Started my daily ficlets to make the
hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a
second cycle, and then a
third cycle Now here comes cycle 4! :D
Had the idea for this seven part series a few weeks ago, got all excited, and now here it is :D The whole thing will come to make new sense in the end ;)
Today: The Cell Block Tango Set: Part 7 of 7: Cell Block Tango [Girls, A/T, M/B, F/R, P/Q]
"CELL BLOCK TANGO"
Girls, Will, Emma, W/E, A/T, M/B, F/R, P/Q
A/N: There's a part - I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding which one - I can only hope is spelled correctly, got the lyrics off the internet...
Will had been sensing something brewing for a few days already, but it hadn’t gotten to the point where he felt he really needed to intervene. That had finally come one afternoon, when he’d arrived in the room, ready for Glee practice, and had found his group splintered. The girls were all sitting on one end, while the boys had been made to sit on the other.
He’d tried to get them moving. He’d called for Finn and Rachel to come up… Rachel had mumbled some excuse and suggested Will pair him with another. Already he could tell something was off. None of the girls seemed willing to move, as though whatever bad feelings they had going on for the boys had fused into one entity, unwilling to cooperate.
“Look, I’m not going to force you to speak up if you don’t want to, but whatever it is you’ve got going on, you need to find a way and just work through it, alright?”
There were many reasons for which Will was glad that Emma had gone back on her decision to quit her job at McKinley, but the main one he was glad for in this situation was her dedication to the students, and how supportive she was to Glee Club. When he’d told her about what was happening, with the girls, she’d been right on her game, and she’d suggested that he send them her way.
She’d made the arrangements, excusing them from class the next day so that they could come by her office. Six chairs were lined by Emma’s door. As they were sent from their classes, they came and took their seats. The halls cleared of noise makers, all of them off in their classes, there was complete silence.
The six had come to tell their tales of woe to the willing ear of Miss Pillsbury, and from each of them could ring the voice of a merry murderess. Somewhere in their mind, the beat existed, and they found it.
Tina started it. “Pop.”
So did Santana. “Six.”
“Squish,” Mercedes joined.
And Brittany… “Uh-Uh.”
“Cicero,” came Rachel.
And Quinn closed. “Lipschitz.” It carried on three times over before they united.
[ALL SIX] “He had it coming / He had it coming / He only had himself to blame / If you'd have been there / If you'd have seen it…”
[R] “I betcha you would have done the same!”
Rachel looked over just as Emma could be seen coming up the hall. The others turned to watch her come as well.
“Pop.” / “Six.” / “Squish.” / “Uh-uh.” / “Cicero.” / “Lipschitz.”
Emma retreated into her office a moment before she would start to call them in.
“Pop.” / “Six.” / “Squish.” / “Uh-uh.” / “Cicero.” / “Lipschitz.”
The door opened and Emma looked out at the six. “Tina, come on in.” Tina stood after a beat, moving to take the seat, across from Emma.
[T] “You know how people / have these little habits / That get you down. Like Bernie. / Bernie he liked to chew gum. / No, not chew. POP. / So I came home this one day / And I'm really irritated, and I'm / looking for a little bit of sympathy / and there's Bernie lyin' / on the couch, drinkin' a beer / and chewin'. / No, not chewin'. / Poppin'. So, I said to him, / I said, "you pop that / gum one more time..." / and he did. / So I took the shotgun off the wall / and I fired two warning shots... / ...into his head.”
The music in their minds carried on, the five left in the hall, backs to the window wall, held a hushed harmony to Tina’s lead. As she rose to make her exit, the chorus in the hall grew stronger in their call.
[ALL] “He had it coming / He had it coming / He only had himself to blame / If you'd have been there / If you'd have heard it / I betcha you would / Have done the same!”
Emma had next stood to call Santana into her office. Standing as Tina rejoined the row and chorus, she took her turn in Emma’s chair.
[S] “I met Ezekiel Young from / Salt Lake city about two years ago / and he told me he was single / and we hit it off right away. / So, we started living together. / He'd go to work, he'd come home, I'd / fix him a drink, We'd have dinner. / And then I found out, / "Single" he told me? / Single, my ass. Not only / was he married / ...oh, no, he had six wives. / One of those Mormons, you know. So that / night, when he came home from work, I fixed him / his drink as usual. / You know, some guys just can't hold / their arsenic.”
Her tale done, she got back on her feet, turning on her heel to exit, while Emma waved Mercedes in to sit and talk. She came in, primed for a ‘fight,’ as the chorus did its part.
[ALL] “Hah! He had it coming / He had it coming / He took a flower / In its prime / And then he used it / And he abused it / It was a murder / But not a crime!”
[M] “Now, I'm standing in the kitchen / carvin' up the chicken for dinner,/ minding my own business, / in storms my husband Wilbur, / in a jealous rage. / "You been screwin' the milkman," / he says. He was crazy / and he kept screamin', / "you been screwin the milkman." / And then he ran into my knife. / He ran into my knife ten times!”
Mercedes made her exit and Emma waved Brittany in, to the sounds of the chorus. Brittany took her seat, feeling as uncertain as could be. She did not feel she needed to be there. But still, she told a story.
[B] “Mit keresek, enn itt? Azt mondjok, hogy lakem lefogta a ferjemet / en meg lecsaptam a fejet. De nem igaz, en artatlan vagyok. Nem / tudom mert mondja Uncle Sam hogy en tetten. Probaltam a rendorsegen /megmagyarazni de nem ertettek meg...”
Emma felt herself drawn in, needing to ask… “Yeah, but did you do it?” Brittany carried on.
[B] “Uh-uh. Not guilty.”
She got back on her feet as Emma let her go on. Rachel did not need to be called. She got up and replaced Brittany in the hot seat.
[R] “My sister, Veronica and / I had this double act / And my husband, Charlie, / traveled around with us. / Now, for the last number in / our act, we did these 20 acrobatic tricks / one two three four,five...splits, spread eagles, / back flips,flip flops, / one right after the other. / so this one night before the showe we're down at the hotel Cicero, / the three of us, / boozin', havin' a few laughs and / we run out of ice. / So I go out to get some. / I come back, open the door / and there's Veronica and / Charlie doing Number Seventeen- / the spread eagle. / Well, I was in such a state of shock, / I completely blacked out.I can't remember a thing. / It wasn't until later, / when I was washing the blood off my hands / I even knew they were dead.”
[R] “They had it coming / They had it coming / They had it coming all along. / I didn't do it / But if I'd done it / How could you tell me that I was wrong?”
Once again the chorus had backed her up, and now as she rejoined them, they came together stronger still.
[R, ALL] “They had it coming / They had it coming /
They had it coming / They had it coming /
They had it coming / They took a flower /
All along / In its prime /
I didn't do it / And then they used it /
But if I'd done it / And they abused it /
How could you tell me / It was a murder /
That I was wrong? / But not a crime!”
Last on the line, Quinn made her way into Emma’s office with her own story.
[Q] “I loved Al Lipschitz / more than I can possibly say. / He was a real artistic guy... / sensitive... a painter. / But he was always trying / to find himself. / He'd go out every night / looking for himself / and on the way / he found Ruth, / Gladys, Rosemary and Irving. / I guess you can say we broke / up because of artistic differences. / He saw himself as alive / and I saw him dead.”
As she got on her feet, the hush became louder.
[ALL] “The dirty bum, bum, bum, bum, bum / The dirty bum, bum, bum, bum, bum”
The chorus was on its feet, the lot of them working as one to proclaim…
[ALL] “They had it comin’ / They had it comin' / They had it comin' / They had it comin' / They had it comin' / They had it comin' / All along / All along / 'Cause if they used us
/ 'Cause if they used us / And they abused us / And they abused us / How could you tell us / How could you tell us That we were wrong? / That we were wrong? / He had it coming / He had it coming / He only had / Himself / To blame. / If you'd have been there / If you'd have seen it / I betcha / You would / Have done / The same!”
As Quinn had regained the hall, she passed each of the girls, echoing their stories as they each sat back down.
“You pop that gum one more time!” Tina had told Emma about her fight with Artie over her stutter slip.
“Single my ass.” Santana had told her about Matt and his secret.
“Ten times!” Mercedes had insisted she regretted her fight with Kurt.
“Miert csukott Uncle Sam bortonbe.” Brittany still had no idea why she was there.
“Number Seventeen - the spread eagle.” Rachel had expressed her frustrations with Finn.
“Artistic differences.” Quinn had laid out her battle against her feelings for Puck.
The six now sat in a row once more. “Pop.” / “Six.” / “Squish.” / “Uh-uh.” / “Cicero.” / “Lipschitz.”
Emma had returned to Will, telling him about her exchange with the Glee girls. What she presented to him as the outlet for the girls’ problems with the guys was not what he expected from her, but still, he obliged her.
The girls would perform the Cell Block Tango to the guys. As Emma explained it, though the topic may have been twisted, it could help do what needed to be done: to let everything out.
Practice was already helping to lighten the mood. This had been due in no small part to how, shortly after having received her lyrics for the park of the Hunyak, Brittany had suddenly begun to speak them, not even a little confused about it. One by one, the dazed group had turned to watch her. When she’d looked up and found them staring at her, she looked around. “What?” she asked. Soon, she was repeating the lines again as the others moved away.
“It doesn’t get any less freaky when she does that,” Artie had instinctively turned to Tina. She laughed, and after a beat, they shared a smile.
Once they had been ready, they’d done the number. Emma had stepped in once again, the outsider, giving one line to Brittany.
The effects would come to make themselves seen, though some would require more time than others to heal. Still, there were smaller victories. Artie and Tina were already on the mend before the number. Kurt and Mercedes were back as friends in a heartbeat as soon as she’d apologized. Matt had decided to finally tell Santana about Sasha. And Mike and Brittany had nothing to fix, if only maybe a hankering for a slushie. The others would find peace, all in time.
THE END
PREVIOUS DAYS
[Cycle 1] [Cycle 2] [Cycle 3][Cycle 4]
[64] [65] [66] [67] [68] [69] [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76] [77] Suggestion Drop Off Title: "Cell Block Tango"
Pairing: Girls, Will, Emma; W/E, A/T, M/B, F/R, P/Q
Rating: G
Summary: [CBT #7] The girls need to let off some steam, and Emma has an idea.
Spoilers: 1x13 Sectionals