Quinn,

We just got back from the work Christmas party. They had it at Breadstix this year...which is the same as every year. But your father and I had a good time. And anyway, how is your internship going? I want to hear all about it.

I'm really glad that you came to visit for Thanksgiving. I'll miss you but I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Love, Mom

Quinn grins at her laptop screen. She shifts to get more comfortable on the couch and hits the reply button.

Mom,

Things are going great. I got my final grades last week and I made all A's. NYU is a lot harder than Lima, but I love it. The internship has been good so far. I'm not exactly keen in editing. But it's the New Yorker, so I can't complain. And at least it's paid so I don't have to worry about finding a job for another year.

She stops when Rachel walks in the front door with some shopping bags in hand. "I'm back, my love!" the woman greets with a smile.

Quinn smiles back and quickly finishes typing her reply.

I have to go now. But I promise I'll write back tomorrow.

Love, Quinn

"When you have a minute, do you think you can help me wrap these?" Rachel asks.

"Sure," Quinn says as she closes her laptop and sets it aside. "What did you get?"

Rachel beams and pulls some stuff out of the bags. "This new scarf for Kurt. And a bow tie for Blaine," she says as she holds them out. She then pulls out two identical sweaters, "And matching sweaters for the both of them."

"That's cute. They're going to love them," Quinn says as she gets up to go to their bedroom for a moment then returns with a couple of gift boxes. "And we finally have use for these," she laughs.

They fall into comfortable silence while wrapping the two boxes.

But that silence is short-lived when Rachel clears her throat. "So..."

Quinn looks at her, "So...?"

"Oh nothing," Rachel says. "I just noticed that it's Christmas Eve, and that there are only two gifts under the tree," she motions to the Christmas tree by the window. "And they're both the ones that I got for you." She tries to point it out as coolly as possible, which in her case, isn't very much.

"Hmm," Quinn turns to look at the tree, "I think you're right."

Rachel huffs to herself, then shrugs her shoulders and says, "Maybe I'll have something from Santa in the morning."

"Maybe Santa thinks you've been naughty this year," the blonde smirks.

"Whatever," Rachel rolls her eyes and gets back to wrapping.

"Hey," Quinn nudges her with a chuckle. "Since you're too stubborn to ask, of course I got you something. But you're just going to have to wait until tomorrow to see what it is."

"Why can't you put it under the tree now?"

"Because you tend to snoop. Don't think I forgot about how you practically turned the bedroom upside down looking for your birthday present."

"That was the only time! You know I'm impatient."

"I know that more than anyone," Quinn giggles.

Rachel bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, but fails miserably with the sound of Quinn's infectious laugh.

"Hey," the blonde leans over for a brief kiss. "I promise it'll be worth the wait."

"I know," Rachel says before kissing her back more fully.

Their kiss escalates quickly and Quinn finds herself on top of the other woman aching for more.

"How long until we have to be at the guys' house?" she asks as her hands wander under Rachel's sweater and along her sides.

Rachel suddenly freezes and cranes her neck to look at the clock. "Shit! In an hour."

She gently pushes Quinn off of her and jumps up from the couch.

"We need to get ready!" She stops and stares at the confused blonde. "No, you look perfect. I need to get ready."

"Okay Rach," Quinn laughs. "I'll start taking this stuff down to the car, okay?"

As Rachel disappears into the bedroom, she yells out, "I love you!"

...

Exactly an hour later, after furiously weaving through New York City traffic, they make it to Kurt and Blaine's house on Long Island.

"Right on time," Rachel beams as she kills the engine.

"I think you clipped a cab or two," Quinn remarks as they get out and walk towards the house.

"No, they probably clipped me," Rachel argues.

Not too long after ringing the doorbell, Kurt throws the door open. "Hey guys!" His eyes are wide and his grin is a little too enthusiastic. And he looks like he just ran a marathon.

"Kurt," Rachel replies with a frown. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, you look a little...frazzled," Quinn adds.

"Oh you know, just the same old. Blaine and I are ready to kill each other because the turkey isn't right, he forgot about the stuffing, and we've been running errand all day. But come on in!"

Rachel nervously steps inside with an equally reluctant blonde right behind her.

"I'll be in the kitchen!" Kurt announces. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine," Rachel says as she settles on the couch. "Quinn?"

"No thank you," the girl says.

When they're left alone, Rachel snuggles into Quinn's side. "I'm cold," she whines.

Quinn smiles and wraps an arm around her shoulders and both women sigh in content.

After a few minutes of silence, they jump when they hear shouting coming from the kitchen.

"Are they okay?" Quinn asks with concern.

Rachel frowns and tilts her head towards the commotion. "I'm sure they are. They've probably just had a long day. Kurt always gets like this around the holidays. As long as we don't hear anything being thrown, they're fine."

"Oh." Quinn hates to think that she and Rachel will argue like that regularly after they get married.

As if reading her thoughts, Rachel adds, "That won't be us. While Blaine and Kurt may be comfortable with screaming at each other once in a while, I won't allow us to ever go that far."

"Promise?"

"I'll include it in my vows," she smiles. As they settle into another comfortable silence, she starts to ponder to herself before asking, "Quinn, when are we going to talk about – "

"Okay, the food is ready!" Kurt suddenly exits the kitchen. "Or at least it should be. Oh well. If all else fails, we'll just get take out."

"Sounds good to me," Quinn answers as she pulls an annoyed Rachel up with her. She then tilts her head down to whisper to her girlfriend, "We'll talk about it later."

...

"So Quinn, how is the new job going?" Blaine asks cordially as they sit around the dinner table.

"It's an internship," she corrects. "And it's going great."

"Paid internship?" Kurt asks.

"That's right."

"It's good that you have an actual income," he remarks, earning a glare from Blaine. Rachel rolls her eyes at the two.

"I have two interviews next week," Blaine says pointedly. "And I've been sending my resume to a lot of people."

"It's great that you're being proactive about it," Rachel says, nudging her girlfriend to nod in agreement.

When Kurt scoffs, Rachel is fed up. "Can you not? I came here with Quinn to have a nice Christmas dinner with you guys and I don't want to hear anymore fighting or bickering."

"It's technically Christmas Eve."

"Kurt!"

"Okay! I'm sorry. I'm just annoyed because my dad wasn't able to fly in for the week."

"Which isn't my fault," Blaine adds.

Kurt shoots him a glare that effectively silences him. And before long, everyone gets back to enjoying the meal in silence.

"Are you guys doing anything special tomorrow?" Blaine asks.

"We'll probably just hang around at the apartment all day," Rachel answers. "I might take Quinn ice skating at Central Park since we haven't been there in a while."

"I've also never been ice skating either," Quinn says.

"Learning to ice skate at one of the busiest tourist attractions in the city. I hope you have a good life insurance policy, Quinn," Kurt says with a smile, making them all laugh.

"I'm sure she'll do fine," Rachel insists. "She's a fast learner," she says as she strokes the blondes arm.

She ignores Kurt's eye roll and gets back to eating her food.

"Have you guys set a date yet?" Blaine asks.

"No, not yet," Quinn answers. "We've just been really busy lately," she explains.

"Especially with Quinn's school and new internship. And I've been so busy with work and vocal lessons."

"You finally found some clients?" Kurt asks.

"Just two," Rachel clears her throat. "But it's a start. And anyway, we're just really...busy," she finishes lamely. Truthfully, she's been itching to ask Quinn about it for weeks now. But she knows that they agreed not to rush it. But if Quinn's comment from earlier was anything to go by, she'd be able to ask the girl soon.

"We'll keep you posted," Quinn assures them. "Like Rachel said, there's just a lot going on right now."

"I can't wait to start planning it," Kurt says excitedly. "I'll get to be the one to drive Rachel crazy this time."

"Oh hush you. I wasn't that bad."

"I have over a dozen vendors that would beg to differ."

"Whatever," Rachel huffs. "Keep up with the attitude, and I'll just get someone else to plan it."

Going off of his truly shocked expression, she quickly assures Kurt that she's only joking.

"I'm sure it'll be a great wedding," Blaine says. He turns to Kurt and smiles, "It's still hard to believe that we've been married for over six months."

His husband reaches for his hand and returns the smile. "And it's been the best six months of my life."

Rachel has no idea how the two men can go from screaming at each other to being so affectionate right after. But if it works, then good for them. She decides to give them their moment and continues eating her food, but not before locking eyes with Quinn and sharing their own knowing look.

...

The next morning, a sleeping Quinn is awakened when she hears something coming from the closet. She frowns and sees that her fiancée is not in bed with her and can only assume that Rachel is attempting to stealthily rummage through the closet.

She glances at the clock to see it's only a few minutes until six o'clock and turns off the alarm before it has a chance to sound. She gets up and stretches her stiff limbs before walking over to the closet.

She opens the door and peers inside. "What are you doing?"

"Quinn!" Rachel jumps up from the floor. "You're up early!" She leans over to plant a quick peck on the girl's lips. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Quinn replies. She looks at the scattered shoeboxes and clothing all around the woman and smirks, "Were you seriously looking for your present?"

"Maybe," Rachel's cheeks redden. Quinn thinks it's the most adorable thing ever.

"Well," she says as she steps around her, "You were close. If only you looked inside the pocket of my favorite jacket." She pulls the coat off the hanger and slips it on triumphantly.

"Damn," Rachel scolds herself. "Okay, you win. Can we exchange presents now?"

"Maybe later. You still have to take me ice skating."

"Why can't we do that later?" Rachel pouts.

"We have to at least try to beat the crowd," Quinn says. "Now get dressed."

She promptly leaves the closet while smirking to herself. She knows that it's torture for Rachel to wait for...pretty much anything. But waiting just a little longer won't kill her. It's going to be special for them no matter what.

...

After making the trip to Central Park and not beating the crowds, Rachel and Quinn spend a couple hours on the ice skating rink before Rachel is completely exhausted and ready to take a break.

As they return their rented skates, Quinn nudges her, "Don't tell me you're ready to call it a day."

"We were out there for a while. And are you sure you've never skated before?" Rachel asks as they begin their walk through the park.

"No, never. I guess you're a good teacher. Or I'm just a fast learner," Quinn teases.

"Either way, you did great for your first time."

"I don't think anyone was as good as that kid in the red scarf."

"The one that knocked me over? He was such a show off!" Rachel whines.

"Hey, I got you out of there in one piece," Quinn laughs. She then looks around them, "Where are we going?"

"I just thought we could walk around for a while," Rachel shrugs. "Is that okay with you?"

"That sounds perfect."

They continues walking on different paths all throughout the park for the next hour or so just talking and smiling at one another. Quinn pulls them to sit on one of the vacant benches and smiles when her girlfriend cuddles into her side.

"It's cold," Rachel says.

"Yeah it is," Quinn agrees. "Were you ready to go?"

Rachel shakes her head, "We can stay for a little while longer."

Quinn nods and unceremoniously pulls Rachel's gift out of her pocket. It was a simple small red box with white ribbon wrapped around it to go with the Christmas theme.

Upon seeing it, Rachel perks up and takes it from Quinn eagerly, but stops before opening it. "Are you sure you don't want to wait until we get home? I didn't brings your gifts."

"It's okay. You can open yours now," she assures.

Rachel bites her lip and decides to follow the blonde's instructions and opens it. When she sees what's inside, she gasps, "Quinn, you didn't have to do this."

"Well it's not fair that I'm the only one wearing an engagement ring," Quinn says as she takes the ring out of the box. She then takes Rachel's left hand and slips it on her ring finger. "It fits," she smiles.

"It's beautiful," Rachel says as she holds her hand up to stare at it. She turns her head to connect their lips for a brief moment. "Thank you. I love you."

"And that's not the only thing."

Rachel furrows her brow, "It's not?"

Quinn shakes her head, "I think it's time we set a date." Going off of Rachel's excited grin, she continues, "It doesn't have to be next week or anything. But I do want it to be in the near future. For the past six months, all I've been thinking about is how much I want to marry you. And I don't care if it's just with a few people, or five hundred people. As long as we really do this."

"We are," Rachel assures her. "We really are. And I love you so much."

"I love you too," Quinn smiles.

Her fiancée pulls her in for another kiss, letting it last a little longer this time. When she pulls back, Rachel says, "This is the best Christmas ever."

"Is it?"

"Definitely." She quickly stands and pulls Quinn up with her. "Now come on! We have a lot of planning to get started on."

And a lot of planning is exactly what they do on the entire way home. It shouldn't surprise Quinn that Rachel already has so many ideas and suggestions. The woman has probably been mentally planning their wedding for quite some time now.

Quinn isn't too picky about all of the little details. She figures that Kurt will be able to better assist Rachel with these things. But the most important thing to her for now was setting a date, which, after discussing it for a few hours, they finally did.

Later in the evening, after a quiet dinner together, Rachel decides to take a warm shower before they watch a movie together.

"I'll be quick!" she shouts to Quinn as she hurries to their bedroom.

"Take your time," Quinn chuckles.

When she's left alone in the living room, she stares down at her laptop screen. She clicks the button to compose a new email and takes a deep breath. She's already thought up what she's going to say in her head. Now it was just a matter of writing it.

Thinking that it's best to get it over with, she starts typing.

Mom,

I'm not sure how you're going to take this, but I wanted you to hear it from me first. Rachel and I have set a date. It's going to be here in New York on June 30th. I know we haven't really talked about everything, and I'm not sure how you feel right now. But I would really like for you to be there. But if you don't want to, then I understand. I love you. And tell dad that I love him too.

Love, Quinn