Maybe, I know it´s just Maybe

After having been out sick for a few days Santana was glad to be back in her shop even though it meant having to catch up with quite a bit of paperwork (one of the things she liked least about owning a business). She prepared herself a big coffee as Jill tended to the early morning customers, "I´m in the back if you need me," Santana informed her and went into her office, hoping to be done before lunch.

Naturally that didn´t happen.

When she emerged from her office it was already nearing six and besides an old lady and a little girl the shop was empty.

"All done?" Jill inquired, handing her boss another coffee.

"Yeah, finally, how did today go?"

"Good, though I really think you should start looking for someone to help out in the afternoons," the other woman replied as she started to clean up for the day.

Humming in agreement Santana sipped her coffee, "You don´t happen to know her, do you?"

"Know who?"

"The little girl?"

Standing on her toes Jill looked over the coffee machine she was cleaning and frowned, "No, I didn´t even see her there."

The girl in question was sitting at one of the few tables; little legs swinging back and forth as she looked out onto the street.

"Hey, Tiny, are you here alone?" Santana asked crouching down to the girl's level.

The small brunette met Santana´s gaze with wide eyes, but quickly shook her head, "My mom will pick me up soon. She´s in the store buying shoes."

Regarding her for a moment Santana pressed on, "Okay, are you sure?"

She nodded, "yeah."

"Alright, do you maybe want some hot chocolate while you wait?"

"I have no money."

"That´s okay. This is my shop so I make the prices and today hot chocolate just happens to be for free."

"This is all yours?" The kid asked looking around.

"Yep, you know I think the cookies might be for free as well, but I gotta check first. Or will your mommy be mad if you have a cookie before dinner?"

"No," came the quick reply (read lie).

"Perfect, I´m Santana by the way."

"Helena," the little girl said after some hesitation.

"That´s a beautiful name and it´s very nice to meet you. I´ll be right back with your order, Tiny."

.

"Hey Q," Santana greeted her wife as she picked up her phone a few minutes after closing time.

"Hey Cookie, are you on your way home yet?"

"No, I´m just about to head out, you?"

"I´ll be leaving in a bit. Do you mind picking up some take out on the way home?"

"Indian or Chinese?" Santana asked a small frown finding its way onto her face once she noticed that the little girl was still sitting at the table, another cookie (probably courtesy of Jill) in front of her.

"I don´t care, you pick."

"Okay, I´ll see you soon."

"Bye."

Pocketing her phone Santana turned to her co-worker who was just getting ready to leave for the day, "Hey Jill, has her mom been in yet?"

"Uh, no I don´t think so," the other woman replied shrugging on her jacket.

"Can you go check the shoe store down the street? See whether she´s still there?"

"Do I have to? I have a date in twenty minutes."

"Seriously? We got a kid without a parent here, isn´t that kind of the bigger issue at the moment?"

Jill sighed but agreed with her boss, "Of course. I´ll be right back."

Walking over to Helena Santana took a seat at the table, "so how did you like your hot chocolate?"

"It was really yummy," she answered with a smile.

"And the cookie?"

"That too."

"And the second cookie?" Santana asked with a smirk.

Instead of replying Helena just blushed a bit and smiled timidly at Santana, little fingers still wrapped around the rest of the treat. They sat in silence for a while Helena nibbling on her second cookie and Santana looking out on the street.

Fifteen minutes later Jill came back alone, "I checked every story on the block but no one was missing a kid."

"Okay," Santana turned her attention back to Helena, "Sweetie where did you say your mommy was?"

"Shoe store."

"Are you sure? Because my friend Jill couldn´t find your mommy in the shoe store."

At that the child only shrugged.

"What about your daddy?" Jill asked, her concern increasing along with Santana´s.

"No daddy."

"You mean you don´t have a daddy?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, don´t worry alright? We will find her."

Jill followed Santana back to the office but stopped in the doorway to still keep an eye on the kid, "Are we calling the police?"

"Yeah, I don´t know what else to do," Santana replied grabbing one of the plush coffee beans with the stores logo on it she sometimes gave away for advertising.

A few minutes later Santana had just hung up with the police when her phone went off again, "Hey, I-"

"Have you gotten dinner yet? `Cause I´m really craving Chinese now, so maybe you could stop at the China house? Please?!" Quinn asked.

"Actually I´m still in the shop. There´s a bit of a situation here," Santana replied vaguely.

"What kind of situation? Did someone have a coffee overdose?"

"No, it´s like a kid-sized situation. A little girl lost her mom and now we´re waiting for the police to show up and help us figure this out," Santana explained her eyes still on Helena who was looking pretty unimpressed by Jill´s attempts at entertaining her.

"Oh, okay. Well, I´ll be picking up dinner then, do you want your usual?"

"Yes, I´ll try to be home soon."

.

The social worker that entered the shop another twenty minutes later with two police officers in tow didn´t look too happy with little Helena, who was coloring the house of the stick figures that Santana had drawn for her.

"Hello, you must be Misses Lopez," the slightly older man greeted her, "My name is Stephen Michaels, I´m the social worker responsible for little Miss Helena."

"Hi, nice to meet you. I´m glad you got here so soon," Santana said shaking his hand, her eyes on the ID card he showed her.

"We´ve been pretty worried about her. It´s not the first time she´s run away," he explained quietly, "but it´s always quite nerve-wracking, if you know what I mean."

"I can guess."

Turning his attention to the little troublemaker, he spoke to her, "Helena, are you ready to go back home?"

She looked up at him with a pout, "Don´t wanna!"

"Helena we talked about this," he said kneeling down next to her, "I promise I will find you a real home soon, but till then you´ll have to stay with Miss Maxwell and the other kids. You like some of them, don´t you?"

A petulant hmpfh was the only reaction he got.

"Why don´t you say thank you to the nice lady so we can go?"

Trudging up to her Helena came to a halt in front of Santana holding the stuffed coffee bean out for her to take.

"I thought maybe you´d like to keep it?" Santana asked kneeling down.

The little girl just shrugged her shoulders but hugged the stuffed toy to her chest.

"I think you should keep it, I´m way too old for toys anyways," Santana continued with a wink.

Helena didn´t say thank you, but she gave her a soft smile and threw her arms around Santana´s neck, squishing the toy between them.

"Okay, it was really nice to meet you and maybe we´ll see each other again sometimes."

"Let´s hope not," Mister Michaels said with a soft smile, "but if she does happen to come back here please give me a call," he handed her a card and held out his hand for Helena to take.

"Since you´ve missed dinner maybe we can grab some fries on the way home, but only if you don´t tell the other kids," he conversed with Helena, before he turned around a last time, "Goodbye Misses Lopez."

"Bye."

With a sigh Santana watched them go, waving when the little girl turned back around before stepping through the door.

"Sounds like you´ve had quite the interesting day," Quinn remarked later after Santana had told her about her day over dinner, "but I can´t believe you googled how to entertain kids."

"Well, my first search was how to entertain kids in a coffee shop, but that didn´t help all that much and I didn´t know whether kids these days still like the same things we did, so I wanted to make sure."

"You´re such a big softie," Quinn noted with a grin as she wrapped an arm around Santana´s shoulders and dropped a kiss to her forehead

.

"Helena came by again today," Santana reported a few weeks later as they got ready for bed.

"That´s like what, the third time?" Quinn asked the book she was reading forgotten for the moment.

"Fourth," her wife corrected her, "We might have gotten some ice cream while we waited for Mister Michaels to come pick her up…" Santana added after a moment.

"Cookie, you´re just encouraging her to run away and see you if you do that," Quinn remarked as she watched her wife get into bed with her.

Santana fell back against the cushions, "I know, but kids love ice cream and she was so happy," she argued.

"Not to mention that you like ice cream as well."

"I only had one scoop!" Santana exclaimed, but catching the look her wife was sending her, she quietly added, "okay, maybe I had three, whatever, so not the point."

"What is the point then?"

"I don´t know, I´ve been thinking that… maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Quinn pressed when Santana fell silent.

Looking up at her wife Santana shrugged and shook her head, "Nothing, forget it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"We can talk about anything, you know that, right?"

"I know."

.

"So, Helena, a small brunette, kind of scrawny and carrying around a stuffed coffee bean?" Quinn was leaning against the counter sipping her espresso and waiting for Santana to finish whatever she was doing so that they could go for lunch. It had been a few weeks since Santana had last talked about the little girl so Quinn had figured her visits had stopped. Obviously that wasn´t the case.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Santana asked looking up from the order she´d been reading.

Motioning to the entrance of the shop Quinn replied, "Because she just walked in."

"Hey Tiny, what are you doing here?" Santana asked walking over to Helena, giving her a high-five to welcome her. They talked for a moment before they walked over to Quinn.

"Who´s you?" The little girl came to a stop in front of her and looked at her with an adorable frown on her face.

"I´m Quinn."

"How´s that spelled?"

"Q-U-I-N-N."

It took a moment but then Helena nodded her head and held up her hand for a high-five (her equivalent of a hand-shake), "I´m Helena, but I can´t spell."

"So, I think we talked about running away and coming here already, didn´t we?" Santana asked once introductions had been made.

"Can I have a cookie?" Helena asked ignoring Santana´s question again.

"I don´t know, have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No."

"Well, how about we eat some real lunch first? You can have a cookie after," Santana suggested.

"I could go grab something from the place across the street," Quinn offered, spontaneously adjusting their lunch plans.

"Sure."

"Alright, I´ll be right back," with a kiss for Santana and a wink for Helena Quinn was out the door.

"Is she your husband?" Helena asked as she moved to sit at one of the empty tables.

Laughing Santana joined her, "No, she´s my wife."

"Is she nice?"

"Very, she´s very, very nice."

"And she´s pretty."

"She is, right?"

An enthusiastic head nod was Helena´s answer.

"So, what have you been up to since I saw you last? Did you have another fight with Jackson?"

Lunch went by quickly once Quinn came back and Helena started to ask her all kinds of questions. Question number one being why she had a boy's name or why the boy-Quinn she went to pre-school with had a girl's name.

"Okay, I´ll go call Mister Michaels again," Santana said once they had all finished their meals. She watched Quinn and Helena interact while she called the social worker from her office and she couldn´t help but smile at the two of them.

"He´ll be here in a few minutes, he was already on his way over," Santana explained when she joined them again.

"Misses Lopez, good to see you again," Stephen Michaels said as he entered the coffee shop a little while later.

Shaking his hand Santana quickly introduced her better half, "This is my wife Quinn, Q, this is Stephen Michaels, Helena´s social worker. I told you about him."

"Hello, nice to meet you."

"You, too," Quinn replied with a smile, "I´m afraid I can´t stay longer," she continued apologetically, "but I have to get back to the office."

"I´m sure we´ll run into each other again," the social worker said with a smile.

Before she left Quinn turned her attention to the little girl still sitting at the table, "It was very nice to meet you Helena", she told their guest, who raised her hand for goodbye high-five.

"Do you happen to have a moment for me Misses Lopez?" Mister Michaels asked once Quinn had left them alone.

"Uh, sure, would you like some coffee? On the house of course?"

"That would be wonderful", the social worker said as he took a seat at an empty table a little away from Helena.

"There you go," a few moments later Santana placed two cups of coffee on the table and joined him, "so, what did you want to talk about?"

Taking a breath he began talking, "Let me get straight to the point: I stumbled upon your name in our Foster Care database and noticed that you and your wife are registered as Foster Parents."

"Uhm, yeah, that´s correct."

They´d gotten the paperwork done after Beth had shown up at their house, so that in case anything ever happened to Shelby, they would be able to take her in, and when little Oscar was born it was all the more reason to stick with it.

"As you might have noticed Helena has started to form a bond with you," he explained, "whenever she runs away she always comes here and she won´t talk about anything else for days after."

"I see," Santana acknowledged hesitantly.

"So, if you´d be willing I think it would be good for Helena to stay with you until I find a permanent home for her. I know it´s a big commitment and I´d understand completely if you say no, but I need to ask you. I really care about these kids and I´m trying to find the best solution for Helena here," he explained patiently.

Santana´s gaze wandered to Helena, who still sat at the table in the corner, clutching Beanie the stuffed coffee bean close to her chest as she drew a picture.

"Misses Lopez?"

"I´ll have to talk about this with my wife first," Santana said turning her attention back to the man sitting across from her.

"Of course, of course, maybe Helena and I could come by your house sometime next week and we could talk about this some more? Would that be alright with you and your wife?"

"Yeah, that should be fine."

"Okay, so I will call you in the next few days to set up a date for our visit and if you or your wife have any questions beforehand don´t hesitate to call me."

"Alright."

They continued to talk for a few minutes; Santana asking some questions and Mister Michaels patiently answering them.

"This is for you and your lady-husband," Helena said handing Santana her drawing when it was time to say goodbye.

.

"… and after you left Mister Michaels asked about the possibility of us taking Helena in until he finds a permanent home for her. He knows we´re registered as Foster parents and seeing as she keeps coming back he thought that it might be the best for her and solve the problem of her running away all the time," Santana told Quinn later that night while they stood in the kitchen and Quinn went through their mail.

"Okay…"

"I told him I would talk to you about it."

"Okay, can we do this after dinner?" Quinn asked dropping her purse to the floor and kicking off her heels.

"Sure," Santana replied accepting Quinn´s kiss with a smile.

Once the dishes were done half an hour later Quinn grabbed a bottle of wine and took it with her to the living room.

"So, do you want to do it?" she asked as she sat down next to Santana, who was zapping through the channels.

"Take Helena in?"

"Yes."

"I don´t know, I mean, that´s a decision we should make together," Santana acknowledged taking her eyes of the TV.

"But you want to do it, right?"

"I guess. I mean honestly I´m a bit worried there might happen something to her on the way to the shop every time she runs away and maybe she would stop running away if she stayed with us…"

"I only met her once today, so, give me some time to think about it?"

"Of course," Santana readily agreed, "he suggested to come by with her one day next week to talk about it some more, so maybe you could get to know her little better then and we could make a decision afterwards?"

"Sounds good, Cookie."

.

"But I thought you guys said you didn´t want kids?" Tina asked after Quinn told her about it over coffee two days later.

Half her attention on Oscar who was sitting in her lap trying to grab the rest of her muffin, Quinn replied, "I know, but it´s not like it would be permanent and Santana seems to really want to do it."

"Yeah, but you know, if you´re not behind this one hundred percent this isn´t going to work."

"I´m aware, which is why I take the time to think about it," Quinn said bouncing Oscar on her knees, "I mean it´s not like I never wanted kids. It´s just after we decided not to have any I kinda accepted that and now I need to warm up to the idea again."

"I mean I think it would be great. Look at how good you both are with Oscar so it´s not like you´re going to be bad at it or anything."

"But we only spend a few hours every week with him. Helena would be living with us and you know how self-involved we can be."

They both knew it was a valid argument.

.

"Do you want me to give you the tour?" Santana asked once she´d helped Helena out of her jacket.

It was Wednesday a week later and both Quinn and Santana had come home early for their meeting with Helena and the social worker.

While Santana showed Helena the house, including her potential bedroom and the garden, Quinn talked to Mister Michaels about the formalities.

"Would you like some fruit tea, Helena?" Quinn inquired when Santana and Helena came back in.

"Yes, please."

"Another coffee for you?" She addressed the social worker.

"Yes, thank you."

All in all the visit didn´t take longer than an hour and when they said their goodbyes and Helena gave both of them a big hug Quinn already knew what their decision would be.

.

A while later, a week before Helena was scheduled to move in they made a shopping trip to buy all things necessary to make their home a bit more child-friendly.

"There are so many pretty things in pink," Tina gushed as they walked into the store.

"Okay, so I made a list of things we definitely need," Quinn said pulling out a piece of paper, "a bed, some towels, crayolas or something to draw and paint with, some deco items, kid cutlery and dishes, children´s books-"

"I already asked my mom to send us some of my old children´s books, so we don´t need to buy those," Santana interrupted her as she grabbed a shopping cart.

"You already told your mom about this?"

"Obviously, she gave me some pointers, you didn´t tell Judy?"

"Well, not yet, I wanted to wait till Helena had moved in," Quinn replied falling into step with Santana.

"Guys look at this," Tina held up a hideous pink princess dress.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

"Do you really think she needs a 200 piece art case?"

"What if she turns out to be an artist?" Quinn retorted already putting the case in their shopping card.

"Kids are freaking expensive," Santana said as she handed over her credit card at the end of a three hour shopping marathon.

.

In the parking lot Santana watched Tina and Quinn try their best to fit all their purchases in the trunk, while she provided a running commentary for Oscar who was still in her arms watching his mom and auntie curiously.

Once he got bored of the action at the car he turned his attention back to Santana who made a face at him from behind her sunglasses. He hid his grin behind his hands but then quickly reached for her eye wear.

"Oh no buddy, those are Gucci and not made for grabby little fingers," she pulled his hat over his eyes for a moment to distract him and greeted him with a booh once he had pushed it back up. He giggled in delight and Quinn stopped what she was doing to watch them for a moment.

"A little help, Quinn?" Tina demanded snapping her fingers.

"Yeah, sorry."

Meanwhile Oscar´s attention had shifted elsewhere, "I know they´re awesome, but only auntie Quinn´s allowed to touch them," Santana said taking his little grabby hand off her boob.

.

The next morning at eleven am sharp they opened the door to Mister Michaels and Helena standing there with a couple of boxes and two suitcases, one of them small enough for Helena to carry on her own.

"Hey, welcome back," Santana greeted them with a smile, "Come in."

She high fived Helena as she entered the house and shook hands with the social worker before she stepped outside to grab one of the boxes. Inside she could hear Quinn welcoming the other two.

"Okay, this will be your room while you stay with us," Santana explained, dropping the box she´d been carrying on the bed.

"We hope you like it," Quinn added coming to stand next to her wife.

"Isn´t this pretty Helena?" the social worker asked putting her bigger suitcase in front of the closet.

"And I´m the only one sleeping here?" The girl wondered touching the comforter on her new safari bed and eyes lighting up when she noticed the lion guarding the big pillow.

"Yes, well, you and Beanie," Santana replied, "and maybe occasionally Coffee Bean our cat if you don´t mind."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Quinn confirmed with a smile, "You wanna check if it´s comfy?"

Instead of answering Helena climbed onto the bed, turned left, then right, bounced three times and decided that yes, it was very comfy, thank you very much.

.

"So what do you say: mac and cheese for lunch?" Quinn asked once the social worker had left and it was only the three of them.

"Yes!"

Smiling at her wife Quinn turned to their new household addition, "Would you like that too, Helena?"

"Yes…please."

"Okay, would you like to help me make it?" They walked back into the kitchen with Santana slowly following behind them.

.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Quinn whispered as she came to stand behind her wife in the doorway to the former guest room.

"Just checking in on her, I wanted to make sure her first night here is okay," Santana replied quietly.

For a moment they both watch Helena sleep peacefully in her new bed, the pillow discarded and her head resting on Beanie instead. Coffee Bean came strolling in, rubbing against their legs before she jumped on the bed and got comfortable in a corner.

"I guess that´s our cue," Quinn whispered against Santana´s ear giving her waist a squeeze.

They carefully closed the door and sneaked to their bedroom fingers loosely intertwined.

The next day would be the beginning of a new adventure in their lives.

And honestly, they couldn´t wait.

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I´ll admit it´s mostly a filler chapter to introduce Helena. I have a short christmas chapter in the works which I´ll post on my tumblr (link should be on my author´s page). Yeah, and thank you guys a lot for still sticking around. :)