27. New Directions

All the boys in black shirts and pants with silver ties. All the girls in black dresses with silver headbands and bands wrapped around their waists. Except for Santana, who was dressed in a halo of rage, fury and fire.

"This is the Lima Heights Civic Center. You really don't want me to whistle and call my…"

Jesse threw a glass of water at her face to shut her up. "Overheating is the principal cause of death in people like you. All day in the street, under the sun, surrounded by your gang and going up and down with bags full of smuggled hair extensions."

"Jesse!" Will shouted.

He showed a laminated photocopy of his contract. "Untouchable." Actually, only untouchable until Santana slapped him as hard as she could. "Remember my face, because you won't see me again till the day I take a photo of you in court while the guards take you from the stand to jail."

"I'm so out of here!" Santana's yell resounded twice in the room. So much hatred deserved a double echo. She stormed out of the dressing room.

Rachel tried to hide her smile. "There's no time to look for a substitute, we only have five minutes till we're on stage. Guys," she turned to the seven boys in the room, "go to the stage and I'll take care of this." She headed to the door, "where the hell can I get a blond wig this?" she said to herself.

Will took the boys to the backstage, so the only ones in the dressing room were Brittany, Sugar and Tina. "And what are we supposed to do now?"

"You could have done your job," Sugar answered. "Anyway… when did a plan of these two ended up well? And, a yet more important question: how many people got laid last night?"

Both Tina and Brittany blushed.

"You're so gross."


Rachel and Santana burst into laughter when they met in the hallways. "Do you think he bought it?" Rachel asked.

"Call in the reinforcements; I have a mic to hide in my vajayjay."

When Santana went to her seat in the audience, Rachel walked into one of the rooms of the Civic Center. "They're about to start so… get ready, okay?" She winked an eye at the people in the room before she left to the back of the theater, where her solo was supposed to start from.

"Hey!" a voice called Rachel on her way down the hallway. "Break a leg."

"And from William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, the New Directions!" the host announced. She resumed her walk with a wide smile on her face.


"What are you doing here, Sue?" Emma asked when her fiancé's nemesis sat right next to her.

"I had a false alarm this morning, and who better to scare my baby and force him to stay inside for the next one and a half months than the sound of how messed up the American youth is?"

Emma sighed. "Sue, we were with you the day the doctor told you your baby was a she."

"If my body is designing his body, I get to say if he pees sitting or standing for the rest of his life. Mind your own business, Estée, in case you can fit it in your tiny bird hips."


Who Wants to Live Forever was a total success. The public roared as the boys left the stage. This time Blaine wasn't outsung by Jesse, so that in addition to having a five-voice back-up made an ace of the performance.

The short former Warbler took his opponent out of the backstage with the excuse that Rachel was having some kind of nervous breakdown because she sneezed three times in a row.

"Hey! Jesse J!" Two boys said in unison as they put their arms around Jesse's neck when they ran into him.

He tried to get off them, but he wasn't able. "What the fuck are you doing here? Let me go, I have a duet to…"

They practically pushed him into the room where they were hiding before. "Don't be like that, let's catch up. It's been a while since the last time we saw, man." Blaine high-fived Finn after he replied to Jesse.

"Yeah, dude, we've roamed seas and oceans to be here with you today. You can't turn us down," Puckerman said.

All the New Directions boys mocked on Jesse. Everyone except for Sugar, who squeezed Puck's ass. "I've missed you too, honey."


Rachel Berry took a deep breath as she took a grip on the curtain that was separating her from the audience. She checked on her usual microphone and got ready for her song to start, as thrilled as the day she sang Don't Rain on my Parade four years ago.

[When you believe – Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey]

She drew the curtain and started her way down the theater aisle.

Rachel:
Many nights we've prayed
with no proof anyone could hear.
In our hearts a hopeful song
we barely understood.

Now we are not afraid,
although we know there's much to fear.
We were moving mountains long
before we knew we could.
Oh, yeah.

Rachel passed by Santana, who took her coat off and stood up, a microphone in her hand, and as she grabbed Rachel by the waist, she started singing along with her.

Rachel and Santana:
There can be miracles when you believe.
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve.
When you believe, somehow you will.
You will when you believe.

Rachel:
Uhm.

Santana:
Oh.
In this time of fear
when prayer so often proves in vain,
hope seems like the summer birds
too swiftly flown away.

Yet now I'm standing here.
My heart's so full I can't explain.
Seeking faith and speaking words
I never thought I'd say.

They climbed the stairs onto the stage up before they placed the microphones in their stands.

Rachel:
There can be miracles, when you believe. (Santana: When you believe)
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill. (Santana: Uhm)

Rachel and Santana:
Who knows what miracles

Rachel:
you can achieve. (Santana: You can achieve)
When you believe, somehow you will.

Rachel and Santana:
You will when you believe.

"What did see on her?" Sebastian asked Blaine with a chuckle as they watched the girls' performance from the backstage.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Perfection," he answered with a soft foolish smile drawn on his face as he leaned his head on Sebastian's shoulder with their fingers intertwined.

Rachel and Santana:
They don't always happen

Santana:
when you ask.

Rachel and Santana:
Ah.
And it's easy to give in to your fears.

Santana:
Oh.

Rachel:
Ooh.

Rachel and Santana:
But when you're blinded by your pain
can't see your way straight through the rain.
A small but still

Rachel:
resilient voice

Rachel and Santana:
says hope is very near.

Rachel:
Oooh!

The New Directions walked into the stage and stood behind the girls.

New Directions:
There can be miracles

Santana:
Miracles.

New Directions:
When you believe.

Santana:
Lord, when you believe.

Rachel with New Directions:
Though hope is frail,
it's hard to kill. (Santana: Hard to kill, ooh)
Who knows what miracles you can achieve (Santana: You can achieve)
When you believe

New Directions:
somehow you will.

Santana:
Somehow, somehow, somehow.

New Directions:
Somehow you will.

Rachel and Santana:
No, no, no.

Rachel with New Directions:
You will when you (Santana: When you) believe.

Santana:
Oh.

Rachel:
You will when you

Santana:
You will when you

Rachel and Santana:
believe.
Just believe.
You will when you believe.

Standing ovation, the second one of the evening for the McKinley kids started by Will, as usual, jumping his ass off in the backstage, moving his fist with emotion when anyone hit a high note.

[Viva la vida – Coldplay]

The boys went backstage, smiling and cheering after having nailed. They got on stage again as it was their verse to sing.

Artie:
I used to rule the world.
Seas would rise when I gave the word.
Now in the morning I sleep alone.
Sweep the streets I used to own.

Brittany:
I used to roll the dice.
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes.
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

Tina:
One minute I held the key.
Next the walls were closed on me.
And I discovered that my castles stand
upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand.

Artie, Brittany and Tina:
I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing.
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing.
Be my mirror, my sword and shield.
My missionaries in a foreign field.

Artie, Brittany, Joe, Sugar and Tina:
For some reason I can't explain
once you go there was never
never an honest word.
And that was when I ruled the world.

They stepped back, remaining in the back of the stage.

Sebastian:
It was the wicked and wild wind
blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums.
People couldn't believe what I'd become.

Blaine:
Revolutionaries wait
for my head on a silver plate.

Blaine with Artie, Brittany, Joe, Rory, Sam, Sugar and Tina harmonizing:
Just a puppet on a lonely string.
Oh who would ever want to be king?

Artie, Blaine, Brittany, Joe, Rory, Sam, Sebastian, Sugar and Tina:
I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing.
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing.
Be my mirror, my sword and shield.
My missionaries in a foreign field.

For some reason I can't explain.
I know Saint Peter won't call my name.
Never an honest word.
But that was when I ruled the world.

Brittany, Joe, Rory, Sam and Sugar:
Oh oh oh oh oh oh.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh.

Artie, Blaine, Rachel, Santana, Sebastian and Tina with Brittany, Joe, Rory, Sam and Sugar harmonizing:
I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing.
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing.
Be my mirror, my sword and shield.
My missionaries in a foreign field.

For some reason I can't explain.
I know Saint Peter won't call my name.

Artie, Blaine, Rachel, Santana, Sebastian and Tina:
Never an honest word.
But that was when I ruled the world.

Brittany, Joe, Rory, Sam and Sugar:
Uh, uh, uh.

The eleven singers held hands on the edge of the stage and took a long bow. As long as the round of applauses they received. Given that the judges were, for the first time, a music teacher, the owner of Sheets and Things and Mrs. Johnson, from Johnson Audiphones, it was a secure victory.


"You've sold me out," Jesse said to Rachel before she joined the rest of the joyous group in the dressing room.

Rachel walked towards Jesse, slowly but with firm step. She cupped Jesse's face with her left hand. "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment," she said right before she crashed an egg on Jesse's head. "You've made fulfilled your part of the deal, go to New York and know that there are more where this one came from." She slapped Jesse twice softly before she left him standing with egg yolk running down his face. "Let's get this party started!" Rachel yelled once she closed the dressing room door.

Everyone muted and stared at her. Rachel blinked a few times. "What's the pr…" she stopped talking when she realized that Puck and Puck's best friend were there with them too. "Oh." She smiled at Finn with a slight blush rushing to her cheeks.

"Frodo, turn around, this is something we all need to witness." Santana took Finn and Rachel by their hands and placed them in the middle of the room, in the center of the circle the New Directions had formed.

Rachel looked at Blaine first, looking for his approval. Once she saw him nodding, she looked back into Finn's eyes and kissed him passionately. Sam shook and uncorked a bottle of sparkle cider, shooting foam all over the room. The cheering and the applauses lasted till the kiss ended.

"Are you crying, honey?" Brittany held her girlfriend's hand, swinging it as she asked.

Santana denied it all, "exhaustion tears. Fucking hell." She let herself fall onto one of the chairs.

Tina sat on Artie's lap, kissing him as well, deeply, in an excessive and even gross way. She was thirty seconds away of undoing the boy's pants and… rating T doesn't allow to finish the description of Tina Cohen-Chang's intentions, but it would have been definitely not classy.

"I have something to say." Finn knelt. "Rachel Barbra Berry…"

"Oh Good Lord in Heaven." Puck turned around and put his hands on his head. "Not again, not again, not again, not again."

Finn chuckled before he carried on with his proposal. "Rachel Barbra Berry, do you want to move to New York with me, no rings, vows or priests involved. Just you and me. And maybe my brother until we find a place of our own."

Suddenly Tina threw herself onto her knees and kissed Finn on the lips. "Yes! I love you too! Yes! YES!" She threw her arms into the air, thanking every single god in every single religion of every single civilization of the history of mankind.

"Do you realize that this is like you just kissed me?" Rachel asked laughing. "And," she answered Finn, "of course I do." She held his hands and helped him up before turning back to Tina. "I am gonna kiss him again, so it will be as if I kissed you. Consider it as a rite of passage and the best kiss of your life. Sorry, Artie."

"That means… that you're leaving?" Blaine asked, feeling sad for the first time that day.

There was neither answer nor second Finchel kiss. Emma irrupted in the room with a bang. "Sue's in labor!"


Quick announcement: this week I'll post the last chapter, so get ready for the big closure before Glee returns. I'm so sad right now, but all good things come to an end :(