"Santana…"

"Mmhmm?"

"Sanny…"

"Yeah?" Santana croaked, her eyes still closed but a smile slowly creeping onto her face at the sound of Brittany's gentle voice.

"I'm cold," Brittany said. As usual, they were both on their sides, facing each other with their faces just inches apart. Brittany placed her hand on Santana's cheek and inspected every detail on Santana's face—the way her hair splayed across the pillow, waves of black spilling over the surface with each slight movement of her body, the way her cheeks glowed as if there were some source of light underneath her tan yet translucent skin, the way her thick eyelashes stretched from her closed eyelids…

Still not fully awake, Santana sloppily flung her arm up to cover Brittany's hand with her own. Her eyes finally opened. "You are cold," she whispered, feeling the chill from Brittany's hand seep into her palm.

Brittany nodded.

Santana's face softened. Her normally razor-sharp eyes lost their edge, and the outer corners of her eyes drooped down. She smiled tenderly at Brittany as she held Brittany's hand tighter. "Come here," she said.

Brittany nudged closer, and she snuggled her head into Santana's neck. "You're soft, Sanny," she told her.

Santana responded by stroking her smooth blonde hair and placing a peck on her forehead. "You're the softest, my little Brittany."

Brittany looked up at Santana through her eyelashes. "I wish we could stay like this forever," she said with a sigh.

Santana bent her head down and kissed her softly on the lips. "I know."

Just then, a knock at the door made both girls jerk away from each other. "I think it's my mom," Brittany whispered too loudly.

Santana just smiled and turned around to pretend she was still sleeping.

"Come in!" Brittany called.

The door creaked open, and Mrs. Pierce peeked her head in through the gap. "Are you girls still sleeping?"

Brittany sat up and shrugged.

"Well," Mrs. Pierce went on, "I'm taking your sister to soccer practice now, and then I'm going to go get some groceries and stuff, so I probably won't be back until late this afternoon. Are you girls going to be okay without me?"

Brittany looked over at the "sleeping" Santana and couldn't help but smile. "Yeah," she said, keeping her gaze on Santana and nodding, "we'll be just fine."

Mrs. Pierce hesitated for a second, looking at Brittany quizzically, and finally closed the door.

Brittany poked Santana's shoulder. "She's gone."

Santana stayed still.

"I know you're awake, Santana." Brittany rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm not."

"Oh, my God, Santana! You're so awake!"

"You're wrong."

Brittany giggled. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"Okay…" Brittany bit her lip, thinking hard. She leaned into Santana, her lips just a fraction of an inch away from Santana's ear. "Santaaaana," she whispered.

Santana shifted a little.

"You're awake," Brittany whispered again. Then she stuck the tip of her tongue out and licked the shell of Santana's ear.

"Ew, gross, Britt."

"My mom's not coming back until this afternoon, you know, which means we have plenty of time to, you know…"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Santana's smile betrayed her, but she kept teasing Brittany anyway.

Brittany bit her ear gently. "You know exactly what I'm talking about," she mumbled into Santana's ear. Her hand crept up Santana's shirt and rubbed circles on her abs. Still not getting a response from Santana, she snuck her hand up a little more and cupped Santana's breast, squeezing just the slightest bit.

Santana finally reacted with a tiny whimper.

Brittany abruptly pulled her hand away. "I'm not going to go on if you don't admit you're awake."

Santana's eyes fluttered open. "Okay, okay, I'm awake. How could I not be with you doing all those wonderful things to my—oh."

Brittany had resumed what she had been doing before Santana could even finish her sentence. Now she was kneading her breasts again with both hands, her thumbs grazing over Santana's nipples. "Britt," Santana squeaked out.

"Hmm?"

"Can you kiss me?"

Brittany frowned. "Is that even a question?" And she kissed Santana like it was their very first kiss because, in a way, it always was.