The sun had already set and darkness had fallen.
In the streets of New York however, the street lights shone and on many of those streets, other brighter lights glowed. This was of course no more true than in Times Square, where masses of people walked through the streets; visitors and residents jostling for space on the crowded sidewalks as the traffic inched by slowly.
It was a Saturday night, and those heading to see shows on the Great White Way mingled with those that had come out to enjoy a meal, or just to soak up the atmosphere. Tonight was special, though. It was the Italian restaurants that would be especially busy that night, the best ones fully booked a long time ago. It was a phenomenon that there was no real explanation behind, though some had suggested that two fictional star crossed lovers known throughout the world might have a little something to do with it. Tonight was for romance, for lovers old and new. It was after all the feats day of St Valentine.
In one corner of the great metropolis though, Valentine's Day was actually the last thing on the minds of a group of young people united by their love of song, a shared past in Ohio, and the ability to see four of their friends who had become angels after their deaths, and who still meant so much to all of them.
Sure, Nick Sterling-Duval had been woken that morning to the vision of his husband Jeff standing at the bedside with a tray on which he carried breakfast - juice, coffee and scrambled eggs served up on heart shaped slices of toast. Grace Duval woke to find a box of her favourite chocolates and a single red rose on her bedside table, with a card signed with the message 'All of my love, forever, Your CJ.' In the room next to the Sterling-Duval's, Mike Chang woke, looked at the sleeping Tina for a moment, and then woke her up with kiss after kiss. Cards were exchanged, and small tokens of love exchanged. Yes, Cupid had fired his arrow in many directions.
Love and romance was not however the main thing on any of their minds that day. It was the day which marked the end of a whirlwind of activity which had begun on New Year's Day. It was the thing which kept them busy for the whole of Valentine's Day itself. The paperwork for the deal which meant that the Spotlight Diner became theirs could have been signed off the day before, but none of them had wished to take the risk of signing anything on Friday the Thirteenth. It wasn't that any of them were overly superstitious in the main, but it just seemed advisable to hold off one more day. At lunchtime that day, signatures had been applied to a piece of paper; there had been a symbolic shake of hands, and keys had been handed over one final time.
It was theirs, lock, stock and piano. They had bought a diner.
Now just before 8pm, Santana Lopez stood outside at the kerb, oblivious to the world around her as she looked through the plate glass windows at the scene inside. It didn't seem that long ago that she had been standing in the same spot, waiting for the time to come when she was due to interview for a waitressing job. At the time, she had been feeling a bit down about her life. It was not going to plan at all. Now, it was back on track, and a lot of that was down to this place. She had met Dani here, now one of here most trusted friends and confidants. She had ended up with first Rachel and then Kurt working here alongside her. Blaine had come later with Sam, and at last her beloved Brittany. Tragedy had come along, and it had hit them all so hard, but this place had remained as a rock; a place to find both comfort and solace. And now, it was hers - well, at least a twelfth of it was. Her friends had now become her business partners as well. This was the new focal point for all of them - no longer were they divided into McKinley and Dalton alumni. The Spotlight Diner was the solid thing that would cement their friendships. This was their place now, to laugh, to sing and to remember.
The road to this point had not been an easy one, that much was true. At one point, it had been so complicated that they had nearly agreed to call Gunther and tell him to sell it to Chipotle. They had got there though, helped by a variety of things, some of them more luck than design…