Santana reached over and gently rested a hand on Charlie's leg, stopping her alpha from the incessant tapping that she was doing with her foot. "I know you're agitated but you need to stop, it's beyond annoying. Strando is currently sitting in a jail cell."
"Mack should be right there beside him," Charlie grumbled, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself. She had not expected Mack to text her and ask to meet. She had been about to tell Mack where exactly she should jump off, when Santana had informed her that they were taking the meeting. She had protested but it was clear that Santana was going to show up whether she wanted to go or not.
Santana placed a folder onto the table and ignored her mate's quizzical look. "Harper doesn't want that."
"Harper is four and a half and refuses to eat green things. Why are we listening to a child?" Charlie shoots back.
Santana shot her mate a patient look, watching her deflate a bit, Charlie always considered Harper's opinion despite being a child, and while she personally understood where Charlie was coming from, Mack had tried to protect Harper. At least she had made a haphazard attempt. "He's her mate."
"I know my hands aren't clean Santana, but if I ever put my hands on you in a way that you dislike or hurt a kid on purpose, break the bond, take Harper and the baby and fucking leave." Charlie grumbled.
Before Santana can respond Mack clears her throat and motions to the chair that was seated across from the two of them, "Can I?"
Charlie raised a brow at this, it was oddly polite of Mack to even ask. But Mack doesn't wait for a response as she takes the seat and her lip curls upward in disgust. She couldn't possibly believe that she had slept with this woman. The only good thing out of the whole ordeal was that she had Harper.
Santana rests a hand on Charlie's hand, Charlie's anger was coming off her in waves and it was giving her a bit of a headache. "Before you start with your sob story, I want you to know that we're not going to drop charges against Strando. I imagine you'll figure out a way to get bail at some point, but I want you to know that for as long as you're mated with Strando and he's in the house, you will never see Harper again."
Mack swallowed and looked at Charlie, "You're going to let your omega do all the talking?" She flinches at the cold look that Charlie shoots her.
Santana squeezes Charlie's hand, as Charlie let out a low menacing growl at her. "The only reason that we even took this meeting is because I'm giving you one opportunity to do the right thing. This isn't a negotiation, Strando sitting in a jail cell is the only thing that is keeping him safe from Charlie."
"You got him fired, he was just—"
Charlie bangs her hand against the table, "Do not defend him."
Mack immediately quiets down, and realizes that Santana was the only one that was an emotional mess right now and her best bet. "You said you were pregnant—could you do it without your mate, without your alpha."
Santana glanced over at Charlie, "Yes. If Charlie was anything like Strando, I'd do it on my own in a heartbeat. I am not going to teach my daughter that all she has to look forward to in life is being an incubator for an alpha. When I get home from a long day at the hospital, Charlie rubs my feet, runs a bath for me and gives me some wine, and some space to unwind. She treats me the way that I want Harper to be treated, and yes we've had some hiccups, but she's my mate and I couldn't imagine waking up to anyone other than her. From where I'm standing, you downgraded with Strando. You had the perfect alpha and you broke the bond," Santana shook her head as she pushed the folder towards Mack. "I'm not here to rehash the past with you, I'm here so you can sign these documents."
Mack flips open the folder and reads the title on the top of the page, "Petition to terminate parental rights? You can't be—"
"You abandoned Harper from day one, quite frankly Charlie should have given this to you the day you came over with her birth certificate. You didn't want her then, you really don't want her now, and signing this document means that you no longer have to pay child support. You need all the money you can get Mack, and this is offering you a very small lifeline."
Charlie stared at her mate, she was certain that she was just as shocked as Mack was, but for a completely different reason. She was certain she had just fallen in love with her mate all over again.
"I—"
"Mack, regardless of what you want, your rights will be terminated, and I will be adopting Harper. I'm hoping that we can do this the easy way and be done with this with this rather amicably, but if not we will go to court and petition them to have your rights terminated so I can adopt her."
Mack narrowed her eyes and turned her attention to Charlie, "I gave birth to her."
"And abandoned her," Charlie retorted flatly. "You never wanted to be her mother, and to you she was a mistake."
"And you think she's going to be better than Strando?"
"Harper likes Santana more than she likes me, and I'm her ma. Santana reads to her, they have spa days every other week, they speak in code in front of me."
"It's Spanish," Santana said with an amused snort.
"It might as well be code! And quite frankly she was willing to put aside having a kid of her own in case it made Harper uncomfortable. She went into a potentially dangerous situation to rescue our daughter. Don't insult my mate by comparing her to the waste of flesh that you consider an acceptable alpha to your children." Charlie takes Santana's hand, holding it tightly, "She loves Harper more than anything Mack, so please sign the documents."
"And what if Harper wants to see me?"
"Then she can see you," Charlie says bluntly. "I'm never going to stop Harper from knowing you Mack, and she'll see you when and only when she wants to, so long as Strando is nowhere near her. If she wants to know her half-siblings, I'm okay with that as well, but you are not her mother, and it's about time we both stopped pretending that you were."
Santana pulled out a pen out of her purse and placed it on the table beside the folder. "I've filled out most of the form for you, all you need to do is sign where it says to sign."
"If I sign this, can you please not press charges. Strando and I will leave New York, we can't afford it and since you've gotten him blacklisted we'll have to find work somewhere else. Charlie, please. Do you know what they do to people who abuse children in prison?"
"Hopefully he learns his lesson then. He put his hands on your child, sure it was the one that you didn't want. But what if he put his hands on your son? Or those babies you're carrying? Then what? Or if he hits you again. Mack, we don't need you to sign the document. You haven't severed your bond with Strando, which means that the courts will sever your parental rights. If you sign the documents, you still get to have a relationship with Harper if that's what she wants. If you don't and we have to fight to get your rights terminated, then any goodwill that you have will evaporate. And you don't have much goodwill left Mack."
Mack picked up the pen slowly and began to flip through all the paperwork for a moment, "I never wanted to give her up. I was going to raise her by myself, but then I met Strando and—if Santana had been the one pregnant would you—"
"Yes," Charlie said immediately. "I would have raised that kid like my own, at the very least I would have protected that child, and wouldn't hate it. I would never hurt Santana by forcing her to separate from a child."
Mack let out a bitter laugh as she began to sign her name and initial where it says to. "I should never have broken the bond."
Santana immediately growls herself, but before she can say something Charlie speaks up. "Thank god you did." She couldn't imagine what her life would be like if her bond with Mack had stuck. It would probably be awful.
~ O ~
If anyone were to see Charlie dressed in a frilly tutu with makeup smeared across her face, they would probably laugh. Though Santana might be horrified to know that they had used her makeup, but she was currently having a tea party with Harper, and she took her tea party time very seriously. She pours the fake tea into a cup for Harper and then she pours some for herself, and pretends to dump in a bunch of sugar and milk causing Harper to laugh. "So, Harper, what's new with you?" Charlie asked conversationally.
"Abuelo took me to go see mom at the hospital, then we saw my abuela and she told me that she puts bad people away. They were scary, but she said she'd protect me!" Harper explains happily listing off all the things that she had done this morning.
"Oh?" Charlie said, completely interested as she listened to her daughter chatter away. Santana had needed to work this morning, but she would be back in the afternoon, she would know this afternoon if she had managed to knock Santana up, she hoped not, trying for a baby was fun, and she would be disappointed if she had managed to knock Santana up on the first try. Elated, but disappointed.
"What's new with you?" Harper asks after she finishes talking as she takes a sip of her tea.
"Hmm, well I have a championship fight in three months," Charlie informs Harper who looks surprised. "Your ma is going to be a world champion. Best in the world."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and once I win that big gold belt, you can carry it, and bring it in for show and tell!" Charlie says cheerfully.
"Awesome!" Harper shouts. "You hafta win."
"I will win! I can't disappoint my girls can I?" Charlie laughed. The payday was massive, half a million dollars if she won sure she would lose a chunk to taxes, and paying everyone for her training camp, but she would still walk away with a decent salary. She hadn't told Santana that David had called her yet, she didn't want to disturb Santana while she was elbow's deep in a person.
"Yeah, you hafta win," Harper insists. The belt looked so big and shiny and she wanted to go into class and tell everyone that her ma was the best fighter in the world.
"Will you help me get ready?" Charlie asks smiling indulgently at her daughter. "You can sit on my back, while I do push-ups."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm not sure it'll be much fun, but it'll help me, and you can say that you helped me train for the fight! And when they interview me I'll tell the world that you're the best training partner I could ask for."
"YEAH!" Harper grins, she liked the sound of that.
Charlie laughs, she still wasn't the more popular parent but Harper and her had managed to get closer, and she was pleased that Harper still trusted her as an alpha. "Oh what else is new—hmm, oh I have a question for you."
"What?" Harper asks.
"Do you want Santana to adopt you?" Charlie asked, watching as Harper's brow furrowed.
"What's that?"
Charlie hummed, "Do you want Santana to become your real mom?"
Harper dropped her teacup and stared at her ma. "What?"
"It means that you never have to see Mack again unless you want to, it means that if anything were to happen to me, Santana would take care of you. She'll be your mom officially, she has the paperwork ready if that's what you want. It's okay to say no Harper, Santana will understand." Santana would be heartbroken but she would understand. "Do you want Santana to be your mom?"
Harper began to vibrate with excitement and nodded, "Yeah—but what about—"
"Mack?" Charlie shrugs, she had made a vow that she would never speak ill of Mack to Harper, but she really had some choice words for her daughter. "She can be whatever you want her to be. Do you want to see her again?" Harper immediately shook her head no, a frightened look on her face. "Let me rephrase, you will never have to see him again, but if you want to see Mack and your siblings—I will always be in the room with you. Do you want to see Mack and your siblings?"
Harper thought about it for a moment before shaking her head, she had never liked staying at Mack's place and going back scared her. "Is that bad?"
"No. You're allowed to say no Harper."
"Even to veggies?"
Charlie laughed, "I mean you can say no to Santana, and she always puts more veggies on our plate. So don't say no to her when it comes to veggies. We just need to get better at hiding it."
Harper gave her mom a look, "She always knows that we don't eat our veggies!"
"I know!" Charlie groans. "But you don't want anyone else but Santana to be your mom right?"
"Yeah!"
~ O ~
"Well?"
Santana jumped and glared at her mate, she had just entered the apartment and Charlie had been right there standing in the dark with Harper. "Holy fu—dge," Santana said glaring at her mate, even as she accepts a hug from Harper. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Charlie immediately looked at the ground for a second, as if she had been properly chastised before immediately looking back up at Santana. "Well?"
Santana rolled her eyes, and handed over the envelope that she'd gotten about her test results. She hadn't looked at it, she didn't want to be disappointed. "Your ma's weird Harper," Santana informed her daughter with a smile, before it registers that Charlie's in a ridiculous outfit with clown makeup on her face. "Did you two have another tea party?"
Harper nods, "You want to be my mom?"
"I am your mom, silly," Santana said tapping Harper on the nose.
"I told her about the adoption," Charlie informed Santana.
"Charlie!"
"What? She asked me what was new and I had questions," Charlie grumbled as she ripped open the envelope, pulling out the paper inside. Charlie scans it quickly and she immediately huffs.
Santana frowns ever so slightly, she had honestly believed that she was pregnant. "Well we can still try, I mean it takes the average alpha couple—"
"Santana you're pregnant, I'm disappointed we can't keep trying to make a baby," Charlie corrects, before it finally registers in her mind that her mate was pregnant. Her eyes widen and she immediately turns to Harper. "You're going to be a big sister—wait what are you still doing standing Santana?"
"I'm barely—" Santana blinks as Charlie sweeps her off her feet, and carries her princess style to the couch. Charlie's action had completely stunned her.
"Harper we've got to make sure that Santana doesn't do any extra work!" Charlie informs Harper. "She's got to take it easy for the—"
"Stop," Santana interrupts, narrowing her eyes at her mate, she eases off immediately when she sees that Charlie's got a panicked expression on her face. "I'm pregnant, something that omegas and betas, and women have gone through to continue to go through, I am not sick. I am not dying, I am about three weeks pregnant, you are not going to treat me like I need round the clock care."
"Stress isn't good for the baby Santana," Charlie shoots back immediately.
Santana rolls her eyes hard and gets up, "If you start treating me like I need round the clock care, I will be stressed. I'm barely pregnant Charlie." She swats Charlie's arm away. "Charlie."
"Santana!"
"I'm fine."
"But—"
"I'm going to continue going to work, I'm going to continue cooking for my family, I mean if you really want to help, how about an exercise plan so I don't balloon out and become a whale?"
"Should you be—"
"Charlie, I went to med school. I am not going to be doing nearly as much as you are in the gym, just some yoga, and pilates or something," Charlie opens her mouth and Santana immediately raises her hand. "Charlie. You're going to scare the crap out of Harper."
Charlie looked at her daughter for a moment and then at Santana. She felt the urge to do something, Santana was carrying their child. "I don't know what to do. I've never done this before."
"Rachel was pregnant, you didn't treat her like she needed to be wrapped in bubble wrap."
"Rachel is Quinn's mate, what they do in their relationship is none of my business. You're my mate and I want you to be safe, and I want you to feel cared for, and I really don't want you to stress or worry about anything. So tell me what I can do to make your life easier."
Santana let out a small pleased sigh, she really had lucked out with her alpha. There were so many stories she had heard growing up about alpha's that were basically useless and used omega's like live in maids, the only thing that she absolutely had to do was cook and that was only because Charlie was so bad at it, and she enjoyed cooking for her family. "You can give me time to think about it Charlie, we've only known that I was pregnant for all of five minutes. Why don't we start by hiring a real estate agent—not now. Harper, you need to tell your ma to calm down."
"Calm down!" Harper parrots grinning at Santana.
Charlie huffs, her omega's were awful. "I hope the baby is an alpha, so I won't be outnumbered," Charlie grumbled heading off to the kitchen. She felt ridiculous for caring so much but she really didn't know what to expect, except that at a certain point Santana would want to have sex all the time.
"You know an alpha baby would like me and Harper more!" Santana called out, laughing with Harper as Charlie continued to pout.
