I didn't intend to start another chapter story, but I couldn't resist. This will be a shorter story, likely around five or six chapters, though that might change. Unlike my other story, Countdown to Regionals, this will not be updated on a specific schedule. I will, however, try to get a new chapter up at least once a week, if I can.

A thousand thanks to my beta, Tuuzmorado.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, and I highly doubt that I ever will. If you recognize it, it doesn't belong to me.

Evan stood in front of the Hummel house, staring at the place where his twin brother had lived since Junior year. Nobody knew he was coming, but there was no way that he could have stayed away. Not after Sam had been shot at.

It didn't matter that Sam hadn't actually been in danger, or that the bullets weren't aimed at him (or anyone else, from the sounds of it). It still would've been terrifying, meaning that Sam needed his family around him now. Evan wasn't entirely sure if he qualified anymore, if there was any chance of helping his brother, then he had to try.

But first he had to find the courage to knock on the door.

Taking a deep breath, he rolled his suitcase up the driveway and rang the doorbell once. He'd put this off long enough, considering that the shooting had been Tuesday, and it was already Sunday. He'd waited so long because he knew that his parents would race to Ohio to be with Sam as soon as they heard, and Evan wasn't quite ready to see them. But they'd returned to Kentucky yesterday, so no more procrastinating. Though he sort of hoped that Sam wouldn't be the one to answer the door. Evan wanted a few more moments to prepare himself first.

To his relief, the door was opened by a stranger in a flannel shirt and backward baseball cap. He frowned when he saw who was standing there, but not like he was upset. More like he was concerned. "Sam? I thought you were in your room. And-" he glanced down "-what's with the suitcase and the glasses?"

Evan instinctively started rubbing the end of his glasses, a nervous habit that he'd tried to rid himself of years ago, to no success. "I, um, I'm not Sam. I'm his brother. I know I didn't tell you I was coming, but could I see him? And maybe stay here until I'm sure he's okay?"

The man – he must be Mr. Hummel, Evan decided – blinked, looking surprised. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an understatement. But he stepped aside and ushered Evan in. "Sam's upstairs, third door on the right. Go ahead and bring your stuff. You two can stay together if you want, or go ahead and grab either of my sons' rooms, they won't care. Well, Kurt might. Just make sure not to mess anything up if you go in there."

"Thank you very much," Evan said, lifting his bag and heading for the stairs. "I know this must be weird. You couldn't have expected someone like me to show up."

"No, it's safe to say I didn't," Mr. Hummel agreed. "I didn't even know Sam had any more siblings. I thought it was just the two. If you didn't look so much alike I'd think that you were lying to me."

Evan grimaced. It was what he had expected, but it still hurt to hear it, more than he'd thought that it would.

"Listen, kid, I have to ask," Mr. Hummel said, which was never a beginning that led to anything good. "Is Sam going to want to see you?"

That was the question, wasn't it? "I hope so."

"Go see him, then."

Evan nodded and started up the stairs, but stopped when Mr. Hummel called after him, "And one more thing." When Evan turned to look at him, he said, "Whatever happened between you too – and don't look so surprised, it's obvious that something did – there's no reason why you can't fix it."

For some reason, Evan's throat suddenly felt tight. It must be nerves, or else he was already getting emotional about a reunion that hadn't even happened that. He swallowed hard so that he could speak. "Thanks, Mr. Hummel."

The man smiled. "Call me Burt, kid. And I'll want to know your name if you're going to be staying here."

"Evan Evans, sir." His parents had thought it was adorable. Personally, he was half convinced that they'd seen into the future and decided to punish him in advance.

"Nice to meet you, Evan," Burt said, holding out his hand for him to shake.

Evan walked up the stairs and down the hall. Third door on the right, just like Burt had said. The door was open, and Sam was lying on the bed, reading a book. That was a bad sign. Sam hated reading because of his dyslexia; he only willingly opened a book when he was trying to distract himself from something serious, because it took all his concentration to understand the words. Evan leaned against the door frame, watching his twin for a minute while he tried to think up the perfect thing to say. How did you greet someone after almost three years apart? That was probably something he should have thought about during the long train ride from Florida to Ohio, but somehow that hadn't happened.

Oh, forget it. He couldn't think of the perfect remark, so he just asked the thing he most wanted to know. "How are you doing, Sam?"

Sam's head jerked up so fast it was almost comical. Evan forced himself to relax and look calm, not at all like he was holding his breath, waiting to see how his brother would react.

Sam was off the bed in a second and wrapping his arms around Evan, who only hesitated for a moment before hugging back just as tight. "What are you doing here?" Sam asked. "I didn't think you were coming home again."

"I didn't think I was, either, until what happened at McKinley." Evan reluctantly pulled away. He didn't want to let go. "Don't worry, it's only for a little while, then you'll be free of me," he said with an easy smile that he hoped Sam wouldn't be able to see through.

"Are you kidding?" Sam looked honestly shocked by that. He wrapped one arm around Evan and pulled him toward the bed. "Stay as long as you want! Oh, do you think you'll still be here tomorrow afternoon? Can you come to school with me to meet the glee club?"

Evan raised one eyebrow. "You actually want me to meet them?"

Sam blinked and gave Evan a weird look. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

Evan could think of a few reasons. "They don't know I exist, do they?" He didn't wait for an answer. Burt's reaction had told him enough. "You really want to tell them that your brother's a screw-up?"

"No, I want to tell them that my brother's super strong and awesome, because that's what's true," Sam said. He squeezed Evan's shoulder. "You know that the only reason they don't know about you is because you told me not to. Seriously, I want to brag to them all about how awesome you're doing now. It was killing me to keep this quiet and act like you didn't exist." Evan could hear the honest pain in Sam's voice. Yeah, he was the kind of person who'd be hurt by something like this. If Evan had been a good older brother, then he would've let Sam vent to his friends. But Evan didn't want them to know, not even the kids that he had never met.

Besides, it was for Sam's sake, too. Who wanted to be known as the brother of the drug-addict?

It had started freshman year. That was when Dad lost his job. Things got tight around their house, and Sam and Evan had to drop out of their all-boys boarding school and go to a public high school instead. Sam did fine – that boy could make friends with anyone. Evan, not so much.

It started with parties. And beer. And a ton of sex that thank God hadn't caused any pregnancies or STDs. He didn't quite remember when he'd switched to drugs – in fact, a whole lot of that year was one big blur. But anyway, it had happened, and there was no going back. He figured it'd be safe as long as he avoided the heavy stuff. No way he'd get addicted just from one or two snorts, right? Ha. Haha.

It ended when a fight over a joint left him in the hospital with broken ribs and a busted head. That's when all of them had had to wake up and realize that yeah, Evan was messed up. The entire family moved to Lima, to get away from all kids who'd either tempt him to start again or come back and beat him twice as hard. Evan agreed to go to rehab during one of his saner moments, which hadn't lasted all that long. And it had literally felt like his body was ripping itself to a million different pieces, but he'd gotten free.

The result? He was over two years clean, but he'd messed things up too badly to go back. So he'd moved in with his aunt and uncle down in Florida. It was a nice place. He liked it. And they didn't make him try to call his family, which he appreciated. They wouldn't want to hear from him, anyway.

Except for Sam, apparently. But then, Sam was incapable of judging anyone or holding grudges. It was the nicest thing about him, which was saying a lot. But there was no reason to think that anyone else would be so accepting.

"So, will you come to school with me?" Sam asked after a minute passed and Evan still hadn't answered. Then he gave Evan an adorable pleading look, so there was only one answer he could give. Plus, the whole point was to cheer Sam up. Refusing to do something that Sam wanted would be counterproductive.

"Of course I will, if you still want me to," Evan said, and was instantly rewarded by Sam tackle-hugging him again, knocking them both backward onto the bed. Evan laughed, though that was kind of hard with Sam's weight pressing down on his chest. "You'll have to come up with a reason why you never told anyone about me," he said on a more serious note. There was no way that he was letting anyone know the truth, not after he'd managed to hide it for so long, and definitely not when he was around to see everyone's reactions.

Sam shrugged as he sat up, looking completely unconcerned. "I'll just say that you live with Aunt Mindy and don't come home often, so it never really came up. That's what we can tell Burt, too, if you want. Blaine never mentioned having an older brother and nobody thought much of it." Sam's eyes suddenly lit up. "I can't wait for you to meet Blaine! The two of you will totally love each other!"

Personally, Evan doubted that Burt would believe that the story was really that simple - he already knew that something was up, after all. Hopefully he'd be the kind of man who wouldn't question them, though. "Who's Blaine?" Evan asked, grabbing a pillow and making himself comfortable, propped up on one elbow and staring at his twin. It felt kind of surreal to be together again. In a good way. "Your girlfriend?" They'd had a quick chat around Christmas, and both of them sent each other pictures of their respective girlfriends, so Evan knew that Sam had one – a real cute girl, too. But Evan couldn't for the life of him remember her name. Blaine sounded close, but not exactly right, not to mention that it was too masculine.

Sam snorted and shook his head. "No, that was Brittany. We're not together anymore. Blaine's my best friend. He's super cool."

"That's too bad about the break-up," Evan said, not entirely sure how he should react. If they'd just been together casually, or if they'd broken up months ago, then Evan didn't want to make it weird by acting too upset. But at the same time, he didn't want to be too flippant, either. Especially if the pain was still fresh. "When did that happen?"

Sam shrugged again, but his smile faded, and he looked down. "Wednesday. We got together and talked it out. I guess the shooting made us both see things differently. Understand what's really important. I'm pretty sure she's gotten back with her ex-girlfriend. It's fine, though. We're still friends, and I wanted to break up just as much as she did. Life's short, you know? Love whoever you love, however long you can."

Evan smiled slightly, appreciating the sentiment. And Sam honestly didn't look too heartbroken. More like... quiet. And thoughtful. Which weren't always words that described Sam too much, so there must be something big behind this. "Understand what's really important," he mused, trying to figure out why there seemed to be more to it than what Sam had said. "Love whoever you love. You wanted to break up with her." He got it. "Sam, are you in love with someone else?"

"What? No!" Sam said, which was all the confirmation that Evan needs. And Sam seems to realize it, because he gives in. "Okay, I totally am. But it's not like we're ever going to be more than friends."

"You don't know that," Evan said, pointing at Sam dramatically. "You, my dear brother, are a catch. Seriously, whoever you like would be lucky to have you. Unless there's a boyfriend in the mix?" Or worse, a girlfriend.

"Ex-boyfriend, but I think they're still in love, even though Kurt lives in New York and is dating someone else," Sam mumbled. "And I've already said the whole 'I know you have a crush on me but let's just be friends' thing. How am I supposed to come back from that?"

Evan rolled his eyes. Sometimes, his brother could be hopeless about romance. Okay, all the time would probably be more accurate. "I'll tell you what you do. You find your special someone and say 'Hey, I know I turned you down, but I just realized that I'm in love with you'. Trust me, if there's even a little bit of interest, you two would get together. Or, you're in glee club, right? Do a serenade."

Sam shook his head stubbornly. "Let's just not talk about it, okay?"

"Okay," Evan agreed, somewhat reluctantly. He was fully determined to find who Sam's crush was by the end of the week and get them together. After all, Sam deserved happiness more than anyone else in the world, and if this mystery person could help with that, then Evan would do anything to make sure they fell in love.

"Supper's ready, boys," Burt called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Come on," Sam said, jumping to his feet. He grabbed Evan's arm and pulled him toward the doorway hard enough that it hurt a little, but Evan would never complain. It felt nice having his brother back. Nothing else could possibly compare to that.

Dinner was an awkward affair. Burt's wife, Carole, had been just as shocked as Burt was when she saw Evan. The entire meal was spent trying to answer their questions truthfully without actually revealing anything about why Evan lived in Florida, and watching them share suspicious looks when he and Sam didn't do a good enough job. Neither of them pressed for more information than they gave, however, which was exactly why Evan decided he liked the Hummels. They were good people for Sam to stay with.

"I'm going to call Blaine," Sam said after the dishes had been washed. "Should I tell him about your visit or wait until tomorrow?"

Evan thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "Let's wait. I kind of want to see their faces when they find out."

"Me, too," Sam agreed. "Okay, my lips will be sealed!" He made the motion for locking his lips and tossing the imaginary key toward the trashcan, then wandered upstairs while Evan headed outside to make a phone call of his own.

It was cold out, even through his thick sweater, and he was pretty sure that nobody would've eavesdropped on him even if he'd stayed in the house. But he kind of liked the outdoors. It was peaceful to just sit on the porch and stare out at the empty street. It was just starting to get dark, meaning that the sky was gloomy but he could still see. His favorite time.

The first person he called was Aunt Mindy, letting her know that he'd made it there okay and that Burt had given him a place to stay. She thanked him, and they chatted for a few minutes about their days before he could hang up and call the person he really wanted to speak to.

Chloe picked up on the second ring. "What did Sam say?" she demanded, in lieu of a greeting.

Evan couldn't help but smile at the sound of her voice. It had only been a day, but god, he already missed her. "He was really happy to see me," Evan said, his grin growing. "It was almost weird how normal it felt, if that makes sense. There should have been some big reunion with both of us crying, and he should have announced that he still hasn't forgiven me or that he's disgusted by what I did or something like that. Instead, we just acted like brothers. Like nothing had ever separated us."

Chloe was the only person outside his family who knew anything about his freshman year. It had kind of come out during a drunken party last year, about a month after they'd started dating. After, he'd expected her to dump him - probably through text, so that she wouldn't even have to see his face again. Instead, she'd turned up at his doorstep and asked gentle questions until the whole truth had tumbled out. Then they'd kissed. A lot.

He kind of loved her.

"And who was it who'd predicted that it would go this well?" Chloe asked.

"You were," he said. "And yeah, you're always right and all that. Thanks, though."

"Tell me everything," Chloe said. "Seriously, we both know you like to talk, so go at it. Don't forget a single thing or I will seriously hurt you!"

He chuckled but did so, relaying everything from the moment he'd gotten to the train station all the way to the end of dinner. He must have been babbling for half an hour by the time he was done, but Chloe listened the whole time, sometimes making a comment but mostly just staying silent.

"You really should call your parents," she said, out of nowhere. "Don't argue for a minute, okay? Sam was happy to see you. What makes you think that your parents won't be the same way?"

He shook his head - a pointless gesture, because she couldn't see it. "It's not the same thing," he said. "Sam and I have always emailed every once in a while. I already knew that he didn't hate me completely. But I literally haven't had any contact with my parents at all since about halfway through sophomore year."

"And who's fault was that?" she asked, her voice clearly implying that she thought it was his.

"They sent me to live with my aunt and uncle several states away," Evan pointed out. "They wouldn't have done that if they wanted me."

"I thought you were the one who chose to live with them?" Chloe said.

"It's more complicated than that," he said, sliding his glasses up with his free hand so he could rub his eyes. "Truth is, after all the hell I put them through, they were happy to get rid of me. Nothing's going to change that, and I'm fine, so can we please stop talking about it?"

"You may be fine," she said quietly, "but I want you to be happy. That's the whole reason I'm pushing this so much."

He sighed and leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm. "Just tell me what you did today. Did you end up seeing that movie you wanted?"

They were about five minutes into her description of her day (which didn't involve a movie, but did involve a really funny story about her little brother running around the mall pretending to be Captain Underpants) when Sam walked out. "Oh, hey, there you are! Who are you talking to?"

"Is that Sam?" Chloe asked, breaking herself off mid-sentence. "I want to talk to him! Hand the phone over!"

Evan chuckled and held out the phone. "Here, say hi to my girlfriend."

"Hey, Chloe!" Sam greeted. Evan was impressed and kind of touched that he'd remembered her name, even though Evan couldn't have mentioned it more than two or three times, and not for several months now. The two of them talked for a few minutes, a laugh escaping Sam a couple of times. Evan had no clue what Chloe was saying, but knowing her, it was probably something embarrassing about him. Not that he minded.

"Anyway, we should get ready for bed soon," Sam said, handing the phone back over. "I want to leave early tomorrow so you can meet some people before class starts."

"Okay," Evan said, putting the phone back to his ear. "I've got to go. Love you."

"Love you, too," she echoed, then hung up.

"I like her," Sam said, holding out his hand to yank Evan to his feet. "I'm glad you have someone like her."

"Yeah," Evan agreed. "And I'm sure whoever you're in love with is just a great as her. You'll have to introduce us." There was no way Evan would go home without meeting this person for himself. He didn't really plan to go into overprotective-big-brother mode or anything (even though he was technically older by eight minutes), but his mission was to make sure Sam was happy. Nothing would get in the way of that.

"Definitely," Sam said quietly, his eyes getting a faraway look that made Evan smile. Sam was clearly head-over-heels, more than he'd been for Brittany, if the way he'd talked about her during their brief conversation last December was any indication. Sam hadn't said anything rude about her - there wasn't a single rude bone in Sam's body - but he hadn't really acted like he felt too much. This, however, was completely different.

Sam shook his head like he was clearing his thoughts. "Anyway, you'll meet everyone tomorrow," he said as they headed into the house. Evan smiled and tried to look excited.

Secretly, he was terrified that they wouldn't like them, that they'd learn too much, that Evan would somehow ruin Sam's entire social life – any one of those reasons. But Sam didn't need to know that.