A/N : So one good thing about the Glee finale is it's made me determined to finish my Brittana fics. I'm going to take this fic slightly AU though because I really can't work in the whole Brittany not graduating plot because it really didn't make any sense that a) Brittany would be allowed to continue with Glee club, Cheerios and Student council if she was failing so bad, and b) that Santana wouldn't know that she was failing. It all even makes less sense now that it's cannon that Brittany is a super genius. Also warning, there is quite a bit of Sam in this chapter, but season 3 Sam was awesome. And as I'm now ignoring season 4 then that means Sam never turned into an asshole and stayed the good guy he used to be.

Brittany knows she's early. Like two hours early. Maybe. If she's honest she's not really sure what time she was supposed to pick Santana up for their Not-Christmas Eve date, but she does know that it wasn't supposed to be this early. The chances of Santana being awake before nine am when she doesn't have school are very very small, yet here Brittany is standing at the bottom of Santana's driveway. She had planned on letting herself inside and sneaking up to Santana's bedroom, to wake her up by leaping onto the bed. Or maybe sliding into bed beside her and waking Santana with a good morning kiss would be a better option.

Her plans have been thrown a little though because she's arrived to find Mrs Lopez's car sitting in the driveway. Brittany can only stare at it, hoping that doing so will reveal why it's there, or at least make it disappear, because if it's there, then that would mean that Santana's mom is home.

She glances from the car to the house. She should go home. She's early. Santana's not expecting her for another few hours, and Mrs Lopez is inside the house. She should go home.

She hasn't spoken to Mrs Lopez since, well she can't even remember the last time she spoke to her. For some reason she always makes Brittany nervous, and when she gets nervous Brittany starts to babble, and then Mrs Lopez always gives her that look. The one that clearly says why is my daughter even friends with you?

Yeah, she should go home.

Her feet seem to have a different idea though as they're carrying her towards the front door, despite that not being where she wants to be going. Her feet always betray her. Always.

Once she's at the door, Brittany decides she'd better knock. She's not even sure if Santana's parents know she has a key and she doesn't want to get Santana into trouble.

Mrs Lopez answers the door, frowning a little when she sees her. "Hello, Brittany."

"Hi, Mrs Lopez." She really should have gone home.

"Are you here to see Santana?"

"Erm..." Brittany pauses, wondering if that's one of those trick questions that she's always getting in trouble for answering, because why else would she be here?

Mrs Lopez steps aside to let Brittany in. "I'm not sure Santana's left her bed yet this morning. Did she know you were coming over?"

"Yeah, but I'm early." Hopefully Brittany was allowed to answer that question.

Mrs Lopez nods. "Well I'm sure you know as well as I do that trying to wake Santana up in the morning is a suicide mission. So why don't you come through into the kitchen? I just made a fresh pot of coffee."

Mrs Lopez then turns and walks away leaving Brittany with no choice but to follow after her. Anything else would be rude, wouldn't it? Even if it is very tempting to run upstairs and beg Santana to save her from what's sure to be an awkward conversation. No, she can do this. She can survive anything Mrs Lopez is going to throw at her and then spend the day with Santana as planned.

Mrs Lopez gestures for her to sit down at the kitchen table and Brittany once again doesn't dare not to do as she's told. Mrs Lopez pours her a cup of coffee and places in front of her. She then pours herself a cup and sits down opposite Brittany, offering her a tight smile.

Normally Brittany doesn't struggle to think of things to say, but when it comes to Santana's mother, then it's like her brain goes into sleep mode. It doesn't help when Mrs Lopez is staring at her like this, as if expecting something from Brittany, something Brittany can't ever seem to give her.

Eventually Mrs Lopez must get bored of the silence. "So, Brittany, how's school?"

"It's okay." Brittany shrugs, not really knowing what else to say on that subject.

"Not struggling with your classes this year?"

Now Brittany knows what answer she has to give to that question. "No."

Mrs Lopez shakes her head. "I don't know how you girls do it. My senior year I didn't have time for anything except studying. Yet you kids these days find time to date, go to parties, and take part in all these extra-curricular activities, and still manage to keep your grades up."

"That's why I want to get my time machine to work. Because then you could have more time for stuff, you know?" Brittany remembers too late that she's not supposed to tell people about her time machine. That Santana told her to keep it a secret, but the damage is done now. Maybe if she just keeps talking Mrs Lopez will forget she ever mentioned it. "And you'd never have to choose between which thing you want to do that day. Because sometimes I have to choose between Glee club, Cheerios, Motocross, student council or spending time with Santana, and it sucks that I can't do everything."

Mrs Lopez is staring at her in disbelief so maybe she did pick up on the whole time machine thing. "You're on the student council?"

"I'm class president."

"Santana didn't tell me that."

Brittany would have been surprised if Santana had. Actually she's fairly sure Santana never talks to her mother at all if she can help it. She certainly spends enough time avoiding her.

"That's a major achievement, Brittany, being Class President."

Brittany shrugs. "Not really. Class Presidents don't seem to do much." And again that seems to be the wrong thing to say as it only makes Mrs Lopez frown at her some more.

Thankfully she's saved from having to say anything else as Santana chooses that moment to pad into the kitchen. Brittany is pretty sure her girlfriend isn't fully awake, and that it's only the smell of coffee that has made her crawl out of bed and down the stairs. Santana yawns, stretches and finally her eyes seem to focus on the slightly surreal scene that is playing out in front of her. Santana looks slowly from Brittany to her mother then back. Something tells Brittany that she's trying to figure out if this is some kind of nightmare.

Mrs Lopez stands and quickly pours another cup of coffee and then slides it along the counter towards Santana, as if that will act as some kind of peace offering. "Morning, Mija. Brittany and I were just catching up. It seems like ages since we've had the chance to talk, doesn't it, Brittany?"

It does, but Brittany can't help thinking that's a good thing.

Santana must think the same as she scowls at her mother. When Santana doesn't say anything though, only folds her arms and continues to stare at the two of them, that's when Brittany knows for sure that she really is still half asleep. She also knows that Santana has a habit of lashing out when she's forced to interact with people before she's had the chance to wake up properly and while Brittany is used to it by now, she's not sure Mrs Lopez has ever spent enough time with Santana to become immune to it like Brittany has. Brittany slides off the stool and is at Santana's side before she can start an argument. She grabs Santana's hand and starts to pull her out of the room and down the hallway. "Sorry, Mrs Lopez, but I need to borrow Santana. Top secret Christmas business."

Santana's eyes stay locked on her mother, but she does stumble along after Brittany.

Brittany doesn't let go of Santana until they're safely in Santana's bedroom and they have a closed door between them and Mrs Lopez. Then she turns to Santana. "Don't freak out."

"Don't freak out?" At least Santana seems completely awake now. "You were talking to my mother. Of course I'm going to freak out."

"You don't need to. It was okay. I didn't say anything stupid. Least I don't think I did. Well I kinda let slip about the time machine, but I don't think she believed me, so it's okay."

"That's not why..." Santana sighs. "Never mind. Forget it." She turns away from Brittany and starts rifling through her closet as she starts to get ready.

Clearly something is going on between Santana and her mother, something that Santana doesn't seem to want to let Brittany in on. "San, I'm sorry for showing up early. I didn't think your mom would be home." The last thing Brittany wants is to cause more problems between Santana and her parents.

"It's fine, Britt. Let's just get out of here, okay?"

The violent way Santana grabs clothes off their hangars and stomps off into the bathroom to get changed tells Brittany that it's far from fine.

Today is not going to plan.

It's not even going slightly to plan. In fact Brittany is a little thrown about how wrong everything is going so far.

Although she does know the mistake that's she made. Nothing good ever comes from waking Santana up early in the morning. Ever. Brittany thinks she really should have learned that by now. Instead she's stuck spending the day with a grumpy Santana and for once nothing she does seems to be enough to pull her girlfriend out of her mood. That doesn't mean she's going to stop trying though.

However she really doesn't think that ice skating is going to help matters, for a couple of reasons. Number one being that Santana hates the cold.

Santana is still at the edge of the rink, watching with a frown as Brittany finishes her current lap, her fourth if Brittany has counted right. Brittany heads back over to her, skidding to a stop right in front of her. "You going to join me on the ice at some point?"

Santana only shrugs.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Brittany reaches out and lifts Santana's chin so that she has no choice but to look at her. "What's wrong?"

This time she gets an answer. "It's just we're out here in the fucking cold when we could be snuggled up on your sofa, watching movies."

"We'll be doing that later."

"I know..."

"But?" Brittany knows this isn't about the ice skating. It isn't even about Santana having to get up early. Brittany has forced Santana out of bed at all kinds of times of the morning before now and it's never taken long for her to bring Santana out of her bad mood. Something else is going on, something that Santana doesn't seem to want her to know about.

For a second, it looks like Santana might tell her the truth, but then she shakes her head and looks away. "But nothing."

"Then why are you sitting here?"

"Because maybe I'd rather watch you skate than risk breaking something when I fall on my ass out there."

"Santana, we've been doing this for how many years now?"

Santana only shrugs, and Brittany can't tell if she's being difficult or if she really doesn't know the answer. Brittany's not sure she knows the exact answer herself if she's honest, but she knows it's a lot. "Pretty much forever, and in all that time, have I ever let you fall?"

"No."

"Then why would I start now?" She holds a hand out, pleased when Santana takes it and allows Brittany to pull her to her feet, well skates. Instantly Santana starts to wobble and Brittany quickly moves her hands around her waist to keep her upright. "How is that you've never gotten the hang of this?"

"Because it's ice, okay. It's cold, and slippery and it's not like humans are supposed to slide around on it like this and..."

"You're rambling."

Santana relaxes a little in her arms. "I know. It's just..."

"It's just?"

"People are staring at me. Staring at us."

"What people?"

Santana nods over to the far side of the rink. "Those guys for a start."

Sure enough there's a small group of teenage boys watching them, though Brittany's pretty sure that they're only doing so because they're checking Santana out. "Do you want to leave?"

"No. I mean yes. But you don't, so no."

Brittany frowns, trying to decide if that was a yes or no. "You're making my head hurt today." That sometimes happens when she tries to make sense of Santana logic.

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Santana. Just talk to me."

Santana hesitates and for a moment, Brittany thinks she isn't going to get any answers about Santana's strange behavior, but then Santana sighs and looks up at her. "You're leaving tomorrow."

"And?"

"And it sucks, okay? I don't want you to go, and then I feel bad about not wanting you to go because you should spend Christmas with your family." Santana holds a hand up to stop Brittany from interrupting. "And please don't offer to stay again because that just makes me feel like a really shitty girlfriend. And I want to spend time with you before you go, but not with all these random people around. I just want it to be us."

Once Santana finishes talking, Brittany waits to make sure that Santana has said all she's going to say, then she takes hold of Santana's hand and pulls her gently towards the edge of the ice. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere where it can just be us."

As they're taking their skates off, one thing's still bothering Brittany and she can't resist asking, "Why didn't you want me talking to your mom?"

"What?"

She shouldn't have asked, Brittany knows that as soon as the question has left her mouth. "Never-mind." Brittany already knows the answer anyway.

Brittany's taking her life in her hands. She knows that. She spent all yesterday trying to get Santana out of a bad mood and for the first time ever she failed to do so. So now, waking Santana up early, for the second morning in a row? Yeah, this is really not going to end well.

She can't seem to resist though. She'll be leaving for Santa Fe soon and she doesn't want to waste any of that time sleeping.

Santana however might not feel the same.

She's about to find out as it's only taken a few kisses to Santana's neck and face and her girlfriend is starting to stir. "Santana?"

Santana rolls over onto her back, but her eyes are still closed. "What time is it?"

"Dunno."

Santana opens one eye, lifts herself up on one elbow so she can see the alarm clock. "Britt, it's five am."

Brittany stays silent, she'd been hoping Santana wouldn't have noticed it was that early.

"Brittany, why the hell am I awake at five am?"

"Because it's Christmas Day."

"No, it isn't Christmas Day. It's three days before Christmas Day. So seriously why the hell am I awake at five am?"

"San." Brittany draws Santana's name out, something that usually works to keep her out of trouble. "We're supposed to be pretending it's Christmas Day, remember? And we always get up early on Christmas Day to open our presents."

Santana presses closer against her, burying her head into Brittany's chest. "But you said we're not opening presents today. You said it was bad luck to open presents early. You said nothing about having to get up at five am. If you had, I wouldn't have agreed to this whole early Christmas crap."

Brittany can't help smiling slightly. She'd known exactly what she was letting herself in for by daring to wake Santana this early. "But this whole thing was your idea."

Santana only groans. "Yeah, well, it was a stupid idea and I don't want to do it any more."

It's unusual for Santana to not humor her and Brittany frowns. "Do you really mean that?"

"Maybe." Santana shifts so she has a leg and an arm over Brittany's body.

"Are you lying on top of me to try and stop me from getting up?"

"Maybe, I admit nothing."

"That's so cute."

That earns her a glare from Santana. "It's not cute, it's devious, it's..."

She doesn't get to finish that sentence as Brittany pushes up and with ease flips them over. "No, pretty sure it's cute you thought you could pin me down."

Santana lets out a huff, not even bothering to struggle to free herself. "Yeah, well, I'm blaming it on the sleep deprivation I'm suffering from because my girlfriend decided to wake me up at five am."

"But it's tradition." Brittany risks trying the pout, but the dangerous glint in Santana's eyes tells her it isn't going to work this time.

"Maybe it's time we made a new tradition. One which doesn't involve us leaving this bed."

Brittany really can't object to that, not when it's followed by Santana pulling her close for a slow deep kiss.

Santana is starting to think that this Christmas is actually going to do the impossible and suck more than last year's.

Bad enough that she won't be spending it with Brittany, but now she's gone and ruined the little time they do have together by being a bitch and sulking for most of it.

Now it's time for Brittany to leave and they're sitting in silence on the Pierces' front porch. Eventually Santana decides to break the silence and asks, "Are you sure you don't want me to come to the airport with you?"

Brittany nods. "I'm sure. You're supposed to be excited at the airport. I think it's like a rule or something. And if you're there, that'd just make me sad. And I don't want to be sad at the airport."

Santana doesn't know what to say to that, so she doesn't say anything.

Brittany shifts slightly so she's sitting facing Santana. "Why is this so hard?"

Santana can only shrug. She's been asking herself that same question.

"Is it supposed to be this hard? The thought of spending a week apart? Is it supposed to hurt so much?"

"I don't know, Britt." Santana's pretty sure it isn't. The fact that it is only makes her worry about the future. More than she already was. If they can't even spend a week apart, then what does that mean for them after graduation? Her original plan of the two of them simply hitting the road with only her car and the money she's been saving up for the past four years, well that seems selfish now. She still hasn't had a conversation with Brittany about their future plans, they're both avoiding that particular discussion, but Brittany has talent, Brittany has a brilliant future ahead of her, whatever she decides to do, and Santana doesn't want to stand in her way. Especially when she still has no clue what she wants to do with her own life.

Brittany goes back to staring ahead. "Is there any point in me asking what's making you act so weird?"

Santana stays silent again. At least that way she doesn't have to outright lie, so that has to count for something, doesn't it? She can't exactly tell Brittany that she's worried how she's going to survive without Brittany for even a day, let alone a week. If she did, then Brittany would stay in Lima. And even if by some miracle she managed to convince Brittany to still go, then Brittany would only spend her whole Christmas worrying about her. Although she's probably already got her worrying as it is. "I just keep thinking about last Christmas, and how it was the worst time of my life. And how this whole year has kinda sucked. I just can't wait for it to all be over, you know? New year, new start."

Brittany reaches across to take hold of Santana's hand, so that answer must satisfy her, for now at least.

Santana squeezes Brittany's hand, then pulls away, climbing to her feet. "Look, I should go. You've got packing to finish." She tries to ignore the hurt expression on Brittany's face.

"You're not going to stay until we leave?"

"I told Sam I'd go with him to the comic book store before he leaves for Kentucky." Okay, so now she's lying, but she knows she can't handle a big goodbye. It already feels like she's making a much bigger deal out of this than she should be. The word co-dependent keeps floating around her head, threatening to make her freak out any moment now.

Brittany shakes her head, but she is smiling slightly. "You're such a nerd."

"Hey, I'm just doing the guy a favour."

"And you won't pick up the latest issue of Batwoman while you're there?"

Santana folds her arms, but decides there's no use in denying it. "Well I may as well get something out of it."

"Nerd." Brittany jumps to her feet and pulls Santana into a hug. "But I still love you anyway." She pulls back so she can lean down and press her lips to Santana's, then pulls her in to deepen the kiss.

Santana's the first one to pull away, worried that if she doesn't get out of there soon then she'll break and end up asking Brittany to stay after-all. "I should go. Sam's waiting. Call me when you get to Santa Fe, yeah?"

Brittany nods.

"Okay, and no opening your present from me until Christmas Day, okay?" They'd made an agreement that they'd save the gifts they've exchanged until Brittany Skypes with Santana on Christmas morning, but Santana knows how impatient Brittany gets when it comes to surprises.

"I promise." Brittany holds out her pinky finger to Santana.

Santana links her own with Brittany's, then pulls her in for another quick hug. She kisses her cheek, then lets her go. "It's only one week. We can do this, right?" She hates how her voice falters slightly.

"When it comes to us, anything's possible, remember?"

"Okay, so I'll see you in a week." Santana turns and walks quickly to her car before she can change her mind about the whole leaving thing. She's only just fastened her seatbelt when her cellphone is buzzing.

I miss you already.

She looks up to find Brittany still on her porch, watching her.

She quickly replies before driving away.

Miss you too, Britt.

When Sam pulls up at the Pierces', Rory's already waiting for him at the bottom of the driveway. As soon as the car stops, Rory throws his rucksack in the trunk and then is sliding into the passenger seat. He grins at Sam, looking like this trip is the greatest thing that has ever happened to him. Perhaps it is, and that thought depresses Sam a little.

Rory bounces in his seat. "So I can't believe it. I'm going on an actual roadtrip in America. This is so awesome. Do we get to stay in motels on the way?"

Sam frowns. "Erm, no, sorry." Rory looks a little disappointed to hear that and Sam wonders if he should be worried. Sometimes when he's trying to be nice to people, they think he's hitting on them and he really hopes he hasn't given Rory the wrong idea. He's trying to decide whether he needs to make that clear now before they leave Lima, or if that will just make the whole trip very awkward, when he notices a figure sitting on the Pierces' front porch. He leans forward to get a better look. "Is that Santana?"

Rory glances back towards the house. "Yeah."

"What's she doing?"

Rory shrugs. "I dunno. I thought it best not to ask. She doesn't like it when I try to talk to her."

"Brittany's gone to Santa Fe for Christmas, right?"

"Yeah, they left this morning."

"And what, Santana's just been sitting outside the house ever since?"

"No. Maybe. I dunno. Can we just go?" Rory is starting to look a little nervous. "You're not gonna ask her to come with us, are you?"

"We can't just leave her sitting there."

"Yes, we can. Sam, she scares the crap outta me. Let's just go."

"She's not that scary."

"Yeah, she is. She threatened to explode me."

"Yeah? Well, you must've done something to deserve it." Sam slaps him on the back and throws open the door. "I'll be back in a minute." He climbs out the car, slamming the door closed behind him, and jogs over to the house. "Hey."

Santana doesn't react, just takes a drag off the cigarette she's currently smoking.

Sam sits down beside her. "So whatcha doing?" Again he gets no response. "You planning on camping out here the whole time she's away?" Still nothing. "Because I think Brittany will freak out a little if she comes home to find you've turned into an ice cube on her doorstep."

She takes another hit off the cigarette. "Do you want something, Trouty?"

"Want something? No. I was just checking you were okay."

"Well you've checked so why don't you run along and play with your new boyfriend over there and carry out his initiation into your little geek guild, okay?"

The insult lacks her usual wit, which only makes him more worried. "Do you need a ride home?"

And she's back to ignoring him.

"Your parents not going to be wondering where you are?"

"Nope."

At least he got an answer this time. "They out of town again or something?"

"Dr and Mrs Lopez are spending Christmas skiing in snowy Aspen."

"And you didn't go cause you don't like skiing?" It sounds like an awesome way to spend the holidays to him.

This time he isn't surprised when she doesn't answer. He's almost about to give up and head back to the car, when she says, "I've ruined their plans for me."

This time he's the one who stays silent, just lets her talk.

Santana drops the cigarette to the floor and stamps it out. "Now they know that I'm gay, all of a sudden college is a big deal and they want to have long, long discussions about it. About which colleges are the best and how if I'm not going to marry a doctor or a lawyer then I should become a doctor or a lawyer."

"And you don't want to be either?"

"I just couldn't handle two weeks of them wanting to talk about all that shit. About my thoughts and feelings. They've gone eighteen years without giving a crap and now they suddenly care?"

He thinks that's probably a good thing, even if she doesn't see it that way. "So you're gonna spend Christmas alone?"

"Better than spending it stuck on a mountain with them." Santana frowns. "I think maybe you should go crack a window for the Leprechaun."

Sam glances over to his car to find Rory is frantically waving at him. Sam waves back. He's already dreading this roadtrip and they haven't even left Lima. "Does Brittany know you're spending Christmas alone?"

Santana slowly turns to glare at him. "No, and she's not going to find out."

Sam decides that a change of subject is in order. "You could always come with me to Kentucky." At least she'd be a buffer between him and Rory. Although he might have to spend most of the trip trying to stop Santana from throwing Rory out of the moving car.

"Do I really need to answer that, Trouty?"

He hadn't really expected her to agree to join his family for Christmas, and he knows better than to try and push the subject. "Okay, well I should go." He gestures back towards the car.

"You know if you happen to accidentally leave Irish in Kentucky, there might be a hundred bucks in it for you. Just saying."

"Have a good Christmas, Santana."

She dismisses him with a wave of her hand, before lighting up another cigarette.

Once he's back in the car, Rory asks him, "She's not coming with us, is she?"

"No, relax."

"Good, good."

Sam starts the engine but once he's rounded the corner onto the next block he pulls up to the side of the road. "I just need to make a phonecall." Sure Santana is going to kill him, but he figures it's worth it.

Seeing as she has plenty of free time on her hands, Santana has decided she may as well start on those The L Word dvds she's been putting off watching. She's currently sprawled out on her bed and okay so maybe she got a little too into it, as she didn't hear Sam entering her house until he's standing in the doorway to her bedroom and asking her, "Are you watching lesbian porn?"

She fumbles for the remote and hits the stop button. "It's not porn and what the hell are you doing in my house?"

Sam leans against the door-frame. "Well you weren't still sitting in front of Brittany's house like you were last night, so I figured you'd be here."

She really needs to start remembering to lock all the doors to her house. It might stop her fellow Glee club members from wandering inside uninvited like this. "I mean why are you still in Lima? Shouldn't you be back on the farm by now?"

He doesn't even flinch. "I had something I needed to do first. I'm just glad you're awake because I didn't like my chances of surviving if I had to wake you up."

She hasn't actually been to sleep, but he doesn't need to know that. "You better start explaining why this involves you being in my bedroom..."

"I brought you a present."

"Why?"

"Santana, when someone gets you a gift, you're supposed to be grateful and say thank you."

"Not when you're too busy wondering why they got you something in the first place. Because for what possible reason could you have bought me a gift?"

"Because it's Christmas and we're friends." He looks a little hurt, and she maybe, just maybe might feel a little bit bad about that. Just a little though. Not enough to apologize or anything.

"Whatever it is, it's only going to be something incredibly lame, so I'm good, thanks."

"Trust me, you totally want this present."

"You sound pretty sure about that?"

"That's because I am."

"Wanna bet?"

She's thrown a little when he simply nods. "Yes. I do want to bet."

"Excuse me?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I want to bet that you're gonna like the present. No, that you're gonna love it." He's smirking now, and she doesn't like it. That smirk only seems to grow when he notices her falter slightly. "What's the matter, Santana? Suddenly you don't seem all that confident."

She scoffs. "Please. Besides, aren't you supposed to be broke, Trouty? It just wouldn't feel right taking money from you."

"I didn't say anything about money."

"Then what do you want to bet?"

"If you like my Christmas gift to you, then you have to join me for a Battlestar Galatica marathon."

"Is that the show with the toasters and where everyone says frak all the time?"

"Yeah." His eyes brighten and he grins that wide toothy smile he only does when he's about to geek out over something.

"Then no." Now it's her turn to smirk at the way his face falls so quickly. It's far too easy to get him to make that wounded puppy look he's so good at.

"Well, okay, if I win you'll watch Firefly? There's less episodes of that."

"And what do I get if I win?"

"I'll watch your lesbian porn with you."

"It's not lesbian porn." She's starting to wonder if Sam has ever watched any actual porn in his life.

"If you say so."

"Forget the bet, just tell me what you're doing here." Santana slides off the bed and advances on him, hoping it'll be enough to get him talking.

"You just want to back out now because you know I'll win."

"I swear to god, Trouty, if you don't start talking in the next ten seconds then..."

"Do you two want me to come back when you've finished arguing?"

Santana freezes at the sound of Brittany's voice. At first she's starting to think all this must be a dream, even if it did start a little strange, what with Sam Evans being in it and all, but sure enough Brittany is standing next to Sam.

Sam turns his attention to Brittany. "You were supposed to wait outside."

Brittany shrugs. "You were taking too long and it's cold out there."

"But it was supposed to be a surprise." Sam folds his arms, clearly sulking.

"I told you, Santana doesn't like surprises. And I kinda figured that you must have been having trouble getting her to leave her room."

"I would have managed just fine if you hadn't interrupted."

"I dunno, Sam." Brittany points at Santana, who hasn't moved at all. "Looks like you broke her to me."

"I didn't break her, she's..." He trails off as he turns and notices Santana is just sitting staring at Brittany, mouth hanging open slightly. "Santana?" She doesn't respond, her eyes fixed on Brittany. He frowns. "Okay, so maybe I broke her a little. Though hey, she was fine until you showed up, so maybe I'm not the one who broke her."

Santana shakes herself, trying to get her brain to agree to work again. "Brittany, what are you..." She tries again, "Why are you..."

"Sam called me."

Sam seems to take that as a cue to retreat. "Anyway I should go."

Brittany shakes her head. "Don't go yet, okay?"

He looks worried as he glances at Santana. "Okay, I'm just gonna go check Rory's alive, give you two a minute." He then makes a hasty exit before Santana can get to him.

Santana watches him practically run out of her room. "I can't believe the son of a bitch called you. Britt, if I thought for one minute that he actually had the guts then I wouldn't have told him..." She doesn't get the chance to say any more as Brittany launches herself into her arms and she has to react quickly to catch her. And then Brittany is kissing her so she completely forgets what she was going to say anyway.

Eventually Brittany pulls away, grinning down at her. "Hey."

"Hey." It's all Santana can manage to say right now. Part of her is still not convinced this is real, that she'll wake up alone any minute, feeling even worse than she did before.

"Don't be too mad at Sam, okay?" Brittany sighs. "It wouldn't have made a difference if he'd phoned me or not."

"How'd you mean?"

"You won't get mad at me?"

"Promise."

Brittany moves away from her and sits down on the bed. "I tried to be excited about Santa Fe, I really did. But when we landed in Denver, I couldn't get on the next plane. I missed you too much. And I know that's stupid and it had only been a few hours, but I told my parents I didn't want to go. That I wanted to come home and spend Christmas with you."

Santana winces. "And how did they take that?"

"They said they were surprised that I made it as far as Denver."

"So they were okay with you coming back?" Santana sits down beside Brittany. Clearly they're going to have to talk about this whole inability to be apart that they seem to have going on, but for now, Santana is just glad to have Brittany back in Lima.

"Yeah. But I could only get a flight as far as Chicago. Then I was stuck on standby to get back to Columbus. That's when Sam called and he came and picked me up and brought me here."

"Britt, it's like a four hour drive to Chicago."

"I know that now, but he offered and I just wanted to get back to you as soon as I could."

"Great, so now I owe Trouty Mouth a favor?" Something tells her she's going to end up having to sit through both Firefly and Battlestar Galatica for this.

And of course Sam walks back in her room in time to hear her say that. "You're just lucky Rory doesn't seem to know anything about US geography. He didn't even notice we weren't still heading for Kentucky until we rolled up in Chicago. Anyway I should be going. My folks were expecting us yesterday so..."

Santana is fine with letting him leave, but an elbow in the ribs from Brittany has her asking, "Listen, do you two want breakfast or something before you hit the road again? Unless you're eager to get back into a car with Lucky the Leprechaun?"

Sam stares at her. "You can cook?"

"I can make coffee and there's cereal in the house." She shrugs. "Long as you don't expect anything more than that, I think we're good." Hopefully if she feeds him it'll get her out of any sci-fi marathons at least.