Part XIII

Somehow Puck managed to find the nerves to wrap the little bodies on blankets and duvets and get them outside, on a couple of snow-made tombs. Kurt really couldn't be bothered because, even if he loved those kids to pieces, he had an alive, if broken down, Sam in his arms that just couldn't seem to find peace. That was a bit more important right now.

The boy wouldn't let go even after half an hour had passed and his siblings were under a few feet of ice besides the road, under some threes. He just kept crying and sobbing until his words ran out and he fell carelessly to Kurt's arms.

After a while Britney got out of the car and hugged him too, saying "Sammy" time and time again until he stood up and together they managed to get him in the back seat of the car.

Kurt and Puck took the front seats in silence, but exchanged a glance that showed how much pain they were going through at that moment. Second hand pain, but pain anyway. There was just no way to stay calm while one of their friends, of their family, was so broken. He might be alive, but he wasn't fine at all and there was no saying if he'd ever be.

The drive home wasn't long, just about ten minutes, but it seemed endless between the softs 'Sammy' that Britt was whispering and Puck looking at him as if he was waiting for him to break down too. He wanted to, he really did, but now wasn't the time or the place.

And he was sure the other boy must be on a verge of it too, if his white knuckles were any indication.

Finn and Rachel weren't there yet, so Kurt parked near to the house and got down to help Sam out. A hand on his forearm stopped him in his tracks and he looked curiously at Puck.

"You go inside and wash your face or something, I'll take care of Sam" he said, calmly. "Maybe you could prepare him a shower while you are at it"

Kurt, in a daze, nodded and did as was told. He opened the door and gave a slight nod to Leroy and Hiram who seemed really worried as soon as they saw him, but he paid it no mind as he moved to get things ready for a shower.

Inside the bathroom he finally noticed the reason Puck was staring at him so much and why Rachel's dad looked so concerned. There was blood on his face, probably the blood that Sam once had on his hands and clothes that had smeared while he tried to keep him together. There was blood on his face and clothes, the blood of children, of kids that he had babysat a couple dozen times while Sam was working, of kids that called him uncle Kurt and that asked him to braid hair or play with cars. It was the blood of kids that shouldn't be dead.

In the mirror he saw the way his skin lost color and how green it turned, but he didn't really processed what was happening until he was throwing up on the toilet.

It was the knock on the door that woke him up from his trance. He washed his mouth and flushed the toilet before opening it.

Puck was on the other side, carrying an empty looking Sam on his arms. Kurt was immediately thrown to action when the blond man was on his feet. The mohawked boy kept him standing while Kurt started taking off his clothes, as the poor guy was in such a state of shock that couldn't do anything besides crying.

No one said a word, but they both understood what was needed without saying anything.

Carefully they helped Sam under the spray and washed his hair carefully, letting the foam clean his blond hair off his sibling's blood. They focused just on Sam, working quickly but softly to remove any possible drop of blood from his body, his hands and under his nails.

Kurt hugged Sam to his chest when Puck got out of the shower, wrapping a towel around the Sam's hips and helped him out of the bathtub.

Puck made a face, asking if he was going with him, and Kurt shook his head as a no.

When both friends were out of the bathroom and the door closed behind them with a click, Kurt felt his knees give up and fell to the floor under the shower spray. He knew the water was going to go cold at some point, but right now he didn't care. He couldn't think in anything but the red that went down the drain as the water washed the blood from his clothes.