Chapter 34: Let's Try to be Normal
Hiram is sitting at the bar in Breadstix, nursing his 3rd gin and tonic. Puck sits down next to him while wearing sunglasses.
"What's with the glasses inside?" asks Hiram, half drunk.
"My eyes were a little sensitive today," replies Puck.
"You're new around here."
"On the contrary, I'm very old." Talking to the bartender. "Bourbon, neat."
"I haven't been gone that long. I would remember someone who looked like you."
"Yeah. Where did you go?"
"Around, about."
"I've been there."
"I love to see a man drown his sorrows. It's so sexy."
"It's more like nursing my wounds. And you?"
"I was supposed interviewing for the bartender job but I think the manager blew me off."
"Well, that's not very nice."
"Yeah. Last time I was in town I slept with her boyfriend."
"That's not very nice either."
"It happens."
"Yes, it does."
Emma walks into Breadstix and sees Hiram and Puck at the bar. "Hiram? Hiram Berry?"
"Emma!" greets Hiram excitedly.
They hug each other.
"I heard you were back in town. He used to babysit me," Emma explains to Puck.
"Well sit! Let's have a drink sweetheart!" offers Hiram.
"I shouldn't. I just stopped in to get food for me and Finn."
"Well, take a night off. It's good for the soul."
"Great for the soul," says Puck with a smirk.
"I shouldn't, but you guys have a great night." Emma orders food the bartender.
"What about you sweetie? Will you stay with me?" asks Hiram to Puck.
"This is not going to end well," replies Puck.
"Can't wait."
They raise their glasses and clink.
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"I hate this house!" complains Frederick for the 11th time.
"It's better than the tomb," reasons Bethanne.
"I didn't stay locked up for 145 years to end up locked here," he replies.
"Maybe you should quit complaining," says Harper in a calm voice.
Frederick gets up and walks toward Harper. "You're going to stop me?"
"Let it be Frederick. You heard what Pearl said," interjects Bethanne.
"I don't care what Pearl said!" He turns to look at Harper again. "What you got boy?"
Harper gets up and pushes Frederick on the couch. Frederick pushes Harper against the wall.
"Try that again," Frederick says threateningly.
Pearl arrives and strangles Frederick against a wall. "Back off. Back off! We don't fight each other. Those are the rules."
"And I'm tired of your rules. I want out of this house. Why can't we go out on the town?" asks Frederick again.
"Eventually. But for now, we must keep a low profile," reasons Pearl.
"No one knows who I am," whines Frederick.
"The Anderson brothers do."
"And I wish to hell that I could run into them. They're the reason we were caught in the first place."
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Kurt, Blaine, Quinn, and Sam are sitting at a table at Breadstix on their double date.
"So, Sam, how do you like working here?" asks Kurt.
"It's not that bad. Wait staff is pretty good and they can't keep a bartender to save their lives. I actually put my dad up for a job," replies Sam.
"How has that been? Having Hiram back?" asks Kurt.
"You know, same old Hiram. He's trying, sort of," replies Sam.
"Hiram and my dad were best friends growing up. That's how Sam and I first met, we shared a crib together," explains Kurt.
"You're kidding?" asks Blaine.
"Nope, we've known each other our whole lives," says Sam.
Kurt and Sam look each other. Quinn sighs. Everyone turn their heads and watch Puck and Hiram drinking together.
"You gotta be kidding me," says Sam.
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Frederick and Bethanne are starting to leave the house and Harper catches them.
"Where are you going?" asks Harper.
"Bethanne and I are going out for a bit. Hit the town, kick up our heels," explains Frederick.
"We're not supposed to leave. Miss Pearl made that very clear," replies Harper.
"You're going to stop me?" Harper looks at him, stunned. "I didn't think so."
Harper watches them while they leave the house.
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Someone knocks on the door of the Hummel-Hudson house and Finn goes downstairs and opens the door. It's Anna.
"Anna?"
"Surprised?"
"I thought you and your mom were leaving town."
"Change of plans. Sorry, I thought you'd be psyched."
"No, no, no. I mean…I am. Of course, I am."
"Alright then, step aside." Anna enters in the house.
"Finn who is it?" Emma calls from upstairs.
"It's Anna!" replies Finn. "You wanna sit?"
"Sure," replies Anna.
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"Don't be grumpy. It can't be that bad," says Hiram to Puck. Still at the bar.
"You'd be surprised. My primary reason for existence has abandoned me and after today's events, the remains of the shaky ground that I walk on are about to go ka-boom. Let's get hammered," says Puck.
"Let's," replies Hiram.
They clink their glasses.
Quinn, Kurt, Blaine and Sam are still at their table. They're watching Puck and Hiram at the bar.
"At least they're having fun," says Quinn.
"They're drunk," says Kurt.
"Remember when Kurt's parents busted us here after the Homecoming?" asks Sam.
"Oh, my god yes!" says Quinn laughing.
"Well, we were wasted; it was the first time I ever got drunk. I blame Sammy," says Kurt.
"His parents got seated at the next booth," explains Sam.
"And Sam had me pretend that I was choking so we could get away," explains Kurt, laughing.
"Except that his dad was ultimate papa bear so he jumped up to save him," says Sam.
"And I ran, slipped on the wet floor and ate shit in front of everyone. Do you remember that? 3 stitches, a hangover for days and I was grounded from seeing you for a week," says Kurt.
Sam and Kurt look at each other and laugh.
"I'm gonna go to the restroom. Kurt?" says Quinn, clearly annoyed.
Puck sees the group of them from the bar. "Hide. We're not here."
"Why? Where'd we go?" asks Hiram.
"A child under your care. Five o'clock."
Hiram turns his head and sees them. "Damn!"
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"What made you and your mom decide to stay in town?" asks Finn as he and Anna are sitting on the couch.
"She got this business opportunity; she's going to open up a little store. It has always been her dream. So yeah, we're staying. And I'm thinking about going back to high school, so you'll be seeing a little more of me."
"Yeah?"
"Enough of homeschooling. I'd like to be a normal teen for once. But I have to ask my mom first, she'll have an opinion."
"Well, I wish you were there now. I have to write another paper. I was thinking about squeezing one more out on "the vampire in Lima"."
"Really? Haven't you exhausted the subject?"
"No, I want to go deeper, you know. I want to understand why people were labelled as vampires back in the day. I mean, maybe there's such a thing has vampires, they're just different from the way we always thought they were."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, maybe they're normal and good, just outsiders you know? Um, misunderstood."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Don't you think it could be possible? You did give me all that info."
"Finn, I made it up ok? You were all cute and floppy and I wanted to make a good impression."
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"Is there anything you're not good at?" asks Sam as they play a round of pool.
"Double dating. This is all kind of new to me. I usually keep to myself. I don't always fit in," replies Blaine.
"That's because you're that guy."
"What guy?"
"The guy who seems like he has everything, so the people that don't, kind of run the other way."
"Is that what I seem like?"
"Pretty much."
"Hmm…what a dick!"
Sam laughs. "Yeah."
In the restroom, Kurt is washing his hands. Quinn is standing behind him.
"So, um, what are you doing?" asks Quinn.
"What?" asks Kurt, confused.
"Well the point of this was to show him how much you care about Blaine. You know, not to hopscotch down memory lane."
"I was just trying to make conversation."
"Try less," says Quinn threateningly.
Quinn leaves the restroom, Kurt runs after her.
"Quinn."
When running after Quinn, Kurt passes Frederick. He sees him and catches his arm.
"Kristian?" asks Frederick.
"I'm sorry, you have the wrong person," explains Kurt.
Quinn is waiting for Kurt. "Kurt, come on!"
"My mistake," apologizes Frederick.
They return to the pool table with Sam and Blaine. Frederick looks at Kurt.
"How's everything going?" asks Kurt.
"Sam's cheating," says Blaine jokingly.
"No need, I'm awesome," replies Sam.
"Blaine Anderson," says Frederick as he watches the group.
"Everything okay?" asks Blaine to Kurt.
"Everything's great." He writes him a text message and shows it to Blaine. That man over there just called me Kristian.
Blaine starts to walk toward him but he's already gone.
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Kurt parks his car at the boarding house. Him and Blaine discuss Frederick.
"So, you didn't recognize him, you haven't seen him before?" asks Blaine.
"No, there was nothing familiar about him at all," answers Kurt.
"Right, let's call it a night. OK? Send Sam and Quinn home?"
"No, the whole point of the night was to not have to deal with this stuff. We need to get through one night. One normal night."
"You're sure?"
"No, I'm not sure, but I don't know what else to do. Look, if there's another vampire in town, he'll still be here tomorrow. We'll deal with it tomorrow."
"OK."
Sam and Quinn arrive and Sam parks his car.
"Come here." Blaine kisses Kurt.
Quinn, Sam, Blaine and Kurt walk in to the living room.
"This is much better than watching Puck visit cougar town." To Sam. "No offence," says Quinn.
"Don't remind me." To Blaine. "Bro, I've always wanted to see what it looks like in this place," says Sam excitedly.
"Yeah, I guess it's a bit much," says Blaine
"Yeah, my entire house could fit in here, like twice," explains Sam.
"Feel like I've been here before. It's weird," says Quinn.
Kurt is starting to look uncomfortable and changes the subject. "Do you guys want to watch a movie or something?
"Whoa! Those are awesome!" Sam walks towards Baine's miniature cars collection.
"This is uh…a little hobby of mine," explains Blaine.
"I did the entire Mustang series when I was 9," says Sam.
"You like cars?"
"It's an understatement."
"Come with me."
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Puck is tying a cherry stem in his mouth. After he does it, he starts explaining how to do it to Hiram. "So, the thing about cherries, you have to…"
Hiram puts his finger on Puck's lips and he puts a cherry in his mouth.
"Oh, my goodness."
Puck takes the cherry out of Hiram's mouth with his mouth. "That's amazing, you were fast." Puck has sexy glint in his eye.
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Blaine opens the door to the garage. "Prepare yourself, my friend." He removes a tarp from a car.
"Wait, how do you have this?" asks Sam.
"Got passed down through the family," explains Blaine. He opens the car's door.
"Why don't you…I mean…why don't you drive it?" asks Sam dumbstruck.
"Well, it doesn't run. I mean, it's not that I could figure out," explains Blaine.
"Why would you keep a car that doesn't run?" asks Quinn.
"Could you be more of a girl right now?" asks Sam jokingly.
Quinn laughs.
"Hey, want to come look at this for me?" asks Blaine.
"Kurt, remember the old Camaro your dad used to have?" asks Sam.
"Of course!" says Kurt.
"All three of us built and rebuilt that engine 20 times," explains Sam to Blaine.
"Wow," says Blaine, shocked.
"I don't like sports cars; they're too hard to make out in," says Quinn.
"It wasn't that bad," says Sam, looking at Kurt.
Kurt starts blushing. Quinn leaves the garage and Kurt goes after her.
"I'm sorry man," says Sam to Blaine.
"No, no, no. Don't worry about it. You and Kurt, you guys have a history and ignoring it doesn't do anybody any good," replies Blaine.
"He's good with you. You know, I wasn't sure but he's happy and I'm glad," says Sa. They look at each other, now having an understand of each other. "Alright, let's look at this."
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Kurt catches up to Quinn. "Quinn!"
"I don't want to talk about it," says Quinn exasperatedly.
"You're being ridiculous."
"And insecure and stupid. But that doesn't change the fact that Sam's always gonna be in love with you and I'm always gonna be the back-up."
"You're not the back-up."
"Yes, I'm. I'm Sam's Kurt back up; I'm Mercedes' back up."
"Now it's about me and Cedes?"
"You don't get it. Why would you? You're everyone's first choice." They look at each other.
Blaine and Sam pull up in the Porsche and they get out of the car.
"Piece of cake!" Sam sees Quinn's heartbroken face.
"You know what? Why don't you guys go ahead and take it for a spin?" offers Blaine.
"Really?" says Sam, surprised.
"Yeah."
"Quinn?" offers Sam. Quinn takes Sam's hand they get into the car.
Kurt and Blaine watch them go. Blaine embraces Kurt.
"You alright?" asks Blaine.
"If it's not vampires, its girlfriends," replies Kurt
They kiss each other.
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Finn and Anna are in the kitchen.
"Alright. Roast beef, turkey, what do you want?" asks Finn as he makes Anna a sandwich.
"Let's do the works. Pile it high," replies Anna.
"OK, I like your style. Will you grab the bread for me?" asks Finn.
"OK." She turns to get the bread. Finn cuts his hand with a knife. "What are you doing?"
"It's just a cut. Can you hand me that towel?" asks Finn.
She looks uncomfortable. "I can't."
"You got a problem with blood Anna?" He shows her his bloody hand and goes towards her. "What's the matter? It's just blood, Anna."
She grabs him by the neck and pushes him against the fridge. "What are you doing?" Her face changes.
"I knew it." He shows her his hand. "Go for it."
She takes his hand and begins to drink. Emma enters the kitchen. Finn rushes towards her.
"Emma! Hey, what's up?"
"Coming to get my book. Make sure you put all this away," says Emma. She goes back upstairs.
Finn looks back into the kitchen, Anna has gone. He looks at his hand and smiles.
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Sam and Quinn are driving in Blaine's car through the woods.
"Did I just pass the driveway?" asks Sam.
"Uh…no, I think it's up there," says Quinn.
"This is an amazing car. Did I pass?" asks Sam.
Quinn doesn't understand the question.
"The whole double date thing was obviously a test to see how I would do around Kurt."
"I don't know. You were reminiscing about the Kurt years the whole night so…"
"Quinn that stuff came before. It's not just gonna go away."
"I know that okay? I know."
"No, you don't. Because, you're letting Kurt turn you into a crazy person. Look it's my fault. I made it clear early on that Kurt still means something to me. But all that talk, that was just two old friends and some memories. Tonight, wasn't about me and Kurt, I was there because I wanted to be with you. And I don't know what this means or what we are but I do know that you are the only person I want to be in this car with right now. And I don't even know if that makes sense because I'm not really that good at expressing myself."
"No, no. I think you're doing just fine."
They laugh and kiss each other. Quinn hurts herself when she moves suddenly.
"Sports cars…"
"Yeah," Sam laughs.
They kiss each other again.
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Puck and Hiram enter the house. Puck makes a drink, takes a sip, and hands it to Hiram.
"Now that you've got me here. He drinks. "What are you gonna do with me?" asks Hiram.
"I'm going to…going to do this." He kisses Hiram. He pushes him against the wall. They kiss each other again. Quinn and Sam enter the house and interrupt them.
"Dad?!" yells Sam.
"Puck?!" yells Quinn.
"Oh, my god, Sam! Oh, my god," says Hiram, totally embarrassed. He takes his things and leaves.
Kurt and Blaine arrive.
"I got to…" starts Sam, mortified.
"It's fine, just go," finishes Quinn.
"I'll take her home," says Kurt to Sam.
"Thanks, dude," says Sam to Blaine. He gives the keys to Blaine and leaves.
Quinn, Kurt, and Blaine look at Puck. He drinks with a smirk.
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Anna walks into Miss Gibbon's house. She tries to be discreet, but Pearl catches her.
"Where have you been?" asks Pearl.
"I needed some air," explains Anna.
"For three hours? Tell me, where have you been?"
"Out, I was out."
"Annabelle, don't do this. I can't fight you too." Anna looks down sadly. "What?"
"I'm sorry."
Pearl embraces her.
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Kurt and Blaine walk out to Kurt's car.
"Sorry I'm bailing," says Kurt.
"Just wish you let me drive you home," replies Blaine.
"Normal people don't have chaperones or bodyguards or baby-sitters. We're normal tonight, remember?"
"I know, I just get so worried about you."
"Blaine, I can't live every minute afraid that someone is gonna come after me. I won't, it's not living."
"Okay. Call me when you get home safe." Blaine takes his face and kisses him. He opens the car door for Kurt and he gets in.
"Bye Blaine," says Quinn.
"Bye," says Blaine.
He closes the car's door. He watches them leave and goes back inside. Frederick watches him while he closes the door.
Inside, Puck is in the living room. Blaine arrives and looks at him.
"Don't look at me like that," says Puck.
"Are you crazy?" asks Blaine
"Save the lecture. Look…"
Frederick jumps through the window, jumps on Blaine and stabs him with a piece of glass. Puck pushes him off Blaine and starts to fight with Frederick. Blaine removes the piece of glass. Bethanne arrives and begins to fight with Blaine. She pushes him to the floor, he takes the leg off a wooden chair and stabs her in the heart. Puck sends Frederick across the living room. Frederick looks at Puck and Blaine and then looks at Bethanne, who is dead. He leaves.
Blaine looks at Puck.
"Fuck!" yells Puck.
"I remember them from 1864. They were in the tomb," says Blaine.
"Yeah…about that."
They look at each other.
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Sam walks into the living room and Hiram goes after him.
"Sam…Sam…"
"I don't want to hear it, Dad."
"Sammy, please…"
"Do you know what I was doing tonight, Dad? I was having fun, you know, trying to forget about all the crap that I have to deal with every day. Just enjoying a night with my friends. And then, there you are, wasted at the bar, where I work, by the way, to pay the bills that you don't pay. And then you're off acting like a fuckin' kid, hooking up with some guy half your age. I'm the kid, Dad. You're supposed to be responsible for me."
"I know, Sam," says Hiram, ashamed by his actions.
Sam looks at him and leaves.
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Pearl is taking a bottle of blood from the fridge while Anna sits at the table. Frederick walks into the kitchen.
"So, where's Bethanne?" asks Pearl.
"She won't be coming back," says Frederick begrudgingly.
"What happened? Where is she?"
"Well, you were right." He looks at Anna. "We shouldn't have left."
"No. Hungry?"
Frederick is still looking at Anna.
Pearl is pouring blood in a glass. She takes the glass and a wooden spoon. She holds the glass to Frederick and stabs him with the spoon. She puts down the glass and throws the spoon in the sink. She sits down and pours blood in a glass. "Next time you'll listen to me."
Anna smiles and looks at Frederick.
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Kurt is talking on the phone with Blaine. "I'm home, nighttime skin regimen done, and ready for bed. Save and sound."
"Good, good. I'm glad."
"Is everything alright? You sound serious."
"No, no, no, no. Not tonight, you still have a few minutes left of normal. I'll tell you about it tomorrow okay?"
"I had a really nice time on our date tonight."
"Such a liar," says Blaine with a smile.
"No, I'm serious. In a way, it was exactly what it was supposed to be."
"I had a really nice time too."
"I love you, Blaine."
"I love you, too, Baby."
Kurt hangs up and touches his necklace.
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Finn enters his bedroom. Anna's there, sitting on his bed. Finn jumps when he sees her. "What the hell?"
"I could have killed you."
"Yeah, but you didn't."
"I should have."
"But you didn't."
"How did you know?"
"I knew this girl. Rachel. She was attacked by an animal, a bite to the neck. She started acting crazy, weird, and it seemed like drugs, but then you showed me those articles. And then I saw your face and how it changed the night in the cemetery when I kissed you."
"You know you can't tell anyone, right?"
"Who would believe me?"
"You'd be surprised."
"Why didn't you kill me?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'm a sucker for guys like you."
"Like what?"
"Lost. Why would you confront me about it? Why would you risk it?"
"Because if it was true, maybe it's true about Rachel. And cuz…I want you to turn me."