Chapter 23: The Next Chapter
Brittany's POV
*Sunday 14th November 2021*
Santana and I have just gotten home from our honeymoon so I've just ordered us some pizza. The flight wasn't too bad on the way home but we haven't eaten in hours hence the reason I've just ordered us some food. Santana is just calling her parents right now to tell them we got home safely and then I'll call mine and hopefully by that point, our pizza will be delivered.
"I think we should leave unpacking our suitcases until tomorrow because I really am in no mood to do it right now. I just want to relax on the couch and eat our pizza" Santana tells me.
"I agree" I nod. "So, how are your parents?" I ask.
"They're good" Santana shrugs, not really saying much about her phone call. "Anyway, you should call your parents before this food comes" she adds.
"I'll do it right now" I say. I call my parents and check in with them and by the time I'm off the phone, the pizza arrives.
"Finally" Santana says in relief as she opens the door to our food. A few minutes later, she joins me in the living room.
"The honeymoon was great but it is so good to be home to a familiar setting isn't it?" I say as we sit down on the floor and start eating our pizza. I did ask if we could sit on the couch but I was strictly told by my wife that we couldn't because the last time we ate pizza on the couch, I put grease everywhere.
"It is" Santana smiles at me. "I'm looking forward to a few days to spend at home together before we go back to work midweek" she tells me.
"We can't stay at home the whole time though" I point out.
"Why can't we?" Santana frowns at me in confusion.
"We need to go grocery shopping tomorrow" I state. Since we've been away on vacation for a week then we have barely any food at home so we have nothing to eat for the next few days.
"I hate grocery shopping" my wife groans.
"I know you do but it doesn't mean you don't have to go. I don't like it either but we really need to get some food" I state.
"We should just order our shopping online" Santana shrugs.
"That would be good in theory babe because it means we don't need to trail around a grocery store but we're going back to work soon so we'll not be at home to accept the deliveries" I say.
"We can figure things out tomorrow then because I'm not in the mood right now. I just want to eat and spend time with you" she replies.
"Ok" I smile. "I ate way too much on the vacation so the diet must start tomorrow" I tell my wife as I lift up another slice of pizza.
"I know exactly what you mean because I did overindulge a little bit. At the same time though, I don't really care because I had fun and I was celebrating" Santana replies.
"I had so much fun with you and I'm also looking forward to what the next chapter of our life brings" I say honestly.
"Me too" Santana agrees. "I'm looking forward to getting settled back into work this week and see how much fun it'll be working together now that we're married. Then once we've settled back in, hopefully we'll be nearly pregnant and can begin that chapter of our life" she smiles.
"I can't wait to have children with you" I say excitedly. I know it's not going to be happening right away but I'm still looking forward to it. "How many children can we have?" I ask. I do wants lots of kids but Santana is the one that needs to be pregnant for all of them so it really lies with her with how many we can have.
"I think we should just wait and see how we feel regarding how many we have. I'm not even pregnant with the first one yet and we don't know what life will throw at us along the way. I definitely want more than one though because I liked having siblings growing up and so did you" she points out.
"I loved having siblings so I do want at least two children but maybe I am getting ahead of myself at the moment. There is no need to think about the limit right now when we're not even pregnant with one yet" I say.
"As much as I love baby talk, I feel like I just want to go to bed now because I am so tired from our day of travelling so can we talk about this some other time?" Santana asks.
"Yeah of course, there is no rush" I smile. We already know we want to have a baby so there is no reason why we need to talk it over and over right now when we have plenty of time to do that.
"Let's put this pizza box in the kitchen and just head upstairs. We can clear up properly in the morning" Santana says.
"Ok" I nod. We leave the pizza box in the kitchen and then make sure the house is all locked up before switching off the lights and heading upstairs. We quickly go through our nightly routine of brushing our teeth and getting changed etc. before we climb into bed together.
"I know I said I was tired from our flight but I kinda lied because I'm not that tired. I just didn't want to unpack or clear up dinner" Santana says as she straddles me and pulls the covers over us. "We've never had sex at home as a married couple yet so I think we should definitely change that tonight because it's not really fair on anyone. We also need to christen every single area of this house as a married couple before we have a baby so we should really start now" she says smirking at me.
"I am more than happy to oblige right now" I smirk back as I pull my wife closer and kiss her. As she kisses back, I hold her tightly and flip us over.
"You're so sexy when you do that and take charge" she tells me with a smirk.
"You're sexy all of the time" I shrug while leaning in to kiss her again.
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*Wednesday 17th November 2021*
It's back to work today for my wife and I so we're just getting ready right now. We dropped in at work a few days ago just to say hi to some of our colleagues and see how things were going but today is when we officially start work again. Santana is just in the bathroom getting ready while I'm getting ready in the bedroom. We've both already eaten breakfast so we just need to finish in here and then we'll leave. I'm going to travel on my motorbike but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to persuade Santana to join me or if she'll want to take her car.
"I'm really not getting back into the groove very quickly of getting up early for work. I am so tired right now" Santana tells me as she leaves the bathroom. During our vacation time we did make the most of sleeping as long as we could in the morning but now we're going back to work, it's a hard adjustment of having to wake up super early.
"I know what you mean. I keep yawning already and I haven't even been up that long" I point out.
"Anyway, I'm ready to go whenever you are" Santana smiles at me as she walks towards the bedroom door.
"Are we travelling together?" I ask.
"We might as well. I'll drive though" she states.
"Babe, I wanted to take my motorbike remember" I reply.
"Are you serious about that?" Santana groans. "I thought you were joking last night. I really don't think the boss turning up to work on a motorbike is appropriate. You know the helmet messes up my hair and honestly, it's just not comfortable" she adds.
"I've not taken my bike out in a long time so I want to give it a bit of a spin to make sure it's still running ok so why not take it to work?" I shrug.
"I just told you why. It messes up my hair and I don't like it" Santana sighs.
"Fine ok. You drive to work then and I'll meet you there on the motorbike" I suggest.
"I wanted to go together though since it's our first day of officially working together as a married couple" she smiles at me.
"I get that but I really want to go on my bike so if you really don't want to join me then we'll need to meet there" I state.
"Fine. I'm really not sitting on that bike so I guess I'll just see you there" Santana tells me.
"Ok" I nod. We make our way downstairs and out the front door. Santana locks up the house and gets into her car while I go into the garage and retrieve my motorbike. "Can I get a kiss before you go?" I ask as I lean down to the opened window of my wife's car.
"Of course" she smiles at me. I lean in and kiss her on the lips. "See you at work" she adds.
"See you soon" I smile back. I then go over to my motorbike and get the helmet on as Santana speeds out of our driveway and leaves. As soon as I'm ready to go I leave. I can see Santana in the distance in her car for most of the way until she reaches some traffic lights so I weave in and out of the traffic and get to the front, passing my wife's car. I wave at her as I do so but she just glares at me in response. As soon as the lights hit green, I take off. I get to work before Santana so I park my bike up and wait by the entrance of the building for her.
"Do you think you're funny?" my wife asks me 5 minutes later as she makes her way over to me after parking her car.
"I'm not laughing babe" I frown at her.
"I left home before you did and you still got here before me" she tells me unamused.
"Maybe you should have got on the motorbike with me and then you would've been here earlier" I shrug.
"You shouldn't have been skipping the queue in the traffic, that's not fair on the rest of us" Santana states.
"You're allowed to do that on a motorbike. It's kind of the point of me taking it today so I could squeeze through the traffic and not wait" I shrug. "You're just jealous that I got here faster than you did" I smile.
"It's not jealousy that I have, it's annoyance. I left first so I should have arrived first" she tells me.
"Does it really matter honey?" I laugh. She is so adorable right now. I've got to admit, I did love how pissed she was when I overtook her on the road. Obviously, I just meant in like a teasing sort of way.
"We should go inside now" Santana states as she marches inside the building.
"Don't you want to like kiss me first or something because I am pretty sexy in my leather pants right now and I have super sexy helmet hair" I say as I run after her.
"It's tempting but I won't" Santana turns her head and smirks at me before continuing her way to her office.
"Fine, I'll just go to my own office then" I shrug.
"No, you'll come to my office right now" my boss says seriously while stopping in her tracks, waiting for me to catch up. "I need to talk to you about something in there" she says as she grabs my wrist and pulls me to her office.
"I could have come on my own you know" I laugh as we enter the office.
"I know but you weren't walking fast enough for my liking so I had to pull you along. Anyway, before we head to our meeting, I want to run over a few things with you" Santana replies. We sent out an email last night to all staff telling them we're having a meeting this morning with everyone so they need to meet us in the conference room in 15 minutes.
"Ok" I nod. Santana goes over a few things with me and then we head to the conference room to get ready for the meeting.
"First here as usual" Santana sighs. "I knew we would be the first ones here. Our staff members clearly think they can be casual about this meeting and turn up whenever they like" she says as we sit down at the table.
"They're not due to meet us for another 5 minutes so they're not technically doing anything wrong" I point out.
"This is the first day back for the bosses and they clearly have no thoughts to impress us. They should be turning up early and showing us, they want to impress us" Santana states.
"Everyone will be here soon" I say as I take Santana's hand in mine under the table.
"They better be" she replies. We talk between us for a few more minutes and then everyone starts to arrive. I wait until everyone has taken a seat before standing at the front of the room with Santana and then I start the meeting.
"Thank you all for coming this morning to this meeting. I know you have all been working as you normally would since I was on vacation but I just wanted today to quickly catch up with everyone" I tell everyone. Nothing has really changed at work for our colleagues but for Santana and I, we've been away for close to two weeks so we just wanted to catch up.
"I would have liked a little more enthusiasm this morning though. Some of you are sitting here like you're chewing wasps and that's not the morale I want in this company. We all know I'm hard on everyone but just because I'm not a cheerful person doesn't mean all of you have to be the same" Santana points out.
"Anyway, we are not here to offend you all right now" I say while looking at my wife. We've only been back less than an hour and Santana has already told them they don't look happy. "What we are here to do is just to speak to everyone and see how things are going" I add.
"Yeah. Firstly, I would just like to say I will be legally changing my name to Pierce but I haven't done that yet so for right now to save any confusion, you can call me whatever you want" Santana states.
"Basically, what myself and the hottest-boss-ever are trying to say is nothing has changed around here" I smile to everyone. They all look at me and some of them begin chuckling at Santana's unamused face right now.
"Ms Pierce, was that really appropriate?" Santana asks me with a glare.
"Was what really appropriate?" I say faking confusion.
"The name you just referred to me as?" Santana questions.
"You said to call you whatever we want so I was calling you a very appropriate name because it's true" I shrug.
"Yes, but I didn't mean it so literally. I meant everyone can decide if it's Ms Lopez or Ms Pierce that they call me. I will respond to both Lopez and Pierce but that's all" Santana says in clarification.
"Oh, I'm sorry. My bad" I smile at my wife.
"It's the first day back so let's not start out by messing around. We want to get this meeting underway so we can get it over with and everyone can head back to work" Santana states.
"Ok, fine" I nod. "Just to clarify to everyone though, Ms Lopez did agree to marry me and I didn't force her or anything. I promise. She was happy at the time unlike now" I add.
"Yes, I am happy I am married to Pierce now but please, can we take this seriously. I have a lot of catching up to do this morning" Santana replies and I nod again. "So, like I say, the name thing shouldn't be an issue. Brittany and I are married now so our titles have changed but nothing else so just work as you normally would and report to us as you normally would" she states.
"Ms Lopez is still the boss around here even though we run our separate lines so there is nothing different going on there" I tell everyone and they nod.
"Ok, the next point I want to bring up is that throughout the day today Brittany and I will be going around the different departments and talking to the head of the departments to see how things have been going the last two weeks. We also might talk to some people individually about certain things" Santana states.
"It's nothing to worry about though so don't get stressed" I say as I see the look of fear on some of their faces.
"If you haven't been working appropriately since I've been away then yeah, I would worry" Santana adds.
"I'm sure everyone has been working well in our absence though" I smile.
"We don't know that yet Brittany" Santana tells me and I nod. We then carry on with the rest of the meeting addressing a few points and getting everyone's feedback on the last few weeks. "Ok, I think that is all so we'll come and talk to some of you later" she says.
"I do just want to say one final thing before everyone gets back to work" I say before everyone tries to leave. "I just want to thank Santana for giving me this opportunity" I add.
"Brittany, come on" she replies uncomfortably.
"I'm serious" I state. "It's coming up to a pivotable time in BP Sportswear and I just want to thank you for allowing me and my team to create this fashion line. We all know I was good at numbers when I came here but I had no idea whatsoever about fashion so I want to thank you for letting me build this up into something great" I say honestly.
"It's fine" Santana shrugs.
"I don't think you realise just how much I appreciate you for letting me do this. I could have destroyed this company with my lack of knowledge and brought down your name if I screwed everything up but you knew I wouldn't do that. You took that risk and you believed in me and now BP Sportswear is doing better than ever so I really need to tell you how grateful I am. I would propose or something like that to show you how much you mean to me but I can't because I already kinda married you a couple of weeks ago" I smile at my wife.
"It's no trouble. You were a great employee Brittany so I made the right decision" Santana smiles back at me.
"I really wouldn't be this successful if it wasn't for you so thank you" I smile again. "I can't wait to see where this company goes now because you made my dreams come true. I love you so much and I can't wait to see what other things we can achieve together, business or otherwise" I say while leaning over to hug Santana.
"Stop it" she says embarrassed as she whispers in my ear.
"What?" I ask surprised as we pull out of the hold.
"You're going to make me cry and I don't cry at work" she states while clearing her throat. "Ok everyone, back to work" she says authoritatively while discreetly trying to wipe the tear away that escaped down her cheek.
"We'll see some of you later" I smile. Everyone starts to leave and gets back to work. I meanwhile walk back over to Santana. "You are so cute right now" I smirk.
"I really appreciate what you said but I have an image here babe and I need to seem strong at work so please don't embarrass me like that. I didn't mind people seeing that side of me at the wedding but not at work, ok" she replies.
"Ok, I'm sorry" I apologise.
"I really, really do appreciate the gesture though and I love you so much" she smiles while kissing my cheek.
"Feel free to turn up to my office later and go to town on me to prove you're the boss" I smile.
"Excuse me, go to town on you?" she asks questioningly with a smirk.
"I mean in like an argumentative way babe. Shout at me and give me a good telling off later if you want to prove to everyone you're the boss and I still need to follow orders around here otherwise I might get fired. That would show everyone you're still as tough" I explain.
"Oh, I thought you were trying to be funny and meant in like a sexual way" Santana laughs.
"I mean I could mean it like that but it would definitely need to be at home though" I smile. "Ok I should really get back to work now. I will see you later" I say while walking towards the door.
"Are you forgetting something?" she asks as she points to her cheek.
"Sorry" I laugh while walking over to her. I lean over to kiss her cheek but she pulls away at the last second so I catch her lips instead. "Bye" I laugh.
"Bye honey" Santana smiles and I leave.
Santana and I are busy for most of the rest of the day whether it's when we're working together or working on things independently. We talked to some of our staff in each department and then grabbed lunch together in my office before talking to some more staff and then each working separately in our own offices. We both agreed to finish up around 6 this evening so I'm just outside waiting on Santana since she doesn't seem to be here. I'm just waiting by my motorbike, hoping she'll turn up soon because I'm getting cold. It's another ten minutes later before I hear the familiar sound of her heels quickly approaching me.
"Hey boss, can I offer you a ride home?" I ask with a smirk as I point to my motorbike.
"It wouldn't be professional of me to be seen riding home from work with an employee" she teases.
"Come on Ms Lopez, live a little" I smile. "Have you never been on the back of a motorbike before?" I ask.
"I have but I really don't think I should be associating with an employee Miss Pierce so I will decline" Santana flirts with me.
"I promise it'll be one of the best rides of your life" I smile as I reach out to pull my wife towards me. "You'll get to press yourself up against me or if you're lucky, I'll let you drive and I can hold you tightly" I add.
"What about my car babe, I drove today remember" Santana replies.
"Leave it here and you can get it tomorrow. We can just travel into work together again tomorrow and you can drive the car home" I shrug.
"Ok" she shrugs back. "Helmet me up baby" she smirks as she holds out her hand for the extra helmet I have.
"Ok" I smile. She gets on her helmet and then I get onto the bike and Santana gently sits behind me. She grips tightly onto my waist and I speed off home. "I don't know why you don't ride on this with me more often" I say.
"Because it's uncomfortable Brittany" Santana replies.
"I think it's really sexy" I say.
"The idea is but actually doing it isn't. I don't know how you can ride this thing all the time because I feel like my butt is broken in half right now" my wife tells me.
"We're nearly home so don't panic" I assure her.
Santana's POV
*Friday 19th November 2021*
It's another day of getting up early to go to work. I think Brittany and I were a little spoiled taking the time off for the honeymoon because it's so hard to get back into a proper routine now. We got too used to getting up whenever we wanted on our honeymoon that now we're back at work, it's hard getting up early. Actually, it's hard for me but not so much for Brittany since she's already got up and showered this morning. I've just finished in the shower and I'm now on my way to see where my wife is. When I walk into the kitchen, Brittany is down on the floor on her hands and knees with her butt sticking up in the air.
"Well hello there" I say teasingly to my wife.
"Morning" she replies with a smile as she turns around and gets up from the floor.
"A good morning it is. Was that for my benefit?" I ask with a wink.
"No, I just spilled my cereal everywhere and I was brushing it up" Brittany replies.
"It was a sexy sight anyway" I smile while hitting her on the ass playfully.
"Sexy enough that we shouldn't go into work today and can stay at home all day?" she asks hopefully.
"Very sexy but we do still have to work Britt" I say regrettably. "It is Friday though so if we work today then we'll have worked for 3 straight days so I think we can take the weekend off" I add.
"Sounds like a good idea to me" my wife smiles at me. "Maybe I could cook us something nice tonight and we could have a little romantic night together" she suggests as she wraps her arms around my waist.
"I would like that" I smile while leaning forward to kiss her. "Let's aim to finish by 5pm tonight so we can get home in good time and you don't need to rush in from work to cook" I say.
"Sounds good" she smiles.
Once Brittany and I have both eaten breakfast, we finish getting ready and then head off to work in our separate cars. The morning goes in quite quickly for me so it's lunch time before I know it. I'm currently just eating and talking to my mom on the phone at the same time. Brittany had some things to do so we couldn't eat lunch together. I hadn't really planned on calling my mom, I was just going to eat lunch myself and then start back work, but I wanted to get some advice from my mom on something so it made sense for me to call her since I was alone.
"I feel like we haven't physically seen you in a while" my mom tells me.
"I know but we'll change that because I want you and dad to come over for dinner sometime" I say. "This week sometime would be good" I add.
"Your dad is taking me on a romantic overnight stay tomorrow so this weekend isn't going to be good" my mom replies.
"It doesn't have to be the weekend then" I state. It could be any day next week because I don't think we really have any plans.
"Tonight, would be good" my mom says excitedly.
"Uh…mom, I didn't mean…"
"Tonight is perfect actually because with us going away tomorrow and then we have some things on during the week with your brother and sister so tonight means we don't need to wait another week to see you" she replies.
"That is true" I say a little downbeat. Don't get me wrong I want to see my parents because I haven't seen them a lot recently but Brittany and I were supposed to have a romantic night tonight. "Let me speak to Brittany and then I'll text you later about what time to come over" I say.
"Ok" my mom replies.
"I should get back to work now but I'll see you and dad later" I tell her.
"Ok, bye honey" my mom says and then we both hang up the phone. I quickly tidy up my things from lunch before making my way to Brittany's office.
"Hey can I speak to you for a second?" I ask as I walk into Brittany's office.
"Of course" Brittany smiles. "Take a seat if you want" she adds as she points to the chair across from her desk.
"Ok, here is the thing. I accidentally invited my parents to dinner tonight so is that ok?" I ask nervously.
"Accidentally, how do you accidentally invite them?" Brittany asks amused.
"They wanted to have dinner sometime with us because we haven't seen them in a while and I suggested sometime soon like the weekend but they couldn't do the weekend so when I said it doesn't have to be the weekend, she thought I meant tonight. I meant it could be early next week or whatever but she took not the weekend meaning tonight. I tried to explain but she said tonight was perfect because she wouldn't need to wait another week to see us so I didn't have the heart to say no" I explain.
"That's ok honey, I don't mind them coming to dinner" Brittany smiles.
"I do want to see my parents but we did agree on a romantic night tonight so we're going to have to change our plans" I say.
"Maybe we can't have the romantic dinner I promised but we can certainly have a romantic night once your parents head home" she states.
"Ok, sounds good" I smile. "Anyway, I better get back to work because I have a lot to do and then I need to text my mom and let her know the time to come over" I add.
"See you later then" Brittany smiles and then I leave and head back to my own office to get started back work again.
As soon as Brittany and I finished work, we rushed home so we could get ready for dinner. We're both going to be doing the cooking so I went straight home to get things started and Brittany went to the grocery store to get a few more things since we're cooking for 4 now and not 2 like we had initially planned. As soon as she got home, we finished off the cooking and had time to quickly change before my parents arrived.
"I'm glad you could both come to dinner tonight" Brittany smiles at my parents.
"We're glad to be here because we feel like you two are always so busy so we don't see much of you" my mom replies.
"I know but it's just a busy time for us at work since we took some time off for the honeymoon so hopefully once we get back into the swing of things then we'll have a better routine" I reply.
"Speaking of the honeymoon, how was it? What did you do the whole time?" my mom asks.
"Maribel, I wouldn't ask them that. It was a honeymoon" my dad points out.
"I know but you girls must have gone to dinner or the beach or something. Surely you didn't spend every minute in the honeymoon suite" my mom replies.
"Yeah we did go out for dinner and to the beach. We also went to the gym, took a nice walk one night and I convinced Santana to take a boat ride with me" Brittany replies.
"I'm not generally a huge fan of boat rides but the one we went on was rather good. We got to see lots of beautiful scenery and relax together as well as having lunch" I say. "I did get food poisoning one night which wasn't great but other than that the vacation was amazing" I smile.
"It sounds like you both had fun" my dad smiles.
"We did and I can't wait to see what else we do together now that we're married" Brittany states.
"So now that you're married, could we expect grandchildren at some point?" my mom asks.
"Mom, please" I sigh.
"It's just a question Santana, there is no need to get annoyed" my mom replies.
"We're not saying you have to have them now but we just want to know if they are in your plans?" my dad asks with a shrug.
"Yes, they are" Brittany smiles.
"Britt!" I say surprised. I kinda wanted to keep our plans private because having a baby or even trying for one is a big deal to us after we had the abortion some time ago.
"Well it is true we want to have children so why are we hiding it?" she asks with a shrug.
"I just don't want to tempt fate that's all" I state. "I've already given up one chance of having your baby so I don't want that to affect anything from here on" I say.
"You two made the decision that was right for you at the time and no one can judge you for that. I guarantee you wouldn't be in this position right now if things turned out differently. I know it wasn't an easy decision to make but it's made you both realise what you now want. It might seem a but cruel but you wouldn't be where you are today if it didn't happen" my mom points out.
"I know" I sigh. "If we had the baby before then I don't think we'd ever get together because our lives would be just too different from what they are just now. I don't think Brittany would even still be working for me" I point out.
"Yeah we wouldn't be married and I most certainly wouldn't still be working with you if things had gone in a different direction. I'm never going to like we had an abortion but at the same time, like you say Maribel it has brought us here to where we are" Brittany states.
"Yeah" I nod.
Once we all finish eating, I insist on clearing up since Brittany made most of the dinner. My dad heads to the living room and he and Brittany catch up while my mom helps me. I told her she didn't need to help me either but she insisted. I didn't really mind because it let me catch up with her properly where we weren't just talking down a phone to each other. I like the little family I have with my wife but I also like spending time with my mom so it's nice to just talk just the two of us.
"I'm really happy you found Brittany" my mom tells me as she dries up some dishes I've just washed.
"Yeah me too otherwise I'd be alone" I laugh.
"I'm being serious Santana. I'm really glad you've found that person to settle down with and you're now married and thinking about children. You always seemed so independent so I was worried this might never happen for you" she replies.
"You didn't think anyone could love me?" I question.
"Of course, I don't mean it like that. I just meant that you never seemed interested before in settling down. I didn't mean no one would want to be with you because of course they would. You are a beautiful and talented girl so you could have anyone you wanted" my mom explains.
"All I've ever wanted is someone like Britt and I've got her so I'm good" I smile.
"All I've ever wanted is for my children to be happy and you all seem to be so I'm good too" my mom smiles back.
"I'm glad you like Brittany. I mean I don't need your approval anyway because I'm always going to be with her whether you like it or not but it's nice to know you actually like her" I say honestly.
"I do like her very much and I like her even more for the way she takes care of you and makes you happy. I also can't wait to see you two have children now. I'm not pressuring you, I'm just saying" she tells me.
"I know and we are looking forward to it too. I just want to make sure everything goes right this time" I say.
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*Wednesday 1st December 2021*
Brittany and I have been back at work for a couple of weeks now and everything has fallen right back into place. It's been great getting back to normal and seeing what it's like being married and working together. The only small worry I have is how much time we're spending at work. It's not really an issue right now because we've always been like that but now that we are trying to have a family then I don't want us to be like that when I do get pregnant. We said once we were going to have a baby then we would cut back on work a little so that we can put our focus into raising our child.
I'm just on my lunch break at work right now. I always take a break during work but it's usually just a short one but today I'm taking a longer break which my wife insisted on. She told me that I don't take enough time to myself and that's why I'm always exhausted so today I'm listening to her. I've got to say though, once I finished eating my lunch, I still had a large amount of time left on my break so I did get bored. I guess that's just because I'm used to eating my lunch quickly and getting back to work since I don't have time that I don't realise just how quickly I eat sometimes. I'm just looking through some social media right now to relax on the remainder of my break.
Oh my god, what have I just saw? I need to talk to Brittany right now. I get up from my desk and abruptly leave my office, marching along the corridor to my wife's office. I don't even bother knocking when I get there, I just walk right on in and towards her desk where she's sitting.
"Brittany what the actual fuck?" I ask annoyed while holding my phone in front of Brittany's face.
"What?" she asks confused.
"Look at the video on my phone" I tell her while hitting play. As soon as she sees it, she bursts into laughter.
"So good right" she smiles at me.
"No Brittany, not good" I shake my head. "You have put a fucking video on Instagram of me snoring, how is that good. It's highly embarrassing for me because the whole world can see it now. That's like me putting a picture of you naked out there. People have certain things that they want to remain private" I add.
"Ok, first of all it's not like a naked picture at all and secondly, everyone finds it adorable" she tells me.
"I don't" I state unamused.
"Ok, everyone except my wife finds it adorable" Brittany smiles at me.
"You got to take it down" I say shaking my head. "I don't always embarrass easily but I am highly embarrassed right now" I add.
"There really is no need to be embarrassed Santana because it's very cute and it shows everyone you are human. Mostly everyone snores so it's really nothing to be pissed about" she assures me.
"You're softening me up to all of my employees and I don't want them to get the wrong impression. I don't want them to think I am soft now and they can get away with murder around here" I point out.
"That's not going to happen because they saw a video of you snoring. They might chuckle a little bit at it but they won't start disobeying you just because they now know you snore" Brittany says amused.
"I really hope you are right" I sigh.
"Ok, I'll take the video down. I only posted it because I thought it was really cute and your fans would like it but if it honestly offends you then I don't want that" she says honestly.
"I suppose everyone has probably seen it already now so the harm is done so I don't suppose taking it down now is going to make a difference. Perhaps I am overreacting a little bit because it is just me sleeping really and everyone sleeps" I say. I suppose the more I think about it the more I'm not that embarrassed because why shouldn't Brittany posts videos of her wife.
"I give you permission to post anything you want about me…well except naked pictures. Please don't post a picture of me like that because that's too much" Brittany replies.
"I would never do something like that" I smile. I know Brittany is incredibly private like that and I respect that. "Also, I want what's mine to be kept a secret. I don't want the whole world to see my wife naked because I want to keep that for myself" I add.
"I actually put another video out there of us" she states.
"You seriously did not do that did you?" I ask outraged. "That video was private. We made it for us not for the whole of the world to see" I say shaking my head.
"No, not a sexy video" she states laughing. "I'm talking about the video of us dancing together acting all cute and shit" she shrugs.
"Ok" I say relieved.
"Like I just said, I don't want naked pictures out there of us so I'm definitely not going to post sexy videos either" Brittany states.
"I know. I just couldn't think which other videos you were talking about apart from the sexy videos because all the footage I have I haven't edited yet so it's not really to put out there" I tell her.
"So, what are you up to at the moment?" my wife asks me. "I know you weren't working when you got here otherwise you wouldn't have saw the snoring video" she adds.
"I was taking a well-deserved lunch break like you told me to and I got a little bored so I was just browsing through some social media stuff. Some of Quinn's posts and then some of yours and then I came across your latest video" I reply. "What about you, are you working or going to have lunch now?" I ask.
"I had an early lunch actually so I've already eaten. I'm just back from a meeting and I didn't know how long it would take so I thought I better eat first" Brittany replies.
"Makes sense I guess" I smile.
"Do you want to stay here and work in my office with me for the rest of the day because I haven't seen you a lot this week apart from when we're at home?" Brittany asks.
"I've actually got a lot I need to do in my office but if I leave now and get all my work done then we could leave early today and get to spend some quality time at home" I smile.
"Sounds like a good plan to me. Text me or call me or something when you're finished and I'll wrap up what I have to do and then we can go home" she smiles back.
"I'll see you in a couple of hours then" I say while leaning over to kiss Brittany.
"See you soon" Brittany smiles and then I leave the office. I'm just going to grab some coffee on my way back to my office because I'm going to need it to work and my coffee machine in my office isn't working right now. I'm just walking towards the staff room to get my beverage when I hear a strange conversation between some of my staff members. The most shocking part is that Jack and Jade are involved and I would have expected more for them than to be a part of a bitchy conversation.
"She just thinks because she's married to the boss now that she can get whatever she wants. We all have ideas around here but I guess if you don't sleep your way up into management then it doesn't matter what you have to say" Lindsey, an employee from my design team states.
"Lindsey, I don't think…"
"No Jack, it's not fair on the rest of us anymore. Ms Lopez owns this company not Brittany so why does Brittany think she can get whatever she wants just because she's married to the boss. She came in here and went straight from accounting to having her own fashion line. She couldn't even draw when she got here so can barely design something good but Ms Lopez doesn't care about that because she's got tunnel vision when it comes to Brittany. She only sees what she wants to see and can't see that Brittany doesn't know anything about fashion" Lindsey rants.
"I don't think you should talk about Brittany like that" Jade says, shaking her head.
"No please do continue. I want to hear more of what you have to say about Ms Pierce" I say angrily.
"Uh…Ms Lopez…we weren't…" Jack tries to explain.
"Save it Jack, I want to hear more from Lindsey" I say while shushing my employee. "Don't get all shy now Lindsey" I say as she doesn't seem to say anything.
"I just meant that I've been working for you for a while and you don't care about my ideas but yet you put someone in charge of a fashion line who knows zero about fashion" Lindsey replies.
"Have you ever thought that maybe your ideas are completely shit so that's why I don't want to hear them?" I ask. I am doing everything in my power right now not to hit this bitch. I am the boss around here so I don't take it lightly when people criticise me. I especially don't take it lightly when you start offending my wife.
"My ideas are better than Brittany's, Ms Lopez" Lindsey boldly says.
"Oh, is that so?" I question. Seriously I am one second away from being arrested for assault or maybe murder.
"Maybe this isn't the correct place to do this" Jade says nervously.
"The 3 of you can come to my office right now then" I state while marching away. I do need coffee and I still haven't got it yet but this is more important right now. "Move, now!" I snap as the three of them seem to be lagging behind.
"You have to know Ms Lopez; we think very highly of Brittany" Jack assures me.
"Sit down!" I say abruptly so all three of them sit down at the desk. "I don't like to bring a lot of my personal life into work with me because Brittany and I like to keep things business like but you insulted my wife so this is going to get personal" I tell Lindsey.
"Can I just point out that Jade and I don't feel the same way. We honestly love working for both you and Brittany" Jack tells me nervously.
"I know you two are great workers and don't have any problems with Brittany. I just start to question you two a little bit when I see the company your keeping" I state. I don't have my doubts about them with regard how much they like working here and working for both my wife and I but I do wonder what kind of people they might be when this is who they hang around with.
"We were all just sitting together eating lunch and Lindsey started going off on Brittany. We didn't really want any part in it" Jade points out.
"Thanks for backing me up" Lindsey glares at Jade. "It's just great when a colleague throws you under the bus at work" she adds sarcastically.
"She is only stating the truth Lindsey" Jack snaps at Lindsey.
"I knew you would side with her because you're dating or whatever. You've been up Brittany's butt since she got here Jack and now that you're shaking up with Jade then that automatically puts her up there too which also means Ms Lopez likes you since you like her wife" Lindsey states annoyed.
"Can you not use that phrase when talking about my wife" I say while glaring at Lindsey. "No one is up anyone's butt thank you very much" I add.
"I'm not scared of you Ms Lopez so I'm not afraid to explain to you that what you're doing isn't fair" Lindsey says.
"I couldn't care less whether you were scared of me or not but I don't tolerate this kind of behaviour in my workplace. I own and run this company so if you have a problem with that then you know where the door is. I don't have to explain my decision about BP Sportswear to you but I will so you can understand what is going on here" I state. "BP Sportswear is Brittany's company. She made the first design and had all of the ideas for it so in no way was the development of that business venture to do with my relationship. She built that business on her own so the only association I have with that is the fact I married the person who created it" I add.
"She went straight from accounts to designing her own line. That doesn't happen because we all know she isn't a great designer otherwise, why did she work with numbers and accounts in the first place?" Lindsey questions.
"Seriously, what is your problem right now?" I ask. I am losing sight of what is really bothering her right now. She has a great job working here and earns a decent salary so why is she bad mouthing my wife right now?
"I have showed you one great design after another and you don't even think twice about it. You just dismiss them each time but here we are with your wife designing a whole fashion line herself. I am the better designer here so how is it fair of you to let Brittany have whatever she wants just because you're married" Lindsey replies.
"I saw the potential in Brittany way before I was personally involved with her so don't you dare say Brittany got to where she is because of me. I gave her nothing and even if I did, she wouldn't just take it. She has worked very hard to be where she is today and I couldn't be prouder of her" I state. Brittany wouldn't have even got an interview to work for my company in the first place if I didn't think she was talented so what Lindsey is saying is all crap.
"You just don't give anyone else a chance though, that is my point" Lindsey sighs.
"You work for me Lindsey so if I don't think your designs are very good then I don't think they're very good. It's as simple as that. If you want to design some things yourself then go ahead but they won't be for my company" I state with a shrug. I don't care what she wants to design because all that is designed by my company is what I decide to design.
"Fine" Lindsey says while rolling her eyes.
"Ok, let's not drag this out too long. Jack and Jade get back to work please. You have something to prove now since I'm questioning you both based on the company you keep and Lindsey, get all of your stuff, leave my company and never come back please" I say while walking towards the door and holding it open.
"Wait, you're firing me?" Lindsey asks.
"Your damn right I am" I nod.
"You're firing me for sticking up for myself and trying to help you with giving you some designs I drew up?" Lindsey questions.
"Jade, Jack, back to work now please" I say as neither of them move.
"Yes Ms Lopez" Jack nods and then he and Jade leave my office.
"I am firing you Lindsey because I don't like you and I don't like the way you're handling yourself in my company. This is my business and I decide what happens so any decision no matter what it is whether it's how I want my staff to conduct themselves or whether it's because I like them or not is all based on what I want. I don't want you here any longer so go away" I state.
"You can't fire me for having some ideas and sticking up for myself" Lindsey states again.
"It's my company so yes I can. There is no legislation out there that says I can't because this is a privately-owned business so I can do what I want. Also, that isn't actually why I'm firing you but anyway" I shrug.
"This isn't fair" Lindsey sighs.
"It's perfectly fair now get the hell out of my office before I personally remove you. No one who talks about my wife in the way you did will ever work for me. I won't allow it so as I say, get the hell out of my company before I drag you out of here by your hair. You are nowhere near as talented as my wife so don't even think about disrespecting her on your way out" I state.
"Fine" Lindsey huffs. She gets her stuff and then I make sure she leaves the building. I've notified my security team that I do not ever want her back here on my premises so if she does try to come here, I want the police called.
"Jade, can you come here for a second" I say as I walk towards her.
"Ok" Jade nods.
"Follow me" I say and then we walk towards Jack's desk. "I need to speak to the two of you. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt here but if I find out either of you have lied to me then you'll be going the same way as Lindsey" I point out.
"We understand" Jack states.
"You did not participate in that conversation, did you?" I ask the two of them and they shake their heads. "You don't feel the same way as she did, do you? I want the honest answer please, not the one to suck up to me to keep your jobs."
"No, we don't feel the same way at all. We love working for Brittany and I think she really is talented and deserves to have her own fashion line" Jack assures me.
"I agree. Brittany is the best boss I've ever had" Jade tells me and I look at her questioningly. "I mean you are too but we're talking about Brittany, right?" she adds nervously.
"Yes, we are" I smile. I am the overall boss around here but it is nice to hear that mostly everyone respects and likes how Brittany runs her side of things around here. "I believe you were trying to disagree with Lindsey but if anyone ever talks about my wife like that again then you tell me. It sounds like Lindsey has been pissed off for a while so if you ever think someone else has a problem then don't let them rant. Let me know right away because it's not going to be tolerated" I add.
"We honestly didn't invite her to talk to us like that. We literally were just eating lunch together and she started saying all of this stuff about Brittany. I was actually quite shocked because everyone likes Brittany around here" Jack tells me.
"Yeah, Brittany is the best" I smile while thinking about my wife. I'm probably standing smiling thinking about her for too long because Jack and Jade are now just staring at me like I've grew three heads. "Anyway, thank you for your honesty. I need to get back to work now" I say while walking back to my office.
I'm working hard in my office for another couple of hours when I hear my phone vibrate at the side of me. I quickly finish what I'm doing and then check my phone to see who it is. It happens to be Brittany so I read the text and she's just asking me if we're still going to be going home early tonight because she hasn't heard from me in a few hours. I did say we could leave early so I probably should have text her by now to say I've been held up.
To Brittany: Sorry, I've just got held up with some work stuff. I'm going to be another half an hour.
From Brittany: That sucks. I was looking forward to going home early
To Brittany: I know and I'm sorry. It really won't be anymore than half an hour baby
From Brittany: Do you want me to come and help you finish because I'm finished my work for the day?
To Brittany: No, it's ok. You take this time to relax. It's just boring work I'm doing on a dismissal.
From Brittany: You fired someone? What did they do, drink the last of the coffee? : )
To Brittany: I am actually being serious honey, I had to dismiss someone today. She thinks its unfair dismissal but I think it was perfectly fair. Anyway, that's not for you to worry about right now.
I don't really know what happens for the next 10 minutes because Brittany doesn't text me back. I thought it was maybe my crappy phone and the signal went but I don't think it is. I'm going back to work anyway so I can hopefully get this finished for the night and get home to relax with my wife. I'm just working for another 5 minutes when my office door opens and Brittany appears.
"Hey babe" I smile.
"Hey" she smiles. "I've finished for the day and I have all of my stuff here so as soon as you're done, we'll leave to head home" she tells me.
"Sounds good but you don't need to wait on me here. Relax or something" I smile back.
"As soon as you said you were being serious then I thought I better get my stuff and come here to see what's going on. The reason I didn't text back was because I was wrapping everything up to come straight here so see what happened" Brittany states.
"It's no big deal babe. I just had to fire someone today so I'm just going through some documents and putting the dismissal into progress" I shrug.
"Firing someone is a big deal babe, what happened?" Brittany asks in concern.
"We just weren't on the same page and I didn't like the way she has been conducting herself at work so I thought it was best I let her go and she can go and fuck up someone else's business" I shrug. I don't want Brittany to get hurt so I don't need to go into the full details of everything today.
"Who was it that you fired?" she asks curiously.
"Lindsey from my design team" I reply.
"Well, I'm not going to lie, I won't miss her. She has been acting strange around me for months now and it was starting to piss me off. Her attitude towards me sometimes wasn't great so she obviously has something bothering her so it's probably for the best she doesn't work here anymore since she clearly doesn't like it" Brittany states.
"Wait, she has been rude to you recently?" I ask shocked. Oh I wish I had slapped that bitch now.
"Yeah but nothing major or anything" Brittany shrugs.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask.
"Because not everyone in an organisation of this size is going to like each other. It would be too good to be true if every single person in here all liked every other person here" she tells me.
"I just wish you had told me honey and I would have fired her way before now" I sigh.
"It really isn't a big thing honey" Brittany smiles.
"It is a big thing because if I knew she had been bullying you since before now then I'd have kicked her out sooner" I state.
"She wasn't bullying me. She just wasn't very friendly to me" Brittany shrugs again.
"I wish I really did kick her ass now when I had the chance" I say while shaking my head.
"Look, there's no harm done now because she's left now anyway so it doesn't matter how she treated me because she won't do it again" she replies.
"I lied babe" I sigh. "I didn't fire her because we weren't on the same page. I fired her because I heard her badmouthing you in a really bad way earlier and I wasn't having someone talk about my wife like that around here. We're married now so this whole organisation is as much my business as it's yours so I didn't want an employee working here who could disrespect you like that" I add.
"Wait, why didn't you just tell me that. I'm a big girl Santana so I could handle the truth" Brittany states. "I don't like that you were blaming something else when I'm the reason she got fired" she states.
"I just didn't want you to get hurt because she said some really awful things and it kills me to see you upset. You are my wife and I want to protect you in any way I can so I didn't want you to feel upset about what she said" I tell her.
"I appreciate that but I knew she didn't like me so I really don't care. You could have just told me" she replies.
"Ok, I'm sorry for not telling you but I'm not sorry for firing her. No one disrespects my wife like that and gets away with it. I was actually in two minds about beating the crap out of her but it's not going to go down well for our business if the owner is arrested for assaulting an ex-employee so I decided against the violence. I'm telling you now though Brittany, I've already killed her in my head if that helps" I state.
"I love you so much" Brittany says as she walks over to me and leans against the desk next to me. "You fired an employee for me and that is super sexy" she says as she leans in and kisses me.
"Seriously, no one gets to speak about you like that. She was a good worker to begin with and it's not going to be easy to be a staff member down but I will take that in a heartbeat if it means getting rid of poisonous people like her that can't see how amazing my wife is. I will protect you in every way I can because you are way more important to me than anyone or any thing" I say honestly.
"The feeling is mutual babe" Brittany smiles. "Now can we leave this work until tomorrow and please go home. I think I need to show you just how grateful I am to you but I don't really want to do it right here" she states.
"Ok" I smile. I quickly finish what I'm doing and then get ready to go home.
"Thank you for always taking care of me" Brittany says as she pulls me into a hug.
"No, thank you for always being amazing and for being you" I smile. Brittany is the best thing that has ever happened to me so I will never forget that. I am always going to take care of her and protect her so she doesn't need to thank me because it's not hard to love her so much.