Who Says You Can't Go Home?
A one-shot with the Puckerman family in the future of the Beginning Our Life/Never Forgotten Past universes.
Warning: Mentions of abortion.
Ages: Nathan-26 / Andy and Belle-16
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
Nate fought against the tears in his eyes while flying through the sub towards his parents' house. He pulled into the driveway and quickly shut off the car before taking a deep breath and leaning against the steering wheel. He steadied himself for a second until sliding down from the truck. He grabbed his suitcase from the backseat and dragged himself up the front porch.
He was searching for the house key on his key ring when the door opened itself. He yelped and jumped backwards.
On the other side, Andy jumped just as high, "Dude! What the hell?"
"What do you mean?" Nate hissed and darted inside with his suitcase, "What are you doing up?"
"It's a Friday night during football season and I'm a junior in high school; I'm going to a party," Andy rolled his eyes, "What are you doing here?"
"Live here now," Nate grunted and fell onto the couch.
"Andy, are you ready?" Belle whispered while hurrying down the stairs before Andy could reply.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Nate sat up and looked between his brother and sister, "Are you two sneaking out?"
"Jesus!" Belle placed a hand over her heart, "Nate!"
"Yeah, yeah," Andy waved his hand, "Go back to what you were just saying, you live here?"
"Just shut up," Nate groaned. He glanced between them, "And go upstairs to bed. You shouldn't be sneaking out."
"But Nate," Belle whined, "Rose used to sneak out."
"Well, you're not Rose, are you?" Nate asked, "Plus, I never even knew Rose snuck out, so I can't control her."
"You can't stop us," Andy said while walking towards the door, "Come on, Belle."
"Nope," Nate jumped up and shoved Belle away from the door on his way to grab Andy's shirt collar, "I never snuck out, so neither will you two."
Belle sighed and started heading towards the stairs, "Come on, Andy, let's just go to bed. There'll be more parties."
Andy jerked away from Nate and glared at him, "Fine, but I'm telling Mom and Dad you're here."
"No!" Nate yelled. The three of them went still to listen if their parents heard. When they didn't hear anything, Nate turned back to Andy, "You will not say anything to them. I'll talk to them when they wake up and come downstairs, I'll just sleep on the couch."
"Whatever," Andy sneered before marching up the stairs to his room.
"What happened?" Belle asked quietly.
Nate sighed and ran a hand over his hair, "Nothing, alright. Don't worry about." He forced a smile, "Night."
Belle nodded slowly, "G'night." She slowly walked away, frequently turning back to look at Nate.
Finally, Belle was in her room and Nate groaned. He walked back to the couch and plopped down. His earlier conversation began running threw his mind and he let out a low yell of frustration. He shoved himself off the couch and made his way to the kitchen where he threw open the fridge and quickly spotted his dad's beer.
"First time for everything," Nate muttered while grabbing a couple bottles.
"Don't even think about."
Nate jumped and almost dropped the beer. He spun around, "Dad."
Noah flicked on the lights, "Put 'em down. I know exactly what you're doing; you're trying to forget something and I really don't want to deal with a drunk kid tonight."
Nate slowly placed the beer back and closed the fridge before turning back to Noah, "How'd you know I was here?"
"Come on," Noah smirked, "I heard you and your brother fighting. I wasn't going to come down here, but Andy came in and wanted me to, so I figured I might as well see what's up."
Nate nodded silently.
"Now," Noah put his arms out, "Say hello to your dad."
Nate walked forward and hugged Noah tightly. Noah was slightly shocked by Nate's behavior, but hugged him back.
"Hey, you ok?" Noah asked.
Nate shrugged.
Noah led Nate to the couch in the living room, "What happened?"
Nate stared at his hands, "I-I don't know where to start." His voice cracked and he gripped his arms tightly.
"I'm going to fix this," Noah said softly, "Your mom'll help too and Beth, Rose, Belle, and Andy; we're going to help you. You just have to tell me."
"You guys can't bring back the dead," Nate whispered, "Nobody can."
"Whoa, hold up," Noah sat back, "Who died? Did something happen to Cassie's family? To Cassie?"
Nate shook his head stiffly, "No." He paused and thought for a second before muttering, "Well, not really."
"Alright, that's a start," Noah said slowly, still confused, "Care to explain?"
Nate threw his head back against the pillows, "Dad, I'm a father."
Noah sat up more, "Cassie's pregnant? Nate, that's great." He clapped a hand on his son's shoulder, "I'm proud of you, you're going to be a great dad. Are you going to get married?"
Tears formed in Nate's eyes, "You don't get it. The baby's the one that died. I'm the father of a dead baby."
Noah froze, "Nate-I-I'm sorry."
"No, hold on," Nate shook his head, "The baby's probably like four years old now. When Cassie turned 21, we may have gotten a little crazy and I know we promised to wait, but we both got drunk and we did some things that we never intended to. In the end, she ended up pregnant, but I didn't find out until tonight."
Noah sat quietly watching Nate begin to rant about his night, knowing the young adult needed his time to talk.
"She was pretty upset today and when I asked why," Nate gasped, "She said she finally decided to tell me that four years ago today, she got an abortion and she never told me."
Noah smoothed his hand over his hair and waited. He could sense Nate was about to lose anything he was holding on to.
"Dad, I was going to propose," Nate choked out, "Tomorrow. But now, I'm without a girlfriend and without a house." He stood and started pacing, "I shouldn't cry. I'm sorry, I don't know what to do, I'm sorry."
Noah watched his son and flashed back to two moments in his life. The first being when Nate's first girlfriend broke up with him in front of all his friends. The second being when he himself was muttering the same words to his high school football coach.
Noah stood and grabbed Nate against him, "Calm down, ok, just calm down."
"I would have kept the kid," Nate whispered, "I would have wanted to take care of him or her."
"I know, I know," Noah said softly, "You're my kid, of course you're not going to abandon your own, it's in your blood."
There were quiet steps on the stairs and Sarah walked in with her robe wrapped tightly around her, "Nate, what's going on?"
Nate shook his head and stepped away from Noah.
"I'm going to get you something to drink," Noah said and walked to the kitchen.
Sarah went to Nate and hugged him tightly. She could tell from his eyes that he was trying not to cry, but she didn't say anything. She knew Nate would tell her when he needed to and that Noah was probably going to tell her later anyways.
Noah returned and had Nate drink the water. Sarah and Noah watched Nate down the glass before he sat on the couch.
"I'll just sleep down here," he said.
"No," Sarah shook her head, "You'll sleep upstairs in the study on the pull out bed. It's comfortable, you know that. I'd rather you get a good night's sleep than a crappy one."
Nate reluctantly nodded and made his way upstairs.
Sarah turned towards Noah, "What the hell happened?"
"Him and Cassie broke up," Noah whispered, "The rest is his business."
Sarah sighed, but nodded, "I understand, but that is my son up there with tears in his eyes and I'm sorry if I want to know what's wrong."
"No, no, I know," Noah hugged Sarah tightly, "I just want Nate to be the one to tell you."
Sarah set her head on Noah's shoulder, "Will he be ok?"
"Eventually," Noah whispered, "I promise."
~~~~~GLEE~~~~~
Nate told Sarah the next morning what had happened between him and Cassie, but he didn't tell his siblings, something that wasn't going over so well with them a week later.
"Just tell us," Belle begged over dinner, "Please, Nate."
Nate shook his head and continued eating his steak.
"Dude, we're bros," Andy stated, "Tell me, you don't have to tell the brat."
"I am only five minutes younger than you," Belle said angrily, "You have no right to call me a brat. And don't talk like a gangster, it makes you sound gross."
"Don't fight at the dinner table," Sarah sighed.
"What I want to know," Noah started with a glance towards Nate, "Is when you're going to leave. Kid, you know I love you, but you're 26 years old, you shouldn't be living with your parents and brother and sister."
Nate glared across the table, "And where am I going to go? I've still been going to work. I've helped out with the food and chores. I even drive the turds to school."
"Hey!" Belle and Andy yelled at the same time.
Nate smirked, "I think I'm going to stay for a while."
"Noah, there's nothing wrong with Nate staying with us while he figures everything out," Sarah said.
"Yeah, that's fine," Noah nodded, "But I want Nate to start looking at options. What if you talked to Cassie? Maybe you two can work this out."
"I'm not doing this," Nate pushed back from the table. He grabbed his dishes and carried it over to the sink to start cleaning his plate.
"Nate, just listen," Noah said, "What Cassie did was wrong, she should have talked to you about it, but at the same time, it was four years ago and you were going to propose the next day."
Belle and Andy's eyes widened. "That's deep," Andy breathed.
"What'd she do?" Belle asked Sarah, "Did she cheat?"
"No, you want to know what did happen, though?" Nate yelled, "I got Cassie pregnant, and she had an abortion. Cool, right?"
"That...sucks," Andy said quietly.
"Yeah," Nate nodded, "It does."
"I'm so sorry," Belle whispered.
Nate angrily left the room and went upstairs to the guest room.
Noah stood, but Sarah set a hand on his arm, "Let me." She quickly made her way up the stairs and down the hall. The door was cracked open and she pushed it open. Nate was running around the room gathering up his stuff. "Nate," Sarah said softly.
He spun around, "What? I'm not in the mood for a Mommy/Nate talk. I'm 26, not 16."
Sarah nodded, "I know."
"Then what?" Nate sat in the desk chair, "What did you come to talk to me about?"
"Your dad's right," Sarah stated while walking in the room. She picked up a stray sweatshirt, "You should talk to Cassie."
"And what am I going to say to her?" Nate snapped, "She killed my kid. It's not like we were teenagers, she was 21 and I was 22, practically adults."
Sarah sighed, "Nate, calm down."
"Mom, I don't know what to do," Nate whispered.
Sarah walked over to him and ran a hand over his hair, "That's why I'm here, and your dad. We'll help you."
There was a knock on the wall and Noah came in the room, "Nate, someone's here to see you." He stepped aside and a young girl walked in.
Cassie smiled at Nate, "Hi."
Nate quickly stood, "Hey, Cass." He took a step forward to hug her, but seemed to decide against it and jerked backwards.
"Nate, I'm sorry," Cassie whispered, "I was hoping we could talk."
Nate slowly nodded, "I guess that'd be ok." He glanced at Noah and Sarah, "Do you mind?"
"Not at all, I think that'd be good," Noah leaned against the doorway.
Sarah rolled her eyes and grabbed his elbow, "We'll leave you two to whatever." Her and Noah walked into the hallway. They were almost at the stairs when they heard the door close. Sarah spun around and darted to it. She bent closer with her ear towards the door.
"What are you doing?" Noah chuckled.
"Shh," Sarah scolded. She waved her hand, "Don't you want to hear what happens in there?"
Noah bit his lip and thought for a second before quickly making his way to his wife. "This is so bad," he whispered.
"Shut up," Sarah hissed, "They're talking."
"I've missed you."
"Yeah."
"I can tell you're still mad."
"Of course I'm mad. You lied to me for years."
"No, I didn't lie, I just omitted details."
"The hell?"
"Can I explain?"
"I guess."
"Nate, I was scared. I was 21 for not even an hour and I was already drunk off my ass and within that time, I got pregnant."
"I would have helped."
"I knew that, I know that, but I wasn't ready."
"Why?"
"Do you realize I probably would have had to quit school? My parents would have hated me. The easy way out of it all was just to act as if it had never happened."
"Did you even think of me?"
"Of course. I was afraid of what you'd think of me. I know your story. I know where you came from. I also know that you don't want to repeat history. You'd feel like a failure had you gotten me pregnant at such a young age. We aren't even married."
"I'd like to marry you. Hell, I was going to marry you."
"I know, I planned on marrying you too."
"No, you don't get it. I...I'll do it now."
Sarah and Noah turned towards each other with equal looks of shock across their face.
"Maybe we should...," Sarah started.
"Cassandra Elise Winder, I love you with my entire heart. You mean everything to me. I know we both made some mistakes, but they'll just make us stronger in the end. We're not alone. I've realized that after this week at my parents'. They're always on my side and I know they'll be on yours too. They're not going to give up on us just like I'm not going to give up on us. So Cassie, will you promise to be my wife and make more mistakes with me so that we'll end out on top in the end with our family on our side?"
"Y-yes! Oh, yes! Of course, Nathan!"
Noah stepped back, "I think we heard enough."
Sarah smiled and hugged him tightly, "I'm so proud of him."
Noah nodded and kissed the top of her head, "Yeah, me too."
"Ugh, I hate you!"
Noah and Sarah spun around to the stairs just in time to see Belle march up them. She ran straight into her room before slamming the door.
Andy walked up with a smirk on his face. He nodded towards Sarah and Noah, "What's up?"
"What'd you do?" Noah sighed.
Andy shrugged, "I may have mentioned her current relationship status and pointed out that she hasn't had a boyfriend in months."
"And why would you do that?" Sarah rubbed her temples.
"She told me that I was probably an unsatisfying boyfriend so I asked her how she would know that and she said because Dad hasn't given me 'the talk' yet which apparently means I don't have a chance," Andy answered.
Sarah was going to continue with her questions when Noah put a hand up, "Alright, come on." He walked towards Andy's room. He nodded to it, "Don't you want to get back at your sister?"
"Yeah," Andy said slowly, not really knowing what was going on.
"Then come on," Noah smirked, "I'll give you 'the talk' so you can win."
"I don't know," Andy backed up into the wall.
"Nope, get in here," Noah grabbed Andy's arm and dragged him into his room. Noah looked back at Sarah and smirked.
She shook her head with a smile. Noah shut the door just as Nate's opened.
"Mom," Nate started.
Sarah glanced down at his hand intertwined with Cassie's and her smile grew even more, "You don't have to say anything. I know."
"Where's Mr. Puckerman?" Cassie asked, "We'd like to tell him the good news too."
Sarah laughed, "He's a little busy with Andy in his room. Belle was kind enough to point out that he never got 'the talk' so Noah's fulfilling his parenting duties right now."
Nate grimaced, "We don't want to get into that. We'll just tell him later."
"Belle's in her room though," Sarah said, "If you'd like to tell her."
Cassie nodded and let go of Nate to share her news.
Nate smiled at Sarah softly, "Thanks for everything, Mom."
Sarah hugged him tightly, "No problem."
"Dad!"
Sarah and Nate turned with a laugh to Andy's door.
"I bet Dad's having a little too much fun with that," Nate chuckled.
Sarah smirked, "You have experience?"
Nate shuddered, "I'd rather not relive it."
Sarah laughed, "But you lived," she pointed out, "So you might need to help your brother get past this traumatizing event."
Nate nodded with a glance to the door, "I'm sure he'll be calling me later."
"What a good brother," Sarah cooed.
Nate laughed, "Thanks."
"Now go," Sarah shoved him towards Belle's room, "I'm sure your sister's excited for you."
Nate gave her one last hug before going to join his fiancé and sister.
Sarah happily sighed. She knew they'd make it.