A New Generation is Born

by A-LionGleek

It's the first official week of glee club sessions for the 13 newest members of the New Directions, and they are more than ready to get the show on the road. But with drama popping up at every turn, the beginning of their time in glee club will be far from easy. Can the 13 brand new gleeks handle it all and show that they have what it takes to be a worthy new generation of gleeks?

23. Everything Will Be Alright

Hey everyone! MAN I took WAY too long! I SO meant to have this done in December last year! But then I found myself so busy with school work, and then I ended up swamped with preparations for a vacation my family and I were to have the entire week before Christmas, then I was busy having fun on that week-long vacation (which was in Tokyo, Japan I might add), then my family and I ended up stuck and SPENDING THE NIGHT (INCLUDING SLEEPING) at the airport on the Saturday in which we were supposed to return home (but thankfully got home the very next day, Christmas Eve no less), and then there was Christmas, and then a good few other things got in the way to prevent me from finishing this chapter any earlier than I've now currently gotten it finished. But nonetheless, at long last, it is finally done! I SO hope you read, review, and enjoy this chapter! And that it proves WELL WORTH the long wait I've put you through. And that being said, Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

A/N: For the first time this new Year, I shall remind you that I do not own Glee or any other elements owned by higher legal powers than myself that may or may not be in this chapter. That being said, onward with the fic! Lord knows you've been waiting long enough for this new chapter!

Chapter 23:

Everything Will Be Alright

It was the sound of blaring sirens that finally awoke Scott Grayback, and he groaned groggily from where he'd fallen unconscious on the floor of the crack house. For another few minutes, Scott groggily, and with great effort, forced himself back to his feet and fully awake. After another few minutes spent dizzily observing the area around him, he managed to look towards the door, and his eyes widened as he caught sight of the clearly forced open door, saw what appeared to be flashing blue and red lights outside that promptly allowed him to realize the source of the siren noises, and fully realized exactly what he'd just now seen inside the building over the course of his earlier unfocused observations.

And indeed, what he saw within the building did not bode well. For not only was the door gaping open (and clearly forced open considering he could still see the lock sticking out of its sheath despite the door being open), but every single one of the men from the squadron he'd arranged to be present for this job was either unconscious or groaning and curled up in pain and discomfort, and the five girls who had been stuck inside with him at the time of his being knocked out were nowhere to be found. And judging by the apparent presence of police outside the crack house, it was clear that things were only about to get worse.

He rushed straight towards the very back of the room, straight towards where he knew the door to a back-entrance corridor was located. He had just opened this very door when he suddenly took note of another couple details. He turned his head to look back in time to notice that, as he'd just now come to realize, his wig and sunglasses from earlier had slipped off his head after he'd gotten knocked out and were now lying on the floor where his head had been. He briefly considered running back to get them, but then the continued sound of the police sirens returned to his ears and he promptly decided against it.

"Forget it," he thought to himself as he turned his head away from his now effectively discarded wig and sunglasses, slipped through the door, and closed it behind him. "I need to get out of here. And besides, having them on me would only serve to instantly incriminate me in the event I get caught by the police after leaving this area."

He had just reached the halfway point of the corridor leading to the back exit when he paused, his eyes widened in horror as he finally realized another matter that effectively rendered getting caught by the police the least of his worries. He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut, mentally wincing as he thought of the hardly any better possible fate to befall him in the near future if he avoided capture by the cops. "Dad's gonna kill me," he thought to himself. For a brief moment, he strongly considered just turning back around and giving himself up to the cops. But then he realized that doing so would very likely be viewed as a 'coward's way out' and that it would be at least somewhat better for him to just man up and take whatever punishment would potentially come upon him from his father. And so, steeling himself up, and taking a deep breath, he resumed his hurried run to the back exit and departed from the crack house entirely.

. . . . .

"You sure you're all ok?"

Bailey and Cody both looked at Raj, a half annoyed, and half touched look on both of their faces at Raj's continuing concern for them and the rest of the gleeks who'd been inside the crack house.

"Yes Raj," said Bailey. "We're fine.

"We're good," Cody said simply.

Daniel scoffed. "No thanks to her," he then said while directing a glare towards Charlotte out of the corner of his eyes.

Calvin noticed this side glance towards Charlotte, and he snarled in assent. "I'm with you bro," he promptly agreed, Hobbes snarling in apparent agreement as well. It didn't take long for the rest of the boys apart from Zack to nod their heads in agreement. Zack directed a perplexed glare at the other boys, Charlotte sighed, and hung her head in a mixture of shame and exasperation, and the other girls looked each other in the eyes while silently vowing to make sure in the future that their friends were made aware of the full story.

At that moment, Susan looked a couple feet in front of herself and the group, and pointed out what she saw. "I think we're about to get questioned."

Daniel's shoulders slumped, his gray eyes narrowed in half irritation and half exhaustion. "Again?"

It had been now at least a half hour since the cops had arrived, and this arrival had occurred at least 5 minutes or so after all the raptor men in the crack house had been defeated in the battle from earlier. And of course, Raj and Mr. Schuester had been right at the 'helm,' so to speak, in arriving at the area. And now, with all but a small number of the still woozy and disoriented adult thugs loaded up to be taken to prison, it now appeared that the cops had deemed it ok for some of them to split off to start asking questions to the people present that didn't need to be arrested. . . for apparently the 3rd time.

Two cops, one of them rather thin and the other fat, were now walking towards the teens and dog. They came to a stop, and the fat one pointed his hand to indicate the entire group. "Which one of you is Calvin Madison?"

Calvin's eyes narrowed at the blunder. "That's Calvin Martenson, thank you." The autistic boy folded his arms across his chest, clearly still somewhat peeved at how the cop had messed up on his surname, and took three steps forward so he was directly in front of the cops and in between them and the rest of his peers. "Can you show me some identification?"

The two cops looked at each other, shrugged, and then each drew out their identification and handed them to Calvin.

Calvin's eyebrow promptly rose upon sight of the picture on the fat cop's I.D. He lifted his head to look straight at the cop in question, a noticeably confused look on his face. He looked back at the photo. He looked back at the cop. He looked back at the photo. He looked back at the cop. "You sir," he then said while pointing at the fat cop, "are clearly either an imposter, or have gained an unhealthy amount of weight since you had this picture taken."

"Oh, for God's sake Calvin," said Susan. He turned his head to face her. "Let them in!"

Calvin seemed to think to himself, and then he looked back at the two cops. "The lady has spoken," he then said. "I shall let you in." He handed the cops I.D.s back to them and took three steps backward so they could properly come forward for questioning.

The fat cop was about to take a step forward when he heard his partner chuckling. He turned his head and glared. "He's telling the truth you know," said the thin cop. Said thin cop looked over at his partner, a giddy smile on his face. "You really do need to get a new picture for your I.D."

The fat cop groaned, rolling his eyes. "Shut up and get to work," he grumbled before then stepping forward to do his job. The thin cop chuckled, rolled his eyes in amusement, and stepped forward to join his partner.

Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester was now having a similar talk with none other than the captain.

"Well I'll definitely admit your informant was telling the truth."

The teacher nodded. "Glad to hear that."

Police captain Wesley Benedict nodded his own head, and took a quick look towards the raptor men that were still being loaded up for transport to the precinct. "Indeed, and it's a damn good thing we were smart enough to come along. God knows how much time we'd spent up till now forced to grudgingly let this raptor group continue whatever business they were up to in there due to lack of proof. But now, admittedly thanks to events that I definitely wouldn't have preferred to have had to happen, we're finally able to get a sizable portion of this here group to justice. And depending on what else we find around here, we might very well be able to convict at least the entirety of this particular portion for a good long while." He looked over at the assorted teens that were, alongside a dog, currently getting questioned by two of his subordinate officers, and looked back at Mr. Schuester. "So," he then said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you the director of that local glee club? The New Directions, am I right?"

"Correct," said Mr. Schuester. "On both the club's name, and my being the director."

"Good, good," said the captain. He thought to himself. "Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but the time in which your students were out and about in this area; wasn't that supposed to be around the time you'd have been holding your after-school session of your club?"

"Yes," said Mr. Schuester. "Why do you ask?"

Benedict narrowed his eyes in an almost perplexed look, and Mr. Schuester mentally facepalmed. "Of course," the teacher thought to himself. "Stupid question."

"As I was pretty sure you would have expected," said Benedict, "the next logical question would be," he gestured towards the gleeks and the dog. "Why were they out here and not at school practicing for the glee club?"

Mr. Schuester sighed. "I decided to cancel today's after-school session."

The police captain raised his eyebrow. "May I ask why?"

"I felt I needed a break today," Mr. Schuester answered truthfully. "There was so much drama going on this week, and I felt I needed time to cool down."

"Really now?" Captain Benedict chuckled. "From what I've heard of this club's reputation for drama, I thought you'd be well used to it all by now."

Mr. Schuester sighed. Even now he still couldn't fully wrap his head around just how widespread and strong of a reputation his club had developed over the years. "A fair point officer, I will admit to that." The teacher took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But you've got to understand. All that drama you've brought up, it usually doesn't start to really pile on until the 2nd full week of the school term at the earliest. And yes, the 1st full week of a school year is rarely ever truly devoid of any drama where the glee club is concerned. But again, that very drama doesn't start to really pop up nonstop until at least the 2nd week. And with how much drama was popping up in this club over just this 1st full week alone?" He sighed again. "I know this probably sounds a little difficult to believe, but I'm still not used to having to deal with such a quick rate of drama popping up this early in a school year for this club."

Captain Benedict thought to himself, seemingly taking Mr. Schuester's words into very careful consideration. After what seemed like an eternity to the teacher, the captain nodded his head, seeming to reach a decision. "Well, considering I don't personally work with these students of yours, let alone your glee club in general, I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it on that matter."

Mr. Schuester let a small smile or relief come on his face. "Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"For now, I do hope it to be a good thing. Lord knows I don't need a reason to get the chief involved after having not too long ago convinced him that his direct involvement wouldn't be necessary for this case."

Benedict turned his head to direct a short glance at the 13 students he'd just been talking about not too long ago, and just happened to still be in the midst of a talk with two of his subordinate officers. He looked back at Mr. Schuester. "If you don't mind," he began. "I do believe now would be a good time for me to have a little talk with your students myself."

Mr. Schuester thought to himself. "Um . . . sure," he said. He gestured towards his 13 students. "Go ahead."

"Thank you."

The captain turned away from the teacher and made his way over to where the 13 gleeks and single dog were gathered.

"That's enough boys," said Benedict as he took the last few steps to reach the area. The two subordinate cops turned their heads to look behind them. The captain nodded upon seeing the two subordinates' eyebrows rise. "I'll take it from here."

The two cops seemed to consider the matter, and then nodded in acknowledgement. "If you say so boss." They departed.

The captain got into position. "Good afternoon," he said.

The gleeks all responded in kind. "I hope this doesn't take too long," Cody then said. "Because right now, you're the 4th cop to come to us for questioning."

The other gleeks all glared at him. Even Calvin and Hobbes looked less than approving of what Cody had just said. "Dude," Calvin thought to himself. "I'm autistic, and even I know to be more respectful then that in a situation like this."

Captain Benedict, surprisingly enough, seemed not too unhappy with Cody's not entirely polite statement. "Indeed," he then said. "But if my current intuition is correct, everyone who's currently questioned you before me has focused entirely on what happened during the fight itself, if not the events leading up to it from the boys' perspective. . ."

"Tell us something we don't know," said Cody.

"As I was saying," the captain continued, his eyes now noticeably narrowed into a glare straight at Cody.

The bespectacled Korean American gulped, and took a step backwards with his hands raised in a placatory gesture. It was now quite clear that he'd be wise not to test the captain's patience further, especially considering he'd now apparently interrupted him and essentially been rude to him twice in a row. The other gleeks, Hobbes included, smirked at him. Raj, however, looked considerably smugger compared to the dog and the rest of the gleeks.

"Would it perhaps be accurate for me to guess that none of my underlings have bothered to ask for any details on the events leading up to this incident from the girls' side of the story?"

The gleeks all thought to themselves, although Charlotte looked considerably more nervous now compared to the rest.

"You know," said Susan. "You'd think someone would have thought to ask about that by now."

"A fair point," Calvin agreed. Hobbes barked thrice to indicate his own agreement.

"Indeed," said the captain. He smiled. "Perhaps, then, I could go ahead and get on with that?" He directed another glare at Cody. "Unless there's more you wish to say beforehand."

Cody let a sheepish half grimace come on his face. If he hadn't been suitably chastened not too long before this moment, he certainly was now. "No sir," he said. "You go ahead."

"Splendid," said Benedict. "So, which of you ladies would like to talk first?"

The girls thought to themselves, and then seemed to unanimously decide on Diana, who stepped forward. "I'm ready if you are," she said.

The captain was indeed ready, and the next few minutes passed with the captain asking questions and Diana answering to the best of her ability with help from the other girls.

"Duly noted," said the captain as he noted down the full answer to the latest question he'd asked. He then thought to himself. "So, which of you was responsible for bringing the rest of you over here exactly?"

Charlotte seemed very noticeably about to try to hide, but any attempt at trying to avoid the spotlight was promptly foiled when the other five girls, plus all 7 of the boys, Zach included, pointed right at her. Even Hobbes extended his right front paw towards her and shook it back and forth a few times. Charlotte winced, teeth gritted as she realized that there'd be no escape for her now.

"I see," said Benedict as he briefly took a glance at her. He positioned his head to get a better look at her, his mouth opening as if about to ask another question, only for him to pause, his eyebrow raised in a clear 'Wait a minute,' expression. He seemed to lean his head forward, eyes now narrowed in concentration as he continued to gaze at Charlotte. It was now clear, judging from the captain's behavior, that he potentially knew Charlotte from somewhere. And judging by how increasingly nervous and embarrassed Charlotte seemed to be becoming, the gleeks had a feeling that it was not necessarily a good thing. Though just for whom this news was a bad thing, they had no idea just yet.

"Your name," Captain Benedict asked.

Charlotte winced again, her eyes now tightly clenched shut alongside her gritted teeth.

"Your name," the captain repeated.

Charlotte seemed to only pause further, prompting the other gleeks to raise their eyebrows. Even Hobbes seemed to raise his own eyebrow, apparently just as confused and dumbfounded as his master.

"Your name please," said the captain.

Charlotte sighed. "Thornton," she responded. She looked straight at the captain, a nervous smile on her face. "Charlotte Thornton."

At the sound of this, the other gleeks were quite stunned to see the captain's eyes apparently widen for a split second before he then grimaced. Even Hobbes couldn't help but widen his eyes at the unexpected response. Then the captain sighed, rolled his eyes to Heaven, and drew out his communicator with what seemed like reluctance.

"What the Devil?" all the gleeks apart from Charlotte thought to themselves. Even Mr. Schuester, who was watching from a couple feet away, couldn't help but wonder what on Earth was going on.

The captain lifted the communicator up to his mouth and activated it, sending a call in the process.

"Yes?" said a voice on the opposite end of the communicator; a voice that Charlotte herself knew all too well.

"Chief," said Captain Benedict. "Strike what I said earlier. It appears you may be needed here after all."

"Why?" asked the chief on the other end. The other gleeks, Hobbes, and Mr. Schuester had the exact same question on their minds and unvoiced.

"Your daughter is involved," said the captain.

The eyes of all the other gleeks promptly widened at the sound of this. Mr. Schuester also looked surprised. Even Hobbes clearly looked rather stunned for a dog. Charlotte, however, merely winced, her eyes closed and teeth gritted once more.

"Which one?"

The captain raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Come again?"

"Which one?" Chief Horace Thornton repeated, now clearly sounding more than a little irritated. "I have two."

The captain winced briefly, but swiftly recovered. "The elder one," he responded. "Charlotte."

An audible sigh was heard from the police chief's end of the communication. "Why am I not surprised," he seemed to grumble under his breath. Then another sigh was heard. "Alright," said the chief. "Wait right where you are. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Understood chief," said Benedict. The captain seemed to think to himself. "You know what?" he then said. "Before you hang up, I'd like to mention that, depending on what information we learn within the next hour or so, there's someone amongst the faculty at your daughter's high school that I have a feeling we may need to have a little talk with."

. . . . .

"So, you admit," said the now half pissed off and half smugly satisfied Chief Horace Thornton, "that you knowingly, and willingly, allowed my daughter, your head cheerleader, to play hooky for today's afternoon practice in pursuit of her little 'errand'? Yes, or no?"

For a brief few seconds, Sue Sylvester was lost for words, her mind completely blank as she struggled to figure out just what to say in response. As of now, she'd spent at least 15 minutes or so in the company of three policemen standing before her in her office, and she appeared to be sliding towards gradually shakier ground with each second that passed.

"Yes," she eventually managed to respond.

One of the two cops alongside the chief lifted his notebook and took note of the response.

"Thank you," said the chief. "Now, answer me this. Were you aware of exactly what it was that Charlotte was going to be up to for this 'errand' of hers? Yes or no?"

"No."

The chief raised his eyebrow, clearly not 100% convinced.

"I mean it," said Sue. "I honest to God, did not know the full nature of what your daughter was up to. Yes, she told me that she had business she wished to attend to that would make it necessary for her to skip cheer practice today, but all I knew about that business was that it was supposedly merely something important. I knew nothing more, nothing less."

"And you believed her?"

"I had no reason to do otherwise," Sue responded. She shook her head side to side as if in a daze. "She'd never given me any reason not to trust her before now."

"Really?"

The chief folded his arms across his chest. "Are you not aware of the crusade my daughter's been on for the last few years to romantically link herself up with this school's current quarterback?"

"I am aware of that matter sir," said Sue. "I fail to see how that is relevant. . ."

"Are you not aware of the lengths she's been willing to go to over the years for this goal?" the chief asked. "Of the extremes she's been willing to consider these days? Of the depths she's considered stooping to lately?"

"I am perfectly well aware of all that," said Sue. "And again, I fail to see what this has to do with. . ."

"And yet, you saw no reason not to trust her regarding this, quote-on-quote, 'errand' of hers?"

Sue's unfinished question promptly died, as did all her immediate thoughts of response. The chief raised his eyebrow at the coach's pause. Sue sighed. "Ok, I'll admit, you have a fair point." She lifted her head to face him and his two underlings once more. "But again, I'm telling the truth. I had no idea of the full extent of what she was up to." Her eyes narrowed as she thought of another detail. "For that matter, strictly out of curiosity, why is any possibility of me being in any way directly involved with all this such a big priority for you right now? Shouldn't you be placing higher focus on searching for that boy you say she claims to have tricked her into coming to the crack house with those other girls?"

"It would certainly help to know whether or not you were in league with that boy," said the chief.

Sue's eyes widened in stunned fury. "Are you kidding me?!"

Chief Thornton raised his eyebrow. "We cannot ignore the possibility." He pointed his finger at the coach. "And for that matter, not only is it common knowledge in Lima that you definitely have the money to afford pulling off something like this, but you also have plenty of shady elements and rumors in your life that point against you in this situation."

Sue's eyes narrowed. "You can't be serious about this," she growled. "You have no proof!"

"You know," said the police chief, clearly undaunted. "This isn't the 1st time you've said something along those lines." He pointed his finger at her once more. "You said something very similar about leaking this club's setlist to their competition during the 2009 show choir Sectionals competition, even when it had already been made clear how overwhelmingly large an amount of evidence against you was present."

Sue lifted her hands in exasperation. "That was years ago!"

"You were fully confident in your managing to avoid justice when you staged your little power play to take over as this school's principal 22 years ago," said the chief. He narrowed his eyes. "But what you failed to find out until May 2014, was that you'd been seen leaving the school premises that night by a random drifter. And to be fair, the fact that this man waited so long to bring it up continues to astound me just as much as it did my predecessor, but that's not the point." He leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk. "What the point is, is that your deliberate set up to frame the previous principal before you, who has since been reestablished to his old post, did in fact have evidence against it."

Sue's eyes narrowed once more. "It has been 21 years since that happened," she snarled. "Is it too much to ask that the people of Lima just forget about that after all this time?"

"And not only did that little matter come to light," said the chief, his finger raised as if to emphasize a point. "But you were also exposed to have committed several acts of borderline abuse against several students at this school, shamelessly lied compulsively in public, committed multiple public hypocrisies, committed almost stalker levels of surveillance over a certain pair of gay former students from this school, formerly done posing for a playboy magazine before your time as a faculty member at this school, deliberately assaulted and hospitalized the director of the show choir Aural Intensity and bribed your way into serving as his replacement for the 2011 show choir Regionals Competition." The chief shook his head side to side with his eyes closed, and then opened them while his head was once again directly facing Sue. "Need I go on?"

Sue only glared, her jaws and fists clenched, and eyes narrowed. At this point, she was both too embarrassed and too angry to respond, let alone try to deny anything. Not that denial would have made any sense at this point considering how the events in question had already been proven true years prior.

The chief pointed his finger at her. "With all that in mind, I have a good feeling that, contrary to your yet again claiming that we have no proof, we will indeed find proof of your involvement; and that's assuming of course, that you indeed do turn out to have been directly involved with all this to the extent you're currently being suspected."

Sue pointed her own finger back at the chief. "I'll have you know that you'll find absolutely nothing to tie me directly to this mess. Honest to God, you'll eat your words once you're done. Because this time, I am very much innocent."

The chief only smirked. "Forgive me if I don't believe you," he then stated in a very unapologetic tone of voice. His eyes narrowed, poker face returning, and he then said, "But considering your aforementioned history of compulsive lying, up to and including rarely ever even telling the truth about your own age, I'm gonna need far more than your say so to trust you in this case."

It took all of Sue's willpower not to explode in anger right there in her office and in front of the cops.

The chief pointed his finger at her. "You have till the end of this coming Sunday to provide a sufficient alibi to cover for any point this entire week up till today that you could have conceivably met up with and hired this boy my daughter claims to have tricked her into serving as a pawn for. And once you've provided that, expect the entire next week at most just for us to be absolutely certain as to what the end results say about this matter."

Sue clenched her left fist. "And what gives you the right to dig around in my personal life?"

"We're cops," said the chief. "And you are now a potential suspect of accessory to attempted assault and rape. We have to be thorough, and have all the facts. And I do mean all the facts." He straightened back up to full height, lifted his hands off the desk, and folded his arms across his chest. All while still staring without flinching into the eyes of the older cheerleading coach sitting before him. "And besides, if you're truly as innocent as you claim to be, then surely you don't have any reason to be scared of a little digging on our part; now do you?"

Sue narrowed her eyes, and let out a low hiss. But then she sighed, closed her eyes, and nodded her head. "Fine," she said. "You win. Expect my full, complete, and detailed alibi by the end of this coming Sunday at the latest."

"Looking forward to it already," the chief responded without missing a beat. He turned away to face his underlings. "I do believe we're done here for now. Anything else that needs to be done at this school before we return to the precinct?"

The cops continued to talk for a few moments before leaving the office. But during that particular amount of time, Sue was no longer paying attention to this particular detail. At that point, her mind was far too strongly focused on how she now planned to have a very serious talk with one Charlotte Thornton within the very near future if given the chance that day.

. . . . .

"What were you thinking?" Sue damn near spat, her eyes narrowed into a glare as she faced the now very nervous looking head cheerleader that was now sitting in the chair opposite her desk. "What? Were? You? Thinking?!"

Charlotte gulped, her face otherwise frozen in fear as she looked at her clearly ticked off coach. "Wh. . . wh . . . what," she stuttered, "d. . . d. . . do you . . . m . . . m . . . mean?"

"What do I mean?"

Sue glared at Charlotte. "What do I mean?"

She pointed at Charlotte. "How about the fact that you went and took several other girls to a local crack house?!"

"It wasn't my idea!" Charlotte promptly yelled. "It was that weird sophomore boy, Grayson's, idea!"

"It was your fault for trusting him enough to say yes," Sue responded coldly.

Charlotte sighed. "Look I was tired ok? Tired of always failing. And don't make any smart aleck comments right now, you know full well what I'm referring to by failing in this case. I was tired of it, alright? And today's my birthday! My sweet 16! I just wanted a win for once!"

In that moment, Charlotte felt the full combined weight of both the slight depression she'd felt before meeting up with Scott and the further despair of how she'd now only made things even worse for herself as a result of her choosing to trust him in the first place. "Why can't anything go my way anymore?" she thought to herself. "And on this day of all days? Is it too much to ask for a tiny ounce of success on my part these days?!"

"Well regardless," said Sue, clearly not in the mood for sympathy in her current state of anger. "Couldn't you have at least tried to agree to do something less extreme? Even by your current standards? Or at the very least tried to wait until the weekend or similar day in which you'd have off school? Either of those options would have been better than to trick me into granting you permission to take part in this latest fiasco of yours without knowing the full truth!"

"I didn't think it would get that bad!" Charlotte screamed in a desperate effort to defend herself.

"Not that bad?" Sue damn near spat. "Not that bad?" She pointed her finger at Charlotte. "You almost got me arrested!"

She gestured towards the door. "At the very least, you could have better worded your explanation to your father and the rest of the cops before they came here! From the way you did word your explanation to them, it sounded as if I knew exactly what it was you, or more accurately this boy you claim to have been tricked by, had planned from the start, and let you go with full knowledge of all that! You know what that makes me look like in the grand scheme of things here? An accessory, that's what! An accessory to attempted assault and rape! And now I'm in the position of having to let your father dig around through my personal life just to prove to him that I am indeed as innocent as I, this time truthfully, am! Are you trying to make life just as difficult for me as you seem all too keen on making it for your precious quarterback and everyone else around here that isn't amongst the cheerios or other high popularity students?!"

For what seemed like an eternity, Sue glared at Charlotte, her eyes blazing, and face clenched with unadulterated rage. Charlotte, meanwhile, gulped and stared back at her angry coach with a half fearful and half saddened look on her own face. Eventually, right as Sue was feeling practically seconds away from explosively asking Charlotte to answer her, Charlotte said, "You know what? Let's go ahead and pretend right now that I am."

This response caused Sue to unwittingly let her guard down, her look of rage giving way to one of confusion. "Excuse me?"

Charlotte sighed, hung her head, and shook it side to side. "Let's pretend right now that I actually am trying to make your life, and everybody else's, a living Hell. Let's pretend that I actually want my life and plans to get this much out of control." She stood up, hands raised helplessly in the air. "Let's pretend that I am deliberately going out of my way to ruin everyone else's life instead of being remotely concerned about how God seems dead set on having me serve as one of the universe's latest chew toys and ensuring that just about everything I try in my efforts at getting the things I want most goes horribly wrong! Let's pretend that I intentionally made every mistake I've ever made over the course of my little quest, including my accidentally making you look like an accessory, as a deliberate act of spite! Let's pretend that I'm not at all very likely to be in plenty of trouble now with my father once we return home later today! Let's pretend that I don't already feel bad enough right now about just how much worse this plan has gone compared to even some of my previous worst failures from before this one and how it's all come down to my bad luck not even having the kindness to give me a break on my own birthday of all days, the one day in the past that it has always, always, allowed me a reprieve every year before this year, but especially over the previous two years! Will that make you feel better?! Huh?! Will it?! If so, go ahead! I won't stop you! Fat load of good it would do me to even try!"

For what seemed like an eternity, silence hung in the air. Charlotte remained standing and glaring at the still stunned and seated coach. Coach Sylvester, meanwhile, similarly remained seated and gaping at Charlotte, to stunned by the full extent of what Charlotte had just said to coherently think of a suitable comeback. Then, something seemed to snap, and Charlotte sniffled, and then started to cry.

The sight of Charlotte starting to cry was all Sue needed to snap out of her stunned stupor, and she rose from her seat and gave the crying head cheerleader a hug. "There, there," she said as Charlotte continued to cry. "It's alright."

Charlotte sniffled, and managed to briefly pause her crying. "I'm sorry," she said.

"It's alright," said Sue, giving Charlotte a motherly pat on the head. "It's alright. Everything will be ok."

For another few minutes, Charlotte continued crying and Sue continued her work on giving the poor girl the necessary support and comfort. When Charlotte finally finished letting the tears out of her system, she and the coach sat back down in their respective seats. Charlotte sniffled one last time, and wiped her eyes clear of the leftover moisture. "I'm sorry," she said.

Sue nodded. "It's ok," she said. And in that moment, she realized just what she needed to do. "And you know what? I know just what to do to make sure something like what just happened today never happens again."

Charlotte sniffled, and looked her coach straight in the eyes. "What's that?" she asked.

Sue mentally cheered. "Remember that offer I made this Monday?"

Charlotte thought to herself for a moment, and then made a silent 'oh' face as she remembered. "Yes," she responded.

"Good."

The coach leaned forward, her finger pointing firmly, but kindly, at Charlotte. "Because after what's happened today, and over the course of the past couple days, I say it's perhaps in both our best interests that we agree to that suggested partnership." She raised her hand as if forestalling a comment from Charlotte. "Yes, I know that you still have till the end of school tomorrow to make that decision on your own, but hear me out."

Sue took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Like we established during our meeting at the beginning of this week, you and I share talent at cooking up plots, passion for our goals, and intellect." She pointed at Charlotte. "You have youthful mental power and speed." She pointed at herself. "I have experience." She lifted her finger. "And all that combined together, could allow us both to achieve our respective goals."

She leaned her head towards Charlotte, her eyes narrowed to show that she was serious. "But as of today, you still with me?"

Charlotte nodded.

"As of today," Sue continued, "I now know one other detail I can add to the list that would allow for you to benefit from the partnership that I am offering to make with you." She lowered her finger so that it was pointing straight at Charlotte. "My instincts for how far to go and who to trust and bring in on such plans are stronger and better developed than yours."

The coach took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Therefore," she continued, "what I'm suggesting now is that together we think up plots, you serve as my spy in the glee club just like Quinn Fabray and lord knows how many other cheerios in that club to come before you and also do the heavy lifting and similar field duty within the club, and I take care of the heavier lifting from outside the club while also making sure that we keep things balanced, reasonable, and similarly from going too far." She spread her hands as if shrugging or trying to placate Charlotte. "Sure, I understand that this may yet be a lot to consider just like it was this Monday. But after what just happened today, I doubt you really have anything left to lose. Not to mention, any plans that get thought up by the two of us together are almost certainly guaranteed not to end with any other incidents like today's. What do you say?"

Charlotte thought to herself, carefully considering everything the coach had said as well as weighing in on all the potential positives and negatives. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded her head up and down. She opened her eyes and stared her coach straight in the face. "I say yes."

. . . . .

A half hour later, Mr. Schuester and all the gleeks, plus Hobbes, had never felt more relieved, yet at the same time exhausted and still slightly terrified, as they did that very moment as they all sat around gathered together in the choir room. At this point, they were waiting for both the cops to deem their business at the school to be sufficiently finished, and for all the gleek students' families to show up and finish doing whatever discussions they'd need to make with the cops. As long as the wait was currently shaping up to be though, they were glad that it gave them the opportunity now to have some much-needed recovery time from the incident earlier that very afternoon, as well as to do it while spending quality time together. They were even more than willing to accept the fact that both Zack and Charlotte were present in the choir room alongside them. The way they currently saw it, all the drama that had already unfolded that day, plus both Zack's unexpected assistance and the additional knowledge about Charlotte's level of involvement that Mr. Schuester and the boys had received from the girls not too long ago, had left them no longer in the mood for any animosity against them that day.

Charlotte turned her head to glance in the direction of where Daniel and Diana were seated. Her eyes briefly narrowed as she saw how, just like the previous time she'd glanced that way, Daniel was comforting a still quite shaken up Diana. But then she closed her eyes, and took three deep breaths, exhaling with each one. "Remain calm," she thought to herself. "For now," she mentally added.

Her earlier meeting with Coach Sylvester was still fresh in her mind, and she could remember full well how the coach had instructed her to behave for this early stage of their newfound partnership. While there was no doubt that they would indeed eventually make and attempt actual plots, the current plan was to wait until the police finally deemed their sights worth setting elsewhere and the atmosphere around McKinley High had similarly calmed down following the events of this current day. Therefore, as Coach Sylvester had very strongly recommended, Charlotte would have to spend at least the rest of this week, plus the entirety of next week, essentially laying low.

Charlotte gritted her teeth, clenching her fists in the process. She was far from pleased with the idea of letting Diana or Daniel have such a long period of reprieve from her usual behavior towards them. But, again as put by Coach Sylvester, even the slightest action of her usual behavior could easily lead to her trying to commit something more extreme. And after what had gone just this very day involving both the crack house and the kidnapping effort by Silena and Ashley she'd unwittingly greenlit, any more actions worthy of drama, controversy, or even potential involvement from law enforcement were the absolute last thing she or her coach could afford to allow to happen. And so, mentally biting her tongue, she kept herself just barely under control.

"You're lucky I have to lay low for now," Charlotte mentally snarled at Diana. She clenched and unclenched her fists again, taking yet another deep breath and exhalation in the process. "Enjoy your reprieve while you can. As soon as next week is finished and the cops are no longer on mine and coach Sylvester's cases, I will come roaring back to finish what I started. And one way or another, I swear to God, Daniel will be mine."

"Man," Raj eventually managed to say. "What a day."

"You said it," said Bailey.

"Quoted for truth," Cody agreed.

"I'll admit," said Daniel. "Part of me still can't fully believe that all that craziness not too long ago actually happened." The other gleeks mumbled and nodded in agreement. Even Zack and Charlotte couldn't help but give slight nods of their own in agreement. With all the time that had passed, combined with a lack of things to keep them all distracted following the end of the adrenaline and the cops finishing their immediate business with them, the gleeks who'd been directly involved had now managed to realize the full enormity of what had happened. And they were now understandably shaken up and unnerved by the whole business.

At this point, even Mr. Schuester was having more than a little difficulty at finding just the right words to say. And this current inability couldn't be applied to strictly a single factor. One of the factors involved was just how much worse, at least in his opinion, this particular incident that had just now unfolded was in comparison to multiple other unpleasant incidents to unfold in he past involving his glee club. But there was also one other key factor behind his current feelings about the matter. And he was now starting to feel that it would be a very wise idea to voice it out within the near future. But first . . .

"Everyone," he said.

The students all looked at him, and so did Hobbes.

The teacher sighed. "I know this is probably going to sound like a really stupid question to ask at this point." He looked straight at his thirteen students. "But as shaken up and in disbelief you all feel right now. Do you think that you'll all be ok? In the days to come I mean?"

The students all thought to themselves, and directed multiple glances at each other in the eyes. Then, one by one, they all nodded their heads; some more slowly than the others.

"I'd certainly like to believe so," said Daniel.

"Me to," Diana agreed.

The rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, proceeded to slowly nod their heads and mumble in agreement.

Mr. Schuester nodded his own head, took a deep breath, and then sighed. "That's good to hear," he said. He looked back at his students once more. "Because now, there's one other thing about this mess that I'd like to say." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled, his students all waiting patiently. "Right now," he began. "What I'd really like to say . . . is that I'm sorry."

The teacher sighed again, hung his head, and shook it side to side. "Look, I get it, I'm sure there's no way I could have possibly known for sure that something like this could have happened. But even so, that still doesn't change the fact that, to a certain degree, I made it possible for this incident at the crack house to even happen in the first place." He lifted his head once more. "That time in which you were at the crack house, or even still at school hanging around before that point? We could have been spending that time safely in the choir room doing glee club activities, maybe even preparing for Sectionals. But instead, I put today's afternoon glee club session on hold, and essentially made it all the easier for there to be a convenient time for that Grayson boy, or whoever he really is, to find a perfect time to schedule for that business at the crack house." He sighed. "And all just because I couldn't handle a little bit of unexpected stress."

For a few seconds, the gleeks all let silence hang in the air after their teacher said all this, considering it all and trying to think of just what to say in response. Surprisingly enough, Zack was the first of the gleeks to properly respond. "Well hey," said the black boy. "You can't entirely be blamed for feeling overwhelmed by the stress you just mentioned." He nodded his head. "I mean, little bit of unexpected stress? That's an understatement, and you know it. And like you said yesterday, all that stuff I was doing over the last few days? I was crossing lines that Lord knows how many bad boy gleek predecessors of mine had never even considered. And like you said when you officially stated to us that today's afternoon session would be cancelled, that level of stress this early on compared to all the other years in this business? Really Mr. Schuester, everyone has their limits, and there's no shame to admit when you've reached them."

The other gleeks all thought to themselves, and then eventually nodded and similarly stated their agreement with what Zack had said. Even Mr. Schuester gave a slight nod in acknowledgement of the fair point Zack had raised.

"I understand that Zack," Mr. Schuester admitted. "Really I do. But even though I'd never experienced such a large level of stress this early on in a school year when it comes to this club, I still should have expected for such an experience to occur at some point or other. If I had been smart enough to expect this possibility and properly prepared myself in some way, I probably would have been able to man up and just continue weathering my way through it instead of caving. Hell, even without having prepared myself for that possibility, I still should have just manned up and continued trying my best to weather through it all to the end of this week. That would have been the responsible thing to do. And clearly, it would have potentially been much better for your safety this afternoon. But instead, like a weakling, I caved, and now look where we are."

The teacher hung his head, sighing once more. "And the kicker? All that stuff you just mentioned Zack? The especially stress inducing events and elements from the previous few days that had already piled up on me and gotten me feeling so overwhelmed before that kidnapping incident this morning finally broke the camel's back?" He pointed at Susan and Calvin. "Like both your parents, plus Figgins, made very clear yesterday, I could have stopped all that from happening. And I didn't."

This time, it didn't take anywhere near as much time for a response to be made. "That's not entirely your fault Mr. Schue," said Daniel.

"Yeah," said Calvin. "I mean, like you said yesterday, we were hardly innocent in that matter either. After all, it probably would have been wiser of us to flat out go ahead and tell you about the problems much earlier then to have made bandage assumptions like we ended up doing instead."

"I understand Calvin," Mr. Schuester admitted. "And I'm not saying that anyone of us is blameless in this equation." He sighed once more. "But as helpful as it would have been for you guys to tell me about the trouble before I ended up having to learn about it secondhand, let alone before it got as out of hand as it did, the simple fact is that I shouldn't have had to rely on you guys telling me about the trouble in order to do something about it all. For as Mr. Figgins," he pointed at Calvin and Susan once more, "and your parents, not to mention Lord knows how many other New Directions-based incidents to end up unfolding over the last 26 years have made very brutally clear, I should have been paying more attention to what was going on." He gestured towards his students as if to indicate all of them. "Like you guys made somewhat reasonably clear, all the signs were right there under my own nose. And I was too distracted and blind to notice." He sighed. "And now, here we are. My job on the line. This club's existence on the line. And you guys now on the tail end of a situation I wouldn't have wished on even my worst students that I unwittingly helped make capable of happening."

For what seemed like an eternity, another period of silence hung in the air. After all, as saddening as it was to think about and admit, their teacher had brought up several valid points. Then, with a deep breath and exhalation, Daniel finally managed to speak. "Mr. Schue," he began. "I get what you're saying. I really do. And I understand how you feel right now and why you find it necessary to feel that way. But the blame for all this? It's not all on you." He raised his hand as if to forestall a comment from Mr. Schuester. "Yes, I understand that you're not blameless. But honestly, like you yourself admitted, none of us are in this equation. You don't have to pin all the blame solely on your own shoulders Mr. Schue. All of us?" He gestured to indicate himself and the other gleeks. "We've got plenty of reason for blame to. As better as it would have been if you had been paying sufficient attention to what was going on without having to rely on us spelling it out for you, we still should have played the 'better safe than sorry' card and actually told you about what was going on instead of merely assumed that you'd noticed. And for that matter, let's not just up and forget about this Grayson fellow that the girls mentioned was responsible for tricking Charlotte into bringing the rest of the girls to the crack house. There's plenty of blame to spare for him as far as I'm concerned."

Daniel clenched his right fist and raised it in the air as if to emphasize a point he was about to make. "But know this Mr. Schue," he then said, his gray eyes agleam. "Whatever happens after today? We're all in this together. And odds are, everything will be alright." The other gleeks, plus Hobbes, were all quick to nod their heads and voice their agreement. Even Charlotte sincerely nodded her head up and down in support of what Daniel had said, genuinely believing that Mr. Schuester deserved at least this bit of kindness.

Mr. Schuester kept his gaze focused on his 13 students and the single dog. Then, after what seemed an impossibly long amount of time, the teacher let a small smile come on his face. "Well," said the teacher. "When you put it that way, I suppose things could be worse."

"You said it," said Calvin.

Carried away in the moment, the teacher, students, and dog placed their hands (and paw) together on top of each other. Then, after a silent count of three, they all lifted their hands and paw in the air with a loud "To glee club!"

"I see you're all in a good mood."

The eyes of the 15 choir room occupants widened in surprise, and they all turned their heads in time to see none other than Chief Thornton standing right outside the open doorway to the choir room. "Mr. Thornton," said Mr. Schuester. "I didn't hear you arrive. Is everything good?"

"As far as I am aware, yes. And in more ways than one."

The chief directed his gaze at Mr. Schuester. "As of now, my boys and I have just about finished everything that needs to be done at this school concerning this afternoon's unpleasant little incident. And that being the case, everyone can now go home." He gestured towards the 13 students and single dog. "And yes, that includes all of you. All your parents have arrived and are ready to take you home. Including yours." He pointed at Raj as he said that last sentence. "They felt it would make them feel more at ease if they were to be present in their own vehicle while you drove home today after everything that's happened this afternoon."

The Indian American boy nodded. "Understood officer," he said.

"Good to hear." The chief looked back at Mr. Schuester. "And as for you, no need for you to worry as far as your current standing is concerned." He lifted his finger. "Yes, there is the fact that you had to be explicitly informed of the situation by one of your students. And the fact that you can be considered tangentially responsible for this crack house incident being made possible is also not to be taken lightly. But nevertheless, the fact that you did not take long at all after being told about the trouble to react and get straight to work on getting things fixed and solved and were smart enough to get the police involved does earn you a fair deal of brownie points; not to mention is currently allowing you to remain on the right track to repairing your current shaky standing as far as your students' parents are concerned, I myself included." He nodded his head. "All that being said, I do believe everything should be alright now. And like I said, you're all free to go." He gestured to his right. "For those of you who aren't my daughter, your parents are waiting for you further down the hall." He looked towards Mr. Schuester. "And so is your wife, I might add."

Mr. Schuester nodded. "Say no more." He rose from his seat. "We'll leave." He turned his head to face his students. "He's right," said the teacher. "It is about time for us all to go home."

The students were all quick to agree, and they rose from their own seats. Zack, however, noticeably paused just long enough to, with his eyes closed, take a deep breath and exhale thrice in a row before gritting his teeth and slowly making his way after Mr. Schuester and all the other gleeks . . . apart from Charlotte. To be fair, Charlotte very nearly did follow the larger group out of a sheer sheep-like instinct to follow the group, but a cough from her father was enough to snap her back to reality and get her to pause long enough for Mr. Schuester and her fellow glee club members to leave her far behind in their travels to where their own families were waiting. Then she heard another cough from her father, and she grimaced, and then turned her head to face him. "Hi . . . dad," she managed to say.

The police chief spent a few seconds giving his daughter a poker-faced glare. Then his face softened somewhat, and he walked up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder in the process. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Charlotte thought to herself. Then she sighed, and hung her head. "Maybe," she responded truthfully. She looked back up at her father, sighing again in the process. "I'm in trouble. Aren't I?"

Her father sighed, a mixture of relief at his daughter's wellbeing and exhaustion from all the busy work he'd had to do over the last couple hours. "Honestly? After how I've spent the last couple hours? I don't really know what to say on that."

Charlotte sighed once more, and hung her head.

Her father was quick to provide reassurance. He placed his other hand on her other shoulder. "Look, right now, you don't have to worry about whether or not you're in trouble for what happened today, or about how you'll be punished if you in fact are in trouble for this. You, your mother, and I can take care of those details later. Right now, all that matters to me is that you're safe and healthy. And I'm sure your mother and sister will agree with me on that to at least some extent or other."

Charlotte sniffled, and then nodded her head. "I suppose so."

Her father nodded, and then seemingly beckoned for her to come closer. Charlotte instantly recognized the gesture as her father's signal of permission for a hug, as he'd used this gesture as such a signal multiple times for her and Tamara in similar past situations, and she gave her father a tight hug, which he returned.

"I'm sorry daddy," she said.

"I know Charlotte," said her father. "I understand."

The father and daughter finished their hug. The police chief nodded his head. "Come on Charlotte," he then said. "Let's go home."

And just like that, another chapter finally done! Only four more chapters left to go before this particular story of mine to occur in the GWAFU is finished (and I end up taking another hiatus from Glee fanfiction for the sake of my patiently waiting fans in the Teen Titans fanfiction community). That being said, I do hope VERY MUCH that you all enjoy this chapter (especially after the Hell long wait I ended up putting you through for it), that you leave a respectable amount of feedback for it (remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review for this new chapter in order to allow you to see the next chapter upon its completion; but seriously, regardless of whether you have an account on this site or not, please, for the love of God, leave a review), and that you'll be looking forward to the next chapter (plus the others to follow that one). Again, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and found it worth the long wait! And furthermore, again, merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year!

P.S: Feel free to tell me what you think about that little bit of information I just revealed about Charlotte and her family (among other things in this chapter of course).

Coming up Next: The very next day, the New Directions prove themselves well on the way to recovery from yesterday's crack house incident through means of the four leads FINALLY getting caught up on finishing the glee club assignment for this week (Lord knows I've held that off long enough). And furthermore, Zack finally clears the air with some much needed (and this time accepted) apologies and explanations that allow him the chance on multiple fronts to finally earn forgiveness, redemption, and chances at developing into the comparatively better person we all remember him as from the main GWAF story. Sound good? I certainly hope so! And here's to hoping I don't take NEARLY as long in writing both this next chapter and the three to follow it!