The Show Must Go On Part II

With the words of the director still ringing in their ears, the longest afternoon of the Warblers' lives began. Lunch was ordered and brought to them, all other plans for the day forgotten. It was quickly eaten, and then they were back to the business of learning their parts. The theatre's pianist had been summoned, and once he had got past his initial shock, he had settled down to play through all the relevant numbers with them, repeating each song until they had learnt it to everyone's satisfaction. That was the way that they had always done things back at Dalton, and it paid off. Mike had found himself sitting next to David, playing the doorbells for the opening number, in which Flint proved to them all why Sebastian had chosen him for the part of Elder Greene; the way that he said the words Jesus Christ, imbuing them with such a manic joy, had made both Mike and David burst out laughing. That had meant that they all had to stop singing, but that gave them all a chance to get past the initial giggles.

There was no real time for levity after all. It was late in the day before they all decided that they had to stop, but by that time, through hard work, they had learnt all of the songs that they were involved in, had made good progress in all of the dance numbers, and were feeling a lot less nervous about the whole thing. It had also helped that whilst the pianist had headed out for an hour, accompanied by Jenny, to fetch in some more food, Wes had appeared and taken charge; Kurt was soon helping Mike with the dance training, being a good critical eye, and Blaine had settled down at the piano to play for them, quite happy to repeat short sections repeatedly until they had it perfected. Whilst all of them had grown into their roles, Mason in particular had managed to embrace the part of McKinley as if he had been born to it. After all, he had realised that this was his big moment too. He had just finished his freshman year at NYADA, and he was going to be playing a big part in a major Broadway show, even if it was only for one night. His only regret was that his family wouldn't be there to see his moment of triumph…

It was a regret that he expressed on his phone to Roderick during a quick break to eat the food that Jenny and the pianist had brought back. They had all decided that they would not let anyone know the exact extent of their roles in the production, but Mason had to explain to his friend why he would not be able to see him for dinner that evening after all. When pressed as to why, all he said was that he was in rehearsal for an appearance on stage the following night, thanks to Sebastian. He rang off as quickly as he could after that, before Roderick realised exactly what that implied and start to ask more awkward questions. He was unaware that his conversation had been overheard by Ethan, who realised that Mason was not alone in his regrets. The majority of them would have their Broadway moment witnessed by any of their family.

Sebastian had taken a moment to call Julian at his office, just before he was due to leave for the evening. He had casually asked him whether he had any plans for the following night; when he responded in the negative, Sebastian had merely stated that he was going to be performing on stage, and would he like a ticket…

He had laughed as he was forced to hold the phone away from his ear as his big brother had squealed like a little girl. "Oh my God, Bazzy! You're going to be on Broadway. My little brother is going to be a bona fide Broadway star! Can I bring Isabelle? Have you told your mom?"

"Yes, you can, and yes, I did. She was just as pleased as you, only quieter… She would love to come, but she doubts whether she could get a flight. It's sad, but at least my big brother will be their to cheer me on in my little part…"

The tail end of that conversation had also been overheard by Ethan, and now that he had heard Mason's call too, he had time to think. For the first time in his life, he realised that he could help out by taking advantage of the family wealth he usually despised. He made a mental list of all the people that should be there tomorrow night; Nick's mom and grandparents; Jeff's mother, and his mom and dad; Beats' parents; Mason's sister and parents, plus his girlfriend Jane and Roderick of course; Trent's parents and sisters; Rory's brother and sister-in-law; and last, but not least, Sebastian's maman. He could get them all there; he had the means at his disposal. Always had, but had never taken advantage of it before. Now, for his friends, he would call the number on the card and request the use of the Mackenzie family jet. He would just need to get hold of a lot of telephone numbers on the quiet. Sure, he could easily get in touch with Julian and get a number for Sebastian's mother, but the rest might be tricky. Then it hit him - Roderick would know all of the numbers for Mason, and the rest he could obtain by calling one person at Dalton. Mrs Carmichael would know them all - and of course, she and her husband should also join everyone else in the audience. After all, they would want to witness Sebastian's big moment too…

The majority of the group finally left the theatre just after 9pm, heading in the direction of the West Village. Trent was not with them; he and Rory were staying back another hour with Sebastian; Rory was not singing, but he couldn't resist the chance to sit in the stalls and watch as his husband and Sebastian took to the actual stage to run through their numbers. Jenny was still there too, as she wanted to run through Baptise Me with Trent. As they did, Sebastian jumped down to watch with Rory in the front row. He was exhausted, but his whole idea was paying off. It had been a mad notion, thought up in a moment of desperation when he saw his chance of an actual appearance on a Broadway stage being snatched away from him. It had worked, and he was increasingly confident that he and his friends would be able to keep a paying audience entertained the following night. His brother had faith in him, and so did his maman. Carmen Tibideaux, when he had called her and told her what he had done had been silent; then she had asked him for a ticket, and one had been reserved for her next to Julian and Isabelle.

He looked up now at Trent, singing his heart out with Jenny, and he knew that he had made an excellent decision there. It had been between him and Nick for Cunningham, but Trent's facial expressions were just the icing on the cake. It was getting late now, but in less than 24 hours, they would actually be doing this for real in front of a full auditorium. Suddenly, he realised with a start that there was one person that he hadn't shared his news with; one person that would understand it better than anyone. He hoped it wasn't too late to call… He dialled the number, and immediately had doubts over whether he should have done so.

Then it was answered. "Hello, darling boy! I was hoping that you would call; there is a wild rumour doing the rounds that a bunch of silly Mormons ate some off seafood, and as such will be unable to conduct their African mission tomorrow…"

Sebastian laughed. "I should have known that you would know. The rumour is true. I was the last man standing… That is kind of why I'm calling you. Do you recall that I told you all about my high school choir, The Warblers? Well, tomorrow, they are all becoming Mormons, and I am Elder Price… Too mad a scheme?"

"You want me to be honest? It does sound it, but I am sure that you will shine regardless! Of course, I will be there to cheer you on, and offer my support in whatever way I can."

"Really?"

"Yes, I would not miss it for the world. You can always count on your Auntie Bette…"

Everyone was up early the following morning, getting ready for another day of frantic rehearsal. More than one of them had concluded that the whole thing was just madness; with the best will in the world, there was no way whatsoever that they could pull this one off. They had no issues concerning the costumes though; after all, they all had a white short sleeved shirt at home, and Sebastian had suggested that they all should all bring their Dalton ties along with them, as he thought it would be a little twist. The only exception to the rule was David, but he had been assured that the wardrobe department, supplied with his sizes, would be able to sort him out so that he looked the part of a rebel leader.

There was one other issue; Jeff's hair. It was far longer than any Mormon would have it, at least whilst he was on missionary work. When it was tentatively suggested to him that he might need to have it cut, he had politely informed them that if that was necessary, they would need to find another Elder Young. Once again the wardrobe department had come to the rescue, and had sourced a wig that looked convincing, and that they could pull on over Jeff's own hair, as long as they piled it up and flattened it down above his neckline. It wasn't the most comfortable of arrangements, but Jeff was prepared to suffer it to keep his locks intact - and though he didn't say it, that kept Nick happy too.

As for Ethan, he had spent most of the time after he had returned home the night before making phone calls, apologising for the lateness of the hour. He had then made his offer, stating only that Sebastian was going to be performing on Broadway, but the chances were that the audience would be sparse, and he was calling round on his behalf to try and fill all of those empty seats. There were a lot of people that were quite surprised that they had been singled out to be asked. In most cases, people agreed when he pointed out that in essence what he was offering was a free trip to New York. All of his original mental list agreed to come, with one exception; Mr Harper had an important meeting the following afternoon, and so his wife would be travelling on her own. He had discovered that Roderick had been let in on the secret that Mason would be performing when he contacted him, and he had suggested a couple of other names for the list. Thus Will Schuester, Spencer and Alistair had been added to it, again not being told why they had been invited to come to the city. Roderick had been sworn to secrecy, so there was no danger he would say anything either. Ethan was glad that the company jet was large and that he could accommodate so many. There had even been one person that had asked if she could bring someone with her. It was a surprise, but he could see no reason why Sebastian's mom couldn't do so. He might have done had he been aware that the person she was bringing along was actually the first Mrs Smythe, Julian's mom…

On their arrival at the theatre, they had all handed their 'costume' to the wardrobe department, then had gone straight into rehearsal. This time was different as they were on the actual stage, and were doing a run through of the show from start to finish at the same time. There was more space for the dance numbers, and they were all able to find the spot in which they would stand in the actual performance. This was just a first run through; the rest of the cast would join them later to do a full performance. All they could do was practice. Most of the crew were in to assist, and they were pleasantly surprised; having expected the worst, they saw that in actual fact, these young men were good. Given how little time they had been doing it, they had picked things up surprisingly well, with the choreography almost flawless, although they noticed that there had been a few subtle changes, suggested by Mike, that made it easier for them to perform. Mike was no longer working alone, but was working alongside the shows own dance coach, who was impressed at what the younger man had achieved in such a short time. He could not fault him on his teaching skills or on his inspirational techniques. The vocal coaches had also come in, but conceded that they had very little to do, other than support the talented band of amateurs. Of course, that status had threatened to cause an issue with the actor's union; they had intimated that they would pull the plug on the show at one point, but a quick call by Sebastian and some words to them from his Auntie Bette had sorted it out…

It was around lunchtime that another group of people got their invites to the show that night. There had been invites delivered to the Spotlight for both Elliott and Michelle, but the latter had initially declined, not wanting to put an extreme workload onto Dani. After all, they were already having to cope with Jeff and Skylar being out of the picture that night, and she had also been told that Luke, Santana, Brittany and Sam were on the guest list. It was a pity, as Ollie Harwood had been invited, and it would have been nice to go with her boyfriend. On hearing this, Sam had offered to work, and let her go, and refused to take no for an answer. It would not be easy work that night, given that most of the Warblers appeared to have gone AWOL…

When Sam heard that Mme Tibideaux was also going to be at the show, he began to wonder what was really behind all of it. He guessed that Sebastian might be going on, but he couldn't quite understand why so many people were being invited to that. Just after lunch, Rachel called him, wanting someone to share a bit of gossip with. She took great delight in telling him that it was all round the theatres that one of the shows on Broadway had lost half of its cast to sickness, but had somehow managed to find a new cast at a moment's notice, and was going ahead…

That was the moment that Sam Evans put two and two together and got four. He said nothing of his suspicions to Rachel. When Sebastian phoned him half an hour later to ask if he could do him a favour, he also said nothing. He agreed to record what he wanted him to, and send it to him ASAP. He had laughed at the notion, but he was more than happy to assist. At the end of the call, he wished Sebastian all the best for that night, and hoped that he and all the Warblers would 'break a leg.' After a moment's silence, Sebastian had laughed, then told Sam he was good, and should have been a detective. Then he rang off, leaving Sam as the sole keeper of one of the biggest secret's on Broadway for years…


In no time at all, it was early evening. At the theatre, having performed their full run through with the half of the cast that had not been invited to the party, the group of young men involved were taking a rest and food break. Although they had never met, the two groups seemed to gel together almost at once; the numbers that they had to perform together just seemed to fall together, and by the time that they came to the finale, Tomorrow is a Latter Day, it was as if they had been performing side by side for weeks. Mike had made some more changes to the choreography in conjunction with the dance coach; the alterations had not been hard to learn for any of them, but the end results still looked spectacular. It looked as if they had been achieved after months of careful rehearsal, not in just under half an hour. The director had breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the run through; yes, it was not quite as good and polished as the usual performance, but it wasn't amateur night either…

The amended Playbill had been delivered, but it would not be handed out to the audience until the interval, at the suggestion of Ethan. None of the others had understood at first why he had said that so vehemently, but they did see the point and agreed it was for the best; if people came in and saw that half the cast had been altered overnight, they might run for the door and demand an immediate refund. If they had looked at the inside of the new Playbill, they would all have been shocked but delighted to find that they all had a headshot; it was only on closer inspection that they would have realised where the majority of them had been taken… Again, it had been Ethan that pointed out to the director that for the ex-Warblers, Dalton would have a head shot of them saved on file, and that if he spoke to the school nicely, they would probably be able to E-Mail them across. If nothing else, the Playbill might be worth money in future.

As they all relaxed inside, trying to keep their nerves at bay, a procession of familiar faces began to line up outside. First to arrive had been Artie, with Kitty, Marley and Ryder. Their tickets had been hand delivered that afternoon with a note attached which said 'You don't want to miss this!' They had all had plans for the evening, but their curiosity had been piqued, so they set them aside. It wasn't often that you got free tickets to a Broadway show after all. Artie had gone so far as to download the soundtrack album, and had laughed for a long time… They had all kind of guessed that Sebastian had finally landed himself a part, but they were all a little concerned at the expense that he seemed to have gone to; after all, he had bought them tickets, and it wasn't as if they were particularly close friends…. "If he wants to waste his money showing off, then so be it!" Kitty had rationalised, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth and all of that."

They were soon joined by Santana and Brittany, and to everyone's surprise and delight, Puck and Quinn. The former had a week's leave, and had arranged that the two of them could spend a few days at the beach house in Port Jefferson. They had arrived on Monday night; that morning a courier had arrived with their tickets with the same note, and details of the train times that would get them in and out of Manhattan. It had seemed churlish to refuse, and they anticipated that a lot of their other friends would be there, so it was a good chance to catch up.

By the time that the doors opened to let them in, they had all spotted other familiar faces in the line; they had recognised Mitch and Gabriel, standing in the line with Luke, Duncan, Cameron, Flora and Elspeth. "Why on earth would Sebastian send an invitation to Jeff's mother?" queried Santana - then looked back down the line to see Séamus and Becca, which made her even more curious. It was too late to head back down the line and ask them why they were there; she just had to head in and take her allotted seat. It was only then that it hit her; there had been no sign of any of Sebastian's contemporary Warbler brethren in the line, and that was extremely strange indeed…

Julian and Isabelle arrived at the theatre just after seven, and joined the back of the moving line. A moment later they were joined by Carmen Tibideaux; they greeted each other warmly, then started to talk about Sebastian and what this evening would mean to him. "It will be a big deal for my little bro. He is going to be on a Broadway stage tonight, and no matter how small his part may be, that is quiet an achievement in my book," said Julian.

"I agree. Not many of my students have ever been able to claim what he will be able to," mused Carmen, not referring to Rachel naturally.

Once inside they headed to the bar, and were not surprised to discover that Sebastian had left word that their drinks were to be charged to him. Having collected them, Julian looked around the busy room for a place to sit - and froze as his eyes alighted on two familiar faces that he was not expecting. He knew that he had to go over to them, and that his two companions would follow…

"Hello Julian, how are you? This is quite the big night for our Sebastian…"

"Yes it is, and it is quite a big night for me too now… Carmen, Isabelle, I don't think either of you have had the pleasure of being introduced to Eloise Beaumartin, Sebastian's mother…"

Neither lady had, and introductions were made. Eloise engaged Carmen in chat, and that allowed Julian to move on to the lady that was with her.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to be saying this tonight, but Isabelle, I'd like to introduce you to the lady that one day I hope will be your mother-in-law. Mom, this is Isabelle, the love of my life…"

Isabelle was as surprised as Julian to see his mother in New York. She knew the truth, that his mother was alive and well and living in Canada, not dead as he had been told by his father at the age of 8. Julian had broken down one night, shortly after he had moved to New Jersey, and had told her the truth, swearing her to secrecy. He had travelled to Montreal to visit her at Easter; she had not offered to go with him, and he hadn't asked. She knew that it was something that he had to do on his own. The first Mrs Smythe did not look as she had imagined though; she was far smaller and much more lightly made than her son.

"It's lovely to meet you at last, my dear. At Easter, once we had cried for quite some time at the pleasure of being reunited, he showed me all the photos of the most important people in his life; Peter, my grandson; Sebastian, his half-brother; and you, my dear, the love of his life. You are even more beautiful than you are in your photos. And of course, impeccably dressed, as befits the online editor of Vogue."

"He's kind of the love of my life too; well, after my kittens, Elvis and Presley. You have to get your priorities right after all," replied a blushing Isabelle.

"Quite right, my dear. I did catch a glimpse of them in one of the pictures that he showed me, and they were adorable."

"Well, if you aren't heading straight back to Canada, you could come and meet them. My apartment isn't that far from here, and after the show I am sure that you would appreciate a coffee."

"I would like that my dear; it would be a pleasure to spend a little bit of time with my future daughter-in-law. I think that it should be okay. By the same token, you will have to come up and visit me in Montreal soon; both of you."

Julian had been sitting quietly just listening until that point, happy that the two most important women in his life were getting along so well. "Well mom," he now said, "I am due some holiday, and so if Isabelle can arrange some time off, and more importantly a cat-sitter, then we will come and see you…" His voice trailed off as he saw who had just walked into the room and he paled.

"Are you alright, Julian?" asked a concerned Isabelle.

"No, not really. You see, most of the world thinks that my mom is dead, including the lady that has just walked in. I have no idea what she is doing here, but she is…"

Isabelle spun round to see who he was referring to, and then turned back, every bit as pale as her boyfriend. "Why on earth is Nick's mother even here tonight?" she whispered.

"I have no idea," said Julian, turning back to his curious mother. "Mom, that lady there is the campaign manager for a woman called Sue Sylvester in the upcoming elections. Dad is the campaign manager for her opponent, who just happens to be that lady's ex-husband. If she discovers who you are, then she will probably tell Sue, and she might expose the whole thing to try and smear Mr Duval by association."

"So if anyone asks who I am, then tell them I am your aunt by marriage; Eloise's sister. We have done that before now my dear, trust me. I will let her know, but in the meantime, someone should inform your half-brother that he has an aunt…"

Julian nodded, and taking out his phone, composed a quick text message to his brother, telling him to break a leg, and that by the way, if anyone asked, his maman had a sister, who had just happened to be visiting…

In the dressing room, the stress levels had started to build. Mason and Trent seemed quite calm, but that was largely due to the fact that they had swallowed a couple of herbal stress pills each. Nick was the one that had a sudden freak out, and was currently breathing in and out into a brown paper bag, whilst Jeff cooled his brow with a damp cloth. Thad was meditating in one corner, along with Ethan, Beats, Skylar and Seth; Mike was leading them in it, although he could feel his own stress levels building, and he wasn't even going on! David, Flint, Rory, Colin and Edward were in another corner, watching TV, and trying to pretend that the whole thing wasn't happening at all. Sebastian's phone buzzing made them all jump in the otherwise silent room. He grabbed his phone and read then incoming message, his brows furrowing as he tried to work out what Julian meant.

Jeff noticed, and asked, "Are you okay, Seb? It's not bad news, is it?"

"No blondie, I'm just wondering what the heck my brother means by something," came his reply, as Sebastian sent a querying reply to his brother out in the bar. The answer came back swiftly in the form of a photo, which made Sebastian gasp. "She's here! She told me she couldn't get a flight, but she's here! My maman is here!" he paused as he studied the picture more closely, ignoring the chorus of awws that echoed from around him. He couldn't tell anyone the identity of the woman sitting next to his own mother, but he could mention the woman in the background. "Okay, so now I can see that bizarrely, Nick's mom is also here…"

The brunet Warbler, who had just managed to put down the paper bag, grabbed it again, and started the breathing exercise once more, trying to calm down and control his new panic attack.

"I don't get it - why on earth would Mrs Duval be here?" said Trent, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

"That might be down to me," came a sheepish voice, "and she isn't the only parent or loved one that is actually here tonight…" All eyes turned to Ethan, wondering exactly what he meant… "I might have made a few phone calls; after all, this is a big deal guys! I knew that Sebastian had attempted to get his mother here to witness his starring moment, but that she couldn't get a flight. That made me sad, and so, for the first time in my life ever, I took advantage of my family connections to get a loan of the company jet, and arranged that it should go to Montreal to pick up your mother, Sebastian."

All eyes turned to look at Sebastian, and the younger man looked as if he was about to burst into tears. "So that's how she made it! God, Ethan, I don't know how I can ever repay you for this…"

"You don't have to; trust me, it's nothing Seb… The thing is, it is quite a big jet, and it seemed wasteful just to send it to pick up one person. So I thought to myself, who else would love to be here to see the moment that you guys take to the Broadway stage for, in most cases, the first and only time? So, as I said, I made a few phone calls. The first was to Roderick, who supplied me with a few numbers in Ohio. Mason, your sister and your parents are here…"

"Madison is here with mom and dad," whispered Mason. "That's scary, but wonderful too…"

"And Roderick organised things so that Jane is here too - and he asked me to sort out things so that two guys called Alistair and Spencer would be in the audience too…"

Mason just stared at Ethan, mouthing the words 'Thank you' whilst swiping at his moist eyes. Ethan needed no more thanks than that from the former New Direction, and he didn't mention the fact that one other person invited for Mason, Will Schuester, had been unable to accept. Ethan turned back to the others, and spoke again.

"Of course, as the plane was stopping in Ohio, it made a lot of sense to pick up a few other folks whilst it was there. So it brought the Carmichaels, Nick's mom and his grandparents, Jeff's parents…" - he paused and tried not to laugh as Jeff snatched the paper bag from his husband and took a few breaths from it himself - "and a few other assorted parents. It also made a second stop in Ohio to pick up your mom, Beats. Your dad couldn't get away to join her, but he does send you his love."

"My mom is out there? Like Mason said, that is scary but wond…" Beats stopped dead as Flint snatched the paper bag from Jeff and began to nearly hyperventilate into it. His best friend promptly hastened over to put an arm around his shoulders, and looked at Ethan in slight horror.

"There is no-one on there way here from Kansas, Flint. I would have invited your dad, but I knew there was no way he could get here without your mom, and she was a definite no. For similar reasons, I also did not include your mom, David." The latter smiled, grateful that she had not been included, given what he had to say later. "Of course, Flint, both Leo and Izzy are in the audience, so you do have someone in the crowd rooting for you."

"That isn't much better," said Flint, the bag now discarded, "but I guess that I can deal with them seeing me."

At that moment they all heard an announcement over the P.A. system that they had all known would come, but hadn't been looking forward to….

"Ten minutes to curtain; all cast in the opening scene to their places please."

There was a moment of silence, then Sebastian stood up, straightening his tie. "That's our cue, guys. We've got this thing. Let's go out there and sing and dance like we have never done before. This is for Dalton, and McKinley. This is for Wes, Blaine, Kurt and Finn. It's time for us to bring our unique and special talent to Broadway…"

They all filed out behind him, except for David, Jenny and Mike. "Do you really think that we can pull this off, Mike?" whispered David.

"If anyone can, it's you guys - but let's just cross our fingers and hope anyway, ok?" came his reply.