"Santana, I know she was one of the surgeons you trained, but I don't have a use for a surgeon who can't cut. I have thousands of applications from surgeons who want to be here, who want to work here. They are all talented surgeons, and most importantly they aren't glass cannons."

Santana frowned as she studied Mercedes, she was being serious. It hadn't taken long for the entire department to hear about Charlie's condition. It was a good thing that she had made time to attend this meeting. Taking over Charlie's case load as well as dealing with her own, was proving difficult. "You're not firing her Wheezy."

Mercedes scowled at her former nickname, "You don't run this department Dr. Lopez, I do and I see no reason to keep a defective surgeon—"

"This was the first time that someone died on her table. She's done hundreds—if not thousands of surgeries and this was the first time anyone died on her table. She got rocked, that doesn't mean that you throw in the towel and give up on her Dr. Jones."

Mercedes scowled, glancing at all of Charlie's notes, they were detailed and professional. Charlie clearly took her time writing down everything important, and noting things about her patients. It was obvious that Charlie was an excellent physician—but surgeons cut, and at this moment Charlie was incapable of doing that. "She can't cut, and we have no idea how long this case of the yips is going to last. I can't keep her on the payroll, when she can't do her job."

"Her confidence is—"

"Are we even sure that this is just performance anxiety? Research has shown that there may be a neurological component to it, if that's the case she may have a case for disability," Mercedes interrupts. "What I'm trying to say is that there might not be an easy fix, and I have no idea why you're so adamant we keep her. I honestly thought you'd support my decision."

Santana made a face, if it were anyone else she probably would have, which probably made her a hypocrite. "Charlie—" she hesitates she didn't want Mercedes accusing her of bias. "I fucked up with her," she finally decides. "I was horrible to her throughout her residency, and that's putting it mildly. I mean I made excuses for my shitty behavior. She was late on her first day and it just devolved from there, and despite my best efforts, and my general disdain for her—she somehow became a really good surgeon. If I had taken the time to train her properly, instead of tearing her down and trying to break her, then we wouldn't be in this mess. She would have learned that this was just part of the job, and it's the shitty part of the job. Sometimes no matter how good you are there is literally nothing you can do. This isn't a television show where everything works out most of the time."

Mercedes paused for a moment, studying Santana carefully. She had been notorious for attempting to weed out the weak surgeons. And it generally worked, if you considered that most people couldn't handle working with her general hostility, and in all her years of knowing her, she'd never heard Santana admit to being wrong. Under normal circumstances Santana would be smug that she was right, and that all her colleagues had been incorrect in their assessment of Charlie's skills, or had ignored the pressing problem which was Charlie's anxiety. The last thing she had expected was for Santana Lopez of all people to go to bat for Charlie and attempt to help her keep her job. It made no sense unless—

"She's your soulmate," the words come out of her mouth and when Santana immediately looks away, she knows she's figured it out. Letting out a small laugh of disbelief, "You tried to break your soulmate."

"In my defense I didn't know she was my soulmate at the time—" Santana winced, the excuse sounded hollow. "She hates me. Wants nothing to do with me. If you fire her, if you send her away then she'll leave and this time I won't know where she's going, and I have no idea how much longer I can do this. How much longer I can be alone. She's right there and I can't—I can't touch her, I can't hold her, I can't—" Santana's voice breaks as the emotion she's been hiding overwhelms her.

Mercedes closed her eyes, Santana was a friend. Sometimes. Sure they had their petty rivalry back in the day but in the end Santana was simply Santana. "I can buy you a month. She needs to be back doing her surgeries in a month. I can't have a surgeon who can't cut. I just can't, we have too much work to do and she hasn't been here long enough to earn a longer grace period."

Santana nods immediately, Mercedes was being generous. Still she knew Mercedes well enough, "Can you not discuss the fact that Charlie's my soulmate? I'm trying—I have no idea how to fix it, but I'm trying to give her space and privacy to work through her feelings. I'm already in a shitty place with her, if people start gossiping about her love life. I will probably spend the rest of eternity alone, and you know what sucks more than not finding your soulmate? Finding your soulmate and knowing that she hates you."

"Fine I won't tell Kurt," Mercedes concedes, watching as Santana nods and heads to the door. "She's your responsibility though Santana. I don't really care if you two don't get along, when you scrub in she scrubs in. She doesn't have to cut at this point, but perhaps you can spend the month teaching her instead of tearing down her confidence might actually rectify this situation."

Santana groaned, Charlie was going to hate that and probably take it out on her. "Great."

~ O ~

Charlie looked up from where she was scrubbing in, and paused when she saw Santana. Their eyes meet for a moment before she goes back to scrubbing herself in, moving a bit so Santana had space. When Santana begins to scrub in she finally decides to break the ice, "Dr. Jones informed me that I have you to thank for my job."

"I only bought you time, and even then I did it for selfish reasons," Santana admits freely, sneaking a quick glance at Charlie, who freezes at that admission. "I know you don't want my help. I know you want to be free of me, but I've been waiting for you for over two hundred years, and I wasn't going to let you disappear again."

Charlie took a breath as she looked over at Santana, a month wasn't that long but it gave her time to make plans. She was already in a financial hole, and if she could manage to hold on for a month and save every penny she might be okay. "Alright."

Santana frowned ever so slightly as Charlie finished scrubbing in. "Alright?" She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she had hoped for a bit of gratitude.

"You just said you did it for selfish reasons, which seems to be your thing. Why should I thank you for being selfish?" Charlie counters without looking at Santana. "And as you said, I only have a month so I might as well keep packing my stuff and looking for an exit strategy."

"You're just giving up?"

Charlie shrugged, she would probably have to move back in with her parents, but apart from listening to her father bitch she would probably be fine. She could become a consultant, maybe she could try her hand at getting a television show and start tricking people into questionable supplements. "The only thing keeping me here is my job and in a month I won't have that—"

"I'm here," Santana insists, feeling her heart twist when Charlie turns to look at her. The look on her face isn't quite disdain, but even she could see the ridicule on Charlie's face. Her heart immediately hardens, "Fine. You win. You and I will never ever be a thing. I may not like it but I will accept it. At the end of the month you can leave, if that's what you want to do. I won't try and find you—in fact you'll never hear from me again."

Charlie narrowed her eyes, "What's the catch?"

"You do everything I tell you to do, because as of right now I'm your direct supervisor. I have trained some of the best surgeons in the world, I don't give a shit if you hate me. We aren't equals, because you can't cut," Santana sneers at Charlie as she finished scrubbing in.

"You can't—"

"I can. I'm doing your work right now because you can't cut. So either get out of my operating room and go cry to Dr Jones, or get your head out of your ass and follow me so maybe you can have a career after you leave." Santana moves to enter the operating room, leaving Charlie standing there.

Charlie stared at where Santana had just been, and clenched her fists tightly. She glances at the exit for a moment before turning around to follow Santana inside the operating room, as she ground her teeth. She absolutely hated that woman.