Sebastian and Hunter were splashing around in the pool with Justin and Bradley. The youngest boys were so close, that everyone knew that when next year came around and Justin started school the separation from them would be hard, especially on little Bradley.
Justin and Bradley could have been twins, they did absolutely everything together. They liked the same television shows, they ate the same foods, both loved everything to do with getting messy. Water fights, mud fights, finger painting, that turned into paint fights. Kurt would never understand how they got their messy streak, he and Blaine weren't and since everyone had settled down in the house, none of the other guys had been messy.
Isabella was growing up to be more independent and less messy than her younger brothers, she was the creative one, she loved drawing and colouring and reading and writing. Kurt had sat with her many nights, drawing dresses and things for her to colour in, and he could swear he heard the cogs working in her brain when she sat down to read.
Alex was very sporty at school, he had joined the track team, he was on the baseball team, and he had recently joined the swimming club, and he had already achieved his first badge in that. He would be 8 soon, and then it would be his transforming time. Kurt and Blaine would wonder if he looked like any of them or completely different.
Elizabeth was quite the little woman now, she was 10 and she had her own mind. She was part of a little dancing club at school, and in Theater club too. She was an amazing little actress and performer, Blaine had hoped that at least one of them would be into singing like he and Kurt were when they were younger, but so far not one of them had a knack for it.
Elizabeth had also become quite cunning and devious when she wanted to be.
Kurt and Blaine had read about the rebellious phase, but thought she was going through it a little bit earlier than most. Recently it seemed that all they kept saying to her was 'No'.
She had wanted to go to the city with her friends, on their own, and it was a 'No. She wanted to go to her friends house for her monthly change, and they had said 'No.'
She had become more insistent that she could do things by herself, they wanted to be proud of her independence, but they also wanted her to understand her limitations, especially when it came to her age.
She may be brave, and feisty, and very stubborn but she was still young, a child, and they had to keep reminding her of that.
As it was right now, she was being a kid, running around the yard trying to soak Blaine with the water gun in her hand, as Alex was doing the same with Kurt. It wasn't a fair fight, because Elizabeth Alex Sam and Puck had all teamed up to see who could ruin Kurt's hair first. Blaine was the only one on his team, and made a valiant effort to keep the water away from him using his body as a shield but eventually the hairspray washed out and his hair flopped down.
So now it was just a war of who could get who the wettest. Blaine had turned the hose on all of them sneakily, and had soaked everyone, even Sebastian and Hunter, who weren't even playing. And then Elizabeth had decided it was her mission to bring her daddy down.
After a rather elaborate display from Blaine, as Elizabeth tackled him and then Alex jumped onto him, Blaine proclaiming that the sea creatures had captured him and were trying to drown him, it was time for lunch, so everybody clambered inside to dry off, while Kurt went to prepare their sandwiches.
"Dad?" Elizabeth said as she sauntered up behind Kurt while he was busy in the kitchen, and he turned a questioning eyebrow down to her.
"What?"
"A bunch of the girls from school are going into the city tomorrow for a Sihir Rajah, and I-"
"A tattoo?!" Kurt exclaimed in shock, "How old are these girls?"
"Well Mimi and Courtney are 12, but Patty's 13 and her mom said she would take us if you gave me permission to-"
"Oh no!...No, no, no, Elizabeth you're not getting a tattoo!" Kurt said quickly and her face dropped, "And that face will not work, young lady, it's a no."
"What's a no?" Blaine said as he emerged from the living room to take some plates of sandwiches back in, and he looked between them both, Elizabeth pouting and Kurt frowning slightly.
"Elizabeth's friends are getting Raja's tomorrow and she wants one." Kurt explained to his husband and then watched as his eyes went wide.
"A tattoo? No way!" Blaine turned his eyes to Elizabeth, "When you're 18 you can do what you like, but I am not allowing my 10 year old daughter to get a magic tattoo."
"But daddy it's for-"
"No, Elizabeth." Blaine said firmly, his eyes fixed on his daughter, and she paused in her explanation and then huffed as she left the kitchen.
"We'll start getting a lot of that as they grow up, you know?" Kurt said as he placed as arm around Blaine's shoulder as his husband let out a breath.
"I know, but I hate that I have to say no."
"You're only protecting her."
"Yeah." Blaine said as he took a tray of sandwiches from the counter and gave Kurt a quick kiss, "I don't think she's going to drop this thing with the tattoo though."
"Oh probably not," Kurt said in agreement and followed Blaine out with the other tray, "But we have to stand firm."
"Yep."
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"Uncle Puck?" A small voice said from his doorway as it was slowly pushed open and Puck looked up from his pillow, the morning sunshine just rising through the clouds outside.
"Hey, Lizzie-Bear, what time is it?" He asked as he tried to rub the sleep from his face, and she slowly walked up to his bed.
"It's 6:30," Elizabeth said as she reached him and he patted the side of his bed, and she climbed up with a little smile, "Would you take me into the city today? My friends are going to get magic tattoos and they asked me to go along."
"Erm...sure, I can do that," Puck said a little unsure, "but your dad doesn't want you to get one."
"But all I need is for someone to sign it for me, please."
"Elizabeth, I don't know."
"Please Uncle Puck, it's only a little one, right here," She pleaded with him as she pointed to a small part of her wrist, "It won't even be very big...please!"
Puck studied her for a little more, frowning at her wide hopeful eyes and downturned lips, and he felt his resolve weakening. She gave him a small smile when he sighed.
"Alright, but only a little one." He said and she squealed excitedly as she jumped on him.
They made a whole day of it, out in the city, Puck following behind the girls and Elizabeth, while chatting to her friend, Patty's mom, who was accompanying them, Puck didn't mind because she was hot. She wasn't overly talkative, and at first she seemed a little apprehensive about letting Puck tag along, but after Elizabeth had explained that he was her uncle, she had agreed.
Once at the small store, Puck senses picked up a little, especially because there was a creepy looking dude sitting behind the counter. He gave off a bad vibe, and he smelled like dust. Not a good sign, it meant he was either extremely old or a Cryptor, which is a type of Warlock.
He was eyeing Puck, as he watched him suspiciously as the girls all lined up for the lady at the desk and signed their papers, Elizabeth beckoning Puck over to sign hers. He was still going to get in trouble for this, he knew it. But with her eyes looking at him like that, he couldn't help it.
After it was allover with, Puck and Elizabeth said goodbye to her friends and Patty's mom, and made their way to a little café for lunch. Elizabeth was eyeing the tattoo on the inside of her wrist with wonder the whole time they were walking, and Puck found her amazement kind of cute and funny and he had chuckled to himself.
The tattoo itself wasn't very big, but it was intricate, with a lot of tiny detail. All the girls got matching ones for symbolizing their friendship, and it was a pretty one. There were 4 little hearts, each a different colour, wavy ribbons winding around them all, and then weaving in and out of them, with the words friends forever over and underneath them.
"So, you should probably tell your dads when we get back." Puck told her as they sat drinking hot chocolate and eating chicken bagels, "There will be trouble, for me and for you."
"Yeah but, daddy didn't even let me explain why I wanted it," Elizabeth defended herself and crossed her arms, "And every body I know at school has one."
"Are any of your friends, werewolves like us?" Puck asked as he finished off his last bite and Elizabeth shook her head.
"Not really...there are a couple of boys and girls in my year that are, but they're a little weird, so I don't talk to them." She explained quickly and Puck raised an eyebrow.
"Weird?"
"They're really quiet and sometimes they wear weird clothes, and I don't think they're very smart." She said, not really sounding like it was her own explanation.
"That's not nice to say about somebody you don't know, Lizzie," Puck told her and she looked down with a small sigh and a nod, "I used to think that way about your Dad."
She shot her head back up to look up at him, shocked.
"You did?"
"Yeah, I didn't like him very much at first." Puck said with a small smile, "But when I got to know him, I ended up liking him a lot. So maybe you shouldn't judge anybody until you talk to them, hm?"
"Ok."
Puck smiled at her and told her to eat up, he wanted to get back and face whatever was coming early. He knew it would be hurricane Blaine and/or Kurt, but he was prepared. He could take it on the chin.
"What the hell is that?!"
Everyone jumped at Blaine's booming voice, and Elizabeth lost the small smile she had tried to place on her lips, it fell from her face straight away and Puck stepped up behind her, ready for his own lashing.
"Daddy I-" She started quietly, but Blaine raised a hand to silence her.
"I told you that you couldn't go and get one of those." He said pointing down to her wrist, his eyes livid, but his voice still remained calm and firm.
"But I-"
"Just because your friends do something doesn't mean you do it too. Do you want to know why werewolves don't get tattoos, it's because when we go through our changes, it distorts." Blaine went on to explain, as Elizabeth closed in on herself, folding her hands around over and over each other.
"But it's a magic-"
"And what if you were allergic to the kind of magic they use, especially when it goes underneath the skin."
"What?" She asked, obviously unaware of the risks and Blaine placed a hand against his head as he felt his temper flare again, as he turned his eyes up to the second person he was angry with.
"And you..." His voice lowered dangerously as he glared at Puck, and Sebastian and Hunter took that as their cue to take the youngest 3 upstairs, and they all but ran out of the room as Blaine continued, "I told her that she couldn't go."
Puck tried in vain not to roll his eyes, but he couldn't help it, he thought Blaine was being a little over dramatic about a tattoo.
"Will you relax, she was fine." He said in a nonchalant way, that only seemed to anger Blaine more, and that was the point that Sam seemed to realise that he and Alex were still in the room, so he guided him out too.
"You went behind my back and took her."
"Chill out-"
"No I wont chill out, Puck!" Blaine raised his voice again and Elizabeth ran out from in between them to stand behind Kurt.
"Alright, what's this really about?" Puck asked as he crossed his arms, and Blaine sighed, trying to remain in control of his temper.
"You. Defying me. Elizabeth running to you when I told her no, and you take her anyway. What gives you the right to do that?"
"The kid just wanted to have a little fun, that's all." Puck said with a shrug and Blaine narrowed his eyes again.
"I want her to be safe."
"So do I." Puck narrowed his own eyes.
"But you took her there."
"Dude she was fine, everything was ok."
Blaine threw his hands up in the air at Puck's lack of understanding why he was so angry.
"No everything is not ok, this is not ok. If I can't trust you around my kids-"
"Woah, wait a minute, I-" Puck tried to protest.
"-to enforce that when I say no, its a no. I don't want my pack going behind my back to make my children defy me, or get themselves hurt," As Puck opened his mouth again, Blaine spoke over him, continuing, "I know she's fine now, but what if she has a reaction later, and we have to take her to the hospital? And that mark on her arm is only going to distort every time she changes. And it's all your fault!"
Now Puck was becoming increasingly angry, and he uncrossed his arms, facing Blaine head on.
"If you had just explained that to her then maybe she wouldn't have got it!" He said in a raised voice, ad Blaine huffed angrily before he took a step closer.
"I don't have to explain anything to a 10 year old, when I say no, it's a goddamn no!"
Elizabeth whimpered from behind Kurt and her dad hushed her slightly.
"It's probably why she comes to me for everything, because you never tell her why." Puck shouted at him.
"She doesn't need to know why, if we don't allow it." Blaine shouted back, eyes flashing gold in anger.
"Of course she does, she's smart, she'll understand." Puck's eyes flashed bright brown back as they stared each other down.
"Don't you think I know that!" Blaine said through his clenched teeth trying to dampen the wolf's need to fight, and feeling the rush of adrenaline going through his veins.
"It doesn't seem like you understand your own daughter at all!" Puck inched a little more forward and Blaine growled at him.
"Oh really? You think you know her better than me huh?" Blaine's fangs extended and his jaw turned furry at the same time Puck's did, and Kurt knew if he didn't stop this now it would end badly.
"Maybe I do!" Puck shouted.
"Noah!" Kurt tried, but Blaine's voice overpowered him.
"She's my daughter, not yours!" He boomed, and it came out of his chest like thunder.
"Then maybe you should start treating her like she is!" Puck growled almost as loudly.
"Blaine stop-" Kurt tried again.
"Just because you haven't been able to be a father to your own daughter, don't give you the right to question my parenting skills!" Blaine yelled as his muscles shifted and Puck lowered his head, ready for the attack.
"Fuck you-"
"ENOUGH!" Kurt's alpha voice boomed over the entire room, and brought Puck, Blaine and Elizabeth all to their knees, "Puck, Blaine, go and cool off! Now!"
Puck huffed as his eyes and face went back to normal, and he brushed himself off and stalked out of the room, thunderous footsteps trailing up the stairs followed by a slamming door, but Blaine got up slowly and glared at his daughter for a while.
"And you are grounded!" He said loudly enough that it brought her to tears and she ran upstairs to her room crying, and Kurt sighed as he tried to reach out a hand to Blaine as he passed him.
"Blaine." Kurt called to him softly, but his husband's face was set in a frown as he quickly put his coat and shoes on and walked out, slamming the front door behind him.
Kurt frowned and shook his head.
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Later that night, Blaine still hadn't come back, but he had text Kurt that he would be home soon, he needed to clear his anger out with a run. Kurt didn't blame him really, it had also pissed him off that Elizabeth and Puck both would defy them. But Kurt was now a middle person in this, Elizabeth and Puck had both been reprimanded and now it was Kurt's turn to calm everybody down again. His daughter didn't appear for dinner so Kurt took her plate with him and went in search of her.
He knocked gently on her bedroom door before pushing it open. She was laying on her bed, facing away from the door, and Kurt heard her sniffling a little.
"Sweetheart, you didn't come down for dinner," Kurt said gently and she shook her head, "well, I'm glad I brought it with me then."
"I'm not hungry dad." She said so quietly that Kurt nearly missed it, and he sighed as he placed her plate on her side cabinet and sat on her bed.
"Now sweetie, you need to eat." He told her as he ran a hand through her hair, and down her back lightly, trying to comfort her.
"I made daddy angry." She said as she sniffed again.
"Yes, you did." Kurt agreed in a solemn tone.
"And I got Uncle Puck in trouble." She said as her voice became more unstable and wobbly and Kurt wrapped an arm around her form as best he could.
"No, baby, Uncle Noah got himself in trouble." He told her, "That had nothing to do with you, even though you both got in trouble for the same thing. Noah was the adult, and he did wrong."
"I just wanted something for my friends." She said quietly as she gazed down at the wrist, covered in the patterned tattoo and Kurt turned her arm gently so he could gaze at it as well.
"It is a pretty one," Kurt agreed, "but you're daddy was right honey, once you change, it may not look the same."
"Is that really the reason why we don't get any? Not even magic ones?"
"Yeah, it's part of the reason," Kurt said as he lay down next to his daughter and wrapped his arms around her, "the other reason was, that you're so young, and changing your body image right now, is the wrong thing to do. You're 10 sweetie, you have so many years left to change, but not because of friends, because of you...just you."
She nodded as she seemed to understand what her dad was saying, and he kissed her head lightly before rolling away.
"You should eat your dinner baby." He said as he placed the plate next to her on the bed, and she rolled over to focus her wide, teary eyes on him.
"Will daddy be angry forever?" Elizabeth asked as she bit her lip, and Kurt plucked a tissue from her night stand and wiped her face.
"No, honey, I think he'll be disappointed for a while, but he can't stay mad." Kurt said as he offered her a small smile, and then got up to leave, "You should come and talk to him later. When everyone is asleep."
She nodded at him and he walked back downstairs to make sure that the others had all finished their dinners before bath time, and as he neared the bottom of the staircase, the door opened and Blaine walked in. Kurt paused and stared at him, as Blaine caught his eye and stared back, both of them unblinking for a while.
"I'm sorry." Blaine eventually said and Kurt nodded his head with a small smile.
"Our daughter wants to talk to you later." Kurt told him as he moved past him, before he paused and then placed a hand against Blaine's cheek, his husband leaning into his touch, "Come help me with bath time?"
"Of course."
After the kids had gone to bed, Kurt lay on the bed, across Blaine's lap in wolf form. Blaine was absently stroking over his side, ruffling up the fluffy white fur and then smoothing it down again, when there was a small tentative knock on the door.
"Come in." Blaine said, as Kurt grunted and rolled over so that he slouched over the bed, Blaine's hand still in his fur.
Elizabeth poked her head around the doorway and eyed Blaine nervously and Blaine frowned sadly, and put his hand out for her to come closer. She rushed over to him and sobbed into his shirt as he hugged her, Kurt watching them with warm eyes from the bed.
"It's ok, sweetheart, I'm sorry I frightened you, I love you ok?" Blaine was whispering into her hair and running his fingers through her curly hair, as she nuzzled against him.
"I'm sorry daddy."
"Ssh it's ok now baby, it's over now."
Blaine sat cradling his daughter to him, soothing and whispering to her for a little while, and eventually she quieted down. Kurt had pushed his head back onto Blaine's lap and Elizabeth giggled as she stroked over his white fluffy head, and he licked her hands.
"Dada that tickles," She laughed to him, and then hugged around the big white wolf's neck, before turning back to Blaine, "I really am sorry. I'm sorry that I went against what you said, and that I made Puck take me. Please don't be mad at Uncle Puck anymore daddy, please."
"Hey, baby, it's alright," Blaine said as he took her hands, as Kurt nuzzled his face against her arm, "I'm not mad, I'm just upset that you did it anyway when me and your dad, both of us told you that you couldn't. You understand that's why you're grounded right?"
She shakily nodded her head and swallowed hard as she looked down.
Blaine looked down at her wrist.
"Maybe we should take a picture of that, because we don't know how it will look after your change." Blaine told her and she smiled up at him a little.
"Are you still mad at Uncle Puck?" She asked with her eyes cast downwards, and Kurt looked up at him with slightly narrowed ice blue eyes as he opened his mouth to reply, and he paused, changing his answer swiftly.
"No, but it doesn't mean he should have done what he done." Blaine said and Kurt lowered his head again, "You both did wrong."
Elizabeth nodded her understanding and Kurt whined as she stroked over his neck, and it caused her to giggle.
"Did you want us to read to you tonight?" Blaine asked her and she smiled at him before she shook her head, and hiding a yawn behind her hand, and Blaine chuckled before pulling her in for another hug, "I love you, princess."
"I love you too, daddy," she replied and Kurt yipped in her direction and she put a hand underneath his chin, "I love you too, dada."
"Goodnight darling, from both of us." Blaine said and grinned as Kurt licked her cheek.
"Night night." She said as she slipped from their bed and made her way back to her own room.
Kurt took up his position over Blaine's legs, and looked up at Blaine for a moment, before Blaine snuck his fingers into his neck fur and buried his face into the fur on his cheek. Blaine placed a couple of small kisses in the fur on Kurt's face, before kissing down his muzzle, ending with one small kiss on the end of his nose and then wrapping his arms around his neck to hug the big wolf close.
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It wasn't the same after the fight, there was tension in the group, and once the kids had gone to school on Monday Kurt had found out why.
He had booked the day off of work, because he had wanted to speak to Puck alone. He knew he was still in his room at this time of the morning, he didn't work on Mondays anymore, but Kurt knew it was to avoid everyone else as well in the mornings, especially Blaine.
"What are you doing?" He said so sharply as he opened Puck's bedroom door that Puck jumped and dropped the pile of clothes he had in his arms and then kicked his bed frame.
"Ouch! Fuck!" Puck said as he bent to rub at his foot and then pick up the clothes, "What the fuck Kurt?"
"What the fuck are you doing?" Kurt asked again as Kurt slammed the clothes down into a couple of rucksacks, and then zipped them shut.
"I'm leaving." Puck said and then he pulled out a suitcase from under the bed and began packing that with the rest of his things, and Kurt stood completely numb for a second.
"What?" He asked, his voice full of hurt, and Puck stopped.
He sat down on the bed, and paused in his packing to shake his head and look up at Kurt.
"The last couple of days has made me think...I miss Beth, that's just it. I need to go be with my family."
Kurt felt like he had been kicked in the chest at those words, and he grabbed onto the doorframe to stop himself from falling over.
"We are your family, Noah." He said quietly and Puck smiled sadly at him.
"You know what I mean...I need to, she's 16 now, she needs me to fend off the boys and stuff."
Kurt nodded slowly, still processing exactly what he was hearing, and watching Puck flicker around the room absently, until the packing slowed and Puck was unplugging things around the room.
"How long will you be gone?" Kurt asked, flicking his eyes nervously over the room, which was now devoid of anything Puck related and then back to Puck, who wouldn't look him in the eye.
"I don't know." He told him, shrugging his shoulders slightly.
Kurt felt betrayed, Puck was his brother, he had been with him from the very beginning, they had been through so much grief, pain and then happiness together, and now he was just packing up and leaving. He felt hurt, and angry, like he wanted to throw things and scream until his lungs collapsed, but he just stood, numb.
"Will you be back?" He managed to choke out and Puck looked at him, their eyes connecting, mournful betrayal meeting guilty shame, and then Puck looked away again.
"...I don't know." He said quietly.
Puck's flight was that afternoon, he wanted to leave before the kids got home, because the way that he felt about them, he knew it would be impossible to leave if they were crying for him.
He said his goodbye to Sam, who had come home for lunch, and then to Kurt, who gripped him so tightly he was afraid he would miss his flight if Kurt didn't let him go.
Kurt didn't want to let him go. But he had too.
Puck waved again once he was inside the taxi and Kurt broke down when the yellow car was out of sight, Sam sinking to the floor with him as they mourned the loss of a pack-mate, their beta and their brother all in the same day.
Blaine had been shocked when they told him, and Sebastian had shed angry tears about it. Elizabeth had slammed her bedroom door and immersed into grief, Alex and Isabella cried for him too. Justin and Bradley had no idea what was going on, but joined in with the solemn mood in the house and they were grumpy.
Hunter was the only one who didn't cry, he hadn't known Puck for very long, but he could tell that he was a very loved and important member of their pack.
Blaine apologised to Kurt that night, but Kurt told him it actually wasn't about the fight, Puck's reason was his daughter and Kurt would never try and stop him form being with her. It hurt, a lot. And it hurt all of them. Not having Puck around was different. Like something was missing.
Sebastian regained his beta role within the pack, because Sam refused to take it. Sam and Kurt were still so upset over it about 2 weeks later, Sebastian had mentioned maybe going to visit Burt in Ohio, but he told him that Sam and Kurt had refused to go.
Blaine left them to it, they had to grieve for him, he was their brother, Blaine understood, from all Kurt had told him of their past, just how close the 3 of them were, especially after Finn passed away, and now he was gone. There was a hole inside that no-one else could fill.
It would take them some time to heal. It would take the whole pack time, to move forward from this.