"Hey Harper, why don't you find a book that Santana can read you tonight for bedtime," Charlie suggests, smiling when Harper immediately perks up. Santana had given her a list of books saying it was never to early to start Harper on the classics, but Harper was turning three in a few weeks, and she wasn't sure if Santana understood that Harper still had the attention span of a two year old.
Charlie pulls out her phone and looks at the list of books and sighs, before deciding that it would probably be simpler if she got one book off the list and hoped for the best. She really needed to figure out what she was going to say to Mack, about Santana's involvement in Harper's life. She didn't want to insult Mack, but Harper loved Santana, and while she could grow to loveMack, she wasn't sure it was a relationship that she wanted to foster.
As long as—Charlie sniffed twice and her lips curled in disgust, as she turned to face Strando who was practically glued to Mack's side. Their eyes lock for a moment and when he pushes out his chest and growls at her she ignores him. "I thought we agreed that we wouldn't bring our—"
"You're not mated," Strando interrupts.
Charlie closes her eyes and counts for a moment before exhaling, punching him in the throat would set a terrible example for Harper. She flicks her eyes to Mack for a moment, only for Strando to immediately step in between them. Charlie studies the useless meat bag in front of her before losing interest quickly, as she turns her attention back to Harper, who slows down when she spots Mack and crinkles her little face.
"You smell," Harper states taking a few steps away from Mack who flushes in embarrassment.
"I'm pregnant," Mack says after a moment.
"What's that?"
"It means you're going—"
"It means that she's growing a baby inside her stomach," Charlie interrupts, deftly sidestepping Strando and scooping up Harper in her arms and tossing her up in the air, to sufficiently distract her. Charlie flicks her eyes at Mack and kisses Harper's cheek before placing her down. "Go and find more books Harper, let me talk to Mack real quick, then we can see if Santana's done with shopping."
"Okay!" Harper chirped before turning around and going to look at the books.
Charlie grins at her daughter before watching her head towards one of the bookshelves and starts to pull out books one at a time, she winces but makes a note to clean up afterwards. The smile on her face fades as she looks at Mack. "Congratulations."
"You don't sound excited," Strando sneers.
Charlie ignores him, "Are you going to be moving into a bigger place?"
"What?" Mack asks, slightly confused at Charlie's line of questioning.
"Harper is turning three Mack, she's growing really fast, you don't have enough room for her. You barely have enough room for your kid now, trust me I lived in a tiny crappy hole in the wall and I'm lucky that it had a bedroom. How are you going to afford childcare? He's made it clear that he's not going to look after her, or care for her, so what happens if you get sick or you know the baby is coming? Are you just going to abandon her again?"
Mack's face slowly twists into a scowl as she clenches her fists, she wasn't the bad guy here. "You think that fancy omega of yours is going to continue to play house with you once you get her pregnant?"
"Santana has been involved in Harper's life since the day you gave her to me," Charlie pointed out. "She comes to doctor's visits with me. She buys Harper things, she loves Harper, and quite frankly the only reason that she isn't here right now is because I wanted us to make it easier to co-parent if we're on the same page and I honestly don't think we are. You're putting Harper in a situation where she'll know she's not loved unconditionally, and that is unacceptable to me. I'm going to take Harper home today, we'll figure this out another day, without him and without Santana." Charlie said with a sigh.
"You think that she won't treat Harper differently once she gets what she wants from you?"
"I know she won't," Charlie retorts, deciding that this conversation was over, as she simply walks away and sits by Harper and begins to help her look through books.
~ O ~
Santana glanced over at Charlie, there were times—most of the time she had no idea what Charlie was thinking, but she could put two and two together. Charlie had come to find her with Harper and then had proceeded to help her daughter load up the cart with sugary treats while she pretended not to notice. She had removed most of it when they weren't looking and Charlie didn't seem to be the wiser. Something had clearly happened at the library, and while she had been curious she had left it alone. There were things that weren't meant for Harper's ears, but Harper was currently passed out in her arms, because Charlie was being silly by carrying all the grocery bags. "I'm going to kidnap your daughter," Santana informed Charlie.
It takes a second to process what Santana had just said and Charlie immediately shifts her gaze towards her mate. Seeing Santana raise an eyebrow and give her a look causes Charlie to soften her look and let out an annoyed huff. "Mack's pregnant."
"It's not yours is it?" Santana blurted out before looking away when Charlie shot her an unamused look. She clears her throat, "Sorry, but this could be a good thing. We've talked about it before, remember?"
"You mean it's a good thing apart from the fact that Harper will probably be abandoned again?" Charlie asks rhetorically before her shoulders slump and she sighs. "I'm sorry, it was just a bit much. She brought Strando along, or he invited himself. I don't know but he hates her and she thinks that's normal. She said that when you had a kid—"
Santana's blood ran cold, the last thing she needed was that poison infecting Charlie's mind. "Charlie I would never just—I love Harper. She's my daughter, you said she sees me as a mom right?"
"Santana," Charlie's voice is gentle as she looks at her omega, "That's why I needed to walk away, I really was going to kick Strando's teeth in. Harper doesn't seem to like Mack, she ignores her most of the time. I was hoping that Mack might just lose interest because Harper had no interest in her, but what if Harper bonds with her kid?"
Santana inhaled sharply, "I didn't even think about it like that!" It would keep Mack in their lives indefinitely, and if Mack ever got her hooks into Harper then—Santana swallowed and looked at her alpha. They needed to find a solution quickly, "Call Sue."
"I will tomorrow." Charlie sighed, she already knew that Sue was going to be annoyed that she walked out on a scheduled visit, but Strando was getting in her face and she had really wanted to shut him up. But Harper had been right there and she was really trying to be a good role model for her daughter.
The elevator doors open and they exit as Santana thinks for a moment, "Charlie I don't mind commuting, or even seeing if I can transfer to another hospital closer to your parents. I know putting a financial barrier isn't something you want to do because you think it makes you a bad person, but Harper."
Charlie shook her head, "We've already put down roots here. I know mom won't mind if we choose to move closer to her, or move into the guest house on a permanent basis, but the commute is over 3 hours Santana, that's six hours a day. And I don't want to do what we did before, we missed you. I missed you."
Santana sighs, she had been about to suggest that they go back to what they had been doing before in an attempt to get Mack off their necks, but she was secretly pleased that Charlie had thought ahead and immediately shot that idea down. Charlie was fully invested in their family and she needed to be as well. "We'll think of something. I'm going with you whenever you see Sue, I'll get someone to cover my shift if I—" Santana stopped as they turned the corner towards her apartment when she spotted her mother standing at the door with her key out. "Mami?"
Maribel perks up for a moment before she immediately sours when she spots Charlie, who was carrying quite a few bags. She immediately chooses to ignore Charlie and focus on her daughter when she spots Santana comfortably holding Harper who seemed passed out in her arms. It's enough to cause her to narrow her eyes slightly, "Santana, I came to check up on you—"
"That key was for emergencies, and I am pretty certain I gave the key to papi not you," Santana interrupts, raising her voice slightly. Immediately it startles Harper awake. Santana winces and looks over at Harper, "I'm sorry for getting upset," she whispers, nuzzling her in an attempt to get her to go back to sleep.
"I love your daughter." Both Santana and Maribel turn to look at Charlie who looks slightly embarrassed by the declaration of love. "I know that I'm not exactly the type of person that I would want dating Harper. I know I've really messed up in the past with Santana, and I wish I could take it all back. There are a lot of things that I wish I could take back, and things that I wish I could have done differently and I'm working on it."
Santana blinks back tears, and clears her throat and looks at Harper, "See Harper, that's the type of alpha you want to mate with," she whispers to Harper who looks at her and nods. She grins at her and looks at her mother. "We both know that Charlie's going to be my mate, and once she is, she's going to be mine forever. So you really need to figure it out with her, because she's my alpha, and I'm always going to put our family first. And the moment I can figure out how to adopt Harper, I'm doing that. She's my daughter, so you're simply going to have to get used to it. Now can you please open the door so we can get inside and I can confiscate that key from you? Actually scratch that, Charlie and I are moving at the end of the month, so it really doesn't matter if you have the key."
Maribel frowned, as far as she knew Charlie was not making anywhere close to Santana's salary. "Santana, have you thought this through? How are you going to afford a bigger place?"
Santana rolled her eyes, "I know you think that Charlie's poor, but her last name is still Fabray. We're moving into a bigger place that is owned by Judy and Russell. An agreement was struck that Charlie will act as a maintenance person since she's so good with her hands—"
"Santana!" Charlie protested flushing.
"And in return we pay like five hundred in rent," Santana said, ignoring Charlie's embarrassment. "They weren't even going to charge us but Charlie insisted on giving them rent, and she's being silly and insisting that she cover it. I'm being taken care of, and if you bothered to put aside the fact that you're looking down on something who probably has a bigger net worth than you, you'd realize that she's providing for me. She's going to school, she's raising our daughter, she's making money fighting and she has people who are in talks with a major MMA organization, so not only is she teaching kids but she could be making more than me in a couple of years. I'm happy. We're happy and if you're going to continue to be like this, then I'll be forced to cut you and papi out."
"I like your dad though," Charlie whispers to Santana.
"I know you do, but if he's around then she'll think that I want to see her when I don't," Santana responds looking at her mother.
"You two aren't even mated—do you plan to live as betas?"
"We'll mate when we're ready to mate, and not a second sooner," Santana snaps back. She was trusting that Charlie was working on it. "If you're not going to help by opening the door for us, then can you please leave. We need to start packing, and start the argument about hiring a moving company."
"It'll be cheaper if I just—"
"We're hiring a moving company," Santana says looking at Charlie who wisely decides to keep her mouth shut. She rolls her eyes and looks at her mother. "Now the door please?"
Maribel frowns but does as she's asked as she unlocks and opens the door for her daughter.
~ O ~
"You know you can have more than one beer right? I'm paying," Quinn reminds her twin, she'd been nursing on her beer for the past half hour.
"You're paying?" Dani asks, slightly surprised. Quinn had never paid for anything before.
"I have an unhealthy relationship with drugs and alcohol, so I limit myself to one," Charlie replies after a moment with a shrug. She hadn't wanted to go out with Quinn but Santana and Harper had kicked her out, saying that they were having an omega night. Which sounded a lot more fun than hanging out with Quinn and Dani. She liked Dani, and she loved her sister, but hanging out at a bar wasn't her idea of fun.
"So, why are we in a bar?"
"Because Quinn can't bond with her daughter so she's trying to drink her problems away," Charlie replies to Dani who snorts and looks at Quinn.
"Beth cries whenever I hold her and the moment that Rachel takes her from me she settles down. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, she just likes Rachel more than me. If I didn't know better I'd say she was attempting to steal Rachel away from me."
"Possible," Charlie said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Harper currently loves Santana more than me, which hasn't led me to drinking more. I approve of that relationship. Rachel shouldn't be taking Beth from you. I know she's like only a few months, and she's comforted by Rachel's smell but you need to bond with her now before she's smart enough to realize that she'll always get Rachel by crying. Crying won't kill her, and once she's done feed her, burp her and change her diaper."
"You sound like mom and dad," Quinn grumbled and sighed. "Don't have kids Dani, enjoy your freedom."
Dani smiles and looks at her beer, "Marley and I have been arguing about having kids. It's not that I don't want to, but our finances aren't exactly where I want them before we started having kids. We don't exactly have your guy's support network."
"Don't you?" Charlie asks. "You guys helped me with Harper when I still lived in the same building, especially Marley, and you gave me free legal advice. Marley is Harper's favorite teacher, of course we'd help out, and we've got all this extra baby furniture that we aren't moving into our new place because Harper's outgrown it. We were just going to donate it, but if you can have it."
"Charlie's right, but I thought my aunt's firm paid you low six-figures," Quinn adds. That should be more than enough to raise a kid.
"New York is expensive, and we've got massive student loans. I'm not saying no to children, I'm just saying that I want to be in a good financial position and I think I'm fast tracked to make a partner. I was asking to wait three years, if I don't make partner by then I can move to a cheaper place and practice law there, with a similar salary and a lower cost of living," Dani explains looking at Charlie. If anyone was going to get it then it was certainly Charlie.
Charlie hesitated for a moment, she should probably run it by Santana first but if it wasn't for Dani who had helped her prepare for court then she might have lost Harper. "You do have a support network, I don't mind helping out and babysitting. But if you really need help maybe I can convince my mother to give you the same deal as I have where you rent from her. They're nice apartments, and whatever you're saving on rent you can use on a kid or to pay off your student loans faster."
Dani blinked, it would be nice to move to a nicer area so she could start hosting people from the firm. "I'll have to talk to Marley about it, but if we could save some money somewhere I'd feel less worried about having a kid with Marley. It would be nice if our kids were all friends."
"That would be nice, but I figure I should apologize now, because I have a feeling that Beth's going to be the one getting them all into trouble," Quinn sighed.
"You really do need to bond with Beth," Charlie repeats for the umpteenth time, as she takes a sip of her beer. Charlie smirks when Quinn slaps her arm. She enjoys the quiet for a moment before she sighs, "I think I'm about to sign with a major MMA promotion, the pay still isn't great because I'll be on the undercard, but David thinks that with the right team in place I'll rise through the ranks quickly especially if I'm fighting the way I've been fighting. I haven't told Santana yet, I wanted to make sure that it was real. Don't worry I'm not going to sign anything without her or your input Dani, but I want to hear the meeting is happening before I tell Santana. I know she wants me to tell her stuff early but I'm still worried about jinxing it, the moment that David says the meeting is happening is the moment I surprise Santana."
"Santana hates surprises," Quinn reminded her twin.
"From you, I think she likes it when I surprise her with good news, and I think I'm going to have a lot of good news soon."
