A/N: If you haven't already noticed, I alter or throw out altogether a lot of the storylines in Glee. It's just easier, when I'm trying to write a different story, focused on another character. Hopefully, you will like this little adjustment. I feel like WildeAbrams will, based on the last review from them. Enjoy!

Dress rehearsal day.

Artie had kept the latest development about himself replacing Jake as Teen Angel a secret as long as he possibly could. When he wheeled onstage in Teen Angel's smart-looking crisp white shirt and pants, paired with a white sweater that had silver flecks in it to make it shine onstage, the entire cast and crew burst into applause.

"Okay, you can stop," he said, blushing furiously at all the attention. "You haven't heard me butcher the high note yet."

"I think you sound good," said Kurt, who had spent a lot of time with him last night training him on that last note.

"Anyway, I know this is supposed to be dress rehearsal," Artie went on. "But we've got to delay starting that so that Kurt and Brittany can teach the girls their new choreography. We've got a brand new set piece to work around, since angels don't use wheelchairs. Bring it on out, guys."

The salon chair was heavy enough that Kurt and Finn carried it out together. Coach Beiste had expertly attached the lighted vanity to a small dolly with wheels so that it could be wheeled into place. This lessened the chance that someone would drop it and break the mirror. This was a relief, as Artie definitely didn't want to break these personal items of Mrs. Hudson-Hummel's that she had so graciously loaned them. Everyone oohed and ahhed over the beautiful additions for a few moments, and Artie made sure to give credit for the idea back to Kurt.

"Here's the mastermind behind this plan," he told them, with a gesture to the other guy as Kurt blushed and did a little curtsy.

The girls quickly changed into their silver cape outfits and the tall silver curler caps, perfectly crafted by Tina. Sugar donned her short, curly pink wig for when Frenchy botched her own hair. They'd opted now to position the diner table off to the side instead of centerstage, so that it could share the stage with the new set pieces. As for the giant stairs, they were still going to use them. They just set them further back on the stage. Some of the girls would disappear up the stairs instead of having Teen Angel do it, that way there was still the effect of someone disappearing into the heavens at the end of the song. As for Artie, Lauren was going to spin him around in the chair right before exiting to give him a little something to do at the end.

"Okay... okay... so..." The tricky part was how to get him onstage but he had an idea, just didn't know if it would actually work. "We're going to add a curtain drop between 'Hopelessly Devoted' and scene ten. I'm going to need all the guys to help move the set pieces. And, uh, Sam. You can move me. Then the scene with Frenchy and the guys takes place in front of the table, which we've moved over. We'll just put a light on stage left."

He didn't mind being out of his chair and in the pool in front of people, but being lifted out and placed in another seat was another story. However, there wasn't time for him to transfer himself, and anyway, the salon chair was on a higher plain than his chair, which made it darn near impossible on his own as it was. He felt them all staring as Sam helped him out of his chair and heaved him up into the salon chair for the first time. Ignoring them, he fixed his feet and tried to get into a natural-looking position. He settled on lifting his left leg and placing it atop his right knee. No, no, that looks weird. He put it back down and tried the opposite leg. Then he remembered his audience, all of whom were waiting for the next direction from him, and stopped fidgeting.

"Okay, face me to the back until the end of the scene. Then..." He couldn't turn it himself. He couldn't even move in this thing. That sucked. "Then Tina, your job is to turn me to the front as you and the other angels enter and I start the song."

Frenchy did her lines leading up to the scene. "What am I going to do?" Sugar said, sounding desperate as she sunk into the booth. She did a great job as Frenchy, not only looking the part but acting it perfectly. "I can't just tell everybody I dropped out of beauty school. I can't go into the Burger Palace for a job... not with all the guys sitting around. Boy, I wish I had one of those Guardian Angels like in that Debbie Reynolds movie. Wouldn't that be neat... somebody always there to tell you what's the best thing to do..."

The girls entered to the sounds of harps as Tina spun Artie around.

"Your story's sad to tell, a teenage ne'er do well, most mixed up non-delinquent on the block..." If Rory had been around, Artie might have cast him in this part. He was a great crooner. As for Artie, he was doing his best at trying to just sound like Rory.

They had to start and stop several times to get the new choreography worked out. Luckily, Jacob Ben Israel could be serious when it came to doing theatre tech. He was reliable to start and stop the music as many times as they needed. When they finally, finally got through the whole thing, and Artie managed to even do what he considered a decent job with the falsetto at the end, the rest of the cast in the audience burst into applause. Brittany, Marley, and Kitty, in their silver angel costumes, glided up the stairs, as Lauren and Tina exited stage left and stage right, with Lauren giving Artie a good spin before she left. He wasn't quite ready for it – his body tended to overreact to surprises – and he gripped the arms of the chair. Rationally, he knew he was planted in the seat, but his confused body tended to tell him he was falling. He was definitely glad when the curtain dropped – they had to drop it anyway here, so the girls could change – and Sam hurried onstage to get him and put him back in his chair.

"Okay!" Artie felt like himself again when he could move himself properly, and he was back to taking charge of rehearsal. "Not perfect, but we'll get it next time, right? It's dress rehearsal time! Everybody, get into your first costumes, take a bathroom break, whatever you need, then meet back on stage in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes, sir, yes Mr. Abrams, sir!" Artie cracked a smile as Sam saluted him. After the show was over, he was probably going to stop addressing him so formally, but for now, it was funny. And Sam did a lot of things just to be funny, but with rehearsal, he truly was one-hundred percent serious.

"This thing is so tight," Marley complained, ten minutes later when she rejoined the cast on stage. She was the last to get dressed and she fussed with the waistband of her pencil skirt, frowning deeply. "I just had this on yesterday and it felt fine."

"Maybe it's all the extra desserts you keep sneaking from the lunchroom," Kitty smarted off, her hands on her hip, her smug look so different from the one she wore at other times when she was talking to anyone but Marley. For whatever reason... (maybe it was the fact that Kitty had lost the attention of two guys to her girl-next door good looks) the petite blonde never let up on poor Marley.

"Cool it." Artie was not afraid to talk back to Kitty. At one time, she'd intimidated him and maybe she still did a little bit, but as the director, he was not going to tolerate bullying between his actors. For one thing, they just didn't have the time.

"If it's really bothering you, I can let it out a little, Marley," Tina offered quietly, so as not to make a big deal about it.

Marley was the last person who needed to worry about her weight. But telling a girl that really didn't help, Artie knew from experience. He distinctly remembered Amy struggling with her body image throughout high school, all thanks to Sue Sylvester and the Cheerios. For people who were naturally thin or athletic, like Brittany, it probably wasn't a big deal. But of course, it had been awful for Quinn, what with her "past life" as Lucy and then her pregnancy. At least Marley wasn't a Cheerio. But she had one messing with her head and making a game out of it.

"I'm serious, Kitty," Artie said, as he followed her backstage when they'd all dispersed. She turned on her heels and looked down at him, probably torn between insulting him as her peer and respecting him as the director of this show. And he was going to remind her of the fact. "I'm... I'm not tolerating another word, you understand me? Continue to bully and humiliate and I'll put in Marley as your understudy and call Rachel Berry to play her part. I don't care if it is the day before."

"Geez, alright," Kitty head up her hands and took a step back. He'd still somehow managed to intimidate her into minding her manners, despite the fact that he had to look up at her. "I'll leave her alone. Don't call Rachel. Can I go change now?"

Artie gave her a little nod and took his place in the audience, where he'd watch most of the show. He was going to take the accessible area in the theater rather than having Finn heave him into the usual seat behind their table, which had already been moved anyway. Finn was going to listen from the very back and Kurt from the opposite side, so as to check all angles. (Again, what would he have done without them?)

They'd done a really good job on the songs in Grease. Artie was thinking this as he watched Joe strum his guitar and perform Doody's solo, 'Magic Changes.' He really was charming as the hapless, awkward Doody. His charm and his talent almost made up for those terrible dreads. Almost.

The girls' slumber party scene was next. Most people recalled Rizzo singing 'Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee' at the slumber party in the movie. That was one difference in the musical, however, because that song came later instead and Rizzo sang it to the guys. (Tina, by the way, was hilarious and perfect every time and Artie knew he'd cast her well.) The song during the slumber party scene was Marty's song, 'Freddy My Love.' Artie paid close attention to Marley in this scene, for she didn't seem to have her usual energy thus far.

"What's this guy's name, anyway?" asked Lauren-as-Jan.

"Oh! It's Freddy. Freddy Strulka." Marley-as-Marty said. (Low energy, Artie wrote on the notepad in his lap. Find out what's wrong.)

"Strulka? Is that Polish?"

"Naah, I think he's Irish."

"Do you write him a lot, Marty?" asked Sugar-as-Frenchy, falling at her feet and batting her eyes with a dreamy expression. (Everything Sugar lacked as a singer she made up for as an actress.)

"Pretty much. Every time I get a present."

"What d'ya say to a guy in a letter, anyway?" Lauren-as-Jan said, and she was believable in just about every scene except this one. She was trying to sound just as dreamy and guy-crazed as the others, but from Lauren, it seemed pretty forced.

And now it was time for Marley, in her kimono from Freddy Strulka, to climb up on the bed and sing 'Freddy My Love' as the others fawned around her. Tina, as Rizzo, got to sit in the corner and roll her eyes. She was pretty good at that.

At the end of the song, everyone was supposed to pretend to fall asleep. Then this was when Rizzo would wake up, start to climb out the window, and get caught sneaking out by Sandy. Only, they didn't make it to the end of the song. Marley's voice wavered on that last note as she sang out: "Freddy my love!" And down she went. Luckily, there was a bed under her. The girls jumped back in horror.

"She-she fainted!" Tina was the first to try to rouse her. "Quick, get her some juice or something! I knew she didn't look right."

"I'll get her a Gatorade from the locker room," said Coach Beiste, jumping up from where she'd been sitting in the audience, having just being in the first scene.

Artie was one of the last ones to make it to the stage, as Marley started to come to, looking confused and as white as the bed sheet she'd been lying against.

"Marley?" Artie said. "You fainted." Just then, Coach Beiste re-appeared with the Gatorade. She thrust it to Artie, who quickly unscrewed the lid and offered it to Marley. "Here. Drink this."

"I can't, that's full of sugar," Marley mumbled. "It'll make me bloated."

"Drink it," Artie said, pushing it towards her again, trying not to sound angry that she'd brought dress rehearsal to a screeching halt and was now refusing the thing that would make her better. His authoritative tone seemed to have done the trick, as she accepted the drink. He caught her trying to check the label to see how much sugar was in it. "Marley, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not," she said, tears pricking in the corners of her eyes now, maybe because she realized everyone was staring at her and she'd ruined dress rehearsal, or maybe because Artie had been too harsh, probably both.

"You're not gaining weight, okay?" Kitty suddenly sat down at the foot of the bed, as Marley stared at her, not comprehending. "It's... it's me. I'm the one who made you think you were. See, I thought it would be funny to alter your costume a little. I did it once last week and again yesterday after you took it off."

After this confession, stunned silence followed as everyone tried to make sense of Kitty's words. She caught Artie's eye, probably terrified that he was going to throw her out of the show now. He had already threatened this, and that was before he knew the truly diabolical scheme she'd undertaken, the lengths she had gone to to make Marley feel insecure about her body. Marley seemed to remember she was supposed to still be drinking that Gatorade and resumed taking big gulps of the sugary liquid that probably tasted much better, now that she knew her eating habits weren't actually causing her to gain weight.

"You're an evil little bitch." That was Lauren, who looked a little guilty when she remembered she'd just said this in front of three teachers, Coach Beiste, Ms. Pillsbury, and Mr. Schuester, but she didn't look sorry she'd said it.

"I... I know." Kitty didn't even attempt to defend herself, which was good, because Artie wasn't going to be able to stop Lauren from doing whatever she would have done next, had Kitty mouthed off at her.

"I knew somebody messed with my sewing machine!" Tina said, glaring sourly at Kitty as the realization must have just hit her. "You didn't reset it correctly. That thing belonged to my grandmother. They don't make them like that anymore. You're lucky you didn't break it!"

"Tina, with respect, this is not about you." Artie was probably going to hear it from her later, but in the moment, it got her to be quiet. He was still in charge, or at least, he was trying to be. "Everyone... take five. At this point, we won't have time to run through things without stopping, but we'll let Marley recover, Tina can fix your costume -" (He didn't mean to look at Kitty but he did, as she dropped her head in shame) - "And then we'll pick up with the next scene."

"I just didn't want to look like my mom," Marley mumbled, causing everyone to look at her again. It seemed like maybe she didn't mean to say it out loud, but when she realized that she did, she blushed furiously. "My mom, um, y-you guys know my mom."

At this, they all looked at one other, puzzled by her statement and every one of them probably wondering if Marley was still feeling the effects of her low blood sugar. While the students looked confused, however, the teachers did not.

"And she's a lovely person," Coach Beiste affirmed. "Always making sure my football players get extra protein, especially on game days. Offering to open up the cafeteria for a special spaghetti supper and volunteering her time to prepare it, so my cross-country runners get an extra boost the night before the big meet."

"Wait, Ms. Millie?" Ryder blinked in confusion, looking from the Coach to Marley, who blushed even more furiously red than before. "Your mom is Ms. Millie, my favorite lunch lady, the one who always gives me extra meatballs on spaghetti day?"

"Now you might understand what I said before, about not wanting to look like her," Marley stared at the pattern on the bedding and traced it with her index finger, rather than raising her head to look at anyone. "I love my mom, I do. She's raised me by herself. But, well, when I look at her, I can't help but wonder when it happened. She wasn't ever thin, no, but she wasn't big like she is now when she was my age. I can't help but agonize over whether or not I might be prone to the same fate."

Artie stole a glance at Kitty, whose face was frozen in a stunned, horrified expression. It was clear that she hadn't realized Ms. Millie was Marley's mother either. Now, it seemed, she was putting the pieces together. All those times she'd teased Marley about sneaking into the cafeteria for extra dessert were times when Marley was visiting her mother, in secret, so as not to reveal her identify as her daughter.

"My mom didn't want me to tell people we were related," Marley went on. "She decided she'd introduce herself to all of you as 'Miss Millie' instead of using our last name. She thought... I don't know, she thought maybe people would give me a hard time about having a lunch lady for a mother. Especially an obese lunch lady..."

"Your mother is especially kind, Marley," Artie interrupted, before Marley felt compelled to explain herself any further. "She's the only lunch lady who ever made sure to step around the line and put my tray on the thing I use to hold it, rather than make me reach for it myself. She spared me at least one lap-load of spaghetti."

Artie's funny comment had effectively distracted Marley from being upset and lightheaded. She laughed at that, covering her mouth like she wasn't sure she was supposed to, but then laughed again when Artie joined in.

"You should be proud to be her daughter," Tina added. "We all love her."

"Well... thanks!" Marley blinked away tears. She wiped her eyes and smiled appreciatively at Tina.

"I love her so much I started telling people I was her daughter," Lauren added, grinning derisively. "No one was surprised."

That garnered huge laughs from the rest, as Lauren laughed herself, thereby assuring them all that they were allowed to laugh at that. As Artie turned, however, to look at Kitty for a reaction, he discovered she was gone. At some point after Marley's confession, she'd slipped offstage, too ashamed to face what she'd done.

"Kitty. Can we talk?"

They wound up alone after rehearsal because she was the last to be picked up and he always made sure to stay after until the last person left, offering a ride if anyone needed one. It seemed like maybe she did. She didn't look at him. She hadn't looked at anyone since the Marley incident, other than when she'd had to while running through the show. They'd gone about the rest of dress rehearsal, but Artie could plainly see that her heart wasn't in it. He took no notes, however, and just decided he'd let it go. She'd clearly learned a lesson that night. But now that she was here, and he had her alone, he wanted to talk about it.

She sniffed, trying to hide the fact that she'd been crying while looking at her phone. "Why do you want to talk to me?" she asked him. "Aren't you worried I'll be an evil little bitch again?"

"Well, then I'll know you're feeling better." He'd done it. That got her to smile. A little. "Hey, it's getting pretty late. Do you have a ride?"

Kitty sighed. "My brother's working late," she said. "Later than he thought, I guess. He waits tables and he just messaged me to say someone didn't show up, so now he's gotta close..."

"Looks like I'm your ride then," Artie said, simply.

He let her follow him wordlessly out to his car. She still didn't speak in all the time it took him to transfer out of his chair, dismantle and stow it, and pull out of the parking lot. When they were nearly all the way to her house, she finally found her voice.

"I wouldn't have done it if I'd known Ms. Millie was her mom," she confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. "I may be an 'evil bitch' but I'm not that heartless."

"I don't think you're heartless," he said, exchanging a sidelong look at her. "I think you've just decided to try to be what they expect you to be, though. Why don't you decide to be, I don't know, something else? Something different."

"Isn't being in glee club 'different' enough?" Kitty said, laughing bitterly. "I only did that because Quinn Fabray did it first. She made it okay..." Kitty trailed off then, as if doing a little soul-searching.

"Well, take it from someone who has no choice but to embrace being different," Artie began, as he turned onto her street. He glanced at Kitty, who couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze then. "Different can be a relief. It means you worry less about others expect. You stop caring. You do what you want." He put the car in park and angled his body towards her now. "So? What is it you want, Kitty Wilde?"

Kitty finally got brave enough to look at him. She stared directly into his eyes, as he stared right back. He expected her to look away, but instead, she did something else. Closing the space between them, she put her hands on his shoulders, closed her eyes, and softly kissed him.

She leaned back, smirking, as he continued to stare, this time in shock.

"That," she said. "Is what I want. Something different."

And without any further explanation whatsoever, Kitty hoisted her bag over her shoulder and held his eye contact, still wearing that mysterious smirk, until she'd slipped out of his car. He, in turn, touched his lips in disbelief.

Whoa.