Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 86th cycle. Now cycle 87!
IT'S THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CYCLE OF GLEEKATHON! - Five years! Five years! *insert flailing* Okay, not quite, but by the end of this cycle, it will have been five years of daily stories (sometimes twice a day! ... and for seven very frightening days a couple years back, three times a day!). It will also be the end of this crazy ride. I started thinking about ending gleekathon months ago, and I wanted to finish my ongoing series before that happened. It made it so I could finish out this fifth year, and it couldn't be any better that this cycle is actually ending on October 22nd 2014, which was the day it began, in 2009... Now here we go!
This story is a 1st person POV swap of Step Seventy, Find A Way, a Paper Heart series story originally posted on November 16th 2013.
"For His Sake"
Santana (POV)/Brittany, Kurt/Jude, Harry
Paper Heart series
When Schuester called out to me that day at school, I was… suspicious. I never liked getting called out by a teacher, always felt like I was about to be punished… sometimes I was. Not this time though. Schuester had something to show me. He brought me into his office and pulled up a cardboard box from under his desk. When he opened it, the first thing I saw was… a penguin. Actually, a lot of penguins, and snowflakes… It was wrapping paper, a present.
If he hadn't explained what that thing was right away, I would have been way more curious about what it was supposed to mean. But he told me, and before I knew it, I was left with a Christmas present in my custody, and I didn't even know who from. I got to stare at it for days, wondering who had wanted so bad to surprise Kurt that they would go through this process. There were many times where I almost popped that wrapping open – I was an expert, from years of flawless practice on my own presents – but I showed a lot of restraint and left the thing alone. Soon the day would come and I'd get to find out what it was, the right way.
Well, Christmas rolled around, and of course I was running late to meet up at Brittany's house. My parents were doing their best to be understanding about me wanting to be out there instead of at home with them on Christmas morning, but I could tell they wished I wasn't going. So, in the spirit of the holidays, I had stuck around a bit, and let them pull me into playing the same games we played every year. It was nice, yes, but this year was different. This year was the year Harry came into our lives, and Brittany would never forgive me for missing too much of his first Christmas; I didn't want to miss it either. The little guy was all decked out in Christmas. Brittany had put him in one of the PJs my mother had bought for Harry, and the 'Santa' hat Kurt had made him. That kid was so cute I had actually heard myself say I 'could just eat him up.'
"Hey, Shorty," I brought him into the living room. Brittany wanted Harry to open his presents first. That was exactly how she put it, ignoring the fact that 'Harry' was only just ten weeks old and could barely hold his head up on his own. Instead, we all sat on the ground in a circle, or… triangle, and when Brittany showed the baby a present and set it before him and me, Kurt would reach over and carefully unwrap it for him.
Eventually, it was time for our presents to each other, and all this time, all I could think about was that box I'd brought over. I was going to wait until we had all finished with our presents, and then… "I have one more here," I presented it to him.
"We said only one," Brittany pointed out, with Harry back in her arms.
"Relax, it is for Kurt, yes, but it's not from me."
"Then who's it from?" Kurt asked, and I could just see it was bugging him now, the curiosity.
"Funny story. So I'm at school last week, waiting until I could finally get out of there, and then Mr. Schue comes jogging up to me."
"Mr. Schue sent me a gift?" Kurt asked, and his face screamed 'this doesn't make sense.' So I made him shut up and listen.
"As I was saying, Mr. Schue comes jogging to me and tells me he needs my help with something. 'What is it?' I ask him, and then he says he needs me to deliver something that he received."
"What?" Brittany asked, all wide-eyed. Kurt didn't look as curious anymore; he looked like he knew something he didn't want me to know.
"It seems someone sent a package to the school, care of the Glee Club director. And inside that package he found this box, just as you see it now. And there was a note on top."
I'd stared at that note more than I'd ever admit to them, trying to uncover the story behind it. Here I thought Hummel couldn't get anything past me, and now…
"It said that this person, the sender, knew someone in McKinley's Glee Club, but he had no address for him, so he was wondering if maybe the director of that Glee Club might be able to pass it on to him. Rather than doing what the note said, Schue decided it would be more fun if he gave it to me so I could give it to you on Christmas and, you know what, I agree, because your face right now is indeed a Christmas miracle. So here we are now. There is just one more thing I need to know…" I could see him trying to calculate the best time to reach out and snatch the box away, and when he finally went for it, I was ready and I kept it out of reach. "Who is this Secret Santa, Hummel?"
"Santana…"
"Come on, it's the least you can do. Don't you want your present?" Oh, he wanted it alright.
"Yes, but…"
"Is it that cute guy who came to Sectionals to see you?" Brittany cut in, and by the look on Kurt's face, it looked like she'd just hit the nail right on the head. I was, despite my best efforts not to show it, stunned.
"How come you know about this, and you didn't tell me?" Whenever Brittany looked down to Harry that way, trying to figure out what to say, it was hard to be all that upset.
"Well, I… I wasn't sure who he was, I just thought he was a friend."
"He is." When Kurt said this, I had to smile. Here we go…
"What's his name?" I asked. The guy was smitten, and it was delicious.
"Jude," he said. I knew he had kept to himself in a lot of ways throughout the pregnancy, so he could be there for Brittany, and I respected him a lot for that, probably more than he realized, but we'd all wanted him to move on, to get something going for himself. If he was finally doing it, maybe it was time I put my skills to good use.
"And you have this boy's number?" I asked, and he nodded. "Good, now here's the deal. I'm going to give you the box, and after you've opened it, I want you to call him, thank him profusely, and ask for his address so you can stop in to see him. If I know you the way I know I do, you've got something for him, too, don't you?" He said nothing. "Well?" His shoulders did the speaking, and then he held out his hands.
"Give me the box." I complied, happily.
"Good boy. Merry Christmas, Kurt."
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!