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Brittany was awake early. Way too early for Santana’s liking.
“Britt, it’s still dark outside! Come on, it’s the first day we get to sleep in! Winter’s break. Emphasis on break.”
“But San,” she whined back.
Santana groaned loudly in protest and burrowed her head under the pillow. Brittany lay across her back and peppered soft kisses along her shoulder.
“It’s tradition,” she whispered against Santana’s soft skin.
“Well, I want to start a new tradition. One where I don’t get woken up at sparrow’s fart on the first break I’ve had since going back to college.”
Brittany pouted but knew that Santana did have a point. They were both studying at NYC and Santana had a crazy course load, trying to make up the lost semester from when she’d dropped out of Louisville. She’d wanted to make sure that she was up to par for a full junior year by the time the following fall came around. While Brittany admired her fiancée’s determination and drive, it had meant that there were many late nights studying and doing reports. Their alone time had taken a serious knock.
Brittany was in no way worried about her relationship with Santana because even though they were both working super hard, she still found little ways to make Britt feel super special. Like last night – she’d got home late because she’d had to wait for results from her latest lab to come back. She needed them for her final report (which had been submitted at 22:58 for an eleven pm deadline). She’d walked in the door and their small apartment was aglow with candlelight. Santana looked absolutely beautiful in a baby blue teddy. She’d stayed dressed like that the whole night while waiting on Brittany hand and foot – until Brittany had literally swept her off her feet and into their bedroom.
Realising that she may be behaving a little selfishly, Brittany kissed Santana’s shoulder one last time before rolling out of bed and heading into the bathroom.
As soon as the door shut, Santana picked up her phone and dialled.
“Hey, it’s Santana. Give us an hour,” she said in a quiet voice. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
She hung up the phone and glanced back at the closed door. She smiled. Sure, she was tired and was kinda looking forward to sleeping in a bit but making Brittany’s first Christmas in New York as magical as possible was numero uno on her list of priorities.
Brittany swung Santana’s hand between them as they walked to a diner that they often had breakfast at. When Santana had mentioned going out for breakfast, Brittany had immediately agreed. She loved walking around the city holding Santana’s hand and behaving as in love as she was without worrying about dirty looks or Santana hiding away.
It felt good to show her love.
Santana seemed to feel the same way because every hundred yards or so, she’d lean over and kiss Britt’s cheek or her hand. Not that Brittany was complaining. She loved affection, especially when coming from one Santana Lopez.
She frowned when, instead of turning left onto the street that would take them to the diner, they took a right and headed down to the subway.
“San?” she asked curiously.
“You trust me?” was all that she replied.
“Implicitly.”
Santana kissed her briefly and pulled her along, navigating the Friday morning crowds as though she’d been living in New York for longer than two years. Brittany just smiled. If Santana was planning something, she’d happily go along for the ride.
Half an hour on the subway later, they emerged back into the cold New York air. Santana seemed to have a destination in mind and Brittany followed, taking more notice of her gorgeous fiancée than her surroundings. Eventually, Santana came to a stop and Brittany almost bumped into her.
Santana giggled. “You’re not watching where you’re going, Britt.”
“Nope, I’m watching you,” she replied with a toothy grin.
Santana blushed and bit her lip, which made Brittany’s toes tingle. She loved many, many things about Santana Lopez, but one of her favourites had to be how she got shy at compliments.
“So, where are we?” she asked.
Santana grinned, shyness gone. She stepped aside and pointed up.
“Really?” Brittany loved Santana more in that one moment than she could remember loving her before. Except when Santana had told her she loved her for the first time. Or when she proposed. Or when they made love as fiancées. She’d popped a hip.
Brittany loved Santana a whole bunch.
“It’s tradition, Britt, and I want all our traditions to be together. They way they’ve always been.”
“But we’ll make new ones too, right?”
Santana gave her an Eskimo kiss. ‘Absolutely.”
She led Brittany into the vast Christmas tree village and let Brittany coo over each and every tree she passed.
“Make sure you choose a good one, babe. Our first engaged Christmas tree has to be super special.”
“It will be. I’m with you, aren’t I?”