The next three weeks were a blur. Brittany wasn't as busy as Santana was, but that wasn't saying much. Santana was getting ready to sign a new contract with her label which since she hadn't been making music in nearly six years was a bit of an adjustment for the family, particularly Mateo.
Jesus managed to negotiate that he be picked early from school by Jessie and taken to Santana's studio by arguing that it was the same as going to music lessons. Mateo on the other hand, had no reason to be there, and in fact often got so bored that his presence meant Santana having to leave early. The first two weeks had been awful for Santana, as not only was she tired from her demanding schedule, but she also felt guilty for what she felt was abandoning Mateo. As his tantrums increased in frequency and he started waking up every night now, Santana felt genuinely responsible.
She was walking back to her room at three in the morning one night, having just put Mateo back to bed when she was met by Brittany in the hallway.
"Oh babe…" Brittany breathed, pouting at her.
"I know what you're going to say."
"Do you?"
"You're gonna say it's not my fault."
"It isn't-"
"But it is."
"Do you remember when the boys were little? Not even a year old, and Jesus was refusing to sleep?"
"How can I forget?" Santana smiled. "We were sleep deprived for 9 months."
"Well…remember what I told you one night?"
Santana shook her head. "What did you tell me?"
"I said that you killing yourself like this isn't good for you, and therefore isn't good for them. Yes, Mateo hates that you're gone all day now, and isn't reacting well, but baby…" Brittany walked forward, wrapping her arms around Santana's waist. "He's not a baby anymore. He's old enough to understand and adapt. All you're doing by indulging him like this every night is teaching him that it works. By waking up every night he gets two straight hours with you, which is what he wants."
Santana groaned, gripping the hem of Brittany's shirt with both hands.
"Why did I go back to work B?"
Brittany smiled sadly.
"Because you missed it. You've given them 6 years love. It was time."
"It's not worth it. The crying and whining. The clinging on to me like I'm going to disappear. I feel like I'm choosing my work over them. Over him specifically."
"But you're not. That's how it felt when we went back to work after the twins remember? It was awful and we were both super sad but eventually we got into a new normal."
"Maybe he's not ready." Santana said. "Maybe I needed to talk with him about it a bit more before I go back."
"Santana…"
"Britt, he needs me."
"Listen." Brittany said, halting Santana's meltdown. "You took a step back from your work to let me have everything I wanted with mine and with both of us being so busy our family was…well not suffering, but not thriving. You gave up your dream for the bigger dream, but you know what?"
"What?" Santana asked quietly.
"Part of the bigger dreams was you being an awesome super star."
Santana grinned. "Yeah."
"So, don't you think that's also important?"
"I guess so."
"We talked about this, and we both agreed that you going back was the right thing, and that now was the right time."
"It's clearly not though. B I never want my kids to grow up like I did. I always knew that I came second to my parent's work. After a while I couldn't even enjoy the time I got to spend with them because I was always waiting for the next emergency to crop up at work and drag them away."
"Your parents were workaholics babe. Even when we were both busy, we never dropped the ball with our kids. The only reason things were strained then was because we couldn't take time off with Mateo and Sophia. We were adjusting to four kids while still working. Everything was stressful then. That's not the case now."
"So you're saying Mateo's not going to grow up thinking I love my work more than him."
Brittany giggled.
"Not possible. Santana our kids know you adore them."
Santana sighed. "Okay."
"So….."
"I'm gonna sign."
"Good." Brittany kissed her. "And Niki, we need to let sort out his issues."
"How are we gonna do that?"
"No more midnight snuggles. If he wakes up, we only go to make sure he's okay. No stories or chatting. Lights stay off, we tuck him back into bed and leave."
"That's gonna be hard."
"Yeah, but it'll hopefully only be a few days before he stops the habit."
"Yeah. You're right anyway, it's not like he's having nightmares or something."
"Exactly."
"Okay" Santana nodded. "We have to keep each other strong."
Brittany held out her pinkie, waiting for Santana to link hers before kissing her.
"We got this."
Jesus ran out to the car park, hiding behind cars to make sure he wasn't seen. When he saw his mum's car he dashed for it, weaving easily between the parked cars. He yanked the door open, slid inside and crouched down low so he couldn't be seen through the window.
"Drive Jessie DRIVE"
Jessie turned to look at him, eyebrows raised.
"Hiding from Mateo?"
"Yes" He hissed. "Drive quickly before he sees the car."
Shaking his head, Jessie started the car. He had to stop at the gate to scan his badge.
"Come on" Jesus groaned.
"Yeah just one of them. He's in the back."
Jesus peeked up as his window was rolled down.
"Hi" He waved at the guard.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just hiding from my brother."
"Right." The guard went back to talk to Jessie. A few minutes later they were driving off.
"You're making it look like I'm kidnapping you kid."
"That's silly. You're the one my mums got to keep us safe."
"Yeah but they don't know that."
"Why don't you just tell them?"
Jessie turned to glance at him as he once again felt the car slowing down.
"We're heading to the main roads dude, sit up and put on your belt."
Jesus did as he was told.
"How was your day Jessie?"
"I didn't do much. Stayed in the area. I was in my favourite café for most of it."
"All day?"
"Yeah"
"Isn't it boring?"
"No. I get to use my laptop in silence."
"I've never seen you use your laptop."
"That's cause when I'm with you I'm working."
"What do you do on your laptop? Like watch movies and stuff?"
"Not exactly. I work."
"Boring."
"Sometimes I play solitaire."
"Even more boring."
Jessie laughed.
"Not to me. Anyway how was your day?"
"Boring too. School is always super boring. But we played a new game at lunch which was fun."
"Oh yeah? What game?"
"It's called shake. There are two teams, and like you have to draw boxes on the floor, so we used the chalk from the art room, and the point of the game is to try and make it across from one side of the box to the other. One team is trying to get across, the other is trying to catch as many people as possible, but they have to stay within the lines of the boxes."
"Sounds intense."
"It was a lot of fun. We played with grade sixes and sevens."
"Oh wow. Did you win?"
"Yeah, but I got caught twice. But they were really good. Kyler never got caught. It was awesome."
"I bet. His whole job on the football team is to keep from getting caught."
"True." Jesus said. "And mine is to catch people, so I was really good at that. No one got past me."
"Nice buddy."
Jesus turned to stare out the window, watching the cars and occasional trees whiz by.
"I wish school could be like that all the time."
"That wouldn't be school." Jessie laughed. "That's play group."
"Well…Then I want to go to school and only learn music. I don't feel bored when I'm doing drums, guitar or piano. Even theory isn't so bad."
"When you're older, you'll be able to if that's what you really want. But for now you have to learn the basics of reading and writing."
"I can read!" Jesus said indignantly.
"Oh yeah?" Jessie pointed to a billboard they were about to pass. "What's that say?"
Jesus squinted, ducking down to try and see the billboard properly. He barely caught a glimpse of the words before they were zooming past it.
"Looks like you still have stuff to learn."
"You were driving too fast."
"I could read it. But see, I finished middle school."
"Urgh" Jesus groaned. "That doesn't count."
"Okay, what's 8 times 17.2."
Jesus frowned. "That-"
"Times up."
"Urhg Jessie" He turned back to the window.
"All I'm saying is that school is important. For the basics at least. Maybe you can go to a music school for high school, but right now, you need all this boring stuff."
"Fine" Jesus sighed. He perked up. "Can we get some ice cream?"
"Do you have money?"
"No"
"Well then how are we gonna pay?"
"Don't you have money?"
"Yeah but I don't want ice cream."
"Please" Jesus begged, sitting forward as much as he could. "Please Jessie."
Jesus knew Jessie could see him through the rear view, so he pouted, clasping his hands together by his chin.
"Please."
"Fine" Jessie sighed. "But don't tell your brothers."
"Deal." Jesus said, grinning as he sat back in his seat.
Santana turned in her seat as the door to her office opened, letting in the noise from outside. She smiled when she saw Jesus and beckoned him to her.
"Thanks J" she called to Jessie, who was standing by the door. He nodded, saluted her, and left. "Hey bud" She greeted. Jesus dropped into her lap and kissed her cheek.
"Hi mami."
"We're just finishing up a meeting, will you give me a few minutes?"
"Yeah." Jesus shrugged. He took Santana's phone, which was beside the diary she had open in front of her, unlocked it with his fingerprint and tuned out of the conversation. Santana ran her hand over his hair, tucking some behind his ear as she kissed the back of his head, and turned back to the people around her.
"Alright…sorry what were you saying Emma?"
"Hi Emma." Jesus looked up, searching the room. He smiled when he saw Emma and waved happily.
"Hi Jesus."
"Hi Greyson, hi Eve"
"Hey kiddo" Greyson said, reaching across to fist bump Jesus.
"Hi Jesus."
"Are you done?" Santana laughed.
"Yeah I don't know everyone else."
"They still might like a hi."
"Hi everyone else" he said loudly. The three remaining people, Fatma and Jed, who were the label representatives, and Bonnie, who was Santana's legal representative, waved at Jesus. Satisfied he hadn't left anyone out, Jesus leaned back so his back was resting against Santana and again turned his attention to the phone.
"Right, Emma?"
"Yes. So I was saying that based on our experience from when Santana returned from maternity leave last time, international tours are not the best to start off with. They are gruelling and intense, which right out of the gate is hard to adapt to."
"And we understand that" Fatma said. "But you also have to understand that a nine month maternity leave is different than a 6 year break."
"What we want to do is set Santana up for success. Six years is a long time, and while I don't think that your fans have forgotten you, we need to build up enough hype to get massive sales right out of the gate." Jed said.
"Basically, we want them foaming at the mouth begging for the album."
"So you want a pre-album tour?" Santana asked.
"Yes. Performing your greatest hits. Like we said, hype people up."
Santana pulled the contract from where Bonnie had been looking it over and flipped to the section on touring.
"You've looked this over right?" She whispered. Bonnie nodded, winking at her. Santana was glad she'd decided to stay with Bonnie after all these years. Emma had urged her to go with someone more well versed in the industry after she'd started making better money, but she'd refused. Even though she could probably afford one of the fancy lawyers that always wore power suits and barely smiled, she and Bonnie had clicked. She trusted her to look out for her when she could barely understand the jargon in the many, many pages of her contract. So she could worry about negotiating things she understood, like touring and how many songs she'd have to produce, and know that she'd be getting paid fairly.
"Alright" Emma said. "I'll be honest with you guys cause we've known each other for a few years now. No use beating around the bush, I don't want Santana touring for four months." She held up her hand when Jed went to speak. "Listen. She has four kids and has been out of the business for six years. It isn't a good idea to just throw her back in with no time to prepare. It's better to ease her back in. However, I also understand what you're saying. We want her back with a bang. So, how do we compromise?"
Greyson raised his hand.
"Yes Greyson?" Fatma laughed.
"Well, I know I'm just supposed to create a media plan based on what you guys decide, but if I may?"
"Go for it"
"Okay. We want people anticipating the album right? The best way to do that may be to dangle Santana in front of them and then give them the album."
"What do you mean?" Jed asked.
"Instead of having her tour for so long, allowing as many people to see her as possible, we should make it hard for people to see her, and then put out the album as a consolation prize for the many that don't make it."
"Go on" Emma said.
"Right now, people are starved of Santana. Like you said, six years is a long time. Even hard core fans have probably aren't playing her songs on repeat anymore. So hearing that she's back is going to drive people crazy. I propose, we do a few shows here and there. Not so widely advertised at first, so that it kind of builds. People aren't sure, is she back or not? Then we do three maybe four big shows, proving that yes, she is back, and this is your only chance to see her, cause you missed the first few shows. People scramble to buy tickets, but it's only a few thousand, so tickets sell out. People will be heartbroken. They missed seeing the Santana Lopez back after six years and who knows when she'll be back again. A few weeks after the last concert, we announce her album."
The room was silent as everyone thought Greyson's plan over. Santana could tell that Fatma and Jed weren't happy with not being able to milk her return for as much as possible, but it was a solid compromise, she had to admit.
"I like it" she decided to say. Greyson smiled gratefully at her.
Fatma and Jed whispered to each other for a solid minute before they looked back at the group.
"We can work with that then"
Bonnie immediately started scribbling in her notebook.
"But then Post album touring will have to be longer." Fatma said.
Emma frowned, but Santana held up a hand to calm her.
"That's fine." She said. "By that time I should be back in the swing of things."
"Good." Fatma smiled.
"Then I guess the next thing to discuss is…" Emma looked down at her notebook, checking her notes for what was next on the agenda.
"Dates." Eve said.
"Yes, thank you. What dates are we looking at?"
"We want the album out in 6 months." Jed said. "That's a reasonable amount of time seeing as that's how long it took to write and record the first one."
"Those songs were written for me." Santana objected.
"We can arrange that if necessary." Fatma said
"Let's not forget that one of the non-negotiable terms of the contract is complete creative licence for Santana." Bonnie said immediately, looking up from her notepad.
Fatma sighed in frustration.
"Santana can write her own songs, we're not saying she can't." Jed said, his hands up to pacify a frowning Bonnie. "In fact we'd prefer it."
"But we aren't willing to push the album release date. We need it out by April 1st."
Santana rested her head on the back of Jesus', screwing her eyes shut and clenching her jaw to keep from groaning. Six months to write, record and produce her come-back album. The second most important album of her career, and she was being rushed.
She lifted her head.
"Guys, I get that you want to start making money as soon as possible, but six months is not reasonable."
"Let's try and remember that if this album flops, that could be it for Santana" Emma said. "Don't we want to let her make it as perfect as possible?"
"The last time we did that, she took a year and two months to release the album." Jed said.
"Did it sell?" Emma shot back.
"That's not-"
"Were all 12 of the songs top 100 for five months?"
"Emma that's not-"
"Three of her songs stayed in top ten for three months. And one topped the charts for nearly 4. The album went diamond for heaven's sake."
"EMMA" Fatma snapped. "The only reason we allowed that-"
"And that it worked" Jed cut in.
"Yes" Fatma nodded. "Is because Santana was still active at that time. Interviews, concerts and so on. She was prominent enough that people would gladly wait a year for the album. The nature of the album as well, being dedicated to Brittany, helped to ensure that people would buy the album in millions. She was at the peak of her popularity, and it was released amidst rumours that she was retiring."
"And you don't think her comeback album will carry the same weight?" Emma asked.
"No" Jed said. "Sorry Santana, but no. Six years is-"
"Is a long time yeah. I know" Santana rolled her eyes.
"We can't make the fans wait for this one. They'll lose interest."
Emma looked at Santana, arching an eyebrow. Santana sighed. She knew Emma would do whatever she asked her to, which meant they could be fighting with the label for another month, arguing over the dates. She didn't want that. She was itching to get back into the studio. So she shook her head.
"Fine" Emma said. "Six months."
While Bonnie scribbled quickly on her notepad, Jed made a tick on his copy of the contract.
"Tour dates?" He asked, looking up. They all looked at Greyson.
"If the album is coming out in April, then we better give it about three months from the last concert. So let's do, seven concerts in total. You'll do four in the states, two in Europe and one in South America."
"What about Asia and Africa?" Santana asked.
Greyson shifted, glancing at Fatma and Jed.
"Well, your fan base isn't that large over there, even in terms of album sales. It's better to target where your fans will show up in large numbers. The places that will cause the biggest fuss."
Santana licked her lips. She really hated doing international tours that excluded whole continents but arguing the point would only mean more stops on the tour, and she wasn't up for it just yet.
"Okay."
"Dates…." Greyson pulled out his phone, looking something over as they all watched him before standing up. He walked to the whiteboard at the opposite end of Santana's office and uncapped one of the markers resting on it. "So if we're working backwards…"
He proceeded to write out the months backwards from April to October with all the dates under each month.
"Alright. I'm going to assume that these next few months are going to be too busy, since you'll be writing the songs. So let's cancel out October to December." He looked at Santana for confirmation and she nodded, though hesitantly. "That means January and maybe a week or two in February."
"God" Santana breathed. She tried to imagine what Jade would say if she saw this schedule. They'd be working non-stop for the next three months it seemed.
"To do seven concerts?" Emma asked, once again looking at Santana. Santana shrugged.
"Yes." Greyson said. "So we can do one a week."
"That's not too bad." Eve said quietly to Santana. Santana shrugged again.
"Alright, that sounds good." Fatma said, nodding at the board. "Let's talk locations."
"I think you should do your first concert in Brazil." Greyson said. Santana raised her eyebrows. "Just….you know your connections there…." Santana frowned as Greyson's eyes flitted to Jesus.
"Careful" she heard Emma mutter to him.
"I just mean that no one will think much of you traveling there. You can announce you're holding the concert once you've already landed, make it seem like a spur of the moment thing. The people there are some of your hardest fans so we know that they'll show up to a last minute type show, guaranteeing it won't be a flop, and they'll generate the conversation we want to kick start the other tours."
Santana remained silent. Greyson wasn't wrong, but she didn't like that it was probably Jesus' presence that had given him the idea. It made her feel like she was commercialising his adoption.
"That's a good idea." Jed said, nodding.
"Second?"
"Second, third, and fourth should be in America." Greyson said turning back to the board. "Then two in Europe, and the final big one in LA."
"Europe?" Emma asked.
"London and Manchester." Santana said. Everyone nodded. Greyson added it to the board.
"America?" Fatma asked.
"Chicago" Emma said.
"Philadelphia?" Jed suggested.
"New York" Santana said. "Nashville" She snapped her fingers.
"Oh Nashville is good." Greyson said, nodding excitedly.
"Vegas?" Jed asked.
"Hold on, those are more locations than we have concerts."
"Okay." Santana said. "Let's do Vegas, Nashville….Pittsburgh"
"Pittsburgh!" Greyson clapped before rushing to write it down. "Yes Pittsburgh."
"And then the one in LA."
"LA or San Diego?" He asked. Santana screwed up her mouth.
"Either is good."
"I think let's go with San Diego."
"Okay" Santana shrugged.
Greyson stepped back to survey the board, nodded and turned to the group.
"All in agreement?"
Everyone nodded.
"Anything else?" Emma asked, looking at Jed. He and Fatma flipped through their notebooks.
"No, I think those were the last things we needed to discuss. Everything else was finalised in the last meeting."
"Alright, then I think we're done here."
"I'll have this typed up and sent to you by tomorrow." Bonnie said, standing up and shaking Fatma and Jed's hands.
"That'll be great. Then we'll look it over. If everything is in order we'll set up another meeting to sign."
Fatma moved to shake Santana's hand.
"Stand up amor" When Jesus was off her lap she stood up and shook Fatma's hand, then Jed's.
"Thanks for coming down here."
"Not a problem. We're excited for what you're going to give us."
"I'm excited too."
"Great. Then let's give them something to rave about huh?" Fatma smiled.
"Right."
"We'll see you hopefully in a few days to get that contract signed." Jed said, waving at the group as he walked out.
"I'll walk you out" Emma said.
Santana sat back down.
"I guess I'll go work on the media plan" Greyson said.
"Yeah. Hey thanks for chiming in earlier. You really saved me."
"You're welcome" Greyson laughed. "But in all honesty I wasn't trying to, I genuinely think this is a better strategy than giving the fans exactly what they want."
"Well thanks anyway."
Greyson picked a backpack from behind the chair he'd been sitting at and slung it over his shoulder.
"See you guys around" He waved at Eve and Bonnie.
Santana tuned her chair to face Bonnie.
"Does it look good to you?"
"Everything looks good." Bonnie nodded. "They've given you practically everything you asked for. Most importantly you'll own the rights to your songs, I think that was what you were most worried about."
"Yeah."
"Yeah, so what we agreed to was a fifteen months turnover period. They'll own the rights for fifteen months after the release, after that the rights lapse and fall back to the writer and performer, which is you. I think that was why they were trying to suggest you get a writer or co-writer, as a loophole in the contract."
"But you shut that down." Santana smirked.
"I saw them a mile away."
Santana stood up and pulled Bonnie into a hug.
"Thank you so much."
"You're welcome Santana."
When she left and Eve excused herself to go find Emma, Santana pulled Jesus back onto her lap, resting her chin on his shoulder and looking at the game he was playing on her phone.
"Mami?"
"Si amor?"
"Por favor, no me dejes cuando te vayas."
"What?" Santana craned her neck to see Jesus' face. "When I go where?"
"On tour."
"Oh…Amor you know you have school-"
"Please mami." He begged, dropping her phone and turning to look at her. "Don't leave me. I want to come with you. I'll even do homework on the plane or backstage, whatever you say. Please!"
Santana took a deep breath.
"We'll see okay? I'll talk about it with mama and we'll see."
Jesus pouted but nodded.
"Okay. Tell her I promise to be good."
"Okay" Santana kissed his cheek. "I'll tell her."
They left half an hour later and headed straight home. Usually they would have stayed a while to let Jesus sit in on a recording or jam session with Jade and the rest of the band, but Sean had called asking if he and Mercedes could come over for dinner so they needed to be home early.
Brittany hadn't gotten home with the other kids yet, so Santana let Jesus help her pick what to make for dinner, and then they made a quick dash out to the store.
She only needed to some honey and spices, but they ended up picking a cart and walking leisurely down the aisles.
"Qué hora es"
Jesus looked at his watch.
"4:14"
"Mmmh" Santana bent and picked a pack of twizzlers. "Don't tell mama." She said as she opened the pack and handed him one.
Jesus grinned, taking it and nodding.
"Can we get some jelly beans too?"
"I don't think that's a good idea papi."
"Just this pack." He took the smallest pack of jelly beans off the rack and held them up to her.
Santana chewed on the end of her twizzler and narrowed her eyes.
"If you promise to go to bed on time. You still have school tomorrow."
"Promise" Jesus said, pulling open the pack and holding them up for her to take some. She shook her head.
"Maybe later."
When they got to the part of the store that sold clothes, they spent a couple of minutes looking through them to see if they liked anything.
Jesus held up a large black shirt with the halo title printed on top of some machine outfit she assumed was one of the characters in the game.
"Oh that looks nice papi!"
"Can I get it?"
"Sure" she nodded. Jesus threw it in the cart.
"Oh look at this. You should get this" Jesus ran from the cart to another aisle and took off a red sweatshirt with love printed on the back in large white letters.
"Why?"
"Because then I can get this." He ran back to the kids' section and brought back a white sweatshirt with love printed in red letters.
"I love it" Santana grinned.
"You know what I was thinking about?" Jesus asked as they continued to look through the clothes.
"What?" Santana handed him another twizzler as she stuck one between her teeth.
"Daffy duck never wears pants right?"
"Right"
"But when he comes out of the shower, he wraps a towel round his waist."
Santana bit off a piece of the candy, frowning.
"That's true."
"So is it like, usually he has enough fur to cover himself up, but when he's wet the fur is lying flat or becomes really thin like mama's when she wets it, so if he didn't have a towel we'd be able to see his peepee."
Santana nearly chocked on the piece of twizzler in her mouth as she laughed.
"Oh my god" she giggled. "Jesus!"
"What?" Jesus laughed. "That's what he's hiding right?"
"I mean yeah"
"So that makes sense right? His hair is thin when it's wet so he has to cover it up."
"Oh my god. But what if there was a really strong wind that blew his hair up? Hair?" Santana frowned. "Feathers right?"
"Or if the wind was so strong it pulled them off!" Jesus laughed
"Looney toons would be in big trouble."
"Somebody would be going to jail" Jesus nodded. "Maybe that's why Elmer was always trying to hunt him."
"Conspiracy unlocked" Santana chuckled. "Oh let's get these." She pulled two snap back hats off a rack, one white and one red. "We can wear them with our new sweatshirts."
"You take the white one then." Jesus said, taking the red one from her.
"Who is still wearing leopard print?" Santana said under her breath, grimacing at a leopard print sweater on the rack beside her.
"That lady" Jesus pointed at a woman a few aisles from them, who had leopard print shoes.
"Mh-mh" Santana shook her head. "Sorry but leopard print went out of style in 2010."
"Mami" Jesus turned to her with an identical grimace. "Even then it looked bad."
Santana laughed. "I hope it doesn't make a comeback."
"That woman would disagree with you."
"Come on" Santana chuckled, refraining from commenting any further as she became aware that she was teaching her son to judge people. She rested her hand on the back of his neck and guided him in the opposite direction. "We came here with a purpose."
"Oh right"
"Hand me a jelly bean."
"This cheese is the stinkiest."
"No, this one" Santana held up the one she was holding to his nose.
"Oh gross!" He jumped back, wiping his nose.
"Told you" Santana laughed.
"But smell this one. It smells like a butt."
Santana bent down gingerly, barely sniffing the cheese before she was standing up straight and shaking her head.
"Whose butt have you been smelling?"
"What?" Jesus yelled. "No ones!"
"You have to have been smelling someone's butt, that's how you know what butts smell like."
"No I haven't been smelling anyone's butt."
"Is it Kyler's? I knew twins were close but that's just weird man."
"No it was one time when you went to bathroom. It was so stinky we could smell it all over the house."
Santana's mouth dropped open as Jesus laughed madly. She took a step towards him, dropping her cheese but he was too fast, dodging her hand and then taking off down the aisle.
"I'm going to get you for that!" she yelled, abandoning their cart and chasing after him.
She caught up with him in the toiletries aisle when her phone rang. She narrowed her eyes, pointing at him as she answered.
"Hello?"
"Babe are you still at work?"
"No, at Walmart on highweld why?"
"Well Mercedes has been here-"
"CRAP" Santana swore loudly. "Crap. Papi ven aquí. Sorry love I forgot. We're on the way."
Brittany giggled. "No worries. See you soon."
Jesus walked up to Santana hesitantly, anticipating a sneak attack.
"We gotta go home. Mercedes is coming over remember?"
"Oh yeah. We're super late for dinner."
"Yeah so let's go."
They ran to the dairy aisle where they'd left their cart.
"So you decided to show up." Mercedes yelled from the living room as Santana and Jesus carried their grocery bags to the kitchen.
"Hi Mercedes!" Jesus yelled back. He quickly dropped the bag he was carrying on the kitchen island and ran to Mercedes, jumping over the couch rather than going down the stairs. Mercedes just managed to stand up before he was crashing into her.
"Jesus I missed you kid." She hugged him tighter to her before letting him go. "How've you been?"
"Good."
"Guess what?" Mercedes bent down to whisper.
"What?" Jesus asked already grinning. "Did you bring-"
"I BROUGHT BABY NATHAN!"
"YOU BROUGHT BABY NATHAN?!" Jesus screamed, jumping in excitement. "Where is he?"
"He's in your games room with his daddy and your brothers and sister."
"Sean is here too? Mami can I go say hi to baby Nathan and Sean for a bit before we cook dinner?"
"I gotta get started on chicken papi, but you go say hi and you can join me when you're done."
Jesus bit his lip, taking a hesitant step towards the stairs before turning back to Santana.
"But ma I wanted to marinate the chicken."
"Alright come here quickly let's do it."
Jesus scrambled back over the couch, once again foregoing the stairs. "Hi mama" he said, noticing Britany sitting on the couch he was climbing over.
"Hi bud" She laughed.
He quickly washed his hands and then took the chicken Santana was holding and began separating the pieces which he then put into a large bowl.
"Cedes you're either gonna have to give me a few minutes or come join me in the kitchen."
"Urgh" Mercedes pretended to groan loudly before standing up and walking to the kitchen.
"Beebee you better be behind her."
"What if I wanted to stay here?"
"You don't get a choice. I need my kiss."
Brittany mimicked Mercedes' groan before joining them. She kissed Santana first on the cheek then on the lips.
"Hi baby."
Santana smiled. "Hi. Amor, do you remember the spices? Jesus nodded. "Go for it then."
As Jesus took out the spices he'd need and the brush for the oil, Santana got rice from the pantry and using a measuring cup poured some into a bowl.
"How was your flight?"
"How was my flight?" Mercedes scoffed. "Girl nobody cares about how my flight went. I went on a plane and then I got off and now here I am."
"Okay damn" Santana laughed.
"How did it go with the label?"
"Oh I see."
"Well?" Brittany asked. "Did you finally sign it?"
"No" Santana said, not looking at either of them.
"Oh no, why not?"
"Are they still being stingy with the rights?"
"Maybe it's time to find another label or something." Brittany said. "I mean I know that would be really difficult, considering you work there as well, but I mean if they don't want to treat you right as a performer then they can't blame you for signing with someone who will. We might have to move to LA but we could make it work."
"I'd be happy to help" Mercedes nodded.
"No calm down Britt. No need to start looking for a new label. We sorted everything out in today's meeting. Bonnie's just gonna type everything up so it's official. We should be signing in a few days."
"YES!" Brittany cheered, jumping up and running round the counter to hug Santana.
"Finally. I was beginning to worry that you'd never sign that damn contract. I honestly thought you were gonna keep coming up with reasons not to."
"Excuse you? Coming up with reasons?"
"I'm just saying" Mercedes shrugged. "It kinda sounded like you didn't really wanna go back."
"Mami wants to go back. She just doesn't want to leave us."
"Right" Santana nodded. "Why would I wanna leave my best friends?"
Jesus had finished kneading the spices and oil into the chicken and was now laying them out on the cooking tray that was going to go in the oven.
"Totally" he said. "Which is why you have to ask mama if I can come with you."
"Where?" Brittany asked.
"We'll talk about it later." Santana said, shaking her head. "Anyway yes, we're finally about to sign. It's going to be a really intense come back, I'll tell you that."
"Why?" Mercedes asked.
"Well, I have six months to write, record and produce the entire album, one and a half of which is going to be spent touring." Mercedes whistled. "Not to mention the interviews I'm going to be saddled with once the album is announced."
"Yeah no kidding. Nice way to welcome you back" Mercedes laughed.
"Right? I would be more annoyed but I'm literally just excited to get back into it."
"Do you have any ideas?" Brittany asked.
"Tons. Like I don't even know where I'm going to start. Writing the songs isn't going to be a challenge, hopefully, cause I know once I get in the studio it's all going to come pouring out of me. So I'm pretty confident we're going to make the deadline."
"Nice" Brittany nodded.
"Done mami."
"Good. Go wash up and then you can go to baby Nathan."
"Wash up good alright? You've been touching raw chicken."
"Don't worry mama."
Santana poured out the dirty water that the rice was in and filled it up again for the second wash. This time she ran her hands through it.
"What are you doing here anyway Mercedes?"
"Well I have a lot of time off work, but since we're only on week five of the season, Sean's going to be traveling all over for games. So I thought I'd come spend some time with my gal pals."
"You just don't want to be alone with your baby" Santana laughed.
"Oh come on Santana, it'll be fun." Brittany said, throwing Santana a look telling her to be nice. "Oh my gosh I'm so excited. So many babies" she squealed.
Mercedes frowned.
"Which other baby is there?"
"Well there isn't one yet, but in like 5 months-"
"Britt!"
"-Quinn's…."
Santana shut her eyes as Brittany trailed off. She'd been a split second too late to stop Brittany's words, and from the wideness of Mercedes' eyes, she knew there was no getting out of it.
"Shit" she breathed.
"Quinn's what?" Mercedes asked, gripping Brittany's arm.
"Um…" Brittany looked at Santana, pleading for help.
"Shit" Santana repeated. "Look Mercedes you can't tell anyone okay? She doesn't want to tell anyone yet."
"Quinn's having a baby?" Mercedes shrieked.
"Mercedes please" Brittany begged. "You're not supposed to know. So you have to act like you don't know anything. She'll be so mad."
"It'll be fine" Santana said. "Because Mercedes is going to keep her mouth shut." Mercedes nodded. "Good."
"So Quinn's having a baby?"
Brittany sighed. "Yeah. She's like…three months now?"
"Yeah and a little" Santana drained the rice and then filled a pot with the water from the kettle.
"That's awesome!" Mercedes said happily. "Oh my god why do I want to move to San Jose so our babies can grow up besties."
"Nathan will be 3 by the time Quinn's baby is born" Santana rolled her eyes and turned round to get salt from the cabinet. "Not that it's impossible, but if he's anything like Mateo their being besties may be a bit of a stretch."
Brittany screamed.
"What?" Santana spun around, spilling the salt all over the floor.
"Oh my god!" Brittany continued to scream. She launched out of her chair and hugged Mercedes.
"Britt what the hell is going on?"
"Tell her."
Mercedes pulled out of Brittany's arms and turned to Santana grinning.
"I'm pregnant."
Santana froze.
"You're…."
"Pregnant" Mercedes laughed.
"You're pregnant?" Santana asked, placing the salt on the counter and gripping it.
Mercedes frowned slightly, glancing at Brittany.
"Don't worry, it's not yours."
Santana's eyes flicked to Brittany before returning to Mercedes.
"You don't look pregnant."
"Santana!" Brittany snapped. Santana jumped, blinking.
Mercedes' smile dropped, replaced by a shocked frown.
"Well I am."
"Uh…congratulations." Santana said, wiping her hands on her shirt. "I'm just gonna…um…" She looked down at herself. "Change…" she mumbled, before walking out of the kitchen.
"What's wrong with her?"
Brittany shook her head.
"Doesn't matter. Mercedes I'm so happy for you. Aww…more babies I love it. How far along are you?"
"Four months."
"Oh my god." Brittany hugged her again, making Mercedes chuckle.
"Thanks Britt. So that's why I decided to come stay for a few months while Sean's off at games. He didn't want me to be alone and I don't want to spend my whole pregnancy with my parents."
"That's fair." Brittany laughed. "Oh I'm so happy. This is going to be great. Stay as long as you need, we're happy to have you."
Mercedes' smile faded as she looked in the direction Santana had left in.
"Santana doesn't seem happy."
"Forget about Santana. If she's not happy about it she can stay at a hotel."
Mercedes' mouth dropped open.
"What? Brittany I've never heard you say anything like that."
"Well….okay maybe I wouldn't kick her out, but she's going to be busy at the studio anyway. So her opinion doesn't matter."
"Do you think she's actually upset?"
"Why would she be upset that you're pregnant? That's good news."
Mercedes shrugged. "I've never been able to understand Santana's moods."
"Well whatever it is, she hasn't told me. It's probably nothing to do with you though."
"Kinda seems like it is."
"It's not. But whatever, I don't wanna talk about her right now. I want to hear your baby names. Also, would you like a baby shower?"
"People don't usually throw baby showers for the second kid Brittany." Mercedes smiled.
"I don't care. This baby is gonna be just as awesome as Nathan."
"I hope it's a girl" Mercedes said, rubbing her stomach. "I love Nathan, but I don't want to be a boy mum. Sean can have his son and I can have my little princess."
"Just your luck she'll be a daddy's girl."
"Oh god" Mercedes laughed. "Don't say that, she'll hear you."
"Does she have ears?" Brittany asked curiously.
"No" Mercedes shook her head. "She will in two weeks though."
"That's so cool."
"I know." Mercedes rubbed her belly again. "The doctor said that by 27 weeks she'll be able to turn her head in response to noises she hears outside the womb."
"Are you going to play her music?"
"You know it" Mercedes smirked.
"Is Nathan excited?"
"He doesn't really know what going on. He kind of understands that there's a baby in my tummy, but I think he'll really start to care when my stomach grows."
Brittany nodded.
"What about Sean?"
"He was so excited. He was talking about taking some time off, but I made him stay with the team. It's his first year as offensive assistant coach and I don't want anything messing with that."
"Yeah. I mean the season will be done before you're nine months so, he shouldn't worry. Besides you have us to take care of you."
Santana grabbed her bag from the table in the foyer and ran up the stairs to her room. She fished her phone out of her bag and then went to the bathroom, locking herself inside.
"Pick up, pick up" She mumbled, staring down at her ringing phone. As soon as she saw the call was answered she lifted it to her ear.
"What it is Lopierce?"
"Noah, I need you to call Brittany with an emergency."
"What?"
"I need you to call Brittany and tell her you have an emergency and you need me ASAP."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I need to get out of the house."
"And you can't just leave because?"
"Because Mercedes is over, and Brittany will ask all these questions."
There was a moment of silence.
"I'm confused."
"Fuck it's not that hard to understand. Just call Brittany and tell her you need me urgently JESUS"
"Okay…Calm down."
"Are you going to call her or not?"
Puck sighed.
"Fine. Give me a few minutes."
"Okay. Thank you. Don't tell her you've talked to me."
"Obviously. I know how this shit works Santana. How do you think I get out of most of my dates?"
"Right. Okay."
When she hung up she sat on the edge of the bathtub, fighting the urge to bite her nails as she waited.
"Come on, how long does it take to make a fucking phone call?"
She was nearly in a frenzy by the time she heard Brittany walking into their room. She jumped up and unlocked the door just as Brittany turned the handle.
"Oh!" Brittany jumped back. "Hi. Are you okay?"
"Yeah" Santana nodded, avoiding Brittany's eyes. "I um…" She swallowed. "I don't know…Sorry about…yeah."
Brittany cocked her head, looking at Santana intently.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Santana shook her head. "Um…is everything okay?"
"Yeah" Brittany lifted her phone. "Noah just called. He said he has an emergency at his place and needs you there."
"Now?" Santana pretended to be annoyed.
"Yeah" Brittany nodded. "He said it was urgent."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. He never said."
Santana groaned. "Fine. I guess I'll go see."
"Do you want me to finish dinner?"
"Jesus can finish it. He knows what to do"
"Okay." Brittany gently poked Santana's shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Santana swallowed again, this time lifting her eyes to Brittany's. Seeing the look in Brittany's eyes, she knew there was no use continuing to lie. That look had been disarming her since she was a teenager.
"I…I have to tell you something."
Brittany raised an eyebrow, silently waiting for her to speak.
"I told Noah to call with an emergency."
Brittany bit her bottom lip to stop her growing smile. She slipped her hand into the waistband of Santana's pants and pulled her closer. Santana was still confused when Brittany connected their lips, taking Santana's top lip into her mouth.
"You had me worried for a moment." Brittany whispered.
"What?"
"Acting the way you did downstairs and then orchestrating this whole…secret escape."
"You knew I was behind it."
"Well yeah. You're not very good at keeping things from me babe."
Santana looked down at where Brittany's hand was still in her pants, pressed against her lower stomach.
"Yeah…."
"Why'd you tell me?"
"I don't like lying to you."
Brittany smiled again. She traced her thumb over the warm skin of Santana's stomach and dipped her head to catch Santana's eyes.
"I love you, you know."
"I know."
"Get out of here."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You need to go, I don't know why but I know that if you need to it's for a good reason. Jesus and I have dinner."
"What about Mercedes?"
"You didn't care about that five minutes ago…."
"Well….it's different now."
Brittany kissed her again.
"Go. It'll be fine."
Santana had been sitting on Puck's couch for twenty minutes, a beer in one hand and the other clutching her head as she stared at the floor.
"You can't do this" Puck said angrily. Santana didn't reply. "I had shit to do you know? I could be hooking up with…I could be hooking up. You can't just take over my evening and then not do or say anything. I'm not one of your girlfriends."
Santana continued to stare at the floor, unblinking.
Sighing angrily, Puck stood up and snatched Santana's beer out of her hand.
"What the hell?" Santana said, looking up for the first time.
"You're going to start talking or I'm kicking you out."
"I just want to sit here and have a beer."
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
"Fuck that."
Santana tried to get her beer back but Puck held it out of reach.
"Grow up."
"I am. I'm a grown up man with a life and plans with girls that don't include lesbians or married ones. So spit it out so I can go get laid. What is wrong?"
"Nothing. It's stupid."
"What is?"
Santana sighed, dropping her head into both hands.
"I think Brittany wants to have another baby."
Puck's eyes widened.
"Woah."
"Yeah." Santana grabbed her beer back and drained it.
"Well….Congratulations?" Santana shook her head slowly. "Not congratulations?"
"I don't want another kid Noah."
"Shit."
Santana stood up.
"We have four. Do you know how many kids that is?"
"Four…"
"I'm just going back to work, and my schedule for the next year is going to be packed, unpredictable and intense. I can't take time off, and even if I could I don't want to. It's been five and a half years since I was in the recording booth or on stage feeling that rush of performing. I'm about to get that back and I don't want to be worrying about how my career is affecting my baby. I don't want to be stressing about how they might be crying for me, or refusing to sleep cause I'm not there while I'm in the studio. I'm already dealing with that with Mateo. And okay maybe Brittany can take time off but she shouldn't. Dancing is kinda like sports. There's a ticking clock on her career and Brittany's not getting any younger. She has to make the most out of the next few years."
"I mean I hear you." Puck nodded. "But if she wants another kid then taking time off is her decision isn't it? I mean you took time off your career."
"It's not the same thing." Santana snapped. "I can sing for decades. Brittany's body won't be able to keep up in a few years."
Puck chuckled into his beer as he took a sip. "Don't let her hear you say that."
"It doesn't matter anyway. I can't let her do it alone. Four kids and a baby? Do you remember the chaos that was the addition of Niki and Soph? I felt like I was living in a mad house. Like I was failing at all sections of my life. I was struggling at home, I was miserable at work and I was exhausted. The kids were acting out and Brittany and I were drowning. Between football, swimming, music lessons and trips to art museums, plus the Tae Kwando Mateo is supposed to start next week, I mean how can she possibly think we can handle another child? A BABY?"
"What did you say when she told you?"
Santana paused mid step, biting her bottom lip.
"She hasn't told me yet."
Puck frowned.
"Then how do you know she wants another kid?"
"I can see the signs."
"What?" Puck laughed. "Are you serious right now?"
"I know my wife. I've been able to read her since sophomore year."
"Okay that's not a lie. But this is something pretty big to just leave up to assumption."
"It's not assumption. I can see it in her eyes. She gave me this look when Mike talked about Lizzy wanting another kid, and then when Quinn-" Santana stopped short, exhaling sharply and running a hand through her hair. "She keeps giving me this look. I know what she's thinking."
"Okay" Puck held up his hand. "Why don't you just talk to her about it?"
"And say what?" Santana scoffed. "Honey, I don't want to have any more kids with you?"
"Well not like that. That sounds bad."
"It'll sound bad however I put it. You can't just tell a woman who wants to have kids that you don't want to. It'll…oh god" Santana turned to Puck, her hands shaking and eyes wide. "What if she wants to actually have a baby?"
"Wha-"
"OH MY GOD Brittany wants to have a baby." Santana started pacing. "I can't have a baby Puck. I've never wanted to be pregnant. I watched that shit happen to Quinn and I want nothing to do with that. And if she wants a baby then it'll have to be me, cause she's a dancer. She can't put her body through that. Fuck." Santana kicked the air. "I love my body Noah. I don't want to get fat and start eating all this weird shit like sand and pickles. I fucking hate pickles and if I start craving them I'll be like….trapped in a nightmare. None of my clothes will fit, and stretch marks….they don't go away. Do you know that some women never get their bodies back once they give birth? Quinn was lucky cause she was a teenager but I'm in my thirties now. Shit…I don't want a baby messing up my vagina, but Brittany…." Santana was breathing hard. "Brittany is so sexy. She's so sexy and hot and I really love her vagina the way it is. I don't want her to be pregnant either. And I know there's a c-section but that's a whole ass surgery and it leaves a scar and Brittany's a dancer so she needs to not be in pain for months and I…..I don't want to have surgery so it'll have to be the natural rip the vagina open way. I don't want to be pregnant Puck. FUCK. Why does she want this, she never used to want this. Oh god, that's why she looked at me like that after Mike said they make beautiful babies. She wants my beautiful babies. Oh my god. We both always said we never wanted to be pregnant. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"
Puck stood up, grabbing Santana's shoulders and forcing her to look at him.
"Calm down." He said evenly. "First of all, stop saying vagina, you're giving me gross images. Second, neither of you are pregnant so stop freaking out about it. Just take a breath and stop crying. You know I don't know how to handle women who are crying."
Santana wiped her cheeks, surprised to find them wet.
"Look, Brittany's a reasonable woman, and on top of that, she knows you. She's known you better than you know yourself since the day she met you."
Santana nodded, taking deep breaths to stop her panic attack.
"If she's thinking about having another kid, and this is an if because you don't even know for sure that any of this is in her head, there's a reason she hasn't brought it up. She knows you don't want to be pregnant and she probably knows you don't want to have another kid."
"Yeah…"
"So stop being crazy and losing your shit over an imaginary scenario. I swear you chicks are crazy. She hasn't even said anything yet, you literally made all this shit up in your head."
"I don't want this messing with us. She might not tell me, but it'll eat at her until she starts resenting me."
"Well what are you gonna do?" Puck shrugged. "You're not gonna change your mind are you?"
Santana looked off to the side, feeling slightly ashamed to admit it.
"I'm done with raising babies Noah. I have my four perfect ones and I really, really don't want to go through it again."
Puck nodded, rubbing her shoulders sympathetically.
"Then like it or not, you're going to have to tell your wife that."
"Fuck." Santana pulled away from him, running her hand through her messed up hair yet again.
"Sooner rather than later, before she really gets into the idea."
Santana dropped heavily into the couch, looking up at Puck with tear filled eyes.
"How am I supposed to do that?"