AN: So, wow thank you for the support, I hope you enjoy this story. It's been done for awhile, I've just been getting it beta'd. I think you've all suffered enough, and I'm sure some of you are like when is she going to get back from the damn vacation. I am back more or less, I'm going to be looking at certain fics and finishing them one at a time till only the epics remain. I really just need inspiration for the Original Family, and beautiful pain and only one. Though the latter is really just needs me to figure out the ending. Which is where we are. It needed to come to an end.

Like I said depending on how successful this story is, there might be another one in the works. But you're going to need to be patient.


"I'm sorry Ms. Lopez but your immune system will be severely compromised after your chemotherapy, you won't be able to be around your daughter for a bit. I understand how difficult it is but the truth is children are relative petri dishes of infection. We don't want you getting sick Santana. Also the chemotherapy drugs that we are giving you are exceptionally hazardous and they pass through the body in our waste products, so urine, vomit and stool. So you're going to need to take some extra precautions. All of this information is in your packet that I gave you, but it's important for your daughter's safety as well that you take it seriously." Dr. Emma Pillsbury said as she adjusted the pens on her desk.

Santana's hands shook as she flipped through the packet that the doctor had given her, this would be so much easier if she could just stay in Philadelphia and get her treatment there, but crossing state lines meant that her condition would be kept a secret for now. Only a few people knew of her diagnosis and she knew soon enough it would be difficult to hide it from the general public if she stayed in Philly. "What am I supposed to do with my daughter then?" Since Bela's little jaunt to New York to drag Charlie back into her life even briefly, she had taken to dragging her everywhere. To work, to school, to her extracurricular activities. She wasn't letting her daughter out of her sight. She had made her sit outside quietly, she wasn't quite ready to tell her daughter her diagnosis. It still didn't feel real. She was young, she was supposed to have a full life ahead of her.

"Truthfully I think that you need to sit her down and tell her Ms. Lopez, she need to understand what's going on. Kids are incredibly resilient and you'd be surprised at what they can handle. As for where to put her I suggest her other parent if they're still in the picture or perhaps with friends, a babysitter even. There is a service for single mothers with smaller children, however she's a bit old for that." Emma said and watched as Santana made a face. "I know it's difficult—"

"Do you?" Santana says snapping at her and closing her eyes. It wasn't Emma's fault, this wasn't anyone's fault. But how could this happen to her. She wants to cry but then Bela would ask her, she didn't even know how to tell her. "Her other mother—isn't in the picture." Maybe it hadn't been the best time to break up with Dani. At least Dani had showed up, even if Bela didn't like her. Maybe she should tell her, it would make things easier. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I know the diagnosis isn't god Santana but people have beaten this." Emma said. "There isn't any right way to handle this, but you're on the right path. I know this is life-altering but your chemo schedule is right there. This is going to be difficult to hide and you're going to be exhausted, what is it that you do again?"

"A crisis consultant, I have clients that I need to manage—scandals to clean up. I can't just not show up," Santana said. Or take a break, her job didn't quite work like that and she was going to need to focus on managing this situation. It had always been so much easier to deal with people's shit then to deal with her life and now she needed a crises consultant herself. "I'll figure it out. I can work while still getting chemo right?"

"You can, but stress right now isn't the best idea you need to work, on getting better." Emma said but she could see that her advice was falling on deaf ears. "It's okay to ask for help Santana, you don't have to be a superwoman all the time."

"I have a daughter out there that needs me to keep it together and I honestly have no one else to depend on but myself, so I don't have the luxury of just falling apart and taking some vacation." Santana said briskly, she wasn't weak. She was Santana Lopez, if anyone could beat cancer it was her. She lets out a shaky breath. "I'll have things arranged and I'll read over the pamphlets that you gave me and if I have any questions?"

"Inside the folder you'll find my personal number, I like to make myself available to my patients, if you have any questions or are panicking, please call me. I'll pick up," Emma promises. "This is a battle and you're not going to have to fight it alone." Emma smiles at Santana who nods at her and begins to pack up all the documentation and puts it in her purse. Emma gets up to walk Santana out, she was used to this. Some people were in a state of denial up until their first chemo session. After something like that, it was generally hard to remain in denial much longer. "It's also important to have a support system Santana, someone you can turn to when things get hard."

"Got it," Santana mumbled just needing some air as she straightened her clothes. She'd need to talk it over with Brittany, after her first session she'd see how she was handling it before she decided to fill other people in on it. She opened the door and was eternally grateful that Bela hadn't run off to go find Charlie and was instead doing her homework without being told. Miracles did happen, "Alright Bela—time to head home. Do you want us to stop somewhere for dinner? Maybe pick up a few snacks before we head home?"

Bela looked up at her mother and frowned slightly, it was weird that her mom had driven to New York just to see a doctor. They had plenty of doctors in Philadelphia. "I did all my homework," Bela says as she puts her notebook and binder away. "I also studied for my spelling test—since we're here do you think we can see Charlie?"

Santana tenses for a moment, Isabela hadn't brought that name up in days and she had hoped that experiment was over. "Bela we can't just show up unannounced," Santana said looking away when Bela gave her a look, she could see the disappointment in Bela's eyes. It only made her angrier that Charlie wasn't even going to make an effort. It was a difficult balance, because there was a huge part of her that was glad that Charlie had stayed away. Yes Charlie hadn't known about Bela's existence but that was for a good reason. She had been addicted to drugs. Leaving had been the right decision. The only decision. "Bela, when I left your mother—you need to understand—"

Bela squinted and blinked and pulled away from her mother, "She's here," Bela said and smiled at her mom before taking off after the blonde who she had spotted. She had told mom everything that happened with Charlie, even the fact that Charlie had treated her like a little kid and she was sure that she had seen something in her mother's eyes. Dani had ruined it and Charlie had fled, but Dani wasn't here and now her mom could get her happy ending. Even if Charlie was a bit weird and quiet and passive. Bela smiled, if Charlie was around she'd probably be able to get her to buy her whatever she wanted with just a pout. It had taken years for her mom to build up resistance to the pout. Charlie would be putty in her hands. "Charlie!" Bela said skidding as Charlie turned.

Quinn turned, it was a reflex people had often gotten the two of them mixed up as children. Especially from back when they used to wear the same outfits because her mother thought it was adorable. She was sure she had found it annoying back then too. To this day she wasn't sure if her real name was Charlie and Charlie's real name wasn't Quinn. It made her head hurt to think about it, and she glanced around before settling on a kid with raven hair and hazel eyes who latched onto her arm and began to tug her. Quinn looked around at the nurses for help, only to notice they were simply watching the scene interestedly. She groaned as she followed the kid, not quite knowing what to do. "I think—" Quinn begins.

"Mom's here now Charlie, so now you can be her happy ending," Bela said ignoring the stares that she was getting from the nurses who were now glaring at Quinn.

Quinn blinked suddenly realizing what it looked and sounded like and paled, she wasn't having some affair. She didn't even know this kid, and she could already hear the whispers. This is what happened when the nurses loved Rachel more than they loved Dr. Fabray. She was going to need to stop Rachel from coming to visit her at work with a batch of cookies for them to snack on. She wasn't cheating on Rachel, she was happy with her family. They were even thinking of expanding now that Beth was eight. The gap was a bit wide but Rachel wanted another child. She sighs, she didn't even know that Charlie was seeing anyone. But clearly she hadn't mentioned that she had a twin. Not that it was unusual, no one at work knew that she had a twin. They didn't really move in the same circles anymore. Charlie was a contractor, and she was a surgeon. Though last time she checked Charlie's business was relatively successful. "Um I think you have the wrong—Santana?" Quinn said as Bela finally pulled her to someone she hadn't seen in years. It was like she had dropped off the face of the earth. In the shit-storm that followed, Quinn couldn't really say she blamed her.

Bela smiled at Santana, "Told you mom, I found her. Can she join us for dinner?" Bela asked completely unaware that she had grabbed the wrong Fabray twin.

"Mom?" Quinn said and studied Bela for a moment before it clicked, she looked to be around ten years old which was around the time that Santana was dating Charlie, during the height of Charlie's drug addiction and Quinn froze. "Holy. Shit."

Bela's nose crinkled and she looked up at Quinn suddenly realizing that she was in blue scrubs. "Do you work at the hospital to? You told me you fixed things, like houses and stuff." She pauses for a second, "Are you sick?"

Because her life couldn't possibly get more complicated, "That isn't Charlie Bela, that's her identical twin sister Quinn," Santana explained watching as her daughter's eyes became comically large. Santana turned back to Quinn who was still seemed relatively speechless. "Quinn."

Quinn tore her eyes away from Isabela for a moment and looked at Santana and then back at Bela, her mind finally kicking into gear. "Does Charlie know?" If Charlie had a damn kid for ten years and had kept it from her and her mother and the rest of their family. She was a dead man walking.

"I have an aunt? That looks just like Charlie?" Bela said excitedly, turning to Santana who nods tersely.

Quinn turns to Bela, well that seemed to answer the question. "Pleased to meet you—"

"Isabela—but everyone just calls me Bela." Bela says holding out her hand and grinning when Quinn shakes it. "This is so totally cool! How do I tell you apart?"

"I'm the prettier one," Quinn says with an amused smile and Bela laughs. Quinn looks at Santana who is fiddling through her purse and pulls out some cash.

"Bela can you get me a drink from the machine and get yourself one as well, it's just down the hall." Santana said, her tone holding that mothering quality that left no room for arguing.

Bela huffed but took the money, "I'll be right back," Bela said before taking off to quickly complete the errand her mom had given her.

Santana waits until she's out of earshot and Quinn turns to her looking at her expectantly. "Charlie only found out recently. Bela crossed state lines to find her, I'm guessing she didn't tell you," Santana said with a slight frown. "Is she still using?"

Well she was only going to murder her sister a tiny bit then. Quinn flicked her eyes down the hall watching as Bela inspected the machine and looked at Santana again. "Charlie hasn't relapsed in years, she's been clean for the past nine years—is she coming to see her regularly? Where are you? We should have a get together, Beth and Bela are close enough in age that they could be like best friends Santana!"

Santana closed her eyes a bit, and shook her head. "Charlie's pretending that Bela isn't hers, and I don't have the heart to tell Bela the news yet. I don't even know how to tell her the news, and honestly I don't want Charlie involved, I can't—trust her with my daughter. Charlie may be clean right now but the last time I saw her she was popping pills and snorting cocaine. I can't expose Bela to that and honestly I have more pressing matters than to worry about Charlie right now."

Quinn froze at the words and studied Santana suddenly noticing the pamphlets in her purse that were sticking out. The only brightly pamphlets that were given out were given by—"You're sick."

"It's none of your business Quinn. Look just forget that you saw me and Bela. Charlie certainly has, and Bela already has this idea that Charlie's my happy ending. I don't need you making the issue worse. Charlie's a stranger to her, and that's how I want it to stay. So you showing up uninvited, will confuse her and worst still it will make her want Charlie around. So please Quinn, please just stay away."

Quinn stares at Santana for a moment, like hell that was going to happen. She had a niece that she could spoil, and Beth had a cousin, she wasn't going to deny her own kid the chance of knowing more of her family. As for Charlie denying the kid, well that wouldn't last very long. "Santana—we can help. Emma's an excellent oncologist one of the best—but we can babysit while you're in the city. Beth's nine Santana, they could be really close friends. Rachel spends most of the afternoons trying to get Beth doing more activities, you could—"

"Quinn, I said no. I raised her for ten years without your family's influence, and she's perfect. I don't need you Fabray's infecting her—or her learning hobbit things from Rachel. I just want to raise my daughter in peace."

"They were out of sprite or 7-up, so I got you root beer." Bela said as she held the cold drink up for her mom. She glances at her new found aunt, "So are you married?"

"Bela." Santana said sternly and looked at Quinn who was about to answer. "Quinn got called, she needs to go save lives or whatever it is she does and if we don't leave now it'll be hours before we get home. So let's go." Santana said.

"But mom!" Bela said, even though she had heard the tone in Santana's voice, begging wasn't going to help. Bela sighs and looks at Quinn who has raised a brow and smiles at her. "Bye Aunt Quinn," she says as she follows her mom.

Quinn waves to Bela and immediately fishes out her phone and dials Rachel, she needs to inform her wife that she's going to murder her twin, so she can prepare the bail money. Truthfully she wants to get her shots in before Judy rains holy hell down on Charlie's head. She had been complaining about the lack of children and trying to set Charlie up for years. "Rachel? Yeah you wouldn't believe who I just saw and what I just found out." Quinn says quickly into the phone. Her next patient could wait five minutes.

Rachel flipped through her latest script as she glanced over at Beth who was busy working on her homework. "Breath Quinn," Rachel said and looked up at Beth who pushed her homework forward and she began to check it. She frowned slightly and tapped a math problem that was incorrect and pushed it back to Beth.

"I just ran into Santana, Rachel she has a kid." Quinn said bluntly just cutting to the chase. "Charlie's kid." Quinn clarified. "So we're clear you need to get the bail money ready cause I'm going to murder her."

Rachel dropped her script, "What?"


Charlie slowly unpacked the cupcake she had gotten from the bakery, she was trying again. She had just been to a meeting and had talked with her sponsor. If making a wish had completely upended her life, perhaps another wish would make things normal again. She was grateful, she was healthy, and she had a business. Her life was fine, there was order to it. She got up every morning at six am, brushed her teeth, showered, had some breakfast and she was off to a client where she generally spent the entire day fixing up a house or building something, and dealing with issues that arose when her guys decided to goof off. She generally skipped lunch and worked until it was dark before calling it a day after securing everything. Then she'd drive to a meeting if there was one and she needed to go, or go have coffee with her sponsor. When she felt that she wasn't in control anymore she'd go for a run. Getting a bacon flavored cupcake was a treat that she reserved for special occasions and wishing her life would go back to normal was a special occasion.

She set up the cupcake and placed the candle in it lighting it. She went to the fridge and grabbed herself a near beer and she placed it next to the cupcake. She closed her eyes and blew out the candle after making her wish. She waited for a few moments before popping off the cap to her near beer and taking a sip relaxing. Maybe she could listen to music or watch some sporting event to talk to the guys about tomorrow. She picks up her cupcake and is about to bite into it when there's a pounding at her door and Charlie closes her eyes, and puts the cupcake down. If this was some kid claiming to be her daughter again she was done. Absolutely done. She slowly makes her way to the door of her apartment and looks through the peephole and relaxes for a moment. It's just Quinn. She opens the door for Quinn, who was probably just going to lecture her and tell her to show up for the dinners that Rachel prepared and being more involved in the family. "Quinn I've been—" The crack of Quinn slapping her echoes through her apartment and Charlie stumbles back landing on her ass as she clutches her cheek. Charlie stares up at Quinn still holding her cheek. Getting slapped by Quinn still hurt like a bitch. "Did I forget Beth's birthday again?" She was sure she had put it in her phone and she rubbed her cheek.

Quinn stared at her twin incredulously, "No you idiot, her birthday was six months ago. You took her to the mall and got her a new iPhone even though we didn't think she needed the newest phone! We were trying to teach her that material goods aren't as important as who you are on the inside and you got her a brand new phone, which she only wanted because all her friends had it."

Charlie rubs her cheek and slowly gets up, "I didn't know—it's not like anyone told me that I couldn't. I don't know what nine year olds want Quinn, and she's my niece. Plus I totally forgot her birthday and I felt bad," Charlie said slowly, trying to defend herself. She had been defending herself since the 800 dollar purchase of an unlocked iPhone, which had made her the favorite aunt again.

"You know what? I was mad at you but Rachel reminded me that you don't have children so you don't really know what it is like to have a kid. But now you can experience the joys of parenthood and finally appreciate how difficult it is to raise a kid in the era of social media!" Quinn said throwing her hands up and moving into the apartment.

"I don't have a kid so I have no idea what you're talking about," Charlie said.

Quinn blinked she had thought Santana was joking when she said that Charlie wouldn't claim her child, now that she thought about it Isabela did look like her. "Bullshit, I saw her today. She was so fucking happy to see you. She thought I was you and she practically dragged me towards Santana. Yep, saw her as well. It was nice catching up to my former best friend—you know, up until she told me that you refused to claim your kid. You're lucky she told me that you didn't know about her or I swear to god Charlie I would have murdered you. How could you keep something like that from us, let alone pretending for ten years that she wasn't your kid?"

"She's not mine," Charlie repeated stubbornly, watching as Quinn picked up her cupcake and bit into it angrily. Charlie sighed, she was never making a wish again. No wonder people always said to be careful what you wished for.

"Again. bullshit," Quinn said as she finished the cupcake off. "She looks like me. Which means she looks like you!" Quinn said taking Charlie's near beer and taking a sip of it.

"Well then I should congratulate you on another child," Charlie says dryly.

Quinn frowns at this response, "You think I slept with Santana? I was engaged to Rachel. I didn't sleep with your girlfriend, and Santana didn't cheat on you. I'm surprised she didn't fucking murder you for that implication the Santana I know wouldn't have stood for it." But then again, Santana did have other things to worry about. "How did you even find out that you had a child?"

"I don't have a child. A kid knocked on my door on my birthday and basically informed me that she's my daughter. She isn't though, and I was going to call the cops, but she said she'd tell them that I kidnapped her." Quinn snorts at this. "She told me that I'm her mother's happy ending and drags me to Philadelphia where I nearly got arrested for kidnapping anyway by Santana's cop girlfriend or wife or whatever." Charlie said crinkling her nose. "She's not mine."

Quinn stared at Charlie for a moment, watching as her twin went to go pour herself a glass of water. "Have you been going to your meetings?"

"Yes and I've been seeing my sponsor," Charlie stated simply. The moment that she had gotten back to the city that night she had knocked on her sponsor's door well after midnight and slept on his couch. She had gone back to her routine after that and shoved the thoughts of Bela and seeing Santana to the furthest recesses of her mind.

"Then I don't see why you're denying her. She's clearly your kid Charlie." Quinn was relieved that Charlie hadn't relapsed with this new knowledge. Sure she liked her routine, disruption to her routine wasn't appreciated, she wasn't anal about her routine but according to her it helped. But this was her daughter.

"She isn't and there isn't a point to claiming her as mine. Santana has a good life, she's probably super successful at work, plus she's dating a cop. I can barely remember what day it is half the time, let alone Beth's birthday, and as you pointed out earlier, still an addict." Charlie exhales at this. "You're a doctor, you go be her parent."

"She's your responsibility Charlie. If she was mine you know damn well that I'd be there getting to know her and spending time with her. Introducing her to the rest of the family. Beth has a cousin. Look I get that you were still in some sort of shock but you can't just shirk your damn responsibility to that kid."

"She's not mine and are we forgetting that I'm not very good with children and with my history—" Charlie's hazel eyes flick down and she studies her floors. She wonders if she could replace them for her landlord and maybe do some renovations to keep her busy. "Isabela needs to have good role models. I mean I think that's important for children, right? It's why you didn't let me anywhere near Beth for the first five years of her life. I'm not angry, or accusing you of anything. But it's best for all parties involved if I just stay away, especially since she's not mine."

There's a bit of guilt, Rachel had pushed for Charlie to spend some more time with Beth when she was younger to let Charlie be a part of her life. Quinn had been the one to insist that Charlie had needed to be clean for five years before she'd even let Charlie see her. "So you're okay with someone else taking care of your responsibility? I thought that part of the twelve step program was making amends to all the people you hurt? Do you honestly think that pretending she's not yours, is going to absolve you of all the shit you've pulled? Let alone all the people you've hurt?"

"I'm not in a twelve-step program," Charlie points out, she shrugs she didn't expect Quinn to get it let alone pay attention to her recovery steps. She had needed to do it alone, with Quinn coming to check up on her to make sure she hadn't overdosed every now and again. Her family wasn't there when she made it a year, or five years. She doubted they'd be there when she finally got her ten year coin in a few weeks. "Having someone else take the responsibility is better than her knowing me. Bela doesn't need me in her life. Truthfully neither does Santana. The kid is happy and she seems well-adjusted. Santana kept her from me for a reason—if she is even mine."

"The moment that she walked through that door Charlie, you lost your excuse of not knowing. Which is a very good excuse by the way. So yeah she might grow up well-adjusted or she could grow up obsessing over why you never claimed her as your own. She'll grow up wondering why you missed all her birthdays. She'll know that you were never there to check under the bed and in the closets that there weren't any Gremlins because your wife thought it was a good idea to let her watch the movie before bed. She'll wonder if there's something wrong with her because you weren't there to deal with her first heartbreak. Why you won't walk her down the aisle when she gets married."

"Claim her? What good will that do? Santana doesn't want me in her life—she's not mine. I blew my trust fund on drugs Quinn."

Quinn rolled her eyes at this. "Raising a kid isn't about how much you have in the bank. Besides last time I checked you didn't blow your trust fund on drugs, dad found out and cut you off. But I've talked to him about it and all you need to do is take a drug test bi-monthly to start accessing your money—"

"You mean through you right?" Charlie asks. "Tell dad he can keep his money, I don't need it. It's not what I meant anyway. I meant that I'm irresponsible." Charlie responds in an irritated tone.

"Maybe ten years ago, but you're a very successful home improvement contractor Charlie, speaking of which mom would like you to build a gazebo in the summer." Quinn said remembering. "And of course you want it back, you now have a kid to take care of. They're expensive. Rachel thinks that Beth might need braces when she's older. Do you know how expensive orthodontists are?"

Charlie sighed, her mother would call and ask her to fix things up around the house or build her things that she didn't really need because she wanted to make sure that she wasn't living in some crack house and give her the opportunity to possibly to reconcile with her father. Russell had cut her off, not that she blamed him in the slightest and she was grateful, but her mother had still found a way to give her money. "It doesn't matter because she's not mine." Charlie says with a shrug.

Quinn stared at Charlie for a moment and exhaled, she had told Rachel about Santana's illness, and they had worked something out with each other. If Santana was in treatment they could take care of Isabela with Beth, it was a perfect way to give Santana some time to get her treatment and also a way for Beth to get to know her cousin. "Tomorrow you're going to put on something nice, we're going to get your kid a present and a card that says 'sorry I missed the first ten years of your life but I promise to be there for the rest of it.' We're going to go to Santana's house and you're going to start seeing your daughter regularly. I'm not going to let you screw this up."

Charlie sighed, Quinn would make her life miserable if she didn't comply. She just wanted her life to go back to normal. "Santana doesn't want me in her life and I don't really want to piss of the police department."

"It doesn't matter, she's your responsibility. You didn't give her up, you didn't sign away your rights. You have every right to be in her life. Santana needs to get to know you, so you can show her that you're not addicted to drugs anymore." Quinn said dismissively. "So wear something clean that doesn't have paint chips on it, or holes or is covered in dirt permanently. You don't want to show Santana that side of you. If you don't have anything I'll let you borrow something."

"I did remind you that her girlfriend is a cop right? And the kid's not mine right?" Charlie said with a sigh.

Quinn shook her head. "One you don't honestly believe that she's not yours. And I suggest that you table that talk for now, she thinks that she's your daughter. Show some compassion. As for Santana's cop girlfriend—last time I checked your last name was Fabray. Frannie will have a field day if the police harass you. So think of a good present to get her. I'll talk to Beth and get some ideas and text them to you tonight." Quinn said finishing the near beer and putting it on the counter. "Where does Santana live anyway?"

"Philadelphia." Charlie says.

"I'll leave work early and we're taking my car not your clunker that you call a car." Quinn said with finality, spinning on her heel to leave Charlie's apartment. She could fix this, and she'd force Charlie to make it right if it killed her.


AN: I could tell you what happens next but eh, you'll find out tomorrow. Remember this is a chapter a day. 30 chapters have been written, so barring any any life changing crap, you will get the story. And I'm sure someone has the copy. So you know if my computer dies or something eh you'll get something. I really should start a or something. Unfortunately I'm lazy.