Charlie looked at Harper who was sucking away on her pacifier and staring up at her, the odd look on her face and her furrowed brows made it look like her daughter was judging her. "I know. I know I shouldn't have done it, but he made a rude comment about Santana." Charlie swallowed. "She's my mate Harper, and you were in the picture. It's my favorite picture, and he insulted her and I just lost it. I know I need to be better. I don't want to lose you and if they think that I'm feral they'll try and take you away from me."
Harper grunts and a foul smell begins to emanate from her baby carriage causing Charlie to gag. At this Harper seemingly loses all interest in her, and looks away.
"What has grandma been feeding you?" Charlie demands as they finish walking up the stairs to her apartment. She needed to burn some of her restless energy, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator had definitely helped. She still needed to think about how she was going to pay her bills. She had no idea how much this was going to cost her father, but she needed to pay him back somehow. She needed to show him that while she was a general fuck up, she had still learned the lessons that he had instilled in her at a young age. Alpha's took care of their family. She needed to take better care of Harper, and if that meant no more fighting then she'd have to do that. Maybe she could find another construction job again.
"Harper."
Charlie freezes immediately and drags her eyes away from Harper to look at Mack. The moment that Mack takes a step forward Charlie immediately shifts so she can place Harper behind her. "Mack what are you—" Charlie tilted her head when she spotted Strando, Mack's alpha. He was a big guy, and him glaring at her put her on edge immediately. He had been the one to insist that Mack abandon their child.
"We're taking it back," Strando supplies.
"Strando—" Mack pointed out before swallowing when he turned to glare at her. She immediately shifts her attention to Charlie, "I never wanted to abandon her Charlie, she's my kid."
"You didn't even tell me that you were pregnant, you surprised me with it- with her. You didn't even give me enough supplies for her, you just dropped her on me and told me that she was mine and you didn't want her because you were going to have a lot of babies with your mate. What is he infertile? Is that why you want her back? Found out that you couldn't have children?" Charlie asks, flicking her gaze over to Strando.
"That's rich coming from the—"
Mack immediately steps in between the two alphas, before Strando could finish the thought. "Charlie, I never wanted to give her up—"
"But you did, and I think you need to go. I've had an absolutely terrible day and I'm not in the mood to deal with whatever this is Mack. Harper needs a change and a bath, and I need to make dinner for the two of us," Charlie interrupts, taking a step aside so that they could get the hell out of her hallway.
Mack frowned, "Charlie, I don't want to get the courts involved but I will. The child is an omega, I'm currently mated and stable, and you—you're a gamma Charlie."
The growl that rips out of Charlie's throat startles Harper who immediately spits out her pacifier and begins to wail. The sound immediately causes Charlie's anger to fade and she immediately turns to her daughter, "I'm sorry Harper," she whispers in a soothing tone, but it only seems to further irritate her baby.
"I can't believe you thought she was an alpha. Look at her, pleading with an omega." Strando turned to look past Charlie and at the screaming child, nothing but contempt in his eyes. "Shut the fuck up!" He snarled at the baby.
Mack immediately looked over at Strando, as Harper began to scream louder, at his tone. "Strando why did you—" Strando suddenly shoves her to the side and takes a step forward to meet Charlie head on. But before he could do anything, Charlie's fist slams under his chin, dropping him on his ass, clutching at his jaw in pain. He looked up, ready to snap at Charlie when her foot caught him on the temple, with pinpoint accuracy.
Mack stumbled back as Strando hit the ground out cold and she looked up at Charlie who had turned her attention on her. For a brief moment Mack is certain that Charlie is going to attack her. This had been the Charlie that she'd been attracted to, to find out that it was all a lie, that Charlie was nothing more than a gamma? But instead Charlie turns her attention back to Harper. Mack follows her gaze towards their child, who had been placed at a safe distance away from the action. "Charlie—"
"I'm not giving her to you," Charlie says firmly. "He doesn't want her, so why are you here?"
Mack glanced over to Strando, "Strando saw you exiting a fancy car the last time I was here—and we looked up your family."
"Mack, look at where I live, and I just got fired. I don't have any money. I'm borrowing money from my parents, and my father is charging me interest. There is no money."
Mack shook her head, "She's my daughter, besides I'm doing you a favor. You think that fancy omega of yours wants to be a mom to Harper? You think she won't pay anything and everything to get rid of her, so she can have you to yourself. I mean if she still wants you, she knows you're a gamma."
Charlie stiffened, "What?"
"She's an omega, it's literally her entire purpose in life to birth children for you. Harper is a threat to that," Mack argued."
"She knows?"
It takes Mack a moment but she realizes that she's stumbled upon a weak spot. "And if you don't want other people to know, then just give us Harper and we can—"
"Everything okay over here?"
Mack and Charlie both turn to spot a couple holding hands, appearing behind them. Charlie moves to quickly pick up Harper and nods. "They were just leaving," she explains without looking back at Mack as she begins to gently rock Harper to get her to stop screaming.
Mack nodded and reached over to help Strando up only for him to smack her hand away and glare at Charlie. "This isn't over," he spits at Charlie as he forces his way past the couple and marches to the elevator, Mack close on his heels.
Charlie doesn't look back and immediately heads towards her apartment and reaches for her keys only to find that they're missing.
"Are these your keys? I saw them by the door to the staircase."
Charlie looks over and relaxes when she spots her keys. She wasn't sure if she could take another long conversation from her father today. "Yeah, thanks."
"So you're the one with the baby—"
"Dani. Babies cry, and I'm sure she's doing her best. Forgive her, Dani's been super grumpy because she's studying for the bar. I'm Marley Rose by the way," Marley stated, introducing herself, "This is my mate, Dani Harper."
Charlie paused and frowned, most people gave her wide berth but this strange omega was approaching her as if she wasn't a threat. "Charlie—and this is Harper," Charlie said awkwardly holding Harper's baby carrier out, despite the wailing.
Marley grinned at Dani, "You have a kid named after you."
Dani rolled her eyes, and wrinkled her nose when she saw the baby, "Cute kid, come on Marley I have to get back to studying. I need to pass the bar if I want to officially start practicing law."
Marley sighed, she knew that Dani wanted to move out of this apartment into a nicer part of town, but they should at least be neighborly. "We're down the hall in apartment 415. Don't hesitate to stop by if you need anything, and while Dani can't give you legal advice, she can maybe point you in the right direction. I don't mean to overstep," Marley explains.
Charlie nodded, "Thank you," she mumbled, opening the door and stepping inside before closing it. "Fuck!"
~ O ~
"I don't know what the fuck I'm doing wrong!" Santana complained, stirring her drink with a frown on her face.
Rachel turned to Quinn who was holding onto her hand tightly and sighed, there would be no extracating herself from this mess. "It's only been a few weeks Santana—"
"It's like she doesn't even want me near her unless she wants something from me." Santana stabbed at a piece of fruit in Rachel's fruit bowl and shoved it into her mouth.
"Santana. I'm pretty certain that if you would give her some time to cope with two very large events in her life, Charlie could finally pay you some attention." Rachel reasoned and watched as Santana anxiously stabbed another piece of fruit out of the bowl.
"Santana, I did tell you that Charlie can't love you, she's—" Quinn tried to pull away the bowl but was stopped by Rachel wrapping her hand around hers.
"She needs time," Rachel reasoned and pushed the bowl towards Santana once more.
Santana put her fork down and took a sip of her drink, "You two are confusing. Why did I even call you guys?"
"You didn't," Rachel sighed, "I suggested we have a nice brunch to celebrate my new role on Broadway, and you invited yourself over."
Santana groaned, "All I want is for her to drop a load—"
"I'm trying to eat," Quinn snapped at Santana.
Santana shot Quinn a dry look, before turning to Rachel. "I know a guy who wants to specialize in like sex therapy. I can introduce you, maybe he'll help get the stick that's lodged in her ass out, and you two can actually have a healthy sex life."
Rachel smirked as Quinn sputtered, deciding to change the subject. "So why did you go and see Judy, does she know?"
"Yes. She figured it out after Charlie invited me to the doctors office to make sure that Harper got the very best care. I mean every time she calls, it's about the baby and I mean as babies go Harper isn't the worst, but I need to catch myself or I'll feel jealous of a baby. I mean how pathetic is that? Santana fucking Lopez, jealous of a baby."
"She is a pretty cute baby," Quinn points out only to get elbowed by Rachel. "You know she is, you've been trying to get me to make nice with Charlie so we can go play with the baby."
"We're trying to cheer her up," Rachel reminded Quinn.
"Why?" Quinn asked. "This was supposed to be a celebratory brunch, she's ruining it."
"She just wants what we have," Rachel reminded Quinn with a gentle nudge.
Quinn looked at Santana carefully, before sighing. Santana did look like she was at her wits end, and it was a feeling she had felt many times when dealing with Charlie. "Do you want to be Harper's mother?"
Santana narrowed her eyes, "What?"
"I've known you for like eight years Santana, I know it feels longer. You've never been fond of children. In fact you compared your pediatric shadowing to the eighth circle of hell. You don't like children. This has been a constant. Harper isn't going anywhere. Like I don't mind helping but, I need to know that you want to be in this for the long haul with Charlie. I get wanting to be a bit selfish Santana, but Charlie has a little girl that needs her too. If all you want is a quick fuck, tell Charlie that. We can watch Harper for a night, you two can go at it. If you want what me and Rachel have then you're going to need to figure out what you want to be to Harper."
Santana was quiet for a moment, and made a face. She hadn't given it much thought, she knew that it was one of her fathers main concerns about a relationship with Charlie. "I know that Charlie and Harper are a package deal, but I'm not ready to be a mom. That doesn't mean that I'm going to treat Harper like crap, truthfully, the kid has a knack of getting Charlie to strip for me, so as babies go she really isn't the worst baby I've ever met."
"Well that still warrants a conversation with Charlie," Rachel mused.
"She's cancelled our study sessions every night since she got arrested," Santana points out. "That's really the only reason that I'm here right now. She's avoiding me."
"She's probably embarrassed," Quinn supplies. "She likes you and she did something dumb and stupid, and she's embarassed. She probably doesn't even know how to approach you so if you want to see her, go and see her and talk to her. You need to remember, that I'm not sure Charlie quite knows what to do with you yet."
"I can think of several things that she can do to me," Santana smirked at Quinn's obvious discomfort.
"Alright, new rule, no more talking about my twin's genitals," Quinn pleaded quietly, red in the face.
"No can do. You told me all about you and Rachel when you first got together," Santana smirked and her voice grew louder, "Oh Santana, her mouth is just so—and her boobs, Santana! God, her boobs are so soft."
"SHUT UP!" Quinn hissed and Santana knew she had won. The red hue to Rachel's face was just the cherry on top.
"You guys are so lame. I have to go do a shift anyway, so I'll talk to you later," Santana pulled a twenty out of her purse and put it on the table.
She shuffled out of the booth while Quinn and Rachel could only sit in quiet awe in the aftereffects of Hurricane Santana.
~ O ~
"Well?" Judy pressed the moment that Russell entered the house. It had been a few days and she knew how her mate could be.
Russell sighs and looks at his mate, he had expected her to take his side. Instead she was making him out to be the bad guy. "Judy it shouldn't matter—"
"Except it does. I need to know what happened so we can finally get her the help that she needs."
"If by help you mean allowing her to deal with the consequences of her actions? Judy, we've been protecting Charlie for so long, and nothing we've done has made any difference. Maybe it's time that we stop, we can get her a lawyer, but I don't think sitting in prison for a year can make this any worse."
"She is not going to prison Russell," Judy informed him bluntly, before pulling away from him so she can continue with dinner.
Russell let out a frustrated sigh as he followed his mate into the kitchen, "I'm not saying that we abandon her, I'm saying that she simply face the consequences for her actions, we can mitigate the consequences—but I think Maribel might actually throw the book at her, she's been spending time around Santana—"
Judy rolled her eyes, "Santana and Charlie are mates Russell, you and Maribel are going to have to get over your petty little rivalry, you two are about to become family. Santana has been an extremely positive influence on Charlie, I know it's surprising considering that Santana was the one that convinced Quinn to dye her hair pink during freshman year."
Russell paused, "What?"
"Charlie's found her fated mate, and it's Santana. They haven't acted on this information yet, they haven't been intimate," when Russell gives her a look she sighs. "Santana seems frustrated, and I can't imagine Harper is exactly enhancing the mood between them."
"So when she came with you—" Russell presses.
Judy sighed, she didn't feel right breaking Santana's confidence, she still hadn't processed all the information that Santana had given her. "She met Harper's birth mother, and words were exchanged. What I do know is that Charlie and Mack attempted to mate, but Charlie can't really remember that night except for the fact that Mack broke the bond."
"What?" Russell repeated.
"Apparently she called Charlie a gamma, which is completely uncalled for if you ask me, I mean honestly Charlie isn't—I mean she can't be." Judy continued, honestly hoping for the absolute best in this revelation.
"She what?" Russell's face went cold. Judy had only seen Russell this angry once before, and it was when Charlie had gotten kicked out of school for the umpteenth time. "Start at the beginning Judy," he demands, taking a seat and rubbing at his brows. He was supposed to be an alpha. It seemed there was quite a bit of information that he was missing, which meant that he couldn't make informed decisions.
"I don't know anything, Charlie and I haven't spoken about it. I don't know how to bring it up. I can't just go up to her and tell her what Santana told me, they might be mates, but they haven't mated yet. I am not going to nuke their relationship before it's really begun. All I know for certain is that Mack and Charlie mated, briefly. Mack broke the bond and nearly ten months later—Harper is born."
"And this gamma nonsense?" Russell frowned.
"I honestly don't know," Judy admits.
"Charlie isn't a gamma. She wasn't marked, to my knowledge the only fight she's ever lost is when I kicked her out, and I'm pretty sure that her heart wasn't completely in that fight, and she hasn't been raped. When could she have been raped? They were sheltered children and you watched both twins like a hawk. We shouldn't trust this Mack person as far as we can throw her, she abandoned her daughter, and probably took advantage of a drunk Charlie."
"You're right, there is no reason we should take Mack's word over Charlie's. I just—I have a really bad feeling about this, and while I want to talk to Charlie about her words, I don't know how to approach her."
Russell frowned, "Charlie's an alpha, and she's incredibly strong. Had her life not derailed, she could have gone to the Olympics. Sure it was for that commie sport, but she was good at it, maybe we should have insisted that she continue it once she quit. It gave her some structure and now it feels like she's just been adrift." Russell is quiet for a moment before he smiles, "Santana and Charlie?"
"Yes," Judy nods smiling, "It makes sense, remember when we thought it was Quinn for a bit? We need to do everything we can to support this. To support them, and make sure that they actually mate. If anyone can help Charlie be the best version of herself it's Santana. Well Santana and Harper, they do make a wonderful family don't they Russell?"
"They do—I'm assuming Maribel doesn't know?"
"Dear."
"I'm not going to do anything, but we do need to keep an eye on Maribel. Santana is her only child, and it's Charlie. I wouldn't be pleased if the situation was reversed," Russell pointed out.
"What we need to do is let Charlie and Santana figure out what they want their relationship to be and be supportive," Judy corrected, as she went back to stirring. There was a part of her that knew that Russell was correct and Mack wasn't a reliable narrator, but they had been bonded briefly, before Mack had severed the bond. She knew Mack had seen something, and from what Santana had stated Charlie had been taken advantage of, that night. What if it hadn't been the first time? Charlie might be sober now, due to taking care of Harper, but who knew what had happened to her when she had left home. Her daughter had been homeless for a few weeks after she'd been kicked out. Anything could have happened on those streets, and if it had she would never forgive herself. Charlie had been a teenager, and not one that was particularly street smart as well. "I called Cassandra today?"
Russell made a face, "What, why?"
"Because she's the best criminal defense attorney in the city," Judy replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Russell and Cassandra had never gotten along, and the result was that her relationship with her sister had devolved to the point where the most interaction that they had was a call around Christmas. "She's who you should have called when Charlie got arrested. She was surprised to hear from me, and when I broached the topic of hiring her, she immediately said no—"
"That's Cassandra—" Russell interrupted.
"Because she absolutely refuses to defend you, even for me. When I explained that it was Charlie that needed her help, she said she'd think about it. I plan on going to her office tomorrow and talking to her, you will need to bury the hatchet. I also asked her to recommend a family lawyer, we need to sever Mack's parental rights immediately. We've waited too long and I don't want that woman anywhere near my family."
"I'm certain that we can find another excellent attorney who won't try and bleed me dry—" Russell trailed off when Judy shot him a look. He clears his throat. "I'll bury the hatchet."
"Thank you." It would be good to see Cassandra again, and maybe they could all be a family again.
