"Focus Rachel!" Lawrence called out, from where he was watching both Rachel and Santana spar from where he was watching from the deck. There was a frown on his features, Rachel was projecting her movements, which made it easy for Santana to block and parry her movements. "You need to pick up the pace, you need to pick your spot, and most importantly keep your head moving. You do not want to test your chin. Charlie tested her chin, and got knocked out, do not be like Charlie, I love my granddaughter, but she's an idiot."

Santana snorted as she threw Rachel, blinking in surprise as Rachel managed to land on her feet, stumbling forward.

"Good Rachel, my suggestion for you is to always put some distance between yourself and your opponent, before you launch an attack. This might change if you learn some new tricks, but make sure you're out of Santana's reach and—"

Santana immediately ducked and clapped her hands over her ears, to avoid Rachel's abilities. But when nothing happens, Santana looks up to see both Rachel and Lawrence staring at her like she had lost her mind. "Your powers are sound based, I'm protecting myself."

"Sure. If you want to call it that," Lawrence smiled as Santana scowled at him. "Santana's reaction aside, because you are in a competition, you must assume that you've been scouted. Never ever put all your cards on the table. I understand that you're trying to show off for the scouts and agents but you need to be smart, do you think that they'll be interested in you if you show off and lose?"

Rachel shakes her head, "No, but—"

"There are obviously exceptions to that rule, but your goal is to win. That's what draws their attention," Lawrence interrupts before Rachel could argue with him. "And it gives you more opportunities to shine. And not only will your skill grab the judges attention, it will show that you have the wisdom to use your abilities at the correct time."

Rachel huffs as she wipes sweat from her brow, even though it was freezing in Lima today, being near Santana felt like she was standing right beside a raging inferno. It drained her stamina and she pauses for a moment, "Santana—have you ever thought about simply doing what you're doing now as a form of attack?"

Santana blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"Heat. I'm talking about how hot you get," Rachel pointed to the melted snow that was around them, making the ground muddy. "It's nearly unbearable to be around you, because it's so hot. So why not weaponize it?"

Santana paused, Charlie could knock someone out without any display of power, and using heat as a weapon had never truly crossed her mind. "That's not a bad idea hobbit," it might not be able to knock people out, but if she could master it—it would give her an edge in most fights. "That's not a terrible idea—Rachel." Santana said as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She pauses for a moment, "What did you find out about boy wonder?"

Rachel made a face, "He and Kurt are a thing, I think. Kurt was gloating about how Blaine was going to rule the school and how he had taken out Charlie. He was also going on about how I made the wrong choice, by ditching them for the Fabrays."

"Joy—just what we need, another egomaniac," Santana sighed, she couldn't believe this. Lauren was out for the foreseeable future, despite Brittany having snuck in and done some quick patchwork of Lauren's face. Brittany had healed the underlying structure deciding to leave the scar on Lauren's face. "How are things going with you and your incubator?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I'm not progressing as quickly as I would like, and I think it's beginning to frustrate her," Rachel makes a face, and shakes her head, pushing her disappointment aside. "You want to go again?"

Santana shook her head, "I need to shower and get ready, me and Charlie are heading to LA. We're going to check out PVA while we're there, and apparently help Frannie build her nursery."

"PVA—Pacific View Academy?" Santana nods and Rachel's eyes widen. "You're going to check out Pacific View Academy?"

"I mean it used to be their old school and we only have so much tape. Charlie had nothing to do with the team, I'm pretty sure she doesn't know anyone on the team, or their powers," Santana shook her head. "If we get past sectionals then they're one of the teams that we have to worry about."

Rachel nodded eagerly. "Can I tag along? I don't mind helping Frannie with her nursery."

Santana hesitated, she hadn't really expected anyone else to tag along. "You should probably ask Charlie, Frannie's her sister. She's probably in the kitchen, I've got to go grab my gym bag from my car."

Rachel nodded, that made sense, it was after all Frannie's home. She watches Santana leave and waves at Lawrence before she makes her way up the deck and enters the kitchen after wiping her feet.

"You're going to love LA. You get to see all the latest tech in action, and since I know you so well, I even carved out some time to—" Quinn trailed off when she spotted Rachel standing in front of the door to the deck. "Rachel?"

"Hey Quinn—" Rachel tilts her head when she spots Marley who nearly runs into Quinn. "Marley?"

Marley glanced up, and flinched, she hadn't expected to meet her boss's daughter today. "Hey Rachel."

Quinn looked between Marley and Rachel for a moment, unsure of exactly what to say. "You two know each other?"

"Her dad owns the art studio, remember?" Marley reminded Quinn who nodded. Marley turns when she hears someone bounding down the stairs. "Hey Charlie."

Charlie paused and looked at the scene in front of her, there was an uncomfortable tension that she didn't particularly want to deal with. Still the moment that Santana had come upstairs to shower, her grandmother and mother had sent her downstairs, as if she was some sort of pervert. "Marley—Rachel." Charlie greets before deciding she was just going to ignore everyone and raid the fridge, people knew better than to talk to her when she was eating.

Rachel flicked her eyes between Quinn and Marley and then looked at Charlie who had gotten a large mixing bowl and emptied half a carton of cereal into it, before dumping some milk and mixing her cereal. "Are you two going on a double date with Charlie and Santana?"

Charlie, who had taken a massive bite of cereal, began to cough loudly and looked up at Rachel and scowled. "Santana and I aren't dating! Even if we were—double dates are the worst thing in the world, and I'm certainly not going on a double date with Quinn. We're identical, and the last thing I need is for Marley to fall in love with me."

Marley blinked and turned to look at Quinn, "Should I let her know that there is no chance of that happening?" she whispers to Quinn.

Quinn pinched the bridge of her nose, "No, she might take it as a challenge, and she's already unbearable. Just ignore her insanity, please."

"If it isn't a double date—Santana told me you were heading to PVA to check out their team, and I was wondering if you could—"

"No," Charlie interrupts, stuffing her face full of cereal. "Next time Rachel. When you have permission. LA isn't like Lima, where nothing happens and you don't really need a superhero. You need superheroes in LA, like in all major metropolitan areas."

Rachel made a face, she would have definitely worn her fathers down if she had known about this trip in advance, but she had heard the stories. The monster attacks, the alien invasions, the supervillain attacks—there was a good chance her fathers would say no without parental supervision. "When is the next time you plan on heading up?"

Charlie shrugged her shoulders, "It really depends on how well today goes—"

"You mean how well Dani takes you being there." Quinn interrupts raising a brow, she turns to look at Marley. "Dani was Charlie's girlfriend. She's also the new Captain of the PVA hero team. It was not an amicable breakup."

Charlie rolled her eyes, "I was thinking of seeing if they were available for joint-training. Dani adores me, she'll probably say yes."

"She won't," Quinn informs Marley who laughs. Quinn grins and shrugs her shoulders when Charlie flips her off.

Rachel frowned ever so slightly, watching as Quinn takes Marley's hand and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. The small act of affection, causes her stomach to hurt, she immediately squashes it. "Charlie, doing a joint practice with PVA would be extremely beneficial for the team."

"I know," Charlie replies with a mouth filled with cereal.

"So please try to not ruin it by sleeping with half of the PVA team," Rachel finished shooting Charlie a look.

Charlie glared at Rachel. "I am not a sex fiend! I haven't even had sex this year!"

"We're two weeks into the new year, so that's not really saying much," Marley pointed out.

Quinn's smirk grew, there was a reason she and Marley were so close. She can't help laughing at the annoyed expression that Charlie shoots them, and she nudges Marley's shoulder.

Charlie finished the last of her cereal and began to drink the milk from the mixing bowl, before wiping her lips. "You guys suck," she says with an indignant sniff. She looks up at the ceiling, wondering when Santana would finish and defend her against these bullshit accusations, which were totally besmirching her good name.

~ O ~

Marley had never been out of Ohio, the furthest she had ever been from Lima was Columbus, and the difference between both cities was stark. She had never seen so many professional heroes flying up above, or gotten anywhere close to a shield generator. "I can't believe you moved from LA to Lima," Marley says, her jaw dropping when she spots a car lifting into the air and taking off. "You have flying cars?"

Quinn looked up, slightly entertained by how excited Marley was. "Not really, they're still being tested, I think they just recently expanded into LA, not sure I want to be a crash test dummy for one of those things."

Marley huffed, watches the flying car for a moment before she gets distracted by another flying hero. "Is that—" she turns to look at Quinn and flushes. "You don't know do you?"

"Not at all," Quinn said with a small laugh. "That is Charlie's thing. Come on, if we spend all day looking around then we won't have time to shop at a tech—" Quinn's eyes widen in surprise when Marley kisses her.

"Thank you. I mean I have no idea how you're going to top this date, but thank you," Marley murmurs against Quinn's lips, linking their fingers together.

"France? Paris is super romantic?" Quinn blurts out as her mind begins to reboot.

Marley let out a small laugh, "Whisking me away to all those amazing places won't top this Quinn."

"I can definitely outdo myself," Quinn promises, with a smile on her features. Brittany was right, she just needed to be attentive and not focus on sex. It would happen when it happened and not a moment before. That hadn't stopped her from swiping the keys to their former LA house that was currently a point of contention in her parents divorce. As far as she knew nothing had really changed in the house just yet. Which meant that it was a place for privacy if the need arose.

~ O ~

"You should have worn your old uniform." Santana said, keeping her voice neutral despite how impressed she was by the size of PVA's campus. It felt like a smaller version of a university, and it was far more impressive than McKinley.

Charlie raises a brow and turns to look at Santana, her lips quirking upwards. "I thought about it—it certainly makes sneaking onto campus easier, but I didn't want you jumping me in a fit of passion."

"A fit of passion?" Santana snorted. "Don't flatter yourself."

"You never saw me in that uniform, it should have been illegal how good I looked in it," Charlie said with a wave of her hand as she walked with Santana across the massive campus.

Santana rolled her eyes, as Charlie nudged her trying to goad her into a response, "You're an idiot," she finally states, causing Charlie to huff at her. "So where do they practice?"

"Probably in the holo-room. That was a new addition last year, they got some sponsorships from some of the big tech firms like Luther Corp," Charlie said looking around, she stops and points in the direction of what looks like a gymnasium, "they're in there."

Santana grabs onto Charlie's arm, stopping her from making an entrance. "So how are we going to play this?"

"Play this?" Charlie echoes.

"We can't just burst in there Charlie and make a scene. We want them to do a joint practice with us," Santana reminded her.

"Everything will be fine Santana, I know the captain of the team."

"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence," Santana groaned, holding up her hand to prevent Charlie from arguing with her. "We're here on their turf, asking them for a favor. It doesn't matter if you used to go here, you're now a Titan. We're in direct competition with them, you're the enemy."

Charlie met Santana's gaze for a moment, before smiling. "Alright."

~ O ~

Marley Rose had died and gone to heaven, being surrounded by all this new tech—sure it was way more than what she could personally afford, but just seeing the new tech out there, was already filling her mind with ideas. She could think of so many possible uses for the polyphase conductors. Still it wasn't as if she could just afford to buy what she wanted. Letting out a sigh she turns to look up at Quinn who is studying something in front of her. Marley takes a quick peek, and rests her head on Quinn's shoulder. "Do you even know what that is?"

"Nope," Quinn replied with a grin. "I'm hoping that standing here and looking at this thing will make me seem like I belong here. See anything you like?"

"If I could buy the store, I would but you know I don't have the money for that," Marley sighed.

"What if you could?" Quinn asks.

Marley frowns and pulls away, "Quinn I don't want you buying anything for me, I could never pay you back, and the prices here are super expensive—"

"I wasn't going to buy you anything. I mean sure my parents are still giving me my LA allowance despite the cost of living in Lima being significantly lower. I honestly think my dad just set it to auto-deposit, and hasn't changed it—" Quinn pauses, and waves her hand dismissively. "I was going off on a tangent. What I was trying to say is that you might be able to buy whatever you want soon. The Titans need a support team, I think Figgins is reaching out to various high schools nearby including Lima High. You might be able to buy whatever you want within reason so long as it benefits the team—"

"Seriously? Wait does this mean I have to be nice to Charlie?"

Quinn let out a laugh. "No, treat Charlie like you normally do. I know my sister, it's not about who kisses her ass, it's about the best person for the job. It's a surprise, but I'm giving you the heads up. When we get back to Lima, we can take a look at every member of the team and you can maybe start thinking of things that could help them with their abilities."

"I love you," Marley blurts out staring at Quinn.

"I haven't done anything I just—" But with Marley's lips suddenly on hers, any thought that Quinn has disappears. She certainly hadn't been expecting it to happen so fast, but swiping the spare keys to their old house, was probably the best idea Quinn had ever had.

~ O ~

Interrupting PVA's practice had never really been Santana's intention. She had hoped to gather some intel, before they noticed them, but the moment that Charlie entered the gym, everything stopped. Santana glances to Charlie, flashing her an irritated look. "I can't take you anywhere."

"This is hardly my fault, I can't help it if I'm so charismatic that when I walk into a room, everyone stops and stares at me," Charlie snaps back with an irritated huff. "I'm not very good at stealth Santana. My face is very memorable, it's like my only weakness."

Santana rolled her eyes so hard, that she was certain that they were going to get stuck at the top of her head. But before she can make a snappy retort, someone beats her to the punch.

"It's very hard to forget the face of a turncoat."

Charlie sighs and looks up and watches as her ex-girlfriend practically glides through the air and lands in front of them. Charlie adjusts her jaw and meets Dani's gaze, "That's certainly an accusation Dani. Are we going to pretend that I was never a—" Charlie pauses for a moment and glances around, noting the purple and white colors, but she doesn't see a stupid mascot. "I wanna say—"

"Eagles. Charlie. We're the PVA Eagles. You've been here since middle school, how the hell don't you know that?" Dani snaps in an exasperated tone, as she shakes her head.

"Because I never joined any clubs or teams? I never went to a prep rally that I didn't fall asleep or ditch?" Charlie listed off, puffing out her cheeks. "Plus you know I don't—"

"Remember inconsequential things. I told you then that you sounded like a prick," Dani reminded Charlie, who flashes her a smile. It's enough to get her lips to quirk upward. "What are you doing here Charlie? If I remember you telling me that all-this was pointless. So, imagine—"

"For me," Charlie interrupts. "Besides I told you that if you could beat me, then I'd join your team under duress. You never beat me."

"So you mean to tell me that someone on McKinley beat you?" Dani scoffed, before Charlie could retort she raised her hand. She probably wouldn't like the answer, "Why are you here Charlie?"

"We came here to request a joint practice between our two teams," Santana quickly answers, she had thought Charlie could keep it together, but it seemed like if she let her handle it she'd spend the entire day bickering and nothing would get done. The interruption causes both Charlie and Dani turn to look at her, but she forces a smile onto her face.

Dani's gaze flicks over Santana for a moment before she turns to Charlie, "No."

~ O ~

"You used to live here?" Marley asked, she had thought that the Fabray's were middle class. Sure their current house in Lima seemed impressive with all the land and the pond in their backyard, but this house was on another level entirely. She couldn't see the backyard but she couldn't imagine that they didn't have a pool and plenty of space in the backyard.

Quinn glances up from where she is currently switching off the alarm to the house, she hesitates for a moment, suddenly unsure of herself. "I grew up here," Quinn says as she finishes punching in the code. "I know it seems excessive—"

Marley turned to look at Quinn and flushes, "I'm sorry for making it weird."

"Don't be," Quinn insists, "This is my parents home, none of this is my stuff. I just know that it's the only place we can be alone without any interruptions, and I really didn't want our first time to be in the back of my car, or you know having your mom walk in on us. We should have some privacy, and we can take as long as we want—maybe use the hot tub, order some food."

"You have a hot tub?" Marley grabs Quinn's hand and begins to tug her towards the back of the house, grateful for the open floor concept. She had already gotten a glimpse of the pool.

Quinn grins and follows along with Marley feeding on her excitement. "I'm not sure if it's set up, but it doesn't take that long with my abilities," Quinn says, stopping, and pulling Marley to her. She wanted—no she needed to savour the moment. "No rush, we've got time," she mumbles before deepening the kiss.

~ O ~

Santana slowly picks her jaw up, closing her mouth. She hadn't truly expected that she would have been dismissed so casually. "Excuse me?" When Dani ignores her, Santana blinks at the disrespect, immediately flaring up.

The reaction from the rest of the PVA eagles is instantaneous as all through the gym people begin to activate their abilities. It was a show of force, even as Dani is forced to retreat away from her.

"I'm not someone you dismiss," Santana snaps.

Dani scoffed and shifted her gaze back to Charlie who seemed amused at Santana's rude display. "McKinley isn't a ranked school, it doesn't matter that you have Charlie. My history with her also doesn't matter because this isn't personal, I simply don't see how doing a joint practice benefits my team." Dani waves her hand in a dismissive manner to ease her team from attempting to take Santana out. "Don't give them anything."

Santana narrowed her eyes, "Do you think your team could take Charlie down? Has anyone here notched a win against her?"

"What?"

"We've beaten her twice, three times if you count how she was forced on the team," Santana leans back and for a moment it looks like she's suppressed her flames, but the heat that blasts through the room is enough to stagger the entire PVA team. Santana drops her abilities, like she was flicking a switch and turns to look at Charlie, "Let's go."

Charlie surveyed the damage and smiled, turning around to follow Santana, quickly catching up with her. "I can't take you anywhere," Charlie tuts, as she throws Santana's words back in her face.

Dani took a step forward, brushing off the sweltering heat. "Charlie?"

"Outsmarted me twice. Knocked me out once," Charlie replied waving her hand. "You know where to find me. Since we're done here, can we go to my favorite restaurant?" Charlie flashed Santana her most charming smile.

"Is it a buffet?" Santana asked looking at Charlie, who immediately looked embarrassed. "I'm not against it. I'm just surprised that they let you through the door."

"I'm only allowed to eat there twice a year," Charlie grumbled. "My mom wouldn't take me as often as I wanted."

Santana smirked at Charlie and shrugged her shoulders, "Free food is free food."

Charlie blinked, "Free—" she immediately scowls at Santana, who laughs at her. "Why am I paying?"

"You invited me Charlie, that's how it works," Santana retorts as they leave the gym.

"I took you to LA!"

"Your sister brought me to LA, I'm helping her with the nursery remember?" Santana smirks as Charlie starts to get frustrated at her logic.

~ O ~

"I'm sorry Marley, I just—" Quinn began, her cheeks were a bright red as she looked away from her very naked girlfriend. Diving in had not been her best idea, she was certain that all her research had flown out the window, the moment Marley had parted her legs. She had desperately wanted to reciprocate what Marley had done for her.

"Hey, hey," Marley said as she sits back up and gently touches Quinn's face, gently forcing Quinn to look at her. "You weren't bad, and I really have no idea why you stopped."

"Were you enjoying it?" Quinn asked as she searches Marley's face for a hint of dishonesty.

"It's our first time Quinn, I don't expect you to know my body like the back of your hand," Marley smiles and gently nudges Quinn's head with her own. "Besides, we have this amazing house, and we have privacy—we don't have to meet up with your sisters for another few hours. So why don't we spend the rest of our day actually learning about each other's bodies."

Quinn shudders, before nodding. She rarely followed anyone, but at this moment she would happilyfollow Marley's lead if it meant that she could take Marley to the promised land.