The kids in Glee Club were less than thrilled when they heard the news the next day, turning what was supposed to be a happy meeting into a barrage of questions and a tirade of rants.

"So, where exacty is this hospital?"

"My two dads planned to take me to see Carole Shelley live on Christmas Eve, Mr. Schue!"

"Do they have anything against gays?"

"Dude, why does it matter? they're sick."

"It happens!"

Mr. Shuester rubbed his temples- this was not going as expected, groaning when another of them mentioned celebrating Chinese New Year, and another claiming to be Jewish (when everyone knew they weren't.) The fluorescent lights beat down on him as he sat in front of the students.

"Guys, listen-" Mr. Schue began, holding up a hand to silence them. All were quite, staring at him with a mix of anger and confusion.

"Are you gonna try and back yourself up?" piped up Rachel Berry, a star student at the high school, if not a little…. overbearing and slightly annoying. She flicked her long brown hair over her shoulder, blowing at her bangs with a pink lip glossed pout.

"Quite frankly, yes!" Mr. Schue cried, making the group jump, "all of you- and please excuse my language- are acting like assholes!"

"But by doing this we're ruining our Christmases!" came a complaint from Artie. Mr. Schue glared at him the kid was wheeling himself next to Tina, who ran her finger through the pink streak in her hair.

It was unbelievable, how selfish these kids were being.

"You know, guys," Mr. Schue ran a hand through his hair, his fingers getting caught in a few curls along the way, "I honestly thought you'd react better than this…." Before he could continue, his cellphone began to ring, brewing through the uncomfortable squabbling.

"Is that your phone?" Brittany asked, playing with the end of her blond ponytail. Puck rolled his eyes at her, sitting on a stool a few chairs away.

"No duh, lamebrain," he admonished with a chuckle. Mr. Schue gave him a pointed look as he reached into his pocket, the chirping getting louder s it was freed from the cloth that was his pocket. He cast his eyes at the screen.

It was Nurse Jackson.

"So who is it?" was Mercedes' question, crossing her arms over her chest.

"The nurse I spoke with at the hospital," he answered, and the room suddenly quieted as he clicked a button, holding the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Mr. Schuester?" came Nurse Jackson's voice on the other end, full of static.

"Yeah, this is me," he said, "give me a sec, i'll put you on speaker." Ignoring her rather loud complaints, he placed the phone squarely in the palm of his hand, holding it out in front of him at the students, pressing the speaker button with his thumb. "There you go- say hi to the students."

"Uh-huh," she said, "about the students-"

"Are we not allowed to come now?" Rachel asked, a confused look in her eyes. Tina scoffed, leaning back so she was looking at her.

"You didn't even want to go in the first place." she pointed out.

"Neither did you," Rachel shot back.

"Yeah, um, when I spoke with Ruben-" Nurse Jackson began. Mr. Schue furrowed his brow.

"Ruben?"

"The guy who owns the hospital," Nurse Jackson explained, "anyway, when I got to his office, the old man was high as a kite, so I spoke with one of the ER doctors." Mr. Schue snuck a glance at the club- all of them were staring at him expectantly, eyes boring into him.

"What did this doctor say?" Mr. Schue licked his lips.

"The kids are gonna have to go there if you wanna do anything for them," was Nurse Jackson's final response.

"But if they come here, what if something happens?"

"Listen, it's either they go there or you try to force your way in here and I ain't cleaning that mess up, let me tell you," Nurse Jackson snapped. The teacher sighed, rubbing his temples. Blood pounded in his veins, and he knew he was going to have to take a migraine pill later- maybe two if it was really bad.

"So? You up for it?"

It took a minute to ponder the decision. He didn't really want to have the kids risk getting sicker than they already were. But on the other hand, it would help to have some fun during the holidays, especial since they were all stuck in the hospital. It would be nice to get out once in a while, right?

"I'll set up some visitor passes then," he agreed, followed by some groans, others giving excited claps and whistles.

"I take it those were your students?" Nurse Jackson asked. M. Schue nodded.

"Yup," he said, "those were my students. Don't worry- they're pretty excited to see them." There was silence on the other end before Nurse Jackson spoke again.

"Uh-huh," she said, "I'm just gonna tell you now that I'm bringing only a handful of them. I can't bring the entire hospital or it would be chaos."

"Understandable. How many kids then?" He was really hoping it was five or six, not, say, twenty. That was the size of a classroom, and quite frankly, he dealt with enough classrooms for a lifetime.

"About six," Nurse Jackson said. There was hitch on the phone as she quickly corrected herself, "Nope. Never mind- five. I just remembered I can't exactly wheel a coma patient out of the hospital for a field trip."

"Okay…." Mr. Schue said awkwardly, quickly trying to sound cheerful, "well, we'll be glad to have these five kids come visit. See you guys soon!" Nurse Jackson said a quick goodbye before hanging up. A somberness hung in the air as the kids realized who exactly was coming.

"That poor kid…" Rachel sniffed, tears suddenly springing to her eyes.

"Yeah- and you guys were refusing to go," Mr. Schuester said, "now when these kids come you need to be as nice as you can- for them, okay?" There was a collective agreement as the bell rang.

Mr. Schuester could only hope the visit would go well.