Perfectly Imperfect

The Quarterback

Danielle Karofsky has said a total of three words since she received some news that would ultimately change her life and break her heart in a way she never dreamed imaginable.  Her professors advised the blonde to see the school psychologist, seeing how broken and distanced she became. So that's where she went, where she was for the second time in the past three weeks.

The blonde sat on the black, worn leather couch, hyper-fixating on the design of the wooden coffee table that sat between her and the graying psychologist. She let Dani sit in silence for the first twenty minutes of the session, until Dani broke her silence,  "If I'm being completely honest, I'm grateful that everyone has been treating me like I'm going to break at any moment for the past month."

Dr. Ryan cocked an eyebrow at the blonde, quietly scrawling the first words the blonde had said in their two sessions down in her file, "Why is that Danielle?"

"Because I feel like I'm going to break," she whispered, counting the number of scratches on the table top again.

"What do you mean, explain that."

Dani twisted the silver ring that she wore on her left hand, making eye contact with the middle aged woman watching her, "Because I can't handle losing someone I love again."

"What do you mean again?"

Clearing her throat, she uncrossed her legs and let them hang off the couch, "Last year, my twin brother tried to kill himself because his teammate outed him for being gay and he couldn't take the bullying. I almost lost my brother, if I hadn't called the paramedics and my dad in time he would have succeeded. Finn is, uh I mean was my best friend and on Valentines Day he asked me to marry him, so I not only lost my best friend by my fiance. And then by the time Quinn had gotten the news and the rest of our friends and family, they all knew how hard I would be taking it so they've left me to myself to grieve at Quinn's request."

"It's been three weeks since the service with his family, how are you feeling mentally about this special service your friends are holding tomorrow, do you think you'll be okay going and seeing your friend and family even though they might trigger some hard feelings for you?"

"I know what you're doing okay, I know why they sent me to see you," Dani scoffed, tired of talking about her loss. "I had a panic attack in class, I couldn't help it. Like I said, I've had a lot of loss in the past year. But I think now that I've had time to grieve privately, I'm ready to grieve with my loved ones because I need them right now. Thank you for seeing me and I'm sure I'll be seeing you when I come back."

Dave met his sister in front of their childhood home, seeing the dark circles that sat under her eyes as she climbed out of the vehicle, "Hey, how was your trip? Do you need to do anything, see anyone before going to the school?"

"Yes."

Amazed the he actually got a response from her, Dave eagerly tried to help her or alleviate any pain he could with his actions, "Anything."

"The dress, can you take care of that?"

Knowing exactly what he meant he nodded, watching his heartbroken twin sister climb into her car to join her friends at McKinley High School for a special intimate service, "Of course. It will be gone by the time you get home."

"Thank you."

By the time Dani walked into the choir room all eyes turned to face her, watching her as she slowly navigated to an empty chair. Sam lightly patted the chair beside him, "Hey... would you mind sitting next to me? I really need my best friend right now."

She mechanically nodded, seating herself between Sam Evans and Mike Chang. Mr. Schue walked into the choir room, avoiding everyone's eye as he quickly scribbled four letters on the blank board: FINN, "I'm really glad so many of you could make it back for this."