A/N: This update is long overdue and I apologize for the wait, but as always life gets in the way. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Previously:
Finn can't believe what he just saw, his stepbrother and friend beaten to within an inch of their life, it made him sick. How could people be so cruel, what did they ever do to deserve such a thing. Then when he looked to Puck, staring after the ambulances, he didn't know what to do, or say; Puck was crying, Puck never cried, even after his dad left. So he gently shook his shoulder and offered him a ride to the hospital, and the look in his friend's eyes is something he wishes he never has to see ever again. The self-proclaimed badass of McKinley looked broken, as if his heart has been ripped out of his chest, and yeah he gets why, but it still pains Finn to see his friend so torn up.
As soon as Finn and Puck got into Mrs. Hudson-Hummel's car, Burt took off out of the parking lot much like Puck had done earlier at Breadstix. Carole, as upset as she was seeing Kurt and Ashley the way they were, had to be the level-headed one because Lord knows the boys aren't thinking rationally; Burt seeing his son that way, Finn seeing his stepbrother and old friend, and then there was Noah.
Carole is a smart woman; she could tell that Noah and Ashley had feelings for each other as kids, even if neither of them identified it as such back then. In fact, Ruth Puckerman, Marie St. Pierre and herself often talked about the two ending up together, they just had to take their heads out of the clouds to see that their feelings for each other went beyond that of 'just friends'.
This is why Carole needed to take the lead, she needed to call Marie and tell her about Ashley. She knew all about Marie and Charles separating and moving back to Lima; Finn filled her all in on this after coming home from school a few days ago upon seeing Ashley at McKinley. She knew her old friend would've gotten around to phoning her, after settling in. Heck, maybe she already had but since she and Finn had moved, perhaps she didn't know how to contact them anymore.
"Noah honey, I know this is upsetting to you, it's upsetting to all of us, but I think we need to call Ashley's mom and let her know what's going on. I know Ashley would want her there"; this was the first thing anyone has said since leaving the school. Puck had been in a daze ever since the ambulances took off with Ashley and Kurt inside. Hearing Mrs. Hudson's, er Hudson-Hummel's words though, brought Puck out of his trance. "Right, of course, let me just call her."
As Puck was taking his phone from his pocket, Carole spoke up again, "Would you like me to speak to her?" All Puck could do was nod as he handed over his phone, grateful that Carole asked, not knowing if he could even make it through the conversation without choking up again. He already made an ass out of himself by crying in front of Finn and Mr. Hummel; he didn't want to do it again, not that either of them could blame him. He even thought he heard Burt Hummel, the original badass, sniffling as he held Kurt in the hallway.
Carole took the phone from an obviously broken boy and found Ashley's home number in his contacts list. She dialed the number and waited for her dear old friend to pick up, wishing she had kept in touch better so her sudden reappearance in Lima wouldn't have come as such a shock. Oh well, what's done is done, no use in dwelling on the past, Carole said to herself when her thoughts were then interrupted by the familiar voice of Marie St. Pierre.
"Marie? It's Carol Hudson, well I guess Hudson-Hummel now", Carole glanced over at her husband and could see the faintest of smiles on his face, happy that she could do something to relieve his hurt, even if just for a second. "Oh my, Carole! How great to hear from you. I did hear from Ashley that you remarried, and I am so happy for you. I've also been meaning to get a hold of you since we've been back, but everything has just been so hectic this week with unpacking and whatnot. But I am so glad you called, I assume you got our number from Finn", Marie replied with such joy, which made Carole hate to have to reign on this happy reunion.
"Actually I am calling from Noah's phone. He would have called himself but I think he is in somewhat of a shock, we all are." At this, Marie started to grow worried, "What do you mean shock? I hope nothing has happened to poor Finn, or your new husband."
Carole smiled at this, Marie was just as she remembered, always concerned for the well-being of others. "No Finn and Burt, my new husband, are just fine. However, something has happened with Ashley. Noah found her, and my stepson Kurt, at school and they were pretty beaten up." Carole was never one to sugar-coat things and for this Marie was always thankful, "We're not sure who did it but we are on our way to Lima General where the ambulances are transporting them. I wanted to tell you myself, instead of you getting phoned from the doctor at the hospital."
Marie was silent on the other end, not exactly sure what to say, too wrapped up in how her daughter is to concentrate on forming a response. Carole almost thought she hung up had it not been for the absence of a dial tone. "Marie?" "I'm here," she rasped. Carole could tell she was trying to control her emotions, weren't they all after all? "Would you like one of us to come get you, if you're not up to driving?" Carole asked. "No, no. I'll have Josh drive, but thank you. I…I'll see you soon", and with that Marie hung up and Carole handed the phone back to Noah.
Minutes later, they pulled up to the hospital. Burt parked as close as he could to the entrance and then all four of them got out and dashed inside, wanting to know how both teenagers were faring.
Meanwhile back at the St. Pierre's house Marie still held the phone in her hand, long after she hung-up with Carole; lost in the memories of not long ago when Ashley was attacked at her old school, defending her beloved son's boyfriend.
Josh found her like that five minutes later, and gently grasped his mom's shoulder and shook her out of her daze, asking who was on the phone. Marie then relayed the conversation she had with Carole and by the end both St. Pierre's were crying quietly and holding each other for support. This can't be happening Josh thought. Ashley's been through so much already, why does she have to go through it all again?
When they separated, Josh said he'd drive them both to the hospital and sped as fast as he could. He wanted to make sure his sister was okay; she had to be okay.
The St. Pierre's arrived at the hospital a short while later and looked around the waiting room for Carole's familiar face, and while the woman had definitely gone through some changes, she still looked like the same old Carole Marie always remembered.
As soon as the two old friends made eye contact, they swiftly walked toward the other and embraced in a bone-crushing hug. Josh meanwhile, stood off to the side and smiled, he was happy his mom had her friend back, that there were no hard feelings after the loss of contact between the two. As soon as the two parted, Josh took his mom's place as Carole pulled the young boy into her grasp. "My, my, Joshua, you sure have grown into a handsome young man" Carole said as she pulled back to get a better look at him. He gave her the St. Pierre patented smile and thanked her while giving back his own sentiments on the woman.
Finn came up beside the trio and made his hellos then introduced his stepdad Burt to Marie and Josh. After much hugging, handshakes and greetings, Josh noticed Noah sitting all alone behind the Hudson-Hummel's. He made his way over to the, now mohawked teenager, and sat down beside him.
"It's nice to see you again Noah. Ashley's told me about the two of you finally getting together. Only took you long enough" Josh joked as he nudged Puck in the side. However, Puck didn't take the bait to help lighten the mood, his only response was to blame himself, "I should've been there. I should've made sure she got home okay. I should've done more."
After hearing this, Marie walked over, sat down on the other side of the distraught boy, and put her arm around his slumped shoulders. "Noah, darling, you can't blame yourself. You didn't cause someone to hurt my Ashley. I know you would never do anything to hurt her and would do everything to keep her safe. No one could have predicted that this would happen."
Puck looked at Mrs. St. Pierre, then to Josh and lastly to the Hudson-Hummel's. They looked just as bad, if not worse than he did, and all he could think about was himself, how fucking selfish is that? Puck thought to himself. "Fuck!" The running back exclaimed as he stood up quickly and paced the length of the waiting room. He stopped suddenly and without turning around said, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" Finn asked, confused with his best friends sudden change in demeanor. At this Puck turned around and addressed the confused group in front of him. "I'm not even related to Ashley and Kurt and here I am thinking only of myself, blaming myself, wishing I could have done more. I can't imagine how all of you must feel. I mean, Mr. Hummel, you were there, you saw what they looked like, your own son." At this Puck became very quiet and the others had to strain to hear him, "if it had been Beth, I would've been in a murderous rage toward the person who harmed her." Puck continued significantly louder this time, "I'm being selfish. I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around!"
"Son…Noah…Puckerman!" Burt yelled, as the aforementioned teen seemed to be in his own little world. "You're just as much family to Kurt as Finn." Puck was about to interrupt, but Burt put his hand up to stop whatever the teen was about to say, "Let me finish." At Puck's nod, Burt continued, "you are just as much of a brother to Kurt as Finn is. The two of you may have bullied him in the past, but the past is just that, the past. We can't take back what we've done, we can only move on from it. I should know, I had done my fair share of bullying in high school, but I changed, and so did the two of you. Ever since Carole and Finn moved in with Kurt and I you've been around almost everyday. I see the way you guys include Kurt in whatever it is that you and the other guys in glee do while you hangout. You don't treat him like some fragile person, as if he's different because he's gay. And Ashley, I may not know the history between you two, but I saw the way you held that girl's hand and tried your hardest to take her mind off the obvious pain she had to be in. You even cried Noah, in the whole time I've known you, I have never seen you outwardly display that type of raw emotion. You so obviously care for her; I'd even go as far to say that you love her." At this admission, Noah looked away sheepishly. "Both Kurt and Ashley are very lucky to have you in their lives, so therefore you are just as entitled to be upset by this as all of us are."
As Burt finished his rant, Puck didn't quite know what to say, so he did the only thing he could do at the moment, he stalked up to the elder Hummel and hugged him, thanking him without words for all the things he just said. Burt, slightly taken aback by the boy's actions, quickly recovered and returned the hug, knowing the boy needed it. Growing up without a father figure in his life must have been hard on Noah, which is why Burt tried to be that for him whenever he could.
When the two pulled apart Puck look slightly embarrassed, but Burt just smiled reassuringly at him and the pair took a seat, Burt beside Carole, and Puck beside Mrs. St. Pierre. Just then Finn's phone went off; the tall lanky teen stood and excused himself after checking the caller ID and seeing it was Rachel.
"Hey Rach," Finn answered solemnly. Rachel noticing Finn's mood asked what was wrong. He explained what happened to Kurt and Ashley, and no longer in shock, was almost in tears by the end. "I don't know if they're okay or not, we haven't heard anything. What if one of them dies Rachel? I can't lose either of them, Kurt's my brother now and Ashley…she just came back I can't lose her too. God, and Puck, he's such a mess. We're all stressed out with worry."
Rachel, upset to find out about her old and newest friend tried to reassure her boyfriend and make him think positively, as much as they could anyway. She said she'd contact the other Glee members and promised Finn she would be there as soon as she could. Finn hung up feeling a bit better after Rachel calmed his freak-out but still upset over all that happened. He trudged back into the hospital and told everyone that Rachel was coming and was informing everyone in New Directions.
Burt wasn't sure if having ten teenagers come to the hospital was a good thing but seeing Noah perk up a bit at that made him reconsider. The boy needed some comfort and Finn seemed to want his girlfriend and friends here so he'd let it pass.
Soon, the whole of New Directions started filtering into the waiting room, even Mr. Schue and Dave Karofsky showed up, after all Karofsky was good friends with Ashley and was now in the club, he deserved to here too.
The mood in the waiting room was a somber one. Rachel decided that everyone could use a bit of a pick me up, and not one to shy away from using singing to express emotion she got up and suggested singing a song to cheer up everyone's mood. However her suggestion was not met with great reception.
"Really berry?" Puck said. "No amount of singing will make Kurt and Ashley okay. So just drop it!" Puck half yelled, using an emotion he knew well, anger, to express his fear for his friend and girlfriend.
"Puck, c'mon Rachel's just trying to lighten the mood, you don't have to snap at her" Finn said, defending his girlfriend. "You're right, I'm sorry Rachel. I'm just stressed."
"That's okay, I understand. I just thought a nice light-hearted song may help is all." At the absence of anymore complaints Rachel deemed this a victory and started singing, acapella of course.
[Rachel]
Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"
At this, more and more glee members started to join the self-appointed leader of their group.
[All]
Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
[Artie]
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
[Tina]
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin',
[Brittany, Santana and Quinn]
("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")
[All]
Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"
By now even Burt, Carole, Marie and Josh have joined in, finding the kid's singing and declarations of well wishes contagious.
[Sam]
Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
[Mercedes]
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
[Both]
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin',
[Brittany, Santana and Quinn]
"This is my message to you-ou-ou:"
[All]
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry!"
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing" - I won't worry!
"'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right" - I won't worry!
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, oh no!
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!
As the song ended, everyone seemed to be in a lighter mood. Hmm, what do ya know? Maybe Berry is right, singing does help…a little, Puck thought to himself.
However, not long after the doctor came out which set the groups mood right back to the tense, worried atmosphere it was before. "Mr. and Mrs. Hummel and St. Pierre?" the Doctor asked to the large crowd in the waiting area. Burt, Marie and Carole stood up immediately, as did Finn, Josh and Noah. "I'm Burt Hummel; this is my wife Carol Hudson-Hummel." "And I'm Marie St. Pierre." The doctor nodded at that, then introduced himself, "I'm Dr. Phillips, and I have been working on Kurt and Ashley, along with my associate Dr. Barns. Would you three like to come with me so we can talk more privately?" The doctor asked. Burt was the first to speak up, "its okay, these are Kurt and Ashley's friends, whatever you have to say you can say in front of them." With that, the doctor went on to describe the various injuries.
Kurt had two broken ribs, a slight concussion and dislocated shoulder, along with scattered bruising and scrapes that were mild in severity. Ashley however is in a much worse state, she seemed to have been beaten the worst of the two and has a broken arm, which had to be reset and placed in a cast. She also has various bruises and scrapes and a few broken ribs just like Kurt, and had to have several stitches for the rather large cut just above her right eyebrow. However one of Ashley's broken ribs bruised her right lung causing her to go into cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to the hospital from lack of oxygen, and is now in critical condition.
After the doctor was finished, he told the two teenagers families that once their children were placed into a room they could go and see them before visiting hours ended soon. He then walked off promising to get them once Kurt and Ashley were settled.
The group sat or stood, in silence for an extended period of time, no one knowing what to do or say. The first to break the silence was Mrs. St. Pierre, "Oh God, not again. No, this can't be happening. Hasn't my poor Ashley suffered enough?" She nearly fell to the floor had it not been for Burt's fast reflexes. With the help of Finn and Puck, they managed to get her seated as Carole went off to fetch a glass of water.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. S, you're right Ashley doesn't deserve this. I promise you I'm going to find out who did this and make them pay." Puck said with more force than necessary emphasizing his promise of revenge. "Oh Noah, dear," Marie had heard all about Noah's past from Ashley, from getting Finn's girlfriend pregnant and having to give his daughter away, to his little stint in juvenile detention. She didn't want the boy to have to go back after violating his parole. "I can't ask that of you, I would hate for you to end up back in a place that I'm sure you would rather not be. Am I right?" Marie not even having to specify where, for Puck to understand her words, "No mam" Puck responded back.
Finn perked up at this, "You can't do anything Puck, what about Ashley?" If Puck was still contemplating revenge on the fucker who beat up Kurt and Ashley, he sure wasn't now. Not only would he be away from Ashley but also knew if he ended up back in Juvie that she would be disappointed in him, even if it was in her honour. So no, Puck just had to sit back and hope the bastard was caught and thrown into that hellhole himself.
Rachel being the nosy person she is couldn't forget what both Ashley's mom and Puck had said, so she posed her question to said individuals. "Mrs. St. Pierre, what did you mean not again? Has something like this happened before to Ashley?" As always, Rachel had overstepped her bounds and everyone was on her case about her insensitivity, especially Puck, Mercedes and Karofsky who all knew what Mrs. St. Pierre meant.
Mrs. St. Pierre took control of the situation by whistling loudly gathering everyone's attention. "There's no need to berate this girl for asking a simple question, I'm sure it was bound to come up eventually." Rachel looked smug by Mrs. St. Pierre's statement. "I know Ashley finds it hard to hide her scars on her forehead so I assume you all may have seen them at some point." The group slowly started to nod their heads all having seen and wondered about them.
Mrs. St. Pierre recounted the incident only tearing up slightly, but Puck was there to support her. However, Josh didn't fair as well as his mother, and was silently crying next to her over what happened to his sister and boyfriend. Burt, being the caring man he is, walked over to the boy and not wanting to embarrass him, firmly grasped his shoulder in silent support, which Josh seemed startled by.
The rest of the group whom did not know all looked on in shock after Mrs. St. Pierre finished telling them what happened. Josh then turned to Burt and with confusion written across his face, he asked, "So you're not repulsed by me being gay?" Burt was taken aback by the boy's question, why on earth would he think I was repulsed, he thought.
"Of course not, why would I be?" Burt voiced aloud. Josh looked away as if ashamed, "not many men take too kindly to hearing I like other guys." Burt felt for the boy, he reminded him of Kurt right after he came out; not knowing how he would take hearing his only son is gay. "Josh, my son Kurt, he's gay too, and I still love him every bit as much as I did before he came out, and I will continue to love him everyday no matter what." Josh looked back up at Burt and smiled, wishing his own father was as accepting as the man in front of him.
He then turned towards his sister's friends, the silent question in his eyes apparent to everyone. Rachel spoke up right away, stating that she had two gay dads and how she was perfectly fine with homosexuality. Before she could ramble on more Santana piped in, "Okay that's enough man-hands I think he gets the point." She then took Brittany's hand in hers and turned to Josh, "we're the last people to pass judgement on you, for anything, especially because you're gay." The rest all murmured in agreement.
Josh finally felt that maybe he could belong somewhere, maybe even make some real friends, besides his boyfriend and sister. He just might have to talk to his mom and see if he could sign up at McKinley. He never thought that in the small town of Lima, would he find not only people who didn't care about him being gay but also other gay people as well. He knew some back in Toronto, but he never thought he'd find any here. He was happy that Ashley had met these people and hoped he would be welcomed as much as she was.
By then the doctor has returned and escorted the two families to see their children; Puck being allowed to go with Mrs. St. Pierre and Josh to see Ashley, at the insistence of both parties. The glee club knew they wouldn't be able to see their friends tonight so promised to come back tomorrow to visit.
Marie, Josh and Puck were escorted to the critical care unit and shown Ashley's room. Puck stayed out in the hall to give Mrs. S and Josh some time alone with Ash, but soon it was his turn.
He walked into the room and immediately went to Ashley's side, gently grasping her small pale hand in his larger tanned one. The doc said she may not wake up for a day or two, a mixture of the anesthesia she had undergone to have her arm reset and recovering from her cardiac arrest. The Doc said her body is in shock and needs a few days to recuperate and rejuvenate from all that's happened in the last 5 hours.
Puck knew she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, but that didn't stop him from talking to her. "Hey baby," Puck said fondly, wiping strands of hair off her forehead, away from her eyes. "It's me, No-No." At this, Puck's eyes started to gloss over, on the verge of tears. "I just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you'll be okay. The doctors say that in a few days you'll wake up and if everything is fine a few days after that, you can go home. You will only have to spend a week in here at the most don't worry. They say Kurt's doing well, two broken ribs, a concussion, a dislocated shoulder with some bruising and stuff but otherwise fine. He'll probably be able to leave in a few days." One tear escaped and slid down Puck's face, "I just want to tell you how brave I think you are and how proud I am of you. I don't know what happened but I know you did all you could to protect Kurt; you're just selfless like that. I just want you to know how lucky I feel to be your boyfriend and that I…I love you." Puck broke off in a sob.
"You'll be okay, you'll be okay." With those last words Puck got up, kissed Ashley gently on the forehead, making sure to kiss each scar just as he had the day they got together in the choir room, and quietly sauntered back out into the hall.
Meanwhile in Kurt's hospital room
Unlike Ashley Kurt was awake and coherent. Once his dad walked in Kurt couldn't hold back the tears anymore, neither could Burt as he walked over to his son and gently hugged him, mindful of his injuries, and together they cried. Once composed both Hummel men let go and next to hug Kurt was Carole, then Finn.
Burt then voiced the question that was everyone's minds, "Son, who did this to you?" Kurt looked away as he quietly said, "Azimio."
Finn, at hearing the defensive lineman was responsible for hurting Kurt and Ashley, became angry. "What?" Finn nearly screamed, "Why?" The quarterback commanded. Kurt, knowing why, but not wanting to out David, simply said, "He was pushing Ashley around, saying how she was the one who changed Dave, who no longer wanted to be friends with Azimio. He blamed her for their friendship ending, so when I saw him hit her I rushed to help her. I wasn't thinking except for the need to stop him from beating her up more. I should've called for help first but by the time someone arrived, it may have been too late. I tried to help but even if there were two of us, we were no match for Azimio. He's like twice our size, and ten times stronger."
Burt filled with pride for his son who risked his own safety to help his new friend. He has never been prouder of him then at that moment and he let Kurt know that, with the countertenor blushing from the praise his dad had given him. Soon visiting hours were over and the Hummel-Hudson's had to leave, promising to come back tomorrow when visiting hours begin again.
Mrs. St. Pierre drove Puck to get his truck at the school and then agreed to meet back up at the hospital tomorrow morning. After saying goodbye and driving off, Puck however did not return home. Instead, he drove back to the hospital, snuck up onto Ashley's floor and into her room, where he got into the bed alongside her and held her as she lay unconscious. He needed to feel her beside him, see her breathing, hear her heart beating, making sure she was still alive. He was not leaving her side, no matter what any nurses said, he was staying right where he was and no one could stop him.
Song used:
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
Much love! Please read and review my lovelies. :)
-PF
