Chapter 29

(A.N: Hey guys! So sorry I haven't posted in what seems like forever. A billion things have happened and uh. I hope this chapter is okay, I'm not too sure about it myself, it's not exactly what I wanted but... I want to say thanks to Kevin – if this person is still reading this- for their review that I told all my friends about. I would also like to say thanks for being patient. I am so sorry.)

Dave hesitated on the doorstep. The inside of the Hummel household looked warm and bright, and the outside was cold and rainy but at the moment he wasn't sure what was more dangerous. He wasn't sure if this was real or some delusional dream caused by lack of nourishment. All he knew was that there were people who hated him here. Taking his chances he stepped inside the house, limping from the pain in his leg. Finn smiled at him as he took off his shoes with difficulty, cursing under his breath while he untied his laces.

"Would you like to change out of those wet thing….um…"Finn's mom asked.

"Dave, my name is Dave." He blushed and looked at his feet. "Um, yes, please, thanks." Finn lead Dave to the bathroom, his clothes dripped water onto the clean carpets. He felt bad but there was nothing he could do about it, he just wished he wasn't doing something to annoy the people who were giving him shelter when they were already being more kind to him then they should have been. He thanked Finn, than entered the bathroom, falling onto the toilet as soon as he locked to door.

He had spent three days homeless, even though the toilet wasn't the most comfortable seat in the world, it was better than where he had been sitting since Tuesday evening. He took a moment to relax, putting his head within his hands. He was exhausted, he was lucky the Hummel's had picked him up, his leg wouldn't have lasted much longer without a rest. His ankle was purple and swollen; he could feel it pulsating as blood tried to get through to his toes. It had gotten worse than the last time he had checked it, but it didn't hurt any more than it had, it only looked horrible.

He took off his backpack and pulled out a pair of jeans. They were damp, but nowhere near as wet as the pants he was wearing, which was a relief. He pulled them off carefully, feeling a slight stinging as wounds reopened that had healed around the fabric. His skin was a little chaffed from the wet material and as he slipped on the new pants he found them a little tight, and hard to pull on. He knew they weren't too small for him, but they felt weird when being pulled over wet, chaffed skin.

Next he pulled off his shirt; this was more painful than taking off his pants. It hurt to lift his arms in a way that he could try and manoeuvre his shirt so he would not pull off his gauze. He knew he should change it, but he didn't have any more, and he didn't have any money to buy more. Other than 17 cents at the bottom of his bag he had spent all of the ten dollars he had taken with him. It shocked him how fast the money could go, being from a moderately wealthy family he had never had to worry about money, now it was always on his mind.

Dave wished he could stay in the bathroom forever, or at least until the rain stopped. He didn't want to face Mr. Hummel's angry face, or Finn's awkwardly concerned face, and especially Kurt's face, his eyes avoiding him at all costs. He at least wished he looked better. He got up slowly, hoping on his good foot to the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was dirty and had bits of leaves and twigs stuck within it. He moved his tongue across his teeth; they were scuzzy though they didn't look too bad. His face was the worst, the gauze around his forehead helped soften the appearance, but not by much. The scars and bruises stood out against the paleness of his skin. He didn't dare look at the cut under the bandages. Blood was caked on his face, and parts of his skin were peeling. He put some water in his hands and carefully cleaned his face, making an effort to look a little more presentable. He also rubbed some water through his hair to clean it off. He didn't understand how the rain hadn't been able to wash away the dirt in his hair; he rolled his eyes and did the best he could. When he looked a tad less grotesque he opened the door and hobbled out. Finn was waiting outside the door.

"Uh, thanks."

"No problem, Kurt and my mom are making dinner; you want to throw your stuff in my room?" Dave wasn't sure what to say, he couldn't really believe he was actually staying in this house. He nodded slowly.

As Finn lead Dave in the direction that he presumed was Finn's room, he felt a tight grip on his shoulder. Turning around he found himself face to face with Mr. Hummel. Dave looked at the floor, but knew that Mr. Hummel was staring at him with very hard eyes, he knew men like Mr. Hummel.

"These are the rules while you're in my house; you stay away from Kurt you understand? You stay away from Kurt, and don't let me catch you saying, no thinking anything that is discriminatory against him do you understand? No insulting actions, nothing. I need your word."

"Burt, come on his isn't going to..."

"Look at me." Dave looked up slowly, just as he had thought Mr. Hummel's eyes were stone cold and serious. Dave nodded, he understood completely. He had no intention of making gay jokes ever again, at least not anytime soon, and not mean-spiritedly. Mr. Hummel seemed to believe him, and took his hand off his shoulder, walking away.

"Come on, my room is upstairs, we can stay there until dinner" Finn smiled absent minded, but Dave frowned and raised his eyebrows. Finn caught Dave's looked and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Dave shook his head and limped over to the stairs. "Oh, shit. Can you make it up?"

"Yeah, it's not a big deal" though Dave wasn't too sure. Finn stood behind him, as though he was a child who was just learning to stand. Dave put his good foot on the stair, and then quickly pulled his other foot up to the step. One stair down, many more to go. He felt Finn's arm slip under his, allowing him to lean on Finn for support. It bothered his ribs a bit, but it was better than going at it alone. Slowly but surely they made it up the stairs, and into Finn's room.

"Sorry it's a bit messy" said Finn as he sat Dave down into a soft desk chair. Messy was certainly an understatement. Dave had never been allowed to have a messy room, his...he would get in trouble if he did, so he had never imagined a room like this. Clothes, C.D's, cases, books, paper, everything seemed to be on the floor. "It's usually not this bad; I was going to clean it up. I'll clean off a spot on the floor before we go to sleep, you don't mind sleeping on the floor...or do you want the bed. That was rude; I should offer you the bed shouldn't I? I..."

"The floor is fine, thanks." Compared to where he had been sleeping for the last two nights, the floor was great. He was just happy to have a warm, dry, animal free space to rest his head. Anywhere at this point was better than the forest in his mind.

"You sure? It's not problem man." Dave nodded, and Finn accepted his reply. Dave didn't even care if Finn cleared off the stuff off the floor. The forest floor had been covered with rocks, spiky plants, and weird clumps of dirt that had stuck into his body and refused to allow him to sleep.

Finn shuffled awkwardly, looking at Dave then looking away. He sighed, Finn wanted to talk. "Yeah?"

"What?"

"Go ahead and ask me whatever you want to know." Finn stared at Dave as though he had just figured out the best kept secret in the world.

"How did you...? Where have you been?"

Dave shrugged "Nowhere in particular."

"We were all worried about you. I mean when you didn't come back to school the next day I thought..."

"You thought I tried to off myself again?" Finn blushed, obviously uncomfortable asking. Dave shook his head "No, nothing like that. Did they replace me on the team?" Dave wasn't sure how he'd come back to school, but the information was important to him.

"Temporarily, but the practice right guard isn't nearly as strong as you are, and doesn't understand the plays as well. We could really use you back on the field man." There was a strained silence. "Are you doing okay?" Dave laughed, it seemed like an incredibly silly question, Finn laughed as well. He didn't ask Dave why he had no place to go, or why he did what he had, or why he had all these injuries, or when he was coming back to school. He just asked "Do you want to play Madden on my Play Station?"

Even though Dave was exhausted he agreed. It was nice to momentarily forget about all his problems and just do something a regular teenage boy did. He knew his problems could wait till later, they weren't going anywhere. He began concentrating on the game, blocking out all his aches, he even smiled.

It seemed to last only a few minutes before he heard a muffled yell from somewhere in the Hummel house. Finn's head went up like a prairie dog, and he jumped to his feet, throwing the controller to the side. "Dinner, com on man I'm starved." Dave nodded, getting up slowly. He was hungry too, but he felt really sleepy and didn't really want to go down stairs.

Finn made himself a crutch for Dave again as they walked towards the stairs. Dave was glad, he felt dizzy and light headed. He heard the banging of cutlery as they made their way down, and he could smell delicious food.

It was as they got to the bottom of the stairs that Dave felt his vision go black.