Affairs at a Chocolate Factory

Nick and Jeff returned to a New York that was basking in the heat of summer, and breathing a collective sigh of relief that the 'L' Train was once again rattling under the East River and across Manhattan. The traffic on 14th Street seemed to vanish almost at once as people headed once more into the subway, removing the cross town movements. Thanks to the efforts of Mr Byford and his team of staff, including Flint's cousin Leo, the line was now one of the best signalled in the city and as a result, much more frequent and reliable. This was a bonus for the four members of the group of friends that had been living temporarily in Manhattan, but now were able to return to the loft in Bushwick. How long they would be living there though was another question altogether. With Sam and Rachel now engaged, and both couples thinking of starting a family at some point in the future, sharing a big loft no longer seemed so ideal. With the real estate market now reverting back to normal as the transport situation did the same, they all agreed that there was no harm in getting a realtor in to value the place, just to see what it might fetch on the open market, and thus determine what they could afford in its place.

Rachel was determined that she was staying in the city, but had conceded that for her and Sam, Manhattan was not a feasible option. She had set her heart therefore on a place nearer the centre of Brooklyn, with good subway links, and ideally, a little bit of outside space. Sam agreed, but knew that the latter came at quite a premium in the neighbourhoods that his wife to be liked. Santana and Brittany were not as attached to the city as they might once have been; they had been invited out to Maplewood for lunch one day by Sebastian, and they had both promptly fallen just a little in love with suburban New Jersey. The homes there were reasonably spacious and sat in nice gardens; the shops were interesting and varied, and the whole atmosphere just seemed a little less rushed and a lot more quirky. The fact that they would know people that lived in the community was a big help. Although she did not say anything to anyone else, Santana had confided in Sebastian that she could actually see herself living there, and that if the valuation that came back was good, she would be all in favour of selling up in Bushwick…

As for Sam, he knew that it was easiest just to keep his own opinions to himself, and just agree with whatever Rachel said. It was a lot less stressful, and most of the time, she was actually right in whatever she did or said. Still, he did rebel from time to time, and was doing so at the moment; he had been keeping a big secret from his future bride for a few weeks. She had been so busy with her own preparations for the Brontë sisters musical that she had not noticed that he too had been out for long parts of the day, or would head upstairs to the otherwise empty house in Murray Hill to spend time with Cooper. All of the work that he had done had however paid off big time, and the subterfuge was about to come to an end when the world was given full disclosure as to what was going on.

With that looming, Sam knew he had to ensure that he told Rachel first, or he would never hear the end of it; in fact, if she found out about things by reading it in the media rather than from him, he expected she would wish to consciously uncouple with him… Getting her alone was no easy task though, and in the end he had to enlist the help of Cooper and Grace. The latter was now working from home, the commute to her office no longer practical or indeed desirable on the crowded subway or slow bus. When she was asked to host a farewell dinner for the couple downstairs she had bridled at first; then Cooper had told her enough to make her understand it was important to both him and Sam, and she had reluctantly agreed to the plan. It was Grace that invited Rachel at the two men's suggestion; given the effort that Grace implied had already been made in preparing the dinner, Rachel did not wish to decline the invite.

On that night in mid August, they made the usual polite small talk over the starters and the main, and then, prior to dessert being served, the wheels of the reveal were set into motion. "If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be in a musical on Broadway, I would have laughed myself silly at them; but now, as I am about to step out of the limelight for a while, I feel so conflicted," said Cooper. "Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to being a hands on father, but I will miss the greasepaint and of course, the adulation. Still, I have chosen a good time to go; they have pencilled in a closing date in January for the show."

"Yes, it is vital to know when to go," agreed Rachel. "I personally could have gone on in Funny Girl forever, but the audience was dropping away. Still, a set closing date must have made it hard to find someone to come in and take on your role."

"That is very true; in fact, had I not made my suggestion to them and asked them to consider a quite radical option, they might have been forced to close the show when I leave the role. Instead, they are bringing in a younger actor to play the lead; someone that has enjoyed great success and acclaim for their performance in an off Broadway show, but is now more than ready for their big break and the pressure of the great white way. We have been rehearsing the part together on and off for a while now, and he will bring a new vitality and a vibrant fresh interpretation to the part," replied Cooper with a smile.

"Well," said Rachel, "he is a lucky man to be inheriting the role from you. So, do I know him? Would I have heard his name?"

"Yeah, I think that you might have heard of him, and he has certainly heard of you," said Cooper in a coy voice. "I am just sorry that he was forced to lie to you for so long, but the directors were most insistent that we kept it close to our chests until now…"

Rachel stared at Cooper for a moment as the wheels spun inside her head, and then Sam sung the line "It must be believed to be seen…"

Grace, who until that point had been listening in silence, suddenly blurted out, "You mean that Sam…"

"Is the new Willy Wonka. The last of our little circle in the business of show is about to make his Broadway debut, and in a lead role. Let me tell you this; if you thought that I was good in the part, just wait until you see Sam. The audiences will love him…"

Rachel looked a little bit stunned at the news, at least to begin with. She was not used to people keeping secrets from her, in particular when the secret had been kept by the man that she wished to marry. Then again, she could understand why the directors' of the show had wished to keep the identity of Cooper's replacement a secret. Many would have anticipated a much bigger name, some time served Broadway star; she had heard a lot of gossip about it, with the name Christain Bore being mentioned, or even just the understudy taking over. The fact that they had chosen an untried new actor for the part was a massive risk, but she had faith in Sam; she knew he had the necessary inner child to make the part his own. There was an internal little boy in her fiancé, and that was to all intents and purposes what Willy Wonka was; a boy that had failed to grow up as much as he should have done…

"I shall have to ensure that I have a ticket for your first night, Sam," said Rachel with a smile. "If we are going to be Broadway's new power couple, then we will need to be seen together at all times, and support each other in everything."

Cooper smiled, then said, "Worry not on that score, I have already seen to that; in addition, I have requested a whole pile of tickets so that as many of your friends can come and see you as possible. On top of that, I have done something else that Sam is not aware of; I have arranged for the entire Evans family to come to the city on his big night so that they can see him perform as well." Sam let out a gasp at that, as he literally had no idea that was happening; no-one had mentioned it, and he had only been speaking to his mom that morning. "As for their accommodation, well my brother-in-law has helped me out on that score, not that Jeff knows why they are coming. All that you need to worry about Sam is wowing the audience, and that won't be any problem for you. In fact, the only complaints that I can see arising is that the show has been given a definite date of closure…"

Sam's news would spread like wildfire after that night. As Santana would later remark, the moment that Rachel knew something, she would wait only minutes before she would rush off to tell someone, in the loudest and most persistent voice possible. The secret had been so well kept that it was even news to Carmen Tibideaux; when she found out about Sam's good fortune, she had been overjoyed for him. She was also happy in the knowledge that when she finally got round to writing the memoirs she had intended to for years, she would be able to write a big section of it about the immense pool of talent that she had found in Ohio. She would be able to boast about the work of the five of them that had made it through NYADA and out into the world of performance. She still felt upset though that neither Kurt or Blaine had been given the opportunity to make it into the public eye, and there show the world the great talent that they had. However, she was also aware that had it not been for their untimely deaths, she would never have had the chance to witness Sam, Santana and Sebastian shine; after all, they had all come to her attention at the memorial service for poor Blaine. She wondered what the media would make with the story of those three…

One of the first people to actually call and congratulate Sam on the phone was Isabelle, who was now juggling motherhood and work in the way that they had all anticipated. She then requested an interview with him, but he declined to give her a solo one. Instead, he suggested that she could interview him alongside Sebastian and Santana, and then run a joint shoot with them all, possibly under the title of the 'Three S's from Ohio.' She had to admit that the idea of that was appealing, but she realised that she would be better to ask him to just run it by Rachel first and see what she thought. Then again, with the story of the musical about the Brontë sisters also likely to merit her attention, she could always ask Rachel for a separate interview of her own…

The last minute nature of the reveal did create one issue, and that was the fact that many people would struggle to be able to join Sam on his opening night. Some ended up cancelling long held plans, such as Artie, who threw all of his out to be their to support his friend. Puck requested leave on hearing, and was lucky to be granted even a 24 hour pass; it literally made it a case of heading to New York, going to the show, and then heading back to base first thing the next day. Quinn was too busy with work to be able to get the time, but she sent him all her love, and knew that Puck would be fine staying with Mike and Tina. It was also a busy time for Burt, but Rory made adjustments to his schedule, and there would be time for him and Carole to come and support the young man that they both thought of in so many ways as a son; for his part, the fact that Burt would be there was every bit as important to Sam as his own mom and dad attending when it came down to it.

Nick and Jeff could not come together, as finding a sitter they trusted would be nigh on impossible, so they had booked to go on separate nights; that fact was a reminder to them all of the joys that parenthood would bring with it. Ethan agreed to go with Nick on Sam's second night, whereas Luke and Duncan would go with Jeff on the opening one. As for the media, they were divided in their opinion in whether the show had done the right thing in choosing Sam to replace the legend that was now CJ Hummel-Warbler. All of them agreed on one thing; the proof of whether their choice had been correct or not would come on his first night. As far as Sam was concerned, that night was now coming along all too soon. It had not seemed such a daunting prospect to him when nobody else knew; now, with the weight of everyone's expectations upon him, and with Rachel constantly giving him advice that he neither needed or wanted half the time, he had moments that he wished he had never agreed to take the role. However, it was too late to turn back now; the whole thing was a done deal…

Then, before Sam knew it, it was Cooper's last night as Mr Wonka. For the latter, it was an evening that he approached with a degree of fear and trepidation. He had been performing almost every night for the last few years after all, either in impossibly high boots or engaged in steering a glass elevator, and the fact that he was effectively rendering himself unemployed as of the next day was actually a scary prospect; all the more so when he considered that his wife was expecting twins, and no longer went into the office. At the same time though, it was a comfort to him that he would be able to watch over her more closely than he could hope to when he had to go to work every night. He was worried about her as she neared the end of her pregnancy, and not without foundation; she was exhausted all the time, her bump was, quite frankly, enormous (although the thrill he felt each time he felt one of his children kick through it was one that would never grow old or be equalled elsewhere) and on top of that, she had now developed food cravings that were downright sickening. The strawberry jello, garlic sausage and blue cheese sandwiches had been bad enough, but when he had discovered her eating a dish of fried liver and pickled gherkins smothered in a caramel sauce…

Carole had reassured him that such bizarre cravings were quite normal, but the fact remained that it was frankly disgusting, and seeing her eating such things put him off his own food. As for Mason and Roderick, they had simply just stopped eating at home, not that either of them would call his house their home much longer. Mason had saved quite a bit of money from his wages in the show, and he and Jane had been able to use that as a deposit on a nice little place near Gramercy Park where the rent was within their budget; he was due to move there the day after Cooper's last show. As for Roderick, he had more or less moved in to the basement apartment, and had begun to quite like the notion of having a bachelor pad of his own. That meant that the nursery in the house upstairs was also ready, just waiting now for two new arrivals…

When Cooper left the house that day, Grace headed over to her desk, where she could look over her current case work. She might not have been able to get to the office, but that did not mean that the work stopped coming, and in any case, the client she was dealing with at the moment was a long established one. The divorce offer she was now sorting out was the fourth one, and it did meet the majority of her client's demands, and in some cases actually exceeded them. Her client had still been reluctant to accept it, but after a lot of talking, Grace had finally managed to convince her that any more delay and stalling would not be in her best interests. After all, her soon-to-be ex-husband was in no hurry to get a divorce, and could indeed still refuse to grant the divorce at all, as he had initially intended to do. Now the last of the documents had been prepared and then checked over by both lawyers, and all that was now needed were the signatures of the two parties. Satisfied that all was in order, Grace forwarded the file to Miss Pittman back at the office, and asked her to arrange for one of the other partners to supervise the signing.

With her last case now finished up, Grace sat for a moment and had to admit to herself that she felt a little bit lost. She was the kind of woman that liked to keep her brain active at all times after all, and the idea of sitting around doing nothing, or watching boxsets on Netflix, or even just reading a book did nothing for her. She had given up on her attempts to knit when she realised that Mason was better at it than her, and needlecraft was also out of the question. With a sigh, she decided that she could read one of the many books on parentcraft that she had purchased again. Her mother and grandmother had reassured her that when the time came, she would instinctively know what to do, but she didn't think a little help in the matter was a bad thing. She switched off her laptop, then slowly stood up; a task that had once been so simple now proved a little more challenging given her current size. Still, she thought, it will all be over in just a few more weeks. She spotted the book she wanted on the shelf under the table in the hall, and headed over to it. She bent down to lift it up, but as she did, she felt a sudden stabbing pain, which made her fall to her knees. She then realised with a slight horror that there was a lot of moisture as well as the pain; a pain that intensified when she tried to get up. A pain of the kind that her mother, mother-in-law and grandmother had all described…

The realisation that she was actually in labour frightened her for two reasons; first off, she was still not sure that she was ready to be a mom yet, and secondly, because she was alone in the house, she could barely move, and her cellphone was still on her desk, so tantalisingly close, but yet so far… She wished now that she had not rejected outright Cooper's suggestion of having one of those voice activate assistants in the house; had she not done so, she could have asked it to call 911, then Cooper, or even Pam, who was not that far away. She tried to move, but had barely crawled more than a few inches before she had to stop. There was no doubt now about the fact that she was having contractions….

She could quite easily have burst into tears at that point, and started to scream, had it suddenly not hit her; she had something better and more reliable than the Alexas of this world. She just had to decide who she would call, whether to go with logic or heart. For once in her life she chose the latter, and cried out a single word - "Blaine!" She paused, then tried to move again as the pain had subsided; all that did was succeed in bringing on another wave of pain. She groaned, then calmed a little as she felt the cooling draught of angel wings on her back…

"Hey, Gra… Oh my Lord, what's happened? Are you okay?" came Blaine's voice, clearly agitated at what he saw.

"Blaine, I need you to stay calm, but I am in labour; the babies are coming, and there is nobody here with me. Please could you go and get my phone from the desk, and I will dial 911 and get help."

Grace looked up then at her angelic brother-in-law, who remained standing where he was. "I am no expert on this, but I think it might well be too late for that," Blaine replied, which earned him a frustrated groan from Grace. "You and Coop aren't the only people that can read parenting manuals. I would say that the twins are in a hurry to get here, so we don't have a lot of time. And before you scream at me to get you your phone so you can dial 911, how are you proposing to let them into the house when they get here if you can't get to the door?"

Grace had to concede that her brother-in-law had a point as another sharp contraction wracked her body. The front door was securely locked, and she would have to open it to admit the emergency services; true, Blaine was corporeal and could do it for her, but then how could she explain that she could barely move, but had somehow managed to make it to the door, unlock it, and then had crawled back to the spot she was now in…

"Right, I am going to get you your phone, and you can call someone that either has a key, or knows how to get in," Blaine stated, as he headed over to her desk and lifted her phone, "and in the meantime, if things do come to a head, I guess that I could probably…" Blaine's voice tailed off as Grace grimaced again, and then took the phone as he proffered it to her.

"I don't want to call Coop, as he will just be about to head on to the stage; Pam doesn't have a key yet, and Nick hasn't got one either. Roderick, I am sorry, but by a process of elimination, it is going to be you."

As Grace dialled, Blaine tried to sense where the young man was, praying that he was not far away. It appeared that the young man was in the main public library on Fifth Avenue… "He is a good choice, Grace, but you will have to call Coop I am afraid. He will want to be here for the birth of his children," Blaine pointed out. "I can ask Kurt to go to him if you want, or I can go, and Kurt can come here."

Grace nodded as she waited for Roderick to answer; when he did, she did not let him speak. "Roderick, I need you to come home right now. I have collapsed in the hall; the twins are coming, and the front door is locked, and so I can't call 911 until someone comes to open the door…" His to her reply was short, and she hung up. Looking up, she saw that Blaine had gone, and Kurt was now standing there. "He went for Coop, didn't he? I think that he will have to hurry back here if he wants to see his children born…" Kurt nodded, then took Grace's hand. If he was honest, he was not looking forward to this at all…

As Roderick ran faster than he had done for years along the street from the library, Blaine was standing in his brother's dressing room, desperately trying to attract his attention, so that he would ask his two co-stars that were in there chatting with him to leave. His brother seemed oblivious however to the fact that he was there, and it was so tempting to start shouting at him, or flapping his wings like a madman, but the latter would attract far too much attention, and as for the former, Cooper might well ignore him. In the end, he decided that the only course of action was to stand between his brother and the other two, with his arms folded and a face which he hoped conveyed the sense of urgency he now felt.

Thankfully it did, and Cooper made a plausible excuse to shoo the others from the room, and then close the door firmly behind them. "That was more than a little bit rude, squirt," Cooper said as he turned to face Blaine again. "I would not have thought that such actions were permitted by the angelic code."

"They aren't, except in the case of a dire emergency. You cannot go on stage today, Coop. You need to go back home right now."

"Can't go on!? Blaine, this is Broadway, and it is my final show. I have no choice but to go on!"

"I think that this is an exception to that golden rule. Coop, at this moment, Grace is lying in the hallway; her waters have broken. You will potentially be a daddy within the next few minutes. If you want to be there at the birth of your children, you need to leave right now."

His brother stared at him open mouthed, then said, "Grace is in labour!? But that is next month!"

"It happens, Coop. I was early, and so where you. I asked mom once and she told me. It runs in the family. You really do need to go now, or you will miss out…"

"Okay," said Cooper, heading for the door, but then… "Oh Lord, the show! I can't leave!"

"You can; Sam is here, isn't he? You run and get home, and I will go and break it to him that his first night is going to be a little earlier than he anticipated." Cooper nodded, then grabbing his coat, headed out of the stage door at a run in full costume. As he did so, he realised that he probably should have told the director what was going on first. It was too late for that now though; a phone call would have to suffice…

By the time that he made that call, dressed as Willy Wonka, in the back of a yellow cab, whose driver had been bemused by the whole thing until Cooper had told him why he needed to be in Murray Hill yesterday, an equally shell-shocked Sam had made his way to the now vacated dressing room. With a hand that refused to stop trembling, he attempted to start applying his make up for the show; a show which had just rung its bell for ten minutes until curtain. He had been calm until Blaine had arrived; having listened to what he had to say, he had promptly thrown up, his nerves all jangling at the sudden nature of events…

By the time that the door to the dressing room flew open to reveal a harried looking director and a wardrobe assistant clutching Sam's costume for his first scene, he had managed to apply the first layers of make up, and his breathing had finally returned to almost normal. "Thank goodness that you were here, Mr Evans," the director said, all the time silently cursing the way nature could pull man's plans to shreds. "Okay, so I will get someone to come in and help you finish your make up; you'd best get into costume now. We have just over ten minutes until your need to be on stage. At least the rest of the cast know what is going on, but the audience don't… It will be okay; you are more than capable of doing this…." Sam nodded, and could only cross his fingers and pray that the man was correct in his assumptions…