Okay - here is the next installment!
This chapter has a lot more humour and fluff. While there is still some angst you get to see Kurt's snarky nature we've all come to know and love come to light.
Things are starting to look up for Kurt and he gets a lot more understanding on what the hell is happening to him.
Massive, massive thanks to my courageous Beta (she has to be to take on me and this fic!) who has turned into my own personal history source! Lots of love for all her hard work on this chapter!
No additional warnings for this chapter, but I hope you enjoy the lighter side! :)
Disclaimer - I don't own Glee or it's characters, I'm just borrowing them for my own amusement.
Last time - Kurt met with Schue and Ms P and learned discovered some interesting information about his own power.
The next morning Kurt spent most of his time staring at the window in his hospital room, cursing the architects for putting the only possible form of entertainment outside the television so high up that he couldn't see out of them from his bed. Mostly, however, his mind was occupied with trying to process the information that he'd been given yesterday, and there was a considerable amount of it. He felt like he was drowning in a vast pool of knowledge, desperately searching for a life raft or something to cling unto to stop himself from going under. While in his heart, he believed what Dr. Carol, and Ruth, and everyone else had told him in waves since he had awoken from his self-induced 'nap', his mind was continually shouting the insanity of all of this. How could all of this happen in the world and really nobody know about it? It's just an unfathomable story to believe without visible proof. While the 'indicator' was visual, who's to say this wasn't all just a psych test, like that Milgrim study; trying to determine if Kurt would subvert his own beliefs simply because a bunch of 'professionals' said it was so.
At that precise moment, the door to his room was flung open unceremoniously as Noah Puckerman bounded in, all cheerful smiles and cocky attitude. Kurt watched silently as Noah strode through the room like he owned it and plonked himself down on the armchair usually reserved for his father and unceremoniously put his feet, shoes and all, up on the bed. Kurt's horrific expression probably demonstrated to Noah just how he felt about his actions, as his eyes trailed up from the feet to see that Noah had also reclined back with his arms folded behind his head. When he finally looked Noah in the face, he immediately noticed, what Kurt was soon to learn, his trade mark smirk in place.
"Hey." Puck called cheerfully as though this was a regular thing between them.
Still slightly taken aback, Kurt gingerly moved his hand away from Noah's booted feet and folded them primly in his lap.
"Excuse me, but please remove your filthy shoes off of my bed. Who knows what I may catch from them?" There could not be anymore ice in Kurt's tone.
"Geez! Take a chill pill dude." Puck called as he dropped his feet off the bed leaving a trail of dirty footprints in the wake, and continued grinning at Kurt like the Cheshire cat.
"Can I help you with something?" Kurt drawled in a bored voice.
"Nope, in fact, I'm here to help you." Grinned Puck.
What was with this guy, did he inhale happy gas on the way up? Thought Kurt, slightly creeped out by the constant shit-eating grin the mohawked boy was spouting. He was mentally debating calling the nurse to run a drug screen on Puck when his words sank in.
"Me? You're here to help me?"
"Yup." Puck popped the p sound.
"Sweet Mother Monster, give me strength," Kurt whispered to himself. "Look Noah, if you could just tell me what it is that you require and be on your merry way I'd like to get back to staring at the window ledge. I may even splurge and count the ceiling tiles."
"Puck."
"What?"
"Call me Puck; it's what everyone calls me." Puck shrugged simply. "I don't know if you remember me, but I used to-"
"Take piano lessons from my mother, yes I remember Noah." Kurt stressed.
"Puck – call me Puck."
"No."
Kurt watched as the grin slid off Puck's face faster than a slushie can drip down into your underwear to be replaced with disbelief.
"Why not?"
"Because Noah, you're mother gave you a perfectly respectable name and I see no reason not to use it. 'Puck,'" He snorted, "What sort of name is that anyway?"
"It's a badass name!" Puck retorted angrily, "I'm the Puckasaurus!"
"Oh, would you look at that, I was right, you are a Neanderthal! Unfortunately they, along with dinosaurs, became extinct millions of years ago." Kurt retorted with a sneer.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Oh, forgive me, how rude of me," Kurt said scathingly, "I'm Kurt Hummel, currently incapacitated and confined to a hospital bed."
"Geez, what's your problem dude?"
"First of all, don't 'dude' me. As you know my name, I would prefer you use it. Second, at the present moment you are my problem. In case I didn't make it clear enough for you before, I don't want, nor need any of your help, so if you would please just be on your merry way." Kurt answered with an elegant sweep of his hand towards the door.
Kurt was astounded to see Puck settle himself back in the chair with another grin at his announcement.
"You're still a feisty one aren't ya? Good, that'll make this so much more fun. Anyway dude, no can do. I'm on strict orders to be here."
Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose with his good hand, glad that the plaster cast would be removed from his left later on in the day. If nothing else, he can at least be appreciative of the accelerated healing that seemed to have come with his glaringly obvious, unsightly new beauty mark.
"Excuse me? Why, pray tell, are you being ordered to be here?"
"'Cause I'm your awesome mentor."
"My what?" Kurt asked, not able to remember anyone mentioning that he needed, let alone been assigned a mentor.
"Yep, it's a pretty sweet deal actually. I get to skip school for this. Just have to go in for Club meetings, tests and stuff, but otherwise, I'm with you till at least the end of the term in a couple of weeks."
Kurt could feel the horror quite easily growing upon his face, especially if the widening of Puck's grin was anything to go by. Whyme?Whyhim?
"It's fine," he squeaked. Taking a deep breath to compose himself he tried again. "I'm fine, I don't need a mentor. I'll make a deal with you, you leave me alone and I'll tell them what wonderful work you are doing, okay?" he finished hopefully.
"Nah – no can do. My ma works at the hospital remember? And Schue and Miss P. will no doubt be popping in and out, even if they weren't, Ma and Mrs H. would know anyway."
"So basically, what you are saying is that I'm stuck with you."
"Doesn't it make you feel special?" Puck asked with another shit-eating grin.
Kurt slumped back against the bed, feeling defeated as he contemplated the new cruel twist that fate had generously bestowed upon him. Its okay Kurt, you've gotten used to people ignoring you, this won't be any different. Just pretend he's not there.
Puck, however, appeared to be the type who couldn't take a hint and spent the next half hour keeping up a constant stream of chatter; Crowing about his luck at not having to attend lessons, rating the nurse who came in to change Kurt's IV on the 'Puckasuarus MILF/cougar' scale and finally complaining about the lack of activities.
"Should totes bring my X-box in next time, that'd be sweet."
Kurt rubbing his temple in an attempt to banish the steadily growing headache spoke his next thought a loud.
"Could always try lying." Kurt offered hopefully, to which Puck chuckled.
"Nah man, we can't lie in the Club."
Kurt rolled his eyes, "Oh yes, how silly of me, wouldn't want to disturb the delicate balances of the 'Kumbaya' sing-alongs."
"Nah, I mean we literally can't lie. Not really possible with Rach there."
That caught Kurt's interest, and judging by the smirk on Puck's face, he knew it would.
"Rach? Who's Rach? And why does she stop you from lying?"
"Ahhh – yeah, thought that might get your attention." He said smugly, "anyway, I'm not really supposed to talk about other people in the Club, confidentiality and all that shit."
"Oh come on," Kurt scoffed, "You expect me to believe that you really give a shit about that? You can't say stuff like that and leave it."
Before Puck could respond, the door opened and Burt walked into the room, laden down with bags of Kurt's breakfast, a perplexed look on his face seeing another teenager in his son's room.
"Excellent! Food, I'm totally starving dude." Puck exclaimed as he jumped up to relieve Burt of the take-out.
After Burt had been sent on yet another food run, because dammit Puckerman – that was my breakfast, Kurt took the time to really study the boy, trying to determine what his angle was. It was fairly obvious that Noah had intentionally let slip that little fact about the Club to peak Kurt's interest, and now he was insanely curious. So what, his tactics worked, sue him.
"All right!" Kurt proclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "I give in, are you going to tell me what's going on? What do you know?"
"Hmmm," Puck drawled, tapping a finger to his chin. "I don't think so, no, at least not yet. First I want to hear about you. You're a mystery for everyone, newbie. I've never seen Mrs H. so serious before, and Schue and Miss P. have been having lots of whispered convo's in secluded corners, though that could be Schue trying again to get some." He conceded with a smirk.
"What? Are they together?"
"Nah – not yet at least, but everyone knows that Schue is hot for her, his marriage broke up because of it."
"Oh my! Really? When?"
"Not too long ago, his wife is like this total schizoid who faked a pregnancy! When Shue finally figured it out, he ended their relationship.." Puck's tone could not have implied Shue's cluelessness any more if he had specifically come out and said it.
"How did he find out the truth?"
"Rachel snitched, as always." Puck answered as though it was obvious, "she never has any tact about the stuff she knows."
"Rachel who?" Kurt asked again exasperatedly.
"You know Rachel; I know she used to get lessons from your Mom too. I wouldn't tell her you forgot her if I were you. She may shank you or something."
"Rachel Berry! She was changed?"
"Yeah, that's why we didn't really talk to you after your Mom died. We honestly couldn't. We did feel really bad about it, dude. Well, I felt bad, not sure what Rachel felt."
"Wait, I'm confused. Why couldn't you talk to me?"
"Well, I – would you believe us if we had of told you back then?"
Kurt scoffed, "Of course not, but you didn't have to tell me about it. You could have just been there, been my friend."
"It's kinda hard for us not to talk about it. See, when you first get changed; your powers can be really unstable, something to do with your emotions and adjusting. So sometimes I couldn't stop myself from going invisible, and Rach – well you know she's always had that big mouth of hers, she can't keep anything to herself, and unfortunately now she has lots more ammunition." Kurt interrupted Noah's explanation to determine what he meant by that statement.
"Why?"
"She's a telepath, she can read minds. Think Jean Gray, without the killer bod or Phoenix awesomeness." he added by way of explanation.
"Oh!" Kurt thumped back against his bed as the news of that washed over him. "Well now at least I know why you can't lie in your sing-along group."
"Yeah, it's a fucking pain in the ass. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have like this pathological need to tell everyone everything. Rachel may be another hot Jew, but sometimes she just makes me want to light myself on fire."
Kurt froze at the meaning behind Puck's words. He had a lot of secrets that he didn't want anyone to know. He'd just have to be careful not to be around her, he resolved.
"So, uh – what happened to you?"
"How'd I die you mean?" Puck asked, shocking Kurt with his cavalier attitude about it. "I drowned."
"Oh Gaga! What – how?" Kurt spluttered.
" It was a stupid dare, happened after Labour day weekend, Finn and I were at a party and we were trying to impress a few of the high school football dudes and they dared me to jump off the roof of the pool shed into the pool. It seemed piss easy, so I went for it ya know? But I cracked my head against the edge of the pool and swallowed, like half the water before someone got me. The jocks just scattered, fucking pussies, Finn ran for help, got one of the parents who grabbed me out and started doing mouth to mouth. Apparently I died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital like three times. I even got shocked a couple times. But, I'm still here, in all my awesome glory." Puck finished with a grin.
Kurt was staring at him with his mouth open in horror, he couldn't imagine a worse way to die, drowning had always been a fear of his, never having learnt how to swim. Kurt tended to avoid pools and other bodies of water at all costs.
"Wow, I – I'm sorry Noah, I can only imagine how awful it must have been to drown." He admitted with a shudder.
"It's cool," Puck shrugged, "I was messed up about it for ages, wouldn't go near water and stuff. I didn't actually know I could breathe underwater till last year when they forced me into a pool as part of my 'therapy'" He scoffed. "Still, it's come in very, uh, usefulsince then." He added with a smirk.
Kurt wasn't sure he wanted to know the meaning behind that cryptic remark so just moved the conversation along.
"I still don't get what the big deal is. You know all the secrecy and stuff, why hide it?" He admitted.
"You met with the Berry's already, right?"
"Yeah," Kurt admitted, mind flashing back to the group meeting held last night in the conference room.
Flashback
"So," Carole began, "this meeting is primarily for Kurt and Burt to meet all the members of your support team.There are the medical personnel like myself, Ruth and Dr.Pearse, who you've already met. Dr.Lopez here is the Chief of Staff here at Lima Memorial and another member of the team."
Kurt shook hands with the Chief surprised that he was so young for such a prestigious position. Kurt placed him mid 40's, a handsome Latin man with a kind smile juxtaposed against a serious face.
"You've already met Mr. Schuester, your club Leader and Ms. Pillsbury, the school guidance counsellor. These two gentlemen are John and Hiram Berry. As you can see, Hiram couldn't be with the group in person."
Here Kurt shook hands with a tall African American man dressed impeccably in an Armani suit, but was a little surprised that the second man was actually waving his hello from the laptop monitor. It was briefly explained that Hiram never left his house, and Kurt secretly couldn't blame the man. It was rather obvious why he didn't leave, as he could see the vicious scarring over the majority of his face, from what he would later discover was the result of a house fire a few years ago. Kurt tried to keep his expression neutral as he waved hello to the monitor. As he could not stand to be judged based on looks, there was no way that he would allow himself to judge Mr. Berry based upon anything less than his own merits as a person.
"The Berry's and Dr. Lopez form the liaison team with the FBI department that is the 'hub' for all activation cases in the northern Ohio region. Dr. Lopez is in charge of the medical and scientific research aspect of that position, while the Berry's handle the legal and public sector aspects."
End of flashback
"So what did they tell you?" Kurt's musing was rudely interrupted by Puck, who obviously wasn't happy to have been ignored while Kurt recalled the team meeting.
"Um, they mentioned something about the National Security Act and that it was about public safety and um..." Kurt trailed off trying to remember what had been said in the meeting. It was during this part that he'd started to tune out, it was all so incredibly boring compared to the idea of having 'super powers'. He did remember that his father got very animated around that point so he struggled to remember the specifics of what was discussed.
Flashback to the meeting
"So are you going to explain what all this about?" Burt asked gruffly once the introductions were finished.
"Yes, I think it would be best for Mr Berry to tell you how all this started, and then we can go from there." Carole indicated towards the only Berry physically present.
"To begin with, history records show that as far back as the late 1800's people have presented with powers or extra abilities. It has probably been going on for a lot longer but we have no physical records of that. However, it is our belief that some of the most influential and memorable individuals in history may have activated powers. It has long been hypothesised that Joan of Arc was an activated seer, and that Cleopatra may have had some form of siren or possibly a 'succubus' ability, in her ability to manipulate men. One of the earliest activated powers to be studied was Harry Houdini. He was a master at physical manipulation of his own body." John began, "But, after it began to become clear to those in power that these activated individuals were increasing in numbers, and as more people became aware of the presence of activated people, the FBI had to intervene. It was around the time of the so called 'Roswell cover up' in 1947, which the government decided to use as a cover for activated people within the area. Public sentiment during that time was at an all time high, with most of the public running with a variety of conspiracy theories.
"When people started showing up with abilities that were far too reminiscent of comic books and powers described in the bible, the government could no longer ignore it. So, they decided to mark all associated activation information as classified under the National Security Act of 1947. This isn't something that just anyone sees, this classified information is at the highest levels of government, and even congress and the president are unaware of the scope of this."
"So it's some huge secret government thing huh? Did they do this to my boy? Did this happen from some kind of testing they've done to the population, like the Tuskegee syphilis thing in the 1960s? And now they are just trying to hush up the after effects by explaining it away as some spontaneous DNA thing?" Burt was clearly getting a good head of steam, about to rip into all present if this was all because someone decided to play god with his Jay bird.
"No," Mr Berry answered with a chuckle to attempt to diffuse the man's justifiable anger, "and you are not the first parent to ask that question and you certainly won't be the last. It's inevitable that as a parent we automatically distrust the state in this situation. I know that when we experienced this with our child, I stayed angry at the world for quite a while. We wanted the absolute best for our baby, and suddenly everything goes upside down. All of this, it's not some huge conspiracy designed to screw with the people of this country. In fact, this whole thing is controlled by the FBI in what is known as the 'Department of Activations'' or 'D.O.A' if you will, to minimize the general government's ability to misuse or abuse the individuals affected."
Kurt remembered chuckling at this point, the irony of the acronym not being lost on him.
"The division is protected by the NSA, ensuring that even the top government officials aren't privy to the information. The D.O.A.'s first priority is safety for people like your son. The act was specifically designed to keep the elected officials out of the picture; to avoid thos empowered individuals from being used, either against other countries, or possibly against our own citizens. The second reason is for public safety. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people in this country and the world, those who have been changed would become a high commodity for these individuals. However, all this doesn't mean activated individuals are immune to the more corrupt aspect of the human condition. Some will be tempted to abuse their power for their own personal gain, even if it is to the detriment of others. So naturally, individuals and their powers are watched over, purely to limit that possibility. Please believe me when i tell you this is not solely an American issue. Activated individuals are reported in at least every industrialized nation on the planet. Some countries chose to institutionalize their activated people, treating them worse than prisoners. It has been reported that another country was lobotomizing their activated population, in an effort to minimize their affect on the general population. We may not have a perfect system here in the States, but we are trying our best."
End of flashback
"They said it was for our privacy and also for the public safety."
"Yeah, that's about it." Puck nodded.
"I still don't get it though, why the hush-hush?"
"Well think about it, if the whole world knew that some of us had these super cool powers, they'd try and force us to do shit for them, like illegally. Did they tell you about what some countries do to people like us? Plus, I mean, you gotta admit, it's kinda cool here. If they told everyone about us, then a lot of powerless kids would try and kill themselves just to try and activate a power they may or may not have. Nobody wants some crazy mass suicides and shit. They are trying to keep kids from drinking the 'special kool-aid', you know?"
Kurt chewed his lip thoughtfully, he could understand that to a degree, though there was a large portion of the population that would do society a favour if they just took themselves out of it, he mused bitterly. In fact, he could probably give a detailed list of individuals that are more chlorine in the gene pool than anything else.
"So, you know about my abilities, what did you get?" Puck asked eagerly.
"Versace save me, this wasn't a Gucci clearance sale Noah, this is my life! Besides, they don't know what I can do."
"Whaddya mean?" He exclaimed indignantly, "Wait, you met with Miss P. right? So come on! What did she tell you?"
"They don't know what to call it; apparently I'm the high freak amongst the freaks." Kurt answered drily.
"No shit! Man, it must be something massive, did they tell you anything else?"
"Yeah, they rambled on about how they think I might be able to travel to some alternate universes or something, nothing nearly as practical as yours. They made it sound like a bad knock off of some episode of Buffy, or possibly Star Trek" Kurt finished dejectedly, completely missing the way Puck's face lit up like a Chanukah menorah.
"No fucking way! Dude – that, that's like the coolest fucking thing ever! Man I wish I could do something like that!"
"Why though? I mean what would be the point?"
"Well, there has gotta be some really kick ass universes out there, and you could travel to them and get like all these ninja skills or something and just, yeah! Just think! That would be worlds full of women just there for Puckasuarus to bang!" Puck finished breathlessly.
"I hadn't really thought of that. Also, you're mind is a disgusting cesspit of raunchy smut" Kurt admitted, momentarily distracted with thoughts of becoming a ninja, gaining some devastating skills in self-defence. Let's see Karofsky just try to come at him again!
"So, how do you do it?" Puck's enthusiasm for Kurt's ability seemed to draw Kurt's interest in his powers out more than any team meeting or discussion with his father thus far.
"We don't know. I'm still kind of in the dark about it all. I think that's why it's so much harder for me to believe that this is all real. I just accept everything they've told me because I keep expecting to wake up soon and be back to reality. I mean, beyond this new beauty mark on my forehead, and the speed at which I've been healing, there's not really been that much obviously different about me."
"I know the feeling, but trust me, it's real. It's like ten sorts of crazy, but it's real. You get used to it after a while."
"So what happened to Rachel to make her change?"
"We don't really talk about that, I mean you can ask the person directly, but that's private you know? Some experiences are really intense, and some people don't like everyone knowing all about it. But you can probably guess Rachel's, I mean – you met her dads."
Kurt took a moment to let it click, "You mean the Berry's from my support team? They're her father's?"
"Yep."
"Carol said that one of them, the one that wasn't there, he stays at home because he was injured in a house fire, is that what got Rachel?"
"Yeah – They all were trapped, but Rach had it the worst, the fire started in her room and she got trapped. She's totally okay though – no scars or anything thanks to the healing, but her Dad's weren't so lucky. The man at the meeting – John? He's got burns all along his arms and torso, but at least he can cover those up. Not Hiram though, he got hit full in the face, it was really bad. At first, they weren't sure if he was going to make it, to be honest."
Kurt felt his stomach roll unpleasantly at the thought of all three being trapped in a burning building, especially Rachel being trapped in with it. Hearing about Noah's and Rachel's brushes with death was making him feel ashamed at his own selfishness. There were all these people in the world who were thrown into these horrors everyday; some like Noah and Rachel where then thrown straight into this dizzying vortex of this new reality. Kurt felt the lump form in his throat as he tried to blink away the moisture forming in his eyes.
"So what about you dude? What happened to you?"
With shame making his voice croak, Kurt lifted up his arm, still covered in bandages, "I – uh, I tried to off myself." He admitted focusing on his bandaged arm, rather than see Noah's face at his confession.
Kurt finally couldn't stand the silence any longer, and glanced up to watch as Noah's mouth fell open in shock, his eyes glued to Kurt's bandaged covered wrist. To be honest, he was still waiting for the moment when Puck and everyone else just left; obviously he wasn't worth all this trouble, these people had to realize that eventually. The silence stretched on, well past being awkward as Kurt shifted guiltily in his place on the bed. Thankfully right at that moment, Dr. Pearse arrived and announced it was time to remove the plaster cast from his left hand.
Kurt's sigh of relief was short lived though as his nurse Ruth came into the room pushing a tray of equipment. Kurt very much liked Ruth, and it was sure to be awkward with her son, who just so happened to discover that Kurt had tried to take his own life. Kurt understood that the hospital staff had to remain professional, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't worth their sympathy.
"Good morning Kurt!" Ruth called blithely. "My goodness! What happened to your bedding?" she asked seeing the dirty boot prints. Without waiting for an answer she glared at her son who seemed to snap out of his stupor and actually looked sheepish. "Noah, for that, you can go and get a new set of bedding from the supply closet and you can remake the bed. Hop to it! You've got to be on your toes with that one Kurt. My loveable miscreant." She added to him with a cheerful grin.
Kurt managed a small smile in return and allowed both women to help him up from the bed and place him in the armchair that Puck had just vacated, rolling a tray table up to him as they prepared to remove the brace from his arm.
"We may as well do it here since you had to get out of bed to change the sheets, I'm sure you'll relish the chance to move around a little." Ruth kept up a constant stream of pleasant chatter.
By the time Puck had returned with a fresh set of bedding they were just removing the final remnants of his plaster cast. Kurt stared at his arm while he used his other hand to scratch the dry skin, relishing in the lightness he felt. Dr. Pearse had begun flexing his fingers and wrist gently and he was surprised at how tender all the tiny movements felt.
"This has appeared to have healed up very nicely Kurt. I'll take you down to X-ray just to check over it, and your ribs, just as a precaution. But I must say, at this rate you'll be home before you know it!"
Kurt managed another small smile for their benefit. Truth be told, he didn't want to go home. If he did, it would just be him and his dad there again and Kurt didn't think he could survive the silence again after having so many people take an active interest in him. They loaded him up into a wheel chair and Dr. Pearse took him for his x-rays as Ruth and Puck remade the bed and cleared up the remains of the plaster.
After getting the all clear from x-ray, Kurt was returned to his room. He was surprised to see that Puck was still there, sitting in the armchair with a rolling tray table drawn up in front of him and what looked like several school books spread out before him. Even more surprising was that Ruth was standing over her son chastising him, apparently, part of the conditions for Puck to miss classes meant he still had to do the work each day.
Once Kurt was settled back in the bed, Dr. Pearse had instructed Ruth that the rest of his bandages could be removed, so long as he understood the necessary precautions to take to ward off possible infections. In actuality, most of his wounds had basically healed to the point of being gone. He only had a very faint scar on the insides of his wrists and some minor bruising on various parts of his body.
"All your vitals are looking good Kurt; I'm going to refer you on for some minor physiotherapy, just as a precaution because you've healed so quickly. You will have your counselling sessions with Dr. Hudson too, which will continue past when you leave our care. But by the looks of things, my guess is that you'll be able to go home in about 2-3 days if everything stays on track." She finished with a smile.
After Ruth had finished removing all his bandages she had leant forwards and spoken to him seriously. "Now Kurt, don't let Noah push you around, he knows the rules and he knows exactly what will happen if he doesn't obey them. Keep an eye on him for me will you?" she finished with a wink, ignoring her son's scowl as she left the room.
A heavy silence hung in the air after the door closed, Kurt couldn't bring himself to look at Puck, instead focused his attention on flexing his fingers in his lap. Finally, he couldn't bear the silence anymore.
"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time.
Kurt's head whipped up to stare with shock at Puck who had an identical expression on his face.
"Why are you sorry?" They both said again.
Kurt let a small smile form on his face which turned into a small giggle; Puck chuckled nervously along with him.
"Okay, so why are you sorry?" Kurt finally asked.
"Because – I shouldn't have said what I said about people you know..." he trailed off indicating to Kurt's wrists. "Why are you sorry?"
Kurt let out a big sigh and flopped back against his pillows. "Because it all seems so stupid now. After hearing what happened to you and Rachel and her dads. It seems pathetic really, but I can't help but thinking I should just do it properly, you know, save everyone the drama -"
"No!" Puck shouted. "You can't – it's not, just don't okay? You have to promise me!"
"Why do you care? Oh, of course, then you'll have no excuse to miss classes." Kurt added sarcastically.
"No, it's not that, it's just, argh! This is so frustrating!" Puck had jumped and started pacing around the room running his hands over his Mohawk. "You can't do that, it affects all of us too now. You can't even say that to us." He finally calmed down enough to say.
"What do you mean?" Kurt was genuinely perplexed; he'd really only just met Noah again.
"See we, everyone in the Club, we're all like – connected. If you do that, it will affect all of us really bad."
"But I've not even met the others, if they don't know me then they can't, I don't know, mourn me or whatever."
"It doesn't work like that! This, this is something Schue should tell you, it's something they usually tell you later on, but with your you know history, I guess they just didn't think about it."
Kurt was struggling to understand the other teens ramblings, his eyes followed Puck as he started pacing again, muttering to himself to quietly for Kurt to hear.
"Noah, would you just sit down and tell me what the fuck is going on?"
Puck locked eyes with Kurt and Kurt could see the pain and torment in his hazel eyes, but at least he'd stopped pacing. He watched as Puck drew a deep breath, as though resolving himself.
Puck sat back down on the couch and muttered to himself, "Okay, I can do this. I can."
Kurt watched apprehensively, whatever it was, was obviously causing the other teen distress so he thought it best to let him get it out on his own terms.
"Okay, you've gotta let me do this, no interruptions, ok? First of all, like I said, we're all linked together. I mean like a physical and an emotional link. It's really hard to explain, you'll understand more when I'm not here because then you'll be able to like 'sense' it or something. But, whenever one of us is in pain or like hurting, we all feel it; like it's happening to us on some level.
"I don't mean like if you break your arm we all get broken arms, it's more like a mental pain for us, but it feels real. Like that phantom pain thing vets talk about. And, and when someone d-dies," Puck sucked in a gasp desperately trying to keep control of his voice. "It's – it's like a part of us has died too, like there is just this gaping black hole in your chest that kind of suffocates you."
"That's how I felt when my Mom died." Kurt admitted quietly, silent tears falling down his cheeks. It was the first time he'd spoken about his mom to anyone since her passing.
"Exactly – we're like, like a family, only it hurts so deep, and affects every one of us. If you die, I don't think any of us could cope with it, not again." He added in a whisper.
But Kurt caught it and the associated implications, and gently asked, "Did – did someone in the club die?"
Puck just nodded his head eyes trained on the floor.
"I'm sorry Noah," Kurt spoke with feeling, "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"I – you'll know about it eventually, but I – I just can't, not yet." Puck pleaded with his eyes and his words.
Kurt nodded his head, "its okay." He felt a strange surge through himself, a feeling that he wanted to protect and comfort the mohawked teen and it threw him. For the last three years he'd only been concerned with keeping himself going, protecting himself. It was strange to want to extend that to a boy that he hardly knew anymore.
"I – I think I might know what you mean, about the connection." Kurt added by way of explanation. "So can you and the other's 'feel' me right now?"
Wiping the tears that had formed in his eyes away with his hands Puck nodded. "I can feel you probably better than the others because I've spent some time with you. The closer you are to a person the easier it is. But the others will be able to generally get a feel from you now, some more so than others because they're stronger; they've had more time to adjust to their change."
"Wow." Was the only thing Kurt responded with. It gave him a warm feeling inside that there really were other people who connected with him on a deeper level now. He was so used to being alone; it was going to take some time to get used too.
"Yeah," Puck chuckled, "I know what this means for you."
And that right there was enough to make Kurt break into the first true smile he'd worn since before his mother's death. Because Noah really did know what Kurt meant. Finally there was another person with whom he could relate. Puck was slightly stunned to see the smile light up Kurt's face, but he had to admit it was a definite improvement.
"Oh! Ah, your dad, he called while you were down in X-ray. He said he was on his way and wanted to know what you'd like for lunch. He said to tell you he'd just get the same as yesterday if that was okay."
Kurt's face lit up even more if that were possible, with the prospect of real food again, but mostly it was starting to hit home that maybe his dad did care about him. After all, he'd taken the trouble to remember to get Kurt some lunch andremember what he'd had the day before. Kurt felt himself starting to breathe a little easier and it was a wonderful feeling. After feeling lost for so long in his pain and lonliness, he felt like someone had finally seenhimand cared enough to offer him the path back to his life.
"Don't like the hospital food huh? Yeah, don't blame you." Puck stated with a grin, having no idea just how much he had helped Kurt in that moment.
Kurt's eyes lit up at the sight and smell of the food that his father carried in, there seemed to be so much more of it this time though.
"I, uh, figured that Noah would still be here so I brought some lunch for him and me too. I thought it might, uh, give us all a chance to sit down and chat, if that's okay with you." Burt spoke quickly.
"Sweet! Thanks Mr. H! I'm starving!" Puck enthused as he rushed forwards to help unload all the bags of take out.
Burt was still watching his son to make sure that he wasn't over stepping any boundaries with him, but the small tentative smile directed at him was like a breath of fresh air.
"Thanks dad, that's great."
Burt just barely controlled himself from beaming at the knowledge that Kurt actually addressed him and in a polite manner. Soon the food was divided up and even Puck was astounded by how much there was.
"Seriously, you ate all that just for lunch yesterday?" he asked, slightly revolted when Kurt shoved a handful of fries into his choc fudge sundae before popping them into his mouth. "Dude, you eat like a pregnant chick!"
Kurt, having the manners his mother instilled in him, didn't deign Puck's statement with a verbal response, merely settling with a thrown glare towards the mohawked teen. Of course, his disapproval was made slightly ineffectual by his current chipmunk appearance, as his cheeks were stuffed with his lunch.
"So Noah, tell us a little about the training, how long have you been receiving it?"
"Three years," he spoke before letting out a huge belch, "Ah, better out than in, right? Training's not so bad; mostly we work individually with Mr. Schue or Ms. P. They help us to discover our abilities, and really help keep track of them and stuff. Mostly we learn about our triggers and how to control them."
"And they use a Glee Club as a front? Is that right? How does that work?"
"It's pretty sweet actually. I've always like music, so it's nice to have some time to chill out with it. Because there are like real competitions and stuff we actually have to be able to perform, so they included it in our timetables. During class times we are just a Glee Club, that way if people are walking past or anything it doesn't look suspicious. We have the proper training scheduled as the after school meeting. So the class is really split, it's a graded class, but it's also considered an extracurricular activity, which blows, because they make us keep the rest of our grades up to keep the cover."
"So everyone can sing? Is that because of the change?" Kurt asked feeling slightly uneasy.
"Nah man, some in the club can't sing at all and others can sing really awesome – like me," he added with a smirk. "But Schuester thinks that it's better that way, it looks more 'real' or some sh-thing like that."
"So what do the others do?"
"Well some are really awesome dancers and some play instruments, but basically they are in the background singing or just mouthing during the competitions and stuff." Puck said before tearing into his steak sandwich with a moan.
"You should fit right in though dude, I remember you used to have a really awesome voice. You could totally hit those crazy high notes that used to make Rachel cry." Puck said spraying the ground in front of him with food.
Kurt wrinkled his nose in disgust at the teen's poor table manners "I – I don't sing anymore." Kurt admitted before he stuffed a mouthful of the sandwich into his own mouth not able to stop the slightly sexualized moan at the orgasmic taste.
"Why not? You were awesome dude! Tell me you still play piano?"
Kurt just shook his head, after his mother died, music was too painful a memory of her for him, so he'd cut it all out from his life. He knew that it would be hard, forced to pretend to be a part of Glee Club; he vowed to speak to Mr. Schuester about it, see if there was some way around it.
"So Noah, how many kids are there in the Club?" Burt asked, trying to steer the conversation into safer waters.
"Nine, including myself," Puck spoke before thumping his chest to help the food go down.
"Wow, that's – that's quite a lot." Burt answered with surprise.
"Nah, not really – one school over in Carmel has like over 20 people in. I know there are others with even more." Puck answered taking a long draw through the straw of his drink. "Man, this food is like freaking awesome! I'm so stuffed though. Dude, how can you still be eating?" Puck asked eyeing Kurt steadily making his way through the French toast now.
Kurt merely shrugged, "I don't know, I just know I'm so hungry all the time! Also, so help me Noah, if you call me dude again, I'll get you, I swear."
"I spoke to Dr. Pearse about it," Burt admitted sheepishly, deciding to ignore the second statement his son had vehemently exclaimed "she said it's because your body's healing so quickly, it's burning up all the calories faster so you have to up your intake to replenish it."
Kurt knew he should be offended that his dad had spoken to his doctor behind his back, two days ago and he would have been furious, now however he couldn't find it in himself to care either way.
"Huh – I guess that makes sense." Kurt admitted while pouring some of his melted sundae onto the French toast, much to Pucks slightly revolted amusement.
"Noah told me on the phone, but I can see they finished removing your cast, that's great little Jay!" Burt enthused.
"Yeah," Kurt flushed with embarrassment at the use of his childhood nickname in front of Puck. "They also took off the bandages, see – they said I could be released in a couple of days if all goes well."
"That's great!" Burt exclaimed happily, pleased to see his son getting better. "We'll have to do something to celebrate your coming home." But Burt caught sight of his son's less than happy expression at the mention of home. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Kurt flicked his eyes over to Puck, who probably for the first time in his life exercised a level of subtlety previously unseen from him.
"I'll just go dump all this in the trash, and I have to go catch up with my Ma about some school stuff, so I'll be back in a moment." He added before scooping up the piles of rubbish and exiting the room.
Kurt sucked in a deep breath, he really didn't want to have this conversation, least of all with his father, but he couldn't see any way around it.
"I – I don't want to go back there." He admitted quietly.
Kurt watched his father's face fall and realised how his statement could be interpreted given his cold shoulder treatment over the past few days. Despite their recent distance, Kurt actually liked talking to his father today, it felt – well, it felt nice, so he hastened to explain himself.
"It's just that – everything that happened there, I – I don't think I could cope you know? Too many bad memories."
Burt's face lightened considerably as he listened to Kurt's broken explanation, he couldn't blame his son's reasoning either, it was a struggle for him to enter that house and have to pass by that bathroom every day without his blood running cold at the thought of how close he came to losing his son.
"Okay, well – I guess I can understand that," Burt began slowly, thinking of options. "I guess it's time that we plan a move then, what do you say Little Jay?"
Kurt's head snapped up to lock eyes with his father. "Are – are you serious dad? You'd do that – for me?"
Burt reached forwards and grabbed both his son's hands, thankful again that the plaster had been removed. "Kurt – you are my son, and there is nothing I wouldn't do for you." He stated firmly his eyes illustrating his seriousness. "I know the past few years have been – rough, and that's my fault. I didn't step up when you needed me to. I can never express how sorry I am for that. But you are my sacred gift Kurt, and the whole point of having something sacred is that it takes precedent over anything else. So, yeah maybe – maybe moving would be for the best, a fresh start for the both of us. What do you say?"
Kurt threw his arms around his dad's neck in a strangle hold hug, Burt froze in shock for a second before responding to the hug with a ferocity to match his son's. He could feel the warm wet tears leaking onto the collar of his flannel shirt and held his boy tighter than before, praying to a god he's not sure he believes in anymore that everything would be okay now. Eventually, both Hummel men pulled out of the hug and surreptitiously tried to dry their eyes.
Clearing his throat Burt spoke, "Okay, so that's settled, we'll move. Now, it can't happen in two days, so we will have to figure something out for the mean time, but how about I go and contact my accountant and we can see where we stand financially. You can help me pick out a new place. That way it's both our homes, equally."
Kurt's grin lit up the room, "I'd like that, a lot. Thanks Dad."
"You're welcome Little Jay."
Awwww - Burt/Kurt start to reconcile! I couldn't keep them apart too long - I love their relationship too much!
As always -
Love it? Hate it? Review and let me know why!
Mischievous Gleek