Summary: Jacob needs to get as far away from Washington as he possibly can. He doesn't know where he's going, but he finds a very special someone when he gets there. Eventual Jacob/Kurt.

A/N: I'm going to try to stick as close to the show as possible, so THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR "JOURNEY" IN UPCOMING CHAPTERS. You have been warned.

Also, after this chapter I will try to focus more on the Kurt/Jacob part of it, rather than the Puck/Jake-brotherly bond I seem to have been doing by accident. Sorry about the confusion! It will be a Jake/Kurt slash, eventually.

Imprint

11: Bond

Puck was out with the glee kids at Mr. Schue's house when he felt it. It was around six thirty— right smack dab in the middle of his babysitting duties— when his stomach clenched in fear. Something was terribly wrong.

There was no mistaking the feeling; it was the same one he got when Quil had been injured in a fight last summer. That feeling of connection with his Pack when they were in danger, no matter which form he was in. His position of Alpha gave him a much stronger bond to the others, and even with the distance interfering with their communications, he could tell something was wrong.

Hannah was watching something on television— a girly program with lots of people dancing about in dumb-looking clothes— so he grabbed the cordless phone and took it into the bathroom, locking the door securely behind him. His fingers numbly dialled Sam Uley's number. Even if Sam wasn't home (if he was somehow involved in whatever was going on), Emily would be there with some kind of answer. She was usually pretty well-informed.

The phone rang only twice before it was answered by a cheerful female voice. Emily. "Hello?"

"Emily, it's Jacob," he said breathlessly, sinking down onto the edge of the bathtub.

"Jacob! It's great to hear from you."

"Emily, where is everyone? Where's the Pack? Are they okay?"

He could hear Emily's sigh through the phone as a rustle of static, and his pulse jumped into his throat immediately. Oh no, oh no, oh no...

"That depends on what you qualify as 'okay,' I guess," she said, her frown evident in her voice. "Everyone is alive, but Seth's a little worse for wear and Leah's... well, I suppose she's more in shock than anything else."

Jacob heaved a sigh of relief— at least everyone was alive. "What happened?" he asked, a guilty feeling developing in the pit of his stomach, making it churn uneasily. Was it his fault? Had his Pack gotten injured because he wasn't there to protect them?

"As far as I know, there were two baby vampires on the rampage just outside Forks, and your Pack went to intercept them before they got to the city. Leah's been the unofficial Alpha since you were gone, and she got Sam's guys involved— there was a scuffle, and Seth was bitten. He says it hurt like a bitch."

"B-Bitten?" he choked, his hand grabbing the edge of the sink and squeezing until his knuckles went white. "Is he...?"

"Oh, no. Thank god. Apparently wolves are immune or something. He's at the Cullen's anyway, and Carlisle's taking care of him— it's going to take a day or two for him to be up and ready to fight again, but they say he'll be fine."

Jacob ran a hand over his face, groaning. "You're sure?"

"Yes, sweetie. Positive. Do you want to ask Sam? He's just walking in the door—"

"Yeah, put him on."

There was a shuffle and the murmur of background voices for a minute while the phone was passed off, and then Sam's rough, "Jake. Where are you?"

"Ohio. It's... complicated. How's Seth? Is he really going to be okay, because I had this gut feeling that something was terribly wrong and—"

"He'll be fine, Jake. The bite is already fading, and he's joking about how cool the scar would look if he could keep it. Why is it complicated? Your dad won't tell us anything, and your Pack has been really worried about you."

"I uh... imprinted on someone here," he explained, biting his lip. "I didn't think distance could break the bond, but I don't feel anything Nessie anymore. It's weird, but I think I must've broken it or something, because you can't imprint twice, right?"

"I guess baby Cullen and you weren't soul mates, then. I can't even imagine not being able to feel anything for Em. Who is this girl that you've imprinted on? And where the hell are you staying, because you left with forty bucks in your pocket, and that's not enough for a hotel, even in Ohio."

"It's... uh..." Jake's cheeks burned red as he tried to think of a way to cover the fact that he hadn't imprinted on a girl. He failed miserably, so he tried to skip the question. "I'm living with the Puckermans— apparently they're Quileute, and they've taken me in temporarily."

"That didn't answer my question: Who's the girl? Don't we even get a name? Or are you too high and mighty now that you're off on your own that you don't want to tell us?"

"It's not like that, Sam! I just... it's kind of... weird."

"Explain it to me, then. Because I thought I was your friend, even though we run separate Packs."

"We are friends! It's just... it's not..." He paused, closing his eyes. "...a girl."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, and then Sam's barking boom of laugher echoed staticly through the receiver. "Then what the hell did you imprint on?" he laughed, "First a half-vampire, now what...?"

"His name is Kurt," Jacob said dejectedly, rubbing the back of his neck. "He's in a show choir."

Sam's laugh only increased. "A guy? Really? Dude, I feel so sorry for you. How the hell are you supposed to— do you even like dudes? I thought you were straight as an arrow!"

"I thought I was, too." He rolled his eyes at Sam's laughter, shaking his head. "Goodbye, Sam. I'm hanging up now..."

Sam managed a, "Yeah, bye," between spluttering and laughing into the phone. Jake hung up and groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face again to try and erase the embarrassment. Of course the first person who forced him to come out or whatever was Sam. Sam, who would blab to both of their Packs, and probably the whole reserve. Great.

"Are you ever coming out of there? I have to pee!" Hannah Puckerman's pretentious high-pitched voice yelled from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He got up off his perch on the side of the bathtub and unlocked the door, moving out of the way just in time for the eleven-year-old to shove her way into the bathroom and slam the door on his back. Jacob rolled his eyes and went to the living room to replace the phone on its cradle, just as Mrs. Puckerman and her son walked through the door together.

"Give me ten minutes to whip up some pasta and then we'll eat, okay?" she said as she rushed through the door and tossed her coat onto the nearest coat hook.

"Actually, Mrs. P., I'm not very hungry," he muttered, and Puck gave him a wtf? look.

"Well, okay; I'll make you a plate anyway, in case you change your mind..."

Puck nodded towards his bedroom and Jake followed him as he walked there, his shoulders tense behind his back. "How was the party? I didn't think you'd be back so soon," Jake said once the door was closed.

"It really wasn't all that much of a party," he said darkly, flopping onto his bed. "It turned into a pity-fest and a cry session, mostly, about how much it's gonna suck to not have glee club anymore."

"Oh?"

Puck sighed, shaking his head. "If we don't place at Regionals, and Sylvester will make sure we don't, then we lose the club. Something about budget cuts and it having to be worth it, meaning trophies. No trophy, no club. And it sucks!"

Jake gingerly sat down next to him on the mattress, patting his roommate on the shoulder warily. "That sucks."

Puck nodded, and then shrugged. "Yeah, it does. What about you? What's gotten you so un-hungry?"

Jake rolled his eyes at Puck's choice of vocabulary, but answered nonetheless. "One of my Pack was bitten by a baby vampire." Puck's eyes widened.

"Dude, is he—?"

"Dead? No. Immunity to the poison. But it's going to hurt like a bitch healing, and it's going to take several days. I can't help but feel like if I had been there, I could have protected him."

"There's no way you could have known," Puck said, folding his hands in his lap. "Life just all-around sucks this week, huh?"

"Yeah."

They sat like that, silent, until Puck's mother called them for dinner. Jacob sat at the table with the little family, but didn't even pick at his food. That feeling of fear and guilt and helplessness churned his stomach, and he didn't think he could have even tried to swallow the delicious-smelling pasta.

"Excuse me," he murmured half way through dinner, pushing back his chair and leaving the table. Puck's eyes followed him with a knowing, apologetic gaze as he left the room. He pulled off his shirt and socks and left through the back door, his feet carrying him in the general direction of the forest.

He really needed some time alone to think again, but he'd never been so alone before in his life. Life was confusing, and it really sucked most of the time.