Hey guys, told you I'd update soon! This chapter is mainly flashback but I still hope it is good.
M- thanks for saying I'm a good writer means a lot. I am really glad you like the story and the next chapter is all Santana and Finn!
BumbaMumbaJimJams- First off I love your name! haha I love that you think height has an effect on whether or not someone can die. You will find out in the next chapter what is going on with Santana and Finn.
Santana98- Damn! I keep making people cry sorry about that!
lileyfan1415- I am one for the suspenseful stories, glad you are enjoying the story. The next chapter is Santana and Finn
anonymous- glad you like it sorry about the tears. I'm not sure at the moment how many chapters I will write, I'm just going to see where the story takes me.
crazyfornaya- I really like Mike, he is my favorite of the three kids. I will try and add more of Rachel and her kids and I will have some other familiar faces reappearing soon. I am glad that you enjoy this story. I also wanted to thank you for taking the time for writing such long reviews, they make me happy!
Enjoy, Review!
Brittany was exhausted. She had had one hell of a weekend, it was now Monday. She had called in to work and explained what had happened and they had given her the week off. She of course had been grateful at the time but now wished she had gone to work. She was all alone the kids had opted on going to school, leaving her in the large house all alone.
Brittany had almost been hesitant to send her children to school today. She knew that they were extremely upset, as was she. Brittany was worried that the kids at school wouldn't understand and then she remembered that their schools weren't like the ones that she and Santana had attended when they were living in Lima. The high school that Shay and Mike went to and the elementary school that Tony went to were all on-base schools. All of the children that went to those schools had at least one parent in the Army.
Once she realized that she realized that the teachers would already know, every soldier on base would already know therefore every kid on base would know. That meant that at least for now both the Pierce-Lopez children and Hudson children would be left alone and not picked on or bullied. Brittany was glad that her kids would have people to talk to that understood what they were going through.
Brittany walked over to the couch and turned on the TV. She decided that mind numbing TV was just what she needed. When she flicked the TV on the 12 o'clock news had just started. She winced at the headlining story.
"And now for today's main story, three US soldiers were involved in a helicopter incident on Friday night. Captain Thomas O'Malley and Officers Santana Lopez and Finn Hudson were on a helicopter when it was shot down by Afghani forces. When US forces arrived on scene Captain O'Malley was deceased and Officers Lopez and Hudson were no where in sight. The two are at the moment listed as MIA, though a source tells us that there is no way that the two were able to escape the crash uninjured and more there was no way that they could survive for long in the desert unassisted. This event certainly is a tragedy we will keep you updated with more information when it becomes available. In other news..." The local broadcaster said into the camera.
Brittany quickly changed the channel to Grey's Anatomy reruns and zoned out. The episode after Callie got into the car accident was on, that was the musical episode. Brittany found herself singing along with the songs. Once the episode ended she decided since she desperately needed to see Santana and she hadn't finished watching it at Mr. Schue's that she would watch the DVD of the New Directions at the 2012 National's competition. She pulled out the copy and popped it in the DVD player. Once it started she found herself lost in her memories of that day.
The New Directions were in the green room before they would take the stage for the final performance in the showcase portion of the competition. They had advanced to the top ten easily, but this next stage wasn't going to be simple they had to pull out their big guns because there were new requirements. Each team had to have a solo, a duet that didn't include the soloist and two group numbers.
Mr. Schue had already prepared them for this stage. He said that he wanted to be prepared if they made it that far, which they had. He had decided that they would do songs that they had perfected over the last year or three years. For the solo he had chosen Rachel to sing, Don't Rain on my Parade. The duet was going to be Mercedes and Santana singing Someone Like You. The two group numbers were going to be Don't Stop Believin' and We Are Young. The judges had specifically said that the songs were all to be from different artists and unrelated to show diversity. The New Directions would be going last with their four songs from Barbara Streisand, Adele, Journey and Fun. They were also excited because they were to sing the entire song, not just a cut of it.
There were 15 minutes to their performance and everyone sat in groups of two or three. Mr. Schue had stepped out to watch the last performance and give them some time alone. Brittany and Santana were sitting in one of the corners away from most people. The closest people to them were Mike, Tina and Rory. But they weren't listening or had enough class to pretend otherwise.
"I don't want to do this." Brittany said out of nowhere.
"Why Britt? You and Mike get showcase your ridiculous dance moves at Nationals! Are you nervous?" Santana asked.
"No, I'm not nervous I am really excited actually. The only time I feel smart is when I dance. But I don't want to do this because the second we finish performing high school is done, thats it. I was okay at graduation because I knew I still had this but after today it is over, done, no more New Directions!" Brittany said and she looked on the verge of tears.
"Britt listen, high school may be over but you told me last year, Glee Club is a family and families stick together. Don't worry we will keep in touch with everyone I will make sure." Santana said.
"What about you and me? People say that relationships that happen during high school never last." Brittany said quietly and somewhat shyly.
"B, I promise you that I be with you forever."
"Really, forever San?"
"Really. I love you Brittany."
"I love you too Santana." Brittany said with a smile.
"Okay come on guys we are on in three minutes!" Mr. Schue said running into the room excitedly.
The New Directions at the moment included 15 members at that moment and all their names were included in the introduction.
"Ladies and Gentleman, for the final performance of the evening we have the New Directions from William McKinley High School in Lima Ohio. The New Directions include; Artie Abrams, Blaine Anderson, Rachel Berry, Mike Chang, Tina Cohen-Chang, Sam Evans, Quinn Fabray, Rory Flannigan, Finn Hudson, Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez, Sugar Motta, Brittany Pierce, and Noah "Puck" Puckerman. The New Directions are directed by William Schuester. The solo that will be performed is Don't Rain on my Parade by Barbara Streisand and will be performed today by Rachel Berry. The Duet will be Someone Like You by Adele and will be performed by Mercedes Jones and Santana Lopez. The two group numbers will be Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and We Are Young by Fun. Ladies and Gentleman, the New Directions!" the announcer called and the opening notes to Don't Rain on my parade began.
"Don't tell me not live just sit and putter, life's candy and the suns a ball of butter. Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade!" Rachel began singing and she sang the entire song beautifully. The crowd exploded on her last long note. By the time she had finished the whole New Directions had filed on stage.
The opening music to Someone Like You filled the stage and Santana took a deep breath before stepping forward and beginning without Mercedes at first.
"I heard that you meet your settled down, that you found a girl and your married now, I heard that your dreams came true, guess she gave you things I couldn't give to you." Santana started.
"Old friend, why are you so shy, ain't like you to hold back or hide from a light. I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited but I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it. I hoped you'd see my face and be reminded that for me it isn't over." Mercedes joined in.
"Never mind I'll find someone like you, I wish nothing but the best for you. Don't forget me I beg I remember you saying sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead. Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead yaaaa!" They sang together.
They finished the singing the song together and if the crowd was going crazy after Rachel sang they were even crazier now after Santana and Mercedes' beautiful rendition of the classic Adele song. They then ran to their places on stage and Finn began to sing Don't Stop Believin'.
"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train going anywhere." Finn began
"Just a city boy born and raised in south Detroit, he took the midnight train going anywhere." Rachel joined in.
"A singer in a smokey room." Puck sang.
"The smell of wine and cheap perfume." Santana sang.
"For a smile they can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on." The two sang together.
Once they made it through that song, better than they had ever done before with Mercedes absolutely killing the last note of it seemed that the crowd could not get any louder. They all quickly moved to their positions for their grand finally. The song had become an important song to the New Directions, it was the song they sang when they all came back together. This would be the song were Mike and Brittany would show of their ridiculous dance moves and they just waited for the music to start and Rachel to start singing.
"Give me a second I, I need to get my story straight, my friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the empire state. My lover he's waiting for me just across the bar, my seats been taken by some sunglasses asking bout a scar and." Rachel began singing and Mike and Brittany began a beautifully choreographed routine.
"I know I gave it to you months ago, I know your trying to forget. But between the drinks and subtle things, the holes in my apologies, you know, I'm trying hard to take it back." Finn sang to his girlfriend.
Sam joined in then, "So if by the time the bar closes."
Quinn joined Sam, "And you feel like falling down, I'll carry you home"
"Tonight we are young!" Everyone sang. "So lets set the world on fire! We can burn brighter than the sun."
"Tonight we are young." sang Santana, Brittany, Mercedes and Sugar. "So lets set the world on fire! We can burn brighter than the sun!"
"Now I know that I'm not all that you got. I guess that I, I just thought maybe we can find a ways to fall apart." Santana sang.
"But our friends are back, so lets raise a cup, cause I found someone to carry me home." Rachel answered.
"Tonight we are young. So lets set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun." Everyone sang.
"Tonight we are young. So lets set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun." sang Mercedes, Santana, Brittany and Sugar.
"We are young." Everyone else echoed back.
"Carry me home tonight, just carry me home tonight. Carry me home tonight, just carry home tonight." Quinn sang and kept repeating it while Finn sang
"The world is on my side, I have no reason to run, so will someone come and carry me home tonight."
"The end is never right, well I can hear the choir, so will someone come and carry me home tonight." Santana sang
"Tonight we are young." Rachel sang.
"So lets set the world on fire." Finn joined
"We can burn brighter than the sun, we are young. Tonight we are young so lets set the world on fire we can burn brighter than the sun." they all sang together.
"So if by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down, I'll carry you home tonight!" Finn and Rachel closed out the song.
After that the crowd had gone insane. The New Directions had jumped up and down, adrenaline pumping from their performance. After a few minutes the were ushered off the stage and sent back to their green room to wait for the final standings. No one really said anything in the room, actually the only person who had said anything at all was Mr. Schuester. He had spoken once, when he came in and that was all.
"Guys! That was incredible! You have never sounded better, Rachel you were Barbara tonight! Mercedes, Santana I would've sworn Adele was just singing to me. Don't Stop Believing sounded better than it has in three years and you just killed We Are Young! I am so proud of you guys! And I want you to know, even if we don't win tonight, that I am all still so proud of you. And to all you seniors that are done, please don't give up. You are all so talented and we will keep in touch. Every year from now on I am going to host a two day reunion party! It will start next year, I'll probably have it around Sectionals time so you can come and show your support! Well now that I have said my bit, I will be quiet and we can wait, if anyone else has anything to say than the floor is yours." Will said. No one, not even Rachel got up to say anything, they were all so nervous. More so than they had been the previous year.
"Will our top ten show choirs please make their way to the stage!" A booming voice said through the PA system.
The New Directions shuffled on stage and stood together on stage. Santana had taken Brittany's hand and had her face buried in Brittany's shoulder due to her nerves. The announcer started with tenth place, and then moved to ninth, then eighth, then seventh, then sixth, and fifth and fourth, then third. With each place Santana gripped Brittany's hand tighter, she seemed ready to explode with excitement at any moment.
"And now, the moment that you have all been waiting for, your 2012 National Show Choir Champions are, THE NEW DIRECTIONS!" he yelled into the microphone.
The crowd went nuts before anyone in the New Directions could react, then they were all screaming and jumping and hugging. Brittany said she would remember what happened next for the rest of her life. Santana had hugged her tightly for a moment and then on stage in front of everyone she had kissed her! Then she had pulled back smiled and dragged Brittany over to lift up the trophy.
Brittany snapped back to reality when she realized that she had been daydreaming for over an hour and the DVD had stopped fifteen minutes ago. Brittany sighed at the happy memory and then walked over to the TV and took the DVD out of the player and put it carefully away. She flicked the TV back to the news to see if she could get the weather for the next week when she heard it.
"This just in, we have breaking news in the case of the two missing Army officers in Afghanistan, Officers Santana Lopez and Finn Hudson..." the newscaster said.