A Chance in a Million
The conversations about the arrival of one new child of course re-ignited the talk around another one that was expected. Once more, the subject of Brittany's baby came to the forefront. Nobody had enquired any further into the identity of the father, but that was mainly because Santana had pointedly closed down all discussion of the subject. She had been gratified when, at the height of the speculative talk, Sebastian had called her and had offered to say that he was responsible if it would help her out and silence the debate; she had turned him down though, as she rightly suspected that most people would doubt the veracity of that statement…
Now, as they entered the last week in September, there was more of a hint of a bump on her wife's slender figure, and that sight made her happy. She did not doubt the truth of the statement when her wife announced one morning that she was having a boy, and they began to prepare the nursery again for the arrival of a son. They had also had the conversation with their daughter in which they explained what was going on, and that she going to have a baby brother. She had taken it reasonably well, only once expressing the opinion that she would have been happier if her mothers had decided to get a dog instead - or a guinea pig…
The only slight cloud on the otherwise bright horizon was Brittany's work. The university had been very understanding, and she would be given decent maternity leave with pay, but Santana was aware that some of the people she worked for had had their noses put out of joint, anxious about the future speed of their projects and programmes in the absence of their usual math genius. A replacement had been found though; the fact that she would not be leaving when Brittany came back was what made Santana concerned. Yes, the university informed her that they had found enough funding to support the two roles, and it would reduce the pressure on the new mother, but there was always a suspicion in the back of Santana's mind that they were saying that now, but might change their minds later….
On that final Monday morning in September, Brittany was actually out of the house and into work bang on time; she was intending on leaving early, but nobody knew that as yet. As she walked into the Math building, she almost bumped straight into a younger woman that was staring intently at the directory by the entrance door, with an occasional glance at the plan of the building she had been given. Brittany smiled, then said, "That directory board is out of date; it was supposed to be replaced when they renumbered all of the rooms in the way that they are on that plan, but they never got around to it…"
As the other young woman shook her head in disbelief, but not angrily, she went on to enquire who the visitor was looking for. Armed with that name, Brittany was able to give her the correct room number, and then as it was near her own office, walked her there. Leaving the other lady outside the door of the department head, she headed for her own office, and began to look through the pile of math problems that had accumulated on her desk over the weekend; the things that had other people stumped that she could solve in her own unique style in a matter of seconds.
She was just considering getting herself a coffee, decaf of course, when there was a knock on the door, and then the department head came in, along with the young woman she had helped earlier. "Ah, I am glad to see that you are here, Ms Pierce-Lopez. I think that the two of you have already met, but I would like to formally introduce you to the newest member of the team. She will be your cover whilst you are off on maternity leave, then stay on as the extra pair of hands we so badly need. As I was saying to you, Brittany here is our lucky find; a mathematical genius in so many ways…"
"I wouldn't say that," interjected the blonde. "I just understand the numbers better when I look at them a different way, and I can work out where they should be placed instead…"
"Yes, you certainly do," said the department head with a smile. "So, Brittany, does this young woman in her own way. Hilary Loomis, meet the young lady with whom you have more than a few things in common…"
Although initially there was a degree of tension between the two of them, within a couple of hours of meeting her, Brittany had decided that she liked Hilary. Yes, her approach to math was much more conventional than hers, but she had a passion for the subject that was infectious. She had sat and watched at first as Brittany had worked through one of the equations that had been left for her to solve over the weekend, whilst mentally going through the same one in her head; when the blonde wrote down the answer, it came a little ahead of Hilary's own, but they were both the same. Then, by some sort of unspoken agreement, they had divided the pile of waiting problems up between them, and had proceeded to make their way through them; in the end, the pile that Brittany solved was slightly larger.
With the work done, they headed off together to the nearest coffee shop, and began to talk about themselves, soon discovering the major thing they had in common. They shared experiences of growing up in Ohio, and bonded over a mutual love of cats. Hilary was shown the photos of the various Lord Tubbingtons, and it made her yearn for a feline companion of her own. "Unfortunately, having just moved to the city, I find myself lodging with an aunt. However, once I find a place of my own, then I will be having a cat to keep me company. I thought that I would go to one of the shelters to find one; give it the loving home that it deserves."
"That is definitely the right thing to do; there are so many poor cats being abandoned by heartless people these days. A friend of mine found his cat when he was a kitten; he had been thrown into a dumpster in mid winter, and left to starve. He was a male tortoiseshell, and as you may know, that made him useless to the breeder that dumped him. Caleb is now a very fine cat indeed, living happily in a brownstone in the West Village, and related by having the same mother to Isabelle Wright's two cats, Elvis and Presley."
"Wait, did you say Isabelle Wright, as in the editor of Vogue?" asked Hilary.
"Yes, that's right. She is married to the older brother of a friend of ours, so that means we are friends too. Of course, Sebastian wasn't always a friend, but now he and all the other birds are close friends of ours…"
Then the topic changed, and no more was said on it, but Hilary had put together the pieces of the jigsaw without a problem, and concluded that although New York was a huge city, in some senses it was just a big village when it came down to it. She guessed it would not be the last time that she met someone that had known the brother she never had. She decided against saying anything else there and then, as she wanted to talk to her brother first when they were back at their temporary home that evening. That way they could involve Matthew too, as he already worked alongside one of the 'birds' that Brittany had eluded to. She wondered then if Barnaby too could end up in the same situation; it seemed unlikely, but she had never expected it to happen to her!
The remainder of her first day at work passed off uneventfully, and after a journey home on the subway which was not as bad as she had always imagined, Hilary arrived back to find that her brother was alone in the house, Matthew still at work and her aunt at one of her charity committee meetings. She told him what had happened as soon as she sat down, and he listened, then laughed as she wondered if the same might happen to him. "I doubt it. Thankfully, if I get the position that I applied for today, it will definitely not be the case. I will have two male colleagues, but both are in their late fifties! Of course, you might have got it wrong, you know, so I suggest that we call Skylar, and ask him to confirm that your new colleague is a friend of theirs, and hence, of Seth…"
About twenty minutes later, Skylar put down the phone, then immediately picked it up to call Thad, hoping that by making the call now he would not make too much of an interruption to the Head Warbler's evening. As it happened, he caught Thad at the perfect moment, and he had time to chat, making small talk about little Seth, and indeed, little Thad. Then Skylar decided he had best bring up the purpose of the call…
"So I was just talking to Barnaby and Hilary, and they were telling me how they are settling into life in New York… Do you recall that I told you that Hilary was a mathematician? It seems that she has just taken a job at NYU…"
"Hmm," replied Thad. "I think I can guess where this is heading next…"
Skylar laughed, then said, "Yes, she has met our dear Brittany; in fact, she will be covering her maternity leave and then continuing to work with her when she returns. Of course, Brittany said some things that lead Hilary to believe that she was connected to us, and I confirmed that she was. What I did not mention to her was the thing that you and I know…"
"That the child she is carrying is technically their nephew or niece, the offspring of the brother they never met," said Thad bluntly.
"Exactly. Even worse, Brittany has no idea who Hilary is. I have this horrible feeling that when she does find out, as she inevitably will, then her reaction might not be all that favourable. She reacted badly enough at the funeral when Seth's parents showed up, and she might not believe that Hilary and indeed Barnaby did not know he existed; she might well just think that they weren't around because they didn't care…"
Thad sighed, knowing that Skylar had a point. "Right, leave it with me. It would be of little use for either of us to go straight to Brittany and try and explain things, so I will call Santana and explain the situation to her. Then she can chose the right time and the right way to explain it to her wife. I have to admit though that this whole situation is a very unexpected complication…"
At about the same time that Skylar was having his conversation with Thad, Brittany was at home telling Santana all about her new work colleague as they ate their evening meal. They had arrived home at about the same time for once and had spent a couple of hours with their daughter, before tucking her in for the night. It was only now that they had an opportunity to talk properly.
"So, she has been taken on to replace you whilst you are on maternity leave, and then when your return, she will be staying on to assist you?" asked Santana, wanting to clarify what her wife had told her.
"Yes, and that is okay, because when I do go back I might not want to be going in every day, and having her there will allow me to spend more time with my child."
"As long as you will have a job to go back to, that is all I want to be certain of."
"I don't think that they could manage all of the work without me now," said Brittany cheerfully. I mean, Hilary is really smart, but she does the calculations in a really funny and confusing way, so it does take her much longer to do them," said the blonde, and her wife couldn't help but think at that point that Hilary probably felt the same way about how Brittany did the calculations… "You will have to come and meet her, because I would like her to become a friend to both of us. There was something about her that almost seemed familiar; I'm not sure what it is, but there is definitely something in the way she looks. I asked Lord Tubbington, and he suggested that we might have met in a previous existence, but I am not sure…"
Santana smiled, then said, "You could bring her to the Spotlight for lunch one day, and I could meet her then…" At that moment, her phone began to ring. Looking at it, she saw Thad's name on the screen, and as it was very unusual for him to call her, her curiosity was aroused instantly. She apologised to her wife, and told her that she had to answer the call, as it might be important. As her wife nodded, Santana rose to her feet, and headed into the relative privacy of the lounge, where she could talk freely if need be… "Hey, Head Warbler, this is an unusual pleasure! Tell me, have you come to your senses and decided that you want me to end Seth's hideous excuses for parents? If so, I do know people…"
Thad chuckled at the other end of the call, then replied, "Although that is extremely tempting at times, such things might well jeopardise the outcome of the court case concerning the will. However, it is something connected to them that I wish to talk to you about, or rather, someone…"
"Hmm, that sounds intriguing… Do continue…"
"I would be right in thinking that your beautiful wife has a new colleague? And she is a young lady by the name of Hilary?"
"She does…" said Santana cautiously. "Have you got someone spying on us, or worse, have you had this place bugged? Just because we are all friends now, do not think that I would hesitate to destroy you all if you have done so…"
"I am more than aware of that, and I am glad to say that we have done neither. To be blunt, I know this because the young lady in question told Skylar. He met her when she and her brother came round to visit him because they wanted to ask him questions about their older brother…"
"What would he know about their older…" Santana stopped, as it clicked into place. "Wait, are you telling me that she is…"
"One of the two children born to Seth's parents in wedlock? Yes, she is. And that also means something else. It means that she is going to be an aunt very soon…"
Santana was silent for a moment as she took in the implications of what Thad had just said. "I am taking it that her living brother is not on the verge of fatherhood?" she replied eventually. "Well, well, the odds of something like this happening must be tiny, but now we are left with quite the conundrum! It's almost unbelievable…"
"Unfortunately, it is all too true. The chances were astronomical, but it has happened, and now we need to deal with it. All that Hilary knows from Skylar is that your wife knew Seth. That is all she knows so far…"
"But she really deserves to know much more about how well she knew him… So, what do you think that we should do? You saw how Brittany was when those people turned up, and now their other children are on the scene…"
"At the time of the funeral, both Hilary and her brother Barnaby were overseas. The first that they knew about having an older sibling was when they arrived home and heard what had come out in the media. It appears that when they went to see the old lady at home, it was only ever by arrangement, and that meant that Seth could be sent away. They never even heard mention of his name. On the plus side, the moment that they knew all that was going on, they expressed their disgust and horror, and left their parents behind. They are on our side in the case of the will. In many ways, they are as much victims of their parents nefarious scheme as Seth was…"
"The problem is that she will not accept that, and you know it as well as I do," said Santana.
"I do, but I also know that there isn't a choice to not tell her either, because the information will come out in the end. Niff, Trent, Ethan, Drew, Flint and Beats all know they exist; their cousin Matthew works with Beats you see, and they are currently staying with him and his mother…"
"And so it is inevitable that at some point the cousin will introduce them to his cousins, and she will mention that she works with Brittany, and boom!"
"And if we make any attempt to try and stop things at the other end, and try to keep Hilary away, then she will wish to know exactly why, and once again, boom!" said Thad bluntly.
"Well, I guess that means that I have an interesting conversation ahead of me tonight," said Santana with a sigh.
"Actually, I had a thought about that before I called, and no, you don't. There is one person that she would be more likely to accept the news from more calmly than she would from you. I will need to get the okay from Wes, but if he agrees, then maybe it would be best if she heard it from Seth directly…"
Santana certainly wasn't going to argue with Thad's suggestion, and so it was that the Head Warbler found himself summoning his husband as well as he could, using the physic link that they had due to their marriage. It did not take long for him to appear, and as was so often the case, Wes already knew exactly what was going on.
"I agree that having Seth be the one to explain things to Brittany is the best idea in the circumstances. She can get very emotional when she thinks that the people that she loves are being hurt, and when that person happens to be the father of her unborn child, it will be much, much worse. I will ask Seth to go and visit her tonight, and also suggest that he take either Kurt or Blaine with him, as they both have much more experience of dealing with our darling blonde. Now, whilst I am here, and have a spare quarter of an hour, I was thinking that it is a very long time since we had a quiet snuggle…"
Thad smiled, and nodded, heading straight for the sofa where he and Wes could cuddle up together for a moment; as his husband cuddled into him, Thad felt the weight of the world that often bore down on him lighten, at least for a few minutes. Part of him longed for the day when moments like this would be the norm for them, when they both had wings… When after a hard day of dealing with angelic paperwork they could snuggle up together, listening to music, or watching a film or a show, before they headed off to bed…
"I want that too, my little one, but I'm not in a hurry," whispered Wes, and Thad blushed at the fact that his husband was able to read his thoughts so well. "If I was forced to wait another 80 years or more, it would be worth it for the prize at the end."
"I don't know if I would want to be waiting that long," mused Thad, "although I am in no immense rush either. I would like a few more adventures yet…"
"Hence the flight you have booked to Auckland for the Thanksgiving break?" asked Wes pointedly, and Thad nodded. Yes, it was a long way to go for a couple of nights, but it would be worth it to visit the mud baths and then base jump off a skyscraper…
With one thing and another, however, Seth was not able to make it to Maplewood that evening, and it would be breakfast time when he did appear. He found the two wives at their first meal of the day, with Santana trying her best not to look at her wife, as she had just spooned pickled beets and gherkins into her granola. For her, the sudden draught was a very welcome distraction. She was a little shocked to see not one but three angels in the room though, as both Kurt and Blaine had joined Seth. Her wife was beyond delighted to see them all, and was so busy hugging them that she failed to notice the look that Kurt gave Blaine as he noticed what was in her cereal bowl; Santana did, however, and was relieved to see that they both looked as repulsed by the combination as she was, especially when Brittany decided to add milk… With that, she made her excuses and left them to it; although in truth, she really did have papers to grade for her NYADA students…
"I hope that our child is behaving themselves," began Seth, who was making a point of not looking at what Brittany was eating.
"They are," she replied. "It is Santana that is acting up, and she is avoiding me at meal times now…"
"I wonder why?" whispered Kurt sarcastically in Blaine's ear at that point, and he nodded in agreement.
"Well, that isn't okay, but I am sure that she will come round in time," continued Seth. "Now, I have come here today for a reason; we need to have a little chat about family things, and my family in particular. I have discovered a few things since I passed away, and I need to explain them to you…"
Brittany continued to eat her mixture of milk, pickles and granola as Seth told her the whole story concerning his grandmother's will, and then brought up the connection with Matthew and where he worked… "I knew that they were bad people the moment that I saw them! Lord Tubbington agreed with me at once. I don't like anyone that takes something that isn't rightfully theirs; the fact that they stole from the family, including their own children, makes it so much worse!"
"I agree, which is why only my parents deserve to be treated as the bad guys here, not Matthew or the rest of them. I might never have met them when I was alive, but they are my family. My little brother and sister in particular do not deserve to be treated badly, because they knew nothing about me until I was dead and gone."
"That is true; you can't blame a child for a parent's mistakes…"
"I am glad that you agree, because my brother and sister have left Ohio and are now here in New York. My brother's name by the way is Barnaby, and my sister's name is Hilary. Of course, because they were recognised as my parents' children, they have a different surname to mine; theirs is Loomis…"
Brittany nodded, and then froze, as she realised what he had implied. Seeing the little wheels turning in her head, Kurt knew the moment had come for him to speak. "She really didn't know until you started to talk to her that you even knew her brother, and she only had known about him herself for a few weeks. She is not to blame here, and you did like her before you knew this…"
"I know," said Brittany quietly. "I still like her, and it isn't her fault her parents are awful. It is just that things are going to be a little awkward now, given that I know something else that affects her a lot…"
"You mean that she is technically the aunt of the child that you are carrying?" replied Seth. Brittany nodded, and Seth went on, "Yeah, I imagine that it might be difficult, especially as we have no written agreement or proof that I am the father of your child."
"Do you think that I should tell her what we did?" Brittany blurted out.
"I think that any discussion on that happening really should involve Santana, as she will be impacted by that too," interjected Blaine. "After all, we do not know exactly how involved Seth's brother and sister might wish to be. She might not want them to be too involved in the upbringing of your child…"
"Of course, there is as much chance that Barnaby and Hilary might also not want to have anything to do with the situation. Finding out that they had an elder brother was a heck of a shock for them; discovering that he was a father-to-be when he died might be just too much of a stretch for them," counselled Kurt.
Brittany looked thoughtful for a second, then said, "But if they found out about it later, then they might be even more upset, especially if they really wanted to know Seth properly, like you are saying that they did."
"That is an equally valid point of view," Seth had to concede. "They did ask Skylar all about me the moment that they knew that I existed, and they do seem genuinely upset that I was taken from them before they had a chance to meet me. There is a bit of me that has to be honest and admit that it would be nice for my child to have an aunt and uncle as blood relations. However, the decision on that, and their place in his or her life, is not my choice to make."
"I think that it would be good as well, but I will have to respect Santana and what she thinks about it all. She might not be all that keen; after all, Sebastian has little or no involvement in our daughter's life…"
"I think that that was a mutual decision on both of their parts, so as not to confuse her," said Kurt, recalling the events of that time. "He did however agree that if the little girl asked who her dad was, she could know, and he would also be there at once if he was needed for a medical reason."
"That last bit is a compelling reason for my siblings to be in the know," said Seth in a quiet voice. He was silent for a moment, then he continued, "Can we get Santana in here now? As has been said, she needs to be involved in this decision, and I would like to get my point of view put across as soon as we possibly can…"
Kurt looked at Blaine, and he departed to fetch in the missing party to the situation. He only hoped that Auntie Snixx was not about to make an appearance on the scene. It was a big thing that she was being asked after all. Not only was the question about bringing Seth's family into their lives, it was also about revealing the identity of the father of Brittany's child to all of their friends…
