Hey everyone. As always, any characters that are recognizable belong to Glee and the crew. As for the rest, they belong to myself and cannot be used without my permission, unless it happens to be Jeremy or Mikki as they both belong to KikiJuanita, and you need to get her permission to use them.
Enjoy!
"Hey Jeremy, what can I do for you on this fine morning?" She questioned, placing her bag and stuff on her desk, seeing who kept trying to reach her. Leave it to Jeremy to keep calling until she finally answered. "I don't have much time to talk," she told him, pulling out everything she needed for her first-period class.
"I'll make it quick," he told her. "Tell me that you're not busy the first weekend of February," he said, waiting to hear what she had to say before telling her anymore of his news.
"I believe I have yet to make plans that far into the future," she laughed. She was still busy trying to get her Christmas plans in order, let alone what she has planned for February.
"Mark your calendar because you now have plans," he told her. "I've been asked to take over a role on Broadway, and no, I am not telling you anything about it," he laughed. "I'll be sending you more information when the time comes. Just be ready to hit up the big Apple," he told her.
"Jer, you can't do that to me," she sighed, sitting down in her chair, watching students start to trickle into the classroom. "You need to be giving me more," she whined into the phone.
"Nope, not gonna happen. Just check with your boyfriend and let me know if he'll be able to make it," he told her.
"Oh I am sure he'll find a way to make it. His sister lives there and he'll go so he can see them," she responded. "Have you told your brother?" She questioned, seeing Seb at the front of his classroom writing something or another on the marker board.
"He knows the same amount that you know," he informed her.
"You're impossible," she laughed hiding her groan.
"And I have no plans on changing," he laughed, hearing the bell ring. "My cue. Bye Onyx," he said. Onyx telling him bye as well, hanging her phone up, seeing the new student teacher enter the classroom, sitting his stuff on the extra desk placed in the classroom the night prior by the custodians.
After taking attendance, and listening to the morning announcements, she got the attention of her class. "Mr. Puckerman is with us the remaining time of this term. Starting next week he is going to be taking over teaching. He will have his own guidelines and rules for you all to follow," she informed her class. She had met Jake Puckerman the day before when she was informed that she would be getting a student teacher.
"Morning," he smiled, greeting the class. He had been assigned to a different history teacher, but a family emergency came up and without knowing how long he's be out for, they thought it best to have him in a different classroom instead of writing with a substitute.
"No, that doesn't mean you get to stop working on your countries. Laptops are available if you need them, do get started on them as they are still due next Wednesday," she told the class, walking to where Jake was standing at his desk. Ready to answer any questions that he may have. Along with going over how she does stuff and the syllabus for the remaining time of the term.
A smile lit her face up entering her boyfriend's apartment which she not only had a key for but stayed there with him half of the week, after all her dog did live there. One of the perks of living so close to her brother is that when she needed something, she didn't have to walk the few blocks to her apartment, not when the article of clothing she needed was hanging up in her boyfriend's closet on her side.
It had taken a few weeks after Clint suggested she move in with him, for her to settle on staying with him for a few days out of the week; she wanted to make sure that living with Clint is the right thing to do for the both of them.
"Hey, I thought you were having dinner with Jeff and your dad?" Clint questioned, shutting the fridge door, to see his girlfriend taking her shoes off by the door adding to the pile of her shoes taking up residence there.
"Oh I am," she told him, turning to look at him. "I just have to change real quick and what I want to wear is here," she told him, moving further into the apartment seeing three strangers and one face she knew looking at her. "Uh hi," she greeted, walking through the living room. "I'll just be a minute, and I will be out of here, letting you get back to this, whatever it is," she said, walking past the one person she knew, sharing a look with him. She didn't remember Clint telling her that he had company coming over. She strictly remembers him telling her he would be playing video games for the night.
It didn't take her long to find and change into her white skinny jeans and red loose casual short-sleeve shirt. Her only problem finding the boots she wanted. They weren't by the door or even at her place with Seb, which meant they needed to be there.
"Finding everything?" Clint asked, entering the room.
"No, have you seen my buckle slouch wedge knee-high boots?" She questioned, getting a blank look from her boyfriend. "The ones I wore last week," she clarified for him.
"Did you ever get them from the living room?" He asked, thinking back to last week. The only boots he remembers is the ones tossed over the couch while things got heated between them while watching a movie.
"It's worth a look," she sighed, walking into the living room, remembering he had company over. "Can you look; I really don't want to get my pants dirty," she pouted looking at him.
"Of course," he sighed, going to look under the couch, getting the older guys sitting there to move out of his way while doing so.
"Have him wrapped around your finger huh?" She turned to the chuckle, giving him a shrug. "Have you been staying out of trouble? No more trips to jail?" He asked.
"Why would I go back to that dump when the sole reason of going there up and left for New York?" She questioned, getting a laugh from him. "Though it is good to see you finally manned up and made that move," she commented.
"Onyx, if you wanted to hang out you didn't have to get arrested for that," he laughed, taking his wife's hand. "It's been the best move I have done," he smiled.
"We did hang out at my brother's bar, remember?" She questioned him. "It is good to see that you are happy, dude."
"Should we be worried that our son's girlfriend has been arrested multiple times?" It dawned on her then, knowing this is his family and if anything they came over unexpected at least for him as for Rachel and Puck, they needed to be told ahead of time.
"It's not like that," Clint said, pushing himself off the floor, Captain right on his heels wanting to play. "I don't know where your boots are. You sure you didn't take them back to your place with Seb?" He asked her.
"No," she shook her head. "I looked all over for them there; they have to be here," she told him with a sigh. "I'll wear different ones," she gave in, knowing she couldn't take any longer before she would be late for dinner with her brother and dad.
"Puck, it was really good seeing you," she told him, walking through the living room to the front door. "And it's been years since I have been arrested. I have changed my ways. I need to be a role model for my kids every year," she told his parents, now knowing who they were.
"You did become a teacher," Puck commented. She smiled giving him a nod, sitting at the table to slip a pair of black suede ankle boots on.
"I did and I love it," she said, getting up. "Want me to come back tonight or go back to my place?" She asked, letting him walk her out.
"I am fine with both," he told her. "I won't be complaining if you come back," he smirked, pulling her in for a kiss. A kiss they couldn't get carried away with because her phone started to go off.
"That will be Jeff," she said, pulling the device from her pocket. "I am on my way," she told her brother, walking away from her boyfriend and his family.
The walk from one apartment to another didn't take her long, not when they were so close to begin with. She didn't even bother knocking on the door knowing Jeff left it unlocked for her, knowing that she would be coming as he made sure various times over the last week if she was going to be showing up, or if she had changed her mind. As much as she would have liked to back out with meeting up with her dad, she couldn't do that. She may not agree to his way of doing things, mainly in his personal life; she did simply miss her father.
"Can we go now?" Jeff asked, walking from his bedroom to the living room, checking his pockets.
"At this point you're the one holding us up," she remarked, pulling the door behind her open.
"Only because I had to call you," he retorted, allowing his sister to step through the door first, stopping to lock his door.
"Which you didn't have to do as I was on my way. One simply can't rush meeting the parents for the first time," she told him, the playfulness in her voice dropping away.
"That's huge," Jeff stated, pressing the call button for the elevator. "And the night you have to bail, maybe that works in your favor," Jeff joked, nudging her.
"Only because Dad kept postponing this little dinner," she sighed, stepping into the elevator.
"I have no excuses for that," Jeff said, pushing the button for the main floor.
"You shouldn't any ways, Jeff. He is still our father," Onyx stated.
"I am not covering for him, but I am always going to be there for you, worry about you, make sure everything is good, make sure your boyfriend is the one," he smirked, pulling her into a side hug as the doors pinged open.
"Yeah, you can drop the overprotective brother act," she laughed. "You didn't exactly care when you were a teenager," she retorted, opening the door to walk outside. "Are we just walking the block and a half to the restaurant?" She questioned.
"Beats driving and spending far too long by looking for a parking spot," he said. "I was a stupid teenage boy, not wanting to be seen with my little sister," he shrugged. "That's more on me than it was ever to do with you," he told her in the way of an apology.
"Yeah, that was no secret dear brother of mine," she teased. "Besides you were there when it counted," she assured him.
"Except for when I let you become best friends with Sebastian," he laughed.
"I can't even fault you there," she responded. "You did me a favor; I can't imagine my life without Seb in it," she shared.
"You'd still be here because I would still be standing behind you giving you the shoves you would have needed to make this your best life," he shared, pulling her in for a side hug as they approached the restaurant.
"Thanks," she smiled. "Hey, Mike, what are you doing here?" She asked, seeing a fellow teacher and a guy, she had easily become friends with because her of best friend and his girlfriend.
"Dinner with my mom," he shared, greeting Onyx with a hug. "Having a sibling night?" He questioned, nodding at Jeff.
"Not exactly," she sighed. "We're here to meet our Dad," she told him. "Have a good night, Mike," she told him, walking to the door.
"You guys as well," he told them, turning back to wait on his mom to show as the siblings headed inside spotting their father waiting on them.
"There they are," their father smiled, pulling Onyx in for a hug, turning to share a hug with Jeff.
"Hey Dad," she smiled, hugging the older man back tightly, having missed her father far more greatly than she thought she had missed him.
"We need to have a little chat before we eat," he told them. Onyx and Jeff shared looks with each other as their dad went and talked to the hostess.
They had known that their dad had to tell them something, and they could figure out what that is on their own as his last divorce happened a little over a year ago. What they hadn't heard was that he was seeing anyone, but that didn't surprise them any.
They followed behind their father and the hostess as they were led to the back of the restaurant to a private room, wine already chilling. Instead of there being three plates set around the table, there were five.
"What's going on dad?" Jeff asked, taking a spot at the table, next to his sister, seeing that she was leaving it up to him to start this conversation with their father.
"I love you two more than anything in this world. It might have been the smartest decision I ever made with your mother to have you, Onyx in a way to fix our broken marriage because I cheated on her. I regret many things but having you, Onyx and you, Jeff, are two of the best things I have ever done in my life," he went on to say.
"We love you too, dad," Onyx told him, not needing to hear about how they thought having a second child would fix the cracks in their marriage. It was a flawed idea to begin with.
She was starting to feel like this wasn't about him getting remarried but maybe something more serious was going on with him, and that thought alone scared her. She may not have the best relationship with her father, but she did want to try, and she didn't want to run out of time before making it possible.
"I have made mistakes, ones that I am not proud of," he was in the process of saying when the door opened and Mike, and his mom entered the private room joining them.
The three of them watched as their parents shared a hug and a very intimate kiss, prompting them to share looks with each other.
"How does your past mistakes have anything to do with Mike and his mom?" Onyx asked, wanting her confusion over the situation to be cleared up.
"I didn't know you knew each other," their father said.
"Other than I work with him; he is best friends with Seb's girlfriend," Onyx quickly retorted. "What's going on?" She asked feeling like it was more than them getting together or them getting married.
"I was starting to wonder the same thing," Mike spoke up, taking a seat between his mother and Onyx.
"When I cheated on your mother, it resulted in Mike, who takes after his mother in every way possible," he explained, to well all three of his children, stating the reason to Mike and his mom being there.
"So Mike is our half-brother?" Jeff asked. Onyx staying quiet trying to process what her father said.
"Yes."
"I don't believe this," Mike stated, thinking back to his own childhood. Back to when his parents fought and when his dad walked out leaving them behind. How it had this effect on them, and they had to move, which led him to have met Mikki and being really good friends with her.
"Ask your mom, Mike." That was the best answer he could give to Mike, who looked at his mom who sat in her seat nodding her head, taking her son's hand. "We thought it best to tell you three together, that way no one found out and started this uproar. And after seeing that you three know each other, I am pleased that we waited to do this."
Onyx shook her head, standing from her seat. She looked at her brother and now half-brother, in this messed up situation. "I can't be here right now. It is nothing against you Mike, and I will still see you tomorrow night for couples and best friends' game night, right?" She questioned. It is something that they created not having all this time to bond with their best friends, spending their time with their significant other. Mikki and Seb were one team, and she teamed up with Mike.
"Yep, us best friends need to stick together and show them how much they suck without us," he joked. She gave him a weak smile and headed to the door, needing to be elsewhere.
The disadvantage of half living in the same apartment complex as her brother, along with walking back, he knew where she is headed and would show up in a matter of seconds to check on her.
"Onyx," Jeff said, quickly catching up to his sister on the street, getting her to stop and move out of the way.
"I am not having dinner with that man," she told her brother. "I can't do it, and I won't do it."
"You can't be mad at him for something he did decades ago," Jeff sighed, glancing around quickly to make sure no one followed him out.
"I am not even mad at him for cheating on Mom, like he said I wouldn't be here otherwise."
"That's not true and you know it Onyx," Jeff interrupted her.
"I can't be mad at him for cheating on Mom, that was before I was born, however, I can be mad at him for keeping such a secret. Do you know hard it is going to be when I meet up with Mikki, Mike and Seb tomorrow? My best friend's girlfriends best friend is now my half-brother. Do you know how crazy and bizarre that sounds?" She questioned Jeff.
"I didn't think of it that way," Jeff told her with a sigh.
"I am sorry, but I can't do it, Jeff."
"Hey now it's okay, really," he comforted his sister. "I'll tell him you need time and space, which I can see that you do need it."
"Thank you," she told her brother. He nodded turning to leave, looking back at his sister.
"You need anything you know my door is always open for you," he assured her.
"I know, Jeff," she smiled, heading in the direction of her boyfriend's place. For the rest of the night, she wanted to forget everything she was just told and deal with it all at a later date in time.
"You're back early," Clint said, seeing his girlfriend come back, hanging the phone up from placing a food order. "Dinner over already?" He questioned, looking at the clock with a frown seeing she had been gone a total of 45 minutes. Seeing the look on her face, he could easily tell dinner didn't go as planned and something bad happened.
"Yep," she answered, going straight to him, needing to feel safe wrapped up in his arms. "I just needed a hug," she whispered. "I will let you guys get on with your night," she said, pulling away from Clint, ready to spend her night in his bed.
"Nonsense, we want to meet the woman whom our son finds so intriguing."
"I can do that," she said softly. "Sorry about crashing this little family reunion," she apologized. "Family drama is never fun," she said in a way of an explanation.
"Nonsense," Clint waved it away. "We all go through some sort of family drama," he said, leading her back to where he was sitting in the chair, pulling her down with him. He wasn't worried about what she was dealing with because once they were alone she would tell him everything that happened.
"Ya know it would be nice if you at least introduce your family," she commented. "The only one I really know is Puck, Rachel too from when she came back to the school before getting the role of Fanny and with all the pining Puck did, I feel as if I personally know her," she teased, smirking at Puck.
"Just how close did you and my husband get?" Rachel questioned with a soft laugh.
"As personal as one can get while behind bars, and he is the officer in charge. Though I really got to know him when he would come into my brother's bar after work. And he would pour his heart out over a few bottles of beer. I was the one stuck serving him cause the guys couldn't deal," she revealed shaking her head, getting dirty looks from Puck. "Happy you finally took that advice I kept telling you, dude," she laughed.
"What advice?" Rachel questioned, looking at her husband.
"To man the eff up and go get what my heart truly desires," he stated. "Some of the best advice I've received," he chuckled lightly.
"Alright you already know Puck, and Rachel. These are Hiram and Leroy, fathers in every way that counts." She nodded, knowing of the past with his birth parents, and that he went and lived with the Berry's when he turned 15. "This is my lovely girlfriend, Onyx," he finished off the introductions.
"How did you two meet?" He asked the one question everyone in the room wanted to know.
"That my old friend is a bit of a long story," she told him with a sigh. A story that still hurt to think of.
"We've got all night," Rachel stated.
"Right," Onyx sighed, not looking forward to reliving that night. "It happened at my brother's bar. He sat at the bar nursing his beer, sulking over something, when I stormed into the place needing Jeff, my brother," she clarified. "And why he even wanted to talk to me after hearing about my bad night, I have no idea," she said, looking up at him.
"You were stunning and we were both having bad nights; we could either wallow in self-pity or change our luck," he simply stated. Onyx smiled kissing his cheek softly.
"It was my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend at that time. I waited for an hour for him to show up to the dinner reservations he made and when he no showed; I went to his office and found him banging his now ex-girlfriend; I don't even think she works at the office now that I think about it."
"It took sometime to actually get her to talk, and not want to kill all the male species on earth," Clint laughed. "Things were easy between us that night, until her ex showed up, spewing some BS about her cheating on him."
"I found it stupid as I had just met your son. Nevertheless, I lied and said I knew him from high school," she laughed, sharing a look with her boyfriend. Remembering the not so fib, he started coming to her defense.
"Turns out that lie was actually the truth. We found that out after she tossed her drink in his face."
"You two went to the same school?" Hiram asked.
"For two years anyway," Clint explained. "The first year I had transferred so I had been shy and hid in the background and the second year, I came a bit more out of my shell, but," he said, letting her take it from there.
"That is when I couldn't compete in show choir as I had a broken bone from when I crashed a friend's motorcycle because I wanted to learn to drive it."
"Wait, you didn't tell me you were driving Jesse's bike when it crashed." It was a tiny lie from when he didn't know her, it should have been something that shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did.
"Actually, I never said what happened that day, just that I broke my leg in three places on Jesse St. James' bike," she pointed out. "I didn't explain anything beyond that point because Seb came home."
"Right," he sighed, dropping his forehead to her shoulder remembering that he didn't get the chance to ask questions about it because Seb came home and took over his duty as best friend.
"From that night, we remained in contact as friends. Your son didn't give up on me like I wanted him to do, because I really didn't think, I was worth his trouble. He, however, proved me wrong," she smiled, catching his eye.
"It was the case where I needed to be right," he teased. "You needed to know that nothing you went through was your fault, and you were worth the wait, Onyx. I would do it again," he assured her.
"I know you would, but you don't have to do that ever again. I am here and I really don't plan on going anywhere. The fact half my belongs are here is proof of that." Other than Seb and her brother, she never lived with a guy before. Clint is the one and only boyfriend she lived with. It had been nothing against Hunter; it was that she didn't feel comfortable enough in living with him even though she did love him. The love she held for him did not outweigh the fear she held for the way things ended with her parents. Hunter did very little to ease her fear on the topic, Clint, however, put her at ease greatly when they fight about her moving in with him.
"I am waiting for the rest of your belongs to end up here," he told her seriously, a sadness to his voice on how slow she had been moving forward in their relationship. He pressed a small quick innocent kiss to her lips. "I am patient, especially on this, Onyx. I know where your fear of commitment comes from, and I will not push you further than what you are ready for," he promised her.
"I love you, do you know that?" She questioned, cupping his face, her thumb stroking the skin under his left eye.
"Only if you know that I love you," he smiled softly at his girlfriend.
"We hate to ruin this moment," Leroy said, clearing his throat. "There is no doubt in our minds on how much you two love each other, but we need to talk to Clint and Rachel, so if you wouldn't mind," he finished, looking between Onyx and Puck.
"Not at all," she smiled, slipping from her boyfriend's lap. "Come on Puck," she said, walking to the bedroom. Puck shutting the door behind him to keep the conversation in the living room private. "Do you know what that is about?" She asked, sitting on the bed, motioning for him to do the same.
"Not entirely. Rachel will tell me, that I don't doubt. Much like Clint will tell you about it," he assured her. "Now tell me how being a teacher is for you," he suggested, easily changing the topic.
"I love it," she smiled. "I just hate the summer months," she laughed. Finding how ironic that is. Being a kid you counted down the days until you were done with the school year, spending three months of summer vacation doing anything you wanted that didn't involve learning and now those three months of summer seemed like torture to her when all she wanted to be doing is teaching her students.
"Don't tell me you hate summer break," he laughed.
"No," she smiled. "I like it and I do look forward to it. Even so, there is nothing better than standing up there molding the future generations," she shrugged in response, not really able to explain better than that to him.
"I get it; I do," he nodded. "Onyx, you gave me advice once or a dozen times before I listened to what you were saying. With my dad bailing on me the way he did, I get it. I understand this underlying fear of the person you love the most wanting nothing to do with you and to get up one day to find they left you; it's a horrifying thought to have," he stated, turning to fully look at her. "But is it worth living with one foot out the door at all times?" He questioned her. She shook her head no. "Then why do it?"
"To protect myself. To leave before they get a chance to hurt me," she easily rattled off.
"Do you really think Clint, the guy that stood by you when he didn't even know you, would do that? In the last six months, how many times has he left you hanging? How many times has he been there for you when you wanted no one? How many times has he walked away from you? How much does he need to do to prove to you that he loves you more than words can allow? And finally Onyx, how many times are you going to hurt him, by being half out of this relationship with him? You have to be all in for it to work out, Onyx," he stated. The truth of what he is saying hitting pretty close.
"I didn't realize I was hurting him so much. He never says," she sighed, looking down at her hands ashamed of herself for her actions. "I guess it can be scary for everyone to take the next step with someone."
"It is, it really is Onyx. But don't rush out and fix it this second, that won't help you in the long run. Only you know how fast to move forward, and if you're ready for it," he told her.
She nodded, knowing exactly what she needed to do. She couldn't let her fear hold her back any longer. She couldn't use Seb and the place she called home with him as the security blanket she clearly has been doing, and it wasn't just with her relationship with Clint, but she did the same thing with Hunter.
"So I get the pleasure of working with your brother. I didn't know he wanted to be a teacher," she said.
"He had decided to go back to school for it, getting bored with just about everything," Puck laughed. "I talked this place up so much he moved here for school and everything, claims he found the love of his life," he told her with a shake of his head.
"Do you not believe him?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"This will be number 3 or 4 that have been the one," he replied amused. "So time will tell," he shrugged.
Once the four in the living room were done talking, and the food arrived and spread out around the table, they sat talking and sharing a few laughs. Onyx did all she could to get everything she could learn about her boyfriend.
It wasn't much longer after dinner finished that Clint and Onyx were left alone, the pair calling it a night, once everything was cleaned up. She laid with her head on his chest, her pointer finger tracing a figure eight on his stomach.
"They're working on things, then?" She asked, the quietness between them getting to her. He told her what had been discussed while she had her own conversation with Puck. Turns out the divorce that led him to her brother's bar had been put on hold as they wanted to work things out one last time, and they wanted to tell their kids together. Because whatever happened between them, they wanted to remain on good terms for their kids.
"Yep," he sighed, pulling her closer, burying his face in her hair, breathing in the scent that is her. "I thought I would be happy about them trying to work things out, but," he sighed, growing quiet to put his thoughts in order.
"I know it sucks," she easily said. "Your parents getting a divorce at any age is never easy, but they still love you," she stated. "And you were ready for them to be divorced, and they changed things up on you; it's hard to process."
He nodded, having nothing else to say about the topic. He came to terms with his parents impending divorce a year ago. He was ready for them to no longer be a couple, ready for the day they said their divorce was finalized. He hoped that they would be able to work things out and now that they were he didn't know how he wanted to feel about that. He was happy, because they're his parents, but he didn't want them to be at odds with each other all over again.
"Are you going to let things with Mike get awkward?" He questioned, running fingers over her spine.
"No, it changes very little. Yeah, he is my brother, but I am not going to stop being friends with him. I do like the guy," she responded. Much like he told her what was said, she had told him about why she cut out of dinner early. "I'm going to explain to Mike tomorrow before game night that it has nothing to do with him." None of her feelings on the matter were directed at Mike; she liked getting to know him as a friend.