"Hey, we need to talk."

At that, Finn looked away from his locker to turn and look at Quinn instead and, as soon as he noticed the look on his girlfriend's face, he knew what this was going to be about.

"Yeah, we do." He said.

"Do you want to go first?" She asked, sighing a bit when Finn shook his head. "Okay... Well, I think we need to break up."

"I think so too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Finn nodded. "You know, I... I really thought I loved you when we kissed at my booth during Valentine's week. I mean, I felt something when we did. Fireworks."

"You felt fireworks when you kissed me?" Quinn asked, a small smile on her lips at the thought.

"Yeah." He smiled back at her. "It was like... A spark or something. It felt good. So I thought I was still in love with you. But then, we started dating and things started to change and I started to think that maybe I didn't. And maybe the reason I didn't was because I... Because I... I..."

"You are still in love with Rachel." Quinn finished his sentence when she noticed how Finn struggled with his words.

It wasn't a question either because she knew it. She had known it from the start, she just had chosen to ignore it. The same way she had chosen to ignore her own feelings for Piper. But not anymore. She had promised her she'd break up with Finn. She had chosen Piper this time and, for the first time in what felt like forever, she felt like she was making the right decision.

"Look, we had a good ride, you and me." Quinn said, as Finn nodded along with her words. "But we're not good for each other. We're not what we want. And that's okay, right?"

"Right."

"So... There's really no point in us holding onto this anymore, right?" She asked. "So we should just... We should just let it go, right?"

And, at that, Finn nodded too. Smiling at the girl in front of him, he pulled her in for a hug that she was quick to reciprocate. Because, sure, maybe he didn't love her and maybe she didn't love him, but he still cared for her and, hopefully, she still cared for him too.

"Well, I guess that's it then." She smiled at Finn, stepping away from him as she turned around to leave.

Before she could, though, she stopped when she heard Finn calling out her name.

"Hey, Quinn?" He asked, as the girl turned back around to face him again. "Did you ever love me?"

And, at that, Quinn frowned a bit, taking a second to consider it. Smiling gently at Finn, she shrugged.

"The first time we dated, I did love you." She admitted. "This second one... I don't think so."

"Were you already in love with... Someone else when you agreed on dating me this time around?"

"Yes." Quinn said quietly, half expecting Finn to get mad, but being pleasantly surprised when he didn't. Sure, she could still see it wounded his pride somehow, but, at least, he wasn't angry about it, right? "Yes, I was. I'm sorry, Finn."

"I hope it works out for you, Quinn." Finn said, a forced smile on his lips as Quinn did the same back at him.

"I hope it works out for you too, Finn."

***

"New Directions, I would like to introduce you to our new show choir consultant... Jesse St. James." Mr. Schue said, as everyone frowned a bit, looking at Jesse and Mr. Schue as the two of them stood in the choir room, in front of everybody.

"I don't trust this guy." Finn said, after a moment of awkward silence in which only Rachel clapped. "He's gonna trick us into doing something stupid so his alma mater wins."

"I don't need to do much tricking to get you to do something stupid, Finn." Jesse retorted, as Finn scoffed.

"Guys, Jesse is just a consultant. I still make all the calls." Mr. Schue said, noticing everyone's discontentment with this. "I have all the confidence in the world in you guys. I just think we could use all the help we can get because... This is it... Nationals. We've been working so hard for two years for this moment, and that moment is finally here. I was talking with Jesse and he agreed we should continue with our successful trend of doing original songs for the competition. I was thinking of doing one group number and one duet."

"Rachel and I should sing a duet." Finn said. "We killed it last year at regionals with Faithfully."

"Yeah. Killed us. We lost." Piper mumbled as Mercedes snorted a laugh from beside her best friend.

"May I?" Jesse asked Mr. Schue then, as the teacher nodded. "I agree that Rachel should sing lead, but, Finn, I think it's best if you sit this one out. The fact is, most of the other guys in here are better singers and Mike Chang, who can't even sing, can at least dance. You kind of sing and dance like a zombie who has to poop."

Everyone widened their eyes at the bluntness of the statement, but, of course, the one to speak up again was Finn Hudson himself.

"You see what I'm talking about?" He asked, looking at Mr. Schue while pointing at Jesse. "This guy's a jerk!"

"Maybe you could be a little gentler with your advice." Mr. Schue was quick to come in Finn's defense.

"Gentle?" Jesse scoffed then as Piper frowned at his attitude. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were training for the Good Try ribbon at Nationals. I thought we were in it to win the whole thing, and there's only one way we can do that."

"Poison darts?" Brittany offered.

"The Vocal Adrenaline strategy is simple." Jesse continued, ignoring the comment. "Identify your best performer and build the entire performance around them."

"So what does everyone else do?" Puck asked.

"And who's our star performer?" Mercedes asked.

"Who do you think?" Piper mumbled, unamused.

"We're gonna have auditions to find out." Mr. Schue said, and that was enough to get Mercedes', Santana's and Kurt's attention. As well as Rachel's of course. "I'm gonna post a sign-up sheet later this afternoon."

"Don't you think this is kinda not our style?" Finn asked then, but before anyone could even say anything else, Sam spun around in his seat to look at his friend.

"Normally I'd agree with you, but this is the big time." He said as everyone nodded along. "I think we should listen to Jesse."

***

"Hey!" Quinn smiled brightly as she approached Piper by her locker, later that day. "I have good news for you."

"Yeah?"

Quinn frowned a bit at the way Piper refused to look at her as she just kept on digging through her locker. Still, she decided to ignore it, all too happy with her own news to bother. After all, maybe she was just busy, right?

"I broke up with Finn." She whispered, leaning closer to Piper.

That certainly got a reaction out of the girl, who smiled a tiny bit before sighing again.

"That's great, Q." She said, and now Quinn was worried.

"Hey, P? What's wrong?" She asked, gently, rubbing a hand up and down her arm and frowning deeply when Piper let out a shaky breath. "Oh, come here, darling... Come here..."

And so Quinn pulled Piper into her arms, letting the girl cry there for a minute or two, running her fingers through her hair and whispering quiet reassurances at her until Piper had finally cried enough and decided to pull back from Quinn as she wiped her eyes a bit.

"What's wrong, angel? What's the matter?"

At the new nickname, Piper felt herself melting a bit, smiling through her tears as she slid down to the floor, leaning against the lockers. Quinn was quick to sit down beside her, throwing an arm around her shoulders as she let her rest her head against her shoulders. There was another moment of silence until Piper sucked in a deep breath and finally started to talk.

"My mom..." She said and with those simple words, Quinn squeezed Piper against her chest a bit tighter. "I mean... My dad finally won the whole custody thing, so that's solved. But he offered to allow my mom to see me sometimes when I decided it was a good time for a visit, but then she flipped. She started to say that if they let my dad have full custody of me I'd never get better and I'd never get back to normal and that if they didn't give her the full custody, she didn't want anything to do with me at all."

"Oh, P..."

"They asked me what I wanted then. The judge, I mean..." Piper sniffled. "And, you know... I should be glad, right? That my psycho mom doesn't want anything to do with me anymore apparently. Like... She'll leave me alone, finally. But... I just can't, you know? Cause it's my mom and I just feel like... I feel like she doesn't love me anymore. I feel like I let her down."

"You didn't." Quinn shook her head then, playing with the loose ends of Piper's hair as the girls sobbed in her arms again. "You didn't, P. You're a great person and any parent would be lucky to have you as their daughter. Some people just don't understand. Some people take time, but some people won't ever understand. And we'll have to deal with that. But I promise you, angel... You're so much better than you think you are. You're so much prettier and smarter and kinder and stronger than you think you are. And I'm proud of you. Every single day you walk down these hallways... I'm proud of you."

"Really?" Piper asked then, as Quinn nodded, smiling at her as she looked around for a second to make sure they were alone before pressing a kiss to her temple and standing up as she extended a hand toward Piper.

"Really." Quinn giggled as she pulled Piper up to her feet as she started to make her way with her down the hallways and toward the board. "Now... I know you refused to sign up when Kurt and Mercedes asked you to, but I think all this unresolved emotions you have inside of you right now, could be put to great use if you auditioned for a solo at Nationals."

"I'll never get it, Q... Competing against Santana, Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel?" Piper raised an eyebrow. "I don't stand a chance."

"Not with that mindset, you don't." Quinn teased as Piper giggled quietly. "But aren't you what Kurt calls the Queen of emotional singing? So get those emotions you're burring inside of you and let them out through a song."

"I don't know... It's a lot of emotions right now." Piper mumbled unsure.

"Sign up." Quinn insisted, handing Piper a pen and smiling when the brunette grabbed it from her. "Come on, I'll help you pick a song and practice."

"Will you?" Piper asked quietly, as Quinn nodded with a smile.

"Yes." She nodded, squealing quietly when Piper rolled her eyes but signed up her name anyway. "Yes, yes, yes!"

***

"We need to help her." Finn finished, after having spent a long while explaining, alongside Kurt, how bad coach Sylvester had been feeling those days. "She's overwhelmed, and she needs us to help her."

"Seriously?" Santana was the first to speak while everyone else just stared at the two of them confused. "I'd like to put the fun back in funeral just as much as the next girl. But why would the Glee Club help Coach Sylvester plan a service?"

"We're not doing it for Sue." Kurt argued. "We're doing it for her sister."

"Jean is just like us, guys." Finn said. "She's been an outsider and an underdog all of her life. We, of all people, should celebrate that."

"Can I say something?" Jesse asked, as everyone turned to look at him then. "When someone dies, yes, it's a tragedy. But it's also a part of life, and you can't let death put your life on hold. Now, I don't mean to be blunt, but I don't think you should be planning a funeral the same week you should be focusing on the set list for Nationals."

"Seriously?" Finn asked then. "Y-You're serious?"

"Actually, yes, I am." Jesse nodded. "Do you know what Vocal Adrenaline is doing right now? They're in their third week of 24-hour-a-day rehearsals. They're on an I.V. drip. That's how hard they're working. Do you know what happens in Vocal Adrenaline if someone dies during a number? They use them as a prop, like Weekend at Bernie's."

"No." Finn spoke up then, causing everyone to turn around and look at him, surprised. "Thanks for your input, Jesse, but we're helping Sue with the service for her sister. Rachel, you said I needed to be more of a leader of this club. Well, here goes. I'm making the call. We're doing this."

***

"Hi, I'm, hum... Piper Snow and I'll be singing Take it all, by Adele."

Piper

Didn't I give it all?

Tried my best

Gave you everything I had, everything and no less

Didn't I do it right?

Did I let you down?

Maybe you got too used to having me 'round

Still how can you walk away

From all my tears

It's gonna be an empty road without me right here

But go on and take it, take it all with you

Don't look back at this crumbling fool

Just take it all with my love, take it all with my love

Maybe I should leave, to help you see

Nothing is better than this and this is everything we need

So is it over?

Is this really it, you're giving up so easily

I thought you loved me more than this

But go on, go on, take it, take it all with you

Don't look back at this crumbling fool

Just take it all with my love, take it all with my love

When the last note hit, Piper took a step back from the microphone, wiping a tear away but smiling a bit as Mr. Schue clapped.

"That was fantastic, Piper!" The teacher praised as Piper smiled. "So much emotion... And your voice... You've grown so much since your first audition to join the club, remember?"

And, at that, Piper giggled.

"This glee club has really helped me come out of my shell." The girl shrugged quietly.

"Congratulations, Piper. That was fantastic. Thank you."

"That was really good, indeed. Very emotional." Jesse said, as Piper raised an eyebrow surprised by the commentary. "But you know what it also was? Boring."

"Excuse me?" She frowned, offended, scoffing when Jess just shrugged.

"You just stood there behind a microphone the whole time." The insisted. "Where are we supposed to be looking at?"

"At me." Piper said. "You're supposed to look at me and hear me sing. That's what a solo is about."

"Yeah, well... But with an ordinary voice such as yours I don't think that'd be our safest bet."

"Okay, enough." Mr. Schue cut in, noticing how offended Piper had grown. "Thank you, Piper. You were fantastic."

"Thank you, Mr. Schue." Piper smiled at the teacher before glaring at Jesse as she walked out of the stage and toward the choir room where everyone auditioning was reunited.

As soon as she stepped by the door, they turned to her, Santana and Kurt smiling simpathetically at her when she huffed, having been the first ones to go and to experience the Jesse-St.-James-rage.

"Jesse is a jerk." The girl spat as she walked up to a chair beside Kurt and plopped down beside him. "He called me boring. Boring!"

"I think the winner of four show choir championships might be able to give us all some valuable insight." Rachel said, as Piper rolled her eyes, mimicking the girl in a high-pitched tone as she glared at her and Kurt laughed.

"We know you're in love with him, Rachel, but do you have to be so obvious?" Mercedes asked then.

"Don't use the fact that Jesse and I once had feelings for each other as an excuse for my inevitable win." Rachel protested, as Kurt scoffed.

"Correction. You had feelings for him. He made breakfast on your head."

"Look, Jesse and I both appreciate the integrity of show choir too much to soil the competition."

"Sure you do." Piper scoffed.

"He's just gonna vote for whoever is best." Rachel protested, despite the fact that everyone in the room seemed to be against her at that point.

"That would be me." Santana spoke up. "You can fight over who's second all you want, because I kicked that song square in the balls."

"I'm so gonna win this thing." Mercedes said, as she stood up then and walked out, ready for her own audition. "No bother warming up, Rachel. I'm about to go out there and wrap this thing up like a Christmas present."

***

Everyone was sitting in respectful silence at the chapel, waiting for coach Sylvester to arrive so they could start the funeral. As soon as the woman stepped foot inside, alongside Mr. Schue, Finn and Kurt were quick to stand up to talk to her.

"What do you think, Coach Sylvester?" Kurt asked, gently, as coach Sylvester took a moment to look around the room and take in the whole Willy Wonka themed decoration they had prepared.

"You told us that Willy Wonka was Jean's favorite movie." Finn said. "The way you described Jean made her sound so special so we wanted her funeral to be special also. Something to capture and express the joy of her life rather than the sadness of her death."

"It's lovely." Coach Sylvester smiled at the boys as the two of them moved to take their seats again.

"Let's sit." Mr. Schue said, guiding coach Sylvester to her place at the first row of chairs.

"Welcome to the most unusual funeral that I have ever attended." The priest started the ceremony then. "Which makes sense, because Jean was the most unusual person that I ever had the pleasure to spend every Sunday for the last 30 years with. I think that Jean's sister Sue would like to say a few words."

At that, coach Sylvester nodded, standing up from her seat and walking toward the pulpit to speak as she put on her glasses and pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket.

"I miss my sister." She started and, just with that and the crack of her voice, Piper sniffled quietly, smiling a tiny bit when Quinn reached her hand over to grab hers over her lap. "Every night, at 10:00 or so she used to call me on the phone and when I asked her why she'd tell me that her body told her she wanted to hear my voice."

And at that, coach Sylvester crumbled, sobbing quietly as Mr. Schue stood up to stand beside the woman and grab her paper from her.

"I'll read it." He assured her with a hand on her back as he started to read her speech for her. "I miss my sister the smell of her shampoo the way she could always convince me to read her another book. When you love someone like I loved her they're a part of you. It's like you're attached by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away you are you can always feel them. And now, every time I reach for that tether I know there's no one on the other end, and I feel like I'm falling into nothingness."

At that, Quinn turned around to look at Piper beside her, smiling through her own tears when she noticed the girl crying quietly. Squeezing her hand in hers, Quinn hoped Piper understood the message she was trying to convey. She knew that feeling. The one coach Sylvester wrote about: the tether. She knew it because she had felt it. She had felt it with her. And when Piper squeezed her hand back, Quinn knew she understood.