Chapter 18: Tis the season

It was Friday, a week before Christmas, and work at the shop was piling up thanks to heavy snowfall over the last couple of days. The kids hadn't been much help because they had to study for finals and so he was glad he'd be closing the garage for a few days between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

He had plans to visit an auto show in Cleveland a few days after Christmas and Carole had promised to come with him if she didn't have to work. Burt finally closed up around eight and drove home quickly so he wouldn't miss all of Friday night dinner.

He could hear raised voices coming from the living room when he entered the house through the garage. As he got closer it became clear who was arguing.

"You grew up near the Mexican boarder and you failed Spanish!" Santana asked incredulously as Burt rounded the corner. "I know you're failing geography as well but even you should know they speak Spanish there," she continued.

Finn was what? Did Carole know about that? Even he had picked up some Spanish from one of his mechanics, so he couldn't believe Finn had actually managed to fail. Apparently Carole was aware of the situation, because she was sitting in the living room glaring at Finn.

Burt cleared his throat to announce his presence. "Thought you wanted to try out for the football team again next year?" he addressed Finn after kissing his wife hello. Finn nodded. "Well, buddy, then you need to start getting better grades. Maybe one of the boys can help you out," Burt said pointing at Kurt and Blaine, who for whatever reason were sharing a chair again.

His suggestion was immediately met with a round of nos coming from Finn, Kurt and Blaine. Burt raised an eyebrow at them.

"Well, I mean Kurt and I take French and I only took Italian for two years at Dalton which is close to Spanish but not the same, so we wouldn't be able to help him," Blaine explained.

"And we are already busy enough as it is with AP classes, Glee and work. Get him a tutor," Kurt continued.

"Alright, it was just as suggestion. As soon as school starts again we'll see what we can do, okay?" Carole shot him a grateful smile as Finn nodded.

"Now, Santana have you reached your parents yet?" Santana shook her head. "I left them a message that they would find me here but that's all. I didn't really want to tell them my whole sob story on the phone," she added defiantly.

"Alright, I guess we can all talk when they get here," he stared at Santana until she nodded. "Now, where is my dessert?" Burt joked before snuggling up to his wife on the couch with a piece of pie in his hand she had handed him.

Kurt and Santana were spying on Burt once again because they wanted to know what he'd be saying to her parents. Santana had decided to let Burt talk to them, because – as she had told Kurt – she wasn't sure how they would react even though they were usually quite liberal. So when his father had offered to talk to her parents Santana had immediately agreed.

They didn't know exactly when Santana's parents would show up so they were staking out the living room. When the doorbell rang a while later the two of them hid in the hallway just as they heard Burt invite someone in.

"Burt Hummel, nice to meet you." Kurt heard his father say. "Marco and that's my wife Maribel," a man who had to be Santana's dad said before Burt led a couple into the living room. Santana had definitely gotten her good looks from her mother Kurt thought as he studied the couple.

"You know why you are here?" Burt asked them after a moment of silence. "Santana told us to come here. We didn't know why, so we decided to drop by my mother's first," Santana's mom explained before she trailed off.

Kurt could feel Santana's grip on his hand tighten.

"We are grateful you let our daughter stay with you," Santana's dad continued. "At least I assume that's why she asked us here."

Burt nodded. "Unfortunately my stepson was involved in Santana's involuntary coming out. So we thought letting her stay with us until you came back was the least we could do."

"Well, like I said. We are grateful, but Santana can come home with us now. We are staying till at least July which should give us plenty of time to figure things out," Marco said.

Santana's grip loosened a bit.

"Are you okay with all this?" Burt asked. Why did his dad all of a sudden turn into the champion for gay teens? Kurt thought angrily.

"We used to joke that Santana and Brittany were like an old married couple because they were so close," Santana's mom told Burt. "I think it might take some getting used to the fact that that might become a reality one day, but we'll work it out," she continued.

Kurt pulled a silently crying Santana into his arms. He wished his father had reacted like that to his own coming out instead of dragging him across the country. But there was no changing that now.

"Why don't you come join us for Christmas dinner?" Burt asked Santana's parents in the living room. "Hiram and LeRoy Berry are coming with their daughter and her boyfriend as well and I can tell you from my own experience that they can give great advice," Burt chuckled.

"That would be nice. I think it's time now to say hello to Santana. It's been too long." Santana's mom said as she stood up.

Kurt hugged Santana again before he whispered into her ear. "You go and be with your family. I'll pack your things." Thanks Kurt. For everything." He knew how much that meant coming from Santana. He would really miss having her around all the time, as unlikely as that had seemed only weeks ago.

When Carole came home from work the next day she found Burt in a familiar position, with his head in his hands.

"What's wrong? You didn't pick up another stray, did you?" she joked to lighten the mood. Burt shook his head. "Did you talk to your mom?" he asked her. She suddenly understood why he was acting the way he was.

"She's at that 50s+ singles cruise again. She told me this year she is going to find Mr. Right and not just Mr. Right for the week." Carole rolled her eyes. After all the stories her mom had told her she was surprised her's had been the only teen pregnancy in the family.

"I take it your mom got your message?" she asked Burt when he didn't react to her previous statement. "She did. And she wasn't happy. I'm not sure she bought that the only reason they aren't invited is that your mom isn't coming either, but at least that's not a lie anymore," her husband told her.

"You said yourself it would be for the best if they didn't come after what happened Thanksgiving. I'm glad you're putting your family first this time." She knew it hadn't been easy for Burt to tell his parents they weren't welcome for Christmas.

"Can you imagine your parents, my mom, the Lopez and Berrys all together in one room?" Carole asked Burt to distract him from his guilt. Burt snorted. "Your mom would love that and my parents would probably run out of prayers before dinner even started."

Now that Burt was making jokes again her job was done. She put her head on his shoulder and just enjoyed the peace and quiet that would be over as soon as the kids got back from their Glee Christmas party and Finn from wherever he was right now. Thinking about Christmas she remembered something.

"I found your Christmas present for Kurt. Want to tell me what's that all about?" Burt didn't answer at first but when he did he sounded sad.

"The first Christmas after Lizzy and I got divorced I came up here for a week. I took Kurt to see that show because he just wouldn't shut up about it and I didn't want to ruin the visit by telling him no. Everything pretty much went downhill after that so it's one of the better memories. I just hope it's a good memory for Kurt as well."

Carole kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I'm glad you're trying now because I really hope we can all become a family one day and not just a necessity. "

"You don't think it's too late for that?" Burt asked her quietly. "You just keep doing your best. Maybe we all just need to have a little faith."

Christmas eve had actually turned out to be fun. Santana had shown up with her parents in tow first and the Berrys with Rachel and her boyfriend Jesse had followed soon after.

While the grown-ups had talked in a corner, the gleeks plus Finn and Jesse had sung Christmas songs that in his opinion sounded better and better after every class of eggnog they consumed.

Neither Burt nor Carole had said anything about it apart from a perfunctory you puke you clean it, too busy with their own celebrations. They all were in need of a little holiday spirit and not just the spiritual one.

After how tense Thanksgiving had been, it had been nice to just relax and enjoy the festivities. They exchanged presents with Rachel and Santana before he and Kurt snuck upstairs to his bedroom but unfortunately Burt wasn't drunk enough to let it slide and told them they had to be in their respective bedrooms by the time he and Carole went to bed.

The next morning he was woken up by Finn banging on his door, a murderous looking Kurt in tow. Apparently Finn was a giant trapped in the body of a six year old who couldn't wait to see what Santa had brought him.

They were joined by Burt and Carole in the living room a while later, where they opened their presents. Finn had gotten Kurt a gift card for the mall and had bought Blaine new strings for his guitar.

He and Kurt, in return, had gotten Finn "Guitar Hero" for his Playstation, mostly because Kurt knew Blaine wanted to play it as well.

Carole got a scarf and necklace from them, Kurt had picked out and in the end they had also agreed to get Burt a gift together, so in addition to the tool belt he got a few new tools as well.

Blaine had been surprised when Burt had handed him back the keys to his car, after he had taken them away because he thought it was too dangerous to drive the piece of junk in an Ohio winter. At his questioning look, Burt had told him that he and the other mechanics had fixed up his car with new parts and had given it a necessary paint job as well.

He quickly wiped a tear from his eye and Burt was quick to assure him he only did it because Carole would kill him if either of the teens in the house ended up in the hospital because of a non-working car when he owned a garage.

Kurt's present had been next and they both tried to act surprised when he opened it. Kurt had told him about the tickets once they had made up after their fight.

"I'd like to take you, Kurt, but if you'd rather go with Blaine that'd be okay too," Burt said to Blaine's surprise. Blaine immediately shook his head.

"I'm not a fan of ice skating. I nearly broke my tailbone once," he confessed. Besides, a little father-son alone time was probably exactly what Kurt and Burt needed.

After they had opened the rest of the presents they had a huge breakfast, before Finn excused himself to go play his new video games and Blaine, after much begging, convinced Kurt to go for a walk with him.

Kurt hadn't minded going out that much but he just liked to hear Blaine beg. Carole had gotten him a fabulous new coat he'd been dying to put on ever since he had unwrapped it.

Not many people were out that Saturday morning and so Kurt took Blaine's gloved hand into his own as they circled the block. He relished the quiet as he thought about how different this year's Christmas had been compared to last year's.

Last year he and Blaine had just gotten together and he had introduced Blaine to his mom. It had been just the three of them but he hadn't felt like there was something missing like he did this year.

"Would you come with me to visit my mom?" he asked Blaine as they approached his house again. "I…" "I'd love to," Blaine cut him off. "I understand."

They got into Kurt's car and drove to the cemetery in comfortable silence. Kurt could see a few footsteps in the snow but mostly they were alone as they made their way to the grave.

Kurt knelt down in the snow, not caring about his clothes for once, and cleaned the headstone with his gloved hand.

"Hi mom," he whispered as Blaine knelt down next to him. "Blaine and I wanted to tell you Merry Christmas." Kurt looked over to Blaine. "That's not stupid, is it?"

"You can tell her whatever you want as long as it helps you. I would never judge you," Blaine assured him.

Ever since he had moved back to Lima, he had visited his mom's grave at least once a month, sometimes with Blaine, sometimes alone. It felt good telling her about the things that were happening in his life.

"So, you know how I told you about Thanksgiving? Christmas was much better. Burt told the grandparents they can't come and we invited the Berrys and Santana's – I told you about her - parents over." Kurt started again.

"I even got Burt a gift, can you believe it? Though you have to blame Blaine for that." "Hey," Blaine piped up. "Don't you believe a thing he tells you."

Kurt smiled at Blaine before he continued. "I just wanted to tell you that I miss you and that I wish you could have been there with us. Burt's trying to get along with me now and Carole's really great but it's just not the same."

A tear trickled down his face and he quickly wiped it away. Was this ever going to get easier?

"But you don't have to worry about me, mom. Blaine is taking really good care of me like he promised last Christmas.

"And I'll keep trying my best to keep him happy," Blaine promised. "Well, we got to go. It's December so it's really cold. I'll talk to you soon. Love you, mom."

Kurt took Blaine's offered hand and together they walked back to the car. Christmas might have not been perfect, but it had gone better than expected and for that he was grateful.

Two days before New Year's Eve Burt found himself in a hotel bar in Cleveland. He hadn't planned to stay overnight after Carole had told him she had to work, but some of the roads leading back to Lima were closed due to a snowstorm and they had agreed it would be better if Burt waited it out in Cleveland.

He'd ordered himself a beer – the normal kind, because what Carole didn't know wouldn't hurt him – and had just taken the first sip when a man in an expensive looking suit sat down next to him at the bar and ordered Bourbon. Burt didn't think it was his first one that night.

The man took a look around the bar before something must have caught his eye because he suddenly sneered. "Disgusting, isn't it?" he asked. When Burt looked at him questioningly the man pointed at a table in the back where two men were holding hands.

When Burt didn't immediately comment on it he added. "My son's a fag too. I'm just glad I'll never have to see him act like that. I'm Jarred Anderson by the way."

It may just be a coincidence but what if that man was Blaine's father? He could tell the guy he was an asshole later. Right now he needed to find out more. "Burt Hudson," he introduced himself.

He didn't know if Blaine's father knew about Kurt, but he didn't want to give it away too soon. "I have a son too, Finn. What's yours called?" he asked in a hopefully nonchalant tone.

"Blaine, but I don't consider him my son anymore. No son of mine is going to be a fag." The man's speech was slightly slurred and Burt figured that was the reason why the man was so ready to share this information with a stranger.

"I feel you," he told Jarred to keep him talking. "Caught him with his little butt buddy on my living room couch. I would have kicked him out that second, but I can't have my business partners know about that." Mr. Anderson continued.

"Where is he now?" Burt asked, curious to know where Mr. Anderson thought Blaine was. "Couldn't care less. He gets money every month till he turns 18 because I don't need a scandal on my hands. I haven't heard from him since."

Burt knew he hadn't the best track record when it came to dealing with his own son, but sitting next to Jarred Anderson he wanted nothing more than punch the man in the face. But he couldn't do that just yet.

"What about your wife? She agrees with you?" Maybe there was a chance Blaine's mom was supportive. "Tala would never disagree with me. Brought her back from the Philippines when I was younger. She's still pretty hot for her age – you wanna see?"

Burt just hoped the man only talked about his wife like that because he was drunk. But he was curious to know what Blaine's mother looked like. Mr. Anderson took out his wallet and flipped it open.

Burt barely suppressed his surprised gasp when he saw the woman in the picture. He'd seen her before at the PFLAG meetings in Toledo. He remembered her saying that her husband thought she was at a book club meeting because he would never allow her to come to a meeting like this.

Some other woman had asked her why she didn't just leave her husband and support her son, but Tala had told them that she was a housewife with no income and nothing more than a high school diploma.

Burt had no idea what to do with this new information. He didn't know anything about Blaine's relationship with his parents apart from the fact that he was kicked out nearly a year ago. Did Blaine think his mom hated him too? What he did know was that he was done listening to the crap Mr. Anderson was saying.

"She's pretty. I bet Blaine got all his good traits from her," he told the man who looked at him confusedly. "Now that I met you I can tell you that Blaine should be happy he turned out the way he did with a father like you," he continued.

"Excuse me," Mr. Anderson exclaimed. "Who the fuck do you think you are to talk to me like that?" the man asked as he pushed off his chair and swayed for a moment.

"I'm the guy who's been taking care of your son for the last three months and before that my ex-wife did!" People were already looking at them, but Burt didn't care.

"Blaine's a polite, intelligent young man who deserves better than a father like you," he yelled in Mr. Anderson's face glad that he had a couple of inches on the man.

"Why would you care, it's not like your son's a fag." Blaine's father shot back clutching the bar. "My son is your son's boyfriend. And I couldn't be happier he found someone like your son," Burt retorted trying to keep as calm as possible for the sake of his blood pressure.

Burt was surprised when he realized he hadn't just said that in the heat of the moment but actually meant it. To Burt's utter surprise Mr. Anderson started to laugh.

"I knew that queer crap was just a phase. That's like he's basically dating a girl." That was when Burt punched him.

Before he knew it he was being escorted out of the bar and the manager told him he should be glad that most of the other patrons had overheard the argument and would vouch for him should Mr. Anderson call the cops. He also told him he was allowed to spend the night because of the storm but to please check out in the morning.

Burt went up to his room and iced his swollen knuckles while trying to analyze the evening's events. Why was he so ready to defend a boy who wasn't even his son? Granted he had only punched the other man when he had said something about Kurt. Something that Burt might have said as well not that long ago if in not so many words.

Burt had felt the need to protect Blaine from his father just as Elisabeth had done with Kurt. He finally understood why she had left him all those years ago and it made tears well up in his eyes.

He had never meant to become this monster that his son had to be protected from. He swore to himself that he would try harder to make things better between him and Kurt. He wanted to be the person that protected his son not the one his son needed to be protected from. This had to be a new year's resolution he would keep.

He would decide what to do with all this new information once he had gotten a couple of hours of sleep.

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