Chapter 22- Journey to Regionals:

Mr Schue enters his kitchen to see Quinn looking out the window, "Quinn?" Mr Schue asks, "Are you all right?"

"It's been a long year." Quinn says.

"Yeah." Mr Schue says, Quinn picks up the plates and walks towards the living room, "Oh, need some help with those plates?"

"I'm not due for a month." Quinn says, "Think I can handle a stack of plates."

"Right." Mr Schue says with a laugh, he and Quinn walk into the Mr Schue's living room where the sad new directions are sitting, "No one wants any pizza? All right, well, uh, let's get started. Thank you for coming to the first annual new directions regionals' set list nominations party."

"What's the point, Mr Schue?" Artie asks, "Coach Sylvester's one of the judges. She's gonna crush us."

"Artie, you don't know that." Mr Schue says.

"Yes, we do." Blaine says, "She told us at cheerios practice."

"Yeah." Santana says, "She said 'I'm going to crush glee club.'"

"A whole freaking year." Puck says, "All that hard work for nothing."

Tina starts crying and everyone looks at her, "I'm sorry." She says through tears, "I just really love you guys. You know how many Facebook friends I had before I joined glee club? Two. My parents. Rachel was right. Being apart of something special, it made me special. I just can't believe it's going to be over in a week." Tina bursts into tears.

"Wait." Finn says, "Who says it's going to be over?"

"Please." Mercedes says, "You think Puck and Blaine are going even acknowledge my existence once we're not in glee club together anymore?"

"She has a point." Puck says, and Blaine nods.

"Mr Schuester?" Rachel asks, "Do you think instead of nominating songs, we can just… all go around the room and talk about things that we loved about glee club this year?" she asks through tears.

"That's too depressing to listen to." Blaine says, "We might as well just try our best and wait for the inevitable lose." He gets up and leaves, some new directions following.

"Proud Mary." Artie mumbled.

"Huh?" Mr Schue asks.

"That was my favourite memory." Artie says before wheeling out the apartment.

X-X-X-X-X

"Hey!" Finn calls out to Rachel, she stops walking and he catches up, "We need to talk. We had a chance of keeping it together at Mr Schue's until you decided to bail with the others. You're our leader, Rachel. The way you're on everyone all the time is annoying, but it's also what keeps the club motivated. You and I are going to fix this. We're going to regionals, and we're going to win this thing." Rachel kisses Finn.

"I agree." Rachel says, the pair smile at each other, "Glee's about to start, wanna walk together?"

"Y-yeah." They head down the hall, hands almost holding one another.

"Mr Schuester, Finn and I have something we want to say to you." Rachel says as her and Finn enter the choir room.

"Me first." Mr Schue says, "Have a seat." The couple sit down with the other new directions, "Nine months ago, there were five of you in here. And we sucked. I mean, we really sucked. Bad." He laughs, "One day, all of you are going to be gone. And all of this, all of us will be nothing but a hazy memory. It will take you a second to remember everyone's name. someone will have to remind you of the songs we sung, the solos you got or didn't get. Life only really has one beginning and one end, and the rest is just a whole lot of middle. And I love you guys too much to let you not make the most of it. Now, I was going to quit once, but you guys brought me back with don't stop believin'. It was a nine, but we are going to make it a ten."

"We're doing don't stop at regionals?" Rachel asks.

"And then some. We are doing a journey medley." Mr Schue says, "Because who care what happens when we get there when the getting there has been so much fun? Rachel? You had something you wanted to say?"

"Just that we're all really glad you didn't become an accountant." Rachel says, the kids laugh.

"Regionals, here we come." Mr Schue says.

X-X-X-X-X

"And now, our panel of judges." The announcer says as Mr Schue enters the hall, "He's an international musical sensation, a platinum recording artist 20 times over, the inimitable Mr Josh Groban!" the audience goes wild, "She's a four-time Grammy winner who starred in the highest grossing movie musical of all time, Miss Olivia Newton-John!" the crowd cheers louder, "He's a two-time local Emmy winner and broadcasting icon, WOHN news anchor Rod Remington!" cheers from the crowd again, "She is fresh off her fifth consecutive national cheerleading title and the author of the soon to be published memoir, 'I'm a winner and you're fat', Ohio's home-grown iconoclast, Coach Sue Sylvester!" the crowd cheer again, "And now, our performance of the evening, from Westvale High in scenic Fort Wayne Indiana, Aural Intensity!"

"You raise me up… you have to believe we are magic…"

"A mashup of Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban." Puck says, "Are you kidding me?! Somebody tipped them off about the judge."

"Guys, we can't get distracted by what the other teams are doing." Rachel says cutting the sound machine that's connected to the auditorium.

"We just got to keep our heads in the game and focus." Finn says.

"Even though we know we can't win?" Blaine asks.

"Yes." Mr Schue says entering the green room, "If this is only about winning for you guys, then owe you all an apology, because I've failed you. And we should just all go home, because it means we've already lost. Besides, we have got something that the other groups don't."

"What?" Artie asks.

"Finn's dancing." Mr Schue says the kids laugh, "Right? Now let's get out there. We got two minutes. Aural intensity's almost finished." The kids gather around put their hands in and cheer…

"Whoa!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Finn and Rachel are standing in the lobby waiting for their turn, they look at each other before walking towards one another, "Break a leg." Rachel says.

"I love you." Finn says.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our second competitors, winner of the central Ohio sectionals, McKinley high's, new direction!" the announcer says, and Finn and Rachel go back to their starting position.

"Highway run, into the midnight sun…"

Rachel and Finn enter the auditorium singing Journey's Faithfully.

"Any way you want it, that's the way you need it, any way you want it, ooh…"

Then the new directions perform a mashup of Any Way You Want It and Lovin' Touchin' Squeazin' both by journey.

"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train goin anywhere…"

Then don't stop believin'. And all are amazing. The kids all run back to the green room very happy and excited, "We've got second place in the bag!" Tina says excitedly.

"Screw that!" Rachel says, "We are going to win this!"

"Quinny?" a voice says, and Quinn turns to see her mom.

"Mom?" Quinn asks, "What are you doing here? Is dad okay?"

"I came to hear you sing." Judy says, "You were wonderful. I-I'm so sorry I missed all the other times you performed. Were there a lot?" Quinn stands in shocked silence, "I left your father. Well, I-I kicked him out, actually. He was having an affair with some- uh… tattooed freak. Quinny, I want you to come home with me. I can try the guest room into a nursery. Oh, sweetie, say something."

"My water just broke."

X-X-X-X-X

"Congratulations." Rachel says entering vocal adrenaline's empty green room.

"Thanks, Rachel." Shelby says.

"But we beat you today." Rachel says, "Jesse's a good singer, but you and I both know he doesn't have much heart. Vocal adrenaline's best days are behind them. So, I have a proposition for you." She approaches Shelby, "Come teach at McKinley."

"Excuse me?"

"You and Mr Schuester could be co-directors." Rachel says, "We'd be unstoppable. There's so much that you can teach me. So much only you can teach me."

"Oh, Rachel." Shelby says, "I can't do this anymore. I'm tired of coaching glee club. I want a life. It took meeting you to realize all this stuff that I missed out on. I need some balance, you know? I need a house and a garden, and a dog, and… family. I missed out on my chance with you, and it kill me. And I can't let that happen again." Rachel walks away, "Where's the rest of your team?"

Rachel turns back around, "They're, uh, they're at the hospital" Rachel says, "Quinn had her baby."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine." Rachel says, "It was a… it was a beautiful baby girl." She leaves the green room.

X-X-X-X-X

The new directions, aural intensity and vocal adrenaline are all standing on stage waiting to find out who won. The judges walk out on stage, Sue with a white envelope, the crowd cheer, "Thank you all coming." Sue says into the mic, "As you all know glee club is such an important… and I honestly can't even finish that sentence. So, let's just get to it." Sue opens the envelope, "The 2010 Midwest regional runners-up… from Fort Wayne Indiana, the not at all stupidly named aural intensity!" the crowd cheers and aural intensity cheer before exiting the stage, "And now, your 2010 Midwest regionals show choir champions… vocal adrenaline!"

The crowd go wild, but vocal adrenaline goes wilder. Jesse screams and cheers. The new directions stand frozen in shock.

X-X-X-X-X

"She looks like you." Puck says, as he and Quinn stand looking at their baby through the glass, "Do you want to keep her?"

"No." Quinn says, "Do you?" Puck doesn't say anything, "Did you love me?"

"Yes." Puck says, "Especially now." They smile at each other.

"Which one is yours?" Shelby asks.

"What are you doing here?" Quinn asks.

"I see her now." Shelby says smiling at the baby, "She looks like you. Does she have a name?"

"No." Quinn says.

"Beth." Puck says.

"Pretty." Shelby says, "I like that name. Congratulations." She walks off.

X-X-X-X-X

"Well, all the adoption papers seem to be in order." The nurse says to Shelby. After speaking to Quinn and Puck, and finding out they weren't keeping her, Shelby went to the hospital and decided to adopt Beth, "But there's no name on the birth certificate yet."

"It's Beth." Shelby says cooing at the baby.

"Pretty name." the nurse says, "I'll just take the baby, so you can sign." Shelby hands Beth over to the nurse, before signing the adoption papers. The nurse hands Beth back, "She's all yours."

"Thank you." Shelby says with the biggest and most genuine smile.

X-X-X-X-X

Rachel leads Mr Schue into the auditorium, before she joins the other new directions on the stage, "So, we have something we need to say to you." Rachel says, she sits down on her stool.

"In the beginning of the year I was just another football player." Matt says.

"I had a stutter." Tina says.

"I was a closeted diva." Mercedes says.

"I used to be captain of the cheerios." Quinn says.

"I was afraid to dance outside my room." Mike says.

"I hated everyone in this club." Blaine says.

"I wasn't honest about who I was." Kurt says.

"I wasn't either." Santana says.

"I was tossing kids into the dumpsters." Puck says.

"I had never kissed a girl before." Artie says looking up at Tina.

"And I was getting slushied." Rachel says.

"I didn't-I didn't have a father." Finn says, "Someone I could look up to. Model myself after. Someone who could show me what it really meant to be a man."

"We don't care what the judges say." Rachel says, "We won. Because we had you as a teacher."

"And glee club will never end, Mr Schue, because… you are glee club." Mercedes says tearing starting to pour down her face, "And you're in all of us now."

"Those schoolgirl days of telling tales and biting nails are gone…."

When the song ends Mr Schue blows a kiss to the kids. Sue watches from the top of the auditorium, after the song ends, she leaves.

X-X-X-X-X

The new directions sit in the choir room looking confused, all looking at Mr Schue with confused frowns. Mr Schue smiles, "We've got another year." the kids all look at each other confused, "Come on, we got another year!" the kids go crazy, cheering, shouting and hugging one another. Rachel runs over and hugs Mr Schue.

"Okay, you guys, I think this is the perfect opportunity for us to start rehearsing for next year's sectionals immediately-"

"Guys, you've all worked really hard this year and you deserve a break." Mr Schue says interrupting Rachel.

"But I have ideas." Rachel complains.

"Take the summer off." Mr Schue says, "Have some fun. Oh, but before you go, I have something for you. You all sang for me the other day, so today I'd like to return the favour." He pulls out an ukulele, "Puck, if you're ready." Puck grabs a guitar and sits next to Mr Schue.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I dreamed of once in a lullaby…"