Chapter 23

December – Age 18 – Senior Year

Christmas Party

It was Charlotte's second Christmas, at 21 months. It was definitely much more fun with her being more aware. She even 'helped' Carol make Christmas cookies this year. Finn and Kurt hosted the glee club and their families for a Christmas party once again.

"Did you invite Rachel this year?" Kurt asked from the kitchen. He was finishing the seasoning for the meatballs and red sauce.

"I couldn't not invite her," Finn sighed. Charlotte was currently wrapped around his leg, and he would lift her up and around the kitchen as she sat on his foot. "She decided that she wanted to be Jewish this year, so no Christmas."

"That makes things a whole lot better," Kurt said. "Now she won't push up on you."

"Yeah, Santana might actually kick her butt this time," he agreed. Kurt was impressed. Charlotte wasn't around, but everyone in her life had seemed to curb their proclivity for profane language, even Puck. They learned to modify all their swear words.

"Oh yeah, although the musical smack down was pretty epic," Kurt replied.

"I could tell her I wasn't interested until the cows came home, but when Santana does, it finally sinks in."

"When Santana does what now?" the subject in question appeared at the front door, holding a few grocery bags.

"Musical smack down on Rachel," Finn explained.

"Ah, good times," she sighed, savoring the memory. "So no Hobbit this year?"

"Rachel decided that she was only Jewish this year," Finn replied.

"Good," Santana said. "Let me drop these in the kitchen and I'll get to work decorating the downstairs."

"I'll start down there too," Finn said. He learned down to pluck Charlotte off his leg and up over his shoulders. She let out a peel of giggles. "Come on, let's go play in Uncle Kurt's room."

"Unka Urt!" Charlotte screamed. She giggled some more as they traipsed down the stairs. Finn tossed his daughter playfully on Kurt's bed. "Gain Daddy!"

"Alright, one more time," Finn agreed. He picked her up and tossed her a bit further up the bed. She cheered again. Santana came skipping down the stairs, continued across the room, and jumped onto the bed next to Charlotte. The toddler just about lost it. She was deep belly laughing.

"You are too cute for words, little mija," Santana giggled. Finn smiled as his two girls got along so well. He then proceeded to set up the table in the corner for a drinks buffet and a smaller card table next to it for snacks. The adults tended to stay upstairs, and the teens downstairs, so they didn't have to worry about having a whole lot of food down here. They could always sneak up stairs and get some of the real food first.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was another few hours before people really started showing up. Puck wheeled Artie downstairs with Mike. Together they said hey to the adults as they disappeared behind the basement door. Kurt already had a low volume playlist going, a mix of their favorite songs and Christmas music.

"Hey Finn," Burt got the young man's attention. Finn was greeting his friends as they came in and Kurt was in charge downstairs. "Leave Charlotte up here. You just enjoy being with your friends tonight."

"I can't make you guys take her," Finn tried to protest, but he was cut off.

"Did you notice that I offered?" Burt teased. "And you had better enjoy it while you can. You'll be leaving for college at the end of summer and we won't be around to help you."

"It's no big deal to have her downstairs," Finn tried again.

"But you're gonna go socialize and be with your girlfriend like a normal 18 year old. Go!"

"Alright," Finn conceded, a small smile on his face. Burt put a reassuring hand on Finn's shoulder and went off to chase the toddler around.

Finn went downstairs to hang out with his friends, when Kurt came over to him and asked "Where's Char?"

"Burt insisted on having her," Finn explained. Kurt smiled.

"Well, now you can kiss your girlfriend under some mistletoe without a jealous glare from your almost two year old."

"I guess I can," Finn sighed. He grabbed Santana's hand and drug her to the drinks table, where some mistletoe was conveniently hung nearby. "Mistletoe!"

Santana giggled as Finn leaned down and laid one hell of a kiss on her. There were cheers and wolf whistles heard from the rest of their friends. Between the cheering and the kiss, Santana pulled away blushing. "Wow!"

"Yeah," Finn agreed. "I can relax and have a good night with you. Char is in good hands."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

This Christmas party was rocking by the time everyone got there. Finn and Santana were dancing by themselves in the corner, Puck was macking on his woman under the mistletoe, Artie was wheeling his girlfriend around doing wheelies, Tina and Mike were slow dancing as Kurt and Dave sang 'Baby it's Cold Outside', Rory was blushing as Sugar was holding his hand, dragging him over to dance with Mike and Tina, Mercedes and Sam were seated on Kurt's bed, giggling about the newest young couple, and Matt brought his new girlfriend Ashley, they were seated on the settee at the base of Kurt's bed.

Ashley Greene sat there and took it all in. She knew that Matt played football and recognized several of the football players. But she also knew that he was in the glee club. Ashley knew of a few people in the glee club but she had never actively hung out with them. They were not the popular kids, but they were. They were the enigma of McKinley. She began to notice a few things. They were pretty much all coupled off, which was pretty neat if you thought about it. There were different types of couples as well. Brittany and Artie were close to normal but Ashley couldn't really figure out what Brittany saw in someone who couldn't get up and dance around with her.

"She gets him to have more fun and he can translate most of what she says," Matt whispered in her ear as he noticed her staring. She looked up at him and smiled.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" she asked.

"I'm the quiet observer," Matt said. "I can tell you things about these couples that probably no one else could unless they were in them. Artie loves Brittany for her being her, but he certainly doesn't mind that she is hot as hell. Brittany was the first and only one that sees how much Artie is actually packing, so she doesn't mind being on top. It also helps her creativity in finding new ways to get down."

"Wow," Ashley breathed. "Tell me more."

"Okay, who about?"

"What about Rory and Sugar?"

"Well those two are just starting out. Rory is from Ireland. He is more gentlemanly than most of the school, so when Sugar just grabs him and kinda takes what she wants, he really doesn't know what to do with himself. Hopefully after a little while he will loosen up."

"Okay, Mercedes and Sam," she asked.

"Well, can you imagine why those two got together? Sam had a serious hard on for her since he moved here but social norms dictated that he date a 'skinny' girl. That wasn't really working for him. He finally got up enough courage to ask her out over the summer and they've been inseparable ever since. It's gonna suck because he is just a junior and she is graduating in June."

"That's not happy," Ashley agreed. "But I'm sure it can work if you make it."

"Oh absolutely," Matt agreed as well.

"Okay, Tina and Mike seem fairly normal, and I'm sure I don't want to know some of those kinky skeletons in their closet," she said. "But what about Puck and Lauren?"

"He is totally a better person around her," Matt began. "He was a total d-bag before he started hooking up with her. She turned him down the first time, which really must have shocked him. But he worked his ass off to get her to see him. The end result is what you see. She handles him, and he makes her feel like the girl that she wants to be like. It works for them."

"Ahh," she replied. "What about Kurt and Dave?"

"Well, you knew how Dave was an ass for years right? Well he came out of the closet last year or so, and had a serious crush on Kurt. He became friends with Finn when Quinn was being a total bitch. Dave lost a lot of friends when he came out, but he also gained all of us. We don't really care who you love, as long as you love and treat them right. Dave treats Kurt like gold, and Kurt in return. And this is currently their first real PDA in front of all of the group."

Dave leaned down and gave Kurt a kiss under the mistletoe, elbowing Puck and Lauren out of the way. You wouldn't think these two would work, but seeing them like any other couple it did work. Dave might have kissed Kurt gently, but Kurt flipped the table and got up on his toes the last few inches to press a harder kiss to Dave's lips. This garnered some whistling from their friends. Dave ended up blushing more than Kurt, who just tried to look as demure as possible.

"Wow," Ashley breathed. "I have to admit, I didn't really see them together."

"Opposites attract," Matt shrugged.

"So that's what happened with Finn and Santana?"

"No, that was when Rachel kept trying to get with Finn," Matt replied. "She was his total opposite. Santana is far more like Finn than either one of them seem to want to admit. She may come off like the queen bitch, but she really is a driven woman with family goals in mind. Finn has part of his family and sees that she could have that with someone. It's possible to be with someone and love them without the drama."

"You really are the observant one," she smirked. "And me and you?"

"Well..." Matt trailed off, leaving a lingering kiss on her lips. She never did find out what he thought about them, but he laid some serious lip service on her.