Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel and Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

A/n: Of course I can't go very long without starting something new. This isn't one of the ideas I've mentioned in previous author's notes… it's a re-write of something I've been working on for about six months. I hope you enjoy!

Burt Hummel wasn't normally one to obsessively look out the window of the house when someone was parked out front. Of course, normally he didn't recognize the vehicles sitting outside his house. "Kurt… is there some reason your boyfriend has been parked in front of our house for the past fifteen minutes without coming to the door? He does know that it's Friday night family dinner, doesn't he?" Burt watched as his son looked up from the fashion magazine he had been reading.

"Blaine's supposed to be at home tonight… his aunt and uncle from Toronto are coming down in the morning to take him to the Caymans with their family…"

"I'm pretty sure I'd recognize his car by now… it's a black Civic with a big scratch on the passenger fender. It's been sitting in our driveway enough in the past few months." Burt got up from his chair as Kurt walked over to the window.

"It does look like his car… I'm going to go find out what's going on…" Burt shook his head and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"I'll go and get him to come inside. You stay in here, just in case there's something going on…" Burt wasn't comfortable with the situation; Blaine was a good kid, and he'd always been a gentleman – he came to the door whenever he picked Kurt up, he was polite, he took the time to get to know the whole family. So if he was just sitting outside the house without making a move to come in, something wasn't right.

Burt knocked on the driver's window of the car, immediately recognizing his son's boyfriend. It was strange that the boy didn't respond, and Burt opened the door once he realized that it was unlocked. Blaine still didn't respond. "Any particular reason you're sitting in your car in front of my house without coming inside, Blaine?" It wasn't until Burt actually reached out and touched the boy's shoulder that Blaine turned and looked at him. Burt felt his eyes widen as he saw the large purplish-black bruise that was forming on the right side of Blaine's face. "Shit… come on, kid, let's get you inside…"

Burt wasn't really sure how he managed to get Blaine back into the house; the boy didn't seem to be capable of getting there under his own power. Burt pushed the front door open. "Someone get some ice…"

"Oh my God…" Burt was hardly surprised that Kurt immediately came over and took Blaine's entire weight, leading the boy over to the couch to sit down. "What happened?" Burt watched in silence as Blaine tried to open his mouth to speak, but he stopped pretty quickly and moaned in pain. "Dad…"

"We should probably take him to the hospital… that's one hell of a bruise," Burt replied. He didn't know what else to say because he didn't know exactly what was wrong with Blaine. He watched as Carole brought out an ice pack wrapped in a towel and handed it over to Kurt.

"I don't know how much good that will do… his face is already swollen. But it might help with the pain, at least to some degree." Burt shook his head as Blaine jerked away from the ice as Kurt touched it to his face.

"I wonder if his jaw is dislocated or something…" Burt was surprised to see Blaine nod at that comment, the first time the boy had actually responded to anything any of them had said. Burt looked around for a moment and grabbed a pad and pen, handing them to the boy. The way Blaine favored his left hand made it clear to Burt that his injuries went beyond the bruising on his face.

He was drunk. He didn't know what he was doing.

The words on the paper made Burt sigh. He could guess who Blaine meant with that comment pretty easily, given some of their previous conversations. "That's no excuse for him to hit you, Blaine…"

I know.

"Oh God… it was your dad…" Burt sighed as Blaine nodded in response to Kurt's question.

"We need to get him to a doctor."

"I'm going with him." Burt nodded at Kurt's words.

"This is going to take a long time, Kurt… we don't know how serious this is. It might be tomorrow or later before they let him go."

"I don't care. I'll bring a book…"

"Help me get him to the truck." Burt knew that he wasn't going to talk his son out of going with them. Once Kurt had made up his mind about something, it was next to impossible to make him change his mind.

Burt made sure they had the pen and paper as they made their way to the truck. Given the fact that Blaine couldn't actually speak to them because of his jaw, Burt had a feeling that it was probably a good idea to give him some way to communicate.

Under normal circumstances Burt might have felt odd about having Kurt and his boyfriend alone in the back seat, but it seemed like a better idea to let Blaine sit in the back seat with Kurt in case something happened on the ride over to St. Rita's. Burt could hear Blaine whimper as Kurt tried to put the ice on his face again. "It'll help…"

"Kurt… don't worry about the ice if it's making his jaw hurt. I don't think you're really going to do him any good at this point."

"I have to try to do something… his face…"

"Isn't going to look better any time soon. And it's probably only going to get worse before it gets better," Burt replied. He tried not to watch the boys in his rearview mirror, but he couldn't help but glance back at them every once in a while. He couldn't help but smile slightly as he saw his son trying to comfort the curly-haired boy. Burt could see the love in his son's eyes as he whispered softly to Blaine, gently playing with his curls and rubbing his back in small circles.

Even though it was early, the emergency room was already starting to get busy because most doctors' offices had already closed. Burt had expected to be kept waiting for a while, and he was surprised when the triage nurse took one look at Blaine's face and immediately brought them back. Getting through the basic information was easy enough; Kurt knew most of the information about Blaine, and the boy kept his insurance card in his wallet. Explaining what had happened took a bit longer, thanks to the fact that Blaine had to write out everything that had happened. Burt didn't finish reading it all – the part of it he did read was enough to make him sick.

"I'm required by law to report his injuries. If his father did this…"

"I know," Burt replied, sighing. He glanced over at Blaine, who seemed worried about the idea of the police getting involved. Blaine was squeezing Kurt's hand a little too tightly. "They have to do it, Blaine. The police and social services have to get involved, or you'll just have to go back home when they let you out of the hospital." Blaine's hand moved quickly across the bottom of the page, before he handed the pad of paper over to Burt.

I have nowhere else to go. The only family I have is in Canada…

"It'll get sorted out later. You don't need to worry about all of that right now."

"We'll figure it all out, once you're feeling better." Burt couldn't help but smile as he heard his son's words. Burt didn't know what was going to happen in the next few hours, but he did know one thing – his son was in love. And Burt Hummel was going to do everything in his power to protect both his son and this boy.