CHAPTER ONE

Santana drove to Brittany's house—carefully, as her mother warned her. Normally, Santana could make it to Brit's house in four minutes tops, but because of all the snow, it was taking a lot longer. Santana was getting impatient. This was their first snow day in all their three years of high school, and she had plans to make it memorable.

"Brit?" Santana called up to her friend. Letting herself in, Santana knew where Brittany would be on a day like this.

"I'm in the fort, San!" Brittany replied.

Of course she is, Santana thought to herself.

Whenever it snowed or stormed or really any precipitation happened, Brittany built a fort for her and her best friend. She constantly tried to outdo her previous forts-adding height or length, setting up multiple entrances, and decorating. Stopping in the kitchen first, Santana sat down her things and then headed to the living room fort.

She went with the quilts this time. Good choice. The thicker material, the darker the interior.

Santana crawled into the fort to see Brittany set up with pillows and blankets. It looked as close to the Perkin's tent in Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire as humanly—or should she say, muggle-ly—possible. To the right, Brittany had set up her old radio with a bunch of CDs strewn about. To the left, snacks galore. It's as if Brittany forgot that she was a mere twenty feet from the kitchen. She had bought magazines and laid out all sorts of art supplies. It looked like Brittany had plans too.

Santana joined Brittany under her blanket, snuggling up to her best friend.

"Great fort, B. I see you've brought reinforcements," Santana said, gesturing to all the food.

"Of course! I remembered how last fort we kept arguing over who would get up and get snacks. So, I decided to save us the trouble."

"Good thinking. What are you wanting to do today?" Santana asked.

"I really want to go play in the snow." Brittany looked over at Santana hoping she wouldn't put up a fight.

"That sounds like a capital idea, Brit!" Santana smirked.

"Great! Okay, so let's get into snow gear. I don't want you complaining about wet jeans like last time."

Santana rolled her eyes and followed Brittany out of the fort and up to her room.

"Oh, San, you are going to look so hot in these snow pants I picked out for you," Brittany giggled and Santana rolled her eyes once again.

For some reason hearing Brittany calling her hot, even as joke, made her heart jump. However, Santana wouldn't have made the connection herself, and even if she had, she wouldn't say anything about it.

Brittany was adorably excited trying to put on all of her layers as fast as possible. Of course, she got a little tangled and confused, but Santana stepped in to help her whenever she got flustered.

Once Brittany was taken care of Santana finished getting dressed, feeling outrageously bloated.

"Alright Brit, I'm ready to go. I feel ridiculous, but prepared."

Grabbing their sled, they walked down the block to the neighborhood park.

Kids flooded the park, frustrating the hell out of Santana.

"Move it or lose it, kid!" Santana yelled nearly knocking a bunch of seven year olds to the ground like bowling pins.

Brittany laughed as her arms gripped tighter around Santana's body.

"San, you're actually going to hit someone if you keep this up."

"That's the plan," Santana stated, winking at the girl.

Trudging back up the hill, Brittany spoke, "Alright, my turn to steer. No casualties today. Thank you very much."

Relinquishing her power, Santana handed over the sled. Brittany smiled back at her friend and hopped on.

"S! Get on!"

"Okay, jeez! Let me get situated!" Santana said.

Santana climbed on the back of the sled, wrapping each of her legs around the outside mimicking her friend's.

"What are you waiting for, B? It's all clear. Let's do this!" Santana sounded excited.

"I'm waiting for you to put your arms around me and hold tight!" Brittany replied innocently enough.

Never one to hesitate when it came to Brittany, Santana felt her heart jump again. She slowly wrapped her arms around her friend, unsure of where to put them.

"Like this, silly!" Brittany took Santana's arms in her arms and pulled them together.

Even though there was what seemed like hundreds of layers of clothing between them, Santana felt like she had never been this close. Every part of Santana's body clenched against Brittany as she buried her cold red nose into her friend's flowing blonde hair.

"Ready."

Brittany pushed off and down they flew. They both were hooting and laughing the whole way down until…

"Brit! Tree!" Santana screamed.

Brittany swerved the sled missing the tree by an inch. They ended up toppled over as the sled slipped further and further away from them. Brittany had somehow ended up on top of Santana, losing her gloves and hat in the process. Laughing hysterically, neither of the girls made it a point to switch the position they were in. As the laughter died down, Brittany locked eyes with her best friend and quickly pecked her on a bit of skin exposed on her neck.

"That was fun!" Brittany exclaimed, slowly picking herself up off of Santana.

"You almost got us killed! No more for you, Brit!" Santana said placing her hand on her exposed skin that now felt warm. It was a friendly peck. They do that all the time. It's what friends do. Still, Santana could help thinking about locking eyes with Brittany. They're so blue, she thought…especially juxtaposed to this winter wonderland.

"Race ya!" Brittany yelled, trying to sprint up the hill.

They slid down a couple more times. Santana made a few more enemies, while Brittany made some friends. Eventually the pair grew extremely tired and trudged back to the house.

Opening the door, Santana remarked, "I'm going to make some hot chocolate for us. Brit, go get out of those clothes and into something warm. Okay?"

Brittany walked upstairs to do so. Santana makes the best hot chocolate. I better get out of these clothes quick! Brittany thought to herself.

Santana stripped of her snow clothes and laid them aside. She was wearing sweats and a t-shirt underneath so there was no changing to be done. With water boiling, she grabbed the bag she threw in the kitchen when she first walked in. Inside, were stacks of movies, party hats, and Brittany's favorite board game, Guess Who.

Santana laid these things out on the countertop so when Brittany came back she could see them all at once. As she swung around to place their hot chocolates carefully on the counter, she saw Brittany standing in a t-shirt and her underwear with the biggest smile on her face.

"Brit, it looks like you forgot pants."

"I smelled you pouring the hot chocolate and had to race down as soon as possible!" Brittany replied. Santana was not sure how she could smell her pour hot chocolate, but shrugged it off.

"So, you like?" Santana said glancing at the counter.

"Duh! That's like my favorite game ever. Oooh! Look! Party hats!" She put one on her head, trying to do the same to Santana. At first resistant, Santana finally gave in to erase the pout on the half-naked blonde's face.

"Let's take this all in the fort!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Wait, let me get you some whipped cream," Santana said.

"Just bring it." Brittany walked away. Santana found herself watching her. Brittany was wearing her favorite pair of underwear the ones with cartoon ducks all over them, Santana noted. Can in hand, she carried what she could into the fort.

Brittany had already donned all of her stuffed animals with party hats and laid out the game by the time Santana slipped under the quilts.

Uncapping the whipped cream, Brittany squired some into her drink and then her mouth. She gestured to her friend with a mouth full as if to say, "Want some?" Santana held out her mug and then opened her mouth. Brittany went a little crazy, getting the whipped cream all over Santana's face.

"Brit! Watch it!" She exclaimed, wiping away the cream with her fingers.

Brittany just laughed and on instinct took Santana's hand and sucked off the whipped cream. She looked at Santana to see her reaction.

"Hey! I was going to do that!" Santana stated, though in the back of her mind…that was a better alternative.

"Game time." Brittany brushed by the remark.

Brittany and Santana did not play Guess Who the way people regularly played it. Instead, they got a little more creative and-at least on Santana's part-a little more offensive. They rarely ended up guessing the right person, but ended the games based on uncontrollable laughter instead.

They were getting close to the end…

"Does he look like he has a secret shoe fetish?" The blonde asked.

"Nope. Does he or she look constipated?"

"Ew, San. But, uh, yeah. I could see that. Does yours look like he has four cats?"

"Three or four, I'd say. Does yours look like a little bitch?" Santana strung the sentences together quickly.

Brittany doubled over in a fit of laughter. Santana decided to come over to Brittany's side and snuggle up again.

"Oh wow Brit, you weren't even close."

"Whatever, it's not like we keep score."

Brittany laughed again and looked down at her friend resting her head on her shoulder.

This is nice, Brittany thought to herself.

They spent the next couple of hours playing around, braiding each other's hair, and talking about school and whatever else was on their minds. They were supposed to have Cheerio practice today, but the school called to cancelled much to Coach Sylvester's dismay. Luckily, this snow day fell on a Friday making it a three-day weekend. The girls planned on spending the whole long weekend together.

They talked about Glee Club and how Santana got into another argument with Rachel, or "man-hands," as Santana affectionately named her. Brittany didn't understand why Santana wasn't as cute and charming around other people like she was around Brittany, but either way, no one could ever say Santana wasn't passionate.

A lot of the time Santana's screaming and yelling made Brittany laugh especially when it was in Spanish. She guessed it was probably because Santana had never and would never yell at her. Maybe being on the other side of a Santana bitch fest would make her feel differently…that would never happen. Santana constantly stood up for Brittany. No matter what. Similarly, Brittany would always be there for Santana. Neither of them had to say it out loud. It was just how they worked.