Introducing The Abrams Family!

With the exception if casting Katy Sagal as Artie’s mom, Nancy Abrams, Glee was relatively silent about Artie’s home life other than a reference to his dad’s willingness to drive him to events if they could not get a handicapped capable bus.

I’ve been intentionally vague about Artie’s family in my stories, assuming he was an only child like Kitty because there’s never been any references or hints about any siblings, and Wonder-ful implied that it was just he and his mom. I changed my mind when writing The Wildebrams Season Six, so I have taken the time to create a family for him who will be written into appropriate places in my other stories as they are written and I go back and edit my back catalog so they will remain (relatively) consistent in all of writing.

In doing this I looked for president in other fanfic. Historically in most Artie centric (mostly Quartie) fanfic I’ve read, it had established that everyone in that family had names that started with an A, but that went out the window when Glee canonized his mom as Nancy Abrams. Typically he had one or two younger siblings (a boy and a girl), and occasionally, but not usually an older college age brother. Gigundoly has established the idea of an older sister, and I fell in love with the idea (but I changed the name, personality, and other details, of course!).

Artie’s Parents:

Artie is the middle child of Nancy and James Abrams.

Katy Sagal as Nancy Abrams

Nancy Abrams (b. 1966) is played by Katy Sagal in a single episode of Glee (Wonder-ful) but they don’t establish anything about her. In my universe, Nancy is a Social Worker serving as the Lima school district Disabilities Coordinator.

James Abrams (b. 1966) is an OC of mine and Harry Connic Jr. was cast to play him because if an offhand comment in an interview by Kevin McHale. 

Harry Connic Jr as James Abrams

Nancy and James were divorced in 2010 (after season one of Glee because Dream On established that he was able to take Artie to events), but he is still active in the lives of the family. He is also a social worker and works as a community organizer/activist/lobbyist works out if town a lot.

Nancy and James met and fell in love almost 30 years ago (c. 1984) when they were both attending undergraduate college for Social Work (BSW). Their shared passion for making a difference in the world drew them together, and they become inseparable, marrying shortly after graduation (1988).

When they went for their masters degrees (MSW), she specialized in family social work, while he specialized in macro level work community activism. She got job as a county social worker for Allen County (and later became school district disability coordinator), while he became a community organizer (and later a lobbyist).

Nancy became pregnant and their oldest daughter Grace was born just after graduation (1990). Artie was born in April of 1994, and Ryan in 1999.

Because they started a family so young, and the fact that they were both workaholics who spent so much time apart, their marriage was often strained, but they made it work for their kid’s sake, and because they really did love each other when they were actually together and not distracted by work.

Nancy and Artie were in a car accident in November of 2002 when he was 8 years old (a drunk driver ran a red light), resulting in his permanent paralysis from the waist down, and he was confined to a wheelchair.

When Artie returned to school the following spring, they found out how woefully inadequate the service available for disabled students and their families were. James and Nancy used their professional skills to advocate for a new Disabilities Coordinator position to enhance and replace the existing Section 504 Coordinator position in the Lima Public School District, and Nancy was hired to fill it, essentially being empowered to create the new position. Unfortunately Artie was unable to adjust to life as a paraplegic in time to catch up on his work, so he returned home after a few weeks, and the decision was made for him to repeat the third grade.

After the accident, Nancy and James renewed their commitments to each other and their marriage. Bacca was born a little over a year later (2005).

But ultimately the root of their problems never went away, and they divorced when Becca was about 5 (2010). But they both remained committed to their children, and James remained an active figure in their children’s lives, residing in Columbus, but visiting Lima regularly, including most holidays, and transporting Artie to school events when other options were not available.

The Kids (ages in 2014):

Emma Roberts as Grace Abrams

Grace Abrams (Emma Roberts) – Artie’s older sister by 4 years (1990). Artie’s accident brought her closer to God. Grace sings, but quit creepy Mr Ryerson’s glee club after a week because it was boring. She is a former Cheerleader (middle school and high school), but was never Captain, and joined to be physically fit, not for the popularity. She is a friend of Quinn’s, who she was on the squad with for one year. She founded Celibacy Club Quinn later ran. Grace graduated from McKinley in 2009, and got a bachelor’s degree in Theology in 2013, and began attending Trinity Lutheran Seminary on the campus of Capital University in Columbus (Bexley), Ohio, that fall, where she pursued her Master’s of Divinity degree to become a Lutheran pastor -24 yo

Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams

Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) – born in April 1994, car accident paralyzed him fall 2002, repeated the third grade, very musical, plays guitar and sings in glee club, Dreams of directing movies – 20 yo

Tanner Buchanan as Ryan Abrams

Ryan Abrams (Tanner Buchanan) – is Artie’s Younger brother by 5 years (1999), a jock (Soccer, and later baseball or basketball), buried himself in extracurriculars to avoid the stress at home. – 15 yo

McKenna Grace as Becca Abrams

Rebecca (“Becca”) Abrams (McKenna Grace) – Younger sister by 10 1/2 years (2005 – over a year born after his accident), has never known Artie without the chair, so she is completely baffled when others make an issue out of it. – 9 yo

What does everyone think? Let me know in the comments, Twitter, or in a review of chapter 25 of The Wildebrams Season Six where they are first introduced.