Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's Chapter 6. Three guesses what my radio is playing right now. That being said, I can't believe I haven't already upped this story's rating, since the end of the last chapter is so not K+.
Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele.
"There's a side to you
That I never knew, never knew.
All the things you'd say,
They were never true, never true.
And the games you'd play,
you would always win, always win."
Chapter VI: Set Fire to the Rain
Kurt
I pace back and forth around the living room until the phone finally rings, which does nothing for my worry and frown lines. "Hello?" I whisper breathlessly into it.
"Hey, Kurt," it's Dad, not Pearl.
Any other occasion I'd be happy, but right now I just give an exasperated sigh. "What do you want, Dad?" I ask glumly.
"What's wrong?" Dad asks, immediately making me feel guilty.
"Uh, nothing," I say, not wanting to give false information. "Just…Blaine did something stupid and Pearl's gone to pick him up."
"Okay," Dad trails off just in time for me to hear a car parking outside.
"Dad, somebody's coming into the driveway," I say. "I have to go."
"Be careful," he tells me.
I scoff. "Let them try," I say confidently, grabbing my pom-poms. They hurt if you throw them the right way, and believe me, after a couple verbal spars with Santana, I can throw them the right way.
But I don't need to throw them, because it's Pearl, and she's got Blaine in her arms, and there's blood, and she's crying, and Blaine's barely moving.
"Kurt," she sobs, "your house is closer than mine. I need your help. I fucked up. I fucked up bad."
It wasn't until I realized that Blaine's eyes were glazed and he was barely moving that I realized he might not be fully participating in this venture, whatever the hell this venture was.
Pearl (a few minutes earlier)
"Stop staring, you pervert!" the boy on top of him yells.
"Get off my son, you pervert!" I scream back.
He runs off. I'm too upset to think about his name, choosing instead to focus on my son.
"Blaine, Blaine, are you okay?" I ask anxiously.
He looks up at me blearily. "Mother," he gasps weakly, reaching for me. Unbidden, I remember the Blaine of the other world, dying from stab wounds, but still trying to stem the bleeding from a simple cut his father inflicted on me.
"Blaine, I'm so sorry. I am so sorry," I start to tear up, but no, I have to approach this with a law enforcement perspective, not a maternal one, or I'll be useless. I have to keep my emotions in check. "Alright, Blaine, I'm going to pick you up, okay?" He doesn't react, so I flip him over as gently as I can and see the stain on the front of his pants, noting the lack of ammonia in the air with some level of detachment.
Blaine doesn't look astonished when I move him, but he does hiss a little. I ask him what hurts and how to alleviate it, but all he can say is, "I screwed up, Mother. I screwed up bad. I screwed up Kurt. I screwed up bad."
He repeats those three sentences until I'm about ready to drive my car directly off the road, or into another car.
Kurt
"Are you sure he only had one drink?" Pearl is frantically running around. "Where are your parents and Finn?"
"Finn's on a date with Rachel and Dad and Carole are somewhere celebrating his election," I answer, heart in my throat. "What are you looking for?"
"A syringe," she answers. "Wait, I have one," she reaches into her purse and pulls out a needle. I swear, that woman has everything in her bag except the kitchen sink.
Behind me, Blaine's muttering something, and I wonder what's going on. Pearl has me hold Blaine's arm still as she ties a rubber tube around it, rubs brown liquid across the skin, and inserts the needle in his elbow to draw blood. He howls, and it's so loud that I wince. Thank goodness my parents aren't home right now.
Pearl turns to Blaine with a worried expression. "He never does this," she mutters.
"Never does what?" I ask.
"Never lets anyone know how much he's hurting. Alcohol would make him express pain less, not more," her eyes get wide and she snatches Blaine from my arms and back into her car before I can ask what that means.
(Lima Hospital Records)
PATIENT NAME: BLAINE CAINE-RUSH
AGE: 18 YRS.
EYE COLOR: BROWN
HEIGHT: 5 FT. 6 IN.
TIME OF ADMITTANCE: 12:01 AM, 12/17/2011
REASON FOR ADMITTANCE: POSS. DRUG OVERDOSE, SUS. SEXUAL ASSAULT
ADD. DETAILS: PATIENT TESTED POSITIVE FOR OVERDOSE OF GHB. PATIENT EXHIBITED SIGNS OF TRAUMA AND APPARENT BRUISING AROUND ABDOMINAL AREA. POSSIBLE PHYSICAL ASSAULT. SUSPECTED ABUSE. PATIENT'S MOTHER ARRESTED AND QUESTIONED.
Blaine
Mother is yelling at me, which means I must have done something awful. I always do this. I always screw up. Today, I drove Kurt away. Today, I made Mother yell at me. I am a horrible person. I even cheated on Kurt. There's proof of it all over the front of my pants. Mother is witness to my most terrible moment.
Now she's leaving. Please, Mother, please don't leave. I'm sorry. I'll do anything. Just please come back. I scream for her, scream for her to come back. I'm screaming.
She's screaming too, now. She's screaming at me, screaming my name. No, wait, she's not screaming at me, she's screaming for me. I scream for her too, but she leaves. She goes away.
I screwed up bad, Mother. I screwed up so bad. I screwed up Kurt. I screwed up bad.
Detective Brianna Sai (remember her?)
I freeze when I see Pearl in the interrogation room. "Guys, what the hell is she doing in here?"
"Her son's in the hospital," Det. Bef tells me. "The hospital officials won't let her near him. They think she's the one who hurt him."
"Well, damn," I shake my head. "I can't believe these people. Don't they know that having his mother beside him is the thing Blaine needs most right now?"
Det. Bef looks at me. "What if she really did hurt him?" she asks seriously. "I mean, Blaine is used to being treated like the worst of the worst. He'd probably consider being treated the best of the worst as something good."
I hesitate a second. "What are you looking at?" I ask finally.
She shows me the screen with Pearl's arrest records. "She used to be a drug mule?"
"She was a member of the Fauna," Det. Sai says seriously.
I stand up straighter. "Somebody should alert the Indiana Bureau of Investigation."
"Already done, Brianna," says Adla when I leave the desk. Any second now, the state's going to save Blaine from his unstable mother. I know I've made the right choice. But why does it feel so wrong?
Blaine
The first things I notice when I wake up are the pains in my head and…rear. The second thing I notice, and this is because I actually open my eyes, is that I'm alone. I wonder how tired my mother must have been to actually leave when the doctors want her to. Then I see that the clock says it's past 9:00 am. Visiting hours began an hour ago.
I curl up and press my face against the pillow. Ever since she adopted me, I wondered how long it would take Ms. Rush to realize I wasn't good enough to be her son. Now, it seems that I've reached that point. Still, expecting it doesn't make it hurt any less, and I try my best to muffle my sobs into the pillow when the doctor comes in.
"Blaine!" he calls cheerfully. "I'm glad you're awake. I'm Dr. Ellen Fawhinki, and I want to make sure you're okay."
I swallow. "Did you see my mother?" I ask. "She brought me in; did you speak to her?"
Dr. Fawhinki's face darkens. "Yes, and I called the police. She won't hurt you again, sweetheart," she promises.
"No, no!" I try to hide under the blankets. "You don't understand! She didn't hurt me, she saved me from being hurt."
"You don't have to speak up for her," Dr. Fawhinki says, pointing to the numerous scars on my body. "These scars speak for themselves, Blaine."
I wrench my arm out of her grasp. "No, no, the Andersons gave me those," I yell. "She got me out of the house. She saved me from them!" I can't help it; I start to cry.
"What are you talking about?" Dr. Fawhinki asks.
"She saved my life," I say quietly. I tell her the tale of how the Andersons had used me, how Pearl had gotten me away from them, and Dr. Fawhinki grows quiet.
"You're the boy I read about on the news," she says quietly. "I can't believe it; you're that boy?"
"Yes," I say, still shaking with sobs. "Please, please, please, get her back for me!"
"Yes, of course," she sighs and leaves me with nothing but silence for company. I start to cry.
Pearl
"Have you ever physically punished Blaine Anderson?" Det. Bef asks.
"What? No!" I almost jump out of my seat. "How can you ask me that?"
"You're a single mother," Det. Bef draws back. "I understand that you're stressed, and it doesn't matter if you let that stress out around Blaine. No matter how you treat him, it's probably better than how he used to be treated."
I don't know what expression is on my face right now, only that it's terrifying enough for Adla to flinch and take a step back. "I want my lawyer."
Adla sniffs, but she leaves to give me privacy. I pull out my phone. "Hello, is this Mr. Berry of Berry, Abbott, and Loyola Law Firm? Yeah, it's Pearl Rush, and I need a favor."
Rachel
I'm in the middle of practice when I overhear Daddy on the phone. "I'm an ACLU lawyer," he says. I beam. I have the best dads in the world! "I take on discrimination cases." There's a pause. "Uh-huh, oh, I see. Yes, that could certainly be problematic. And of course I understand. Yes, I'll tell her. Uh-huh, I'm on my way there now." He hangs up and doesn't look at all surprised to see me outside the door.
"Rachel, honey, I'm going to the police station to pick up Blaine's mother and get her to the hospital, alright?" he kisses me on the cheek and reaches for his coat, which I had to him with a hug. I sigh when he leaves. I have the best dads in the world.
Kurt
Normally, if Rachel were to call me in the middle of my moisturizing routine, I would hang up on her. But last night's events left me shaken so I put down my powder pad and pick up my phone. "Yes, Rachel?"
"My dad wants you to know that Blaine's in the hospital."
And just like that, I forget my routine and run out the door. After competing with a police car (and letting it pass once I see Pearl and Det. Bef in it) I finally arrive and sign in.
"Kurt Hummel," I tell the doctor. "I'm here to see Blaine Anderson."
"Only family is allowed right now," says the doctor. Upon closer inspection, her nametag says "Ellen Fawhinki."
"I don't suppose you'll buy my story that I'm his cousin?" I ask dully.
She shakes her head and I turn away. "Oh, hold on," she says just before I'm about to go grab Rachel and pretend she's his sister. "You're on the list of permitted visitors," she tells me.
Oh dear, what's Kurt going to find when he enters? Hint: it's nothing good. Also, continuing with my habit of naming minor characters after major reviewers, Ellen Fawhinki (fall-hing-key) is an anagram of finchelklaine and the 23rd letter of the alphabet (W, for those of you who don't know).
Next time, things get worse. Yes, they get worse. But then they get better in the chapter after the next one, so keep your head up, guys!