Hello and welcome to the last chapter of season 4! It is so crazy to me that there are only two seasons left. As per usual, I have a few notes beforehand.
I will not be doing a chaper between season 4 and 5 because season 5 just continues on from the finale of season 5. Also, I know Blaine purposes to Kurt and they get back together, but sadly I have cut the proposal and their getting back together (I have no idea what I will replace that with since it is a major storyline in the first episode of season 5, but we will figure that out when we get there - which is literally next chapter but that's fine). I loved Adam for Kurt, even if we only got a short glimpse of their relationship. And I love knowing that this way, at least some of the characters end up with people they don't meet in high school (even if Kurt met Adam in college). I don't know I just think it would have been refreshing to see at least one character end up with someone they weren't in glee club with (is that just me?).
So if I have any Klaine lovers in this story, I apologize, I hope you stick it through with me to the end, I promise I will not make Blaine end up alone.
Wonder-ful
She gets an email from Mr. Shue wondering if she was willing to help come mentor the New Directions again since it seemed to work well last time, despite the unfortunate outcome.
Although she is on reading break, she doesn't think she's going to go back. She was in Lima like a month ago, she really needs to start saving money because of all the gas she's been buying traveling back and forth.
But then Kurt calls her and asks her to come because his dad is getting his results back on whether or not he still has cancer and tells her he would bring Adam but he hasn't exactly met his dad or Carole yet and he feels like a hospital isn't really the best place for first introductions. He doesn't mention Rachel and she already knows that Rachel isn't an option because of what's going on with Funny Girl.
She reluctantly agrees because of course she's not going to make Kurt go through something that alone, although she does make him promise to pay for gas, since he doesn't have a car and she doesn't feel like spending another hundred bucks on a plane ticket.
xxx
He's not exactly sure how his girlfriend gets into M.I.T. When she knocks on his door on a Saturday evening and tells him he's pretty sure he stares at her with his jaw on the floor for several minutes, but he's still so proud of her. He always knew Brittany was special, she had so much to offer the world other than her sexy dance moves and harsh one-liners. The only thing he's unsure of is where they stand.
He doesn't want to bring it up to her because he's a little afraid that she's going to break up with him. They still have half of senior year left, prom and graduation and nationals and he really doesn't feel like going through it alone. He's really become dependent on her company. Yeah he doesn't exactly love her, but he really enjoys their weekly dates to the movie, or how she makes weird conspiracy theories in the morning about the country songs he plays in his car when he drives them to school. But she doesn't say anything before she leaves to tour the campus, so he decides to let it be for now.
Out of habit he almost drives to her house on Monday morning to pick her up before he remembers that she won't be there. She's always been bubbly and free-spirited, so it feels odd not hearing her laugh in the hallway. It feels even weirder not having her sit beside him in the choir room during their glee meeting, but he recovers before anyone can tell that he's upset.
He doesn't understand the point of the wonder-ful lesson or where Mr. Shue is going with it. He grows even more lost when Tina shares her news that she could possibly be accepted into this medical school and Mr. Shue doesn't say it's great, but wonderful. He's getting a little scared that Mr. Shue might have accidentally smoked something this morning.
But then he gets it, they're doing a Stevie Wonder week. Of course he listens to Stevie Wonder, but if he's being honest, he's kind of always had a muse for his glee assignments. When he first joined he had Quinn to inspire him, then Mercedes and back to Quinn again, and now with Brittany gone he doesn't really know if he wants to participate this week.
xxx
She decides it's probably best if they leave early on Monday, that way Kurt has a couple of days to prepare himself for the appointment. She leaves her apartment at eight, but doesn't get to Bushwick until eleven because she stopped for donuts and coffee along the way so they have something to munch on for the ride.
Kurt looks like a nervous wreck. He looks shaky as he walks from the apartment building to her car, and she notices how it takes him a couple of tries to open the back door so he can throw his suitcase next to hers.
"You are a goddess." He tells her once hops into the passenger seat and sees the coffee causing her to giggle.
"Are you going to mentor as well?" She asks him once he buckles in and they get on the road, thinking distracting him from the real reason why he's going to Lima might make him feel better.
"I might, just so I have something else to focus on before the appointment." He tells her and she nods while she changes lanes. "So how long is the ride normally?" He asks her and she whips her head to look at him shocked.
"You've never driven?" She asks him, surprised. She knows that Kurt hasn't exactly been back to Lima as much as he has, but he has been a few times, and he's taken a plane all of those times? She guesses it makes sense, neither he or Rachel have a car, but that many flights has to be expensive.
He shakes his head confirming her suspicions. "Well because we're driving during the day and there's bound to be traffic, it'll take about ten hours."
Kurt chokes on his coffee. "Ten hours?!"
She laughs. "Yes, Kurt. Ten hours, but it flies by I promise."
He huffs and she rolls her eyes. Typical Kurt. "What do you even do for that long, especially when you drive by yourself?" He asks her, a shocked tone still in his voice.
"I've only driven down a handful of times. It goes by a lot faster when you have someone to talk to." She tells him.
"A handful huh?" He asks her and she knows exactly where this is going, but she's not doing this with him, so she doesn't reply to his comment. But of course, that doesn't stop Kurt. "I hear Brittany is touring M.I.T." He says casually.
"Yeah, she mentioned it to Santana and I that she got an early acceptance." She tells him, trying to nip the conversation in the butt to keep it from going where she knows Kurt is trying to take it.
"I wonder if her and Sam broke up because of it." He says like they're just gossiping about two random people and not her ex he knows she still has feelings for.
"I think if they broke up we would have heard from Tina by now." She jokes and he laughs, agreeing. "So Blaine came down for Christmas right? Were things awkward because of Adam?" She asks, changing the subject. If Kurt wants to bring up her ex, well two can play at that game.
"No. Adam went back to England to spend the holidays with his family. It felt platonic, like we were just old friends hanging out." He says, reaching in the back to pull out a fashion magazine out of his suitcase.
"How is Vogue by the way?" She asks, remembering his internship.
"I love it. As I told you, my boss is amazing. I think I might pursue a career in fashion, I am beginning to love it a little more than musical theatre." He whispers like it's some sort of scandal and she snorts.
"Been on any dates lately?" He asks her, half seriously and half teasing. He brings it up every time they talk, but ever since she broke up with her professor she hasn't really had the interest in going out with someone again. She's told Kurt about a million times that it has nothing to do with Sam and more to do with wanting to find herself, but he remains unconvinced.
"No Kurt, I have not." She tells him in a tone that she hopes indicates she does not want to talk about this.
"What about that guy that was in a couple of your classes, Alex right? Your study buddy." He says, implying that he's something further than just some guy she exchanges notes with.
"We're just friends." She states, because it's true. She hadn't noticed he had been in most of her classes last semester until he approached her after the second week of classes during her second semester, asking her if she wanted to grab coffee and go over assignments sometime. She had politely declined, telling him she wasn't really interested in anything right now, but he had reassured her it was simply for studying purposes, that he had a girlfriend who was studying Education.
But eventually he and his girlfriend broke up, and she waited anxiously for him to ask her out, knowing it would eventually happen. He was a guy after all. But he never did, and she was grateful for it. Her and her roommate were quite close, and she had made some friends from the female society she had joined, but it was nice having a friendship with a guy that she knew would stay strictly platonic.
"Adam and I started off as just friends." He teases.
"That is a lie you told me you found Adam attractive from the second you saw him. You asked him out like a week after knowing him." She tells Kurt who just scoffs, knowing he's been caught.
They fall into easy conversation how they always do after that. Talking about anything and everything like her job and how she's doing at Yale. She asks him if Finn will be back as well. She misses him, the two of them have grown a lot closer since graduating, mutually deciding that they were always better off as close friends instead of boyfriend and girlfriend. She keeps in closer contact with him than she does with Mercedes.
Eventually Kurt falls asleep, magazine faced down on his lap. She turns down the radio and hums along to the songs she knows. She shakes Kurt's shoulder softly once she pulls up to his house and he groans. "Kurt, we're here." She whispers.
"What?" He asks, his voice groggy and she giggles. She does him the favour of taking his bag out of the back for him and walks him to the door. He's still half asleep beside her, so she waits for Burt to open the door.
Kurt thanks her for the ride before taking his bag from her and dragging himself inside. Burt thanks her as well, but before he can close the door she takes two steps forward and hugs him. He freezes at first, and she knows it's because he wasn't expecting her. "Thank you." She whispers, growing a little emotional. Burt had always been kind to her. Never judging her when she had gotten pregnant with his stepson's best friend's child. He had always welcomed her with open arms, and he and Carole had done so much for her and her mom during her accident. They had stayed with her when her mother couldn't, and when she was released Carole had made meals for the two of them knowing her mother would be too busy with her to properly cook something. Burt had even offered to fix her car free of charge, but she had declined. They were like a second set of parents to her.
"Goodnight Mr. Hummel." She says before walking back to her car. She looks at him once more as she pulls away from their house, not missing how his eyes are shining with unshed tears.
xxx
She meets up with Mercedes, Mike, and Kurt before running into the choir room with them before Kitty's performance of Signed, Sealed, Delivered and takes a seat beside Kurt in the back.
Her eyebrows shoot up at Kitty's speech about how Mercedes had only come back to Ohio after having her L.A. dreams shattered. She really thought Kitty had grown a heart after everything that's happened.
Mike shares that he has come back to help choreograph, but before she can share why she has come back Tina goes on another one of her rants. She raises her hand silently to tell Tina that she has also come back to help choreograph since Brittany is at M.I.T and Santana had declined because Tina is going on about how they need some guy to help them dance and how Glee hates girls, but Kurt shakes his hand and pulls her arm down.
She flinches as Tina asks what Kurt is back for.
"My dad has cancer." He tells her in a shocked and sad voice, and she puts a supportive hand on his shoulder, turning around to glare at Tina.
xxx
She, Mike, Mercedes, and Kurt head to the Lima Bean afterschool to catch up on how chaotic their lives have been since they've last seen each other. Mercedes tells them all how she's been working to release an album and she listens in awe about how she's come back to film a music video for it.
As soon as Mercedes and Mike sort out the details for her music video, Mercedes asks her how she's been.
"Nothing compared to albums and music videos." She jokes and everyone laughs. "It's been kind of uneventful. I work and go to class, not really exciting stuff." She says.
"And what about after work and class. Any dates?" Mercedes asks her, teasing a bit and she rolls her eyes.
"No, I'm working on myself right now." She tells him. "Seriously!" She says, noticing their unconvinced expressions.
"Is any of this really important right now?" Kurt snaps and she smiles at him softly, putting a hand on his arm.
"Kurt, your dad is going to be fine." Mercedes tells him. "Everything is going to be okay. We're here. Trust." Mercedes grabs his hand from across the table and he smiles at them.
"I'm really glad you guys are here." He tells them. She is glad to be back, even though she would never admit it. As much as she used to despise this place back in high school, before glee club and sometimes even during, Lima will always be home. And these people will always be family.
xxx
She throws on a navy Yale crewneck and a pair of white biker shorts before heading to the school the next morning. It's not what she usually wears, which are dresses or skirts, but she's planning on helping choreograph so she might as well wear something comfy.
She throws her hair in one of her signature ponytails with a pink scrunchie and heads to her car, crossing her fingers that she won't hit any red lights because she's running a little late and Mr. Shue wants the mentors to be there before the students.
She parks directly in front of the auditorium and runs inside, sighing in relief when she sees only Kurt, Mike, and Mercedes inside. She drops her bag to the side and joins her fellow mentors.
"Dear God you look so much like a university student." Kurt tells her and she rolls her eyes. "I don't think I've ever seen you dressed like this." She shoves him playfully.
"I am here to help choreograph." She tells him, wondering why he isn't picking apart Mike's appearance. But then she notices Mike isn't wearing something similar to her, he's wearing a vest and jeans.
"Today is for vocals." Mercedes tells her and she blushes embarrassed, so maybe she didn't read Mr. Shue's schedule for them properly, but oh well, she's comfortable.
"Sam looks like he's drooling." Kurt tells her as the students pile in. She looks up from her phone and Sam is indeed staring at her, but she can't read the look on his face.
"Sam has a girlfriend." She reminds Kurt, but he snorts.
"Looks like you need to remind him that." He says back.
She stands off to the side with Mike and Kurt as Mercedes goes over vocals, specifically with Marley. She dances to the side with Kurt during Mercedes' number, but she stops when Mercedes pulls Kurt to the middle of the circle with her. Sam slides over to her, and grabs her hand and spins her around. She laughs and dances with him, not noticing how Kurt is looking over at the two of them.
When she finally catches his eye, he gives her a knowing look and her smile falters a little, remembering Sam has a girlfriend. "How's Brittany?" She asks, just loud enough for him to hear.
"She's good, enjoying M.I.T. She's been busy so we don't talk much." He tells her and she nods like she gets it when really she doesn't. She hasn't been in a relationship in half a year, nor has she even done long distance. "I think we might break up." He tells her and she tumbles a bit, taken off guard. But of course, he catches her. He's always been her knight in shining armour, saving her.
Well, he and Brittany might break up, that certainly makes things interesting.
Kurt walks over to them after the song ends and asks Sam how he's been. She glares at him because she knows Kurt, she knows he's up to something. As soon as the small talk between the two of them dies down, Kurt turns towards her.
"Thank you again Quinn for coming down here. I'm sorry you had to cancel your coffee date with Alex." Kurt tells her and if she wasn't expecting it, her jaw would be on the floor. There was no coffee date with Alex that she cancelled for Kurt.
"Who's Alex?" Sam asks.
"Quinn's study buddy." Kurt answers for him and she nudges him with her elbow.
"We're just friends. He's in a couple of classes and we study sometimes together." She explains, taking notice of how his jaw tenses.
"Ah, I see." He says. And is that annoyance she detects in his voice? Before she can think too hard about it he tells them it was good talking to them and then walks away.
"Your welcome." Kurt sings in her ear. She just hip checks him causing him to stumble.
xxx
Kurt calls her the morning of Burt's appointment. "I can't get my hands to stop shaking so I need you to distract me while I get ready. Adam is in class so I don't want to bug him." He tells her as soon as the call connects.
"Do you want me to come? I know it's a family thing but I can come if you need me." She offers, but he politely declines.
"No it's okay. Let's talk about something else. Like you and Sam, how is that?" He asks her and she rolls her eyes.
"Let's not. What about the New Directions? Do you think they stand a good chance to win regionals?" She asks, steering the subject away from her love life, or the lack of one for that matter.
He hums. "They'll do great, they just need to work on a few things. Unlock the team's hidden talents and stuff like that." They talk a little more about the New Directions and the choreography Mike and her have for them. Eventually Kurt tells her he needs to go.
She tells him to tell her the results as soon as he can, and that she will be praying for good news. She doesn't have much to do while at home, and knowing what's happening with Kurt just makes her anxious. She decides that she should do something for them, after all they have done for her. So she ropes her mom into helping her make some food for them. She assumes Carole won't want to cook after an appointment like that.
She knows that they could have always gotten takeout from somewhere, but knowing she is helping in some way makes her feel better. It might be selfish, but oh well. It's nothing fancy, her mom makes lasagna that her mother had taught her how to make and she's in charge of all the side dishes.
She also bakes some cookies for them because cookies make everyone happy. She's wrapping the food up when Kurt tells her that Burt is in remission, and she's not quite sure why, but she immediately starts crying.
He tells her that they will be home in about twenty minutes, so she hits a floral shop before heading to their house because what better way to brighten up someone's day after getting good news like that than with flowers?
The lady at the floral shop recommends an assortment of daisies, goldenrods, and peonies. Daisies because they signify hope, goldenrods because they signify encouragement and good fortune, and peonies because they signify a happy life.
She struggles to carry everything all at once. Even though her mother had put all the food in a canvas tote bag, she still finds difficulty closing and locking her car while holding the food and flowers in one hand, and the plate of cookies in the other.
She knocks on the door with her foot and prays someone will open it soon because her arms are beginning to grow sore. Soon enough Carole swings the door open and gasps when she sees her.
"Oh Quinn, you didn't have to do all this." Carole tells her, taking the cookies from her and gesturing for her to follow her inside. She kicks off her flats and follows Carole, placing the bag of food on the island once they enter the kitchen.
"Quinn seriously, thank you for all this." Carole tells her, putting the flowers inside of a vase.
She blushes. "You guys did so much for me and my mom after my accident. I figured it was my turn to return the favour." She says.
Carole takes her by surprise and hugs her as Kurt walks into the kitchen, gasping just how Carole had when she first opened the door. "Quinn, you didn't need to do this." Kurt tells her, hugging her once Carole releases her.
"Join us for dinner." Carole tells her, but she shakes her head.
"I don't want to intrude." She tells Carole politely.
"You wouldn't be." Burt says from behind her, startling her a bit. "You're like family Quinn." He tells her as Kurt reaches to squeeze her hand.
Well, her mother is going to be having dinner with her country club ladies tonight, it beats eating old pizza all alone, so she agrees. "Okay, thank you."
xxx
Mercedes walks out during glee rehearsal to answer a phone call and never returned so she, Kurt, and Mike search for her once rehearsal ends. They find her in the auditorium, yelling at someone on the phone.
"Who was that?" Mike asks her as soon as she hangs up the phone.
"Just my useless producer." She tells them.
"I thought you liked him." Mike says.
"I did. When we were in the studio. Then I got a little skeptical when we were doing the photo shoot for my CD's cover art. Now they're saying my CD is off their release schedule until I agree to another photo shoot." She sighs. "One showing more skin."
Her jaw drops, how can they even do that? Her music is showcasing her voice, not how much skin she is showing. They all go to sit with her on the stage.
"What? Screw him." Mike tells her, saying what is on all of their minds.
"Oh, and he said he'd be happy to use another girl's picture." She tells them and Quinn's jaw drops.
"On your CD?" Kurt asks. "The one that you are singing one? Oh hell to the no."
"They don't want me. They just want my voice, not my whole person. You know, it's crazy guys. I'm going to be dealing with this the rest of my career. Everyone is gonna want me to look like Beyoncé, and no one is going to be satisfied with me, Mercedes Jones."
"And they're crazy, and you don't want to be in business with people like that." Kurt tells her. "You're not actually considering it, are you?" He asks her.
"I've been working on this album for a year. I need it to come out. Look, I'm sorry guys. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I need to talk to my mom about this hot mess." She says sighing, heading to leave.
"Mercedes wait!" She calls after her, jumping off the stage. She turns around and looks at her confused. "Do you remember what I told you in the nurse's office sophomore year? I told you that you were beautiful. And you still are beautiful, Mercedes. Forget that guy if it's not his standard of beauty because you are so talented. Someone out there is dying to sign you for your beauty and talent." She tells her, receiving a smile and a hug.
"Thank you Quinn." Mercedes whispers into her hair.
xxx
She sits in the choir room the next day and listens to Mercedes give a speech about speaking her truth, feeling like a proud parent. She helps Mike and Kurt distribute Mercedes' CD's to the New Directions. She already has about three copies, two of them autographed by Mercedes.
When she tells people about how she knows someone who might be on Broadway or lived in the Mercedes Jones' house, although they don't really know her right now, they always ask her if she's envious. But she isn't, she loves bragging about her friends' success. They're all so talented and she feels nothing other than so proud at all far they have all come. They're her family, and in family? There is no jealousy.
xxx
She sits in the auditorium with her fellow mentors and watches Artie perform For Once In My Life with the rest of the New Directions.
"Does anyone feel like a proud parent?" She asks with a few tears in her eyes.
"Girl you have become so emotional." Mercedes teases, pulling her up so they can all go dance with everyone else on stage.
All or Nothing
He's so happy to see Brittany back from M.I.T, but then his jaw drops when he hears her rant about how she demands to sing a solo at regionals. This is not the Brittany he spoke to before she left, what happened to her while she was gone?
"Babe, you're really out of line here." He tells her, jumping from the piano to walk to her. But she isn't listening to him, instead she's texting on her phone. "And would you stop texting? I'm trying to talk to you, it's really rude." He tells her, and then his phone chimes and she gestures for him to check the message. "Did you seriously just break up with me? By a text?" He asks her unimpressed.
"Yeah. As fascinated as I am by your down-filled, pillow-soft lips that are ten times too big for your face, I really miss my sweet, sweet lady kisses. Sorry not sorry." She tells him before turning away. "Moving on, I repeat, I require all the solos. That's the way it's gonna be."
"Brittany, why are you doing this?" Mr. Shue asks her, clearly annoyed.
"Well, I'm just living your lesson Mr. Shue. It's all or nothing." She says before walking out of the room.
xxx
He calls Santana because he doesn't know what else to do. He wants to help Brittany, and he has been trying his hardest to keep her from going too many times to crazytown, but this is too far. Usually he knows the reason why he's acting out, like when she thought the world was ending, and when she thought the world was ending again because of a meteor, but he has no idea what this is about, and she won't tell him what it is.
So he calls Santana. He rolls his eyes at her snarky comment about how he either called her because hell has frozen over or he butt dialed her.
"Look, I need to talk to you." He tells her, cutting right to the chase.
"Sorry, no can do Trouts, I just got back from a dance class and I'm already five minutes late for drinks with this insanely hot off-Broadway choreographer.
"It's about Brittany." He tells her, hoping that will catch her attention.
"Obviously." She says and he rolls his eyes again.
"Okay, she broke up with me." He tells Santana, hoping that will at least interest her.
"Inevitably." Is what she says instead and he huffs in frustration.
"Okay, look, she's been acting really weird since she met with those people at M.I.T, okay? She even dropped out of regionals." If this doesn't get Santana concerned he might as well just hang up the phone.
"Are we sure it's not just Britney 3.0 week in Glee Club?" She asks him and he can't tell if she's kidding or not.
"Look, okay, I know I'm not your favourite person, but you also know that I'd help you if you ever asked me to. You told me about Quinn and her professor when you could have easily gone to Kurt and I helped you. Something's up Santana. I'm asking you for help." He tells her.
"Okay, I'll see what I can do." She tells him before hanging up the phone.
xxx
She meets up with Kurt at the Lima Bean two days before she's set to leave. Now that she's helped mentor, there's really no need for her anymore.
"When do you plan to leave?" Kurt asks her as soon as they settle into a table by the window.
"In two days, maybe tomorrow night if I can't find anything else to do." She tells him honestly.
"Come to regionals with me." He tells her, and he must notice her hesitant expression right away because he quickly continues. "Come on, Mercedes and Mike will be there, and you were a big part of getting them there. You taught the girls their choreo while Brittany was gone. Please Quinn. I'll even drive." He begs her and she laughs, but agrees. She really needs to find something better to do than constantly go to high school musicals and show choir competitions.
xxx
Santana calls her the next day to tell her she's taking a flight to Lima right now and asks her if she'd be willing to pick her up from the airport. To say she's shocked is an understatement, she didn't know Santana was also planning to come back for regionals.
She and Santana run to each other in the airport as soon as they see each other like some sort of movie cliche, hugging each other like they haven't seen one another in years when really it's only been about a month. They FaceTime all the time, and sometimes she will drive up to New York to have drinks and dinner with Santana. Sometimes all five of them will even go, her, Santana, Rachel, Kurt, and Adam.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back for regionals!" She tells Santana, smacking her arm as they walk to go get her luggage.
"What? I'm back because Sam called me. Something's wrong with Brittany." Santana tells her and she's surprised. She's a little hurt that Sam hadn't mentioned anything to her, but then she decides it makes sense. Even though the two of them were once best friends, it would be a little awkward to tell your ex-girlfriend that your girlfriend is having some sort of crisis.
xxx
She gets Kurt to help her convince Santana to come to regionals with all of them. At first she seemed reluctant, but then she had agreed. Santana gets ready at her house so Kurt doesn't have to drive to pick so many people up. Puck had flown back in and Finn had decided to join them as well, making it just like when they had watched sectionals. Her, Santana, Kurt, and Finn will be riding in Kurt's car and Mike, Mercedes, and Puck will be taking Mercedes' car.
She gets Santana to do her makeup because Santana has always been a lot better at makeup than she is. Which causes Santana to want to pick out her outfit as well.
"Something simple." She begs, watching as Santana looks through her black dresses. "It is a high school show choir competition." She reminds her best friend. She gets an eye roll in response.
"This is cute. Why have I never seen you wear this?" Santana asks her, pulling out a blush pink bodycon dress with sheer sleeves.
She shrugs her shoulders. If she's being honest, her mom had bought her the dress and she kind of forgot that she had it. "I never had the right occasion I guess."
"Well this is the right occasion." Santana tells her, picking up a pair of white heels for her to wear with the dress.
By the two of them are finished getting ready Kurt and Finn are outside. The three hours it takes to get to Indianapolis fly by as she, Santana, and Kurt sing along to Kurt's music, annoying Finn most of the time. But she knows deep down he doesn't mind.
xxx
Mr. Shue hugs all of them once they arrive, and forces them to join them all in the New Directions green room.
"Quinn!" Tina squeals when she sees her, running to her and hugging her. She hugs Tina back, to where Sam is standing. He whips his head around when he hears her name, and she smiles at him.
"Come on, our tradition." Tina tells her, pulling her to the side.
"But Tina, you already have your makeup on." She points out and Tina shakes her head.
"I don't care, put another coat of lipstick on or something." She sighs, but smiles and takes Tina's lipstick from here, following her instructions and applying another coat. "I'm glad you're here." Tina tells her. "Sam's been down since his breakup with Brittany."
Her eyes widen. "Sam and Brittany broke up?" She asks, shocked. No one mentioned anything to her. Before she can ask Tina for more details, Mr. Shue is calling everyone over for show circle.
That proud parent feeling returns as Brittany shares her news of her early acceptance at M.I.T with all of them. She clutches Santana's hand as the both of them share a smile as tears roll down their faces.
She doesn't have any ill willed feelings as she watches Brittany and Sam hug each other and tell each other how much they're going to miss each other. It only makes her cry a bit harder for them. But then Brittany walks over to her and Santana. "And then there's you two. My unholy trinity girls." Brittany says and the both of them softly laugh through their tears.
"Quinn, you're like my other half since my other half can't be Santana because we were lovers." She doesn't question Brittany's logic this time, just cries softly into Brittany's shoulder once she hugs her.
She grabs Santana's hand again as soon as Brittany finishes hugging Santana. They complete their show circle and all the alumni (minus Rachel) go to sit with Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillsbury. She high fives Mike once they see how well their choreography turned out.
She watches in awe at Marley and Blaine's duet, shocked that Marley wrote this song herself. It takes her back to regionals two years ago, where she was watching Rachel sing get it right. Her, Santana, and Kurt pass tissues between each other, getting oddly emotional watching the New Directions perform.
They stand in anticipation waiting to hear third and second place being called. She jumps and cheers with Santana when the Hoosierdaddies are announced as the second place winners. They all race back to the green room to celebrate with everyone else.
She doesn't think it could get much better than this, but then Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillsbury announce they're getting married right now and she begins crying all over again. She grabs the hands closest to hers, knowing one is Santana. She looks up to see who else's hand she is holding, not surprised to see Sam. She always ends up finding her way back to him.
He smiles down at her, and she looks back to Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillsbury, melting at their romantic vows. But she can feel him looking at her the entire time.