A/N: Okay, so there's a bit of a time jump in this chapter and this is the day Ryder and Marley leave for Lima. This is a little bit of a boring filler chapter, so sorry if it's underwhelming. And we sort of meet Kurt, and because this story is completely AU, Kurt is Marley's younger brother. But I promise there will be more of him. The Kurt and Marley being siblings thing sort of came to me after a conversation on tumblr with someone and while this isn't the Kurt/Marley sibling relationship I've been thinking of writing about in a future ff, I just wanted to see if maybe I could write those two together since we never really got to see them interact in canon. And thank you to those who have left the positive reviews! Words can't describe how grateful I am for those little gems :) Please continue to R&R and if you have any suggestions for the anything in the upcoming chapters, you can PM on here or message me on tumblr at: teamnewdirections.

I own nothing related to Glee or else the newbies would've still been on Glee. Don't even talk to me about the cheap cop-out scene we got with the five of them. It makes my breasts ache with rage :(

Week Before Wedding

"Come on Ryder, we got to go now! I don't want to be on the road during a traffic jam." Marley yelled as they put their luggage in the back of her car.

"I'm hurrying. I'm not the one with three suitcases when we're only going to be there for a week." Ryder said defensively.

"I need three suitcases!" she snapped irritably.

"Look, calm down. Everything's fine. We got our story straight, we have our hotel suite booked, the car is full of gas, we have our roadtrip playlist. Nothing is going to go wrong." he replied smoothly.

"I'm sorry. It's just, I hate when things go wrong and you can't control it." she sighed.

"Hey, I'm not going to let anything go wrong. Just relax and try to enjoy this. You get to see your mom and your old friends. This week is going to be fun." Ryder answered.

"Easy for you to say, you've never met my mom." Marley groaned.

"Is she really that bad?" Ryder asked as they pulled onto the highway.

"I love her, but she can be controlling to say the least." Marley answered.

"Look, I'll make her love me so she isn't on you the whole week, deal?" Ryder laughed.

"Good luck with that." she chuckled.

"Come on, who can resist their daughter's boyfriend?" he said jokingly.

"Okay, Gus." she joked back.

A couple hours later, Ryder and Marley pulled into Lima.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said this was a small town." Ryder said as he followed the GPS to The Lima Royal Inn.

"Yeah. I certainly don't miss it." Marley said as she rolled her eyes.

They finally pulled into the parking lot and went into the hotel lobby to check in. "Hi. Reservation for Marley Rose?" she said to the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression you cancelled your reservation?" he replied.

"No. Why would you think that?" Marley asked as a nagging suspicion pulled at the back of her brain.

"We received a phone call saying that you wouldn't need it anymore. We had to give your room to someone else and there's nothing else available. We're sorry if there's any inconvenience." he answered dismissively.

"Oh my god. Unbelievable." Marley muttered under her breath as they sat down in the lobby.

"What's wrong?" Ryder asked curiously.

"Hold on a second." Marley said as she called her mom.

Her younger brother Kurt picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Kurt. Is mom there?" Marley asked.

"Yeah. But she's upstairs putting a bigger bed in your room for you and your boyfriend." Kurt answered.

"Um, was she the one who cancelled my hotel reservation?" Marley demanded.

"Yes." he answered shortly.

"Wow. That doesn't even surprise me. Look, tell her I'm already in Lima. And I'll be there in about twenty minutes."Marley sighed as she hung up. "She cancelled the reservation on us. I needed that suite! It had two rooms and two bathrooms so we each had our own space. I don't think I can handle being under the same roof as her again!" Marley panicked before Ryder gently touched her arm.

"Look, we'll humor her for a couple of days, get another hotel room and we'll just say we need our own space. It won't be that bad." he said calmly.

"Okay. I do miss her home cooking." Marley said grudgingly.

"That's the spirit." he said brightly as they went back out to the car. Ryder handed her the keys and she drove to her childhood home.

"It looks quaint. And homely." Ryder remarked.

"What was your home like?" Marley asked bemusedly.

"It was bigger than this. Just didn't feel like home." he shrugged.

"Yeah well, it looks nice now but it's a jungle inside." Marley muttered as they got their luggage. Marley knocked on the door and Mrs. Rose warmly opened it.

"Hello dear!" she chirped as Marley hugged her.

"Hey mama. It smells like you're baking your world famous chocolate chip cookies!" Marley answered.

"Yes I am. Now don't be rude, who's your guest?" she asked as she eyed Ryder.

"Oh right. This is Ryder." she answered as she realized she slipped up. "I mean, Gus. Gus Ryder." she babbled on.

"Oh. It's nice to meet you Gus." Mrs. Rose greeted halfheartedly as they shook hands.

"I just want to say Mrs. Rose, you raised a great daughter. She's the light of my life. She makes me want to be a better person." Ryder said as he threw his arm around Marley and kissed her cheek.

"Don't suck up to me just yet Gus." Mrs. Rose said with a smile that made even Marley's blood run cold. A timer went off. "Oh, that'll be the cookies. Leave those suitcases here in the foyer, you can get those later. Let's go into the kitchen." she said brightly.

"I see the sass is genetic." Ryder muttered under his breath as Marley jabbed him with her elbow.

"So where's Kurt?" Marley asked. "Oh he had to leave. You just missed him. He's auditioning for some musical or something." Mrs. Rose answered with a tone of annoyance.

"That's cool. You don't sound too excited for him." Marley answered.

"Well, he's convinced he's going to go to New York when he graduates high school. He wants to go to some school there. NYADA, I think." she said dismissively as she got Marley and Ryder some milk for their cookies.

"You know, Kurt's really talented. Shouldn't you be a little bit more supportive?" Marley asked pointedly.

"I know he's talented, but I don't think playing dress up is a good career!" Mrs. Rose snapped. "Now let's not talk about your brother, let's talk about you." Mrs. Rose said, returning to her syrupy sweet tone.

"Actually, we're kind of tired. May we be excused?" Marley asked shortly.

"Actually, Jakey called this morning. He asked if you were in yet and I said no. Then I asked why he asked that and he said he was hoping to invite you and Gus for dinner at Breadstix at 6:30 tonight to catch up and I said you would be there. You should probably go freshen up and get ready to go." Mrs. Rose answered innocently. Marley crushed the cookie in hand in frustration at her mother's antics.