For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing,
Ringing through the rafter,
And a little snappy
Happy ever after,
Need a little Christmas now.
Rachel's the first one to show up.
She's all set for an evening with her fathers, but they take one look at her face, still pouting over both Finn and the thought of Mr. Shue being alone, and both men know something's wrong.
It takes all of five minutes for them to get it out of her (the Mr. Shuester thing, not Finn. She's yet to admit that one to herself). It takes twenty minutes to finish the sugar cookies already baking in the oven and to wrap them in tin foil and twenty more to drive over to Mr. Shue's home.
It's when her fathers leave that Rachel realizes the fatal flaw in her plan. The lights are out, Mr. Shue's not home, and she's left in the cold with a plate of rapidly cooling cookies.
"Hey girlie! What are you doing?" Rachel spins in surprise to face Coach Sylvester hauling a large sack over her shoulder, heading towards her.
Rachel takes a step back and brings her cookies closer to her chest, trying to protect the desserts and her teacher's door at the same time. She isn't sure why the cheerleading coach is here, but she knows it can't be good. Coach Sylvester rolls her eyes and fishes in her jacket pocket to pull out a key.
"I'm here to spread Christmas cheer or whatever," she grumbles.
Rachel looks past the coach to the car parked on the street. A large tree is sticking out of the back. The petite brunette looks back at the formidable cheerleading coach and thinks maybe it wasn't the football players who wrecked their holiday decorations and with a reluctant sigh, Rachel Berry stands aside.
Delicious sugar cookies aside, she wasn't close to bringing the Christmas cheer to Mr. Shue that an actual tree could.
Mr. Shue's home is barely decorated and looks pretty much the same as the last time Rachel was here. As Sue drops her sack of presents in the living room, Rachel turns on the oven and sticks her cookies in to keep them warm.
When she returns, Coach Sylvester narrows her eyes at the teen and Rachel tries not to shake with fear.
"You don't honestly think you can help me get that tree in here and set up with those scrawny arms, do you?" She asks, hands on her hips.
Rachel shakes her head quickly and fumbles to grab her cell phone from her pocket. "I'll call some of the other glee clubbers to help!" she exclaims.
Sue relaxes and marches into the kitchen. "Tell them to bring food," she says, "These sugar cookies are mine."
Rachel's fingers instinctively go to Finn's number, but just before hitting send, she remembers what thin ice they're on already (that is if she already hasn't broken through) and instead dials Puck because he's Jewish so he won't be doing anything and he's promised to be nice for her. Then she calls Mike Chang because she isn't sure if Asians celebrate Christmas. He doesn't give her a definitive answer, but he does say that he and Tina will be right over, so she thinks they probably don't.
When she hangs up, Sue reenters the living room, mouth half-full of cookie. "Well don't just stand there!" she says after swallowing, "We've got decorations to bring in!"
There's another sack of presents and three boxes of decorations in Coach Sylvester's car. But apparently, when she said "we" have decorations to bring in, she meant Rachel did, because Sue merely sits down on the couch and watches Rachel struggle.
Thankfully, Tina and Mike arrive just as she's finished with the second box. Tina's brought something that smells like chocolate wrapped in tinfoil, and hands it off to Rachel as she grabs the third box, while Mike grabs the sack, and they all head in together.
"Puck should be here soon," Mike says looking down at his watch, "And the others too."
"Others?" Rachel says confused.
Tina laughs, "You didn't think you were the only one that wanted to help Mr. Shue, did you?"
Puck arrives moments later, followed by Quinn and Sam. The boys get the tree Coach Sylvester brought in and set it up as the girls organize the growing stack of desserts, including hiding the remaining sugar cookies from Sue.
Santana, Brittany, and Artie make it just as they start decorating, and Brittany eagerly points out all the things Santa's brought back, just like he told her he would in the choir room.
Coach Sylvester pretends not to hear her or notice the glares from the other glee clubbers and focuses instead on berating Mercedes and Finn, who've arrived last, for being late.
Rachel tries not to look up at Finn and focuses on making sugar cookies with the supplies Santana brought to replace the ones that Sue ate.
Finally, the tree is set up, sans a few decorations still in the last box, and nearly all the presents are under it. Rachel's cookies are finishing up in the oven and the rest of the desserts are placed neatly on kitchen counter.
Just as Quinn and Sam are gathering up the candy canes for the tree, the sound of a key scraping the lock comes from the front door, and Sue ushers the students into the kitchen. "Wait for my cue," she hisses.
When they come out, Mr. Shue's face lights up just in the way Rachel thought it would when she first devised coming over here, only ten times brighter. Probably, she thinks, because they're all here. Better to have a whole family around you then to just be two lonely people together during the holidays.
And sure, Rachel decides, as she grabs a bit of tinsel and hangs it on the tree, trying her hardest not to look at Finn and failing miserably, she got there first, but they're all here now, and that's what matters because that's how it should be.
A/N- After the terrible Sectionals episode last week, I didn't think I could ever write Glee fanfiction again.
And the the wonderful Glee Christmas special changed my mind. The title and lyrics come from 'We Need A Little Christmas', in case you were wondering.
Review please!