Here's the start of a story that I've been thinking of for awhile now. If anyone of you have come from my other stories I'm sorry for abandoning them. I hope to be more productive with this one and if inspiration strikes, maybe I will continue those as well. Here is the first chapter. Feedback is always appreciated. Enjoy!
"Ticket miss?"
"Oh yes sure. Here it is."
"Los Angeles to Lima, Ohio? That is easily the strangest trip I have ever seen. And I have been working here for thirty years."
"Yeah, you're telling me."
The flight attendant gave the girl her ticket stub back with a sad smile.
"Enjoy your flight."
Quinn couldn't recall the last time she had ever enjoyed something. In reality it had only been a month since the accident, but she felt as if she had been living with this pain her entire life. To makes matters even worse she was being forced to move across the country.
Burt Hummel was her mother's brother. Quinn tried to remember the last time she had spoken with his family, but could only recall a family reunion that happened at least ten years ago. She remembered running around outside with Burt's son Kurt. He was being picked on by some random kids at the park, so Quinn took it as her responsibility to shove dirt in the bully's face.
After all those years she began to wonder why it took until now to question why she hadn't kept in touch with Kurt. The recent turn of events seemed to point towards life's karmic revenge on the situation. Breathing a heavy sigh, Quinn took the next couple hours as an opportunity to get some much needed sleep.
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"Sorry to wake you Miss, but the plane has landed."
Quinn woke from her heavy sleep, completely unaware of where she was. One glance out the window confirmed that her nightmare had come true. She was in Lima, Ohio.
Compared to LAX, the Lima airport would be classified as deserted. Her watch revealed that they had landed a little earlier than expected. She took a seat on one of the benches, not even bothering to locate her bags. Quinn placed her head in her hands and tried to hold back the tears she knew were bound to fall at any moment. She was able to calm herself down by practicing the breathing techniques administered by her therapist. However this left her unaware to the two approaching figures.
"Quinn?"
She looked up and was meet with two male figures. One was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, complete with a beat up baseball cap covering his head. The second was adorned with a get up that she thought could only be pulled off by someone in a fashion magazine. However the boy did a good job at carrying out the outfit.
"Hey Quinn. Wow you've really grown up since the last time I've seen you. What's it been, ten years?"
"Uhm he-hello Burt. Kurt. It's nice to see you both."
Both men gave Quinn a welcoming smile. She could feel some of the tension starting to ease off, but the unshed tears were still threatening to fall. Kurt had a sense of the situation and decided to get the girl out of the musty airport.
"Well let's go get your bags and head on home."
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"Carol should have dinner almost ready when we get home."
"I'm sorry, but who is Carol?"
At the mention of this woman's name Burt's face lit up. Kurt noticed his father's change in expression and smiled as well.
"She is my dad's girlfriend. I know you may be thinking that it could potentially be an awkward situation, but Carol is the sweetest woman I have ever met. I actually set dad up with her. You see her son Finn is in my grade so at a parent teacher conference I introduced the two lone soles. It was love at first sight."
"Kurt likes to take all of the credit, but I still have all my game."
Quinn laughed at the joke, but was met with the serious face of Burt Hummel in the mirror.
"Dad stop. You're scaring her."
"Oh no it's okay. I remember some of the stories my mom told me about you in high school."
The car immediately went silent at the mention of Judy Fabray. Quinn focused her attention out the window, willing the tears to go away. Burt cleared his throat and laughed.
"I was a major stud."
"Dad you are so embarrassing."
The car turned pulled into a driveway, where Quinn spotted two more cars. "Looks like everyone is here!" Kurt jumped out of the car and skipped into the house.
"Everyone?"
"He means Blaine and Rachel." Quinn still held a confused expression that seemed to go unnoticed by Burt. "We can grab your bags later. Let's go inside."
Upon entrance into the home, Quinn's nose was assaulted by a delicious smell. "Now you know how I feel in love so quickly." Burt gave a wink and walked into the kitchen. Quinn followed her uncle down the hallway.
She stood awkwardly in the doorway while Burt, Kurt and the woman she assumed to be Carol exchanged hello's.
"And is this the lovely Quinn I have been hearing so much about?" Quinn smiled politely and walked over to shake the woman's hand. Without warning the older woman pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry if that was a little forward, but you'll learn quickly that I am all about the sentimental things." Both of the men in the kitchen laughed.
"Kurt why don't you take Quinn down to the basement with the others while we finish dinner." Complying with Carol's request, Kurt ushered Quinn out of the kitchen. In Quinn's opinion everything seemed to be happening a little bit too fast, but she was glad to be accepted into this family. Kurt stopped abruptly in the hallway and spun around. Again Quinn was pulled into a random hug.
Kurt pulled back and looked into the face of his cousin's. "I know we aren't close, but you are part of this family now. My dad and I are so happy to have you living with us. We are here if you ever need to talk. I know Lima isn't LA, but it will grow on you."
Quinn was pretty much speechless at this point. She nodded and smiled. "You don't say much do you?"
"Sorry this is all just so much to take in. Thank you for it all."
Kurt gave her a second hug and pulled back still holding her hand. "So who is downstairs?"
"I mentioned Finn earlier, but just to reiterate he is Carol's son. Rachel is Finn's girlfriend. And Blaine is my…boy friend." Kurt waited to see any change in expression on Quinn's face. She noticed his hesitance and smiled.
"He better be out of this world to be dating someone as admirable as you."
Kurt's smile covered his entire face. "You won't be disappointed."
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"Rachel just pick a song already. We have been waiting for like twenty minutes."
"You cannot rush a process such as song selection Finn."
"Seriously, you two are worse than the couple in the romantic comedy Kurt and I watched the other day."
"You told me you liked that movie Blaine!" Kurt said, announcing his presence in the room. All heads turned to look at the boy. "I did, I did. However there were moments when the arguments were based on something so little. It drove me crazy."
"Are you insinuating that choosing a song is a small matter?"
"Now you're just being ridiculous Rachel." She threw Finn a sharp glare. Quinn once again stood awkwardly in the background, waiting to be noticed.
"Who's your friend Kurt?" Blaine asked, turning everyone's attention on the blond.
"This is my cousin Quinn. She's going to be staying with us for awhile." Quinn smiled and gave a small wave to her new acquaintances.
"Well hello Quinn and welcome to Lima." Blaine was the first to approach her and extend a hand to shake.
"Thanks, it's great to be here." She tried not to say it sarcastically, but failed. Quinn could feel her cheeks burning from the sudden attention. Kurt placed his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. "Now let's get back to this song selection process."
Quinn found a place on the couch next to Finn and watched the madness unfold between Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel.
"Are they always like this?"
"There isn't a moment in time when one of them isn't giving an impromptu performance. Don't get me wrong, I love to sing. But this is their life. I'm Finn by the way."
Quinn laughed, "Yes I've heard about you."
"Wait you have? From who? Don't listen to Santana or Brittany or if we are naming names, my mom."
"Don't worry, no one dished any dirt. Burt only informed me of your mother's relationship with him. I think it's all very sweet."
"Burt is a great man. My dad passed away when I was young, so having him in my life has really turned things around."
Quinn felt her throat beginning to close up but fought back the tears once more. Finn noticed a change in her behavior and figured it was best not to question it. "So I'm guessing you will be at McKinley this year?"
"A girl has to get an education somehow. I'll be a junior. What year are you?"
"Same. We all are. Well except for Blaine. He is only a sophomore."
"Funny I would've guessed he was the oldest one."
"It's the hair gel."
"I heard that Hudson!"
They both burst into laughter on the couch. Quinn was beginning to lose the shell she had built around herself and it felt great. "You mentioned you liked to sing. You definitely don't seem like the theatre type."
"Well I'm not. I joined Glee club sophomore year to help my Spanish teacher out and feel in love with it." At this moment he glanced over to Rachel and smiled.
"How long have you been dating?"
"Almost a year. We had a rocky start, but now we are sailing smoothly. Rachel is the greatest. I'm sure you guys will become great friends." Finn and Quinn continued some more small talk. They were al interrupted by Carol's call for dinner.
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"Are you guys excited for your first day of school tomorrow?"
A collective groan was displayed among the table. Burt interrupted the discontent, "Oh come on, high school was a lot of fun." No one was willing to give Burt any satisfaction by agreeing with him.
"Well you all must be excited for Glee to start back up again. Am I right?" Now he was able to grind some positive remarks from the adolescents at the table.
"This is going to be our year," Finn said with a lot of pride in his voice. Kurt and Blaine nodded their heads in agreement. Rachel stayed quiet on her side of the table. "I'm not so sure about that."
"Why Rachel?"
"I heard Matt transferred over the summer, so we are in desperate need of new members."
"We have plenty of time to recruit new members," Blaine said hopefully.
"You're forgetting one thing," Rachel interjected. "What's that?"
"It's GLEE club. No one wants to join. Do you not remember the copious amounts of slushies we received throughout the course of last year?"
The three other teens at the table inwardly cringed at the thought of the frozen beverage. "I'm sure you kids will find someone. I mean look at Finn. Football player turned singer. It can happen."
Throughout the entire conversation, Quinn stayed quiet, pushing some food around on her plate. She could remember how she used to love to sing and dance. It all stopped a couple years ago, after the first incident occurred. As if her mind was being read Kurt cut in, "Wait a second. Dad didn't you show me some YouTube clips of Quinn performing with her school's chorus?"
Quinn almost shot up from the table. "Oh that's right! Do you still sing Quinn?"
"I-uh-well-um," she was interrupted by Kurt, "You were so good! Please audition for Glee club."
Quinn didn't know what to say. This was not something she was willing to go back to. It hurt to just think about singing again. Finn noticed the tension washing over Quinn's face.
"You don't have to if you don't want to. Just a thought."
Quinn smiled at his attempt to save her. She glanced around the table and agreed to think about it. However there would not be too much thinking going on.
The rest of dinner passed without incidence. Blaine left shortly after, taking Rachel home as well. Carol and Finn both stayed to clean up the meal, but were gone after the dishes were taken care of. Kurt helped Quinn bring her bags in from the car and showed her to her room. He let her get settled before checking back in an hour.
"How do you like it?"
"It's very nice. Thank you again."
"You're very welcome. I wanted to apologize for dinner. I don't want to push you into anything that you don't want to do."
"Thanks Kurt, it's just I haven't sang in awhile." He understood the implications in her voice and pulled her in for another hug. Carol wasn't kidding when she said this family was sentimental. "Like I said before, I'm here whenever you want to talk about it."
Quinn didn't realize she was crying until she felt the wetness on Kurt's shirt. "Oh no I'm sorry."
He pulled her back in and rubbed her back. "It's okay. That's what I'm here for. I can stay but I think you should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow." Quinn gave him one last squeeze.
"I think I'm going to like it here.