"You can finish up here can't you?"

Charlie flicked her gaze away from watching Santana work to look up at her soul mate, who was staring at her with an impatient look on her face. She glances back at the person on the table in front of her, Santana had finished with. A quadruple bypass was nothing to sneeze at and Santana had been working non-stop for the past three hours, harvesting arteries and veins from the leg, opening up the breastbone. There was a military precision in watching Santana work, born from doing this for over a century.

"Fabray," Santana repeats looking at Charlie. "Are you capable of finishing up or do I have to do another aspect of your job as well."

Charlie bristled, and turned to look at Santana, she had been so engrossed with watching Santana work, that she had almost forgotten that she really couldn't stand being around Santana for any length of time. "I can close up."

Santana studies Charlie for a moment, for the past two days Charlie had watched her wordlessly, assisting by doing the job of an OR nurse. After a second she takes a step back and gestures to the patient. "Show me. Make yourself useful."

Charlie scowled underneath her mask and clenched her fist as she took Santana's spot, ignoring the looks that the two of them were getting from the nurses and the anesthesiologist, as she picks up some sternal wires and looks at one of the nurses, and nods her head as she begins to work, her hands steady as she begins to close up the patients chest. She could practically feel Santana's eyes boring their way into her soul, but she ignored it and just kept working. She would never be as quick and precise as Santana was, but she took her time, she wanted minimal scarring after the fact. Finishing up she turns to look at Santana, who inspects her work. "Well?"

"Barely adequate." Santana informs her, shaking her head. She makes no attempt to undo Charlie's work as she decides that the surgery is over, and she should move onto the next patient. "Come along, for the next surgery you are going to talk me through all of the steps you would take if you could cut."

Charlie scowled, and immediately refused to budge even as Santana began to leave the operating theater. "Barely adequate? Are you fucking kidding me? What the fuck did I do to get a barely adequate when that was damn good work," Charlie scowls. "Do you just get off on putting me down to make yourself feel good?"

Santana stopped moving and turned, noting the tension in the room as the nurses began to give them space. "You've closed people up hundreds of times, you've cut people open hundreds of times. There should be a level of familiarity at this point Charlie, you aren't a first year resident, you aren't some fresh out of med school graduate, where I expect them to take their time. Until you start acting like someone who has seven years of experience under her belt, all you'll hear me say to you is barely adequate." Santana shakes her head and studies Charlie for a moment. "For someone who claims to despise me as much as you do, you seem to crave my approval."

Charlie's cheeks flush in embarrassment, "I don't need—"

"Clearly you do, otherwise you wouldn't have picked this fight with me. I have never once coddled any of my residents. What makes you so special that you think deserve special treatment from me?"

"I'm your—" Charlie's lips snap shut and she swallows, watching as Santana raises a brow at her. She was already the subject of the hospital's gossip machine and she certainly didn't need more people talking about her behind her back.

For one brief second Santana hesitates, Charlie had nearly publicly acknowledged that they were soulmates. "You have made it abundantly clear that it doesn't matter. I'm making it clear to you that I will not coddle you, I will not baby you. I am however treating you like I would treat any other resident that didn't show up to work late on the first day, with a stain on their shirt."

Charlie flushed in embarrassment, she knew she hadn't made a great first impression. "Would it kill you to not be a sanctimonious prick?" Charlie muttered under breath, wincing it was louder than she had meant it and when Santana glares at her she immediately shrinks away.

"No. It wouldn't kill me to be a bit nicer to you. It might however kill a patient," Santana informed Charlie bluntly. "The whole reason why I'm here, why I'm doing your work is because you killed a patient. I've tried to be nice to you. I tried to coddle you, I even tried to be supportive, and what was your response?" When Charlie looks away she shrugs her shoulders. "You want me to say good job, then pick up that scalpel and go and save someone that even I would have trouble saving."

Charlie swallows as she watches Santana storm away, and closes her eyes and takes a deep shaky breath. She had moved to get away from Santana, to get away from her abuse. The end of the month couldn't come fast enough.

~ O ~

'I think she gets off on torturing me!'

Quinn sighed, wondering why she was the one that Charlie had chosen to bitch at. Rachel was currently between shows, and was bored. Their mother was always free to listen to Charlie bitch as well, if anything their mother wanted Charlie to call more. "Probably," Quinn agrees absentmindedly.

'I think I'm going to resign tomorrow, I thought moving here meant that I'd never have to deal with Dr. Lopez again. I certainly didn't think I'd be treated like I was when I was a resident. Do you think I could move in with you and Rachel until I figure out what's next?'

Quinn blinked and finally looked at her phone, "No," Quinn says firmly, suddenly glad that Charlie had called to whine to her instead of calling Rachel. If it were up to Rachel, Charlie would have moved in the first day that she found out that Santana was working at the same hospital.

'Lucy—'

"Don't." Quinn says firmly and glances at the timer on her phone, wincing when she sees how much time has passed by. "You've spent the past forty-nine minutes complaining about Dr. Lopez, and none of your complaints are the same as last time. She's your soulmate, and right now she's helping you, and you're being stubborn. Take her help, because right now you need it. Once this month is over, fuck, and get on with your lives as soulmates."

'But—'

"Charlie, she's your soulmate. At the end of the day she's your soulmate. I get why you're upset, and I think you have every right to be, but she's your soulmate and she's helping you even if you're too thick-headed to see it. Plus, she's giving you what you say you want and that's freedom from her. You don't want that, we both know you don't want that or you would have quit a week ago. Either have sex with her now or have sex with her at the end of the month, just shut up about Santana!" Quinn grunted ending the call. She rubs at her temples for a moment before picking up the phone to call Rachel to let her know not to take pity on Charlie.