"Puckerman... I know that name." Puck squared his shoulders, but Burt just went on, "You're in that Glee Club he's in, aren't you. I'm... glad he has friends... who look out for him. He doesn't always make friends easily..."
Puck nodded, not sure what to say to that. He didn't think it was a good time to point out that he wasn't really someone Kurt considered a friend. Or what kind of history he and Kurt had. From what Finn had told them, with real awe in his voice, an angry Burt Hummel, in defense of his only child, was terrifying. Instead, he just handed over Burt's keys and jammed his hands back into his pockets. Burt pocketed them, and looked at the closed door between him and his son again, taking a deep breath. "I just wish... somebody'd tell me what's going on in there."
It didn't seem like there was anything to say to that, so Puck just dropped into the chair next to Burt's. He took a quick look around the ER waiting area, nearly deserted this early in the evening, and realized it was barely after six. He glanced at the television mounted on the wall. The news was on and as Puck watched, he realized with a shock that they were covering the accident. The muted voice of the news anchor seemed suddenly very loud.
"... in what seems to be a case of hazing gone wrong. One local teen is dead and another in critical condition after the car they were riding in was struck by a drunk driver..." Puck felt Burt jerk to attention and focus on the TV screen, and got up to change the channel, ignoring the protest of one man who'd been watching. His glower had convinced the other man to shut the hell up. When he came back to the chairs, Burt's grateful expression had been worth it.
He was just about to offer to go get Burt a coffee, just to have something to do, to move, to break the tension (before Burt got around to asking him what had happened), when the automatic doors opened, and Puck looked up to find Finn and his mom rushing towards Burt. That's right, he thought, Kurt's dad and Finn's mom, Finn had been griping about it a few weeks ago, but he thought they'd broken up...
Carole hurried over as Burt rose to his feet, and slid into his arms without hesitation. Puck turned away as Burt held her, the tight control over his emotions he'd maintained all this time cracking enough to allow a break in his voice when he said her name, and tears to brighten his eyes. He glanced over at Finn, who was giving him a wide-eyed, slightly freaked out look.
When Finn reached his side, he muttered to Puck, "It was on the radio in the car... what the hell happened, dude?"
"Yes, what happened, Burt?" Carole asked after a few moments of just holding him tightly, and letting him hold on. She didn't dare ask yet how bad it was.
He sat down again, drawing her into the seat beside him. "I...was waiting for you to get here." He looked at Puck, and once again, of all the things that had happened today, he thought this might be the hardest.
No, the hardest thing had been to hear Kurt scream and not be able to get him out.
He dropped into the chair he'd risen from when Burt had, and Finn took the next seat over, leaning in to listen as Puck began to tell the story again, his voice low.
He kept his eyes locked on his own folded hands as he began. "I... had detention today. For stealing Bell's toupe. Again." He could see Finn nod out of the corner of his eye, and continued. "D-Dave," the name stuck in his throat unexpectedly, and he had to pause a moment, clear his throat, before he could go on. "Karofsky was there too, and when we got out, he and Azimio met up. They... just looked like they had something planned, you know?" He looked over at Finn, who nodded again. "And I... after last week, I figured they might be going after one of us again."
Burt shot Finn a questioning glance over Puck's head. "This the Gaga thing?"
Finn nodded, and Puck answered, "Yeah, they've been really getting after some of us... the girls and Wheels and Hu- Kurt, especially." Burt moved restlessly beside him, and he could see the man's hands clench. "We - Finn, me, Matt and Mike warned them to leave him - them- alone, but we can't be everywhere," he said, a little defensively, not looking at Burt. After a moment, he felt Burt's hand grip his shoulder again briefly. It made him feel worse, actually.
He got up from the chair, feeling a sudden need to move, to be on his feet. Getting himself back under control - he was Puck, dammit, he would not lose it under any circumstances - he turned back and went on, and suddenly it all burst out of him in a flood of words he couldn't stop or control. "So I watched them from the window. Watched them go out to the parking lot and move Azimio's car. Watched them park it next to Kurt's, watched 'em go out of sight behind it and wait for him and watched him come out of the school, and walk into their little trap, and by then I knew what they were planning and I still stood there and watched them and I should have run out then and I didn't."
Burt's sharply indrawn breath nearly stopped him there. He stared at the toes of his sneakers, unable to meet the older man's eyes, so like Kurt's, and see the blame and anger in them. He knew he deserved it, and he could see from the white-knuckled grip Burt had on the arm of the chair that Hummel was
struggling to keep control of his temper.
He braced himself; he deserved Mr Hummel's anger, he could have stopped this. He didn't dare look at any of them, not Burt, not Finn, staring up at him, not Mrs. Hudson, who had been like a second mother to him...
He had to finish this, get it all out, and deal with whatever came, Burt's anger, Finn's shock, Mrs. Hudson's disappointment. He took a deep breath and plunged ahead.
"When they came back around the car, though, I could see... he was... they'd messed him up, his clothes were torn, and he was... wobbling... and when I realized that they'd tied his hands... I ran out there, because that's not part of the whole thing..." Finn was nodding, scowling. "That's too far. I mean, we got dumped out at the farm, Finn and me, and it wasn't too bad, but they really don't like Kurt much, and it seemed like they might really hurt him."
Carole looked at Finn questioningly; he nodded again, flushing with embarrassment, and her look promised words later. Puck went on, determined to get it over with and to be brutally honest. "By the time I got out there they were driving away, and my phone went dead when I tried to call Finn. All I could see was the Navigator, so I looked for a key... Kurt had dropped his, all his stuff was on the ground. So I just grabbed them, it was all I could think to do, and I followed them. I figured if they just dropped him off I could be there to bring him home. and if they didn't... " he shrugged. "They're big guys, but I'd have the drop on them, and they're both scared of me. And they might kinda expect me to be on their side at first," he finished in a mumble.
His brain felt like it literally stopped as Burt Hummel got slowly to his feet, Carole's hand still clasped tightly in his. There was a long moment of silence as Burt regarded him, and finally he had to look up. Burt's blue eyes met his, and Burt put a hand on his shoulder again, shook him gently. "Just tell me the rest, Noah. You were there, in the end, and I haven't forgotten that."
Puck absolutely did not lean into Burt's grip for just a second, and he did not have a lump in his throat at the thought that he'd already been forgiven. He swallowed hard, and nodded. Burt's hand remained on his shoulder, bolstering him, and Carole's arm slipped around his waist. Even Finn was on his feet, and the habitual scowl he had had whenever he looked at Puck lately was gone.
So Puck cleared his throat, and went on.
"It all happened so fast... I pulled over the truck when they stopped, so they wouldn't know I was there. Karofsky went to get something from the trunk, but they hadn't taken Kurt out... and this pickup... just came flying around the corner, out of control. He clipped the Navigator... and he was swerving all over the place... he hit Karofsky and..." He trailed off, seeing the image of David Karofsky's body sprawled on the pavement again and failed to repress a shudder. "And he hit the car." The awful punch of metal on metal echoed on his head and he had to stop, take a breath. Carole squeezed him gently, and Burt nodded, his face gone ashen again. Puck could feel the man's hand on his shoulder shaking.
"So I grabbed Azimio's phone and called 911 because he was in shock because Dave was... was... dead, and I went to check on Kurt, and... talked to him til the cops came and you know the rest. I was scared to try to get him out, the car looked so messed up and I didn't know why he wouldn't answer me."
He looked up into Burt's face. "I'm so, so sorry I didn't just stop them."
Burt studied the young man before him for a long moment. Words were really not his thing.
