#daniberry

*

Glass from the doors was strewn about. Two of the glass sculptures had been shattered, with hammers, the police had said. All over the inside of the gallery, on her artwork and the walls, Bible verses had been spray painted on the walls. Dani sat on the stone steps as the police finished up their report. She’d feared this, but hadn’t really expected it. Not really, deep down. She hadn’t believed anyone could be this cruel. Looking down at one of the many magazine articles that had been left, she realized she should have.

Her art gallery had opened last month, and with it, there had been a great article in the New York Times about her and her work. In it, Santana, Rachel, and their son Corbin had been briefly mentioned. When Dani’s parents had seen it, they’d threatened to cut her off if she didn’t break up with Rachel and Santana immediately. They’d threatened to do a lot of things. But what they’d done, was make some money off of being “Disgusted at the path our daughter has chosen!” Since the middle of March, they’d been on Christian talk shows, giving interviews to magazines, and speaking at churches. All the while, calling Dani to remind her that they’d forgive her, if she would just repent. They were, arguably, more famous than Dani at this point. And now, this.

“Ma’am?” one of them said gently. “Would you like one of us to drive you home?”

*

“Thank you,” Rachel said as Finn handed her a glass of water.

“You’re welcome. So...how are you doing?” he asked, sitting across from her.

“I’m okay. It’s a boy.” She passed the sonogram picture to him. Besides circling the important bits, the doctor had written a little XY in the corner.

He beamed at her. “Yeah? Oh god, what did Santana and Dani say? Did they go crazy?”

“Santana’s still arguing with me over how we’re going to decorate the nursery, but we are not doing a Halo-themed baby room, so she’s going to lose that one. And Dani’s already looking into sports leagues. You know you can start your kid on hockey at the age of three?”

“Football too,” Finn said, still grinning.

“Oh sweet Barbra….”

He laughed, but sobered after a moment. “Um...we haven’t really talked about...you know… what I’m going to be. Do you want me around? Like...you know.”

Rachel melted a little. “Of course I do, Finn. Just...as a co-parent, not as a boyfriend or husband. I’m happy with Dani and Santana.”

He nodded. “What happens when all four of us want the kid to go to do a different college?”

“We let the kid decide since he’ll be an adult by then. But I know what you’re asking. And I promise to not let the other two gang up on you. They’ve already said they’ll leave the hardcore stuff to us. We’ll just...figure it out as we go. That’s what most parents do, right?”

A look of relief passed over Finn’s face. “Yeah.”

*

Dani stood back and looked at the finished product. She’d finally settled the nursery argument by getting suggestions from the other two, plus Finn, and doing it all herself. Thus, the baby now had the coolest storybook themed nursery ever. The walls were dark green, each with an open book painted on them. She’d decided on painting the less traumatizing fairy tales, and gone with Jack and the Beanstalk, Peter and the Wolf, and a cleaned up version of Rumplestiltskin.

Today, she’d put the finishing touches of furniture in. She hauled the toolbox out of the room and called into the living room.

“Okay, you two! You can come see now.”

Santana came down the hall, carrying Rachel. Santana had taken the “No Overexertion” rule to new heights by basically not letting Rachel lift a finger if possible. Another seven months of this would be interesting.

“Dani, could you please tell her that this is unnecessary?” Rachel asked, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Santana put her down and go look at my wonderful creation,” Dani said.

“Fine. There had better not be any clowns.”

“I promise I omitted clowns.”

Santana and Rachel walked into the room, and Dani knew she’d scored because both gave identical squeals of happiness.

“Told you to leave it to me,” she said, grinning.

*

Kurt and Santana were at the apartment while Rachel and Dani were at the doctor’s office. They were just discussing heading out for Frisbee in the park when Kurt got the phone call. He sank to his knees, face white.

“Kurt? Kurt, what is it?” Santana asked, rushing over.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. And then he started gasping for breath.

“Jesus! Kurt, breathe!” Santana said, grabbing the phone. “Hello? Burt? Is everything -”

“Santana…” Burt said. “It’s...it’s Finn. He’s dead.”

She went numb. “What?”

“Is Kurt okay?”

“I’ve got him. What happened?”

And she listened as Burt explained how Finn had died. How they’d found him. She listened, but couldn’t really take it in. This couldn’t be right - Finn was supposed to come back to New York at the end of Spring Break to spend a few days with them. They were going to eat junk food, and go to sports events, and argue about baby names.

“What… How do I tell Rachel?” she whispered.

“Her dads will be there in an hour - they got a flight out as soon as we told them. Let me talk to Kurt again.”

“Sure.” She pulled Kurt back up onto the couch and handed him the phone. She didn’t know what Burt said, but as soon as Kurt hung up the phone, he burst into pained sobs. She held him close, not saying anything.  

When Rachel and Dani returned, they stopped just inside the doorway. Both were incredibly observant people, and both spotted that Kurt and Santana had been crying. Rachel looked anxiously from them, to her fathers.

“Come sit down, Rachel,” Leroy said. “We...need to tell you both something.”

*

It had been a month, and Dani was feeling...well, lost. She hadn’t known Finn the way the others had, and she didn’t know what to do or say most of the time. But she was trying to keep things as normal as possible...or at least keep them moving.

She got home from a particularly hard day at school and work, and found Rachel on the couch looking at her laptop. At first she thought her girlfriend was crying, but when she rushed over, she found that Rachel was actually in tears from laughter.

“Um...hey there gorgeous?” Dani said, confused but pleased. This was the first time Rachel had laughed in the past month.

Rachel made room for her on the couch. “Hey,” she said, wiping her face. “I...I opened my email because my doctor sent some dietary stuff…. And I hadn’t opened the last email Finn sent to me before...before everything. Oh god, just look.”

Dani snuggled closer to her and tilted the laptop screen so she could see. She smiled. “Drizzle? Isn’t that…?”

“What he suggested Quinn name her daughter? Yes. But apparently it’s unisex.”

Dani kissed her cheek. “Does he have any other suggestions?”

“A few...and none as bad as that.”

“I’m going to put dinner in the oven, and then we can pick which ones will traumatize Santana the most.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rachel said, smiling at her.

Dani smiled back, hoping things would be okay.

*

Rachel refused to quit NYADA. She had to change major tracks, and she got stares and sniggers as she waddled past nowadays, but she refused to quit. Now, walking toward Carmen Tibideaux’s office, she sort of wished she had. She didn’t know what the woman wanted, but she was sure it wasn’t good. She would never get over it if she was kicked out at the beginning of sophomore year.

“Rachel, have a seat,” the older woman said, smiling. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Oh, no thank you. I just had a bottle of water.”

Tibideaux leaned back in her chair and said, “I have an opportunity for you.”

Rachel blinked in confusion.

“I’ve never been genuinely impressed by a student before. I’ve been proud, I’ve been happy, I’ve been proven right about someone’s talent many a time. But this is the first time I’ve been impressed.”

“Ma’am?”

“This year has not been easy for you. But you haven’t given up. You reassessed and worked that much harder. How are you enjoying the Acting and Song major?”

“It’s different than what I expected, but I like it. I didn’t know how much...well, business, went into it. It’s an interesting perspective.”

“It is...as I said, I have an opportunity for you. A friend of mine works for Disney. They’re doing a new movie next year, and he needs a voice actress for a secondary character. And it will be next summer, so you’ll have some time to…” she nodded at Rachel’s stomach, “adjust.”

“That sounds amazing!” Rachel said, excited. Musical theater was on the back burner for now, but that didn’t mean she was going to up and quit. The more she could get her name out there, the better. “What movie is it?”

“I believe it’s a steampunk mystery story. They’re pulling back from the princess stories for a while.”

“What do I need to do?”

“Say yes, and look after yourself and that baby. And keep working like you have been. I have to get to class, and I think that’s your Santana down there by the doors,” she said, looking out the window. “I’ll be in touch with more details for you to do a voice audition.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And Rachel?”

“Yes?”

“You’re going to do amazing things. I know it.”

*

It was rare that the whole group had the same nights off. But they’d pawned their shifts off to the newbies, and were enjoying a relaxing Halloween night, watching bad 70s horror movies. Rachel had insisted that the others all enjoy themselves in the alcohol-inclusive way, since they’d all been trying to be responsible adults.

Thus, when Rachel’s water broke (two weeks early), everyone, including Kurt and Elliot, were fast alseep.

“Shit.”

She made sure her bag was next to the door, and shook Dani awake.

“What flavor, I’ll get it,” Dani said, popping up from the covers disoriented.

“Santana?” Rachel tried, shaking her as well. “My water broke.”

“That’s cool babe, We’ll talk about it at breakfast,” Santana muttered. Then she and Dani shot out of bed, when their brains had caught up.

“Which one of you is the most sober?” Rachel ask as a contraction hit her.

“Elliot,” both replied.

Dani rushed off to get him and Kurt, while Santana helped Rachel into clothes.

Twenty minutes later, they’d all piled into Elliot’s car. Kurt had made an extra large pot of coffee, and was passing thermoses out to Santana and Dani. Dani was texting all parents and Gleeks, and Santana was trying to comfort Rachel and

“Wait, where are you going? The hospital’s that way!” Santana yelped.

“I’m on empty - I need gas!” Elliot said.

“ELLIOT!” Rachel yelped. “Why are you running your tank down to empty?”

“And why did you just pass a gas station?” Santana asked.

“That’s a Shell station! I’m not putting Shell in my car!”

“I am going to kill you!”

“You can’t - I’m driving!”

He did, however, stop at the very next station. By the time they got to the hospital, it was a little after midnight.

“Who’s coming in to the delivery room?” the nurse asked.

“All of us?” they all said.

“Not a chance.”

“Dani, Santana, you’re up,” Kurt said, hugging them. “We’ll wait for the grandparents.”

*

At 9:30, on November first, Corbin Liam Hudson was born. It was clear within one day that he would be the single most spoiled baby on the planet.

“How did you pick the name?” Leroy asked.

Rachel smiled over at Carole. “Finn suggested Corbin. We didn’t want to name the baby after him, but we wanted to name the baby for him. And Dani suggested Liam, as a mixture of Leroy and Hiram.”

Carole, who had cried as soon as she got there, got a bit misty again. “I love it.”

Rachel nodded, and then yawned.

“We’ll let you rest,” Hiram said.

The parents, plus Kurt and Elliot, left the three girls. Dani, sitting on Santana’s lap, looked as if she was pondering something.

“What is it?” Rachel asked, catching her expression.

“Is that memorial still up at McKinley?” she asked.

“Yeah. Beiste got them to move it to outside, by Finn’s tree.”

Dani stood and took Santana’s phone. “I’m sending a picture to Sam. I’ll tell him to print it out and add it.”

Santana took Corbin as Rachel yawned again. “Sleep, love. We’ve got him.”