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All I Want For Christmas Is You
I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need.
I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree.
Santana gently pulls pack the covers and carefully gets out of the bed so she doesn't wake her sleeping wife and son. She sneaks out of the bedroom, quietly closing the bedroom door behind her.
This was her favorite part of Christmas, getting up in the middle of the night to put the presents under the tree. She was thankful that they had a small closet in their one bedroom apartment that they could hide Antonio's presents in so he couldn't find them.
She gathers the bag of wrapped presents from the closet and deposits it on the couch. She grabs a few presents and takes them over to the Christmas tree. It was an artificial Christmas tree and she wishes she could let Antonio have the experience of a real tree, but an artificial one was more economical for them.
As she goes to retrieve another present she notices the glass of milk and cookies left on the television stand. She smiles at the carrot sticks next to the cookies. Antonio insisted that they left out a nine carrots for the reindeer, but after Santana explained they couldn't put out nine carrots Antonio came up with the idea to cut one carrot into nine pieces so each reindeer could have a piece.
Santana takes a sip of the milk and eats one of the cookies. When she puts the half empty glass back on the stand she notices a piece of paper under the plate of cookies. She pulls out the piece of paper and see's the words Santa Claus written in her son's writing.
Dear Mr. Santa Claus,
I don't want any toys for Christmas all I want is for my mommies to be happy. We don't have a lot of money since mommy was ill and I want her to be able to sing again because that made her happy and if mommy is happy then that will make Mami happy too.
Love from Antonio Lopez.
The letter was scribbled in red pencil crayon and was only just legible. Santana often felt guilty that she couldn't give her son the world. Money had been tight for Rachel and Santana over the past couple of years, but they managed to get by.
Rachel had been diagnosed with vocal fold paresis that had left her unable to sing. It ended her dreams of Broadway but she still tried for an acting job. That was an even harder task since her confidence was connected to her voice and without it she felt vulnerable.
She wasn't being offered parts and their bills needed to be paid including Rachel's medical bill so she ended up taking a job at a diner and had worked there until she became pregnant with Antonio. The choice to have Antonio was a big decision but after talking it through they decided to go ahead and it was the best decision they ever made.
Santana had managed to get a job as an office assistant and spent her days making people coffee and photocopying documents. When Antonio had started school Rachel got another job as a housekeeper in a hotel which was ideal since she could work in the morning and could pick Antonio up in the afternoon.
Santana attention is turned away from the letter when she hears the bedroom door shut quietly. She looks up to find her wife standing there.
"Hey" Rachel says.
"Is Tony still asleep?"
"Yeah. What are you doing?"
"I'm reading a letter Tony left for Santa."
Santana hands the letter over to Rachel who quickly reads it.
"We raised a sweet little boy" Rachel says.
"I wish we could give him more."
"We'll get back on our feet again someday."
"Want to help me put the presents under the tree?" Santana asks.
"I'd love too."
Once they finishes scattering the presents under the tree Rachel puts the carrots in a Ziploc bag and puts them in the fridge so she can cook them as part of dinner tomorrow.
"Are you ready to go back to bed?" Santana asks.
"Yes. I can't wait for the morning. Even at our age there is still something so magical about Christmas."
"What do you mean at our age? We're not that old" Santana laughs.
"Come on let's go to sleep" Rachel says pulling Santana towards their bedroom.
They make their way back into the bedroom quietly and take up their positions at each side of their son in the bed.
The next time Santana is woken up, it's because she is being poked in the face by a little finger.
"Wake up Mami, it's Christmas."
"Yeah wake up Mami, it's Christmas" Rachel repeats.
"How long have you been awake?" Santana asks.
"Just a few minutes, I was also woken up by our very pokey son."
Rachel starts to tickle Antonio which causes him to laugh. Santana joins in on the tickle fight, but decides to attack her wife instead.
"Do you give up?" Santana asks.
"Yes, I give up. You're such a child."
"You started it. Merry Christmas baby" Santana says before kissing her wife.
"Merry Christmas to you too."
"Merry Christmas mommies" Antonio yells.
"Merry Christmas baby boy. Should we go and see what Santa left you?"
"Santa's been here?"
"Of course he's been here. You've been a good boy, I'm sure your name was on top of the nice list" Rachel replies.
Santana gets out of the bed and walks over to the bedroom door where three bathrobes where hanging on the back of it. She slips on her own robe and grabs the other two before handing them to Rachel.
"I'll make some coffee" Santana says, kissing Rachel on the lips.
Rachel wraps her own bathrobe around herself before helping her son put his on and pulling the hood over his head, to keep him warm.
It had been a cold winter this year; the streets were littered with powdery snow much to the enjoyment of Antonio. Rachel places a kiss on her son's forehead before picking him up and taking him into living room.
"Tony, do you want some juice?" Santana asks from the joined kitchen.
"Yes please, Mami."
Rachel places Antonio on the couch and goes to plug in their small electric heater, to warm up the apartment. Santana walks over to the couch and hands Antonio his cup of juice and Rachel her cup of coffee.
"Okay, Tony you get to go first. You can open Santa's presents first and then you can open your presents from mommy and me."
They decided that they would let Antonio open his presents from Santa and then they would open the gifts they got for each other one at a time so that it would make it last longer since they didn't have many presents to unwrap.
Antonio started by opening his presents from Santa. There were only a couple of things including a couple of coloring books and pencil crayons. A new teddy bear, a selection of plastic dinosaurs and some toy cars. They had even given him a little bundle of candy and chocolate since he didn't get treats that often.
Once Antonio had finished opening his gifts they decided to have some breakfast. Rachel leaves Santana and Antonio playing with the toy cars on the floor whilst she walks over to the kitchen. She makes a couple of pieces of toast and fills two glasses up with orange juice for her and Santana.
Rachel carries the plate of toast in first and hands it to Santana who offers a piece to her son. After they finish their breakfast they start to open the gifts they got for each other. Santana and Rachel had decided to make their gifts for each other so that they could save the money and spend it on their son's presents instead.
"So this present is from me to mommy" Santana says as she pulls an envelope out from under the tree.
Rachel thanks her wife and proceeds to open the envelope. Inside is a handmade gift certificate for a spa treatment.
"A spa treatment at the Lopez Spa" Rachel reads.
"You'll start off with a nice relaxing bath and then I'll massage every inch of your body plus I don't charge extra for a happy ending."
"Santana" Rachel hisses.
"What? He doesn't know what it means" Santana says looking over at their son that was already crawling underneath the Christmas tree for the next present.
"Mami this is yours from mommy" Antonio says handing Santana an envelope.
Just like Rachel's present it was also a handmade gift certificate, but Santana's was for a meal for two.
"You get a romantic three course meal of anything you choose" Rachel explains.
"That sounds amazing baby, thank you."
Santana leans over and places a quick kiss on her wife's lips. She then goes over to the tree and pulls out another present.
"Okay, Tony you're up next" Santana says handing her son the present.
Antonio opens the present to reveal a stitched blanket.
"It's a patchwork quilt. I made it from your old clothes, some are even from when you were a baby" Rachel explains.
"It's amazing mommy. I was sad when this t-shirt didn't fit anymore" Tony says running his hand over the Batman patch.
"Plus when the clothes you have now get too small, we can add them too and make the quilt bigger."
"Can I give you my presents now?" Antonio asks.
"You got us a present?" Santana questions clearly confused of how her son could get them presents.
Antonio nods before retrieving two small, neatly wrapped presents from the back of the tree. He hands one each to his mothers.
"Do you know anything about these?" Santana asks her wife who shakes her head in response.
"You can open the together" Tony says, slightly nervously just in case his mother's didn't like their presents.
Santana and Rachel both slowly unwrap their gifts to find that they were handmade bracelets.
"Mrs. Connor helped me make them" Tony explains.
Mrs. Connor was their next door neighbor who looked after Antonio when they needed someone. She made and sold her own jewelry and Santana thinks she should visit her tomorrow to pay her for the gifts.
"They're beautiful Tony" Rachel says slipping on the bracelet.
"So you're supposed to be next Rach, but I wanted to wait until after dinner to give you my last present. Is that okay?"
"Of course it is. That means your next, Tony get your Mami's next present from under the tree" Rachel says.
Antonio grabs the last present under the tree and gives it to his mother. Santana peels back the wrapping paper to reveals a scrap book.
It's filled with photographs of the couple all the way from high school up until now. It has photographs of when they got married and photos of Antonio through different stages of his life.
"I got some of the photos from our family and friends, that's why you haven't seen some of them before" Rachel explains.
"It's beautiful. We always talked about doing something like this with our photos but we never got round to it."
"I'm glad you like it."
"Is that me Mami?" Tony asks pointing at a photo of a baby.
"Yes, that's you in the hospital on the day you were born" Santana replies.
"I'm tiny."
"You still are tiny."
"But mommy says I'm her big boy" Tony pouts.
"You are my big boy. So big boy, would you like your last present?" Rachel asks.
"I got another one?"
"Yes and we've saved the best for last" Santana says standing up.
Santana walks over to the closet and gets out Antonio's main present which was a bicycle.
It was a second hand one but it looked brand new and was in Antonio's favorite color; red.
"Close your eyes" Santana calls.
Antonio closes his eyes as tight as he could, he didn't get many surprise so he was really excited. Santana wheels the bike over to where her son was waiting, since it was too big to wrap she had tied a silver bow around the handle bars.
"Okay, you can open your eyes."
When Antonio opens his eyes he can't believe the sight before him. There was a bike, a red bike and it was for him.
"So do you like it?" Santana asks.
"I love it."
Antonio runs over to Santana and wraps his arms around her legs.
"Thank you Mami."
Santana bends down so she can hug her son properly and places a kiss on his cheek. Once they pull apart Antonio makes his way over to where Rachel was sat on the couch and climbs onto her knee.
"Thanks Mommy" he says wrapping his arms around Rachel's neck.
"Can we go outside so I can ride it?"
"I don't know Tony, it's been snowing."
"We can go down and have a look to see if there is any clear road for you to have a ride and if not we can play in the snow for a while. What do you think mommy?" Santana asks.
"As long as we wrap ourselves in as many layers as possible then that's fine by me."
Antonio cheers before running into the bedroom. Santana and Rachel follow their son who had started pulling out clothes from his drawer. Rachel walks up to the set of drawers and picks out some extra clothes for her son as well as some for herself.
They all quickly get changed without Antonio needing any help apart from his sweater that he accidently put on the wrong way round. They layer up with jackets, hats, scarves and gloves.
Santana carries the bike down the steps whilst Rachel holds Tony's hand. The street is empty and the road is mostly clear of snow and ice.
"I think it should be okay for him to ride for a while, he has stabilizers" Rachel says.
"Okay then buddy, let's get you on your bike"
Antonio rides his bike up and down the road until he decides he wants to build a snowman and he wants his mothers to help him. An hour and a half later the cold became too much so they decide to retreat back inside their apartment.
Rachel and Antonio were sitting on the couch waiting for Santana's surprise.
"So for your last present I wrote you a song" Santana explains.
She stands in front of her wife and son holding a guitar she had borrowed from a friend.
I don't know how to make lots of money
I got debts that I'm trying to pay
I can't buy you nice things, like big diamond rings
But that don't mean much anyway
She wished she could shower Rachel with little gifts just for no reason at all. When she proposed to Rachel she didn't have a ring and it took her over a year later before she could finally afford one. Santana wanted to wait longer so she could buy her a nice ring, but Rachel said she didn't care what she wore on her finger, she just wanted to be Santana's wife.
I can't give you the house you've been dreaming
If I could I would build it alone
I'd be out there all day, just hammering away
Make us a place of our own
Santana liked their apartment, they had been living in it for years. They knew the neighbors and it was comfortable here she just wished that it was bigger. It was only a one bedroom apartment and Santana felt guilty that they had to share a bed with their son.
They knew that they couldn't go on like this that much longer so they had been discussing the idea of buying a sofa bed for the living room for Santana and Rachel to sleep on so that their son can have his own room. In an ideal world she'd want to buy them a house so they could have a large room each but she knows that won't happen any time soon.
I will write you a song
That's how you'll know that my love is still strong
I will write you a song
And you'll know from this song that I just can't go on without you
I don't know that I'd make a good soldier
I don't believe in being violent and cruel
I don't know how to fight, but I'll draw blood tonight
If somebody tries hurting you
Santana had never been a violent person, sure she had her moments during high school, but that was just bravado so she could stay on top. She had grown up since then and had learned to deal with things more reasonably, but she would do anything to protect Rachel and their son. She would put them before anything and anyone else.
I will write you a song
That's how you'll know that my love is still strong
I will write you a song
And you'll know from this song that I just can't go on without you
Now that it's out on the table
Both of us knew all along
I've got your loving and you've got my song
When they decided to give each other homemade gifts it took her a while to decide on what to get Rachel. It seemed obvious to write Rachel a song since music is what brought them together in the first place. It surprised her that the song it's self was easy to write, all she had to do was write down everything she felt about Rachel and the words just flowed.
I don't know how to make lots of money
I don't know all the right things to do
I can't say where we'll go, but the one thing I know
Is how to be a good wife to you
Until I die that's what I'll do
I will write you a song
That's how you'll know that my love is still strong
I will write you a song
And you'll know from this song that I just can't go on without you.
Rachel has tears in her eyes by the end of the song.
"Your song writing has improved immensely since Trouty Mouth" Rachel jokes as she wipes a tear from her eye.
Santana laughs as she puts down the guitar and makes her way over to her wife.
"It was beautiful. I love you" Rachel says.
"I love you too and you baby boy."
"Can you sing again Mami?" Antonio asks.
"Maybe later, why don't we see if there's a Christmas movie on?" Santana suggests.
Santana turns on the television and finds an old version of A Christmas Carol for them to watch. Rachel makes them all hot chocolate to warm them up while they all snuggle up on the couch under Antonio's patchwork quilt.
A/N. I have brought back my Christmas one-shots and I'm hoping to do the same as last year; four one-shots, one every Sunday until Christmas.
Song: Plain White T's - Write You A Song.