Disclaimer: I do NOT own rights to any of the characters from Glee. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: I realise I ruffled some feathers with the last chapter. I apologise for not putting in the appropriate warning, I've gone back and done this now. Thank you to all of you for your reviews, I know some of you were and are sceptical about why I needed the sex in the last chapter. Suffice to say I feel I need it in order to do something with the plot that I've had planned.
Taking into account the review from nooneinparticular I can say I do have a broad outline of where I want to go, with various plot points I want to hit along the way. It's just the details of how to get from one to the other that's lacking a little. I also firmly believe that the events of the last chapter are necessary, though I suppose I could have glossed over the sex part.
Feeling I had to at least make some amends, I got up a little early before work this morning and I wrote this up for you. I hope you'll accept it as a peace-offering. I promise no more Het Sex in this fic.
Thank you for your critique nonetheless, it is helpful to know where I've gone wrong and I hope I am able to make amends.
Chapter 21 – Return to Lima
Kurt spent all day Sunday with Mercedes again, this time shopping for a replacement shower set. Burt had come up trumps for his son, deciding not to make mention of the broken shower door and deciding instead that now was as good a time as any to let Kurt do the upgrade he had been begging to do for months now.
And so he and Mercedes had taken his baby on a field trip and spent the day in Cincinnati wandering amongst a forest of unplumbed toilets and baths, 'oohing and aahing' at the various makes, models and colours. It may not have been haute couture but there was something about IKEA that Kurt found quaint and soothing, plus 'cedes loved the little meatballs on sale at the food court.
Kurt could tell that Mercedes was still worried about him and was walking on eggshells most of the time. It didn't make him angry with the girl, but it did make him frustrated with himself that Puck of all people could cause him to snap and with a kiss no less, when the bullying and tormenting he'd suffered from various jocks over the years had only served to make him stronger.
The more he thought about it the more he became defiant. He wasn't going to allow Puck to break him. He was worth more than that.
As the pair drove back to the Hummel house from Cincinnati, the sun was going down and the sky was a beautiful fiery orange. They had been mostly silent during the trip, Kurt because he was thinking and 'cedes because she wanted to let the boy think.
She eventually had to break the silence however.
"So... how do you want to play this tomorrow?"
Kurt glanced at her quickly before shifting lanes and hitting cruise control. Taking a breath and collecting his thoughts he let them spill out,
"I... I think I want to forget it ever happened..."
Mercedes nodded in acknowledgement accepting the proposed plan.
"I don't want Puck to know that he got to me. So we..." he stressed the word while he thrust his hand between them pointing back and forth, "...are going to keep what happened between us... and my Dad of course, but I'll take care of that."
By the time he'd finished laying out his plan Kurt's posture had straightened out and a determined glint had settled in his eye. No meat headed jock was going to get the better of Kurt Hummel. He'd make the boy rue the day he'd ever laid eyes on this soprano.
By the time that Finn dropped Noah off at his house, a lot of fences appeared to have been repaired between the pair. It was still new, this truce between them and it would probably take a good deal of trial and error to figure out where the new boundaries in their friendship now lay but it was a good start.
The journey back to Lima hadn't taken quite as long as the journey from Lima to Anna, but it was pretty close and the sun had just dipped beyond the horizon as the Buick pulled up at the kerb.
Stepping from the car he wished his friend a good night and thanked him again for coming to get him. Receiving a self-deprecating shrug in return and a parting goodnight from the Quarterback, the Buick pulled away from the kerb, tail lights disappearing into the darkness.
Standing there now on the sidewalk again Noah could feel the chill settling into his bones,
'Freeze to death or face Q...'
Grumbling he realised that either way he was going to die, so he might as well die warm. Climbing the porch stairs, Noah slipped his key into the lock and had leaned in to turn and open the door. He stumbled across the threshold when the door opened of it's own volition from the inside.
'Uh oh'
There standing haloed by the light from the fridge, where she'd clearly been getting a snack was Q and she looked seriously pissed. Not saying a word she simply turned away and went back to assembling her club sandwich.
Standing there in the doorway, almost afraid to enter the room he ran his hand through his mohawk in agitation before huffing out a breath and biting the bullet.
"Hey Q... look I'm sor..."
A small voice from the body not turned towards him brought him up short as he realised the shoulders were shaking softly,
"You left me Noah... I... I needed you and you weren't here."
Noah's heart crashed in his chest as the girl turned to face him, sandwich forgotten, and for the second time in four hours he felt like a complete shit. Her pale face glistened in the moonlight as silver tears tracked down her cheeks.
"Oh... Q..."
All pretences were dropped by the taller boy as he launched himself across the room to scoop the petite girl up into his arms.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
He continued to rock the girl until her sobs reduced to sniffles and she turned a tear-stained face up to study the jock's face. A little hiccuped giggle escaped her as she took in his stubble covered face and the out of control mohawk. Taking a sniff of his chest the girl determined he needed a shower... and fast.
"Go take a shower Noah... we still have to talk, but you're stinking the place up right now."
Realising that the worst of the conversation was still to come, he'd tell Q the truth like he always did, he nodded meekly and placing a kiss to the top of the girl's head he made his way to the stairs and to the bathroom.
"Love you Q..."
"Love you too..."
Forty minutes later, Noah had scrubbed himself raw, his bronzed skin having a healthy pink tint to it from the friction he'd used. His mohawk had been cleaned and rinsed and he'd changed from his pyjamas, which he'd given up as a bad job and thrown out.
Dressed in his sweats and a hooded vest Noah padded back down to the kitchen where he found his interrogator sitting patiently at the kitchen table with a mug of hot milk in front of her.
She nodded at the chair opposite him and he took the implied order to heart.
'Won't be getting myself anything to drink then...'
"Why did you leave town Noah?"
He had been dreading that question and knew that Q was not going to be happy with him for his answer.
"It's... uh complicated..." he offered and winced as the girl's glare came back full force, "..I... I kissed Kurt..."
Quinn's response to that was an explosive breath and a declaration,
"Finally!"
Looking to the girl in shock he asked the unspoken question,
"Oh... come on Noah, I've seen it for days now how you've been obsessing over the boy... I honestly didn't think you'd work out what you were feeling though... you usually just put complex emotions down to having gas..."
He blushed at that accusation realising that the girl was in all likelihood completely correct.
"But... there's more to the story isn't there... you didn't skip town simply for kissing a boy..."
Nodding he continued his story in a soft voice, hoping to minimise any potential eruption from Mount Fabray.
"I... uh, I might have said some things that he took the wrong way... in the heat of the moment?..."
Quinn wasn't prepared to give the boy an inch and demanded of him,
"What did you say Noah?" the implied threat was clear to tell the girl verbatim what he'd said.
"... that I'd fuck him... make him scream and then tell the world..."
If Noah thought he'd previously seen Quinn angry it was nothing compared to the she-demon who sat across from him now. If she'd grown a forked tail and some horns at that very moment he would not have been surprised.
"WHY? Why would you DO such a thing Noah?..."
The jock cringed as the words reverberated around the silent kitchen.
"I... I have no excuse..." he rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I... just... he misunderstood..."
"MISUNDERSTOOD? How could he possibly have misunderstood?" her nostrils were flaring and he could have sworn for a second the girl's eyes had flashed red.
A little defiance grew in the boy as he bit back,
"Because he didn't let me FINISH!" his own raised voice brought Quinn to a halt as she witnessed the emotional breakdown of the boy sitting across from him.
Ramming the palms of his hands into his eyes he pressed hard, trying to stop the flow of tears he could feel coming again.
The next thing he felt were a thin pair of arms settling around his shoulders as Quinn embraced him. He felt the sob building up in his chest and spilling over together with the tears which tracked down his face,
"Oh.. Noah...", the girl's voice cracked with emotion, she hated seeing her friend in pain.
"I... uh, wanted to say that I'd... I'd tell the world... that I wanted to be with Kurt Hummel... and to hell with what they thought... but I didn't get the chance..."
Quinn was running her hand in small circles on his back as he gasped and sputtered trying to regain control of himself.
"And... there's more... I made a horrible mistake Q... and Finn knows...and so Kurt will find out and he'll never speak to me again."
There was no accusation in the girl's tone any longer, she was for the first time in her life truly concerned that her friend was broken. He'd always been the strong one, he'd always had to be the man of the house, she'd never seen him this fragile and it scared her.
"I... uh... crashed out at a Motel in Anna...there was this girl who ran the place..."
Quinn sighed in resignation knowing exactly where the boy's confession was heading.
"Did you fuck her Noah?"
She was surprised by the vehement shaking of his head and was disappointed in herself to doubt her friend's truthfulness for a moment.
"No! No... we did... stuff... other stuff, but not that..."
Nodding in acceptance she tried to form words of comfort, words that would tell the boy that it didn't matter, that it would be alright. She couldn't find any. Instead she increased the strength of her embrace around the boy and sighed quietly,
"Oh Noah..."
His sobs returned twice as hard as before.
A/N: Hey guys, just a short chapter for now, I hope to be able to put up Chapter 22 later tonight as this was just a short interlude for the most part.
Ta... James xoxo
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