"Santana?"

Brittany's voice was plaintive from where she stood in the doorway of the bathroom, where Santana was in the process of brushing her teeth. When Santana, foam dripping slightly down her chin, looked over at her, she noticed immediately that the other girl's lips were drawn into a pout, her blond eyebrows knitted as she came forward towards her.

"This really hurts. Help me?"

"What does?"

Santana had been quickly concerned, the protective instincts that always came out when it seemed that Brittany was in any way remotely made uncomfortable hurriedly asserting themselves at Brittany's sad expression and tone. She removed the toothbrush from her mouth and wiped at the foam, spitting into the sink before turning fully towards Brittany and giving her full attention to her. As her eyes scanned the other girl's form, looking for any signs of injury, she didn't notice anything readily obvious to her vision that could be physically affecting Brittany. Nevertheless, she reached out a hand to her, wanting Brittany to take it in hers.

"What hurts, Britt? What's wrong?"

"I burnt my hand roasting chestnuts," was Brittany's reply, and as she held out the said hand for Santana's inspection, Brittany could see that this was the case. Brittany's fair skin was reddened, though not yet blistered, and Santana drew it close to her, cooing over it sympathetically.

"Damn, I'm sorry, babe…come here, let me help."

She drew Brittany into the bathroom with her, gently holding the reddened hand, and searched through the medicine cabinet behind their bathroom mirror for any soothing ointments or gels. Finding some Neosporin, she carefully applied a layer to Brittany's hand, then held it in between hers as she used gauze to bandage the slight wound.

"Is that better? Not too tight?" she checked with her as Brittany nodded, though her dark blue eyes still displayed a droopy sadness as she blinked them towards Santana- exactly the move that she knew would melt the other girl's heart.

"Sanny, it would probably feel MUCH better if you gave it a kiss."

It was a mark of how Brittany had "shaped" her that Santana took Brittany's hand and kissed it without a second thought, then stroked her fingertips over its back carefully, still cradling it in her own.

"All better now?"

"Just about," Brittany finally graced her with a warm smile, stretching up to kiss Santana's lips briefly. "Thank you, San."

Santana kissed her back, the gesture brief but nevertheless warm and affectionate. It wasn't until she drew back that the question struck her.

"Brittany…how exactly were you roasting chestnuts?"

"Oh, I made a fire in the kitchen sink, but don't worry, it's out now, and I'm pretty sure the smoke detector here is broken, so in the future we won't have to hear any of those terrible beeping noises if it happens again," Brittany shrugged, her tone as casual and expressionless as usual. "Also the walls and ceiling in the kitchen needed new paint anyway. I'm thinking purple this time."

Santana's mouth opened, then slowly closed, and after an inner debate, she just shook her head, letting out a slow sigh. Christmas season with Brittany Pierce was never predictable, nor could it ever be called boring.