Author's Note: This story is based of a prompt from the Glee_Angst_Meme on Livejournal. This is the prompt: "Mr. Schue is kind of pissed that one of his students would call him at three a.m. on a school night. He knows what he promised, but it's a school night, and he's tired, and where the hell does this kid get off breaking the pledge, anyway? But he answers, because he promised. It's Puck. And Puck says that he has a gun to his head."

Will Schuester slapped impatiently at his alarm clock in attempt to make the noise stop. It wasn't until the third time that he was sure he'd hit the button that he realized the noise wasn't his alarm. It was his phone. He blinked sleepily at the clock only to confuse himself more. 3:27 AM. Who on earth calls somebody at 3:27 AM? Oh. His kids. He'd given them his cell phone number. But it was a school night! How on earth .. why on earth had one of them gotten drunk on a school night? And they'd only signed the pledge a week ago! How could they break it that fast?

It didn't matter how annoyed he was though. He'd promised them he'd come get them and if he waited any longer the phone would stop ringing, so he reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked whoever was on the other end, hoping to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Mr. Schoue..." a voice slurred, obviously drunk.

Puck. Honestly, it wasn't that surprising that it was Puck.

"Where are you, Puck?" he asked the boy

"Need a favor." his student replied.

"I know, I'll come get you. Just tell me where you are." he said again.

"No. Don't want you to come. Need you to promise me somethin'." the young man insisted.

"Puck, it's not safe for you to be out this late, I need to get you home." he said as calmly as he could.

"Not out. Already home." was the reply.

Well, that was unexpected. Why on earth had the boy called him then?

"What do you need?" he asked.

"Promise me..." Puck trailed off.

"Promise you what?" he prompted.

"Promise... Don' let Sarah stay with her. Keep her safe." the boy responded.

"Sarah? Your sister? Puck, what's going on?" he questioned his student.

"Mom don' like us. Not safe here. Nobody to protect her when I'm gone." Puck answered, sounded worried.

"Puck? What do you mean when your gone? What's going on over there, Puck?" Will asked, trying his best not to sound as frantic as he was beginning to feel.

"Sarah's at a frien's. Don' think mom even know's there's school 'morrow. 's good though. Don' want Sarah to fin' me." Puck answered with an air of finality.

Will's heart felt like it was beating out of his chest as he quickly pulled his shoes on. If Puck meant what it sounded like, he needed to keep his student talking and he needed to get to him fast. He was extremely thankful that he'd dropped Puck off at home before, after a performance.

"What do you mean?" he asked, hoping this was all a huge misunderstanding.

"Got the gun. 'll be quick. Tha's good." was the reply that scared him more then anything he'd ever heard in his life.

"No, Puck. It's not good. You don't want to do this." he said as he ran out the door.

"Yeah, I do. Jus' a loser. Ne'er gonna be anything else. Nobody cares." the young man said.

"Yes, we do. I care. Your friends care." Will insisted.

"No, you don'. You care 'bout Finn. Maybe the others. Not me." the boy said, breaking Will's heart.

"I do care Puck. I know I haven't shown it well, but I do. And your friends do too." he told his student as he pulled out of the driveway.

"Don' really have frien's no more. Jus' Artie. Can' even protect him. Better withou' me." Puck insisted.

"All the Glee kids care about you, Puck. Remember what they said at the beginning of the year? You guys are family." he told Puck.

"No, not me. Wen' to juvie. Nobody cared. Jus' needed money for Sarah. Needed the water back." was the response.

"Oh, Puck." is all he could manage to say to that. How badly had he failed this kid? Puck didn't even seem to hear him as he rambled on.

"Wasn' enough money. Slept with ... with five more ladies, to pay ren' n' pow'r. Wasn' enough. Sarah needed the water back." the teenager said.

"You - you slept with five woman?" Will asked, trying to hide the slight horror in his voice.

"Clean the pools. Not why they pay me." the boy replied.

In that moment, Will felt like he was officially the world biggest idiot. He'd known this boy for a year and half. Puck was prostituting himself to pay the bills for his family and nobody had realized it. He hadn't realized it. He took a deep breath before replying.

"You were protecting your sister. I understand. I'm so sorry I didn't do anything to help you before." he told the young man.

"Don' deserve it. Hurt Artie, hurt Kurt, Rachel, Finn ... e'ryone. Can' even protect 'em now n' make it better." Puck said

"They forgave you, Puck. They understand. It's ok." he told the boy as he tried to figure out why on earth the drive seemed to be taking so long.

"'s not ok. Ne'er gonna be ok. Lost Beth, Quinn doesn' love me, Lauren doesn' love me, mom dosn' love me, can' e'en take care of Sarah. Jus' a Lima Loser. Please, Mr. Schoue ... don' let Sarah stay with mom. Don' let Artie or Rachel or anyone have to leave like Kurt. Take care of 'em." the boy pleaded.

If he hadn't been speeding before, Will knew he was now. He was terrified he wouldn't make it in time.

"You're going to help me take care of them, ok? It'll be ok, Puck. Things will get better. I promise." he told his student, desperately hoping to just keep him talking until he got to the boys house.

"No, won'. Can' do nothin' right. Better without me." the teen said just as Will turned on to his street.

"Nobody would ever be better without you. You might not be able to beat up the bullies that mess with the others, but I've never once seen Artie get slushied when he's with you. Just being there helps. You've got an amazing singing voice, I'm hoping you'd like to have another solo soon. You could really go far musically, Puck. You have a great sense of humor, and I know everyone in the club cares about you. I'm sorry none of us realized what you were going through, but I know we would all be devastated if something happened to you. And so would Sarah. Puck, I'm outside your house. I need you to come to the door. I need you to talk to me face-to-face. Ok?" Will said.

He got out of his car to wait. All he could do now was hope and pray that Puck would come to the door.

"No ... jus' need ... need it to be over." Puck replied.

"Please, Puck. Just come to the door. Please." he said, not hiding the fact that he was begging.

He held his breath when their was no reply. It seemed to take forever until the door opened. The teenager walked slowly over to the car still holding the gun. It wasn't until the boy was just a few feet away that the lights from the car made it bright enough for Will to see the bruise on Puck's face.

"Puck..." he breathed as he slowly reached out and took the gun away from his student. He was amazed at how little a fight the boy put up to keep it.

"What happened Puck?" he asked when he finally remembered how to speak again.

"Mom wasn' happy 'bout my grades. Can' stop her. Not right to hit a girl." the teen responded.

"It's not right for her to hit you either." was all Will could think of to say.

Puck's eyes traveled back to the gun that Will was now holding.

"You're not gonna let me, are you?" the boy asked.

"No, I'm not." his teacher responded.

"Don' know what I'm gonna do then. Can' do this anymore." Puck said.

"I'm gonna help you." Will said.

Puck simply looked at his bare feet.

"Sit in the car with me, it's cold out here." Will told his student.

Puck nodded and Will watched him get into the passengers seat before he walked around got in on the drivers side. He didn't have a clue what to do with the gun in his hands. The gun he'd just barely managed to stop the boy beside him from using to kill himself. He simply held it. It seemed much to dangerous to let go.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asked.

There was a long pause before the teen nodded.

"Ok. I'm going to take you to the hospital and then we're going to make sure that you and Sarah end up somewhere safe. Does that sound like a good start?" he asked the boy.

Puck simply nodded again.

"Alright. You're going to be ok now. I'll make sure of it." he told the young man.

There was no responce. Will decided he would just have to prove it to him.