Family in any form
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee
Summary: Tina waits out on the outside and decides that if she can't get her family on the inside she's going to call her family on the outside after all someone has to call the other members
Authors note: this fic came about after I found it hard to believe nobody got injured with getting out of the doors in such a rush. So there's a slight change in which Tina get's injured in the process and also I wanted Figgins showing that he can be a decent principal in an emergency.
Authors Note 2: I actually wrote this and never uploaded it so here it is. :-) I'm going to miss Tina when she graduates I know she's been getting a bad rep but she always has been one of my favourite characters.
When the shots first break out she initially sprints towards the choir room but when she gets there she tries the doors and they're locked. She tries to look inside but all she can see is bags. Then she gets shuffled down the hallway towards the nearest exit.
In the scuffle she falls down and she lets out a slight cry when she gets a sharp pain in her ankle. A hand yanks her up and she's stunned to see its Principal Figgins.
"Are you all right?" He asks and she nods scared out of her wits and decides not to say anything about her ankle, "KEEP MOVING" He then roars at her and the surrounding students. She never expected such a scene with herself and him. Mind you she never expected this.
She desperately wants to know whether Mr Schue, Artie, Blaine and the others are okay. When she finds out none of them are outside like she had originally thought she's terrified. Her first thoughts are to go back inside to go back to her glee family. As she tries to get back inside her stutter comes back and she's not even faking it.
"P-p-principal F-f-Figgins, they're still in there. Mr. Schue and everyone..." She says tearfully, everything finally coming to a head. She can see a handful of the jazz band members are out there and she's grateful for that at least. His face visibly pales but he doesn't let her in there and in the back of her mind she knows that he wouldn't let her but she had to let him know.
Before she knows it she's ushered onto a bus and her ankle throbs slightly. However she ignores it and just desperately wants to be with her family and suddenly she remembers her phone. If she can't be with her current family maybe she can unite everyone else. She's not even sure if they know what's going on.
So she starts go through her contacts. She still has everyone's phone numbers from last year so it's easy for her (Rachel decided that if they were going to part they were at least going to have all of their numbers and Tina is at this point grateful for it). She rings Rachel's first but it goes directly to voicemail and she figured that the broadway diva is in rehearsal or class so she continues down she should be able to get through to either Kurt or Santana and they'll pass the message through. She decides to skip Mike's for now as she knows that she will break down if she talked to him at present and she couldn't afford that. So she calls the next on her list Quinn and she's surprised Quinn answers on the first ring.
"Tina? What's up?"
"Q-Q-Q-Quinn have you seen the news?" She knows she sounds terrified and she curses herself but knows that she has to stay strong. The others need to know.
"No what's going on? T?" The nickname sounds strange coming from Quinn's lips but it's still feels familiar and she's starting to calm down though she's still terrified.
"There's been a shooting at McKinley." She says quietly but bluntly, trying to gain her inner diva.
"What? T are you all right? Is everyone all right?" Is she all right? Not by a long shot. She's terrified.
"I'm fine, I'm outside, Mr. Schue and everyone else is still in there though."
"What do you mean everyone else? Coach Sylvester? Britney? " Suddenly Tina realises that she hadn't seen the blonde cheer coach outside and she bites her lip.
"We had Glee practice I- I was running late. As far as I'm aware Brit and everyone else should be in the Choir room. I haven't seen Coach Sylvester."
"All right, I'm going to be down on the next train. Do you want me to call everyone else?" She starts to shake her head forgetting she's on the phone, but then she stops.
"Can you call Mike and let him know? I can call everyone else it's just..." she doesn't finish her sentence.
"All right T, stay safe and keep me updated okay?"
"Okay Quinn" She hangs up and breathes slightly. Talking to Quinn has made her feel better. As she dials Mercedes number she reaches her answer phone and leaves a quick message going on to Kurt as she knows Blaine would want him to know.
"Tina my fabulous high school student, can I call you back I'm just about to go into a meeting-"
"Kurt, there's been a shooting at school." She says bluntly as the bus pulls to a stop. There's a stunned silence.
"Blaine?"
"I don't know," She says honestly, "We had glee, I got held back in class and told him to go ahead that was the last I saw of him. As far as I'm aware they're still in the choir room."
"I'll be on the next train down, let him know okay?"
"I will, Quinn's on her way too. Can you let Santana know because I think Britt might need to see her."
"Will do Tina, keep me updated okay?"
"Okay Kurt, Oh and can you let Rachel know too, thanks" As much as she wanted to contact everyone she is glad that she doesn't have to deal with the fiery Latina. Before she can call her defacto glee coach however, the bus pulls to a stop outside the church that ironically enough was the one that Mr Schue and Ms Pillsbury was going to get married in.
"Everyone off." She whimpers as she starts to move her foot for the first time. The adrenaline had worn off, "Tina, what's wrong?" Ms. Pillsbury is immediately by her side.
"My ankle, I think I sprained it when I fell" She said she studied her.
"All right, stay on the bus for now. I'll call Principal Figgins and tell him we need an ambulance to check you out all right?" She nods and she gives her a squeeze on the shoulder, "don't worry it's going to be okay." Suddenly she's gone in almost a flash before she could say it wasn't going to be okay not by a long shot.
As she waits she decides to go back to her task in ringing everyone. She dials Finn's number, however, she's surprised when Puck answers the phone.
"Cohen-Chang what's going on at the school? Hudson's in a tiz and not speaking coherently" Suddenly Tina realised that Kurt probably called Finn. She puts it out of her mind that Puck's with Finn (she's sure she'll find out why later) and goes into the details.
"There's been a shooting at the school, the rest of glee are still in there apart from me and Ms Pillsbury"
"Is Jake okay?" He demanded instantly
"I don't know Puck, I was in the hallway when the gun went off."
"All right, I'll call up Jake's ma and mine to let them know. I'll drive down with Finn and we'll be there soonish okay Cohen-Chang?"
"Okay, thanks Puckerman."
"Don't worry about it. Let Jake know I'll see him soon okay?"
"Will do. I'll get him to call you as well," Soon after she hangs up with Puck, Ms Pillsbury comes back with an ambulance driver and Tina wonders briefly if she's realised they're at the church but then puts it in her mind when she thinks of who will know by now. Going through her mental checklist. Quinn, Rachel, Kurt, Finn, Puck, Mercedes, Mike, Santana. She thinks that's everyone. She winces as the ambulance driver touches the throbbing part.
"All right you've got a sprained ankle I'll wrap it and give you a couple of crutches to use, does anywhere else hurt at all?" He questions but she shakes her head.
"No"
"All right, "He disappears for a few moments but Ms Pillsbury stays, they're both quiet but Tina takes comfort that she's there and not alone on the bus. The driver comes back and it takes a few moments for her ankle to be wrapped and he hands over a pair of crutches Ms Pillsbury deems the bus to be the best place for her at the moment. Her phone then starts buzzing and she's stunned to see it from Mike.
"Mike?"
"Tee, are you okay?" He demands franticly, "I just got off the phone with Quinn,"
"I'm..." she was just about to say fine when she finally breaks and starts to sob slightly. She hears his reassuring whispers and she starts to calm down with her sobs, "they're in there, Mike and all I want to do is be there with them." She whispers, "they're my family and..."
"I know Tee-bug. But you know what? They're going to be fine Artie, Mr. Schue and Britney. They're all going to be fine." She sniffles and suddenly she desperately wants him to be there so he can wrap his arms around her like he used to. She's about to ask him if he's coming down when Principal Figgins voice stops her.
"Cohen-Chang!" She looks up instantly from her phone.
"Mike, I have to go." She barely hears his goodbye as she hangs up, her heart slightly aching as she cuts off her connection to him, "Principal Figgins?"
"How many were in Glee today? She does a mental count in her head as far as she was aware the only ones that weren't at lunch that day and out sick (or in Sugar's case staying home because she didn't want to) where Joe and Sugar. Suddenly she realised she hadn't called them and made a mental note to send a text to them both.
"Nine. Ten including Mr Schue and I think he was inviting Coach Beastie along today." She said immediately. He nodded and disappeared again, she suspected that he was relaying the information along. Ms Pillsbury then sat beside her looking slightly stunned.
"The glee club is still in there?" She whispered looking at Tina and she nodded, "Will-"Tina nodded again and Emma grasped her hand tightly and suddenly Tina found herself counselling the councillor.
"He's going to be okay, Ms P. You know Mr. Schue wouldn't let anything happen to the Glee kids and he'll put himself first."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Ms Pillsbury whispered. Tina gave the councillor a hug knowing there was nothing else she could say. She felt helpless again. Suddenly everyone started piling on the bus and Tina had to move her crutches to make sure nobody fell. Apparently it looked like she was the only injury.
Principal Figgins then comes on the bus and gave a relieved smile.
"We've been given the all clear and we will be returning to the school momentarily. I am relieved to say there have been no injuries apart from a sprained ankle nothing life threatening or serious and there have been no deaths either. William McKinley High School has been very lucky. To avoid congestion we have asked parents to. School will not be mandatory tomorrow but if you wish to come in and be with your peers you are more than welcome to. For those that have left things behind we will take you back to school now and please let your parents know where you are going as we cannot let you be signed out without your parent's signature."
Tina suddenly realised that she hadn't rung her parents at all. She knew her father was in an all day meeting and was unlikely to see the news however; her mother was at home and probably worried sick. However she stayed on the bus, Ms. Pillsbury looked at her and nodded with a small smile knowing what she wanted so she whipped out her phone to call home.
After a brief chat with her mother assuring her that she was okay she just had a sprained ankle (at that her mother got even more persistent so she passed the phone over to Ms Pillsbury who assured her that she was fine and after what seemed like a drive that seemed like hours they reached the school.
Ms Pillsbury insisted that Tina was to be one of the first ones off (which meant that she actually got to witness her inner Diva- or very scary guidance councillor and she made a note never to cross the woman. As luck would have it, it was when the Glee club where coming out of the building as well just as she was being handed her crutches.
"TINA," Blaine's voice and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she heard it. He rushed over to her, with the rest of the Glee club on their tails.
"What happened are you all right?" He asked looking her over.
"Sprained my ankle." She said softly. She was not going to cry. They were there. They were all safe. They had survived, "Kurt's on his way down."
"He knows?" Blaine asked slightly surprised.
"I called everyone. I had to do something while..." while I waited was on the tip of her tongue. She looked over at Jake deciding to change the subject.
"Puck's on his way down with Finn. They should be here shortly knowing Puck's driving." She said with a snort and she smiled when Jake laughed as well, she turned to Brittney who was leaning into Sam with tears running down her face still looking more scared than she'd ever seen the cheerio and she wondered what had happened, "Santana's also on her way down with Kurt, Britt and Quinn's coming as well."
"What about the other three?" Artie asked.
"I left a message on Mercedes and Rachel's answer phones. Kurt would have got in contact with them both by now. Mike-"She falters slightly, "Mike's staying where he is for the moment." At least as far as she was aware. She thought to himself.
They then embrace including Mr. Schue and she never wants to let go of her family. She lets out a few tears but she's not the only one. The rest of the girls and a few of the guys are too. Soon car squeals break her thoughts and she almost jumps at them still feeling jittery from the gun shot. Blaine's hand is on her back and he rubs her back slightly. Suddenly both Puck and Finn are running towards them.
"Jake, you nearly gave me a heart attack" Puck proclaimed before pulling his half brother into a hug Finn just studies all of them and wordlessly heads straight to Tina.
"Tina, what happened Kurt said you where fine?" He asked.
"It's fine Finn, a sprained ankle, I got knocked over on the way out of the building. Figgins helped me." He pulls her into a hug and she's startled. She'd never been that close to the lanky teen but she felt safe in Finn's arms. He let's go and she watches as he turns towards Mr Schue and wordlessly pulls him into a hug just as strong.
Blaine has wrapped an arm around her again and she has a hand on Artie's chair. The rest of the glee club are all touching in some shape or form and this is why she wanted so desperately to be there. This was her family. Some of which were splattered across the country and some were making their way towards them at the moment. All of which were thinking of them as they listen to their messages and they were all together in this one way shape or form. This was her family. No matter where they were this was their family.