Summer Menagé
AnniKay

Sam/Mercedes/Puck
Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to the,
(As you can tell because they made the silly decision to not make Chord a permanent part of the cast)

THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review. Your encouragement helps more than you know. Take a moment and let me know what you enjoyed most about the update.

AN: This is the next story in the Learning French Universe. It will be from many different perspectives, and will take care of the summer between Junior and Senior year. Right now I have it planned as a series of connected one shots. But then again, I never meant for Learning French to end up being 42 chapters.

AN: Most of the Gleeks must be Juniors during the time of Learning French (end of Season 2), otherwise how could they have gone to prom. RIB and crew are falling off with their continuity if they are trying to stratify them now. Therefore consider this to be the summer before Senior year for all of them.

Parental Conversation (Friday Night, Last Day of Junior Year)
Jones/Evans Home
Sander Point of View

Man things sure have changed quickly. Just last Friday we were still stuck in that craptastic motel room, nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, praying that Benton and Danica wouldn't change their minds. Now here we, at least Gabby and I, are sitting in this wonderful house eating Chinese food and drinking win with three people who have bypassed friends and become better family than most of our own. The kids are happy all of them off on two separate sleepovers. The teens are over destroying someone else's sheets. While the kids are at Stacey's classmate's sleepover.

The hosts of the kids' sleepover are a set of triplets that have stayed Stacey's friends through the teasing and crap she's gotten since we lost our house. Of course the triplets have gotten a lot of teasing themselves. Those poor kids look like America Weasleys, and kids can be cruel to gingers. Plus the composition of the triplets meant that Stevie was happy. Two little boys and their sister meant that the numbers were once again even for Stevie. Sarah's presence usually left him out-womaned and outvoted. I think however tonight Sarah was the one outvoted. She would have been just as happy to hang out here or at her house with the twins.

Becah, on her child-free evening, had chosen to come over here and 'hang with the family'. now her singleness is something I just can't wrap my head around. I mean I love my wife and I would never, ever step outside my marriage but Rebecah Mayzer Puckerman is, well, she's hot, pretty, smart, funny and kind. How the hell is she still single? Her ex-husband must have been a complete fool to walk away from her-let alone Noah and Sarah.

Now talk about change. Noah… Mercedes, she was not a surprise. She was a return to type, just much better than anyone he's ever brought home. Sam has always preferred curvy women of color. Black, latino, biracial girls, those were who you expect Sam to bring home. Quinn, she baffled me and Gabby both. She was a pretty enough girl, just so plastic that Gabs and I called her Barbie behind Sam's back. And God the way Sam was when he was with her. It really drove home the point that single sex education may be great for academics, but they severely stunted social development. He'd become exactly what he thought a non-southern girl would want from her perfect boyfriend. Only problem is he based his information on supposition from boys at his boarding school and teen dramas.

Then came that Santana girl. She was a piece of work. I mean she was closer to the norm physically…but she was like a devil on Sam's shoulder. She was all about petty vengeance. Which I'm not gonna lie, I can't blame Sammy boy for wanting. Being cheated on sucks at any age. But Santana and Sam together were all about getting back at Barbie. For both of them. You only have to talk to the girl for ten minutes to know she's completely in love with her best friend. It would be beautiful if she would just stop hiding who she is. But the change I just didn't see coming was Noah. Now unlike a lot of southern men I don't have any problem with homosexuality.

I'll even get up on my soapbox and call the small minded bigots just slap down stupid. I mean if you are gay, it just means that you were born to be sexually attracted to those of your same gender. It's not something you choose. No one chooses something that has the likelihood of making your life fifty-leven times more difficult. It's not an affront to God. I'm pretty sure if God didn't want some people to be gay…they wouldn't be. And all those folks who say that homosexuals are the devil's work…the devil ain't that damn strong folks. He can tempt us to sin…but he can't create anything. To think otherwise…that is the affront to God. Besides, every gay person I've ever known, I've known all along that they were gay, or in the case of the one fellow I've known since we were six…I knew he was different. I grew up with this kid and he made that Kurt kid seem manly. I will tell you this. He is a great person, one of the best Christians I know. He adopted two kids with his partner and throws the best Halloween parties in Nashville.

So it's not that Noah is a boy…it's just that I'm now wondering if I missed something. I mean were there signs and I just didn't see them? "Am I a bad dad?" I blurted out loud.

"Umm…Huh?" Benton asked. "That came out of nowhere. I thought we were trying to decide if we felt like going down to the game room to watch a movie."

"Actually…I get it." Danica chided her husband. "Now my question is, are you feeling like a bad dad because you are wondering if you should be so lax about our teenage kids having sex in our house and us not going pure de ape shit about it? or because you are wondering if others are gonna think you're a bad parent because you have had to move in with your teen son's girlfriend?" she asked with a small guilty smile. That smile let us know that she had been dealing with those two herself.

"Or is it the one I keep running into?" Becah asked kindly. "Am I a bad parent because I obviously missed something in my son's life if I had no clue that he was bisexual?"

I tapped my nose. "We have a winner, folks." I said honestly. "I've never been a judgmental soul. I don't care what people get up to in their bedrooms. And, as long as it's all between consenting adults, or young adults, I don't care who they do it with…I don't care that Sam loves Noah. I just-I figure that I should have known that this was a possibility. If I'm a good dad, shouldn't I have known? I mean Mercedes—I've expected him to come home gushing about her since I first saw her. And to be honest, he did. Even while he was with Quinn and Santana, he'd always come in and tell us how great she sounded singing this or that. And when she did that Aretha Franklin song that one night benefit show…I'm half surprised he didn't rub himself raw. But you didn't hear that from me. But still even hearing his half of the conversation with Noah laying out their plan to 'share' Mercedes because they both wanted to be with her so badly, I never saw them going this route. Even they assumed that eventually she would pick one."

"But they didn't realize how wounded her heart was." Danica said with a sad sigh.

"Puck used to come home some days absolutely furious because of things he'd said or done to Mercedes and Kurt. He was so angry at himself because he wasn't strong enough to stand up to his friends. To stand up for Mercedes. Angry that Kurt was always there when he did get a chance to see her. Hell, I think he was even a little angry at Mercedes because he wanted her so badly. Then everything happened with Quinn. Mercedes was the only one, for a while, who knew that Puck was Beth's father. He couldn't understand why she would agree with Quinn about him needing to continue to lie about Finn being the father. I had to be the one to point out that all he had shown her were the worst aspects of his personality. Then I had to hold him while he cried. You know it's been almost two years, and I'm still not sure if he was crying about having to deny the baby, or because he knew that he hadn't been the type of person Mercedes could even count as his friend."

"Well I, for one, am glad he'd finally grown the fuck up." Benton grumbled. "Because what he pulled when they were seeing each other last year…that was some messed up bullshit. I think you will all understand when I say I was really ready to take that boy to the carpet."

"I was right there with you, Benton. He was finally seeing a girl I'm not ashamed to see walk in the door. One even Sarah could hang around, and he screws it up running behind Santana 'McKinley High's Bike' Lopez. I like the girl don't get me wrong. She's actually kind of funny. But she is so not right for Noah. There is something narcissistic or quasi-incestuous about those two being together." Becah told us with a shiver of disgust. "Mercedes must have a heart of gold to be able to forgive him for that bullshit."

"Back on point people." Danica groaned before Becah and Bent could sink their teeth into a discussion of Mercedes many, sterling qualities. Bent loved the discussion because he was so very proud of his little girl. And Becah liked the discussion because she was so very relieved that Puck had gotten his head out of his ass and started growing up. "Sander, you and Gabby are great parents. You can tell because Stevie, Stacey and Sam are all such great kids. Maybe you didn't see Noah coming simply because Sam didn't see him coming." She gave us a naughty smile before continuing. "Though, I'm sure he's seen him cumming a lot by now." We all moaned at her horrible joke. "But seriously. I think that Noah and Sam are together because they love each other so much emotionally, that they need to express it physically. The love they felt for Mercy was so all encompassing that they began to see what she saw in each other, and they couldn't help but fall in love with each other as well. If that made any sense at all."

"What she is saying," Gabby explained with a smirk. "Is that Sam is Willow, Mercedes is Xander, and Noah is Tara. Our kids are just smart enough and have enough heart to share."

"So Sam loves Noah despite his gender, just because of who he is. Therefore I didn't miss anything. There wasn't anything to miss. My son just has a huge heart, which is something I knew all along." I said with a chuckle. I'm pretty sure they all heard the relief in my voice.

"Ok, now that that 'parenting crisis' has been resolved, can we talk about the huge pink elephant in the room?" Danica said with a huge sigh. "Lyor Cohen and his development deal…and what it means for the kid or even if we should be considering it."

"we can do that…maybe somebody can hit me with a few cons…cause whenever I start tryin' to figure it out…I'm not hitting on many." I said honestly. "I mean the man even put the college tuition thing in writing."

"It, it just seems a little too good to be true." Gabby said worriedly. "But I did e-mail a few friends back home and they all agree that Warner's Development contracts are now is one of the best out there. As far as Nashville is concerned, if you're gonna do a development deal…that's the one you want. Apparently they completely redid them after Prince turned himself into the symbol. They got a lot of bad press after that."

"Ok my con…do we really think they will concentrate on college if they already have this on the backburner. Won't they mainly work on their record, not their studies?" Bent asked concerned.

"I actually think that's not even a real problem. It may worry you, but Mercy, at least, has always planned to get a degree that would allow her to keep track of her music career and not be taken advantage of by others." Dani sighed. "I worry about how well they will be able to their promise to us as far as keep their sexual relationship from leading to parenthood before they have earned their degrees. They will be alone in New York, and they will be busy and distracted…I just think that maybe we should look into a more long term birth control solution for them. With the pill, it would only take forgetting on the exactly wrong day and boom…we're all grandparents. Because we all know that the boys will never even try to find out who is the biological father." She finished with a laugh.

"Actually, Dani has a point. I'm assuming we're not gonna bother with trying to tell them they have to have three separate places, because for what they would each pay for a studio, we can actually get them a really nice place. And if some of the other New Directions decide to go to school in the area, we can split the rent even further than our three families." Becah reasoned.

"But don't freshmen have to live in dorms?" Gabby asked. I know we had we when we went to college.

"No. thank goodness." Becah shook her head. "Those dorms are super expensive. The only kids who live in them have no choice. Either they are there on scholarships that cover campus room and board, or they're from other countries."

"Crap so now we have to figure out how to get them an apartment in Manhattan too?" I groaned.

"And set up their kitchen and bathroom." Gabby laughs.

"And an office and their bedroom." Bent said laughing at the look on my face.

Gabby got a thoughtful look on her face. "We should get together lists of what they will need. I say we lock them into color choices and everything now. That way we can buy everything piece by piece, over the course of the next year, rather than having to do it all at one time. By the time they get ready to go, we should have made a good dent."

"Actually that's a good idea." Becah grinned. "You guys just don't know how expensive buying things in the city can be. We'd probably save ourselves a ton of money by buying it here, and shipping it to either Mom or Saul next summer. In fact I know that Saul has a storage unit in his building." Becah said starting to get really enthusiastic. "Besides we probably won't feel the budget crunch anywhere as bad if all this buying is stretched out rather than doing it all at once. I mean the three laptops alone is gonna be killer."

Benton looked very happy with the thought of not having to do this all alone. "It looks like this is all working out for the good. I mean at least now we'll all be able to work on this together. We'll talk with the kids, and let them know all about the plan. Mercy usually works during summers so rather than spending it all on shopping with Kurt, she can spend it all on, well, different shopping with Kurt."

"Noah runs his pool cleaning and landscaping business during the summers. I'm sure that he'd love to have Sam working with him. He makes really decent money. And he's actually really frugal. After he buys his supplies, he puts half into a college fund for Sarah; he started a smaller one for Beth, and the rest he puts up for his after high school life. I'm pretty sure that he thought the best he'd be able to do is to turn his business full time. But going to college is a much better use to me. He really only leaves himself about fifty bucks a week." Rebecah said proudly.

"Maybe we should start a support group for all the New Direction parents whose kids are going to the Big Apple." Dani joked. "Or really all the New Direction parents in general. I mean, we'll still have kids, but most of them, they'll have empty nests. And you know Carol and Burt will probably have trouble adjusting."

"You want us to stay that long?" Gabby asked sincerely surprised and deeply touched.

"Hell to the yeah." Bent laughed. "God can you imagine me and Dani rattling around this big ass house all by ourselves after next summer. Jesus, the house was already too quiet with just us and Mercy. You and your kids have brought life back into it. We'd always assumed we'd downsize after the kids were all gone, but with the market the way it is. We'd take a major bath. So we might as well stay, and so should you guys. Truth be told, if Becah didn't own her own house, we'd move her and Sarah in here too."

We shared a laugh and finally headed to the game room to watch a movie. Before we could begin to argue on which movie to watch, Gabby had a thought. "Oh my God, you know, if we did get Becah and Sarah in here, this whole town would start talkin' about how we're the Commune."

We all looked around at each other for a long moment before bursting out laughing. I've gotta say…some change is damn good.

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