Hey there! Here's the second chapter of today's double update! I hope you enjoy! Just like promised in the previous chapter, Kitty, Wade/Unique, and Ryder make their decision on whether or not to join the New Directions for the Lima portion of the reunion. What will they have to say on this matter? Read on and find out. (Also: I apologize in advance if any of you dislike what happens, I just believed that what occurs in this chapter for these characters would be logical turns of events at the time I wrote this from what had happened in Season 4).

Once again, I do not own Glee.

Chapter 21:

A Mixed Bag

Kitty Wilde sighed as she sat down on the couch in her luxurious L.A. apartment, once again reading the invitation that had been sent to her by none other than her boss's old friend, Finn Hudson, who had coincidentally also served as co-director of the glee club that she and her boss had been members of during her high school years.

She sighed again as she remembered her first year as a member of the New Directions, grimacing as she remembered how much of a heartless bully she'd been. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was almost positive that not even Quinn had gone so far as to rig a person's clothing to make that person think he or she was gaining weight. She shuddered at the memory; for she knew now from hindsight that this particular bullying tactic against Marley had been one of the cruelest things she'd ever done.

Even as she had that particular thought, she remembered how she'd also been plenty cruel to many of the other students at McKinley high as well as those who were in the New Directions alongside her. Even Jake had ended up having enough of her cruelty to the point that he'd broken up with her. This of course, had fueled her into being extra cruel to Marley.

Eventually, she had become good friends with all the New Directions members after her bitch attitude had been toned down to a considerably less cruel level by legendary McKinley High playboy alumnus, Noah Puckerman, commonly known as Puck, and half-brother of Jake. Still, the guilt of some of her more cruel antics plagued her to this day, and her malicious prankster ways sometimes still surfaced; a case in point being how she was willing to stick her nose into her boss's personal business with the letter that he himself had received from Finn three months ago.

On the subject of her boss, she still remembered very clearly how later in her sophomore year, she and Artie had thought that they'd been developing romantic feelings for each other. Of course, over time, despite some fun get-togethers between the two of them, it hadn't taken very long for either herself or Artie to move on after Artie's graduation from McKinley High and first year at the New York City film school he'd been accepted into.

Of course, Artie hadn't been the only boy at McKinley that she'd been the objection of attraction for, or had been attracted too for that matter. She remembered how early on in her junior year, she had dated Jake even though she hadn't really actually been all that romantically interested in him anyway just for the fun of dating one of the hottest guys at McKinley High School. Later on, after getting her attitude toned down and accepting Jake's budded relationship with Marley, she had at one point also found herself starting to like Ryder when he had confessed to having once been sexually molested while at a very young age; an experience that she herself was able to relate to. In fact, she had gotten to like him even more when he had actually felt sympathy for her and believed her instead of laughing it off or not believing her like most of her friends at the time, and even her own parents, had done.

On the subject of Ryder, she remembered how bitter she'd felt after Ryder had turned her down for his online love interest, "Katie." But even as she remembered that incident, she remembered how perfectly willing she'd been to comfort him when he'd learned the horrifying news of how the she-man Wade "Unique" Adams had been the one behind the catfishing of Ryder and how she'd been partially responsible for convincing Ryder to rejoin the New Directions in time to start practicing for Nationals that year. She'd even become a close friend of Ryder's long after Artie's graduating from McKinley High, and had remained a close friend of his for a long while after graduating despite the fact that Ryder was living in Cincinnati.

At the memory of what was going on with Ryder's life these days, Kitty sighed again as she remembered how early on in Ryder's relationship with Marissa Fitzgerald, whom he'd first met in high school when he'd thought that she was "Katie," and who had eventually become his girlfriend a few years after his graduating from college with a successful football scholarship, she had not been at her most polite of stages. She grimaced as she remembered how mean and bullying she'd been to Marissa out of jealousy over Ryder, and how her antics towards Marissa had eventually caused Ryder to angrily berate her for how she was treating his girlfriend.

She still occasionally had nightmares about the incident, for she couldn't think of anything that had terrified her more than the indescribably furious look that had been on his face and how tensed up his body had been when he'd stormed his way between her and Marissa, shouted at her angrily, and publicly called her a series of insulting rage-fueled names that had left her stunned by how extensive his vocabulary had become since high school.

Immediately after Ryder had finished his rage-fest against Kitty, he had promptly packed up his things he'd brought along for his friendly visit to her at the time and stormed out of her apartment without even saying goodbye. Marissa had followed soon afterward, terrified that Kitty might continue her bullying now that Ryder had left and knowing that she'd be perfectly capable of calming Ryder down.

Kitty sighed once more as she remembered the way things had gone since. Sure Ryder and Marissa had eventually forgiven her, and she herself had even been one of the two chief bridesmaids at their wedding that had followed five months later; but even now that thirteen years had passed since the incident, the friendship that existed between her and Ryder still was no longer as close as it had used to be. And now that she thought about it, perhaps it was better the way it currently was, for she knew now from looking back on it that in her jealousy, she had crossed a very fine drawn line, and had allowed her emotions to cloud her judgment and sabotage her friendship with Ryder. Now, with Ryder married to Marissa, it would probably still be very awkward and painful for the three of them to meet up together in the same place, which was what now brought her to her current situation with being invited to the reunion that Finn had just invited her to.

She sighed as she remembered her time in the New Directions under the leadership of Finn. She had to admit that the awkward, but lovable alumnus of McKinley High was a very nice person, and that she deserved to repay him for his tolerating her by joining him and his other New Directions friends at the reunion. After all, he must have really considered her as his friend if he'd gone so far as to put in the needed effort to find out what her mail addresses were and send her an invitation.

Still, despite how much she knew it would be the right thing for her to do for Finn by joining him and his friends at the reunion in Lima, she was still very much reluctant to do so. "After all," she said to herself "for all I know, Ryder could be there, and he might even bring Marissa." After all the years she'd spent trying to recover from her damaging incident with Ryder and Marissa 13 years ago, she still didn't feel like she was ready yet to reawaken the pain of what had happened by seeing them again. And Ryder wasn't the only person she was afraid of spending an overly large amount of time with over the coming days.

Kitty sighed as she thought of Marley, Puck, Jake, and Artie. Sure, she and Marley were pretty close friends nowadays, but they still tended to awkwardly dance around and avoid discussing the subject of how unhealthy their relationship had been when they'd first gotten to know each other, and Kitty felt as if she could use just a little more time to fully come to terms with what she'd done before she'd feel comfortable with visiting Marley in person anytime soon. She also remembered how Jake also tended to feel uncomfortable around her as if he were still subconsciously afraid that she might try to sabotage his relationship with Marley and steal him away, and she honestly believed that he didn't deserve to have to feel insecure in his own relationship when it now appeared as if fate had truly destined him and Marley to be together. She also knew that it would be very awkward for her to be in the same area as Puck considering how they'd once dated before Puck had eventually broken up with her soon after his moving into the University of Lima as Finn's roommate without actually being a student there, and she was not willing to face up to the matter again. Finally, she'd seen how wary her boss had been when he'd seen the look on her face as she'd handed him Finn's invitation for him and had danced around the subject of what had been in the letter. With that in mind, she had a feeling that Artie was probably feeling as if he were in need of a break from her and hoped that she might not come to Lima with him.

Eventually, Kitty looked at the letter one more time, sighed, and put it down before heading over to her room to get ready for bed. "Oh well," she said to herself, rubbing her hands through her gilded blonde hair. "I guess I'll have to see if I'm ready for all this when the reunion in New York City takes place."

. . . . .

"Unique" Adams was having the time of her life working at . She smiled as she thought of how popular her work had become despite the fact that she was black, and a transgender at that. Even her boss, her long time high school idol, Kurt Hummel, had to admit that her work was pretty impressive. In fact, despite how he'd never actually said such a thing out loud, she had a feeling that he probably considered her second to no one other than himself. She chuckled as she had the thought, for she was perfectly fine with being in second place against Kurt Hummel.

As she thought about her boss, she sighed in content as she thought of how happy he'd been about his upcoming extended vacation to Lima, Ohio in the coming New Year and the chance to hang out with his many friends from the New Directions glee club alumni that he'd spent the last few months chatting on about. Being a very close business associate of her boss despite her status as an intern, Unique knew how hard her boss continued to work day after day in his job as CEO of ., and she believed that at this point, he'd more than earned the right to have a vacation in his old home with all his friends.

Unique unconsciously pulled her own invitation from Finn out of her handbag and looked over it once again as she took a brief break from her work. She sighed as she thought of how much Finn must have truly considered her a friend of his in order to go so far as to invite her to come join him and the rest of his New Directions friends in Lima for a New Directions reunion that he himself had set up. And she certainly did consider him a good friend. After all, he had been one of the first at McKinley High to consider her female persona as an actual person rather than just a mere performer alter ego of her masculine self, Wade.

As she remembered how considerate Finn had been in allowing her to be cast as Rizzo in the school's production of Grease that year, she smiled as she remembered how much fun it had been to see her best friend Marley performing her heart out on the stage alongside Jake, Ryder, and everyone else in the show.

Her smile faded when she remembered Ryder. Sighing, she placed the invitation back into her handbag and leaned back in her office chair as she remembered how badly things had gone between her and Ryder after he'd found out about her being the one who'd been catfishing him. Ever since Regionals that year, their friendship had never been the same again. Admittedly, with some coaxing from Marley, and surprisingly Kitty, combined with his missing them and his other friends in the New Directions, he had eventually rejoined the team a few weeks later. Unfortunately, in regard to her, Ryder had more or less kept his word. Throughout his time back in the New Directions once more, he had rarely ever said a single word to her regardless of what persona she had taken for each day, and he'd made it very clear how he didn't trust her anymore. And that was really saying something considering how naturally trusting Ryder was. Whenever he'd been around the glee club members, he'd made a point to position himself as far as possible from her; and preferably nearby Marley, Jake, or Kitty.

As if to add insult to injury, while Finn and Mr. Schuester had agreed to try to help her and gotten Ryder to tone down his grudging attitude by a peg or two, even they had agreed that she more or less really had only herself to blame for the way Ryder was treating her. After all, she had been the one who had tried to get him to like her through use of a lie rather than mustering up the courage to do it the honest way. In fact, even after she had finally come clean, all her efforts at building up her disguise and getting Ryder to like her romantically had still proved to be all for nothing when Ryder had almost instantly told her that she and him had nothing between them; and deep down in her heart, she knew that what they'd had between them had truly been nothing but a lie.

Finally, she then remembered how, ironically, the very person that she'd pretended to be while posing as "Katie" had later become Ryder's girlfriend 9 years after the incident and had become his wife exactly five months after their becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Unique sighed in sadness as the memory of Ryder's marital status resulted in her remembering how in a deliberate payback for what she'd done, Ryder had made a point to not only "neglect" to invite her, but to not even tell her that he was getting married. In fact, Unique had only found out about it when she'd received a call at work from Marley, who had promptly told her how much fun she was having at the reception and that she wished that Unique could have been there, all the while completely in the dark about how her friend had been unaware that Ryder was even getting married in the first place.

Eventually, Unique reopened the document she'd been working on in regard to her current project, desperate to find some way to distract herself from the thought of Ryder and how wonderful his life had turned out to be without her being involved in it. Unfortunately, not even her work could now get thoughts of Ryder out of her head, for the sight of the dresses caused her to subconsciously remember how beautiful Marley and Kitty had looked in the deep purple bridesmaid dresses they'd been wearing in the pictures from the wedding they'd sent her, and how stunningly breathtaking Marissa had looked in her pure silver-white wedding dress to the point that she'd looked like a goddess that far surpassed Unique in beauty.

And the men's clothing did no better, for the sight of them caused her to remember how handsome Ryder had looked in the pitch black velvet suit he'd worn at the wedding and how immeasurably happy he'd looked alongside Marissa in the pictures of them together, which just happened to be the proper description for nearly every single picture from the wedding with Ryder in it. And finally, the memory of Ryder's happy face in those pictures reminded her how much the wide smile and blindingly bright light in his eyes only served to reinforce even more deeply how he would never have looked that happy with her.

Unable to concentrate, Unique reluctantly closed the document for her project once again. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself under her breath. She knew that the right thing to do would be to go to the reunion that Finn had set up and get the whole unpleasant business over with. Still, she was very uncertain as to whether or not she truly felt ready yet to face Ryder after all this time, and especially with Marissa in the area, for she knew that Ryder would almost certainly make sure that Marissa was with him everywhere he went just to discourage any obsessed fan girls, and to likely once again rub in her face how he didn't need her in his life.

Unique was jarred out of that train of thought when she heard her boss's voice outside her office. She looked up from her computer and saw none other than Kurt himself standing outside the door with his back to her whilst on the phone. As Unique watched, she heard her boss say, "I know Isabelle, I'm still not all that uncomfortable with having to face Blaine on the matter of his proposing to me 22 years ago, but now's as good a time as any. Besides, Rachel needs to escape from that psychopath as soon as possible. Don't worry, I've been keeping her safe and sound in my apartment, and I even dropped by her apartment for her to grab all the stuff she needed from there that wasn't already in my apartment. Trust me, we're going to have the time of our lives at this reunion with all our friends, and yes that includes Blaine as well as Finn and all the others. At the very least, all sixteen of us from my senior year will be there according to what Finn told me and Rachel. I have to go; I have to attend a meeting with some of my associates in a few minutes. I'll call you back with more information about my work and the reunion as soon as I get the chance." Upon finishing his conversation, Unique saw Kurt hang up his cell phone and proudly stride down the hallway to where his upcoming meeting was taking place.

As she watched her boss leave the area directly in front of her office, Unique sighed as she realized just what Kurt had told his former boss. Here was her boss, in a most unpalatable situation with his ex-boyfriend, yet willing to go back and face the matter head on alongside all his other friends. She had idolized him and his friend Mercedes since her high school years. Why couldn't she be as brave now as her boss was? "Then again," she thought to herself, even after the proposal incident, her boss and his ex-boyfriend, Blaine, had remained on relatively friendly, albeit icy, terms. Ryder, meanwhile, had constantly been on very vindictive, angry, and distrustful terms with her ever since he'd rejoined the New Directions. Still, her boss had considerable bravery to so boldly face up to a situation very similar to one that she herself couldn't even muster up the courage to want to even talk about with her best friends.

She sighed, for like it or not, she knew that she would never get herself the courage she'd need to face up to Ryder just yet, and would just have to hopefully already have it by the time the New York City phase of the reunion came around. After all, since she lived in New York City, maybe it would be easier for her if she let Ryder and Marissa come to her so that she could finally get her unpleasant memories regarding him out of her system for good and finally allow herself to move on and accept how Ryder's dreams of a happy life had come true without any need of her influence. And deep down, she knew how Ryder truly was a good man who deserved happiness in his life, even if it meant he had to receive it from Marissa, the beautiful, yet honest, young woman who'd now proved without any reasonable doubt that she was truly the love of Ryder's life, and had been right by Ryder's side for the last thirteen years as he had continued to move on miles ahead of Unique.

. . . . .

Ryder sighed as he gazed at the invitation that Finn had sent him in the mail three months ago for the 27th time while sitting at the kitchen table. He knew that Finn was a very good friend of his from his high school years, and that Finn obviously considered him a good friend too considering how he'd put in the effort to find out his mail address and send him an invitation.

Still, he couldn't quite face up the possibility of encountering Unique and Kitty in person. While he still considered Kitty a good friend, their friendship still hadn't quite reached the level that it had been at before her cruelly bullying Marissa to the point that he had angrily stepped between them and given Kitty a severe dressing down for her lack of manners. As for Unique, he knew that even though he had rejoined the New Directions after quitting within a few weeks after Regionals after some careful coaxing from Kitty and Marley combined with how much he'd missed his friends from the New Directions, he had never fully forgiven her for what she'd done to him and had taken every opportunity possible to remind her of how much he no longer trusted her anymore.

Ryder groaned, placed the invitation back into his pocket, and placed his chin on his left hand. He really had no idea now what he was going to do. He knew that in his heart and mind, he wanted more than anything to hang out with Finn and his other friends from the New Directions, but that in the other half of his inner self, he still didn't want to place himself within 50 miles from Unique. What was he going to do?

As he had that thought, he was reminded of how happy his life had become since the catfishing incident when he heard a familiar voice call out from the family room, "Hey Ryder, aren't you going to come over here? Our pizza is getting cold."

Smiling, Ryder turned his head in the direction of the family room and replied, "I'll be there in a second!" Ryder knew how much Marissa enjoyed their sessions of having pizza in front of the television while watching episodes from their collection of Supernatural complete season DVDs. With that in mind, he smiled as he thought of how they had already reached the beginning of the season 5 DVD. He had to admit, he certainly was in a happy state of marriage to Marissa.

Smiling still, Ryder eventually walked into the family room, where he was happy to see Marissa already sitting on the couch in front of the coffee table, which had an open box of pepperoni pizza on top, with the Supernatural season 5 DVD in her hand. Marissa smiled at the sight of her husband entering the family room, for every time she looked at him, she felt as if it were the first time, even though the first time she'd truly looked at him had been during a time in which Ryder had mistaken her for a completely different person. "To think that we'd have reached the stage we've gotten to in our lives together after that incident 22 years ago," Marissa thought to herself as Ryder walked on over to the couch and took a seat on it next to her. Smiling still, she couldn't help but giggle happily as she felt Ryder run his fingers through her silky blonde hair. Ryder smiled at the sound of his wife giggling, for he'd always enjoyed the sound of her laugh.

Eventually, Marissa handed the DVD to Ryder, and Ryder got up to place the first disc of the season into the DVD player. As Ryder walked over to cue up the show for the night, Marissa asked, "So what took you so long tonight dear? You're usually always in here practically at the drop of a hat after the pizza arrives."

Ryder chuckled, and said, "Oh it's nothing. I was just looking at the mail."

Marissa grinned, and responded, "Let me guess, Finn's invitation?"

At the sound of this, Ryder looked back at Marissa, his face clearly showing his surprise. "How did you know about that?"

Marissa grinned sheepishly, and replied, "You once left it on the kitchen table while you were at work last week, and my curiosity got the better of me."

Ryder shook his head side to side. He should have guessed that his wife would find out about this matter sooner or later. Grinning sheepishly, he stated, "I guess I should have known that you would learn about this sooner or later."

"Damn right you should have," Marissa said with a happy smile on her face. "You talk about all your friends among the New Directions alumni all the time."

Ryder chuckled, and said, "Well I have to admit, I have had them all on my mind a lot lately."

"Understatement," Marissa replied with a smile. "So why didn't you tell me about this invitation when you first got it? It's been three months now since you first received it in the mail."

Ryder sighed, looked at Marissa, and responded, "Well, I didn't really want to tell you until I'd made my decision on whether or not I'd go."

"What do you mean made your decision of whether or not you'd go?" Marissa asked. "Don't you want to see them?"

Ryder chuckled, and replied, "Of course I do Marissa. The last time I've seen any of them in the same place as me was at our wedding when Marley and Kitty served as the bridesmaids, Jake was the best man, and Finn and Puck were among the wedding guests. It's also been far longer since I've seen every single one of my New Directions friends together with me in the same place, especially since that time was when I was still in high school."

"Then why don't we go ahead and go? I really liked getting to know the friends of yours that came to our wedding, and I'd really like to hang out with them again and get to know some of your other friends from that club."

"I know that Marissa, and I do want to go to the reunion; but I'm just not sure if I'm ready to face some of my, well, friends that are lower on the list."

At the sound of that, Marissa made a silent "oh" with her mouth, for she had a pretty good feeling who Ryder was referring to.

"Let me guess; you're afraid that Unique and Kitty might be there."

Ryder nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, I am. I know that things are now better between us and Kitty, but I'm still not all that keen on reawakening the memories of that painful incident thirteen years ago from when we were still in the early stages of our relationship. Besides, I still don't know if I'd be able to stand being within fifty miles from Wade after what he did to me in my sophomore year."

Marissa nodded in sympathy after hearing Ryder mention the catfishing incident, for she remembered all to clearly the day that he'd serenaded her in the choir room with Elton John's Your Song while under the false impression that she'd been the girl who'd been in the on-line relationship with him as a girl named Katie and how humiliated and pained he'd looked when he'd discovered the horrifying truth. She had also been one of the first people who hadn't been a member of the New Directions to hear about the news of who the real Katie had turned out to be, and had felt quite horrified and disturbed to discover that it had been the African American transgender boy, Wade "Unique" Adams. After the disgust had toned down a little, she had felt sympathy for Ryder, for having seen how hurt he'd been when he'd learned that she hadn't been the girl who'd been sending him the online messages, she'd had a pretty good feeling how much he must have been seething inside with anger and pain from being played with as the victim of such a cruel travesty, and especially more so after learning the true identity of Katie.

Eventually, Marissa managed to say, "You still haven't forgiven her have you?"

Ryder nodded, and replied, "Indeed I haven't, and I still feel as if I might end up at risk of strangling her if we're in the same area and she's in the form of her male persona."

Marissa nodded her head in understanding, got up from the couch, and gave her husband a hug. "It's ok Ryder, I understand how you feel. I'll tell you what, tomorrow, we'll send Finn a reply to his invite and tell him that we won't be able to make it to Lima for the reunion there, but that maybe we'll be able to make it up for him by joining him and his other friends when they go to New York City."

"Are you sure you want to go to New York City when they go there? I mean, that is where Wade lives. . ."

"Trust me Ryder. I'll help you get yourself ready for when we face Unique. Besides, it probably might be even easier at that point if we have all your other friends combined with those of Finn backing us up."

Upon saying this, Marissa released Ryder from her embrace, looked into his eyes, and continued, "Don't worry about this Ryder. I'll be right by your side through this the entire time, I promise."

Ryder smiled as his wife made these tender promises to him, and he stated, "You know, while I was admittedly asking this to a person pretending to be you the first time I asked you this question, I must ask you again, how is it that you are so beautiful, yet also so smart?"

Marissa grinned, and responded, "I guess it comes with the parentage."

Ryder smiled, for he knew that Marissa, like himself, had at least one parent with a high college degree.

Eventually, Marissa turned her head to look back at the quite forgotten large pepperoni pizza. She then said, "Well, I guess I'd better reheat that pizza in the oven for a little bit so that it will be fit for us to eat by the time you've cued up the show for tonight."

Ryder clasped onto his wife's hand as she was about to leave, and said, "No, I'll take care of the pizza; you can cue it up this time."

Marissa turned her head back to Ryder with a smile on her face, and said in fake annoyance, "Come on Ryder, I can handle a simple reheating of a pizza."

Ryder smiled, and replied back, "I know that, but I'd rather be a gentleman tonight then let you do all the high temperature work."

Marissa laughed, let go of Ryder's hand and said, "Well go on ahead then good sir; I'll get the show ready."

Ryder chuckled, picked up the pizza, and carried it over to the kitchen to get it reheated. Things were definitely going well tonight. "Oh well," he thought to himself. "I'm sure Finn will understand. In the meantime, I'd better make sure that I have the courage to get on the plane to New York City when the time comes for me to join him and his friends there." Even as he had that thought, Ryder smiled as he reached the oven and placed the pizza inside it. "But first," he thought to himself as he set the timer for one minute "There's pizza and Supernatural."

And just like that, all the New Directions members coming to Lima will be exclusively season 3 members. I apologize immediately to all readers who were hoping for all the members from both season 3 and 4 to be in Lima. On the bright side, they will all hopefully be together for the reunion by the time the New York segment of the reunion comes around. :) Please read, review, and enjoy!

Coming up next: The day of the reunion has finally come. At long last, Finn and the other New Directions members from season 3 will finally come together in Lima once again for the first time in 22-23 years. How will it all unfold? And how will they all react to their finally being together in the same place once again? Find out on the next update! Happy Christmas Eve! :)