I won't take too much of your time here 'cause I know you guys are just happy I updated when I actually said I would but my normal happy AN is actually tinged with a flip-tonne of sadness this time because I got some reeeally horrid messages (here, Ao3 and Tumblr) after I posted the last chapter and it really just sucked everything out of me. I've got one chapter half-edited and I'll try and get that up next weekend but the break after that might be a little longer. I won't abandon the story but I take a lot of time out of my life to write this and I really know how to deal all that well with the hate :(

So, please, for this update. If you can't say anything happy, please keep it to yourself! Thank you and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

He ran.

God, he… They know. They all know, how?

Tears streamed down Blaine's face as he got further and further away from the school, away from his house, away from everyone.

Please, I need him to be safe. This is not fair, not to him.

He tripped, as he turned a corner, scraping his palms on the harsh pavement as he braced himself from landing on his stomach. He didn't get back up, couldn't get back up, he rolled to the side and cried so hard he started to gag. He felt so alone, he just wanted Kurt, he couldn't bear the thought of Kurt being taking away from him. Blaine just sobbed harder, his heart breaking, as he realised he really was alone. Cooper had practically thrown him out of their home and Kurt…

Fresh tears broke out and he wrapped his arms tightly around his knees, completely unaware of the passage of time or even where he had landed, he cried until there were just no more tears left. Numb, and lost, he stumbled to his feet. Luckily it was still daylight so he followed street signs until the familiarity of his house came into sight.

Cooper wasn't home when Blaine made his way in the backdoor. Moving almost mechanically Blaine gathered up some clothes, grabbing his old teddy bear and Kurt's t-shirt as well, he looked around the room for anything else and, on a sudden impulse, he rushed into Cooper's room and dumped the contents of his grandmother's jewelry box into his bag. With one final look, he headed back downstairs and out of the door.

He was really looking forward to his sixth period class, it would be the first time in over a week that they would be in the same place. Kurt wasn't entirely sure about how he was going to school his reaction to seeing Blaine once again, both his expressions and his body, but at least he'd be near Blaine.

Every confidence he had shared with Dave, every word he'd spoken about Blaine, had been heavily weighted with unadulterated adoration. He wanted, he needed, Blaine in his life with no hindrances. He had been deadly serious when he had told Dave he wanted to spend his life with Blaine, he wanted to put a ring on Blaine's finger and belong to him eternally. It never mattered to him that he was carrying some-one else's child, that idiot didn't deserve Blaine, wasn't worthy of either of them, he was willing to walk out and throw away the best possible gift he'd ever been given for no good reason.

Sebastian Smythe was the world's biggest tool. Although, in reality, Kurt should be sending the boy a parade of flowers and trumpets, if he wasn't such an utter idiot then Kurt wouldn't be in the position he was in now, he would only have Blaine in his life when the boy was in his classroom.

Kurt thought about Blaine, how he'd first noticed him, and wondered if falling in love with him wasn't an inevitability. If maybe they were destined somehow, like they'd played out this scenario a thousand times, in as many places, and he always fell in love with Blaine. It had almost been instantaneous. The second he saw Blaine not as a student, but as someone other than just a child, and it was practically that very moment he'd fallen in love.

Almost three months ago Blaine had exploded into his world outside of school, bringing something that Kurt hadn't had in his life, possibly ever, he brought light to Kurt's world. Blaine was warm, like a human sun, firing Kurt up from within and thawing out the edges of his cooling heart. Blain was his hope, his future and Kurt planned on letting Blaine know that as soon as he felt the boy was ready to hear it.

The bell rang and Kurt's class began slowly filling up, whilst he forced his mind on more mundane matters, he paced behind his desk keeping his back purposefully to the door to try and control his inevitable reaction to his boyfriend's presence.

Finally, the late bell rang and Kurt turned to face his class. Kurt's eyes fell on the only empty desk in his classroom.

Blaine wasn't there.

"Kurt?"

At the sound of his name Kurt span around to see Rachel waving him over to where she had parked her car that morning. His best friend was clearly worked up, her expression reading obvious agitation with a clenched jaw and blazing eyes.

"Rach, what's wrong?"

"I've just spent the better part of an hour practically banging my head against a brick wall. Please say let's go for a drink?" Rachel shrugged off her cardigan and threw her handbag into her backseat.

"Bad day?" Rachel nodded her head, pleadingly looking at her friend for his agreement. "What happened?"

Rachel looked around the car park. "Come on. We can talk on the way." She was quiet for a few moments and then looked back up at Kurt when he looked concerned. "Jesse's meeting us there."

"She did what!?" Kurt growled into the fist he had made against his mouth whilst Jesse watched both teacher's expressions. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I wish I was." Rachel put her empty glass down on the bar top and nodded to the bartender for a refill.

Kurt clenched his jaw, anger plastered across his face, "What a bitch."

"My sentiments exactly." Rachel agreed. "I also had the fantastic pleasure of calling Cooper Anderson and you can imagine he didn't take it too well. He was stomping around on the phone and said he was going to take the afternoon off to sort everything out."

Kurt had to bite his tongue to stop him telling Rachel that Cooper's version of 'sorting things out' probably meant leaving the boy home alone for a week or so. He never noticed the struggle his best friend was going through but Rachel's next question chilled his blood.

"How well do you know Blaine, Kurt?"

Kurt froze, afraid in more ways than one about how he would answer that question, but was saved when Rachel continued to talk, clearly not searching for an actual answer from Kurt.

"I tried to tell Sue but she just wouldn't listen. I think some-one's hitting Blaine, there were some very suspect looking marks on him when I saw him this morning. Do you know if he's still dating Sebastian?"

A red mist settled over Kurt's mind and it took all his willpower for him not to storm out and confront Blaine about who touched him.

"Hm?" With a very visible effort to get his temper under control he continued to speak. "No, he's dating the cheerleader. Blonde,too much bounce to her step?"

"Right…" Rachel stared off into nothing, trying to pull together what he'd seen this morning with anything that made a little bit of sense. Kurt was clenching and unclenching his fists under the table, feeling furious with Sue for not giving a flying crap and he wanted to punish whoever had hurt Blaine. His mind said Cooper must have been the one do mark his boyfriend but his heart didn't want to believe that Cooper could harm his own brother.

"Are you okay, Kurt?" Jesse had been watching the other man closely, much closer than Rachel had been, and he saw more than a teacher upset about a student, he saw a man who was possessively angry.

"I'm fine." He was lying through his teeth but he just couldn't bring himself to care. Rachel wouldn't notice and he didn't owe Jesse any excuses. Kurt shook his head when Rachel tilted her glass toward his, silently asking if he wanted a refill.

"No, I'm teaching early tomorrow."

Jesse sipped his drink, his eyes following both Kurt and his girlfriend's movements. He watched the emotions flitting through Kurt's eyes as Jesse tried to solve what was really going on with Blaine Anderson. He had some idea but held his tongue as Kurt refused a lift back to the school, from Rachel, and headed for the exit from the bar.

"I've never seen him this upset about a student suspension before." Rachel mused aloud before turning her attention to Jesse.

No, I bet you haven't. But then I don't think he's just any student.

Kurt went straight to their park, looking for Blaine. He had to be there, if Blaine was in trouble he'd head there, at least Kurt hoped he would. It was just past six thirty when Kurt arrived, too early for their usual time but he was happy to wait for Blaine, just to know he was okay. Kurt began to pace the perimeter of the park, schooling his temper, whilst he waited for Blaine to text him to say he'd left his house and he'd be there soon, as usual.

Twenty past nine.

Blaine hadn't shown at all.

Kurt was really starting to worry, he had calling Blaine repeatedly only to get the same message every time. He wasn't answering; his phone went right to voice-mail.

"Tina, hi, it's Cooper."

Tina hesitated for a moment before answering, unsure of why Blaine's older brother was calling her. "Hi Cooper, what's up?"

"I just needed to ask…" He paused before starting again with a sigh. "Blaine hasn't come home from school. Have you seen him?"

The teen took a deep breath of her own before answering. "No, I haven't seen him today."

Cooper wasn't convinced that Tina was telling him the truth, something in the girls voice told him that not everything was above board here. Tina knew something, either Blaine was with her or she knew where Blaine was. "If you do see him, send him home. Please."

"Yeah, of course."

Tina hung up the phone, completely confused, Blaine had called her earlier and left a voicemail saying that he felt home sick and that he would call Tina later but now Cooper was saying that Blaine hadn't been home at all.

Something wasn't right.

The lights were still on and from Kurt's spot from across the street he could just make out one shadow moving around the living room. The television was on, the lights flickering and reflecting against the window behind the sheet curtains, and there was no sign of anyone aside from Cooper being home.

Blaine's room was dark. No lights, no music, no sign of life at all.

Feeling very much like a dirty old man, Kurt circled around the house as quietly as he could manage and eyed up a tree growing up next to Blaine's window. He surveyed the branches and plotted his route up the tree, silently thanking his dad for forcing him to play with the boy across the street that climbed everything in sight and causing Kurt to have to save him more than once. He scanned the neighbourhood for any prying eyes before grabbing the lowest branch and swinging himself up into the tree. Once he had made his way up the tree, Blaine's window opened easily and without any noise – he really needed to talk to his boyfriend about security.

The room seemed, at first glance, to be completely undisturbed but as Kurt looked closer the more his chest felt constricted. There was something gone, something missing. Carefully he crossed the floor and opened one of the dresser drawers. He chuckled to himself after feeling like a giant perv outside the first drawer he opened was his underage boyfriend's underwear. His expression soon changed when he realised the drawer was half empty, quickly checking the next drawer he found that to be the case again. Kurt span around, looking for more evidence of the suspicion that was swirling in his mind.

He wouldn't…

Heading over to his bed, Kurt looked under pillows and behind the headboard for the t-shirt Blaine said he wore to sleep every night. It was nowhere to be found.

Blaine was gone.

Kurt panicked, grabbed the closest thing to him, and quickly turned around and headed back out of the window before Cooper heard him moving around.

Kurt walked home through their park, hoping that he would find some evidence that Blaine had been there, but there was still no sign of him. Their usual spot was quiet and he didn't think that Blaine would be hiding in the shadows somewhere. He knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep until he heard from him.

Once more he unlocked his phone, tapping away to see if a voice mail had been left since he last checked.

Nothing.

Any chance Kurt had of controlling his temper was long gone, if he saw either Cooper or Sue anytime soon he wouldn't be responsible for anything he did. He was worried about Blaine, nothing else mattered.

Altering his path to take the long way home, Kurt started looking for his Blaine.

Blaine was cold and tired but, strangely enough, not hungry at all. His stomach was curled up into tight knots and he just couldn't make the pain go away. There was an ache, fortunately it was dull, like he had run too long or walked too far and he couldn't shake the fog surrounding his mind.

His eyes were blurred from his prolonged tears and he curled around his worn teddy bear, huddled into the big cement drum in the playground. It was marginally warmer than outside and at least he was blocked from the wind that was blowing. He didn't want to see anyone, or being around anyone, he didn't want the false sympathy or angry words tossed his way. He wrapped his arms tighter around his bear and wiped his tears on Kurt's t-shirt.

Burying his nose into the soft cotton, Blaine sniffled, searching for his scent. Oh, Kurt…

Fresh tears soaked into the material and Blaine rocked back and forth, trying to comfort himself.

Please be safe, please be safe, please let him be safe.

Blaine repeated his mantra long into the night, never letting go of Kurt's t-shirt.

It was long past midnight when Kurt finally had to give up for the night. In fact it was almost two thirty in the morning when he realised he needed to get home. He'd searched everywhere he could think of, just hoping for some sign Blaine had been there, but it was to no avail.

He called Blaine's phone almost every half an hour hoping he would answer, just once, but every time it went to voicemail.

Kurt trudged through his front door, two dogs trailing behind him, completely dejected. He had no idea where else Blaine could be. He'd gone past his house more than once in the hope he would see two figures, not just one. His only hope was that maybe Blaine had gone to stay with Tina or Sam but he had no idea where the two teens lived. He knew it was an abuse of his power but he had to know for sure. He loaded up the information database on his laptop after using the IP address of his school computer to download the files kept there. After a quick surge he grabbed his car keys again and headed out one more time.

It was three ten in the morning when he passed the Cohen-Chang's house and, as he figured, all their lights were out. The lights were on at Sam's house and he could hear the television as well so Kurt decided to park his car and take a look around. There was a man asleep in a recliner chair in the front room, a stack of papers next to him and Kurt could only assume it was Sam's father. No-one else was awake although there was a light on in the basement. Kurt knelt down to get a closer look and saw Sam sleeping on a fold out couch, no-one else to be seen.

So Blaine wasn't there either.

He was at a loss. He had no idea where else Blaine could be. God, sweetheart. Where are you?

He begged whoever was listening just to make sure Blaine was safe and to bring him, and the Baby, home in one piece.