"Daddy?" A voice croaked that certainly couldn't be his son's; it was too fragile, too delicate. But when he looked down at his only child he saw that his eyes were blinking open, squinting at the harsh lighting of the hospital room.
"Hey, buddy. How you feeling?" Burt took his son's hand gently, trying not to look at the lines of circular bruises left by multiple injection sites where they put who-knows-what into him. His son was awake. His son was alive and with him.
"Nauseous," he muttered, "What happened?"
"You…" Burt frowned. "You don't remember?" Kurt hesitated; narrowing his eyebrows, then shook his head. Worry flashed through the mechanic like a wildfire. He didn't remember? Did he have amnesia!?
"They never remember anything when they get back," Jane said, addressing Burt.
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, sounding so lost and Burt just wanted to beat someone up. His son looked up at his doctor, and suddenly shock flashed onto his features. "Wait…Jane?" Burt looked from the young woman to his son.
"Do you two know each other?"
"My son goes to his school. He's a freshman," Jane explained. Ok. That makes sense. But apparently Jane wasn't finished. "I was leaving the school after dropping him off when I passed the dumpsters, where some guys were beating Kurt up. Just as I stopped the car to get out, they threw him in a dumpster and left. I patched him up and gave him some Advil. The next day, they did it again, so I helped him again and it just kind of became a daily thing."
Burt looked down at his son in shock. He trusted a random woman over him? "Why didn't I know about this!?"
"You were sick!" Kurt exclaimed. "And besides, it's stopped now. Finn and I ride to school together every day so no one would dare get near me. Please don't worry about it. Now can you guys tell me what's going on?"
Burt wanted to yell at Kurt from keeping all this from him, but Jane had already launched into a much more gentle version of an explanation. Burt's eye's remained glued to his son's face while she talked, but Kurt didn't react at all, even when she showed him the wings. When she was finished she waited silently, letting Kurt processes her words.
Kurt opened his mouth to say something, and Burt was prepared to comfort him, but all that came out was, "I missed my Sound of Music singalong."
Finn's POV
When Burt had gone into the hospital room to see Kurt and talk to his doctor, Finn hung back in the hall, listening to two guys yelling at each other, one of which had an extremely strong Australian accent, and watching them with a small smile on his face. They totally liked each other. One of them looked very young, with crazy pale skin, messy white hair, and icy blue eyes. The other guy was a whole head taller than him and probably a bit older, with tan skin, bright green eyes, and shoulder-length brown hair.
Finn didn't understand doctor talk and he figured Burt would want some time alone with Kurt, thus the sitting outside. He considered calling the rest of the Glee club. He decided to wait until he had more information so Rachel didn't scream at him. So Finn resigned himself to playing Angry Birds on his phone while he waited outside the door. It seemed like hours until Burt and a really pretty lady in a lab coat stepped out of the door. The woman walked away before Finn had a chance to flirt but Burt walked right up to him. "I have to make some calls. Could you stay with Kurt for a minute? He's awake."
"Yeah. Of course." Finn tried to keep from sprinting into the room like a puppy promised a bone.
When Finn laid his eyes on his brother his throat went dry. He was covered in more bruises than he had ever seen on the younger boy, which was saying something. And he was stuck with so many tubes it was disturbing. The worst part, however, was the fact that Kurt was sat up in his bed doing homework of all god forsaken things. Kurt looked up from his binder, jumping slightly when he noticed Finn, who was apparently very stealthy. When he got a hold of himself he spoke. "Hey," he croaked his voice the exact opposite of what it usually was. Finn hoped he would get better before Sectionals.
Kurt and Finn were staring at each other awkwardly, so Finn cleared his throat and spoke. "How you feeling?"
"Fine." Kurt gave him a sweet smile; the same smile he gave out every time Karofsky slammed him into the lockers.
"Come on, Kurt," Finn pleaded, "You can talk to me."
"I'm…" Kurt's voice broke. "I'm fine." The tear that came down his cheek kind of made Finn believe him less.
Finn felt a spike of panic hit him. He didn't comfort crying people often (besides Rachel, but that usually just took a promise of jewelry), but he was willing to try it for Kurt. How hard could it be? He found some space next to Kurt on the bed, putting an arm around his shaking shoulders. "What is it, man?"
"She said that I would probably die," he said between sobs. "I'm just… I'm scared. I don't want to die…" Kurt stopped trying to resist and buried his face in Finn shoulder, sobbing brokenly. Finn didn't really know what to do. He hadn't dealt with a dying person before. He didn't want Kurt to die.
"You're not going to die, Kurt. You're the strongest person I know. You're like, invincible or invisible something. I always get those confused." He ran his fingers through his future brother's hair, surprised when he didn't get killed, marveling at how soft it was even when he had just been kidnapped. Not to be gay, but woah.
It was many long minutes before Kurt pulled away from Finn. "It would be better if you didn't bring this up to Dad. He's sick and I don't want him to worry too much."
"Sure," Finn said, "That's okay. I get that." Kurt finished wiping his eyes just as Burt walked back into the room.
"I called the guys at my work. I'm going to take a couple more days off work to stay with you."
"You don't have to do that."
"Of course I do. I'm not going to let you stay here alone." Finn opened his mouth to say something, but Burt interrupted him. "Finn, you are going to school."
"But-"
"You need to go to school."
A small smile spread across Kurt's face. Despite the inevitability of school, Finn smiled too. It was nice having some normalcy. If he tried, he could almost imagine his brother wasn't in a hospital bed.
Finn walked into the Glee club meeting, buzzing with excitement. "Guys! Kurt's back!" he shouted excitedly. "He said we could all come visit him in the hospital!"
The rest of the club greeted him with wide smiles as they left the room to go to their cars. "How is he?" Rachel asked, taking Finn's hands.
A momentary wave of exhaustion rolled over his features before he covered it up with a loving smile. "He's really sick, but he's okay. Come on, you can ride with me."
That was how the entire Glee club ended up piled in a small hospital room, Rachel and Mercedes sitting on the edge of Kurt's bed, the latter holding his hand and keeping one arm wrapped firmly around his shoulders. Everyone was talking and laughing, trying to pretend Kurt didn't look as bad as he did. His skin was even paler than usual, and he was drenched in sweat his forehead burning. His breathing came in unsteady, shaking gasps, like every inhale hurt him. Then things went downhill.
Kurt crushed Mercedes's hand in his, a small gasp escaping his mouth. Everyone froze. "Kurt? Mercedes asked, "You okay?"
Kurt relaxed his hand. "Yeah…I-AH!" His words were cut short by a loud cry ripping past his lips. He moved his hand around to his back, and it came back with blood on his fingertips. "Finn, get Dad." Finn hesitated. He had no idea what was happening. "Now!"
He sprinted down the hall, finding Burt talking with the pretty doctor lady. "There's something wrong with Kurt!" Finn cried, "He-"
No one let him finish. The pretty doctor starting yelling at people, who immediately started moving and grabbing stuff. "Finn," Burt said, "This is very important. You need to go home. Get all your friends to go home too. Got it?"
"No! I can't leave Kurt!"
"Finn. Please. You need to leave."
There was something scarily serious on Burt's face that made Finn incapable of arguing with him. He turned and ran back to Kurt's room. Kurt was breathing heavily and groaning like when Quinn had given birth, his heart monitor going crazy. He clung to Mercedes's hand like a lifeline. "It's okay, boo. Squeeze my hand as hard as you need to. I've got you," she murmured in a soothing voice. Kurt gave a high pitched whine in answer.
"Guys, you all need to leave."
Everyone looked at Finn like he'd punched them. Cries of, "No way!" and "We can't leave him!" rang through the room.
"I'm sorry, guys, but you have to leave. I don't know what's going on, but Burt said we all have to go, now please-" Finn was cut off when Burt burst into the room. The look on his face was enough to make everyone stand and walk out the door with a last glance at Kurt, who was still writhing and groaning on the bed. Finn even managed to coax Mercedes away from him. He walked with everyone down to the waiting room, watching them get in their various cars.
"Are we going?" Rachel asked, taking Finn's hand.
Finn gave her the keys to his car. "I'm going to try to figure out what's happening to Kurt. You can go back home."
Rachel nodded. "Can you call me when you know about him? I'm worried."
Finn had already sprinted back into the hospital, finding Kurt's room easily and trying to open the door, only to find it locked. He could hear faint sobbing from behind the door. Finn had to know what was happening. He went to the room's window that looked out into the hall, but the blinds were down. Lucky for Finn, one of the blinds was broken, and he could see through a small crack.
Kurt was lying on his side on the bed with his eyes scrunched closed, Burt sitting in a chair in front of him, holding both of his hands tightly. Four people, including the pretty doctor were standing behind him, but Finn couldn't see what they were doing. Kurt was crying in pain while Burt desperately tried to calm him down. "I can't do this," Kurt moaned into Burt's shirt, "Please, make it stop…daddy…"
Burt positioned himself so he was eye level with his son. "Kurt, look at me. You need to breathe. Come on, do it with me. In..." He inhaled deeply through his nose. Kurt tried to mimic his actions, but by the way his chest was moving rapidly, he wasn't succeeding. "Out." They exhaled together out their mouths, and then repeated. Kurt stared into his father's eyes as he struggled to breathe, a level of trust passing between them that was more powerful than anything Finn had ever seen in his life. The tears had stopped, but the pain seemed to be getting worse with every passing minute. Kurt couldn't hold back the loud cries that left his lips every couple seconds.
Burt looked up at the pretty doctor. "Please tell me it's almost over." The pretty doctor lady grimaced.
"Honey, it's not even started yet."
No. If this was just the start of whatever this was, then Finn was terrified of what was going to happen to his brother. He sunk to the floor, leaning against the wall and listening to the muffled screams from behind it. He sat there for about an hour before the screaming became so loud and painful that he had to see what was happening. Finn peeked through the hole in the blinds.
They had Kurt lying completely on his stomach now, and Finn couldn't tell if Burt was trying to comfort him or hold him down. It was probably both. Kurt was screaming in pain, his face buried in is pillow, but it did almost nothing to muffle the noises. Then Burt shifted, and Finn got a good look at his back. There were two huge lumps on his back, under his skin. It looked like they were trying to force themselves out. And they were getting bigger. Finn almost threw up. So much worse than Quinn giving birth.
The he noticed the white haired guy he had seen earlier, the one that had been arguing with the Australian guy. He looked like couldn't decide whether to cry or throw up, tears welling in his crystal blue eyes. Australian guy kept glancing over at him, worry clear in his face. Finn knew what it looked like to pretend to be cool and hard, just to keep a supposed image. He had had plenty of experience with that. "Jack," Australian dude said, "We don't need you in here anymore. Don't you have paperwork to catch up on?"
Now he definitely looked like he was going to cry, and he ran from the room. Finn felt a slight bit of anger that the dude wasn't in there helping his brother, but he couldn't blame the kid. Luckily he didn't notice Finn crouched by the window.
The doctor who had just kicked out Jack leaned over Kurt and gently touched his back, then pulled away sharply. He looked at pretty doctor, his eyes narrowed sharply. "He's almost done." The three people (pretty doctor, Australian doctor, and brown haired nurse lady) all stepped away from Kurt like he was a bomb, pressing themselves against the wall.
"Mr. Hummel," the pretty doctor said firmly, "You need to step away from him. We don't want you to get hurt."
"No! I can't-" Burt didn't get to finish what he was saying. Kurt let out one last heartrending shriek and his skin ripped open; two enormous things like bloody kites burst from his back, splattering blood on the walls and everywhere else. Finn stared in horror as one of the weird things hit Burt directly in the chest and sent him flying backwards, where he slammed into the wall, cracking the back of his head and losing consciousness.
Kurt had stopped screaming. Now he just laid there, his fists clenched and panting heavily, tremors pain of rushing through his body like he was being shocked. He let out a pitiful moan and leaned his head on the pillow, tears slipping down his cheeks. The two doctors ran around, probably checking his vitals or something (Finn had heard them talking about that on that doctor show Rachel likes), while the nurse rushed off to deal with Burt.
"I can't believe it…" The pretty doctor muttered, "He's alive. And he's not going into shock or anything."
Kurt whimpered softly.
"We should put him out," the Australian dude said. The other doctor nodded, still appearing dazed, and opened a drawer. Then another drawer. Then another drawer. She came back white as a sheet.
"Aster…" Aussie looked at her, and then groaned.
"Don't tell me…"
"We forgot the sedatives." They both looked down at Kurt, who had started crying again and was still twitching violently, the kite things lying limp against him like blankets.
"I'll go get them," Captain Kangaroo said, making his way towards the door. Finn started to panic. If this guy saw him, he was dead. Luckily, Jack came to the rescue.
Finn hadn't seen him coming. He was just suddenly in front of him, and Finn jumped, because seriously, the guy looked like a ghost. He glanced down at him for a second and Finn's heart jumped, but the albino intern didn't seem interested in him. Instead he ran straight into the room. "You forgot the sedatives," he called.
The pretty doctor took the medicine from him. "Thank you so much, Jack. What would we do without you?"
Jack grinned, and then glanced hopefully at Crocodile Dundee. When the doctor didn't even spare him a glance, a look of disappoint flashed in his eyes and he left the room, heading straight for Finn. Finn tried to pretend he wasn't paying any attention to what was going on inside the room. "You're his brother, right?" he asked softly, crouching beside him.
"Yeah," Finn said, twiddling his thumbs nervously. "Aren't you gonna kick me out of the hospital or something?"
Jack chuckled. "If I worked here, I would have to. Lucky for you, though, I'm just a lowly intern." He made a face. "Just be glad Aster didn't find you first. He'd have you out of here faster than you could make fun of his accent"
Now it was Finn's turn to laugh. "Thanks, Jack."
Jack grinned. "You are welcome."
Finn's expression grew serious. "Hey, you're kinda-sorta a doctor, right? Is he gonna be okay?" The way Finn was looking at Jack, he probably looked like a puppy, but he kind of wanted to know.
Jack' smile faltered, and it sent a spike of panic through Finn. "I hope so. I really like Kurt. And Aster seemed pretty confident he would make it."
Finn went pale. This guy liked Kurt? "Wait so…"
Jack's face turned bright red. "No! I would never- I'm not saying Kurt isn't desirable or anything and I mean I am gay, but he's really not my type and…"
Finn laughed, for the first time in a couple of days. "It's cool bro, I get it."
