It was time for Glee rehearsal again and this week's assignment from Mr Schue was…drumrolls…Ballad! He explained to the group that a ballad was a story set to music and since they had to sing one at Sectionals per the new rule, he decided that would be a good assignment for them. They had to sing a ballad to another person and make them really feel the portrayed emotion – the kicker, they had to pick who they'd sing to out of a hat at random.

Puck was the first to step up and draw a name from the top hat on the grand piano. He was sending out vibes to get Blair, but the vibes didn't answer and he got Mercedes instead. Neither one were too happy about that.

Artie went up next and pulled out Quinn's name. They were both fine with that. Tina followed Artie who got Mike, and then Liam went up. He reached into the hat and pulled out Blair's name. "I got Blair."

"You better not pick a song about grapes." Blair brought two fingers to her eyes and then turned them back around on Liam in an 'I'm watching you' fashion.

"Don't tempt me," Liam grinned back as he returned to his seat.

Puck felt a bit of jealously surge through him and draped his arm around Blair's shoulders to reiterate that Blair was his girl.

Blair didn't notice the ulterior motive of this action and leaned into him while Finn went up to see who he'd get. Blair would have put money down that Finn wanted to get Rachel, but he didn't.

When Finn drew Kurt's name he tried to tell Mr Schue that he didn't think he could do it with another guy and didn't particularly care for the fact that Mr Schue told them the Fates had spoken so the pairing stayed.

Of course, Mr Schue was regretted saying that when it came that Rachel would be paired up with him for the ballad since one of the members were out sick. Finn used his words against him by pointing out that the Fates had spoken and the pairing stayed.

Blair, along with pretty much everyone else in the room, thought it was so funny that Rachel was paired up with Mr Schue and even encouraged it when Rachel suggested the song 'Endless Love'. Blair kinda changed her tune a little bit when she saw how much Rachel was getting into it. Okay, yeah, she knew that Rachel always got into acting out the songs she sang but as Blair watched Rachel moved around the grand piano towards Mr Schue…yeah…that wasn't just acting. As funny as Blair thought this was, she didn't think it was going to end well.

Blair tried to contain her laughter at how relieved Mr Schue looked at the end of the song and got right back to addressing the club. "Yeah, okay, something like that. Let's move on…"

He and everyone else was more than ready to, but based off the smile on Rachel's face she wasn't.

Between classes, Puck leaned back against the row of lockers and looked up in thought. "How come we don't have inside jokes?"

Blair moved her head around the door of her locker to get a better look at him. "What do you mean?"

"You and Liam have your grapes thing. We don't have a thing like that." Puck stood up straight and faced her. "I want a thing like that."

"We have other things, Puck. Really important things." Blair closed her locker and walked down the hall with him. "I've told you things that I don't talk about. That means more to me than an inside joke any day."

Puck hadn't thought of it like that. "So you and Liam are just friends?"

Blair touched his arm to stop him there. "Is that what you're worried about? You think because Liam and I have jokes that I'm going to leave you for him?"

Puck shrugged a bit. "Well, yeah."

Blair reached up and touched the side of his face. "That's not going to happen, Puck. I'm dating you. And I don't plan on that changing any time soon. I love you and that's not something I feel lightly."

Puck leaned down and kissed her. "I love you too. But I still don't like that you're gonna have to sing a ballad with him."

Blair laughed at this, she couldn't help it. "At least you know it won't be 'Endless Love'."

Puck scoffed a chuckle as he placed her hand in the crook of his arm. "Better not." He smirked a bit. "Did you see Rachel's face?"

"I couldn't stop looking at Mr Schue's 'ehhhh she's crazy!' expression." Blair shook her head with a sigh. "That's not going to end well."

Puck happened to agree with her there. "Probably not. But at least it'll be funny to watch."

Blair sat across Doc in his office and drummed her fingers on the chair, not really in the mood to talk. That changed when Doc raised his brow at her. "Don't do that. I hate when you do that. You think you can make me talk by giving me that inquiring eyebrow raise? It's not going to work." She crossed her arms defiantly but that just sent his brow up higher. Blair dropped her head in defeat. "Fine, okay, it works. I don't know how it works, but it works."

"I've had a lot of experience." Doc had been doing this for a long time. "What would you like to cover first?"

Blair wasn't sure so she came out with the first thing that came to mind. "My boyfriend thinks I'm going to break up with him to date another guy in Glee because we have an ongoing joke thing."

Doc simply asked, "And why do you think he's worried about that?"

Blair shrugged her shoulders as high as they could go. "I don't know! I have guy friends but I only ever have one boyfriend. Puck never cares when I go dancing with Mike or bowling with Finn. So why should he care that I joke around with Liam?"

"Perhaps Puck knows something about Liam that doesn't apply to Mike or Finn." This was Doc's suggestion anyway.

Blair stared at him blankly. "Like what?"

This time it was Doc's turn to shrug, and he did so just like she previously had. "I can't answer that."

Blair narrowed her eyes at him because she noticed how he used her own shrug back on her. "You're not a normal therapist."

"I believe you've already established this," Doc answered with a smile. "And besides, I am not a fan of the word 'normal'. After all, normal is but an illusion. What is normal for the spider…"

Blair finished the quote, "Is chaos for the fly. Fair enough."

Doc waited a moment before asking, "Are you worried that there might be some truth in Puck's worry?"

Blair scoffed at that. "No. Just because I have the curse of hating people until I don't and end up falling in love with them doesn't mean that's what's gonna happen with Liam. I with Puck. I love Puck. Liam turned somehow turned into my friend but that's it. There's nothing to worry about."

Doc felt like saying 'she doth protests too much' but that would likely push Blair over her anger edge and he was trying to get through to her without doing that. "Well then, if there's nothing to worry about then there's nothing to worry about."

Blair narrowed her eyes at him again. "You're agreeing with me. I don't like it when you agree with me. There's always some sort of hidden message whenever you agree with me. Can you just tell me this time?"

Doc looked at his watch. "Look at that, our time is up. See you next week, Blair."

Blair got up and grabbed her bag, saying, "I don't like you."

"And yet you dislike me less than your previous therapists, so I consider that a win." Doc waved as Blair left his office and after clearing his notes he asked his receptionist to send in the next patient.

After her appointment, Blair got a call from Rachel about a shopping trip. She didn't really want to go shopping but Sue had a segment for the news that night which meant she wouldn't be home for dinner and thus Blair would have to eat alone – something she didn't want to do. So Blair told Rachel she'd go if dinner was involved. Rachel was down with that.

Before hitting the shops, they stopped and got a quick bite to eat. Now that Blair's stomach was full and her irritability slightly less, they started shopping. "What exactly are we looking for anyway?"

"The perfect gift for Mr Schue," Rachel answered dreamily. "I didn't realize the connection we had until we sang together."

Blair was looking through a display of bandanas and froze when she heard Rachel say that. "You're kidding me, right?"

Rachel looked a bit offended at that question. "Of course I'm not."

Blair blinked at her a few times. "Rachel, come one. Not only is he older and your teacher, but he's married."

Rachel whipped around to look at another display. "Our love can overcome those obstacles." She then got defensive. "And don't give me a lecture about having feelings for a teacher. You told me all about Rick, remember?"

Blair couldn't believe Rachel just threw that in her face. "But I never did or said anything about it and I sure as hell wasn't deluded enough to think felt anything for me back."

Rachel scoffed loudly. "Now you think I'm deluded? I'm starting to think we're not friends anymore."

"You always say that whenever I tell you the truth. I'm not going to lie to you Rachel. Whatever you think is going on between you and Mr Schue isn't." Blair wasn't trying to be harsh but she didn't want Rachel getting hurt and Mr Schue potentially getting into trouble.

Rachel didn't want to hear what Blair was trying to say. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to this. You can find your own way home." She stormed off out of the shop, not caring that she just abandoned Blair because she thought it might teach her a lesson.

Blair stood there with her mouth gaped open in a 'WTF just happened' fashion. She quickly recovered and didn't bother calling anyone for a ride home. Blair was fuming and figured a long would be just what she needed.

Blair was glad it was now the weekend. She spent Friday night with Puck, going to the movies and other…stuff. On Saturday morning she visited Jean for a couple of hours and it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that Liam sent her a text asking what her ballad was going to be. In all honesty…she had no idea, but didn't tell him that. She texted back that he'd have to wait and see and Liam replied with, 'Same with yours then. And don't think you're getting out of doing one because of the group ballad!'.

Blair shook her head slightly with a smile and texted back, 'Wouldn't dream of it', then set her cellphone down beside her on the sofa as she flicked the TV on. Sue came in a moment later with a bowl of popcorn. "Extra butter?"

"Nope," Sue replied seriously as she sat on the sofa beside her. "Extra extra butter."

Blair rubbed her hands together in an 'ooooo' manner before taking a handful.

Sue grabbed a bunch for herself and pointed at Blair, "If you ever tell my Cheerios I eat this I will ground you for a month of Sundays."

"Being grounded I can handle. You taking away this popcorn for all time isn't worth the risk." Blair grinned and popped a piece into her mouth.

Sue laughed at that. "Threatening to take away your favorite food to get you to do what I want? I'll have to keep that in mind."

Blair's face dropped. "What have I done?"

"Given me so much ammo." Sue looked pretty pleased and took the remote to find a movie they could both agree upon. "Have you picked your love song yet?"

"It's a ballad," Blair corrected. "And not all ballads are love songs."

"That doesn't answer my question." Sue didn't look away from the screen.

"No, I haven't. We're supposed to sing something to them to express what we feel about the other person, but I can't think of anything." Blair put a handful of popcorn in her mouth this time.

"The answer is in the assignment, Blair. Think about how the person makes you feel and find a song to convey it." Sue couldn't believe she was helping her out with this, especially since she didn't know who Blair's ballad pair-up was. "It's Glee club, hun. Not rocket science."

Blair was about to say something to that but was cut off when her phone beeped. She saw it was a message from Liam asking her to be his 'plus one' to family dinner the following night because Finn was going to be there and Liam wanted him to invite a friend so the seating arrangements would be even. She texted back with a simple 'Sure' and left it at that, not realizing she was smiling.

Sue, however, did. "If your ballad partner is whoever you're talking to then you've got it made. I don't think I've ever seen you smile like that before."

Blair had no idea what Sue was talking about. "I wasn't smiling any special way. It was just one of my friends."

"Uh-huh." Sue clearly didn't believe her.

Blair didn't want to talk about this anymore and pointed to the TV listings on the screen. "Let's watch Stick It again. I love your commentary more than the movie."

Sue willingly obliged because she enjoyed giving that movie crap as much as Blair liked listening to her do it.

Blair had no idea what she was supposed to wear to dinner with the Fabray family so she ended up picking a knee-length black tea dress with long sleeves and a modest neck line. It wasn't all black, though. It was covered with spaced out purple flowers. Blair never liked the dress but she felt the less attention she drew to herself the better. It didn't stop her from wearing her black combat boots though.

At the designated time for her to arrive to dinner, Blair rang the Fabray's doorbell. It wasn't long before Liam answered it wearing a suit. "Whoa," was his greeting when he saw Blair. "I mean, hi. Come on in. You look great."

"I hate this dress," was her reply as she walked into the foyer.

"Then why did you wear it?" Liam chuckled as he led her into the other room.

Blair answered honestly, "Because the only other dress I had was the one I wore to my parents' funeral." She winced as soon as she said it. "Sorry. That was morbid."

"It was honest," Liam countered. "There's a difference."

"Is this the friend you've been telling us all so much about?" Mrs Fabray went over to Blair and took her hand. "Our Liam can't stop talking about you."

Liam couldn't believe she just did that. "Mom!"

Mrs Fabray smiled. "I think I've embarrassed him a little bit, but he'll survive. He always does. So before dinner starts, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

Blair stood there a little dumbfounded because she wasn't expected to be questioned. "Okay, uhm…" she let out a nervous chuckle. "What would you like to know?"

"Liam tells us that you live with Coach Sylvester. How did that happen?" She sat on the sofa in the living room and tilted her head slightly in question.

"Well, uhm, my parents died and since I didn't have any other family Sue was deemed my legal guardian in their will. She was very close to my parents and I think she's also my Godmother, but that could have just been a joke." Blair cleared her throat because she didn't feel like this was just a dinner at a friend's house.

Thankfully Finn arrived before any other questions could be asked and they were all brought into the dining room.

"Sorry about my mom," Liam whispered as he pulled out Blair's chair for her. "I kept telling her that you're just a friend but I don't think she quite grasps the concept."

"It's fine," Blair replied and added in, "Thanks," as she sat in the seat beside Finn. "I didn't even know you owned a suit."

"It was my dad's," Finn admitted as he looked down at it.

Blair turned her head to show him the butterfly hair stick that was in her tied up hair. "This was my mom's."

Finn kinda liked that they had something like that in common because they could understand each other about the loss of a parent. "Cool."

They stopped their quiet conversation when Mr Fabray instructed them all to dig in.

The meal was nice and conversation was nothing too serious – something Blair appreciated. And after a discussion about how Mrs Fabray cures her own meats, Mr Fabray tapped on his glass, saying, "I'd like to propose a toast." He stood and raised his glass. "The Fabrays are a tight-knit family. I have been blessed with a loving wife, two remarkable daughters, and a stand-up son. My first daughter married a good, Christian man who own his own chain of UPS stores. My son, going after his ambitions and not letting anything or anyone get in his way – I'm proud of you. And my second daughter, our little Quinnie – we are just so proud of her. Captain of the Cheerios. President of the Celibacy Club."

Blair didn't hear what else Mr Fabray was saying because she looked across at Liam who was looking at Finn. She turned to Finn now and he looked like he was going to have a panic attack. Now Blair turned back to Liam who had the same expression on his face – they were both worried Finn was going to tell.

Blair just about jumped out of her skin when Finn shot up into a standing position. She thought he was going to tell Quinn's parents about the baby right then and there but said he had to go to the bathroom instead and went that way.

Mr Fabray thought that was kind of odd. "He does wear a helmet when he plays football, right?"

Quinn laughed, "He's just intimidated by you, Daddy."

Blair picked up her glass of cola and drank a lot of it to keep herself from making any comments.

It wasn't long before Finn returned and with Mrs Fabray's kitchen radio. Now Blair had to say something. "Hey, Finn, what's up?"

Even Quinn was starting to worry a little. "What is this?"

Finn set the radio on the table next to his plate. "Well, we have this assignment in Glee club to sing a ballad. They're all about expressing the things you can't find any other way to say."

Quinn had a bad feeling about this. "Oh, God, Finn, don't. Please, don't."

"This isn't the time or the place for this, Finn." Liam spoke firmly to make his point.

Blair jumped in there, saying, "Finn maybe now isn't the right time…"

Finn wasn't going to listen to any of them. "No. I – I need to do this." He hit the play button and started singing 'You're Having My Baby'.

The more he sang, the more Mr and Mrs Fabray were starting to get the message. Finally, Mr Fabray turned off the music and stood up, looking at Finn like he was about to kill him.

Liam was thinking that was exactly what his father was going to do, so he stood up saying cautiously, "Dad…"

Mr Fabray didn't take his eyes off Finn as he said, "Liam, take your friend home. Your mother and I need to have a talk with your sister and Finn."

Blair stood up from the table, saying awkwardly, "It was lovely to meet you both. Uh…bye." She turned around and booked it for the foyer with Liam right behind her.

Once they were outside, they sat on the steps and looked at each other with expressions that clearly displayed they couldn't believe it. Blair pointed back to the house, saying, "Did he seriously just do that?"

Liam nodded. "Yep. He did." He shook his head incredulously. "I just started to forgive Finn for getting my sister pregnant. My parents aren't going to be so forgiving."

Blair put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Maybe they'll surprise you and hold her tight and tell her it'll be okay."

"That's not how we do things in this house," Liam countered. "If we don't talk about it then it doesn't exist. That's how my parents operate."

Blair wanted to say something else but Finn opened the front door and Quinn came out with him. She got to her feet and faced them. "What happened?"

"They kicked me out." Quinn looked away to wipe her tears.

Liam felt like his blood was boiling. "They can't do that to you." Before anyone could stop him, he stormed into the house.

"Liam, no!" Quinn called out but Blair stepped in her path.

"I'll get him. Okay? I'll get him." Blair hoped that a neutral party would keep things from getting out of hand. She followed the sounds of shouting and went upstairs to find Liam and his father yelling at each other.

"You can't throw her out like she's trash!" Liam shouted at his father. "She's your daughter!"

"Not anymore she's not!" Mr Fabray bellowed. "I don't know who she is anymore but she stopped being my daughter the second she opened up her legs like a little slut before being married!"

"Whoa!" Blair was going to just get Liam and leave but not when he heard Mr Fabray say that. "You're pissed, I get it, but you have no right talking about Quinn like that."

"You have no right being a part of this conversation," Mr Fabray shot back. "This is a family issue."

"Quinn is my friend and that makes her my family." Blair was firm with this standing. "Don't make the mistake and pushing Quinn out of her life because you never know how long either of you will be around. That girl down there is your daughter. She's scared out of her mind and just wants to know that someone loves her – that you love her. If you can't love her through the thick and the thin then perhaps you didn't love her at all." She looked at Mr Fabray, and Mrs Fabray who joined them in the hall, with disgust before going back downstairs.

Liam pointed towards Blair, saying, "What she said," and started going down the stairs but stopped long enough to say, "As long as Quinn's not welcome here, neither am I."

Mr Fabray clenched his fists as he watched his son go and slam the front door behind him.

After what happened that weekend the Glee club didn't want to wait to give their present to Quinn and Finn. Once they were brought to the choir room, Mr Schue informed the pair that their fellow Glee clubbers had a ballad they would like to sing to them to express how they feel.

The opening bars for 'Lean On Me' began to play and before long the entire Glee club sang it to Quinn and Finn to let them know that no matter what, they would always be there for them. Because that's what they felt – No matter what, the thick or the thin, they were they for each other always.

Blair felt that to be true. She didn't think anything could break up or destroy what they all had with each other. While each relationship was different with each person, it didn't matter. They were all connected and it was a bond they could understand.

When the song came to its end, Blair and the others pulled Finn and Quinn into a group hug and didn't let go until someone groaned that they couldn't breathe. Just as they were pulling apart, the bell rang so they had to get to class.

As Blair grabbed her backpack, Rachel came over to say, "You were right, Blair. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before, but you were right."

Blair wasn't expecting that. "I know I'm always the best at making my point, but that doesn't mean I don't care. You are my friend Rachel, but I'm not going to change into the kind of friend you think I should be. This insanity is who I am, reality checks and all."

Rachel knew that too and accepted it. "I know and for the record I wouldn't change you." She linked arms with Blair and walked out of the room together. "I may not like you every once and awhile but I wouldn't change you."

Blair couldn't help herself but to take a jab. "We have that in common. There are times I don't like you either." When Rachel rolled her eyes at that, Blair laughed and Rachel couldn't help but laugh along with her.

When lunch period rolled around, Blair wasn't at her normal eating location of the outdoor stairwell with Liam. Instead they were in the Auditorium because Blair wanted him to hear her ballad.

Blair sat on the piano bench and set up the sheet music. "Don't make fun of me for this pick. I got inspired at the last minute."

Liam sat beside her on the bench and grinned teasingly, "No promises."

She was about to start playing the keys but she wanted to check in first. "Your parents still won't let Quinn come home?" Blair was worried about her and Liam.

Liam shook his head. "No. Our father gave us a half hour to pack and then we left. Finn's mom is letting us stay there until something else comes along." He didn't want to talk about this anymore so he gestured to the piano. "You called this meeting. Hop to it!"

Blair rolled her eyes then started playing the intro to 'I'll Be There For You – the FRIENDS theme-song'. She didn't get through it because Liam put his hands on hers. "Problem?"

"Did you know what song I picked for you?" Liam needed to know this.

Blair shook her head. "No…" she raised her brow, "…Why?"

Liam used both hands to point to the piano keys. "Because I picked this exact same song."

Blair didn't believe him for a second. "You did not."

Liam darted off his seat and went to his backpack. He pulled out the CD, put it in the player, and hit play. A moment later the music for the FRIENDS theme started to play.

Blair laughed because she couldn't believe it. "No way."

Liam hit pause with a laugh of his own. "I know the lyrics aren't perfect, but the…"

Blair finished his sentence with what she thought, "The gist is perfect."

That was exactly what Liam was thinking and he got an idea. "What to sing it as a duet?"

Blair was down with that. "Oh, absolutely."

Liam restarted the music and the two of them just had fun with it as they sang together, not realizing that they were being watched by a jealous Puck in balcony seat.

End Season 1 Episode 10