Chapter 2

Burt

Burt was having his ticket scanned at the entrance to the Buckeyes game when his phone rang. He pulled Finn to the side as soon as he got through the gates and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Hummel, it's Puck." The voice on the other end was more subdued than Burt had ever heard it.

"Puck, you've known me for sixteen years and you've never called me 'Mr. Hummel'. Whatever you broke, just replace it before we get home and we'll call it even, okay?" Burt chuckled.

"No, Burt, it's not that. It's- uh- it's Kurt. He's in the hospital."

The world, everything around Burt seemed to stop momentarily, then came crashing back upon him. "What happened? Is he okay?"

Finn's ears perked up at the words and he moved closer, trying to ask Burt silently what was wrong.

"He's gonna be fine, but I think you should come down. I took him to Lima Memorial." Puck's voice was subdued.

"What happened? You took him?" Burt was confused. Puck and Kurt didn't normally hang out, so why was Puck around when Kurt was hurt?

"I found him- he was going to jump off the bridge south of town. I stopped him from jumping, but he still hit his head pretty bad. The doctor said that it would need staples, and he was still unconscious when they took him back. They say he might have a concussion, but they won't know for sure until he wakes up."

Burt tugged Finn back through the gates. "Puck, I'm on my way. I'll call Carole. She'll be there first, she's in Lima, but I'm down at Ohio State with Finn. I'm on my way."

"I'll wait for Carole, then. Thanks, Burt." Puck hung up and Burt put his phone away.

"What's going on, Burt?" Finn asked as the two of them jogged back to Burt's car, fighting the crowds headed into the stadium for the game.

"Kurt's in the hospital. I'm sorry Finn, but we have to go." Burt felt bad that he wouldn't be able to take Finn to the game like he promised but he hoped Finn would understand.

"Of course!" Finn said as they reached Burt's car.

They got in and buckled up. Burt pulled out of the parking lot and began to speed back towards Lima.

"What happened?" Finn asked him.

"Kurt- he tried to commit suicide. Puck found him and stopped him but he still got hurt." Burt couldn't help the overwhelming guilt flooding his body. If Kurt wanted to commit suicide, he must have been hurting- and Burt hadn't noticed.

Finn seemed to be frozen in shock, his mouth hanging open. "He tried to kill himself?" He made a noise of protest. "I- I don't-"

"Puck caught him at Mohone Bridge." Burt nodded solemnly.

Finn was quiet for a few minutes. "He seemed so happy. I didn't notice anyone bothering him, or that there was any bullying, I swear, Burt, I would have done something if I'd seen anything at all." Finn said quickly.

"This isn't your fault, Finn. We all missed any kinds of warning signs there might have been."

"Should I call Blaine and have him meet us there? He would want to know."

Burt nodded, "I think so. Whatever this is, he's going to need Blaine's help to get through it."

Blaine

Blaine pretended to laugh once again at one of Sebastian's thinly veiled innuendos, trying to pass it off as just a joke. He really didn't care for Sebastian's company and he wished he would leave him alone, but he wasn't mean enough to tell Sebastian to leave outright.

"So, we should go back to Scandals on Friday, maybe do some more dancing without the chaperone?" Sebastian grinned at him.

Blaine's eyes narrowed. He didn't like the way that Sebastian talked about Kurt- like Kurt was some sort of buzzkill. Blaine didn't exactly appreciate Sebastian's idea of fun, trying to get him to cheat on Kurt. Blaine didn't need to do anything with Kurt to be 'having fun'. Just being with Kurt was enough for him. But when they did get alone time, Blaine and Kurt had plenty of fun, and Blaine smiled at the memory of a few nights ago, completely ignoring whatever Sebastian was saying. What Blaine and Kurt had was real, was going to last, and he didn't appreciate Sebastian trying to cheapen the most beautiful thing in his world.

Blaine's phone began to ring, and Blaine took it as a distraction, stepping away from the table. Sebastian wasn't pleased to be interrupted at all.

The caller ID said it was Finn, which was strange. Finn didn't normally call Blaine.

"Hey, Finn," Blaine answered the phone.

"Blaine? It's Kurt, he's in the hospital." Finn's voice was rushed, poorly disguised panic shining through.

Blaine nearly dropped his phone, collapsing back into his chair.

"He's going to be okay, but Burt and I are a couple hours away. Carole should be at the hospital by now, but Burt thought that Kurt would want you there. He's at Lima Memorial." Finn told him.

"I'm ten minutes away," Blaine assured, "I'll leave right now." Blaine hung up and left the table, not even saying goodbye to Sebastian. He ran to his car and climbed in, getting out of the parking lot and speeding towards the hospital.

He parked quickly and sloppily and ran into the Emergency Room waiting area, where Puck and Carole were standing with a doctor, about to leave for another part of the hospital.

"They're moving him out of the Emergency Room and into his own room," Carole told Blaine as soon as she spotted him, grabbing his arm comfortingly. "He still hasn't woken up and they're kind of worried about that, but they're sure that he'll come around. They're keeping him at least overnight, assuming he wakes up soon, but tomorrow they might let us take him home or help us transport him to a rehabilitation facility, based on how Kurt feels about what happened." Carole informed him softly as they walked to Kurt's new room.

"Carole, I'm way behind, here. I don't even know why he's here." Blaine said, lost in what Carole had told him.

They arrived at Kurt's room and Carole sat Blaine down on the bench outside. "Before you see him, you need to know. Puck found him at Mahone bridge. He was going to try to commit suicide." Her voice was hushed, even though there was nobody around but Puck to overhear them. Blaine wanted to throw up. She couldn't be right. Kurt wouldn't do that. "Puck was able to stop him, but he hit his head. He had to get 5 staples, which will be covered by his hair, and he probably has a concussion, but they won't know for sure until he wakes up."

"He tried to kill himself?" Blaine nearly whimpered.

"It seems so." Carole put her arm around Blaine's shoulders, pulling him into a hug.

"I need to see him." Blaine pulled away and went into Kurt's room and there he was. Part of Blaine wished this whole thing was a dream and that it wasn't the love of his life lying there on a bed with an IV and a heart monitor and oxygen tubes in his nose, looking so pale under the fluorescent lighting, his hair matted with leftover blood that the ER hadn't had the time to remove.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Puck standing to his right, head down.

Blaine sat down in a chair on Kurt's left side and moved to grab his hand when he realized that it was bound in soft restraints.

"Why are his hands tied up?" He asked brokenly.

"Hospital policy," Puck responded quietly, "They restrain anyone who they believe might be a danger to themselves or others.

Blaine took Kurt's hand anyway, staring at his boyfriend's blank face, usually so expressive, and cried. He swore to himself that he would do anything to fix this, to make Kurt better. He still wasn't sure why it had happened, but he would do anything to take the pain away.

Like Kurt, he was mostly agnostic, but he still couldn't help but pray that his boyfriend would wake up soon.