Santana glanced at her phone, checking the time, it was just a little after noon, and she bites her lip. She wasn't sure what she had expected but there hadn't been a single text or call all day from her fiancée. The word brings a small smile to her face as it hits her that she's finally engaged to Charlie of all people. It had been a long road to get to this point, and she was certain that they were skipping steps, but ever since they had lived, she had imagined that this day would come, and besides they were still a long way off from actually getting married. Charlie hadn't been exonerated yet, and she knew her mother would never accept their marriage if she thought that Charlie had murdered Dani.
She reaches for her phone, hoping that Charlie hadn't decided to sleep the entire day away. She had been exhausted in the morning and it had taken a lot of prying and promises to make Charlie let go of her so she could get ready for work. She suspected that Charlie had done something, while she slept, but when she had pressed, she had gotten some sleepy gibberish from Charlie. She would check in and then get back to work, and she'd swing by her parent's place to grab an overnight bag before she stopped back at Charlie's place.
Before she can call Charlie, there's a sharp knock on her door, and she looks up to see Jesse St. James at her door, and she slowly puts her phone down. "What's going on?"
"Do you remember that strange case we had? It was a few months ago, that Asian girl who disappeared for awhile and came to us with a story of how she was in a prison of some sort and she got rescued?"
"Yeah, she moved back to Japan, didn't she?" Santana reminded him.
"We have a woman, who just came in and asked for immunity, she's claiming whistleblower status. She's spinning this story that her company kidnapped hundreds of children and experimented on them."
Santana touched her phone, well that certainly explained what Charlie had been doing last night. She wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss Charlie or strangle her. Though she suspected that her soon to be wife had put the fear of god into Sue Sylvester. "I thought you didn't believe in conspiracies."
"She has pictures of kids, many of which have been missing Santana, she has documents, emails, and folders upon folders. It's a treasure trove of information, and some of her information checks out. Get this, Charlie Fabray of all people is in that folder. It's an all hands-on deck situation Santana, there are so many documents to sort through, don't think anyone is leaving the office tonight. Whoever takes this case, is going to make a name for them self."
Santana bit her lip, by all account she needed to recuse herself, but she wanted to see this through, and she gets up. "I want to help anyway I can."
"I think most of the case has already been laid out for us. Murder, assault, conspiracy, we might even get them on RICO charges, we want this as public as possible, but there is probably quite a bit Classified. It's probably best right now that we keep everything quiet and start sending out investigators. You know Charlie Fabray don't you, could you convince her to come in?"
Santana bit her lip, Jesse knew her as a kidnap victim, and it would come out. She couldn't risk tainting the case. "I want to help Jesse. I do, but I am going to need to recuse myself," Santana said finally. "I'm sure you'll find my picture in one of those files anyway, and how do you think I met Charlie. We've been on and off since we both escaped. It'll be ideal if I don't handle anything on the case."
"You—"
"I lied to the police, because I didn't trust them. Charlie told me she was picked up by cops, and she hadn't even done anything. I was picked up by an Uber driver. I knew it was some shadowy organization, who clearly had power and had no problem murdering and torturing children. I didn't want to be found or have my family killed. I need this done by the book because we lost so many people. Mostly poor kids, I may have been the exception because of who my parents were, but Charlie didn't have anyone looking for her. So, everything needs to be by the book."
Jesse mulled over her words, "So when Dottie came in—"
"I knew she was telling the truth."
"And the vigilante?" Jesse frowned, there was so much to unpack he'd need to go to
"I don't know anything about a vigilante. There was an explosion and we escaped. Maybe the vigilante did it, I'm not sure but I never saw anyone," Santana said, it would be easier to keep her lying down to a minimum. There had been an explosion that had killed everyone and that's how they had managed to escape. "I will testify to all of that, if that's what you need. Everything that happened to me."
"Good—good," Jesse said they really could have used Santana's help on this. "We need to go the criminal division chief with this information. We'll also need to work with our counterpart in the Southern District of New York, but for now, we need to gather as much information as we can while keeping this quiet. Go see the boss, and then take the rest of the day off. We're going to need you in a different role Santana, and that's corralling Charlie Fabray. I'd rather make her the face of this then you. She's already in the public eye and I don't think you want to be known as that—"
"Woman who got kidnapped and tortured," Santana finishes for him. He was right she didn't want to be known as that, and she knew if she asked Charlie to do it, she would take that bullet for her in a heartbeat. "She's not going to want to testify unless this whole thing about Dani is cleared up. I know she didn't kill her. She thinks Titan had something to do with it. If they do, then we need to get the charges dropped, and she'll be more open about this."
Jesse nodded. That made sense, things he had heard about that case that hadn't made sense were now beginning to. "I'll start the interrogation. She's basically refused a lawyer. But she has asked for immunity."
"People like her shouldn't get to cut deals with the government when they've destroyed hundreds upon hundreds of lives," Santana said coolly as she got up.
"'I'll keep that in mind. Let's go see the boss and then you should head home, and let your family know what's going on. I know you can work on other things, but this is a first for us and I'm not sure what the protocol would be in this."
~ O ~
Charlie groaned as she tugged on her blanket, she'd done jumps before but clearly doing a jump to New York and back had done some damage to her body. She was tired and was exhausted and she really couldn't seem to get warm. She had slept through most of the morning but she needed to get up and actually do something. She needed to make sure that Sue had done what she had asked of her. Then she needed to deal with the whole Dani situation. She tries to get up but her body protests and she flops back down on the bed. She wanted Santana, but it was the middle of the day and Santana had to work. She wasn't sure if she had given Santana a key to her place, and she really didn't want to get up to open the door for her if she chose to show up again tonight. Maybe she should try and reach for her phone and tell Sam to give Santana his emergency key. She closes her eyes and tries to fall back asleep.
"You look like shit."
The words cause Charlie to open her eyes and she spots Santana pulling off her jacket and kicking off her shoes at the entrance of the door. "I feel like death," Charlie admits, doing her best to scoot over so Santana had some space to lay down. She could feel the warmth from where she was laying in the bed. She gives up after a second, when her body doesn't respond the way she wants. When Santana sits on the bed, she immediately wraps her arms around her waist and with all the energy she had left she pulls Santana towards her, feeling slightly refreshed.
"Sue Sylvester showed up to my office today, hobbling on crutches and did a massive document dump and asked for immunity. You wouldn't have had anything to do with that would you?" Santana asked as she gently ran a hand through Charlie's hair, gently rubbing the top of her head.
"It was self defense," Charlie mumbled immediately, shivering slightly and pulling Santana tighter. "Did she shit a brick when she saw you?"
"No, this isn't my case, I'm a witness," Santana explains feeling Charlie stiffen at the words. "She had documents Charlie and if my face showed up in any of them—I had to recuse myself, but since I work there, I do have some input and I will testify. But they want to talk to you."
"I didn't want you to testify," Charlie murmured. "I did all this so you wouldn't have too."
"I want too. I can stand by your side Charlie. You don't always have to protect me," Santana says shifting so she can get comfortable. "I can protect you too."
"I'll testify," Charlie promises with a lazy yawn.
Santana's eyes widen at Charlie's promise. "Are you sure? I mean with all your legal troubles—" Charlie's hand covered her mouth and she rolls her eyes at the action.
"I'll have a lawyer. I'll do it with you, now shush Santana, I want to sleep, and you're really warm," Charlie murmured.
Santana smiled softly, and gently massaged Charlie's scalp. She was worried Charlie's body was cold, freezing. But she didn't seem to be in any danger, still she needed to be ready to call her father in case Charlie took a turn for the worse. But until then she'd just be there for Charlie, she had kept her part of the bargain. The dark chapter of their lives was finally entering the climax and once she got her hands-on Dani, they'd be in the clear. Maybe she'd retire and live with Charlie on some warm beach somewhere. They could be happy, maybe they'd get a dog. Maybe one day they'd adopt a kid together and just be a family.