Chapter 55

Some Uncomfortable Answers

August – Age 20 – Summer – Junior Year

The college goers had two weeks break before Fall classes start, so they decided to come back to Lima for a visit. Burt and Carol decided to take a week off each, overlapping so they all got enough time, with Charlotte enjoying her grandparent's attention. Finn and Santana got some regrouping time. This would be their final three semesters and a May Graduation. They would need to start getting things ready to move out of their first home together. They figured totes would be cheaper this time of year and easier than moving boxes, so they headed to Wal-Mart to stock up on what they might need.

Charlotte joined them on this outing because she needed some new clothes. She outgrew things so fast. At this rate, she would be as tall as Finn. Finn was waiting outside the dressing rooms as Santana got Charlotte to try out a new outfit so they could get a size base. It was this about time for Finn that Quinn would show her ugly mug.

"Finn, what are you doing here?" she demanded with no prompting what so ever. She had her hands on her hips, stringy hair falling into her face. It was clear to Finn that she had seen better days.

"Hey Quinn, I'm just clothes shopping for Charlotte," he replied cordially.

"And you let her in a dressing room by herself? Great parenting!" she scoffed.

It was at this moment, Santana brought Charlotte out of the small dressing room. "Finn do you think this size will be okay, or are the pants too long?" she asked, not looking at Quinn but at the bunchy bottoms of the letting. "Or should we go down a size?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Quinn exclaimed.

"Quinn," Santana acknowledged.

"What the fuck!" Quinn yelled. Santana immediately leaned down and covered Charlotte's ears. "Why the fuck are you in the dressing room with my kid, you whore!?"

"Sweetie, we are going to put back on your other clothes," Santana said calmly and quietly. They turned and went into the dressing room. Quinn went to charge after them before Finn stepped in between her and her destination.

"Don't you dare go after my family," he said lowly.

"It should be my family!" Quinn yelled.

"We already took this to court," Finn explained. "If you went to the counseling sessions the court set down – and they would let me know if you did – then you could start out with supervised visits. You made the decision not to go, so you cannot have visitation."

"Sir, is there a problem?" a security officer approached. The dressing room attendant had put a call through on their radio as soon as Quinn began cursing.

"That's up to her," Finn said evenly.

"Any problems Miss?" Quinn looked ready to burst. Instead, she stormed off. "Well she's pleasant."

"A real delight," Finn panned. "Thank you for checking on us."

"No problem," the officer said. "Picked her up for some shop lifting a few months back. I usually keep an eye if I see her here."

"Really, shoplifting?" Finn mused. "That's new.""

"How do you know her?" the man asked.

"It's my daughter's biological mother," Finn said. Santana came out with Charlotte dressed in her clothes once more. "And this is my daughter Charlotte and my fiancé Santana. And I'm Finn."

"I'm Paul, nice to meet you folks," he replied, tipping his cap to the ladies.

"She left?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, Paul's a pretty intimidating dude," Finn replied, trying not to alarm Charlotte. Santana nodded. They thanked Paul again before paying for their purchases, vowing to finish another day when they weren't so flustered. They got all the way home to Carol cooking grilled cheese for lunch before Charlotte opened the box.

"Who was that lady? She was mean to Mami?" Charlotte said. Burt and Carol looked confused before Finn cleared things up.

"We ran into Quinn," he said quietly. "Charlotte, she used to be Mami and Daddy's friend."

"But she called me her daughter," Charlotte said, slightly confused. Sometimes she was too smart – even if it did make Finn proud.

"We all knew this day would come," Carol said.

"Char, do you remember how we have been talking about different types of families?" She nodded. "Timmy at school has a mommy and daddy, Crystal is black and her parents are white, and Carl has two mommies."

"Yeah," she squealed, happy once more. "All families are special no matter how they get there."

"Smart girl, you remembered," Finn praised. "We have a different family too."

"So she is our family?"

"Well, she is your mother – you were a baby in her belly. But she wasn't ready to be a mommy."

"She didn't want me?" Charlotte asked, tears coming to her eyes.

"Oh sweetie," Finn said, moving to her side and pulling her into a hug. "As soon as I found out about you, I couldn't imagine life without you."

"I love you Daddy!"

"I love you so much," he reassured her. "Now, remember when we talked about how Crystal's parents picked her out to love and to keep? Well, Santana picked to love you. Since you've been just a baby she chose to love."

"Mami," Char murmured.

"I wouldn't give up having you as a daughter for anything," Santana replied.

"Does you answer that question?"

"Yeah daddy, you and Mami picked me. That lady said no and ran away," Charlotte said, sniffling.

"For now, yes," Finn said. "We picked you." Charlotte curled into Finn and cried. Thankfully it wasn't long until she tired herself out and fell asleep. He took her up and put her in bed for a nap. "Wow, I wasn't expecting to deal with this before her fifth birthday."

"I mean, it was bound to come up, but I wasn't expecting to be ambushed," Santana agreed.

"I think you did a great job," Burt replied. "We started talking about families so we could be ready," Finn explained.

"One day, when she realizes her Mami is Latina and she isn't."