Zinc White: Artie & Tina

He goes to see her after the breakdown. Finn's passing affected everyone differently, but none of them had seen her depression coming. Sure, there had always been signs with the goth clothes and love of all things emo. However, when she stopped coming to school and eventually getting out of bed, it had sent a wave of shock through the glee club past and current.

She was sitting in a rocking chair when he wheeled into the small rec room. Artie watched her for a moment, rocking in her white gown staring at the white walls and tapping her white-socked feet. She barely ever speaks anymore, never sings, and won't really look any of them in the eye. He hadn't been to see her yet, so there was a hope that she would be different. After Mike failed to get any reaction when he'd been by last week, he had to admit that his hopes weren't very high.

"Hey, Tina," he greeted her as he stopped beside her chair. She didn't look over at him, only moved her gaze from the wall in front of her to the window just off to her right. "I rbought you some of those peanut butter cookies you like that my mom makes. I had to leave them at the front desk so they could test them, but they said they'd bring them by your room later."

She's unresponsive, not that he really expected anything different. "Kurt and Rachel are going to be in town Saturday, so they wanted you to know that they'd be by to visit," he told her. He studied her for a moment, praying that he'd see even the slightest trace of the old Tina there. "Rachel's show is getting pretty big, I guess. Oh, and did Blaine tell you that we're going to Nationals? They're in LA. I'll make sure someone films it so we can show you when we get back."

Artie hates silence, so he just keeps rattling on. He tells her about the email Puck sent last week about where he was stationed in Australia. He tells her about Sam's win at the synchronized swimming regional meet. He tells her about how Marley and Jake are trying things again and Quinn went to visit Mercedes in LA and Brittany somehow made the Dean's List. He tells her about the songs Mr. Schue picked for their Nationals setlist and Santana's new feminine hygiene commercial and the podcast Unique started.

"Oh, and Kitty and I broke up."

It's that last statement that seems to wake up something up inside her, at least a little. "I'm sorry," she whispered in the tiniest voice he could have imagined. He looks over at her in surprise, pushing up on the bridge of his glasses, and smiles. There's the girl he loved three years ago.

"Me too, but it's for the best. I'm not going to be in Ohio next year."

"Where will you be?"

"Tina," he drawled uncertainly. She knew that he was going to film school in New York. "You know I'm leaving."

"Everyone does," she deadpanned. "Puck and Rachel and Santana and Kurt. And Finn, can't forget Finn."

"Tina, you know Finn didn't leave."

"I was there, Artie, you weren't. I was in the passenger seat of the car when that truck ran that light. I was talking to him about glee club and he was distracted and it's my fault," she rambled on. It was the most words he'd heard her string together since the accident. "Finn died because of me."

It was ridiculous, but he knew that her guilty heart didn't see it that way. "Finn died because some trucker had worked too many hours and fell asleep behind the wheel," he told her softly but confidently. "You didn't have anything to do with that. Finn was our friend, Tina, all of ours. He wouldn't want this for you."

She was quiet for a moment. "I don't know how to be anything else anymore."

Artie reached over and squeezed her fingers lightly. "I'll help you."

Five years later, Tina gets hired on at a nonprofit that advocates for safe driving, and they name their little boy after Finn.

THE END.