A WARNING – This chapter is really sad. I cried while writing it. That said, I have been crying about everything recently, because there is hardly any time left before Harry Potter. But, if you are feeling in any way emotional, or tired, or stressed, I suggest getting the tissues out. Got them? Ok, I give you permission to start.

xxxxx

I sat back and watched Blaine wriggle up on his bed, leaning back on the big white cushions. He stopped, and I noticed that a few tears were still rolling down his cheek. He wiped them away, but new ones replaced them almost immediately. A part of me didn't want him to tell me what had happened. It was making him so sad, and I didn't see the point.

"Blaine, if you –"

"No, Kurt. I need to do this. I need to!"

He seemed to be reassuring himself more than he was reassuring me.

"Ok…"

We stared at each other, before Blaine grabbed the little box of photos on his bedside.

"This is Hannah. She is… was…"

He sniffed, and a few more tears rolled down his cheek.

"… She was my best friend. I met her when we were five. At kindergarten. And I wore a Prince Eric costume to dress up day, and she was Jessie, you know, from Toy Story? And the boys said I was wearing a girl's costume, and the girls said she was wearing a boy's costume. We were outcasts together."

I smiled. Baby Blaine dressed as a prince was perhaps the cutest thing ever. The whole 'outcast' thing, too. I got it. I was friends with most of my friends because we were the outcasts. Mercedes, Rachael, even Blaine. All because we didn't fit in.

"And we were best friends all through primary school. She was the first person I ever, you know, came out to. And she made me tell my parents. And she stuck by me even when all the people at middle school, and high school, started bullying us."

He was crying fully now, and his speech was occasionally broken by heart wrenching sobs.

"But then one day…"

He just trailed off, staring into the distance and crying.

"Blaine…"

My eyes snapped towards Wes. He too was crying, his eyes fixed on Blaine. It occurred to me that neither he nor David had ever seen Blaine cry properly before, at least not for a while.

"Blaine… What happened to her?"

He spoke quietly, his voice shaking. Blaine looked at him, shaking his head. His lips moved as though he was trying to speak, but no words were coming out.

"You don't have to tell us, honey."

I reached forward to Blaine, stroking his hand in what I hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Yeah… yeah, I do."

He sniffed again.

"I just… She…"

We all waited expectantly.

"You know how I told you I transferred because I was being bullied? Nothing else?"

We nodded in unison.

"There was… There was something else."

I swallowed nervously. Blaine had always been kind of vague about his time before Dalton. Apart from a tiny tidbit of information he told me when I asked him to Junior Prom, he had never told me anything about his old school or what had happened. Just that it had sucked.

"Hannah… She… She was very protective. She was a bit like… Like my guardian angel. And I know that sounds stupid and pretentious and makes me seem like an idiot but whenever I was in trouble, she'd just come and stand in front of me and they wouldn't hit her. There was no way I could have coped without her. But then one day… One day, it all changed…"

He stopped again. David patted him on the arm, and it seemed to break him out of his trance. His tears were falling heavily now, as were Wes, David and mine. I don't think any of us could bear seeing him like this.

"They… I don't know… But for some reason, they just… they just hit her and I don't know why and I was just screaming and so was she and they hurt her and one of them was holding me back and hitting me too and then next thing I know she's bleeding and we're on the ground and there's shouting and ambulances and she's telling me to have courage and I'm crying and she's just smiling at me and the nurses are trying to take me to the school nurse office and she's not there and she doesn't turn up for school the next day or the next day or the next day and I know something's wrong but nobody will tell me!"

He was shouting out words like his life depended on it. He finished up, sobbing his heart out while Wes, David and I hugged him and stroked his hair and told him to be calm. I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be alright, but I knew I would be lying. I wanted him to just be happy. But I knew that he couldn't be. Because that was what I had been like for weeks, even months after my mother had died. My tears continued to flow as I thought about it. I knew that it had been years since this had happened to Blaine, but when Mum had died I'd still had my dad and a few friends at school. Blaine had had no one, not even his parents who had pretty much ignored him since the day he had announced he was gay. I felt so sad for Blaine at that moment. Not only the twenty year old Blaine that I had in my arms, but also that fourteen year old boy who must have felt so alone in the world.

I hugged him tighter, and whispered to him.

"I'm sorry, Blaine, I'm so so sorry…"

Over and over again, like it was some sort of spell that would reverse the events that had broken such a strong man.

xxxxx

I cried again rereading that for proofing. I am an absolute wreck at the moment. So, please review, tell me when you started crying, or even if you didn't start crying tell me to stop being an idiot. Or alternativly, you could share with me your absolute glee (lol) at the final Klaine skit. Because it was amazing, and I was jumping around like a crazy thing this morning. Basically, I'm like a rollercoaster. Erm…. REVIEW! :D