AN: Oh look another chapter a short one but a chapter none the less


Santana sighed as she drove into her neighborhood, Bela had forgotten her planet project at home and the thing was due in a few days. They still had to paint the planets and mount them and she wasn't quite in the mood to go re-buy supplies when they were sitting in a bag in Bela's room. Which was why she was here to begin with, staring at the massive trash disposal that seemed to be filled with old pipes. She watched as people were exiting and entering her house tossing things into the trash. She blinked it had only been two days. A tarp was out on her front lawn, truthfully she hadn't thought that Charlie would be any good, but google was her friend and she had read some great reviews.

Personally, she felt rather mixed about the situation. Even with Brittany's advice, she was still relatively unsure about what to do. What she did know, what she could see was that ten years had been a very long time. Charlie was not the person that she remembered, in fact it was like Charlie was a different person all together and she was curious. It had been ten years. Ignoring Charlie's existence and hoping that she went away wasn't a viable option anymore, her darling daughter had made sure that it was no longer an option. The very least she could do was have a conversation with her ex-girlfriend. It wasn't something that she was looking forward to in the slightest, but it was about time it happened. Even if she felt it was ten years too late.

She entered her house, walking up the porch carefully, hoping that they'd at least clean up after themselves when they were done. She poked her head into the kitchen and recognized the stupid haircut on the man that Charlie had brought over. Ten years ago, Charlie wouldn't have been caught dead with someone like that, and yet she had insisted that he was the best plumber that she knew. The whole thing was—baffling. "Puck was it?" Santana called out causing the much taller man to turn and flash her a big grin.

"Santana, come to check in on us?" Puck asked with a smile on his face. "Things are actually going better than expected but we're making sure that we do it right. So we are taking our time, we're finishing up your bathroom now. There was a bit of mold growing in the vents but we've managed to clean that out. There was also some minor electrical damage, but you don't have to worry we're taking care of it. We'll take care of you. You're like family." Puck said.

Santana eyed him curiously, he seemed friendly enough and he was giving her an update. "Thank you, Puck. Is it okay if I go upstairs? Isabela forgot her project and I need to grab some supplies. And do you know where Charlie is?"

"Yeah she's been busy in the basement, and of course you can. It's pretty safe, you got lucky you know. There was a small bit of rot but not in any of the support beams. If those beams had rotted through, it wouldn't have just been falling drywall you would have had to worry about. Your bathtub or a bed could have fallen through the ceiling if that was the case." Puck informed her. "Just head on up and grab what you need to grab."

Santana nods and heads up the stairs so she can find the items that Bela needed for her project. She tries to ignore the holes in her walls and she wonders how they're going to get everything fixed in a few days. Not to mention the paint, was she going to need to find a painter? And just how much was this costing Charlie? There seemed to be quite a few people around and she knew from experience the more people the more it jacked up the cost. She enjoyed watching HGTV. It was all questions that added to the list of things to ask Charlie when she finally talked to her. She opened Bela's room and sighed as it was relatively untouched, and quickly went about finding the project and grabbing the painting supplies. She glanced around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything before making her way down to the basement. She didn't quite know what she was going to say to Charlie. Or where to even begin, maybe this wasn't even the right time to have that talk. She spots Charlie working on taking out her damaged hardwood floors and bites her lip. She opens her mouth to say something. Anything but no words come out and she bites her lip and frowns, this was a terrible idea. She would find some other time to talk to Charlie, and she turns to leave.

"How bad is it?"

Santana pauses and closes her eyes, Charlie had never been stupid, and she had practically told Charlie the other day that she was seriously sick. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Santana asks trying to brush the comment away.

Charlie sits back and turns to Santana finally, "I mean the cancer. How bad is it?" Charlie questions, all the driving back and forth had given her the time to finally think about it and it had all made sense. Why Quinn had dragged her here to begin with and insisted that she take care of Bela. The falling asleep, the nausea, the wig, the fact that Santana had lost weight.

Santana was quiet for a long moment, there were only a few people who knew. She had only really only wanted to tell Brittany. She barely even said the diagnosis, preferring to pretend that it simply wasn't happening to her. "I have a stage three Thymoma, the prognosis—it isn't the best." Santana stated after a moment.

Charlie frowned and turned to look at Santana, "Isabela doesn't know?"

"No. I was going to tell her, but that was the night she dragged you back into my life. I didn't know how to—I didn't want you to try and take her or force custody because I was sick." Santana said looking at Charlie. Something flashes through Charlie's eyes and she can't quite place it.

"I wouldn't—" Charlie begins wanting to defend herself.

Santana holds up her hands, she wasn't being unfair. It's just what it was. Just being angry at Charlie was not going to fix anything. "Ten years ago you would have, and we both know you would have."

Charlie frowns and begins to defend herself again, "I wouldn't have," but she knows it's a lie. She runs a hand through her hair and looks at Santana, "Ten years ago, I was addicted to cocaine and thought that I was invincible and untouchable. I probably would have done something like that." Charlie picks at some dried paints on her pants and chews the inside of her lip a bit. "I said I'd do your basement—so I could spend time with her. It was manipulative, and I'm sorry."

Santana rolled her eyes, Charlie was still a Fabray, that wasn't anything new. She had figured that it was a ploy to spend some time with Bela supervised. She looks around her basement for a moment, the furniture was gone and she realizes that she might need new furniture. "Are you really clean?"

Charlie nods, "I have been for ten years. I stumbled a bit at first—but I got clean. It wasn't—easy," Charlie admits. "I have—test results, if you want to see them." Charlie was quiet for a moment studying Santana's face to see if she believed her. "I—get a tattoo for every year that I'm clean. I can show you if you want."

"You got a tattoo? I thought you were terrified of needles," Santana said there was some amusement in her voice as Charlie's cheeks turned a light pink.

Charlie exhales slowly and pulls up her shirt on the side revealing a series of tally marks on her ribs, each thick black line represented a year. She was due to go in and get a new one done so she could start a new set underneath it. "One mark for every year," Charlie admits. She's quiet as she watches Santana's eyes rake over her tattoo. She was one of the few people who even knew about it.

"There are nine," Santana said flicking her eyes to Charlie. She was surprised, Charlie had never exactly been that in shape but clearly she worked out lately.

Charlie pulls her shirt down, "I was supposed to get my ten year coin and then go out and get it done, but I haven't had time lately," Charlie said with a shrug. "I've been going to meetings for ten years."

Santana was quiet, "You get clean after I leave—"

"You leaving was the right choice. I was—I am an addict. I don't think towards the end I loved you—I mean I love you—I loved you." Charlie makes a face but chooses to keep going despite her flub. "It was about the drugs, and I needed to hit rock bottom. I was prideful and like Icarus I flew too close to the sun. I fell hard and fast. After you left, my father found out. I was cut off, my family turned on me—I tried to salvage my life—one call from my father and they tested everyone at work. I failed and was terminated." Charlie exhales. She had spiraled once Santana was gone. "I was going to be evicted and no other firm in the city would touch me. So I went to rehab. Not one of the fancy ones. I couldn't afford to go to one. So I sold the car and went to this one where they put me to work. That's where I learned how to do all this. I learned a lot of things, there. I can sort of work on cars too—not as well. Anyway—after I left I decided to take some classes and get licensed, and I used the rest of my money to start my own business."

Santana tilted her head ten years really was a long time, "I know it doesn't mean much—but I'm glad that you're clean," Charlie flashes her a small smile. She sighs wishing there was a place for her to sit down on. She's quiet for a moment, a part of her wondering why Charlie had never bothered to look her up, it wasn't as if she was impossible to find. She had Facebook after all. "You have to understand Charlie my daughter—our daughter is the most important person in my life right now—"

"I know, you did a really good job with her. She's a really good kid," Charlie interrupted earnestly.

Santana frowned, she really didn't like being interrupted and she needed to say this, she needed to face reality. "I may not have that for long," Santana replies. "My life, that is. I need to face facts and realize that I may have a few months after the chemo. I may not be around for much longer. It's—it's a battle to get out of bed in the mornings—the point I'm trying to make Charlie is as Bela's other parent, if anything happens to me. You're going to need to take care of her. I need to know that you can, I need to know for a fact that if anything happens to me that you can take care of her. It's not fair to either of you to create a situation where you're both strangers to each other, and Bela will need you to be her parent and rock if anything happens to me."

Charlie stared at Santana incredulously. "What do you mean, you're going to have a few months—?" Panic creeping into her voice. Dying was not something that crossed her mind. People survived cancer all the time. Santana was a fighter, this couldn't be happening. "Santana—"

"The prognosis wasn't good. I should thank you, Bela's been so absorbed and focused on you that she hasn't noticed. Or if she has she hasn't said anything. Charlie—don't you dare panic. This isn't a panic situation. I'm not dead yet." Santana said firmly. "I've got a few chemo sessions to go and Dr. Pillsbury said that I can beat this thing. So that's what I'm going to do." Charlie nods wordlessly. "I have another one this Saturday, and I was thinking that Bela should spend time with you."

"I—what?" Charlie blinks.

Santana glances at the bags in her hands and looks at Charlie. "She has a school project, they're learning about the solar system. I imagine I'm not going to do well with the smell of paint and I get extremely tired after my chemo sessions and the nausea is terrible as well." She blinks, Charlie probably didn't want to hear about that. "Look, you can't do the project for her, but you can help her."

"I just—I don't—I just began parenting classes Santana and I've missed a bunch because I'm here—"

Santana blinked, "You're taking parenting classes?"

"Well—I thought that if I showed you that I was going to take it seriously and prove to you that I could take care of Isabela—you'd let me have supervised visits." Charlie said frowning as she explained.

Santana relaxed for a moment, she wanted to know her daughter. It showed some growth on Charlie's part. "Look—Bela can be a—difficult at times. She takes after you in that regard," Santana ignores the scoff from Charlie as she continues. "How about I give you some basic rules. No more buying her things just because she asks. It's not how I raised her, I didn't even think she would ask. I mean yeah you can buy her food and stuff but no more huge gifts. And you're going to need to learn to ignore the face. I know—it took me years." Santana informs Charlie watching as Charlie pulls out a notebook and begins to scrawl the instructions down so she doesn't miss anything or forget. That's new as well, Charlie hanging onto her every word, like she held all the answers. She didn't, she wasn't even sure if this was a good idea, but Bela had been alone with Charlie before and had come back in one piece she was hoping that it happened again.


AN: See you tomorrow.