A/N: Really, there's just no excuse for this lateness. I'm not even going to try. This is a little bit dramatic, but bear with me. It's been a long day.

Warning: sexual harassment, violence, non-canon

The drive to the Lima Bean was filled with Mariah and Whitney, and Kurt wasn't at all surprised to see Blaine's car already in the parking lot when he arrived. Punctuality was apparently big at Dalton.

Kurt swung open one of the wooden doors and allowed himself a momentarily dream smile towards Blaine, who was sitting at a table pushed up against the windows that lined the front of the store and staring dreamily out of it. Two coffees and two vanilla bean scones sat on the table in front of him.

"Earth to Mr. Warbler, come in Mr. Warbler," Kurt said teasingly as he approached the table, trying to change his smile from slightly-head-over-heels to friendly.

"Hey!" Blaine said brightly as his eyes snapped out of his own little world and towards Kurt. "Sorry, I was daydreaming," he apologized as he stood up to give Kurt a hug.

He had been here for less than two minutes and Blaine had already made him feel better, and the hug could only help. Kurt relished the few seconds Blaine held him before releasing him and sitting back down.

"Grande mocha okay?" Blaine asked with a smile. Kurt would just have to deal with the extra fat and calories.

"Good enough," Kurt said with a smile, sitting down opposite Blaine. They had never been same-side-of-the-booth (or table) friends.

"How's wedding planning going?" Blaine asked. Kurt raised an eyebrow at the lack of small talk and Blaine grinned. "I figured this is going to be our topic of conversation anyway, might as well get right to it," he teased.

"Wonderfully, of course," Kurt ignored his teasing. "I have to thank you for the itinerary idea. Not only did it help me to organize, it made Finn approach me at school for what might have been the first time ever." Blaine raised an eyebrow at that.

"I'm glad it helped. What did Finn want to talk to you about?" he asked hesitantly.

"Finn's not a touchy subject, Blaine," Kurt said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "He's going to be my step-brother in 13 short days, and that's it."

"Right," was all Blaine said, tone carefully neutral.

"He wanted to do something special for the wedding to show that he's a leader. I have no idea why. People flock to Finn like he's the Pied Piper, shows of force are unnecessary." Blaine shrugged. Kurt mentally wondered when he had gotten so impassive.

"What did you tell him?"

"I manipulated him into agreeing to the mother-son dance I had been planning. We're trying to split up best man duties, and as much as I love Carole I didn't want to get stuck with that one." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Why did Finn not want to?" he asked and Kurt's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

"Are you crazy?" he demanded. "Finn never dances in front of people unless he absolutely has to."

"Why not?" Blaine asked, looking taken aback and confused at Kurt's dramatic outburst.

Kurt sighed dramatically. "I forget you haven't been around forever sometimes," he admitted. "Finn is the worst dancer I know, and possibly the worst dancer on the face of the earth. I'm afraid a waltz might be too complicated for him."

"So why don't you dance with Carole?" Kurt bit his lip at Blaine's question.

"I'm afraid Finn might be jealous if I dance with his mother," Kurt answered honestly. "He's always very protective of her, and somewhat territorial, though that may be a little hypocritical of me."

"You could try asking him," Blaine offered, taking a sip of his coffee. Kurt looked down at his own untouched coffee as he answered.

"Finn and I don't talk about that kind of stuff. Not since..." Kurt looked up at Blaine for understanding.

"Homosexual Armageddon?" Blaine offered, and Kurt glared at him.

"Doesn't matter. He agreed to do the dance, and I will make him waltz until he masters it, I don't care how tired he is or how badly his feet are bleeding."

"You would make a great slave driver," Blaine commented, taking a sip that sounded more like a slurp. "Aw. I'm coffee-less."

"How long were you waiting for me?" Kurt asked. The New Directions' practice had been cut short. He should have beaten Blaine by an hour at least. How had this not occurred to him when he walked in?

"Warblers' practice got cut short because a few people, one of which might have been me, were being rowdy at the beginning and Wes broke his gavel trying shut them up." Blaine grinned. "David had to take him gavel-shopping."

"Where exactly do you go to buy a gavel?" Blaine shrugged in reply to Kurt's query. "So anyway, the Glee club are trying to plan numbers with minimal success. We haven't even decided what songs we're using, and we have to have them ready in 13 days."

"What songs are you deciding between?"

Kurt pursed his lips before replying. "One number depends on my father. Mr. Schuester is singing for their first dance so Finn will be in position at the family table to give his toast and I can give mine. Dad obviously has to decide on the song. My speech is written, and Finn had offered me no general themes for his, so I'll try to write it blind. The other-"

"Why are you writing Finn's speech?" Blaine asked, taking a bite of one of the scones that Kurt had completely forgotten about.

"Finn's not exactly articulate at the best of times, after all, his favorite adjectives are cool and awesome, and his favorite noun is dude." Blaine snorted at that. "He memorizes well, though, and I think he'll tell me if he doesn't like what I write for him. He seems to be all about complicating things." Kurt tried to sound like he wasn't a little annoyed with Finn's reluctance. Judging by Blaine's raised eyebrow, it hadn't worked.

"What do you mean by that?" Blaine asked, licking off his fingers as he finished his scone. Kurt tried (unsuccessfully) not to blush, and looked down at his coffee as he answered.

"How do I avoid having someone give someone away to someone else?"

Blaine's response was exactly what he expected. "Excuse me?"

"It's traditional in a wedding for someone, usually the bride, to be walked down the aisle by someone else, usually the bride's father, to be given to a third someone, usually the groom. Carole's father is unfortunately deceased, so I decided Finn should have the honor of walking her down the aisle and giving her away to my father, but he thinks it's... what were his exact words... 'incredibly creepy'." Blaine died laughing. "What's so funny about that?"

"Kurt that's super creepy. Think about it from his perspective. He's giving away his mom!" Blaine stopped laughing at Kurt's glare.

"Well, what am I supposed to do about it?" Kurt asked, pulling his wedding binder from his messenger bag where it was resting on the floor beside him.

"Wow, that's a monstrosity. Is that a three-inch binder?" Blaine asked, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Focus. I have thirteen days to plan a wedding and my soon-to-be step-brother is being a veritable pain in the ass about tradition!" Kurt snapped, to no reaction from Blaine.

"I interrupted you somewhere, and now I've forgotten what we were talking about. Songs, I think." Blaine pursed his lips in thought. "Oh, right. What are you doing for the second song?"

"I was thinking, and shockingly Rachel agrees, that we should perform Everything by Michael Bublé for the second number..." Kurt trailed off because Blaine was frowning slightly even before he finished his sentence. "What?"

"I feel like that's the obvious choice. It's a song a lot of people know, and it's romantic, but it's not perfect for this situation." Blaine took a long look at Kurt's coffee.

"Well, what would you suggest, Mr. Genius?" Kurt asked, slightly stung that his ideas were being turned down.

"Kill two birds with one stone," Blaine answered, looking back at Kurt.

"Excuse me?"

"Instead of having people walk down the aisle, have them dance. Do something completely creative, like all those wedding videos on YouTube." Kurt smiled, thinking of the Forever video that was so famous. "Have the Glee club start it, and wind it down with Burt, then Carole. Have everyone dance where they need to go."

"Why are you so smart?" Kurt asked with a groan, placing his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. Blaine laughed.

"Blame private schooling." Blaine was quiet for a second. Kurt looked up from his hands and frowned when he saw Blaine's nervous expression.

"What?"

"How are things at school?" Blaine asked carefully.

"I already told you everything's fine." Kurt said smoothly.

"I don't believe you," Blaine said firmly. Kurt raised an eyebrow. "A text message I got from a... reliable source may have suggested that you're trying to hide what's happening from the general populace-"

"Mercedes ratted on me, didn't she?" Kurt asked, and Blaine blushed. Kurt almost groaned at how cute that was.

"She said that you were in the principal's office today, and that you were stark pale, more so than usual, in Glee club, and your director dismissed the club early because of something that happened?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"He hasn't been bullying me, and he hasn't..." Kurt gulped.

"Sexually assaulted you again?" Blaine asked, his own personal way of saying 'kissed you again.'

"Right. It's just..." Kurt looked down at the table. "He stares at me, and winks, and he stole a wedding topper from me today, and it's almost like he's... flirting with me, but it's twisted and wrong and makes me feel nauseous," he admitted in a rush, staring at the table the whole time, knowing Blaine was looking at him.

"Kurt, look at me?" Blaine asked hesitantly. When Kurt didn't, Blaine repeated his name more firmly and Kurt met his honey-colored eyes. "It's okay to be scared. Anyone would be. And I wish I could be there for you, but you know I can't. Don't push people away though. The best thing to do is ask for help, even if it's not very... prideful. I'm sure your friend want to help, I know Mercedes does. You just need to let them."

"I don't want any of them to get hurt," he admitted, looking back his stacked hands on the table, and this time Blaine let him get away with it.

"They're almost adults, Kurt, just like you are. They can handle themselves. And if things do get physical, that's where the principal and the school board can intervene, even if they seem wildly unhelpful at the moment." Blaine sighed. "Just... don't try to go at this one alone, okay?" Blaine carefully placed a hand on top of Kurt's, making him sigh but smile.

"Thank you, Blaine." Kurt looked up at him, noting the support and caring in his eyes, but not missing the slight haunted look to his face.

"Drink your coffee," Blaine said, mock-firmly, and Kurt looked back down at his untouched cup. His stomach rolled.

"No thanks. I had a big lunch," Kurt lied, and if Blaine could tell he didn't say anything.

"At least try the scone," Blaine said, pushing the plate over to Kurt's side of the table. "They're delicious." Kurt obligingly took a bite. Yes, the scone was phenomenal, but his stomach protested, and he almost gagged as he tried to take a second bite.

"Yeah, I'm really not hungry though." Kurt placed the mostly uneaten scone back on The plate.

"You sure?" Blaine asked, and something in his completely smooth tone suggested he knew Kurt was lying, but wasn't going to push.

"I'm sure," Kurt said firmly. Noticing Blaine staring in a rather wanting way at the scone (and ignoring the way his stomach flipped at the momentary idea someday Blaine might look at him like that), he added, "You can have it, if you want."

"Thanks," Blaine said cheerily, popping the rest of it into his mouth in one go.

"Pig."

It's a beautiful night
We're looking for something dumb to do
Hey, baby
I think I wanna marry you

Blaine really was a genius. He couldn't have picked a better song, with a better rhythm, and more perfect words for a wedding. Maybe Kurt was a little bit biased... but still, the song would work perfectly, and would make the wedding less 'incredibly creepy' for Finn.

"Hey, bo," Mercedes said cheerfully, sitting next to him at their usual lunch table. She unceremoniously stole a headphone out of one of his ears and placed it in hers. "I like. Bruno Mars?" Kurt hummed an affirmative as he closed his wedding binder, hiding his first attempt at choreography for Marry You from Mercedes. "How was your date yesterday?"

"It was not a date," Kurt said firmly, not the first time he'd had to say that to Mercedes. "Blaine and I are just friends."

"Right," she said disbelievingly. "Did you invite him to the wedding?"

"It's not really appropriate," Kurt replied quickly. "He doesn't even know my dad."

"That's not a yes or no, bo."

"Not explicitly," Kurt admitted with a sigh. "Carole told me I can, but my dad wouldn't approve, and..." Kurt's words died in his throat as he saw Karofsky approaching, the same intensity in his eyes as there had been in the hallway the day before. Kurt's skin crawled.

"Move it, the Incredible Bulk, I don't have time for this," Santana announced loudly, pushing Karofsky out of the path to Kurt and Mercedes' table and following it to sit there herself. "What up, Porcelain?" she said loudly, and Kurt wasn't sure how that was discouraging, but it was.

"Porcelain?" Mercedes asked, probably not even having noticed Karofsky.

"Coach Sylvester's new nickname for Kurt," Brittany said brightly as she sat next to her... friend, lover, fellow Cheerio, whatever, Santana.

"Better than Lady," Mercedes said with a shrug.

"Anything's better than Lady," Kurt muttered under his breath.

"I, for one, am appalled by Miss Sylvester's nicknames for students, as well as her attitude towards them. Just because I happen to have a larger nose that gives me excellent breath control and thus an edge for any singing competition, doesn't mean my dads lost a bet with God-" Kurt was sure Rachel continued her rant as she got closer and sat down, but the laughter from Santana and Mercedes drowned it out. For once, he didn't find a joke about Rachel's nose funny. He could feel Karofsky watching him from the jock table, too scared of Santana to dare approach him.

"Rachel, just because Miss Sylvester recognizes the monstrosity on your face whenever she addresses you, doesn't mean she doesn't like you," Mercedes said with a smile, but Rachel didn't look very comfortable.

"Are you okay, dolphin?" Brittany asked, suddenly very much in Kurt's face.

"Yes, of course, Britt."

"You're not eating, Kurt?" Santana asked pointedly.

"I have to advise that skipping a meal is a very bad idea in terms of having a balanced diet-"

"I'm not hungry," he said firmly, cutting off what would have undoubtedly become another one of Rachel's famous diatribes.

"How's the wedding planning going?" Mercedes asked to fill the awkward silence.

"Wonderfully. It occurred to me yesterday that a song that hasn't been used as much may be a good idea. I thought of Marry You by Bruno Mars off his debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans. I also thought it might be a good idea to perform a song in the beginning of the ceremony to avoid Finn walking his mother up the aisle and giving her away to my father. He seemed extremely uncomfortable with the idea."

"Like A House Is Not A Home uncomfortable?" Santana asked with a smirk. Kurt ignored her.

"That's a brilliant idea, Kurt! I think Finn and I would make wonderful leads." She gave Kurt her signature million-watt smile.

"Carole wanted Finn and I to sing her something," Kurt saw Rachel draw in a breath to argue and then realized disagreeing with the diva wasn't worth the effort, so he quickly amended, "but I think Finn and you have better chemistry anyway." Kurt ignored the way both Santana and Mercedes' jaws dropped, and Brittany quickly tried to push Santana's back up, whispering something about her face being 'stuck that way'.

"Oh," Rachel said, clearly a little taken aback. "Of course, you made the right choice, Kurt. Finn and I won't fail you!" She hesitated for a moment, obviously unsure what to do with the lack of argument. "Maybe Quinn and Sam would like a verse. It may heal their very tense relationship."

"If you think its a good idea," Kurt said with no enthusiasm. All he wanted right then was to go home and take a nap while the wedding planned itself, but he knew that wouldn't happen, so he sucked it up and tried to ignore the eyes boring into the side of his head. "Maybe we could have all the couples sing. Artie and Brittany. Tina and Mike."

"Sure. Sounds great," Santana said bitterly, but Rachel nodded in encouragement.

"I'll get to choreographing immediately!" Rachel declared. Kurt didn't even have the energy to tell her that was his job. Let her have some of the burden.

"Why is the Incredible Bulk staring at you?" Santana demanded, looking at Karofsky looking at Kurt. Karofsky was apparently so focused he didn't even notice, because the eyes on Kurt didn't cease for a moment. A chill ran down Kurt's spine and he shivered.

"Probably planning something horrible for later," Kurt answered automatically, then his eyes widened as he realized what he'd said. Thankfully, no one would get the true connotations but him.

"Well, he needs to stop, because it's sincerely creepy," Tina announced as she arrived at their table. "I'm super tempted to go all vampire on his sorry ass."

"Don't bite Karofsky," Kurt replied dully. "I have no doubt poison runs through his veins." It was meant to be a joke, but no one thought it was funny. Not even him.

"Kurt, is everything okay?" Rachel asked cautiously. Kurt looked up simply because it was one of the few times during which he had known Rachel that her sentence didn't start with a reference to herself. "As okay as it can be, I mean."

Kurt swallowed down Blaine's warning about letting people help and answered, "I'm fine, Rachel." Letting the guys get involved was one thing. Letting the girls get involved was completely different. Yes, Santana and Mercedes could cause some damage if they were angry. What about tiny Rachel? Brains but not muscles Quinn? Tina the pacifist? Ditzy little Brittany? He couldn't let them get hurt for him.

"Your Glee girls don't make very good bodyguards." A shiver ran down Kurt's spine. How was Karofsky out of class at the exact same time he was? Karofsky wasn't even in his algebra class. Then a thought struck him: the hallway was empty except for them.

"Stay away from me," Kurt said firmly, not daring to turn around. A hand clamped on Kurt's shoulder, large, heavy, sweaty. Gross would be his first thought if he didn't know who it belonged to. He shuddered.

"Shaking with want already?" Karofsky whispered. It bounced around the empty hall.

"Don't t-touch me," Kurt said, jerking out of Karofsky's grasp. Karofsky pushed at his shoulders and he had to grab onto his locker to prevent from being slammed into his own books.

"I wouldn't be able to do that if you turned around, Porcelain." The almost friendly nickname sounded vile on Karofsky's tongue.

"I guarantee I won't like what I see," Kurt said, glad his voice didn't shake this time. Hopefully Karofsky wouldn't notice it was about an octave higher than normal.

"Suit yourself," Karofsky whispered with a chuckle. "This your boyfriend again?" he asked, reaching for the picture of Blaine on his locker door.

"Don't touch that." Kurt surprised them both by spinning around and slapping at Karofsky's hand. Karofsky grinned after a moment's shock.

"Sorry, Porcelain, but he didn't look like much protection for you. What was his name again? Blaine?" Blaine's name sounded worse than 'Porcelain', more of a drawl that acted like a dagger to his stomach. Then it occurred to him. Blaine had never introduced himself.

"H-How did you know that?"

"I hear things. Goes to a nice little private school. Rich as all hell. Live in Westerville, doesn't he? It'd sure be a shame if something happened to him."

"Don't touch him!" Kurt demanded, surprised again by his own bravery, taking a step forward and making Karofsky back up automatically.

"Don't worry," Karofsky said, shutting the locker behind Kurt easily now that Kurt had stepped from the door's path and pushing Kurt against it. "I'll touch you instead."

The hand that wasn't by his head from where Karofsky had closed the locker landed on his hip, Karofsky's big hands making him dangerously close to...

The bell rang and Karofsky stepped away instantly as the hallway flooded with students. "Not a word to anyone, get it, homo?!" Kurt closed his eyes, and when he opened them a few seconds later, Karofsky was invisible in the crowd of students, probably having turned a corner. Kurt's stomach churned, and he raced to the nearest bathroom.

Not even caring about his D&G pants anymore, Kurt kneeled before the toilet just in time to vomit up... nothing. His body heaved, but there was nothing in his stomach.

"Kurt?" Kurt's head snapped up automatically in fear before he recognized that it was a friendly voice. Sam's. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sam." Kurt flushed the toilet... for no good reason, really, but what would Sam have thought if he hadn't?

"Were you just vomiting?" Sam asked, and Kurt found it sweet how concerned he was. A month and a half ago, he would have found it charming, but his crush on Blaine eclipsed anything but brotherly affection.

"I said I'm fine, Sam." Kurt said firmly. He felt like he should brush his teeth, but he hadn't really vomited, and a toothbrush wasn't part of the Glee club's bathroom supply kit for slushies, so he decided to let it go.

"I swear to God, if Karofsky's bothering you-"

"Leave it alone, Sam!" Kurt snapped at him without even feeling guilty, strutting out of the bathroom without ever looking at Sam.

"Kurt? Is something going on at school?" His dad popped around the corner as he was trying to ask Carole how she felt about the idea for Marry You.

"Dad! Haven't we talked about you interrupting while we're talking about wedding stuff?" Kurt demanded. Carole and he were sitting on the couch, the wedding binder between them, hammering out certain details. Carole had already called the priest, who had been happy to call Kurt and take any suggestions Kurt had for him. Kurt had pages.

"It is my wedding, you know that, right?" Burt asked. When Kurt ignored him, he said, "Mercedes just called my cell phone, and she seemed pretty worried about you. Rachel was there, something about a Glee-girls-with-boyfriends meeting?" more of a question than anything, and Kurt shrugged. He knew the girls occasionally met without him, but he'd never heard of them excluding girls that didn't have boyfriends. That was just rude. "Is something going on?"

"The girls are worried about me suddenly, but nothing changed and there's nothing to worry about." It was the first big lie he had ever told his dad, and also the first time his stomach had churned that week that didn't involve Karofsky.

"Promise?" Burt asked firmly.

"Promise," Kurt lied. Apparently, he had gotten better at lying, because his voice didn't raise, he didn't stutter, and his dad accepted his lie with a raise and lowering of his baseball cap.

"All right then. I would suggest calming them down a little. You know how your girls get." Kurt smiled. His girls. What a crazy group.

"Yeah, I will. You heading to bed?" Kurt asked, and his dad nodded.

"Goodnight, sweetie. Goodnight, kiddo."

"Night, dad."

"Night, hun."

Burt headed for the stairs, paused, and turned back to the living room. "Buddy?"

"Yeah?"

"What's with the sweats?" Kurt shrugged. He had been so lazy when he got home, he didn't feel like dealing with his dirty designer pants, so he had pulled on some non-fabulous sweat pants and a McKinley athletics shirt. He was surprised Carole hadn't asked when she first saw him. Maybe she thought it had to do with Blaine. "All right. Night."

"Blaine issues?" Carole asked once his dad was up the stairs. Kurt mentally patted himself on the back. His powers of deduction when it came to women were amazing.

"Something like that," he half-lied easily. His to-be step-mother didn't know him nearly as well as his father did. "How do you feel about Craig's for catering?"

"Perfect. Cheap, in comparison, and good food. What do you think about hair and makeup?"

"We do each others remarkably well."

Kurt had no idea what Madame Moreau was talking about. Yes, he was fluent in French, but he had focused back on class (from Blaine, of course) in the middle of a discussion and was confused out of his mind. Giving up on the idea of paying attention in French class, he started doodling. About half a design for Quinn's hair later, his phone buzzed.

From: Blaine
'How goes leaning on the friends for support?'

Kurt bit his lip. He could lie to his girls, he could lie to Carole, he could even lie to his dad. Could he lie to Blaine?

To: Blaine
'I opened up to Sam... a little.'

From: Blaine
'You haven't clued any of them in, have you?'

To: Blaine
'I can't let the girls get hurt, and the guys don't care enough to ask.'

From: Blaine
'I wish I could be there.'

Kurt continued nibbling on his lip, knowing he would regret it later. Was telling Blaine a good idea?

To: Blaine
'He approached me again yesterday.'

The response was almost instantaneous.

From: Blaine
'What happened?'

To: Blaine
'He almost, I think he tried to, his hand was almost... down there.'

Kurt blushed sending off that text. It was about as far from titillating as possible, but talking to Blaine about things below the equator was kind of... Kurt didn't know how to describe it. Scary would be one way, but it was more than that. Before Kurt could get lost in his musing, his phone buzzed again.

From: Blaine
'Ignoring how third grade that sounds, this is getting really dangerous, Kurt. You *have* to tell someone... or I will. Good secrets and bad secrets, remember?'

To: Blaine
'Who do you want me to tell? My father. He would pull out his shotgun and take care of it himself. A teacher? Like who? Mr. Schuester? He would send me to Mrs. Sylvester, who would bring it to the school board. It would be my word against him, and the one out of the closet would lose. My girls? What could they do? Who do you want me to tell, Blaine?"

From: Blaine
'Guidance counselor? The police? Someone must have seen something. Someone must be a witness.'

To: Blaine
'The guidance counselor would do the exact same thing Mr. Schue would. Plus, she has enough issues of her own without mine. The police wouldn't be able to prove it any more than the school board would, and Lima cops are prejudiced. Plus, no one would speak out against Karofsky, even to put him away for something like this. They would be too afraid of the consequences from the other football players.'

From: Blaine
'This is so messed up.'

To: Blaine
'Tell me about it.'

"Oh my God, Sam," Kurt breathed as Sam walked into the room with Quinn. Kurt hadn't seen him before lunch rehearsal, and now that he had he could see the dark red eye he was sporting.

"Kurt, it's cool," Sam tried to comfort him quickly as they sat down next to him. Quinn pressed an ice bag Kurt recognized as the type the nurse had to his eye for a bit, then placed it back down.

"I told you to leave it alone," Kurt said, looking down at his feet.

"Kurt..."

"Way to go, Sam!" Mike said as he, Artie, Tina, and Brittany walked through the door, followed by most of the club. He had clearly missed something.

"Wicked black eye, dude," Puck added, sitting in the top row.

"Dude was like a wild animal," Mike added from behind them, where Tina was holding his arm almost proudly.

"Manimal," Artie invented, sitting with Brittany next to Sam and Quinn.

"I'm so turned on by you right now," Brittany said to Artie.

"How bad does it look?" Sam asked, and Kurt could almost ignore the vanity in the guy that had stood up for him. Almost.

"It's pretty hot, actually," Quinn said with a smile. Was that all girls thought about? Weren't guys supposed to be the ones with that constantly on their minds?

"You have no idea how hard it was not to jump into that beat-down," Puck practically growled.

"Where were you, Finn?" Santana asked snottily. Honestly, Kurt had been wondering the same thing. Where had the only one who claimed to be his friend been when the Glee guys were defending him?

"I was still out on the field, okay?" Finn said, immediately too over defensive. Finn wouldn't have helped if he could have. It wasn't that Kurt didn't believe him, it's just that Kurt believed he didn't consider that a bad thing. He couldn't deny that hurt, but he could pretend it didn't. Just until the bell rang. "I totally would have given him a beat-down if I'd been there, though." Rachel was nodding along like a proud girlfriend, but Kurt could tell she didn't believe it either.

"The fact is, it shouldn't have gone down without you, Finn," Mercedes added, the only one openly willing to admit that no one believed Finn. "You should have been leading the charge.

"Lay off Finn, everyone. It isn't his problem. It's none of your problems, actually. But thank you for what you did. Especially Sam." Kurt knew why he had done it, even if no one else in the room did. The real reason. Yesterday.

"Serious. An epitome of a leader," Mike added from behind him, and it suddenly all made sense. Why Finn had been acting the way he'd been acting lately. Why he was so over defensive. Why he had asked Kurt to let him do something leader-like for the wedding. He was afraid Sam was taking over his responsibility.

"What's going on?" Mr. Schue asked as he entered the room, clearly taking in everyone's solemn expressions and Sam's black eye. "What happened to Sam's eye?"

"He stood up to Karofsky," Quinn replied. Kurt bit his lip. This was all his fault. He couldn't even look Sam in the eye, and not for the reason most people would expect.

"All the guys did," Tina added. "Well, not Finn."

"Is everyone okay? Do we all need to go talk to Principal Sylvester?" Mr. Schue could deny it all he wanted, but Kurt could tell he actually appreciated having a functioning and capable principal, even if that role was filled by Coach Sylvester.

"No!" Sam said quickly. "Uh, I got in a few good licks too, so we can just call it even. And maybe this will send a warning to Karofsky, telling him to back off Kurt." Mr. Schuester frowned as Sam talked, headed for Kurt.

"You okay, Kurt?" Mr. Schue asked him, touching his shoulder lightly. Kurt nodded quickly. He wasn't the one everyone should be concerned about. Right now, that person was Sam.

"All right, guys," Mr. Schue began Glee, hand still on Kurt's shoulder. Let's take out places. We've got a wedding to prepare for." Somehow, it didn't seem exactly the joyous time it should have been.

Kurt was picking up the sheets of choreography Rachel had left on the piano for his wedding binder. What she had come up with, with the help of Tina, Mike, and Brittany, was much better than anything he had been thinking. Where had his inspiration gone?

He knew Sam was waiting to talk to him, and that the (fake) blond boy had sent Quinn away, but he was in no hurry to have this conversation. They would both be late to next period anyway. "So what exactly happened?" he asked. "I feel like I missed a lot, somehow, and it all had to do with me."

"I'll tell you if you tell me," Sam said, but Kurt couldn't. He just couldn't.

"No promises." Clearly taking that as the best he was going to get, Sam sat down on the piano bench opposite Kurt.

"Tina and Brittany asked Mike and Artie to talk to Karofsky. I guess it was a girlfriend to boyfriend thing, and since Quinn and I aren't really together, I wasn't asked." Sam paused, as though he knew what Kurt was going to ask.

"I'm guessing Rachel asked Finn?"

"I don't know what happened there, dude. I just know they had some sort of meeting, and Rachel was the head of it."

"The Glee-girls-with-boyfriends meeting," Kurt whispered. Everything was starting to come together.

"What?"

"Nothing. You were saying?"

"Well, Quinn only told me that this morning. Last night after practice, Mike and Artie tried to talk to Karofsky, but, to be honest,, neither of them are very intimidating. So Karofsky shoved Mike into Artie, which pushed Artie out of his chair. Puck went over to help."

"An incredible show of willpower," Kurt said dryly, and Sam chuckled.

"Yeah. So, after... y'know, yesterday, I was already so mad at Karofsky that I kind of went..."

"Manimal?" Kurt supplied since Sam seemed at a loss for words.

"Yeah. Next thing I knew Beiste was pulling him off he and I still wanted to rip his fucking face off." Kurt raised his eyebrows. Sam never swore. "Sorry. The black eye developed last night, I don't even remember it happening." That was meant to make him feel less guilty. He didn't.

"Like I said, I appreciate you intervening, but this isn't your fight." Kurt stuffed the last paper in his binder and shut it. He looked up at Sam, who looked a bit like a kicked puppy. GaGa, he reminded Kurt so much of Finn. "Thank you, Sam, but I fight my own battles. Violence never helps."

Kurt walked out quickly, knowing Sam would follow him. He only paused when he noticed a piece of paper taped to his locker. Pulling it off, he read it, and almost laughed at how pathetically anticlimactic it was.

"What's it say?" Sam had obviously caught up to him.

"Don't try that shit again, homo," Kurt read it verbatim to Sam. "I hate to say it, but I don't think you giving Karofsky a few bruises had any effect, except maybe to make him mad." Kurt strutted off the next period, leaving the paper on the ground by his locker.

"Thank you both for attending the Kurt Hummel wedding dance seminar." Kurt hated acting happy for his father, but it was worth it. His dad didn't need to know what was going on. It would be too stressful for him. Besides, the wedding was his only source of happiness at this point. Except Blaine, but right now all he was set up for was a very angry phone call later. 'Let people help you', his ass. "Dad, you're gonna have to pull off the first dance with Carole. And if Uncle Andy's 40th birthday party was any indication, you're gonna need some work."

"What are you talking about? My moves were great. Okay? It was the damn sangria." Kurt rolled his eyes and walked forward to grab his dad's hand.

"Okay, we dance to the beat, not to the words."

"Affected my coordination," Burt grumbled as Kurt pulled him to the middle of the floor to dance.

"Yes," Kurt appeased him. "Right here. Okay. All right. Have you guys chosen a, no," Kurt corrected as his dad tried to put his hand on his shoulder, redirecting to his waist (no, he was not thinking about how close his dad's hand was to where Karofsky's had been yesterday), "wedding song?"

"Ah, yes. We're thinking Stairway or some Bublé." Good thing they weren't doing Everything then. When there were only two songs, they did not want to have the same artist for both of them.

"Okay," Kurt said in acquiescence to his dad's bizarre choices. It was his wedding, as he had so frequently reminded Kurt. "Great. So it's basically one, two, three, four. Okay." Easy enough dance to teach him. Kurt nodded to the pianist. "Follow me. All right. Gentleman leads on the left. Right. Opposite of me. Okay? Get ready."

"Opposite," Burt muttered to himself.

"One, two, three, four," Kurt said exaggeratedly as he guided his dad through the steps without actually taking the lead. "Okay. Good. And back."

"Look at me. I'm dancing, huh? Look at that!" his dad exclaimed excitedly, still looking down at their feet.

"Yeah. Okay, okay. Come over here, and dance with yourself. Practice." Kurt pushed his dad aside and headed for the center of the room, resolve set by how well he had done with his dad. This didn't have to be awkward, right?

"Come on, Finn. No chickening out. I did it. You gotta do it too." Kurt mentally thanked his dad for encouraging Finn.

Kurt jerked his head as instruction to Finn, who breathed out heavily. "Okay. Uh-"

"My feet are moving, and there's music," his dad said happily behind them.

"All right," Kurt said, eclipsed by his dad. "Position." Kurt gestured for Finn to get into position.

"That's dancing," Burt said from behind them. Finn looked towards the door.

"C-Can we shut the door? I'm not really comfortable with people watching."

"What are you talking about? You danced in front of a thousand people at Regionals." Kurt refused to accept the possibility it was because Finn had to dance with him. They had moved beyond that, right?

Finn nodded in acceptance and joined hands with Kurt, then looked quickly at the door, letting their hands down. Kurt turned to see Karofsky waving a limp wrist. Kurt wondered impassively if he was mocking him, Finn, or both. After all that had happened in the past week with Karofsky, he couldn't care less about a little teasing from far away, but he knew Finn wouldn't feel that way. After all, isn't that why Finn didn't want to protect him?

The music stopped as Karofsky left from his spot in their doorway. "What the hell was that?" his dad asked from behind Finn.

"It's nothing, Dad." Kurt mentally added 'comparatively' to his sentence in his head.

"That was not nothing. That guy was making fun of you." It occurred to Kurt then. It was happened. His dad was going to find out about everything that was happening with Karofsky. Suddenly the sweats and the phone call was all going to make sense to him. "What the hell's his name?"

"Tell him, Kurt," Finn said quietly.

"Tell me what?" Burt demanded. He kind of saw in that moment why some people thought his dad was scary. Kind of.

"Tell him, or I will," Finn practically whispered.

"His name's Dave Karofsky. He's," Kurt shook his head, "been harassing me for a few weeks now," Kurt admitted. This would not end well.

"Harassing you how?" Burt said, low and dangerous.

"Just shoving me and giving me a hard time." Burt looked behind himself just in time to see Karofsky walk past the other entrance to the choir room. How slow was he walking?

"There's more. There's something else you're not telling me." Of course, his dad picked today to be super observant. Could he lie to his father again?

"He threatened to kill me," Kurt said honestly. It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth. Burt was heading for the door almost before he finished the sentence.

"What? You gotta be kidding me." Finn said, and he sounded... shocked, and almost remorseful. Like he would have done something if he'd known that. Then it occurred to them both. "Burt!" Finn called after him, running out of the choir room. Kurt followed just as fast.

"Why don't you try me?" Burt demanded of Karofsky, who he had up against the wall with an arm pressed against his neck when Kurt and Finn caught up.

"Burt, stop!" Finn demanded.

"Please, you're sick," Kurt said insistently, pulling his dad off. Why did everyone have to try and get themselves hurt worrying about him? "Come on."

Burt let Karofsky go, but Kurt knew it had nothing to do with Finn or Kurt. He just didn't want to get assault charges. Finn was still holding him, as if he was afraid Burt would bolt after him and wring his neck. Kurt wouldn't be surprised.

"What the hell have you been doing while this is all going on, huh?" Burt demanded of Finn once the jock had let his dad go. Kurt sighed as his dad stormed past; Finn stood there stunned.

"Are you happy now?" was how Kurt answered Blaine's call that afternoon.

"'Hi, Blaine.' 'Hi, Kurt, how are you?' 'How do you think I am, Blaine?'" Blaine stopped there. "Actually, I guess there's no chance of me getting a happy greeting, huh?"

"I let the guys get involved," Kurt continued, ignoring him, "and all I got for it was an angry Karofsky, a black eye for Sam, the revelation that my soon-to-be step-brother doesn't care about my safety, a confrontation between Karofsky and my dad, and an appointment to meet the principal tomorrow. Are you happy now?"

"About the first three things: no. The fourth: medium. The last: oh yeah." Blaine knew he was going to get so bitched out for that.

"Blaine!" The volume and pitch of Kurt's shriek almost blew Blaine's ear. "What is wrong with you? My father has a serious condition, he should not be trying to fight my battles. And Coach Sylvester isn't going to be able to do anything, and we're going to get nowhere." A rush of static indicated that Kurt sighed.

"Stop calling them 'your battles'. Everyone that loves you wants to help you, whether you like it or not. Your girls, your dad, me, everyone who cares about you wants to protect you. Why can't you just let us?"

"Because I feel horrible when people get hurt for my sake," Kurt admitted, and Blaine sighed.

"Why did Sam get a black eye?" Blaine asked.

"Because he tried to beat up someone twice as big as him," Kurt replied, snarkily but confused.

"And why did he do that?"

"Because Karofsky made him mad," Kurt replied, and now he sounded more confused than anything.

"And what about Karofsky made him mad?" Blaine said. One can only lead a horse to water.

"Him picking on me. I still don't get your point."

"Everyone has free will, Kurt. No one else got a black eye trying to protect you. Sam did what he did because he wanted to protect you. I don't even know the guy and I can guarantee that he doesn't regret what he did, and he doesn't care that he got a black eye doing it."

"I still feel bad."

"You're a hopeless case. People want to help you. Let them." Kurt sighed again.

"I suppose. Tell me crazy stories about the people that live in your dorm and make me feel better. I'm dreading tomorrow."

A/N: Seven thousand words of story in apology for the fact that I vanished off the face of the earth for the past... oh, 3 weeks? 4? I don't even know anymore.

I know this was a little dramatic, but I really feel like Karofsky wouldn't have stopped there, with the way he was acting. Plus, as awesome as Sam is, he needed some motivation to throw himself into the fray. So, I provided it for him. I hope you all enjoyed. Sam has a bigger part in this than he did in the show because, well, I like him. He's sweet.

Songs used/mentioned:
'Everything' by Michael Bublé (mentioned)
'Marry You' by Bruno Mars
'Stairway to Heaven' by Led Zeppelin (mentioned)
'A House Is Not A Home'by Dionne Warwick (mentioned)

Reviews are Love.