Sorry about the delay posting! I had a pretty crazy weekend – half of it was spent very sick. So I am posting both yesterday's and today's posts tonight. We will be back on track. I'm sure all of you will forgive once you read. :D

DJ Snowflake and Scrooge

December 13
6:59 pm

"Could I get you something to drink? A hot chocolate? Coffee?"

Santana pushed her glasses back over her head and looked up from stack of documents she had been leafing through. Burt stood over the table with a smile.

After falling asleep in the town records and coming back to chaos at the bed and breakfast, Santana didn't feel like returning to the town hall. She had more than enough boxes to go through from Kurt's chronologically separated Rachel Berry boxes. But she didn't feel like spending the night surrounded by Rachel Berry's eyes judging and looking down on her in that room.

Santana looked at the old clock on the wall. She had been working down here for hours. It had been draining to sort through all of the Rachel Berry boxes to come up with essentially nothing that would help the Hummel's.

Music from the radio filled in the space of her thoughts and Burt's question. It had been Christmas music for most of the afternoon with heavy overtones of Christian rock – Angels We Have Heard on High, People Look East, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, etc. The man hosting the radio today had a monotone voice and the appeal of a rock. He was somehow worse than Sue in the morning. At least she could be amusing when she tore down the government officials, bagel shops, education programs, and bitched about whatever had agitated her at that particular moment.

And of course, he was nothing like DJ Snowflake. In fact, he continued to mention that he would be continuing through the night. Santana could only imagine the chaos DJ Snowflake caused all because Santana had told her to play The Chipmunk Song as much as she wanted.

In a way, it felt strange to work without the DJ's incessant chatter about snowflake patterns or elf shoes or how much she loved every single song she played.

Screw it.

"You know –" Santana placed her pencil down. "I need a drink."

Burt's face changed from concerned to amusement. "Now that's a request I would be more than happy to fulfill."

Santana packed up the box of Rachel Berry trinkets, paperwork, and memorabilia from the box labelled "1961". She had been working nonstop all day and had gotten nowhere. She needed a break.

When she looked back up, it wasn't Burt coming over with a bottle of wine, but Kurt, and he sported a devious smile.

"Okay. Wait." Santana took another sip of her wine. "You and Mercedes were rivals in high school?"

"Not just rivals – mortal enemies."

"Well, you're both drama queens."

"Honey-" Kurt quirked an eye brow and tipped back the rest of his wine glass. "-we prefer the term diva."

Santana rolled her eyes. "If I would have known she had a mortal enemy waiting to put her in her place back home, I would have invited you to visit while we at university together. She would have had someone else to fight with."

"Ha! You wouldn't have been able to handle us both." Kurt stated as fact. Santana didn't have a reason to argue with him. He leaned back in his chair and pensively looked her over. Santana returned his look. She had never backed down from anyone, but she didn't know the reason he stared. "Why are you doing this? You don't have to spend your December here."

Santana dropped her gaze to her wine and met his stare. She felt a little light-headed from the wine and from laughing. "Mercedes and I have been through a lot. She was there when I came out. She was there when I couldn't go home and when I didn't know what I was doing. She's family – the real kind and apparently you mean a lot to her so-"

"Kurt!" Burt called over from the parlor.

Regretfully, he broke Santana's gaze to answer his father. "Yes?"

"Can you do a walkthrough before our guests arrive?"

"Of course." He turned back to Santana and their wine bottle. "Well – She's always been part of our family so in a way, that makes you part of our family too. It's been nice to have someone else here even if we barely see you during the day. As long as the Hummel name is on that sign, you will always have a place to stay." Santana flushed. She hadn't meant to say anything revealing or be invited to spend as much time as she wanted at the bed and breakfast. She hadn't been looking for companionship or kindness. Kurt stood up and handed the half-empty wine bottle to her. "You can finish this without me?"

Santana gratefully accepted the bottle and stood up from the table with her wine glass and tipped it in his direction. "It'll be such a hardship."

Kurt followed his father into the parlor and walked upstairs. Santana swirled the wine around in her glass and walked to the back of the bed and breakfast's first floor. She approached the large glass doors that overlooked a very small courtyard in the back. Snowflakes gently drifted down and blanketed the old bench, stone path, and trees with a soft layer of fresh snow. It was the first time she had taken a moment in the common area of the bed and breakfast. It was nice, the kind of nice that Santana didn't get to enjoy in her apartment in the city.

An insistent vibration in her back pocket distracted her from admiring the view. She pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and couldn't believe she found a place to get service.

"Hello?"

"Santana? Hi. It's Terri Schuester. I've been trying to get you for a few days."

"Yeah sorry." Santana couldn't believe her boss had been trying to reach her. "I'm kinda in the middle of nowhere. You caught me at a good time."

"Good. Good. I just wanted to let you know that we will be finishing the renovations early. I know you wanted to know the date. You can come back to work next week."

"Next week? So soon?"

"Yes." She paused. "I thought you'd be excited. You said you wanted to know right away when you could come back to work."

"Right. No, I did. Thanks. I can't wait to be back." Santana quickly answered.

"Good. Give me a call next Thursday. We can arrange a time to meet next weekend and I can give you a new card to get into the archives."

Santana turned from the glass doors and looked back at Burt. He was fluffing a pillow on the sofa in the parlor. He turned the dial of the radio up just a little louder and stoked the fire with a poker. "Sure. I'll give you a call on Thursday."

Santana ended the call with her boss and tipped back her wine glass once again.

9:59 pm

"Come on, Holls. It's gonna be so much fun."

"Britt, I agreed to drive you out here and check it out. I am not going to spend the night and I'm definitely not going to spend the night if we are sharing a room." Holly rolled her eyes and opened the door. She didn't miss a beat talking. "I spend far too much time listening to the sound of your voice at night. I don't need to roll over and hear about how frisky the elves are tonight while I spoon you."

"Who says I'd let you be the big spoon?" Brittany turned into Holly and loosened her scarf from around her neck.

Ever the flirt, Holly laughed at Brittany's boldness. "Hun, I think you're forgetting who's whose subordinate."

"You're so bossy, boss, but maybe that's only in the sound booth. We'll never know who the big spoon is if you leave me here all by myself." Brittany tossed her hand in the air, and looked around Hummel's Bed and Breakfast. She had thought the place was empty, but it wasn't. A woman in the far room met her eyes with curiosity and surprise as if she too hadn't been expecting to see anyone else. Brittany stopped talking and extended her smile to the woman.

Perhaps that surprised the woman even more.

Burt exited from the storage room next to the reception area and parlor. "Welcome! Welcome!"

Brittany never had a chance to see if the woman smiled back. He ushered Brittany and Holly into the parlor and started taking off their coats.

"I'm so excited that you accepted my invitation to come to visit the bed and breakfast. I think after the other night, you can really get a feel for what we have here. It'll make for better advertising."

"Of course." Holly answered him. "How could we refuse a night to stay at one of our favorite businesses? And we were so lucky that a block cleared tonight so we could come."

Burt glanced to the radio playing in the parlor with a small frown and looked back at Brittany. "I will say, it's a little strange not to hear your voice on the radio, but-" He hung their coats on the rack near the door. "-this is even better. I'm sure you're excited to get to your room. I know it's a little late, but if me or my son can get you anything, just let me know."

He walked into the backroom.

The moment he walked away, Brittany turned back to Holly. "Come on, Holls. Don't leave me all night. Just stay."

"Oh, Britt, you have no idea what you're asking for." Holly's voice pitched up and down at the challenge, but she was already smiling. She had spotted the bar. "Fine. I'll stay for a while, but you're gonna have to work on your game if you ever want to get me in bed."

"You know I like challenges."

"Here are your room keys." Mr. Hummel returned from the backroom and handed over two elegant gold keys.

"How fancy." Holly took her key and wiggled her eyebrows in Brittany's direction. "So, Mr. Hummel, of Hummel's Bed and Breakfast, how easy would it be to open that bar up that I saw in the corner for us?"

"For you?" Burt laughed. "I'll have my son come out right away."

"Good! Cause that's where we'll be!"

Holly grabbed Brittany's hand and yanked her toward the bar. Within minutes, Kurt unlocked the liquor cabinet and began pouring them shots and mixing them drinks.

"Let's cheers to Sue." Brittany took the tequila bottle and grabbed two shot glasses from behind the counter and poured it out.

"Really? We're gonna go there?" Holly took the shot glass from Brittany's hand with a smirk.

"Well I mean we could toast to the door she destroyed."

"All of it was your fault."

"Details, Holly, details." Brittany said with an obnoxious smile. She tapped Holly's shot glass and threw back the liquor. When she opened her eyes, she found the other woman in the bed and breakfast once again staring back at her. This time instead of smiling, Brittany threw her a wink before she turned back to Holly. "Alright, let's get in the holiday mood. Kurt!"

Kurt popped out from behind the bar counter.

"Do you have anything peppermint back there? I want my mouth to taste like a candy cane." Britt spun in her chair and noticed the record player. "And let's put on some Christmas music. Do you mind?"

"No. Go ahead! It's kinda your thing anyway, right?" Kurt found a bottle of Rumplemintz.

"Technically, I'm off tonight." Brittany approached the old record player and sorted through their assortment of records on the shelf. She found the Carpenters Christmas Portrait. The record spun in her hands a few times before she lifted the needle and placed it on the turntable.

It came upon a Midnight Clear
That glorious song of old

"Now where's that shot?" Brittany returned back to the bar to a laughing Holly.

"You just can't help yourself can you?"

"I think we proved that yesterday." Brittany threw the shot back.

11:11 pm

Santana didn't know why she still stayed in the common room. She didn't know why she continued to sip so casually at her wine and read her notes. She could have easily taken her notes and the bottle of wine upstairs – even if the thought of sharing her notes with Rachel Berry was less than appealing.

Kurt continued to pour drink after drink for the two blonde women. She flipped over a page of her notes and took another sip of her wine but it was empty.

She went to pour herself another glass, but the bottle was empty too. Santana rolled her eyes at the situation.

Laughter erupted through the room once again. Santana half-glanced up to see the two women giggling close together at something. Santana looked down at her notes and again to her cell phone. No messages. No missed calls. No anything.

Fuck it.

She started to gather her papers.

Clink.

Santana looked up.

Kurt sat a drink down in front of her.

"I didn-"

"I know you didn't." Kurt said with a secret smile. "She did."

He tilted his head back toward the two blondes at the bar, but only one of them met her gaze. It was the same woman who had thrown her a wink earlier in the night. Santana pursed her lips and contemplated the drink Kurt had set down and then back to the woman.

She lifted her glass in Santana's direction. Normally, Santana ignored drinks given to her at bars, as they were generally sent her way to provide someone with an opportunity to start a conversation with her. Most times it was from a man who couldn't take a hint.

But…

She couldn't remember the last time a woman had sent a drink her way and so brazenly.

Santana touched the rim of the glass with her pointer finger and debated whether she would accept the drink. While she hadn't been listening to all of their conversation, Santana had gathered the blondes had come together and were sharing a room.

Maybe not everyone and everything in this town was as quaint and boring as it seemed.

Santana lifted the glass and took a sip while maintaining eye contact with the blonde. The other woman smiled, obviously pleased Santana had accepted, and turned back to her companion.

Peppermint.

Peppermint and chocolate.

Santana set the glass down and opened her notes back up. Maybe she could stay for a few more minutes.

"Oh. Come on, Holls."

"Baby girl, you know how I would love to stay, but you're not the only one with the night off."

Santana looked up from her notes and set her glasses back down on the table to watch the two women.

"My ride for the night is here and it's gonna be a really needed and really long ride, if ya know what I'm talking about." The door to the bed and breakfast opened once more. A man in a leather jacket and a self-important smile on his face entered. He looked around and immediately spotted the two women.

"You ready to go?" He asked without introducing himself or addressing anyone else in the bed and breakfast.

"I am soooooooo ready." She shouted to the man, but not before she turned back to the woman who had sent Santana the drink. When she leaned over she didn't even bother to mask her voice or her intention. "Have fun tonight."

For the first time since they had entered the bed and breakfast, she looked Santana's way, kissed the other woman's cheek, gathered her purse, and left the bed and breakfast with the man.

Confused, Santana shook her head. Maybe everyone in this town was just as strange as she thought they were.

She finished the peppermint drink and once again started to gather her papers to head to bed now that she had no excuse to continue lingering in the common room.

Clink.

At the sound, Santana waved her hand in the air and continued gathering her papers. "No, Kurt, I'm good. I was just heading up to bed."

But it wasn't Kurt who answered her. "That's too bad to hear."

Santana looked past the alcohol and up to two bright blue eyes and the same smile Santana remembered when the woman had first walked in.

"Hi." Her smile only brightened. "I was wondering if maybe this time we could share the drink together."

Santana glanced down to the glass once more and then back to the smiling woman. Kurt's eyes were on the two of them as he intensely cleaned the bar counter with a rag in the same spot a thousand times. Santana looked her up and down. She wore a light blue sweater and tight fitting jeans. Her hair hung loose and framed her face, but it was that smile that Santana couldn't dismiss. Even if they had been in a crowded area or out at a bar, this woman would have been impossible to miss.

Yet, Santana narrowed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. She pushed her paperwork to the side and tilted her head up.

Without mincing any words, Santana asked. "So what happened to your girlfriend?"

"My girlfriend?"

"The other blonde." Santana confidently suggested.

"She's not my girlfriend. Not even close. She's my boss."

"Oh I just thought-" Santana took pride in her ability to read people. That had been unexpected. "-I just thought because you were sharing a room that you two were maybe – you know…together…"

Smooth Lopez. So smooth. She ducked her head and desperately ran through various excuses that she could make to excuse herself and retreat to her room for the night or forever. This was her first interaction with a woman who wasn't Mercedes or that crazy gas station clerk, Sugar. She had spent the last few nights fighting with a radio DJ because she was so desperate to talk to anyone at night and here she was – fucking it up.

"Don't worry about it. It's an easy mistake." Brittany could barely repress her smile as her newfound bar companion fumbled over her words. She took a long sip of her drink to mask her amusement. "But since you were eavesdropping on our conversation, maybe you could spare me a few minutes to talk. That way you don't have to listen from afar."

Santana huffed out a breath of air, unsure how she had gotten herself in this predicament, but she was caught.

"Fine." She slid the chair out across the table with her boot. "I guess I owe you that much."

"Brittany." She offered her hand.

"Santana."

"Santana…" Brittany took the chair across the table and repeated her name. "I like that. I've never met a Santana before."

"Well I've met a few Brittanys before." Santana stated as a matter of fact.

Whether that answered amused Brittany or not, it was hard to tell, as her smile never seemed to fade. "But you haven't met any from around here."

"How do you know?"

Brittany smirked. "I know everyone in town and I would definitely remember a Santana, especially one like you."

Her eyes dropped to the paperwork Santana had been working on with curiosity. "So what brings you to town, Santana?"

"I'm a…" Santana searched for the word. "…a consultant for the bed and breakfast and I've been working at the town hall for the mayor's aide."

"For Mercedes?"

Santana stopped sipping her drink. "Yeah…how do you know Mercedes?"

"I told you…" Brittany's eyes sparkled with delight. "I know everyone."

"So do you make it your job to know everyone?" Santana questioned over the rim of her glass.

"No…" Brittany's answer played in the air. "But it's my job to make sure everyone knows me. It goes hand in hand."

"That's an interesting job." Santana teased. She could feel the heat from the schnapps in her cheeks, but she tried not to let it show that the alcohol had an effect on her.

"Probably not as interesting as being a consultant to the mayor's aide and working on important -" Brittany leaned over the table. Santana pulled her hand back when she felt blonde strands of hair brush against the backside of her hand. Brittany pushed aside some of the papers to read them. "- national registry bulletins and forms." She looked up with curiosity. "So you're here to check out some of the history in town?"

"Something like that, but more for this bed and breakfast."

"There's a lot of history in town." Brittany offered and looked her directly in the eyes. "I just didn't think there was anything out here." She looked around the bed and breakfast, but her eyes found Santana's again almost immediately. "Maybe I would have made a trip to visit earlier."

Santana followed Brittany's eyes around the bed and breakfast. Snow still fell outside the window. They were surrounded by trees in the middle of nowhere. "There's nothing out here."

"I'm not so sure about that." Brittany leaned closer once more. Once again, Santana could feel her hair on the back of her hand, but this time she didn't pull back.

Santana swallowed hard and tilted her head, unsure if Brittany was actually flirting with her. Sure, a woman could buy another woman a drink, especially when they were the only ones drinking in a bar. They could even talk – talk close together, but they were in the middle of nowhere and Brittany had been here with that other woman. What were the chances that the most attractive woman Santana had ever seen, would wander into some random bed and breakfast, and be bold enough to flirt with her? It not only seemed unlikely, but the kind of gay wishful thinking that only led to crushes on straight girls and disappointment.

Yet with every word Brittany spoke, Santana tasted the peppermint schnapps in the air between them. She licked her own lips. Chocolate peppermint. Brittany had given her the same drink she had been drinking.

Brittany's eyes dropped as if she could read Santana's mind. She bit her bottom lip and smiled. The clock on the wall chimed. Santana glanced up. It was midnight. Her glass was empty and she wasn't sure where this was heading. She was only in town for at the most, another week. "Looks like I've finished my drink."

Brittany ignored Santana's observation. "How long are you going to be in town?"

"A few more days." Santana felt the heat in her cheeks building. Brittany had yet to pull back.

"Will you be here the whole time?"

"Sometimes. I normally work late hours."

"Me too." Brittany said. "But I'd really like to see you again."

"You would huh?" Santana met the woman's eyes.

"Can I give you my number?" Brittany asked, but took the pencil from Santana's note pad before she could answer. She turned it around and scribbled into the margin of Santana's notes. "You don't have to call, but maybe if you're bored and here by yourself, I could come and entertain you."

"Maybe I will call." Santana didn't look down, but she could distinctly hear the scratch of the lead on the paper. Each stroke sent a ripple of excitement through her body. Fuck. She held Brittany's gaze and smiled softly to herself. "You're lucky that I like the sound of your voice."

Brittany smirked to herself as if Santana had said the funniest thing. "Good. So maybe I'll hear from you soon?"

Santana gathered her notes, her notepad, and put her fingers around Brittany's to take back her pencil. She stood from the table, still unable to contain her smile. "Maybe…"

Santana walked away from the table and through the common room. She didn't look back until she reached the Rachel Barbra Berry master suite. The key stuck in the door harder than usual, but she finally threw open the doors to the suite, smiled to herself and looked down at her notepad:

Brittany

570-953-4213

Damn.

Maybe she should have spent more nights working at the bed and breakfast. Tonight's company had been infinitely better than Doris's quilting magazines.

She looked up to a set of eyes staring right back at her.

"Fuck!"

Rachel Berry's portrait stared straight through her from across the room over the mantle. She rolled her eyes. She put down her notepad, pulled back the duvet and covers and got ready for bed. She turned off the nightstand light and got into her bed. Moonlight filtered in through the window and illuminated the mantle portrait of Rachel. Santana covered her face with one of her pillows to block out her view.

"Shut up, Berry."

Santana whispered into the pillow, but not even the creepy portraits of Rachel Berry could make her stop smiling.

This had been the best night since she arrived in this god forsaken town.