It was funny to watch their kids try not to be irritated all day, as they unpacked and then re-packed their suitcases. Well, Mateo wasn't as good as the others in trying to hide it. He was in a bad mood all day, clinging onto Brittany and basically following her everywhere she went and whining about everything, but the other three tried to act like they were just curious where they were going, and why.
"Mama?" Kyler asked, walking into Brittany and Santana's room.
"Yeah bud?"
"How long are we staying….wherever we're going?"
Brittany and Santana looked at each other, both trying not to smile.
"Uh…" Brittany pretended to think. "I don't know….we might stay there a week, maybe less. You guys can decide."
"Less!" He said immediately.
Santana snorted.
"I think you'll want to decide when we get there bud." Brittany said, fighting a laugh.
"Nicholai and I are supposed to be having a sleepover. His dad set up a backyard obstacle course and a scavenger hunt."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah, so I need to be here, not…" Kyler paused, "wherever we're going."
Santana bit her lips, nodding.
"I hear you Ky." Brittany said.
"Where are we going?!"
"It's a surprise mijo." Santana said. "You'll just have to wait and see."
"But will we be back in time for me to go to Nicholai's?"
"If you decide you want to leave then yes." Brittany told him.
"Okay." He said, pepping up. "Then I'll go tell Nicholai I'll be there."
He ran out without waiting for their response.
As soon as he left Santana began to giggle.
"Right now we're the most annoying parents in the world, tomorrow morning we'll be the best." She said, picking the pile of shorts she'd just folded and arranging them in her suitcase.
"I cannot wait to see their reactions." Brittany said. "I think I'll take a few videos of how miserable they are right now and then their reaction at the airport for contrast."
"Oh are we telling them at the airport?" Santana asked.
"I mean how will we explain Nicholai and Ryan and Kaycee?"
Santana thought for a moment.
"Ryan and Kaycee could be easy, we could say you were working or something. But Nicholai is hard."
"Yeah."
"Mamaaaa." Mateo came in crying.
"What's wrong?" Brittany asked him, crouching over.
"Jesús kicked me."
"Kicked you?" Santana asked, walking towards him. "On purpose?"
Mateo nodded, sniffing.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Come here, let's go deal with him." Santana took his hand and led him out of the room.
Jesús was slumped on the living room couch, a bag of chips in his lap as he watched tv.
"Jesús."
"Yeah."
"Look at me." Santana said sternly. He must have recognised the serious tone of her voice because he snapped up, turning his body fully to look at her.
"Yes mami?"
"Did you kick Niki?"
Jesús frowned. "Um…yeah I guess."
"You guess?"
"We were playing." He shrugged.
"And then you kicked me really hard."
"I didn't kick you that hard." Jesús defended.
"Why did you kick him at all?"
"Because he said he wanted to practice Tae Kwondo."
Santana fought a frustrated sigh as she looked down at Mateo.
"You asked him to fight with you?"
"Yeah."
"Were you also kicking him?"
Mateo remained silent. Shaking her head, Santana asked Jesús instead.
"Was he also kicking you?"
"Yeah." Jesús said. "He even kicked me in face. I didn't go crying to mums when you did that did I Niki? But you probably wouldn't even get in trouble if I had. It's so unfair." He rolled his eyes.
Santana clenched her jaw. "Niki," She started, squatting down till she was eye level. "Amor you're not a baby anymore okay? Mama and I are always telling you not to play rough, but if you don't listen to us and do it anyway you can't come to us, trying to get your brothers in trouble."
"But he kicked me really hard."
"I didn't! You're lying!"
"Jesús, let me handle this please."
Nodding, Jesús turned back to the tv.
"Come with me." She said to Mateo, before walking into the kitchen. She lifted him into one of the island chairs. "Where did he kick you?"
He pointed at his stomach. Santana lifted his shirt, inspecting it to make sure there was no bruise. She pressed gently on it, watching Mateo's face to see if he cringed. He didn't.
"You're okay amor. Maybe he did kick you hard, but he didn't meant to. You asked him to play with you and he did. You know he didn't meant to hurt you right?"
"Yeah…" Mateo said begrudgingly.
"So why do you want to get him in trouble?" Santana waited for an answer, which came several seconds later in the form of a shrug. "Next time you ask him to practice tae kwondo with you do you think he'll agree?"
Slowly, Mateo shook his head.
"Yeah…You wouldn't want to be friend with someone who was always telling on you to your teacher right?"
"Yeah that's like Simon. He's always telling Mrs. Knowell everything."
"Exactly. See baby the older you get, the more you're going to have to learn to sort things out with your siblings. Obviously if you're hurt you should tell mama and I, but if not, like if they just make you angry, talk to them."
"They don't listen to me." Mateo pouted.
"I'll talk to them okay? You know mama and I never let them be mean to you, but I really think you would get along better with them if you tried to work things out without getting them into trouble."
"Okay. I'll try."
"Great." Santana bent and kissed his head. Her instinct was to protect Mateo, he was her baby after all, but she was also very aware that treating him like her baby was a big part of the rift between him and the other kids. At some point, and she really thought the time was now, Mateo needed to learn how to deal with his siblings without her or Brittany interfering. It would build trust between them.
"Do you want an ice pop?"
"YEAH." Mateo squealed happily.
Santana happily got him one out of the freezer.
"Hey baby mama." Brittany said, dropping down next to Santana. Santana giggled, some of the coke she'd been sipping from a can dribbling from the corner of her mouth. She quickly wiped it off. "So hot." Brittany said in a low, seductive voice.
"Shut up." Santana said once she'd swallowed.
Brittany blew her a kiss.
"So," she said, "I just spoke with Jean. He said they'll be headed to the airport at nine."
"I was thinking we should head there at around that time too." Santana said. "Man I wish we got a better flight."
"We could have hired one." Brittany said, wiggling her eyebrows.
"We do not have the money to hire a plane right now B." Santana laughed. "Maybe after my tour."
"Aww…but you already toured."
"Those were small."
"Fine." Brittany sighed dramatically. "Since when did we become the kind of people who would rather pay school fees than hire a plane?"
"You mean responsible people?"
"Boring people more like."
As Santana laughed, Brittany laid herself out on the couch with her head in Santana's lap.
"What are you watching?"
"I don't know. I think it's a documentary."
"On….what?"
Santana looked back at the screen. Two large birds, the size of ostriches but done with CGI for some reason, were performing a weird dance around each other.
"Um….ostriches?"
"Mmmh….why do you think they never make documentaries about cats?"
"I'm sure they do." Santana began to gently run her fingers through Brittany's hair.
"Let's watch that then."
"Wait let me google it."
Sure enough, there was a cat documentary called 'science of cats' that Santana managed to find for them to watch. They actually ended up watching it all the way through, which just didn't feel right to Santana. An entire hour of listening to people talk about the mind and behaviour of cats was forty minutes too long. Santana felt like she needed to purge herself.
"Hey," She said, looking down at Brittany. Brittany tilted her head back to look at her.
"Hey."
"Wanna go on a date with me? We could go-"
"Yes." Brittany agreed eagerly, sitting up.
"You don't even know where I want to go."
"It doesn't matter. I'll go anywhere."
"Okay." Santana smiled, leaning down to kiss Brittany. "Let's get ready, go drop off our humans at Quinn's and then begin our date."
Quinn turned out not to be home, having gone to visit Theo's parents, so they ended up dropping their kids off with Puck, who was at Jade's house.
"Don't be gross with my kids around." Santana said, pointing at Puck.
"We've babysat them together before Santana." Puck said, rolling his eyes.
"While we were dating." Jade added.
"Urgh…right. I keep forgetting you guys lied to us for months."
"We didn't lie, we just didn't tell you."
"That's the same…" Santana's eyes flicked to Brittany, as she was reminded suddenly of the information she was currently 'not telling' Brittany. "Whatever just don't let them see you getting it on."
"I think we can manage to keep our hands off each other for a few hours." Jade laughed.
"It'll be hard. I might need a cold shower." Puck said, pulling Jade into him.
"Oh I might join you." Jade replied, before kissing Puck's neck.
"Stop! Stop!" Santana cried, flinging her hands over her eyes. "I do not need to witness the mating ritual of any more animals today."
Puck pulled away from Jade, frowning at Santana.
"When were you watching animal mating rituals?"
"It was some pre-historic ostrich documentary." Brittany answered. "Not anything weird."
"Right." Jade laughed. "Not anything weird."
"Whatever keeps your marriage spicy Lopierce." Puck shrugged.
"Fuck you, our marriage is so spicy it's not even on the heat scale."
"Hey I believe you." Jade said. "Just please don't say anything gross and graphic to prove it Brittany."
Santana and Brittany smirked at each other.
"Where are you guys off to anyway? Don't you have a flight today?"
"Yeah we do. It's at midnight."
"It's not at midnight Santana, it's at 11:30."
"Woah." Puck cringed. "I'm sorry for you."
"It's fine. It's the only one we could get today since we had to move our flight from last week."
"Oh how's your dad by the way Britt?" Jade asked.
"He's good. If you ask him he'll say he's as good as ever. Honestly I think it scared him too…he's obviously not back to his usual energy level, but I don't think he ever will be."
Pressing her lips together, Santana gently rubbed Brittany's back, knowing this was still something that made her emotional.
"But he's going to be okay," Puck said, "that's what you should focus on."
"Yeah." Brittany nodded, taking a deep breath.
"So where are you guys going?" Jade asked.
"Oh, remember our spicy marriage? Well one of the things we do to keep it spicy-"
"No! No! No!" This time it was Puck who flung his hands over his ears dramatically.
Santana burst out laughing.
"Wow you really have changed Noah." Brittany said, with a thoughtful tilt of her head. "A year ago you would have been foaming at the mouth for details."
Puck's nose scrunched up. "Not a year ago."
"Yes a year ago."
"Nooo"
"Yeah." Jade said, turning to look at him.
Santana nodded, her lips pursed.
"Why were you guys friends with me again?"
"We would ask ourselves that all the time." Santana said.
Puck slowly raised his middle finger and pointed it at her, making Santana laugh.
"Anyway it's not a gross thing. We're just going on a date."
"Ohh cute." Jade said. "What time will you be back?"
Brittany shrugged.
"Seven." Santana answered. "We need to get back in time to make sure the kids finish packing everything."
"So do we feed them dinner?" Puck asked.
"Yeah. Even though I'm sure they'll make us stop and get them something on the way." Brittany said.
"It's summer." Santana said. "No rules apply during summer."
"I wish you guys were my parents." Jade laughed.
There was suddenly loud yelling from inside Jade's apartment.
"Well, that's our queue." Santana said, taking Brittany's hand. "Have fun, tell them we love them and all that."
"See ya!" Brittany called as the sound of several things falling filled the apartment.
Brittany bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet as they walked out of Quinn's building to their car. Even once they were in and buckled she couldn't sit still.
"Britt just ask." Santana laughed.
"But I want it to be a surprise…."
"It doesn't need to be a surprise for it to be fun."
"But surprises are fun."
"Okay." Santana turned on the car, poking her head out of the window to check if there were any cars coming.
"But I want to know so badly."
Shifting gears, Santana began to reverse.
"Do you want me to tell you then?"
"Aaah I don't know!"
"Okay you know what? I'm gonna tell you."
"Wait why?" Brittany raised her hands halfway to her ears, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to block Santana out or not.
"Because I'm too excited to keep it to myself."
Brittany paused, a look of concentrations of her face. After a moment, she smiled and dropped her hands.
"I know you're just saying that but it does actually make the decision easier."
"You're welcome." Santana said, finally having maneuvered out of the parking and shifting to drive.
"Thank you. Now tell me!"
"Okay I've been thinking about this for a while. I heard about this place where you can take a mixology class."
"Mixology?" Brittany asked with a frown. "What's that?"
"Basically we learn how to be bartenders."
"Oh!" Brittany's eyes widened with excitement. "That sounds like so much fun. I always wanted you to be a bartender."
"What?" Santana asked, her nose scrunching as she stole a glance at Brittany. "Since when?"
"When we were in New York." Brittany shrugged.
"You never told me that."
Brittany shrugged again. "I mean I wanted you to follow your dreams and be successful in music more."
"But you fantasized about me being a bartender?"
"Yeah." Brittany nodded. "You'd be so hot. You could wear your hair down, curly, and have this like messy, I don't give an F, kind of mysterious look-" Santana snorted but Brittany ignored her, "or you could straighten it, and just go all out sexy, seductive bartender. Really work for the tips."
"Oh my god." Santana giggled under her breath.
"You'd have a nose ring, and a tattoo on the side of your neck. A small one, not like you were in a gang. Something in another language or a symbol no one understood. It's part of what makes you mysterious."
"Of course." Santana said, highly amused. "So you want me to get a tattoo?"
"No." Brittany frowned at her. "I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about bartender you."
"Oh…sorry?"
Santana wasn't sure what Brittany meant, but she was enjoying the conversation too much to get hung up on it. Instead she decided to just let Brittany have her fantasy.
"I'd pass by the club one day after work. I had wanted to go home but my friends talked me into going out, and we ended up at the same club where you'd be working. I'd walk up to the bar and you'd flip your hair…." Brittany paused, squinting her eyes, looking like she was trying to decide something, "curly hair," she said after a beat of silence. "I always like your hair curly." She smirked at Santana. Santana couldn't help but smile. "So you'd flip your hair over your shoulder, toss your chin at me and say 'what're you having?' and I'd sit on the barstool and shrug, and say something flirty like, 'I don't know. Surprise me?"
It was clear to Santana that she wasn't really supposed to participate in this conversation. Brittany was losing herself in this fantasy, a far off look in her eyes. So Santana stayed silent, glancing at Brittany as often as she could without driving the car off the the road.
"Then you'd smirk, look me over, trying to decide what kind of girl I am, and I'd just smile innocently, but like not really innocently, you know the one?"
Santana nodded. She knew Brittany's smiles well. There were genuinely innocent, happy smiled, then there was the one where she was intentionally trying to be innocent. It came off as more of a 'I'm hiding something from you' kind of smile.
"And we'd kind of stare at each other for way longer than normal, so everyone around us would know there was sexual tension, and then you'd say something really forward like-"
"Coming right up sexy." Santana said, without really thinking about it, intentionally making her voice huskier.
Brittany's head snapped towards her. She wasn't smiling as Santana had been expecting. Instead she had a deep, hungry look in her eyes that Santana knew very well.
"Britt?" She asked tentatively.
Suddenly, Brittany reached our and gripped Santana's chin, turning her face. Santana barely had time to react before Brittany was crashing their lips together.
Santana immediately pressed the breaks, bringing the car to a sudden halt. The car behind them honked loudly, swerving onto the lane beside them.
"What the hell?" Santana heard yelled as the car sped passed them. Yet Brittany didn't stop kissing her.
"Mmh." Santana tried to pull way, but Brittany followed her, her hand coming to the back of Santana's neck and pulling her back in. Santana actually felt herself begin to give in to the kiss, unable to fight the way her body reacted to Brittany.
Thankfully, another car honked loudly as it passed, snapping Santana out of it.
"Britt." She said into the kiss, gently pulling away again. "Brittany." Brittany let her go just far enough for them to look into each other's eyes. Santana was shocked by how wild Brittany's looked. "We're in the middle of the road babe."
"Pull over."
"What?"
"Pull the car over Santana."
Knowing from the way Brittany's eyes kept flicking to her lips, that she was seconds away from being pulled into another kiss, Santana decided to do as Brittany said and pulled into an empty parking lot. Brittany was on her as soon as the car had stopped. She was half kneeling in her seat so she could reach Santana better, her hands finding their way into Santana's shirt.
"Wait-wait." Santana tried to say into the kiss, even as she felt her own body temperature begin to rise. "B." She pressed her hand against Brittany's chest, momentarily distracted by how heavily Brittany was breathing. "We can't do this here."
"Why not?" Brittany was now speaking directly to Santana's lips.
Santana looked around. "Because we're in a public parking lot."
"It's empty." Brittany said, inching forward.
"For now. Anyone could…." She took a breath, trying to concentrate, "anyone could at any second-drive in at any second… time."
She knew she wasn't making any sense, but it didn't matter because Brittany was clearly not listening to her. Her hands, which were still in Santana's shirt, pressed upwards, round to her back, and with a quick motion undid Santana's bra.
"Brittany!" Santana exclaimed.
"Our windows are tinted." Brittany husked.
"What if someone recognizes us? We're famous. Our sex tape will be all over the internet."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Brittany whispered, her lips a breath away from Santana's neck.
Santana shut her eyes.
"I hated it the first time too." She struggled to say, fighting the urge to tangle her fingers in Brittany's hair.
"Santana…." Brittany said, pressing a soft kiss on her neck. "Our windows are tinted." She gave the tiniest of licks, just enough to let Santana feel her tongue, and then pulled back completely. Santana blinked her eyes open. Brittany was removing her own shirt, unbuttoning her jeans all while staring right at Santana.
"I think that drink you made me was a little strong bartender." Brittany said, batting her eyelashes. "When I get drunk I start to strip."
"Oh my god." Santana breathed, unable to tear her eyes off Brittany as she climbed over into the back seat. She laid herself across the seat, using her middle and index finger to tease up and down her torso.
"How long is your break?"
Santana gave in. She wondered briefly if she would ever gain the self control to say no to Brittany's sexual advances, but as she climbed into the back seat and let Brittany pull her shirt off for her, she decided she didn't care.
"Thirty minutes." She answered. "I have to be back before the bar get's really busy."
Brittany grinned pulling Santana to lie down on top of her.
"That's plenty of time."
No one caught them, which to Santana felt like a miracle. They kept up their roleplay all through their mixology class, which turned out to be more fun than they'd anticipated, but also got them tipsy. To sober up, they went to a restaurant which had arcade games and pool tables. They played two games before Santana began to feel sober.
"I like this place." Brittany said, as her ball ricocheted across the table, hitting multiple other balls but not getting any in. "It's fun but not hectic."
"Yeah it's nice." Santana agreed. "I like the music their playing." She bent over, not paying any particular attention to which ball she would hit and taking the shot. Brittany didn't know how to play pool, so they played a much simpler version where you just hit as many balls into the holes as you could, not needed to use the white ball to do it. Whoever got the most in won.
"We should do this more often." Brittany said.
"Play pool?" Santana asked as she stood straight. Her ball hadn't gone in.
"No. And don't think I don't know you're going easy on me." Brittany accused, pointing at her.
Santana smiled cheekily. "I haven't played pool since New York B."
"Mmmh." Brittany hit her ball with so much force that it shot off the table.
"Woah!" Santana jumped. "You're not trying to break the ball Britt."
"Sorry." Brittany giggled, running to get the ball. "I mean date night though. We should do dates like this more often." She took her shot again.
"Yeah. I think that's a great idea. We can get Jessie to stay at home with the kids till Kevin's back in jail, which won't be long."
"What?"
"I mean I know we can leave them with Quinn or Noah like now, but don't you feel just a little anxious? Like I'd feel better knowing they're at home."
"No." Brittany gripped the end of Santana's cue just as she was lining up to take her shot. "What do you mean it won't be long before Kevin's back in jail. We don't know getting him to confess to knowing who you were when you saw him at the bakery will get him sent back to jail."
"Oh…" Santana's shoulders dropped. She put the cue down, thinking quickly.
"Santana."
Santana sighed.
"Okay…I was going to tell you this when I had good news-"
"Tell me what." Brittany took a step towards her. "Did you already go talk to Kevin somehow?"
"No, Brittany I wouldn't do that without telling you."
"Then what?!"
Just rip the band-aid off, Santana told herself. She took a deep breath. "I hired a private investigator to follow Kevin." She rushed out.
Brittany was clearly startled. "What? Why?"
"I needed peace of mind. You didn't want to talk to him or even talk about him but it was stressing me out. I needed to know he wasn't following us or something."
"So you hired someone?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Just before we went to Lima to drop the kids with our parents."
"So two and a half weeks ago?"
Santana cringed. "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I knew you were scared. I wanted to tell you when I had good news."
Brittany slowly put down her own cue.
"I get it."
Santana frowned. "Brittany I know you're mad-"
"I am but I get it." She picked the glass of water she'd placed on the corner of the pool table and drained it. "We should go. Will you pay?"
Santana nodded, trying to figure out why Brittany was choosing not to express her anger.
"Thanks. I'm gonna go wait in the car."
She walked back to the table they'd been sitting at, picked her handbag and left.
Santana let out a long heavy breath.
The flight to Orlando was the longest flight of Santana's life, and that included the first time they flew with Sophia and she threw up the entire time. Brittany was talking to her, but in a stiff, clearly reluctant way. Since they were in first class everyone got their own little secluded space, which gave Brittany an excuse to talk even less, and when she did she only really engaged with the kids. Santana tried not to think about this, since there wasn't anything she could do about it till they landed. She spent most of the six hour flight watching movies.
When they landed, it was easy to get swept up in the kids' excitement. Jesús and Kyler were talking non-stop about all the things they wanted to do. They met Jessie and another body guard, Ezekiel at the exit terminal and took a minibus to the hotel. Due to the time difference, it was just after nine in the morning when they checked into their hotel, and even though none of them had slept except Sophia, and Mateo, the twins insisted they go to the park immediately. So after quick showers Brittany, Santana, Kyler, Jesus, Ryan, Kaycee, Nicholai, Sophia and Mateo made their way to Disney world.
Except for their wedding, Santana and Brittany hadn't been to Disney world. Santana could see that Brittany was excited to be here. Her eyes were as bright and wide as the kids, but she still wasn't talking to Santana. As they lined up for one of the rides, Santana signaled to Jessie to watch the kids and squeezed up next to Brittany. Brittany barely glanced at her.
"Babe…can you just talk to me?"
"I am talking to you."
"Except you're not really. You've said two things to me since we left San Jose."
Brittany crossed her arms over her chest and didn't speak.
"Brittany-"
"I don't want to talk about this right now Santana! Not with our kids right here."
"Well I don't want to wait until the end of the day when we're both exhausted. That won't end badly."
"That's the outcome either way." Brittany mumbled, steadfastly staring ahead of her.
"I'm sorry-"
"Santana." Brittany groaned, clearly irritated.
"You don't even want to hear me apologise."
"No, honestly I don't. Can we just give our kids a good day and talk about this later?"
For a few minutes, Santana was silent. Long enough for the line to move up. But the tension between her and Brittany was making her too uncomfortable to just pretend everything was okay.
"B, we're at Disney world. You can't be mad at me while we're in the place we got married."
"I know! That's what making me even angrier." Brittany hissed. "We're in my favourite place on earth and I can't enjoy it because you made me mad."
"You said you got it. If you get it why are you so mad?"
Brittany looked to her other side, where Jesús was practically jumping up and down as he, Kaycee and Ryan talked about the ride they were about to go on, pointing out all the cool parts.
"Come here." She took Santana's hand and pulled her several steps away from the line.
"Mama where are you going?" Kyler asked.
"Just over here bud, not far. Mami and I are just talking."
"But you're still doing the ride right?"
"Totally." Brittany assured him.
"Okay." He grinned, then ran up behind Jesús and jumped on his shoulders.
"This is why I don't want to talk about this here. I don't want them to see us fighting."
"Then let's not fight." Santana said. "Just talk to me."
Brittany exhaled shortly. "I do get why you didn't tell me, but that makes me mad too."
"You're mad that you get why I didn't tell you?"
"Yeah, because it's exactly what I did too. I didn't tell you about Kevin when I first found out he was getting out."
"Oh…right…"
"We've literally already been through this. It already went badly, we should have learned from it but here we are, still doing the same thing!"
She and Santana both quickly looked at their kids to see if they'd heard Brittany yell. None of them seemed to have noticed anything. They turned back to each other, Brittany lowering her voice.
"It pisses me off that I'm not even shocked you did it and that I could see myself doing the same thing. What are we going to do?"
"About what?"
"About how easy it's become for us to lie to each other."
"What?" Santana recoiled. "We're not lying to each other! Or at least…." She eyed Brittany, "I'm not lying to you."
Brittany rolled her eyes. "We're keeping things from each other Santana, and that's the same thing."
"We're trying to protect each other." Santana said, taking Brittany's hand. "Of all the problems to have in a marriage I think that's a pretty good one. Caring too much about each other's feelings isn't a bad thing."
"It is when it makes us hide things."
"Honestly I don't think the problem is with us. Clearly the problem is Kevin. Neither of us ever want to bring him up, it's the only thing we keep from each other, and soon we won't have to think about him cause he'll be back in jail. So really we don't have any issue here."
"Santana." Brittany said sternly. "I'm serious. It's not just about Kevin. You didn't want to talk to me about not wanting a baby either."
Santana sighed. "I'm sorry. I just….I heard you when you said you couldn't face Kevin. I really heard you. You were scared Britt, and I didn't want to add on to that. I wanted to solve this for you."
"I know," Brittany nodded, "but we're supposed to be a team. I am scared of Kevin, but that doesn't mean you should deal with him on your own. I know you're scared too. Even if I don't meet him we can still deal with this together."
"Okay you're right. We are a team."
"We have to get better at just saying whatever is going on, no matter how much we feel like the other person would be better off not worrying about it. I don't like not knowing what's going on in your life, and I don't want to start worrying if I'm asking you the right questions to get you to tell me something you otherwise wouldn't."
"Okay fair enough, but B, I know people say keeping things and lying are the same but it really isn't. Lying means you can no longer trust that if you ask me a question I'll tell you the truth."
"How is that different than me wondering if there's something you're not telling me?"
"It's not great, and we've just agreed we're gonna work on it, but it's totally different. If you ever feel like I might not be telling you something, you always know you can just ask and I'll tell you the truth. I never lie to you."
"I never lie to you either." Brittany said, closing the gap between them and pressing their foreheads together. "And promise I never will."
"Me too."
"But telling ourselves it's not the same as lying is an excuse. We have to stop keeping things from each other. We've never done it before and I don't like it."
"Okay." Santana agreed, giving Brittany a soft kiss. "I'm sorry. I promise to ignore your feelings from now on."
"Santana..." Brittany said, clearly trying not to smile.
"I'm kidding. Obviously. I hear you. No more secrets."
"Promise?" Brittany asked, holding out her pinkie."
"Promise." Santana said, linking her pinkie to Brittany's. "I love you."
"I love you too-"
"Mama we're moving!" Jesús called. They turned to see that true enough they were almost at the front of the fast past line.
"Coming!" Brittany called back.
"Wait." Santana said. "In the spirit of not keeping things from each other, there's one more thing I should tell you about Kevin."
"What?"
"He's back to doing drugs."
"WHAT!"
"But I realised this could be a good thing." Santana said quickly, before Brittany could freak out. "That's what I meant yesterday by it won't be long before he's back in jail."
"Doing drugs is a violation of his parole." Brittany said, her eyes widening in understanding.
"Exactly, and much more serious than being in a bakery with me so it's a sure bet." Santana said.
"We got him?" Brittany asked with a hint of triumph.
"We got him."
"MAMA!"
Three days in to their stay at Disney world Santana was beginning to understand why it was called the happiest place on earth. They could go there first thing in the morning, spend the whole day there and do it all over again the next day without getting bored. The kids were all asleep by nine every single day, the excitement of each day knocking them out cold right after dinner.
There was a lot more walking than she would have guessed, but it was worth it for the way their kids, especially Jesús and Kyler were having the time of their lives. The fourth day was special, because it was the twins' actual birthday. They had breakfast at the hotel, where the restaurant put sparklers on the stack of waffles and sang happy birthday to Jesús and Kyler, then they spent the morning going to the twins' favourite rides and for the first time went into the shops where Jesús and Kyler were allowed to pick any six things each. Lunch was what Santana was looking forward to most.
They went to the Teppan Edo restaurant, a Japanese restaurant where all of their minds were blown by the show put on by the chef that cooked everything right there in front of them. Mateo screamed every time the fire flared, which was hilarious. Then the cakes came out. One was a superhero themed cake, for Jesus, and the other pirate themed, for Kyler. There were once again sparklers on each cake, and several waiters and chefs joined in singing them happy birthday. Santana and Brittany stood back, watching Jesús and Kyler, who were kneeling on their chairs, giggling as the cakes were set down in front of them.
"Can you believe they're eleven?" Santana asked, feeling like she might actually burst into tears.
"No." Brittany said, her arm circling Santana's waist. "I feel like it was just yesterday we were bringing them home."
"I know."
Jesús sneakily scooped some cream on his finger and smudged it on Kyler's forehead. Kyler was quick though, before Jesús could escape he managed to grab him round the neck, getting him in a headlock. Jesús squealed, fighting to get free. Kyler smeared some of his own cream on Jesus' forehead as well, getting some in his hair.
Santana and Brittany laughed as Kyler finally let Jesús go. The birthday song finished, to a round of applause, and then at the same time, Jesús and Kyler shut their eyes and blew the candles out.
Santana pressed her lips together, feeling the tears well in her eyes.
"Eleven." She said under her breath. "That's gone way too fast."
They took a few pictures with the cakes and then they cut them. Brittany and Santana fed Jesús and Kyler pieces way too big for their mouths, which they then insisted on doing to everyone else as well. By the time they were leaving, everyone had cake smudged somewhere on their face.
They ended the day with dinner at the Space 220 Restaurant. It was such a great experience and gorgeous view that Santana had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't actually on a ship in space. They called Brittany and Santana's parents while at dinner, Quinn and Puck called as well, they had huge ice cream towers for dessert and then were finally ready to call it a day.
Brittany and Santana took a little longer tucking the twins into bed that night, feeling sentimental. They climbed into bed with them and asked them how their birthday was. They got a thirty minute answer.
"So I think what you're saying is…" Santana said thoughtfully, "you had a great birthday?"
"Yeah" Jesús and Kyler laughed.
"Really great." Kyler squeezed Brittany, who he was cuddled into. "Thanks mums."
"Yeah thanks. It was the best!" Jesús agreed.
"Good." Brittany said, kissing Kyler's head. "I'm glad you had a good time babies."
"Happy, happy, happy birthday mijos." Santana said, reaching over to cup Kyler's cheek while she kissed Jesus'."
"Thanks." They both grinned.
"We love you so much."
"So, so much."
"We love you too." Jesús said, kissing Santana's cheek as well and making her smile.
"We love you." Kyler parroted.
"And you know you'll always be our babies right?" Brittany asked, her voice cracking slightly. "No matter how big you get."
"Yes mama." Jesús giggled.
"You tell us all the time." Kyler said. "Even when we're big and have our own babies."
"That's right." Santana said.
"Oh I don't want you to grow up." Brittany said sadly.
"But we can't be kids forever." Kyler said.
"I wish you would."
"Why?" Jesús asked.
"So I can always have you like this?" She squeezed Kyler like he'd squeezed her earlier.
"Hugs?" Jesús asked. "We can give you hugs and cuddles even when we're big."
"And besos." Santana said. "You know mami loves her kisses." Jesús gave her a kiss. "Thank you."
"When I'm a grown-up, if you want a hug I promise to always give it to you." Kyler said.
"Even if you're busy?" Brittany asked.
"How can you be too busy for a hug?" He asked, so cutely confused.
Santana and Brittany laughed.
"Oh I love you two." Santana said.
"To infinity." Brittany said.
The next day they took it a bit easier. They spend most of the day in the hotel, exploring the pool and activities at the hotel. That took them half the day, then they went back into the park to show the kids where they'd had their wedding. They'd of course already seen the magic kingdom, so they took them to EPCOT, where they'd had their reception.
It was so nostalgic walking through EPCOT for the first time since their wedding, with new memories rushing back every few minutes. The kids were all too happy to listen to stories about their wedding, which only encouraged Santana and Brittany to talk more.
"Oh my gosh you were so beautiful Britt." Santana said.
"I saw your dress in a picture mama." Sophia said. "You were really beautiful. Like an angel."
"Thank you." Brittany smiled. "Your mami was beautiful too. She was so beautiful I started crying."
"Why?" Ryan asked. "How can someone being beautiful make you cry?"
"I don't know, I think I was a little overwhelmed. We'd been really excited, and now it was finally happening so I was so anxious to see her and then I did see her and she was more beautiful than I had even imagined. I just couldn't believe I was getting to marry her."
"Oh.." Ryan cocked his head, looking like he still didn't quite understand why that would make her cry.
"I cried too." Santana said. "So many happy tears." She laughed. "I remember I was freaking out while I was walking down the aisle. I was so scared I would fall or something, and completely embarrass myself, or I'd look up and your mama wouldn't be there-"
"What?" Brittany asked
"Why wouldn't she be there?" Kaycee asked.
"Of course she would be, I was just freaking out, and you know when you let yourself freak out like that you stop making sense."
Kyler nodded.
"Yeah. I thought maybe it would be a dream or she wouldn't like my dress or something crazy."
"Is that why you didn't look at me for so long?"
"Yeah." Santana chuckled. "I decided to just look at my bouquet until I got to the quote unquote alter."
"You're so silly." Brittany said with a fond headshake. She leaned into Santana and placed a tender kiss on her on her temple. "Nothing could have kept me away from that quote unquote alter."
Santana smiled.
"I wanna get married here too." Kaycee said. "Just like a princess. I'd do it at the castle and have a thousand people watching and fireworks and everything!"
"That sounds nice." Santana told her, as Jesús and Ryan giggled.
"And who are you gonna marry?" Ryan asked her.
Kaycee shrugged. "Someone handsome, and also a dancer. Someone like Kaleb."
Brittany's jaw dropped, but she managed to catch herself and close it quickly before Kaycee saw her. Jesús and Ryan had already burst out laughing, making Kaycee turn steadily pinker.
"Shut up." Sophia said. "Kaleb is more handsome than you two will ever be."
Brittany and Santana frowned at each other. Santana wasn't sure how she felt about knowing her daughter thought Brittany's dance partner and closest friend at work was handsome.
"Will we be invited?" She asked, wanting to move the conversation along from grown men's attractiveness.
"Of course." Kaycee said with a firm nod. "You can help make me as pretty as you."
Brittany smiled sweetly at Santana, a soft look in her eyes. "We'll do our best."
Santana winked at her.
They had four more days in Orlando before they had to go back to California. Santana was starting her tour prep as soon as they got back, and Brittany had a meeting with Halsey to figure out what the logistics of her joining the tour would look like, just to see if it would even be possible for her to go at all. It was also exactly a month before Quinn's wedding, and she was not letting them forget it. Brittany and Santana were going to make the most of what were essentially the last days of freedom they would have for the foreseeable future.
They ventured outside of Disney world and the hotel to see what else they could do while in Orlando. The hotel gave them a van that took them wherever they wanted to go, which included seaworld, where Sophia cried and tried to pretend it wasn't because she was scared of the Orca and they all rode the reef plunge ten times each. They also managed to go to Universal Islands of Adventure, where Jesús and Kyler declared the velocicoaster the best ride there. On the night before they were set to leave they went to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater where they got to sit at a table in the dining room shaped like a classic car with softly glowing headlights and taillights. Mateo said that was his favourite restaurant, after the space one.
The morning of their departure, they were all lazily packing, no one really wanting to leave. They had a night flight again, and had organised a late check-out, so there was no reason to rush, but everyone was trying to drag out the fun for as long as possible. They took many breaks to go down to the pool, or to see what activities the hotel had that day, but finally they had to stop procrastinating and pack, if they wanted to get a few more rides in at the park before leaving.
Santana and Brittany, who were done packing first, divided the kids between them to help them pack and make sure no one left anything. Brittany was taking a more laid back approach to hers. They'd gotten the two bedroom grand suite, which had two bedrooms in each suite. Jesus, Kyler, Ryan and Mateo slept in one suite with Jessie in the master bedroom, and then Sophia and Kaycee stayed in Brittany and Santana's suite. They'd been over the moon that they didn't need to share a bed. Brittany was in the boys' suite, laying on one of the beds watching tv. She would just check the room when they were done to make sure nothing was under the bed or forgotten in a drawer.
As she was flipping though channels she heard something being said about San Jose. Specifically a motel on a street not far from her house. She turned up the volume, sitting up. A shooting had taken place, the news said. One cleaning lady dead, one man injured and in ICU.
"Oh my god." She breathed.
"Hey B. I've been sent to check if Ryan or Jesús has Kaycee's black baseball cap. She said it's the one she likes to travel in. I didn't want her to come check herself cause I know they'll just distract each other."
"Come in, come here, look at this." Brittany gestured wildly for Santana to sit next to her.
"What's happening?"
"There was a shooting on a street like five blocks from our house."
"Oh my god." Santana gasped, paying more attention to the tv.
"I know. I mean it's not a place we spend any time at. In fact I don't think I've ever been down that way…" Brittany trailed off thinking. "No. But I could have, and that's scary."
"Yeah. Did they say what happened? Was it like a robbery or something?"
"I think they said it before I started watching. I just heard that there's a cleaning lady dead and a guy in the hospital."
"Oh my god." Santana said again.
"I hope they catch the guy who did it. I mean what kind of psychopath-"
"Wait, wait, wait. No!" Santana clambered off the bed, holding her head.
"What?"
"No!"
A picture had come up on screen, showing who the man in ICU was.
"Santana what is it?" Brittany asked, getting off the bed as well.
"We can now confirm the identity of the other victim in the shooting that took place earlier today at the flamingo motel. Thirty seven year old Montgomery Greyson, who our source has confirmed is a private investigator. It's unclear at this time whether Mr. Greyson was here on private or work business."
"Santana?" Brittany asked, coming to stand in front of her and blocking the tv. "What's wrong? Did you know him or something?"
"He's the PI I hired B. To follow Kevin."
Brittany turned back to the tv, her mouth dropping open.
"Oh my god are you saying that-"
"Kevin shot Mr. Greyson."
A/N: Hey good people! This story is wrapping up soon. Just wanted to let ya'll know that we just have a few more chapters to go.
