"Is there something wrong with your hand?"

Charlie blinks and looks up as Marley wraps her arms around her neck. Charlie closes her eyes and leans back, into Marley's touch. "I broke my wrist," she reminds Marley who rolls her eyes. "I was just looking at the ring."

"Have you told your grandparents yet? Have you told Quinn yet?"

Charlie waved her good hand dismissively, "I tried to call Quinn and she started yelling at me for getting hurt, so I hung up." Charlie frowns when she feels Marley tense ever so slightly, "But I did tell Rachel about it, and then she began to start talking about venues and dates, and I hung up on her."

Marley snorted at this and leaned in to kiss Charlie's forehead, "And your grandparents?"

Charlie paused, "I did mention it to them, my grandmother wasn't pleased," Charlie admits after a moment and frowns when Marley pulls away from her, causing Charlie to turn in her seat. "Please don't be upset."

"Your grandmother is an important person in your life and she doesn't like me. How could I not be upset?" Marley snaps at Charlie who doesn't reply. "Why are you not upset?"

Charlie rubs her cast for a moment, "Because she hasn't met you. That's probably why she isn't pleased, she does know what you look like but she doesn't know you. I don't think that this is the end of the world, once Supergirl stops shooting for the season, we can head down to Arizona or invite them up here to Atlanta and spend some time with them. Once she sees how happy I am, she'll be fine. But I think she thinks it's rude that you never made the time to come see them."

"Asking a parent or a grandparent for someone's hand in marriage is antiquated."

"I agree, and I don't think my grandmother wants that so much as she wants to meet you which I think is fair, you've avoided meeting them in the past. I don't really know why; I met your family."

"I've met Quinn and Rachel, and you barely talk to your grandparents."

"I barely talk to Quinn and Rachel, or my agent, or people in general. I do love them and they raised me and they probably saved my life when I was a child. So, I owe them everything. They are important to me, even if I don't act like it sometimes. So, make some time, we'll go see them. My grandmother will give her blessing so we can get married." Charlie said, patting Marley on the hand.

Marley nodded, she was probably making this a far bigger deal than it was, but she suspected that Charlie's grandmother would never approve of her. "Alright, let's invite your grandparents over, and Quinn and Rachel, if they're not busy. Then we'll invite my family, maybe do a cookout or something so our families can intermingle."

"Friends and family?" Charlie offered. "So, we get an idea how many people are going to be at the wedding?"

Marley grinned, she had worried that Charlie's enthusiasm would wane. "Yeah, let's do that."

~ O ~

Artemis studied her granddaughter, who was sitting in the shade as everyone bustled around. It wasn't unusual for Charlie to withdraw during events like these, she had attempted to do the same at her birthday party. There was still a spark in her eye, but she could tell that it was dimming again. Charlie had even brushed off Marley's attempts to get her too mingle with people, with family, but Charlie hadn't moved. Artemis shoots a look over at Lawrence. "It's happening again."

Lawrence flicked his eyes over to Charlie for a moment, "It is," he agrees, "But she did say Santana was coming, didn't she?"

"She did," Artemis agreed. "Perhaps you should go and talk to her."

"Me?"

"She listens to you more than she listens to me," Artemis points out. "Plus, she's aware that I am not going to bless this union. So, at this point you're the neutral party, and I am the 'bad guy'. You managed to convince her to eat asparagus when she was six. This is basically the same thing."

"This is not the same thing," Lawrence hisses but a smile from his soulmate causes him to groan, and grab two beers from a cooler before he walks over to talk to his granddaughter. He offers one over to her before noting the brand and shudders. "Since when do you enjoy this piss?"

"Bud Light is like America's favorite brand of beer," Charlie points out, when her grandfather gives her a look, she shrugs her shoulders. "Marley's family likes it."

Lawrence turns to look at Marley and her family before turning his attention back to Charlie. "I agree with your grandmother."

"Gramps," she had hoped her grandfather would be a neutral party in this little spat she was having with her grandmother, but she should have known that he would take her side.

"I'm serious. You think it's terrible as well. Just like this keto thing that she has you on. You dislike doing it so why are you doing it?"

"Marley cares about me and wants me to eat better. You've been telling me to eat better for years," Charlie reminded him.

"Which you can do by eating some vegetables Charlie, and moderating your bacon intake," Lawrence took a seat beside Charlie, offering her the piss that they called beer.

Charlie shakes her head, she already felt like she was on the verge of getting drunk and she hadn't had a drink all day. "It's really awful beer," she admits to her grandfather.

"You haven't lost your sense of taste then," her grandfather says relaxing and emptying the bottle of Bud's Light onto the grass. "That ring is ugly by the way. Your grandmother wasn't going to say anything, but I don't mind saying something. Doesn't suit you at all."

"Rachel likes Marley."

"Rachel also liked Dani. Rachel also liked Elaine? And the girl before that. What I'm saying is that Rachel will like whoever you're with. Quinn doesn't care for Marley, but she's glad you're finally settling down." Lawrence looked at Charlie. "I'm not going to stop you, and I'll always give you my blessing even if I think it's a mistake, but this is a mistake. You're not someone who kicks back with a Bud Light. You're not someone who enjoys parties like this. You're not someone who really needs to be on the keto diet. And it's okay to not be in love with Marley. I know you feel grateful, that she wants to spend the rest of her life with you but—"

Charlie stood up when she spotted Dwight Evans, "Hold that thought gramps," Charlie says as she makes a beeline towards him. "Dwight, I thought I invited Santana. Did something happen to her? Is she sick again?"

Dwight blinked at the sudden onslaught of questions. It had been more words than Charlie had said to him last time, and he frowned there was a slight slur to her words, but she didn't smell like she'd been drinking at all. He should have given Santana a raise and gotten on his hands and knees and begged her not to quit, but he could understand why she wouldn't want to be here. "She quit the firm a couple of weeks ago."

Charlie stared at Dwight. "What? Why? What did you do?"

Dwight scowled at Charlie's line of questioning. "Me? The only thing I did was make her come to these stupid meetings. She quit because of you! Where the hell am I supposed to find someone who is as talented as Lopez is?"

"Why the fuck would she quit because of me?" Charlie points out, unaware of the fact that the party had suddenly come to a lull and her voice carried through the crowd of people.

Dwight met Charlie's harsh angry gaze with his own, "Think about it." He spots Quinn in the crowd and decides that he may have better luck with her. He sidesteps Charlie and is about to make his way to talk to Quinn when he feels a strong hand wrapping around his arm, holding him in place. He turns to look at Charlie who looks pissed at the answer he had given her.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Quinn," Artemis barked causing Quinn to turn to her, one look is all it takes to get Quinn moving to break it up. No one had seen Charlie this angry in years.

"Charlie—" Quinn said, reaching to touch Charlie's shoulder and pull her away. But Charlie shrugs off her attempts to pacify her and she winces.

"Shut up Quinn, he's going to tell me exactly what he means," Charlie snaps. She didn't care if she was making a scene.

Dwight pulled his arm free, and straightened out his suit. "Santana was one of my best workers, but she is just that, an executive at a company that you want to burn to the ground. She's not special—"

"Yes, she is!" Charlie snaps, as her stomach flips and churns, while her vision blurs.

Quinn stared at her twin, she sounded drunk but there was no way that Charlie would ever get drunk on cheap shitty beer. "Charlie you're crying."

"No, I'm not," Charlie snaps at Quinn, trying to push her aside before her stomach flips again and she doubles over and proceeds to hurl all over Dwight's shoes.

Quinn jumps back to avoid getting splattered by Charlie's vomit and grimaces as she reaches over to touch Charlie's shoulder. "Charlie. You're crying again."

"I'm not," Charlie repeats weakly, as she drops to her knees. The entire place was spinning. "What's wrong with me," she groans clutching at her stomach.

Marley slowly approached Charlie, "Are you okay? What's wrong with you?" Charlie had always been composed, to the point where she wondered if Charlie felt anything at all. There were times when she had wondered if she was going to spend the rest of her life with a robot, but the last few months had been the best times that they had spent together.

"I don't—"

"Soulmate bond," Rachel interjects looking at Charlie, her voice carrying over the noise. "When Quinn drank, when Quinn got hurt before we met, this was me every time Quinn got upset and drank herself silly."

"My soulmate is dead," Charlie spits out.

"No," Dwight and Artemis stated at the same time. "She isn't." Dwight turns to look at Artemis who shrugs.

Charlie gripped at her chest; her heart hurt just as badly as her stomach hurt. "Who—" Her eyes widen, she knows who it is. There is only one person it could be. The one person she desperately wanted to see right now. She slowly pushes herself to her feet, and stumbles over to Marley and pulls off the ring on her hand and hands it to her, wordlessly before she begins to make her way towards the car, reaching for her keys.

Rachel intervenes immediately before Charlie accidentally killed herself, and harmed someone else. "I'll drive you," she promises taking the keys from Charlie who looks ready to protest. "We'll get you on a plane and you can go see your soulmate. You should probably clean up, you want to look your best, and no one wants to be kissed by vomit breath. It's not attractive."

Charlie nods, "She needs me. She's hurting and she needs me," Charlie manages to get out, even as she loses her balance. But Quinn is right there to catch her and hold her up.

"Yeah, and we'll get you there. Dwight will send us her last known address and we'll go from there. Alright?" Quinn says in a soothing tone, and Charlie nods her head. "Please don't throw up on me, or in the car. We'll have to pay for that." She shoots a look at her grandparents, and when her grandmother nods, she knows that she's doing the right thing.