Chapter 11

Brittany walked into her sons' room having just gotten dressed for their day, to the scene of Santana sitting on one of the beds as Jesus and Kyler told her what they wanted to wear. She leaned against the door post and watched, the smile on her face only growing as she listened.

"Can't wear swim trunks baby" Santana said casually. "Plan C?"

Kyler sighed heavily and turned to look at his drawer. Brittany chuckled lightly as she watched him survey all of his neatly folded clothes. He hated messes and disorganisation, so for a year now he had been trying to train Jesus to keep their room in order. That meant putting away toys and cleaning up his clothes. It had been difficult, and Santana and Brittany had stayed out of it, wanting to see what would happen, but to his credit, Kyler had succeeded. The amount of messes created by his chaotic twin brother had decreased drastically in the last couple of months. Despite that though, Kyler's drawers were filled with neatly folded clothes that he could easily identify and pull out without making a mess. Jesus' clothes were all routinely dumped out and then stuffed back in carelessly.

"Hurry up" Jesus whined, dropping to the ground dramatically. Santana didn't address him. He did things like that mostly for attention, and since he was generally louder than his brother, Santana had realised that sometimes Kyler could get ignored, especially since he didn't complain much. She and Brittany had been making an effort to teach Jesus that sometimes it was his brother's turn, and no amount of tantrums would change that.

"Okay" Kyler said after a few minutes. "How about, the red one without the sleeves"

"Okay, sounds good. With what?"

Kyler frowned slightly, sticking his tongue out. "Uh…the purple skinny jeans."

Jesus made a face but didn't speak. Santana had to laugh.

"What?" Kyler asked, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"Red doesn't go with purple" Jesus said.

"Yes it does"

"No it doesn't"

"Yes it does"

"No it doesn't"

"Yes-"

"Okay" Santana said, knowing they would go back and forth for almost an hour if she didn't step in. "Jesus, things don't have to match. If he likes it, then that's all that matters."

"It's not going to look good, but okay"

"I always look good. I'm a Lopez-Pierce" Kyler said, shaking his head like Jesus should have known that.

Brittany laughed, finally moving into the room and sitting next to Santana.

"Hey babe" Santana said, kissing her cheek. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you" Brittany said, blushing slightly. She wasn't really wearing anything special, just a long, flowing maroon skirt with a light grey crop top and grey ankle boots, but somehow Santana made her feel like a princess. Kyler walked over to her with the clothes he had chosen in his hands, and after kissing him several times on the top of his head, she helped him get dressed.

"Okay mi amor" Santana said, turning to Jesus. "What about you."

"The black shirt with a skull, my black jean shorts and white shoes that are like yours."

Santana turned to Brittany with a frown. "Honey, I'm pretty sure mama and I didn't buy you a shirt with a skull."

"Yeah" Jesus said, taking Santana's hand and pulling her to her feet. "It's yours."

As soon as he said it, Brittany knew which shirt he was talking about. Santana wore that shirt a lot when she was in her home studio. She smiled, loving that Jesus wanted to be like Santana so much he would rather wear her clothes than his own.

Santana thought about it for a while, then ultimately decided that she didn't care what the internet would undoubtedly have to say about her allowing her son to wear a skull shirt when the paparazzi saw them.

"Alright mijo. Let's go."

Jesus ran forward, pulling Santana with him.

Kyler shook his head as Brittany pulled his pants up.

"Why does he have to run?" he looked up at Brittany, aggressively pulling the hair from his face.

"He has a lot of energy." Brittany laughed.

"Always too much" Kyler confirmed, shaking his head again.

A few minutes later, as Brittany was finishing up tying the green high tops that Kyler had chosen to wear, Jesus came running into the room. Brittany had to admit that he looked really good. The shirt reached just below his knees. His shorts wouldn't have been visible at all, but Santana had tucked the front of the shirt into them. The black jeans were ripped on one thigh and slightly faded on the other, a look that went amazingly with the white skull on the shirt, and the white shoes. His hair was tied in a bun exactly like Brittany's and she smiled as he came barrelling towards her.

"Mami did my hair like yours mama can you see?"

"I can see that bud." She said, running her hand over his head where some stray baby hairs were hanging out of the hair tie. "You look very handsome"

"Tank you."

"Alright, well you guys are both ready. I'm ready, so let's go see how mami's doing."

They walked into Brittany and Santana's room to find Santana sitting in front of the dresser doing her make up.

"You look pretty mami" Kyler told her, climbing into her lap.

"Thanks mijo."

"Can you do my hair?"

"Sure. How would you like it?"

"Um…the one with the…." He ran his hand along the side of his head from the front to the back.

"The lines" Santana said, nodding her head.

"Both sides" Kyler said.

"And the middle?"

"No"

"Okay." She put down her eye liner and began to plate the three cornrows on either side of Kyler's head. When she was done, she pulled the hair tie off her wrist, and tied his hair up in a ponytail. He beamed at her.

"Tank you mami" he squealed. He turned round and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you mi amor. Do you think I should do it the same way?" He nodded vigorously.

"Yes" Jesus said loudly.

"Santana" Brittany said, crossing one leg over the other and swinging it gently. Santana hummed in affirmation, both her lips in her mouth as she continued drawing on her eyeliner. "Are you going to call Quinn?"

Santana stopped, lowering the pencil slowly and meeting Brittany's gaze in the mirror.

"No"

"Why not?"

"Hmmm" she said, repositioning the eye pencil. "Let's think shall we? Maybe it's the fact that she found a time when I was dealing with some racist a-" she broke off and looked down at Kyler, who was watching her hand in astonishment. "A-S-S-H-O"

"I get it" Brittany interrupted. "But she's your best friend." Santana looked at her again in her mirror, but didn't speak. "Santana" Brittany practically sighed.

"Brittany" Santana said in the same tone.

"It's been three weeks."

"Has it?"

"Stop"

Santana sighed, putting down the pencil, which Kyler immediately picked up, and taking a brush.

"I don't see how the amount of time that has passed since I last talked to her is relevant."

"It's relevant because she doesn't know what she's supposed to do."

"If she stopped calling me that would be a start." Santana rolled her eyes, finishing one of the lines.

"I'm not saying you have to forgive her, I just think…I think you should talk to her. She should know what you're mad about."

"What do you mean?" Santana asked in confusion.

"I mean, that she thinks you're mad about the timing of the joke, not….anything else."

Santana frowned heavily, dropping her hands and turning to look at Brittany. After a few seconds she turned back, retaking the hair she had been plaiting and shaking her head.

"No way in hell am I talking to her now. She knows good and well what she did, she just wants to use 'I didn't know' as an excuse so that I forgive her faster. Well not this time. The truth is hard but she has to face it."

"I definitely agree with you, but I think you need to talk to her about it. Clearly waiting for her to 'realise'" Brittany formed air quotes as she said the last word, "is taking too long."

Santana shrugged, moving to the other side of her head.

"I'm in no rush, truth be told B."

"Why aren't you in a rush?" Brittany asked in exasperation.

"Can you please drop it?" Santana said, trying not to raise her voice. Brittany sighed. "I don't want to do it okay? You badgering me about it every few days is not going to do anything but make me angry. So please?"

Brittany held her gaze for a few seconds, then nodded. Santana mouthed a 'thank you'.

A few minutes later, her hair and make-up done, Santana stood up with Kyler on her hip.

"Ok Lopierces" she said. "We're all looking great. So who's ready to go?"

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They took the boys out to a little restaurant they'd found a while back, which had a nice little playground in the back and the best milkshake Santana had ever tasted. They watched Jesus and Kyler try to colour the pirate ship picture the restaurant gave them, Kyler actually doing a pretty good job of keeping within the lines, and laughed as they both got off their seats dance when a song they liked played through the restaurant speakers. It was a nice day out, and it reminded Santana why she and Brittany ad decided to do these family days in the first place. Even though they spent a lot of time with the boys at home, it was nice to give them these outings too. It felt more special somehow, to be out in public.

Santana laughed loudly as the guitarist in her band, Jade, who she had actually become very good friends with, sent her a picture.

"You know something?"

"What?" came three replies. She laughed at the fact that her sons always assumed they were being talked to, mentally patting herself on the back for raising such awesome kids.

"I think it's completely crazy that these pictures were taken literally an hour and a half ago and they're already circling the internet." She turned her phone to Brittany, who giggled.

"That's a cool picture I wish we had it"

Brittany had Kyler on her shoulders, her hands up high as she held his hands and her stomach fully exposed. Santana was walking beside her, Jesus' hand in hers as he was jumping. Brittany couldn't even remember why he had been jumping, but she couldn't help but smile at how awesome they looked as a family.

Santana nodded, typing out a reply to Jade as she got out of the car. It was only when she had Kyler down on the ground that she realised that Jesus was still in the car, and so was Brittany.

"Uh, B? You planning on going somewhere?"

"Yeah"

Santana frowned, picking Kyler up and walking round to Brittany's window. "Britt…"

"Yes honey?" Brittany asked sweetly, rolling down her window. Santana narrowed her eyes, glancing at both her kids, who were talking loudly to each other through the window.

"Would you like to tell your wife where you're going?"

"My wife said she doesn't want to talk about it anymore. So…no"

Santana stared at her for a moment, then nodded slowly, taking a step back. She moved to the back door, pulled it open with a lot more force than was necessary and began unbuckling a wide-eyed Jesus.

"Santana…"

"Jesus bud, do you know how to unclip the buckle?" Santana said, ignoring Brittany. He nodded, unbuckling it quickly like he was scared of getting in trouble. "Good job my little man. Alright hop out." He did as she asked, and she picked him up, settling him on her other hip.

"Santana"

"Say bye-bye to mama"

"Bye" Jesus said quietly.

"Where are you going?" Kyler asked.

"I just have something to do real quick, but I'll be back in less than an hour."

"In time for the park?"

"In time for the park? Of course I'll be back in time for the park."

"But mama, you said you were going to make the samiches." Jesus reminded her.

"I will be back in time to make sandwiches….Santana-" Santana had begun walking away. "Are you serious?"

"Be back by the time we're making sandwiches, or stay over there…where you're going…that I don't want to talk about."

"Santana I can't miss the rest of family day."

"Be back for sandwiches then mama" Kyler yelled, just before Santana slammed the door shut.

"Yeah" Brittany said, nodding. "I'll just do that."

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"Britt?" Quinn asked stunned as she opened the door. "Hi"

"Hey" Brittany said awkwardly. Santana and Quinn had fought many, many times before, but Brittany had never felt in the middle of it. She had never felt the need to choose sides. This time she did, and she felt bad about that.

"Is Santana here with you?"

"No, and let's not talk about her."

"Okay." Quinn sighed, looking very defeated. "Brittany, will you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"No actually…I can't."

"Why not? Santana has been literally ignoring me for three weeks. She won't open the door for me, she won't pick up my calls, I don't even know…and now you're…you haven't exactly been talking to me either. I haven't seen the boys. I haven't seen anyone."

"Yeah….I'm sorry. I've been trying to figure out what to do. There isn't…Santana is really pissed off at you-"

"Why! Will you tell me why?" Quinn asked near hysterics.

Brittany shook her head and sighed. "I thought about what I wanted to say on my way here, because I didn't know what I was going to find when I got here and I needed to be prepared because I feel bad for you even though I shouldn't."

Quinn frowned. "Britt-"

"I'm mad at you too Quinn. What you said was rude and insensitive, and quite frankly your lack of anger at the situation is why you haven't seen my kids."

"Wha-"

"You do realise that they are Latino right? Your nephews? Your godsons are Latino boys who speak Spanish."

"Yes I know that. What does that have to do with anything?"

Brittany's eyes widened in disbelief. "What does….? EVERYTHING." She yelled. "It has…okay." She sighed, shaking her head. "If we were with them at the store and someone said something to them like, 'go back to your county' or called them illegal trash, you'd be perfectly fine? You'd just walk away?"

"Of course not. I'd be furious-"

"Then why doesn't Santana get the same reaction? Why aren't you furious for her? What kind of person are you that you can't make that connection for yourself? That I have to use my kids as an example for you to understand what happened to Santana?"

"Britt-"

"A selfish one. That's what kind of person you are Quinn. Selfish, and quite possibly racist"

"Woah. Hold on a second Brittany." Quinn said, raising her hands and taking a step back. "You've known me for….almost 15 years. You really think I'm racist?"

"I think you are at the very least blind to your privilege and the hardships of other races. Whatever it is it doesn't just apply to race either. When Karofsky tried to kill himself, you had no sympathy for his pain. You thought your fall from grace when you got pregnant was worse than having the literal government saying that what you are isn't legal. Like having your dad kick you out for a mistake you made, was worse than the threat of real violence because of who you are and who you love."

Quinn looked down, tears coming to her eyes at the anger and disgust in Brittany's voice.

"Yeah, you're not homophobic, maybe not racist either but the line has to be drawn somewhere, and maybe I'm wrong for this, but I draw it at my wife. If you want to be closed minded, or a silent bystander, or one of those people who isn't racist because you have a Latina friend…" Brittany shrugged, "I guess that's up to you. But you of all people know that Santana is my everything…and I will not allow anyone, not even you who did it by mistake, to hurt her."

"Brittany" Quinn said, now openly crying. "I love Santana-"

"I know that. But that's not enough." Brittany moved towards the door. "Santana wants to sit at home and pretend you don't exist, but I couldn't do that. You're my family. So I just needed to come by and tell you how I'm feeling."

"Brittany I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean anything by that stupid joke. I was just breaking the tension. It was more from habit than anything. I thought she'd at least laugh and wouldn't have to keep thinking about what happened. I know it was wrong now…I shouldn't have…but I didn't mean anything."

"She thinks you did. I'm not sure, but the point is, that you shouldn't have been trying to break the tension. You were uncomfortable? Well tough luck. It's uncomfortable because what happened was wrong. The tension is there to make sure we know that it isn't okay for things like that to happen."

Quinn nodded, looking sullen. Brittany stood awkwardly by the door for a few seconds. "We'll get passed this. Like I said, you're family."

"When?" Quinn whispered

"When Santana remembers that you aren't the face of the many people she knows would treat her like shit on sight." Quinn's eyes widened, but she nodded again. "If it makes you feel better, Puck hasn't been around either."

"Why?"

"Santana is kind of…I don't know, trying to create this little safe bubble for her and the boys. Nobody's been by the house, and the kids haven't been to either of our studios. Santana hasn't been going in either, she's been working from home. Anyway…I don't really want to talk to you about her. I just wanted you to know that it's not just you she's mad at. It's bigger than you."

"Thanks B"

Brittany shrugged. Just then her phone chimed signaling a message. "I have to go Quinn…Santana didn't really want me to come here, and if I'm late I'm going to have to find another place to stay so." She pulled open the door. "I'll see you…soon I hope."

She didn't wait for a reply before walking out and closing the door behind her.