Fic: It's gonna be alright... (5/?)
Fic: It's gonna be alright... Someday
Rating: T
Fandom: Glee
Pairing: Rachel/Santana
Summary: Two words can change your entire life and you'll be forced to resort to back-up plans, give up dreams and actually see. See who actually cares and what really matters.
Fanfiction.net link: here
Author Notes: Multi-chaptered fic. The Storyline is completely planned and I have some dialog already written. Despite this, this is a work in progress fic.
Most of the medical stuff will be accurate, I had the bad luck of having cancer so I understand the treatments, I did not have the type of cancer described here (my father did, though).
Chapter 5: Mamá knows best
Santana is sitting in the couch while playing with the lettuce in her bowl and with the movie playing in the background when her parents arrive. They enter the house laughing about something that apparently happened during dinner, and they both look surprised at seeing her there.
“Hola, Santi… ¿Qué haces acá? I thought you’d be at Brittany’s,” her dad said in a profound voice, while kissing the top of her head.
“Nah, she had a date night with Artie and he was going to take her to Breadsticks.” Her mom looked at her knowingly and then looked at her husband.
“Ay, Roberto… Our girl is here tonight, let’s just enjoy a little bit of family time.” She said sitting next to Santana, hugging her.
“Would you like something to drink?” Roberto asked while entering the kitchen.
“Red wine for me, Rob.” Maribel answered, while tightening the hug on Santana.
“A beer would be nice!” Santana screamed to the kitchen laughing, which earned her a slap in the back of the head from her mother.
“Here you go,” Roberto said giving a glass of red wine to his wife, he had a beer in hand and sat next to Santana. He opened the bottle and Santana was about to say something when he drunk from the bottle smiling, he took a diet coke can from his pocket and gave it to her, which made them all laugh.
They watched the romantic movie together and about fifteen minutes before the end Roberto decided to go to bed mumbling something about fake stories, women and idealized love.
Maribel and Santana were left alone, and the older woman looked at her daughter intently, Santana rolled her eyes.
“What happened?” Maribel asked immediately, “Did you have a fight with Brittany? Or did you have some problem at school? What has done that coach of yours, again?”
“Mom! Mom!” Santana shook her head, “things with Britt are O.K, she’s with Artie, she made her choice and I respect that,” Santana rolled her eyes after seeing her mom with a compassionate expression, “Believe me,” and her mom nodded paying attention to the television once again. Santana was aware that her mother knew her better than anyone and that the older woman would pretend that everything was ok until Santana decided to tell her what was bothering her.
“This is so cheesy,” her mother said watching the movie, and she smiled.
“You are the one that insists on buying crappy movies.”
“Santana! Language!” her mother huffed, but Santana just stayed silent until the credits started rolling.
“It’s not coach and it’s not the cheerios, it’s not even the job,” she sighed when she saw how expectant her mom looked. “It’s Berry,” Maribel looked astounded for a second and then turned off the TV.
“Hiram’s daughter?” She asked and Santana’s eyes widened.
“Why do you know her dad?”
“Well, that happens when you’ve known a person during the last… 4 years, I think.” Maribel said with a smirk, that at this point was a patented Lopez move.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Santana looked surprised at her.
“Well, when I first told you, your answer was something along the lines ‘Sadly she exists’ so that gave a clue not to bring it up anymore,” Maribel told her, “Also, when I knew that you were in glee club together and you called her RuPaul and let me know that you had no intention to stay in the club I just… Let it go.”
“We are still together in glee club, she’s our main singer… She was” Santana explained, suddenly feeling exhausted.
“Oh,” suddenly Maribel’s understanding made her expression change completely, “She’s got cancer,” she said almost whispering, remembering Hiram saying something about it, and Santana nodded.
“Tracheal cancer,” she could feel her mother stiffening next to her, and both shared a few seconds of silence, probably remembering Santana’s grandfather. “I’ve never been nice to her,” Maribel’s eyes hardened, “but today, trying to make a joke I totally made a mistake and I might have made fun of her situation and…”
“Santana! How could you?!” her mother said angrily, “as if she isn’t going through enough right now. I can’t believe…”
“Mom! I didn’t make fun of her illness, or of her giant nose or anything,” Maribel still looked angry, “Look, the glee club has been especially… Annoying.” She rolled her eyes. “We’ve never been particularly nice to her, some of us have resorted to mock her throughout the years, others are just jealous of the amount of solos she gets, or some have just simply used her to achieve whatever it is they want in the moment,” she sighed thinking of Kurt, Quinn, Finn and Jesse. “I mean… She isn’t very nice when it comes to solos or competition, but in general she’s not that bad. And now suddenly everyone feels like they have to be nice, they have to sing encouraging songs knowing that she can’t sing anymore. It’s like having a gigantic sign with neon lights saying ‘we didn’t like you, but we like you now that we know you might die’.” She huffed.
“Santana, you just have to understand that it is in moments like these when people suddenly develops a conscience and they probably feel bad about treating her badly in the past… It’s okay to feel that way, they just have to learn to be more subtle about it.”
“Mom, it’s still no reason to be that blind. I mean, I can see her, literally, squirming in her chair whenever someone does something out of pity. I seem to understand what she is going through, because well… I just do. The only other person who is just being normal with her is Brittany. But it’s because she’s always been nice to her... Or almost all the time,” Santana added remembering the granny clothes fad catastrophe.
“Santana, do you remember how it was when your Abuelito was ill?” Santana looked at her mom and remembered her grandfather sick in bed trying to soothe his pain, and she nodded. “He tried to be strong, and he certainly wanted his routine to be as normal as it could be. And yes, sometimes we smothered him with attention, but sometimes it was needed, because there were things he couldn’t do anymore. Now, we all know how your uncle José decided to swallow his pride and come to visit him when he knew he was sick, and he tried to be a better son for his last days on earth, and your abuelito was ecstatic. Don’t you think your glee club wants the same?”
“Mom, she’s not going to die. She’s young and strong, and…”
“Santana,” Maribel looked at her with a sad, serious expression, “you don’t know that. You don’t know if she is going to make it after all the treatments and the surgeries, and all she has to go through.” And it was those words that somehow shook Santana and for the first time she let herself cry. She cried for her grandfather, she cried for the lost time and she cried for Berry. Because she couldn’t help but think that it could have been her, she tried to put herself in Rachel’s place and that was heartbreaking. “San,” her mother sighed and hugged with unusual strength, “Honey, you also have to understand your glee club, they just think they have to make her feel good, they just are being a little bit too…”
“Stupid?” Santana said trying to dry her cheeks, and her mom smiled.
“Overwhelming was the word I had in mind,” she kissed Santana’s temple.
“I don’t know what to do. Don’t get me wrong, I care, I just… I don’t want her to think that it’s just because she is sick, or because I pity her.” Santana looked at her hands.
“Then all you have to do, is say those same words to her, and try not to call her RuPaul,” Maribel said, and Santana laughed.
“That was a great nickname,” and Maribel rolled her eyes while standing up.
“Just make sure you apologize for whatever it is you said today, ok?” Santana nodded. “Good night, mi amor,” Maribel said kissing the top of Santana’s head.
“Buenas noches, mamá.” Santana answered looking at the turned off TV screen and she tried to find some solution to her dilemma.