AN: Another Day another chapter


Santana shifted on the porch, she was exhausted and still felt a queasy but she was determined to make this day a good one, and work with Charlie and Bela to build that arcade. Even if all she was doing was barking out instructions for Charlie and Bela to follow. Charlie would most certainly be getting the brunt of her attention. She thought she had a thing for all those suits that Charlie used to wear but there was something simple about the white wife beater which seemed far too tight and the baggy paint stained cargo pants. This should be illegal. Charlie had clearly done this on purpose to force her to stare at her. She can't help but roll her eyes when Charlie finally notices her staring and winks at her when Bela wasn't paying attention.

"Stop flirting with my mom and help me with these stencils Charlie," Bela said without looking up from where she was trying to figure out how she wanted the stencils on the large piece of wood that they had already painted black.

Charlie nearly trips as she twists around to look at Bela, "I thought you wanted me to flirt with your mom?" Charlie said and Bela gives her a dry look. She decided not to mention that her daughter was quickly developing a Mexican third-eye of her own and whatever this thing with Santana was it was going to become increasingly more difficult. She coughs at the look her daughter is giving her and shuffles a bit and goes to help her with her stencils.

Santana took a sip of her water and leaned back, "Don't be mean to Charlie, Isabela. She's trying to keep me entertained."

"She's not doing anything," Bela said crinkling her nose and turning to her mother not quite understanding what she was talking about.

Santana tilted her head as Charlie bent over, "She's doing plenty."

Bela followed her mother's gaze and made a face. "She's staring at your butt Charlie—adults are weird." She grumbles the last part when Charlie turns a bright red and turns back to her mother to flash her a smile. She was suddenly realizing that her parents were both weird and gross and awkward. She crosses her arms over her chest and studies her parents for a moment, after that last chemotherapy session they had been oddly close. She was about ask if they were finally dating when a car pulled into the driveway. Bela lets out a breath, "Finally! Beth's here." Now she wouldn't have to be alone with her very weird parents.

Charlie frowned and turned to Bela wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "What do you mean Beth is here?" She had dragged all her heavy gear out and she wasn't doing all this work for nothing. "I thought we were going to build this arcade cabinet together."

Bela rolls her eyes, "We are—but Beth said she wanted one as well we were going to make two anyway, so she can have the other one." Bela pauses for a moment. "You did buy two of everything didn't you?"

Charlie made a face, "Yeah—in case we messed up, this is my first time making one." Charlie whispers throwing her hands up. She turns to Santana and points to Bela hoping that Santana would completely back her up on this. She wasn't looking forward to dealing with her family today. She still didn't know what to do when it came to dealing with the truck that her father had given her, and Santana had said she couldn't just leave it in her driveway. If Bela was sixteen she'd just hand the car over to her. But Bela was ten and she doubted that Santana would approve of her giving Isabela the keys to the truck.

Santana watched as Bela ran to the car that Rachel and Quinn were exiting before looking at Charlie and shrugging, "How about you just give Beth the crappy one?" She smirks when Charlie snorts. She'd need to talk to Bela about springing things on Charlie last minute. "Bela, next time tell me you're inviting the hobbit family from the shire. At least we're outside so I probably won't have to look at the hairy feet."

"What I don't understand, is how you're only a few inches taller than Rachel and you still get away with calling her a hobbit," Charlie said and was rewarded with a slightly annoyed look from Santana. "Right. Getting back to work now. Come on Bela—Beth, we've got to start building this thing, and you two need to start painting so it can dry and then I can sand it down to make sure that it's smooth. Bela make sure that Beth is wearing a mask." Charlie said turning to her daughter and shifting nervously, Santana was still slightly miffed about the joke about her height.

"Quinn, make sure that Beth has her mask on. You know how she is about rules," Rachel said as she took a seat on the porch beside Santana and smiled at her. "You look good. How are you feeling?"

Santana flicked her eyes to Rachel wondering why she was currently sitting beside her. "I'm fine Rachel." She would be in bed if she wasn't. "That's why I'm here delegating." Santana said with a small tilt of her head, motioning towards Beth and Bela who were busy talking secretively. She frowned ever so slightly as Quinn moved to talk to her twin. She turned to Rachel who was still staring at her curiously and looking at her like she was a fragile being. Santana sighed and rolled her eyes. "Delegating is code for watching Charlie bend over." If grossing Rachel out was the best way to get her porch back then she'd have no problem in doing just that.

Rachel crinkled her nose in disgust, "I didn't need to know that," she mutters and turns back to Quinn and Charlie. "Quinn said that you two are—?" She trails off when Santana gives her a sharp look. "What are you two doing?"

"Watching Charlie fix things? If she knew how sexy she looked fixing things? She'd have so many women throwing themselves at her." Santana said with a frown.

Rachel groaned, "Santana stop, I'm serious. What's going on between the two of you? Quinn's upset, and she's worried. Charlie—"

"Is fine," Santana said calmly cutting her off. "She's doing a good job Rachel, do you see her with Bela right now? That's Charlie. You need to bend Quinn over and remove the stick that's been lodged up her ass for ten years. You both don't know anything about her." Santana motioned to Charlie who helped Beth with her mask and then moved to a spare piece of wood to show them how to make the stencils properly. "Now, please just enjoy the show that you're getting."

Rachel rolled her eyes, she should have known better than to try and talk to Santana about things. She was offended that Santana seemed to think that she was the only one that cared, but Charlie was still—sensitive. Santana couldn't just hope that things would turn out for the best. She knew Charlie well enough to know that this wasn't just sex, she would do anything for Santana. If anything were to happen to her—if things didn't get better for Santana, she wasn't sure how Charlie would handle it. "I don't see what the big deal is Santana. They're just working with some wood."

"Will you just watch? Hearing your voice will ruin it for me. Charlie it'll go a bit faster if you worked with Quinn," Santana said leaning back and watching as Charlie turned to her and nodded. "Now just watch Quinn, and I mean really watch." Santana muttered turning her attention back to Charlie who bent over to pick up the hammer that she had put on the ground. "Mmmf," Santana said loud enough for Charlie to hear.

Charlie turned to look at Santana and stuck her tongue out at her and shook her head. She should be offended that Santana was objectifying her but she smiled as she grabbed a piece of MDF and held it up, and grabbed a ruler from her cargo pants and begin to make some marks on the plywood. "Do you know how to use a drill? We're going to need to drill some holes in this," Charlie said holding up the piece of MDF. She shifts and begins to put buttons and the joysticks on the MDF, tracing them onto the wood when she finally has a pattern that she likes.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle it," Quinn said slightly offended. If Charlie could do it then she could do it as well. She's met with Charlie giving her this look and then handing her a hammer.

"Don't hurt yourself, pretty sure your hands are important." Charlie says with a grunt as she finishes tracing it out.

"Yeah they are—" Quinn trailed off as she watched Charlie placed the piece of wood onto the table and grabbed a drill, to start making holes in the wood. "I heard that dad apologized." She was met with another grunt from Charlie who turned on the drill and began to drill holes into the wood.

"Yep," Charlie said running her finger along the hole she had just made and turns to look at Santana who nods at her and she sighs and holds out the drill for her sister. "Come on, it's pretty easy, just make sure that it lines up with the holes that I drew and then just press the trigger."

Quinn stared at the drill and crinkled her nose, "I think I'll pass," She said as politely as she could. "Look Charlie—I just wanted—"

Charlie held her hand up, "Seriously Quinn, I'm here doing you a favor. I don't want to talk about emotions I want to build things. So take the drill put it against the wood and pull the trigger. I don't think you'll screw this up too badly."

Quinn sighed, she didn't like how this had changed but she was doing this in part because Rachel and her mother had ganged up on her. Yeah she felt bad but she still hadn't forgiven Charlie, not really. Santana, her parents, Rachel—they didn't get it. They hadn't been the ones to find her on the ground dying because she had taken far too many drugs. "A favor doing what?"

"Getting you laid," Charlie said watching Quinn carefully. She managed to get the drill through the MDF and Charlie pointed to the next hole.

"Trust me, I don't need your help getting laid," Quinn snipped pointing to her wedding band. They might not have as much sex as they used to with their schedules all over the place but she certainly didn't need Charlie's help. "Anyway, I just want to say that I'm sorry."

"You do, and trust me after this you'll come back and ask me how to help you fix things around the house," Charlie said flicking her eyes to Rachel who was watching Quinn carefully. "It's what it is Quinn. I don't care anymore. I really don't. I just want to get on with my life—careful you don't want any blow back."

"I doubt it," Quinn said grumbling and looks at Charlie, adjusting her arms a bit and frowning as she looked at her twin. "You never apologized."

It takes her a moment to realize what Quinn was talking about before she shrugs. "No, you're right I didn't. I did say thank you," Charlie pointed out. "Thank you Quinn—for saving me. I wouldn't be here—I wouldn't have met my family if it wasn't for you. So thank you."

Quinn sighed and shook her head, it was the best she was going to get. "I don't need your help getting laid Charlie. Especially from someone who didn't have sex for what 8 years? Rachel and I have plenty of sex."

"Yes but when was the last time she ripped your clothes off—" Charlie trails off and turns to make sure that Bela and Beth are busy but they hadn't noticed what they were talking about. "Trust me—I didn't have sex for eight years because I didn't want to. But women find it super sexy. Like they really do."

"I'm a surgeon. Rachel finds that extremely hot."

"No she doesn't, what she gets turned on when you're covered in blood and guts? Please." Charlie said as Quinn finished and Charlie pulls out some screws from her pocket. "Trust me on this. We're going to need to screw in the joystick now—"

"Santana?" Rachel asks turning to look at Santana who was watching slightly bored now that Charlie wasn't really doing anything.

"Hobbit?"

"Do you think that you can watch Beth for a few hours?"

"Told you, get Quinn to wear something like Charlie's wearing, get that sweat and everything—" Santana smirks. "I'll watch your brat but you two had better come back."

"Right," Rachel said suddenly realizing what Santana was talking about. The look of concentration on Quinn's face everything was just right, the gleam of sweat on her body, the way the sun was hitting her. Everything just felt right. "Quinn we've got to go."

Quinn blinks as she feels Rachel tug on her arm, pulling her away. She turns to her twin who smiles and waves. "Have fun," she adds for good measure and grabs the screws so she could start with the joysticks and all the electrics. She thought the fact that the buttons would glow was awesome and Bela thought so too.

"Finally," Santana said leaning back a bit trying to enjoy the show. Charlie turns to her and she scowls. "Back to work." Charlie sticks out her tongue but begins to do what she asked anyway, this was the perfect way to spend her day.


AN: Oh dear two more chapters.