"Instrumental Glory"

21. Mission Evans

April 2012 – Lima, Ohio

When Artie had told Puck about how he'd reached out to Gemma, the way he'd done it, he'd found something almost qualifying of the word pride in his former tormentor's face. They had already patched up the crack in their already tentatively formed friendship, but this put a nice finishing coat on the whole thing, and no crack could be distinguished at all anymore.

Now they had a new task on hand, and they would see to it with all the power in them. They were going to convince Sam Evans that there was such a person called the Doctor, from a world that was not this one.

"So how do we do it?" Artie asked as the pair of them waited outside school that afternoon.

"We tell him about what I went through?" Puck suggested.

"Why you?" Artie frowned.

"Look, no disrespect here, but if you tell him you met an alien, he'll probably think this is just you, being a geek," Puck explained. Artie tried to argue about that, but he knew when he had to give in and agree he had a point. "But if I go and tell him about how I met one and went through time on his ship and all that, well, he might believe it more. I have no reason to mess with him about something like that."

"Okay, maybe," Artie agreed. "But we might have a problem anyway. I tried to tell him about some of this, a couple months ago, and it didn't end well. The minute we bring it up again…"

"Fine, then let me go on my own."

"Hey," a voice called to them, and they looked up to see Sam was headed their way.

"Too late," Artie muttered.

"What are you guys waiting out here for?" Sam asked, looking back to the school as though he expected someone else to come around.

"You…" Puck started to say, and Artie added to the response, speaking at the same time.

"You wouldn't want to hear about it."

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Because it's about the Doctor," he revealed, and just as Sam was closing his eyes for a beat, remembering what had happened three months before, Puck turned to look at him.

"Dude, I thought we said I'd be the one talking to him about this."

"I know, but…"

"Wait, so now he's got you pulled into this, too?" Sam looked to Puck.

"He didn't pull me into anything, I met him, the Doctor," Puck turned a frown at him. Artie looked at Sam, and he thought for a moment maybe his spur of the moment idea would pay off. He'd just had this thought like maybe Sam would believe Puck more if it came off that Puck hadn't meant to tell him. The way he'd said it, it had sounded exactly like what it was. It had sounded like the truth, his truth.

"You did?" Sam asked. He didn't sound entirely convinced, but then he was still standing there, wasn't he? They might have been on to something.

"I'm not going to talk about this out here, not while my rep isn't completely tanked," Puck shook his head.

"Let's start moving that way," Artie nodded off, away from the school, and after a few minutes they had distanced themselves from the school. It was still entirely possible that Sam was only letting them talk and bury themselves further into ridiculousness, but it could also be that he was opening himself to hearing them out, which could lead to his believing them, and then joining their side of it all.

As they went, Puck shared his story, and Artie made it a point not to interrupt him, no matter how much he might have wanted to. Once he was finished, they'd know what the next step needed to be. As stories went, Puck's was a good one to hear, although sometimes he thought it might have sounded like he was borrowing from Terminator and a bit of Back to the Future. If Artie hadn't known that everything he said was true, he might have thought that. Then something happened that almost made Artie's hope swell up with potential. Sam looked at him and asked him a question.

"So you both met this guy?"

"Yes," Artie nodded. Puck looked like he was about to say something, and Artie had a good feeling that this something would be 'the Doctor was a woman when Artie met her,' and he cut him off with a pointed look. Once they had a better hold of Sam as being one of them, then they could clue him in on regeneration and the finer details of Time… Lordship.

"And of all the planets that are out there, apparently, out of all of time, he managed to meet two guys from the same town, the same school, years apart?" Sam went on. Artie and Puck looked to each other.

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Artie admitted. Sam stopped for a moment, sighed and absently touched his once broken nose.

"Alright, look, I… I'm not saying I don't believe any of this… Not saying I believe it either… I just need to think about it for myself."

"Yeah, sure, dude, whatever works for you," Puck insisted.

They'd let their 'target' walk away after that. They were more than happy to give him some time to think, if it meant that they could pull through with a win for their strange little team.

"Weren't we supposed to do this with Blaine?" Puck had a thought as they turned back for the school and Puck's car.

"I'm pretty sure the girls have that one," Artie shrugged.

"Oh, okay," Puck nodded, then smirked after a moment.

"What?" Artie asked.

"We're so going to get our guy before they do," he presented a fist for bumping, and Artie stared at him for a moment, almost too surprised to be on the receiving end. "Come on, don't leave me hanging," Puck insisted, and Artie bumped his fist.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)