Thursday 25th November 2010

Erin's maternal Grandparents, Joseph and Catharine Clarke, lived in a two storey Victorian house in between Lima and Ada and had a barn on their lands that they occasionally rented out for weddings or other events. Today it was decked out with autumn leaves, turkeys and other Thanksgiving style decorations, and fairy lights. A long wooden table was in the middle crammed with place settings and overloaded with mismatched chairs. It was honestly quite beautiful, until a horde of Clarkes descended upon the barn.

Erin felt overwhelmed as she was introduced to her mother's family. Except they didn't feel like family, not really, not the same way her dad's family did. She met great Aunts and Uncles, first cousins once removed and second cousins and so on and so forth, yet despite the overwhelming number of people, maybe around 50 or so, there was no one except her and Alex even close to 14. Her first cousins were all at least ten years older - Kelly the oldest at 32, James the youngest at 24 - and the next closest in age was a distant cousin of 10.

Rose paraded them around the barn, waxing poetic about their supposed accomplishments - Alex being on the Soccer team, Erin being academic and smart and getting good grades. Erin noticed that her mother never talked about her involvement in the arts unless talking about literature, and she never really let Erin speak for herself either, talking about her as if she weren't standing or sitting right beside her, completely capable of talking for herself. Whereas Alex was the perfect English accented all-American athlete and was allowed to talk at length about his hobbies and his jock friends and how well The McKinley Titans were doing in Football despite not being on the team himself.

It wasn't like Erin was the one who was friends with the Quarterback - and ex-Quarterback - oh no, it wasn't like she had to listen to the Glee Jocks talk at length about football every day as they waited for Mr. Schue to arrive at rehearsals.

Alex blended in with everyone, dressed in his button down and khakis and looking so American Erin wanted to laugh.

She couldn't though, because she had been forced to wear something similar; a knee length dress, tights, ballet flats, and cardigan cinched at the waist with a thin belt. She looked like the typical girl-next-door type, and when she'd sent a frowning mirror selfie of herself to Kurt he'd responded with a simple 'LOL XD' which meant he'd found it genuinely hilarious as Kurt rarely resorted to text speech.

She felt like she was playing a role without a script, resorting to demure smiles at distant relatives and letting her mother do all the talking. She had tried to talk to one of her younger older cousins - Ashley, 26 - about Musicals and was met with a condescending smile before she said she'd 'liked Disney Princess movies as a kid too' and walked away.

These were clearly not her people, however much blood she shared with them.

Leaning back against the barn wall after losing her mum's tail, she crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her lady-like manners, watching the group of strangers. She didn't even really look like any of them except for her brown eyes. She was the only (natural) redhead of the group, the only one who was becoming curvy and not willowy. She shared none of their features like Alex did - his nose was exactly like their Nana Cathy's, his ears like Grandpa Jo's, he looked almost exactly like their cousin - James, 24 - except for the green eyes that he'd inherited from their father.

She felt completely out of place.

Friday 26th November 2010

Black Friday was much more fun, even if she'd been awoken at the crack of dawn by Kurt's incessant honking and Mercedes's shout of 'Get in loser we're going shopping .'

"I can't believe you literally wrestled with that woman for a scarf!" Erin laughed as she, Kurt, Mercedes, Tina, and Santana finally walked out of the overcrowded Mall ladened with shopping bags.

"She obviously didn't understand colour theory! Did you see her outfit? Who wears orange with lime green!? That scarf would have been severely misused!" Kurt defended his actions.

She shook her head with a chuckle as she climbed into the front seat of the Nav, the rest of the girls climbing into the back and looking excitedly through their purchases. It had been weird to see Santana in clothes that weren't her Cheerios Uniform and weirder still to be hanging out with her, but she'd proved invaluable with her threatening glares and thinly veiled threats of bodily harm.

Erin may feel out of place surrounded by her mother's side of the family, but she didn't feel out of place within the Glee Club. These were her people, misfits and outcasts who came together due to their love of music. This was her chosen family.

Monday 29th November 2010

It was weird, come Monday morning, to hop into Kurt's car as it idled in front of his new house instead of her own. But living next door to each other would certainly make hanging out easier. They chatted about everything and nothing as they drove to school, as usual, and sang along to the radio at the tops of their lungs.

"I'm so excited for our first Karofsky free week," Kurt said as Airplanes by B.o.B finished playing and the DJ started droning on about sports news, something about the Cincinnati Tigers losing to the New York Sharks in the Thanksgiving game… or something, Erin wasn't paying attention.

"I still think we should have told someone," Erin told him, "But I'm glad we managed to get him out without outing him to anyone."

-OMND-

"Can Erin Bailey and Kurt Hummel come to the Principal's office, Erin Bailey and Kurt Hummel to the Principal's office." A dull voice announced over the loudspeaker as Mrs. Bell, her homeroom teacher, read out a list of announcements and Erin's heart dropped. Her entire homeroom turned to stare at her, muttering between themselves.

She knew everything had been too good to be true.

-OMND-

"This is absolutely unacceptable!" Erin heard Carole say passionately as she entered the Principal's office. Looking through the glass doors she saw Kurt, Burt, Carole, and her mother inside.

"This psycho threatens our kids' lives, and some school board made up of people I've never met tells me that there's nothing they can do about it?"

Erin caught Sue's eye and was waved into the office proper. She quickly took a seat next to her mother.

"They could do something about it." Sue said, sounding as annoyed as Burt had, "They just decided not to. No one reported witnessing him being violent, and there's no way to prove that he threatened the two of you with violence."

Erin shared a look with Kurt, pleading with him to let her show Sue the recording. He subtly, but vehemently, shook his head.

While Erin understood the importance of letting people come out on their own terms she was not happy with how this was playing out. She wished she had a video that was simply of Karofsky being violent, obviously shoving someone purposefully into the lockers, but she only had the Kiss and the Threat and both would out him in an instant. However terrifying Karofsky was, she couldn't do that to him. She wouldn't wish an outing on anyone, not even her worst enemy, she'd seen enough videos and read enough posts to know that would very likely turn ugly for everyone involved.

She didn't know Karofsky's home life, and while his dad had seemed okay when they'd had their meeting, who knows what his parents were actually like. However much she hated him, she couldn't risk that for him. She'd seen how scared he'd been when they'd confronted him with Blaine.

She gave a small nod to Kurt to show that she'd understood, and that she wouldn't show Sue the video. Maybe, however, it could be used as blackmail in the future.

"The school board has issued a verbal warning to Karofsky, and that's where we stand." Sue finished.

"And that's all the school board has done?" Rose asked in disbelief, "What kind of school are you running here?"

"Mrs. Bailey." Sue said, "I'm honestly trying my best to keep this kid out of my school, but sadly the school board doesn't want to do the same. Karofsky is one of our star athletes, he generally gets good grades, he's popular with his peers, and his parents are in good standing in the community. You're a teacher, correct?"

"I'm a professor, yes." Rose corrected, lips in a thin line.

"Then you know how kids like him get preferential treatment, even if it's undeserved."

"I can't go back to being terrified all the time!" Kurt said quietly, as though unaware he was speaking out loud and everyone turned to look at him. He startled as he realised he'd spoken aloud.

"I jump every time a locker slams shut. I flinch whenever I turn the corner." He explained, "Can't you do anything ? Even if he's coming back, he needs to be disciplined in some way or he's just going to go straight back to harrassing us and others."

"Kids who bully, for the most part, have been bullied themselves. And I, for one, don't flatter myself that that behavior can change." Sue said with a hint of true remorse. But Erin disagreed, anyone had the capacity to change, she believed, even Karofsky.

"Now, this kid Karofsky isn't gonna all of a sudden be nice to you and I won't stand by unable to do anything about it. Effective noon tomorrow, Figgins is back in charge as I have tendered my resignation as principal in protest. I can't help you behind that desk but I can be an extra pair of eyes out in those hallways. Someone ought to have your back. Besides, I miss my office. This room smells weird. I can't shake the feeling that I'm inhaling a lot of dead skin."

-OMND-

"Fuck." Kurt said as they watched their parents walk out of the school. He seemed to deflate next to Erin, his previous brave facade for his parents fading.

"You're not alone, Kurt." Erin reminded him, turning to look up at him earnestly.

"I know that, but I can't help but wish I could run away." Kurt said, "Tomorrow he'll be back to making my life a living hell. Making our lives a living hell. Everyone in Glee Club."

"We won't let him." Erin said with passion, "You'll have everyone in Glee watching your back, Coach Slyvester, Mr. Schue. You're not alone."

-OMND-

"The wedding was great but we have got to get ready for sectionals this weekend." Mr. Schue began eagerly before smiling as Kurt and Erin entered the choir room that afternoon. "Kurt, good, I wanna talk to you about this amazing idea I had for a solo for you at sectionals."

"Can I make an announcement first?" Kurt asked, but looked excited at the prospect of an actual solo.

Erin smiled reassuringly at him before taking a seat with everyone else.

"First, I want to thank everyone for what you did at my dad's wedding. Especially you, Finn. It's nice to know that I have great friends here as well as a true brother." Kurt smiled at Finn who looked bashful as Rachel hung from his shoulder. "And I'm going to need that now more than ever."

Kurt took a deep breath.

"Karofsky's coming back tomorrow." He said, and the Glee Club erupted in noise.

"What the hell?" Mercedes shouted.

" Hijo de las Mil Putas! " Santana began shouting in Spanish.

"But he was expelled !" Quinn said.

Kurt just stood still at the front of the room as everyone shouted looking detached from the situation and Erin felt her heart ache in her chest. He didn't deserve to feel so scared.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you." Sam said as he stood and walked towards Kurt, gathering him up in a tight hug.

Kurt looked shocked at the contact but eventually untensed and returned the hug, hiding his reddening face in Sam's shoulder.

After a beat or so the rest of the New Directions stood, one by one, and joined the hug. Brittany was first, full on glomping the two boys. Santana, surprisingly, was next, her face schooled into a mask of cool indifference but the strength of her hug giving away her true feelings. Then Mercedes joined, her hug seeming to squish Santana who let out a squeak. Tina and Mike wrapped their arms around as many people as they could reach. Quinn looked teary eyed as she joined, Puck immediately following after her like a puppy. Rachel was dramatically crying already and situated herself next to Quinn, while Finn gave a proud and happy smile before taking Rachel's outstretched hand and joining them. Artie wheeled his way to the group and ended up hugging Tina's legs awkwardly trying not to plant his face in someone's arse.

Erin smiled at the sight of all her new friends comforting one of their own. She'd never had a group of friends like this, who fought and squabbled but in the end took care of one another no matter what. With a sniffle as she tried not to cry she joined the group, wrapping one arm around Finn's waist and the other clutching at Mercedes' shoulder.

They all stood there for a while before Kurt, in the center, started laughing into Sam's shoulder which set off a chain reaction of giggles and they all broke away. Many discretely wiping tears from their cheeks, while others - Rachel and Tina - openly wept.

"So," Kurt said, voice even higher than usual with emotion. He cleared his throat before turning to Mr. Schue who was looking at them all with pride, "What was your idea Mr. Schue?"

A/N: This story is also on AO3 with much better formatting. I'm katyobsesses over there too, as well as on tumblr and twitter if ya wanna drop a follow 3