When they wake the next morning, they're still in the same position. Santana wakes first and when she looks at the bedside clock sees that it's 7:37AM. She decides that she probably won't be able to get back to sleep and will go for a run.
As she tries to detach herself from Quinn, it seems like the blonde has other ideas. She tightens her grip on Santana and pulls her back.
"I know you aren't about to leave me to wake up alone after the first time we've shared a bed." She grumbles.
Oh my god, that might be the sexiest voice I have ever heard. Santana thinks.
"I was going to go for a run but since you've put it like that, go back to sleep."
"And you'll be here when I wake up?"
"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
"Such a charmer." The blonde laughs as she settles back into her girlfriend and goes back to sleep.
The next week flies by and it's the day before Quinn's birthday. Santana is running around preparing all the last minute details making sure that her girlfriend gets the day she deserves.
The day after they had become official, they told Maribel and Blaine who were both ecstatic. Maribel was overjoyed as she doesn't believe there is anyone better suited for her little girl and Blaine had spoken to Santana privately later on in the day to emphasise how happy he was for his sister.
The girls had decided that they weren't going to be a secret but they weren't going to make their relationship a spectical either, people would just find out when they found out. They had decided to tell Kurt and Mercedes though, as they had been hanging with them a lot more recently.
Quinn had decided that for her birthday she just wanted to have dinner with Mari, Santana, Blaine, Kurt and Mercedes and Mari was more than happy to cook for them all, she had taken a liking to their friends.
The morning of Quinn's birthday, Santana got up at 3:30AM so that she could prepare breakfast for the three of them before training.
She crept through the house down to the kitchen, made herself some coffee and cooked pancakes with extra bacon with orange juice for Quinn.
She piled some onto a plate and placed it onto a tray, along with the glass, leaving the remainder on the breakfast bar for her brother.
The brunette proceeded to make her way to Quinn's room where the could hear rustling from within. She slowly entered, sure not to startle her girlfriend, who was sitting at the dressing table, placing the tray beside her.
Quinn saw the brunette enter the room through the mirror and stood to meet her after she'd placed the tray down. She reached her arms around Santana's neck, who placed her hands on the other girls waist, and pulled her in for a deep, loving kiss.
"Happy birthday baby." Santana whispered softly against Quinn's lips as they pulled away.
"Thank you lovebug." Quinn smiled in reply and leant in for a series of quick pecks.
"I better go so you can get that fine ass into that seriously sexy skirt, otherwise we're never going to make it on time." Santana winks as Quinn rolls her eyes.
"Eat up, I made it especially for you." The brunette says as she blows a kiss and leaves the room.
The three had finished their early morning training and were getting ready to make their way into the main school to prepare for classes.
"I can't wait to get this cast off. It's driving me insane, it makes everything so much harder!" Blaine exclaims. He still has a couple of weeks left until his cast is removed and it makes ROTC training much harder for him as he has to be careful when using his arm.
"It'll be off soon little bro." Santana replies as they arrive at Quinn's locker. She opens it up to find a bouquet of roses waiting for her. She instantly turns to Santana.
"Babe, they're beautiful." She sighs.
Santana raises an eyebrow quizzically and looks inside the locker to see what her girlfriend is talking about.
"I didn't do that, they're not from me." She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.
Quinn scrunches her eyebrows in confusion and removes the flowers to look for a note, to which she finds buried in midst of the petals.
'Happy Birthday Babe. - F x"
Anger quickly rises within Santana as Quinn is still contemplating where the mystery flowers have come from.
"That fucking idiot, now he's added breaking and entering to the list of things I hate him for!" Santana shouts and begins to storm in the direction of Finn's locker.
Quinn quickly pieces together where the flowers are from and the direction that her girlfriend is heading, closely followed by her brother. She leaves the flowers on the floor, slams her locker shut and chases Santana down the hall, she stops in front of her and places a hand on her chest to holt any movement.
"Let me deal with this, please?" She says sternly while looking Santana in the eyes. She can see the jealousy swirling but also a little sadness and disappointment.
"No Q, he can't just go around breaking into your locker and -" she begins to rant but is cut off by soft lips pressing into hers.
They had decided to keep the PDA to a minimum at school so that there was no reason for anyone to say anything, however as Blaine was the only person around, Quinn figured this would be the most effective and quickest way to calm the Latina down.
"Let me deal with this, please?" She repeats pleadingly, which receives a reluctant head nod from her counterpart.
"Okay, but I'm standing near by when you do. If he so much as lays a finger on you, I'm dealing with it my way." She deadpans.
"I wouldn't expect nothing less." Quinn smiles softly in response.
The bell rings and people start to file into the hallways.
Quinn makes her way towards Finn standing at his locker solo, while Santana and Blaine stand at Blaine's locker a little further down the corridor.
Finn sees Quinn approaching and gives her his best smile, "Hey babe! Happy birthday, did you like your present?"
"Okay, two things. One, I'm not your 'babe', don't call me that again. We're not dating, you're not my boyfriend, you don't get to call me that anymore. And two, no, I didn't. I didn't like the fact you'd been in my locker without my knowledge."
The smile is instantly wiped from his face and replaced with humiliation and anger.
"I always gave you flowers on your birthday Quinn. What's the difference this year?" He shouts and take a step towards her.
Santana goes to move but is stopped by Blaine, "Just give her a second, she knows what she's doing." He whispers.
"The difference this year is that we aren't dating you idiot! Hell, we aren't even on speaking terms so I have no idea why you think that would be okay!" She begins to raise her voice.
This causes Santana to take a step forward, she feels uneasy about the situation, she can't hear what's been said clearly but can see that Finn's stance is shifting intimidatingly. At that moment, he looks up and they make instant eye contact. She sees him grin and then look back down towards her girlfriend.
"Your guard dog looks as though she's going to rip my head off. You better reign her in before she hurts herself." He whispers leaning his head towards Quinn's ear.
As he retracts his face, Quinn slaps him as hard as she can. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to be some kind of threat but if it is, god help you Finn. I don't need to reign in my girlfriend, she just knows how to protect and treat me right." And with that she storms away towards Santana, interlaces their fingers and continues to walk towards class, saying a quick good bye to Blaine and leaving behind a stumped Finn.
"Are you okay?" Santana asks warily.
Quinn turns to her grinning widely, "Best. Birthday. Ever. I've wanted to do that for so long."
Santana laughs giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'm so proud of you." She says leading Quinn into their classroom.
She rest of the day goes along without any more issues. When they return home, Maribel is waiting for them and envelopes Quinn into a big hug, kissing her repeatedly on the head. "Happy birthday baby girl. Mija, go and pull everything out and we'll get situated in the living room."
Maribel, Quinn and Blaine go to sit in the living room and Santana follows them shortly after with a pile of presents in her arms.
Quinn looks around a the people in the room with a soft expression on her face, "You guys really didn't have to get me anything."
Maribel steps in before Santana has the chance, "Nonsense. You're part of our family now Quinn. Plus you're sixteen! This is something to celebrate." She exclaims happily.
Santana passes her over the first present and Mari says that it's from her. Quinn opens it up and find a gorgeous silver trinket box.
"Mrs. L, it's beautiful." Quinn says as she runs her fingers over the engraving on the top which reads,
'Happy sweet 16th Quinn. Love, Mama L x'
"It is tradition in our family to receive one of these on your 16th birthday. I was gifted one by my mother, who received one from hers and so on. I gave one to Santana and now to you." Quinn wipes the tears from her eyes as she hugs Maribel.
"Thank you Mama L."
"You're welcome Mija."
Santana tears up at the scene in front of her. Her mother had approached her and Blaine a couple of weeks ago and asked if they would be okay if she included Quinn in this tradition. They were both enthusiastic about it and touched that their mother had taken to Quinn so fondly.
She opens Blaine's present next to find a case and an empty photo album, she looks at him confusedly.
"They will definitely make more sense in a minute." He chuckles.
Santana hands her the last present with a shy smile. Quinn opens it up and is awe. Within the box is a vintage Polaroid camera, just like the one she dreamed of as a little girl.
"How did you know?" She whispers.
"When we were younger, you didn't really talk to me that much but you did tell me that you wanted one of these cameras your grandad had, one that printed photos instantly because you loved it. It took me a long time but I finally tracked one down that is still in good enough condition that it works and the photos look good." She finishes as tears streak down Quinn's cheeks.
"I can't accept this Tana. It's too much, it must have cost a fortune." She refuses.
"It's not too much. Trust me, you more than anyone deserve this baby."
Quinn rushes over and tackles her girlfriend into a hug, Santana whispers another 'happy birthday darling' in her ear and then Quinn moves to hug Blaine and thank him too.
"I do have one more thing for you." Santana says as she pulls an envelope from her pocket. She hands it over to Quinn who again tries to say she's had enough but Santana is insistent.
The blonde opens it to find 2 tickets to Dianna Ross.
"Are you for real?" She shouts.
"I really am, turns out she's on tour and the show is about an hour away. Mami has agreed to let us take the car so we can drive there and back, unfortunately though it's not for like 6 months yet."
Quinn jumps into Santana's arms, wrapping her arms around her neck and legs around her waist, repeatedly kissing every part of her face whilst thanking her over and over again. Santana finally places her down and Mari tells them all to get ready for dinner tonight.
Before they do, the four of them take a selfie with Quinn's new camera and she thinks the photo that's produced, just might be her favourite photo of all time.
Within the next half an hour, Mercedes and Kurt had arrived. They'd all sat around in the living room and they had both chipped in to gift Quinn some film for her camera and a Dianna Ross t-shirt. She had hugged them and thanked them more than once.
They all sat around the dining room table and Mari had cooked a similar selection of foods to the first time they all ate dinner together.
Quinn decides that she is going to spend more time with Mama L in the kitchen so that she can learn to cook. As her mother was a borderline alcoholic, she was never really much of a cook and so Quinn would love to learn so that she's able to provide good meals for her future family.
Dinner came to an end and the kids decided that they would clear the table and do the dishes so that Maribel could get ready for her night shift.
Once all of the tidying was complete and Maribel had said her goodbyes, Quinn excused herself to go and freshen up and change into some comfortable clothing, as she had wore a dress to dinner.
She had been gone for around half an hour when Santana decided to go and find her.
The brunette checked the bathroom first but had no luck and then carried on to Quinn's room, where she found her girlfriend on her bed, sobbing into her legs with them tucked into her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them.
Santana had a inkling into why she was crying but didn't want to push her to talk. She climbed onto the bed next to Quinn and shifted her into her lap, where the blonde proceed to nestle into her neck and cling to Santana's shirt.
They sat for around 20 minutes until Quinn's sobs subsided. Finally, Quinn spoke, "I at least thought she'd try to call." Her voice gruff from the crying.
"I know baby, I'm so sorry." Santana tries to soothe whilst lightly running her fingers through a nest of blonde hair.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. I feel so stupid and selfish. You've all done so much for me over the past couple months and I'm crying over a woman that hasn't cared for years and a man that would beat me."
"Q, look at me." There's no movement from the head buried within her neck so she tries again. "Look me me, please?" The girl slowly lifts her head and looks into her girlfriends deep brown eyes. "You are not stupid and you are not selfish. You miss your parents and that's natural Q. You love them and although they might not be the best people in the world, that's okay, because without them, you wouldn't be here. I'm thankful for them, because I wouldn't have you without them.
Me, Mami and Blaine, we'll never be able to replace them, but we love you like you're our own. I know Mami thinks of you as her little blonde daughter now." She chuckles which gains a smile from Quinn. "And Blaine, he'll protect you like the little brother he is and he'll love you unconditionally. And me, well if we work out, you'll be my number 1 priority forever, if not, I'll still love you as part of this family. Nothing can break that now.
If in two months or a year or 10 years time you decide you want to reach out to Russell and Judy, I will be there, beside you, supporting you all the way. I just want you to be happy Lucy Q. And girls as pretty as you shouldn't be crying, especially not on their birthdays." She finishes her monologue with a smile and wipes the remaining tears from Quinn's cheeks with her thumb.
"Will you lay with me?" Quinn finally says in her still groggy voice.
"Of course, let me go and say goodnight. I bet they think we're up to no good." She finishes with a wink and the other girl blushes.
"Do you think you can tell them I'll see them tomorrow? I don't feel like facing anyone right now."
"Of course, gorgeous. You make yourself comfortable and maybe pick a film?" The blonde nods and Santana proceeds downstairs to explain the situation to everyone. They're all extremely understanding and she returns to find Quinn dressed in her favourite hoodie and boxers beneath the quilt with the TV paused at the beginning of a film.
Before she slides into the bed, she speaks up, "Is now a good time to give you your final present?"
"Babe, you've given me more than enough." She sighs.
"Just one more, I promise. You're only 16 once, let me spoil you." She slips into the bed and pulls a familiar blue box from her hoodie pocket and places it on the other girls lap.
Once Quinn has registered the packaging she turns to Santana and shakes her head in disbelief. She opens it and finds a Tiffany's silver bracelet, sporting a dangling blue heart chain. She takes it delicately from the box and lays it in her palm to take a closer look. "Baby.." She pauses. "It's perfect, can you put it on me please?"
Santana takes the bracelet and claps it to Quinn's wrist. As she's about to close the box back up, she sees a handwritten note at the bottom, it reads 'Now you have my heart forever'.
She places the note back inside the box, puts in on the bedside table and moves to straddle Santana, placing her hands on the tanned cheeks and clasping her fingers around her neck. "Thank you. Thank you for everything. I don't know what I'd do without you. You must be the hero I was hoping for." She finishes and leans down to kiss Santana.
The kiss is slow and attentive. Santana can feel a tongue poking at her top lip requesting entrance. She happily obliges as their tongues meet completely for the first time. It feels natural and right, like they were made just for one another.
Both girls can feel butterflies in their stomach and are enjoying the tenderness between them, as though they both understand what they need in this moment.
Santana is fully aware of the love and care that Quinn needs to feel right now. Though 'love' isn't a word they have expressed to each other yet, they both can feel it reciprocated from their partner in this moment.
Quinn feels a hand move from her thigh to her back and Santana carefully flips them without breaking the kiss. The blonde opens her legs so that her girlfriend can lie between them and continues to cradle Santana's neck, pulling her further into the kiss, tongues dancing deliciously.
After a few more minutes, the brunette pulls back and stares into the face of a pouting Quinn. "Put the pout away pretty girl," she jests, prodding at Quinn's bottom lip, which makes the other girl break into a smile, "I don't want to ruin today by doing something that we're not ready for." She finishes.
"I'm definitely not ready yet, that's okay right?" Quinn asks shyly.
"It is more than okay my darling, we're not going to do anything more until you're ready. If you're uncomfortable with something, tell me and we'll stop, alright?" Santana says and sees the relief wash over Quinn's face, who is nodding in agreement. However, curiosity gets the best of her, "Why would you think it wouldn't be okay?"
"I don't know it's just, Finn used to get angry with me when I told him I didn't want to have sex. I didn't feel safe with him, I think he just expected it from me, I felt like it was the only reason he was dating me." She says quietly while beginning to run her hands through Santana's hair, who's still laying between her legs.
"I definitely don't expect anything from you, nothing is going to happen between us until you're ready. If I have to wait forever or it never happens at all, I'm okay with that. It doesn't matter to me, this relationship isn't based on sex Q, it's so much more. Okay, yes, you're fine as hell and them Cheerios skirts should be illegal," Quinn giggles and looks up into her eyes, "but being with you is the most important thing to me."
"As reassuring that is, I will definitely be ready at some point because trust me baby, you are definitely something I can't keep my hands off. I feel drawn to you, like if I aren't touching you in some way, I feel.. lost." She pauses before asking, "Have you done it before?"
"If you're asking if I've had sex, then no. I've come close but I haven't. I've done, 'things' I suppose, but it's not felt like I've found the right person to give myself too. You haven't either?" She questions.
"I could barely even bring myself to kiss Finn, he never got anywhere near close and I haven't found anyone else it felt right with either, until now."
Santana grins and lays her head on Quinn's chest, the blonde continues to caress her hair.
"Q?" She whispers.
"Yeah lovebug?"
"You feel safe with me, right?"
"Tana, look at me," she replies seriously as she lifts Santana's head so that their eyes meet, "When I'm in your arms, that's the safest I've ever felt in my life."
Santana nods and whispers a 'good' and attempts to shift from on top of the blonde, to which she unsuccessful as she's held down.
"Don't move, please? I just need to feel you close." She says as she switches off the lights and TV.
"Are you sure you're comfortable?" Santana says as she shifts to lay her head down on Quinn's chest and wraps her arms around the taller girls waist.
"I am more than comfortable. Goodnight my lovebug."
"Goodnight baby."