New Directions have finished decorating the tree and everyone else has filed out of the choir room, leaving Santana to hang back and study their handiwork. This tree is so much better than last year's. In fact, everything about this Christmas is looking like it will be better than last year.

Arms slide around her waist, squeezing her tight and she smiles. Yeah, this Christmas is definitely going to be better. "Hey."

"Hey." Brittany rests her chin on her shoulder. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just thinking." Santana's eyes stay on the tree, but she does lean back against Brittany a little.

"About what?"

"You."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Santana turns, wrapping her arms around Brittany as she does so to pull her into a hug. "Have I told you how happy you make me?"

Brittany holds her tighter. "Yeah, you might have mentioned it once or twice or a million times."

"Well good, because it's true."

Brittany pulls back slightly, tilting her head as she studies her. "Should I be worried here?"

"About what?"

"About how you've not stopped smiling today, how you were actually bouncing before and how you're covered in tinsel." Brittany tugs on the end of it to emphasize her point. "And you do know this is in front of other people? So I was just wondering if there's some Invasion of the Body-snatchers thing going on in Lima." Brittany moves her hands to Santana's shoulders and leans forward to stare at her more closely. "You're not some kind of pod person, are you?"

It takes a lot of effort to keep up with Brittany's train of thought sometimes, and Santana can only raise an eyebrow at this latest theory. "And what if I am?"

Brittany seems to think about that for a moment. "Then I'd want the real Santana back. Even if she does hate Christmas, unlike Pod-Person Santana."

"I don't hate Christmas." It might not have ever been Santana's favorite holiday, but she has never said she hated it.

Brittany appears not to hear her, her mind clearly too caught up in this idea of hers. "Although I'd want to keep Pod-Person Santana too. Because two Santanas? How awesome would that be?"

Not awesome at all as far as Santana's concerned. "I don't know, Britt. I don't think either Santana would be okay with sharing you. Even if it was with another Santana."

"They wouldn't?"

"Sorry, but the thought of somebody else getting to touch you?" Santana shakes her head. "I would ends them before they even got to second base."

Brittany actually looks a little disappointed to hear that. "So we're not gonna be having any threesomes anytime soon?"

Santana frowns, but before she can tell Brittany that no, they won't be, Brittany laughs.

"I'm joking, San. I'm joking." She pulls Santana into another hug. "I don't want to share you with anyone else either." She kisses Santana's forehead. "I never wanted to share you with anyone else."

Santana tenses a little at that, but quickly shakes it off. She doesn't want to think about the past, not now, not when the present is pretty awesome. She pulls back just enough so she can lean up to kiss Brittany. When they break apart, they're both grinning like idiots.

Brittany pinches at her side. "You're doing it again."

"What?" Santana tries to squirm away from her, but Brittany still has one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her in place.

"Smiling."

"I told you. I'm happy. It's our first Christmas together."

Brittany laughs again. "Santana, we've spent every Christmas together since we were seven."

Except for last year. They didn't spend last Christmas together, but Santana really doesn't want to bring that up right now. "You know what I mean." She knows that Brittany gets it, that's she's just playing with her. "It's our first Christmas."

Brittany's face falls. "Except it isn't, because you're gonna be here, and I'm gonna be in Santa Fe."

A fact they've both been pretending to ignore up until now. They haven't even talked about it since Brittany broke the news to her, that the Pierces would be spending the whole of Christmas and New Year at Brittany's Uncle's. It had thrown both of them. They've followed the same Christmas rituals for years. Ice skating on Christmas Eve, falling asleep watching the same Christmas movies, and exchanging presents in the early hours of Christmas morning before anyone else was even awake. The thought of not getting to do that this year hadn't gone down well with either of them, especially after last year's events, but yet here they are again, facing the prospect of spending Christmas apart.

Brittany bites down on her bottom lip, a sign that she's close to tears. "I wanted to ask you to come with us, Santana, I really did, but my Mom said it wasn't fair to ask you, that I'd be making you choose between your family and me, and I didn't want to do that."

Santana wants to point out that she wouldn't exactly need to put much thought into that decision, that of course she'd choose Brittany over her family, every single time. There's not even a choice there. The thought of Christmas with her parents fills her with dread, especially now that her Abuela isn't even going to be around to make things slightly bearable. "Britt, it's okay. It's still our first Christmas together. So you're gonna be in a different state." Santana shrugs. "It's no big deal."

Brittany doesn't look like she believes that any more than Santana does. "But..."

Santana cuts her off with another kiss, then she's hit with a sudden idea. "Look, how about we bring Christmas forward a few days? Christmas Day is now the twenty second of December. We'll do everything we normally do, just three days earlier."

Brittany seems to brighten a little, but doesn't look completely convinced. "Isn't that like cheating or something? It's not gonna piss off the ghosts of Christmas, is it? Because I really don't want any visits from those guys, Santana. They kinda scare the crap out of me."

"It's fine, Britt. I'm sure they'll understand why we need to change the date just this once."

Brittany slowly nods, finally smiling again. "Okay. Operation Early Christmas is a go."

And until then Santana plans to make the most of every moment she can spend with her girl.

Sam's more than a little surprised to find Santana leaning against his locker at lunch time. He slows to a stop and glances around the hallway, looking for anyone else she might be waiting for that isn't him. She straightens up though when she spots him and he guesses it is him she's wanting to talk to. He doesn't think she's ever gone looking for him before now, well except for those times when she was trying to steal him away from Quinn. Other than that the only times they've ever spoken alone is when he's approached her, and that was even true when they were dating. At least she doesn't look angry, so that's a good thing. As he gets closer though and sees how she has her hands shoved into the pockets of her Cheerios jacket, how her eyes won't quite meet his, well if he didn't know any better he'd say she looked nervous, which well, is new. And weird.

"Hey." He stops in front of her.

She moves out of his way but doesn't say anything.

He opens his locker and grabs the books he needs for his next class. He's finished and closed the door and she still hasn't said anything, is just standing there, staring at the floor. Looks like it's up to him to say something then. "So what's up?"

Her head snaps up and there's a determined expression on her face that he thinks can only mean trouble. "Britt's Motocross practice was canceled cause of the weather or some shit."

"Okay." That makes sense. The weather is pretty bad out there at the moment, being winter and all. What doesn't make sense is why he needs to know this.

"But she's got some Student Council meeting instead."

Sam really doesn't see what any of this has to do with him, but he gets the feeling he's about to find out. "And?"

"And so you're coming over to my place after school, Trouty. Meet me at my car."

It's the first time he's ever been invited over to her house and he must be in shock, as she's walking away down the hallway before he realizes he can't meet her today. "Santana?" She stops and slowly turns to face him. "I can't tonight. It's Wednesday." The way she's looking at him tells him he might as well have told her the sky is blue. Clearly she doesn't understand the significance so he repeats himself. "It's Wednesday."

She still doesn't seem to get it and she actually looks like she's taken it as an insult that he's telling her no, and she walks back over to him. "And what, you have somewhere important to be on Wednesdays? Like I'm supposed to believe you have a social life of any kind?"

He might take offense at that if it wasn't true. "Wednesday is new comics day. I have to go to the comic book store after school. It's tradition."

"Are you kidding me? You're choosing comic books over a friend?" Yeah, she's definitely taking this personally.

"The new Batman is out today." Surely even she can understand that? "Wait, did you just say you're my friend?"

"No." Her face is blank, but there's a hint of panic in her eyes.

"You totally did. Awwww. I love you too, Santana." He wraps an arm around her shoulder and pulls her into a sideways hug, which of course she desperately tries to claw her way out of.

"Whatever. Look, just be at my car, okay? I'll drive you to the stupid comic book store first, then we'll go to mine." She manages to escape his grip, dodging his arm when he reaches for her again.

"Okay." Anything that saves him from having to walk to the comic store is fine by him. Or at least it is until he realizes that he has no idea why she even wants him to go over to her house. He turns around to ask, but she's already gone.

True to her word, Santana drives him to the comic book store, and she doesn't even once make fun of him on the way there. She doesn't say anything in fact, just turns the radio up so loud that he starts to get a headache. He gets the feeling that something is clearly bothering her, but also knows asking her what's wrong will likely get him nowhere.

She parks up, down the block from the store of course. "Okay, now make it quick, Trouty. I haven't got all night."

He undoes his seat-belt. "You're not coming inside?"

She raises an eyebrow. "What, my reputation hasn't taken enough hits already with the whole lesbian thing and being in Glee club? You want me to add nerd to that list too? I don't think so. You're on your own."

He doesn't push the issue as she'd probably only kick him to the curb. Literally. He hops out the car and jogs across the street to the store.

He guesses he must lose track of time or something. He doesn't mean to, but his limited finances mean he can't afford half the stuff he wants, and he's having trouble deciding what to buy. He realizes his mistake when the door flies open and he looks up to find Santana standing there, hand on her hip. Her eyes dart around the store and the second they fall on him, she's storming over to him. "Seriously, Trouty, how long does it take to pick up a few comic books?"

Apparently a long time when he can only choose maybe five titles. He has at least twelve in his hands so far, that's as far as he's got in narrowing down his selection. He doesn't dare ask her to wait any longer though, so just keeps hold of the bottom five and starts to put the rest back.

She grabs his hand though, stopping him, giving him a questioning look.

"I'm just gonna get these ones." He holds up the five comics.

Her eyes narrow as if she's trying to figure things out, her gaze flitting from him to the two piles of comics. She bites down on her bottom lip and somehow he knows she knows. He's expecting her to give him that pitying look he still gets from people when they realize money is still a little on the short side where he's concerned. Instead though she's gone back to looking as annoyed as she did when she first entered the store. Or at least doing one hell of a job of pretending to be. "Okay, clearly you're incapable of making any decisions. It's okay, I get it. You're blonde and pretty so it's okay that that empty brain of yours is a bit on the slow side. It really is." She takes all of the comics out of his hands, even grabbing the three issues he'd already returned to the shelves. "So let's speed things up here and buy all of these, okay? Britt will be home from school soon and I really don't have time to wait around for you to get your act together."

"Santana, I can't..."

She waves him off and stomps over to the counter. She's paying for the lot before he can argue with her. "But if the latest issue of Batwoman isn't in this pile, then we're gonna have a problem, Trouty."

Thankfully it is.

He's lying on the floor of Santana's bedroom, reading the last of his comic books, and he still has no idea why he's even here. As soon as they got here, Santana had just led him upstairs, claimed the copy of Batwoman, then collapsed onto her bed to read it. She's also taken the time to flick through some of the other titles he got, declared most of them to be crap, and since then she's just been lying on her back, staring at the ceiling.

Not for the first time, he peers at her over the top of his comic. "Ready to talk about it yet?"

Santana doesn't move. "Nope."

It's not that he has better things to do, because he really doesn't. He'd just like to know what this is all about. "How about now?" He doesn't get an answer so just turns his attention back to his comic. He's only read three panels before she speaks though.

"I need to get Brittany something for Christmas."

"Okay."

"Well?"

He looks up to find she's now propped herself up on her elbows and is glaring at him. "Well what?" He wonders if maybe she's trying to confuse him on purpose.

"Well what do I get her?"

"And you're asking me because?"

"Because you've dated more girls than I have. So you know about this kind of shit."

That isn't even remotely true, though he wishes it was. Well the more girls part is, but when Santana's grand total is one, that's not difficult. "Santana, I've dated all of three girls. One of which was you. One broke my heart. And the other was Quinn. The only thing I learned from those relationships is that women are all kinds of crazy." He frowns. "And make your head hurt." He sits up, closes the comic and carefully places it down on the floor beside him, giving her his full attention. "Look, you've known Brittany forever. You seriously have no idea what to get her?"

"But it's different now. Before I was just buying a gift for a friend. Now she's my girlfriend, so it's gotta be something awesome, right? Isn't that the whole point?"

"I don't think it is, no." He's pretty sure that Brittany will think anything that comes from Santana is awesome and he really doesn't get why she's making such a big deal over this. "What did you get her last year?"

"Nothing." She sits up suddenly, rubbing at her forehead and he wonders if she's getting a headache too. "No, I did, I did get her something, but I never gave it to her."

Sam's back to being confused. "Why not?"

Now she's looking at him like he's stupid. "Because she was with Artie."

Sam doesn't see why that would make a difference to whether she bought Brittany a Christmas present or not. "You didn't buy her sexy underwear, did you? Because the one time my dad bought my mom something like that, he had to sleep on the sofa for a week. I don't think woman like it when you buy them underwear because it's really only a gift to yourself. Or so my mom says anyway." He shifts slightly when he sees Santana's dark expression, and quickly tries to do some damage control. "Unless you bought yourself sexy underwear and were planning on wearing it for her. Then I think it's okay. Because I'm sure Brittany would like that. I'm sure she'd definitely like unwrapping you and..." And why can't he seem to stop talking? His eyes trail over Santana's body and he knows it's a mistake the minute it happens, but it's just instinct, he swears.

Santana folds her arms over her chest. "Are you picturing me in my underwear right now?" Her eyes narrow. "Wait, are you picturing my girlfriend in her underwear right now? Because that kind of thing will lead to you losing your nuts, Trouty." He quickly draws his knees up to his chest but sadly it doesn't go unnoticed. "I swear if you get a boner, then I'm throwing your ass out onto the street. I know me and Britts are hot, but I think you need to explain to your little friend how this whole gay thing works. How it means I won't ever be touching your dick so its wasting its time getting excited around me."

"I'm not..."

She holds a hand up and he takes the hint and stops talking. She drops back down onto her back so he just goes back to reading his comic. After a few minutes of silence though, he can't resist any longer and asks, "So what did you get her last year?"

She sighs. "Does it matter?"

This whole being friends with Santana Lopez is turning out to be much more exhausting than he had expected it to be. "Why, is it a secret or something?" He wouldn't be surprised if it was actually. Most things are when it comes to these two.

"No, it's just..." She sits up, sliding off the bed and walking over to her closet. "It's really lame." She scrabbles around at the back, eventually dragging out a storage box, a really large storage box. Once the box is in the middle of the room, she sits down cross-legged beside it.

Sam climbs to his feet and joins her, sitting down across from her. "What's with the box?"

She doesn't answer, just lifts the lid off, leaving him to figure it out for himself, or not, seeing as none of the items inside mean much to him at first glance. There's various movie ticket stubs, several friendship bracelets, a stuffed duck that looks more than a little battle damaged, a pair of pink sunglasses and some sort of knitted thing he thinks is supposed to be a hat. Maybe. And that's just the top layer. Everything is just thrown in the box in a huge jumble, there's no organization system in place at all. Or maybe there is, as Santana digs in one corner until she finds what she's looking for. Sam meanwhile sifts through the rest of the contents. There's crayon drawings of cats amongst other things. It's only when he comes across the photographs, all of Brittany. Solo shots. Her and Santana at various ages in various poses, that's when he finally gets it and he looks across at her, grinning.

She only frowns at him though. "What?"

"You have a Brittany box."

She glance from him to the box. "Shut up."

"No, it's cute. You have a Brittany box."

She lets out a huff. "Can you stop calling it that?"

"What else am I supposed to call it?" He taps the side of it. "Because it's quite clearly a Brittany box."

"It's...it's..." She folds her arms and glares at him. "Fine, okay, it's a Brittany box." She rolls her eyes, and he decides he's safer not trying to tease her about it any longer, not right now anyway. She tosses him the box she has in her hands. "Here."

It's a white box, the name Pandora written across the top. "You bought her jewelry?" He flips it open to find a charm bracelet sitting inside. Several of the charms are Christmas themed. A Santa Claus, a snowman, a Christmas tree and a sleigh. Then there seems to be a duck, a cat. Each one is separated from the next with either a red or green bead, the colors alternating round the bracelet. There's still room for a couple of more beads to be added. "Isn't this stuff like really expensive? Santana, how much did you spend on this?" He holds the box out to her, suddenly not trusting himself to even hold it.

Santana only shrugs. "It started off with a couple of charms, then I kinda just kept adding to it as the year went on." She takes the box from him. "But then Christmas came, and everything was all about Artie for her, and we weren't even really talking so..."

"So it stayed in the box?"

Santana sighs. The way she's studying it, he guesses it's been a while since she last looked at it. "It's too much, isn't it?"

"Depends. How would Brittany feel about you spending hundreds of dollars on her?"

"It's not like money's an issue."

"Must be nice not ever having to worry about money."

Her head snaps up to meet his gaze. "Must be nice having parents who care, instead of just buying you off all the time."

Well that's certainly a conversation killer and they're left sitting in silence.

Eventually Sam gestures towards the box. "You know, I think she'd love it."

"Yeah?" Santana still doesn't look sure.

"Yeah, but not because you spent a load of money on it. She'll love it because you picked it out for her. She'd also love a present that cost like five dollars as long as you've chosen it yourself."

"That your way of telling me to quit asking for your advice?"

Sam climbs to his feet, stopping to place a hand on Santana's shoulder. "That's my way of telling you to have a little faith in yourself. You don't need anyone's help in choosing a present for Brittany."

"But..."

"No, no buts. You don't need my help. You don't need anyone's help. You got this, Santana." He collects up his comics, making sure to leave her the Batwoman though. "I'll see you tomorrow." He leaves her studying the contents of her Brittany box.

Santana had almost made it. She's standing at her front door, her hand is even on the handle, but unfortunately luck is not with her today as her mother shouts to her from the kitchen before she can make it outside. So very close to sneaking out without having to have yet another awkward conversation. She considers simply making a run for it, just ignoring her mother and leaving anyway, but she hesitates too long, giving her mother the chance to make it into the hallway.

"Santana?"

Santana turns around, slowly, very slowly. "Hey, Mami. I'm going over to Brittany's." Santana doesn't think it needs saying really. It's not like there's anywhere else she'd be going at this time of night.

Her mother nods. "That's fine, Mija, but could we maybe talk for a moment before you do?"

Santana wonders if she'd be in trouble if she told her no, told her that Brittany is waiting for her and she doesn't have time to talk to her right now, that more importantly she really doesn't want to talk to her right now.

Her mother must sense her reluctance as she places a hand on Santana's arm. "Please, Santana?"

Well that leaves Santana with little choice in the matter. It's unusual for her mother to ask nicely so whatever it is must be important, so she can only nod and follow her mother into the kitchen. Her mother sits down at the counter, gesturing for her to do the same. "Santana, your father and I have been talking."

Santana learnt a long time ago that that is never a good thing. Whenever her parents actually have a conversation with each other it always seems to result in something bad for her. She chooses to remain standing, leaning against the counter instead of sitting, just in case she needs to make a hasty exit.

Her mother takes a deep breath, clearly knowing that whatever she's about to say isn't going to go down well. "And we've decided that with everything that's happened lately, it might be an idea if we get away from Lima for Christmas this year."

Santana hadn't been expecting that. Sure, her parents are away a lot, but they've never gone away and left her for the holidays before.

Her mother is watching her reaction. "Your father has suggested Aspen."

Even more of a surprise. "You're going skiing? Seriously?"

Her mother smiles and shakes her head. "Well I think I'll be giving the slopes a miss, but your father seems keen on giving it a go, even though I'm convinced he'll only end up breaking a leg, but I'm sure I can trust you to keep him out of trouble."

And the surprises just keep on coming. "Wait, you want me to come with you?"

"Of course."

"But why?"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Because the last time we went on a family vacation I was six."

Her mother looks away. "And that's why I think we all need this. I know you think we've never shown you enough attention over the years, which is why we want to try and work on this." Her mother reaches across the counter and places a hand on top of hers.

Santana pulls her hand away and folds her arms. "And you want to go somewhere where it's actually colder than Ohio to do this because?"

"We thought that you'd enjoy it. Learning something new."

"When have I ever shown an interest in learning to ski?"

Her mother sighs. "We don't know what you're interested in, Santana. That's kind of the whole point of us wanting to do this."

Santana knows she should be grateful that they're making an effort, but the thought of being trapped somewhere with them for any length of time? That sounds like her idea of hell. They're making some grand gesture here, but that's not what she wants from them, not what she needs from them. She just needs them to act like parents. This though, this is all too much too fast. "Do I even get a choice in this?"

"We're hardly going to force you to do something you don't want to, Santana."

"Then I'll pass on the whole Aspen at Christmas thing, thanks."

"Santana..."

"I have plans for Christmas already, okay? Something you didn't bother to ask me before planning this family bonding time." Santana pushes off the counter, moving towards the door slightly. "Mami, it's my first Christmas with Brittany. You honestly think I'd agree to leave her?" She decides not to mention the fact that Brittany isn't going to be in town for Christmas, it's not the point. The point is she doesn't want to go anywhere she's going to be forced to spend time with her parents. She already knows just the kind of conversations they'll be wanting to have with her. They'll start asking her about college, and she still isn't anywhere close to figuring that out. She really can't face all the questions they'll ask her that she won't be able to answer.

Her mother looks disappointed but not surprised at her response. "Then okay. We'll stay in Lima then."

The guilt trip. Her mother really doesn't know her if she thinks that's going to work on her. "You and Papi should still go. I'm gonna be over at the Pierces most of the time anyway." Santana wonders if she should be worried about how easily she can lie to her mother like this. She also knows that's going to hurt her mother, that she would rather spend time with Brittany's family rather than her own, but it's not her fault that the truth hurts. "So you two should go, enjoy yourselves." She thinks she knows why they'd rather not be here. If they're here, they're going to end up having to choose between her and her Abuela. No way is her Abuela going to sit down for Christmas dinner with her, and she knows her father will want to avoid having to make a choice for as long as he possibly can. And that suits her just fine. She really can't handle having her Abuela reject her yet again. So yeah, it's much better for everyone if they're out of town for the holidays. "Now is that it? Because I really need to go."

Her mother only nods and Santana heads straight for the front door before she can say anything else. As long as she gets to celebrate with Brittany like they've planned, then spending Christmas alone sounds good enough to her. Of course that doesn't mean she'll be telling Brittany about that.

Santana makes it over to Brittany's house only ten minutes later than planned, which isn't bad considering. She lets herself in, stopping only to duck her head inside the living room to say hello to Brittany's parents, then she makes her way up to Brittany's room. She finds that the door is closed, which is a little unusual, but she simply shrugs, and opens the door. Or tries to anyway, but the door will only open a crack before something stops it. "What the hell?" She tries again but gets nowhere. "Britt?"

There's movement from behind the door. "Santana?"

"Brittany, is there a reason you've barricaded yourself in your room? Irish hasn't started sneaking inside your room to watch you sleep or some other creepy kind of shit, has he? Because I swear I will have him shipped back to Ireland in a crate."

"No, nothing like that."

"Then why?" This is unusual behaviour even by Brittany's standards.

"I'm on top secret Christmas business."

"Okay." Not that Santana has a clue what that even means, but at least it doesn't sound like anything she needs to worry about. "You wanna let me in?"

"Yeah, sure." There's the sound of something being moved, but Brittany doesn't open the door. "You are alone, aren't you?"

"No, I brought Rachel Berry with me. I thought it would be fun to hang out with her all evening and she can teach us to sing hundreds of Barbara songs." When Brittany still doesn't appear willing to let her in, Santana sighs. "Of course I'm alone, Britt. Now let me in."

The door is finally opened and Brittany allows her inside. Immediately Brittany is replacing the chair behind the door to stop it being opened again. Once Brittany's apparently satisfied that no-one will be able to enter, Brittany turns to Santana and frowns. "You were supposed to use the secret knock."

"What secret knock?"

"You know, the secret knock."

No, Santana doesn't know and she can only stare at Brittany, waiting for her to explain.

"The secret knock that tells me it's you and not anybody else."

"I know what a secret knock is, B, but I don't know what the secret knock is." Santana has a sudden worry that this is only going to lead to Brittany trying to teach her some kind of complex knock that no doubt will take her hours to learn only to find that she never needs to use it ever again. "Actually, forget it. How bout next time I just yell through the door instead?"

Brittany shrugs. "But the secret knock is more fun." She turns and walks over to the other side of the room, and sits down on the floor.

Santana takes in the current state of the bedroom. The floor is cluttered with various items and rolls of wrapping paper. "This is the top secret business? Wrapping Christmas gifts?" Santana stops beside the one item that Brittany has managed to finish wrapping so far. "And it isn't going well?"

"Wrapping stuff is hard."

"You should do what I do. Only buy things that come in a square box. Anything else is way too much effort to wrap." Santana carefully makes her way across the room, somehow managing to avoid standing on anything breakable and collapses down onto the bed. If Brittany is going to be busy for a while, well she might as well take a nap.

Apparently Brittany has other plans though. "I thought you came over to help me."

"How can I have come over to help you if you didn't even tell me this is how you were spending the evening?"

"I didn't tell you because then you wouldn't have come over." Okay, so Brittany might have a point there.

"Again, if I didn't know, then I couldn't have offered to help, therefore I don't have to help now." Santana knows exactly how this conversation is going to end, in her wrapping everything herself while Brittany just sits there supervising. However she intends to hold out for as long as she can. She does still have her pride after-all.

"But San..."

"Nope." Santana closes her eyes just in case Brittany decides to break out the pout already.

"Fine." Brittany huffs, then there's the sound of rustling paper as she goes back to the task at hand. "But just remember that it's going to take me all night if you don't help."

"S'okay. Just wake me up when you're done." After a few minutes of Brittany not saying anything else, Santana opens one eye and watches as Brittany struggles to wrap an overly large plush T-Rex. She sits up, her eyes scanning the room. "Who are all these presents for anyway?"

Brittany looks up at her. "My family and the Glee Club mostly."

"You brought the Glee Club presents? Why?"

"You didn't?"

"No." In fact she hasn't bought anyone any presents. She's still working on finding the perfect gift for Brittany, that's left little time for getting anyone else anything, even if she had wanted to.

"I didn't get Finn anything though."

Santana can understand that. "It'd have been a little weird if you did. Unless you gave him something that exploded when he opened it. That would be okay." Santana sits up quickly, opening her other eye. "But don't do that, because there's a chance it'd end in you going to jail, and that would suck."

"Got it. No exploding gifts for Finn."

Santana slides off the bed and goes to sit beside Brittany. She smooths out the wrapping paper that Brittany is trying to tape down and holds it in place. Working together they soon have the T-Rex wrapped up and start to work their way through the rest of the pile.

They're on the third gift when Santana can't resist asking, "So is my gift in with all this stuff?"

"No. Yours is hidden somewhere you won't ever find it, so you'll have to wait until Christmas to see what it is. I'll give you a clue though, it's totally awesome and you're gonna love it."

Santana's sure she is. She just wishes she was as confident when it came to her gift to Brittany. It doesn't help that Brittany is insisting that they don't open their presents to each other until Christmas morning, so she won't even get to see Brittany's reaction to the gift, and she's worried she won't be able to tell if Brittany's lying if she tells her she loves it.

Brittany pauses mid wrap and turns to watch her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About?"

"About how I really wish you weren't going away for Christmas."

Brittany holds her gaze. "If you ask me to stay, I will. I'll tell my parents that I'm not going."

"I know you would, Britt, but I'm not gonna ask you to do that." She would never ask Brittany to make a choice between her and her family.

"I could do it anyway. Even if you didn't ask."

"No, you're gonna spend Christmas with your family. And us? We're gonna stick to the plan to have our Christmas early."

Brittany leans closer and kisses Santana's cheek. "You're seriously like the best girlfriend ever. You know that right?"

"Nope, I think you hold that title. But I'm a close second."

Brittany smiles and shakes her head, but doesn't argue with her. "I love you so much, Santana."

"I love you too." And Santana fully intends to show Brittany that every chance she has this Christmas.

A/N: This chapter has been an absolute nightmare to write. Writing Christmas fics in August/September is not easy.