Up the ancient road, the two vehicles travelled side-by-side, like Hansel and Gretel holding hands as they entered the enchanted forest, but unlike those unlucky children, the young men and women of New Directions had nothing to fear from their surroundings, quite the opposite really.

The Tacoma had reshuffled its riders, so now Rory, Sam, Blaine, and Michael sat in the truck's bed, while Joe remained the lone passenger still in the backseat. Blake and Artie rode in the front, joking as only two freshly minted friends could.

From her spot in the Jeep's front-passenger seat, Nellie reveled in the feelings of camaraderie and acceptance, with which the others embraced her. She was visible, seen and while her old instincts still kept her on edge, they did not dampen her experience…her experience as a member of a whole; one with friends and, she glanced over at Blake's truck, maybe, just maybe something more.

At that moment, Blake pulled his truck closer to Brittany's Jeep and lowered himself against the steering wheel, as if he were a Nascar racer, driving at high speeds instead of the nearly pedestrian twenty miles-an-hour required on the ancient road. Reaching over, Artie turned Blake's hat backwards, as he simultaneously reversed his own.

'It's like a switch,' Artie said in a seemingly serious tone, 'When these hats turn around, we turn from men…'

'Into machines!', Blake finished and both boys broke into impromptu 'robots'.

After a few seconds of dance moves, the pair turned and high-fived each other.

'Over the Top!,' Artie and Blake said simultaneously and then devolved into hysterical laughter.

In Brittany's ride, the girls collectively rolled their eyes at the clowning Artie and Blake, but the laughter from the truck proved too infectious, leading the girls into a round of silly giggles themselves. Nellie laughed right along with the others; one of many...instead of one unseen.

With the slow speed and the open air of the Jeep, the passengers of both vehicles could easily hear their counterparts, with laughs and excitement exchanged between them. Almost as a forgotten undercurrent, the radio in the girls' vehicle buzzed in a barely audible whisper, but it was just enough for Tina to catch the intro to a song, which prompted a shout to Nellie.

'Turn that up! Way up!,' Cohen-Chang said, as she stood up in the back of the Jeep and grabbed a hold of the roll bar.

Hair blowing wildly in the wind generated from their flight, Tina turned to the Tacoma and issued a challenge to the boys; her eyes tracking to each of the truck's passengers, daring them to seize the day.

'Hey, I heard you were a wild one!

Ooooh!'

Behind the wheel of the Jeep, Brittany shrieked in utter 'glee'.

'Drive!,' she yelled to Nellie and started climbing out of her seat before an answer was given, 'This is my JAM!'

With the Cheerio's impulsive exit, her argument never had time to materialize, so the junior was left with no choice but to leap behind the wheel. As Brittany extracted herself, Nellie slid under and against the older girl, leaving the vehicle 'driver-less' for less than a second. With a squeal of thanks, the five-year-senior put her cowboy hat on her new chauffeur and joined Tina at the roll-bar.

Quickly familiarizing herself with the operation of the Jeep, Nellie offered a short prayer of thanks to her Papa for having the foresight to teach her how to drive a manual transmission. Once settled, she chanced a glance over at the Tacoma and her eyes met the dancing, happy gaze of Blake Ryan. Looking over Artie, he smiled and narrowed his eyes, challenging her, driver-to-driver. First Blake pointed to her, then he pointed at his own chest, and finally gestured to the road ahead. Feeling more alive than she had in her whole life, Nellie looked back at Blake, and slowly rotated Brittany's cowboy hat one hundred and eighty degrees, mirroring his earlier action.

The pair 'raced' their respective vehicles up the mountain...all the while incapable of keeping their eyes off the other.

The senior girls pulled Sugar up with them, and with song and dance addressed the boys.

'I wanna shut down the club

With you

Hey I heard you like the wild ones, wild ones, wild ones

Oooooh'

Artie locked eyes with Tina for a beat and accepted her challenge, which became their first de facto 'exercise' of Mr. Schue's lesson. Looking over at Blake and reaching over the seat to Joe, he 'slapped' each boys' chest, as if to say 'get a load of this'. Ever the showman and director, Artie waited until the last second, and then, on his command, the three boys in the truck erupted into a maelstrom of bouncing, while he provided the rhyme.

'Oh

I-I like crazy, foolish, stupid

Party going wild, fist pumping

Music, I might lose it

Blast to the roof, that's how we do'z it…'

'Do'z it!', Blake repeated alone.

'Do'z it!', Joe finished the triple run.

Fists pumping the air of the truck's cab, Joe, Blake and Artie became the essence of youth, joy, and lightning; while across the ancient road, Nellie and the rest of the girls laughed, and in Brittany's case, produced excited 'catcalls'.

'I don't care the night, she don't care we like

Almost dared the right five

Ready to get live, ain't no surprise

Take me so high, jumping nose dive

Surf the crowd

Ooooh!'

Artie slapped the outside of his door and on cue, the boys in the truck's bed took over the rhyme. Sam ripped off his tank-top, grinned his enormous smile, and flexed at the Jeep, as he rapped.

'Said I gotta be the man

When they head in my van, mike check…'

He counted off with two extended fingers, 'One, two!'

Sugar reached for the blond senior, as if she meant to jump across to the other vehicle, and Tina comically 'held her back' while continuing her dance.

Ready for his part, Blaine stood and placed his back against Sam's, as Rory punched his fists in the air.

'Shut them down in the club, while the playboy does it, and y'all get loose, loose

After bottle, we all get bent again tomorrow.'

Dark hair and light mingled, as Blaine and Sam, arms over the other's shoulders, fired the last two lines in tandem at Tina's group.

'Gotta break loose cause that's the motto

Club shuts down, I heard you're super models!'

The group 'boxed' like two trained fighters, learning the other's strengths and weaknesses and growing from that knowledge. Removed from the pressures of adolescence, they lived with a zest that few manage to saddle and danced like no one was watching. However, in the modern world of social media and instantaneous communication, no one was ever truly 'alone', and Michael's camera furiously snapped away, capturing the private moments of New Directions.

Oblivious to Charlie Booth's machinations, Tina, Brittany and Sugar continued the show and implored the boys across from them, urging them with Sia's hook.

'Hey I heard you were a wild one

Ooooh

If I took you home

It'd be a home run

Show me how you'll do.'

Nellie listened to the others sing, hearing the 'fun' in their voices, but she was also aware of what they lacked. Cohesiveness was something to be sacrificed during an impromptu performance, but even so, her trained ear noticed a hesitation in the group, as if they were waiting for something, or someone, to add the 'unity' missing from the number. Still, she thought, it provided a necessary first step for New Directions…if they truly wanted to live up to their moniker.

Again she looked over at Blake, only to see that he was already staring at her. Unable to keep her cheeks from reddening, Nellie rolled her eyes in embarrassment, but Blake returned the honest action with a look of such longing that she fell into his gaze, willingly trapped by the boy that occupied all of her thoughts…all of her daydreams of wishes long thought unheard.

Gone were Artie, Tina and the others; only Blake Ryan, and the hope he represented, remained. So the star-joined pair sang softly to each other; two people recognizing the presence of their soul's mate, against the backdrop of the Wishing Well's strange new 'world'.

'Show you another side of me,' she sang.

'A side you never thought you'd see,' Blake returned.

Again, the rest of New Directions carried the song, unaware of the moment Nellie and Blake were sharing. The drivers simply stared at each other, imagining themselves in each others arms…lips against lips. Nellie's breath caught in her chest; her whole being one with the body electric, and she swallowed. In his truck, Blake's face grew serious and his mouth flexed slightly, as if the words just behind them struggled to reach the surface…words that seemed crazy, but words he knew were absolutely true.

Suddenly, the road opened up in front of them, and what looked like a parking lot appeared. Both drivers slowed their respective vehicles, but as if they had spoken their thoughts out loud, Nellie and Blake again looked at each other. As the song concluded and their journey neared its end, the pair sang only to each other, while the rest of the group finished their own show.

'I am a wild one,' Nellie nearly whispered her line.

'Tame me now,' Blake's voice begged.

'Running with wolves,' she finished and licked her lips unconsciously.

'And I'm on the prowl,' Blake mouthed back, his face a battlefield of contentment and desire.

Her breathing rapid, Nellie tried to calm herself, but she couldn't look away from Blake…and she would never calm down as long as she looked at him. It was a wonderful paradox.

Lifting himself out of the Tacoma's window, Joe pointed to a trail-head that appeared just beside a modern box trailer.

'We're here!', he cried, 'As soon as we go up that path, we'll be at the Well!'

New Directions scrambled around them, preparing for the final leg of the trip, but behind the wheel of each vehicle, the drivers remained motionless, staring at one another and simultaneously reaching the same revelation…a revelation that if said out loud would be challenged as simple infatuation, or more colloquially as a 'crush'. However, Blake Ryan and Nellie Baker, although strangers to the feeling, knew it not as a phase or a passing fancy, but as an absolute.

It was simple really…they were in love.

(Author's Note: The Well and its mysteries arrive with the next scene. Oh and someone mentioned a 'kiss'…I'll see if I can't do something about that ;) You guys are the bee's knees! Song: Wild Ones by Flo Rida)