DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, nor am I associated with it or RIB. Actually, I just don't own anything - none of the songs or tv shows mentioned in this fic. There we go.

Not Like This

By: xSlythStratasfaction

Warning: This story contains harsh language, mentions of violence and gay bashing, and homophobia. THIS IS A SEASON 4 AU!


Burt rolled over, slowly maneuvering Carole's arm from around his waist as he reached out to grab his ringing cell phone from off of the bedside nightstand. Carole's eyes blinked open slowly and she too went to turn to grab the phone, only stopping when Burt pressed his free hand to her wrist.

"I've got it. That's Kurt."

Carole nodded and sunk back down into the warm blankets, eyes still warily watching Burt as he brought the phone to his ear and answered.

"Bud?"

"...dad?"

If there was anything in the world more terrifying than hearing your son's tear-filled voice on the phone, it was hearing him sobbing when you've just barely woken up and are hardly functioning. As soon as Kurt's voice shook through the other side of the line, Burt sat up straight and gripped the comforter tight between his fingertips.

"Kurt, what is it? What's wrong?"

Carole popped up and turned to look at Burt with wide, scared eyes. She reached a hand across the bed and took Burt's clenched one within her own, "Burt, honey, what's going on?"

"I don't know," Burt choked out, his heart racing fast against his chest. "Kurt, can you hear me? What's wrong?"

"Dad, B-Blaine is... he's-"

"Oh god-"

"He's awake, dad. Blaine woke up!"

Burt shook his hand out of Carole's grasp and pressed it to his heart, his eyes watering quickly as he took in what Kurt had just told him. "Blaine's awake," he whispered, a small smile spreading across his face as Carole breathed, "Oh my god."

"Cooper just called me a-and he said Blaine's awake."

"Oh, Kurt, that's great."

"I'm going to the hospital to see him, dad."

"You'd better."

"I-I just... I'm just so happy."

Burt smiled wider, dropping his hand from his chest to clutch at Carole's. "I'm so glad he's awake, Kurt. I hope everything's alright with him."

"Me too. Cooper didn't say much, but he sounded happy."

"I bet the entire Anderson family is glad. You better send them our love, okay? Carole and I will stop by the hospital as soon as we can."

A set of sniffles could be heard from Kurt and Burt closed his eyes in relief, thankful that the news he was receiving was on the good end for once... even though he had yet to find out how Blaine was doing, despite the fact that the boy was awake. Blaine might've been conscious, but he did have a long road ahead of him.

"I'll call you guys later," Kurt mumbled, his voice still quiet and scratchy. Burt listened as his son bid his goodbyes and once he said his, he hung up the phone, turning back to his teary-eyed wife. Carole immediately latched to his side, kissing his lips as she wept against him.

"God, Burt, I was so scared."

"Me too, Care. I didn't know what I was going to hear when I picked up the phone, especially since Kurt was cryin' that hard. Scared the hell out of me."

Carole nuzzled into her husband's shoulder, Burt breathing in her hair as she laid her head against him. "I just hope that he doesn't get let down when he heads into the hospital. Head traumas are touchy things and Blaine was out for longer than a week... there's bound to be some damage."

"I don't even know if I want to think about it."

"Well you should... if Kurt gets there and Blaine has some brain damage, Kurt's going to feel awful and we've got to be there for him no matter what. I know you haven't had the experience with brain injuries like I have, but we may need to be in for the long haul depending on what Kurt finds out today."

"I know."

"I mean, he could wake up and have a speech impediment or nerve damage in his limbs. He could have something even worse, we just won't know until they run tests and Kurt or the Andersons let us in on what's going on, but no matter what, we're going to be needed to support both Kurt and Blaine. I just want you to know that."

Burt nodded and wrapped his arms around his wife, "You're amazing, did you know that?"

"The same could be said for you. Now do you want some breakfast? I really don't think I can go back to sleep after all this."

::

Kurt stared up at the looming building ahead of him: Westerville General Hospital.

He had been there every single day since the second he landed in Ohio and not once had he been more terrified about seeing Blaine than he was now; he wasn't even this scared to see his ex when he first arrived and was about to see the damage those thugs had done to him. Because this was completely different, this time he was going to see Blaine awake and for once, he was going to see exactly what kind of damage those assholes had dealt to the boy he loved.

Sucking in a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and started out of the parking lot, his eyes darting from corner to corner as his stomach churned in anticipation.

He was going to see Blaine. He was going to be able to talk to Blaine and actually have Blaine look at him and listen to him.

Well, hopefully...

There was something absolutely terrifying about the possibility that Blaine could have some sort of brain damage. When Kurt had first heard about Blaine being in the hospital and the reason behind it, all he could think of was the struggles Blaine dealt with as the aftermath of his previous attack. Kurt had seen first hand the problems that Blaine dealt with: the way his hands would just stiffen up on him sometimes or the way they would just unlock and the things held in them would fall to the floor... or how Blaine would sometimes rapidly blink his eyes in order to see because things went a little blurry for a second.

Kurt could just hope that he wouldn't have to deal with such awful side effects this time around. He wasn't sure his heart could take it if Blaine were more broken this time around than the last.

::

"Hey, Kurt. I'm glad you came."

"Like I'd not show up," Kurt murmured into Cooper's arms as he leaned in for a hug. The older man squeezing him tight looked absolutely exhausted, his usually perfect hair unkempt and his face sporting a five-o-clock shadow.

"Well, I know you're wanting to go in and see Blaine as soon as possible, but we need to go over some things first."

"Why? What did they find? Is he okay? What's wrong-"

"Whoa, whoa, bud, calm down." Cooper stepped back and placed two steady hands on Kurt's shoulders, turning the boy towards one of the waiting room chairs. "Sit."

"Oh god, you're having me sit down... something's wrong."

Coop rolled his eyes, "Shh and sit, Kurt. And quit jumping to conclusions! I haven't even spoken a word about Blaine yet and you're already freaking out."

Kurt pressed his hands to his face and sighed, "How can I not be freaking out? The last time I saw Blaine up and awake, he was crying because I was breaking his heart and now I'm about to go in and see him after he was brutally gay-bashed and I don't know if he'll be able to even see me or talk to me or anything!"

"You won't be doing him any favors going in looking like you're about to have a nervous breakdown though. If you can just calm down and take a few deep breaths, I'll take you in there, but first, we have to talk."

Kurt nodded and turned to look up at Cooper, his eyes widening when he actually took a good look at the guy. If anything Cooper Anderson looked like he had aged at least ten years since the day he arrived back in Ohio. It was like the man who came and taught the glee club some acting skills was a completely different person compared to the man sitting before Kurt now. He looked haggard and sad and it broke Kurt's heart to see.

He wondered if the people who hurt Blaine looked the same.

"Hey, you okay?" Cooper's voice snapped Kurt out of his thoughts and he blinked slowly, nodding when Cooper quit snapping his fingers in his face. "You know what... I'm just gonna take you down there before you zone out even more. You're really starting to freak me out."

"I'm fine."

"You're not, but maybe you'll feel a little bit better once you've seen Blaine." Both men walked down the hall, Kurt hanging back as Cooper walked ahead of him, slow and steady. "I've gotta warn ya. I think my dad might be hanging around in the room. My mom offered to leave once we get down there; she and my dad need to talk or something, so you shouldn't have any problems. I don't think he'll be starting anything today, but if he does, I've got your back, okay?"

"Okay."

"Well," Cooper said softly, one hand reaching out to grab the door handle to Blaine's room. "Here we go."

They stepped into the room.

::

Maria glanced up from her place next to Blaine's bed when the door opened. She had been holding her son's hand for hours now, ever since the boy's eyes flickered open and she found him staring up at the ceiling.

"Blaine, oh my god, my sweet baby." She had cried out, waking Cooper from his slumber in the chair across the room. Blaine's gaze darted over to where Cooper was before it came back to his mom and Maria immediately burst into tears. "Oh sweetheart."

However, she couldn't help but notice the way Blaine's hazel eyes looked unfocused as he tried to watch her.

"Kurt, you came."

Kurt stepped forward, his heart racing against his ribcage as he walked further into the room and closer to Blaine's bed. Blaine was awake, his eyes staring up at the wall, long lashes framing his yellowed, slightly bruised eyelids. When Kurt saw how gaunt his ex looked, he gasped softly and Blaine's eyelashes fell shut.

"Oh Blaine," Kurt rasped as he rushed towards the bed and placed his hand on his ex's thigh. He leaned down and kissed the top of Blaine's head, smoothing back the curls that framed his forehead. As soon as his hand brushed Blaine's scalp, the other boy's eyes blinked open, the golden hazel lazily staring up into Kurt's swirling blue-grey. "I'm so glad you're awake."

Blaine lay still beneath him, his gaze still focusing on Kurt's face, but barely. It looked slightly off. Kurt ran his hand along Blaine's cheekbone and frowned. Something was wrong with the way Blaine was looking at him.

"Blaine, honey? What is it?"

Maria reached out, brushing her hand against Kurt's forearm, "He hasn't been speaking, Kurt."

"What? Why?"

"They're coming to get him for some scans soon. The doctor just left right before you and Cooper got here. They're- they're um... worried about his speech... a-and his eyesight."

Kurt's heart dropped; he looked down at Blaine and felt the bile rise in his throat when he noticed how lethargic the boy seemed. Blaine's eyes were heavy-lidded and unfocused, his mouth open and slack-jawed as he took soft, airy breaths. "Oh god," he whimpered, running his fingers along Blaine's scalp again. "Oh god, Blaine." He turned to Maria, his face still frozen in disbelief. "But what if- we- we still don't know if this is permanent. He- he could just be more exhausted than we thought and maybe he'll feel better after he's had a little bit more rest or something. I-"

"Kurt, honey. It's better if we don't deny the fact that Blaine may be-"

"How can you just sit there and think that? How can you sit there and believe that something's wrong?" Kurt cried. He ran the heel of his palm under his eyes and looked back down at Blaine, his tears only increasing when he felt Blaine's cheek rest against his other hand, the soft fluttering of Blaine's lashes batting against his fingers. "He's going to be okay!"

"Kurt, please-"

"No, no I can't... I can't-" Kurt pulled away from the bed and darted out of the reach of both Cooper and Maria, turning and running out of the room as fast as he could. He ran down the hall and continued running until he reached an empty family waiting room, his body collapsing in exhaustion as soon as he stepped into the room. "He's not damaged. He's not," he continuously repeated to himself, his body rocking back and forth as he cried.

"He's not."

::

Cooper stared at the open door in shock. He honestly wasn't expecting Kurt to just disappear like that, especially since the boy seemed so strong over the last few weeks, but it seemed Kurt was more fragile than he thought. Ever since Kurt came to the hospital that first day, he had been like a rock, always sitting vigil beside Blaine's bed, occasionally taking over while the Andersons dealt with their own business. Kurt had been there as much as he could and he did his best to keep the family from exploding around him. When tensions got high, he'd bring Coop and Maria some coffee or some food or he'd sit down and talk to one of them about the funny things Blaine did in high school. But now, upon seeing that his ex-boyfriend may or may not be brain damaged, it was like someone had taken a sledgehammer to some glass and now Kurt was an emotional wreck.

Of course, he wasn't the only one.

Sighing, Cooper walked over to his mother and enveloped her in a bear hug. As soon as Kurt fled the room, Maria had burst into tears, sobbing to herself in Tagalog as she wept in heartbreak over what was happening. It had broken Cooper's heart to see his mother so upset, especially since she had been so excited earlier that morning when Blaine had finally opened his eyes for the first time in weeks, but he knew she was hoping Kurt wouldn't be scared off by Blaine's injuries. And when Kurt broke down and ran, it was like he had taken Maria's heart with him.

Slowly rubbing his mother's back as he held her against him, Cooper allowed his gaze to dart down to his brother. Blaine lay sleeping in his bed, his bruised eyes closed, still looking so peaceful despite the turmoil that swirled around him. He was only a kid and yet he had endured so much throughout his young life, so much more than anyone Cooper had ever known and as a big brother, Cooper couldn't help but feel powerless in the fact that he couldn't do anything to help his baby brother out.

Honestly, he knew all he could really do was be there for him because if Blaine's silence told him anything, he and his family were in for a lot of work over the next few months... but it wasn't like he hadn't dealt with this before, which disgusted him to the core.

Releasing his mother, Cooper walked over to Blaine and sat down, taking his brother's hand within his own, "You're gonna get better, Blainey. You're going to get better and sing and dance and talk up a storm and tell me thousands of stories like you did when you were little and I'm gonna enjoy every single minute of it, I promise. I promise, Blaine. I swear." He brought his brother's hand to his face and kissed Blaine's knuckles, leaning his nose against the cold fingertips. "You'll get better. You will."

::

April 2012

"Blaine? Blaine, honey, wake up!"

Kurt straddled his boyfriend, his hands gripping Blaine's shoulders as he struggled to calm the other boy down. Just seconds before, Blaine had started screaming in his sleep, scaring the living daylights out of Kurt when the silence he had been sleeping to had turned to complete terror.

"Blaine! Blaine, wake up! Wake up, honey, please!"

Blaine yelled, his body arching as he jerked against Kurt's restraint. His jaw clenched and Kurt whimpered, his own body trembling when he noticed the pain etched across Blaine's sleeping face. Whatever this nightmare was that Blaine was having, it was an awful one and Kurt was terrified to think that he knew what it was all about.

Because if all the groaning and crying Blaine was doing in his sleep was any sort of indication, Kurt's boyfriend was having a nightmare about the beating he received at the Sadie Hawkins dance just a couple years before.

"Blaine, honey? Please wake up. Please!"

Kurt curled his form around Blaine, his arms wrapped around the other boy's chest as he held him tightly. Blaine sobbed against him, still not yet woken from his sleep and the tighter Kurt held him, the more he cried and whimpered, his shaking slowly calming as Kurt hummed in his ear.

It took several minutes to calm Blaine down, but finally Kurt had soothed him enough and the boy's tense body sagged against him. Kurt cried in relief, his lips peppering kisses along Blaine's hairline as he rocked him back and forth. "Thank god," Kurt breathed, nestling his cheek against his boyfriend's hair. He closed his eyes and pulled Blaine closer, humming low as he snuggled the two of them back into their cocoon of blankets.

He continued to hum but stopped when he felt Blaine turn in his arms and cuddle against his chest, "Blaine?"

"Kurt?" Blaine whimpered. Kurt pulled away and looked down at his boyfriend, taking in the broken look on his love's face as Blaine began to weep.

"Oh honey, no. Don't cry."

"I could feel them, Kurt. I could f-feel them kicking me and h-hitting me. It w-was like that n-night all over again."

You mean the Sadie Hawkins dance?

Blaine sobbed and Kurt enveloped him in his arms, You're safe now, sweetheart. You're okay.

"I should be over this," Blaine said, his voice muffled against Kurt's t-shirt. "It's b-been years and I still have nightmares."

"You suffered a lot, honey. Sometimes things haunt you; it's not your fault that you had a nightmare."

"I don't want it to happen anymore. I'm so scared it'll happen again. I- I was so scared that night, Kurt. I was so scared."

"Oh honey." Kurt tugged Blaine closer and held him as he cried. "You're okay. You're safe. I've got you."

::

I've got you.

Kurt stood outside Blaine's room, his hands wringing themselves together as he chewed on his lip and debated on whether or not to enter the room. Cooper and Maria had left long before, heading on down to the cafeteria for lunch and now Blaine was alone in his room, back from his testing and resting peacefully. Cooper had come to let Kurt know that they were leaving and that he could have a moment alone with Blaine if he wanted and it had taken him several minutes to just build up the courage to even leave the waiting room.

But now, here he was, standing outside the room he had been in so many times before... except this time things were incredibly different – Blaine was inside, awake, and maybe wanting to see him. Maybe.

Squaring his shoulders, Kurt took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping inside as quietly as he could just in case Blaine was asleep. He looked over at the bed and bit his lip when he saw Blaine's still form resting in the middle of that massive hospital bed. He just looked so frail in the dim light and his bruises and injuries seemed so much more pronounced; just studying him from several feet away made flames of anger flicker behind Kurt's eyes.

He would never, ever understand why someone would want to harm an innocent person so badly.

Several minutes later, Kurt finally took the plunge and walked over to Blaine's bed, settling himself down in the chair next to it. He took Blaine's uninjured hand within his own and stroked the smooth skin of Blaine's palm. Blaine slept on peacefully beside him, occasionally squeezing Kurt's fingers within his own as he breathed in and out, the tender reassurement making Kurt's heart swell with each squeeze.

"I love you so much, you know?" Kurt murmured as he swiped his thumb over Blaine's knuckles. "I never wanted this to happen... it's all my fault. If I just would've been stronger, if I just didn't give up so easily, this would have never happened. You wouldn't be here and you'd be safe and at home and- and I'm so sorry, Blaine. I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry I caused all of this. I'm so sorry."

Blaine's lashes fluttered, but his eyes did not open. The only noise he made was a soft little snore and Kurt shuddered, his body leaning forward against the bed as he began to sob. He held Blaine's hand closer to his heart and continued to apologize through his tears, hoping that despite his slumber, Blaine could hear him and understand how sorry he was that this even happened.

Because he promised Blaine, he promised him that he'd never say goodbye and yet he did. He promised him he'd always be there and yet he wasn't... and he told Blaine that no matter what, he'd protect him. I've got you. But this time he didn't and now Blaine was hurt, probably permanently, and seeing him today only cemented in Kurt's mind that this was all his fault.


A/N: Alrighty, so Blaine's awake and Kurt's fallen right back into blaming himself. Some of you may think that it's getting old that he's still playing the blame game, but honestly, how could he not? I know that if I was in his shoes, I would be heartbroken for my ex if something like this happened following a break-up that I initiated. I would be just like Kurt... wouldn't you all be the same?

Anyway, thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you liked it and I hope you liked this one as well. I must remind you all that I am no doctor and the closest thing I've ever gotten to being around a brain injury (and all the other things that's happened to Blaine) has been when my little brother was little and he had epilepsy and one time fell and hit his head and was in the hospital for the longest time suffering seizures (believe me, it was scary as hell and as a five year old back then - god, almost 20 years ago, I can remember more of that hospital visit than any other I've dealt with in my life.) Also, a year or two ago my family thought I had a stroke and that was pretty crazy, but that's the closest I've ever gotten to medical business that has to do with the brain. However, I'm doing some research and hopefully I don't screw up this story... but if you have any suggestions based on what I've written so far about Blaine's injuries, please send me a message on here or my tumblr. I'd greatly appreciate it (same goes for if I end up screwing up anything in the next chapter because next we'll learn more about what's going on with Blaine and we'll see more Klaine interaction!) Thanks for reading!