Chapter 39

(Flashback)

"Why Santana?"

Brittany looked up from her phone, momentarily blinded by the rays of the sun, to see Monica, one of the cheerios Brittany was actually friends with.

"Oh hey." She locked her phone and sat up on the grass. "What do you mean why Santana?"

Monica sat down and crossed her legs, pulling out blades of grass. "Don't be mad ok?" Brittany smiled.

"Depends on what you want to say"

"It's just that Santana is….she's not like you. She's rude, and has a really bad temper, and even on a good day she's a bitch."

Brittany's smile widened. "That's true."

"And you're super cheerful all the time and never really say anything mean to anyone. You like rainbows and unicorns and talk to your cat like another human"

"Lord T isn't a human. He's a cat" Monica smiled. "But yeah…that's all true as well."

"So why Santana?"

Brittany thought for a moment about whether or not to answer the question. Normally she wouldn't, but Monica was her friend, and she wasn't trying to say that Santana was bad for her, or didn't deserve her, she was genuinely curious. As she thought, Santana looked over at her from where she was instructing some cheerios and smiled, asking her with her eyes if she was ok. Brittany smiled and waved back.

"Because of that" Brittany said to the girl beside her.

"Because she smiled at you?"

"No, because no matter what she's doing, she checks up on me. Even before we started dating she was forming her day around me. Like, she started waking up earlier so she'd get to school when I did, and she stopped getting into detention so we could hang out after school. She knows the fastest route from all her classes to mine, and from my house to the park, or to the arcade. She pays attention to me like no one else does, and she doesn't do it because she thinks I can't take care of myself, she does it because she likes seeing me happy. Sure, I could walk to her classes, and I do sometimes, but she likes to see how happy I get when I see her waiting for me. I have a ton of friends, and lots of people like me, but Santana…" she sighed, looking back at Santana, who was now walking around the group of cheerios yelling. "Santana treats me like I'm the most important person in the world. Like I'm royalty."

"I remember that birthday, when she made everyone call you the queen" Monica laughed.

"Yeah that was totally awesome." Brittany said, joining in the laughter. "She treats me like that every day. So…" she shrugged. "So what if she's mean to other people, or likes wearing black all the time. It doesn't have anything to do with me, and that's who she is. She doesn't pretend to like people, she doesn't pretend to care about other people's feelings if she really doesn't, and I think that's great."

Monica was silent for a while, playing with the grass she had pulled out. "I didn't know Santana was like that"

Brittany shrugged again. "A lot of people don't"

"Doesn't it bother you?"

"Why would that bother me?"

Moncia looked up confused. "That she's always around. Don't you think it's controlling the way she always knows where you are and what you're doing? That she drops you off and picks you up or that she goes with you even when she doesn't have to?" Brittany frowned, still not understanding. Monica huffed in irritation. "I mean I know she's your girlfriend, but what if you want to hang out with other people? What if you want to spend some time with your friends….without her?"

"Monica, Santana's not just my girlfriend, she's my best friend. It would make me really sad if she didn't want to pick me up or drop me off. She comes with me when she doesn't have to because I ask her to. If I could I would do everything with her. And I hang out with other people all the time, it's just more fun when she's there." Monica looked doubtful.

"I hate it when Jared is always asking me where I am and what I'm doing. He's always wanting me to go to parties with him or hang out with him and his stupid friends, and I'm like….leave me alone, I just wanna hang out with my girls you know?"

Brittany laughed and turned to look at Santana. "Yeah I know…but Jared is an ass" Monica laughed and nodded. "I mean, I used to hate it when Artie was like that too, but that was mostly because I would rather have been spending my time with Santana. Santana and I have the same group of friends and we're into the same things, so I guess we don't really have the issue of not wanting to do the same thing."

"Yeah…I guess it helps that you're both girls" Monica laughed. "Maybe I should try it"

Brittany laughed and pushed her playfully. "Girls come with their own set of problems. Don't change sides so fast." She looked up and saw Santana looking at her, her arms crossed. She was jealous. Brittany giggled and stood up. "I gotta go"

Monica looked up at her then turned and saw Santana glaring at her. She laughed nervously and stood up.

"Yeah okay. Thanks for talking to me. I hope you're not mad abo-"

Brittany shook her head and pulled her into a hug. "I'm not mad. Everything you said was true, I just happen to not care"

She released her and jogged over to Santana. Monica watched as she skipped the last few feet and stopped in front of an angry looking Santana. She pulled her crossed arms apart and swung them between them. Whatever she was saying was making Santana smile, though she tried to fight it. They then both turned to her, Brittany smiling and Santana looking suspicious. She waved and they both turned back to each other. After a few seconds Santana's smile finally broke and Brittany jumped a few times, before leaning forward and kissing her gently. With that they linked pinkies and walked off the field.

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

"Brittany?" Santana yelled from the bathroom.

"Yeah?" Brittany called back. Santana didn't respond. "Babe?" Brittany called, walking up the stairs with both Kyler and Jesús in her arms. "Babe did you call me?"

"In the bathroom."

Brittany walked through their room and pushed open the bathroom door.

"Baby what are you doing?" she asked, walking in on Santana standing naked in front of the mirror.

"Do you think I'm adding weight?"

"No"

Santana turned to face her. "You answered too quickly. You didn't even think about it."

"I don't need to think about it S. I see your body every day."

"And you don't think I'm adding weight?"

"No babe. Where is this coming from?"

Brittany asked, slightly worried. With Santana's history, her becoming self-conscious of her body was not a good sign.

"We've gotten lazy. We don't do anything but lay around the house and eat."

"We had kids."

"That's not an excuse. We should start running again."

Brittany groaned. She hated running.

"Is this some roundabout way of telling me you think I've gotten fat?"

Santana's eyes widened. She shook her head.

"No way babe. You're smocking. As always. But what if I let myself go and then you don't think I'm sexy anymore?"

Brittany lowered the babies in her arms until they were both sitting on the floor by her legs. "Santana. I love you. Do you even have any idea how much I love you? You will always be so so sexy to me. You don't have to have abs for that to be true. You could gain a hundred pounds and I'd still think you were sexy as hell." Santana cocked a brow. "Okay…maybe not a hundred. But the point is that there is no universe in which I could stop being attracted to you."

Santana looked down and picked up her shirt from the closed toilet seat. She played with it for a few seconds before slipping it over her head. "Then how come we haven't had sex in months?"

"Huh?" Brittany frowned, watching Santana put on her shorts.

"That's really unusual for us. We used to have sex multiple times a week, and now…"

"Babe…" Brittany walked towards her wife, taking her hands and positioning between them and then moving so their fronts were pressed together. She kissed her lips quickly. "We have twins. We didn't have time to prepare for them, and they've kind of been kicking our asses." Santana cracked a smile. "We've been sleep deprived for nearly the entire ten months. I don't blame you for not wanting to sleep with me."

Brittany leaned down and kissed her for much longer this time. Santana held back a moan as she felt Brittany's tongue gently brush hers. "I always want to have sex with you." Santana smiled. "I know we've been stressed, and Jesús has been sick-"

"But he's better now. They're sleeping regularly and we aren't sleep deprived." Brittany looked at Santana, hoping she was understanding what she was saying. She raised her eyebrows.

"So…" Santana let go of her hands and wrapped her own around Brittany's neck. It was only a second before they were kissing deeply, Santana pushing Brittany back until she hit the sink, grinding herself into her. Brittany moaned loudly, her hands flying to Santana's waist and gripping tight with one hand while the other squeezed her ass. Santana moved to Brittany's neck and grazed her teeth against it before nibbling.

"I missed you so much" she husked into her ear, before biting her earlobe. Brittany bucked her hips and moaned, then lowered her hands to Santana's thighs and lifted her. Santana wrapped her legs around Brittany's waist as their lips connected in a heated kiss. Santana had her hands tangled gloriously in Brittany's blonde curls and was about to resume her pathway down her throat when Brittany pulled back suddenly.

"Fuck"

"What B?"

Brittany looked down and Santana followed her line of vision. She dropped her head to Brittany's shoulder and sighed heavily.

"Ma" Kyler said, standing and supporting himself with Brittany's leg. "Ma" he raised his hands up to Brittany, asking to be picked up.

"Hi bud" Brittany said, her voice lacking its usual enthusiasm.

"Ma"

"Put me down baby" Santana said around another sigh. Brittany lowered her slowly and carefully to the floor, then picked up Kyler. Santana kissed his head.

"Perfect timing mijo"

"Mami" Jesús yelled from somewhere in their bedroom.

"I better go check on what he's doing" she looked at Brittany who was pouting heavily. "Don't worry B. we'll find time."

Brittany just nodded, resting her head against Kyler's. "I think I need a cold shower."

It was the first of many cold showers for both of them. Every time they got a moment to themselves, it was interrupted by either their children, their friends or their jobs. By the end of the week Santana could hardly stand it anymore. She sat in her car, having just gotten home from the studio, and took a deep breath. Today had been a long day, and what she needed was some sweet lady kisses from her insanely hot wife, but she knew that wasn't an option. Brittany had spent the entire day alone with the boys, and they could be a lot. Jesús had seemingly boundless sources of energy, and Kyler, though most of what he said was gibberish, was extremely talkative. Even someone as energetic as Brittany found it hard to keep up with the both of them alone. She was probably tired. Which for Santana, meant no sexy times. When 15 minutes of sitting in the car and trying to cool off yielded no results, she sighed heavily and went into the house.

"Honey I'm home" she yelled, giggling to herself about how 50s she sounded. She dropped her bag on the table, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Checking yourself out?" Brittany asked. Santana couldn't see her, but she could hear the amusement in her voice. She shrugged playfully.

"What can I say, I'm ho-" she gasped as she felt her back roughly shoved into the wall. Her throat went dry when she saw the look in Brittany's eyes. "Bri-" again she was cut off as Brittany ripped open her shirt, a few buttons flying off. "Fuck." Brittany licked a long line from Santana's collar bone to just below her ear, then bit down forcefully on the skin there. Santana moaned loudly, her eyes rolling back and closing in ecstasy.

"I've been waiting for you to come home for hours" she husked seductively in Santana's ear, making her moan again. "What took you so long?" As she spoke, she unbuttoned Santana's jeans and pulled them halfway down her ass. Santana squeezed her eyes shut and tried to control the shiver that rippled through her. "I'm talking to you Santana" Brittany whispered, taking Santana's ear between her teeth and gripping her ass roughly.

"Where are my babies?" Santana asked in a surprisingly strong voice, though the rasp sent a shot of arousal through Brittany, ending in a powerful pulse in her clit. Brittany smirked, kissing down to Santana's chest until she felt a hard nipple under her lips. She let her hands roam upwards so she was caressing the tight muscles of Santana's stomach. When she licked the nipple in front of her and felt the muscles beneath her hands tighten, she smiled.

"With their grandparents"

It took a minute for Santana's lust filled brain to understand what her wife had just told her, but when she did, she opened her eyes and looked down at a smiling Brittany.

"What? When did they get here?" her confusion momentarily clearing her head. Brittany pulled down Santana's bra, exposing the dark caramel skin that she loves so much. Wasting no time she sucked the nipple into her mouth and bit down gently, running her tongue over it when she heard Santana's sharp intake of breath. Without letting it go, she tilted her head up to look at Santana and smirked. She pulled her head back a bit, then let the nipple go with a very wet pop. Santana groaned, painfully turned on.

"Does that really matter?" Brittany asked, returning her hands to her wife's ass. Santana shook her head slowly, taking the hem of Brittany's shirt and pulling it up until Brittany was forced to lift her hands. The shirt had barely hit the floor when Brittany's bra joined it. Santana cupped both breasts in front of her, loving the moan that erupted from Brittany.

"No baby. It really, really doesn't."

Four hours later, Santana crawled quickly to the edge of the bed. She was about to step on the floor when two hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. She landed clumsily on her back, and giggled as Brittany straddled her waist.

"Again?"

"Don't tell me you're tired?" Brittany asked, leaning down to kiss Santana.

"I need to eat at least" Santana laughed.

"I have something you can eat" Brittany smirked. Santana shook her head, feeling turned on despite her hunger.

"Some real food. I haven't eaten since breakfast B."

Brittany kissed her again, this time more slowly, allowing their tongues to brush teasingly against each other. She moved her hands to play with Santana's boobs and ran her thumbs across the nipples, feeling them perk up at her touch. When she pulled back Santana's eyes were still closed.

"Maybe I can eat first" she said, letting her tongue poke into Santana's ear for only a second. She smirked as Santana's entire body shuddered.

"You must be hungry" Santana said, running her hands up and down Brittany's back, dragging her nails.

"I'm starving" Brittany said after a long moan. She loved feeling Santana's nails digging into her. When she felt Santana's hands in her hair, pulling her down, she got the message, and slowly kissed her way down her body, positioning herself between her legs.

***

"Okay, okay, now I need to eat" Brittany said, panting heavily. Santana laughed.

"Now who's tired?"

"Santana…it's been like…six hours of sex. We didn't even have this much sex on our wedding night." Santana laughed again, jumping off the bed. She had been exhausted and starving a few hours ago, but now she seemed strangely energetic. A sex high she assumed. She looked down at a still panting Brittany and laughed.

"You okay there my love?"

Brittany nodded, a smile forming on her lips. "I think I just need a minute."

"That one was pretty intense"

"You're telling me" Santana laughed. "How are you not tired?"

"Guess I just have better stamina than you" she smirked. Brittany opened her eyes.

"Are you challenging me?"

"If you would like to dispute my claim, that's up to you"

Brittany sat up on her elbows and beckoned Santana forward, back onto the bed. "I'm gonna make you eat those words"

"I was hoping to eat something else actually" Santana mumbled into Brittany's lips.

***

"YOU WIN" Santana yelled, pushing Brittany's head from between her legs. Brittany smiled triumphantly and sat back on her heels. "Fucking hell Brittany Susan. I can't go anymore. I'm starving and over sensitive and exhausted as hell."

"Say it again baby"

"You win B"

Brittany smiled wider and crawled off the bed. "Thank god, cause I'm all those things too. I think the butterflies in my stomach are eating each other.

Santana grinned, then frowned, narrowing her eyes. "Cheater"

"Excuse me?" Brittany laughed, looking for her favourite oversized hoodie in the drawer.

"You just admitted you're too tired to continue"

"No, I did not admit any such thing. I would have continued till I lost consciousness, even if that may have been in the next five minutes. We'll never know now. But I would have never admitted defeat. You did, so I win." She pulled out her hoodie and turned with a grin. Santana shook her head.

"Let's just go eat before we leave my children as orphans….oh" she slid off the bed, wincing slightly. Her legs felt weak. "Speaking of my children, where are they?"

Brittany tilted her head in amusement. "Your children? That's the second time you've called them that"

"Aren't they?" Santana asked with a cheeky smile. Brittany shook her head and threw Santana a hoodie and underwear.

"Put those on, we'll shower after we eat." As Santana pulled on the underwear the bell rang. "Or not. Who's that?" she asked. Santana shrugged.

"I don't wanna wear pants….you go check."

"I don't wanna wear pants either. We should get cameras" Santana chuckled.

"Ok…let's be rational. It's either your parent, Quinn or Puck right?" Brittany nodded. "Do we need to wear pants for any of those people?" Brittany scrunched her nose in thought.

"Uh…I guess…not?"

"Great"

"I don't feel like hanging out with anyone though. I wanna eat and cuddle naked and drink wine while we watch a movie." Santana smiled.

"I like that plan."

"So maybe we can pretend we aren't home. All the lights should be off an-"the bell rang again. Brittany sighed and Santana groaned.

"I'll go tell them to go away" they walked down the stairs together, then Brittany turned to go to the kitchen and Santana to the front door. Without looking through the hole she threw the door open, a perfect glare on her face.

"Would have worked if you had pants on"

"Papi?"

"Ola mija" he smiled nervously. Santana frowned. She was happy to see him, of course she was, he was her father, but she couldn't help but feel that she wasn't happy to see him.

"Papi?" she said again. Her brain wasn't processing. She hadn't seen him since…well since she introduced him to his grandsons. Damn, was it really that long ago?

"Santana who is it?" Brittany called, her mouth full of the crisps she had just shoved into her mouth as she walked in from the living room. "Are you being held at gunpoint?" she joked when she saw how still Santana was standing, her hand gripping the door so tight her knuckles were white. She hurried forward when Santana didn't answer. "Baby who is it?"

Santana pulled the door open wider so Brittany could see for herself.

"Stephen?" she blushed heavily, acutely aware of the fact that she was not wearing pants.

"That's me. Hello Brittany how are you?" he smiled less nervously at her.

"I am…we…good. Thank you...How uh…what are you doing here?" she was going to ask how he was. That's what people do when they saw their father in law. But she was half naked and confused by his sudden appearance, and the words just tumbled out of her. "Sorry…I mean how are you?"

"No. that's an excellent question Britt. What are you doing here papi?" Santana asked, recovering from her shock and allowing anger to take its place. She was suddenly very happy her kids weren't home. She didn't want her father to see them. The realisation made her sad.

"Can I come in? It's cold"

"No it isn't"

Stephen's eyes softened as he looked at Santana. It had been too long since he'd seen her, he knew that. "Ok, well, I'd rather not talk outside like an unwanted sales person."

"Maybe not a sales person but-"

"Yes. You can…please come in" Brittany recognised the bite in Santana's tone and cut her off. They were having such a good night, and she didn't need a fight with her father to ruin Santana's mood. Stephen smiled gratefully at her, stepping into the house and pulling off his jacket. Santana sighed, catching the look Brittany was giving her that told her to be nice. Fine, she'd be nice, but no way was she going to let it go.

When they were all sitting in the living room, Stephen shifted uncomfortably. "You have a very nice house"

"Thank you" Brittany said, looking around her living room and smiling.

"How did you get in actually?" Santana asked.

"Oh, your friend Noah gave me the code." He laughed lightly. "I can't tell you how happy I am that your relationship with him ended when it did"

Santana couldn't help but smile. Her parents had many faults, but she would be forever grateful that they embraced her being gay so whole heartedly.

"Me too" Brittany said, taking Santana's hand and smiling.

"We're all very lucky Brittany was there to set you straight Santanita" he paused, then they all laughed. "You know what I mean"

"I know Papi. Thank you" she smiled warmly, loving how nice it was to laugh with him, then she sighed and looked at Brittany, remembering why she was angry. "Why are you here?"

"I came to visit my daughter"

Brittany felt Santana's grip on her hand tighten.

"Right, now the real reason?" Stephen sighed.

"I have a medical conference in LA, so I thought I'd drop by while I was so close and see my family." Santana nodded very slowly, letting go of Brittany's hand.

"What does mami want?" Santana asked in irritation.

"What makes you think-"

"Papi por favor. Solo dime que quiere mami y deja de perder nuestro tiempo." She tried to control her volume, but it still came out much louder than she had wanted. She felt Brittany flinch slightly and gave her an apologetic glance before focusing on her dad again.

"Bueno, Bueno. She wants to know why she is never invited here, and why you never come to visit."

"Oh" Brittany said. "Well Santana and I haven't left San Jose since the boys came home. We've been really busy-"

"Adjusting to parenthood and all that you know" Santana cut in. She didn't want Brittany mentioning that Jesús wasn't well because her father would want to check him, or ask why she didn't call him. Stephen nodded.

"Yes, I do know" he looked at Santana almost longingly for a moment. "Well…the real thing…she didn't want me to tell you, but she ran into Susan last week, and I guess they started talking about the twins-"

"Don't call them that" Brittany said quickly. Stephen looked at her, confused. "Sorry…we just don't refer to them that way. We want them to know they are two separate people, with distinct personalities."

"Oh right…okay sorry. Anyway, as they were talking Susan mentioned that three weeks was too long to go without seeing Jesús and Kyler, and that they were planning another trip up here. So Mari asked how often they see them, and Susan said they're here at least twice a month, but mostly more."

"Yeah" Santana said. "So mami is upset that the Pierces get to see my kids more than her?" Stephen nodded.

"The thing is Stephen…" Brittany said cautiously. "My parents don't exactly wait for an invitation. They face time Jesús and Kyler all the time and they drop by unannounced and take them out for a few hours. We don't really invite them….but they know they're always welcome. I mean, they are their grandparents. You and Maribel are always welcome too..." she looked at Santana, "we didn't think we needed to formally invite you."

Santana turned to face her father slowly, trying hard not to let overwhelming disappointment in her parents take over yet again. For some reason she thought they would be different as grandparents. She didn't want to fight. Not today anyway, so she said nothing. Stephen nodded, his eyes downcast.

"Yes…we were just trying to give you space. That may be possible for your parents Brittany, but things have always been different with us. Santana has never liked us being those kind of parents."

Brittany frowned. "With all due respect. Santana grew to be like that because that's what you conditioned her to expect from you. You leave a child alone long enough, of course they're going to get used to your absence. Don't blame your half-hearted parenting on Santana. Our job is to be parents, and the child doesn't have the ability to decide when or how or in your case, if, we do that. You and Maribel made your decisions, and Santana evolved to survive them. What you see now is a product of your creation, so don't blame Santana." Santana was thoroughly taken back by Brittany's outburst. Usually she was the calm one, and Santana was the one going on long insulting rants, and though Brittany didn't use any foul language, her father was definitely insulted. She was still trying to process where Brittany's sudden anger came from when Brittany stood up.

"Like I said, you and Maribel are always welcome to see my sons, but if you're going to be as committed to being grandparents as you are to being parents, then that may not be the case for very long."

Stephen recovered from his stunned silence and stood up as well, his features hard. "What exactly do you mean?"

Brittany took a step forward, a move that was more threatening than Santana had ever seen Brittany be, and made her shoot up from her seat. "I mean, that you're either in my children's lives, or you aren't. I won't allow you to hurt them with your constant absence like you did…do…Santana." They stared at each other with hard glares for a long time until Santana decided it had gone on for long enough.

"It was nice to see you papi, thanks for stopping by. Tell mami thanks for giving us space but that won't be necessary anymore. We're not going to come to Lima but she can come here whenever she wants ok?" she walked up the stairs, telling him it was time to leave. With one last look at Brittany, Stephen picked up his jacket and followed Santana. He didn't say a word as he was led to the door or as he watched Santana open it, but as he crossed the threshold, he looked at her.

"We know we made some mistakes nena, and we regret them, but you didn't make it easy for us at all, and we thought we were doing the right thing at the time. You're a parent now, and one day you will unde-"

"Papi no. I understand. I understood a long time ago. I was going through a lot and I pushed you guys away. I don't really blame you for that anymore. The issue is now. You say you know you made mistakes, but you're both doing the same thing. Do you know that Brittany's parents call me three times a week? Just me. They don't ask to talk to Brittany or the boys, they just want to talk to me. Ask me how I'm doing, how work is, if I'm eating and taking care of myself. Even though I tell them I'm busy and even though we always talk when they call to talk to Jesús and Kyler, and even though it annoys the hell out of me sometimes because I'm a grown up and don't need to be checked on, they still do it. When was the last time you called me papi?" she was proud of herself for not yelling or being rude. She didn't want to fight or make him angrier than he was, but she was tired of doing this dance with her parents. She saw his shoulders slump and a guilty look cross his face. She nodded and shrugged. "Bye papi…be safe"

She closed the door.