The Wildeabrams Saga - Pt. 1

The Ballad of Kitty and Artie

Chapter 01: Backstory

by Wilde Abrams

# # # NEW INTRODUCTION (Spring 2021) # # #

The Wildebrams Saga started life back in mid 2014 with my attempt to fix the ending of the Lima storyline of Glee, specifically the stupid off screen breakup of my OTP, Kitty and Artie (Wildebrams or Kartie, depending on your preference). Kitty is one of the most interesting Characters on Glee of any of the classes, and she was perfect with one of my favorite characters Artie. Their relationship fell victim to the writers loss of interest in the Lima storyline after the sudden death of Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson) and desire to take all of the original glee kids out into the world and do more 'adult' storylines with them, unfortunately forgetting that this almost never works.

Kitty and the other Season 4 Newbies didn't fit in with that so their stories were abruptly cut to an end and they were thrown out with Yesterday's takeout. Ian Brennan said in an interview that Kitty and Artie were still together long distance, and we might see her in New York at some point, but either that idea didn't last that long or it was an intentional misdirection. Because several episodes into that disaster (which I call Season 5b) they did an episode ("Tested") which had Artie hooking up with multiple film school classmates and contracting an STD. (The "Here's What You Missed on Glee" introduction implied that Kitty and he were broken up.)

Like most other Wildebrams fans I was very upset… to put it mildly. They didn't even care enough to give them closure. Going back through the show and noticing all of the other storylines started and then abruptly dropped, I suppose I really shouldn't have been surprised, but it still sucked! A month after that episode aired I published my first story In My Arms Again (Someone, Somehow) which attempted to give them some emotional closure, and the goodbye scene the writers had robbed us of. But that wasn't enough, and I was inspired to begin writing embellished versions of my favorite Wildebrams episodes and scenes; specifically: Wonder-Ful, Shooting Star, and Love, Love, Love. I also began writing my version of getting them back together in the now depreciated story A New Beginning. Eventually I got the idea of writing this as one big long story and The Wildebrams Saga was born.

This is the first part of the saga entitled The Ballad of Kitty and Artie, in homage to The Ballad of John and Yoko (by the Beatles). It is a retelling of the story of how Kitty and Artie met and fell in love during season 4 and 5a. Initially the story was only supposed to focus on Kitty, but as I kept writing it became more balanced between them, as, realistically, it should have all along. Eventually real life, and other interests took priority, and the story was left to languish after only the first handful of episodes were completed. Because it incorporates most if not all of the Kitty and/or Artie scenes in the individual episodes, along with a lot of all new material, they are very time consuming to write, and I was getting relatively little feedback on them. Some of the individual scenes I wrote were previously published as a part of my series Wildebrams One Shots and Teasers, so don't be surprised if some things start to seem familiar as you read.

But I recently started re-watching Glee with the COVID shutdowns like many of you, Glee fanfic has explained a bit of a resurgence, and my muse is back, so I decided to "refresh" the existing episodes and continue writing the story. I hope you like it.

If you're reading the the first five chapters (Backstory, The New Rachel, Brittany 2.0, The Makeover, and The Breakup) have been republished and The Role You Were Born To Play, which has been sitting unfinished for years, was finally finished a few weeks ago. The original versions of theses, along with In My Arms Again, and A New Beginning are now available in the Archives page on my website: WildeAbrams dot com slash archives.

~Wilde Abrams

# # # Original Author's Notes (2014): # # #

Artie and Kitty are an epic couple in the sense that their relationship was built by the writers over the period of a year before bringing them together officially on screen. How much of that was preplanned and how much of it was their writing to the characters obvious chemistry we may never know. But to the viewers it does not really matter, because it's just as enjoyable.

Unfortunately, despite what Ian Brennan said in an interview back in February 2014, the producers chose not to keep them together after he graduated, nor did they give the characters relationship real closure. We the viewers are left to just assume that they broke up off screen. I personally don't accept that, and have been inspired to write about this amazing couple.

Glee has been criticized because the new characters supposedly didn't gel as well as the original cast. I don't really agree, but if there is any truth to it, it is because of the producers tendency to come up with any excuse they could to bring back the alumni, and downplay the new cast. Often they just sat there, or in one case, several of them were completely written out of an episode ("I Do"). I'm not going to make that mistake here and the Alumni will be used only when the story really calls it (or they actually appeared in the episode). Otherwise the stories will center on the McKinley set group.

Glee has had so many storylines that were started and then dropped inexplicably, or were not given a proper resolution. I think it's a shame that the writers seem intent on doing the same with this one, even though this one is one of the few that actually makes sense long term. You would need to be blind not to see the mutual attraction between them long before Love Love Love.

Then the producers chose to abandon the Lima cast. Kitty was seen crying at Artie's graduation. Why? Did she and Artie break up? Did she just know that they would grow apart? We don't know, so it is our duty as fanfic writers to answer them for our own enjoyment as well as that of others. I'm trying to weave some of these things together and provide some answers and resolutions. Here and there you will see things connected for other people as well.

For the record I saw Artie and Kitty happening long before the Guilty Pleasures episode and honestly I think before Dynamic Duets. There was a connection of sorts all the way back in The New Rachel. On the surface they don't seem to fit, but as you look at their histories and what happened during Kitty's Sophomore year they make a lot of sense.

This is the first of three parts of my WildeAbrams fanfic. It covers Kitty's and Artie's back stories, and tells how she and Artie met and gradually fell in love, and started dating during seasons four and five of the show. It is a work in progress, but expected to be about 35 or so parts when complete. It will run until just after graduation (New Directions). The second story, In My Arms Again (Somewhere, Somehow), which is complete, was my first WildeAbrsms story, and is the goodbye for Kitty and Artie that the producers were lazy, or didn't care enough to write and film. It also serves as a bridge between the others. The third part, entitled Glee: A New Beginning, is a multiple-part, all new, collection of stories chronicling the fictitious 6th and 7th season (Kitty and the others junior and senior years) which the producers don't care enough to do. Parts 1 and 3 are being written simultaneously so you will see additional chapters in both parts appearing on here as inspiration hits and I feel they are ready for publication. From time to time you may also see stand alone stories, and alternate versions as well.

This story will cover every major and most minor things that happened to Kitty during her sophomore year and beyond, filling in a lot of holes and attempting to answer a lot of questions. As I write this the story is not yet done but large parts are, and I have a detailed outline. If you have any suggestions or feedback pleased leave them in the comments and I will see what I can do about incorporating them.

The third part of the story is going to be mostly AU (Alternate Universe), but refer to the New York people and what they were doing to promote believability. I'm glossing over and ignoring most of Tested, because I don't find it believable. I'm also ignoring the last story arc do season. 5 where Rachel walked away from her lifelong dream of Funny Girl on Browdway to take a chance on a TV show, something we never knew she wanted. Also out is everything in season 6 since it's completely incompatible with everything else I'm writing.

So when you are ready, go get something to drink and settle in as we journey together back to back to the New Directions' victory at Nationals..

# # # # # THE STORY BEGINS HERE # # # # #

There was no doubt in her mind that Kitty Wilde was in love with Artie Abrams. As she stared deeply into his eyes, her mind went back over the roller coaster that lasted the past several years, the significant time she had spent with him, and how it had changed her life.

[ Backstory: Kitty Wilde ]

Katherine Rebecca Wilde was born on September 21, 1996 to Andrea and William Wilde, an evangelical Christian family. William was a powerful attorney, and Andrea was a successful realtor. Andrea was a former Miss Ohio, so appearance was something that was always stressed to Katherine as a child. She'd been entered in several beauty contests when she was young, and won a couple of them. She won a contest for 'The Most Beautiful Baby in the World'. Along with her parents, she had been active in her church from a young age and had attended Bible Camp every summer as a child, winning several awards. She took dance lessons starting at age 4, and started gymnastics at 6. She also did horseback riding until her horse Mr. JoJo broke her hymen.

Her parents had taught her that popularity, power, and money were necessary to succeed and prosper in life. Wherever she was, she did whatever she had to do to gain the popularity, because with it came power, and in time that would lead to wealth and success.

She was one of the most popular girls in her elementary school class, until sixth grade when a conflict with her best friend Julie turned all of her former friends against her. Years of cultivated relationships gone in an instant, with little or no hope of recovery.

Then the bullying began, and after a while it got so bad that it was decided that she would switch schools and make a start fresh.

But, this time she would be more careful and kept her "friends" at arms length; careful not to trust anyone enough to give them enough information to hurt her. Julie had only been able to hurt her because they were on the same level in the social structure. She would need to develop and project this air of superiority to make sure to keep everyone else below her. Her parents told her that this was necessary to prevent what had happened with Julie from happening again.

She lived this reality after her fresh start. In middle school she spent time with her classmates, but she didn't have any she really considered friends. She needed to maintain the upper hand in every relationship. None of her friends could be her equal ever again, so that she would win any conflict. People needed to want to be friends with her, she did not need to be real friends with anybody else.

After some of her previous experiences with so-called friends, she knew how fleeting friendships could be, and how painful it could be when they ended. She wanted to avoid that feeling at all costs, so she did everything in her power to avoid getting too close to anyone. If she felt that things were crossing a line she would lash out and push them away by whatever means necessary.

Because of this, she had no close relationships, and the few she did have were more acquaintances than friends. None of them really knew her, and those that thought they did really didn't. It was the same way with guys, so as a result she had never had a real boyfriend before, just friends and guys to manipulate and have a little fun with. As a result, Katherine lived a fairly lonely existence.

Things changed a bit in high school because it was a whole new environment. During her freshman year Katherine Wilde kept to herself busy at school a lot, observing. She was a member of all the right clubs, and paid close attention to the popular students at school, planning her move to gain popularity and power. But she really didn't socialize much outside of club meetings.

By the spring of her freshman year she had hatched a plan to cease what she wanted. The most popular group at the school were the Cheerios, and in particular one Cheerio, Quinn Fabray. They were as close to school royalty as McKinley High had.

She paid extra special attention to Quinn, and began to idolize her. But the more she paid attention to her the more of a mystery Quinn became. She was the on-again-off-again head Cheerio. She'd been pregnant as a sophomore by a guy who wasn't her boyfriend. She'd gone off the deep end and gotten a Ryan Seacrest tattoo. She'd dated football players. But she'd also been a member of the school glee club, also called New Directions, and dated several of its members, which didn't make any sense, because glee club members were, by definition, geeks. This should have sunk her popularity and cool factor, but didn't. Despite everything she maintained her popularity. Even when it slipped a bit she always bounced back. This made no sense to Katherine. Then she found out that between middle school and high school, Quinn had undergone her own metamorphosis and complete transformed from chubby Lucy Q Fabray to the gorgeous and popular Quinn Fabray.

Katherine decided that she needed to become a member of the Cheerios, and more importantly she needed to be like Quinn.

In order to do that, Katherine had to change her image and convince Coach Sylvester to put her on the squad. At her old school she had been on the gymnastics team and she had started taking dance lessons as a little girl, so once she had put in some practice and gotten back into shape, it had been a relatively simple thing to try out for and win a spot on the next year's squad. Most of the prominent members were graduating so there were several open slots. She drew her long blonde hair up into a ponytail and shy, quiet, Katherine Wilde, became Kitty Wilde, the Quinn Fabray heir apparent … in more ways than she would realize at the time...

Kitty hadn't really paid much attention to the glee club beyond its existence her freshman year, let alone specific members. But she knew that one of them was in a wheelchair and had been seen hanging out with Quinn after she had been in a car accident and temporarily lost her ability to walk, but that was about it.

The most interesting thing about them was that three of that most prominent members of the Cheerios: Quinn, Santana Lopez, and Brittany S Pierce, were also members of the glee club. With those three exceptions, the glee club was apparently nothing but a bunch of losers and she did not understand why Quinn and the others had anything to do with them. Most of the rest of the school seemed to share this view.

That all changed near the end of the year when the glee club, had won the National Show Choir competition. After that, everybody paid attention to them and suddenly their popularity had skyrocketed, almost, but not quite to the level of the Cheerios,

She stood in the back as the New Directions were welcomed home amid great fanfare after their win, and was mystified to see people she had seen torment them in the halls with slushie facials in the past, now throw confetti at them instead. She resolved to figure out what the deal was with this club.

[ Backstory: Artie Abrams ]

Arthur "Artie" John Abrams was born April 28, 1994 to James and Nancy Abrams in Lima Ohio. When he was eight years old Artie and his mother were involved in a car accident which resulted in him being severely injured and being paralyzed from the legs down; and thus having to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He had only slight use of his thigh muscles, but fortunately retained his sexual functionality, something that he was very grateful for.

Artie's parents were divorced when he was younger and he lived with his mother, although his father remained in his life, attended his school events, and transported him to events as needed. Artie's mom dedicated a significant portion of her life and energy to taking care of his needs, something he felt a great debt of gratitude toward her for. She was a social worker, and after the divorce she'd gone back to school and gotten her Masters in Social Work, and gotten a job as the Disabilities Coordinator for the Lima School District, an area of practice very near and dear to her heart.

At first glance Artie seemed like a sweet quiet nerdy boy who was simply trying to get by just like everyone else. However Artie was very sensitive and could be a surprisingly defensive person when either provoked, or when he was passionate about something. Although he had always tried not to let his disability define him, at times he had little choice because of how the people around him treated him.

Because of his unique challenges, he usually felt like an outsider, and that only people with similar disabilities could truly understand him. While he had reached a point where he was comfortable with his wheelchair, there were times when he felt frustrated because of the ways that it limited him. However, he was more than just the wheelchair kid. He was an amazing friend, strong singer, and a key member of the New Directions and had helped hold the group together on more than one occasion.

One of his talents was teaching and guiding individuals, however there were times when he came off as being judgmental and bossy. Artie and his mom were instrumental in getting additional handi-capable ramps added to McKinley high. When he started there was only one ramp at the entrance and now they were several throughout the building making it much more accessible to he and other future students in wheelchairs. Artie liked all kinds of music, but was particularly fond of Michael Jackson.

Artie refused to let his disability get in the way of his ambitions, for example he was a member of the football team for part of his sophomore year, and he was a founding member of the Glee Club entitled The New Directions, which he joined with his best friend Tina Cohen-Chang. He was also a member of the McKinley High Jazz Ensemble, in which she played the guitar.

While Artie was an amazing singer and performer, his true passion was directing movies which he has wanted to do since he was very young, even before his accident. His dream was to attend film school after he graduated from high school. During his junior year Artie was the student director of McKinley high production of West side story, and directed a Christmas special starring members of the glee club for local TV station.

For a time he also dreamed of a cure for his disability, and the day when he would be able to get his ability to walk back, and actually dance again; however the reality of such a thing eventually set in and he resolved to making peace with the fact he was in his chair, possibly for the rest of his life.

The first girl that Artie dated was his friend Tina Cohen-Chang. Tina spoke with a strong stutter and Artie thought that he'd finally found someone who actually understood him and was also willing to date him. However he ended that shortly after they shared their first kiss at the end of their first date freshman year, and she confessed that the stutter that she had was fake. Artie was devastated! She had been faking a disability since sixth grade in order to avoid doing a speech in front of the class. Her disability wasn't real, and she could drop it at any time, which she promptly did. She could never fully understand him. Things were awkward between them for a few weeks, and he went through a chauvinistic streek, but eventually he got over that, and she forgave him for it, and he forgave her for lying about the stutter. The two of them did begin to date again and continued to do so through the end of their freshman year.

But their relationship ended for good during the summer between their freshman and sophomore years when Tina fell in love with someone else. She'd gotten a summer job with their friend and glee club mate, Mike Chang at Asian camp. While there she'd cheated on Artie with him and broken up with him when she'd gotten back, choosing to date Mike instead after becoming obsessed with his abs. She blamed Artie for not giving her enough attention over the summer, but she was always a bit over dramatic. They were over 100 miles away. What was he supposed to do? Have his phone glued to his hand? Artie was crushed. He'd always had body image issues, something Tina was well aware of. But she continued to faun over Mike's abs at every opportunity. It was cruel!

To get over her, Artie had convinced Finn Hudson to help get him on the football team as the team battering ram (surprisingly there was no rule against it), and began to spend more time in the weight room working on his physique, but to no avail. Tina was obsessed with Mike, and would be for the next two years.

Later that year during the glee club "duets" assignment Brittany S. Pierre took a liking to him and invited him to partner with her. He should have realized that something was up when she continued to refer to him as a robot. When it became apparent that he was distracted because he still wasn't over Tina, she offered to help him, and it was Britney who took his virginity, in an attempt to help him get over his feelings for his ex. Sadly this was a very traumatic experience for him and did not mean very much to her because he was one of many sexual partners for her. But it was a miracle for him because it was never.

They continued to date for most of that year, and experienced a brief pregnancy scare. Their relationship ended after it became apparent that Britney was cheating on him with her closeted lezbian friend Santana Lopez; although she did not believe it to be cheating at the time because Santana was a woman.

During his junior year, Artie had it on-again off-again relationship with glee club member Sugar Motta, but they were never that serious. He also went on a single date with Becky Jackson, a classmate with down syndrome who was also on the Cheerios, and had a hard time accepting that while he enjoyed their time together, he saw her as more of a friend.

As a member of the 2012 National High School National Show Choir Champions, The New Directions, Artie along with the other glee club members achieved a newfound popularity going into his senior year. He could now be seen having lunch with Cheerios, being interviewed by Joseph Ben-Israel, and his days of getting a slushie in the face appeared to be over.

[ Text Revision: February 16, 2021, original version on my website under archives ]