Fic: Smoldering Ruins - 2/?
Series: The Rebuilding Series
Title: Smoldering Ruins - 2/?
Genre: Drama / Angst / Fluff
Rating: R
Word Count: 3100
Pairing: Puck/Kurt, Rachel/Finn
Summary: The past is a powerful entity, even as the future becomes brighter, better and stronger. Part Three of The Rebuilding Series, Following The System and Disaster.
The next morning, Puck was lying in the guest room bed when his daughter burst into the room and sat on his lap. “Daddy, it’s Christmas,” she said, pecking his nose with a kiss. She grinned the moment that his eyes opened. “Papa’s already awake but said I had to wake you up before we can go downstairs.”
“Sending in the five-year-old Kurt?” Puck called down the hall. “Low.”
Kurt walked in, smiling at Puck mischievously. He had two cups of coffee in his hands and handed his boyfriend one of them. He leaned down and kissed Puck on the lips, something that made Beth giggle and roll her eyes every single time. She thought that her parents were so incredibly silly when they did things like that. “I hate waking you up,” he said. “It’s become the bane of my existence in the past few years and Beth was excited for Christmas morning. I figured I’d let her come in and wake daddy.”
“I’m up, I’m up,” he said, sitting up in bed. “It’s Christmas morning. How can I not be excited? I’m still a kid at heart Hummel, don’t forget it. Bethie, sweetie, go get up and see what Santa laid out for you. I gotta have a second to get myself up.”
The girl did not have to be asked twice. She ran out and down the stairs into the living room and Puck slowly stretched his back, taking a long drink from the coffee cup that Kurt had given him. “Merry Christmas baby,” he said, leaning over and kissing Kurt quickly. Kurt smiled and wrapped an arm around him as they kissed. It was a very nice moment and excited him for the rest of his plans.
“Let’s go see. I wanna see how the diva likes her karaoke machine.”
They padded out into the living room to find Beth staring in wonder at the little pink karaoke machine that Santa had mysteriously left for her. “Look Daddy, Papa,” she said, pulling out the microphone and waving it around. “I can sing like you.”
“That is so awesome,” Kurt said, grinning at the child’s excitement.
Rachel was already awake and walked into the room a moment later with several cups of coffee and hot chocolate. “I thought that I heard little feet,” she said grinning. “That is so cool Beth. You and I are gonna have to do one of our famous duets you know that?”
“Really?” Beth asked, excited.
“Yep,” she said. “Morning boys. Merry Christmas. Finn’s still groaning and making sounds but he’ll be down in a few.”
“Didn’t expect him to react any other way. Are Dad and Carole awake?”
“Yes they’re in the kitchen.”
It took another five minutes for Beth’s grandparents to get to the front room. Finn took twenty more minutes and when he arrived he looked like some kind of groaning creature. He tucked himself into the corner of the couch but he watched the festivities, especially Beth’s reaction with a childish grin.
Beth was completely and utterly spoiled of course.
She received many gifts including: a set of hot wheel cars from grandpa (Beth had a fascination with cars like a true Hummel child), some cookware for her big playhouse from grandma, a basketball set from Uncle Finn and a lot of Broadway cds for her karaoke machine from Aunt Rachel. When Beth asked Rachel how she knew, Rachel employed that she was psychic as an answer.
As the gift-giving died down, Puck knew that this was his moment.
“Uh everyone, I have a gift for Kurt,” he said, looking at his boyfriend. He registered the confusion on Kurt’s face with joy. “Kurt, I love you. You saved my life when we were kids and got me through the unimaginable. You also helped me bring up the most amazing child in the world, our Beth. I can’t even imagine surviving, nevertheless getting this far without you. I know we’re young but we’ve seriously went through like two lifetimes. I’m not very good at speeches okay, but…”
He went down on his knee, knowing that his boyfriend appreciated the classic and romantic. He took out the ring.
“Kurt, will you marry me?”
Kurt’s mouth hung open and he gaped, several harsh breaths escaping his lips. “I…I …yes,” he said, shaking his head up and down almost hysterically. “Yes, yes of course. Always, you and me. Yes. Please.”
He slipped the ring on Kurt’s finger. Kurt was crying and damn it, he was going to cry too if he kept that up.
Everyone was a little bit hysterical. Carole immediately jumped up and went to Kurt’s side to look at the ring and Rachel leaned over to hug Finn, watching Kurt with bright eyes. Everyone’s’ attention seemed to turn to the recipient of the proposal, except for one person’s attention.
“Daddy?” Beth asked. “What’s happenin’?”
Puck lifted the tiny girl into his arms. “I asked your daddy to marry me. I want to be married to him like grandma and grandpa are.”
Beth’s eyes got big and she put her arms around her daddy. “Yes!”
-
The rest of the holiday was oh too-fast. It was too soon that they had to return home and back to their normal lives. Kurt was not looking forward to it, especially since on the first day, he had been forced to go back to work while Puck stayed home with Beth. He came home that evening looking forward to spending some time with his family.
On the first day back from their wonderful Christmas vacation, Kurt had felt he was owed that much. He was not going to get it, however. He instantly knew something was wrong.
The first thing that he noticed when he walked into the room was the quiet. Puck and Beth were his family and he adored them both, but neither of them could be quiet, especially around midday. This was the time when there was usually shrieking and yelling from at least one of them. Kurt could not shake off the feeling that something was very wrong with his fiancé, his daughter or both.
“Bethie?” Kurt asked, using one of Puck’s many nicknames for their daughter. The little girl was sitting at her table coloring, but at the same time she looked anxious and upset. He could almost swear he saw tears in the corners of her eyes. He knelt down to her level. “Bethie, what’s wrong?”
"Daddy's cryin'."
Beth looked at Kurt with an earnest and desperate expression. Kurt understood. Beth said those words in the same way that he would say his father was crying as a child. Little children never thought of their big strong fathers as the types to cry. Wait, why was Puck crying? Kurt frowned and hugged his daughter close. Beth looked up to Kurt, eyes wide and as horrified as those of a five year old could be. Kurt swept her up into his arms and looked at her worried face, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Why's daddy crying?" he asked her, cuddling his daughter close.
"I dunno," Beth said sadly. "He saw a paper."
"A paper?"
She nodded.
Kurt hugged his daughter and set her down and looked at her coloring. "Did you finish picture?" he asked.
"Almost."
Kurt smiled.
"Go finish it," he told Beth, kissing her nose. "I'll look at it when you're done and while you work I'll make daddy happy again, 'kay? I don’t take frowning daddy, not at all.”
"Okay," she said, looking immensely relieved as she ran back to her room.
Kurt swallowed and went to his room to find his fiancé. Puck was sitting at the computer desk in their bedroom, telephone tucked to his ear. He seemed to be waiting on a hold of some kind, eyes wide and panicking. They got even wider and Puck started talking, pretty frantically. “It was on my door,” he said, voice intense. “He threatened my family. Yes, yes, I think I do. Yes, I’ll be there. Yes. I can come right now. I just don’t know what to do. Yes, my fiancé just got home I can…alright, thank you.”
Puck hung up the phone and looked Kurt in the eye. “Watch Beth, Kurt,” he said. “I’m going to the police station.”
Kurt grabbed Puck by the arm. “Noah, what is going on?” he asked, his voice a little bit shrill. He could not help himself. Puck was freaking out and this was something Kurt had dealt with before. “Just breathe and tell me what’s happening ok? Beth said you were crying. What did you see?”
Puck paused, thinking for a moment and then handed Kurt a piece of paper. On it was a printed out note.
It’s been a long time. It looks like you’ve done very well for yourself. I’m sure you never forgot me because I never forgot you. I never forgot the way that you took my entire life away from me. You have a daughter now, huh? She’s a pretty little thing. It would be a shame if something happened to her.
He looked up at Kurt, as Kurt finished reading and looked back at her. “I did research real quickly, the minute I got this,” he said. “Trevor, the guy who raped me, he was paroled earlier this year. There is no doubt he did this.”
Kurt nodded, slowly.
“Alright. I’m going to call Shauna to come over and watch Beth. We’re going to go together. You should go talk to Beth really quick before we go too. Seeing you cry shook her up. We’ll handle this Noah.”
Kurt took charge because he had to.
Title: Smoldering Ruins - 2/?
Genre: Drama / Angst / Fluff
Rating: R
Word Count: 3100
Pairing: Puck/Kurt, Rachel/Finn
Summary: The past is a powerful entity, even as the future becomes brighter, better and stronger. Part Three of The Rebuilding Series, Following The System and Disaster.
The next morning, Puck was lying in the guest room bed when his daughter burst into the room and sat on his lap. “Daddy, it’s Christmas,” she said, pecking his nose with a kiss. She grinned the moment that his eyes opened. “Papa’s already awake but said I had to wake you up before we can go downstairs.”
“Sending in the five-year-old Kurt?” Puck called down the hall. “Low.”
Kurt walked in, smiling at Puck mischievously. He had two cups of coffee in his hands and handed his boyfriend one of them. He leaned down and kissed Puck on the lips, something that made Beth giggle and roll her eyes every single time. She thought that her parents were so incredibly silly when they did things like that. “I hate waking you up,” he said. “It’s become the bane of my existence in the past few years and Beth was excited for Christmas morning. I figured I’d let her come in and wake daddy.”
“I’m up, I’m up,” he said, sitting up in bed. “It’s Christmas morning. How can I not be excited? I’m still a kid at heart Hummel, don’t forget it. Bethie, sweetie, go get up and see what Santa laid out for you. I gotta have a second to get myself up.”
The girl did not have to be asked twice. She ran out and down the stairs into the living room and Puck slowly stretched his back, taking a long drink from the coffee cup that Kurt had given him. “Merry Christmas baby,” he said, leaning over and kissing Kurt quickly. Kurt smiled and wrapped an arm around him as they kissed. It was a very nice moment and excited him for the rest of his plans.
“Let’s go see. I wanna see how the diva likes her karaoke machine.”
They padded out into the living room to find Beth staring in wonder at the little pink karaoke machine that Santa had mysteriously left for her. “Look Daddy, Papa,” she said, pulling out the microphone and waving it around. “I can sing like you.”
“That is so awesome,” Kurt said, grinning at the child’s excitement.
Rachel was already awake and walked into the room a moment later with several cups of coffee and hot chocolate. “I thought that I heard little feet,” she said grinning. “That is so cool Beth. You and I are gonna have to do one of our famous duets you know that?”
“Really?” Beth asked, excited.
“Yep,” she said. “Morning boys. Merry Christmas. Finn’s still groaning and making sounds but he’ll be down in a few.”
“Didn’t expect him to react any other way. Are Dad and Carole awake?”
“Yes they’re in the kitchen.”
It took another five minutes for Beth’s grandparents to get to the front room. Finn took twenty more minutes and when he arrived he looked like some kind of groaning creature. He tucked himself into the corner of the couch but he watched the festivities, especially Beth’s reaction with a childish grin.
Beth was completely and utterly spoiled of course.
She received many gifts including: a set of hot wheel cars from grandpa (Beth had a fascination with cars like a true Hummel child), some cookware for her big playhouse from grandma, a basketball set from Uncle Finn and a lot of Broadway cds for her karaoke machine from Aunt Rachel. When Beth asked Rachel how she knew, Rachel employed that she was psychic as an answer.
As the gift-giving died down, Puck knew that this was his moment.
“Uh everyone, I have a gift for Kurt,” he said, looking at his boyfriend. He registered the confusion on Kurt’s face with joy. “Kurt, I love you. You saved my life when we were kids and got me through the unimaginable. You also helped me bring up the most amazing child in the world, our Beth. I can’t even imagine surviving, nevertheless getting this far without you. I know we’re young but we’ve seriously went through like two lifetimes. I’m not very good at speeches okay, but…”
He went down on his knee, knowing that his boyfriend appreciated the classic and romantic. He took out the ring.
“Kurt, will you marry me?”
Kurt’s mouth hung open and he gaped, several harsh breaths escaping his lips. “I…I …yes,” he said, shaking his head up and down almost hysterically. “Yes, yes of course. Always, you and me. Yes. Please.”
He slipped the ring on Kurt’s finger. Kurt was crying and damn it, he was going to cry too if he kept that up.
Everyone was a little bit hysterical. Carole immediately jumped up and went to Kurt’s side to look at the ring and Rachel leaned over to hug Finn, watching Kurt with bright eyes. Everyone’s’ attention seemed to turn to the recipient of the proposal, except for one person’s attention.
“Daddy?” Beth asked. “What’s happenin’?”
Puck lifted the tiny girl into his arms. “I asked your daddy to marry me. I want to be married to him like grandma and grandpa are.”
Beth’s eyes got big and she put her arms around her daddy. “Yes!”
-
The rest of the holiday was oh too-fast. It was too soon that they had to return home and back to their normal lives. Kurt was not looking forward to it, especially since on the first day, he had been forced to go back to work while Puck stayed home with Beth. He came home that evening looking forward to spending some time with his family.
On the first day back from their wonderful Christmas vacation, Kurt had felt he was owed that much. He was not going to get it, however. He instantly knew something was wrong.
The first thing that he noticed when he walked into the room was the quiet. Puck and Beth were his family and he adored them both, but neither of them could be quiet, especially around midday. This was the time when there was usually shrieking and yelling from at least one of them. Kurt could not shake off the feeling that something was very wrong with his fiancé, his daughter or both.
“Bethie?” Kurt asked, using one of Puck’s many nicknames for their daughter. The little girl was sitting at her table coloring, but at the same time she looked anxious and upset. He could almost swear he saw tears in the corners of her eyes. He knelt down to her level. “Bethie, what’s wrong?”
"Daddy's cryin'."
Beth looked at Kurt with an earnest and desperate expression. Kurt understood. Beth said those words in the same way that he would say his father was crying as a child. Little children never thought of their big strong fathers as the types to cry. Wait, why was Puck crying? Kurt frowned and hugged his daughter close. Beth looked up to Kurt, eyes wide and as horrified as those of a five year old could be. Kurt swept her up into his arms and looked at her worried face, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Why's daddy crying?" he asked her, cuddling his daughter close.
"I dunno," Beth said sadly. "He saw a paper."
"A paper?"
She nodded.
Kurt hugged his daughter and set her down and looked at her coloring. "Did you finish picture?" he asked.
"Almost."
Kurt smiled.
"Go finish it," he told Beth, kissing her nose. "I'll look at it when you're done and while you work I'll make daddy happy again, 'kay? I don’t take frowning daddy, not at all.”
"Okay," she said, looking immensely relieved as she ran back to her room.
Kurt swallowed and went to his room to find his fiancé. Puck was sitting at the computer desk in their bedroom, telephone tucked to his ear. He seemed to be waiting on a hold of some kind, eyes wide and panicking. They got even wider and Puck started talking, pretty frantically. “It was on my door,” he said, voice intense. “He threatened my family. Yes, yes, I think I do. Yes, I’ll be there. Yes. I can come right now. I just don’t know what to do. Yes, my fiancé just got home I can…alright, thank you.”
Puck hung up the phone and looked Kurt in the eye. “Watch Beth, Kurt,” he said. “I’m going to the police station.”
Kurt grabbed Puck by the arm. “Noah, what is going on?” he asked, his voice a little bit shrill. He could not help himself. Puck was freaking out and this was something Kurt had dealt with before. “Just breathe and tell me what’s happening ok? Beth said you were crying. What did you see?”
Puck paused, thinking for a moment and then handed Kurt a piece of paper. On it was a printed out note.
It’s been a long time. It looks like you’ve done very well for yourself. I’m sure you never forgot me because I never forgot you. I never forgot the way that you took my entire life away from me. You have a daughter now, huh? She’s a pretty little thing. It would be a shame if something happened to her.
He looked up at Kurt, as Kurt finished reading and looked back at her. “I did research real quickly, the minute I got this,” he said. “Trevor, the guy who raped me, he was paroled earlier this year. There is no doubt he did this.”
Kurt nodded, slowly.
“Alright. I’m going to call Shauna to come over and watch Beth. We’re going to go together. You should go talk to Beth really quick before we go too. Seeing you cry shook her up. We’ll handle this Noah.”
Kurt took charge because he had to.