Note: Like hell we're done.
As always, I don't own Glee, I don't own any copyrighted music or lyrics, and I own nothing. NOTHING! NO SUING. I am making no money off of this! I'm a babysitter, not a copyright-violater.
Just so you all know, you can find me on Twitter. My username there is droiturelereve. Warning: Don't follow me if you're not willing to have your feed spammed by me being an idiot. Occasionally I will post snippets from fanfics, songs I might be using, and bits from my blog. But mostly it's just Glee quotes and talking about my job. Though another warning…. I swear a lot. Sorry.
YES I GET IT. I've been getting emails complaining about how heavily I alter song lyrics. NO, I am NOT doing it to get around copyright laws. I am doing it to fit the character and situation the song is being sung from. Like in Chapter One where I changed the lines from "Suddenly, Seymour", to "Suddenly, You're There". No one in that situation was named Seymour, so why would I keep the line the same? The lyrics got more heavily altered as the chapters went on, but the song itself is still the same. JUST GO WITH IT PEOPLE, I AM THE AUTHOR AND THEREFORE I AM GOD HERE.
Songs Used in this Chapter
Slipping—Neil Patrick Harris—Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog soundtrack (heavily altered lyrics)
Freak Out – Avril Lavigne—Under My Skin (beginning line altered slightly)
Chapter Four: Slipping
The phone rang at the Schuester residence on a lazy Saturday morning, and Belle shuffled out of her room to answer it, more than a little annoyed at the rude wake-up call. She felt a little twinge of irritation as she noticed that Daddy apparently had the magical voodoo ability to sleep through a ringing phone.
"Mmph… Hello? Schuester residence, Annabella speaking. May I help you?"
"Hello, sweetie. It's Ms Dubois, do you remember me?"
"Uh-huh… sorry, I just woke up. What's up?"
"I was wondering if I could speak to your uncle for a bit."
"Uh, sure, hold on…" Belle looked to the couch, where Will lay sleeping since he gave up his bed to Belle. She jabbed him in the ribs with the phone hard, causing him to wake with a start.
"Ahhh! Owww! Mmmmppphhh… what? Too early!" Will complained, dragging the blanket up over his head.
"It's the child services lady on the phone. She needs to talk to you."
"Christ and a half… gimme the phone…" Will dragged himself into a sitting position. "Hullo?"
"William Schuester?"
"Speaking."
"Mister Schuester, there seems to be a problem coming from the legal aspect of things."
"One-syllable words, please. I literally just woke up." Will said thickly, eyes still closed and mush-mouthed with sleep. He yawned.
"O…kay then. Um… It seems Annabella's mother is suing you for her custody."
THAT woke Will up. "WHAT? How the hell does she plan to win that case? She's out of her mind!"
"She's planning to testify that because you have not had contact with Annabella for the past fifteen years, you can't be fit to take care of her properly."
"She's out of her goddamn mind! I'm her brother! Christ, whatever happened to blood being thicker than water?" Will snapped.
"Blood may be thicker than water, sir, but then again, so is peanut butter. It's my opinion that your sister merely wants her daughter to continue bringing in money for her."
"She's not getting my little girl! Bullshit, she's getting her." Will got up and threw on a shirt hastily, reaching around to try and find a clean pair of pants. He pressed the phone to his chest and looked at Belle. "Honey, get dressed and come on. We have to go down to Miss Dubois' office. Your mother is trying to sue me for custody."
"What? Why? What does she think she's trying to accomplish?"
"I have no idea, but she's not going to win. Not as long as I'm still breathing."
"Damn skippy. I'm not going back there."
"You're not going to. Now go get dressed."
Belle nodded and went to get dressed. Will put the phone back to his head. "I want the address of your office, and I want a number I can contact my sister at. It's high time I gave her a piece of my mind for putting Annabella in the state she's in."
Will grabbed a pen and a scrap piece of paper, writing down the address and number as it was told to him. "We'll be there as soon as we can."
"I want to prepare you, Mister Schuester. Your sister is here. That's why I called. She showed up in my office demanding her daughter back."
"Belle!" Will called out as he hung up the phone. "Your mother somehow made her way from Boston to Ohio. She's at Ms Dubois' office."
"Crazy bitch woman! Ooh, I found it! Hold on, Daddy!"
Belle came out of her room wearing the old sun dress that Will had shown to her on her first day.
"Sweetie, do you think you'll feel comfortable wearing that?"
"Mom needs to actually see what she's done to me. So does Ms Dubois." Belle said icily. "They need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will not be going back to that place."
"Only if you're sure. I know how you get around people."
"With your support, I'll be just fine."
Will nodded. "I take it your hatred for Mary overrides your panic around people?"
"What can I say? My flight-or-fight instinct was thrown out the window a long time ago. Let's go. If I can claw just one of Mom's eyes out I'll be satisfied."
"I'd prefer you don't claw anyone's eyes out, thanks."
"What? Your face healed just fine. When I lunge at her, I just won't have two meaty football players holding me back."
Will shrugged. "At this point? Whatever. Let's just go so I can finally give Mary a piece of my mind after 20 years."
Will and Belle stalked into the office of one Helena Dubois, where the severe-looking grey suit of the agent was sharply contrasted by a bleach-blonde, fishnet-clad woman with heavy makeup and a cigarette dangling from her crooked teeth. Before any tempers could flare, Ms Dubois got up and took Belle out of the room, going into a separate room to talk to her.
"Oh, look who it is!" the woman said in a hoarse Boston accent. "Little Billy, all grown up! How you been, little brother? Sorry this little reunion wasn't under better circumstances, eh?"
"You and I have nothing to say to each other, Mary. You've been gone for twenty years, and this is how you spend your time? This is what you do? I thought you wanted to do something with yourself. I thought you wanted to be great!"
"I am great. I'm the best in the business, baby."
"Your business landed your daughter in harm's way."
"What, that little bitch? She never appreciated what I gave up to keep her."
"I don't think you understand what your daughter went through!" Will roared.
"Oooh, you've gotten feisty over the years. I remember when you were just little tiny Billy-buddy. Kept your mouth shut, did your homework, ate your vegetables… you were the suck-up. I was the ambitious one. I wanted to be something more than that. What happened to you? You stay with Ma and Pop? Get married? Have the 2.5 kids and a picket fence? Live the American dream? Lemme guess, you're an accountant or something, right?"
Will had to answer through gritted teeth, lest he let out a string of swear words that would melt a sailor's ears, "I'm a high-school teacher." He growled.
"So what, you teach. Lemme guess. You take kids from broken homes and make them feel like they're worth something, right? Make them feel like they're not all losers? How do you sleep at night knowing you're just setting them up for failure?"
"I take kids who think they have nothing left, and I make them a part of something! I don't make them feel like they're worth something, I make them worth something! I teach show choir. I take kids who have been beaten down and made to feel nothing, and I make them happy! I'm setting them up to succeed!" Will roared, so loudly he hurt his own throat.
"Succeed? Ha! Those kids of yours aren't worth shit, just like I'm not worth shit, you're not worth shit, and that little scrawny slut in the other room isn't worth shit. None of us are worth shit. I would have thought you, of all people, would have figured that out."
"You're wrong. You are wrong, Mary. I am worth something. I'm worth something to myself, and to my kids, and to your daughter. I'm worth everything, and you are worth nothing. You are worth nothing because you don't deserve any worth. You brought a child into this world and then immediately set about making her life hell. You never loved her. You abused her and forced her to give up her body and soul to serve you. When she came to live with me, she was completely and utterly broken. She had panic attacks nearly every day, and she still has nightmares. I've lost count the number of nights I've slept by her just to make her feel safe."
"She's pathetic. She'll get over it."
"No, she won't! She doesn't have that ability! You've beaten it out of her! All she knows is how to live with torture! She doesn't know how to solve problems except through pain! She has a panic attack every time she can't answer a question correctly because she expects to be hurt if she gets it wrong! She's associated 'family' with 'abuse'. I've spent these last ten weeks trying to break that! She's part of my show choir! She can actually get up on stage and sing with the other kids now! I'm giving her a solo at Regionals!"
"And you think it's because you're this great parent, right? You know how her mind works?"
"Damn straight I know how she works! I know how she works better than you do! In ten weeks, I've learned more about her than you have in fifteen years. All you care about is yourself, and I am nothing like you."
"And yet, you also know how the legal system works. I'm her mother, so I'll get my bitch back, and I'll go right back to my old ways."
"Why do you hate her so much?" Will asked desperately.
"That little bitch doesn't get it! She keeps going off to that little school of hers, and she never brings in any money. Money I want. And I get what I want. Dumb little bitch doesn't seem to understand that arrangement."
"No, you don't seem to understand! Your daughter isn't a soulless automaton designed to up your publicity! She's a living, breathing being!"
"Not for long. Or hasn't she told you? Little whore's got maybe a few years left and I intend to use those years to my advantage. She's damaged goods, but if she picks up a few desperate enough johns-"
Will snapped. Everything he'd been taught about respect towards women just went right out the proverbial window as the back of his hand made contact with his sister's face. Before he could stop himself, his hand had wrapped around Mary's wiry throat, choking off her oxygen.
"Annabella is not 'damaged'! Annabella is my child now! I will not allow you to take her away from me!"
Mary dug her thumbnails into Will's hand, causing him to fly back in pain and let go. His eyes were wild with rage.
"She's mine! I gave birth to her! Where were you when I needed help? Where were Ma and Pop when I was pregnant? I do what I do to survive, Billy."
"No! You do what you do because you're a heartless, soulless animal who abandoned her own family to go chase an impossible dream! You're selfish, and you're only focused on making yourself happy. That's why you will not win this case. And when I win, and bring Belle back to Lima, my main focus will be her happiness. To erase the signs of her past."
Mary smirked. "You really haven't changed, you know. Even back then, you always tried to please everybody else. Are you still married to that little blonde cheerleader?"
"No. Terri and I have been divorced for almost a year now. I don't know where she went, and frankly I don't care. I stopped trying to please everybody else and started standing up for myself."
"And yet, here we are."
Will was about to respond when Belle came back into the room. "Miss Dubois has to leave for a while so she told me to just stay in here. I feel awkward."
"Awkward isn't a real emotion, you cheap little fuck." Mary snarled. "God, Ohio's made you stupid."
"Shut the fuck up, Mary. I don't want to hear another word out of you or so help me I will throw you out a fucking window. I'm sick of listening to your voice." Will snapped, grasping Belle's waist and sliding her closer to him. His cell phone rang. "Hello?" He answered snappily.
"Whoa. Mister Schue, are you okay?"
"Fine, Finn. What's up?"
"The other glee kids kind of forced me to call you. They cornered me at Breadstix and told me to ask where Belle has been."
"Belle's been kind of sick lately, Finn. She'll be back next week."
"Okay, cool. We wanted to know because we wanted to get the choreography down for our number at Regionals."
"Right, I forgot about that. Ask them if they'd be willing to stay behind for a few days after school to work on it."
There was a rustling and a muffled set of voices on the other end while Finn relayed the question.
"They all said they can, but Mercedes says she can only stay 'till four and Artie says 'till three. Everyone else is willing to stay as long as they can."
"Alright, awesome. Thanks, Finn. We'll be back Monday with newfound vigor, right?"
"Will do, Mr Schuester! Give Belle our best; we really want to see her again."
Will hung up the phone, slipping it back into his shirt pocket.
"One of your little broken-home kids?"
"My male lead in the show choir." Will replied.
"Oh, lemme guess again. He's one of those skinny little fairy boys who act all pretentious because they're trying to hide."
"He's the captain of the varsity football team."
"Ah, a closet case."
"He's dating my female lead!"
"A cover-up. In my line of business, you learn to spot these things a mile away."
"You need to shut your mouth. You need to shut it right now, or I swear to God there won't be enough left of you to identify when I'm through with you." Will snarled. "I'm here for Belle. And right now, I'm taking her home. To my home. Where she belongs."
"She belongs nowhere. She's a terminal little freak. She belongs in the ground. And she's coming home with me."
Will kept his grip on Belle, his fingers never faltering for a second. Belle held onto him tightly. She felt safe. With Uncle Will, she always felt safe.
Mary reached out a bony hand and grabbed Belle's wrist, trying to drag her away. Belle resisted, screaming. Will got between them and wrenched Mary away, literally throwing her into the back wall, where she landed hard with a loud crack!
Will stepped up and put his foot on his sister's wrist, preventing her from getting back up. "If you ever lay a finger on my daughter ever again, I will not hesitate to make your life just that much shorter."
Will stepped up a bit, his foot firmly on Mary's arm.
"Your daughter? She's mine. You had nothing to do with it."
"Hell hath no fury like poetic justice." Will seethed.
Look at you, sister, I know you won't listen, why even bother? If you try and take her, you know I will break you and give you to the slaughter… Why can't you see what I see? Why can't you see her eyes? Maybe the fee's too pricey for you to realize, but your disguise is slipping…
I think you're slipping…
Now that I'm grown and have a life of my own you're beginning to fear me… But like cavemen fear thunder I still have to wonder… can you even hear me? I'll bring you pain, the kind you can't suffer quietly. So fire up your brain, remind you inside your rioting, society is slipping…
Everything's slipping away, so…
Go ahead! Off the ground! Say it was horrible! Spread the word! Tell a friend, tell them the tale! Hop a plane, back to Boston, your days are over with… Look at you! On the floor! Your ship has set sail!
Then I win! Then I get everything you ever…
I get to save the little girl here in my arms…
Anarchy, that you run! Face it, it's finally my turn… Mary, you have to learn, someday you're going to burn!
Burn! Burn!
I don't understand it, what happened to Mary, the sister, I knew her?
It's gonna be bloody, head up, Billy-buddy, she's not a real Schuester…
You're not my sister!
With his vicious declaration of hate, Will stomped down, and heard a satisfying crack as Mary's left forearm shattered under his foot. Mary screamed, but Will seemed to revel in her pain.
"After all these years, karma has come back to bite you in the ass. You left home without even a goodbye, and for 20 years I thought you were gone completely. Then, your daughter was dropped in my lap. Now, I'm taking your daughter from you, and you won't see her again. Say goodbye, Mary. This is the last you'll ever see of Annabella Maria Schuester."
Will gripped Belle's tiny hand in his own and led the yellow-dressed girl out of the room, leaving Mary on the floor seething. The little brother she thought she knew had changed completely. Mary remembered a time when Will could look at her and smile, 'cause Big Sister was home. Will was so tiny back then. He was little Billy-buddy.
"Daddy? Am I gonna have to go back to Boston?"
Belle asked the innocent question, her voice laden with pain, as she got back into Will's car. Will started the car and screeched out of the parking lot.
"Never. Until the day I die, I'll fight for you. I don't care what kind of lawyer she buys with her dirty whore money. You're my daughter now, and I refuse to give you back to the woman who's killing you even now."
Belle smiled darkly as a song came blaring over the car radio.
She tries to tell me what I shouldn't do, she should know by now I won't listen to her. Walk around with my hands up in the air, 'cause I don't care. 'Cause I'm alright, I'm fine. Just freak out, let it go.
I'm gonna live my life! I can't ever run and hide, I won't compromise, 'cause I'll never know.
I'm gonna close my eyes. I can't watch the time go by, I won't keep it inside, freak out, let it go!
Just freak out, let it go!
You don't always have to do everything right, stand up for yourself and put up a fight! Walk around with your hands up in the air like you don't care! 'Cause I'm alright, I'm fine, just freak out let it go.
I'm gonna live my life! I can't ever run and hide, I won't compromise, 'cause I'll never know!
I'm gonna close my eyes, I can't watch the time go by, I won't keep it inside, freak out, let it go!
On my own… Let it go…
Just let me live my life, I can't run and hide, I won't compromise, 'cause I'll never know…
I'm gonna close my eyes! I can't watch the time go by, I won't keep it inside, freak out let it go!
Gonna freak out and let it go!
Gonna freak out, let it go!
Will smiled a bit. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better." He said.
Belle nodded. "Daddy?"
"Yes, honey?"
"I saw the adoption papers on top of the fridge… are you gonna be my real daddy?"
Will's hands tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. He bit his lip and tried to answer. "Um… I… about that…"
"You don't want me." Belle concluded. "I might as well just go back to Boston. You don't want me."
"No! It's not that I don't want you! I do! I really, truly do. I want you to be my daughter! I want to be your father! But I… I can't be."
"Why not? I thought all you had to do was sign a few papers and you'd be my real father."
"It's a little more complicated than that, honey. I can't be your father because there would be no mother. Places don't usually let single parents adopt. There are all kinds of risks and problems they can't just ignore, especially if the child to be adopted is… a little off."
"Damaged." Belle said darkly.
"No. No! Not 'damaged'. Not in the sense you're using it. I meant…" Will waved a hand back and forth stiffly, trying to find the right word in his head. "…Psychologically. You've been so hurt for so long that it's going to be… kind of expensive to get the therapy that courts order for psychologically-affected adoptive teens."
Belle growled. "So it's about money for you too? That's all?"
"No! That's not what I said. I said that's what the courts think! Personally, I could appeal to my boss and the school board for a raise, maybe get a second job, and we'd be set. But the court system doesn't look to the future in instances like this. It focuses on the now. And now, the system won't let me adopt you. Not yet."
Will pulled into his space in the apartment lot and turned the car off. As he stepped out of the car a thought hit him. "Shite. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have broken your mother's arm. That's not going to help my custody case."
"She came at you first, as far as I saw." Belle said airily, twirling in a circle and watching in glee as the skirt of her sun dress billowed around her scarred and scrawny legs. "After all, the law allows for justifiable harm in the case of self-defense."
"Aww, who's my little defense lawyer?" Will cooed, pinching Belle's cheek between his thumb and forefinger cutely.
Belle giggled. "I used to be a prostitute in the inner-city, Daddy. I had to know the ins and outs of more than a few laws."
"Part of Daddy wishes his little defense lawyer didn't keep bringing that up, yes he does!" Will cooed again, only this time it was more sarcastic.
He lifted Belle from the ground and carried her to the front stairs as she squirmed and giggled in protest. He'd figured out a while ago that she was actually quite short, but that old pair of jeans she wore and tiny little sweater just made her look bigger than she really was. She was maybe 5'3" at the tallest to Will's 6' (-ish… Will really didn't know his own height. He made it a mental note to find out.) and so small that Terri's sun dress had practically fallen off when she twirled around in it, and Terri was by no means a large woman. Will estimated her at roughly a size fucking zero, this girl couldn't weigh less if her bones were made of helium. Will thought.
Will dropped his squirming daughter (my daughter, mine now. No one else's. I don't care if I have to kill somebody, this girl is going to be my daughter.) onto the couch, where she immediately picked up her duffel bag. She rummaged through it, and came up with a big bottle of pills. She downed a few of them with a small swig of the beer Will had never finished from the night before.
"You know, those would probably go down easier if you didn't try to swallow them with alcohol." Will said.
"It was there." Belle said.
"I thought you could take those pills without liquid."
"I can. I have no gag reflex. I can easily take the pills dry, but I hate doing it. I taste chalk for like two hours afterwards. Washing them down is easier."
"With last night's flat beer?"
"It was there." Belle stressed.
"You're fifteen." Will stressed in imitation.
"I've been drinking since I was six." Belle said, rolling her eyes.
Will shrugged. "Just don't do it when we have company. I'm not helping you if you get caught for underage drinking."
"Awww, who's my big enabler?" Belle cooed, mocking Will's baby-voice from earlier.
"Shut it, you. What do you want for dinner? You've been on solid food for a couple weeks now. I'm thinking we order Chinese-"
Belle pulled a face.
"…Italian?"
Belle shook her head.
"Pizza?"
Belle nodded.
"Pizza it is. Hand me the phone. What do you want on your pizza?" Will had his own answer already in his head (He was single).
"Everything they can throw on it except pineapples."
"Don't like pineapples?"
"Allergic."
"You're allergic to pineapples?" Will asked incredulously. "Is that even a real thing?"
"That depends. Is breaking out in hives, vomiting, and my throat swelling shut classified as an allergic reaction?"
"Um. Yes?" Will replied.
"Then yes. I'm allergic to pineapples. Don't put pineapples on my pizza, please."
"Right. No pineapples." Will dialed the pizza place off his speed dial (he was single!), and the person on the other end addressed him by name (he was single!).
After ordering and being assured the pizza would be there in 30 minutes or less, Will hung up the phone. Belle did not miss the speed-dial pizza place. "Eat pizza much?"
"I'm single." Will stressed, "Pizza is what lonely divorced teachers and their nieces eat on Saturdays after they've physically assaulted prostitutes in a child services office. That and Chinese food on Christmas. Special occasion, after all."
When the pizza finally arrived, Belle took a few slices and practically swallowed them whole.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down! You're going to choke!" Will said, taking the plate away for a moment.
"Okay. 1) I don't have a gag reflex, so I can't choke on food. 2) I'm hungry." Belle stated simply, reaching for her plate back. Will raised an eyebrow. Belle, now that she wasn't terrified to be around him, had relaxed and revealed that she was actually kind of a brat when she wanted to be. Around other people, she was still timid, polite little Belle, but when it was just her and Will, she loosened up and seemed to have an entirely different personality.
"Again, I really wish you wouldn't bring up the 'no gag reflex' thing. There's a teeny, tiny part of my brain that keeps screaming you're a dude, Will Schuester! Every time you say that, and it's really unsettling." Will said, eating his own pizza.
"Then I have succeeded in my mission."
"Your mission." Will repeated, both as a question and a statement.
"Yes, my mission."
"And your mission was to…?"
"Make you as uncomfortable as possible to see how you'd react."
"You really are very evil when you want to be, sweetheart."
Belle beamed at what she perceived as praise. "I know." She said arrogantly, swallowing another entire slice of pizza whole.
"Love, you really should chew your food. Your body is still adjusting to a constant solid food intake. You're going to make yourself sick."
Belle slowed to a stop. "I know."
"Then why keep it up?"
"Maybe it's a way to feel better about myself… maybe I'm sick of cutting myself, so I'm turning to binging on crap food instead."
"You used to cut yourself…?" Will asked.
"Not all of these scars were caused by someone else." Belle said. "But I'm done with that now. You were right, Daddy, I'm messed up in the head, and I need help."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Will asked. "I'm more than willing to help you if you just talk to me!"
"I'm talking to you now." Belle said. "Help me now!"
Will scooted towards her on the couch and placed her on his lap, holding her close. "Oh, sweetheart… I'm always here to help you. 24/7, 365 days a year. I swear, if you ever need me, just yell for me and I'll be there."
"I love you, Daddy. I don't want to go back to Boston."
"You won't. You won't. As long as I'm still breathing, you're going to be here. With me. Where you belong."