*ring ring*

"Hello?" A sleepy Kurt Hummel was awoken by the phone on the desk near his bed. He rubbed his eyes as the caller on the other line began to speak.

"Um, does Mrs. Hummel live here?" the voice softly spoke. It sounded like a teenage girl, but her voice was so quiet that it made the caller sound younger than she probably was.

"No, she's dead. This is her son." Kurt was used to saying that by now, since his mom had died almost 9 years before.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I must have the wrong number. The address book said Burt Hummel, but I was hoping to speak to-"

"This is Burt's son. May I help you with anything?" He felt bad now, the girl sounded sad and afraid. He genuinely wanted to help this girl, but he didn't know how to. "Do you want to speak with my dad?"

"Yes, please."

Kurt picked up the phone and walked up the stairs to find the rest of his family in the kitchen. Finn, his stepbrother, seemed like a zombie while trying to pour milk into his cereal. His stepmother, Carole, was busily trying to make pancakes for the rest of the family. Kurt's eyes scrolled around the kitchen until he found his father, who was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table.

"Dad, phone's for you." Kurt said as he handed the phone to his father. Kurt, being the curious teenager that he was and wondering who the girl was, decided to grab a banana and eavesdrop while his dad talked on the phone. Usually, no one exciting called for Burt. The phone was usually being held hostage by Finn, who could talk for hours on end with his friends. Kurt, on the other hand, would much rather go out with friends than talk over the phone.

"Hi, this is Burt Hummel… Yep, I know her…" There was a big pause in his voice. Kurt tried to listen to the voice on the other end, but all he could hear was soft mumbles. When Burt realized that Kurt was listening, he stood up and walked into the living room.

"Really? But didn't she… Could you put her on the phone please?" Another pause. This phone call was getting awfully suspicious to Kurt. Who was this girl? His thoughts stopped when his dad's voice began again.

"Hi, this is Burt Hummel. Is this Marissa? Yes… Yes… Well, no one had ever told me about this before. I see. We'd be happy to, but- Hello? I can't believe she hung up on me!" He walked back into the kitchen and handed Kurt the phone. Kurt stood up and began to walk back toward his bedroom while Burt and Carole began to talk in the living room.

"So she just called you, out of the blue?"

"Yes, and I couldn't even put a word in. But I couldn't say no. The kid has had such a hard life…"

Kurt ran downstairs to put the phone away. Who were they talking about? Were they talking about Kurt? His life hadn't been perfect, with his mother's death and being bullied because of his sexuality. Or maybe Finn, who never knew his dad. But don't the recent phone books say Burt and Carole Hummel, and not mention Kurt's mom? The whole situation was confusing, but more and more stories were popping up in Kurt's mind.

He ran back upstairs, hoping to find out more about the mysterious phone call, only to find Finn and Carole sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Sit down, Kurt. I have something important that I need to say."

"Ooh, does this have to do with the phone call?" Kurt eagerly exclaimed. But he soon realized that by his father's stern face, this wasn't a time to joke around. He took a seat next to Carole on the edge of the couch.

"I just got a call from Kurt's aunt. His aunt Marissa." Burt began to sit down in an old chair that once belonged to Finn's father.

Kurt was full of confusion, yet again. "I have an aunt Marissa? Does she live around here?"

Burt seemed to ignore Kurt's questions. "I tried to not talk about her, or any of Kurt's mom's siblings, but-"

"Mom had a family that you never told me about? Why would you do that?" Kurt angrily shouted.

"Shhhh," Carole said. "Let your dad talk."

"Yes, Kurt, your mom has two sisters. One of them, Ashlyn, has a daughter named Claire. When she and her husband died in a car accident, Claire got placed in Marissa's care."

Kurt was captured in the moment. Was the voice on the phone Claire? How old was she? Kurt loved younger kids. Was she ten? Eleven? So many questions were running through his mind. What does she look like? Is she like Kurt, or maybe like Finn? Did she like to sing? Was she a Wicked fan? Or maybe… was she a better singer than Kurt?

Finn broke Kurt's train of thought. "And why are you telling us this?"

"She's been living with Marissa for years now. Maybe 8 or 9 years, I think. But Marissa has been a horrible guardian to her. Marissa is severely bipolar. Did you know that she has been abusing Claire for all of those years?"

"Oh, poor dear." Carole said, placing her hand on her heart. This made Kurt a bit worried. He had an abusive aunt who would hurt a child? If Claire had been living with her for around 9 years, then she must have moved in with Marissa when she was, what, two? Three?

"This Claire girl is pretty smart," Burt continued, "She looked up our name in Marissa's old contacts list, and then used the names to find our phone number. She's so desperate to get out of that house. So I invited her to live with us."

Carole's face lit up. "It's about time that we have another girl in the house! When is she coming?"

"She wants to come as soon as she can. She could catch a plane next week. Is this okay with all of you?"

"Of course!" Everyone said in what sounded like a chorus.

"Wait, she's going on a plane?" Finn asked. "How does she have the money for a plane?"

"I'm not sure." Burt said. "Maybe she saved the money. Maybe Marissa gave it to her. All I know is that she needs to get away. One more thing, I know that you probably want to tell your friends about her, but don't say too many details about her past. She'll probably want to do that herself."

Kurt was so excited. He couldn't wait to go to school and tell his friend's about his cousin. He sprinted to his room to check his laptop one last time before he left.

Facebook. He thought as he typed. He didn't have any new notifications, which he found weird. No messages from Mercedes or Rachel? Now THAT is something that doesn't happen every day.

Kurt's eyes scrolled from the notification area to the search bar. Hmmmm, he thought. He began to type:

C-L-A-I-R-E H-U-M-M-E-L.

That was his dad's last name, not his mom's. It occurred to him that not only did he know nothing about Claire, but he really knows nothing about his mom's side of the family at all.