"My eyes are up here, Lopez," Charlie teases, watching as Santana flushes and looks back up at her face. "I mean yeah I know, the stitches are a bit much but—" Charlie gestured to the large gash on her cheek and nose, that had been stitched up neatly.
Santana blinked and glanced up at Charlie her cheeks flushing in embarrassment at having been caught for the second time already. "Sorry, sorry," she mumbles. "I just—you know trying to get my mind off meeting your parents. I mean it's not like they bite, right?" She blinks when Charlie doesn't immediately try and comfort her. "Oh god, your parents bite!"
"They don't bite," Charlie says after a moment looking at Santana a smile on her face. "My dad even promised to be nice, I mean his version of nice and a normal person version of nice are probably two separate things. I mean I hope you brought your appetite Santana, mom has made a feast. Don't worry about it, just point to what you want or tell me and I'll make sure you get some before dad and Quinn eat it all."
"Wait—when you say it like that it's like you're suggesting that you fight over food," Santana watches as Charlie slowly grins. "They eat like you, don't they?"
"It's genetic, you should see our food bill at the end of the month, plus I'm sure my family is keeping some of the nearby farmers in business," Charlie mused. "Just don't be afraid to speak up. Also, don't be afraid to stab Quinn with a fork if she gets anywhere near your food."
Santana stared, wondering if Charlie was being serious or joking but she looked serious, "Charlie, I don't know how to say this delicately—"
"I'm aware that my family is super weird and embarrassing," Charlie flashes Santana her crooked smile. "I would rather avoid this like the plague, my mother will probably tell you embarrassing stories about me but I need you to remember that she probably can't tell me and Quinn apart. So, it was probably Quinn who did all those humiliating things, while I was a perfectly behaved angel."
Santana scoffed at that, and when she feels Charlie's eyes on her she shrugs, "Look, I love you but, there is no way that I believe that you were a perfectly behaved angel." When Charlie keeps staring at her she blinks, "What?"
"You love me?" Charlie questions bluntly, watching in delight as she watches as the embarrassment slowly crosses Santana's face.
"I just mean—" Santana bites her lip nervously, glancing down at the ground for a moment. They'd only been going out for a few weeks, Charlie was going to think that she was clingy. "It's a figure of—I just mean—"
"I—" Charlie stops herself and Santana feels her own panic grow.
"It's not like you have to say it back." Santana rushes to amend quickly. Charlie's hesitation just makes her own panic worse. What has she done so wrong that Charlie doesn't even want to say it back.
"It's not that I don't want to say it back, I just—I have something to show you," Charlie says after a moment. "And I need you to not freak out, or you know scream."
"You already told me about your body Charlie," Santana reminds her.
"I wasn't you know—completely honest, that's why I have to show you something. I need you to know everything before you say that you love me and I trust you, I trust you completely, which is why I'm sharing this with you," Charlie glances over at Santana as they pull into her driveway. Her parents had wanted to get a good read on Santana before she could tell her, but she had never been patient and she wanted Santana to know her completely. "Come on," Charlie says ushering Santana into the garage and closing it behind them.
"Look, whatever it is, I mean I don't think it—" Santana immediately scrambled backwards her back hitting the door of the garage as Charlie's eyes started to glow an eerie luminescent color. "What the—"
"It's fine." Charlie rushes to explain, the luminescence dimming. "Really, I promise. I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to understand that I could never hurt you." Charlie insists taking a step forward, when Santana flinches she sighs. This, wasn't the smoothest of transitions she could have made, but she needed Santana to see that her wolf was relatively harmless. "I'm Fuzzbutt."
Santana was frozen, stunned. She had to be dreaming, or hallucinating or something. "I don't—" The door that leads into the house swings open and she spots Quinn who looked out of breath.
"Charlie, don't you—" Quinn begins, but it was too late as she watches Charlie's skin begin to ripple, as the hair begins to grow and she drops onto her hands. Charlie's clothes tear in the transformation causing Quinn to groan and immediately walks down the steps getting ready to pounce on Charlie if she attempted to do something stupid like attack Santana.
Santana stares watching in fascination and mild horror, as Charlie finishes transforming. The wolf in front of her nipping at Quinn before shaking out her fur, before sitting down and staring at her. It was obvious Fuzzbutt was waiting for her to make the first move. "I can't believe this!" Santana gasped, rushing toward Fuzzbutt—Charlie and patting her enthusiastically. "Werewolf? You're a werewolf? They exist? I was right!"
Charlie nudged Santana back down with her head and began to sniff her, before peering at her and deciding to lick her face, making sure that it was a slobbery lick. She places both her front paws on Santana's shoulders to get better access. It amuses her when Santana laughs and wipes at her face and she immediately rolls off Santana and backs up her tail wagging happily as she gets ready to pounce again. Charlie shakes her head, bowing down low in a playful stance and barks at the excitement. She jumps backward and lays down with her paws flat against the ground her tail wagging wildly.
Quinn turns to stare at Santana, "You're okay with this? How are you not screaming?" This was not the reaction that she had expected from any human and yet Santana was fine. "You're supposed to be screaming." Quinn ignores Charlie's barking and focuses on Santana, this wasn't supposed to be happening.
Santana looks up at Quinn, "Well, it explains a lot, like the eating—" Santana paused for a moment and turned to look at Fuzzbutt narrowing her eyes slightly. The implications suddenly hitting her, "You were shot, and wounded and I took care of you."
"Probably saved my sister's life, which is probably the only reason my father is even entertaining this idea," Quinn shrugs when Charlie growls at her. Quinn continues to ignore Charlie and stare at Santana, "I think this obviously goes without saying but you can't tell anyone. Not your parents, certainly not Rachel."
"Well of course I'm not going to tell Rachel. She's a huge blabber mouth. But to be fair, once she told everyone she knew, no one would probably believe her."
"That's just great." Quinn rolls her eyes, though it lacks the animosity that Santana would expect her to have. In another situation, she might have noticed, but today she was simply overwhelmed with the new revelations. "I'll go get Charlie some clothes."
"Clothes—you're naked right of course you are," Santana turns to Charlie petting her, and scratching behind her ears. She was just so damn fluffy. "I have a million questions—which can wait till you can talk again. I mean, I never would have guessed this is what you were hiding from me. I thought you were going to break up with me."
Charlie cocks her head to the side and Santana can almost feel the question coming from her girlfriend. Huh?
"I know, I was overreacting—" Charlie licks her face and Santana smiles. This was going to be awesome. "I can't believe that I get to dress you up again." At that Charlie actually whined loudly and tried to run away causing her to laugh and wrap her arms around Charlie's neck hugging her tightly. She freezes when the hair starts to recede and she can feel the bones snapping and popping as Charlie shifts, and suddenly there are two very strong arms wrapped around her.
"So, you know," Charlie murmurs in her ear, "I love you too. I just needed you to see all of me, the good the bad and the furry."
Santana grins and pulls back for a moment only to realize that Charlie was very naked in front of her, causing her to flush and to scramble back a bit, if only so she could get a better look. "And the really large," Santana nods making a gesture at Charlie's groin.
Charlie glances down and her eyes widen immediately, as she immediately cups herself and twists around so she's facing the wall. "Santana! You're not supposed to look!"
Santana was about to retort when she remembered something important, "I got changed in front of you when I thought you were just a dog!"
"I didn't look! I respected your privacy," Charlie insists. So maybe she had peeked once or twice, but she had been a wolf, it totally didn't count.
Santana laughed and hugged Charlie from behind, "I'm going to have to come up with a new nickname for you. Your butt isn't that fuzzy," Santana murmured, feeling Charlie shiver underneath her.
