When It All Begins Again

by MaisyBuke

It's been 23 years since anyone we know has been in The New Directions, and with Marley at the helm, things are about to fall apart if she can't pull a complete turn around and place at regionals. Luckily, some of her old friends are back in town with their kids following in their footsteps! Can Marley save the glee club?

21. Story Of My Life

So… I have a long endnote at the end of the chapter. It's something very personal, and I debated a really long time on whether to tell you guys or not. I'd appreciate it if you read it, but you don't necessarily have to. It might explain a lot about me if you're interested in knowing a few things…

Back to the story though…

Chapter 20 – Story Of My Life

Via and Stella are moving around their kitchen when Sam walks in, twirling his keys in his right hand. "Dad!" Stella smiles and runs over to greet Sam. Sam wraps his arms around his youngest daughter tightly. He didn't see nearly enough of his daughters now that he wasn't living with them.

"Hey Baby!" Sam leans over and kisses the side of her head. Then, he looks over at Via. Things had been a bit frosty between them ever since he'd run into her and her boyfriend. "Are you going to give me a hug, V?" Sam holds his arms open for the girl.

Via lets out a deep breath before walking around the counter and walking into her father's open arms. She half-heartedly wraps her own arms around Sam until he lets her go. "What are you doing here, Dad?" Via asks him when she pulls away, her eyebrows all furrowed up in confusion.

"I'm picking up your mother actually." Sam nods his head once while pursing his lips.

Stella and Via share a glance with one another before looking at Sam again. "For what?" Stella runs through the possibilities in her head: it was too early for a date, and neither of them had done anything to get in trouble at school. "Are you going to a lawyer's?" She asks when she realizes what this could mean.

"No, of course not." Sam shakes his head. "We have a counseling appointment."

"Like therapy?" Via asks.

"Exactly actually." Sam nods his head. "We're trying to figure this out, girls." Sam shrugs his shoulders.

"Figure out how to make things work, or how to break up?" Via bites her lip. She hadn't gotten a single hint from Brittany that she was looking to reconcile with Sam. She also hadn't gotten the feeling that Brittany wanted to get a divorce, but if you thought about things, that's where they seemed to be heading. Her dad wasn't living with them, and most of his things were gone.

Sam looks at both of his daughters. "You know I want to come home girls, just as soon as we're all ready for that."

"We're ready." Stella waves her hand between herself and Via.

Before Sam can say anything else, Brittany walks into the room. When she looks up, she notices the three blondes all looking at her. "Good morning!" Brittany smiles at her daughters. "Sam… It's, uh, good to see you." Brittany does her best to smile at her estranged husband.

"Hey Brit." Sam genuinely smiles back. He missed his wife. He missed his daughters, and he missed being at home with all of them. He was willing to do anything to get his family back to the way it had been before. "Are you ready to go?" He asks her while licking his lips.

Brittany grabs her purse and nods her head. "Yeah." She walks forward and kisses each of her daughter's on the forehead. "You're okay to drive to school right, Via?" The girl had gotten her license, and she was finally able to drive with her sister in the car with her, meaning that she'd be driving them to school from now on.

"Of course!" Via grins at both of her parents. "But, I'm going to Grant's after school. We have that project to work on." She looks at Brittany. Sam's ears perk up at the mention of Grant.

"That's right. Are you going to stay there for dinner again?" Brittany asks.

Via nods her head. "Probably, yeah."

"Then, can Tony bring you home later?" Brittany turns towards Stella. "I have to do some stuff at the dance studio tonight."

"I'm sure he won't have a problem with that." Stella waves her hand at her mom.

"Good." Brittany leans forward and kisses her daughters' cheeks quickly. "Have a good day at school, both of you." She smiles.

"We love you guys." Sam smiles at them while leading Brittany out of the house.

Once the front door closes, Via turns to fully face Stella. "Marriage counseling… that's good, right?"

Stella shrugs her shoulders. "I sure hope so." She breathes out.

Glee!

Later on at school, Adriana runs up to Sophie before grabbing her arm and pulling her into the girls' bathroom. "What is going on?" Sophie asks Adriana.

Adriana checks to make sure they're alone before she turns to face Sophie again. "Can you tell?" Adriana holds her hands out in front of her.

"What?" Sophie asks, shaking her head in confusion. "Look, it's been sort of a weird morning, so you're going to have to be a little bit clearer with me." Sophie lifts her eyebrows at her friend.

Adriana turns to the side and points to her stomach. "Can you tell that I'm pregnant? Have I gained any noticeable weight?" She asks impatiently.

"Oh!" Sophie turns her eyes to focus on Adriana's belly. If she was being honest, there was a bit of a bump there. "I mean… you're showing a little bit." Sophie tells Adriana carefully. She didn't know what exactly this was about, and she didn't want to offend Adriana by somehow calling her fat in any turnaround way.

"No!" Adriana spins in a circle while clutching her head.

"You still look really great, though!" Sophie jumps in and tells her friend. "I can tell you're going to be someone who only carries in your belly." She nods her head in encouragement.

"No, it's not that!" Adriana shakes her head at Sophie. "My mom was looking at me weird this morning. She may have even said something about how I was glowing… I don't know. I was just so freaked out that I really only heard every third word coming out of her mouth." Adriana closes her eyes before running her hands over her face. "I am so screwed." She groans out when she drops her hands.

"Then, you have to tell her, Ade." Sophie steps forward and puts her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You are gaining weight and pretty soon, baggy shirts aren't going to cover your bump anymore." Sophie pulls her lip in between her teeth.

Adriana shakes her head. "My mom isn't like yours, Sophie. She's not going to understand. She's going to kick me out!" Adriana exclaims.

"Maybe not." Sophie shrugs her shoulders. "You don't know, maybe she'll be there for you."

Adriana shakes her head. "Where am I going to go? Tyler and I haven't spoken in months, not that I would ask him for help…" She pauses. "I have nowhere to go."

Sophie takes a deep breath. "Look, I'll go with you after school, and we can tell your mom together. I'll be there with you the whole time."

Adriana just lets out a sigh before nodding her head in agreement. She really didn't have another choice. She had to tell her mother before her growing stomach did it for her.

Glee!

Across town, Sam and Brittany are sitting in their therapist's waiting room. "So, I noticed you asked Via if she was staying at her boyfriend's for dinner again. How much time is she spending with him?" Sam looks over at Brittany. They hadn't said much since leaving the house, but discussing their daughters was usually a fairly safe topic between the two.

"I don't know." Brittany shrugs her shoulders. "She usually eats dinner over there at least a few days a week, two or three." She flips the page in the magazine she was reading.

"Isn't that kind of a lot? I mean, they did just start dating." Sam presses on.

Brittany scoffs under her breath while shutting the magazine and looking over at Sam. "He's a nice boy, Sam, and I've heard that his mothers are lovely people. She's fine."

"How well do you really know him, Brittany? Do you know that he has seven tattoos?" Sam questions his wife, emphasizing the number of tattoos.

Brittany now looks a little offended. "Do you really think I would let Via hang out with anyone I didn't think would be an appropriate friend?" Brittany pauses before thinking about Sam's second question. "And, who cares about the boy's tattoos? That doesn't mean anything! If you remember Joe, aka Teen Jesus, had quite a few when we were all in glee together!"

"This is not the same!" Sam exclaims in a whisper. He was in a public place. He didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention.

"Sam, you're just being overprotective." Brittany tells him while turning back around and re-opening the magazine, letting Sam know he should just drop the subject.

About forty minutes later, Sam and Brittany are deep in their session with Dr. Hunt. "Well, you two have been coming here for a few weeks now. I want to ask you the question that I did that first session." Dr. Hunt looks at both Brittany and Sam. "Do you want to salvage your marriage?"

"Of course." Sam nods his head. "Why do you think we're here?"

Dr. Hunt nods his head while turning to look at Brittany. "And, what about you, Brittany? You've heard what Sam has been saying. You know that's he's willing to do whatever it takes. How do you feel?"

Sam looks over at his wife, expecting that she'll agree with him. He's expecting Brittany to say that she wanted to fight for their marriage, for their family. But, damn, is he surprised when Brittany speaks.

"Honestly…" Brittany guiltily glances over at Sam before looking down and then back up at Dr. Hunt. "I don't know anymore." Brittany lifts her eyes to look at the man she'd spent more than the last two decades with.

Sam's eyes cloud over with confusion. He looks into Brittany's eyes, and it's like he's looking at a stranger.

Glee!

Across town and after school, Rio walks into one of Brittany's dance studios, his gym bag slung over his shoulder. He had convinced his parents and Brittany to let him teach a hip hop class once a week. Dance had more than saved his life so this was his way of giving back and paying that forward. And, as long as his grades stayed up, he could teach his class for as long as he wanted.

When Rio notices Stella and Tony in the corner stretching, he smiles to himself while starting to walk over to them. "Well, this is a surprise." Rio looks at Tony while removing his bag and tossing it aside.

"She dragged me here." Tony nods his head over to Stella while leaning forward to touch his toes and stretch his hamstrings.

Rio lets out a short laugh. "Thanks for the support, Man."

"You know that's not what I meant." Tony sighs while standing up and swinging his arms in wide circles to loosen up his shoulders. "I just mean that since Via ditched Stella again, I told her we could hang out and do whatever she wanted today… so she decided to bring me to a dance class where I'm probably going to make a fool out of myself." Tony playfully glares over at his best friend. "You know, because I have two left feet."

"Well, Regionals are coming up, and you need to dance better." Stella quips back in a sugary sweet voice.

Rio laughs at his friends while noticing a few late additions rush into the class. Rio instantly recognizes Dominic's friend as one of them, the one he'd met the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance. He was pretty sure his name is Isaac. "I'm gonna start class in a few minutes. Are you gonna help me, Stella?" Rio asks over his shoulder while making his way towards Isaac and the girl he'd come in with.

"Of course." Stella smiles back at Rio.

Rio turns his head back to face the front as he reaches Isaac and the girl. They looked alike. Rio guesses that their siblings. "Have you come to pick up some moves for Regionals?" Rio teases when Isaac looks up at him from his stretching place on the floor.

Isaac chuckles at the joke. "Nah, my sister convinced me to come today. Have you been to this class before?"

Rio nods his head with a smirk on his face. "You could say that I'm a regular, yeah."

"So, how is it? Is the teacher any good?" Isaac asks with a sparkle in his eye. He hadn't expected to run into Rio again, at least not until the next show choir competition.

Rio shrugs his right shoulder nonchalantly while lifting his upper lip. "He's alright." Rio looks down at his watch and notices that he only has a minute left before he needed to start the class. "Find me afterwards and tell me what you think, alright?" Rio lifts his eyebrows while tilting his head at Isaac, ready to turn and take his place at the front of the class.

"Yeah, of course." Isaac smiles back and watches Rio's retreating form.

"He's cute!" Isaac's 15-year-old sister, Gracie, muses quietly in his ear. Isaac just turns to look at Gracie with a smirk on his face and a small shake of his head.

"Okay, listen up!" Rio claps his hands to get the class's attention. "Today, we're going to learn a little dance to the song Am I Wrong by Nico & Vinz." Rio can't help but smile a little bigger when he notices that shocked look on Isaac's face when he realizes that Rio is actually teaching the class. "Stella's going to come up and help me demonstrate the dance for you, and then we'll break it down and learn it, step by step." Rio waves for Stella to come up as they both face the wall-to-wall mirror before signaling for the guy in the corner to start the music.

Glee!

Right after school, Sophie pulls up in Adriana's driveway with Adriana right next to her. She let Alina take their car for the afternoon, hoping her sister would go do something and stay away from the house. Adriana just wanted to talk to her parents on her own. Alina being there, and being the perfect daughter, would probably just make things worse.

"Are you ready?" Sophie turns the car off, takes the keys out of the ignition, and turns her body to look at Adriana while taking her seatbelt off.

Adriana's eyes are set straight ahead, looking at her childhood home. She'd lived here since her had moved to the United States when she was only a year old after leaving Russia. "Not really." She lets out a deep breath while leaning her head back against the passenger seat in Sophie's car.

"It's all going to be okay, Ade, no matter what happens." Sophie reaches over and grabs Adriana's hand and squeezes it.

"I don't know how you can say that." Adriana shakes her head. "If they kick me out, things will most certainly not be okay." She turns and locks eyes with Sophie.

Sophie shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know how your parents are going to react, but whatever happens, I'm here for you. And, my mom already said that you've always got our family in your corner. No matter what your parents say, my mom is going to help you, Ade."

"She's not my mom though." Adriana whispers underneath her breath.

Sophie just squeezes Adriana's hand again. "We can wait out here as long as you need. I don't want you to tell them until you're ready."

Adriana shakes her head while reaching down and undoing her seatbelt. "I'm ready now. I just… I have to say it now, or I'm afraid that I never will."

Twenty minutes later, Adriana and Sophie are sitting across from Adriana's mother, Anita.

"Adriana, what is going on?" Her mother asks in a thick Russian accent. The woman had been born, grown up in, and lived in Russian up until sixteen years ago, and seeing as she spent most of her time in the home, her accent never really went away.

"Mama, I have something to tell you." Adriana starts wringing her hands nervously. Sophie just sits beside her friend in quiet support.

"What is it? Tell me. I've got work to do!" Anita waves her arm around the room, meaning she still needed to clean and such.

Sophie looks around the room, and she didn't see a single speck of dust or a flat service that needed to be cleaned. The room looked impeccably clean.

Adriana takes a deep breath, still wringing her hands, before looking across at her mother. "I never wanted to disappoint you, but… I'm… I'm pregnant, Mama." Adriana tells her as smoothly as she can.

"Adriana Viktoria Bernt!" Anita stands up and starts pacing the room. "How could you do this to our family?" The woman, who is in her mid-fifties and rather plump compared to Adriana's slim body type. Her accent seems thicker now, and Sophie has trouble understanding the woman when she speaks.

"I'm sorry!" Adriana stands up and walks over to stand in front of her mother. "I… I don't know what else I can say." Adriana admits almost in tears.

"No." Anita starts shaking her head vehemently. "I did not raise you to be like this. You are not some wild girl!" Anita shakes her hand at Adriana. "You are mistaken. You are not pregnant."

"I am, Mama. I am pregnant, and I'm sorry." Adriana wipes at her eyes to push the tears away.

"You must go." Anita turns to look at Adriana with one hand on her hip. "I want you out of my house!" Anita shouts.

"Mama!" Adriana stands up and steps up to her mother. Anita just turns her head.

Sophie looks between the two, not knowing what to say or do. She didn't even know if there was anything she could say, in the entire English language, that could help this situation. "Adriana, you can come stay with me. I'm sure my parents won't mind."

"Don't be so sure." Anita turns and starts walking out of the kitchen. "Parents don't want loose children."

The look on Adriana's face is one worse than just pain and hurt. She's crushed. She knew she had feared getting kicked out, but there was a part of her that had never believed that it would actually happen.

Glee!

Back at Rio's dance class, the class has learned the dance now and Rio is getting ready to watch the class dance the whole thing out along to the music. "Everybody ready?" Rio turns and looks at all of the people in the room. Some were young kids at 7 or 8, while there were also teenagers, and some young adults in the room. It always astounded Rio how music and dance could bring such a wide variety of people together. "Alright, here we go!" Rio uses the remote in his hand to start the music. "5, 6… 5, 6, 7, 8!" On Rio's count everyone, with Stella in the front to lead people, starts doing Rio's choreography.

I ain't trying to do what everybody else doin'
Just cause everybody doin' what they all do
If one thing I know, I'll fall but I'll grow
I'm walking down this road of mine, this road that I call home

Rio feel so proud to watch everybody dancing the choreography that he came up with. Sure, there were people like Tony who were struggling just slightly to keep up, but that didn't matter. He could see that Tony was trying, but what he really noticed was the smile on his friend's face as he went through the steps, even if he was just a half beat off.

Then, Rio's eyes glide over to see Isaac and his sister doing the choreography, and Rio had to admit that Isaac was a damn good dancer. He wasn't up on either he or Stella's caliber, but he could tell that Isaac could definitely make it as a professional if he wanted to.

So am I wrong
For thinking that we could be something for real
(Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah, oh)
Now am I wrong? (am I wrong)
For trying to reach the things that I can't see
(Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah)
That's just how I feel

Rio stops the music when it passes what he'd choreographed for. He turns his head and smiles at everyone in the room. "Great job, everybody! Really excellent work today!" He encourages them all. "But, that's all we have for today. I'll see you next week." He ends the class. A few people come up to talk to him and ask questions, and as he answers them, Rio can't help the way that his eyes travel back to Isaac, checking to see if the boy is still there. After answering all the questions, Rio smiles at the people around him and excuses himself.

Before Rio can get too far, Tony steps in front of him. "I hate you." Then, he turns his head to look at Stella. "I hate you both."

"Come on, you did great, Buddy." Rio slaps Tony's chest while stepping around his friend and continuing his approach towards Isaac. "Tell him, Stella!" Rio says over his shoulder.

"Somebody has a crush!" Stella singsongs to Tony while they watch Rio walk away towards Isaac.

When Rio reaches Isaac, he crosses his arms and grins at Isaac. "So, what'd you think about the class?" He questions Isaac and his sister.

"You're great!" Gracie quickly exclaims.

"Thank you." Rio nods his head at Gracie while glancing at her before locking eyes with Isaac. "What about you?" He asks.

"I think…" Isaac bends down at lifts his gym bag, which contained his tennis shoes, a water bottle, and a towel, over his shoulder. "… That with you on their side, the New Directions just became a little more intimidating than they were this morning."

Rio nods his head. "You weren't so bad yourself." Rio admits.

The two boys just keep their eyes on one another, like no one else is even in the room. When Gracie realizes that they're not going to break out of it on their own, she loudly clears her throat. "Um, Rio, Isaac and I were going to go get some frozen yogurt." She points between herself and Isaac. "Would you maybe like to join us?" She asks with a sweet smile on her face.

"Yeah, that sounds great." Rio grins back at her before turning his eyes back to Isaac, who's looking at his little sister with a slight blush on his cheeks.

Glee!

Over at Grant's that evening, Via and Grant are sitting in his living room. They had done their homework for about a half hour before one of his moms, Naomi, had come home with Royce and Gemma, Grant's 12-year-old sister. Now, Via and Grant are just playing with Royce.

He was learning how to crawl now, and every time Grant would set him down, Royce would crawl to Via. "That's right! You know who your favorite is." Via nods her head at the baby while picking him up and sticking her tongue out at Grant.

"I'm his big brother. Of course he likes me better." Grant walks over and holds his arms out for Royce, who turns and burrows into Via's chest.

Via lets out a short laugh. "Well, I'm cuter." She shrugs her shoulders while rolling her eyes up at Grant. "Us cute people have to stick together." She smiles down at Royce in her arms.

"Cute?" Grant shakes his head at Via. "I wouldn't call you cute, V. That doesn't even begin to cover it." He whispers to his girlfriend before leaning down and slowly kissing her lips.

"You and your charm…" Via shakes her head while pulling away from Grant.

Grant lets out a chuckle while grabbing Royce up in his arms. "You know you like it." He winks over at her.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Via holds her arms out and tilts her head towards Grant.

Right as Grant is about to answer, his other mother, Emily walks into the room. "Hey Honey." She stands on her tiptoes and kisses Grant's cheek. "And, hi to you too, Via!" She smiles over at the young blonde. "Are you going to be joining us for dinner again? I believe Naomi made some kind of new chicken recipe." Emily shakes her head. Her wife had a new obsession with cooking, and she was always trying out new recipes.

Naomi comes into the room, shaking her head. "It's caprese grilled chicken with balsamic reduction. There's also asparagus and roasted potatoes."

"Oh wow!" Via looks thoroughly impressed. "That sounds fancy." She looks over at Grant.

"Oh, it's nothing!" Naomi waves her hand. "It's basically just chicken, mozzarella cheese, a tomato slice, and some basil. Stay! I made plenty." She smiles over at Via.

"You know it'll be good." Emily encourages Via.

Via bites her bottom lip while looking over at Emily. The older woman had short chocolate brown hair to perfectly match her puppy-dog brown eyes. Both of Grant's mothers were warm and inviting women. "Okay, sure!" Via nods her head.

Grant looks over at Via and smiles. He was happy to have her here with his family. And, if he was being honest with himself, he liked it when Via stayed for dinner. When she did, he felt a sense of clam having the knowledge that she had actually eaten. She never ate that much, and she always picked around and pushed the food around on her plate. But, she did eat. That was an improvement as far as Grant could tell.

In the weeks since they'd started dating, Grant had noticed Via put on at least a few pounds, and he couldn't be more proud of the girl for it. She still had a long way to go to be considered healthy, but weight was weight as far as he was concerned. And, she was already looking healthier. Her skin wasn't so shallow, and the bags under her eyes weren't so deep either. Her blonde hair had even gotten a little bit of its bounce back.

Twenty minutes later, Grant's entire family and Via are all sitting at the table, enjoying their meal. "I hope your parents don't mind that you spend so much time here with us." Emily's voice brings Via's eyes back up from looking down at her plate, pushing around a few of her potatoes.

"Oh, um, my mom's okay with it." Via nods her head. "She isn't much of a cooker, although she does try." She does her best to smile at Emily.

"What about your father? Does he cook?" Naomi asks while taking a bite of her asparagus.

"Uh… Sometimes, I guess." Via shrugs her shoulders. She really didn't want to talk about her parents. Although, just thinking about them made her realize that she didn't know how their appointment went earlier. She'd have to text Stella after dinner and ask her if she had heard from either of their parents.

Grant senses Via's discomfort and sees the way she sets her fork down. He'd noticed that Via's parents were definitely her stressors. He wasn't surprised, but he didn't know how to work through that with Via given that he had his own family issues he'd yet to deal with. "So, um, what did the doctor say at Royce's appointment earlier? Does he get to take the helmet off soon?" He asks, trying to change the subject. Royce was usually a good topic changer. His mothers could talk about their baby boy for hours.

"Well, his skull is definitely responding to the helmet and forming into a better shape." Naomi nods her head. "But, it will probably still be a while until he's done with the helmet, you know, permanently." Naomi does her best to answer. She wanted to be optimistic, but no one really knew when or if Royce would ever get to take the helmet off forever.

"Do you have any siblings, Via?" Emily asks the younger girl. She'd been over at their house quite a bit, but neither she nor her wife really knew that much about Via yet.

"Um, yeah. I have a younger sister. Her name is Stella." Via smiles, thinking about Stella. The girl really was her best friend. She didn't know where she'd be without that crazy girl.

"Oh Stella! That's a pretty name." Naomi nods her head. "How old is she?"

"She's only a year younger, fifteen. She's great." Via's smile widens. "We're really close actually."

Naomi nods her head in response. "I'm sure you two kept your parents busy when you were younger. With Royce crawling now, we're always chasing after him, and there's only one of him!" She jokes.

"You know, I think your parents should come for dinner one night." Emily smiles over at Via. "With you and Grant spending so much time together, it's probably best that we all meet. They should know who you're spending all your time with, and it'd be nice to know your family, too."

"Oh…" Via opens her mouth to respond, but she doesn't know how to. She hardly thought having her parents in the same vicinity would be a good idea.

Grant sets his napkin down after wiping his mouth. "Mom… I think it's a little too soon for that." Grant looks over at Via, trying to help her out.

"Nonsense!" Emily waves her around in front of her. "This doesn't have to be a big deal. It's just two families eating a meal together, right Via?" Emily smiles over at Via again.

"Um, I guess I can ask them." Via nods her head before looking over at Grant and letting out a deep breath. "I mean, you've met them both already."

"Good!" Emily exclaims. "How does Thursday night sound?"

Grant just looks over at Emily with a scowl on his face. She should have run this idea by him first. Instead, she had blindsided not only him, but Via too! When Grant glances over at Naomi, he can see that she's also a little surprised by this development. At least he only needed to be angry with one of his mothers.

Glee!

The next morning, Sophie walks down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her hair is still up in a messy bun while she's just wearing her normal pajamas. After she's poured herself a cup of coffee, she's surprised when she turns around and sees her parents standing there. "Good morning." She tells them before moving around them and taking a seat at the table, bringing her legs up and tucking them underneath her.

"Is Adriana up yet? We wanted to talk to her." Quinn asks her daughter.

Sophie shakes her head. "I don't think so. I could hear her up most of the night… crying." Sophie frowns. She didn't know how to help her friend. Quinn and Puck were absolutely okay with letting Adriana stay with them, and helping her where they could, but they also wanted to speak with Adriana's family themselves. They understood that the emotion must have been really high yesterday. Both Puck and Quinn were hoping that Adriana's parents had time to settle down and think about what they were doing.

Puck takes a deep breath. "Why don't you go get ready for school, Soph. Your mom and I need to talk about some stuff."

"Sure, no problem." Sophie untangles her limbs from underneath her and stands up, holding her coffee mug close to her mouth as she walks away.

Puck watches Sophie's retreating body until she starts climbing the stairs. "What are we going to do, Quinn?" He asks. "Can we really handle another teenager, a pregnant one, on top of our two?"

"We have to be there for her, Puck." Quinn tells her husband. "Don't you ever think about what would have happened to me if people didn't take me in when I was in her situation?"

"Of course!" Puck nods his head. "But, this is different. I know you. You're not just talking about letting her stay here, Quinn. You're going to get attached to Adriana, and I'm worried about what that will do if and when she has to make a decision about her baby."

"She may not make the same choice we did, Puck." Quinn slowly says while turning and getting herself a cup of coffee. It really was too early to be having this conversation with her husband, but if he was determined to have it, she at least needed some caffeine.

Puck shakes his head while pressing a hand to his temple. "What happens if her parents don't let her go back home, but she still wants to keep the baby? And, how are you thinking she's going to pay her hospital bills, Quinn?" Puck isn't trying to be cruel, but these were things that he and Quinn needed to figure out. And, the first step was figuring out whatever role they'd be playing in this girl's pregnancy.

"Puck, all I know is that Sophie convinced her friend to come to us for help, and that's exactly what we're going to do." Quinn purses her lips before acknowledging her husband's concerns. "The first thing we need to do is go have a conversation with Adriana's parents."

Puck nods his head in agreement. "I've got some time this morning. You?" Quinn just nods her head back at Puck, confirming that she could definitely go talk to Adriana's parents this morning.

Within the next hour, Quinn and Puck are parking their car on the curb in front of Adriana's house. They'd gotten the address from Sophie earlier. They had wanted to talk to Adriana about this visit, but decided against it at the last second to keep her from getting her hopes up.

Puck takes off his seatbelt and looks at Quinn. "Are you ready for this?" He asks.

"Ready." Quinn nods her head once before unbuckling her own seatbelt.

Quinn and Puck quickly make their way up to the front door, and Puck knocks loudly on the door. Within a few seconds, the door is opening to reveal Adriana's mother. "Whatever you're selling, I don't need." The woman tells Sophie and Andrew's parents in her accent.

"Oh no, no." Quinn stops Adriana's mother from closing the door. "You're Anita Bernt, right? Adriana's mother."

"I am." Anita warily nods her head. In her head she questions who these people at her door are.

"I'm Noah Puckerman, and this is my wife, Quinn." Puck pauses to see if the names will register with Anita, but she shows no recognition. "You may know our daughter, Sophie. She's friends with your Adriana." Puck continues.

Quinn sees the realization dawn on Anita's face, which immediately turns sour. "We're actually here to speak with you about Adriana." She pauses, but Anita says nothing. "She's okay, by the way. She stayed with us last night."

"Why is she any of your concern?" Anita asks while placing her hands on her hips. "Unless you have a son who impregnated her?" The woman questions them.

"Oh no." Puck shakes his head quickly. "Our son is not the father." Puck was quite proud to be able to claim that neither of his children had followed in his footsteps and become a teenage parent. He wouldn't love them any less if they had, but he was still proud that they had bucked that particular trend, at least so far.

"We think we might have some insight and be able to help you and your daughter, actually." Quinn uses that old, patented HBIC fake smile of hers while looking at Anita. No matter how old she became, that was one thing she'd never lose – how to get people to do what she wanted them to do. "Can we come in?"

Anita reluctantly lets the couple into her home and leads them to the living room. She takes a seat in an old chair the family had had forever while Quinn and Puck take a seat on the couch. "Do you also have a pregnant daughter?" She asks them. When the William McKinley graduates shake their heads in response, Anita scoffs under her breath. "Then I don't know what insight you have."

"Actually…" Quinn starts. "I was in Adriana's position when I was her age. Pu… Noah and I were in high school, and we found out that I was pregnant. We were actually sophomores at the time." Quinn smoothes out the top of her jeans. She didn't think that Anita would care for her husband's nickname.

"No wonder you see nothing wrong with what Adriana has done." Anita shakes her head while quite obviously judging Quinn and Puck. "My husband and I raised her right. She should not have done this."

Quinn quietly takes a deep breath. This was exactly like dealing with her father back when she'd been pregnant with Beth. "Adriana getting pregnant doesn't reflect on your parenting whatsoever, Mrs. Bernt." Quinn formally tells the other woman. "Adriana is a young woman…"

"She's a child!" Anita interrupts heatedly. "She is a child messing around with adult things!"

"With all due respect, she is not a child." Quinn replies back, not backing down. "She is only a year away from graduating high school, and she's nearly 17-years-old. She's also pregnant, and she's really going to need her mother's help."

Anita shakes her head again. "She should have listened to her father and I, as well as what the church taught her."

"My family was religious, too." Quinn nods her head while touching her chest quickly. "My family very nearly let that religion and those beliefs ruin our relationship. In fact, I haven't spoken to my father in over two years because he couldn't get over what happened over twenty years ago!" Quinn was getting upset. She didn't want to see what happened to her to happen to another young girl. "If you want to have a relationship with your daughter, you need to see passed whatever mistakes she's made in your eyes and support her!"

"Your father was right." Anita stands up quickly. "I think it's time you and your husband left now. I have work to do."

Puck slowly stands up and looks down at his wife who is still quietly sitting. In fact, Quinn is staring at Anita, and Puck can see that his wife is practically seething with anger. "Quinn…"

Quinn stands up, not looking at her husband yet. "I'm not sure that you care, but Adriana will be staying with us. Unlike you, I don't abandon people in their times of need, especially not a girl my daughter's age." Quinn grabs a piece of paper out of her purse and slams it down on the coffee table. "There's the address in case you're interested in contacting your daughter." Quinn stands back up and turns on her heel and starts leaving the house. "PUCK!" Quinn yells at her husband when she's nearly reached the front door and doesn't hear her husband behind her.

In the living room, Puck looks at Adriana's mother. "I know that this is a difficult situation for everyone, but the baby that Adriana is carrying is part of your own flesh and blood, your family. If Adriana does choose to have her baby, do you really want to miss out on all that comes with it?" Puck asks Anita before turning and retreating out of the room, leaving Anita alone with her thoughts.

Glee!

The next evening, Via walks into the kitchen at her house to see Brittany standing in front of the open fridge. Via peeks around the open door, and she realizes why Brittany is just staring. The fridge was primarily empty. The only thing in it was a couple of eggs, a head of lettuce, and some milk, along with random condiments. "I'm thinking we should order a pizza." Brittany looks over at her oldest daughter.

"Whatever's fine with me. Stella might want to grab a burger and milkshake, though." Via mentions.

"Your sister and milkshakes…" Brittany playfully rolls her eyes. "Well, we could go get something or go to that little diner across town that you girls used to love."

It takes everything in Via not to roll her eyes, but she was about to ask her mom for a favor. Giving her attitude wouldn't help. "I think Stella has a lot of homework. I'll just run out and get whatever we want in a little bit." Via says sweetly.

"Thanks Hon." Brittany smiles over at her daughter. This was the most pleasant conversation they'd had in a while.

Via takes a deep breath, knowing she just has to ask her mom for what she wants. "So, how would you feel about not cooking tomorrow night?" Via asks. She'd butter her mom up with the positives, and she'd close the deal before letting Brittany in on the most important detail – that Sam would be there, too. He had already agreed to the whole dinner. Via had called him earlier, knowing that her father would be easier to convince than her mother.

"Are you going to cook for us?" Brittany asks, impressed at her daughter's thoughtfulness.

Via slowly shakes her head. "Grant's moms actually invited us over for dinner. They'd like to meet you, and for you to meet them."

"Oh!" Brittany stands up straight. This was a surprise, especially considering that Via and Grant had just started dating. She didn't even think that they were that serious, yet. "That sounds nice actually. Sure, I don't see why we can't do that." Brittany nods her head.

"Okay, good. I'll text Grant right now." Via wipes out her phone from the back pocket of her high waisted shorts and immediately sends her boyfriend the confirmation text. Then, she looks back up at mom. "Dad will pick us up here at 5:30." Via quickly informs her mother while turning to walk out of the room.

"Woh, wait! What about your dad now?" Brittany walks forward and grabs her daughter's shoulder while pulling her back to face her.

Via lets out a deep breath. "Emily and Naomi, Grant's moms, want to meet and have dinner with both of you." Via avoids making eye contact with Brittany. "And, I already texted Grant saying that we'll all be there so you can't back out now, Mom."

"Olivia Claire Evans…" Via cringes a little bit at her mother's use of her full name. "You should have told me the whole truth when you asked!"

"I know that, but I didn't think you'd say yes if you knew that Dad was going to be there." Via takes a seat at the counter, knowing she was in for the lecture of her life at this point.

Brittany walks over and stands across from Via. "So, you manipulated and tricked me into it. Via, that's not how you treat people."

This time, Via does roll her eyes. "And, the way that you've treated Dad the last few months is so fair?" Via asks her mother. "You should really practice what you preach, Mom."

"I have not manipulated or lied to your father!" Brittany agues back. "We are going through a really rough phase in our marriage right now, and I have been honest with him throughout all of this." Brittany takes a deep breath. "The truth is that being around him, when I'm so confused, isn't exactly the best thing for either of us right now."

Via pushes back on the counter before turning and getting off the stool she'd been sitting on. "You haven't even given him a chance to fix things, either. That's not exactly fair to him, or to me and Stella!" Via shouts at her mom while leaving the room and quickly making her way up to her room.

Glee!

"So, how was the big date?" Stella asks when she takes a seat next to Rio in their English class on Thursday morning.

Rio shakes his head. "It wasn't a date." He turns his head to the right and looks at Stella.

"You went to go get a yummy frozen treat, did you not?" Stella questions her friend, leaning over and setting her forearms on Rio's desk.

"Yes, with his little sister, too. It was most definitely not a date, Stel." Rio explains slowly.

Stella lets out a dramatic sigh with a little roll of her eyes. "But, you like him, right?" Stella asks, interested again. Rio just starts getting a wide-set smile on his face. "Oh, you really like him!" Stella exclaims excitedly while leaning forward again.

"Stella…" Rio starts shaking his head.

"Good morning, class!" The teacher announces at the front of the room.

Stella grins over at Rio. "We'll brainstorm ways for you to ask him out later." She whispers over to Rio who inwardly groans as he sinks down in his seat. He has wanted to let this thing with Isaac happen naturally. That definitely wasn't going to happen now.

Glee!

Adriana is walking with Sophie down the halls, her books pressed to her chest tightly. "I can't believe that your parents are letting me stay with you guys on a more permanent basis." Adriana shakes her head, trying to wrap her mind around the family's utter kindness and selflessness.

"You heard my mom." Sophie shrugs her shoulders. "She was in the same spot as you are, and she wouldn't have made through if it weren't for her friend Mercedes's family taking her in." Sophie reaches over and squeezes her friend's shoulder. "Face it, you're kind of like an honorable Puckerman now. Welcome to the family!" Sophie grins over at her friend while shrugging her shoulders. "Hopefully that's a good thing…" She sighs out jokingly.

"As far as I can tell, your parents are better than mine. They took me in, not kicked me out." Adriana looks down at the ground sadly.

Sophie squeezes her friend's shoulder again. "Your family will come around eventually. I know it."

"I hope so." Adriana tells her friend when she looks back up at her.

Glee!

That night, Via is sitting the car outside of Grant's house with her parents. They had been having a thinly veiled argument during the entire drive over, and Via was so ready to get out of the car and to get this dinner over with. She couldn't stand being around her parents when they were together anymore. "Can you two please just be on your best behavior for a couple of hours, and try to pretend that you still love each other, please!" Via begs her parents before anyone can get out of the car.

"Via…" Sam turns to look at his daughter in the backseat. "Of course we still love each other." Sam pointedly looks at Brittany, hoping he's not lying to his daughter.

"And, we're the adults, remember? We know how to act." Brittany reminds Via.

Via takes a deep breath. "This is important to me because Grant is important to me." Via takes a second to look each other parents in the eye. "Please, just don't argue in front of him and his family." Via reiterates. Truth be told, even if Sam and Brittany promised her, Via wouldn't even trust them. This was a terrible idea, and she shouldn't have agreed to it, but it was too late too back out now.

"Via, we'll be fine. Everything is going to be alright." Sam reaches back and squeezes Via's knee before turning back around as all three get out of the car.

Once she's standing outside, Via looks up at the sky and sighs. "Here we go." She whispers under her breath before joining her parents at the front door. She knocks, and only seconds later Grant opens the door. Via smiles widely at him, so thankful to finally see him. "Hey!" She quickly leans in and hugs him. "This is not going to go well." She whispers in her boyfriend's ear.

When Via pulls away from the hug, Grant shares a tight smile with his girlfriend, letting her know that he wasn't anymore excited about this dinner than she was. Then, he turns his attention to Via's parents. "Hello Mr. & Mrs. Evans. It's nice to see you both again." Grant moves out of the doorway so the two adults can walk in.

Emily and Naomi walk into the room just as Via gets hers and her parents' coats hung up. "Oh hello!" Naomi smiles at Sam and Brittany. "I'm Naomi, and this is my wife, Emily. We're so excited to meet you both." She walks forward and pulls Brittany into a hug before anyone can say anything. Then, she does the same to Sam.

"Naomi, let them introduce themselves." Emily smiles over at her wife before looking back at Sam and Brittany.

Via speaks up first. "This is my mom, Brittany, and my dad, Sam." Via introduces them. She figures that the less either of her parents speak, the less opportunity they have to get angry at one another for whatever asinine reason they come up with in that moment.

"It's so nice to meet you both!" Naomi smiles at Sam and Brittany.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Sam smiles back while shaking Naomi's hand when she offers it. "I hear Via's been spending quite a bit of time over here. I hope she's been a good guest."

"Oh, she's great!" Emily places her hand on Via's shoulder while smiling down at her. "We love that she and Grant are dating. She's such a good influence on him."

Grant clears his throat, not wanting anyone's thoughts to linger on that last part of his mother's sentence. "So, should we go to the table? The food smells great, Mom." Grant turns his eyes to look at Naomi.

"Thanks Honey." Naomi smiles at her son before looking at Sam and Brittany. "I wasn't sure if you were vegetarians or anything, so I made an eggplant lasagna. I hope that's okay?" She asks Brittany and Sam.

"Oh, we're not vegetarians." Sam laughs out, thinking about all the many nights he and his family of carnivores spent grilling. Stella had always especially loved helping Sam man the grill. He supposed that might have been where her love of fire first started, but he couldn't be sure of that.

Brittany looks over at Sam with a tight smile on her face. "The eggplant lasagna sounds delicious though." She wonders if Sam meant to come off as rude at Naomi's thoughtfulness.

"Of course it does." Sam nods his head immediately. He honestly had meant nothing by his comment.

Via looks at Grant and rolls her eyes up at him. The night was only just beginning, and her mom already couldn't keep from pointing out Sam's missteps.

Less than thirty minutes later, the two sets of parents and the young couple are seated around the table. Naomi and Emily are sitting at either end while Via and Grant are sitting on one side with Sam and Brittany across from them. "… That's how we got our little Royce." Naomi finishes telling the story of how she and Emily had decided to adopt their third child. "He's such a light." She comments on the little boy, who was at her Emily's parents' for the night with Gemma.

"Did you adopt Grant as a baby, too?" Sam asks before taking a bite of his salad.

"Oh, no. We didn't meet this one until he was a toddler." Emily answers back while smiling over at her oldest son.

Sam nods his head while chewing and swallowing the food in his mouth. "So, did you know your biological family then?" Sam looks across the table at Grant.

Grant's muscles tense at the question. He hated thinking about his biological parents, although technically he'd never even met his biological father. The man had left before he was born. "Uh, I guess. I was little so I don't really remember a lot of it." Grant answers vaguely.

Via looks over and into her boyfriend's eyes, giving him a small smile, hoping to comfort him as best she could with their parents in the room. "That must be tough for you." Sam keeps going.

Brittany looks over at Sam, her eyes wide. "You're getting kind of personal, Sam. Maybe we should take a step back." She smiles at him before looking around the table. She could see that this was a subject that was clearly making not only Grant, but both Naomi and Emily, uncomfortable.

"I was just making an observation." Sam shakes his head slowly.

This was how things had gone all night. Sam would ask a question or say something, and then Brittany would undermine him and practically scold him in front of everybody. This particular time Via was kind of thankful because she knew that Grant didn't like speaking about his past, but even with this exception, Via was getting fed up with her parents. She just wanted one night without the bickering and tension.

"How would you feel if people probed into your past, Sam?" Brittany has that tight smile on her face again as she looks over at her estranged husband. "I doubt you'd like telling stories about some of the things you went through at Via and Grant's age."

Sam lets out a scoff under his breath at Brittany's subtle reminder of his past. She could be talking about the fact that he had been homeless for almost an entire year, or the fact that he'd become a male stripper to help support his family. "Point taken." He glares over at her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Grant sees Via take a deep breath as she sets her fork down beside her plate. He lets out a quiet breath, knowing she's hitting her breaking point.

"That's all I'm saying." Brittany nods her head, picking her fork back up and moving to take a bite of her dinner.

Via looks over at Emily and then at Naomi, and both women look uncomfortable, like they don't know what to say next or if they should even say anything at all. Via bites her bottom lip as she reaches down and starts wringing her napkin through her hands. Grant reaches over and takes one of her hands in his, giving it a gentle squeeze in the process. Via keeps her eyes on her plate, not being able to look up at Grant.

Sam starts speaking again before anyone else can. "It's always about what you say, right, Brit?" He asks her, all of the emotion from this week just hitting him at once. "I mean, who cares about what I want or what the girls want?" Sam glances over at Via before locking his eyes on his wife again.

"Sam, this is not the time…" Brittany looks around the table.

Now, Via feels like she needs it. What she really needs is that control back, but since she can't get that at the moment, she takes the very next best thing. She looks up at Grant, and he sees the tears forming in her eyes. He clenches his jaw shut while his free hand tightly grips the glass of water in his hand. He's about to open his mouth and say something, but Sam beats him to it.

"Of course it isn't." Sam shakes his head. "It's always about you, Brittany and what you want. It always has been!" Sam stands throws his napkin down before standing up. He looks at Naomi before shaking his head and looking at Emily. "I'm sorry for the outburst, but I'm not sure that this was such a good idea given what's going on with our family right now." Sam locks his jaw before looking down at his wife. "The truth is that neither Brittany or I should have agreed to this dinner, but we wanted to do it for Via because she asked…" Sam looks across the table at his daughter. He's thinking that she shouldn't have asked this of either him or Brittany, but he'd never dare say that. This wasn't her fault. Sam knew what he had been agreeing to, and it was his fault for saying yes in the first place. "I think we should go, don't you?" Sam looks down at Brittany.

Without a single word, Via slides her chair back and runs out of the room, tears already streaming down her face. She couldn't believe that her father had just done that or that her parents had made such a colossal mess of the entire night.

Grant stands up, the chair legs loudly scarping along the floor as he shoves his chair back behind him. He throws his napkin down, and it's clear as day that he's beyond pissed. "Can you two really not see what you're doing to her?" He practically shouts at Brittany and Sam, his hands clenches into fists at his sides.

Naomi recognizes that her son's temper is flaring up worse and worse with each second that passes. "Grant…"

"They need to hear this." Grant turns his eyes to his mother for only a brief second before looking back at Via's parents. "You're destroying your daughter!" He exclaims.

"Excuse me?" Brittany stands up, taking much offense to a relative teenage stranger judging her as a mother. "What would you know about our relationship with our daughter?" She crosses her arms over her chest.

"Are you kidding me?" Grant asks Brittany seriously. "Do you not see what a ghost of herself she's become this year?"

Sam shakes his head. "That makes absolutely no sense. Via is the same girl she's always been!" He was proud that he and Brittany had raised two girls with such strong personalities. Neither girl seemed to let anyone dim the light they both had within them.

"She's a fraction of the girl she was even six months ago!" Grant yells at them while waving his hand in the direction that Via had run off in. "She probably doesn't even weigh 90 pounds anymore. She barely eats anything! Can you honestly not see that?" Grant takes a deep breath, shaking his head at Via's parents in the most judgmental and condescending way either parent had ever seen. "You, the two people who are supposed to love her and care about her more than anyone else in the entire damn world are too busy bitching at one another to take notice that she's sick! She needs help, and it's becoming really clear to me that I'm not going to be able to give her the help she needs, not until you two grow the hell up and start actually acting like her parents for once!"

Naomi and Emily just sit in their seats, not knowing what to say or do. They both knew that Grant was too angry to approach at this very moment. He needed time to cool off, and while they had noticed that Via was extremely thin and had their suspicions about her health, it was something else completely to have those suspicions confirmed by their own son, who had just admitted to trying to help her. They were proud of him for caring and trying to help, but they also knew that the kind of help she needed was beyond Grant's capabilities.

Brittany turns and looks at Sam, and she sees the same look on his face that she probably has on her own. Guilt.

Sam shakes his head. All he's thinking about is what he's done. Via and Stella meant the most to him in the entire world, and he'd failed them both in so many ways. "I'm sorry." Sam looks up into his wife's eyes speaking directly to her on his failure before he turns to face Grant and his mothers. "I need to go find my daughter. Um, thank you for dinner." He tells them absentmindedly, already turning to leave the house.

"I'm really sorry about this… about everything, really." Brittany looks up into Grant's eyes briefly before turning and following her husband out of the room.

Glee!

The next morning, Brittany walks up the stairs and quietly knocks on Via's bedroom door. Via doesn't say anything, but Brittany hears movement on the other side so she opens the door and slowly peeks her head inside. She's surprised to see Stella sitting down on Via's bed while Via is walking around the room.

Last night, after running out of Grant's house, Via had run to a nearby park and stayed there for over an hour before she'd gone home. She saw both of her parents' cars in the driveway, but she'd ignored them both when she entered the house and had just made her way up to her room.

Now, Brittany had the chance to really look at her daughter for the first time since hearing what Grant had said the night before. Of course, now she did see it. Via really was a fraction of the daughter she'd once seen. Instead of having the strong athletic build Brittany had come to expect, Via's body was thin and frail. The muscle was gone and was replaced by pale, tight skin just covering the bones that were left where the muscle used to be. While Via had once had the most beautiful and envious curves, now she was all flat surfaces and sharp angles.

"What do you want?" Via turns and crosses her arms at her mother, still angry over what had happened the night before.

"Your father and I would like to speak with you. Both of you." Brittany looks over at Stella, who looks almost just as angry as her sister. Via and Stella had always been like that though. If one was angry, you can bet that the other was standing with her in solidary.

Via lets out a deep breath while shaking her head. "We have to get ready for school."

"I called the school. They know you'll both be late." Brittany opens the door further and waves her daughters over. "Let's go."

Via turns her body and looks over at Via, and the two lock eyes. The last time their parents had told them they needed to talk, they had learned that their dad was moving out. Were Sam and Brittany getting a divorce now? Stella stands up, walks over, and grabs Via's hand in her own before the two girls turn and start following Brittany downstairs and into the living room.

When they get there, everyone sits in the same seats they had when Sam and Brittany had told their daughters about the separation. Via and Stella still have their hands interlocked, trying to support each other as best they could given they didn't know what to expect.

Sam takes a deep breath before he starts speaking. "All of us, both as a family and individually, have been going through a really difficult time this past year." Sam starts with a nod of his head, acknowledging everything that's happened within the family. Stella had only come home from juvie a little over a year and a half earlier, and then everything started becoming heated and tense between Sam and Brittany. Before anyone knew it, Sam was moving out, Stella was acting out, and apparently, Via had stopped eating somewhere in between all of that.

"We need to do better." Brittany nods her head while looking over at Sam. "And, your dad and I know that it has to start with us."

"What does that even mean?" Stella asks, looking at her sister, seeing that Via is just as confused as she is, before looking at Sam and Brittany.

Brittany takes a deep breath while folding her hands together in her lap. "It means that we realize now that we should be focusing on you two, not us." Brittany shakes her head.

Sam takes over. "We have let so much slide, and we never realized that we haven't been noticing what's going on with both of you lately."

"We're both fine." Via tells her parents. "We just want things to go back to the way they were, before this year and all the fighting." Via speaks up for both she and Stella.

"You're not fine." Sam lifts his eyes from the floor while shaking his head at his daughter. "And, the fact that none of us noticed that until now is just… I'm sorry, V." Tears start forming in Sam's eyes.

"What are you even talking about?" Via shakes her head, completely confused.

Brittany stands and walks over, squatting down in front of her daughter and grabbing ahold of the hand not holding Stella's. "Honey, Grant… He made us see what's been going on last night, and your dad and I are so sorry that we didn't see it ourselves. We should have, and there is no excuse for that."

Via stands up, barely missing knocking her mother over, and rips her hands out of both her mother's and sister's hands. "I'm. Fine." She enunciates each word. "Whatever you think you know, I've got it handled." Via looks between her parents. "All I need is for you two to work things out. Then, everything will be okay."

"No, it won't." Via's surprised to hear her sister's voice say that. "You weren't eating when Dad lived here either." Via turns to face her sister fully, not knowing what to say to her.

"You knew?" Sam asks while looking at Stella.

"I'm not blind." Stella looks at both of her parents. They felt the sting of that one, but neither parent says anything about it. Then, Stella stands up and steps in front of her sister, grabbing both of Via's hands and holding them in her own tightly. "You've always kept my secrets, and I felt like I owed you that, too." She pauses while biting her bottom lip. "But, your secret is hurting you, and you need to stop, or rather, you need to start eating regularly again. I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore, V."

Via takes a deep breath as she swallows, trying to alleviate the dryness in her throat. "Don't you think I'm trying?" She looks into her sister's eyes.

"I think you're trying because Grant wants you to." Stella answers honestly. She had thought a lot about this, and Stella was happy that her parents knew now. She had wanted to tell them, but she also hadn't wanted to feel like she was betraying Via either. "You need to try for you though."

"What does Grant have to do with any of this?" Brittany asks, wondering what the boy's role in her daughter's disorder was.

Stella looks around her sister and at her mother. "He's been making her lunches everyday for the last few weeks. He brings them to school each day, and he sits with Via until she eats at least some of it." Stella looks back at Via now. "And, that's why you eat dinner at his house so often, isn't it? So he'll know that you ate because you know that will make him happy."

Via looks down at the ground and bites her lip. She hadn't ever considered that she was only doing this to make her boyfriend happy, but then again, it made sense. Via didn't feel any better to see the new pounds on her body. In fact, it made her feel worse. She realized that when she was alone, she didn't eat at all. It was only in her boyfriend's presence and for his benefit.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy you're eating." Stella lets herself smile at Via before reaching up and wiping some of her own tears away. "But, if you don't get better for you, it's not going to matter. You'll just go back to not eating when you decide that making Grant happy isn't worth it anymore."

"When did you get so smart?" Via asks Stella as she begins to cry.

Stella shrugs her shoulders while dropping Via's hands and reaching up and wiping her sisters tears away before enveloping Via's small frame in a tight hug. "I just know my sister." Stella whispers into her ear.

"Things are going to change." Sam stands up and wipes his own tears away. "Both of you are going to be attending therapy sessions because…"

"We don't handle our emotions very well." Stella scoffs out under her breath, a sarcastic smile on her face as she reaches up and wipes some more of her own tears away.

"Pretty much, yeah." Sam laughs out. Leave it to Stella to lighten the mood. "And, Via, you're going to need to see some doctors, probably a nutritionist, too." Via just nods her head. She knows now isn't the time to argue.

"Your mom and I are going to continue our counseling as well." Sam nods his head. "But, I don't want to lie to you, girls… I don't know what's going to happen." Sam looks over at Brittany, who is now sitting in the chair Via had been.

Brittany looks up into Sam's eyes. "The truth is that we don't know if we're going to stay married." Via and Stella hold each other tighter. This wasn't a huge surprise, but it wasn't something they wanted to hear either. "But, we're… I'm going to try harder." Brittany looks over at her daughters.

"We've talked about it, and we're going to spend more time together as a family." Sam clears his throat. "I'm not moving back in, but we're going to have dinner together at least twice a week. You both need to know that no matter what happens, we're all always going to be a family. No matter what, that fact stays the same. It's just what type of family we look like that might change."

"Okay." Both girls nod their heads in unison. "Can you give us a minute, Stel?" Via asks, feeling like the big family discussion was coming to an end.

"Yeah, of course." Stella nods her head and lets go of her sister.

When Stella's back upstairs, Via clears her throat while wiping her tears away again. "I just…" Via takes a deep breath, finding it harder to say the words than she'd originally thought. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that there's something wrong in me that is… That I'm like this." Via's tears start falling again, and she just lets them. She wraps her arms around her midsection, feeling every single rib beneath her arms. "I know… I know I should eat, but I just can't. And, I don't want to… But, I don't want to be this problem that you have to fix."

"Oh Baby…" Sam walks forward and wraps his arms around his oldest daughter, feeling more like a failure than he ever had in his life: worse than when he had failed the SATs, worse than when he'd had to become a male stripper, and worse than he'd felt the last few months as a bad husband. "You're not a problem, and there's nothing wrong with you." Sam whispers before leaning down and kissing the top of Via's head, still holding her close.

"We love you, Via, no matter what." Brittany walks over and hugs Via from the other side. "We don't want to fix you, Via. We just want to help you get better, but… This isn't trouble or a problem. This is us caring about you because you're our daughter."

"I don't want to disappoint you." Via tells them through her tears.

Sam takes a deep breath, sniffling while he does so. "You could never do that, Via."

Sam looks over at his wife, and he sees the tears in her eyes, too. He knew that Brittany was feeling just as bad as he was. He knew that they both felt like they had somehow broken one of the most important people in the world to them, but that was something they'd deal with and talk about later –in therapy. Right now, they just needed each other. Sam opens his arm wider and wraps it around Brittany's shoulder, too. He reaches his hand up and wipes her tears away, too. "We're going to get through this, all of us, together." Sam tells both girls.

Brittany looks up at her husband with grateful eyes for the first time in a long time.

Glee!

Later on that afternoon, the glee club is sitting in the choir room, all talking about the long week they'd had. Of course, some students were a bit more forthcoming with information than some others were.

"So, he did ask you out?" Stella smiles over at Rio excitedly. She was still holding Via's hand on the one side, but Stella was looking at her other side.

Rio rolls his eyes. "Yes, Isaac asked me out. We're going on a double date with Soph and Dominic tonight." He relents and gives Stella the information she wanted.

"That's adorable!" Stella smiles gleefully at him.

In the back row, Tony looks over at Joey. "Dude, where's your mom? She's like ten minutes late to rehearsal."

"I don't know." Joey shrugs his shoulders.

"Hey New Directions!" Marley greets her students when she finally walks into the choir room. "I have a little surprise for all of you. Call him a guest if you'd like…" She grins widely.

Everyone looks at the door expectantly, wondering who could be walking through the door. They're all shell-shocked when they see who it actually is. "Guests don't really stay though, do they, Mom?" Nathan, as healthy as ever, smirks over at his mom after he notices the dropped jaws, wide eyes, and smiles on his friends' faces. He can't help but take a second look over at Sophie, who has a wide smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye that Nathan hadn't seen directed his way in a very long time. He can still see the pain in her eyes, too, but he can see joy and kindness in her eyes, too.

Before he knows it, Nathan is surrounded by all of his friends who are gathered all around him, welcoming him back and asking him how he was feeling. "Alright, alright!" Marley shouts, getting everyone's attention. "Let's give Nathan some room to breathe."

Everyone takes a seat but Alice and Joey. Nathan pulls his twin into a hug first before letting him go and looking at Alice, who has happy tears in her eyes. "Oh, Baby Sis…" Nathan gushes before wrapping his arms around her shoulders tightly. "I'm alright now." He whispers to her before kissing the top of her head.

"So, you're back, for good?" Tony asks his friend.

"I'm back, Baby!" Nathan exclaims happily before letting go of Alice and clapping his hands together loudly once. Then, he pauses and gets a little more serious. "Before we start though, I have something to say to all of you…" Nathan takes a deep breath. "First, I'm sorry for everything I did the last few months. I was a dick to most of you, and… Well, I just plain screwed up. I did something really stupid, and I wish that I could take it back." Nathan looks around the room before letting his eyes land on his ex-girlfriend's. He holds Sophie's gaze for a couple seconds before looking away again. "But, I also want to thank you all for that video you made me while I was in rehab." Nathan looks down as he gets a little choked up. "I didn't deserve any sort of kindness, support, or friendship from any of you, but uh… I mean, it means everything to me." Nathan blows out another deep breath while the tears in his eyes become visible to everyone. "Knowing that I had your support and friends to come back home to really helped me when I was feeling really low and like nothing would ever be good again. So, really, thank you. I wish I had better words, but for right now, thank you is going to have to be enough while I show you that I'm not that same guy anymore." Nathan nods his head while looking at all of his friends again.

"Awe…" Tony gushes before standing up and enveloping his friend in another hug, leading the whole club to follow suit.

Glee!

Less than an hour later, the glee club is getting ready to perform a new number in the auditorium they'd just been practicing that whole rehearsal. Sophie is standing backstage when she notices Nathan approaching her. "Welcome back." Sophie genuinely smiles up at Nathan.

"Thank you." Nathan nods his head with a wide smile. This was the first time he'd been able to approach her, just one on one, all afternoon. "So, I have that special apology for you." He tells her.

"I thought you might." Sophie nods her head. "Now, that you're out of treatment."

Nathan nods his head slowly, looking down at the ground, before looking up into Sophie's eyes again. "I really am truly sorry for everything that I said and did to you, Sophie. Everything I said that day at your house was a lie. Of course I still love you, and there's no way in hell I was ever better off without you." He pauses while trying to find the right words to say. "And, I think it should go without saying that you're not a whore, and all that stuff about me making you who you are… Well, that's bullshit." Nathan shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair. "I can't believe I even said that stuff." He sighs.

"I'm surprised you even remember it." Sophie admits to Nathan. "And, it's okay. I forgave you a long time ago, Nathan."

"It's definitely not okay, Soph." Nathan steps forward and takes one of Sophie's hands in his own. "Regardless of how much I absolutely love you, it's not okay to speak like that to anyone… But, especially not you." Nathan slowly shakes his head from side to side again. "Never you."

"Nathan…" Sophie starts, but he interrupts her.

"I know you're still with Dominic, and I'm going to respect that." Nathan bites his lip before letting go of Sophie's hand. "But, I was wondering if you'd do me a favor?" He starts smiling at her.

Sophie lets out a dramatic, deep breath, starting to smile again. "Why do requests for favors always follow apologies?" Sophie shakes her head teasingly.

"I need some help catching up in my classes." Nathan tells Sophie. "If I don't get the work made up by next Friday, they might hold me back a year." Nathan licks his lips, feeling vulnerable. He knew that Sophie could say no, that she had every rite to, but he was hoping that she wouldn't. "You know me and how my brain works. If anyone is going to be able to get me through all this stuff so quickly, it's you. Joey did volunteer to take over the math lessons though given the math nerd that he is…" Nathan shrugs his shoulders and waits for Sophie's answer.

In her head, Sophie weighs her options, knowing which one she'll choose all along. She knows she'll have to make Dominic okay with her decision, but that doesn't deter her nonetheless. "Of course I'll help you, Nathan. I want you to get back on track with everything." Sophie nods her head.

"Thank you." Nathan tells her honestly before leaning over at kissing her cheek in a grateful, friendly gesture. "I'll see you out there." Nathan nods his head towards the stage before walking away.

As the music starts, Nathan walks out from stage right, slowly. He stops in the middle of the stage.

When the days are cold
And, the cards all fold
And, the saints we see
Are all made of gold

Nathan turns and looks at Stella who is walking out from stage left. She walks over and joins him in the middle of the stage.

When your dreams all fail
And, the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood's run stale

Via starts singing next, following Nathan's path from backstage, stage right to the middle of the stage. When she reaches Nathan and Stella, Nathan wraps his arms around both girls, hugging them tightly as they each wrap an arm around his back.

I wanna hide the truth
I wanna shelter you
But, with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide

Tony and Adrian walk out from backstage, one on each side, and join their friends in the middle. Tony wraps his arm around Stella's back while Adrian does the same with Via.

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

As Tony and Adrian get done singing, the curtain pulls back to show the rest of the glee club, who is now singing the chorus of the song, everyone together. The club is arranged on the bleachers, but they slowly step down in synchronicity and form a semi-circle while Tony, Stella, Nathan, Via, and Adrian step back and join their friends in the semi-circle.

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

As the chorus ends, Joey steps forward to the front of the stage and starts singing while everyone else moves around and makes two straight lines behind him.

Curtain's call
Is the last of all
When the lights fade out
All the sinners crawl

Joey moves over and steps back into Via's spot just as she steps forward and begins singing again.

So they dug your grave
And the masquerade
Will come calling out
At the mess you've made

When it's his turn to sing again, Nathan steps over and reaches his hand out, which Via takes. He playfully twirls her into her new spot in the formation as he begins singing.

Don't wanna let you down
But, I am hell bound
Though this is all for you
Don't wanna hide the truth

Rio and Austin step forward and start singing now and the entire club moves and walks to one side of the stage, standing in two vertical lines there, each tapping their feet along to the beat of the song.

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

Rio and Austin walk over to join the rest of the club just as the two lines spin and trade places in smooth movement as everyone starts singing again.

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

Adriana steps out of the line closest to the center of the stage and walks to the middle, stopping dead center and looking out at the empty auditorium as she sings.

They say it's what you make
I say it's up to fate
It's woven in my soul
I need to let you go

Sophie walks out of the same line as Adriana had and joins her friend on stage. She takes ahold of Adriana's hand in hers and squeezes it tight, smiling at her friend before looking out at Marley in the audience at the director's table.

Your eyes, they shine so bright
I wanna save that light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how

While Sophie holds her last note, the rest of the glee club starts singing the last chorus of the song. She joins them after the first two lines of the chorus. Everyone forms one line before they walk around Sophie and Adriana in a quick circle. As the song starts coming to an end though, they start walking towards the sides of the stage.

When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide
Don't get too close
It's dark inside
It's where my demons hide
It's where my demons hide

At the end of the song, the New Directions are standing in one long straight line, all looking out at Marley at the director's booth, and they're all holding hands with one another. They were each other's support system, and they always would be. They were one unit, and they were ready to take on whatever came at them.

And, with that, another chapter comes to a close…

So… it was a LONG chapter, but I thought it was okay still. Leave me a review & let me know what you thought! Outfits for "Demons" will be posted on the tumblr shortly. (:

UPDATE! I forgot to add that I'm posting a video on the tumblr that is the choreography from Rio's class. A lot of the choreography will be from the same choreographer, Matt Steffanina. He posts A LOT of his routines on youtube, and I'm obsessed. If I could dance or had any sense of rhythm at all, I'd want to dance like him and his partner. Like I said, I'm posting the video on the tumblr. Check it out! (:

-Songs Used-
Nico & Vinz – Am I Wrong
Imagine Dragons – Demons

On another topic completely, I wanted to sort of discuss something with you all. A while back, as you all know, I had to take a break from writing because I had some things happening in my life that I had to take care of. The truth is that I suffer from an eating disorder. It's one of the reasons that I've tried to be as truthful as I can with Via's storyline in this fic. Although my ED is a little different than Via's, it does come from the same sense of loss of control as well as other insecurities I have developed throughout my entire life. This is something that I've struggled with since I was a small child. I can actually remember the first time that I went the entire day without eating or drinking a single thing besides water. I was in the fourth grade then. Unfortunately, it was the first of many. It's been a lifelong battle for me, and I have good times and bad times. Right now, I've been doing good for a while now, months actually. I don't say any of this to gather sympathy or anything like that. I don't want pity, and I don't need it. I just feel like that talking about it might give somebody else the courage to ask for help if they're going through anything similar. A lot of people don't understand eating disorders and the hold they have on people. People with eating disorders are often looked down upon, and I hate that. It's one of the reasons that it's taken me so long to speak about mine in public. Only my closest family members and my best friend have known up until now. But, I'm done with that now. I'm not hiding anymore, and this is just a part of my life. I just wanted to say something to all of you now because I did take that break, and because like I said, I'm not hiding it anymore. I have some other problems too, like anxiety and insomnia, but now that I'm working extremely hard on my ED, the other things don't seem so bad. They're sort of getting better, too. So, if you're reading this & you struggle with anything, whether that be an eating disorder or anything else, don't be afraid to ask for help! Getting help when I did very likely saved my life, and it was the best thing I've done so far in my life. Okay, this is the end of my little… whatever you want to call this. If you made it through this whole thing, thank you for reading! I appreciate it. (: