Baby You'd Freeze Out There

Summary: Christmas Blangst, Carole's working the night shift at the hospital on Christmas Eve when a certain Warbler shows up in the ER.

00

Initially he hadn't meant to do it.

He'd just slipped on the ice and landed badly on his wrist. It hurt like shit, definitely at least a sprain, but he could live.

But then he'd thought about going to the hospital to get his wrist set. Normally the ideas of hospitals freaked him out, he hadn't exactly had fun as a patient. But the more he thought about it the more the idea seemed appealing.

Hospitals were warm…well, warmer than the park. And they had food. And blankets. And beds to sleep on that were far more comfortable than park benches.

Yeah, the more he thought about it the more appealing it sounded.

So when he happened to hit another patch of ice that he totally didn't see and happened to catch himself on his bad wrist it was a complete and total accident. Because the intense pain that exploded up his arm following the sickening crack was enough to make him dry heave into the gutter beside where he lay. No one would do that to themselves on purpose.

Not any sane, not-completely-desperate person anyway.

So after a moment of dry heaving, he spit into the gutter and forced himself up. Shivering convulsively, he staggered down the street to where he assumed the hospital was. After what felt like days he found himself outside the doors of Lima General's ER. Hugging his arms hard around himself he made his way inside.

00

Carole let out a deep sigh as she walked around the mostly empty ER. The census was lower than usual, and they had more nurses on staff than needed, but there was no way they were going to let her go home early.

She didn't regret picking up the night at work, of course. Sure, Finn, Burt, and Kurt had all been disappointed she'd had to skip out on the Christmas Eve dinner early to work the night shift, but she'd taken the shift with good reason. He coworker Debbie was only in her mid twenties, she wasn't married, and all she had was her mother…who was dying of cancer. Debbie had mentioned she thought her mom wasn't going to make it to New Years, so Carole had immediately offered to work for her so she could spend one last Christmas with her mom.

And Carole had just spent the past hour simply chatting with the older gentleman in room 140. He was a lively guy, fell and messed up his knee. His family had come and spent the whole day with him before heading home. Carole had sat with him and chatted with him about his family, making him feel a bit better about being alone for the night. None of the other nurses had called her, they wouldn't, they were over staffed. So when she walked out she made her way to the front desk.

"Hey Leena, did I miss anything?" She asked, leaning on the counter tiredly.

"A seventeen year old boy with a broken wrist." Leena said, not looking up from where she was typing on the computer. "Slipped on the ice."

"Aw poor thing. Merry Christmas, right?" Carole yawned into her hand, asking "His parents with him?"

Leena glanced up at that, a sympathetic look on her face. "No, he was by himself." She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially, "I think the poor thing was homeless or something. He had a nice coat on but he was cold as ice. He must have been outside all night."

Carole's eyes widened in horror. A poor teenage boy all alone outside on Christmas Eve? "What room is he in?"

"160, I think. Jessica said she brought him back from getting his cast put on and he was out like a light. Poor thing." Leena started whispering again, "I'm not going to discharge him tonight."

Carole shook her head, "Oh no, no. Let the poor thing sleep here. Did he have anyone to call?"

"We didn't get a name, he didn't have ID or anything. He started to answer our questions and then promptly passed out one in. Poor dear. Must have been out there for hours."

Carole glanced out the window to the falling snow. It was freezing out. Her heart just broke for the boy. "Room 160, you said?" Leena nodded and Carole went off to go check on the poor dear.

She made her way to the room, poking her head in. The boy was curled up on his side, buried under two blankets.

He was fast asleep.

Carole was about to back out into the hallway but stopped. Something about the dark curly hair poking out the top of the blankets made her stop. Something about the boy, what she could see of him anyway, was familiar. She didn't know why but she found herself tip-toeing into the quiet room. She didn't know why she made her way around the bed. She didn't know why she gently pulled the blanket back.

But as soon as she saw his face she knew.

She bit hard on her lower lip so not to gasp out loud. That face. That sweet, angelic, calm face. She knew this face.

This was Blaine.

This was her step-son's boyfriend.

"Oh, sweetie." Carole found herself whispering, and before she could stop herself she found herself running her hand gently though his mass of curls.

He hummed softly, leaning into her hand. "Mmm…mom?" He whispered, his voice barely there. His eyes fluttered, and Carole pulled her hand back. He blinked his eyes open and squinted up at her. Then his eyes widened.

He threw himself back, hitting the railing on the other side of the bed. "Carole?" He gasped, coughing slightly at the roughness in his voice. "Why – who – who called you?"

He seemed so panicked, so worn. "No one called me, honey." Carole said placating. "I picked up a shift tonight."

Blaine paused, staring blankly at her. Then a pained look crossed his face, "Oh God, you work at Lima General." He whispered to himself, falling onto the pillows. "Oh God…"

"Honey," Carole started, pulling up a chair, "What are you doing here?"

Blaine shifted uncomfortably, "I slipped and broke my wrist, that's all."

"That's not all." Carole said, trying to meet his eye. "There's much more. Like, where are your parents? And why were you out in the cold for hours on Christmas Eve?" Blaine refused to meet her eye, glancing towards his window that looked out onto the snowy eve. "Blaine?"

"We got in a fight." He whispered, still not looking at her. "This afternoon. We got in a fight. They…they had my phone. And they saw some texts from Kurt…" He stopped.

"What did they say?" Carole asked, not sure if it was something she wanted to hear.

"'I love you.'" Blaine whispered quietly. Carole's eyes widened. She'd known Kurt and Blaine had shared the 'L' word, she heard them say it all the time. But that's what caused the fight? Carole had assumed it was something a bit more…scandalous.

"That caused a fight?" She asked, leaning in.

"They didn't know I had a boyfriend." He whispered.

And that really made Carole freeze, right down to her core. Blaine's parents didn't know he had a boyfriend? Kurt and Blaine had been dating since last spring. They were always together, didn't they ever wonder where their son was all the time? Didn't they care?

"They…they keep trying to convince me it's a phase, you know? So I didn't…didn't want to tell them. Because…because then this would happen." He sniffled, running his un-casted fist under his nose.

"What's 'this'?"

Blaine paused for a long moment, then finally met her eyes for the first time since he woke up. "They told me to leave." He whispered, "They didn't let me grab anything. No clothes, no wallet, no phone. I barely had time to grab my coat. They just…threw me out. Literally." Tears started spilling from his eyes. "I had nowhere to go, I couldn't call anyone - it's Christmas. Who wants to be bothered by some charity case on Christmas?"

"Blaine," Carole whispered, placing her hand over his.

"No – I just – I had nowhere to go, you know? I have no family in town. My parents hate me…so I just wondered. And then I fell. And now I'm here." He sniffled again, scrubbing at his eyes.

"Oh, sweetie." Carole whispered. She had no words. What could she say to Blaine? He'd just lost everything, his home, his belongings, his parents. And on Christmas. Oh God damn Christmas. Tears welled up in Carole's eyes. "Oh Blaine, you could have called us. We-"

"It's only your second Christmas together as a family. I can't – I couldn't bother you."

"But Kurt loves you." She squeezed his hand. "We all do. Sweetie, you always have a home with us."

And suddenly Blaine was sobbing. Without hesitating Carole pushed down the bed railing, sat on the edge, and wrapped Blaine up in her arms. She held him as he cried, whispering sweet nothings and rocking him back and forth. After a moment she said, "Blaine, don't you Ever forget you have a home with us again, ok?" Blaine said nothing, "Ok?" He nodded into her shoulder, another sob wracking his body.

After several long moments of rocking and shushing, the two pulled back. Blaine ran a hand under his nose and Carole handed him a tissue. Wiping at her own eyes she started to speak.

"Tell you what." She said quietly, running a hand through his curls again. She noted he involuntarily leaned into the touch. "My shift ends in two hours. Why don't you get some more rest, and then when I'm done we'll discharge you and you can come home with me. I'm sure we've got some lasagna left, Kurt made more than even Finn could eat…and I'm sure Burt would let you sleep it Kurt's room just this once. It isChristmas after all."

Blaine just stared at her for a long moment, eyes wide and red, filled with more tears. He didn't say a word, he just stared.

"Would you like that, sweetie?" Carole asked when he didn't answer. He numbly nodded, more tears slipping from his eyes. "Ok, well then why don't you go back to sleep and I'll come get you when it's time to go." She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. She wrapped her arms around him again and he once again clung to her tight. A soft sob wracked his body as she tightened her grip on him. "Shh…it'll be alright sweetie. We'll figure everything out. Don't you worry. Don't you cry…"

He sniffled loudly as she pulled back, running a fist under his nose and taking another tissue. She gave him a soft smile and stood. "Sleep, ok?"

He nodded, leaning into the pillows as she started walking out. "Carole?"

"Yeah, honey?" She asked, stopping in the doorway.

"Thank you." His voice quivered. "For everything."

She just smiled, "Merry Christmas, Blaine." She heard him softly mumble a response as she stepped back out into the hall. "Merry Christmas…"