Winona woke up in a great mood, knowing today was the day she'd fly out to Los Angeles for nationals. Despite not competing, and being away from them for a few months— She still considered herself their co-leader.
She had a plan to meet Mercedes in LA, and then head to the hotel to make a grand and fancy entrance. And so she woke up far earlier than usual, send Andrew a reminder that she would be away for a week, and was off.
Before long, she and Mercedes wore their hottest outfits, strutting into the hotel in what felt like badass slow motion. Winona tossed her hair over her shoulder, before taking off her sunglasses and approaching the New Directions— who were still trying to check in.
"Don't look now, but I think someone famous just came in!" One of the kids stated in awe, Winona's money was on Tina.
"Even better!" The blonde called, "It's Mercedes Jones!"
"And Winona Watts!" Mercedes finished for her.
The show choir tackled their friends in hugs, basking in their greatness.
"I can't believe you guys came!" Sam exclaimed, Hugging Winona tight after letting go of Mercedes. The pair went around, hugging all of them, before Mercedes started explaining how she got a record contract.
"Hold up," Artie cut in, pointing to the stuffed animals the girls were holding, "Is that dog alive?"
Mercedes shrugged casually, "Oh, it's a faux-huahua. A fake Chihuahua."
While Winona initially approached Mr. Schue to say hi, she also ended up trying to clear his name— Seeing as Sue called the Hotel beforehand to sabotage the kids once again by claiming Will kidnapped them. When she came back to the group of kids, a tall, threatening man stood before them with what she assumed was his show choir team. She cut past Jake and Ryder, situating herself near the front of the pile, right next to Blaine and Sam.
"Who is that?" She whispered as he sent an incredulous look their way.
"Do you seriously have no idea who that is? Don't you read the show choir blogs?"
Winona deadpanned, "No, Blaine, I don't. None of us read the show choir blogs. Just you."
"That's Throat Explosion. And that's their leader, Jean-Baptiste," He explained, "Jean-Baptiste was born in Quebec to acrobatic parents. He trained with Cirque du Soleil before emigrating to Ft. Wayne where he used his French-Canadian circus stylings to turn the entire show choir world upside down."
"What does that even mea—" Blaine cut her off by nudging her in the side right as Jean-Baptiste himself approached.
"Bonjour! You must be the New Directions— And you... must be Blaine."
His intimidating behaviour made the hair-gelled boy tense, "How did you know my name?"
"Show choir blogs," He shrugged.
"I'm, you know, I'm Sam Evans," The blond stepped forwards, trying to take a Finn-like role, "and I'm the leader of the New Directions. And, you know, I know you guys are all really good and stuff, but that's just gonna get us out of our comfort zones and send us over the top."
Winona narrowed her eyes in confusion at his limp speech, clearly seeing Jean hold back a tiny laugh.
"Well, it was really great to meet you, Sam. Best of luck, New Directions. We really can't wait to see your set. And crush you like a bug."
The flat expression he wore was replaced with a mock enthusiastic one, as he prepared to head to his hotel room, "Bye!"
"That was tense," Commented Tina, and Mercedes put a head on her friend's shoulder.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss this show choir high school drama. Come on, tell me all about it. Let's go."
"Like a bug," Winona recited their enemy's words, "That was good."
The New Directions mumbled their thoughts on his intimidation skills as Schuester lead them to their rooms.
"Right?"
"He was right here in my face."
"Why didn't I think of that?"
"He smells like a winner."
—
Sneaking onto the stage seemed like an irresponsible thing to do— and when Blaine proposed the idea to his teammates, they seemed reluctant. Once he convinced them, they had unanimously agreed that Mr. Schue wouldn't allow it. Eric, however, had the genius idea of recruiting Winona to take them instead. And for some reason, she couldn't say no. It clearly mattered to them, even if it was putting their chance to compete on the line if they had gotten caught.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Queried one of the kids as they stepped onto the stage they would be performing on the next day, "I mean, if we get caught—"
"Oh, just go!" Winona cut them off impatiently. It was nearly 2am, and she was exhausted.
"Trust me, when I was in the Warblers, sneaking onto stage the night before a show was tradition," Blaine explained calmly, "We had other traditions, but I can't really speak of them."
"What the hell does that mean?" Winona questioned to the boy, who just shrugged.
"So should we sing a song or hold hands or say a prayer or something? Because if I'm being honest, this ghost light's kind of freaking me out."
"All right, everybody, circle up. I have a surprise," she Sam announced, stepping up the address everybody. He held a briefcase, that Winona stared at for a solid 10 seconds, wondering what was in it. As he went on a speech about Finn, she felt Tina's arm hook around hers in an attempt to be comforting.
"Finn Hudson made us a promise at the beginning of the year: that we were all going back to nationals together. Even when we lost sectionals—"
"—which was totally not Marley's fault," Winona cut in, smiling at the girl.
"Finn, and Winona told us that it wasn't over. They said that we'd be right here, together," He exhaled, "Now, maybe you're thinking, Finn isn't here. Well, he is."
From the briefcase, he pulled out Finn's plaque. His yearbook photo staring off into space.
"I made sure of it."
Winona's chest tightened at the sight of Rachel's gift to the glee club from several weeks ago. She looked at the ground, inhaling.
Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't—
"Well, well!" A voice called, "Les Directions Nouveau!"
Winona huffed, lips pressing together into a thin line. Moment over.
"Uh, apparently, we had the same plan for an illegal midnight rehearsal," Jean-Baptiste explained.
"We?" Challenged Lydia, "You're alone."
"Am I? Existentially, yes. Perhaps. We are all alone," He rambled, "But tonight, this stage belongs to us from midnight until dawn. You see, I called in a few show choir favors. So, we'll just give you three minutes to gather your feelings and leave."
"Who is that?" One of the teammates who had made his way from the shadows remarked, referring to Finn's plaque, "Your spirit guide?"
Offended, The New Directions prepared to attack the boy with words, but Jean did it for them.
"Dolph, enough. Have some respect."
Winona blinked in shock, raising her brows at his sudden politeness. Of course, he continued to be rude after that; avoiding weaponizing the man they lost for an insult. If their feelings weren't so hurt, the kids probably would have appreciated his decency.
Regardless, Winona rounded up her 'students' and lead them back to the parking lot, then taking them to the hotel and ushering for them to get some sleep.
( — ✿ — )
Tina, Sam, Lydia, and Winona sat in the Hummel's hotel room, as Carole finished sewing Lydia's dress for the competition. Out of nowhere, Tina started addressing her friends— thinking out loud.
"I cannot believe this is our last competition," She complained, "I am not ready for this to end."
"Do not start crying again," Sam warned, making Lydia giggle.
"I'm not gonna cry; It's just that some of my best memories from Glee are these competitions."
"Yeah, well, you know what? That's why guys love playing sports so much. It's not so much about the winning and the losing. It's about going to war with your buddies. You know? The camaraderie," Burt added in, Carole joining the conversation next (impressively, without looking up from her sewing job).
"That's right. That's why you see a bunch of 50-year-old men humping around a softball field or playing flag football. They're trying to recreate that feeling they're never gonna get back."
"Oh, my God, yes!" Tina threw her head back, "That's it exactly, Ugh. It's so depressing."
Winona nodded, "I can't believe this is your last competition."
"My life's gonna be so empty from now on," Tina spoke. Carole, without even noticing, let some words slip that caught everyone off guard.
"At least you get to have one."
Eyes widened, as a silence fell over them. The woman quickly realized what she said and halted, "Oh, my God. I can't believe I said that. I am so sorry."
"No. It's okay— I'm sorry," Tina spoke politely, "That was totally insensitive of me."
"Tina always does this," Sam said, truly thinking he was justifying her words.
"No, no, no. It's fine, honey, really. You didn't do anything wrong," Carole insisted. Winona stood up from the hotel bed, addressing the students, "You know what, guys? Why don't you go? And, uh, you go practice or something, Carole can finish up the sewing, and Burt'll drop the dress by your room, okay?"
They nodded, rushing out. As Winona closed the door behind them, she looked to the couple.
"Mom— Sorry; Carole," She began, kicking herself for calling the woman Mom. She was so used to the mindset that Carole and Burt would be their in-laws someday that she forgot to rewire that part of her brain when Finn passed. Before she could continue addressing her, she smiled faintly.
"You can call me Mom, sweetheart."
Winoma nodded politely, "Got it— Uh, should I leave you two alone?"
Burt nodding was a good enough answer for her, and she headed out, gently closing the door before checking on her students one by one.
Reaching Marley, Lydia, Sugar and Unique's shared room, she opened the door to reveal Lydia kneeling infront of the minifridge the hotel provided and the other girls merely sitting on their beds.
"No eating anything from the fridge; it's expensive!" Winona said from the doorway, "If you want something, you can go down to the 7-Eleven."
"I'll go with you!" Shouted Sugar enthusiastically, making Winona cock a brow as Lydia took her hand and they smiled at eachother.
That was... suspiciously romantic.
Winona looked to Unique, gesturing to the door, "Hey, Unique, think you can third wheel?"
The girl sighed, nodding, "Sure. Marley, you want a slushie?"
The brunette nodded at her best friend, while Winona sat on the bed to address the girl. As everyone left, she finally spoke.
"What's up with you? You look so down lately."
"I dunno," Marley shrugged, fiddling with her fingers, "I entered my songs into this contest, didn't hear back at all. And I took that as— I don't know, a wake-up call?"
She sounded unsure about the wake up call, prompting Winona to shake her head in support, "Oh, come on. That's only one contest."
"Actually, I've entered a bunch of contests. Anyway, what's so wrong with joining Accounting Club when we get back?"
The older girl chuckled lightly, "I'll tell you one thing. I think, uh, Accounting Club interferes with Glee Club."
Yeah, that was the point.
Winona realized that quickly, her face falling, "Marley, are you planning on quitting Glee Club?"
"I didn't want to let anyone down. And since this is going to be my swan song, I just want it to be fun. So, please, don't tell anyone," Marley finalized, pushing herself off of the bed, "Uh, I'm gonna go catch up with the girls."
Defeated, she left their hotel, crossing paths with Jake on her way back to her room. She sent him nothing but a shrug to describe how her talk with Marley went, since he's the one who asked her to catch up with her.
( — ✿ — )
Winona stepped onto the bus, several competition dresses hooked to hangers. They were headed for the competition, and everyone was antsy. Blaine chivalrously took them from her, and she approached Sam, who was hunched over in the aisle, scrambling around for something.
"What's wrong?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes at her peer.
"Finn's plaque," He sputtered, "it's missing."
Winona pressed her hand gently on his back, "Hey, don't panic. I'm sure it's here somewhere."
"It's not in here. I put it right here!"
"Maybe it fell and slid under the seats?" The blonde offered, Sam shaking his head.
"It's gone."
Blaine, who overheard the whole exchange, approached next, "Look, Sam, it's probably just—"
While Blaine offered a gentle explanation to ease his friend's mind, Sam tuned him out. All he could hear was Jean-Baptiste chattering with his team as they walked past the New Directions bus.
Sam pushed past the pair, rushing off the bus. He had a hunch that the reason he couldn't find the plaque was their rival team.
"Give it back!" He exclaimed, stopping the show choir in their tracks.
"Give what back? Your talent?" Challenged Jean, stepping forwards, "Because you obviously left that in Ohio."
The New Directions watched the scene from the bus, heads peeking out of the windows as Blaine and Winona stepped off the bus to keep Sam from doing anything stupid.
"All right, just give us the plaque back," Blaine interjected as Winona put a hand firmly on Sam's back.
Jean-Baptiste didn't reply to Blaine's statement, his stupid Canadian smirk plastered on his face, "Gentlemen— and Lady, let's get serious. You've got zero chance of winning. You lost your sectionals. So you're only here on a technicality. And everyone knows all your decent singers graduated. And a little piece of wood with a picture of a guy on it isn't gonna change—"
That set Sam off. He shoved the boy back, Winona and Blaine getting between them, "You're a tool, man!"
As the members of throat explosion lead their leader away from the situation, Winona held Sam's shoulders, attempting to make eye contact with him. He, however, just looked past her at Jean.
"Break a leg." He bowed with a smirk.
"Sam, just... just let it go," Blaine told him, "They're just trying to psych us out; they're being idiots."
"We got to get our game faces on and win this thing, okay?" Winona told him sweetly, patting him on the back before he hopped back onto the bus to talk to his team.
"Okay, guys, look. The plaque doesn't matter. You know why? Because I believe with all my heart that Finn is here. He's right here with us, right now," He announced, Mr. Schue recording his statement. Blaine wrapped an arm around Winona, and she rested her head on his shoulder as their friend delivered an equally motivating and emotional speech.
"And he's holding all our hands, and he's telling us, The show must go all over the place. And when we're up there onstage, he's gonna be sitting right next to Mr. Shue cheering us on. And when we win our second nationals trophy, he's gonna be cheering us on even louder, all right?"
The kids whooped, Winona beaming, "So let's do this! Let's go!"
( — ✿ — )
"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. Three minutes until showtime!" Called the announcer, while the students backstage waited anxiously for Carole and Burt. Despite them knowing it was probably a lot for the couple, they really wanted them to see the performance.
Sam peeked from behind the curtains to see if they were in the audience, huffing as he turned to address Winona, Schuester, and the team.
"They aren't here."
"Well, if they were coming, they'd be here by now, so—"
"I can't believe I said all that stuff in front of her," Tina cut Artie off, hugging herself embarrassedly.
"Oh, it's cool, Tina. You can't help it."
Winona looked to Mr. Schue, before helping him segway into his speech, "They're with us in spirit. Just like Finn."
"Let's bring it in," he cleared his throat, nodding at Winona as a thank you, "Okay. We're not like the other teams here. We don't have the big budget or the— the giant pool of students to choose from. We're also different from these teams because we didn't come here to win. We came here to sing and dance our hearts out—"
"Oh, that's horse poop, Schuester!" Carole called with a smile, approaching the group. The kids practically lit up, Winona and Schuester doing the same.
"We were halfway down to Laguna before Burt convinced me to turn around," Carole Began, Burt shrugging.
"I never said a word."
"Oh, you didn't have to. None of you did," She went on, "I could hear Finn's voice in my head,"
Carole and Winona made brief eye contact.
"This is nationals, Mom. I coached those kids. You leave them and you're leaving me. You guys are his legacy. Which means I don't want to hear any garbage about doing your best or giving it the old college try. Go out there and wipe the floor with the other teams!"
"Wipe it!" Whooped Burt
"You guys are the reigning national champions. Okay?"
Winona looked at her team, the widest smile plastered on her face, "Get out there and
show them how it's done!"
They did their Ahhhh-mazing show circle before Burt, Carole, and Winona made their way to their seats, where Mercedes was waiting for them. Winona sat between the girls, Finn's flannel wrapped around her tightly. She didn't even realize that she grabbed it on her way out of her hotel room in the morning, it just sort of happened.
Mercedes offered her a sweet smile as the announcer spoke again, the curtains being readied to separate.
"And now, raise the roof for last year's national champions, from Lima, Ohio, The New Directions!"
Winona had no knowledge of the setlist; Sam insisting that it had to be a surprise. So she was caught off guard when More Than A Feeling began playing.
( — ✿ — )
2011
"You're ridiculous," Winona beamed, scraping around the edges of her plastic cup of ice cream with her spoon. She stared at her boyfriend, who was tapping his spoon onto the table along to the song the ice-cream shop was playing faintly. He shifted in his seat, seeing her smile only made his grow.
"Til' I see Mary-anne walk awayyy!" Finn sang while she tilted her head back to laugh.
Before long, they left the shop and began their trek home. It was late, and the mini-outing they didn't bother labeling as a date, was coming to an end.
The whole way home, she heard him humming that god awful song, and the whole way home, she whined. He dropped her off at her door, pressing a gentle kiss to her porcelain nose, before letting her head inside to get some rest.
( — ✿ — )
Winona snapped out of the trance she was in when the song came to an end, and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For began. Next to her, Winona heard Carole sobbing gently.
"This was Finn's favorite song," She weeped, "They're singing all of his favorite songs."
Before long, their moving performance ended with America, and it was time for the winner to be announced. Mr Schue offered to let Carole, Burt, Mercedes, and Winona wait on stage with them, but they wanted to stay in the crowd to watch them succeed.
Winona took a deep breath, leaning against Mercedes, "Second place goes to...."
"Come on, come on," The girl mumbled hopefully.
"... The New Directions! Which means the winner of the National Show Choir Championship is Throat Explosion!"
Winona's heart sunk. As did The Hudson-Hummels, Mr. Schuester, and everyone on stage.
That was it. The New Directions were officially over.
The disappointment of the kids offstage, mixed with the emotions about Finn was overwhelming for Winona, and she stood up, gently walking past the couple and out of the giant room of cheering audience members.
The only place she could go was the bus. It was empty, so she sat in the very back seat, holding Finn's flannel tightly around her body. She kept to herself, crying with her eyes trained on her boots. She didn't look up until she heard footsteps on the bus after a minute or so, prompting her to immediately wipe her tears away and look up.
"It's just me," Mercedes said kindly, taking a seat across from her.
"You okay?"
She shook her head, sinking into Finn's sweater for comfort.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
Winona shook her head again, "No."
Mercedes held out her arms, Winona not hesitating to take the hug. Mercedes gave the best hugs, and she was easy to open up to, so here Winona was; Crying in her arms.
( — ✿ — )
The next morning, they were back at the hotel, and Winona woke up next to Mercedes. She appreciated the girl staying with her after the performance, especially since Winona didn't wanna be alone.
The blonde shook Mercedes awake, before rushing out the door to help the students get ready to leave.
"Get up!" She called as she bursted into Blamtina's shared hotel room, tossing them all granola bars for their breakfast, "We're leaving!"
They groaned, Winona leaving them to pack up while she headed to wake up everyone else.
The students were on the bus on time, Winona counting heads.
"16... I'm missing two," She stated, "Where are Sam and Artie?"
"We're here!" the blond called, approaching the bus. She stepped off to greet them, smiling.
"Great, can you help Artie onto the lift?"
Artie held a hand up to stop him, looking up at Winona, "So, what happened last night to make you and 'Cedes bffs?"
"Yeah," Sam added, "You guys seemed pretty close."
"Are you.. jealous or something? She was comforting me, chill out."
"Comforting?"
"Was it the performance?" Asked Artie, making her sigh.
"Sort of," She said, avoiding eye contact so she wouldn't cry, "I still really miss him— I mean, I don't think I ever wont. I love him."
Sam pulled her into a hug, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.
"He loves you too, never forget that. That love stays, even when the people don't."
Artie wrapped his arms around Winona's waist to join the hug, prompting her to place her hand on his back. She felt so at home with them, so close to Finn. She felt truly happy.
( — ✿ — )
"So Jean-Baptiste mailed it here?" Winona questioned as she walked through the door of the choir room. The students didn't realize she'd be in Lima during the final week of the New Directions, but were happy to see her stick around.
"Yeah, he said that when he found out one of the people on his team stole it, he was furious," Blaine explained, "Then he apologized and said that he made sure that the thief was kicked off the team."
"Huh," She scoffed, "A bully with a moral code."
"All right, guys, time to put our new trophy in the case!" Mr. Schue announced as he held it up, everyone relatively underwhelmed at it.
"I've always found that second place trophies are just a lasting reminder that you didn't win."
"Hey, there were 16 teams in that competition. We beat 14 of the best show choirs in the country," Winona interjected.
When Carole and Burt showed up, Sam sighed embarrassedly, "I'm sorry we let him down."
"Let who down? Finn?" The woman questioned, raising a brow.
"We just really wanted to win this one for him, and for you."
Winona looked down as the students explained everything sadly, "We had a plan that we were gonna call you up on stage and give you the trophy to keep."
"It's not right."
"This is not how the story was supposed to end."
"You're right," Stated Carole, "Oh, it would have burned Finn to have lost to those guys. All we would have heard for months was how the judges had robbed you or how you were so much better than them."
Winona smiled, arm around Sam's shoulders while Burt continued.
"But, then he would have stood up and he would have told you that even though most of you had never been in a show choir before this year, you still stood tall against the best of the best. And you know what? Even though Finn didn't have the best
voice or the best rhythm or the best throwing arm, he always brought out the best in himself and in others, and the great thing about him is he always managed to find a way to feel like he'd won."
"We were really proud of you guys up there," Winona added, "Hearing those songs was so healing, And— I don't know, we saw how much he meant to you. So, win or lose, he lives in you guys."
"Okay, guys. Let's put this trophy where it belongs," Mr. Schue told them, handing it to Winona and Blaine, who carried it to the case.
"A second place showing is superior to when Finn decided to make out with Rachel onstage and we ended up in 12th," Joked Artie, making Winona throw her head back and laugh. As the New Directions shared their favourite moments with Finn, Mr. Schue waved Winona over with a nervous expression.
"Is everything okay?"
"Sue isn't backing down this time," He stated vaguely, but she knew exactly what he meant.
"It's over."