So here it is - the fourth tale from the Unicorns and Angels 'verse. I hope to update this weekly, still being a work in progress. Also in progress at the same time is the fifth part of the story (I love a challenge). Thanks in advance for reading.

Dalton Delivers

As he sat in his office at Dalton Academy, Principal Aaron Carmichael was often given these days to thinking of the events of the past. He was rapidly approaching his 71st birthday, and he had been employed at the school now for 47 years, in one capacity or another, give or take a few months. Of course, there was the gap after his retirement, but that had been cut short by the terrible events of the entire Clarington affair. Most other men would have refused point blank to come back, at his age, to deal with the biggest scandal in the history of Dalton. But he loved this school, loved the boys and had to save them all from destruction. It had not been easy - his first task had been to get rid of the entire board of governors - not exactly his job, but given their unanimous backing of all that his short lived replacement had set out to do, they had to go. Finding willing replacements had not been an easy task, given the school's now tarnished reputation. In the end, he had called in a number of favours and set up a temporary board. His first appointment had been the man that had saved the Warblers, Congressman Burt Hummel - he still officially sat on the board, but his absence due firstly to the death of his son, and then of Blaine Anderson, had left a hole.

He did not have favourites, officially, but Kurt Hummel had been one boy that he had thought the world of. The voice of an angel, a sharp mind, a keen wit. He would have quite happily created a scholarship to keep him at the school. By the time he had found out that Kurt was going back to McKinley, it was too late to make the counter offer. He knew at the same moment that Blaine would leave too - he had observed them fall in love, and he knew that they could not be parted for long. The fact that Wes Montgomery was leaving at the same time darn near broke his heart. The Smythe boy had seemed a poor replacement - justified the suspicion at first. Now, he had redeemed himself - his actions during the whole Hunter debacle had shown him to be a good man after all.

It still hurt him to think about Hunter Clarington. If he had still been in charge, then there was no way that he would have been permitted to enrol at the school, regardless of whom his uncle was. But, he couldn't change that. It had been yet another body blow to the school when it had come out that he had killed Kurt, and had murdered his stepbrother months earlier. But the school had survived it. It remained the much loved alma mater to its boys, even those that had suffered so much during the whole steroid scandal. The Warblers had also rebounded, helped by the fact that two of the new board members were former Warblers that had departed from the school in 1970 - that had been his doing, he mused… The choir was still under an official one year ban, and could not compete in any competition, but was still performing for the school, lead by the council again; a firm stewardship by two boys that had walked away when Hunter first arrived. There had also been the unofficial competition organised by Principal Sylvester of McKinley, in which the boys had performed alongside the New Directions, Vocal Adrenaline and the Haverbrook School for the Deaf. The tickets for that had sold out in hours. To his immense gratitude, the Warblers had won. He suspected that Will Schuester and the other directors might have told their choirs to under perform - that the judges, including Rod Remington and Shannon Bieste might have shown favouritism - but it was all denied. The Warblers had a trophy to display and the school, both pupils and faculty, had rejoiced.

That had been in December, and now it was the first day of March. In front of him sat a selection of that days newspapers. He had been called on a daily basis, at his request, by Wes Montgomery during the trial, and each day more or less, fresh revelations had emerged. The whipping of Sebastian Smythe had shocked him; what had happened to Jeff Sterling and Nick Duval had left him nauseated and had reduced half the faculty to tears when he informed them the following morning. Like most of them, he had seen Niff coming, and had been pleased when they got together, even if they had made one of his end of term assemblies the most controversial, yet interesting ever… Those two boys had suffered in silence. The family connection between Jeff and Hunter did not even bear thinking about. Now, it was all over. Hunter Clarington was dead; his father Gordon under arrest for beating his wife (in the court, of all places - the man was clearly an idiot.) Wes had also told him in confidence that he had attempted to kidnap Jeff, leaving a bruised Nick and a battered Wes and Sebastian in his wake. Yet, Jeff was now bonding with his biological mother - the boy had stores of resilience that many a man three times his age did not possess.

It would be almost the end of March before the plan that had formulated in his mind that day could finally be put to the full board of governors. The logistics of getting all of them together at Dalton were complicated, and that they could hold the meeting now was only thanks to Burt Hummel giving up his seats at the opening night of Funny Girl in New York. The board was totally different to that that had ruled the school for most of his tenure, and nothing like the one that had approved the schemes of his predecessor. The number of members had been increased from six to eight, and the rule that they had to be an alumnus of Dalton removed. This had allowed Burt Hummel to be appointed, alongside the first two female governors in Dalton's history. Gone too was the dominance of wealthy businessmen - his new board had a retired nurse, an actor and a clergyman aboard. The voting procedure had been tightened up, and the Principal now had the casting vote if a deadlock was reached; but other than that, the Principal's place now was solely to advise. They could suggest the topics for discussion, but it was up to the board to choose what was actually discussed.

The first topic that day was easy enough - the potential for further fallout from the trial and the revelations it had brought. Burt stood up and summarised what had taken place to an attentive board - they all knew the basics, but he had actually witnessed the procedures. So far, it was going far better than they had feared. There had been no mass exodus of pupils - in fact, the number of genuine expressions of interest from parents wishing to place their sons in the school was higher than it had been for ten years. The removal of the old board, combined with the rehabilitation of the Warblers had been enough to ensure that Dalton Academy would survive. That part of the work that Aaron Carmichael had set himself had been achieved. That was not however, the real reason for today's meeting, as both he and Burt knew. Today was for discussion of the affect that the whole affair had on the boys that had been there at the time. Burt touched on that subject, praising the way that they were coping, and Wes for the way that he had held his boys together, being there for them all when they needed him. The experience of the trail had left all the Warblers there shattered.

This brought them neatly to the second topic of discussion that day. The question of compensation for the boys that had endured so much under the roof of what was supposed to be a safe haven. Principal Carmichael had been working on a scheme for some time - he now took to the floor and spelled it out to the assembled governors. They sat in silence as he told them of the work he had done to ensure that it could go ahead, obtaining the necessary funds from the former governors in return for giving them a guarantee that no proceedings would take place against them. He had considered a grand trial, but he knew that it would be costly and time consuming. The main perpetrators of the violence were also no longer present - Hunter dead and his uncle fled to South America. He had even managed to convince Sue Sylvester not to go ahead with her promises to get justice for the boys. When it came to a vote on his scheme, there was a unanimous acceptance, both of his scheme and an addition they had not anticipated. This was a scholarship scheme for the children of the affected Warblers - not just the boys that had lived through Hunter's reign either, but all those that had worked tirelessly to rebuild things in the aftermath, and had then supported their fellows at the trial. Their sons would be educated for free at Dalton; their daughters at Crawford County. No voice was raised in dissent.

The final act of Aaron Carmichael at that meeting was to announce that he intended to retire, again, at the end of the school year. He was more than happy to stay on afterwards in some sort of advisory capacity, to support his successor; and he would also quite happily administer the scholarship scheme. He was proud to have helped to steer the school back on the correct course after the debacle that had occurred after his first attempt to retire, but now it was time for him to take a back seat and let somebody else run the place. He had averted the disaster, that was true. The board was shocked, but not totally surprised - in fact, it was his turn for a shock when Burt Hummel stood up and announced that he intended to step aside at the end of the school year, and nominated him for his place on the board. It was seconded by one of the ladies; a vote taken - and before he knew quite what had happened, he was a member of the board, starting after he had retired as Principal. He didn't bother to object - it was not as if he would have done anyway, and they had all known that.

Back in his office that afternoon, having just signed a pile of letters that he had already prepared, he though back again to his first days at Dalton in the late 1960's. He had been the one that had destroyed the draft letters of several boys, intercepting them on the way from the school office - he knew that the then Principal had been fully aware of this, but said nothing. He had also been in charge of the Warblers' outing in 1970 to Niagara Falls, when the Head and Deputy Head of the Council had ended up in Canada, quite by accident, just after they had been drafted - they had stayed there for a decade before coming home - and now they sat on the board. The few boys that he had been unable to aid - six of them had not come home from Vietnam. He had been a friend to the boys of Dalton for 47 years now; trusted, benevolent, kind. He had already chosen his successor, and the board would undoubtedly approve of her. He felt that in Mlle Lefevre, his most recent Vice Principal, he had a worthy successor. She had been sacked after all for attempting to help the Warblers. She had both his love of education and his protective nature for her charges. With him in the background to advise when required, he was sure that the first female Principal in Dalton's long history would make the role her own, and become maybe as legendary as he was…