Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, only Jane, Sarah, and Candy.

Read on, oh faithful ones...

...

Chapter Thirty

...

"I'm sorry, but you'll never be able to sing again. Rachel Berry, your career as a singer has come to an end. Also, there was a problem with the surgery," the doctor said, turning a mirror to face her.

Rachel looked at her reflection, saw a multitude of tubes sticking out of her throat and mouth, and screamed. The nightmare didn't end there though, as the doctor didn't seem finished with his monologue.

"We've tried every substance and liquid possible, but we were unable to clean your hands," he added, glancing down at her hands.

Looking away from the mirror, her mind still ringing with her scream, Rachel saw the blood that stained her hands. She looked up to the doctor, only to see a stage before her. A single spotlight shone directly onto the stage, and she could see Candy lying there, a knife plunged in his back and blood pooling around him. It was his blood that was on her hands.

Waking up with a brief scream, Rachel put her hand to her throat, goosebumps covering her arms. She sighed in relief when she realised that there were no tubes, and glanced to her hands to see that they were free of blood. It had just been an awful, awful nightmare.

"Rachel, are you all right?" Ian asked, looking into her room, his hair sticking up at odd angles and his eyes still somewhat closed.

"Fine. Just a nightmare. Sorry, Daddy," Rachel said quietly.

Ian rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, sighing and making his way into her room. "You've had a nightmare every night since leaving the hospital. What's wrong, Rachel?"

She looked down at her bedspread, trying to find a way to put her nightmare into words.

"I keep dreaming that my throat has tubes sticking out of it, but they're permanently there and I can never sing again," she whispered. "But that's not the worst of it... I've been so guilty about Candy not being able to sing at the graduation that I keep seeing him dead with a knife in the back, and I'm covered in his blood, and it's just so horrible, Daddy. What can I do to make it right?" Rachel asked, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

Ian hadn't really expected her to say anything to him - she hadn't explained her nightmares in the last four days, after all - and was slightly stunned by her intensity, especially this early in the morning. "Well... Have you apologised to him?"

"No. I haven't been at school, and I'm still grounded," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Since when has that stopped you from ringing someone? You know Jane's number, don't you?"

Rachel didn't have an answer to that, so she simply nodded and reached for her phone.

"It's two in the morning, you can't ring now," Ian said quickly.

"Oh, right. Thank you, Daddy. Sorry for waking you," Rachel said, hugging him.

"It's all right. It's been a while since you've woken me up this early in the morning though. I might need something warm to help me sleep. Would you like a honey drink for your throat?"

She nodded gratefully, her throat still feeling scratchy. Ian left quietly, but when he still hadn't returned ten minutes later, Rachel left her room to find him. She tied her fluffy robe around her body a little tighter, trying to keep her body warm so she wouldn't catch a chill on top of everything else. Ian was sitting at the kitchen bench, his head dropped forward onto his chest as he dozed lightly.

"Oh, Daddy. You're going to hurt your neck like that," Rachel murmured softly. She moved up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Daddy. Time for bed," she said.

"Rach? I... Sorry, I was getting your drink," Ian said drowsily. "Must've fallen asleep."

"It's all right. Come on, I'll take you upstairs," Rachel said with a soft smile, helping him stand.

Ian might have protested her help had he not been so exhausted, and he nodded, letting his little girl lead him up to his room. Rachel tucked him in, kissed his forehead lightly and then left the room as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb either of her sleeping parents. Going back down to the kitchen, Rachel finished making her honey drink, sipping at the sweet liquid as she headed back up to her own room to sleep.

...

"I'm sorry to call you so early, Mouse, but I was wondering if Candy was available to talk to?"

Mouse had been surprised to see Rachel calling her this early before school, but at her words, the surprise turned to a stunned silence.

"Uhh... Just a sec," she said, finally able to string some words together. "Candy! Phone call for you!" Mouse called, knocking on his door.

He opened the door in a matter of seconds, his shirt hanging off his arm loosely. "For sweet?" Candy asked in confusion.

"It's Rachel," she replied with a nod, handing the phone to him.

Candy took it in two hands carefully, holding it against his ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, Candy. How are you?" Rachel asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Sad. Schuie says sweet can't sing at graduation because you all were in hospital. Are you okay?"

"No, not really," she replied honestly. "I'm sorry, Candy. I'm so sorry about this, and I wish I could make it up to you somehow," she said, her voice breaking with her emotion.

"Will you be at school today?"

"No, I'm sorry, Candy. I won't be able to come in today."

"Will you be at the game? There's a big surprise!" Candy said excitedly.

"I'll try, Candy. I really will," Rachel promised, wondering if her suspension and grounding included school-related activities..

"Do or do not, there is no try," Candy replied, giggling.

"Okay, Yoda, time to get ready for school," Mouse said, holding out her hand for the phone.

Saying goodbye to Rachel, Candy gave the phone back to his sister carefully and returned to his earlier task of putting his shirt on.

"Don't forget pants, sweetie," Mouse called as she left his room. "Still there, Rachel?"

"Yes... I'm so sorry, Mouse."

"Yeah, I figured you would be. Thanks for talking to Candy. He doesn't understand exactly why he's not allowed to sing at graduation, but he's been worried about everyone being in hospital at the same time."

"What did you tell him?" Rachel asked hesitantly. She hadn't heard any disappointment in Candy's voice, apart from not being able to sing at graduation, and she hoped that he didn't think less of her.

Mouse sighed. "I haven't had the heart to tell him anything yet. I just couldn't, not when he was so distraught over not being able to sing at graduation. He's only just calming down about that, and I can't think of a way to tell him the truth that isn't going to make him even more upset."

Rachel was silent for a moment, wishing she had the courage to tell Candy herself. "I'm sorry, Mouse. I won't ever drink again."

"Don't say that, Rachel. You'll probably drink again, but I'd believe you more if you said you weren't going to drink so irresponsibly from now on. I don't want to see you go through that again any more than you do."

"Okay, I'll drink more responsibly next time. And I'll check the use by date," Rachel added with a humourless laugh.

"Good idea," Mouse deadpanned. "So how's your studying going?"

Rachel was silent for a moment, and that was enough of an answer for Mouse.

"You're having trouble remembering everything too?"

"Yes," Rachel admitted. "I've been trying to do a few of the old exams so I can get an idea on the type of questions we'll be asked, but it's like it's all in a foreign language."

"You're not looking at the Spanish exam, are you?" Mouse asked with a slight laugh.

"I haven't even looked at Spanish yet," Rachel said, sounding distraught.

"How about you ask your dads' if you can come over here to study? Puck's coming over, and Kurt's bringing Blaine over this afternoon. They're working on the same books for English, so I thought it'd be good to study together."

"They're not bringing any drinks, are they?"

"Definitely not. I made that a very clear stipulation before I agreed to them coming over," Mouse said.

"I'm still grounded, but I'll see what I can do. It really would help to study with someone else," Rachel mused.

"All right, I'll see if I can invite the others over as well. You'll let me know if you can make it?"

"Yeah, I will. Goodbye, Mouse. Hope to see you soon," she said, smiling briefly.

"Good luck," Mouse said, hanging up a moment later. "Candy, are you ready?" she called out, heading over to his room.

Candy opened the door proudly, his shirt and pants on properly. "Mousie will tie sweet's shoes, please?"

"All right," Mouse said with a warm smile, moving to tie his shoes tightly.

"Thank you, Mousie," he said, hugging her.

"You're welcome. I'll make your lunch while you eat breakfast, then I'll walk you to school, okay?" Mouse offered.

Candy nodded quickly and followed her downstairs eagerly.

...

"Going out now, sweetie. Be good, and keep up with your studies!" Sarah called as she headed downstairs to leave the house.

"Where are you going?" Mouse asked, looking over the stair railing.

"Tennis game with the girls and shopping. Jen can't stop raving about her new coach, and we're all looking forward to seeing if her game's finally improved," Sarah replied, rolling her eyes.

"Okay then. Could you bring some groceries home for dinner since you're going shopping, please?"

"Ugh, fine. What do you want?"

"Spaghetti, sauce, and mince, please. I'll make spaghetti for dinner for Candy and me, if you're going out tonight?"

"Of course I am, it's late night shopping. I have to find something perfect for Friday's dance night, and the rest of the weekend," Sarah said, as if it her plans and reasonings were completely justified and obvious.

"All right. Have fun at tennis. Don't forget the stuff for spaghetti," Mouse called as Sarah left the house, the door slamming closed behind her.

...

"Hey, Mouse. Everything all right?" Puck asked when he picked up the phone.

"Fine. Sarah's gone for the day, and Candy's safe at school. You still want to come over to study?"

"Yeah, sure. Are Kurt and Blaine still coming?"

"Should be. Rachel might be coming too, and I said I'd ask the others too. If they're not grounded, it might be a full house," Mouse joked.

"So I should leave the water guns at home then?"

"Probably a good idea," she said with a laugh.

"All right. I'll see you in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, drive safe. See you soon."

Hanging up, Puck shouldered his school bag and headed downstairs.

"I'm going over to Jane's to study, Mum. Be back later," he called.

"Okay. Have a good time," his mother called back. "Would you be able to pick Katie up from school this afternoon? I need to take the car to the mechanics."

"All right. Bye."

"Bye, Noah. Love you."

"You too, Mum," he called, hurrying out to his car before she could drag out their conversation further.

...

"It's a study group, Mum. I'm not going to do anything stupid like last time," Finn promised. "I need all the help I can get with this stuff, and my friends are smarter than I am. Please, I don't want to repeat senior year."

"These smart friends of yours... Are they the same friends who were hospitalised with you?" Carole asked pointedly.

"Not all of them were," he protested, lamely and he knew it.

"Are you going over to Jane's with Kurt and Blaine, Finn?" Burt asked as he came into the kitchen, wiping his grease-covered forehead on his handkerchief.

"Burt! He's grounded," Carole hissed quickly.

"Kurt's going to Jane's to study, and if Finn goes, then Kurt can keep an eye on him. Finn can still be grounded after their study group thing," Burt said.

"You're making me out to be the bad guy, Burt," she replied, trying to keep from arguing with her husband in front of Finn.

"No, I'm not. I'm showing Finn that we can reach an agreement. We both agree that his studies are important. Today's session is meant to be on English - or was it Spanish?" Burt asked, looking to Finn.

"English. Shakespeare... We're reading Macbeth," he replied quickly. "I don't understand half of it, I swear it's not even written in English, and I really need the help. Please, Mum. Kurt'll be there to keep an eye on me, and I promise that I'll come straight back here when we're done."

Carole seemed to realise that she was outnumbered, and she sighed heavily. "Fine, but I'll be testing you on Macbeth over dinner tonight, understood? If you haven't learnt a thing, you'll be staying home and I'll help you study for your exams."

"You know Macbeth?" Finn asked in surprise.

"Of course I do. Now go off to your study group before I change my mind."

Finn nodded, stooping low to kiss her cheek. "Thanks Mum. Thanks Burt," he added, hugging him briefly before running out of the house.

"Where are you going?" Burt asked as Carole left the kitchen to go towards the study.

"To read Macbeth. I read it in high school and I don't remember a thing," Carole muttered.

Burt tried not to smile too much, and headed back into the garage to keep working.

...

"You're coming to prom?" Mercedes asked Kurt, her voice turning to an excited squeal when he nodded in confirmation.

"Since you lot can't sing for prom in case it sets off your throats, Kurt asked very nicely if the Warblers could sing instead," Blaine said, his arm around Kurt's shoulders proudly.

"Of course, all I had to do was get a little teary, say how much I missed all of you, and then add a bit of 'healthy competition', and Schue was tripping over his feet to get us to attend," Kurt said primly, his expression faltering as he laughed and hugged Mercedes.

"What are you singing? More importantly, what are you wearing?"

"We've decided not to wear Dalton uniforms in case the bouncers throw us out before we even get on the floor, but apart from that, I don't really have anything picked out," Blaine said, shrugging.

"Don't worry, I do," Kurt promised, patting his arm.

"Oh, and speaking of clothes, you look absolutely divine, Kurt," Mercedes gushed, holding him back to look at his vest, shirt and pants ensemble.

"Believe me, I know I do. Even Dad said something about looking sharp, which is as close to a compliment about clothing as I'll get from him," he said, grinning.

"Okay, everyone's here now. Butts on chairs, and books open! All discussions about prom, graduation, or anything not related to Shakespeare or English are temporarily forbidden," Mouse called, closing the door behind Finn's entrance.

"Study nazi," Santana muttered.

"I heard that," Mouse said, coming into the dining room.

"You were meant to, study nazi."

"Stop stalling, and start studying. My house, my rules," Mouse said, poking her tongue out at Santana as she sat down across from her.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret coming here to study?" Matt muttered to Mike, who just shook his head and hurried to get out his English book.

"Can someone help me understand this?" Finn asked, looking at the Shakespeare book as if it was written in Russian.

"Which part?" Mouse asked.

"All of it."

"You haven't been listening in class?"

"I have been listening! I just haven't been understanding," he said, his cheeks colouring. "Mr. Jefferson said that if I didn't improve on the mock exam he gave us, that I'd be repeating senior year," he admitted quietly.

"Okay, let's hope it doesn't get to that. Open to the first page; if we start by reading it out loud, you might get a better feel for the language that's being used. I promise it's in English," she added.

Finn nodded and opened to the first page.

"We all might as well do this. There's more than two characters," Mercedes pointed out.

"Oh, I call dibs on Lady Macbeth," Kurt said quickly.

"Then I'll play Lady Macduff," Rachel said.

"Finn, you should do Macbeth. You'll get to understand his character better then," Mouse said. "And I've got dibs on the witches."

"You can't do all three. Besides, I'm the Queen Bitch, I should be a witch," Santana said with a grin.

"Why not Hecate? The witches answer to her," Brittany said.

"Maybe Mouse should be Hecate then," she replied, laughing.

"I'll do Duncan," Puck said. "It's good to be King," he added, grinning.

"I can be Malcolm," Terrence offered, ignoring Puck's cry of 'son, you've come home!' with a roll of his eyes.

"Banquo's mine," Mike said.

"I might as well play Ross," Blaine said, shrugging.

"I can do Macduff," Artie said, flicking through the pages to see his lines.

"I want to do a witch," Mercedes said.

"Fine, you, Santana and I can be witches. Brittany, what do you say to Hecate?" Mouse asked, grinning.

"I can do that," she said, smiling brightly.

"Quinn, Tina, who do you want to play?" Mouse asked, looking to where they were sitting at the end of the table quietly.

"I can't tell who's left," Tina muttered. "I don't think anyone's chosen Angus yet, I'll do her lines."

"I'll play Lennox," Quinn said, shrugging.

Mouse hurried to write down each of their characters, frowning when she saw the amount left over. "Terrence, how soon can the team get here?" she asked, grinning.

"Fifteen minutes, but I don't know if they'll be up to this," Terrence said.

"We'll try them anyway. I reckon Lee could do Donalbain," Puck said with a grin, taking his phone out to call them.

"You're just saying that so you can boss him around as his father," Mouse said, laughing.

"If we do get all of the footballers, we're not going to have enough space to study inside," Artie pointed out.

"I'm not sure they'd be able to cover the characters left anyway," Santana added, looking at the list with a frown.

"Ah well, we'll try and see what happens. Want to start now and we'll just go by ear until they arrive?" Mouse asked.

"Might as well. I'm the first witch," Santana said.

"Second," Mercedes said quickly.

"Third witch. Oh, that means I get the scale of dragon line, awesome," Mouse said, grinning.

They all went quiet, opening the books to the first act and scene.

Taking a deep breath, Santana started with her first line. "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?"

...

Some time later, they finally finished reading through the entire play. A dictionary was sitting beside Mouse to help with words that she couldn't quite translate into understandable English. After the footballers had arrived, they spread out so that they were sitting in the lounge room, some moving chairs into the small foyer, while others had taken up residence on the staircase itself.

They often stopped between sentences, asking each other questions, putting emphasis on certain words and lines to give them more meaning. After the second reading, there was a loud beeping sound and Mouse frowned, seeing the time.

"I've got to go pick Candy up from school. If you want to keep reading, I'll be back soon," she said, getting up from the lounge to head out.

"I'll come with you," Puck offered, standing too.

"Me too," Terrence said.

In a matter of seconds, everyone had decided to go to pick up Candy from school. Mouse shook her head, wondering what Candy's response would be on seeing the crowd to pick him up.

"All right, file out then," Mouse said, holding the door open for all of them to get out of the house. She locked the door once they were all out and followed them down the street towards the school. "Candy might just have a heart attack of happiness when he sees all of us turning up," she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

Mouse's prediction was almost right, Candy grinning so brightly that the sun seemed dim, and he ran out of the school towards them.

"Sweet's happy to see you," he said breathlessly from his running.

He hugged them each individually, tugging on Terrence's hand and asking to be carried on his shoulders. Terrence laughed and lifted him up easily. Lee took Candy's schoolbag, fitting the Toy Story strapped bag on his shoulders.

"What did you do at school today, sweetie?" Mouse asked, smiling up at him.

"Sweet did exams, like Mousie and Terry! Mrs. Komp gave me a gold star," Candy said proudly.

"Candy has exams?" Terrence asked with a slight frown.

"Mrs. Komp tests them at the end of each week to see what they've learnt. Speaking, reading, writing, that sort of things. He's calling them exams since that's what we're all doing, and he's taking them very seriously," Mouse answered for Candy.

"Exams are impot... impoor... portal... im-port-ant," Candy said, sounding out the word slowly. "Mrs. Komp taught us plusses and minuses-es. One plus one is two, one plus two is three, one plus three is four," he recited, splaying his fingers to correspond with the correct number. "Sweet asked to read Macbeth, and Mrs. Komp let us."

"What?" Finn asked in surprise. He was barely reading and understanding it, so how was Mrs. Komp's class reading it?!

"He's got a junior reader version of Macbeth. I've been helping him read it this week. It's not too bad," Mouse said, shrugging.

"Mind if I read it too, Candy?" Finn asked, looking at him with a grin.

Candy grinned back at him. The book was small, and he knew it off by heart, the story nothing more than a song in prose.

"Three witches meet in the middle of a storm," he began to recite carefully.

...

On arriving home, Mouse found that her mother had come home while they were all out, three grocery bags sitting on the kitchen bench with the spaghetti ingredients she'd asked for. The receipt had been placed beside the bags with a note, the total amount circled in red and Sarah's note adding that Jane owed her the money. Shoving the note and receipt in her pocket before anyone saw it, Mouse put the ingredients away quickly, and returned to the lounge room.

Everyone was sitting with their books, ready to put on a impromptu performance for Candy, who had asked, begged, and pleaded to hear the big version of Macbeth. They'd only read the play once, and were a bit nervous, but Candy's excitement was contagious, and they introduced their characters with wide grins (and in Kurt's case as Lady Macbeth, a curtsy).

Their reading became dramatic as they picked up various objects in the room in place of props. The blanket on the lounge became a coat, the TV remote control a knife, a bowl of potpourri the witches' cauldron. Candy loved it all, even gasping and getting teary when someone left to 'die' on the staircase (after Duncan's death, Puck returned with popcorn).

Finn found that the play made more sense after Candy's recital. It wasn't the be all and end all, but it helped to hear it in plain and proper English. If he didn't think so much about the words, and more on what the sentences actually meant, Finn found that he could get through his part as Macbeth without as much trouble. He was kind of proud of the way that he thought of holding the remote control as a knife too. He just hoped that it would be enough for both his mother's questions as well as the exam's.

...

After their performance, Candy wished them luck and went up to his room to read his own Macbeth book. Mouse used the past exam questions that Rachel had brought with her to test each of them, answers called out quickly over and a half-hour argument occurring about the consequences of the soldiers dressing up as trees. Feeling pleased that they'd actually learnt something about Macbeth, Mouse suggested that they go to the park as a reward. They needed to move after sitting for so long, after all. Everyone agreed quickly, and within a matter of seconds, they were all standing, stretching their pin-and-needle limbs and ready to go to the park.

"Candy, want to come to the park with us?" Mouse called up the stairs.

Candy was at the top of the stairs in seconds and jumped down them two at a time, grinning brightly at the idea.

"What have I told you about jumping on the stairs, Candy?" Mouse asked, her arms folded.

He bit his lip, looking abashed and very sorry for himself. "Sweet can get hurt, so sweet shouldn't jump on the stairs."

"And if you hurt yourself, you'd make me very worried and upset. You don't want to do that, do you?"

Candy shook his head quickly. "Sorry, Mousie," he said quietly.

"All right. Remember that next time you want to jump on the stairs, okay, sweetie?"

"Okay!"

Mouse smiled and offered him her hand. Candy took it and very solemnly stepped down the last three steps.

"Ready to go?" Puck asked, already waiting outside with everyone else.

Grabbing her keys from the stand by the door, Mouse nodded and went outside with Candy, closing and locking the door behind her.

The walk to the park was a short one, Candy slightly subdued along the way, but brightening on seeing the playground. He let go of Mouse's hand and ran over to the swings, sitting down and waiting impatiently for someone to push him. Mike and Matt went over to push him, taking turns as Candy laughed, his legs swinging high into the air. Puck grinned at the sight and his laughter, and took Mouse's hand, leading her over to the roundabout. Her laughter soon joined in with Candy's as the wind whipped at her, the world spinning around her at a fast pace. Tina and Mercedes jumped on with her, Finn helping Puck push as well. Quinn sat on top of the monkey bars with Santana and Brittany, while Rachel stood at the top of the slide, performing a dramatic monologue before sliding down. Artie waited to the side, watching everyone with a smile until Puck came over. Looking up at him warily, Artie wondered just what he was going to do to him.

"Well, you want to go on the roundabout or not? Come on, Abrams, hold on tight," Puck said, lifting him out of his chair surprisingly gently.

"Artie! Come on the swings with sweet next!" Candy called, waving to him.

"Uh..." Artie wasn't sure what to say to that. It had been years since he'd been on a swing.

"Yeah, he'll be there, Candy kid!" Puck called, grinning.

"Ready, Artie?" Tina asked, sitting next to him. She put her arm around his waist and held onto the bar tightly.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Artie replied, silently hoping that he wouldn't fall off of the spinning metal death contraption.

Puck nodded to Finn across the other side of the roundabout, and they both started to push as fast and as hard as they could, their feet pounding against the wood chips beneath them.

The wind tore past him, and Artie held onto the bar as tight as he could, terrified and excited at the same time. He closed his eyes, Tina laughing happily beside him, and turned his face up to the sky, the sunshine warming him. In that moment, with the world spinning around him and the wind in his hair, Artie felt like he was actually running.

Let the sun shine on your face,

And don't let your love go to waste.

Now is the time, got to make up your mind,

Let it shine on you, let it shine on you.

Feel like there is nothing, nowhere to go,

You try and fight, but you can't let go.

Of all the pain, got so much to gain,

Now is the time.

...

End of the thirtieth chapter.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!