The next morning was obviously a big day in Kurt's eyes. The second he woke up he was ready to go, but Carole came in and informed him that he couldn't be discharged at 6:15 in the morning, so he went back to sleep.
When he woke up again, his dad was there. He had brought Kurt a change of clothes and some shoes to wear for the way home.
"Are you ready to go, buddy?" he asked. Kurt smiled, and managed to change his clothes without hurting himself too much.
His nurse took out his IVs, which hurt more than Kurt expected it to. His dad and Carole had to fill out a lot of forms, which seemed to take forever. Kurt had to have his dad tie his sneakers for him, since he couldn't bend over very well. But at last, he was free.
Kurt walked down to the car by himself, even though it left him exhausted and out of breath. Carole gave him some water and sat in the backseat with him on the way home.
"Burt, be careful," she warned, after a pothole in the road made Kurt hiss in pain from his broken ribs.
"Sorry," he apologized, and slowed down to drive more carefully. Kurt just wanted to actually be at home. He didn't like the car ride.
When they finally parked in the driveway, Kurt allowed Carole to help him get up from the seat. She tried to help him walk, but Kurt pulled away.
"I can do it," he insisted. He needed help getting upstairs, but other than that, Kurt could walk just fine. He was ready for a nap in his own bed, but he felt disgusting from lying around in the hospital, and forced himself to take a shower. He refused any kind of help at all, and even though he nearly slipped twice, he did okay for the most part.
Kurt combed out his wet hair and put on his most comfortable pajamas. It was just before noon, but he was going to sleep. The trip home and his shower had left him exhausted. His dad got him situated and comfortable, and left him to rest. Kurt closed his eyes, forgetting about everything, and let himself sleep, peacefully and comfortably for the first time in days.
Blaine sat in anatomy class, tapping his pencil on his desk in time with the ticking clock on the wall. It was his last class before lunch, and he was excused to leave so he could go see Kurt. He hadn't talked to him all day, but he knew his boyfriend was finally coming home, and he was so excited for him.
He forced himself not to look at the clock so the class wouldn't go by so slowly. Blaine did his work, and somehow he made it to the end of class. He put his books away in his locker and slung his bag over his shoulder, finally ready to go.
Blaine signed out and didn't even stop at home first; he just wanted to go see Kurt. His dad told him that Kurt was asleep, but let him upstairs to see him anyways. Blaine didn't mind waiting around on him to wake up. Kurt needed all the rest he could get. So Blaine sat by him, just wishing for him to wake up soon.
When Kurt finally did wake up, he felt for the first time how sore he was. Everything ached, from his head to his feet. It was like he had the flu, but made worse with a throbbing headache. He was about to call for his dad to bring him some pain medicine, but that was when he saw Blaine sitting next to him.
"Hey," Blaine said softly. "What's wrong?"
"Head hurts," Kurt mumbled, and closed his eyes again. Blaine got up and left, and Kurt thought he had gone home and left him alone, until he realized Blaine was just getting his dad.
"Here, buddy, take some medicine," his dad told him, holding out two small white pills. Kurt sat up just enough to swallow them, and then laid back down. Blaine covered him back up and gave him enough pillows until Kurt was as comfortable as possible.
"Are you glad to be home?" Blaine asked, carefully sitting down on his bed next to him.
"Yeah," Kurt said. "No annoying nurses. And I like my bed better." Blaine laughed at that, and Kurt leaned up against him. "Are you missing all afternoon of school just to stay with me?"
"Uh huh," Blaine said casually, as if he skipped school to be with his boyfriend everyday. "No one cares. Sam said he would FaceTime me during glee rehearsal so you could see everyone. Do you want to say hi to them?"
Kurt nodded slowly, and made a mental note to look presentable before that happened.
"It's past lunch. Have you eaten?" Blaine went on, trying to get Kurt to talk.
"I'm not hungry," Kurt insisted, groping around his nightstand for his TV remote. He didn't feel like talking, and Blaine wasn't helping with that.
"You just took some pretty strong medicine," Blaine reminded him. "What about some soup? Carole was making some in the kitchen when I got here."
Kurt perked up a little at that. "What kind?"
"Potato. Do you want some?" Blaine offered. Kurt considered it, but he would have to feed himself, which he honestly didn't feel up to doing.
But Blaine, being the way he was, got up before Kurt could answer. Kurt just sighed and leaned back, resigning himself to pick out a TV show to watch.
Five minutes later, everyone came barging into his room. Well, everyone being Blaine and his parents.
"Here, bud, sit up a little so you can eat without making a mess," his dad said, helping him up. Kurt didn't like all the moving around, but just went with it. Carole insisted on fluffing his pillows and getting him situated before he could eat. Kurt was just glad when they finally left him alone.
"Do you need help?" Blaine asked him. He didn't want to step in unless Kurt agreed. But his boyfriend shook his head and insisted on feeding himself. Blaine sat back, not wanting to hinder his independence.
He sat with Kurt while he ate, and then they watched TV together, and just took it easy. Blaine was just so happy Kurt was home. He remembered seeing him at Breadstix, so lifeless and broken…
Blaine pushed the thought away before he had the chance to dwell on it. All that mattered was that Kurt would be okay.
"When's rehearsal start?" Kurt asked, laying his head in Blaine's lap and clicking through channels on the remote. "I need to know when to get dressed."
"Kurt, they're only going to see you from the neck up," Blaine reminded him. "You look absolutely fine. Rehearsal starts at 3:30. Sam said he would call me when they were almost over, so there's plenty of time."
"What ever happened to Karofsky?" Kurt spoke up again after a minute. "Is he still in the hospital?"
Kurt was talking about him so casually, like the bigger boy hadn't tried to attack him less than a week earlier.
"I really don't know," Blaine told him. "I'd tell you if I knew, but I haven't heard anything. Why do you want to know?"
"Just wondering," Kurt shrugged, and settled on some reality show that was just starting. Blaine didn't ask him any more about the subject. Kurt had a right to want to know, even though Blaine didn't have any new information to share with him.
Glee rehearsal was winding down at around five, and Blaine got a call from Sam. He switched over to FaceTime so Kurt could say hi to everyone. He didn't talk much and kind of hid behind Blaine's shoulder, but he was glad to finally see everyone again. Even with Rachel and Mercedes getting to see him in the hospital, he still felt lonely without the rest of them. Tina and Quinn seemed especially happy to see him, and kept peppering him with questions about how he was doing and when he would be back at school. Kurt seemed to get overwhelmed, so Blaine ended it.
"Did you like talking to everyone?" he asked. Kurt nodded, despite still feeling unsure. He knew when he went back to school it would be worse, with everyone staring and talking behind his back. Oh, well. Kurt figured if most of the bruises had disappeared by the time he went back that things would be okay. Then the entire student body didn't have to know what had happened.
Kurt tried to stay awake after that, for Blaine. It was hard once his dad gave him more medicine, and Kurt felt sleepy and out of it. Blaine stroked his hair and sat with him, but Kurt could still feel himself nodding off.
"Are you tired?" he heard Blaine asking, his voice sounding so distant. Kurt nodded, unable to hold his eyes open any longer. He felt Blaine move him and lie him down on his pillow.
"Don't go," he mumbled, reaching out for his boyfriend, his eyes still shut.
"You need to rest," Blaine told him. "I'll come back tomorrow. I love you." Kurt felt Blaine kiss his cheek and cover him up with his comforter, and then he was gone. As Kurt's body was slowly taken over by a drug-induced sleep, he thought just how lucky he was to have a boyfriend like Blaine.
Author's Notes:
Here's the next chapter (finally)! I wrote it in bits and pieces the past few weeks, and did my best so it flowed okay and didn't seem choppy (let me know about that, because I'm bad at that kind of thing). Only one day of school left this semester, and then I have two weeks free to write! (It's looking like I'll be snowed in my house, too, so I'll fill some prompts for my other story as well!) Well, I hope you liked this. Seriously, let me know. There's only two chapters and an epilogue left of this!
