Nothing to say here at the start, so let's jump right in... :)
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters, dialogue, or songs from the show. It's all just for fun!)
KURT
As the week of Rachel's Funny Girl audition arrived, Kurt was hugely relived to find his friend in better spirits than she had been since they arrived in New York. She was channeling all of her energy into preparing for her audition. She had put out all of her Barbara Streisand memorabilia in her bedroom so she would see it every morning when she woke up and every evening before she went to bed. She had started drinking tea at precise hours throughout the day to keep her vocal cords warm and ready for anything. She had sworn off men so she could focus.
And, to Kurt's surprise, Rachel also seemed to want, more than ever, to mend and strengthen her friendships. She initiated a strict rule that she, Kurt, and Santana would have dinner together at their kitchen table every Sunday night. She started hanging out with Kurt at NYADA, fulfilling a dream that had lived in Kurt's head since he moved to New York. He and Rachel were closer now than they had been in months, and Kurt loved it. Rachel was suddenly herself again, with a dash more maturity than when they had been in high school.
"So you're sure you can come with me to the audition this weekend?" Rachel asked on Monday morning as she, Kurt, and Santana ate breakfast.
"Are you kidding?" Kurt scolded. "This is your first Broadway audition. I wouldn't miss it."
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Rachel asked Santana.
"Oh, I'm sure," Santana rolled her eyes. "I promise, I will display copious amounts of interest when I see you after the fact."
"Your loss," Rachel teased as she stood up and walked to the sink to wash her dishes.
Kurt and Rachel rode the train to Manhattan together, and the NYADA campus was buzzing about Funny Girl all day. Rachel's audition was still days away, but the audition process was already underway and, with so many NYADA students trying out, it was the biggest news of the week.
Rachel fluctuated between utter confidence ("I was born to play this role, Kurt.") and complete despair ("Think about how many people are auditioning, Kurt! Out of all of those people... me?), and Kurt made it his mission for the week to keep her spirits up.
When he wasn't texting Blaine.
Since the gun scare at McKinley the week before and Kurt's realization that he wanted Blaine back in his life, they had been catching up almost nonstop. Kurt had reiterated his strict boundary on their relationship – just friends – and had then surrendered to his desire to talk to Blaine as much as he wanted.
And he wanted to talk to Blaine all the time.
Kurt was finally starting to feel like he really wanted them to be friends again. Not because he felt empty without Blaine or because he thought he should, but because he wanted to. Because it felt right. Blaine was definitely on board – he had been all along, Kurt knew – and it felt like a release for Kurt to finally let go and let Blaine back into his life because he wanted Blaine there. It was exciting.
He still wasn't sure about their romantic relationship, but he had decided to wait until he saw Blaine again – in a less than two weeks, when he was going to return to Ohio for a big appointment with his father's doctor – to consider anything beyond their friendship. Until then, he would put the idea of boyfriend out of his mind and just enjoy rediscovering his best friend.
BLAINE
As he passed through McKinley's new metal detectors on Monday morning, Blaine realized that things were never going to be quite the same as they had been before the shooting. Everyone was on edge. Blaine knew the tension would relax as time passed, but some things had changed for good. Everyone felt just a little more guarded.
Sam was already at his locker when Blaine arrived, so Blaine wandered over to say hello.
"Hey, Sam," he greeted his friend, pausing by Sam's locker.
Sam glanced back over his shoulder as if he wasn't sure if Blaine was speaking to him or someone else, and Blaine realized Sam was wearing glasses. He didn't need glasses. He also had an orange sweater tied around his shoulders. It wasn't Sam's normal look.
"Sorry," Sam said in an Australian accent, "Sam's not here."
Blaine tilted his head slightly, unsure if Sam was being serious.
"I'm Evan," Sam said, sticking his arm out so Blaine could shake his hand. "Evan Evans."
"Hi...?" Blaine shook Sam's hand, playing along. "I'm Blaine."
"Nice to meet you, Blaine," Sam said, still hanging onto the Australian accent. "Let me just go find Sam for you..."
He turned and walked away, leaving his locker open and Blaine standing beside it, and disappeared around a corner for a few seconds before reemerging without the glasses or the orange sweater over his shoulders.
"Hey, man!" Sam said in his normal voice, hurrying back to where Blaine was standing. "How's it going?"
"Are you okay?" Blaine wondered.
"I'm great!" Sam smiled brightly. "Did you meet Evan yet? It's crazy; I have an identical twin I never even knew about!"
"You...?" Blaine struggled to keep up. "Okay."
"He just moved here from Australia," Sam elaborated before pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Oh, and he's calling... I've gotta go, see you in class!"
Sam slammed his locker closed and hurried away, and Blaine realized that the incident at the end of the previous week must have affected Sam more than he had let on at the time.
As Blaine turned and walked away from Sam's locker, lost in thought about Sam's strange behavior, he walked right into Artie and jumped in surprise. Artie seemed startled, as well, but neither of them commented on the awkward moment.
The strangeness of the day continued during Blaine's first class, when Principal Figgins included in his daily announcements a few words about the new Cheerios coach.
Roz Washington.
"Didn't she go to North Korea or something?" someone wondered as Blaine asked himself why the administrators had chosen to replace one coach with a history of questionable behavior with another.
Glee rehearsal was just as frustrating.
"Big news, guys!" Mr. Schu announced at the start of the week's first glee club rehearsal. "I just got a direct tweet from the Greater Midwest Regional High School Show Choir board of directors. The theme for this year's Regionals is..." He walked to the whiteboard and wrote the word as he said it. "Dreams!"
"As you know," Mr. Schu reminded the students as he turned and walked back toward them, "some of the past judges we've had haven't been that bright. Or that sober. So, our best bet is to take the dream theme literally. We'll start out with Dreamweaver, and then we're segue into Sweet Dreams, and we'll bring it home with You Make My Dreams Come True!"
Some of the students applauded, but Blaine and a few others didn't.
"Marley, you're frowning," Mr. Schu singled Marley out from the sea of dissenting faces.
"No!" Marley said immediately. Blaine knew she didn't want to receive the brunt of one of Mr. Schu's lectures. "I just don't know any of those songs."
"Well, you'll know them soon enough," Mr. Schu replied pleasantly, "because we're learning them today."
As Mr. Schu started handing out sheet music for the announced set list, Marley cleared her throat and spoke again. "Maybe could we try some original songs? Like you did two years ago?"
"Yeah," Sam said in Evan's Australian accent, "my brother Sam told me you guys totally crushed Regionals two years ago with those sweet tunes."
"Well, S– uh, Evan," Mr. Schu responded, "that was a different time. And a different team."
Blaine glanced around the room. Of the students currently in New Directions, only Artie, Tina, Sam, and Brittany had been part of the group when they had written and performed original songs for Regionals two years earlier. Blaine – and Kurt – had still been at Dalton at the time.
"Mr. Schu, could we at least talk about the set list?" Marley argued. "I mean, when Finn was here, we got to help –"
"Do I have to remind you guys how lucky we are to even be at Regionals?" Mr. Schu cut her off. "We are there on a technicality, which means there is absolutely no room for even the smallest of mistakes."
He looked at Marley. "Trust me," he commanded. He glanced at the rest of the group. "Anybody else have something they want to say?"
Silence.
"Great," Mr. Schu said. "Brad, warm them up!"
Between warming up and the start of actual rehearsal, Blaine managed to send a group text to all the students in New Directions: Secret meeting in the auditorium after rehearsal. Mandatory.
After they suffered through a particularly boring rehearsal, the group dissipated briefly to give the impression that they were all leaving to go home. Blaine stopped by his locker before walking to the auditorium to meet everyone for his secret meeting. He hammered his gavel on the stage to get everyone's attention as the final few students settled into their seats.
"As honorary Rachel, I would like to convene this secret meeting of the glee club," he announced.
"Ah, Sam's sorry he couldn't make it," Sam said with his Australian accent, his glasses on and the orange sweater around his neck. "He said to tell everyone– oh, just got a text... he's here."
Sam jumped out of his chair and ran out of sight.
"How long are we going to let him do this?" Blaine rolled his eyes as they heard Sam pretending to greet Evan.
"Just let it go," Artie suggested. "It's like waking a sleepwalker; it might kill him."
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late!" Sam said as he reappeared. "What did I miss?"
"What you missed was Mr. Schu's set list!" Blaine stressed. "It's gonna lose us Regionals!"
"Oh yeah, Evan was saying something about that," Sam replied.
"Dreamweaver," Blaine continued, ignoring Sam. "Great song, but it's from 1975. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This): amazing. Released in 1982. You Make My Dreams Come True: originally performed in 1981 and then performed by the glee club in a mash-up that we did last year, which Mr. Schu didn't even remember! He's completely lost touch. We're screwed."
"Can I get a witness?" Artie agreed, and Sam threw his hand up. "We need to do current songs. And, if we do, I know we can win."
"Uh, guys?" Marley stood up with a folder full of papers in her hands. "Can I say something? I wrote some songs. What if we performed those?"
Kitty protested, and she and Marley argued briefly until Blaine intervened.
"Alright, alright," he asked for the group's attention. "Alright, let's get serious. We need to start brainstorming. We'll pick a new set list and then we'll break the news to Mr. Schu."
Marley sat down.
They spent about twenty minutes coming up with a list of current songs (they settled on anything released within the previous ten years as their definition of "current" songs) that fit the "dreams" theme. They ended up with seven songs, which Blaine thought was a good number. It would give Mr. Schu some say in the set list; he could choose which three of the seven he thought would work best.
"Do you think he's going to be open to our list?" Tina wondered as she and Blaine walked to the parking lot together after the meeting.
"I don't know," Blaine admitted. "But we have to try."
BLAINE
The next morning, Blaine got to skip his first class to take Burt to an appointment. It was a short one – just a quick chat with the doctor to assess how Burt was feeling and some blood work that needed to be done – but Burt preferred to have a second pair of eyes and ears there with him at each of his appointments. With Carole at work and Finn engrossed in his first week of college, Burt had called Blaine the night before and asked if, assuming Burt could call McKinley and get him an excused absence, Blaine would take him.
Blaine had been all too eager to help. He loved spending time with Burt.
"How're you holding up?" Burt asked as they sat in the mostly-empty waiting room. "You know, after what happened last week."
"I'm okay," Blaine reassured him. "It was scary, but nobody got hurt, and that's the most important thing."
"Still can't get my head around Sue Sylvester bringing a gun at school with all you kids around," Burt admitted.
"Me neither," Blaine agreed. He and Sam hadn't had a chance yet to look into the situation, but he knew they needed to talk to Becky. She knew more than she was saying.
After a brief silence, Blaine changed the subject. "How're you feeling?"
"Surprisingly full of energy," Burt explained. "I mean, I'm always ready to collapse into bed after work, but that could just be my old age." He grinned, and Blaine smiled in return.
"I hear you and Kurt are talking again," Burt added.
"We are," Blaine tried to stop his smile from getting any wider and failed.
Burt chuckled. "That's good," he approved. "Kurt needs some good stuff in his life right now. He worries about me too much."
Blaine didn't mention that Kurt asked about Burt and his health almost every time they spoke.
"I think that gun scare last week shook Kurt up more than he'll admit," Burt continued. "He sure loves New York, but it's hard enough living away from home for the first time without your dad having cancer and your friends dealing with the possibility of violence at school."
Blaine nodded.
"And, hey, speaking of New York," Burt relaxed his tone of voice, "any news on your NYADA application?"
"I'm waiting to hear back from them," Blaine explained. "Auditions don't start for a few weeks, though."
"You gonna audition nearby or fly to New York?" Burt wondered.
"I'm not sure," Blaine said truthfully.
The real truth was that he desperately wanted to fly to New York to audition at NYADA, but Blaine wasn't sure yet if that would be the best thing for him to do.
"I'm no expert," Burt said kindly, "but I've gotta say I'll be shocked if they don't, at least, make you a finalist or whatever it's called. Your grades are good, right?"
"Yes," Blaine replied.
"And you've got a crazy list of extracurriculars," Burt recalled.
"Fingers crossed," Blaine nodded as a nurse stepped through the door that separated the waiting room from the examination rooms and made eye contact with Blaine, then Burt.
"Mr. Hummel?" she asked kindly. "We're ready for you."
BLAINE
After school, the students of New Directions were all buzzing with anticipation about their alternate set list.
"He's not going to like this," Tina whispered as the group started to assemble in the choir room.
"Who cares?" Sam said, sounding less sure than his words suggested.
They were all silent as Mr. Schu walked into the room.
"Alright, guys, let's get right into it," Mr. Schu said to begin the day's rehearsal. "And remember, the trick is the change in vocal quality from the smooth, sultry sounds of Gary Wright to the commanding tone of Annie Lennox and then back to the pop-y fun of Daryl Hall."
Blaine could feel everyone staring at him.
"Uh, Mr. Schu?" he interrupted. "Um, we kind of got together as a group after you gave us these songs yesterday and we came up with some... alternatives."
Mr. Schu was predictably unhappy. "Why would you do that?" he asked.
"Mmm, you might need some woman parts to help you sell that," Unique mumbled, pulling an insert out of her bra to hand to Blaine. He declined with a little wave of his hand.
"I'll go get Evan!" Sam said anxiously, jumping to his feet and starting the walk to the door.
"Sam, sit down!" Mr. Schu snapped. Sam obeyed as Mr. Schu continued, addressing the whole group. "Honestly, I don't even know what's going on in this room anymore. What happened to you guys? Openly defying me?"
Blaine scoffed, ready to argue, but Mr. Schu kept going.
"Unique, you need to tone it down with the whole boob thing," he criticized. "Sam, we all know you don't have a twin brother and, frankly, it's distracting. And Blaine, I am disappointed in you for allowing this to go on."
"I'm sorry," Blaine apologized even though he wasn't sorry, "but we're just trying to –"
"No," Mr. Schu cut him off, "what you're trying to do is not rehearsing the song list that I gave you. And that is unacceptable. So, here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to go to the teacher's lounge and get the coffee that I skipped to get here early. And, when I get back in five minutes, you will be ready to rehearse my songs!"
He left the room and Blaine glanced around at the others in disbelief.
"Well, that was a success," Kitty said dryly.
"Shut up," Jake snapped.
"Let's not..." Blaine stood up and turned to face the group. "Let's not fight, please."
"He's never going to listen," Tina whined.
"We should just refuse to sing at all," Unique rolled her eyes.
"We cannot lose Regionals because of Mr. Schu's pride," Artie disagreed firmly.
Blaine nodded. "For today, let's go along with it," he suggested. "If he doesn't come around in a few days, I'll speak to him privately."
"He just called you out in front of everyone for even suggesting a change," Jake said doubtfully. "He doesn't respect you, or any of us."
KURT
That evening, Kurt got home and found Rachel pouring through a huge stack of sheet music on the kitchen table and Santana stretched out on the couch watching television and doing something on her phone.
"What's this?" Kurt asked, walking over to Rachel.
"I need a song for my audition," Rachel sighed and motioned at the pile of papers, "but nothing speaks to me."
Kurt leaned over and looked at the first few choices.
"I talked to Shelby today, and she said no Barbara," Rachel answered his first question before he could ask it.
"Shelby?" Kurt inquired.
"Yeah," Rachel relaxed a little. "She stopped by to check on me and to see if I wanted help with my audition piece."
"And her suggestion was not to sing something from Funny Girl?" Kurt asked, settling into a chair at the table so he could look through some of the sheet music.
"I can't decide if she's right or not," Rachel whined, dropping into the seat next to him.
"You have to do something that's you," Kurt suggested as he continued to flip through the stack of papers. "And yes, Barbara Streisand is right up your alley, but that's a given at a Funny Girl audition, right? Every girl there is going to be able to sing a Barbara song. You've got to show them that you're more than that."
They spent the next hour sorting through every piece of sheet music on the table – music which, Kurt learned, Rachel had "borrowed" from NYADA's sheet music storage closet – until they had three solid contenders.
Rachel was grateful for the help, but Kurt could tell that she wasn't sure that any of the three songs was the perfect song for her audition.
"Why don't you sleep on it," Kurt suggested as he forced Rachel to put the sheet music away. "We'll figure it out. We still have time."
BLAINE
The next day at lunchtime, Blaine and Unique walked together to the auditorium instead of the cafeteria. Marley had texted them earlier in the day, asking them to meet her there.
"I cannot believe Miss Berry has her Funny Girl audition this weekend," Unique commented as they walked. "What a dream!"
"I know," Blaine smiled. "A year ago, she was right here, just like us, and now..."
"That's your dream too, huh?" Unique asked glancing at him as they walked. "Singing your cute little heart out on a big New York stage?"
"Yeah," Blaine breathed, trying to imagine it happening for him. It felt so far away. "What about you?"
"I'm not sure yet," Unique admitted. "I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a star, but there are so many ways to showcase my talent, I just don't know."
They both laughed.
"And what about personal dreams?" Unique asked. "Let me guess..." she winked at him.
"I want to marry Kurt and have a family," Blaine admitted, suddenly a little bashful.
"Honey, have faith," Unique encouraged him. "I've seen the way you and that boy look at each other. You give him a big, heartfelt speech the next time you see him – maybe cry a little; that will help – and I wouldn't even be surprised if he falls right into your arms."
Blaine shook his head, but her words seared an image into his mind that he knew he would never be able to get rid of.
What if he proposed when Kurt came back to Ohio?
It was a crazy idea. He felt crazy for even considering it. But, a little part of him whispered, it might be the perfect kind of crazy.
"As for me, it would be nice to find a little more peace with my body," Unique moved the conversation forward, and Blaine forced himself to shove the idea to the back of his mind before it consumed him. "Wigs and clothes and makeup are great for the outside world, but it would be nice to look in the mirror at night and see a woman."
"Do you take hormones?" Blaine wondered, hoping it was okay to ask since Unique had brought it up.
"Not officially," Unique admitted, "but... unofficially, yeah."
Blaine wasn't entirely sure what that meant, so he didn't comment.
"I'm also naturally enhancing my breasts," Unique added as they walked into the auditorium. "Every night I rub them with cocoa butter and vitamin e and wild yams."
"Hi guys," Sam walked onto the stage from the opposite side, dressed as and acting like Evan. "Has anyone seen Sam?"
"Yeah," Blaine replied, "I think he's... behind that curtain." He motioned at a curtain on the side of the stage, and Sam ran behind it.
Blaine waited a few seconds before pointing at the curtain. As if on cue, Sam reappeared as himself.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, rushing back over to them as Marley arrived with Brad to play the piano for them. "What's up, Marley? Brad?"
"Um, I wrote a song," Marley explained the reason for their meeting. "I don't know if it's any good, I just– I want to hear it out loud."
She pulled the sheet music out of her folder and gave everyone a copy. "And no, it's not about my mom or bad Taylor Swift boyfriend drama," she added. "It's about how much friends like you mean to me."
Blaine read the song's title. You Have More Friends Than You Know.
"Lord, I am crying already," Unique teased.
"I just saw how upset you guys got after Mr. Schu yelled at us," Marley explained, "and you three seemed to take the worst part of it. So, I wrote this song to make you feel better, as corny as that sounds. Will you sing it with me?"
"No," Sam said.
Blaine smacked his arm even though he knew Sam wasn't serious.
"Just kidding," Sam grinned, "of course we would. Hit it, dude."
They sang the song together, and it didn't take long for Blaine to realize that an original song for Regionals was a good idea. They sounded great together, and Marley's song was heartfelt and catchy. Plus, an original song would make them stand out.
As the song ended, Marley buried her face in her hands, delighted, and Blaine glanced at Sam and Unique.
"Marley," Blaine gushed, "that was incredible!"
"Child, it's the soundtrack to my life," Unique agreed.
"Do you have any more songs like this?" Sam asked hopefully.
"Yeah, a couple," Marley admitted. "Maybe we can meet up again and sing them?"
"No, forget that," Blaine disagreed immediately. "No, what we need to do is tell everyone! We need to tell Mr. Schu about this."
"Nah," Marley argued sadly. "He made it pretty clear he's not interested."
"Well, it's really great," Sam commented, "so..."
"I'm so proud of you," Unique said to Marley, walking around the piano to wrap Marley in an encouraging hug. "I am so proud of you."
"Thank you," Marley beamed.
"I know Mr. Schu's attitude has been less than idea lately," Blaine pressed, "but he does want us to do well. And I'm telling you, Marley, this is the way to stand out at Regionals. We have to tell him."
"He's right," Sam pressed.
"We'll back you up," Unique said encouragingly.
"I don't know," Marley resisted.
"You could write a song about how annoying it is when your teacher is such a grouch," Sam teased.
They all stared at Marley until she shrugged and shook her head.
"I'd love to tell everyone and have us sing one of my songs at Regionals," she explained, "but there's no way Mr. Schu is going to be on board and I don't want to get everyone in trouble."
"Please think about it," Blaine requested as they started the walk to the cafeteria so they could eat during what remained of their lunch break. "I really think you've got something special to offer with these songs."
KURT
When Kurt arrived home that afternoon, Rachel was pacing around the kitchen and living room with a huge smile on her face.
"Good day?" Kurt asked, giving her permission to gush out all the details of whatever was on her mind as he hung up his jacket.
"I talked to Finn!" she stopped walking and turned toward Kurt, beaming.
"Really?" Kurt arched an eyebrow.
"I wanted an outside opinion on what to sing for my audition," Rachel explained as she started to pace again. "And he just... he knew exactly what to say."
"So," Kurt grinned, not-so-secretly pleased that his best friend and step-brother were talking again, as he grabbed Rachel and pulled her over to the couch to sit down, "what song did he suggest?"
"He didn't," Rachel said happily.
"Okay," Kurt rolled his eyes affectionately.
"He said to do something that reminds me – and shows the producers – why I love singing so much," Rachel explained, a little breathless. "Something that takes me back..."
"And?" Kurt knew she had chosen a song.
"Don't Stop Believin'," Rachel said, equal parts energized and nervous as she tried to gauge Kurt's reaction.
Kurt was surprised, but pleasantly so. "I like it," he agreed.
"It's just, you know, it makes me think of where it all started for us," Rachel said, grabbing Kurt's hands in her own. "It feels right."
"Go for it," Kurt said, pulling her forward into a hug. "You're going to nail it."
BLAINE
Near the end of lunch the next day, Becky came into the cafeteria and found Blaine.
"Coach Roz wants to see us," she said, shaking Blaine's shoulder.
"Uh," Blaine glanced at his friends before climbing out of his seat to follow her, "okay."
They walked in silence from the cafeteria to the new cheerleading coach's office.
"You wanted to see us, coach?" Blaine asked as he and Becky walked through the door to Sue's old office and found Roz Washington setting it up as her own.
"Yes," Roz said, "Come on in and have a seat."
Blaine and Becky sat in chairs in front of the coach's desk, and Blaine wondered if maybe he should just quit the squad. His goal had been to bring Sue down, but now she was gone.
"It is my understanding that I have inherited you as co-captains of the Cheerios," Roz said to Blaine and Becky. "And, by looking at the two of you right now, that makes me extremely suspicious."
"Suspicious?" Blaine scoffed. "Why?"
"Oh, I understand why Coach Sylvester's daughter, Robin, is here," Roz replied. "Sue Sylvester is as old as the hills, so, when she gave birth to her fully-grown sixteen-year-old baby with Down's Syndrome, it was a miracle. And she wanted to bring her to school every day and show her off."
She thought Becky was Sue's daughter. Blaine couldn't think of anything to say.
"You're the one who makes me suspicious, Fruity Fonzie," Roz said to Blaine. "You ain't never done a cheerleading routine in your life, but somehow you get Sue Sylvester to make you co-captain of the Cherrios. And then, three weeks later, out of nowhere, Sue Sylvester gets fired. That makes me real suspicious."
It had been Blaine's plan to somehow bring Sue's reign of terror to an end, but he hadn't had time to do much more than a little gossiping with the other Cheerios before Sue had been fired.
"That makes me think that you used your handsome, fruity voodoo powers and put a hex on her and caused her to bring a gun to school for no reason and get real clumsy so she drops it twice and it goes off both times," Roz continued. "That sounds like some dark-sided, fruity voodoo stuff to me."
Blaine couldn't decide if she was actually accusing him of cursing Sue or if she was trying to make the point that she didn't trust him.
"But that didn't really happen!" Becky protested loudly. "Blaine had nothing to do with it!"
"How do you know?" Roz criticized. "Were you there?"
"No," Becky said, her voice suddenly soft and innocent. Blaine turned to look at her as a possibility crept into his mind. Was Becky a witness to what happened with Sue's gun? She was almost always by Sue's side.
"Exactly," Roz agreed. "So, here's the deal. If you want to stay on board as co-captain of the Cheerios, you're going to have to take a blood oath and loyalty pledge."
"What?" Becky retorted. "Blood oath?"
"Is that even safe?" Blaine wondered.
"Probably not," Roz admitted, "so we'll just take the oath. Repeat after me..."
Blaine and Becky humored her, repeating Roz's words as they came. "I, Fruity Fonzie and adult baby Robin, do solemnly swear to never put a hex on coach Roz Washington causing her to bring a gun to school so she gets real clumsy and drops it and it goes off twice in a row. So help me God."
As soon as the oath was over, Roz seemed satisfied.
"You are free to go," she dismissed them. Blaine shook his head in disbelief and jumped out of his chair to chase after Becky, who had bolted from the room.
"Hey, Becky, wait up!" he called as he followed her down the hallway.
"Hurry up!" Becky urged as she continued walking. "I'm going to be late for calculus."
"Becky," Blaine protested, reaching out to touch her shoulder so she would stop walking and turn to face him, "um, you were acting particularly strange in there just now. Do you know something I don't about what happened with Coach Sue?"
"Mind your own gay business, gay Blaine!" Becky snapped before raising her voice and screaming at him. "I don't know anything!"
She turned and walked away with a loud groan of annoyance, knocking a stack of papers out of a passing student's hands and flipping over a xylophone that was being pushed down the hallway.
There was no doubt in Blaine's mind that she knew something.
He rushed back to the cafeteria, grabbed Sam and Sam's lunch, and moved them to an empty classroom so they could speak privately.
"Becky knows," Blaine said as soon as the door closed behind them.
Sam took a large bite of his sandwich and asked, "Knows...?"
"She knows something about what happened with Sue," Blaine clarified.
"Huh," Sam commented, swallowing his food. "How do you know?"
"She's acting strange," Blaine explained. "And she freaked out when I asked her about it."
"What're we gonna do?" Sam asked.
"We need to let her think we're not onto her," Blaine said, "so we should wait to confront her until next week. In the meantime, we need to gather evidence. And then we'll spring it all on her and see if we can get her to confess what she knows."
BLAINE
On Friday afternoon, Blaine was dreading glee practice as he arrived at the choir room after his final class. After rehearsal, he was going to have to talk to Mr. Schu about New Directions' dissatisfaction with the set list for Regionals and with Mr. Schu's attitude as a whole, and Blaine was anticipating a heated argument.
He had just walked up to where the other guys of New Directions were standing – chatting before the start of rehearsal – when Mr. Schu walked into the room.
"Lookin' good, Unique!" Mr. Schu said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. The mood in the room quickly soured, despite his attempt at a compliment.
"You, too, Tina," Mr. Schu added, noticing her steampunk outfit. "Very Jules Verne."
Nobody knew what to say. Blaine didn't even want to look at him.
"Hey, Blaine," Mr. Schu greeted, forcing Blaine to turn and briefly meet his gaze. "Sam."
"I'm Evan," Sam said in his Australian accent as he turned away and walked to his seat. "Sam moved to Alaska."
"Oh," Mr. Schu said, "you know what? Well, tell him he's welcome back any time."
Everyone took their seats, not sure what to make of their teacher's drastic change of attitude, and Mr. Schu walked to the center of the room.
"So, just about twenty years ago, I was sitting right where you are now," he said. "I was co-captain of the soccer team with a forehead full of acne and a dream of being the next Vanilla Ice. And standing right here was Mrs. Adler." He motioned at the plaque on the wall that memorialized the former glee club instructor. "She constantly mumbled to herself and she stuffed used Kleenex up her sleeves. We all were convinced that she was crazy. But you know what? That's why we loved her. Because we were crazy, too."
Blaine waited, hoping that the sentimental speech was going to end with an apology.
"This is the room that always felt like home," Mr. Schu said, motioning at the ground beneath his feet, "maybe because we knew Lillian Adler loved music almost as much as she loved us. And that's how I feel about you. Every one of you. And I'm sorry if I made any of you feel like you don't have a voice in this room."
He looked directly at Blaine. "You do."
Blaine wanted to believe him, but he wasn't sure.
"And I know someone else who does, too," Mr. Schu added, turning toward the door.
The sight of Finn walking through the door considerably lifted the mood of the room.
"Finn and I are going to be working together as a team," Mr. Schu explained as Finn walked to stand beside him. "Equal partners."
"And we are not going to eat, sleep, or breathe until you've blasted through Regionals and earned your rightful spot at Nationals!" Finn added enthusiastically.
Blaine felt the energy in the room returning to the kind of positive atmosphere that they needed. Finn met his gaze briefly, and Blaine smiled at him. It was great to have him back.
"Yes!" Mr. Schu agreed happily as the students applauded. "Alright, down to business! Marley, you're up!"
"Okay," Marley agreed as she stood up. "I haven't quite memorized Dreamweaver yet, but I think I have Sweet Dreams..."
"Didn't I tell you?" Mr. Schu interrupted happily. "Those are out. I want you to teach us one of your original songs. If that's okay," he added as Marley's face lit up.
"I'd love that!" Marley laughed.
"So shall it be written, so shall it be done!" Sam announced in Evan's voice.
The group cheered, and Blaine and Sam high fived. Sam turned away to high five Artie and then turned back and went in for another high five from Blaine, which almost resulted in Sam slamming his palm into Blaine's face. Blaine laughed and felt much better about their chances at Regionals.
"We'll spend a little time working out the vocals, and then how about some choreography?" Mr. Schu decided. "Sound like a plan?"
There was a chorus of approval, and then all attention shifted to Finn as the group stood up and moved toward the piano to warm up.
Blaine reached him first.
"Welcome back," he smiled at Finn, extending his fist.
"It's good to be back," Finn returned the smile and bumped their fists together.
"I think we need a group hug!" Sam shouted.
"Ahhhh!" Finn laughed as the group converged on him, crushing him in a hug.
"Come in here, Mr. Schu!" Sam added, grabbing their teacher and yanking him into the hug.
It was the best rehearsal they'd had in weeks. Marley's song was fun, as was having Finn around again, and even Mr. Schu seemed relaxed as he rushed onto the stage near the end of their final run-through of the day to cartwheel across the stage.
By the end of the afternoon, when Mr. Schu asked him to stay after rehearsal to help fill out some paperwork that was required for Regionals, Blaine knew they could win Regionals. Emotionally and physically, they were ready. They just needed to choose and spend the next few weeks rehearsing three songs that would blow the judges away.
"How's college?" Blaine asked as he and Finn finished cleaning up the choir room and prepared to leave. He had barely spoken to Finn since Finn had left to pursue his teaching degree at the University of Lima.
"It's amazing," Finn said enthusiastically. "There's tons going on all the time and I'm actually interested in most of the stuff I'm learning, which makes it easier to actually learn things. How's high school?" he teased.
"Fabulous," Blaine said dramatically. They both laughed.
"I'm glad you and Kurt are talking again," Finn said as they started the walk down the hallway toward the parking lot.
"Me too," Blaine replied. "Kurt told me you talked to Rachel...?"
Finn grinned. "It's a start," he determined.
Blaine nodded his agreement as he pushed open the door to the parking lot. Finn followed him out, but waved an arm toward the opposite direction of where Blaine's car was parked.
"I have to park in visitor parking," Finn explained.
"See you soon?" Blaine asked, wondering how many times per week Finn would be around. He still had his other classes to attend.
"Definitely," Finn agreed. "Have a great evening, man."
KURT
When the day of Rachel's Funny Girl audition arrived, neither Kurt nor Rachel said much on the train to Manhattan. Rachel was sipping a cup of herbal tea, trying to keep her throat from drying out, and Kurt was texting Blaine, who seemed almost as excited as Rachel about the audition.
Are you still on the train? Blaine texted after a fifteen minute lull in their conversation.
Yes, but we're almost there, Kurt replied.
How's Rachel? Blaine asked.
"I'm good," Rachel said, reading the conversation over Kurt's shoulder from her seat beside him.
She's good, Kurt responded to Blaine. I'll text you when we get to the theater.
Okay, Blaine agreed. Good luck, Rachel!
A moment later, Rachel's phone buzzed with the same words from Blaine. The two of them chatted back and forth for the final ten minutes of the train ride, and then Kurt and Rachel were out on the streets of Manhattan, hurrying to the theater where Funny Girl auditions were being held.
As they entered the lobby, Kurt noticed a small table set up near the entryway with a sign that said check in taped to the front. As Rachel walked over and told the young woman her name, Kurt looked around. The lobby was small, but well decorated. And there was nobody else there. Kurt turned his gaze to the check in table as the girl running things told Rachel that she was the last audition before the producers were going to break for lunch
"Can I go in and watch the audition?" Kurt asked the young woman as Rachel stepped away from the table.
"Sorry, they're not allowing family and friends," the girl said apologetically. "You'll have to wait out here."
Kurt nodded and turned to Rachel.
"You've got this," he said firmly.
Rachel hugged him tightly, took a deep breath, and opened the door to the theater. As the door closed behind her, Kurt dug into his pocket for his phone.
She just went in, oh my god, he texted Blaine.
Blaine sent back an emoticon with its mouth open in an O shape and its hands clasped to the sides of its face, and Kurt stifled a laugh as he sank onto a bench against the wall.
Sitting down didn't agree with the nervous energy pulsing through him, so Kurt stood up after a few seconds and started looking at some of the artwork on the walls. He glanced at the young woman at the check-in table near the door to the street, but she was engrossed in her phone and barely seemed to notice him. Kurt paced around the small lobby, straining to hear any sound from inside the theater. Just as he was starting to think that the doors might actually be soundproof, he heard the piano melody that began Don't Stop Believin', and he ran to one of the doors separating him from Rachel and flattened himself against it so he could press his ear against the door to hear the audition.
Rachel sounded amazing. Kurt stayed as still as possible, trying to hear the whole thing as best as he could. Even after the song ended, Kurt kept his ear pressed to the door, straining to hear what was being said. He was so focused that he couldn't move quickly enough to get out of the way when someone pushed the door open, and he fell backward onto the floor.
He scrambled to his feet, his face burning with embarrassment and his mind racing to apologize, but it was Rachel.
"Oh my god," she grabbed his arm as he stood up and dragged him toward the door. Kurt knew why – she did not want to freak out within earshot of the producers she had just auditioned for – so he stayed silent as Rachel dragged him out onto the street, down the sidewalk, and around the corner.
Then, she turned on him and threw herself into his arms with a squeal of delight. Kurt twirled her around as they both laughed, and then Rachel pulled herself out of his grasp.
"That was... magical!" she beamed at Kurt. "Oh my god, Kurt!"
She told him all the details of what had happened as they walked arm-in-arm to the restaurant they had decided on for lunch. Kurt questioned her as they ate – What were the producers like? Had she gotten a positive or negative vibe from them? What was it like singing on the stage? – and Kurt was especially encouraged by the fact that one of the producers had asked Rachel to explain what she had been feeling and thinking on the stage while she performed. That suggested that they would remember her. She had managed to stand out.
They had to split up after lunch. Kurt had to go to Vogue dot com for his usual Saturday at work and Rachel was planning to go back to the apartment and, Kurt imagined, tell Santana more than she ever wanted to know about auditioning for a Broadway show.
The Vogue dot com building wasn't far from where they had lunch, so, after he hugged Rachel goodbye, Kurt pulled his phone out of his pocket to call Blaine as he walked.
"So?" Blaine answered quickly.
"Well, hello," Kurt teased. "So... it was amazing!"
"I knew it would be!" Blaine said excitedly. "Rachel is so talented. Did you get to go in with her?"
"Sadly, no," Kurt explained, "but I could hear her through the door. She sang Don't Stop Believin' and it was just... she used the word 'magic'."
"That's wonderful," Blaine sighed happily. "Is she there with you?"
"Not anymore," Kurt explained. "I'm walking to work. You should call her later so she can give you all the details."
"I will," Blaine confirmed.
He paused briefly.
"Rachel might be on Broadway," Blaine said, as if the reality of the situation had just hit him.
"It's insane," Kurt agreed. "But in the best possible way. And speaking of being on stage... how's New Directions? Regionals is coming up and, if history is any indication, I'm guessing you don't have a set list yet."
"I'm offended that you think so little of us," Blaine pretended to pout. "You're only sort of correct. We know we're going to do an original song plus two others – the theme is 'dreams' – but we haven't settled on a specific set list yet."
"An original song?" Kurt requested more information.
"Marley's going to write something for us," Blaine said, and Kurt could hear the pride in his voice. "And oh! Finn's back."
"I thought he and Mr. Schu were having an epic feud or something?" Kurt recalled.
"They managed to move past it," Blaine explained. "Thank goodness."
"Yeah," Kurt agreed. "How's my dad?"
"Good," Blaine told him. "The appointment a few days ago was really short, so there's not anything new to report. He looks and sounds good, though. I think he may even be gaining back a bit of the weight he lost recently. In a good way."
"He has to be okay," Kurt said, his eyes suddenly teary as he thought about his father's rapidly approaching appointment at the hospital. They were going to learn how well the treatment was – or wasn't – working, and just the possibility that they might receive bad news was enough to send Kurt's mind spinning into worst case scenarios.
"Hey," Blaine said reassuringly, "he's going to be okay, Kurt. It's going to be okay."
"I know," Kurt lied, wiping at his eyes as he arrived at the building that housed Vogue dot com. "I, uh, I'm here at work now, so I should probably go."
"Alright," Blaine allowed. "But Kurt?"
"Yes?" Kurt said as he waited for the elevator that would take him up to the proper floor of the tall building.
"I love you," Blaine said sweetly.
Kurt snorted out a slight laugh.
"Love you too," he said. "I'll talk to you soon."
KURT
When Rachel had left her audition on Saturday, she had been told that they would let her know if they were interested in seeing her again by the following evening.
So, when Sunday evening rolled around and Rachel's phone hadn't rung all day, she was understandably anxious.
Kurt tried to distract her with a trip to their favorite restaurant nearby – "they're going to call your cell phone, Rachel, so there's no reason we have to stay at home!" – but it only made her feel worse because there was still no word by the time they got back to the apartment. Santana had gone to work by the time they returned (she was still working at a bar, which made Kurt a little nervous for her safety, but he hadn't yet mentioned it), so it was just Kurt and Rachel and no phone call.
"How about some cookies?" Kurt suggested, digging into the refrigerator for some pre-made cookie dough he had stashed away.
"Sure," Rachel agreed halfheartedly.
Neither of them said much as Kurt put the cookies in the oven and sat down in the living room – leaving Rachel at the kitchen table – to text Blaine.
No word yet, he explained. But the sun hasn't even gone down yet so there's still time.
Definitely, Blaine agreed.
I'll let you know! Kurt replied before wandering back into the kitchen to sit with Rachel. He didn't want her to be alone.
"You know, it's not that late yet, anyway," Kurt offered, motioning toward the nearest window where sunlight still shone into the room.
Rachel shrugged, and Kurt knew she wanted to be quiet for a while. He checked on the cookies, went into his room for a few minutes and made sure his clothes were well organized, and then returned to the kitchen to get the cookies out of the oven.
Rachel was still there, her chin resting on one hand on the table as she played absentmindedly with her phone with her other hand.
"So," Kurt said in an attempt to distract her, remembering what Rachel had mentioned about Shelby earlier in the week, "what is Broadway daycare, exactly?"
"All the show people who have kids – while they're rehearsing or performing – they send them to Shelby's studio and she teaches them, like, dance routines and songs and plays theater games with them," Rachel explained as Kurt pulled the cookies out of the oven. "It's like Fame for toddlers."
Kurt nodded as he transferred the cookies from the pan to a plate and carried them to the table.
"Well, no news is good news, right?" he encouraged as he sat down. He slid the plate closer to Rachel. "Cookie?"
She offered a skeptical glare. "At this point, if I haven't heard anything..." she shrugged and shoved her phone so it slid all the way across the table, out of reach. "Life goes on. You know, Fanny was just a dream. I read on broadwayworld dot com that they're doing a production of Sweeny Todd at the Pasadena Play House and, I dunno, I think Johanna could be a good role for me."
Kurt nodded. "Do you regret not doing Barbara for the audition?" he asked.
"No way," Rachel said firmly. "Honestly, something so special and something magical happened in that room and if those producers are too narrow-minded or star-obsessed that –"
Her phone vibrated on the table, and both Rachel and Kurt turned quickly to look at it.
"Oh my god," Rachel whined as she jumped out of her chair and grabbed her phone off the far end of the table. "Oh my god, it's a number I don't recognize!" She turned to Kurt, panicking, and showed him the number. "What do I do? What do I do?"
"Uh, ah," Kurt bounced in his chair, excited. "Answer it!"
"Pick it up?" Rachel worried.
"Yes!" Kurt encouraged. "Yes, yes!"
"Okay!" Rachel agreed. She turned away from Kurt and answered the call, and Kurt stood up. This was it. This was the big moment. He grabbed a cookie off the plate and frantically started eating it in an attempt to occupy himself as he listened to Rachel's side of the conversation.
"Hello? Uh, yes, this is she. Yeah, of course. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you."
She ended the call and slowly turned around to face Kurt.
"It was one of the producers," she told Kurt what he already knew.
"And?!" Kurt said frantically, waving his arms to tell her to hurry up and give him the news.
"And I got a callback for Fanny!" Rachel shrieked, throwing the phone out in front of her as if it were an acceptance letter.
Kurt joined her in screaming and rushed around the table to grab Rachel's arms and bounce around the room with her. "You did it!" he shouted. "You did it!"
"I'm so happy!" Rachel cried as Kurt pulled her into a hug.
"You did it!" Kurt couldn't believe it. Rachel Berry had a callback for Fanny Brice. On Broadway.
"Oh my god," Rachel gasped as they stepped apart, "I have to tell everyone. My dads! Oh god, they're going to freak out! And Finn! And yes," she added as Kurt opened his mouth, "you can tell Blaine. Tell everyone!" she threw her hands in the air as if she was throwing invisible confetti all over both of them.
She ran into her room and dove onto her bed to call her dads, and Kurt laughed and found his own phone to call Blaine. ("I've got a callback for Fanny!" Rachel shouted, apparently to her dads, as he dialed.)
"Hi," Blaine answered cheerfully.
"Hey," Kurt said, barely able to contain his excitement. "Guess what?"
"Oh my god," Blaine gasped.
"Wait!" Rachel shouted, suddenly reappearing from her bedroom with her phone pressed to her ear. "Yeah, hold on, dads..." She hurried over and beckoned for Kurt's phone. "I want to tell him."
Kurt handed his phone to her and then leaned in so he could hear Blaine's reaction.
"Blaine?" Rachel asked, making sure he was there. "I got a callback for Fanny!"
The sound of Blaine's cheering blared out of the phone, and Rachel and Kurt dissolved into laughter. "I just wanted to be the one to say it!" Rachel sang into the phone. "Here's Kurt!"
She shoved the phone back into Kurt's hands and ran back to her room to continue talking to her dads, and Kurt pressed his phone back to his ear.
"She's a little excited," Kurt laughed.
"I hope so!" Blaine said, his voice loud and happy. "She's got a callback for the first-ever revival of Funny Girl!"
This was Cory's final episode. :( The rendition of Don't Stop Believin' they did in this episode might be my favorite number Glee has ever done. Such a beautiful throwback to the pilot episode and, in hindsight, an incredibly poignant last song for Finn. That said, in terms of this story, Finn is still alive and well until he passes away on the show (which will happen in season 5). So, he'll be around for the final three episodes of this season, although in a small role (as usual for this Klaine-centric version of the story). I have to admit, I think I'm still in a little bit of denial that we actually have to say goodbye to Finn very soon. I guess we'll all deal with it when it happens.
To end on a positive note... things are rapidly improving for our boys at this point! I think Kurt's still clutching the idea of "just friends" for dear life, but that's okay. It took Blaine a while to realize that what he was feeling was love, not friendship, in season 2, so it's fair that Kurt gets a turn at being the ridiculous one now. ;)
Up next... 4x20: Lights Out!