A/N: Shout out to QuinnAbrams! I asked her to write a fun scene with Artie & Quinn, and she delivered!

Thanks, Gleek888! You're Gleek of the Week! At your request, this chapter is now coming out sooner rather than later.

And thanks, WildeAbrams for an idea I'm using later. Thanks robbinsfabray, for your continued encouragement as well.

Small updates were just made to chapters 2 and 3 of "Going Public" to fix continuity and reference events from this chapter and the previous one :)

Opening Night!

As Artie wheeled around backstage, he wrestled between two extremes – feeling completely prepared and worrying that everything was wrong. Would he ever be able to rid himself of that pesky imposter syndrome?

The dress rehearsal had been a disaster, which left him shaken. But what had him even further rattled was what had happened after rehearsal, when Kitty had suddenly kissed him in the car.

"Tina, darken your eyebrows! Sam, tone down the blush!" He tried to stay focused on doing what he did best, which was micromanaging every aspect of the show before that curtain went up, to keep his mind off of Kitty.

A sudden flash from the past made him recall his last opening night and how he'd broken down, confessing to Ms. Pillsbury that he'd just been pretending to know what he was doing and now he feared everything was wrong. And then, as if on cue, everyone brought him flowers and told him they were grateful for his leadership. It would have been a perfect night, too, had it not ended with the news of Mack and Quinn's accident.

Thinking now of Quinn, he peeped through the curtain at his audience to see if she had arrived. This time, it had been his family that picked her up at the airport while he'd been busy getting ready for the show. He was looking forward to tonight, since she was staying with them and he'd get to hear what she thought about their performance. He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted her, sitting with his parents and Amy. He didn't know why, but knowing she'd gotten here safely brought him comfort. Quinn wasn't somehow cursed, when it came to attending his shows.

He spotted several others in the audience. Mercedes was sitting with her parents and her brother, DeShaun. Mike and Santana had joined Mercedes' family on the same row, too. Puck had texted Artie earlier to say he couldn't make it for Friday but he'd be coming on Saturday with "my brother and his mom." That was certainly a strange development. Since he'd already promised Jake two free tickets, Artie went ahead and told Puck he'd be making it three. Rachel was there, too, seated between her dads, who had joined Burt and Carole's row. Towards the front, in reserved seats, were Ms. Pillsbury and Mr. Figgins. And siting a safe distance from them was none other than Sue Sylvester herself, looking equally confused about her own presence there. Perhaps she'd only come to join Becky Jackson, who was seated next to her, looking excited.

"Hey, Artie?" It was Tina who tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned around, she was the one to present him with a bouquet of flowers this year. He blushed furiously as the cast and crew members backstage encircled him.

"Tradition," added Blaine, with grin, as Artie accepted their gift. And he had two smaller bouquets for Finn and Kurt. He handed Kurt his and planted a quick kiss on him.

"First time I ever received flowers," Finn commented, his eyebrows arching in surprise as Blaine handed him the bouquet.

"Got a speech for us this year, boss?" Kurt asked, as Artie gave an embarrassed chuckle. Last year, he'd bared his soul by letting them know that this was the first time he could remember ever being treated like a leader and a grown man, not just the kid in the wheelchair.

"Only just that..." he looked around, as they all stared back with expectant eyes. "I really appreciate the extra time you all put in to get this show ready. I can't believe this is the last time I get to do this. I mean, unless we choke at Sectionals and we need a spring show to have something to do with the rest of year..."

"Do not speak such horrors upon us!" said Wade, in his usual dramatic fashion. Or was it 'Unique' now? He'd even asked to be credited as 'Unique' in the program. Artie had honored the request.

"But seriously, this show and last year's really helped me build a resume that will hopefully impress all the film schools and universities I've applied to," Artie went on. "And I couldn't have done that without the rest of you, putting up with me and helping me create my vision for this show. So, thank you guys. Now... places!"

Before the curtain could go up, Artie wheeled out in front of it, flagged by Finn and Kurt, to introduce the show. He was more nervous than usual, because there was someone who deserved mention that night, and he wanted to remember everything he'd planned to say.

"Good evening," Artie greeted the crowd first. "Thank you all for coming and supporting our show. I'm Artie Abrams and this is my second and final year directing the fall musical. I'd also like to introduce my alumni co-directors, Finn Hudson and Kurt Hummel."

"All the money made tonight will support the New Directions..." (Kurt remembered to pronounce it the way Rachel always did) "... in our future competitions."

"Last year, we made it to Nationals and we hope to do so again," Finn said. "So, thanks for your support, at this sold-out show, and please tell your friends to see our final performance on Saturday."

"Finally, I want to dedicate this show to someone very special," Artie spoke up again, saying the thing he'd rehearsed in his head over and over. "We tragically lost this person last year in a car accident, on the same evening as our first show. This is for you, Mackenzie."

He'd gotten through that without getting choked up onstage. After the yearbook had done nothing to honor her memory, Artie felt it was the least he could do. She would have been graduating this year. She would have probably made fun of the musical, but she would have come to see it anyway. He would have loved to get her brutally honest feedback.

For the first time since the kiss, Kitty actually approached him backstage. He stopped and she did too. There was a moment where she fumbled her words. "That, uh, what-what you said..." (They were both thinking about it now, he knew it) "That was nice. I wish I had known her."

"Thank you. Me too." Artie started to point left just as she stepped right. Then they reversed it, almost crashing into one another again. "Er. Sorry."

They got away from each other as fast as they could. He knew it would be weird, he just didn't know that Kitty could be awkward, too. He had to refocus his mind on the show. From backstage, he still had his clipboard and pen, still taking down notes to give them. He'd only give that up on Saturday, when they had their last performance.

'Grease' didn't open the way people expected, with everyone probably expecting some kind of scene set at the beach between Danny and Sandy. No, it was a high school reunion, attended by Coach Beiste as Ms. Lynch, their small crowd of extras, and Brittany as Patty Simcox with Mohamed as Eugene. The rest of the cast came in, doing a parody of the school song, which got a big cheer from the audience, who finally recognized some of the characters.

The very next scene was the more iconic one that everyone remembered from the movie recreation. Artie had scored one of McKinley's own cafeteria tables for this scene, which cost them nothing. Brittany got to be funny as Patty Simcox and Tina got to be equally funny as Rizzo, rolling in her eyes and making sarcastic comments. And this, of course, was the big performance of "Summer Nights" that every 'Grease' fan loved.

But that wasn't even Artie's favorite number. Artie's favorite song of the whole show, every single time they'd performed it, had been Jan and Roger's "Mooning." Even though Unique/Wade would rather have been playing a girl, and he was even going to be taking Lauren's poodle skirt for their Sectionals performance next month, he absolutely brought the house down, no matter what the song was.

And Artie's favorite moment of the show ended up being a personal one, for he got to surprise the audience, including his whole family and Quinn, by turning up as Teen Angel. He had intentionally not said anything about the last-minute swap for the purpose of surprising people. Also, if other people didn't recognize him without his glasses and wheelchair, well, he wanted to keep it that way. They all knew he wasn't Jake Puckerman, to be sure. Anyway, given this was only the third time he had performed the song, it went really, really well. He had a couple of notes for himself, and for the curler-cap background dancers, but nothing major. He was pleased.

The rest of the show went smoothly, with no forgotten lines or missed cues. Pretty good, given they hadn't made it through the show from start to finish very many times before, and certainly not yesterday like they'd planned. Marley had her energy back, plus her skirt fit her properly again. Kitty had been going out of her way to be nice. It was kind of reminiscent of the way Quinn tried to be nice to Rachel, on and off over the years, and came to an understanding with the brunette when they eventually bonded over Shelby and Beth.

As they sang the final number, Artie put down his clipboard and actually enjoyed the whole thing, singing along backstage with Finn and Kurt, who stood on either side of him, all of them clapping and singing along, adding themselves to the powerhouse of voices onstage. If they could perform the same song, with some choreography changes, at Sectionals, they'd definitely stand a strong change of winning. Even with the Warblers as their primary competitors again.

Curtain call was exciting, too, because a lot of his actors had never been onstage before to experience the thrill of taking those final bows. Artie nearly forgot that he was supposed to go out and bow as Teen Angel until Kurt gave him a little push. He got a larger applause than a minor character was supposed to, as well as a standing ovation from the row of teachers, the members of the glee club, and his family. Kurt and Finn even held back the next cast members a little longer because of it.

The biggest, loudest cheers were reserved for Tina, as Rizzo, and Blaine and Kitty, as Danny and Sandy. Kitty was still sporting her outfit from the final scene, the fitted black outfit, and that kiss from the night before meant Artie found it even more difficult not to stare. It was okay to look her way when she was taking her bows, though. She caught his eye and smiled even bigger when she realized he'd been looking her way, not breaking eye contact for an uncomfortably long time, so much so that Artie had to break his gaze first.

He looked instead at the four men who had climbed up the front steps to bring Kitty a huge bouquet. Two of them were identical in height and build, with slightly different hair, and Artie took them to be twins. The other was a head shorter, maybe younger than the other two, and Artie recognized him as the one who had given her rides most of the time. She'd mentioned once that she had three brothers. And there they all were, with their father. Kitty hugged him first, followed by her three brothers. She was wiping away tears after her father whispered something in her ear.

Artie was pretty sure he'd put the rest of the pieces together now. Because Kitty had said that she wanted to be in 'Grease,' noting it was a favorite of her mom's. And her mom wasn't here. And Kitty had gotten so emotional over the stories of Artie's accident and Quinn's accident. She'd been so incredibly remorseful when she realized Marley's mom was Ms. Millie, and that she'd inadvertently made fun of her by scaring Marley about her weight. All of this made sense now, in the light of what he'd discovered.

Her mom died, he realized, swallowing a lump that had instantly formed in his throat, as he was really seeing Kitty for the first time that night. In an accident like mine and Quinn's. She died.

"Artie?" He was startled by the sudden appearance of his mom, along with his dad, Amy, and Quinn. She stooped down to hug him. God, I'm lucky I have you. What if I'd lost you in the accident, like Kitty lost her mom? When she straightened up, she scrunched her face, giving him an odd look. "You okay? You should be so happy with that performance, baby! The sets, the songs, the costumes – it was all perfect!"

"Thank you," he said, fixing his own expression into a more appropriate smile as he lost sight of Kitty and her brothers and father in the crowd now. "Yeah. I'm really proud of what we did."

"Teen Angel was my favorite part!" Quinn added, leaning down quickly to hug him next. She'd worn a really pretty light blue dress, matching earrings, and short boots. "That was a great surprise. We all lost our minds when we realized it was you up there!"

"Yeah, I did get to rehearse twice before today," Artie said, blushing again the way he had when he'd received his standing ovation. "Only twice. It's amazing that we pulled that off, eh?"

"That's what I said after every single Glee performance," Quinn added, with a laugh as she moved so that Amy could be the next to hug Artie.

"And you cast everyone really, really well," Amy added. "I liked your Sandy a lot. Kitty, right? She was great with Blaine. And Tina! I wouldn't have expected her to be so perfect for Rizzo, but she was. She really, really was! I have to go find her..."

Artie watched Amy hurry over to Tina, who was presently talking to Mike. Mercedes was there, too, giving them sort of a buffer, Artie figured. It looked like, somewhere between all of their Hand-Jive Camps and the times she'd reported back to Artie that they'd talked, Mike and Tina had managed to move past their break-up.

"Good job, boss!" Sam said, appearing suddenly and giving Artie a low-five, stealing his attention back from Tina and Mike. "You got any notes for us after?"

"Very few," Artie proudly informed him. "That was almost perfect. One down, one to go!"

"Anyone need a refill?" Amy asked Quinn and Artie as she stood up from where she'd been sitting on the floor. She gathered their now-empty popcorn buckets and soda cans, preparing to bring them downstairs and dispose of them before the night went on. The natural course of their hangouts upstairs tended to start as game nights and end as movie nights. Amy seemed to know that in a few hours from now, they would probably find themselves to be too tired or lazy to clean up after themselves. She was ready to get ahead of the clean-up duties now.

"No refill for me," Artie told his sister, though he knew it really wasn't him she was asking. Even one can of soda was a treat for him. He needed to spend the rest of his night rehydrating after all that sugar and sodium. "But you can bring me a bottle of water, if you're offering."

"Make that two waters," Quinn added as Amy nodded and headed for the stairs.

Finally, he and Quinn were alone. All Artie had been able to think about for the last 24 hours was what had happened with Kitty in his car the night before. He was itching to confide in someone about it– especially Quinn. Here was his chance.

"Hey, listen," Artie began, patting the empty space beside him on the couch and gesturing for Quinn to come join him. He didn't want to raise his voice above a whisper. This topic of discussion was not one that Amy needed to hear the details of. Not yet, anyway. "Something… happened last night."

"What kind of something?" Quinn wondered, responding to his cues and moving so that she was sitting so close to him on the couch that they were sharing a cushion. "Something bad? You're scaring me."

"No, no, not bad. Well…" Artie thought quickly before shaking his head. "Not bad. Um. I don't know how to–"

"Artie!" Quinn hissed, quietly urging him to get on with it if he didn't want Amy to come back and hear everything.

"Kitty kissed me!" he blurted out.

"What?!"

"Last night. She kissed me. In my car."

"Wait, wait, back up," Quinn demanded. "Like, randomly?"

"Kind of! I mean, I was giving her a ride home from dress rehearsal, and some drama had just gone down between her and Marley, so basically I was telling her that if she kept up her rude comments or her attitude, I would sideline her and call up the understudies. I told her that I know she isn't that kind of girl. She's really sort of nice, once you get to know her. She's not one of those heartless Cheerios who just puts everyone else down for sport, she's–"

"She's not me," Quinn finished, even though that wasn't really where Artie was headed. But, sure. He'd go with that. "Well, the old me, anyways. Before glee club and having a baby changed me for the better."

"I just told her that she could be different than the person everyone thinks she is, if that's what she wants. She doesn't have to be an evil bitch all the time." He was talking quicker now, suddenly worried that Amy would come back upstairs soon. He hoped she'd taken a bathroom break, and maybe that their mother had needed her help unloading the dishwasher or something. He needed all the time he could get alone with Quinn right now. "I told her to, you know, take it from someone like me. I'm different. Didn't really have a choice in the matter, but still. I don't conform to whatever's around me. I told her how different can actually be kind of great and to think for herself for once and really follow her heart and tune out what everyone else is saying around her. And, you know, I asked her, I said, 'What is it you want?' And then… she kissed me."

Quinn was silent for a moment as she processed all that Artie had just word vomited. "Wow," was all she said when she finally found her voice.

"I know!" Artie said. "And right after the kiss – which was really nice by the way – she just said: 'That's what I want. I want something different' and then she got out of the car. We haven't talked about it since. Not before the show. Not after. And… I just don't even know what to do."

"Okay. How do you feel?"

"That's just it. I don't know!" Artie exclaimed. "Confused? Flattered? I mean, on one hand, I'm so much older than her, and I'm her director, and–"

"Forget about being her director for a minute," Quinn cut in. "If this show wasn't happening. How would you feel?"

Artie sat with that for a moment. How would he feel? Kitty excited him, that much was true. But he didn't think he wanted to get into anything romantic right now. Wasn't this his year to just focus on himself before heading off to film school? Kitty still had two more years of high school. If he did give whatever this was with Kitty a shot– was there even any hope for them to last, long term? But wait– was he even looking for that?

Quinn took advantage of Artie's silence and continued her train of thought.

"Do you remember what I told you before I left for school? It was that night Marley had invited you to watch them all play volleyball. I said that it seemed like maybe you were more interested in impressing Kitty than you were Marley."

"Huh? That was… I was trying to recruit her for glee club. And-and for the show."

"Artie," Quinn tried again. "Be honest with yourself. Would pursuing things with Kitty honestly be the worst thing in the world? I… I see a lot of myself in Kitty. And even though she may have her moments, I think beneath it all she's different from the other girls."

She'd been staring right at him up until that point, but now she glanced down at the way they were sitting so close to one another that their legs were touching. She put her hand on his knee before catching his eye again.

"I remember when I was still living here, and you had that big surgery, and you and Tina were on the rocks, and I told you that there was some amazing girl out there who would never look at you like you were any different. Someone who wouldn't pity you, someone who would treat you like an equal and love you the way a girlfriend is supposed to love their boyfriend." Artie swallowed hard. Even hearing her say that now made him feel that sort of hopeful, longing feeling. "Kitty seems like that kind of girl."

Artie quietly processed all of that for a moment before his trademark side smirk appeared on his face. "Do you, like, catalog every single conversation we have together? How do you remember all of this stuff verbatim?"

"Just the important conversations," Quinn replied, but she was smiling too. "I want the best for you, Artie. I always have. And I truly believe that Kitty's different– she might just be the girl you've been waiting for. She left the ball in your court, you know, and I'd hate for you to let this opportunity pass you by. This could be the start of something special."

Before Artie could say anything to that, Amy returned with three bottled waters and a refill of their popcorn. "Let's watch something silly, something we've all seen a bunch of times so we don't have to pay all that much attention," she said, taking her place on the couch and offering up the refreshments she'd brought up. She paused, looking at them both sitting much closer together on the couch than they'd been when she left. "What did I miss?"

Artie exchanged a brief smirk with Quinn. "Nothing," he said, before he seamlessly returned the conversation to selecting a movie to finish off the night.