A/N: Middle chapter, cheers!


"A Christmas Carol"

3. The Second of the Three Spirits

The drive was silent… at least for Sue. The Emma-shaped ghost, driving, hummed along to the radio as she kept an attentive eye to the road. Sue looked around the car. It could have been Emma's actual car like it could have been a completely random car… she didn't pay attention to these things. At the very least the car was extremely clean, and she would expect nothing less of Emma, real or the figment of her crumbling mind. So many questions were cropping up in her head and she hated that she was getting pulled into actually wondering these things.

"Explain something to me, if we're supposed to be invisible or whatever it is, then does this car even exist?" The ghost Emma laughed, practically giggled.

"Ghosts are coming to you, and that's what you latch on?" she asked, making a sudden swerve and then hitting the breaks, sending them both lunging forward before landing back in their seats. "Here we are, first stop," she breathed out.

"This better not leave a mark," Sue complained, reaching at the seatbelt which had been made to press into her chest.

"You'll be fine, now come on," Emma reached for the door handle, and Sue's next breath was taken inside the choir room at McKinley High.

"Where are we… going," she saw they had moved. "What am I doing here?" she asked, tensing when she saw not just where they were but when they were. It was just a few nights ago, late at night, the floor covered in the debris of what had once been the Glee Club's Christmas tree and decorations, a cheerleading coach with a green face and a Santa suit… and a girl with blonde braids, carrying a dollhouse. Sue looked to the ghost. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh it has everything to do with it," Ghost Emma told her. "You walk a very fine line between right and wrong, most days, and then right in the middle, there she is…" she looked to Brittany, smiling as she handed her dollhouse to 'Santa.' "Here you are, after you've done all… this…" the ghost motioned to destruction with the sensibility of someone who did not do well with messes. "But then there she is, and everything changes."

"She is my daughter," she pointed out.

"Yes, she is. She's also a proud member of the McKinley High New Directions Glee Club," the ghost spoke, hands clasped together.

"I'm aware of that," Sue frowned.

"Okay… Well why did you lie to her? Because she would believe anything you told her? Because you didn't want her to be upset with you? Because you didn't want her to stop believing in that jolly man in the red suit?"

"You're the ghost, why don't you tell me?" Sue steeled herself to her.

"Because I don't know everything, not what made you do any of it. I just know what happened…" the ghost stepped back out into the hall, and now Sue was there as well. She looked at the red-haired woman, feeling dread invade her.

"What are you saying?" Sue demanded, watching her daughter leave the choir room and head down the hall. She hadn't seen her after that day, had something happened to her? "Brittany!" she called out.

"She can't hear you," Ghost Emma reminded her. Sue started to run after her, but it was as though her limbs refused to go.

"What are you doing? Let me go after her," she insisted. She turned again, but then they weren't in the same place. They were back in the car. "You've got to be kidding me," she reached for the handle.

"Please buckle up, we'll be at our next destination in no time.

"Is this how you get your fun? Plant ideas in people's heads and then take them for a car ride?" she bit into the last words. "Tell me what happened." Ghost Emma looked at her, reached for the door handle and then they'd moved again.

Sue took a breath, looked around… the Pierce home, Brittany's room, Brittany… She was there, lying on her bed, turned to the wall. One of her legs was in a clean-looking cast, stopping just under her knee.

"No, but… that's not what happened…" Sue frowned, circling the bed to try and see the girl's face. She was crying, with such sadness… Sue couldn't take her eyes off her. "She was fine. She is fine. They would have called me. Why would you…"

"After she left, she doubled back to ask a question. And then she saw you, and she recognized you. All the lies, the one you made her say and the ones you told to her, it all came together. She didn't see the car…" Sue just shook her head; this wasn't possible. "You know on some parts you are a much better mother than you or anyone would ever give you credit for. Letting her continue to believe, I wouldn't have expected that."

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Sue spat.

"Oh, I'm not asking you to. But clearly a part of you knows what you're doing is wrong, yet you keep doing it. Don't tell me it's because you're bored, I won't believe that," Ghost Emma shook her head.

Suddenly they were down in the Pierces' dining room, and by the activity she imagined it was Christmas day. Brittany sat between her sisters, crutches just within reach behind herself, with Joe, Charlotte, and Grandpa Joseph all around the table as well. Sue wasn't there, though she didn't look missed.

"Just what is so scary about this?" Ghost Emma asked the Sue that was with her. "A family, together… a family that includes Brittany? Are you so concerned that she would decide to replace you?"

"She wouldn't," Sue shook her head, determined.

"No, probably not. But give her enough reason and she just might decide the view is nicer on this end… easier to deal with, to breathe in, when there are no secrets or betrayals. A leg heals easy, give it a few weeks. A heart is another matter, especially a child's. Family is family, she'll find one for herself and it might not include you anymore. That's why they scare you, isn't it?"

"He's her father, what do you want me to say?"

"I wasn't just talking about the Pierces," Ghost Emma told her. Sue looked back around, and they were back in the car, from which she could see Brittany slowly making her way down the path that led to the sidewalk, helped by Santana. She couldn't hear what was being said, but the way Santana smiled and nudged at the blonde it would seem like she was trying to cheer her up, with such care…

"Where are they going?" Ghost Emma had something of a smile that wasn't reassuring or discouraging. She reached for the door handle, and they were in a basement she didn't recognize. They were all there, the Glee Club, Schuester, the piano player and the band, even the actual Emma Pillsbury. Like at the Pierces', the Christmas spirit had the room filled to the brim.

"She never told them, you know? That it was you? Oh, they knew, of course, because who else would do that to them, I…" The ghost stopped at the look she got. She cleared her throat. "She told one, only one, and they kept her secret… your secret. They already knew so many of those secrets."

"You're telling me I lose my daughter, and this is what you choose to discuss?" Sue's rage was boiling.

"Okay, I think that's enough driving for one night," Ghost Emma gave a courteous nod. They were back in the car, parked in front of Sue's house. "Well this is where I go on my way and you go on yours. Go on in, your final visitor should be along soon, just…" her face shrank. "Be careful?" she begged, then sat up. "Now get out," she nodded. Sue wouldn't be sad to be rid of this one, so she left the car, stomped up to the door. She didn't look, but judging by how the evening had been going she could imagine the car had already disappeared.

She got up, pushed the door… it gave no resistance. She was on alert, especially in the pitch dark room. She turned on one light, barely missing running into a trophy. There was someone else there, she could feel it. "Alright, who's there? Another ghost? Don't need to be so cryptic, I think I can figure out where this is going by now."

"Do you really?" a booming voice startled her and she looked around to come almost face to face with a figure in a long dark robe with a hood, coming off almost like some grim reaper… Only the hands that emerged from the sleeves were female, slender, and as they grabbed at and pulled down the hood she realized who they belonged to. "Ready to test that theory?" Santana asked.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)


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