“Hey guys” Mr Schuester said softly.
“’Hey guys’? ‘Hey guys’? You left us, you fucking left us, in a school of men with guns and bombs going off and you think you can just walk into a hospital – a hospital we’re at because people are hurt! – and you think you can just say ‘hey guys’?!” Puck exploded.
“Look I need to - ”
“You need to get the hell out of here before I punch you in the face!” Finn yelled.
Mr Schuester looked at Finn, then he looked past him.
“Tina are you okay?” He asked tentatively.
“Why do you care?” Mike said angrily, “You left her, when you knew she couldn’t walk, you left her alone. Why do you care now?”
“Because I feel guilty!”
“So? Blaine felt guilty for not stopping Kurt from taking the bullet for him. Mercedes feels guilty for not realised Sam was as injured as he was. Everyone feels guilty for splitting up. But do you know what? We stuck together! None of us were alone and no one abandoned anyone. We feel guilty because we couldn’t do anything more to those we love. You have no right feeling guilty when you’ve only done stuff wrong” Finn shouted.
“Or even if you do feel guilty, we’re not going to forgive you like that” Lauren shouted, clicking her fingers.
“Hold on, what did you just say about Kurt and Blaine? Kurt took a bullet for him?” Mr Schuester asked looking confused.
“If you’d been with us, you would know what had happened” Quinn said.
“Is he – they – okay?”
“Like you care” Santana scoffed.
“Schuester” Burt said calmly.
Mr Schuester had only just realised that he was there.
“Oh hi Burt” He said nervously.
“That’s ‘Mr Hummel’ to you” Burt said curtly.
“Oh right... Look Bur – urm – Mr Hummel - ”
Burt took a step closer to him and Mr Schuester stopped talking. He looked at his pupil’s father. Burt gave a small smile that didn’t meet his eyes. Then he lunched forward and punched Mr Schuester so hard that he was knocked off balance.
“That’s from all of us!” Mercedes shouted.
Mr Schuester didn’t move from the floor. Finn slowly walked towards him. Mr Schuester flinched, as though he thought Finn was going to kick him.
“My brother is in intensive care because of you” He said icily.
“Finn, as much as I hate that, it’s not my fault”
“Oh really? It was your ex-wife’s sister that started all of this!” Quinn said.
“I didn’t know she was planning on it! Where is she anyway? I think I need to speak to her”
“She’s dead. Again, if you’d stuck around you’d know that” Lauren said.
“I needed to get myself out so that I could get help” Mr Schuester protested as he rubbed his jaw where Burt had punched him.
“But you didn’t. The police were already on their way! You just wanted to get out of harm’s way!” Quinn said.
“No, I went to contact Emma. So that she could - ”
“- Give us guidance about the ordeal we’ve been through?” Rachel guessed.
Mr Schuester nodded.
“You’re sick” Brittany said.
“You went to someone who could give us guidance when we hadn’t even got out of the building? When we didn’t even know if we were going to come out alive?” Santana said, trying to figure out where Mr Schuester’s thoughts were coming from, “We were underground with fire coming towards us thinking we were going to die and you thought ‘let’s get them a therapist’”
Mr Schuester didn’t speak.
“Get Out” Carole said firmly.
Mr Schuester looked around the waiting room, no one came to his rescue. Slowly, he stood up and walked to the door. He rubbed his jaw again. Before he left he turned around again.
“Give them others my ‘get well’ wishes” He said softly.
He quickly opened the door and exited. Mercedes’s drink hit the door a second later.
Finn and Puck were still fuming as they sat down.
“What an asshole” Puck muttered.
Quinn rubbed his back gently. Rachel did the same to Finn.
Everyone fell silent again. The next few hours passed mainly in silence. Everyone greeted Sam and Blaine’s family when they arrived but didn’t speak beyond that. The club took it in turns with pacing, with crying and with praying. They carried on waiting.