AN: Another chapter


"Brittany, I know you love me. I know you want to support me. But you are not shaving your head as well," Santana said, shaking her head. She felt like absolute shit. She was exhausted all the time, the nausea didn't really go away. It was like being pregnant all over again, and then her mouth had broken out into sores. Then there was the hair. Her beautiful hair was coming out in clumps, so today she was going to bite the bullet and get her head shaved, and start using the wig that she and Brittany had picked out. At least she had managed to move her appointments to Saturdays, though she wasn't thrilled with the idea that the spot that she was taking was of someone who had recently passed away.

"I don't see why I can't do it too," Brittany said with a huff. "I'd look super sexy as a bald lady. And, I wouldn't have to wear a swim cap to decrease my lap drag," Brittany said. "Plus summer is coming and I'd like to feel the breeze on my head." Brittany said in a cheerful tone thinking of all the wonderful things that she could do with a bald head.

Santana's lips twitched upward for a moment as she glanced at Brittany. They hadn't worked as a couple, which hadn't taken long to figure out. Brittany was too much of a free spirit, but they were perfect friends. Best friends even, "Do you swim often Brittany?" Santana asks after a moment.

"Well, no. But I can start Santana. It's just hair it'll grow back eventually and no one at work really cares. I can just say I know someone with cancer and people will just accept it." Brittany points out.

"Except, I don't want anyone finding out, and if you say that to Bela, she'll know that I have cancer." Santana pointed out. "She thinks the only people you know are your cats and me." Santana explains.

Brittany crinkled her nose at this statement, "I'm not a cat lady you know." She points out after a moment.

"I know you aren't and I told Bela not to call you one," Santana said grinning. The smile fades for a moment, she loved her hair. It may be vain but the idea of having someone shave her head did not appeal to her at all. She sighs a bit and looks out the window, "I just—I don't want anyone to know. I can't appear weak, and I don't want Bela to freak out."

Brittany was quiet for a moment, "You need to tell her Santana. You raised her Santana, which means she's tough as nails. I don't think she's going to break apart and I think she should know. I can be there when you tell her."

Santana sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, "I thought about it. I mean I definitely thought about it, but she's still trying to either insert Charlie into our lives or insert herself into Charlie's life. I'm worried if I tell her—well she'll want to go live with her. She doesn't even know Charlie, and Charlie doesn't know her. She doesn't know how she likes her sandwiches or what her favorite color is. Then there's the drug thing. I just—I don't trust her. But a part of me knows that if this doesn't work—if the chemo fails then—"

"I'll take care of her." Brittany promises. "I'll make sure she does her homework, and brushes her teeth. I'll make sure she has a home Santana."

Santana sighed, letting her breath fog the glass up for a moment. "If anything happens to me, custody goes to Charlie. Unless she's unfit, or can't prove paternity and with Quinn around if the Fabray family wants to make it an issue, I'm sure they'll find some way to insist that Bela is Quinn's. Or simply say that she's unfit because of her drug use. Which is why I have to beat this thing, I don't want her raised with them."

Brittany crinkled her nose, wondering if Santana was exaggerating, but from the look on her face she wasn't. "It's been ten years, maybe she's changed?" Brittany suggested and quiets down when Santana gives her a look. "I'm just saying—that maybe she isn't the person you knew? But you know say the word and I will totally kidnap Bela and move to Mexico. She should get to know her Mexican heritage."

Santana snorted at this, and rolled her eyes. "I'm not Mexican." It was something to think about later, but right now she just needed to get her head on straight. She looks at her reflection in the window and shakes her head as she runs a hand through her hair. She frowns when she notices long strands in her hand. She hated this, but she needed to get better. "Hey Britt?"

Brittany flicked blue eyes to Santana for a moment, "Yeah?"

"Thanks," Santana said quietly. "I might take you up on that."


'Charlie, you're like my sister. I'm telling you right now that this is a very bad idea.' Puck said as he lifted up some timber, it was rare that Charlie left him in charge of things. She was so anal about doing a good job that she never took a day off. Even when she was leaking mucus and her eyes were swollen from allergies. It was admirable and stupid, just like this idea.

Charlie rolled her eyes and adjusted her jacket as she found a park bench to sit on, "I'm not doing anything wrong Puck—I'm just watching my daughter play in the park with my niece." She was far away and had to squint to see Rachel, who seemed to be talking to other parents and nannies in the area, which meant that she probably wouldn't be noticed.

'Right, cause you sitting far away watching children play isn't going to raise some alarm bells. People take this shit very seriously. You're going to get labelled the neighborhood pervert, and they're going to run you out of town with pitchforks and torches. Or you'll get arrested again.'

Charlie tilts her head till she sees Beth and Bela playing on the swing-set. "Puck, I'm not going to ask any kid to get into my truck or help me find a puppy." Charlie mutters, she just wanted to spend a bit of time with her daughter. Even if she wasn't allowed to spend some time with her daughter. She knew this was creepy. But, she just—wanted to see her kid. She didn't plan on talking to her, Santana had made it very clear that she didn't want that. But pretending, denying Bela's existence was almost impossible. She was in the city and she wanted to see her.

'I know, I'm just saying. I've slept with most of the MILFs, and they are like super protective of their kids. You don't want to mess with them. Just saying.' Puck reminded her.

Charlie sighs and nods, even though Puck can't see her before she blinks and frowns slightly. "Wait—were you sleeping with our clients?" She made sure that she had criminal background checks on all her men when it came to dealing with some of her richer clients, and she made sure they were all documented.

'Oh look at that, Sam needs help carrying the new granite countertops inside. I'll talk to you later, try not to get arrested it's bad for business.' Puck laughed and quickly hung up not wanting to deal with Charlie lecturing him about professionalism again.

Charlie shook her head and ended the call and turned her attention to Bela who was laughing at something Beth said. She wished she could move closer so she could hear the words, but it was better not to risk it. At least she could spend her lunch break watching her daughter from afar. She rubbed her hands a bit and leaned back, the guys did want to see pictures of Bela and she wondered if it was okay to photograph her just so she'd have something. She reached for her phone not noticing that she was being watched by a mother who was cataloguing her every move suspiciously.

"Okay, don't look now ladies, but it seems that we've got another pervert, in our midst," Kitty said keeping her voice down. "I think we should just alert the police."

Rachel sighed. It seemed like every day there was a new pedophile in the area with Kitty, she was sure the police were getting tired of coming for the false alarms. It was a public park everyone was allowed to use it. But she slaps on a smile, "Where?" Rachel asked and follows the direction of Kitty's discrete pointing. Rachel stares and then squints, she recognizes those paint splattered jeans and heavy work boots. Rachel turned to the rest of the mothers. "I'll handle it."

"Rachel, it could be dangerous," Kitty said immediately. "We should just let the police handle it. It's a children's park, you should have a child. It's what they're doing at all sorts of places now. Lego, Chuck-E-Cheese." Kitty explained.

Rachel pulled away from the group of mothers and nannies. "I'm sure we can handle this in a civilized manner. I'll be right back can you watch the girls for a moment?" Rachel asks. She doesn't turn back as she makes her way to Charlie. What was she thinking? She approaches Charlie who hasn't noticed and shakes her head. "You're lucky that they didn't call the cops on you."

Charlie blinks and nearly drops her phone as she looks up at Rachel, her face going a bit red. "I just—hi Rachel." She mumbles this part and gets up to go, maybe she should have listened to Puck. This was a bad idea. "I'm sorry."

"This is weird even for you Charlie, and honestly it's the last thing that Santana needs today," Rachel informed Charlie a frown on her face. But there's no recognition in Charlie's face and she quickly realizes that Santana hadn't told Charlie and from the looks of it Quinn had failed to mention it to her sister. She grimaces ever so slightly. Keeping Charlie in the dark wasn't fair, but it wasn't her place. She sighs, "Look Charlie I know this is hard for you, and I know that you want to see her, but right now you look like a pedophile. You can't just take pictures of kids." Rachel said grabbing onto Charlie's arm.

"I know—Puck told me. But I don't—I don't even have a photo of her. All the other guys have pictures of their kids, and they talk about them and I just—I wanted one to." Charlie admits. Even if it was fuzzy and out of focus. "Look, I'll leave, and I'll keep to what Santana wants." Charlie said tugging on her arm.

Rachel sighs and pulls Charlie back down, so she can talk to her. She'd most definitely have a chat with Santana about this. At the very least try and convince her to let Charlie have supervised visits. She was glad that Charlie wanted to have something to do with Bela at all. "Well, they have these parenting classes down at the community center. I'll forward you the information, once I get home. Maybe if you take some classes, Santana will be more willing to let you have supervised visits."

"I'm clean," Charlie says quietly. She had been with Bela unsupervised before, and Beth. Surely that had to count for something. But the classes seemed like a good idea.

"I know you are," Rachel said with a hum. "I wouldn't trust you with Beth if you weren't." She pats Charlie's arm gently. "Listen to me, parenting is tough and you're a bit late to the party. Santana has a lot going on in her life right now and worrying about you and Bela shouldn't be on that list. So you need to be a bit more proactive in this, if you want to win Santana's approval. I'm sure you have Bela's seal of approval, but it's Santana you need to win over."

Charlie nods quietly and exhales, she could do that. She'd talk to Mike as well, maybe he knew something about that. She bit her lip, "What about drug tests? I can do the drug tests so I can show Santana I'm clean," Charlie offered.

Rachel blinked. For ten years, Charlie had refused to take a drug test. Quinn had been trying to force the issue forever, and truthfully she had never quite understood why Charlie had simply refused. "Of course that will help! Do you want me to book an appointment? Why now?"

"I want to show Santana, this isn't about money and trying to get my hands on my trust again. I also—I didn't want to pee in front of someone else." Charlie muttered the last part.

That was the test that Russell required for Charlie to start getting money from her trust and she assumed that Quinn would need too. "Well since this isn't for the trust Charlie, I'll help you find one where you don't have to pee in front of someone. Also why don't you give some hair samples? So you have sort of a timeline? If Santana has some scientific proof that you're clean and you've been clean for a while then she might soften a bit. I'm sure it'll still be supervised, but it's a start right?"

Charlie nods, at this. She's right, she needs to start somewhere, just like she had with Beth. Even though she suspected that Beth just sort of used her as a piggy bank when Rachel and Quinn said no, it was nice to be wanted. "I can do that—thanks Rachel."

Rachel smiles at this pleased at this turn of events, "Maybe I can get Santana to send you some photos, when she picks up Bela tonight. I'll also send you the information. I want you to spend time with your daughter, I think Bela will be good for you. You need to open up a bit more, I know it's difficult but I think it's important that you do."


She loathed the wig that she was currently sporting even if it was as close to her previous hair as possible. It was itchy and her head was hotter than it should be and she knew her now bald head was sweating up a storm. She had already adjusted it a few times, despite Brittany swearing to her that it was fine. She wasn't sure if Brittany was being nice but to her it looked crooked. She sighed as she knocked on the door, hoping that Bela didn't have a truckload of stuff this time, and that she didn't notice anything amiss. She had told Bela that she was going to try a new look for a bit.

It only took a moment for Rachel to swing the door open a wide smile on her face as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Santana tightly, "How are you feeling?" Rachel asked as Santana scrambled to get free.

"I'd feel better if you weren't hugging me! What the hell is with hobbits and hugging?" Santana hisses as Rachel finally lets her go. She should introduce Rachel to Brittany they could hug all the time and eave her out of it. She pauses for a moment, "Did Charlie show up with more gifts?" Santana asks suspiciously. Once again feeling the effects of her recent chemo treatment. She wasn't going to pass out in front of Rachel and it had taken her longer to get herself up the elevator this time.

"No, she didn't show up with more gifts," Rachel said slowly and watched as Santana's eyes narrowed even further. "Don't worry Isabela didn't see her today, she wanted a picture of her. To at least have and I informed her before she went on her way that I would ask you of course." Rachel said briskly. "Otherwise, I'm sure she's just going to try again and this time I might notice her before someone accuses of her being the creepy person in the park."

Santana snorted at Rachel's blunt statement and sighed. A part of her wanted to keep the wall up, to force Charlie to stay away, but it was a photo. Even if she had been hurt by Charlie in the past, she was staying as far away from Bela as possible. Which included not answering her phone when Bela attempted to reach her. The situation wasn't fair and Charlie hadn't done anything spiteful, hadn't demanded visitation, hadn't gotten lawyers involved and more importantly hadn't gone to her parents or worse, Frannie. Santana shivers at the thought for a moment. "I'll send her some pictures of Isabela—do you have her number?"

Rachel smiled, "Of course I do," Rachel said pulling out her phone and texting Santana the number, and she had hoped that Santana would be agreeable. She exhales after a moment unsure of whether to continue pushing or to let Santana and Charlie figure it out for themselves. "Santana may I make a suggestion?"

"No." Santana said, even though she knew Rachel well enough to know that wouldn't stop her from giving her two-cents.

Rachel smiled and continued anyway, "I know you've got a lot on your mind, with everything that's going on. However once things settle down a bit, perhaps you could consider supervised visits. I know you of all people don't have a reason to trust Charlie—but it's been ten years Santana. She's changed—you've changed."

Santana sighed, "We've talked about this. Quinn doesn't trust Charlie—"

"Yes, I'm aware of that, but you're not Quinn. I know, I'm not a lawyer Santana but she's not going to go get any. She's okay with supervised visits until you trust her, to let her have unsupervised visits. If you never do, then you don't but she's not going to fight you on this even though you know very well that she has every right to be in her life," Rachel argued immediately.

"This isn't some social experiment Rachel. She's my daughter and I will protect her," Santana snapped, her eyes flick upward and she spots her daughter and Beth standing there wordlessly.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "From what? The borderline agoraphobic?" Rachel snips back not letting Santana push her around. "I'm not saying that you should just dump Isabela onto Charlie, I'm saying supervised visits. If you want to supervise them then supervise them."

Santana frowned ever so slightly, "We've had this discussion Rachel, and I've had it with my daughter. I don't want Charlie anywhere near her."

Rachel shook her head, "Half of her DNA is Fabray, whether you care to admit it or not. You owe it to Bela to figure something out. It's only a self-fulfilling prophecy if you let this continue. You don't want Charlie to hurt Bela, but this is hurting her."

Santana placed her hand on the door to steady herself and frowned, not quite liking the fact that she was weak in front of the god damn hobbit. If it were any other day she'd eviscerate her but Brittany was waiting, "Come on Bela, Britt's waiting in the car." Santana said firmly, and turned her attention back to Rachel. "Listen Hobbit, I'm not going to kick your ass in front of your daughter. But you need to mind your own god damn business."

Rachel eyed Santana, she could barely stand and she sighed. Picking on a woman who had just gone through chemo was not something she should be proud of. "I am, but what's the long term goal here? At least think about it and consider it. If you have demands of Charlie then talk to her about it." Rachel said glancing at Bela who moved to stand beside her mom. She smiled at her, "What about the cupcakes that we made together?"

Bela smiled but glanced at her mother, not quite knowing what to do with the tension between her aunt Rachel and her mother. "Go ahead," Santana said with a sigh and Bela immediately moved to go grab the cupcakes she had made for her mother and Brittany. Santana turned her attention back to Rachel for a moment, "Thank you for watching Bela," she said tersely.

Bela came back nibbling on an extra cupcake and glanced at her mother, "I like your hair mom. Did Aunt Brittany pick it out?"

Santana smiled at her daughter and nodded, "Yeah—something like that," she admits.


AN: See you tomorrow don't forget to review.