DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, nor do I own any of the characters or anything else that has to do with Glee. That is all owned by Ryan Murphy and Fox. I make no money from this whatsoever. There is absolutely no copyright infringement intended. Thank you.
NOTES: Oh my Gosh, you guys. I am so sorry for the little bit of a wait for this last chapter. I started reading it over and then I didn't like it and then I started picking it apart and adding things to it and then decided I hated that even more and I just, ugh. I hope you guys enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it though. I just really hope this last chapter is ok. I could never really get this chapter perfect. I sincerely hope you guys don't find this chapter lacking or rushed through or thrown together. I've read it through what feels like a thousand times. Thank you for sticking with me!
Operation: Brothers
"So," said Puck. "How did the spying go?" It was morning of the next day and Finn's mind had been preoccupied ever since the night before. After Kurt's breakdown in the car, he had told Finn not to call him dude, buckled up, waited for Finn to do the same and then he drove them home, all the while listening to an eclectic range of music. That night at home had been a silent one. He kind of let Kurt be by himself for a while before dinner, but afterwards, he asked Kurt if he wanted to play some videogames with him. He was shocked when Kurt said yes, and even more so when he got his ass handed to him by his tiny, gay, almost-stepbrother. In fact, Kurt was now his number one go-to gaming partner, he had decided. Finn already had a plan to put the beat-down on Puck later, using Kurt as his secret weapon. Puck totally wouldn't know what hit him.
Speaking of Puck, Finn looked at him before closing his locker. Turning to both the left and the right, checking to make sure no one was listening, Finn turned to his friend and answered subdued "It was hell."
"They're that good?!" asked Puck incredulously.
"What?" Finn asked distractedly. He had almost forgotten their sole purpose of going to Dalton in the first place. "Oh, no! No. I mean, they were good yeah, but no, that's not the problem."
"Then what is it?"
"It's Kurt…"
"Dear Lord," Puck gasped. "He bagged himself a boyfriend."
"What? No! Puck! Focus! This is bad. I mean, really bad."
"Dude," Puck shook his head, perplexed. "What's the deal? Just say it."
Finn hesitated before lowering his voice and said "Kurt wants to transfer."
"WHAT?!" Puck exploded.
"Puck-"
"He can't do that! Glee needs him! Doesn't he know how completely selfish he'd be if he left us? And before sectionals too? Oh we are totally telling Rachel! She'll talk some sense into him and-"
"Puck, you don't understand." Finn interrupted his friend looking solemn. "You weren't there. He had a complete breakdown yesterday. It was awful. I've never seen anyone so broken before."
Puck could do nothing more than stare at Finn in confusion, so Finn tried to clarify.
"This bullying thing is getting to him, a lot more than he is letting on."
"Well, that's an easy fix." Puck shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll just look out for him more. Walk him to class and stuff."
Finn shook his head. "I don't think it'll be that easy."
Puck still looked perplexed. "What can we do though?"
"I don't know." And Finn truly didn't. He was at a loss. What could he do for Kurt? What could any of them do?
After Puck and Finn's conversation, Finn proceeded to keep an eye out for Kurt throughout the rest of the day. It wasn't really fun for Finn, nor was it fun for Kurt, if his facial expressions were anything to go by. Finn tried his hardest to be there next to Kurt when classes were changing. He tried to come up with multiple reasons as to why he needed to be by Kurt's side at all times, but he wasn't always successful. He was able to get there just in the nick of time sometimes, but he also saw the times when he wasn't able to make it.
It was exactly as Wes and David had described. Kurt got shoulder checked against lockers constantly. His books were pushed out of his arms. He was tripped. Finn even saw Karofsky stare Kurt down at one point in time and it didn't look natural. There was something to it that seemed inhuman and cold. To be quite honest, it scared the living daylights out of Finn, so there was no telling how scared Kurt was. In fact, Finn wanted to take his brother, hide him away and never let him leave the house again. Finn wanted to think he himself was being ridiculous, but he just knew he wasn't. Something was seriously wrong and if Kurt wasn't going to do anything about it, then he would.
That night, after Kurt had gone to sleep, Finn got up from his bed as silently as possible and walked up the stairs to the living room where he knew Burt was still watching television.
"Burt?" Finn stood in the doorway of the living room, wringing his hands in front of his stomach in worry. "Can I talk to you?"
Seeing his almost-stepson's face, Burt said "Sure Finn." He muted the television. "What's up, son?"
Finn smiled at being called son and sat down across from his new father.
"It's about Kurt."
Burt's expression turned into a look of concern. "What about Kurt?"
Finn took a deep breath and said, "He's not doing good."
"You mean he's sick?" Burt sighed. "I'll go get the thermometer. I knew something was wrong. He never tells me anything." Burt shook his head and began to get up from his recliner before Finn stood and put his hand on his shoulder, guiding him back to the chair.
"No, he's not sick. There's more to it than that." Seeing Finn's look of apprehension got Burt worried too.
In all seriousness, Burt asked, "What's wrong with my boy, Finn?"
Knowing there was no beating around the bush on the matter, Finn stated quite simply, "He's getting bullied at school."
Burt took a deep breath and braced himself. "How bad is it?"
"It's really bad." Finn hesitated to continue. "I don't even know how much has happened to him and he doesn't want to worry you because of your heart...and other things."
Burt's eyes narrowed. "What other things?"
Finn shrugged his shoulders casually and said, "Well, if you were to transfer him to, oh, I don't know, Dalton Academy for boys in Westerville, Ohio for instance…" Finn trailed off seeing his stepfather's confused expression. He hurried to continue. "…you would have to pay for private school and what with your medical expenses...and maybe a future wedding...and perhaps even a honeymoon...I'm not sure it's something we could afford to do right now."
Burt's face became a deadpan stare before he decided to ignore the wedding part of the conversation and focus on what was really the issue.
"Have you done some research on this school, Finn?"
Finn looked sheepish when he spilled the news. "Kurt and I may or may not have gone to spy on their glee club, The Warblers, yesterday." Finn hastened to explain further once Burt started looking stern. "But Kurt fell in love with the school and the classes and stuff!"
"More stuff?"
Finn wrung his hands some more. "Well, he made friends really quick there."
"I see, and these boys treated him kindly?"
"Like they had been friends for years."
Burt nodded his head looking at his lap. He then looked back to his stepson and simply stated, "I'll look into it."
Finn nodded and got up to walk away.
"Finn?" Burt called out.
"Yes, Burt?"
"Thank you for coming to me with this. You're a good big brother."
Finn's smile practically ripped his face in two as he skipped down the stairs to his shared room, careful not to wake Kurt, who was still asleep.
Carol came out of the kitchen just then, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She walked up to her boyfriend. "So, we have some research to do, huh?" She sat on the arm of his chair and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, gently rubbing his back while Burt sat with his hand rubbing his forehead in thought.
"It appears we do."
Carol nodded gently and continued to rub his back. "Thanks for saying what you did to Finn. I think you made his life."
"It was true though. He was smart in coming to me." Burt raised his other hand to hide his face from his future wife.
"It'll be OK," she whispered into his ear as she hugged him from the side. "Everything will be fine."
"Good morning, boys!" exclaimed Carol the next morning as she stood by the coffee pot.
"Morning mom," grunted Finn.
"Morning Carol," said Kurt.
"Morning, honey," responded Burt, planting a kiss on her cheek. She handed him two cups of coffee and he sat down handing one to Kurt. He then watched as the boys grabbed their choice of breakfast before he spoke up.
"Kurt," he said gently. "Finn's going to take the pick-up to school. You and I are going to stay home and talk."
Kurt looked up from his muesli to his father in confusion.
"Why? I need to go to school."
"Do you have any tests today?"
Kurt's eyebrows crinkled. "Well, no. I don't, but-"
"Then you don't need to go to school today. I need to talk to you."
Kurt put down his spoon in sudden worry. "What's wrong? Is it about your heart? I could have sworn you didn't have any appointments. Did I miss an appointment? Are you feeling OK?"
"Yes, Kurt," Burt continued in fond exasperation. He hadn't meant to worry his son. "I'm feeling fine. We'll talk about it once Carol leaves for work and Finn leaves for school."
But Kurt pushed on, not understanding. "Am I in trouble? Did I do something?"
"No, you have done nothing wrong." Being able to tell that his father was starting to get annoyed, Kurt clamped his mouth shut and looked down at his muesli. He picked up his spoon once more and took a couple more bites before putting his spoon back down and looking at Finn, who had just finished his last bite.
Finn stood up and put his bowl in the sink before turning around and hugging Kurt loosely from behind his chair. Kurt looked over his shoulder at Finn's face and Finn whispered in his ear, "Love you, bro. Good luck."
Kurt's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Finn pulled away, grabbed his school bag and rushed out the door to his truck.
"Bye Honey. Have a good day with your father. I love you very much." Carol kissed Kurt's cheek and then moved and kissed Burt before, she too, walked out the door. Kurt stared after her in shock and concern, the "very much" throwing him off. He turned back to look at his father.
All was silent at the table as Kurt and Burt stared each other down.
Kurt shook his head. "What did I do?"
"I've already told you, Kurt. You haven't done anything." Burt paused for a moment before taking off his baseball cap and rubbing his forehead. "Actually, you kind of have done something. You haven't been telling me the truth."
Kurt looked as if he were about to cry. He hated being in trouble. "About what exactly haven't I told you?"
"How bad school has gotten for you. The bullying?"
Kurt's eyes shut in horror and his mouth tightened in incredulous fury. "I'm going to kill, Finn. He had no right!"
"He had every right. He's your big brother now and he's trying to protect you."
Kurt sat in silence, looking at his cupped hands sitting on the table as a tear fell from his eye.
"Kurt," Burt reached out and put one of his hands on Kurt's. "I'm not doing this to hurt you. I'm doing this because you're my son. I love you and I need to take care of you. Now please tell me what's been going on."
Kurt looked at his father's hand touching his, and then looked into his eyes. He broke. Kurt began the tale of everything that had happened to him at McKinley High. The locker shoves. The dumpster tosses. The name calling and even some of the threats. Burt would occasionally chime in with a question or two and Kurt would answer him honestly. They ended up having a three hour conversation at the kitchen table amongst cold cups of coffee and mushy cereal with both sharing a few tears here and there.
They had lunch together after, resting from the conversation. It was a subdued affair, but Kurt felt lighter. He smiled at his dad's look of worry over the table and Burt smiled softly back.
"Feel better?" Burt asked his son.
"Much," answered Kurt. The rest of the lunch was filled with a companionable silence.
After lunch, Kurt continued sitting at the table while his father called Dalton Academy in front of him, preparing to set up an immediate transfer. Burt talked paperwork and email and everything else that needed to be talked about. He spoke with the secretary, Gina Mitchell, who was thrilled that Kurt had decided on coming to Dalton. Burt looked to his son sternly who smiled innocently in return. Burt also spoke to the headmaster of the school, asking him all sorts of questions and getting all good answers. It wasn't much longer before Burt was hanging up the phone.
He sighed and smiled, nodding at his son. It was official. Come this time the next day, Kurt would be getting out of his first day of classes at Dalton Academy. Kurt nodded back at his father, his own smile faltering and asked to be excused.
That afternoon, when Finn got home from school, he wasn't exactly certain as to what he would find. An insanely upset Kurt, maybe? Perhaps even a Kurt filled with rage? He didn't know, but what he did know was that he had done the right thing, so when he walked through the door as quietly as possible and saw that nothing was amiss, he took a deep reassuring breath. He walked to the kitchen and glanced in. Burt was sitting at the table, filling out what appeared to be paperwork.
Finn broke the tense silence. "Burt?" His stepfather looked up and nodded at him, softly smiling before bending back over to continue filling out the sheets before him.
Finn let it go and walked to the closed door leading to the basement where he and Kurt shared their room. Taking another deep breath, he held it for a second and then let it out before knocking two times on the door to warn Kurt that he was coming in.
He opened the door and walked down the stairs slowly. As soon as his face was able to peek past the wall and see, what he saw nearly broke his heart. There Kurt was, sitting on his bed hugging his knees with tears running down his face, sobbing his little heart out. Finn stopped and stood at the foot of the stairs, waiting to be acknowledged. Kurt raised his head when he heard the footsteps stop moving and looked up at his brother.
He opened his mouth and whispered a broken, "Thank you."
Finn's heart broke a little more. He walked the rest of the way to Kurt's bed and put his arms around him as Kurt cried. He rubbed his back whispering "It's going to be OK. Everything's going to be fine now."
And both boys truly believed it finally would be.
The End