Chapter 30

Going Away Party

July – Age 18

Carol and Burt decided to throw a big bash in the back yard for their whole class. Mainly kids were invited but there were some people from church, and their close friends' parents. Paula Karofsky was over all morning to help with food preparations. Greg Karofsky come over with Dave and helped to set up the tables and chairs they got from the church. The Karofsky's were unsure how to act around Dave when he first came out but they really tried. They came to a balance. Then he began dating Kurt, which was a whole new experience for all the parents. Burt had them over for dinner like once a month so they could have a more 'in-law' relationship. They were much closer than the Lopez family. Santiago and Julia would decline dinner invites. Santana had cried her fair share over her family's lack of acceptance. Burt had unofficially been the 'Santana Champion' and even ended up picking up Santana in the middle of the night after a huge fight with her parents.

Flashback

Burt's phone began ringing at 1130 pm on a Friday night. He blindly grabbed for it without looking. "Hello?"

"Papa Burt, can you come get me?" Santana was crying into the phone.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" he asked, wide awake. He was already out of bed and pulling on his jeans from the day.

"They kicked me out," she cried, sobbing. "I'm sitting on my front lawn in my pajamas, crying, because they kicked me out."

"Five minutes," Burt grunted into the phone. They hung up and Burt proceeded to put his shirt on.

"Burt, what's going on?" Carol asked sleepily.

"They kicked Santana out," Burt replied. "I'm gonna go pick her up."

"Be careful," she warned. As soon as Burt left the room, Carol called in to her supervisor and called out of work for the next day, a family emergency. She planned on spending the day helping Santana with whatever she needed.

Burt didn't wake Finn, he just hopped in his truck and drove across town to the Lopez house. He found Santana looking broken, sitting on the front lawn. Burt barely put his car in park before he jumped out to go get Santana. She threw herself at him, shaking.

"Sweetie, get in the truck, I'll be right there." She nodded. Burt, however, strode up to the front door and pounded on it to get the occupants attention. It took a few moments for Santiago to answer the door. "I'm taking your daughter back to my house. I'll be by to pick up her things tomorrow." Burt turned and walked away from the stunned man.

"I'm sorry for it being so late, I just didn't know who to call," Santana said quietly as they began to drive back to the Humdle household. "I didn't think Finn could come and not be mad enough to hit them, and Char..."

"Don't you worry about all this," Burt assured her. "Are you okay? Physically?"

"For the most part," she shrugged. "My mom backhanded me across my face. It still stings a bit."

"Your mother hit you?" Burt said loudly.

"Not the first time," Santana murmured.

"That's it, you're not going back," Burt decided. "You're gonna live with us until you two go to college. And I'm not taking no for an answer." All Santana could do was nod her head in agreement.

End Flashback

Carol and Burt went back that following day to Santana's house and got all of her stuff, moving her in with them. Her parents were invited to the party, no one was sure if they would come or not.

The Puckermans and Abrams were the first to arrive. Artie wheeled himself out back and parked by the swing set, where Charlotte was swinging away. "Uncle Artie!" she squealed. Charlotte hopped off the swing and crawled into his lap to give him a hug.

"How are you sweetie?" he asked, returning the hug.

"I good, can we do spins?" she asked. Charlotte loved when Uncle Artie did tricks with his wheelchair. He was no different in her eyes, maybe even a bit cooler, and he loved it.

"Yeah, we can do spins," he chuckled. They wheeled over to the patio area so he wouldn't tear up the back yard. "You remember the rules?"

"Always hold on," she repeated dutifully. Artie smiled and felt her wrap her arms around his middle. He spun his chair in circles and popped a few wheelies. Finn looked on with a grin. His daughter didn't care that Artie was a paraplegic, didn't care that her uncles were gay, Mercedes was black, and Santana was Hispanic. She would grow up with no boundaries.

Artie's parents were much more friendly than they were at that game night after Charlotte had been born. Finn thought Rebeckah Puckerman had talked some sense into them. Puck's mom had been real cool about the whole thing. Seemed to think it evened Puck out. Puck loved Charlotte and his attitude toward women had changed. His girlfriend, Lauren Zizes, was the next to arrive. Puck greeted her parents fondly.

That must have been a catalyst. A lot of people ended up coming the yard. Finn was quite shocked when Sue Sylvester showed up with Becky Jackson in tow. Charlotte was the first one to greet them. "Coach!" she screeched and hugged Sue's legs. Sue happily picked up Charlotte up and hugged her for real. Once Charlotte was back on the ground, Sue gave Finn a rare hug as well. Charlotte turned her attention to Becky. "You pretty!" Charlotte announced.

"Thanks!" Becky replied. Sue's heart warmed. Her sister Jeanie had passed away a few months ago and Becky had been helping to fill the void.

"Hey Becky, how's it going?" Finn asked, leaning down to hug her.

"I'm good, thanks for inviting me," she replied.

"I don't think I've heard you were doing next year," Finn mentioned.

"Oh, I'm taking some classes at Lima Community College," Becky said. "And Coach Sylvester is letting me come back and help coach the JV Cheerios."

"That's awesome Becky!" Finn replied enthusiastically.

"Best assistant I've ever had," Sue said proudly. "I can't just let her go off."

"Good thinking Coach," Finn agreed. They chatted a bit before Finn had to go greet more guest that had shown up. Rachel Berry showed up for a few minutes but left when she realized that no one was clamoring to talk to her. What shocked everyone was when Quinn showed up. Since Kurt was holding Charlotte, she made a bee line to them. Kurt noticed and turned to Dave.

"Can you take her in the house?" Kurt asked quietly.

"Yeah, just remember that you can be legally arrested now," Dave replied. "Come on sweetie!"

"Uncle Dabe!" Charlotte squealed. Dave flew the toddler like an airplane over to where Finn and Santana were.

"Quinn's here, Kurt's handling her, but I'm taking my airplane for a landing," Dave relayed before flying Charlotte into the house.

Meanwhile Quinn was stepping to Kurt. "I have a right to see my kid!"

"Actually you don't," Kurt informed her. "And you're trespassing on private property. SO I suggest you leave before I call the cops."

"You're having a party!" she screeched.

"One that you weren't invited to," Kurt pointed out.

"I want to see my baby!"

"Did you go to the court suggested counseling?"

"No, I don't need counseling," she scoffed.

"Then you don't get to see your daughter," Kurt said simply. Dave walked back to Kurt just as Quinn raised her hand to strike at Kurt.

"I would put that hand away if I were you," Dave said lowly, pushing Kurt behind him.

"And what are you going to do about it you fucking faggot!" Quinn screamed. People began to stop their conversations and look at the crazed blonde.

"I don't know about my son," Greg Karofsky chimed in. "But I've already called the cops. Don't you dare call my son, or any gay person, that name ever again."

Quinn stood there shocked. One of Lima's finest walked into the backyard and made a straight path to Greg. "Hey, just got the call in, what's going on?"

"Hi Officer Jackson," Kurt greeted, coming out from behind Dave. "This is Quinn Fabray. She is trespassing, and calling us derogatory hateful words, and possibly attempting to kidnap my niece."

"Serious allegations," the officer commented. "Would you like to press charges?"

"I would like to confer with the rest of the family, if I might?" The officer agreed to this caveat.

"Certainly, I'll just put her in the back of the car," he replied. "You can decide if I drop her home or take her in."

"Thank you," Kurt nodded. He walked over to the house where his family was gathered; the Karofsky's followed. "We have an option of pressing charges."

"I really don't want this mess, but I feel like if we don't, she'll just keep trying," Finn sighed.

"At the very least, get a restraining order," Burt advised.

"Okay," Finn agreed. The group walked over to Officer Jackson. "Hi, I'm Finn Hudson."

"I'm assuming that the girl in the quad car has something to do with you?" he asked.

"She gave birth to my daughter but signed away all of her parental rights," Finn explained, showing a picture of Charlotte on his phone. "She tried to sue me for custody last fall, but she lost. The judge only appointed her supervised visitation after completing a course of counseling sessions. So far she had refused to get help."

"Okay, would you like to pursue the attempting kidnapping charges?"

"Not at this time, but I do want to go about getting a restraining order for the time I'm still in the area, at the very least," Finn explained. "I leave for college soon, Bowling Green, so I'll be gone in like 30 days or so."

"I'll charge her with malicious trespassing, where in a restraining order is a part of the punishment," Officer Jackson decided. "Kurt, would you like to add anything?"

"She attempted to hit me, and called my boyfriend a fucking faggot," Kurt mused. "That could be considered a hate crime."

"I'll put that on top as well," the officer agreed. "I'm sorry this had to happen at your party."

"Us too, would you like to have any food before you take her in?" Carol offered.

"That's a nice offer, but I have to pass," he replied gratefully. "I'll get this processed and give you guys a call." Finn gave his number for the contact and Officer Jackson left the back yard.

The rest of the party went off without a hitch. The Lopez's didn't show up. Charlotte was happy as a clam and Finn tried to put the drama behind him.