They're eleven and at the end of their school year when Quinton notices that something was really wrong. Santana had been grouchy all day and she nearly bit Charlie's head off at lunch today. Finally fed up when she doesn't stop scowling at him, he leans across the aisle. "What's your problem?"

"You." She slumps back in her seat. Today was the last day of school, she should be really happy. But really she just feels miserable, she's too hot and her body feels weird and she just wants this day to be over. "I'm sick of seeing your face all the time."

Quinton scowled back at her, "I'll let Charlie know that's how you feel," he crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head. He doesn't even know why they're friends. But she's probably the only alpha he can stand, and that's only because he's been forced to ever since Charlie brought her home.

Santana reaches over to hit him but he ducks and flips her off. It's enough to draw the ire of their history teacher who scowls at them. "What? It's the last day you know no one is listening to you." Santana snaps at him causing the whole class to snort in amusement.

Quinton frowned, he was used to Santana's outbursts, but nothing like this. She generally kept her mouth shut when it came to teachers. "Are you sure you're okay?" He questioned. "I'm only asking cause if you get sick again, Charlie's going to be annoying as hell again."

"I'm fucking fine," Santana snaps back at him grabbing her paper in front of her. "It's just fucking hot is all, when is this day going to be over?"

Quinton rolled his eyes and turned back to his own desk deciding to just ignore his crazy friend or rival, it was really hard to keep track of it. Sometimes he enjoyed Santana's company other times he really wanted to be the one to push her off a very tall cliff. Today was one of the days where he really wanted to push her off a cliff.

Dave Karofsky, the lug that sat in front of Santana suddenly stood up straighter. "Woah. Do you guys smell that? Somebody's in heat."

Quinton practically felt the pheromones hit him, he glanced over at Santana, ready to join her in the cruel mockery of their less intelligent classmates only Santana's face flushed beet red with shame. "Santana?" He whispered.

"Did somebody fall in love?" Karofsky joked.

Quinton rolled his eyes, immediately coming to Santana's defense. It was rare to see her too embarrassed to do anything. "Or you know, someone when into heat because that's what girls do. You don't seem me making fun of your gross pubes now do you?"

Dave went a deep red and whipped around in his chair to glare at Quinton as the rest of the class had a chuckle at his expense. "Yeah—well—" he stammers trying to think of something even though he knows how futile the attempt is. No one in the class was as quick as Quinton or Santana and Quinton looked like he wanted to find blood.

"Enough," the teacher in front said. He sighed, he was going to turn this into a teaching moment. "For women going through heat is a perfectly normal response and at your age it means that you're finally going through puberty and becoming a woman. Since you're all alpha's in this class, it means that your heat will help you attract your omega in certain situations. It's also the time when your body is telling you that you can get pregnant. I know some of you think it's hilarious, but the fact is this is a big deal. You can't mate with your omega until you've gone through puberty and you have." The teacher turns to Dave. "There's nothing to be ashamed of Dave all it means is that you've started to go through puberty and who knows you might be the first person in this room to find there mate."

Quinton rolled his eyes and looked over at Santana who still looked mildly embarrassed but there was a smirk on her face that almost made him fear for Charlie's life. Almost. Charlie seemed to like whatever Santana did to him, it was gross and weird. He didn't get why Charlie liked spending so much time with Santana anyway and holding her hand. "Santana you can't—" Quinton looks up when the bell rings, signaling the end of school. He was free for the summer. A summer that he was going to spend lounging by the pool and trying to hang out with his sister's friends.

"Where is he?" Santana growls, mostly to herself. Her body feels like it's on fire and as absolutely humiliating as this is, she knows that Charlie is the only one who can fix it. This is it. They can mate and then everything will work out.

Quinn runs to catch up with her, putting his smaller frame to block her path. "You can't." He insists. "Charlie's not ready—"

"Like hell he isn't," Santana snaps shoving him out of her way. She enjoyed the fact that she was now nearly a head taller than Charlie and Quinton, it made it so much easier to get them to do what she wanted. She storms towards his locker following his scent and certainly not caring that she was now in omega space. Segregation was wrong. She spots Charlie emptying out his locker and dumping everything into his bag messily and moves towards him. "Charlie." She calls out ignoring the other omegas who seemed to be ogling her with wide eyes. She stops short, "Your hair still sucks."

"It doesn't suck, it's cool." Charlie ran his hand through his shaggy hair. It was cool and Santana would learn to like it eventually.

"You look like Brittany." Santana scoffs. Charlie's hair is long enough that it keeps falling in his eyes and Santana's pretty sure she could even pull it into a small braid at the top.

Charlie crinkles his nose at this and goes back to dumping his stuff inside his bag. Santana was in one of her moods, he liked his hair. All the omega girls in his class loved it too. "Whatever," he huffs at her and finishes cleaning out his locker. He bends over to zip up the bag when he's hit with a smell that makes him feel all warm on the inside. It's like all his favorite snacks combined and he glances up at Santana who was watching him. "Uh—" Charlie swallows. "You—uh smell—weird?"

Quinton stops and smacks his forehead at his brother's stupidity, glancing at the look on Santana's face. "Well, it was nice knowing you. By the way I'm going to get all your stuff when she kills you. That's how it works."

"I'm not going to kill him." Santana shook her head, grabbing Charlie's arm a little rougher than she intended. "Come on, you're coming with me."

Charlie gulps. "I uh—I have soccer practice. But—"

Santana shakes her head. "I don't care. I'm starting my first heat and that means we can do it."

"Do what?" Charlie allows himself to be pulled down the hallway a little. Thankfully Quinn is keeping up with them because when he glances over at his twin Quinn takes pity on him.

"You can't mate with him because he hasn't gone through puberty yet." Quinn declares. He doesn't know why he even puts up with all of them.

"And how would you know?" Santana scoffs.

"Because we're identical." Quinn rubs his brow tiredly. It's the last day of school, they should be doing something fun not talking about sex and stuff. "I told you, he's not ready."

Santana frowns, stepping toward Charlie purposefully. She pulls the front of his gym shorts forward and glances down. There wasn't much down there to look at. "That's it?"

"It's bigger than Quinn's." Charlie grumbles. He glances up at a teacher who was walking by. "Hey Mr. Martinez!"

Mr. Martinez turned and raised a brow, staring at the sight in front of him, he like all the other teachers were used to seeing the antics of Santana Lopez and the Fabray twins but this was a first for him. "Uh? What are you two doing?"

Charlie scratches his head, "I don't know, what are we doing Santana?"

"Well apparently nothing because you haven't gone through puberty yet. Now what am I supposed to do!" Santana groans letting go of Charlie's waistband so it snaps back. "We're supposed to have sex so we can mate!"

"Not in the halls," Mr. Martinez says shaking his head and walking away.

Charlie scrunched his face up, "Okay? I thought you just had to bite me Santana. So do that and then we can be mates right?"

Santana grins, and she thought he was simple. She leans forward and bites Charlie hard on the shoulder leaving a bruise. She expects sparks or something that signifies that their bond is complete but like every other time she's bitten Charlie, she gets nothing. She lets go and shoves him away. "Useless."

~O~

Puberty nearly killed Santana, not because of the raging hormones or the awkward growth spurts that left her taller than the twins. No, it nearly killed her because she was ready at eleven and Charlie didn't even start puberty until he was fourteen. That was three years of summers spent with her Papi's family in Puerto Rico because her parents didn't trust her to spend too much time alone with Charlie. She wasn't quite sure if her parents didn't trust her or they didn't trust Charlie. Though if she thought about it, they probably didn't trust her to not "sexually harass" poor innocent Charlie. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen him naked before, they had bathed together when they were kids. And even if they hadn't, Charlie was hers. He was her mate, so technically his body belonged to her anyway. But he had started going through puberty during the school year and her parents and Charlie's had immediately clamped down on them. They were too "young" and Charlie had just started puberty and he was far too innocent to be corrupted or whatever bullshit that her parents tried to feed her.

Which was why she had walked over to the Fabray household the moment her parents had gone over to work. She was attempting to surprise Charlie, who still thought she was in Puerto Rico. Maybe they could finally get some alone time and they could finally mate. She pushed the doorbell and fixed her hair, she had hated going to Puerto Rico and leaving Charlie behind, but she wasn't a child anymore.

She stands up straight, only to sigh in disappointment when it's Brittany that answers the door with a squeal of excitement. She likes Brittany, really. The Fabrays are practically her extended family. But Brittany isn't Charlie.

"Santana! You're not supposed to be home for another week." Brittany steps outside, enveloping Santana in a tight hug.

"Yeah, Mami had to get back for a case. Is he home?" She glances over Brittany's shoulder hopefully.

"He?" Brittany smirked knowingly. "He who?" She likes Santana a lot and at eighteen, she really should be above this. But she's not. Santana and Charlie are just so adorable she wants to squish them, so stringing out her discomfort is her duty as the older sister.

"Brittany—" Santana whined. It wasn't fair!

"He went for a run." Brittany smiles, taking pity on the young alpha. "But just so you know, I am under strict instructions not to leave the two of you alone."

"Of course you are." Santana huffs, rolling her eyes as she lets Brittany lead her into the main living room. Thankfully Brittany's not as much of an annoying rule follower as Quinton is, which means Santana can use this to her advantage. "How much will it take to get you to leave me alone?"

"How much do you have?"

Santana's about to answer when another tall blonde blur, grabs her arm and yanks her away. For a moment she thinks it's Charlie before the smell of Quinton Fabray hits her senses. He had gotten taller and he looked stronger, still a bit gangly and he was still skinny. "The fuck Quinn? I don't want to see you!"

"Shut up, and follow me." Quinn hissed barely sparing a glance at Brittany as he shoves Santana into his room. He pauses for a moment to look back at Brittany before he slips into his room and slams the door close.

Santana manages to catch herself and frowns at Quinton crinkling her nose. "Gross what the hell have you been doing in here? Is that—" Santana points at the wads of tissue paper that are currently filling up his waste basket and gags. "The fuck Quinton?"

"Focus." Quinton snaps at Santana shaking his head. "I—fuck this is embarrassing. You and Charlie—how the hell did you know that he was your mate or whatever."

Santana stares at him and shrugs, if Charlie wasn't here then she'd have to deal with whatever this was. "I just know okay? I mean Charlie's always smelt different, better than everyone else even my own parents. I mean to me he smells like—well my abuela's cooking. You know, like the way he smells is warm and comforting and when he hugs me, like it just makes me feel weird on the inside. He's always made me feel like that, like it's my job to protect him. Which is hard work because your brother can be an idiot sometimes. Remember his skateboarding phase? He was so fucking bad at it." Santana eyes Quinton carefully he seems to be considering her words carefully which was surprising. Quinton never listened to her. "I don't see why you couldn't ask Charlie about this."

"Because he just shrugged and said: 'it's Santana.' Like that explained everything to me that I needed to know." Quinton frowned and sighed. "I think—I think I found her."

"You think?" Santana wasn't buying it. She didn't remember meeting Charlie the first time very well, but she's always known it was Charlie. Even when idiot teachers that still hadn't found their mates yet tried to tell her she'd find someone else, she knew they were wrong. There could never be anyone but Charlie. Even if he was a bit slow, and the least romantic person on the planet, and had the worst haircuts ever, it was always going to be her and Charlie. But she also hated it when people told her that she was too young to know for sure, so she bit her tongue.

Quinn starts to pace. "I mean I know, or I think I know? I don't know. She's a friend of Brittany's and I literally just saw her for half a second when we picked Brittany up from her—it doesn't even matter because I might not ever see her again, but it's got to be her, right? No, that's stupid."

"Woah, slow down." Santana wasn't even sure if she caught all of that. "Start from the beginning."

"We went to pick up Brittany from her dance thing, and she was talking to this girl—Rachel she said her name was Rachel and I only got a whiff." Quinton exhales. He runs his hand over his short cropped hair. "But I can't stop thinking about her. So I'm begging you, please, how did you know Charlie was it?"

Santana sighs, she had been three when she had met Charlie and she truly couldn't remember their meeting. It's just something that she's always known. Something that they've always known even if Charlie hadn't been as verbal or as physical about it. "If you're feeling this distressed about it, if all you can think about is her then it's probably her. So my advice talk to Brittany and go find her and you know—don't be a fucking asshole. You want her to like you."

It is a testament to how freaked out Quinton must be that he just nods. "Okay, yeah. I can do that."

Santana almost laughs in Quinn's face, but the sound of the front door slamming closed snaps her attention. Almost instantly the sweet familiar scent of Charlie invades her senses and she stumbles out of Quinn's room on instinct. Her feet lead her to the kitchen where Charlie is rooting around in the fridge. She waits for a moment but Charlie has never been much of a multi-tasker. "Since when did you run?" She questions watching in amusement as Charlie's head snaps up smacking the top of the fridge.

Charlie slowly retracts himself from the fridge rubbing his head, he turns around it couldn't be Santana. Santana was supposed to be in Puerto Rico for another week. He had simply thought that the smell that was in his house was some delicious food not—Santana. A slow grin crosses his face when he sees her and he immediately takes a step forward to pull her into a hug. When did she get so short? He knows better than to ask that question. "I thought you'd appreciate my new abs." He gestures to his stomach that's totally starting to form into a six pack.

"What abs?" Santana scoffs, not letting go of him. She hates going to stupid Puerto Rico, but at least it means that she gets to come home.

"You're kidding." Charlie pulls back. He had followed Quinton to the gym every day, he had eaten broccoli and brussel sprouts, because Brittany had pinched his cheek and commented on his baby fat. He didn't want to be chubby all his life and Quinton was getting all this attention from girls. He didn't want other girls, he just wanted Santana to look at him like that.

"Sure." Santana shrugs, narrowing her eyes. "What did you do to your hair, you look like a douche." She's been trying to get him to cut his hair all last school year and he does it when she's gone. He's supposed to consult with her on important decisions like this.

"I got the same one that Quinton got," Charlie says defensively his hand going to his hair. He had really wanted Santana to come back and be blown away by all his changes.

"I rest my case," Santana said dismissively reaching up to run a hand through his hair, he did look good and most of the baby fat was indeed gone, but he didn't have any abs and she had liked it when he was a bit pudgy, instead of this beanpole thing that he had going on. There had been more of him to love and to cuddle with. But at least he's taller now, so maybe that means—"Pants check." She immediately reaches for Charlie's shorts to check out if he's grown any bigger since the last time she's checked.

Charlie grins proudly when she pulls back his shorts, knowing that at least this time she isn't going to be disappointed. "Five inches," he informs her proudly, feeling his dick start to stand to attention for Santana's inspection. When she looks at him he flushes a bit, "I measured."

Santana glances down and reaches down so she could touch it, feeling it pulse underneath her fingertips. "Good, that's good—I think." Santana shrugs at this statement, all she knew was that he had pubes now, which meant that he was well into puberty. Which meant that they could finally mate.

It's not the first time that Santana's touched him there, but it's the first time that he's felt it all the way through his body. He wanted her to do it again and again, and do other things to him. "I didn't know you were coming today—I'm all sweaty," Santana looks up at him and his hazel eyes dance with hidden mischief and confidence. "So I'm going to go take a shower and maybe you know you can come with me, you know like we used to?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

"You mean when we were five." Santana scoffs. She's trying to be careful not to get her hopes up even as she feels a surge of affection for him. She would never admit it, but she loved his slightly dorky side. But she's been on the receiving end of way too many lectures about respecting Charlie and not pushing him until he's ready.

"I hope not." Charlie snickers. "I was thinking we could, maybe—you know." He blushes a little. He's missed Santana a lot. "I—uh—you know bought condoms," he whispers the last part his face turning a bright red.

Santana blinks and looks at Charlie, wondering if he was being serious. "You went into a store and bought condoms?"

"Uh—well not me exactly, I mean I gave Brittany money and she got them for me but I bought condoms," Charlie insists quietly. "I—you know—missed you a lot, and I—thought about you—alot." His father had gotten pissed about all his long showers and his mom had been irritated that he had finished all of her expensive lotion.

Santana kisses him hard, weeks of missing him building up into this moment. She bites his bottom lip and tugs on it a bit, this was it. They were going to do it they were going to become mates and everything would just fall into place—

Charlie feels himself being tugged away firmly from Santana and he stumbles back landing on his ass. "The fu—" He begins planning to yell at the person who had pulled him away from his nirvana when he sees his dad and his mother. Neither one of them looks particularly pleased and it's enough to kill his boner.

Santana coughs embarrassed, and waves at Charlie's parents. At this point they really should be used to this by now, they had broken so many rules. "Hey Mr. and Mrs. Fabray," Santana winces at the look they give her. "I'm back from Puerto Rico."

"We can see that," Russell notes and looks at his son who has a guilty look on his face. The two of them had been attached at the hip since they were toddlers, it wasn't a phase that they had grown out of, it was real. They were mates, and everyone knew it. "All because you're both capable of mating with each other doesn't mean that you should. Sex is a big deal."

"We know." Santana agrees. She's heard this spiel before—probably more times than Charlie has from every single one of their parents. "But it's not like we haven't talked about it. Nor is it like we're disrespecting each other."

"And Brittany had sex when she was fourteen and you guys didn't even care." Charlie agrees, somehow managing to sound petulant while his face is flaming red from embarrassment.

"She what?"

Judy puts her hand placatingly on her husband's arm, hoping that he doesn't get too distracted. "I can promise you, we did care and we will be talking to her about that. But that was a different situation. Brittany wasn't bonding with her mate for the rest of her life."

"But how long did it take you and mom to mate after you met?" Charlie challenges, then instantly frowns. He's not sure if he actually wants to know the answer to that. In fact, he's sure he doesn't want the answer to that.

"That's not the point and you know it." Judy disagrees, glancing over at her husband who is still fuming at the idea of his firstborn losing her virginity so early. While she had known the day it happened, Brittany had avoided her husband for long enough that he hadn't picked up on the scent. "You two are still children. Both we and Santana's parents agree, you two are far too young to mate."

Russell pinches the bridge of his nose and tries to focus on the problem at hand. He would have a talk with Brittany later. It figures that Maribel would sneak home without preparing him and force him to be the bad guy here. To be fair, she normally corralled Santana and kept issues like this from popping up, but it didn't mean he liked it one bit. "What's next? You want to move in together and start a family? You haven't even started high school."

"I've been on birth control since my first heat," Santana says with a shrug. "We're going to finish school—and getting jobs and doing all that adult stuff, but we're different from well everyone. We've known we were mates since the day I tackled him and bit him. He's mine. He's always been mine. That's eleven years. How much more waiting do you want us to do?" They couldn't watch them all the time and her parents basically left her with an empty house. "Most people don't even wait a day, we've waited eleven years. We're ready to mate."

"Yeah, what she said," Charlie said standing up and dusting himself off. They'd been friends for years, and they were practically attached at the hip anyway, just not in the way that he sort of wanted right now. "I'm ready. I pushed for it today, not Santana. That's got to mean something right?"

"What it means—is that you're a horny fourteen year old boy who is thinking with the wrong head. Don't think I'm not aware that it's you who has been stealing your mother's lotion all summer, you're also the one that's been raising the water bill by fifty dollars a month." Russell retorts dryly, watching as his son turned a bright red. "You want to mate then you'll wait until you're sixteen."

"When you're both sixteen," Judy adds. Charlie turned sixteen a few months before Santana did, which meant a few extra months of Charlie being her baby boy.

Santana exchanges a quick look with Charlie, there was no way in hell she was waiting two more years. She doubted they'd ever really accept it. So instead of arguing the point, she simply smiles. "Fine, we'll wait," she lies with ease.

Russell snorts, he doesn't believe her for a second. "Fine, but to make it easier on the two of you we're going to talk to your parents Santana and come up with some house rules." He smirks when Santana's jaw drops, they were all going to need to be proactive about this and if that meant that they were going to watch Santana every night until it was time for her to go home then so be it. Brittany was off to college soon so it would all work out.