Roommates

18

"Quinn."

"Yeah?" Quinn muttered sleepily.

"It's getting late." Finn stated. "Shouldn't we, like, get Beth to bed?"

"Yeah." Quinn said, gently nudging Beth. "Come on, B. Let's go leave cookies and milk out for Santa and then go to bed so he can come."

"Okay!" Beth exclaimed, dragging Quinn to the kitchen.

The girls plated four chocolate chip cookies and poured a big glass of milk.

"What about the reindeer?" Beth wondered.

"We can leave out a few carrots." Quinn said, getting the bag from the fridge and adding three carrots to the plate. "Okay, now bedtime."

"Finn, will you read to me before bed?" Beth requested. "Like last year?"

Finn looked at Quinn, who nodded.

"Okay, let's go."

"I'll be right there to say goodnight." Quinn promised as Beth took Finn's hand and walked away.

The first thing Quinn did when Beth was gone was grab the elf on the shelf and throw it into her closet, hiding it.

Then Quinn went to Finn's room and grabbed all of the presents. She returned to the living room and arranged everything under the tree before filling Beth's stocking and going to Beth's room.

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night." Finn finished as Quinn entered the room.

"Perfect timing." Quinn noted. "Sweet dreams, Beth. I'll see you in the morning. I love you."

"I love you, Mommy." Beth responded as Quinn kissed her cheek. "Night, Finn. I love you."

"I love you, too, Beth." Finn said as he got up. "Get some sleep."

The adults left Beth's room, pulling the door shut behind them.

"Do you need me to do anything before I go to bed?" Finn offered.

"You can help yourself to the cookies and milk." Quinn told Finn.

"Cool, sure."

-

"Wake up! It's Christmas! Santa came!"

"I'm up." Quinn laughed. "Merry Christmas, Beth. Come here."

Beth climbed on top of Quinn and hugged and kissed her. "Merry Christmas, Mommy."

"I love you." Quinn said, testing Beth's patience.

"I love you, too." Beth replied with a smile.

"Do you wanna see if Santa came?" Quinn asked.

"Santa came. I already saw the presents." Beth said.

Quinn shook her head. "Maybe those were the presents I got for Finn. We have to check the cookies and milk first."

"Okay." Beth nodded. "Come on."

Quinn smiled as she got out of bed and followed Beth to the kitchen, where they found Finn.

"Good morning." Finn said. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Quinn repeated, kissing Finn lightly. "I hope she didn't wake you up."

"I didn't wanna miss all the excitement." Finn stated. "And I figured I could get started on breakfast while she works on her presents."

"You can join us and we can figure out breakfast after." Quinn told Finn as she looked at Beth. "Let's check the cookies and milk, B."