Day 3! Look! I'm keeping up with Pinn Week! Go me!

Come on, guys. Review. The last two haven't gotten a single one and I feel unloved. Even if it's something short, that would be awesome.

Disclaimer: Glee doesn't belong to me.

Get Ready, Get Set, Don't Go
One-shot

Time went by way too fucking fast.

Puck looked around the dorm room and… They were done. Julie was all settled in. There was nothing left for them to do. Her clothes had been unpacked into the closet. Her school stuff was set up on her desk. They'd tested her printer twice to make sure it worked. Her bed was lofted to the height she wanted and the blankets had been laid down. Pictures had been hung. He kept looking, though. Kept looking for something they hadn't done yet, but there wasn't anything.

"I think that's it," Julie said as she spun around, inspecting. She'd tossed her hair up into a bun hours ago and her University of Georgia t-shirt had been swapped out for a tank top. She looked… Fuck. She'd grown up. She wasn't that little eight-month-old baby the social worker had put in his arms. Not anymore. She was eighteen now. She was a college freshman and they had to leave her here.

He didn't want to.

He bit his lip, leaning into Finn a little, because he couldn't help it. The years had raced by and, now, he was supposed to just let her go? It hurt and he knew he was acting like a sap, but she was his baby. Watching Beth go off to school—in California of all places, because her going wasn't enough of a pain—had been hard enough, but she'd always been independent. Between the years of travelling on her own between the states, she'd learned to take care of herself. Then, losing Shelby… Beth could take care of herself.

Julie, though… She was a daddy's girl. She'd never been that independent, letting them spoil her, but she wasn't spoiled rotten. He still had to be the one to make her that chicken rice she loved because she burned it every time she tried. She let him take care of her and he wasn't going to be able to do that now. Not with her three hours away in Athens and him all the way back in Columbus. It was too far.

"Dad, smile, okay?" she said as she walked over to him. She hugged him and he knew the sadness had to be plain as day on his face. "I'm gonna be home in a month."

A month. Right. She was coming home so she could be there when Finn shipped out. Again. He sighed at the reminder. The next few months were going to be fucking lonely. Few months, he thought with a soft snort. Try a year. Who was he kidding? No Julie. No Finn. No Beth, because she was settling into a new apartment with her boyfriend. Xander? He was pretty sure that was the guy's name. He wasn't going to meet him until Thanksgiving.

"Call," he told her when the hug ended. "We got you the new cell for a reason."

"I think he could use it," Finn whispered to their daughter, not so quietly.

He sent his husband a tired look and Julie winked at her dad in response before the hugs started again. This time, though, they were goodbye hugs. It was time for them to leave and start on that three-hour drive home. He heard Finn get a little choked up in the final moments and for a guy that was a general in the army now, it was kind of touching. He'd seen so much crap in his time overseas, but family could still get him going.

Not that he was much better, he thought.

"You sure you don't wanna go for dinner or something?"

Julie shook her head, her own eyes swimming. "Me and Kara are gonna go to the dining hall in a little bit."

"Lock your door when we leave, alright?"

"I know. Check before I open the door. Pretend I'm not here if I don't know who it is. I know, Dad. I think Papa's waiting for you."

Puck looked over his shoulder, noticing then that Finn was already in the hall and he knew he was dragging this goodbye out. Call him a sap for all he cared. Julie was his baby girl and she was always gonna be. This was hard for anyone. Maybe Finn was more used to saying goodbye to her before his deployments, but he wasn't. He didn't take vacations without Finn or Julie. They were always there and, now, the house was going to be too damn empty.

One more hug and that was it. He kissed her cheek and walked into the hall, waiting until he heard the click of the lock before he wrapped an arm around Finn's waist. He wasn't sure who led who out of there, but a couple tears were leaking out by the time they got to the truck.

"Need a minute?"

He shook his head. No. Sitting here and staring at the building wasn't going to help. "I'm fine." Except he really wasn't.

"It's not gonna be that bad," Finn told him as they pulled out of the parking lot. "It's only three hours."

"You're not gonna be the one in the empty house, Finn."

"I know," Finn said, sounding guilty. "I'm almost done, though. Just one more deployment until my time's up and I'm gonna stick to stuff here. They want me to start training more. Apparently, I'm good at scaring them."

"Because you still kick chairs over when you get mad."

"If they can't handle that, how are they gonna handle being in the field?" Finn flashed him a smile before he reached to take his hand. "Just do whatever you gotta do to stay busy, okay? You said you wanted to redo the basement."

Puck nodded. He'd figure it out. Maybe get a job. Anything to keep himself occupied, even if it was some shitty retail thing. Right now, though, he just wanted to go home, lie down with Finn, and try to not think about Julie's empty room.

The End

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