The Shake Up Part VII

In New York, Monday had been another day of mental torment for all of those desperately awaiting news of family and friends caught up in what was now being described as the deadliest disaster in modern global history across the world's media. Every nation shared those sentiments and shared sympathy, except Iran, whose media proclaimed that it was the earth's revenge on the capitalist enemy. The President was still out of the picture, which was no bad thing. There was still trouble for his party though; outrage had been sparked when a video was leaked which showed a Republican congressman telling one of his senior colleagues that the death of all those idiotic Democrats in California was a good thing, as it would secure them a fresh majority; after all, they could push through a bill which would reduce the number of representatives from the state due to the fall in population, whilst allocating new ones to the states that formed their heartlands.

As one of the representatives from L.A. that was in Washington railed against the offender, whilst pointing out that two other members of the house that had been in the city were amongst the missing, no apology was forthcoming from the party. There were also rumours that the President's Twitter account had been temporarily blocked so as to ensure he did not tweet something in his usual way that would make the situation even worse than it was. Burt Hummel found himself pushed to the front of the group of Congress members who were demanding immediate resignations, whilst also looking to block any change in the seat allocations until the full facts of the situation were made clear. That Sue Sylvester was at his side, raising her voice just as loudly in protest was no shock whatsoever to anyone that knew her.

Life had gone on as normal for the majority of the Warblers; it had to, although David was on their minds constantly. He was one of the unifying figures and someone that none of them could ever recall having a major dispute with. Nick had given in and headed to Murray Hill at lunchtime, then spent most of the rest of the day with Sebastian; his friend was once again on the edge, the whole waiting game driving him almost insane. Every time that his phone rang he jumped up to answer it; when it wasn't the news that he was hoping for, he became abrupt and downright rude with the caller, without exception. Bette had appeared once again in the afternoon, bringing with her a gift basket from the Broadway community; just something to let him know that he was foremost in all their thoughts at the moment. He had glanced at it with complete disinterest at first, until he spied two things; a box of his favourite brand of marron glaces, and two packets of custard creams. He grabbed for the latter, and within an hour one pack had been completely demolished. The box of candied chestnuts had also been opened, and offered around to the others, unlike the biscuits…

As for Julian, Isabelle had managed to drag him out of the house for a short walk, insisting that a breath of fresh air would do him good, and pointing out that they both had phones; if anything happened, they could be back in minutes. They had ended up walking across town to her apartment, and there, in the privacy of that place, he had broken down completely in her arms, all pretence of strength and resolve thrown out of the window. They had returned finally in the early evening to discover that Nick had just left, but not before he had made a casserole that was now simmering in the oven. The dish in question was so fragrant that even the most reluctant felt hungry, and they all ate it without refusal.

It had just become Tuesday when Sebastian's phone began to ring, and he dived across the room for it as usual. This time though he froze as he saw the name that was displayed for the caller - Bluebird. He knew that this was the call that he and his brother were desperate for, but now he could not move, paralysed with fear. Yes, it was coming from David's phone, but what if the call was being made by some well meaning medic after the phone had been found on the badly injured corpse of his friend? What if David was still alive, but Peter no longer was, having perished in that last quake?

As his mind processed all of the what ifs, the rest of the room had fallen silent. In the end it was Dave that moved, crossing from the doorway where he had been standing, that picked up the phone, and on seeing the name, accepted the call and answered with a tentative "Hello?" He then fell silent as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line, his face betraying no emotion at all as he did so, much to the frustration of those in the room. "Right, so it might be better if I put you on speaker phone for this; it will be quicker and easier…" As Dave fumbled with the buttons to do so, Isabelle placed her arms protectively around her husband, as he tensed up as he waited for news; she smiled a little as she saw his mother take his hand. Eloise had done the same for Sebastian, who looked as if he was about to pass out from the agony of waiting, whilst cursing himself for not being brave enough to answer the call himself. Dave managed to turn the volume on the phone up to full, then placed it on the table, having turned the speaker phone on. "Okay, go ahead…"

"Hey guys, it's David. So, we are in Denver. Puck kept his word to us. Anyway, someone more important than me wants a word…."

There was a pause, and then came the words "Daddy? Uncle Bazzy?"

Julian was out of his chair in a second, and right over to the phone. "Peter! Hey, are you okay? I've been so worried about you! I promise you right now that I am never going to leave you on your own again!" exclaimed Julian, the relief in his voice obvious. The smile on his face was wide, as all of the worries that had dogged him for the last few days evaporated in a moment on just hearing that small voice.

"I'm okay now, daddy, but I was so scared… I couldn't help mommy, and she didn't make it out… I'm so sorry…"

"You have nothing in the world to be sorry for; your mommy would just be so pleased that your are safe. That is all that would have mattered to her, that you were alive and safe…"

"I remembered what we were told at school, and hid under the bed, but then the house fell down on top of it. I had to stay there on my own, and it was dark, and I was so lonely until the man came to talk to me, and told me that it would be okay, and he kept talking to me until Mr David came, and he and Mr Jake rescued me."

"Hey, Peter, don't you mean that David came and told you it would be okay," said Sebastian, suddenly curious as to who on earth the other man could have been.

"No, Uncle Bazzy, it was another man. I couldn't see him, as it was so, so dark and my torch wouldn't work, but he just told me that I had to be brave, and stay exactly where I was, and that help was coming. He told me that I didn't have to be scared, and that mommy, nana and gramps were all in heaven. He did sound a lot like Mr David, but it wasn't him, because he didn't come until much later… So, am I going to be able to come and live with you now, daddy? Will that be okay, because if it isn't, then I think that Uncle Bazzy would let me stay with him…"

"Of course you are going to come and live with me and Isabelle, Peter. You are my son, and I love you so, so much, and nothing will ever change that," said Julian with a tear in his eye…"

"Okay. Well, I think I am going to go and see if I can find Mercedes; she might know if there is somewhere for me to sleep, because I am really tired. I will see you very soon… I love you daddy, and you too, Uncle Bazzy."

"That's a good idea, Peter. I love you so much," said Julian.

"Me too, sweetheart," said Isabelle.

"Peter, you take care of Mr David for me; he can't be trusted for too long on his own," joked Sebastian.

"Okay, Uncle Bazzy, although he is like a superhero really; I think he wants to speak to you now… Oh, I remember now, the other man told me his name; he was Mr Simon…"

Sebastian picked up his phone, and took it back off speaker and placed it to his ear. He walked casually out of a room that was now filled with relief at the knowledge that Peter was safe and out of the danger zone, and where Julian and Isabelle were making plans for the future. Now that he was out of earshot, Sebastian had a different situation to deal with, having recalled something that Thad had told him. "David," he whispered, "did you know any of that until now, because it sounds like it was your brother…"

"It does sound a lot like it, doesn't it?" David interrupted. "I mean, if it was the case, then it is a shock on several levels, not least because it means that Peter can hear angels. However, I thought that all of the angels would be busy with processing people, so how did my brother have the time to spare to sit with Peter? Maybe he will come and tell me why…"

"Maybe that was his job; he knew that you were on your way, and that Peter was scared and alone. He was sent to keep him company, to give him comfort until you all managed to get there and get him out. Thanks for that by the way. I am now forever in your debt; if we had lost him, it would have destroyed me, and it would have killed Jules. Tell Jake that I owe him too. In fact, I think I am going to talk to Thad, and see if we can get him an honorary Warbler pin like his brother for the outstanding actions that he performed on my behalf."

"Yeah, I would second that one… Speaking of Thad, I'd best give him and my mom a quick call. As soon as I know what it going on, I will get Peter to you all in New York, okay?"

"Okay - and David, thanks again for all of this. You didn't just save Peter's life the other day; you save mine and Julian's too."

Sebastian hung up, and turned round, and realised that Isabelle was standing in the doorway of the sitting room, watching him. Inside the room, he could hear Julian talking to his mother, trying to convince her that it was time that she met her grandson face to face. Eloise was in the kitchen, preparing drinks, and Dave had gone upstairs to speak to Cooper, knowing that their landlord had been every bit as concerned about the situation as they had been. She moved towards him, and whispered "So, I am assuming that Simon might have been an angel?"

"I'm glad that only you overheard that… Yeah, we think it was an angel, and that it might have been David's older brother; he died when David was only a kid. The year that Wes died, he made one of his first tasks in heaven finding him, and he brought him to visit David that Christmas. As far as I know, they've been seeing each other on and off ever since. Maybe we owe another Thompson for ensuring that Peter is still with us," said Sebastian. "Anyway, how are you feeling; you are going to be a family all of a sudden…"

"Yes, but it is okay. The minute you told me about the quake, I think I began to prepare for this mentally. The good thing is that I have loved Peter from the moment I met him; even more importantly, he likes me. I do think that we will need to find him some sort of counselling to get over all of this though; he might be fine now, but it will hit him hard at some point. I mean, he didn't say anything, but he would have heard his family die; he has also lived through three major earthquakes in just a few days. It will have had an affect on him…"

Sebastian nodded, then he walked back into the sitting room, to pull his big brother into a tight hug. For now, the worst was over; the problems of the future could remain there for a little while at least…

His call to Sebastian over, and Peter safely back with Mercedes, David made a quick call of his own to his mother, who was just so relieved to hear his voice herself. Mercedes had called and told her he was okay, but it was only now that she had heard his voice herself that she felt truly content. She would be able to retire to bed that night and actually get some sleep, safe in the knowledge that her son was alive and well. She did however have a surprise for her son, and that came when she passed him over to speak to his father. Their relationship had never been the closest since the day that Simon had died, but now his father spoke of how grateful he was that David had made it out alive; how sorry he was that he had been absent for so much of his life and how he hoped now that they could maybe start and build a relationship again. Nearly losing his son had shown Mr Thompson the folly of the distance he had placed between himself and his remaining child.

At that point, all David could do was promise that they could try, and it would be best to start with a clean sheet, with no recriminations coming from either side. He agreed to call his father again in the morning for a proper talk, and to try and arrange a time for them to meet up and talk, man to man. If David hadn't known better, he would have sworn that as he said those words, he had heard Wes congratulate him on taking the most adult of paths in the situation, and not doing what he might well have done, and just acted like a spoilt child.

It was late by now, but David knew there was one final call that he had to make. He knew that it would be answered quickly, and he was proved right when Thad picked his phone up after just one ring. "We're in Denver…" was all David had a chance to say before Thad let out an almighty sob and burst into tears on the other end of the line. "Hey, Colorado isn't that bad," said David jokingly, as he felt his own tears begin to well up in his tired eyes. "It's a lot more stable feeling than Los Angeles, and they have told me I can get a shower and a shave soon…"

"I know, it's just that try as hard as I might, I kept thinking the worst, and when that last quake happened… I think watching it all unfold live on television just made it all the more real, and when I saw what was happening at Andrews, all I could think was where were you, and were you safe…"

"I was outside March Air Base, lying on a grass verge. As a group, we didn't manage to escape from that one totally unscathed; Jake did something to his ankle, and now we are all just hoping and praying that it isn't too bad."

There was a pause, and then Thad said quietly, "I had a dream last night in which you had wings, David. That you were an angel, and honestly, it made me sit bolt upright in a cold sweat. Then when the quake happened, all I could think was, was my dream a premonition? Anyway, when will I get to see you? I warn you know that I will need to hug you for a very long time, just to confirm to myself that you are real, and that I am not just imagining you there."

David chuckled, and then replied, "A long hug from you sounds so good right now, and it is just part of what you deserve. You were there when I needed you, and I will never forget that. So, obviously my priority has to be getting Peter to his dad and Sebastian, so New York will have to be my first stop. Mercedes will need to pop into the record company offices there as well, and I guess the Google offices there would be a good start for me too; see if I still have a job…"

"I would guess that your talents will be needed more than ever now - the news coming out of the city is not getting any better. On a positive note, we do know that both Oprah and Ellen were out of town at the time…"

David laughed out loud, before jokingly saying, "The two of them should stand on a joint ticket. I mean, Oprah would need a good Vice President, and I can think of worse people for that job than Ellen…"

"Oh, if only, Davie, if only… Right, so I am going to head to New York too, and that way I get my hug sooner. I am kind of in need of one, because obviously Wes isn't around, and with the amount of work that he will have going on, I might have a long wait before I see him properly again."

"That sounds like an excellent idea; I am sure that Niff won't mind putting the two of us up for a few days, and you can help protect me from the crazy that is all of the Warblers in the city wanting to hear all about it. These have been the worst few days of my life, Wes' death excepted, and I will need the calm that only my best friend can bring me. Plus, we need to have a talk about tonight's little revelation; Peter just told everyone that a man called Simon came and stayed with him for a while, until we arrived to get him out. I want to know why my brother was there, Thaddie, because it could only have been him."

"I would guess that Wes might have sent him; he would probably have wanted to go himself, but if he couldn't, then he would have sent a close friend."

David had to agree with Thad in that it did have the hallmarks of Wes all over it. He ended his call on a happy note, and then headed off for the comforts of a hot meal, a warm shower, and a proper bed for the night. It wasn't until those things had gone from his life that he realised just how much they mattered…

As David took his shower, Jake was finally being examined properly by a doctor; despite the fact that there had been a huge medical team assembled to deal with the casualties of the disaster, there had still been a barrage of questions about his medical insurance before any of the doctors were prepared to come and examine him. Unique had eventually lost her temper with the poor woman that had been sent to ask for the information, letting her have it loudly with both barrels. She told her in no uncertain terms that they had just been through a living nightmare, that they had nothing left but the clothes they were wearing, that virtually every friend they had made in the city was probably dead, and that in her opinion, any medic that would place money above care at a time like this deserved public censure. Then, just for good measure, she had name checked Mercedes and Burt Hummel. She knew that there had to be journalists around somewhere, and they would love a piece for their journals in which Mercedes Jones commented on how her friends were left to suffer as doctors were too obsessed with insurance cards….

When the woman left in a hurry, Jake stared at Unique, then with a chuckle said, "You do know that all the documents are in my grab bag, and that had I been able to get to it, I would just have handed them to that poor woman? But thanks for that. I think Mercedes would be proud of you for that wonderful diva strop…"

"It was the least that I could do in the circumstances, given all that you do for me. The fact that not one of these doctors would come and look at you without seeing a slip of paper first is disgusting…" She stopped as she heard footsteps approaching, and finally a doctor appeared. Unique took a seat at Jake's side and held his hand as the motherly looking older woman gently prodded at his ankle, and then started to move it. His grip tightened at times as she did so, as the painkillers didn't quiet do enough to deaden his pain.

Eventually, the doctor spoke. "Well, Mr Wade, the good news is that none of the major bones in your ankle appear to be broken; I would still like to take an X-ray just to confirm that, as a hairline fracture can still be easily missed in these preliminary checks. I do suspect that you have snapped your Achilles tendon, and that is what is causing the majority of your pain; that and a severe sprain to your ankle. Whoever decided to leave your boot on did the right thing as that helped to minimise the swelling, whilst keeping the bandaging loose. You will need to have surgery if we are to properly repair your tendon; I think you will wish that, given your career as a dancer. After that, and a proper period of recuperation, you should be able to return to normality."

"That is actually a relief to hear, doctor," said Jake. "My big worry was that this was something really serious, and that the effects would be long term. I thought that my career as a dancer was as good as over, if I am being honest. How long a period of rest are we talking about?"

"With no major complications, then we should have you walking on it again in a couple of months; dancing again may take a little longer. In fact, I would say it might be six months before we can consider that, possibly more if we are to ensure that you don't just rupture it again and do more damage that might not be fixable. All this is just conjecture at the moment, and it may be that after we take the necessary scans, and run the proper tests that we discover another issue that we will need to resolve. Right, so I will go and get the X-ray set up. I have to say that given the circumstances, you've been very lucky; you must have the angels on your side…"

The doctor left after that to set things up, leaving Jake to sit with Unique. It was good news, but the thought that he was going to be out of the thing that inspired his passions for months was hard to stomach. He would survive it though, as he knew that lots of support would be forthcoming. In any case, it wasn't like he would be heading back to college any time soon; his school, like Unique's, no longer existed. He could only hope that another school would take pity on them and allow them to enrol with them…

In a room not far away, Mercedes sat on a bed, and watched the young boy that was sleeping fitfully on the adjacent one. She had been unsure that he would be able to sleep at all, but in the end, after a mug of hot milk and some cookies, and being changed into a set of clean pyjamas, he had dozed off the moment that his head had touched the pillow. His sleep was far from peaceful though, and the whimpers he gave from time to time had to mark the moments when his experiences over the last few days entered his dreams and turned them into nightmares. Something like this would stay with him for the rest of his life, returning to haunt his dreams at random moments.

She was reluctant to head to bed herself, as she had seen so many of the faces of the people that had died at the Hollywood Bowl; people who had only been there because she was. True, if they had been at home they would still have died, in all likelihood, but she still felt responsible. For now, her attention was focused on the young boy that was entrusted to her care. Getting him to his family in New York was a job for the following day; once he was safely in their hands, she could start her own processes to cope with it all. She had a world tour planned after all, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to go ahead with it, even if she wanted to. People would understand in the circumstances; would assume a delay at the very least. Then again, the tour would give her something to concentrate on, and would stop her mind dwelling on events she had had no control over…

The next morning saw the little group of five split in two. The doctor's tests had confirmed that one of Jake's tendons had indeed snapped, but they had also shown some small hairline fractures in his toes of all places. Surgery had taken place right away, given that the necessary people and facilities were all in situ, and just waiting to be used. There was also good news in that all of his treatment would be free, paid for by the federal authorities. It had suddenly occurred to Unique after the doctor had visited that all of his insurance papers would be in the name of Jake Puckerman, and that might well lead to a lot of awkward questions. True, they could have claimed that Jake Wade was a stage name, but if the facts had got back to somebody in the Air Force, they might have put two and two together, and things could have been very difficult for Puck.

With a bit of help from Mercedes, both Jake's mom and Unique's parents were on their way to Denver by plane, and they would soon be surrounded by that special love and affection that a devoted parent could bring. Still, when the time came for them to say goodbye, the parting was emotional; the moment when Peter walked up to Jake's bedside, took his hand and thanked him for saving his life brought a tear to their eyes but a smile to their lips. Hugs were exchanged, and promises made that they would all call as soon and as often as possible. Mercedes had been provided with a new phone, and her provider had managed to produce a clone of her sim, so she had all of her stored numbers restored to her. The moment that she had switched it on it had positively buzzed with messages and missed calls; all of her friends and family had tried to call her the moment that they heard, and then had followed messages of support, and demands that she call them the moment she was able.

She had smiled at seeing those requests from Rachel, Quinn, Brittany and Sugar; the fact that Santana had done the same touched her even more than the others. Neither Sam or Artie had called her; nor had Mike, who had just left her a simple message to stay safe. Sam's message was full of emotion, as she had expected if she was honest; the fact that Artie's was if anything even more emotional made her realise with quite a start just how much she actually meant to him. If she was being honest, he was pretty special to her too. She resolved that she would make some time to spend with him once she got to New York.

Here record company had called too, and had left requests that she call them as a matter of urgency, but they could wait a little longer. Just now, she had something far more important to do, a child to hand back to his loving family. This flight was going to be different from most she had taken recently; for a start, she was on a commercial flight, and not a private jet. That was quite refreshing, and at least it gave them an ETA on the east coast…