Santana

With Artie reading and deciphering the directions, giving instructions to Santana to stand the pieces up and hold them while he drilled it all together, Artie displayed a new talent she wouldn't have counted on — he was handy with tools. As they worked, it came out that his dad enjoyed wood working and had been known to involve Artie in the hobby from time to time, when the two would engage in some male bonding time. Before long, they had two baby beds put together. On the other side of the room, Jessa had finished with the closet organizer and arranged two sets of baby clothes, side by side.

"I hope we need them both," she said, smiling. "I'd like a boy and a girl." With the nursery set up, it looked like Jessa was able to get excited about the babies once more. The finishing touches were little cactus prints on white canvas, which went across the greenish-blue wall and perfectly matched the wall color. Artie showed Santana how to properly use the level to make sure they were hung evenly and perfectly spaced.

"You have an eye for detail, Artie," said Jessa. "Without you here, I would have been putting a dozen holes in the wall, trying to do that." Santana liked that Jessa gave credit where credit was due, for she surely would have screwed it up, too, had it not been for Artie's guidance.

As it would turn out, that encouragement paid off later when Santana could tell that Artie felt rather useless again, just trying to stay out of the way of the giant moving crew that had arrived. Puck, Finn, Mike, Sam, and a very frazzled-looking Kurt (who had still managed to find a snazzy hat as an accessory for his moving clothes) piled out of Puck's old Bronco. Next, two pick-up trucks arrived, one carrying Santana's two brothers, Isaac, and a whole lot of Jessa and Isaac's stuff, and the other driven by Matt Rutherford, who'd met them at the apartment to help, also carrying a load of stuff. Everyone paid Matt a quick hello, for they hadn't seen the original twelfth member of Glee in over a year, and Sam had never met the guy he'd replaced. Ike had to stay inside and direct the crew, but Artie really had no job but to stay out of the way now. Santana spotted him on the back porch and went to find him where he was just sitting and staring off into space. Ike and Jessa's new house came with a very cute porch swing.

"I'll hold it steady if you want to hop on here with me," Santana suggested, sitting in the swing and digging her foot into the porch. Artie agreed and, a moment later, he was pulling himself up to join her in the cozy spot. Most of the furniture was going into the house through the garage. Artie watched as guy after guy came in and out, bringing beds, dressers, couches, and desks. After a few moments, Kurt stopped by to join them. Oblivious of what was currently happening between Santana and Artie, for he never in a million years would have guessed it, he parked himself right between them on the swing.

"Not sure they really needed me," he said. "I tried to tell your friend, Isaac, about feng shui but it went in one ear and out the other." He paused, as if just remembering something. "So, from what I hear, it really is a small world, hm? You two have been living together all summer?"

"It's been good to get away," Santana said, smiling across Kurt at Artie, who no doubt wondered if she was going to tell anyone that they'd just held hands watching fireworks on a blanket then night before and that she'd just kissed him earlier that day. Santana figured that it was just easy enough to tell Kurt first and gauge his reaction, since he was already here and everything. "And if I had to live with anyone from glee club for the whole summer, I'd pick Artie."

Kurt fixed Santana with a dubious stare. Artie, to his left, was trying not to laugh at this. "Artie? I take it you'd pick Santana, too, if you had to live with anyone from glee club?"

"Well, I mean, Rachel's a close second," said Artie, finally dissolving into giggles. Santana was laughing, too, causing Kurt to rise ever so slowly from the porch swing and back away, hands up, as though he'd just noticed a slight imbalance in the universe. He went back inside to see if anyone else wanting his decorating advice.

When their makeshift moving crew had finally finished, Isaac led everyone out onto the spacious back porch for dinner. Since Artie was on the swing, Sam took a seat in his wheelchair, which bothered Artie not. Isaac stared talking excitedly about phase two of the plan, which involved getting starting on widening the doorways. Santana, who'd noticed both Ike and Artie repeatedly jamming their hands on all the doorways, knew why that was of particular importance. Jessa appeared with a stack of pizzas a few minutes later, which someone hastily grabbed from her. It took a lot of pizza to feed the giant moving crew, but thankfully, Isaac anticipated as much and ordered plenty to go around.

"Hard to believe all of you are in glee club," Carlos proclaimed, in between mouthfuls of cheese and pepperoni. "When Ike told me that, I expected..."

"A whole lot more guys who look like me," supplied a self-deprecating yet always hilarious Kurt, giving the rest of the guys permission to roar with laughter.

"My new school doesn't really have a glee club," Matt Rutherford spoke up, which was a rare occasion. Back during sophomore year, Santana and Brittany had gone on some double-dates with Mike Chang and Matt, but she remembered feeling pretty bored with him then. "There is a musical in the fall. They might do Little Shop of Horrors."

"Gah," said Artie. "Can I please transfer to those school just to do that? That is my favorite. Who are you going for?"

"I wanna be Audrey II," Matt said, with a grin, and Artie quickly nodded approvingly. "Even though I'd have to just do the voice offstage. I want his solos. And the great one-liners. Matt lowered his voice and did a famous line, "Must be blood. Must be human."

Artie grinned, and in a perfect impression of movie-Seymour Krelbon, quoted, "Does it have to be human? Does it have to be mine?!"

Sam's eyes lit up with recognition now. He didn't know much about Broadway musicals but he did know 80's movies. "Dude," he said, in the middle of leaning back in Artie's wheelchair. "You would kill it in that role."

"Ah, you just say that because I look like Rick Moranis," Artie said. It looked like Puck and Finn would have to google it, but Sam, Mike, and Kurt were all nodding in agreement.

"That confirms that," Marcos said to Carlos. "These are definitely glee club guys." Knowing Marcos, Santana believed he'd probably edited himself, for he probably would have said glee club gays in any other company but the present.

Artie

They sat outside eating pizza and talking until the sun began to set. Isaac and Jessa had a beautiful view behind their new house. Due to the slope of the backyard, you could see a small pond and some farm land right over their fence, complete with goats and horses. Isaac mentioned that he was going to give them all names, in spite of not owning them, and soon the group was suggesting horse names. Artie threw in the suggestion of Audrey II.

At some point while the sun was going down, Santana grabbed Artie's hand and intertwined their fingers, in view of every single guy there. Artie tried not to look any of them in the eyes. He wasn't ready for the judgement they were all probably passing on him in that moment. But he kept a hold of Santana's left hand. If she could claim him, he could claim her.

"I can't thank you guys enough," said Isaac, for the project inside was almost done, except for the home improvements that the crew planned to stay and help with tomorrow morning, which included fixing those pesky doorways. "What time do you guys want to start tomorrow?"

Most of the guys slept until at least 10 or 11 during the summer, except for Marcos and Carlos, who said they would be over to the house by 8:00 or 9:00. After getting the general consensus that they'd all be back at some point in the morning, the group began to disperse to the homes they'd be staying at.

"Nice," said Artie, for Sam was being clever and trying to roll off with his chair as everyone started to leave. Artie snickered as he tried to curb-jump off the porch and tipped forward, catching himself and stumbling out before hitting the ground. "Hey. Respect the chair."

"My bad," said Sam, bringing it back. The others had noticed, to be sure, but Sam now looked at Santana and Artie's hands and grinned. "Was bound to happen sometime, Jake Sully, good for you."

Isaac chuckled. "Avatar?"

Sam said something back in Na'vi. Artie often wondered why Sam, who was a much bigger nerd than he, still got away with being seen as one of the popular guys. He guessed it had something to do with being a jock.

Artie knew he was blushing. He had to let go of Santana's hand in order to slip back into his chair, but the affectionate gesture between the two had gone unnoticed by no one. Artie didn't exactly look anyone in the eye as they all parted ways. He didn't know if he was ready to confront what they all were thinking.