Chapter 6

It was four o'clock in the morning on New Year's Eve, and right on schedule, Noelle started crying for her bottle and a fresh diaper.

"You want the diaper or the bottle?" Brittany mumbled in a groggy tone.

"I'll change her. You get the bottle." Santana answered just as sleepily.

They had not had a decent night's rest since Noelle came to them six days prior. The most sleep they've been able to get at one time was about three hours, and that was pushing it. Usually Noelle was ready to eat every two hours.

Brittany snapped her fingers, turning on a lamp and they both got out of bed. Brittany trudged out of the room into the kitchen while Santana went to the bassinet that was at the end of their bed.

"Shhhh. It's okay, Mija. Mama's got you." Santana cooed as she picked up her crying child from her bed and held her against her. "It's okay." She said again rocking her.

She took her over to the makeshift changing table they had made from the top of the dresser and a thick changing pad. A proper changing table, along with other nursery furniture had already been delivered to their house in Lima, and while Santa offered to let them take a second set for their apartment there at the North Pole, they declined. They didn't see a need to use a second set when they would only be there for a week. They insisted they could make do, and they had managed pretty well.

Noelle fussed louder as Santana laid her down on the changing pad.

"I know; I know." Santana said as she unsnapped her pajamas. The past few days she and Brittany had changed so many diapers that they didn't think twice about it anymore. She quickly changed the wet diaper, throwing it into a diaper pail, before redressing the baby.

Once she was clean, Noelle calmed down a little bit, but she was still hungry, so she didn't stop fussing completely.

"Mommy is working as fast as she can, my love. Give her a minute." Santana said as she lifted Noelle from the pad and held her upright against her. Her chubby cheek was pressing against her shoulder and Santana bounced her a little bit, as she held her head for support.

She started humming; knowing the soft sound of her voice would pacify Noelle for a few minutes.

When Brittany came back into their bedroom, she held out the bottle for Santana to take when she was ready. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Santana said as she shifted the baby so she was cradling her. She took the bottle and gently slipped the rubber nipple into Noelle's mouth, instantly stopping her cries, and replacing them with the cute little noises she made when she ate.

They both sat back on the bed, propping themselves against the backboard.

"I'm going to be glad when we get home and we have that rocker to sit in for midnight feedings." Santana said twisting her back to make it more comfortable.

Brittany chuckled. "Yeah. I can't wait to get home and start putting her nursery together."

"Me too."

In fact, it was the first thing they intended to do after they got home and introduced Noelle to Santana's parents. The adoption paper work had been finalized the day before after a quick sled ride to Anchorage to meet with a judge, and sign the papers, so even though it was official that she was their daughter, they both felt that putting together her room and having a permanent space for her in their home made the adoption feel more complete.

"I still can't believe that I didn't have to talk you into a fairytale theme." Brittany said musing on their trip with her parents through the baby shop of Santa's workshop. They saw so many different options for nursery theming and furniture, so when Brittany casually suggested fairytales with white furniture, she expected Santana to shoot down the fairytale idea, but to her great surprise, she eagerly agreed.

"Why? I like fairytales." Santana said.

"I just kind of thought that you would think it was dumb."

"There's nothing wrong with fairytales. They're fun. I don't have a problem with her liking them either. I just want us to teach her that she is her own hero. She doesn't need to rely on others to make her dreams come true. She has to go out and make them happen for herself."

Brittany smiled and leaned down, kissing the baby on her forehead. "She will. She's already one strong girl."

"That she is." Santana said thinking back to what their daughter had already survived in her short life.

After Noelle finished her bottle, Brittany took her from Santana and burped her, and then she cradled her in her arms. They both peered down at her. She was wide-awake, her hazel eyes flitting between them.

"You know, I just thought of something." Santana said.

"What?"

"I don't even know what made me think of this, but when we get home to Ohio, it will be the first time that Noelle sees daylight."

Being that it was winter, and it was dark for six months out of the year in both the North Pole and Alaska, Noelle had never been anywhere were it was light.

"Oh yeah." Brittany said realizing that for the first time too. "I can't wait to show her the sun!"

"We should take pictures."

Brittany chuckled. "Definitely." They couldn't have enough pictures of her.

"Do you think she has any idea how much we love her?" Santana asked as she slid her finger into the baby's palm and Noelle gripped it.

"I think she does." Brittany said. "Kids are so much more receptive of emotions. They may not know what they mean right away, but they feel much more openly than adults."

"I think that's true."

"She has so many people that love her; she just doesn't know it yet. Your mom just about died on the phone when she found out about her."

Santana chuckled. "Yeah, I knew that she would be emotional, but I didn't think she would have a complete meltdown."

Santana sent Maribel an email with pictures of Noelle in the middle of the night, when she knew that she wouldn't be likely to check them. Then she and Brittany called her early in the morning, purposely waking her. Maribel was annoyed by being woken up so early on the day after Christmas, but they told her that they had sent an important email that they needed her and Santana's father to read right away. They were vague about its contents when questioned, but despite the lack of details, Maribel woke Carlo and reached to her nightstand for her iPad. She clicked on her email app, finding the one Santana sent with the subject line reading, "Christmas Pics" at the top of her inbox. Seeing that that was the "important email," she was even more annoyed that they woke them up for just pictures.

"Pictures of your Christmas? Girls, couldn't this have waited until we were awake?" She grouched. She, like Santana, was a bear until she had her coffee in the morning.

"Mama, just open it." Santana said ignoring her mother's grouchiness. She knew that would change as soon as she saw the pictures.

"Fine. Fine." Maribel said and clicked on it. There were ten picture attachments and in the body of the email it simply said, "Meet your new granddaughter, Noelle Joy Lopez."

"WHAT?!" Maribel yelled immediately sitting up and clicking on the attachments to open them. The first picture was one that Whitney had taken of all three of them. "OH MY GOD, MIJAS!"

Santana and Brittany chuckled and since they were on speaker, they both said, "Surprise!"

"Santana is this a joke?" Her father asked. He was so surprised; he thought that it had to be a joke.

"No, Daddy. It's real."

"But how?" Maribel asked choking up, clicking to see the next picture, which was a close up of Noelle's face with her eyes open.

"Well it was a right place at the right time kind of thing." Santana said. "Don't get worked up when I tell you this. She's totally fine and so healthy, but Brittany's Uncle Kris found her abandoned in a church nativity scene while he was walking the dog yesterday." Maribel and Carlo gasped when they heard that, but they didn't interrupt. "He brought her home to get her out of the cold, and one thing led to another, and we're going to adopt her. A social worker is already working on it." She said, obviously modifying the story so it didn't include Santa Claus, present deliveries, elves, and reindeer.

"So she's yours for sure?" Carlo asked.

"She is." Brittany said. "They're rushing the paperwork, so she will officially be adopted next week before we come home."

"She's our granddaughter." Maribel said her voice heavy with emotion as she clicked to the next picture.

"Yes, Abuela Maribel." Santana answered and Maribel let out a heavy sob, tears streaming down her cheeks as she flipped through the rest of the pictures.

"Mama." Santana said. "It's okay, you don't have to cry."

"Where-is-she-now?" Maribel asked through her tears.

"With us. She's sleeping in Santana's arms." Brittany said.

"I wanna see." Maribel said. "Can we skype?"

"Sure, just let me get Santana's iPad." Brittany said getting up to go get it out of the bedroom.

Santana listened to her father trying to calm down her mother while she waited for Brittany to return. When she came back, Santana hung up with her mother as Brittany opened the app and called Maribel. She answered immediately and as soon as she saw them holding the baby, she started crying harder.

"Mama." Santana said as she watched her mother bury her face into her father's shoulder. "Are you okay?" She expected tears, but not this.

Maribel nodded and looked back at the screen. "I'm just so hap-py." She said, her voice cracking. "My baby girl has a baby girl o-of her own now. She looks s-so swe-et."

Santana beamed down at Noelle and then back at her mother. "She's just the sweetest little girl. Just wait until you meet her"

Maribel nodded and cried some more just looking at Noelle. When she finally calmed down a bit, she took a few breaths and wiped at her face with the tissue that Carlo has given her. "What do you need? Do you want me to come up to Alaska so I can help with her?"

Santana shook her head. She knew that was coming. "No, it's okay, Mama. We've got Whitney and Pierce to help us if we need it." She said and she saw her mother deflate, so she added, "But, as soon as we get home next week, we would love for you and daddy to come over and meet her. If you'd like, you can help us put her nursery together."

Maribel's eyes lit up at that. "Oh yes. We'd like that very much."

"And I know you only live a few minutes away, but if you want to, you could stay with us for a couple of nights. That way she'll have you close by." Brittany added.

Maribel nodded. "If you want us to, then we'll stay. I know by the time you get home from Alaska, you're going to be exhausted, so I don't mind doing the late night feedings so you two can get some rest."

"That would be great." Santana said. They had hardly slept the night before, partly from the baby waking them for changings and feedings, and partly from excitement at having a baby to do those things for now.

"I can't believe you have a baby, Mija!" Maribel said tearing up again.

"Mama, don't start crying again." Santana urged.

"I'm just so happy. I have a new grandbaby to love on." She said and tears started to flow down her cheeks again.

"She definitely got more emotional that I thought she would." Brittany said with a little smile. "Can you imagine how she's going to be once she actually gets to see her in person?"

Santana snorted. "We may have to pry Noelle from her arms."

"Probably." Brittany said with a chuckle. "She's just happy though. I mean, look at my parents. They've been trying to be around her as much as they can. I thought I was going to have to kick my mom out of the apartment last night so we could go to bed."

"I think it's sweet. She's going to have some amazing grandparents, even if they go a little off the deep end at times."

"Yeah." Brittany said with a yawn.

"I'm surprised she's still awake." Santana said, rubbing the top of the baby's hand with her thumb.

"I think she's-" Brittany started to say when Noelle let a long one rip. "Oh my god." Brittany yelped a moment later scrunching her nose at the smell. It was definitely more than just gas.

Santana slid to the other side of the bed, covering her nose with her shirt. "Ugh, that's foul." She said and the baby let another one rip. "And I'm not changing that. I changed the last one."

Brittany groaned trying to breathe though her mouth as she stood up with the baby. "How does someone so small, produce something so smelly?"

"Because she eats so well." Santana answered. "At least she didn't spit up in your face like she did to me earlier."

"Poop and spit up… she better be glad she's cute and we love her so much." Brittany said as she set the baby on the changing pad and unsnapped her pajamas.

She took a deep breath, and held it, as she opened the diaper. She let out a stifled groan when she saw what she was dealing with. She changed it quicker than any one of Noelle's diapers that she had changed in the past few days. Once it was pushed into the diaper pail, Brittany exhaled.

Santana just chuckled as she watched Brittany redress the baby. "You are so dramatic."

"Says the one who slid away. You didn't have to change it; it was bad."

"I already changed her, it's your turn. Fair's fair." Santana said with a shrug.

"I guess so." Brittany conceded. They had both had their fair share of poopy diapers the past few days and neither one tried to pawn it off on the other. They had been really good about splitting the baby duties evenly.

Once she returned to the bed, it only took a few minutes for Noelle's eyes to start getting heavy.

"I think she's going to go back to sleep." Brittany said.

"Let me get in a little snuggle before we put her down."

"Okay." Brittany said and kissed the baby on her forehead and each cheek before she handed her to Santana.

Santana took her, cradling her in her arms and hummed a lullaby until she fell asleep. She slowly slid out of the bed and carefully placed the baby in the bassinet. Then she returned to the bed, sliding under the clovers, and resting her head on Brittany's shoulder. They just laid there quietly, looking down at the bassinet at the end of the bed. They could see Noelle because of the mesh covering, so they watched her sleep, waiting to see if she would get fussy.

"I think she's really out." Brittany said after a few more minutes. She was confident that she wouldn't be getting back up for a few hours.

Santana nodded. "Let's try to get some sleep while we can."

"Sleep sounds so good right now." She said and snapped her fingers, turning the bedside lamp off.

After a few moments of quiet bliss where they were both left to their thoughts, Santana whispered, "I'm so happy, Britt."

"Me too, San. So happy." Brittany said and she tilted Santana's head up so she could give her a kiss.

Santana returned the sweet embrace, deepening it after a few moments. When they parted, she nuzzled her nose with Brittany's before she rested her head on her shoulder again.

"I love you." Brittany said.

"I love you too."

"When we get up later, let's have a family picnic for breakfast by the fire with Noelle."

"That sounds amazing." Santana sighed contently. She couldn't think of anything she wanted more in the world than to sit by the fire with her family, just enjoying being beside her two favorite girls.

-(Epilogue)-

"Auntie Tana! Auntie Brittany!" Alex and Ally called excitedly, running away from their parents as they emerged from the arrival area at the airport.

Both Santana and Brittany smiled widely and waved at the twins.

"Come here you two and give me a big hug!" Santana said kneeling down to hug them tightly.

Brittany did the same and when she stood up again, she put her hands on top of both their heads. "You two have grown since we saw you last."

Ally and Alex nodded. "We grew a lot!" They said proudly. Having had a growth spurt in the past few months, they were tall for seven year olds.

"They're growing like weeds." Lisa joked as she and Miguel walked up to them.

"They need to slow down. We have to buy them new clothes all the time." Miguel added.

It had been eight months since Santana and Brittany's wedding, which was the last time they had seen the twins and Lisa and Miguel. They missed them at Christmas while they were visiting Brittany's family, and since the twins were in school, spring break during the first week in April was the first time that they could come back to Lima to visit.

"You're going to be taller than your Auntie Tana soon." Brittany teased and the twins beamed.

"That's not hard." Miguel teased as well and patted Santana on the top of her head.

"Hey now." Santana huffed and swatted his hand away.

"Babe, it's okay to be short. I think it's cute." Brittany cooed.

"Yeah! You could be a Christmas elf!" Alex said.

Brittany and Santana glanced at each other, sharing a knowing look. "She would make a wonderful elf." Brittany said, and of course, only Santana caught the double meaning. Coming from Brittany, she took that as a great compliment.

Miguel laughed. "Oh lord; she'd be such a cranky elf. She'd be on Santa's naughty list in a minute."

"Be nice." Lisa said playfully smacking him on the arm.

Santana scoffed. "Please, I'd be in charge of the list and I would make sure that you'd end up with the biggest lump of coal there ever was." She said to her brother.

Alex and Ally giggled. "Daddy gets coal! Can we have his presents?"

"Sure, I'll have a word with Santa to make sure you get them. We're tight like that." Santana said with a smug look.

"Okay, before these two end up in a sibling spat, where's the baby?" Lisa said changing the subject. They had not met Noelle yet, and she had been hoping to see her when they got in.

"She's at home with mom and dad." Santana answered as they started to walk to baggage claim. "We wanted to pick you up since it had been so long since we saw you, but we thought that there would be too much going on here for Noelle, so we decided to leave her at home so you can meet her for the first time in a less chaotic scene."

"That's probably for the best." Miguel said. "That way she's less stressed when we meet her."

"She looks like she's grown so much in the pictures you sent." Lisa said.

"She has." Brittany said. She couldn't believe how much she had grown. It seemed like it had happened overnight. "I can't believe she's three and half months old already. Last week she finally started sleeping more than six hours."

"That's great. I'm sure you're glad to get more sleep." Miguel said.

"You know it. Thank god too, because we were starting to go a little crazy with lack of sleep." Santana said.

She and Brittany had been like walking zombies for those three months. The first night that Noelle slept from midnight to six-thirty, they were worried because she wasn't waking them up every two to three hours, and they almost panicked thinking that something was wrong with her. They checked her temperature multiple times and monitored her all throughout the day, and she seemed fine. Then she slept through the second night, and they realized it was just part of her development, and couldn't have been happier. They slept so hard on the third night; they felt like new people at having received a full night's rest.

"Be glad you only had one." Miguel said. "For a while there, I thought the twins were purposely messing with us, because they would nap together during the day, but at night they were on opposite schedules. As soon as we got one to sleep, the other was waking up. We didn't sleep at all for those first four months."

"Well, I hope she's awake when we get in. I can't wait to get a little snuggle in with her." Lisa chirped with a wide smile. "I love cuddling with babies."

Santana chuckled. "Good luck getting her out of mom's arms for more than a few minutes. She loves holding her. The other day she came to visit after she got off work because Daddy was working late and she didn't let go of her the entire time. In fact, when Brittany's parents came to visit last month, I thought she was going to go into withdrawals because she had to share her."

"She was the same way with the twins." Lisa said. "It was so sweet, and it gave me a little bit of a break."

"I remember." Santana said. She knew her mother loved her grandchildren dearly.

"Can we hold Noelle?" Ally asked excitedly.

"Of course." Brittany said with a warm smile. "She's little, and can be hurt easily, so you guys just have to be really, really careful with her, okay?"

"We will!" Ally and Alex said at the same time.

Once they had the bags loaded, they all piled into Brittany's new SUV that they bought after they got Noelle. They wanted a family friendly car, and since they planned to expand their family in the next few years, they need a bigger vehicle.

"So, Brittany, how is the stay at home mom thing going?" Lisa asked as they were driving home.

"Good." Brittany said with a smile. Since she was driving, she couldn't look back at Lisa while she was talking to her. "It can be challenging somedays, especially since Noelle is starting to become more active and sleeping less during the day, but I'm so glad that we were able to work it out that one of us could be home with her during her younger years. It's not too overwhelming though, because Santana helps with everything when she's home, so it doesn't all fall on me."

When they got home from the North Pole, Santana and Brittany both took eight weeks of maternity leave so they could have time to bond with Noelle. Unfortunately, it wasn't paid, but they were fine financially because Santana had built up her savings while she was single, and after Brittany moved in and was contributing, their savings grew a little quicker. Halfway through their maternity leave, they started looking into childcare options and whether they would use a daycare or a hire a nanny. They were leaning towards a nanny, but after some thought, Brittany broached the subject of leaving her job to stay at home. She thought it made more sense for her to stay home, since Santana made a lot more money as a marketing manager than she did as an administrative assistant, and since Santana loved her job, while she only liked hers, she knew she would feel more fulfilled if she were at home with their child.

Santana wasn't opposed to that idea; in fact, she was relieved that Brittany brought it up. She had thought about one of them staying home as well. She knew they couldn't swing everything financially on what Brittany made alone as they could with her salary, even if they cut back on frivolous spending, and she didn't want to suggest that Brittany leave her job, just in case she didn't want to be a stay at home mother. She didn't want to push that on her, or make her feel pressured, because she knew that although they love their children dearly, not every mother wants to leave her job and some of her independence to stay at home full time. She knew it would definitely be more demanding than her actual job, so if Brittany wanted to continue working; Santana was fine with employing a nanny.

"Well, I envy you." Lisa said. "I wish I could have stayed home longer, but unfortunately, we just couldn't afford it. We had to put the twins in daycare when they were six months old, but it wasn't all bad. They socialized quickly."

"We plan on sending Noelle to daycare maybe once or twice a week for a few hours when she's around nine or ten months." Santana said. "That way she gets some time away from us to be around other kids, and Brittany can have some time to herself as well."

"That's a really good idea." Miguel said. "She'll definitely benefit from that."

"It's taken a few months to adjust to everything, but we're starting to get this parenting thing down." Brittany said with a chuckle.

"I think you're doing a great job." Lisa said. "Maribel skypes a couple of times a week to talk to the twins and she fills us in on you guys. I think she's really impressed with how you two handled everything, especially since you became parents so suddenly. We're impressed too. We had months to prepare for the twins, but you guys didn't have any time at all. You just jumped in with both feet, and did it. She seems like she's such a happy and healthy baby, and it's all because of you two. That's really amazing."

Both Santana and Brittany's cheeks heated up. While they appreciated their family's praise, they had not been expecting it. They just did what they had to do to make sure that Noelle was cared for properly. They weren't perfect by any means. They had some missteps along the way, and they were still learning, but they had figured out a routine and method that worked for them, and at the moment, it was working like a charm.

"Thanks." They said shyly at the same time.

"Can we feed Noelle?" Alex asked a few seconds later when there was finally a lull in the conversation. He had been wanting to ask that since they left the parking garage, but the adults were talking, and he knew not to interrupt.

Santana just chuckled. "Sure, you two can take turns giving her a bottle."

"And can we have a sleepover with her too?" Ally asked.

"Absolutely, maybe we can have two. One at our house and one at Abuela and Abuelo's house." Santana said to the twins delight. She loved that her niece and nephew were taking an interest in Noelle. She hoped that even though there was a seven-year age difference, they would all be friends.

Once they got home, Maribel surprised everyone by promptly handing the baby over to Lisa, while she and Carlo greeted the twins with bear hugs and questions about their trip. Miguel and Lisa took that time to fuss over the baby while the twins spun a long-winded tale about their flight and how cool they thought it was that the pilots let them sit with them for a few minutes. Then after finishing their story, the twins sat in-between their parents on the couch as they took turns holding and talking to Noelle.

While Noelle was a mild mannered baby, and only really cried when she was hungry, wet, or uncomfortable, Santana and Brittany were hoping that meeting all of them at the same time wouldn't be too overwhelming for her. Thankfully, it wasn't at all. She cooed and gurgled as she looked up at all of them as they held her and passed her around. As predicted, Noelle stole everyone's hearts.

After dinner, Santana and Brittany were in the kitchen cleaning up. They insisted that they didn't need any help and that everyone should go into the living room together and watch a movie. Once they were finished with the dishes and wiping the counters, Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana and pulled her close to her. They hadn't had a moment together all day that wasn't consumed by something else, so before they rejoined the family, she wanted a moment alone with her wife.

"Hey." She cooed and gave her a soft kiss on her lips.

Santana sighed contently into the kiss, tightening her hold on Brittany. "Hi." Santana breathed out as she nuzzled her nose with Brittany's.

"How are you feeling?"

"Great. Tired, but mostly I'm feeling really happy. I think today was a total success."

"Yeah, me too. Noelle wasn't stressed at all; in fact I think she loves all the attention they're giving her."

Santana chuckled. "She is. I think we have a little ham on our hands."

"Well you would know all about that."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Your mama told me some stories about you as a kid a few weeks ago. About how you were always singing or dancing, or coming up with some crazy scheme to get them to watch what you were doing. Noelle must get it from you."

Santana couldn't help but to admit that that was true. She was always doing something as a kid. "Probably."

Before they could say anything else, they heard the twins make a noise, and then a moment later, they heard Noelle laugh. Then the twins made another noise, and Noelle laughed again. Curious as to what was going on, they went to see, and as soon as they walked out of the kitchen, they stopped to see the adults watching the twins make funny faces and noises at Noelle who was being propped up into a sitting position in Maribel's lap.

Santana and Brittany couldn't help but to chuckle along with the rest of the adults as they stood at the back of the room, unnoticed, and watched the twins try to make Noelle laugh. Santana wrapped her arm around Brittany's waist and leaned in to her side as Brittany put her arm around her as well.

After a few more moments of watching, Brittany turned her head and kissed Santana on her temple. "This…our family…our life together was totally worth becoming human and leaving the North Pole." She whispered so only Santana could hear. "Thank you for giving me this, Santana."

"Brittany." Santana cooed as she turn to face her. She cupped her cheeks with both hands and kissed her softly on the lips. When they parted, she rested their foreheads together. "We gave this wonderful life to each other Britt, so thank you too."

Brittany nodded a little and kissed Santana one more time, before they took each other's hand and rejoined their family.

-()-()-()-()-

A/N: And we have finally reached the end of this story! I debated on breaking this into two smaller chapters, but I thought it worked better as one. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the continuation of this verse. As I always say, I love hearing from you all, so if you get a chance, please take a moment to send me your thoughts.

burglover421, I took your request from your last review about a lethal diaper situation with Brittany and worked it in, so I hope I didn't disappoint!

To my beta, naynay1963, thank you so much for all your help and support with this fic!

Keep an eye out for more of my writing! I'm hoping to have the next chapter to You Live, You Learn, You Love out in a couple of weeks! And I'm hoping to update my other two ongoing stories in the future as well.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Glee' or any copyrighted material or products that are mentioned in this story.