"So…so what's going to happen to me now?"

Whittaker sat back in his chair, just watching David watch him. Two days had passed, and Whittaker had come and gone frequently, keeping David apprised of the situation. A total of twenty-four bodies had been found, including the one David had personally added to the count. Whittaker dropped a manila envelope on the table in between himself and David. "I've been keeping the federal prosecutor in the loop. He's seen my reports and has been following the case closely. He believes it would be impossible to get a trial that any of us would be happy with. It'd be a waste of time and taxpayer's money and – truth be told – I'd like to get home to Quantico. I'm making an executive decision not to pursue this case any longer. As of this afternoon, you'll be free to go."

xoxoxo

He let the hot water pelt his face and chest and run down his skin, cleansing him and soothing him. He had been home three days and he was still adjusting. He hadn't returned to school, yet. He questioned whether he ever would. He'd barely gotten home before it was all over the news; two-dozen bodies had been uncovered in Van Buren State Park: two-dozen people that had been abducted and killed over the course of five years. Over half of them had been killed during those dark days eight years ago, but apparently the murderer been busy long before that. Thankfully, many of the victims had been easily identified by the contents of their wallets: credit cards, licenses, and other plastic pieces that hadn't decayed in the past decade.

Local news stations and papers had been trying to contact David since the story broke. Someone had let it leak that he had killed the serial killer. Whittaker promised him he'd find out who.

His family had also been trying to get in touch with him. This was the first any of them had heard of David being a werewolf. Paul and Burt screened his calls for him; some of his relatives wanted to tell him they still loved him…others wanted him to know he was no better than the creature that had taken their beloved Nancy from them.

Everything was just too overwhelming for him, right now.

His mother was finally properly being laid to rest later that day and David was in the shower, still trying to wash away a week of incarceration and eight years of pain and shame. It wasn't working.

There was the slightest rustle of plastic and then David felt arms lace their way around his waist. He felt a forehead lean against his back. Turning into Kurt's embrace, David pulled his boyfriend close and rested his cheek against the top of Kurt's head. Kurt shhh-ed him soothingly as he began to cry, his tears mingling with the shower water.

As difficult as life got for him sometimes, he'd always have Kurt there to take the pain away.

xoxoxo

His mother's casket was being suspended via pulley-system over the open grave. The Hummel-Hudson family had accompanied Paul and David, as expected, but a few of his other relatives showed up, as well.

"Davey-bear! Oh, my little Davey-Bear." His grandmother, Paul's mother, grabbed his face between her palms and pulled him into a stooped position so she could slather his face with kisses. "Oh, how I've missed you my Davey-bear!"

Blushing and fighting back tears of happiness, David pulled out of his grandmother's clutches. His grandfather stood beside her, dressed in a crisp-clean suit. "David." His grandfather held out his hand for a shake, but when David took his hand, his grandfather yanked his hand back, pulling David with it and pulling him into a tight hug. "It's good to see you again, David. The family's missed you." David looked around at the sparse gathering for his mother's funeral. Over half the family was missing. His grandfather made the same observation. "If they aren't here, they aren't family."

David smiled, his raised lips crimping the corners of his eyes and forcing back the tears. "I'd like you to meet my boyfriend and my son."

"Son? You have a son? I'm too young to be a great-grandmother! Let me see this little ragamuffin who thinks it's ok to make a young lady like myself feel so old." His grandmother pushed passed David, searching out any young child she could find. Honestly, given how old his father was when David's parents had married, his grandmother was just about overdue to be a great-grandmother.

Kurt, having overheard part of the conversation, came up to meet the elder Mr. and Mrs. Karofsky. Alex stayed with Burt. "Mr. and Mrs. Karofsky?"

"Grandma, grandpa, this is Kurt: my boyfriend – my son's dad."

Murray Karofsky held his hand out for Kurt. As he had with David, once his hand firmly grasped Kurt's, he jerked the boy into a hug. Minnie-Anne Karofsky wrapped her arms around her husband and grandson's boyfriend, joining in on the hug. Once the hug ended, Kurt patted his hip. "Alex!" Perking up at the sound of his father's summons, Alex leapt off Burt's lap and ran up to his two daddies. "Mr. and Mrs. Karofsky, this is David's and my son, Alex." Minnie and Murray exchanged a look of confusion. "Alex hasn't figured out how to change back and forth between human and werewolf."

Murray tentatively leaned down, extending his hand to his great-grandchild. Alex reared up on his hind legs to sniff at the hand offered to him. He was a bit leery about these new people, but licked at the hand, anyway.

xoxoxo

The pastor had finished saying his piece; it had been a lovely eulogy and Kurt could spot hardly a dry eye in the congregation of mourners. Even the slayers that Whittaker had ordered to stand guard over the funeral (there had been a few threats against David) fought to maintain their professional composure. People began lining up at the casket to say their final farewell before it was lowered, once and for all, into the ground. When David made no attempt to join the procession, Kurt squeezed his hand. "Are you going to say goodbye?"

David shook his head. "I said goodbye eight years ago to an empty box. That's not my mother, either; I refuse to think of that fermenting shell as her. If there is a heaven, she's been there for years now and has heard me talk to her over and over again. If there's no heaven…well, there's hardly any point, now, is there?"

"You're entitled to your opinion. But, if it's all right with you, I'd like to introduce her to Alex…even if she isn't watching over us, right now." David nodded his assent and handed their son over. He watched as Kurt joined the line of people bidding their final farewells. Kurt even began talking to a gentleman in front of him in line: a cousin David only faintly recognized. After a few minutes of conversation that David couldn't make out, the man stepped aside and invited Kurt to take his place in line. A few more people followed his example and Kurt was shortly near the front.

David could sense a presence sit next to him. "I know this is hardly the time or place…but we've identified the serial killer."

"There's no better time than the present. Between you and me, I'd rather this all be over with. I've been through all of this before." David waved his hand at the scene surrounding him, indicating the funeral.

"He was a sales rep from a construction company just outside Columbus. His coworkers and neighbors were under the impression that he spent his weekends in Cincinnati. Apparently, that wasn't the case. A few of the victims have been identified as residents of counties as far away as Athens. It was only in the final few months of his killing spree that he began focusing on Allen county, Putnam and Hancock. He was an unregistered werewolf. A born one, judging by his DNA. No father to speak of –"

"His father was a werewolf?"

Whittaker shrugged. "Who knows? His mother died around fifteen years ago in a car accident, so we can't ask her. No siblings. No close family. No real 'friends.'"

"Why Lima?"

Whittaker didn't respond immediately. But when he did, it wasn't a satisfactory answer. "Why not? There's a great deal we'll probably never be able to understand. I know you didn't keep my business card, last time." Whittaker produced another small white card from his pocket. "I'd like you to give me a call when you feel ready. We have a lot to talk about."

David took his card and gave it only a cursory glance before shoving it in his pocket.

xoxoxo

As the alarm clock began beeping, Kurt squeezed David tighter, knowing, subconsciously, that he was about to lose the warmth his lover supplied. David gently rolled out of Kurt's grip and reset the alarm clock to wake Kurt in another half hour. "Where you going?"

David chewed his lip as he pulled off his sleep shirt. A week had passed since his mother's funeral. David had been in regular contact with several of the unhumans he had met at Dalton. He had needed all the support he could get since he got out of jail, and, as much as he deeply loved Kurt, sometimes Kurt just didn't understand. The Dalton unhumans knew what he was going through, to some extent. None of them had ever killed, but they knew what it was like to be driven by instincts they couldn't control. None of them had ever been to jail, though they all knew what it was like to be labeled as criminals because of what they were. Several of them, much like David, had taken to figuratively hiding in the shadows to avoid normal humans. David hadn't been to school since Kurt had picked him up to take him to Dalton, and David finally felt ready to go back.

Well, not ready, but he felt the time was right. If he kept avoiding the inevitable, he wouldn't ever get over his fear of his fellow classmates. Not only that, but he already risked failing his senior year. If he weren't able to graduate, he stood no chance in life; he'd never be able to provide for Kurt or Alex. Even the military had minimum standards for education.

"I'm going to school."

Kurt, no longer as asleep as he had been, sat up in bed, looking at David like a crazy person. "I didn't think you were going back."

David avoided looking at Kurt as he pulled on a polo and pair of jeans. "I don't think I was planning on going back to school. But I've got to."

"And if the other students start fights?" Kurt crawled down to the foot of the bed where David was sitting, pulling on a pair of socks.

"If they do…well, I've been beaten up pretty bad in hockey and football. I can take anything they can dish out. I'll just…deal."

"Please be careful David. No one will hold it against you if you can't do this."

David sighed. "I'll hold it against me."

xoxoxo

The atmosphere at McKinley was different. The air felt thick with tension. Students watched him with wariness. Some of them followed his movements with narrowed, accusing eyes, others with the wide eyes of fear. Once he was spotted, students avoided turning their backs to him. They weren't even bothering to try and be discreet.

David tried to sit quietly at the rear of his classes; he hoped if he were out of sight, he'd be out of mind, but that didn't work out too well. Students didn't trust him where they couldn't see him and teachers wanted to be able to keep a close eye on him.

By third period, he was starting to want to live up to their expectations of him. How much easier life must be for those who hold all men in contempt and don't care how they're perceived…

On his way to lunch, he was waylaid by none other than Noah Puckerman. "Dude, the entire school is terrified of you. The school's about evenly split between those that hate you but are too big of pussies to mess with you, and those that kinda respect you for taking out the serial killer, but are freaked out you'll go all schizo on 'em."

David shook his head. "I'm not dangerous…neither is Wolf." The words came as a surprise to David. He'd never expected himself to stand up for Wolf, but, even as the words left his mouth, he knew them to be true. "We were a scared kid. We had no idea what we were doing. We just…did."

"Dude, it doesn't matter. Do you have any idea how hard most of us have to work for the kind of street cred you've got? You're like…king of the badasses!" David rolled his eyes. Puck had no idea what it was like to be truly feared. "So…are you still in glee? You've missed more practices than you've attended since you joined."

David shrugged. "Am I still wanted?"

"Dude. You're Kurt's baby-daddy. You were never not wanted."

xoxoxo

Sorry this chapter is so poor. It's kinda just filler.