A New Life

7.

(Brittany's POV)

I know Santana is in work today, I'm praying she has an update on Jax. Apparently he has been in and out of consciousness all night, he told one of the nurses that he wanted me to be there with him. My parents have gone away to The Hamptons for the week, so my choices for child care are slim. Santana's usual babysitter is busy taking her finals today and Maribel is at some yoga resort in the mountains, so there is only one person left to ask...Hector! I pick up my phone, filled with dread at having to ring and ask him, usually there is no issue; but when he hears the reasoning why, I think there might just be one.

"Hector, Hi"

"Hi Brittany, what can I do for you?"

"Are you busy today?"

"Not really, might head out to the golf course and play a few rounds. Why?"

"How would you feel about looking after three little munchkins for me instead?"

"Why me? Where's Santana?"

"Work."

"Maribel?"

"Yoga retreat?"

"Oh shit how could I forget. I really wanted to play golf you know? But I love my grand babies more...have them ready in 10 minutes and I'll pick them up."

The phone goes dead as he hangs up on me. I run upstairs to the kids to make sure they are dressed and pack them a bag of anything they might need. Since the divorce things are generally awkward between Hector and I. I know he finds it extremely hard to talk to me, let alone be in the same room as me since he found out that I cheated on Santana. I can't blame him for feeling like that I guess, Santana is the apple of his eye, he loves her more than anything. She's his baby, but with that comes it's own set of problems, because Santana can do no wrong, she grew this unbearable ego and self awareness that was almost intolerable at times. The Lopez's are a strong, influential family and they certainly do know it. I remember Santana and I would have countless arguments when it came to the kid's attitude, especially Mateo's, Santana's ego and arrogance was starting to rub off onto our eldest.

In no time that dreaded knock on the door can be heard. We do have a doorbell, but Hector insists on knocking the door as loud and as hard as he can. Sometimes I am convinced he does it, so if I cannot hear him he has an excuse to be short and shitty and blame me for making him run late, just so he can get a dig in. "They ready?" He asks, not even a hello. "Uh yeah....KIDS!" I shout up the stairs to my three children letting them know their Grandpa is here. There are a few moments of awkward silence, neither one of us making direct eye contact with the other. "You can come in?" I finally offer, breaking the unbearable silence that was festering. "I think I'll wait right here...thanks." he says with a half hearted smile. "....GUYS YOU READY!?" I scream a little louder up the stairs to my kids. "So why the urgency?" Hector asks me with a curious eye gazing at me. "I umm...I got to go to the hospital." I say with hesitation. "To see Santana?" he asks furrowing his brow. "Not quite.." I am praying Hector will either drop this, or the kids will come running out. "Is your mom or dad sick?" Hector continues to quiz me.

"No, actually it's Jax." I see Hector's eyes harden and his lips set in a thin line. "Jax...you're asking me to have my grand babies so you can go visit your boyfriend? Was it a stripper injury or...?" Hector smirks at himself for getting in that final dig. "He's not a stripper, but no...he tripped and had a couple of nails wedged in his head, Santana removed them but found a brain met-" Hector makes me jump a little as he interrupts me. "-Santana operated!?" he almost sounds disgusted. But there is no time to get into it because the kids are finally ready and downstairs. "Ready for a day with Grandpa!?" I ask all three excited children or nod in agreement. "Who wants ice cream and go to the arcades huh!?" Hector says clapping his hands together. "Umm actually, Mateo is on a screen ban, we are trying to limit all of their screen time." I try to say discreetly to Hector.