Rachel had managed to get them access to school, specifically the choir room, for the surprise party for Will and Emma's retirement. They'd reached out to as many former glee clubbers as possible. Of those, a few had agreed to come, including current director Roderick Meeks, Marley Rose, Jake Puckerman, and Ryder Lynn. Of the original group, Rachel, Quinn, Puck, Artie, Tina, Matt, Mercedes, Mike, Brittany, Sam, and Santana would be there. Lauren and Rory had wanted to be there, but their comedy tour currently had them in Texas.

The baby was due in two weeks, and Tina insisted she felt like going. She'd sit down the whole night, she promised, but she would hate to miss the chance to be a part of this big surprise. Since her last doctor's appointment had been pretty uneventful, Artie finally agreed that they'd make the trip to Lima as planned.

He found himself, once again, waiting on the bed while Tina finished getting ready. He scrolled through the group text that they'd been added to, detailing the plan. They'd need to arrive before Will and Emma, so that they could be seated in their places in the choir room before he got there. They'd worked with Roderick to ensure that Will thought he and Emma were coming up to help him go through some of the old props and costumes, to decide what to keep and what to donate to a smaller school nearby. Quite possibly they saw through the cover story, and realized it was going to be a party. But they'd probably be surprised, at least, by the sizeable turnout.

"None of my shirts and pants look good at all," Tina complained, stepping out in the floral maxi dress that she'd decided not to wear to Santana and Sam's wedding. "But this dress still works." She turned to Artie. "It's okay, right?"

He grinned, slyly, at her. "We have five minutes until everybody gets here, right?" They were riding in Matt and Mercedes' van, which held all six of them, including Sam and Santana. The group from Columbus was carpooling for the hour-and-a-half drive to Lima.

Tina laughed. "Artie, as fun as it sounds to fool around, we'd better not. The doctor said that could start labor."

"I guess we don't want to miss the party," said Artie. "Just know that I still find you as sexy as ever, woman."

Tina took a seat on the bed next to him, biting her lower lip. "It'll be fine," she said, grinning seductively.

They did have an empty house again, because the kids were on their way to Artie's sister and their carpool had yet to arrive. It was too good to pass up. She shoved him backwards and was just about to straddle him when the phone buzzed in Artie's back pocket. She exhaled loudly as he paused, raising up slightly, to take out his phone glance at it. "Just Sienna saying they got there."

"Good." Tina said, grabbing his phone and setting it on the nightstand, as she kissed his neck. "Now. Where were we?" Tina had a fast and efficient way of getting what she wanted out of the few minutes they had before the others arrived. Artie had to admit, it was weird in her condition, but he in no way wanted to stop her. Artie was just putting his belt back on and she was standing by the mirror, fixing her hair as he got another text.

He glanced at his phone. "They're here."

"Great," said Tina, but as she bent down to slip her shoes on, Artie caught a grimace. He looked alarmed, but she brushed it off. "Ugh. So tired of cramps and Braxton Hicks contractions."

"I know," Artie said, sympathetically. "Sorry. You ready to go?" He paused. "We didn't - start anything, did we?"

Tina gave a laugh at that. "I wish," she said. "Artie, you know this baby's going to torment me and be a week or two late, just like the other four." She headed outside without another word about it, and Artie followed.

They'd graciously saved Tina the seat up front and Artie, always on the look out for these moments, found it refreshing to be able to climb into the van and take a seat in the middle, in one of the captains' chairs by Mercedes, like it was nothing.

"First road trip as a married couple," said Sam, still just as eagerly newlywed as he'd been a month ago. He and Santana were cozied up in the very back on the bench seat. "And it's to... Lima."

"How did we all manage to exist in that town?" Santana asked, examining her manicure. "When I think about the fact that Mr. Schue and Ms. Pills- I mean, Mrs. Schue... are still there."

"I will always be grateful for it, though," Artie commented. "And for glee club and what Mr. Schue did for all of us." At that, Tina smiled over her shoulder at him. "I'm glad we're doing this."

"If someone would have told me, thirty years from now, that we'd still all be hanging out and doing this, I'd have told them they were crazy," said Mercedes. "But I'm glad I didn't miss any of it, you guys. Artie walking... Sam and Santana... and baby number six."

They spent the rest of the trip sharing favorite funny memories of glee club. Even Matt, who had only been with them for a year, before moving to a school in Columbus. "If it weren't for my year in the New Directions," he said. "I wouldn't have tried out for the musical at my new school. I would've been just another football player. I'm glad I got to show people, that's not all I was."

"If it weren't for the New Directions," said Tina. "I might have gone on pretending to have a stutter for the rest of high school. That would have only pushed Artie even further away from me."

"If it weren't for the New Directions," Mercedes began, looking thoughtful. "I probably would still be just as fabulous as I am today..." The rest of them laughed. "... but I doubt I would have had the confidence to date Sam... or marry Matt."

"Oh, that's right," said Tina. "I totally forgot you two even dated in high school."

"But you didn't forget about me and Artie," Santana shot back, completely dead pan. When Tina shot her what was meant to be a dirty look, though, she didn't flinch at all.

"Okay, okay," said Sam. "My turn. If it weren't for the New Directions and my taking Matt's place — sorry, Matt — I doubt I would have been brave enough to sing in front of anyone until college. I may flip houses for my day job, but being onstage is my true passion. Glee club showed me that."

"That's sweet, babe," said Santana, tucking her head under his chin. "Okay, now me. If it weren't for the New Directions, I'd probably still be a bitch. Not the kind, compassionate, sweet person I am today."

"No comment," said Mercedes. "Okay, Artie, you look like you're deep in thought about this one. What about you?"

"I-I don't think I'd be here," Artie stared at his hands. "Right before Finn decided to come join and make us a real club, he saved me from being trapped in a Porta-Potty that a bunch of jocks — Puck included — were going to tip. Just before he'd come to get me out, I'd decided I wasn't going to be able to take it any longer. If that happened, if it tipped with me inside, I was going to go home, find the key to my dad's gun safe..."

"Oh, my god." When Tina said that, he looked up. He'd never even told Tina, in all the years they'd been married, because he was that ashamed of what he'd considered doing.

"It really sucks to be doing this without Finn," Artie diverted the conversation, just trying to move on because they were all starting at him, except for Matt, who was driving, but even he kept glancing at Artie in the rear view mirror.

"Finn would have been heading up the planning committee for Mr. Schue's retirement party," Mercedes added. She paused. "I'm sorry you ever felt that way, Artie, I had no idea."

"Well, I always had a way of avoiding the real issue," Artie said, with a shrug. "I was really good at being in denial about it all, most of the time. Being in glee club showed me how to face my own reality."

Santana's eyes were filled with tears. "Dammit," she said. "We aren't even at the party yet, and I'm already crying!" She grabbed her purse frantically, trying to fix her makeup. "Sorry, I'll be fine."

A silence fell over the carload for the next several minutes, and before they knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot at McKinley. As instructed by Roderick, they were hiding all their vehicles in the back, near the football field. They texted Roderick, for he had the keys to let them into the back door of the building. Many of them had attended the ten and twenty year high school reunions, but it had been at least eight or nine years since any of them had set foot in McKinley.

"Welcome back, class of... what 2012?" he guessed. He was the same old Roderick that they remembered. Artie recalled seeing some of the newbies that came right after he graduated and being sorry that he'd missed a chance to pair their soulful voices together in a duet.

"They are," Sam gestured to Santana and Mercedes. "Me, Artie, and Tina were 2013."

They had to walk all the way through the halls to get to the choir room. They were somewhat in a hurry, trying to get there before Will and Emma. As they were being ushered into the choir room, Roderick got the text that the guests of honor had just arrived. He left the group from Columbus there and quickly hurried back to meet them at the front door.

"They're coming!" Artie announced, as he entered the choir room, the rest of their group following behind. He'd almost forgotten that his walking would come as a shock to Marley, Jake, and Ryder. They immediately rushed to him at once.

"Artie, wow, so incredible!" Marley gushed. Then: "Tina, oh my gosh, you're pregnant!"

"We don't actually know which is more shocking anymore," Artie joked. He spotted his old spot in the choir room, where usually a chair was always removed for his wheels, which were now back at home in Columbus.

Tina's condition actually got more attention than Artie, for which he was glad, though Tina did look a bit overwhelmed. Her face was flushed just from the walk down the hall. Artie quickly led her to a chair, but not before Santana, watching her waddle over to her seat, commented, "The baby's definitely dropped, Tina. It's gonna be soon. You look uncomfortable."

"I'm fine." Tina shot daggers at the other woman with her eyes.

"All our other kids were late, so we still have awhile," Artie added, giving Santana a look as he took a seat by his wife. Thankfully, Ryder wanted to know more about the procedure, so Artie was able to fill him in on some details. He was about to ask what Ryder had been up to when they all fell quiet, to the sound of Roderick's footsteps coming down the hall. The door flew open to reveal the stunned faces of Emma and Will Schuester.

"Happy retirement!" Everyone yelled, all at once. Standing on the top of the risers, Mike and Brittany held two sides of a banner that said 'We Love the Schues!" Brittany had insisted on doodling a pair of high heels and some converse sneakers. And she'd also initially written "Shoes," but Mike had drawn in a correction to her spelling.

"I can't believe you're all here!" Emma clapped her hand over her mouth. "This is the sweetest thing. I'm gonna cry. It's just like the ending in Mr. Holland's Opus!"

"Mr. Shue, how about another rendition of Don't Stop?" Rachel exclaimed, her suggestion met with an awkward silence. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I think you've redone that once for every year you headed up the glee club, it's probably getting a little tired by now. But I know I can't hear it without envisioning the sixteen-year-old me. And Finn, of course."

"Finn," Mr. Schuester always did get emotional at the first mention of his name, even now. "Did I tell you that Daniel's boy is named Finn? Well, after his middle name, of course, but he knows what the name means to me."

"Let's see pictures of the grandkids!" Quinn exclaimed, and the next few minutes were everyone passing Emma and Will's phones around, to get a look at the babies, who were now two months old.

"Mr. Schue, what do you have to teach us?" Brittany said, uncrossing her legs and jumping up from her seat to present him with an Expo marker. "You can keep that, by the way, for the dry erase board that's probably in your bedroom."

"Uh, th-thanks Brittany," Mr. Schue replied, always a little bewildered but amused after an exchange with Brittany. "Well, okay, umm..." He stopped, then turned, and finally wrote. Humbled. "I just want to say, that's what we are, Emma and me," he told them. "By the presence of all of you here today."

"Mr. Schue?" Rachel interrupted him, also coming to the front, just like she always did. Kurt was sitting next to Mercedes, like he always did, with Blaine on his other side, and the three of them exchanged a look. "I hope nobody minds, but I took the liberty of bringing my dads' professionally-made DVD of all our New Directions performances. Well, at least, all the ones with me in them me in them, no offense to the newbies. I don't have any of those. I thought we might enjoy... watching them. Does that old TV on the rolling cart still work?"

It did and so they watched. Sort of. It was more like background noise while they all sat around in groups, talking for hours, catching up on what they'd all been doing. The group from Columbus who'd come together was dispersed around the choir room, chatting with those whom they saw very little of or none at all. Artie kept an eye on Tina, out of the corner of his eye, and noticed her leaving numerous times to go to the bathroom. It wasn't terribly strange behavior for a pregnant woman, but he'd also noticed she was being awfully quiet for someone who'd been so excited about a reunion. After the third or fourth time, he followed her and waited for her in the hall.

She eased her way out of the restroom, even more slowly than before, staring down at a soaked dress. Before Artie could ask, she began to explain.

"It started with a trickle," she said, still looking down in disbelief. "I thought I peed myself, actually, so I kept going back and forth, and there'd be more water. Artie... my water broke. We have to go."

"What did she say?"

"She said her water broke!"

"Hey, Tina's in labor!"

Just about everyone from in the room was huddled in the doorway now, staring at a completely mortified Tina. Things started happening quickly. Matt sprinted down the hall and out the back door to pull the van around to the front. The group from Columbus all started saying their good-byes while Tina began frantically apologizing for ending the party early, at least for those in their carpool. So much for a late baby. Tina rushed back into the restroom, as she felt more water coming out, with Quinn, Santana, and Mercedes hurrying to follow her in. Artie was absolutely frozen on the spot.

"Some reunion, huh, Blaine?" Kurt commented, before turning his attention to Artie. "Come on, Artie, you okay? Matt will be around in a second and you don't move very quickly, let's get you into the van. The girls have Tina."

While Blaine and Kurt tended to Artie, Tina emerged with Mercedes and Santana on either side, helping her to walk. As she got in, she was breathing heavily already. Matt had taken the liberty of grabbing the towels he kept in the back for football practice and lining the front seat with them.

"She was having contractions the whole way coming over here, and she thought it would be okay not to mention that!" Santana's reaction, when she was stressed, was usually to get mad at someone. She climbed in the very back and had to be soothed by a very patient Sam.

"I didn't think they were going to turn into full blown labor," said Tina, who was starting to cry as she realized she was now in a van, with their friends, an hour and a half from home. "I'm sorry, guys, I didn't want to ruin the party but now I have. L-let's go home. I think I can..." But Tina cut herself off with a gasp. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

Mercedes fixed Matt with a tense expression. "We can't drive an hour and a half, I don't think she has that long," she said, seriously. "Go to Lima Memorial. Tina, I'm sorry, it looks like you might have this baby in Lima. I know that's not where your doctor is, but we don't think you'll make it home."

Tina didn't argue at all. Matt drove — fast, but not too fast. This wasn't like any of the previous births that they'd experienced. Not only was this baby early instead of late, he or she was in a hurry. When they were about a block away from the hospital, instinctually, Tina started to pushing. "I'm trying not — to — in the van..." Her words wouldn't come.

"Hang on, Tina, we're nearly there," Artie, who knew he had been much too quiet until now, finally spoke, trying in vain to reassure Tina. "Tina, we're in front of the ER now."

But Tina couldn't answer, as she bore down once again, gripping her seat belt until Artie finally slipped her his hand, which she squeezed tightly, pushing again and again. Artie heard the words high risk in his mind again, fear washing over him. Santana was behind him, cussing at the person on the phone, telling them that her friend was about to have a baby in the car in front of the hospital. At some point, Mercedes had switched seats with Matt, and was now in the driver's seat, helping Tina into the right position and holding legs. Matt went running inside to get help.

"Tina, you have got to wait, I can see the baby's head!" Mercedes pleaded. Tina just nodded and tried, for a moment, to wait but to no avail. She took a deep breath and bore down again, screaming now. The paramedics rushed in just then, and Mercedes looked like she might faint as she quickly moved aside to let them take over.

As Tina continued pushing, now with medical help, the others quickly climbed out of the van and moved aside to give Artie and Tina as much privacy as possible in the moment. She only gave about three pushes, delivering the head, shoulders, and body of the baby that fast. It was over almost as quickly as it had started, like nothing they ever could have prepared for. The paramedic held up the baby's face in Artie's view, as he leaned over the back of Tina's seat. "Congratulations," he told Artie and Tina. "It's a boy."

"You guys just had a baby boy!" Santana was crying now and hugging Sam. "In a van. It was so freaking beautiful, oh my god, and don't ever scare me like that again."