Disclaimer: Glee is not mine, nor are any of the characters. This is simply a story to pass the hiatus and have some fun with the way things could play out.
Author Note: Hey all - well, this is my first Glee plot. The ships are going to be canon and the plot is going to run until post Regional's. Not wanting to give too much away, I'll leave it there and go on with the story - I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 1: The Morning After the Night Before
Mrs Emma Schuester opened her eyes and rolled over. The first thing she saw was the curly head of hair on her husband's pillow.
She was his wife: he was her husband. And they were in their bed. In their home.
And the stress of the past year had floated right on out of her.
Stretching, she snuggled closer to her Will. The two of them had nothing to do: nowhere to be: nothing to worry about. It was Saturday. Glee was done for the week. Regional's had been won. For two days, they had nothing but blue skies in their life.
He reached out for her instantly as she lay closer to him. She was not sure if he was entirely awake, but he was awake enough to want her in his arms. Laughing softly, she laid her head squarely on his chest and shut her eyes and said those two words she was never going to tire of.
"We're married."
X x x
The nineteen year old dropped his bags in the door way, and all but ran through to the living room. He had been waiting two weeks for this reunion, and that had been two weeks far too long as far as he was concerned. Ever since he had got that phone call, he had been nothing short of elated.
But it was only now he was really able to believe the news. That the black cloud hanging over their house and family had finally evaporated.
Within seconds of entering the living room, he was locked in his step father's paternal embrace, the two of them laughing as they greeted one another.
"Good to see you, man," Burt said as he continued to embrace Finn. He did not think he had ever had such a long hug with Finn, but he knew that he had been as terrified as Carole and Kurt for the past six months.
It had been a living nightmare for all four of them. But it was over now. He was fine. He was healthy. They all were.
Finn drew back and Burt grinned at him, not quite able to hide his shock when he saw a few tears in Finn's eyes. He was however tactful enough not to mention them as Finn rubbed his eyes on his sleeve.
"You too," the younger man nodded. "I'm so glad, Burt."
"There is a lot of that going about this house."
As if to emphasis the point, it was then Carole walked into the room, her bed head still intact even if she had changed out of her pyjamas to a pair of jeans and coral top.
"I thought I heard your voice. Welcome home, baby."
It took no time at all for Finn to be locked in another set of arms, this time his mothers.
Within moments of the two of them being back together, he knew Carole was a very different woman to the one he had left when he had gone to college. He had been worried about her - he had only gone because she had insisted that he had to. He had been fully prepared to stay home and take care of Burt with him. But she had said for her that was only going to make things worse. As far as she had been concerned, they had to keep things normal.
He could return if he had too - but until that day he had to go and get educated. Having Finn and Kurt home was the last thing their parents had wanted during that dark period of their lives.
But now she was relaxed. The fear that their little make shift family was going to fall apart as soon as it had been formed had proved to be unfounded. And that was enough to turn his mother back in to the relaxed, fun loving woman they all knew.
"Missed you mom."
"Oh, sweetie, I missed you too. What time did you get up to get the coach home? Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Five thirty and no."
Finn was not usually one for getting up so early but he had been desperate to get back. He had completed his first set exams and now they were over. He was more than old enough to appreciate a little family time, which was what he had raced home for.
"Come have some now. Your brother and Sam are already in the kitchen," she said as she turned to go back to the room she had just come from.
Finn followed, Burt slapping his back as the two of them walked in Carole's wake.
"It's good to have you back, buddy."
"It's good to be back - Kurt, how you doing man?"
As soon as the two of them set eyes on one another, the brothers greeted each other with a one armed hug. In spite of the fact that they had been living apart, if anything the two of them had grown closer that year. Texts had flown between New York and Ohio constantly. And it was not only Burt's cancer the two of them had been discussing. It had been Blaine and Rachel too. They had had their hearts broken in the same city on the same night.
If they had not been bonded before that, they were for sure after.
"Much better now," Kurt admitted with a genuinely bright smile, his eyes straying to Burt.
There was a collective sigh from the Hudson-Hummel clan, as well as Sam. He had lived with them for over a year. He had had to live with Burt's illness as well.
And now, it was all behind them. Just like that...
At last...
"I should give you guys some family time," the blonde realised as he got up. He did not mind taking his coffee to his room.
"Hey, don't you dare!" Carole ordered him. "You're having breakfast with us. Family time," she rolled her eyes. "Don't you live under this roof?"
"Of course," the boy almost stuttered.
"Well then. Muesli for Burt, and some bacon and eggs for the rest of us," Carole smiled as she got the frying pan out the cupboard. She raised her eyes flirtatiously at her husband.
"I'll join dad with the cereal," Kurt declined politely as he put his hand round his full coffee cup.
"So... how was last night, boys? Regional champions once more!"
"Yeah, that was a turnaround!" Finn exclaimed as he took his seat the table. "When I got the text, I was so relieved. I kinda felt like it was all my fault that we bummed out at sectionals."
"Rubbish - you had nothing to do with Marley fainting," Sam shook his head.
"Well, that wasn't Marley's fault either," Carole spook out for the girl as she got breakfast out of the fridge. "She was having a hard time."
In her professional capacity, Carole could not mention to her family having seen the poor girl and her mother at the hospital as Marley recovered. But she could stop the boys blaming her.
And she would.
"Yeah, well, she is on the mend now and so are the New Directions," said Kurt with a smile.
He might not be in it any longer but he did not think he was ever going to be able to not care. Especially as long as those he had been singing with were still in the group.
"Did you guys have an after party last night? You got in pretty late."
"Sorry Burt - I didn't meant to break curf-"
"Hey, I wasn't getting at you. I know it wasn't a normal night, and a weekend to boot. We didn't mind."
The blonde nodded appreciatively. "Well, we did have an after party actually - and a surprise wedding - "
"Mr. Schue married Miss Pillsbury!" Kurt stole the punch line. It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen.
"You're kidding?" Finn asked, half delighted and half disappointed. He had always thought he was going to get to be there when the two of them get married.
But he did not feel he had a right to complain after everything...
He looked down for a moment as Sam tried to launch on. Or he would have done if he was not interrupted once more.
"It was in the choir room, right after they won. It was really something special and so romantic - when she was asked if she took him to be her husband, she squealed, 'I do, I do, I do, I do!' It was adorable," Kurt sighed. "God, I love weddings."
"Me too," Carole agreed as she begun to hum something which her step son could only suppose was meant to sound something like a Bruno Marz song as she made eye contact with his father once more.
"And what happened after?"
"Nothing." There was an odd relieved tone to Sam's voice which made Burt question whether he had thought something was going to happen. "We all went to the stix, celebrated and then Kurt and I came home." Neither of engaged to be married...
It was then that his phone buzzed on the table.
And his face fell. The relief had been too soon.
Gonna do it tonight. Can't wait any longer. Lost my guts last night - but I can't lose him - B
"Dude, you dumb ass," he muttered under his breath as he shook his head.
"Something up kid?"
"Gotta go stage an intervention," he said as he got up and grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl. "Sorry Carole, gotta go," he said as he kissed her cheek.
"Sweetie, I just put your bacon in the pan."
"No worries - Finn's got my back there, haven't you dude?"
"Sure have."
X x x
"Ok, man chill. I get it. You still feel guilty, you don't want to lose him and I get the whole big gesture thing, I really do. But what is wrong with flowers? Less scary than an engagement ring. Less permanent too."
"But permanent is what I want! Sam, you were behind me yesterday. Why have you changed your mind?" Blaine asked as he stood before Swm who lay on his bed, shaking his head.
"Time. I have had time to think and this is the worst idea you have ever had. I mean, up there with the gel thing," he said as he looked at his best friend's hair.
From where she sat at his desk, Tina nodded. Sam had called her on the way over, sure he needed back up to stop Hurricane Blaine from screwing up what was sure to be a perfectly lovely family day for the Hudson-Hummels and then the rest of his and Kurt's lives by proposing too soon. He would love to go their wedding one day... but this plan was just not going to work. It was his duty to pull the plug. Any best friend worth their salt would do the same.
As for his surrogate family, when he had left, they had been talking about a trip to the cinema, or maybe bowling, then pizza. It sounded a little young, but then he thought, not so. Perhaps the activates they were planning to do together reflected the age of their family. It was young, it needed nurturing. And a little healthy competition at a bowling alley would be perfect for doing that.
"Sam's right. Blaine, we know how you feel about Kurt. But you're not even together right now!" Tina pointed out.
Blaine rubbed the back of his neck. "The two of us are getting closer. I can feel it. If I can just get him to fall back in love with me..."
"He'd have to fall out of it first," Sam reassured Blaine. "Listen dude, you told me once that you and Kurt were two halves of a whole. You knew what the other wanted before they asked for it, you finished one another sentences, you knew one another's coffee orders, better than your own."
"Your point?"
Tina cottoned on better than Blaine. "Take Kurt out for coffee. If you two still know one another as well as you did last year, then go for it, propose, we can't stop you. But if you don't then, you have to take a step back."
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the box which he had been carrying for the past two days, just waiting for the right time. Opening it up, he sighed.
He did not want the ring in this box. He wanted it on Kurt's finger, and one on his own as well.
"What if it is over?"
"Then you'll have to make your peace with that."
Blaine shook his head. He couldn't. Not yet. He grabbed his phone, before Sam in turn snatched it away.
"Not today dude. He is with his dad, Carole and Finn, family day. Don't disturb that."
Sam felt protective over that and he was not sure why. The four of them were more than capable of taking care of themselves, they had proved that hundreds of times over. Perhaps it was the way they had taken him in when he had needed someone too.
The fact remained, the Hudson-Hummels would choose one another over any one else in the world, for that day at least. They should be allowed one simply guilt free day to be together and enjoy one another's company and food health, without thinking of anyone else.
If that was a gift Sam Evans could give to them then he would.
X x x
"She is pretty cut up over the whole thing."
"Then she should not have done it, should she?"
Marley sighed. She had to agree with Jake. Not only because what he was saying was right, but because even though Unique was her best friend, she could see how wrong she had been to cat fish Ryder too.
She had taken it too far. Marley knew Unique. She was not a hateful person - what had happened. It had made her feel good and she had let it get out of control, but there had been no malice there. The brunette could not seriously think that her friend had met any harm.
But that did not mean she had not caused any. Marley had tried to protect her. She had tried to take the fall. Jake had said he would back her up.
But it didn't work.
"No," she said as she crossed the living room of the house she lived in with her mom and sat by his side, folding her legs up beneath her as she did so. "Ryder is not going to leave glee he is? We need him Jake!"
"I spoke to him last night and he still seemed pretty determined he was not going to be coming back," he sighed as he looked into what was in his opinion the most beautiful face in the world.
And it was all the more beautiful to him for the fact it had filled out in the past few months... ever since Christmas... she had been slowly recovering.
It had not been easy.
"Have I ever said how proud of you I am?" he asked.
Blushing, Marley shook her head. "Don't change the subject. I do not want us to go to nationals without Ryder with us."
He had worked as hard as any of them and she did not see why he had to miss out. She knew he was hurt but there had to be a way to being him round. After they had won the night before she had been sure he had hugged Unique.
If there was a way to get him to forgive her then they had to find it.
"He is your boy, I cannot believe you want to go with him either," she sighed.
"Of course I don't, but - this is his choice."
"It does not make it the right one," Marley said softly as she moved closer to him.
"If it makes you happy I will talk to him on Monday when we go to school. But he needs the weekend to cool off," he sighed as she laced her arms about his neck. "And if you do not stop teasing me then I am going to have to go and cool off as well."
"Whose says I am teasing you?" she whispered playfully as she pushed her lips to his.
Instinctively, he put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer.
"No fornicating in the living room please!" Millie called from the hall way... cooling both Marley and Jake off at once.
X x x
"You know if the three of you were not going to play, I do not know why you bothered coming with me."
Burt's latest ball happily by pasted about six pins which were still up, meaning he dropped behind both the teens and gave his wife a - roughly - 30 point lead on him.
"Boys, have you ever noticed Carole's head expanding every time she gets a strike?"
"Once or twice." Kurt agreed with his father, while Finn chose to nod. Silent agreement seemed to be a more sensible choice than saying it out loud.
"Just because I am the only one capable of doing so in this family. Now let me wrap this thing up."
And she did. The final scores were so dismal for the patriarch of the Hudson-Hummel clan that he did not even look properly at the closing scores. If Kurt had beaten Finn, he might have paid closer attention, but the Hudson's had whipped the floor with the Hummel's. That was the truth.
Still, it did not really dampen the mood of the day.
On the walk to the pizza place where they were going to eat, Burt dropped his arm about his wife's shoulders, and his laughing eyes went from both his boys as the two of them reconnected as the brothers they were.
It was a day of the sort they had feared they were never going to get.
"I am so happy," Burt whispered in the ear of his wife as the two of them went into the restaurant.
She nodded. "Me too."
She was unable to remember the last time the four of them had had an opportunity to joke around like this. Ever since the damn day at the beginning of December she had been living day to day, moment to moment, trying not to think ahead, a skill she had only developed since she had been a married woman once more. When she had been on her own she had had to be so careful... terrified of what was going to happen to her baby if something happened to her. but now she could start planning again.
And now she was able to do it once more. Weddings, and grandbabies and old people sex...
That was she wanted from life. That was all she was going to want.
And to beat her boys at bowling.
X x x
Singing in the Rain followed by My Fair Lady, ice cream and one another's arms ensured that the newlyweds had the most wonderful first day of married life.
Will could not help but compare to his first day of marriage to the one he had had with Terri. When he had got married the first time, the two of them had to have the big honeymoon and they had all but missed their wedding reception so that they could fly out that night.
Whereas with Emma, Will had a quiet day in after their quiet wedding. The two of them did not need anything more special than one another.
"We finally did it," she muttered with a sigh as she lay her head on his chest, reaching for the tub of ice cream they were sharing.
It did not occur to her until that moment that the two of them had been sharing a spoon.
And it did not worry her. Not in the least. She knew she was not going to be magically better because she and Will had got married. She had a long road ahead of her. But may be at last she was at the turning point and she was going to be able to get this thing under control.
She was going to own her OCD - it was no longer going to own her.
"Do you think I am going to be ok now? Do you think I'll get better... properly?" she asked looking up at him with her big eyes. In spite of knowing the reality of the situation, a few sweet nothings would be most welcomed that day.
Cupping Emma's face, Will nodded. "You know I will do everything I can to help get you better. And now the two of us are married... well, perhaps anything is possible."
She agreed. There had been more than one few days when she had thought the two of them were never going to get as far as they had that day.
"Perhaps we can have a baby this or next year?"
Will did not know how normal it was for newlyweds to talk about children on their very first day of married life. But it thrilled him. The two of them had been waiting so long for this.
He could only nod as the thought of a baby girl with her mother's bright eyes flashed before his own eyes.
"I cannot wait for the day the two of us have our baby. And we are going to have so much fun, trying for our baby," he told her making her laugh.
Enjoying the sound as he was, Will could forgive himself for wanting to prolong the sound.
Thus it was not along until he was tickling his red headed wife who begun to laugh even harder.
"Get off of me!" she squealed as she prompt herself up and put her hands on his chest. "If you stop tickling me then the two of us can go and start having fun," she teased him, having all but forgotten they were half way through Mary Poppins.
He paused for a moment as she raised her eye brow.
Yes that was a very acceptable swap.
Mr and Mrs Schuster went back to their bedroom.
X x x
Sam did not need to ask if the Hudson-Hummel clan had had a good day. It was written all over their faces when they returned. He felt as if he was seeing the four of them relaxed, properly chilled for the first time in many months.
It reassured him he had done the right thing that day. It was not as if he had enjoyed telling Blaine that he was being a bit of an idiot, even if he was. If there was one thing Sam believed it was that Blaine loved Kurt. If they were meant to be, they would be.
But it was too soon.
Having the x box game he had been half way through, he offered to go and make a coffee.
"That would be lovely, honey, thank you," said Carole as she headed up the stairs. He had been about to follow Kurt and Finn through to the kitchen, when Burt addressed him.
"How did the intervention go today?"
There was something about the way he asked that question - Sam did not know if he was able to put it in to words.
But it was as if Burt knew something.
"Well, I think," Sam nodded.
"Anyone I know?"
"Are you doing that reverse psychology thing on me?"
Burt sniggered as he collapsed into Christopher's arm chair. "Tell Blaine good things come to those who wait."
That was a yes, thought Sam.
Heading through to the kitchen, the blonde left the patriarch on his own.
"Teenagers and their damn hormones," murmured Burt.
Still, he understood. He knew what it was to be young and in love... he had been young and in love what felt a very long time ago. And ultimately he knew nothing was going to come of this crazy proposal yet. Kurt was a sensible boy and Burt trusted his son and Blaine too, at the end of the day. He was a little highly strung about the two of them right now.
But it would come around. Somehow.
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