A/N: Hello and Happy Holidays Everyone! This is the next installment of our fic! a little angst sprinkled in but also alot of cute fluff. Things are moving along quickly for Santana and Brittany, and let me just say I love Christmas. I have some weird family memories but I still can't sour this holiday. So, sip a hot chocolate and enjoy chapter 3.
Chapter 3: Baby It's Cold Outside
Beverly pulled Brittany into the office after breakfast the next morning. Santana was still asleep upstairs, and it was the perfect opportunity to brainstorm ideas with her daughter. They had 9 days until Christmas, and the first thing she needed to know was when her daughter planned to propose.
"I'm planning on proposing Christmas day. The Lopezes will be home by then and I really want them to be there. I know it would mean a lot to Santana if her parents were there." Brittany explained "But I also don't want to propose at the Lopez household. It would feel wrong."
"I completely agree Brittany, but where in Lima is important enough to propose?" Beverly asked. The small town held a few good memories for the girls, but also a lot of bad, often in the same place as the good. She went over the options in her head, but nothing stood out.
"There's one place I think would be perfect, but I've got a lot of convincing to do, not to mention recruiting." Brittany shook her head "Mom, I'm not sure I can pull this off. And what if she's mad I proposed? What if she wanted to?"
"Honey, don't worry. If she wanted to, she'd never do it in Lima." Beverly sighed "This town, in her eyes, doesn't accept her."
"What if she's mad about that?" Brittany worried "I mean, what if I completely ruin this mom? I love her. I can't mess this up."
"Deep breaths Brittany. Tell me what you've got so far and I'll do the worrying." Beverly patted her daughter's hand.
"Right, okay. So the choir room at McKinley. It's the first safe space we ever had. And she loves that place. The challenge is, what made it special was the people." Brittany explained "Quinn and Puck are in Lima through the New Year, so at least I have them. Finn is still here working at Burt's tire shop right?"
"Yup, your father had him fix us up for winter." Beverly said.
"Phew, okay. Artie, Sam, and Tina haven't graduated yet, so they'll be easy to get. I saw Mike before we left and he's flying in to spend Christmas with Tina in a few days. So that leaves convincing Rachel, Blaine and Kurt to come home." Brittany sighed "That's going to be a hard sell to Rachel, but I think Kurt will gladly come see his dad. I honestly think he was planning on it anyway. Blaine will follow him. "
"So how do we convince Rachel?' Beverly asked, and Brittany put on a grinch-like smile. She had a great idea. She thanked her mom for her help, and asked her to distract Satana. McKinley High was about to get a visitor. She got to the school and walked straight to the choir room. Lucky for her, Glee still met at lunch and she walked in just as Mr.Schue was announcing his plans for the week.
"Sorry to interrupt Mr.Schue, but I'm sure I'm a welcome presence." She was immediately hugged by Sam, Artie and Tina. The newbies looked shell-shocked that anyone would willingly enter the halls of McKinley. Clearly, they hadn't met Brittany S. Pierce.
"Hi Brittany. Some of you know her, some of you don't, everyone this is former New Direction and Cheerio Brittany." Mr.Schue introduced, gaining mediocre applause from the students.
"Thanks Mr.Schue. Look, I need to ask a favor, and I suppose you're all welcome to help…" she shrugged "And before I tell you, this is super secret information -Sugar?" she looked at Sugar who just waved as if she didn't care. "I'm going to propose to Santana." she admitted and immediately Tina and Sam were congratulating her immensely.
"So how can we help?" Mr.Schue asked, gesturing around the room.
"Well, you all could use an annual Glee tree in here for starters. Secondly, Mr.Schue, I need you to convince Rachel to come back. Say the newbies are dying to meet her. Third, I need this to feel like the choir room we love, so filling the chairs with acceptance is a must. Lastly, I need you to get us into the school on Christmas." she looked back to Mr.Schue.
"That can be arranged Tweedle Dumb." Sue said from the doorway "You know I always loved the sapphic love between you and Boobs McGee, so I'll let you into the school on Christmas. So long as I can witness the proposal."
"You have to be nice. Your campaign ruined Santana's relationship with her grandmother. She may have forgiven Finn, but not you. You never apologized for letting us get dragged into your politics." Brittany seethed.
"Don't worry, this'll be my amends!" Sue assured.
"Alright. Well, how are you planning on proposing?" Mr.Schue asked, skeptical it could stand up to his performance for Emma.
"Nothing as grandiose as your proposal Mr.Schue, but similar. I'm going to sing to her, and pray she likes it: All I Want For Christmas Is You." Brittany admitted nervously.
"That's a tough song. You really want to take that on?" he knew Brittany had some vocal chops, but nothing like Santana or Mercedes who would both be better choices for a song of that magnitude.
"I might have one more surprise...Sammy, you'll like this one!" Brittany assured "Come on in Mercedes!" Mercedes came strutting into the Glee club, garnering more applause than Brittany thanks to her viral video.
"Mercedes, why didn't you tell me you were coming!" Sam asked, throwing his arms around her. They were struggling to make long distance work, but he loved her more than he loved Chapstick.
"I wanted to surprise you. Plus, Brittany is very convincing when it comes to my girl Santana. And I sure as hell don't want her butchering the song." Mercedes looked at the dancer who was pouting.
"You really think I can't handle it?" Brittany asked, twiddling her thumbs nervously.
"Oh no, sweet cheeks, I know you can. But a little help from Mercedes goes a long way. Besides, then you can get your dance on for Santana." Mercedes patted the girls back.
"You're a genius Mercedes!" Brittany had sparked a new idea "Mr.Schue, make sure you get Rachel. Sue, I'll get you the details of when we'll need the school. I've got work to do. Mercedes, you want to come see Santana?" Brittany said, bouncing on her heels at the door.
"You know I do, see you later Sammy." Mercedes kissed the boys cheek and followed Brittany all the way back to her house.
"Santana, I brought you a surprise!" she called from the doorway. Santana came to the hallway, glasses on her nose and in old ratty pajamas and held back a laugh. Mercedes would hold this over her for decades.
"Satan, you really let yourself go!" Mercedes laughed and Santana broke out into a grin.
"Wheezy! You're here too? Jeez, what is with us and coming back to this crappy town?" Santana asked, giving Mercedes a hug "And you best take back what you said. I'll have you know, Brittany likes my glasses."
"I don't need to know your fantasies." Mercedes grimaced as Brittany nodded, winking at Santana.
"RIght, well, it's great to see you, but as you can see, I'm not prepared for company outside the Pierce family so if you'll just excuse me…" Santana darted up the stairs, Mercedes chuckling.
"Alright, so here's the thing, I want to sing but I need your help, and I can't let Satana find out my plan." Brittany said, leading Mercedes to the office "I'm scared I'm not good enough. Do you think you can teach me and maybe make it a bit easier to sing." Brittany shrugged.
"Look, I'll back you up, and I'll show you some of Santana and my tricks okay?" Mercedes offered, and Brittany nodded eagerly. "I've got to get home, but I'll text you okay? Tell her I said goodbye and I'll see y'all soon?"
"Of course, see you Mercedes." Brittany closed the door behind her and took out her phone, calling the other helper elf she needed. "Mike, it's Brittany, I've got a favor to ask."
Upstairs, Santana got ready, despite the fact she heard Mercedes leave, she had decided to give up on her bet and she wanted to let Brittany know that she instead wanted to help make the memories. She'd still do the chores for a month, but she didn't want to be such a Grinch. Though she was DEFINITELY picking that movie tonight. Brittany came up stairs and flopped back on the bed, Santana sitting at the vanity doing her makeup.
"So Brittany, can we talk about our bet?" she spun around in the chair to face the bed. Brittany sat up, a worried expression on her face.
"Sure, what's up? Have I already ruined Christmas, because I don't think that's fair." she pointed out.
"No, no, that's not it. You've already made this the merriest Christmas of my life, and I don't want you to have to worry. Instead, I want to help make Christmas merry. And there's one tradition of ours I was hoping we could do today." Santana said, sitting next to Brittany, letting the blonde lean her head on her shoulder.
"Hmm?" Brittany asked, cuddling closer to the Latina.
"Let's go ice skating! You love it so much, and your smile will totally kill my Grinch." Santana urged.
"Well, I was hoping to bring Ash and she's at school." Brittany pouted "What about this afternoon?"
"Yeah, sure. That's only a couple of hours anyway. How about you and me do something I swore I'd never do?" Santana offered.
"What's that?" Brittany arched an eyebrow.
"Let's get matching Christmas sweaters! We can even buy one for Ashley too! We'll be TOTALLY cute." the Latina couldn't believe her good mood, but sitting by the fire with Brittany had been eye-opening for her last night.
"Can we get cocoa at the Lima Bean first. It's pretty chilly out." Brittany smiled.
"I'm getting coffee, but yes, we can hit up our old stomping grounds first." Santana grabbed Brittany's hand and pulled her up from the bed and into a kiss "Now let's get you all bundled up." She helped Brittany into her jacket and wrapped her in a scarf before getting her own coat. Hand in hand, they headed out, promising Beverly that they'd pick up Ashley and be home in time for dinner and baking cookies. They entered the Lima Bean, and Santana's mood got a little less bright. She remembered when she'd asked Dave to be her beard at one of these very tables and shook her head to clear the memory.
"Memories?" Brittany asked, squeezing her hand. Santana nodded, remembering her gay panic moment with Blaine and Kurt as well. Still, she held Brittany's hand all the same and gladly bought them their warm drinks. A few stores away was the year-round holiday shop in Lima, and Santana knew they'd find just what they were looking for there. They browsed the sweaters, which came in all sizes for just this purpose.
"We've got to tell your mom about this place for next year, there's so many options." Santana said, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sweaters. Her parents had always steered her to the back of the store where they kept Christmas dresses for church. She didn't dare to even glance. Suddenly Brittany squealed and she looked at what her girlfriend had found. Brittany's favorite Christmas movie was Rudolph (hence why it had been the first they'd watched) and the sweaters said as much. "Citizen Of The Island of Misfit Toys?" Santana took the sweater which had Hermey, Rudolph and Yukon surrounded by some of the misfit toys.
"Yeah, it's perfect, and look at the back." Brittany turned it around.
"Being different makes us special." Santana said "You know what, let's do it." Brittany grinned and they paid for the sweaters and headed to the elementary school to pick up Ashley. The girl was more than excited to go ice skating and, just like her sister, thought the sweaters were cool. She'd never let her attitude down in front of her parents, but around Brittany and Santana she opened up. Ashley, as it turned out, was the smartest kid in class and that wasn't going over so well. Santana's insides boiled at the idea of another Pierce being bullied for being different.
"Ash, why haven't you told mom and dad?" Brittany asked, gliding effortlessly while her sister stumbled on the skates, Santana behind her to catch her if she fell.
"Because no one likes a tattle tale Britt. I mean, do I like having my hair pulled or being called names? Of course not. I mean, the names aren't all that cruel anyway. What bothers me more is when they talk about you." she looked between her sister and Santana "Nearly the entire town knows about you."
"What are they saying about us?" Brittany glanced at Santana who had her teeth clenched.
"They won't play with me because they think I can make them gay. They call you guys… well they say really inappropriate stuff. Especially after sex ed when I made the mistake of asking about boys liking boys and girls liking girls. I wasn't asking much, just wondered why it wasn't addressed." the little girl admitted shyly. Brittany looked at Santana at a loss, and Santana pulled Ashely to the side of the rink and came to kneel in front of her.
"Ash, you were really brave to ask that question. I bet there were some other kids in your class who are like us who were glad someone said something." Santana smiled.
"Yeah, there's this boy in my class, he gets picked on a lot too. He thought I was really brave. He said he's got two uncles. I think he's Rachel's cousin." Ashley shrugged "He does like to perform."
"See? And are you guys sticking together?" Santana asked.
"Yeah, I stuck up for him the other day. They call him uh...well it's not a very nice word. Kurt called it a lot." she said nervously.
"Do they call you that word too?" Santana looked at Brittany who looked on the edge of tears.
"Yeah, and you guys, and they call me the other word too. The one Brittany told me to never say after I heard it on the playground the day the ad campaign started being shown." Ashley sniffled "I don't get what's so wrong about being different."
"Hey look it's Ashley and her idiot sister!" Santana heard called from across the ice rink. She turned and they said "Eww, she's totally catching the gay, don't let her touch you." Before Santana could even stand up or Brittany got her wits about her, a little boy skated up in front of them.
"Don't be so ignorant! You're being disgusting little pigs, and frankly, you smell like pigs too!" the little boy shouted.
"What are you going to do about Myron?" the boys skated closer and Santana took a stand.
"And what exactly do you think YOU'RE going to do?" she said, and the boys cowered a bit.
"Don't touch us freak." they backed up a little.
"Oh, Auntie Snixx'll do more than touch you if you say one more word." Santana growled.
"What's a dyke like you gonna do to a couple ten year olds?" they smirked.
"Are those your parents?' Santana pointed to a few parents sitting on a bench paying no attention.
"Yeah, so what, they won't talk to you. They think you're gross." the boys smirked.
"We'll see about that. Brittany, why don't you go find Myron's parents?" Santana said, and Brittany nodded, skating away with the other two kids while Santana stomped as best as she could in skate towards the parents. "Excuse me? But are those your sons just over there?"
"Oh yes, that's my boy." one of the parents said, the others pointing out their own "Did one of them fall and need some help?"
"Uh no, actually, to be quite frank with you, all three of those boys are bullying the little girl and boy over there." she pointed to where Brittany was watching Myron gracefully skate.
"I can assure my son is no bully." another of the parents stood up "I'm certain hew just disturbed by your presence. You have a real sickness."
"Oh sit down Sara." the first parent said "I'm Kelly. Which boy was the instigator?" she asked.
"All three of them had a bit to say to be honest with you." she admitted "I think they're all at equal fault. And according to my girlfriend's little sister, this isn't the first time."
"I am so sorry. I'll talk to him and the others as well." Kelly went to the side of the rink, Sara glaring at Satana as she passed. She approached the situation and saw the boys hanging their head in shame. One by one they went up to Ashley and apologized. Pleased with her work, she took the Pierce girls home.
The next day, school was cancelled due to a snow storm. They spent the entire day baking cookies and decorating the tree with ornaments. After the tree looked nearly full, Brittany ran upstairs and retrieved the ornament she and Santana had bought in New York.
"This is Santana and I's first Christmas together as girlfriends officially, and we bought this ornament specially made to commemorate it." Brittany said, hanging an ornament with two snowwomen and their names engraved on it next to her parents ornament of the like. Santana smiled and kissed her cheek softly. Later in the evening, Brittany asked Santana to dance with her as Christmas music continued to play softly. Santana smiled and gladly took her hand as they danced and sang together.
But baby it's cold outside
a/n: didn't want to spoil by addressing at the start but I have alot of reasons for thinking Myron is a Berry, mostly the performance obsession. Also I love Josie, she is so flipping cool. See ya soon, and if you have a song for me to dedicate a chapter to, let me know. Only the Final Chapter has been full decided!Lots Of Love, GEK The Grinch