"What is this?" Maribel walked around the large moving stuffed tiger.
"San got it for me." Brittany beamed giving the stuffed tiger a squeeze before dropping him on the living room floor "Isn't he cute?"
"He's big that's for sure." Luis chuckled, it was nearly life sized.
"Hey Mami." Santana yawned carrying in her bags.
"Hi sweetie, did you kids have a good time?" Maribel asked as the rest of the group came in the house.
"It was great." Matt beamed "I took lots of pictures, the sloths we're amazing."
Mercedes chuckled carrying her bags in, "Shopping was awesome."
"Food was awesome." Mike, Matt and Brittany exchanged hi-fives.
"A wolf puked up a butterfly." Santana shrugged still amused by the whole chase.
"Oookay." Luis shook his head not knowing what to do with that bit of information.
"San how about you change Beth and I'll help get the stuff out of the van." Getting Beth out of her car seat Quinn handed her to a slightly panicked Santana who stood frozen with the baby in her arms.
"Okay mija." Maribel guided Santana to the couch where Quinn had left the diaper bag. "First we pull out the blanket and put it on the couch."
"How?" Santana looked at the baby in her arms.
"You're going to have to learn to do things one handed." Luis said sitting in his recliner to watch.
"What! Oh hell no, what if I drop her or one of them?" Santana voice cracked.
"I'm right here to help." Maribel assured her tugging the blanket out of the diaper bag, putting it on the couch she instructed Santana "Lay her down and put your hand on her belly to keep her from moving while you grab a diaper and the wipes.
Slowly leaning forward with the baby in her arms Santana assured the now fussy baby "This was not my idea."
"Relax, she can feel your tension." Maribel rubbed Santana's shoulder as the teen dug through the diaper bag.
Santana eyed Beth as she prepared to change her "Don't pee on me or I will bring it up at every birthday party I attend."
"That's more a problem with boys." Luis pointed out.
Maribel stayed kneeled by Santana as she removed and replaced the diaper on the still fussy baby "Okay great job, now pick her up. Support her head and come sit in the rocker." It wasn't that Santana was afraid of babies, she was afraid of the small ones, she'd play with her cousins when they were crawling or in the walkers but before that, nope, she'd stayed away.
Sitting and slowly rocking Santana sighed "Let's plug you back in." putting the pacifier in the baby's mouth. Santana closed her eyes in relief when Beth settled.
"Good job." kissing the top of Santana's head Maribel grabbed the diaper heading for the trash. "You'll get the hang of it."
Putting the bags she was carrying down Brittany took a quick picture before the others noisily came in the house causing Santana to open her eyes. "Is that everything?" Santana asked.
"Yea, we're just gonna split up the snacks and show your parents what we got before we go." Matt nodded.
Brittany sat on the floor leaned against her stuffed tiger, "We got matching hoodies and sunglasses."
"Hats." Mike and Matt put their caps on hi-fiving as they sat on the arms of the love seat.
"Penguins." Brittany held up a stuffed penguin, before digging out a few more stuffed animals."Gorilla, seal and octopus." Brittany beamed squeezing the octopus she said "Mike we can totally mark the zoo off our lists."
"You have a list?" Quinn asked quietly bumping Mike's shoulder with her own, Mike blushed giving Quinn her answer "What's on this list?" Quinn looked down at him.
"Umm...stuff." Mike smiled nervously. "I...I think I should get you and Cedes home." Quinn chuckled at his nervousness.
After showing Maribel and Luis the rest of the items they'd bought the kids loaded up their cars and headed home, or in Matt's case walked across the street.
He dropped Mercedes off first because Quinn had bought something for his mom, when it was just them Quinn asked again "So this 'to do' list?"
"I wrote one with Brittany, when we wrote hers." Mike admitted not taking his eyes off the road. "The zoo was on both our lists." Quinn knew Mike was just as private as she was, they were slowly opening up to one another, their relationship was nowhere close to Brittany and Santana's but it was better than she'd had with Finn, she'd been horrible with Finn. "We wrote them freshman year, before Glee Club," Mike explained, taking Quinn's hand at the stop sign "I've danced in front of an audience and with you I'm free to be me and be happy." Quinn squeezed his hand.
Sweat and dirt covered Finn stepped out of his truck, Santana and Brittany were waiting for him on his front porch "Hey." Finn smiled.
"Hey." Santana nodded.
"Hi." Brittany chirped.
"What's up? Everything okay?" Finn looked at Santana's stomach.
"Fine, little back ache." Santana shook her head holding out a bag. "Some of our snacks and I bought you something I thought you'd like."
"Oh, thanks." Wiping his hands on his pants Finn took the bag "Do you want to come in?"
"Sure." Brittany nodded, Santana hadn't wanted to stay but since Brittany had said yes she just nodded.
Digging out his house key he wiped his feet before unlocking the door "Mom's on a date with Burt."
"Who's Burt?" Brittany asked following, tugging Santana along with her.
"Kurt's dad sweetie." Santana explained.
"Oh." Brittany nodded.
Putting the bag on the table Finn asked "Can you give me ten minutes to clean up? I can show you pictures of the atrium."
"Your mom won't flip?" Santana asked sitting down.
"Naw, she's good." Finn shook his head, with both girls at the house he knew his mom wouldn't have a problem. "Speak of the devil." Finn gestured to the door as it opened. "Hi Mom!"
"Hi Finn, hi girls." she smiled. "How was the zoo?"
"It was fun." Brittany beamed. "We saw a lot of animals and Santana bought me a big tiger."
"That's so nice." Carole hung up her jacket joining them in a the living room.
"I'm gonna grab a quick shower." Finn pointed to the stairs.
"Okay, we'll be fine." Carole waved him away "Do you girls want a drink?"
"No we're good, we're just dropping off..." Santana gestured to the bag left behind. "Quinn said Finn likes gorillas so I just got a present I thought he'd like."
"He does, if a movie has a gorilla he's seen it." Carole sat down.
His father was home, Mike could see Quinn was nervous as she carried Beth into the house, slipping their shoes off the headed for the living room. "Michael is that you?"
"Yes, I brought Quinn with me." Mike said as a warning hoping his mother could control his father long enough to receive her gift.
"Did you enjoy the zoo?" Julia asked as they came in the room.
"We did." Mike smiled gesturing to the couch for Quinn to sit down. "The capybaras were amazing."
"What were your favorite parts Quinn?" Julia asked.
"The otters, they're my favorite animal," Quinn said cuddling Beth to her. "Mike said your favorite animal was the red panda, when I saw this I thought you might like it." it was Mike who handed the gift bag to his mother.
Opening the bag Julia smiled pulling out a framed print of a red panda. "This is beautiful Quinn thank you, it will look lovely in my office, don't you think Michael?" she showed the picture to her husband.
"Yes it will." he nodded.
Setting it aside Julia held her hands out asking "May I?" Smiling Quinn handed Beth to Julia "Hello sweetheart, did you have a good day?" Julia smiled at Beth getting a blink from the baby, sitting back down Quinn cuddled to Mike's side.
Clearing his throat Michael Sr. spoke up "I would like to apologize for not making dinner the other night Quinn, would you like to go out to dinner with us tomorrow night?"
Glancing at Mike, who was just as surprised as she was, Quin nodded "I'd love to."
"Michael will pick you up at 6, if that is acceptable." Mike nodded when his father looked at him.
Quinn nodded "Of course, I'll ask my Mom to watch Beth."
"No need." Julia shook her head, "Isn't that right?" Quinn smiled nodding as the older woman continued to talk with the baby in her arms.
His hair still wet Finn came back into the living room "You guys want a drink?"
"No we're good." Santana promised patting the couch next to her, Brittany was on her other side.
"You didn't need to get me anything." Finn said pulling the bag over to him.
"I saw it and thought you'd like it." Santana shrugged.
Finn tugged the box out of the bag, looking at the picture on the box Finn grinned "Really?" carefully and quickly Finn opened the box pulling out the figurine, a large gorilla with two baby gorillas. "This is awesome." Finn held it up showing his mom. "Thanks Santana." putting it down he turned to hug her "Hug?"
"Hug." she agreed letting him hug her. "Quinn said you liked gorillas so..."
"That's cause they're big like me." Finn chuckled.
"Seriously?" Santana pulled away from the hug.
"What?" Finn asked confused.
"You were right." Brittany giggled, when Finn looked at the blonde still confused Santana explained.
"When Quinn said you liked gorillas, I said it was because you were the size of one and they said I was mean." Santana said apologetically, Finn laughed. "It's not funny."
"I'll tell them it's the truth." Finn promised. "I'll even post it."
"Thank you." Santana pouted "Do you really like it?"
"I love it, it's like me and the Beans." Finn said picking it back up.
"That's what I thought when I saw it." Santana admitted.
"That's so sweet Santana." Carole smiled, Santana shrugged embarrassed.
"We should go..."
"Wait the atrium." Finn dug out his phone quickly finding the pictures. "We did the gazebo and pond today, Puck was really determined to get them done, we're planting the trees and flowers tomorrow." Finn handed his phone to Santana who shared it with Brittany.
"That's pretty." Brittany smiled.
"I'll send you the pictures once we're done tomorrow." Finn promised.
Nodding Santana covered a yawn "Mmm, sorry long day."
"Nope I get it." Finn shook his head "I'm gonna eat something and go to bed."
"There's snacks in there, you can take them for part of your lunch." Santana gestured to the bag.
"Thanks, I'm glad you guys had fun." Finn smiled.
"We'll have to take the Beans when they get big enough to enjoy it."
"Me and Puck were talking about that." Finn told her as he dug through the bag. "We could do a family day, us three and the Beans and Puck, Quinn and Mike with Beth."
"You should bring Rachel."
Finn blinked, he hadn't expected Santana to say it, Brittany maybe but not Santana. "When the time comes I'll see if she wants to go." Finn nodded trying not to make a big deal out of it, catching Santana's yawn Finn said "You should go home and get some sleep."
"We are." Santana assured as they all stood up. "Text me pictures when you get it done, I'd really like to see it."
"I will." Finn yawned.
"Bye Finn's Mom." Brittany waved at Carole.
"Bye Mrs. Hudson." Santana smiled.
"Bye girls and goodnight." Carole smiled back.
Walking them to the door Finn yawned again "Drive careful, I'll text you tomorrow."
"G'night." Santana gave him a quick hug.
"Night." Brittany kissed his cheek before bouncing out the open front door, Finn smirked.
"Night Brittany."
Laying down on his bed Finn picked up his alarm setting it before texting Rachel. Finn to Rachel: We did a lot of work today, we got the gazebo and pond done, tomorrow we're gonna plant the tree and flowers.
Rachel to Finn: I knew you guys would do a great job, do you have any pictures aside from what Noah sent me
Trying not to laugh Rachel sent the photo that Puck had texted her, it was one of them flexing on break, Finn chuckled when the photo came through. Finn to Rachel: Gazebo and pond he followed text with four photos of the completed gazebo and pond.
Rachel to Finn: That's beautiful, can you show me when it's completed?
Finn to Rachel: We're finishing tomorrow, I can take you after that
Rachel to Finn: That would be lovely
Finn to Rachel: I'm headed to bed, long day today, early day tomorrow
Rachel to Finn: Okay good night
Finn to Rachel: Good night
Santana cuddled with Brittany on her bed the blonde had her arms around the Latina holding her in place, the big stuffed tiger was against the wall with the other stuffed animals all around and over him to make him feel welcomed, the rest of the things Santana or Quinn had bought for Brittany were around the room. "Did you really have a good time sweetie?" Santana asked playing with the hem of Brittany's shirt.
"I did." Brittany nodded, Santana could feel the blonde's movement. "I liked everything, did you have fun?"
"Hmm? Yea." Santana yawned. She'd already asked if she could stay over at Brittany's, she knew she would fall asleep watching a movie. "I always loved going to the zoo as a kid, but it was better this time because you were with me." Santana rested her arm across Brittany' waist.
"Awe San, you're gonna make me cry." Brittany squeezed Santana.
"It's true Britt, everything's better with you, I love you Brittany." Santana hummed closing her eyes and snuggling closer, smiling Brittany kissed the top of the Latina's head.
"I love you too Santana."