Santana shifts her bag over her shoulder and glares pointedly at Charlie. "I can't believe you got us into this mess."

"Why is everything my fault, I had a surgery I was on very powerful narcotics, Sue ambushed me." Charlie says defensively.

"None of this would have happened if you had mentioned to me that you needed shoulder surgery. Sue wouldn't have ambushed you and more importantly the kids wouldn't be in this mess," Santana hisses at him.

"I didn't tell you because you would have insisted that I stop playing and get it done right away," Charlie whispers back annoyed. Santana should be ripping on Sue not him, he hadn't done anything. "Look, Max and CJ are getting haircuts, Bela gets to feel like a princess, this is not the worst thing in the world to happen to this family. It's a family photo-shoot it, it's not like we're meeting the president."

Santana rolled her eyes, "You don't even vote."

"That's because the system is rigged against the little guy, and my vote doesn't matter."

"You're currently the third highest paid athlete in the world, you are not the little guy." Santana snipes at him, rubbing her temple. She wasn't going to get into this argument she shouldn't get into this argument with him. It was totally off topic and she needed to make it known that she was against this idea.

"Semantics."

"Focus, our kids are going to be on a magazine cover Charlie."

"It's not like they haven't been on TV before, I mean I paid twenty-five thousand dollars because CJ interrupted my match and he was splashed all over ESPN for months, and you can still view it on YouTube." Charlie points out.

"That's because Brittany is irresponsible," Santana reminds him. "It was not a choice that we made, we don't want them in that world, you know how shallow it is. You know the rumors, and the shit-heads on the internet that just love to bring people down. When you have a bad game, or you choked in the finals you know what people say about you and you're an adult, these are our kids. Bela uses the internet daily. I don't want her developing a complex."

"We already monitor everything she's on, that was the rules or we put her back in the dark ages again. It's going to be okay it's a family photo Santana, I know I'm worried too. There are a bunch of weirdos out there. But we can't keep them locked in their rooms forever."

"That's exactly your plan for when Bela starts dating," Santana reminds him.

"All the more reason for her to get her fill of the spotlight now." Charlie counters.

Santana shook her head, "Fine, but I get final say on all the pictures and what they wear. I am not going to let my kids look like you dressed them on a national stage."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You put CJ in orange pants and a purple shirt today, what do you think it means?"

"He picked out his clothes himself cause he's a big boy!"

"He's a toddler, he doesn't get a say in what he wears." Santana argues and spots Sue on her phone. "As for you, any decision that involves my—"

"Our." Charlie corrects.

"When you carry a child for nine months then it can be our children," Santana snaps at him before turning to Sue who was watching them. "Any decision that involves my children will need to be cleared with me first, none of this. And no more getting him to agree to stuff when he's high. He agreed to Disney World and he hates theme parks."

Sue turns to him and Charlie nods, "Right, she's their mom she gets final say in these things," Charlie agrees.

"Fine, whatever but you need to get into hair and makeup Charlie. You still have the sit down interview to get too. How's your shoulder? Have you been doing the exercises?"

Santana turned to her ex-husband who flashes a smile, and she knows that he hasn't. "Charlie."

"I'm working out; my shoulder feels fine. Everything looks fine and like Sue said late for hair and makeup, so I'll see you later." Charlie grumbles pausing only for a moment to kiss Santana on the cheek before taking off to go to get changed.

Sue frowns ever so slightly, "Are you two together again?"

"No, we're not," Santana says bluntly wanting to nip that story in the bud before it got out. She had no idea what he was thinking, sure she had heard him promise Max that he'd never date anyone else ever again, but he hadn't mentioned breaking up with her, and as far as she knew he was still closed for business. "He forgets sometimes. Also don't worry about his shoulder, I'll have someone from the team come down on him like a ton of bricks."

"Which means that you two are sleeping together," Sue mutters to herself. Any idiot could read between the lines. It was a potential money-maker and more importantly it could help Charlie's career after he retired, and more importantly it would finally cement his sneaker line.

"We're not, last time I checked he was dating the kid's new principal on the sly, but what he does is his business." Santana points out frowning when Sue continues to stare at her.

~O~

"What about this one—"

"That one looks like CJ is about to poop his pants, and he did," Santana interrupts looking through the photos. "That one is simply a terrible picture of Charlie, he looks cross-eyed." Santana says pointing to it.

Charlie sat quietly holding CJ who had fallen asleep and was currently drooling all over his shirt. "Really Santana?"

"The only person who the camera seemed to love was Bela," Santana gripes looking at her daughter who smiles smugly at her dad.

"I think I look good in that picture," Max said pointing to the photo.

Santana chewed on the inside of her cheek and pet Max's head gently, "Of course you do, sweetheart, but the lighting makes your dad look like he's evil."

Max snickers when he sees the look on his dad's face in the picture. "You're right. Dad, what were you doing? You're barely looking at the camera."

"CJ needed a change, I got a whiff of it. How is this my fault—what about the one where I'm holding the basketball above their heads?"

"You sort of look like you're being mean to them," Santana muses. Though CJ looked absolutely adorable trying to reach for the ball and there was a kindness in Charlie's eyes as he looked at his children even Bela who looked unamused by the whole thing, it was quickly followed by the kid's dog-piling on him. "But, you're sort of a dick so it's okay. We'll put this in the keep pile."

"How many more pictures do we have to go through?" Charlie grumbles, cracking his neck. He's tired and today has been a long day.

"We're only about half-way through." Bela rolls her eyes at her Dad's impatience. They would already be through this if her dad had been able to look at the camera more than once every ten pictures. She swears that he has the same attention span as CJ sometimes.

Charlie groans. "Can't we take a break?"

"Sue said we need to have our decision tomorrow." Santana's eyes narrow. "Why? Do you need to call your girlfriend and explain that you'll be home late?"

"Girlfriend?" Max looks up at Charlie, his eyes wide in betrayal.

"First of all, I don't have a girlfriend, we just went on a couple of dates." Charlie shoots Santana a glare, "And secondly, no. We broke that off."

Santana snorts at this and goes back to looking at the photos, deciding for once to not say anything.

Bela flicks her eyes back at her parents and leans back. "Since the camera loves me, do you think that I can become a model?"

"I don't—"

Santana moves quickly stepping on Charlie's foot hard and causing him to glare at her, "No."

"But mom—"

"No."

"Daddy?" Bela asks turning to him, he was probably the only one who could override her mom on this.

Charlie looked between the two of them, he was sure Santana had a reason but his daughter was adorable and he had a hard time saying no. "Your mom and I will talk about it," he says finally.

Bela scowled, "Whenever you say that, mom always wins! I think I should totally be a part of this decision."

Santana turns to Charlie. "Charlie. She wants to be on magazine covers, and she wants to be a model. What is the only modelling event you go too?"

"Oh." Charlie grinned, the Victoria Secret fashion show was the event.

"Yes, oh," Santana rolled her eyes. He was such a pervert.

"Well I've said a million times that you should—"

"We're talking about our daughter."

"Oh—yeah, sorry Bela it isn't happening." Charlie declares firmly.

Bela throws up her hands in exasperation. "This isn't fair! You always do what she wants."

"Your mom made a very good point, you're twelve. And you look like your mom so that's a definite no." The last thing he wanted was other men looking at his daughter like that.

Santana rolled her eyes and kept flipping through the pictures, stopping at the photo of all of them. Sue had insisted that she pose for a few with Charlie and the kids. It had been fun.

"You look really pretty mom," Max speaks up. "We should use that one, it shows that we're a family."

He has a good point. That particular picture was taken after CJ tried to run away. Charlie had collared him around the waist and started tickling his sides. It would be a cute picture with just CJ and Charlie, but all the rest of them had turned to watch the commotion. Bela and Max were grinning broadly and even Santana was watching them in amusement. They almost looked—

"It's perfect." Bela agrees and Santana doesn't even have it in her to disagree, even as she mentally makes a note that she's going to have to give her publicist a head's up. It's going to start rumors, but for the first time in a long time, they do indeed look like a family. She flicks her eyes over at Charlie and sighs at the pleased smile on his face. She hated how he got like this at times.