"I like this one too."
Santana rolled her eyes as she made a note on her tablet. She had needed to update her menu for the new season, and she had no idea why she had agreed to let Charlie help. "Charlie, I said you needed to pick your favorite. I can't afford to have all of them on the menu."
"You said to pick which one you'd pay money for," Charlie corrected. "I'm telling you I'd pay for them all."
Santana shook her head, of course Charlie would. Charlie really had no concept of money. She wasn't sure how to budget properly, she just seemed to think that the food would always be there. She seemed to be pretty good with numbers and figures, but she had been inconsistent when it came to making Charlie pay for food which she took from the bar. "You really need to learn how to budget better," Santana remarks before nodding towards the dishes. "Which one would you pick for dinner tonight?"
Charlie made a face, she disliked when Santana pinned her down like this, but she looks at all three dishes and pushes the Mac and Cheese squares towards Santana, they lovely bits of bacon inside of them, and they were deep fried. "I like this one."
"Because it has bacon in it?" Santana asked flatly and is rewarded with a wide grin from Charlie. Once again, she finds herself rolling her eyes. "I'm definitely going to need a second opinion then."
"Why?" Charlie huffed at this.
"Because your taste buds can't be trusted," Santana retorts simply. "Plus, you don't understand money. If I asked you for all of your money, you'd just give it to me. That's why you don't get to go shopping on your own Charlie. Someone is going to scam you of all your money." Santana lectures, tapping Charlie on the head. She goes back to writing notes on her tablet.
The door to the bar opens before Charlie can think of something to defend herself, and she turns to look at the person who had ignored the 'closed' sign in the window. She stares at him for a moment, she'd never seen such a fancy suit before. It looked nice which meant that it was probably expensive, and he carried himself like some of the Templar guards. To top it all off, he was staring at her in a way that made her uncomfortable. She hops off her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. "The sign says we're closed."
Santana looks up from her tablet and spots Sebastian, she hadn't even needed to look up. She could feel the smugness that radiated off him, though at this moment he seemed rather taken aback by Charlie's presence. She shouldn't be surprised, he was one of the few people who knew that Quinn Fabray had an identical twin. She flicks her gaze towards Charlie for a moment and smiles at Charlie's attempt to look intimidating, "Charlie, that's Sebastian. Under normal circumstances once you see his face you are free to kick him out of the bar, but today I'm actually expecting him."
Charlie narrows her eyes slightly and looks at Santana who gives her a small reassuring nod, she immediately goes to sit back down and drops her voice into a loud whisper. "He looks—what's that word that Brittany uses—slimy."
Santana chuckled and flashed Sebastian a mocking grin at the look of outrage on his face. "He is, but he's a—well he's not a friend. I don't like him nearly enough to be a friend, but he's—well he's not really okay either, and if I were you, I really wouldn't trust him, but he's more or less okay." Santana explains to Charlie, watching as she reaches for another mac and cheese square.
Sebastian manages to tear his eyes away from Charlie and looks at Santana. He was torn between feeling confused and outraged. "Santana did you forget to tell me something?"
"No, I said I'd tell you when I had more information. I still don't have all the information." Santana said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Sebastian turns to look at Charlie once more, putting the pieces of the puzzle together before looking at Santana once more. "Charlotte Fabray, I'm guessing?"
"Charlie," Charlie corrects making a face. She had no idea what a Fabray was.
Sebastian nodded before smiling at her, "Of course, that was my mistake," Sebastian says bowing his head in apology. He moves to get closer to Charlie, extending his hand, "Sebastian Smythe."
Santana narrowed her eyes, she recognized that sticky sweet tone that Sebastian was using, and goes to the register, taking out the thumb drive that he had given her and sliding it across the bar towards him. "That's what you came for. Don't make me come find you to get the information you promised me, now get out."
Sebastian picks up the drive and slips it into his pocket completely ignoring Santana's curt dismissal. He moves into Charlie's line of vision and flashes her a smile, "How would you like to come work for me?" He smiles inwardly when Charlie finally turns to look at him, curiosity on her face.
"Sebastian," Santana snapped at him.
Sebastian turned to look at Santana for a moment his gaze meeting hers, he doesn't say anything to her before turning his attention back to Charlie, who was still watching him as she ate her mac and cheese squares. He decided to make her his sales pitch, "Did you know that the magic-touched community in Asia is tightly regulated? They are integrated with the army, they work in magical law enforcement, and many go into the private sector where their talents can be appreciated and they can make a lot of money. I'm talking millions of dollars Charlie. My company Titan Industries is spending millions of dollars lobbying congress right now, so that we can have that here in the States. We could find a place for you depending on your experience and what your magical abilities are. You won't need to hide anymore, and Titan Industries has more than enough clout to protect you from the Templars."
Santana turned to look at Charlie who was still staring at Sebastian eating her mac and cheese squares. She relaxes a bit Charlie seemed more concerned with her food. When Charlie makes a motion to grab more of the squares she smiles at Sebastian. "She's not interested Sebastian—"
"Plus, we have the best food and it's free if you work for us, if you come by my office, I can take you to lunch at the cafeteria," Sebastian says smirking when he finally gets Charlie's full attention.
"The best food? Do you have bacon?" Charlie asked.
Santana slams her hand down on the bar hard, before Sebastian can answer. "She isn't going anywhere with you Sebastian. She has a job, she works here in my bar. She isn't a tool that you can manipulate and then discard when you're done. Now for the last time get the fuck out of my bar."
Sebastian finally frowned and turned to look at Santana, "I'm doing you a favor. When the Templars come and they will, they will take her. They will take her and they'll throw her back into whatever shitty prison that they had her in. Assuming that they don't kill her first. Titan Industries is her best chance at survival." Sebastian frowns slightly and sighs reaching into his pocket and pulling out his card and dropping it onto the bar beside Charlie. "I'm going to go, but think about what I said. Santana knows I'm right even if she won't admit it."
"Out!"
Sebastian holds up his hands and smiles at Charlie once more before turning around and walking away. He would be expecting a call within the month. Santana wasn't doing anything to hide Charlie, the Templars would find them soon enough.
Charlie picks up the card and looks at it for a moment before putting it back down and goes back to her food.
Santana frowns when Charlie finishes and reaches for the card again, "Don't even think about it." Charlie freezes, and Santana lets out a breath glad that the conversation wasn't happening. She immediately goes back to her tablet.
"Stop treating me like I don't know anything. I'm not a child Santana," Charlie says irritation in her voice.
Santana looks up, she had touched a nerve but Charlie was wrong, "You have zero life skills Charlie, there will be plenty of people who will take advantage of you. Sebastian is one of them. I'm doing this to protect you."
"I don't need you to protect me," Charlie says picking up the card once again. "I protected you, remember? At the base, there were alarms and I created a distraction and fought the Templars so you and Mike could finish what you were doing. And then I teleported you both home. I saved you."
"Nearly killing yourself in the process," Santana retorted. She frowns and sighs. "You were locked away from the real world for most of your life. You were lucky I found you, instead of someone else. There are some shitty people out there that will take advantage of you. I have more life experience than you do Charlie, and you need to respect that my decisions are made to keep you safe. So, when I say stay outside, you stay outside. When I tell you not to trust someone—"
"I don't need someone else telling me what to think." Charlie interrupts. "I can make up my own mind." With that she hops off the bar stool and puts the card in her pocket and heads upstairs.
Santana watched as Charlie stormed away. "Well. Fuck."
~ O ~
Tuesdays were generally movie night, but she hadn't seen Charlie since their little spat, which was odd. She usually never skipped dinner either but she had, and her door was closed which generally meant that she wanted to be left alone. She sighs, she had thought Charlie would cool off but they'd never exactly fought before. Charlie normally didn't get annoyed except at Brittany. She got annoyed with Brittany all the time.
With a sigh she heads to the door and knocks on it twice, "Charlie, I made those mac and cheese squares that you like, I thought we could watch a movie, I don't mind watching your cartoons." When there's no answer she frowns she moves to check the handle only for the door to swing open. She blinks and looks up at Charlie who is holding an envelope. "Hey what do you have here."
"I asked Mike and he said that rent for the room is like five hundred dollars, and for that you buy a lot of groceries, and you have to pay for electricity and water and everything. So here is money for rent and stuff. It's a thousand dollars. I'll give you a thousand dollars every month for rent and groceries." Charlie said shoving the money at Santana.
Santana stared at the envelope, "Charlie you don't have to pay me—"
"I do." Charlie frowned, "If that's not enough I can pay more—I just won't be able to eat at the bar anymore. But I'm not a child, I don't know things but you need to let me learn how to do it. If I need to learn how to budget then I'll learn how to budget. I know how to cook. But I'm going to keep giving you the money even if you don't want the money."
Santana bit the inside of her lip, "Look Charlie, I don't mind taking care of you—"
"I've had twenty-three years of people doing my thinking for me, I want to be an adult, who makes choices and does things. And that means paying for my fair share and learning how to budget."
Santana sighed and looked at the stack of twenty-dollar bills and then back at Charlie. "750 a month."
"You're supposed to haggle up not down Santana." Charlie said looking at her. "You're really bad at this. So, take the thousand dollars. I've got like six months pay saved up."
Santana scoffed at this, "I was trying to be—fine you're not a kid." She waits for a moment, "So that means I don't have to make anymore of those mac and cheese squares for you." She grins at Charlie's outraged expression.
Charlie puffs out her cheeks after a moment, "I can make it by myself if you teach me," she says after a moment. "They taste better when you do it though," she mumbles under her breath.
Santana snorted and reached for Charlie only to stop inches away from her, "Alright fine I'll heat some up for you, but I get to pick the movie tonight."
Charlie grinned at this before pausing, "I don't like the ones where there is blood everywhere."
"Fine we won't watch Saw Seven," Santana rolls her eyes, she had planned to pick something Charlie liked and that she tolerated relatively well.
