It was Christmas again, Brittany Susan Pierce's absolute favorite holiday. She grinned as she donned her favorite elf costume, humming happily all the while. Looking into the mirror with a proud smile she could almost hear her father's approval as she picked up her small keyboard and made her way to the local mall.

There was a thin layer of snow on the ground as she walked, but she didn't mind the cold with her hands deep in her pockets and elf hat over her ears. The excited buzz she always got from her yearly elfen adventures helped too. She almost couldn't believe it had been a year since she last played with the visitor's of Lima, Ohio's favorite shopping mall. It was even harder to believe that it had been that long since she'd gotten the chance to make her secret crush, Santana Lopez, smile.

Brittany sighed in happy anticipation when she thought of the raven haired beauty. The two went to the same school but were from two different worlds. Santana was an only child from a wealthy family with a doctor for a father and a lawyer for a mother. She was also the head cheerio at William McKinley High, aka the head of Lima's teenage royalty. Brittany, on the other hand, was from a totally different background. Her mother taught in the middle school that her younger sister went to and her father passed away nearly six years ago when she was only eleven.

All of that didn't stop Brittany's growing feelings though, even when she saw the Latina pour a slushie all over one of her friends. Sure the blonde was upset but she thought about it and found herself forgiving the transgression.

She confided her feelings to her best bud, Sammy Evans, once and knew it was a mistake when he gave her a half hour long lecture about all the stuff the cheerio had done wrong to their group of friends. All she thought about the entire time was the fact that she was never on the receiving end of any of those things. Santana had never, not once, done a single thing to hurt Brittany directly. If anything, as soon as Santana earned title as head cheerio, any form of bullying ever directed toward the blonde went down significantly. 'Coincidence?' Brittany pondered. 'Maybe not.'

The smile she wore when she walked into the work room for the day nearly blinded her coworkers but it wasn't a thing anyone would complain about. They all enjoyed working alongside the bubbly young woman and found themselves thrown into their past full of childlike glee when they were with her. She also shared an uncanny resemblance to her late father who, once upon a time, took the roll of Santa Claus and stole the hearts of every person he ever met.

"Your smile grows more and more every year, little bee," Millie Rose, a woman she'd known since she was a toddler, commented with a soft smile of her own.

"Yeah, you look good," Millie's daughter, Marley, agreed.

"Thanks, you guys!" Brittany grinned. Her jubilant mood was infectious and soon enough the room was filled with hummed Christmas songs and laughter. It carried out and spilled into the mall, giving the atmosphere an extra dose of holiday cheer as Santa and his elves took up their positions throughout the two story building. When the doors opened to the public, they were embraced with true holiday sincerity sparked by a blue eyed young woman with love burning in her heart.

...

"Santana, I don't get why you do this every year every day for an entire week at this ungodly hour," Quinn Fabray , her best friend and second in command, snapped. "Even your dad said you don't have to go in today." She leaned against the doorframe of Santana's room, rubbing at her eyes as she stifled a yawn.

"I need more volunteer hours, Q." Santana didn't even care enough to turn around and face her friend as she fixed her hair. It was 7 in the morning and there was snow on the sidewalk outside but the Latina didn't mind. Truth be told, Christmas season was her favorite time of year, especially the time she spent at the mall with a certain mystery piano player.

"As if," the petite blonde huffed.

The Latina rolled her eyes but offered no reply as she finished re-applying her lipstick.

"You like someone, don't you?" Quinn continued, stepping forward and frowning. "You've been less of a pain and flirting way more than usual. Plus, that's your 'take me, I'm yours' shade of red," she said, motioning toward her lips. "Who is it?"

"You know, I wouldn't call it 'take me, I'm yours' I'd say it's more of a 'fuck me now' minus the 'yours'," the brunette smirked.

Quinn grimaced but said no more as she sat down on the head cheerio's bed and scowled, irked by the other teen's choice of words. Sometimes she wondered why she ever put up with the Latina but then she remembered that not only was she popular, but the head bitch also had a hidden soft side. While it was rare, Santana showed just how much she cared for the green eyed blonde in surprisingly sincere ways.

"You do know you can stay here for a few more hours to sleep if you want, right? I mean it's not like the rentals would care. You're pretty much the adopted gringa of the house," the brunette teased.

"Whatever, I'm already up so what's the point? Plus, I'm certain you're into someone and I am going to find out who, mark my words, Lopez."

"Sure thing, Fabray, and while you're at it maybe you can manage to loosen some peoples pockets for better donations. After all, you have that all american baby doll ploy working for you like a young Lindsay Lohan. Let's hope the end results don't end up the same."

"Just hurry up and let's go," Quinn replied with an exaggerated eye roll.

Santana chuckled, following her best friend out of her house and into her car, trying to stifle the growing excitement bubbling in her stomach. It was December twenty third and that meant that she'd be playing on her favorite piano which meant she'd be playing with her secret crush. The brunette bit her lip, doing her best to keep from smiling too much, lest she'd tip Quinn off about how right she actually was.

The only thing was, the piano was controlled by a person in another place in the mall via remote control to make it seem as if the instrument had a life of its own, so Santana had no clue who the musician was. All she knew was that whoever was the one operating the piano from afar saw her for who she was. Well, that and there was a huge chance that she didn't only have a crush on the person, but she might actually be madly in love with the piano player.

A/N: This story will be short and sweet (most times) and will (hopefully) be completed by the start of the new year. Hope you enjoyed! (: