Author's Note: Well... here's another chapter. Not quite as long as the first two, but I promise they're not just going to keep getting exponentially smaller each time I post a chapter.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
There was silence in the Guidance Office for a moment, as Kurt watched both Mrs. Johnson and his father fully grasp what he had just told them. He hadn't meant to say it, it just slipped out. He never wanted to tell anyone, besides Blaine that is, about what Carole had done. Sure he hated Carole, but he wasn't going to play the role of a victim. He had played that role for far too long at McKinley, and finally he's standing up this time. He didn't want to get justice, or revenge. He just wanted to get her out of his life, and with his current situation, he did just that.
"What do you mean she hurt you, Kurt? I know Carole treated you unfairly but…" Burt sputtered out, trying to process the information he had just received. It didn't seem like he believed his son's accusations. How could he? His wife, hurting his son after they sent him to private school because he was physically abused by a bully and threatened with death? That was too much to take.
"She never did it while you or Finn were around…" Kurt said, trailing off at the end. Suddenly regretting that he had let those words slip from his mouth. He never wanted to have this conversation, partly because of the awkwardness it would create, and partly because he avoided real confrontation like the plague. Get into a petty argument over which model on America's Next Top Model deserved to be kicked out and he would fight all day long. But about anything real? He hated it; he detested it and never wanted to participate in a confrontation of that magnitude.
"This is a serious accusation, Kurt." Mrs. Johnson said, and Kurt turned to glare at her.
"You don't believe me either?" He asked with disbelief, and she shook her head.
"I didn't say that." Kurt relaxed a tiny bit, but he was still on edge. He knew no one was going to believe him, why was he getting worked up when two people he was supposed to trust didn't? "But before we throw accusations around like that, can you tell us what she did?"
He bit his lip and looked down at the floor. "Kurt?" Burt asked, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. Kurt shook it off.
"She'd hit me." He said flatly.
"Where?" Burt asked, and Kurt chuckled.
"Face… head…arms... anywhere really. " Burt's face was unreadable, and Kurt didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. He had always been able to read his father's expressions, especially when he was younger and possibly in trouble. But right now he couldn't get a read on him, and it frightened him.
"I can't believe this." Kurt stared at his father for a full minute, before he began to unbutton his Dalton blazer. A few seconds later he was unbuttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt, and rolling up the sleeve on his left arm. Neither the woman sitting before them, nor Burt knew why he was doing this, but a moment later it was perfectly clear, when they saw a yellow mark marring the beautiful pale skin of Kurt's shoulder.
"This was from about a month ago. It's fading, but it's still there." He said his voice barely above a whisper. He hadn't wanted to show anyone the bruises on his body, but he also didn't want anyone thinking he was a liar either. But when Burt saw the bruise on his shoulder…. Kurt knew that at least he had gotten through to his father.
There was the readable Burt Hummel that Kurt had always known and love. It was clear from his father's face that he was outraged that someone had hurt his son. Whether Burt believed it was Carole or not, remained to be seen.
"Kurt, I'm so sorry, that I didn't notice any of this sooner." Burt's face fell into his hands, unable to grasp what he was learning. He knew his son had been suffering in his own home, but he didn't know it was anything like this. This he would have stopped, had he known.
"Sorry isn't going to cut it, Dad." Kurt says simply, and both adults in the room turn to look at him.
"Kurt…" His guidance counselor admonishes him, but Kurt shakes his head.
"No. Even if he didn't know about her hurting me, he still should have noticed that something was wrong." Kurt said adamantly. He turned his head to look at his father, his face slightly warmer than it had been for the entire meeting. "Let me be clear about something. I love you, Dad. I will always love you. I've missed you for these past few days, but if you think an apology will get me to move back into that house, you're delusional." Burt nods, understanding why Kurt wouldn't want to move back into a home that hurt him for so long.
"What do I have to do, Kurt?" Kurt never thought he'd hear his father sound weak. Other than his father's first few words after he came out of his coma, he'd always been so strong, and determined.
Kurt stands up, rolls down his sleeve and puts his blazer back on. "If you really care about me, and my wellbeing. You'll figure it out yourself." With that, he leaves the two adults in the room alone, and makes his way back to class.
As Kurt made his way out of the guidance office and down the hall, he saw Blaine coming out of the class they had together just before. Blaine ran up to meet with Kurt and saw the distressed look on Kurt's face. Luckily it was the end of the school day, so there wasn't anything else the two of them had to do.
"Hey, are you okay? Why did Mrs. Johnson want to see you?" He asked and Kurt took a deep breath.
"Dad came to visit Dalton. " He said succinctly, while looking down at the ground mostly at his and Blaine's shoes.
"And?"
"I told him and Mrs. Johnson about what Carole did. I'm just not sure either of them believes me." He confessed, and Blaine pulled him into a hug. He had gotten to know Kurt really well over the past 6 months, and he could tell when Kurt needed physical comfort or just verbal, this was a time for physical.
"I'm sure he does. Any caring father would." Blaine said, and Kurt sighed into Blaine's shoulder.
"I guess."
They break apart and start walking down the corridor. Teenage boys were running around, trying to get all their books together so they could go home and escape the school day. They look at each other.
"You ready to go home?"
"Yea, let's go."
Driving home wasn't an easy feat. Burt was shaking with rage after learning what he did at Dalton Academy. When Kurt had been a baby, he had sworn to always protect him. To love him, and keep him safe from harm. But he hadn't been able to do that. He looked into the same blue eyes he did 18 years ago and saw the same vulnerability from when he was a baby, shone through today. He couldn't stand the fact that he let this happen to his son, his baby. His pride and joy.
He pulled over onto the side of the road a couple of times because he ended up shaking too much from anger. It ended up taking him twice as long as it would usually take to get from Dalton to Lima, but once he pulled into his driveway, he jumped out of the car, swung the front door open and bellowed.
"CAROLE!"
"What?" She said, coming out of the kitchen, where she had been warming herself something to eat. He stormed over to her, glared down at her until she had to crane her neck backwards to be able to see his full face.
"What did you do to my son?" He asked steadily, giving her a chance to come clean. He knew it was a long shot that she would actually confess to anything, she hadn't confessed to anything so far why start now?
"I didn't do anything to your son." The scoff that surrounded the word son sent Burt's anger skyrocketing towards the sky.
"You mean you didn't smack him around when no one else was home? You didn't leave a mark on his shoulder that's lasted four fucking weeks?" He asked menacingly, and Carole shook her head.
"Did he tell you that? The little liar." Burt's face contorted in fury and rage.
"I saw the bruise!"
"I bet you did." She said, rubbing his arm in attempt to soothe his outburst of emotions. "But do you honestly believe that I would hit him? Or that anything I did would leave a lasting mark like that?" She asked, and for a split second, he had to agree with her. Kurt was taller and stronger than Carole, especially with all the manual labor she put him through. She wouldn't be able to hurt him without Kurt actively letting her.
"I don't know what to believe anymore, Carole. But I know my son won't be returning home until he feels safe, and he won't feel safe with you around." Carole stepped back from her husband, unsure of what he was trying to say.
"So what are you going to do?" She asked, looking up at him anxiously.
"I don' know yet. But either way, you're probably not going to like it." Burt said matter of factly, and then left the hallway they were currently standing in, to contemplate his next actions. There were a few options he had in this situation, but he had to consider them all carefully, because any way he looked at it, someone' s life would be changed forever because of it.
The same day that Burt went to talk to Kurt at Dalton, was the day that Mercedes, Finn and the rest of the New Directions were concerned over Kurt and his behavior. Well The New Directions were concerned, Finn wasn't really all that concerned about his brother.
"He still won't accept any of my calls." Mercedes said to the group at large and Rachel nodded.
"Nor mine! I even left a message, offering to let him give me a complete makeover and nothing. It's starting to worry me." Finn rolled his eyes at their eagerness to find out what Kurt's problem was. Finn gave up on that a while ago and he wasn't going to rehash that now, just because Kurt decided to run away from home.
"I wonder what his problem is." Puck wondered aloud and Finn scoffed.
"He hates my mom and doesn't give a shit about our family. That's his problem. Ever since he left, Mom and Burt fight constantly. It sucks; he doesn't care about the family, so why are we caring about him?" Everyone looked at Finn sharply for that comment, they all loved Kurt and didn't like that he was obviously going through something that they weren't privy to.
"There's gotta be a reason why he left home, though." Mercedes tries to reason with her friend, but Finn shrugged it off.
"He thought he was being treated unfairly. Boohoo."
"What do you mean, Finn?" Quinn, Finn's latest girlfriend asked, sitting beside him.
"He was complaining about the amount of chores he had to do. Big whoop." Finn said bitterly.
"Like what?" Artie asked, and Finn huffed.
"I don't know… Wash the dishes, vacuum, dust, laundry, clean the gutters, mow the lawn, weed the gardens…"
Everyone was shocked that he had so much to do at home, and after a moment Tina spoke up. "And what chores did you do, Finn?" Finn looked up at her and saw her piercing look, as if she already knew the truth.
"Well… I uh… I helped with the dishes some…" He said lamely, and everyone's mouths dropped simultaneously.
"THAT'S IT?" They all shouted the force of which nearly knocked Finn off his seat.
"That's despicable, Finn." Rachel said, disgusted at the object of her misplaced affection.
"You let him do all of that himself, and never bothered to help your brother?" Quinn said, getting up from where she was seated and standing next to Rachel, with whom she for once, agrees.
"That's low, dude." Puck says from behind Finn.
"I'm in a wheelchair, physically incapable of doing some of those things, and I do more than you do." Artie berated him, and Finn sunk lower into his chair.
"How could you do that to him? He's your brother." Mercedes shouted at him and Finn threw his hands up to fend off the attacks he thought was likely to come.
"You know what? I'm sick of this. He's the one that ran away from home. He's the one that ran away and doesn't want to live with me Mom, and Burt. As far as I'm concerned, he's not my brother anymore." Finn says, standing up attempting to leave the room. When he gets to the door, McKinley's small guidance counselor is there to stop him.
"Finn, May I talk to you in my office, for a few minutes?"
When the two boys got home that afternoon, they found Julia sitting in the living room, watching one of her soap operas. She was usually a workaholic at the hospital she works at, but when she found out that Kurt would be moving in with them, she rearranged her schedule so she'd be home when they got home, in case something happened, she'd be there to support him and Blaine if necessary. Kurt had felt honored when he learned this, because he had never had anyone rearrange their work schedule to accommodate him before. His father hadn't even done that after his mother died, instead Burt had Kurt stay at the shop every day after school from the time Elizabeth died, to the time Burt felt Kurt was old enough to stay home alone.
"How was school, boys?" She asked, and Kurt shrugged as Blaine dropped his bag on the side of the couch and plopped down onto it. Julia looked at him disapprovingly, but said nothing.
"Exhausting. If it's alright with you, I'm just going to go upstairs and lay down." She nods, and watches as Kurt leaves the living room, she then turns her attention to Blaine.
"What happened?" Blaine sighed.
"Burt showed up in the guidance office today." Blaine had never heard his mother cuss before, but he thought he heard her swear under her breath when she heard that piece of news.
"How did that go?" Blaine shrugged his shoulders, because really he didn't know.
"I don't' know much. Kurt just said that he came to see him, no specifics." Julia hung her head and took a deep breath.
"I hope he is okay." Ever since he was a baby, Julia had been able to determine Blaine's moods just by looking at his face. She could tell when he was gassy as a baby and needed to be burped, she was able to tell when he was antsy, and needed to exert some energy at playtime. But right now, she's seeing a side of her son that she rarely sees. Overwhelming concern for someone else. That's not to say that Blaine is never concerned about other people, but it's a rarity that he lets it show all too often. "What's wrong sweetie?"
"He's already been through so much… I hate that he keeps going through it."
"I know, but we've done all we can to help him. He's out of that house now, and he doesn't have to go back. The only thing we can do now is wait to see if Burt and Carole try to fix things, and step in if it feels as if they're going to make things worse."
"I know I just worry about him."
"I know. So do I."
Blaine had left his mother in the living room a little while later and walked upstairs to Kurt's bedroom. He knocked on the door that was slightly ajar. He didn't hear a response, so he pushed it open slightly. He saw Kurt curled up on the bed, and when he sat down on the bed next to Kurt, he saw Kurt quickly wipe his eyes. It hurt him to know that Kurt was crying, but there was nothing he could do to stop the crying. Not when it had to do with Burt and Kurt's evil stepmother.
"Kurt, you okay?" He asks, placing a hand delicately on his friend's shoulder.
"Fine" He sniffs and Blaine can see the tears running down his face, even though Kurt had just tried to wipe them all away.
"You don't sound fine." Blaine said in a light tone, trying to cheer his friend up.
"Long day." He sighed and turned to face his friend.
"I bet. Wanna talk about what happened with your Dad?" He shook his head no, but apparently no one told his brain that, because he started speaking again. "I don't know if he believes me or no, and if he does I have no clue what he's going to do." Kurt sighed, and Blaine pushed on Kurt's shoulder a little, signaling he should move over on the bed so that Blaine could get on.
"Well, think of it this way. If he doesn't believe you, then there's no point in worrying about it, because he's not going to try and fix anything and you won't have to deal with him, or her anymore." He says, and Kurt raises an eyebrow, as if that's really what he wants. "Or…" Blaine says as if reading Kurt's thoughts. "…if he does believe you, he'll have to confront her about it, won't he? He'll have to find a way to come to terms with the fact that his wife hurt his son, and I don't think many men could actually do that and still stay with that wife."
"I guess… maybe."
"Don't worry about it, Kurt. You've spent too long worrying about it."
"Thanks." Kurt took a deep breath and curled up in the bed like he had before, but this time he was cuddled against Blaine's side. Neither of them said anything. Kurt needed comfort, and Blaine could offer it. So that's what they were doing. It wasn't until Kurt's breathing leveled off indicating he had fallen asleep, that Blaine realized that even if Kurt and Burt could patch up their relationship, he didn't want Kurt to leave.
Read and Review! :)
Next chapter reveals why Emma needed to talk to Finn, what Burt is going to do with Carole (partially, anyway) and how the New Directions act towards Finn after the big reveal!
