Santana tried desperately to keep her idiotic grin to herself as she looked over at her mate who was carrying Harper in her arms. The toddler was currently drooling all over Charlie's shoulder, completely passed out from such a long day. Harper had asked her a million questions, and had listened to her explain it. It had been refreshing to have her mate and her daughter listen to her every word. It wasn't even flattery either, Charlie hadn't been humoring her, because she had listened just as intently as Harper had. "You know I don't actually know everything right?" Santana whispers to Charlie, who blinks and looks up at her and smiles. It's a gentle smile and she can feel herself melting just a bit under Charlie's gaze.

"You know more about the world than I do," Charlie admits, taking Santana's hand. "It's the way you explain things, it's really easy to understand. It's not like you're talking down to her either, you're just explaining the best way you can so she understands." Watching her daughter and omega interact positively had awoken all sorts of feelings that she had thought had been long buried. It was a shame that Santana didn't want to be a mother, she would have made a fantastic mother.

Santana rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushed pleased at her mate's praise. "I just liked to read as a kid, everything I could get my hands on. Fiction, non-fiction—I was a little know-it-all as a kid. Totally a secret nerd in highschool."

"A nerdy cheerleader," Charlie mused as the elevator door dings and slides open. "Hot," she mumbles under her breath as she exits the elevator.

Santana smirked as she followed Charlie out the elevator, there was a very good chance that she wasn't going to get much sleep tonight. She reaches into her purse for her keys and nearly slams into Charlie who stops suddenly and she looks up, "What's—" Santana's smile fades immediately as she stared at her parents who were staring at Charlie. "Oh."

"Mija?"

Santana moves immediately stepping in front of Charlie and Harper, she felt silly doing so she'd seen Charlie fight, and even though she was upset with her mother she wasn't interested in seeing Charlie tear her apart. "What are you doing here? I sure as hell didn't invite you," Santana hissed, keeping her voice down lest she wake Harper.

Charlie tilted her head at Santana's protective gesture, she hadn't felt threatened at all. She didn't actually mind Carlos, he seemed nice enough. "Santana."

Santana looked back at her mate for a moment, and after Charlie shoots her a patient look she blinks and looks at their position, "You're holding Harper!"

"I know, but your mother isn't going to attack me in front of both you and your father. And she certainly isn't going to attack a toddler," Charlie said looking up at Maribel, who scowled at her. She looks back at Santana after a moment, "Can you open the door so I can put Harper down, and then we can figure out whatever this is?"

Santana narrowed her eyes at her mother for a moment before fishing out her keys and opening the door. "I'll handle it."

"We'll handle it," Charlie corrected. "We're in this together right?"

Santana blinked in surprise and nodded, she had been harping on Charlie about that for weeks now, it was clear that Charlie was working on being more open and occasionally needed reminders. "Yeah, we're in this together."

Charlie nods and is about to put Harper down when she stops in front of Santana and kisses, it's a quick simple kiss, and she can't help but smile when she hears Maribel let out a low growl. "Be right back."

Santana lets out a small laugh, watching as Charlie walks into her apartment to put Harper down. When Charlie disappears from view she turns back to her parents. "I don't know why you brought her here."

"Mija," Carlos sighed in a patient tone.

"Papi," Santana mimics crossing her arms over her chest. "What she did was unforgivable, I don't see why I have to be the bigger person. Not only did her lie make me get sick, she nearly ruined things with me and my alpha."

"She's not good enough—"

"You don't get to make the decision of who is good enough for me," Santana snips at her mother. "It's my life, and I'm with the person I'm meant to be with. I don't really care if you can't accept it. It's happened, it's done."

"It's not done, you aren't mated," Maribel points out. "Santana you're—" Maribel's mouth snaps shut as Charlie returns.

"Harper's down, but she'll probably wake right up whenever she smells food. Are they staying for dinner?"

Santana narrowed her eyes and pointed to her mother, "How do you not hate her? She nearly broke us."

Charlie glances at Maribel for a moment and then back at Santana, "She didn't nearly break us Santana, my issues did. I will admit that she didn't exactly help the situation, but we're good right?"

Santana nodded, they were better than good. "We are."

"In the end she tried and she failed, if she is going to keep trying then maybe you cut her from your life, but I would hate it if Harper hated me and I'm probably never going to think that the alpha Harper comes home with is good for her."

"Don't empathize with her, you wouldn't let Harper suffer like she let me suffer," Santana muttered and glared at her parents for a moment. "I'm not ready to have dinner with my parents yet."

"Do you want me to make them leave?" Charlie asks.

"Make us—"

"We're going," Carlos interrupts Maribel, before a fight can break out, he ignores the wounded look that she shoots him and studies Charlie for a moment, she looked healthier than their last meeting, and he had never seen Santana look that happy. He had suspected that they would be good for each other. "Santana, mija please."

"When I'm ready to talk to you and mami I will, but no more just showing up." Santana grumbled at her father, she wasn't even mad at him and she did miss him. But if her parents made Charlie uncomfortable then she knew who she would choose.

Charlie watches quietly as Santana's parents leave, turning her attention to her mate, who looked rather upset. "Your dad has always been kind to me."

Santana turned to look at her mate, "My mami—"

"I know what your mother did, and I know how much damage that did our relationship back then. It's not like I'm not angry at your mother, but your dad has always been kind to me, and this is hurting him. I would like to know your dad Santana, he probably knows all the embarrassing stories that I'm sure my parents are waiting until we're mated to tell you."

"Your mother already told me about how you and Quinn started your life of crime early. And how hilariously bad you were at it. Or how you both tried to trick them all the time as if they couldn't tell you two apart," Santana said with a shake of her head. "Also, there are no stories, I was perfect as a child." Santana blinked when she heard a loud snort and turned to look at her mate, who immediately looked away. "I was!"

~ O ~

Santana groaned as Sebastian sat down in the empty seat in front of her, he was ruining a perfectly good lunch where she could unwind and text her mate in peace, "You don't work in this wing Sebastian."

"We've been friends for ages Santana, I have no idea why you're still mad that I was trying to look out for you. I mean I did some digging and—"

Santana raises her hand just as Tina decides to join them, "I really don't understand why you think spying on my alpha is attractive. The words I'd use to describe it are creepy and obsessive. It's also weird that you think that you're competition for her. You're not. As for the information you have, that you think that I should be wary of. Let me save you the trouble of wasting my time, I lied to you about last time. Charlie didn't graduate from university and Harper isn't her niece, she's Charlie's kid. Now that's out in the open, please go back to your side of the hospital and leave me in mine." The last thing she wanted or needed was Sebastian getting his scent on her.

"I just think—"

"Sebastian I think she's made it pretty clear that she doesn't care what you think," Tina interrupts, before turning to look at Santana slightly interested. "How old is Harper?"

Santana flicked her attention to Tina for a moment, before sighing, and pulling out her phone so she could show Tina a picture of her mate and Harper, "She's turning three in a couple of months. Which means I've started to look for the perfect present." Santana explains with a sigh, ignoring the fact that Sebastian has left already. It was one thing less that she had to deal with, but now at least the next time she invited Charlie for drinks with her co-workers she could be herself.

~ O ~

"I think I need it on the record that I think it's suspicious that my father knows this much about mixed martial arts and all the gyms in the area," Santana stated bluntly crossing her arms over her chest as Charlie studied the third gym that they had seen today. "He's never been in a fight in his life, and he's like a million years old."

"It's cleaner than the last one," Charlie murmured, not really paying attention to Santana's ramblings. She really didn't understand why Santana had a problem with her father's suggestion in gyms. All of them hadn't been overly expensive and some of them had fighters in professional promotions.

"Charlie Fabray?"

Charlie turns and spots a man jogging over to them, a smile on his face. "Yeah?"

"David Martinez, Carlos Lopez said you might be stopping by today, mentioned that you were looking to fight professionally."

Charlie gave the man a once over before nodding. "I am, I spent a lot of time when I was younger fighting and learning to fight. I'm good at it. I think I'm good enough to become a champion, in any of the big promotions."

David nodded, he had certainly heard that before, but she did seem to be in excellent shape, he needed to watch her fight before he could see where she'd fit in. If she wasn't good enough, he would be forced to tell her that he didn't think she'd make it doing MMA, it was a hobby before it became a full time job. "I see you've brought your gear, do you mind sparring with one of my guys? He's in one of the smaller promotions, and he's the number one contender."

"Light sparring?" Charlie questioned.

"Yeah, he's about to enter a training camp, so we're trying to avoid him getting injured," David explains.

Charlie nodded, and is about to take off so she can go change when she stops and turns to Santana, "Are you going to be okay?"

Santana nodded, "I'll be fine, I have questions that need to be answered." When Charlie looks at her she shrugs her shoulders, "I want to know how my dad knows him!"

"We grew up in the same neighborhood, we've been friends for years," David explains watching as Charlie decides to go and get ready. "Your papi is one of the good ones. He keeps in touch, and he's always made himself available for emergencies. A lot of the guys here don't have the money to be visiting doctors, so after a fight he comes down and gives our guys a full check up. He doesn't take our money, so if he wants me to take a look at a fighter and give her an honest opinion, then I will. Most guys that say they want to make their living busting skulls don't end up making that much money."

Santana frowned slightly, "She did say that she made more money in underground fights," Santana turned as the door to the locker room opened and Charlie came out, and she can't help but smile at how excited her mate was as she shadow boxed her way out of the room. Each punch Charlie threw looked incredibly crisp and she turns to look at David who looked slightly impressed. "I think you'll be impressed, I know I was when I saw her take down a man who was three times her size."

"Rutherford!" David Martinez nods towards Charlie, "3 minute rounds, we'll do three rounds, light sparring you start a training camp next week."

Santana hummed as she watched her mate who took the helmet that was offered to her and put it on, before entering the ring. "If she does choose this gym, how soon can you get her a professional fight? And how soon can you make her a champion."

David chuckled turning to look at Santana, she was pretty presumptuous, "I haven't even given you my thoughts on—"

"My alpha, just rocked your number one contender," Santana said nodding towards the ring, where Charlie looked embarrassed as she backed off holding her hands up as Matt Rutherford stumbled back and fell on his ass. "Charlie, he said light sparring. Pretend he's Harper."

Charlie turned to Santana and nodded at her, before flashing her a thumbs up.

"You look amazing though! Just don't hurt him!" Santana called out, clapping her louds and letting out a loud sharp wolf whistle when Charlie turned her back to her. She grins as Charlie's ears flush a bright red and then turns her attention back to David. "So how soon can you get her a professional fight?"

~ O ~

"You always knew this day was coming Charlie, and I've managed to push it off for as long as possible, but Mac hasn't broken the law, she's managed to pay off her back child support, and managed to keep up with her child support payments." Sue explained. "Right now it's just visitation."

Charlie chews the inside of her lip as she looks at Harper who is busy playing with blocks, she lets out a deep sigh before looking back at Sue. "If Mack did the work, and she really wants to be a part of Harper's life, then I have to give her the chance don't I? I don't want Harper growing up and hating me because I kept her from her mother."

"You don't really have a choice in the matter, unless we go back to court, and there is nothing that we have that suggests that Mack and Strando are completely unfit," Sue points out. "I think it's best if you two sit down together and figure out how to co-parent with one another. This isn't that complicated right now because neither one of you have other children, but I've been in these situations enough times to know that this could ugly, fast."

Charlie is quiet for a moment, "Can you make sure that the first visit is just me and Mack. I don't want Strando or Santana complicating things. Maybe we can figure something out, maybe we won't but I think it's best if it's just the two of us."

"I'll talk to her lawyer and see what he has to say." Sue is quiet for a moment, "It's only visitation right now, but if all goes well and there are no problems, the judge will probably allow Mack to have her a few days a week. It's best if you remain the primary custodian for Harper, so you need to start thinking about enrolling her in a school. Preferably in the Southampton region, no judge is going to force you to pull her from an excellent school and put her in a worse school."

Charlie nods, she would figure it out with Santana, just like she had figured out the gym situation with her mate. Her mate who was going to be furious that she had decided to have this meeting without her, but Santana had already made it abundantly clear that she would never be Harper's mother. Which meant she didn't have a say in any parenting decisions, which was why she needed to forge a good working relationship with Mack, something she doubted she could do with Santana there.