A.N: This is angst but the prompter wanted a happy ending so it does have one

Prompt (I have paraphrased it because it was ridiculously long):The time for Puck to be out of Juvi comes and no Puck. Next day? Same. Next day...next day...a week later, still no Puck. Everyone in Glee is upset and wondering where Puck is, if his stay in Juvi was prolonged or what. So I'd like someone from Glee (or a few, whatever) to be at the local park and doing...whatever it is they'd do at the park. They come across a bench and see Puck there with his little sister, eating sandwiches. Both look...well rough. Come to find out he's been homeless for quite a while, him and his sister. (Insert bad things at home here). So anyway I'd like it if the Glee person(s) are all sympathetic to him, and Puck shows some vulnerability since he doesn't know what he's going to do and all, and the Glee person(s) talk to their parents and Puck stays with them. I'd only really like to see Puckurt, or Puck/Mercedes.

Glee was buzzing they were all anticipating the return of their friend from his stint in Juvie. He'd been there for two weeks and they all missed him a great deal.

"Alright guys let's get started." Everyone looked confused; they let Mr. Schue prattle on about Sectionals, Rachel, Kurt and surprisingly Quinn were the only ones paying attention.

"I'm sorry Mr. Schue can we interrupt for a minute?" Artie says

"What is it?"

"Where's Puck?" Tina asks

"I don't know actually guys sorry. Now—",

"But this is the day he was supposed to be released right?" Mercedes asks concerned

"Yes it is."

"Finn you seen him anywhere?" Santana asks

"No, I haven't heard from him." Finn looked confused and worried

"I've seen him he was playing with the ducks." Brittany answers brightly; Quinn gives her a sardonic smile

"Sure thing Brit." She mocks, Mercedes, Santana, Artie and Finn openly glare at her but she ignores them

"Guys, while I'm worried about Puck's whereabouts just as much as you all are, his juvie stay probably just got extended for bad behavior, you know how Puck is. Now, for Sectionals…" people slowing started paying attention but not Mercedes she was still worried, how can Quinn sit there unaffected by what was happening to Puck. She may not have ever loved him but still they were together even if she was using him, they had a child together, did she really just not care? Yes Quinn had reverted to her bitchy ways and acting like last year didn't happen but would she really not care if Puck was face down in a ditch somewhere, she was sure acting like it. Mercedes was also skeptical of what Brittany said, sure the girl wasn't lucid most of the time but over the summer during a three week period in which Brittany stayed with Mercedes she got to know the blonde girl a lot better and she knew there was some sort of truth in what Brittany said,

"Mercedes, pay attention." Mr. Schue called

"Sorry." For now she'll let it go

The next day came and still Puck was a no show,

"Still no word Finn?" Mike asks

"Nothing,"

"Just go see the ducks, he'll be there I bet he's the duck prince." Brittany says, Santana just smiles at her sadly and walks off with Finn, Artie pulls her on his lap and rolls away

The next day, again nothing

"Maybe we should visit his house?" Mercedes suggests

"I went yesterday no one was home I stayed for an hour no one showed." Finn says

"I told you guys he's with the ducks, he—",

"Brittany, hush up about the ducks already!" Rachel exclaims,

"Seriously the more you open your mouth the more I dread coming to Glee." Kurt adds

"Brit, I know you have this child hood fantasy of living with the ducks but let me say this so you'll understand," Quinn walks to Brit gets in her face and says very slowly

"Puck does not live with the stupid ducks. He's an idiot. He probably just got himself in trouble." Brittany looks about ready to cry, Tina pushes her out of her face

"Oh hell nah!" Artie exclaims, squirming around angrily in his chair

"Back up or you will get taken to the carpet." Mercedes venomously warns, stepping in front of Brittany next to Santana

"Puta, don't talk to her like that, I will break your face and make poor mommy have to pay for a second nose job Quinncess." The period is spent holding Santana and Mercedes back and trying to stop Artie from 'calling up his home girls to handle this'.

The next day comes and then the next and soon a week has past and Brittany's still talking about the ducks in the park, Mercedes decides to follow up on this lead

"Hey Brit-brat, wanna go to the park to feed the ducks?" Mercedes asks her blonde friend after glee, her face lights up

"Yeah, Artie has to do this media project with Sam and Santana's going out with Finn, so I'm alone, come on. Hey maybe we'll see Puck there."

"Yeah, hopefully." They link arms and walk to Brittany's prius, they drive to the park and Brittany immediately squeals and runs over to the pond and starts jumping up and down. She turns to Mercedes smiling widely Mercedes smiles back at her reveling in the sun, she loved the feel on her skin, when she looks back down and turns a corner she comes face to face with the object of her worry sitting on a bench next to a little girl who Mercedes recognized as his younger sister, Sarah. They both looked really rough. He was only in a dirty, ripped blue T-shirt and ripped jeans and not the stylish kind of ripped, Sarah with her long brown matted hair looked like she needed a good wash, she was obviously wearing his jacket which in the fall is just enough to keep her warm, but he was obviously cold, she had on a pink dress that had black and brown stains on it, they were sitting eating cheap looking sandwiches, the same sandwiches her, Artie, Tina, Mike and Brittany give to the homeless people that come by the soup kitchen, but Puck and Sarah couldn't be homeless could they?

"Puck?" She calls walking up to him, his head snaps up and he looks up there's confusion and fear, in his eyes

"Mercedes?"

"Goodness gracious Puck, do you have any idea how worried we've all been about you?" She says catching him off guard by hugging him tightly, he freezes but soon hugs her back she pulls away,

"You look…" she leaves the sentence to hang

"Is this where you've been the last week?" he looks down looking ashamed? He looks back up and was about to respond but instead looked at something behind her, suddenly she felt Brittany hugging her from behind

"'Cedes I don't have any money to feed the ducks, oh hi Puck, hi Sarah. See I told you guys, Puck is the duck prince." She says innocently

"Am I the duck princess?" Sarah asks innocently

"I think so. I think your loyal duck subjects over there are hungry though." Brittany responds, her voice serious, Sarah's eyes widen

"Noah, can I get some money to feed our loyal subjects, we can't let them die." She looks panic,

"Can I get some too 'Cedes?" Brittany has a look very much like Sarah's. Both Puck and Mercedes hand them fifty cents

"Hey Sarah make sure you don't go off the dock."

"Watch her carefully Brit and watch yourself, no jumping in the pond." Brittany pouts but grabs Sarah's hand and they run off to the pond, she turns back to Puck looking concerned

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" He looks away; rubbing his hand over his face tiredly when he looks back she can see the tears in his eyes.

"Oh Puck." She says walking to him as he starts to break down crying, she kneels in front of him and hugs him close to her. She's shocked to see him so vulnerable she had the irrational thought that Puck wasn't capable of crying something like Sue Sylvester who had her tear ducts removed, he just never had any. He pressed his face into her neck sobbing in earnest she held him tight tears pricking her eyes as well but she held them in she had to comfort him.

"Shh, shh it's okay. Whatever it is, whatever is wrong, it's gonna be okay."

"It's not, it can't be, I'm so stupid. It's all my fault." He sobbed out

"Listen to me, you're not stupid whatever it is just tell me and I'll help you." She said pulling back so she could make eye contact he looks her in the eye and calms down enough to talk

"Sarah and I have been living here ever since I got out of juvie. When I got home my mom was a drunken wreck, there were more liquor bottles visible on the floor than carpet and most of them were broken, the lights weren't working, the placed reeked of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, my mom was there having sex with her boyfriend and Sarah… Sarah she was sitting there on the coffee table next to a pile of cocaine watching them, she looked terrified. God, I can't believe I left her in that situation." He dropped his head in his hands he wasn't crying anymore but he looked absolutely exhausted

"That was probably hard to see. I mean if it was my mother and my little brother was witnessing that I would want to kill someone." She said worriedly trying to make him understand what she was implying he caught her drift

"I was so angry, I saw red, I ripped him off her and beat the crap out of him but I didn't kill him I don't think. I, I pushed my mom and when I did that I snapped out of it I took Sarah, packed two bags, grabbed some money and food and left. Even after everything my mom's done I still couldn't turn her in, if I went to Finn's or Santana's or Mike's, their moms would immediately call the police which rules out Kurt's too. Artie or Tina probably would've slammed the door in my face and Quinn kind of dropped me and would want nothing to do with me, Rachel would've blabbed to everyone, Brittany's been bringing me and Sarah food but—"

"What about me? If you told me sooner I would've helped."

"I probably should've huh?"

"And you're wrong Artie and Tina have been worried about you and concerned."

"That's a surprise." She shrugged

"What happened to Sarah?" she knew she had to keep him talking some people just keep everything inside until one day they explode and when they do there's collateral damage.

"My mom's abusive, if anyone else's parents found out they would've taken Sarah from me, say I was unfit because of my record. If they put her in a foster home she won't be able to cope, I've always been around to protect her, I decided to do something stupid and she got, my mom she…" he paused,

"Why did you try to steal that ATM in the first place?"

"My mom's is an alcoholic, her boyfriend is a drug addict, they fuel each other's addiction and they're both abusive, do the math. They always go after Sarah, I intervene and they beat me instead I can take it but look at Sarah she too small. The bills were piling up and Sarah has asthma the drugs they were doing in the house made her get attacks almost everyday and the medicine is expensive, I couldn't keep Sarah in that situation so I thought if I got the ATM I would have enough money for me and Sarah to run away and go somewhere safe you know? That back fired. I tried to make sure Sarah stayed out of the house while I was away, arranged for her to stay over at friends' houses but my mom still got to her and beat her and it's my fault, I couldn't protect Sarah. Quinn was right, I'm nothing but a Lima loser it's good she gave Beth up because how could I protect my own daughter if I couldn't protect my little sister when I practically raised her anyway?" Tears fell miserably and silently down his face.

"Puck look at me, you can't control the things your mother does. I know you wish you could, but you can't, it is not your fault what happened to Sarah." He doesn't say anything, so she sits next to him he sits still for about two minutes before slowly laying his head on her shoulder she adjusts so he's more comfortable before laying her head atop his and they watch Brittany and Sarah feed the ducks and run around playing as if they are the same age, when they tucker out they come back to Mercedes and Puck they stay there talking until sundown,

"Oh, Brit time to go." She pouts

"Wait, I thought you guys were gonna live with us and help us run the pond kingdom." Sarah complains

"They have their own kingdoms to run Sarah we'll see you guys later I guess."

"Yeah, I guess." While walking away Mercedes is only half listening to Brittany chatter away about how she and Sarah officiated a record, 3 duck marriages. Mercedes has plenty of room at her house, more than is necessary, Puck and Sarah don't have to live in a dirty park when she has more than she needs anyway.

"Are you listening?" Brittany asks, Mercedes didn't even realize they were in Brittany's car and on their way to Mercedes' house

"What Brit? Sorry, I zoned." Brit looked down a little with an expression a little like a kicked puppy

"So you think there's children in their future or are you gonna have to officiate a divorce soon?" Mercedes says wanting to make her feel better, she immediately perks up

"I think Gwen and Jack will have a long happy life, but I'm pretty sure Vera and Rex jumped into something serious a little to quickly I won't be surprised if I have to officiate a divorce." She says as they turn on King Sovereign Road, Mercedes' street

"I'll see you later Brit."

"Okay bye." She speeds off as Mercedes walks up her steps, as she gets inside she's greeted with a toy car ramming into her shoe, she looks down annoyed and then back up at her little brother, Jacob, glaring fiercely in his direction he immediately calls off his soldier and runs upstairs to the safety of his room.

"Hey baby, that you?" Her mom calls

"Yeah, hey." She says walking into the living room kissing her mom's cheek.

"How was your day?" her mom asks focused on the food she was cooking

"It was interesting." Her mom looks at her with an eyebrow quirked Mercedes decides it's now or never

"So you know how our house is somewhat of a drive through, people always going in and out?" Her mother doesn't answer just looks at her

"Well see I have this friend—",

"I know this person?" she says going back to cooking

"Yes." It's silent for 30 seconds

"Well, who is it?"

"Noah Puckerman, and before you say anything he's not the same guy who had sex with Quinn because he thought it'd be funny, he's not the same guy who always hurts and bullies people right now he needs help. He and his sister are homeless they're living in the park for goodness sakes. Their mom is this horrible, abusive drunk and her boyfriends no better, we have all this extra room and you yourself know what it's like to be homeless because after you got pregnant with me your dad kicked you out. Of course this isn't the same situation because Puck's not pregnant it's not possible and Sarah's only six but—", her mom holds up her hand to stop her

"That boy has some major issues."

"Mom he—", she holds up her hand again

"And I think that he needs some stability to work through them. And I also think that we can provide that stability." She says, Mercedes looks unsure

"Is that a yes?"

"If they want the rooms, we have them."

"Yes, yes, thank you so much." She says bouncing over and hugging her mom

"I'm gonna go call Brit and tell her the good news." She says running upstairs

THE NEXT DAY

Mercedes was lighter and happier the whole day so much so people stared at her weirdly when school was over she practically skipped to the park instead of going to glee, she texted Tina and Santana informing them she wouldn't be coming and to cover for her with Mr. Schue. When she got there she slowed and walked at a leisurely pace to where Puck sat propped against a tree by the same bench with a sleeping Sarah in his arms.

"Hey Puckerman get up."

"What?" he says looking up confused,

"Aren't you supposed to be in glee?" he asks still not moving

"Yes, but I talked to my mom yesterday. I couldn't just leave you and Sarah here and we have so much room in my house, you know that. So I asked her if you and Sarah could stay with us and she agreed." She said beaming

"Mercedes, I really appreciate it but—",

"No, no buts. You and Sarah deserve so much better so just swallow your stupid pride and let's go." She goads

"I mean are you sure? I don't want us to impose."

"Are you kidding? My house is like a holiday inn, half of the glee club members have stayed there for an extended period of time." He still looks unsure

"Seriously, you already know why Quinn stayed, Kurt stayed the last few months his mom was alive, Tina stayed as a foster child when we were like 5, Rachel stayed with us when he dads wanted her out of the house after some hate crime, Santana when she ran away from home and Brittany when her parents went on vacation and forgot her during the summer, seriously it's no problem, people are coming in and out all the time." He looked like his resolve was breaking

"Come on, please, please, please, besides Sarah needs good parental influences and I have it on good authority my parents are gonna spoil her rotten and"

"Okay." He says but Mercedes keeps going

"She can play with my younger brother they're the same age and my mom will do all types of girly stuff with her, like tea parties"

"Alright." He says chuckling slightly

"And my dad will be happy that he can take an actual guy to a game and—", he puts his hand over her mouth

"Mercedes, I said okay. Thanks, this means a lot." He says lowering his hand slowly, she shrugs like it's nothing she quickly jumps up and grabs his bags. He stands, adjusting a still sound asleep Sarah

"Well we better get a move on my house is 20 minutes from here." They exit the park and as they walk, he feels the need to express his feelings of gratitude again

"Seriously Mercedes thank you so much you have no idea what this means to me, to us." He says looking down at Sarah, she shrugs again

"It's nothing,"

"No it's something, you guys are practically saving our lives here." He says stopping

"No really we have the rooms, they're just sitting there. Anyway you guys are gonna have your own bathrooms and and my dad wants to paint and redecorate you guys' room once he gets to know you guys better. He's been on this Extreme Makeover: Home Edition binge so he—", he cuts off her excited chatter with a soft kiss to her cheek, she blushes furiously when he pulls back smiling, not smirking smugly or grinning evilly but a genuine smile.

"Come on, we only have a block left if I remember correctly?" she nods and follows him wordlessly, suddenly she feels any doubts she felt about this arrangement is gone with the wind.

Another drabble down, I might put up another one or two by this weekend hopefully if my schedule works with me, R&R