The Sister They Never Knew
by
hollytiger
Summary: This is the Season 6 alternate universe of "What If". Rated M. The story is canon to the show up to 6x04. A girl comes to McKinley and only Kurt seems to know who she is. When the others find out, they're shocked at her real identity and they get her to join the glee club.
Chapter 1 Blown Away
So this is McKinley...she thought to herself as she walked up to her assigned locker. This is where it all started for them. For him. Don't worry, I'll make you proud big brother. I'll make her proud.
As the girl headed to her first class, she could hear singing coming from the choir room. She peered through the doorway to see two brunette girls, two brunette boys, and a blonde boy laughing and singing along with a few older people that were definitely not students anymore. Her eye caught one of the older ones and he stared at her in shock. She smiled weakly at him and nodded and headed to her first class.
"Kurt, who was that?" Rachel asked the boy, who was still staring at the door dumbfounded.
"Possibly the newest member of the New Directions," said Kurt, getting up. "What in the hell is she doing here at McKinley?"
The others watched in confusion and wonder as Kurt left the room and followed the petite girl towards her class.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed.
"Well it's obvious, not that you care," the girl hissed back. "Didn't my mother tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Kurt asked, glaring at her. "Please tell me you're joining our glee club."
"About what my adoptive dad did to me," the girl replied back. "I have to go Kurt, we'll talk later."
The girl walked away as Kurt sighed. Rachel and the other alumni came up to him and stared at the backside of the girl.
"Who was that?" asked Quinn.
"I can't explain it right now," sighed Kurt.
Later that afternoon, the mystery girl stood in the empty auditorium, on the stage. She sat at the baby grand piano and started to play it, singing a familiar song.
I waited till I saw the sun
I don't know why I didn't come
I left you by the house of fun
I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come
When I saw the break of day
I wished that I could fly a way
'Stead of kneeling in the sand
Catching teardrops in my hand
My heart is drenched in wine
But you'll be on my mind forever
Out across the endless sea
I will die in ecstasy
But I'll be a bag of bones
Driving down the road alone
My heart is drenched in wine
But you'll be on my mind forever
Something has to make you run
I don't know why I didn't come
I feel as empty as a drum
I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come
As she ended the song, a series of claps came from behind her and she whirled around in horror to see Kurt standing there with the people she was avoiding from day one.
"That was really good," said Rachel.
"Yeah, you should join the Glee Club," Puck added, putting an arm around his fiance. Quinn nodded in approval.
The girl sighed as she got up from the piano bench and walked towards the stage door area. She stood in front of the plaques that rested on the wall and stared at them.
"It took me twelve years to muster up the courage to find him," the girl said, looking up at the memorial plaque of Finn. "He didn't even know I existed. Carole never told him."
"You knew Finn?" Rachel asked.
"Not just knew, he was blood," said the girl.
"You're related to Finn?" Rachel asked the girl.
"Oh yeah, and we would have been too, Rach," the girl said. Rachel's jaw dropped. "Oh yeah, I know who you are. Finn would not shut up about how much he loved you."
"Oh my god," said Santana, realizing who the girl was.
"How are you related to Finn?" asked Tina. The girl looked at Kurt, who nodded and she took a deep breath.
"My full name at birth was Noelle Carole Hudson. I'm his sister," said Noelle.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa," said Quinn, a few moments later as the group reconvened in the choir room. She waved her arms back and forth. "Finn has a sister?"
"Half-sister," said Noelle. "I was the result of a one-night stand. My mother gave me up for adoption when she found out, because, well, she wasn't ready for another child. Finn was only three and a half."
"So you're a senior then?" said Puck.
"Junior," said Noelle. "My 17th birthday's in December, so I started late at my old school."
"How come you're here?" asked Rachel. Noelle looked at Kurt.
"My adoptive dad abused me," said Noelle. "I found out I was two months pregnant six months after Finn's death, and my adoptive dad found out I hid the pregnancy for four months and punched me. A tornado warning was issued that same night after he passed out skunk drunk. I went into labor at six months into my pregnancy, and grabbed as much as I could and ran to the storm cellar. My adoptive dad died in the storm and I gave birth to a baby boy prematurely in the cellar. The doctors said it was from stress and my adoptive dad punching me in the face. Child services discovered that the judge who ordered custody to my adoptive dad four years before was blackmailed by my adoptive dad. The new judge ruled custody to Mom and Burt when I called them and asked for help."
"Oh my god, that's horrible!" exclaimed Tina.
"Geez, that makes me want to rip your adoptive dad's guts out if he wasn't already dead," said Puck angrily.
"He'd been abusing me for years. My adoptive mom died of cancer when I was three and it led my adoptive dad to drinking heavily. I tracked down information on my adoption when he left me home alone one summer when I was 12," said Noelle. "I found the paperwork shoved way back in a closet. Thankfully, I knew where my adoptive dad hid his private stash. I stole a thousand dollars and bought a train ticket to Lima from Oklahoma."
"How did you do that? Most places won't let a minor buy something that expensive, let alone travel by themselves," said Quinn.
"I gave them the sob story that I was visiting my grandmother on her deathbed and that I was the only child of a single mother and she was in an accident and I had to hurry home," said Noelle. "The idiots believed me. I snuck off the train once it got to Lima before I could be 'escorted' to see my mother. I hailed a taxi and showed up at Mom's house. Finn answered the door. He was in disbelief when I told him who I was. When Mom got home a few minutes later, she looked at me and nearly fainted. I told them about the abuse and everything. Mom had to call Child Services unfortunately because she had to fight for custody if I was to live with them. Unfortunately, my adoptive dad was rich and had a lot of money and connections and won and I was sent back to live with them. I stayed in contact with Mom and Finn through email as much I could, telling them what was going on. When Mom called me and told me Finn died, I was crushed. I couldn't talk to her or Burt, or Kurt. I couldn't even muster up the strength to come to my own brother's funeral. That changed after I had the baby."
"What happened?" asked Puck.
"I wasn't at the wedding because my adoptive dad locked me up in his basement for three weeks," said Noelle and everyone grew a look of terror on their faces. "He told the school I had the chicken pox. I was beat, raped and tortured. As for Finn's funeral, I couldn't bare myself to go. The rest is history."
"Oh Noelle, I'm so sorry," sobbed Rachel, hugging the petite girl.
"It's okay, Rach," replied Noelle.
"So after you lost your baby, what exactly happened?" asked Quinn.
"I called Mom from the hospital," said Noelle. "She and Burt came there immediately on the next flight. The police asked her all sorts of questions about the adoption and what not and if she had a lawyer. A few days after I was released from the hospital, my boyfriend and I buried our son. He came to my hearing with me, and the judge awarded custody to Burt and Mom immediately as there were clauses in the adoption agreement that awarded custody back to Mom if I was ever abused or mistreated before I turned eighteen. Mom helped me salvage my things, or what was left of them, from the storm wreckage and had them shipped here to Lima. I was sad to leave my boyfriend behind. I love him a lot. He's been my rock through this whole thing. Anyways, I transferred my school records here and the rest is history."
"So you'll join glee club then?" Kurt asked his step-sister hopefully.
"Of course, big brother, I'm doing this to honor our brother," said Noelle. Kurt hugged her and sobbed.
"So you'll audition then?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Noelle smiled. "I have just the song."
A few minutes later after Rachel summoned the jazz band and the group sat in the auditorium, Noelle sang again. Everyone started to clap and cheer and sing along.
She remembered back to being three first, and burying her adoptive mom first, followed by the start of the drinking and abuse.
Dry lightning cracks across the skies
Those storm clouds gather in her eyes
Daddy was a mean old mister
Mama was an angel in the ground
She remembered running away to her real family at 12, and screaming in horror when she was ordered back to the living hellhole. She thought to finding out about Finn's death and making love to her boyfriend for the first and certainly not the last time. She thought back to taking the pregnancy test seven months ago and to the previous month when the tornado hit as she sang the song with anger and frustration.
The weather man called for a twister
She prayed blow it down
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past
Shatter every window till it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
Till there's nothing left standing,
Nothing left to yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown Away
Blown Away
Noelle thought back more as the images of the house being destroyed by the tornado replayed in her mind. She remembered feeling the contractions and screaming out in pain as she delivered her son by herself in the damp storm cellar as the storm raged on outside.
She heard those sirens screaming out
Her daddy laid there passed out on the couch
She locked herself in the cellar
Listened to the screaming of the wind
Some people called it taking shelter
She called it sweet revenge
Shatter every window till it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
Till there's nothing left standing,
Nothing left to yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away
The final image in Noelle's mind was that of her delivering and holding her newborn son as both she and he cried briefly before he passed away in her arms and then her boyfriend finding them in the cellar and grieving over the loss of his baby boy. She remembered him carrying her and their son, still in Noelle's arms, out of the storm cellar and to a waiting ambulance. The last thing she thought of was scavenging through the rubble a few days later when they buried their son in the backyard by the storm cellar.
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past
Shatter every window till it's all blown away,
(Blown away)
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
(Blown away)
Till there's nothing left standing,
Nothing left to yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away