A/N: I finally found a way to go forward in this story. I actually cried writing the end to this chapter. Then again, I have always been emotional.

Someone there to return to

Kurt can feel the darkness beginning to claw at his eyes still opened wide and focused on Blaine, Kurt blinking only whenever he feels his focus begin to drift with the surges of pain returning again and again in a matter of minutes.

The cold, emitted by the walls and floor, and gradually seeping into his body has Kurt only trying harder to keep penetrating the dark with his gaze and keep that line open and ready - there for Blaine to reach out and grab on to, as soon as he is ready, …and he will be.

He will, Kurt holds on to that single thought, his own lifeline, Carole's embrace surrounding him no longer really registering to Kurt, reaching still with all he has for Blaine, wishing he could find it in himself to touch him, but too afraid what it might do to Blaine if he actually tried.

It is the hardest thing Kurt can remember ever having done, offering all he has to give and having to wait and hope that there is something Blaine needs and is willing and ready to take. Please, Blaine. Please.

Looks and gentle touches have always been their thing, so Kurt is somewhat unprepared, somewhat stunned, when Blaine chooses a different channel to reach himself for the person that wants nothing else, nothing more, than be there for Blaine to return to...when he is ready. Blaine, ready, somehow, takes words and forms them into something akin to a wish, drifting in his voice over to Kurt. And Kurt has loved Blaine's voice from the moment they met, deep and soft, but...Kurt has maybe never before loved hearing it as much as he does right here and now, in a cold and dark that Blaine somehow instantly manages to shift, to transform, into a thing much less scary.

"Kurt? Can we go home?"

"Blaine?" the name is, after a moment of shock, spoken in no more than a whisper.

"Yes?" Blaine replies, eyes wide as he turns his head and finds Kurt's orbs of blue.

And then Kurt falls forward and wraps Blaine in his arms, and all the fear comes bursting out in tears hot. "Blaine. Blaine."

Carole stays back - holds back all movement, all tears, and questions of her own. Waits and watches, still kneeling herself, as Blaine gently coaxes a shaking Kurt, now wrapped in Blaine's embrace, to his feet with him.

She sees Blaine's legs shake too as he guides Kurt back out of the cabin, both briefly pausing at the three steps leading back down onto the forest ground, covered in twigs and leaves brown,orange and yellow, all torn and whithered by the almost constant cold of the first weeks of the new year, as the boys' eyes adjust to the brightness of daylight.

Carole, seeing the slight limp in Blaine's step die away with the first steps he takes outside, fully understands as she gets up of the old, cold wooden floor, partially covered in moss, herself, and feels the sudden surge of pain stiffening her every muscle with a dull ache.

A deep breath and a brief moment of shaking out her limbs, and she is following Kurt and Blaine back into the open.

She finds them standing, holding each other, only a couple of feet away from the cabin.

Kurt is still shaking in Blaine's arms, face buried in Blaine's left shoulder, and Blaine, holding him close, left hand on the back of Kurt's head, right arm securely around his boyfriend's waist, looks like he is the only thing that is holding Kurt upright anymore now.

When Carole steps closer and her own eyes slowly completely readjust to the natural light, she sees Blaine's eyes, staring unfocused and full off…she cannot even pretend to know what, into the air surrounding them, smelling of earth and pine needles.

Carole watches as after a moment, Blaine closes his eyes and gently traces his right cheek along Kurt's until his lips are right next to Kurt's ear.

Carole cannot make out the whisper, but the effect it has on Kurt could not be more obvious, the shaking ceasing so quickly it is clear it had never anything to do with feeling cold to begin with.

After a moment more Kurt lifts his head and Carole watches as the boys' gazes meet.

True calm seems to flood both of them as hands meet between each other and are brought up to rest intertwined between their chests as they remain standing close, gazing at each other for minutes more, softness now gradually taking the place of the sadness that had hardened both their features with doubt, and fear, and grief before.

Eyes drifting shut for a brief moment, Carole, winds her own right hand around the elbow of her outstretched left arm in an attempt to hold herself together, ...until I have the boys home safely.

Wishing it was Burt's embrace, missing his warmth terribly right now, Carole turns and starts walking back to the car, gives Kurt and Blaine a moment to themselves.

As she climbs into the car and closes the door behind herself she allows the sob, broken in her throat before it gets the chance to leave it whole, to escape into the closed off space, knowing it will prevent the sound of the feeling of pure fear and helplessness to reach the boys' ears. We will be okay. Together we will be okay. All of us.

And the smile she tries to offer the boys is watery, tears fought back once again, as she looks back out of the car window to see Blaine and Kurt, still holding hands, walking towards the vehicle.

The drive back to the house is filled with silence.

Silence so heavy, it has Carole swallow hard as she pulls into their driveway.

Tears are streaming thick down her face, as she gets out of the car and heavier still as she walks through the front door of their home, practically throwing herself into Burt's arms, who had been pacing in the hallway as Carole had walked in, feeling some of the darkness they had sat in still clinging to her skin.

"Carole. Sweetheart, oh my god. I was so worried, you were gone for almost two hours," Burt gently hums into the embrace. "You found him, right?"

"Yes," it is a sound chocked and chopped, Burt really more assured by feeling Carole nodding into his chest.

Real explanations drowned in tears, Carole finally allowing herself to let her own fear show, Burt is left to hold her close, humming, "You found him and got him home safe, that is all that matters right now."

"I know."