A/N: All the good stuff above the line is by my fabulous guest author, QuinnAbrams.

"Hey, be safe. Wear lots of sunscreen. That Arizona sun is going to fry you alive," Amy told her brother as she set his duffel bag on his lap and bent over to give him a hug just outside the airport entrance.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I will. And you two have fun in the middle of the woods with the Schuesters," Artie replied, shaking his head at how ridiculous that sentence sounded.

While the Abrams siblings said goodbye to one another, Sam handed Julie her suitcase that he had fetched from the trunk before turning his attention to Artie.

"Have fun, man. Send me pictures!" Sam said as it was his turn to give Artie a goodbye hug.

"Thanks again for dropping us off," Julie told the other couple.

After saying their goodbyes, Artie and Julie headed inside, ready to get their Spring Break started. They checked in for their direct flight to Tucson before heading towards the security checkpoint, which had to be one of Artie's many least favorite parts about flying.

To Artie's surprise, the line was much shorter than he had anticipated, as it was mostly filled with other college students who were also in a hurry to get on with their school break plans as well.

"You go on without me," Artie directed Julie once they had sent their bags through the x-ray machine, knowing how slow the process could be with the chair involved. She looked back at him, and hesitated for a moment before walking through the scanner and receiving their bags at the other end.

As Artie waited patiently for a TSA agent to become available, he was even more grateful that he had insisted on getting to the airport as early as he did. Eventually, about ten minutes later, a tall, official-looking man came over to assist him, and began the task of patting down Artie's abdomen, hips, lower back, thighs, and calves. Julie surveyed the scene from a distance, and Artie made a face in mock-annoyance as the agent continued to frisk him with latex gloves, smiling when he saw her stifle a giggle. After the pat-down was complete, his wheelchair was swabbed to test for any sort of trace explosive residue, and then, finally, he was granted passage through the checkpoint.

Despite being slightly annoyed by how long that took and a little embarrassed to have Julie waiting on him, Artie was determined not to let it affect his demeanor for the rest of the day. After double-checking that his feet were securely placed on the footrest, he wheeled over to where Julie was standing.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Artie said cheerily, accepting his duffel from Julie and placing it back in his lap.

The couple found their gate easily and settled in, each taking out the books they had brought along to read while they waited. As they read, Julie offered him some of her chips, which Artie politely declined, making sure to carefully monitor his sodium intake before the flight. He reached into his backpack and fetched the orange he had brought along instead.
It wasn't long before the other guests on their flight began arriving and the seats at their gate started to fill up with other Midwesterners who were sick of the cold and were headed for the warm desert.

"Hey, I'm gonna go use the restroom before we board. Are you good to stay here with our stuff?" Artie asked Julie as he unlocked his brakes.

"Yeah, of course," she assured him. "Go right ahead."

Artie expertly maneuvered his chair around the many people and bags that were crowding the path. Once he made it to the restroom and waited for an able-bodied person to vacate the handicapped stall, he was able to wrestle his legs into the compression stockings that he had been storing in his backpack, taking all of the necessary precautions to make sure that he wasn't going to get a blood clot. He then inserted the indwelling catheter and attached leg bag that he would be using for the flight and, when he was finished, washed his hands and made his way back to Julie just in time to board.

"Now you get to enjoy one of the very few travel perks when you're rollin' with Artie Abrams," Artie said just as the gate attendant came over the intercom system. "We get to board first."

Artie and Julie gathered their belongings and allowed their boarding passes to be scanned before they entered the jet bridge. When they reached the end of the walkway, a flight attendant was ready to assist Artie with his transfer into the skinny aisle chair. A seasoned traveler, Artie was a pro at this otherwise tricky task. The aisle chair wasn't as much a chair as it was a human dolley, but Artie was an expert at finding ways to adapt to every situation he was faced with. He buckled himself in and tried to keep his balance on the make-shift wheelchair before the flight attendant carefully brought him aboard the plane. At Artie's request, Julie had taken his chair cushion (so that he could sit on it on the airplane and avoid any pesky pressure sores) and his backpack with her as she followed closely behind, leaving his chair and his duffel to be gate-checked.

Lucky for them, their seats weren't too far back on the aircraft. Julie slid into the row first, stowing both her and Artie's backpacks beneath the seats in front of them, and setting Artie's cushion on the seat closest to the aisle before he effortlessly transferred onto the seat beside her.

"Okay, now that that's done…" Artie said as he leaned over to fix his legs and get himself situated. "Which movie do we watch first? Scorsese or Spielberg?"

They agreed on Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report", and Artie was quick to pull out his laptop and get the movie started as they waited on the tarmac.

As the other passengers boarded the flight, Artie couldn't help but think about how extremely grateful he was for Julie's continued patience during the whole airport ordeal. For him, flying could be kind of a hassle. Thanks to all of the traveling they had done for Glee Club competitions, he had gotten pretty good at it, but the extra precautionary steps that he had to take because of the chair were still inconvenient at times. He and Kitty had been pretty serious about their relationship by the first time she witnessed all that it took in order for him to board an airplane, but this thing with Julie still felt sort of new, even if it had been several months since they started dating.

But that was a whole new topic of conversation… why was it that this thing with Julie still felt a little unnatural? He knew that he cared for her- and it wasn't everyday that you meet the version of yourself in the opposite gender. But he couldn't help but compare the milestones of this relationship to the ones that he shared with Kitty. Unlike he and Julie, Kitty's personality was the furthest from his, yet everything came so organically between them. It was all so second nature that, even after a rough breakup, it hadn't been difficult for them to remain close friends.

"Hey, you okay?" Julie asked, looking up at him with her brown eyes full of concern. He realized that he had been lost in his thoughts and had not been paying much attention to the movie.

"Never better," he assured her, slipping his hand into hers as she rested her head on his shoulder and returned her focus to Tom Cruise on the screen in front of them.

Hopefully this quick trip to Tucson would give him all of the clarity that he needs regarding where his heart stood with Julie.

Artie didn't know what to say. His mouth agape, he just thanked Julie's family profusely for what they'd just done. Her dad insisted that it was practically free, due to his many points with the Marriott, for him to get Artie an accessible room during his three-day stay. Artie had been prepared to pay out of pocket for something more affordable, since he knew he wouldn't be able to stay with her family, not if he wanted to be able to shower. Now he was staying at a 5-star hotel, compliments of the Hunt family.

As the bellboy took his luggage, Artie looked up at Mr. Hunt again, saying, "I can't thank you enough."

Artie was trying to decide what Julie's family thought of him. They were nice enough, of course, and they'd just gone out of their way to ensure he'd be comfortable during his stay, but it always took Artie a little while to decide how people really felt about him.

"What does your dad do?" Artie whispered quietly when, during the course of the car ride to Julie's, he realized they were heading into a very nice part of Tucson, full of expensive-looking homes.

"Ever heard of Raytheon Missile Systems?" Julie said back, quietly but not softly enough for her dad not to hear it. "It's a company that's based here in Tucson. Dad's a Vice President."

"One of many," Mr. Hunt added, trying to be modest. He then pulled the car into one of the nicer homes on the block, a two-story with a three-car garage. Artie realized he could probably expect shiny, wood floors (he hoped his wheels wouldn't cause any damage) and wide doorways and lots of open space, all the things that his friends' older homes in Ohio usually lacked, making visits difficult.

The grand, open-concept home did not disappoint. As they headed into and gathered in the sitting room, Julie's mother busied herself with getting everyone drinks and bringing in some snacks, too, for the weary travelers. It was now two hours earlier, and the time change, though miniscule, was somewhat disorienting.

Artie excused himself to the restroom which, he was glad to find, was spacious enough so as not to be entirely unmanageable for him. On his way back down the hall, he stopped to look at some pictures. Julie was the younger of two siblings, like he was, with an older sister. There was less of an age gap between them, though, only a couple of years. Her sister, a student at Stanford, was also coming in for spring break and was expected to arrive by dinner time. Both girls had the same short dark hair, bangs, and big brown eyes in the most recent picture taken of them that hung on the wall. Julie was in her graduation cap and gown. Alexa, her sister, wore an identical grin and a Stanford t-shirt. Apparently, the whole family had gone to Stanford, but Julie was the only one to break the mold and do something different.

And speaking of Alexa, she'd just arrived, having driven from Stanford back to Tucson that day. As she came in and tossed her duffel bag on the couch, she acknowledged Artie with a friendly grin. She did not look the least bit surprised to see him, all of him. Julie, he knew, had prepared everyone in her family for the fact that he was in a chair. Not only that, but she'd done so without him having to say that it was important. Julie 1, Kitty 0... in that department. Stop, stop. It isn't a competition.

"You know, it's not too late to bail, if you're having second thoughts after meeting her family," Alexa said, smiling down at him and looking so much like Julie as she did so. She extended a hand. "I'm Alexa. It's nice to meet the famous Artie at last. Julie's been sending me clips of the documentary."

Artie was glad he'd already taken off his gloves and stowed them in his backpack, so he could shake with bare hands. He could always hear Sue Sylvester's voice ringing in his ears, nagging him about his driving glove habit, as though he'd been doing it all along in an attempt to look like a real bad-ass or something.

Mrs. Hunt finally stopped going back and forth from the kitchen and sat by her daughters, smiling at the two of them. "It's so good to see you both here like this," she commented. "Of course, I know better than to expect you to hang around here. What did you plan to do while you're here?"

Julie then looked at Artie, as though she'd been saving a suggestion but still wasn't sure. "We-ell... the Grand Canyon's actually got some very accessible portions," she began, slowly. "All their buses take wheelchairs. And, I mean, I would never want to go down in it anyway, I prefer the view from the top. It's a five and a half hour drive, but I thought we'd make a road trip out of it and go with a few of my friends from high school and Alexa. Would that... be okay?"

The mental comparisons started up again. Two extremes — Kitty, who'd once forgotten that Artie would need to be carried down to access her back porch and took him to ride go-karts for his birthday without giving a second thought to his lack of body control coupled with high speeds. (Of course, that had been the best birthday ever...) And now here was Julie, who had painstakingly researched how to take a person in a wheelchair to the Grand Canyon. And displayed a level of concern that was almost too accommodating. He didn't know which he preferred. The girl who hardly thought about it or the girl who overthought everything, just like he did.

"That sounds great!" Artie said, sounding overly eager. He instantly toned it down. "I've never been to the Grand Canyon. And yeah, I mean, it's a National landmark. I'm sure it'll be pretty accessible."

So, it was settled. Even though Artie wanted nothing more than to relax with Julie in this huge house, then chill out at the Marriott each night, they were now doing the Grand Canyon.

The topic was put to rest, for the time being, because it was time for dinner. The grand dining room table was already missing a chair, even though Artie never even saw anyone take it out. He was supposed to be thankful, but instead, he was increasingly embarrassed. It was too much.

Julie continued to explain the specifics of just how she'd come to learn about handicap access for the Grand Canyon tours later, as she drove him back to the hotel. He listened patiently, inserting all the mm-hm's and oh-yeah-definitely comments in all the right places, but feeling a little caught up in his own thoughts about the next day.

Finally, when they were in the parking lot, she looked at him, wringing her hands, and it seemed she was more perceptive than he gave her credit for. "I get the feeling," she said. "That we — I, that I... have been making you uncomfortable ever since we got here. I just wanted to say, I'm sorry."

She cast her eyes down, at which Artie instantly leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, no," he said. "I'm sorry if I'm giving off those vibes. The truth is, it's not you, it's me. I'm always uncomfortable and awkward in new situations. There's really nothing you can do about it."

Julie laughed. "That sounds way familiar," she said. "Alexa always teases me for being awkward. She's the cool one."

"I like awkward..." Artie said, shrugging. And then, in a manner most awkward, he leaned in but didn't anticipate how much she would lean in, and her cheek bone made contact sharply with his nose.

"Ouch, oh, dammit," she exclaimed, but joined him in laughing at the fact that they'd been trying to kiss and had just smacked faces instead. "That's not how I meant for our first kiss to go down." She was blushing furiously. "Actually, I was kind of hoping to kiss you by the Grand Canyon..."

"Yeah?" Artie's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't know why that fact that she'd planned the location of their first kiss should've shocked him. It was totally a thing he would do, and she was basically him.

"Yeah," she said, softly. Then: "Oh, right, your chair's in the trunk. Hang on, I've got it."

"Oh, I wasn't..." Artie started to say, but she'd already jumped up to get it. "N-nevermind."

After she'd fully assembled it and he'd transferred on over, there was really nothing else left to do but leave. As Julie had just established, an empty parking lot wasn't her ideal spot for a first kiss. Even though it was dark and private... and definitely good enough for Kitty. STOP, brain!

They said their good-byes, as he turned and pushed his way through the automatic doors, into the lobby, and down the hall to the elevator. He knew exactly what he needed, to process all these thoughts. And though she was presently in the middle of the woods someplace, she still was just a phone call away.

"How's your camping trip going?" he asked Amy, when he finally called her, once he was settled on his giant, comfy hotel bed, surrounded by copious pillows.

"Oh, fine, fine," she said. "I'm making myself comfy in the cabin right now, because I'm still tired from growing a little human. Sam, Will, and Emma are all outside making s'mores still."

"Sam, Will, and..." Artie trailed off. "Oh, right, the Schuesters. Sorry, I'm not used to their person names. It's still weird that you're, like, their colleague."

"Believe me," she said. "I never expected to adult this fast. I thought I had a few more years of messing around..." he heard her sigh. "Anyway, what's up? Are you at that nice hotel room you showed me about earlier?"

He'd almost forgotten about the absurd amount of pictures he'd taken and sent over, of his swanky room and the lobby earlier. "Living it up," he replied. "Her dad swears he had all these points and it was practically free, but I think our definitions of 'practically free' are different."

"So, they're pretty rich, huh?" Amy remarked. "Well, then, sit back, relax, and enjoy a few days of the finer things. It sounds like they're also pretty generous."

"Very... accommodating," Artie affirmed.

Amy didn't miss a thing. "A little too much so?"

Artie hesitated. "I feel like a jerk for even thinking that way," he said. "What kind of asshole am I if I complain because these people actually take the time to help me out?"

"An asshole who hates being coddled," Amy summed up, rightly. At the silence that followed, she then added. "Just give her some time. She'll get comfortable, then maybe she'll relax a little..."

"Kitty never even gave it enough thought to be uncomfortable in the first place," Artie blurted out.

Amy paused. "You can't do that, Artie," she warned. "You can't compare this girl to Kitty. If you're going to give it a real shot, you've got to stop."

"Believe me, I'm trying..." Artie trailed off, then changed the subject, as he usually did when things got sticky. "So, you're okay? I was kind of worried about you going camping. I mean, you're pregnant..."

Amy laughed. "This is a delightful turn of events," she commented. "You worrying about me for a change. Yes, I'm fine. The second trimester isn't brutal like the first was. We're having fun."

"Okay, good," he said. "You're not gonna believe what I'm doing tomorrow. We're taking a road trip with her friends and her sisters. To the Grand Canyon. I'm going to the Grand Canyon."

Amy paused. "Well, that'll be... incredibly hot," she proclaimed. "Maybe it won't be so bad in March. Take a lot of water. And don't roll over the edge."

Artie rolled his eyes at that. "Thanks, Mom."

"Hey, I'm just preparing for August," she replied, as Artie was reminded that she really would be someone's mom soon, and that was still really, really weird.