Thank you thank you thank you for all continuing reviews and alerts. I really, REALLY appreciate what I DO get and it encourages me when anyone comments on my writing, so really I love you guys.

In particular wanted to thank Cushla-Sophie for your lovely review :) and to answer your query, yes there will be Burt Kurt interaction. There will be some here, and a lot more later. I love the relationship and I love writing it.

I know I always say this but I rewrote this chapter SO MANY TIMES. I hope it doesn't feel rushed. There will be a lot more talks in the hospital between Blaine, Kurt and Burt in particular. Plus some ND's will be coming back.

Still don't own Glee.

Kurt

Kurt was floating. He didn't feel pain, like he knew he should, but to be honest, he didn't feel much of anything. He certainly didn't remember anything. But this place was comfortable, and no feeling was certainly better than the pain, the pain he knew was coming.

A while later he felt something.

It was only a small something, a sensation somewhere in the region of his right side. Maybe his hand. But it was enough. Enough to remind him that as comforting as this place was, it wasn't right. He had to move, had to bring himself back. The pain might finish him off but he'd face it.

He'd face it because something was telling him there was something – or someone – worth going through the pain for.

Waking up was like breaking through the surface of water, and the second he did so, the pain hit him at all angles like a freight train. It was worst in his stomach and torso and chest, and bad in his arms and legs, and oh god it was fucking unbearable in his head.

When he opened his eyes, he saw white walls and staid watercolour paintings and ugly pine furniture. But he felt the presence on his right hand, and he turned his head slightly, wincing at how much pain the small movement caused.

He looked bang into the warm, worried hazel eyes of Blaine Anderson. Of course. Memories flooded back to Kurt and his eyes pricked. Who was he kidding? He wasn't strong enough to deal with this, not to mention the guilt that threatened to overwhelm him. He had almost got Blaine killed.

"Don't worry. I'm not leaving you." Blaine whispered, as if reading his mind, never letting go of Kurt's hand. Kurt tried to say something, anything, but to his horror he began to cry, because the pain and the guilt and the fear overwhelmed him. Blaine pressed a button on the wall, and Kurt was aware of a nurse walking in and adjusting a drip, and then he felt darkness settle over him, and he relaxed into it because he was suddenly aware of how exhausted he was.

The next time he woke up Blaine was gone, and he could hear voices outside in the hall, since the door was ajar. For a few seconds he felt genuinely panicked. He needed Blaine here beside him, hadn't he promised he wouldn't leave him? Kurt couldn't remember, but his palms were sweaty and his heart was hammering. Everything was still so hazy, but the memories were coming back, slowly and painfully. He strained to hear the voices in the hallway.

"What in God's name has been going on here?" He winced as he recognised the voice of his father. He tried to call out, because his dad didn't need this stress, shouldn't have to still be worrying about Kurt at this age, but his voice didn't seem to be working at the same speed his brain was (which wasn't particularly fast either due to the amount of drugs he gathered were being pumped into his body to make the pain only excruciating rather than unbearable.)

"I think you need to hear it from Kurt." That was Blaine's voice, and he sounded broken and exhausted and upset, but he was there and Kurt suddenly could relax, safe in the knowledge Blaine was at least present. The two men turned to the room, and when they saw Kurt was awake, Burt flew to his son's side.

"Kurt." He whispered, his voice so unusually soft and gentle, "what hurts son?" Suddenly Kurt felt sixteen again. Sixteen and home from having endured several locker slams and a slushie for good measure. He felt defeated and tired and young.

"What doesn't hurt."He winced. Ah. Maybe too soon for humour. Burt forced a smile.

"I'm not going to make you talk about it right now. You need to rest..."

"Good, because I don't want to talk about it." Croaked Kurt, looking to Blaine, who smiled reassuringly at him.

"But from what I gather...Jake's been hurting you Kurt?" Kurt looked away from his father's gaze, from his grey green eyes, identical to his own. "Kurt?"

"Yes." Kurt whispered, shame dripping from the one syllable. He felt his father tense, leant on the bed. "Will I have to see him?"

"We don't know yet, Kurt." Blaine put in, as Burt looked to his son's close friend. "Obviously you'll have to testify. But his DNA is all over you, your clothes, the knife..." His voice was shaking, and Kurt suddenly felt tired. Blaine saw his eyelids drooping. "Go to sleep." He whispered.

"Stay with me?" He murmured, his voice already half taken by the drowsiness.

"I'm not going anywhere." Blaine whispered, and that was enough, at least for now, for Kurt to be able to fall into some semblance of peaceful sleep.

Blaine

Kurt closed his eyes and Blaine sat down on a chair. He closed his own eyes for a moment, leaning his head on his hand. He was exhausted but sleeping just wasn't a valid option right now. Not while Kurt was so damaged, and still remembering the horrific thing that had happened to him.

The next time Kurt woke up, he was more alert than he had been. After a few words with Burt, the man excused himself for a little while, to give Kurt and Blaine the chance to talk.

Blaine was back in his space beside the bed, holding Kurt's hand. The gesture didn't feel unnatural, in fact it felt as easy as breathing, and as necessary.

"All I remember is pain." Kurt whispered after several minutes of pregnant silence. "One minute he was yelling at me...and the next all I could see was white lights and all I could taste was blood."

"When I came in...Kurt I've never seen so much blood in my life. I was...terrified. And I couldn't see you moving and I freaked, and then you opened your eyes. I called 911, and then...he turned up." Blaine swallowed, appreciating that Kurt didn't need to hear Jake's name right now. "He threw my phone and backed me against the wall."

Kurt looked down at himself, at his bruised and bandaged body, and then he looked back up at Blaine. "I remember him saying he was going to hurt you. I tried to move, but I couldn't. Then nothing."

"He...offered me a deal." Blaine replied. "He said he'd ring you an ambulance if he could kill me." Blaine swallowed and at Kurt through his eyelashes.

There was another silence while Kurt digested this. Whilst he'd known Jake was threatening Blaine, why he'd grabbed the table lamp even in his half dead state, he hadn't known about the deal, and Blaine could see in Kurt's eyes he was shocked. Tears ran down Kurt's cheeks.

"You saved my life." Whispered Kurt. Blaine smiled sadly.

"The truth is, you saved mine first." Blaine replied softly, his eyes glittering. "You saved my life the first day I saw you, on that staircase at Dalton. You saved my life in a million ways you'll never know. Just by being you."

"I feel you, Blaine." Kurt said emotionally, his voice cracking. "I always have. I'm sorry if I've ever done anything to make you feel unwanted. I don't...I don't know what the future holds. All I know is I'm damaged now. Even more than before. I might not ever be the same." Tears were spurting out of his eyes and onto his chin and dripping onto his chest and Blaine began to cry too.

"I won't expect anything of you, Kurt, but I'll always be here, by your side, making it better in any way I can." Blaine replied.

"I do love you." Kurt smiled through his tears. "And I want you. But...I can't promise to give you anything for a long, long time Blaine. Can you deal with that?"

"I've always loved you. Kurt." Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead gently. "You have as long as you need, never forget that."