Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

A/n: And, another chapter down. I'm still not sure exactly where I'll be stopping with this, but I'll figure it out soon enough.

Blaine was nervous. He knew that his testimony hadn't gone well; the defense attorney that questioned him had thrown him for a loop with all of the questions about Karofsky and Blaine wasn't sure if he'd handled it all that well. But he supposed that he would know soon enough, given the fact that he was sitting in the courtroom waiting for the jury to return with their verdict.

"I don't know if I can do this," Blaine whispered, leaning over closer to Kurt. He smiled slightly as the other boy squeezed his hand. Blaine understood why Kurt didn't speak; the judge was already in the courtroom, and Blaine didn't want Kurt to get in trouble. Blaine couldn't really hear what was going on; everyone was too far away, and Blaine wasn't close enough to attempt to read anyone's lips. He'd been working on that since he'd woken up in the hospital, but it was slow going and he still struggled with it.

Watching the boys that had attacked him was the only way Blaine could figure out to make sure that he knew what was going on; their reactions would have to be his first gauge of what happened. Blaine couldn't help but bite down on his bottom lip as he waited through all of the formal language that came before the verdict was read. He squeezed Kurt's hand as he saw what he hoped were the signs that things had gone badly for the boys. Blaine was surprised when Kurt wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tightly before he saw Kurt's smile.

"Conviction?" Blaine watched as Kurt nodded, smiling at him. For the first time since he had finished testifying, Blaine felt like he could breathe again despite the numb feeling that washed over him.

"Blaine?" Blaine felt Kurt turning his head so that he was looking at his boyfriend. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"I… I feel numb…" Blaine could see the confusion on his boyfriend's face. "It's not sinking in yet that this is almost over. Can we just go back to the hotel now?"

"Just let me speak to the prosecutor, sweetie, and then we'll go." Blaine nodded in response to his mother's comment, smiling at Kurt.

"Sorry… I'm just not quite sure how to deal with all of this yet. I… I'm ready to be done with this part of things. I'm ready to get things back on track and get my life back. Or at least get somewhere close to that."

"I know… I wish that there was something I could do to make things better." Blaine smiled, squeezing the other boy's hand.

"You have no idea how much it helps just having you here next to me while I deal with all of this. I don't know that I would have been able to go through all of this without you. I'm… I'm so glad that you were there when I woke up, and that you weren't scared away by all of this," Blaine commented, motioning towards his ears.

"I would have been an awful person if I disappeared when you needed me the most… I never would have forgiven myself." Blaine glanced up as he felt his mother putting a hand on his shoulder.

"They're suggesting that you might want to speak at the sentencing hearing next week…"

"What do they want me to say? I told them everything they asked about here in the past week…"

"They want to make sure that the judge understands what's happened to you. And it might help you to face them…" Blaine shrugged.

"I'll think about it."

"Why don't we go back to the hotel so you can get some rest? It's been a long day, and I'm sure you could use some time to think about whether or not you want to say something to the judge."

By the time they got back to the hotel, Blaine had already started thinking about what he might say if he decided to speak. There wasn't a whole lot he could think of that hadn't already been mentioned at the actual trial, and to be completely honest Blaine wasn't sure if it was worth bothering.

"You're thinking about what you're going to say?" Kurt finally asked as they pulled into the parking lot. Blaine shrugged.

"I don't know… I don't know that I have anything I would want to say that they haven't already heard. Part of me just thinks that I should go back home this weekend, before they're sentenced. They don't… they don't need me for this, not really."

"Blaine… it'll give you some peace…"

"I already have peace… they're going to go away, and I have restraining orders preventing any of them from coming near me ever again. I don't need to be there when they're told how long they'll be in jail…" Blaine replied. "Besides, I'm supposed to have an appointment with the audiologist on Monday to see if a cochlear implant is even an option."

"That appointment can be rescheduled… you're only going to get one chance to speak to the court about all of this," Kurt replied. Blaine sighed, nodding slightly. "Maybe it would help if you tried to write out what you might say, if you choose to speak."

"We didn't bring the computer… my handwriting is still a mess…" Blaine began.

"So then I'll help you. I can finish up my homework tonight, and we'll have all day Saturday and Sunday to work on it. We can even go to Dalton for a while if you'd like, get you out of this hotel room. Besides, I'm not the only Warbler that chose not to go home for the break, so we have friends to hang out with."

"I shouldn't take up all of what's left of your break, Kurt… I feel bad enough that you've stayed here with me this whole time instead of going back to Lima to see your family."

"My family understands… they know that this is tough. I wanted to make sure that the boys who did this to you – the same boys that made my life hell when I was at McKinley and who followed you because they hated something about you that you couldn't even control – were going to be put away for a long, long time. Because they couldn't stop hating what they didn't understand."

"And if I can't do this?"

"No one is going to force you to do anything, Blaine. But you should at least think about it."