And yet again, this show starts something and never resolves it. I had to write something concerning the disagreement that Artie and Sam had, since they never showed the two making up. This is a companion piece to the 'Take It All Away' story and relates to the events that take place there. So if you're confused about some aspects of this fic, it's most likely because it has to do with what happens in there.
Artie felt like he was floating through the rest of the week. The Christmas special had gone off spectacularly, despite the fact that they hadn't gotten to finish it. People who had never spoken to him before were telling him that he did a good job and he seemed to be getting compliments left and right. His friends were pleased with it too and it seemed that the popular kids had decided to give the bullying a break in the spirit of Christmas.
There was one thing that was weighing on his mind though; his disagreement with Sam. He was one of his best friends and Artie was beyond thrilled that the other boy was finally back at McKinley. On one hand, he could understand what Sam was getting at. He didn't even want to think about what it would be like to be away from your family during Christmas. On the other hand, he had a reason to not want to think about sad or depressing things during the holiday season. The month of December wasn't exactly the most pleasant for him.
He decided that he would talk to Sam about it and at least explain his side of the story. They had come to a truce of sorts after they showed up at the homeless shelter, but they were still a little uneasy around each other. Artie was determined to not have this Christmas ruined and ended up spending the rest of the day looking for Sam.
By lunchtime, he hadn't seen the other boy once and was wondering if he was even in school. However, when he went to the library to return some books before break, he saw a familiar blonde head in one of the aisles. He wheeled over to where Sam was standing, feeling strangely nervous. Artie hated confrontation, and although he knew Sam would never be mean to him, he couldn't help the slight twist in his stomach.
Sam glanced over at him as he got closer. He smiled at Artie, although it seemed a bit strained. Taking a deep breath, Artie said,
"Hey Sam, can we talk?"
"Sure," Sam agreed immediately and headed over to a table that was away from the front of the library where most of the commotion was going on. The two settled at the table and a slightly awkward silence fell over them. Sam was looking expectantly at Artie and he nervously cleared his throat.
"Look, I know we had a bit of a disagreement the other day and I wanted to clear the air between us," Artie began.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Artie, it's fine. I know you wanted to direct your big TV special and all. I'm sorry I didn't agree with your vision or whatever."
"It's not really that," Artie countered, slightly taken aback at the other boy's tone. "I mean it is, but I just wanted to explain what I meant."
"No offense or anything, but if you're just going to tell me that I need to cheer up because Christmas is such a magical time or something like that, I don't want to hear it," Sam said shortly.
"No, that's not what I was going to say," Artie said softly. "Look, the holidays are never really great for me. I'm sick of always being depressed during them and now that I had a chance to make it different, I took it." Sam was looking quizzically at him by now, so he continued.
"A couple of weeks ago – the first of December actually – was the ten year anniversary of the accident. I was in the hospital for most of December and I got released just before Christmas. The entirety of the holidays was spent having to learn how to deal with the chair at home. I had to come to terms with the fact that I would never be able to walk again. I had to sit inside and watch my siblings play in the snow outside and know that I would never be able to do that again. At eight years old, I was forced to realize that my life had changed drastically and it was going to be incredibly difficult for me."
Sam expression had changed completely but Artie didn't stop and wait for him to say anything. "I've never really liked the holidays because all the feelings that came with them brought back all the feelings that I had as a result of the accident. My mom gets all guilty and acts weird around this time too, which doesn't really help. I've tried talking to her about it and told her that I don't blame her but I don't think she believes me. She tries not to act that way, but sometimes she can't help it."
Artie took a deep breath before continuing. "I wanted to focus on the happy aspects of Christmas – this special was a big deal to me and if I could make these happy memories for Christmas now, maybe they could replace the bad ones. I know that they wouldn't go away entirely, but if there was a mix of them it would maybe make it a little better."
Sam opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but no reply came out. Artie sat back in his seat and watched the other boy's face, waiting to see what his reaction would be.
"I had no idea," Sam finally managed to get out.
"I didn't really expect you to," Artie said. "It's not really something that I go around making a big deal about. I just wanted to let you know where I was coming from."
Sam heaved a deep sigh. "I guess I was just thinking about it from my perspective. I've been so through so much crap in the past year that it was kind of in the forefront of my mind. It's definitely made me think about things differently."
"I get it," Artie said. "I've had longer to deal with my issues though, and I just guess that I didn't want to focus on the bad anymore."
"But it's not just you," Sam stressed. "I got in an argument with Kurt about this too. He was totally for your idea and didn't seem to like my ideas at all. He actually got pretty snippy with me at one point."
"What did you suggest to him?" Artie asked carefully.
"Well, I said that maybe we could have mixed it up a bit; you know there are sad songs, like the one about the shoes. Was it because it's a kind of religious song?"
Artie sighed. "No, it's not that. Trust me, Kurt's got his own reasons for this. And that was the worst possible song that you could have suggested to him. A mother passing away around Christmas-time? Not good."
Sam buried his face in his hands. "God, I'm an idiot. I guess that when you guys said that you'd rather do the special than perform at the homeless shelter, I took it a little personally and didn't really look outside of that."
"You didn't know," Artie interrupted. "There was no way that you could have known. And I am sorry about that. I wasn't really thinking. I was just in the mindset that Sue wanted us to do something for her and since she pretty much just puts us down all the time, I didn't mind saying no and focusing on what I wanted instead of what she wanted."
"I don't mean this to sound rude," Sam started. "But wouldn't helping out those in need have been a good way to make happy Christmas memories? I know you like directing or whatever, but there will be other opportunities."
"I did want to help out – really," Artie stressed. "But something as big as this doesn't come along all the time. And I need things like that if I want to get into a good school for directing. Especially since it's about the only thing I can do."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked in confusion. "I don't remember you being into directing and stuff like that last year. When did this all start?"
"Well it's the only thing I really can do," Artie said. "It was kind of my backup plan, but since my original plan won't work out, I'm going to have to rely on this. The more opportunities the better, I suppose. That's why I was so set on doing the special."
"What was your original plan?" Sam asked.
"Doesn't matter, since it's never going to happen," Artie said with a wave of his hand. Sam didn't miss the expression of disappointment flash across his face though. "But I've got the directing thing, so I guess I'm good."
"I did see the special," Sam said. "I really liked the Star Wars bit, although Puck's a pretty terrible actor."
"He is," Artie agreed. "But it was still pretty fun. You would have been great in that segment."
Sam had to smile at that. "That is true. But I figured that helping people out trumped Star Wars. And honestly in my book, not much trumps Star Wars."
"I do feel bad that we didn't go to the shelter right away," Artie said. "Honestly. I'm glad we did decide to go in the end. You were right about that; I did get some pretty great Christmas memories from the experience."
"I saw you playing a game with Jared," Sam said with a smile. "I went back there yesterday and he wouldn't stop asking if you were going to come back and teach him how to do a wheelie. I'm pretty sure his parents aren't going to be too thrilled about that."
Artie laughed at that. "I did tell him that there were some cool things you could do with the chair. I'm going to see if I can get a ride over there sometime before Christmas so I can see him again."
"You can go with me if you want," Sam offered. "Rory and I were going to help out this weekend before we head back to Kentucky."
"Sounds great," Artie said with a smile. "So are we good?"
"Totally," Sam grinned back, raising his hand for a high five that Artie gladly went for.
"And talk to Kurt," Artie said. "He'll understand if you let him know that you didn'tknow. And ask him about the rabbit story."
"The what?" Sam asked in confusion. Artie just grinned and waved as he rolled away.
Feedback is much appreciated as usual.