"I'm not sure whether I should congratulate you or if I should be outraged on your behalf, Ms. Lopez. The surgery was successful, and I assure you this has never happened before."

Santana frowned as she looked at Dr. Wu, as she tried to ignore the fact that both of her parents and Brittany were all jammed into the room with her. "Most people aren't soul bonded."

"This is true, quite frankly we've never seen anything like this before. Once the bond is broken it stays broken. However, you are right, it's not like we tested this on a couple that was soul bonded before. I've heard that they are rather resilient. But given your concerns about your soulmate when you were younger—"

"She's a—"

"Britt!" Santana interrupts and narrows her eyes at her. The last thing she needed was some sketchy paparazzi finding out and running with the story. The situation needed to be contained, which meant that no one could mention Charlie's name in regards to this situation. "I have met my soulmate, except—she thinks that her soulmate is dead. I thought that when you met your soulmate that you just knew. That's how Brittany described meeting Mike, that's how my parents described meeting each other."

"That's how it's supposed to work," Dr. Wu replied. "She didn't fall madly in love with you I take it."

"She thinks I'm dead. Since that day that I had my surgery she's believed me to be dead. I mean I touched her hand and everything and she immediately pulled away. So why isn't it working?"

"I'd love to tell you that everything is going to be okay Santana. I'd love to tell you that it'll just take some time, and a few more meetings and things will just fall into place. But there has been actual damage done, and short of getting her in to see me, I can't predict or even tell you that your soulmate will ever acknowledge you, or even realize that you're her soulmate. I have dealt with patients who have lost their soulmate, and there is a trauma to the soul that many don't recover from. And you were soul bonded, my advice is to simply tell her and hope that something can be done."

"See, even Doctor Chen thinks that you should just tell her," Brittany whispers to Santana.

Santana promptly ignores Brittany, "Are we still soul bonded? I mean, if she breaks her arm again, am I going to feel it?"

"You haven't felt anything so far?"

"No, but when it happened previously, she was in distress. Didn't you describe it as her soul calling out for mine? She thinks I'm dead—"

"That's not how it works. Soulmate bonds aren't controlled mentally, it doesn't matter if she thinks you're dead. As I stated, the trauma of losing your soulmate is profound. This isn't some physical wound that will go away with time, and modern medicine. It's a wound that grows and festers over time, most people who lose their soulmates are in therapy for the rest of their life if they can afford it. There is a very good chance that her soul is still desperately calling out for yours. Quite frankly if I were to hazard a guess, things might be far worse now. For your own safety, you need to tell her."

Santana immediately shook her head, "I can't. She's dating someone, she's moved on with her life. And it would be cruel to bring it up now. She doesn't view me as her soulmate."

Maribel hesitated for a moment and shot a look at her husband, "If you tell her now, the sooner you two can be together and you can be happy. Think of all the things you had to give up because of the surgery? You can do that, you can travel, you can go back to school if you want and try and get back into medical school!"

"It's not going to be that easy," Santana insisted immediately. "Her twin is soul bonded, and her soulmate didn't break the bond, and I know her parents wanted her too. She stayed and they're happy now, I abandoned her—and I don't think she's ever going to forgive that. We don't even know that she'll ever realize that I'm her soulmate, and in a year, I doubt we'll ever see each other again."

Dr. Wu frowned, "Santana I know this is your decision—"

"You're right this is my decision, and I feel fine. There is no reason to tell her, and even if the worst does happen. I abandoned my soulmate; I mean I don't deserve her. Maybe if she was single and didn't look happy, I would be more inclined to take the chance, but she doesn't recognize me as her soulmate and as you said there is a good chance that we did some irreparable damage to our bond." It was the end of discussion as far as she was concerned.

~ O ~

For the longest time Charlie hadn't been able to feel much. Her therapist suggested that it was just her brain's way of dealing with her loss. Her world had gone from vibrant colors to a dull depressing grey. They had tried pharmaceutical methods to try and get her back to her usual baseline, but nothing had worked, and she personally hated the side effects, so she had stopped taking them.

She had also gotten tired of people pestering her if she was okay, so she had learned to fake it. It's not like she had wanted to be an actor but after she left the Air Force she had been living on Quinn's couch for a week, when Quinn had gotten her big break. She personally had no idea why Quinn had given her the role of Lucifer, but acting was the only time she got a glimpse of that color.

It's probably why most of her relationships hadn't worked out. She just wasn't capable of giving the women she dated the love and attention, and she didn't have it in her to put up the act for very long. It effected every part of her life, like her sex life. It was part of being in a relationship, but it was always a pain to get her to the point where she wanted to have sex with her girlfriend. And she couldn't remember the last time she had orgasmed, which probably meant that it had never happened before.

But something had changed. She wasn't sure exactly what had changed, but when she had stopped at Marley's place after her meeting with Ms. Lopez, she wasn't quite sure what had done it. Marley had been a simple robe, and had been complaining about how she was stuffing her face with garbage, when it had just happened. She's not sure how they had moved from Marley lecturing her about the benefits of Keto, to them having sex on Marley's kitchen table, and then the couch till they had moved to the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen again, back to the bedroom.

She was certain that she still hadn't orgasmed, but she knew that she had initiated it, and if Marley hadn't kicked her out of her apartment this morning, she was sure they'd still be at it. At least Marley wasn't talking about dieting together. Still she had a warm fuzzy feeling inside her chest that she hadn't felt in a while and she was surprised that Marley Rose of all people had caused it. Maybe she was finally getting better.

It was certainly something to think about. Even if it didn't make sense, why now? She had been waiting for Marley to dump her, as most of her other lovers inevitably did, Marley had lasted far longer than other people though and they had been dating for nearly a year and a half. The only new thing in her life was the fact that she was finally dealing with her complicated feelings about her father. Maybe it was that.

Her phone buzzes and she glances at it, reading the notification. She makes a face; she had almost forgotten about her grandmother's 85th birthday party. Which would take place on the second. Hopefully the show would have wrapped shooting by then and she could head down. She would need to let her father's company know so that Santana would meet her in Arizona. She hadn't been back home in awhile. Hopefully both her grandparents would stop hounding her about finding a nice woman to settle down with.