AN: So many people are worried about Santana's prognosis, oh dear. Until the very last chapter you're not going to find out what happens. There are bits and pieces of it, and I suppose if you pay attention in these last few chapters you'll figure it out. Oh well here's another chapter.


"This is where your parents live?" Bela asked moving to the window to look out at the mansion, it had been a very long car ride. She doesn't notice Charlie's wince or her mother reaching over to pat Charlie's hand. "It's huge! And they have a pool and a beach! Is that their own private beach? This place is so awesome. Is this where you grew up?"

"Yeah," Charlie admits after a moment and then rubs her arm as she gets up. "Now it's their summer home, my dad is semi-retired, so they spend winters down in Florida or Mexico—or somewhere, I don't really know." Charlie rubs her arm and pops the door to her truck open and looks around, maybe they should have taken Santana's SUV it at least fit in better than her old beat up truck.

"So I can see your room?" Bela asked practically vibrating with excitement and pulling out her phone. No one was going to believe her at school unless she had pictures with her.

"I don't know," Charlie said as she helped Santana out of the car and grabbed the duffel bag that held some spare clothes for Bela and Santana in case they needed it. She didn't really plan on joining the festivities, but maybe her mother needed something around the house done that she could work on, to keep her mind calm and stop her from going to a dark place.

Santana placed a hand on Bela to calm her down. "Bela, I know that they're your grandparents, and like my parents they will probably give you a lot of gifts, so say thank you and be polite," It had taken her forever to convince her parents to stop buying completely impractical gifts for Bela whenever they visited. She'd make sure that Charlie had a talk about spoiling Bela. She didn't need a bunch of new things. "And these are your grandparent's things, I don't want to hear you bragging to your friends that you were here. It's none of their business and it's not like you earned this stuff." There was nothing more irritating at work then to watch spoiled rich kids who hadn't worked a day in their life showing off all their expensive stuff on social media.

Bela flushed a bit and put her phone away immediately and shrank back a bit, "Sorry mom," she mumbles and watches as Charlie heads to the bed of her truck and grabs her tool belt. "What are you doing?"

Charlie glanced at Bela and smiled, "Seeing if they need a bit of work done around the house," Charlie admits, pulling a hoodie from the bed of the truck, her parents liked to keep things freezing in the house and it was for if she got cold. "You can have fun with Beth, and my parents. They really want to meet you and I know they're super excited to see you." Her words have their intended effect on Bela who grins and nods at her now interested in exploring the mansion and the grounds in front of her. Charlie flicked her eyes at Santana and forced a smile onto her lips. "Just call me when you're ready to leave," Charlie said motioning that she had her phone on her and Santana eyes her for a moment before nodding. Charlie sighs and attaches her tool belt before taking making her way to the door and allowing Bela to push the doorbell.

Santana shifted a bit, it had been years since she had been here, and coming here had been nerve wracking the first time. It seemed that the Fabray's were richer than god, but they had been relatively welcoming. After their last meeting she wasn't quite sure how they would receive her and she wasn't quite sure she should care. She glances over at Charlie who has a tired expression on her face. The house was big enough that maybe they could talk without Bela overhearing about what had happened last night. She reaches over discretely, behind Bela's back and squeezes Charlie's arm, as the doors swing open.

Judy opens the door and smiles widely as she sees her newest granddaughter standing in front of them, she was surprised that Charlie had even agreed to this but she wasn't going to complain. "Bela, come and give your grandma a hug," Judy said pulling Bela into a hug.

Santana blinked, watching as Judy fawned over her daughter and turned to look at Charlie as Russell appeared wearing an apron. "There's my granddaughter!" He said enthusiastically. "Did you see the swimming pool? You know we've got stables too. Do you like horses?" Russell said not bothering to look at Charlie, but turned to Santana. "Come in, come in," he said. He suspected that she was the sole reason that they were getting to see their granddaughter today.

"You have horses? Here?" Bela said in awe. She turns to her mother, "They have horses! Can we ride them?"

Santana blinked, the last time she had been here there were no horses. What had she been thinking? "Bela you don't even know how to ride!" Her own father had never even let her near a horse, every single time she had brought it up he had muttered something about how a horse had crippled Superman. She could feel the protective urge flare up immediately.

Russell nodded, "Your mom is right and unfortunately the instructor isn't around, but you can certainly see the horses and maybe feed them. Beth asked if she could learn how to ride this summer, maybe you can take lessons with her if that's okay with your mother."

Bela turns to her and Santana forces a smile to her lips, this was going to be an uphill battle. "I'll think about it," she said politely. There was absolutely no way in hell that she was going to let her daughter up on a damn horse.

"Well Beth's playing by the pool, I'll show you, food will be ready throughout the day, I hope you enjoy lots of food," Judy said ushering Bela inside. "I'll show you where you can change, you too Santana," Judy said before remembering that Charlie was standing there waiting in her paint covered clothes.

"Is the faucet in the basement still leaky?" Charlie asks bluntly. They had what they wanted and she could make herself scarce for a day. The house was big enough, though she imagined her father would check to make sure that everything was still where he thought it was supposed to be. Hopefully he wouldn't be in a pissy mood and accuse her of stealing something that wasn't where he expected it to be. Judy nodded, "I'll take a look at it," Charlie said with a wave of her hand. She could fix a leaky sink in thirty minutes, maybe then she could just sit in her car and wait for the day to be over. Maybe there was a meeting of sorts nearby that she could drive to. She smiled at Bela who gave her a confused look that she dismissed with a shrug, she didn't need the drama in her life.

Santana winces wanting to go with Charlie, but right now she couldn't just let Russell and Judy have free reign with her daughter when there were damn horses on the property, and if Charlie's parents thought it was a good idea to just buy horses because they could, just because Beth asked for them, then they needed supervision. She was going to make sure that Bela didn't accidentally say something that they would decide to simply get for her. She flicks her eyes to Charlie who basically walks off to the basement. She sighs, today was going to be a long day.

Bela already liked her new-found grandparents, and she had a million questions to ask them about Charlie. Her abuela and abuelito would tell her all sorts of embarrassing about her mom growing up, she wanted to know everything about Charlie. Like why she was so weird. "Did Charlie always wear clothes with paint on them?" Bela asks not noting her mother's groan.

Russell and Judy shot each other looks, "Well," Judy said deciding to handle the question, she had always been the more diplomatic one. "Charlie was never really the best dresser. This is just another phase that she's going through."

Santana winced and placed an arm around Bela's shoulder causing her daughter to look up, "Come on let's go find your cousin Beth," she said simply. Bela didn't have a filter and she really didn't need Bela hearing this. It didn't make her feel right, her parents loved her. They told Bela stories of her youth, to embarrass her, but this felt awkward. Especially since there was clearly a new family portrait hanging over the mantle to the fireplace, that didn't have Charlie in it, but Beth was there. She had to wonder if they had even called her to be part of the photo. It made her angry to think they could just dismiss Charlie like that, but the last thing she needed today was to pick a fight with Charlie's parents.

"Santana!" Rachel said from where she had been in the kitchen preparing some vegetarian options to grill. She was finally glad to not be the only non-Fabray at these things. She loved her wife, she loved her wife's family but it was nice to not be the only outsider for once. She pauses and gives Santana a once over, "You look amazing! I'm preparing some veggie burgers if you want some." She pauses and glances around for a moment she was sure that Carlie was supposed to be here, that's what Quinn had said.

"Ho—Rachel," Santana said grateful that there was someone else there that hadn't been born a Fabray. Someone she could talk to by the pool. Maybe today could be salvaged after all.


Rachel watched as Beth and Bela talked animatedly, "You have to tell me how you did it," Rachel says turning to Santana who was seated beside her. "Bela is a respectable young woman, I mean when she isn't swearing like a sailor. It must have been hard, and I think—no I know that she's better behaved than Beth is, and it frustrates me."

Santana sighed and leaned back in the chair, watching as Bela climbed up the slide. "Do you know how many wealthy clients that I have where their daughter or son who have done something stupid and selfish and generally unpleasant? They were spoiled rotten, maybe not to the core but pretty down deep. They didn't have to work for anything in their lives, so they never had goals. It's why I kept her away from all of this. I wanted to instill the right values in her. Yeah, with my treatments I've been a bit slack on the parenting thing lately, but Charlie has stopped just buying her everything she wants, sure she still buys her food—but I mean toys and things that she doesn't need to survive."

Rachel felt her maternal instinct flare up, "Beth isn't that spoiled. She isn't that bad, I mean yes she isn't nearly as respectful as Bela it's not like she's spoiled rotten—" she trailed off as both Bela and Beth passed them, water dripping from their bodies as they went to the huge spread to get what she imagined was some drinks or a small snack.

"Where is Charlie? I want her to build me an arcade too—or she can buy me one right?" Beth said causing Bela to wrinkle her nose a bit at this. "It would be better if she bought it for you, don't you think? I mean that way if you get bored you can just exchange it for something else or sell it."

Rachel slapped her forehead and flushed when Santana gave her a pointed look, it was that bad sometimes. "You may have a point," Rachel said quietly, slightly ashamed of her daughter's behavior. "I just don't know what to do about her."

"In my humble opinion, I suggest you make her start volunteering, and if she starts to act out you donate her things to those less fortunate. She doesn't need all that stuff to be happy. Charlie's not just giving Bela an arcade she wants to build it with her. Of course Charlie might be doing all the more dangerous things with the power tools, but I'm sure that she has plenty for Bela to do so she can feel that sense of accomplishment. You know Bela hated science class, she still does but she enjoys doing the projects with Charlie even though Charlie makes her do much more than she needs to." Santana suggests. She can't tell Rachel how to parent her kid but maybe that would help her, figure things out. "She needs to stop living inside her little bubble, I mean if she is anything like you, then after the diva stage that she's currently in she'll get better. You're certainly less annoying then you were ten years ago."

"I was driven, there's a difference!" Rachel says with a bit of a huff, but she had accomplished her dream, starring in Broadway doing a few minor guest appearances. Sure she still needed to win an Emmy, a Grammy and an Academy award, but she was still relatively young.

"So find her a passion that isn't simply shopping for things and getting more stuff. Sure you were unbearable and annoying as hell, but I can respect that being driven to get what you want and working your ass off to get there. Make she understands that if she wants to follow in your career then you point out that people hate working with divas, and once you get that reputation it's difficult to shake and they will find someone else who can get the job done without the hassle." Santana shrugs as she turns to study Bela to make sure she was behaving. She glanced around the area, Russell was at the grill while Quinn and Frannie were talking to their mother. "So, there must be a part of you that is wondering why I'm being so nice to you," she said turning her attention back to Rachel.

"We've never exactly been close, so the thought did cross my mind." Rachel said with a shrug and turned her attention back to the pool. "So what do you need to know?"

"Everything that happened after I left. I realized that I'm never going to get a straight answer from Charlie, not without prying multiple layers away. I'm dying Rachel, I don't have time for that shit. Quinn will give me the whole I should watch out because Charlie is a drug addict and hurt me in the past. I imagine out of everyone you're the person who has the most unbiased view and I need to make some decisions and I want the history."

Rachel sighed and leaned back. "I told you already. After you left she spiraled, and there was no one protecting her anymore."

"No, I understand that, but Charlie was already independently wealthy without the trust fund, she was making that much money because she was excellent at her job. I don't know how all this happened." Santana waved her hand. She didn't care about the money she needed to know where the damage was.

Rachel sighed, "It was like a storm hit when you left, she made some terrible investments when she was high, and lost everything. That's where all her money went, she would have been fine financially if she hadn't been fired. Then Quinn went over to tell her that I might be pregnant, I wasn't at the time even though the test had said it was positive, anyway at the time Russell still didn't know. Quinn didn't think it was actually a problem, not really, she just thought that Charlie was partying too hard. So she went over and Charlie had overdosed. I don't think Quinn's forgiven Charlie for that, she panicked, but she remembered her training and Charlie was fine. But she told Russell. I think he cracked down too hard on Charlie too quickly. But by then Charlie didn't exactly have the bank account to fund her habit so she dipped into her trust fund, which was when he cut her off. She was fired soon after, I'm pretty sure it was because Russell asked Al to test his employees." Rachel took a deep breath. Those were dark times in the Fabray family.

"And?" Santana prodded.

"She couldn't afford her apartment so she got rid of it, got rid of her car, headed to rehab and it worked. But by then Russell was furious, I don't know if it was at himself or at her, I still don't know and then the alienation began. By the time Beth was born, it was in full effect. Charlie had already started to get her life back on track and I don't think the contracting business started off as something that was supposed to be full-time, I think that it was always the plan to get back to being on top of the mountain. It never happened and Charlie just began to fix things for a living. She started showing up less and less, and it didn't matter to anyone. Well Frannie doesn't like anybody, so that makes sense. Quinn is paranoid that Charlie's going to overdose again, so she makes sure to check in on her. Lately though she hasn't been at home."

"She's living in a motel in Philly," Santana said with a shrug, causing Rachel to turn to her. "She wanted to be close by and she does work around the house and makes sure that she helps out, I'm far too tired to argue with her all the time, and Bela likes having her around." Though Charlie was quickly running out of things to do around the house.

"I suppose that's good, it's about the farthest she's ever been away from that apartment," Rachel mumbles and shakes her head. She studies Santana, for the first time she doesn't look absolutely dead tired or green. "You really do look good."

Santana shrugs, "I had a good night," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand as Russell announces that the food is done. "Not good enough to eat that much meat, or anything heavy." She makes a face.

"Just say that you've decided to join me in my veganism," Rachel said with a smile.

"That sounds too pretentious, I'll just say that I'm on a mostly vegetarian diet." Santana said watching as Rachel huffed and she let out a small laugh. She got up, food was good and maybe after she could finally get Charlie alone, to talk to her.

Bela grinned at her mom as she took a sip of her drink, the spread of food was amazing. There was so much bacon and she shifted, her mom never let her have this much bacon, she had never seen so much of it in her life. She glances around half expecting Charlie to finally show up and eat with everyone else but it's becoming increasingly obvious that she wasn't going to show up. She frowns and leans over to tug on her mom's shirt. "Shouldn't we wait for Charlie?" she mumbles.

Russell frowns for a split second before forcing a smile onto his face. It's a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes, "It's fine. I'm sure Charlie is busy with something else, Judy will give you a plate Charlie can eat on the way home."

Bela frowned, that sounded stupid, Charlie was at their house. She didn't understand why Charlie couldn't just eat the food while it was hot. She's about to say something when her mother puts her hand on her leg and shakes her head discretely. Bela makes a face, she had thought her grandparents were cool but she didn't like the feeling she was getting for them. When her abuela and abuelito were around everyone had to eat at the same time.

Beth hums and looks at her mothers, she didn't understand why Bela was upset, Charlie never showed up to these things. "I want Charlie to build me an arcade too," she said bluntly. "Bela said that they're going to build their own arcade and I want one."

Russell smiled at his granddaughters, not noticing Rachel groaning and Quinn raising a brow at Beth. "No need, we'll get you one that you can put in her room."

"There's no more room in her bedroom," Quinn pointed out. Her father bought Beth the most outrageous gifts some of the time and they weren't particularly practical. Yes they were thinking of moving into a brownstone soon, but still they lived in New York City they didn't have that much space available to them.

"Well then we'll just build an arcade here that you can come over and play with anytime you want," Russell said with ease. He turns to Bela, "Of course we'll buy you one too as well Bela. It'll be simpler—"

"No thanks," Bela said picking at her food not looking at him. "I want to build it with Charlie, she said that I could use spray paint to paint it." She drops her voice and finally looks at him leaning in a bit, pretending that her mother isn't sitting right beside her. "Plus, maybe I can convince her to let me use the power tools when mom isn't looking. We made this really cool solar system and she helped me with my rockets and next year she said she'd help me with my science fair project. I had lots of fun, and I want to do it with Charlie." She pauses and then flashes a smile, "Thank you though."

Beth paused and frowned at Bela not quite understanding why she would turn it down, but if Bela thought it was amazing then she wanted to do it too. "I want to do that with Charlie too," Beth said crossing her arms over her chest. She wanted the best and coolest thing as well.

Quinn hesitated when her father gave her a look, "Look, Beth I'm sure that Charlie is super busy and you don't really need to spend any more time with her—"

"I'm going to say this once," Santana said putting her fork and knife done. She glances over at Frannie who is sipping on some wine. "So we're all on the same page and the fact that there is indeed another lawyer here, to confirm these facts, is just a bonus. Charlie is Bela's mother. At this point in time, if anything were to happen to me, Bela would go to live with Charlie. So we're still on the same page, Charlie is your daughter and the person you have consistently made clear today that you want nothing to do with. I thought that maybe this would bridge the gap between you, and if anything were to happen to me she'd have the support she needed to make sure that she wasn't overwhelmed with raising a kid on her own because it's difficult and I imagine that Bela as a teenager will be a nightmare. I haven't said anything because I hoped that this wouldn't happen." Santana pushed her chair out. "Time to go Bela, if you want to see horses I'll have Charlie take you to a farm. You can do a damn hayride or something. You don't need to learn how to ride a damn horse, we live in the twenty-first century."

"Well, we thank god that nothing is going to happen to you," Judy said.

"I have cancer, you might want to talk to Quinn about my prognosis, since she's already violated several HIPPA laws by finding out and telling Rachel, what's a few more?" Santana said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Bela, go grab your stuff. Let's go find Charlie and get out of here."

Bela nods and quickly scrambles to grab all their stuff before returning to her mother, "Oh, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for having us," she says politely. She doesn't understand when her mother lets out a sharp laugh and places a hand on her shoulder, and walks her out. She leans into her mom, not saying anything until they're out of earshot. "You were so awesome mom!" Bela whispers, wanting to take a look back to see the look on their faces.

"Don't look back Bela, you need to make a proper exit, keep your head high and your back straight and just walk out." Santana says. They'd call Charlie outside and wait by the car.

"Santana—" Quinn says, the first one to speak up, the shock had worn off a bit quicker.

"Don't acknowledge, just keep walking." Santana said as they made their way through the mansion and exited the front door and walked to Charlie's car. She opened her purse and was about to call Charlie when she noticed someone sitting in the bed of Charlie's truck. There was Charlie sitting quietly by herself watching something on her phone. Santana raised a brow at this. "Really?"

Charlie dropped her phone onto the ground in shock and scrambled upwards, turning to them. "Hey. Did you two have fun?"

"Mom was awesome!" Bela said excitedly and studied Charlie for a long moment, "You could take some lessons."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Into the car Bela, I want to get out of here before they decide to follow us. We'll talk later." Santana said narrowing her eyes at Charlie.

Charlie blinked and watched as Santana got inside the car, she had somehow managed to piss of both her daughter and Santana at the same time. She groaned it was going to be a long drive back home.


AN: Oh dear, see you tomorrow.