Bad Things Happen in Threes

To say that the cookies were a hit was an understatement. Everyone from New Directions got a goodie bag to bring home. Rory was given several extra bags to give to Brittany, who'd get one for herself and could pass the rest to Mercedes and Santana. Even though they were part of the Troubletones now, Kurt felt weird leaving them out. Even though New Directions had given up the fight for now, Kurt was still hanging on to the hope that everything would eventually get back to the way it was.

And even though Kurt used it as a threat initially, Wes did receive a care package. However, he didn't get to enjoy them as much as he would've liked, as his roommates took more than their fair share. Wes had actually called Kurt and asked - begged - for more.

Not everyone was happy though. The only person who got upset was Cooper, who found out Kurt had made cookies and complained that he didn't get any. Kurt had no problem reminding him that he'd made a birthday cake for him several weeks before, but it didn't really help, as Cooper tried for ten minutes to try to explain that there was a significant difference between a cake and cookies. Kurt resisted at first, but promised to make him his own batch the next time he was in town.

Any cookies that were left were packed up to be brought to Dalton. Kurt wasn't sure who to blame for letting the cat out of the bag - he was leaning on both Blaine and Sebastian sending text messages - but he had received some friendly threats from Jeff and Beatz that said he wasn't allowed to come back without treats.

After spending the day as a baker, schemer, babysitter, peacekeeper, and parent, Kurt was tired. When he had started to nod off on Blaine's shoulder, Finn took it upon himself to begin kicking people out of the house. By the time 10:05 hit, the only ones left in the house were Kurt, Blaine, Zoe, Finn, and Sebastian, who was staying the night, so he wouldn't have to drive home to an empty house.

Since Kurt was pretty much useless at this point, Finn had offered to carry him upstairs to his and Blaine's room, which Blaine quickly agreed to. Before he let him do that, though, Blaine went upstairs and blew up the air mattress that Kurt kept in his closet; he could get the sheets for it after Kurt was in bed. Sebastian had offered to get Zoe situated, as she was already asleep, as a thank you for letting him sleep over.

Once Kurt and Zoe were tucked in, the three remaining boys took care of getting the house back in order. Finn quietly moved furniture around; Sebastian cleaned up any trash; and Blaine took care of straightening up the kitchen. By the time Burt and Carole walked in the door an hour later, neither could tell there had been a mini-house party, and were surprised by how quiet the house was.

Burt was trying to figure out who was still in the house, since he wasn't sure who owned the extra car out front. He did a quick run-through in his head of who'd been there earlier, and had eliminated everyone but one: Sebastian. Burt figured he was probably with Kurt and Blaine in their room. While Carole volunteered to check on Finn and Zoe - both of them were asleep - Burt went to check on the rest, where he found his son dead to the world. Blaine was wrapped around Kurt and Sebastian was lightly snoring on the mattress on the floor.

Carole and Burt got ready for bed themselves, and the house was quiet for the rest of the night.

Kurt was debating on whether or not he should get up. He started to bury his head into his pillow before he realized that he was no longer on the living room couch. Once he sat up he also noticed that he wasn't wearing the clothes he had on the previous day either. He looked around the room and saw signs that Blaine and Sebastian had been there, but Kurt didn't know how long they'd been gone. The baby monitor was missing as well.

Kurt decided he'd go look for everyone first and get dressed later, as he noticed it was only a little after nine. He put on his slippers and made his way downstairs. As he hit the bottom of the stairs, he found that he was the last one up, which was unusual, but he had to admit that the ten hours of sleep had done wonders. Sebastian was feeding Zoe and looked up to see Kurt first.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," he said with a slight smirk. His smirk didn't last long, as a very much awake Zoe took her shot at trying to get at Sebastian's glasses - and managed to at least get them a little askew.

"Is that a new fashion statement, Seb? The whole angled-glasses look? I have to say, I'm not impressed."

"Hardy-freaking-har. It's not that funny Blaine," he replied, as Blaine laughed at his fashion faux pas while making breakfast with Carole. Burt was reading the paper, while Finn was half-awake at the table.

"Yeah it is. I told you she was gonna start aiming for them sooner or later. She almost got Artie's last night - again."

"Oh yeah? Well somebody ::cough:: Blaine ::cough:: was supposed to remind me to take my contacts out. Mine aren't the ones that you can leave in for a month at a time. My eyes are delicate."

Kurt rolled his eyes at them as he made his coffee. "Enough you two. And Seb, your eyes are not delicate; you're just too lazy to get the ones you can leave in. Besides, can't you two wait until I wake up a little more first? Sometimes I wonder if you were twins separated at birth. How long have you been up anyway? And how did I not hear Zoe last night? It was my turn for the monitor."

Blaine put some plates on the table, stopping at Kurt to give him a good morning kiss. "I put it on my side of the bed, so I could get her when she woke up, and she must have been tired since she only woke up once last night. We've only been down here since eight or so. Though Finn and Seb came down, what, twenty minutes ago?" he directed at the other boy, who nodded. "So we haven't been up too long."

While Blaine was talking to Kurt, Sebastian was facing quite the conundrum. He was eyeing the pancakes and bacon on the table and then looking at Zoe in his arms. Kurt finished cutting up his pancakes before taking pity on the confused Warbler.

"Here Seb, I can take her. I've more than mastered how to hold a baby and eat at the same time." Sebastian passed Zoe to Kurt, who just seemed to realize that Kurt had made an appearance, if her smile was anything to go by. Kurt let her wrap her hand around his finger for a second before pulling away so he could eat too. She didn't seem thrilled about that, as every time he pulled away, Zoe whined until Kurt gave her back a finger. Blaine then took it upon himself to alternate feeding Kurt with taking bites of his own meal.

"Oh my god, you two are killing me with your sweetness. I'm gonna have to bump up my appointment with the dentist to next week if you keep this up," Sebastian groaned.

"Ditto," said Finn and Burt.

Carole just laughed at all of them. "Well, I think they're just too cute for words. Here Kurt, pass her over; I'm done eating."

Kurt smiled, "Thanks Mom." He turned back to Sebastian. "Is that better, your highness?"

"Much, thank you. Don't you think I see enough of your lovey-dovey crap at Dalton?"

''Apparently not, so we figured we'd torture you more while you're here. It's all part of some diabolical plan."

"I knew it! I'm so telling Thad when we go back tonight. He didn't believe me when I said you two act like this on purpose to drive the rest of us insane."

"Thad huh?" Sebastian blushed at the smirk on Blaine's face. "Something going on there?"

"No, of course not. Thad's a nice guy and we've talked about you and your evil ways a few times. That's all."

"And why don't I believe that?" Blaine asked.

"Remember when I said that I wouldn't interfere with anyone's relationships? I meant what I said."

Kurt looked at him confused. "So what's stopping you?"

Sebastian just stared back, "Oh, I don't know. The fact he has a girlfriend. Remember - Melissa?"

Blaine scoffed, "They broke up again two weeks ago; where have you been?"

"Wait...again?" asked Sebastian.

"Thad and Melissa hang out when the other is available. Calling her his girlfriend is more of the 'friend that's a girl' than 'girlfriend'. They've know each other since they were in elementary school. You know how often Rachel and Ross 'took breaks' on Friends? Thad and Melissa are our Ross and Rachel."

"Oh. That still doesn't help -"

"Thad loves everybody, Seb. It doesn't matter if it's a guy or a girl. He and Trent tried to date a while ago, but that didn't work out, so they're just friends."

Sebastian looked hopeful. "You think I have a shot?"

Surprisingly, Finn answered for him. "Dude, just go for it. You two must hang out a lot anyway, right? You never know until you try."

Kurt stared, "Okay, who are you and what happened to the real Finn?"

"What? Thad's cool and kicks some serious ass when we play games. No one can beat him in Mortal Kombat, and he is awesome in Guitar Hero. And he's got a good voice too. What more could you ask for?"

Burt snorted at the looks of shock on the other boys' faces. "Finn is giving relationship advice; we are officially in the Twilight Zone."

After breakfast, Kurt, Blaine, and Sebastian began working on some homework while Zoe took advantage of being free of the crib. Kurt had gotten her situated on the floor on a baby mat, and she was having a grand old time swatting at the toys that dangled above her. Granted, she wasn't hitting them every time she swung, but she seemed content and was smiling and making little noises. Blaine kept throwing pens at Sebastian, as a sad attempt to get him back on track; he kept watching Zoe instead of focusing on his essay.

"Will you quit that?! That last one got my ear!"

"Well, if you were concentrating more on your history assignment, then I wouldn't have to throw stuff at you."

Kurt was now getting annoyed. "I swear: if I have to separate the two of you - again - I will confiscate something you both hold dear."

Blaine and Sebastian looked at each other, puzzled. "Zoe? That's not really a threat because you'll eventually cave in."

"Yeah," Sebastian said, "you'll have to do better than that."

Kurt smirked, "Well, if you wanna try my patience, keep it up. And I didn't say it was Zoe."

Unbeknownst to them, Kurt had already taken Blaine's hair gel and Sebastian's contacts. Since it was supposed to be a lazy Sunday, and Blaine was trying to make up for the night before; he'd left his hair gel-free for the day, knowing how much Kurt liked it like that. Sebastian kept his glasses on because he was too lazy to be bothered with putting his contacts in after taking them out that morning.

Thankfully, Zoe had tired herself out, which left Sebastian without a distraction, and Blaine without an unsuspecting target. Kurt was happy to take the peace and quiet when he could, and was able to finish his work first. He was in the middle of deciding what to do while the other two finished, when he heard his phone buzz with an incoming text.

Hey Kurt - u busy?

Just finishing homework. What's up, Artie?

Could u give me the # 4 ur dad's shop or a tow truck that works today?

What happened?

Some1 hit the van & a few other cars on my street last nite. We woke up to find the front hit and the side door is too jammed to open. I wasn't sure if ur dad heard about it yet b/c im pretty sure he's about to get busy.

What?! Hold on a sec.

Kurt got up off the floor and told the other two to not kill each other while he was gone. He walked back downstairs and called out for his dad, who was in the living room on the phone himself. He just waved at his dad who held up a finger for him to wait a second. I guess I don't have to tell him after all, Kurt thought.

"That's fine Kevin. If you and Rob can get it to the shop with your hookup, that'll work. Are the other cars drivable? Alright. I'll meet you at the shop in a bit then. Bye. Hey Kurt what's up?"

"I just got a text from Artie. He needs a tow to the shop and was asking for our number. Some idiot hit a bunch of cars on their street last night, and they got their van."

Burt groaned, "I thought that street sounded familiar. The one with his ramp on it?"

"Yeah...why?"

Burt sighed, "That was Kevin on the phone. He doesn't live that far from Artie's and heard the sirens last night. Most of the cars are just dented, but three cars were hit harder than the rest. Rob heard that one of them was already taken care of - it was the last one hit and was in a bad spot. He and Kevin are taking care of another car with his truck, and know I'm guessing the van he mentioned is Artie's."

Kurt gaped for a second, before asking, "Does that mean we have an available truck, then? Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the other cars, but that van is how Artie gets around the easiest. His mom is the one that drops him off in the morning for school; otherwise, he needs his dad to help and you know he leaves for work a lot earlier than when school starts."

"I'm aware of that. Since Rob is helping Kevin, do you think you could give me a hand? I know Eileen would probably feel a little more comfortable if you came with, Artie too." Eileen was Artie's mom, and while they'd known each other for years, there was a good chance she was freaking out, especially with Mike - Artie's dad - out of town. And even though Burt got along with everyone, Kurt had to often remind him that he gave off an intimidating presence without knowing it.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Wait, how many cars are going to be brought into the shop then? Are you going to take care of them today too? I know you weren't planning on going in today."

"Considering this was a freak thing, it'd be easier to go in and at least start with the minor repairs and order parts for tomorrow. Some of the guys are coming in to help."

"Let me go change into my coveralls and tell Blaine and Sebastian to keep an eye on Zoe. I'll let Artie know we're coming, or am I just going? No offense, but shouldn't you be at the shop to do damage control?"

Burt thought for a moment. Kurt was more than capable of handling the tow truck himself, and he had a point too. He'd already told Kevin to tell anyone with drivable cars to head for the shop. Considering almost a dozen cars were involved, it'd make more sense to do damage control.

"Actually, do you mind? Not that I don't have faith in Kevin, but who knows what the shop will look like if I get there after getting Artie's van."

"That's fine Dad; I can handle it. I'll be down in a few minutes, and then we can go." Kurt went back upstairs to change, texting Artie back at the same time to expect him there soon. He walked back into the room to find Blaine and Sebastian playing with Zoe on the floor mat. He stood in the doorway for a second before announcing his presence.

"I hope you're done all of your work because I'm so not helping you when we get back to school tonight." Two heads whipped up and turned to see Kurt watching them. Kurt walked in and pulled his coveralls from the closet.

"Hey where'd you go? And why are you changing?" Blaine asked.

"Artie texted me, and Kevin was on the phone with Dad when I went downstairs. Some idiot banged up a bunch of cars on Artie's street last night, and they hit his van bad enough that it needs to be towed. Dad needs to handle damage control and open the shop today, so I'm going with him to get the truck and go to Artie's house to bring it back. Can you two handle watching Zoe until I get back? I shouldn't be gone too long."

Sebastian was actually the one pouting, "Aw, do you have to? I don't wanna be stuck with the meanie over here," ignoring Blaine's indignant 'Hey!'

"I have faith that the two of you can handle each other for an hour or so. Just do me a favor and try not to corrupt my daughter while I'm gone. Besides, I'm sure you can find something to do. If it wasn't someone I knew, Dad wouldn't be asking for help since he doesn't usually ask when I have plans already."

Sebastian huffed, "Fine, be that way. Zoe and I will just have to decide what to do, isn't that right cutie?" He turned to look at Zoe, only to find her dozing in Blaine's arms. "Traitor."

Blaine and Kurt laughed at him as Kurt changed. "Seb I promise not to be mean to you while Kurt's gone, okay? I swear on my Katy Perry cds."

Kurt snorted, "Can't get a better promise than that. Behave, and you'll get a reward later. I'll be back soon. Maybe I'll ask Artie to come over and he can help you with your math." After kissing Blaine goodbye, Kurt left the trio in his room. Sebastian finally started to come to his senses and realized that Blaine never said anything about Kurt leaving them there.

"How come I'm the one having a little fit and you're his boyfriend?"

"Because you're a four-year-old stuck in a teenager's body, and I'm more mature than you."

"No you're not."

"Yeah-hah."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeh-hah."

Both boys stared at each other for a minute before Sebastian spoke again.

"Wanna watch The Emperor's New Groove?"

"Totally."

When Burt and Kurt got to the shop, they were happy to see that they were the first ones there. Burt went ahead and opened up, going straight for the key rack to retrieve the one for the tow truck. He walked out of the office in time to see Rob helping Kevin with the first car they'd brought in. Kurt was handling two other people who had followed them in, taking notes on a clipboard of the damage. He remembered a four car pileup from a few years ago, but he was hoping that the majority of the dozen cars involved here were mostly superficial damage.

Burt walked over to his son and overheard him as he finished talking. "-and we'll call you as soon as we have a final assessment." The couple left in a second car just as Kurt finished filling out the form. "Hey Dad, that couple lives two houses away from Artie. The one Kevin drove in and this one belongs to them. I just started with the preliminary assessment, since I didn't know who was going to be working on it."

"That's fine Kurt, thanks. Did they see Artie's van by any chance?"

"Yeah, but it sounds like it could've been worse. Do you have the key for me?"

"Here, and if you have any problems, stop what you're doing, and call. One of us will give you a hand."

"Will do. See you in a bit." Kurt left the clipboard with Burt and waved to Rob on the way out, as Kevin already underneath the first car. He got into the tow truck and made his way to Artie's house.

Ten minutes later, and Kurt had positioned the truck in front of the van. He got out and made his way to Artie, who was waiting for him outside of his house with his mom.

"Hey Artie. Hi Mrs. Abrams."

"Hey Kurt. Sorry to bother you about this, but Mom's been freaking out all day, and Dad's not home yet."

"Don't worry about it. Dad is at the shop already with two cars. What the hell happened anyway?" Kurt asked as he put on his gloves. Eileen finally came to her senses and noticed that Kurt was by himself.

"Kurt, are you sure you can handle this by yourself? I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Normally, Kurt would be annoyed or insulted, but Eileen was just being a mom who had never seen Kurt do this alone. Sure, he'd helped with their cars before, but it was another thing to actually see him in action. Artie had, so he wasn't worried.

"I've helped Dad with physically towing since I was fourteen, and I've done it alone several times, so I have plenty of practice. If there's a problem, I'll call him for help." Kurt had looked at the van and saw that while the side door was definitely jammed as well as one side of the front, he'd be able to do the hookup with few problems. Artie decided to let Kurt know what they knew.

"From what the cops told us, it was three drunk guys taking turns driving the car. They were so out of it, they thought they were playing a game of pinball. Apparently they didn't notice the fact they were driving a car and not in an arcade." Kurt scoffed at that as he secured the van.

"That's dangerous, reckless, and just plain stupid. I take it that they don't remember anything either?"

"They seriously thought they were playing some crazy virtual game. The police found out that they had been drinking somewhere locally, but they'd been kicked out and found somewhere else to go," Eileen added. "But with so much damage and being caught on some of those red light cameras, they're going to have a hard time denying fault."

"Well, try not to think too much over it," said Kurt. "We're keeping all of the cars involved on a separate ticket for the police report, so you won't have to worry about that as much. They'll be paying for the damages to all of the vehicles involved. I think what's more amazing is that no one got hurt."

She sighed, "That is something to be grateful for. Kurt, from your viewpoint, how bad is it?"

Kurt bit his lip as he thought. "The door's gonna be a handful, but on the bright side, at least we don't have to worry about the ramp, since it's a pullout and not a lift. The front can be banged out, but with the mess under the car, the engine or something around it was definitely punctured. Honestly, I can't say more until we look under the hood, as cliché as that sounds."

"Oh dear. No chance it'll be okay before school tomorrow?"

"Mom, I think we'd need a miracle for it to be ready by then. I'll ask one of the guys for a ride in the morning; they've helped me out before when the van needed work done on it."

Kurt had finished hooking up the van and was ready to bring it back to the garage. He would normally offer a ride back as well, but wasn't sure if Eileen would be able to handle waiting there. Artie on the other hand...

"Artie, do you want to come back with me? Dad said he'd look at it as soon as I got back. No offense, Mrs. Abrams, but Artie can hang at my house for a little bit with me, Blaine and Sebastian, Zoe too if she's awake. You can wait here, and we'll take care of telling Mr. Abrams about it, so he's aware of how bad it is."

"That's cool with me. Can I Mom? Besides, you said that you were going to help the neighbors clean up."

"Oh I almost forgot," she said. "Well if Kurt doesn't mind?"

"Then it's settled. Do you need to grab anything?"

Artie asked his mom to grab his wallet and cell phone from his room. While she went into the house, Kurt helped maneuver Artie into the tow truck, and sent a text to Blaine to let him know he was bringing company. As they drove away from Mrs. Abrams, Artie sighed in relief and promptly thanked Kurt.

"You are such a lifesaver, Kurt. I love my mom, but she is such a worry-wart and it gets a little overbearing after a while, especially when Dad isn't home to help. Good news is, he'll be home tonight; he was helping my uncle move this weekend."

"It's not a problem - I could tell you were a little stressed. Relax and think happy thoughts. You don't even have to be home until seven at the latest, if you want. I'd offer later, but we have to get back to Dalton tonight."

"Totally understandable. Dad should be home by then, and everything will be fine."

"Just to warn you - Blaine and Seb were having some issues with their homework, so be prepared to hear them beg for assistance."

A few minutes later found them back at the garage, where there was certainly more activity then when Kurt had left. Kurt beeped the horn and saw Adam acknowledge him first, signaling to Rob to move out of the way so Kurt could pull in. Burt met up with them as Kurt finished parking.

"No trouble I take it?" he asked, as he noticed Artie in the passenger seat. "Hey Artie, you hanging out for a little bit? How's your mom?"

Artie rolled his eyes, "Hey Mr. Hummel, and yes I am. I think we both need some space right now."

"Say no more. Now let's take a look," he said, as he watched Kurt help Artie out of the truck.

"How bad are the other cars, Dad? And when did Adam get here?"

"Most just need to be reshaped a little and some slight touch-ups. He just got here. Adam and his shop will be helping us out with the cosmetic stuff, so I figured it'd be easier if he had an idea of what to expect. When we're done repairing, he'll take care of the rest." Adam was a friend of Burt's from high school. While Burt liked how cars worked, Adam was more into how they looked. All these years later, and they were the best deal in the county; they were always referring customers back and forth.

Artie waited for Burt to take stock of the van. "Mr. Hummel, Kurt gave us his opinion already but what do you think?" Kurt told his dad his first impression and Burt agreed with what he said. Burt managed to get the hood open, and though the engine looked alright, there were a few minor problems.

"Kurt pretty much covered it; it's all fixable, but I may need to keep it till Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. Is now an okay time to call your dad? No offense, but I'd rather leave the telling Eileen part to him."

"None taken. I can call him now if you want." At Burt's nod, Artie dialed and shortly after passed the phone over. Once that was settled, Kurt and Artie left to head back to the house.

Kurt and Artie made it back to Kurt's house a short time later. Since they'd forgotten that they drove over together, Burt told Kurt to take his truck home and that he'd get one of the guys to drop him off later. Kurt helped Artie out of the truck again and they walked up to the front door, Kurt detouring to the side of the house to grab the ramp that they kept there for Artie. They entered the living room and stopped in their tracks, confused at the scene they were witnessing.

There was a movie playing on the tv. Zoe was staring at Blaine and Sebastian from her spot on the floor, who were quoting the ending with scary accuracy, and not noticing that they'd acquired an audience. The two of them were standing in front of the couch, holding a couple of Zoe's toys in the air.

"My acorn is missing," said Kronk on the screen.

"Squeak, squeakin', squeak, squeakity," replied Blaine and Sebastian.

"Did you eat the acorn?"

"Squeaker, squeak, squeak, squeakin'?"

"You owe me a new acorn."

"Squeak squeak squeak, squeak, squeaker..." Kurt coughed to get their attention, allowing the kitty version of Yzma to say the last 'Squeakin'. Their jaws dropped, but without missing a beat, Kurt went along with it and said Kronk's last line in the movie himself.

"I'm so proud of you guys." Artie snorted and kept laughing as Blaine and Sebastian blushed hard at being caught in the act. Kurt walked further into the room and towards the embarrassed duo.

"Well boys, it's nice to see you're getting along now. What spurred the sudden desire to watch The Emperor's New Groove? And are you seriously using Zoe's mini-stuffed animals as acorns?"

Blaine coughed and tried to regain his composure, "Well, we had a moment earlier and we got the urge to watch this particular movie. We figured we'd be done by the time you got back. Hi Artie."

"Sup Tipo?" Kurt couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing too. He watched as Sebastian dropped the toy he was holding and was trying to nonchalantly nudge it onto Zoe's blanket. "That's not gonna work, Seb. We already witnessed the whole scene. Bravo." Sebastian groaned and fell against the couch. Zoe took that as her moment to make herself known.

Kurt bent down and scooped up the little girl. "Did you have fun watching Daddy and Uncle Seb make fools of themselves? Yes, I bet you did." He looked up and saw Sebastian hiding his face in a pillow and Blaine pouting. Kurt rolled his eyes at Artie, who almost started laughing again, and proceeded to kiss the pout off Blaine's face. Artie whistled for them and Sebastian made gagging noises in the background, though Zoe just cooed and pumped her legs against Kurt's chest.

"Oh my god, you two are gonna make me sick?"

"Aw, are you feeling left out Sebby?" asked Blaine.

"Do you want me to kick your ass again?" retorted Sebastian. Kurt rolled his eyes again and told them to break it up.

"Are we really gonna do this again? Last I checked, I took care of both of your asses last night." The room fell silent and it took Kurt a moment to realize how that last sentence came out. Artie let out a 'Damn!', while Blaine and Sebastian stared with their mouths open.

"That is NOT what I meant, and you all know it! Shut up Artie!" Kurt yelled, as he failed to contain his blush. Kurt spun around and headed up the stairs, mumbling something about changing Zoe. Artie, Blaine and Sebastian stared at each other, until Blaine lost it and all three of them were laughing at Kurt's expense.

By the time Kurt and Zoe came back down, everyone had calmed down, though Artie still snorted when he looked at Kurt. The boys had put on a football game but were paying little attention to it, as Artie was being asked about his van and what had occurred the night before. Having already heard the story, Kurt detoured into the kitchen to grab a bottle for Zoe and a drink for him. Usually he'd offer the others something, but carrying a tray with one hand and Zoe in the other, was not a skill he'd mastered yet. That, and he figured they could get whatever they want themselves.

"-so Kurt offered to let me hang out here for a bit, and if all else fails, I could be dropped off on your way back to Dalton. So that's pretty much it."

"Damn, Artie...that sucks. So what are you gonna do in the morning?" Sebastian asked.

"I already sent a text to Mike and he said he'd pick me up, so I don't need to worry about that. I'm not worried about it - Kurt can tell you this isn't the first time we've had to get the van fixed."

"Though it is the first time in a long time that your dad wasn't around to soften the blow for your mother. That's the main reason I came to get you; Dad's not great with crying women. No offense."

Artie waved him off. "I love my mom to death but sometimes her over-worrying is tiring."

"I do have to give her credit. She's not nearly as bad as she used to be." Sebastian and Blaine looked at Kurt in confusion.

"What do you mean Kurt?" asked Sebastian.

Kurt was burping Zoe and missed the question. "What?"

"Yeah, we're confused. Aren't moms supposed to worry about their kids? I mean, I know my mom never seemed to care about me, but generally, isn't that how parents are supposed to act?" asked Blaine.

Artie answered first, "Oh, he just means that after the accident, my mom had a hard time letting me out of her sight for a while. I wasn't always doing wheelies." The two Warblers were now not only confused, but somewhat shocked at how casually Artie was talking about it. Kurt realized that neither of them knew how Artie became paralyzed, so some explaining was in order.

"Artie, his dad, my mom, and I were in a bad car accident when we were younger. Some guy didn't want to slow down and blew through a red light. He slammed into their car, which caused it to bounce off our car. My mom and Artie's dad ended up with bumps and bruises; Mr. Abrams had a broken arm and Mom suffered from whiplash and a concussion. Artie and I were on the wrong sides of our cars, as we both ended up getting hit harder in the passenger seats."

Blaine stared at Kurt. "You never told me you were in a car wreck."

"I never mentioned it?" Blaine shook his head. "Sorry, honey, I thought I did."

"So how badly were you two hurt?" asked Sebastian. "I mean, Artie obviously got off worse, since he's in a wheelchair."

"Kurt was too for a little while," said Artie. "I got stuck between the seat and the dashboard; my dad and I had two separate impacts - one from the driver of the other car, and one from hitting Kurt's car. The angle we collided at caused Kurt to be temporarily paralyzed due to a compressed spinal cord."

"That's actually how we met. Artie and I shared a hospital room and a physical therapist. Initially, the doctors weren't sure whether or not both of us would be permanently paralyzed. It took a couple of weeks before I started to feel anything, and even then it was the barest of tingling. I was discharged before Artie, but we became friends and begged our parents to work out similar therapy appointment times. I was in the wheelchair for six months."

Blaine was a little flabbergasted. "You were paralyzed? Is that why you had those 'freak-outs' when you were pregnant? When you hit the third trimester, you were always saying that you needed to keep your circulation going, or your legs fell asleep. You even had an anxiety attack that one time."

Sebastian knew a thing or two about them, though he had been more prone to panic attacks. "An anxiety attack while pregnant does not sound like a good time."

"Oh, it wasn't," said Kurt. "I had never been that heavy before, and the amount of weight I was carrying did not bode well with me. One day, I had been taking a nap in bed at a weird angle, so when I woke up, my legs were asleep. I waited a minute, but when I tried to get up, I couldn't move my legs. It just brought back bad memories. Luckily, Dad was able to talk me out of it and within a few minutes I was able to wiggle my toes and I was fine."

"I was tempted to offer you my backup chair, so you could get around easier, but then you did the whole bed rest thing and I didn't bother," Artie said. "And I remembered that your house has stairs, so..."

"It's the thought that counts," Kurt said with a smile. "You have no idea how much I appreciated your company after school let out. I would've gone crazy if it wasn't for you and Sarah. If that bed rest had been mandatory, and meant staying in bed, I don't know what I would've done."

"Same here. It sucks when all of your friends are either working or on vacation somewhere...kinda limits your options. But we did have some great movie marathons, and if we don't know all the answers to the Scene It DVD games by now, then there's no hope for us."

"And where was lover boy at?" asked Sebastian. "I can't picture him leaving you alone in such a delicate state."

Blaine snorted, "Try saying that in front of Puck, and he'll give a good argument about Kurt being a total badass while under self-imposed house arrest. I had already made a prior commitment to work a few weeks at a theme park, and Kurt threatened to destroy my secret stash of candy if I backed out."

Sebastian smirked, "You caved because he was gonna throw your candy out?"

Blaine actually began to pout a little. "Red vines are my favorite and he was going to eat them and not share with me."

"Not that it really mattered. Every time he re-hid them, I'd find them the first chance I got to look for them. It was super helpful, considering red vines were the only candy I craved for. Now where's your homework? If me and Artie can't help you get it done, then I give up on you two."

Burt was able to get the van back to the Abrams by the middle of the week, and it was running better than it had in a long time, so no one really fussed over the wait.

Tensions were running high as Sectionals rolled around. Everyone was hoping that this year, there would be less drama, but they'd decided to wait and see what fiascos happened this time around. The Warblers were successful in winning their round, beating out Spencerville High again, as well as some other group they'd never heard of. They had surprised themselves with how well they'd done and couldn't wait to see what would happen at Regionals.

In the meantime, the Warblers were keeping tabs on the happenings at McKinley.

The New Directions and the Troubletones were going to be battling it out with each other for the right to keep their group; the Unitards were, apparently, not even being considered as real competition. Though several of the Warblers were friends with the members of both teams, it was obvious that Kurt was having the worst time dealing with it. He'd heard from Artie and Rory that things were getting pretty heated, the worst of it between Finn and Santana. Kurt was starting to get worried about their Sectionals and it seemed any hope of his ladies in the Troubletones changing their minds and backing out was slim to none.

He'd tried talking to Mercedes and Santana, but nothing good had come out of either conversation. Brittany had never stopped talking to Kurt, and for that he was thankful for. The blonde was only in the Troubletones because of Santana, as wherever the Latina went, Brittany followed. She'd been unknowingly keeping Kurt up to date with what was going on with the girl-only group, and she'd mentioned that though she missed New Directions, she loved Santana more.

Kurt was especially worried when he heard about the unsupervised, killer dodgeball game that was happening after school one day the week after the Warblers' Sectionals. He was once again grateful that Dalton had in-service days once a month, not to mention that he didn't have rehearsals to worry about at the moment either, though it didn't stop the apprehension he felt about having to go on campus at McKinley.

Blaine had seen the texts from various New Directions members, and to be honest, he was worried as well. Dodgeball was a fun game, but not when anger was involved. Before Kurt could ask Blaine to watch Zoe, the lead soloist had already packed them all up to return to Lima, if not in time to stop the game, to at least help nurse the injuries that were sure to happen as a result.

They made it just in time to see the groups moving onto the court. It didn't help Kurt's nerves as he heard Puck's description of the rules to Rory. Zoe had started fussing in the car on the way over, obviously sensing Kurt's anxiety. She didn't stop until she got distracted by the red balls flying all over the room. Kurt barely noticed how quiet she'd gotten; he was too focused on how much force each side was putting into their strikes, some more so than others. Blaine was trying to stay positive, waiting and wishing for someone to come to their senses and call for a draw...or for an adult to show up.

It didn't take long before it was down to Santana and Finn, and with a shot to the face, the Troubletones had won the game. Blaine let out a breath, glad that it was over. He'd taken to checking on the New Directions as they limped and dragged themselves to the sidelines, and had already wrapped up Tina's ankle and was passing out ice packs to Mike and Quinn. He almost missed Rory going up to check on Finn.

"Boy, oh boy, that was a cracker!" Blaine looked up and had a very bad feeling.

"What was that, Irish? Doesn't matter." Before anyone could make a move, the Troubletones began pelting balls at Rory, one after another. Blaine wasn't even able to attempt to hold Kurt back, who had run onto the court as soon as he realized what was about to happen.

"STOP IT! What is WRONG with you?! For god's sakes - he's bleeding!" Several jaws dropped at that announcement. Blaine heard Tina and Quinn gasp in horror, though Santana didn't seem to care. Sure enough, when Rory lifted his head, everyone could see the blood gushing from his nose.

"God, calm down, grandma -"

"No, I will NOT calm down! There is NO reason why you should resort to pulling the same crap that the rest of the school does. What happened to being friends with each other? Even separated, you should still be looking out for each other, not bringing each other down. You should be ashamed of yourselves." Kurt helped Rory off the floor, grabbed the stroller, and took them into the bathroom in the hallway. While it was a little out of the way, Kurt couldn't bring himself to go into the locker room.

Blaine had followed them in with a chair he'd grabbed, so that Rory could sit down while Kurt took care of cleaning him up. He gently felt Rory's face for broken bones and found none, though he was sure it was going to bruise a bit.

"Okay Rory, lean forward a little for me...good. We'll focus on getting the bleeding to stop first; then we'll get you cleaned up, alright?" Rory nodded slightly, not really in the mood to talk at the moment. Kurt turned to Blaine, who was distracting Zoe, and asked about everyone else.

"Well you didn't see the reactions I did. Mercedes and Brittany actually looked sorry and Rachel looked like she was going to start crying. I left some ice and heat packs for them; I don't know if you noticed the face shots."

"Oh I noticed them, all right. I just can't believe the way the Troubletones were going at it. Most of them don't even know the New Directions!" Kurt sighed in frustration, "I am so pissed right now." He heard Rory wince, as Kurt had pinched a little too hard. "Sorry Rory."

Rory shrugged, "Don't worry about it. I think the bleeding's almost stopped." Kurt got a wet paper towel and dabbed at Rory's face to get rid of the drying blood. Kurt sighed again, but this time in relief.

"It's still dripping, so do me a favor and keep the pressure on it for a few more minutes, okay?" Just then, they heard a knock on the door. Blaine walked over and opened it for Finn and Puck. They had taken over for Blaine and had just finished tending to the rest of their group, as well as a few of the Troubletones who'd asked for assistance.

"How you doing dude?" Finn asked.

Rory gave him a thumbs up. "Better now. You alright?" Kurt looked at his brother's face and asked if he'd gotten an ice pack yet. Puck on the other hand was submitting to a quick scan by Blaine, who'd managed to lift Puck's shirt to get a look at his side. Puck had performed a lovely dive that had resulted in an awkward landing on the hard gym floor.

"What did you land on, Puck? You're pretty scratched up."

"I dunno; I think Artie tried to catch me - DUDE!" Blaine had already dug through the first aid kit and was cleaning and bandaging Puck's side.

"Stop whining Noah. Better to do it now and get it over with." Puck just hissed in reply to Kurt's comment. Finn looked like he was going to put in his two cents, but Kurt gave him a look and told Finn to shut up and sit down.

"You're too tall Finn, and I need to check your eye. Where is everyone else?"

Finn winced as Kurt pressed on his face. "Choir room. We told Sam we were checking on Rory and we'd meet back there. I have no idea where Santana and her bitch brigade went - OW!"

"Stop with the insults - I don't wanna hear it anymore. Are the rest of you alright? Blaine said he wrapped Tina's ankle."

"She said she twisted it, but it's not too bad. The majority of us are covered with either ice packs or heating pads. We got lucky, I think."

Blaine stared at Finn, "How is any of this," he gestured to him, Rory, and Puck, "lucky?"

"If all of the girls had been playing like Santana was, we would've been screwed. A bunch of them felt bad and stayed behind to say they were sorry to be a part of that. They could've done some serious damage if they had put more effort into the game."

Kurt had to concede that point. He'd noticed that some of the action from the Troubletones was half-hearted at best; the ones that had been really into it were Santana, Mercedes, Brittany to a point, and that Sugar girl. He checked Rory one last time and deemed him fit to move. Blaine helped him pack up the first aid kit and they got ready to head to the choir room. By this point though, Zoe had had enough and started crying. She'd been awake and watching what was going on, but her cries made Puck and Finn jump in surprise.

Kurt took her out of the stroller and quickly settled her down in his arms, humming a random tune to calm her further. He tried to put her back twice before giving up and asking Blaine to just push the empty stroller so he could carry her...otherwise they wouldn't get very far.

The atmosphere in the choir room was subdued at best. Tina had obviously been crying and Mike was doing his best to comfort her. Finn approached Rachel, who appeared to still be in shock. Quinn was sitting with Artie, while Sam attempted to fix his wheelchair. Puck and Rory grabbed a pair of chairs and sat down by the others, breaking the quiet as the others noticed their return.

Quinn was the first to speak up. "Rory are you alright?"

"I guess. Kurt and Blaine took care of me in the bathroom, before they tag teamed Puck and Finn and did the same to them."

Puck winced at the thought, "Yeah sorry Artie - I think your chair collided with my side."

"Explains the bent handle brake," said Sam, as he tried to reshape it with his hands.

Blaine and Kurt sat on the piano bench, with Kurt still trying to get Zoe calmed down. He pulled out a bottle and as she finally settled in his arms, Kurt sighed and looked around the room. He knew it was probably not the time to ask, but he wanted to know whose bright idea this was in the first place.

"I'm afraid to ask this, but - dodgeball game? Really? And an unsanctioned one at that?"

Finn flinched, but looked at his brother. "Kinda my fault. Santana and I were arguing in the hallway and I just kinda went with it...didn't really give these guys a chance to say yes or no to it."

"Personally I was hoping we'd kick their asses and offer them to come back...didn't work out that well, obviously," said Puck.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" asked Tina.

"Compete against them at Sectionals, I guess. What else can we do?" asked Mike.

"You could forfeit and save yourselves the hassle of losing." Everyone turned to see Santana smirking in the doorway. "If you couldn't beat a bunch of girls in a dodgeball game, what hope do you have of beating us at Sectionals?"

"That's it!" Finn jumped up, though Rachel tried to pull him back. "What is wrong with you Santana? It's like you have some crazy agenda to hurt us as much as possible. Aren't we supposed to be friends? You've been a complete bitch since the start of the year."

Santana scoffed, "When we were ever friends, Hudson? And it's none of your business. I thought you of all people were aware of how bitchy I can be."

"Then explain to me why you slapped me yesterday! What did I do to you to earn that?" Kurt had been trying to block the fight out, but when he heard that, his head snapped up. He passed Zoe to Blaine, who was staying out of the verbal match, before he stood up.

"What do you mean she slapped you? You told me you got hit during football practice!" Kurt and Finn had talked on Skype the night before. No one seemed willing to answer, at least until Rachel spoke up.

"The Troubletones were performing their mash-up yesterday, and at the end of it, Santana flipped out at Finn and slapped him. We don't know why, though. She yelled something about Finn saying crap about her to me, when he was complimenting on how awesome they sounded."

Kurt was well aware that Santana was a bitch - everyone knew she was - but for her to physically do something about it meant there was something else going on. All of a sudden, he remembered his unexpected phone call with Brittany last night. She'd mentioned that Santana had finally come out to her parents and they didn't care, even commenting on how they'd been suspecting it for a while. But what would have made Santana finally say something about it? And what was Finn's part in all of this?

"Santana, what happened? Brittany already told me that your parents are cool with you two going out. What did Finn do?"

"The one time he," pointing at Finn, "comes up with a decent comeback, Jewfro decides to post it online so that everyone in school can see it."

"Everyone in school knows that you and Brittany are together, so what?" asked Finn. "You make it sound like it's some big deal, and it's not."

"Abuela found out through one of her neighbor's grandkids and essentially disowned me. I didn't even get to tell her when I went to see her last night; she didn't even let me in her house. She wouldn't have found out if it wasn't for you."

Blaine, along with everyone else, didn't know what to do. In Blaine's opinion, it was as much Santana's fault as it was Finn's. If she hadn't antagonized him so much, he wouldn't have said anything - at least in regards to outing her - in public. That didn't excuse him from any blame though, and Blaine was interested to see Kurt's reaction to the situation.

Kurt had explained to him a while ago about his and Finn's relationship. They'd had a very rocky start, what with Kurt crushing on Finn, who at the time was one of the only jocks that didn't physically hurt him. He'd also heard - from Finn's point of view at that - about the first time that they were supposed to share a bedroom, and Finn had expressed his regret over how he had handled the situation. They did eventually talk everything out, and now the two acted as if they'd been brothers for longer than a year.

Despite that, Blaine was also aware of Kurt's feelings in regards to people deciding on how they perceived themselves. Kurt had said on more than one occasion, that as long as you were at peace with yourself and didn't try to push too hard on other people's ideals, that he didn't care who or what you believed in, and what kind of person you loved. He did not, however, agree with anyone telling you what to be, nor did he like it when others take that choice away from them.

Kurt was ready to go at it with Finn because no matter what problems these two had, outing someone is not a way to score points. The urge died out though, as Finn was staring in shock and regret; he'd had no idea that this would happen, but it wasn't fair for her to say it was his entire fault that her grandmother had found out. He learned the hard way with Kurt on how to deal with another person's feelings about themselves.

"Santana - I know I never should have brought it up in the middle of the hallway, but did you expect me to just sit back and take your crap forever? I'm sorry that your grandma won't talk to you right now, but you're as much to blame as me. We've never cared whether you were with Britt or if you were sleeping with guys. All I can say is I'm sorry."

Finn took a moment to take a breath. "I know I can't convince you to come back, at least right now, but just remember that we're here for you, Auntie Snixx included." That got the barest of smiles. "That goes for the rest of the Troubletones as well. We need you."

Santana shook her head and laughed, "We'll see about that Frankenteen. Maybe you'll need us after you lose Sectionals. Remember: only one group can win." Without acknowledging anyone else in the room, Santana left.

The room grew quiet once again, no one knowing how to handle the situation. Any chance of practice had been thrown out the window, so everyone grabbed their things and slowly made their way out of the choir room. Finn walked out with Kurt, Blaine, and Zoe to the parking lot, each with their own thoughts. Kurt spoke up once they were on the way home.

"Well, that was not how I thought this day was going to turn out."

"What did she mean 'only one group can win', Finn?" asked Blaine.

"The word is that we only need one glee club at school, so whoever wins at Sectionals gets to stay. The other group will be disbanded."

"Well then, there's only one thing to do," said Blaine.

Finn looked at him confused, "And that is..."

"Beat the Troubletones," said Blaine. "Hopefully they'll come around and you guys can become one big happy family again."

"I don't know, dude. They're pretty good."

"New Directions is better. Pick some songs, learn some choreography, and kick some ass. That's the only way those girls will see sense. Then do what you just did and be the bigger person and give them the offer to re-join."

"And it's not like it's hard for you to be the bigger person, Finn. You're already so tall."

"I'm not that tall. You're just that short."

"I'm not that short."

"Yeah, dude, you are."

Before Blaine had a chance to respond, Kurt spoke up. "Do not make me pull this car over and make you two walk home."

"Sorry Kurt."

"Sorry bro."