Sure enough, Mr. Shue was sitting at the piano, not really paying much attention to the rest of the room. Finn wasn't positive, but it looked a little like the club director was sick. If that was the case, they were all in trouble, because Regionals was only a month and a half away. Ever since Ms. P publicly bashed Mr. Shue, she hadn't seemed as willing to talk to the glee club members. Or, maybe no one wanted to go see her in case she suddenly burst out at them about something. It was a little awkward being in the middle. Finn had always hoped being an adult would mean not having the drama that high school seemed to bring.

"Uh, Mr. Shue?" He didn't want to bother the Spanish teacher, but he was the only teacher at the school he trusted. Plus, if he brought Drizzle to Ms. Pillsbury, she'd probably go into some kind of seizure over dog drool. Or something.

The McKinley High alumni jumped a little, before looking over. "Oh, hey, Finn. What's up?"

"I have a problem…" He pulled his bag off his shoulder gently and held it up in front of him, unzipping it. Once again, Drizzle's brown head popped out curiously to look around.

Mr. Shue just stared. "Um, Finn, you can't bring pets to school."

He was a little insulted at the tone. It sounded like the kind everyone used to try and explain things to Brittany. He might be dumb, but he wasn't stupid.

"Yeah, I know. My mom got her like a few days ago and she must've snuck into my bag this morning. I didn't really notice until just now." Okay, so that probably didn't help his not-stupid case, but he didn't care. Puppies aren't really known for letting someone get a lot of sleep, and weren't teenagers supposed to get more than average? So it wasn't his fault he was so dumb at school.

"Couldn't you take her home?" Mr. Shue asked, watching as the puppy struggled to get out of the backpack to explore the room. "Or have your mom come get her?"

"She's working," he said, wrestling the bag a little to keep the squirming animal inside. "And I'd get in more trouble asking for a pass to go home. Plus, I'm not very good at lying, so I couldn't just say I'm feeling sick."

It was true. He had never been good at lying, and Rachel could testify to that. Dammit, not the time to think about her. Quinn probably could, too.

"Well…I have a free period right now," Mr. Shue said slowly. "I guess I could watch her."

Relief flooded him. It was like all those times he'd messed up with Rachel—stop!—or Quinn, or even the stupid football team before Glee, and they eventually just bounced back. He'd missed this feeling.

"Seriously? That's really cool of you, Mr. Shue." He was grinning, and he had a feeling it was the one that made him look stupid, but that was alright. No one but a teacher was there to see it. "Her name's Drizzle, by the way."

If he had been drinking coffee, Finn would have sworn Mr. Shue would've choked and then spewed it out. (How awesome was that word, by the way? Spewed. Spew.)

"…Drizzle?" He was trying hard not to be amused, really hard, but Finn still caught it. Apparently his stupid idea of a baby name had gotten around. "That has…nothing to do with her being housebroken does it?"

He just stared at him for a minute, before shaking his head. "Oh! No, not really. I mean, she goes on the newspapers we put down. You could put down some sheets of paper if you're worried or whatever, but she hasn't had anything to eat or drink all morning." He was rambling. "Uh, but I kinda got to go to class."

Drizzle was squirming insistently in the bag, clearly wanting out to explore. He was all for that, for once, and crouched down. She kind of tumbled out, which he found cute—what? Puppies can be cute—and she started sniffing around.

"Thanks, Mr. Shue," he said again, backing up and then hurrying out of the room. No way was he going to wait around for the guy to change his mind, or for Drizzle to chase after him and escape. No way in hell.

Will wasn't really sure how to handle the, admittedly adorable, Labrador puppy that was currently investigating his shoes. Even though the dog's eyes were green, they were large and round with innocence, and were staring up at him suddenly with such hurt confusion it made his chest hurt. God, even the Who are you? look was the same as Emma's after she'd said she couldn't look at him the same way again.

"Sorry, girl, but Finn has class." He paused. "And, I'm explaining to a puppy like it can understand. Fantastic."

Drizzle—even though Will knew the whole (what were the kids calling it? "Babygate"?) scandal had hurt Finn horribly—was a pretty good distraction from how the year started. Granted, he would end up changing his mind if Figgins caught any of the glee kids or himself with the dog in the choir room.

With a wary glance at the door, he lowered himself onto the cool linoleum and reached out a couple fingers for the little Lab to sniff. She ignored that whole ritual completely and pounced into his lap, crawling up his chest as much as a puppy can and starting to clean her face. His first response was to push her away, because, well, wet and slobbery was not a good look on anyone. Then he realized it was probably the only affectionate gesture he'd gotten in weeks, and would continue to get for a long time, and just let her. Besides, puppy-breath isn't that bad.

"You think Emma'd forgive me if I showed up with you and we both gave her puppy-eyes?" he asked, wrestling the little one until she rolled onto her back and panted. He scratched her belly. "Assuming you didn't suddenly drool or go to the bathroom in there, she wouldn't mind I don't think. You're too cute for words."

Drizzle's response was to immediately begin gnawing on his fingers with her tiny, albeit sharp, baby teeth. He winced.

"Okay, okay! I won't use you to win her over," he laughed, wiggling the fingers to get them loose. "Ow! That kind of hurts."

She eventually stopped, but only to give him a, Well? Aren't you supposed to be entertaining me or something, look. Which was great, because he really needed to be personifying looks that canine gave him. With a sigh, he poked at her tummy which was still a little bloated from whatever breakfast she'd gotten at Finn's.

His parents had never given him a chance to own a dog. His mom didn't want the responsibility (and her drinking problem didn't help) and his father wasn't around much. By the time he got into high school, he gave up on that. And then Terri… Well, she wasn't about to let a "damn dog" ruin her perfect storybook life, was she?

"I hope you like music, Drizzle."