Santana had expected to have a passionate night with Charlie, the kind that left her breathless and had her eyes rolling to the back of her head, to say she was disappointed would be an understatement. But, being in Charlie's arms was just as good. She feels Charlie stir for a moment, and rolls over to look at her, and she smiles and reaches to gently wipe some of the drool that was on Charlie's lip. It's only after that does Charlie open her eyes. "Morning," she says quietly.
It takes Charlie a moment for her brain to come back online and she studies Santana's face for a moment. A smile begins to form, but it's gone just as fast as Charlie begins to pull away from Santana, "Morning," she mumbles.
It hurts, and for the first time it feels physical. Her chest feels heavy, and she can feel her eyes sting with tears that were suddenly threatening to fall. "I'm sorry. I'll keep saying it until you believe me."
The tension in Charlie's body suddenly slackens and she turns to look at Santana, and reaches for Santana for a moment. "You think that I don't know?" Charlie says quietly. "You think that this is about Frannie? I mean it is in part, but I've never wanted to break up in the first place. I've always been open that I needed you, that I would do better. I'm not a good person, and you keep acting surprised when I do bad things. You think that I don't feel what you're feeling, that my chest doesn't feel tight right now? That I didn't notice how you were dressed up last night? Do you honestly think that I don't want to take you right now, and after we're finished just hold you and tell you that everything will be alright?" Charlie's voice breaks and she rubs at her eyes. "It hurts, Santana."
Santana touches Charlie's arm and tugs her back into the bed with her, glad that Charlie makes no attempt to resist. "Bad things? Bad is finishing all my snacks and not telling me about it so I have to do shopping. Charlie. you kill people, you hurt people and you've done it with a smile on your face. You can't honestly expect me to think, that's one of your quirks." Santana frowns and looks at Charlie, praying that Charlie doesn't actually need to kill people. "I still love you, even knowing exactly what you're capable off. That doesn't mean I have to accept it. I know you can be better. You've shown that time and time again. Just like I knew you didn't kill Dani, I think I laughed at how absurd the idea even was, because I know you. I know what you're capable off, and what you're not capable of." Santana takes a deep breath. "Those pictures that they have of Dani—" when Charlie looks away and she sees a flash of shame cross her face. "Charlie."
"The bruises on her hips and legs were done during sex, the black eye and split lip were a legit accident, I assume she wanted to play spar hoping it would lead to sex, I didn't realize it at the time. She cussed me out for that one. But I'm not going to pretend I haven't laid hands on her in anger. Usually when she'd mention your name. After the wedding when I figured out, she'd been talking to you I did it again. I didn't however kill her."
Santana was quiet, Charlie was a different person with her. That much was clear, and it wasn't as if Charlie hadn't gotten angry at her before. She'd never lashed out in anger towards her not like that, and she doubted very much Charlie would ever touch her. Charlie didn't attempt to control her, every breakup they had, was relatively healthy all things considered, there were no red-flags when she was with Charlie. "When I wasn't with you the nightmares came back. Then I met Frannie and like when Quinn is around, I just feel okay like you're around. More so with Quinn, than with Frannie. When I found out she was your sister, I was going to tell you. I didn't want to tell you, but I came there that day, I didn't do it to just fuck you and run back to her. I swear I didn't, but you couldn't tell me what I wanted to hear, and after I didn't know how to tell you I was dating Frannie." She sees the hurt and anger flash through Charlie's eyes for a moment.
"If it had been Quinn it would have been better," Charlie said after a moment. "Don't think that's permission, Quinn has questionable taste in women."
Santana chuckled, "She does. At least she managed to get it right once, we have to make sure it lasts because I don't believe she'll manage to do it again. Rachel isn't that bad." Her smile fades after a moment and she looks at Charlie. "Do you remember that day, when I asked you if you'd still do it—break the law? I'm not asking you for a lot here Charlie, and I don't think I'm being unreasonable to ask you to think of the consequences of your actions. You think I want to visit you in jail? I know you don't have some compulsion to break the law, but you do it because it's easy."
Charlie studied Santana, there were people she needed to see. People who she needed to hurt. This Dani thing was costing her money she didn't want to spend, and now that her mind was finally clear, she was going after Titan. "There are things that I need to do—"
Santana's breath catches. She wasn't asking for Charlie to stop a compulsion she was asking her to stop taking shortcuts. "What is so important that you can't promise me that you'll try your hardest not to break the law?" Her tone is harsh, filled with the frustration.
Charlie stared at Santana before sighing and rolling over so she was on her back and looking at the ceiling. "If Dani's still alive, and not locked away in some Titan Industries dungeon, I'm probably going to kill her. And I still need to get you a star witness, and that may take a bit of—convincing that it's in their best interest to cooperate with you fully. And if Titan keeps sending people after me, I'm probably not going to hesitate to kill them."
Santana blinked at Charlie's response; it wasn't what she had expected. She had expected some excuse, but Charlie had been blunt with her. "You're not killing Dani," Santana said firmly. When Charlie turned her head towards her. "Let me handle her. If she's alive and is setting you up, everyone she cares about is fair game, her sick mother, Matt Rutherford, everyone who was in on it. She gets to see her life up in flames, and you get your name back."
Charlie paused for a moment before she smiles, "I like your idea better," she admits after a moment.
It's a start, and she moves so she can straddle Charlie's hips, knowing the action would have Charlie's full attention. She could work with knowing what Charlie was planning to do and talking her out of it, "I don't want you killing people Charlie, it puts you in a bad place."
Charlie hesitates for a moment before resting her hand on Santana's waist. Santana was right of course, "All I can promise is that I won't do it unless I feel threatened."
It's a compromise, it's probably the best one that she's going to get and Titan had made it abundantly clear that killing them wasn't off the table. Charlie didn't seem to mind getting her hands dirty to protect her, and that's what it would be protection. "Okay," Santana said guiding Charlie's hands lower, pausing for a moment when Charlie resists, she looks at her.
"You can't just throw me away when I do something wrong, and then come back a few years later and just hope that I'll forgive you or want you back. Because you know I will," Charlie said looking at Santana.
"I never—" Santana frowned, she had pushed Charlie away, but a part from a few phone calls from Charlie, which she ignored, she simply avoided Charlie until she could ignore the throb of the bond between them. Every time they met again, it would snap back into place and her feelings would begin again. "So, marry me."
Charlie froze, "What?"
Santana licked her lips, "I don't mean today, I don't even mean tomorrow maybe after this whole Dani thing blows over, but we should get married. I mean I've known you—I've loved you since I was teenager, and I've dated other people and I know what we have isn't exactly healthy at times, but I have never felt this strongly about anyone else. I will probably never feel this way about anyone else and at this point I'm just tired of being apart from you. And once this business with Titan is done, once they're all in jail and their company is gone, everything will be okay. We'll be okay, and we can build a life together."
Charlie stares at Santana mutely for a moment, she's not sure what to say. This was not how she had expected this to go. They were good when they were together, she was happy when she was with Santana. "If you're going to ask someone to marry them, the least you could do is get them a ring," Charlie says after a moment.
It's that gentle teasing smile that she's missed and Santana holds out her hand, using her abilities to design a simple band for Charlie. It would simply have to do for now until she could find something better, and do it better. It doesn't take long and just as she's about to say something Charlie's lips crash against hers.
The action causes her to drop the ring that she had made, as their bond, what kept them coming back to each other practically roared back to life, causing her skin to tingle. There's a sudden chill and she realizes that Charlie's used her abilities to remove her top, and she peels away. "That's handy," she murmurs against Charlie's lips, as she begins to use her own abilities creating things that she wanted to use on Charlie and have Charlie use on her.
She's not exactly sure what happens next, because all she can remember is an explosion of power, and her body being flung off the bed and onto the ground as every window, every piece of glass or mirror in the room explodes sending shards of glass everywhere in the room. She feels a sharp pain in her arm as her back hits the ground and she glances down to see a giant shard of glass embedded in her arm. She coughs at the dust that is now filling the room, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears. She rolls over wanting to curl into a fetal position when the door to the room slams open and she spots Sam running inside. His lips are moving but all she can hear is the buzzing in her ears. She tries to get her lips to move, but they like her eyes feel heavy.