Chapter 1: Going Home

New York City, Friday morning, 6:30 AM

Rachel and Finn grabbed their bags and ran out the door of their Upper East Side apartment in New York City. Rachel had managed to take a week out of her busy schedule on Broadway as Maria in the most recent revival of West Side Story, and they were going home to reunite with their former Glee club members after 15 years apart since graduation.

Neither of them could wait.

-.-.-

A few buildings away, Kurt was shaking Sam awake. "Come on, love! We gotta go!"

The tall blonde had fallen asleep getting his bags together. "Seriously?" Kurt demanded. "How do you fall asleep while you're walking?"

Sam woke with a start, and said, "I'm sorry, babe... I'm just jet lagged again." Sam flew out to see Kurt as often as he could, from his home in California. It sucked that they couldn't just live together, but Sam was a surfing instructor in Malibu, and Kurt couldn't just up and leave New York City, when he was starring as Mark in a revival of RENT.

"Well, we've gotta go catch our flight to Ohio... Nowish," Kurt said, in full-on diva mode.

Standing up and giving Kurt a kiss on the cheek, Sam laughed out loud. "You're such a drama queen."

-.-.-

Dayton, Ohio, Friday afternoon, 4:00 pm

Quinn locked the door to her office at Stivers School for the Arts. It had been a long and stressful day for the guidance counselor, but she loved her job. She stretched her back and rolled her neck from side to side trying to relieve some of the stiffness in her bones. This afternoon, she'd be going home for a visit to Lima, about 60 miles from Dayton.

"Hi, honey... You ready to go?"

Quinn smiled up at her fiance, Jason, who taught theatre at the school. "Yes! Definitely."

The two of them walked out to their respective cars. Jason had to come back a bit early from Lima for a rehearsal, but Quinn was staying the whole weekend. As Quinn cranked her car, she took a deep breath. This was going to be interesting. It had been so long since she'd seen the whole group together, and she wasn't sure what to expect.

-.-.-

Lima, Ohio, Friday Afternoon, approx. 4:45 pm

Mercedes had just returned from a day of recording, working on a demo for another round with the record companies. She'd been working hard, and this one was better than ever. At the moment, she was a manager of a great new clothing store in the mall, but music was still her love and passion, and she couldn't wait to reunite with the ones she'd shared it with many years ago. And that was why she was driving like crazy to McKinley High.

-.-.-

Tina and Mike locked up the dance studio they co-owned, and hopped into Tina's car to head over to McKinley High. They were running late, and still had to stop along the way to pick up Artie, whom Tina had been dating for a while. They hoped they'd make it in time to surprise Mr. Schue.

-.-.-

Santana pulled her car into the visitor parking lot at McKinley, The school was more or less empty, save for a few members of the office staff and the cars of the Glee club members. "I can't believe we're really here..." her girlfriend Brittany said from the passenger's seat. "Mr. Schue's gonna flip."

"Britt..." Santana said, glancing at the blonde in mild annoyance. "We work here. We were just here a few hours ago."

"Oh, yeah..." she replied. It was true. Santana had taken over as cheerleading coach when Sue Sylvester had retired the previous spring, and Brittany was a receptionist at the front desk.

The two women climbed out of the car and went inside.

-.-.-

Puck almost hadn't come at all. Sure he missed the glee club. But something about Lima always reminded him that there was one thing he'd left behind there that he never should've let go. High school had been a crazy time for him, and now that he was pretty well removed from it, he wasn't sure what was making him come back.

He told himself it was to see his old friends... Finn and Artie and the other guys... and Mr. Schue, the closest thing he'd had to a father.

But the truth was, Puck still loved Quinn Fabray. And he wondered if maybe, just maybe... there was a chance she still loved him, too.