Charlie eyed Sue who had been pacing back and forth in front of him for the past ten minutes, he hadn't said a word, she was an angry shade of red and he didn't want to piss her off any more than she was already pissed off by saying something. As far as he was concerned he hadn't even really done anything wrong. He had been recorded having a private conversation while naked. If anyone should be enraged, it was him. He sighs, "I thought it was good advice."

Sue stopped pacing and turned to him, watching as he flashes her that dumb grin of his. She couldn't believe that anyone found that smile on his face to be charming, it wasn't the worse one that she had seen but it certainly wasn't the best. "You called your ex-wife a bitch, the mother of your children a bitch and it was caught on video. You referred to women as pussy's—given your history, regardless of whether you're innocent or not there is a perception that you're a misogynist."

"I don't hate women. I wasn't the one that referred to them as cum dumpsters, or bragged about all the women I've slept with. I told them to keep it in their pants. As for my comment about Santana, she is a bitch. This isn't even up for debate; she knows she's a bitch. She calls herself a bitch. It's the reason I love her. It's a term of endearment."

"I highly doubt that." Sue snaps at him. "The team wants an apology—"

"Then have them talk to Jake, he's the little shit that recorded me naked and let that shit get leaked. The guys are fucking pissed. Why the hell should I apologize for a private conversation in a guy's locker room? I didn't say anything wrong. Yeah fine I'll apologize for referring to women as pussy's but other than that, nothing I said was particularly wrong. I'm straight, of course I'm going to talk to women. I imagine you've talked about men in unflattering terms before, like we're just pieces of meat? If I was gay, it'd be the exact same thing, Doesn't matter if you're male or female, gay or straight or somewhere in between, if you're rich then you're always going to wonder. Do they love me for me? Or just the money? Either way bottom line is that I don't fucking hate women. I have a daughter, and I love my ex-wife."

"Doesn't mean you aren't a misogynist asshole. Besides who the fuck cares what you think. It's what your sponsor's think and you're already a drama magnet." Sue sighs. At Charlie's furrowed brow she rolls her eyes, unsurprised that she has to dumb it down for him. "Look, let me spell it out for you. Sponsors don't like drama, especially drama that makes them look bad. Their star athlete making anti-feminist comments? That sure as hell counts. It makes them skittish. It's a good thing they don't know about your torn labrum."

Charlie steps back and shakes his head. "Fine. Whatever. I'll apologize."

"That's a start." Sue almost wants to commend him for offering to do the very least difficult thing to fix this, but they need to get ahead of this. "You're going to need to get your ex-wife on your side to show people that there are no hard feelings between the two of you. It can't feel forced or like a PR stunt, we're really going to have to get a couple of candid shots—family moments."

Charlie pulls out his phone and finds the tweet he was looking for. 'Ladies, isn't it real? After they screw up they always come back. 3 u 2 Charlie_74Fabray' #CharlieFabray' Charlie looks up at Sue. "Pretty sure she's already on my side."

Sue raised a brow for a moment. It wasn't just calling Santana a bitch that had been problematic with what he had said in the video. He had, inadvertently, called her a gold digger. Or at the very least pointed out that Santana was vindictive as hell. It wouldn't be something that was simply brushed under the rug like that. She had seen them argue if only briefly, and Santana's reaction was not the one of someone who still found her ex-husband irritating as hell. "When did you two start sleeping together again?"

"We aren't."

Sue raises her eyebrow. "Bullshit."

Charlie rubbed his temples, he had a game later tonight and trying to explain his sex life to Sue was not how he wanted to be spending the day of the first game of the playoffs. "We aren't having sex. She's still dating some douchebag. We had sex, once. Recently. Sort of."

"How do you sort of have sex?" Sue asks crinkling her nose, she didn't really want to know. But this story was weird and she needed to see what she needed to do to guarantee another championship ring. The team had rested Charlie for the last five games of the regular season. Getting his personal life in order was something she would do if she absolutely had to.

"Well, we were doing it when Max sort of walked in on us. She hasn't really said anything to me since then. I can only imagine I said something to piss her off. I planned to deal with it after playoffs."

"Clearly that has been a terrible idea." She shakes her head in disbelief. "Almost as bad as letting that moron video record you, making you a PR nightmare for the third time." If he were any less connected or famous, then she probably would have dropped him as a client.

"I didn't think anyone was recording me. It's a fucking locker room, I have an expectation of relative privacy," Charlie grumbles. "Also, if Santana was pissed at me she, like you, would be here banging on my door and letting the whole world know she was pissed at me. Except she knows what goes on and what is said in locker rooms, I was honest about that at least. We had an agreement years ago that I don't talk about our sex-life in the locker room. I didn't. I just said I missed being with her. Which I do."

Sue rolled her eyes, he was such a sap. "Fine, you'll invite her and your family to the game tonight, it will help your image if she's there—"

"With the exception of last year—and while we were getting divorced, when I was still in LA and they were in Cleveland, it's a family tradition to come to the first game of playoffs. So she'll be there tonight. Probably." Charlie added the last part. He could call and find out, but Mike had mentioned that Brittany was going to be in town and the last thing he needed was that crazy on top of everything else. He was supposed to be a leader on the team, a veteran and right now the team was in disarray right at the start of playoffs. He had a feeling tonight was going to be a disaster. Charlie exhales, "I'll give the apology in the press conference after the game. A real apology, and then I'm done with that topic until the end of playoffs. I want at least three rings and I only have one so far. When I die, the kids can fight over which year they get but they'll each have one."

Sue rolled her eyes. "I'll have some PR people craft you an apology and I'll give it to you right before the press conference so look for me." Sue pinches the bridge of her nose and studies Charlie for a moment. "I also suggest making sure that you win this game. If you want this story to die, make sure you win this game."

"Trust me, I have every plan to." Charlie grumbled, though he had no idea how with the entire team freezing Jake out. Everyone was pointing fingers and it was just a mess. He scratches his eyebrow and stands up, "Look I have a masseuse coming in about half an hour and I need to get my mind into it. So let me go do my thing and I'll let you do yours." He had a championship to win.

~O~

"Yeah, I know your dad's losing CJ, no need to get all fidgety," Santana mumbled kissing the top of CJ's head as her son kicked and began to fidget his face scrunching up as he spat out his pacifier. The game was an epic disaster and the Cav's were down twenty. This was in no small part due to the unforced errors and turnovers. Charlie had lost before but he looked absolutely incensed at how listless his teammates were playing. He was already up to five turnovers because no one was receiving his passes properly and he had verbally lashed out Mike after he had missed an easy fast break lay-up. The home-crowd fans had already started to leave expecting this to turn into a blow-out.

"Hungy." CJ whined squirming to get free. "Hungy."

Bela reached over to rub his tummy, he usually settled down after that but he had spent most of the day playing with their aunt Brittany, so it was no wonder he was a bit irritated. He hadn't had his nap today despite their mom's best attempts to put him down for his usual nap. "Max, pass us CJ's diaper bag. I helped mom put some snacks inside for him."

Max tore his eyes off the cheerleaders and the mascot and looked around for a moment, "Uh, what bag?"

Santana turned to look at Brittany beside her and arched a brow. "Britt, I asked you to do one thing and that was grab his diaper bag." Santana groaned. Now she would have to go to a concession stand and buy some unhealthy snack for her son, and she was trying to cut back on all his unhealthy food. CJ was getting a bit on the heavy side for someone in his age group and his pediatrician had suggested less junk food. Today had been an expensive day with Brittany basically taking the kids out for a fun filled gastric tour of the city.

Brittany smiles sheepishly. She had been too distracted texting Mike to remember. "Sorry. Let me pay?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Santana rolls her eyes. Making Brittany pay for snacks will only ensure that Brittany didn't have enough money to cover next month's rent or some other vitally important bill.

"Are you getting snacks? I need nachos." Bela rubs CJ's belly again.

Santana plucks her son from Bela's arms and deposits him on Brittany's lap. "Watch him while we go get something."

Brittany nods, glad that she can stay and ogle Mike without anyone noticing.

"You are going to have to come with me." Santana tells Bela, gesturing for her to stand.

Bela groans. She should have seen that coming. "Fine."

"I want nachos too," Max calls out a frown on his face, today was a disaster and he was angry at Jake for ruining what should be an easy win for his dad's team.

"Anything else your highness?" Santana asked, but wisely Max decides to leave it alone. She wasn't going to balance a whole tray of food for her family by herself. "Max keep an eye out for your brother." She didn't want to say she didn't trust Brittany—but she didn't trust Brittany and CJ was really being fussy. She shook her head and walked to go get some concessions with her daughter, climbing up the stairs. Hopefully there wasn't an article on some blog site about how she was abandoning Charlie or something equally ridiculous.

Brittany waited until Santana was gone before putting CJ in the seat beside her, she didn't want to accidentally drop him and he seemed to settle for a moment, as she pushed his pacifier back in his mouth. "Your mom will be back soon with food," Brittany grins when CJ smiles at this. She glances over at Max and taps his knee, "So they can still win right? Like it's not that bad right they just need to make twenty—baskets?"

Max puffed out his cheeks and stared at his aunt Brittany, she was really bad at this and it didn't even make any sense, she was dating Mike. His mom had said that Mike was probably going to be his uncle one day. Which would be super cool. "No they only need ten baskets, each basket is worth two points. Except when you're outside on the three-point line or further, then you get three points. You get one point—"

"The three-point line? That?" She points to the line at half-court and Max face-palms.

"No. That." He points to the arch "What do you and Mike talk about? You're supposed to be dating."

Brittany bites her lip; they certainly didn't talk about basketball. In fact, there wasn't much talking most of the time. Though she was sure that she couldn't inform her nephew of what she actually did. "We talk about adult things—"

"Oh, sex." Max shakes his head as the buzzer goes off to start the next quarter. Adults were weird, there were a million more interesting things to talk about then getting naked with the people you liked. Apparently he wasn't allowed to do it, he had been about to do it at school and had gotten in trouble.

"Not just that, you know—what your mom and dad talk about."

"They don't talk to each other anymore, except when they're in the same room and then they sneak off to be weird. Dad can still win this, they just need to get in the zone."

"Is he playing well? He looks super angry? You know I never watched any of his games, I did however make out with—" Brittany pauses and looks at Max. "Never mind, oh look there's Mike! Go Mike!" Brittany cheers loudly as the action starts. The play doesn't last long as the ball gets fumbled out of bounds and bounces away. "You've got this!" Brittany calls not noting that her youngest nephew had slid off his chair and had managed to escape.

Max was about to respond when he notices some toddler on the court wearing his dad's jersey toddling towards the players who were waiting for the action to start. He scowls and rolls his eyes. People should know better than to let babies just run onto the court like that. "You'd never do something like that, right—" His eyes widen as he glances to where CJ had just been sitting five minutes ago and feels his blood turn to ice.

His mom was going to kill them. Worse this was probably going to end up on Sports Center. "Aunt Britt, CJ!" Max hisses at his favorite aunt who immediately looks at where she had put CJ and her eyes widen comically.

"Fuck." Brittany swallows, Santana was going to kill her. At least the players seem to be aware of the situation and are quickly jumping out of the way for CJ who was heading straight for Charlie who was glaring at the basketball. "Fuck," she scrambles out of her seat and begins to head for the court only to have a security guard stop her. Where were they when CJ had gotten onto the court? "That's my nephew," she explains quickly pointing at CJ who had finally made it to his dad only to trip and fall at Charlie's feet. Almost immediately he made a face as he spat out his pacifier as tears welled up in his eyes and he held his arms out for his dad to pick him up.

"Daddy!" CJ whined as he began to cry. "Daddy! Daddy Up!"

Charlie snaps around in shock. "CJ. What are you doing here?" He lifts CJ up on his hip like he weighs nothing, ignoring the ref's whistles. He's already going to get a fine for this but he's more focused on his teary-eyed son.

"Daddy, hungy."

Charlie's shock melts into a proud grin. Daddy. Damn right he was the Daddy. "Anybody got a hotdog?" Charlie calls to the seats closest to him. There's some laughter and Charlie raises a brow, he hadn't been joking. "Where's mommy?" Charlie asks as CJ clings to him, as he looks around for his ex-wife. He makes a face when he sees Brittany waving at him pitifully, a sheepish smile on her face and shakes his head glancing at Mike. "No kids for you then," he says as Mike snorts in amusement.

CJ kicks a bit and grabs his father's beard forcing Charlie to look at him. "Hungy."

"Yeah, yeah I heard you," Charlie nuzzles his son his eyes flicking through the crowd for a moment as he sees his daughter carrying two trays of nachos. Santana close behind her carrying a bag of drinks and food from the concession stand. "Look CJ food!" Charlie points to his daughter and he's aware that they are both now on the jumbotron when Bela stops and stares for a moment and then shoots him one of Santana's patented death glares.

"Za! Za!" CJ looks up at Charlie and hands over his pacifier.

Charlie laughs along with his teammates who slap his back, as he heads towards Santana who looks absolutely mortified as she reaches for CJ. Charlie can't help but wink at her. "Lesson of the day? Don't trust Brittany to babysit for ten minutes"

Santana felt CJ clinging to her now bored with his father as he tried to reach for the food in Bela's arms. "Sorry," she mumbles to him.

Charlie ruffles CJ's head and smiles at her, "He's fine, I think we needed that."

Santana nods quickly, and nods her head to the score. "Get your shit together and win alright? I don't want to hear Max bitching for the next three weeks about this."

Charlie gives her a mock salute before heading back to the court. The mood is lighter now, maybe now they could actually play as a team.

"Max, Brittany you are both so grounded."

Max nods, well aware he's getting off easy.

"You can't ground me." Brittany points out, stealing one of the plates of nachos from Bela's arms.

"Fine, then I'm going to kill you." Santana grounds out. Her family just couldn't stay out of the limelight, and she had no idea what she was going to do about it. She just wanted to stay out of the public eye, was it that hard to ask for?

Brittany winces. "Maybe I'd rather be grounded."

~O~

Charlie settles into his seat for the post-game press conference. He has gotten used to these over the years but this is probably his least favorite part of the job. Sue's prepped him for every possible question but he's hoping that the last quarter will be the only thing on anyone's mind.

"How does it feel to have a career high and end the game with a half-court buzzer beater?"

"It's a great way to start the playoffs." Charlie jokes and the others in the room laugh. But Charlie's played this game for a while and knows they're all looking for the right soundbites. He scratches his chin thoughtfully. "No, seriously it's such an honor to be able to play with my teammates. We struggled for the first three quarters and sometimes it just takes a bit for the cogs to work themselves out."

"Would you say that the leaked locker room video is one of those cogs?" Someone follows up.

Charlie should have worded it more carefully, but it's better to just face these things head on. "We're all professionals on this team, despite what the video might say. The guys have given Jake a rough time, but everyone on this team is committed to bringing home a championship. I know that we're all human and we may let our egos and our pride get in the way of that. I know I certainly did."

"So you're saying you forgive Jake?"

Charlie flashes the reporter a smile, like hell he was going to forgive that little shit. "I'm saying that right now we don't have time to be angry. We have a championship to win and that's what we should all be focused on. That being said, about the video. I'd like to apologize to everyone, including my ex-wife. I said some things that I shouldn't have, and for that I am sorry. As someone reminded me I have a daughter and sisters and I would loathe for anybody to talk about her in the terms I used to describe women in general. As my ex-wife can attest to, I'm a bit thick sometimes."

"Speaking of ex-wives, that was an interesting interruption today when your son ran to you on the court. What was that about?"

Charlie laughs. "Honestly from what I can gather, his bag was forgotten in the car and CJ got hungry. Which was why Santana left to go get him something to eat. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, CJ makes sure he does whatever it takes to get food. He's not yet three, but I can promise it won't happen again—" Charlie blinks when the reporter shakes his head.

"Well I was hoping you would keep your good luck charm and make him into the new mascot."

Charlie laughs, at the idea. "I'm sure he'd love being the center of attention but unfortunately most of our games are past his bedtime. Next question?" Charlie asked turning to another reporter, he caught Sue giving him the thumbs up in the corner of his eye and rubbed his beard.