Just a fluffy future!fic dedicated to the lovely Jamie, the Frank to my Santana (don't ask). Also to Mads because she's my Brittany and she was spazzing over this, too. Less-than-threeeeee.
When she was thirteen years old, she spent her first Christmas vacation alone. No father, no nanny, no anyone. Not that she'd ever celebrated Christmas anyway. Not really. The last six had been spent with a nanny and a pile of gifts from her absent father (gift wrapped and delivered by the department store the week before). For her twelfth Christmas, she'd refused to sign for the packages and they all went back to the store, no doubt wasting hundreds of her father's dollars. He never said anything about it. Then for her thirteenth, he said you're too old to have a nanny now. She'd agreed with him for once and didn't argue when he dismissed the most recent nanny (the last of seven or so since her mother took off). Apparently she was too old for Christmas presents too because they didn't come the week before, or on any of the days leading up to the twenty-fifth. Santana didn't care. The only thing she looked forward to on that Christmas Eve was a sleepover with her best friend, Brittany Pierce, whose parents had decided to drop her off that evening so they could go to her daddy's boss' party- adults only. Her baby sister Sophie went to their grandparents' house, but Brittany preferred spending it with Santana.
When she arrived, announcing her presence by ringing the doorbell about five times in a row, Santana hopped off up her couch and went to answer. The brunette swung the door open and her arms were instantly filled with her tall, coltish best friend. "Santana, it's snowing!" she said brightly, as if the Latina hadn't noticed the freezing droplets of melted ice now dripping down her face from Brittany's snow-dusted blonde braids. "Oh my goodness, it looks so pretty. We have to go outside later and play in it, okay?" She pulled back a bit and grinned at Santana, who only nodded in agreement and stepped back to let Brittany in. The girl bent down and picked up the duffel bag she'd dropped before dancing into the room, spinning cheerfully once as she looked around the living room with wide blue eyes. "I got you a present," she said, turning to face Santana again. The brunette's lips parted slightly in surprise, a blush working its way into her cheeks. In all the time she'd been friends with Brittany, she never got used to her gifts and stuff and she hadn't thought to get anything for Brittany because Christmas had never been a big deal to her. "Where's your tree? I want to put your present under it."
"I, um. I don't have a tree, Britt," Santana said, a hand lifting to comb through her hair as she stood staring at the spot by the bay window where a tree would traditionally stand. There hadn't been a tree ever as far as she could recall, nor had the Christmas decorations stored in stacked boxes within her locked attic been unpacked that she'd seen. Who had time for that, after all? But when she looked back to her best friend, she found that she was staring at her. Seeing the shock and pain on Brittany's face, Santana struggled to backpedal, to cover for the lack of Christmas spirit. "My father hasn't been home for a while, Britt. We didn't have time to go out and get a tree or… or anything."
"But San, it's Christmas Eve!" Distressed, Brittany dropped her duffel by the couch and moved to stand beside the dark-haired girl, her hands reached out to snag Santana's. "How will Santa come and give you presents if you don't have a tree? He won't know where to put them." Now, this was a particularly touchy subject. Santana had been told from the start that there was no such thing as Santa, but she'd been careful to never, ever tell Brittany that. It would happen soon (though Santa would always be Brittany's fallback when she tried to encourage Christmas spirit in her fellow students), but not now. One day she would tell Brittany, but not now.
"You're right," she said at last, shaking her head. "I mean, I don't think I'm on Santa's good list this year-" or any year "-but we need a tree just in case. And the tree needs to be decorated, right?" Brittany's face lit up and she nodded enthusiastically, her fingers squeezing the brunette's. "So why don't we, um... Go find a tree. Then we can find some things to hang on it and get it all ready for him, just in case." Again Brittany nodded and pulled away to head to Santana's coat closet. The two girls bundled up and headed outside through Santana's back door, trudging through thick snow to the somewhat wooded area in her back yard. Brittany danced ahead of Santana, moving from pine tree to pine tree in search of a perfect one. She kept pointing at various ones that were taller than Brittany herself, forcing the Latina to remind her that there were only the two of them and a pocket knife to make this happen. They ended up finding a sapling that wasn't too hard to bend and break. Santana sawed at the remainder with the borrowed pocket knife, her teeth gritted together while Brittany bounced excitedly beside her and went off about how cute the little tree was. It was a Charlie Brown tree, but neither girl seemed to notice. Once they had it back in the house, proper up by half of her father's collection of medical journals, even Santana was proud of their job well done. "I like it," Santana said, studying the sapling with her arms crossed over her chest and dark eyes critical.
Beside her, Brittany giggled and reached out to twine their pinkies together. "We still need to decorate it, Santana," she whispered, a little louder than a whisper strictly should have been. "Or it isn't a Christmas tree. It's just… A tree." So saying, the blonde pulled Santana around the house to collect small, pointless items and some thread. They tied the thread into loops and then taped it to the various items – bottle caps, buttons, paper clips – and Santana stood with all the makeshift ornaments in her arms, handing them one at a time to her best friend. Brittany hung them carefully and precisely, taking a minute to find the perfect placement for each one. When at last Santana's arms were empty, the two young girls stood back and studied the Christmas tree. "It's beautiful," Brittany said of the ugly little sapling with its weird ornaments, her hand slipping fully into Santana's. Their fingers tangled together, and not for the first time Santana was aware of how nice it was to have the blonde's hand in hers.
"It's perfect, B," she agreed.
"Oh, I forgot!" Brittany released the shorter girl's hand and dashed over to her bag, retrieving the wrapped gift from inside of it before rushing over to place it beneath the tree. "Okay, there we go. All set. Now we just have to wait for Santa."
"Can't I just open it now?" Santana teased, earning a light smack from Brittany. Both girls laughed and the blonde turned into her, hugging her close. For a minute, they just stood hugging one another with their eyes on the tree. Santana's kept slipping down to the perfectly wrapped package beneath it, guilt twisting in her stomach. "Britt… I didn't get you anything. I didn't think about it. I'm sorry." Brittany looked at the shorter girl, her pale eyes studying' Santana's face before she smiled and shook her head.
"It's okay, San. I don't need a present from you for it to be a good Christmas," she said honestly, fingers playing with the ends of dark curls. Silence fell between them again. The clock on the mantle struck twelve a few minutes later, the strong sound familiar enough to the girls by now that neither jumped. Brittany did look back down at Santana, however, studying her another moment before she dipped her head and pressed their lips together. It was soft and sweet and unexpected, yet so very Brittany that Santana didn't pull away. Instead, she kissed her best friend back. Their mouths were inexperienced, and yet they seemed to move perfectly together in their first ever kiss. When the clock went silent again, they pulled away and watched each other for a silent moment, the taller girl's hand running gently down black hair. Then Brittany was smiling once more, so simply and so warmly that Santana couldn't help by smile in return. "Merry Christmas, Santana Mariana Lopez. I hope it's the best one ever."
"Merry Christmas, Brittany Susan Pierce," Santana whispered in return. "It's the best one so far."
It became a tradition for them. Santana wasn't sure how Brittany had convinced her parents, but every Christmas Eve, the blonde would come over (even the year she'd been dating Artie) and they would decorate a tree (though it became a real tree after that first year). They also bought ornaments for their tree over the course of the years, a few at a time, so that their collection eventually built up and they had real things to hang on the tree. They kept only one of their homemade ornaments- a bottle cap from the top of a Pepsi bottle they'd shared that Christmas, held on the tree by the same thread as from their thirteenth year. It was the last one they hung every year, after the lights and tinsel and the wide array of ornaments in all shapes and styles. There were a lot of ups and downs in their relationship, but Brittany never let her be alone on Christmas.
They'd known each other since they were four. Twenty-one years later, their relationship had lasted longer than most she'd witnessed. Looking back on high school, Santana could see how pointless all that drama had been. Not one member of the glee club ended up with another- except for her and Brittany. A few had stayed in Lima and most of them had stayed friends with one another, but only Brittany and Santana's relationship had gone beyond school. The way she saw it, that was how it was supposed to be. They were forever. They'd always been forever, ever since they were four. Santana figured she'd never stood a chance. Not since that first bright smile from the bubbly blonde who had been beside her ever since. They lived together now in a nice apartment in Connecticut. Brittany worked as a dance instructor at a nice studio not far from where they lived while Santana was slowly working her way through law school while working at a law office to get her foot in the door.
Christmas Eve had come up on them fast this year, and Santana found that she was nervous to be alone with Brittany for the first time in her entire life. Their small party had ended about two hours before, the visit with the Glee kids a welcome break in all of their busy lives. They lived all over the country now, so seeing each other like that was rare and had put the blonde in a fairly good mood. Santana, however, had grown gradually more agitated as the evening went on until her temper had tipped off the few stragglers and a complacent Brittany that the party was over. None of them were bothered- Brittany because she was used to it and the others because Quinn had warned them ahead of time that it was going to happen. "Tonight's a big night for Santana," she'd said. "And you know how Santana gets when she's nervous." The usual roll of hazel eyes accompanied this statement. "Bitchy," they'd all said with varying degrees of humor.
Brittany hummed quietly to herself now, a song that had no words yet still managed to make her dance. Santana watched her without comment, dark eyes on the blonde's bopping hips as a faint smile curved her mouth. The lamps were off in their living room, the only light coming from the tree and the fireplace. Santana was handing their ornaments one at a time to her girlfriend, watching as the blonde paused, contemplated, and carefully placed each one. Sometimes it still surprised her that they'd ended up here- but then she stopped being surprised because really, they'd been heading for this place since pre-school. "I love you so much, Britt," she murmured towards the end of their decorating. Santana watched as Brittany's beautiful smile bloomed, soft and familiar, even as her eyes remained on the tree.
"I know," she replied, sliding the glass ball onto a free branch at the center of a bare spot. "I love you so much, too. Are we on the last one yet?" She'd asked this question after ever ornament, as she had since they were thirteen. Santana's heart suddenly picked up in her chest, slamming painfully against her ribs and she drew the bottle cap ornament from the box. Her hands were shaking as she stared at it, carefully passing it by its string to the waiting blonde, whose blue eyes were still on the tree.
"Yeah, it's the last one," Santana agreed, watching Brittany carefully. The other woman brought the bottle cap ornament up to her eyes, studying it as she always did. She watched the confusion flit into her eyes, followed moments later by shock as her head whipped around and their gazes met. "Do you know what that is, B?" Santana asked quietly, her voice quivering slightly.
"A ring," Brittany choked out, pale eyes shifting back to the silver loop Santana had slid over the string so that it settled against the blue bottle cap. The small diamond glinted faintly in the dim lighting of the room. "An… An engagement ring?" She looked up at her girlfriend, searching for confirmation that she'd gotten this one right.
"Yeah," Santana agreed somewhat nervously. She eased slowly forward, taking the homemade ornament from Brittany's slack fingers, drawing the ring off from around the thread. She slid their final ornament onto the tree before turning to Brittany, the diamond ring clutched tightly between two fingers as she held it up between them. "That's um." She cleared her throat. "That's what it is. I mean. That's what I hope it will be, anyways." When the blonde only stared back at her, Santana drew in a deep breath. Okay, she couldn't fuck this up. Santana had messed up a lot of shit in the past, but this was one thing she was determined to do right. "Britt, I've loved you since we were four," she whispered, her free hand reaching out to take her girlfriend's. "I loved you when we were six and you shared your only chocolate chip cookie with me at snack time. I loved you when we were eight and you told the teacher Puck started it after I punched him for pulling your hair. I loved you when we were thirteen and you kissed me for the first time. I have loved you every moment of my life, Brittany, and I'll love you for the rest of it. I want to spend every fucking second loving you, knowing you love me too. I want to like, get a real house with you and have kids with you and start a real life with you. And I know sometimes I can be a bitch, but you always put up with me anyways and I…I just fucking love you so much, Britt. Please say you'll marry me. Please."
"I love you so much too," Brittany said, her eyes wide. "And all of that stuff. I've loved you since we were four. Of course I'll marry you. I will. I do." She giggled at the surprised looked Santana gave her, blue eyes rolling. "What, did you expect me to say no? Dummy. Gimme my ring!" She bounced on her toes as the Latina fumbled with the ring and slid it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, shining there like it was meant to be right where it was, snuggled securely onto the finger that promised forever. As the clock struck midnight, they drew each other close and kissed for the first time as fiancées. It felt different somehow, yet familiar, the same way it had when they'd been thirteen and kissing for the first time. When the clock was silent again, they drew apart. Their smiles were soft and happy. "Merry Christmas, Santana Mariana Lopez," Brittany whispered, her forehead dropping against Santana's.
"Merry Christmas, Brittany Susan Pierce." Santana smirked, leaning forward to press their lips together again briefly. "Or should I start calling you Brittany Lopez?"
The blonde closed her eyes, her smile growing considerably. "You can call me whatever you want, as long as you call me yours."
"I will. Forever, B."