Another fill to a prompt, which was the following:

Blangst prompt #342: Blaine and Burt are carjacked by two armed men on the way back home from the airport.

Obviously this takes place after Glee, Actually (after Burt and Blaine's visit to Kurt in New York). I should probably apologise in advance: I wrote this while I was sick. So if this isn't any good, blame it on the virus going through our house.

And disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of its characters.

Caught unawares

"So, did you enjoy the trip?" Burt asked, smiling a bit since he was secretly more than pleased with how his and Blaine's trip to New York had gone.

Sitting in the passenger seat next to him, Blaine was grinning broadly.

"Yeah, it was great. I mean, I thought it was going to get weird, you know, with me and Kurt broken up, but I guess I've been stressing for no reason."

Burt chuckled. He had seen first-hand how nervous Blaine had been on their flight to New York. From what he had figured out, it seemed Blaine had been scared that Kurt would turn him away as soon as he caught sight of him, despite the conversation Burt knew they had had at Thanksgiving. It was Blaine who had insisted that Burt went to the flat Kurt and Rachel shared alone. Blaine would wait at the ice rink for Burt's call that it was okay to come. Burt had eventually agreed when Blaine argued it would be nice for the two Hummels to be able to catch up – on the good and the bad news – without any distractions. The fact that the boy loved ice skating was an additional plus.

A comfortable silence fell between the two of them, both occupied by their own thoughts, as Burt stopped at a red light. Burt looked over at Blaine, who was staring out of the window. As he turned his gaze back to the windscreen, he caught a small movement in the rear view mirror. Frowning, he glanced through the wing mirror on his left. His heart dropped as he saw a dark figure approach rapidly. Before he or Blaine could react, both of their doors opened at the same time revealing two men.

"Out of the car! Now!" one of them yelled, waving a gun.

The other man – the one on Blaine's side – didn't seem as patient as his partner. While Blaine automatically held up his hands in defence, the armed carjacker gripped his arm and aimed his gun straight at the boy's head.

"Okay, okay," Burt said, attempting to sound placating and holding up his hands as well. "We'll get out. Just give us the chance to."

The carjacker on the driver's side leaned back a bit, but still trained his gun in Burt's general direction. However, as soon as Blaine had released his seat belt, the guy next to him dragged him out of the car and put his arm around Blaine's neck, pressing the muzzle of his gun against the boy's temple. Taken by surprise, Blaine couldn't do anything other than keep the arm around his neck from strangling him. From his side of the car, Burt could see the teenager's eyes widen and his chest heave.

"Get out of the car, old man! Or do you want me to kill your son, huh?" the man holding Blaine screamed as he tightened his grip.

Burt tried his best to stay calm so as not to aggravate the two carjackers further, but it was getting harder as he saw the panic and raw fear in Blaine's eyes increase.

"I'm getting out, there's no need to hurt him."

Burt got out slowly. He didn't want to move too quickly lest he accidentally provoked the men into hurting either him or Blaine.

"Get over there." The man next to Burt – who seemed to be in charge – pointed to where the second man was standing with Blaine, still threatening him with his gun. Burt obeyed and went to stand off to the side of the road, a few metres from the second carjacker and his young hostage.

"Okay, we did as you asked. Just take the car and let him go," Burt pleaded with the men. During one long, terrifying moment, none of them moved or said anything. Then, the leader gave a minuscule nod and hopped into the driving seat. The other man shoved Blaine away from him forcefully, causing the teenager to fall with a small cry of surprise. Even before the door had closed, the car was already speeding off. Burt rushed towards the boy sitting on the road on his knees.

"Blaine! You okay, son?"

"Yeah," Blaine breathed, clearly shocked by what had happened. When he got up with Burt's help, he hissed. "Ow, my wrist..."

He moved it tentatively, but stopped immediately as pain shot through his arm.

"Let me see." Burt gently took the boy's arm in his hands and rolled up his sleeve a bit. "Yeah, it's starting to swell. I don't think it's broken, but you'll need to have that looked at."

He looked up at the teenager. There was still some lingering fear seeping through the expression of pain displayed clearly on his face. Burt laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, leading him to the far side of the road, where they would be relatively safe from approaching cars.

"We should call the police. Do you have your cell phone with you?" he asked, knowing his own was in his bag, which was in the trunk of his now stolen car. Blaine nodded briefly, took his phone from his pocket and handed it to Burt. While Burt made the phone call, he kept a close eye on his son's best friend.

"Okay, sir, a patrol car is on its way to you now. Is either of you hurt?"

"Yes, Blaine, he's a friend of my son, he hurt his wrist."

"Okay, sir. Just stay where you are. The patrol car will be there in about ten minutes. They can take you and the boy to the hospital if necessary. Just stay put until they get there."

"Right. Thank you."

He walked back to where Blaine was watching him intently. He had seemed to have gotten his breathing back under control and he had his injured arm pressed close to him.

"Are you okay now, Blaine?" As he got closer, he could see the tremors running through the teenager's body. "Jeez, kid, you're shaking. Come on, sit down for a minute."

He crouched in front of the sitting boy, trying to sound reassuring.

"Calm down, Blaine, we're safe now. They're gone."

Blaine nodded frantically in response, but seemed unable to stop his trembling. Burt kept talking, repeating that they were no longer in any danger and trying to distract him. He even briefly considered calling Kurt to ask him to comfort his ex-boyfriend over the phone, but he didn't want to alarm Kurt. He'd tell him what had happened later, when he and Blaine were safely back at home. He couldn't blame Blaine for being freaked out. Hell, he himself had been scared stiff and he hadn't been directly threatened the way Blaine had been.

After a while, the headlights of an approaching car came into view. Burt stood up, hoping it was the police car. In the time they had been sitting there, no other cars had passed them, which wasn't surprising considering how late in the evening it was. When the car came closer, he could see the red and blue lights on top of the car. He waved at them to attract their attention and looked back at Blaine.

"The police are here, buddy. We're going to be alright."

Two officers stepped out of the vehicle that had stopped next to them and one of them addressed Burt.

"Are you two okay, sir?"

"Yeah, we're good. Blaine hurt his wrist, but that's all."

"Okay. We'll take you to the hospital to have that looked at. We can get your statements later."

While a doctor was checking out Blaine's wrist and his general condition at the hospital, Burt gave his statement to one of the officers, describing the offenders and what they had said and done. When he came to the part where one of them had taken Blaine hostage, he stopped and took a moment to swallow away the fear that was building up in his gut again as he thought about that horrible moment, before continuing. He hadn't wanted to show Blaine at the time, but he had been terrified that they would hurt or even kill him. Not long after Burt had finished his account of the events, Blaine came back with a bandage around his wrist, accompanied by a doctor and the second officer, who had taken Blaine's statement while he had been waiting for the x-rays of his wrist.

"So? What's the verdict?"

"It's not broken," the doctor said brightly, addressing both Burt and Blaine. "He does have a moderate wrist sprain, which should heal on its own if he takes care of it properly. That means putting ice on it every three or four hours for about half an hour, which will help with the swelling, keeping it elevated as much as you can. You won't need a cast, but I do suggest not moving that hand too much for at least two days. If you are in too much pain, you could take some painkillers, preferably ibuprofen."

Burt and Blaine both nodded. Burt noticed that Blaine still seemed a bit dazed, but he was also a lot calmer than he was before.

"Ready to go home, buddy?" Blaine just nodded, looking relieved at the suggestion.

They thanked the doctor and the officers before making their way to the waiting room, where Carole was awaiting them. She hugged them quickly but firmly, after which the three of them made their way to her car.

By the time they arrived at the Hudmels' house, Blaine was on the verge of falling asleep on the spot. He hardly even noticed that Burt led him to Kurt's room. When Burt went to check on him ten minutes later, the boy was already fast asleep.

"What happened, Burt?" Carole asked worriedly. She, Burt and Finn were sitting around the kitchen table. By the time Burt finished telling the story for the second time that evening, both Carole and Finn were looking ready to murder someone.

"Blaine told me earlier his parents were on some fancy trip, so I figured it'd be best if we let him stay here for a few days, at least until his wrist has healed up a bit."

Carole nodded seriously, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "that poor child". Finn looked furious.

"How could they do that? Threatening a seventeen-year-old boy? No wonder he looked so... out of it."

"I know," Burt admitted.

"What about the car?" Finn asked.

"The police said they're looking for it, but they've told me not to expect too much." He glanced at the clock. "We should probably get some sleep. I've had enough stress for one day."

The following morning, Burt slept in and woke up feeling like he hadn't slept at all. When he entered the kitchen, Carole had already left for work and Finn had just finished breakfast.

"Morning, son. Is Blaine up yet?"

Finn shook his head in response.

"Good. Maybe I should call Kurt now. I promised I'd text him when we were home. He's probably running up the walls by now."

While Burt started dialling Kurt's number, Finn took the hint and went back upstairs to his room.

"Hey, son, it's your old man."

"Dad! Finally! I told you to text me the moment you and Blaine got home. What took you so long? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Kurt, relax, we're okay."

"Then why didn't you text me?"

"Will you hear me out, please? Let me explain?"

"Okay. You better have a damn good reason, by the way."

"Kurt."

"Okay, okay, I'm listening."

"Thank you. The reason I forgot to text you is because..." Burt was searching for a way to tell him this without freaking him out too much, until he realised there wasn't any way to present this nicer than it was. "Blaine and I... We were in a carjacking yesterday evening, when we were on our way home."

"What?" Kurt screeched in his ear. "Are you okay? Is Blaine okay?"

"Kurt!" Burt had to shout to get his son's attention. "Listen to me. We're both fine. Blaine has a sprained wrist, but that's all."

"That's all? How can you say that? You have to tell me everything."

Burt knew he couldn't lie to his son about what had happened, but he could leave a few details out so as not to worry him too much.

"There really isn't much to tell, Kurt. We were standing still in front of a red light when two guys suddenly threw the doors open and forced us to get out of the car. After that they drove away. We called the police and went home."

While he was talking, he saw Blaine enter the kitchen gingerly. Burt waved him in and mouthed 'Kurt' while pointing at the phone.

"You're holding something back, aren't you?" Kurt stated seriously in the meantime. "You said Blaine had a sprained wrist. How did that happen? Were they armed?"

Burt sighed deeply. Sometimes he cursed the way Kurt knew him well enough to see right through him.

"... They were," he admitted reluctantly. Before Kurt could interrupt him or freak out, he added, "but we're fine. Really."

Unfortunately, Kurt wasn't one to let things go that easily.

"You still haven't told me how Blaine got hurt."

"He fell when one of them dragged him out of the car, landed badly. If you don't believe me, ask him yourself. He's here with me."

Blaine looked up at that.

"Okay," Kurt responded somewhat defiantly. "I want to talk to him."

As he passed the phone to Blaine, Burt could only hope the boy wouldn't tell Kurt the details Burt had left out. He didn't exactly like lying to Kurt – even though it was a lie of omission – but he also didn't think it would be to anyone's advantage for Kurt to know what might have happened if their attackers had been just a little more trigger-happy, especially after the news about his prostate cancer.

"Hey, Kurt. … Yes, we really are okay."

Burt decided this was a good time to start making breakfast for the two of them. On the one hand, it gave him the perfect excuse to eavesdrop on their conversation – or at least Blaine's side of it – and on the other hand, talking to Kurt had made him hungry. While he was (pretending to be) busy, Burt noticed that Blaine stuck to the reduced version of the story.

When they finally had the chance to eat – Kurt had reluctantly hung up when Rachel had come in claiming she needed "immediate emergency outfit advice" – Burt decided this might be a good moment to address Blaine's living arrangements.

"So, Blaine, Carole and I thought it might be best if you stayed here for a few days."

He knew Blaine was going to protest even before the kid opened his mouth.

"Burt, that's really not necessary. I'll be fine."

"Uh-uh, save it, son. There's no arguing about this. There's not way we're going to let you stay at home alone when you can only use one hand. You've heard the doctor. So don't even try to get out of this."

Blaine nodded, accepting his logic.

"Fine. Thank you." Burt smiled, pleased at how well this was going. "It's not like I can drive properly at the moment anyway."

"Exactly. So you might as well stay here for a few days."

They went back to eating in silence for a while, but this time, it was Blaine who eventually broke it.

"Um, Burt?" he said tentatively. "I'm sorry for the way I acted last night. I guess I was kind of... freaked out."

"And you had a good reason to be, Blaine. Don't apologise for that. I understand, we all do."

Blaine's face coloured a bright red when he remembered that Finn and Carole had been there to see his weird behaviour as well.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. To be honest, kid, I was terrified as well."

Blaine looked at him disbelievingly.

"I was," Burt emphasised. "And I probably would've been more worried if you hadn't freaked out." He paused, unsure whether to continue or not. "Listen, Blaine," he started, catching the teenager's eye. "If you ever want to talk about this, I'm here, okay?"

Blaine nodded.

"Okay," he answered quietly. "I appreciate that. But I'm alright now. I mean, yesterday was scary, but it could've been a lot worse, right?"

"Right."

Burt wasn't sure whether he believed Blaine when he said he was okay, but while they both finished their breakfast – which had almost gone cold – he decided to leave it for now. After all, since Blaine had agreed to stay at their house, he could keep a close eye on him. They'd be alright.

The end

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