A New Life

34.

(Santana's POV)

(One Week Later...)

"Buddy you ready? Mom will be here any minute." I knock on my Son's door to see how far along he is in the getting ready process. "Yeah!" he calls back as he opens the door with a smile on his face. "You good?" I nod at him. "I think so" he exhales. "You'll be fine, I promise. I will be here okay?" I kiss my son on the top of his head. "Ew Mami, stop it!" he says wiping his hair with his hands. "What?" I chuckle. "That's embarrassing!" Oh god...My son is officially at that age isn't he where he no longer wants to show me any affection, I don't think my heart is ready for this. "Shall we go make some drinks up ready?" I say, trying to ignore the fact my heart has just broken. "okay" he shrugs his shoulders and leads the way to the kitchen.

"Do you think Mom still likes lemonade?" Mateo asks me as he looks inside the fridge. "I'd say so bud." he nods and grabs some fresh lemons from the fridge. "I'll get the soda stream." I open one of the cupboards to the kitchen island and pull out Grace's soda stream. "You got the sugar?" I remind my son as he grabs the caddy. I watch my son extract the juice from the lemons for him to make his Mom home-made lemonade. "Mami, can you get the ice please?" My son asks, so I do just that. I scoop some ice into a couple of tall glasses and mix all three of our ingredients together to make the lemonade. "Can I pour?" Mateo asks me. "Okay, but be careful. Two hands." I warn him. I watch as he concentrates with all his might to not spill the liquid all over the counter tops. "Is that enough?" My son asks, the glass is only half full. "She might be thirsty after that bit, pour some more." Mateo does just that. 

We suddenly hear our doorbell ringing and Mateo whips his head straight in my direction, a little worry creeping on his face. "It's okay, you're okay. Come on." I hold out my hand to my son who takes it in his own as we walk to the front door. I open the door to greet Britt and Ella. Jax has some meeting with the social services lady and the other two kids are with Jax's sister. I would have loved to have seen them again, but Mateo and Brittany need this time together. "Hey guys!" Britt whispers but she has the biggest beaming smile on her face at the sight of Mateo. If I know my ex-wife the way I do, I would say she isn't far off bursting into tears. She gets this vein in her forehead when she is about to cry, but I can tell she is trying to suppress it. "Why the whisper?" I whisper back. "Sleeping baby." she says pointing down to the carrier strapped to her chest. "Oh my god hey bud! Look how big you're getting!" Britt kneels down a little so she is roughly the same height as our ever growing boy. "Hi Mom." I can see Mateo wants to cry to, I can see it in his eyes that he is just desperate to hug Britt.

"Here, let me take her." I voluntarily unlatch the baby carrier from Britt's front and take Ella from her. Almost instantly Mateo has latched onto Brittany, clinging onto her for dear life, they are both now crying. "You two carry on okay, Mateo get the lemonade you made Mom." I stand aside to let Brittany in, her Mateo wander off and I trail just behind. 

(Brittany's POV)

"I made you some fresh lemonade!" Mateo says mighty proud of himself and handing me one of the tall glasses. "Amazing! This is still my favourite drink!" I say, making my son smile more. "Wanna see my room?" Mateo asks me, he seems so excited. "I'd love to!" I follow my son out of the kitchen. "Are you okay with her?" I ask Santana. "Of course." she smiles and walks off into another room. I basically have to sprint to keep up with Mateo. We walk into his room and I can tell a small fortune has been spent on this room. A king size bed, a huge TV a whole gamer set up with this PS5 and his MacBook and what not. A little materialistic to what I used to ever allow, but I am in no position to judge or comment. "Wow dude, do you ever leave this room?" I chuckle. "Sometimes." he shrugs. "Look what Grace got me!" he points to a framed soccer jersey on the wall that has a bunch of signatures on it. "What's that?" I ask taking an interest. "It's a Manchester United jersey. One of the men Grace's works with, his grandson plays for their academy and he got all the pro players to sign it for me!" Mateo is finding it hard to contain his excitement. "You a soccer fan now then huh? Ditched the good old American Football?" I say pretending to be sad. "Maybe..." Mateo chuckles. "Don't tell Abeulo Lopez!" Mateo laughs and shakes his head. "I won't Mom!"