"Are you sure about this?" Santana asked Charlie for the umpteenth time.

"No." Charlie admitted honestly as she helped Santana with her luggage. She looks at Santana and flashes her a small smile, "I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, but this time it's going to be different right? I'll know exactly where you are. You're not leaving in the dead of the night, and email is a thing which—"

"I'll write to you every day," Santana promises immediately.

"Good," Charlie nods, making a mental note to check her emails daily. She hesitates for a moment, "It's only six months, it'll give us both some space to figure some stuff out, and when you get back—if the emails go well you don't have to stay at Mercedes place, I have two bedrooms." Charlie points out.

Santana nearly dropped her carry-on bag in shock as she looks at Charlie who flushes and immediately looks away. "You want to move in together?"

"It's a spare bedroom," Charlie reminds Santana, even though it was a lie. She had converted that bedroom into office space, she didn't mind putting a bed in there for Santana to use.

"You want to move in together," Santana grins at Charlie reaching gently to touch her hand with her pinky. It was a massive step for them.

"Shut up," Charlie grumbled. "I can still change my mind."

Santana nodded, trying to keep her face straight as she double checked to make sure she had her boarding pass and passport. "Of course, but you do know that you won't be able to resist me," Santana points out.

"Don't flatter yourself," Charlie huffed, even though she had a sneaking suspicion that she would cave the moment she and Santana began to live together. "Remember, all of this depends on how the next few months go but I want to miss you. I think that's why this time is different. I'm not really angry and like I said I know where you'll be and writing gives us time to collect our thoughts and think about things before we say them."

"Are you sure your parents aren't going to hate me for blowing off brunch?"

"Well they don't hate me and I blow off brunch all the time unless there is going to be an unlimited amount of bacon, and there never is," Charlie points out. "It's six months, and what my mother wants is for me to fix my relationship with you and that's what we're doing. We're just not doing it her way, because starting a relationship off with lies and subterfuge is definitely not a good idea."

"No, it isn't," Santana agrees. "We will go to brunch with them when I get back. I want them to like me, and I know I already have an uphill battle."

"You performed a triple bypass on my father, and he's still alive thanks to you. Pretty sure my mother likes you more than she likes me. Quinn is relatively neutral all things considered, I think that has more to do with Rachel. My family will like you Santana, because I like you. Anyway, we need to get you to the airport, before you miss your flight. You've got everything?"

"Yeah, and you'll ship Mercede's key back to her?" Santana asks as she pulls the key off her keychain.

"Yeah, I'll send her a message and get her address before shipping it to her," Charlie says as she closes the trunk of her car and looks at Santana. The past couple of days had been nice, it had been a bit easier. "See you in six month's Lopez."

Santana grabs the trolley that has all of her belongings on it and nods, "Don't be late to pick me up Fabray."

Charlie snorted and waved Santana off, there was a heaviness in her heart but she pushed it aside. Six months was six months. This was their reset, and she hoped that they managed to get it right.

~ O ~

Emailing each other once a day, only lasted about two weeks. The daily emails turned into emails every couple of days, before becoming once a week before finally tapering off, to an email every couple of weeks, when something important happened. Time moved on but their bodies remained the same. But for the first time in a long time, Charlie didn't feel anxiety whenever her thoughts shifted to Santana, though she would feel a strange sensation in her chest. She refused to acknowledge the fact that it was probable that she missed Santana.

Hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks, it was easy to keep herself busy and to keep her mind on relatively neutral things. It was also easy to avoid her parents and twin. Till she gets an email with an itinerary attached to it, and a simple message to not be late. She can't help the relief she feels when she sees the simple message and even though it's just Santana and it's the middle of the night. She gets dressed up, putting on her best clothes and making sure to get her hair done during the day. She needed to put her best foot forward, this time.

So even though she feels a bit ridiculous wearing one of her fancier pant-suits, she makes it to the airport, early double checking to make sure that Santana's flight was still on time. She finds a place to park and heads in, wondering if she should have bought flowers, or something. But she finds a place to sit, and simply waits for her soulmate to arrive. She can't help but fidget until she finally stands up when she spots another wave of people exiting their gate. It doesn't take long for Santana to exit the gate and for their eyes to lock.

Santana moves first, clearing the distance between them with her luggage which she drops by Charlie's feet and pulls her mate into a hug, inhaling deeply. "Hey."

"Hey," Charlie greets wrapping her arms tightly around Santana for a moment and swallowing. "Looks like you missed me Lopez."

Santana rolls her eyes and pulls back so she can have a look at Charlie, she looked healthy, she looked good. "Says the person who got all dressed up to impress me," Santana fires back, flashing Charlie a small smile. "No jam this time, I see," Santana says, reaching to adjust Charlie's blazer.

Charlie huffed at the teasing and gently placed her hands on Santana's wrists ever so slightly, "Can I kiss you?"

Santana's nose crinkles ever so slightly and she looks around. "Now?" When Charlie shoots her a relatively patient look, she bites her lip, "Yes, but you should know I'm starving. I haven't eaten any food since I left—" Charlie's lips are against hers, it's a quick kiss, but that's all it takes for all the cells in her body to light up and just like that it's over as Charlie pulls back.

"So, you want to grab a burger or some pizza before we head home?"

Santana blinks and looks at Charlie for a moment, her cheeks were slightly flushed and she pulls Charlie back in for another kiss. Things between them could still be difficult once they left the airport, but Charlie had kissed her. Even when they were apart, they would age, it was an indication that Charlie was finally willing to take this step with her. Only time would tell if their relationship would be good or not, and they had the rest of their lives together to figure it out. "Pizza sounds good."

"Cheap beer?"

"Decent beer, you do know that there is better tasting beer than the crap you drink?" Santana points out with a shake of her head, watching as Charlie reaches to help her with her luggage. "You shouldn't be cheap when it comes to alcohol. Don't worry I'll buy the beer you can buy the pizza."

"Alright," Charlie said, extending her hand for Santana.

Santana glances at the outstretched hand for a moment before taking it and following her mate out of the airport. This was what she had always wanted, and now she had it, and she could only vow to herself that she was going to make Charlie happy and comfortable for the rest of her days.

A/N: I feel that some of you won't be satisfied by this ending, I mean it's been a few years since I wrote this, and I think this was around when covid first started, and I just lost the urge to figure out a proper ending.