Santana tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the school bus. A quick look at the time on her phone, and an irritated sigh is enough to keep most of the other parents away from her. Which was something she preferred, Charlie was the one that dealt with all the other parents, and she was pretty sure that they were afraid of her. While it led to amusing interactions, she couldn't really fault them, Charlie was still undefeated and had ruled her division with an iron fist. She had been given the nickname Tyrant, after another poor unfortunate alpha had tried to make a name for themselves by trying to get under Charlie's skin. The fight had ended when the alpha's corner had thrown in the towel to stop Charlie's onslaught. Her mate had been covered head to toe in blood that wasn't hers and it had created a rather iconic image.
Obviously such an image had been problematic for a bunch of parents who thought that Charlie was glorifying violence, and they had begun to keep their distance. It was a good thing that the people that they had already befriended hadn't pulled away from them and Harper and Bela still had plenty of friends. As far as she was concerned, it wasn't her job to tell those judgemental parents what an absolute teddy bear her mate was. Every week it was like she found something that her mate did to make her fall in love with her all over again. They didn't know that Charlie had put off going back to school until she had completed her fellowship and she had gotten a job. They certainly didn't know that Charlie spent her weekends coaching Bela's soccer team and taking Harper to dance practice. Sure she and Bela butted heads all the time, but she knew how proud Charlie was of both their daughters.
And while she didn't want to give the judgemental parents the satisfaction of begging for their approval, it was equally true that she had been a bit possessive over her mate as of late. Charlie had developed a bit of an omega fan club much to her mortification. She trusted her mate implicitly, but she didn't trust an unmated omegas. If one more omega in heat tried to tempt her alpha she'd—
The bus for the kids school finally pulls around the corner and Santana looks at the time once again. Next time she was most just going to go and pick up the kids at school, which had been the original plan but by the time her surgery ended, it wouldn't have been possible to drive to the kid's school and pick them up. She takes a few steps back as the bus stops at the stop and children start filing out of it one at a time, and she waits till she spots Harper. "Harper, over here!"
Harper turns and spots Santana and immediately makes a beeline towards her. "Mom? What are you doing here?"
"We've got a party to remember—Bela, what has your ma told you about kidnapping?" Santana said, pinching the bridge of her nose when she spotted Bela exiting the bus with Adrian Harper, the only omega in Dani and Marley's pack of children.
"Mommy!" Bela said with a proud smile on her face. "I had too."
"You had too?" Santana questioned, before sighing. "Come on Adrian, let's call your mommy," Santana sighed. She could only imagine how annoyed that Dani would be about this, it seemed to happen nearly twice a week.
"Yeah!" Bela insisted. "You hafta protect omegas."
"You've been listening to your ma again," Santana groaned, of course Charlie didn't see anything wrong with Bela's behavior. Thank goodness that Dani and Marley were family friends or this would probably be a problem. "Come on you three, we're late."
"Where we going?" Bela asks, taking Adrian's hand and following her mommy.
"It's a party for ma!" Harper reminded Bela. "It's her birthday!"
It was a surprise party for the twins, it would be their first joint party in years, and there was a part of her that knew and understood that Charlie wasn't big on parties in general but her mate was turning thirty-five, and she wanted to celebrate with their family and friends.
"Did you remember the present?" Harper asked her mom, watching as Santana froze.
"Fuck. I knew I forgot something, okay new plan. We're going to head home real quick so I can grab your ma's present," Santana groaned. She had no idea how Charlie managed to corral the children every day, it was probably an alpha thing.
"Ma probably thinks we forgot her birthday."
Santana snorted, she had woken her mate up to give her a very early birthday present, which would continue "That's why we have to yell Surprise the loudest," she informs her kids.
~ O ~
"Grandma!" Bela shouted dragging Adrian with her as she spotted her grandma talking with someone she didn't know.
Judy turns and spots Santana who looks slightly frazzled at corralling all three of the children, "I'm surprised that you managed to get here this early," she teases. "You're still late."
"Bela kidnapped Adrian, and I forgot to grab the present for Charlie's birthday, then Adrian had to use the bathroom, so we had to stop at a gas station. Before we left Bela decided that she needed to use the bathroom as well. Then I lost Harper again, cause she got bored with waiting and wandered off—how does Charlie do this all the time?" Santana groaned.
"You shouldn't have let Charlie take all the night shifts," Carlos commented, grinning when Harper turned and ran up to him giving him a massive hug.
Santana scowled at her father, he had been saying this since she brought Bela home, as if she had a choice in the matter. Charlie was a light sleeper and was out of bed before she was out of bed, and arguing with Charlie about it had seemed pointless. "She wanted to bond with Bela, I was being helpful," she insists. She had argued with Charlie about hogging Bela several times, but her mate adored their children more than anything. Charlie always seemed to know where there children were at any given point in time.
"What do you mean aunt Charlie's not here?" Beth huffed. "She said she'd teach me how to kick someone in the face!"
"Beth it's a surprise party for you—wait what did your aunt say she'd teach you?" Rachel stares at Beth.
"Harper!" Beth shouted, completely distracted and running over towards her cousin.
Rachel immediately turns to Santana, "Can you tell your mate not to corrupt my daughter? She got in trouble again for punching another alpha!"
Santana rolled her eyes, Charlie didn't teach Beth anything, she had taught them all some basic self defense but she had lost interest soon after that. Sure she'd let Bela attack her when she was bored, but really Charlie wasn't teaching the kids how to fight. The only person who seemed mature enough to have the knowledge was Harper, and Harper was far more interested in dance and gymnastics. "Beth, sweetie?"
Beth grins at her Aunt Tana revealing two missing front teeth, "Yeah?"
"You're only allowed to fight to protect your omega, or if you have a job like your aunt Charlie's, understand? She'll be very disappointed to hear that you got in trouble for fighting again."
"Really?" Beth asked, turning to Harper who nodded. "Don't tell her!"
"We won't but you have to promise not to fight unless you're protecting your omega, alright?" Santana winked at Beth who nodded, she looked over at Rachel. "You guys really need to start paying Charlie and I for parenting advice. I mean that wasn't difficult at all."
"Pay you? Most of the time she gets in trouble it's because you and Charlie teach her things and then me and Quinn are stuck trying to get her to unlearn them. She was nearly kicked out of pre-school because of her potty mouth!"
"Please Harper was cursing in Spanish by the time she was four, and we never had any trouble with her," Santana sniffed, pulling her daughter into a hug. "She's getting excellent grades, all her teachers love her, and she can swear in two languages." Santana said proudly, her daughter was also one of the most popular girls in school, which pleased her to no end.
Rachel turned to Harper, "Harper, dear, when you become a teenager, remember it's perfectly healthy to rebel."
"Rachel!"
Judy sighed, deciding to ignore the two of them as they bickered as she went to greet more people, leaving the kids under Carlos's watchful eye.
"Adrian! What have I said about following Bela everywhere!"
Judy sighed as Dani and Marley entered the Fabray manor, carrying with the two other members of the triplet.
"Not to!" Adrian calls back, but he doesn't move from Bela's side, despite the fact that his brother and sister were making a beeline directly at him.
Bela intercedes, stepping in front of him before they can tackle him to the ground, and they end up knocking her down. Immediately a wrestling match breaks out between the kids, and Judy watches fondly as Marley moves to break it up. "They're fine Marley, it's good to get out that energy."
"The last time they got out all that energy they broke the television," Marley sighed, wincing as her youngest child crashed face first into the ground. "Please don't let this be a dental emergency," she said, opening her eyes as Sylvie gets back up and makes a mad dash at Bela again. "Oh thank god."
"Marley!" Rachel said, spotting Marley, "You have to take my side."
"Why does she have to take your side?"
~ O ~
"I can hear them yelling from here," Quinn said looking over at her twin, who was already trying to take off her seatbelt so she could join the chaos that was their family. "Next year, we're going to a nice restaurant and we'll have steak and wine."
Charlie pauses and turns to look at Quinn, "You're to young to be turning into dad Quinn. How can you not love spending every second of your day with your family?"
"Because Beth watched your last fight and is now round-house kicking everything that she can, and getting into trouble doing it," Quinn says dryly, smiling when Charlie flashes her an amused smile. "I mean I'm not sure if this is better than the time that Beth started cussing people out who annoyed her."
"Probably worse," Charlie pointed out.
"Definitely worse," Quinn sighed. "Have you talked to Santana about having another kid?"
Charlie puffed out her cheeks, "She said no."
"In colorful language?"
"In very colorful language," Charlie laughed. "What about Rachel?"
"She was warming up to the idea till Beth knocked over her Emmy," Quinn sighed, she had been disappointed till Beth had nearly spilled her coffee on her laptop. Beth was a menace.
Charlie glanced back at the door, "I know that you and Dani think it's weird that I love all the chaos, but I never thought this would be my life. I have a mate, I have two kids, I'm alive, I'm going to enjoy every second of it, while I can."
"Just remember that I'm your family too, and sometimes I need you to save my sanity," Quinn said after a moment.
Charlie nods before exiting the car, and making a beeline towards her mate and her kids. She hops the fence with speed and agility that no one else her age seemed to have and wrapped her arms around Santana, "San!"
Santana turns absentmindedly kissing her mate's cheek, "Charlie, they're picking on me—" Santana froze. "Charlie!" She pulls away from her mate and realizes that both Quinn and Charlie are here. "You were supposed to text, so we could hide and say—"
"Surprise!" Bela shouted running at her mom in an attempt to do a sneak attack.
Charlie snorts and dodges Bela's attempt to tackle her and sweeps her baby off her feet, catching her and throwing her up in the air to her delight and catching her. "Surprise!"
Santana huffed but allowed Charlie to make it up to her with a kiss, causing Bela to squirm and try and shove them apart. "Happy birthday."
"You're the reason it's so happy," Charlie admits.
"Oh god, no more cheesy movies for you," Santana huffed, flushing in delight. Everyone thought that her mate was an absolute killer, but they really didn't see her like she did. "Bela kidnapped Adrian again, you should probably throw her in the pool."
"Mommy!" Bela blinked, surprised at the betrayal.
"Sounds like a good idea," Charlie laughed as Bela began to try and squirm away.
"Harper!" Bela whined looking at her sister for help.
"Ma, stop being mean to Bela," Harper huffed, pulling away from Beth and moving to step in front of her ma. She squeals as her ma just scoops her up and heads towards. "Mom! Ma don't you dare!"
Charlie grinned as she made her way to the edge of the pool and made a show of throwing them in before placing them down on the ground, and patting them on their heads. "Sneak attack on mom on three," Charlie whispers to her kids. She knew they would bail and she'd be the only one to soak Santana, but having her mate chase, having her family laughing, it just made her happy. She would play with the kids wearing them out, and then she'd sneak off with Santana and continue what she started this morning. Her life was amazing and she wouldn't change it for anything in the world.
