Chapter 3: Grounded
Kurt look frazzled as he got down the stairs. Blaine saw him, and Blaine put down his mug of Coffee.
"Hun, hey," Blaine said, "What happened?"
Kurt couldn't speak.
"Kurt? What happened?"
Just then, they saw Beth getting downstairs, followed by Zachary.
"That happened," Kurt told Blaine.
"Beth," Blaine said, surprised.
"Nothing happened," Zachary said. "Please,"
"Yes, nothing happened, I just…slept over," Beth said.
"In your lingerie," Kurt said.
Blaine took a deep breath, "I think I should just bring you home, Beth."
"Mr. Anderson, I can—"
"I insist," Blaine said.
"Zach, stay here for a while," Kurt said, "I'd have a word with you."
"Beth, let's go," Blaine said, moving up to Beth.
"I'm really sorry," Beth muttered.
"Come on," Blaine said and they walked out of the house. Kurt drank some coffee as he looked at Zachary.
"Dad," Zachary said.
Kurt took a deep breath, "You know, Zach, years ago, my dad, your granddad….He found me and Blaine inside my room, and no, nothing happened, Blaine just had too much to drink, and he ended up in my bed…And you know what I realized?" He looked at Zach, "That we always want to protect our children. Keep them safe. Keep them…child-like. Until such time that we know they're capable of standing on their own—"
"Dad, nothing happened."
"Beth reminds me so much of Quinn when we were younger, you know?" Kurt told Zach, "She's…trying so hard to be tough, when the truth is, all she needs is help. She's a fragile child, Zach."
"Dad, I swear, nothing happened. She came over, slept over…She said she didn't want to stay at home with…Quinn and I told her I should call her parents but she didn't want to—"
"Look, I trust you, okay?" Kurt said, "But I don't want Beth to think that I'm allowing her to just disrespect Quinn like that. Quinn has made her mistakes, but I for one know she's been making up for it all these years, and I want Beth to understand that."
"You don't want be being her friend?"
"No," Kurt said, "That's one thing I want you to be. She needs a friend, Zach. We all do."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DingDong!
Puck hurriedly opened up the door of their house as he heard someone ring the doorbell. Quinn, who've been so worried about Beth came trailing behind him.
"Blaine," Puck greeted, "Hey,"
"HI," Blaine stepped aside and in came Beth.
"Beth," Quinn said, "What's going on?"
"Kurt saw me in Zach's bed," Bed stated, and went upstairs, slamming the door.
"Excuse me?" Quinn said.
"You heard her right," Blaine said.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" Quinn muttered.
"Quinn," Puck said, holding Quinn's hand.
"Look, I don't know what happened, or if something did happen," Blaine said, "But I think…Beth's troubled. I mean, she should be, Shelby died and all but…you know."
"Thanks, Blaine," Puck said, "We'll take it from here."
"Yeah, no problem," He said, "Call us if anything."
"Thanks," Quinn said, "And I'm really sorry,"
"It's alright," Blaine said, "It's you I'm worried about."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Quinn opened the door of Beth's room with a key. Beth has changed her clothes, and seemed as if she was going out again. Puck closely followed her.
"Don't you know how to knock?" Beth asked.
"Where do you think you're going?" Quinn asked.
"To school,"
"And then what? You're coming home to someone else's house again?"
"Zach is my friend," Beth said, "And if it matters much to you, maybe you should just let me live with him. Or get us married. Or whatever, kick me out. Because that's what happened to you, right?" Beth asked, "Quinn Fabray, President of the Celibacy club, Captain of the Cheerios who got pregnant by her boyfriend's bestfriend and who gave her daughter up for adoption only to try to get her back by trying to make her adoptive mom look bad and failing and—"
"Beth, enough," Puck said, "Say sorry to your mom."
"She's not my mom," Beth said, "I don't even share her name. Or your name, for that matter."
"Just because we don't share the same names doesn't mean we aren't a family," Quinn said, "You live here now, Beth. Shelby wanted that. And you know what? I know more than anyone how hard it is to…to lose your youth, and try to get it back. You only have one shot at that, Beth, don't try wasting it."
"I don't—"
"You're grounded," Quinn said, "For a week."
"A week? But that's—"
"I'm not gonna disagree with Quinn," Puck said, "I'm bringing you home for the whole week. You're not allowed to go out after school."
"Oh, God," Beth said, "I hate you."
She then started to make her way out when Puck stopped her.
"I'll bring you to school," He said.
"Like there's something I can do…" Beth muttered and went off with Puck.
