When Blaine’s dad tells him that he’s met a very nice lady, and he’d really like for Blaine to meet her and her daughter, Blaine isn’t as confused about the situation as his father seems to think he is.

He knows what this means. His best friend – only friend, really – Quinn had told him that her Uncle Dan and her Aunt Marcie had gotten a divorce and then her Aunt Marcie got remarried. Quinn’s cousin George had told her that his mom had told him about a “nice man that George would like” before she married his stepdad.

Blaine isn’t confused, or sad, or mad, really.

In fact, he’s happy. He’s never really had a mom; his left when he was barely even four and all he really remembers is her long hair and blue eyes and how she never smiled. Plus, his dad has been sad for a while, but ever since he’s been dating – Blaine learned that word from Quinn too, who learned it from her older sister, Olivia – his dad has been so much happier.

The only thing he’s really worried about is meeting the lady’s daughter – “Ms. Lopez. And her daughter’s name is Santana; she’s around your age, Blaine” – because from his experience, meeting new people doesn’t really work in his favor.

But he’s hopeful.

(He lays out his best clothes and favorite bow tie to make a good impression the night before the meet up, just to be sure.)

On the day that Maribel and Santana are supposed to meet Charles and Blaine at the park, Charles calls her and asks if she can drive to Blaine’s school instead, says he’s running late, there was a problem at Blaine’s school and he’s so sorry.

Maribel doesn’t mind; it gives her more time to prepare Santana. Ever since the divorce three years ago, Santana hasn’t changed much, but the prospect of a new family – well, Maribel isn’t sure how Santana will take it.

She pulls into the elementary school’s parking lot ten minutes after receiving Charles’ call; Santana has been mostly quiet, but sometimes that could be a good thing - Maribel is never quite sure with her daughter unless she can look her in the eye.

They walk toward the entrance hand in hand, and just as they’re about to enter the doors, Charles comes out with a little boy. Blaine’s hair is bit mussed, his bow tie is ripped and there is a spot of blood on his untucked white shirt. Blaine keeps his head down, but Maribel can see him gripping Charles’ hand tightly.

Charles smiles, relieved, when he sees Maribel and she can’t help but return it. When she looks down at Santana however, she frowns; Santana has her arms crossed, her brows scrunched in a glare – a glare she’s directed at Blaine.

Maribel says cautiously, “Santana, this is Mr. Anderson, and this is his son, Blaine. Can you say hi, mija?”

Santana sighs and walks up to Charles. She sticks out her right hand, her left on her hip and Maribel has to refrain from rolling her eyes at her daughter.

“Hello. I’m Santana Lopez; it’s nice to meet you.”

Charles shakes her hand and offers her a smile. “It’s nice to meet you too, Santana. Your mom has told me so much about you.”

Santana smiles at that, but then she seems to catch herself and frowns again, moving toward Blaine, who has yet to look up.

“Are you one of those boys who likes to beat people up? ‘Cause if you are, I’m letting you know that I’ll kick your butt if you even try to pull my hair.”

Blaine flinches back, looking up at his father. Santana glares at him while she waits for him to answer.

“No.”

Santana raises an eyebrow, tapping her foot, waiting for more.

“Billy Docker pushed me down and ripped my bow tie and wouldn’t let me get back up.”

Maribel is glad when Santana finally stops her little act. She uncrosses her arms and stops tapping her foot.

“Oh. Well why didn’t you tell the teacher then?”

Blaine sighs and Maribel shares a look with Charles; he shakes his head and she frowns.

“I did. Billy told Miss Falcher I tripped and Billy’s friend Marcus said that I was lying and Billy was telling the truth so I have to stay in tomorrow during recess for lying. But I wasn’t lying! Daddy you believe me right?”

Charles sighs and kneels down in front of Blaine. He runs his hand over Blaine’s hair as he talks gently.

“Of course I believe you, Lion. You’ve never lied before and I don’t think you ever will. We’ll just keep trying okay son?”

Blaine nods, biting his lip, and then wincing when he remembers the cut there. He takes a deep breath and straightens his shoulders. He smiles shyly at Santana and Maribel, and then sticks his hand out for Santana to shake.

“I’m Blaine.”

Santana shakes it, and then giggles, covering her mouth.

“I know!”

Maribel shakes Blaine’s hand next, trying to suppress her laughter at Blaine’s politeness – “Hello, Miss Lopez it is a pleasure to meet you, I’m Blaine” – and then cups Blaine’s cheek gently, clicking her tongue and muttering in Spanish.

“I think ice cream is in order, huh, Blaine? Santana tells me it makes all her ouchies feel better. What do you say?”

Blaine’s eyes light up and he nods, “Yes, please, Miss Lopez.”

Maribel and Charles lead Blaine and Santana into the living room; Maribel flicks on the TV and hands the remote to Charles while she passes out snacks to Blaine and Santana. Charles flicks through channels while Santana watches him, Blaine sitting quietly next to her, sipping on his apple juice.

Finally, Charles grins and settles on a channel; Santana finally switches her gaze to the TV when she hears Uncle Jessie’s voice.

Charles clears his throat a bit, and then speaks to Santana in a quiet voice. “You can call me Charles if you want, Santana. Or Mr. Anderson, that’s fine, whatever you like, really.”

Santana regards him with a stoic face; he looks back with a small smile, his wire frame glasses slipping down his nose. Maribel’s hand grips the armrest of the couch as she waits for her daughter’s response.

“Okay, Charlie.”

Maribel releases a breath, looks at Charles with a laugh; his shoulders sag in relief, and his eyes are bright with happiness.

They leave the two children watching Full House as they head into the dining room to discuss how to proceed with their relationship now that their children are officially involved.

Charles can hear Santana talking to Blaine loudly, can hear Blaine’s shy responses and he shares a smile with Maribel, thinking that maybe, just maybe, things might work out okay.

It doesn’t take long for Santana to warm up to Blaine. He’s a bit quiet and shy, but whenever she starts singing along to the radio, he joins in happily. Plus, when she gives him a look when she puts on Power Rangers, daring him to say something about it, he merely shrugs and asks her who her favorite is.

He doesn’t tease her about how much she loves soccer or her obsession with Uncle Jessie, or anything like the other boys at her school do. He’s really nice and even lets Santana do his hair and paint his nails.

Santana just wishes Blaine would speak up to his dad about the cuts and bruises she finds on his legs and arms. But whenever she mentions it, Blaine just avoids her gaze and tells her: “My daddy was really sad when my mother left and now that he goes on those date things with your mommy he’s happy again. But when I tell him the boys at school push me and stuff, his eyes look all sad like when mother left. I don’t want him to be sad anymore.”

Its five months after Santana met Charlie and Blaine that she finally meets the elusive Cooper, who is Blaine’s older brother that lives in California. He comes on a Friday with too bright a smile, a loud voice, and lots of pointing. Santana thinks he’s just a little bit – okay, a lot – ridiculous, but this is Blaine’s brother, so she’ll play nice.

Besides, if things keep going as well as they have, Santana figures Cooper and Blaine will be her brothers, and well, her mom always tells her family is the most important thing in the entire universe.

Cooper messes with Blaine’s hair as soon as he sees him – and doesn’t Cooper know that Blaine hates that? – and then proceeds to introduce himself to Maribel and Santana with what Santana thinks is supposed to be something called charm that her mom always talks about.

Blaine sits in the corner on the piano bench as Cooper tells Charlie and her mom all about his acting career in California and how warm and amazing it is. Santana wants to roll her eyes, but she’s minding her manners tonight, so instead she nods at whatever Cooper is talking about now and then looks over to where Blaine is.

He’s staring at his knees, twiddling his thumbs, and his feet are dangling in the air. Santana decides it would be rude of her to sit and pretend to listen to Cooper, so she heads over to Blaine. She bumps his shoulder with hers when she sits down next to him and he smiles.

“Play a song, Blaine.”

Blaine shakes his head, staring at Cooper out of the corner of his eye. Santana frowns, grabs Blaine’s hands and sets them on the piano keys lightly. Blaine pulls his hands away.

“Why won’t you play?”

“Because then Cooper will come over and tell me how I’m not doing it right.”

Santana’s frown deepens; she grabs Blaine’s hands and links theirs together, making sure to keep Blaine’s eyes on hers.

“That’s stupid. You’re the best piano player ever. You shouldn’t listen to Cooper, everything he says is dumb – I mean, oh I’m sorry – “

“You think he’s dumb?”

“Um. No. I mean – yes? I’m really sorry!”

“Why are you sorry?”

Santana shrugs, idly playing with Blaine’s fingers.

“Well, because we’re like family. And when our parents get married you and Cooper will be my brothers and mommy always tells me you should be the nicest to family.”

“You really think our parents will get married?”

She looks at Blaine, his hopeful eyes staring at hers and smiles.

“Yeah, I do. And then you’ll really be my brother!”

Blaine smiles back, and then narrows his eyes and bites his lip.

“Hey, San? Do you think that maybe…never mind.”

“What?”

He sighs, lowers his eyes and kicks his feet.

“If – if our parents get married, then that means your mommy will be my mommy too, right? Would…I mean, would it be okay if she was my mommy?”

Santana scrunches her nose as she thinks.

“Well, yeah, I guess. I think my mommy would like it if you called her mommy.”

Blaine looks up, surprised, his eyes shining and a small smile on his face.

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course, silly.”

“I’ve never had a mommy before. Are mommies fun?”

Santana grins, nods at Blaine and almost laughs at his excited face. Santana tugs at Blaine’s hand and they hop off the piano bench.

“Come on, let’s go watch some cartoons. Cooper’s boring.”

Blaine giggles as Santana leads him up the stairs. She hopes he really does become her brother – and okay, fine, Cooper too, even if he is kind of annoying.

Three months later – and really, Santana is pretty sure she has some future telling super power, or something - their parents tell them they can each invite one friend to the wedding. Santana, naturally, invites her best friend in the entire world, Brittany. She’s a little worried about Blaine though. From what she can tell, he doesn’t have any friends.

She tells Brittany all this when they have a slumber party, and Brittany tells her if she wants, she’ll be Blaine’s friend too.

Santana smiles at that; her best friend is the sweetest, most perfect girl, ever.

On the day of the wedding, Blaine walks up to Santana holding the hand of a little girl wearing glasses. Her cheeks are chubby and her hair is brushed messily into a ponytail. Blaine is smiling though, so Santana tells herself to be nice.

Blaine introduces Santana to Lucy – “But she likes to be called Quinn” – and then asks who Santana brought. When Santana sees Brittany arrive with her parents she waves them over. Brittany immediately hugs Blaine tightly and tells him that while she doesn’t like his hair, she really likes his bow tie, and will they please be friends?

Santana is surprised to find out that she has a lot in common with Quinn. Quinn is sort of shy, like Blaine, but she also likes dance and Power Rangers – and she even has a Gameboy. She also understands the love Santana has for Uncle Jessie, so Santana decides that Quinn can be her friend.

Later, once all the boring stuff is over – even though Santana has to admit that her mom’s pretty dress was totally worth being bored to death – they all dance in a circle on the dance floor until they fall they to the floor from exhaustion.

Also, Santana is pretty sure that her mom almost started crying when Blaine introduced her to Quinn as his mommy.

She almost falls asleep on Brittany that night as they watch her parents dance, but then Blaine is there, and she decides he’s a much better pillow. He doesn’t seem to mind, though, which is nice.

She falls asleep quickly, and doesn’t even wake up when Charlie picks her up. At home – their new house, where she has her own room and Charlie even let her paint it purple – Charlie tucks her in and gives her a kiss goodnight.

“Love you,” he says.

She snuggles deeper and clings to her stuffed rabbit tightly.

“Love you too, daddy.”