A/N: This was a prompt from the glee_angst_meme. It's unbeta-ed, really unorganized, and vaguely fills the prompt but I'm posting it anyway.
The prompt was:
Artie wasn't actually in a car accident when he was 8. His abusive mother had kicked him down the stairs, injuring him permanently. He lived in foster care for awhile, before the Abrams family adopted him. But now his mother is back, and she'll stop at nothing to take her son away from them.
Cue protective!Gleeks, and BAMF Papa/MamaBear!adults.
You probably shouldn't have lied to Tina. Especially since you blew up at her after the whole stutter debacle. It was unfair to her, but you just couldn't, - you were physically incapable of telling her the truth. You haven't been able to tell anyone the truth. The idea makes you sick to your stomach, so you lied. You lied to Tina, because as cliche as it sounds, it really was like saying it would make it real, and you're content with living in your little fantasy world for as long as you can.
Besides, you're already in the wheelchair, they pity you enough.
You can almost believe it, the fantasy. It was so long ago. The memory is hazy, every memory is hazy, and you haven't really thought about it in a long time. Only the brief flicker of a half thought when Tina asked you all those months ago.
The Abrams are your family. They will always be your family. You've lived with them, grown with them, you trust them, love them, and they love you too. You're Artie Abrams, and you will always be Artie Abrams, but a long time ago you were someone else.
Someone you're afraid to think about.
[ ]
You never, never in a million years, thought this would happen to you. You thought you could pretend it never happened, create a new life for you. You never thought it'd all crash down right on top of you. Not like this.
She's there, standing, right at the door in the choir room. She's the only thing you can remember clearly from your youth.
She's your mother, only she's not your mother, because you have a mother, a mother with the last name Abrams.
Her name is Anna, Anna Smokes, and your name used to Arthur, Arthur Smokes, and you think that Smokes is a really bad last name for the both of you because neither of you smoke.
She drinks though, she used to drink a lot. You remember that.
So there Anna stands, right at the door and she's in tears and you're in shock. So much shock that you can't even move, that you don't notice the 13 confused faces staring at you because they've seen your mother. Your actual mother. The one with the last name Abrams.
Because that woman at the door...she's not your mother. She'll never be your mother.
She runs to you, kneels right in front of you and takes your face in her hands.
"My boy," She cries, "My boy, you're so grown up."
Yeah, you've grown up, eight years does that to a person, but you don't say that to her. You don't know what to say to her. So you just stare, and she pulls you into a hug you don't reciprocate.
"Oh god, I've missed you, I've missed you so much."
You finally bring yourself to respond to her, kind of, because you can only manage to croak out a small, barely audible.
"Mom"
[ ]
You don't know how it happened, but suddenly you're sitting opposite her in an ice cream parlor. The entire day is all blurry now and you honest to god don't remember leaving the choir room after (or maybe in the middle?) of practice.
A part of you thinks you're still in shock.
That part of you is probably right.
She orders for you. Mint Chocolate Chip, your favorite, and you realized that she remembered.
Well isn't that something?
She orders a Rocky Road and you struggle to remember whether or not that's her favorite.
You never ask.
It's very very awkward because neither of you know what to say and she's still looking at you like she can't believe her eyes. Like you'll just vanish into thin air the second she looks away.
You kind of wished you did.
Finally she takes in a deep breath and says, "So, how've you been?"
She sounds nervous.
You don't blame her.
You awkwardly shuffle in your chair. Her gaze drops for half a second on it, but you ignore it.
"I've been okay." You answer stiffly.
"Oh." She says, and she digs her spoon into her treat again, looking downward towards it, avoiding your gaze.
You just realized you haven't even touched your desert.
Finally, finally, she reels her body back, and gets to her point.
"Look Arthur, we need to talk about what happened."
You take in a sharp breath because you really don't want to talk about it. You just want this thing to be over with, you just want the woman sitting in front of you to go away, you just want to go home.
You push yourself back, shake your head, and mumble an excuse to leave.
She doesn't follow, and for that you are grateful.
[ ]
You crash on your bed. Completely crash with your door locked. You don't want anyone to bother you. You just want this all to go away. You pull your blinds down, cover your head with your pillow and you just sleep.
[ ]
You wake up maybe two hours later, you're not really sure though because you weren't really paying attention to the time when you got home. You pull your blinds up to see that it's dark outside, but from the looks of it the sun had just set.
You're groggy, there's a bitter taste in your mouth, and you almost forget what had happened today. Almost but not quite.
You pull your chair closer to you and dig through the backpack that hangs on the handles. You end up grabbing your phone, and you notice that you have ten text messages, six from Kurt, and four from Mercedes. You don't bother reading them, scrolling through to see if there's anything else you missed.
Tina's called you five times and left two voicemails.
You don't even think about it as you hit the call back button.
She sounds so relieved when you call her, she's clearly worried, but she manages to name drop Kurt and Mercedes in the conversation too. Apparently they're just as worried, but you think they might just be curious.
She tells you she's concerned, confused, and curious - in that order, and wants to know what the hell happened.
You hesitate for half a second before you end up telling her everything.
She shows up at your bedroom door ten minutes into the call and you've never been more thankful to see her.
When your done it's several hours later and you feel a little lighter and a lot tired, despite your crazy nap.
She tells you you're brave, although you don't think you did anything to merit it, gives you a squeeze and tells you to go to sleep.
[ ]
School's normal. Nothing out of the ordinary happens, not even when Mercedes and Kurt chat with you before second period because they don't bring it up, and you suspect it to be Tina's doing.
You go to your classes, take a test, and go to lunch.
You wonder if yesterday actually happened or if you dreamed it.
And then of course, of course, she shows up in the middle of Spanish, with Ms. Pillsbury in tow.
You almost refuse to go with them, but you don't want to cause a scene. So you just roll yourself out the door.
You're pretty sure you saw Mercedes eyeing you curiously.
Miss Pillsbury's office is the stupidest guidance councilor office you've ever seen. It has no blinds. Don't people talk in private in here? How is it private if everyone can see you on the other side of the door?
You just want to sink into your chair.
Anna thought it'd be a good idea to involve your guidance councilor. Why? You honestly have no idea. Maybe it's because this way you can't wheel out the door like you did yesterday.
[ ]
You get out in time for glee, and this time Mercedes and Kurt don't hesitate to ask you what happened.
The rest of the glee club perk up in curiosity, and ask their fair share of questions too, and you just let out a defeated sigh.
Tina, quiet feisty little Tina, tells them all to back off.
You aren't ready for this yet.
You don't see her again during the weekend.
[ ]
Your parents know something is up, and you kind of want to tell them but you kind of don't.
[ ]
Monday flies by easily, she doesn't show up, and you end up telling Kurt and Mercedes, but you swear them to secrecy and they recognize that it kind of is a really big deal so they don't say anything to anyone.
There's some tears from both of them, and a really pissed off Mercedes, but you feel even lighter than you did when you told Tina. All you're closest friends know now and that's wonderful.
[ ]
Nothing happens on Tuesday, but you're starting to get a little anxious.
[ ]
Glee. That's where she does it. Of course that's where she does it. She's always been the dramatic type. That's why she showed up in glee the first time, your classroom the second, and now she's bursting through your door, your parents yelling at her from behind.
You don't want your friends to find out this way, so you try to wheel out of the room in hopes that they'll follow.
Miss Pillsbury comes in right as you were about to leave, blocking your exit, and she looks so scared, wide eyed like she has no idea how to handle this.
Your mom is crying, your dad is freaking out, Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt all stare daggers at Anna and when did your life get so dramatic?
"He's my son!" Anna shouts.
And then your dad complete blows up. Raising his voice to a level you've never heard.
"HE'S NOT YOUR SON!"
You flinch and watch as everyone else does too.
"He's our son! You lost the right to call him that a long time ago."
And then you're thinking, oh no, they're going to end up telling everyone, which is the last thing you want to do.
You look desperately at Mr. Schuester and Miss Pillsbury. Please make them stop.
They stare awestruck by the sight in front of them. Everyone's staring at them, opened mouthed and shocked.
It's kind of like they can't help but watch.
"I gave birth to him!" Anna defends.
Your father's volume drops three levels, but now it's more scary than it was before. Because he sounds so venomous as he spits out his words.
"You may have given birth to him but you have never been his mother."
They glare at each other, and you finally get the guts to wheel right in between the both of them and push them away.
"Please, just leave." You say, your voice hoarse, even though you weren't the one shouting.
Your mother puts a hand on your shoulder, and you flinch away from her touch.
"All of you, just go."
They comply.
Miss Pillsbury comes up to you next and asks if you want to talk about it.
You shake your head no, and stare hard at the floor.
No one says anything for a while.
It's Puck who breaks the silence.
"What the fuck was that?"
[ ]
When you're done explaining, with the help of Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt, everyone is silent.
Finn's eyes are downcast as he wrangles his hands together, Rachel looks like she wants to say something, but a sharp look from Mercedes stops her, Mike crosses his arms, Puck clenches his fist, Quinn's crying, Santana looks deep in thought, and even Brittany seems to understand the seriousness of the situation.
Puck breaks the silence again. "Who the fuck throws a kid down the stairs?"
It sends a shiver down your spine, because it's the first time you've heard someone put it like that. Because the way he said it made it feel so real.
"No seriously, what kind of person would do that?" And you have no idea why Puck was reacting that way, why he cares so much, but then you remember his protectiveness of Rachel that one time with the eggs and you think maybe it has something to do with that.
Or maybe it was something else.
You'll never know.
"What's she doing here?" Finn asks, a lot softer, he seems sad as opposed to mad, and you're not sure what you like better.
"She wants me to come live with her." You answer.
That starts an uproar, Rachel stands up hysterically talking a mile a minute about how you can't do that with big words you don't bother listening to, Puck kicks a chair, just like Finn did all those months ago, Finn looks like he wants to do the same and everyone else reacts as well but you close your eyes to block them out.
Everyone's pitying you and that sucks. You don't want their pity.
You hear Mr. Schue's voice, and you can tell it's strained, but he manages to calm everyone down.
When you open your eyes again, you realize that it's not pity you're seeing.
It's love.
It's the same love you saw in your mom's tears, and your dad's furious expression.
Despite everything that happened today, you smile.
[ ]
You end up in Tina's house, because the last thing you want to do is go home. Mercedes, Kurt, and surprisingly Rachel, are there too.
It's silent, which is weird, because you don't think you've ever heard this group of people so quiet, but you appreciate it. They're there with you, supporting you, letting you know that they're with you, but they aren't pushing you.
[ ]
The next time she comes in the picture, you're the one who initiates it.
You meet up with her at the ice cream parlor, order a Rocky Road for her, and sit with your hands folded in your lap.
She greets you with a "I'm so sorry about the other day Arthur, I didn't mean for that to happen."
"Artie," you answer, "My name is Artie"
She frowns for a second before nodding. "Artie" And her frown shifts into a small little smile.
You talk to her, civilly, and you feel the support of your friends in your heart, and you know that you're strong enough to do it.
You've forgiven her, forgiven her for her drunken mistake. Forgiven her for putting you in the chair after she pushed you down the stairs, forgiven her for abusing you. You've forgiven her.
[ ]
You're in glee, singing and dancing along, with your friends and Mr. Schue. You should all be working on your set lists and choreography but none of you really want to. Instead you're basically having a party, letting loose and enjoying your time together.
You're all just jamming, and it's fun.
And none of it's done and over yet, there's still a lot of conversations to be had, you have no idea what's going to happen with the Anna situation. It's all just a confusing jumbled mess.
But you don't care.
Not right now at least, not when your jamming with your glee family.
Family,
That's what they were, and while everything else in your world is uncertain right now, that's one thing you know will always be true.