Two Ghosts

Chapter 26

They spend the rest of the night doing finishing touches around the house before settling together to admire their work with some well earned mugs of hot chocolate. There's this warmth that surrounds them while they sip quietly and listen to a jazzy cover of What Christmas Means to Me. Brittany's sitting on the floor again with her back resting against Santana's legs as she stares in wonder at the Christmas tree.

"This tree should be on a cover of a magazine," Brittany says dreamily then cranes her neck back to catch Santana's eye before shifting to look at Maribel, "So pretty."

"It really is, Maribel," Quinn agrees from the other side of the coffee table.

"Thank you girls," Maribel says and it almost sounds like she's going to cry, "I haven't seen the place looking so festive in such a long time."

Santana can only imagine what it has looked like over the years she has been away. She doubts Maribel would even go through the trouble of decorating since it's just her and she usually goes to visit Santana over the holidays in New York. She gets to thinking about how different her life was before her parents divorced and before abuela cut her only granddaughter out of her life.

She remembers dressing up for family parties and going to church and she kind of misses it, but when she sees Brittany at her side again and Quinn, maybe this new version of family isn't so bad. She can miss what she once had but treasure what's there in front of her now.

"It looks really nice," Santana says and leans over to pull Maribel in to a warm hug. She catches Brittany smiling at the pair lovingly and before she can even offer, Brittany's setting down her mug and moving to stand.

"Can I hug?" She asks tentatively through a hopeful smile.

"Get in here," Santana chuckles then looks to Quinn, "Come on, you too!"

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Not long after hot chocolates in the living, Quinn bids them goodbye and wishes Brittany a safe journey on her trip tomorrow while also jokingly promising to keep an eye on Santana for her. Santana couldn't help the eye roll that followed when the pair of them agreed that she was sure to get bored without Brittany around, but it wasn't like they were wrong.

She has spent a lot of time with Brittany over the last couple of weeks, of course she'd miss her when she's gone.

Once Quinn left, Santana excused herself to pack her things. Maribel sent her a look that meant Santana would need to explain something soon, but Santana dodged it and headed upstairs while Brittany and Maribel chatted about Brittany's plans for San Francisco.

Santana would be lying if she said she didn't feel a little nervous, especially when she started to rifle through her pajama drawer for something to wear later. The later that consisted of sleeping next to Brittany without Quinn around.

It wasn't like she had any expectations for the night – she wasn't some horny teenage boy – but the thought did cross her mind. It had been a long time since she had been intimate with Brittany and being physical was always such a huge part of their relationship, so of course her mind wandered a little.

As Santana reminded herself of how they were taking things slow, she remembered other instances in the past where taking things slow was used against each other in a way that was both frustrating as it was arousing. They use to love teasing each other while they were out with their friends, testing to see who would break first and drag the other off somewhere secret. They'd take their time with each other then too, building the other up at an excruciatingly slow pace until they couldn't take it any longer and come tumbling down.