Hi guys! Sorry this has taken so long, I've been incredibly ill and busy with my last couple of weeks at school, but my break is finally here! I wanted to get everything in this chapter perfect so, again, I apologise for the wait. And another apology now - I'm going on holiday with my family in a few days, so I won't be writing anything for a couple of weeks. But that doesn't mean I won't be thinking of ideas while I'm away!
Back to the story though. The song in this chapter is one of my absolute favourite Disney songs, from one of my absolute favourite Disney films. I knew right from the beginning that I'd have to write this song in somehow, and I think it works! If you like the story so far, please leave a review. I really do appreciate them - getting a review means that my little idea of a story is coming to life in someone else's eyes! :)
A/N: "Disney Week" takes place after the events of the Season 3 finale, so technically it's a Season 4 "episode". I call it an episode because even though I write it like a story, I try to describe everything how I imagine it'll look on screen if Glee ever did a Disney theme. Therefore, they'll be quite a few different storylines going on at once, like a real episode. I also try my absolute best to write as close to canon as I can, so when people read it, they can imagine it's actually happening.
-Sami
"I'm confused why you asked me to come here, Mrs. Schuester."
"Finn, Will and I are still engaged, we didn't have our wedding in the summer."
"Oh, sorry, Miss Pillsbury," Finn corrected himself.
As he called her by her soon-to-be surname, Emma stared down at her left hand; between the bottom of her fourth finger and her knuckle, was her small but beautiful, gold-banded diamond engagement ring. Her and Will were still very much in love, and she was grateful for every day they spent together. Realising she was daydreaming about her fiancée again, she quickly snapped out of it and came back to reality.
"It's fine," she replied to Finn with a smile, "And for the record, since you're not a student here anymore, you can call me Emma."
It was currently free period, and Finn had been invited to see Emma in her office. Finn had absolutely no idea why this was him of all people. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Wait, why was he even asking that to himself, he wasn't even a student at the school anymore. He'd never even really had a one-on-one talk with her before, which made all of this so much more awkward.
Emma shut the door and walked back over to her desk as she spoke. "I wanted to talk to you about something that's been stumping me since it actually happened, Finn. I was there when you did it, we all were."
"I don't understand," he replied confusedly.
"You didn't go on the train with Rachel."
The sentence caught Finn off guard, but he was still quick to reply, "I signed up for the Army."
"But weren't you going to marry Rachel? I thought you loved her." Emma remained cool with her words, which helped Finn tell his story more calmly.
"I did it to honour my dad. I knew he'd have wanted me to follow in his footsteps."
"But what about Rachel?"
"She said she didn't wanna go to NYADA if I wasn't going to New York with her!" Playing it cool didn't last long. Finn was getting irritated by his own words; even he couldn't get his head around the whole situation. "I didn't want to be the thing getting in the way of her and her dreams, so I called off the wedding. But I said that one day we'd meet again because she'd be a star, and I'd still love her."
There was a long silence as Emma was taking in Finn's words. Finally she let out a long deep breath before walking back towards the door, opening it for the two of them and saying, "Let's go for a walk, Finn, it'll help clear your mind."
Finn hesitated for a moment and was just staring at Emma, standing in the doorway holding the door open, waiting for him to get up and walk with her. She had that smile on her face that therapists always pull when they want to give that 'I'm-friendly-and-I-want-to-help-you' impression. Finn thought about it: sure, he'd never had a real guidance councillor appointment with Emma, so they were practically strangers. It would have been good to get all this stuff of his chest finally. Finn got up out of his chair and walked through the doorway, Emma shutting the door behind her and following after him.
"Out of all the Seniors who have joined in in this reunion, I must be the only one who finds it weird being back. I mean, I walk through these hallways and see the other graduates talking to their boyfriends and girlfriends like normal, and I'm not like that with Rachel."
As they walked on, Finn pointed to Brittany and Santana, proving his point; they were standing in front of Brittany's locker with smiles so huge and holding hands like they had never been apart.
"When Rachel and I walked into that choir room together it was the happiest I'd felt in months. But she hasn't talked to me since so I don't even know if she still feels the same way about me."
Emma tugged onto Finn's arm lightly to stop them walking. Emma hummed to herself in thought; she was determined to come up with a solution to Finn's problem, he and Rachel belonged together. They were just standing there in the middle of the hallway, and after a moment of silence between the two of them, Emma asked, "Are you sure she knows you still love her?"
Finn gave her a puzzled look. "Well... I think so..."
"How?"
Finn was getting more and more confused. "What do you mean, how?"
"How does she know you love her?
How does she know she's yours?"
"Miss Pillsbury, I don't think singing a song is gonna -"
"How does she know that you love her?" Artie had overheard Emma's singing and pushed his chair in between the two of them, helping her with the song.
"See? Artie gets it!" Emma exclaimed to Finn. "How do you show her you love her?" she sang back to him.
Out from nowhere came the Glee Club's band, Like always, they had their instruments at the ready (it had been 4 years now, but still no one knew how they were always prepared for these spontaneous numbers). This time they were armed with Caribbean instruments - one had a steel drum hanging from his neck, another had a djembe drum. With them stood Puck with his guitar. They began playing the song's catchy melody along with Emma and Artie, who were sharing the lyrics just like Giselle and the Jamaican singer in 'Enchanted'.
"How does she know that you really
Really
Truly
Love her!
How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you love her?
How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?"
Emma was getting into the song so much, she hadn't even noticed that she'd started dancing around Artie's chair.
"It's not enough to take the one you love for granted
You must remind her, or she'll be inclined to say
'How do I know he loves me?'
'How do I know he's mine?'
She led Finn, Artie and the band down the hallway, taking the music with them. As Emma danced them through the school, she and Artie spotted Joe standing by his locker with Quinn. Artie gave him a hand gesture inviting him to join the group of performers; Joe didn't have to think twice about the situation.
"Well does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey? Heeey!"
he sang, and he pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and gave it to Quinn. On it was a small drawing of a daffodil next to the words 'You are beautiful'. Joe gave her one last smile before joining the group, which was quickly moving through the hallway, past the boys' locker room.
"He'll find a new way to show you
A little bit every day
That's how you know, that's how you know!"
"He's your love", sang Emma on her own. "See, Finn? You need to do something romantic for Rachel."
Finn was still a bit in awe that he was the reason they had started a performance in the middle of the school hallway. He looked around to see the students of his school watching the scene. More of the boys from Glee Club had overheard the music; Sam, Rory and Mike had poked their heads out of the entrance to the boys' locker room to see what the ruckus was. Finn soon figured that since the New Directions had finally been accepted at McKinley, it was OK for him not to worry about looking stupid.
"What else can I do for her?"
Sam, Rory and Mike were let into the group. Puck gave Sam his guitar and he carried on playing. Puck stepped forward and stood in front of his best friend. Clearly this was his time to sing.
"You've got to show her you need her
Don't treat her like a mind reader"
Artie and Sam joined in with some impromptu harmonies.
"Each day do something to lead her
To believe you love her!"
The group started to move the music through the school again. They didn't know where they were going - that was what made it even more fun! They eventually made it to the cafeteria, which was great because it meant they could dance between the tables and make the music even more exciting. Emma continued singing:
"Everybody wants to live happily ever after
Everybody wants to know their true love is true
How do you know he loves you?
How do you know he's yours?"
Rory, on a spur of the moment, took Emma's hands and pulled her to the centre of the cafeteria, and began trying his best at ballroom dancing, while he chimed in with the next lines of the song:
"Well does he take you out dancing just so he can hold you close?
Dedicate a song with words meant just for you? Oooh!"
Rory let Emma spin out of his arms. She spun on her own for a small moment, only to be caught by Mike. He stepped on top of a table and held out his hand for Emma; like a prince and princess right out of a fairytale book, she took his hand and stepped up on top of the table with Mike, and they carried on the waltz.
"He'll find his own way to tell you
With the little things he'll do
That's how you know, that's how you know!"
"He's your love
He's your love" sang Emma softly.
The music had calmed down slightly, but not for long, for the singers and band were still energetic. With Finn, and hundreds of other McKinley students, and even some of the faculty, following behind, they took their scene through the other entrance of the cafeteria, down another hallway, and they headed for the auditorium. They burst through the doors and went straight for the stage. The students and faculty came in after them; some of them offered themselves seats near where they were standing, most simply stayed standing in the doorway, not wanting to take their eyes off Emma and the boys in case they missed anything.
It didn't come as a surprise to Emma and the boys that Will and the rest of New Directions were sitting in the auditorium having a meeting; it all added up to their excitement. Finn joined the rest of the Glee Club, and with smiles the shapes of moon crescents, they all continued watching the performance.
"That's how you know he loves you
That's how you know it's true"
Sam sang with his guitar, dancing to himself as he played:
"Because he'll wear your favourite colour just so he can match your eyes
Plan a private picnic by the fires glow - Ohhh!"
Emma and the other boys joined in:
"His heart will be yours forever
Something every day will show
That's how you know, that's how you know
That's how you know, that's how you know
That's how you know, that's how you know!"
"He's your love" Emma sang once more.
Artie brought the song back down:
"That's how she knows that you love her
That's how you show her you love her"
"That's how you know"
"You've got to show her you need her
Don't treat her like a mind reader" Puck sang with Artie, building up the music once more.
"That's how you know" Emma continued.
The rest of the boys joined in with Artie and Puck for a massive finale:
"That's how she knows that you love her
That's how you show her you love her"
Emma spun to centre stage and held on her long ending note, "He's your love!" while Rory and Mike moved to either side of her, and lifted her up in the air for the boys' last line.
"It's not enough to take the one you love for granted!"
The entire student and faculty body were cheering and whistling for them. Those who sat down had stood back up giving them a standing ovation. The New Directions gave the biggest cheers out of everyone though. Some were so taken aback by the spontaneous performance that they were laughing from how amazing it turned out. Emma, the boys and the band took their bows to everyone standing in the doorway, and after a minute or so they quickly dispersed. The performers sat on the edge of the stage to join in with the meeting.
"Well!" Will exclaimed. "We were just talking about how to put on a great Disney performance and I gotta say - you just gave us a perfect example! Emma, thank you so much for helping the boys."
"Honestly, we didn't plan any of this, this was pure improvisation!" Emma said, still a little bit out of breath from dancing. "I just started singing to Finn to help him get in a right mind set," she added, giving Finn a look which seemed to say, "Remember what we talked about."
"Well you guys did a wonderful job in the end," Will said to all of them. "OK guys, we'll take a 10-minute break now so feel free to talk amongst yourselves."
Instead of talking with his old friends, however, Finn took his phone out of his pocket and began typing a text message. "Would it be OK if you met me back in here at lunch period, Thursday?"
Sent. Now all he had to do was wait about thirty seconds.
He gazed at Rachel, who was in deep conversation with Blaine, talking about their favourite Alan Menken songs.
"No, seriously, 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' didn't interest me at all," he heard her say. Then he saw her glance at her pocket as it vibrated. She took out her phone and read what was on the screen. She looked up at him, and they shared eye contact for a moment. Rachel was the one who broke it, as she had started to text him back. Finn's mind was racing right now. What if she said no? What if she didn't want to ever speak to him again?
His phone vibrated in his hand.
"Yeah, sure :)"
Finn just couldn't help but smile to himself.
"Emma, could you come here for a minute?" Will asked.
His fiancée jumped off the edge of the stage and walked towards him. "Yeah?"
It was then that Will proposed an idea he didn't think Emma would agree with so much. She listened to his words, her smile getting wider and wider the more he talked, gasping at every little bit of information. She squealed and hugged him tighter than she'd ever done, before shouting excitedly, "Yes, yes, yes, let's do it!"