They're late. They're always late, ever since... Oh, well! They're late and there's nothing she can do about it now.

Santana opens the door and enters the library, pulling on the little hand that clings to hers. She looks down and sees wide, brown eyes looking in every direction, wary, lonely. She adjust her grip on the tiny fingers and the little girl looks up at her for a brief moment before lowering her eyes once again. Santana has no idea what to do now, so she just sticks with her plan. Might as well try that out.

"Here goes nothing", she sighs as she makes her way through the rows of bookshelves towards the back. Midway, she picks up a voice and a small smile appears on her face. The sounds are sweet and inviting, almost like a lullaby or a siren's call. She feels pulled towards it and looks down to find a similar curiosity on eyes that look just like hers. That must be a good sign, she thinks, and steers them until they get to a clearing.

After the shelves end, they find a small alcove. There are bright colors on the walls, pillows thrown haphazardly all around and about ten kids sitting on the floor. They all seem enraptured by the blonde woman in front of them. She's the only adult Santana can see around and she sits on the floor just like the children, cross-legged, with a pillow on her lap and an open book across it.

As she reads on, she changes her voice to better suit the characters and Santana can't help laughing a little bit along the kids. The woman is good at this and she feels like she could listen to her telling stories all day long. She looks down and sees a hint of a smile on the girl's face and a tiny weight is lifted from her chest. It's just been so long since she has seen that smile.

The blonde woman finishes the book she was reading and acknowledge Santana awkwardly standing at the back, a young girl holding on to her hand as if her life depends on it. She smiles to the pair and nods discreetly, an invite for them to join the group. Santana lowers herself until she is on face level with the girl and smiles at her. "Hey, Nina. Do you want to sit down and listen to the next story?", she asks with a low voice. The girl nods and the walk until the edge of the green circle painted on the floor. Nina looks around and settles on sitting in the back, a little away from the other children, eyes locked in the other woman's every movement.

When she senses that the girl is probably going to be okay, Santana looks around self-consciously, noting that she is the only grown up there besides the one doing the reading. She is about to retreat and peer at some books, when she feels a tug at the hem of her skirt. Looking down, she sees pleading brown eyes looking back at her. Tan fingers cling to her skirt until she smiles and nods. She's slowly discovering that there's about nothing she wouldn't do to see a smile on that face. Including sitting on the floor wearing a pencil skirt.

Plopping down isn't an easy task. First, she removes her high heel shoes. Then she hikes up her skirt a little bit as she kneels down. From there, she sits on the floor, with her legs tugged beneath her body, to the side. She takes one of the pillows and places on her lap just to make sure she doesn't flash any inappropriate garment. When she is finally settled and is able to look up, there's a kind of amusement behind the blue eyes that stare back at her. Santana feels a fluttering on her stomach, but the moment is interrupted when a tiny body scoots closer to her. Nina changed positions and now she sits mirroring Santana's, propping her side against the older woman. She sighs in relief and rakes her fingers through dark curls.

When the blonde's enchanting voice starts a new story, Santana finds that she is unable to tear her eyes away from the woman. There's something just...fascinating about her. She wears her hair up in a loose bun, a black and white stripped t-shirt and worn out jeans. There doesn't seem to be an ounce of make-up on her face and her feet are completely bare. But there's this sparkle in her eyes as she gives life to this fairy tale world she's reading about. It's like she actually believes it to be real, like she's friends with ducks and unicorns and prince frogs. Like she can walk through enchanted forests and rest inside houses made of candy. And, with that voice sounding in her head, Santana starts to believe in the possibility.

Three stories later and the woman tells the kids the reading is over and Santana is glad for that. Her ass has just gone numb and she's not very sure if her knees will be able to stand straight ever again. But there's that little body curled up to her side and she's sure she'll never forget how the girl's laughter echoed inside her chest. Just the most beautiful sound she has ever heard - and one she had missed more than she was aware of.

Before she's able to move, Santana sees the blonde crawling towards her and Nina. All the other children have left, looking for their parents, and they are the only ones left. She keeps her eyes glued to the woman, taking in how her body moves graciously and how her smile gets even sweeter when she sits in front of Nina. The girl shifts into Santana's body a little bit more, but the reader sims unfazed by the movement.

"Hi. My name is Brittany. What's yours?", she asks stretching a hand towards Nina, her voice all kinds of serious. Santana intently watches the girl, ready to come to her rescue. She has always seemed shy, and as the time passed by, she became more of an introvert than ever. Hell, Santana can go whole days without listening to her voice. But then she sees her shift a little bit, stretch her olive-skinned hand and whisper: "Nina".

Santana and Brittany share a small smile for a brief moment, before the blonde's attention is focused back on Nina. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Nina. Now, tell me, this is your first time here, right?". Santana watches in awe at the connection between the two. Normally, it takes a lot longer for Nina to warm up to strangers - if she ever gets to warm up to them. But Brittany seems to be some kind of kid whisperer, because Nina is nodding and saying yes at the same time, her voice a bit louder than her usual whisper. "In that case, you must come and choose a book from our treasure trunk".

"Oh, please, there's no need. It's fine", Santana is not sure why she's refusing, but Brittany looks at her with a wide smile.

"Of course there is. It's tradition. Every kid gets a book from the trunk on their first time here. It's like a welcoming gift". Santana smiles and nods, so Brittany shifts her attention back to Nina. "So, what you say, Nina? Want to look for something fun over there?"

There's so much playfulness on Brittany's tone that Santana chuckles and she receives a pleased smirk from the blonde that is getting back up on her feet. The glint she finds in those blue eyes are different from the one she saw a few moments ago and it sends shivers down her back. There's something about that woman that just turns her insides into mush, but she decides not to dwell on that for long and peers back to the girl looking expectantly up at her. She thinks that just a book can't cause that much harm, and it's been so long since she's seen that lightness on Nina's eyes, that she nods in agreement.

The girl bounces up and take the hand Brittany offers her. They walk like that until they reach a big wooden trunk that sits on a corner. Brittany opens the lid and Santana can see dozens of children's books inside. Nina's eyes sparkle and she doesn't seem to know what to do in front of all those colorful covers. Brittany smiles and says something in her ears, before walking back to where Santana is now standing. They both look at Nina for a while.

"She's adorable", Brittany says before tearing her eyes from the girl and back to Santana. With the blonde barefooted and the other woman back in her heels, they're almost the same height and Santana thinks she might have lost her ability to form coherent sentences when the bluest eyes she's ever seen locks with hers. Until Nina giggles and her brain kick starts.

"Yes, she is. I'm Santana, by the way. And, thank you. For the book, I mean."

"It's very nice to meet you, Santana. And, like I said, it's tradition. And a good way to keep them reading after here."

"She loves books. I think she would crawl inside one, if she could." Brittany chuckles and the sound of it makes Santana lose her breath a bit. "Too bad work keeps me from reading to her as often as I should. But, then again, I'm not much of a story teller. Not like you, at least."

"Nonsense. Every kid loves hearing their mother's voices telling them stories."

"I'm sure she would love that. But I'm not her mom."

"Really? I mean, she looks just like you." Brittany stares at Nina for a second, then back at Santana. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

"It's okay. I get that a lot. She does look a lot like me when I was her age. But she is my niece, though."

"Oh, cool! It's nice when the rest of the family is a part of a child's life. A lot of the kids that come through here don't even know how many uncles and aunts they have."

"It's not like a had much of a choice on the matter."

"How come?"

Santana's gaze rests on Nina, a heavy weight setting on her brown eyes. Brittany notices the flash of sadness that appear behind them and touches the woman's arm gently. Santana looks back to Brittany with a small, sad smile on her face. "I'm sorry. It's just a long story and I really shouldn't drop that on you" she sighs.

"It's okay. I like stories." Santana's smile grows a tiny bit and it feels like victory to Brittany. "Look, why don't we go sit over there for a cup of coffee? Nina seems entertained and you can keep an eye on her. No pressure. If you feel like telling me, then I'll be glad to hear."

There's a kind of honesty on the way Brittany holds her eyes that makes Santana feel like she could tell this woman anything. And it's been so long since she just talked about things with someone, really talked, that she thinks it might be a good thing. And it's not like she has to see Brittany again if it ever gets too weird. So, she nods with a smile and Brittany beams back at her. Coyly, she drops her head and walks towards Nina, kneeling besides the girl to tell her where she'll be. She barely acknowledges Santana and nods without looking away from the book. The woman smiles, kisses the top of her head and gets back up. When she turns, Brittany is waiting for her.

They sit on the cafe's first table, facing each other. They place their order and Santana lets her gaze wonder back to her little carbon copy a few feet away from her. "She is my only brother's daughter. Both our parents are gone, so they're basically the only family I have."

The waitress comes back with their mugs and Santana takes a long sip of her black coffee before continuing, this time looking at Brittany. "But we haven't been close. Me and my brother, we had a fight many years ago and we just went our separate ways. I didn't even know I had a niece until a few months back."

"May I ask what the fight was about?"

"He is a very closed minded kinda guy and he couldn't deal with the fact that his baby sister was gay. We both said some pretty hurtful things and that was it."

"And your parents at the time?"

"Mom died when I was ten. And dad, in some ways he agreed with him, but he couldn't sever his ties with me. So, he decided to just ignore my sexuality and our fight. I was already in college when it happened and whenever I went home, dad wouldn't mention my brother. It was like I was an only child."

"That must have been tough."

"It was, specially because we all knew dad was dying. He had terminal cancer and about six more months to live. That's why I endured being around him without being completely accepted. The last time I had seen my brother was in my dad's funeral, eight years ago."

"And how was that?"

"Can you imagine what a mix of a hurricane and a tsunami would look like?", Santana asked and Brittany chuckled a bit.

"That bad?"

"Worse. I was a wreck and my girlfriend didn't let me drive ten hours by myself, so she went with me. I didn't even consider how my brother would react, I just wasn't functioning properly, you know?"

"Of course. And I wouldn't have let you drive by yourself either." Santana flushed a little when she saw Brittany's smile. "But I take he wasn't very cool about it?"

"That would be the definition of an understatement. He tried to prevent me and Lisa from entering the church and some friends had to physically restrain him. She tried to go back to the car, but I wouldn't let her. I couldn't do that alone." Santana breathes deeply and stares into the empty mug in front of her before continuing. "So, I said goodbye to my dad, buried him and that was it. I spent the night at a friend's house and went back to college the next day. Me and my brother only talked through lawyers after that. And only to settle inheritance issues."

"Until Nina?"

"Yeah. Until her." Santana looks at the girl once more. When she looks up and shoots her aunt a toothy grin, the woman can feel her heart melt a little. "After college, I moved here and never heard of him again. Like he never existed. Until, some time back, someone knocks on my door on a Saturday morning, I open up and he's just standing there.

"I wanted to close the door on his face, but he was holding Nina by the hand and I just couldn't do it. He said he needed to talk to me, so I showed them both inside, tuned some cartoons for her and sat with him. That's when he filled me into eight years of lost story.

"He had gotten his girlfriend pregnant, so he married her and that's how he had Nina. But his wife died when she was just three years old. A car accident, I think. And it had just been the two of them for a couple of years, but now he needed to do something - he wouldn't tell me what - and he needed my help. Apparently, his wife also didn't have a family and I was Nina's only close relative besides him. So, he asked me to take her in for a week. He said he had kept track of my career, so he knew that that wouldn't be a financial strain for me and that it would only be for a week.

"I tried to back out of this. I mean, I work crazy hours, have zero routine and don't know the first thing about kids. But he was begging me and then he called her over and it was like looking into a mirror. It's freaky, sometimes, how much alike we are. Not just physically. So, I said yes, he thanked me and told her she would have to stay with me for a little while, but that he would be back to pick her up in no time."

"And when was that?"

"Six months ago."

"Shit!"

Santana laughed at Brittany's response because, really?, that was the most accurate one. Her life had turned upside down ever since that morning and she had no idea what she was doing. But she knew she had done the right thing taking her in.

"And do you know where he is?"

"I have no idea. He hasn't called or mailed ever since. And I'm just running out of things to tell her, really."

"What does she think is happening?"

"That dad's traveling, but she's far too smart for her own sake and she knows something is going on. I mean, I hadn't seen that face in a very long time."

"What do you mean?"

"The first week with her was...complicated. The next few were better, but then she sensed there was something going on and she just closed up. There are times I don't hear her voice for the whole day. And it's been months since I last saw her smile like she did today. It was incredible."

"It must be so hard on her."

"I can't even begin to imagine. That's why I've been bending over backwards to try and make her happy. I mean, I practically ran away from a meeting to bring her here, today."

"Well, that explains the outfit."

"Yes. Believe me, this skirt? Not comfortable to sit on the floor." They both laughed together. "But I'm glad I did it."

Brown eyes met blue ones and it was like the whole world vanished. "I'm glad too", Brittany said, her voice huskier than usual. She was about to cover Santana hand with her own when Nina came running towards them, almost throwing herself on Santana's lap. The woman picked her up and sat her properly, holding her close to her body.

"So, did you choose a book?"

"I did", she smiled back and showed Santana the cover. She kissed the girl's hair and turned the cover so Brittany could see what Nina had chosen.

"That's an awesome choice, Nina. Tell you what, if you can convince your aunt to bring you back on Saturday, I can start the reading with that one. What do you think?" It was a low move, using the girl to see Santana again, but Brittany knew they simply had to meet one more time.

"Can we, auntie Tana?" Nina asked with the most perfect puppy eyes and Santana was sure that those would be the death of her. But she liked the idea of seeing Brittany again.

"Sure, sweetie." The girl bounced on her lap, making Santana chuckle. "So, at what time should we be here?"

"We usually start around ten."

"Okay, perfect." And when blue eyes lingered on her face a while longer, she added: "Maybe we could have some brunch after?"

Santana's stomach was in knots as she asked, but when a slow smile spread across Brittany's face, she sighed in relief. "I would love that, Santana."