Title: Shock

Author: Lenora

Pairing,Character(s): eventual Dave/Kurt, Mr. Berry/Mr. Berry, eventual Puckerberry

Rating: M

Word Count: 1,987

Spoilers: Up to Furt, AU after that.

Summary: Funny what a walk through a parking garage can do…

Shock

Chapter 1

Dave Karofsky walked through the parking garage attached to his father's office. Part of his father's condition for him returning to McKinley had been sessions with his father's partner, the downside of having a psychiatrist for a father.

He was texting Azimio as he walked towards the elevator when he tripped over something. He slammed into the concrete hard. "Son of a bi-" he cut off when he saw what he tripped over a foot…a foot attached to a body. "Oh shit, Mr. Berry!" Dave yelled, crawling over to the lawyer whose office shared the same building as his father's office.

Hiram Berry didn't move when called though Dave figured it could have been because of the bruises on his face and the blood under his head. "Shit," Dave breathed, reaching for his phone to call for an ambulance. After he made the call, he reached for the phone that was resting next to Mr. Berry's leg. He searched through the contacts until he found the listing for Leroy Berry.

"Hey Babe," a fond voice rang out of the speaker.

"Mr. Berry?" Dave asked, his voice shaking.

"Who is this?"

"Uh, Dave Karofsky. I was walking through the parking garage and I found Mr. Berry unconscious. I called the ambulance but I wanted to let you know. I go to school with your daughter."

"That's why your name sounded familiar. Rachel has mentioned you before," Leroy said before sucking in a shaky breath. "Is-is Hiram okay?"

"He's breathing, but other than that all I know is CPR. I can hear the sirens now," Dave said, his hands shaking. God, this is why I don't want to come out. How did this happen!

Dave held the phone next to Mr. Berry's ear so that he could hear Leroy's voice as they waited for the paramedics. He could honestly say that he was freaking out and he was convinced that he was in shock as well.

"Damn it boy, where are-OHMYGOD!" Paul Karofsky yelled, coming upon his son kneeling next to the unconscious man in the parking garage. "David, what happened?"

"I don't know Dad, I found him like this," Dave whispered, the shaking starting to become worse. "I called for help, they should be here soon." He was cut off by the arrival of the ambulance. He pulled the phone back when the paramedics knelt by the man. "Mr. Berry? The paramedics are here. I'll meet you at St. Rita's so you can have his things."

"Thank you David," Leroy said, his voice shaking as he hung up the phone.

Paul helped his son move back a bit for the paramedics and he frowned when he saw how pale and clammy Dave was. "Come on son."

"No, have to get to the hospital. Have to give Mr. Berry his phone," Dave said, breathing rapidly as he stared blankly at Hiram.

"Shit Dave, I think you're going into shock. We'll go to the hospital," Paul reassured his son, not being able to stop himself from trying to figure out why the boy would be reacting like this. He just knew that he didn't like the sight of his strong son almost passing out. He crab-walked Dave over to the boy's car and grabbed his own keys from his pocket and unlocked the door with the spare that he kept for safety. Once he got his son into the car and buckled in, he walked back over to where the paramedics were finishing up strapping Hiram Berry onto a stretcher. He picked up his son's cell phone and anything else that was lying on the ground. Paul blinked in shock when he saw what the background of his son's cell phone was…a photo of Kurt Hummel. Suddenly, a lot of things made sense.

XxXxX

An hour and a half had passed and Dave was finally coming out of the daze of shock. He looked down at his hands and noticed that he was still clutching Mr. Berry's cell phone. Deciding to not wait for his father or a nurse to come back and tell him he could go, Dave climbed off of the ER bed he had been perched on and ventured out in search of that mysterious voice on the other side of the phone.

As it turned out, he didn't have to look far before the familiar screech of Rachel Berry assaulted his ears. He winced subtly. He had almost forgotten that the girl was involved in this situation and he vaguely remembered Mr. Berry mentioning her while they were on the phone.

Leroy Berry, it seemed, had been trying to reign in his daughter when Dave came upon them. "Shh, little star, Daddy's going to be fine," he hummed, trying to calm Rachel down.

"Mr. Berry?" Dave asked quietly, not wanting to intrude, but also wanting to make sure the man got the phone back. Both Berry's heads whipped towards him at his voice.

"What are you doing here Karofsky?" Rachel snapped, figuring that she had an easy target to take her frustrations out on.

"He's the one that found Daddy, star," Leroy said, trying to soothe the girl. He stepped foreword and couldn't help himself. He threw his arms around the teen. "Thank you," he sobbed. "I don't care why you were there or what you've done before, but thank you for saving my husband."

Dave traded shocked looks with Berry, not being able to process the fact that Leroy Berry was hugging him and crying on his shoulder. He awkwardly patted the man on the back. "You're welcome," he said, "but I was just doing what anyone would do."

"You'd be surprised," Rachel snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked, holding up the phone for Leroy to take. "Here's Mr. Berry's phone. I must have had a good grip on it because I didn't lose it on the drive over or when they were checking me over." He patted his pants pocket. "Hell, I don't even know where my own phone is right now."

"Daddy was lying there for over 40 minutes," Rachel said, suddenly seeming to shrink on herself. "Ton's of people must have walked by him and just left him there."

Dave just stared at her in shock. He knew the general population of Lima were homophobic assholes, he'd had plenty of people to imitate to learn the process from, but to leave someone bleeding on the ground and just walk on by? That was seriously cold.

"What's he doing here?" growled the voice of Noah Puckerman from behind Dave.

Dave turned around and stared at the reformed bully in shock. It wasn't exactly the fact that Puckerman was at the hospital that shocked him, he knew that Puckerman saw Berry as kind of a Jew ally, but the fact that he was there in one of those Jew headcap thingies is what shocked him. The last Dave knew, Puckerman didn't go to temple.

"Noah," Berry sighed, going up to hug the jock. "Why are you wearing a yarmulke?"

"Kurt called me and told me about your dad. One of the things he had me do was round up the women at temple to help with your dad's car and your house. Mom made me grab this before I left…and I might have said a quick prayer for Mr. Berry," he whispered. He oof'ed in surprise when both Rachel and Leroy hugged him in tandem. "Kurt's on his way, so you better get out of here," he warned Dave, glaring at him.

Dave nodded. He didn't want a confrontation. He turned and walked back towards where his bed had been, trying to stop the feeling of giddiness that was welling up at the thought of Kurt being in the same building as him again.

XxXxX

Dave couldn't help but sigh again as he received another lecture from the nurse for getting up before he had been allowed to. He stared at his hands as he felt his dad's stare on the side of his face. When the nurse finally left them, he braced himself for the lecture he was sure was coming.

"So…is this the reason your grades have been falling?" Paul asked, shoving Dave's phone with the secret background lit up under Dave's face.

Dave blanched. So far he had successfully avoided giving his father's partner any idea about his sexuality, but it looked like the cat was out of the bag now. So all he could do was nod.

"Why didn't you tell me David?"

At that, Dave snapped. "Tell you what Dad? That I've been crushing on the school's punching bag ever since I realized what tits were and that I didn't want anything to do with them? That the one thing I'm most afraid of in the world is being outed and going through what he does? What all of them do in this town? That could have been me Dad! Mr. Berry was lying there for over 40 minutes Dad. And no one, not one fucking person, stopped to help him. Hell, I didn't notice he was there until I tripped over his foot. All I had to do was wait a few months more, then I could get out of this hellhole and away from the rest of the Lima Losers on the hockey and football teams." To his horror, Dave could feel tears begin to well up in his eyes. "And in trying to fit in, all I did was scare away the one person that could understand what I was feeling."

Paul shook himself out of the shock he was feeling to throw his arms around his son. "Shh, I'm sorry you felt that you couldn't tell me," he crooned.

"David?" asked a voice that Dave never thought he'd hear invade his hospital room.

"Berry?" Dave asked, looking at the girl in surprise. Just a half hour ago, she was looking at him like he was the scum of the earth.

She shifted awkwardly after a minute of them staring at each other. "I came to apologize. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that but with your history of bullying those that are "different", I couldn't help but assume you were here to mock us. I uh," she looked over at Paul for a second, "couldn't help but overhear what you said. And I just wanted to tell you, that while I do not approve of your methods of trying to blend in, just for the record, Kurt isn't the only one that could understand. I have extensive experience with the community even though I am not gay myself," she pointed out.

Dave stared at her in shock. Though he didn't personally like her most of the time, she had a point. With two gay dads, she would have been a good person to talk to about his situation. There was just one problem. "One thing though Berry, you're a blabbermouth. Everyone knows it," Dave pointed out.

Dave could see her take a couple breaths to calm herself down. "That might be true, but if there's one thing I know, it's only up to the person involved when and if they decide to come out to the hulking parasites that make up the student body. I would have kept your secret."

Dave nodded. "Fair enough Berry. Can you prove it though? I'm not ready for them to know."

Berry nodded. "On one condition." Oh great, she's going to ask for something like me stopping the slushies, isn't she? Dave thought. "You call me Rachel."

Dave nodded. "I can do that."

Ber-Rachel smiled softly and walked up to Dave. "By the way, thank you."

"Anytime, Rachel, anytime." And Dave was shocked to realize that he meant it.

TBC