Please review!

Now that it was summertime Blaine was spending a lot more time over at the Hummel residence, something that Kurt didn't mind at all. Burt noticed whenever he mentioned Blaine's parent's, suggeting that they come over for dinner at some point, that Blaine would come up with all kinds of excuses for why they couldn't. Even Kurt noticed the discomfort in Blaine when it came to his parents.

"Kurt," Burt asked after Blaine left one day. "How much do you know about Blaine's parents?"

Kurt frowned as he thought of it. Rarely did the topic come up in conversation.

"Nothing much...I know his dad is a lawyer of some kind and his mom is a chef, but that's about it."

Burt nodded. He couldn't get that conversation out of his head about how Blaine said his father tried to make him straight by fixing cars with him. That really crawled into his skin and bothered him a lot.

Not to mention how much Blaine goes through to avoid talking about his parents.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh no reason," Burt said quickly. "Just wondering...I just figured if you two are dating you should at least meet them."

Kurt thought about that.

"I don't want to rush things, though. Maybe he's just not ready to let his parents know how serious it is."

Burt looked somewhat startled.

"How serious is it getting, Kurt?"

Kurt flushed a bit at the slip of the tongue.

"Well it's getting more serious since we've been hanging out so much."

Burt nodded.

"That is a good point." He smiled at his son. "I'll go now, sorry for making you feel uncomfortable at all."

"You didn't," Kurt said quickly.

Burt left. He still couldn't let go of that nagging feeling that there was something wrong at the Anderson residence.

The next day as Burt drove to his house he saw Blaine sitting on a curb a few blocks away from home. He frowned. Why the hell would Blaine not be at their house and sitting on the sidewalk instead with his head hanging down?

He pulled over and Blaine loooked up and he was stunned to see a scar across Blaine's cheek as well as his face tear stained.

Blaine quickly lowered his head when he saw it was Burt. Burt got out of the car, panic in him.

"Blaine?" He knelt before the young man, fear in his voice. "Blaine what happened?" He reached out to touch his son's boyfriend but Blaine jerked away at it. Kurt used to do that when the bullying had gotten so intense he had associated every touch with fear and pain. "Blaine!" He tried not to raise his voice too much. "Who...who hit you?"

He heard Blaine choke back a sob.

"Blaine?" Hie lowered his voice. He was scared now, really scared. It was clear that something terrible happened to Blaine. So terrible that Blaine was afraid to come over to the Hummels but clearly didn't have any other place to go to. Tears sprang in Burt's eyes.

"Blaine, please, tell me..."

"My...dad and I got into a fight," Blaine suddenly mumbled as he wrapped his arms closer to his hidden face. "He was drunk..."

Burt closed his eyes, dreading the worst.

"He...got carried away. He gets that way when he drinks. I had to protect my mom, though. He was angry at her."Blaine's whole body shook in quiet sobs. "She couldn't stand it anymore and ran outside to try and get help. No one came...everyone minds their own buisness in that neighborhood. She told me to run, when the hitting got worse..."He was really sobbing now and anger and pain filled Burt's eyes. "And she pushed me out the door and locked it on me...I took off when I heard him unlocking it." He shook his head. "I ran like a coward...I didn't have anywhere to go though so I came here. Then I realized I couldn't let Kurt see me like this."

Burt sat there, unsure of what to say or do.

"God," Blaine groaned angrily. "I'm such a coward."

"No," Burt said sternly. "NO you're not Blaine. You did what you were supposed to do. You ran. Your mother was trying to protect you."

"My mom," Blaine moaned. "What if he really hurts her this time?"

"I'll call the police Burt said quickly.

"No! That'll just make things worse!" Blaine said as he shot his head up. "My dad...he has all kinds of connections...it'll just make him angry."

"I'm sorry Blaine, I have to do something," Burt said firmly. "I'll have the police go over to your house and make sure your mother is all right. And you're staying here now, for the night anyway."

"But Kurt-"

"Deserves to know the truth." Burt sat up and held out his hand. "You don't belong in the gutter, Blaine. Get in the car. I'll...clean those bruises you have-" he noticed there were some on Blaine's arms. Blaine kept his haed bowed, as if afraid to look at him. "Look at me Blaine," Burt demanded. Blaine did. Tears covered his eyes as he blinked them. "You have nothing to be afraid of now. He's not going to hurt you anymore, or your mother. Not if I have anything to say about it." As he squeezed his hand Blaine felt the sincerity of his words and beleived them. He swallowed.

"Thank you," he mumbled and Burt nodded sadly, trying to repress the heated anger he felt towards Mr. Anderson.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

As he watched Blaine get into the car he prayed that he could keep his promise and make sure that Mr. Anderson didn't lay one finger on his son ever again. Burt would do whatever it took to protect Blaine, because he had to. Because Blaine needed him.