A/N: I know what you're thinking: "Anna, another fic? You haven't even ended or updated the other ones you've written!" I know I haven't and I'm sorry, but… this story idea came to me out of the blue, and I NEEDED to get it out there in the open. It's my own OC, and I REALLY like her. Hope you guys do, too. No idea if it'll end up being a one shot or not. If you guys end up wanting more… You know I'd do anything for you.
PROLOGUE
September 15, 2002
The moon shone with an almost eerie essence to it. The stars surrounding it made the sky glow brighter than it should have on a dark night in September. To the passersby below, it looked quite exquisite and unique. To tiny eight-year-old Kurt Hummel, it looked vast and intimidating.
He stared out the window at the bright sky, and climbed onto the bed, curling up under the covers with his back it. He closed his eyes tightly, but knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. His Daddy was still at the garage, and Nattie had been out driving for hours now. He kept getting the constant feeling that something was terribly wrong, and it ate at his insides, making him feel slightly sick. Nothing else should have been going wrong. His mother had only been dead for a month. He didn't want anything else to go wrong right now.
Suddenly, the front door opened and closed slowly. Kurt sat bolt upright, wrapping his soft blanket around his shoulders and his arms around his knees.
The ominous heavy footfalls sounding through the house signaled his father. Kurt's muscles tensed as the door to his room creaked open. The expression on his father's face immediately made him worry: there were tears all over Burt Hummel's cheeks.
"D-daddy?" Kurt whispered, sitting up a little more. Burt looked at Kurt again, then looked immediately back down. It seemed as though it was hard for his father to look at him.
Burt trudged to Kurt's bed and sat next to his small son, finally looking up at him. Their eyes met, and Kurt felt an overwhelming urge to burst into tears. The look on his daddy's face was too much. Burt's eyes were completely red and wet with salt water. He breathing was ragged and hard, as though he hadn't just been crying.
He'd been sobbing.
"K-k-kurt…" Burt said, stuttering on his words. "Th-th-there's something I need to t-t-tell you…"
"What?" Kurt sat up on his knees, looking up to the man who meant everything to him. His hero. The one who was trying to be strong after Kurt's mom died.
Burt sniffed and wiped at another tear. "I… I just got back from the police department."
Kurt stopped breathing.
"Natalie was a really bad car accident."
Kurt's mind went blank.
"She… she's dead, Kurt."
Kurt didn't realize he was crying until his father said those words. He didn't realize his father's arms were around him until he found himself in his lap. He never felt that he had lost the best person in his life until… well, he never really felt it. He was too numb to feel anything.
O
O
O
O
May 26, 2011
"Thanks," I said, handing the cab driver a few twenties. "Keep the change, okay? Sorry to have made you drive so far out."
"No problem, sweetie. Glad to have your company." The cheery cabbie smiled at me, shook my hand one last time, and drove off. I waved my classic single-handed wave behind the slightly speeding yellow car, and turned around, facing the haunt that had been looming in the back of my mind for almost nine years.
The house hadn't changed at all. Same color, same flowers in the window box, even the same car. Except now there was a dark Navigator and a few other cars sitting comfortably next to the old pick-up truck. Funny, I never figured that they would have bought any other cars. Burt always loved that old pick-up.
Taking a deep breath, I walked towards the house, my folder in my hands, my pen behind my ear. I could do this. I had to. I'd been waiting a near full decade for this, and I wasn't about to just give it all up.
Suddenly, the door was right in front of me. As I raised my fist to knock on the door, I uttered under my breath, "Time to nut up or shut up."
The door swung open a few seconds after my hand left it, and I looked up into a pair of wide eyes I hadn't looked into for years. Burt Hummel was staring down at me with a confused expression.
"Hi," I said tentatively, my hand moving to push my glasses back up my nose. "Is this the Hummel residence?"
Burt's expression softened. "Yes. I'm Burt Hummel. May I help you?"
I swallowed hard. "Yes, sir, you can. My name's Lily Harmon, I work for the New York Times. I apologize for dropping in on you at this hour on such short notice, but I was wondering if you could help me with an article I have to write."
Yes, it was a terrible lie. I used to work for the New York Times, until I quit about a month ago. My parents had always said me and my brother were terrible liars, but I'd been saying this one so often nowadays that it almost sounded truthful.
Burt crossed his arms over his chest. "May I ask what the article is?"
I looked down at my feet. "It's an article about your daughter, sir. Natalie Hummel."
When I looked back up, Burt's whole body had stiffened. I hastily came up with another lie, hoping he wouldn't see right through me like glass.
"Sir, I'm aware that it might be hard to talk about Natalie, but I don't remember enough about her from nine years ago that I can write this article without your help. Each member of my writing team has to write a one-page article about a hero of theirs. Mine was always Natalie."
Burt breathed heavily. "How, umm… How did you know Natalie?"
I smiled a little. "We were in high school together."
"I don't remember meeting you."
My eyes widened, flipping through my brain for something else. "Uh, my mom never really let me out of the house after school. She was kind of crazy."
Burt nodded, but didn't seem to be budging. I decided to try some sort of reverse psychology tactic.
"Well, I see that it is a little too hard for you to talk about. I shouldn't have shown up unannounced, it was rude of me. I'll just go."
I turned and was just down the stone steps when I heard Burt's voice calling "Wait, Ms. Harmon!"
I walked back up. "Yes?"
Burt breathed in and out deeply before speaking. "I'll answer whatever questions you have about Natalie."
I smiled a little as he moved aside to let me in. He held out his hands for my jacket and I handed it to him. He hung it on a hook and directed me towards the living room. The house hadn't been rearranged at all. It all seemed to have stayed the same.
I sat on the couch and smoothed my shirt and jeans. I tugged on my ponytail a little bit.
"Uh, may I get you anything, Ms. Harmon?"
"Please, call me Lily," I said, smiling. "And no, thank you."
Burt sat down across from me on the couch. I looked around the old house, spotting a picture of Kurt and Natalie nine years ago. She was smiling and hugging him around the shoulders, and he was kissing her cheek. She was 14 in that picture. Kurt would have been five or six.
Burt cleared his throat. "So, Lily, exactly what do you want to know about Natalie?"
I bit my lip and opened my folder. I had written a ton of questions to ask, some of them not even relating to the topic, but I had the ones for this article written on a separate sheet. I pulled it out, as well as a pen and notepad. I flipped to a clean page, and read the first question.
"So, Mr. Hummel-"
"Please, call me Burt."
I froze. Were we really getting on a first name basis here?
"Okay… Burt, what was Natalie like before she died?"
Burt swallowed, shutting his eyes and tilting his head towards his knees before he spoke. "She was a really great kid. Always got good grades in school, got along with everyone she met. She had a boyfriend named Connor who was crazy about her. She was an amazing daughter and a great sister to her little brother, Kurt. He was her favorite person in the whole world. There was nothing she wouldn't have done for him…"
Burt started to let a few tears fall from his eyes as I moved the pen across the paper. Nothing was written down. I already knew about everything he was saying, especially when it came to Kurt.
"When her mother died, though, she changed a little. She became a shell. Her emotions about what had happened were trapped in her heart with no way of escaping. She never even cried." Burt sighed, and continued. "She tried her best to keep the family together. She made dinner every night, she tried to make us laugh even though she was hollow inside and couldn't laugh herself. She would comfort Kurt every time he had a nightmare. And even though she was helping us to heal, nobody was helping her to. That's why when I first heard about her death, I thought it was a suicide attempt."
Burt stopped talking again as more tears slipped out. I had never seen him so emotional like this. I hastily moved on to the next question, which would be even more painful for him to relive.
"Do you remember how she died?"
Burt stared at me with wide eyes. "She was in a car accident. Her car ran out of gas in the middle of the highway, and a gas truck was coming up right behind her. Before she knew it… the truck hit her, and everything exploded. The man driving the truck died too." He chuckled sadly. "She would have found it a little ironic. Her car was out of gas, and she got hit by a gas truck."
I swallowed, moving on to the third and last question that might just change everything.
"Burt… did they ever find any part of her, or did she get completely cremated in the explosion?"
I knew it was a tough question, but if I was going to tell him the real reason I came down here to see him and ask him all these things, I was going to need an answer.
Burt gaped at me. "Why do you need to know that?"
"It's an in-depth article, Burt. I want to make sure I get my facts completely straight."
Burt nodded and answered. "They didn't find her body. It had turned to ash in the explosion. They couldn't even find a bone. They did find her tooth though." He closed his eyes again, as though trying to picture it. "It was a molar, they said. Most likely from her top right jaw, third tooth from the canine."
I sighed and set down the empty notepad, keeping my eyes to the floor. He looked up, cocking one head to the side. I spoke slowly.
"You mean… like this?"
I lifted my head and pulled back my top lip, exposing the empty space where my missing molar should have been. He gasped, and I lowered my lip. I pulled off my glasses and shook out my ponytail, looking back up at him. The sudden dawn of realization hit him so hard he almost fell off the couch.
"Hi, Dad," I whispered, biting my lip again.
Dad's eyes were wide, and his mouth in a giant "o". He looked more shocked than the time Kurt had asked him for a Ariel costume for Halloween when he was four. "Na…Natalie?" he stuttered, tears pooling around his eyes.
I started to cry as I nodded, and he immediately jumped up, wrapped his arms around my waist, and hugged me. He kissed my forehead, my hair, my cheeks, my nose, all while I huddled my face closer into his chest and cried harder than I had in years. He was crying, too. I could feel him shudder with every hushed sob.
After what felt like centuries, we pulled back and looked at each other. His large brown eyes looked me over, and he smiled wiping at a tear on his cheek. "You are an exact copy of your mom, you know."
I chuckled. "Yeah, I know."
He smiled, and hugged me again. He pulled back, brushing a piece of my wavy brown hair behind my ear. "I can't believe it's you, Nat. Nine years, and we thought you were dead the whole time."
"Well, I kinda was." I sat back a little and started to tell him about what had happened.
"So, after Mom died, I got really depressed. I never got that way, but because me and mom were so close, I felt terribly alone and scared after the cancer killed her. I couldn't show it though, for fear of making you worry more than you needed to and for fear of making Kurt more upset than he was. I tried to keep the family together, and after a week or two, you both began to heal a little. You were both laughing occasionally again, and Kurt had gone back to school. I however, was still in my own little box, feeling nothing but numbness.
"I wanted so badly to leave it all behind. Nobody was there to heal me, and I wanted to get away from it all so I could heal on my own. I knew you and Kurt would never accept me just leaving you, especially since I was only 16, had only just gotten my license, and was still in school. So, I knew the only way to do it was to make sure that you both knew I wouldn't come back. So… I faked my own death.
"Now, I know that it was horrible, and I was ready to kill myself for all the pain I had caused you both. Me dying so soon after Mom would have destroyed you, and I knew it. I also knew that if I hadn't done it, and had run away with you knowing I was still alive, you would have followed me.
"So, after I left, I hitchhiked until a really nice guy named Todd picked me up. I told him my name was Sally Ryan. I knew that if I used Mom's name, it would have been harder for anyone to track me down, especially since mom was dead. He was a really great guy, and we ended up finding out our lives together for a good five years. Then he met his partner, and I decided to go out on my own. I actually live with him and his husband Maury right now on the edge of town. I'm only staying with him until I get a more permanent residence, hopefully somewhere close by."
I stopped to let my father take all of what I'd said in, and finally, he nodded. "I can understand why you would have left. I was too busy trying to keep myself together to realize that my own daughter was dying on the inside. I'm so sorry, baby girl. Really, I am. But why have you decided to come back?"
I smiled. "I saw an article about Kurt's glee club in the newspaper. I still can't believe they made it to Nationals! Anyway, I saw his name in one of the groups that, sadly, didn't win. But just seeing his name made me remember it was his birthday tomorrow. I realized how much of his life I had missed in nine years. I had been wanting to come back for a while, but this just gave me more of a reason." I paused, looking around the room. "Is he… is he home?"
"Yeah, he got home earlier today. He has no school tomorrow, and he drank too much coffee on the plane, so he should still be awake. Do you… do you wanna see him?"
I shuddered a little from excitement, then nodded. "Wait, what time is it?"
"Around midnight, I think."
"Okay. Do you think I should see him now, or surprise him tomorrow when he wakes up?"
"I think you should tell him now. I forgot to mention that he's been missing you a lot more than usual lately. I think it might be because he's grown a lot recently, and you and your mom weren't here to see it." Dad sniffled. "I wish she could come back, too, you know?"
I kissed his head and hugged him. "I know."
Dad wiped his eyes one more time and smiled. "Well, let's go."
I nodded, mentally preparing myself for this. I hadn't seen Kurt in years. I didn't know what to expect. I wondered if I would walk into his room and still see the little boy with the round face and the huge blue-green eyes.
We didn't go upstairs. Instead, Dad directed me words the basement door, and put a finger to his lips as he opened it. Next to it, there was a beautiful picture of my mom. I paused to look at it.
The picture was taken before she caught the cancer, maybe 1999 or 2000. Sally had her long brown hair tied back with a green ribbon, and her glasz eyes looked happy and peaceful. A serene smile graced her face and made her look prettier than any woman had a right to be. Sally was always beautiful and graceful. I had inherited my mother's face, but I had also inherited my father's clumsiness and shy manner. I guess Kurt had inherited her grace, then.
I followed Dad slowly halfway down the stairs, then he turned to me. In a whisper, he said "Stay here," then went the rest of the way down.
"Hey, bud," I heard him say as he entered the basement. Kurt had moved down here? I wonder who's in his old room, then… I wonder who's in MY old room.
"Hi, Dad."
Kurt voice. Just hearing made me want to cry. He had an abnormally high voice for a kid his age, but it's really nice. He sounded so different. I wanted to run down the rest of the stars and grab him in a hug, but I knew I couldn't do that.
"So, it's your birthday now. It's officially midnight on the 27th. How do you feel?"
I heard Kurt sigh. "No older, really."
You're older to me, little bro.
"Uhh, Kurt," Dad began. I heard him swallow. "I have a question for you."
"Shoot, Dad."
"Uhh… If you could have anything for your birthday, what would it be?"
Kurt chuckled. "Seems a little late to be asking, don't you think?"
"Not really. Well? What would it be?"
I heard the soft thud of a book close, and Kurt sighed. "I don't know… Maybe… but that's impossible."
"No, what is it?"
Kurt's voice started to choke up as he held back tears. "I just wish… that I could have one more day with Natalie, you know? Just one, so I could show her how my life has changed. I could introduce her to the New Directions and Blaine…"
Blaine? Who was this?
"I just want to be with her one more time. But I know that it's impossible."
At this, I could no longer handle it. I walked the rest of the way down the stairs, looking at my feet the whole way.
I chuckled a little as I replied. "I guess you better find a new definition for the word impossible then, Kurtie." I used the old pet name I had given him. I was the only one who was ever allowed to call him that. Maybe it would trigger something in him.
I looked up finally, and felt my mouth open and close. Kurt was… wow. He was definitely older. His eyes had become a little smaller as his face had grown, but they were wide now, and no less beautiful. His hair fell into it's natural bangs on his pale forehead and his mouth formed a huge circle as he took me in. I felt as though we could have been twins.
Kurt looked to Dad, who nodded. Kurt turned back to me, and stood up quickly, crossing over to where I was in three strides. Good Lord, he was tall.
Tears had begun to make his eyes look like pools of water. He looked as though he couldn't speak.
"Happy Birthday, Kurtie," I whispered, and his face crumpled.
"Natalie!" he cried, and I caught him before he could collapse to the ground in tears. We stayed like that, holding each other, for a very long time. I smoothed his soft hair, and he continued to cry into my shoulder.
After some time, he looked at me again, this time taking my face between his hands and looking me over. He smiled as he did so. "It's really you…" he breathed.
"Yeah," I replied. "It's really me."
He smiled hugely, tears still streaming down his face, and he picked me up around the waist and swung me in a circle. I laughed at him. My little brother wasn't so little anymore, now that I realized I used to do the same thing to him when he was a kid.
He put me back down as Dad came over and tapped us both on the shoulder. "Shh, guys! Do you plan on waking Finn and Carole?"
I cocked my eyebrow. "Who?"
"Finn and Carole Hudson. Dad's new wife and my… our new stepbrother." Kurt winked.
I gaped. Dad remarried! And I thought he'd never get over Mom.
Dad waved a hand in front of my face. "Nattie? Sweetie? Are you mad at me about this?"
I shook my head immediately, finally finding my voice. "NO! No, Dad, I'm so happy for you, it's just… I never thought you'd get over Mom. And now I feel even worse because I wasn't here… And I've missed so much, and-"
I was cut off by the sound of footsteps down the stairs, and I looked up. A tall, gangly boy with mussed brown hair and a bat in his hands stood in the middle of the stairway, eyes wide. This must be Finn.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking from Kurt to Dad to me to Kurt, then back to me. "Why is there a woman version of Kurt?"
I giggled, and Dad walked over towards him, hands held up in the universal "I come in peace" sign. "Finn, do you remember the time I was telling you and your mother about my old daughter Natalie?"
Finn nodded.
"Well… this is her." Dad pointed at me, and I waved a little. Kurt looked at Finn expectantly, waiting for him to say something.
"So…" Finn began, finishing the walk down the stairs. "She isn't dead?"
I shook my head. "Nope. Completely 100% alive. Although, I am really sleepy. I'm gonna have to go back soon."
Kurt, eyes wide, turned to me. "No! Nattie, you can't! You just got here, and I thought you were dead for nine years, and now you're not, and it's my birthday, and…" He got down on his knees and clasped his hands in prayer. "Pleasepleasepleaseplease?"
I sighed. I still couldn't say no to my brother, even after nine years. "Ugh, fine."
"Yay!" Kurt jumped up immediately and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist. Dad chuckled. Finn was still staring at me strangely.
"Finn, is something wrong?" I asked politely.
He looked me over one more time, then looked Kurt over, then turned to Dad. "Are you sure this isn't just a clone someone made of Kurt with a switched gender?"
I laughed. "No, Finn. I'm Natalie. I have my own name and personality. And right now… my personality is tired and wants sleep…" I yawned loudly, and Dad placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Well, where do you want to sleep?" he asked. I would have said the couch had Kurt not jumped right in.
"She can sleep with me!"
I turned to my baby brother with a smile, then shrugged at Dad. He kissed me on the forehead. "Goodnight, honey. Tomorrow, we'll talk some more, and I'll introduce you to Carole. In the meantime…" He turned to Kurt with a serious look on his face. "Kurt, I know you're excited that Natalie is back with us again, and I'm sure there is a lot that the two of you have to catch up on, but I want you to let her sleep. She deserves it."
Kurt nodded eagerly. "Goodnight, buddy," Dad said, ruffling Kurt's already bed-styled hair. He took Finn by the arm and led him back up the stairs.
I turned to Kurt. "Anything you got that I can sleep in?"
He smiled, and frolicked over to his bureau. I followed suit, and he pulled out an old nightdress. It was white, with lace sleeves and piping. There were ribbons of blue-green weaved into it, and it had started to yellow from age.
It was mine from nine year ago.
"Kurtie…" I whispered, taking it from him. "You've kept it all these years?"
He shrugged. "You're my sister, Nattie. After you died, I kept a lot of your stuff. Needed something to remember you by."
I smiled, tearing up a little, and hugged him tightly. It was nine years, and I was finally home.
A/N: Reviews are a godsend. Also, again, if you want more for this, let me know and I'll continue it. And I know that the way Natalie as welcomed back probably wasn't as emotional as it should have been, but, ya'know… It's almost midnight and my imagination is dwindling...