"Where's ma?"
Santana let out a yawn as she looked over at Harper, who had just turned four, "Sleeping," she replied, simply glancing over towards the hallway. She was planning to let Charlie sleep in this morning, she'd been working so hard lately and she'd just finished her last exam for the semester. Tomorrow she'd start prepping for her next fight, according to her contract if she won it, then she'd finally move off the undercard.
Harper turned towards the bedroom and grinned, "I'll wake her up!"
"Let her sleep Harper, she'll wake up once I start the bacon," Santana said with a small laugh. Harper would pounce onto Charlie, who would play wrestle with her daughter before getting up. It had been so easy to fall into the routine of having Harper around, and sure Harper still called her Santana, but as far as she knew she was still calling Mack by her first name as well. Charlie had said that Harper calling her mom would come in time, but like most things she was getting impatient. It was hard not to be worried, ever since they'd lost the bid to keep supervised visitation going, and for the past half year, Harper had been spending weekends with Mack and Strando. But for the first time in six months, Mack had cancelled and they had her this weekend and she planned to make this weekend as fun as possible. "So, what do you want to do this weekend Harper? Do you want to go to the zoo, or we can visit the aquarium, they have baby seals."
Harper thinks about it for a moment, before deciding she wanted to see the baby seals. "Aquarium."
"Alright I'll buy us some tickets, maybe we can see some penguins. They probably have penguins right?" Santana says as she plates some more of the pancakes that she's been making before she finally starts to peel off some thick strips of bacon that she had gotten as a treat for her family. She places a few slices on a baking tray and pops it into the already hot oven. Charlie liked her bacon crunchy on the edges with a bit of chew in the middle. "Do you want some of those little sausages that your ma likes?" Santana asks, she was in the mood to spoil her mate today. Charlie's work ethic in the bedroom was something she appreciated more than anything, and she would probably need to replenish her calories.
Harper's brow furrows and she waits till Santana shows her the packaging. "Yeah!"
"Alright I'll make you one," Santana informed Harper. "It shouldn't take long, do you want to start on your pancakes now?"
Harper is about to nod before she remembers something, "No, I have to wait for ma."
"Your ma's asleep, and as long as you don't finish all the bacon, I'm sure she won't mind," Santana pointed out. She knew that they normally ate together as a family when they could but she didn't think Charlie would mind if they started a bit early. She was probably exhausted after last night, it had been some of her best work.
Harper shakes her head again, this time with a bit more emphasis. "I have to wait for ma," she insists again.
Santana paused for a moment, they generally gave Harper a lot of latitude to explore and learn things on her own. Well she did, Charlie hovered because she worried too much, but Harper rarely ever insisted on anything. "Why?"
"You're not supposed to eat before the alpha," Harper explains as if Santana's silly for not knowing.
"What?" Santana asked, gripping her spatula.
"You hafta wait for the alpha before you can eat," Harper repats again.
Santana bites back the rude comment, Harper was four she really didn't know any better and she couldn't be angry at her. "Did you learn that at Mack's place?"
Harper nodded frowning slightly. She didn't like going but her ma said she had to. "You have to wait, Santa."
"If you're hungry then you can eat if you want, you don't have to wait for your ma. If anything your ma might be upset that you waited for her and let your food go cold," Santana says gently. "Food tastes better when it's warm right?" Harper nods but still doesn't make a move towards her food. "Would it make you feel better if your ma gave you permission?"
"Yeah," Harper said quietly.
Santana swallows back the rage that she feels in the pit of her stomach, Charlie couldn't have known that this was the trash that they were teaching her or she would have tried to murder Strando. Which meant that her alpha didn't know, and she needed to tell her. "What else has Strando and Mack said?"
Harper shrugs her shoulders and looks away.
"Harper, you're not in any trouble. I just want to know what Mack and Strando have told you."
"He said ma was a gamma, and that when you have a baby you'll get rid of me," Harper whispers.
Santana clenched the spatula even tighter, for once at a loss. She had no idea how she was going to fix this, and she doubted that Charlie making a scene and getting pissed at Strando was going to make Harper feel any better. "Harper, I promise I'm never going to abandon you. I mean you're my daughter, I know you didn't come from my belly, but I was there when your ma brought you to your grandparents, and I plan to be there stopping your ma from growling at whichever alpha looks at you."
Harper giggled at that, "Promise."
Santana holds out her pinky finger, smiling when Harper links fingers with her, "Pinky promise. Now eat your breakfast, you know your ma will only be upset if we finish all the bacon—let's finish all the bacon before she wakes up!"
"YEAH!" Harper shouts, grinning at Santana.
~ O ~
"Mmm," Santana moaned as Charlie massaged her feet, it had been a long day at work and her mate was focused on pampering her to get her ready for tomorrow. "Have you thought about becoming a massage therapist?" Santana asked, Charlie was good at this and feeling her calloused hands massaging her feet or her back was simply wonderful.
"Do you really want me massaging other omegas?" Charlie asked, laughing when Santana let out a possessive growl. "Didn't think so," she smiles at Santana as she continues to work on her feet. "I was thinking about that though."
"Oh?" Santana asks, opening her eyes again. Charlie rarely talked about a future outside of fighting so if she was finally thinking about it she wanted to be supportive. "What are you thinking?"
"Maybe we can work together one day?"
Santana sat up, pulling her feet away from Charlie's lap, her eyes wide. "You want to go to medical school?"
"What? No!" Charlie made a face, she was impressed by what her mate did but she wasn't sure she could ever just cut into people, like Santana could. Santana still hadn't finished her residency and she still had a fellowship to think about. She didn't want to be in school for that long. "I was thinking of becoming a physiotherapist, I mean it's just a thought and if it's a stupid idea then—"
"It's perfect," Santana said, unsure why she hadn't thought about it before. Charlie came from a fitness background, and she was a personal trainer at Dave's gym so she did have some of the qualifications. And if she ever finished her residency and her fellowship then there could be a time where she could have her own private practice with a wellness branch which Charlie could head up.
"Really?"
"Charlie, we could run our own business, I'd send you patients for you to help before and after their surgery. Plus if you ever open your own gym you could send me patients and the like. We could make this work." Santana informed Charlie starting to get excited. Charlie having a career like that could only help her longevity in the ring, and more importantly if Charlie had something to fall back on, she'd be more willing to leave fighting behind.
"It's just an idea though Santana, I'm not even sure how to become a physiotherapist," Charlie admits.
"Well the research into the requirements is the simple part, hand me my—" there's a firm knock on the door causing both of them to look towards the door. "Were you expecting someone?"
"No," Charlie said, getting up. That knock sounded desperate and her daughter and omega were in the apartment, so she needed to take care of it. She immediately heads to the door and checks the peephole before relaxing slightly. "It's just Dani and Marley." She opens the door for them. "It's rude to show up uninvited," she says flatly, sometimes rubbing Santana's feet led to massaging other parts of her and she had been looking forward to it.
Dani pushes past Charlie, when she spots Santana and makes a beeline towards her, and wraps her in a tight hug. "Thank you."
Charlie blinked and growled, not quite sure what was going on here, but she knew she didn't like Dani touching Santana. "Marley, make Dani let go before I rip off her arms and beat her with it," she said turning to Marley and pausing for a moment. Something seemed off and she looked slightly relieved if not gutted. "Are you okay?" She smelt like Santana did after she came back from the hospital.
"No," Marley admitted. "Can we come in?"
Charlie hesitated for a moment as Santana managed to extract herself from Dani and nodded, "Okay, but you need to keep your voices down, Harper's asleep and you know how excited she gets when she sees you." Marley nodded and slipped into the apartment, heading to the living room. Charlie closes the door and immediately heads back to Santana glaring at Dani. She of all people should know better than to touch another alpha's mate. Dani was lucky she didn't perceive her as a threat.
"Cervical cancer," Marley says biting her lip, "If you hadn't gotten on my case about seeing a doctor—they caught it early enough that it hasn't spread but the treatment—" Marley trails off.
"A radical trachelectomy isn't going to be pleasant but you'll still be able to have kids. It might be a bit more difficult, but it is possible."
"That wasn't what they recommended, they recommended a radical hysterectomy," Marley says to Santana who flinched immediately.
"Get a second opinion," Santana informed Marley. "Hell, send me your medical records so I can have a look and I'll talk to my papi, he apparently knows everyone. Which means he probably knows which doctor that you should see, the best in the city. They probably owe him a favor or something."
"Cancer?" Charlie whispered looking at Dani who nodded wordlessly. "Santana's a really good doctor, Dani, she'll make sure that Marley gets the very best care. If you need anything—"
"I know," Dani exhales trying desperately not to cry.
~ O ~
"Charlie?" It's nearly two am in the morning, and she knows that her mate isn't sleeping. She can hear the gears turning in Charlie's head.
"Yeah?" Came the instant reply.
Santana swallows, "Are we ever going to mate?"
The question isn't really a surprise, but it still manages to catch Charlie off guard as she rolls over so she can look at Santana. "I—"
"I just need to know, I like our life like this, but I want to be able to always feel you, to know when you're nearby just—I want to mate Charlie. I'm not going anywhere, no matter what mating with you shows me. I want Harper to feel secure in the fact that I'm her mom," Santana says, swallowing. She was far too tired to start a fight with her mate but anything could happen, to either one of them and she needed Charlie to mate with her. It offered her protection and it gave her some rights when it came to Harper. If anything were to happen to Charlie now, Harper would go to Mack and Strando and she wouldn't be able to fight it.
"It's not that I don't want to mate with you Santana, but I don't know if I can handle it if you broke our bond. I don't even like Mack and her breaking the bond practically wrecked me. Mack experienced what I went through on the worst day of my life, and then she experienced all the hatred and self-loathing I have of myself. She experienced all of it and it near broke her, and I'm happy and I'm in a good place right now with you. I love what we have, I love our family and I'm scared that if we try to mate—if you reject me—"
"I'm not going to reject you, I swear," Santana promises. She could understand where Charlie was coming from, but how could she not trust that after everything that they'd been through that experiencing Charlie's worst day would make her want to leave.
"I'm not saying that you're going to do it intentionally, I don't think Mack did it intentionally, it's just she wanted it to stop so it did."
"Then we'll keep trying until it sticks," Santana said as if it were obvious. "I'm not leaving you so you're going to need to trust me."
Charlie nods, "Can it wait until after my next fight?"
Santana blinked, she hadn't expected Charlie to try and put a timeline on this, but it was only two months. She'd been with her mate for nearly three years now, and two months was nothing. It was also for the best that she did wait, Charlie would need to start cutting weight soon which always seemed to make her testier than usual, and if their attempt failed then she could only imagine how miserable Charlie would be. Her alpha needed to focus on her fight. "Yeah?"
Charlie nods, "Yeah."
