a/n: Welcome to my 2022 Brittana Christmas story. The title doesn't hold much meaning, just a pun and reference to one of my favorite Glee Christmas covers. Basically, this is relatively canon adjacent (though I choose to have Finn alive, not sure if he or Rachel will make an appearance though). This follows the story of Santana and Brittany's first Christmas as wives in New York City as they navigate marriage
Chapter 1: Trees and Tears
It had been a long and hard year for Santana and all she wanted was to spend her winter break from classes sleeping. That, of course, wouldn't have pleased her boss nor her overly festive wife, Brittany, who insisted they make the most of their first Christmas together as wives. Their one-bedroom apartment was sizable thanks to their two incomes, but there wasn't a lot of space for a Christmas tree. The Latina has hoped her wife would settle for a coffee-table sized tree, so long as they visited the Rockefeller tree at least every other day. The blonde had been offended by the proposition of a mini tree.
"Santana, be serious, we can't just have a two foot tall tree. We need a proper tree." Brittany lamented "How could you possibly think a little tree would do?"
"I don't know Britt, because we live in a small apartment in New York City?" Santana sighed "Not to mention on the tenth floor. How do you expect to get a tree up here?"
"The elevator, obviously." Brittany said, as if the elevator wasn't out of order for the hundredth time since they moved in.
"And if it's out of order as per usual?" Santana crossed her arms.
"I'm sure we can enlist Sam's help. Maybe Blaine's too." Brittany shrugged.
"You want to torture me, that's the answer. Torture I say!" Santana threw her hands up in the air.
"Honey, if I wanted to torture you, you'd know it. And I wouldn't want anybody else around." Brittany smirked.
"I'll make you a deal." Santana smiled "if you let me have a taste of this so called torture, I'll let you get your tree."
"Really?" Brittany's eyes lit up, and Santana knew that, for one, she'd been played, and two, that she was never going to win the battle. Santana nodded and her girlfriend squealed, kissing her hard. Santana would do anything to see the girl happy. Except sit on Santa's lap again. That had been one of the worst experiences of her life.
The next day, Brittany dragged Santana to the tree lot and they met up with Kurt and Blaine. The couples were going to mutually work together on getting each other's trees home. When Blaine and Kurt got tired of living with others, Brittany and Santana had suggested they move into their building. The prices were as affordable and reasonable as they were in the city, and it would be nice to have someone around when you were in a pickle. Plus, they all four went in on a car together. No one drove much in the city, but it was nice to have on days like this when you needed to get a Christmas tree home. There had been a couple other occasions they had needed it. They'd invested in a slightly larger car and had used it to move most of the boy's furniture, and it had brought Santana's beloved new couch home.
"Alright, now remember if it's taller than you" Santana repeated to Brittany
"Then it's too tall." the blonde sighed. Santana knew this would keep her from the dream land of 10 foot trees and keep her begging to more reasonably sized 6 foot trees. These were taller than her girlfriend, but she knew that she'd always bargain for a bit bigger than the limit.
"How'd Brittany convince you to get a tree?" Kurt asked as Brittany and Blaine walked a little ways ahead, debating the best type of tree.
"We made a deal." Santana said "But you really don't need to be privy to those specifics. Heck, I'm not entirely in the know. What I do know is it's a good thing you aren't our neighbors."
"You never fail to traumatize me Satan." Kurt shook his head "That said, what about your actual neighbors? Don't you bother them?"
"Well, since we're at the end of the hall we only have one next door neighbor. We sort of agreed to not complain. She's relatively young too, and she's always bringing new boys home." Santana said. "Upstairs has never been bothered, but downstairs did ask us to stop jumping on the bed. They're an elderly couple."
"Lucky you. All our neighbors have expressed that noise of any kind will not be tolerated after 9pm and before 8am." Kurt groaned.
"That sucks." Santana says "So did you and Blaine both want a tree or did he have to convince you as well?" Santana asked.
"It was more that I thought we should go artificial. I know it takes up storage space, but this feels so wasteful and awfully messy." Kurt sighed.
"You're not wrong there." Santana said, glancing ahead to make sure Blaine was with Brittany still. She didn't want the blonde wandering off alone.
"You worry about her all the time, don't you?" Kurt asks and Santana raises an eyebrow. Big change in subject. "I notice how you watch her and how Blaine is sticking by her side. He wouldn't do that unless you asked."
"She's just so innocent and trusting. I hate calling her naive, but she really is." Santana pauses in her steps and Kurt pulls her aside so they're not in the path "I mean, what if she gets lost or talks to the wrong homeless person? Or follows a stray cat?"
"Has she done any of that before?" Kurt asks and Santana nods- she'd done all of it back in Lima, thank goodness. "Have you taken safety measures?" he asks.
"What, like a tracking device? Not exactly. I mean we have the Find My Phone stuff downloaded." Santana says "Should I be doing more?"
"I think Britt can handle herself pretty well. But it might give you peace of mind if she had a smartwatch or something." Kurt offers.
"It feels kind of overbearing and controlling…" Santana worries "But she's my everything and I can't imagine what I'd do…"
"Don't think that way." Kurt says "Just, at least tell her you're worried, okay?"
"Yeah. I guess that's a good idea. I suppose the roles were reversed once." Santana shakes off the memories of high-school and they catch up with their spouses who seem pleased with two very different trees. Luckily, they should be able to get them home and they both come with lights. They strap the tree to the roof and head back to the apartments. Santana is acting weird, and Brittany can tell, so they rush through getting the trees upstairs. Once the guys leave, Brittany gives Santana a serious look.
"What's with the face?" Santana asks.
"You're acting weird. Did something happen at the tree lot? Do you not like the tree?" Brittany asks.
"No, no. Everything's fine. Just had a good conversation with Kurt that got me thinking." Santana says.
"Thinking about what?" Brittany sits beside Santana on the couch.
"You." Santana admits "And how worried I am about you in this big, dangerous, and scary city."
"I'm a big girl Santana. I can take care of myself." Brittany assures "You don't need to worry."
"But what if it's something you can't control? I would want to know." Santana says.
"I have a cellphone." Brittany reminds.
"I know babe, I just worry. Nothing you say will change that. I'll always worry about you." Santana looks down.
"What can I do to make you feel better?" Brittany asks "I don't want you spending every waking minute worried about me."
"How would you feel about a smart watch?" Santana asks. She sees Brittany's face twisting into an unrecognizable emotion.
"Do you not trust me?" Brittany asks. Santana is aghast. She shakes her head vehemently "Do you really need to, essentially, put a tracker on me?"
"Of course not, God no Brittnay I do trust you. But if you were to fall or something it would tell me. If your heart rate was worrisome…honey I'm sorry." Santana pulls her knees to her chest "I'm being controlling. Stupid Kurt."
"Hey hey." Brittany tilts Santana's chin up so she can look into her mocha eyes. The Latina adverts her eyes, but at a tap to her nose meets Brittany's. "You're worried. I asked you to tell me what would make you feel better. I should've been more open to hearing you out. You make a lot of good points, but honestly honey, I'd break it or forget to charge it or lose it. How about we find a different solution hmm? Plus, you'd be checking it all the time."
"I guess that's true. I bet there's something else. I just want to be able to know you're okay without needing to take your phone out, especially since you forget to charge it all the time. Even though I try to plug it in for you." Santana admits.
"I think we can find something." Brittany kisses the girl's temple "Now how about you help me with the tree stand?" Santana groans but gets up and helps Brittany. She has to admit that now that she sees the tree in the corner it looks great. Brittany excuses herself for a minute while Santana picks the angle she likes best to turn it. The blonde returns with a box that they hadn't opened.
"What's this?" Santana asks as Brittany opens it up, revealing ornaments "Where'd you get these?"
"Our parents. I had them mail them here. Look" Brittany pulls out a 2011 ornament. It says Our First Christmas and has a framed picture of them. There's also a picture of Santana graduating in a frame that says 2012 Grad. Brittany has one that says 2013. She can tell Brittany is a bit sad their years don't match. She taps the girl's nose so she turns and kisses her softly.
"Britt, we're proud of you, no matter what hmm?" Santana says and Brittany nods with finality. "What else?" Santana pulls out an ornament of two snowmen that has their faces as the snowman heads. "I remember when my mom bought this. She bought one for herself and dad and I begged for one for us two. We were ten." Santana chuckles.
"Best Christmas present ever." Brittany recalls Santana coming to school and pulling it out, wrapped in layers of bubble wrap and making sure to rewrap it after Brittany opened it. "I felt so bad that I hadn't got you something that I gave you my sweater. My mom was so mad."
"I drowned in that thing" Santana giggles, finding a picture of her in it in a framed "Christmas 2004" ornament.
"I had already had my growth spurt. You and your late birthday." Brittany says. Santana sticks her tongue out. So what if her birthday was in November? She still can't believe her parents put her in kindergarten at 4 years old. It was no wonder Brittany had taken a liking to her. She was always the tallest kid in class and Santana was always the smallest but smartest.
"Oh, look!" Santana pulls out a Cheerios ornament "2011 Head Cheerios, Santana and Becky" Santana laughs. She may have acted like she hated the girl, but honestly they were just trying to out-bitch each other. Brittany smiles. She loved that Santana had grown to appreciate what she once hated- including herself.
"San" Brittany says as she gets to the bottom "There's a letter and one wrapped up in Christmas paper" Santana turns from where she'd been laying all the ornaments out on their coffee table. She takes the letter and opens it carefully.
"Dear Santana and Brittany" she reads "We are so happy that Britt asked us to send these so we would be able to surprise you with this gift. We couldn't get it to you on Thanksgiving and were worried you wouldn't have it in time for Christmas. We also hope Brittany convinced you to buy a big tree, Santana." Santana laughs. Their mothers had definitely written this together. "Go ahead and unwrap it before you finish reading". Santana nods to Brittany who eagerly tears through the wrapping paper. Enclosed is another "Our First Christmas Together" ornament with a picture of them at their wedding. It's absolutely gorgeous and clearly customized.
Our First Christmas Together was written along the top of the circle. In the center was a picture of their kiss at the wedding. At the bottom it said 2015 Mrs and Mrs Lopez-Pierce. Santana lays it carefully on the table.
"We wanted you to have this to commemorate your first TRUE Christmas together." Santana continues reading the letter "You wouldn't believe the dirty look we got when we went to buy this. Totally worth it though. Have a Merry Christmas girls, we'll be out to see you on the 28th. We love you. - Mami Lopez and Mom Pierce"
"God this must have cost them a lot." Brittany says carefully securing it to a branch front and center on their tree. "I miss them so much."
"I know babe." Santana kisses Brittany's forehead. This wasn't the first time the blonde had said that this holiday season. They'd only been able to go back for two days that Thanksgiving. Brittany had cried so hard when they said goodbye. Brittany was extremely close with her mom, and probably closer to Santana's than Santana herself. When they'd broken up and Santana had moved to New York, Santana tasked her mom with making sure Brittany knew that they were soul mates. That one day, they'd find their way back to each other. She knew that the dancer was having a hard time understanding, and she knew the Pierces were furious with her. So she had her mom talk Brittany off the ledge.
"Where'd you go?" Brittany asks as Santana snaps out of her memory. "I was asking you which ornament we should put next."
"Oh. I was remembering how I made my mom take care of you when I first moved to New York." Santana explained.
"She was so sweet and understanding. She validated my confusion and anger." Brittany smiled "Why don't we put the Dino-Prom one next?"
"That sounds perfect Britt. Do you mind if I leave you to it?" Santana asks and the blonde pouts "I wanna call Mami."
"Are you okay?" Brittany voices her concern. Santana never wants to call her mom "Are we okay?"
"Yeah babe, just want to thank her for the ornament." Satana promises. She does, but that memory had her realizing how much she needed her mom. If she starts crying about missing her mom in front of Britt, she'll never be able to console the blonde. She goes into the bedroom and closes the door.
"Hola mija" her mom says when she answers "¿Como esta?"
"Hola Mami" Santana says, holding back her tears "Te echo de menos (I miss you)"
"Yo tambien mija" Maribel says "You must have just opened our card."
"Si Mami." Santana whimpers as her cries get the better of her.
"Oh, mija" Maribel worries through the phone "What's wrong? Was it broken?"
"No Mami, esta bien. Calmate." Santana's voice betrays her "I just never realized how much I need you."
"What happened, Santanita?" Maribel worries "Is it Brittany? Is she okay? Do I need to call Whitney? She's number 3 on my speed dial."
"Mami, calmate por favor." Santana begs her mom to calm down "We're both okay, physically anyway. We miss you and Papi and the Pierces terribly."
"Are you thinking of coming home?" Maribel asks hopefully.
"No Mami, we can't." Santana shakes her head. Of course she wants to. They both wanted to, but Brittany had a showcase to dance in and she had work to do.
"I know. It's my maternal hope." Maribel "How can I get you to stop crying?"
"You can't. I was remembering when I made you take care of Britt. When we broke up. How…how'd you get her to not miss me?" Santana asks. They were best friends before they were girlfriends. They both had missed each other a lot.
"The same thing I did for you mija. I gave her a sweatshirt and pillow that smelled like you, just like the ones I sent you of hers. I told her to never take those charm bracelets you adore off." her mom explains "I'm not sure that works the same way between mothers and daughters though."
"I have the necklace you gave me." Santana reaches into her nightstand where she keeps it in the box it came in. "And I have Papi's old scarf."
"Wear them if they make you feel better. Put the quilt Whitney and I made you on the bed." her mom says through the phone. "I know Brittany has a homemade Christmas sweater she's probably already wearing."
"She is." Santana smiles as she puts on the necklace "Te amo Mami. Thank you for the ornament. I have to go help Britt finish the tree, and make sure Lord Tubbington doesn't try to climb it."
"What about Lady Tubbington?" Maribel questions.
"He's the instigator, Mami." Santana chuckles "Can't believe Brittnay convinced me to take these two cats here."
"I'm not surprised." Maribel teases "You'll do anything for her."
"Bye Mami." Santana huffs.
"Bye Mija" Maribel chuckles. Santana goes to look in the mirror- there was no way she was gonna hide the fact that she cried from Britt. She wipes her eyes gently anyway. She goes out to see Brittany set up a cat protective barrier around the trees. Luckily neither of their cats were active enough to jump very high.
"Hey babe." Brittany says turning around and then drops her smile "What's wrong?"
"Nothing B" Santana assures "I just really missed my mom." the Latina gently plays with her necklace.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Brittany asks as she kisses the tear tracks on her wife's cheeks.
"I didn't want you to get upset too." Santana looks down ashamed.
"Don't hide from me" Brittany says and Santana looks up and sees Brittany's serious face. "Come on, tilt your head up. Eye contact baby." Santana does so with a little coaxing. Brittany moves so their knees are touching where they're sitting on the floor. She takes Santana's hands in her own, and without breaking eye contact kisses the back of each. "Better."
"I'm sorry." Santana breaks eye contact and Brittany tsks. Santana immediately returns her eyes to meeting blue ones. "I shouldn't hide my emotions from you."
"That's right. We know how badly that goes, don't we?" Brittany says and Santana nods. "Now, are you okay now?"
"Yeah. I mean I think so. Mami said we should put the quilt on the bed." Santana says "Can we?"
"Sure thing baby." Brittany kisses the worry lines away from Santana's forehead "Go get it okay? I'm gonna make us some cocoa and we can talk some more."
"What are we talking about?" Santana worries.
"You, honey. You're worrying about me and not yourself. We have to figure this out." Brittany says.
"Okay…but make sure you make the cocoa right." Santana says.
"I know. Do you want champurrado or just the spices?" Brittany asks.
"Spices please." Santana says " And peppermint schnapps."
Brittany is glad they had been planning to have cocoa anyways when they got back, so the cinnamon had already steeped in the hot water. She works on stirring a little bit of corn starch into water as she dissolves the chocolate over low heat. She adds the starchy water and then ups the heat as she adds milk. Once it's done she puts it into their Mrs and Mrs mugs that were a wedding gift from Mercedes. She spikes Santanas with some peppermint schnapps and puts a candy cane hanging on the rim into it. She does the same to her own, skipping the schnapps in favor of mini marshmallows and peppermint syrup. She goes to the bedroom to get Santana and finds that her wife is hugging the quilt and crying again.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Brittany immediately sits down next to the Latina, the hot chocolate forgotten.
"Have you ever had the chance to look really closely at this?" Santana sniffles.
"Not really, no." Brittany admits "We had a lot of wedding gifts to get through."
"Look." Santana shows the girl. On opposite corners are their birthdays. In the middle is a square with their wedding date. There's squares of fabric for dance, Glee, cheerleading, and some that their moms embroidered with song lyrics.
"Are those the lyrics to Songbird?" Brittany says, gently rubbing her thumb over a piece of fabric with a bird on it with I love you like never before embroidered.
"Yeah babe. It is. And look, landslide too." Santana says "I don't even know how they knew about those."
"I told my mom because I was confused after the landslide. And I told your mom about Songbird when we weren't together. It started playing on the CD you made me and I had to rush to turn it off." Brittany admits.
"Britt…" Santana starts worrying again, and Brittany remembers the hot chocolate.
"No worrying about the past. We can look at this more later. Come on." Brittany pulls Santana to her feet and into a hug. Santana clings to her, and with a feat of strength, Brittany picks her up and carries her out to the couch. She manages to peel herself away momentarily to grab their mugs. Santana smiles gratefully as Brittany hands her her mug. Hers has a devil tail for the handle and Brittany's looks like an angel wing. Brittany sets hers aside momentarily and stands up and returns with a damp washcloth and gently wipes Santana's tears away. She uses a dry part to gently dab away any wetness before sipping her own chocolate. They sit there quietly for a minute, Brittany letting Santana settle. Eventually the Latina turns her body to face Brittany completely. The blonde raises a questioning eyebrow and Santana nods. She's ready to talk.