Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own glee or this story


"Okay, girls, one cupcake each." Brittany told her daughters as they pulled up to the bakery. Santana had an emergency surgery so after Brittany picked up Skylar from daycare, where she was sitting and playing with Mercedes while she waited, she took Taylor to Target to get some school supplies she needed a refill on, she then went to the post office, and finally a quick trip to the grocery store to get more snacks for Skylar's lunch at daycare, she then finally a bakery when she decided to treat the girls to cupcakes for dessert. She hopped out quickly and opened the door for Taylor before running around and lifting Skylar out, holding her tightly in her arm while she pulled her hood on her head, making sure she didn't get snow in her eyes.

"Are we going to get mami a cupcake?" Taylor asked, pulling her hat down further on her head and tilting her head back as she stuck her tongue out to catch some snowflakes. "Go like this Sky!" Taylor told her sister, smiling when Skylar did as she stuck her tongue out, mimicking her sister for a moment.

"Cold huh?" Brittany laughed when Skylar shook her head and shivered after a few landed on her tongue. She rubbed her back and kissed her on the forehead as they made their way to the door.

"Cupcake." Skylar pointed to the giant yellow cupcake on the top of the building that was spinning with flashing lights.

"Good job, baby, that's a cupcake." Brittany smiled at her. "Yes, Tay, we'll get mami a cupcake so when she gets out of her surgery she can have a treat."

Brittany kissed Skylar on the cheek, smiling when Skylar hugged her tightly around the neck, resting her head on her shoulder when they stepped in the bakery. Taylor ran to the case right away and looked around as her eyes widened at the selections. Skylar wiggled until Brittany set her down, holding her hand and walking her over to where Taylor was.

"Welcome to Bria's Bakery, can I help you with anything?" A young teenage girl asked sweetly.

"Hi, we came to get cupcakes." Taylor nodded proudly, grabbing Skylar's hand as they continued to look around.

Brittany smiled. "Hi, I want to place an order to pick up tomorrow morning to take to the office with me, and then I want to get cupcakes for my girls too."

"Sure, for the order, how many did you need?"

"48 please." Brittany replied. "Nothing super fancy, just a mix of chocolate and vanilla ones, colorful frosting on top."

"No specialty flavors?" The girls asked.

Brittany thought for a moment but shook her head. "No, I don't think so, what time would I be able to pick them up?"

"We start baking right away at 4am every morning, so I can have them done and boxed up around 8?" The girl asked, smiling at Skylar, who was mesmerized by all the sugary treats, and had her face pressed on the glass as she stared at the baked items.

"That's perfect." Brittany smiled. "I'll pay for those separately, should I pay now or at pick up?" She glanced at her daughters and watched as Sylar yawned and leaned into Taylor's arms, listening as Taylor read all the flavors to her.

"You can pay now, to save time if you would like."

Brittany nodded and handed the woman her card after hearing the total. "Which are you narrowing it down to, Tay?" She asked her daughter, knowing that Taylor was weighing the pros and cons of each flavor.

"Ummm, the caramel crunch one, or the french toast one." Taylor told her, tapping her chin with her finger.

"Awesome choices." Brittany agreed, signing her name to pay for her purchase. "Okay, then I want to get the white chocolate raspberry truffle for the wifey, the chocolate fudge and graham cracker one, ummmmmm." Her eyes scanned the case as she looked at the options slowly. "The sweet and salty pretzel cupcakes, and the pistachio cream." She turned to Taylor, "which one, Tay?"

"I want the fresh toast one please." Taylor told the girl with a smile. "And my sister wants the confetti, the swirl cupcake, the vanilla one, please."

Brittany glanced at the cupcake Taylor ordered for Sky, looking over the ingredients before nodding in approval. "Good choices, Tay."

"Cupcake." Skylar tugged on Brittany's coat and pointed to a bright pink cupcake.

"Momma got you this one." Brittany kneeled down and told her as she pointed to the one Taylor picked out for her. "Is that one okay?"

Skylar pressed her face to the glass before smiling brightly at Brittany with a nod. "Cupcake."

"Good." Brittany gave her a thumbs up and stood up to once again swipe her card. "Watch your sister please." Brittany told Taylor when Skylar began to walk around the bakery. "Hold her hand, Tay."

Taylor nodded and ran over to her sister, she grabbed Skylar's hand when she saw a gentleman go into the store, and discreetly pulled her closer to her as Skylar continued to stare at the cupcakes.

"Momma, more." Skylar pointed to the candy coated pretzels before looking up at Brittany. "More."

Brittany smiled politely at the man, then shook her head. "We got cupcakes, no pretzels tonight, next time."

Skylar stared at Brittany before looking back at the pretzels. "More momma." She pointed again before looking back at Brittany and beginning to pout.

Brittany sighed and caved in to her daughter. "Can we get four of the pretzels rods too, please?"

Once everything was paid for finally, Brittany carried the boxes out to the car, walking behind Taylor who was carrying Skylar, who stared at Brittany with a smile the entire time. "You're just happy you got a bunch of junk." Brittany teased as she lifted her daughter in the car and buckled her in. "Seatbelt T." She told Taylor who was busy looking through a magazine.

"What's for dinner?" Taylor asked after the thirty minute drive to their house. "Mami's home!" She exclaimed when she saw Santana's truck in the driveway.

Brittany pulled in next to the Latina's truck and helped her daughter's out, watching Taylor pick up Skylar to lead her to the front door, which Santana opened and let them in. "Hey baby." Brittany kissed her quickly on the lips as Santana grabbed Skylar and kissed all over her face, before kissing Taylor on the forehead. "Boots off, please. You tracked snow yesterday, Taylor." Santana reminded her as she slipped Skylar's boots off and set her down, grabbing the boxes from Brittany's hands.

"I thought you were working late?" Brittany asked, getting Skylar out of her winter gear when she began to pull at the scarf, attempting to take it off herself.

"I thought so too, but Dr. Hinton took the surgery." Santana replied, rolling her eyes. Dr. Hinton was one of the newer doctors in the department, a show off that Santana wasn't impressed by. He had a habit of snagging surgeries and lurking around patients' rooms ready to jump at any surgical consult he could get his hands on, this wasn't the first time he snatched a surgery from Santana, and the Latina knew it wouldn't be the last.

"You didn't want to scrub in?" Brittany asked.

"No." Santana shook her head. "I came home and started dinner, I knew you were going to be running errands tonight."

"Sweet, thanks baby." Brittany kissed her on the cheek again. "I have more stuff in the car, so be right back."

Santana frowned but shrugged. "Taylor, help momma with the rest of the bags please."

Taylor quickly put her boots back on and ran out the house after Brittany as Santana turned on the TV to a cartoon for Skylar. "Did you miss mami today?" She asked her daughter, who sat down quickly in her mini bean bag chair when the baby dinosaurs appeared on screen.

"Amo mami."

"Te amo." Santana blushed, kissing her on the forehead. "Mami will get you some dinner, watch ummmm, ummmmm." She tried to think of the title of the cartoon, or even the characters names but gave up. "Watch the cute dinosaurs." She settled in as she jogged back to the kitchen.

"Here mami." Taylor smiled, handing Santana two of the grocery bags.

"Thanks, honey, start your homework until dinner is done, then I'll check it after we eat." Santana nodded, she then began to unload the bags when Brittany carried two other bags in and yawned. "Long day?" She asked the blonde.

"Very." Brittany sighed. "I still need to do a little work tonight too."

Santana stared at the mini carton of Goldfish. "My lunch or Skylar's?" She asked Brittany with a smile.

"Yours, she has the bags of colorful fish." Brittany laughed as Santana walked over to her and hugged her, rubbing her back in the process. "That feels good."

"The massage?"

"No, the hug." Brittany smiled as she pressed their lips together, deepening the kiss when they heard little feet come running in.

"More."

Santana laughed into the kiss before breaking. "We can finish that later."

"Definitely." Brittany nodded. "Do you need any help with dinner? Otherwise I'll hop in the shower now, then I can give Sky a bath while you help Taylor with homework."

Santana handed Skylar a cracker and shook her head. "I got it, B. Just baking some chicken, and I'm going to make some veggies."

"Okay." Brittany smiled at Skylar and left the kitchen. She peeped in Taylor's room and saw her laying in bed on her stomach, her math book open as she worked through some problems. "Get through as many as you can, Tay, if you have problems with one skip over it and come back to it."

"Okay, momma." Taylor nodded as Brittany walked into the room and sat on her bed next to her.

"What else do you have for homework?"

Taylor sat up and dug in her backpack, pulling out a few binders. "Ummm, I have more spelling words, a history worksheet, and I have to read for English class, we have a quiz tomorrow."

Brittany frowned at the amount of homework but looked over the worksheets, and glanced at Taylor's reading list. "Well, you have a lot of work, baby, so get started until mami calls you for dinner."

"Okay." Taylor nodded.

Brittany went to her bathroom and checked her hamper to see how full it was before checking Taylor's soap and shampoo, making sure she had enough; she then finally went to her bedroom to strip down for a shower.


1am

Santana woke up from her pager going off and sighed as she blindly reached for it. "Fuck." She groaned as she forced her eyes open and jumped up to call the hospital. She ran her fingers through her hair, before pulling the blanket higher over Brittany and rubbing her shoulder as she waited for the hospital to answer. She watched Brittany stir in her sleep and yawned.

Yes, this is Dr. Lopez

Is Dr. Hinton on duty?

Was he paged

Don't page him, I'll be there soon, leaving my house in five minutes. Have Dr. Comlison and Dr. Singh ready to scrub in with me and book an OR room. I will need to run some tests as well, please have everything set up.

Santana hung up the phone and slipped out of bed, tiptoeing to the bathroom, she quickly got dressed in scrubs and washed her face before brushing her teeth. "Dr. fuckin Lopez to the rescue." She sighed into the mirror before walking back into the bedroom and sitting on the edge of the bed, she leaned down to kiss Brittany awake, smiling when her wife's blue eyes opened and focused on her.

"Hey." Brittany rasped. "What time is it?"

"1am, I have to go to work." Santana told her quietly. "Are you able to take Sky to daycare if I'm not home?"

Brittany nodded. "Sure, surgery?"

"Yeah, I'll try to get home right after but if not I'll just stay at work." Santana replied. "I'll call you and keep you in the loop, if I'm still in surgery, I'll have one of the interns call you."

"Okay." Brittany replied. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Santana winked before kissing Brittany quickly and grabbed her purse to leave the room, she kissed Taylor on the forehead, setting the comic book that was in bed with her on the bedside table; she then peeped in at Skylar and kissed her on the cheek before slipping out of her room, not wanting to wake her up. She then ran out of the house to her truck.

She reached the hospital in record time and was running down the hall when she heard a familiar name and froze in her tracks. She frowned and walked back to the open door, peeping in. Her eyes widened briefly as she watched Quinn stand up from the circle she was sitting in and begin to speak. She stepped in the back of the huge hall quietly and leaned against the door.

"Hi, my name is Quinn, I'm a recovering alcoholic, well trying to recover. I've been sober for 29 days. There have been times when I wanted to drink, I really needed to drink but I pushed and fought and through it. The other night I was really going through withdrawals...I got as far as to pour a glass of vodka, hot vodka, cheap vodka that I found in my basement since I threw all my good stuff." Quinn laughed softly. "I was this close to taking a sip." She motioned with her fingers for emphasis. "But my goddaughter, Taylor, texted me to tell me she got an A on a test, she'd been worried about it, and I Skype with her to help her study some nights, so I was so excited for her and proud of her. We chatted for almost ten minutes, you know how fast kids text back and forth so that's a long time." She laughed again, as a few other people laughed with her and nodded. "I don't know if she even realized how much she helped me, but she did. I'm here because I want to be sober not only for myself, but for her and her sister. I don't have kids, just my goddaughters, and I love those little girls so much; like they are my own. Their moms are my best friends...well used to my best friends..."

Santana shook her head and slipped out of the room quietly. She stared at the door before continuing her journey down the hall to her office to get ready to scrub in for her surgery. She quickly took her phone out and texted Brittany.

TO BRITTANY: I made it work safely. I love you so much.

Santana was locking her purse in the drawer when her phone chimed with a message so she picked her phone back up.

FROM BRITTANY: Glad you're safe. Love you too.

TO BRITTANY: I need to talk to you about something tomorrow, can I take you to lunch?

FROM BRITTANY: EVERYTHING OKAY?

TO BRITTANY: Yes, sorry to worry you, I just want to talk about something. It's not about us, baby, don't worry.

FROM BRITTANY: I don't think I have meetings tomorrow, I'll let you know for sure in the morning.

TO BRITTANY: Sounds good, go back to sleep, call me when you wake up.

FROM BRITTANY: Okay, I will. Good luck doc ;)

Santana smiled at the phone as her pager went off again, she glanced at the code and knew it was time for her surgery. She grabbed her lab coat and jogged out of her office and down the hall pulling her hair into a ponytail.


7am

Brittany poured herself a cup of coffee as she listened to Taylor spell the words from her spelling list. She glanced at her daughter when she stumbled over a few letters and held a spoonful of oatmeal up to Skylar's mouth. "Try it again, Tay." Brittany shook her head.

"That was wrong?" Taylor asked, taking a bite of her cinnamon raisin toast. "Mami." Skylar looked around while chewing her oatmeal with a frown.

Brittany wiped her mouth and ate a spoonful of oatmeal herself, before feeding Skylar more. "Yes, that was wrong, Tay, try again."

"Mami." Skylar said angrily, banging her hands on the high chair table.

Brittany frowned at the baby. "Hey, hey, hey no banging Smiley." She laughed. "Mami is at work, I'll take you to her in a few minutes and you can get your morning hug and kiss."

Taylor stabbed her sausage patty with her fork. "Mami must have gotten up early for work?"

Brittany winced in pain from the slight headache she was forming and pushed her coffee away, remembering Santana warning her against drinking caffeine when she had a headache. She instead poured a glass of juice and took a few sips. "She left around 1am this morning." She nodded, watching Skylar eat a piece of cantaloupe.

Taylor smiled at her sister and continued to eat, she then focused on Brittany, who was quiet and simply just feeding Skylar, she noticed her mother's eyes and frowned.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly. "Should I call mami?"

Brittany heard the fear in her daughter's voice and shook her head. "I'm okay, sweetheart, just a little headache this morning. Finish eating your breakfast, honey, we are running a little late today."

Skylar stared at Brittany before smiling when her mother winked at her. "Momma."

"You were naughty in daycare yesterday." Brittany told Skylar, raising her eyebrow at the baby. "You have to be nice today."

Skylar stared at her and shook her head before mumbling no just as Santana walked in the kitchen. "Mami!" She squealed.

"Hey Sky Sky." Santana smiled happily, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead, she squeezed Brittany's shoulder as the blonde kissed her wrist before heading over to Taylor and giving her a high five.

"Ready for your spelling test today?"

"I think so." Taylor nodded. "I keep messing up some words, but I think I'll be okay."

"You got this." Santana assured. "Just stay relaxed and don't overthink it."

"What are you doing home?" Brittany asked when Santana leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Good morning, and I'm going back around 1 to work the rest of my shift." Santana told her. "So nap time is early today, Sky Sky."

"No nap." Skylar shook her head. "Play wif Sky."

Santana took a sip of Brittany's coffee. "We'll play, but we need to practice our numbers, letters, and colors too."

Taylor finished her breakfast and set the plate in the sink, glancing at Santana, who nodded to her that was all she had to do. "Momma has a headache." She told Santana quietly, leaning into her side.

Santana wrapped her arm around Taylor, rubbing her back and stared at Brittany. "What's wrong?"

"Just a headache." Brittany smiled at her.

Santana pursed her lips, her internal doctor mode ready to jump out. "Where is the headache?"

"The front."

The Latina nodded, "dull or sharp?"

"Dull."

"Shooting or constant?"

"Shooting."

Santana thought for a moment before taking Brittany's wrist and checking her heart rate, counting quietly to herself. Skylar smiled and placed her fingers on Brittany's other wrist, mimicking her mother, causing her moms to smile at her.

"Well, Dr. Lopez-Pierce, what do you think?" Santana asked Skylar, who simply laughed in reply. "Everything seems normal, baby, no coffee...have some juice this morning, okay?"

"Got it." Brittany replied, leaning forward to kiss Santana. "Taylor get your backpack and coat please, we are leaving in a few minutes."

"Okay." Taylor nodded as she ran out of the kitchen.

"She's growing, we need to buy her some new jeans." Santana yawned, lifting Skylar out of her highchair and wipes her face off before setting her on the floor.

"How was your surgery?" Brittany asked.

"Good, saved a life." Santana smiled happily. "Oh, and Quinn goes to AA meetings in the middle of the night."

Brittany turned around from the sink, where she was setting her dishes from breakfast. "What?"

Santana watched Skylar run out of the kitchen and walked over to Brittany, butting her grey and yellow pinstripe blazer over her ivory blouse, and rested her hands on Brittany's waist, her fingers dancing on the top of Brittany's grey skirt. "I saw her when I got to work this morning, she was saying how she's been sober for 30 days, and apparently when Taylor texted her the other night it kept her from drinking."

"Wow, that's great." Brittany nodded. "Wait...did you stay and listen? Those meetings are supposed to be anonymous."

"No, I left after that really. She didn't even see me, I was in the back." Santana replied as Taylor came running in the kitchen. Santana looked over her outfit, a white hooded Ralph Lauren polo cardigan with pink horses all over, a pink turtleneck, and dark denim winter distressed jeans, she had on a pair of dark brown Uggs and had her hair in a big ponytail with a pink ribbon tied around it. "You look great, Tay."

"Got everything, Tay?" Brittany asked, grabbing her wool coat off the back of the chair in the kitchen and slipping it on.

"Thanks mami." Taylor blushed as Skylar came running in the kitchen after her, a pair of pink purple corduroy overalls on with a pink, purple, and light blue turtleneck, her socks causing her to slip right into Taylor's leg.

"Let's get going." Brittany smiled. "Lunch plans still?"

Santana kissed her quickly. "Yes, we'll have a guest, if that's okay." She nodded towards Skylar, who was staring at her socks.

"Now I'm excited for lunch." Brittany teased. "Bye Sky Sky."

"Bye bye." Skylar waved as Taylor kissed Santana on the cheek and followed Brittany out of the kitchen.

"Just us two, so what are we doing first?" Santana kneeled down and asked her.

Skylar shrugged before hitting Santana on the leg. "It!" She screamed before running.

"So tag it is." Santana laughed and slowly chased after her.


2pm

"Come in." Brittany sighed when she heard a knock on her office door. After lunch with Santana and Skylar her headache seemed to intensify. even with the help of the Tylenol she took. She spent the majority of her afternoon looking over slides for a campaign and was debating on leaving work early to head home in another hour or so.

"Hey." Quinn said softly.

"Quinn." Brittany looked up quickly. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a meeting on the 8th floor with a client, and thought I would drop in to say hello." Quinn smiled softly. "If you're busy I can go."

Brittany shook her head and stood up from behind her desk. She motioned for the shorter blonde in her office and took a seat on the couch to the side. "It's okay, you're looking good. I like your sweater."

Quinn glanced at the bright green cashmere sweater she was wearing and smiled. "Thanks."

"How have you been?" Brittany asked, crossing her legs, and looking Quinn over.

"Good, very good."

"You want something Quinn, what is it?" Brittany asked. "I know you."

Quinn laughed. "You always could read people." She added. "I was hoping to get Taylor and Skylar for a night, maybe have a sleepover and movie night with them. I don't know if you and Santana need some time to do some Christmas shopping or just need some alone time."

Brittany thought for a moment, carefully choosing her words in her head. "I know you aren't careless with our girls, but are you sober? You've never had Skylar overnight, and Skylar has never slept anywhere but the house." She winced from her headache slightly. "Are you sober?"

"Yes." Quinn said firmly. "I never drink when I have them."

Brittany nodded. "I know, but as a mother...I have to ask. We promised you to never keep the girls away from you, and we won't...but I need to talk to Santana about this."

"Of course." Quinn replied with a smile. "Just call me to let me know."

"I will." Brittany nodded as Quinn stood up.

"I need to get going. It was really good seeing you." Quinn grabbed her purse and made her way to the door, Brittany right behind her. "Are you okay?" She asked Brittany when she turned to face her. "You look flushed."

"Just a headache." Brittany nodded. "I think I'm going to head home." She wiped her forehead, feeling a thin layer of sweat.

"I'll walk out with you." Quinn told her, eyeing her closely.

"Okay." Brittany nodded and turned to pack up her desk, she felt a flash of heat jolt through her body, as her eyes grew heavy and she passed out.

Quinn's eyes widened when Brittany hit her head on the desk, her back twisting in the process as she slumped to the ground."Brittany!" She screamed as she rushed over to her and continued calling her name.


"Yeah right." Santana laughed loudly, taking a bite of her apple. "You are so full of shit, Noah."

Puck stared at her and smiled. "Whatever, so when are we all getting together? Miles needs a girlfriend, and Skylar is just the princess for him."

Santana raised her eyebrow at him and scowled. "While Miles is the 2nd most adorable one year old in the world, but he's not good enough for Sky Sky." She teased.

Puck laughed loudly. "Well, Kay really wants to get together for dinner, so let me know when you and Brittany are free."

"Got it." She took another bite of her apple and stuck her middle finger at him playfully when he threw a glove at her before turning to head into her office. She checked her cell phone for any alerts before hopping on Pinterest to find an idea for dinner. After settling for a casserole that Taylor could help her with, and that didn't have any vegetables that Skylar didn't like, she began looking up decor ideas for Taylor's rooms, remembering overhearing Taylor tell a friend she wanted to change her room around. She was printing out some ideas and pinning others to her board when her office door swung open.

Santana looked up to see Quinn holding a sleeping Skylar, who was cuddled into her chest, holding a fistful of Quinn's sweater.

"Why the hell do you have my daughter and why are you here?" She snapped. "Just because you are her emergency contact doesn't mean..."

"Brittany's in the hospital." Quinn stated calmly. "She's at St. Luke's, I came to get Skylar and I'm going to pick up Taylor from school. I want you to stay calm and go check on Brittany."

Santana stared at Quinn. "What?"

"I was at Brittany's office, meeting with a client, and decided to stop by and say hi to her." Quinn explained as Skylar shifted in her arms slightly, but stayed asleep. "I stayed with her until the paramedics came and sent her assistant in the ambulance with her so I could come tell you personally and get Skylar for you."

Santana jumped up and grabbed her purse running out of the office, she turned and ran back to the office. "Thank you." She said softly to Quinn before kissing Skylar on the cheek and running down the hall again.

"Okay, let's go get your sister." Quinn rubbed Skylar's back as she grabbed Skylar's car seat from the couch in Santana's office.


Thoughts?