Si Cela Est Noël
AnniKay

Sam/Mercedes/Puck

Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them

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Special thanks to Isis Aurora Tomoe who is my current Beta rock star
Summary: Winter Break for the College Sophomores of the Learning French Series.
A time to reconnect with family and friends.

Some Day at Christmas

Santana PoV

I was getting really fucking sick of Rachel Barbra Berry. That bitch just didn't know when or how to stop. One would have thought that after her unsuccessful attempt to have me branded the most salacious teacher's pet of all time failed so spectacularly, she would have rethought going after me and mine. But no that bitch had to go after Artie. They both think I don't know it was her, but the stupid ho's YouTube alias was the Spanish translation of Gold Star. I wasn't stupid and I spoke Spanish like I spoke English so I knew it was her that posted the video of those dickless wonders pushing my man out of his chair and down some steps. To catch a video like that from beginning to end the person with the camera had to expect what was about to go down. To have that kind of foreknowledge of some shit like what happened to Artie, it meant that she was seriously in on it. Given that very few dudes were willing to go all in on picking on a person in a wheelchair without getting something out of it. Or someone convincing them that it was a good idea. I was pretty sure that Manhands had learned some new tricks from her manwhore of a boyfriend. She'd then used them to aim the dickheads at my man and that shit pissed me all the way off.

I was too pissed to allow Artie's piddly little hacker-vengeance to be all that happened to her. So I started to pay some serious attention to which professors she had and what she'd been up to while I was enjoying my life and not thinking about her, at all. When I found out that she'd had the lead in the revival of 'Funny Girl' and didn't even make it to opening night because she couldn't hack it and her understudy was almost a shoe-in for the Tony for it…it was almost as if Christmas had come early. Now I resisted my first impulse to shove that knowledge in her stupid face. Instead, I simply held it in reserve for the right time. The right time came sooner than I'd have believed. One of the things Artie had done was to basically get a copy of everything Manhands did in the registrar's office. So the second she set her classes for the spring semester, Artie knew it and therefore so did I. When I saw that she was enrolled in a class taught by Cassandra July, I could have wept with pure joy.

Crazy July was a former Broadway star who ended up crashing and burning after taking the completely understandable action of destroying an audience member's phone when the douche had the temerity to let that bitch ring during one of her performances. To be honest, I'd have done the same damn thing in her position. That shit was ridiculously disrespectful to the performers. Now she taught classes at NYADA, AMDA and NYU. July hated people like Rachel, those people who were so damn sure that they were the end all and be all of talent. For the most part, again she was right. They tended to be pretty much unteachable because they were so sure that they knew more than anyone else. Before we'd left for Christmas, I got my happy ass in her class. It took me no time at all to get the full read on her. During the short meeting we'd had to let her see my moves and get the paperwork in place for me to join her class, I matched her snark for snark…fifteen minutes later, she was treating me like Coach Sue treated Que, Britts and Me our senior year. She even said that she'd be using me to illustrate a few dances for the arthritic urchins that popped up in her classes thinking that they could dance. I mentioned that I wasn't sure if it was such a great idea since I'd heard that Berry was in her class and told her about the shit Berry had pulled the semester before. July looked at me and smirked. "I saw her name on the roster…saw the letter a few years back about her. In fact…nice work. Way to slaughter her reputation before she even got to town. I thought your name was familiar. So what, you're coming to the class to make her world hell?"

I smiled. "Look I'll lay it on the line. The chick is completely bat shit crazy. Me being in the class added to your teaching methods and the fact that she dances like a lumbering, crack addled preying mantis yet thinks she is the second coming of Anna Pavlova…is going to knock her off the rails. I just want a ring side seat to watch her downfall." I may have also let slip about the whole deal with her losing a part to her understudy due to her own hubris too.

July's answering smirk was all kinds of evil and really made me wonder if when Sue had had her eggs frozen in the late eighties…naw. That thought was too frightening to complete. Still I left that office with a smile on my face and a bounce in my step. I joined Artie for lunch and we got the word that KAMA was now Grammy nominees. Then to cap off the damn near perfect day, I looked hot like fire at the Christmas party. I had found a gorgeous red lace, cold shoulder, midi dress on sale and I was looking hot like fire. The week turned out to be the greatest ever and that was before I opened the envelope to find some serious gift card coinage. Then the month became even better when I slammed my exams. I mean I crushed those bitches. We had Hanukkah dinner with Bubbie Ruth and Nikki the night before my last exam and I got to spend some time with my beloved my goddaughter. She had the best reactions to all of the gifts she got. I personally was pretty sure that she liked the collection of magnetic gemstone earrings that I gave her the best.

We flew to Dayton the very next day and, seriously, I hated sleeping alone. It sucked orangutan ass. I wasn't sure what to do about it though. At least I wasn't until mom and I were out shopping and she made a comment that I'm sure she didn't realize was going to spark my thought process. "You know, your bosses' house is finally finished. I was talking with Rebecah Altman and she told me that it cost a lot less than they thought it would to build it, even with all the changes they made from the original plans. She isn't sure what George is going to do next. Well they have our commercial property that he's handling the renovations on, so I guess there is that. But even that should be done in a couple of months or so."

"So, in January, February?" I asked leadingly.

My mother put back the truly adorable Gucci dress back and turned to look at me. My mother had always been able to read my mind. I was a little scary when one considered that it was probably because we were that much alike. "Are you thinking about the three of you getting your own place?"

I shrugged. "Well, I might be starting to thinking about it." I said honestly. "I love having time with you two…but I miss waking up with Artie and Brittany. I miss rolling around the kitchen on Artie's lap singing while we get our breakfast together. I miss stretching out with Brittany before we shower and get dressed for the day."

Mom looked thoughtful. "Elaine mentioned the other day at the club, that there was a one and half acre lot still for sale on the same street your friend's house is on. You three could get it for a song. You make enough money to be able to afford it. I'm sure that your father and I can help you with some of the building cost. Even more…I'm pretty sure that Sander will have a hell of a lot of fun designing a floor plan that will work for Artie." I was glad that she understood and was good with the idea of me moving out in a more permanent way. It wasn't that I didn't love my parents, I just loved my boo thangs just as much.

I chuckled. Sam was just like his father. So something like that would amuse Sander or Sam greatly. "I don't want to deal with finding a designer or something. Would you want to do it?"

The way her eyes lit up you'd have thought I was giving her the freaking Holy Grail. "Does the Pope shit on a golden throne?"

I looked at her. "You're going to have to change that one, Mami…I don't see Pope Francis as being the kind of pope who would agree with that kind of avarice."

She pouted. "I've been saying that forever." She huffed. "Didn't he get the memo that priests are only subject to the vow of poverty until they make it to the upper management?"

"Sorry Mami…but Pope Francis takes his shit way more seriously than his predecessors."

She nodded. The truth was that we were Catholics, but we'd never experienced a pope like Pope Francis. It was pretty awesome. "So…let me talk to Brits and Wheels…see what they think."

My boos and I didn't get a chance to see each other until the following Saturday. We had to keep ourselves satisfied with sexting and talking to each other on the phone while our parents got their fill of family time. Not that we didn't want to spend time with our parents or whatever, but we loved and missed each other. Saturday, we met for brunch at the diner. As soon as we had exchanged our kisses and hugs…which may have gotten a little heated…I hipped them to the discussion mom and I had had when we were shopping at the mall.

"If we're going to get a house of our own, and I really, really want to, why don't we just buy a house that's already been built?" Brittany asked in confusion. "Wouldn't that be quicker?"

Artie raise his hand as if to say it was his fault. "Most houses aren't built to ADA compliance. It would cost more to buy an ABB house and get it renovated to fit my needs, than it would to just start from the ground up. If we do this, I want a pool and a hot tub."

I rolled my eyes. "Dude…if we do this, those would have to come later. As it is, we're going to have to take out a loan once we buy the land to cover the cost of the build."

Brittany looked thoughtful. "As long as we spend less than four hundred thousand on the build, we could probably pay that off in five point three five years. Then, we'd be able to build the pool with just six months of savings at the same rate we were repaying the loan." She had the most awe inspiring mind when it came to numbers.

"But this won't be easy. We're really busy. How are we going to get it done? Is it worth it when we'll only be here like what three or four weeks a year?" Artie always had to be the voice of reason.

I gave him a hard look. "Oh, I don't know…will it be worth it to get to wake up together at Christmas and Thanksgiving like we do in the brownstone? Will it be worth it not to have to spend days apart when ever we're her in Lima?"

"Okay, you raise a valid point. It is worth it." He nodded. "So what do we do?"

I laid out what I'd been able to find out about everything about the whole deal. "We need an architect…Mami said that Mr. Evans would probably love the challenge of doing the ADA design. Plus, you know that he'll give us a break on the cost of him doing it for keeping it in the family. The same with Mr. Altman and Mami said that if we try to give her money for doing the interior design she will smack us."

Brittany looked thoughtful. God she was beautiful when that sillily brilliant brain of hers was working. "I think we should do it. Its near Cedes and Puck and Sam…without being right there with them. It's on the same side of town as our parents, but it would be ours."

"But what about the dream house in LA?" I asked cautiously. I really wanted to do it, but I hadn't thought about the effect it would have on dreams we'd already planned.

"Well, the house in the Hollywood hills with the elevator so it can be a full on mansion was always going to wait until you had your first album out and I had come up the rungs of the director career ladder at least a little bit." Artie shot back. "By then this house will be all paid off and we can keep it for holidays and shit like that."

"Good point." I chuckled. "Should I text Mami and tell her to start thinking about which color of eggshell will be perfect for the foyer?" I asked the two people who I loved more than life itself. With their agreements, I texted Mami that we were going to do build the house in Lima. She texted me back a series of questions we'd need to answer to even be able to start the process. So over the next hour or so, we ate a delicious brunch, we talked through the specs we wanted for the house. In no time at all we decided on that we wanted four bedrooms, including a master suite. I argued for four full bathrooms and a powder room for company. Artie was good with a private master bathroom and then one other one since bathrooms were pretty expensive to create. Eventually we compromised on three and a half.

Brittany, however, would not be swayed from a three bay garage. "It needs to be three bays so if Artie doesn't get a car or something, he can close it off and create a huge editing bay and computer haven." She remained very firm. So…three car garage for the win. We all agreed that a single hardwood throughout was the best choice for us and that we wanted to do a green build. By the time we finished brunch and had taken a nice long walk to work off all the food, we were finally able to head to the Abrams' house…which we had prior knowledge would be empty from around two until we all had dinner together at eight. We spent those six hours making mad, passionate love to each other. Brittany was getting ridiculously good with her strap on. And Artie's tongue was a thing of pure beauty. After we realized that we only had about thirty minutes before we were supposed to meet all the parental units at Breadstix, we hurriedly showered and brushed our teeth. We threw on our clothes and managed to get over to the restaurant only ten minutes late.

I should have known that Mami would have already brought the Abrams and the Pierces up to date on the Bartana Old Lima Home initiative. She had called her frenemy Elaine Sanko, the real estate agent who would totally steal Dad if she could which wasn't allowed among the swinger's set…you weren't supposed to scam to take another's partner…that was like rule two. Rule one was always wrap the dong…unless you're with your partner. I'd looked them up and kind of memorized them when I was twelve and realized that Mami and Papi's weekends away was really them heading to Findlay to play with their swing crew. Probably Mami could have slapped the shit out of Elaine and gotten her kicked out the club, but my mother was a firm believer in the old adage 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'. Besides, gossip had it that her partner had a tongue that made Gene Simmons' seem short and stumpy.

While we were discussing what we wanted in the house and making love, our parents were moving mountains. Mama went all in really quickly. "Alright, we've talked with Elaine and there are two separate parcels of land both are on the same cul-de-sac as your friend's home. One is one and half acres and one is a little smaller but still over an acre. She said that the whole area was originally going to be a subdivision. They even had the signage up; Wildbrook Estates was the name. But when the economy tanked, the developer went belly up and his creditors are trying to recoup their losses."

Gwen chimed in there. "That was why Cedes, Sam and Puck were able to get their land for so cheap. Unfortunately the developer has sold some more plots and are feeling a little cocky. When they were desperate, they took under seventy thousand for two acres. Now they want seventy five for either of the two parcels."

"Let me guess, word got out that it was KAMA building the big house at the back of the roundabout and people started snatching up the land nearby." I said cynically.

Papi shook his head. "That was only part of it. It's on the outskirts of the McKinley school cluster. But it does feed into McKinley High. Shelby is now known as the star maker. People are flocking to the cluster. They are buying and building homes where ever they can to have their children go to her school." He smirked. "We've had several offers on our house and it isn't even listed."

Chris nodded. "We're actually thinking about downsizing. If you guys have your own place, we could make quite a bit of profit by selling now while the interest in the area is so high. But anyway, I still think that when it comes to buying your land, you guys have the benefit of the knowledge of the real cost of the land. I suggest that you offer them seventy thousand even if you choose the larger parcel. The worst that can happen is they say no and you have to counter offer."

"We'd like to help you out a little bit." Roger said quietly. Sometimes I wondered how two such quiet people could have someone who lived life as loud as Artie tended to. "Without going into specifics, Gwen said that you have enough in savings to buy the lot, but none of us want to see you wipe out your nest egg this early. So each parental couple is going to give you ten thousand towards the purchase of your land. That leaves you with forty to forty-five to put in yourselves."

I started to argue…but Britts grabbed my hand and shook her head. "Thanks Mommy and Daddy, Mami and Papi and Mama Gwen and Papa Roger. We really appreciate it." She smiled happily even though me and our boyfriend were looking at her like she'd grown another head.

Melanie gave her a smile. Then she turned to SmArtie and I. "Trust me, the argument wouldn't have been worth it. We'd already made up our minds that we were going to go up in our contributions every time you tried to get us to change our minds." She laughed. "Now tell me about our niece and nephew. I still can't believe that you three get to see them all the time."

We let the subject get changed for a while and we talked about her niece and nephew who also happened to be my newest aunt and uncle. Teodore and Tesora were beautiful and healthy and they would be three months old on Christmas Eve. They were wildly intelligent…and Teo was already giving people devious smiles. That was my little Tio. Once we had entertained Mami and Melanie with tales of our shared babies, the conversation turned to the twitter beef we'd missed earlier that centered around Cedes not giving some entitled whiner baby an autograph at her brother's graduation. Like that was a place that you bothered someone for an autograph. I checked my twitter feed and sure enough I saw that Berry had done her best to fan the fucking flames. Stupid perra. I looked over at my man and decided that he and I needed to see about a little cyber retaliation. Maybe pirating her accounts and using them to completely shred the broad. I'd have to think about it. I didn't really want to mess up my plans for the next semester. July had told me that we'd be working some stage combat practice into the class as well. The idea of 'accidentally' connecting with a haymaker or something equally fun when there would be no reprisals was really, really satisfying.

That took the parents on a tangent into entitlement and the impatience of young people today. That was pretty awesome because somehow it went from the youth to the government. My parents were like super liberals on a whole lot of issues so they tended to vote democratic. The Abrams were Jewish and they tended to vote democratic. Britt's parents…they were so WASP the only person I knew who voted more conservatively was Russell Fabray. My mother may not have often acted like it, but she knew her shit and she read like six different news sources on the daily. It was a rigorous debate. One from which I actually learned a few things. Soon they decided to bring the topic back around to something they could all agree on, the property and keeping their kids rooted in Lima. So we shared with them the things we'd decided on. Thankfully it was enough to start with. Mami was happy. Gwen felt we were being very responsible and I was relieved that no one had asked us why we didn't have even more saved.

The truth of that wasn't revealed to our parents, and partially to each other until Christmas Eve. Artie, Britts and I had let our parents know, in no uncertain terms that we were going to spend the twenty-third together at the Wyndham and wake up together on Christmas Eve morning and exchange gifts. Then we'd wake up alone on Christmas morning and have 'yeah family time' then. We'd created a special account and moved ten grand from each of our savings accounts and put it towards our 'commitment rings'. Really though, me and Britts just wanted some fly ass engagement rings. I wanted big enough to slap someone in the face without even lifting my hand and Brittany wanted something traditional and yet unique and pretty. It had taken Artie and I hours of looking through the websites of local Manhattan jewelers to find something that we were sure she would love. Of course, I didn't consciously allow myself to realize that he and she were doing the same for me. Britts and I actually went to Saks, Neiman, Nordstrom and Tiffany's to look through their men's rings in person.

The big dinner with our parents definitely helped them loosen the chokehold they had on our time. So Artie, Brittany and I were able to spend some with each other and when Commune needed our help with getting their massive house ready for the holiday…we were able to dip over and lend a hand. Artie and Brittany were actually able to help a lot since, while the house wasn't fully accessible, with its elevator, wide halls and big bathrooms, it was pretty damn close. Of course, then that ill shit went down with my former mall employers and Big D, Baby Puck and Brother K at Kay jewelers. I wished I could say I was shocked, but there was a reason I was happy to tell that place to kiss my ass when it was time to head to NYC. They taught you to profile people and then claimed that profiling based on race was wrong. Which it was, the best way to determinate who would steal wasn't the color of their skin…it was their age and if they looked like entitled assholes who didn't have the money for what they were sure they deserved. Yeah, I was pissed and let all my fifty-seven hundred twitter followers know exactly why before I started getting dressed for the biggest date of my life.

We started our night with dinner at the Old City Prime steakhouse. It was one of the few Lima Restaurants that necessitated a reservation and where you could almost guarantee that neither the wait staff nor the clientele were still in high school. Before we left Manhattan, I'd gotten a dress just for that night. Even Brittany hadn't seen it yet. It wasn't at all my usual style, but when I'd tried it on…I knew that the green silk with matching lace overlay was perfect. The silk part of the Tadashi Shoji dress had a modest but wide v neckline and followed my curves to its hem which stopped a little above half-way down my thighs. The floral lace overlay was pretty and soft. It was a shade darker than the silk and gave the dress sleeves and a more modest knee length hemline. It was a gorgeous dress, but it was soft and not at all my usual thing…yet it expressed exactly how my SmArtie and Brittany made me feel. Like it was okay to be soft and pretty rather than hard and sexy. I did add some serious sexy with the shoes though. The black, leather, double strap Mary Janes with their four-inch stiletto heels from Alexandre Birman were sexy and yet a little coy. They were some seriously awesome shoes. With my hair curled and looking soft and romantic…I was the absolute shit.

Or that was what I thought until Brittany S. Pierce walked into the restaurant. She was wearing a pretty but sexy as hell floral print sheath dress that had lace at the V neck. The dress was dark enough for a cold winter's night and with its long sleeves, it was way more weather appropriate than mine…but at the same time, with its sheer sleeves and the lace, it was whimsical enough to let everyone know that weather hadn't been a factor in her picking the dress. She'd paired it with a great pair of nude, pointed toe heels and little to no other accessories. It was a look comprised of clean lines that just showcased her beauty without much unnecessary embellishment. Artie was the last of us to arrive, as he always was when his parents drove him. Gwen and Roger Abrams both drove ridiculously slow. Okay…maybe they drove the speed limit, but I considered that ridiculously slow. He was looking fly as hell in a pair of dark slacks and matching dinner jacket with a blinding white dress shirt and a tie that managed to convey the whole Christmas-red and green-thing without looking like a Christmas tie. When he was shown to the table, our waiter looked at me like, 'I finally understand' why you had me remove two chairs, but only one place setting'.

We quickly decided on our appetizer and ordered sodas. Since Artie and I weren't twenty-one yet, we knew we wouldn't be able to count on a Lima restaurant valuing our green more than their licenses…so we went for the non-alcoholic drinks only. Before the waiter came back with our drinks we were all giggling at being at a grown up restaurant in Lima…that was all kinds of weird, no matter where we usually went for dates in New York. I had to say the crab stuffed mushrooms and millionaire bacon were just as good as anything we'd tried in Manhattan. We laughed and just chatted our way through the first course. Once we placed our entrée orders, that was when things got deep. Brittany looked at me and we both nodded. She and I talked about breaking our tradition and giving Artie his ring first. It was something we felt we should do because even going to Tiffany's we'd spent far less on his ring than had been spent on either of ours. Brittany gave me a look that demanded that I go first.

So I reached across and took Artie's hand. "SmArtie…you have been the best boyfriend that I never knew I wanted. Two years ago, me and Britts invited you into our relationship and you've completely changed everything, almost all of it for the better I still hate always being the middle spoon…but I'm willing to deal with that to make you happy." I rolled my eyes teasingly.

Brittany grabbed his other hand and continued from there. "It's like God took the best parts of me and Santana and made you and you create a bridge between us that Tana would never have admitted was necessary."

I nodded. "He, well maybe She…this is some quality work and as much as I love you, I'm still not convinced that a guy could do such a good job. Besides the bible says that we're made in God's image and it is women who create new life." I stopped myself. I hate it when I sound like Evans, but that debate in class had been a blast and whenever I think about it, I tend to babble a little bit. "As I was about to say She made you for me and Brittany, and we're keeping you…so we decided that we should put a ring on it." I went into my bag and pulled out the Tiffany's box.

He smiled and opened it to find a really shiny platinum double milgrain wedding band ring. The ring was wide and masculine. Brittany and I decided that the two lines of the milgrain that went around the ring symbolized the two of us. Plus, it was to most expensive male ring that didn't look like it was meant for a chick like Xena…or Hummel. "Well…What can I say but yes. I love you two too much to let anyone come between us. I appreciate having a tangible expression of our commitment to each other." I smirked and pulled the ring from the box and Brittany and I put it on his left hand together. It looked good there. It looked right.

Artie looked over at me and I gave my head slight nod indicating that I wanted Brittany to get her ring next. It had taken us some serious looking to find Brittany's ring. We'd started by going to the sites of Manhattan jewelers, but hadn't found anything that just smacked us and said it was the right ring for our golden girl. Then we'd tripped over it at a jeweler with locations in Minnesota and Los Angeles. We'd learned a lot about ring buying in getting her ring. We'd found it and dithered for a while since the site said that the cost of the ring in platinum was only fifty-eight hundred and it was only a little over one and three quarters carats. But when we found out that that was just for the setting…not the center diamond of the hand engraved rose shaped ring. We were much happier. We added a gorgeous one and a half carat center stone to the ring and brought the price tag up to a much more respectable eleven grand. No way in hell either of us wanted to get Brittany some cheap piece of shit just because we knew she wasn't about the whole material life.

Just as Artie was about to say something deep and meaningful, Brittany started bouncing in her seat. "Yes, I know and I love you too and I want to marry you and have your and Santana's babies and have lady kisses and robot kisses forever." She almost shouted holding out her left hand for us to put the ring on her. The second she saw it she squealed in rapturous delight. "I love it. It's perfect. It's pretty and unique and its mine from you two." She said happily. "Artie…let's give Tana her ring so we're all sealed up, right and tight."

I sighed. "Brittany…we kind of had a whole speech to say to you." Artie finally said pointedly.

She just nodded distractedly. "I know and you and Tana can say it to me when we're making love later. But now I want us to give Santana her ring so we're all committed and everyone knows it."

I smiled to let Artie know that I was good with her plan. But of course, he had to be him…which meant he was just a touch snarky when he asked our fiancée if they were also going to tell me their well thought out speeches later as well and I was actually a little relieved. Public displays of emotions kind of bothered me a little…a lot when they were directed at me. So he and Brittany gave me pretty purple ring box. Inside I found a gorgeous three carat diamond solitaire set in platinum ring that boasted three smaller diamond set into the shank of the ring on either side of the center stone. The cut of the center stone was strange and I noticed that it was almost octagonal. I loved it. They took care of me as we'd done each of them, taking the box back, removing the ring and slipping it onto the ring finger of my left hand as one. As the metal warmed to my skin, I felt perfectly, completely whole.

When our waiter appeared with our meals, we may have been ignoring the world to express our happiness and joy at our more visible commitment by getting our macks on. It was a well-known fact among those who knew me that I loved to eat. Especially in fancy restaurants. Back in high school, Breadstix had been the fanciest restaurant that we could really go to. It had pissed me off to no end, but my parents were firm believers in the idea that they were rich, and I certainly benefited from that…but they made sure I knew that I wasn't rich. So I didn't have a super huge allowance like Fabray had had before she let Puckerman's swimmers invade her uterus. And most of the time they went really fancy places I was either with a babysitter, or I was out on my own dates. As much as I hated to admit it, that had probably made me at least somewhat of a decent human being. Still, lunch at the Russian Tea Room junior year had opened my eyes. I loved fancy, toi-toi food. Artie and Brittany indulged me in that at first, but as we discovered more and more chi-chi Manhattan restaurants, they too had developed a love of food exploration.

They had also gotten used to the fact that I was going to order whatever looked the best on the menu regardless of the price. That evening was no exception. Since we were at a steakhouse, of course, I'd ordered a steak. The USDA prime, bone-in, thirty-five day dry aged, Kansas City strip with pan seared broccolini and caramelized Brussels sprouts…and since it wasn't the first or last nights of Hanukkah, I added a lobster tail. If I ate seafood around the Jewish High holidays, Artie wouldn't kiss me…so I tried to remain respectful of his religion. However, since it wasn't a high holiday, Artie got his premium, center cut, bacon wrapped Filet Mignon covered with sautéed sweet onions and gourmet mushrooms. Brittany chose the chicken breast picatta. Out of love for me, she ordered a half pound of king crab legs too. The food was awesome. The steaks cooked perfectly medium. The lobster and crab were both deliciously sweet. The drawn butter they were served with was almost creamy, though melted. The vegetables were all very well done. Artie's sautéed redskin potatoes were so good I wished I'd been less good and ordered the carbohydrate myself. Brittany's creamed spinach was good enough to edge them out just a little bit though.

When the waiter had shown back up with refills without us having to make gestures or anything, I thought that he was getting better than he'd started off the night. When he was kind enough to explain the idea of bread pudding to Britts and didn't even flinch when she still ordered the chocolate cake instead I was prepared to tip him very well. But then it came time to bring us the bill. Now, the reservation had been in my name. I'd been the one dominating the orders and directing him all evening. I was the one who asked for the bill. Why did his senseless ass take it to Artie? And that was despite me having my hand out for it. I was pissed as hell. "Hey, societal misogyny isn't a myth and you just exhibited it. I'm the one with the hand out for the fucking check, so how about you pass it to me." I hissed just loud enough to make sure that my point was made. He at least was smart enough to apologize, but Artie still had to hand it to me. When he came back, I handed him the card holder with my platinum credit card…my bank had recently given me an upgrade. I gave him a pity ten percent tip. I usually gave twenty to twenty-five.

Since I'd been kind of glutinous, after we moved my car from the restaurant to the hotel we took a nice long walk. It was cold as hell, but still it was really nice. Plus too, we started making out so by the time we made it back into our room we were seriously horny. Artie had booked the room and I was surprised that he hadn't gotten the accessible room. Choosing instead to get us a Jacuzzi room. Brittany had them bring up a bottle of champagne…yes they carded her, but thankfully not Bluetooth or me. So we ran a bath, helped Artie in and we drank bubbly and celebrated our coming together…by coming together. I bounced on SmArtie's dick while he and I ate Brittany's pretty little cunny until she almost passed out and suffocated us. It was hot as fire. Then Britts took Art-man's magic stick for a ride while they shared some cream pie. Eventually we were exhausted and lay there together talking. Artie and I gave Brittany our speeches about how beautiful she was and how lucky we were to have her. How she was the calming influence in two people who should get gold medals in Olympic snarking and bitchery. Then they told me how much they loved my protective and caring nature and all the things I brought to the relationship. It wasn't that we completed each other, we were already whole people. But what we did was complement each other and make each other better, stronger and that was exactly how it should have been.

We slept together that night. Deeply and so long that we'd almost missed our checkout. But it would have totally been worth the extra charge if we had. Sleeping alone had meant that none of us had slept very well since we'd gotten back to Lima. The only bad part was that we'd slept so late that we ended up doing what basically amounted to a walk of shame. Waking up ten minutes before checkout meant that we literally just threw on what we'd had on the night before, balled our dirty panties and Artie's boxers up and tossed them into the front of my overnight bag and got down to the front desk by two til ten. When we got into my car, we were giggling like crazy. It just struck us as funny that we'd wasted so much of the night we'd looked forward to so much sleeping. We sat there and exchanged our other gifts. Artie had gotten me a beige Gucci Survie plaid fox-trimmed scarf that I'd been drooling over when we were looking for something suitable for Britts at Neiman's. He had gotten her an Alexander Wang cross body handbag…Brittany found his name hilarious. Every time she saw a display of his things she giggled for like fifteen minutes. Now she can giggle like that even when she doesn't go to a store.

Brittany knew my love of all things food as much as Artie did. She'd gotten me four different monthly food subscriptions…one was all cured meats, one was chocolates and nuts, one was just different kinds of bacon and the last one was gourmet treats. I absolutely loved it. Almost as much as she loved the 2015 spring Here & Now season tickets to the NYC Ballet that I'd gotten the three of us. SmArtie and I would suffer through anything for our girl. I'd gone with the Here and Now Series because they were supposed to be of innovative ballets, not just the same old same old. Hopefully that would mean that Bluetooth and I would be able to stay awake. Brittany and I each gave Artie tickets for the fifty-third annual NYC Film Festival and the fourteenth annual Tribeca Film Festival respectively. After properly expressing our gratitude I drove them back to their homes before going home myself. I took a long, hot shower and threw on some boy shorts and a racerback tank. I was more than a little surprised to see my mother waiting on me when I entered my bedroom. "I wanted to catch you before you take your nap." She said way too happily. "Show me what your loves got you." So I showed her saving the best for last. "Holy Mary, Madre de Dios." She breathed. "Your ama did you right. That is a gorgeous ring." Then she grabbed my hand, looked at it again, basically she mentally assessed the cut, quality and clarity of the diamond and SCREAMED. Papi came running in with a baseball bat. Never mind that it was the middle of the day.

Mami wrenched my hand over across my body to show Papi my engagement ring. "It's really pretty, Mija. Can we see your ama' rings?" he asked in his own quiet way. I went and grabbed my phone pulling up a picture of our three hands together showing our rings off. Eventually, the picture would make it on to social media, but not until after we cherished the news a bit and shared it with our family and friends.

Papi gave me a kiss on my forehead and kissed Mami in their usual, eeeww-ditional way and took his baseball bat and disappeared. As soon as she was sure that he was gone, Mami got an evil smile on her face. "I have some great ideas for your master suite." She said happily. "I've found a place online that creates custom made beds and mattresses to fit. They aren't even as expensive as one would think. I was speaking with the sales rep and he said that it is actually more common than you'd think and by combining the measurements for two king sized beds, there should be enough room for all eight of you and your 'friends' when you want to play here, like I'm sure you all play in your down time in New York."

I looked at her like she'd grown three heads and two extra titties. "Mami…what do you think is going on at the brownstone?"

Mami shrugged. "I'm not judging or asking. I just assumed that you guys were taking advantage of the fact that you're all young, reasonably attractive people."

"I'm going to take the thruples out of the equation for a second. We'll even table the whole commitment conversation since I know that you have a much more fluid definition of the word than I do. But, you do realize that Berry's-not-evil-boy-twin and LadyFace are gay, right?"

My mother scoffed. "Oh please. I will give you that the Hummel boy is as gay as gay comes. But Analyn's Blaine…that boy checks out the Jones girl's las tetas as much as her boys and you do." She shrugged again. "I just thought four bisexuals, two hetero, one homo with a noticeable interest in breast and one regular homosexual…it would be a good mix and a lot of fun. I'm not one to judge. Personally, in your shoes, I'd take full advantage. It just opens so many possibilities. But if you guys are not into that kind of thing…what can I say. So I suppose that a regular California king should be big enough for the three of you."

I laughed at the fact that my mother was full on pouting over the fact that I was only in a committed polyamorous relationship and not a seriously complicated sexual commune with my other five roommates as well. "Yeah, Mami…it should be plenty big enough." I stopped and looked back at her. "Oh and BT Dubs, I do not check out GalaNipples massive sweater puppies."

"Sure… of course you don't." She said sounding completely disbelievingly. "Anyway…I'm having a motherly conundrum. I really wish that you didn't have to go back so soon, but at the same time…I'm a little jealous at the fun you're having. I mean red carpet events and Manhattan night life. What are you going to wear to the 'uber' club you told me you're going to for New Year's Eve."

I laughed and showed her a picture of a red, pop over Likely Driggs dress. I had no plans to go shopping for anything extra since we were going to build the house, and I was more than determined not to have to get any extra help from the parents or whatever. Besides, I'd gotten the dress on sale in September and hadn't worn it anywhere yet. It was strapless and stopped right under my knee. It was perfect because I could dress it up or down. I could dance my ass off and I looked more than incredible in the damn thing. I showed her the lariat necklace I had to go with it…but she didn't like that. Instead she leant me her sixteen inch gold bib collar necklace. It was fly and it went even better with the other jewelry I'd been planning to wear. We talked and chatted as my mother carded her manicured fingers through my hair. I didn't remember falling asleep, but I must have because the next thing I knew I was being woken up for dinner.

Christmas day flew by. My parents had gotten each other brand new luggage. When I asked about that…they told me that they were hoping to meet the tour in some of the bigger cities over the summer they were waiting on dates and to see which ones Benton and Danica Jones were going to. It was funny. I'd never really tried to be friends with Mercedes until we were both in glee club together, but Dad and the Drs. Jones had a good relationship my whole life. I think it was the whole medical professionals and people of color thing that they had bonded over. Mami also told me that they were hoping to maybe take a trip to Spain. So while they hadn't spent super large amounts on each other, they were just planning to spend what they would usually spend over the course of the summer rather than all at once at Christmas. They also didn't stop themselves from getting me a whole bunch of new clothes and shoes and gift cards. One of the pair of shoes Mami had gotten me was a pair of red, strappy, suede, peep-toe pumps by Gianvito Rossi. They were definitely being added to the outfit I'd constructed in my head for the night at Provocateur. The black boots I had in mind were good…but the Rossis were great.

Mami hadn't felt like cooking and since it was just the three of us, we actually pulled a Christmas Story and went and had Chinese for Christmas dinner. We sat around talking and laughing and Mami and I looked through some home design sites to figure out what my style was. Papi just laughed at us…a lot. It was an almost perfect Christmas. The next morning, we hosted Papi's cousins from Lima Heights Adjacent. We didn't have the big family morning after Christmas breakfast every year…but whenever we had it, it was a ton of fun. Best of all my father's only surviving aunt, Tia Rosita had remembered what I told her about the pot luck the year before and that we were doing it again. She brought a veritable cornucopia of Puerto Rican delights for us to take to the pot luck that afternoon. There were enough almoabanas, or corn fritters to feed a football team and so much of her Plaintain Fritters with Stewed Shrimp called tostones con camarones guisados that I was starting to wonder if Papi hadn't specifically asked her to help us out. Shrimp in Ohio weren't cheap and the Lopezes wouldn't take much in the way of financial help from Papi…which was why they still lived in LHA. I had a great talk with my cousin Carlos. He'd just gotten out right before Tinsley made his way to the big leagues. The shit Carlos and his former cellmate had planned for that son of a goat fucking bastard had made me smile. It had been over a year since he'd first felt what women felt every time their begging and denials were ignored. But apparently Las Ñetas weren't letting him get away with anything. Though they had backed off him earlier that year. According to Carlos' old cellmate, Drigo, Tinsley was the one who killed Paul Puckerman. The investigation wasn't over and might never officially be solved, but everyone in the cellblock knew the truth. That was some shit.

I contemplated for a long while how to get that information into the right hands. I never would have guessed that Quinn freaking Fabray would provide the answer. When she and I were talking at the potluck, she told me about the chaplain system in Ohio's prisons. All I needed to know was the name of the prison and I could find out the name of the chaplain. I had that information within an hour of getting home. I even had his email address. I wanted to be very careful, so I broke into Rachel's anonymous email account and sent him an email telling him that I was a recently released prisoner who was still in contact with his former cellmate and had found out that an inmate named Shane Tinsley had been the one to 'do Puckerman'. I made up some story about getting clean and finding Jesus and wanting to do right by the poor guy's family…especially since his only sin was having a son who had the woman Tinsley wanted and had been sent to jail for almost raping. Once it was sent, I deleted it from Rachel's sent folder and set it so that any mail that came from the chaplain's address would go into a locked and hidden folder I created in her email account. She'd never be able to keep me out. Not with such amazing passwords as 'goldenBerry2'.

I packed and got some sleep. The next morning, Bluetooth, Britts and I had breakfast with all of our parents and I was shocked when Mami and Papi gave us each a 'plane ticket' to come home during the time ROUS, Trouty and Puck would be in Cali for the two January award shows. Since they weren't performing, they were only taking Hudson and Haja with them. The rest of us were staying in Manhattan, and me and my boos original plan had been to just chill and get ready for school. But instead the parents had decided that we'd be coming back and meeting with Elaine and, hopefully, Sander. They had already set up a meeting for us with Wheezy and Puckerman's uncles to get our ducks in a row as far as financing before we came back and we were to bring all that paperwork with us. I'd been ducking Ethan Harris. He was convinced that every member of KAMA's entourage, band, managers…everyone…should all have wills just in case. The thought alone depressed me. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be leaving that meeting without getting my final behest down on paper.

We flew back to New York and had enough time to unpack, shower and get dressed in comfortable clothes before heading to the studio. We actually spent the first hour of the session catching up with the non-Limans in the crew and practicing and warming up. The set was good. We got the vocals background and main for two of the songs for KAMA's next album as well as an instrumental and full version of a song that they were sending to some Hollywood fat cats to decide if they wanted it for a Johnny Depp movie. That night when we were back in our own bed, SmArtie, Britt Brat and I made love and slept like it was our damn jobs. I loved sleeping with my lovers. The band and background singers were back in the studio laying background tracks the next day. Monday it was back to all hands on deck in the studio. But Tuesday we were off. Well, mostly. My spouses and I had to go and see Ethan Harris.

I was right about him I left with a will. I was kind of surprised to find out that neither Artie nor Brittany had needed to be corralled into doing something that was a benefit for ourselves. We also left there with preapproval for a joint construction of up to four hundred thousand dollars. I kind of loved him for that. He even had the paperwork ready for us to get a more traditional mortgage when the house was built to pay off the construction loan. We'd then pay off the traditional mortgage. Come to find out that we'd be saving a significant amount on interest by buying the land outright and thanks to Gwen's and Saul Mayzer's early advice about building our credit. Those damn Harrises weren't no joke. I was starting to seriously love them all. The next day was New Year's Eve and Mercedes treated every female in the crew to a spa day at Faina. I thought Vince's sister, Netta, was going to lose her mind. You could tell that she was seriously out of her element in a city like New York, but she was cool about it. She and I had a nice conversation where I informed her that her brother was official one of my people and if she ever broke his heart by getting back into the shit that was killing her before she got clean…or any other idiotic dependency that destroyed her body and mind…I'd gut her like a fucking fish with a smile on my face. She just looked at me like she was trying to read my soul and said she was grateful that Vince had someone like me in his corner. I was glad that we understood each other.

After a short bout of shopping, we returned to the brownstone and got dressed for our night out. I lotioned with a lotion with just a tiny bit of shimmer in it before I pulled on my candy apple red, very sexy, strapless bra and ignited red very sexy, strappy back cheeky panties. After making sure that my body was looking right and tight, I shimmied on my strapless, popover, cherry red dress. Brits did the buttons in the back of my dress and I zipped up her canary lace over nude silk Dress the Population mini dress for her. With that done, we both headed to our vanities and accessorized ourselves with our jewelry. We'd both decided to go with gold jewelry, mine was more bold and architectural and Brits was more light, airy and feminine…but what we'd selected worked well with our outfits. Artie was finished getting dressed. He'd donned a pair of dark designer corduroy pants…something he could pull off because he didn't have to walk and therefore wouldn't create that sound that everyone associated with the pants of death. His shirt was a black Robert Graham limited edition mask embroidered sport shirt that was kind of creepy, but looked hot. He'd done that thing he does with his hair that makes it look trendy and yet Artie at the same time. His only accessories were his commitment ring and the black and gray Movado 'Bold' leather strap watch that he'd gotten for Christmas.

As he 'patiently' waited, Brittany and I rushed around the room putting together our purses. Finally we made it downstairs. I looked around and could only think that we were some fly looking bitches and dudes. I was happy to see that I was the only one in red, though Netta accessorized with the color. I liked her well enough to let her have her pops of red. Quinn and Darcy were both in blue, but such different shades, only a woman would note the fact. Lauren's chocolate brown, gold studded dress looked really good on her. Like Brittany and I, she was wearing gold jewelry, other than her white gold promise ring. I liked the fact that the ring wasn't a promise to get engaged, they both considered themselves to be engaged, no it was a promise that he'd save up and get her a ring worthy of her. I looked down at my own platinum ring. The diamond sparkled with promise and love. Sure it didn't go with the rest of the outfit…but no way in hell was I taking that bitch off my finger.

The ride from the brownstone to the club was fun. We laughed. We teased Puck and Trouty for the way they were looking at their wifey. Together and separately, they were looking at Wheezy like they were day dreaming about slipping their hands into the thigh high slits in the legs of her super fine looking jumpsuit. One wouldn't think jumpsuits would work given her lack of height and abundance of curves but she was doing some borderline indecent things to that one. Maybe Mami was right and I did check out Cedes massive flotation devices quite a bit more than I realized. When we arrived at the club, we proceeded from the vehicle to the loud adulation of the curious masses. Some of their guesses as to who different members of the entourage were was really funny. They were certain that Dev, Kev and James were all football players. And with Queen Quinn in her heirloom fur… I readily admit that I understood that assumption. But one idiot even thought that Artie was Stephen Hawking. Thankfully her friend pointed out that Artie had played guitar for KAMA on a couple of award shows. When Delantera and her boys got out, the line went completely crazy. That was really major. In a very few years, that was going to be how people reacted to me. I was determined to make that dream a muthafucking reality.

When we made it inside the club, we were ushered to the elevators and up to the VIP. After we took some pictures for Darcy, like she legit took solo, couple and group pictures of our whole clique. Lil Wayne and Drake and their posses were already there. Those two were no joke. Lil Wayne said that he was happy he'd decided to come out because 'the chickababes were rolling way deep'. Too bad for his ass we were all taken. Still, he was certainly one to share and share alike. I don't think he let me nor Brits pay for a single drink all night, even after we showed him our boss ass engagement rings. When we introduced him to Artie and he got that we were both with Bluetooth, he laughed and told SmArtie that he was the man. After that Artie didn't have to pay for his drinks either. By the time midnight hit, we were well past tipsy and on the way to fucked up. However, Artie cut all three of us off on the alcoholic drinks after our midnight toast. Thank God he did. There were quite a few photogs outside the club when we left there around three. It wasn't enough to feel besieged by paps…but I'd have been totally embarrassed to look like a drunk, sorority chick in front of them.

Hudson must have been looking out for us. Because when we got out of the limo at the brownstone, she had ibuprofen and bottled water waiting for us. I don't even know when she managed to get that shit set up for us. But soon as we walked in she dished out two Advils and a bottle of Voss water. We took our medicine, emptied our water bottles, had hot, sweaty, raunchy sex and crashed hard. The next morning we started with a long hot shower that may have also included some slow sweet shower sex. I loved benches in showers and ours was perfect for Bluetooth to get clean without having to dry his chair out or something and for us to get our fucks on all the damn time. I didn't get dressed beyond throwing on some yoga pants, a sports bra and one of SmArtie's snarky tee shirts. Everyone was relaxed and had a blast playing with all the munchkins. Nikks, Beth and Robs. I guess some of us needs to have a masculine child eventually. But it wasn't just the three of them. When Bubbie Ruth brought back those three, the Jovanman kids all joined us, even Jake and Tessa, the afternoon was way more fun that I'd ever admit.

Friday after everyone flew back to Lima we were back in the studio full time. Saturday too. We had Sunday off…which I was seriously happy about, because we were all kind of fucking tired and the natives were getting cranky as shit. Monday the band had the morning off while KAMA met with their management team. When we met at the studio after lunch, GalaNipples, Trouty and Satyr passed out the dates for the tour that we'd be going on next summer and some weekends of the fall. We also had a quick meeting where they told us that they would be hiring two more background vocalists and six more backup dancers just for the tour. Wheezy told me, SmArtie and Britt-Brat in confidence that boy and Girl Asians would be filling one of the singer and one of the dancer positions. By the end of our fifth studio session, KAMA, Haja and the producer, Kaytranada, were happy with a grand total of eight tracks.

That really was pretty good all things considered. I mean, on one of those songs, we'd laid background tracks for one song that would actually be re-recorded again with the full band just to give it an even fuller, more deep sound. That Monday, Justin came in with a set of bells. He did a haunting undercurrent for the saddest song on the album…with freaking bells. It was a-may-zing. Tuesday morning, Brits, SmArtie and I took advantage of the fact that KAMA was heading to LA for Cedes' back to back awards shows and we hitched a ride with them to the airport. The flight to Dayton was quick…thankfully since we were flying coach on a really packed flight. Gwen picked us up since she had the most flexible schedule. The flight had been an early one, we got back to Lima in time to grab quick showers and get a little better dressed than the yoga pants and jeans we'd flown in before heading to meet with Elaine and checking over the two parcels of land. Not that we hadn't scoped things out when we'd gone over to Commune's 'humble abode'. We did go with the larger of the two parcels because we were serious about the pool and the hot tub. We'd moved the money around so that we could pay the full cost of the land in what passed for cash in our current society…and since it was a cash on the barrelhead sale, the seller had taken our offer of seventy thousand dollars. So we were very happy.

Then we met with Sander and George at a restaurant over by the shopping plaza the parents' corporation was revamping and using as their first joint money making venture. Over the course of the hour we got Sander to accept a full eight percent of the build cost. The average fee for an architect was eight to fifteen percent. When we'd offered him fifteen, Sander had looked at us like we'd lost our minds and laughed dead in our faces. Then he had countered by trying to do it for free. It took some serious reverse psychology to get him to take the eight. Then we had to do the whole process all over again with George. Finally, I looked at him and grumbled. "You can make at least the average markup for the job…or I can get Puck's uncle to put twice the same amount in your business account behind your back." There may have been some Spanish interspersed in that…but I admitted nothing.

"Fine…but in Ohio the average markup is only one point two five…not the national average of one point five." George shot back. I wasn't sure that he was telling the truth, but I was pretty sure that was a high as he was going to go. It was strange how many mannerisms he and Puckerman shared when he wasn't even Puck's biological. Then again Puck's bio-dad had been the biggest douchebag I'd ever had the misfortune of ever knowing in even a peripheral kind of way.

With how long it took those agreements to be reached, it was a good thing that the person who wrote their contracts was the same person that we'd have taken them to in order to have them checked over. It was a simple matter of putting in the percentages and everyone signing them and the ball was officially rolling. We laid out with Sander the needs we had for the house and he promised to research and design it based on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Like my mother had said, he was very excited about expanding his knowledge base. In fact, I wasn't sure who was more excited about our plans, him or us. It was great. Twenty fourteen had been one hell of a fucking great year…I couldn't wait to see how two-thousand and fifteen played out.

I apologize for the later than normal posting. My week was lost to work and a family loss. My weekend was spent attending a funeral and being there for my family. The world lost a wonderful soul. I'm sure that she is walking the golden streets now.

So while I do apologize for your disappointment, I am not sorry. Family comes first.

Please let me know what you think about the chapter and/or the series as a whole.

TTFN,

Anni