Title: Fathers and Sons
Chapter: 1/?
Characters: Noah Puckerman, Burt Hummel, Kurt Hummel
Genre: Family, Drama, Romance
Warnings: Minor Character Death
Pairing: Puck/Kurt
Rating: PG
Words Count: 3522
A/N: I didn't want to post this before I had the last part of "It All Started for Money" finished and I finished and it has more than 12000 words. Now that I'm about to send it to my beta, I thought it was the right moment to post the first chapter of this. Kurt won't be in this until later on, but I hope you'll like the Burt and Puck bonding time. A special thanks to sunshine_flying for her help beta-ing this story. This is a fill for a prompt on the Puckurt meme.
Beta: sunshine_flying
Summary: Before Puck could start college, tragedy strikes and he finds himself having to take care of his little sister.
It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. ~Johann Schiller
"Hello?" Puck's voice was grumpy from sleep. He was sleeping when the phone had started ringing and he had to remember that his mother was out before finally climbing out of bed, going down in the living room and answering the phone.
"Mr. Noah Puckerman?"
Puck frowned. He hadn't done anything. He was pretty sure that there was no reason for someone calling in the middle of the night looking for him. More alert, he said, "Yeah, what's going on?"
"Mr. Puckerman I need you to sit down."
"Why?" A sudden feeling of dread started spreading in his guts and before the woman on the other end of the line could answer him, he walked over to the sofa and sat down. "What happened?"
"It's been raining all day and the streets weren't safe." Puck was about to snap at the woman. He didn't need to know about the weather, he needed to know what the hell had happened. "There's been an accident, Mr. Puckerman. Someone called an ambulance a couple of hours ago and a Mrs. Freema Puckerman was brought in. I'm sorry we're only calling now, but we had to act quickly and didn't have time to call her relatives."
Puck gripped the armrest of the sofa tightly. "Is... is she ok?"
There was a pause and Puck didn't need to hear anything else. "It's better if you come here. We can't discuss the details over the phone, but..." the nurse took a deep breath and she sounded so incredibly sorry. "You should come here as soon as you can. I'm afraid that otherwise, you won't get a chance to say goodbye."
Puck's hands trembled and the phone fell onto the floor. He felt like someone had hit him in the stomach; the pain he was feeling in that moment was unbearable. He couldn't let himself believe that his mother was going to... "Oh God, Sarah," he suddenly sobbed out. His sister was only twelve, she couldn't grow up without a mother and without a father. How was she going to? He shook his head and sprang up to his feet. He needed to get to the hospital, to see for himself that the nurse was wrong and that his mother was still alive.
He started to head towards the front door, but when his feet came in contact with the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, he looked down seeing that he was only wearing a pair of sweatpants and was barefoot. Then, he remembered that the nurse had said that this was his only chance to say goodbye. He had to wake Sarah up.
"How am I supposed to tell her..." he trailed off and ran into his room quickly throwing on a hoodie and his running shoes. Then he walked inside his sister's bedroom and knelt next to her bed.
"Hey, monster," he quietly said, gently shaking her awake.
Sleepy green eyes looked up at him, confused. "Noah?"
"Hey, we need to go... to go see Mom." He pulled the covers back and made Sarah sit up. Then he looked around the room and picked up the first pair of shoes he could find and helped her put them on. He grabbed a jacket and helped her sliding it on.
"What's going on, Noah? You're scaring me, where's mom?" Her voice was full of fear and concern and Puck willed himself not to meet her eyes because he knew that if he did, he'd break down into sobs and they would never leave on time.
"Mom is at the hospital. We... we have to go there."
"But is she ok?"
He took her hand and rushed them outside. He knew that telling the truth was going to devastate the girl, but not telling her, just letting her inside the room to see her mom probably already dead without not even a minute to prepare herself was going to be worse. He had never had to take such a decision before in his life and he was praying that their mother would live because he couldn't raise his sister alone. Hell, Child Services were going to take her away before he could say anything because he had been in juvie and had no job.
"Noah?"
Sarah's voice shook him out of his thoughts and Puck noticed that he was sitting behind the steering wheel unmoving. "She... she's not ok. They... they told me that we had to hurry if we wanted to... to say good bye," he whispered the last part and felt his sister placing a hand on his arm.
"Are you sure you can drive?" She was freaking out, Puck could hear it in her voice, but at the same time, she was trying to keep her calm. Puck couldn't believe that was the same girl that would scream while watching "Schindler's List."
"I need to. There's no one we can call and..." He took a deep breath. He noticed in that moment that it had stopped to rain and suddenly he was angry because why it had stopped now and not when his mother was driving? He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts and then turned on the engine.
"What are... what are we going to do?" Sarah asked, looking at Puck like he had all the answers of the world. How were they ever going to make it without their mom? "She has to get better... she can't leave us..." She started sobbing, trying to take deep gulps of air.
"You're going to get sick if you breathe like that," Puck told her while trying to keep his nerves calm. He tried to respect the speed limits because he didn't want to get into an accident, but when they were almost at the hospital, he couldn't stop himself from pressing down on the accelerator. He heard Sarah scream, but they had to get to their mother. They had to say goodbye.
Puck parked the car as near to the hospital entrance as they could and, grabbing hold of his sister's hand, rushed to the nurse station.
"I'm Noah Puckerman," he said, as soon as he was standing in front of the night nurse. "You just called me for..."
"Yes," the nurse cut him off giving him a pitiful smile. "I was the one calling you. The doctors have just finished checking on her and you can go in now."
"Is my mother going to be ok?" Sarah asked, looking like a negative answer could literally shatter her world.
"I'm afraid that she was hurt too much to get better. I'm sorry," she added, looking at Sarah and Puck both. "I'll take you to her room."
The two Puckerman kids silently followed the nurse. When they reached the last room on the hall, she looked at them with watery eyes. "I'm glad you came on time. There was really nothing we could do." She patted Puck on his arm and walked away.
Sarah ran inside the room and stopped at the sight of her mother lying motionless on the hospital bed. Her face was covered in cuts and so were her arms and neck. There were several tubes coming out of her body and an oxygen mask on her mouth and nose.
"Mom?" Sarah took hold of her mother's hand and squeezed starting sobbing uncontrollably. "Mom, don't leave us, please."
Puck walked over to his sister and put a reassuring hand on her little shoulder. He wanted to be a kid again, so he could ask for someone to take care of them, of him, but that part of his life was over now. He pushed the tears back and squeezed Sarah's shoulder.
"You need to say goodbye, Sarah."
"I..." the little girl looked at Puck helplessly before turning her attention back on her mother. Then, she got on her tiptoes to reach the woman's face and left a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, Mom. To the moon and back." Then she pulled away, turned around to her brother and hugged him tightly.
Puck reached out and took hold of his mother's hand. He wanted to ask what the hell he was supposed to do now, with college starting in a week and no job, knowing nothing about kids. He felt helpless, more than he did when he had begged Quinn to let him be a father and she wouldn't. His eyes fixed on Freema's face and for a moment, he saw her eyelids moving and for a brief second, she opened her eyes and looked at her son. Puck felt the hand he was holding squeeze his weakly.
The words left his mouth before he could stop them. "I'm going to take care of her," he swore. Freema nodded almost imperceptibly and then closed her eyes again. A deafening sound filled the room when the heart line on the black screen next to Freema's bed went flat.
Sarah tightened her embrace and buried her face in Puck's shirt while she started sobbing. Puck couldn't tear his eyes away from her mother and he wondered why no one was rushing inside the room shouting at him to move out of the way so they could try and save her like it happened on the TV-Shows.
"Mr. Puckerman?"
The nurse was back and he looked at her with lifeless eyes. She got scared for him when she noticed that he wasn't crying. He should have been; it wasn't going to be helpful shutting down his emotions.
Silently, she walked over to the machines and turned them off before turning her attention back on the siblings. "I'm glad you were able to say goodbye. She was brought in with a severe internal bleeding and the doctors could only slow it down but there was nothing more they could do."
Puck nodded before pulling away from his sister. "Sarah? We need to go, now, ok? Mom is gone."
Sarah nodded unable to stop her crying long enough to answer. She gripped tightly his hand and followed him out, back in the car. They didn't talk and Puck didn't turn on the engine for several minutes. Finally, he pulled out his phone.
||||||Lighting||||||
"It's My Life" erupted loudly in the silence of the little bedroom. Finn yelped and sat in bed so fast that he fell on the floor. "Damn!" he yelled, getting up and starting to massage his butt.
His cellphone was on the desk and the light of the display was lighting up the room enough to let him see where he was going. However, Finn hit the nightstand with his toe and yelped loudly again. He heard noises coming from Burt and Carole's bedroom and cursed himself for waking them up.
Quickly, he got to the phone and answer it. "What?" he barked into it, without checking the Caller ID.
"Hey, man."
Finn frowned. That had sounded like Puck's voice, but it was too weak to actually belong to his best friend. "Puck?" he asked, uncertain.
"Yeah. Listen..." He heard Puck clearing his throat before his voice came back on the line sounding a little bit more strong. "I'm sorry to call at this time but... but can you come at the hospital? I don't think I should drive back home and..."
"Wait, what happened?" Finn asked alarmed. He heard the door of his bedroom opening and looked up finding Burt in the doorway. "Why are you at the hospital?"
"I'm here with Sarah. We... Mom had... had an accident and... and..."
Finn felt his blood run cold. Puck was rambling and Puck never rambled. "Are you okay?"
"I am and... and Sarah too but Mom. Mom is dead and we... we just... we just said goodbye and..."
"I'm on my way," Finn cut him off, balancing the phone between his shoulder and head while he searched around for his jeans. "I'll be there in five. Do you need me to stay on the line?"
"No. No, you can't drive while talking on the phone. I'll... We will wait here. We're outside in my car."
"Ok." He closed his phone and frantically pulled on his clothes. Puck sounded broken and Finn couldn't even imagine what losing a mother could feel like.
"Son, what happened?"
Finn looked up from his shoes startled, like he had forgotten that Burt was in the room. "Puck's mom is dead. I need to go to the hospital and..."
"C'mon, I'll wake Carole and tell her we're leaving."
"No, no you stay here. I'll go and..."
"Finn," Burt's voice was hard like it didn't admit any objections. "You're upset and so Puckerman will be too. I will drive you, ok? And he can crash over here. He can't be home on his own." Burt turned around then, and quickly left the room to go wake Carole up.
Finn hurriedly finished getting dressed and then ran down the staircase and went to wait inside the car. By the time Burt finally got inside, he was ready to run all the way to the hospital.
"I knew her, Burt. I... No one I've ever known has died. I didn't know my dad so I missed him but I couldn't remember him. But I... I've known Puck's mother all my life and now..."
"You need to calm down, Finn." Burt looked at him worriedly. He was glad that the streets were empty so they could drive a little bit faster. "You need to be strong for him, Son, he's going to need it. When Kurt's mom died, he was devastated. He refused to speak for a week. He was alone, we only had each other, but Puckerman has us, so we will get him through this, ok? But you need to stay strong."
Finn's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh God, there's Sarah. She's only twelve..."
"Who's Sarah?" Burt asked confused.
"His sister." Finn shook his head.
Burt frowned. He hadn't known that Puckerman had a sister. The kid was almost over every day, so he was sure he only had his mother who worked almost all day long. "Do they have relatives?"
"There's Puck's grandmother, but she's old. She won't be able to take her in and Puck is about to start college. I can't believe that Freema is dead."
Burt didn't know how to answer to that. Puckerman was barely nineteen and now he was going to have to take care of his little sister?
He stopped the car near the entrance of the hospital when Finn spotted Puck's old pick-up.
Burt let Finn stay in the car and got out, walking over to the pick-up. Puckerman was staring right ahead and his sister was curled up in his side. He didn't want to startle the teens, so, as gently as he could, he knocked on the window and Puck turned in his direction.
When Burt's eyes met Puck's, he saw that same devastation he had seen in Kurt's all those years ago. He opened the door and said, "C'mon, Finn is waiting in the car."
Puck nodded and got out. He saw that Sarah was looking at the strangers scared. "It's ok, he's Finn's father," he said, without thinking, knowing perfectly well that that's how Finn saw the man. He was sure that everyone would have liked to call Burt Hummel dad.
Burt smiled a little hearing that. "I'd say that I'm sorry, but I know that's crap," he said, turning serious. "We're taking you with us and you can stay as long as you want." He put a hand on Puck's shoulder and squeezed tightly before steering the two teens towards the car.
As soon as they were all inside, Burt started driving away. Puck was looking out the window, Sarah was clutching to him and Finn didn't know what to say. He kept glancing at his best friend feeling completely useless.
By the time they were back home, Sarah was sleeping soundly, having finally cried herself to sleep. Puck still had to shed a tear and Burt was fearfully reminded of Kurt when his mother had passed away.
"Listen, Puckerman," he said after having parked the car in the garage and having turned towards the backseat. "Shutting down your emotions won't help, believe me, I know. But, do whatever will help you because that little girl needs you right now and you're not alone in this. We will take care of you two."
"Mr..."
"You're going to stay with us. College is starting in a week and Finn told me that your grandmother is too old, so you can't refuse and I bet Carole won't let you anyway. Now, listen, I know how much it hurts, I saw firsthand what losing a mother does to a kid, so let yourself grieve. Your mother just died and I'm sorry for your loss. This is the time to break down because then, you will have to be strong for your sister, ok?"
Puck nodded but he was still feeling like the tears simply weren't coming. He had cried when the phone call had come and on the way to the hospital, but when he had seen his mother looking at him expecting that he would take care of Sarah, he had simply shut down his emotions. He couldn't break down, not when his sister depended on him.
He had always wanted to do it on his own, never ask for help, but he knew how much important was not to fuck up for once, so he was going to accept whatever help he could get from Finn and Burt and Carole.
"Thank you, Mr. H," he finally said, quietly, not meeting the older man's eyes. "I couldn't have... have gone back home, tonight."
"Like I said, you're free to stay as long as you want."
Puck nodded and was grateful when they all stepped out of the car. As soon as they were inside, Carole ran up to him and hugged him, trying not to wake Sarah asleep in his brother's arms. Puck soaked up the comfort offered and let Burt take Sarah from him.
"We only have one spare bedroom," Carole said, "but you can stay in Kurt's old room or, if you want, you can take the spare bedroom and Sarah can sleep in his room."
"It's ok. I don't think Kurt would like a girl sleeping in his bed," he tried to joke, but Carole gave him a tiny little smile and stirred him towards her other son's bedroom. "Are you sure that I can crash in his room?"
"He said that he was never coming back here to live and that when he comes to visit, he'll crush on the coach or in a hotel room. He told Burt to turn his bedroom into a little gym so he and Finn could keep in shape." She shook her head smiling softly. "He's quite determined to make it."
"If there's someone that can, it's him."
Carole nodded and opened Kurt's bedroom door guiding the teen inside. "Noah, do you want to talk about it?"
Puck shrugged. "She's dead, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I only know that now Sarah comes first. That I won't be going to college because I have to find a job and..."
"Oh, Noah, no. Finn is going to college soon and Kurt is already gone, we could look after her while..."
"No, Mrs. H, I promised mom I'd look after her and I can't just leave her so I can go a be a normal nineteen year old boy."
"Noah..."
"Please." He looked at her with so much sorrow in his eyes, that Carole let it go. She nodded and pulled him into a tight embrace. Having Carole hugging him like a mother would do so soon after he had lost his own, made Puck finally broke down. He squeezed her tightly, hiding his face in her neck and started sobbing uncontrollably. His mother had never treated him nice, but she worried about him, she wanted him to have a family, to go to college and make something out of his life... and now she was gone and all the family he had left was a twelve year old girl. He was afraid of not being able to take care of her.
"It's going to be ok, Noah," Carole whispered in his ear, hugging him as tightly as she could. "We'll make sure that you two will be ok."
Puck squeezed his eyes shut and let himself believe it.