Author's Note: This was written back during the hiatus in October, and I'm just brushing it off now for publication. :)
The first rays of the morning sun came shining through the window; the filmy pink curtains made it cast a rose-colored glow over the entire room. Santana stirred and looked around her. Where was she? She could tell she wasn't at her apartment - for one thing, she couldn't hear Rachel starting her Sunrise Special morning routine, for which she was immensely grateful. There was something to be said for a quiet awakening in the morning.
Which still begged the question: where was she?
She heard a soft snort from next to her, almost as if someone was trying to respond to a question she had never officially asked. "Hey, babe," the soft female voice said, and then it hit her: she was at Dani's apartment. Dani was curled up next to her. Dani reached her hand out, stretching to tease at the curve of her torso, tracing the skin with a reverent touch. "Good morning."
"Morning," Santana said, turning over to face Dani and cup her chin in her hands. "I didn't realize we had fallen asleep."
Dani laughed. "We probably wore each other out with all that kissing last night," she said, leaning in for a kiss. "And, you know -"
"I know what we did last night," Santana said, fighting back a smirk. Now that she was waking up and becoming more alert, the memories of the night - the first night off they had shared since their first stolen kiss - were coming into sharp, color focus. Dani and her fingers snarled in her hair. Dani's mouth crushed against hers. Dani's mouth - suffice it to say, Dani's mouth was good for things besides belting out songs at the diner, Santana had learned.
Dani's hand skirted lower and brushed against Santana's hip. "I said I like the sunrise," she said, "but what I really like is spending time with you."
Santana nodded her head. "So you wouldn't care if it was sunrise or sunset?"
"Any time of day. Just as long as I was with you," Dani said, exhaling slightly as she hooked her finger around Santana's waist.
"You have got to be kidding me," Santana said. "How can you make me feel like this?"
"Like what?" Dani cocked her head to one side and dragged the edge of her fingernail along Santana's skin.
Santana hissed and arched her side closer to Dani, seeking more than just a fingerful of her touch at a time. "Like I'm one of those silly girls in a romantic comedy. I fully expect you to show up with a bouquet of roses at my apartment and take me on a carriage ride through the park and all that stuff that makes me nauseated when I see other couples do it, but strangely the thought of doing them with you doesn't seem so bad."
"Nah," Dani said. "It'd be daisies, for one."
"You're not helping my point, here."
"I make you feel happy. You make me feel happy." Dani kissed the tip of Santana's nose and fluttered her eyelashes at her. "That's what matters. And don't you deserve to be happy?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Then it's settled," Dani said with a yawn, kissing Santana again and smiling at her as they broke apart. God, Dani's lips were smooth and soft, just like the rest of her. Impossibly soft. Santana had to let her hand glide, taking in the tactile sensation of touching someone who was intimately attracted to her.
"Maybe bring me fake daisies instead?" Santana said. "The last time I tried to keep anything alive for very long, it wilted and died in less than two days. I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb is."
"You got it, babe," Dani said, curling into her shoulder and shutting her eyes. "Now that the sun's risen, let's go back to sleep. I like sleeping next to you."
"I do too," Santana said in a fading whisper, folding her arm gently over Dani's side and pulling her close as she drifted back to sleep. The world could wait that much longer.
-fini-