Baby Love 2: Chaos and Calmness
Title: Baby Love 2: Chaos and Calmness
Pairing: Brittany/Santana, side Rachel/Quinn
Rating: PG
Length: ~3,400
Summary: What starts out as a chaotic early morning for Brittany and Santana ends up to be pretty perfect.
Author's Note: *Puppy-verse #6* I've been hit with a few plot bunnies for it lately so I've been writing like a fiend. Also, I am not fluent in Spanish or Dutch (I used my Spanish textbook and an online translator) so if there are mistakes in the very few words I've written in either of those languages please, please (nicely) tell me so that I can fix them!
ETA: Thank you to phenomenal0cat for fixing my Spanish errors!
Preceded by:
Puppy | My Girl(s) | Perfection | Decisions | Baby Love
Directory | Timeline | Original Character Bios
--September 2023--
It was pure and utter chaos when Brittany went into labor. Duck was barking because Santana was yelling and panicking because the blonde was three weeks early and they hadn’t yet packed the hospital bag. Brittany was freaking out because in the panic she had obviously forgotten that her water was supposed to break and it was completely normal. She cried and apologized over and over to Santana for “wetting the bed”.
When Santana finally got the bag packed and Brittany’s clothes changed she had to run back into the apartment three times, the first to put her shoes on, the second to get the car keys, and the third to get Brittany who had calmed down and was patiently waiting on the couch. Santana called Quinn and Rachel on the way to the hospital and Rachel swore at her for a good five minutes for calling at two in the morning because they’d just gotten the twins to sleep again after they decided it would be a good idea to come in and jump on their mothers’ bed.
“Shut up, Berry! B’s water broke!” Santana cut Rachel off in the middle of her rant.
“What!?” Rachel shrieked. “Quinn! Quinn, get up! Brittany’s water broke!”
“It’s three weeks early,” Santana heard Quinn in the background.
“We’re on the way to the hospital. I know you guys can’t come right now but I just wanted to let you know.”
“Text me if anything significant happens,” Rachel said. “I promise I won’t yell at you.”
“Okay, talk to you later.”
“Seeya, and good luck!”
Santana hung up the phone and put her concentration back on the road. She pulled into the emergency room parking lot and helped Brittany inside to the front desk. Within an hour they were in the maternity ward and doctors were trying to pronounce Brittany’s last name and write it correctly on the charts but couldn’t figure out how to get the umlaut over one of the letters when they entered it into the computer. Santana growled and showed them the key combination and swore she was going to kill someone before the whole thing was over.
With every contraction Santana was right there offering her hand (which she thought Brittany might’ve broken at one point when a particularly strong one hit) and dabbing the blonde’s forehead with a cool washcloth. She fed her ice chips and helped her walk around the room between contractions.
Around hour five Brittany started crying because she just wanted to see their baby. She was tired and it hurt and all she wanted was to know that the baby was okay. Santana’s heart broke a little because she absolutely hated seeing Brittany cry for anything. She sat on the bed facing her girl and cupped Brittany’s face in her hands.
“It’ll all be over soon, B. I promise. It’s okay. I’m so proud of you, you’ve been so brave and so strong and we’re going to see the baby soon, okay?”
“O-okay,” Brittany sniffled.
Finally, around ten in the morning the doctor announced that show time was about to begin. Santana held on to Brittany’s hand tight and coached her through, just like they practiced. Breathing, focus, concentration. The Latina surprised even herself when at one point she looked down while the baby was crowning and she didn’t feel like vomiting like she had when they watched those videos in Lamaze class. Right at ten-fifteen they heard the baby cry and Santana kissed Brittany’s cheeks, her forehead, her temple and repeated over and over to her, “I love you, B. You did so good, baby. I’m so proud. I love you so much.” Brittany just nodded and squeezed Santana’s hand again. Santana let go briefly to cut the umbilical cord and the nurse smiled at her. She held the baby up for Brittany to see and the blonde smiled.
“It’s a boy,” Santana whispered to Brittany when she returned to the head of the bed. “And he’s perfect.”
While the baby was cleaned up and weighed and checked over Santana shot a quick text message to Quinn and Rachel letting them know that mother and baby boy were both just fine. The nurse wheeled the baby back into the room in one of the hospital bassinets moments after Santana got the congratulatory reply. Santana carefully picked him up and adjusted the small hat on his head and looked him over a few times before handing him over to Brittany’s waiting arms. The blonde’s face lit up when she cradled the infant in her for the first time.
“He’s really small,” Brittany whispered. “He didn’t feel this small.”
“But he’s perfect, B.” Santana kissed Brittany’s temple and smiled down at their son.
They spent the next hour with one of the nurses helping Brittany get comfortable and learning how to nurse the baby. Santana made phone calls to absolutely everyone in her phone book that she was the proud mother of a six pound seven ounce, seventeen inch long baby boy who was absolutely perfect despite his early arrival.
“What are we going to name him?” Brittany asked after he’d been fed and burped and Santana had changed the first diaper.
“We’re not naming him after an animal, I draw the line there.”
“Well do you want a name like yours or a name like mine?”
It took Santana a minute to understand what Brittany was asking before it finally registered. “We can do both. One like yours for the first name and a Latino name for the middle.”
“I like Joshua. Remember when we looked at that book? I liked that one and it’s kind of close to Jorg, which is what my dad wants.”
“Joshua it is then.”
“What about the middle name?”
Santana smiled. “Alejandro, after mi papi.”
“Will you teach him Spanish?”
“Of course.”
“But…but I won’t be able to understand him,” Brittany said with wide eyes.
“B, we’ll teach him English first. When I teach him Spanish I’ll make sure you learn, too. And if we can get your parents to teach him Dutch then he’ll be the most interesting kid in his class.”
Brittany was quiet for a while before she looked back up at Santana. “He’ll be okay without a dad, right?”
“We’re going to be great mothers. My dad died when I was five and my little brother was three and he’s fine. And Rachel didn’t have a mother and she’s…okay, that’s not a good example.” Santana smiled and Brittany only nodded.
There was a knock at the door and Rachel and Quinn tiptoed in quietly. Santana grinned proudly and motioned for them to come in.
“Hey,” Brittany said quietly with a smile. “Sorry Santana called you so early.”
“It’s okay,” Rachel said. She and Quinn stood on either side of the bed and peered down at the bundle in blue blankets in Brittany’s arms.
“Guys he’s absolutely adorable,” Quinn said. “You pick out a name?”
Santana nodded. “Joshua Alejandro.”
“Nice.”
“Allie’s excited,” Rachel said. “She demanded that she not go to school today because she wanted to be here when her new cousin was born. The twins asked the question on the way to pre-school and Quinn almost wrecked the van. And speaking of vans, have you thought about perhaps switching to a more child-friendly vehicle? I know you’re rather fond of your two-door convertible and Brittany is content with her sedan but I think something more along the lines of an SUV or a mini-van would be more appropriate, especially if you decide you want more children.”
“Well Allie will get to spend plenty of time with him,” Santana said. “You guys owe us so much babysitting time it’s not even funny. And I am never getting a van, Soccer Mom.”
Rachel shrugged. “Better than ‘Man Hands’, I suppose.”
“You’ve kept a chart of how much babysitting time we owe you, haven’t you?” Quinn groaned.
“You bet your ass I’ve been charting it. It’s in my desk at home. By the way, B’s parents and my mom are on their way, they should be here sometime later tonight.”
“Okay,” Quinn said. “We’ll leave you guys to rest, I know you’re both exhausted. We'll try to get here again tomorrow, okay?”
Brittany nodded. “Having a baby is hard work.”
“I know it is, B,” Quinn said with a smile. “Just get plenty of rest okay?”
Brittany nodded again and Quinn kissed her forehead, Rachel followed suit.
“I kind of want to take a nap,” Brittany said with yawn once Quinn and Rachel had left. Santana nodded and quickly took the baby from her arms.
“Go to sleep, B.”
Brittany sighed and closed her eyes and in only a few minutes she was breathing heavy and Santana knew she was out. She turned her attention to the fair-skinned, blue-eyed boy in her arms. She walked around the room, gently bouncing the tiny infant.
“Okay, so you’re not Latino, we knew you wouldn’t be because we weren’t into the whole egg-mixing thing like your tías Rachel and Quinn. But I’m still going to teach you Spanish and I’m still going to call you mijo and everyone else will get over it because no matter what anyone will tell you in the future, you’re my son and anyone that has a problem with it will have to answer to me. Not only could I easily take them all on physically I could drag them to court right after.”
The baby wiggled and grunted and Santana smiled. “You won’t have much male influence but if you turn out gay that’s alright, we can always call Kurt or Rachel’s dads to mentor you or something. I think you’ll be okay though, Puck comes up here with his wife and kids every now and then and we’ll of course be in Lima for holidays and your Nana Lopez will want to throw a fiesta for absolutely everything you do which means all of your cousins and tío Carlos will be around. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nana has the whole trunk of the car filled with food, actually. You’ll get to know her pretty well since she’s insisting that she move in for a few weeks.”
Brittany whimpered and Santana turned her attention back to the blonde who was twitching.
“She’s probably dreaming that she lost you again,” she said to the baby. “She did that the whole time she was pregnant.” Santana sighed. “B, wake up.” She poked the blonde. Brittany’s eyes flew open and she sat up, breathing heavy.
“Where’s Joshua? Is he okay?”
“He’s right here, B. He’s safe. It was just a dream okay?”
Brittany nodded and rolled onto her side facing Santana. The Latina sat on the bed and Brittany peered at her son, checking to make sure he was okay.
“I’m kinda scared, S. What if I really do lose him?”
“You’re not going to lose him, B. Duck’s been with us for almost four years and you haven’t lost her. You feed her and give her baths and take her for walks. You’re going to be a good mom, okay? We went to all those classes and everything and Quinn and Rachel are the first three numbers on the speed dial and your parents are going to be here later and my mom is going to stay for a while until we get settled. Everything is going to be just fine, okay?”
Brittany nodded. “Did you call Brian so he can call all the parents to tell them I had the baby and I won’t be at the studio for a while?”
“I called him while you were nursing earlier and he said to tell you congratulations and he knows the kids are going to miss you. We’ll go into class in a few weeks so all your students can see.”
“Okay,” Brittany said softly.
“Go back to sleep, love.”
“Don’t lose him,” Brittany mumbled before closing her eyes.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Brittany’s parents got there first and Santana sat on the bed with the blonde while the couple cooed over their grandson.
“He is ah…sterke jongen, ja!” Brittany’s father said when Joshua gripped onto his finger.
Santana raised her eyebrows and Brittany scrunched up her face in thought.
“Your father says he is strong boy,” Brittany’s mother translated.
Brittany’s face lit up. “Ja, vader,” she said with a grin.
“Oh…oh, yeah. He definitely is,” Santana said.
It took Santana a good ten minutes to get Brittany’s dad to pronounce “Alejandro” correctly. Brittany argued with him for another half hour because her father insisted they change “Joshua” to “Jorg” because it was a family name. Brittany’s mother finally stepped in and said she happened to like Joshua and because, even though she appeared to be a very quiet woman, everyone knew she had Brittany’s father trained and he conceded and said Joshua was a fine name. A few years down the road when the story was re-told, Quinn pointed out that Santana and Brittany’s relationship was pretty much exactly like that. Santana scoffed and Brittany just smiled because she’d known that since high school.
Santana’s mother got there a few hours after Brittany’s parents and as Santana predicted, she had food. Santana gave her a key and her mother went to their apartment to feed and walk Duck and put all of the food in their refrigerator. Brittany’s parents left to go find a hotel for the night because they were both exhausted from their drive. When Santana’s mother came back Santana took Joshua from Brittany and Santana’s mother smiled.
“Mami,” Santana said, handing the bundle of blue blankets to her mother, “su nieto, Joshua Alejandro.”
“Alejandro?” Santana’s mother asked with tears in her eyes.
“Si, para papi.”
Santana’s mother looked down at her grandson and then back up at her daughter. “Perfecto, mija.”
“Santana,” Brittany whined a little. Santana rejoined Brittany on the blonde’s hospital bed while Santana’s mother walked around the room whispering to her grandson. “I told you, don’t teach him Spanish yet!”
“I was just talking to my mom, B. I wasn’t teaching him anything.”
“What’d you say?”
Santana sighed. “I just introduced her to him, okay? And told her that Alejandro was for my dad and she told me that he’s perfect.”
“Oh, okay.”
Santana kissed Brittany’s temple and the blonde snuggled against her.
When they got home Santana was on edge for days. Every time Joshua cried she freaked out and her mother had to calm her down. Brittany was relaxed and always seemed to know what he needed whether it was to be fed or changed and Santana quickly realized that, despite her earlier apprehensions, if Brittany wasn’t born to dance then she was born to be a mother. She wouldn’t be able to help the boy with his homework when he got past the fifth grade but she was the single most nurturing woman Santana had ever seen. She was up two minutes before Joshua would start crying in the middle of the night to be fed and had a diaper in hand before Santana even knew he’d done anything to warrant a changing.
Quinn and Rachel brought their daughters over to meet their new cousin when he was a week old. Allie was so excited she was shaking with anticipation and she was completely breathless when she held the tiny boy in her arms.
“I can’t wait to have kids,” she sighed.
“No!” Rachel and Quinn both exclaimed.
“You’re thirteen, honey,” Quinn said. “You have plenty of time before you even need to think about having kids.”
“I know that,” Allie scoffed. “I’ll at least go to college first if I’m not on Broadway already. According to my long-term planning storyboard I should be ready for children between twenty-six and thirty depending on the available career choices at the time. Assuming all goes well, I’ll be on Broadway at eighteen and have amassed enough money to…”
“Okay, Mini-Rachel,” Quinn sighed. “You are so like her it’s almost hard to believe you’re biologically mine.”
Rachel beamed. “I told you the storyboarding would come in handy, Allie. And you laughed at me when I suggested it last year.”
“Last year I wasn’t on the precipice of entering high school and the world of competitive arts. Eighth grade is currently preparing me for…”
“Ay dios mío!” Santana cut her off. “Seriously? How did you end up just like Rachel? I don’t get it.” The Latina turned her attention to Rachel and Quinn. “Did something freaky happen back in high school and Allie really is half Rachel’s?”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “Nature versus nurture. I took an entire class on it when I needed fillers and Allie was starting to have Rachel-esque tendencies. Allie may have mine and Puck’s DNA but with all the time she’s spent with Rachel she’s apparently picked up a few things.”
“I hope he picks up a little bit of my personality. I don't want him to be a jerk or anything, I'd like it if he's nice like B but knows how to stand up for himself, you know?”
“I hope he gets Santana’s brain,” Brittany said with a sigh. “I want him to be smart.”
“You are smart, B,” Santana said. She sat on the arm of the chair Brittany was situated in and wrapped her arm around the blonde's shoulder. “You’re mom-smart and dance-smart.”
“I want him to be brain-smart. I want him to go to college and do stuff.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? If he turns out anything like you I won’t be disappointed at all, okay babe?”
Brittany nodded and smiled.
“Is the nursery done yet?” Rachel asked.
“Not yet,” Santana said. “It’s just the details though. We thought we’d have a couple more weeks to get them finished up. I’ve got to get the boarder up around the top of the wall and some of the stuff put away. It’s not like we don’t have time, though. He’ll be in our room until he grows out of the bassinet.”
“The border has ducks on it,” Brittany said brightly.
“Of course,” Quinn said. “What else would you put up, B?”
Brittany just nodded.
Santana’s mother stayed for a couple of weeks which Santana was eternally grateful for. At the end of her stay Santana promised to send her brother pictures by e-mail so he could show their mother since she didn’t have any desire for a computer. Santana was petrified the first night her mother was gone. She knew Brittany would know exactly what to do, she’d known the entire time. Santana’s mother hadn’t really had to do anything except shopping and taking Duck to the vet or groomers because Brittany was right on top of everything else.
-*-*-*-*-*-
It was their last weekend together before Santana went back to work after taking leave and Brittany went back to the dance studio. Joshua was six weeks old and Brittany would be taking him with her to the studio every afternoon until Santana got off work then she’d come and stay with Brittany until her dance classes were finished for the night, just as they’d always done, except now Santana wouldn’t just sit around bored out of her mind.
Brittany snuggled in close to Santana’s front and let out a content sigh.
“What do you want to do this weekend, B?” Santana asked, running her fingers through the blonde’s hair.
“I wanna snuggle a lot. And maybe take Joshua to Quinn and Rachel’s. His first big trip that isn’t a doctor’s office!”
“Sounds perfect, babe.”
“Hey S?”
“Hm?”
“Is he gonna be the only one?”
“Uh…B, I think we should wait a little while, don’t you? You know, make sure we like him enough to have another one?”
“I know that, silly,” Brittany said with a smile. “But sometime in a few years maybe?”
“We’ll see.”
“Mkay.”
Santana ran her fingers through Brittany’s hair until the blonde was snoring peacefully. She listened to Brittany’s breathing and then focused her ears on her son’s breathing. He made noises every now and then that let Santana know he was okay. She lay awake for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes before she succumbed to sleep herself. She was awoken a few hours later by Brittany breaking free of her arms and sitting up, waiting. Sure enough, right on cue, Joshua started crying. Santana grunted and rolled over while Brittany got up and picked the baby up out of his bassinet and sat with him in the chair in the corner of their bedroom. Santana listened as Brittany sang softly while she nursed and the brunette smiled. What had started out as an early morning of utter chaos was certainly turning out to be pretty damn perfect.
Next: Slushies: The Next Generation
Pairing: Brittany/Santana, side Rachel/Quinn
Rating: PG
Length: ~3,400
Summary: What starts out as a chaotic early morning for Brittany and Santana ends up to be pretty perfect.
Author's Note: *Puppy-verse #6* I've been hit with a few plot bunnies for it lately so I've been writing like a fiend. Also, I am not fluent in Spanish or Dutch (I used my Spanish textbook and an online translator) so if there are mistakes in the very few words I've written in either of those languages please, please (nicely) tell me so that I can fix them!
ETA: Thank you to phenomenal0cat for fixing my Spanish errors!
Preceded by:
Puppy | My Girl(s) | Perfection | Decisions | Baby Love
Directory | Timeline | Original Character Bios
--September 2023--
It was pure and utter chaos when Brittany went into labor. Duck was barking because Santana was yelling and panicking because the blonde was three weeks early and they hadn’t yet packed the hospital bag. Brittany was freaking out because in the panic she had obviously forgotten that her water was supposed to break and it was completely normal. She cried and apologized over and over to Santana for “wetting the bed”.
When Santana finally got the bag packed and Brittany’s clothes changed she had to run back into the apartment three times, the first to put her shoes on, the second to get the car keys, and the third to get Brittany who had calmed down and was patiently waiting on the couch. Santana called Quinn and Rachel on the way to the hospital and Rachel swore at her for a good five minutes for calling at two in the morning because they’d just gotten the twins to sleep again after they decided it would be a good idea to come in and jump on their mothers’ bed.
“Shut up, Berry! B’s water broke!” Santana cut Rachel off in the middle of her rant.
“What!?” Rachel shrieked. “Quinn! Quinn, get up! Brittany’s water broke!”
“It’s three weeks early,” Santana heard Quinn in the background.
“We’re on the way to the hospital. I know you guys can’t come right now but I just wanted to let you know.”
“Text me if anything significant happens,” Rachel said. “I promise I won’t yell at you.”
“Okay, talk to you later.”
“Seeya, and good luck!”
Santana hung up the phone and put her concentration back on the road. She pulled into the emergency room parking lot and helped Brittany inside to the front desk. Within an hour they were in the maternity ward and doctors were trying to pronounce Brittany’s last name and write it correctly on the charts but couldn’t figure out how to get the umlaut over one of the letters when they entered it into the computer. Santana growled and showed them the key combination and swore she was going to kill someone before the whole thing was over.
With every contraction Santana was right there offering her hand (which she thought Brittany might’ve broken at one point when a particularly strong one hit) and dabbing the blonde’s forehead with a cool washcloth. She fed her ice chips and helped her walk around the room between contractions.
Around hour five Brittany started crying because she just wanted to see their baby. She was tired and it hurt and all she wanted was to know that the baby was okay. Santana’s heart broke a little because she absolutely hated seeing Brittany cry for anything. She sat on the bed facing her girl and cupped Brittany’s face in her hands.
“It’ll all be over soon, B. I promise. It’s okay. I’m so proud of you, you’ve been so brave and so strong and we’re going to see the baby soon, okay?”
“O-okay,” Brittany sniffled.
Finally, around ten in the morning the doctor announced that show time was about to begin. Santana held on to Brittany’s hand tight and coached her through, just like they practiced. Breathing, focus, concentration. The Latina surprised even herself when at one point she looked down while the baby was crowning and she didn’t feel like vomiting like she had when they watched those videos in Lamaze class. Right at ten-fifteen they heard the baby cry and Santana kissed Brittany’s cheeks, her forehead, her temple and repeated over and over to her, “I love you, B. You did so good, baby. I’m so proud. I love you so much.” Brittany just nodded and squeezed Santana’s hand again. Santana let go briefly to cut the umbilical cord and the nurse smiled at her. She held the baby up for Brittany to see and the blonde smiled.
“It’s a boy,” Santana whispered to Brittany when she returned to the head of the bed. “And he’s perfect.”
While the baby was cleaned up and weighed and checked over Santana shot a quick text message to Quinn and Rachel letting them know that mother and baby boy were both just fine. The nurse wheeled the baby back into the room in one of the hospital bassinets moments after Santana got the congratulatory reply. Santana carefully picked him up and adjusted the small hat on his head and looked him over a few times before handing him over to Brittany’s waiting arms. The blonde’s face lit up when she cradled the infant in her for the first time.
“He’s really small,” Brittany whispered. “He didn’t feel this small.”
“But he’s perfect, B.” Santana kissed Brittany’s temple and smiled down at their son.
They spent the next hour with one of the nurses helping Brittany get comfortable and learning how to nurse the baby. Santana made phone calls to absolutely everyone in her phone book that she was the proud mother of a six pound seven ounce, seventeen inch long baby boy who was absolutely perfect despite his early arrival.
“What are we going to name him?” Brittany asked after he’d been fed and burped and Santana had changed the first diaper.
“We’re not naming him after an animal, I draw the line there.”
“Well do you want a name like yours or a name like mine?”
It took Santana a minute to understand what Brittany was asking before it finally registered. “We can do both. One like yours for the first name and a Latino name for the middle.”
“I like Joshua. Remember when we looked at that book? I liked that one and it’s kind of close to Jorg, which is what my dad wants.”
“Joshua it is then.”
“What about the middle name?”
Santana smiled. “Alejandro, after mi papi.”
“Will you teach him Spanish?”
“Of course.”
“But…but I won’t be able to understand him,” Brittany said with wide eyes.
“B, we’ll teach him English first. When I teach him Spanish I’ll make sure you learn, too. And if we can get your parents to teach him Dutch then he’ll be the most interesting kid in his class.”
Brittany was quiet for a while before she looked back up at Santana. “He’ll be okay without a dad, right?”
“We’re going to be great mothers. My dad died when I was five and my little brother was three and he’s fine. And Rachel didn’t have a mother and she’s…okay, that’s not a good example.” Santana smiled and Brittany only nodded.
There was a knock at the door and Rachel and Quinn tiptoed in quietly. Santana grinned proudly and motioned for them to come in.
“Hey,” Brittany said quietly with a smile. “Sorry Santana called you so early.”
“It’s okay,” Rachel said. She and Quinn stood on either side of the bed and peered down at the bundle in blue blankets in Brittany’s arms.
“Guys he’s absolutely adorable,” Quinn said. “You pick out a name?”
Santana nodded. “Joshua Alejandro.”
“Nice.”
“Allie’s excited,” Rachel said. “She demanded that she not go to school today because she wanted to be here when her new cousin was born. The twins asked the question on the way to pre-school and Quinn almost wrecked the van. And speaking of vans, have you thought about perhaps switching to a more child-friendly vehicle? I know you’re rather fond of your two-door convertible and Brittany is content with her sedan but I think something more along the lines of an SUV or a mini-van would be more appropriate, especially if you decide you want more children.”
“Well Allie will get to spend plenty of time with him,” Santana said. “You guys owe us so much babysitting time it’s not even funny. And I am never getting a van, Soccer Mom.”
Rachel shrugged. “Better than ‘Man Hands’, I suppose.”
“You’ve kept a chart of how much babysitting time we owe you, haven’t you?” Quinn groaned.
“You bet your ass I’ve been charting it. It’s in my desk at home. By the way, B’s parents and my mom are on their way, they should be here sometime later tonight.”
“Okay,” Quinn said. “We’ll leave you guys to rest, I know you’re both exhausted. We'll try to get here again tomorrow, okay?”
Brittany nodded. “Having a baby is hard work.”
“I know it is, B,” Quinn said with a smile. “Just get plenty of rest okay?”
Brittany nodded again and Quinn kissed her forehead, Rachel followed suit.
“I kind of want to take a nap,” Brittany said with yawn once Quinn and Rachel had left. Santana nodded and quickly took the baby from her arms.
“Go to sleep, B.”
Brittany sighed and closed her eyes and in only a few minutes she was breathing heavy and Santana knew she was out. She turned her attention to the fair-skinned, blue-eyed boy in her arms. She walked around the room, gently bouncing the tiny infant.
“Okay, so you’re not Latino, we knew you wouldn’t be because we weren’t into the whole egg-mixing thing like your tías Rachel and Quinn. But I’m still going to teach you Spanish and I’m still going to call you mijo and everyone else will get over it because no matter what anyone will tell you in the future, you’re my son and anyone that has a problem with it will have to answer to me. Not only could I easily take them all on physically I could drag them to court right after.”
The baby wiggled and grunted and Santana smiled. “You won’t have much male influence but if you turn out gay that’s alright, we can always call Kurt or Rachel’s dads to mentor you or something. I think you’ll be okay though, Puck comes up here with his wife and kids every now and then and we’ll of course be in Lima for holidays and your Nana Lopez will want to throw a fiesta for absolutely everything you do which means all of your cousins and tío Carlos will be around. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nana has the whole trunk of the car filled with food, actually. You’ll get to know her pretty well since she’s insisting that she move in for a few weeks.”
Brittany whimpered and Santana turned her attention back to the blonde who was twitching.
“She’s probably dreaming that she lost you again,” she said to the baby. “She did that the whole time she was pregnant.” Santana sighed. “B, wake up.” She poked the blonde. Brittany’s eyes flew open and she sat up, breathing heavy.
“Where’s Joshua? Is he okay?”
“He’s right here, B. He’s safe. It was just a dream okay?”
Brittany nodded and rolled onto her side facing Santana. The Latina sat on the bed and Brittany peered at her son, checking to make sure he was okay.
“I’m kinda scared, S. What if I really do lose him?”
“You’re not going to lose him, B. Duck’s been with us for almost four years and you haven’t lost her. You feed her and give her baths and take her for walks. You’re going to be a good mom, okay? We went to all those classes and everything and Quinn and Rachel are the first three numbers on the speed dial and your parents are going to be here later and my mom is going to stay for a while until we get settled. Everything is going to be just fine, okay?”
Brittany nodded. “Did you call Brian so he can call all the parents to tell them I had the baby and I won’t be at the studio for a while?”
“I called him while you were nursing earlier and he said to tell you congratulations and he knows the kids are going to miss you. We’ll go into class in a few weeks so all your students can see.”
“Okay,” Brittany said softly.
“Go back to sleep, love.”
“Don’t lose him,” Brittany mumbled before closing her eyes.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Brittany’s parents got there first and Santana sat on the bed with the blonde while the couple cooed over their grandson.
“He is ah…sterke jongen, ja!” Brittany’s father said when Joshua gripped onto his finger.
Santana raised her eyebrows and Brittany scrunched up her face in thought.
“Your father says he is strong boy,” Brittany’s mother translated.
Brittany’s face lit up. “Ja, vader,” she said with a grin.
“Oh…oh, yeah. He definitely is,” Santana said.
It took Santana a good ten minutes to get Brittany’s dad to pronounce “Alejandro” correctly. Brittany argued with him for another half hour because her father insisted they change “Joshua” to “Jorg” because it was a family name. Brittany’s mother finally stepped in and said she happened to like Joshua and because, even though she appeared to be a very quiet woman, everyone knew she had Brittany’s father trained and he conceded and said Joshua was a fine name. A few years down the road when the story was re-told, Quinn pointed out that Santana and Brittany’s relationship was pretty much exactly like that. Santana scoffed and Brittany just smiled because she’d known that since high school.
Santana’s mother got there a few hours after Brittany’s parents and as Santana predicted, she had food. Santana gave her a key and her mother went to their apartment to feed and walk Duck and put all of the food in their refrigerator. Brittany’s parents left to go find a hotel for the night because they were both exhausted from their drive. When Santana’s mother came back Santana took Joshua from Brittany and Santana’s mother smiled.
“Mami,” Santana said, handing the bundle of blue blankets to her mother, “su nieto, Joshua Alejandro.”
“Alejandro?” Santana’s mother asked with tears in her eyes.
“Si, para papi.”
Santana’s mother looked down at her grandson and then back up at her daughter. “Perfecto, mija.”
“Santana,” Brittany whined a little. Santana rejoined Brittany on the blonde’s hospital bed while Santana’s mother walked around the room whispering to her grandson. “I told you, don’t teach him Spanish yet!”
“I was just talking to my mom, B. I wasn’t teaching him anything.”
“What’d you say?”
Santana sighed. “I just introduced her to him, okay? And told her that Alejandro was for my dad and she told me that he’s perfect.”
“Oh, okay.”
Santana kissed Brittany’s temple and the blonde snuggled against her.
When they got home Santana was on edge for days. Every time Joshua cried she freaked out and her mother had to calm her down. Brittany was relaxed and always seemed to know what he needed whether it was to be fed or changed and Santana quickly realized that, despite her earlier apprehensions, if Brittany wasn’t born to dance then she was born to be a mother. She wouldn’t be able to help the boy with his homework when he got past the fifth grade but she was the single most nurturing woman Santana had ever seen. She was up two minutes before Joshua would start crying in the middle of the night to be fed and had a diaper in hand before Santana even knew he’d done anything to warrant a changing.
Quinn and Rachel brought their daughters over to meet their new cousin when he was a week old. Allie was so excited she was shaking with anticipation and she was completely breathless when she held the tiny boy in her arms.
“I can’t wait to have kids,” she sighed.
“No!” Rachel and Quinn both exclaimed.
“You’re thirteen, honey,” Quinn said. “You have plenty of time before you even need to think about having kids.”
“I know that,” Allie scoffed. “I’ll at least go to college first if I’m not on Broadway already. According to my long-term planning storyboard I should be ready for children between twenty-six and thirty depending on the available career choices at the time. Assuming all goes well, I’ll be on Broadway at eighteen and have amassed enough money to…”
“Okay, Mini-Rachel,” Quinn sighed. “You are so like her it’s almost hard to believe you’re biologically mine.”
Rachel beamed. “I told you the storyboarding would come in handy, Allie. And you laughed at me when I suggested it last year.”
“Last year I wasn’t on the precipice of entering high school and the world of competitive arts. Eighth grade is currently preparing me for…”
“Ay dios mío!” Santana cut her off. “Seriously? How did you end up just like Rachel? I don’t get it.” The Latina turned her attention to Rachel and Quinn. “Did something freaky happen back in high school and Allie really is half Rachel’s?”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “Nature versus nurture. I took an entire class on it when I needed fillers and Allie was starting to have Rachel-esque tendencies. Allie may have mine and Puck’s DNA but with all the time she’s spent with Rachel she’s apparently picked up a few things.”
“I hope he picks up a little bit of my personality. I don't want him to be a jerk or anything, I'd like it if he's nice like B but knows how to stand up for himself, you know?”
“I hope he gets Santana’s brain,” Brittany said with a sigh. “I want him to be smart.”
“You are smart, B,” Santana said. She sat on the arm of the chair Brittany was situated in and wrapped her arm around the blonde's shoulder. “You’re mom-smart and dance-smart.”
“I want him to be brain-smart. I want him to go to college and do stuff.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? If he turns out anything like you I won’t be disappointed at all, okay babe?”
Brittany nodded and smiled.
“Is the nursery done yet?” Rachel asked.
“Not yet,” Santana said. “It’s just the details though. We thought we’d have a couple more weeks to get them finished up. I’ve got to get the boarder up around the top of the wall and some of the stuff put away. It’s not like we don’t have time, though. He’ll be in our room until he grows out of the bassinet.”
“The border has ducks on it,” Brittany said brightly.
“Of course,” Quinn said. “What else would you put up, B?”
Brittany just nodded.
Santana’s mother stayed for a couple of weeks which Santana was eternally grateful for. At the end of her stay Santana promised to send her brother pictures by e-mail so he could show their mother since she didn’t have any desire for a computer. Santana was petrified the first night her mother was gone. She knew Brittany would know exactly what to do, she’d known the entire time. Santana’s mother hadn’t really had to do anything except shopping and taking Duck to the vet or groomers because Brittany was right on top of everything else.
-*-*-*-*-*-
It was their last weekend together before Santana went back to work after taking leave and Brittany went back to the dance studio. Joshua was six weeks old and Brittany would be taking him with her to the studio every afternoon until Santana got off work then she’d come and stay with Brittany until her dance classes were finished for the night, just as they’d always done, except now Santana wouldn’t just sit around bored out of her mind.
Brittany snuggled in close to Santana’s front and let out a content sigh.
“What do you want to do this weekend, B?” Santana asked, running her fingers through the blonde’s hair.
“I wanna snuggle a lot. And maybe take Joshua to Quinn and Rachel’s. His first big trip that isn’t a doctor’s office!”
“Sounds perfect, babe.”
“Hey S?”
“Hm?”
“Is he gonna be the only one?”
“Uh…B, I think we should wait a little while, don’t you? You know, make sure we like him enough to have another one?”
“I know that, silly,” Brittany said with a smile. “But sometime in a few years maybe?”
“We’ll see.”
“Mkay.”
Santana ran her fingers through Brittany’s hair until the blonde was snoring peacefully. She listened to Brittany’s breathing and then focused her ears on her son’s breathing. He made noises every now and then that let Santana know he was okay. She lay awake for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes before she succumbed to sleep herself. She was awoken a few hours later by Brittany breaking free of her arms and sitting up, waiting. Sure enough, right on cue, Joshua started crying. Santana grunted and rolled over while Brittany got up and picked the baby up out of his bassinet and sat with him in the chair in the corner of their bedroom. Santana listened as Brittany sang softly while she nursed and the brunette smiled. What had started out as an early morning of utter chaos was certainly turning out to be pretty damn perfect.
Next: Slushies: The Next Generation