I don't own Glee.
What a Catch: Chapter 11
Kurt sighed, walking his fingers slowly up Dave's arm as the sick boy looked at him with glassy eyes. His breath was coming out in wheezes and every so often his body would be overcome by hacking coughs. A nurse placed a cool wash cloth on Dave's damp forehead before placing oxygen tubes into his nose, helping his to breathe better.
"You don't have to do this, K," Dave whispered, trying to make his eyes focus on his boyfriend. Kurt gave him a small smile, taking Dave's larger hand in his.
"We don't even know if I'm going to be a match, David," Kurt said gently. "Puck, Azimo and I are getting tested this afternoon. We should know tomorrow."
"It's going to hurt' Dave whispered back, closing his eyes as he burrowed his head into his pillow.
"Thank you, David. I had no idea," Kurt said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "But I'm pretty sure I can handle some pain, if it means you being okay." Kurt chuckled, shaking his head when he realized Dave was already asleep and hadn't heard what he had said.
"Kurt?" Roslyn asked from the door. "Dr. Walter said he's ready to get you ready for the test now. Noah and Azimo are already downstairs." Kurt sighed but nodded, leaning down to kiss Dave on the cheek before following the petite nurse out of the room.
Puck, Azimo and Kurt sat on three different beds that were aligned in a row. At the moment, the curtains between their beds were opened and they were talking quietly too each other.
"Okay," Puck began quietly, staring off into space. "I know I'm a badass, but I'm nervous."
"Yo' man, I know!" Azimo exclaimed, fidgeting slightly. "I mean, I love my man Dave and I'd do anything for him. But I don't know. What if we aren't a match? What if this really hurts? What if-"
"Can we just stop being so negative?" Kurt asked tiredly, running a hand over his eyes. He had spent the past few days sleeping in an uncomfortable chair next to Dave's bed, getting little to know sleep. If he did go home, he simply laid awake and stared at the ceiling, worrying about what was happening to his boyfriend.
"Sorry, Kurt," Puck mumbled, looking embarrassed.
"Yeah, dude, sorry," Azimo said, sitting up straight as the doctor walked into the room.
"Okay, gentlemen. Let's get started." Dr. Walter pulled the curtain around Kurt's bed. He started with taking blood from a large vein from Kurt's left arm. He took his vitals, Kurt shifting uncomfortably as the blood pressure cuff tightened around his upper arm. After writing everything down, Dr. Walter turned and gave Kurt a small smile.
"Okay, Kurt, I just need you to pull your pants down so I can get access to your hip bone. I'm going to give you a local anesthetic so all you should feel is pressure." Doing as the doctor said, Kurt closed his eyes as a small needle pierced through his skin. The doctor draped a small curtain over Kurt's hip, marking the area the next needle would be entering with a small pen. "Just lay back and lay still, Kurt. There is going to be a lot of pressure, okay?"
Kurt nodded slightly, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes as a very large needle was pushed into his hip bone. He took deep breathes, his eyes tearing up as the doctor kept telling him they were almost done. Finally the needle was slowly removed, Dr. Walter twisting the sharp from the syringe and putting it in a sharps container on the counter. He placed a cotton ball against Kurt's skin, holding it where a small amount of blood was oozing out. The doctor placed a small band-aid over the spot, patting Kurt on the leg slightly.
"All done. Why don't you lie here for a little while, let the anesthetic wear off first. You'll probably notice that you'll be stiff for a few days, but that's to be expected." Kurt swallowed thickly as he nodded to the older man. "We'll know by tomorrow if you're a match or not."
With that, Dr. Walter handed Kurt's paper's, blood-work, and marrow sample off to Roslyn, removed his gloves and donned a new pair before moving through the curtain to Azimo's bed. Taking a shuttering breath, Kurt laid back and quickly fell asleep.
Lizzie crawled carefully onto Dave's bed, pulling him into her arms. Her eyes moved around the room, landing in turn on her father, her boyfriend, Kurt and Azimo. She felt horrible. She would have been a perfect match to give Dave bone marrow. But Dr. Walter had told her no, stating that she would be a last resort. Since her and Dave shared their mother's blood line, there was a high possibility of cancer being in the blood line.
The father and five teenagers sat on pins and needles waiting for Dr. Walter to come back into the room. Kurt and Azimo were worried that they wouldn't be matches, both wanting to save the boy that meant so much to the in different ways. Puck was nervous, not entirely sure why he was there. It wasn't that he didn't like Dave-in fact, he'd grown to like the boy a lot since he started dating the jock's younger sister. He just really didn't like hospitals or the thought of surgery. He had agreed to get his marrow tested simply for Lizzie, hoping that it would be Azimo or Kurt being a match instead.
The group sat up straighter when Dr. Walter walked into the room, a small smiled on his face. Dave closed his eyes, letting out a shuttering breath as Lizzie placed another cool cloth on his head.
"I have some good news, Dave," Dr. Walter said, clapping his hands together.
"Am I match?" Kurt said excitedly, standing up.
"I'm sorry, Kurt, but no you aren't."
"Then it's me?" Azimo said, also standing.
"No, Azimo." At that, Puck froze, looking up with wide eyes. "Mr. Puckerman, however, is a match."
A few days later found Puck laying in a prep room, poking slightly at the new IV that had been placed in his arm. Lizzie sat next to him, holding his hand and running a hand over his mohawk. She had been crying off and on; excited about someone being a match for her brother but worried that her boyfriend and brother had to go through surgery. Although Puck had been apprehensive at first, he knew he had to do this; if not for Dave then for Lizzie. Puck looked up to see Kurt cross through the curtain that was separating him from Dave. He gave Lizzie a small smile and they changed places.
"Hey," Kurt said quietly, turning his attention to Puck.
"Hey," he whispered back, playing with the device a nurse had stuck on his finger that supposedly measured his pulse.
"I-I…I wanted to thank you for doing this, Noah," Kurt said, picking at the seam on his shirt. "I know you and Dave weren't always the closest and I know you don't like hospitals. But this means so much to Dave and Lizzie."
"It means a lot to you, too." Puck said, turning to meet Kurt's eyes. The smaller team seemed to hold his breath for a moment before nodding.
"I-I didn't want to. I didn't want to get so close to someone to just have them leave me. And you know how hard things were before he got sick. But he's just a completely different person that I can't imagine being without. I think I love him." Puck gave Kurt a small smile.
"I'm happy for you man. You deserve something good and hopefully Dave will get better soon so you guys can have a long happy life. Have you told him yet?"
"No," Kurt said, shooting a glance at the curtain behind him. "I was going to tell him before they took you guys into surgery but he's already out-they wanted to give him a break from the pain. So I guess I'll have to wait for you guys to get out."
The two gleeks talked quietly until it was time for surgery to begin. Puck watched as he was rolled past Lizzie and Kurt, both wearing looks of apprehension. As the anesthesiologist placed a mask over his mouth and nose and told him to count backwards from one hundred, Puck thought of Kurt and how he had never seen the boy look so happy before.
"That's reason enough to do this," he thought to himself as everything faded to black.
AN: I'm sorry it's taken so long. I've had two tests this week and I've been stressed to the max. And I'm not really sure how to tie everything together yet. But I hope you guys liked it and please review!