Call Of Duty
McRaider
Summary: Fifteen years after high school, and only two years after a very messy divorce, Kurt Hummel runs into an old friend, David Karofsky. Much to their surprise, they've both done some growing and some changing.
Author's Note: As much as I'd love to say I love Klaine, I honestly don't, at first Blaine was awesome and adorable. But soon he became aggravating to me. I found myself falling head over heels for the interactions of Kurtofsky.
Rated: PG-13 except for the parts that are stated otherwise.

Chapter One –

David Karofsky stepped into the bedroom and looked down at the sleeping child that lay there. This was the first full day back to school for the Liberty Academy students. She had to get up and head to class. A class she wouldn't be familiar with, a class she wouldn't know anyone in. A class completely different than the one she'd gone to three months ago. "Ellie, kiddo, time to wake up." He moved over to the bed and gently rubbed the child's side. Two hazel eyes fluttered then looked up at him. "Morning."

"It's time for school?"

He nodded, "Yep, I'm going to drop you off. Then I've got to work today. So you're going to go home with Shelly and Tori Johnson, remember?"

"Yes, I remember."

He brushed the hair from her face and smiled, caressing her cheek, "My sweet girl, everything's going to be all right. I promise."

She straightened her lips and nodded slowly. "I know."

Pressing a kiss to her forehead and stood, "Your uniform is in your closet. Go ahead and wash up then get dressed, I'll meet you in the kitchen. What do you want for lunch?"

"Peanut butter," She slid out of the bed and grabbed a towel from her nearby chair.

He sighed and made his way out of her bedroom, shut the door and let his eyes slide closed, exhaustion filling his very being. He ran his hand over his face wearily. Two months. All she'd eaten for the past two months was peanut butter. He couldn't convince her to eat anything else. He was worried sick about her. All the same he pushed on, heading through the living room and dining room he stepped into the kitchen and hurried about making her breakfast and lunch.

A few minutes later his niece came into the kitchen wearing her uniform, a plaid skirt of blues, grays and blacks, and her blue knit top with a light gray shirt under it. "Uncle Dave, what if they don't like me?" She climbed up on the stool to eat the banana and peanut butter he'd placed in front of her.

"Sweetie, you're going to be with Shelly. She's in the same class as you so that's at least one friend. Now you are amazing. You're going to have a great day and I'll be home by six so we can talk all about it. Okay?"

"Kay."

Dave reached out and gripped the girl's thin hand. "Ellie, I know it's been rough , but we can get through this."

She gave him a tight smile as she finished off the food, sipped some milk, and then headed into the living room towards the front door to grab her new backpack. Dave grabbed his own bag, and escorted her out the door, locking it behind them. He unlocked the truck. Dave was relieved that she got in the truck. She refused to ride in it for their first three weeks together. Thankfully that had been during the summer so it hadn't been needed as much. But eventually she got past that hump. He opened the back door and lifted her up into the booster seat and strapped her in. Closing the back door, he then climbed into the driver's side and headed to the school that was only minutes down the road from his firehouse.

It didn't take long to arrive, and kids were already starting to file into the school. As it was her first day of first grade, Dave parked the car and got out, helping her out of the back. He walked her hand-in-hand into the school and down the hall. They'd had a brief orientation a few days earlier in her new classroom. Ms. Cheryl Piper stood at the front of her class greeting her first graders. "Mr. Karofsky, nice to see you again." She shook Dave's hand firmly, smiling warmly at him.

"Thank you. Ellie, you remember Ms. Piper when we met her a few days ago?"

"Hi," Ellie said. She shied closer to her uncle.

Miss Cheryl crouched down in front of Ellie and smiled warmly. "Tell you what, your friend Shelly has already arrived, and she's playing with my daughter and a friend. Would you like to come meet them?"

Ellie looked up at her uncle who gave her a quick nod. Miss Cheryl took Ellie's hand and led her over to a table where two other girls, Shelly and Miss Cheryl's daughter were coloring with a boy. Miss Cheryl knelt down again and smiled. "Ellie, this is my daughter Becca and her friend Chris. Chris, Becca this is Ellie Karofsky."

"Hi," they both chimed eagerly, Becca held out some crayons, "Wanna play with us?"

Ellie gave a very hesitant nod and then joined them. Cheryl stood and headed back over to David. "You going to be all right?"

"She's not my daughter," he muttered.

"David, what you and she went through was nothing short of traumatic. What you're doing is wonderful and she may not be your daughter but I know you adore her the way I adore my daughter."

"I should get going. You have the number if you need anything?"

"Of course, and I already spoke with Tori. She'll bring the girls home, no worries."

With a final nod, and one last glance at his niece, he headed out the door and back to his truck to hurry to work. With the hours he worked, every few days, someone would have to babysit her, or she'd go with Shelly to her parents'. They'd done it more than a few times at this point and she handled it well now. The first few days had been a nightmare though.

He pulled up to the station, parking in the lot behind the station, waving to a couple of the crew from the previous shift. "Morning, ladies," Jim called as they walked into the common room. Jim had coffees in hand and passed them to his fellow crew members. "Anything fun happen last night?" he asked as he took a seat.

Henry, one of the previous day's crew grabbed a coffee and grinned. "Was this one yours?" He took a sip. "Just right. Nothing too exciting. We had a warehouse fire down on 18th last night."

"What happened?"

"Captain thinks it was arson," Henry answered as he pulled a hooded sweatshirt over his head. "I'm headed home. Have a good day boys. Don't forget the cookout Saturday!" he called, waving over his shoulder.

"That's right! The cookout! You're coming, right, Davey?" Jim asked, glancing over at his best friend.

Dave sighed as he looked over at them, sipping his coffee. "I don't know, hadn't really thought about it."

"Aww come on, Dave. You need to get out more," Leonard McKay complained as he grabbed his own coffee.

Dave sighed, "I went to almost every Yankees game this year."

"To root against them," laughed Len. "And to check out the guys."

Dave chuckled slightly, "First off, wasn't checking anyone out, and second I grew up in Ohio. It's against my religion to root for anyone but the Indians."

"You aren't religious, ass," Jim replied as he smirked. "Come on though, Dave. You and Ellie need to get out. The only way that girl is ever going to feel normal again is if she gets a chance at living her life."

Dave ran his hands over his face. "I'm not her father. I don't know how to be everything for her."

A clap on his shoulder startled him, and he looked up into the warm face of his Captain, Charlie O'Toole. "You're doing an excellent job, David. Don't think otherwise for a moment. Now gentleman, there's a giant rig outside waiting for a wash down and a full spectrum run through."

"Aye, aye Captain," the men replied, grinning as they set their coffee down and headed upstairs and outside.

"All I'm saying, Dave, is you haven't dated anyone since you broke up with Caleb six months ago, and then with…with all of this Ellie stuff you haven't had much of a chance to really be yourself. Come with me and Tori. We're considering getting a little football game going and everything."

"I'll think about it." Dave replied. He caught himself smiling warmly as his friends continued to banter for the next several minutes. He considered where he was today: talking openly about an ex-boyfriend he'd broken up with and speaking about his family. So much had changed in what felt like a short time span. But then fifteen years felt like a lifetime as well. Fifteen years…next year would be his fifteen-year reunion for high school. He couldn't help but feel mildly apprehensive about such a thought. He hadn't attended the ten-year reunion, though from what he'd heard it hadn't been much of a real turnout anyway. While he was now openly gay and proud of whom he was there was still a small part of him that was simply terrified to return to Lima, Ohio, a world where he'd been forced to hide himself every day, where he'd done terrible things to people, one person in particular.

His thoughts quickly turned to Kurt Hummel. He often wondered where the boy—man now—was and what he was doing. He crossed Dave's mind more than usual. Perhaps it was the break up

"Karofsky!" Jim's voice snapped him from his thoughts and he turned to find a face full of water. The rest of his team laughed as he chuckled and shook it off.

"You are so dead," Dave warned, unable to hide his grin.

o0o

Life, for Kurt Hummel, had changed in a heartbeat. One phone call, one shattered tumbler, one drunken rage and suddenly he wasn't Kurt Hummel-Anderson anymore. He was just Kurt Hummel. Secretly he was grateful for New York City's hustle and bustle because it meant no one really took the time to care about his trivial issues. No one took the time to notice that he ducked anytime someone passed, the hospital staff didn't ask, and he didn't tell as he continued to go about his life and practice as if nothing had ever happened. As if he hadn't been handed divorce papers, as if he hadn't fallen out of love so long ago.

Two years later, after all was said and done, after the pain had been swept under the carpet, the abuse ignored like the awkward family member at a reunion, and Blaine agreed to get help for his problems, Kurt sat at the café table staring out through the windows. He was only half listening to what his ex-husband was no doubt lecturing him about this time. He closed his eyes, knowing that any minute his little boy would come running through those doors after his first day of school and he'd be rid of his ex for another nine months. "Kurt, are you even listening?" Blaine snapped.

That voice had once held love, heat and passion. Now it was cold and dead, Kurt hoped for his son's sake that Blaine was indeed recovering from his time with the bottle. The agreement had been from the judge that Blaine sobered up, he had a year to get himself back under control, and then he could have custody of his son for a period of time during the year. He and Kurt had agreed that summer was the best time for that. As much as it pained Kurt to watch the downward spiral of his former partner, it hurt more to know that he'd never really seen it coming and couldn't have done a thing to stop it. Kurt finally settled his blue green eyes on the man he'd once loved. "Yes, Blaine, I'm listening. " He only got three months to spend with the child, really only two months if you counted the fact that the two weeks of June and the two weeks in August were spent with Kurt here, at home to finish up school and prepare for school. "I know how to handle questions from my son." His voice dangerously low, not wanting to attract more attention.

"Do you always have to be like this when we see each other?" Blaine demanded.

Kurt looked at the man with contention. "Please leave."

"Look, I'm just trying to tell you what we—"

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "I'm positive that my son will tell me all about his summer when he returns from school. You got to drop him off, Blaine. I even agreed to meet with you because I thought this was important. He's seven, so he's asking questions about gay people. How is that unusual? He's a curious kid. You're gay, Blaine. It should be pretty damn easy to figure out why he's asking about it." He was exhausted, it had been a long day at work, there had been some setbacks in his research, and on top of that he'd received an unexpected text from Blaine saying this was urgent. Kurt knew somewhere in the back of his mind he was being unreasonable but right now he didn't seem to care.

"I'm trying to help, Kurt, I don't want you to be side swiped by his questions." Blaine replied, trying to keep the aggravation out of his voice.

"I appreciate your concern, but I can handle it. Thank you." Kurt was frustrated especially when Blaine acted like he still cared. Because deep down inside, Kurt knew he really didn't. But that was his personality, offer a world of rationale and then follow little of it himself.

Kurt closed his eyes, letting the relief of surviving another visit from his ex wash over him. He wasn't miserable, or at least he tried to convince himself of that every few hours. It didn't really appear to be working well.

The bell of the small café door rang, signaling someone else had just come in and a bright voice broke his concentration. "Daddy!"He opened his eyes to see his seven-year-old being escorted by Noah Puckerman.

"Uncle Kurt!" Noah's daughter Becca also hurried over to him, both of them smothering Kurt in hugs and kisses.

"There's my little babies." He squeezed them both, smiling when Becca hopped off his lap a moment later. Chris on the other hand remained seated in his dad's lap, cuddling close to him for a moment. Kurt dropped a kiss to his son's forehead. "How was your first day?"

"Good. Did dad leave already?"

"Yep, you're all mine for nine months!" Kurt replied, smiling as his son threw his arms around his neck and hugged him close. He couldn't describe his relief when a year ago the judge had given him custody of the boy with visitation rights to Blaine. While Kurt didn't make as much money, he spent more time and paid far more attention to the child. He was twice as attentive and knew Blaine didn't pay proper attention to his son. He was happy to have the boy. He would feel better, however, knowing Blaine didn't have any custody rights.

"Why don't you and Becca go buy a snack?" He slipped his son a ten, and watched him and Becca hurry over to the counter they barely could see over.

Noah chuckled and took a seat across from his old friend. "How ya doin', Hummel?"

"Divorce sucks, Noah."

Noah smiled sadly. "Tell me about it. But hey, you got through the tough part, and you're a great dad. They made the right decision letting you have him. I'd still be happy to abuse my power as cop to kick his ass."

Kurt smiled, but it failed to reach his eyes. "Thank you, Noah, but I don't think that would do any good…for either of you." He paused and watched his son, "I just wish it didn't ever have to come to that."

"Listen, me, Cheryl and Becca are going on a picnic this weekend. You wanna come? It's for a benefit for some of the police officers and firemen in the city."

Kurt glanced up at his friend and smiled. "I wish you'd quit the force some days."

Noah shrugged. "You've been saying that for nearly fifteen years, Hummel. It ain't gonna happen. You wanna come, or not?"

Kurt smiled warmly at his friend. "I'll be there."

Kurt cherished the rare and odd friendship he had with Puck. It had been right after college when it happened, Kurt had been working at the hospital while still studying to finish his internship when Puck had been brought in with a head wound. Working the ER shift, Kurt had been the one on duty. He'd been so shocked that he'd almost forgotten how to do his job. But they took good care of Noah and he'd gotten back to his job within a week. They'd been friends ever since, setting up lunches once a week between Noah's cases or between Kurt's home visits. What had once been malice-turned-mutual respect in high school had long since developed into a surprising friendship that Kurt was overwhelmingly grateful for.

"Aba, did you tell Uncle Kurt about the picnic?" Becca asked as she crawled onto her father's lap, fidgeting as she got her sticky bun and sticky fingers all over him.

He chuckled and brushed a couple stray crumbs she'd dropped from his shoulder and seated her on his lap so she'd stop moving. He then playfully stole a bite of her sticky bun. "Hey!" she complained.

"Yes, Munchkin, I told him," Noah replied around his bite.

"Are you guys coming, Uncle Kurt?"

Kurt smirked as his son also climbed in his lap, however he'd had the foresight first to place both of his tasty treats, one for his father and one for him on the table before climbing up . "What do you think, Chris? Would you like to go?"

"Becky told me about the picnic at school. It'd be fun."

Becca cheered while Noah shook his head. He looked at Kurt and smiled. "Well, I think it's time to get a certain girl home and check to see if she has homework. Chris, stay cool." He playfully bumped fists with the boy before standing and looking at Kurt. "Call if you need anything, man."

"I'm fine, but thank you, Noah." His thoughts wandered to his son. Despite the separation nearly two years ago, Chris was turning into a fine young man..

"Daddy, can I ask you a question?"

Kurt sighed as he kissed his son's forehead once more . "Does this have something to do with the questioned you asked your father a week ago?" He waited until Chris nodded. Kurt glanced around the café. It was overly packed, even for a Wednesday, but this wasn't a conversation they needed to have here. "Let's head home, and you can ask me your burning question there, okay?"

"Okie dokie." The boy wiggled off his dad's lap, and Kurt handed him his pastry which he gladly dug into. Taking one of Chris' hands and gripping his bag in the other, Kurt made his was out of the shop and down the subway steps on the corner..

"So, tell me about your day," Kurt prompted, squeezing his son close as they sat on the subway on their way to the apartment in Queens.

"We had a new student today! Her name is Ellie! She's lots of fun, and her uncle is a fireman so she might be at the picnic too! And we're gonna start learning grammar, and it's really cool because she says I'm ahead by two levels in my reading level. What does that mean, Daddy? Is that good?"

Kurt chuckled, "It is good to be smart, Chris. It means you're reading ahead of your peers. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Okay." Chris finished his dessert and held his hands out to his father, who pulled a napkin out of his pocket and quickly wiped them off.

Twenty minutes later, Kurt was unlocking the door to their apartment and letting his son hurry inside. He closed and locked it behind them. Slipping off his shoes, happy to be home, he stepped into the living room and sighed at the sight of the pictures decorating the house. Most were of just Chris or Chris and him, or of pictures of Chris, himself and his family back in Ohio. Pictures of Blaine had long since disappeared. There were only about two in the house, and mostly because they'd been happy at the time.

Kurt stepped out of the living room doorway and into the kitchen across the hallway, smiling at the sight of Chris already working diligently on his homework. Kurt had a rule: as long as Chris finished all his homework first, they could watch any movie, or play any game, or even go out somewhere to get ice cream before Chris went to bed. It ensured that Chris knew school came first. Kurt's father had always done that with him after the death of his mother.

He sighed at that. He hated that he was going to be raising his son as a single parent. His father had hated it as well, and it didn't seem fair to the kid.

He jumped as his cell phone rang. "I got it!" Chris cheered as he snapped up and grabbed the phone. "GRANDPA!"

Kurt chuckled as he heard his father laugh on the other side. "How's my favorite grandson!"

"I'm your only grandson, Grandpa!"

Kurt shook his head, rolled his eyes and headed to the fridge to figure out what to make for dinner. Since they'd had a little celebratory snack, Kurt figured a smaller healthy dinner would be best. Only half listening to his son's conversation with his dad, Kurt went about quickly making some cold cut sandwiches on wheat and poured a glass of milk for Chris. He pushed a plate front of him several minutes later. "Eat your dinner, and let me talk to Grandpa," he ordered gently.

"Kay, Daddy wants to talk to you. Love you Grandpa."

"Love you too, half pint,"

Kurt accepted the phone from his son and glanced at the boy. "I'm going into the living room. You all right for now?"

"Yep."

Kurt nodded and headed back into the living room and sat on the couch. "Hey, Dad."

"There's my boy. How ya holdin' up?"

"Same old, same old. You never told me being a single father was this hard."

Burt sighed on the other line, glancing over at Carole who was reading next to him on the couch. "You never asked, Kurt. It was hard kiddo, but I wouldn't have traded a moment of the time I had with you. You know that."

"I know."

"Kurt, the first couple years apart are the hardest, it's true. Granted your situation is different than mine. But…You're alone when you don't want to be, you're missing the person you fell in love with and you're struggling to make sure you do the best job you can. There's nothing wrong with that, Kurt. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks."

"You want us to come for a visit soon?" Burt asked .Hearing the tone in his son's voice broke his heart that he couldn't be there all the time.

"Only if you can," Kurt replied, feeling a familiar tightness in his. He was a grown man now, thirty-three. He had a son; it meant he had to be the strong one, just like he'd practiced all his life. "Tell you what, Carole and I will discuss a little mini vacation, maybe a few days in October for Chris' birthday, okay? Sound okay?"

"I'd like that. So, how's Finn?"

Burt knew a diversion when he heard one, and he wasn't going to turn it down. His son's divorce was a sore spot right now, and no one blamed him. He'd been sideswiped by the unexpected. "Finn is Finn," Burt joked. His step-son was a successful teacher and football coach now at McKinley High School, happily married to his college sweetheart, Nancy and they had a daughter. "He misses you, asks about you every time they come over. Oh and he always complains you talk to Nancy more than him."

Kurt laughed because it was true. Even on his worst days when he couldn't talk to his dad, Kurt called Nancy or Finn and chatted with them. Especially so in the past two years. Usually he got Nancy though because she was a nurse and tended to work a later shift so someone could always be home with Laura. "I'm sure he's positively tortured by that, considering I spent three hours with him on the phone last week when he was at home alone with Laura who had the flu."

"Oh, he called you too," chuckled Burt. "He called Carole in a frenzy unsure what to do with a child who had a fever. I don't know how this boy is going to survive being a father."

Kurt laughed as he heard Carole playfully smack Burt in the arm. "Is Carole there?"

"What I'm suddenly not good enough for you either?"

"I love you, Dad."

Burt grew serious, "I know, kiddo. I love you too. You're a damn good father and don't you ever forget that. I'll call you tomorrow after I set something up with Charlie at the shop for when we'll come up. I'm going to go get something to eat. Here's Carole."

"Bye, Dad."

"Hey sweetie," Carole greeted him a moment later.

"So, what's the newest gossip around town?"

Fifteen minutes later, Kurt hung up the phone feeling significantly better. Carole was a godsend. He knew that when life got tough, he'd always have Carole now. She didn't completely fill the hole his mother had left, but she'd done a damn good job of making sure it was a little smaller.

"Daddy?" Kurt glanced over the edge of the couch where he'd been slouched against and saw Chris standing there smiling at him. Chris had Rachel's smile. Kurt sighed. He'd done many things in this world wrong, but agreeing to father a child with an old friend so that he and Blaine could have a child was one thing he'd done right. And when Kurt had mentioned casually to Rachel that they'd started looking for a surrogate she'd jumped at the opportunity. The only difference was she wanted to be a part of the child's life. So every few weekends when she wasn't busy with a show she spent a week with Chris.

"What's up, Peanut?" he asked as Chris scooted onto the couch beside him, leaning into his father.

"Can I ask you my question now?"

Kurt had completely forgotten, "I'm sorry, I told you could ask when we got home. Ask away, Peanut." He'd been calling Chris that since the first sonogram when he'd looked like a tiny little peanut. It was a nick name Chris had come to love and expect from him.

"I was at camp this summer." Kurt had hoped that Chris would've liked the summer camp he and Blaine had chosen for him. Clearly they'd misjudged the decision a little "And one of the kids called me weird cause I had two daddies. He said nobody has two dads…How come he said that? Doesn't mom have two dads?"

Kurt nodded. "Christopher, come here." Patting his lap, he waited until his son was in his arms before he explained the tough question. One he'd always expected. "Chris, there are lots of kinds of love in the world. Remember how I explained that when you were a little younger and you asked if it was okay to love mommy as much as you loved me and dad?"

"Uh huh."

"So these different types of love, they can come in all forms, the love of a grandson and a grandpa, the love of a father and a son. The love of a man and a woman, two women and two men, those loves though, the last three…those are some of the most special loves, Chris."

"How come?"

"Because it's something that is completely unexplainable, it's fulfilling in a way unlike anything else you'll ever experience. I know it doesn't make much sense now, but you'll understand one day. But, even though it may seem like there aren't many people who have two mommies or two daddies, there are lots out there and what's important is that they are all loved as much as they can be. Do you feel loved?"

Chris nodded and grinned from ear to ear, just like his mommy, Kurt was thrilled that he'd gotten Rachel's smile, she had a beautiful one. "Yeah!"

"Then that's what's important. And another way to think of it kiddo, is there are lots of kids who have just a mommy or a daddy, or a grandma and grandpa, but you have three sets of grandparents a mommy, a daddy and Another daddy, so you've got like three times as much love."

"I do!" cheered the boy.

Kurt smiled warmly as he hugged his son close for another long moment. "And I do love you, Chris. Listen buddy, I know these past couple years have been pretty tough on you, and don't think I haven't noticed how torn you are when you have to go away for the summer. But Chris, don't you ever think for a single moment that we split up because of you, okay? Your father and I love you so much Chris. And if there's anything good that came out of our life together it was you."

"Why doesn't Dad spend as much time with me as you?" Chris was picking at the edge of his shirt.

"I don't know, Peanut. I think it's because somewhere deep down inside he feels as guilty as I do for putting you through the past two years of pain. Maybe it's because he's a little angry. Maybe it's because he's afraid to hurt you the way his dad hurt him."

"Grandpa Bill is nice to me."

Kurt chuckled and hugged the boy again, "I know he is, Chris. It's because you're his only grandkid. He does love you, but he struggles with his son being gay. That's not your father's fault, or my fault or even your fault. It's something only Grandpa Bill can cope and deal with and resolve. But I think your dad worries that he can't be a good father to you because he didn't have a very good one."

"Oh."

Kurt studied his little boy for a long moment, before tilting his chin up, "Something else on your mind, Peanut?"

"Am I gay, Daddy?"

Kurt laughed slightly. That he hadn't expected…at least not yet, "I have no idea, kid. You tell me, do you like girls or boys?"

Chris made a face. "Girls have cooties!"

Kurt highly doubted that was his son's sexual preference considering most boys felt that way. "Tell you what, Chris. Why don't you wait a few more years before you start thinking about whom or what you like? You've got plenty of time and your old man isn't ready for some of those discussions yet."

Chris smiled as he leaned against his dad's chest. "Grandpa says we're a lot alike."

"Who?"

"You and me. He says we're like you two were."

"We are."

Chris leaned his head all the way back and studied his daddy. "You're my best friend." Turning, and wrapping his arms tight around Kurt's neck, Chris clung onto him for a long moment.

"You're mine too," Kurt replied, hugging him. He knew his son was overly affectionate, but to be fair both Rachel, he, and even Blaine were all affectionate people. Kurt was positive, despite some little quirks, that Chris wasn't gay. The only interest Chris had in other boys was playing football and sports with them.