Charlie knocked on the hospital door, and popped her head inside to see her mother fussing over her father, attempting to fluff his pillow. "I brought a card that I bought at the hospital gift store. I was thinking a get-well balloon but we really need to stop using the world's supply of helium on dumb shit like balloons, which inevitably end up in the ocean and swallowed by whales." Charlie explains as she enters the hospital room and flashes her father a small smile.

"Hippy," he grunts at her, wincing in pain.

Charlie rolled her eyes at the insult and gave her mom a quick side hug, before grabbing her fathers chart and taking a quick look at it. "Has your doctor and or surgeon informed you of what to expect?" Charlie questioned. "I mean I could tell you right now but I know how you feel about taking medical advice from hippies."

Judy's eyes widen and she turns to look at her husband who snorts at the comment and then winces in pain, "Don't tease your father dear, he just had major surgery."

"I can see that. A double—no triple bypass from the looks of it," Charlie states plainly, before putting the chart down and looking at her father. "You really do need to see the inside of a gym."

Russell scowled at his youngest daughter, "I've already been over this with—"

"His doctors," Judy interrupts and gives her husband a look.

"Are we really going to pretend that I didn't just read his chart and see my soulmate's name written there?" Charlie asks her mother, flatly, she looks at both parents. "You meddled."

"Your mother meddled. I thought you should handle it on your own," Russell says, immediately throwing his wife under the bus. He had voiced his opinion early on and frequently when Judy had mentioned her plan to him. He wasn't against Charlie's soulmate operating on him, Charlie had sworn she was the best cardiac surgeon in the country numerous times, he had been against the subterfuge.

"Russell," Judy said reproachfully.

Russell scoffed, "Your mother is putting me on a diet, no red meat, no wine, no alcohol, just hippy rabbit food. You're a doctor—"

"You do need to eat better and instead of going to the gym maybe you and mom can go on walks around the neighborhood and you can take up golfing again. You could stand to drop a few pounds, also mom if you want dad to not just sneak out and eat whatever he wants, then work with a dietician to put things in moderation, you do not need to eat a steak every day dad," Charlie lectures before placing the card with all the other well wishes.

"Charlie, she's your soulmate and she saved your fathers life, I think that warrants a second chance," Judy said gently. "You may not believe this but your father wasn't exactly a good person when I met him, he was quite rude. It was hardly romantic."

"Judy."

"I gave him another chance and I've spent the past thirty years loving him, and despite my initial impression he has always been good to me. You could have a life with Santana that makes up for the wrong she did when you first met, even if it doesn't work out Charlie you can honestly say that you tried to make it work."

"If I ask her out for drinks, will you stop meddling?"

"Of course!" Judy insists.

"We both know that she won't," Russell corrects and looks at his daughter. He had heard about some of the things that Santana had done to her, by all accounts he needed to be firmly against this union, but he suspected that Charlie had already been made aware that Santana was going to be operating on him. "All because she probably saved my life doesn't mean that you have to give her the time of day."

Charlie was quiet for a moment, before picking up her phone and shooting Santana a text. "I know that, I know that I don't have to do anything. I think I want to. If only because I would rather that you and Rachel stop treating my life like it's some romantic comedy. It's not." It's not even a second later that she gets a text from Santana confirming that she would be there.

"Did she say yes?" Judy asks.

Charlie glanced at her mother, "She did—"

"Excellent, we'll have to get you some new clothes that will make you look desirable," Judy interrupts.

Charlie blinked, and looked down at herself, she thought that she dressed relatively nice. She might not be as fashion forward as her mother but she could dress herself. "It's just—"

"It's very important that you make a good first impression Charlie," Russell said, throwing his daughter under the bus. He smirks at her when she turns to look at him. Judy was hovering and it was annoying him and possibly harming his recovery. This would give her something to do other than fretting.

~ O ~

Santana glanced at the clock on her phone once again. Either she had been stood up or Charlie was late, she would truly like to believe it was the latter. Charlie had a notorious history of being late to things, but she couldn't stop the little voice in her head that whispered that Charlie had stood her up. That this was her attempt at payback.

The voice isn't loud enough to actually make her get up and leave. For all she knew, this could be Charlie testing her to see if she would leave or not. And if that was the case then she'd stay here nursing her drink, and debating if she should text Charlie again to see if they were still on. She'd already attempted 20 minutes ago and had received no response. She takes another sip and looks around, it wasn't exactly a dive bar that Charlie had invited her too, but—

Her phone buzzes and she immediately grabs it and looks at it, a relieved smile as she answers the call. "Hey, are we still on?"

'That's a polite way to ask if I'm going to show up. A surgery ran late, she nearly died. I managed to pull off a Hail Mary though, and she should be fine.' Charlie explains. 'Unfortunately I'm not heading across town for drinks tonight, I'm covered in blood, grime and sweat and my feet hurt from standing for like 6 hours.'

Santana paused because she hadn't even considered that Charlie had a surgery that ran late, "So a rain check then?" She asked, trying not to sound disappointed. There was silence on the other end and she can practically hear the gears in Charlie's head as she thought about the question.

'I feel like pizza, and beers. Like cheap shitty beer that doesn't really taste that great, but it just kind of goes well with like a greasy pizza. And then I want an adult milkshake.'

"An adult milkshake?" Santana questioned raising a brow.

'I'm inviting you over and you're focused on the adult milkshake?'

Santana opened her mouth to retort before deciding against it, Charlie was still keeping her end of the bargain and her apartment was probably far more intimate than a shitty bar. True, she was used to more upscale things but questionable pizza, and shitty beer seemed like Charlie was allowing her a glimpse of the real her. "You don't eat weird pizza do you?"

'Weird pizza?'

"Like covered in bacon or something, I mean I noticed that you eat quite a bit of bacon and—"

'So that's a no. Alright, let's aim for something—'

"I didn't say no. I'm just asking do I need to buy my own pizza because I don't want to eat your artery clogging pizza. I just did a triple bypass on your father, and I'm too much of a control freak, so when you inevitably need one I'd want to do it, but it's unethical for me to operate on my soulmate," Santana points out. She hears Charlie snort on the phone and she smiles.

'Text me what you want on your pizza, and I'll get half and half alright?'

"That sounds good to me, do I need to pick anything up?"

'Cheap beer. I'll text you the brand and my address as long as you promise to never just show up, unless I invite you.'

Santana smiles, if the night went as well as she hoped then she could wait. "I promise."