Chapter Nine

Sarah Puckerman arrived at the hospital less than five minutes after the ambulance had arrived. The scene was grim. Puck sat dejected, shoulders practically curled in on himself in an uncomfortable plastic chair as he stared at the floor. Finn sat right beside him, looking lost and terrified, his hands shaking. Each of them had a blanket draped over their shoulders.

The group grew steadily from there. Mercedes and her parents arrived, all looking horrified, followed closely by a frantic Carole, Quinn, Brittany, Santana, Will, Emma, Artie, Tina and Mike. Everyone sat in silence as they waited. Each one looked gutted but none as bad as Puck and Finn.

Two police officers stepped into the waiting room, looking grim, "Noah Puckerman and Finn Hudson?" they asked looking at the group. The two shocked teens glanced up at them. "We were told by some people at the scene that you were the first to arrive. We're going to need your statements."

"Can this wait?" Sarah asked gently as she gripped her son's shoulder.

The first officer, a younger man, shook his head. "I'm sorry. No it can't. If what actually occurred is what we think it is, then we're looking at attempted murder at least. We have to act on this immediately. We'll want to speak with you individually."

"I will," Puck replied. He followed the two officers to a room off of the waiting room, where the officer's shut the door.

"All right, son. Give us as many details as you can, try not to make any assumptions."

"We...we arrived at the church because I was nervous," Puck offered quietly.

"Why were you nervous son?" the second cop, an older gentleman questioned.

Puck glanced at them. "Kurt's gay, and he was headed to a church somewhat against his will. We didn't want to believe anything would happen, but I wanted to come pick him up just in case. So we both headed over there. When we arrived, we noticed that he'd been separated from Mercedes, the person he originally came with. Then I received a couple texts.

"What did they say?"

Puck handed over his cell phone, showing the text messages to the officer. The cop looked down at it for a moment, "We're going to have to confiscate this as evidence."

Puck wasn't thrilled with this idea, but it was in Kurt's best interest to do all he could to help. "We found him exactly ten minutes south of the church in a field just like it said."

"You two boys did a good job. What do you know this kid, Azimio?"

"He goes to our school. He's constantly bullying Kurt along with another kid, Karofsky. Friday, Azimio ganged up on Hummel in the bathroom and promised him it wasn't over when I barged in."

The officer nodded. "We are going to have to talk to Kurt as soon as he wakes up and can speak. We will speak with these two, we've already got a couple cops picking them up as we speak. Please feel free to let us know any other information; we'll be speaking with the doctor as soon as they're available."

After a few more minutes, Puck exited the room feeling worse than he had to begin with, somehow reliving the moments between finding Kurt and the ride to the hospital had been impossibly hard. He looked at Finn and nodded.

The other teen stood and made his way into the small room, where he sat down without a word. "Officer?" Finn spoke hesitantly. "What will happen to them for this?"

The officer nodded. "They'll face a trial, and depending whether or not Kurt Hummel survives, their sentences will vary. We could be looking at a few years...or as much as life in prison for the boys. Unfortunately at this time there isn't much we can say for sure."

With Finn in the room now, Sarah looked at her son, "Sweetheart, why don't you let Artie help clean you up?" she said, gently rubbing her son's back. He was pale, his eyes haunted. Sarah was seriously worried that if Kurt didn't survive that he'd take two more lives with him—Burt and Noah.

Puck looked up at her, his eyes watering. He started shaking again. "Ma... He's just a kid."

Sarah sighed as she let her son lean against her shoulder and cry. "I know Noah," she whispered.

"Maybe we should pray," Quinn offered.

Puck exploded. He literally saw white. "He doesn't believe in God," his first words were dangerously quiet and low. He doesn't need your fucking prayers!" he exploded at the top of the lungs. "This is all your fault!"

"I'm sorry?" Quinn blanked.

"All of you." He rounded on everyone, "This is what happens when you force people to fit into tiny little boxes! He didn't need this! He needed support, he needed love, he needed his damn friends! But you were all so fuckin' worried about his eternal damnation that you forgot about the damnation he's living now! His father is in a coma! Now they both could die! Did any of you even bother to ask where he was staying? If he was eating? How he was coping? Did you notice that he missed all of Friday, that he spent most of Thursday hiding in the bathroom? What kind of friends are you people?" His anger only continued to grow. "God doesn't give a shit about whether you believe or not. He wants us to be happy, but you're all so damn determined to save everyone!"

"Noah," Sarah warned, gripping her son's arm, knowing the nurses were beginning to look at him.

Noah felt his stomach plummet. "You all call him your friends, but when he needed it the most, not one of you were there. No one bothered to ask him if he was okay." He looked at Artie. "I did ask, and when he admitted to sitting in a big house alone and not eating, we took care of him." The anger was evident on Puck's face. "I hope you're all pleased with yourselves because murder is a sin," he growled as he sank into the chair, exhausted from his outburst. Each of the glee members was stuck in their own world of self-loathing and pity. Rachael's sniffle caught him by surprise as she swiped at her tears, despite their continuous path down her cheeks.

"Noah Puckerman?" A young woman stepped out, dressed in doctor's scrubs and a coat.

"That's me," Puck whispered, his voice shaky.

The nurse gave him a sad smile and handed him a small plastic bag. "Kurt Hummel is being taken to surgery, the severity of his injuries wouldn't really allow us to stabilize him much. He was awake briefly and asked for his father."

"He's here at the hospital," Puck replied. "In a coma."

She nodded, "I was afraid so when I heard his last name. I've brought you his personal items and some scrubs for you to change into."

"Will he make it?" Puck questioned.

Nancy sighed gently. "I don't know. Tragedy seems to follow that child. But we'll do our best that much I promise."

Once Puck had taken a shower in one of the rooms, he slipped into the ICU where Burt was still lying in comatose. He sat down next to the bed, his eyes red rimmed and blood shot. "I'm a terrible person, Mr. H," he whispered. He closed his eyes, leaning his head on Burt's arm. "I should've stopped this earlier, anything but let this happen. I'm in love with your son. I love him, and I'm so scared that if he dies—" Puck put his head down feel the tears flowing down his face.

Eight-year-old Puck glanced up as he heard Burt Hummel speaking quietly with his mother, "Is there a reason you're letting him grow a Mohawk, Sarah?"

She giggled slightly. "Yeah, he thinks it makes him a rebel."

The older Hummel nodded, as if understanding or something. "Right, how's the baby and Noah handling their father leaving?" No one asked him that question, Noah felt mad and he kept hoping daddy was coming back, but he got the distinct impression daddy wasn't ever going to return to his family.

"Well, Noah basically won't talk about it, and Lily is too little to remember him, which probably isn't a bad thing."

"He wasn't a bad man, Sarah, he just made poor decisions. Your son's a good kid."

Sarah smirked. "I'm inclined to think my little Puck likes your Kurt."

"Me too. I'm sure we should be more upset by this—"

Sarah shrugged. "They are boys. They're too young to understand that fully yet. Beside we're here to love them no matter what."

No longer really paying attention to the adults, Noah smiled as he finished up his final picture and looked at Kurt who was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Daddy!" Kurt called excitedly as he hurried over to his father, smiling as he held up his bright pink cast that now had little skulls and crossbones, "Look what Noah did!"

Burt chuckled as he swept his son into his arms. "It's beautiful, son. Nice job, Noah."

Sarah smiled softly as she looked at the two Hummels. "We should probably get going. Noah?"

"Can I stay with Kurt tonight?" Noah asked, sensing that his friend needed him, and honestly Noah wasn't that opposed to a little time with his friend either. Since daddy had left, Noah really only had Burt, Kurt and his mom and sister.

Burt smirked. "Fine by me. I even promise to feed him."

"Oooh, are you going to give him food poisoning?"

The adults laughed out loud, knowing it was good for Burt to get a moment long enough to really laugh. "No."

Noah and Kurt spent the rest of the night laughing, playing video games and talking. When Burt descended the stairs that evening, his heart ached at the sight of Puckerman cuddling Kurt's small frame, as if trying to protect him from the world. Noah only woke up briefly when he felt Burt drop a kiss to his forehead and saw Kurt get one too. "Goodnight boys," Burt whispered.

"Noah," a gentle voice startled Puck from his sleep. Opening up his eyes he looked up to see Nancy leaning over him.

"What time is it?" He groaned as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his face and eyes.

"It's almost nine at night sweetie. Kurt just got out of surgery. I thought you'd like to be the first to know," she explained.

Puck nodded. "How is he?" he questioned.

"The doctor will fill you and Mrs. Hudson in. They'll meet you in the room shortly."

"Thanks—any chance he can be moved in here with his dad?"

She smiled. "He's in the step down unit now. I'll see if I can't pull some strings."

Puck nodded and followed her to the room before she disappeared to go get the rest of his family. The doctor was inside finishing up some notes when she saw Puck. Stepping aside he felt a little better that all the blood was gone, but Kurt was still very pale and looked so tiny among all the tubes and wires coming out of him. "Your friend is very lucky."

"He's strong," Puck offered quietly.

She smiled, her hand out to shake. "Yes he is. I'm Dr. Loyle."

"Noah Puckerman." Puck replied taking her hand and grinning slyly at her, then he realized this was Kurt's doctor and quickly withdrew his hand.

She chuckled and went back to finishing up the notes until Carole, Finn and Sarah stepped into the room. "Excellent you're all here. I'm Dr. Loyle, I'll be Kurt's attending while he's here."

"How is he?" Carole asked quietly. Puck noticed that her eyes were red from crying. She looked like she was losing her world.

"He's holding his own, but I won't lie. He's in very critical condition. He had a broken rib prior to today's events, which unfortunately punctured his lung, causing it to collapse. We're watching it now for signs of infection and/or fluid buildup. Our concern at this point is that it'll cause permanent damage to his lungs. There is some swelling around his spinal cord that we're concerned about and will be watching that, so it's important to keep him as still as possible at this point. His less severe injuries were internal bleeding, a broken forearm, two more broken ribs and a serious concussion. We have him in a medically induced coma right now in hopes to aid the healing of his spine and lungs."

"How long?" Puck asked.

The doctor sighed. "A few days for sure, possibly a week or two until we're sure that waking up won't cause more damage. I've also been notified that you've requested to have Kurt moved into the room with his father. We'll move him first thing tomorrow morning. I don't want any of you to feel that this is a death sentence. We have every hope that he'll come out of this fine, and he came through surgery with flying colors. Our main concern is giving his body enough time to heal properly."