Santana took her seat beside Quinn and Rachel, "We can be out of here soon, Charlie's fighting first on the card tonight."
"How's she feeling?" Rachel asks, raising her voice so that Santana could hear her. She was surprised that a low-tier league, like this one had this many people interested in watching the fight.
"She's fine," Quinn speaks up. "Santana told her if she won then she'd finally get to see her in her old cheerleading uniform."
Santana shrugged her shoulders, "I need to keep my alpha motivated," Santana said with a shake of her head. Truthfully Charlie had looked alert and excited for the past few days, it was a rather last minute fight. Someone had dropped out and this was her first official fight. Even though Charlie had told her not to bet on her, she had placed a thousand dollars on her mate. It would hurt to lose the money but she had complete faith that she'd be walking out of here ten times that amount.
"I didn't know that there would be this many people Santana, I should have given her a small speech on what to do if she gets stage fright or in this case performance anxiety."
"Charlie will be fine, she's fought in front of a crowd before," Santana said dismissively.
"In front of this many people?" Rachel challenges immediately.
"Charlie has issues, performance isn't one of them," Santana retorted, smirking as Quinn shot her a look of disgust. "Even when she's not really into it, mmmm," Santana shuddered at the memory.
"I thought we agreed that if you weren't going to talk about having sex with my twin in front of me!" Quinn grumbled.
"Which is a shame, because I'm sure Rachel would appreciate it if you learned something from your twin. I always leave more than satisfied, as in she doesn't stop until I've had at least—"
"Seriously?" Quinn snaps at Santana who laughs.
"At least four orgasms, and not like tiny ones, I'm talking toe-curling—"
"Santana!" Quinn bitched at her best friend.
Rachel took Quinn's hand and glanced at Santana and flashed her a rather amused smile, they would certainly have this conversation away from Quinn's sensitive ears. "It seems like it's starting."
Santana turned her attention to the ring and watched as the announcer spoke, and she waited for her mate to make her arrival. David and a few of the other guys would be escorting her to the ring. She quickly pulls out her phone and turns on the video, so she can record Charlie's first fight. It would be good to have a record of it, and maybe show Harper when she was able to appreciate it.
Charlie's music hits and Santana immediately wrinkles her nose up in disgust, hopefully David had chosen the music, because if her alpha had chosen the awful walk out music, then they would need to have a conversation. Still watching Charlie hop around and shake herself loose was entertaining and she smiles as she watches. That was her alpha, her future mate. And Charlie looked good. She looked calm and focused, and even though she can see Rachel and Quinn waving, Charlie ignores them. The last time she had witnessed one of Charlie's fights it had been a brawl that had made her feel uncomfortable at the violence of it all, she hoped that this time would be better. She wanted to be able to support Charlie even if she was terrified of all the injuries that Charlie would sustain.
"Do you think it's going to last all three rounds?" Rachel asks Santana as the announcer goes through all of Charlie's stats. She was smaller than her opponent and her reach was nearly two inches shorter. She personally didn't see a way that Charlie could win.
Santana shrugged, as the bell rang and the fighters slowly moved towards the center of the ring so that they could touch gloves in a sign of good sportsmanship. "I mean, I would prefer it if it—" before Santana can finish the sentence Charlie moves, throwing a punch which gets quickly batted away before she follows it up with a surprise flying knee, which connects. There's a sickening thud as the other fighter drops like a log and Charlie pounces before the ref can check on the fighter. She managed to land a few more punches before she's shoved off the fighter and rolls into a resting position as the referee calls the fight over.
Quinn blinked, she had known that her twin was athletic, but to see her take out someone simply like that made it very clear that her twin was dangerous. She turns to Santana who looks just as surprised as she felt and simply stares in shocked silence with the rest of the crowd.
It takes a moment to realize that the fight was over, before it roars to life as Charlie hops out of the cage, with a massive smile on her face and practically runs over to Santana who looks surprised to see her. Charlie drops down in front of her and looks up at her. "I won."
Santana blinks and glances at her alpha for a moment before slowly smiling at how eager Charlie was to be praised by her. "I wanted you to win, not commit a murder Charlie," Santana says flatly, though she can't help her smile as she leans in and kisses Charlie deeply. "That was hot," she murmurs against her lips. She flushes and swallows when Charlie lets out a low throaty growl. She knew what that meant and she can feel herself getting slick with want. "The sooner you finish here, the sooner we can leave," Santana whispers to her kissing her cheek.
Charlie nods wordlessly and turns around and heads back into the ring where David is shaking his head at her antics. She could smell Santana's arousal and it was driving her crazy. They would need to ditch Rachel and Quinn. Tonight was going to be a good night.
~ O ~
"What's that?" Harper asked her ma loudly as she walked with her ma and Santa to preschool.
"Your grandparents being stalkers?" Charlie responded, turning to glare at her parents who she had to convince not to hire a professional photographer. Maybe she should have agreed, it would be far less embarrassing than this.
"No silly! What's show'n tell?" Harper asked.
"You get to tell people about all the stuff that is really important to you or you think is cool. Like your ma," Charlie replied as she turned her attention back to Harper.
Harper smiles at her ma and turns to Santa, "Santa is cool."
Santana smirked at Charlie, she had no idea why Harper was being especially clingy to her these days but was enjoying the favoritism. "I think she likes me more than you," she whispers to Charlie loudly, as Harper giggles.
Charlie rolls her eyes and in the process finally notices the school that Marley had pulled strings for them to enter, and she can feel her heart start to race at the thought of leaving her daughter alone here. Yes she knew Marley, and Harper liked Marley, but that wasn't what she was worried about. She could smell the beta teachers, and while Roz had been trying to help her with her general distrust with Beta's she couldn't bring herself to trust them around her daughter. Harper was an omega and her second birthday was like next week she wouldn't be able to—
"I think your ma's upset that you don't think she's cool," Santana says to Harper, she didn't have to be bonded to Charlie to feel the anxious energy that Charlie was giving off in droves. Charlie had been rather difficult when it came to choosing a school. She wanted a school that only had omega staff, which wasn't a thing. Segregation was illegal.
Harper immediately turned to her ma and raised her hands, and immediately got picked up and pulled into a hug by her ma. "Sowwy."
"Do you like Santana more than me? It's fine if it's Santana," Charlie said kissing Harper on the forehead. "Do you remember our talk last night?"
Santana raised a brow, she had been on call last night, she had only gotten home like an hour ago, quickly showering so she could be there for Harper's first day of school. She had bluntly informed HR that she wasn't going to miss this day. It was a milestone that was important and she was totally going to get Judy to send her all the pictures that they had taken. "Charlie," she chides gently, her mate couldn't put her anxiety on Harper.
Harper shook her head, and immediately wrapped her arms around her ma's neck hugging her tightly.
"It's okay Harper, but you need to remember that if you feel scared or uncomfortable, go to Marley."
Harper nods enthusiastically into her ma's neck and looks up and waves at her grandparents. "Okay."
Charlie rubbed Harper's back before putting her back down, deciding to hold her hand as they walked. Stealing a glance over at Santana and spots her smiling at her. Charlie feels her heart rate start to tick down as her anxiety ebbs away. "You're going to make so many new friends Harper, and you can tell me all about them when I come pick you up okay?"
"And then when I get home you'll tell me while we make dinner together," Santana huffs, maybe she should check to see if anyone was willing to do her this favor so she could pick up Harper on her first day back. Soon she'd have a bit more seniority and more flexibility and she'd be able to be with Charlie and Harper more. At least now she was seeing Charlie far more often, than in the past, but there were still plenty of days where she woke up to an empty apartment and desperately missed her family.
~ O ~
"Charlie I don't mind putting off my errands for an hour or two—" Santana began as she put her car into park.
"We talked about this Santana, until Harper gets used to Mack, we're not having anyone else at these little visits. It's not that I don't want you there, I just need to make sure that this goes smoothly and we set up a proper co-parenting situation," Charlie explains as she removes her seatbelt and looks out the window. "She's here early this time," Charlie mused when she spotted Mac who was sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette.
Santana follows Charlie's gaze and scowls at Mack, "She shouldn't be smoking around Harper, her lungs are still developing and second-hand smoke can lead to lung cancer. You should put that down in the book you're keeping. I can get a hundred doctors to sign off on it if it becomes a thing in court."
Charlie turned to look at Santana, this was why she needed to keep them separate for now. Santana's presence would only make Mack uncomfortable and combative and none of that helped Harper, but she did love how protective Santana was over Harper. "I'll talk to her about it," she promises before exiting the car. "I'll text when we're wrapping up so you don't have to wait long."
Santana nods and turns so she could flash a smile at Harper, who was sleeping soundly in the car. She frowns ever so slightly as she looks up at Charlie. Maybe she should have kidnapped them instead, she should have taken them to an amusement park or something. Harper was a toddler she was easily distractible and forgetful, she would probably forget about Mack if she kept them separate.
Harper wakes slightly as Charlie picks her up after releasing her from her car seat and she yawns. "Tired," she mumbles into Charlie's neck.
"I know but we're going to see mommy, and spend some time with her. Maybe we can get some snacks, and color together," Charlie says as she grabs Harper's backpack as she closes the door and heads over to meet with Mack.
Santana grips the steering wheel tightly as she watches Mack smile when she finally notices their presence. She wanted to scream, when she remembered her father's pointed words. She and Charlie weren't mated, which meant that her opinion in this matter was ignored. Her mate was making a mistake when it came to trusting Mack unless there was more going on here than Charlie was saying. Mack and Charlie had mated, what if there were some residual feelings, or Charlie got it in her head that she wanted to be with Mack again. "I need to lock that down tonight," Santana mumbled to herself. It seemed that she needed to add a few more places to her errand list.
~ O ~
Charlie frowned ever so slightly as she tried to zoom in on Santana's old tablet. The thing was slow and she had taken it from Santana so she could watch the videos that David had sent to her on a bigger screen, but like the last few times she'd tried to use the device, the app crashed. She sighs and leans back on the bed and closes her eyes, Santana was right and she really would have been better off getting a new one. Her eyes pop open when the door to Santana's bedroom opens and she half expects it to be Harper looking to try and sleep between her and Santana again. Harper had been clingy—her mind goes blank and her mouth goes dry when she spots the red see-through negligée that Santana has on.
"Hey." Santana said simply hiding her hands behind her back.
"Hi." Charlie manages feeling the tension in her pants, well she would rather be pleasing her mate then watching video. "Thought you said you had a lot of work and studying to do tonight," Charlie pointed out as Santana takes a step towards the bed.
"Lied, I wanted to get this prepared," Santana said, stopping so she could kick the door closed behind her before slowly walking to the bed. "I'm going to need you to close your eyes."
Charlie blinked, and immediately nodded trusting her mate completely, she probably wanted to do something kinky and she was always game to try and please Santana, even though the last time that they had played this game she had ended up close to tears begging Santana for release. Her mate was a sadist, but she enjoyed it whenever Santana was enjoying herself and she had never orgasmed as hard as when Santana had played with her body. "Okay, but try not to leave any marks this time Santana."
"That's the fun part," Santana responded as she waited for Charlie to close her eyes before she let the thick pair of handcuffs fall to her side. They would be impossible for Charlie to accidentally break out of them, it had cost her a pretty penny but the craftsmanship was solid. "Hands up," she said, watching as Charlie does exactly as she asks. She slowly approaches her mate, and gets on the bed straddling her. "If I can't leave marks all over you then how about you leave marks all over me."
Charlie resists the urge to open her eyes, "San you know I can't," she mumbled. She didn't want to get in the habit of biting Santana, because she had a sneaking suspicion that if she started then she would end up attempting to mate Santana in the heat of the moment.
"I know you don't want to," Santana replied running a hand along Charlie's arm, letting her fingers trace the curvature of her muscle. Once she gets to Charlie's wrist she attaches one of the cuffs to the bed but before she can pin Charlie down her mates eyes snap open, and she can see the panic in her eyes at the sound of the click and she immediately stops what she's doing.
Charlie pulls her arms away from Santana, trying to rein in the panic attack she could feel was about to hit her, "Off!" It comes out far gruffer and harsher than she wanted but she needed Santana away from her right now.
Immediately pulling back, Santana quickly moves to her side of the bed and looks at her alpha. This wasn't how she had envisioned this night going. "I'm sorry. I didn't—I just wanted us to mate."
Charlie barely hears those words as she tries to go through the exercises that Roz had given her. She repeats the mantra in her head before she finally feels her heart start to slow and she looks at her omega, trying to process what she said. "What?"
"I just wanted to mate with you, I don't even know what the plan was here, I think I was going to tease you into a frenzy and then release you, and let you have your way with me."
Charlie closed her eyes, "You were trying to force me into mating with you?"
Santana immediately stopped speaking, she hadn't really thought the implications of this through and she had seemingly just crossed a huge line. "I'm sorry," she said immediately hoping like last time it deflates Charlie's anger.
"I think I need to sleep on the couch tonight, me and Harper will be heading back to my parents in the morning." Charlie didn't wait for Santana to respond or attempt to stop her; she simply gets up and leaves.
Santana closed her eyes and banged her head against the headboard, how could she have been so selfish. She had just ruined everything. She had probably just undone all the good work that Charlie had done, on a selfish whim because she was fucking jealous of Mack of all people. Mack had thrown away something that she thought was the most precious thing in the world, and her mate wouldn't—couldn't mate with her now.
