Shannon looked over her team, it was a lot leaner than she wanted, and she could tell that Rachel, Santana looked ready to pick a fight. They didn't have time for this, Charlie had been suspended for two weeks, and the team wasn't ready for Sectionals. "Look, I understand that some of you may think that Charlie's suspension is unfair, but at the end of the day she gravely injured another student. Speaking of Lauren, I'm sure you've all heard the rumors that her parents withdrew her from McKinley. The rumors are true and Lauren is no longer a Titan. After last week's display, even if she hadn't been pulled out, she would no longer be considered a Titan. I want you to know that I have no problem with any of you challenging Charlie to become Captain, that isn't the issue. I care about how you go about it, do I make myself clear?"

There was murmur from the team and Shannon spots a few students nodding.

"Good. Now onto the good news, due to the work of Rachel Berry McKinley's team is expanding, because we will be adding a support team. After discussions with Lima High, we're bringing in their support club and adding them to the team. They'll be joining us on Wednesday."

Finn raised his hand, "I thought Rachel and Tina were our support," he questioned with a frown on his face.

"I understand the confusion, a support hero is a hero that has abilities that aren't necessarily built for combat. Rachel's abilities, and Tina's are abilities that are meant to support other heroes. A support team, is a group of individuals who build items, or design costumes that augment abilities. The fact that Santana can flame up, and her clothes don't burn, or Tina can go invisible without having to strip down are due to the inventions and work of support teams," Beiste explains. "I hope that clears things up, now onto the other piece of good news, Santana and Charlie have managed to secure a joint practice with a nationally ranked team, Pacific Valley Academy, which will be happening in three weeks. That gives us more than enough time to prepare for them, I'm currently in touch with their coach and we're discussing the specifics."

There was more excited chatter from the team and Bieste hopes that it translates into a stronger work ethic when it came to practice.

Shannon smiles, "And for the last bit of news before practice, I called in a favor with a former friend. Roz Washington is a hero based out of Atlanta, and I know I stated earlier that there were Heroes and companies that wanted to work with Charlie, there is a chance that she might offer one of you an internship. This opportunity is open to everyone, however there will be more consideration given to the seniors and juniors. So if you want this opportunity show up and impress her." Shannon turned her head to Santana, "While Charlie's away you will be leading the team. Don't disappoint me."

"Yes Coach," Santana says firmly.

~ O ~

"Is that the sister that made a few of your students cry and caused many of them to fail?"

Frannie looked up from the book that she was reading, and turned her attention to the field, as she watched Charlie take out her annoyance on her students. While there were a few students laying on the ground, moaning in pain, no one had died yet, and she couldn't see that much blood. "Yes. My parents dumped her on me, because she got suspended. I don't understand why that means I have to be punished as well." She flicks her gaze to the father of her child who was holding up a coffee cup from her favorite cafe. "That better not be decaf."

"I learned my lesson last time," Joe responded with an easy laugh. He takes a seat beside Frannie and hands her the coffee and cookie he had bought for her and turns his attention back to the action and flinches as Charlie uses someone's face as a launching pad. He immediately looks over at Frannie who looks unperturbed by the violence.

"Did you? I'm pretty sure I told you not to show up to my classes, especially not with coffee." Frannie says as she takes a sip of her coffee. She turns her attention to her class, for a moment, hoping that they had at least attempted to mount some sort of offense against Charlie.

They hadn't.

"I drew the short—"Joe flinched, as Charlie's elbow smashed into someone's sternum and she casually tossed the college aged student away. "Frannie don't you think this is a bit much?" He was pretty sure that there were at least three students curled in the fetal position.

Frannie sighs and looks up and closes her book and gets to her feet, "Charlie," she says, her tone firm as Charlie stops moving and looks at her. "Don't you think you've spent enough time warming up?"

Charlie grins widely, and gives Frannie a quick salute as she suddenly disappears from view.

Joe's eyes widen as he starts hearing screams of terror from Frannie's students and he looks at her. "That's not what I meant!"

Frannie hummed and took a sip of her coffee, "There are fifty students in this section of my class. I gave them permission to try and take Charlie out, in fact I promised an A for the class if someone could take her out and a glowing recommendation. They wouldn't need to take the final, they wouldn't need to do any of my assignments, they'd just get an A. Getting an A in my class will put them on the radar of some of the top hero firms."

"No one gets an A in your class," Joe reminded her, and shivers when Frannie smirks at him. She had always secretly terrified him, and today was no exception.

"Frannie!" Charlie said appearing beside her older sister, and puffing out her cheeks in irritation.

Frannie turned to look at her and then back at her students, no one was standing. It was certainly disappointing, but it wasn't surprising. "Done already?"

"When are you not going to be pregnant?" Charlie questions her sister. "Like shouldn't you have had the baby by now?"

Frannie raised a brow, "Liking women Charlie is no excuse to not understand how pregnancy works. I'm due in March."

Charlie made a face, March was like a little over two months. "And then we can spar? Charlotte Flair is no joke, and I want this to be my debut, none of these guys are helping me!"

"No." Frannie said as she took a seat beside Joe.

"No? What do you mean no?" Charlie whines.

"How quickly do you think a woman recovers after giving birth?" Frannie questions and when Charlie shoots her a look. She was aware that they had Brittany, but she wasn't going to ask Brittany to fix her up. She didn't trust Brittany to not experiment on her. "Yes, I'm aware that I'm perfect, and I can probably do everything, but I'll be taking care of my son," Frannie reminded Charlie.

"I thought you were going to hire a nanny for that!" Charlie grumbled. "You're conducting interviews next week, and you've started to look for daycares!"

Frannie stared at her sister for a moment, internally debating if she should simply toss Charlie into an active volcano when Joe clears his throat.

"I can spar with you."

Charlie turned to look at the hippy who seemed rather close to Frannie. "Who are you?"

Joe stood up and extended his hand, "Joe, I'm one of the professors here. I'm not your typical hero, my work is more in saving the environment, clean air, more trees, diversifying the ecosystem. It's a newer branch of heroics," he explains to Charlie. "I'm a level 4, and I control plant life."

Charlie studied Joe for a moment and then looked at Frannie, who had a look of fondness on her face, and then looked back at Joe. She shakes his hand, "Charlie," she says introducing herself. "Can you actually fight?"

"I've been known to throw down a time or two," Joe said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I spent quite a bit of time in third world countries, helping grow agriculture and fighting off poachers. It's best to use my abilities outdoors though."

Charlie turned to look at Frannie, who looked like she was going to protest, it took her another second to put everything together, but instead of just blurting it out she decided to give Frannie the privacy she craved. She really was a good sister. "Alright, but if you suck I'll be disappointed."

Joe laughs, "We wouldn't want that would we?"

"No we won't," Charlie said jutting her hand to Frannie's class. That was what happened when she was bored and when Joe smiles at her she knows that he understands that is what will happen to him if he doesn't bring his A game. She wasn't going to go easy on him all because he had knocked Frannie up, if anything she was going to be a lot tougher, because he had knocked up Frannie.

~ O ~

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Judy asked her soon to be ex-husband.

Russell frowned, "Someone is coming after one of our daughters, in an attempt to extort money out of us. This is the only place I need to be. I took some time off, to handle this and with our lawyers and a proper display of force, I believe that this shouldn't take long. Our daughter was attacked while suffering a brain injury."

Judy was quiet for a moment studying him carefully, he was wearing one of the suits that she had bought him before the divorce. He had also lost weight and apart from the thinning of his hair, and the wrinkles around his eyes, he was looking like the man that she had met all those years ago. "Lauren has always had a problem with Charlie. She thinks Charlie is spoiled and gets everything handed to her."

"Charlie is spoiled, and she does get quite a few things handed to her. Hell all our kids are spoiled. They all acknowledge that they were spoiled," Russell pointed out. "I don't care that Lauren was jealous, she attacked my daughter, who could have easily killed her. Thank god Charlie knows the meaning for restraint."

Judy nodded, this could have been far worse. "I was going to have her apologize, I know you would disagree, but the damage was extensive and from Charlie's description it was an accident. Her aim is generally spot on and she wasn't aiming for Lauren's face."

"She was concussed the fight should never have happened, and Charlie needs to stop pretending that she is invincible and can keep taking on everyone." Russell shook his head. "We also need to talk about her use of that railgun ability of hers. We should have had this conversation after she nearly killed your mother. She should only be using that ability when she's going against villains and even then restraint might be best."

Judy made a face, "Can you have that conversation with her?"

Russell paused, "I mean I can, she won't listen to me. She might take it more seriously if we tell her together—unless you two are fighting again."

"I don't fight with Charlie! I just—how are you not terrified of what she can do?"

Russell blinked and tilted his head, "Because it's Charlie? She's harmless. I mean Quinn lacks the control her sisters have, and her abilities are tied to her emotions. I'm pretty sure she hates me. You on the other hand are Charlie's favorite parent, especially when you make those bacon wrapped cherries that she loves."

Judy scoffed, "You're kidding right. Charlie doesn't listen to me."

"Of course not, she only listens to your mother," Russell smiles at Judy and nudges her. "You're still her favorite parent Judy, just you know stop judging her sexual habits, because the reality is she's nowhere as bad as Frannie and Brittany."

Judy opened her mouth and sighed, "I'm not worried about how much sex she has, I'm just worried about how she treats women in general. There is nothing wrong with being sexually active or not, but she treats women like they are around for her pleasure. It's disrespectful. I remember when she was with Dani, I didn't mind when she was with Dani and they were sexually active. It's the meaningless sex, the hitting on every woman that moves and has a pulse. I know she can be better, I'm not asking for a lot. Just for her to be better."

"Charlie will get there. She's not me—and when she finds the right woman, you saw how she was with Dani. She's capable of it, I have no idea why she's got the walls up, you should probably talk to her about that. I mean I would, but I tried to give her advice and she gave me this look."

At this Judy laughs at the wounded look on Russell's face, he had been far more attentive when they were little, when they had all adored him, puberty had really been the moment where Russell had pulled back with them. "I know the look, but you know she loves you."

"I'm not worried about Charlie. I'm worried about Quinn."

"Quinn has a new girlfriend," Judy points out. "As for your relationship, just be patient and keep trying. When she's ready to talk about it, then you two can hash it out. It's' Quinn, Russell. She's always been daddy's little girl, she's just angry right now, and Quinn's not Frannie she doesn't hold grudges permanently."

"Is Frannie still upset that we brought home Brittany and the twins?"

"She'll never forgive us," Judy said solemnly, laughing at how ridiculous Frannie was. "Especially not for dumping Charlie on her until her suspension is over."

"Well we needed somewhere to put her where she wouldn't drive us crazy," Russell grinned using that moment to inch closer to Judy. He rests a hand on her lower back and flashes her his most charming smile when she looks up at him. When she doesn't immediately pull away he knows that there is a very good chance that he might be able to seal the deal and they could finally start working on their relationship. He wanted his wife back, he wanted his family back.

~ O ~

"Are you really upset that I'm going to be at McKinley?" Marley asked Quinn who was busy pouting.

Quinn let out a sigh and reached for Marley's hand. "I'm not upset that you're going to be at McKinley like every day. I'm upset because you'll be too busy to spend time with me. I'm happy that you're getting this opportunity, your inventions deserve to be on the biggest stage and Charlie will get the team to Nationals where your gear will definitely stand out, but let me upset for five minutes while I think about the fact that we're going to have even less time than before."

Marley waited for Quinn's tantrum to pass, she had no idea how Quinn had skipped over the most important part of their conversation. "Quinn, I'm going to be going to McKinley," she says gently. "We can have lunch together, we're going to be in the same class. Everyone in the support club is going to be part of a pilot program at McKinley. We start next week Monday."

Quinn paused as her brain finally processed what Marley had been trying to tell her all afternoon. "You'll be at McKinley? As in you'll be attending classes at McKinley with me?"

Marley nods, "I was going to surprise you but—" Marley flushed. "McKinley doesn't have a school bus, and my mom can't take me in the mornings, and I know it's a bit of a distance. I can help pay for gas—" Marley was cut off by Quinn's lips firmly locked onto hers, and she welcomes it.

"Charlie keeps both our cars charged—well she did before she went and got herself suspended. I don't think I've touched the gas tank once. So swinging by to pick you up isn't a problem, just need to leave the house a bit earlier," Quinn explains. "So I won't have to sacrifice any time with you."

"If anything we're gaining time," Marley points out. "I mean I'm not sure how much work I'll have to do, and how many practices we'll have to attend but I mean Charlie likes us right?"

Quinn pauses, she wasn't exactly sure what Charlie felt towards Marley, probably indifference. "I mean she wants to keep us together so I imagine she likes you, hard to tell with Charlie. I was pretty sure that Charlie hated Santana, and they are sleeping together."

"They aren't dating?"

Quinn scoffs, "Charlie doesn't date anymore. She has this whole nihilistic argument that she's a teenager so all relationships are pointless because they will inevitably come to an end or fail."

Marley crinkled her nose, "I was hoping that I had some help on the team, and I figured since Charlie is the captain and I was the president of the support club, that we could come together and figure it out, but I know how Charlie feels about most gear."

"Heroes rely on it, and when that shit breaks most of them end up dead." Quinn mimics Charlie, and shakes her head when Marley laughs at her impression. "My advice, even if it is unsolicited, Santana's your best bet at getting things done. She's the de facto co-captain, and as far as I know she probably has a more neutral to positive view on support teams. She's probably going to have ideas on how to help most members of the team, and which projects are more important."

Marley pulled out her notebook and jotted it down, that was actually pretty good advice. "Befriend Santana, anything else?"

Quinn hesitated, "Full disclosure, I had a crush on Rachel. I mean it's not really a secret pretty sure the entire school knew, my sisters certainly mocked me for it. Nothing came out of it, Rachel wasn't interested and then I met you and well now we're just friends. You have nothing to worry about. I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. I just really didn't know how to tell you."

Marley paused, she hadn't seen that coming. She wasn't even sure how she was supposed to process that, she was grateful for Quinn giving her the heads up, but she would still be working with Rachel. "Do you still—"

"No," Quinn says quickly.

Marley pauses for a moment, it had been too quick of a response. Even if there was an earnestness in Quinn's voice. It would certainly explain the awkward tension in the room on the day that they had gone to LA together. She flashes Quinn an unsure smile, "Her loss then," she says with a simple shrug relaxing when Quinn hugs her.

~ O ~

"Shouldn't you be in the middle of nowhere with your weird group of misfits? Also why are you sitting on the roof of my car? You better not have dented it." Dani said as she looked up at Charlie.

"I got suspended."

"Did you think it was a good idea to destroy a 7 million dollar gym, because some authority figure boasted that it could withstand anything?" Dani asked as she opened the door and tossed her bag onto the back seat.

"No, and he was asking for it. I hurt another student while concussed. It's a whole thing, she's suing my parents. She challenged me to a fight, I mean it wasn't really a fight, but I did hurt her pretty badly. Brittany fixed her up in secret," Charlie says with a shrug of her shoulders. "My parents are handling it."

"I almost feel sorry for her, your parents are super protective over you guys," Dani commented before finally looking up at Charlie. "What are you doing here?"

"My parents sent me to go and live with Frannie, and help her with her pregnancy."

Dani's eyes widened. "Holy shit, Frannie's pregnant?"

"I know that was basically my reaction. I mean I think I met her baby daddy today, it was surprising because I was sure that Frannie was a praying mantis. She apparently isn't—and I think she really likes him. But he's a hippy."

Dani wrinkled her nose, that didn't sound like Frannie at all. "Really?"

Charlie flashed Dani a smile, "He said he wanted to spar with me, so we sparred and I may have broken a few ribs. Honestly, it isn't that big of a deal, but Frannie looked like she might actually murder me, so I did what any sane person would do."

"You ran away?" Dani guessed, a smile pulling at her lips.

"She's pregnant, and furious, and she's fucking terrifying," Charlie said defensively as she hopped off the hood of Dani's car. "I don't think I've ever seen her that angry before. So I need a place to stay while Frannie calms down."

Dani rolled her eyes, finally understanding why Charlie had shown up. "No. I know my parents are rarely around, but I'm not going to give you the guest house for you to turn into a revolving door of women."

Charlie blinked, "Why in the world would I sleep in your guest house, we practically grew up together—"

"You want to—of course you want to, it's all you think about after food and training." Dani sighed, "Charlie, I know that we have history but there are two problems with your idea. One, I'm not feeding you, I'm not cooking for you and I'm not ordering food for you. Two, you have a girlfriend." When Charlie shoots a confused look she rolls her eyes again, "The loud one, that challenged me."

"Santana? Santana isn't my girlfriend Dani, I mean I'm not even sure we're friends half the time. Sure I trust her, and respect her, but I mean—she's always mad at me."

"Are you still sleeping with every woman you can seduce into bed?" Dani asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I like having sex with no strings Dani, I don't have time to figure out if people like me for me, or if they simply want to use me to get to the top," Charlie retorts, watching as Dani looked away. Charlie bites her lip and runs a hand through her hair. "You know I'm not good with that stuff, and I refuse to get invested again."

"It might have started out—" Dani closed her eyes and sighs, there was no point rehashing this old argument. The damage had been done, and nothing she could do or say would fix it. "I can't watch you be with other people Charlie. Even though our relationship ended the way it did, I still like you, I mean I don't even know why."

Charlie was quiet for a moment, "I—miss you," Charlie admitted. "I miss what we had, before—you know."

"I don't see why that means we can't try again?" Dani offers. "We don't have to put a label on it, but I mean if you're with me you know how much it hurts me to see you with other women."

Charlie hesitates for a moment, "While I'm with you I won't be with anyone else," Charlie says finally, despite the gnawing sensation that she felt in the pit of her stomach, but she pushes it aside as she takes Dani's hand.

~ O ~

Cassandra laughed as she picked up Shelby's phone and rewound the video to watch as Charlie got knocked out, she almost wished there was a button that allowed for slow motion because this was a thing of beauty. She speeds forward to the last blow, watching as Charlie's head snaps back with a force that even she could feel.

Her week had been shit, but that was only because she loathed teaching a bunch of snot-nosed brats how to be a hero. Most of them wouldn't even survive a monster attack, but this—this was a gift she would treasure. Shelby had always known how to make her feel better, "Is your kid coming today?"

"Rachel doesn't feel comfortable with you around. I thought with my—tutelage, her abilities would grow quickly but it seems that I was incorrect. Her fathers have coddled her and she doesn't have a wealth of deep emotions to draw from. I'm beginning to think it's a waste of time."

"You shouldn't bother yourself with the weak," Cassandra replies as she pulls Shelby onto her lap, and leans in to kiss her neck. She frowns when Shelby places a hand on her chest.

"You saw the video, do you still think you can't beat her?"

"Charlie wasn't using her abilities—" Cassandra pauses for a moment and turns so she can watch the video on Shelby's television once more. "Even if she was, her hand to hand combat is above average, she augments her weaknesses with her abilities. But I am better at hand to hand combat than she is." Cassandra pauses for a moment, "That's not what you wanted to know is it?"

"I need a plan to get Vocal Adrenaline to nationals, and I don't know what her weakness is."

"She lacks experience, she can probably be outsmarted. That being said doing so will be difficult. She's extremely flexible in her thinking, and battle tactics is my father's specialty. If you want to get to nationals, don't engage Charlie or McKinley for that matter. Do not do anything to piss her off, so that girl of yours, you shouldn't just discard her, especially since she's Charlie's friend."

Shelby made a face, the goal was nationals and that would mean getting past McKinley and all the other schools, but they only needed to be ranked in the top five to move on to nationals. "Understood, and now that we've discussed that you can continue what you started."

Cassandra grins and pins Shelby to the couch.