"Enter," Santana answered the rather firm knock on her door, without looking up from her paperwork. She really needed a template of sorts so she could get it done and go home. She glances up to see who it is, and pauses when she spots Charlie standing at the front of her desk. She was the last person she had expected to see. "How can I help you Dr. Fabray?"

Charlie took a breath to calm herself, "I want to know why you won't write me a letter of recommendation. I'm a better surgeon than Sam Evans and Roderick Meeks. I got better marks on my boards then they did. I knew you disliked me, but sabotaging my career is rather petty."

Santana blinked, there was a fire in Charlie's eyes that she hadn't seen in the seven years that they had worked together. She sighs and looks at Charlie, "I understand you're upset Dr. Fabray, but I haven't sabotaged your career. I am refusing to give you a recommendation letter, I am not preventing any of the other doctors or nurses from writing you recommendation letters. Have you asked anyone else?"

"What?"

"Have you asked anyone else to write you a reference letter?"

"No—"

"And yet you're here accusing me of sabotaging you? If you had actually been on time for orientation that day you would know that it is not a given that I give out recommendation letters, Dr. Fabray. I thought long and hard about whether you deserved it, and while I agree your surgical skills and general knowledge are above and beyond Dr. Evans and Dr. Meeks, I was concerned about what you lacked that they had."

Charlie gritted her teeth as she glared at Santana. "And what is that?"

"Confidence. From day one I've watched your anxiety rule over you and while I'm sure that you're angry enough to barge into my office, thus overriding your anxiety. This is one day. I've watched you for seven and I assure you that I'm not comfortable giving you my stamp of approval."

Charlie's right eye twitched, and she wheels around ready to march out and go and find the next best surgeon in the building when she stops at the doorway. "It's very hard to be confident and feel good about yourself, when you're being bullied and belittled constantly."

Santana watched Charlie storm out and she rolled her eyes. Charlie was being overdramatic, she hadn't been that bad of a boss. She also hadn't sabotaged Charlie. She would make sure that some of the better surgeons filled out recommendation letters for her.

~ O ~

"I heard that you're not writing Dr. Fabray a recommendation letter."

Santana rolled her eyes as she pulled her hair back, as she continued to scrub in for surgery. "Seriously? This isn't the first time I've declined to give someone a recommendation letter. Why in the world is this the latest gossip?"

"Because she's talented," Sebastian answered as if it were obvious. "Everyone knows that she's probably just as good as you are, so it's a hot topic. Nearly every surgeon she's asked and a few of the nurses are willing to write her an excellent recommendation letter. She's super popular on the ward. She makes the nurses feel super important by asking for their advice and opinion. Always asks the surgeons what she can do better—plus the schedule you had her on, she's probably the hardest worker you have. Everyone is talking."

"I have my reasons for not giving her a recommendation letter Sebastian. And I didn't sabotage her career, despite what she thinks. I haven't told you not to write her recommendation letter, and so we're clear. My experiences with Charlie are not the same as your experiences."

"Yes she's terrified of you, probably because you treat her like shit. I mean everyone knows you're a bit of a hardass Santana, but I thought with you aging you'd finally be happy."

Santana froze, "What are you talking about I haven't aged."

"I am literally staring at a grey hair right now Santana, and I can see the little wrinkles around your eyes. You've been aging, well but still aging." Sebastian went back to scrubbing himself in before pausing and turning to look at Santana who had stopped moving. "You didn't know? Actually, that explains a lot, like why you haven't thrown a party, or you know introduced me to your soulmate."

Santana immediately ran a hand through her hair, Sebastian was an asshole but he wouldn't lie about something like this. How long had she been aging for? It couldn't be a patient, to age like she had her soulmate would have needed to be in her life for a long time. "Who's aged in the past that hasn't already found their soulmate?"

"No one on staff that I've noticed. I mean except for Dr. Fabray. How funny would that be? You've wanted a soulmate for so long, that you missed all the signs that she was your soulmate and spent the better part of seven years tormenting her, and cutting her down," Sebastian snorted at the idea.

Santana's body went rigid, Dr. Fabray? Her soulmate? "Don't be daft, it might be my new neighbour or something. I'll swing by the lab today and see if they can pinpoint how long I've been aging for. And ask HR to figure out who else has aged in that time."

"Sounds like a plan, I really hope it's not Dr. Fabray because I don't see how that relationship is going to go in your favor. Like you may have fucked up so badly that she will want nothing to do with you."

Santana ignored him, maybe it was one of the nurses that she worked with. Hell at this point she'd even take a janitor. How long had she been aging and why hadn't anyone mentioned it to her sooner. Really the only person who stood out to her was Dr. Fabray and she was sure that she'd burned that bridge. At least it wasn't too late to write her a reference letter, just in case.

~ O ~

"Congratulations are in order Dr. Lopez. You've been aging from between 5-10 years. Which means that your soulmate is still in your orbit. However as you know the moment that your soulmate leaves your orbit you will stop aging again until you find them. Your cells are dividing, your telomeres are shortening. You just need to figure out who has been in your life for that long and who has aged. It shouldn't be that difficult. As far as I know the only staff member at the hospital that has been down to see me within the past 5 years or so is Dr. Fabray."

"What? That can't be accurate."

"You're right it's not exactly accurate, but she's the only person who hasn't found her soulmate. She swings by every six months or so to see if she is still aging. She is, should I inform her—"

"If you so much as tell her anything I promise I will have your license Artie. HIPAA violations are exceptionally serious. Besides I'm her mentor and that would be incredibly inappropriate."

Artie rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I think she could do much better than you. So I honestly hope it's someone else in her life. I heard you didn't even write her a recommendation letter. I mean for fucks sake, no one said anything to you because you're Dr. Lopez, and you bring in a lot of money to this hospital. They really were waiting for her to complain to someone, but she never did."

Santana's temper flared up immediately, as she hopped off the examination table. "I don't know why the fuck everyone is up in my business. I have every right to not give her a recommendation—"

"I mean yeah, you do. Except she's just as talented as you are, and she's a quarter of your age. And when you're not around she's not the meek little girl that you see. She's afraid of you and you've been horrible to her and what's worse is that she's probably your soulmate. I'd hate to be in your shoes."

"Shut up Artie," Santana snaps at him and sighs. "You don't know that she's my soulmate, no one does. She's probably found her soulmate—"

"She saw me last week, to check. She has not," Artie said with a shrug.

Santana rolled her eyes, yelling at him about HIPAA violations would be a waste of time, still she needed to figure out what her next move was going to be. He was right there was a good chance that Charlie hated her, and even if they were soulmates she wouldn't want to be with her. "Shit."