Home Is Where the Heart Is (Brittana)

Chapter 44

Brittany's POV

The entire drive to Lima, I was stressing about my dad being in the hospital. My mom had said he'd had high blood pressure and the doctors wanted to keep him for observation. I knew it likely wasn't very serious, but there was no way I could have stayed in Columbus with him in the hospital.

We arrived at my parents' house at around 7 o'clock where Jessica, my sister, was waiting to let us in. We carried our bags inside.

"How is he?" I asked my sister.

"Doing quite a bit better," she replied. "They're keeping him overnight."

I nodded. Santana and I had decided that my sister and I would go visit my father and she would stay back with Everly. So, I kissed Santana goodbye and got in my sister's car to drive to the hospital.

---

It was hard to see my dad in a hospital bed with his heartbeat being monitored.

"You didn't need to come all the way here," he told me. "I'll be okay."

"I know, but I still had to come," I replied, grabbing his hand.

The doctor told us that as long as nothing changed over night, he'd get to come home in the morning.

My mom was intent on staying in the hospital with him throughout the night, but the rest of us weren't allowed to stay once visiting hours were over, so we had to leave shortly after arriving.

Everly was already sleeping on a makeshift bed on my childhood bedroom floor, Bubbles in her arm with her favorite blanket draped over her body.

"She wanted to wait up for you," Santana whispered when I made it to the room.

I smiled looking down at her. "We should probably sleep too," I said.

"How is he?"

"He'll be alright," I replied, hoping that he would be healthy for a long time to come.

I couldn't manage to fall asleep, even once Santana had, holding me next to her on the bed. My thoughts didn't stop racing, hoping my father would be okay, hoping that Santana's pregnancy would go well, and everything else my brain could come up with. I must have only gotten two or so hours of sleep, and by the time I'd woken up at five o'clock in the morning, I heard Jessica was up.

I slipped out from Santana's arms and left my bedroom to find Jessica in the kitchen.

"How are you?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she replied. "I know they say he'll be okay, but I don't like seeing him like that, in the hospital."

I sat in the chair beside her. "Me too."

We mostly sat in silence, occasionally saying a word or two, until just after six o'clock when Santana came into the kitchen.

"Is Evie still sleeping?" I asked her.

Santana nodded. "I didn't think I should wake her. Maybe I could make some breakfast?"

"I can help," Jessica said, standing up.

I made my way back to the bedroom to check on Everly, noticing her starting to stir.

"Mama, there you are," she said, her voice hoarse when she woke up.

"Good morning, E."

"Where's Mami?" she asked.

"She's making breakfast. Do you want to get dressed first?"

She nodded, and I helped her change into a tie-dye sundress that she adored before we made our way to the kitchen.

The four of us ate the pancakes Jessica and Santana had made slowly. I jumped when Jessica's phone rang while we were still eating.

"Hello," she answered before leaving the room.

When she returned, she was smiling. "Everything's okay. They're coming home now."

I breath I didn't know I was holding left my body. "That's great."

"Will I get to see Grandma and Grandpa?" Everly asked.

"Yes," I replied. "They'll be very tired, though, so I don't think they'll be able to play with you."

When my parents made it back to the house, all of us gave them hugs, even Santana, and then we sat down in the living room to talk for a while.

"How long are you able to stay?" my mom asked us after we'd been sitting down for a while and Everly had gone to my bedroom to get her doll.

"Not long," I replied. "We have a doctor's appointment in two days." Immediately I bit my tongue; that had just slipped out.

I looked up to meet Santana's eyes, and she was panicking. I tried to show her with my own eyes that I hadn't meant to tell my parents that, but it was too late.

"What do you have a doctor's appointment for?" my mom asked.

Santana let out a deep breath. "We weren't going to tell you yet," she said, a slight bite in her tone of voice before calming it down, "but I'm pregnant." She nearly whispered the last word, but I was proud of her for saying it. "We're not very far along, so we'd really prefer if you didn't say anything to anyone."

"Okay, we won't tell," my dad said, but both my parents were trying to hide such huge grins, I didn't know how long they'd be able to keep our secret.

---

While getting ready for bed later that day, Santana and I were finally alone again, since my mom helping Everly with her bath.

"I'm so sorry for saying that, Santana," I said.

"I know," she replied, not really looking at me. "At first I thought you'd done it on purpose, but I can see you didn't mean to. And it's okay; telling them was not as scary as I'd thought, but I guess that means we also need to tell my parents now."

"How do you want to do that?" I asked.

"I was thinking we could maybe stop by their place tomorrow morning before heading back to Columbus."

"Okay, we can totally do that."

---

Telling Santana's parents about the pregnancy was very nerve wracking for her. We left Everly back at my parents' house, since we weren't prepared to tell her yet. Her parents were both excited, but I knew their excitement was a lot quieter than my parents.

"Who all knows?" her mother asked.

"Just you two and Brittany's family, and a few of my co-workers," Santana replied. "We're not very far along, so we don't want to tell a lot of people."

"Okay, we won't tell anyone. But I can't wait to call Susan and talk to her about this." Santana and I both found it funny that our mothers got along so well, especially since they were so different and had hardly even talked to each other when we were in high school.

After leaving Santana's parents' house, we made our way back to pick up Everly before getting in the car to head back to Columbus.