Something - Quinn Fabray

Chapter 10

The next morning, Ryan walked down the stairs for breakfast after his jog. He found his dad Hiram sitting at the table eating some toast and reading the paper. He looked up when Ryan came in. "Good morning," Hiram said absently.

"Hi," Ryan answered vaguely, pulling out some cereal and a bowl.

Hiram put down the paper and looked at his son. "Who brought you home last night?"

Ryan froze. Shelby had dropped him off last night after dinner at Breadstix. He hadn't thought that his father might have been watching. He still hadn't told either of his dads about meeting Shelby because he didn't know how they would react. He silently debated with himself. Did he want to get into this right now? After a few more moments of dithering, he made his decision. Might as well get it over with now, while his dad was interested. Hiram had always been the calmer one of his two parents and it would likely be easier to talk to him first.

"It was Shelby Corcoran. She's the coach of Vocal Adrenaline," he said guardedly. "Do you know her?" Ryan watched his dad closely, wanting to see if Hiram would deny it. To his surprise, Hiram simply looked right back at him, blue eyes meeting brown.

"I think you know the answer to that," Hiram sighed tiredly. He'd been dreading this since their meeting with Shelby several weeks ago. "Did she tell you?"

Ryan bristled. He was still very upset at his parents for keeping this secret from him. "No. I looked at my adoption records in your study," he boldly admitted. "You should have told me."

"You never asked."

"You didn't think I'd want to know who my birth mother was?" Ryan countered angrily. "And I did ask! You two just said she was a surrogate and that was that! You wouldn't even tell me her name! If you don't want me around, didn't you think that maybe you could have pointed me in her direction? At least she likes having me around, and she lives just half an hour away, for goodness' sakes!"

Hiram blinked, surprised at the intensity of his son's reaction. He suddenly realized that he didn't know what to expect from his son, because he didn't know his son. He'd become so engrossed with his job and other things that he hadn't been paying attention. Now that he thought about it he couldn't remember when he'd last had a real conversation with Ryan. There was one point in his son's rant that he thought could address though.

"What do you mean we don't want you around, of course we want you around!"

Ryan laughed disbelievingly. All of the frustration he'd felt toward his parents and their lack of attention for the past three years or more was now rising to the top, and he just couldn't keep it all in anymore. "Really, dad? Really? You're never home, you're always out at work or whatever it is you do. And when you are home, you never talk to me! I could talk and talk forever but I don't think you listen, you don't even try! I told you yesterday at breakfast that I had something coming up in a week. Do you even remember what it was?"

Hiram guiltily racked his brain trying to remember what had happened at breakfast. He'd been watching the news...he remembered Ryan had said something about one of his school activities...more guilt flooded into him as he realized that he didn't know exactly what activities Ryan was into. He knew it was arts related; drama club, choir, something that involved performing.

Ryan sighed, knowing his dad had no clue what he was talking about. "Shelby told me about the contract. She said she tried to get out of it but you wouldn't let her."

Hiram shook his head. "We told her when she contacted us that she could have contact with you as long as she didn't tell you who she was."

Ryan gaped at him. "What are you talking about? She said the contract included a part that said she couldn't contact me until I was 18, or unless I found her," he said distractedly. "Wait, what do you mean she called you?"