Chapter 5

Brittany fell asleep on a plane for the first time in her life. It happened so slowly that she didn't even notice she was asleep until she was being woken up. One minute she was watching her kids play with the ipad on the floor, the next, she was opening her eyes, staring into Santana's.

"Huh?"

Santana ran her fingers tenderly through Brittany's hair. "We're here."

"Where?" Brittany asked, her eyes falling closed again slowly. Santana giggled.

"Australia baby"

Brittany sat up quickly, a blanket she hadn't even been aware of falling to the floor. "We're here?"

"Yeah. We just landed. Quinn and Puck have the boys so we're on baggage"

"Are they still awake?"

"No…they fell asleep three hours ago. I think-"

"What?" Brittany looked around the plane. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Four hours. Come on, stand up B. They're waiting for us." She nodded and stood up, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back. When she felt the satisfying crack, she sighed. Santana shook her head, kissing her temple. "Better?"

"Yeah" Brittany smiled. "I can't believe I fell asleep" she mused, walking down the aisle with Jesús and Kyler's backpacks and Puck's duffle bag, which she picked from his seat.

"None of us can, but I understand why. Yesterday was a long day, and then you didn't get to sleep much. I would have been shocked if you stayed awake the whole 15 hours."

"Maybe we should always hire private planes."

"Hey I'm not one to object luxury" Santana said, following Brittany down the steps out of the plane.

"Where are they?" Brittany asked as they walked through the airport looking for baggage claim.

"I told them to just go look for the cars. I wasn't sure what our reception would be, and I didn't want anything waking up Jesús and Ky. They seriously need to sleep."

Brittany nodded with pursed lips. The truth of the statement making her realise that they had been awake for 12 hours. "Hopefully they sleep for the rest of the night" Brittany said.

Half an hour later, Santana and Brittany still didn't have their luggage.

"I don't get it." Brittany said sleepily. "I don't get it" Santana was about to go talk to some form of management, thinking their luggage had been lost, when a short red haired man came running up to them.

"Mrs Lopez-Pierce. We've been looking for the both of you. What are you doing here?" He spoke in a very thick Australian accent.

Santana frowned. "Who are you?"

The man seemed startled. He looked around, then at Brittany, finally returning his gaze to Santana. "My name is Rufus. We met last week when we were going over your itinerary with Eve and Emma."

"Oh I remember" Brittany said, trying to sound believable. She really didn't remember anything, but she didn't want him to know that. She hated forgetting people or their names. Santana raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment.

"Uhh…well…anyway…we have your luggage in your car. You're friends and sons are there too. Someone went to get you from the plane but…well…here you are instead." He laughed nervously, and Santana shot Brittany another raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat. "Right…well if you'll just follow me we can head out" he stepped aside and brandished his hand. Brittany smiled at him, though internally she cringed at how awkward he was.

It took what felt like another hour for them to reach their hotel. They took two separate cars, and drove around the city slowly as their drivers excitedly told them about Sydney. Finally though, the exhaustion and hunger forced them to their hotel.

Eve met them at the reception as the concierge brought in their bags. Brittany restrained herself from kissing her when she told them that they had food waiting for them in their rooms, and then finally...'Fiiiinally' Puck whined, they went up to their rooms. Puck and Quinn changed the boys and left them in one of the rooms to sleep while Santana and Brittany took a quick shower.

An hour later they were all well fed and ready to sleep.

"Okay" Eve said, trying to breathe life into the room. "We just need to get into the broader details of tomorrow and the day after, then I'll let you guys rest."

Puck groaned but was silenced quickly by a slap from Santana. Eve laughed.

"Don't worry this will be quick. I've already gone through it with Brittany and Santana."

"Don't listen to him." Quinn dismissed quickly.

"Okay. So tomorrow will be a relaxed day. You can sleep in, and then meet us at the stadium at 2 Pm. Just to look at it, get to know your way around and see your dressing room and everything."

"Okay" Santana said, looking at Brittany in a silent question of whether she'll go with her or not.

"It should only take an hour or two, so you can bring the boys if you want. You don't need to be too focused." Eve said.

"They'll enjoy that so much" Brittany said, smiling. Eve smiled before continuing.

"So, after that, your parents-"

"Mums" Santana interrupted.

"Mums sorry. They'll be getting here at around five. Jessie will be arriving on the same flight so he'll ride to the hotel with them"

"Awesome" Brittany said. She loved Jessie. She liked him when he was Santana's favourite driver in LA, but when he became their kids' body guard, she started to love him, because they loved him. He was their uncle Jessie, and he was as close to them as Brittany's dad.

"After that, you have a dinner with some people from adidas."

"Again?" Santana scowled. "I already told Emma that I don't want to be part of any promotions for anything."

"But you love adidas" Quinn said. Santana rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't mean I want to promote their business. I don't know anything about their policies, or how their clothes are made, if they damage the environment or use child slaves in Indonesia"

"What?" Puck laughed.

"Don't laugh" Brittany said seriously. "It happens."

"Yeah" Santana nodded. "And I don't want to be a part of promoting any of that. People can buy whatever clothing lines they want. I don't want it associated with me or Brittany or my kids."

"Santana, you can still say no. The dinner is just a courtesy." Eve interjected, before Quinn could speak. Santana continued to scowl.

"Can Britt come?" she asked. Eve nodded.

"Yes definitely. Brittany can go. It shouldn't take more than an hour and a half, maybe two hours to be safe. Then you're free for the rest of the day. Quinn and Noah, we have a body guard on standby for you if you would like. He can show you round the city."

"Thanks" Quinn smiled, knowing there was no way she was taking up that offer.

"The next day is a bit more hectic. You have to be at the stadium at 9. Santana you won't be leaving after that." Santana groaned and pumped her fist sarcastically. "The rest of you have the interview at 12. You won't need to be back until 4, to avoid getting stuck in crowds of fans and so on." They all nodded. "After that, Santana you'll need to go out and sign autographs, take pictures et cetera. You can decide when you want to do that, and if you want to be alone or not. It'll be controlled so it's safe."

"The boys really love it" Santana said. "If it's controlled I'll go with them, and B if she wants" Brittany nodded.

"Totally."

"Okay. So depending on what time you decide to do that, you'll have a couple of hours to relax backstage until the show starts. After the show we'll go over the next two days."

"Can't you just tell us now?" Santana whined. "We went through this on the international tour and it's annoying. After a show I'm exhausted. I don't want to sit and listen to instructions."

"Sometimes things get added, so we tell you as close to the day as necessary. But okay, other than a meet and greet at lunch time the following day, you don't have anything. The day after that should be similar to the previous concert day. Arrive early, sound checks, make-up, autographs etc. I think you'll have an interview, but it's still not locked down so we don't know when yet. Noah and Quinn's flight should be leaving that night, straight after the concert. You'll have three days off, maybe an interview here or there, then you have the large meet and greet that's going to take about 5 maybe 6 hours. Then-"

"Okay okay…I think that's enough in advance" Brittany said. "I'm super tired and need to not be doing this anymore"

"Okay. I'll be available throughout the trip if you guys need anything at any time. Just call me" she lifted and shook her phone.

"Thanks Eve" Santana and Quinn said, as Brittany stood up and made her way to her and Santana's room. They had decided to get one executive suite for them and separate rooms for Quinn and Puck. Their room had two rooms with master beds, a living room, a large balcony, and a kitchen area with a bar. When Quinn and Puck had left, Santana checked the other room to make sure her sons were fine, before heading to her own room and dropping on top of Brittany, who was lying on her stomach, legs dangling off the edge of the bed. They lay in silence for a few minutes, Santana was about to fall asleep when Brittany twisted round so she was on her back.

"Do you really not want to do this?" she asked, as she combed her fingers through Santana's hair.

"What?"

"Tour"

Santana frowned and opened her eyes. "I am touring babe"

"I know, but I talked you into it, and now you don't seem happy. You seem kind of pissed off at everything you have to do actually." Santana shook her head.

"I'm just tired "

"Yeah…but when we were on tour before, even when you were tired you were excited. You're not excited right now."

"Well, we were younger, and this was all new, and we didn't have toddlers." Santana sat up. "I'm a little excited, but I think I need it to actually start. See the stage and go through rehearsals you know? I haven't done this in a while so I think it might just take some time to get back into it."

Brittany nodded. That made sense.

"Let's get some sleep B. Lord knows we need it."

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After three days of free time, Brittany was sure Australia was now one of her top three favourite countries. The tour guide the hotel recommended made sure of that. They had dinner at Sydney tower, where they had a view of the entire city. They went on a lunch cruise, and the adults went on a 'thunder thrill ride', while Jessie watched Jesús and Kyler. They went on a snorkelling tour, and took surf lessons, finding out in the process that it was something Kyler was very good at. Santana made a mental note to put him in lessons; they could take bi weekly trips to Santa Monica or something. All in all, their experience in Australia was better than anything Brittany could ever describe. She loved seeing her kids running around on the beach splashing in the water. She loved sitting across from a dolled up Santana and just getting to watch her as she smiled and laughed, as she ate, or drank various kinds of wine. She loved being able to experience all of this with her mother, who had never left the country before and she loved seeing her mother-in-law being the grandmother Santana always wanted her to be. She just loved it all.

So when Eve came by their hotel early that morning to prep them for the day, she wasn't irritated. They had rested enough and she was actually looking forward to getting to see Santana with the fans again. The last time she had the opportunity was in Japan, and that had been more than amazing.

They woke their mothers up before they left, reminding them not to feed Jesús any sugar after four, to call Jessie if they were planning on leaving the hotel, and to hold the boys' hands if they went somewhere crowded. With eye rolls from both their mothers, who reminded them that they had raised their own children, they kissed their sleeping sons multiple times before Eve dragged them out of the room.

The day seemed to go simultaneously too fast and too slow. The morning of make-up and wardrobe and pictures and interviews went by quickly, but when they started actually signing autographs and taking pictures with fans, time may as well have not been moving. By three, four hours into it, Santana's throat was beginning to feel sore, despite all the water she was drinking. Excusing herself from the table they had set up for her with a kiss on Brittany cheek, she stood up and walked into the back room where she had gotten her make-up done. Not even a second later, Eve walked into the room.

"How are you doing? Can I get you anything?"

"I'm okay…I just needed a bit of a break. Actually, yeah can you get me some herbal tea? With honey?" She smiled wide. Eve sighed semi-defeated, having no idea where she was going to get that.

"Any particular kind?"

"Not really. Anything with a kind of berry…" she trailed off, hating that Rachel came to mind as she said that.

"Okay" Eve turned to walk out of the room, but spun around just as she reached it and walked back. "Oh! Your phone has been going off a lot, since you're taking a break" she handed Santana the phone. "Don't be too long. I'll bring the tea out there."

Santana nodded, already engrossed in her phone. She had missed calls from practically everyone she knew. Quinn, Puck, Jade and the rest of her band, Elaine, Syth and some of Brittany's friends that she actually liked enough to give her number, Ashley, Emma, and Jessie. Slightly alarmed, she decided to call Jessie back first, since he was with her kids.

The phone had barely rung before he was picking up. It only increased her anxiety.

"Jessie wh-"

"Santana, I'm sorry to drag you away from what you were doing, I know you're busy today. I wanted to make sure you heard from me first before anyone else so you don't get too alarmed."

"Too late" Santana said, voice shaking slightly as she imagined all the worst case scenarios involving her children. "Are Jesús and Ky-"

"They're okay. We are back at the hotel now, I have Kyler here with me actually, Jesús is watching tv in the living room."

"Okay" she sighed in relief. "So what's up then? Does this have anything to do with why my entire contact list is calling me?"

As she spoke, Eve came back into the room looking terrified, followed by a confused and nervous looking Brittany, who she smiled at. It took a moment for her to realise that Jessie had been speaking.

"Sorry Jess can you repeat that?"

"We were at the park, Sydney park, and some fans recognised them"

"Them?" Santana questioned, feeling like she was missing something.

"Kyler and Jesús."

Her anxiety returned. "Okay…" she drew out the word as she waited for him to continue. Something must have happened. Something bad enough that he felt the need to call her, rather than wait for her to be done. Brittany walked up next to her, pressing her ear to the phone so she could overhear. "One sec"

Santana pulled the phone away and put it on loud speaker. "Okay…go on Jessie, Brittany is here"

"Well, they were running a ways in front of your mothers, and I was close by, as always" Santana and Brittany nodded, visualising the scene perfectly. "And when a crowd began to gather, I moved forward to pick them up and return them to your mothers, who I then realised where mixed up in the crowd. I had Jesús' hand in mine, and I noticed this one man talking to Kyler, moving with him deeper into the crowd…"

Santana didn't hear anything else. For a few seconds all she could hear was the blood in her ears as her heart rate skyrocketed. Kyler was kidnapped. While her mother….what even was her mother doing? Her son was gone because she had left him with a woman who had proved to her throughout her own childhood that she didn't pay enough attention. This was her fault. But then…'wait' a voice in the back of her head said. Jessie had started off by saying he had Kyler in his arms. So he wasn't gone. The relief she felt was like emerging from under a waterfall. She gasped for breath, doubling over as her lungs heaved in all the air they could, and making her realise that she had been holding her breath. She heard Brittany speak but couldn't really make sense of what she was saying. Once her breathing was under control, she straightened, looked around the room for her bag, and once she had it, walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Eve asked quietly.

"To the hotel"

"But-"

"Nothing. But nothing. My son was almost kidnapped today. I'm going to him."

She brushed past Eve, becoming aware that she had Brittany's hand in hers. She wasn't sure if she had grabbed Brittany or if Brittany had grabbed her, but it didn't matter.