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Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This chapter's title is from "War Sweater" by Wakey!Wakey!.

Finn winced, but he forced himself to stand up anyway. He refused to sit in that wheelchair for a prolonged period of time, no matter what the doctor said. It was only the upper half of his body that was busted up, not his legs.

He spotted Burt immediately as he made his way off the plane. Before either of them could acknowledge each other, Carole flew forward and gingerly wrapped her arms around his right side. Finn let his arm drop around his mother, feeling some type of relief flood through his chest.

"Mom," he said gently.

Carole pressed her face into Finn's BDUs as she began to cry, even though she had promised herself that she wouldn't. How could she not, though? This was the first time her little boy was home in five years. Five long years, with nothing but Skype chats and short visits when he was stateside.

"Oh, my baby boy," she said, hugging him carefully.

Finn looked down at his mother's head and choked back the surge of emotion that suddenly hit him. There was just something about being with his mother that made him feel like it was okay to break down a little bit. He looked up at Burt, who put his hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"Hey, Mom," he said, rubbing her back. "It's okay."

Carole sniffled and nodded her head. They quietly made their way from the airport, arms wrapped around each other.

"There's our little star!"

Rachel giggled as she was hugged by her fathers on both sides. Hiram and Leroy Berry were both talking a mile a minute about the Tony's and how proud they were of her and how fantastic she looked and did she bring the award for them to see?

"Wait until you hear about her new part," Kurt said. He could barely contain his glee over the fact that she hadn't even had to go and audition for this part. They had called her.

Hiram's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "What new part? Star, you got a new part already?"

Rachel gave Kurt a scolding look, but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. It was one of her dream rolls, after all. "Yes, Dad. I got a new part. We don't start rehearsals for another six months at least."

"Well aren't you going to tell me what part it's for?" Hiram demanded.

Rachel grinned and paused for a long moment, building the anticipation. "Maureen in Rent."

"Oh! My baby girl is all grown up!" Hiram seriously looked as if he was two seconds away from crying. It was definitely an adult roll, and easily one of the most recognized on Broadway. Hiram hugged her tightly as they walked from the airport. Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Kurt, and Blaine lagged behind them, already arguing over who was going to sit wear in the car.

"Obviously, Kurt gets bitch seat," Santana proclaimed. "He has the smallest ass."

"Rachel has a pretty tiny butt, too," Brittany said conversationally. "Maybe she and Kurt could share a seat."

Leroy laughed. "Don't worry. Hiram and I both drove separate cars so you kids could all drive back together."

Rachel kissed both of her fathers on the cheek. "Thank you Dads!" They piled their bags in the car that Hiram and Leroy were getting into before piling into the truck. There was a brief scuffle for the window seat between Santana and Kurt. Kurt put up a valiant fight, but Santana won out in the end. She poked him with something hidden somewhere—Kurt really didn't want to know either way. So he found himself crammed between Santana and Brittany in the back row, unable to get to the seat next to Blaine in the middle row because they wouldn't let him.

"Do you think we should rescue him?" Quinn asked.

Blaine settled back comfortably in his seat. "Nah. Let him suffer a little bit. Serves him right for not letting me sleep on the flight here."

"I heard that, Blaine Anderson!"

It had been two days since he had returned home to Lima. Finn walked down into his basement bedroom and immediately felt as if he had stepped into a time capsule. Nothing had changed. Not a single thing had moved from the spot he had left it in after graduation.

The only thing was that his mom had made up his bed with fresh seats. Finn sank down onto the mattress, noting that it was so much more comfortable than the cots he had slept on for months. He surveyed the room, taking in all of his old posters and the pictures that he tried not to look too closely at.

Getting up, Finn began to put all of the pictures on his desk face down. He purposefully didn't look at them as he made his way around the room. He took pictures off the wall, off his mirror, and placed pictures frames so that he couldn't see them anymore. Finally, he stopped in front of his drum set.

Finn stared down at it. Playing drums had been his outlet for everything in his life. After finding out that Quinn was pregnant, he had locked himself in his room and had banged away on the drums for hours. He had done the same when he found out that the baby was actually Puck's, only at the school. He played after every fight or breakup with Rachel. The night before graduation—before he had sent her to New York—he had a marathon drum practice that lasted until nearly two o'clock in the morning. He was lucky that his mom and Burt had decided to sound proof the basement.

Now he couldn't even do that anymore. With the way his wrist was busted up, he didn't even know if he could ever play again. The doctor had said that it would take months of extensive physical therapy. He barely even had a good range of motion, at this point.

Red-hot fury surged through Finn at that moment. Without a word, he brought his hard cast down on the cymbals. They clattered noisily as Finn kicked them over. He put his casted fist through his snare drum before he threw it against the wall. His foot went through the bass drum several times before he kicked that towards the wall, as well.

Just then, Carole and Burt came rushing down the stairs. They took in the destroyed drum set, and then Finn's red face and heaving chest. There was a long moment of silence as none of them knew what to do or what to say.

"Finn," Carole began carefully. "What's… what's wrong?"

Finn's good fist clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white. The pain was beginning to spread through his left wrist, and his burns had been irritated with the excessive movement he had been doing while throwing the drums. He actually welcomed the pain as he kicked one of the drums again, denting the frame.

"Nothing," he snapped harshly. "I'm fine."

Carole winced and Finn looked away from her, down at the floor. Shame washed over him, but it wasn't enough to override the anger. Burt, on the other hand, walked right up to him without hesitation. When Finn didn't make any attempts to move, Burt grabbed his left arm and inspected the cast. Finn continued to stare at the floor while Carole watched with wide, worried eyes.

"You cracked the cast," Burt said gently. He patted Finn on the back. "Let's take you to the hospital to get it fixed up, okay?"

Finn didn't say anything, but he didn't resist as Burt took him back up the stairs. Carole watched them go before she climbed the stairs and found her purse. She dug around in it before she pulled out her cell phone. She hit number two on her speed dial and waited patiently for the pick up.

In the middle of laughing at a story that Quinn was telling, Kurt's phone rang. He excused himself form where they had gathered in the kitchen and went out into the backyard. He smiled when he saw that the call was from Carole.

"Hello!" he greeted happily. "How are you, Carole? You won't believe what I have to tell you—"

"Kurt."

The heavy tone of Carole's voice made Kurt freeze. Every single worst-case scenario ran through his mind. "It's not my dad, is it?" he asked immediately.

"No, sweetie. It's not," Carole said softly.

Kurt practically stopped breathing as his mind began to race even faster. "Oh God. It's Finn."

"It's Finn," Carole confirmed. She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears, but she choked them back and took a deep breath. "He's home."

Kurt blinked. "What? He's back in Lima?"

"Yes. It was bad, Kurt." Heading off any more panicked exclamations, Carole quickly added, "It's nothing that he can't recover from. But it's going to take a little bit."

Kurt leaned back against the wall of the Berry house. He twisted the ends of his fashionable scarf between his fingers. "How is he?"

"We picked him up at the airport two days ago," Carole explained. "He was pretty quiet for a little while, but… I don't think he's doing well, Kurt. I think you should come home for a little bit, just to see him."

Of course, if Kurt hadn't already been in Lima, he would have been there in a heartbeat. "That's the thing, Carole," Kurt said with a weak chuckle. "I'm already back in Lima."

Carole sounded absolutely floored. "Are you really?"

"Yes. We were going to make it a surprise. Rachel wanted to come back home for a little bit, so we all decided to make it into a trip. Santana, Brittany, Blaine, and Quinn are here, too."

There was only one part of that explanation that Carole seemed to actually register. "Rachel is here?"

And then Kurt suddenly realized what the implications of Rachel and Finn being back in their hometown together actually meant. Rachel was going to be here for a few months, at least. Finn's plans were obviously unknown at the current time. All that really mattered for him right now was his recovery. Logically, they were bound to run into each other at some point. In an uncharacteristic move, Kurt began to curse liberally. Carole let him without scolding.

When he finally calmed down, Kurt asked, "Carole, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Kurt," Carole said. She sounded like she was trying not to cry again, her breath coming out in shaky little gasps. "Finn and Burt are at the hospital right now—"

"What? Why?"

"Your father took him to get his cast fixed—"

"Cast? What cast?"

"The cast on his wrist—"

"He broke his wrist?"

"Yes, Kurt," Carole said in her most motherly tone. Kurt immediately shut his mouth when he realized that he had been getting ready to interrupt her once again. Carole gave a light, watery chuckle that was barely there before she spoke again. "His left wrist was almost shattered in the blast. They had to do surgery in order to repair it. And that wasn't the only injury he sustained."

"The blast?" Kurt swallowed hard and felt tears burning in his eyes.

"It was a roadside bomb," Carole said.

"Oh my God." Kurt pressed a hand to his mouth and tried to get a grip on himself. After all, there were still people inside the house, and they were sure to come outside to find him if he didn't return in a few minutes. Making an executive decision, Kurt took a deep breath and straightened up. "I'll be at the house in fifteen minutes, Carole."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Kurt took another few minutes to make sure that it didn't look like he was about to have a complete breakdown before he walked back into the Berry household.

"There you are, Lady Hummel!" Santana exclaimed. "We were just about to start mixing drinks. Tell Papa Berry what you want."

Kurt held up his hand and shook his head. "No thanks. I actually just got a call from my dad. He wants me to stop by the shop before they close down. We're going to do dinner. So I'll just see you guys tomorrow morning."

It was nice to know that he still had his acting chops. Either that, or Santana, Rachel, Brittany, and Quinn were just in too good a mood to notice if his voice had faltered at all. Blaine, on the other hand… he definitely had. He looked at his boyfriend with questioning eyes and Kurt stared back at him. In the end, it didn't take him long to decide that he couldn't do this without Blaine.

"And he wants to see Blaine, of course," Kurt added. "So we're just going to go."

They kissed the girls on their cheeks and left the house hand-in-hand. The Berrys let them borrow one of their cars, and Kurt managed to hold himself together until they got in. Once the doors were closed, he threw his arms around Blaine as tears started to trickle from his eyes.

Blaine smoothed a hand over Kurt's hair and made gentle shushing noises. He was anxious to find out what was wrong, but he didn't want to push him. Finally, Kurt pulled back a little bit and wiped at his eyes.

"It's Finn," Kurt said. He sniffled and sat up straight. He had to be strong for Finn. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he broke down in front of his brother. "He was wounded in action, and he was shipped home on Wednesday.

Even though his mind was racing, Blaine started the car up and pulled out of the driveway without another word. They made it to the Hudson/Hummel house in five minutes, and Kurt was out of the car before Blaine had even turned it off. But Kurt waited for Blaine and took his hand, holding it tightly as they entered the house.

Carole had seen them pull up and immediately engulfed both men in a hug. Burt was next, and Kurt had to take several deep breaths to keep his emotions in check. Burt looked meaningfully towards the living room. Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand and kissed his cheek before letting go.

Kurt carefully made his way into the living room. Finn was sitting on one end of the couch, blankly staring at a football game on ESPN. Kurt had to bite back a gasp at just how… horrible Finn really looked.

Never mind the cast encasing his left wrist. Finn's left side bulged out a little bit under his t-shirt, where the stiff bandages were. They had to protect both his burns and his ribs. There was ample bruising on the left side of Finn's face as well, and he had a cut running along his hairline. His skin was pale and his eyes had dark smudges under them. Not only that, but his normally optimistic eyes were now blank.

Kurt walked towards Finn and sat next to him on the couch. The movement made Finn finally look down at him. Surprise flashed across his features, but his face remained otherwise impassive. He didn't say anything as he stared down at his brother.

Kurt didn't say anything, either. He just leaned his head on Finn's shoulder and turned to watch the television with him.

Author's Note: Ack, so much angst! Don't worry, Finn and Rachel will be meeting again soon. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you all think!