Russell Fabray studied his youngest child for a moment, she looked well. Healthy, even. Judy had mentioned that Charlie looked like she was doing well, and he could see that there was barely any stress on her face. "Congrats on your new job, I'm sure you'll make a difference in the fight for legalization."

"This isn't a left or right issue, the government shouldn't be involved in what people do in their spare time, it will help with criminal justice reform, and the war on drugs is an epic failure. If we want to get rid of the power of cartels, make legal—and give the jobs to American business owners. Or something."

"You sound like you memorized that off a cue card," Russell says flatly.

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him before shrugging, this conversation was already uncomfortable for her. And she didn't really want to deal with it. "I did. Santana helped. By the way, mom wants me to rush my proposal to her because she thinks you're going to drop dead any moment."

"She told you about the heart attack? It was minor. Nothing to worry about." Russell said dismissively. "You think Santana is going to say yes?"

"Given that I held a gun to her head and nearly killed her?" Charlie finished the unanswered question just as flatly as her father had spoken, feeling her irritation and stress levels rising. She didn't need someone to second guess her. "Well, I have a job now. I have a plan in place to deal with any mental health issues that may arise, now is just as good a time as any. I just haven't found the right moment. Santana will probably tell me to try again if I don't get it right the first time."

Russell snorted at this; it did seem like something Santana would do. "So just do a classic, candle-lit dinner, get down on one knee, pop the question."

"I just said that if I don't do it right, she'll make me do it again until I get it right." Charlie frowned, Santana was doing well and she was making sure her future wife was eating properly. She had run through nearly fifty ideas but there was always something wrong with them and her father was no help.

"It's not really that difficult Charlie, you want to get married to her. No one knows her as well as you do, and no one knows you as well as Santana does. Do something that only you could think of. That's why she's going to say yes to marrying you," Russell informed his daughter in a bored tone.

"Is that the fatherly advice for the year? Because the last time you gave me advice, you gave me a gun which I nearly killed my soon to be wife with." Charlie said with a frown. "You gave it to me even when I said I didn't want it. You insisted."

Russell frowned, he had been made aware that Charlie blamed him for some reason he still couldn't quite grasp, it wasn't as if he hadn't given a gun to each of his other daughters. He had insisted, they were all important to him and he had wanted each of them to be safe. They each knew how to shoot, and he knew that they all knew how to take care of a gun. "You were being stubborn."

"I was—" Charlie tensed up. She wasn't a child.

"If you had told me you had mental health issues, I wouldn't have given you the gun. If you had told me that the truth of why you didn't want to have a gun in the house, I would have gotten you the help you needed before your break. I deal with veteran affairs all the time; I know the stats Charlie. For fucks sake, I have sponsored more bills to give more funding to the VA then anyone else, because you were in the army. Even though I told you to go into the Air Force. You didn't tell anyone, it's not like Santana knew either Charlie. No one knew that you were struggling, so maybe it's my fault for not being father of the year, but that doesn't mean that I didn't love you and your sisters any less. I was proud of you for getting into West Point, I was proud of you for serving, I am proud of you for getting better, but for fucks sakes it wasn't my fault that you didn't tell me. So, if it makes you feel better to blame me, then blame me." Russell said with a frown staring at his daughter. "I also put the money back into your trust, don't be silly I'm not going to charge you for needing to get better."

Charlie made a face at this; this was going as well as Santana had predicted it would. Something about her father wasn't as bad as she made him out in her head, and she just liked blaming him for everything. It was more or less true, but her dad was an ass. And she hated his politics more than anything. "It's really easy to blame you."

"The left always wants to blame conservatives and label them racist war mongers," Russell said dryly. If it made Charlie feel better, he didn't mind being the one that took all the blame.

Charlie's eye twitched at his statement, "You know I'm on the right side of history, right?"

Russell rolled his eyes, "Sure. Next you'll tell me that climate change is real."

Charlie inhaled sharply, and glared at her father, only to see him flash her a small smile. "You'd better be joking."

Russell doesn't answer the question. "We were talking about your proposal? I've got a weak heart, and I've already given up hope that Frannie is going to find a nice man and settle down. I am just happy that we don't have a praying mantis situation going on."

This causes Charlie's lips to twitch upward, "I keep trying to think of all the important places that we've gone to in our relationship. There was a little cabin that we used to rent out when I got back from deployment and hide out there until I was ready to deal with the family."

"We know. I always knew when you were coming back home, the fact that you told your mother a week that was a week later, let me know that you were probably taking off with Santana. I kept your secret, because honestly I couldn't blame you."

Charlie frowned; he was ruining everything. "Next you're going to tell me that there is indeed a Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny is real."

"You're just not as sneaky and as cunning as Santana dear, and that's fine. That's fine."

Charlie scowled at her father; this was why she didn't really want to deal with him. He always did this ruining her fantasies. He was the worst. "Well I know how I'm going to propose to her," Charlie said finally.

"Oh?"

"I'm not telling you. You'll ruin it, and I'll be back to square one.