Chapter 38
Disclaimer: I don't own glee or this story
Wednesday 4pm
"Well, that was a very much needed and relaxing little trip...for me at least." Santana smiled, walking into their house. "Sorry you had to work through it." She then told Brittany.
"It's okay." Brittany replied. "I had a great time, when I wasn't in meetings. I really just wanted you to get a little rest, and I can tell you did, so I'm happy.
I knew I had to work."
Santana nodded. "Well thank you, baby."
"I wonder where everyone is." Brittany asked, looking around the living room before taking her briefcase upstairs, following Santana who had their
luggage.
"They must be at the park, the puppies are gone too." Santana replied, immediately pulling their sheets off of their bed to wash. "Taylor's bus should be here any minute now, so I'm sure my parents are on the way back as well."
Brittany nodded. "Okay, I'll go get a snack ready for her. Do you want something?"
Santana shook her head. "Don't make her a snack, I want her to make it herself, to try to see if she would be able to fend for herself after school."
Brittany shrugged but nodded and began to change out of her business suit, putting on a pair of jeans and a shirt. "Okay, we are giving her a key to the house today?"
"Yeah, just like we discussed this morning in Cali over breakfast. If I need to run to the store or if something comes up I want Tay to have a way in the
house, especially now that we are in a new environment, and we don't have the same support system like we did in New York, where we had a carpool
and we knew a bunch of people where we could just have someone pick her up if we needed.. We'll have a long talk with her about rules and not letting anyone in the house, which she already knows. She'll be 10 in a few weeks so it's time for a little more responsibility, and I know she can handle it."
Brittany opened her mouth to reply just as the doorbell rang, indicating Taylor was home. "When you're dressed, come on down, B, we can talk to
her now before Sky gets back with my parents and distracts her." Santana went down to the door and opened it with a smile, hugging her daughter right away. "How was school?"
"Hey mami!" She beamed hugging her mother right away. "Is momma back home too?"
"Yeah she is." Santana nodded with a smile, lifting Taylor easily in her arms and kissing her on the forehead before setting her back down. "How was school?"
Good." Taylor smiled, opening her fist and handing Santana a tooth. "Another one came out!"
"Whoa." Santana smiled. "Well, we'll leave it out for the tooth fairy. When did it come out at school?"
"Nope, just now on the bus." Taylor laughed.
Santana laughed. "Okay, baby, go rinse your mouth out then come back to the living room, your mom and I need to talk to you about something super
important."
Taylor froze, her body immediately stiffening. "What happened?" She asked quietly.
"Hey Tay!" Brittany beamed because Taylor turned around, a worried look on her face. "What's wrong?" She asked as the young girl walked slowly to
her and allowed Brittany to hug her.
"Mami said you need to talk about something important." Taylor mumbled.
Brittany rubbed her back while kissing the top of her head repeatedly. "You have to calm down, honey." She told her soothingly, glancing up at Santana, who shrugged in confusion.
"Go wash your hands Tay, what momma and I want to talk to you about isn't bad at all, just important." Santana told her.
Taylor hugged Brittany once more and nodded as she ran to the bathroom.
"What was that?" Brittany asked.
"She gets so nervous and anxious, I wonder if she has anxiety issues that we really need to discuss with a doctor." Santana sighed, running her hands through her hair as her parents walked in, Skylar, holding one of the puppies by the collar.
Brittany frowned while staring in the direction that Taylor ran. "Maybe, I think with the move and everything that's been going on for the past couple
months she's just a little on edge, let's give her another couple weeks to see how she adjusts."
Santana nodded as the front door opened and her parents appeared, Skylar fast asleep in her grandfather's arms. "Hola mami, papi." She whispered, not wanting to wake her daughter.
"Welcome back, how was the business trip?" Mrs. Lopez asked, hugging each of them as Mr. Lopez laid Skylar on the couch, slipping her sneakers off.
"Good." Brittany smiled. "Would have been better if my clients weren't so difficult, but very good." She walked over and kissed Skylar on the cheek, the baby's eyes popping open and focusing on her. After a few minutes she realized her momma was home and a big smile covered her face. "Hey
Smiley."
"Momma!" Skylar shrieked happily before yawning.
Brittany lifted her up in her arms and hugged her tightly. "I missed you." She told her as Santana walked over and began to tickle her, kissing all over her face. Skylar turned red from laughing and smiling.
"Tay!" Skylar said happily as Taylor came back into the room.
"Hey Sky." Taylor waved, kissing her on the cheek. "Hola Buela, Hola Papi."
"Hola mi amor." Mr. Lopez responded. "How was school?"
"Good." Taylor replied.
"Santanita, your father and I ran into an old colleague today at the coffee shop a few blocks over, so we are going to have dinner with him and his wife this evening, so I can't make dinner." Mrs. Lopez told her, sitting down on the couch.
"Ok mami, that's okay." Santana replied.
"Yeah, you've been cooking so much this week, it's not a big deal." Brittany assured her.
Mrs. Lopez smiled. "Well, we are headed to the mall I need a new dress to wear tonight, mind if we use your car?"
"Go right ahead." Santana replied. "If we need to go somewhere, Britt's car is here."
"Go with Bua." Skylar said quickly, wiggling to get down as her grandparents walked to the door.
"Is it okay?" Mr. Lopez asked, picking her up.
"Si." Santana nodded, handing her mother the diaper bag, after checking to make sure Skylar didn't need more diapers in there.
7pm
Santana walked over by Taylor at the kitchen table, where she was doing her homework, and glanced at her notebook. "That's not correct, erase from the 5 down and try again." She told her, heading back to the stove and stirring her sauce.
"I won't ever use long division, why do we have to learn it?" Taylor grumbled.
"You might need it." Santana smiled.
"Do you use it?" Taylor asked, erasing her work and looking up at her mother.
"Well no." Santana replied. "But if I need to, I can do it correctly." She winked with a smile.
Brittany walked through the back door with Skylar, who had a big smile on her face, after playing with her momma for the last 30 minutes out on the
playset in the yard after chasing the puppies around. "Did you feed the puppies yet?" She asked her wife.
"No." Santana shook her head, glancing up at Brittany.
"So with my key, will I be home by myself for a long time?" Taylor asked.
"No." Santana assured her. "It'll be 30 minutes max, and that's only if I need to run an errand, or something big comes up. I'll always leave you a note on the fridge, so you know that everything is okay and I'll not hurt just out of the house for a little while."
"Can I pick out the key myself?" Taylor asked.
Brittany poured the dog's food, grabbing Skylar's hand when she tried to reach in the bowl that Hansel was eating out. "Puppy!"
"Let the puppies eat, Sky Sky." Brittany told her softly.
"Puppy." Skylar laughed, bending down and patting Hansel on the head.
"Skylar Reese." Santana told her, narrowing her eyes at the baby, wanting to make sure the puppies didn't bite her. "Britt, I don't want her that close while they eat, even if they are just puppies."
Brittany nodded, scooping Skylar up and kissing her on the cheek. "It's getting late, we need dinner and a bath."
"Bath." Skylar mimicked as Brittany carried her out of the kitchen.
"Tay, set the table please, honey. I'll check your homework after dinner, did you finish it all?" Santana asked.
"No, I have like 4 more." Taylor told her, closing her book.
"Okay, baby, take that to the living room so you can finish right after dinner, then we can go over it before you take a bath and do some reading." Santana replied.
"Can I call Berkeley tonight?" Taylor asked.
Santana shook her head. "With the time difference it's late there, I'll call Berk's mother tomorrow and set up a time for the two of you to video chat on Sunday afternoon, how does that sound?"
"Thanks Mami."
Midnight
Santana hummed softly to herself, her eyes trained on her task at hand, she heard the front door open and close, an indication her parents were. A few moments later her mother walked in the kitchen and raised an eyebrow at her daughter. She grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table, facing her.
"You miss it, don't you?" Mrs. Lopez asked.
Santana set down her tools and nodded. "Does that make me a bad wife? All I think about operating, literally all day. I mean I ordered a pig heart just to work on and do mock surgeries on from Amazon, same day delivery." She sighed. "I have a cow liver in the freezer in the garage too."
"It makes you a surgeon." Her mother replied. "I know I may not say it often, but I'm proud of you, you've matured a lot in the past few months. The old bull headed Santana that I raised would have never quit her job and moved across the country."
"I love Brittany." Santana told her, taking off the light and glass she had on. "Brittany puts her all into her career and she deserves this position, she's
literally worked her way from the ground up, I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass her by."
"Very noble of you." Mrs. Lopez smiled. "I know you, you won't like being off work, it's only been a week and you are already going crazy by the looks
of you doing a surgery at midnight." She laughed softly. "When are you going back to work?"
"Mami...don't."
"I'm asking because I don't want you to begin to resent your wife, you were ripped out of your career suddenly, and while I think it was a great move for
your family, you did get the short end of the stick, you will resent Brittany if you don't get back to working."
Santana stared at her blankly. "I don't want to talk about this."
"Your father is going to retire next month, and we are looking to move to Arizona by summer, we want to be closer to the girls." Mrs. Lopez smiled.
"Your father has already lined up a teaching job at a university down here as a lecturer."
"Whoa...that's awesome." Santana smiled. "It'll be good to have some family around, and you know the girls will love getting to see you two all the time."
"Think about what I said earlier." Mrs. Lopez told her, standing up. "Don't
stay up too late."
Santana stared at her mother as she walked out of the kitchen, she then wrapped up her cow heart and set it back in the cooler she had it in, carrying it out to the garage. After cleaning up the newspaper she had on the table and wiped it down with bleach and disinfectant before finally soap and water. She made Taylor's lunch for school and set it in the fridge before finally heading upstairs.
Brittany was walking out to the bathroom, yawning and glancing at her. "Where have you been?" She asked. "When I woke up to pee you weren't in bed."
"Just downstairs, I made Tay's lunch so you don't have to in the morning." Santana shrugged.
"Cool, thank you." Brittany smiled, walked around the bed and climbed in. "Are you coming to bed?"
"Yep, I just need to wash my face." Santana told her. She went to the bathroom and washed her face, her eyes boring into her own in the mirror the entire time before applying her moisturizer and turning off the light. After changing into a pair of pajama pants and a tank top she slipped in bed and cuddled close to Brittany.
The blonde exhaled softly, wrapping her arms around Santana tightly. "Night, San."
"Good night, B."
Brittany kissed her on the forehead before drifting to sleep quickly.
Noon
"You want the wagon?" Santana asked Skylar. "Or the stroller?" She pointed to both, which were in front of her.
"Snoopy." Skylar shook her head and hugged her toy tightly before turning and staring at the grass, bending down and pulling a few blades up and
throwing them down right away.
"Snoopy is going too, but we are going to go for a little walk, since it's so nice out." Santana told her. "Wagon or stroller for you and Snoopy?"
Skylar looked at her toy and babbled something incoherently, Santana patiently waiting before the baby looked back at her. "Stole." She told her,
pointing to the stroller.
"Good choice." Santana nodded, happy that the baby picked the stroller. She would be able to jog with it and Skylar would more than likely fall asleep very quickly since they just had a picnic lunch outside, while they watched Mr. Lopez started his plans for the tree house.
Lifting her daughter in, she fastened her in tightly before handing her Snoopy, who was wearing a crown for some reason. She packed the snacks and juice box she had for Skylar under the stroller and set in the Gatorade she had for herself in the cupholder. "Ready Freddy?" She asked the baby, pulling back the roof of her stroller and smiled at her.
"Snoopy!"
"Snoopy's ready too?" Santana laughed. "Dad we're leaving!" She called over to the elder man, who was positioning wood planks on the ground. Once we waved to them, Santana made her way out of the yard, setting her phone in the other cupholder. She slipped one of her Beats wireless earbuds in her ear and turned on Sirius radio, looking for a good station just as she reached the sidewalk and began to walk down the street.
She glanced at Skylar who was playing with Snoopy, babbling to him happily, and pointing out different things while looking around herself. Santana smiled at her when she reached the corner and decided which way she wanted to go, while keeping in mind which way she was taking, not wanting to get lost since she wasn't completely familiar with their neighborhood yet.
"Mami!" Skylar shrieked loudly after close to twenty minutes.
"Yes baby." Santana pulled her earbuds out and stopped pushing the stroller, she kneel in front of her and smiled. "What's up?"
"Cookie."
"Cookie?" Santana laughed. "You need a nap, if I give you a cookie, you won't sleep with all that sugar."
"Cookie." Skylar said sadly, batting her eyes are her mother.
"No cookie." Santana shook her head, she kissed her on the forehead and handed her a graham cracker instead. "Here, you can have this."
Skylar stared at the graham cracker before sighing and taking a small bite, a big smile covering her face when she realized it wasn't just a regular cracker.
"Thank." She mumbled, taking another bite.
"You're welcome." Santana nodded.
"Do I get a graham cracker too?"
Santana looked up quickly and smiled. "Hey Yesi, how are you?" She laughed.
"Good. How are you?" She asked, quickly looking at Santana's body. The Latina was wearing a pair of pink, purple, and white tiger stripe leggings and a white Under Armor long sleeve shirt, her outfit was topped off with a pair of all white Nike Huaraches running shoes.
"Doing good, still getting adjusted to the weather this time of year, and doing things about the house, my parents are in town so it's been a big help with everything." She smiled politely.
"Hi cutie." Yesi waved at Skylar, who stared at her blankly and ate her snack slowly.
Santana laughed. "Can't interrupt snack time, this is our youngest, Princess Skylar." She smiled. "She's almost 2 and has embraced part of her terrible 2s already."
"She's so cute, looks just like you." Yes replied, laughing softly when Skylar closed her eyes to pretend she was asleep when Yesi continued to stare at her.
Santana laughed at the baby when she peeped one eye open and huffed when she saw Yesi was still staring at her. She placed her graham cracker on Snoopy's lap and covered her face, mumbling to herself.
"She's tired, sorry." Santana apologized for her, leaning down and running her fingers through Skylar's curls, which were in a little Afro that day since
she wouldn't sit still long enough for Santana to give her a ponytail.
"Mami." Skylar sniffled, closing her eyes tightly and reaching out one hand blindly to her mother.
Santana bent down and picked her up, kissing her on the check, Skylar glaring at Yesi, who attempted to kiss her on the cheek as well, but Santana noticed and stepped back so the woman couldn't. "She has really sensitive skin, so we don't allow people to kiss on her." She explained politely.
"Gotcha doc." Yesi nodded. "I met your mom, I stopped by a few days ago to drop off some baked goods as a welcome to a neighborhood."
Santana shifted Skylar in her arms, reaching down to grab Snoopy for her, a frown covering her face. "My house, are you sure? My mom didn't mention anyone stopping by."
"I'm pretty sure it was your house." Yesi nodded. "Totally sure, I saw this cuties standing on the couch."
Santana shrugged. "Our house has been crazy with the move, I was out of town with Brittany for work, so my parents had the kids. Probably just
slipped her mind." She covered for her mom, remembering the conversation she had with her mom just that morning about not trusting neighbors just yet.
"Hmmm, we'll make it up to me by having dinner with me on Friday night." Yesi replied, a big smile on her face.
Santana raised an eyebrow at her.
"You and Brittany come over to our house, Daphne and I will cook, we need to fill you two in on the neighbors." Yesi continued.
"Mami." Skylar whined, shifting angrily in her mother's arms, now glaring at Yesi.
"I need to get her home and down for her nap. I'll talk to Brittany and make sure she doesn't have a work event this weekend, if she doesn't let's shoot for 7pm, we'll bring over some wine." Santana smiled, kissing Skylar on the forehead when she sighed against her neck.
"Sounds good." Yesi replied, squeezing Santana's shoulder. "See you then, bye cutie." She waved at Skylar.
"No!" Skylar yelled loudly, before hiding her face in Santana's chest.
"Sky Sky." Santana rubbed her back. "No yelling, por favor." She reminded her. "Let's go home and nap with Snoopy, then we can get a cookie."
8pm
Brittany was sitting on the floor with Skylar helping the baby color when Santana walked in and sat down. "Bed time."
"Already?" Brittany pouted, earning a smile from Santana. Brittany got home late after having to attend a few after work functions and had only seen the girls for just a few minutes. She locked eyes with Santana, who she knew didn't want to tell her not to spend time with her daughter and lifted Skylar in her lap. The baby rubbed her eyes and looked up sleepily at Brittany before leaning forward on her chest.
"Why don't you take her to bed and I'll talk to you later." Santana suggested.
"Something on your mind?" Brittany asked, rocking Skylar to sleep.
Santana began to clean up the crayons and paper, taping Skylar's masterpieces to the fireplace, and setting the box of crayons on the table. "I
ran into Yesi this afternoon while I was taking Sky for a walk, she invited us over for dinner on Friday."
Brittany stared at her. "She likes you."
"Brittany..."
"She does." Brittany laughed.
"I told you not to worry, I only want you." Santana reminded her, grabbing a thin blanket and tossing it over Skylar when Brittany shifted her and cuddled her in her chest.
"I'm not worried, Dr. Lopez-Pierce." Brittany winked. "It's cute, it's like she has a schoolgirl crush."
Santana frowned. "Whatever." She laughed. "Do you want to go? I told her I would check with you first."
"Sure, it'll be nice to have some adult conversation and a few drinks."
Brittany nodded. "Do we need to bring anything?"
"I offered to bring some wine."
"Okay, want to pick something up or take something from your collection?" Brittany asked, smiling at Taylor, who walked in and cuddled close to
Santana, the Latina opening her arm and wrapping it around her daughter.
"We can pick up a bottle I guess." Santana told her. "Tay, go grab a book and you can read it down here for momma and me."
Taylor nodded and jumped up quickly, running upstairs to grab a book.
"I found your body part stash in the garage." Brittany stated softly. "Don't keep that stuff near the girls Popsicles, please."
"Sorry." Santana smiled. "I just want to stay on top of the game."
"I know." Brittany replied. "I thought it was a secret stash of bomb pops but it was a heart, I almost dropped it." She blushed. "Label it so Tay doesn't go in there."
"Got it." Santana nodded.
Taylor ran back to the living room with a book. "Can I play soccer?"
"Sure, do you know of a league? Some friends at school mention it?" Santana asked, placing a blanket on top of her and Taylor.
"Yeah, it's in my backpack."
"Okay, I will look up the information tomorrow and find out how we can get you signed up." Santana assured her.
Brittany noticed Santans's tone and stared at her wife. "You aren't a housewife." She blurted out.
"What?" Santana asked. "Taylor, earmuffs."
Taylor nodded and covered her ears quickly.
"You aren't a housewife. You aren't happy being a housewife." Brittany continued. "Look for a job tomorrow, we'll make due with the girls and I can
rearrange things so you can go back to work sooner."
"Brittany..."
Thoughts!
