When Blair awoke that morning it was pretty much like any other. Okay, that's not really the truth because that morning Blair was woken up by Sue playing Madonna quite loudly right next to ear.

"What the hell?!" Blair shouted as she bolted up and rubbed her ear due to the now present ringing. True, Sue had been waking her up in random ways lately since she'd been in a bit of an 'oversleeping funk', but this one took the cake.

"What was that?" Sue asked loudly over the music playing from the boom-box in her hand. Of course she had heard exactly what Blair said but wasn't going to acknowledge it.

Blair reached out, turned down the music and asked in a different way. "Why on earth did you choose to wake me up like that?"

"It's quite simple, Blair." Sue set the player on the nightstand. "I am taking Doc's advice in making sure you know how strong of a woman you are. And I've decided to use Madonna to do it." She turned around to leave Blair's room but came back to add in, "Oh, you're also going to help me choreograph the Cheerios."

Sue turned up the music loudly before leaving Blair's bedroom.

"What?!" was all Blair managed to get out before scrambling out of bed and finding Sue in the kitchen. She closed the fridge Sue was opening and said, "A) I know how strong I am and B) I'm not joining the Cheerios. How many times have I told you this?"

Sue moved Blair's hand off the door so she could get the milk. "You need random reminders of your strength. I will not let what almost happened before to almost happen again. You told me you were a dragon – Well, I haven't seen too much fire lately." After pouring the milk into the cereal bowl, she returned it to the fridge. "And for the record, I never said you were joining the Cheerios. I said you were helping me with the new choreography not performing it."

Blair crossed her arms with a huff. "Tow-may-tow, tow-mah-tow. I'm not doing it." She wasn't even going to argue with Sue about her lack of fire because even she was noticing it lately. Granted she had bouts of fiery bursts but most of the time she was just getting through the days. It was still hard being in classes and Glee with Puck and Quinn and her mandatory calls with Kai to keep in touch weren't helping anything because she knew if she didn't stick with the agreed plan that he'd try and take her away from Sue. Surprisingly that was something Blair didn't want to happen so it was a lot to deal with on top of everything else. Blair was pulled from those thoughts when Sue answered her.

"On the contrary, stubborn goddaughter of mine. You heard Doc when he said you need to have other activities outside of Glee so you don't depend on one thing. You haven't been volunteering lately and Yearbook Club is over, so like I said, you're helping with the Cheerios. Besides, it's about time I pay proper homage to the glorious woman that is Madonna and you're going to help me do it." Sue wasn't going to let Blair get out of it.

Whether it was the way she was woken up, or the intense in depth conversation first thing in the morning, or because of all the stuff she still hadn't dealt with that was the cause of Blair not putting up a fight with Sue about the Cheerios she didn't know, but she didn't give Sue any more trouble about it. Instead of refusing, Blair threw up her hands with a strong, "Fine! I'll help you but I'm not going to like it!" As lame as that was, it was the last thing Blair said before returning to her room and slamming the door.

Sue picked up her cereal bowl with a smug expression on her face, one that only grew when she heard Blair turn up the music.

Blair was with the other Glee girls in the choir room during free period at school. It sort of became a bit of a hangout for them where they shared notes from class, talked, or anything else that happened to happen. Presently Mercedes was braiding the purple streaks in Blair's hair when Rachel broke through the silence.

"Can I ask you guys something private?"

"Yes," Santana instantly answered, "you should move to Israel."

Blair rolled her eyes at that and returned to her homework with the plan of getting it done before getting home.

Rachel walked to the front of the group and set a stool down in front before speaking of what was on her mind – most of which Blair tuned out because Rachel started going on about dating and how she wasn't dating anyone because she and Finn weren't together anymore, and how she and Jesse broke up for the sake of the team. And then went into a very specific hypothetical about going to a Wiggles concert with a guy then going back to her house because her dads weren't home and started making out.

That's where Blair started paying more attention, especially when Rachel said that when her 'hypothetical' guy wanted to go all the way with her but she said no because she wasn't ready and that he up and left in a huff because of it. Granted Rachel went into more details than that, but that was most definitely the gist.

Rachel finished off what she had to say by asking, "How do I stop a guy from getting mad at me just for saying 'no'?"

Before Blair could give her opinion, Santana said, "Easy. Just do what I do and never say no."

"If the guy gets mad at you for saying no, then they don't respect you. And if you never say no because it makes you feel empowered then all the power to you, but if you don't because it doesn't mean anything to you or only because it's what the guy expects, then you don't respect yourself." Blair couldn't stop herself from saying that and Quinn took a jab at her because of it.

"You should listen to Blair. I bet she learned all about respect after dating Puck."

Blair closed up her homework book and turned to Quinn. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well he's shuffling through girls like a deck of cards and doesn't care, which is probably what he did while he was with you, too. So it's no wonder you feel so strongly about respect."

Blair made something clear to Quinn right then. "Puck wasn't like that with me."

Quinn laughed lightly, "Sure."

Tina interjected there with her own story about respect before things got too out of control between them. "Artie doesn't respect me. He told me if I wanted to date him then I had to start wearing tighter clothes and stuff. Guys just don't care about our feelings."

Blair stood up before Mercedes was done with her hair because she was fuming now. "Have I been that out of the loop lately that I've been missing how the guys have been disrespecting and objectifying?"

Mercedes shrugged in a 'well, yeah' way. "Kinda. You've been in a funk lately, like you're on auto-pilot or something."

"Wow, okay, I guess I have some head-cracking to do." Blair was about to leave the choir room, but Mr Schue (who had heard everything from his nearby desk) stopped her.

"Blair, that's not a good idea. There are better ways than that to get your message across."

"Like how?" Blair wanted to know. "Singing about it? Sorry, Mr Schue, but not everyone is going to have an epiphany through song." With nothing left to say to him, she left the room.

Okay, Blair really didn't have a plan of what to do or what to say, all she knew was that she hated what she just learned and wasn't going to stand for it. Unfortunately for her, the first person she had a bone to pick with was Puck. He was down at his open locker and she stormed right over.

Blair slammed his locker shut and glared at him. "So, I hear you've been disrespectful towards women. That true?" She crossed her arms with a look of fury on her face.

Puck wasn't sure what this was about so he answered with, "If you're asking me if I've been dating a lot, then yeah. What's the big deal?" He was about to point out that they weren't together anymore, but she cut him off before he had the chance to.

"The big deal is you know better than that. You are better than that! When we were together you actually listened to me and respected me, but now suddenly you're incapable of doing it to anyone else? That's bullshit!" Even with everything that had happened, and what she still felt about the situation, she knew that Puck was a good guy at heart. She had experienced it firsthand.

Puck scoffed and got right to the point when he shot back with, "What's the point of being the good guy if I'm not with you. I was like that for you. Because I loved you." He decided to take a chance since this was the most she's spoken to him since they broke up. "I still do. Blair, please give me another chance."

When Puck reached out to take her hand, she stepped back. "I don't want to do that. I can't do that. That's not what this is about. This is about me being pissed about you showing zero respect for the people you're so-called dating and acting like it's okay!"

Puck took a chance and it didn't work out in his favor and because of his heightened emotions, he wasn't getting the point. "You don't have the right to get on my case about anything anymore. You dumped me."

"You lied to me," Blair seethed back. "That's why I dumped you. If you told me the truth right off…I don't know what would have happened but it wouldn't have ended up like this."

"Like you've never lied to anyone?" Puck shot back, not thinking about the 'what-ifs' of their situation. Okay, he didn't think she did lie but it was a lame retort that apparently packed a punch because her face went pale.

Blair had lied before, many times. Perhaps not in this Reality but in her own. And it was those that made her feel like she'd been punched right in the gut. Finally, Blair said with a broken voice, "Not to you. Never to you." This was not how she envisioned this conversation going and now she wanted no part of it, so Blair took off down the hall before Puck could get out another word.

Once Blair was far enough away, she darted around a corner and hid there. She didn't realize that she was rubbing her arm hard through her shirt, but that was what she was doing when Kurt happened to walk by her.

Kurt recognized the look on Blair's face and didn't like it one bit. Her current expression meant her mind was going in a dark place so he jumped right in to snap her out of it. "Blair? Can you hear me?" He took her hand to keep her from rubbing her arm like that.

Blair swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. "Yeah, Kurt, I can hear you." When they used their names instead of their nicknames for each other, that meant it was important. "I just talked to Puck. I meant to give him a piece of my mind but ended up…" She couldn't even bring herself to finish that sentence because of all the stuff that came flooding back.

The bell rang for them to get to class and since Kurt figured Blair wouldn't want the attention from Sue about skipping, he called a passing Liam over. "Liam! You got the next class with Blair, right?" Kurt would have been there for her himself but they didn't share the next class.

Liam came over and could tell something was up. "Yeah. Why? What's going on?"

"He wants you to keep an eye on me." Blair figured that's what Kurt wanted and she was right.

Liam didn't have the details but it didn't matter. "Sure. We need to pick new lab partners today anyway so perfect timing." He acted like it wasn't a big deal towards Blair but looked at Kurt to show he knew it was important.

"Excellent. Thank you." Kurt hugged Blair. "Later, Jerk."

Blair gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Later, Loser."

Liam walked with Blair to get to class before the late bell rang and before getting there, asked, "You want to skip? I'm down for skipping." When Blair shook her head in refusal, he took a different approach. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Let's just say that I'm starting to think I'm not as strong as I think I am." Blair intended on leaving it at that, but Liam stopped her right outside the classroom.

"You are one of the strongest people I know. So what if you've got some fragile parts to you. Like you said, you're fragile like a bomb, but it takes a lot of strength to keep yourself from exploding."

Blair got what he was trying to say but wasn't quite sure if he said it in the best way. "I'm not sure if that was very enlightened or if you were making it up as you went along."

Liam laughed asked they walked into class together, saying, "The world may never know."

After school during her mandatory Cheerios attendance, Blair was pretty zoned out. She was thinking about her conversation with Puck because it was on reply in her mind. The only relief she had was during lunch when Liam and Finn distracted her just by being themselves, but now she was in a place she didn't want to be in and watching a routine she didn't care about.

At the end of the routine, Sue went over to Blair who was sitting on the front bleacher in the Gym and exhaled proudly. "Yes. It's my best work yet. That's it. That's the routine that's going to win us Nationals."

Blair nodded absentmindedly and stood up. "Good for you. If that's it then can I…" Her eyes shot open wide when Sue's words connected to the memory of the routine that was just performed. "You're kidding me, right? Sue, oh my god, that routine was – was basic! And that's giving it a compliment. The timing was all off, the music was all wrong and…"

Sue's smirk grew as Blair went on her rant with everything that was wrong with the routine. After all, that was her plan. She knew Blair would see what was wrong and be determined to make it right because it'd bug Blair like crazy if they weren't reaching their potential.

Blair was just finishing up her rant when something else clicked. She closed her mouth and crossed her arms before saying, "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

Sue neither confirmed nor denied it as stepped behind Blair, put her hands on Blair's shoulders, and turned her to face the Cheerios who were awaiting instruction and/or ridicule. "I have given you the basics of the routine," she continued with more emotion, "I have given you her bones." Sue stepped to the side and pointed towards the Cheerios, saying to Blair with conviction, "Now take what I have given you and make a Madonna out of her."

Once again Blair fell for Sue's evil genius and once again it worked. Blair tied back her hair, pushed up her sleeves, and with a look of determination on her face, went out onto the floor, calling out to the Cheerios, "Listen up! If you think that piece of crap was up to par then you've got another thing coming. Let's get to work!"

After awhile of Blair redoing the whole routine with surprisingly very little input from Sue, she called for a break. There was something missing and Blair couldn't put her finger on it, so she hoped taking a step back would give her the space to find it.

Blair was getting some water when she heard a subgroup of the Cheerios talking about Circus Club. Hearing that was like a light bulb getting turned on in her mind, so she approached them and asked, "Did you say you're in Circus Club?"

They all thought they were in trouble for being in it because Sue gave them crap before, so one of the girls said, "Please don't tell Sue. She thinks it's for losers and…"

Blair waved her hand to brush that aside because that's not what she was getting at. "I won't say anything, but that's not the point. Do you guys ever use stilts?"

They all looked at each other a bit hesitantly before admitting, "Yeah. We do. A lot, actually."

Blair started to grin because she could already see things playing out. "And do you have them with you?" When the group said they did, Blair told them to go get them because they had work to do.

Sue saw how the group ran off and called out, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!"

Blair went right over to say, "They're getting something needed for the routine." She was still grinning a bit at the idea.

Now this was more like it. Sue was pleased to see her plan for Blair was working. "And what exactly do you have up your sleeve, mischievous goddaughter of mine?"

Blair laughed a bit. "You'll see. But don't worry. You're going to love it. Even if you don't admit it."

With the new routine featuring the stilts ironed out, Blair stood next to Sue and watched the whole thing unfold. Blair felt pretty damn good about it and based off the momentary smirk on Sue's face, she knew Sue was pleased with it. Despite calling the group a bunch of freak-show babies at the end of it.

"Well, my job here is done. Right?" Blair would leave the berating and whatever else to Sue.

"You did good, Blair. Madonna would be proud." Sue nodded affirmatively at this.

Blair put her bag over her shoulder as she said, "Madonna isn't the strong woman I want proud of me." She smiled and nudged Sue. "I'll see you at home, insane godmother of mine."

She laughed as Sue called out over the megaphone for the Cheerios to do it again and passed Mr Schue who was apparently on his way into the gymnasium. "See you tomorrow, Mr Schue," was all she said to him and left the school.

As much as Blair didn't want to admit it, Sue's insanity was once again the best thing for her.

It seemed Sue's 'Madonna fever' was contagious because at the next Glee Rehearsal Mr Schue gave them their assignment; Madonna. When he asked what came to mind when they heard Madonna some answers were icon, genius, and even hall of fame MILF, but Blair said with context, "Weird coincidence."

Mr Schue looked at Blair oddly before getting back to the matter at hand. "So, we're all aware of Madonna's musical and cultural significance, which is why this week your assignment is to come up with a Madonna number.

While Kurt and the girls were all excited about this, honestly Blair was a bit Madonna-ed out. However she got back on the Madonna train when Puck and Finn both chimed in saying that doing Madonna numbers made them uncomfortable and asked if they could do something else.

When Liam agreed with the guys on that, sitting in the seat directly behind Blair, Blair elbowed his leg so hard that it made him wince. Clearly she wasn't happy with the fact that he wasn't too keen on singing Madonna.

Mr Schue wasn't too pleased with the boys' reactions either. "Hey! It's come to my attention that many of you haven't been treating the young ladies of our group very nicely lately. You're disrespectful, bullying, sexist, and I hate to say it, misogynistic."

Finn was very confused. "I have no idea what that means."

Mr Schue sighed. "What it means is, put yourselves in their shoes for a change. Culturally, Madonna's legacy transcends her music, because by and large the subtext of her songs are about being strong, independent, and confident no matter what your sex. But more than anything, Madonna's musical message is about equality. And that is something I think you guys need to work on."

"I'm still not down," Puck cut in. "No chick intimidates the Puckzilla." He caught Blair glaring at him and reworded it a bit. "Maybe one does, but I don't think Madonna's music translates to show choir."

Blair and Rachel both laughed at this. "Oh really?" Rachel asked then got off her seat and held her hand out to Blair. "Shall we show them how it's done?"

Even with Blair and Rachel's ups and down when it came to Glee, it didn't overlap. "Express yourself, baby." She took Rachel's hand and went to the front of the group, pointing to the band to start playing.

The band took the cue and started playing Madonna's express yourself. When it was time for them to sing, the girls started in unison and waved for the rest of the girls to come down and join them as they performed the rest of it.

Okay, while Blair was getting tired of all the Madonna stuff, she couldn't argue with the fact that the messages were there and Blair was enjoying herself while getting reminded of them – Even if the guys (with the exception of Kurt) weren't really getting it.

It was between classes when Blair was at her locker and Liam came over. "You don't think I'm a misogynist ass do you?"

"I have yet to meet a guy that didn't have at least one of those moments," Blair answered as she swapped out her books before closing up her locker. "But overall, no, I don't think you are."

"So the kneecap shattering elbow attack was for what exactly?"

"It was one of your moments." Blair grinned innocently and headed on her way.

Liam accepted that and followed her. "You look better today."

"As opposed to what exactly?" Blair knew what he meant but couldn't resist teasing him a bit.

Liam had a feeling she was just messing with him but answered her honestly. "As opposed to looking like you're standing at the edge of a black hole and contemplating falling in."

Blair stopped in her tracks when he said that. "Ouch. Dark. Deserved, but dark."

Liam changed the subject when he said, "So what's this I hear about you joining the Cheerios?"

"I didn't join the Cheerios," Blair corrected. "Sue roped me into choreographing for her. And honestly, I enjoyed it. I feel pretty damn proud of myself, too."

"I might have to crash one of their rehearsals and check it out then." Liam nudged Blair a bit with a smile. "See you in class."

"Later, Liam." Blair was about to head to her own class when she spotted Finn at his locker looking very confused. She went over to him instead and leaned against the row of lockers. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I think I might be the one owing you the penny." Finn replied then let her in on what was going on inside his head. "Santana just offered to take my virginity and told me that Rachel is still dating Jesse."

Blair opened her mouth to speak but it took her a little before she found the words. She cleared her throat before asking, "Are you going to do it with her?"

"I don't know." Finn admitted. "It would make Rachel jealous."

"Sleeping with someone to make someone jealous isn't a good reason to do it. Especially if it's your first time." By now Blair knew how Finn thought he got Quinn pregnant and if she knew the details earlier then she would have set the record straight, but that was in the past now despite how often she kept thinking about it.

Bringing herself back to the present, Blair said, "Losing your virginity means something, Finn. You should do it with someone who means something to you."

"Like with you and Puck?" Finn kicked himself for asking her that. "I didn't mean – you don't have to…"

"I wasn't a virgin when I dated Puck," Blair informed him so he'd quit beating himself up for asking or whatever it was he was doing. "When I slept with someone for the first time, yeah, it was special. We loved each other. I know not everyone can be that lucky to have it that way, but if you're in control of the situation then wait. Don't let bitterness or jealousy dictate your decision."

Blair reached out and squeezed Finn's arm with a brief smile. "But I'm not going to dictate your decision for you either. Just think about it, okay?"

Finn didn't answer one way or another and nodded when she asked him to think about it because she did give him something to think about.

"Later, Finn." Blair left their conversation and went to class, not understanding why Blair felt weird at the thought of Finn possibly sleeping with Santana. She figured it was because she knew he deserved better and went with that. Yeah, she went with that.

After school Blair finished up one of her mandatory phone calls with Kai then pulled up the music program on her computer to record Madonna covers for Jean. Blair was in the process of getting the microphone set up when Sue got home.

"Is it true?" Sue demanded to know as she walked into the living room.

Blair looked up at Sue towering over her and had no idea what she was talking about. "Little more details, please?"

"Is your Glee Club swooping in and taking Madonna away from me?"

Blair raised her brows at this. "Uh, we're not 'swopping in' and taking anything from anyone. Mr. Schue assigned Madonna so that's what we're doing. For my assignment I'm gonna make a CD of me covering her songs. I'm gonna give Jean a copy of it while I'm at it."

As much as Sue was fuming because the Glee Club was doing Madonna, she couldn't bring herself to trying to stop Blair from going on with the assignment. "Fine. Proceed. But I'm going to give that Schuester a piece of my mind."

"I would be very surprised if you didn't." Blair wasn't even kidding about that. She changed topics there before she forgot. "Oh, Sue, Kai wants to talk to you about something."

"If it's not one man ruining lives it's another." She sighed heavily then asked, "What does Kai want now?"

"He wants me to spend the next vacation with him and his daughter. Kai not-so-casually pointed out that he didn't need your permission to take me, but he's willing to discuss it." Honestly, Blair didn't want to go but if it meant keeping some semblance of her life in peace then she'd deal with it.

"Well he can't have you." Sue wasn't going to budge on this. "You convinced me to take you to that flag world place so that's what we're doing. If Kai wants to see you during the vacation then he'll have to go there."

Blair paused in the adjustments of her microphone stand when she heard this. "Hold on. You're saying that you want to invite Kai and his daughter to Six Flags with us?"

"If putting up with their presence means I get to keep you, then yes." Sue nodded her head affirmatively before picking up the phone. "In fact I'm going to call him right now and tell him just that."

Out of all the outcomes Blair expected there to be…that was not one of them, but Blair wasn't going to argue with her about it. Apparently Sue was capable of meeting in the middle, even if she was the one dragging them there.

Things were surprisingly quiet for the next couple days. Even Kai gave leeway and agreed to Sue's terms about the theme park trip over school vacation, so all in all things were good. And then things kinda took a weird turn. At least where the day to day events were concerned at school for Blair.

Blair was heading to the library when suddenly two sets of hands shot out of the AV room and pulled her inside. She almost went all – as Blair would put it – 'hiya!' on them, but realized it was Kurt and Mercedes so she didn't put her fight reflexes into gear.

"What the hell, guys?! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Blair let herself laugh about it now but that didn't curb her curiosity.

"Sorry, Jerk, we just needed you to see this. Sue agreed to be in our Madonna video and Artie just finished it." Kurt smiled excitedly as he guided Blair over to the seat and sat her down in front of the TV.

"I can walk, Loser," Blair laughed then waved her hands towards the TV in front of her as she sat down. "I find it hard to believe that Sue would partake in anything positive where Glee is concerned."

"Well, she did. And you have to see it." Mercedes pushed 'play' and let the video roll.

Blair watched as the black and white music video began and proceeded with such glamor and vintage 'noir' that she could hardly contain how epic she thought it was. And when Sue came on and started singing 'Vogue' and her mouth dropped. Blair could hardly believe that was her because her style was so different and she had no idea Sue could sing!

At the end of it, Blair was at a loss for words. "Oh. My. God! Guys! That was…holy crap!"

Mercedes and Kurt shared a fist bump before Mercedes asked her, "You really liked it?"

Blair nodded like crazy. "Hell, yeah! And I so want a copy, but later. I want to watch it again."

Blair waited until Sue got home that night before saying anything to her about the video. In fact it wasn't until they started cooking dinner that Blair randomly said, "Wait! Sue, strike a pose!"

Sue stopped the stirring of the sauce and slowly turned to face her. "They showed you?"

"Oh yeah," Blair beamed, "and I have copies. It was incredible, Sue. Seriously, I was awed and I'm not awed easily."

Sue's posture straightened a bit. "Thank you. So, which look should I go with?"

Blair swallowed the bit of pasta she was testing before asking for clarification. "What?"

"It's not that hard of a question to answer. Which was your favorite look? That was the only reason why I did it to find my inner Madonna and show her to the world." Sue thought that was pretty obvious.

Blair set the fork down and crossed her arms before giving her opinion about something. "You don't need to look like Madonna to exert your strength or power – to show off your inner Madonna. You do it every day, Sue. You're one of the strongest people I know. You don't need to copy anyone to prove it."

Sue still couldn't get over how Blair had such a strong tendency to surprise her. "Well okay then." Was all she had to say about that, but when Blair moved to set the table, Sue gave her a brief hug before returning to the sauce like nothing happened.

Blair smiled at this brief act and didn't acknowledge it other than winking at Sue when she turned back to her and proceeded to set the table.

Blair was up late working on a report that she completely forgot about. It still amused her that she cared about grades and stuff. Maybe it was because things were so different in this Reality – there were no supernatural beasties lurking in the shadows. All the concerns in this life were normal – as normal as this Gleeful Reality could be anyway. It was the exact break from her own Reality that she needed – for once to live life as a normal-ish teenager. An so, homework.

Blair took the pen from her teeth and made notes in the book beside her computer just as he cellphone buzzed and Finn's name popped up. She looked at the time before answering because it was wicked late – or wicked early depending on one's perspective. Since it must be important, she answered it.

"Finn? What's up?" Blair spoke in hushed tones in case Sue was up and about. She probably wasn't but Blair wanted to be on the safe side.

"I should have listened to you," Finn replied, sounding as if he regretted doing something because that's exactly how he felt.

It didn't take Blair long to figure out what Finn was talking to. "Santana, huh?"

"Yeah. You were right. I didn't feel anything afterwards. It didn't mean anything. I thought…I don't know. I thought…"

"You thought it'd make you feel empowered? You thought that because Rachel is dating someone that you'd get a leg up by sleeping with Santana?" Blair's voice wasn't accusing or anything like that, in face she sounded sympathetic. Making Finn feel bad about what happened was the last thing she wanted to do.

Finn couldn't get over how it was like she was in his head. "Yeah. Pretty much exactly that."

Blair slouched down on her bed a bit. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. You tried to warn me." He was quiet for a moment before asking, "Is it weird that I called you about it?"

"You mean like after I called you after Puck left that first time? If you were okay with it where I'm concerned then I'm okay with it with you." Honestly, it bugged Blair a bit. Not that Finn called her but the reason behind the call, and that in itself bugged her as well. "We're good, Finn."

"Thanks, Blair. Goodnight. I'll let you get back to your report."

"How did you know I was working on my report?" Blair lifted her head a bit to peek out the window just in case.

Fin laughed. "I saw your reaction when Liam brought it up at lunch. There was no way you remembered it was due soon, so I figured you'd be working on it now. Was I wrong?"

Blair popped her lips at this. "No, you were not wrong. Goodnight, Finn. And hey, I won't tell anyone. Promise."

Finn appreciated that. "Thanks, Blair. Bye."

"Bye." Blair tossed her phone aside and rubbed her face with a groan before getting back to work. Not only did she want to distract herself but because she wanted to get it done in order to have some semblance of sleep before school.

At Glee Club the next day, Blair thought it was some sort of weird dream because Jesse St. James was not attending McKinley High School and was officially part of the club. Mr Schue assured them that it was all legit and because Jesse's parents were out of the country he's living with his uncle in McKinley district, so Jesse now went to school there. Suffice to say, Finn wasn't too happy about that. And honestly, pretty much everyone else wasn't either.

Jesse's response to this was, "I would have thought you'd be happier about this. I'm a star. You can learn from me."

Kurt shook his head with a scoff. "We were already fighting for second-leads. And now that you've shown up, I've lost all hope of ever getting a solo."

Mercedes felt the same way. "Yeah, that's right. And y'all just trot me out at the end of every number so I can wail on the last note. How is that okay?"

"He's a spy, Mr Schue," Santana interjected. "I would know."

Mr Schue proceeded to reiterate the fact that he spoke with Jesse's parents and it was all legit. And went on to say that no one who has ever tried out for Glee Club has been prevented from joining, so they weren't going to start doing it now.

Blair snorted when Jesse told Rachel that he left Vocal Adrenaline for her. Why he felt the need to declare his devotion to her was a bit too much in her opinion, like he had something to prove. This made her lean forward to where Liam and Finn were sitting to whisper, "For the record, I already don't like this guy." When Liam and Finn held their fists out to her for bumps of agreement, she obliged.

Whether or not this Jesse guy had an ulterior motive for joining Glee wouldn't change the fact that rehearsals were going to be far more interesting from now on.

After Glee, Blair went to the auditorium to get things ready for the Madonna number she was helping Finn and Liam put together. Upon hearing footsteps coming towards her, she figured it was one of them, so she talked about the costumes. "I know we've got red and white for the shirts but I had to get my purple in there somehow." She turned around to show them the purple lining of her red vest but saw it was Puck instead.

Blair set the vest down and returned to sorting out the costumes. "I thought you were someone else. If you're looking for Liam or Finn or anyone else, they're not here."

"I was looking for you." Puck kept a respectful distance between them but he had to get out what he wanted to say. "I'm sorry. You're right. I've been an ass towards the girls I've been taking out. They don't deserve that and you didn't deserve what I did to you. I should have told you the truth about Quinn and I will never be able to make up for that. You deserve better than me. I hope you find it. I also hope one day you'll stop hating me."

Blair set the shirt she was folding down with a heavy sigh. "I don't hate you. I can't hate you anymore. Hating you is exhausting." She looked at him now. "Things will never be able to get back to how they were, but I don't hate you. Except for the obvious, you were one of the best boyfriends I have ever had and that's saying something."

Puck appreciated hearing that. It meant a lot for him to hear it. "You think we'll ever be friends again?"

"We weren't friends to begin with," Blair answered honestly because she went from disliking him to dating him, there was no gap in between. "But could there be an opportunity to become friends? I think that's possible, yeah."

Puck smiled at those words. "I'll take the possible opportunity then. See you later for the number?"

"I'll be here." When Blair exhaled as Puck walked away she felt like she'd just let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She thought that giving Puck a piece of her mind would be just the thing she needed to get over it when really she just needed to let it go. After all, she'd forgiven worse; Klaus was a perfect example of that, so how could she keep hating Puck? The answer was simple – she couldn't, and now she finally realized it and could finally take the next step in whatever this Reality had in store for her.

End Season 1 Episode 15