Chapter 10

After lunch, Brittany and Santana dropped their parents at their hotel, and then came back to the restaurant for Quinn and Ashley, who had been given permission to stay at the apartment with them.

"Alright Noah, we'll see you tomorrow? I'll send you directions to our apartment." Santana said, walking towards the door of the restaurant holding Ashley's hand.

"Wait" Puck said cautiously, making them all stop and look at him.

"What?" Quinn asked.

"I thought I could crash with you guys" he said sheepishly.

"No way" Brittany and Quinn said together.

"Aww come on Pierce, you can't leave me out on the streets" Puck pleaded.

"You didn't organise any place to stay?" Santana asked him incredulously.

"I thought I could rely on my friends." Puck replied.

"Woow" Quinn said. "You're lucky it's not my apartment. You would definitely not stand a chance." She walked out of the restaurant and went to wait in the car.

"Please Britt, come on. I know you're too good of a person to leave me high and dry for four days."

Brittany squeezed her eyes shut. It was bad enough that Puck was even going to be around at all. Now she had to live with him too? Why was the universe so cruel to her? Groaning, Brittany was about to cave in when Santana intervened.

"Hold on a second Puck. Do you mean to tell me that you haven't talked to Brittany in years, not counting the call that I initiated a few days ago, but you show up at her doorstep to take advantage of her kind heart? The heart that you so ceremoniously trampled on?"

Brittany was shocked by the anger in Santana's voice.

"Well it's not like she didn't have her share of low blows either Lezp-" A sharp kick in his shins stopped Puck from finishing his sentence.

"Well timed Ash!" Santana cheered, high fiving the girl.

"What was that for kid?" Puck groaned, clutching his leg.

"She told you not to call her that Noah." Ashley replied, shrugging.

Brittany and Santana laughed.

"Now you've got your mini me calling me that too Lopez!? Not cool"

"It's your name. Get over it." Santana said casually. "Look, I'm not going to let you use Britt like that. Convince her you aren't that bad, and when I'm satisfied that she actually likes you and isn't just tolerating you for my sake, you can crash your sorry ass on our couch." Santana wasn't glaring, but her tone of voice told Puck that there was no room for discussion here.

"Anything else to add Mi gemela?" Santana asked, looking down at Ashley, who was glaring at Puck.

Ashley looked thoughtful for a moment, and then stomped harshly on the foot of the leg she had kicked.

"Ashley!" Brittany shrieked, not finding her behaviour as funny the second time. Santana however burst out laughing, high fiving the girl again.

"Well said Ash!" she said, once she had sobered up.

Puck took a step back from Ashley and narrowed his eyes at her in dislike.

"Don't look at her like that!" Santana said in a serious voice. Then, giggling again, "You deserve it. You ass."

"Santana language" Brittany chastised.

"Sorry B" She said apologetically.

Puck imitated a whip crack. Santana turned to him with narrowed eyes, and then turned and walked out of the restaurant, still holding Ashley's hand.

"Wait! Where am I going to stay?" Puck called, racing after her.

"Should have thought of that before making fun of her huh?" Ashley said, as Santana held the door open for her to climb into the back seat.

"Right you are Ash. You could learn a lot from her Noah." Santana said, trying not to laugh at the disapproving look Brittany was giving her from the passenger seat.

"You only think that because she's exactly like you." Puck said annoyed.

"Exactly" Ashley and Santana said at the same time, then high fived for the third time.

"Santana can we be serious for a second? I need a place to stay!" Puck said anxiously.

"I could ask my mum if you could crash on the couch in her room." She suggested. Puck grimaced.

"We could ask Elaine if he could sleep on her couch." Brittany suggested.

"Who's Elaine?" Puck asked.

"Our neighbour. We've told you this like three times Puck." Santana said exasperated.

Puck raised his hands. "Sorry. I'm not good with girls' names. Do you think she'll agree?"

"It's not really her you should be worried about convincing. It's her boyfriend." Quinn said, laughing. "You stand almost no chance. I bet he'd be able to read your thoughts from the parking."

"Oh so she's hot huh?" Puck smirked.

"No Puck! We're trying to help you here. If you mess this up by being crude and disgusting you really will be sleeping on the street" Brittany said angrily.

"OK OK. I'll tone it way down. Like 'I'm talking to Rachel Berry' kind of way down. But she's missing out, that's all I'm saying."

Santana closed the driver's door and turned on the ignition. "Bye Puck."

"No ride?" He asked, shocked. "You women are cold"

"I'm doing you a favour. Do you really want to sit between Ashley and Quinn?" Santana asked laughing.

Puck scrunched his face and then nodded. "Yeah you're right, I'd better call a cab."

Santana laughed harder.

"Fu-"

"Language Quinn"

"Sorry Britt. Screw you Puckerman."

Puck blew Quinn a kiss.

"Santana can you drive please, before I get out of this car and beat Puck's nasty ass."

Puck and Santana laughed heartily.

"I'm only joking Quinn. But I will take a cab though. Text me the address Lezpez." He said the last word to Ashley.

"Puta" Ashley yelled at him, causing Santana to howl with laughter as she drove the car away, Quinn to gasp, and Brittany to begin a long lecture on calling people names, which Santana was sure Ashley wasn't listening to.

When they got home, Santana realised that Brittany was still upset, so she pulled her into the kitchen as Quinn and Ashley went into the living room.

"Britt, I'm sorry okay? I'll watch my language around her I promise."

"Santana, it's more than just your language. She copies everything you do. Everything."

"Well…I can't really do anything about that B" Santana said quietly.

"I know that, but she's only eleven. She's trying to grow up too fast because you keep telling her that she needs to be cool and popular and all these other things. She's still a kid, and she won't even allow herself to act like it."

"Hey, I never told her that she has to be cool or popular. I tell her everything she does is cool, and I'm always telling her to just be herself, no matter what other people think. You think I want her to have the same school life I did? I hated school so much because of how much work it was to keep up appearances. But I can't make her not care about social status, she already does, so yeah, I try help make it as easy for her as I can."

Brittany looked towards the living room, realising that they could probably be heard.

"Deseo que la animes a divertirse más. ella tiene un lado tonto, lo sabes. ella te escuchará."

Taken aback by Brittany's switch to Spanish, Santana took a minute to reply. Of course she would love Ashley to be more carefree, but not everyone could be Brittany.

"Britt, todo el mundo lucha con el acoso. vio que algunos niños eran intimidados por algunas cosas que solía disfrutar, y eso la asustaba. Estoy tratando de enseñarle cómo protegerse sin dejar de ser ella misma. No es mi culpa que ella sepa demasiado sobre cómo solía ser"

Brittany sighed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ashley asked from her place on the couch. "I can hear you speaking Spanish."

"Yeah kiddo we are. I'm helping Britt practice some more. We're talking about what to have as a snack. I'm thinking ice cream, but Britt wants popcorn and soda."

Ashley paused, thinking hard, then she said, "I'm a bit too full for ice cream, but I always have space for popcorn. No soda though. Sorry Santana" she said regretfully.

"That's ok Ash, we can have ice cream tomorrow or something. Popcorn it is"

"Escucho lo que estas diciendo, okay, I just…No quiero que ella crezca demasiado rápido" Brittany said, lowering her head.

"I know B. le recordaremos cómo divertirse mientras ella está aquí, okay?" Santana asked, using her finger to lift Brittany's head by pushing up her chin. "She'll be okay baby. I'll try harder."

"Thank you Santana. I love you." Brittany said, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on Santana's lips.

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" Santana asked hopefully.

"I wasn't mad. I'm just worried. She's worse than before, and mum said that she's been more difficult at home." Brittany said this so quietly that Santana only heard because of how close their faces were.

"Let's talk about this later okay? She's gonna know we're talking about her."

Brittany nodded and made to move away, but Santana turned her face back with a palm to her cheek.

"Britt?" She whispered, like she was going to tell her a secret.

"Santana?" Brittany called back in the same whisper, raising her eyebrows.

Santana kissed her again, deeper than before, then pulled back and leaned her forehead against Brittany's.

"I love you too."

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Keeping her promise to Brittany, Santana stopped all cursing, Spanish or English, for the duration of Ashley's stay. She also stopped encouraging insults and rude comments, which meant no more laughing and high fiving when she did it. With Noah and Quinn around, Santana was finding it exceedingly difficult to be a good example for Ashley, and by the end of Sunday she had decided to take a different approach.

"Hey Ash, do you wanna go for a walk with me?" She asked the younger girl, who was lying upside down on the couch looking bored. Ashley threw her legs over her head and rolled onto the floor, and then jumped up, facing Santana.

"Just you and I?"

"You know it" Santana winked.

"YEESSSS!" she screamed. "Let me get my shoes." And she ran off into the room she was sharing with Quinn.

"What's she so happy about?" Brittany asked, walking out from their bedroom.

"We're …uh...we're going for a walk" Santana said, trying to ignore how sexy Brittany looked in her pyjama shorts and Santana's tank top, which was too short and showed off her toned abs.

Brittany smirked, noticing that Santana was staring at her stomach. She walked towards her slowly.

"That's nice. It's really hot outside."

"So hot" Santana agreed, though Brittany was sure she was not talking about the weather. Deciding to tease Santana further, Brittany ran her hand up her stomach, over her chest and rested it on the back of her neck.

"It's so hot in here too" She said. Santana's eyes, which had followed Brittany's hand movements, snapped up to look into Brittany's. Brittany bit her lip to keep herself from smirking and giving away what she was doing. She could see the lust in Santana's eyes. Santana took a few steps forward so there was only a foot between them. She kept her eyes locked with Brittany's as she extended her hand and placed it, palm forward, on Brittany's stomach. Brittany's stomach tightened at the contact. She had meant to tease Santana, but now she could feel herself wanting to stop the game and just take Santana right there.

Santana began to push her hand upwards, following the same path up that Brittany's had taken. When she reached her breasts though, she paused to let her index finger circle Brittany's nipple, which made Brittany breathe in sharply and flutter her eyelids closed for a second, before opening them and looking from Santana's eyes to her lips. Santana inched closer and licked her lips, while her hand went to grip the back of Brittany's neck. Brittany took a small step forward and brought her hands to grip Santana's waist. They were now so close together that they could feel each other's breath on their faces, but neither of them wanted to be the one to break, so they stood there, holding each other.

Santana's other hand grazed up Brittany's right arm, then her cheeks, and then moved back, roughly pulling off Brittany's hairband, making her hair fall in long waves over her shoulder. Then she ran her fingers through it, and finally gripped it tightly at the back of Brittany's head.

Brittany exhaled audibly and tilted her head back slightly, biting her lip to keep from leaning forward and kissing Santana like she so desperately wanted to.

Santana moved forward so there was barely even air separating their lips, feeling her nose brush against Brittany's.

"You're so sexy baby" she whispered seductively. Brittany shivered, wondering how it was possible to be so turned on when Santana hadn't even really done anything. She was on the verge of breaking and just letting Santana win.

Santana wasn't fairing any better than Brittany. It was taking every ounce of her self-control not to push Brittany up against the kitchen island and kiss the air out of her lungs. She wanted to, but Brittany had started a power game, and Santana didn't like to lose. Though, right now she couldn't see what would be so bad about losing this particular game, she could get Brittany back later. Just as she was about to concede defeat, they heard little feet running towards them, and then stop abruptly.

"Does this mean we're not going for a walk anymore?" Ashley asked, sounding heart broken.

Brittany closed her eyes, feeling like she might cry, and then took a step back from Santana, dropping her hands from her waist. Santana blinked rapidly and then cleared her throat.

"What? No of course we're still going silly." She said, trying to keep the rasp in her voice from giving away how turned on she was.

Brittany had turned away from Santana now, feeling that if she kept looking at her, she wouldn't be able to let her walk out. Instead, she looked at her little sister, willing her body to cool down.

"Great! What will you do Britt?" Ashley asked, concerned her sister will feel left out.

"Uh...I think I'll take a shower" Brittany said, still not looking at Santana. Santana laughed.

"Yeah you do that B" She said knowingly. "We'll be back in a bit".

As the door closed behind them, Brittany sighed heavily, vowing to never again start something that she couldn't finish.

Santana first took Ashley to get some ice cream, and then decided to go to the park so that there would be less noise when she tried to talk to her.

"Alright, and this is Britt's favourite park." She said, as they reached the entrance.

"Does it have ducks?" Ashley asked laughing.

"No it doesn't actually. That's the only reason she's not here every day" Santana said, joining her in laughing.

As they walked Santana asked Ashley about school and her friends. She wanted to know if Ashley was happy or if she was struggling with maintaining the image just like Santana had.

"School's alright. It's still easy for me, but I know it will get harder so I'm not complaining." Santana nodded at this. Ashley had always found school easy, but the Pierces had decided that it would be better for her not to skip grades. She was the youngest in her class now, and was already trying to grow up too fast, they didn't want to give her any more pressure to do so.

"What about your friends?" Santana asked curiously.

"Well, I try to hang out with as many people as possible, not always the same people, but I do have my best friend Ty. You remember him?" Santana nodded again. Ashley was always talking about new people, and introducing them to different kids, but there was one boy who had always been around. They had joined the first grade together, and had been inseparable since.

"How's he doing?" Santana asked.

"He's good. He joined the soccer team, and then he wanted me to stop hanging out with everyone…he says there are some people that I'm not supposed to hang out with because I'm popular."

There it was, Santana thought. Seeing a bench, Santana walked towards it and sat for moment, thinking. Ashley sat beside her, licking her ice cream.

"Do you think he's right?" She finally asked.

"I'm not sure. I think if I'm popular I should be allowed to do whatever I want to. Do you think he's right?" Ashley asked, finally turning to look at Santana, as if worried she had disappointed her somehow.

Santana sighed. She had no idea how to actually convey what she wanted to say. She decided to say the truth.

"Ash, this is really complicated stuff you know? When I was your age, I was kind of like Ty. I thought that the only way to be popular was to make people think you're better than them. So I made my parents buy me all the best clothes, and I made other people feel bad because they didn't look as good as me. I threw really big birthday parties to rub it in everyone's faces that I was rich." Santana shook her head, disappointed in herself.

Ashley was silent, frowning slightly.

"I wasn't a nice person at all. I liked making people cry so they'd be too scared to bully me, and want to do everything I say. I thought that would make me happy. But you know, it meant I didn't have any real friends. Everyone was only friends with me because they didn't want to be on my bad side or because they wanted to go to cool parties and get cool expensive gifts from me. It was really lonely, but Quinn told me it had to be that way if we wanted to be popular."

Ashley nodded, as if accepting this was her fate.

"But then, I met Brittany. And she was so cool. She was pretty, like the prettiest person in our grade and she could dance like crazy, but she never made other people feel bad for being uglier than her, or dancing worse than her. She just did her own thing, not caring if anyone was better or worse than her. And people just liked her. They liked hanging out with her because she didn't make them feel bad about themselves. She was like you, she wanted to hang out with whoever she wanted, whether they were popular or not."

"But people still bullied her right?" Ashley asked sadly.

"Yeah they did. And I tried to help her. I told her who to hang out with, and which parties to go to and all of that other stuff that Ty is trying to tell you."

"And did they stop bullying her?"

"To her face."

"What do you mean?"

Santana wracked her brain for the simplest way to explain.

"You see…when you're popular because people actually like you, like you and Britt, then people who bully you are just trying to make you feel bad about yourself because they're jealous of how happy you are. But if you're popular because you're rich or pretty or a bitch like me, then everyone talks about you. Everyone thinks you're awful, and they make fun of you whenever you're not there. So that means, I surrounded myself with all these people I didn't even like, I was mean all the time, which was really tiring, and I was still not liked by anyone. While Britt, she had all these people who were actually her friends, she was always just having fun, being herself, and only had a few jealous people being mean to her. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Ashley nodded slowly, processing what Santana had told her.

"But you're happy now right?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah I'm happy now." Santana confirmed.

"But you're still mean" Ashley laughed cheekily. Santana laughed too and punched her shoulder lightly.

"I'm mean to Puck and Quinn, because they're my oldest best friends, and that's how we all show we love each other. But I'm only mean when someone is mean to me first. I'm more confident in myself now that I don't have to compare myself to other people to see how awesome I am. I just do my own thing and don't really think about what other people say."

Ashley nodded. "So I should tell Ty that I want to hang out with everyone?"

"You should tell Ty, and anyone else that has a problem with you being your cheeky care-free self, that your sister 'Snixx' will come pay them a visit. Ash, you grew up with me and Britt, it's like the best of both worlds. I'm not going to tell you that attitude and a few carefully selected insults aren't important, but I think you just have to be smart about it. You can show people that there are lines they can't cross, like making fun of you and your friends, but that doesn't mean you have to be that was all of the time you know? As much as I love how much like me you are, I love that you're your own person more. You're the spicy Pierce."

Ashley laughed, and resumed eating her ice cream.

"You don't have to be me, and you don't have to be Brittany. As long as you stay Ashley, you're gonna be okay." Santana finished her speech, wondering if she got the message across.

"What if I get bullied?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"If you get bullied, you let me and Britt know, and we'll help you deal with it okay? Britt will help you feel confident enough not to care anymore."

"What about you?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not above going all Lima Heights on some eleven year olds." Santana said, messing up Ashley hair and laughing as she nearly dropped her ice cream trying to get away.

"Where are you going?" Santana asked her innocently, standing up to get closer to Ashley.

"No Santana stop" Ashley squealed, taking several steps back.

"Stop what? I'm just walking Ash." Santana said, raising her hands as she stalked towards Ashley. Suddenly she lunged forward and grabbed Ashley around the waist. Ashley screamed in surprise, dropping her ice cream as Santana attacked her with tickles.

Ashley struggled against Santana, gasping for air as she laughed loudly. Santana was having a hard time holding on to the furiously wriggling girl, so she finally let her go, and Ashley dropped to the ground, taking in large gulps of air.

Santana collapsed next to her, and they lay panting next to each other, until Santana's phone rang. It was Brittany calling. After assuring her that they would be home within the hour, Santana stood up, brushed herself off, and then extended her hand to help Ashley get up too.

"Time to go kiddo" She said, hoisting the girl up.

Ashley stood for a moment, looking around, and then took off in a sprint.

"Race you to the gate old woman" she yelled back at Santana.

*******************************************************************************

Brittany was lying on the floor in the living room, enjoying the silence of the apartment. She loved having Ashley and Quinn around, and even Puck hadn't been that bad, but in the one day they had all been there together, she had forgotten what peace was. Yet her newfound peace was not to be enjoyed, because after lying there for twenty minutes, she heard Santana's yelling from down the hall. She sighed and sat up.

'That's cheating you cheeky cheater' She heard Santana yell, closer to the door now, followed by Ashley's loud laughter. Brittany smiled. Santana had really taken what she had told her seriously. She had stopped swearing, and she was being the goofiest Brittany had seen her in many years.

The door burst open and Ashley came running in covered in grass stains and what looked like chocolate ice cream smeared down her shirt. She ran straight for Brittany, jumped onto her and yelled loudly.

"Britt, you have to help me! Help me she's co-" she broke off screaming as Santana slammed the door shut.

"J'ACUSE! Brittany doesn't like cheaters either Ashley Pierce. You must be punished." Santana said, in an execution style voice. Brittany threw her hands around Ashley, trapping her.

"Thou shalt not cheat" She bellowed, and started tickling under Ashley's armpits, where she was the most sensitive. Ashley Screamed louder and thrashed around.

"Stop...STOP!" She cried.

"Admit you cheated" Santana said simply, as Brittany paused to let her sister breathe.

"I didn't-AAAAHHHH" Brittany cut her off with a fresh round of relentless tickles.

"ADMIT IT" Santana yelled over Ashley's screams of laughter.

"OK…ok" Brittany stopped tickling. "I cheated" she said, raising her hands in surrender.

"I hope you've learned your lesson" Santana said, nodding for Brittany to let her go. "Now go take a shower, cause you're disgusting."

"Heeyy" Ashley said, standing up from Brittany's lap and pouting.

"Your pout doesn't even work you're so dirty." Santana said, laughing. Next thing she knew she was being tackled to the ground, which she hit with a loud thud. Ashley hopped up laughing and ran to the bathroom, ignoring Brittany's yelling.

Santana lay on the floor with her eyes closed, sure something was broken.

"Baby are you okay?" Brittany asked, kneeling beside her.

"I think I broke my ass and elbows." She said, groaning. "I had it coming though, I've been baiting her all day."

Brittany sighed in relief. If she was making jokes then she wasn't seriously hurt. She stood up, shaking her head and laughing in amusement at Santana's relationship with her sister.

"Don't laugh at me Britt, I'm not as young as I used to be you know. She could have done serious damage" Santana said seriously as she sat up.

"You better start finding a way to age back down again because our kids are going to be way worse." As soon as she said it Brittany froze. She and Santana had not talked about children. They had said they wanted them for sure, but that was in high school. Now they were engaged, and the 'baby talk' was a very real talk that they needed to have soon.

There was a short silence, in which Santana stood up and looked at Brittany as though she was in deep thought.

"Our kids" She repeated, smiling. "I like the sound of that."

Brittany exhaled the breath she had been holding.

"Let's actually get married before we start talking about kids though Britt" Santana said laughing. Then she stepped closer and kissed her quickly on the lips. "Now. What's for dinner? I'm starving!"

Brittany smiled. She loved that Santana asked this all the time, even though she was the one who always cooked.

"Are you tired?" Brittany asked her.

"Not really. A little, from chasing Ash around town, but I'll recover. Why?"

"We could go eat at the hotel with the parents. I'm sure mum and dad want to check in with Ashley."

"Sure. I'll need to shower first though, I was lying in the grass."

Watching Santana walk away, Brittany couldn't help but think, even if kids were a few years away, that Santana would be an awesome mum.