This is a shift day [see above]. There was another upload this morning: You'll Find Wonder, chapter 19.
"A Dish Best Served Cold: Thirteenth"
(a bit earlier than usual, but I'm going to be out for most of the day so...)
After he'd hung up, they'd watched Matheson just standing there in the small office. The mention of a van didn't take long to make its effect on them. They equated landing in that van as a no return. If they were put in that van, then they were never coming home. Now waiting to see what would happen, even after hours of being trapped in that room, was the most stressful moment they had experienced.
When the phone rang again, hands reached out for hands all around, just as they had on and off throughout the day. They listened, waited. It was hard to make heads or tails of what Matheson was being told, from the one side of the conversation that was receiving and not getting, but eventually what they did get was their fears come to pass. They were giving him the van.
"It could be a bluff," Sam tried to sound positive.
"But what if it's not," Tina couldn't help but say, and they all tilted in that line of thinking, little by little. It was hard not to at this point.
"They're abandoning us," Puck shook his head.
"They could stop the van," Quinn looked to him.
"If they get there on time, but they can't promise that. If I'm going down, I sure as hell won't be going down like a sitting duck."
"That's not good, right?" Brittany whispered to Santana, who quietly shook her head.
"We could end this, all of us, if we do it together," Finn put in his support, getting a nod from his friend and a whimper from his girlfriend. "I won't let anything happen to you," he promised, gripping her hands. "But I won't do anything either unless we all agree." He looked to Puck, who took a moment but then nodded: he wouldn't do anything without all out agreement. He looked to Quinn. She stared into his eyes, searched for her solution there.
"Do me a favor, don't get yourself killed?" was her answer, and he smirked.
"Or you'll kill me?"
"Something like that." That was two, three with Finn, and he looked to Rachel. She looked around the room, their room, the place where they had all grown for over two years. She didn't want the memory of Matheson to be its legacy. She looked back to Finn, her gaze focused.
"Okay I'm in," she confirmed.
"You don't need to ask me, you know I'll do it," Santana shrugged, though she looked back to Brittany.
"In a pinch I'm kind of a ninja," she provided, getting a shake of the head from Santana.
"That's six," she provided.
"Make that seven," Mike spoke, and it was the first of them to come from a place of non-confrontation. With the risk of what could happen to them though, to the girl he loved above all else, he'd made a decision, and this she knew as well.
"Eight," Tina added, resting her forehead to his arm.
"Hell, I'm in," Sam slowly nodded.
"Me too," Mercedes looked to him and he let out a breath.
"Same here," Artie followed.
"Hey I didn't come here for the memories," Lauren shrugged. That was twelve.
"Let's make it lucky thirteen," Kurt let out a breath, thinking of Blaine on the outside and hoping he wouldn't be cashing in his chances of seeing him again. "So what do we do?"
X
Standing outside, they had watched over the screen as the rebellion mounted, one member at a time, and it was like watching a disaster come together, at least to them.
"They're going to get themselves killed, you can't let them..." Castle told Beckett, but she was already way ahead of him, signaling Ryan and Esposito. From the surveillance they were secure in the fact Matheson couldn't see or hear them, so they didn't need to go sneaking about.
"I want eyes on that back window, get them in place, then I need you on the doors, we're going in." She looked to Castle and he knew she wanted him to stay outside, just as much as she knew he couldn't stay away. "Don't get in the way, no matter what happens."
"I understand," he nodded.
"Detective, I think they may be going for it," the officer at the monitor warned them.
There was no time to do much more than what they could. The four of them took off running for the front doors, passing a handful of concerned teachers and a crowd of frightened family members, among them Blaine and Sugar.
Three guns pulled out of their holsters as they stalked down the quiet halls. With so few of them in the building, it didn't take long for them to pick up on the semi distant voices, shouting.
It took even less for them to hear the sound of the gun.
"Move in, now!" Beckett ordered, their pace quickening as they reached the choir room. With two of them at each door, they broke through, Beckett leading at one and Esposito at the other.
The image they came upon was not the one they expected, finding Matheson piled on by Puck, Sam, and Finn. The rest of them were spread out all around him like he had been surrounded.
"Get off him," Beckett instructed, the three guns trained on him, making sure he wouldn't get away. The boys did as told, while the other kids rehuddled. Ryan and Esposito hoisted the man to his feet before Ryan cuffed him, as Beckett stared him down. "Jared Matheson, you're under arrest," she breathed. "Again." He was led away before Beckett and Castle could look to the kids.
"Is anyone hurt?" Castle asked, his eyes falling inevitably to the blonde in the cheerleading uniform. She smiled with relief, moving up to hug him.
"Just the piano," Santana pointed to the splintered hole on the side of the instrument. Beckett allowed herself a smile, knowing it was over and they were fine.
"We can take care of that."
"Brad's going to be mad," Brittany's eyes bugged out.
"I think you guys being alright will be a fair trade," Castle promised her. "Now come on, your families are waiting, and your teachers and your friends, and you," he looked to Brittany, "Someone else will want to talk to you."
TO BE CONCLUDED (TOMORROW)