The Warblers all waited nervously in Mrs. Mirren's office. All except Hunter that is. He had tried to follow, but one look at the feral anger in Wes's eyes as he'd looked at him, and he thought better of trying to enter the room the Asian boy was guarding and had turned around. The Warblers felt calmer for that, but they still felt fear.

Mrs. Mirren had yet to address them on the scandal of the steroids. The boys were all staring at her desk. On the center of it was a large folder. On top of the folder was a set of expulsion papers with Hunter's name all over them. The boys could only assume that THEY were going to be next.

Mrs. Mirren entered the room with Wes staying outside, making sure no one disturbed them. She sat at her desk and looked around at the fidgeting young men. "Good morning."

"Good Morning Mrs. Mirren." They all said at once, only a few daring to meet her eyes.

Judy Mirren smiled softly at them. It was a warm, comforting expression. "Calm down boys," She spoke sweetly, "You're safe now. Hunter isn't here." She picked up the expulsion papers and waved them, "And soon he won't be anymore. You can speak freely. He is GOING to be expelled."

"And...so are we." Lincoln said softly, a tear of shame rolling down his cheek, "That's why you called us here, isn't it? We're in trouble."

Mrs Mirren looked at him confused, then gasped in realization. She'd not told them yet that they were safe! The poor boys thought she'd called them all here to send them away. She stood and hurried over to Lincoln. She pulled the boy into a hug. "Oh honey! I'm so sorry. I should've told you first thing. No. You are NOT expelled. None of you boys are. The only person getting kicked out of Dalton is Hunter."

The boys all gaped. This was some sort of dream! They got to STAY?!

"But...But that makes no sense." Seb stumbled on his words. "We took the drugs! We're in trouble. Or..at least we should be..."

"You are." Mrs. Mirren said gently, "But not the sort that Hunter is in. And you will face consequences." She picked up the folder off her desk. She opened it and began to hand out sheets of paper to the boys. "THIS is your 'punishment', if you must call it that.."

Andy read the sheet "Therapy sessions?"

"And REHAB sessions?" David said in disbelief. "But...but this is NOTHING! The handbook clearly says..."

"That the final choice with all matters of discipline rests with ME and my word is law" Mrs. Mirren said sternly, as a mother would to her son, "Do you boys have a PROBLEM with how I've chosen?"

"NO MADAM!" They all said in unison.

Mrs. Mirren nodded, smiling. "That's what I thought. Now, I called you here to discuss how this arrangement is going to work. Rides to and from any away sessions will be..." She stopped, brows furrowing, "Mr Sterling? Are you alright back there?"

Jeff nodded, flipping his wince into a smile. "Yes Mrs. Mirren. I'm perfectly fine!"

Mrs. Mirren shook her head. "Lovely acting Jeffery. Now, let's try this again, this time with honestly, and I will rephrase, since it is obvious to me that you are NOT alright. What's wrong Jeff? I saw you grimacing. You looked to be in pain."

Jeff blushed deeply as she called his bluff. "I...um...my ankle is sort of bothering me today. Standing on it is...not pleasant."

The Dean smiled warmly. "Well, why didn't you just say so? Thaddeus, would you be a dear and pull a chair over for your 'brother' so he may sit."

Thad nodded and quickly pulled a chair over for Jeff. "Cuckoo bird, why is it you always need one of US to tell YOU when you're not ok?"

Jeff glared playfully as he was pushed gently into the seat by Nick and Thad. "Shut up!" He nodded to the Dean, "That's better. Thank you Mrs. Mirren."

She laughed. "Of course dear. You're welcome." She cleared her throat, "Now, as I was saying rides will be provided by the school for any away sessions. Going to these appointments is MANDATORY for ALL Warblers...except Hunter, who should never have been a Warbler in the first place." She looked over a copy of the sheet herself, "If you for any reason can't make it to the appointments, you need to either let us know before hand or come afterwards with a note from a suitable authority figure excusing you. Doctors, Parents, Grandparents, Teachers, Employers..."

"Wes?" Andy asked curiously and somewhat hopefully.

Judy Mirren smiled at the little boy. "Yes. In this case, we will accept notes from Wes as excuses. He is a HIGHLY trusted adult. If he says you couldn't be there, then you couldn't."

The boys nodded. Wes would get them out of it if they needed it, but would otherwise make sure they always went. He was responsible like that. He cared about them and wanted what was best.

Mrs. Mirren continued to explain the details of the plan to the boys, who nodded and listened intently. They were going to do this right. Do EXACTLY what was asked of them. This was a chance to prove they were good boys. A chance they didn't plan on wasting. They were NOT going to screw this up!

Wes came in. "I'm sorry to interrupt Mrs. Mirren, but if you're close to being done, there are some men that want to talk to you about the board members...hopefully soon to be former board member. I can tell them to come back later if you're not..."

"No no. Thank you Weston." The Dean nodded, "I think I've covered all the basics that need to be said. If any of you boys have questions, please feel free to ask me at any time, alright."

"Yes Mrs. Mirren." They all nodded.

She smiled at them, "Alright then. You boys are free to go. Oh! And Wes! You might want to carry Jeffery. He won't tell you, just as he almost didn't tell me, but his ankle was bothering him something awful earlier and I have a hunch that it still is."

Wes smiled and picked the blonde up in his arms. "Stubborn little bird, aren't you Cuckoo?"

Jeff blushed a deep scarlet.

The other boys laughed and said goodbye to the Dean, thanking her greatly, before leaving the room.

Wes carried Jeff towards the door. Before he left, however, he looked back at the Dean. "Oh! Mrs. Mirren, have you made a decision in the other matter we discussed?"

She chuckled softly at him. "I'm still thinking about it Weston. I promise to tell you when I make up my mind."

Wes nodded and left the room.

"What were you guys talking about?" Jeff asked, "What 'other matter'?"

Wes smiled. "I'll tell you later Cuckoo. Now, let's get to the senior commons. Sebastian and Thad said there was something they wanted to discuss there."

The two of them made their way to the commons. Once in the room, Wes placed Jeff down on Nick's lap, making many of the other Warblers cat-call and clap. Kiwi and Cuckoo appropriately gave the rest of their Warbler brothers 'The Bird.'

Wes chuckled and sat down himself, turning his attention to Seb and Thad at the front of the room. "Ok. We're all here, except for Hunter, though I doubt he'll show his rotten little weasel face here."

Seb nodded. "Ok, so I wanted to get you guys all here to make a proposition."

"NONE of you have to do it if you don't want to." Thad said, "But Bas and I are going to, and the more that do, the better."

Wes's eyebrows furrowed. What was going on here?

Seb bit his lip, "There's no use beating around the bush, so let's be blunt." He took a breath, "I think we should join Trent and testify against Hunter at the trial."

With that, all hell broke loose. Boys started yelling and panicking and crying and asking Seb if he was nuts. Seb gulped and shrunk back.

Thad jumped onto the old Council table. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" he yelled.

This quieted some of the room, but most hadn't heard him. Wes, who was still sort of in shock himself, decided to help. He went to the Council table and opened one of the drawers.

The room went dead silent as there was a loud bang from the Council table. They all looked over worriedly, thinking Thad had fallen, but instead saw Wes, sitting at his old place at the table, twirling a wooden object in his fingers.

Andy gaped. "Is that..."

Wes nodded. "The gavel. MY gavel."

David groaned. "THAD! I thought you said you BURNED that god forsaken thing."

Wes's eyebrows went up as he looked incredulously at Thad, who was climbing off the table. "He thought you WHAT?!"

Thad sighed. "I never said I BURNED it. I said I 'got rid of it'. I hid it in your old council drawer. The one we put a lock on to keep things safe and secret. Only council members have keys, and I knew I was never going to open it, and David never goes near it..."

"So you assumed that my precious would be locked in there forever." Wes glared playfully.

"SAFE in there for as long as it had to be." Thad corrected, "Trust me. If David had gotten a hold of the gavel, it WOULD have been burned."

The Warblers all laughed at the comically horrified look on Wes's face. They'd all either experienced or heard stories of the old war in the Warblers. The head council man of the Warblers always had SOMETHING to get the attention of the others. Some were ok...some were not. Wes, when it came his time, had chosen a gavel. This was a NOT ok one. The Warblers all HATED it, and had become invested in a long battle to get rid of the offending object. Wes somehow always rescued his gavel though, and the Warblers plans backfired badly. The game made Wes even MORE protective and possessive of his gavel. And...now that he'd found it...

Nick and Jeff grinned deviously, "Let the games BEGIN!"

Wes blanched and put the gavel in his pocket. "ANYWAY, back to what Seb was talking about."

Seb nodded."Ok. So, yes, I KNOW it's crazy and dangerous and scary. BUT...I can't take it anymore. The GUILT of what we did! The pain of what Hunter did to MAKE us do it! I...I just can't! And I KNOW that none of you can either! I don't expect you all to join me. Frankly, I don't want you to. Some of you are still too, to put it simply, weak to be able to take Hunter on. I won't judge ANY of you for saying no. But even if Thad and I are doing this alone, we're doing it. We CAN'T let Hunter get away with what he did to us all. And I can't look at myself in the mirror anymore without feeling like I'm JUST as bad as him. Maybe this won't fix everything, but it's the right thing to do, and it's a step." He caught his breath.

Thad stepped forward and took Seb's hand. "So...who's with us?"

The room was dead silent.

Then, Lincoln stood up and went to stand by Thad. "I am" He said, "I stick by what I said the day Hunter kicked my ass. We need to end this."

Andy stood and went over. He hugged Sebastian. "I'm with you too." He winked at Thad, "I may be small, but I can still put up a fight."

Thad smirked and high-fived Andy. "Tiny...but MIGHTY!"

David strode over to the group."You had me all the way back at 'join Trent'. I've wanted to put Hunter in his place ever since I met that no good little miscreant. I'm in!"

Jeff stood and started limping towards them. Nick was quickly at his side, supporting him. Thad and Seb took hold of Jeff's arms as soon as he was close enough and sat the boy in a chair, Nick perching on the arm rest. Niff was in.

Slowly, the group grew as more and more boys joined. At the end, there were still some boys who hadn't joined, but that was fine. They weren't ready. They were sick or injured or younger or just scared. They'd join if and when they were ready.

Wes smiled at the group "I'm proud of you boys. Really, really proud."

They all smiled and blushed at the praise.

Seb cleared his throat. "Um...Wes? There is one part we need your help with?"

Wes nodded. "Of course. Anything."

Seb sighed. "We...we need to talk to the Nude Erect ... NEW DIRECTIONS, sorry force of habit. They were the ones to help Trent start the case and stuff. It's through them we can join the prosecution. We wanna meet with them soon but..."

"Seb is too scared to call them." Thad admitted softly.

Wes nodded. "So you want ME to do it."

The boys nodded.

Wes smiled "Done. Ok. So I'll go talk to them and set up a date." He went and hugged his brothers. "YOU boys get yourselves to bed. I know it's still early, but you guys need the rest." He looked to Seb, knowing what the boy was going to say before it passed his lips, "I talked to the Dean. The dorm management staff opened up the guest room for me to stay in on nights I stay at Dalton and for you to stay in until Hunter is officially expelled. NONE of you should be forced to room with that monster."

Seb sighed in relief. "Thank you."

Wes nodded and kissed Sebastian's temple softly. "I'll be back soon."

He left to go talk to the New Directions and the Warblers went back to the dorms together.

Seb went to the guest suite and collapsed onto one of the beds. He was asleep within minutes. He didn't hear Wes come in 2 hours later after a successful mission. He didn't see the way Wes smiled at him. He didn't know that Wes had undressed him as much as he could without invading Seb's privacy and had put a spare pair of his own pajamas since Sebastian's stuff was still in his room. He didn't feel Wes maneuver him under the covers and tuck him in. It wasn't till the next morning when he woke up to the smell of coffee on his bedside table that he realized: He had the best big brother EVER!