Blame it on the Mistletoe

Chapter 2

After many years of working in a kitchen, Santana learned that she works well with routines. It's most likely a habit she picked up while working under Chef Holliday, but it stuck with her, and she rarely deviates from it. Every day starts the same; review last night's prep list and delegate tasks, quality check, review deliveries and triple check inventory then brief with the team before service.

Routines equal consistency and consistency equals success and success equals the Understudy staying open and everyone else remaining employed. The latter being particularly important considering they're knocking on the holidays' door.

It's a lot of pressure when Santana thinks about it, so she tries not to.

Instead, she focuses on her routine and does her best to keep things running smoothly. Every day, she makes a point to be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. She finds a certain solace being alone in an empty kitchen. She has her coffee and admires how everything's clean and quiet, ready for a brand-new day. It's usually peaceful, the calm before the storm, but lately Santana feels anything but peace thanks to Brittany's return.

Lately, Santana feels like blasting Alanis Morissette.

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Service starts in less than three hours, but Kurt and Rachel struggle to string together a coherent thought with Santana's choice of music rattling their office walls. They've learned to stay away from the kitchen at times like this despite paying for everything in it, including Santana's salary. Chefs are a rare breed, kind of like actors, and Rachel respects that Santana has her own ways of preparing. However, the longer this goes on the more Kurt thinks it's best they intervene.

"I don't think it's wise, Kurt," Rachel insists. "Remember what happened last time you bothered her when the sign was up?"

"To be fair, that sign was meant to be a gag gift," Kurt replies. "I didn't think she'd actually use it against us."

"Well she does and we should respect it."

"We are her bosses; we're allowed to tell her to keep it down," Kurt says. "But maybe we'll just wait until the song finishes?"

"Of course. That's more than generous."

Rachel and Kurt return to their work and wait a few more minutes before the walls start to shake again. Rachel attempts to go on ignoring it but the constant rattling sends her most prized possession sliding off her desk. Thankfully, the framed picture of the one and only Broadway show she has ever starred in – which she has autographed herself – looks to be perfectly fine.

"Oh good, the glass didn't break!" Rachel cheers as she places it back on her desk.

Kurt only shakes his head. "I think asking her to turn it down isn't an unreasonable request. I can't even hear myself think."

"I suppose you're right."

"So you'll come with me?"

"What?" Rachel gasps. "Why do you need me?"

"I'll need the back up. You know, incase..."

"No, no. Santana and I are just starting to get along well again since the awards ceremony, I don't want to ruin the progress we've made. She is terrifying when she's angry."

"We can't live like this!" Kurt huffs and abruptly takes a stand. "We're going in. Let's go!"

Rachel screws up her face but follows Kurt out of the office anyway.

\\

In the kitchen, Santana furiously works through the day's prep list with Quinn by her side. There's a little more than usual considering the busy night before. Reservations have been on the rise since being dubbed the Best Regional Restaurant, so she has taken on some prep of her own to ease the line cooks' workload when they arrive.