Monday morning brought the cast of Glee to a new building, on location to film a musical number. It was odd; they usually filmed their dance numbers at the end of the week, but they had the song recorded last week as well as the dance completely memorized. They had to, Monday being the only day the venue was available.
The concept of the episode was supposed to be dreams and ambitions, so they were currently at a newer theatre that had been constructed in downtown Los Angeles. It was well above par as far as its looks and size, making it seem like it belonged in New York City rather than Los Angeles. There were many more than one-thousand seats, and a balcony section like those depicted in cliché movies where the main characters visit the opera and have some sort of classic blunder. There was a touch of old Roman deco to it, columns along the walls adding a classier touch. On the backs of all of the seats were screens-most theatres holding operas have these to translate the singer's Italian vibrato for the audience, who would otherwise sit there in confusion.
Although only Amber, Lea, and Chris were singing today, they still considered this the biggest number they'd be doing on the show. The rest of the cast would be backup and posing as other characters on the stage as well as in the audience. Dianna was completely unfamiliar with the show, so the costumes the rest of the cast had been put in seemed a bit outlandish to her. Some were over dramatized, half-human half-animals while others were simply far too confusing for her to guess. Lea, Amber, and Chris were dressed as normal humans, a few of the luckier people that day. She could also consider herself lucky, though. She was wearing a long trench coat and sunglasses, her only job being to watch Chord's character fawn over Lea's in the dream sequence.
When the scene started, Lea, Amber, and Chris were already on stage, posing as they watched the rest of the cast strut around them in their ridiculous costumes. Dianna and Chord were in the front row of the theatre, a pair of younger kids next to them posing as their own. As Lea moved toward them to sing her solo part Chord reacted accordingly, fanning himself as Dianna looked on in jealously, steering their children away in distaste. For the rest of the scene she didn't have to do anything but watch as her friends over-played their parts by Zach's orders. From her place next to him, she could tell he was loving every second of the strange, other-worldly dance number he'd choreographed, his face lighting up with their every movement.
As she watched her friends sweating and straining themselves to get the number just right, she couldn't help but be thankful for the fact that she was done for the time being, her simple role only needing a few takes. Dianna was especially glad she wasn't Heather, the girl always assigned the hardest, most strenuous parts of any routine. Somehow, though, she always managed to pull it off flawlessly, more than often stealing the show. She certainly was now, pulling off some sort of flip before resuming her statue form as Lea walked by her. By now, Dianna was completely captivated by the on-stage action, not knowing exactly who to watch. Each person was assigned specific little things to do, Heather's flip between mobile and immobile just one. Kevin transported people on his wheelchair, and Jenna was being lifted in the air by the cause of carrying too many helium balloons at one time. That didn't pause the action of the scene though, Lea, Amber, and Chris's characters strolling along completely unaware of the action behind them. Or in this case, right in front of them.
Half-way through their run, Dianna felt something strange well up in the pit of her stomach. Dropping her head between her legs, she tried desperately to make it go away, not wanting to interrupt their almost perfect take. When she dared to move her head back up, the room began to spin and she closed her eyes, gripping the arm of her chair while willing the feeling to pass. It only continued to well up, faster and faster until she realized she couldn't make it go away. Springing from her chair, she threw a hasty apology to Zach as she ran for the bathroom, trying to keep herself low key. Her efforts were in vain, and Chord chased after her as the rest of the cast looked on, not sure what to say as they were confronted with Zach's irate yet increasingly curious glances. When two minutes had gone by and neither of the two had come back, he called a break and followed after Chord and Dianna.
She leaned over the porcelain as her abs pulled themselves in again, any ounce of solid food she'd had that morning deciding it wasn't totally ready to be consumed. As she felt the wave of nausea finally wash over her she sat on the floor, not caring that it was dirty and she was wearing clothes that weren't her own. Dianna was crying, little beads of sweat forming on her forehead from the effort, completely drained of the energy she'd had more than enough of when she'd arrived that morning. The toilet flushed next to her and Chord sat back down, pulling her into his lap as she tried to collect herself.
"I'm sorry." She was quiet, talking with a voice that had been choked with tears and damaged with the acid he'd just flushed down the toilet.
"Why are you sorry?"
"I'm ruining your life." She looked down, suddenly interested in the plainly tiled floor as she mumbled her reply. At first he was taken aback, sitting in silence and watching her turn away from him. She was still in his lap, so he turned her, putting his finger under her chin and propping it up so Dianna could look at him properly.
"Listen to me." At first Chord's tone was harsh, him wanting to get his point across completely. Her face flickered with something he thought was fear so he stopped, letting go of her chin and speaking more softly. "You are not ruining my life, nor will you ever ruin my life. My life has been ten times better from the day you walked into it, and when our little boy comes it will be one-hundred times better. There hasn't been a day since this started that I've regretted anything. There never will be. I love you, Dianna. I always will." At this point she had cried all of the tears she could, and all that was left was the feeling of her heart swelling in her chest, an unbreakable smile making its way to her lips. She leaned in to kiss him and then stopped, giggling as she pulled away before even making contact.
"I'm a mess."
"But you're my mess." After brushing off her coat and fixing her hair, Dianna took Chord's hand and they walked from the bathroom together, leaving their worries behind them.
It wasn't until much later that they were addressed by none other than Zach, who asked them to come to one of the head's offices to have a chat. The two blondes looked at each other nervously and agreed, once again leaving their worried friends behind them as they made the trek down a hall that had never seemed so long. When they got there, it seemed as if everyone who was supposed to be there had made it. Ryan was at the head of the table, the scary step-father figure who was a little too rough on his children. Zach was the cool uncle, Brad the temperamental biological father. Ian sat on the other side of the two, the passive grandfather figure who currently had no opinion on the matter, and honestly probably had no idea what was going on anyway. He was the only one who didn't look up when Zach led them in, and the only one who honestly seemed disinterested. At this point, Dianna was shaky from nerves as well as the loss of food, and she sat down exhausted and just wanting to go home. There was a brief moment of silence, nobody wanting to be the first to break the ice besides Ryan, who cleared his throat in a foul manner.
"Do you want to tell me what's going on? Because your story's really not looking good right now." He crossed his arms on top of the table in a way to look intimidating, but neither of the two bought it, too occupied with the way the rooms fluorescent light hit the top of his head-a perfect distraction.
"Listen," Chord shifted in his seat, speaking directly to Ryan. "It may not be as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. Our characters are graduating soon anyways, it's only a matter of time."
"Graduating does not mean that you're all leaving, I've made that perfectly clear to both of you and the rest of your cast mates."
"To be perfectly honest with you, you didn't." The other heads in the room popped up at this, intrigued with the fact that someone had finally contradicted Ryan. "All three of you are saying three totally different things, and it's been hard enough to keep up as it is. One moment I'm fired and the next I'm not graduating with the rest of them. It's not really fair to those of us who want to start planning another job while we still can."
"What's not fair is your ignorance and your blatant disregard for the rules, Mr. Overstreet." They had never seen him like this before. He was boiling, his fist slammed on the table as he talked. Dianna quivered and all Chord could do was sneak his hand over to hers under the table, not wanting to upset him any more. "You're lucky I'm not firing you right here and now."
"Ryan…" It was Zach who spoke now, sitting up in his chair two spaces away from Ryan. "What I came across in that bathroom was two people who loved each other; a woman in distress and a man who would clearly do anything for her. What I came across when I got back to the stage was a cast full of people who were worried sick about them. There are people who would lay their jobs on the line for them, and there are people who already have. If you fire them it'll just be a waste of your time because I can tell you right now that your own cast will get to you if the fans don't first." Another long, awkward silence followed Zach's little speech, tension ballooning through the room and filling it until that's all that was left in the air. Chord and Zach locked eyes across the table and the actor nodded gratefully at the choreographer, giving Dianna's hand a squeeze in reassurance. Finally Ryan sighed in agitated defeat and shook his head.
"Fine. But this doesn't mean the two of you are completely off the hook. Dianna now has to set her last day, and we'll be negotiating contracts a few days before break anyway so we won't have to set up another meeting for you, Chord." He got up from his chair and left the room with his assistant hastily trailing behind him, writing dates down on a little black notebook as Ryan rambled to him.
They left the room in silence, holding hands as Dianna leaned on him for support. If Ryan knew, there was no point hiding it now. Besides, Chord thought, they were lucky to even have jobs at this point.