Kurt was on a flight to Ohio at 6 the next morning. Burt was still dealing with the fallout in DC, so Carole and Finn had promised to pick him up from the airport as soon as he landed. They took him straight to the hospital, where Finn sat with Kurt while Carole parked the car.

Moments after arriving, a disheveled Cooper Anderson came bursting through the door.

"Where is my brother?" he demanded.

"Sir -" a nurse began, but Cooper cut her off.

"Please, my brother – Blaine Anderson. I need to see him!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but he's only allowed on visitor at a time. I can go tell your parents that you're here."

Cooper nodded and turned to the waiting room. When he caught sight of Kurt, he ran up to the boy and hugged him. "Thank you so much for being here," Cooper whispered.

"Of course," Kurt choked out. "How is he doing? I haven't heard anything since last night."

"Mom and dad left me a message while I was on the plane. He woke up this morning. He's – he's in a lot of pain, but he's doing better."

Kurt sagged in relief as Cooper took the seat next to him. "I just can't believe this sort of thing would happen."

"I know," Cooper agreed. "I didn't believe it at first. I was at work, and I got a text from Blaine, which I just brushed off. Then I heard some of the crew talking about how there was another school shooting. I didn't think anything of it until I heard them say Lima. I just -"

"I know," Kurt said hollowly.

"I kept calling my parents, and finally dad answered and said that they were at the hospital, and I just – I lost it. I just ran off of set, I didn't even tell the director or my agent anything – I just packed and went to the airport and bought the first ticket I could."

"It's okay, Cooper," Kurt said. "Blaine's awake. He's going to get better." He wished he could believe those words.

A few minutes later, Mr. Anderson emerged and hugged Cooper. Cooper ran past the man with manic determination. James turned to Kurt.

"Thank you so much for coming, Kurt," he said tiredly.

Kurt looked at the man for a long moment. He looked so much older than the last time Kurt had seen him. "How are you holding up, Mr. Anderson?"

"I know I have nothing to complain about while my – my son is in there, but I don't know if I can handle this again."

"He's strong, Mr. Anderson. Blaine will make it through this and he'll be stronger than ever."

"But he'll never be the same again. I just want my innocent, happy little boy back."

Sam arrived around 10 since school was cancelled for who knew how long, and Tina showed up not long after. As more and more New Directions filed in, members both new and old, the room grew warmer, but it was still tense.

There was a brief moment between Mr. Schuester and Finn when they saw each other for the first time since their feud. The two men stood opposite each other in silence for a full moment before finally embracing. Finn wasn't totally forgiven, but both were reminded of the fragility of life and importance of friends after the shooting.

Cooper came back to the waiting room around noon, allowing his father to go back with Blaine. Everyone crowded around him for information.

"He's a little confused right now. When he first woke up – he thought that it was his Sadie Hawkins again. But he remembers now. All of it. The doctors don't want us talking about it, though, because every time he thinks about it he starts having a panic attack and they don't want to stress his heart when he just had surgery.

"He'll be moved from ICU in a few days, and then you guys can see him. But thank you all for being here now. I know it means more to him than any of us can say."

Everyone let out a sigh that they didn't realize they were holding in.

"Cooper," Kurt said, approaching the man, "When you go back, can you tell Blaine that – that I got his text and I love him too?"

"Of course, Kurt."

McKinley opened back up on the Friday after the shooting. Many people grumbled about having to go to school for that one day at all – why not just wait for the weekend? - but the glee club was more than happy to have something to occupy their minds.

Blaine's empty seat in the front of each classroom haunted them.

The police tape in front of the destroyed choir room door and the red stain on the tile floor made it impossible to think of anything else.

And then there was an assembly.

Principal Figgins managed to bring in a psychologist and a grief specialist to talk to the kids. They had asked the New Directions to perform, but none of them were able to sing anymore. Not without knowing Blaine was okay.

Blaine wasn't okay, but he was getting better.

The police had already come by twice, but each time he started having panic attacks as soon as he tried to speak. He knew how important his testimony was, but he just couldn't think about it yet.

The hospital had already sent a therapist to him, but he refused to talk to the woman. He sat in silence with her for the hour that she was in his room, and cried as soon as she left.

His parents and Cooper were almost always in the room with him, and Kurt was apparently refusing to leave the waiting room. The New Directions stopped by for at least a few hours each day to pass messages to Blaine via his parents.

And tomorrow he would be able to see them.

The doctors said that he was stable enough now that he could be moved from the ICU. Sure, he was still in pain and he was still sleeping more than he was awake and he hadn't even tried to move his left arm, but he wasn't critical anymore. That had to be good, right?

Once Blaine was settled into his new room, the doctor came in and unwound the bandages around his shoulder, arm, and upper chest.

"We needed to change your bandages, anyway, I wanted to see how your arm is doing. As soon as it's healed enough, we'll get you started in physical therapy."

Blaine nodded, but looked away from the work the doctor was doing.

He felt the doctor's cold fingers poking and prodding at his skin, and he winced away in pain.

"I know this hurts, but your arm is actually looking really good right now. Can you try to move your arm for me?"

Blaine screwed up his face and lifted his arm ever so slightly.

The effort was too much for him. There was a sharp jab of pain, and he let his arm fall back on to the pillows.

"Great job, Blaine," the doctor said.

Blaine rolled his eyes.

"No, really. I'm impressed that you can do that much so soon after the trauma," the man assured.

Blaine smiled weakly. "How much longer until I can actually lift it?" he asked.

"It depends on the person. You're in great shape, you're young, and your body is healing itself really quickly. I'd say that you'll have increased mobility within a week. Your full range of motion won't be restored for quite a while, and you'll have to avoid any heavy lifting, but you're going to heal."

"Guess I can't do Cheerios anymore," Blaine mused.

"What?"

"I was coerced onto my school's cheerleading team, but I guess I can't do that anymore. Coach'll probably kill me for ruining the uniform though. Mom said they cut it off of me back at school."

"I think she'll understand that there were circumstances outside of your power."

"I doubt it. Coach Sylvester is a pretty unreasonable and intense woman most of the time."

The doctor laughed as he began to reapply Blaine's bandages. "Well, I'm sure that you can survive anything she tries to throw at you for that, then. You're a really strong kid, Blaine."

"Thank you," Blaine said quietly.

"You have a bit of a mob waiting for you outside in the hall. I told them they had to wait until I was done with checking your shoulder, but if you're too tired I can send them away," the doctor said when he finished.

"No," Blaine said, stifling a yawn. "I want to see them."

Kurt was the first one through the door when the doctor left, followed closely by Sam and Tina. Tears sprung to Blaine's eyes when he saw all of their faces.

"Blaine!" Kurt gasped, falling into the chair next to Blaine and taking his right hand. "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"I'll try my hardest to stay out of the way of armed men from now on," Blaine promised, trying to ease the tension with a joke. It didn't work.

"I'm so sorry man," Sam choked out. "If I hadn't left to go looking for Britt, you wouldn't've followed me. Mr. Schue was right. I was endangering the entire club."

"Sam, no," Blaine said softly. "It was my choice to follow. It was my choice to slam that door instead of trying to get back into the choir room."

"But -"

"Stop, please," Tina said quietly. "Both of you. Stop doing this, and just be happy that Blaine's okay, alright?"

"Tina's right," Kurt said. "You guys have no blame in this at all. It was all that monster's fault, not yours."

"Do they know why?" Blaine asked quietly.

All heads turned to him.

"My parents and my brother refuse to tell me anything and they won't let me watch the news. Did they catch him? Do they know why he chose McKinley?"

Everyone looked around, trying to get someone else to answer. Finally, Kurt spoke. "They said, um, that the SWAT guys got there just as the guy was shooting the door. You were already passed out by then, I guess. But they got him. He was in the hospital for a couple days because they shot him to get him to stand down, but now he's at the jail. They won't tell us anything else yet, just his name."

Blaine nodded. "What's his name?"

"Blaine, do you really want to know this?" Kurt asked.

"Guys, stop treating me like I'm made of glass! That asshole fucking shot me. He tried to kill me. I think I have a right to know his name!"

"Bryan Jessup. He graduated from McKinley about five years ago."