Everybody Loves a Winner

Rachel was trying to remain positive.  After all it was nearly Christmas and she knew just how much Finn loved it.  Not that she didn't love this time of year herself.  With all of the good will and love of Christmas songs floating around she often got the opportunity to sing at random intervals more than she did normally.  She had poured her heart into decorating the Glee room with Mercedes and Santana and was very happy indeed at her handiwork.  In fact, everything in the Glee room looked spectacular except for the dark cloud that seemed to be following Puck around.  She didn't know exactly what had happened between him and Shelby, but the moment he'd walked through the door she had known that it was over.  Shelby hadn't given her any details, had just sent her a text earlier that morning saying that she was leaving at the end of the week and had wanted to see her before she left.  Rachel hadn't yet replied to it, unsure if she was prepared to tell Shelby goodbye yet again.  It wasn't that she'd allowed the other woman into her life as much as she had the first time, but goodbyes were still hard and they still managed to dredge up all the regrets and dashed dreams of the past.

Which was why she was trying her hardest not to think about those sad and confusing things.  She was focusing on the positives, or trying very hard to until Rory got up and sang Blue Christmas.  The song seemed to hit all the right sad notes and she could feel herself slipping back from the bright shiny place she'd wanted to be in.  She got to her feet immediately the moment that the last note faded away.  "Thank you Rory, that was lovely, but maybe we should try something more… happy."

"Yeah," Santana said.  "Something that doesn't make me want to kill myself."

"He misses his family," Sam said, turning to look back at both of them.  "There's nothing wrong with being sad about that."