Then she started tickling him and he erupted into laughter, squirming to get away from her. "I knew you couldn't keep up the serious man look for long. Come on, please, for Mommy?"
"Okay, I guess! I'll try. No, Mommy, you can't t-tickle me!"
"Thanks, Honey. Aw the dimples and nose scrunchies are back, so I know you must be feeling a little better. I love you so much, My Little Kitten."
"I love you too, Mommy."
Val sighed, laying down spread out across Mommy's bed as she curled into the other side, hugging him tightly to her, then he felt a heavy weight as Lord Tubbington eventually jumped onto the end of the bed to join them. They both giggled when Lord Tubbington climbed up his chest and stared into his face for no apparent reason, like he did sometimes.
Even though his mom's words made him feel a whole lot better, Valentino couldn't stop thinking about Santana still and how weird it was that she was around. All of this time spent with someone other than his mom made him think of Mami again, especially with her black hair that Mommy always told him his mother had. He wondered for the millionth time where she was and why she couldn't be there with them.
"Mommy? Do you think I'll ever get to meet Mami?"
For some reason she got this weird look on her face and was completely silent when he asked that question, a glazed over look in her blue eyes that confused him. She gently ran her fingers through his hair as she bit her lip worriedly and her chin crumpled in a way it did when she got upset.
"You'll get to know her really well one day, Kitten, I just know it," She eventually whispered to him, kissing him on the forehead. He snuggled close to her, closing his eyes and she pulled her pink comforter up to his chest, tucking him. "You're always so toasty warm, like my little electric blanket. Night night."
One Week Ago
Santana never thought she'd be back in Lima again. The quaint small town always reminded her of a certain woman she had never been able to get off of her mind. Even though she had only known her for a few months, Brittany S. Pierce had left such a huge impression on her. It felt like they had known each other their whole lives. There was no one else quite like Britt; she had this warmth and adorably quirky side to her and something distinctly Brittany that no other girl had.
"Mommy! Can we go look for cats again? I think I saw Tubbs' girlfriend in those bushes!"
"Sure, Kitten. Anything you want."
Santana heard a little boy's sweet, innocent voice filled with curiosity, followed by another soft and airy, feminine one she'd never be able to forget. The boy continued to chatter excitedly to his mother who sounded just as perky and amused as she played along with his imaginary games. A cold feeling came over the Latina and she was stunned by what she saw in the distance. It was Brittany and she was holding the hand of a little boy with curly, rich brown hair and light golden skin who was clearly her son as they walked out of an ice cream shop together, both giggling at some joke she told him.
Brittany looked even more radiant than when Santana had last seen her years ago if that was possible in jean shorts that showed off her gorgeous legs and one of her typical animal print tank tops that was a bright shade of lilac. It was such a typical quirky and cute Brittany look. Her long, beachy waves were shimmering in the summer sunlight, there was a rosy flush to her pale cheeks and her twinkling, upturned blue eyes captivated the black-haired woman like they always did. The blonde hadn't mentioned anything about having a child. Suddenly Santana had visions of Brittany going home to a husband or wife. Maybe Brittany had found someone new after all and completely moved on from Santana. There was no way a woman like Brittany wouldn't have been able to find someone. It completely shattered her.
Why didn't Brittany tell her she had a son? She knew she had no right to be upset especially after the way she had treated Brittany but the thought of the blonde being married to someone else and having their children instead of hers devastated her like nothing ever had before for some reason. It should have been her, Santana, walking beside the mother and son with her arm around Brittany's waist protectively as her wife, holding their son's hand. Santana felt like she couldn't breathe and disappeared into the shadows before the blonde could see her.
She was supposed to meet with Brittany alone that night at Breadstix, which had always been one of their favourite places to go when they were… sort of together way back but she didn't know if she could go through with this when her heart was breaking already. She closed her eyes, leaning back against a wall where she was hidden from view as she shrank away, hoping the woman hadn't seen her and the panic rose up in her throat as she trembled. This was a lot to take in.
No, she had to go to see Brittany no matter what. She couldn't be a coward anymore like she had been for so long when she was younger. Even if Brittany found someone else and would never be her girl again in the way she wanted her, Santana still had a duty to make things right with the woman and that was what she was going to spend her time doing.
Santana's eyes snapped open at the sound of a little boy's voice that was now so familiar to her. She had been having trouble sleeping all night, tossing and turning as she thought about her past with Brittany and that terrible feeling that had taken over her when she remembered how for a fleeting instant she thought Brittany had completely moved on from what they had together in the past.
She wasn't proud of the person she had been when she was younger. When they were hooking up in the past, Santana had been so afraid of completely opening her heart to Brittany and admitting she wanted something more official… that she had developed strong feelings for her. She had been terrified of admitting even to herself that Brittany meant way more to her than the string of women she had flings with before. Now she knew how ridiculous she had been. She had hurt Brittany just because she wanted to protect herself. The thought of Brittany being all alone when she was pregnant and herself missing out on all of those special milestones of Val's childhood devastated her. She was overwhelmed with guilt. If Brittany had told her she was pregnant, Santana would have come back to her and taken care of her right away but she understood why the woman may have felt she couldn't say anything to her.
The realization that Valentino was her son hit her harder than anything else ever had. It all suddenly made sense. The boy was about six years old if she had to guess which was the last time she had been with Brittany. Something about his eyes and face were so familiar to her. She just knew he was hers, as soon as she met him; it felt almost instinctual to treat him as her son. Even his smallest mannerisms reminded her of herself like the way he rolled his neck when he was being sassy and his eyes turned upward when he smiled. Her entire life had changed all in an instant. She actually had a son. What would her mother and abuela think?
It was odd how even after the short time she had known him, she felt so protective over her son in a way she hadn't felt about anything before; her heart had jumped into her throat the night before at the thought of him hurting himself on broken glass and it was her instinct to pull him close to her, away from danger. Even though thinking of the responsibility she now felt she had was terrifying, the thought that he had been created by her and Brittany - that their intimacy had lead to this tiny, perfect life being brought into the world - brought this warmth and happiness to her that made her almost lightheaded.
However, Valentino was so obviously territorial of his mom and he was doing the most to frighten her off, being almost as dramatic as she herself was sometimes. She had seen this behavior before from Lord Tubbington, only Val was a lot more intense than the tabby cat. Last night had been one of his worst meltdowns ever and Santana had been so taken aback, unsure of how to handle it but at least Brittany stepped in to save the day. Brittany was such a natural at this in a way Santana knew she could never be... it brought a smile to her lips thinking of the blonde woman knowing exactly how to calm their son down. Their son... she felt a wave of pride again just thinking of him being theirs.
Although it was a pain in the ass to deal with a kid acting up, secretly, it made Santana kind of proud because she knew she'd be the exact same way if she was him. He was a total chip off the old block. Santana didn't know what to do with the boy and his tantrums but now that she knew what she wanted, she was never going to give up on the two of them. Things with Brittany had heated up pretty quickly when they both got caught up in an emotional moment then Santana had kissed her at the park. She had felt Brittany reciprocate almost right away, to her surprise. Despite that, she wasn't sure how ready the woman was to be with her again the way Santana wanted her.
She glanced at her phone, noticing it was incredibly early - inhumanly early, who the hell woke up at this time on a weekend? - and sighed heavily, flopping back onto the couch. She could hear the little boy moving around and he padded into the kitchen then shouted at the top of his lungs about something. Santana winced, pressing her lips together in annoyance. Being an only child and the least likely person to ever hang out with kids, she wasn't accustomed to interacting with children at all. It was all so awkward for her and kind of terrifying. Her son had been doing everything to test her patience. She was still horrified by the mouse in the shoe incident… if anyone other than her son or Brittany's cat did that to her, she'd have gone all Lima Heights on them. Brittany had given her a kiss for her bravery after that whole escapade though and spent half an hour making such a big fuss over her during her state of distress, which did kind of soothe her a little.
It had been a long time since Lord Tubbington had last played that trick on her when she was with Brittany and now he had a little accomplice to help him gang up on Santana. It figured her son would be such a little menace; he was stubborn, mischievous and full of energy like a true Lopez. The thought of that made her smirk. At some point, if Brittany allowed it, she'd need to tell him he was hers but there was no way he'd be ready for that knowledge yet.
The last thing Santana thought about doing in her lifetime was having a child. Keeping her cool was difficult in her sleep deprived state but she was determined not to let her son get the best of her. She wanted so badly to be something more to both Brittany and their son - to be the woman she should have been all along.
Val frowned to himself the next morning, finding nothing but marshmallows and skittles in the fridge again. Usually that would be a good thing but now it just disappointed him. It seemed like his mom forgot to go shopping, except for the usual chocolate bars and sweets. She always kept tons of those, along with jelly beans and gummy bears.
He adored his mom to pieces but she could be forgetful and her brain worked differently. Sometimes she couldn't find her own socks. He had to be the one to help her find her missing things a lot and remind her about stuff. As much as he loved marshmallows and anything sweet like she did - and there was nothing better than ice cream for breakfast sometimes - he really needed to eat something else that was more like actual food instead of some gooey, sugary concoction that would probably just give him a tummy ache.
"Mommy!" He shouted, about to ask her about breakfast. Not hearing a response from her bedroom, he ran around the house yelling several times and then singing the My Cup song when he got bored of that. He saw Santana rolling around on the couch after all of his shouting and pouted at her as he ran over then jumped on her.
"Hey, wake up, Santana! How come you're still here?"
"Little Boy… you do realize it's six a.m. in the morning. On a Sunday."
"So what!" He grabbed the remote and started to play his favourite cartoon show, turning the volume up really high when it got to the parts with the singing cats. Santana looked startled and practically fell off the couch when she heard the nose. "Wow, you're grumpier than our cat even and he's super grumpy."
"Do you have to watch this literally right now?" She grumbled.
"Yes!" He insisted, wondering how that was even a question. Then he thought of something else that was important. "Mommy would let me watch it so you can't stop me. You have to watch it too, okay? Right now!"
"Really?" He scowled at her, puffing out his cheeks and she rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah you're really intimidating in footie tiger striped pajamas. Such a badass man."
Santana sounded all raspy and she had dark circles around her eyes. She sounded a little snappy and he smirked knowing he was getting to her. He wanted to argue with her but then he remembered his promise to his mom that he'd be nicer to her. Ugh, promises were the worst. If it was anyone else, he would have broken the promise but he couldn't bear the idea of disappointing his mom. He noticed that Santana's black hair looked really wild and curly, almost exactly like his own hair looked when he first woke up. His curls always frustrated him so much although his mom told him how beautiful they were all the time.
"Okay, what's wrong?" She eventually asked, after he stood in front of her in silence for a full two minutes when he got bored of what he was watching. He placed a hand on his stomach and Santana looked up at him with concern in her brown eyes when it growled.
"I'm so hungry I could eat a whole pizza and I think Mommy's in the shower."
He narrowed his eyes at the way Santana looked over in the direction of mommy's room in interest with a funny look on her face that he couldn't figure out. He didn't like that look from her. It kinda reminded him of the way Lord Tubbington looked at the goldfish in their tank.
"I-in the shower? Um, okay," Santana had that kind of nervous look again on her face as she got up and followed him into the kitchen but then she sounded smug as she told him she had everything under control. "Don't worry. I'll make you something really good."
Val looked up at her skeptically, arching an eyebrow. Santana just huffed, rolling her eyes and squaring her shoulders as he continued to look at her doubtfully in silence.
"Are you sure you know what to do? You don't look like you know."
"Okay, Mr. Sassypants, you've made your point. Of course I know what I'm doing. How hard can it be?" She scoffed. "One thing you should know is that I'm a master at many things and cooking is just one of them."
"Are you sure? Are you a master chef like on TV?"
"Of course. Is that even a question? Hey, just relax and sit back, Kid," The woman began rummaging through the fridge and cupboards, making a face when she realized there was nothing except marshmallows and sweets. "Whoa, doesn't your mom have anything other than sweets? Actually nevermind, dumb question; I should have known. But you need to eat something better than that. Anyway I can make anything you want, you just name it."
"Anything I want, huh? Can you make me um… French toast?"
"Is that all? Sure thing! It'll be the best you ever had," She announced smugly, patting his head. "It looks like we have just enough ingredients to make something like that…"
Valentino sat around and watched her the entire time, swinging his feet in boredom at first but then the whole thing turned out to be more entertaining than he imagined. Everything the woman did was hysterical to him and he made that obvious. Sometimes he thought of his mom as a giant Barbie doll brought to life and she was happy when he told her that. Santana was like a cartoon character but in real life. In fact this was way better than anything on TV. He giggled at Santana getting flour all over herself as she scowled and kept mumbling something in annoyance under her breath while she read from the recipe on her phone. He gasped when she even used some really bad words after she dropped a frying pan on her foot and he made a mental note to ask his mommy what those meant later when he was telling on her.
"You think that's so funny, don't you?" Santana's lips curved upward for a moment as well at the sound of his laughter but then she yelped when dark smoke started to rise from the pan on the stove top. "Oh fuc - I mean, goddamn it!"
All of the smoke set the fire alarm off and he covered his ears as Santana moved around frantically.
"Santana? What are you doing?" Mommy ran into the kitchen, her hair pulled up into a pink towel. She started to giggle when she noticed Santana looking like a complete mess. She ran to her side, helping her get the cooking situation under control then she began to unravel the towel from her hair, her long blonde locks still damp as she combed them out, still giggling at Santana.
"Hey, don't laugh, I got everything under control, right? I know I'm not exactly known for my stellar cooking skills but at least I made him something." Santana smirked a little as his mom continued to laugh, shaking her head at her.
"You sure did. It's really… differently different, San."
Santana then looked at his mommy again, noticing the fact that she was only wearing a towel to cover her body and she slipped on the butter she had dropped on the floor, her eyebrows darting up toward her hairline and her black eyes wide.
"Britt! W-what are you - I think you should put on something."
"But I have something on." Mommy's voice changed and she had a funny glint in her cat-like eyes as she dipped her head, watching Santana closely.
"Something other a towel, Brittany. Y-your towel's slipping!" Santana yelped. She cleared her throat, looking away and began to stir something around in the frying pan as Mommy kept gazing in her direction with a small smile on her lips.
"Mommy?" Val looked up at his mom in concern, interrupting them and made a face when Santana handed him the so-called French toast that was almost black. "I don't think this is French toast and Santana used curse words again really loudly when she burned all the food."
"Did she? Santana! Such a bad girl." Mommy looked like she was struggling not to smile when he said that as she pretended to tell a confused looking Santana off. She then kissed Santana on the cheek, whispering something he couldn't hear into her ear with her lips curved upward and the black-haired woman looked like she was about to faint.
"Britt! Not in front of the kid."
Val shook his head at their weird behavior then he whimpered, remembering how hungry he was and staring at the burnt thing in front of him. It really didn't look like it was even food anymore.
"Oh, Sweetie, we'll make you something else."
"Let's just get something delivered. I don't have time to waste on cooking anyway. It's useless." Santana eventually huffed and his mom smiled, shaking her head as she pulled him close to her, hugging him as he complained again about being hungry.
"That's probably the best idea, San."
It felt like a million years passed although they told him it was just ten minutes but eventually Santana presented him with the most elaborate breakfast he had ever seen. There was everything he could possibly want, including eggs and bacon, waffles, French toast and pancakes. This was way better than skittles for breakfast. Even Mommy seemed impressed and began to nibble on the edge of a pancake. She loved anything sweet just like he did, especially dessert-type things for breakfast.
"Wow!" He gasped and Santana looked smug, her dark eyes glinting as it was obvious how in awe of everything Valentino was. "That's totally amazing!"
"Oh San, you didn't have to go all out. That must have cost a fortune." Mommy told her.
"It's nothing, Britt. He deserves the best."
Mommy beamed at her and Val didn't understand why she was saying that but it did make him feel like she really cared. None of the his mom's previous dates had ever bought him anything at all. The three of them continued eating in silence, Lord Tubbington smelling the food and coming around to circle between their legs. He had never had such a fancy breakfast before and he could get used to it. He kept glancing at Santana as he ate, noticing the way she was smiling at him when she thought he wasn't looking. He wondered how she could pay for so much food. Santana was so rich, he figured she could probably buy everything in Lima.
Val groaned, not understanding why the adults just disappeared for most of the day doing whatever they did and he kept hearing his mom giggling at something Santana was saying to her. He'd never be able to figure them out. What was so funny? He called for his mom again later, bored of playing with his action figures and not immediately hearing an answer he ran in the direction of her bedroom.
The dark-haired boy heard Santana moving around in Brittany's bedroom and huffed, his cheeks puffing out and his face feeling hot as he stormed in behind her, clenching his fists at his sides. His mom made him promise not to be as mean to Santana and maybe breakfast had been good but this was way too much. He dropped the action figure he was holding and gasped. Suddenly he remembered why he hated Santana as all these dark thoughts came to his mind.
"What are you doing in there?"
Santana looked down at him in surprise, holding her hands up defensively with a sheepish look on her face. She winced as he glared at her. She was holding the little booties and blue onesies his mom told him used to be his that she had kept all these years and Santana's eyes looked all wet but she stiffened up, her expression changing when she noticed him.
"What? I just… Val, please don't freak out. Let me explain."
Santana was staring at the pile of things Brittany always kept in her special drawer. Mommy had left it open and his Mami's shirt was at the top of the pile. It was a black shirt with some rock band on it that Mommy had kept for all of these years. He had held it once and it had this musky, spicy smell that he since then associated with his Mami. At the thought of Mami, his real one, his lower lip began to wobble and he felt himself tearing up. For some reason, thinking of her made him detest Santana even more. It felt like she was just trying to take her place. No one could ever take her place.
"Get out of my mommy's room!"
"Hey, Valentino, please don't be like this, okay?" She said in a sterner voice when he kicked her on the leg and she grunted then stood up straight with her hands on her hips, rolling her neck at him. "C'mon, this has gone a bit far. You made your point. Behave."
"You can't tell me what to do cause you're not my mom!" Valentino shouted, turning on Santana and grabbing onto her arm with as much strength as his small body would allow even though she was really scary looking when she scolded him like she just did. For some reason her lips parted and she looked really sad when he said that. "You're not either of my moms and you'll never take Mami's place! Stop going through her stuff!"
"Wait a second, Valentino," Santana flinched at the sound of his voice and the way he was looking at her. She still seemed really hurt by his words and stunned. Her voice was more gentle as she whispered to him. "I know you're upset okay but it's because you don't have the full story. This is all a mistake. I'm sorry… you just don't understand."
"Hey, what's up, you two?" Mommy skipped into the room at the sound of the screaming with her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail and a bright smile on her face. Val continued glaring at Santana harshly, not letting her off the hook and Mommy frowned, looking worriedly between the two of them.
"Mommy went into her bedroom with my other fake dads and moms before and they're not allowed so you're not allowed either!"
His mom got a little embarrassed for some reason, her cheeks turning pink and Santana looked like she was about to cry when she immediately shot a glance toward Mommy. She had that expression on her face that looked almost identical to his when he was about to have a meltdown about something really bad and throw himself on the floor, pounding his fists.
"Britt, you did?"
"Why do you need to be in there with her?" He asked, or rather demanded, ignoring her other question. "I bet you were in her bedroom all day with her in her bed even and I heard her make a weird sound! You better not be hurting her when you snuggle with her!"
Santana's face turned pale and she glanced over at Brittany with a pleading look as if begging for help. Mommy began to laugh, her cheeks still that same shade of pink. It took a while before she responded.
"Santana would never hurt me when we snuggle, Honey, don't you worry." She explained in her sugary sweet, angelic voice.
Santana gave his mom a sharp look, an uncomfortable look on her face and her cheeks looking kind of red as she ran a hand through her hair.
"Y-you shouldn't tell him that, Britt."
"Tell me what?" Val was practically in tears, feeling confused and frustrated. They were ignoring the main point, which was that Santana had no business being in his mom's bedroom. "You guys act weird and you never tell me anything! Why should she be allowed to go through our stuff. Those are me and Mami's special things."
Mommy and Santana fell silent. His mommy pulled him into her arms, hugging him tightly and whispering sweet things to him until he finally stopped crying and just looked down sadly. Then she glanced over at Santana again, who looked really nervous as she nodded at her. His mom sat down on the edge of the bed, gesturing for him to sit beside her. They both looked super nervous. He had never seen his mom acting this way before instead of just making a joke of things and it confused him even more.
"Kitten…I wasn't sure if we should tell you this so soon but I don't want us to keep the truth from you anymore when you're hurting like this. Santana and I have been talking and we want you to know. You know how you were asking about your Mami a lot recently because you want to see her so much? I need to tell you something and I know it's a lot to take in but I need you to be a big boy," She whispered softly, taking a deep breath. "Santana is your actual Mami. She's your other mom."