Second Chance

Kurt whistled to himself as he sauntered back to the choir room, he didn't pay much attention to anything but raised voices brought him back to earth.

'I don't... I didn't... I'm not ready Puck,' he had to practically jump out of the way of the door as Quinn came rushing out. She didn't even notice him.

'This bag has everything you'll need for her for a few days, but I suggest you get more diapers and formula as soon as possible,' another man in a dark, badly made suit told a stunned looking Puck.

Kurt's eyes widened in surprise as he realized just what Puck was holding.

The man nodded to himself, 'I have to go, call me if you need anything, and again I'm very sorry Mr. Puckerman.'

Puck nodded as he stared down into the bundle in his arms.

The man left and Kurt stood watching Puck for a few moments before he moved cautiously into the room.

'Puck?' he said softly, not wanting to startle the other boy, but Puck didn't seem to notice him.

'Puck?' he said again when he got no response.

'Noah,' he tried again using the boy's rarely used given name.

Noah blinked, only just realizing that Kurt was there.

'Hi,' he said surprising the other teen with his gentleness.

'Is this Beth?' Kurt asked as he brushed her cheek with his finger.

'Yeah.'

'She's beautiful.'

'Shelby was in an accident,' Noah blurted, his voice cracking with a dozen emotions.

'Oh, no, okay. I'm sorry,' he said, as he gently took the infant from Puck, 'Daddy needs a moment,' he continued talking to Beth as Puck suddenly collapsed into a chair.

'You are such a beautiful girl,' he cooed, 'yes you are, you are going to break so many hearts,' he began to sing to her as she gurgled happily.

'Quinn didn't want anything to do with her and she wanted one of us to have her, I don't think she was expecting it to happen so soon,' Puck rambled.

Kurt settled Beth back into Noah's arms, 'you're going to be a great father,' he offered with a grin.

Puck could only nod as he stared at the tiny being in his arms in wonder.

Kurt sighed good naturedly, wondering how he had gotten himself involved in this, 'so, you are going to take the little princess home and I will go and get the supplies you will need, which you will be totally reimbursing me for and then you will talk to your mum about all of this.'

Puck once again could only nod.

Kurt hoisted the diaper bag and his own bag onto his shoulder before telling Puck he should put Beth in the carrier that the social worker had left with them.

At Puck's truck, Kurt watched as Puck strapped the carried into his truck, Kurt was a little leery of the thing since it looked like it would fall apart in a good wind and vowed that he would offer to look at the monstrosity when Puck wasn't so overwhelmed.

After making sure the seat was secure, he closed the door gently and turned to Kurt; he looked like he just realized that the other teen was there.

'How are you so good with...' he trailed off and nodded his head back to Beth. This whole thing was just so surreal to him that his brain didn't want to seem to function properly.

Kurt gave him a soft smile, 'The guys at the garage like to bring in their kids to show them off, they all like me for some reason,' he admitted.

'So what were you going on about reimbursing? I kind of zoned out there for a minute.'

Kurt burst into laughter, shocking Puck, it was a real laugh, not that high pitched, giggling squeal that the other boy normally did.

'It was more than a minute,' he chuckled when he finally got control of himself, 'I was talking about you going home and I was going to go pick up some extra things you might need until you can go get whatever else you're going to need.'

'But Arnold said that all I needed was in the bag for tonight,' Puck replied, looking confused.

'I looked while you were fighting with the car seat there's like maybe 6 diapers and three changes of clothes. And you're going to need formula and a few toys and some baby wipes since this is only a travel pack and...'

'Okay,' Noah chuckled, 'I get it. We need some more stuff.'

'No, you are going home to settle Beth, and I am going to get more stuff for you,' Kurt corrected.

Puck just nodded, and headed for the driver's side door.

He paused as he pulled open the door, 'why are you doing this?'

Kurt and Puck stared at one another for a full minute, and Kurt cocked his head to the side, he looked like he was going to reply a couple of times before he simply shrugged, 'you looked like you could use a friend.'

Puck nodded, 'thanks,' he offered before he hauled himself into the truck and pulled out of the parking lot.

Kurt shook his head and found his baby before heading to the store to get Puck that he would need.

xXx

Kurt had finished his homework and was currently chatting with Mercedes with the doorbell rang.

He glanced at the clock, surprised to find that it almost 11 at night. He continued chatting with Mercedes as he grabbed the baseball bat he kept at the foot of the stairs and cautiously went to the door. Finn was at Rachel's and his dad and Carole were out at some friends place.

He glanced through the small window in the door, 'Oh sweet Godiva chocolates,' he mumbled, 'Cedes, I gotta go, I'll talk to you tomorrow,' he said before he abruptly hung up on his best girl friend.

'Puck, what's wrong?' he asked flinging open the door to find Puck on the front step, holding Beth to his chest, looking lost and broken.

Beth was crying as Puck shivered and tried to not fall apart.

'Don't answer that,' Kurt stated, calling himself all kinds of foolish. He pulled the other teen into the house and tried to warm him up as he tried to settle Beth.

Holding Beth he guided Puck to the bathroom in the basement, 'you need to warm up, go take a shower. I will take care of Beth,' he insisted, pushing Puck gently through the door.

Puck reluctantly showered as Kurt quickly changed Beth and fed her one of the premade bottles that had been in the bag.

He settled the contented infant in her carrier and rocked it as he sang softly to her, soon enough she was asleep and keeping her in sight he went to check on her dad.

'Puck?' he called, knocking on the door softly.

All he heard was a muffled sob in reply.

'Noah?' he pushed open the door and found Noah sitting under the stream of cold water, clutching his knees, his face hidden from view.

Tears flooded his vision and for a moment everything was blurry but Kurt closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. He needed to be strong for the other teen. He could have his sob later, right now Noah needed someone to lean on or once. Grabbing a towel he turned off the water and wrapped the towel around the shaking shoulders of the other man.

He pulled the bigger boy from the tub and dried him off, before dressing him in a pair of his dad's sweatpants and an old t-shirt.

He sat Noah on the couch in his room and crouched in front of him, rubbing his thighs.

They stayed like that for almost ten minutes before Noah broke the silence.

'My mum, she kicked me out. She said she'd already taken care of two screaming babies and she wasn't going to take of another one that she didn't want. And Sarah had overheard and started to cry and she pulled her into a hug and said that she had wanted her but not me that I was an accident and that she didn't want me. I looked like my father and I was the reason he left and that she had to work two jobs. I gave almost all my money to her to help with the groceries and bills and she just, she threw me out and I had nowhere else to go, I'm sorry,' by the end of his spiel he was crying.

Kurt had to fight his own tears as he pulled the other teen into his arms and Noah held on tightly to Kurt and sobbed brokenly into Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt was amazed that Beth didn't stir all through the sobbing and eventually he realized that Noah had fallen asleep. He tried to pull away but Noah's grip was iron clad, so he settled for a long, uncomfortable night on his sofa.

xXx

Noah woke slowly the next morning and had no idea where he was.

Then last night came rushing back to him and he had to bite back a sob. His own mother didn't want him.

He glanced over to the carrier only to find it empty and he began to panic, waking Kurt in the process.

'Noah!' he shouted for the third time, trying to get through the other boys panic. Noah only stared at him in confusion.

He took Puck's hand and led him to the kitchen where they found Burt feeding Beth.

'Aww,' Kurt couldn't help it, he's dad always looked so right with an infant in his arms.

'I didn't mean to worry you, Kid, but she was fussing and you were both dead to the world...' he trailed off as he handed Beth to Noah.

'Kurt?' he asked, with a nod of his head to the living room. Kurt nodded and ran a hand over Noah's hair.

'We'll just be in the other room,' he offered, Noah didn't look up from Beth but nodded.

xXx

Burt simply stared at Kurt, who finally caved and dropped onto his dad's recliner.

'Shelby, the woman who adopted Beth, Noah's daughter, was in an accident and custody was given back to Quinn and Noah, only Quinn wanted nothing to do with her daughter, so Noah got her and when he went home last night his mother told him that she never wanted him and kicked him out. He had nowhere else to go,' he summed up the events of the last day for his father.

Burt sat heavily on the couch beside Kurt.

'He can stay, but there will be rules,' Burt started but Kurt cut him off with a squeal and a hug.

'Thank you, Daddy! We can set up a small nursery for Beth and Noah and I can share the basement, there's enough room and just thank you!' he hugged Burt again who chuckled softly.

Kurt rushed into the kitchen to tell Noah, who was simply playing with Beth.

'No doubt you heard all that?' Kurt asked as he began to make breakfast.

'You don't have to do this... I can find a job and an apartment...' Noah trailed off as Burt came into the kitchen.

'Easy son,' he said gently as he patted Noah's shoulder, 'now, I've called you both in sick today at school,' Kurt finally noticed that it was after nine and a school day, 'Mercedes will bring your homework after school,' he placated his son.

Kurt just nodded, 'so here's the plan,' Burt continued, 'today we will go and find some furniture for you and Beth and set up the room over the weekend. You will both work hard at school and put in at least ten hours a week at the shop, to pay me back. I can bring Beth to the shop with me in the morning and you can pick her up when you're done either at school or the shop. You will both be in this house by ten o'clock on school nights or eleven on the weekends, though I don't think you'll be out much anyway.'

Both Kurt and Noah just stared at Burt for a moment, and Kurt launched himself at his dad while Noah nodded as he tried to hide his tears of thanks.

Burt gave Noah's shoulder a squeeze and the older man gently took Beth, who had begun to fuss, from Noah so he could calm himself.

When Noah came back from the bathroom, Kurt has everything on the table and Beth was sitting with Burt still. The man looked so at ease with his daughter that for a brief moment he thought of just leaving, letting these two men take care of his baby girl, but then Kurt spotted him and gave him a bright grin.

'Have some breakfast, Noah, you'll need the energy for the shopping,' he offered.

Noah returned a tentative smile, and sat next to Kurt. He wondered what he'd done to deserve this second chance with Kurt, with his daughter, but he wasn't about to screw it up. He promised himself, Beth, Kurt and Burt that he would do whatever he could to be the best damn father, to be a father like Burt Hummel to his baby girl and show everyone, his mother, his father, Quinn, that he was a good man. A good father.

Setting his fork on his plate he reached over and pulled Kurt into an awkward hug and kissed his hair, 'thank you,' he mumbled into the fragrant hair of the other boy.

'Thank you both so much,' he repeated, glancing at Burt too.

Kurt returned the hug and Burt gave Noah's hand a squeeze.

Burt took his son's hand, 'Kurt's mother and I weren't much older than you were when Kurt was born, and he was a surprise, a very welcome surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. Her parents were so angry that they kicked their daughter out of the house. She was devastated and came to my house. When my parents found out my father was disappointed but my mother was so supportive and told him to either support his son and his future daughter in law or he could leave. He soon became our advocate, yelling at her parents for being so idiotic. This won't be easy, but it can be done. We will help you anyway we can,' he stated emphatically, before turning to his son, who was trying to not sob, 'Don't ever think that we didn't want you, because we did, from the moment we found out, you were all we could talk about and your mother loved you so much and would be so proud of you.'

A lone broken sob escaped Kurt and Burt was around the table faster than Noah thought he could move and he stared at Beth, who was now in his arms.

'You are the only son I could ever want,' Burt stated emphatically as he held his son tightly, rocking gently, and crooning softly.

For half a second Noah thought about getting up and leaving the two alone but Burt, even though he was as misty eyed as his son, literally snapped at him, 'finish your breakfast,' he stated.

'Yes, sir,' Noah replied, unwilling to upset Burt, at all.

'I love you,' Burt said softly to Kurt, 'you have no idea how proud of you I am.'

Kurt was afraid to talk, so he simply buried himself in his father's neck and sobbed.

xXx

On Monday in Glee Kurt had been struck by the most obvious thing in the world, he'd been so engrossed with helping Noah with Beth that he'd completely forgotten about the fact that Shelby had been Rachael's mother.

It had only struck him when the girl had run from the room as Schuester explained their next assignment, picking a song for the person they pulled out the Hat of Fate to sing.

His eyes had gone wide and much to everyone's surprise, he had rushed out after her. She hadn't gone very far, collapsing in the hallway around the corner from the choir room.

'I am so sorry, Rachael,' he offered, crouching in front of her. He had lost his mother too, granted it had been a few years ago and he had been much closer to his mother than Rachael had been to hers but he knew it still had to hurt.

She looked up at him with those soulful, tear-filled eyes before launching herself at him and sobbing into his chest. He briefly wondered what it was about him that caused people to cry on him as he comforted the girl as best he could.

Kurt had no idea how long they sat there for, but eventually Rachael pulled away, and wiped at her eyes, Kurt offered her a handkerchief, which she used and thankfully, didn't give back.

'What happened to Beth?' she asked softly, genuine concern in her voice.

Kurt sighed, 'Noah has her,' he offered.

Rachael gave a warm, if wet, smile, 'he'll be a great dad.'

Kurt chuckled softly, 'he already is.'

xXx

It had been a week since Noah had gotten custody of Beth and the only ones who knew were Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn, Rachael and Schue.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' Kurt asked as he and Noah headed to the choir room, Kurt carrying the diaper bag, as Noah had Beth, who was strapped to his chest.

'Yeah, they should know,' he replied.

'What about Quinn?'

Noah sighed, he had tried to talk to the girl about their daughter but she wouldn't have it.

'It's like she refuses to acknowledge her.'

'You ready?'

Noah took a deep breath and nodded, yeah he was ready for this. He was ready to be a teenage dad. He had Kurt and Burt and surprisingly Carole Hudson, who was not only Finn's mum but was dating Burt.

Noah followed Kurt into the room.

Everyone went silent at seeing the pair together, though it was a common sight this past week, and stared at the harness on Puck.

'Hey,' he said softly, his hand cupping the back of Beth's head as he lifted the girl from the carrier and letting Kurt undo the harness, 'you guys remember Beth.'

So please feel free to leave any thoughts or ideas or suggestions in a review or a message and, while I may not use all of them, I will definitely consider them all.

Thanks so much!