Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 52nd cycle. Now cycle 53!

THIRD ANNIVERSARY CYCLE: It's late October again, and within this cycle I will be completing my third year of daily gleekathon stories and commencing a fourth! As in previous years, this means special things happening. I've selected my favorite stories from throughout the year, and I'll be treating them to something special. In previous years this included Prequel, Sequel, and POV Swap, and then Additional Scenes and Alternate Endings. This year I'm adding two new treatments: Genre Swap (I think that's pretty straightforward) and Element Change (I change one thing in the story, see how it affects the rest). Note that in both these cases and some of the others, there may excerpts directly transferred from the story it references. Also, since this year saw the addition of 'shift days', and since I suck at picking, I have selected 42 stories, to be treated two per day! So here we go!

This story is an Element Change to Calling In Schuester, a Will & Brittany story, originally posted October 28 2011.

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Not Completely Unreasonable.

"Just in the Nick of Time"
Will & Brittany

Will had finally gone to bed. The day had been long, and he was glad it was over and done with. He needed the rest, and didn't imagine it would take him long to fall asleep… and then the phone rang. He frowned, until he realized it wasn't the home phone but his cell phone. He didn't know what it was, call it a hunch, but he knew on the other end of that call would be one of his students, from Glee Club. He'd given them his number, to be used in very specific conditions and, remembering that, he'd reached out to get a hold of his phone on the nightstand.

"Hello?" he answered, not knowing the number on his screen. There was no answer at first, though he could hear sounds on the other end. He sat up. "Hello?" he tried again. "This is Mr. Schuester," he tried, in hope of triggering a response.

"Mr. Schue, is that you?" the voice asked, and he closed his eyes.

"Brittany, are you alright?" There was silence again. "Brittany?" he spoke, already getting up, moving to put on his shoes. "Are you there?"

"I don't… I don't feel good…" her voice sounded odd, and he paused.

"Where are you?" he asked her.

"Pretty lights…" she breathed, and he finished with his shoes before grabbing his car keys.

"Brittany, you need to tell me where you are, I'll come and get you," he promised. There was a pause, and he worried that she might have passed out or… "Brittany?" In the background he heard the distinctive bell and he knew. "You're at a gas station?"

"Yes, yes…" her voice returned. She had given him what she could as far as her location, and he was able to figure out the rest.

"I'm on my way, just stay where you are, it'll only be a few minutes," he promised her before they had hung up and he was already at his car. He drove out, dread at the pit of his stomach that he wouldn't find her or… He could guess she was drunk, but something in her words told him there was more to it.

He found the gas station, and when he got out of his car he had to look around for a few seconds before he spotted her, slouched against the wall next to the ice box. He hurried up to her, kneeling before her. Her eyes were barely staying open, and he wasn't entirely sure she was conscious. He could feel his fear by the ramming of his heart. The kids in Glee Club may not have been his kids, but looking at one of them here like this, it was hard not to feel like they were some kind of family.

"Brittany, can you hear me?" he hesitated, reaching to touch her forehead. She startled awake at the touch and he pulled back. "Hey, hey, it's me, it's Mr. Schue," he identified himself, and her eyes found him.

"Mr. Schue, what are you doing here?" she mumbled.

"You called me," he reminded her, and she looked down to her phone, where he saw his card had been taped to the back.

"Oh, I did…" she remembered. She looked clammy, sickly, and his fears seemed confirmed.

"Were you at a party?" he asked, and she nodded. "How much did you have to drink?"

"I d… A lot," she settled on this, looking like she felt the urge to be sick but was resisting. "But… I was feeling weird, so… I left… I walked, but then I couldn't… I stopped here and I called Mr. Schue."

"That's me, I'm here," he promised, and she looked to him.

"Right," she blinked. He reached back to her forehead, finally feeling it, and as he had expected, she was burning up.

"Can you stand?" he asked, and he helped her get on her feet. "Not too fast, okay?" he told her, starting her toward his car. He could already feel her leaning heavily against him as they went, but then within seconds her weight on him increased and he felt her feet stumble just quick enough to stop her fall and get a hold of her. There was no time to think. He scooped her up and got her to his car, managing to lay her out on the backseat before he got in the driver's seat and rushed off toward the hospital.

He had told them what he knew, and when he watched them take her away, part of him wanted to go off with her, even if he knew they wouldn't let him, while the other knew what he had to do: call her parents. He still had her phone, so he had found the number and called them. It was probably the last call parents could want to get, but it was needed. After he'd made the call he had gone and sat in the waiting area, shoulders slouching as he waited.

Most days he thought he was doing everything those kids needed him to do, but other days… other days he just felt like he was letting them down. Maybe he couldn't do everything right for them, but this… this he could do, and he had done it. Brittany could have such a bright future ahead of her, but sometimes he had to admit to himself he didn't know how to deal with her. Only as he sat here, knowing that she was sick, being looked at by doctors, he wished he could do more. She could slip right by them, unnoticed, and they couldn't have that…

The Pierces had arrived, and he had told them everything he knew. They had thanked him for being there for their daughter, and all he could say was that he was glad he had gotten there, hopefully in time.

Brittany would be alright, they had later found out. If she hadn't been brought in when she had, who knew, but she had, and they had taken care of her. As Will had feared, someone had gotten something in her drink, but if their intent was to do something to her, they had never gotten around to it, probably because of how she had walked off. Will had been ready to head off home, but then the Pierces had informed him that Brittany was awake and wanted to talk to him. He had gone to her room, finding her looking exhausted still but definitely better than when he'd seen her last. When she saw him, she smiled.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked as he came up and sat on a chair by her bed.

"Like I rolled down a really big mountain," she replied, and he laughed.

"Do you remember what happened?" She shook her head.

"Not all of it, just… being at the party, having a good time… Then I got in a fight, don't remember with who, except… After, I was dancing on my own, and had another drink, and then danced again, and then… then I don't remember."

"You left the party, you walked," he helped. "And then you called me, and I found you, and I brought you here," he went on, and she nodded.

"My parents told me." She paused, looking like she was going to cry. "I'm careful, I swear I am, I always make sure that nothing…"

"Hey, this wasn't your fault," he promised her, reaching for her hand. "The important part is that you got out of there, and you're okay." She let out a breath, nodding to him.

"Thank you for coming," she told him, giving his hand a squeeze, and now he was the one on the verge of tears.

"Anytime."

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!