A/N: Another glee one-shot. I think the characters came out well. They sound like them in my head, so we'll see. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Do not own anything glee related.
Summary: In which Kurt worries that his Dad is going to die and Blaine and Finn try to be supportive and then worry Burt is going to die too. Burt looks on in amusement.
Of stress tests and hearts
Waking up early on a Wednesday morning in the summer, is not what Kurt thought he would ever be doing, but the thought of why he was up early fills him up with dread and his stomach starts cramping again like it had all week leading up today.
Kurt mechanically goes through his morning moisturizing routine after taking a shower and then dressing himself, impeccable as always, before making his way downstairs to the kitchen. Fumbling around the kitchen, Kurt begins making oatmeal quietly, the feeling of dread so heavy on his chest that it feels like he couldn't even breathe at all. A noise from the doorway of the kitchen breaks Kurt from his thoughts while he is scooping the oatmeal into a bowl.
His father stands there, looking the same as usual in his jeans and plaid shirt, as if it was a normal day. Gesturing his father to sit at the table, Kurt follows his dad's lead before placing the bowl of oatmeal in front of him along with a glass of orange juice.
"What about my coffee?" Burt asks his son who takes a seat next to him, clenching his hands into tight fists on his lap.
"You can't have coffee this morning, remember," Kurt mumbles, watching his dad eat his breakfast.
"Not even that decaf stuff you've been making me drink?"
"It's still caffeine Dad, no caffeine at all."
"Aren't you gonna eat?" Burt asks his son, who is looking more pale than usual.
"Not hungry, too nervous."
"Isn't that my line? I'm the one who's gonna be doing this thing. Don't you have faith in your old man?" Burt questions Kurt, his tone turning soft near the end.
"You never know how these things will turn out. What if-"
"Nothing is gonna happen to me. I'm a Hummel. We're a tough bunch. Remember what I told you, son."
"No one pushes a Hummel around. I know Dad." Kurt says, trying to smile at him though he is pretty sure he failed at it judging from his father's expression.
Burt goes back to his oatmeal and for the next few minutes, Kurt watches his father memorizing how he looks and steeling it into his mind. Kurt's thoughts on how to try to develop the power of photographic memory is disturbed by the sound of the doorbell.
"Who's that?" Burt asks pulling his chair out.
"Don't know, it's too early for anyone to be out. I'll see who it is. Finish your oatmeal Dad." Burt grunts back at him, going back to his food.
Making his way through the living room and to the doorway, Kurt curls his right arm around his stomach, the feeling of dread increasing the further he gets from his father. Opening the door, Kurt is surprised to look into a pair of mesmerizing hazel eyes in the morning sun.
"Blaine? What are you doing here?" Kurt gasps out in shock at seeing his boyfriend in front of him. Opening the door further, Kurt allows Blaine to enter their home and move a bit further into living room.
"Hey, thought you could use some moral support today," Blaine answers back softly, lightly ghosting his fingertips against Kurt's cheek.
"One in 25, 000 people have a heart attack while having a stress test, one in 10, 000 die! How does that even happen?" Kurt cries out, the buildup of his worries and concerns for this day finally reaching a breaking point. Tears break through and Blaine gently brushes them away before pulling the taller teen towards him and into his arms. Kurt, clutching onto his boyfriend, tucks his face into Blaine's neck. A feeling of warmth floods him, slowly relaxing him. The feeling of dread flees from him and his stomach settles down while being held tightly and securely in Blaine's arms. Safe. That's how he feels while he's in this person's arms. There are not many people in Kurt's life that he feels like this with except his Dad. Kurt couldn't help but wonder since when Blaine was added to that list.
A rumbling noise interrupts Kurt's musing. He turns from his position, facing the staircase as Finn tumbles down the stairs, fully dressed, but definitely still half-asleep, which is made apparent by the many incidents of him bumping into the wall or the guardrail of the stairs as he makes his way down to them.
"Hey Blaine," He mumbles out, his face scrunched up, trying to figure out why Blaine was there.
"Hey Finn."
"Finn you do know it's seven in the morning and not noon." Kurt says, his arms still wrapped around Blaine's shoulders, while Blaine's are around his hips.
"Ya. I just thought I'd come with you guys to the hospital, to make sure ever thing goes okay." Finn answers, a flush staining his cheeks red in embarrassment. Kurt smiles back at Finn, a feeling of warmth flooding his chest. This is my brother, he thinks to himself, though he would never say it out loud in embarrassment of how sentimental it would sound and how it would look like a little kid who looks up to his older brother, proudly proclaiming to everyone that his brother is the best. Kurt does have a reputation that he needs to maintain it, warm milk aside.
"That would be great," Kurt tells him. "You should hurry and get some breakfast, we'll be leaving soon."
As Finn makes his way to the kitchen, mumbling something that vaguely sounded like Captain Crunch, Kurt slumps down and places his head onto Blaine's right shoulder facing his left side and placing his right hand over top Blaine's chest. The position is slightly awkward, what with Kurt being taller than Blaine and having to hunch over a little bit to accomplish this, but Kurt really wanted to feel the thump thumping of his boyfriend's heart. A warm kiss is placed over his temple and Kurt reluctantly moves back and straightens to face Blaine.
"Everything will turn out okay. Your dad is going to be okay. Have faith." Blaine tells him before pulling him into a kiss.
He would never tire of this, Kurt thinks as Blaine's lips claim his, his tongue tracing his bottom lips before Kurt parts them allowing Blaine to deepen the kiss.
"Are you trying to distract me Blaine Warbler?." Kurt breathes out after being released from the kiss. Blaine laughs, moving away from Kurt but capturing his hand and pulling him towards the kitchen.
"Good morning," Blaine greets Burt when he looks up from the table.
"You too? You guys are making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. You kids will just be bored the whole time at the hospital."
"Moral support." Blaine says while taking a seat around the table while Kurt settles down next to him, in his previous seat next to his father. Finn, who sits next to Blaine, agrees while munching on his cereal.
"Do you want any breakfast?" Kurt asks Blaine, his hand still clasped together with Blaine's.
"No thanks, already ate before I got here. Have you eaten anything?"
"He hasn't, he's too nervous!" Burt intercepts, giving a fond look at Kurt.
"Here, you should eat something," Blaine says, reaching toward the middle of the table and plucking an orange from the bowl of fruits and holding it out to his boyfriend. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Kurt releases Blaine's hand before grabbing the fruit and peeling it, but not before giving a small smile to Blaine.
It hasn't even been fifteen minutes later before the nervousness and dread returns as they make their way out of the house. The feeling of warmth and safety that Blaine provided are ebbing away and his worries for his dad are returning.
It is decided that Blaine would drive because a) Kurt thought Burt driving would be too much stress on him and what if it affects him during the tests? b) Everyone agreed Kurt was too nervous to drive, they were pretty sure that Kurt wouldn't be able to turn on the car let alone drive and c) well no one could forget the mailman incident so Finn was out of the running. In the end since Blaine is driving, they pile into his car before heading off to the Lima Hospital.
Kurt, sitting in the passenger seat with Finn and Burt in the back, starts to fidget in his seat not long into the car ride. His hands are clasped so tightly against each other that they are turning white.
Blaine notices Kurt's fidgeting and looks through his rear view mirror meeting Burt's eyes. Burt shifts his glance towards his son before meeting Blaine's eyes again, giving him a look that conveys 'what are you going to do?'
Blaine releases his right hand from the steering wheel and reaches over to take Kurt's left hand, unclasping it from its partner and intertwining it with his own hand before settling it over the middle console. It is quite noticeable how more at ease Kurt is from Blaine's touch as he slumps into his seat with a sigh. Blaine meets Burt's eyes again in the rearview mirror and Burt acknowledges him with a curt nod. Kurt spends the rest of the drive holding hands with his boyfriend listening to the radio on low volume.
After making their way to the correct level and wing in the hospital, the quartet signs Burt in and they settle into the waiting area designated for them. Kurt, while still clutching onto Blaine's hand has his other hand clutched with his father's. Blaine and Burt are alternately squeezing Kurt's hands to remind him of their presence and to make sure he would not get too lost in his own thoughts. Finn, who is sitting beside Burt, is flipping through the some sports magazine that he found amongst the piles of reading materials there.
"Dude, Burt's gonna be fine. Chill man." Finn says without even looking up from the magazine.
"Do not call me dude, Finn Hudson!" Kurt whispers harshly to his step-brother and glares at him. Or at least he is trying to, as it seems to be a useless venture since Finn is obscured by the magazine.
"It'll be fine," Burt interjects. "Have faith in your old man."
"But one in 10, 000 die from having stress tests. It's statistics. What if that's you!"
"What, is that true?" Finn asks, lowering the magazine and looking at them with a shocked expression on his face.
"I'll be fine, I've done this before. I was fine then." Burt says trying to console Finn who had gone an unhealthy shade of white.
"Seriously, you boys shouldn't overreact so much. Hi Blaine!" Carole interrupts as she comes into the waiting room, wearing blue scrubs and a smile. She gives a quick kiss to Burt before messing up Finn's hair, a look of exasperation on her face as she looks between Finn and Kurt.
"I'm glad you could stop by." Burt tells her.
"I only wanted to make sure you guys made it fine. Didn't know you were going to bring the whole entourage," she responds, a look of fondness passing between the couple as they look over their family.
"Kurt, your dad is going to be fine. He had a stress test done before, he was fine then and he'll be fine now."
"But that was a different protocol, modified Bruce, I read about it! He was still rehabilitating from the heart attack. This one is the real thing. It'll be way harder and what if he has another heart attack?"
"Well then it's a good thing I'm at the hospital already? No better place to have one," Burt jokes, although it only made Kurt pale even more than he already was.
"Everything will be fine," Blaine states again, his mantra since this whole thing started, except now he isn't looking at Burt as confidently as before.
"You all worry too much." Burt shakes his head, giving a fond look at the three boys.
Few minutes later, Carole goes back to her own wing with a quick good luck and the quartet is alone again. A young woman in bright purple scrubs walks into the room not ten minutes later holding a folder and looking around the room filled with people.
"Burt Hummel?"
Glancing at his father, Kurt squeezes his hand before quickly getting up with him, the other two following behind them. They follow the young woman into the adjacent area where various computers and tread mills are sectioned off with their own rooms. Following her into one of the rooms, she instructs Burt on the procedure and asks him to sign the consent form. The trio, hovering over Burt's shoulder, read the details of the form along with him. Kurt starts freaking out after reading the end of the form which states that the hospital is not liable for anything if something does happen to Burt.
"Don't worry, Dr. Montgomery is one of the best Cardiologist we have here. He worked on your father before. He's in good hands, and no one has died on me yet," the nurse explains, trying to calm Kurt down.
"No one has died on you?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
'Yes."
"Are you lying to me to give me a false sense of security?"
"Nope."
"All right. I will be watching closely though."
"I'm sure you will," she says before turning back to Burt. "Your son is very protective of you."
Burt lets out a roar of laughter while Kurt's cheeks stain red. Blaine moves closer to Kurt, entwining their hands again, loving how adorable Kurt looks when he blushes.
After the consent form is signed, Katherine, the young woman, goes ahead and prepares Burt. After placing the electrodes on him and taking his blood pressure and EKG, Burt is told to step onto the treadmill. When Katherine finishes hooking up Burt, she turns towards the three teens, who look intimidated by all the machinery and equipment, and calmly explains to them that she is monitoring his heart and she would stop right away should anything go wrong. That seems to put the boys at ease and Blaine even manages a smile to Kurt who just squeezes his hand back.
Watching Burt do the stress test is a confusing endeavor. He is walking on the treadmill, a normal treadmill, granted it is on a slant and the speed is around 1.7 mph, but he is just…walking. It is very anti-climatic. However, once the three minute mark comes about, the treadmill increases its speed and goes into a deeper slant causing the boys to panic.
"What is going on?"
"Dude, it's like, faster now!"
"Is it supposed to do that?"
Katherine gives the boys a quick glance before returning her eyes to the screen. Burt just laughs at them, continuing on.
"Every three minutes it goes faster and steeper putting more stress on the patient. We just want to know the physical limitations of your father." It isn't until another stage shift occurs that Katherine stops the machine when it reaches the nine minute mark. She asks Burt to go and lay down on the bed before she starts pressing buttons and taking his blood pressure every couple of minutes.
"All done," she says after some time has passed. Unhooking Burt from the wires she proceeds to remove the electrodes from him and tells him to get dressed.
"All done?" Kurt asks in disbelief.
"That's right. I'll be giving this to Dr. Montgomery and he'll look over it with you and he'll tell you what needs to be done next." Katherine says, collecting the EKGs, folding them over and sticking it into Burt's folder.
"Dad?"
"I feel great Kurt," Burt answers back, a smug expression lighting his feature causing Kurt to pout at him. They follow the cardiac technician down the hallway into another room, this one with fewer people, and are told to settle down until Dr. Montgomery calls them.
It isn't for another half an hour until they get called by the doctor. Making their way into the office and settling in after proper greetings, the cardiologist takes a moment going over the test and making notes into Burt's file.
"Well Mr. Hummel, looks like you passed with flying colors. You didn't show any negative symptoms in the stress test. I do not see any significant changes to your EKGs. It looks like whatever you have been doing; either the exercise or change in diet or both, have had a positive influence."
"That's great!"
"Awesome."
"Oh thank God."
Dr. Montgomery, surprised by the boys' reactions lets out a laugh in wonder.
"Well, Mr. Hummel, I can see your sons were really worried about this."
"Well, all three of my boys should know by now that nothing gets their old man down." Burt tells him, shooting a fond look at all three of them.
Finn beams back at Burt, warmth filling him after hearing the statement. Happy at being acknowledged as Burt's son, he elbows Blaine beside him and then reaches over past Blaine to hold out his fist to Kurt, who rolls his eyes before smiling and fist bumping him back.
Blaine is pleasantly surprised at being included in Burt's statement. Looking at Burt who nods his head at him to let him know that he does consider him a son, Blaine then turns his hazel eyes to Kurt who is smiling shyly at him, eyes misting a tad bit.
"Very true. Just keep up the routine you have now and follow-up annually. If you do that you'll be around to see your sons married and become a grandpa yourself." The doctor exclaims before closing the folder.
At his statement, both Blaine and Kurt flush before glancing at each other quickly and then away. Burt lets out a laugh at that.
Saying their good-byes, they make a quick detour to tell Carole the good news and then make their way out of the hospital. With Finn and Burt ahead of them, Blaine and Kurt take their time getting to Blaine's car, falling some steps behind, their hands swinging together between them.
"What?" Kurt asks, looking at Blaine who has this love-struck, I'm-in-awe-of-you look on his face as he gazes at Kurt.
"Nothing," Blaine replies, but he is not fooling anyone. Kurt knew for a fact that the look on Blaine's face always preceded the 'I've been looking for you forever', the 'I'm crazy about you' and the 'I love you'.
"Blaine are you going to ask me to marry you?" He teases his boyfriend.
"No," Blaine says, a sheepish expression replacing his previous one. "At least not yet." He finishes before leaning into Kurt, his mouth over his ear. "We still have our senior's year left."
Blaine watches in delight as Kurt's face flushes and looks at Blaine in wonder, as if he couldn't believe that someone ever considered that in relation with him. Heart melting at Kurt's reactions, he pulls him into a tight hug as they both bask in each other's presence.
Safe. Home.
"Boys, let's go home. I can have my coffee now, right?" Burt calls back to them. Letting each other go, they turn towards Burt and Finn, both of whom wear matching grins.
"Yes you can have your coffee now, Dad." Kurt answers as he and Blaine walk towards Blaine's car and the other two.
"Cool, then are you going to make lunch? Can we have BLTs? The ones you make are awesome." Finn asks.
"Fine, but Dad you can only have turkey bacon," Kurt answers, crossing his arms and giving a pointed look at his father, daring him to disagree.
"It's better than nothing," Burt shrugs before turning to the car, opening the back door, and getting in with Finn following suit.
"Lunch?" Kurt invites Blaine as he rounds to the passenger side while Blaine goes to the driver's.
"Love to."
FIN