Glee - Father of Seven - 5/?
Rachel Berry always had, and always would, consider herself a very observant person. She noticed when Kurt was losing weight due to the bullying from Karofsky. She noticed the way Puck had been overly concerned for Quinn when she was pregnant. So it was only natural that she notice the way Noah was carrying himself on Monday. And the way that Finn seemed to always be at his side.
It seemed that their fractured friendship had suddenly been repaired, and that easily explained Finn’s following to a point, but when Finn followed Noah to the bathroom during lunch, despite the glares from the Mohawked boy, she realized something wasn’t quite right.
So she started to snoop, obviously. The most obvious person to go to was Lauren, as Noah’s almost-sort-of-girlfriend.
“What d’you want, Berry?” Lauren asked as she typed at a computer.
“I was just wondering how things between you and Noah are going,” Rachel said in her sweetest, most sincere voice.
Lauren shrugged. “Well enough. He’s singing me love songs, isn’t he? And, while he’s not nearly as good as he thinks he is at kissing, he makes up for it by pretty much worshiping the ground I walk on. Why?” She turned a sharp look on Rachel then.
Rachel calmly smoothed out her immaculate skirt, buying a moment of time. “Well, I had just noticed that Finn was being particularly… insistent today about being with him. I thought there might have been a fallout between the two of you that may have caused their friendship to become more solidly reestablished.”
“Well, Berry, nothing’s happened other than Puckerman blowing me off Saturday night to play video games with Hudson. Ask Fabray, she’s fucking Hudson.”
Rachel didn’t know how to respond to that. She did know that Finn and Quinn were dating again, but she wasn’t sure how far the two of them had gone and was still holding out for Finn and hurt by Quinn’s attitude about the situation. Some of what she had said really struck a chord deeply.
“Well… Maybe I will.”
“Or Hummel. He’s living with Hudson.”
“Right. Well, thank you for your time, Lauren.” Rachel gave a little nod and walked out of the library. Her next target was Quinn, figuring that maybe some truce could be reached. Or if nothing else, she could make a stab at the blonde in retaliation.
“Quinn!” Rachel called in the hall as she saw her at her locker. Quinn looked up and started to roll her eyes.
“Yes?” she asked, continuing the task of changing her books for class.
“I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment.”
“Make it quick, okay? I’ve got Algebra II.”
“I’ll walk with you,” Rachel said with a firm inclination of her head.
“Sure,” Quinn said, shutting her locker.
“I had noticed that Finn seems to be following Noah around today, and I was curious as to what might have inspired their friendship to take such a dramatic step toward healing and thought you might know, since you and Finn are an item.”
“Hm,” Quinn chuckled softly. “Actually, I have an idea, but it’s really none of my business to share with you.”
“Really?” Rachel tossed her head, moving her hair back and lifted her books tighter against her chest.
“Yeah.” Rachel expected her to go on, but she didn’t.
“Well, what’s going on?”
“Rachel,” Quinn started, stopping and turning to her. “I really do respect you sometimes. And other times you’re a nosy busybody. Right now, I think that’s what’s going on, and I’m not going to feed any rumors right now. It’s Puck’s business, not yours or anyone else’s. So please just leave him alone for now.” With that she turned and walked away. “I have to get to class. I’ll see you in Glee.”
Out of leads for the moment, Rachel admitted temporary defeat and went to her own class.
~
Blaine grinned when his boyfriend walked into the Warbler practice room. The competition season might be over, but they still had plenty of opportunities for performances. Kurt sat next to him with a small smile.
Blaine’s grin slipped at the less-than-warm greeting. “Are you all right?” he asked, touching Kurt’s shoulder. It hadn’t occurred to him earlier, but Kurt hadn’t been around much all day. “I’ve missed you,” he added, hoping to get a response. Kurt sighed and smiled again.
“I missed you, too.”
“Is everything okay? Stuff at home?”
“It’s… fine. Let’s get a coffee after practice, okay?”
“All right. What’s going on?”
“Things that we won’t discuss here. I’ll tell you over coffee.”
Then Wes was banging his gavel to bring the meeting to order. Never had Blaine wanted a Warbler practice to end faster. Kurt was worrying him a little.
An hour and a half later, they were sitting with their medium drips, Kurt staring into his cup while Blaine stared at the more delicate boy.
“What happened?”
Kurt sighed. “Can you promise not to get mad?” Oh. This was something that could damage their relationship. They hadn’t had to face this stuff yet. Well, not since they actually got together, anyway.
“I’ll try.”
“Just remember everything happened the night of Rachel’s party. We weren’t dating yet, okay?”
“Okay. Kurt, I don’t know what you think you could have done that would upset me, but-”
“Blaine, please just listen, okay? This is something that’s going to affect me for the rest of my life. And if you want to stay in my life, it’s going to affect you, too.”
“You had sex with someone that night, didn’t you?”
Kurt sighed. “Yes, I did. Because I was jealous and hurt by you and Rachel sucking face.”
“Who?”
“Puck,” Kurt said, curling his right hand around his drink and looking out the window beside their usual table.
“Did you… get something from him?” Blaine could handle that. Most STDs were easily manageable if not curable. They could work around this.
“No. I… He’s pregnant.”
Blaine stared for a moment, unsure if he heard correctly. “Pregnant?” Kurt nodded. “Puck’s pregnant, not you?” Kurt glared at Blaine.
“Yes, that is the situation. Well done.”
“I’m sorry, it was just a surprise. You really don’t strike me as a ‘top’, so to speak.”
“Shut up, Blaine. Honestly, you’re just digging a ditch to fall into after you shoot yourself in the head right now.”
“Sorry.” Blaine looked down at the table, appropriately chastised.
“Anyway, the question now is: are you going to break up with me over this?”
“Why?”
“Well, neither Puck nor I have any intention of aborting or giving away the baby. Do you really want to be dating a seventeen-year-old father? I completely understand if you don’t want to. A baby is a lot of responsibility and work, and I’m transferring back to McKinley next week.”
“Next week?” There were still six weeks of classes.
“Male-pregnancies are dangerous and risky. The whole club has been getting it worse since Regionals. Puck found out he was pregnant because he nearly had a miscarriage from getting locker-checked. He’s worried about losing the baby due to the bullying, and so am I.”
“What would you be able to do?”
“Protect him. Take care of what’s mine.”
“Right.” Blaine was confused and a little hurt. He knew it happened before they got together. If Blaine hadn’t been being so stupid that night this wouldn’t be happening. Hell, it might be he and Kurt in this situation rather than Puckerman. But the way Kurt said he wanted to protect and care for Puck and the baby… Blaine wasn’t sure how long he could stand up to that blood connection.
“Blaine?”
“I… Kurt, I still want to try, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to transfer schools. I can try. I would love to be wherever you are and if we have to separate I understand.”
“Really?” Kurt’s eyes were wide, and Blaine realized that Kurt had expected him to dump him right away.
“Really,” he insisted, taking Kurt’s hands. “Kurt, I really like you. I want to give this the best shot we can. Maybe it won’t work. We’re young, it might be long distance, there’s a kid involved… A lot can go wrong. But I want to try because I care about you.”
The grin Kurt gave him let him know that he’d said the right thing.
~
In Glee, Quinn sat down between Finn and Puck started speaking lowly, but Sam wasn’t really paying them any attention. He was waiting for his girlfriend to show up. When Santana walked in, she scanned the room, which also contained Mike, Artie, Brittany, and Mercedes. Then she marched over to Sam.
He smiled and started to say hi, but she held up one finger, silencing him. “Guppy, we’re over. Sorry. I like somebody else, so I’m making myself available.” Then she walked over and sat next to Puck. Sam just blinked into the space in front of him wondering what had just happened. Because, what the hell?
When Lauren walked in she looked like she might put up a fight about sitting next to Puck, but instead she just sat on the rise behind him. Rachel looked the group of five over critically before sitting next to Mercedes. Tina came scampering in last, heading straight to Mike.
When Mr. Schuester arrived, they started brainstorming for Nationals in two months.
Sam wasn’t completely stupid. He watched Santana and caught where her eyes trailed. He was surprised to find her watching Brittany so intensely, but remembering when they sang Landslide together, he could get it. Of course, that made his comment to Artie about being as good of friends as the girls supremely awkward. But whatever.
High school was confusing.
~!~
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