"I know you would like to find a replacement, but she's built a rapport with you. She likes you; you have her personal cell phone number if anything arises. She trusts you Santana, and I don't think that we should ruin a good thing." Dwight frowned. "Did she do something inappropriate?"

"No!" Santana said quickly and firmly, wanting to put that out of Dwight's mind before he made this into a bigger deal than it was. Charlie hadn't done anything intentionally inappropriate. But she wasn't sure how she could look Charlie in the eye without thinking about sex. Her dreams this past week had been erotic to the point of being basically porn, and she had woken up drenched nearly every morning this week. She would have just dealt with it, but this morning she had nearly been late because she had felt it.

It was a nice change of pace from pain, but she didn't want to think of Charlie having sex with someone else. She certainly didn't want to feel her pleasure, unless she was the one causing it. At this moment she felt violated, but it wasn't as if Charlie was aware of it, and she couldn't exactly stop Charlie from having sex either. Hopefully if they didn't meet again, and they no longer touched, then she'd stop feeling it all together.

"Are you certain, because I will have your back, and go to war for you. As I would any other female employee—"

"She's my soulmate," the words were out of Santana's mouth before she could stop them, she didn't want Dwight to make a big deal of this and she needed for him to understand why she didn't want to spend time with Charlie. She turns around immediately and closes the door to Dwight's office so she could have this conversation with Dwight. "She doesn't know and I would like to keep it that way. She's got a girlfriend, and a life and she's happy and she thinks that I'm dead."

"You had the surgery—"

"You haven't noticed that people aren't avoiding me as much as they used to? That even you don't feel as uncomfortable around me as you once did?" Santana points out watching the gears in Dwight's head turn, before he gets up and approaches her.

"I didn't even notice."

"No one has noticed, probably because most people already give me a wide berth, and I've been here for so long that I guess it's almost natural," Santana explained with a shrug of her shoulders.

"But how do you know—no that's a dumb question. You always just know that you've met your soulmate. It was how it was when I met my wife, when Sam found Mercedes you just know—wait but—"

Santana bit her lip, "Charlie thinks I'm dead, I never thought—I never honestly thought about what she would feel when I had the surgery, but to her it felt like something inside her had been ripped out. She just knew something had happened to me. As for why Charlie hasn't realized it—the doctors believe that it's either a matter of time, or our bond is damaged. This was never supposed to happen, soulmate bonds don't normally grow back. But we're soul bonded which is probably why the bond started to reform. But I'm starting to feel her pain, she stubbed her toe, it felt like someone had taken a hammer to my toe. I was sitting down in a meeting, nearly jumped out and started to yell bloody murder. I'm asking you to assign someone else to her, because it's difficult, being near her is difficult, and I can't fall in love with her and blow up her life. I just can't."

Dwight opened his mouth and then closed it, and then opened it once more before finally closing it. "Okay."

"Okay?" Santana repeats.

"I'll do it. I'm the CEO and I need to get used to doing this, answering to her about all the business side of things." Dwight said with a sigh. He studies Santana, for a moment. "She may still inquire about you and what should I tell her?"

Santana shrugged. "Tell her that I've got some health issues that came up, and you've decided to take over since you're CEO. It's more or less the truth, and she probably won't think too hard about it. I won't see her again and she can be happy, with someone who would never abandon her."

Dwight hesitated before nodding, "Alright I'll tell her that. But—Santana, I know it may cost us the company but I think you should tell her. You're her soulmate and I honestly believe that whatever you think you've done wrong to hurt her, she'll forgive you. Trust her."

"She thinks I'm dead Dwight. It's a betrayal, that I don't know if I could forgive her, if she had done that to me," Santana admits. "She's happy Dwight. I can't take that away from her. I won't take that away from her not again. It's the very least I can do for her."

Dwight sighed, "Very well, your secret Santana is safe with me. I do want it known, for the record, that I think that you're making a mistake."

Santana doesn't respond, because she didn't want to admit that he may be right.

~ O ~

The last person that Charlie had expected to see when she arrived at the designated meeting place for that month was Dwight Evans. She personally had nothing against the guy, he seemed like a good boss at least according to Santana, but he wasn't Santana. Santana made her feel at ease and for whatever reason she trusted Santana. "Will Ms. Lopez be joining us tonight?"

"No," Dwight answers simply as he places a file on the table. "She's not feeling well, and with all the work that we're doing it was decided that I should be the point man moving forward," he answered the unasked question. "I have prepared everything—"

"Are we at record profits yet?" Charlie interrupts.

Dwight blinked, "No."

"I see, well this has been informative. I'd rather have dinner with my girlfriend," Charlie explains as she gets up and leaves the restaurant pulling out her phone. She opens her phone and debates sending Santana a text. She hesitates for a moment before sliding her phone back into her pocket. She wasn't sure if that would be appropriate, and they weren't really friends.

She takes a few steps towards her car before hesitating and pulling out her phone again, they were on friendly terms and she wasn't doing anything inappropriate. At least she hoped she wasn't doing anything inappropriate. She finally decides on a simple get-well message.

I hope you get better soon. Charlie

She reads it once more to make sure that there isn't some hidden meaning that she wasn't intending before she sends it out. She doesn't wait for a response instead she hops into her car and heads back home. She'd call Marley and they'd make a night of it.

~ O ~

Dwight poked his head into Santana's office noting that she was staring at her phone, "Lopez, after much consideration I've decided that you are going to be the point woman with the Fabrays."

Santana pulled her attention off the text that Charlie had sent her and looked up at Dwight, "What? But we talked about this. I can't."

"No, you don't want to, there is a difference," Dwight entered her office and closed the door so there would be no prying ears. "Look Santana, I have to make difficult decisions that affect this company. Charlie didn't respond to me; we didn't develop a rapport. So, I'm making an executive decision Santana, and that is to use the fact that even if Charlie doesn't feel the bond, she does respond to you favorably. Tell her, don't tell her I don't care but you're the point woman on this."

Santana gripped her phone tightly and scowled at Dwight who didn't seem the least bit bothered that he was ruining her life. "Dwight—"

"Santana. She likes you, she's probably not sure why. But she likes you. You don't invite someone you don't like to your grandmother's birthday party. She feels something, she's just unsure what that is. Spend more time with her and when the moment is right and she's in a very good mood for whatever reason tell her. I still get annoyed with my soulmate, being soulmates doesn't mean that you never fight. It just means that they're the person for you."

Santana frowned, "Whatever," she said dismissively, and turns her attention back to her phone. She wasn't sure if she should send something back, and she was grateful that her iPhone did not send read receipts.

Thanks, I'm feeling better now.

Santana puts her phone down and turns back to her computer, only for her phone to buzz like seconds later. She flips it over and blinks when she spots Charlie's name and opens the text.

Good. See you next month?

Santana studied the message, maybe Dwight was right. Maybe Brittany was right and the only thing that she could do was tell Charlie and hope for the best. She missed her, and she craved Charlie's light touches, they were like heroin.

Yes, I'll see you next month.

Almost immediately a thumbs up emoji appears and Santana makes up her mind, the next time they met she was going to tell Charlie. She would need to gather all the documentation that her doctors had, and show it to Charlie and let her put the pieces together.