(no subject)
Title: Right Place, Wrong Time. Part 2/?
Author: Scar Bandit
Pairings: Kurt/Puck
Rating R
Warnings: slash, m/m. Non others yet. Although if you see something I should have added PLEASE TELL ME.
Spoilers: maybe season 3? They are seniors so…
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Word count: 3,100 (this part). 5k of 16k+ posted thus far
Disclaimer: Duh. I wish.
Summary: (Originally found prompt on angst but can’t find it again. Grrrr). Puck is in the right place at the right time - He is able to save the Hudmel family during a fire but not before a cost to himself. Puck’s emotional journey as he recovers and the ripple effect of his actions.
(AN - I should write summaries for after school specials! Dude, the summary is almost painful to read.)
Part 1: http://scarbandit.livejournal.com/2874.html
Puck felt he was trapped underwater. He couldn’t breathe. He tried to turn his head, to find his way to the surface, but slowly sunk back into the darkness of his mind.
Puck struggled to breathe, unable to take a breath. He heard a distant beeping, tickling at the edge of his conscience. Pain began to seep through the fog, clouding all other thought. Puck tried to escape the pain, finally letting himself relax back into the enveloping darkness.
Puck became aware of a faint beeping and someone speaking softly next to his head. Concentrating on the beeping, Puck slowly became more aware of his surroundings. Listening intently, he found he could make out the words being spoken.
“… and calm restored at last to the room, why does he bother with it? It’s all in the past. There aren’t any concentration camps now. Why bring it up? It’s embarrassing. I don’t want any of my friends to meet him. What if he shouts at them or does something else crazy? Grandpa Dan doesn’t shout at the TV or talk about the war like that.” The voice paused. “Well. This young lady certainly needs an attitude adjustment. I can’t imagine her disrespecting her grandparents that way. Goodness, this book is not starting out well for us, is it Puck.” Puck drifted back out of consciousness, still puzzling over whose voice he heard.
Puck woke to agony shooting across his chest and arms. Puck tried to raise his hands to his face but found that he was unable to move his arms. A slight moan escaped his lips and he turned his head fitfully to the side. A cool cloth was laid gently on his forehead and he heard a shushing sound softly next to his head. “Hush Puck. Don’t fight this. Carole is on the way. It will be okay. Shhhhh.”
Puck concentrated on the voice, trying to determine where he knew it from. Slowly moving his eyes, Puck struggled to open them.
“Noah. Can you hear me Noah? Come back to us. We need you to come back to us now sweetie.” Puck felt someone raising his bed up slightly and a cool hand against his cheek. “Come on Noah. Open your eyes for us. We’ve been worried about you.”
Puck struggled against the heavy weight he felt on his eyes and body. Slowly blinking, Puck flinched at the bright white that pierced his brain. Slamming his eyes shut, Puck gave another small moan. The cool cloth on his forehead was removed and replaced with the hand from his cheek. Puck slowly opened his eyes again and was able to focus on the room he was in. Surrounded by white, Puck saw a dark figure next to his head and another figure near his feet. Concentrating on the figure near his feet, Puck recognized Carole. Moving his head slightly to the side, Puck looked toward the person by his head, slowly bringing Kurt into focus. “Wha’?”
Kurt brought his cool hand back to Puck’s forehead. “Shhhh. It’s okay Puck. You’re in the hospital. Do you remember the fire?”
Puck nodded slightly. He remembered the blaze lighting up against the night. His frantic race through the house to get Finn and Mr. and Mrs. H out and then down to the basement to get Kurt. He remembered shoving Kurt out of the window and then running back up the stairs. The last thing he remembered was getting knocked down by a blast, a searing pain across his chest and forearms. “Finn?”
Carole came to the opposite side of the bed from Kurt, tears in her eyes. “Finn is fine sweetie. We are all fine. You got us all out.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks and she reached out to hold Puck’s arm. “The fire alarm. It wasn’t working. The firemen said that if you hadn’t come by when you did that we may have never woken up until it was too late. Thank you so much Noah. You saved my family.”
Puck watched Carole as tears ran down her face, eventually turning to look at Kurt. Kurt was looking at him with his lips pressed firmly together, tears rolling down his face as well. Puck tried to speak but nothing came out. Licking his lips, Puck gently raised one shoulder before trying again. “Glad everyone okay.”
Carole brushed the tears from her cheeks before turning toward the door. “I need to have your mom paged. Also, let me go get the doctor. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up, I know that she will be glad to see you awake and will want to talk to you about everything.” Carole rushed out the door, leaving Kurt sitting beside Puck’s head. Kurt slowly removed his hand before sitting back in his chair.
“She’s right you know.” Kurt whispered. Puck watched Kurt silently. “We owe you our lives. You came in and saved us. You saved me when you pushed me out that window in the basement. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for this.”
Puck shook his head slightly. “No repayment. Glad okay.” Kurt offered Puck a tentative smile as Carole returned with the doctor.
Picking up the chart, the petite doctor smiled at Puck. “Well good afternoon Noah. I’m Dr. Lowther. I’m glad to see you are back with us. You’ve been here with us for 2 days now before waking up. How are you feeling?”
Puck blinked slowly while he thought about it. “Hurts. Tired.”
The doctor smiled and nodded while making a note on the chart. “We will get you some more pain relievers, see if that helps you. We’ve paged your mother and I’ve also called her and left a message. Would you like to wait until she gets here to discuss everything or get started now?”
Puck gave a small nod. “Now. Don’t wanna wait.”
Carole signaled to Kurt that he should step outside while the doctor was there. Nodding, Kurt quietly left the room, perching carefully in a chair situated a few doors down.
The doctor gave another smile before turning toward the chart in her hands. “Okay, you are a very lucky young man. Your jeans never caught on fire and actually protected your legs very well. You broke your left fibula and we have put a temporary cast on your ankle. We will get you a more permanent cast before you leave here, but we needed to let the swelling go down first. When the gas line exploded, the living room support beam in the ceiling fell and knocked you to the ground. It caused some superficial partial-thickness burns across your chest as well as deep partial-thickness burns on your forearms. Your chest burns should recover with minimal scarring, but you will have scarring on your forearms and may experience some nerve damage as well. Do you have any questions at this point?”
Puck frowned slightly. “Partial-thickness burns? What’s that?” Puck’s eyes shifted when his ma quietly slipped into his room, giving a small nod to Dr. Lowther.
Dr. Lowther nodded to Rina. “Good afternoon Rina. I was just going through Noah’s prognosis with him.” Turning back to Puck, the doctor continued, “Now, to answer your questions, partial-thickness burns are like 2nd and 3rd degree burns. It refers to the level of damage and scarring to the dermis from the burn. You are lucky that the worst is on your forearms. Because of the scar tissue that will form, it can be debilitating if at a joint or on the hands or feet. You will have scarring, and as I mentioned you may have some nerve damage, but it will have no impact on your quality of life. The superficial partial-thickness burns are what you experienced on your chest. Because your arms caught the brunt of the support beam, they received the most severe burns. We will want to keep you in the hospital for two weeks at a minimum to ensure that infection doesn’t set in and be sure that we don’t need to do any skin grafts, but from what I heard about the fire you were in you are a very lucky young man.” Puck shifted uncomfortably on the bed, a slight grimace falling across his face. “Let me talk to a nurse about getting you those pain meds. We will get you situated in no time. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask for me or your mom, or Carole here can help answer anything that you may have.” Puck nodded at the doctor before she placed his chart back at the end of the bed after scribbling additional notes on the bottom.
Carole turned to Rina and enveloped her in a hug. “Are you doing okay hun?” Rina nodded, not taking her eyes off her son. Carole placed her hand against Puck’s cheek. “Let me go see how they are doing about getting that pain medication for you. Then Kurt and I will get out of your hair.” After Carole left his room, Puck turned to look at his ma. Rina took a tentative step closer to Puck, reaching down and taking his hand in both of hers.
“Oh baby. I was so worried when I got the call from the hospital. I didn’t even know that you had left and then the Emergency Room doctor on call called me to tell me that you had been brought in with severe burns. I didn’t know what to think. And then you didn’t wake up after they brought you in and we didn’t know when you would.” With that, Rina sagged against the bed and her small frame shook with sobs as the clutched Puck’s hand to her face.
Puck lay quietly, watching his ma cry. Unsure what to do, he began patting her head briefly with his other hand until her sobs quieted and she sat up. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she gave him a tentative smile before pulling up the chair previously vacated by Kurt and sat down, not releasing Puck’s hand wrapped in her two, even as a nurse walked in holding a needle. Uncapping the syringe, the nurse began to push the pain reliever into his IV line and Puck felt relief slowly spread through his body as his eyes drooped and he slowly slipped back into darkness.
Over the next several days, each of the Glee kids came by the hospital to see him. Rachel organized all of Glee to come to the hospital Saturday afternoon, but when she tried to lead the group in singing she was asked by the nursing staff to please keep it down or she would need to leave. Puck snorted at that and rolled his eyes at Finn. Finn glanced at Puck and just shrugged with a goofy grin on his face when he saw Puck’s look. Sam, Finn, Artie and Mike stopped by on Sunday and Sam pulled out a deck of cards. The boys spent the afternoon playing penny poker until Artie had all of the pennies in a pile in front of him. However, despite his friends’ company, Puck was ready to get out of the hospital.
After putting the pennies in his bag, Artie gave Puck a fist bump and left. Sam and Mike each gave a nod as they left together. Turning to Finn, Puck looked at him critically. Finn sighed as he sat down. “So dude, what happened to the house? Where you guys staying?”
Finn gave a slight grin. “Yeah, the house was a goner. We’re staying at a hotel while mom and Burt figure out what to do next. I guess the insurance should be paying out sometime soon and then we’re gonna get a new house. They said that they’re gonna have to tear down the old house.” Finn snorted. “So all of our stuff was burned down. We went to Target to buy new clothes to wear and I thought Kurt was gonna pass out. It was pretty funny watching him pick out clothes.” Puck smiled at the thought. He could picture Kurt’s face as he looked through the racks of clothes. “The worst part though is that we don’t have a kitchen. I never thought I would say it but I’m tired of take out. Kurt’s been trying to make sure his dad eats salad every night, but I’m pretty sure that his dad is eating burgers at lunch.” Puck grinned and the two boys continued to catch up on school and sports. Puck felt a soft smile form on his face. If nothing else, this had definitely helped repair his friendship with Finn.
After a week and a half of mind numbing boredom, Dr. Phil was kinda a whack job but that Dr. Oz was pretty cool, Puck was anxiously awaiting Dr. Lowther’s final check-up before he could leave. His left ankle was wrapped in a black cast and he still wore gauze bandages on both of his forearms and across his chest, but Puck was ready to get out. His little sister was clomping around the room, trying out his new crutches while his ma tapped her foot while watching the door, anxious to get her family home. Puck watched Sarah as she stumbled after catching a crutch against the edge of the bed.
“Hey Squirt. Why don’t you lay off the crutches before we have to leave you here in the emergency room.” Puck grinned as Sarah huffed before bringing the crutches over and leaning them against the edge of the bed next to Puck. Looking over at his ma’s tapping foot, he sighed. “Ma, if you need to get back to work then I can get someone to pick Squirt and I up once I get sprung.”
Rina looked up at Puck with a wan smile. “No, sweetie. I traded shifts with Stacie so I don’t need to be anywhere. I’m just ready to get you home. I’m not sure what we are going to do about getting you up to your room on the second floor though.”
Puck shrugged. “I can stay on the couch for a few weeks. It’s no big deal. The less I have to try to hop around the better since my arms are still pretty raw.”
Rina nodded and resumed watching the door, anxiously biting her lower lip. Puck sighed to himself. His ma had gone up to school earlier in the week and brought home all of his books and a stack of lesson plans. Puck had slowly been working through the assignments, trying to get caught up. Figgins had warned his ma that if he didn’t have all of his assignments done when he came back the following Monday then he may not graduate with the other seniors. His ma had been checking his assignments every afternoon during her breaks while of shift and Puck couldn’t believe it but he was ready to get back to school.
Hearing voices in the hallway, Puck looked up as Dr. Lowther entered his room with a smile. “Good afternoon Noah! Are you ready to get out of here?”
Puck grinned and nodded. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m ready to get home and back to school.”
Rina snorted softly and rolled her eyes at Puck. Dr. Lowther laughed. “Well, let’s see what we can do.” Washing her hands before approaching Puck, Dr. Lowther stood while he pulled the hospital gown off his shoulders. Carefully pulled back the bandages around his chest, Dr. Lowther looked at the burn marks on his chest. “You can see that most of the burning on your chest has healed. You’re going to be tender there for several months, and there are still a few blisters that need to heal, but overall I am very pleased with your progress. Keep applying the topical ointment three times a day to your burns and keep them wrapped during the day when you are wearing a shirt. To the extent possible, go without a shirt so that you can let the burns breathe without the gauze.” Carefully applying the ointment, Dr. Lowther wrapped his chest back before helping him back into his hospital shirt. “Also, let’s keep you out of t-shirts or other shirts that go on over your head for at least another week. You don’t want to stretch the burns too much when you pull on a shirt. So button ups or hospital gowns for you.”
Winking at Sarah, Dr. Lowther then pulled Puck’s left arm toward her. Carefully unwrapping his arm, Dr. Lowther examined the skin underneath. “Okay, your arms are still going to be very tender for the next few weeks. I know that we got you crutches for your ankle, but if you feel like it is putting too much strain on your forearms or skin then please don’t use them. We can get you a wheelchair to use for the first few weeks if you need it.” Puck shook his head. “Okay. You need to continue to apply the ointment to your arms as well, but keep them wrapped in the gauze. I’m going to write you a prescription for antibiotics so that we can be sure to prevent infection.” Turning to Rina, Dr. Lowther commented, “I think we are out of the woods, but definitely keep an eye on his arms to watch in case infection sets in.” Turning back toward Puck, Dr. Lowther continued going over her instructions while examining his right arm. “You need to change the bandages each time you apply ointment to your arms, making sure that you keep the bandages dry when you take a shower. I would recommend that you take baths for the next several weeks so that you can keep your arms dry. Feel free to let water on your chest, but don’t use soap on the burns as you don’t want to have the harsh soap on that new skin. Come back to see me in a week and we will see how you are looking. You can go to school starting next Monday, but if you feel that it is putting too much strain on your arms then I can give you a note for school. Do you have any questions for me?” Puck shook his head. Turning to Puck’s mom, Dr. Lowther asked “Rina?”
Rina shook her head and stood, shaking Dr. Lowther’s hand and thanking her for all of her care. Gathering up his few belongings and putting them in his duffle, Puck draped the strap over Sarah’s shoulder and grinned when she pretended to stagger under the additional weight. Grabbing the crutches, Puck carefully maneuvered himself out the door and toward the elevator banks at the end of the hall.