Santana awoke with a start, her eyes snapping open. It does take her a second to realize that the ceiling isn't familiar, and she immediately sits up in what really was a rather comfortable bed, as she tries to figure out where she was. She immediately raises her hand to block the sunlight, as she tries to recall what she could remember last.

She flinches, as she remembers the beating that she had taken, but instead of her body registering the pain that she should be in, she realizes that nothing hurts. If anything she had never felt better. She immediately turns her attention back to the room she is currently in and spots a bookcase that's filled with books on electricity, physics, magnetism, and chemistry. There are also a few posters of the 4 Horsewomen. Santana turns and spots Charlie sitting on a beanbag chair in the corner reading what appeared to be a textbook entitled: Modern Electrodynamics. "Light reading?"

Charlie blinks and looks up immediately, and studies Santana for a moment, searching her face for even a hint of pain, before looking at the textbook. "Understanding the physics behind my abilities, gives me an idea of how to use them in innovative ways." Charlie closes the textbook and tosses it on a pile of books that is near her desk. "How are you feeling?"

Santana looks at her hands, and then touches her face. There are no bumps, and she certainly doesn't feel any pain. "I didn't dream what happened, right?"

"You mean did my aunt beat you within an inch of your life? Yes." Charlie raises her new limb and wiggles her fingers at Santana. "Brittany does really good work."

Santana stared at Charlie for a moment before she began to laugh, she should have known better than to believe that Brittany was only a level 3 biokinetic. She flops back onto Charlie's bed as her sides begin to hurt as she laughs as hard as she can. This whole thing was absurd. The laughter soon turns into tears as she feels her frustration grow, she hadn't been able to mount anything resembling an offense against Cassandra, she also hadn't managed any defense either. "How weak am I?"

"Compared to normal people? Right now? You're above average. Truthfully, I think you might be in the 80th percentile Santana. That is something to be proud of." Charlie said as she stood up and went to sit on her bed.

"Your Aunt doesn't seem to agree. I'm pretty sure she could have ended it whenever she wanted, she was just toying with me—and she said it, Charlie. She told me that I was weak. Just how strong are you?"

Charlie shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. I imagine like everyone I have an upper limit, but it's not like I've ever gone out of my way to find what that is. I know that doesn't bring you comfort, but I have zero desire to find out. Given how destructive my abilities are, I need to be careful. I need to always be certain that I'm not going to kill anyone, I have to control how much electricity I pump into someone. I have to make sure that it doesn't interfere with their heart. I have to make sure that their body can handle it. I know you might think that it's awesome to be as strong as I am, but the reality is Santana—it's a burden. I nearly killed my grandmother when I first attempted my railgun technique. If Brittany hadn't saved her—" Charlie exhales noisily and looks at her hand and wiggles it for Santana.

Santana ignites a very small flame on the tip of her finger and looks at Charlie, "Fire isn't exactly safe either."

"No it's not," Charlie agrees, and flashes Santana a smile. "My aunt—she was a hero. I used to watch her on TV all the time. I mean all the time, I had posters of her on my wall that were signed and everything. I wanted to be just like her. Whenever she'd show up, I'd demand that she teach me or tell me stories about her battles." Charlie's smile slowly slips away. "Now all I see when I look at her is a cautionary tale. A walking PSA, not to drink, or do drugs, not that I'm against doing those things, but I can't make it a habit. She's cruel when she drinks, and she wasn't toying with you, she was trying to goad me into a fight. I'm sorry you got caught in our shitty family drama."

"You did tell me I shouldn't do it," Santana mutters. Charlie had tried to get her to face someone safer, but she'd been so eager. "That doesn't make you less of an asshole though. You could have explained why you were saying no. Informing me, even with a whisper, that your Aunt is slightly psychotic, probably would have made me change my mind."

Charlie snorted, "Doubt it." A comfortable silence falls between them, before Charlie speaks up again. "We should probably go down and get some breakfast, and you should probably call your parents to let them know where you are."

Santana blinks, and looks at the clock on Charlie's nightstand and looks at it. It was nearly ten in the morning. She spots her phone and keys and grabs them. "It's the morning?"

"Brittany healed you last night. We kept you here to make sure there were no ill-effects or any lasting damage, so if anything still hurts, tell Brittany and she'll give you a once over." Charlie leans back and snorts to herself. "Congrats though. You're the first girl that my mother has allowed to sleep in my bed overnight. It sucks that she couldn't be this understanding all of the time, I wouldn't have needed a truck otherwise."

Santana who had been in the process of getting out of Charlie's bed, turns to look at Charlie, "You got a truck to have sex in?" When Charlie grins at her proudly, she resists the urge to roll her eyes. "You couldn't have gotten a van?"

"My mom's not an idiot, why would a teenager want a minivan?" Charlie asks. "Also I didn't want a creepy white van. That's how rumors start Santana," Charlie scoffs. "I plan on making a very comfortable space, that's romantic and private. Mood lighting." Charlie grins pleased with herself. "You'll see."

Santana shakes her head, "So you swap a creepy white van for a creepy blue sex truck. No one is going to have sex with you in your creepy sex truck Charlie."

"Says you," Charlie retorts. It was a perfect idea, and once Santana saw what she made, she was going to eat her words. "So your parents?"

"Not the first night I've spent without checking in, probably won't be the last," Santana says dismissively as they make their way downstairs. "Still I should probably go home soon. They probably will notice if I don't show up for Thanksgiving." Santana hesitated, Charlie had made it clear that she wasn't interested in training her while her family was around. "Do you think you can stop by tomorrow to train me? If you're not busy?"

Charlie glances at Santana, "Swing by around 2 on Friday. I'll probably be back home by then, I can teach you martial arts. Watching you yesterday, I realized that I can only teach you the very basics, and if you want more specialized training, my grandfather is the one to talk to."

Santana swallows, she should have suspected this. Charlie wasn't qualified to teach others how to use their abilities, though Charlie knew quite a bit of powers and judging how strong they were compared to others. "Your grandfather doesn't like me."

"I mean you could also talk to Frannie, but I fear that her pregnancy is only going to make her an even bigger bitch." Charlie mused before shrugging her shoulders and continued making her way towards the kitchen. Her grandfather is sitting at the table, sipping on some coffee, a half-eaten croissant in front of him. Her mother was currently bustling around the kitchen.

"Charlie I'm going to need you to peel the vegetables—" Judy says, glancing up to see her daughter, she spots Santana and lets out a breath. "Santana, I'm glad to see you're alright. I want to apologize for what happened last night, Cassandra can be—difficult, but she's more or less harmless."

Charlie glances at the various vegetable bags, "Do you want them all peeled?"

"Yes please," Judy said, watching as Charlie opened the first potato bag and took a seat at the kitchen table. "Thank you Charlie, Santana I can whip you up some pancakes, or some French Toast—"

"That's alright Mrs. Fabray—I should probably get home, my parents will probably notice that I'm not around. But thank you for the offer."

"Next time then," Judy said, "Once again I am sorry about last night."

"It's alright, Charlie did warn me not to engage," Santana let out a laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow Charlie?"

Charlie flicks her gaze over to Santana, as she finishes peeling a potato and grabs two bowls, one for the skin and the other for the peeled potatoes. She nods and turns to look at her grandfather, who was still reading his paper. "Grandpa, I'm your favorite right?"

Lawrence looks up from his paper, and looks at his youngest granddaughter. He loved all his grandkids equally, but whenever they asked the question he always agreed with whoever asked. "For now," he answered. "Frannie is pregnant, I'm going to be a great-grandpa. I don't even know what the baby will call me!" He laughs. "What do you need? Do you need money?"

"Dad! You can't just give Charlie money!" Judy scolded, Charlie had just received an expensive truck and she was definitely going to make sure that Quinn had her own vehicle.

"It mostly goes to food Judy," Lawrence points out. "How much do you need Charlie?"

"Save that thought for later, I might need some money later—I'll pay you back. But I need you to do something important for me, your favorite grandkid—wait you're replacing me with Frannie's hellspawn?" Charlie asks bewildered by her grandfather's response.

Lawrence's lip twitches, "Eventually. Charlie I love you, but you're not a baby anymore. Which means you're not as cute. And you lack that distinct new baby smell, and they're adorable bundles of joys. You may be the youngest, but soon there will be someone even younger than you around, all the attention you receive will go to the baby."

Charlie blinks, deciding at that moment that as soon as Frannie gave birth to her little demonspawn, she was going to kick Frannie's ass. "Babies smell like poop," she grumbles. "Fine. But you're training Santana on the weekends."

When her name gets dropped, Santana freezes from where she'd been laughing inwardly at Charlie's outraged expression at the thought of not being the baby of the family anymore. "Charlie—"

"Give me a reason, that doesn't play on our familial ties and how you're my granddaughter." Lawrence challenges Charlie immediately. "I already gave her my opinion—she'd learn more by training with you. And I was right she's already improved leaps and bounds. I'd say she's a firm level 4 now."

"Because your opinion and I imagine grandma's opinion on Santana is wrong," Charlie responds easily. "I'm not saying that she's perfect, she isn't. She's pushy, aggressive—with a healthy helping of arrogance—but her heart—" Charlie glances at Santana. "Her heart is in the right place. And now that she knows that she's not the best in the world, she's busting her ass to get to where she needs to be, so she can be the best hero she can be. And that grandpa deserves respect. And if you have concerns then perhaps instead of doing nothing you try and help. She's got potential, and letting it go to waste because your opinion is wrong, is silly."

Lawrence studies Charlie for a moment, before sighing, turning to look at Santana. "My granddaughter—"

"Favorite granddaughter," Charlie corrects.

"My granddaughter seems to have a very high opinion of you Santana, so I'm going to trust her judgment. You'll be working with Rachel on the weekends, unless that's a problem?"

Santana glances at Charlie who gives her the briefest of nods. "It's not."

"Charlie will send you the details."

Santana watches as Lawrence goes back to his paper and looks at Charlie, mouthing her thanks to Charlie who winks at her and goes back to peeling potatoes by hand. "I'll see you tomorrow Charlie."

Charlie nods and waves her off as she concentrates on peeling the potatoes. It would be quicker if she used her abilities but she didn't actually mind doing menial tasks without using her abilities.

~ O ~

Quinn grins as she opens the door for Rachel and her father. "I'm really glad you both could make it. Word of warning before you step through the door. My family is insane, so after yesterday's—incident. I made up a few ground rules because as I stated my family is insane, and despite my mother's best efforts to get them to act like normal human beings, they just don't."

Hiram smiled, "Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic Quinn?"

Rachel shook her head, "You didn't see the state Santana was in yesterday," she'd been absolutely horrified to see Santana of all people getting beaten so easily. She wasn't even sure that Charlie and Santana had been gone for anything more than ten minutes.

Quinn nods, Hiram clearly hadn't been paying attention. He had met Charlie, and still for some reason thought that they had a normal family. "Mr. Berry, stay away from my aunt and my eldest sister. Frannie's relatively harmless, but she's kind of a super bitch and she's proud of it. I don't need to remind you that going anywhere near Charlie's plate at any given point in time is a really bad idea. But I think I need to tell you that with a family like mine we are super competitive. Please don't trigger their competitive side. Don't ask who is the strongest, don't ask to play scrabble after dinner, or monopoly. Monopoly is the worst. It generally ends up with someone, needing Brittany to heal them. Ignore the immediate rush to get food, that's a tradition, a weird one. Though if Charlie is being Charlie and there is something you want to eat Mr. Berry please let me know and I'll get it for you during that rush. Rachel, you'll be fine. Mom prepared something vegan for you, Charlie will only eat it if she's hungry and there's nothing else left."

Rachel wrinkled her nose, but nods as Quinn finally steps aside to let them in. She spots Charlie heading down the stairs and sniffs, she actually had a bone to pick with the youngest Fabray. "Charlie."

Charlie pauses and turns her attention to Rachel, "What?"

"What you said yesterday at dinner—you don't actually think Santana works harder than me do you?" Rachel asks walking up to Charlie who seemed more interested in sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner than having a conversation with her.

Charlie stares at Rachel and flicks her eyes up to notice that Quinn is shooting her a rather dark look. "Santana does practice, which are painful and difficult, takes a break and then drags me to her place so we can spar and she can increase her fitness. Objectively speaking, she puts in more hours than you and the result is that her abilities are growing. Now if that's it—" Charlie turns and begins to walk away.

"You see how hard Rachel works," Quinn argues, immediately sticking up for Rachel. "Why are you defending Santana so much anyway?"

Charlie groans, and turns around, flicking her gaze to Rachel and then to Quinn. "You don't want to be a hero Quinn, you barely like putting in the work to control your abilities now. Rachel isn't a level 5, who can coast on the fact that she's stronger than most other people. There are only 12 official level 5's in America. 13 if Brittany decides to stop pretending to be a level 3. So Rachel, unlike the two of us, has to work that much harder to stay alive. Again, this is just an objective fact. I acknowledge that Rachel probably won't be called to fight a villain, but what if she was out on patrol one day and sees some disphit AI decides to rob a bank? I'm not saying that you aren't working hard Rachel, I'm saying that Santana simply works harder."

Quinn lips curled, "Are you—" she stops when Rachel steps forward.

"Then can you train me after you're done with Santana?"

Quinn's eyes widen and before Charlie can agree or disagree, "I'll train you. I may not want to be a hero, but given who my family is I do know more than most when it comes to defending yourself and fitness. I'm just as talented as Charlie, right Charlie?" Quinn turns to look at her twin for backup but Charlie had already left the area. "She would have agreed with me," Quinn informs Rachel, turning back to her. "It'll be good for the both of us."

Hiram who had been watching the interchange, interested, raised a brow when he noticed the very tips of Quinn's ears turning red, when Rachel flashed her a smile, and decided now was the moment that he should follow Charlie's lead and give the two of them some privacy.

"You want to do hero work?" Rachel widens.

"I mean I don't want to," Quinn said quickly backtracking, and attempting to play it cool. "But, you're my friend, and I can help. I'm a far better teacher than Charlie, and I'm just as talented as she is. I want to help you." Quinn stumbles, her mortification growing, unaware that she had an audience for this as Brittany, Frannie and her grandmother were on the stairs just out of view listening to the conversation. "And why do you care what Charlie thinks anyway. She fell repeatedly on her head as a child."

Rachel let out a laugh, "She's the Captain of the Titans hero team, her opinion does matter, especially when it comes to assigning roles in the various events. People from Summit came to watch your testing, the governor did, and I want to be able to put on a good showing." Rachel turns to look at Charlie for a moment, "Perhaps after dinner I can ask her to build me a plan that I can do with you. Though it might be best to ask her now before dinner." Rachel turns and immediately heads to where Charlie is currently setting the table.

Quinn stared at Rachel and closed her eyes, she wasn't quite sure how any of her sisters managed to do it. Charlie was an idiot, but her twin hadn't hesitated to ask out a celebrity. Frannie, of all people, had managed to get knocked up, and she suspected her eldest sister had a rather serious boyfriend that she was keeping secret. Brittany may have been single, but it wasn't as if she was some virgin either. She couldn't even tell if Rachel liked her in the way she liked her. She didn't know what Rachel's preferences were. When she hears a snort she turns towards the sound and her mortification grows as she realizes that most of her family had just witnessed her rejection.

Brittany elbows Frannie, who is struggling not to laugh. But the action only seems to bring on a fit of giggles from Frannie, which slowly morphs into laughter. "Frannie," Brittany sighs, trying to keep her face neutral but failing, as she smiles.

Artemis shoots Quinn a patient smile, "She can't read minds Quinn, you should simply tell her how you feel and hope for the best."

Quinn's cheeks redden at being called out, "I—I don't know what you're talking about," she decides. She was just going to pretend that nothing odd had happened.

"Quinn—" Brittany began clearing her throat.

Quinn shakes her head, as far as she was concerned this conversation was done. There was nothing left to say, she would simply pretend it didn't happen and never make an attempt like that again. "Rachel's not interested in dating, she's got way too much going on." The excuse feels hollow in her ears, but when her sisters and grandma exchange looks, she decides it's time to head to the table, just catching the tail end of Rachel's conversation with Charlie.

"All I'm asking for Charlie, is things that I should be working on with Quinn, since you don't have the time to train me and Santana," Rachel stresses.

Charlie blinked and then looked at Quinn and then back at Rachel. "If Quinn can actually train you properly—"

"I can," Quinn insisted. "I'm not going to be a jackass about it, but I am capable of putting up a fight."

"Barely." Charlie retorted, and turned to Rachel. "If you're going to do this, insist that she doesn't take it easy on you. That won't do you any good, on the field, a villain isn't going to give you a break because you're in a bit of pain. They aren't going to stop if you're winded, or bleeding or on your back. Sparring shouldn't be as dangerous, but there should be some danger."

Rachel paused and looked over at Quinn for a moment before looking at Charlie. "Perhaps I can join a few of your sessions with Santana?"

"Rachel, all because I don't subscribe to Charlie's insane training methods, doesn't mean my methods won't be effective. I'm sure that in a few short weeks, you'll be even better than Santana," Quinn insisted, she immediately shoots a look at Charlie, daring her twin to say something to the opposite. But Charlie had once again stopped paying attention. "At the very least you should learn the basics, and I think even my grandparents will agree I can teach you that."

Rachel hesitated once more, glancing between the two twins. It was clear that Charlie lived and breathed this life, while Quinn had other interests. But Charlie had never said Quinn couldn't teach her, just that she shouldn't let Quinn go easy on her. "All because I'm a level 2—and my powers aren't offensive based like yours, Santana and Charlie's are—doesn't mean that you should go easy on me. I need to learn this stuff, preferably before put my life in danger."

"I understand," Quinn says quickly.

"Do you?" Rachel challenges, ignoring the fact that both her father and the rest of the Fabray-July clan are now watching their argument. "This is important to me Quinn, and you can't keep trying to protect me. One day I'll be out there, fighting against people who won't give me a break. I need to be prepared."

Quinn flinches, she had no idea why Rachel was mad at her. All she'd been trying to do was keep Rachel safe from her family's craziness. She was the only voice of reason half the time, "All because I'm not hero-obsessed like most of my family is doesn't mean that I'm not as powerful as they are. Charlie isn't the standard-bearer in this family. Brittany is by far more powerful and she doesn't want to be a hero either. And Charlie's not invincible. I could beat her. In fact I will—" Quinn turns to her twin.

"Quinn, it's Thanksgiving. We've already had one incident within the past twenty-four hours. There will not be another," Judy said as she swats Charlie on the head for using her abilities on the can of whipped cream. "You'll spoil your dinner."

Charlie snorted, she doubted that a few mouthfuls of whipped cream would ruin her dinner, at all but turns her attention back to Rachel and Quinn.

"I don't need you protecting me Quinn, I understand that you have all this power at your fingertips, but intervening with my lessons with your grandfather when you think I can't handle it is—trying to stop me from training with Charlie because you're afraid I'll get hurt. I already have my two dads worrying about me. I don't need you to worry about me as well," Rachel insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Quinn sputtered, she wasn't looking down on Rachel, or treating her like a child. She wasn't attempting to be condescending or patronizing, Rachel simply had no idea how crazy her family was. Quinn immediately points at Charlie. "Charlie enjoys fighting to a disturbing degree, probably less than food, but it's probably her second favorite thing to do in the world. Brittany, she might seem like the innocent one, but she's a mad scientist. Do you know how many times she's experimented on us? Frannie dropped Charlie into the Australian Outback, and left her there where anything could have happened. Half of Australia is made up of poisonous things." When she turns she spots her aunt Cassandra standing near the door that lead to the basement. "My aunt Cassandra doesn't know the meaning of the word restraint, you witnessed that yesterday. Let's not even begin to talk about my grandparents and how they've contributed to the madness that is this family. I'm not against you learning how to fight, I'm not against you being a hero. I'm intervening because my family isn't normal. Charlie doesn't even know how to eat a normal amount of food, and her training is brutal, because that's all she knows. What grandmother decides randomly to increase the gravity around her grandchild's body to keep her down? There were other solutions, like tying a string to Charlie's ankle and weighing her down, with a crib or something."

"I mean we did try that, but Charlie was a baby, and it was a hazard to have a long string involved," Judy informed Hiram immediately. They had tried it once, but the moment she had taken her eyes off Charlie, the string had somehow managed to wrap around her neck.

Rachel hesitated, she knew deep down that Quinn had a point. "So you'd rather I find someone else to teach me how to be a hero? Because you're saying your family can't be trusted?"

"Yes—I mean no," Quinn frowns, trying to figure out what to say. "I—care about you Rachel. And I think my family forgets that not everyone is us. That there are limits to how much a body can take, and sometimes it's perfectly fine to not pointlessly and needlessly sacrifice yourself. Yes you should be determined, yes you should try your absolute hardest, but you should also be aware of what your limits are, and you should always think about coming home. Charlie isn't noble because she says she's willing to sacrifice herself, because at the end of the day it's just empty words. Most of the people who could cause her serious damage, are in this room. She might lose a fight, here and there but she will come home. She knows how to keep herself alive, and if that's what they were teaching you I wouldn't have a problem, but they're not. They're trying to pretend to be normal, and we're not."

Rachel hesitated, "I don't need you watching out for me. You have no problem with Santana learning from Charlie."

"Santana and I aren't friends, and even Charlie attempts to intervene when she thinks that Santana is in over her head," Quinn shoots back. "If you want Charlie to train you, then I won't stop you. But I doubt that Charlie's even gone over the basics with Santana. If it comes off as patronizing and condescending then I'm sorry. But you're my friend. If Santana wants to be a masochist and get her ass kicked by members of this family and call that training, that's on her. I want better for you."

Rachel hesitates, for a moment before sitting down. "I don't feel as if I've progressed at all."

At this Quinn turns to look at Charlie, narrowing her eyes at her. She needed backup and since Charlie had started this whole fiasco, she needed to help put an end to it. Charlie raises a brow, but when she doesn't stop glaring at her twin Charlie sighs.

"We're trying to get my sixteen years of training done in three years, but the most important thing for you Rachel is strengthening your powers. The other bits, you can learn yourself or Summit will teach you. I'll make sure that you shine during the Inter-high. You're not Santana, and Santana isn't you. You both need to stop comparing yourself to each other. Now can we have dinner? Please? I'll even start on what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for a wonderfully prepared meal, I'm thankful for my family especially you Brittany. I'm also grateful for my new truck."

There was laughter from the adults present, and Judy uses the small break to push forward. It was Thanksgiving they needed to be thankful not arguing.