Friday 19th November 2010

"Oh my god, Sam." Erin said as she entered the choir room for Glee rehearsal after lunch on Friday. She quickly made her way to him and winced at his black eye as he took the ice-pack off of it.

"What happened?" She asked as she took the ice-pack from him, carefully pressing it against his eye herself.

She hadn't noticed that literally everyone else was in the room until Mike started talking.

"He took on Karofsky!" He said with awe in his voice. "Dude was a wild animal!"

"Manimal!" Artie interjected.

"How bad does it look?" Sam asked Erin who winced.

"Quite bad." Erin told him, shaking her head. "What on earth were you thinking?"

"He pushed Mike into Artie." Sam said, trying to justify the fight. "And he kept saying things about Kurt."

Erin gave him a sad smile, knowing that whatever words Karofsky had said had probably hit Sam a little too close to home.

"You have no idea how hard it was for me not to jump into that beat down." Puck said with bravado from where he sat next to Quinn at the back of the room.

"Where were you, Finn ?" Santana asked.

"I was still out on the field, okay?" Finn tried to defend himself. "I totally would have given him a beatdown if he had been there, though."

"Why do guys have to try and solve problems with their fists?" Erin bemoaned, "It just gets you hurt."

"Erin's right, everyone. While I appreciate the sentiment behind the beatdown, Sam, Mike, Artie, Puck… that wasn't a smart thing to do." Kurt looked around at the room. "It's none of your problems, it's mine, and I can deal with it myself."

"Woah?" Mr. Schue said as he entered the choir room late, "What happened to Sam's eye?"

"He stood up to Karofsky." Quinn said, sounding proud and Erin saw Sam smile slightly at the praise and rolled her eyes at him.

"All the guys did, well not Finn." Tina added.

"Is everyone okay?" Mr. Schue asked with an air of panic, eyes darting over all the boys as if looking for more injuries. "Do we all need to go talk to Principal Sylvester?"

"No," Sam said with a shake of his head, wincing slightly. "I got in a few good licks too, so we can just call it even. Maybe this will send a warning to Karofsky telling him to back off Kurt."

Sam looked over Erin's shoulder at Kurt, who Erin, turning to look too, finally noticed was all by himself. It reminded her of the couple of weeks his dad was in the hospital, when she and Kurt seemed to have a permanent ring of chairs around them.

Mr. Schue went over to him, clasping him on the shoulder.

"You okay, Kurt?" He asked and Kurt nodded, opening his wedding binder as a sign that he just wanted to get on with the rehearsal.

"All right guys, let's take our places." Mr. Schue said, "We've got a wedding to prepare for."

Erin tried her best to ignore the stinging in her hip as they ran through the choreography for Marry You and managed to do quite well until Mike noticed her flinch as they got to the hopping down the aisle section.

"You okay, Erin?" Mike asked and everyone turned to look at her. She felt herself flush at the attention and nodded.

"Just a bruise from Wednesday," She said, "I'm fine."

"Here," Sam said, running over to his seat and returning with his now mostly melted, but still cold, ice pack. Erin laughed and took it from him, placing it on her hip and holding back her sigh of relief.

"I'm fine, really." She told everyone as they continued watching her, "I'll be fine by Wednesday."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kurt asked as they waited with Finn for Burt to turn up for dancing lessons after school and Erin nodded.

"Seriously, Kurt, it's just a bruise, a bad one, sure, but it'll be gone by Wednesday." Or at the very least, Erin thought, It won't hurt as much… hopefully.

"Your dad's here." Finn spoke up from where he'd been awkwardly sitting on his stool and Kurt went to greet his father, dragging him to his own stool and moving back to the front of the room to stand with Erin.

"Thank you both for attending the Hummel-Bailey Wedding Dance Seminar."

"That makes it sound like we're getting married, Kurt." Erin joked and Kurt rolled his eyes before looking towards his father.

"Dad, you're going to have to pull off the first dance with Carole. And if Uncle Andy's 40th birthday party was any indication, you're going to need some work."

"What are you talking about, my moves were great, okay, it was the damn sangria."

"You dance to the beat," Kurt said, taking Erin's hand and bringing her into a hold as an example, nodding at Brad to start, "Not to the words. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4."

Erin followed his lead for a few more measures before he spun her out of the hold and took his father's hand, placing it in hers and coaching his father through leading.

"Lead with your left foot dad, opposite of Erin." Burt stood on Erin's foot with a quick apology before seeming to get the hang of it as Kurt moved away from them and watched for a few measures

"Look, Finn! I'm dancin'" Burt said with excitement and Erin laughed as she managed to move her toes out of his foot's line of fire. It almost felt like dancing with her own father… if her dad had suddenly forgotten how to dance and de-aged about 15 years.

"Come on Finn, no chickening out!" Burt said as Kurt held a hand out to Finn. "I'm doin' it, you have to do it too."

Erin noticed that Finn looked uncomfortably at Kurt's hand, almost as if it was a grizzly bear or something about to kill him.

"Can we uh, can we close the door?" Finn asked, looking between Kurt and the door as he stood without Kurt's aid, "I'm not really comfortable with people watching."

"Come on, Finn!" Erin called, "You dance in front of people in Glee Club."

"And in front of a thousand people at Regionals last year." Kurt added, grabbing Finn's hand "Now, place your right hand on my waist."

"Where?" Finn asked and Erin was reminded of the scene of Ron and McGonagall in Goblet of Fire .

"His waist, Mr. Hudson." She shouted over to him with an exaggerated Scottish accent. No one seemed to get her reference. Sam would have gotten her reference.

A scoff came from the doorway as Finn's hand went to Kurt's waist and Erin froze, Burt stepping heavily on her toes, as she saw the tell-tale red of a letterman jacket. Burt turned just in time to see Karofsky make a limp wrist gesture right at Kurt and Finn, and even Brad seemed to stop what he was doing in incredulity.

"What the hell was that?" Burt asked, dropping Erin's hands where they were still frozen in place and turning to Kurt.

"It's nothing dad," Kurt said softly, staring out the door after Karofsky.

"That was not nothing." Burt stressed, "That guy was making fun of you, what the hell is his name?"

Kurt froze at the question, opening his mouth with little sound coming out in answer.

"Tell him, Kurt." Finn surprisingly urged.

"Tell me what ?"

"Tell him or I will."

"His name's Dave Karofsky," Kurt said with an exasperated sigh, turning to face his father. "He's been harassing me for a few weeks now."

"Harrassing you how ?"

"Just…" His eyes darted quickly towards Erin before darting back to his father, "Shoving me, giving me a hard time."

"There's more. There's something else you're not telling me." Burt said, apparently knowing his son well enough to realise when he wasn't telling the whole truth and for a second Erin thought, hoped, Kurt would finally come clean with everything.

"He threatened to kill Erin and I." Kurt said quickly and Finn turned to look at him in shock as Burt quickly headed towards the door to follow after Karofsky.

"What? You've got to be kidding me?" Finn said, looking between Kurt and Erin and, after noticing Burt missing, running out into the hallway after him.

What followed felt like pure madness as Erin followed Finn and Kurt from the Choir room in time to witness Burt shoving Karofsky against a wall.

Karofsky looked genuinely terrified.

"What the hell!?"

"You like pickin' on people?" Burt asked, arm up against Karofsky's throat.

"What?"

"Why don't you try me?" Erin covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes widened at the scene, her heart felt like it was going 60 miles an hour.

"Burt, stop!" Finn said, trying to pull him off of Karofsky.

"Dad, please, your heart." Kurt begged, pulling at his other side.

Karofsky was finally able to get free of Burt's hold and made his way down the hall away from them, constantly looking over his shoulder with a look of fear as if expecting Burt to attack him again.

"What the hell have you been doing while this is all going on, huh?" Burt asked, turning on Finn, before walking away.

"Dad," Kurt says after him and Erin feels herself begin to tremble, everything that had happened finally meeting it's boiling point.

Monday 22nd November 2010

Erin entered the Principal's office in shock to find her mother sat with Burt and a man she didn't know but assumed to be Karofsky senior, judging by the announcement asking her, Kurt, and Karofsky to come down to the principal's office.

She silently perched herself next to her mother, dressed smartly in her usual severe professor outfit and minimal make up, lips pursed in a thin line that reminded Erin of all the time's she'd been scolded as a child.

"I just wanted to thank you, Mrs. Bailey," Burt began as the silence became slightly awkward.

"Rose, please," Her mother said quickly.

"Rose," Burt amended, "Thank you for taking Kurt in while I was in the hospital."

Her mother's stern expression melted to one of compassion as she smiled over at Burt. Her entire being turned warmer, reminding Erin of all the love and praise she'd had from her mum over the years. It was nice to see her smile like that again, even if it was only for a brief second. Erin hadn't seen her properly smile in… way too long.

"It was nothing, really." She said to the praise as Karofsky entered the office, eyes betraying his shock as he looked at his father. Karofsky senior practically glared at his son and Karofsky quickly sat in the chair next to his dad like a kid about to be told off… which was kind of what he was.

Finally Kurt entered and sat next to his father, seemingly not surprised at the turn of events.

"So it seems the situation has reached a boiling point." Principal Sue said as the uncomfortable silence stretched slightly too long.

"You're damn right it has," Burt said with anger from where he was leaning forward glaring towards Karofsky.

"Nothing happened." Karofsky said, sounding less like the pig headed jock he was and more like a normal teenage boy. He'd even taken his letterman off, his blue polo making him look like a model student.

"I'll tell you what really happened." Burt said, before he turned to Karofsky's father. "Mr. Karofsky…"

"My name's Paul." Mr. Karofsky interjected.

"Paul, your kid, threatened the life of my son and his friend." Burt said. Erin noticed that her mum's lips morphed back into a thin line and realised that the expression she'd seen earlier hadn't been for her but for Karofsky.

"Porcelain? English? Is that true?" Sue asked and they shared a look with each other before nodding.

"That's not true." Karofsky lied, a note of fear obvious in his voice, "I didn't say anything."

"That's what he said." Kurt interjected quickly. "He said he'd kill us if we told anyone."

"If you told anyone what ?" Sue asked and Erin and Kurt shared another look before looking towards Karofsky. He looked so honestly terrified as he sat next to his dad that Erin bit back the truth that was just waiting to burst forth. Once again her phone felt as if it weighed a ton in her pocket.

"Just that he was picking on Kurt." Erin sighed and saw Kurt deflate as he realised she wasn't going to out Karofsky.

Karofsky sighed too and it sounded almost like relief, but he played it off as annoyance.

"They're making this all up!" He protested.

"Oh, is that right?" Burt asked, glaring.

"Hold on a second." Mr. Karofsky said before turning to his son. "You have been acting differently lately, David. You used to get As and Bs. You're talking back, acting out." Dave looked embarrassed as his dad listed his failings and Erin could feel her heart clench for him as his bravado melted away and he looked more like the 16 year old he was instead of the hateful bully he acted like around his peers. "And now we're sitting here. So let me ask you: why would Kurt make that up?"

"Maybe he likes me." Karofsky said in a joking manner as if trying to deflect the question. His dad narrowed his eyes at him, seeming deep in thought.

"I think we're wasting our time here." Burt interjected before turning to Principal Sue, "It's your job to protect people."

"I couldn't agree more," Sue said nodding and turning to the Karofsky's, "After hearing all sides of the story, you are hereby expelled."

Karofsky's head shot up with a look of disbelief on his face while his father simply shook his head in resignation.

"I will not have one of my students threatening the life of two others." Sue practically spat, and Erin felt herself untense completely for the first time in weeks, she could see Kurt doing the same, slumping slightly in his seat. "If you don't think this is fair, well, you can appeal to the school board. You'll leave campus immediately."

Mr. Karofsky looked at his son in disappointment before looking around the room.

"I appreciate your time." He said as he stood, Karofsky following after him. He had the gall to shoot a hurt look at Kurt and Erin, as if they hadn't just not outed him in front of his father, choosing instead to only say what they absolutely needed to get Karofsky out of there.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked, speaking for the first time since Kurt entered and turning to look at Kurt and Erin.

"Yeah," Erin breathed, though she had a feeling that this wouldn't be the end of it. It felt too good to be true.

"Thank you." Burt said, turning to Sue and Rose echoed the sentiment.

"It's my duty to protect my students." Sue said and, despite how much she tried to sabotage the Glee Club for seemingly no reason, Erin admired Sue in that moment. If it had been Principal Figgins… well, this meeting would likely have ended quite differently.

"Enjoy your wedding," Sue added with a smile towards Burt and Burt nodded back.

"You're getting married?" Rose asked in a conversational tone as they exited the office and Burt nodded and the two began chatting as Erin and Kurt lagged behind.

"It's too good to be true." Kurt breathed, echoing Erin's thoughts and she nodded.

"I'm still terrified," She confessed, "Like I'm going to wake up and this was all a dream."

"I know what you mean." Kurt agreed, "But did you see Karofsky's face earlier? He was terrified too, it looked like he was sure you were about to tell them."

"I almost did," Erin confessed, hand going towards the phone in her pocket, "But you're right, he looked terrified in front of his dad. I couldn't do that to him, no matter how much hell he put me through."

Rose laughed in front of them and turned, a large smile on her face.

"Apparently Burt and Carole just put a down payment on the house next to ours." She told Erin, "What a small world, huh?"

Kurt turned to his dad with shock.

"When did that happen?" He asked, and suddenly they were chatting about houses until the bell rang for first period.

Wednesday 24th November 2010

Erin fiddled with the off the shoulder neckline of her dress, slightly annoyed that the colour of the dress clashed with her hair. But there was nothing she could have done. Kurt wanted russet, so russet he got.

"You look beautiful." She heard someone blurt as she tried to get her curls to cooperate and she turned to see Sam staring at her with an embarrassed flush.

"I mean, you look… uh… nice?" He amended, shaking his head. A tie was open around his neck and Erin laughed as she plucked it from his and wrapped it around her own, quickly tying a Windsor knot as she spoke, distracting herself from the compliment.

"Beautiful works," She joked through the flush in her cheeks, "Though you're obviously ignoring how much this dress clashes with my hair."

She took the tie off over her head and placed it over his, popping his collar and tightening the tie up to his throat before smoothing his collar down again.

"How on earth did you do that without looking?" He asked, tightening the tie the rest of the way and checking himself out in the mirror behind her.

"I've had to wear a tie at school since I was 5." Erin said with a laugh, "Though the first couple of years it was elastic."

She frowned at her reflection, taking the orange flower from her hair and frowning at it. It also clashed horribly with her hair.

"That colour looks great on you, by the way." Sam reassured her, "It blends." He smirked and put on a British accent, poorly imitating Matt Smith, "Trust me, I'm An Artist ."

Erin laughed at the paraphrased Doctor Who quote and Sam's terrible accent.

"That flower, however, does kind of clash."

"If I don't wear it Kurt will kill me." Erin joked, and Sam looked around for a second before landing on the small bouquet of orange flowers in the room. He plucked one that was slightly darker, closer in colour to the dress, and expertly braided it into Erin's hair with a little bit of greenery.

Erin looked at herself in the mirror and smiled at his reflection in thanks.

"I'm assuming the braiding expertise is because of Stacey?" She asked and he looked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not exactly…" He hedged, and Erin shot his reflection a look. "I used to have even longer hair as a kid and…"

"Oh my god," Erin said, turning to look at him properly, "Please tell me there are pictures."

Sam groaned good naturedly and shook his head.

"You're never seeing them."

"BIEBER! QUEEN ELIZABETH!" They heard Santana call and they rolled their eyes, "IF YOU'RE MAKING OUT STOP, WE HAVE 2 MINUTES."

"WE'RE NOT TOGETHER SANTANA!" Erin called back with a laugh before turning to Sam who had a large grin on his face.

"My Lady?" Sam said in his terrible accent, holding out his arm and she thread her's through.

The ceremony was beautiful and Erin cried as she watched Burt and Carole say their vows. Burt's words hit her deep -

"...one thing they neglect to mention is how sad life can be. I lost somebody I loved very much, but Kurt, he lost his mom. and that killed me… What we were living, just wasn't living..."

- and, as she looked into the audience, she saw her mother (who Burt had invited after finding out they were going to be neighbours) tearing up as well, staring up at Erin. Erin smiled tearfully back at her mum, before turning away and burying the feelings of grief deep down in her chest, locking them away.

Erin laughed with everyone else as Burt, and then Carole, cut the officiant off as they said their 'I do's'. But it felt slightly hollow even to her own ears.

"And now, I'd like to introduce one of the best men, Finn Hudson." Mr. Schue announced after the first dance.

"Hi, uh, thank you." Finn said awkwardly as he stood before the stage, "Best man, right, uh… I want to propose a toast to my mom, who is so awesome. I mean, somehow, even without one in the house, you taught me what it means to be a man. In Glee Club, uh, whenever two of us got together we got a nickname. Rachel and I are Finchel, for example. And today a new union was formed… Furt."

Erin looked at Finn with confusion, wondering how he got Furt from Burt and Carole , before rolling her eyes as she understood what he meant. She laughed along with everyone else.

"You and me, man. We're brothers from another mother. And, quite frankly, no one else has shown me as much as you about what it means to be a man. And, over the past few weeks, some stuff has gone down. And I haven't manned up like I should have. But from now on? I've got your back, no matter what it costs me. Okay? Even if it means getting a slushie to the face every now and then."

The Glee kids all let out a laugh at that. And Erin turned to look at Kurt who's eyes were red-rimmed and teary, a smile on his face.

"You put this entire wedding together yourself, Kurt. In less than a week! So as a thank you, I had the Glee Club put together a little number in your honor."

Erin looked at everyone confused as Finn put the mic down on the table and offered a hand to Kurt who shook his head, looking around at the assembled family and friends.

"You're gonna dance it with me, dude."

The girls started harmonising and Erin looked incredulously at Sam as he stood to back up Finn with the rest of the guys.

" Oh, your eyes your eyes
make the stars look like they're not shining. " Finn began.

Kurt looked around in shock at the rest of the Glee Club before his eyes landed on Erin.

"Did you know about this?" He mouthed at her and she shook her head with a smile.

She was left alone as the rest of the girls got up to dance back up.

" You know I'd never ask you to change
If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same... "

Finn was actually doing okay with the choreography, even if he did look a little like a giraffe flailing his limbs. He gestured for Kurt to get up and the girls surrounded him.

" When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are. "

Mercedes and Rachel pushed Kurt towards Finn, though not before Rachel almost butted in, hearts in her eyes as she stared at her boyfriend.

Finn didn't hesitate as he took Kurt's waist this time and suddenly the two were doing a dance that was almost a waltz, box stepping in a circle as the rest of the group danced around them.

" And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause, boy, you're amazing
Just the way you are. "

Finn clasped Kurt in a brotherly hug and Kurt smiled into it before the two turned, Finn pointing at his mother and gesturing her and Burt to the dance floor.

" Girl you're amazing,
Just the way you are. "

As everyone else at the wedding got up to dance to the last few measures of the song Sam rushed over to Erin and held out his hand in an offer.

Erin, smiling and, laughing and swept up in the atmosphere, took the offered hand and was only mildly surprised as Sam lead her through a competent waltz.

The song ended and everyone turned towards Finn, who was now dancing with Rachel, and began cheering before Mr. Schue stood on the stage.

"Let's get this party started!" He shouted over the clamour as the band launched into the first number in their set and Mr. Schue began singing.

"When did you guys get time to rehearse that?" Erin laughed as she stood out of Sam's hold and they began dancing next to each other instead.

"We practiced in the evening at Rachel's." Sam laughed, eyes darting around at the various groups on the dancefloor. Santana was dancing close to Brittany as Artie wheeled around them as if looking for a way to cut in. Kurt was with Mercedes, Rachel with Finn, Quinn with Puck, Mike with Tina, and finally the newlyweds. Erin noticed her mum dancing with a man Kurt had pointed out as his Uncle Andy, "Did you know she literally has a stage in her basement?"

"I can't say I'm surprised." Erin laughed.

The rest of the reception went swimmingly, they all danced and sang and celebrated, and by the time it was time to go home Erin and her mum were in high spirits. Rose even sang along to the radio as she drove them home.