Charlie helps Bela out of the car, carrying the food that he had brought back for Max and CJ. He knew he was going to get a look from his ex-wife about junk food but his kids were active enough that he didn't feel that bad in his choice. He smiles at his daughter, they had decided to keep their plans just between them for now, and he'd see if Sue knew anybody. This test was for him and Bela to know for certain and no one else mattered.

That being said, he felt a little guilty keeping this from his ex-wife. But it's not like he had the test results in front of him right now, that would come later and he had no idea how he was going to take it. He pushes the doorbell and waits for someone to open the door, glancing at Bela who was rubbing her hands together.

And waits.

And waits.

He frowns and looks at Santana's car parked in the driveway. She was definitely home from the looks of it and he was sure she would have sent him a message if she needed to step out. He nudges Bela, "Push the doorbell again."

"You just want to get me in trouble," Bela mutters to him but does what he asks anyway wanting to get out of the cold weather.

"Fuck, I'm coming." Santana barks, yanking the door open and looking like she's been on the front lines of an epic battle. She also looks more beautiful than she has any right to, but Charlie files that away for later. "Oh. You're here. I thought you said a couple of hours."

"It's just after three." Charlie observes. He frowns and observes the epic destruction around him, toys are strewn almost everywhere and it looks like someone decided to graffiti Santana's entry way with crayon drawings that reach about three feet off the floor and cover the whole wall. CJ is sitting on the bottom stair, grinning wickedly. "Uh, what happened?"

"Someone decided to redecorate." She shoots a pointed glare at her toddler who giggles.

"Oh."

CJ looks up at Charlie and nods. "Bad." He declares proudly.

Santana rolls her eyes. She hadn't even put CJ in time out, she had nearly stumbled over him when she was making her way downstairs. That had been the only warning to his newfound artistic skills. "He's got a lot of energy; I'd take him to the park but it's freezing outside so why don't you play with him after you talk to Max."

Charlie studied CJ for a moment and then looked at the walls for a moment, "You know—your walls don't look that bad—"

"You're the one that got him that car, that he doesn't ever really get out of, he's not burning off as much energy as he possibly can. It's been a pain to get him down for naptime as well." Santana points out looking at him. They needed to teach him boundaries and maybe she had been a little lax with CJ, but at this point in time both Bela and Max were on a cliff and she needed to pull them back before they fell. If Charlie was finally picking up the slack, then he could tag in.

"CJ, do you want to hang out with your Daddy?" Charlie asked excitedly.

CJ grins. "No!"

Charlie holds up the food in his arms. "I have dinner." He rustles the bag for emphasis and CJ cocks his head to the side to watch Charlie calculatingly.

"Za?" CJ asks hopefully.

"Nope. It's better. Burgers and french fries." Charlie announces and CJ scrambles up from his spot on the stairs. Their kid loves burgers and Charlie's pretty sure Santana has been feeding him organic baby stuff instead of the best fatty burgers in Cleveland.

"'Hungy!" CJ declares, toddling up to Charlie and taking hold of his pant legs to tug him toward the kitchen.

Santana narrows her eyes, not sure if she should be amused or annoyed at this development. God help them once CJ entered adolescence. "You do know that our son isn't a dog, right?"

Charlie shrugs and allows himself to be tugged toward the kitchen. "Close enough, Right CJ? You're a good boy." He pats him firmly on the top of his head. "What does a dog say?"

CJ turns to Santana and gives her a wide grin. "Woof." He agrees.

Bela laughs, and Santana turns to her, "Don't encourage him. I can just see the blogs now," Santana cringed. She was being dramatic she knew that she was but it seemed to cause Bela to laugh harder as Charlie scooped CJ up and placed him in his chair before opening the bag and placing a kids burger and some small fries in front of him. "Where did you two go?"

"Pedicures! And we got a facial mask, well—dad's beard got in the way and he kept eating the cucumbers but it was fun. Dad has pink toenails." Bela answered.

"Pink?" Santana turned to look at him. "The guys will make fun of you."

"Let them, good foot care is important and more importantly I get paid more and more importantly the trade deadline is coming up quick. So I doubt it's going to be a huge thing." Charlie responds watching as CJ began shoveling food into his mouth. "Careful bud you don't want to choke!" He grimaced when CJ began to babble sending food spraying from his mouth. He shook his head and moved to the island and grabbed two burgers and two large fries before kicking off his shoes. "I'll see Max now, and then I'll come back and wear this little guy out. I got you a burger and if you don't want it I'll eat it when I come back downstairs."

"Of course you will," Santana mutters shaking her head. She really shouldn't, but Charlie had an uncanny ability to find the best burger shops no matter where he was and the bag in the kitchen smelled divine. What the hell, she reasons, filming for the new season won't start for a few months. "But someone has to save you from yourself, don't think I don't already smell the cheeseburger you downed in the car."

Charlie gapes at his ex-wife. "How do you do that?"

Santana scoffs. "Go parent your son."

Charlie grunts at this and passes his daughter who flashes him an encouraging smile. Before turning to her mom who had unwrapped a burger for herself. "Dad tried to give me the talk."

Santana laughs, an inelegant cackle that would be mortifying if the idea of Charlie talking to Bela about sex wasn't so amusing. "Did he explode?"

"Almost." Bela giggles.

"Traitor," Charlie muttered, shaking his head his cheeks a deep red. He would stay and defend himself but first he needed to deal with his son. He sniffs dramatically and walks up the stairs and stands in front of Max's room and knocks on the door before opening it a second later. "Max?"

Max looks up from his bed but doesn't stand. He fiddles with his hands nervously, as if he doesn't know exactly what to do.

Charlie sighs. "Can I come in? I think we need to talk."

"Do you hate me now?" Max whimpers and Charlie rushes to his side. Sometimes it is easy to forget that his son is still just a child. Sure he might be able to rattle off stats like he's a computer, but he is just seven years old.

"Of course I don't hate you." Charlie assures. "I brought you a burger and fries." He waves his hands around a bit and his son bites his lip. "Plus you know I have pink toenails which I think look fantastic."

Max crinkles his nose at this and reaches for the food. "Really?"

"Yeah I do, but we need to talk first before you know I show you how awesome my toenails are." Charlie said letting Max take his burger and unwraps his own. "I don't hate you Max, I'm just disappointed with you, that you threw a tantrum. I get mad all the time especially when the ref gives a terrible call but I don't throw a tantrum and start throwing punches—mostly because I am a hundred percent sure I'd get my butt kicked and then I'd be fined and suspended. I also don't get angry enough to say terrible things to someone else. Because there are consequences Max. What you said to your sister was very mean spirited and I know that you're better than that. That's why I'm disappointed in you."

"But she's not even my real sister." Max grumbles under his breath.

But Max is still young enough that he doesn't know the art of being quiet enough not to be overheard. "She is. And after our talk today, I don't ever want to hear that you've uttered those words again. Bela is just as much my daughter as you are my son. I love you both and we are a family."

Max makes a face, he can hear the finality in his father's voice and he huffs as he eats his burger. "I'm supposed to be your favorite. You pay attention to Bela and CJ and I thought if Bela wasn't your daughter you'd spend more time with me and you'd tell me to come live with you again. We're not a real family."

Charlie raises a brow, "Max, you're seven. You can't live with me, not with all the travelling I do. You need to go to school it's important. Besides you got a good thing going on here. I mean if you move in with me you'll have to eat what I eat, and we both know that you don't want that." He sighs and decides to start picking apart everything that his son said. "We are a family Max, all because your mom and I aren't together it doesn't mean that we love you or your sister or brother any less. You love it when Bela plays with you and gives you attention, and I know she loves you a lot too. That's what makes a family that love and respect. I don't have a favorite, I love each of you equally."

"But you don't you always have to watch CJ and you took Bela to watch you do dunks and she doesn't even really like your dunks not like I do!"

"CJ isn't even two yet. He's sort of helpless and if you don't watch him bad things happen, and he could hurt himself. I know having a toddler around means that my focus is split but that doesn't mean that I don't love you. As for Bela, we went to get a pedicure and we talked and got some food Max. I didn't take her to see any of my dunks. I was going to leave CJ at home with your mom and spend the day with the two of you before your little outburst."

Max frowns at that revelation. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Charlie nudges his son, "She even asked if we could come back and get you and I said no. You don't get rewarded for bad behavior."

"She did?" Max asks frowning when his dad nods. He bites his lip, "But I was really mean to her— "

"You know when I was really angry because one of Bela's friends stole my wedding ring? Well you told me not to be angry at Bela anymore."

"You were really mad and it was scary," Max admits.

"Yeah, well she didn't want me to be mad at you. You know I'm a bit jealous, both your aunt Quinn and your aunt Brittany would have totally bailed on me if I had gotten into trouble. They didn't really stick up for me in those situations. I didn't really stick up for your Aunt Quinn either and we're twins." Charlie sighs, "I want the three of you to be close and to love each other, and I think you owe your sister a huge apology Max. Don't you think so?"

Max swallows, and nods. "Yeah," he mumbles quietly.

"And I'm going to have to take your phone until I can trust that you understand." Max nods sadly and hands over the beloved device. Charlie takes it and puts it in his pocket. "All the stuff we have, Max we're lucky but none of that matters without each other. You and Bela might fight now, but as you grow up you'll realize that having a sister is actually pretty awesome."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Bela will probably help you with girls if you're too embarrassed to talk to them yourself, and she'll probably give you semi-helpful advice." Charlie pointed out and smiled at his son. "But don't distract me Max, hand over your phone."

Max bites his lip as he pulls out his new phone and hands it to his dad, "But I won't be able to call you whenever I want—"

"You can use your mom's tablet or Bela's phone if you ask for permission first. I'm going to be super busy until after All-Star weekend but then things are going to be back to normal as we go through the home stretch."

"Are we still going to see the All-Star game?" Max asked watching as his dad thought about the answer carefully. "Please."

"No more of this Bela isn't my real sister?" Max nods earnestly and Charlie reaches over with his grease soaked hands and runs a hand through his hair. "If you're good and by good I mean do all your homework, help your mom out around the house especially with CJ then yeah, I don't see why not."

Max grins pleased with the answer and hugs his dad tightly. "Thank you! I promise I'll be good."

Charlie pats his son's back gently. "You can start by helping your mom clean up CJ's artwork on the walls by the way. Apparently it's my fault that he's got so much energy."

"He likes sitting in his car and running into stuff." Max frowns, CJ liked chasing him with the car and it was annoying.

"Hmm, sounds about right," Charlie shoved the rest of his burger into his mouth and emptied the rest of the fries and chewed. "Alright I'll put him to sleep before you know it. That will really get under your mom's skin."

Max opened his mouth to say something and then decided against it with a shake of his head. His dad always lost against his mom. It was hilarious though.

~O~

Santana scrubs at the spot just behind the door a final time before finally giving up. That was as good as it was going to get tonight. Max had abandoned her hours ago to 'help' Charlie wear CJ out and based on the squeals that had been coming from the family room for the last few hours, then at least Charlie was keeping the boys from getting into any more trouble. Even Bela had joined in on the fun, but now everything was eerily quiet.

That wasn't a good sign.

She stands, arching her back as it aches from being in the same position for hours. She glances back and swears she can still see the black marker and crayon designs across the wall. She might have to re-paint. She steps back and surveys the damage again, stepping on one of CJ's toys as she does. "At least it isn't lego," she mutters to herself wincing. Max's lego habit had been a nightmare and he had never been any good at it. It was probably why he gave it up.

She picks up the trail of toys that seem to lead toward the family room where a movie was playing softly in the background. Frowning when she sees Charlie's feet on her couch, she hated when he put his feet up like that and she moves to smack them off when she notices that Charlie is asleep with CJ curled up on his chest a protective arm around him as he snores. Max was curled up beside his dad on the oversized couch, sprawled out, Charlie's other arm protecting him from falling as he drooled on her expensive couch.

"They fell asleep like five minutes into the movie," Bela informed her mother without looking up from her phone. She nodded towards the television as the credits rolled to let her mom know that it had been two hours since the three of them had moved.

Santana flicks her eyes back to Charlie and her two sons and frowns a bit. "Are they—are they all drooling?"

"It was worse like an hour ago," Bela informs her. At least CJ was drooling on their dad's shirt which had a giant wet spot.

Santana studied the scene in front of her for another moment, before deciding to simply go with her gut instinct and just accept that this was by far the most adorable thing she had seen in a while. "Take a picture of this and send it to me?"

Bela rolls her eyes but does as her mom asks. "There. Why couldn't you take it yourself?"

"Because I don't want to lose the blackmail of your father drooling on my genuine leather couch. That cost almost fifteen thousand dollars." Santana glances down at the picture and saves it as her wallpaper.

Bela notices the weird look on her mom's face but doesn't comment. It's late and she's had an emotionally eventful day. "I'm going to go to bed." She gives her mom a hug but Santana holds on for just a second too long.

"You know, no matter what, that your dad and I both love you, right?" It's been Santana's greatest fear for a long time, that Bela would somehow feel unwanted or like she was somehow less deserving of Charlie's affections.

"I know mom." Bela rolls her eyes again at the uncharacteristically cheesy level of affection. "Good luck shepherding these weirdos to wherever you need them. You know they sleep like the dead right?"

"Trust me I know." Santana grumbles shaking her head as she debated which one she wanted to start with. She could carry CJ to bed no problem, she'd deal with giving him a bath tomorrow. Max could walk to bed which just left Charlie. She sighs and walks over to the couch and gently shakes Max awake, watching as he groaned before opening his eyes. "Time for bed Max."

"Don't wanna." Max grumbles, and shifts closer to his Dad. "We're hanging out." He closes his eyes again.

Santana shakes her head at how similar all three of them are. "I know you were, but it's time for bed. You fell asleep." She shakes his shoulder again and helps him sit up. "Come on, bedtime."

The movement is enough to get Max moving and he stumbles to his feet. She's played this game with him enough to feel fairly certain that he'll make it to his bed without much assistance.

One down, two to go.

Leaning down, she moves to slip CJ out of Charlie's arms only to have Charlie hold onto their son more tightly. "Of course you're not going to make this easy for me." She mutters to herself, keeping her voice low. CJ sometimes slept like the dead but she's superstitious enough that she doesn't dare chance it. She pries Charlie's arm from CJ and lets her child flop against her while balancing him on her hip. She nudges Charlie hard on his shoulder. "Hey, it's late."

"Nnn—Don't wanna." Charlie grumbles and shifts on the couch. His eyes shoot open when he realizes that the weight against him has lessened. "Where's CJ—?" He jumps to his feet in a panic.

"Right here. Calm down, he's sleeping."

"Oh." Charlie relaxed back against the couch and feels a wave of fatigue wash over him. He was exhausted and tiring CJ out had been much more work than he had expected. "I'll call my driver to come get me, just—give me a minute?"

Santana frowns. It's not that late but she can tell that Charlie's worn out from today. Frankly, she'd be surprised if he wasn't. "No, stay here." She insists.

Charlie nods, too tired to argue. "That would be awesome." He follows her blindly up the stairs and past the kids' bedrooms to a part of the house he's never really inspected before. Just after she opens the door, he flops down on the king-sized bed and expects himself to be asleep the moment he hits the pillow. The squeal of the springs beneath him and the jabbing lumps in his back seem to have other ideas. He shifts a couple of times, trying to get in a better position before opening his eyes to glare sleepily at his ex-wife. "This bed sucks."

"It's not that bad." Santana reasons.

"It's lumpy." He complains. It definitely is that bad. Where did she find this thing? It was practically a torture device and if he had any strength left at all, he would get up and go back to the couch. At least that was comfortable.

"Well I had to do something to keep Brittany from moving in." Santana teases.

Charlie shakes his head emphatically and wiggles on the bed a few more times, trying to get comfortable. "No. She likes Mike too much." He gives up after another three seconds and sits up in bed. "I'm sleeping in your bed."

"Like hell you are!" Santana responds immediately. She should have let him call the damn driver, but he probably would have fallen asleep in the damn elevator going to his apartment.

"Fine I'll go sleep with Max, he'll probably love it—" Charlie mumbles before yawning, it didn't matter to him if his feet hung off the bed.

"Charlie you're a grown man, and Max isn't five. You're not hogging his sheets because you can't deal with a lumpy bed for one night." Santana reminds him.

"Then Bela—"

"That's not going to happen," Santana said bluntly.

"CJ—"

"Charlie you can't fit in a crib. As amusing as that will be I'm not going to let you crush our son because you can't make do. And even if you don't crush him, CJ will use your body as a stepping stone to get out of his crib when he wakes up." Santana rolls her eyes and adjusts her hold on CJ who still hadn't woken up. "So enjoy the bedroom."

"But Santana—"

"Goodnight." She declares with finality. She watches him whine pathetically on the bed and shift but she turns to put CJ down, she wasn't going to fall for it. "Come on big guy let's put you down for the night." She smiles at CJ and shoots one last glare at her ex-husband. She heads to CJ's bedroom and puts her son down, in his crib gently pulling his favorite blanket on top of him. She gently rubs his cheek, watching as he rubs his face in his sleep. "Sleep tight," she mumbles and leans down to kiss her son's cheek before making sure that the crib was secure. She takes a few steps glancing at the night light and checking to see if the monitor was on before leaving his bedroom. He was just across the hall from her for easier access. She liked her children close and CJ she could already tell was going to be a handful.

She barely makes it to the door before something catches her eyes. Charlie grumbles out a curse as he stumbles into the doorframe. "What are you doing?"

"Going back to your couch." Charlie rubs the back of his head. That couch had been far more comfortable than the lumpy mattress.

"To drool on my expensive couch? I don't think so." Santana smirks, leaning back against CJ's open doorframe. At times like this, it's shocking to think that this is the same man who was an international superstar for his athleticism.

"I don't drool." Charlie furrows his brow.

"Yes, you do. And all your kids do too, so thanks for that."

"My kids are amazing!" Charlie mumbles and yawns. "I need to you know look pretty tomorrow. Photo-shoot."

"So you're finally shaving that rat's nest off your face?" Santana teases.

"No. I look hot!" Charlie insists moving towards the stairs only to be intercepted by Santana. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't trip down the stairs. How's that going to look? People will think that I tried to murder you."

"Like you would try to murder me. If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead." Charlie mumbles, sighing when Santana begins to tug him along. It was always the tiny people who dragged him places. "Santana, just let me sleep on the couch, I'll put a blanket down."

"I am not getting the couch reupholstered Charlie. You can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep in the guest room." Santana sighed, he had let her sleep on his bed. It was only fair.

"Is your bed comfy?"

"Super comfy." Charlie smiled at this and flopped onto her bed the moment he was in range. She studies him for a moment. "Don't do anything weird in my bed Charlie. That means no midnight snacks. Don't think I didn't notice the fact that I woke up covered in crumbs when I was at your place."

He sniffs the bed, almost overwhelmed with a sweet scent that's uniquely Santana. "That smells nice."

"I bathe, so of courses it does." Santana smirks and watches as he kicks off his socks and snuggles into the covers. She wishes she had the chance to wash the sheets and clean up, but she hadn't really expected to be housing her ex-husband for the night.

Charlie grunts and pulls the covers up around him, feeling his whole body relax. "Mmm, I love you." He mumbles before starting to snore softly.

Santana raises a brow for a moment, things were still weird between them. She had no idea what he felt about the Bela situation, but he was no longer outwardly hostile anymore. The kids health and well-being seemed to be the most important thing to him. She stretches and shakes her head before going to grab some extra pillows for him. Despite what people thought he was the one that liked all the useless pillows on the bed. She tosses a few more onto the bed and sighs when she notices the drool already. "How do you even do that?" She questions no one in particular and climbs onto the bed to wipe the trail from his beard.

He reaches out and grabs her wrist, wrapping his fingers around her arm gently. "Don't go." He murmurs.

It's ridiculous and he clearly can't mean it. He's still drooling for heaven's sake. But something about his sleepy plea has Santana falling down onto the bed next to him. This doesn't mean anything. It can't. But her mattress is comfortable as hell and she doesn't really even intend to fall asleep. What could it hurt, to just lay there for a while? "I better not feel anything in the morning," she grumbles at him even though she doubts he can hear her. He shifts and wraps his arm around her tightly in answer and Santana feels the soft even lift of his chest against her back. She just intends to lay beside him for a while and closes her eyes to bask in the familiar soothing comfort.

~O~

Charlie groans a bit and rolls onto his back. It had been the best night's sleep that he'd had in a long time. And he could still remember that dream. "Mmf," he groans mostly to himself. No wonder he was hard as a rock right now. He immediately slid his hand down his shorts and wrapped his hand around his dick. Santana—she'd been everything in his dreams and he could still smell her.

He was still hurt and angry with her, he still felt betrayed but that didn't change the fact that Santana was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Even if he had been with other women, it had never compared to being with Santana. "Fuck Santana."

The words pull Santana from her own deep sleep. Her ex-husband and children might sleep like the dead, but she never had. It only takes her a few seconds to come to her bearings. It's more amusing than anything and Charlie's still in that sleepy state between being asleep and being awake. "What the hell are you doing?"

Charlie's eyes snap open and he jumps back a little, his hands still down the front of his pants as he stares at her shocked. "What the hell are you doing here—holy shit is this a dream?"

Santana reached over and pinched him hard causing him to yelp a bit and finally withdraw his hand from inside his pants. "I told you not to do anything weird in my bed," Santana reminds him glaring at him as best as she could this early in the morning.

"You did?" Charlie looks around, he couldn't remember much from last night beyond CJ curling up on his chest and Max attempting to do the same. "Your bed? I thought I was in your guest room!" Charlie wiggles back. "Oh, fuck. I'm so sorry—"

Santana rolled her eyes. "It's fine, not like I'm not used to you doing weird things in bed anyway. At least this is better than crumbs."

The door to Santana's bedroom bursts open. "Mom, I'm starving and CJ—" Max pulls up short as his parents freeze.

Charlie feels the same way he did when one of his sisters or his mom had walked in on them in high school. "Uh, hey Max."

"Dad! What are you doing here?" Max gasped. Today was the best day ever. He didn't remember his dad leaving last night, but he definitely didn't expect him to be around for breakfast.

Another voice comes from down the hall and Santana feels Charlie's hard member soften as Bela scolds her brother, not even bothering to come down the hall. "Don't be dumb, Max. Dad doesn't live here."

"He's in bed with mom! What does that mean Bela?" Max yells back.

"Uh—Max," Charlie coughs forcing himself to sit up. At least Max's presence had fixed what was going on down there. "Yeah I sort of stole your mom's bed last night and you know your mom doesn't like to share."

Santana flicked her eyes between the two of them, noting Max's look as disbelief as Bela poked her head in and crinkled her nose at the two of them as she held CJ. She had already finished putting on her uniform for the day. "Gross are you two—?"

"No. We're not. I just came to get your father out of my bed," Santana lies briskly as she smooths her hair. "He attacked me with a pillow, which means that you three have free reign to smack him with as many pillows as possible while I go get breakfast ready before Tina gets here."

"Santana—" Charlie complained immediately as Max grinned widely and moved to grab a pillow on the ground. "Not the face Max. I need my face to make money today—ow I just said not the face!" Charlie grumbles scrambling out of bed.