Disclamier: Glee, and it's characters are property of Fox. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental

Constructive Criticism is appreciated, whinny babies will be ignored. This my first fan fiction that I'm using to work out my writers block so I can get back to writing the stuff that pays the bills.


Chapter 3

Unwritten

As I sat on the back deck of Rachel's house sipping my first cup of coffee. I thought of the Scottish poet Robert Burns and a paraphrase of his words, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. His words were never more appropriate than this morning. April and I gaining custody of Rachel definitely sent the first version of my plan to get Will Shuester crashing and burning. Now in my head I was on rewrite number three and still couldn't figure out how to make everything happen without bringing Rachel in on the plan much earlier. This meant being honest with Rachel about the conversation I had with Shelby the day before and eventually the conversations I had with Quinn while she was pregnant. Now I'm not a monster, I'm not going to out someone, but when Quinn is crying on my shoulder about how horrible she felt about bullying Rachael, as often as Rachel is crying on my shoulder about the horrible treatment she receives from the Unholy Trinity, specifically the HBIC, something has to give.

About that time I hear Rachel stirring inside the house. I walk inside and pour Rachel a cup of coffee and provide myself with a refill as well. "April made some vegan raspberry waffles before she left for work this morning. They're in the oven staying warm." Rachel just nods and retrieves the plate of waffles from the oven. "Ms. Ocean," she begins but I cut her off. "Rahel this isn't going to work if you keep calling me Ms. Ocean. I told you last night to call me Pam." Rachel actually smiles and begins again, "Pam I know this arrangement is inconvenient for both you and your wife. So if you need to you can always just leave me alone here and I can call if I need anything. My fathers would leave me alone for days at a time when they were on business trips." "Nope!" I say making a point to pop the "p". "We, April and I are not going to leave you alone like a neighbor asked to watch their pet while they are out of town. Hiram might not have asked us if we would take this responsibility on but hell be damned if we are not going to do our very best to be…" I was trying not to say the word parent. "To be who you need at this point in your life."

Changing the subject, "Today's Thursday, you have a dance class this afternoon don't you?" Rachel responded to me in the affirmative. "Isn't Brittany in that class with you?" Rachel actually smiled again and replied, "Yes she is. She is so amazing and when it's just her, I actually like spending time with her." I smiled saying, "Yeah, she is special. I started tutoring her this past year. You would not believe how smart she really is. She finished the school year with a solid B average." Rachel was stunned, "Really, she always seems" I stop here before she can finish. "Rachel, it's not my place to tell you why or how. Talk to Brittany, I'm sure she would be more than happy to tell you all about it, plus I think she might really want to be your friend somewhere besides dance and gymnastics classes." Rachel looks thoughtful for a few moments so I continue on, "I have to run to the school for a meeting this morning plus I have some errands to run. So when you get finished with dance class come on down to our house and have dinner with April and I. I"ll make my portobello fajitas and even pick up vegan tortillas for you." Rachel just replied in the affirmative and finished her waffles and cleaned up the kitchen.

I honestly felt horrible leaving Rachel alone but I needed to have my conversation with Sue and I also needed to have my weekly meeting with Brittany, Quinn, and David. Yeah, I know I'm too nice and have an overdeveloped sense of empathy. Like I said, I somehow developed a soft spot for them and couldn't just let them drown in a sea of apathy.

An hour later I was walking through the doors of McKinley heading to Sue's office. I was seriously wondering why we couldn't meet at the Lima Bean or anywhere other than here. I finally make it to Sue's office and knock on the door frame before just walking in. "Shakesphere in the park you're on time good," Sue begins. I don't know what she has against using people's names. "So what can I do for the McKinley's resident criminal?" With pronouncement I narrowed my eyes and spoke for the first time. "I get the Shakesphere in the park reference considering I teach English but what makes you think I'm a criminal?" Sue smirks and sits back in her chair and says, "I do my homework grammar queen. Do you think I just let anyone into this school?" With this pronouncement I see my opening. "Then why is that waste of space Will Shuester still here?" "Ah, going to get straight to the point then," replies Sue. "Well, you opened the door and I hate long conversations when short ones work. So?" I volley the ball back to her. Sue leans forward on her arms and begins, "I have never liked jheri curl. That's no secret but I haven't destroyed him yet because I didn't want the kids to suffer. Especially Rachel." "Well, you should know my wife and I have custody of Rachel now," I reply. "Oh really when did that happen?" Sue inquires. "Yesterday, Hiram's lawyer dropped off the custody papers at the police station for my wife. I'm guessing because she wouldn't throw a fit at work. Leroy died in a mugging in New York last week and after the funeral Hiram just walked out. I saw him packing his car Tuesday morning when I was leaving to head to Cleveland for a meeting." "So I guess you as the resident criminal mastermind have a plan to get rid of Shue?" questioned Sue. "Yes, I have a plan but it is going to take a select team working with precision and coordination to pull it off and make Shuester smell like the pile of crap he is and not draw attention to us." Sue just motions for me to continue so I do. "It breaks down this way, it's a team of eleven plus myself. 5 adults on the inside plus myself. You, me, my friend Holly, a replacement Spanish teacher, a new glee coach. The rest of the team is students who will also be the foundation for a new show choir to compete against Shuester and Nude Erections. You're an extra set of eyes and ears, along with being a pain in Shuesters ass. I'm having to scale back my part in this whole thing because I was tapped to be on the National Show choir board along with being on the Ohio regional board so I can't touch whole pieces of this anymore." Sue smiled and began talking, "I bet that just pissed you off, but who is the replacement Spanish teacher and the new show choir director?" "I can't speak about the Spanish Teacher yet because I haven't asked him and there are some logistics I have to deal with concerning the glee coach. As far as being pissed about not being able to take a more active role, no. My Uncle always taught me not to take things personally on a job." "You're asking Rachel's Bio mom to be the new glee coach?" Sue spit out before I had even a chance to take a breath. "How did you guess?" Sue smirked again, "I have a great deal of this school wired for video and sound so I saw the video of the conversation Will had with Streisand Sr. It pissed me off but again I had to see if you were going to step up." "Well you having the school wired for video and sound makes Holly's job easier. She can just tap into your feeds." Sue put a scowl on her face and asked why? "I need video evidence of Shuester breaking the state board of education code of educator conduct if we want to make him go away for good. Otherwise the district might find an office job to hide him in for a little while and then put him back out in a school as a teacher." Sue nods, "Smart, you're more than a sappy English teacher Ocean!" "So now that I have shared my plans with you, are you in or do I need to make you disappear?" I say with both wit and seriousness in my voice. Says she is in and then tells me to get the hell out of my office so I get up and leave with plenty of time left to make it to the park to run with Quinn.

After I go home to change I make it to the park with ten minutes to spare and start stretching. After Quinn had Beth she has been working like a maniac to get her pre-baby body back and it's nearly killing me, but running with her is one of the few ways I can keep her from throwing all of her walls back up.

Quinn pulls me out of my inner musing as she announces her pre "Hey Ms. Ocean, ready for a run." "Let's do this," I say as I finish stretching. After about an hour of us running, making chit chat. We started cooling down and I decided to rip the band-aid off. "Quinn, I need to talk to you about a couple things. Now please just hold all your questions until I finish because I bet I will answer most of your questions if you just wait." She just nods her head and stops to focus on me. So I go on to tell her about Rachel and one dad dying and the other running out on her and April and I becoming her guardians. I tell her about the conversation I had with Shelby and about seeing Beth, with that I actually saw tears escaping her eyes. I told her about what Will said to her and some of the other horrible things Shuester was capable of doing and then I hit her with the hard questions. "So Quinn, knowing all of this how do you feel, are you willing to help me take Shuester down, and finally are you going to be able to deal with Shelby living in Lima with Beth."

I can't read the emotions on Quinn's face as she considers everything I have told her and I'm afraid she is closing herself off again. Finally speaking she answers me in reverse order, "I think I will be ok with Shelby and Beth being in town because nothing has changed. I can't take care of Beth, and she is much better off with Shelby, plus I know you will be here to help reign in my crazy if need be. Of course I will help you take Shuester down after what he did. I always just thought he was a bit goofy and a bad teacher but now I'm concerned. As far as how I feel my heart hurts for Rachel, I'm glad you're there for her but I want to be there as well but after how horrible I've been to her these past couple years there is no way she would let me close to her and that hurts me even more considering my feelings for her. It's like everytime I think about Rachel and the pain I caused her I hurt more with every thought."

"I'm going to stop you right there Quinn, I know how horrible you feel for the way you treated Rachel. We've talked about it multiple times and like I've said before, if you just talk to her, she will forgive you. Trust me!"

"I'm going to try Ms. Ocean", Quinn says, giving me a half smile. "Oh, mom wanted me to ask if you were alright. She said she didn't see you Tuesday night and was worried. I didn't even know you knew each other." I smiled and decided to share part of my story with Quinn. "Yeah, Judy and I usually see each other every Tuesday night at Alcoholics Anonymous." Quinn looked shocked, "Mom is in AA?" "Yeah, she is really trying to get things right this time with you, Quinn," I say, wrapping Quinn in a hug. "Oh by the way she has asked me several times if you have come out to me." I feel Quinn trying to pull away at this proclamation but I hold her in place. "I didn't tell her anything but she did tell me that she suspected and only wanted to see you happy. I then told her that she might want to come out to you first." Quinn again pulls away but this time to look in my eyes. "What?" This time I laugh and say, "Just tell your Mom I'm fine and was just out of town Tuesday night and try talking to her. You might learn something." I finally release Quinn and grab my water bottle as I say, "I wish I could spend all day with you but I have a couple of other meetings to get to and I stink. So I need to go shower."

An hour later I walked into the Lima Bean, which passed for a coffee shop in this town. What I wouldn't give for a Starbucks. No sooner than I walked in I saw the enthusiastic wave of Brittany Pearce. Brittany was one of the very few bright spots from this past year. Helping go from being a 'C-D' student to an 'A-B' student was worth all the other shit I put up with in that school this past year. I really looked forward to her being in my AP English class this coming year. I also looked forward to the kick-ass dance routines that she would choreograph for us this coming year as well. After getting my usual, large Chai Latte, I pulled up the seat across from Brittany and she was the first to speak, "Ms. Ocean, What's wrong?" "What makes you think something's wrong," I reply. "I know you and that is your worried smile," Brittany informs me. I don't know why I tried to hide with her. She has like this sixth sense when it comes to people. So, I admit she was right and tell her everything that has happened, with Rachel, the plan to get Shuester and with Quinn. Brittany takes a sip of her drink and starts talking like can be prone to, "Well you know Quinn is a pressed lemon for Rachel. She has been since freshman orientation two years ago and Quinn isn't going to get over it until she is honest with the girl. Shelby is a surprise but I knew something wasn't right with the way she broke Rachie's heart, it was too staged and knowing Shue was the reason explains a lot." I look over the top of my cup and then sit it down and begin, "Now Brittany I know you have dance class with Rachel this afternoon so you can't tell her any of this. Just be her friend and do that crazy reading people thing you do. She is going to need you and the others now more than ever." "I know, Ms. Ocean, Rachie is just hard to read. It's that damn show smile of hers." "Well just let what I've told you be kind of like a look behind the mask ok." "OK!"

Changing the subject I start asking Brittany about Santana. "She is so frustrating. I know she loves me but she refuses to share her emotions with me. She actually said that 'she was like a lizard and needed something warm underneath her so her food could digest' or some crap like that to get out of cuddling with me after we had sweet lady kisses." I could see the anger on her face as she spoke. "Brittany, I've told you, I don't need to hear about your sex life with Santana. I've also told you that her being Latina is going to make it hard to come out especially with her Abuela in her life as much as she is." I lay my hand on hers and reassure her, "Give her time she will come around." Brittany smiles at me, gets up and gives me a big hug. "Thank you Ms. Ocean, you always make me feel better." We talk for a while longer before we both walk out to our cars and say goodbye.

On the drive back to my house I called Noah Puckerman, "Noah, leave the MILF you're eye fucking alone and tell me you're available for a pool cleaning this afternoon." "Yes Ma'am for you I'm always available. I can be there at 6." I am frustrated at the mohawk wearing teen so my words relate that to him. "Two late I need you here in an hour, besides needing my pool cleaned, we need to have a talk." "Yes Ma'am I will be there in an hour." I heard him get serious with his last words. I'm still going to hit him upside the back of his head. I've told him a hundred times to leave the women he cleans pools for alone.

When Puck arrived at my house I met him in the backyard by the pool. "Ms. O, your pool doesn't need cleaning," he says, staring at the pristine pool. "It's a miracle," I say as I hand him 80 dollars. "Now that you don't have any work to do then you can sit down and listen to me. I then lit into him about leaving the MILF's alone and focusing on school. I then told him about Rachel, Quinn, and finally Shelby coming back with Beth. I waited to the end to tell him about Beth because if I started with that he wouldn't have been able to focus. I have never seen him as upset as he did the day at school when he came to talk to me about giving Beth up for adoption. After our talk he promised her had his Jewish American Princess' back and would be there for her every step of the way. He also was way on board with the plan, which I had started referring to as Goodbye Will in homage to the Dixie Chicks song "Goodbye Earl."

It was nearly six o'clock when April and Rachel both walked in together. "It's about time you two, I was about to call the cops but then I remember they work for you." April just smiles as she heads to get out of her uniform. "So what's your excuse Rachel, your dance class ended over an hour," I asked. "Brittany and I sat around talking and crying. I don't know how she does it but she knew there was something bothering me. We talked through everything and I can honestly say that I think we are starting to become friends." I smiled at her and said, "I'm glad to hear that. You need some decent friends your own age." Rachel smiled and said, "That's funny. Brittany said I won the lottery with you becoming my guardian. You two must be pretty close." "Well, I tutored her," I said as I brought dinner to the table. "After dinner, can we sit and talk? I wanted to finish the conversation we had last night specifically about your bio-mom." Rachel looks at me with a questioning look. "After dinner, Rach.", I say, patting her hand.

"Pamela, dinner was amazing. I can't believe you cooked vegan for me and made April eat it too." Rachel said. "Rachel, I am proud of you. You called me Pamela, that's a big improvement of Ms. Ocean," I say as I get comfortable on the couch. "Well, I have considered the situation and if you're going to be my guardian then we may as well stop being as formal at least when we are home." I smile at her and then I delve into the situation with Shelby. As I first start she seems put out and angry, but as I tell her the details, she starts to cry and realizes that she had totally misjudged Shelby. Amazingly Rachel was also ok with the plan Goodbye Will. April walked Rachel back to her house and said she would stay the night with her there to make me feel better since Rachel turned down our spare bedroom. As soon as the door shut I picked up my phone and called Shelby.

"Pam, good evening. I'm surprised to be hearing from you so soon."

"Shelby, I just got through speaking with Rachel and she is in and wants the opportunity to try again with you, but I promise if you even cause her to cry anything but tears of joy, they won't ever find your body." I went on to tell her everything that I found out since our conversation the day before. You could tell that she was trying to choke back tears as she said she would make plans to be there as soon as possible if for no other reason than to be with Rachel. We said good night and hung up.

I then headed to bed. As productive as the day had been. I was also emotionally spent and after the day I had I wanted a drink but I wasn't going to jeopardize my nearly five years of sobriety.