"Honey, I'm home." Brittany laughed from the hallway to the kitchen where she found me cooking our dinner. She immediately wrapped her arms around me from behind.
"You love saying that, don't you?" I laughed with her.
"Duh?!" she turned me around and pecked my lips. "That'll never get old."
I laughed at her perkiness. This is one of the things I loved coming home. Seeing my wife and hearing how joyful she was always made my heart flutter.
"So, what do we have here?"
"Roasted chicken and potatoes for tonight. Help me prepare the table babe."
"Got it!" she pecked my lips again and went to set the table. She put some soothing music too and went to get some wine glasses.
We just looked at each other silently and smiled. We both love how domestic we get every day.
It's been a month since we moved in here…
Champagne bottles popped as we celebrate and blessed our new home. Britt and I gathered our family and friends to a small housewarming party. We opted to have a simple celebration with the people we loved the most.
Britt and I prepared everything. My wife really wanted to be hands on with everything. We even had an argument when I told her that I already called an organizer. But later on I realized why she wanted us to organize it ourselves. Brittany and I got the opportunity to talk and bond again. Starting from the invitations to our house greeter to food and drinks and giveaways, they are all personalized and handcrafted. I can't remember the last time I did something like this. She truly is amazing.
"Whoa! This house is totally breathtaking." It was the first time Quinn saw the house. She just went back from LA with Puck. They spent the Halloween there.
"Thank you. This way is to the basement and laundry and this is to our kitchen." Brittany pointed out to the way. Brittany toured the house with Quinn while I finish preparing the side dishes.
"You're a bit early for tonight." I told Puck who poured some wine to our glasses.
"Yeah, we just thought you need a hand."
"We're almost done. Besides, you're a 'visitor'. Ugh!" I rolled my eyes as Puck enjoyed eyeing me with the apron.
"Look, what has Brittany done to you?" Puck laughed thunderously. I threw some broccoli on him which luckily did not damage his shirt.
"Stop it, will you?"
"A'right. A'right. I'm sorry, man. But, whoosh! I'm just so glad seeing you guys like this. Congratulations, San. I'm so proud of you." Puck went beside me and squeezed my shoulders. He put his arms around me sideways and kissed the top of my head.
"I can't wait to see you and Quinn do the same. So, when are you planning to settle down?"
"I'm just finding the right time. Quinn's so busy right now. It's like she's still working her way up when she doesn't even need to."
"You know her. When she's into something, she really want to give it her best shot. Try dropping off some hints."
"Yeah, I know. I'm really trying to. I sometimes talk to her about what I want in the future you know? I expect she wanted the same but she just wouldn't tell me."
"Take her by surprise. The simple, the better. There's no perfect time. It's a bullshit. You just gotta make the time perfect for you."
"Yeah, I guess… I guess you're right."
"About what?" Quinn entered the kitchen followed by Brittany and our parents.
"Mami! Papi!" I immediately went to welcome them.
"Smells nice in here, mija." Papi said and pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you, papi."
"Let me help you, Sanny-bug."
"Abuela! Oh my gosh, I thought you couldn't come."
"Well, there's a lot of convincing with Ricky here." She pointed out to papi.
"The doctor said you need some rest, ma." Papi cascaded her but abuela only rolled her eyes at him. (So, you know whom I got it from.)
I kissed abuela and hugged her tight.
"I missed you." I whispered.
"I missed you and Brittany too." Abuela pulled Brittany and squeezed her hand.
"MAMI! What are you doing?" I shouted when I saw my mom taking over the dinner. "No, no, no…" I snatched the ladle from my mom. "Okay, visitors out! Chop-chop!" I literally pushed everyone out of the kitchen to the living room. "My wife's gonna kill me, mami. She wanted me to be 'hands on' even with the food." I whispered to my mom.
"Oh my!" My mom laughed quietly. "What is Noah's term for it again?"
"Hm, I think it's whipped." I shamelessly admitted to my mom and laughed with her. After a while, Brittany's parents arrived. Everyone bonded and we played a little game and some pranks. I went back to the kitchen when everyone was settled in the living room. Bash played the piano while everyone chatted.
"You okay in here?" Brittany checked on me after a few minutes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm almost done."
"What else can I do?" My wife kindly asked.
"Hm, can you get the basket I left in the food storage?" I tipped my head to the storage room.
"Basket? What else have we forgotten?" Brittany made her way to the storage room and opened the lights. After a few seconds she slowly walked out with the fresh bouquet of lilies and a painting of us during our wedding dance.
I made my way towards her. "You are so beautiful tonight, my love." I whispered and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. Brittany had tears in her eyes. She couldn't say anything so she pulled me into a kiss instead.
"I love you so much, Santana."
"I know. I love you too." I kissed her the second time and wiped some stubborn tears out of her face. "Come on now. Don't cry, B." I kissed the tip of her nose.
"They're probably wondering what's taking us so long. I better head out. Is dinner ready?"
"Yes, babe. I'll be out there in a few. Go."
Brittany went to the living room where I heard a couple of 'aws' when Brittany showed them the painting. I went to join them afterwards.
Dinner was great. We had been updated with Kurt and Bash's relationship. Seems like they're really taking things seriously now. Puck and Quinn was asked about settling down. Everyone has a fair share of stories.
"This is so good, San." Quinn said while munching on the dessert.
"I learned from the best." I winked at abuela and squeezed my mom's hand on the table.
"So, San and Brit, when do we expect to have grandchildren?" Brittany's dad caught us off guard by his question.
I almost spilled my drink.
"Daddy!" Brittany hushed his father.
Everybody laughed except Brittany who turned red with embarrassment.
"Well… we're working on it, dad." I smiled at him and Brittany nudged me.
"Not funny, San."
"What? It's not a joke. Of course it's not funny." I smirked at her.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes at me.
"Okay, okay. You two are just so adorable." Papi said while raising his glass. "I wish you both nothing but the best. Congratulations."
"Cheers." Brittany's mom raised her glass and all of us toasted.
The conversation was diverted to some random stuff we have all seen on the news. We moved to the family room after dinner and have some more wine.
The gentlemen talked about business and politics while we talked about where to spend the holidays since Christmas is just a few weeks away.
"Well, we should all spend it together as family. We could go out of the country." Britanny's mom suggested.
"That's a great idea!" My mom agreed. "We could all go to Paris or Bali or in Japan."
"Yes, that sounds great moms, but, Britt and I actually talked about this already."
"Oh, you did?" Mami asked.
"Yes, actually… we want to spend it here. Since this is our first year as a married couple and this is our first home so we were hoping to celebrate it here." Brittany said.
"We were also hoping that you'll celebrate with us but it's okay if you want to go out of the country. It'll be a blast, I know it. Britt and I are just gonna stay here." I added.
"Is that so?" Mom sounded a bit disappointed.
"But, we could join you for New Year."
"Oh yeah, we can join you in New Year's Eve." I agreed to Brittany.
"Hm, that's not a bad idea. What do you think Susan?" Mami asked mom who were nodding in agreement.
"Yes, I think that would work for us. You can spend Christmas here but we have to celebrate together. Now, we just have to think where."
Mami and mom had their little conversation. Abuela was in deep talk with Puck and Quinn. Kurt and Puck were busy playing us some good music.
I cleared my throat and leaned to Brittany. "Will you dance with me?" I whispered.
Brittany chuckled. "I thought you'd never ask."
I took Brittany's hand and lead her to the middle of the room. Bash must've noticed because he and Kurt played another music on the piano.
"This song is basically us…" I told her.
"Yeah, it is."
They played 'I Finally Found Someone' as I slowly brought Brittany closer. We swayed through the music. We rested our foreheads together and closed our eyes. The song came to its end and Brittany surprised me with a dip and a soft kiss.
Everyone clapped as if we performed something from them. I took the opportunity to thank everyone.
"From me and Britt, thank you very much for coming tonight." I said and I let Brittany to continue.
"We are so grateful for all the blessings we have received. I could say that this one has been one of the greatest. This is where we'll start our little Lopez-Pierce family with you guys as witness. To my lovely wife, San, thank you for all the effort and love. Welcome home."
"Welcome home to us, Brittany."
Brittany pulled me into a warm embrace. This is our first step. One of the million steps left in our journey.
…
"Hey, are you okay?" Brittany brought me back to reality.
"Yes, I'm fine." I smiled. I followed Brittany to the dining room.
"So… Christmas is just two weeks away. I'm so excited, San! This is our first Christmas together. Oh, and Quinn called. She said she'll try to be here on Christmas day. Puck will be here for sure but as for Quinn… not so sure."
"Well, she has to. We have to make her come."
"I know, I know. It'll be more fun if they'd be here but you know Quinn."
"Britt, you need to help me convince Q to come home."
"Sanny, I already told you –"
"Puck will ask her."
"Wait, what?"
"Yes, Puck will finally do it."
"Oh my gosh! Really?"
"Yes!"
"Oh my gosh! That's so awesome."
"We have to make it subtle. She should not get any hint. We have to keep this a top secret. I know you are good with that."
"We are. I just kinda stole your idea."
"Well, it was perfect nevertheless."
"It was. I never got the chance to say thank you."
"You already said it a lot of times, B."
"No, really." Brittany reached for my hand and held it firmly. "Thank you, San. Thank you for saying yes. Thank you for marrying me. Thank you for buying this house with me. Thank you for all the good that has happened to me because of you."
"You are very welcome. To be honest, you are the reason for all the good that has happened to us. You didn't give up on me."
"We didn't give up on each other. We still got a long way to go."
"We'll make it through til the end. I just know it."
"I know. I have faith in us." Brittany squeezed my hand again and kissed it before leaning in to kiss me.
…
THANK YOU FOR STAYING TUNED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT THROUGH THESE YEARS.
We still got a long way to go folks!