A Bright Future Awaits.
It was after four that afternoon that Nick arrived home from his lunch date. He had ended up walking the entire way back to the West Village, a big smile on his face. It felt as if the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders. The sun seemed brighter and the air clearer; the traffic noise and bustle of the city around him was almost soothing. His son was looking up at him from within his papoose with a contented smile, having gained several new friends in the restaurant for his good behaviour. On stepping through the front door, he was immediately greeted with an accusatory miaow, as Caleb reminded him that he had been much longer than he intended, and as a result, in the cat's opinion, he was nearing the point of starvation. Nick had hastened to feed him once he had placed little Wes in his crib, apologising to him as he did so, and showing that much by placing fresh salmon in his bowl. Caleb dove on to it in a heartbeat, almost sure that he had made a mistake in doing so, and not wanting to see it taken away again. As he ate, his contented purring filling the room, all anger at the tardiness of his human forgotten, Nick made a point of feeding his son too. Then, with cat and baby satisfied, he began to prepare dinner for himself and Jeff. He opted for home made burgers, cooking them on the grill. After all, it was getting on, and he knew that his husband would be home very soon, and would be hungry, as he always was…
Jeff could tell that something had happened which had drastically altered Nick's mood the moment that he walked through the front door and saw him. He had been getting more than a little worried as his husband had grown more and more despondent over time. He washed his hands, then settled down at the table as Nick did the final touches to the meal, serving up the burgers just the way Jeff liked them, with a healthy side of fries. Jeff ate at once, but waited in anticipation for Nick to speak.
"So, I had a lunch date today. I should have mentioned it to you last night, but I decided that it might turn out to be nothing, so I kept it to myself. I shouldn't have done…"
"It's okay, Nicky. I can guess why you didn't tell me; you didn't want to raise my hopes then dash them. Did it go well?"
"I did. I thought at the time that it was just a conversation I had been asked for, but with hindsight, I can see that I was being interviewed. Upshot is, they ended up offering me a job, and I might have accepted it…"
Jeff dropped his burger back onto the plate, and leapt up to hug his husband. "That is wonderful Nicky! I knew that you would get another one! I am so pleased for you, as long as you aren't just settling for the first thing that comes along…"
"I am not settling in any way, shape or form, trust me on that. The job is at the UN, Jeffie. The UN…"
Jeff's jaw dropped for a moment, and then he smiled all the wider. "That is your dream come true, isn't it! You so deserve this after all you have been through! I hate Lionel Vallent, but now I am kind of glad that he did what he did to you. It left you free and able to take up this job instead…"
"I never looked at it like that," said Nick with a grin of his own. "If he hadn't decided to involve me in that case, then I would still be stuck in my little cubicle, trying my hardest to win for the little people, but finding myself frustrated at every turn. Maybe they would have approached me in any case eventually, but I don't think so. My being available was an advantage, particularly as they want me to start work next week…"
"That soon! Well, I am just so pleased for you, because I know that the last few weeks have been a living nightmare for you. I will need to let Michelle know that I want to reduce my number of shifts at the Spotlight again."
"There are a couple of other things that I need to tell you about my new job first. I will need to work the occasional Saturday, and even a Sunday in an emergency, but it is more or less a Monday to Friday, eight to five-thirty job. I won't have the late nights anymore, as they have an evening shift for that already. They also were at pains to point out that they have a well regarded crèche facility for children of employees, so when our little boy is older, we could start to take advantage of that. I know that you don't mind taking care of him, but there might be times when you need to do stuff, so it is a benefit. A standby for those emergencies."
"You do make a very good point, and it would help him to make friends," mused Jeff.
"Now the bad things. I will have to work abroad for a year at some point in the future. It is a requirement of the job, and it will be before little Wes starts at school. You would both be able to come with me, or there would be regular flights home at the organisation's expense. Even before that, I will have to travel to Geneva every so often, for a few days at a time." He paused, and saw a sadness on Jeff's face. "I should possibly have waited to say yes after I had spoken to you, given the impact that will have on our little family…"
Jeff's smile had faltered a little, but it came back now. "Maybe Nicky, but I probably would have told you to take it anyway. I will miss you like crazy when you are away, but if it is only for a few nights at a time at the most, I will survive. I have good neighbours and friends close by to keep me company."
"The funny thing about it all is that the first time we went to Europe, we passed through Geneva airport en route to Prague, and I had a funny feeling then that I would be seeing a lot more of that airport in future…"
"My big concern though is the idea of you being abroad for a whole year. I know that you said we could come, but I don't like the idea of taking our little boy somewhere dangerous…"
"I expressed that same opinion, but they assured me that it would be in a safe, and probably English speaking nation, or Berlin, given the fact that I am fluent in German. It is a while off yet in any case, and I do have some say as to where we actually end up."
"In that case, it is less a worry and more an excitement as I consider it. We will need to choose somewhere with good landmarks and scenes for me to sketch whilst you are at work all day though; plus there have to be things for Wes to enjoy himself as well."
"Agreed. The two most important people in my life will be depending on me to make the right choice then; my beautiful husband and my son…" At that moment, they both heard Wes stir, and Jeff was quickly out of his seat and heading across to his crib to see that he was okay. Nick watched and stifled a laugh as Jeff's first action was to sniff the air cautiously, and then to pick their boy up and cradle him in his arms, his face lighting up as he did so. Nick was more convinced than ever now that Jeff had been right; it really was the perfect time for them to have a child, whilst they were young and fit. Losing his job had made him doubt the wisdom of their decision for a while, but that had been a blessing in disguise. He now had a better job, and he had been given valuable bonding time with his son.
Jeff came back to sit at his side once again, whispering "Your daddy is so smart and clever," to Wes as he did so.
"As is your papa," Nick added as his husband settled back into his seat. "Right, so there is one final thing, and it will be the hardest of them all. We can't say anything about this to anyone else until Saturday, as the United Nations likes to announce all of its appointments in the press first. So it stays between you, me and little Wes until then. I know that Grace will be overjoyed for me when she finds out, but I still can't help feeling so guilty that she is going to lose her job too because of all of this."
"That isn't your fault, and she has told you as much. Mr Vallent had every intention of sacking her regardless of your actions, and she has plans for the future of her own. Of course, there will be certain other people that do know; a group of angels, who can of course be trusted not to spill the beans."
Nick laughed, and then wrinkled his nose a little. "Okay," said Jeff with a laugh, "I guess that it is my turn to change him. I suppose that dessert could wait a little while if we put it back in the fridge; instead we could give our boy his bath now and see that he is really clean; it isn't too early."
"It can wait, and we can bath him together. Then we can get him settled for the night, which might mean we can have a bath time of our own tonight?" asked Nick with a coy smile.
"That would be very nice, Nicky. I love you so much right now; I am so proud of my international rights lawyer husband…" Jeff leaned over and kissed him, then stood up to head for the bathroom, with Nick right behind him.
Nick's lunch on Wednesday had proved to be his dream come true; he still woke up on the Thursday morning and wondered if it had all been a dream. When he checked his E-Mail and saw one from the UN, with a contract and formal job offer letter attached, he knew it had not been. He smiled again as he saw that; at that moment, Jeff walked into the kitchen, and he promptly ran over to grab him, before virtually waltzing him round the room, to the sound of Jeff's laughter and the consternation of Caleb. He fled to the safety of his bed as his humans had one of their mad moments. The impromptu dance only stopped as the sound of the kettle boiling was heard, and seconds later, their son made his presence known too. As they sat down to breakfast, Jeff secretly wondered how he was going to manage to resist telling someone the good news; then again, given the complete reversal of his husband's mood, it was more likely that he would unconsciously give the game away.
His husband's good fortune was great for him too, as with all the extra shifts he had been taking on to avoid them having to dig into their savings had meant that his own work had been seriously neglected. He had not lifted a pencil other than to write on an order pad in nearly two weeks, and he had so much that he wanted to draw, not least his son. It would have to be done whilst he was asleep, as otherwise he would not be still for nearly long enough. He resolved to ask Michelle for a week off in the near future, so he could get back into the swing of things, not least because he had a lot of his illustration work coming up, and he hadn't even started to prepare for it as he usually did. Nick knew this of course, and he too had begun to plan how they could achieve the best work/life balance for them all. It helped that the UN had such wonders as a crèche on the premises. Maybe not yet, but certainly once he was a little older, Wes could go there at least one day a week to give Jeff some extra freedom.
Nick and Jeff were not the only people in the circle of friends that had something to keep quiet. Santana had been busy with her work on Evita, having bowed to the inevitable and agreeing to at least do the workshop for the part. She still declined to perform the most iconic of the songs yet though. She had happily run through all of the rest, and had worked with the other key cast members, and was actually starting to believe that just maybe she could manage the part. The thought of singing Don't Cry for me, Argentina was still a daunting one. She had tried a few bars of it at home, when Brittany was out, but to her mind she had sounded pitchy and off key. What made it worse was the fact that she had no-one that she could copy, to listen to in a room live and in person, so she could compare her own efforts. The show's director and producer had been patient with her up to now, but sooner or later…
There was someone though that had been watching, and now knew what had to be done; also knew that they had to assemble a good audience that could give Santana a spectrum of opinions before she had to show those directly involved in the actual production. The word went out, and a number of calls were made, one in particular to the crew at the theatre. That Thursday was to be the time…
Santana had no idea anything was amiss until after a break she returned to the auditorium in the theatre they were using for rehearsal at 6pm to find that the rest of the cast and crew had headed home, but instead there were a number of familiar faces seated in the stalls. She noted Isabelle first, and at her side Carmen Tibideaux, who had got her here in the first place. Brittany was sitting alongside Kitty, Marley and Artie in the front row, and behind them sat Flint, Beats and Ethan. Across the aisle sat Nick and Jeff - and to her eye Nick looked a lot happier, so something was going on. Beside them was a tetchy Sebastian, glancing at his watch, as he needed to be two blocks further north in an hour or less.
"Okay, so what is this? An intervention of some kind?" asked Santana.
"I was approached by Mr Hummel, and he informed me that you were having issues with one song. Thus with his help I have assembled an audience of your peers to listen and give their opinion first," replied Carmen.
At that moment they all heard footsteps coming down the aisle, and they all observed Mike and Tina first. Behind them, to everyone's delight and surprise came Puck and Quinn, with Trent and Rory. They all quickly sat down as Santana just stared and muttered under her breath "I am going to kill him for this!"
"It's too late for that Satan," said Sebastian, whose hearing was as sharp as ever. "So any chance we could get on with it? Some of us have a mission…"
She glared at him briefly, then spoke again. "The thing is that I haven't even sung a couple of lines of the song in question myself. If he thinks that I can just sing it right now, with no rehearsal or warning, then he is mistaken. It is not that simple…"
"I know that it isn't, Santana, which is why I have arranged for you to hear it performed first by a professional," came a voice. Santana spun round to glower at Kurt as he stood by Blaine on the stage. "Oh cheer up. It isn't Rachel that will be singing it. It's going to be me…"
Before anyone could say anything, the first notes of the introduction were playing, and Blaine was moving to stand at one side. Trent, who had taken a seat next to the other three musketeers, sighed and smiled broadly as he settled back in his seat. The other three and Rory looked at him, and he replied "Trust me, this is going to blow you away… it did that to me the last time that I heard him sing it at Dalton. And to be honest, he should have got that solo…"
"Yes, that was one of the few mistakes that I made as Head Warbler; he should have been given that solo," came a voice from behind them, and without turning round they all knew who was there. They could all picture him now, probably staring at his namesake as he slept in his father's arms. Then the music stopped and Kurt began to sing. Trent closed his eyes, and could picture himself sitting there in the Senior Commons at Dalton as a sophomore, feeling his heart melt as the countertenor's voice had filled the room. The same memories were filling the heads of the three senior boys that were sitting close by. They agreed with Wes that they had robbed Kurt of his chance when they had voted to go with convention instead of being brave and trying something new…
For the other's in the room, this was the first time that they had heard him sing this, and all of them sat spellbound as Kurt filled each line of the song with the emotion that it deserved. Jeff could feel tears beginning to prick at his eyes, as he thought how much worse the world was for the loss of such a powerful voice. Nick saw this and gently took his hand in his own, which gave him the strength not to burst into sobs. Sebastian for his part sat open mouthed and wide eyed at the sheer talent that was on the stage before him, something that he had never fully recognised in Kurt in his youth.
Kurt's former classmates from McKinley were equally in awe. Quinn was having to share her tissues with Puck, not for the first time. Mike had already taken Tina into his arms before the first note had even been sung, anticipating rightly that it would reduce her to tears. Artie too was crying, and not ashamed of the fact that his friend's performance had reduced him to that state. For Isabelle and Carmen, this performance was just another sign of the talents of the young man who had found a place in both of their hearts. The latter was convinced more than ever now that had he lived, Kurt would have been crowning glory of the New York theatre scene; the King of Broadway.
Of course, the focus of Kurt's performance was the reluctant Evita before him, whose wife was leaning into her with moisture building up rapidly in her eyes. As she watched, Santana began to see exactly how the song should be performed. It was a cry from the deepest reserves from the heart; a plea for forgiveness and a hope for a better future. It was the lament of a strong woman that had allowed others to sway her from her path in life, and now sought the love and respect of all those that she had hurt in the process once more. She had the ability to sing this; she just had to fix her mindset on a situation that had been similar in her own life, the things that had caused her the heartbreaks of her own. She knew at once that if she thought of the pain she had felt when her Abuela had rejected her, she could fill each syllable of the song with the same level of emotion that Kurt was putting into them right now.
As he sang the last note, Blaine swept in from the side, and pulled Kurt into a tango, a dance filled with heat and passion. As they swept across the stage, leaving Mike to wonder who had choreographed them so well, the assembled audience felt nothing but delight in their hearts.
Then the music stopped, and the dance was over. Kurt was immediately addressing Santana again. "It is all about the emotion; you have to take your rawest emotions and expose them. I think that when I first sang this in public I was thinking about how I had been forced out of McKinley by Karofsky; how I had nearly lost my dad; how someone was so oblivious to me at the time…" Kurt paused as several former Warblers laughed as they knew immediately who he was talking about, and the fact that Blaine was staring blankly at them did nothing to help. Eventually, Kurt was able to carry on. "The key to this song is to fill it with your pain, just as the key to Another Suitcase…"
"Is to fill it with despair," replied Santana. "I get it now, and yes, I think that I will be able to sing it. There is enough pain in my past to draw on for inspiration after all…" Kurt nodded, aware of exactly what things she was alluding to. "And I might also suggest the dance at the end to the director too; it was raw, full of passion, and it should resonate well with the audience. Whilst we are at it, I think that you were a massive hit with this audience too…" Kurt looked up at the assembled guests, and suddenly found himself being applauded warmly and loudly…
After Kurt had taken his bows, and encouraged Blaine to do the same, the applause eventually died down. Before anyone could say anything there was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and everyone turned their attention to the source, Sebastian, who was standing on his feet and looking a little sheepish. "Firstly, can I just compliment Kurt on his performance; if I had known just how talented he was back in school, I would never have been so unkind to him - though then I would nevre have gained the nickname Meerkat, which I used to detest but have since grown to love. Secondly, from what I have overheard in the gossip circles, Santana is going to blow everyone's minds with her performance as Evita Peron, and the idea of adding that tango at the end of the song is just so inspired. I hope to be able to join you all on her opening night, just as long as it doesn't clash with my own…" He paused, and watched just how quickly some people caught what he was implying. "It isn't just Evita that is being revived in the near future; an even older musical is coming back, given the recent success of Carousel and My Fair Lady - and I have been offered the lead. I admit that I wasn't sure at first, but then I thought that if Santana could give up her comfort zone, then so could I. So we began the first read throughs for Oklahoma! at the start of this week, and I have to admit that it is more than a little scary, given that Aunt Eller is none other than Laurie Metcalfe. She is far too young for the part in my opinion, and I told her that… Anyway, I now have an Aunt Laurie to go alongside Auntie Bette. So anyways, I hope that we don't clash, but if we do, you can all come to my second night instead…"
"Congratulations, Meerkat," said Santana with a grin. "The good thing is of course that we won't be competing for a Tony…"
"That's true," said Sebastian with a chuckle. "Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I do know who the new Elder Price is going to be…"
It was about an hour later that everyone got the notification on Facebook, as Sebastian had said nothing more, mainly because he realised he was going to have to run to reach his own performance on time. It was a picture of Sebastian handing the Elder Price badge over to Mason, who looked as if he was about to explode with happiness. It was not a public post, and all of them were sworn to the tightest secrecy. For Carmen Tibideaux, the news was proof that she had once again selected correctly when choosing the students for NYADA. Three of her former students would soon be leads on Broadway, with a fourth in a major role in a big show. Sam Evans was also doing well and earning a name for himself, and it was strongly rumoured that he would be moving to a new address very soon - Avenue Q. It appeared that Ohio had been a fertile breeding ground for talent in those few short years, given how Marley had made a name for herself with her singing voice as well. Of course, she also counted Kurt and Blaine amongst her success stories, even if they had never performed in their lifetime on the great white way, and then there was Cooper…
She still had further ambitions for them all, and as she returned home that evening she had one idea firmly in the front of her mind. One show that would see two of her great success stories united on stage, recreating a moment that she had seen when a memorial had become a wedding. That would have to go one hold for now, but she had already sown the seeds of the scheme with a number of producers and she was certain that once Santana was established, it would only be a matter of time before it came to fruition…