If there was one thing that Santana loathed more than anything, it was writing recommendation letters. It was the hardest part of the job, perhaps it was because she was extremely critical of those that worked under her. This wasn't a game, people's lives were on the line, and she refused to write recommendation letters for those she truly believed were not going to make excellent surgeons. She had a reputation to maintain, and she refused to let her interns drag her name down.

Sam Evans would make an adequate doctor, he could do the job, and do it well, but he was forgetful, and he would need a strong team of nurses surrounding him. She wouldn't recommend him from a job at some of the top institutes, but working in a small town hospital was exactly what Sam wanted.

Santana glances at the next name on her list, and immediately frowns when she spots Charlotte Fabray's name. She frowns slightly, any other surgeon would give Charlotte a glowing review, but Charlotte was a disaster of a surgeon. It didn't matter that Charlie had aced all of her board exams, it didn't even matter that Charlie had excellent surgical skills, not when it was obvious to everyone that the thing Charlie lacked most was confidence. Charlie second-guessed herself all the time, to the point where it was beyond problematic.

Perhaps she had been far too rough on her. Part of her problem with the blonde was that Charlie seemed incapable of getting out more than a few words in her presence. Seven years hadn't changed anything between them, if anything Charlie was still as hopeless as she had been on her very first day of residency. Charlie's lack of confidence had only made it easier to pick on her, and she had sent the younger woman home in tears more times than she could count, it had only gotten worse when she had noticed that Charlie had begun the aging process.

It wasn't fair, that Charlie of all people had managed to find her soulmate. So maybe she had made Charlie's life a bit more difficult than she needed to, by making sure that she reached the maximum amount of hours every week. She had made it impossible for Charlie's relationship to thrive, in fact she had made it damn near impossible for Charlie to thrive. She had the most overnight shifts, the most weekend shifts, every comment she had made to Charlie in the past three years had been cutting, and she could see the exhaustion written on Charlie's face whenever she saw her.

Still, even with all that history, she couldn't in good consciousness write a glowing recommendation for Charlie. It wasn't the end of the world, there were plenty of nurses and other surgeons who had worked with Charlie who would write a glowing recommendation for her. With a sigh, she turns to her computer and sends a quick email to Charlotte explaining that she wouldn't be writing a recommendation letter for her.

With that settled, she moves to the next name on the list. Roderick Meeks.

~ O ~

Rachel shook her head as she poured Charlie a bowl of cereal, she wasn't sure how it was possible considering that Quinn had started aging before Charlie, but Charlie looked like the older twin. She looked haggard and she wasn't sure when Charlie had eaten a proper home cooked meal. To suggest that everyone was worried about her would be an understatement but Charlie had sworn up and down that once she got the recommendation letter from Dr. Lopez everything that she had sacrificed for, to try and prove herself would be worth it. She would take a year off, to find her soulmate and then they would move to a smaller city, with a decent sized hospital. "I was under the opinion that they had rules to prevent burnout."

Charlie rubbed at her eyes and glanced at the time, even though today was her first day off in such a long time. It was a habit she had developed over the past seven years, not that it had ever prevented her from being late. It hadn't mattered that she lived in a shitty apartment near the hospital so she wouldn't have to worry about the commute, she was always late. Quinn and Rachel's couch was quite frankly comfier than the shitty bed that she didn't have time to check out because Dr. Lopez had placed her on call, so she'd been forced to order a bed online without testing it. It really was a shitty mattress, but it had been all she could afford. "There are, but she never breaks the rules." Charlie mumbled as she poured the almond milk into her cereal.

The sound of an incoming email causes Charlie to drop her spoon into the bowl and make a mad dash for it, today was the day that they were supposed to get their recommendation letters and while she didn't have particularly high hopes that Dr. Lopez had written a glowing recommendation, just her name would be enough to get her foot in the door in most hospitals in the country, and she wanted to move as far away from Dr. Lopez as humanly possible. Maybe she could be the first doctor on Mars. That seemed far enough.

Quinn walked into the kitchen and rolled her eyes at her twin's presence, even as she mussed up her hair before making her way to Rachel where she places a gentle kiss on her forehead, "Good morning."

"Morning," Rachel greeted with a smile, linking her hands with Quinn's hand and nodding at Charlie who was flicking through her messages. "Today's the big day."

"You mean we can finally stop hearing her bitch about Dr. Lopez, honesty given how much you talk about her, if you weren't complaining about her I'd assume she was your soulmate."

"Quinn!"

"What you'd think so too if she wasn't bitching about her all the time," Quinn says defensively glancing at Charlie's unattended bowl of cereal and swiping it, ignoring Rachel's harsh glare at her.

"Charlie deserves someone who will love and cherish her, and most importantly make her happy," Rachel pointed out, even as Quinn flashes her an amused smile, causing her to huff. She doesn't notice that the happy smile on Charlie's face had disappeared and Charlie was now a pale white. "Not some megalomaniac, who has undercut her at every opportunity, humiliated her, and worked her to the bone. That recommendation letter had better be worth it. Right Charlie?" When Charlie doesn't answer both Quinn and Rachel turn to her.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked immediately when she noticed her twin staring at her phone. When Charlie still doesn't answer she flicks her twin on the forehead, causing Charlie to finally tear her eyes away from her phone.

"She's not going to write me a recommendation letter." Charlie said quietly, her voice cracking as it suddenly hit her that all of her plans meant nothing.

"What?" Rachel's eyes widen and she immediately darts beside Charlie so she can read the email, and her eyes widen. "That—that bitch."

Quinn's eyes narrowed slightly, Charlie had spent the better part of seven years being treated like a slave, she couldn't remember the last time that Charlie had done anything for herself. She couldn't even take the time to see any of Rachel's performances. Charlie had stopped making promises to go anywhere, let alone do anything because she was always on call. "Are you okay? Can you get another surgeon to write you a recommendation letter?"

Charlie rubbed her eyes again, before shaking her head. She felt like crying, she had thought that it had meant something. She hadn't complained once, and she had done more than practically everyone else. Most of her waking moments weren't spent with family or friends or searching for her soulmate, it had been spent studying for her board exams, and going over studies to make sure that she was up to date with the latest surgical trends. She had given up seven years of her life being belittled and humiliated, and considering how powerful Dr. Lopez was, she could easily tell the other surgeon's she had worked with not to give her a letter of recommendation either. It wasn't the end of the world, she could still be hired, but she didn't want to spend the next few years working in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, trying to earn a reputation, with a shitty salary on top of everything. "I think I need to go and see her."

Rachel nodded, "Good. You've earned her recommendation, and don't let her gaslight you into thinking that you aren't an excellent doctor."