songbird, chapter eighty three
— christmas special
over the next month, the weather in ohio started to become icy cold, which meant one thing; eleanor's favourite time of year was coming.
elle had loved christmas ever since she was little, and not just christmas day either; she adored the entire festive period.
and so when she entered the choir room to see a nearly seven foot tall tree, she audibly squealed and insisted that the new directions get to work decorating it, and the rest of the choir room, immediately.
once it was decorated, elle was filled with cheer every time she entered the room.
"hey everybody, listen up!" finn announced as the new directions took their seats before the meeting. "my man, rory flanagan here, wants to say a few."
he clapped rory on the back before taking a seat with the rest of the group. "so guys, my mammy was gonna come visit for the holidays, but plane tickets are expensive. so it's my first christmas without my family." he explained making elle frown. "i'd like to cheer myself up by dedicating this song to them— and the king."
"jesus?" kurt questioned before the band started playing elvis' 'blue christmas'.
elle smiled and joined the rest of the team in contributing to the songs harmonies, thoroughly enjoying rory's smoothe voice, which was met with a generous applause when he was done.
"god, that song was so depressing," santana sighed. "i may actually be dead right now."
"i- i think, what santana means is, although that was mournfully beautiful," elle quipped, offering rory a reassuring smile. "now that the whole glee club is back together, i think we should focus on the more joyous aspects of this holiday season!"
"elle's right," jeremiah nodded. "last christmas was super sad."
tina nodded. "kurt was at another school, coach sylvester trashed everything, jeremiah and elle had their first christmas without their mom, and artie got a pair of magic legs that broke the next day."
"we were the island of misfit toys," elle added. "but this year is going to be.."
"this year, it's a whole new sprig of mistletoe." mr schue interrupted as he entered the room. "guess who's not getting coal in their stockings for once— us."
as mr schue walked to the middle of the room, rory was quick to sit and take a seat with the rest of the team.
"i just got off the phone with don borowski, the local station manager at lima's pbs affiliate," mr schue continued. "turns out that their annual broadcast of the yule log burning has been cancelled."
"the hell?" puck questioned.
"yeah, and they can't afford the licensing fees anymore. but thank you, scrooges who own that copyright, because don came to sectionals, he loved what we did and he is offering us..."
"a christmas special featuring all of us?" rachel finished his sentence quickly. "okay, please say you said yes?"
"not only did i say yes, but when don said that they were looking for a director for the special, i nominated you, artie." mr schue announced making the boys face drop.
"me?" he questioned.
"yeah, he saw west side story, and loved your work, and he wants to take a meeting."
"but i... i swore i would never sell out and do television." artie explained. "i'm really gonna have to think about this, mr schue."
with the news of a christmas special firmly engrained in elle's brain, she was practically bouncing off of the walls for the rest of the day.
"i need to think about what i'm gonna wear," she mused, walking down the hall with mike who chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"you're pretty excited about this tv gig, huh?" he asked her.
elle nodded. "but not even cause it's on tv!" she explained. "christmas is my favourite time of year, mike, and imagine how magical it's gonna be if i can show my kids this is a couple years time!"
mike smiled, hoping he was apart of that daydream. "that's a pretty sweet idea, actually."
the following day, the glee club was called to the auditorium to watch rachel perform joni mitchell's 'river' and after artie said the song wasn't right for his vision of the production, irritating rachel, he began to explain the premise, only making elle's heart swell with every word.
"we begin in the swiss alps, in the village of gstaad, in the perfectly-appointed living room of kurt hummel and blaine anderson's chic swank chalet." he explained. "the tree towering and opulent, the fireplace draped in garlands, the stockings bejewelled."
elle sunk down in her seat, just the thought of it filling her with bliss.
"kurt and blaine, the perfect hosts have invited their friends to drop in for an evening of noel coward-esque banter and fun, happy, cheer-filled songs!"
rachel looked gobsmacked. "and you're telling me i'm not invited to kurt and blaine's for christmas?" she asked.
"not unless you pick a happier song." artie declinded. "the evening's festivities conclude with rory dressed as the christmas elf, itchy, reciting frosty the snowman."
artie smiled at his friends. "start with fun, end with fun. that's how you do it, kids."
"the frosty story isn't fun. at the end, he melts and dies." sam pointed out.
"i'm rebooting frosty. in my version, he doesn't melt." artie explained. "he— well, new pages forthcoming."
"what's wrong with a story that's a little sad, or a song that's a little depressing?" sam asked, standing from his seat. "i mean, that's part of christmas, too, right?"
"it's the sad things that make you remember what's really important." he continued.
"sorry, sam, but the phrase is 'merry christmas' not morose christmas." artie argued. "that's the vision. that's what you have to buy into."
"well, sorry, artie, i'm not buying into it." sam explained, starting to leave the room. "i'm gonna go down town and ring one of those salvation army bells. come on, rory. i'll give you a ride."
elle glanced at rory, who looked morose. "i should memorise my part, sam." he told the boy who then left the room.
elle watched sam for a moment, preparing herself to get up and follow him , but was stopped by mike's hand on her forearm.
"let him figure this out," he said. "he seemed pretty pissed."