Judy blinked as her youngest daughter came in with music blaring in her ears, singing along to some ridiculous rap song. She was dancing as well, well what Charlie assumed was dancing. It was odd, it was a far cry from the general grunts that she'd been getting over the years. Her daughter had been getting surly ever since puberty had hit. Russell had said that it was just part of being a teenager, but she was just so angry all the time. The fighting, the bluntness, the staying out of the house for long periods of time. She suspected that Charlie had been having sex with various unclaimed omegas though she attempted to hide the evidence. But this —this was new. "Good day at school today?" Judy asked as she wiped the island down. She expected some grunt but instead she was rewarded with a smile from her daughter.

"Yep."

Words. She had said a word. Finally, there was some progress. "Are Quinn and Rachel—"

"Yep."

Judy shook her head fondly, she remembered when she and Russell had first found each other. They had barely been able to be apart for a few moments. She could only imagine how hard it was for Quinn and Rachel to make it through their separate classes. She waited for Charlie's typical comment of disgust, only it never came. Interesting. "Anything interesting happen at school today?"

"Not really." Charlie shrugged, choosing an apple from the bowl of fruit instead of the cold bacon from the fridge.

Judy arched her brow. Now she knew something was up. "I'm making some of my gingersnaps, if you want to wait."

"No thanks," Charlie said with a shrug. "Apple's fine. I've got homework and I think I'm going to go for a run later."

A sentence. An actual sentence. A sentence including the word exercise. Something had definitely happened at school today and Quinn wasn't around to sell Charlie out. She would have to get to the bottom of this. There was one thing playing on her mind and she moves to her youngest child and runs a hand through her hair. "You know you need a haircut. Maybe you could spend some time with your old mom, we could go to the spa, get a pedicure. You know, treat ourselves to a nice day—"

Charlie touches her hair for a moment and then looks down at her clothes, the tattered jeans and she frowns for a moment, "Can we also get some new clothes?"

It was only years of parenting that kept her from showing her shock. She had been gently encouraging Charlie to buy some new clothes for ages but had always been abruptly dismissed. "Of course." She nodded like it wasn't a big deal. "It's important to look nice."

Charlie nodded at that, thinking the same thing. Maybe Santana would like her even more if she could see that Charlie could take care of her, and wasn't some wild brute. "Can I also get two packed lunches tomorrow?"

"Sure." Judy agreed instantly, then her hand stilled as she realized what exactly Charlie was asking for. "An extra lunch?" She asked, clarifying, not daring to hope that this meant what she thought it did.

"Yeah, there's a new girl at school." Charlie shrugged as if it didn't matter at all one way or another.

But Judy saw straight through the facade. This time Judy had to try very hard to keep the delight off her face. This was so exciting, "Oh?"

Charlie moved to get a glass of water. "Yeah. She made the mistake of getting lunch from the cafeteria, so I gave her my lunch. Then I took Quinn's."

Judy frowned. That wouldn't do. No mate of her child would eat that detestable garbage the school deemed fit to feed growing teenagers. "Good." Judy encouraged. Quinn could stand missing a meal or two, though with the activities she and Rachel got up to, she was pretty sure that Quinn was starving around the clock. She made a note to make a little extra for dinner tonight. She shook her head and focused at the task at hand, hesitant to say anything that might spook Charlie from this new girl. "So your new friend, she's an omega?"

Charlie crinkles her nose, suddenly realizing what her mother was doing. "I've got to get a start on my homework," Charlie says with a shake of her head. "Bye mom." With that Charlie grabbed her bag and escaped upstairs.

It took years of practice to keep herself composed and Judy quickly checked on the cookies she was baking before running to her purse to grab her phone. She just had to tell her husband, and more importantly Brittany. She slipped her phone out of her pocket with a simple message to her oldest daughter, 'IT HAPPENED!' Satisfied that Brittany would be calling as soon as she saw it. She dialed her husband and waited for him to pick up, she was practically bouncing on her heels.

Russell answered almost immediately. 'Judy is everything okay?' He asked, his voice taking on the same panicked tone it always did when she called him at work.

"Everything's fine, better than fine. I think Charlie found a mate." Judy's voice dropped to a hushed whisper as she said this. She didn't want to alert Charlie and spook her.

"Really?" Russell asked skeptically, they had just talked about this the day before, Charlie was not a fast mover by any stretch of the imagination.

"There's a new girl at school. Charlie gave this new girl her lunch. She came home and ate an apple and mentioned something about going for a run. She found herself a mate. Which means you need to give her the talk again. Talk to her about it, she's not going to talk to me about it."

Russell knocked on Charlie's door which was opened just a crack and pushed it open, "You busy?" he asks when she turns to look at him from where she was working on her laptop.

Charlie frowned ever so slightly but nodded to her bed for her dad to sit down. He didn't usually enter her room which meant she was in for another lecture. "Not really," it was better to get it over with then push it off.

Russell nods and looks around studying Charlie's room, letting the silence between them to grow a bit awkward. There were trophies, of course there were all of his children were talented and he was very proud of all three of them. "So you want to tell me about your new omega friend?" he asks finally.

"No?" Charlie cringes, hoping this wasn't the conversation she thought it was. Russell levied a look at her and she sighed. "It's not a big deal, just some girl." Her chest twisted painfully at the lie, she didn't know that was possible.

Russell nods, he had been in this position with Quinn before and even Brittany, sure it was a little late when it came to Charlie but at least they were having this conversation. "Charlie," he presses. "You don't share your food, in fact you and Quinn used to go at it even when you were toddlers for food." Maybe when Judy wasn't looking he had encouraged it a tiny bit. That had been a mistake.

Charlie crinkles her nose, her fingers drumming in a steady beat on her desk. There was several ways this could go. But the sooner he found out what he wanted to know, the sooner he would leave. "Her name is Santana." Charlie says after a moment. "She's strong and capable and she's going to be my mate."

Russell smiles proudly, "She agreed to it then?" That was quick, but then again this was a member of his family. Fabrays simply knew what they wanted, Brittany had wanted Mike. Quinn had wanted Rachel and now Charlie wanted this Santana person. He hadn't expected for Charlie to stumble into her soulmate the very next day. He noticed the frown that crossed Charlies face. "Charlie?" he prompted.

"She said no," Charlie admits slowly.

Russell smirked. "Well maybe should fight another alpha for her, show her that you can take care of her." He suggested. That was how he had won Judy's affection, and Quinn had followed in his footsteps. Omegas liked to know they could be taken care of, it was one of the reasons the school would look the other way when it came to violence between alphas.

"I already did that." Charlie sighs. She's been wracking her brain for other ways to show Santana that she is the best alpha. Everybody else made it look so easy.

His brow furrowed. "And you gave her your lunch?"

"Yeah."

He paused for a minute, thinking. "Then what are you supposed to do?"

Charlie threw up her hands, "I don't know!"

Russell shook his head, trying to get back on topic. Maybe Judy could offer some ideas but first he needed to finish this conversation. "Well, we'll figure that out later. Right now I need to talk to you about mating—"

Charlie stared at him, and held up her hands. "I know," there was a horrified expression on her face. "Trust me I know."

"Then you're aware that even though there is nothing in this world that is more pleasing to have your mate pregnant—" Russell reached for Charlie, grabbing her before she could bolt. They needed to have this conversation. "You can't get her pregnant yet. You're eighteen, you haven't even finished high school yet. I'm not saying that you can't mate with her, I'm not even saying that you shouldn't be having sex. We know it's impossible for you to resist the urge once you finally mate, but you can't get her pregnant. So we're going to talk about contraception—"

Charlie groans. He's really going to force her to sit through this. "I know how to use a condom." She admits quickly, hoping that's enough.

It isn't. "You know how to use a condom with an omega that isn't your mate." He corrects. "It's an entirely different feeling when it involves your mate. It's incredible, indescribable, but you have to remember that the two of you just aren't ready to be parents yet."

"Okay, fine. Can I go back to my homework now?" She asked, almost pleading. She really didn't want to talk about this with her dad of all people. If she really had questions, she'd ask Quinn—better yet, she'd look it up on the internet.

Russell continued, "Brittany was on the pill, I believe that Rachel is as well—it's not mandatory that you use condoms. It's a conversation that you should have with your mate before the two of you have sex, because once you start it will be difficult to stop."

Charlie groans, "I get it have a conversation with her. I get it." It would be hard to do considering that Santana was currently in heat which made it nearly impossible to control herself. She pauses for a moment and looks at her father. "About that car you promised me if I got my mate—" she smiles. She was tired of smelling like Quinn and Rachel who always humped while she was basically chauffeur. It grossed her out to no end.