Chapter 4

Santana had been back for nearly two months, and it had made Brittany realise something. She had absolutely no desire to see Santana leave again. The trip to Australia would be short, she knew that, because it was just a few concerts and meet and greets, but still. Waking up to Santana singing in the bathroom, or cooking breakfast while music blasted through speakers, these were small things that Brittany hadn't even known she'd missed. All she'd been thinking about was missing having Santana to fall asleep with, missing playing with their boys together, and sex. She definitely missed the sex. But now that Santana was back, Brittany was realising that it was so much more than that. It was the small things Santana did that other people just didn't. Puck could come over and they could play with Jesús and Kyler, but it was the look Santana would give Brittany in between the playing, the toothy smile and eyes that said 'I love you so much' that Brittany wanted. Quinn could come over and cook, and they could play music and Brittany could dance and Quinn could sing, but it was the way Santana would grab Brittany's waist and dance with her, or look into her eyes as she sang certain lyrics like she was saying 'I'm singing this to you' that Brittany needed.

So coming to terms with the fact that she was going to have to be without those things again, for at least two weeks, was hard. She was putting up a good front for Santana, because she knew Santana felt bad about leaving and Brittany didn't want to be the kind of wife that held her back from success, but Brittany was sad.

"Hey Britt"

Brittany looked up in the mirror to see Colton, her dance partner, striding into the room.

"Hey"

"So…" He cleared his throat, running his fingers through his short black hair. "I've been…well I guess chosen…to come talk to you."

Brittany frowned. She dropped her leg from the barre she was using to stretch and turned to face Colton.

"About what?"

"We're worried about you."

"You and who?" Brittany crossed her arms over her chest.

"Look don't be angry. We've just noticed that-"

"You and who?" Brittany repeated.

"The other instructors…"

"Syth?"

"All of us. Brittany you've been…depressed is a bit dramatic but sad."

"I'm fine." Brittany turned back to the barre and lifted her other leg over it. "I'd appreciate it if people didn't talk about me behind my back."

"It's not like that Britt. But every time we try to talk to you, you get mad and say you're fine."

"Because I am."

"Go with her."

Brittany dropped her leg again, sighing heavily.

"What?"

"You think we don't know what's got you so down?" Colton dipped his head, raising his eyebrows and smirking slightly. "We know you. So just go with her."

"I can't. We have work to do. A showcase to choreograph for, I have-"

"Things that can wait. The Christmas showcase is still three months away, and all we need is a week, two at tops to choreograph. The rest of your work is teaching, which I can take over for you, and the music video is in January."

Brittany bit her bottom lip, reaching out to grip the barre as she raised her knee with the other hand.

"But I can't just leave work to go with her."

"Why not?" Colton smiled.

"Because….that's not how life works. I have responsibilities here."

"Brittany." Colton raised his hand to stop her talking. "You're one of the most dedicated dancers here. You work hard, and your work is exceptional. Nobody is going to think you're shirking your responsibilities because you're taking two weeks off."

"But I took time off the last time-"

"You took a day."

"Still!"

"Why are you fighting me on this?" Colton laughed.

Brittany sighed, hanging her head.

"I don't know."

"Go with her." Colton said softly. He touched Brittany shoulder gently, just to get her to look at him. "We all need you happy Britt. That's the only acceptable way."

Brittany licked her lips.

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent."

Allowing herself to get excited by the idea, Brittany smiled. "What about Syth. He has to sign on off my leave."

"Whose idea do you think it was?"

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

"Okay, so do we leave early in the morning or late at night?" Santana asked, looking at the long piece of paper with their schedule on it.

"Or in the afternoon" Quinn suggested. Santana, Puck and Brittany turned to look at her with incredulous faces. "What?"

"Do you want to fly 15 hours with a Kyler who has not taken his afternoon nap?" Puck asked.

"Oh yeah…he's going to sleep on the plane anyway though"

"If you're not going to contribute anything useful then don't interrupt." Brittany snapped. Santana smiled at Quinn apologetically while rubbing Brittany's leg under the table.

"We don't know how they're going to handle it. This is the furthest they've ever gone, and it may take hours for them to fall asleep. Plus I'd rather they sleep through take-off or landing, so if we leave early in the morning they'll sleep, be awake for a few hours and then sleep again. I hope. If we leave at night, they'll sleep immediately, probably till about three-quarters through, and then be awake for the rest of it and nap when we get there."

"So basically, the question is how much of the flight we want them awake for." Puck said.

"Jesús will be double the energy because he'll be so excited. I'd rather he be asleep on the plane. Ky too. So I think we should leave at night. An hour or so before their bedtime, and then they can sleep when we board, or while waiting to board. They'll knock out for 10 hours." Brittany said.

"That'll mean five straight hours of them being awake." Puck said. "If we leave in the morning, like at three am, they'll sleep for six hours, be awake another four, nap for three and be awake for the last two."

Brittany groaned. "Noo…that's more hours of them awake."

"Yeah but it's spread out" Puck said. "It'll be easier to keep them entertained and relatively calm if it's for short periods of time"

"That's true baby" Santana said. "They'll get bored if they're awake for five hours and stuck in a seat. You know Jesús doesn't have the attention span to sit and watch movies for that long."

They were all silent for a while, looking at the schedule. "Ok. We leave at three am, they'll be super tired-"

"We'll make sure of that" Quinn said

"Yeah…and hopefully disrupting their sleep will make them sleep longer. We could even keep them up longer the night before."

"Sure. Sounds like fun" Santana said. "It'll be a hassle getting Kyler to sleep but I'll leave that to the expert" she smiled at Brittany, who barely cracked an amused smile before it disappeared.

"Okay what about the day before?"

"I have the day off to pack and everything so I'm free" Santana said, drawing a long line throughout her day on the schedule they were consulting.

"Okay…I have half day" Quinn said. "I'm leaving work at 1:30, heading home to get my stuff and then coming here." She wrote everything into her slot.

"Excellent." Brittany said. "That means that Santana's only gonna be alone with them for two hours. I have work at 11 but I'll be back probably around 4 or 5."

"Me too" Puck said. "I cancelled the band rehearsals but I couldn't get out of my shift at the gym."

"Okay, don't worry about it Puck. It's better if you come in the late afternoon anyway, then you can deal the final blow and get them really tired out." Brittany said. Puck grinned.

"So that's settled, I'll tell Eve so she can sort everything out. We can work out the schedules for when we land when we're there on the plane or something. I'm too tired to do it now. I still have so much to pack."

"What? I've been packed since yesterday, and you started before me." Quinn exclaimed.

"I'm packed, and B's packed"

"But every time we start packing for the boys it just seems so much. We've both been working a lot and haven't had the time to do it properly together, so we've both just been throwing things into the suitcases or taking things out and it's getting us nowhere" Brittany said tiredly.

"So we're going to do it now, since we have a couple of hours and you guys are here to watch the boys."

"Damn" Puck said, looking at his best friends' pitiful appearances. "You guys look exhausted."

"We are. I'll be glad when we just get there. The anticipation is keeping Jesús up at night and Kyler won't stop talking and asking questions and both of them just hype each other up so that they're more unruly than ever. Yesterday Kyler jumped into the pool because Jesús threw the football into it-"

"But he can swim" Quinn interjected. Santana scowled at her.

"So what? He just turned three. Any number of things could happen to him when he's in the pool alone." Quinn raised her hands in surrender.

"Anyway" Brittany said, "Jesús started screaming that he wasn't allowed to do that, and ran into the house to get us, meanwhile Kyler got the ball and walked into the house drenched, trailing water everywhere, sat on the couch and soaked it as well, and then cried for almost an hour when we told him he had to wash his hair to get the chlorine out."

"And his non-stop crying made Jesús cry too, but he calmed down pretty quick. Then he was hungry, and wouldn't eat anything because he wanted to eat what Australians eat."

"What?" Puck laughed.

"I know. We tried to tell him they eat what we eat but he didn't believe us. So we had to invent some name for PB and J."

"Wow"

"That was all before noon Quinn." Santana cried, laying her head down on the table. Brittany rubbed her back.

"They're super excited, and so are we, but they don't know how to handle all that excitement, so they're being naughty."

"Damn guys. That sounds crazy, and I'm so happy I don't have to be here for that" Quinn grinned at the glares she got from both Brittany and Santana.

"Don't worry guys. We're leaving tomorrow, and then we'll be there, and then it'll all be better."

"Will it?" Santana asked skeptically. "They're going to be in a hotel for two weeks, spending every other night surrounded by screaming fans and the bright lights of the stage, not to mention the concerts themselves. Sleeping so late and feeding off the energy of being in a new country. They'll be constant balls of energy."

The four adults sat in silence thinking this over.

"Well…maybe that's true" Puck said, "But there's four of us and two of them. How bad can it really be?"

The next day went as smoothly as could be hoped. Puck came over in the evening and spent three hours playing soccer and then football and then having a 'super-secret pool party' with Kyler and Jesús. Somehow it being a secret from their mothers made it more exciting. This was after Santana had spent the day doing everything she could to tire them out. She walked with them to the café a few block away for her morning coffee, then they spent hours in the park, splashing in Brittany's favourite water feature as they tried to catch the water as it shot from the ground. Santana kept them from napping, though they didn't really want to anyway, and when Brittany came home they had a dance party, and then played several rounds of hide and seek with Quinn. The boys enjoyed the constant attention they were getting so much that they even forgot that they were traveling later that day. By night time, Kyler was refusing to be put down for any reason, and Jesús had been sitting in front of the tv for two hours without moving. Something that had never happened before. They were definitely beginning to feel the effects of their action-pact day.

"You think it worked?" Puck asked Santana quietly. She nodded her head in Brittany's direction, holding back a laugh. Brittany was standing by the couch swaying from side to side with Kyler in her arms, his head resting on her shoulder as he watched tv. Every time she tried to sit down he began to cry.

"You okay baby?" Santana whispered. Brittany nodded. "You want me to take over for a bit?" Brittany nodded again, causing Santana to giggle as she stood. She rubbed Kyler's back gently for a minute, and then slowly prised him from Brittany's arms. He didn't even put up a fight, just waited for Santana to hold him properly, laid his head down and then continued watching the tv. Brittany stretched her arms up to the ceiling, arching her back till it cracked loudly.

"Gross Britt" Puck laughed.

"Mama" Jesús laughed as well. "That was a funny noise"

"Was it?" Brittany asked, plopping down on the couch next to him and dropping her head in his tiny lap. He put both his hands on her face and stroked it like he saw Santana do all the time. Brittany grinned and closed her eyes, feeling so much love for this tiny human.

"Yeah. Did you broke your back?"

"Break papi" Santana corrected.

"Break" he echoed.

"No my love. See…" she lifted her hand and cracked her knuckles. Jesús squealed loudly, jumping off the couch and staring at her. Kyler lifted his head to look at her.

"Mamaaaa" Jesús screamed, making all the adults laugh.

"Hazlo otra vez" Kyler asked, wanting to see for himself. Brittany raised her other hand and did the same. This time both boy screamed, descending into giggles. Jesús jumped back onto the couch-with some difficulty- and rammed into Puck. Puck caught him before he could fall off the couch as he bounced back.

"Viste lo que mi mamá puede hacer?"

"En inglés papi sabes que el tío Noah no habla español" Brittany told him, rubbing his arm. She found it so amusing that her sons spoke in Spanish so often, because they often didn't know they were doing it, and had yet to fully grasp the idea that not everyone could understand it.

"Did you see what my mama can do uncle Noah?" Kyler translated, dropping his head back on Santana's shoulder as though what had just occurred had physically drained him. Santana chuckled as he twisted back and forth in her arms, telling her to go back to swaying. She complied.

"I did see little man…your mum is totally cool. I could never do that" Puck said seriously. Brittany craned her neck back to look at him with a knowing smile, not wanting to changer position. He winked at her.

"Mami can you do that?" Kyler whispered, as if not wanting people to hear in case she said no. she nodded and he lifted his head to look at her properly. "You can?" she nodded again, then shifted him so his weight was on one arm and cracked her knuckles on the other hand. His eyes widened and he bounced. "Jesús" he yelled, following it up with a string of what Santana, Puck and Brittany could only call nonsense, but Jesús seemed to understand as clearly as if he had said it in English or Spanish.

"Mami show me" he said, moving from Puck to sit on Brittany's back. Santana shifted Kyler to the other hand and did as she was told. Jesús grinned at her, then turned to Puck.

"My mami is…is….my mami is tolaly cool too" he said with so much pride that Santana's grin widened.

"She is."

Kyler whined, rubbing his face against Santana's chest and kicking his feet.

"He's tired" Jesús told Santana. Brittany started laughing, which shook Jesús, making him laugh as well.

"Thank you mijo I know he's tired. Ky you'll sleep soon I promise." She began swaying again and hummed a random tune. Just then Quinn walked into the room.

"Well?" Puck asked, standing up.

"Yeah, everything's ready.

"Excellent" Santana said, putting Kyler down and picking up Jesús so Brittany could get up. Before he even had a chance to start crying Brittany had picked Kyler up. "We'll take these ones to bed-"

"Mami no" Jesús interrupted.

"What?"

"No"

"No what Jesús?"

"No sleeping"

"Jesús, it's very late. See how tired Kyler is?" He nodded. "Because it's time to sleep." He shook his head and squirmed.

"No"

"Jesús" Brittany tried. "You have to go to sleep"

"Noooo" he began to cry dramatically.

"¿Por qué estás llorando?" Santana asked him gently, knowing he was only crying because he was tired.

"No estoy andada" Santana smiled at his mispronunciation of the word.

"Are you sure?"

"Si" he whispered, tears still falling from his eyes. She sighed heavily and looked at Brittany.

"I don't know babe…he needs to sleep, he can't stay awake till the flight."

"I know. And I don't think he will. I think he just wants to stay down here with us. He'll fall asleep at his own time."

Brittany considered this for a few seconds, then sighed. "I guess it doesn't really matter since their sleep schedule is gonna be affected by the flight anyway." She walked closer to them and kissed Jesús' head. "You promise to go to sleep when you feel tired mi amor?" he nodded. "Good boy." She turned to Quinn and Puck. "I'm going to bed too. I won't be able to sleep on the plane so…gotta get it in somewhere." They nodded.

"See you in a few hours then Britt" Quinn said, taking her place on the couch. Puck waved a hand, sitting down and closing his eyes.

"I might sleep as well actually. Tiring them out tired me out too" Santana laughed, then, realising she could now sit down, dropped onto the empty couch and lay down, her back resting on the armrest and feet spread across the couch. Jesús had his legs on either side of her waist, and lay on her chest, focusing back on the tv. After a minute his head shot up, hands pressing painfully on Santana's boobs to support himself. She winced, her hands wrapping around his, trying to take the pressure off.

"MAMA" he screamed. Santana winced again, Quinn and Puck both sat bolt upright and Brittany came running back down the stairs, Kyler still in her arms.

"Jesús what's wrong…what happened?" she asked in alarm.

"You didn...didn't gi me a kiss and tell me you love me" Everyone exhaled their anxiety.

"Sorry..." she bent down, Kyler clinging tighter to her neck, and kissed him on the lips, brushed his hair back and whispered against his forehead. "I love you my baby boy." He smiled and lay back down against Santana. "I'm sorry I forgot, but Jesús" she waited until he looked up at her, "don't scream like that again unless something's wrong okay? We were all worried right mami?" Santana nodded.

"Sorry" he said quietly. "I won skeem again"

Deciding to talk to him about it tomorrow since he was so tired- if his decline in speech was any indication- she smiled, blew Santana a kiss and made her way back up the stairs. Kyler's eyes were barely open, but she knew getting him to sleep was going to be a lot of work.

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

Santana was woken suddenly by the loud beeping of an alarm. She scrambled as quietly as she could to find her phone before it woke Jesús, who was still laying against her. She saw it on the coffee table, and stretched for what felt like miles, tapping the screen until she hit the snooze. The silence that followed felt loud. She could hear Puck and Quinn breathing evenly, so she knew they weren't awake. Usually she was excited to go to a concert, but this one just felt like too much work. She hadn't wanted to do it, but Brittany and Eve had talked her into it. Brittany had never been to Australia, and Eve had orders from Emma. Apparently it would be good for her career if she toured outside of the West Coast. So begrudgingly, she had agreed to take her three year olds on a two week trip to the other side of the world. Now she wanted to curse them both. Not Brittany, Emma and Eve. Brittany was her sweetheart. This plan was giving her more anxiety the closer they got to actually having to put it into action. How on Earth were they supposed to travel for 15 straight hours with toddlers? Unpredictable, hyper, and very loud toddlers.

"Stop worrying so much" Brittany whispered, making Santana jump and clutch Jesús tighter to her chest. He stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you heard me come down, I wasn't exactly quiet."

"No it's okay. I should have. I'm just thinking." Santana stood up slowly, hoisting Jesús higher.

"I knew it. Stop worrying baby. So far everything's gone to plan. They're not going to be awake for another at least five hours."

Santana nodded, thinking that that was too short a time. They should have left earlier so they slept the whole night on the plane. "Will you wake up Q and Puck?" Brittany nodded.

Twenty minutes later they were all awake and packing what was left of their stuff into the car.

"Backpacks?" Brittany asked, looking down at a list.

"Check" Puck said, throwing two backpacks into the backseat.

"And you checked that-"

"Yes Santana, I checked last night" Quinn said. Santana nodded.

"Passports?" Brittany called.

"Check" Santana said, removing five from her handbag. Quinn pulled out her own.

"Awesome. Everybody have their purses?"

"Yeah" Puck said. The three women rolled their eyes.

"Santana you have the laptops and ipads?"

"Yeah" Santana said, pointing at her laptop bag in the passenger seat.

"Cool. Okay well…we know the suitcases are all there, we made sure we packed everything last night. Umm….Camera?"

"Check" Santana said.

"Chargers?"

"In my laptop bag."

"Headphones"

"In your laptop bag"

Brittany paused and ran her finger down the list again. "Okay, then we have everything, we need to stop for breakfast, and maybe put some muffins in the kids' backpacks for later"

"I'm not sure that's necessary. They'll have food on the plane Britt, and we gave them a list of things we wanted them to have stocked."

"Yeah…but still. It'll make me feel better."

"Is anything open?" Quinn asked.

"Fine" Brittany said. "Then we'll pack something" she stormed off into the house. A few minutes later she emerged with a bag, stuffing a pack of fruit cups into it. Santana glared at Puck and Quinn, daring them to say anything.

"You got it?" Santana asked sweetly.

"Yea, just some snack things. I know they'll have food on the plane but-"

"No I get it. We can never be too prepared." Brittany smiled gratefully.

"Okay, well now that we have everything. Let's get a move on, so we can move these sleeping babies onto the plane." Quinn said.

"The sooner the better. We don't want them waking up while we check in or something" Puck added.

After that it took only ten minute to get them all in the car. Brittany double checked the backpacks and every item on her list, and had to be stopped from opening up the suitcases, but then they were finally off.

As it turned out, all their pre-planning and scheduling was for nothing. Jesús woke up as they were checking in, and Kyle when they were waiting to board. They were relatively subdued at first, since they had barely slept five hours, but as soon as they got on the plane, their energy was back in full force.

"Mama where's the driver?" Kyler asked, emerging from under Quinn's seat.

"The driver of a plane is called a-"

"PILOT" Jesús yelled, running down the aisle as he had been doing for the last five minutes.

"That's right, Jesús please stop running" Brittany said, trying to catch him. He squealed and jumped out of reach, then took off back down the aisle, laughing hysterically. Brittany was never happier they had decided to charter a private plane than in that moment, as Jesús nearly collided with the air hostess.

"Mama where's the driver?" Kyler asked again, leaning his elbows on her thighs.

"The pilot Ky"

"Ya" he nodded quickly.

"Say it"

"The pilot"

"They're at the very, very front of the plane"

"Why?"

"So they can fly the plane" she laughed. "When we're in the car, and I have to drive, do I sit in the back with you guys?"

"No" he laughed and shook his head. "You sit at the front next to the big window so you can see the road, and mami sits next to you so she can hold your hand and give you besos"

Santana chuckled. She had barely moved since she sat down and curled up in her seat. "That's the reason I married her too papi" she said, peeking her eye open.

"Really?" he giggled.

"Yeah" Santana said, stretching her hands and pulling him into her. As he laughed she assaulted him with kisses all over his face and neck, holding him tightly as he writhed and tried to get away. "I love giving besos"

"Mami para….para!" she began to tickle him, but stopped abruptly as Jesús came tearing down the aisle again and jumped onto her. She quickly let go of Kyler in order to catch him, and Kyler scrambled off the ground and ran to Quinn. "Help me tia" he said dramatically, climbing into her lap.

Quinn wrapped her hands around him protectively. "I'll save you from the kissing, tickling monster." His giggling subsided and he gave a long sigh, settling into his favourite aunt.

Meanwhile Jesús was wrestling with Santana, tangling them both in her blanket as she tried to hold on to him to keep him from falling, and he struggled to get free. Brittany could hardly breathe for laughing.

"Santa…Santana" she laughed, trying to calm down. "Just let him go"

"He's…going to fa-ouch" She grunted as Jesús kicked her in the stomach, "Brittany"

Brittany, still laughing, stood up and picked Jesús and the blanket up, then set him down on the floor. It took a while for Jesús to untangle himself, and when he finally did his hair was falling messily all over his face and he was breathing heavily.

"Jesús say sorry to mami, you hurt her." Brittany said, smoothing his hair down at the back.

"Lo siento mami" he said, moving forward and burying his head in her stomach, hands wrapping as far as they could around her waist.

"It's okay mijo…just try relax okay?" she said, brushing his hair out of his face. He nodded solemnly, and climbed into her lap.

After that, everything was relatively still, until the plane started moving. Jesús and Kyler were in their seats as the plane took off, but as soon as they were allowed, they were pressed up against the windows, talking to Quinn and Puck about flying, and how far up they were, and birds and gravity and how small everything looked and clouds, and a whole host of other topics that Santana lost track of as she drifted in and out of sleep.

"Baby, just sleep" Brittany whispered, leaning as close to Santana's face as she could without them touching and gently stroking her cheek. Santana shook her head but didn't speak. "Why not?" She took several seconds to reply.

"Because you and the boys are awake"

"So?" Brittany asked with a quirked brow. "Quinn and Puck are here to keep them entertained and help me if I need it. I won't be awake alone, so it's okay. Sleep for a few hours." Santana shook her head again. Brittany laughed and couldn't resist kissing her. "Whyyy?"

"Because this wasn't the plan. I'll feel bad if I get to sleep and you don't. You're just as tired as I am"

"Yeah but I wasn't going to sleep either way. Even if they were sleeping. There's no need for both of us to be exhausted when we land and they inevitably still have energy." Santana didn't look convinced. She frowned in thought, then shook her head.

"No it's okay, I'm not that tired. I just need coffee or something."

"Santana stop being an idiot" Quinn said, looking away from the window to frown at her. "Britt can't sleep, but you can so you should. You're clearly tired, and you're no use to us or them in this state. Sleep, and we'll wake you when Puck or I want to sleep." She still didn't look convinced.

"I'll trade you. Sleep now, and I'll sleep when we land, and you get to be on duty" Brittany said, pushing Santana's cheek so she was looking at her. "Please. I'll feel better knowing you're rested baby"

Santana sighed and retrieved the blanket on the floor. "Fine. But wake me up if you need me okay?" Brittany nodded and kissed her again.

"Sure baby. Dream of me" she winked. Santana smirked before closing her eyes and curling back into her previous ball, resting her head on the pillow on the window.

"Night mami" Jesús said, walking over and kissing her on her forehead. "I love you" Santana smiled, struggling to open her eyes, and pursed her lips. Jesús kissed her.

"I love you too my baby boy" she lifted her head up to look for Kyler, nearly jerking back as he appeared next to Jesús, inches from her face. He leaned down and kissed her.

"Te amo mami"

She closed her eyes and fell asleep seconds later.