It's my 200th story on this site! :D

All Kurt wanted to do was walk home safely. He just wanted to get back to the loft, where Blaine's warm arms and their well-worn sheets would eradicate the last of the chill from his bones.

As he huddled closer in his pullover, he heard agonized cries coming from the nearby alley, punctuated with dull thuds and thwacks that could only mean someone was getting beaten up.

Kurt couldn't just ignore that.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" he yelled as he rounded the corner, running for the closer of the two burly guys and yanking him off the slumped, shaking figure he was attacking. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Oh look, Tinker Bell must have heard the distress call this little homo was sending up," the farther of the two said. "Double the fun, am I right?"

"It's our lucky day," the one closer to Kurt responded. He followed that statement with a hard punch to Kurt's jaw, making his head spin.

Kurt shoved the guy as hard as he could, sending him stumbling away and giving Kurt enough time to recover. Once his head was clearer, he clipped the guy hard in the gut, noting with satisfaction how far he doubled over.

What he didn't notice was the other guy kicking the original victim in the face to keep him down before grabbing a loose board from nearby. He did notice the guy using that board to clobber him over the head, though.

Kurt let out a whine of pain and sank to his knees, his eyes closing.

"That should do 'em," one of the guys said.

"Yeah, let's get outta here. They're not gonna be any fun now," the other replied.

There was the sound of footsteps and then a car revving, prompting Kurt to finally open his eyes. He was sure he had a concussion, and the other boy, whoever he was, looked to be in terrible shape, bloody and bruised beyond recognition.

At least until he opened his eyes.

"Kur'," Blaine mumbled, eyes welling with tears. "Why di'n you run?"

"Blaine," Kurt said, voice breaking. "How did - why didn't you say -"

"Hurts," Blaine said with a whimper. "Ma'e it s'op, Kur', ple-"

"I'll call 911, Blaine, I will, just stay with me, okay?" Kurt said frantically, scrabbling in his pockets for his phone, but it wasn't there. A glint of light alerted him that it was maybe fifteen feet away and probably cracked - it must have fallen out of his pocket at some point in the fight.

Kurt's head was spinning spinning spinning but he had to get to his phone, had to get help for Blaine and no please don't let everything go dark just as-

"Kurt!" Blaine said, and Kurt's eyes shot open as he sat up.

"It was a dream, it was only a dream," he whispered, grateful that Blaine had turned on one of their bedside lamps so Kurt could see for himself that he wasn't battered and dying. He burst into tears, unsure if he was feeling stressed or relieved or both.

"I've got you, baby, you're okay," Blaine said, gathering Kurt into his arms. "Shhh, shhh, I promise I've got you. You're safe."

"But you weren't," Kurt said through his tears, tucking his head in Blaine's neck and fisting his shirt.

"That wasn't real, sweetheart, you can see that," Blaine said. He stroked a hand down Kurt's back as Kurt continued to cry.

Uncountable minutes passed before Kurt could take a few deep, shaky breaths and compose himself a little, noting that somehow he had ended up properly in Blaine's lap - probably after being pulled there, if Blaine's snuggly tendencies were anything to go by.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, wiping his eyes. "I had the bashing dream again, and I know I should be over it, but-"

"Kurt, baby, there's no timeline for getting over trauma," Blaine said, brushing a finger over a tear track Kurt had missed. "And deny it all you want, but you and I both know you've been anxious recently, and that definitely dredges up bad memories."

"Thanks, I will deny it," Kurt joked lamely, but Blaine smiled all the same.

"You wanna talk about it?" Blaine asked.

"I told you I had the bashing dream again, but this time, I wasn't rescuing that stranger. You were the one getting attacked before I got there," Kurt said, letting out a whoosh of a sigh.

Blaine just squeezed Kurt tighter for a moment.

"And the worst part was...I was too late," Kurt said. "You were covered in blood and bruises and asking me to make it stop hurting, but my head was spinning and my phone wasn't there and I was about to black out in the dream as you woke me up. You were going to die there, B."

"Oh, honey," Blaine said, genuine sympathy radiating off of him. "I'm so sorry that happened."

"I think I'm just worried about the future," Kurt admitted. "We've got the baby coming soon, and I'm so afraid that something bad will happen - that it'll get kidnapped, or it'll have an allergic reaction to something in the house, or something like that, and I'll just see it looking at me like why didn't you keep me safe, Papa? That would absolutely kill me, Blaine."

"If and when our kid ever has some kind of accident, it won't be your fault, Kurt," Blaine said. "And hopefully not mine, either. Our kid is going to be able to turn to us whenever they need help, and we will absolutely smother them with affection. And worse comes to worst, we can always call Grandpa Burt."

"Dad is going to disown us both if we call him every time our kid has a problem," Kurt said, a small but sincere smile on his face. "And of course you won't hurt our child, honey. You're like the baby whisperer, I swear."

"Then I guess I'll just have to teach you my ways, young grasshopper," Blaine said, grinning cheesily and earning a light smack on the arm.

"Can it wait until morning? I think I'm calming down enough to sleep again," Kurt said. He let out a noisy, wide yawn that he hoped he was mostly able to cover with his hand.

"Whatever you want, babe," Blaine said. "I've always got your back."

Kurt rolled off Blaine's lap and waited for him to turn off the lamp and lie down again before curling up against his chest. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

The warm, heavy weight of Blaine's wedding ring against the exposed skin of his hip felt like an anchor to Kurt as he drifted off again. Maybe his subconscious would always terrify him with stress dreams where he relived his bashing over and over again, but Kurt knew that Blaine would always be there to keep him steady, and in that moment, that was all he needed.