He called her on the road
From a lonely cold hotel room
Just to hear her say I love you one more time
But when he heard the sound
Of the kids laughing in the background
He had to wipe away a tear from his eye
A little voice came on the phone
Said "Daddy when you coming home"
He said the first thing that came to his mind

Burt sighed as he shut the door behind him. He hated this part of the job, yeah he loved that he was able to make a difference for his sons and their friends and others like them, but he hated having to be away from his family so much. This was the third time in two months he had to leave and here he was yet again in another hotel room, in another town to many miles away from those he loved.

After he had gotten as comfortable as possible in the very nice, but lonely, room he called his wife, smiling when she picked up on the third ring with " If you boys do not settle down I will knock you both up side your head and send you to your rooms" burt couldn't help but laugh, his boys could be a hand full. His wife's voice brought him back "honey, you there, honey?" burt smiled, he couldn't believe he was lucky to find a second love, someone who completed his heart. "yeah I'm here honey" he fell down on to his back, phone still in hand "I just wanted to call and see how everything was going, but from what I could hear you seem to have your hands full" he chuckled, he could hear his wife let out a sigh "yeah but you know how kids are, always causing trouble" he could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke.

I'm already there
Take a look around
I'm the sunshine in your hair
I'm the shadow on the ground
I'm the whisper in the wind
I'm your imaginary friend
And I know I'm in your prayers
Oh I'm already there

"well they are only eight, don't you remember what you were like at that age?" he asked, he remembered what he was like and he was a huge brat "well yeah I do, but I was never this bad. Besides its not just finn and kurt" he raised a brow, this could only mean "Noah.." he could hear a voice in the back shouting "puck" his wife laughed "sorry. Puck and quinn are over, Nora had to work the night shift so im watching puck for her, why that women thinks its ok to work while six months pregnant is beyond me. Diana is also working the night shift and she was unable to have quinn stay at her friend santana's house so she is here also" he raised a brow before laughing when he heard his wife move the phone from her ear so she could shout at the kids to put something down, followed by the sound of metal hitting the floor "I swear they are going to be the death of me" she said as she got back on the phone.

Just as he was about to speak he heard a rustling sound as two voices spoke into the receiver "Papa..is that papa?" one asked as the other tried to talk louder "daddy? I wanna talk to daddy" burt chuckled "alright hold on. Ill put him on speaker" carole said before the sound of a button being pressed "ok go ahead" she said a moment of silence followed before his boys spoke again "Papa, noah and quinn are over. Were have a sleep over" Kurt said, burt could see the smile plastered on his face, a tooth missing "yeah daddy, and were gonna have the best of best times. Mamma said we can stay up late and watch movies all night long" finn said jumping up and down causing the phone to shake, burt laughed "is that so. Sounds like you boys are gonna have an awesome night. Just go easy on your mother ok, if you guys are good ill bring you back something special ok?" burt smiled, he always brought something back for his kids when he had to go on these trips. He remembered why he was doing this In the first place, the fact that will shyuster got all art programs banned in ohio, he knew his boys liked to sing and dance and play music, without the programs they wouldn't be allowed to learn and grow and become well rounded adults, he was doing this for them and for all those who dreamed of a life full of joy and laughter, it didn't hurt that he had sue Sylvester as his partner to help him do just that.

"hey papa?" he opened his eyes when he heard kurt speak "yeah buddy?" he asked "umm..when are you coming home?" he asked "yeah daddy, we miss you. Me, mama, kurtie..even puck and quinn" burt smiled and felt a tear role down his cheek when he heard quinn and puck shout in the background "Papa burt we love you" wiping away the tears he cleared his throat "I'm already there. Take a look around" he paused for a moment "im always going to be with you guys. Whenever im away just close your eyes picture my arms around you when I give you guys hugs, or when I gotta wrestle with you guys for the remote. I know I gotta be away from you guys but im doing it for something very important." He could feel the tears flow down his cheeks, he really missed his boys, he missed his family everytime he had to leave them "but I will be home before you even know it" he smiled when he heard his boys cheer "good because then we can play cars again when you get back" Finn shouted before running off "yeah, and have tea parties after we work on the cars" Kurt said laughing "well gotta go now, puck wants to get married" kurt said before running off. Burt sat up "Married" he gasped just as carole got back on the phone chuckling "oh dear" burt growled "Married? What is going on over there with my little boy?" he asked tapping his foot, his eye brow twitch, he must look like one of those cartoons the boys watch "oh don't worry dear it's a pretend wedding. Finn and quinn are getting married too" carole laughed, she loved her husband but he was so protective of both boys "but puck did say something about marrying kurt when they were old enough" she laughed when burt growled just as he was about to go into a speech that his boy was too young and that no one was good enough for his boy he heard carole talking to the kids "Kurt stop trying take off pucks pants. Quinn where did you get those markers? Finn…where are you pants?" she sounded so confused "puck..what happened to your hair?" he heard kurt and finn laughing "I gave him a Mohawk. He lost the bet so I got to cut his hair" kurt sounded so happy "yeah, its awesome, I love it. But only because kurtie gave it to me" Puck said followed by the sound of kissing "EWWW. Boy cooties" Quinn shouted "puck and Kurt sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g" Finn started singing only for it to be cut short when it sounded like something or someone tackled him "oh these boys" carole sighed "Quinn why don't you go get washed up ok? Ill get your sleep cloths ready. Kurt, can you explain why finn has no pants?" she asked "yeah well we were playing cards and he lost, so he had to give up his pants. Quinn had to put makeup on but since we aren't big enough to use it, we used markers. Noah had to let me give him a new haircut" carole chuckled "and what about you? What if you lost?" she asked "well I had to promise to marry noah when we got older" burt heard shuffling and then kurts soft voice "but between you and me, I lost on purpose. I wanna marry noah one day, hes awesome" burt coughed, he wasn't ready for his boy to be talking about marriage. Just as he was about to speak he heard the sound of crashing and breaking glass, followed by his wifes huff of breath "sorry honey gotta go. Puck and finn broke a lamp, again. I love you" she said before hanging up, just as the call eneding he could hear her shouting "Puck. Finn. Get to the corner now. Kurt go get your pj's. Quinn put your cloths on" then silence. Letting out a sigh burt put his phone down, making sure it was charging. On the small bedside table he put a picture, one of his family. His wife, his two sons and their friends. Closing his eyes he couldn't wait for the next three days to pass.