Glee: Wedding Song
Chapter 3: The Decision
By Wilde Abrams
Author’s Notes: I’m so sorry for the delay in updating this. Blame RIB for both inspiring and then pissing me off with season 6!
## ## ## ## ##
Artie barely slept that night. He kept going over the information about the experimental treatment in his head, trying to weigh the potential benefits and risks. He didn’t manage to nod off until almost 3 a.m.
Friday morning came fast and he still didn’t know what he was going to do. When he awoke he didn’t have much time to think about it as he had to get ready for morning classes.
He leaned over and kissed the still sleeping Kitty on the cheek before sliding off the bed into his wheelchair. He rolled into the bathroom and began his morning ritual. One of the things that sucked about being in a chair was the fact that everything took him longer to do than most people, like going to the bathroom and bathing.
He’d managed to streamline the processes over the years, but he still had to sit when using the toilet, support himself with furniture and special railings when transferring between the wheelchair and the toilet, when in front of the sink, and when in the shower if he wasn’t on a bench. While this bathroom was better than he’d had in the loft, it still wasn’t what he’d had living with his mom.
Growing up he’d had a custom designed bathroom at his disposal. The sink, cabinets, towel racks, tub/shower had all been designed to accommodate someone in a wheelchair. Here, he had the extra railings and braces installed around for toilet, sink, and shower, along with a bench. He missed the tall sided tub/shower with the seat, and door on the side. The removable bench sitting inside of the regular shower just want the same. Most of the things he need were on the lower shelves and racks, but he still had to reach sometimes, which was a pain. But that was something that just wasn’t common in the world, and he’d been spoiled growing up. Realistically what he had in their current apartment was about as good as he could expect most of the time, and quite often he would just have to make do with facilities designed for people who had full use of their legs, like he had in the loft.
He thought he’d gotten used to the inconvenience, but for some reason it really bothered him that morning; perhaps because for the first time in a very long time, he saw real hope of leaving that all behind him.
He finished his business and headed off to the subway station to catch his ride to his morning class.
# # # # #
Kitty stirred from her sleep when she heard the sound of the rushing water from Artie’s morning shower.
Like Artie, she’d been thinking a lot about the presentation that they’d attended the day before, and what it could do for him. She loved that man so much, and understood more than anyone besides his parents what this treatment could mean for Artie. His morning routine was longer than hers some days, which was very unusual for guys, except for models and others, like their friend Sam, who were overly obsessed with their appearance. It just wasn’t fair that things took him so much longer than most! Not to mention all of the things he likely would never experience confined to his chair.
She understood where Tina was coming from and how she felt, and had been very tempted the night before to tell him to go for the treatment, regardless of the, admittedly minimal, risks and the moral ambiguity of the situation. But she knew that she was right to withhold her opinions, and insist he make his own choice.
She lounged in bed for another twenty minutes after she heard him leave. She crawled out of bed and made her own way to the shower. Ten minutes later she was out in the kitchen in her bathrobe making coffee when Tina entered the room.
She poured cups for both of them and set out a third cup for Nancy when she woke up.
There was obvious tension in the room, but neither of them said anything about it as they sipped their coffee.
“I’m headed back to Providence this afternoon,” Tina finally volunteered after several moments. “Mike and I had plans to spend the weekend together before any of this came up.”
“You’re going to say goodbye to Artie before you go, aren’t you?” Kitty asked, a look of concern on her face.
“Of course,” Tina told her. “My flight doesn’t leave until two thirty.”
“Okay; good,” Kitty answered.
Tina open her mouth to says something, but stopped when a half asleep Nancy shuffled into the room.
Without asking, Kitty poured the older woman a cup and handed it to her.
“Thank you dear,” she said.
“How did you two sleep?” Kitty asked.
“Fine,” Tina answered without elaborating.
“Very well, thank you,” Nancy answered. “How about you?”
“Fine,” Kitty lied. Judging by how tired the other two women were, Kitty suspected that they were lying as well. They had all, no doubt, lost sleep the night before considering the events of the previous day.
“What time does Artie get out of class today?” Tina wondered.
“Eleven o’clock,” Kitty answered. “He should be home around eleven thirty.”
“Good,” Tina said. “We can have lunch before I go.” Seeing Nancy’s confused look, she added, “I was just telling Kitty that I’m flying back to Providence at two thirty. Mike is meeting me there and we’re spending the weekend together.”
“You aren’t sticking around until Artie makes his decision?” The older woman asked, surprised.
“Mike and I had made these plans before any of this came up,” Tina explained, “and Artie knows what I think. My presence won’t change anything. What about you?”
“I’m booked on a flight home Sunday afternoon, but can stay longer if he wants me to for some reason. But I hardly expect it to be needed. I raised my son to be independent and make his own decisions.”
Tina nodded. To Kitty she asked, “Do you mind if I use your shower?”
“No,” the younger woman answered. “Go ahead.”
“Thank you,” she answered, finished her coffee, and she headed to the bathroom.
# # # # #
That morning Artie’s storyboarding class was given free time to work on their midterm projects and get feedback from the instructor. As he sat there he kept losing his focus and he didn’t get very much done during the two hour class period. When he realized this, he sighed in frustration. He was going to have to make up the time later on his own and make an appointment to see his professor during office hours to make sure he was on the right path.
He took the subway home and continued to think about his options. The potential benefits against the risks seemed immense. For some reason, though, he was still dragging his feet.
# # # # #
Tina was waiting with her bags packed when Artie got home.
“Going home so soon?” He asked.
“Yeah,” Tina told him, smiling. “I have weekend plans with Mike.”
“Oh,” he told her, noticeably disappointed.
“But my flight isn’t until later this afternoon, so we can still go out to lunch before I go,” she added.
“Great,” he said with a smile.
The four of them went out to lunch together, before taking a cab to the airport to see Tina off.
Before boarding her flight, Tina knelt down and gave Artie a hug and told him, “I know you’ll make the right choice for you.”
“Thanks, Tina,” he replied. “That means a lot.”
After seeing Tina off, Kitty took the subway to the NYU campus for her 3:00 class, and Artie and Nancy returned to the apartment.
# # # # #
Both Artie and Nancy knew that this was likely to be the last time that they would have alone until her return flight on Sunday, so they decided to take advantage of it.
Nancy sat down and relaxed on the couch, patting the spot next to her, indicating that she wanted him to sit next to her. He smiled, wheeled over, and transferred himself out of the chair. She put her arm around his shoulder and he lay his head on hers. There was just something comforting about being held in your mom’s arms. He hadn’t experienced this in years.
“So, what are you thinking?” She asked him.
“About the prospective treatment, or in general?” He asked.
“Either? Both?” She prompted.
He sighed. “I barely slept last night.”
“Understandable,” she said. “I’m sure that it was a lot for you to absorb. I know it was for me, and I can only imagine what it must be like for you – I barely slept myself, and I’m pretty sure Kitty and Tina didn’t either.”
He nodded. “I just keep going back and forth. It’s a lot to consider.”
“It is.”
“What do you think?” he asked. “So far all I’ve really heard you mention are the risks.”
“It’s a mom’s job to worry,” she told him.
“Mom…”
“Well, it is,” she continued. After a few awkward moments she sighed. “Okay, the truth is that… I agree with Kitty. This is a very difficult decision that you really need to make yourself. I raised you to make your own decisions. Ever since you were a little boy you’ve made your own decisions about how to best handle your needs. Your dad and I just followed your lead. This should be no different.”
“Yeah,” he responded, “I remember. Why was that?”
“The truth is,” she confessed, “I’ve always felt guilty about the accident.”
“Why?” He asked. “The other driver ran a red light, and I was wearing a seatbelt. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That doesn’t matter, Artie,” she told him. “I may not have technically done anything wrong, per se. But I was driving, and if I had looked both ways one more time, or reacted just a little faster he might not have hit us, or the impact might not have been so strong or in the same place. We’ll never know for sure, and that’s something that I will have to live with thinking about my entire life.”
Artie saw a tear in his mother’s eye, and hugged her close.
“It’s not your fault, mom,” he told her, “I don’t blame you and I had no idea that you blamed yourself. Please don’t!” Artie had always secretly suspected that his mother felt a little guilty about the accident, but he thought that she’d gotten over it years ago.
“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that. It’s something that I made the decision to hide from you a long time ago,” she said. “When you were a kid I saw no need to burden you with that. You had enough to worry about learning to deal with your disability. Fortunately for me, you were pretty assertive at telling us what you needed. We just did everything that we could to make sure you got it. After a while it became easy to hide my guilt from you and everyone else.”
“I don’t understand then, why aren’t you pushing me to do this?” He wondered. “Because if it worked then I would not need any of those special accommodations anymore.”
“I know. I haven’t because I worry that it might make things worse for you,” she told him. “I know the doctors said that was very unlikely, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen.”
“So you don’t think I should go for this….” he prompted.
“I didn’t say that,” she answered. “I’m just not prepared to tell you to do it. Unlike Tina, who seems intent on persuading you at any cost.”
“Tina has always had strong opinions on things,” he told her. “She means well, most of the time, but I learned long ago that I needed to temper her opinions. She actually discouraged me from getting together with Kitty, back in the day.”
“Yeah,” Nancy said. “I sensed some tension there.”
“Tina has never really liked Kitty for whatever reason. I’ve never completely understood why. I thought they had buried the hatchet after Kitty gave Tina her dress after the slushie bucket incident at our senior prom, but it became apparent not that long later that Tina still disliked her when she attempted to convince me that Kitty could not possibly really love me. It’s been tense between them ever since. I know that Kitty has tried to make peace offerings several times since then, but Tina just wasn’t interested.”
“Well,” Nancy informed him, “Tina is completely wrong. Kitty is deeply in love with you! I can tell from the look in her eyes when she looks at you or talks about you.”
“I know mom,” he said. “I feel the same way. Kitty is the love of my life. She’s my soul mate…”
“I’m so glad you’ve found that,” Nancy told him.
“So am I,” he said. “For a long time I didn’t think that I would.”
Nancy had feared the same thing, but had never voiced her fears to anyone except her now ex husband.
“Then marry her,” Nancy prompted.
“I will, mom,” he reassured her, “after our graduations.”
Nancy sighed.
# # # # #
When Kitty returned from class, the three of them had dinner together at a nice little diner a few blocks away.
On Saturday morning they decided to take Nancy sightseeing and they spent the whole day doing that. During the evening they went to see Rachel perform in her latest Broadway show Wicked.
Sunday morning Nancy packed up and the two of them took her to the airport.
After seeing Nancy off, Artie and Kitty returned to their apartment and got ready for an evening out with Marley and Ryder. That evening the four of them discussed the treatment some more, and by the end of the conversation Artie seemed to be leaning more towards actually submitting to it.
# # # # #
Monday morning, Kitty and Artie awoke and started their day as usual. Kitty was sitting at the kitchen table drinking her coffee when Artie wheeled in after completing his routine.
“Morning,” they greeted each other.
He stopped next to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before collecting his own coffee and sitting across for table from her.
They both shared an awkward silence before Artie broke it by hesitantly saying, “I’ve decided to try the treatment.”
“I’m proud of you,” she told him with a brave smile, placing a hand on the arm he had laid on the table.
Their eyes met and there was another uncomfortable silence.
“I’m scared,” he added, averting her gaze.
“I know,” she reassured him, squeezing his arm. “But I will be here with you every step of the way.”
He slowly met her loving gaze again and they shared a soft smile.
Inside, she was terrified.
# # # # #
The following Friday Kitty shared her week with Marley over lunch at the Spotlight Diner while the guys had class.
“What a week,” Marley began as they took their seats. “Midterm exams kicked my butt!”
“Yeah,” Kitty responded, “We’re not in high school anymore. It kind of sucks!”
They both laughed.
“I miss McKinley on weeks like this! I’m glad it’s Friday! How was your week?” the younger one started as they took the menus they were offered.
“Well,” Kitty said, taking a sip of her water, “On Monday morning Artie called and made an MRI and physical appointment at the hospital that the doctors wanted.”
“So, he’s going through with the treatment, then?” the younger girl asked.
“Yeah,” Kitty answered, “that’s what he told me when we got up on Monday morning, as long as the MRI results match up with what they expected.”
“How do you feel about that?” Marley asked.
“Excited, nervous, and honestly a little terrified.” Kitty told her best friend.
“I can definitely understand that,” her friend told her.
“But I’m choosing to think positively about it.” She said putting a brave smile on her face.
But Marley could see in her eyes how scared she was.
“That’s a good way to look at it.”
“Okay,” Kitty said, changing the subject, “enough about me. What’s new with you and Mr. Lynn??”
Both girls smiled.
“Well,” Marley confessed, cautiously, “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and I think I’m going to ask him if he’s interested in moving in together next year. You know, off campus. What do you-”
Kitty squealed with glee!
“I’m guessing you approve?” Marley asked with a smile on her face.
“Our sweet, innocent Marley’s growing up!”
“I’ll take that as a yes?”
“Well, duh,” Kitty answered, regaining her composure. “I’ve been wondering when you’d finally get around to it. I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to happen on its own or if I was going to have to give you a shove in that direction for your own good. You and Bieber are stuck and have been for at least a year now. You need to get out of it, and moving in together will definitely do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Kitty told her, “you’ve been dating since high school, and seem to spend all of your free time that’s not spent studying or with Artie and me, with eachother. But you waste money living separately, barely find time for sex because you both have roommates, and haven’t really made any formal or concrete commitment to each other besides agreeing that you’re dating. It would be different if you were long distance or something, but you’re on the same campus five minutes away from eachother. That’s a rut!”
Marley flushed at the mention of sex. “Can you keep your voice down?”
“Seriously, Marley,” Kitty chided in a slightly softer tone, “It’s not the 1950’s! There’s nothing wrong with people knowing that you have sex with your boyfriend. And I happen to know you enjoy it!”
Marley sighed, acknowledging her point. “So do you think he’d be interested?”
“Marley,” she said, “your naivety is getting pretty old. Of course he’s interested. That boy has been in love with you since he first lay his eyes on you! The question is, how are you planning to broach the subject with him?”
“I was actually hoping you could help me with that ….” the younger girl confessed.
“Well, you’ve come to the right person,” Kitty told her friend, getting excited. “The first thing I’d do is talk to your roommate and get her to spend Saturday night with her boyfriend so you get the room to yourself. If that doesn’t work, you can always spring for a motel. Give him hints about how the two of you never go anywhere romantic to get him to take you out to dinner to a fancy sit-down restaurant.
“Do you have any lingerie? Oh never mind, I’ll take you to Victoria’s Secret and help you pick out something suitable to get your Bieber’s hormones in a tizzy-”
“Kitty!”
“What? It’s a special occasion-” Kitty continued.
“I’m not really sure I’m comfortable. …”
“Body issues again?” She sighed, taking a moment to calm down and regain her more serious composure; measuring her words before continuing. This was going to take the sensitive touch.
“I suppose this is partially my fault treating you the way I did after we met. I thought you’d made at least some improvement in that area since high school. Look, in case I haven’t been clear before, I’ve seen you in the locker room, remember? Trust me, you have nothing to worry about!”
“Kitty,” Marley countered. “I know you don’t understand body issues…”
“What makes you say that?”
In response, Marley rapidly raised and lowered her arm several times, gesturing to Kitty’s body.
“Look, Marley,” Kitty got even more serious and lowered her voice. “Everyone has body issues, even me. And I probably shouldn’t say this, but even Arthur. Every couple has to face that sooner or later. If you don’t do it now, I guarantee that you will have to once you live together. It’s unavoidable.”
“Really?”
Kitty signed, “I remember one of the first nights that we spent together after we moved in together…”
~ ~ ~ Flashback ~ ~ ~
Kitty walked into the bedroom. Artie was already in bed. Kitty began to strip out of her clothes, without thinking.
Suddenly she felt uncomfortable. She stopped and turned to face Artie who was laying there watching her disrobe with a grin on his face.
“Do you mind?!” She asked him in an irritated tone.
“Not at all,” he responded with a playful tone and the same grin.
“Then, would you mind not ogling me with those thyroid enhanced eyes of yours!?” she questioned, still irritated.
“Kitty,” he responded in a more serious tone, “It’s not like we haven’t seen each other naked before…”
“I know,” she told him, “but that doesn’t mean you have to stare at me like a voyeur.”
“Very well,” he responded, and decided to respect her wishes, turning on his side and averting his eyes.
She finished disrobing and a few moments later, he felt her crawl into bed with him, snuggling up next to his body, her bare flesh against his. She put her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for respecting me and putting up with my insecurities.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I would be uncomfortable if my boyfriend stared at me like that too…” Marley told her.
“Well you better deal with that soon, because once you live with and share a bedroom and bathroom with a guy, you are going to be seeing each other naked…. a lot.”
Marley was noticeably uncomfortable with that news.
“Look,” Kitty said, switching back to a reassuring tone and placing her hand on her friend’s arm. “All I’m saying is that you need to be ready for it so you can deal with it.”
“How do you do that?”
“By being brave, talking about and facing them, as well as being honest about your fears and insecurities; and understanding about each other’s. That’s what Arthur and I did. Over time ,we developed an intimate understanding of each other and our bodies, and now we are both completely comfortable being naked around each other.”
“Ew, ew, ew!” Marley made a disgusted face “Artie’s like a brother to me, and you’ve just given me a picture that I’m going to have a hard time getting out of my head!”
Kitty laughed. “Sorry about that, I just wanted you to get an idea of what you’re getting yourself into. Trust, me, you’re going to be fine.”
After a few moments of silence, Marley put a smile on her face and said, “So what were you saying about lingerie?”
## ## ## ## ##
So there you have it my friends, the next chapter of Wedding Song. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the Season 6 One Shots. They will continue. But it’s been 3 months since I updated this, and this chapter was about 95% done when I got inspired by season 6 and got sidetracked. I just figured it was time to polish this chapter off and get it out there. ~W.A.