Thank you so much to stupidamericanidioms91, livvylovesyou, and OhMyGlee55 for reviewing the last chapter! In this one, we're going to find out who's after Puck and why. FYI, Det. Sai is upset when she realizes her address is a payphone because you don't really leave anything behind when you use it.

Disclaimer: I don't own "All the Pretty Faces" by The Killers. And yes, every song used as a title is going to be by The Killers.

Chapter III: All the Pretty Faces

Emily, Pearl, Nana, and Det. Sai sat tensely next to the phone. When it started to ring, the women jumped in unison. With barely any hesitation, Pearl picked up and imitated Sarah Puckerman's voice perfectly. A look of distate appeared on her face at the response she got. Emily and Det. Sai worked together to track the call.

"Got it!" Det. Sai cheered. "I have an address…oh, crap, it's a payphone just across the street from McKinley High School."

Nana, Emily, and Pearl turned to each other with identical, panicked looks before bursting out of the door and into Pearl's car.

"Watch what, Puck?" Artie asked.

"They saw me and they said that they were going to show me what happens to people like me," Puck muttered into his knees. "There was this stranger who was way smaller—I don't know what he was in for—who saw them coming for him and darted behind me. Two of the guys who helped me rob the bank grabbed me and held me down. One of the other two held him down while the last guy," here Puck's voice broke again, and Kurt rubbed his back. Blaine was frozen, knowing all too well what Puck was going to say.

"The last guy raped him," Blaine said, expression indecipherable.

Puck nodded miserably, and Blaine scoffed. "How could you just lie there and watch?" he demanded.

Puck seemed to curl in on himself and Artie wheeled himself over to Puck and extended his hand. Puck took it reluctantly and the two walked away, leaving Kurt glaring at Blaine.

"How could you say that?" Kurt was furious. "He blames himself enough already; you don't need to add to it!"

"What happened to the other man was way worse than anything that happened to Puck," Blaine shook in quiet anger. "He was just caught in the crossfire of Puck's hell."

"Your mother was the one who told me that every hell comes with a heaven. You don't always get a chance to defend someone else," Kurt said regretfully. "I really wanted to, Blaine. I love you. This guy was a stranger to Puck. Could you have done that?"

Blaine looked down, tears filling his eyes. "I have to go apologize," he said after wiping his eyes.

Kurt nodded, glad his boyfriend understood. "Come on, I know where they're going," he said, linking their arms together. They walked together to the choir room, where Artie and Puck were both playing the guitar. Artie harmonized Puck's heartfelt song.

All the different places, ringing out like a shotgun in my head.
All the pretty faces, ringing out well I just can't go to bed.
Well how did it happen? I spent two long years in a strange, strange land.
Well how did it happen? I'd do anything to be your man.
I'd do anything to be your man.
You're not going anywhere without me.
These trials don't prepare the air of love.
You're not telling anyone about me.
And you shake and you bleed while I sing my song.
I don't feel like touching you. I don't feel like touching you.
I don't feel like touching you. I don't feel like touching you.

Blaine stepped into the room and Puck froze. He relaxed slightly when Blaine raised both hands over his head. "I don't mean any harm," Blaine said gently. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

Puck shrugged as if Blaine's apology didn't affect him in the least, but his eyes were misty. "Sure, dude, like, whatever."

If there were any more filler words in that sentence, Blaine was sure Puck would be impossible to understand.

"Guys," Artie wheeled himself over. "There's more to this story."

"How can there be more?" Blaine grasped Kurt's hand harder.

Artie looked up at Puck, who swallowed and looked a little green. "The guy they raped, he killed his parents and his younger sister, but his parents abused him, and when the judge heard what happened to him in the holding cell, he got sentenced to a psychiatric facility instead of prison, so he's out."

It was as if the temperature suddenly dipped a full twenty degrees. Blaine shivered and Kurt drew his scarf a little tighter. "So, he's after you?" Kurt's voice was shaking as hard as his body.

Puck nodded shamefully. "He kept calling my house, saying obscene things about how he wanted to make me pay, so I ran away. I tried to get your mom to kill me, but she talked me out of it," he said. "She made me feel hopeful," he admitted.

Blaine smiled with understanding. "Yeah, she does that," he said, voice soft and sad. "Puck, you have to tell somebody, okay?"

Puck withdrew and shook his head. "You were right though; it was my fault. I should've protected that guy. He was smaller. He even tried to get me to help him!"

"Against four other guys, Puck?" Blaine argued. "You had no chance." Puck continued to refuse to look at anyone, and Blaine sighed. "Okay, what if I get my mother to talk to this guy?" he asked. "I mean, he sounds like he needs some hope."

Puck finally relented and nodded. Just then, the choir door opened and Nana and Pearl walked in.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Nana exclaimed as she ran forward to hug her son. "I was so worried, Noah, so worried!"

"Why?" Blaine asked, puzzled and a little worried. "What's wrong?"

Pearl bit her lip. "We tracked the caller to a pay phone across the street from here. Det. Sai is dusting the phone for prints right now, and Emily's trying to find Lauren."

Puck dashed out of the room in search of his girlfriend.

Artie and Kurt were left behind staring at each other in horror. There was nothing about this that could possibly be good

"Nothing?" Emily asked Det. Sai.

Det. Sai shook her head. "The killer wore gloves this time, which sucks because he didn't wear gloves in the original murder."

Emily nodded, absorbing the information. "Where was the original murder?" she asked.

"Um, somewhere in Indiana, I think. All I know is that he killed his family in Indiana, but they were residents of Lima Heights Adjacent."

"So Indiana police would have handled the initial investigation?" Emily asked, mind buzzing with potential ideas.

"I guess so," Det. Sai sighed, leaning against the phone booth. "I was hoping for more of an advantage."

"I think I just got one," Emily said, pulling out her phone. "Pearl, you won't believe where the original crime took place."

"A guy came up for me asking for change for a payphone. I told him that if I could practice my wrestling moves on him, he could do whatever he wanted with my change," Lauren rolled her eyes.

Puck raised an eyebrow. "And that's all?" he asked sarcastically.

Lauren glared, but her glare dissipated quickly. "He looked like my dad," she admitted, and Puck softened.

"I'm sorry," he offered. "But look, there are people after me, and that means we can't be too careful until he's caught."

"You guys can be a lot less careful in my house," Emily said, walking with her gun prominent on her hip. "Puck, you're going to Pearl's house as soon as school lets out, do you understand?"

Puck nodded numbly. All these people, so worried for him and so ready to protect him, it didn't feel right.

"Who?" asked Agent Gadhavi.

"Art Earl," Pearl repeated the name.

"Earl?" Agent Souveloy looked up. "I worked that case. We hadn't had a double homicide in years. And then, of course, it's followed up by the reappearance of the Buttonwillow Butcher," she scoffed. "Well, I'll see to it that Lima gets all information about his crimes," she said.

"Thank you," Emily said gratefully. "We're all concerned. He tends to kill people he feels have wronged him in very brutal ways. How did he kill his parents?"

"Pick-axe to the brain. Very effective, very bloody, very full of rage," Agent Souveloy shook her head, trying to dispel the memories of the bloody room. "The level of overkill is something I've never seen before."

"And what about his sister? Cathy Earl?"

"She was poisoned. It would have been a much slower death, but much gentler," Agent Souveloy reread her report. "I think he put rat poison in her orange juice."

Nana made a mental note to throw out all her family's oranges.

"That's great, fruits suck," Puck said angrily, "but what about us? How does all this help us?"

"It tells us that Earl is a revenge killer," Emily said. "He's easily provoked to anger and blames everyone else for his mistakes. In this case, he blames Puck for his rape."

"He blames me because it was my fault," Puck agonized. He turned to Pearl and slapped her. "You should have just let me kill myself!"

"Don't you dare lay a hand on my mother!" Blaine shouted, coming between them and pushing Puck to the ground. Puck got right back up and looked ready for a fight, but Emily and Lauren wrestled Puck to the ground together while Pearl grabbed Blaine's midriff and moved him away from the fight and into his room. When she got back into her living room, Puck was sitting more or less calmly on the Rushes' sofa, Lauren and Emily to his right, the older woman still holding on to his arm to prevent him from flying into another violent rage.

"Noah, I understand that you're upset. Your whole life has been uprooted, by a man trying to kill you. You blame yourself. He blames you. I can't really change any of that. Now, I can let you live here, with Sarah and your grandmother. I can keep your family safe. But you have to stop lashing out at me, and you most certainly are NEVER allowed to lay a hand on Blaine. Do you understand?"

Puck nodded, and Pearl nodded for Emily to let go of the boy when she saw the guilt in his eyes. She sat to his left and smiled. "You are not to blame here, Noah. Not for any of this," she said, grabbing a box of tissues for him.

For the first time in a long while, Noah Puckerman cried without fear of being judged for being weak.

"So, what can we expect from him?" Nana crossed her arms. Sarah was asleep in Pearl's bed (the young mother had stolen Kurt's never-used sleeping bag and taken the floor) and Puck was in the spare bedroom. Nana was going to live with the Prentiss family, but Emily and Lauren were having difficulty getting her out the door.

Emily and Det. Sai looked at each other and sighed. Nana's determination was impossible to break. Finally, Emily relented.

"He's probably going to find your address," Det. Sai admitted. "He's already found your son's school, and from there, it's just a matter of getting into the school's records."

"Once he does find your address, he's going to stake out your house," Emily said, picturing a van in front of the Puckerman house at night. "He'll eventually notice that no one is home, and that's when we should expect him to show up at McKinley and follow Noah home." Seeing Nana's face, Emily was quick to add, "But Pearl is one of the BAU's best agents. Not to mention that Det. Adla Bef has promised to stake out this house." She smiled reassuringly. "Your grandchildren will be fine."

But she was wrong. Oh, so wrong.

Next time, Pearl and Blaine discuss having Puck in their house, and two familiar people from Indiana are going to show up to kick some murderer ass!

"Earl" means "warrior," and Cathy and Art together sound kind of like "catharthis," which is what Art delivers. Yeah, I'm lame like that.