A/N: Me again! Thankyou so much for the messages and reviews for this little story. I'm am amazed that so many people are finding it all as fascinating as I am.
I'll let you al in on a little secret (some of my regular coresponders know this already) - I am writing this story because ... I genuinely want to find out what happens next.
I'm serious - I am pretty sure my Plot Bunny (aka my subconscious) knows where it is all going, but i only find out for sure when I am editing what I've written.
Still, at least my madness doesn't seem to harm anyone, so I shall enjoy being mad.
This chapter was an interesting read. Three very different and distinct voices, but I'm beginning to see a pattern. (or possibly I just need to eat less cheese?)
All I know is, just when I think I've worked out who is who and where the secrets are pointing, I discover I'm totally wrong and it was all a red herring all along. (For the longest time I was sure that... oops, spoilers!) (Thankyou Dr River Song, I love you too)
DISCLAIMER: I am not attemting to infringe anyone's intellectual property. I'd love to impinge on the hot property that is Darren Criss, but that's just me being old and pervy. (I'm still faithful to you Mr Adler, don't worry)
.
.
.
.
"...they just don't know yet Finn! I'm just glad I was here when they came in. Carole is a total wreck. Kurt is somewhere in the building, I haven't had time to go look for him yet, and anyway, I don't want to leave Carole. Just get here as fast as you can, but no speeding. The last thing any of us needs is for you to wrap yourself around a tree. You know Kurt would kill you if you killed yourself, and much as I would find solace in writing what would undoubtedly be a Grammy award winning ballad about my loss and heartbreak, I'd really rather have to alive to annoy me, ok?"
Rachel Berry smiled sadly as Finn hung up and she turned to where a pale faced Carole sat clutching herself as she sat in the cold plastic chair.
"Finn is on the way, "Rachel gently touched Carole's hands as she sat beside her, "It's going to be ok Carole, Burt is a strong man and with the changes Kurt has been making in his diet in the last year, he's a lot healthier than he was. I'm sure he'll be back under your feet in no time at all."
Carole held Rachel's hand just a little tighter than was strictly comfortable, but the lines around her eyes did ease a little.
"Has... has anyone told Kurt yet?" Carole whispered jerkily, "I think... I should be the one to tell him. I should go find him. He... he said he was going to visit David today, so I need to... I can't... I can't let him find out from someone who doesn't know him or... Oh God, what if one of his friends calls hm. He mustn't hear it by phone. I have to..."
She bit her lips in an attempt to stop the flow of tears.
Rachel's huge dark eyes were also shining with tears, but she forced a cheerful expression onto her face.
"Carole, you sit tight, I'll go look for him. I won't say anything, I'll go find Kurt and just bring him here ok?"
Rachel forced away her worry at leaving Carole alone.
If only someone else they knew would walk through the door, she prayed.
.
Rachel stood and touched Carole's arm lightly once as she left. Her attention was still on the lonely figure sitting outside the emergency room, which was why she didn't see the person she ran into. Rachel felt herself falling to the floor, only to be caught by a pair of strong, bony arms.
"Careful Barbra, I don't think the doctors need more patients to look after. The incompetent fools are struggling enough with their workload as it is."
Rachel looked up into the cold blue eyes of Sue Sylvester.
"So, my little Semitic Streisand, what life or death emergency has impinged on your monumental ego sufficient that you can't seem to take even the most basic care as you run around the corridors of this fine palace of tax-payer funded mollycoddling on those tiny little hobbit legs of yours?"
Rachel paled a little. Sue Sylvester was a scary woman.
"I need to find Kurt."
"Porcelain? What's wrong? Is he alright? Has anything happened to him?"
Sue actually sounded... concerned.
"It's..." Rachel felt her tears rising again, "It's... his Dad just got brought in. His heart again. Carole is all alone in there waiting for the doctors and I need to find... We can't let Kurt find out when he's alone. I'm going to go get him and bring him here so Carole..."
The young diva turned to look at Carole who sat hunched over. She was crying again. Rachel was torn.
"Porcelain and his little troll doll boy-toy will be up on the sixth floor. Bubba the Hut is scheduled for Physiotherapy in the room up there. You go get him and you bring him back here now."
Rachel stood unmoving as she watched Carole clutch her hands around herself and weep.
"GO!" Sue hissed at her, "I'll look after Porcelain's step-mom, ok?"
Rachel began to move slowly as Sue Sylvester walked into the waiting room and sat beside Carole. She watched Carole look up in surprise. Rachel felt just as surprised when she saw Coach Sylvester reach into her pocket and offer Carole a large red hanky. Her shock was complete when she saw the coach reach out and pull Carole to her chest, wrapping her long track-suit clad arms around the crying woman and looking into space with a face of such... kindness.
Rachel caught the glare Sue shot towards her and she turned to run to the elevators.
.
.
The ride up to the sixth floor seemed to take forever.
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as the doors finally pinged open and she stepped out into the corridor.
Children's Ward? Private Rooms?
Wait, this was the fifth floor, damn it!
She turned to try to catch the departing elevator.
It all happened so fast.
She heard the screams of staff and patients, and a sound like fireworks, or perhaps a car backfiring?
Several cars.
She saw a man in orange overalls.
He was shouting and waving something, but he was at the other end of the corridor and it was too far to see...
She heard the cars again.
Something hot burned her arm, her hip and her leg, lines of fire, but strangely...cold.
Rachel was wondering what it all meant as the world began to go black and she found herself lying on the floor.
She watched through foggy eyes as the man ran into the room he stood beside as people scrambled for places to hide and a nurse tried to help the injured.
She heard another bust of...gunfire.
I've been shot, she thought, and now he's shooting more... no wait, something is wrong, that burst sounded shorter than the others.
She heard the man scream again from inside the room.
She heard something else scream.
No, it was a roar, like a hundred lions roaring at once, or... or...
Rachel was at a loss, she'd never heard anything like this, ever.
She heard the roar and then another scream from the man with the gun, this one cut off just like the burst of gunfire had been cut off.
She heard wind, like a small tornado somewhere nearby, and it was getting cold, so very cold.
.
Am I dying? She wondered.
She listened to the wind, and the muffled crying from the other people in the corridor.
I don't want to die, she thought, I have so many things still to do.
She thought of her Broadway dreams...
of her fathers...
of her mother...
She thought about her first Grammy, her Tony, her...
She thought about her friends.
She thought about Kurt, the Glinda to her Elphaba.
No, she thought, Elphaba lived!
She thought about Finn...
She thought about dying.
She thought she heard... angels? Angels singing?
Sparks!
Silver sparks were falling all around her, filling the air, touching everyone in the corridor.
The sparks fell from above the ceiling, and through her body and through the floor to the rooms below her.
The sparks touched her leg and her arm and her...She was healed?
She was healed!
Rachel sat up. All around her people looked at each other in amazement and confusion.
A man with four huge bullet holes in his shirt stood marvelling at the unbroken skin beneath the bloody cloth.
Rachel checked her own body.
Blood, bullet holes, her kitten sweater was ruined, but only her clothes were damaged. She felt fine. She felt better than fine!
A small child walked slowly from the door leading to the children's ward, an IV unit trailing behind her. Her elfin features were exaggerated by her lack of hair and the paleness of her skin.
"Mommy? "She called out to one of the women sitting in the corridor, "Mommy? It stopped! It stopped hurting. My bones stopped hurting and the ouchies have gone!"
.
Rachel stood and began to help those people who were still in shock as the staff and the police began to try to restore order. (And tried to figure out what the hell had happened)
She had to work fast though, she still had to get up to the physical therapy room and fetch Kurt.
He would never believe what had just happened.
Rachel smiled to herself.
.
Kurt didn't believe in magic, or miracles.
.
.
.
.
.
Burt Hummel knew he was dying.
.
He floated in darkness.
No, there were stars.
He floated in starlight.
He heard singing, he heard... his son... his SON!
Kurt!
He heard Carole's gentle voice, she was sobbing...
He heard Finn, asking questions...
.
Why?
Where?
What will we do now?
.
He heard...
He heard...
Elizabeth?
He could hear Elizabeth.
She was singing too.
She was calling to him.
It's true then, he was dying.
.
Burt felt terrible pain then.
His family needed him.
His son needed him.
KURT!
.
But Lizzie's voice was so familiar, so gentle...
And Kurt had Carole now, and Finn and...
...Kurt had Blaine.
Burt didn't want to die.
Even the voice he had loved, and lost and missed for almost his entire life couldn't calm him.
.
.
Kurt did need him still...
...but Blaine can look after him now.
Blaine is still just a kid too...
...but he understands Kurt in a way no one else can.
Kurt needs his father...
...but you've raised him to be strong.
He'll miss me...
...but he will heal in time.
I'll miss him...
.
Burt felt himself drifting into the stars.
NO.
He reached out, even though he had no limbs with which to reach.
He called out, even though he had no voice.
He refused to go.
There was pain.
Burt welcomed the pain.
Pain meant he had a body.
Pain meant he was alive.
Pain meant he had a chance.
Burt didn't want to die.
The pain grew, he could feel... cold... cold on his chest... his shirt was...
.
JESUS FREAKING CHRIST!
What the hell was...?
"...charging to two hundred...clear!"
The linebacker hit him in the ribs again.
...beep
Oh, Burt Hummel thought, I'm in a TV show.
He'd always hated those medical dramas, he preferred sports any day...or Monster Catch...or...
"...pulse is stabilising, I've got...beep... over fifty five, give him another four c... beep... what the hell is that? Sparks? Where is that coming from?"
.
.
Burt watched the stars he was floating amongst begin to burn and fall.
"Burt?"
He was falling too, but someone held him as he fell.
He could hear rushing wind and the sound of feathered wings and...
Elizabeth?
He fell slowly, and as he fell he turned and saw her eyes, her face...
.
She hadn't changed... she hadn't aged... she hadn't died...
Yes she had, she was dead and so was he.
.
Elizabeth Hummel smiled the way she always did when he'd done something particularly stupid or silly.
"I died Burt, "she said smiling, "I only had one chance to live, one chance do it properly and I had to take it. I'm sorry I had to leave you alone so soon, but I had to die when I did, or I couldn't have..."
She smiled, a secret smile this time.
"You have so much more to do my love. You have so much to live for. I'm so glad you found love again. It's all I ever wanted. That those I love could find happiness."
Burt felt pain, and tears, and ...love.
"Carole loves you now. Be her prince like you were mine. Promise me?"
.
Burt nodded, unable to speak.
He fell faster now.
"It's time for me to pass now, for the first time, at last, for good, but you have to tell Kurt something. Tell my baby I love him. I'm so happy he's found Blaine. Blaine and Kurt will be forever Burt. You can't understand that I know, but tell him. Tell them both, they'll understand. Tell them to ask the Queen if they don't."
Burt was confused, but nodded again.
"Tell them the Dragon and the Cat are wrong. The Queen will find them. The Queen will find herself. The Queen will come when her time... Tell them to trust to love and it will all turnout..."
Elizabeth was moving away from him, even though he could still feel her embrace. Her voice was harder to hear.
"Tell him...love him...think about...so many children but...tell...my only true...freedom...legacy...Burt...love you."
He felt her lips on his, and the sound of wings grew stronger.
.
He fell in a column of silver sparks.
Pain.
No pain.
No pain at all.
...beep...
.
Burt Hummel knew he was alive.
.
.
.
.
.
Dave Karofsky had never heard of The Doctor, Gallifrey or Time Lords.
.
Jeff had grinned like a loon as he, Kurt and Blaine had educated him.
Dave still didn't understand a thing.
"...so Blaine is going to be able to travel through space and time, in a blue box that's bigger on the inside than the outside, and is really a space ship, I mean a space and time ship, but is really alive and he can't die and is going to live forever, but it won't be him, it will be a completely different body and personality each time. Correct?"
"Yes, "Jeff said.
"No." Blaine was frowning a little.
Kurt said nothing, but his eyes seemed sad for some reason.
Jeff looked at Blaine.
"But that's a fantastic description." Jeff protested.
"Yes, of The Doctor, "Blaine said reasonably, "I'm not a fictional character. I'm me, and I'm not sure I really understand everything, but I don't think that's how it's all going to work. I can't see a big blue box popping up in the corner of the room any time soon, can you? I suspect this all stems from my rather generally worded wish to be a superhero. How did you describe it Grandpa?"
"A loosely worded Google search and hitting 'I feel lucky' several million times."
Blaine nodded at the old man in gratitude.
.
"I think, "He added, "That because I had a mental picture of Doctor Who in my mind as I said the wish, I may have developed those 'super' qualities I see in The Doctor, but not everything."
"The same way you have Spiderman's super strength and reflexes, but can't shoot webs from your wrists?" Kurt asked.
"Exactly!"
"So what can you do then?" Dave asked simply.
"I've got the Doctor's mental agility, I'm using it now. It's the only reason I can work this out in the first place."
"Convenient, "muttered Jeff.
Blaine grinned and nodded.
"I think I've combined the Time Lord sense of place and time with good old tingly Spidey Senses too. It's like, predicting the future, but not."
"I knew you were going to say that! "
Jeff grinned as he and Kurt said the line at the same time.
Dave just rolled his eyes.
"Oh kill me now, spare me from the attack of the killer nerds."
Jeff leaned his head back to glare into Dave's eyes.
Dave took the opportunity to steal a quick peck, blushing like a fire engine when his brain caught up to what his lips had just done.
Jeff smiled at his embarrassment and sighed contentedly as he lay against the larger boy's muscular torso.
.
"I can feel my hearts beating, "Blaine said quietly, "It's really weird, but it already feels... right."
Pang nodded from his seat beside the bed.
"I think I might have a... a version of Time Lord physiology now. I get the feeling I'm a lot more resistant to things like heat and cold... radiation... I don't know how regeneration might work but..."
"Hopefully you'll have Romana's ability, not be a klutz like the Doctor." Jeff was a serious Doctor Who nerd. "She could choose her appearance before the regeneration stabilised."
"Blaine has the will of a Dragon don't forget, "Pang added, "He will not change unless he wishes to change."
Kurt still didn't seem right.
.
"Hey Blaine, stop talking for a second and see how long you can hold your breath!" Jeff was on a roll here.
Blaine raised his eyebrows and complied.
Thirty seconds.
The conversation continued around him.
"What about Dave?" Jeff asked. "How the hell...hmm, poor choice of words, how did he become a freaking angel? What sort of powers does he get now? I mean, we all saw him heal you Kurt, so we know he can do that."
One minute.
"Well, he can obviously heal himself of almost any injury as well." Kurt offered. "He got shot too remember."
"Sorry to disagree, "Grandpa Pang didn't look sorry at all, "but David did not heal himself, nor did he heal you Kurt."
"We saw it. " Jeff was adamant.
Two minutes.
"No, "Dave seemed unsure but he continued as if trying to verbalise some deep inner feeling. "I didn't heal Kurt's injuries, I took them."
"Isn't that the same thing? " Jeff asked, "You took his injuries and then you healed yourself, same thing in the end."
"No, you healed him Jeff." Kurt was nodding now, "He took the injuries to himself but it was you who healed him."
"What?" Jeff was shocked, "How... what makes you think that Kurt?"
Kurt smiled slightly.
"Everyone was looking at me and Dave, weren't they? Well I was looking around trying to find Blaine, and as my gaze went past you, I remember thinking 'why are Jeff's eyes glowing like that?'. It was pretty freaky to see, but incredibly beautiful too."
Three minutes.
"Your eyes were glowing when the rings came to you also." Pang smiled at the memory.
Kurt turned to the disguised Dragon.
"Grandpa Pang, why don't Dave and Jeff need to make wishes to get their powers? And what does it mean that they didn't get any coins? I mean, I understand they are new at their relationship, but I can already see that they are meant to be together as much as Blaine and I are."
Four minutes.
Blaine was getting bored now.
"Maybe the magic spilled out in other ways? "He said, taking a breath at last, even though he hadn't felt like he needed one at all.
"Respiratory Bypass, check!"
Jeff's inner nerd was high-fiving his inner geek.
.
"There were an awful lot of sparks, "Kurt agreed, "They had to have some effect."
"What do you think Grandpa?" Blaine turned to his grandfather as he asked.
"I think that we need to find the answer to that soon."
Dave was frowning.
"What's going to happen when the doctors find out I've been healed almost to perfect health? Or that I've got gigantic freaking wings? They're going to strap me to a gurney and dissect me aren't they? Or the military or the government will kidnap me and never let me go."
"You could always just fly away." Jeff offered.
"I couldn't leave you to face them."
Jeff smiled broadly as he stood up and wrapped Dave up in a hug.
"I'd never let you leave either... Big Bird."
.
"Oh joy, "Kurt drawled, "They've reached the 'cute pet names' stage already, thank the late Saint Alexander McQueen we're in a hospital room and there are a plethora of places to barf."
Jeff pretended outrage at the barbed comment, when suddenly he stopped and looked at Kurt more closely.
"Kurt..." Jeff began, "What are you hiding?"
Jeff's eyes were glowing ever so slightly.
Everyone looked from him to Kurt and back again.
Blaine concentrated on the feeling he was receiving through his ring.
"I'm not... I'm fine." Kurt stammered.
"No, you're not." Blaine could feel it now, "Something is gnawing away at you Kurt, I can feel it too now."
"I'm Deanna Troi! Doctor Who, Spider Man, Monkey and Next Gen? This is so cool!" Jeff's inner nerd was in heaven.
.
Kurt was silent for a long time before speaking. The others sat patiently and waited for him.
"It's just... I know that Godmothers have very long lives, but they are mortal. Blaine isn't any more, is he Grandpa Pang? Forget the whole Time Lord thing, Blaine is a Dragon. You keep muttering on about being forty thousand years old. That's not poetic license is it? Blaine is going to live forever, but I'm not. I just... I don't know how to deal with that, ok?"
Blaine held Kurt tightly to his chest and let him sob. Kurt could feel the strange double beat of Blaine's new hearts soothing him.
.
"The Doctor had to deal with that on the show, "Jeff spoke quietly. "When he got tired of his memories, or it all got too much for him, he'd regenerate. I used to think it was cool, but I guess...it sucks a bit doesn't it?"
"It was learning about that show that made me remember my old friend the Phoenix, "Pang said quietly, "It suffered the same as the Doctor does in your stories. Always going on, never being able to rest, or love. Never having another of its kind. Never having a family. It is one of the reasons we became such good friends. I was one of the few who didn't change or fade or die. "
Pang sighed sadly.
"Then one day, it was gone. I spoke to it before it left. It said it was tired of the never ending cycle. It was fading. Not from lack of Faerie, but within its own heart. It told me it was planning to throw its soul to the winds like the others had, and hope for a rebirth as a human. I knew I might never see it again. Mabd was never found. Other Fae weren't reborn for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. And even when they were reborn, they didn't always remember who, what they had been. The one you know as Lord Tubbington, he always remembers, but even he made his wish to stay limited, in cat form. I think the loss of the Queens got to him in the end. Especially Titania, she was always the one he was closest to."
The boys were silent as they saw the sadness in every cell of the old man's body.
"I understand the Phoenix now. I lost my wife, but at least I had children and grandchildren to remind me of her. It had no one. Its child was only ever born from its own death. It remained alone. One day, I know I will see a child or a man or a woman who will remind me of the Phoenix. Perhaps he, or she, will remember me too? "
.
.
Pang shook his mood off like a dog shaking itself after a swim.
"Now Kurt, "He admonished, "Do not dwell on what seems to be a bleak future. If you will not take comfort from words of hope, perhaps a dark reminder will help? I am not immortal. I am ageless, and undying, but I can be killed. I will not die from disease or age or poison, and few are the weapons of man that might endanger me, but I can die. Why dwell on the fact that Blaine might have a lifespan that exceeds yours. He might get run over by a bus tomorrow, leaving you to grieve."
Kurt laughed sardonically at the strange comfort being offered.
.
"A bus couldn't hurt the Doctor, he'd need to get blown up by a volcano." Jeff was enjoying this far too much Kurt thought.
"Or a Nuclear bomb. "Dave offered, seeing Kurt trying to stifle a grin at the dark humour.
"If anything is going to kill Blaine, it will be suffocation by hair gel." Kurt finally giggled, his bleak mood alleviated if not entirely broken.
"Do I make fun of you Mr Hummel? You who spends ten times the amount of money and twenty times the amount of time I do fussing with hair? No, I attempt to rise above it."
"I use high quality products Blaine, and I know what I'm doing. You use just grab the largest bottle you can find in the store and pour it on and hope for the best."
"I thought you loved my matinee idol good looks?"
"I do, but if you'd let me teach you the right way to do it, you'd look like Cary Grant and fewer fish and birds would have their habitat destroyed by the factories devoted to supplying you with product!"
.
Jeff whispered in Dave's ear.
"Please kill me if we ever get to the 'adorable petty argument' phase of our relationship and we do it in public."
Dave pretended to ignore Jeff.
"What's wrong Dave?" Jeff asked quietly as Kurt and Blaine moved from bickering to general teasing and tickling.
"I haven't decided whether I want to forgive you for that Big Bird crack earlier."
Jeff put his arms around Dave's shoulders and pouted, his lips less than an inch from Dave's.
"Oh Davey, don't be mean. I love my Big Bird. Don't turn into Oscar the Grouch."
.
Dave's killer smile finally made an appearance and he surprised both of them by stealing another quick kiss.
He leaned back from the contact and smirked at Jeff.
"You do know I will fight back in kind? And although I may be ignorant of British Sci-fi series, I have an extensive knowledge of Sesame Street going back over many, many years."
Jeff paled and tried not to grin.
"You wouldn't dare."
.
Dave grinned an evil grin and his eyes twinkled.
"Yes I would... my widdle Snuffleupagus!"