Title: The Sweetest Bedtime Story
Author: crammit
Fandom: Glee
Rating: M
Pairing: Brittany/Santana
Timeline: AU - Part of The Sweetest Condition Universe
Summary: Taking a deep breath, I take a few moments to enjoy the quiet of the house, the soft static hum of the baby monitor on the dresser the only sound in the room until your voice breaks the silence with a request, "Tell me a story." - Rated M for fluff and smut **Part of the Sweetest Universe**

A/N: Glee and its characters do not belong to me. I'm only borrowing them. But I promise to put them right back where I found them.
A/N: I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read, favorite, follow, and/or comment on these Sweetest Stories. It really means a lot and it's very much appreciated.

A/N: A few of you have asked about "The Only Choice" (God Bless you, dear readers, for sticking with me on that story. *lol*) - it is not abandoned or anything like that. :-) I have the whole thing outlined and plotted out; I just have to actually write it. *lol* I'm kicking my writer's block with One Shot therapy to get my writing legs back under me but I will be devoting my time to my vampire 'verse soon enough. I hope you stick with me long enough to see the story through to the end. :-)

A/N:This story is dedicated to my bb Swinging Cloud as it's her stories and incredible writing talents that made me want to punch my writer's block in its stupid face and try and write again. Also, she's just generally awesome and amazing and I need to make sure I try to be just as awesome and amazing as she is just so I can keep up with her. ;-)

"It was a dark and stormy night…"

Hoisting the laundry basket tighter against my hip, I lean my shoulder against the door jamb and catch your attention with a softly cleared throat and a whispered, "What are you doing?"

Never changing your storytelling voice, you keep the constant motion in the glider as you continue talking, "I'm telling her another bedtime story."

Frowning, I go to step into the nursery only to have your wide eyes look up from Ava to find mine, your hand rubbing wider circles on her back as she starts to turn her head towards the sound of my voice. Stopping just out of Ava's field of vision, I mouth the words, "But, 'it was a dark and stormy night'? What kind of story is that to tell our daughter, San?"

Settling Ava a little more comfortably against the crook of your elbow, you draw her attention back to you as you answer me like it is part of the story you were telling her, "She doesn't know what I'm saying exactly. She just likes the sound of my voice as I'm telling her a story and I'm not sure if you've noticed but I've been trying to put her to sleep for 45 minutes."

Holding up the laundry basket, I tiredly smile at you and whisper, "I've been a little busy. Did you try reading her some of her favorite books?"

Your smile is sweet as Ava reaches up to grab at your chin but your eyes are all amused exasperation as they look up to stare at me and then look to the right, "All. I read all of her favorite books. And then some. I can't reach any more of them without moving her and I am not moving her because she's going to fall asleep soon. I can feel it. Aren't you, my little sweetheart?"

Taking a small step to the left, I look down to the floor next to you and see a handful of discarded books, their colorful covers a sharp contrast to the empty space on the low bookshelf behind the glider. Pouting playfully, I go to put the laundry basket down, your sing song voice halting my progress as I move to try and take her from you, "Don't you dare, baby. I'm going to put her to sleep tonight even if I have to sit here for the next three hours reciting old Cheerios cheers to her. She will not vanquish me."

An excited squeal peals forth from Ava as she finally turns her head enough to barely see me hovering halfway in the room, her little body starting to twist excitedly in your arms as your panicked gaze pins me to the floor. Stepping back quickly, a few of Ava's socks fall from the top of the laundry basket to land on the carpet, my instinct to pick them up faltering as you start to sing, Ava's face drawn back to your voice. As you continue to sing and rock in the glider, your eyes solely for Ava as she stares in rapt fascination at your mouth, you swing your foot in a shooing motion to urge me to leave the room. Leaving the socks behind to fend for themselves, I ease my way out of the nursery with a grin, making my way to our bedroom to fold this final load of laundry.

"Santana, don't!" My warning falls on deaf ears as your body lands face first onto the bed, my little piles of Ava's clothes teetering precariously as your weight shifts them on the bed. Turning your head, your voice is muffled against the pillow as you apologize, your eyes half-closed as you make no move to adjust your position on the mattress. Reaching forward, I grab the piles and place them into the laundry basket in rows, folding the last of her blankets and placing it on top of the clothes. A grunt from you draws my eyes to your hand and I watch as you pull 3 tiny baby socks from your pajama pants pocket, tossing them weakly in my direction. Silently, I match them up with the ones I have and put them onto the blanket, picking up the basket and walking over to put it by the doorway.

Working out the kinks in my back, I look over at the wall clock and see that another 45 minutes have passed since I left the nursery and I smile softly as I make my way over to the bed to stretch out alongside you, brushing your hair back from your face as I speak to you, "How did you finally get her to fall asleep?"

"I gave her a fifth of whiskey."

"Santana!"

Laughing, you lunge forward and push me over onto my back, burying your face against my neck as you cuddle up next to me, your arm going around my waist on a long sigh. Placing a tiny kiss against my collarbone, you rest your cheek lightly against my chest and nuzzle against my t-shirt as I start to rub your back, my other hand coming to rest on your forearm as you tilt your head back and smile at me, "I just kept singing and gliding, gliding and singing. And mentally threatening the Sandman. Eventually, I think she got bored of me singing and just put herself to sleep."

Kissing the top of your head, I reach up and settle your cheek against my chest once more, running my fingers through your hair as you shift and drape your leg across my thighs, "You were singing all that time?"

"No. She fell asleep about fifteen minutes after you left. I just wasn't taking any chances on trying to get out of that glider without waking her up. Besides, I like watching her sleep. She looks just like you do when you sleep."

"Like I'm trying to catch flies in my mouth?"

"Beautiful. She looks beautiful."

I feel a sweet ache in my chest at your words, my heart skipping a beat as I feel you smile against my t-shirt, your arm tightening around my waist as I run my fingertips over the delicate bones of your wrist. Taking a deep breath, I take a few moments to enjoy the quiet of the house, the soft static hum of the baby monitor on the dresser the only sound in the room until your voice breaks the silence with a request, "Tell me a story."

"A story?"

"Yeah, baby. Tell me a bedtime story."

Bringing your hand up to kiss your fingertips, I rub my cheek across your hair and pull you a little closer as you settle your head against my shoulder, your warm breath puffing across my neck on the end of a long yawn, "Are you ready for bed, San? It's only 8 o'clock."

"Of course. I was ready for bed first thing this morning."

Laughing at that, I feel my own tiredness as it pairs with the warmth of your body against me, and I nod my head in agreement. Clearing my throat, I drop my hand to rest against your lower back, bringing my other arm behind my head as I begin the story, "It was a dark and stormy night…"

Your bark of laughter makes me laugh and it takes a few moments for us to get our giggling under control before I can continue my story, "There was once a girl named Shmantana…"

"Shmantana?"

"Shhhh, do you want me to tell you a story or not?"

"Not if the character's name is going to be Shmantana."

"Saaaan…"

"Okay, okay. But she better be hot."

Snorting at that, I close my eyes and concentrate on the story, vaguely aware of your thumb rubbing slow circles against my hipbone, "And Shmantana was the hottest girl in all the land. She was so beautiful and strong that all the other people in the land couldn't help but fall under her spell. Once under her spell, she could make them do anything that she wanted."

"I take it back. Shmantana sounds awesome."

"Anyway, one day a stranger appeared in town and she was known as Warrior Princess Brittany…"

"How come you get a cool title and your own name?"

"You know, if you keep interrupting the story, you'll never find out what happens," Waiting a few seconds to see if you'll interrupt again, I press a kiss to your hair to reward you for your silence. My eyes open as I feel your thumb replaced by your whole palm as you continue to rub against my hip, your fingertips skimming underneath my t-shirt. Swallowing against the sensation, I force my eyes to close once more, my voice wavering slightly before picking up with the story, "A few days after Warrior Princess Brittany arrived, Shmantana saw her in the marketplace and their eyes met over the rows of fruits and vegetables. Shmantana waited to see if Warrior Princess Brittany would fall under her spell just like all the others. Warrior Princess Brittany smiled at Shmantana and Shmantana smiled at Warrior Princess Brittany and Shmantana was sure that her spell had been cast."

Pausing for a moment, I feel you prop your head up on your hand next to me and I open my eyes to find you smirking at me, your hand shifting to curve against my ribs before sweeping back and forth across my stomach slowly, "And then what happened?"

Despite my tiredness, I feel my body responding to your touch, my legs shifting as I take a deep breath and continue the story, holding eye contact as I talk, "They didn't speak but saw each other at the marketplace over the next few days and each time, they would smile at each other and Shmantana would swear that this would be the day that Warrior Princess Brittany would cross the market square and come speak with her. But every day, Warrior Princess Brittany would just smile like she was waiting for Shmantana to come to her. Shmantana was frustrated because she was smitten with Warrior Princess Brittany but she was also stubborn. So the next day, she left a note at Warrior Princess Brittany's favorite stall."

"Candy."

"What?"

"Warrior Princess Brittany's favorite stall was the candy stall. Right?"

Grinning as you play along with my story, I nod my head and continue speaking, my voice catching briefly as the backs of your fingertips brush against the underside of my breasts before your hand continues back down towards my stomach, "Warrior Princess Brittany read the note the next day and it said that Shmantana would only be there one more day waiting for her and, if Warrior Princess Brittany didn't come over and speak with her, then her chance would be lost and Shmantana would never return. Warrior Princess Brittany knew how the people in the land felt about Shmantana and how they fell under her spell but Warrior Princess Brittany knew that she was different. She knew that what she saw in Shmantana's eyes when they saw each other in the marketplace was true love because Warrior Princess Brittany had read all the fairytales and knew how these things went. So she wrote her own note and left it at Shmantana's favorite stall…the breadsticks stall, of course…and told her that if Shmantana really wanted to talk with her, she didn't need a spell. Shmantana just needed to meet her in the middle of the square and Warrior Princess Brittany would be waiting there for her."

Trailing off as you turn your head and kiss the side of my neck, I let my hand dip under your t-shirt to brush against your warm skin, my thigh muscle tensing briefly as you shift your hips and press closer to me. As you tilt your head down, I accept your soft kiss, letting you hold the pressure there as your fingertips tighten against my hip. Pulling back, you encourage me to continue the story, your hand moving with more intent as your fingertips dance lightly under the edge of my underwear, "What happened when Shmantana read the note?"

"She was scared," Rubbing my hand harder against your back as you frown at my words, I kiss you again and bring my hand from behind my head to brush your hair behind your ear. Keeping my hand against the side of your face, I smile as I continue the story, "Shmantana was afraid that if all the people saw her meeting Warrior Princess Brittany halfway, instead of Warrior Princess Brittany coming to her, they would think her spell wasn't real. Shmantana was scared that they wouldn't think she was so beautiful and strong any more. So the next day, she stayed at her favorite stall while Warrior Princess Brittany waited in the middle of the marketplace. They looked at each other for a while and Warrior Princess Brittany could see that Shmantana was scared and Warrior Princess Brittany wanted nothing more than to go over there but she knew that she had to wait. Day turned into sunset and still neither had moved. When the marketplace stalls started to close up, Shmantana finally smiled at Warrior Princess Brittany. But it was a sad smile and Warrior Princess Brittany could only watch as Shmantana turned and started to walk away."

"Shmantana is an asshole."

Rolling my eyes at you, I shake my head and smile, my stomach jolting as your fingers start to run along the crease of my thigh, "Warrior Princess Brittany wasn't stupid and knew that Shmantana wanted to come to her but was afraid to do so in front of all the townspeople. So she decided to follow Shmantana as she walked home, hoping that maybe Shmantana would feel more comfortable talking to her without all those people around. As Shmantana turned down the road towards her house, Warrior Princess Brittany knew that…"

"Wait, she didn't live in a castle? She sounds like she should have lived in a castle or something. Where did she live?"

"She lived in the forest."

"The forest? Who the hell lives in a forest?"

"Shmantana does."

"Shmantana should move."

"San, do you want me continue the story?"

"Not right now."

Groaning a little as your palm presses between my legs, I cup your jaw as you turn your head and press a soft kiss against my thumb, "Aren't you tired?"

"Exhausted."

"So, what are you…"

"You smell like fabric softener and your skin feels good under my hand and I just really want to touch you right now, Britt," Your eyes are soft as you shift your body over me, one hand bracing above my shoulder as you lightly rub your palm against my center. I can feel my arousal spike under your ministrations and my breathless 'okay' is swallowed up as you lean down and take my mouth in a lazy kiss.

Your mouth is warm and your tongue moves soft and slow against mine, your hand doing nothing more than pressing firmly between my legs, my stomach muscles tensing and relaxing into your steady motion. Moaning into the kiss as you suck on my bottom lip, I slide my fingers from your jaw to grip the back of your head, your hair sliding easily between my fingers as I return your kisses. Your tongue makes one more pass across my lips before you pull away slightly, smiling as I gasp into your open mouth, your fingers pressing in a decidedly more purposeful manner. I can feel my yoga pants as they start to slide against my wetness, my underwear long discarded earlier in the day in an effort to be more efficient on laundry day, your grin at the discovery enticing me to lean up and kiss you, my tongue dueling with yours for a few more minutes before you end the kiss.

There's a light flush to your cheeks and I can't help but run my thumbs against the warmth I find there, my hips jumping as the bunched fabric between my legs brushes across my clit before your hand moves to hold onto my waist, stilling my anxious movements. For long moments, you just stare at me as I pant lightly beneath you, your smile wide as you push off the mattress to sit next to my hip, "I'm so happy you never gave up on me, Warrior Princess Brittany."

Helpless, I can only swallow hard as you gently pull the yoga pants from my body, letting them fall over the side of the bed as you move to kneel between my legs, your warm hands moving smoothly over my thighs as you urge my legs open a little wider. I can feel the cooler air of the bedroom against my wetness and I arch my back into the mattress, your hair falling like a dark curtain over the side of your face as you bend down and push the bottom of my t-shirt to rest just below my breasts. With your eyes closed, you trace your lips against the skin stretched across my ribs, my hands falling to yours where they rest against the comforter as your mouth moves across my stomach, your tongue flicking out at my sensitive spots and teasing a laugh from me.

Your playfulness changes quickly as you groan against my skin, your mouth resting just an inch or two above my center, your voice low as you look up at me, "God, you smell so good."

I let my hands fall into fists against the comforter as you slide your hands across my hips to the inside of my thighs, opening me further as you settle on your stomach at the foot of the bed. Whatever tiredness I was feeling is being masked by the arousal racing through my system, my chest trembling with heavy breaths as you finally lean down and slowly run your tongue through my wetness. Your groan barely reaches my ears as I arch my head back against the pillow, my toes curling against the bed as you repeat the motion, pursing your lips to place a soft sucking kiss against my clit. The sensation makes me press my hips into the bed as I rise up onto my elbows, looking down to find you watching me as you place wet kisses across the inside of my thigh.

Tilting my head to rest against my shoulder, I let my eyes roam across your face, exhaustion producing dark circles under your eyes, despite the glow of desire I can see there. Flicking a glance over your shoulder at the laundry basket by the door, three tiny pairs of socks resting on a baby blanket, I'm struck with a sharp pang of love for you. And love for this life that we've created together, this beautiful and ordinary and exhausting and amazing life that we have now and as my emotions are still tightly entwined with my hormones, I feel my eyes well up with tears. Taking a shaky breath, my voice sounds rough to my own ears as you straighten up to look me, "I love you so much, Santana."

Smiling at me, you reach one of your hands up to hold onto mine, your eyes shiny with emotion as you press a kiss to my lower belly, whispering your own words of love into the soft skin there. Never looking away from me, you lower your head and lick firmly against my wetness, affection tumbling headlong into desire as your tongue moves with purpose, the sound of my arousal making both of us groan into the quiet bedroom. Your mouth feels like a fever between my legs, your lips and tongue hot against me and I can't help the obscene moan I make as you slide your lips side to side against my clit, your tongue steadily urging my orgasm closer and closer.

Unable to hold myself up any longer, I drop to the bed, holding tighter to your hand as I close my eyes, all of my thoughts centered on the sounds and sensations of you between my legs, your tongue bringing me to the edge at a break neck speed. I'd almost feel embarrassed about how quickly you are about to make me come but I can't find it in me to care, as your whimpers reach my ears, your mouth acutely aware of how close I really am. Taking a deep breath, I bring my other hand to the top of your head and open my legs wider, gritting my teeth as the pleasure winds tighter and tighter inside me until it snaps suddenly, my hand leaving yours to cover my mouth as I groan out my release. My other hand slides from your head to grip the comforter as you hold onto my hips, your mouth slowly bringing me down for the next few minutes until with one final kiss to my stomach, you crawl over my body to rest at my side, using the sleeve of your t-shirt to wipe your chin.

Licking my dry lips, I turn my head and press a kiss to your mouth, the damp warmth of your lips a direct contrast to my cool drier ones. Reaching over, I pull you tighter to my side, smiling as you resume your position against my shoulder, wrapping your arm around my waist and dropping your leg over me, your pajama pants warm against the bare skin of my legs. Kissing your forehead, I take a deep breath and pat your forearm, my voice still scratchy from my orgasm, "Just give me a few minutes, baby, and I'll return the favor."

You shake your head and press a kiss against my neck, snuggling closer to me with a happy sigh, "I'm okay, sweetheart. I just really wanted to touch you but now I don't think I have any energy left to even move right now."

Laughing, I squeeze you against me once before resting my cheek against the top of your head, my hand running lightly up and down your arm, "I know the feeling. Though, we're going to have to move soon and at least clean up. Or at least I need to put some pants on."

"I like you like this."

"I'm know you do, San. But I'm still not going to bed without putting pants on and getting cleaned up first."

With a good-natured grumble, you sigh and reach up to press a kiss against my jaw, "Fiiiiine. But before we get up, you know I need you to finish that bedtime story, right? I need to know what happened after Warrior Princess Brittany followed Shmantana back to her house in the forest. Did they live happily ever after?"

Listening as your voice trails off into deep even breathing, I smile and hold you closer, reaching my other hand out for my phone and setting an alarm to go off in 20 minutes. Dropping the phone to the bed, I close my eyes and give in to sleep a few moments after you, knowing that they did indeed get their happily ever after.