Part Five

Initially, Kurt was relieved to be summoned to Miss Pillsbury's office instead of Principal Figgins'. However, after five minutes of wordlessly smiling politely at each other, he was having second thoughts.

"You asked to see me, Miss Pillsbury?"

"Yes, yes, I did. I wanted to see you about the—uh—about you—that is-"

"About the photo?" Kurt suggested.

"Right. Well, now, the thing is—you can't just go around kissing boys—uhm—random boys—random anybody." She laughed nervously. "Obviously." Emma swallowed hard as she picked up a pamphlet. "Now then, there—uh—isn't really anything that specifically addresses this—ah—situation."

"Never a Hallmark card when you need one."

"No, I suppose not." Miss Pillsbury slid the pamphlet over to Kurt. "Anyway, I put together a handout that –uh—should cover everything."

Kurt's eyes widened . The pamphlet was titled "Don't touch-a touch-a touch me". Below it were cartoons of Riff Raff and Rocky.

"...oh, dear lord..."

Emma smiled brightly. "See? It's a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme." She busied straightening her desk while she chatted away. "I know how much you kids enjoyed doing the show and it's important to give you material you can relate to."

"Uh-huh." Kurt's eyes wandered across Miss Pillsbury's antiseptic wipes, anti-bacterial lotions and anti-fungal sprays and he idly wondered if she might have a gallon of brain bleach behind her desk he could borrow.

"And-"

"There's more?"

Emma reached down and brought out Riff Raff and Rocky dolls. "I know I probably should have used Frank but, well, I didn't want to confuse the homosexuality issue with the transvestite issue."

"Riiiiight."

Emma frowned, considering. "Unless that's something we need to discuss?"

"NO! I don't think I'm ready to have that discussion." Not in this lifetime or any other Kurt added silently to himself.

"Oh, okay." She settled her hands on her desk, pleased that her session with Kurt was going so well. "Now then, the dolls are-uhm-anatomically correct. So, I thought we could review good touches and bad touches. What do you think?"

What he thought was he should hit the janitor's closet and find that damn bleach. Instead, Kurt slid the pamphlet into his messenger bag and eased out of the chair.

"Maybe I should study this first and come back if I have any questions."

"Oh, okay. And, Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Riff Raff and Rocky will be here whenever you're ready."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Azimio and Karofsky, slushies in hand, were on a direct course for Kurt. Sam quickly intercepted them, grabbed a slushie from Karofsky and continued towards Kurt, yelling over his shoulder, "He's mine!" Sam threw the slushie, catching Kurt full in the face. "Maybe that will wash some of the gay off of you, freak!".

"Awesome!" Karofsky gave Sam a friendly punch to the shoulder.

"French this, homo!" Azimio flung his slushie on top of Sam's.

Kurt blinked away enough of the sticky liquid to see Azimio and Karofsky, arms over Sam's shoulders, walk away. A quick glance at the hall and he counted at least a dozen students who had witnessed the scene. Perfect. Kurt hid his face as he ducked into the restroom. If anyone saw him smiling, it would ruin Sam's brilliant performance.

Det. Pulaski wasn't happy about being pulled off his case. But apparently this Paul Evans guy was buddy-buddy with the captain. So, the captain spoke to the lieutenant, the lieutenant spoke to the sergeant and here Pulaski was, cooling his heels in the cramped Speech Therapy room of McKinley High. He had a paper copy of the McKinley Star in front of him. He'd gone over the article and decided to start with this guy. Not only was he a witness but also a potential victim. The simple open and shut case had quickly become more complicated.

"That's F-i-n-n?"

"Yeah."

"I'm investigating an allegation of inappropriate contact between two students. You know what I'm referring to?"

"Is this about me touching Rachel's boobs?"

Det. Pulaski raised an eyebrow. "No." He slid the Star over to Finn's side of the table. "You recognize anybody in that photo?"

"Yeah, it's Sam and Kurt."

The detective noted Finn's frown, obviously unhappy about the photo. Interesting.

"That would be Sam Evans and Kurt Hummel?"

"Yeah."

Det. Pulaski opened his legal pad and read from his notes. "If I did to a girl what you did to me, I'd be arrested." The detective glanced at Finn. "You remember saying that?" Finn reddened. "You remember who you said that to?"

"Kurt."

"Kurt Hummel?"

"Yeah."

"The same Kurt Hummel in this photo?"

Finn looked away and nodded.

"What was that about?"

Finn fidgeted with his watch band. "I don't remember."

"Weren't you warning Kurt to stay away from Sam Evans?"

Finn shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "It wasn't like that."

"Has Kurt Hummel ever touched you on your penis above or below your clothing?"

"Dude!"

"Answer the question, Finn."

"No, of course not!"

"Has he ever made lewd, obscene or sexually suggestive comments to you, about you or in your presence?"

Finn's jaw tightened. "No."

Det. Pulaski watched as Finn crossed his arms and slumped in the chair. "Has he ever said anything that made you uncomfortable?"

"He kind of said I should give up girls. But it was a joke. Sort of."

"How's your relationship with Burt Hummel?"

Finn flashed a lopsided smile, relieved at the change of subject. "Great! He's-he's kind of like a dad to me now."

"You wouldn't want to see him hurt?"

"What? No, of course not."

"You think this thing with Kurt would hurt him?"

Finn thought about it. "Yeah. A lot."

"Would you lie about Kurt to protect his dad?"

"Huh?"

"If Kurt said or did something you didn't like-something that made you uncomfortable-would you keep quiet about it to keep his dad from finding out? Would you keep quiet to keep his dad from getting hurt?"

"N-no."

"But you already did, didn't you? Isn't it true that Burt Hummel had no idea you were uncomfortable around Kurt until the argument in the basement?" Finn rubbed his hands nervously on his jeans.

"How do you know about-?"

Det. Pulaski leaned back in his chair, fixing Finn with a severe look. "We're going to start over and this time you're going to one, tell me everything that's been going on between you and Kurt Hummel and two, tell me the truth."

Finn swallowed nervously and nodded.

Det. Pulaski tapped his pen absently on the table as he thought through his line of questioning.

"There must have been dozens of boys in and out of the showers that day."

"Probably."

"So, Coach Beiste, what brought this particular conversation to your attention?"

"I saw it was Kurt Hummel."

"And that concerned you? That it was Kurt Hummel who approached Sam Evans as opposed to any of the other boys? Why?"

"I wasn't concerned, I just wanted to stop him."

"What did you think he was going to do?"

"They were discussing homework."

"But you wanted to stop him?"

"I mean stop him before he left the locker room. He was the kicker last year. I wanted to talk to him about rejoining the team."

"You said they were discussing homework?"

"Yes."

"How'd that conversation go?"

"I don't recall."

"You don't recall hearing a reference to Shawshank?"

After a moment, Coach Beiste answered quietly, "Yes, I heard it."

"Best as you can remember, who said it and in what context?"

"Kurt approached Sam."

"In the showers?"

"Yes, in the showers."

"And said, 'Don't worry, I'm not going to go all Shawshank on you.'"

"What did you take that to mean? Coach?"

"It's a reference to prison rape."

"You confronted Kurt about his behavior towards Finn Hudson?"

Rachel clasped her hands tightly in her lap, trying to answer the detective's questions calmly and clearly. "I wouldn't say confronted. Discussed."

"Fine, discussed. So Kurt's attentions to Finn were such that you felt you needed to address the situation. Would that be fair to say?"

"It was just a crush. He didn't mean anything by it."

"What did you think when Finn told Kurt to stay away from Sam?"

"What?"

"You didn't know?"

"I thought-we all thought-it was Kurt's idea not to sing with Sam."

"Are you freaking insane?"

Kurt sighed, knowing this moment was inevitable. "Stay out of it, Finn."

"This is how you back off of Sam? This is putting what the team needs before what you want?" Finn ran a hand through his hair. "It wouldn't kill you to be a little more like me."

Kurt arched an eyebrow. "Should I knock up Quinn, feel up Rachel and run over the mailman?"

Finn pulled Kurt aside. "There's a detective here. He's talking to everyone. You know what that's gonna do to Dad when he finds out?"

"Dad?" Kurt repeated icily. "Your dad is dead. I doubt he'll have much to say on the subject. My dad is my responsibility and I'm taking care of him."

Kurt turned away.

"You're doing a half-assed job of it."

He froze. Finn had no idea of how much he was doing for his dad. Insurance paperwork, doctor appointments, taking him to cardio rehab, paying unreimbursed bills, the mortgage, tracking his medicine, planning his meals. For a while, Kurt had even taken over the payroll and accounts for the garage. Kurt was doing his best not to be overwhelmed and Finn Hudson was criticizing his efforts. Kurt turned around to face him.

"What?"

"You heard me."

Kurt let his messenger bag slide to the floor. He threw his books to the side as he closed the distance between him and Finn. Before he knew it, his hands were on Finn, shoving as hard as he could. Finn stumbled back a step. "Dude, seriously?"

Kurt shoved again, using his foot to sweep Finn's feet and this time Finn did go down. Hard. Kurt gave him one last, disdainful look then walked back to get his books. Finn tackled him from behind, slamming him into the lockers. He yanked Kurt around to face him. One punch. Finn didn't give it any thought. Not until his fist connected with Kurt's face. Not until he looked down and saw the blood on his hand. Kurt's blood.

A/N: I changed the quote from "Duets" slightly to fit the story better.