Chapter 62: Distance

Santana's POV

*Saturday 15th June 2024*

I've just woken up this morning and I've got to say, I am feeling very refreshed. I must have had such a good sleep and slept really soundly because I didn't even hear Brittany come to bed last night. I had gone to bed before my wife last night because I was feeling quite tired but Brittany decided to stay downstairs and finish watching the TV show she had on so I must have been asleep by the time she came upstairs. I'm not going to lie; I needed that sleep last night because it's been a busy week so I'm glad I slept well.

My wife isn't in the bedroom right now so she must have gotten up before me this morning so I'm just on my way to find her. Firstly though, I want to check in on my children and see if either one of them is awake right now. To be honest, I am guessing they must be otherwise Brittany has taken them with her wherever she is because it's not like my kids to still be sleeping right now.

"Morning buddy" I say as I walk into Jaxon's room. "Did you have a good sleep?" I ask my son as I help him out of bed.

"Hungry" Jaxon tells me.

"You're hungry?" I ask amused. My son is literally so cute right now. I say good morning and ask him how he slept and the first thing he says is that he's hungry.

"Yeah" Jaxon nods his head.

"Ok, let's go and see if your brother is awake and we can go and get something to eat" I say as I place Jaxon on the floor and take his hand as we go to Xavier's room.

"Xavier!" Jaxon shouts as we enter the room. If my youngest son wasn't awake yet then he certainly is now with the sound of his brother.

"Good morning, sweetie" I say to Xavier as I pick him up. He doesn't say anything, he just smiles at me.

"Where's mommy?" Jaxon asks me.

"She must be downstairs so let's go and find her" I say as I take Jaxon's hand and continue to carry Xavier. "We need to be careful on the stairs" I tell Jaxon as we reach them.

"Ok, mommy" Jaxon smiles at me.

"Are you holding onto my hand tight?" I ask my son. He's still small so I'd hate for him to fall on the stairs.

"Yes mommy" Jaxon replies and we make our way downstairs.

"Ok, we're all at the bottom safely" I smile at Jaxon as I let go of his hand.

"Mommy!" Jaxon screams as we enter the living room.

"Hi buddy" Brittany says in surprise as she is jolted awake by the sound of our son.

"Did you sleep on the couch last night?" I ask confused.

"Uh…I guess I did" Brittany says hesitantly as she sits up.

"O-k" I say digesting the situation.

Brittany and I just look at each other for a second, not saying anything. I don't know what to say right now because I'm torn between confronting my wife and, letting her have her space to handle things. I know this is a tough time for her and she's struggling to deal with the surrogacy so I want her to process things her way but this seems a bit extreme. I mean, she doesn't even want to come to bed at night to sleep next to me and I'm supposed to be okay with that? I want to address that but what happens if I make things worse?

"I guess things make sense now" I state, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asks confused.

"Food!" Jaxon shouts, interrupting us.

"Do you want some food, Jax?" Brittany asks him.

"Yeah" Jaxon nods his head.

"He wants breakfast so I'll go and make some food" I say.

"I'll do it, you relax with the kids" Brittany says as she gets off the couch.

"Ok, thank you" I reply.

Once Brittany has made breakfast, all 4 of us sit down together and eat. Brittany and I didn't really get much chance to talk to each other because we were both focussing on Jaxon and Xavier. I do want to have a conversation with my wife about last night but I'm just not sure how and when to do it. I definitely know it wouldn't be ideal when we're spending time with our children so I'll just need to talk to her later.

"I'm just going to the bathroom; I'll be back in a second" I tell Brittany once we finish clearing up from breakfast.

"Ok" Brittany nods. It only takes me a minute or two before I'm back in the kitchen.

"Jaxon, why don't you have a top on?" I ask amused as my son seems to be shirtless.

"Pool" Jaxon smiles at me.

"You're getting ready to go in the pool?" I ask Jaxon and he nods.

"Yeah, the kids and I are going to spend some time in the pool" Brittany tells me.

"Ok" I smile softly.

"What are you up to today on your day off?" she asks curiously.

"I'm not sure yet" I shrug.

"Do you want to go in the pool with us?" Brittany asks me.

"Is that allowed?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can swim when you're pregnant" my wife replies.

"I didn't mean because of the pregnancy. I meant are you allowing me to do that" I state.

"Why would I step in your way?" Brittany chuckles confused.

"I don't know, you tell me" I reply.

"Huh?" Brittany says, completely confused now.

"I know you don't like spending time with me at the moment so are you going to be ok with me interrupting your time alone with the kids?" I reply.

"I feel like you're mad at me right now" Brittany states sadly.

"Not mad, just a little hurt I guess" I shrug.

"I'm not totally sure what's going on but if I hurt you then I'm genuinely sorry. I would never intentionally hurt you because I love you so much" she tells me.

"I know what's going on with you at the moment and I know you need to handle this situation in the way you feel is best so I'm not asking you to talk about it but last night wasn't right, come on" I point out.

"I actually have no idea what's going on here" Brittany says confused.

"I'm saying, I get that the situation we're going through at the moment with Quinn and James is hard on you so I'm allowing you to deal with it in the way you want" I tell her.

"I'm not really sure I want to talk about it right now so can we not" Brittany says quietly.

"That's what I'm saying, I don't want to push things so we don't have to. We both know there is something going on but we don't need to talk about it right now" I assure her.

"Ok, thank you" Brittany nods.

"What I am trying to get at though is despite what is going on, I felt like last night was a step too far" I tell her.

"Last night?" Brittany questions and I nod. "I don't follow" she says still confused.

"I'm trying to be understanding of you at the moment and how you want to handle things but what you did last night hurt me a little bit" I say.

"Santana, I really have no idea what I did last night to hurt you. I mean like I admit things are weird at the moment and you've said it's ok not to talk about it so apart from that, I don't know what you mean" she tells me.

"You didn't come to bed last night, you decided to sleep on the couch to be far away from me" I state.

"Santana…"

"I get that you're struggling but it hurts a little bit to know that even though things are tough, you still can't muster the courage to lie in bed next to me. We both knew this whole thing wouldn't be easy and I do know you're struggling more than me but do you know how it feels for your wife to decide she can't even bear to share a bed with you?" I explain.

"Santana, I didn't…"

"I felt like shit this morning when I realised you stayed on the couch all night and couldn't bear to be next to me. I love you more than anyone and to know the one person I love most in this world couldn't even look at me last night makes me feel disgusting. I know I got us into the whole situation we're in at the moment and I only have myself to blame but I still don't think it justifies what happened. You can be pissed at me and you can deal with things in whichever way you want but to deliberately not be able to stand the sight of me makes me feel like shit" I tell her, struggling to hide the tears.

"Santana, that's not…"

"It really sucks and I think…"

"Ok, stop" Brittany says seriously.

"Don't interrupt me" I say annoyed.

"I'm sorry but you did it first numerous times so I need to speak now" she apologises.

"Sorry" I apologise.

"Can I talk now?" Brittany asks.

"Yeah" I nod.

"First of all, I will reiterate what I said a few minutes ago which was that I admit I am struggling. I am owning up to that ok" she says.

"Ok" I nod again.

"What I am not owning up to is deliberately not coming to bed last night. Hand on my heart babe, that did not happen in the way you just described. I promise on our children's lives that was not what happened last night" Brittany assures me.

"So, what did happen?" I ask confused.

"I legit fell asleep on the couch. I wasn't as tired as you last night so I did stay up longer to watch TV and before I know it, I wake up and you're standing over me. I remember getting tired at one point and thinking to myself, 'you better move Brittany and get upstairs' but clearly sleep got the better of me because as I say the next thing I remember is waking up with the worst backache and you standing looking at me this morning" she explains.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes, really" Brittany nods. "I might be dealing with my crap in an asshole way at the moment but I'm not that big of an asshole that I want to deliberately make you feel like shit. You're still my wife and you're beautiful so I am in no way disgusted by you. I honestly just fell asleep on the couch because I eventually got tired" she adds.

"Ok" I nod.

"I really am sorry for how it looked; it was never my intention" Brittany says honestly.

"I see that now" I say smiling slightly.

"Are we good to put this behind us now and move on?" she asks.

"Yes, I think we are" I tell her.

"Ok, good. I'll go and get the kids ready so I'll just meet you outside in the pool?" Brittany says.

"Yeah" I smile.

"Ok" Brittany smiles back before taking the kids upstairs.

I know Brittany is still a little weird around me and I am ok with that because I understand what is going on is tough. It really is such a relief to know she didn't mean to sleep on the couch last night. My mind was just going ten to the dozen that for a second, I thought she was distancing herself from me that much more. I can handle Brittany processing things in her way but I just couldn't handle the thought of being that distant from one another. I'm glad we've cleared the air now and acknowledge that there is something going on but it's not as deep as I thought it was.

XXX

"Look at you both in the pool with mommy" I smile at my kids as I take my robe off and toss it to the side of the pool.

"They couldn't wait to get in the water" Brittany says, smiling at the boys as she holds them both in her arms.

"Shall I join you all and come into the water?" I ask my children.

"Mommy, swim" Jaxon says excitedly as he looks at me.

"Ok, buddy" I smile at Jaxon as I slowly step into the water.

"Mommy" Xavier smiles at me as he holds his hand out to me.

"Hi, sweetie" I say as I take Xavier from Brittany.

"Don't like" Jaxon says as he frowns at his water wings.

"I know they can be annoying but you need to wear them buddy because you can't swim yet" Brittany tells Jaxon.

"No, mommy" Jaxon states.

"If we take them off then you must hold onto me at all times, ok?" Brittany says to Jaxon.

"Ok, mommy" Jaxon smiles.

"I mean it, hold onto me at all times" Brittany says seriously.

"Ok" Jaxon nods.

"Ok, good" Brittany smiles at Jaxon before taking his water wings off.

"Is that better?" I ask Jaxon.

"Yeah" Jaxon smiles at me.

"Shall we take yours off Xavier?" I ask my youngest son. He doesn't verbally reply, he just smiles and nods his head. "Ok, let's do it" I say as I take them off Xavier.

"Jump mommy?" Jaxon asks Brittany.

"Ok you can jump into the water but I will need to catch you because you can't swim yet" Brittany tells Jaxon.

"Ok, mommy" Jaxon smiles.

Brittany lifts Jaxon over to the side of the pool and places him down. She then counts to three and then Jaxon jumps into the water near her where she catches him. They repeat the process a few times and it was honestly so cute seeing how much fun Jaxon was having doing it.

"Shall we trade for a minute and Xavier can jump in?" Brittany asks me.

"Sure" I smile as she and I swap the children around so I'm holding onto Jaxon and Brittany can take Xavier over to the side to jump in.

"Ok sweetie, jump towards mommy" Brittany tells Xavier so he jumps into the water towards her where she catches him.

"Big splash" Jaxon says to me giggling.

"That was a very big splash that Xavier made" I smile at Jaxon.

"Go again?" Jaxon asks me.

"Let's let Xavier have another couple of turns and then you can do it again" I tell Jaxon.

"Ok" Jaxon smiles at me.

After Xavier jumps into the water another few times, Jaxon takes a turn and does it a few times. We then let Xavier have another shot so both boys are getting to play equally. It's such a simple thing they're doing but they seem to be enjoying themselves a lot and having fun which is great.

"Mom jump in" Jaxon tells me.

"Oh, I don't know about that sweetie, mommy doesn't really want to be jumping around too much" I tell him.

"Ok" Jaxon nods.

"How about you and Xavier stand with me and mommy can jump in" I suggest.

"Yeah, mommy jump in" Jaxon says clapping his hands together.

"Ok, I'll jump in" Brittany says as she gives Xavier to me so I can hold both of the boys.

"Do you think mommy will make as big a splash like you both did?" I ask my kids.

"Yeah" Jaxon giggles.

"Ok, are you ready for me?" Brittany says as she stands at the edge of the pool.

"Go mommy" Jaxon shouts.

"Ok" Brittany smiles before diving into the pool.

"Jeez, Britt" I laugh as she completely soaks the 3 of us.

"You're all completely wet now" Brittany smirks as she swims towards us.

"Yeah, we are" I laugh. "Jaxon, splash mommy for me" I tell my son as I smirk at my wife.

"Ok" Jaxon laughs before splashing water towards Brittany.

"I suppose this is fair" Brittany laughs as Jaxon continues to splash her, and Xavier begins joining in.

"It is" I nod.

XXX

"I think it's time we get out of the water now because we've been under this sun for long enough now. I don't want you boys getting burned" Brittany tells the kids.

"No, I want to stay" Jaxon whines.

"No, buddy, it's time to go inside now" I tell him.

"We can play together inside though" Brittany tells Jaxon.

"Ok" Jaxon nods.

"Ok, let's go" Brittany says as she walks towards the stairs holding Jaxon as I follow them with Xavier in my arms.

"Play trains?" Jaxon says, looking at Brittany as they leave the pool.

"Yes, we can play with the trains once we're inside" Brittany replies, smiling at Jaxon.

"Thanks, mommy" Jaxon smiles back.

"Hey, let me help you" Brittany says as she holds out her free hand to me.

"Thanks" I say as I take her hand and slowly step out of the water while carrying Xavier in my other arm.

"We can get the boys dried off and get ourselves changed and then we can all play together" Brittany suggests as she keeps a hold of my hand as we make our way inside.

"Sounds good" I say as I smile down at our joined hands.

I know it seems insignificant right now to be holding hands since we do it a lot but it feels different right now. Brittany has been a little on and off with me recently so it's nice when we're in a good spot so this feels good right now to be close and holding hands.

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*Wednesday 19th June 2024*

Brittany, the kids and me are all at home today. The kids were supposed to be at daycare while Brittany and I went to work but Jaxon had a tummy bug last night so we didn't want to send him to daycare today in case he's not fully over it. Jaxon does seem to be feeling better but we didn't want to run the risk and also, we didn't want to send him to daycare and potentially pass the bug on to the other kids because that wouldn't be very fair. We settled that we would all stay at home today but I'm not 100% sure our plans whether we'll work from home or not.

"Hey, what is everyone up to?" I ask as I walk into the kitchen where Brittany is with the kids.

"We are making breakfast" Brittany replies as she smiles at the kids.

"Are you boys helping mommy make breakfast?" I ask my children as I walk towards them.

"Yeah" Jaxon nods.

"What are you making?" I ask them.

"Toast" Jaxon tells me.

"No, we're not having toast buddy" Brittany chuckles. "We're having French toast" she says.

"Sounds great" I smile.

"Mom, eggs" Jaxon says while pointing at the bowl.

"Are there eggs in there?" I say and Jaxon nods. "Are you whisking the eggs together?" I ask him.

"Yeah" Jaxon replies.

"Whisking or making a mess, what's the difference" Brittany teases.

"I was going to say it looks a little messy in here" I laugh.

"He had the whisk in his hand and started before I even noticed or had a chance to help" Brittany laughs.

"Do you want me to help him?" I ask my wife.

"Yeah, if you don't mind" Brittany nods.

"Of course, I don't" I smile.

As soon as breakfast is made, we sit down together and eat. Once we're all finished, Brittany cleared up the dishes and then the 4 of us spent some time together. We played with some of the kids toys before watching an episode of their favourite kids TV programme. I noticed Xavier was getting a little tired near the end of the TV show so I decided it was time for their morning nap. I've just finished putting both of the kids to sleep so now I'm going to find my wife to see what she's up to.

"The kids are finally napping so I'm going to take a shower. Do you care to join me?" I ask, smirking at my wife.

"Uh…I better not. I've got some things I need to do" Brittany replies.

"Do you not even have 5 minutes to spend with me, please?" I ask pleadingly.

"Honestly, I would if I could but I can't. I've got work I need to catch up on that I couldn't do earlier since the kids were around so they needed our attention. I need to make use of this spare moment" she tells me.

"Ok, I'll leave you to it" I smile again before going into the bathroom.

I'm not going to try and persuade her anymore because it's clear, she just wants some time to herself or whatever. It does suck and I am a little sad that she doesn't want to spend time with me, especially in the shower, but it is what it is. I am asking a lot of her these days with this surrogacy situation and I did put us in this place so I understand Brittany's feelings at the moment. We always knew she was more hesitant than I was about doing this so in a way I did push her into this.

XXX

"Are you ok looking after the kids if I go out for half an hour?" Brittany asks me as she walks into the bedroom where I am.

"Uh…sure" I nod. "Where are you going?" I ask confused since we're all supposed to be at home today.

"The grocery store to get a few things. Initially I had planned on going on the way home from work today but since our plans changed and we're at home and not working in the office then I might as well go now instead of waiting until later" she tells me.

"Ok, cool" I smile.

"Do you need anything while I'm there?" Brittany asks.

"No, I'm good thanks" I reply.

"Ok, I won't be long. The kids are still napping right now" she says as she heads for the door.

"Ok" I smile.

As soon as Brittany leaves for the grocery store, I go to the kids' rooms and check on them. Neither of them was awake so I did a little tidying until they woke up. The kids and I are now spending some time together in the living room. We're watching some silly TV show right now which I find highly annoying but Jaxon and Xavier seem to enjoy it so I'm suffering through for their sake. The high-pitched screeching of characters in children's TV shows are one thing I don't like about being a parent. Honestly, having to sit through these things with the voices hurting my head is not thrilling.

"Boys, I think mommy might be home" I say as I hear a car outside.

"Mommy!" Jaxon shouts excitedly.

"Shall we meet her at the door?" I ask my children as I pick up Xavier, following Jaxon to the door.

"Hey, guys" Brittany smiles as she walks inside with bags of shopping.

"Do you need some help?" I ask.

"No, it's ok. I've got it" she replies as we make our way to the kitchen.

"At least let me help you unpack the bags" I say as I sit Xavier down in his bouncer so I have free hands to help.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"Uh…why is there fresh pasta in here?" I ask confused.

"Because I'm making my signature pasta dish that you really like for dinner" Brittany smiles.

"But the kids don't like that pasta, they're not going to eat it" I point out.

"I know which is why they're not having it. We'll have the pasta and I'll make the boys something else" Brittany shrugs.

"Is that not going to be a bit much making two different dinners at the one time?" I ask. I would be happy to eat the same as the kids to save time.

"No, the kids can eat around 5 and once they go to bed, I thought you and I could have dinner, just the two of us" Brittany tells me.

"Ok" I smile.

"Unless you'd rather eat with the kids then we totally can" she states.

"No, I'm happy to have dinner just the two of us later on" I smile.

"Cool" Brittany smiles back.

Once we finish unpacking all of the groceries, Brittany, the kids and me all hang out for a little while. Brittany then makes the kids something to eat and we spend some more time with them as they eat their dinner. After that was done it was bath time and then bedtime for my little ones. Jaxon and Xavier both went to sleep quite quickly when we were reading to them so it didn't take long before Brittany and I were back downstairs together, just the two of us. Brittany then began cooking dinner for us while I checked a few work emails.

"Dinner is really nice, thanks for cooking tonight" I smile at my wife as we begin eating.

"You're welcome" Brittany smiles.

"So, what are your plans for tomorrow?" I ask curiously.

"The kids both seem ok now so I think we could probably go into work for a while and the kids can go to daycare" Brittany replies.

"Yeah, I agree" I nod.

"Cool, that's settled then" Brittany smiles. "Shall we aim to leave the house for 8am and that way we could try and get home at a reasonable hour to spend some time with the kids?" she suggests.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan" I smile.

"So, how's your day been. We haven't really spent much time on our own together?" Brittany asks me.

"It's been ok. As much as I didn't like the possibility of the kids still being sick, it was nice spending the day with them. It would have been better if I got to spend some of the time with you though" I point out.

"I know and I'm sorry. I just had things I had to do but we're together now" she tells me.

"We are and this is nice" I smile.

After catching up with each other and finishing our food, we cleared up our dishes. Brittany was going to do it herself but I insisted that I would help because it would make the process faster. We're now just leaving the kitchen but I'm not sure Brittany's plans for the rest of the night.

"What shall we do now?" I ask, hopeful we can spend the night together and Brittany doesn't need to do something else.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something?" Brittany suggests.

"Sounds good" I nod. "Down here or in bed?" I ask.

"Wherever you want, I don't mind" Brittany shrugs.

"I know the TV down here is bigger but I'd prefer to watch the movie upstairs in bed where we can get under the covers and get cosy" I say.

"Ok, that's what we'll do" Brittany smiles.

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*Saturday 22nd June 2024*

Brittany and I were just having a quiet day, spending time with the kids when Brittany's two sisters dropped by to visit. They had their kids with them which was nice because Jaxon and Xavier got a chance to play with Zoe and Ben. We're all just sitting down in the living room together just now to catch up with each other.

"So, what's going on with you both?" I ask curiously.

"Actually, we have something exciting to tell you both" Grace says.

"Ok" Brittany says confused.

"We're pregnant" Haley smiles.

"We?" I ask for clarification. I mean which one is pregnant?

"Yes, we" Haley nods.

"It turns out that we're both pregnant" Grace laughs.

"Oh my god, congratulations to you both" I say happily.

"Yeah congrats, guys" Brittany says as she stands up so she can hug her sisters.

"How did this happen; did you plan to both do this together at the same time or something?" I ask curiously.

"No, we didn't. We're actually about 5 weeks apart from each other but we are both pregnant right now" Haley says.

"Oh, ok" I nod understanding.

"You guys know Lewis and I have been trying to get pregnant for a while now and one day I was feeling a little off so Haley suggested I took a pregnancy test. It turns out it was positive so Haley joked maybe she should take one too so I said why not since I had spares. Neither of us really thought she would be because it was just a complete joke that she took the test but surprisingly she was pregnant too" Grace tells us.

"Yeah we did the tests that can tell you how far along you are so that's how we figured out I'm about 5 weeks behind" Haley says.

"Honestly, we are so happy for you both. It's amazing news" I smile.

"Thank you" Haley smiles.

"So, enough about us. What is going on with you both?" Grace asks us.

"Not much really" Brittany shrugs.

"Yeah, we're just living life and enjoying spending as much time as we can with our children" I say.

"How's things going with the pregnancy, is everything ok?" Haley asks.

"Yeah, it's all good" I smile.

"I'll just go and get us some drinks" Brittany says abruptly as she stands up.

"I'll help you" I tell her.

"It's ok, you stay there" Brittany smiles before leaving the room.

"Have you had scans and everything already?" Grace asks.

"Yeah, and everything seems to be going to plan so that's good. I sorta just want it over with now so Quinn can finally have her baby with her" I admit.

"I get that because it must be hard for her knowing she's having a baby but can't exactly go through it in the traditional way" Haleys says.

"Yeah, I mean as much as I am trying to involve her in everything, she can't be here 24/7 to go through everything with me so it's not the same as when any of us were pregnant" I say.

"At least this way she gets a baby though" Grace points out.

"Yeah exactly" I nod in agreement. "Things could have been worse so thankfully she still gets to have a baby this way" I add.

"So, how are the kids?" Haleys asks as Brittany walks back into the room.

"They're as energetic as ever" I laugh.

"Yeah, they're really keeping us on our toes especially when there's two of them" Brittany smiles.

"Which you two will know about soon" I tease.

"That is true" Grace laughs.

XXX

Once Brittany's sisters left, Brittany and I decided to put the kids down for a nap. They would have been due a nap anyway but they especially needed it after everyone left because they exhausted themselves out running around with their cousins. It was quite nice for them to play with other kids though so I am glad about that. Brittany and I are now getting a little time to ourselves as we sit down in front of the TV together.

"So, both of your sisters are pregnant. That's great, isn't it?" I say breaking the silence between us.

"Yeah, it's amazing news for them. I always knew they would both have another child so I am happy it's finally the time. I mean we have 2 kids so it'll be good for my sisters to have 2 kids as well and expand the family" Brittany smiles.

"Yeah, exactly" I agree.

"It's kinda nice they're getting to go through pregnancy together as well because they can share stories and help each other through their journeys" Brittany says. "They've always been best friends so it'll be nice for them to do this together, just the two of them" she adds sadly.

"Yeah, I guess it will" I nod. "Hey, you ok?" I ask as I notice her demeanour changing.

"I'm fine" Brittany shrugs.

"No, you're not, honey" I say softly. "What's going on?" I ask.

"I don't know, the more I thought about the situation the more I made myself sad for a second" she says, shaking her head. "I was thinking about how nice it is that they can do things together which then made me suddenly think about how it's never with me. It's always just the two of them" she explains.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"I guess I just feel left out, once again" Brittany sighs.

"Left out by your sisters?" I ask.

"Yeah, I mean as I say they've always been best friends and did almost everything together so this is just another thing they're doing just the two of them" she states.

"Babe, we will have more children so don't worry about that" I reassure her.

"No, I don't mean I'm left out because they're both having another child and I'm not. Like I'm happy with our current situation so I'm ok that we're not having more kids right now. I feel left out in general because they always do things together, not just this" Brittany says.

"Oh, ok" I say understanding.

"They're only a year apart whereas I'm 3 and 4 years younger than them so I'm always missing out on stuff. They were each other's maid of honour at their weddings. They were always going out on double dates together with their partners. They literally do everything together. I mean look at today, they both came to visit together with their kids" she states.

"I guess they are quite close" I nod.

"They once shared a room when we were younger even when they didn't have to because they liked hanging out together so much" she states.

"I am sure they don't mean to leave you out though" I point out.

"Yeah, I know deep down they wouldn't do that to me but it still makes me feel sad" Brittany tells me.

"I get that, babe. I do" I nod.

"I guess I just need to suck it up" she sighs.

"Ok but the difference is that you have something much better that neither of them have. You don't need to be as close with them as they are with each other because you've got something better" I state.

"Ok, what's that" Brittany asks confused.

"You have Santana Lopez with you every step of the way in life" I smile.

"I know but you're not my sister" she frowns.

"I'm well aware of that otherwise we'd have a problem if I wasn't aware" I say amused.

"So, what do you mean?" Brittany asks confused.

"What I mean is that you don't need to have that with them. You're my best friend Britt. Like I know Quinn is but you also are. I don't think your sisters have what you and I have with their husbands. We're more than just wives" I point out. "They need that sisterly relationship to be close for support and to confide in each other about stuff whereas you and I don't. We can just talk to each other and don't need to lean on anyone else because we're a solid couple" I smile.

"I think I see what you're saying" Brittany nods.

"Believe me, you're winning harder in life" I assure her.

"Ok" Brittany smiles.

"I like your sisters and all because they're your family but you 100% have the better life" I smile.

"I do really have a nice life" Brittany nods.

"I know you want to be close to them and I get it hurts a little bit but all I'm saying is that you do have other people closer to you than them" I say.

"I know. I guess I'm just in a weird mindset in general at the moment but it'll pass" Brittany shrugs.

"If you want to talk about anything we can" I assure her.

"It's fine" Brittany states.

"Are you sure because I don't want you to be bottling things up and then making yourself feel worse. If you need to talk about something then I'm here for you, always" I tell her.

"I know but I don't want to talk about anything right now" Brittany shakes her head.

"Ok, fair enough" I nod.

"Thanks though" she smiles.

"If you do ever want to talk about something that's on your mind then please do because I'm worried about you" I tell her.

"Don't be worried because I'm fine. I just need to deal with things in my own way but I will be ok eventually" Brittany assures me.

"Ok" I say before kissing her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too" Brittany smiles softly.