Late Friday night, Kitty got a text while she was still at Artie's place, still not wanting to go home until she absolutely had to. It was Mr. Schuester, to the whole club, with a request. He'd rarely texted the entire group about anything, other than last minute reminders about costume details before competitions. In this text, though, he'd asked everyone to prepare something for the next week. They'd be having an entire week of songs dedicated to their friend and leader.
Kitty suggested they sing something with Sam, since Sam's voice always did sound great with Artie's. She'd also noticed Sam doing quite a bit of what Artie had done, after they all got the news. When Artie left to privately grieve Finn on the field, Sam also disappeared for his own moment of solitude. Kitty thought to text him later and found out Sam had gone to the weight room, where he and Finn used to work out all the time.
Sam agreed to sing with them, so the trio met at Artie's house late the next morning to begin rehearsing their song for Mr. Schue's assignment. Sam offered to give Kitty a ride, and normally she would have been self-conscious about somebody other than Artie picking her up (after all, her house was not quite as big and booming as she led people to believe), but given the circumstances, she didn't care anymore. The brief car ride over to Artie's was mostly silent, as they both found themselves at a loss for words.
It wasn't long before Sam parked his beat-up pickup truck in Artie's driveway. He grabbed his guitar out of the backseat, and Kitty followed him inside. Artie had texted them both to tell them that his parents went out for the day and that the front door was unlocked so they could come right in.
"Artie?" Kitty called, once she and Sam were in the entryway of the cozy house.
"In the living room," Artie called back to her. Sam followed as she led the way.
"Hey," Artie greeted them with a sad smile. He was sitting on the couch with his chair close by, and he'd been preparing to watch a DVD but had paused it.
"Hey," Kitty replied as she took a seat in the spot next to him, sliding her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. He put his arm around her and began rubbing circles on her back.
Sam had followed behind her into the room and fist-bumped Artie as he sat down on the opposite side of him. He was noticeably much quieter than his usual boisterous self. Grief tended to have a weird effect on people.
"I wanted to show you guys something before we work on the song. I got Rachel to make me a copy of the DVD that her dads made of all our performances. Kitty, I know you haven't seen any of our old performances, and Sam, you weren't with us for Sectionals and Regionals during freshman year either. We lost at Regionals, so there was no Nationals for us that year. Anyway... I thought it might be fun to watch those two performances together, for inspiration, before we work on the song."
They started with Sectionals. The costumes were really simple, and Artie reminisced that this was the first of many times they'd put Tina's seamstress skills to work, and she'd gotten increasingly better with each competition. They barely had choreography either, but Artie explained that this was due to throwing together performances at the last minute.
"Our original setlist got stolen and copied by the competition," Artie explained, and Kitty remembered hearing the stories. "Choreography and all. We actually had a group wheelchair number, believe it or not, and it was supposed to be my big duet with Mercedes. But it was okay. Finn saved the day."
"You can't really tell you didn't rehearse," Sam commented. "I can't believe I've never seen this. It's like I didn't even know my roots. Am I even a real member of this team, if I didn't see this 'til now?"
Regionals was next. For this show, Mr. Berry had inexplicably recorded the competition, too. Artie quickly fast-forwarded Aural Intensity, proclaiming how much they sucked and didn't deserve second place, over the New Directions
"Finn and Rachel walked in together from the audience for this one," Artie narrated, hitting play again as the pair launched into Faithfully. "Sam, this was what you didn't even realize you were copying, when you sang with Quinn the next year. I'm told he'd professed his love to her right before the song. I mean, it was definitely better than making out with her onstage, a'la Nationals..."
"My girl, Quinn, doesn't even look pregnant in that gold dress," Kitty commented, admiring her idol, when she came on stage during the next song of the Journey medley. "Didn't she, like, have a baby onstage after this?"
"Urban legend," Artie remarked, as Sam's eyes grew wide. "She did have her baby right after the competition, but like the true bad ass that she was, she didn't even let on that she was in any pain until after we got offstage."
"WWQFD," Kitty added. "Not show any signs weakness during a competition, that's what." She paused, as they launched into Don't Stop Believing. "The song that started it all..."
Artie suddenly looked crestfallen. "We won't be able to sing this any more, not without him..."
"It just kind of hits you even harder," Sam observed. "Everytime you think of something else you're going to miss, doesn't it?"
They finished watching Don't Stop Believing, which definitely hit differently now, and left the three in tears, Artie being the only one still trying to hide the fact. He turned it off before Vocal Adrenaline's performance, ensuring the other two that they "sucked" and New Directions "was robbed."
"Let's get down to business," Artie began, always one to take charge. "Do either of you have any ideas for a song we could sing?"
Sam shrugged and glanced down at the guitar sitting in his lap. He looked like he was one moment away from completely breaking down, and Kitty felt the same way, as the reality of why they were doing this set in.
"Well, maybe we could do 'Fire and Rain' by James Taylor?" Kitty suggested. "It always reminds me of 'Remember The Titans,' and it seems fitting, with Finn having been the quarterback and stuff."
Artie smiled at his girlfriend's thoughtful idea, and Sam nodded his approval, too.
As the trio began to divvy up parts for each of them to sing, Sam played a few different chords on his guitar to get a feel for the song. Throughout rehearsal, it became increasingly harder for all three of them to keep their composure. While Kitty was deeply saddened by the sudden loss of a friend and teacher, she couldn't imagine what Artie and Sam were experiencing, having been so close to him. As they practiced, though, it was somewhat therapeutic for them all. (Music was what had helped Kitty begin to heal after the loss of her mother, too.) It was good to have a distraction of sorts, even if just for an hour or two.
The funeral was going to be the following Saturday, just one week and one day after he died, and until then, they were doing a week of tribute songs to Finn in Glee club. Sure, it didn't get them any closer to winning at Nationals, and if Finn were there, he'd probably be on their case about it. But this was too important. So, the board read 'FINN' all week, and he was their focus. Sam, Kitty, and Artie went first, with Fire and Rain. Kitty gave the explanation she'd shared with Artie and Sam as the reason for their song choice.
Kurt was the first one back to town. He'd heard about the assignment from Blaine. On Tuesday, Kurt and Blaine sang Just The Way You Are, which, as Kitty later learned from Artie, was the song that Finn sang to Kurt during the wedding reception when they'd become step-brothers.
On Wednesday, Mercedes added herself back into the group and dedicated a heartfelt performance of I'll Stand By You, which she explained Finn had once sung to a video of a sonogram, even though it had turned out not to be his child.
On Thursday, Puck and Mike, who'd come back from his ballet school in Chicago, performed with Jake. Puck struggled to get through their performance of Glory Days, which had been the song he and Finn had sung together at graduation.
On Friday, Rachel finally arrived, and there hadn't been a single dry eye in the room as she'd touched her gold necklace with Finn etched in script and dedicated Make You Feel My Love to him. She'd shared that they'd sung this together in the car, and that before Finn, she hadn't known if she'd ever sing outside of her car or her bedroom. The lyrics reminded Kitty of the what the weather had been like on the day he died. When the rain is blowing in your face/ And the whole world is on your case/ I could offer you a warm embrace/ To make you feel my love.…
On Saturday, the guys all wore McKinley football jerseys to the service, compliments of Coach Beiste, in honor of their beloved Quarterback. And, even though her Cheerios uniform was the last thing Kitty wanted to wear outside of school, she wore it anyway. A slight break in the seriousness of the day happened when Artie and Kitty spotted Tina in her black Cheerios outfit. It was the first time Kitty had seen Artie smile for a week, as he whispered that Tina put that outfit together a couple of years ago because she thought that Mike Chang liked cheerleaders.
Quinn and Santana were there, too, in the alumni versions of their uniforms, sitting with Brittany in her uniform. Artie casually joked that this was like something out of one of his fantasies, when he and Kitty ended up sitting by them. He slowly seemed to be remembering that it was okay to laugh and smile again. Finn would've been right there, laughing and smiling along with him.
Coach Beiste took the seat behind them, her bright blue eyes already wet, a tissue box in her hands. "I brought extras," she said. Will and Emma took their seats beside her. Without a word to anyone, Sue Sylvester joined their row. Coach Beiste tries to offer her a tissue, at which point Sue held up her hand in refusal. Emma took about ten.
"It's okay to cry at a funeral, Artie," Kitty whispered after awhile, taking his hand, as she noticed he seemed to be working hard not to. "Especially given what he meant to you."
Artie nodded slightly. "Sorry, I've never been good at this stuff," he admitted. "I tend to bottle it in."
"So I've noticed," Kitty said, tucking her head against his shoulder. She supposed that she had no room to criticize hin. Afterall, her coping skills after her mother, namely insulting everyone and lying all the time, weren't much better.
The sight of Carole Hudson-Hummel, holding onto both her husband and Kurt, as she found her seat, was too much for Kitty. It felt much too familiar. Kitty was a little like Artie, in that she didn't like sharing these kind of emotions, but unlike him, she had a much harder time keeping hers at bay.
Coach Beiste and Mr. Schuester both got up and spoke. Coach Beiste made everyone laugh by sharing the story of how she'd butted heads with Finn when she'd first come to McKinley. She knew Artie didn't mind at all, when she shared that it had been about his absolute insistence that she give the kid in the wheelchair a spot on the team. Coach Beiste had smiled tightly in his direction, as Artie had laughed a little and shook his head at that. She said it wasn't until she realized that Finn really was just that pure in heart, that she was able to forgive him and realize "just what a gem" she had in him. Mr. Schuester talked about Finn telling him once that he was like a father to him, and shared that it made him a better man, for now that Finn had said that, he couldn't let him down.
Burt Hummel got up next, because it seemed Carole just couldn't collect herself enough to address the crowd. He read something Carole had written and then shared his own story, of how their sons had set up their widowed parents, to help them find love again. He shared something else, it seemed, on Kurt's behalf. Burt shared that it hadn't always been easy for the two boys to see eye to eye on anything, but over time, they'd both grown into better men because of each other.
Kitty felt like she knew the whole story now, with a connection she hadn't felt to all of it before. She'd forgotten about Artie for a little while, but as her eyes found their way back to him, she found him just as stoic as ever.
At the very end, Rachel got up. The plan was for her to say something and then announce the old and new New Directions and the song they'd all prepared. After a moment of not being able to find her voice, she finally began to speak.
"He was my person," she began, with difficulty. She touched the gold necklace again. "I loved him, and he loved me. He loved all you guys, I know he did..." Rachel looked around. "I... I had it all planned out. I was gonna make it big on Broadway, and maybe do a Woody Allen movie. And then, when we were ready, I would just... come back, and he'd be teaching here. And I would just walk through those doors and say, 'I'm home.' We... we didn't talk about this plan, but we didn't have to. He knew."
Quinn got up and went to Rachel first, followed then by Mercedes. They wrapped her up in their arms. The rest of them, one by one, headed down the aisle to join her, old and new New Directions alike. Their voices joined together as they sang a song that Kitty had once hoped they'd do at competition. Now they probably would consider it sacred, though, and reserved for this moment.
Five-hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...
Author's Note: I want to thank QuinnAbrams for contributing her writing during the Sam/Kitty/Artie scene. Look for more great contributions from her in future chapters!
As always, if you enjoyed this, leave me a review, so I can be inspired, going forward. I enjoy getting followed or chosen as a favorite story/author, but reviews really make my day.