Look! Look! It's a plot! It's a plot!
"Dear Mr. Schuester,
We are pleased to inform you that your application for the school district of Puget Sound School systems of Washington State has been processed and approved. If you wish to accept your position as head of the theater program, please contact Principal Therese Clifford within the next fourteen days from the date posted on this letter, otherwise the offer will be rescinded. Thank you once again for your application. We hope to see you at the beginning of the upcoming academic year."
Will Schuester read the letter for what had to have been the fiftieth time. It really would be a great opportunity. He'd get to be the theater program in a high school located in an area that had a reputation for being impoverished and crime-ridden.
Although his ex-wife Terri would've never even allowed him to think this might be a possibility, his new wife Emma encouraged it.
"You'd be so great at that, Will," she'd told him when he first brought up the idea.
"We'd have to move," he reminded her. She'd already had to change schools since Figgins introduced a no-fraternizing policy for faculty when they began dating again in earnest.
"Well, change isn't always a bad thing," she said. And he couldn't argue with that.
Change had come whether he wanted it or not, and it wasn't all bad. Sue Sylvester had FINALLY retired. The original members of New Directions had long-since grown up and were now raising families of their own. He and Emma had game night on Wednesdays with the original members of New Directions who'd stayed in town, despite Puck's protests on the grounds of board games being, in his words, "so completely lame and un-bad-ass."
The ones who'd left never forgot to stop by his office and say hello at the first opportunity. Seeing them on the rare occasions when they came home for family events and holidays reminded him why he went into teaching in the first place. It really did make all of the hard work worth it. And maybe…just maybe…the magic that had been New Directions was a tiny part of their success.
So if he left, who would be in charge?
Despite the fact that they'd won Nationals five times in the fourteen years since it formed, it was still a struggle to find funding and support from the local school board.
He knew that nobody would exactly be jumping at the chance to be the new faculty member in charge, and it would be more than enough reason to shut it down if he took this new position. He couldn't let that happen.
A knock on his door shook him out of his reverie. "Come in," he said, putting the letter back in its envelope.
"Mr. Schue, sorry to bother you, but…" Tina Abrams began in a rush.
"Tina, how many times do I have to tell you? We're colleagues now. I'm Mr. Schue to my students."
Tina blushed. "I don't care how many times you tell me that, you will ALWAYS be Mr. Schue as far as I'm concerned."
"Still coming over for game night tomorrow?" he asked. "Emma brought the latest version of Pictionary."
"It's on like Donkey Kong," Tina said. "Mind if I invite Santana?"
"Of course not! She's always welcome."
Santana was in the next town over, having taken Shelby Corcoran's position as head Vocal Adrenaline Coach two years ago. She always had an invitation to game night extended, but had yet to make it since the tradition began five years ago, and was surprised Tina even thought she needed to ask.
"She needs some cheering up. Her county just lost all the funding for the arts and now she's out of a job."
"WHAT? That's insane! Didn't they just raise the head football coach's pay?"
"And I think that's where they found the money to cover his new salary," Tina said with a sigh.
"Tell her to come and bring Brittany, too," he told her, and read the acceptance letter again when Tina left.
The wheels in his head were turning. Santana needed a job. And coming from a family of native Spanish speakers, he knew that the principal would give her his old spot in a heartbeat.
And she'd make sure New Directions would kick ass every single year.
So he took a breath and picked up the phone and dialed the number listed on the letter.
Change was scary, but, as he looked at the picture of he and his wife with their two-year-old son Elliot, he realized his wife was right. Change wasn't entirely bad.
Two days later, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, Puck and Leah were all gathered at the Schuester residence for their weekly tradition of game night, and this time, Brittany and Santana were included in on the fun. Leon Dalton, a friend of Mercedes' and Tina's had joined them that night at Mercedes' request as well.
"If Kurt were here, we'd so be kicking ass," Mercedes said.
"So am I ever going to meet Kurt? Leon asked. "I feel like I should meet the man behind the legend."
"How much longer until Thanksgiving?" Artie asked, missing his friends.
"Those two wusses better be glad they're not here or I'd so be kicking their asses for staying gone so long."
Kurt was hundreds of miles away in Chicago living with Matt and their now-fifteen-year-old daughter BJ, which everyone present knew was the real reason Puck wished they'd lived closer. Uncle Puck never missed a chance to spoil his niece, and it HAD been unusually long since Kurt, Matt and BJ last visited Lima.
"I wouldn't mind it if Kurt were here either," Leah said, knowing that if Kurt were there, her brother wouldn't be far behind. "But you know if he were here, he'd team up with Matt and those two would kick ALL of our asses. Puck what the HELL is that supposed to be?" Leah said, suddenly noticing Puck's latest attempt at art.
"Dude, that is SO OBVIOUS!" Puck protested, but Leah, along with the rest of the competitors participating in the last round of Pictionary for the evening were convinced that something he did in his youth must've ruined brain cells, because clearly, that could be the only explanation for the image he'd sketched on the over-sized pad for Leah to interpret as part of a category.
At the confused glances exchanged all around, Puck declared: "It's a light saber!"
"Puck," Leah informed him, snatching the card out of his hand as Tina got up to clear away an empty dish of chips and spinach dip for Emma, "the category was modern technology."
"And…?"
Leah just shook her head.
"Will, have you told them yet?" Emma asked.
Will shook his head. He was going to miss this. He was going to miss them. Modern technology, which, no Puck, did NOT include a light saber, had made the world a much smaller place, but still, it wouldn't be the same.
"Haven't told us what?" Artie asked.
Will and Emma exchanged knowing glances and Will grinned. "I've been hired as the Head Drama Coach out in Pudget Sound in Washington State," he announced.
"Head Drama Coach?" Puck asked.
"Washington State?" Tina asked.
"Wait a second, Washington State?" Brittany asked. "You'll be living near the President!"
"No, Brit," Santana said with a familiar roll of her eyes, "that's Washington D.C."
"When does it start?" Mercedes wanted to know.
"Well, there are still two months left in the current school year, but we've already spoken to a real estate agent about putting the house on the market."
"Well, I'm thrilled for you," Leah said, getting up to hug her colleague. "It'll be a great opportunity and I know you'll be awesome at it."
"Thanks Leah," he said.
"But what'll happen to New Directions?" Mercedes asked.
"Well, when I leave they'll need a new Spanish teacher," he said, giving Santana a pointed look. "So when San gets hired for THAT job, I'm pretty sure she'll have that covered."
"Damn, Mr. Schue," Santana said, sniffling. "You know I hate it when you make me cry," she told him, giving him a warm hug.