Santana stared down at the two mugs of tea steaming on the kitchen counter. Her hand sitting loosely on the tea kettle she'd just set down onto the cutting board, her fingers curled tighter around the handle before the steam escaping the lid became too hot to handle. Letting go, she brought her hand to her other, rubbing against the slightly burning skin.
Would Rachel still accept honey with her tea? Was honey considered vegan?
Not knowing the answer, Santana sighed and looked down at her hand. Not burned. Not even red. Just tingling. Eying the two mugs, she sighed again and hoped the heat hadn't spread enough to make them painful to hold, either. Rachel would appreciate tea.
If she hadn't fallen asleep yet, changed as she was into a pair of Santana's sweats and bundled up under Santana's comforter and blanket and extra blanket, so completely covered Santana had been barely able to see her eyes when she left to find her yet another thing to get warm with. At least she'd been able to change herself, walking to the bathroom without a word after Santana handed her the sweats.
In fact, she hadn't said a word since entering Puck's truck, nodding and shaking her head when needed, curling up into Santana's side so close Santana hadn't needed to concentrate to feel the full-body shaking of her shivers. She couldn't have missed them if she had tried.
Pausing outside the door to her bedroom, Santana chewed idly on her lower lip, frowning. Did she need to knock before she went in? It was her room, but Rachel was in there.
Rachel.
In her bed.
She hadn't been in her bed in years. Not since their last sleepover. Not since… Santana's stomach roiled, and she shut her eyes against the guilt that resurged through her body. No. She didn't need to knock. She never used to.
Not having shut the door entirely when she'd left, Santana used her hip to push it open. Almost immediately, red rimmed brown eyes glowed at hers from above a lump of blankets; Rachel's nose wasn't even out in the air, and Santana wondered if the girl had only jerked the blankets down when the door swung open. Not knowing and not caring enough to ask, Santana padded over to the side of the bed Rachel was closest to. She pushed a mug at her, "Here."
The brown eyes blinked, and then more of Rachel's face was revealed as she pushed herself up, a waterfall of thick hair and bangs falling as she rose. Sniffing, a pale hand appeared to wipe at her nose before another reached out to wrap around the handle, above Santana's fingers. "Thank you," she half-whispered.
Her voice was husky and scratchy, and Santana nodded, automatically reaching forward with her now free hand to pull the blankets back up around Rachel's chest, plopping down on the side of her bed. Keeping one of her feet on the floor, she silently studied Rachel's bowed head. Her insides twisted. "I didn't know if you would still want honey."
A pink tongue darted out to lick a stray drop of tea from the corner of Rachel's mouth, the girl having flinched at both Santana's words and the heat of the tea. Rachel darted her eyes up to look at her, "Why?"
A shrug rolled on Santana's shoulders. "You're vegan, right?" she didn't really ask, "I don't know if honey is considered 'animal' or not. I mean, I know you'd always beg Mamí to add more and more, but that…" She trailed off, pausing to blow across her own tea, the smell giving her something to concentrate on than the overwhelming sense of discomfort thrumming in the room. She sighed. "That was before."
"Before. Right." Dropping a hand to pull the covers up around her chin again, scrunching down into her already made cocoon, Rachel peered up at Santana again. "San…" she mumbled, lips pressed against the ceramic of the mug as she took a sip.
"Yeah?"
Rachel seemed to pull into herself again. Sliding her fingers along the still-slightly-burning surface of her mug, Santana glanced at her, then set her tea down onto the bedside table. Wrapping her hand around the covers stretched under Rachel's arm to under her own leg, Santana pushed herself up and tugged.
Gasping as her tea sloshed, Rachel raised her arms, letting Santana slide under the covers, barely able to fit both of her legs fully onto the bed as she had to almost lay across Rachel. She couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Do you mind?"
Inching her way towards the middle of the bed in clumsy jerks of her body, her tea held far in front of her, Rachel squeaked when Santana flashed out to take the tea from her. "San!"
Putting the tea next to her own on the bedside table, Santana looked at the floor. Rachel had promised. Breathing in deeply, she shook her head, and sprung back around. Wrapping her arms around Rachel's shoulders, she pushed her to the side, making the both of them fall with a muted thump, instantly twisting her arm not under Rachel's body up to sweep the thick covers over them, blocking out the light and fresh air. "Okay," she whispered, shifting so her knees pressed into Rachel's side. Putting her weight on her arm caught under Rachel's neck, and aware of the overly loud sound of her heart and Rachel's breathing in the enclosed, muggy space, she licked her lips and lowered her head until her forehead pressed into the mattress next to Rachel, one side of her head smack against her own shoulder, "Talk."
