Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own glee or this story


What's in the crate, Papi?" Taylor asked softly, trying to contain her excitement. Santana swallowed thickly and sat on her hands, biting her bottom lip.

"Open it and see." Mr. Lopez smiled, glancing at his wife, who in turn raised her eyebrow as well.

Skylar continued to hold her giraffe tightly around the neck, but her eyes were watching Taylor as her big sister opened the crate and frowned.

"There's nothing in here Papi, where's the dog?" Taylor asked sadly as Santana sighed in relief and leaned back on the couch, Brittany moved to sit next to Santana, wrapping her arm around her and kissing her on the cheek while watching Mr. Lopez sit on the floor next to Taylor.

"There's something in there, reach in." Mr. Lopez coaxed.

Santana craned her neck to see as Brittany wrapped her arm around her and kissed softly down the side of her neck to relax her, causing Santana to blush and turn to quickly catch Brittany's lips.

"It's just an envelope." Taylor frowned. "I don't get it." She shrugged, jumping to her feet and handing the envelope to Brittany, who shook her head and mouthed for her to open it herself. "Whoa...$3000?!"

"Whoa." Santana raised her eyebrow at her father and reached for the check to make sure Taylor was reading it correctly.

"Come here, Tay." Mr. Lopez called her over in Spanish. "This is money for you to buy whatever kind of dog you want, to pay for all the shots, to get food and water bowls, to buy some toys, a cage, a gate, a leash, a sweater for the winter, boots, a collar..."

"Who needs all of that?" Taylor asked quickly.

"The dog." Mr. Lopez replied with a smile. "Having a puppy is fun, they are soft, and always ready to play."

"Like Sky." Santana teased, winking at the baby who was busy dragging her giraffe over to Brittany.

Brittany laughed at Santana's comment and wiggled her fingers to Skylar, who dropped the giraffe and ran closer to her, Brittany leaned forward and grabbed the giraffe for her, setting it next to the couch and lifting Skylar in her lap.

"But they also require a lot of work, you have to clean up after them, pick up their poop, make sure they are fed and have enough water, you also have to make sure they get proper exercise." Mr. Lopez continued.

"Again like Sky." Santana teased again, blowing a kiss to Skylar, who blushed and laid on Brittany's chest, while staring at the Latina with a smile. "Hey, baby girl." She waved to her, smiling when Skylar waved back.

"Dogs take a lot of responsibility and time, so I want you to hold on to this check and when your moms feel that you're ready for that type of responsibility then you can pay for it yourself and really show that you're responsible enough." He winked at her.

Taylor looked up at Santana, who nodded to her. "Okay, thanks Papi." Taylor smiled and jumped up to hug him tightly.

"You're welcome. Tomorrow we can go to the store and pick out a toy." Mr. Lopez told her as he kissed his granddaughter on the forehead.

"That's okay, Papi, Buela got me a bunch of stuff already." Taylor shook her head.

"Hmmmmm, well maybe I can get you one more, for good measure."

Taylor looked at Santana quickly, who nodded with a soft smile. "That's a good idea." Taylor laughed.

"Well, I need to get ready for work, I'm glad you're here, Papi." Santana smiled as she kissed Skylar on the cheek and ran her fingers through Taylor's hair before smiling at her parents and heading upstairs.

"I can take your luggage upstairs, Rafael." Brittany smiled.

Mr. Lopez stood up and stretched his arms. "Don't be silly, I can carry my own luggage, maybe Taylor can show me which room Buela is staying in and I'll share with her." He teased winking at his wife.

"Oh, I got a roomie for the week?" Mrs. Lopez smiled before standing and kissing her husband on the cheek. "I'm going to start dinner, Taylor, sweetheart can you put the towels away?"

"Si, Buela." Taylor nodded, she picked up the basket and led her grandfather up the stairs, Skylar watching them intently.

Brittany looked down at Skylar, who glanced up at her and stuck her hand in her mouth. "Just us two." Brittany pulled her hand out of her mouth, causing Skylar to smile at her.

"Play." Skylar whispered. "Play wif Sky."

"Momma would love to play with Sky." Brittany beamed as she kissed her on the nose, laughing when Skylar scrunched up her face at her and laughed. "You like kisses, huh?" Skylar nodded quickly so Brittany kissed her on the nose again and laughed when Skylar began to blush as she stared at Brittany. She reached up and ran her little fingers over Brittany's lips, grabbing her top one. Brittany puckered her lips and kissed her little fingers. "Can you say kiss?" She asked Skylar, holding her tightly around the waist since she began to jump around on her lap.

"Kith." Skylar mimicked.

"Good job." Brittany held up her hand for a high five, which Skylar immediately gave her, she then set her on the floor and watched her start to play with her blocks, getting on the floor slowly when Skylar turned to look at her.


Santana was brushing her hair, having showered and gotten dressed for work, when Brittany came into the bedroom, she glanced in the mirror at her wife and smiled as Brittany walked closer to her and kissed her on neck as she took the brush out of her hand.

"It's nice having your parents around." She smiled.

"Yeah, they love being around the girls, and Skylar seems to be warming up to my mom." Santana nodded as Brittany set the brush down and began to braid her hair into two cornrows at the top of her head, then connecting them in the middle to make one big braid. "I want her to get comfortable with them."

"She will." Brittany nodded, continuing her braiding. "Remember when you said the best part of your mom being here was the automatic babysitter?"

Santana laughed and nodded. "Yes, and I can't wait to sleep in next weekend. With your parents coming too, we could probably sleep the whole weekend and Taylor wouldn't even miss us. I'm going to buy new sheets and a new comforter and I'm staying in that bed all day Saturday." She added with a smile. "You up for a cuddle fest?"

"Yes, but not here." Brittany replied.

Santana turned and looked up at her.

"What?"

"Let's take a trip." Brittany smiled, leaning down and hugging Santana over the top of the chair, resting her chin on her shoulder.

Santana stared at her in the mirror and reached up to tuck her hands in between Brittany's arms, holding her back. "When? Where? What?"

"Next weekend I say we take a little trip, anywhere we want to go, we can leave Thursday night, catch a red eye somewhere and come back Sunday evening." Brittany explained. "We haven't taken a trip together, just us two in over a year, since before Sky Sky."

Santana turned and pulled Brittany to sit in her lap, once Brittany wrapped her arms around her neck, Santana placed one hand on her wife's thigh and rubbed her back with the other. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Brittany nodded. "There will be four grandparents in the house, all who want to spend time with her granddaughters, we can slip out easily."

Santana laughed. "Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere warm, with a beach, and an ocean view." Brittany smiled before beginning to kiss around Santana's face gently. "Somewhere with umbrella drinks, fresh fruit, and grilled seafood." She continued before pressing their lips together.

"Hmmmmmm," Santana broke the kiss and smiled at her wife. "Cabo has always been good to us."

Brittany nodded. "Yes it has."

"Cabo it is, how about you work on my parents and I'll book everything tonight at work." Santana smiled.

"Got it." Brittany kissed her again. "I'll pack you lunch for work." She hopped off Santana's lap and winked at her before leaving the room.

"Party time." Santana laughed softly to herself.


Mr. Lopez sat on the floor in the living room, watching Skylar run around and play loudly by herself, only occasionally handing him and Brittany blocks, which Brittany informed him meant he was now her friend. He kissed one of the blocks and held it tightly while smiling at his youngest granddaughter. After dinner Mrs. Lopez and Taylor decided to make rice krispy treats, after ten minutes of trying to convince the baby to help her, complete with Skylar holding Brittany's shirt tightly while shaking her head, she gave up and promised to still share with her granddaughter. Brittany sat by the fire with her father in law, watching as his eyes twinkled just from watching his granddaughter play.

"Careful, Sky." Brittany said quickly when Skylar fell from running and tripping over a block. She watched as Skylar frowned when she stood up slowly and walked slowly to Brittany, silent tears streaming from her eyes as she held her knee. "You're okay." Brittany said softly to her, rubbing her knee before kissing it, and hugging Skylar tightly.

"She's a tough one." Mr. Lopez smiled. "Santana would silently cry when she fell too, not wanting to show her weakness."

"She must be her little clone." Brittany laughed. "Maria is saying how much she's like Santana as a baby, too."

"Oh, she definitely is." Mr. Lopez nodded. "The stories that Maria has told me so far sounds like you are raising Santana again." He laughed. "Her mannerisms, her smirk, the way she's holding you now and watching me." He added as Skylar rested her head on Brittany's shoulder and sniffled again, peeping out at her grandfather.

"They are so much alike." Brittany nodded, rubbing Skylar's back, before patting her on the butt. "Do you want to play with the blocks again?"

Skylar nodded and ran back over to her blocks, sitting down to play with them. "I can tell." Mr. Lopez agreed. "I'm glad we got the chance to meet her, we love all the pictures of them both, they are all over my office, but nothing beats seeing her in action." He added, his eyes still fixated on Skylar.

"Rafael, I had no idea, Santana..."

Mr. Lopez raised his hand to stop her. "I know my daughter, and that's in the past. We are here now with them. Maria is happy and content with it, and so am i." Brittany nodded, and moved closer to Skylar, stacking some blocks with her. "How's your back, I see the patch."

"A little sore lately, especially around my scars." Brittany told him.

"Mind if I take a look?" He asked with a slight frown.

Brittany nodded as Mr. Lopez went to the bathroom and washed his hands quickly, he came back and sat on the couch. "Sit here." He pointed to space next to him on the couch. Brittany nodded and sat down, under Skylar's watchful eye, who was now standing staring at the two of them. Mr. Lopez lifted Brittany's shirt just high enough to see her scars and ran his finger over them gently. "Pain when pressed?"

"A little." Brittany nodded.

"Hmmmm, has Santana looked at this?"

"Yes, she noticed and we made an appointment with my doctor, they did an MRI." Brittany sighed as he continued to press around the inflamed area.

"Did you get your results back yet?"

"Not yet, unless they called Santana or sent something to her office at the hospital. They just told me to take it easy and not to do too much lifting." Brittany explained.

"It looks like your scars are a little inflamed and that may be what's causing the stiffness." Dr. Lopez told her, pulling her shirt back down. "Getting an MRI was a good call, just to be sure, but I think it's just a little inflamed from maybe some medicine or something you ate."

"Papi." Skylar whispered as she walked closer and handed him another block.

"Gracias, mi amor." He beamed before leaning down to kiss her as Brittany sat up.

"Gracias." Skylar mimicked with a big smile as she began to swing from his leg, holding tightly to this thigh.

Brittany laughed and reached for her laptop and looked up resorts in Cabo so she could email Santana a few things, and plan some romantic moments as well. She would glance at Skylar and smile as she giggled and played with Mr. Lopez, who was tickling her and tossing her in the hair before setting her back down on the floor, where she leaned on his thigh again and stared at him with a smile.

"You're being silly today." Brittany winked at Skylar and laughed before tapping her on the nose.

Taylor came running in the room with a napkin and handed Brittany a rice krispy treat before handing it to her grandfather.

"Thanks Tay." Brittany beamed as Skylar's eyes widened and she stared at the treat in Brittany's hand.

Mrs. Lopez set a piece of the rice Krispy bars they made on the living room table for Skylar, knowing she wouldn't eat it if it came from her hand. Skylar, who was standing between Mr. Lopez's legs, leaning on her grandfather's thigh, stared at the treat carefully before smiling and reaching for it to grab it. She stared at it for a few minutes before looking at Brittany, who winked at her.

"You'll like it Sky, go ahead and try it, baby." Brittany encouraged her.

Skylar stared at it again before smelling it first, a habit she picked up from Santana who smells new foods first as well, before taking a small bite and smiling brightly as she chewed, clearly enjoying it. Mrs. Lopez smiled proudly before turning to head back to the kitchen when Skylar ran after her.

"Bua." She called softly, not able to mimic Taylor and pronounce Buela.

Mrs. Lopez turned around quickly. "Yes, sweetheart, I'm your Buela."

Skylar looked up at her shyly and reached her little hand up towards her. "More."

Mrs. Lopez wiped the tear forming in her eye and extended her hand slowly to Skylar, not sure if she was going to accept it or not. "I can get you more, honey, you want to come with me to the kitchen?"

Skylar nodded and accepted her hand. "More Bua." She repeated.

"Okay, let's go get more treats." Mrs. Lopez replied with a big smile as she held Skylar's hand and led her to the kitchen.

Brittany smiled proudly. "I have to call San and tell her what just happened!"

"Mami's going to be happy." Taylor nodded, climbing on the couch and cuddling close to her grandfather.


Wednesday Noon

Santana stood in the playground of Taylor's school waiting for the bell to ring dismissing the students for the day, she glanced at her watch and rubbed her arms as the snow continued to fall on her. "Freaking November and it's snowed so much already." She sighed, her eyes narrowed at the building. She took a half day at work and took the rest of the week off so she could go on her trip with Brittany and couldn't be more excited. They sat down and talked to her parents and called Brittany's parents as well, with all four of them being more than excited to watch the girls for the weekend, they tell talked to Taylor to make sure she was okay with it as well, and to remind her that Skylar might have a hard time that weekend, and to keep a close eye on her sister and keep her happy. Santana booked them a suite in Cabo, and was ready to relax in the sun with Brittany for a few days.

"Mami!" Taylor smiled as she came running over in her bright blue and pink Northface coat with matching hat and convertible mittens.

"Hola mija." Santana smiled as she hugged her tightly and kissed her on the forehead. "How was school?" She asked, taking Taylor's backpack and carrying it for her as they walked to Santana's truck.

"Good." Taylor shrugged, climbing in the front seat.

"That's good, how about the two of us going to lunch?" Santana suggested. "You don't have to go back to work?"

"Nope, so I want to take my favorite 9 year old out to lunch, you pick the cuisine." Santana smiled as she waited for Taylor to put her seatbelt on.

"Can we get Asian?" Taylor asked. "I want to practice using chopsticks."

Santana laughed since Taylor was obsessed with using chopsticks lately and was even using them to get dinner at home sometimes. "Sure, baby, so did the tooth fairy stop by last night?"

"Yep!" Taylor nodded quickly as she dug in her dark denim jeans pocket and held up a twenty dollar bill. "I'm going to buy Sky something with it."

"That's nice of you, Tay, you don't want to save it?" Santana asked, glancing over at her.

Taylor shook her head. "I'm going to buy some ice cream for Sky and me to share."

"Just vanilla for her, okay?" Santana nodded.

"No other flavors?" Taylor frowned. "What about chocolate? Or a mix?" Santana thought for a minute before sighing. "Sure, I bet she'll love it."

Once they were in the restaurant seated in a booth and scanning their menus Santana stared at her daughter with a big smile. Taylor looked up and blushed. "You're staring." She laughed.

"You are growing up so fast, right in front of us." Santana told her.

"I gotta get bigger." Taylor shrugged.

Santana took a sip of her tea and nodded. "Yes you do. So tell me about school."

As Taylor opened her mouth to speak, the waiter came over to take their orders. "Can I order myself?" Taylor asked quickly.

Santana nodded proudly as Taylor blushed and cleared her throat. "Hi, I would like the chicken fried rice and the sweet and sour chicken, please."

"Good job, Tay." Santana smiled before glancing up at the waiter. "I'll have the Asian Grilled Salmon, and we'll have the crispy green beans as an appetizer."

Once the waiter left Taylor spoke up. "This boy in class keeps messing with me."

"Messing with you how?" Santana asked, quickly replying to a text from Brittany and focusing her attention back on Taylor.

"Like, he'll knock my notebook on the floor and he broke my pencil in half." Taylor exclaimed. "And he keeps flicking my ear and calling Trailer instead of Taylor."

Santana laughed softly. "Sounds like he has a crush on you." Taylor frowned.

"I don't like Carl, he always smells like a fart."

"A fart?" Santana laughed. "Well who do you like in your class, Brandon? Christopher? Steven?"

"No." Taylor scowled as she took a sip of her iced tea.

Santana tapped her chin as she thought about the boys in Taylor's class.

"Jonathan? Bryce? Malcolm?" She stared at Taylor before a big smile covered her face. "You blinked and blushed at Bryce."

"He always smells like Starburst!" Taylor exclaimed as she blushed.

"He's totally cute." Santana nodded as she pictured the boy in her head. "Does he pick with you too?"

"No, just Carl." Taylor rolled her eyes. "But Bryce did pick me first for kickball."

"Whoa, that's major." Santana smiled.

"Next you thing you know you two will be kissing!" She teased her daughter, whose face turned in horror.

"No way, kissing is gross! There's spit in kissing." Taylor shook her head quickly.

Santana laughed and leaned over to wipe a piece of lint from Taylor's hat off of her cheek. "I'm glad you feel that way, you're too young to be worried about kissing."

"You like kissing momma?" Taylor asked as the waiter brought out their meals.

Santana nodded. "I don't mind her spit." She winked at her daughter.

"Hmmmmmm." Taylor giggled as she popped a green bean in her mouth. "You and momma share food too?"

"Yeah." Santana smiled as she began to eat her lunch. "You share with us too, and you share spit with Sky, you two shared a milkshake the other day."

Taylor stuffed a piece of chicken in her mouth and chewed slowly, thinking about what Santana said. "Yeah, but she's my sister, we have the same germs." Taylor made a face before taking a sip of her tea again. "You said germs are nasty and to never let someone spit on me. Why do you let momma spit on you?"

Santana coughed harshly at the question when some rice slid down the back of her throat. "Your mom and I don't spit on each other, Taylor." She frowned. "We kiss and sometimes our spit gets swapped that way, but we don't just one another."

"Oh." Taylor shrugged. "Well I still don't want to kiss anyone."

"You don't have to." Santana assured her.

"Are you sharing your chicken?" She asked, sliding her fork in Taylor's plate.

"Yeah, you're paying!" Taylor laughed.

"I thought you were treating me with your twenty dollars?!" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow.

"We'll just see how the bill goes." Taylor laughed while winking at her mother.

Santana laughed with her. "Love you, Tay."

"I love you too, mami, and momma, and Sky." Taylor replied.

"And momma and Sky, of course." Santana nodded.


7pm

"Where's Sky Sky?" Brittany yelled as she crawled around the living room, playing hide and seek with Skylar. Santana was helping Taylor with homework, Mr. Lopez went to pick Brittany's parents up from the airport and Mrs. Lopez was doing prep work for Thanksgiving dinner while chatting with her sister on the phone, bragging about her granddaughters, how cute and smart they were.

Skylar peeped out from behind the couch and giggled loudly before hiding back behind it. "Momma."

Brittany laughed. "You aren't supposed to tell me where you are."

Skylar peeped out again and laughed before waving to Brittany and running behind the couch to the other side. Brittany quickly crawled to the other side to meet her. "Where is Sky?" She asked again. Skylar laughed and came running out right into Brittany's arms, hugging her tightly around the neck.

"Here she is!" Brittany beamed, scooping Skylar up, peppering kisses all over her face. "I think it's bedtime, I saw a yawn." She noticed as she sat on the couch.

Santana walked in the living room and handed Brittany a bottle, right on cue. "It's seven and I know she had a long day."

"Thanks." Brittany smiled, kissing Santana when she sat on the couch next to her and Skylar reached for her. She handed the baby over and accepted the heating patch Santana handed to her. She kissed Skylar on the forehead and smiled as the tiny Latina, cuddled in Santana's chest and lifted her bottle to her mouth.

"You shouldn't be crawling around." Santana said quietly, running her fingers through Skylar's hair.

"We talked to the doctor today, Santana, and they said the MRI came back clear, just a little inflammation about my scars." Brittany reminded her.

"Yes, but inflammation from what?" Santana questioned. "I just want to be sure."

"We have the ointment to rub on them and I have acupuncture set up for next week when we get back in town." Brittany added as she began to rub Skylar's feet through her yellow footed pajamas. Skylar exhaled as she continued her bottle and grabbed a handful of Santana's shirt.

"I worry, baby." Santana sighed. "You know that, I just, I want you to be okay."

"I know." Brittany nodded. "You always take good care of me, both as my wife, and my doctor." She leaned over and kissed Santana softly on the cheek. "And this weekend I'll be sure to take care of you on vacation."

"Oh la la." Santana wiggled her eyebrows with a big smile, before glancing down at Skylar, whose eyes were fluttering shut. "My mom said she did good with her this morning when we went to work, they played and watched movies, and she ate my mom's cooking for lunch."

"I heard." Brittany replied, as Taylor came into the living room. "I told you she would come around, she just needed a little bit of time, she's only used to us three, she may be the same around my parents, she hasn't seen them in a while."

Taylor set a stuffed animal in Skylar's lap and cuddled close to Brittany. "Will you bring me something back from your trip?" She asked her mothers.

"Of course, what do you want, Tay?" Santana nodded, taking the bottle from Skylar since she was finished with it.

Taylor shrugged, "what you think is cool."

Brittany wrapped her arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "We will find the coolest thing ever for you."

"When are we going to take a family vacation?" Taylor asked. "So we can take Sky in an airplane?"

Skylar fell asleep on Santana's chest, so Santana leaned back deeper into the couch and began to rock her slowly. "Well momma has to go to work in Arizona for a few weeks after Christmas and we are going to go visit her, so that will be a trip for us."

"Where are you going?" Taylor asked.

"Arizona, I'm going to make sure to research a bunch of things for you and Sky to do when you come, we'll go to the zoo, some water parks, museums, we'll have a ton of fun." Brittany assured her.

"Cool." Taylor smiled.

"Santanita."

"Si mami." Santana replied.

"Your Tia Silvia would like to speak to you." Mrs. Lopez stated as she walked into the living room with the phone and handed it to Santana, while reaching for Skylar, who woke up slightly, a frown forming on her face. Mrs. Lopez rubbed her back, settling the baby back down, smiling widely when Skylar cuddled closer in her chest and fell back asleep. She sat down on the couch and continued to rock her as Santana grabbed the phone and went to the kitchen.

"Someone loves their Buela now." Brittany laughed quietly.

Mrs. Lopez blushed and kissed Skylar on the forehead as Mr. Lopez walked through the front door.

"Where are my parents?" Brittany asked immediately when she saw he was alone.


Thoughts?