Author's Note: And the final part! I thought this would be an interesting epilogue and these things happen at the end of, say, movies, so this is my extended version of those...endings lol. Lots of marriage, haha! This story has been pretty fun to write and I hope it was fun to read! Thanks to everyone who has faithfully reviewed and thanks to all those added it to favorites! :)
Part 15: And What Happened Next...
Schue/Sue
Though they had not interacted at prom, but a little, the Schue and Sue continued to have mostly volatile confrontations at school, even after the original members of William Schuester's reinvented glee club graduated and moved on to, in some cases, bigger and better things. The high point of their relationship came four years after the prom for which they had been paired by an internet survey.
One night, after a field trip in Vegas, where both Cheerios and gleeks alike congregated for the purpose of a high school performer's conference, the two got in a rather heated argument then woke up the next morning, in the same bed and married.
The marriage was annulled two days later.
Tina/Kurt
"You're not wearing that, are you?" Kurt asked, sniffing the air in an offended manner as Tina spun around, showing him her graduation dress.
Huffing, Tina placed a hand on her hip. "And what is wrong with it?"
Hearing her angry tone and ignoring it, as he often did, Kurt shrugged. "The purple one looked better."
"But I didn't LIKE the purple one!" she yelled.
Rolling his eyes, Kurt muttered, "Fine."
The short conversation was just an example of their friendship, a friendship that continued for many years in the same manner, Kurt being one of the rare people who didn't react when Tina's sometimes misplaced temper raged for a reason or none at all.
They ended up being a cat lady and man years later, even though he was a star of Broadway and she an elementary school teacher. Even though their lives weren't what they thought they'd be, they were really happy.
Mike/Penelope
Because of Mike, Penelope ended up joining glee club her senior year and even beating Rachel out for the solo in the regional's competition. She asked Mike to be her date to the Homecoming dance but, due to heartbreak over Tina, he opted to stay home and eat chocolate ice cream. After this, they didn't speak much until years later, at the ten year high school reunion. They introduced each other to spouses and her little two year old boy and his little one year old girl.
Twenty five years later, the two families came together to watch their children be joined together in holy matrimony.
Mercedes/Matt
"Hey bff, what's going on? I'm chilling. Well not chilling as much as stressing out over finals."
"Finals here too. Video chat tonight?"
"It is Friday…"
"Yup ;)"
Every Friday, starting the Friday after the prom, Matt and Mercedes used their webcam's to video chat, getting to know one another better than anyone had before, though Matt never did let slip that Quinn was the reason he had shown up to prom that night. Their friendship continued through college and well into their thirties, when Mercedes got engaged to the man of her dreams.
"Finally found the one," she texted Matt, not five minutes after the question had been popped. "Going to get married!"
"That's great Mer-Mer!"
Although Mercedes had always wanted a traditional wedding, she broke tradition in order to make Matt her Man of Honor.
And when the glowing couple said, "I do," Matt was probably crying.
Brittany/Santana
When Santana got pregnant in the middle of her junior year of college and the father skipped out on her, she felt so alone. Thinking she didn't really have any other viable options, she ended up dropping out and moving back to Lima. Her parents weren't too happy about the situation but they would never reject her so she ended up living with them for two months. But when Brittany suggested the two of them moving out of their parents houses and living together, Santana readily agreed.
"Are you going to have a kitten?" Brittany asked, as the two girls stared, in awe, at the picture from Santana's first ultrasound.
"What?" Santana scrunched up her brow and looked at her friend curiously. Brittany may not have been the brightest person ever but even she knew that people gave birth to people and not animals.
"Because Alex," she went on, speaking of the father of Santana's baby, whom Brittany had only seen one picture of. "Looks like a cat."
Bursting into laughter, Santana had to agree that Alex did, indeed, look like a cat.
Seven months later, Cassandra Rainbow Lopez was brought into the world, crying with a full set of healthy lungs. Brittany and Santana raised her together, balancing each other out as parents, since Santana could sometimes be too hard edged while Brittany could be too lax. Men came and went throughout the years but the best friends always had each other and, of course, little Cassandra.
Finn/Sam
On a bright, sunny day, Sam stood at the altar, across from the woman who was about to exchange vows with him. He smiled when she did, a huge toothy grin that split his face.
"…speak now or forever hold your peace," the priest was saying. After a few moments of silence, he started to move on to the next portion of the ceremony. He had barely gotten any words out when the back doors crashed open and a very tall man galloped through them.
"Wait, wait!" he cried, hurrying to the altar.
"You know of a reason these two should not be joined in holy matrimony?" the priest queried, looking at the man over the tip of his nose.
"What?"
Seeing the confusion on his friend's face, Sam clapped him on the back. "Just say no, Finn." Before Finn could ask what drugs had to do with anything, Sam quickly commented, "You're late."
"Dude," Finn whispered, embarrassed at the way everyone was staring at him. "I lost the invitation…"
Holding in a laugh, Sam pointed to the best man position. "That's okay. You're allowed to stay."
"Oh, cool," Finn replied, letting out a breath of relief at the same time.
Glancing at his soon to be wife, chuckling at the good natured way she rolled her eyes at Finn, Sam nodded. "Let's do this?"
Giggling, the almost Mrs. Evans signaled for the priest, who did not look amused, to start again.
Sam wasn't surprised when, as he kissed her minutes later, Finn let out a giant whoop and, once the kiss was threw, practically tackled them to the ground, but not quite, in a huge hug.
Puck/Rachel
Two months after prom, Puck and Rachel broke up. Five months after that, they got back together again. Three weeks after that, they broke up again. This pattern continued for years, the two becoming the poster on again, off again relationship. After some consideration, at the age of thirty five, Rachel decided to end their relationship once and for all, especially since her Noah couldn't make any kind of promise of a lasting commitment to her. They both went their separates ways, eventually finding love with others.
On her thirty eighth birthday, Rachel was not thinking about Puck nor about their failed relationship, as she readied herself for the birthday dinner her boyfriend of two years had organized.
She had met him after her fifth stage performance of Wicked and there had been an almost instantaneous connection though it lacked the amount of chemistry she had had with Puck. However, Rachel understood that that particular kind of chemistry did not happen often.
Thoughts still not centered on her past love, she put one long, black dangling earring into place and began to reach for the other when the doorbell rang. Knowing her boyfriend wouldn't be so early, Rachel, frowning, went to answer. She was more than a little surprised to find Noah Puckerman standing there, hands shoved in pockets. Upon seeing her, his eyes lit up, despite the fact that she was still in her sweats, had no make up on and only one earring in.
"Rach…" For a second he appeared uncertain how to continue. Then, surprising her much more than just a little, he dropped to one knee, the question in his eyes easy to read.
Without hesitating, she threw herself into his arms, a yes, in the form of a squeal, exiting from her lips.
After that, their relationship was always "on again."
Quinn/Artie
Their first official date was on July 4. Under the fireworks, they shared a bowl of popcorn and a basket of strawberries and, when the moment was right, a kiss.
When they pulled away from the kiss, Quinn's teeth tugged on her bottom lip and Artie let out a sigh, involuntarily.
Hearing it, Quinn grinned. "That good, huh?"
Noticing the smirk on her face, Artie shrugged. "It was a'ight."
With a roll of her eyes, Quinn slightly pushed on his shoulder. "Admit it."
Leaning back on his elbows, Artie turned his gaze from her to the skies above, the fireworks reflecting in his blue orbs. "Admit what?"
Scooting herself across the soft green blanket, she whispered into his ear, "That it was the best kiss of your life."
Shifting, he let his eyes flick to her face, hovering close to his, for a second. "Was it that for you?"
Lowering her mouth back to his ear, her breath hot, she murmured, "It was."
"Hmm…" Arching an eyebrow, Artie turned his head so that their lips were almost touching. "Then we should definitely do it again."
"I agree," she replied, closing the distance between them.
The remainder of the fireworks show, all fifteen minutes of it, went by much too quickly for the two, who were not paying any attention to it.
After that, there were many more dates, accompanied by sweet moments, angst-ridden moments, almost break ups and make ups that were, as Artie put it, "epically hot," which always made Quinn laugh and want to kiss him.
On graduation day, Artie, the salutatorian for the class of 2012, to Rachel's valedictorian, a title Artie wasn't sure how he had received, Artie gave a small speech, especially compared to Rachel's twenty minute one, that focused a lot on progress and technology.
"Progress and technology are the cornerstones upon which are society has become grounded. Without progress and technology, what could we accomplish? We couldn't get twitter updates about our friend's favorite bands or tweets that crush us when it becomes aware that our favorite show is teetering on the edge of getting canceled. We wouldn't be able to comment on a facebook status that declares, stupidly, that the Star Wars prequel trilogy is better than the original trilogy. But most of all, without progress and technology many of us would never find that one person for us, the one person we know we want to spend the rest of our lives with. And I'm not talking about eHarmony here but, rather, a survey two people who didn't know each other very well filled out over a year ago that led to something great." Spinning around, so that his back was toward the audience, Artie's eyes met Quinn's, whose laughter had ceased and who was now staring at him, mouth agape. "You might be wondering what any of this has to do with us graduating. It does, to an extent, because we will all be dealing with progress and technology as we venture forth in life but, really, I just wanted to use it as a call back to what brought Quinn and I together. And I wanted to use it as an excuse to ask her something. I know we're young but I don't care. I love you, Quinn. And I know we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. So will you marry me?"
Other than rapidly swallowing, Quinn froze. A sharp edged elbow to her ribs, courtesy of Santana, caused her to spring into action. Leaping to her feet, Quinn said yes, far too quietly for Artie to hear, then dashed onto the stage, throwing her arms around Artie and peppering his faces with kisses.
"Is that a yes, woman?"
Settling in his lap, she nodded sharply. "Fo sho, Artie-fresh, fo sho."
When they got married, two years later, the theme for their wedding, one that was partly tongue in cheek, was progress and technology.
The facebook invitation that was sent to the friends and family who had it read:
You are cordially invited to the wedding of
Quinn Fabray and Artie Abrams
Who were brought together by progress and technology
Though both believe that fate played a hand
And really, it was impossible to deny.
Will you attend? Yes No Maybe