AN: Wow, I'm glad you're all loving this story. I'm having a lot of fun writing it. Thank you for all your lovely reviews.
Puck looked up from where he was sitting on one of the bean bag chairs playing video games as Charlie lugged the last of the boxes inside. "You're really out of shape," he mused before going back to playing the video games as Charlie put the boxes on the ground and flipped him off, she was drenched in sweat and inhaling deeply. "Don't worry Sam will get you back into shape fast, you just have to do everything he says and make sure you eat all the food he puts in front of you."
"This is your fault why didn't you tell me I was getting out of shape?" Charlie said as she wheezed. "How the hell aren't you out of shape? You drank just as much as I did."
"I also have a crazy work out regime with Sam, and I eat better than you," Puck said as he continued to play the video games. "It takes work to look this sexy," he informs her. "Is that the last of the boxes or do you need to make another trip before Quinn arrives with your girls?"
"You could help," Charlie snaps at him as she gets up to head downstairs once more.
"How many boxes do you have left?" Puck asks. She'd already made four trips already, taking the elevator down and carrying two boxes at a time up several flights of stairs.
"One more, look they're going to be here any minute and I look half dead Puck, you've been sitting on your ass while I do all the heavy lifting. You're supposed to be helping me."
"I am. I'm helping you get back into shape and we set the bed up and all the furniture and the new appliances, and the television we even put in an office for Santana in the spare bedroom. I helped you fix up the kitchen and put shit away. I just draw the line in helping you move boxes that I know you can carry but are too lazy to. Remember you have two girls to please sexually. As your bro, I take my duty to make sure you're not a one and done guy, very seriously. Besides Sam said that this would help you and it's a good cardio workout." So he had made the last part up he had been carrying boxes all week it wouldn't kill Charlie to help him out.
"Yes well at this point I'm not going to make it to the bedroom if I die of a heart attack or fall down the stairs and break my neck," Charlie grumbled as she headed out the door to grab the last box.
"That's the spirit!" Puck called after her, laughing when he heard the loud cursing. He put the controller down and picked up one of the boxes that Charlie had dragged upstairs. It was labelled clothing so he moved it to the master bedroom and placed it in the spacious walk in closet. It was a nice place and they had put it together from scratch. They had put the place together based on what looked right. He imagined that there would still be some slight adjustments but all in all the place looked pretty good. Certainly classier than anything Charlie could have come up with on her own. He headed back and sat on one of the beanbags. It was his personal house warming gift for Charlie—well it really was a gift for him so when he came over they could still game like they normally did. He'd even gotten them to match with the red throw pillows.
"I still can't believe you two did all this," Quinn stated as she walked into the apartment looking around. She had personally expected disaster with things half done. But she was surprised to see that they had done everything like they had said they were going to do. This was a far cry from watching them arguing over how to fix the bedframe on Monday morning. They'd even managed to move the piano so it was more center of the big living room.
Santana stared at the living room with the black leather couches and the bright red throw pillows, everything was exactly how she had asked for it. She bit her lip before walking to it and running her hand along the supple leather. Everything matched, from the black granite countertops to the candy red retro fridge even the range was done in that retro style. But the decorations, were for Brittany from the few three-dimensional printouts of some of her favorite cartoons that were put in frames and hung up around the apartment, to the photos of dancer's in various positions, also in tasteful frames were hung in strategic places around the room.
Brittany touched one of the paintings carefully and grinned, Charlie hadn't forgotten about her, even if they weren't going to have her rainbow colored room, she liked it. She had made sure to include her in the decorating scheme. "Where is she?" She asked Puck.
"Getting the last box," Puck said with an amused look on his face. Everyone shot him a look and he smiled. "She's got a photo-shoot coming up, and is trying to get back into shape."
Santana frowned and looked over at Quinn, "Is this a celebrity thing? She doesn't need to lose weight."
"No what she needs to do is stop eating like a teenager, and drinking like a frat boy. If my sister wants to get healthy again and is gullible enough to believe that Sam asked her to run up several flights of stairs to get in shape for her photo-shoots, then I say we just let her do what she thinks she has to do. She's spent the past four to five years not taking care of herself, it's about time she starts doing it." Quinn said with a shrug.
Charlie finally arrived having given up on the fool's errand and had taken the elevator up. She was exhausted and sweaty and gross and her hair was a mess. She walked into her apartment and looked up at everyone and flashed a smile at Brittany and Santana. "Do you like it?" She asks them as she puts the box down on the ground.
"We love it," Brittany says taking a step toward Charlie and throwing her arms around her. She crinkles her nose a bit, "You didn't have to carry our boxes up the stairs. Puck just made you do it because he didn't want to," she whispers in Charlie's ear before pulling away.
Puck shoots Charlie a wide grin and she glares at him darkly. "Well, I think it's time me and Quinn leave you three alone so you can get settled." Puck said in a cheerful voice as he moved around Charlie and slipped out the door.
Quinn rolled her eyes and patted her twin on the back, "Good luck. I'd say don't do anything stupid but—" she doesn't finish that thought but waves her hand over her twins body, she's already being silly. "I've got to go run lines with Rachel, we'll see you tomorrow at brunch," she called out before closing the door and leaving the three of them alone.
Charlie took a step back, "So the tour—I'll show you your room, and the bathroom, and Santana's office, my room if you need anything—"
Santana paused for a moment going over what Charlie had just said. It sounded like she had said—"I have an office?"
"I didn't know if Frannie would send you back home with work from the office, it sounds like something she'd do. So I gave you a space so you can do your work in peace," Charlie said moving past them and opening the door. "We converted one of the bedrooms. In other words we just put in a desk and some bookcases. "I'm sure when you head back to school eventually you'll fill those bookcases right up." Charlie moves keeping the door open and opens the door closest to it. "Laundry area, and the second bathroom." Charlie pats one of the doors, "Guest bedroom, well mine while we're still getting to know each other. It's a mess though." She doesn't open the door and instead moves to the end of the hall.
Brittany glances at Charlie's door curiously, she desperately wants to see what's inside but Charlie looks excited to show them their room and she shuffles along, she can see Santana giving the door one last look before they follow Charlie to the master bedroom and her mouth falls open a bit at the sight of the huge bed. "This is ours?" she questions and Charlie nods. She frowns slightly and looks at Charlie, "This should be your room," she states after a moment.
"I slept on Quinn's couch for six months, trust me when I say that I don't need that much space," Charlie says with a laugh, rubbing the back of her neck slowly. "This is yours and Santana's room," she states firmly and pats the high thread count sheets, her mother had said it made a difference she personally had no idea. "It's super comfortable as well and apparently good for the back and most importantly it's—well sturdy," she flushes at that. "There is a huge walk in closet, all your clothes are there to be put away—and your bathroom. Charlie moves to the other door in the room and opens it. It's a decent sized bathroom with a large Jacuzzi and a walk in shower, and a triple vanity, that once again follows the pattern of the house. On the towel rack are large fluffy towels with their names embroidered on it.
"You didn't have to—" Santana begins but realizes that it doesn't sound grateful, and she is but a part of this is too much. She glances at Charlie who looks like she really wants them to like it and she can see the thought that went into it. From the embroidered unicorn on Britt's towel. She had probably been busting her ass all week and she looked exhausted. "It looks amazing, thank you."
Charlie grins at them watching as Brittany moves to hug her again and she hugs back, relaxing a bit, a lot of phone calls and late nights putting everything together and still working on her album were catching up to her. "Alright, I'm going to go take a shower and then I'll help you unpack your stuff?"
"No, you're going to go rest. When was the last time you slept?" Brittany said looking at Charlie who really did look like she was going to fall asleep soon anyway. Charlie doesn't answer for a moment and Brittany makes a face, "You need to take care of yourself as well—you can't just take care of us and have your body fall apart on you." Quinn had said it and she hadn't thought anything of it but it was evident that Charlie wasn't going to take care of herself without some input from them.
Charlie opened her mouth but Brittany had a firm look on her face and nodded, "I'll shower and then take a nap, holler if you need me for anything," she offered another smile before heading to the other bathroom to take a shower.
Brittany waited until Charlie was out of earshot and looked at Santana. "She's our soulmate and we need to take care of her like she's taking care of us," she said and looked around she didn't know exactly how to take care of their future dominant. "Maybe she can sleep with us tonight—"
Santana immediately put a stop to that idea, "We're not having sex with her because she got us nice things, and that's the message it's going to send. She doesn't want that and we're not going to be those people or she's just going to keep getting us expensive things." Santana sighed when Brittany made a face. Their sex life had been lacking for a while, what with Gunther keeping her at the diner. They had needed to make rent somehow and if Brittany wasn't getting any jobs then they had needed the influx of cash somehow. But now that wasn't a problem anymore.
Brittany grumbled, she missed sexy times with Santana but Santana had a point, "Well we need to do something Santana, she's our soulmate and our dominant. She needs to be healthy and happy. We need to start giving back, I want to make this work." She thinks hard for a moment and smiles. "We can make her dinner and we can talk and then she can have a bubble bath here and we can totally try and sneak a peek."
Santana paused for a second and bit her lip wondering if it was a good idea, Charlie did wear relatively tight pants and she did sort of want to see what they would be working with. "I'll go check the fridge and see what we have and check to see if we have any bubble bath stuff here, maybe when she's resting we can go get some of the essentials? Healthy food, Brittany we can't keep having ice cream for dinner whenever she's around." Brittany huffs at this but nods.
"San—maybe after she goes to sleep for tonight we can get our sweet lady kisses on? It's been a long time but you're going to have to be quiet so you don't wake her up." She smiles when Santana gives her a look of mock outrage. "I'm going to go remind her to stretch after she showers."
"I have to be quiet? What about you?" Santana demands and she's met with Brittany's laughter.
It's three hours later by the time that Charlie finally wakes up to the smell and sound of food being cooked and she moves to hoist herself off her bed but her muscles are sore. She makes a mental note to murder Puck, but she finally manages to roll herself out of bed, kicking at the papers that litter her floor. Songs, jingles, random sheet music that she's composed, things that she jots down whenever it pops into her mind. She heads to her laundry basket and she grabs a clean pair of pants and slides them on before heading out her door making sure to close it after her. Brittany is setting the table and Santana is busy plating things and she smiles. This is what she had wanted, she'd been so jealous for so long that everyone got this in some fashion. Sure Rachel rarely entered the kitchen and Quinn did all the cooking but she had wanted it desperately and now she had it. "That smell's really good," Charlie said startling the two of them.
Brittany puts the plate down and she smiles at Charlie, she looks better certainly not nearly as exhausted as she had looked earlier. "You're awake—we were about to wake you up to tell you that dinner was ready," Brittany says in a cheerful tone and pulls out the chair and motions for Charlie to sit.
Charlie rubs the back of her neck again and moves to the chair and takes a seat a confused look on her face. She hadn't really been expecting this but she takes a seat and glances up at them. "We could have ordered out if you wanted—you don't have to cook for me if you don't want to. We all sort of had to learn how to cook for ourselves. Our mom got really sick one year, and our dad is a menace in the kitchen. After the first fire, it was cereal and sandwiches. So we taught ourselves how to cook and just took turns so we didn't starve."
"If you're going to take care of us then we're going to take care of you. Puck told us about your photo-shoot. You look fine but no more trying to kill yourself to lose weight, you can do yoga and Pilates with me and San," Brittany informs her.
Charlie immediately wants to protest because she's not the most flexible person in the world but she imagines they'll find out soon enough—and realize she needs some hands on help. At the very least she could sit their quietly and watch. "Alright Pilates and yoga," Charlie said with a grin leaning back as a plate is put in front of her.
Santana moves with three plates in her hand, the skills she learned from waitressing coming in handy as she plates the food, and takes her seat by Charlie who says her thanks quickly. "So—how's the album coming along," it's been bothering her all day, as Charlie's phone had been buzzing non-stop with calls from her agent and several other people had come in. She hadn't really meant to snoop but the texts were displayed as they came in. Her tone was as casual and she ignored the pout on Brittany's face.
"The last two songs have been recorded, just one of the songs is missing something," Charlie answers truthfully and shrugs. "I thought Mercedes had it but the vocals are off, she sounds amazing—it's just that it sounds wrong to me. No chemistry might be the answer. Don't worry I'll figure it out, I have a few weeks to figure it out. Or have Rachel take a listen to see if she can spot what's wrong with it and see if I can fix it, or I might have to scrap the song and substitute it for a new one."
"So after that you go on tour?" Brittany asked casually as she took a bite of her food.
Charlie cuts her vegetables, she's not the biggest fan of them but she plans to eat everything on her plate. "The tour doesn't come out until after I release the album, before that I'm going to release a song or two, so it starts getting radio play. I start a media tour do a few performances, and then we have a launch party. I release my album and then I finally go on tour. They're trying to figure out which cities and festivals I should perform at, who I want to go on tour with. That sort of thing, it's a process. It's going to be a couple months before everything is set up though." Charlie admits and looks up at them, she sees a bit of relief on their faces. "I'm a few months off from that, and we'll talk about it when the dates are set." Then came the painful award season where she would probably get nominated but not win any of the big awards. But she would get slimed and win another lame surfboard.
Santana frowned slightly, "How long do your tours normally last?"
Charlie flicked her eyes to Santana, "The plan isn't set but I have a choice between four months and a full year. I'm looking at the year one, it's more spaced out and I'd have more downtime which means I'd be able to fly back in. I mean it's going to be hectic over all. But I'd get to see you—during the year I wouldn't be able to see either of you for four months, unless you come fly out and see me but I'll be—working for most of it. Or I can take my time fly back in or you can fly out and visit me and I won't be nearly as busy. I mean they're still putting together the plan for me, and once they finalized both plans I was going to show it to you guys and you guys could help me decide which one was best. I mean the year is better for me but I don't want to disrupt what you have going on either. I'll look over both proposals with you, but that won't be ready till next month at the latest, after I release my next single."
Brittany smiles and relaxes, "So we've got plenty of time?" Charlie nods and Brittany smiles at this relieved that she isn't just going up and disappear without telling them, and that she's going to try and make the right choice. It's different, not being treated like she's stupid and being involved in the decision making.
"We've got plenty of time," Charlie says relaxing, taking a bite of her food. "So what's the plan after dinner? I can help you guys unpack we can watch a movie—"
"Then you're having a bubble bath and going to get more rest." Brittany says, Charlie may look better but there's still that exhausted air around her.
"A bubble bath?" Charlie says with a confused look on her face but then she grins hopefully. Because maybe after the bubble bath she was going to need to rest, which meant—"Together?"
A deep part of Brittany wants to say yes but Santana had a point and she shakes her head. "Just you, don't worry I got you a rubber ducky so you won't be alone. You can name him and everything."
Charlie looks ready to protest this unilateral decision that they made but Santana steps in immediately. "You're still sore and stiff from earlier this will help Charlie. You can't just take care of our needs and ignore your body, so take the bubble bath, and let us take care of you just like you take care of us—please?"
Charlie closes her mouth and rubs the back of her neck before nodding and looking at Brittany. "I can name him whatever I want?" Brittany grins and nods. She's not used to people actually trying to take care of her.
It's Santana who sets the bath up while Charlie grabs her towels and everything from the bathroom she's using. Brittany is sitting on the side of the Jacuzzi with a rainbow colored duck in her lap before she set's in the bubbly water. "Don't make it to hot San," Brittany says after testing the water and Santana rolls her eyes before splashing Brittany soaking her in water. "San!" Brittany says jumping back, the duck falling to the ground. There's a smile on her face and she immediately tries to splash Santana back getting water on the floor, as Santana scrambles backwards.
"What I was just making sure it wasn't too hot," Santana says with laughter as she tries to duck away from Brittany who tries to get her again. "Britt we're supposed to be getting the bubble bath ready for her remember," Santana said trying to remain assertive. Brittany pouts but nods and Santana moves back to check the temperature of the water only to be splashed by Brittany. "Britt!" Santana says as Brittany breaks out into laughter and she can't help but smile and grab onto Brittany's arms. It's the most fun they've had together in months, possibly years. No asshole dominants around to make them both feel like shit, no more trying to live pay check to paycheck. They have a new soulmate and a new dominant and a new job and more opportunities. They were going to be fine. Santana leans in quickly stealing a kiss from Brittany who smiles back. "I love you Britt," she mumbles. It's been a while since they had said it to each other.
Brittany smiles back, "I love you too," she glances up as Charlie finally enters her field of vision and she looks up at her and smiles at the musician. "We've prepared your bubble bath, and are you sure you want to name him Lucky," Charlie nods and grins at her. "Fine, I liked my idea better. Lord Engelbert is a better name," she sniffs dramatically as she places Lucky into the water watching him float with the suds surrounding him.
"Maybe—but I think Lucky just fits somehow," Charlie says and tests the water a bit with her hand. "It's perfect, I shouldn't be too long," Charlie says.
"Take as long as you need," Santana says and Charlie smiles at her and drops her towel on the ground.
Charlie places her towel on the side of the tub and glances back at Santana and Brittany who are still just sort of standing there and she scratches her head. "Thank-you?" she says shifting a bit. She's not going to just strip down in front of them that would be rude especially with her body reacting to the two of them just standing there wet and they had just been kissing—Charlie bites her lip and immediately looks at the floor and tries to will her body to calm down.
Santana immediately chooses that moment to drag Brittany out before she just tells Charlie to get naked for them, "We'll just be in the room unpacking," she says and pull's Brittany out and closes the door not completely. She doesn't hear the door lock behind them and she motions for Brittany to be quiet as they both quickly take a peek.
Brittany bites her lip as Charlie pulls off her shirt and tosses it onto the ground. The singer doesn't move for a moment before she pulls off her jeans and boxers in one quick motion and turns to slide into the tub, sticking her toes in first before moving and sliding into the Jacuzzi with a low groan and pushes the button to start the jets. Brittany pulls back and looks at Santana who looks confused, Charlie was clearly at half-mast. But they don't have anything to compare her size to, sure they had toys but that wasn't fair comparison. "Do you think we should ask Rachel?" Brittany whispers to Santana.
"The dwarf probably thinks everything is massive," Santana points out and she gets swatted on the arm by Brittany and she rolls her eyes as they pull away from the door. "Fine—we'll ask the dwarf. I mean she'd know right? They're identical twins, it should be identical right?"
AN: Brunch leads to an awkward conversation with Rachel as well as much more.
