I´m sorry

"Josh… he can´t pronounce S, he calls me Aliff." Alice said. "He´s so cute when he says that." She looked down to the floor. Tears were slowly rolling down her cheek. I kept quiet, as I didn´t know what to say. What could I say, what could anyone say that could make her feel better. Suddenly Alice turned her head and looked at me.

"When someone told you Maddie hadn´t survived the shot," she began. "What was the first thing you thought?" I shrugged.

"I´m sorry Alice, I don´t remember, I remember nothing from…. I couldn´t remember getting shot until recently, and now, I can´t remember, anything from that , to like two days after… after… well, I guess someone told me. I can remember what they told me… but nothing more." Alice nodded and looked to the floor again.

"I think he´s dead." She said. "It´s like I can feel it."

"Alice," Mariah said and laid her hand at Alice´s. "You cannot lose the hope. Anything, but not hope."

"But it´s been three days."

"Children have come home after being lost for years."

"I know how rare that is."

"But not impossible," Liam said. "Come on Alice, there´s no point with losing hope." In that moment, I almost thought Alice would stand up and beat the crap out of Liam at that moment. By the look on her face. But she just shook her head, and kept still. Right then Mr. Schue came walking into the choir room. He stopped in front of us.

"No news?" he looked at Alice. She shook her head.

"Nothing." Mr. Schue walked over to her, and patted her knee slightly,

"It will be all right." He said. "You´ll see." He backed, and got a bunch of papers from his bag, he started handing them out. And it turned out to be papers with the lyrics to the songs we were gonna sing.

"So," Mr. Schue began. "We´re starting with I´ll be home for Christmas."

"Screw this, I´m leaving." Marcie stopped singing, threw her papers to the floor, turned around and took her backpack- only half way through the song.

"Wait… wait what´s wrong." Mr. Schue stopped Marcie, when she was on her way out of the room.

"What´s wrong?" Marcie said, and then she began shouting. "I´LL TELL YOU WHAT´S WRONG. There´s no point with singing this song, because no one ever does come home for Christmas. They promise they will but they never do anyway. And we´re gonna sing this, because someone you know, probably just some one of your boring old students will come home in the first time in like one year." With that, she was done, and she turned around and walked out of the room.

Mr. Schue pov.

"Okay guys," I picked up Marcie´s papers from the floor, and laid them in my bag. "We´ll do this song anyway, but glee- club´s over for today." I walked out of the room, and to my office, I was on my way out to the car when I heard someone singing in the audiotourium. I walked out in the stairs to it. Marcie was all alone on the stage, singing the same song I´d once heard Rory Flanagan sing.

I smiled remembering, even though I felt really bad for Marcie, she didn't see me until she stopped singing, I had walked down the stairs while she was singing, I now stepped up on the stage, while clapping for a few seconds. Marcie saw me, grabbed her backpack, and started walking of the stage.

"No… don´t go… Marcie wait." Marcie didn´t stop. I half ran after her. She did not look at me, but I started talking to her anyway.

"You… you sang that song beautifully." I said. Marcie still didn´t look at me. I continued.

"Maybe… maybe you would like to sing it as a solo on Friday?" I jumped to the side, while turning, so I got in front of her, and held out my hands so I stopped her, and then finally she stopped.

"No thanks." She tried to press me away so she could keep on walking, but I stopped her.

"Why not?"

"I´m not much for having solos."

"You had one at sectionals,"

"Two lines, and on a song where many have each solo, nobody would have noticed if I messed it all up. And I did it for Lex."

"Then do this for me…. And for your dad." Marcie bit her lip, and sighed.

"…Okay. But if I mess it up, I´ll blame you okay?"

"That´s all right." I chuckled.

"I´m sorry for yelling at you."

"It´s all right, these times a year must be the hardest of the year."

"Yeah, this and my birthday, though there´s only two days in between, so I have it done pretty fast."

"Wait… is your birthday´s on Friday?" Marcie nodded.

"Yup."

"Okay, and Marcie…" she had started walking away from me, but turned around when I said her name.

"Yes?"

"It will be all right."

"I guess." She turned around again, and walked out of the school, I walked after her, to get to the car. I took a deep breath f relief, it had been hard getting through that conversation without telling about my special surprise.

Friday, before the concert, Lex pov

"So… where is your secret guest?" I asked Mr. Schue.

"I don´t know," Mr. Schue seemed stressed out, "but I´m sure he´ll be here any minute, you go up and start preforming the first song, I´ll send him up on the stage when he arrives. I and the others nodded, and walked out, to the middle of the floor of the gym hall, all the other students were here today, and Vie sat on a bench, next to my English- teacher Mr. trey. I smiled towards her, and then we started preforming our first song, and the second, and the third, and Marcie´s solo, then it was time for the last song- I´ll be home for Christmas, and the guest still hadn´t arrived yet. But we started anyway

By the end of the song, towards the very last lines a man I didn´t recognize, walked through the doors, at the same time showed us others to be quiet, while the man sang the last lines, though he sang them a bit wrong. Because he sang "and this time it's for real." Suddenly Marcie ran across the floor, obviously crying, and she ran to the man I didn´t know who he was and hugged him, he lifted her up, so she hung with around his neck. He held her like that for a while, and then let her down at the floor, and walked over to us in New directions, he took a microphone Mr. Schue reached him, he put it to his mouth, and started talking.

"Well hi," he began. "I´m Sgt. Michael Taylor… you can call me Mike, and Marcie´s my daughter." I had never seen a soldier cry before. But now Mike seemed to be very close to tears, and he cleared his throat.

"We haven´t met since in October last year. Marcie… did not know I was coming today, she thought I wasn´t coming home until in the middle of January. Today´s Marcie´s birthday… and I think we´re all gonna sing to her" It was clear that Marcie protested, but it didn´t help and everyone in the hall started singing.

"Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Marcie
Happy birthday to you"

Marcie had blushed, and she hid her face in Mike´s jacket.
All the people in the hall clapped their hands for Mike, then the whole glee club, including Vie and Mike walked back to the choir room.

"Dad?" Marcie began when we were on our way.

"Yes."

"How long will you stay?"

"Until the middle of February…. But I´ll only stay for four months, and then I´ll resign. But don´t think about that now."

"Okay… dad?"

"Yes."

"I love you."

"Love you too"

So, I think the next chapter is gonna be the Christmas chapter. It may take a while, because I´ll have to figure out about twenty five Christmas presents.

Preview

"Just one big happy family."

And I´m sorry, I had actually planned to do loads of writing this weekend, but I got a temperature about Friday afternoon, and on Saturday I was so tired I couldn´t sit up for more then like ten minutes at the time. I´m fine now then, going back to school tomorrow.