Author's Note: Hello, everyone. I am here to present to you…my Christmas fan fiction for 2013! Woohoo! I am presenting this story early, kinda, because I had participated in the Glee Wiki's "Secret Santana" (LOL, nice pun, I might add). Basically, it's like a traditional Secret Santa where we are given the person we have to give a gift to.
This person I'm presenting my gift to is a very special, sweet, and astounding person on the Glee Wiki (well, everyone on that site is astounding and sweet, pretty much). She is an administrator and bureaucrat on the Glee Wiki, and one of my best friends. When I had found out that she was my person for this little amazing activity, I was so over-the-moon and surprised as well. I can't express enough how much she means to me. At one point, after finding out who are people were for the project, she had told me she was yet to finding a Christmas tree, and I decided…well, this is what the story shall be about. LOL. And I'm using all of her favorite characters in the story: Santana, Brittany, Kitty, Quinn, and Rachel (and perhaps a few others).
And without further ado, I shall present my Glee Wiki Secret Santana present, and my 2013 fan fiction, to the lovely and amazing…Emma (LOL, not Emma Pillsbury, dolls; Brittanarocks). Happy reading, all. And Merry Christmas to the whole Glee fandom!
Featured Pairings: Hummelwilde (Kurt/Kitty), Brittana (Brittany/Santana), implied!Faberry (Quinn/Rachel), Kurtana (Kurt/Santana), Kittany (Kitty/Brittany), Klaine (Kurt/Blaine), ended!Quick (Quinn/Puck), ended!Quony (Quinn/Tony), implied!Samcedes (Sam/Mercedes)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Glee. All of the rights to the show go to Ryan Murphy and Co., and Twentieth Century Fox.
Oh, Christmas Tree
Chapter One
"Uncle Kurt, I want that one!" A young Kitty Lopez exclaimed while searching through the Toys R Us catalogue. The five-year-old blonde had been sitting in her uncle's lap for the past couple of minutes, snug and heartening over the many different toys and clothing she's been scanning through in the catalogues Kurt always brought over from home. Brittany and Santana didn't keep that many – well, not children-themed, that is. Most of their magazines consisted of make-up products they wanted, and celebrities they would fangirl and argue about.
The porcelain man chuckled at the tiny girl's delight. He loved nothing more than to see his niece around the holidays. It was very rare now to hang out with the Lopez family, being that he had been tied with a relationship with his husband, Blaine Anderson for the past couple of years. Before, when he and Blaine were only dating, he would've taken young Kitty and her now seven-year-old sister, Sugar Lopez, to Build-A-Bear Workshop and make a Christmas bunny or something festive. Now, Kurt had been working full time at Vogue, occasionally having to see his now seven and a half-year-old son, Rory Anderson entering the office with Blaine after coming from school.
"That's a really pretty bike, hon," Kurt told his niece, holding onto her while holding the catalogue closer to him so he could look at the description below the picture. It was a pink bicycle with streamers, a basket, and a white seat. It also had a flag on it that read, "Princess Mobile" on it, which Kurt thought was pretty clever and adorable for a five-year-old girl. "Uncle Kurt will make sure that makes it under your tree this year."
The one thing about young Kitty that Kurt couldn't get over was the adorable smile growing on her face. She was the cutest little girl Kurt ever held in his arms. She was everything Kurt wanted for a daughter. And hey, Rory needed someone to play with as well.
The blonde girl shook a bit, letting Kurt know that she wanted off his lap. She had strolled on over to the Lopez's quite small and worn-out tree that they let Kitty and Sugar decorate this holiday. That had been the same tree being used for the past eight years. Kitty didn't really understand why Brittany and Santana kept it; it was too small, and some of the artificial branches were getting too weak. And the star…well, what star? There wasn't even a star on top of the tree. All that laid on top was a very light snowflake ornament that Santana told the girls they would use as a star, being that a heavy star would make the tree fall. Plus, the Lopez family wasn't very fortunate in terms of finances, even though they weren't necessarily poor.
Kurt faltered at the saddening frown growing on Kitty's tiny face. She played around a bit with one of the breakable red ornaments that hung near the bottom of the tree, watching it sway back and forth in a not-so-merrily way. "Kitty Pie, something on your mind?" The almost-middle-aged man called to his niece, placing the catalogues down on the coffee table and crawling towards the five-year-old. He placed his hands on her waist and dragged her towards him, allowing the little girl to sit on his lap once again.
"Uncle Kurt…" Kitty spoke sadly, "I want a new Christmas tree." Her head leaned against the porcelain man's chest as she gazed upon the old tree that sat beside the couch and in front of the apartment window. Kurt placed his chin atop of the girl's head, looking up at the Lopez Christmas tree. Maybe a couple of years ago, Kitty would have been satisfied with this tree, but she was getting older and realizing everything that's going on in the world.
"Your Christmas tree looks…fine," Kurt told his niece, still looking at it.
Truthfully, it was an okay tree, but it was definitely wearing out. The lights on the tree weren't even working – well, the ones on the top weren't. And every time Kitty told her parents that it needed fixing, they never got back to working on it. They were so busy lately. Brittany was working at a dancing workshop, and Santana had auditioned for a role in a theater production, along with her best friend and Kitty's aunt, Rachel. Kitty thought that they would at least have more time now that they were on Christmas break, but now they had to tend to not just her, but her older sister, who she envied with a passion.
The blonde girl gazed up at her uncle with saddened eyes, honestly not believing him about the compliment towards their broken-down, neglected Christmas tree. Kurt knew he was lying through his teeth just a bit. Yes, he did think the tree the Lopez family had was okay, but he knew the girls would want something better. "Had you told your mother that you wanted a new one?"
Kitty nodded. "They never got it, though."
Kurt hummed, looking back at the tree and running his hand through Kitty's golden hair. He and his husband had gotten a new tree two days after the beginning of December, and Kitty admired how the pine looked so lifelike. Well, it was a real tree, being that Kurt didn't like anything fake for himself. He thought about going to Santana and talking to her about it, but he wasn't sure what she would respond with.
He looked down at his niece again, who had crawled out of Kurt's hold to touch the fragile branches on the tree. There had been a gingerbread-shaped ornament that she decorated last year, and she made it specifically for Brittany. She loved the memories this tree had given her, but she really wanted to have a new tree filled with more memories. It had been something she wanted her two mothers to understand.
"Well, Kitty," Kurt told the young girl before her, "if a new tree is what you really want, then I can try and arrange something with your mother." He leaned over and smoothed the girl's hair some more as the tiny five-year-old turned towards him. "But don't fret much about it, sweetheart. There are many other things to look forward to this Christmas. Like heading out to the mall to see Santa Claus this year."
The sparkles in Kitty's tiny eyes, and the bright smile on her face, brought Kurt's humble smile back. He loved seeing his favorite niece smiling again. It was the one thing about Christmas that brought his spirit back: seeing Kitty's and Rory's adorable smiles. Too bad for him that he didn't see Sugar often. She was always in school, and when she wasn't, she hung out with some of her best friends at the park or their houses. It would be a pleasure to see her more.
Speaking of Sugar, there was a familiar knock at the Lopez door, and Sugar could be heard talking with Brittany about her day decorating some Christmas cookies with some of the Girl Scouts. Sugar was more than enough for Brittany and Santana at first, especially since she was getting exposed to so many clubs and activities in school and outside of school. However, Brittany wanted another baby for Sugar to play with so she won't get lonely or anything.
To this day, that's how Kitty felt she was being used as: the random, new baby in the family that Sugar occasionally played with whenever she was home alone, and bored.
Kurt stood up from where he was sitting, and answered the door. Santana had entered the door with several bags from Macy's and Family Dollar. One of the bags had a couple of Christmas decorations sticking out of it, making Kitty grow immediately excited. She had wanted to decorate the house and make it look warm and especially pretty for the occasion. She had asked Brittany one day if they could get some extra garland to place in the living room and the kitchen. Being the loving mother she wanted to be, Brittany couldn't let her little girl down.
"Hello, Kitten," Brittany greeted, walking in with Sugar beside her, and scooping up the five-year-old to hold in her arms. "My gosh, you've been growing so much, haven't you?" She cooed while pinching at Kitty's full cheeks, making the blonde giggle.
While he found the site of his adorable five-year-old niece quite charming, Kurt thought he should handle this situation while it is fresh in the air. "Santana, are you free with talking with me in the other room for a minute?" Kurt questioned with his hands on his hips. His eyes went to their corners at the sight of Kitty touching Brittany's face and running her fingers through the older blonde's hair. So cute.
"Does it have to be now?" Santana asked, walking through the apartment with the bags in her hands. "I mean, I have some Christmas cookie bark to prepare if Berry wants to come over here with her little rosy-cheeked five-year-old." She placed the bags down beside the table, and took out a couple of Christmas mugs. "The girl is as sweet as her sweet tooth." Kurt knew how right she was about that.
"It won't take long, Santana. I promise." Kurt told the brunette-haired Latina, who rolled her eyes reluctantly as she brought a couple of the mugs into the kitchen.
"Fine then," she told Kurt, "but you're going to help me with this peppermint-flavored hot chocolate that the girls wanted to have to drink this afternoon."
The porcelain homosexual man shrugged. "Done deal," he told her, grabbed the other two mugs Santana left on the table. He had stepped into Santana's kitchen and noticed the new bright white paint that had been spread on the walls. Santana had requested to get the walls painted a couple of months ago by the man that lived on the first floor. It was definitely going to fit with the Christmas decorations the Lopez family planned on placing in the room. "Nice paint job," Kurt spoke, looking around.
"It needed one," Santana responded as she went into the pantry to grab the bag of peppermint candy canes. "When we first moved in this place, it had that ugly tan color in here." She opened the bag of candy canes and placed them on the cutting board that she had set on the table. "And it smelled weird, too. Sugar had a really big problem with it when we first came here."
Kurt nodded understandably, placing the mugs on the island counter. "I honestly would have bitched about that to Blaine if we were to move in one of those types of apartments."
Santana smirked. "No kidding. I mean, I'm not going to lie; you both have problems with something being a certain color or texture." She paused as she opened a package of Nestle hot chocolate. "Remember when you slipped bronzer in Anderson's moisturizer?" The Latina giggled.
"What?" Kurt asked, his eyebrows furrowed. "He looked good with a little more color."
"Not when he starts looking like an Indian-American shipped here straight from Mumbai." Santana slammed, making Kurt feel a bit offended.
"Santana, that's awfully mean." Kurt replied with a pout.
The chocolate mix was poured into a bowl, and mixed with some water. "You know it's true, Kurt," Santana responded shamelessly. "And don't you remember two summers ago when he fell asleep on the beach, and he had what Berry called an extra free tan?" Santana shook her head back and forth. "If that were true, he would've sued the tanning company on the spot."
Kurt couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Blaine's scream when he awoke that fateful day. It was a constant reminder to Kurt to tell his husband to put sunscreen on. Usually, he would end up forgetting, and head back to reading one of his romantic novels before falling asleep suddenly. Kurt wouldn't even allow Rory to touch him once he cooked in the sun.
Santana walked towards the refrigerator to grab the carton of eggnog she saved on the middle shelf. "Crush those peppermint candy canes for me, Hummel?"
"Will do." He grabbed the cutting board with the candy canes on it, along with a can of pork and beans, and got ready to crush them.
"And when you do, can you not eat the bits like you did last time we prepared this?" Santana added, bringing the eggnog to the counter. Kurt literally cursed himself out when he took a broken piece from one of the broken candy canes and placed it in his mouth. Something about peppermints, along with cinnamon and gingerbread, just made him feel more Christmassy each year. It was something he constantly and sneakily did when Santana was cooking something, but wasn't around.
"By the way," Santana spoke as she got the glass from the top shelf in one of the hanging cabinets, "you wanted to have a talk with me about something, right? I don't know, I might have time to chat."
As Kurt crushed up the rest of the peppermints to place in the bowl with the mix, he thought about Brittany and Santana's five-year-old blonde daughter. She was now in the living room, playing with the stuffed cat that Brittany had gotten her last Christmas. His eyes glanced from her to the small, worn-down Christmas tree by the couch. It was a really small tree, but Kurt knew that Kitty wanted something better. She had been begging her parents for one before, but they never took the time to get one. Santana and Brittany have been so occupied with work lately, and they felt like they needed to save on something useful. While Kurt understood their reasons, he wanted to see his niece happy and satisfied (though kids are never fully satisfied around this time of year).
"Well, little Kitty and I have been talking earlier today…" Kurt began, taking some of the crushed peppermints and placing them in the bowl, "and she was looking at the little Christmas tree that you guys set up in your living room –"
Santana scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Is she still begging for another damn tree?" she asked Kurt, nearly slamming her glass on the counter. "Look, Kurt, I know you feel for this needy little girl of ours, but the tree we have is fine."
"Santana, I can stand next to it, and the top of it would stop at my shoulder." Kurt argued.
"Well, do you expect me to use the few years of cheerleading that I've taken to lift a freakin' pine tree around?" Santana interrogated, pouring the eggnog down her glass. "Besides, trees cost money. Not like thirty-dollar ITunes gift cards money; more like an IPad with 64-gigabytes money."
"Just do it for your own daughter," Kurt reasoned with sympathy. He gestured towards the blonde in the living room with the stuffed cat. The little girl rolled around playfully, holding onto the white toy in her arms. "Look at her, Santana. She just wants to have a bigger Christmas than the other ones she's had. I mean, we've all wanted bigger and better each holiday season, didn't we?"
Before taking a sip of her eggnog, Santana slowly turned her head towards the blonde in the living room. Brittany had just entered the room to play with her, picking her up and letting her sit on her slim dancer lap. The two started singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town together while dancing in circles around the room. They looked so carefree and adorable together. Santana didn't want to ruin Kitty's life, especially after seeing the bright expression on her face. However, her hands were tied. She wasn't sure what to do to keep her happy, but it was going to take hell of a lot to do so.
Without any other options, Santana rolled her eyes reluctantly and spoke before drinking some of her eggnog. "I guess…"
Kurt clapped his hands, satisfied, and went to put the hot chocolate in the oven. "Thank you," he told her.
"It's not a guarantee, though," Santana added, taking another sip of her drink. "I mean, come on. Brittany would have to land a huge back-up role in a film, or a recurring role in a television series, in order to bring more money in this house. Hell, I might have to start advertising myself again –"
"Santana, don't." Kurt warned her.
"You know even you and Blaine Anderson wanted it." Santana responded with a wink before drinking some more eggnog.
"You have children."
"So does Britney Spears, and look how they made her." Santana pointed out, shrugging. "Just sayin'." She drank the last of her eggnog, and placed her glass on the counter. Kurt shook her head at the former high school cheerleader. She could be very unusual sometimes, and he wasn't going to lie about her fit figure and all –
You have a husband, Kurt. You have a husband… Kurt reminded himself whenever Santana would tease him about her body. He could remember a time when Santana had told her that she didn't want to give birth to kids due to the fact that she wanted to keep her healthy body figure. But then when Brittany gave birth to Sugar Lopez, Santana had a change in heart. She wanted to have kids. She wanted to have the same feeling she had when Sugar was born.
However, Santana wasn't able to have kids. She didn't know what it was, but it wasn't working for her. It made her feel devastated. Sugar didn't even know what was going on, but felt all types of sympathy for her. She wanted a little sister to play with and everything. However, Brittany wanted to continue with her dancing career, and Santana was futile. Then they only came up with one other resort: asking their best friend, Quinn Fabray.
Sure, Quinn had gone lesbian around the time Rachel's soon-to-be husband Finn Hudson passed away, making the brunette girl, along with her five-year-old daughter, Marley, devastated; but she was available to helping her two best friends. Plus, she had her black book – well, not really; she doesn't keep those things – and it was full of every guy's number she had gotten prior to dating them. Once Quinn got in touch with one of them, Tony Reeves, they spent a week getting updates on each other, and eventually eloping to the point where Quinn had gotten pregnant once again (she still remembered that fateful day she made Beth Corcoran with her former boyfriend, Noah Puckerman).
That day was the day Kitty Lopez was created. To Santana, it was undoubtedly awkward to see Quinn and Tony again, making a baby that would eventually be hers; but she was that desperate, and Santana felt Sugar was, too.
Kurt had looked straight ahead at Santana, who was lost in all focus as she gazed upon Brittany allowing Kitty to rest on her lap. The poor girl had finally gotten worn out from playing and having such a good time, and she wanted to use Brittany as her personal pillow. She looked so peaceful resting there. It was going to be the one thing about toddler years that Santana was going to miss watching.
The porcelain man cleared his throat, grabbing Santana's attention. "Santana?" he spoke up.
The Latina immediately shook her head and turned back to Kurt. "I'm sorry," she spoke, and went back to finding something else to talk about. "So whose place are we heading to for the holiday sleepover? I had gotten a call from Sam and Mercedes down in L.A., and their little guys, Joe and Jake wanted to come. However, Mercedes had to work overtime for the holidays."
At that moment, the alarm on the microwave went off, and Kurt went over to open the door and take out the heated hot chocolate. "I'm not sure, honestly," Kurt told her, carefully taking the bowl to the island counter. "Blaine and Rory wanted the girls to come over our place, but we have a bit of an understanding on how frightened little Kitten is of our dog, Bessie."
"She has a right to," Santana replied with a shrug. "That dog is so loud for no reason, and he likes to chew on everything. The last time we went to your place with her, Bessie had ruined her favorite stuffed bear you had gotten her from Build-A-Bear Workshop."
Kurt nodded, feeling a bit guilty. "Yeah, I know," he sighed. "Kitty loved that thing. She would dress it up in all kinds of outfits, and maybe even take it to preschool sometimes when she felt lonely." He started stirring up the contents in the bowl. As he did, he took in the drool-worthy aroma of the peppermint-flavored hot chocolate. God, he loved it when it was prepared this way. He could drink the whole bowl right now –
"Hummel, are you in a trance?" Santana asked her, grabbing the bowl filled with steaming hot chocolate. "Give me this damn thing." Kurt could literally feel his tongue getting ready to stick out as he was inwardly panting at the smell of the chocolate goodness. However, Santana understood him too well, and wasn't going to be put up with Hummel tongue in her dishes. "See, this is why we don't go to the Lima Bean when we travel anymore," Santana added, stirring up the chocolate a bit more before taking the bowl and one of the mugs to the sink to pour the hot chocolate in the mug.
Kurt, in a way, missed the Lima Bean. He and Blaine would go there all of the time in high school, even when Blaine was a part of the Dalton Academy Warblers. Now, Blaine and even Santana were concerned about Kurt's coffee cravings, and they never went back there unless it was a special occasion. Rachel had planned to go back when Nationals for the McKinley High School glee club occurred so she could support the alumni's former glee club director, Will Schuester.
Kurt had completely forgotten that, when that time comes, he would be able to get his hands on that warm, delicious, sultry –
"Come on, Hungry Hummel. Help me make the Christmas cookie bark," Santana told the porcelain man, and he strode on over to the pantry to grab the pretzels and red and green M&Ms. Santana had taken out another, clean, microwavable bowl from under the counter, along with a wooden spoon. Then she headed back to the pantry to grab the container filled with Oreos.
"Are Rachel and Marley coming over here today?" Kurt asked, opening the bag of pretzels.
"Rosy-cheeked Marley wanted to see her cousins," Santana explained, opening the Oreos container and handing it to Kurt to crush them. "For the holiday sleepover, we don't know where we're going to stay." She walked on over to the pantry to grab the two bags of white chocolate chips off the middle shelf. "However, I rather we stay at Berry's place since this apartment is too small."
As Kurt placed the pretzels on the cookie sheet with the wax paper on it that had been sitting on the counter, he turned his head and noticed that a sleepy Kitty, who was resting on Brittany's lap on the couch, had gazed upon the small, worn Christmas tree with a sleepy, melancholy facial expression. Brittany was rubbing the side of her head softly, telling her the story of how the Christmas tree New Directions had gotten ripped apart by an unknown source, and it had gotten replaced soon after. Kurt couldn't help but feel a bit down at seeing Kitty looking like that. Every time she gazed at the tree, she didn't feel as cheerful. Not even Brittany's stories or her hand rubs made her feel better.
"That's not the only thing that's too small," Kurt thought aloud, but in a quiet tone at the same time, and he went back to crushing Oreos and opening the plastic bags of M&Ms. To his right, he could feel Santana deadpanning him, and he knew the reason why. He turned towards her and shrugged. "I'm just saying."
Santana sighed once again. "Kurt, I'll handle her on my own." She told him. "I don't see why she's so upset about this tree; she's loved it for the first couple of years in her life."
"Yeah, but she's getting older, wiser, and a bit more expectant now," Kurt said as he spread the M&Ms, crushed Oreos, and the pretzels on the cookie sheet. "If she wants bigger, get her bigger."
Santana just rolled her eyes. "You're always into whatever issue one of my kids are having; let's talk about yours for a damn minute." She placed the white chocolate chips in the microwavable bowl, and placed the bowl in the microwave for about a minute.
"Rory is completely fine," Kurt told her, turning in her direction and leaning against the counter. "I mean, he once got bitten by a mosquito in the summer, but other than that, he's fine. And he just got on the Honor Roll this semester." Kurt nodded. "I'm very proud of him."
"And what does the little guy want this Christmas?" Santana questioned before checking the microwave to see if the white chocolate chips have completely melted.
"Nothing much…at least not yet." Kurt explained. "He started off with asking Blaine and I for a toy race car, and then a couple of DVDs. I told Blaine a couple of Christmases ago that I couldn't afford to figure out what Rory would want on my own –"
"Why? Because you're as feminine as Liza Minnelli?" Santana teased, and she laughed at her own joke, making Kurt glare at her. "But I do know how hard it is to find a Christmas gift for a boy, so you're not alone." The microwave went off, and Santana retrieved the melted white chocolate to place on the counter. "I once had one of my older cousins over my mom's house for Christmas. His name is Joshua. I couldn't decide on whether to get him a scarf, a tie, or Madea's Family Reunion on DVD."
Kurt couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Those have got to be the most random gift choices ever."
"You're telling me," Santana replied as she poured the melted chocolate over the spread M&Ms, crushed Oreos, and pretzels. Kurt literally drowned at the smell and texture of the white chocolate being poured over the mixture of junk food lying on the cookie sheet. He missed the taste of white chocolate so much –
"Kurt, I'm going to ask you to go on to the living room, and see if Berry and her little spawn made it here okay." Kurt could hear himself pout as he headed on to the living room. Santana placed her hands on her hips, nodding. "Mhm, I knew what your motive was, Hummel." Santana and Kurt both chuckled. Santana knew everything about him.
As he headed on into the living room, he noticed that Kitty had gone straight to sleep in Brittany's arms, while Sugar had been playing with Barbie dolls and eating a couple of the Christmas cookies she made in Girl Scouts. "Don't eat too much of those, Sugar." Kurt told her in advance. "You don't want to have a cavity, do you?"
"Don't worry, Uncle Kurt," Sugar assured the older man as she went back to dressing a blonde Barbie doll. "I'll be careful."
Kurt wasn't exactly sure if he could believe her, honestly. He could remember at one point when Blaine's older brother, Cooper had gotten a cavity after eating too many packages of Skittles and Jolly Ranchers. He didn't blame him, though; they were very addictive candy brands.
Kurt turned towards Brittany's direction. The older blonde shrugged. "I check on her almost every snack time," she told Kurt. "No worries."
With a final shrug, Kurt made his way to the window and looked outside. The snow looked so beautiful around this time of year. It gave kids everywhere the opportunity to play around and be kids all they like. However, it gave the adults more of a struggle to drive around in the thick coldness, in addition to just cleaning the snow off the windows and such. Kurt looked towards his left, and noticed two familiar faces standing out in the winter cold. A brunette woman had held a smaller brunette in her arms as she was heading towards the Lopez's door bell.
Rachel Berry, and her daughter, Marley.
Author's Note: I love the holidays, don't you? Like, seriously, it gives everyone the chance to feel cozy within their families, look at the scrumptious snow outside, eat delicious treats, decorate their houses, sing songs, buy and give away presents – just, OMG. Don't mind me, because I love the holidays so much.
Don't think that this story is over, though. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THIS AIN'T A ONE-SHOT! More to come, so stay tuned. Happy reading, all!
