New Directions

Nothing much had changed.

Doctors came in, and doctors came out, looking grave.

The acupuncturist came and went.

But nothing changed.

Burt didn't move, and didn't respond.

He had visits, and sometimes people prayed.



But nothing changed.

Burt was still at work but there was one thing he wanted to do before he left. He and Carole had both been so busy with work and the kids going back to school that they'd hardly had much time together lately. He was going to make sure that they saw each other this week, at least.

He dialed Carole's number and hoped she hadn't left for work yet.

Burt was in his element.

True, there were only the two of them in the family (at least at the moment), but Burt had always loved to grill. It was the one sort of cooking he did best. And he had an immense grill, he'd had it since he'd gotten married (it was a gift from his mother), and it still looked and worked great.

And it was a beautiful day for a cookout, sunny, breezy and not-too-hot. He couldn't have ordered a better day.

It seemed that it was Finn's lucky night, because as Puck was passing the liquor store on the way to 7-11, he saw that there was someone new working the register. The clueless newbie fell for his fake ID, easy, so Puck didn't have to settle for conning a stranger into buying him a beer, and he made his way to the Hudsons' with a six-pack and a bottle of Cuervo in a plastic bag, hidden under a couple jumbo bags of potato chips.

"Here I come to save the day," he muttered under his breath as he walked up to the Hudsons' front door and rang the bell.

Burt hadn't talked about...this stuff in years, not since his Dad died and his Mom couldn't even bear to look at a picture of him without crying. But it was always in his head, and even though he hadn't told Kurt, he was always thinking about it.

But he hadn't spoken about it since the funeral, twenty-three years ago. And he certainly wasn't ready to have it analyzed by his counselor yet.

He didn't really want to talk about it now, either, but he really sort of...needed to.

Which was why he was on Carole's doorstep at a time during the week that he normally wouldn't be there, knocking on the door.

The Glee picnic was at noon that day, the old football field cleared for the day as the large grill that had been ordered was pushed into the enter of the white lines, picnic tables set up and a some coolers put out as Tanner made sure things were all in order. He'd gotten all the meat just an hour before, the cooler stinking of it as he turned the grill on and waited for someone, anyone who actually knew what they were doing to show up.

Burt was definitely not a fashion plate, in any way, shape or form, but there were a few things he was picky about when it came to going on a date with Carole.

Number one, the truck must be spotless. His truck wasn't nearly as fancy as Kurt's was, but it was cleaner than it was during his regular daily life. He'd detail cleaned it after work.

Number two, even though he was still dressed in his normal sort of clothes, all of the clothes he wore were his newer and less worn ones, even to the ball cap he wore.

Number three, shower and shave after work, which was pretty normal...but even more so on date night.

And, finally, when he pulled up to her house, he stopped the car, turned off the ignition, and went up and knocked on the door. Honking the horn was for teenagers. And Burt would be a gentleman.

So Burt knocked on the door, looking up towards the rain gutters absently as he waited for Carole to answer. He wondered if he should come over sometime to clean them out for her...

( When you're by yourself and there's no one else... )