"The Totally Not Dorky but Awesome and Badass Bromantic Tales of the Puckerone and Trouty Mouth"
Summary: Life is simply a series of interconnected moments that guide us along. Here are some of the moments in the collective lives of the Evans family.
Pairings: Samtana, Puckleberry, Bartie, Klaine, Chang-squared and Wemma. Past Finnchel. Suck, Pucktana, Pezberry and Puck/Blaine (Plaine?) friendships
Warnings: No real spoilers involved in this story. It's obviously very AU as I totally made up Sam's family life. So nothing really spoilery in here. Be warned, this fic does deal with sensitive issues (child abuse, domestic violence and homophobia). It's not terribly graphic but it is mentioned and discussed by several characters.
Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own Glee despite my continued efforts because if I did Chord Overstreet would still be on the show. I do own Sam's brother Dean. But even that shtick is borrowed from Supernatural… which I also don't own.
Author's Note: Good morning, everyone! Happy Friday! I'm back with more interlude goodness for you. The first two are my usual pick on Puck flavors while the third one is a big ball of fluffy goodness. I hope you all enjoy!
Update: It's come to my attention that some readers are not happy with my characterization of some of the Supernatural characters. I just want to apologize again to those individuals. I also want to clarifiy that I'm not specifically saying that these characters are actually meant to be representing the characters from the show. The only characters in my story that are meant to represent someone from a television show would be the actual Glee people (and I seriously hope not because they're starting to become a bit unbearable this season, lol). So I just wanted to clarify that. I would never want to offend anyone. Anyway, enjoy!
Moments F-H
Family Reunion
Present. Puck was pretty used to family reunions sucking but this took it to a whole different level. In other words, the time Puck met the rest of the Evans family.
When Noah Puckerman was seven years old, he met his maternal aunt for the first time (that he could remember) and his older cousins. The meeting did not go well. His cousins were mean and picked on him relentlessly. He ignored it for the most part. Nothing they said or did was worse than what his father could or would do. So he ignored them and kept to himself. But it was when they decided to pick on his barely three month old sister that Puck took offense. And somehow it all became his fault. His mother was furious. His aunt screamed that he was a bad seed. His father was too drunk to notice the drama at first but made sure to let Puck know his feelings on the subject afterwards. Needless to say, Puck developed a very strong aversion to family reunions.
Even the few times he accompanied the Berry family to local family reunions wasn't enough to shake his longstanding belief that family reunions just ended in tears and misery. Despite Leroy and Hiram being by far the most awesome parents he ever knew (though he would learn to fit Burt Hummel in that list because Burt was kind of the shit), they still had family that was less than accepting. It was hard watching two people he respected and looked up to as much as Leroy and Hiram struggle against their family's lack of acceptance. The last family reunion they attended was when Puck and Rachel were ten. But the damage was already done. Puck had a healthy fear of the words family reunion. Or family gathering. Really he feared the word family followed by anything but since becoming an Evans, he was slowly starting to readjust his feelings on the word. The idea of reunion still sucked though.
"Seriously, they're coming here?"
Puck turned his attention away from the guitar on his lap and in turn focused on Sam who was still standing in the center of their living room staring at their older brother as if he had grown two heads. Seeing as how he was currently trying to put a diaper on his daughter upside down, Puck thought that Sam was completely correct to give him that look. However, that was not what had Sam's panties in a twist.
"Yes, Sam," Dean huffed, struggling to readjust the diaper and hold the squirming Charlie down. "You heard the message. The whole freaking group is coming here. Apparently adding more than one family member in a year warrants a visit to make sure everything is on the up and up."
Sam groaned, flopping down on the couch beside Puck, who remained completely confused. "Is there something I should know about here?" he finally asked, after it became obvious that neither of them was going to address the situation or actually ask for help putting the diaper on correctly.
"This afternoon we got a call from our grandmother," Dean explained, still doing it wrong. "She's pretty excited about Sammy graduating and decided that she was going to invite herself to the graduation. Then Bella squealed and told her about you and Charlie and now she wants to stay for a 'couple of days'. And so does the rest of the damn crew."
"The rest of the crew?"
"Yeah, this is our dad's mom. Our mom was an only child and her parents died when she was pretty young. So we were all super close to our Grandma Deana. Yes, I'm named after her and if you laugh I will throw a dirty diaper at you." Puck snorted. "Anyway! Grandma had three kids: our aunt Ellen, our uncle Bobby and our dad, John."
"Aunt Ellen had two daughters, Joanna and Ruby, while Uncle Bobby adopted our cousin Bella," Sam continued. "Aunt Ellen and Ruby do not get along mostly because Ruby is a psychotic bitch. She lives with our grandmother now. And I almost had to live with them too if Dean hadn't saved me."
Puck smiled faintly at the flush he could see on Dean's bowed head. He unfolded his legs and leaned forward to better observe the oldest brother. "So all of them are coming here? Why?"
"Like I said, Bella squealed," Dean sighed. "I've been purposely avoiding telling Grandma that I pretty much adopted you because I knew that she was going to come here. But I made the mistake of telling Bella who probably wanted something from grandma and sold us out. Wait until she gets here."
Puck chewed on his lip hesitantly. A thought was forming in his mind that he never got a chance to voice as a stinging slap on the back of his head prevented him from going down that path. "Dude! What the hell?"
"Dean told me to," Sam shrugged with one shoulder.
"You're doing that thing where you think with your face. And what you're thinking is wrong. I didn't tell our grandmother about you being in the family because I know how they are. They're embarrassing and overbearing. Honestly, I could've gone a few more years without you having to be exposed to that madness. But here we are. In a matter of days, you're going to be fawned over, force fed and generally annoyed by the rest of your annoying family. It's going to be the family reunion from hell."
"On the bright side," Sam said, nudging Puck in the stomach. "You can always toss Charlie at them. They might rank baby over teenager in terms of cheek pinching."
Dean shot Sam a dirty look. "Have you seen Puck? I want to pinch his cheeks sometimes and I know that he'll bite my hands off if I do."
"Goddamn right I will," Puck muttered, hands flying to his cheeks. He sat quietly processing the overload (per the usual) of information that he just received. "So you said a matter of days… exactly how long is that?"
Dean finally gave up trying to put the diaper on (still doing it wrong by the way) and huffed. "Grandma said they'd be here by the end of the week. So most likely tomorrow."
"Grandma has a twisted sense of time," Sam added, twisting his lips. He raised an eyebrow. "Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"You think that you'll get a handle on Charlie's diaper thing by tomorrow? Because Grandma might have a problem with Charlie running around naked all the time."
Dean glanced down at the coffee table he was using as a changing table only to find that his very adorable daughter was very adorably naked and making a run for it. He growled, chasing after her with the diaper in his hand. Puck snorted, picking his guitar up again.
"You ok with this?"
"I don't really have a choice," he pointed out. "I mean you guys deserve to see your family. I wouldn't want you to feel that you couldn't."
"Dude, in case you're just slow, you're our family too. Hell, I consider you family more than Jo and Ruby. If you feel uncomfortable just tell Dean. He'll get rid of them."
Puck nodded, absently playing a tune. "I'll be fine. I promise to keep my issues on hold for at least a week. Who knows? It might actually be fun."
He was wrong. He was totally wrong. That wasn't exactly an unfamiliar concept. He was pretty used to being wrong. But damn, he forgot what it felt like to be this spectacularly wrong. He really should've paid more attention to what Dean and Sam were saying. Although Puck was now aware that they both grossly underestimated just how annoying and tedious this whole affair would actually be in the long run. From the minute they arrived (the next day as Dean predicted), the majority of the female Evans family let it be known that they did not approve of Dean's decision to take in Puck.
"Sweetheart, I know that you want to help Sammy's friends but now you have a daughter to think about."
"He is seriously the reason why you blew off Christmas? You knew that I wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend! You stayed here in Lima because his dad who he didn't even like died?"
"I don't know. He looks a little bit shady. You say he did time in juvie?"
Well, Ellen and Jo were pretty vocal about his presence being not exactly welcome. Ruby was too busy casing the house. Luckily, Dean had warned them to lock most of their valuables in the basement. Sam and Puck's guitars were locked up tight in their rooms. So at least that was a neutralized threat. Now he just had to deal with her sister and mother.
"You should really put some meat on those bones."
And let us not forget Grandma. From the minute she laid eyes on him, she was insisting that he was too thin. Puck never got that comment from anyone in the history of ever. Although he would admit that he had lost some weight during the course of their senior year but he didn't think it was quite as serious as she was making it seem. He definitely didn't think it warranted her trying to force feed him in between pinching her cheeks, clucking about his hair or wondering aloud why he seemed paler than in the pictures saw on Facebook.
And Sam was wrong too. Because he tried foisting Charlie on her several times. That distraction lasted about ten minutes before she was back to criticizing his weight, his hair, his everything. Between that, Jo's whining about his presence interfering with her quality cousin time and Ellen's complete disapproval of his existence, it was becoming increasingly more uncomfortable for him. But he didn't dare tell Dean.
He was already unpopular with Ellen and Jo. If he told Dean how he felt, he had no doubt that his brother would kick them out in a heartbeat which would only create more hostility and tension down the road. He wanted them to like him. He really did because he wanted to be a part of this family. But it was becoming increasingly clearer that he needed to be born an Evans in order to be accepted by them.
"I thought I might find you out here."
He raised an eyebrow as a very familiar notebook landed on his lap. He looked up to see a pair of smiling blue eyes looking down on him.
"You should be more careful where you hide things like that. You've got some good stuff in there. Wouldn't want to let it fall into the wrong hands. Though from what Dean tells me, you're good at doing that. You really let your ex best friend claim your song to win back his girlfriend who you were in love with? Twisted."
"Bella?"
The older woman sat down beside him, leaning against the tree. "I thought I told you to call me Belle. Ever since that damn Twilight movie came out, I've been totally ashamed of that name. I might even change it entirely. What do you think of Rose?"
"What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in there with the rest of your family?"
"I know what its like," she replied, seriously. "Remember I wasn't born an Evans either."
He glanced over at the woman. With her dark hair, blue eyes and remnants of an English accent, she definitely didn't resemble the rest of the family. Yet, he saw Ellen fawning over her when she first arrived after the rest of them. Bobby had torn his attention away from the bottle of bourbon he was nursing for the majority of the night to acknowledge her existence. She clearly was accepted. Bella tapped him on the knee.
"They accepted me because my father didn't give them a choice," she said, correctly reading the tension in his body. "Well my father and my uncle. They both put their foot down and refused to have anything to do with any of them if they didn't just accept that I was part of the family. Dad pretty much adopted me the same way Dean did with you."
"What, his nosey little brother found out you were getting your ass beat by your drunk father on a daily basis?"
"Essentially, yes," Bella grinned at the surprise on his face. "My biological sperm donor was a complete waste of flesh. He used to beat me, my mother and sister. One night, my mother decided she couldn't take it anymore and took off with my baby sister. She left me behind. And that bastard was merciless. I hated him. I would've sold my soul for him to feel just a fraction of the pain and misery he inflicted on me."
Puck was all too familiar with those feelings. He flashed back briefly to the conversation with Quinn after that failed intervention. It was easier for him to admit that he was angry now. It also helped hearing it from someone else. He couldn't imagine what he would've done if his mother had split with Sarah. She wasn't a supportive person but at least she was there.
"How did you wind up with Bobby?"
"Well, when I turned eleven, I couldn't take any longer. I decided I didn't want to be a victim anymore. So that night, while he was in the bathroom I put some sleeping pills in his drink. Looking back on it, I think I was hoping it would kill him. Unfortunately it wasn't anything worse than he willingly put in his body. So it only knocked him out. But I took advantage of it. I ran and I never looked back. It was my first time on my own, so I just looked for the closest place that looked like I could hide out. That's when I found the garage."
Puck remembered Sam telling him that his father and uncle ran a garage/salvage yard together when Dean was a kid. He had a fairly good idea of what garage Bella found. She smiled brightly and nodded.
"Uncle John was working that night. He was fixing up the car he got from his dad. He had this grand idea that he was going to give it to Dean when he got old enough to drive. Mind you, Dean was about six then. But Uncle John loved that car almost as much as he loved Sam, Dean and Aunt Mary. Anyway, he found me trying to break in that night. He tried to talk to me but I'm sure you know how well that went over. I ended up hiding just outside the shop. He left some food for me and didn't bother me the whole night. He did this every night for a week when finally my father stepped in."
"What did he do?"
Bella snorted. "He told me that I looked like a scrawny hobo living off the 'crime against humanity' that was his brother's cooking. He told me to come inside and get a good night's sleep and dinner. He even offered to sleep in the garage so that I would feel safe. But I actually trusted them. It helped that the sperm donor found out where I was hiding. He showed up and tried to make me go back home with him. Bobby threatened him with a shot gun while Uncle John just sat there cleaning his nails with a huge knife. Needless to say the sperm donor split and I've been with Bobby since then. He adopted me a year later."
"So you really are like me."
"Yes, I really am. I honestly had to experience the Ellen and Jo show. Aunt Ellen means well, she really does. But sometimes she's too overbearing for her own good. Jo is just a bloody whiner. She's always wanted to be the center of attention, especially after she figured out that Ruby never would. She really wanted to be the center of Dean's attention for some creepy reasons I'd rather not think about too long. Anyway, she' always idolized Dean and he's never really cared too much about her. I think she figured he didn't want to play with girls but then I came along. Then she figured he didn't want to be bothered with anyone younger and then Sam was born and he was the whole center of Dean's universe."
"So you're basically telling me to just deal with it?"
"Hell no," Bella laughed. "I'm telling you to man up and tell Dean that they're making you feel like shit. Dean is a lot more like his father than he thinks. If you tell him how you're feeling he will put a stop to their bitching and complaining. That's the only way they're going to realize that you're not going anywhere. It's what my dad had to do. They need drastic."
Puck nodded, lifting his legs up to his chest. "I just don't want to cause any problems."
Bella lifted her hand slowly, clearly giving him enough to move away if he wanted. He didn't mind though as she finally placed her hand on his head. Her fingers brushing through the hair of his Mohawk.
"I will never understand why boys have such soft hair," she grumbled. "It's such a waste."
"Like you've ever had a bad hair day," Puck countered.
"Hair this awesome takes a lot of work," Bella retorted, running her free hand through her shaggy brown locks. He gave her a tiny smile, which she returned. "Look, I know I said we're similar but we're also different. I got lucky. I got out of my hell when I was a kid. Kids are resilient little buggers. They bounce back pretty quickly with a few kind words and hugs. It gets harder as you get older. I don't know if I'd be the same person I am now if I was still living with my father at seventeen."
"Aren't you a professional thief?"
She rolled her eyes. "Dean is such an asshole. No, I'm not a thief. I work for a security firm that specializes in pinpointing the weaknesses in people's security systems and repairing those weaknesses."
"So… professional thief?"
Bella scoffed lightly. "God, you really are just like him. Sammy wasn't lying. I always knew Dean was a narcissist but adopting a kid that was just like him? That's a new one for even him."
"Is that a good thing?"
She leaned into his shoulder. "It's a very good thing." She smiled at him. "Us non blood related Evans got to stick together."
"So you like me?"
Bella snorted. "I guess. You're kind of likeable."
"I'm totally likeable."
"And you're talented." She nodded her head towards the notebook that was lying on the ground between them. "I meant it when I said you should keep a closer eye on that. Dean told me how you wrote the songs that won your little singing competition this year. Pretty impressive. You need to keep a closer eye on that book. ."
"Where did you even find this anyway? I thought I locked it in my room."
"So I may have done a few regrettable things in my day like teaching Ruby to pick locks," she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, shrugging helplessly. "I found that along with the fancy silverware in her suitcase. We'll probably have to do the full raid before we leave."
Puck shook his head, placing a hand on the book. "I really like them."
"I know you do. They really like you too. Trust me. You won't be ruining anything if you tell Dean that you're not ok with this. Hell, if I know Dean, he's probably halfway through kicking them out already."
Anything Puck was going to say was cut off by a loud crash and an increase in volume from the house. Bella's lips twisted. "Did I say halfway through?" she rose to her feet gracefully and held a hand out. "We should probably head back in now. The longer we stay out here, the closer we move towards the gun firing portion of the evening. I can live without that one."
Puck blinked. "Are all family reunions like this?"
"With this group? Please. It's not really a reunion until someone, Ruby, gets arrested."
He gave her his hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet. As they walked towards the back door he slipped through unnoticed an hour earlier, he could hear Dean yelling over the clamor of voices vying for his attention. As they entered the kitchen, he saw that Bobby had moved into the living room and appeared just as exasperated with the way things were going as Dean did. His brother was standing in the center of the living room and his eyes were boring holes in what Puck knew was Jo's direction. So nothing changed. Great.
"Ok, you know what, everyone shut the hell up!" Dean bellowed, suddenly. The constant chattering came to an abrupt stop. Even Charlie in her playpen stopped smacking her dolls together in time with the arguing. Bella made a murmur in agreement as she pushed Puck out of his latest hiding spot and into the living room. Dean caught his gaze immediately. "You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm ok," he replied. Sam left his post against the wall to stand beside him.
"Good," Dean nodded. "Alright, so here's the deal, Puck is here to stay. He's part of my family. You don't like it, I really don't care. You can accept it and shut the hell up or there's the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out. I don't really care what your opinions on this subject are. He's my brother as much as Sammy is. None of you even know him, so none of you get to judge him. Yes, he went to juvie but so did Ruby! And hell Ruby actively steals from all of us and she doesn't get nearly as much shit as you've given Puck in the two hours you've been here."
"Kid's got a point," Bobby spoke up. "El, you're acting ridiculous and you know it. If Dean is vouching for the kid, he's got to be worth something. The only other person I've seen him stick up for this much is his brother. And that's because Sam emotionally blackmailed him into it with the emo shoulder thing he does. I guess we should just be happy that it's just Sam that does that."
"Oh, Puck does it too," Dean commented, idly. "Wait until you see the puppy dog eyes."
"I saw them outside," Bella chimed in. "They are a sight to behold. I wanted to go in here and punch Jo in the face for him. Oh, wait no never mind, I frequently want to punch Jo in the face."
"What did I do?"
Bella arched an eyebrow. "What haven't you done?"
The two girls immediately started bickering with Ellen trying, and failing, to referee. Puck could only watch as the family descended into further chaos with Sam and Ruby getting in a screaming match over a shirt that was clearly not Ruby's that did in fact belong in Sam's closet. Dean was yelling at their grandmother, who was yelling right back but Puck was pretty sure they were having two entirely different arguments. Interesting.
"Welcome to the family, kid," a gruff voice said in his ear. He looked up at the only other person in the room not caught up in the screaming and yelling. Bobby grinned at his confusion. "This is normal for us. Half the damn time we don't get along. But it's probably better to let them get it out of their systems now."
Puck blinked. "You really think they want to welcome me to the family?"
"I don't think they really have a choice," Bobby chuckled. "Dean is pretty damn stubborn and he's unfortunately shared that trait with the other idjit. If he's serious about you, and I know he is, then you're as good as in. It takes awhile for my little sister to get her head out of her ass. She's got a lot of guilt going on."
"Guilt?"
"She feels like she should've stepped in to take Sam after Johnny and Mary died. But she didn't. So now she feels hyper protective of them. Too little, too late if you ask me. But most people don't." Puck nodded, unsure of how to respond to that one. "So how about you and I go outside and take a look at that truck of yours? It's pretty nice." Puck felt a smile growing. Now this he could deal with.
It would be a slow journey (and a very long week) but gradually the other Evans started to realize that Puck wasn't going anywhere. He had his long awaited moment of acceptance when he, Sam, Jo and Ruby were out for dinner at Breadstix and unfortunately ran into Finn. His former BFF was apparently still stinging from the unanimous save for one vote that he not be allowed to sing at Nationals in favor of Puck. He was especially pissy that they actually won. They didn't just place they actually won Nationals. This did not lead to a happy Finn Hudson. This, in turn, led Finn to act like an asshole and loudly insinuate that Puck was cheating on Rachel with the first "two bimbos" he could find. He went on further to imply that Rachel should've stayed with him as he was the "better man". Jo and Ruby chose that moment to intervene pointing out that they were family before verbally shredding Finn to pieces. Sam captured it on his phone for Santana later. .
A few minutes later, Puck watched as Finn struggled to pay for his order after Ruby liberated his wallet. She assured him that she would return it but that she really didn't like people picking on her family. Puck didn't even argue against it. He just sat back and enjoyed the feeling. Because he was willing to admit that he was wrong. Sometimes family reunions could actually be pretty kickass.
Gun
Future. Dean's always dreaded those early morning/late night phone calls. They never end well. Especially when the person on the other line tells you that the club where Puck was working just got held up by a guy high off who even knew what and wielding a gun.
Dean's phone was ringing. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a problem. His phone was almost always ringing. Whether it be Sam or Puck checking in, Bella calling to bug him about some jerk she was dating, Santana to vent about how stupid his little brothers were or Rachel to tell him how amazing his little brothers were, Dean's phone was constantly ringing. But the problem right now was that his phone was ringing and it was almost two in the morning. He only got home about three hours ago. One of his clients had a crisis and he was stuck in the office trying to calm them down. So he was exhausted and fully prepared to enjoy his Charlie/brother free evening. So of course that meant that the goddamn phone was going to ring.
With a growl, his left hand shot out of the cocoon of blankets protecting him from the slight November chill and fumbled blindly for the object of his hatred. He already knew who it was since he preprogrammed ringtones for the repeat offenders. Made it easier to know who to bitch out for calling this damn early in the morning. Finally, his hand touched the cool plastic case and his arm retreated back into the warmth.
"This better be good, Puck, or I swear I'm going to hold you down and shave your head!" he grumbled into the phone. There was a slight pause and a very audible gulp. He almost felt good about that until he heard the person speak and it was very clearly not his brother's voice. "Hey, who the hell is this?"
"Uh, is this Dean?"
Dean sat up, sheet falling forgotten as that all too familiar feeling of fear and panic gripped his heart. "Yes, this is Dean. Who are you? And why do you have my brother's phone?"
"Uh, could you maybe stop yelling?"
Dean rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me, dude? Who the hell is this?"
There was another pause as the phone exchanged hands. Another voice came on this time, and it was still not Puck. "Hey, Dean, right?"
"Yes, we've established that I'm Dean. I swear someone needs to tell me what's going on. Like right fucking now."
The voice laughed. "Yeah, you're pretty much exactly like he said you were. I'm Angelo. I run the Moonlit Club on 12th street. As you probably know, Noah plays here some nights."
Dean did know that. Angelo DeLaurentis was also a musical composition professor at NYU during the daytime hours. He took one look at Puck and his lyrics and decided to hire his brother to play a couple of nights out of the week at the bar. Unfortunately, Dean hadn't been able to make it to one of his performances yet but he kept promising that he was.
"Is everything ok?" he asked, hesitantly. "You're not calling because he got wasted or something, are you?"
Secretly Dean prayed that it was because his little brother got wasted but he knew that Puck didn't get drunk. The kid was almost obsessive about it. But drunk was a lot better than dead. God, he hoped the kid was just drunk.
"No," Angelo said, his voice heavy with regret and just a hint of something else. "Noah wasn't scheduled to play tonight but he came in anyway. He said he was having a bad night and needed to get away from school for a bit. So he came in and was helping Mario behind the bar. Don't worry, he wasn't drinking. Just mostly helping Mario serve the drinks and working the register."
Dean wasn't worried about that at all. Because he knew his little brother gave off an attitude of recklessness and immaturity but he was pretty much the most grounded teenager Dean ever met. He didn't blame Angelo for letting him work the bar but he did wonder what caused him to head there in the first place. And why was Angelo calling him from Puck's phone? Why wasn't Puck calling?
"Angelo, as much as I love this recap of Puck's night, can you please just tell me what's going on? Where is my brother?"
"Being checked over by paramedics."
That feeling just now? That was his heart dropping into his stomach. He was oddly familiar with the feeling but he just never wanted to associate the feeling with his brothers. Either of them.
"What… what happened?"
"We were closing up about an hour ago when some punk comes in and decides to hold up the place. I was in the back… I didn't hear a damn thing. But Noah and Mario were up front."
Dean was already out of bed, moving around his room in the dark to get dressed, before Angelo even got to the part about his being in the back. The rest of Angelo's words washed over him. He heard key phrases. Puck wasn't dead. He was alive. He was held at gunpoint by a guy that was tweaking off some combination of crystal meth and angel dust. Dean didn't really care. If he saw the guy, he was going to break every bone in his face. He was already out the door when he caught Angelo telling him the real reason he called.
"He's trying to tell the paramedics that he's fine to go home. But he's not fine. I know the kid when he's fine. He's really shook up right now."
"Tell him to keep his scrawny ass there," Dean growled into the phone. "I'm on my way. I should be there in about half an hour. Tell him I will dye all his clothes pink and let Charlie braid his hair if moves."
Angelo let out a startled but amused laugh. "Yeah, you're definitely Noah's brother. I shall relay the message. See you in a half."
Dean hung up quickly, starting his car in the process. Once he was pulling out of the building's garage, he dialed Sam's number. Because where the hell was Sam with all of this going on? The one thing he loved about his little brothers was that it was relatively easy to find them. You find one, you find the other. Except apparently when one of them was getting mugged at work. Sam picked up on the fourth ring with a tired whine.
"Look, I already left him like ten voicemails saying how sorry I am."
"What?"
"You're calling cuz Puck finally told you why he came over there, right? He left here about four hours ago. Given how pissed he was, I thought it would take this long to get him to tell you about what was going on." Sam stopped for a moment. "That is why you're calling… isn't it?"
Dean barely got the whole story out before he could hear Sam stumbling around their dorm room, promising to meet him there. He hung up satisfied that if his threats didn't work then the human guilt factory that was Sam would keep the clearly reluctant Puck there. Less than twenty minutes later, he was pulling up to the club grateful for the lack of traffic on the streets and the awesome parking.
Though he had never been to club before, it wasn't hard to figure out where it was. It was the one with all the police cars and ambulances parked out front. A crowd of spectators had gathered around to watch the chaos. Dean was very seriously considering body checking a few of them when he spotted a familiar face. Elliot Novak was an officer he had the honor of working with a few times with his more rowdy clients. He whistled attracting the man's attention.
"Hey, what brings you down here?"
"The kid in there is my brother."
Elliot winced. "The tweaker?"
"Oh, hell no, the one working the bar."
"Not the one that pissed himself."
Dean blinked. He loved Puck but he wasn't quite sure how to answer that one. Then again this was Puck. Puck was his brother which meant that he loved and accepted him no matter what. But seriously? "He peed on himself?"
"Yeah," Elliot tried to fight back a smile. "I mean getting a gun held to your face can be pretty scary. Although the kid with the Mohawk seemed to handle the situation pretty well. If being a total smartass and attracting all the attention, getting pistol whipped and knocked can be called pretty well."
"He did what?"
"Oh, so it's Mohawk that's the brother," Elliot nodded. "Then I'm guessing the blonde that showed up about ten minutes ago is the other half of the younger brother duo."
"Yeah, Sam and Noah," Dean ran a hand through his hair, trying to peer through all the police and EMTs walking around. Elliot finally took mercy on him and pulled him through the gawking crowd and into the building. From there it was only a matter of listening to find his brothers.
"'m nineteen! Can leave if I wanna!"
"Dean said you have to stay."
"I don't wanna stay. 'M fine. Wanna go 'ome Sammy."
"Well the fact that you haven't managed to get through one sentence without slurring just says that no, you're not fine. And oh my god! Don't use the eyes! Holy crap its worse when you look like that."
Dean snorted, drifting closer to the scene. It would've been comical if not for the fact that Dean knew exactly why Puck was clutching Sam's arm like it was the only thing keeping him from falling off the bar stool. Although it wasn't hard for everyone to see why what with the ten or so butterfly bandages that were currently keeping Puck's bleeding head wound closed. Puck was covered in one of those horribly loud orange blankets that were used to prevent shock. Judging by the shades lighter skin, trembling hands, and wide hazel eyes searching the place warily, Dean had a feeling they were too late on that one. Still, Puck's eyes kept darting around the room expectantly. Finally, they landed on Dean and the tension in his body released. It was like popping a balloon.
"What did you get yourself into this time?" he murmured as he finally approached the pair. He cupped Puck's chin lightly, wincing at the bruising already starting to form on his face. "Anyone ever tell you not to mouth off to a guy with a gun?"
Puck smiled faintly, his eyes fluttering. "He was going after Mario."
Dean glanced further down the bar, which smelled disturbingly like urine and blood. A young man wrapped in his own blanket was being talked to by police officers, Elliot among them. He assumed that was the oft mentioned Mario. He looked like he could barely fight his way out of a paper bag. With his slight frame, huge eyes and pale skin, he reminded Dean of Kurt. And that would totally explain why Puck felt the need to deflect the gun pointing drug addict away from him.
"They want you to go to the hospital?" Dean asked, looking to Puck.
"Yeah," he said, reluctantly. One eye opened lazily. The normally expressive arrangement of green, brown and gold was clouded over leaving a dull mossy color. Well that wasn't good. "'m fine, De."
"Right," Dean smiled indulgently. He glanced up at hovering paramedic. "How long was he unconscious for?"
"According to the boss man back there about ten minutes," the paramedic reported. "He's got a pretty nasty concussion but he won't let us take him in for more testing. Keeps saying he'll sign out AMA."
"No more television for you," Dean warned. He shook his head. "Look, I'm his legal guardian and his next of kin. I'm saying that you have full permission to take him in and run as many tests as you need to. He's concussed meaning he's incapable of making properly informed decisions at the moment." The paramedic nodded in agreement.
"Hey!" Puck protested, voicing slurring heavily. He slid further off the stool. Dean was reasonably sure that Sam was holding him up more than that stool was. But he also knew that whatever Sam might have said that caused Puck to leave their dorm that evening was enough to ensure that Sam would hold him up with no complaints.
"Hey, nothing, brat. You're going to the hospital. I'm going to ride with you. Sammy is going to get his emo out of his system and meet us there. Ok?"
Puck didn't reply. The one eye just slid close completely and he went disturbingly limp against Sam. The paramedic, Eddie according to his name tag, stepped forward pressing two fingers against his neck.
"Steady pulse," he said. "Kid's just in shock. We'll take him in now. If you're riding with him then you better hurry up."
Dean barely had enough time to press his keys into Sam's shaky hands, assure his brother that everything would be fine, and point him in the direction of the car before he was whisked away in the ambulance with Puck. Three hours and a whole lot of testing and Sam's frantic apologies later, Dean was sitting in a chair beside the sleeping Puck's bed. Sam was on the other side of the bed with his head resting on his folded up arms next to Puck's head. It was a Kodak moment but Dean wasn't really in the mood to mock (enjoy) the adorableness that was his kid brothers. He was too busy obsessing over what could've happened. He could've lost them both. He wasn't naïve enough to think that Sam wouldn't have found some way to pin this on himself and that would've been the end of Sam as well.
He heard a slight moan and Puck shifted in the bed. His eyes immediately flew up to meet Puck's bruised eyes. He lifted a hand up to brush against drooping hair of his Mohawk.
"You're thinking too loud," Puck mumbled. "Givin' me a headache."
"No, I think that would be getting hit over the head with the butt of a gun."
"Eh, not a big deal."
Dean fought the urge to explode. First off it wouldn't help Puck's splitting headache. It also wouldn't help to wake Sam up again. Lord knows they both had enough of his damn apologizing. So instead, Dean leaned closer to Puck.
"Are you out of your damn mind? There was a guy with a gun, Puck! A drugged out of his mind, high as a kite man with a gun pointed at you. How are you acting like this just another day?"
"'s not the first time," Puck shrugged with one shoulder. "Different this time. Least he didn't fire it."
Dean opened his mouth to reply before he really thought about what Puck was saying. Not the first time? He didn't have the best opinion of Puck's father as it was. Any man that could systematically beat his child was pretty much not worth the effort of trying to form a positive opinion about. He really had an even lower opinion of his mother for letting it happen and doing nothing to stop it. But this? This was a whole different scenario. He actually pointed a gun at him. A goddamn gun at his son? And fired. Dean never in his life wanted to dig up a dead man more than he did in that moment.
"De?"
The red faded away as he remembered he was holding onto Puck's very sore and battered head. He let go gently, folding his hands on his lap. He met Puck's gaze and found there was no further signs of the fear that he saw back at the club. He was calm. He felt safe.
"You were looking for your father back there, weren't you?"
"Yeah," Puck admitted reluctantly. "I think my head got scrambled."
"How can you tell?"
Puck narrowed his eyes, wincing when it pulled on his stitched forehead. "I'm telling Bobby you were mocking me."
Dean rolled his eyes. "So your head got scrambled and you forgot the bastard was dead? Why'd you calm down?"
"That's obvious."
"Is it now?"
"You were there."
His heart which had rested firmly in his stomach since he first heard that Puck was in trouble finally felt lighter. He felt it lifting back to where it belonged. He knew that Puck trusted him. He knew that Puck opened up to him and Sam in ways that he never opened up before but to know that he trusted him that implicitly. That he knew even with a concussion that Dean would keep him safe from the literal monster of his imagination made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He knew there was a reason he kept the little monsters around.
"By the way, what happened to the guy?"
"Oh, him? Angelo finally heard what was going on around the time you got pistol whipped. After you went down, Mario apparently had a rather unfortunate response to his fear which distracted the tweaker long enough for Angelo to bash him over the head with a bottle of Jack Daniels."
"That's the good stuff!"
"Don't worry. He's taking it out of Mario's pay. Mario should've spent a little less time staring at you and a little more time locking the damn door last night."
Puck leaned his head further back against the pillows. "Can't help it that I'm hot."
Dean snorted, letting his hand rest over Puck's. He felt the curl of fingers against his palm and smiled. "I need you to take care of yourself, brat. I've gotten used to you."
"I can't promise that I won't try to help someone," Puck protested.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I had to text Quinn and Santana to let them know that they needed to watch Charlie a little longer than expected. Naturally they wanted to know why. Naturally they told Rachel why. The only reason she's not here right now is because she has to meet with her advisor at Julliard to plan out her classes. Otherwise she'd be here. But on a bright side, she told me to tell you that if you ever do something this stupid again, she will personally rip your balls off and feed them to you."
"You're giving me your interpretation of that, aren't you?"
"No, I was actually paraphrasing. There was a lot of interesting comments about flaying you alive and possibly beating you but I figured you'd get the gist from that bit."
"I hate you," he muttered.
"No, no you don't." Dean squeezed his hand lightly. "I don't hate you either."
Puck smiled faintly, closing his eyes again. "I'll try to be more careful."
"That's all I ask." He sat back as Puck fell asleep once again. Dean felt his own eyes grow heavy. He fell into a restful sleep full of awesome dreams of a world where Elijah and Debra Puckerman were never allowed to ruin their son's life. A world where Sam and Puck grew up together and neither of them was damaged or broken. It was a nice dream but Dean was pretty comfortable with his reality.
Home
Future. Dean really never gave much thought to the idea of home being where the heart is. But after arriving home to his empty, boring apartment, he may be a little more mindful of it in the future.
There is a saying that goes, "home is where the heart is". Dean Evans could care less about where his heart is (in his chest thank you very much) but he did give a good damn about where his bed was. His bed with its ultra soft sheets, firm mattress and awesome pillows. His bed which was the total opposite of the monstrosity that the hotel in Binghamton called a bed. He was looking forward to actually sitting down on a real sofa and watching a television that picked up more than two channels, none of which would be the competitive folk dancing channel. More importantly he was looking forward to actually kicking back and having a beer. He still wasn't sure how these conferences always ended up being in some backwater town that didn't serve alcohol (and looked at you as if you were a terrorist for thinking about asking about alcohol) and always had the crappiest hotels. They had to plan this crap.
But it was all in the past and he could already feel normalcy settling in as he shuffled towards his apartment. It was a very long week and lord knows he missed this damn place. As he opened the door, he smiled faintly at the Glade plug-in smell. Lily insisted on leaving the thing in to decrease the amount of smells that came from having a dog, a teenage girl and two boys. Not to mention the scary amount of former gleeks that still liked to drop in every now and then. He blamed his brothers. They almost always showed up with one of them. And they almost always showed up. Except for now. As he walked through the front door, he was more than a little disturbed to find the apartment was completely empty. Not a trace of a single living soul, not even the dogs.
"Hello?" his voice echoed around the apartment. That never happened. Normally, he would surprised if even heard his voice over the usual sounds of Lily and Charlie talking about their day, Ben trying to show him something or Alec just being… Alec. But now there was nothing.
He walked into his room and dropped his bag on his side of the room. The bed was neatly made up, proving that only his wife was sleeping there this week. Normally he left his side hastily made up. He never really saw the point of making it up when you were going to get right back in it. So in protest Lily would make her side up and ignore his side. But when he was gone, she always made the whole thing up. She claimed she was enjoying the peace and stability of not having a messy husband. He knew she missed him. With a groan, he sank down on his bed, expecting to revel in the comfort. He was sorely disappointed.
Yes, it was more comfortable than that crap he slept in all week but it was cold and empty. He rolled his side, staring at the crisp linen sheets that were tucked in with the pillows in their proper location. He missed the warmth of his wife lying next to him. He missed waking up cold because Lily was a bed hog who claimed all the sheets. He sighed, pushing himself off the bed. Well, that was a bust. But there was still the television.
He sauntered back in the living room and turned on the big screen television that was a gift from Puck with his first royalty check. He was honestly just proud of the kid for writing a Grammy award wining song. He didn't need the flashy present but he did greatly appreciate it. He headed into the kitchen to get a beer before flopping back on the sofa. They had all the cable channels and pay-per-view but five minutes later, Dean was bored. His beer sat on the table forgotten as he continued to pass through all one thousand channels once again. There was nothing that he wanted to watch on TV. Normally at this point, he would have at least five different suggestions about what to watch and that was usually just from Alec. Ben would want to watch some historical documentary. Charlie would want to watch some Disney channel nonsense. Lily would watch Law & Order to talk about how they're doing it wrong. Puck would suggest watching music videos to talk about how they're doing it wrong. Sam would just back whatever Puck wanted to watch but lately had developed a disturbing addiction to Spongebob. Too much time spent with Alec.
Dean tossed the remote to the side when he found himself flickering through the channels for the fourth time. There was nothing on television and his beer tasted like crap. Maybe it was because he spent so much time hyping it up in his mind. Maybe the reality wasn't living up to the fantasy that he built in his head this week. Or maybe, just maybe….
"Daddy!"
He sat up in time to be bombarded with the one hundred pounds of gangly flesh that was his fourteen year old daughter. Her arms wound tight around his neck as he struggled to sit up. He heard a familiar chuckle followed by barking.
"Shut up, Daisy," Sam muttered to their dog, who was sitting behind the sofa with her ears down. "You're just mad because she got there first."
"Taunting a dog, Sammy?" Puck commented, perching on the back of the sofa. He leaned forward and stole Dean's beer. "Dude, this crap is warm. Beer is meant to be consumed not left to rot on a coffee table!"
"So says the guy that's not drinking because his wife can't drink."
"Your lips are moving but all I'm hearing is 'blah, blah, blah', "Puck retorted, taking a sip of the beer. His lips twisted in a grimace before he handed it to Sam, who also took a swig. He frowned, holding the beer back out to Puck.
"That's seriously gross."
"Then why are you two drinking it?" Dean finally asked.
"Because it's yours," Puck shrugged.
"Can I have some?" Charlie asked, sitting up straight.
"No!"
"Party poopers," she muttered, sinking back into Dean's embrace. "Anyway, glad you're home, daddy. I have so much to tell you! My stupid science teacher gave me detention today!"
"Her 'stupid science teacher' gave her detention because she decided to tell all the other students in the class that his nickname is Trouty Mouth!"
Dean snickered, looking down at his daughter. "Really, Charlie?"
"What? One of the girls in my group said that the frog we were dissecting had a mouth like Uncle Sam. So I just mentioned that his nickname was Trouty Mouth. It is not my fault that the other students started calling him Mr. Trouty Mouth after that."
Puck laughed this time. "It's also not her fault that he actually answered to it. That's when he gave her the detention by the way."
"Sammy, abusing power much?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "Right, because the detention was such a threat. She spent most of that whining to Puck on the phone in my office before he decided that 'detention was for losers' and forced both of us to leave early. There is still a half an hour left in detention."
"You really lost a lot of cool points when you became a teacher," Puck replied, patting his brother on the shoulder. "So, Dean! Did I tell you I just got a call to write a song for Tiffany Young?"
"The chick from that Disney crap?"
"Yup!" Puck beamed. "Her people called my people and set it up. One day you'll see my song on some crappy Disney show."
Charlie lifted her head to glare at her uncle. "I take it back Uncle Sammy. You're my favorite uncle again."
"It's so easy to win your affections," Sam chuckled.
Dean laughed at the bickering and bantering between his daughter and brothers. Absently he reached for the beer when Sam handed it to him. He took a sip, and though it was warm and more than a little gross, he found that it tasted like how it always did. It never occurred to him that he was too used to sharing beers with his brothers.
Before he could even think about sharing that revelation, the front door opened once again. A very exasperated Lily followed by a mournful looking set of little boys walked through surprised to see the four people gathered on the sofa.
"Wait, I thought Charlie had detention. How is she home already?"
"She had to detention with Sam," Puck snorted. "I figured she could serve that detention as well at home. All she needed was Sam, so Daisy and I kidnapped them both."
"Can you kidnap me?" Alec muttered under his breath.
"Do they even give detention in the second grade?"
"If they do, Alec will be the one to find out," Lily ruffled their son's light brown hair gently. "Why don't you tell your daddy and uncles what you've been up to today?"
Alec sighed with the all the long suffering patience an eight year old could muster. "Today, Ms. Logan ignored Benji when he told her that stupid Billy was pulling his hair. So threw the glue bottle at him. She noticed that!"
Dean groaned before looking at the older of the twins. "And Ben, how did you react to that?"
"I told her that Billy was obviously her favorite because she was screwing his dad," Ben shrugged. "It's true though."
"And I got a phone call telling me the boys were being disruptive in class," Lily finished. "I hate that school, Dean. We need to transfer them before I'm tempted to follow Santana's advice and burn that place down."
Dean shook his head. "Alright, we'll work on this week. And for the record, following advice given by Santana is never a good idea. Please just remember Puck's bachelor party where they got arrested in Mexico!"
Lily frowned thoughtfully. "I still want to know what the hell you two were trying to do with that donkey."
"Me too," Puck murmured. Dean rolled his eyes.
From there it was a symphony of noise. Alec noticed the television was on and insisted that they watch the latest SpongeBob episode. Ben wanted to watch a documentary per the usual. They ultimately settled for watching some show about real stories from the ER. He didn't know whether to be happy that his children were taking an interest in science or worried about the fact that Alec kept muttering about making genetically engineered soldiers. His youngest child was a bit too smart for his own good.
He settled back on the sofa that was now overcrowded. Charlie was still lying across his lap with Alec on top of her. Lily was beside them with Ben on her lap. Puck and Sam were seated on the floor also watching television. He finally relaxed feeling comfortable in his apartment for the first time since he arrived home. And that's when he realized there was more to that saying after all. Home is where the heart is. And these people were most definitely his heart. Man, he was such a sap.
*I hope you all enjoyed. Have a great weekend!