The clean up from the party took half of the next day. Of course that's half a day of half-hearted cleaning and online house hunting. As soon as you told Rachel that Frannie was moving, she demanded that you start looking for adjacent houses for your mom and her dads in the Lake George area by the Adirondacks. Her dads haven't actually agreed to move yet, but she's already on the phone with her accountant talking about how much she could spend on a house for them. She figures that if she has some really pretty pictures to show them of their new home that that may convince them that New York is the place for them.
You dread actually having to move your mom and sister from Lima to New York because Frannie has given you a one-month window to move them. You have from the middle of January to the middle of February. Your mom hasn't actually said yes either, but you know she's going to so you're putting her on the same timeline as Frannie.
That also happens to be the exact same month that Blaine and Kurt are moving to New York as well as (you heard from Brittany) Puck and Lauren. Brittany's fantasizing about the whole glee club moving to New York, but Sam got Mercedes to move to Austin and you'd have to pry Seattle out of Artie and Tina's cold dead hands. Of course you figure that Finn's going to follow Puck to New York. So you're going to have to find a place for Puck and Lauren and a place for Finn. Real Estate is haunting you and you feel like you'll never be able to shake it.
You think that you've found a small cottage type house for your mother when you feel two arms wrap around your waist. Rachel brushes you hair away from your neck and places a gentle kiss there, "So how's it going?"
"Are your dads more cottage style or ranch style?" you ask her taking a sip of your coffee.
"If it's more in the mountains they'd want a chalet kind of thing, but if it's closer to the lake then probably cottage-y," she says.
"I know you have your heart set on Lake George," you say, "But I found some really great houses by Lake Champlain."
She looks over your screen and takes a deep breath, "Whatever you think babe."
"How about the Vermont side of Lake Champlain?"
"The whole point of this was to move them closer to me," she pretends to be exasperated.
You tilt your head and rest it against hers, "Vermont is still closer than Ohio."
"So is New Jersey, but not fathers of mine will live in New Jersey," she kisses your cheek and pulls away to get the coffee pot.
As she's refilling your mug, you smirk, "Vermont is definitely not New Jersey."
"So Vermont is okay?" you ask.
She nods, "The part of Vermont touching a lake or New York."
You continue your search with Rachel pressed against your back. Her chin is resting on your shoulder as she looks over all the listings with you. You both stand there for almost half an hour before Frannie bitches enough to get your mom to coerce you into helping finish the cleaning.
And as promised, as soon as the menorah is put into a box for storage, Frannie gets the Christmas tree down from the attic. With everyone's help, it's quickly decorated and you're all surprised by the number of presents under it.
"How am I going to be able to keep my hands off of my presents until Christmas?" Rachel asks you as you both sit on the couch and admire the tree with everyone else. "That's why I do Hanukah better. I get a present everyday for eight days. Except this year of course."
You kiss her cheek, "Next year I'll spread all of your presents over Hanukah, okay?"
"How about I get eight presents over Hanukah and a whole bunch of them on Christmas?" she asks with a cheeky grin.
You just laugh with her and slip your arm around her shoulders. She snuggles into your side with a content sigh.
"Do we get to open one on Christmas Eve like when we were little?" Frannie asks you mother.
Your mother is sitting in an armchair, sipping on some tea, "I don't see why not."
"Can we go caroling?" Rachel whispers to you.
You giggle, "No."
"Why not?" she gives you her best pout complete with her puppy dog eyes.
"Because…" You're suddenly struggling for a good reason not to.
"I wanna go," Frannie states with a smirk. You know she said that so you would be outvoted and have to go even if you didn't want to. You narrow your eyes at her, but she just quirks a challenging eyebrow.
Your mom even voices her support. Ethan just shrugs and you're sure he'd go along with whatever all of you wanted to do.
"Okay fine," you tell Rachel, "But only to people's houses we know."
Rachel starts counting off on her fingers, "Okay we have the Lopez-Pierces, the Hudson-Hummels, the Schuesters, Coach Sylvester, I think Mercedes is in town, the Puckermans…" she trails off and stands up, mumbling something about a set list. You face palm and fall over on the couch.
You convince Rachel to hold off on the caroling until Christmas Eve so that her dads can come too. She looks so cute in her little knit beret with her green scarf in the light of the Christmas decorations. Her cheeks are pink from the cold and she hasn't stopped smiling. It's like you can't stop kissing her and you haven't left your driveway yet.
Ethan physically pulls you away from her and throws you over his shoulder so you can get the show on the road. Rachel laughs and trots after the group, clutching her folder containing the sheet music against her chest.
Rachel insisted on walking and even made a detailed map of your route. The closest house is the Joneses' where she has on good authority that Mercedes is home with Sam for the holidays.
Your mom rings the doorbell and then huddles up next to your sister. The front door opens and sure enough Sam is standing there in a blue sweater and faded jeans. He smiles when you all start singing 'O Holy Night'. He turns around and calls to the rest of the house. Soon they're all standing around the front door and you see even a few little faces looking out the windows.
Rachel gets Sam and Mercedes to join the group as well as Mercedes' mother and aunt. Rachel hands out maps and music to the new members and you all take off on the next stop.
As you sing 'We Need A Little Christmas' in front of the Pierce house, the Lopez family arrives in multiple cars. It seems they were planning on spending Christmas Eve as one huge family which you find absolutely endearing. Everyone sings along with you and much to your surprise Santana is the one dragging Brittany out the door to join you with Brittany's little sister running out after them, encouraging Coach Sylvester, who was apparently in the house enjoying a Pierce family Christmas, to follow.
Brittany gets Rachel to change the order of your songs as you walk to the next house on the route. Mercedes texted ahead of time and when you get to the Hudson-Hummel house, Blaine and Kurt are outside warming up their vocal chords. Carol Hummel greets everyone with hot cocoa and fresh cookies. When Rachel politely declines you hand her the small thermos you've been carrying in your purse.
"What's this?" she asks.
"It may or may not be vegan hot cocoa," you smile at her with a wink.
She throws her arms around you and kisses you until a wolf whistle break you apart. You both look around and find the source of the whistle in your ex-husband who is grinning widely. Rachel bounds over to him and hugs him, "Isn't she phenomenal?"
Finn winks at you over the top of Rachel's head, "Definitely."
You and Rachel share the vegan cocoa before getting on with the singing. You, Mercedes, Brittany, Santana, and Rachel all sing 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' while everyone enjoys their snacks. You smile over at Brittany and Santana who are holding hands inside of Brittany's coat pocket as they looking lovingly at each other while they sing. When Santana takes a solo, Brittany looks on with complete adoration and when Rachel takes a solo, you do the same.
Blaine, Kurt and Finn join the cross-town trek. You stop at the Cohen-Chang (Last Christmas) and Abrams (Deck The Rooftop) houses even though Artie and Tina are still in Seattle. Artie's brother takes a video and sends it to them almost immediately. When you get to the next house on the list, you all get a text from Artie and Tina telling you how much they loved the caroling and how they wish they could be there, but Riley doesn't travel well yet.
When you get to the Puckerman house, it seems that Puck is already getting his carol on because he's singing quiet as he strums his guitar to Lauren. She looks up at the huge group of people and grins. Puck looks back at you and laughs. He calls his mom and sister out to the front porch and the whole group sings 'Jingle Bells' lead by Puck and Finn.
Puck hugs and kisses him mom on the cheek before joining you. Puck's sister follows as she's best friends with Brittany's sister who is in this huge group.
The last planned stop on the map is Mr. Schue's house. As you all hum out the first few bars of 'The Most Beautiful Day of the Year' he picks up his little girl who is humming along with you as Emma appears behind them.
Mercedes's aunt gets everyone to a wide area in front of a church where you all sing to passing cars and people walking in and out of the church.
It's started to snow and all the little children (and Finn, Blaine, Puck, Brittany, Santana and Mr. Schue) are running around throwing snowballs. Rachel pulls you to her during a song break. She says it's for warmth, but when you open up your coat for her to slip her arms into, the hands that rest on your back are warmer than you are. She tilts her head up and starts softly singing to you.
Greeting cards have all been sent
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one for you
Merry Christmas darling
We're apart that's true
But I can dream and in my dreams
I'm Christmas-ing with you
A few people hear her singing and start quietly adding a perfectly harmonized echo. Rachel pulls away and sings to you with her dazzling smile pointed straight at you. You can't help, but smile back as she serenades you with an impromptu backup choir.
You feel her fingers lovingly stroking the small of your back. She doesn't raise her volume much or pull away from you at all. Her eyes are locked onto you and despite the subzero temperature, you're warm all over.
Holidays are joyful
There's always something new
But every day's a holiday
When I'm near to you
The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it every day
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
The way she's looking at you along with the song and the snow, and just the general feeling of the whole night feel perfect. You feel like tonight couldn't get any better. You feel like tonight is the greatest night of your life.
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
I wish I were with you
She just looks at you, her eyes twinkling. Her rocks onto the toes and kisses you sweetly. When she pulls back she bites her lip nervously, "I love you Quinn."
"I love you too," you answer with a smile.
She looks at you for a few more seconds. Her eyes fill with tears and you start to panic, wondering what's wrong. She swallows them and smiles broadly. "Quinn I…" Then she glances around you. She withdraws from you and tells you to stay put.
You watch as she walks over to your mother and whispers in her ear. Your mother's eyes well up with tears and her hands shoot to cover her mouth as her eyes land on you. Your mother nods emphatically to Rachel before sweeping her up in a hug.
Everyone seems to be watching Rachel and you wonder what she's doing. She pulls Frannie, Santana, Brittany, Finn, Kurt and Puck into a small huddle and whispers to them. They all break out in huge smiles and nods. She then holds a small conference with her dads who hug her and kiss her head.
Rachel smiles to them before returning to you. She licks her lips and takes a deep breath. "Quinn I…I'm so in love with you."
You open our mouth to tell her that you've been in love with her since the second you saw her, but she keeps talking, "I wasn't actually planning on doing this until we've been together for exactly a year, but I can't wait anymore. I hope you can forgive my lack of a ring because as I said I wasn't planning on doing this for a few more months."
Your heart starts pumping at a mile a minute. She can't be doing what you think she's doing.
"I love you Quinn, more than I've ever loved…anyone," her eyes start shimmering with unshed tears. "You make me feel things that I was sure only happened in movies and plays. With you, I reach my highest highs…." She looks down before looking back up at you, "and you pick me up when I'm at my lowest lows." She takes both of your hands and you can feel her hands shaking. God, she cannot be asking what you think…what you hope she's asking you. Can she?
"Quinn," she takes a deep breath, "I know without a doubt that I will love you and care for you for the rest of my life and it seems like a monumental thing to ask of you, but Quinn…will you marry me?"
Tears are now streaming down your face. There's a collective gasp in the group circled around you. Your friends, family and a large percentage of strangers are waiting for your answer.
You let out a smile with a breathy laugh. You throw your arms around her and frantically whisper, "Yes, god yes."
She lets out a sob and holds you tightly against her. "Thank you. Thank you so much Quinn. I love you."
"I love you too," you pull away and throw yourself in to a kiss. The second your lips crash together you know that you just promised her forever with only a second's thought and you've never been more sure of anything.
Applause erupts around you. People are hugging their spouses, partners, girlfriends, boyfriends, best friends, sisters, and brothers. You feel the love all around you, but you can feel a bright shining beam of it shooting at you from the love of your life.
After the moment passes, people start going home. It's getting cold and the children have to get to bed before Santa comes.
You haven't let go of Rachel since she asked you what is now your favorite question in the whole world. When your mom hugs you in congratulations you ask them both what they talked about before Rachel proposed.
Your mom smiles as she dabs at the tears on her face with a tissue, "She asked for permission to ask you to marry her."
You turn to Rachel. She just shrugs and you kiss her again. She's so sweet and thoughtful even when she's spontaneous. Then you think of something else and ask her, "What about Brittany, Santana, Kurt, Frannie and all the rest of them?"
She shrugs nonchalantly, "The same thing. I wanted to make sure it was okay with everyone who loves you. Then I told my dads what I was going to do."
You throw your arms around her again and she laughs loudly, hugging you back. "I love you so much Rach."
"I love you too Quinn," she looks into your eyes and you know that, more than anything else in this world, it's true. She loves you with everything that she is and you love her. She's your world.
She leans in and kisses you, heating your entire body. You sigh contently into the kiss and lean forward as she tried to break it, keeping you lips together. She laughs into the kiss and you end up laughing with her.
When you're done laughing together, she brushes the bangs out of you face and gives you a peck on the lips, "Merry Christmas my darling Quinn."
You melt at her words and know that forever won't be long enough to spend with her.
The End
Epilogue to follow...