Santana took a deep breath as she stepped off the elevator and made her way through the halls towards Charlie's apartment. Today she wasn't going to ask Charlie if she could swing by; she was just going to show up, and force Charlie to deal with it. She stops in front of Charlie's door and gently but firmly knocks on the door, so she didn't freak out Harper. "Charlie, I know you're in there and you hiding from me doesn't make you an attractive alpha!" Santana calls through the door.
"Santana?" Charlie called out, confusion evident in her voice.
"Who else would it be?" Santana responds through the door. "Are you going to open the door?"
"I will, but I need to change Harper, her diaper leaked and it's everywhere," Charlie grimaced as Harper giggles at her.
Santana makes a face, "Gross. You have T-minus 30 seconds to open the door, so hurry up," she calls back. She waits a beat as she realizes that Charlie might just leave Harper unattended for a few seconds and that would cause an accident. "Don't leave Harper unattended Charlie."
"I know!"
Santana relaxes and waits, thirty seconds morphs into a minute, before she starts to get impatient again. How long did it take to change a diaper? The nurses in the maternity ward did it in like seconds. The minute stretches to five before the apartment door swings open, and Charlie shows up carrying Harper in her arms. "Seriously?"
"I gave her a bath. It was everywhere. Everywhere. I think there was some in her hair," Charlie replies. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it wasn't for your baby changing skills, that's for sure," Santana snarked, attempting to push her way in, "I haven't seen you in a while so I decided to come over. We are mates."
Charlie tilted her head and didn't budge. "Santana, I got arrested—you shouldn't want to be with me."
"You were defending your omega," Santana said with a shrug as she reached to gently stroke Harper's cheek. She smelt like the baby soap that Charlie had for her. Her lips quirk upward when Harper smiles at her, and reaches to grasp at her finger.
Charlie swallows, "You shouldn't want to be with an alpha who can't control themselves. Possessiveness isn't attractive."
"Possessiveness—" Santana paused and looked away from Harper to look at Charlie. Her mate was currently looking at her, like she was expecting to be scolded, it was adorable, but it didn't explain why Charlie's feelings towards Harper would be more possessive than protective. "Oh."
Charlie's brow furrowed, "Oh?"
"You got into a fight because someone insulted me?" Charlie nods wordlessly and looks away, and she really can't help but lean up against Charlie and press her lips gently against Charlie's lips. "Don't do it again," she informs Charlie after she breaks away.
Charlie's pupils immediately constrict and she can feel the fog in her mind at the quick contact. She wanted more. "K," Charlie mumbles in response, stepping aside so she can allow Santana inside her apartment.
Santana threw her purse and keys haphazardly on the coffee table and headed toward the kitchen, "I'm starving, what have you got to eat?"
"Mac and Cheese. I was going to make some, and crumple some bacon into it," Charlie winces when Santana grimaces at her. "Formula is expensive, and I have to make sure Harper is getting enough to eat."
"You know frozen vegetables aren't that expensive," Santana began to wash her hands, "I'll help you, what do you need?"
Charlie puts Harper down in her little bouncer and turns to open some cabinets, pulling out two boxes of off-brand mac and cheese. "I just make the box, and throw in a bit of shredded cheese and a bit of black pepper, with some bacon."
Santana blinked and looked at the two boxes, before sidestepping Charlie and heading to the fridge and opening it. There was shredded cheese, bacon, and milk. She paused and opened the freezer and stared at it before closing it. "The next time you go shopping, I'll be tagging along. It won't kill you to eat something that isn't meat colored, or bright yellow. I'll teach you a few simple healthy dishes."
Charlie makes a face she didn't want to eat vegetables, "Okay," she mumbled again.
Santana began to pull out ingredients, and started the water always stopping to check in on Harper who seemed more interested in the little toys on her bouncer. She swallows for a moment, she actually did have a reason for coming today, her graduation was coming up soon and she wanted to know if Charlie wanted to come, but before she asked Charlie to attend she needed to get to the bottom of things. "So—" Santana trails off and glances at Charlie who is watching her attentively. "About Mack, what the hell is up with her?"
Charlie slowly narrows her eyes, Santana's word's snapping her out of the fog. "Why do you want to know about Mac? Is she bothering you? I'll talk to her and make her stop." Santana wasn't her mate. Mack had no business harassing her, and even if Santana was her mate she wasn't going to stand for it.
Santana hesitated for a moment as she emptied the noodles into the biggest pot that Charlie has. "I wasn't completely honest last time, when I met her. She did say things, and I wanted to simply discard them, she's a terrible human being, but you admitted that you two mated however brief that was. I'm not happy about that by the way, it's Quinn's fault that we didn't meet sooner. But you did confirm it so I'm going to trust you to be honest with me. Don't tell me what I want to hear Charlie, but Mack swore that you'd try and make me quit being a doctor. I need to know if that's true or not. I need to know that she's just full of shi—crap" Santana glanced at Harper.
"Make you quit a doctor? Why would I—what?" Charlie blinked and stared at Santana confusion on her features.
"She basically suggested that you were an alpha supremacist." Santana turned the heat lower.
"I'm not." Charlie says immediately and firmly. "I'm not exactly the most forward thinking alpha. But I think that omegas belong to their alphas just like alphas belong to their omegas. I also think that an alpha should provide for their omega and family. I would want my omega to feel secure that they could do whatever they wanted and I had it handled so that they could do whatever they wanted to do. I just want to make my mate happy. That's what a good alpha looks like to me."
There was a sincerity in Charlie's face and voice, that made Santana relax and smile at her mate. Any lingering doubts she had were buried. "So, is that why you don't want to mate with me? Because you don't think you're alpha enough for me?"
"No." Charlie admits. "It's just complicated Santana," Charlie adds, hoping that was enough to end the conversation.
Santana tilts her head at the response."Does it have something to do with why Mack broke your bond? Is it why she thinks you're a gamma?" Charlie growled, slightly upsetting Harper, so Santana continued, "If it makes you uncomfortable we can stop talking about it. You never tell me anything, and honestly as your mate I just want to get to know you. Not whatever Quinn or Rachel talk about, not what your parents say, I want to know you, bad or good."
Charlie was quiet for a moment and swallows and clenches her fists. Santana was supposed to be her mate. It was hard to wrap her head around sometimes, and it was even more difficult to trust her. Trust wasn't something that she gave freely, but it was different with Santana, she wanted to trust Santana. It was primal, this was her mate, a mate who wanted to be with her, despite the fact that she was an epic fuck up. She needed to give Santana something. She wanted her mate to know who she was, and why she was the way she was, and even if it was hard, Santana deserved it. "The reason why we can't mate—we can't mate because you'll see what he did to me. You'll feel it. That's why Mack broke the bond; she couldn't handle it. I don't hate her for that."
The words cause Santana's back to go rigid, and she can feel her heart sinking towards her stomach, which felt like it was about to drop as well. "What did he do?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, she had hoped that Mack had just been trying to taunt her and Charlie would get irritated and prove just how alpha she was. She hadn't actually thought there would be a dark secret. When Charlie just looks away Santana clears the distance between them and takes Charlie by the hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Who is he? Charlie look at me, you're here with me and I'll hear you out okay. We need to be honest with each other, remember?"
Charlie pulls her hand away from Santana's grasp and takes a few steps back as she closes her eyes, "I—I was at soccer camp. He got me alone and he—" Charlie shakes her head, the raw emotion was too much. "I don't want to talk about it or relive it Santana so can we talk about something else? Please?"
For once Santana doesn't know what the right move to do is, her mate needed comfort but Charlie would probably take that as pity. She glances around and nods towards the off-brand mac and cheese. "I literally cannot believe you eat this crap," she bitched at Charlie with a half hearted smile, hoping that it would help ease the anxiety.
Charlie tries to smile back, knowing that Santana was giving her an out, but she could hear her heart in her ears. If Santana rejected her like Mack had—she wasn't sure that she could take it. "I'm not a gamma. I was just—I was just weak. I'm not anymore. I promise."
Santana takes a step towards Charlie desperately wanting to simply hold her, "Charlie—"
A pounding at the door startled Harper, causing her to cry.
Charlie stumbled away from Santana and turned immediately to go yell at the person who had disturbed her daughter. If it was Strando again, she was going to break his face— "Aunt Cassandra?"
"Charlotte, is that any way to greet your favorite aunt? Aren't you going to invite me?" Cassandra said reaching forward to flick Charlie's forehead, and side-stepping her into the house. "Didn't your mother tell you I'd be stopping by?"
"No—" Charlie blinked as she was pushed aside and she immediately frowned and moved to try and cut Cassandra off. "What are you doing here? And how do you know where I live?"
"Your mother called me, she wants me to be your defense attorney."
"I'll never be able to pay you," Charlie said, frowning and turning to get Harper who had begun to fuss.
"Your mother begged me to help you, and she happened to catch me on a good day. She also said that you needed help finding a good family law attorney. I assure you that I will be getting my payment out of your father."
Santana took a deep breath and cleared her throat causing Charlie to look at her, "Maybe you should check your phone and your text messages," Santana suggested. Charlie truly did seem confused and Judy had complained that Charlie wasn't as quick to get back to her as she should be when she wasn't looking after Harper.
Charlie puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and pulled out her phone, immediately checking the voicemails, "You and mom are speaking now? When did that happen?"
"It seems that becoming grandparents has made your parents soft, your father isn't thrilled but he's putting up with me," Cassandra responds wrinkling her nose at Charlie's small apartment. It felt like it was tinier than her bedroom. Her eyes flick towards Santana for a moment before she focuses on the child that Charlie is rocking as she flicks through her phone.
"I'm Santana Lopez," Santana greets, extending her hand.
"Lopez?" Cassandra squints at her, and frowns, "Any relation to Maribel Lopez."
"She's my mother. You said you're here to become Charlie's attorney for the criminal matter? Was she charged with anything?"
"No, but I'm currently working on her former boss, I'll probably plead down to a misdemeanor if this becomes a thing. Charlie, you'll probably have to do some community service. Most importantly you'll need to stay out of trouble."
Charlie frowned, it wasn't as if she went out looking for trouble. "Fine," she said in a tired tone.
Santana glanced at her mate for a moment, she needed to ask far more questions, "Isn't being her aunt technically a conflict of interest?"
"No, unlike your mother I am not bound by the same rules. I am not prosecuting my niece, I'm merely giving her a hand to get out of trouble."
Charlie finally finished going through her texts, "You could have called, at least. I was in the middle of something."
"I can smell that, are you sure it's wise to do it in front of your daughter?" Cassandra asked looking at Harper. "I thought she'd be uglier, babies are always ugly."
Charlie growled lowly, "Did you need something or did you just come here to insult us?"
Cassandra took a seat on the couch and frowned, "God, this is lumpy. I'm here because not only do you have this criminal complaint against you, but you also need to think about severing Mack's parental ties. It's best to do it now before she realizes what your last name is. You're an unmated alpha Charlie, the system doesn't take kindly to that sort of thing."
Charlie made a face. "She already knows about my last name, and she knows about Santana. She threatened both, I may have punched out her alpha because he said something about Harper. Mack only wants Harper as a meal ticket, same with Strando—Mack abandoned her. She shouldn't get to have custody. She isn't giving me money to raise her either."
"She's mated, she has an apartment in a nicer area and a car and he has a job," Cassandra started, "You have none of those things."
"I—" Charlie frowned.
"Charlie and I can mate any time, and I have a job. I'm graduating in a month as a doctor, and I have a car," Santana said immediately. "Charlie's studying for her GED. She'll get a job soon."
"That won't hold up in court. Things have to be official, and right now officially the court sees you as unfit to be a parent, especially since you lost your cool on your boss. If Strando hires a good lawyer, they'll dig into your past and your rather colorful misspent youth, and say that nothing has changed. Attacking him was stupid. Best case is they would give sole custody to your parents if they really fought it. But more than likely Mack would win, and you'd get supervised visits," Cassandra said, looking at her nails.
"What?" Charlie swallowed, holding Harper tighter, she wasn't going to willingly give her daughter back to Mack. She needed to protect her daughter. "What can we do?"
"You're going to need to see me on Monday, we need to sign some papers and start the paperwork, we need to be proactive if you want to keep Harper. It might be best if we go on the offensive here, and start proceedings before Mack and Strando can spin a sob story." Cassandra answered. "Until then, I'm out of here. I've got better things to do than to sit in crack houses, with my second least favorite Fabray."
Santana immediately wraps her arm around Charlie's free arm, when she notices her mate trembling. She's not certain if it's in fear or anger, but she needed to keep Charlie calm."It will be okay Charlie. She abandoned Harper and if this is about money, your parents will pay anything to keep Mack out of your lives and Harper safe with you."
"Harpers my kid, my parents shouldn't have to keep bailing me out Santana. No one is going to think that I'm a good alpha, an alpha fit to be Harper's parent. Especially not when Mack tells—" Charlie's mouth clamped shut when she realized her aunt was still in the apartment.
"When Mack tells them what?" Cassandra prompted turning around to look at her niece. When Charlie doesn't answer she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me you aren't robbing banks or something."
Santana sighed, looking at Charlie with sad eyes, "When Mack tells them that Charlie used to be part of an alpha supremacist group."
"You were what?"
"I went to a gym, it was cheap and they had some underground fights—" Charlie paused for a moment, that would be an easy way to earn some cash quickly. "I never really bought into it, but it's not like I said anything against it either. The gym is really the only thing that kept me sane, and I couldn't afford hundreds of dollars a month for one of those fancy gyms. I just needed a place to let out some pent up aggression."
Cassandra looked to the ceiling, "Yeah, I'm definitely charging your mother for this house call. What else can Mack use against you?"
"We mated," Charlie admitted, looking at anyone but Santana. "She broke the bond though."
"Why?" Cassandra pressed. "Did you—"
"She saw me as unfit, and she broke the bond," Charlie continued, wanting this conversation to be over already, "Something about me not being strong enough for her tastes."
Cassandra narrowed her eyes, "Charlie, lawyers don't like surprises. And whatever it is your hiding will come out at some point in time. Are you really going to risk your daughter, for a silly secret?"
Charlie growled, "I'd do anything for my daughter. How dare you—"
"So what's the big secret? What could possibly be so big that you can't just spit it out so I can help you? Is the secret worth losing your daughter over?"
"That's enough," Santana interceded, she could feel the tension picking up between the two alphas, and it doesn't take long for Harper to let out a small cry. She turns her attention to Harper ready to soothe her. She immediately takes Harper away from Charlie, who basically hands her over wordlessly.
"What's the secret Charlie," Cassandra asks again. She can see the internal debate rage across Charlie's face. Maybe it was best to ask Judy—
"I was raped at soccer camp."
Santana whips around to look at her mate. She looked resigned and her tone sounded defeated, "Charlie—"
Charlie shrugs off Santana's concern. Humiliation didn't matter at this point, it didn't matter that everyone would treat her differently. What mattered now was keeping Harper safe, letting her pride get in the way of that one goal—she wasn't going to let anyone call her a weak alpha. "They can't find out, if anyone finds out they won't trust me with Harper. So please help. Harper is my daughter, and I'm supposed to protect her, but it seems like I can't even do that."
She had expected Charlie to confess to a drug problem, she hadn't even begun to think it was something of that nature. "Charlie, I don't know Mack, but from everything your mother has told me, they'll probably use that against you."
Santana immediately moved to protect her mate, "There has to be something that I can do?"
"Honestly, it would be best if you two mate. Santana being a doctor, helps. The fact that her mother is the District Attorney, helps. The fact that your father is extremely wealthy, helps. Our pedigree is far more impressive than Strando's. You getting your GED, and getting a job—that will also help your case, having a child care plan for Harper, will also be beneficial. If this falls in the right judges laps, one that is sympathetic we can maybe get away with shared custody in your favor."
"Aunt Cass, I can't." Charlie pleaded. She couldn't subject Santana to the shit show that had seared itself onto her soul. She didn't want Santana to experience what she had experienced.
"Then you're going to need a miracle," Cassandra sighed, nodded a silent goodbye. "I'll talk to the family lawyer for you, I'll see what she says. I may be pessimistic, because you have your parents backing you and there is no way that Judy won't be willing to spend the entire fortune to keep Harper with you."
Charlie's shoulders slump and she can only watch wordless, as Cassandra leaves she feels Santana touching her arm and she looks at her, and flinches. She could see the pity and doubt in Santana's eyes. "I'm not a gamma," she mumbled. There was a hint of pleading in her voice, she needed Santana to believe her.
"You aren't a gamma," Santana repeated.
"I can prove I'm not—"
"Charlie, you just told somebody your deepest secret. We're not doing anything but having that fucking mac and cheese," Santana said, handing Harper back to Charlie. She smiles when Harper fusses for her, but moves back to look at the mac and cheese and grimaces she was going to need to start again.
Charlie didn't move, "Santana—"
"I'm going to make us dinner, and we need to get back to studying for the GED," Santana said firmly. "We can talk about this when you're ready to talk about it."
