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A Different Kind Of Christmas
In a different kind of world, even though it looks the same.
Everything has changed. It's a different kind of Christmas.
"So what's this movie about?"
"It's about a kid that accidently gets left at home when his family goes on Christmas vacation and he has to protect his home from thieves, but he uses all these crazy ways to stop them" Santana explains.
"It sounds interesting."
Rachel and Santana had spent the morning watching Christmas movies. It was a traditional thing for Santana to do on Christmas Eve and she thought that it was the perfect opportunity to introduce Rachel to all of the Christmas movies she had missed out on when she came back to the future with Santana.
They have already watched Elf, the remake of Miracle On 34th Street as Rachel had seen the original and they also watched It's A Wonderful Life as this was the traditional movie Rachel watched at Christmas.
They had been back in the twentieth century for a few of months now and Rachel was still slowly adjusting to her new life.
"So what time do you want to go caroling?" Rachel asks.
"Caroling?"
"Yes. You know where you go around the neighborhood singing Christmas carols?"
"I know what it is; it's just that people don't do it anymore."
"But it's a tradition."
"Not anymore it's not. I've tried to withhold as many as your traditions that I possibly can, but I put my foot down on Christmas caroling" Santana says.
"Why?"
"It's just something that people don't do anymore. You've seen our neighbors, none of them would like us to knock on their doors and sing 'Jingle Bells' at them. They'd slam the door in our face."
"I think you're underestimating people."
"I'm being realistic and you're being naïve, the world's a different place now Rachel" Santana says.
"I know that Santana and I'm trying to learn. It's Christmas and I just thought that it would be nice to share the Christmas spirit with others."
"Let's just watch the movie."
"Fine" Rachel snaps.
Things are a little bit tense between Santana and Rachel whilst they watch Home Alone. They hadn't really disagreed about anything since they met so this was a new experience for them both. It had been hard for Rachel to adjust to a new way of living. Santana has been patient with her, but being from two different times was bound to cause some arguments and it was something the couple would have to get used to.
If Santana had learnt one thing from tonight, it was that the more doors you have slammed in your face, the less embarrassing it gets. She knew that carol singing was a bad idea, but she couldn't stand looking at that pout on Rachel's face when she brought up the idea of caroling again. Whoever said that love makes you do stupid things was one hundred percent correct.
There was no other explanation as to why Santana would allow Rachel to drag her from house to house in the freezing cold attempting to sing, but instead repeatedly getting a door slammed in their face. The only explanation Santana is willing to accept, is that it's because she is totally in love with Rachel.
The only good thing to come out of their failed attempt at carol singing is walking home, arm in arm through the neighborhood. It has been snowing all week so the streets were covered in white powdery snow.
"I will never get used to seeing these beautiful lights" Rachel says.
"Trust me you will, especially when you see the ones that go from being beautiful to tacky."
"I've never seen Lima like this at Christmas before. I've seen one store that hung a few lights outside, but never anything like this. Everything is bigger and brighter in this time. I still find it strange how early the festive season starts. We used to put our Christmas tree up the Sunday before the twenty fifth but here there is such a big build up and it starts in November!"
"I hope that tomorrow isn't too much of an anti-climax for you" Santana says.
"Don't say that. I'm sure tomorrow will be just as magical."
"Well last year I spent Christmas day watching TV with take out and a bottle of Jack so tomorrow will automatically be better than that."
"At least this year you'll have a home cooked meal. I'm actually excited about attempting to cook the Christmas dinner by myself. I've helped my grandmother and my mother in the past so I have a bit of experience, but this year I get to make it my own."
"I'll help you as much as I can. I'm pretty handy with a microwave" Santana jokes.
"I still can't get to grips with that machine so it won't be used in my cooking."
"Don't worry; you'll get the hang of all this new technology soon. So what else do you usually do on Christmas eve?"
"We usually go to my grandparent's house for their Christmas party" Rachel replies.
"Well I don't think my Abuela would like it if I just showed up at her house with a girl after all these years of her ignoring me, so that's out. I don't really know of anywhere that will be having a Christmas party. We could crash a college party."
"It's okay Santana. I don't mind spending the rest of the evening with just the two of us. You could show me more of the vast Christmas movie collection you have."
"Well we can watch Home Alone 2, you liked the first one and the second one is set in New York. You can see it on screen before we hopefully move there."
"That sounds like a perfect way to spend Christmas eve" Rachel smiles.
It was the first Christmas morning in years that Santana hadn't woken up alone. She was actually surprised that she was the first to wake up since Rachel was usually an early bird, but she isn't one to complain. She wanted to enjoy this moment of waking up with Rachel still in her arms for as long as she could.
However Santana's contentedness didn't last very long as Rachel started to stir.
"Good morning. Merry Christmas" Santana greets before kissing Rachel on the lips.
"Merry Christmas" Rachel replies, returning the kiss.
The rest of the morning is spent having some quick breakfast before settling in the living room to unwrap presents. They had given each other numerous gifts, but Santana has saved her best gift for Rachel until last.
"This is for you" Santana says handing Rachel a small, neatly wrapped gift.
Rachel unwraps the present to reveal a clear box with a small device sat inside.
"What is it?"
"It's an iPod touch. It's for you to listen to music on. You told me how you wanted a transistor radio for Christmas, well this is kind of like the twenty first century version of that" Santana explains turning on the device.
"It plays music?"
"Yeah" Santana replies taking the small device out of Rachel's hands.
"I put all of your favorite music on it from the past and present, including this song."
Santana presses the play button and Elvis' "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" starts to play.
"Would you like to dance? We never got the chance to at your prom."
"I'd love too."
Santana restarts the song on the iPod before standing up. She holds her hands out to Rachel who gladly takes them and rests her head against Santana's shoulder. They dance in silence for few minutes, listening to their song.
"As much as I love Elvis, I think that you sing this song better" Rachel says.
"You only think that because I gate crashed your prom and serenaded you with it."
"It was the most romantic thing that anyone has ever done for me."
"You mean it was the most romantic thing that anyone has ever done so far. I've still got a lot of romance left in me."
"I'll hold you to that."
"I may end up regretting saying that" Santana jokes.
Once the song finishes, Santana picks up the music player.
"This doesn't just play music, you can play games on it too" she explains.
"Like Angry Birds?" Rachel asks.
"Yeah. Do you remember when I showed you how to play? It was when I was trying to convince you that I was from the future."
"I thought you were playing a prank on me, that. or that you were clinically insane."
"I'm glad you believed me."
"So am I. Thank you for the gift Santana. It was very thoughtful."
"You're welcome. You gave up a lot to come here and be with me, the least I can do is make you happy."
"You make me more than happy. I love you."
"I love you too" Santana replies.
"I should start preparing the rest of the meal. This is our first Christmas together, everything has to be perfect" Rachel says.
"We're together and that's perfect enough for me."
Rachel had been in the kitchen for half an hour cooking and Santana was starting to get bored. She had already disturbed Rachel twice to ask what she can do to keep herself occupied, to which Rachel replied, clean up the discarded wrapping paper and set the table. The only thing left to cure her boredom was to help Rachel in the kitchen.
"So how's the cooking going?" Santana asks entering the kitchen and popping a carrot in her mouth.
"It would be a lot easier if you didn't keep disturbing me and eating all of the food before I've had chance to cook it."
"I'm sorry, but usually by now I would be half way through a take out. You're making me wait another two hours."
"Good things come to those who wait Santana" Rachel says.
"I know, I waited for you to come around and I received the best thing in the world."
"Flattery won't make the food cook faster."
"Then what will because I wants to get my eats on."
"The language in this decade is appalling" Rachel says, causing Santana to laugh.
"So do you need any help?"
"Do you think you can handle peeling the potatoes?"
"Well it is a step up from using the microwave since some actual manual work is involved, but I think I can handle it" Santana jokes.
She makes her way over to the counter, where the potatoes are waiting and begins to peel them.
"I like this" Santana says out of nowhere.
"What? Peeling potatoes?"
"The domesticity. You and I cooking dinner together on our first Christmas as a couple. It's nice."
"You kept saying how you wanted to honor both of our family's traditions, but maybe we should start making our own. Cooking dinner together could be one of them" Santana suggests.
"I like the sound of that."
"What's that you're making?"
"It's a green bean casserole. It was all the rage last year. My mom cooked it for thanksgiving and since we enjoyed it so much she cooked it for Christmas last year too. She probably would have cooked it this year so I thought that I would" Rachel explains.
"I've never had it before."
"Well hopefully you'll like it. What's a traditional Christmas meal for you?"
"Well growing up my mom always cooked a mix of American and Latin food. After my parents died I spent one holiday with my Abuela and she cooked a full Latin meal. She's always been a traditionalist and that means following her roots."
"I know I've have taken over this year but maybe next year we can incorporate some of your traditional meals into our feast too" Rachel suggests.
"I don't mind you taking over. I'm not the greatest in the kitchen, but I still have my mom's recipe books so maybe we can get them out and we can test some recipes out. You can teach me how to cook."
"That seems fair since you're usually the one who teaches me how to live in this new world."
"Awesome. So what did you make for dessert?"
"A Berry family tradition; Pineapple upside down cake!" Rachel beams.
Although it was Rachel's first time preparing a whole Christmas dinner by herself, it was a success. Each part of the meal was just as delicious as the next, probably too delicious as Santana could hardly move after all the food she had eaten.
That's why she was currently laying on the couch with Rachel in her arms. They had been sitting there for a while and Rachel had been unusually quiet.
"What's wrong?" Santana asks.
"Nothing."
"You don't have to lie to me."
"I miss my friends and to some extent I also miss my family. I think it's the holidays; they're making me feel sentimental."
"It's probably against some sort of rules, but we can go back and visit if you want."
"What do you mean?" Rachel asks.
"The time machine. We can use it to go back in time and visit the people we left behind."
"Can we do that? What if we disrupt the past or something?"
"I don't know what will happen. I might have changed things in the past when I accidentally sent myself back there. We might have changed it when you came back to the future with me. I don't really understand how this time travel thing works. If we mess up time I suppose that we can just travel back and change it back" Santana jokes.
"Okay. Let's do it. Let's go back to the past."
"When do you want to go?" Santana asks.
"Tomorrow. I don't want to interrupt their Christmas celebrations. I know that both Quinn and Brittany will be home for the holidays and we always meet up on the twenty sixth. We promised that even if we were in different states we would still meet up for our annual holiday get together."
"Okay, well tomorrow we'll go back to nineteen fifty six."
Santana pulls the large storage box from out of her closet. She puts it onto the bed and opens it up. It contains the clothes that they were wearing when they left the fifties.
If they are going to go back, then they need to fit in. Santana pulls out Rachel's dress, her thoughts immediately going back to the night in the park where she was waiting for Rachel to arrive. She was getting nervous waiting, but then Rachel turned up looking beautiful as ever in that dress.
Her own outfit even brought back memories, they were clothes that she bought when she first arrived and Rose lent her the money which she used to buy a fifties wardrobe.
Santana quickly changes into the outfit and looks at herself in the mirror.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you dressed like that" Rachel says as she enters the room.
"I know. I have your dress here too."
"It probably sounds silly, but I miss my old clothes. The things people wear nowadays are outrageous."
"You know you could shop at a vintage store and get some clothes that are from your era that are still in fashion now" Santana suggests.
"That sounds a lovely idea, thanks San."
"No problem. You should get dressed, we should set off soon."
Rachel starts to get changed not minding that Santana was in the room with her. She has come a long way in the past few months.
Santana pulls out the last thing in the storage box; the time machine. She hasn't seen this small machine in months, not since the day they returned.
She presses the button on the top so it sets the time to 19:56.
"Are you ready?" she asks Rachel.
"Yes."
"Take my hand."
Rachel grabs hold of the hand that Santana is holding out for her. She had only done this once and it wasn't the most pleasurable experience. She closes her eyes and grips tight of Santana's hand.
Santana presses the large button on the machine and a few moments later the room starts spinning before everything goes black.
Santana hesitates slightly before she knocks on the familiar door. She hopes that they still lived here. She feels slightly nervous about returning since she left months ago and hasn't been able to contact Rose like she promised.
A few moments later and Rose's kind face appears at the door.
"Santana, honey how have you been keeping?"
"I've been good, thanks Rose."
"Don't stay outside, come on in" Rose says.
They make their way into the living room and take a seat on the couch. Rose follows behind them with a tray of tea.
"I'm sorry it's been so long since we last spoke. How are you?"
"I've been okay dear. It's been different since Artie moved out. I have this big space to myself, but hopefully I'll find the perfect new home that I've been looking for soon."
"Where is Artie? Is he here or is he still at college?"
"He came home for the holidays. He and Emily have gone to meet some friends at the diner, Quinn and Brittany I think. He only left about twenty minutes ago so they should be still there" Rose explains.
"We should see if there still there. I want to see Quinn and Brittany before they leave."
"Okay. I hate to run out on you like this Rose."
"I don't mind dear. How long are you staying for? You're welcome to stay here, in your old room."
"Thanks Rose. I think we'll stay the night, if that's okay with you Rach?"
"That sounds wonderful, thank you Rose" Rachel says as both she and Santana get up from the couch.
"It's my pleasure. I'll cook dinner for us all; it'll be like old times. I'm really glad to see you Santana and you too of course Rachel" Rose smiles as she walks Santana and Rachel to the front door.
"It's good to see you too Rose. I missed you" Santana says giving the elderly woman a hug.
"Okay, now you have fun with your friends and I'll get started on dinner."
"Goodbye" Rachel waves as they make their way down the driveway.
It was strange walking into Pete's diner after so much time had passed. This was like her second home in the past, it was where she worked and the place she spent most time getting to know Rachel.
On their first night back in the future Santana took Rachel to Breadstix; the restaurant that had replaced Pete's diner. Rachel found it so strange that it was the same place, but it looked so different, she actually felt that about a lot of Lima.
Santana was having that kind of feeling now; they had been in the twenty first century for months now that things seemed normal again. So being back in the past felt rather strange.
"Rachel!"
Santana turns to the voice shouting her girlfriend's name and sees Quinn and Brittany rushing towards them.
"Hello Quinn. Hello Brittany" Rachel says as she is engulfed in a three way hug.
"It's so good to see you" Quinn says.
"We missed you" Brittany adds.
"I missed you both too."
"How are you?" Quinn asks.
"I'm very well. Santana has been taking food care of me."
"I apologize for ignoring you" Quinn says giving Santana a quick hug.
"I understand; you haven't seen each other for a long time."
"Hi San!" Brittany beams, almost pouncing on Santana as she hugs her.
"How you doing Britt?"
"I think we should move this reunion over to your table. I'm sure Artie would love to see you Santana" Rachel says.
The four girls walk over to the booth where Artie and Emily were sitting.
"Hey Artie, did you miss me?" Santana jokes.
"Santana!"
Santana laughs at the unexpected look on Artie's face. She has missed him so much that she can't help but pull him in for a huge hug.
"What are you doing here?"
"We're visiting family for Christmas."
"Is this a good idea?" Artie whispers.
"I don't know, but I don't really care either. Rachel and I missed you all and we just thought we'd come and visit."
"So what's life like in California?" Quinn asks.
"It's great. Santana and I have our own little apartment, but we still hope to move to New York soon. How are things with you?"
"They're okay. Brian and I moved into our new house in Virginia. We spent Christmas at his parents' house, my parents joined us. I managed to get a few hours to myself to see my friends" Quinn replies.
"What have you been up to Britt?" Rachel asks.
"I got a job here at the diner. Pete was looking for a new waitress after you and Emily left."
It was only then that Rachel noticed that Brittany was wearing a diner uniform.
"Britt are you working now?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that girl's order. Quinn came so I joined her at the table. I don't think Pete will mind. I asked Gemma to bring us all milkshakes!"
Santana laughs at Brittany's forgetfulness before turning her attention to Artie.
"Rose told me that you have moved to college, are you enjoying it?" she asks.
"Yes. I was a little nervous at first, but it helped having Emily at the same school."
"I'm glad" Santana says as she looks towards the rest of the group, noticing that they're all busy talking to each other she leans in closer to Artie.
"Just remember to keep working on making a time machine or all of this might never happen or something. I don't really understand time travel."
"Well actually..."
"I'm going to stop you right there before you get all Dr Emmett Brown on me. I wouldn't understand it all anyway."
"I didn't understand any of that" Artie laughs.
"Emmett Brown. Back To The Future. Just wait about thirty years and you'll get what I mean. It's a movie, you'll probably like it" Santana explains.
"I missed this. How long are you staying?" Artie asks.
"Rose said we could stay the night so we'll go back tomorrow."
"Whether it was a bad idea of not; I'm glad you came back."
"Thanks. Christmas is a time to spend with family and mine is here. I don't regret my decision to go back to my own time, but there are a few thing I wish I didn't have to leave behind" Santana says.
"I understand. So did anything change when you went back? Do we still live next door to each other?"
"I don't think I should tell you. We might mess things up, just know that you're happy."
"Well that's good to know" Artie smiles.
Santana's conversation with Artie is cut short when a waitress arrives carrying a tray of milkshakes and places them in front of each person at the table.
"Merry Christmas everyone" Brittany cheers holding up her milkshake.
"Does it feel strange to be back in this room?" Rachel asks.
They are lying on Santana's old bed in Rose's house. The room looked a little bear now that all of Santana's things were gone.
"A little bit. Do you miss it here?" Santana asks.
"I miss my friends, but I don't miss the life that I had. You gave me an opportunity to live a life that I want. I get to be with the girl that I love who is taking me to New York to try and fulfill my dream of Broadway. I never imagined that I would get even close to a life like that and now I do and I have you to thank for that."
"I miss people here too, but I agree with you; I think we made the right decision going back to the future, we have more opportunities there. I'll get you to New York next year and we can start our life together properly."
"I love you. I'm glad you came into my life and turned it all upside down" Rachel smiles.
"Me too. We should get some sleep; we have lunch with everyone tomorrow."
"Thank you Santana, for bringing me back here. Sharing yesterday with just the two of us and today with my friends really has been my best Christmas."
"I'm glad and I'm sure we'll have plenty more together."
A/N For Beebeeborez, for all of your help and friendship and to everyone that has read/reviewed any of my stories, thank you for your support this year.
This is a continuation of the alternative ending of my story; A Matter Of Time.
Song: A Different Kind Of Christmas by LeAnn Rimes.