Disclaimer: Glee is owned by 20th Century Fox Television. No copyright infringement is intended.
A hearty thank you to my beta, TripUpStairs, for all of their help with this story.
Santana hates mornings. Specifically, she hates how awake Brittany is on this particular morning. Because it's Christmas. And because in her view, Christmas is best spent asleep until the crack of afternoon, then filled with parties and presents.
Despite Santana's best efforts to stay bundled up under the covers, she resigns herself to being awake at six-thirty in the morning because Brittany has already gotten up, showered, and dressed. Santana is perpetually freezing – Brittany, somehow, is a furnace – and the bed is much too cold without her. This Christmas – their first in New York City – they were going to spend the morning serving breakfast at a shelter, Brittany had declared several weeks ago. And so, Santana finds herself half-awake and grumbling, doing her best to shake the remnants of a dream in which Brittany had donned a sexy elf costume and was cheerfully making toys that were definitely inappropriate for children.
On the other hand, Santana is fairly positive that she saw a very non-regulation Ms. Claus outfit in Brittany's closet when she went to hide some last-minute presents. This line of thinking is not going to get her out of the house quickly, and Santana is jerked out of her musings as she heard Brittany shouting, from the kitchen, to hurry up.
"Why can't Rachel just go in our place? It's not like she has anything better to do on Christmas; there aren't any vegan Chinese places around here and movie theatres don't open until the afternoon," Santana grumbles.
"Stop being a Grinch and get dressed already!" is Brittany's only reply.
After what Santana considers a massive effort on her part, she pulls on some clean jeans and an old college hoodie from freshman year, and then makes her way into the kitchen to grab some coffee in a to-go mug. Brittany, who now has her hair styled like Cindy Lou Who, is already waiting by the door with their coats, looking far too cheerful for someone who is up before the sun comes out.
"I'm not a Grinch," Santana mumbles as she accepts her coat and braces for the outside. "I just want to go back to bed."
To Santana's dismay, it is even colder than she expected.
Despite Santana pulling sour faces their entire walk there, Brittany thinks the morning is a rousing success. When they finish serving breakfast and cleaning up, one of the other volunteers passes out some song sheets with Christmas carols on them. Santana looks at the yellowed pages and coffee stains and almost cringes, but takes one anyways and moves next to Brittany to share it.
Brittany thinks Santana looks her most beautiful when she sings.
Afterwards, they decide to go for coffee because Santana has almost fallen asleep twice in the last half-hour. And while Santana looks cute when she is sleepy, Brittany has more plans for the afternoon and taking a nap in Central Park is not among them. Plus, it's been snowing, so they'd get soaked and cold. Brittany still remembers the first time she and Santana had a snowball fight as kids: Santana had just moved to Lima from Florida and had never seen snow before – she'd picked up a large handful of snow and proceeded to drop it almost immediately with an exclamation of "Ahh! It's wet!"
Brittany still teases her about it whenever it snows.
They are on their way to Rockefeller Plaza when Santana gets the idea to take a slight detour, so she leads Brittany by the hand towards 5th Avenue and East 52nd Street, in the direction of the Cartier building. When they arrive, Santana knows she made a good decision as Brittany's eyes light up at the sight of it wrapped with a bow like a Christmas present. Although neither of them can afford anything in the store – being college students is not doing wonders for their finances – they stand outside and window shop for a bit before continuing to their original destination.
After some more time spent admiring the nicest Christmas tree in town, Brittany tugs Santana in the direction of the ice rink. While Santana normally eschews all winter sports, there is no denying Brittany as she playfully bats her eyes and says "Come on, you'll have fun. I promise."
Brittany, of course, is gliding gracefully around the rink, her cheeks pink from the cold but a large smile firmly in place. Santana, meanwhile, is still getting her legs under her, looking for all the world like Bambi trying to stand up for the first time. After a couple laps, Brittany takes pity on Santana and skates over to her, gently pulling her away from the wall that had thus far been her safety net.
"If I fall, I'm taking you down with me," Santana says. "Just so you know."
Brittany guides her around the rink, holding her hand, and Santana does not come close to falling even once. When Brittany's arm starts to get sore from supporting her, they make their way inside for some hot chocolate – extra marshmallows. Brittany cups her mug to warm her hands and gets a drop on her nose when she tilts it to take a sip, which Santana dabs away with a napkin.
Brittany smiles, then scrunches up her nose, and gives Santana an Eskimo kiss over the table.
It is dark and lightly snowing by the time they get home, and Santana shakes the flurries from her hair over the welcome mat before stepping inside.
Brittany, who still has her hair done up like Cindy Lou Who (who was no more than two), wraps her arms around Santana from behind and whispers laughingly in her ear, "What happened then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!"
When they were in high school, Brittany wrote a report about how heart attacks were just from loving too much. As she turns up to kiss her, Santana is pretty sure that Brittany had it right all along.
Thank you for reading. I hope everyone has a happy holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Please review.