The snow falling steadily in New York and dragging the temperature down with it, coating everything in a thick sheet of white, was doing nothing to dissuade the warm mood in a loft in Bushwick - a loft filled with a group of close friends and lovers.

It was Christmas Eve and everyone had a designated job to do in order to prepare for the next day. Kurt and Blaine were in charge of decorating the tree, Quinn was in charge of hanging ornaments around the loft and putting up other decorations, and Rachel and Santana were in charge of preparing the food and drinks for tomorrow so they wouldn't have as much to do the next morning. Mercedes, Sam, and Artie had all headed off to Lima that morning to spend Christmas with their families but had all promised to call on Christmas Day.

Despite being Jewish, Rachel was more than happy to celebrate Christmas with her friends considering how into the spirit they all were. She'd requested that she not get any presents and they all seemed to have respected her wish so she was content.

Quinn passed by her and Santana at the kitchen table and bent down to kiss the top of Rachel's head before twirling away with a Christmas wreath in her hands. Santana let out a groan as Rachel blushed and curled her lips into her mouth to stop herself from grinning.

"Gross" Santana muttered before pouring herself a glass of the cranberry punch that she and Rachel had just made and taking a sip.

"Hey! That's for tomorrow" Rachel reprimanded her, attempting to snatch the glass from Santana.

Santana moved her arm away from Rachel's grasp.

"I think I deserve some now" she replied, before downing the rest of the glass.

Rachel's face softened then and she leaned closer to Santana who watched her warily.

"I'm sorry Brittany couldn't be here" she murmured quietly.

Santana just stared at her with a blank expression before shaking her head.

"Come on Berry, we can't slack now"

And with that she got up from her chair and moved to the kitchen bench where the ingredients for Rachel's vegan casserole were set up.

Rachel let out a small sigh but made her way to the bench to join Santana.

"It's just that if you wanted to talk about it..." Rachel trailed off as Santana let out a frustrated sigh and turned her body to face Rachel.

"If you don't drop the subject I'm going to make you go hang ornaments with your girlfriend and make this myself"

Rachel frowned, very much not wanting to let the subject drop, but despite how tempting it was to help Quinn, she didn't want to leave Santana in charge of her making her casserole.

Santana seemed satisfied with Rachel's silence, turning back so that she was standing side by side with Rachel.

"Alright, what do we do first?"

With all the jobs completed, the five friends all collapsed on various pieces of furniture in the lounge area.

Kurt and Blaine stretched out across the couch, Blaine's back against Kurt's chest and Kurt's arms wrapped around his waist. Blaine was practically asleep in Kurt's arms, both of them looking perfectly content.

Quinn had commandeered one of the armchairs and Rachel had taken up residence in her lap, snuggled into Quinn's side and her head tucked under her chin. Quinn was absentmindedly running her fingers through Rachel's hair and Rachel let out a small approving noise as she flung an arm across Quinn's waist.

Santana was sitting in the armchair closest to the door, filing her nails with a bored expression on her face.

"Anyone want to watch a movie?" Kurt asked after they'd all been relatively silent for some time.

Everyone exchanged looks before coming to the consensus that yes, they did want to.

"Something happy" Santana demanded, eyes back on her nails as Kurt slid out from behind Blaine and made his way to the TV.

After briefly flicking through a few movies, he pulled one out and brandished it in the air.

"Love Actually okay?" he asked, mostly addressing Santana.

Santana's approval came in the form of a thumbs up as she put her nail file down on the coffee table before settling into her chair. Kurt put the movie into the DVD player and flicked the TV on. Making his way back to the couch, he briefly squeezed Rachel's shoulder as he passed her before settling back down with Blaine.

They'd gotten about halfway through the movie, Blaine asleep against Kurt and Rachel well on her way there as well, when there was a loud knock on the loft door. Blaine startled awake, accidentally digging an elbow into Kurt's side as he tried to sit up and causing Kurt to wince in pain.

Rachel lifted her head, managing to narrowly avoid taking out Quinn as she did so, and looked over at the door in surprise. Santana reached for the remote, pausing the movie, before walking over to the door, throwing a confused look at her friends before opening it and letting out a loud gasp.

"Brittany!" she exclaimed right before Brittany stepped into the loft and threw her arms around Santana.

The others watched the tender scene for a moment before turning their attentions away to give the two some privacy. Blaine reached over for the remote, turning the movie back on and they settled back into watching it.

It wasn't long before Santana and Brittany came over and sat down in the armchair that Santana had previously been occupying, their positioning almost mirroring Quinn and Rachel's with Brittany tucked into Santana's side. Before focusing on the movie, however, Brittany made sure to drop a kiss onto her girlfriend's lips which was readily returned.

No one asked how Brittany had managed to make it there considering that a few days earlier, she had called Santana to tell her that she wouldn't be able to make it to New York for Christmas. Santana hadn't given them any more details than that but it didn't really seem to matter. She was here now and she and Santana would get to spend Christmas together.

Rachel felt Quinn kiss her temple and looked up to see her own girlfriend smiling down at her with warm eyes. Rachel stretched a little to kiss Quinn on the cheek before casting a quick glance to Kurt and Blaine who were very preoccupied with each other's lips.

Santana must have noticed too because when she quietly asked Brittany to pass her the remote and she handed it to her, Santana turned the volume of the movie up a little higher.

Rachel let out a small giggle, burying her face in Quinn's neck to stifle it and feeling like the luckiest girl in the world for getting to spend this time with her girlfriend and some of her closest friends.