It takes courage to live through suffering and it takes honesty to observe it- C.S Lewis

To my great surprise, Finn seemed to be holding things together this morning. He had slept soundly last night, and was happily eating the omelet that Dad had made him this morning. He was still in his pajamas, shorts and a wrinkled T-shirt, and he looked like he could have been just about anyone, enjoying his breakfast during a normal day off from school.

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his cheek. "Are you ready for this, Cowboy?"

"I'm ready." As hard as I tried, I couldn't detect any lie in his voice. "I mean, it's going to happen whether I like it or not, so I might as well just be ready. I'm going to go up there, and tell the truth, and fuck them if they don't believe me."

No one called him on his language, so I did it. We had been nervous about doing anything that might make him quit speaking again for so long that he had become rather complacent about foul words. "Finn, you know I hate that word. Use something different."

He gave his eyes a friendly roll. "Fine. I'm going to go up there and tell the truth, and if they don't believe me, they can get sexually penetrated with a pointy object. How's that?"

"Now you're just being a jerk." I kissed him again to cover up the fact that I really wanted to laugh.

"But I'm funny." His sideways smirk told me I wasn't being as sneaky as I thought I was.

"Finn, eat your breakfast. Kurt, what do you want to eat?" Dad tossed the comic section of the paper over so Finn could read it.

I shot Dad a dirty look, which he pretended not to see. This had nothing to do with breakfast. No matter what he claimed, Dad just didn't like seeing me kiss Finn, or acknowledge that there was something between us. He would rather pretend that we were brothers, and that we slept in our own beds at night.

Most of the time I tried to look at it in a positive light. Daddies never like to think that their kids are growing up and have relationships of their own. It wasn't Finn personally, it was just that Finn represented the first steps of me moving on and having an adult life. It was a hard pill for a parent to swallow.

Sometimes, though, it was really hard to see it that way. I felt like if Finn were a girl, it would be different. Then he wouldn't mind seeing us kiss, or be affectionate with each other. Even though he had never said anything, I could help but feel like, deep down, he was disgusted with what he saw.

It ate at me, but I couldn't exactly make an accusation. I had nothing to back it up with, and it was a terrible thing to assume. Usually, I told myself that I was just being paranoid, and that Dad was doing nothing out of the ordinary. Most of the time, I even believed it myself.

What made me sometimes think different was Finn. No, he hadn't said anything about it, either, but sometimes I would see a look in his eyes before he kissed me that was worrisome. If Dad was in the room, Finn would cut his eyes quickly in that direction before he would make a move. I couldn't tell if the rapid movement was him asking for permission, or if it was a defiant 'I'll kiss your son whether you like it or not' thing, but it was quite clear that Finn acted differently when Dad was around then when he wasn't. Finn was intuitive before any of this happened, but now he can read the slightest movement or gesture. Maybe he saw something in Dad's reactions that I didn't always.

Or maybe he's still unsure of where he stands with your father. Is he his son? His son's boyfriend? His girlfriend's child? His stepson? The kid that lives here until he turns 18? You know where you stand with Carole, but Finn's uncertain about his place in the house.

There was more then a little truth in that. While Finn had been away (I always thought of if like that, as if he had just taken a semester abroad or something. The word 'kidnapped' was forbidden, even in my mind) the rest of us had bonded in a way that made us a confused, broken, family, instead of just three people that lived in the same house. It wasn't perfect, and couldn't be until Finn came home, but at least we were familiar with each others habits and preferences.

Finn had none of that. When he came home, we were already a unit, and he was the outsider. He would always have a special relationship with Carole, since he was her son, and now he and I had something special as well. But Dad was the bad guy. Dad took Carole away and made Finn move. Dad was his boss at the garage. Dad looked a little like Joseph. And until Finn and Dad could bond as two people, we didn't have a hope of being a family.

We had been gentle with him so far, maybe too gentle. But there was always some reason not to push him. Wait until Finn settles in. Wait until Finn's talking. Wait until Joseph and Lily are arrested. Wait until the trial. Wait until….wait until what? There had to come a time to push things, and we were rapidly approaching it. I was just a little nervous about what Finn's reaction would be when that happened.

"Just toast is fine."

"You should eat more then that." Finn gulped the last of his milk. "At least put some cinnamon and sugar on it. Plain toast is for when you're sick."

Plain toast was a perfectly acceptable breakfast, and didn't cause the blood sugar spikes that his proposed breakfast did. But giving into him was simple, and I didn't want to cause him any stress before he got back on the stand. "Cinnamon and sugar, please. Finn, your suit is hanging up in the bathroom." He started to speak, and I held up a hand to cut him off. "And before you ask, the answer is no. You can not wear that gross South Park tie to court. Your choices are red or dark blue, period."

I don't think that Finn actually wants to wear the tie. It's just something for him to focus on, so his mind doesn't fixate on what's actually happening. "Dark blue. But you still need to tie it for me."

That wasn't unexpected, considering had trouble tying his shoes as well. "Bring it up when you're ready."

"Ok." He bounced off, crashing down the stairs like a herd of elephants. The door wasn't closed, so we could all hear him slam into and possibly break something. Carole laughed a little. "When he signed up for Glee last year, I had such high hopes that he would learn some grace."

"Dancing isn't his strong suit." He was much improved from last year, though. It's just that there's a lot of Finn, and he has trouble controlling all of himself at once. He seems to either be able to concentrate on his top half or his bottom half, not both at once. I'm hoping that since he seemed to have quit getting taller (at least I hope he isn't growing any more, 6'3 was more then enough for any one person) that he'll settle into his body and not be so clumsy all the time.

I released a slow breath. I was terrified for today, but I was even more terrified to let Finn see that I was afraid. If we could fake it well enough as his family, then maybe he would believe that things were going to be alright.

Because I know what false bravado looks like, and, let me tell you, Finn was as fake as Rachel Berry's tan. I don't know if he's putting on a show to try and fool us, or if he was just getting into brave mode early.

I hoped that he could hold the illusion up, no matter what the defense attorney threw at him. Finn had been strong on the stand before, and he had the fact that he was telling the truth on his side, but it was the attorney's job to pick on the smallest inconsistencies in what Finn said and use them to tear him to pieces.

Even though I wasn't going to be the one of the stand today, I made sure to dress nicely. There's no excuse for not looking one's best. Plus, Finn liked me in this sweater, and had told me so more then once. I wanted to give him something nice to look at.

I was still doing my hair when Finn poked at my shoulder. "Tie, please."

"Ok. Give me a minute." I finished quickly and had him lean down so I could fix his tie. It brought me back to that day in his mother's basement, when we had looked through his father's old stuff to find something for him to wear to Quinn's house. It was hard to believe, but that had been almost a year ago. Definitely before Christmas. It was amazing that something that had seemed so important at the time could have happened so long ago. "Are you ready for this?"

"Yeah. I can do this." His smile was sweet and natural, and I wondered if he was even fooling himself this time. "I'm right and I know it."

"You are right. No matter what happens, I believe you, and our parents believe you. Everyone in Glee believes you. Mr. Shue believes you. Everyone who matters believes you." I did my best to be reassuring, remind him of all the people he had in his life that cared about him.

But Finn saw right through it. I might recognize false bravado in an instant, but he can too. "But those aren't the people who matter. I mean, they do, but they don't. Right now, the people who matter are the jury, and that's it. Even if everyone else believes me, if they don't, no one does. Joseph and Lily go home, and Puck's still dead."

Puck would be dead whether the Wrights are convinced or not. Finn's not stupid, and he knows that. But I think there's a part of him that feels like, if he does everything he needs to, and he's believable on the stand, then, somehow, Puck gets to come home. It's not logical, but hope never is. "I'm sorry, Finn."

He shrugged. "Not your fault. You did your part when you were on the stand, now I have to do my part."

I had no reply for that, so I just reached out and took his hand. His fingers curled around mine, squeezing tightly. That tension, more then anything, told me that he wasn't as unaffected as he appeared.

But he held strong in the car, and walked away from us with confidence. Dad nodded at his retreating form. "He's going to be fine."

Whether he would or he wouldn't, it was all up to Finn now. We found the same seats, so he could search us out in the crowd. We had been running a little late today, so we waited less then fifteen minutes before things started and Finn was called back to the stand.

The defense attorney swore him in, and repeated the questions about his name and age. Finn stuttered nervously, which he hadn't done the last time. The attorney noticed. "You seem nervous today, Finn."

I had never seen him so pale, but Finn nodded gamely. "I am."

"How come?" The words were gentle, as if it they came from actual concern rather then an attempt to lay a trap.

"Because you're on their side, and your job is to try and make me look bad. I don't want to say the wrong thing." His one shoulder twitched slightly, and I knew that he was clenching his hands under the table.

He had been reminded over and over that just because he was under oath to tell the truth, it didn't mean that he had to blurt out every thought that came into his head. I had to give him a pass on that one. It was easy to talk about when you were at home, but things are different on the stand. It's hard to focus on anything except not panicking or throwing up.

"Finn, that's not true. My job isn't to be any anyone's side. My job is to ensure that the truth is told, and that everyone gets a fair trial."

I would have give anything to have had a camera right then, just to capture the 'You have to be fucking kidding me' look on Finn's face. But he managed not to blurt out what he had to be thinking. "Ok. Sorry."

"Now, Finn, I know that you started with moving in with the Hummel family the last time you were on the stand, but I want to go back a little further then that, if it's alright with you."

It didn't matter whether or not it was alright with Finn. He would have to answer the questions, because he was under oath and they were being asked of him. It was so incredibly unfair, but it was what it was.

"Sure, I guess. Where do you want me to start?" Finn was already getting nervous. There was an angle, because there was always an angle, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Start with your mother and Burt Hummel's relationship? Start with how they met."

"Um, ok. My real Dad is dead, and so is Kurt's real Mom. Kurt's Burt's son, if you didn't remember that. He and I are the same age, so we go to the same school. Mom and Burt met on parent-teacher night."

"Were you there at the time?"

"No, I stayed home." He was looking confused, as if he had no idea where this was going.

"Was Kurt?"

"I don't know. I told you, I wasn't there." A furrow had appeared between his brows making him look innocent and more puzzled then ever.

I knew that he wasn't. More then one person out in the courtroom had snickered at Finn's exaggerated innocence, just like he had intended. Finn hated this man passionately, and would do everything in his power to make things difficult without actually being flat out rude.

"What did your mother tell you afterwards?" He was setting up each domino so carefully, so that he could send them all sprawling in the end.

"That she had met Kurt's father, and that he seemed like a nice man. He fixed the weird noise her car was making, and she offered to make him dinner as payment. She didn't make it sound like a date or anything, but she gave me and Puck some money and told us go to the movies. So I knew that it really was a date, even though she pretended that it wasn't."

"How did that make you feel?"

He shrugged. "Kind of whatever. She'd been on dates before. The only thing that was kind of weird about it was that I was in Glee club with Kurt. Other then that, her going on dates was just something that happened. The guys never stuck around, or she dumped them."

"But Burt didn't go away, did he?"

Resentment colored Finn's voice. "No. After a few weeks, she didn't even pretend that they weren't dating. She wanted Kurt and me to come along, like we were a real family and everything. It was going too fast."

"Did you tell her that?"

"I tried, but she wasn't really listening. She was kind of stupid in love, just like I get when I'm with someone new." He looked uncomfortable saying those things about his Mom, even though they were true.

"Tell me what happened when you and your mother moved in with Kurt and Burt. I want to remind you that you are under oath."

The spark of anger that crossed Finn's face was obvious. "Mom and Burt just decided that it was time for us to move in together. Their house, not ours and not a new one. They didn't ask me or anything. I think they asked Kurt, but I'm not sure."

"How did they tell you about the move?"

His eyes flashed again. "Kurt set up a welcome home party, and I had no idea what was going on. But I had to be nice and not start screaming, because we were guests in his house and I didn't want to be rude. I guess I could have, though, because it was my house, too. I just didn't know it yet."

"They had you move in on the same day?" His concern was getting faker by the second, and I was worried that Finn wouldn't pick up on it until it was too late.

"No, it was a few days later. The party was on a Tuesday after Glee, and we moved in that weekend, so it was…" He counted quickly on his fingers. "Four days later."

"Did you have your own room?"

"No." His head shook slightly. "Kurt and I had to share. We still share. But it's the whole basement, so there's plenty of room for both of us."

He had definitely clued in to the fact that he was being set up, and was trying to soften the blow that he knew was coming. But he couldn't stop what was happening. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck.

"What was that like?"

"It sucked. I've never, ever, had to share a room with anyone and I didn't know how. The room's big, but Kurt was used to having all of it to himself, so his crap was spread out everywhere. He went to bed too early for me, and bitched because I would wake him up coming downstairs when I wanted to sleep. But he got up earlier then me, and would wake me up by doing his normal morning stuff. He didn't like it when I practiced my drum set in our bedroom. I brought food downstairs and ate it, and he thought that was disgusting and unsanitary. He hogged the bathroom in the morning, and I either didn't get a shower, or I had to go to school with wet hair. I like lying on my bed and having a quiet place to do my homework, and he would be downstairs singing or dancing around. Everything he did bothered me, and I think everything I did bothered him. He felt pushed out of his own room, and I felt like a kid sleeping over at someone else's house, instead of living at my own. Yeah, it's kind of cool for one night, but then it isn't. You don't really know the rules in the house, and you miss your own bed and your own life. But it was my life, now."

It was the most honest assessment of our living situation that had come out of either of our mouths. Finn didn't put all of the blame on me, nor did he take it on himself. What he had described was an accurate account of two somewhat spoiled (Ok, in my case very spoiled) teenage boys who having their lives turned upside down. Neither one of us had acted admirably.

"Did you tell your mother any of this?"

"Yeah." Finn nodded. "I told her that I wanted to go home, and that I didn't want to share a room with Kurt."

I snuck a glance over at Carole, whose eyes were brimming with tears. I knew that she blamed herself for what had happened, and for not listening to Finn's quiet desperation.

"Did she take you home?"

"No."

"Did she get you your own room?"

"No. There wasn't any room for me to go to." The anger had faded from his face, leaving a weary sadness behind. "I was stuck."

"What did she do?"

"She talked to Burt, and he told her that we could put up an addition on the house, so I could have my own space. But it would take a while, and so Kurt and I could share for right then. They talked about getting a bigger house, too, but that cost a lot of money." His voice was pleading, trying hard to make us understand that we had all done the best we could in an unfamiliar situation. "The addition was going to be a project for Burt and Kurt and me all to do together."

The lawyer nodded. "Tell me a little more about Kurt."

Despite the circumstances, he managed a small smile. Finn held his hand up and crossed the middle and pointer finger. "We're like this. I don't have any secrets from him, and I don't think he has any from me. Now it's no big deal to share a room. It's like we've always been a family."

I still had secrets from Finn, the biggest of which was just how much his torment I had orchestrated. I set Carole and Dad up. I coyly hinted that they should start thinking about a more permanent living situation. I had been very clear that I didn't mind sharing a room. I certainly hadn't intended things to turn as badly as they had, even if I could have never imagined anything like what eventually happened with the Wrights. But I had kept silent about that for so long I couldn't say anything now.

"Finn, I want you to move back. Think about your relationship with Kurt not the way it is now, but how it was when you first moved in together. Tell me about things then."

"Oh." Finn thought for a minute, his teeth nibbling at his lower lip. "There really isn't that much to tell. At the beginning of the school year, I didn't know him at all. I knew his name, but that was it. Even after I first joined Glee, he was really shy around me and barely talked at all. I think it was about...um….October, I think, and he asked me if I could help get him on the football team, since I was the quarterback." He smiled again, eyes distant with the memory. "Except he knew nothing about football, and was really small and skinny and a little uncoordinated. I didn't really get why he wanted it so badly, but I wanted to help him out. I got him on as a kicker, and we actually won a game for once. I guess that was the first time I really noticed Kurt."

He stopped, giving the man a quick, confused look that I read immediately. Do you want me to keep going? Because I don't want to start babbling and accidentally say the wrong thing. If you want to hear more, you're going to have to ask. I nodded even though he wasn't looking anywhere near me. Good job, Finn, keep going.

"Were the two of you closer after that?" He wasn't going to let Finn stop there, because Finn wasn't quite where he wanted him.

"A little bit. We had six boys and six girls in Glee and mostly it was boys with boys and girls with girls, but Kurt was best friends with Mercedes, so they hung out together all the time. But, you know, Rachel was always over on the boys side nagging me about something, so it was still six and six. He talked to me more, but we weren't really close. He always acted kind of scared of me."

That hadn't been by my choice. I was always wanting to talk to and bond with Finn. But I never knew how, and I mostly ended up stuttering and looking stupid when I tried. The fear he saw was real, but it wasn't him I feared so much as the thought that he might look in my eyes and see my feelings for him, and then what would happen? He had been flippant and kind when he thought I was asking him to prom, without any of the disgust I would have expected. But if he thought that it was more then just a passing fancy…well, I had already seen how it worked out when the moved in with us. We both got overly aggressive, and things turned ugly.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I missed another question and the beginning of Finn's answer. "-that was the first time we really talked about anything. I knew that his Dad owned a car garage, but I didn't know that his Mom had died. My Dad's dead, too, so it was something that we had in common and could talk about. He helped me find some nice close to wear over to Quinn's, and even found me a song to sing for them. It didn't end up working out very well, but it was really nice that he at least tried."

It made me feel better that Finn still thought that had been a nice gesture, because it had been. There was no ulterior motive, except the minor one of spending more time with him. I had really wanted to make things better for him, Quinn, and Baby Drizzle.

"We'll talk about both your father and Ms. Fabray in a few minutes. I still want to focus on Kurt. So, the two of you had a very slim and tenuous relationship, am I correct?"

He blinked. "Uh…what's tenuous?"

"Fragile. Things were fragile between you, even before you moved in together."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. He was still my friend, because we were in Glee together and he was a cool guy, but the sort of friend you mostly hung out with at school."

"But that got worse after you moved in together, for all the reasons you talked about a few minutes ago."

"Uh-huh."

"There's another reason that things were bad between you, though, wasn't there Finn? Something that had less to do with what Kurt was doing, and more to do with what he was, correct?"

My face burned. This lawyer was about to out me in front of the entire courtroom and assembled media. No, it was worse then that. He was about to make Finn out me. Even though that had happened when I was on the stand, too, Finn didn't know that because I had been too embarrassed to talk about it. Why did they keep harping on me and my sexuality? This wasn't fair. I wasn't the one on trial here, so why was I the one who was going to be punished?

Don't worry, Sweetheart. I'm sure that by the time this is over, Finn's reputation is going to be far more soiled then yours. He's not on trial either, but there's always something to be gained by blaming the victim.

Was the fact that Finn was going to be humiliated as well supposed to make me feel better? Because it didn't. Dad reached over and put his hand on my shoulder in a silent gesture of support. I laid my fingers over his.

Finn gave him an obviously confused look. "I don't understand what you're asking me."

We had made it clear to him that if he was at all uncertain, that it was better for him to ask for clarification of the issues then to guess wrong and potentially answer the wrong thing. He was doing exactly what he should.

"Is Kurt gay?" There was no undertone of exasperation anywhere in his voice.

"Oh. Well, yeah." Clearly, Finn didn't yet understand what this had to do with anything.

Neither did I. Other then some general mudslinging about me and our family, my sexuality had no bearing on this trial.

Of course it does.

"Are you gay, Finn?"

"I like girls." While a cute bit of sidestepping, that didn't exactly answer the question, something I was sure the lawyer would pick up on instantly.

A certain gleam in his eyes told me that he had, but, oddly, he chose not to pursue the matter. "How did it make you feel to have to move into a house with, and share a bedroom with, a gay boy who had a crush on you?"

Finn shot me a miserable look, silently asking me to forgive him for what he was about to say. "Not so good."

"Not so good? Did Kurt make any attempt to rape you?"

"No!" Finn's voice was sharp, though not loud. "Kurt would never do that to me."

"Did he touch you in a sexual manner?"

"No."

"Did he flirt with you and make you uncomfortable?" His tone and facial expressions said that he already knew the truth.

"I…" Finn was trapped and he knew it. Making eye contact right now would make it look like the two of us were in cahoots and thus making the story up as we went along. The truth shouldn't require two people to tell it. Still, I closed my eyes and hoped that he would know that he would know that I wanted him to tell the truth, no matter what it might be. "Yeah, he did that."

"What sorts of things did he do?"

Finn's head leaned back for a minute as he thought. "He would get too close to me. If I was sitting at the table, he would stand right behind me. Sometimes he would put his hand on my back or shoulder. And he was always there. I know that we shared a house and a bedroom, but there were lots of rooms in the house. If I went downstairs, he followed me. So I would try to sneak back upstairs and sit in the living room, he would make some excuse to come up there, too. He even followed me in the bathroom."

"The bathroom?"

Finn jumped, like he had forgotten that he wasn't alone in the courtroom. Hastily, he tried to backpedal. "I mean, not while I was using it or anything. But I had to wear KISS make-up for one of my Glee performances, and I was having trouble getting it off. I totally could have done it, bur he came in all bossy and telling me how to do it. If I had wanted help, I would have asked for it."

I remembered that day, which has the distinction of being the only time that I thought Finn might actually hit me. He's usually such a big klutzy teddy bear, that it had shocked me when he lunged at me so quickly and aggressively. I had trapped him, and I saw in his eyes that he wanted to fight his way out.

But he hadn't. He may have wanted to hurt me, but he had stopped himself before he actually did it. It was only now, though, that I fully recognized the very thin line our family had been walking, and how dangerously close we had been to going over it. Desperate people do desperate things, and Finn had been about as desperate as someone can get.

"Did you tell him to stop?"

"No."

"Why not?" He sounded surprised at Finn's admission, but I didn't believe a single emotion was real, unless it was greed.

"I just…what was I supposed to say? Stop looking at me? Don't go in our bedroom even though it was his first? Don't talk to me? If I accused him of flirting with me, he would say that he wasn't."

That was the truth, even though it was painful to hear. He had accused me of flirting, and I had denied it, even thought we both knew the truth.

"He wasn't doing anything all that bad. Some of it was annoying, but it wasn't exactly dangerous. It was just that he wasn't listening to me, and Mom wasn't, and the guys at school were picking on me and it seemed like a bigger deal then it was."

In trying to justify what had happened, Finn was only giving him more ammunition. "What do you mean the guys at school were picking on you?"

Too late, he realized his mistake and got the deer in the headlights look. "Um…some of the other guys at school were saying stuff about me and Kurt. You know saying that we would be boyfriends now, and that he would make me turn gay. Shit like that." He abruptly flinched. "I mean, stuff like that, sorry."

"It's alright, Finn. I just want you to focus on what you're saying to me, instead of worrying about your language, alright?"

Finn nodded tentatively, and he pushed on. "So what I'm hearing you say is that you were unhappy with your mother, unhappy at school, unhappy in the house you lived with, and unhappy with the person you shared a bedroom with. Is that correct?"

And the trap was sprung. Mr. Samuels had skillfully painted a picture of a teenaged boy who was unhappy in just about every aspect of his life. Who wouldn't believe that he might run away in those circumstances?

"I guess so." He was squirming desperately, trying to figure out a way to get out of this. "It would have gotten better, though. It was just that things were so new."

It was a feeble excuse, and we all knew it. But instead of pressing the point, the lawyer just moved on. "Why don't you tell me about Noah Puckerman?"

That was a tough one, but not unexpected. Finn actually smiled. "Well, first of all, we called him Puck. I don't think I called him Noah since we were little kids. I've known Puck since….God, I don't even know when. Kindergarten, maybe even preschool. We did everything together."

"What sort of things?" With every word that came out of that mans mouth, my stomach clenched a little tighter. Any and everything that Finn said right now would humanize Puck, making him more then just a name and set of autopsy photos. Why was he doing this? Reminding everyone that a 16 year old boy had brutally lost his life for no reason other then he was surplus wasn't exactly the best way to garner sympathy for his clients.

"Boy Scouts when we were little. T-ball. Both of our Mom's work, so the Mom that was off would babysit us. I knew his house as well as I knew mine. We did everything together."

I tried to imagine what it would be like to have someone that I knew inside and out, just like Finn did Puck. Someone that I had a history with going back while over a decade. That was amazing to me in and of itself. Then I tried to imagine what it would be like to go out and grab a burger with him one night, and lose him so suddenly. What were the last words that Finn and Puck spoke to each other before Finn saw Lily on the side of the road? Finn always avoided telling me exactly what they had been, and Puck would never be able to. The line of thought gave me chills, and I rubbed up and down my arms to calm the goose bumps.

"What about when you were older?" His voice was honey-sweet, leading Finn down a path to…where exactly?"

"Baseball instead of T-ball. We were able to go bowling or go to the movies by ourselves. He had his own truck. We played football together. I'm the quarterback. I mean, I was the quarterback. This year Sam is, because I don't want to ever play football and not have Puck to play with. We were in Glee club together last year for the first time. It was great."

"You were best friends."

It wasn't a question, but Finn nodded anyway. "Yes."

"Did the two of you ever fight?"

This time, I recognized where he was going, but was powerless to stop it. Finn nodded slowly. "Well, yeah. People fight, especially when they know each other as well as we did. Plus, Puck could be an asshole sometimes."

"In what ways?" I'm sure that he thought he was making a point, but the one Finn was making was just as strong. When someone dies, there's this natural tendency to make them out to be a saint, as if all of their faults vanished when their lives did. By talking about Puck as he really had been, instead of some idealized image, Finn was letting each juror know that Noah Puckerman was more then that false image. He had been a person, full of his own faults and strengths, and he deserved a chance to grow and change them.

"Everything was about him. He could be a bully, and he could be mean. If someone else had something and he wanted it, he would just take it. Things like that."

"So why hang out with him at all, if he was this terrible person?"

"He wasn't. He could be a jerk sometimes, but then he could do the coolest things. We knew each other's secrets, and we hung out all the time. He was selfish, but he was good inside. He was just taking a little longer to grow up then some people. And now he won't." There was no snark in that last sentence, just sadness.

"Did Puck ever take things that belonged to you?"

"Sure I used to have to count my X-box games after he left, because he would sneak them out of the boxes. But I used to do that same thing to him, so I guess I can't complain."

A few people snickered, and Mr. XXX scowled. "But there's something else of yours that Noah Puckerman stole, isn't there? Let's talk about Quinn Fabray."

We had all known that that was coming. Finn and I had even discussed it a few days ago. But there are some things that you can't ever be fully prepared for. But he held strong. "Quinn was my girlfriend. Then she had sex with Puck and got pregnant. But they both let me thing that I was the one who got her pregnant. It was almost three months before I found out that the baby wasn't mine."

"What happened when you found out?"

Finn cringed. "I punched him."

"You punched him? From what I heard it as a little more then a single punch."

"I guess it was more like five or six punches." He looked down in shame. "I'd never hit him before. I never hit anyone before."

The lawyer ignored the last part of what Finn had said. "So, what I'm hearing is, Puck slept with your girlfriend and then lied about it, and there's a history of violence between the two of you."

Finn's mouth opened and closed, but there was nothing he could say. Yes, Puck had slept with Quinn, and yes, Finn had been violent towards him. It was an incredibly out of character action for Finn, but that didn't matter. The defense attorney's job was to spin what had happened in a way to make Finn look bad, and he was doing a wonderful job. Yes, Finn had only hit Puck once, but that was all it took for him to be portrayed as a violent monster.

So he was going to blame Finn for Puck's murder after all. While the prosecution had to turn everything over to the defense, the reverse wasn't true. We would have no idea what their version of the events that had transpired would be until we were actually in the courtroom.

This had been a pretty masterful move. Puck had not only taken Finn's girlfriend away, but had actually gotten her pregnant. That jealousy was the oldest motive in the book. Finn's clobbering of Puck in the choir room, while totally justified in my opinion, only made things worse.

"Finn? Am I correct in what I just said?" He had to hammer the point home.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Ok. I'm going to move on to the night that March 5 of last year."

The first part of today had been nothing but window dressing, introducing us to everyone involved, establishing that Finn had plenty of motive to both run away from home and hurt Puck. Everything that had been said was the complete truth. From here on out, Mr. Samuels was going to have to make up a story and keep everything believable.

Because, in the end, it was going to come down who the jury believed, and the person that was the most believable was the one who could tell the best story, whether it was true or not.

Finn looked over at me, and I knew that he was aware of that. A causal observer might not see it, but terror lurked in his dilated eyes. He was still doing well, but I knew that this time, the emotional fall out was going to be much bigger then before.

I just hoped that he could hold it together long enough to get off the stand.