Title: Mother knows best.
Summary: "She never expected to hear those words again so soon." Carole thoughts of some events through Arms Wide Open and what I've mentioned happens before.
Rating: K+
Pairings: Mentions of past Quinn/Finn, Quinn/Puck, Finn/Puck and Carole/Burt
Warnings: mentions of sexual abuse, underage drinking, prostitution and Mpreg. Don't worry, it's not really dark fic.
One-shot based off Arms Wide Open. It isn't really spoilers, as most of what I've written about in here I've mentioned in Arms Wide Open and what happens near the end I will obviously put in more dialog and reactions.
She never expected to hear those words again so soon. At age sixteen was enough, enough to stop her heart and make her feel light headed and so, so scared. Frightened for the future of her son, scared for the future of the young child that hadn't even came into the world yet. Enough to make her palms sweat as she thought about the cost and the stress and the sleepless nights and the arrangements and oh my god, what if Finn married her?
Quinn was a nice girl. Strong, hard working and determined, but she wasn't right for her Finn. No, Finn was a good kid, and she wasn't just saying that because she was his mother, he really was a good kid deep down, but he made mistakes. A lot of mistakes, in fact. She knew he could be naive and clueless and sometimes just a bit dumb, and a little insensitive but he tried and that was what really counted. Right?
When she walked past to see him singing to a sonogram she knew. In was in her bones to know. Her legs seemed to turn to jelly as she slowly walked over to him, the panicked look on his face only making her fear intensify. The look he had every time he was caught doing something he felt ashamed about, something he thought would disappoint her, like when he would steal cookies as a little kid or tracked mud into the house and tried to blame it on an imaginary ghost that he swore he had seen when he was five. But she knew. She always knew the truth.
So when the tears and the heart-wrenching sobbing came and he flung himself on to her lap like he did the first time somebody broke his heart she knew what ever hope he had was now gone.
Such a great talent, such an amazing, charming personality forced to suffer in Ohio.
His life thrown away on a girl like Quinn, because Carole knew that Finn would do everything he could to support his baby, even if he had to give up his own dreams to do it. It was just who he was.
Finn deserved more, so much more than the life he was being forced to endure. So much more than the girl who always made him feel like a failure, like he couldn't do anything right, because he could. Carole knew he could. He just needed the time and for the other person to be confident enough in his abilities to know he could do it.
Then the truth came out and oh god, why hadn't she seen it earlier?
Her first reaction was the feeling of weightlessness; that it was going to be okay, that Finn would be okay. Even though Puck was still only sixteen too, she knew he would be able to handle it more productively than her Finn could. He couldn't handle stress, not the way the other Glee Club members thought he could. When he was strained, that's when he became insensitive, that's when he made mistakes, hurt people she knew he cared about.
Her next reaction was the empathy for her son, for Noah, then finally for Quinn.
The betrayal Finn felt at his once best friend was immense. He was beyond hurt, devastated even. She knew all he wanted to do was kick and punch and just scream until the pain went away, until the feeling of emptiness finally fled.
She knew he felt so let down by it simply just because he was Puck. The boy he split pocket money with, the boy he spent every single Saturday with down at the park, the boy whom always visited their house after he left Temple, begging for Finn to come out and play. They had done so much together; they had been together for so long, probably longer than ether of them could remember. Now that she thought about it, Finn had really known Noah since he had been three months old, as they were only three months apart. They hadn't became real friends until they were six or seven.
She knew Noah. She understood him. So she could safely judge what had happened. She knew that Noah would do whatever he could to just have a chance with that person he cared about. Really cared about. She found that out the day he got suspended for two weeks for breaking Jeremy's noise after making Finn cry. As for as Noah concerned, risks and consequences went to the back of his mind when it came to meeting the request of people he cared about, when it came to making them happy again. She knew he do anything to see them happy – anything. So when Quinn invited him over to her house of course he would jump at the chance. It was who he was.
Carole didn't like the thought of thinking lowly of somebody so young, but honestly she couldn't help it. Even though she knew Quinn had never intended it to go that far, she still felt that maybe the blond just shouldn't have even started it. She had found out that Finn had kissed Rachel while he was still dating Quinn, so she had wanted revenge. That meant Puck was the perfect tool to use – because that's all he had been; a tool to get her revenge.
Time went by and the house felt so empty without the Mohawk teen's presences. Even when she met Burt and moved in with him, then got married and she had a new amazing step-son, the void that Noah had left still wasn't filled though. The guitarist had always been like a son to her, not a step-son, a son. Granted, Kurt really was fantastic and had shown her the true importance of fashion, but she didn't know him like she knew Noah. Carole knew that Kurt wouldn't go to the extents Noah would to keep her son happy.
Then, suddenly, Finn was talking about Noah again. He was worried about him, which, wasn't much as he still didn't feel comfortable enough to confront him about it, but he was concerned enough to notice. Which, as far as she had seen, nobody else had spotted yet, or they were turning a blind eye to.
Even without actually seeing the dark skinned teen, she knew he was depressed, and had shared her concerns. She wanted to keep her adopted son safe.
Oh, if she had only known at the time.
It happened gradually. Her talk with her son had obviously opened his eyes to the possibilities. To the fact he could have lost Noah, the teen that had his best friend his entire life. He stared inviting him back around, asking him to help move stuff for a cover up, a cover up just because he wanted to make sure there was no cuts, no signs of attempted suicide.
She knew then, though. She knew that Finn cared about him more than just a friend. Carole didn't say anything though, because she knew that he wasn't ready, that a mayor freak out would ensure. So she let them be, let them work through it together, because that's how they worked best – together.
So she wasn't that surprised when Finn dragged Noah to there to tell them they were a couple. She had been shocked when she found out his mother had kicked him out, although she found it sweet they had both decided to do it on the same day, like she said, they did everything better well then did it together.
Of course she had welcomed him with open arms. She couldn't turn her back on family. Ever.
It was when Noah pulled Burt into a hug that she realized how much he had changed. How the shield of Puck had slowly began to shrink, letting the light of Noah shine through again. She felt her heart burst with love as she saw her adopted son pull her husband into a tight embrace.
Then when Carole caught a glimpse of Finn and Noah sharing a tender kiss she could barely contain a squeal, but forced it back as not to startle the two teens.
She was so happy for her son. Noah was just what he needed. Neither of them was perfect, far from it. She also knew that if Noah didn't have what Finn needed to be happy, then he would still do everything in his power to find it. So even if they weren't flawless as people, as a couple, they were faultless.
She felt whole again. That her entire family was all there together, all because Noah was back in her and Finn's lives. She had everything she could have every wished for. She had a wonderful and amazing husband who would do anything for her and her family and she would too. They were equals, which she loved so much. Then there was Kurt, he was so smart and brought so much laughter and culture into her life. Then they was Finn and Noah. They completed each other, and together, they all completed her.
Unfortunately that fulfilment didn't last.
Kurt had felt that they deserved to truly know whom they were housing. Which, of course Carole found preposterous, she had known Noah since he was a child, what could there be to possibly tell her that she didn't already know? Apparently, there was a lot about Noah she hadn't been aware of. About his job, which was basically prostitution. Her step-son told her about how much he had bullied Kurt, about how he had been the one to give Finn the black eye after he had been released from Juvie. The information had been sketchy in some areas; like he wasn't aware of the full truth.
Turned out her instinct was right.
Finn was the one to fill them in on the rest of the details. How he had only done it because his mother could barely pay the bills, and that the money always went to keeping food on the table and he hardly ever spent the money on himself. Then he had tried to explain about why he had bullied Kurt, about why he had attacked him and Mr. Schuster. It wasn't because he was scared about being gay or because he thought there was something wrong with it. It was because something had happened, something terrible that had made Noah think that if he was gay, then he was just like him.
Then he had explained about Juvie, how he was attacked and that one of the security guards had tried to take advantage of his position. That was why he hit Finn. Her son had only clamped him on the back and Noah had freaked out.
He didn't say it directly, he didn't have too. She knew what Finn meant when he said something had happened to scare him so much. They both knew.
Carole had never cried so much that night.
How could she have failed to have noticed it? It all seemed to click now. He had always been getting in trouble at school, refusing to do what the teachers asked...refusing to be touched...God! How could she have been so blind?
But then Finn packed his bags and left, refusing to come back until he knew that Noah was safe. Telling them he loved Noah and needed him so much, told them about how much he admired him, about how weak and unprepared for the future he felt without him by his side. That's when she knew that they had to get him back home, both of them back home.
It had taken them a while to track down the dark skinned teen. Longer then she liked. But he was safe, and that was all that mattered. She sent Burt to go and talk with him, as she knew if she went she would have hardly of been able to control the tears that would have been threatening to flood her eyes.
He also had the most to apologise for. She knew Burt was one of the most accepting and understanding people she had ever met, but he was still human, he still had a temper and he cared about Fin too. More than Noah, so when he had found out he had bullied Kurt, had hit Finn. Well, he didn't want that type of threat in his household.
Burt had apologised, and although Noah and Finn hadn't returned home immediately, they still settled everything out and came home, back where they belonged.
Now though, it appeared the drama that had followed her life in the pervious two years hadn't left.
They sat both her and Burt down in the kitchen one day in February and the serious and worried looks on the boys faces told them it was something they really had to listen to. They didn't want a repeat of last time, to make assumptions without hearing both sides of the story, even if Burt had only been so upset because he thought that Kurt and Finn may have been in possible danger. They both sat down at the table patiently, waiting for one of them to talk.
Then Finn put his hand on Noah's and gave him a reassuring smile, saying "Mom, Burt, Noah's pregnant and we're keeping the baby."
Then, oh god, the feeling of lead weighing down her heart was back. How could this happen again? How could Finn and Noah both be so unlucky to have to deal with that type of stress again. Hearing it when Finn was only sixteen had been bad enough, but the fact he was eighteen in three months offered no comfort at all.
They couldn't have really said much, 'they were happy for them?' no, they couldn't say that. Even though Carole knew they were in love, she wasn't happy about the fact they were having a child when they were still children in her eyes, in Burt's eyes. So they did the only reasonable good and supportive thing she could have done when they honestly knew nothing about the situation. She pulled them both into a hug, offered her help, and reassured them they could deal with it.
It wasn't what she had been expecting to hear when they had sat her and Burt down. Not only because of the fact that Noah was a guy, but because, even though she didn't believe in god, she still believed he wouldn't put a mother through that type of scare twice. Obviously not.
She watched the two teens sleeping peacefully, Finn's immense paw of a hand on Noah's noticeable bump, five months. Five months and they hadn't seen it?
Noah twitched and flinched in his sleep, and she was instantly alert, knowing what horrible dreams he suffered. Then Finn pulled him closer to his chest and whispered something in his ear, and just like that, his facial expression relaxed and he snuggled into the taller boy's warmth.
Then she smiled to herself, because even though the whole being a parent at eighteen wasn't ideal, she knew that together they could make it work. Because Noah and Finn had a hell of a lot, more chance than Quinn and Finn or Quinn and Puck, for that matter.
She felt Burt place a hand on her shoulder and she let her self be guided into their room, thinking together they will make the best parents, no matter what.