I am SO sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I don't know why, but it took forever to get this chapter to the point where I was satisfied with it. In fact, I'm still not sure but if I don't post it I'll just end up sitting on it for god knows how long.
Not so much plot in this chapter, but Kurt finally talks to Mercedes about the events of Star Pupil which is a scene that was long overdue. Hope you like it.
Star Consort - Chapter Two
"Grandmother!" Kurt stood awkwardly at the door for a few moments before finally inviting her in. "We were just about to sit down to dinner, if you'd care to join us."
Bebe could see the dining room the moment she came in. Carole was there, and the two women nodded uncomfortably too each other. "Not wishing to intrude."
"You wouldn't be," Carole insisted. "Kurt asked me over to talk about that prince he likes. You'd really be a big help there."
"Jute?" Bebe asked. She turned back to Kurt, surprised. "I'd heard he was away. I take it you've heard from him."
"He came to my school today." Kurt led her to the dining room, and Bebe ultimately did sit down. While he retrieved additional china and silverware, Kurt explained what had happened. "Jute said he's here for me."
"Clearly. Let him have you?" Bebe asked.
Burt choked a little on his water. Kurt supposed he was lucky his father didn't do a cartoon spit-take. "Kurt's a little young to be accepting marriage proposals," Burt declared. "He may be an adult on Sateen, but he still has a lot of growing up to do on THIS world."
"Of course." It sounded bemused and humoring coming from Bebe. "Still, many levels of having. Jute a charming boy is. Find you the best sex tutor I will," she declared, far too cavalier for Kurt's tastes. Bad enough that Sateen was so…indiscreet about sex. Having his grandmother be likewise indiscreet about HIS OWN sex life made him want to just crawl under the dining room table.
"Sex tutor!" Finn exclaimed, clearly astonished that that was an actual thing. "They have those? Mom, can I-"
"No!" Carole yelped, firmly.
"Bebe, we don't have those kinds of things on Earth," Burt told her. "We don't even like talking about it as bluntly as you guys do."
"Still?" she replied, aghast.
"Yeah, still," Burt answered, looking a little amused at her unamused reaction.
Bebe made two starts at replying, breaking off annoyed both times before turning to Carole with "Apologies," and switching to Sateen Standard. "[Burt-Hummel, I clearly am not going to intrude on how you raise your son. But I am seriously concerned by this. I don't want my grandson starting a relationship with a man without knowing a simple thing like how to perform oral sex without gagging.]"
Finn burst out laughing. And before Kurt could stop him, Finn had translated for Carole. Kurt made a mental note to kill Finn later.
Kurt slumped in his chair. "[Rather a moot point, grandmother. Given that I've now just died of embarrassment.]"
All Bebe had to do was smile to let Kurt know how silly she thought he was being.
"Bebe." Kurt's grandmother turned to Carole, a little surprised. Actually, Kurt was a little surprised as well. Carole found Bebe intimidating, both because of the Kasha situation and the fact that Bebe was so regal in bearing. But Carole wasn't the least bit shy about mediating the disagreement. "Isn't it going to be a little hard finding someone to… 'tutor' Kurt while he's still going to school on Earth?"
"That's right," Burt exclaimed, relief flooding out of him. "Guess we'll have to leave things the way they are."
Bebe frowned, clearly outmaneuvered on this score. That seemed to be the end of the conversation until a thought occurred to her. "Jute always a conscientious student. Will ask for his notes. No doubt, they be more than complete."
Kurt's eyebrows jumped up. Although he didn't want to be 'tutored' any more than his father wanted it, he couldn't resist the idea of seeing Jute's actual notes on how to pleasure a man. "Sure. That would be perfect."
They ate in silence for a few moments until Finn abruptly asked, "So why are you here? I mean, if you didn't know that Jute was here. Did you just stop by for a visit?"
Bebe jumped a little and Kurt saw that look. The one said she was probably overstepping. She only ever looked like that around Kurt, because he was the only one who would actually defy her. But she didn't even look at Kurt as she answered Finn's question. "Finn, remember your conversation with Jute at the hospital. First time you saw my Kasha?"
Finn blushed. Given their previous discussion, it wasn't surprising he remembered the less important moment first. "It wasn't my fault. I didn't know his grandfather would kick his ass if he didn't call Kurt the next day."
This was the first anyone else had heard about THAT little tidbit, and everyone (except Finn, and Burt who was suddenly on red alert) chuckled.
"Wait, you already slept with that guy?" Burt yelped.
"No!" Kurt yelped, more startled than anything. Where did his dad get these ideas?
"I meant IF it happened," Finn hurriedly explained, anxious about having put that lethal look on Burt's face.
"Aramid would 'kick his ass' because I would kick Aramid ass," Bebe pointed out with a smug grin. "Not about that though. Idea yours for helping Kasha."
Finn's eyes went wide, and the rest of his family's eyes turned towards him. "We weren't supposed to say anything until they did more research. Is that actually going to work?"
"Satisfied I am that yes."
Kurt and Burt shared a confused look. "Just what exactly is this new treatment supposed to do?" Burt asked.
"Should let the doctors finish in one treatment," Bebe told him, excitedly. "She would be back and well again."
Burt dropped his fork, and Kurt felt like he'd just stopped breathing. Although he'd known since he'd first seen his mother in the hospital that she would eventually recover from her injuries, this was the first time anyone had an idea as to when that would be. And it sounded sooner than he could have hoped. "How long until they're ready to try it?"
"A new day on Sateen it is," Bebe reminded him. "Can start preparing when I leave here. Ready tomorrow."
Carole gasped; not surprising, she had as much riding on this operation as anyone else. Burt immediately jumped in, not wanting to hurt Carole and nervous about the fact that it was finally going to be time to make some serious decisions. "Maybe we need to talk this over before-"
But Carole shook her head determinedly. "I'm sure Bebe has gone over everything in triplicate, Burt," she assured him. "We really don't need to hold things up anymore."
Burt sighed. He looked hopeful, but he was clearly scared, too. "Yeah, she probably has. Okay, I guess we'll see you tomorrow after Kurt gets out of school."
Bebe nodded. "Needs must go, then," she told them. As she rose, she looked at Burt with and appraising eye and frowned. But before Kurt could get angry at what he assumed was displeasure over Burt's perfectly rational discomfort, she noted that "Off you look to my water's eye, Burt-Hummel. Submit to my doctors tomorrow you will as well." And she was gone before Burt had a chance to object.
Kurt was on his feet an instant later. "I need to go."
"You okay, kid?" Burt asked.
Kurt's head felt like it was spinning, and no amount of water shaping was going to fix it. "Yeah, I- I need to see Mercedes. I was going to tell her everything tomorrow. I need- I have to tell her something."
Burt frowned, worried. "You look really rattled Kurt. I don't think you should be driving right now."
"I can take him," Finn offered. Burt nodded to him, relieved.
Kurt was somewhat less so. "Well, you're just dropping me off. I'm not in the mood to explain everything. And if you're there, you'll just blurt everything out and then I'll have to. Mercedes can bring me home."
Assuming she was still speaking to him by then.
Mercedes was just clearing up from dinner when the door bell rang. Mercedes didn't think anything of it, continuing her cleaning until her mother called out, "Mercedes! Kurt's here!"
Well that was a little surprising. From what she knew about Kurt's dad, she'd assumed Kurt would currently be on lockdown until the boy sniffing around him had given up. At best, she thought she might get a call later with Kurt sighing about how perfect this 'Jute' guy was. "I'm in the kitchen, babe!" she called out.
Kurt came in, dutifully helping her clean up despite the fact that she'd told him hundreds of times that he didn't need to. "Hey, 'Cedes." He looked unusually out of sorts, though she admitted to herself that it was less unusual since the break-in.
"Are you okay, boo?"
"Yeah." He turned to her with a smile that had as much fear as joy in it. "I have to cancel tomorrow, and I didn't want to leave without telling you SOMETHING."
Mercedes' heart just about stopped; her first thought that he'd agreed to go back to his home country (that Wikipedia seemed to know nothing about) with Jute. "When- Are you coming back?"
Kurt nodded, having not quite realized how worried she was. "I'm only going to be gone for a few days. It's-" Kurt's eyes shone, with tears and more joy. "It's my mom, Mercedes. They made a mistake. She's alive."
Now that was the LAST thing Mercedes was expecting to hear. She put extra effort into putting down the plate she was holding, because she would have dropped it otherwise. "Oh my god, Kurt. That's unbelievable."
"I know. You remember, I told you my dad and my grandmother got into a fight all those years ago? My grandmother doesn't speak English really well, and she didn't mean to say dead. She just hung up on my dad before she realized she meant coma. She's been at home this whole time."
Mercedes recovered from her shock and gave Kurt a huge hug. "Baby, I'm so happy for you. So is this the first time you're going to see her?" That seemed rather odd, as Kurt had been visiting his grandmother most of the summer and had just come home the day before.
Kurt flushed. "No, I saw her the last time I was there. I was going to tell you all about it tomorrow, but-" Kurt broke off with a gasp, and tried to rein in his emotions. "They think they can wake her up. Tomorrow. 'Cedes, my mom is coming back."
Mercedes hugged Kurt again. She was excited of course, but she couldn't forget that Burt was still dating Finn's mom. And she wasn't quite sure how to bring that up.
She shouldn't have worried, because Kurt said, "I know you're wondering about Carole and my dad, and I know I'm worried about that too. But I just can't think about that right now. I'm sorry-"
"You don't have to be sorry about that," Mercedes assured him. God, it was his mom. She couldn't imagine living without hers to begin with, let alone how it would feel to miraculously get her back.
"I know I've been keeping a lot from you," Kurt told her. He was speaking atypically quickly, almost a ramble. "And you deserve to know everything that's going on- But I can't-"
"It's okay." As much as Mercedes was dying of curiosity, there was only one thing that she really NEEDED to know. "Kurt, you've been through a lot the last couple of months. And you haven't been around for me to be there for you. So right now, really the only thing I want you to tell me that you're okay. That's all."
Kurt actually considered that, rather than just replying in the affirmative. That made it a lot more convincing when he said, "I think I am. I know it must have surprised everyone that I even had something like that in me."
"Just that we've only ever seen you just take it when people hurt you," Mercedes admitted. "I guess we assumed you didn't have it in you."
"I didn't think I did," Kurt replied. "I didn't want to think so, not anymore. That training… that was all my mom's doing. That's how we're raised back home."
It was really starting to freak Mercedes out how Kurt kept referring to that other place as 'home'. "So you didn't feel like you belonged there. No big."
"It's not that," Kurt stated. "It- The fighting reminded me of where my mom's family came from. Why I didn't have a mom any more. And it scared me. But after- After IT happened, the scariest thing was knowing that I DID have it in me. That it might happen again."
"So what did your grandmother think when you told her that?"
"She didn't listen," Kurt chuckled. "She doesn't listen to most people. But she was right this time. That's what I finally figured out over the summer. I can't hide who I am, hiding just makes thing worse. Now that I'm fully trained- Well, mostly," he added with a mysterious smile. "I don't have to be afraid of myself any more." Kurt turned away a little, his smile growing warmer. "The training gives you options. Jute taught me that."
Well, it seemed like Kurt was legitimately all right. So Mercedes felt better about prying into this mystery guy. "So yeah. About this 'Jute' guy. Did you actually say no, or is that just what you told Finn?"
Kurt blushed. "We haven't slept together. Although it's safe to say that he knows as much about me as Brittany does."
"Brittany just implied today that she'd seen you naked," Mercedes pointed out.
"She hasn't," Kurt insisted, blushing all the more. "It was all… contours."
"Some big ass contours from the sounds of it."
"Mercedes!" Kurt was laughing too hard to continue.
"Well, I'd better get a detailed phone call when it finally happens," Mercedes declared.
"You've got it," Kurt answered, as soon as he could catch his breath.
"So do I take it you've decided to finally give this boy a chance to catch you?"
Kurt thought about that, too. He couldn't stop his face from growing a little red as he did. "Everyone's telling me to stop worrying about the future," he admitted.
"Good advice," Mercedes told him. And she was going to be a good friend and follow the same course of action. "Especially when you've got all this stuff with your mom happening."
Kurt initiated the hug this time. It felt grounded, like no matter what happened they would be okay. "Thanks so much, Mercedes."
"Any time, boo."
(to be continued)
