Blair was leaning against a wall in McKinley's hallway while texting Kai to finalize arrangements since he and his daughter would be spending the week in Lima. Apparently her cousin was homeschooled so she wouldn't be missing any days – something Blair asked about since she thought it was weird.

Anyway, Blair was texting when all of a sudden there was a sudden influx of gasping and whispering around her. Normally she'd ignore it but something made her look up and she saw the source; Puck. It took Blair a moment or two to get what they were all going on about until she realized he didn't have his mohawk anymore. As much as it pained her to admit it, she thought he looked hotter without it but Puck didn't seem too pleased with his new appearance.

Blair quickly finished up her text and caught up with him down the hall. "What inspired the new hairdo?"

Puck didn't want to have this conversation in a crowded hallway with all the students staring at him, so he guided into a more secluded area down the hall. Once he looked around to make sure no one was near, he filled Blair in on what happened. "My mom found a mole on my head and made me see a dermatologist. He had to shave my head to get a better look at it and guess what? It was nothing. They maimed me over a freaking mole!"

"Maimed you? That's a bit of a stretch, Puck. It's just hair and it'll grow back." Blair reached out and rubbed his head. "Honestly, I think you better this way." She knew how Puck felt about his mohawk being a measurement of how tough he was, so she was trying to make him feel a little less insecure about it.

Puck was stunned for a minute when Blair said and did that. "Seriously?" He smirked at her afterwards.

Blair rolled her eyes at his expression. "Don't let it go to either one of your heads, Puck."

Puck held his hands up and chuckled, "Yes, ma'am." Once their playful banter was set aside, he asked her seriously, "What's gonna happen until my hair grows back? People who used to be terrified of me are daring to look me in the eye!"

Blair thought for a moment and came to the obvious conclusion. "Karma."

Puck's expression dropped. "That doesn't make me feel any better."

"You've come a long way from the football asshole you used to be, but there are still some lines of respect you need to learn." Blair shrugged. "Maybe a bite from karma will do you some good."

Puck dropped his head with a groan before saying, "See you in Glee."

"You say that every time we see each other and my answer hasn't changed. I'm not in Glee anymore and don't see myself rejoining again any time soon." Blair was staying firm with this decision even though pretty much the majority of the Club were keeping her in the loop and Mike was making sure she was staying up to date with the choreography so she'd be ready when she did come back. Even with all that, it just didn't feel like time.

"We'll see." Puck left it at that and went to the choir room leaving Blair to go to the library as planned.

After school, Mr. Schue caught up with Blair. She figured he knew what he wanted but joined him in the empty choir room per his request anyway. "What's up, Mr. Schue?" Blair dropped her bag on the floor and sat down on one of the seats in the front row.

"When you quit Glee, I honestly didn't think it'd last this long. I told everyone it was up to them and convince you to come back and despite their attempts, you haven't. So now I'm asking you to." Mr. Schue pulled over a chair to sit down in front of her. "Glee hasn't been the same since you left. I knew morale was down, but thanks to Rachel I now realize that half the kids aren't even participating. Despite what you may think, the Club needs you."

"I miss it, I'm not going to lie, but it doesn't feel right anymore. I'm sorry, Mr. Schue, but I don't want to come back. At least not right now." Blair picked up her bag and stood up to leave. "And if me quitting was enough to make them not care anymore then they're not in it for the right reasons. They need to want to sing for themselves. I would have thought you'd have already come to that conclusion."

Mr. Schue took her words to heart and before Blair left he had something to say to her. "As I'm sure you know, Regionals is in a month, but your spot will always be open if you decide to come back."

Blair scoffed a chuckle. "What spot? Yeah, at the beginning you gave everyone a chance to shine but now you've got your favorites and they're the ones that shine while the rest of us are just the backdrops."

Mr. Schue didn't think he deserved that. "That's not what I'm doing."

She practically bursted out laughing when he did that. "Are you kidding me? That exactly what you do! Jesse shows up and you give him all the make solos. Rachel is the only one you consider for the female ones. This entire Club is filled with talented people but you've got tunnel vision, Mr. Schue. I don't know how it happened or why but it did. If there was another Glee club at this school I bet half the kids would join that one instead because maybe, just maybe, they'd have a chance to shine."

Maybe Blair went a little too far, but it was too late to take it back now. "So, yeah, I'm not ready to come back yet. Good luck, Mr. Schue." She gave him a bit of a salute before leaving the Glee Club and then the school, leaving a stunned silent Mr. Schue in her wake.

Blair went to Kai's house after school and it was honestly so weird. Whenever he was in town before they'd have dinner or he'd come over to Sue's but things were different now and it was weird trying to fit into a different family scenario. Not that she had to do much fitting into at the moment since no one seemed to be there yet.

"Hello?" Blair called out as she set her bags on the floor in the foyer. "Anybody home?"

"Kitchen!" Leyla answered followed by some coughing.

Blair's brows furrowed at that and headed straight there to find the kitchen completely covered with baking ingredients, and there was Leyla wearing an apron completely covered in flour. Blair couldn't help but laugh at her younger cousin. "Aside from the obvious…what are you doing?"

"Since this was our first night here

"Since this was our first night here I wanted to make something special for dessert but I apparently can't bake." Leyla sat down at the kitchen island in defeat.

Blair felt sorry for Leyla and went over to give her a side hug, not caring that she was going to be covered in flour as well. "We can fix this. I am an excellent baker." She looked around and asked, "Where's Kai?"

"I kicked him out because I wanted it to be a surprise. He's in the garage." Leyla made sure not to mention the part where he was soundproofing it for Blair so she could sing and record and whatnot out there if she wanted to. That was going to be a surprise.

"Okay then, we better get baking before he comes back." Blair rubbed her hands together and looked around for a recipe card or a cookbook but didn't see anything. "What recipe were you using?"

Leyla winced a bit in embarrassment. "I don't have one. I was winging it."

"I admire your tenacity, cuz, but next time use a recipe. Good thing I remember an awesome recipe or two. Let's see what you have and get started. But first - " Blair pulled out her phone, picked out a playlist and hit play, "- we need some music. Trust me, it makes all the difference."

Leyla laughed and followed Blair's lead, already feeling like they were a family.

Kai was just about finished for the day on the garage and was about to head inside until he heard some music coming from the house. He went around to the kitchen window and smiled when he saw Blair and Leyla dancing around while mixing up something in the kitchen. Not about to disturb them, he went back to the garage for a bit longer.

The dessert was successfully put into the oven and the kitchen cleaned moments before the take-out food arrived. Blair was helping Kai set the table when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," she informed Kai, thinking it would be Sue since she didn't think it'd be anyone else. Only it wasn't Sue, but Kurt.

Blair opened the door with a smile. "Hey, Loser." Her smiled dropped a little bit when he seemed to be upset about something. "You alright, Kurt?"

"My dad is taking Finn to a baseball game and he didn't even think to take me along. I don't want to bother you or anything…"

Blair cut him off there. "You're never a bother, you know that." She stepped aside and let him come into the house. "Come on." She led him into the dining room where Kai and Leyla were getting ready to sit and introduced them. "Kurt, this is my uncle Kai and my cousin Leyla. Kai, Leyla, this is my friend Kurt. He's home alone tonight so is it okay if he has dinner with us?"

Kai had heard plenty of stories about Kurt from Blair so he had no issue with this. "Of course, welcome. I hope you like Chinese…and Thai…and Indian…and pizza."

"We couldn't agree so we ordered some of everything," Leyla laughed.

"It all sounds wonderful. Thank you." Kurt smiled and sat down at the table beside Blair.

"You're welcome. Feel free to pick whatever you like and dig in. After dinner we have the brownies the girls made and a game of Masterpiece."

Kurt gasped at that. "The artwork auction board game? I love that game."

"Me, too," Blair, Leyla, and Kai all said in unison causing laughter amongst them all before digging in.

The dinner went so well. Stories were told by each of them, Kurt laughed so hard at an unexpected joke from Leyla that he shot water from his nose, and everything went great. Blair could still see the hurt in Kurt's eyes but she could also see how much he appreciated this.

After Kurt left that night, Blair helped Kai with the dishes in the kitchen. "Thank you for letting Kurt stay."

"He seems like a good kid." Kai handed Blair a couple plates to put in the dishwasher. "I must admit it's nice putting a face to one of the names you've been telling me about. I must admit I was starting to think you were making some of them up."

Blair chuckled as she put the dishes in. "If I was in your shoes I'd probably think the same thing. Sometimes I find them hard to believe myself and I'm the one living it."

Kai didn't want to ruin this lighthearted moment but there was something he wanted to ask her. "How are you doing Blair?"

Blair leaned back against the counter and shrugged. "It's a roller coaster at times. Some days are better than others and all that jazz, but right now…I'm okay."

Kai was glad to hear that, but his eyes went to the scars on her arms – he couldn't help that he was worried. "If that ever changes you'll tell someone, right? It doesn't have to be me, but someone."

"I've got a support system in place, Kai. I'm good." Blair was going to leave it at that but changed her mine when she said, "Thanks." She then waved her hand forward, "I'm going to head up to bed. It's a school night and all."

Kai didn't try to keep her longer. "Good idea. Goodnight, Blair."

"Night, Kai." With that said, she went to the foyer to grab her things and went up to her room.

Once Kai was certain she was there, he pulled out his cellphone and called Sue per their agreement. When Sue answered, he greeted her with, "She's fine."

"You're certain?" Sue needed to be sure.

Even thought Sue couldn't see it, Kai nodded. "Yes, I'm certain. If it changes, you'll be the first to know." He paused for a moment. "Thank you for not fighting me on Blair spending time here while I'm in town."

Sue was quiet on her end of the line before she finally said, "You're welcome," and ended the call there.

Kai wasn't surprised she did that and returned the cellphone to his pocket before also turning in for the night.

The next few days for Blair were honestly like a weird dream. Kurt was dressing in flannel, baseball caps, ill-fitting jeans and talking in a deeper voice; Puck and Mercedes were apparently dating, and Rachel had been walking around in her pajamas.

Blair had tried to talk some sense into Kurt but it she came to the conclusion that it was something had to figure out on his own. She learned that Puck was with Mercedes to boost up his rep and she hoped karma bit him in the ass for that, and Rachel was sick with tonsillitis feeling sorry for herself. Instead of getting involved with any of that, Blair decided to let it all run their courses and see what happened.

After school that day, Blair went to the empty Auditorium to do the Glee assignment. She knew she wasn't in the Club anymore, but when Finn, Liam, and the others told her what the assignment was she couldn't stop herself from doing it…even if no one was there to listen. A solo song to express what they were feeling in that moment? It sounded like something Blair needed to do and wondered if she had any part of Mr. Schue having them do it.

Blair sat down at the piano and put the sheet music of the chosen song in front of her. With a deep breath she started playing the opening notes to 'Go the Distance' from Hercules.

Mr. Schue was on his way to get something from his office when he passed the Auditorium and heard music coming from within. He could recognize that voice from anywhere so he went inside and took a seat in the back row, watching as Blair played the piano and sung her heart out. Hearing her in that moment was like the first time – so much raw emotion channeled into the music.

He didn't make his presence known until she was finished. Mr. Schue stood up and clapped as he headed down to the stage. "That was amazing."

"I didn't realize anyone was listening." Blair gathered up the sheet music and put it into her bag.

Mr. Schue had gone up the steps to join her on stage. "Blair, I want you to know that I heard what you said and you're right. I've been so focused on Regionals – on winning Regionals that I only focused on those who I thought would make us win instead of giving everyone a chance. That's why I chose to do the solo assignment, to give everyone a chance to shine. And so far I've been blown away." He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not going to try and make you come back to Glee if you don't want to, but I do want you to know I will handle things differently from now on. The Club is a constellation of talent, not just a couple of stars."

"I just want everyone to have an equal chance, Mr. Schue. I hate when people are cast out in the shadow of someone else." Blair couldn't think of a better way to explain it than that.

"You're a good friend, Blair. Everyone in Glee is lucky to have you on their side." Mr. Schue tapped the piano before backing away. "Like I said before, you're welcome back any time."

"I'll think about it," she called after him as he left the stage but was still kinda torn about it. But she didn't have time to think about Glee right now because she looked at the time and saw if she didn't get a move on then she was going to be late with meeting up with a friend.

Finn and Liam had introduced Shawn to Blair awhile ago and since then she'd tried to go and visit every couple of weeks or more if she could. Normally they'd watch a movie and have a debate afterwards about whether or not it was actually good compared to the other works the actor had done or anything else they could do with his C4 injury, but no matter what they did she never missed their 'standing appointment' as Shawn called it. He did call it a date once and laughed when Blair pointlessly backhanded him for it.

Presently Blair was at Shawn's house telling him the baking debacle with Leyla. "I'm no kidding. It was like a bakery had exploded in there. I bet there's going to be ingredients in the nooks and crannies for months to come."

Shawn could easily imagine that. "But let me guess, you went all Super Blair and helped her out?"

"Excuse me, It's Wonder Han, and I know what you're trying to do here. You're trying to tell me I have a complex where I need to fix things." Blair waved her finger between them. "We've got the same therapist, Shawn. I know all these tricks."

Okay, yeah, she got him there. "How you hit the nail right on the head is scary sometimes."

Blair laughed at that. "What can I say, I'm good at reading people."

Their conversation was interrupted when Shawn's mother came into the room with Finn and Rachel in tow. Blair didn't expect to see Rachel there but she had a feeling as to why Finn had brought her. Rachel had been feeling extra-extra sorry for herself and he was likely trying to teach her a lesson about that.

Blair looked at Shawn with an 'ooh la la' expression. "Someone's popular today. I'll head out so you guys can visit. I'll see you at our next standing appointment." She winked and said brief goodbyes to Finn and Rachel before leaving the room.

Blair was getting her bag from the hook near the front door when Shawn's mother came over to her.

"I wanted to thank you for coming to visit Shawn. Not a lot of people do anymore and I know it means a lot to him."

"You don't have to thank me. I enjoy our standing appointments." Blair could see the weariness in her eyes. "And if he ever needs anything just let me know and I'll do my best. The same goes for you. I've got connections."

Shawn's mother smiled at her generosity. "I'm still trying to come up with a way to pay you back for covering Shawn's overdue medical bills. I don't know how you pulled it off, Blair, but I know you had something to do with that anonymous donor."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Blair tried her best to be convincing, but it was a lie. After telling Sue about Shawn and the financial situation his mom was in, it didn't take Sue long to transfer money out of a bank in Panama and take care of the bills. How or why Sue has a bank account in Panama, Blair didn't ask, but she'd always be grateful to Sue for that.

Shawn's mother didn't believe her for one second but didn't refute it either. "Okay, well, thank you. See you next time."

"I'll be here." Blair gave her a hug before heading out the door and back to home.

When Blair got to Kai's place she heard some noises coming from the garage and went to check it out. The closer she got, the more she heard. Presently she heard Sue's voice scolding,

"You better not break those, Kai."

"What's going on?" Blair asked as she rounded the corner to the open garage door and gasped when she saw what was inside. The entire garage was sound proofed with an array of musical instruments of varying shades of purple with a recording system set up in the back. She wanted to ask what all this was for but she was speechless.

"You're early!" Sue exclaimed before she, Kai, and Leyla all held out their arms cheering out, "Surprise!"

Blair finally found her breath and released it as she walked towards them. "What…why?"

"Because music's in your blood," Kai answered with pride. "No when you're here you can jam and maybe teach Leyla a thing or two or whatever you'd like. This is your space, Blair. A home away from home."

"It was Sue's idea," Leyla giggled. "But we helped!"

Blair felt like she was going to cry and so she did. "I – I don't deserve this. I don't deserve any of this."

Sue went over to Blair and gave her a side hug. "How about you let us be the judge of that, yeah?" She rubbed Blair's arm encouragingly. "Come on, sing us something."

Blair wiped away her tears and went over to the keyboard. She adjusted the attached microphone trying to come up with something to play but couldn't. "I think I've forgotten every song I've ever heard." This just made her laugh and cry some more. Suddenly she thought of one from a movie she recently watched with Kai and Leyla and with Sue.

Blair started playing the opening notes to 'Can't Stop the Feeling' and it wasn't long before they were all singing and dancing to it. Blair was so worried about fitting into family scenario that she didn't even realize that a family is what they all already were.

End Season 1 Episode 18