Chapter Twenty Three

When Kurt had collapsed, Blaine had insisted they get him to the ER immediately, talking Wes' ear off about all the charges he wanted brought against Sebastian. "Make sure you add physical assault to those charges, and intent to cause bodily harm."

Wes just nodded. "I know what to do, Blaine. You just get in that ambulance and get to the hospital with Kurt. I'll take care of everything on this end, and make sure the ambulance attendants and paramedics sign the NDAs. Call me as soon as Kurt wakes up."

Blaine nodded, and hugged his old friend. "Thanks, Wes. For everything."

Wes patted him on the back and shoved him towards the ambulance.

The hospital was fairly close, and it only took a few minutes to arrive. Once there, he was bombarded with questions from the charge nurse as another nurse and an intern began examining Kurt.

"Are you family?" the nurse asked.

Blaine didn't hesitate before answering. "Yes. Is he going to be okay?"

"We don't know yet. Do you know his blood type?"

"O positive," he said.

"Is he on any medications?"

"He takes Ambien occasionally, but that's all."

He really didn't pay much attention to the rest of her questions, answering on autopilot as he watched them take a blood sample before inserting an IV into Kurt's arm. "What's that for?"

The intern glanced up at him, an expression of surprise on his face as he recognized the world famous magician. "It's mostly precautionary, in case we need to give him medications, but he's also a little dehydrated."

Blaine nodded in understanding. The past week had been very stressful for Kurt. He probably had been too distracted to drink much those three days in Phoenix when he refused to leave Raja's side.

"Do you know why he lost consciousness? We noticed the cut, but he said he was fine and then...he just passed out."

The intern shrugged. "There could be many reasons. Stress, emotional overload, adrenaline crash. We'll know more when we get his lab work back and the doctor has a chance to examine him."

Blaine was really worried, but he tried his best not to show it. Everything had been going so well that night. "It's his birthday…" he whispered, somewhat subconsciously.

"I know," the second nurse said. "I was at the show tonight. I just came on shift a few minutes before you came in. That was an incredible show, by the way. Try to relax. Kurt will be just fine. The doctor will be in in just a few minutes to check on him."

Blaine felt his face go a little pale. If this nurse had been at the show, she would know he lied about being family. "Right, thank you."

She smiled at him, and guided him to a chair. "I know you aren't really family, but you and your cast are as close to one as you can get. So sit here, and breathe. Everything is going to be okay."

The doctor arrived a moment later. He was an older man, probably close to retirement, with wispy grey hair. He glanced at Blaine briefly first, and then bent to examine Kurt. Kurt began to stir when the doctor lifted his eyelid to check his pupils.

"Wha...where am I? What happened?" he asked, groggily.

"Oh, well, hello there young man. You're in the hospital right now. It seems you kind of just gave out on yourself. I'm guessing it hasn't been the easiest week for you?"

Kurt blinked up at him, not sure how to respond. "Where's Blaine?"

Blaine looked up from the chair he was sitting in. "I'm right here, lo-Kurt."

The doctor glanced over at him again, fully aware of the almost slip up. "I think you're going to be just fine," The doctor said. "I'm going to put a few stitches in that cut on your throat, and we'll probably keep you here overnight for observation, pending your lab results. You just relax for a bit, okay?" The older man then looked over at Blaine again. "My husband and I have tickets for your after hours show on Friday. We're really looking forward to it." He winked at the magician, before turning to consult with the intern and nurse for a moment.

…

Blaine shifted in the chair beside Kurt's bed. They'd been given a private room on the sixth floor, and security had been posted both at their door and at the elevators down the hall. The doctor had given Kurt three stitches, and then ordered glucose and potassium to be added to his IV after getting the lab results back, and a mild sedative to help Kurt sleep.

Blaine had briefly dozed off in the chair, but had woken up when a nurse had stopped in to check Kurt's IV. He'd talked to Wes a while ago. Sebastian was being held on a seventy two hour suicide watch, and undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. His lawyer was already talking about getting him off with an insanity plea.

That news did not make Blaine happy. He needed Sebastian to pay for what he'd done to Kurt. he needed him put away, behind bars, not in some insane asylum where they could explain away outbursts and fed you jello all day.

Wes was angry as well. To add to the bad news, Adam was apparently out on bail, pending a hearing on his immigration status. He was under court order to stay away from Kurt, Blaine, and anyone associated with the show, but they'd received word that the Britishman had been talking to a reporter.

Blaine was worried that after everything, all the bad guys would win and they...they would have bad karma thrown in their faces and everything would go downhill. He didn't want to tell Kurt any of this, but he knew that he couldn't keep it from him either.

There was a light tapping on the door, and Quinn stuck her head inside. "Feel up for some company?" she asked.

"Only if you bring good news," Blaine sighed. "Sebastian can't get off, Quinn! It's not fair! And Adam is probably out there right now trying to ruin my career! Why do the bad guys win?"

She sighed and curled up beside him in the chair. "They haven't won yet. We won't let them. As for Sebastian, it will be really hard for them to prove an insanity plea, considering the things he went through to pull off his plan."

Blaine let out a little sigh. "What about Adam? They say he's already been talking to a reporter. You know he'll probably bring up you and Beth." Kurt had tried to warn him about that before, but Blaine, ever the optimist, had wanted to believe Adam was safely locked away.

"If we have to publicly have you take a paternity test to prove you aren't Beth's father, we will. But that man will not get away with what he's saying. Wes is putting out a statement to tell the public we have evidence that he was the one sabotaging the show. With that information, the public will be quicker to discredit any claims Adam makes against you or the rest of us."

He hugged her tighter. "Thanks for being my best friend. For as long as I can remember, you've always been by my side, knowing just what to say or do to make me feel better. You know, if I was straight, you and I might have made a great couple?"

She smiled at him. "Well, they do say friends first is the foolproof formula for relationship success," she said with a wink. "Speaking of relationships," she went on, glancing at the sleeping man in the bed. "Did you find the one yet?"

Blaine shook his head. "I couldn't find one worthy of him, but there is this place in San Francisco that will make customized ones. I was going to check them out next week."

"Did you want me to go with you?" she asked.

"Would you?" Blaine said, sounding nervous.

She hugged him gently. "Of course I would. When you told me you wanted to do this, I told you I would be there for whatever you needed, every step of the way."

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"All the time, but it's always nice to hear," she replied, smiling at him. "I love you too, Blaine."

"Are you trying to steal my man?" Kurt said, voice slurred with sleep.

Quinn just laughed and stood from the chair. "And that's my cue to go. Just remember, Blaine, keep your head up, okay? Feel better, Kurt. We'll see you home soon, I hope."

Kurt smiled up at her. "Thanks. And for the record, I love you, too."

Blaine got up and leaned over to gently kiss Kurt, smiling down at him. "How are you feeling love?"

Kurt sighed, and shifted a little on the bed. "Tired. Relieved. A little embarrassed."

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about, babe." He reached out a hand and brushed his hair off his forehead. "This week was just full of stress and turmoil for all of us. Hell, the last few weeks have been. I'm just really happy it wasn't worse. You really scared me, Kurt."

"I'm sorry. I never meant to scare you. I just knew Sebastian wouldn't give up, and I really didn't want some trigger happy cop shooting me by accident when Sebastian twitched just wrong."

"I love you, I need you to remember that because you're not going to like what I have to tell you."

Kurt frowned. "Did Sebastian escape?"

Blaine sighed. "No," he said. "They have him under seventy-two hour suicide watch. His lawyer is talking about pushing insanity."

Kurt's frown deepened. "You mean the bastard might get away with mentally torturing me for weeks?"

"Unfortunately. Quinn doesn't think it will hold though. Not with all the preparation he put into that attack."

Kurt groaned and let his head fall back on the pillow. "This sucks. It's worse than that idiot Figgins in high school turning a blind eye to the bullying."

Blaine sighed again. "As if that isn't bad enough. Adam was released on bail and there's word he's been talking to a reporter."

Kurt sat up again. "Shit. What did Quinn say about that? You know he'll go after her and Beth again."

"She said that if we have to prove I'm not the father, we will, but that Wes is issuing a statement that we have proof Adam was behind the sabotage. With any luck, that information will discredit anything he says to the public."

Kurt groaned again. "You know there will be people who will believe him. And then when we go public with our relationship, people will think you are just using it as a cover to hide the fact that you are Beth's dad."

Blaine was quiet for a moment. He hated that they'd been put in this situation. "Then we might have to go public with our relationship first."

"When? If Adam has already talked to a reporter, who knows when they might publish something?"

The curly haired man fought back tears. This was not the way he would have chosen to reveal to the world who the love of his life was. But it felt as though Adam was forcing them to tell the world before they felt the moment was right. "Then I guess we have no choice. I'll call Wes and have him set up an immediate emergency press conference."

Before he could do anything, the door to the hospital room opened, and the man in question stepped inside. "That won't be necessary," Wes said, having heard their conversation.

Blaine turned and stared at him in surprise. "Please tell me you have good news for once."

"I have good news. The reporter Adam spoke with contacted me just a little while ago. Thankfully they have some integrity, and wanted to hear both sides of the story before they went public. I gave them all the information on Beth's father, and told them you are willing to take a paternity test. They decided not to publish the story."

Blaine and Kurt both gawked at him. "Are you serious?" Kurt asked. "You're absolutely sure they won't publish the story?"

"I made them sign a contract stating that if they publish the story, we can take them to court for libel. They know that if we prove the allegations to be false, we can take every penny to their name."

"Well, at least that's one piece of good news," Blaine said, slumping back into his chair. "Fuck."

"I have more news. Not sure if it's good or bad, though."

Kurt had turned and gawked at Blaine when he'd let out the expletive, but jerked his head back in Wes' direction. "Okay?" he said carefully.

"Beiste's contact at immigration sent us the information on why Adam's visa renewal was denied in the first place. Turns out he got drunk and exposed himself to an underage boy. It wasn't classified as a sexual crime because he didn't know the boy was there when he dropped his pants, but it was still a red flag."

Kurt looked disgusted. "Why the hell was he dropping his pants wherever he was anyway?"

"Apparently he had to relieve himself. He just chose the wrong place to do so."

"Isn't public urination a crime?" Blaine asked.

"A misdemeanor. It would have been placed on his record, but it wouldn't have triggered the department when they reviewed it for his renewal."

"I am so glad that man's intimate parts got nowhere near me," Kurt deadpanned.

Wes looked a little hesitant to say what else he'd learned, but eventually he spit it out. "Adam was hoping to win you over so you'd marry him so he could get a permanent residency card."

Kurt sighed in frustration. "Maybe I should have filed sexual harassment against him. I know I said I could handle it because he never touched me, at least not until the other night when Raja slapped his hand away from me. I just didn't think the courts would take it seriously this time any more than they did the last time."

Wes was quiet for a moment. "Why didn't you bring this up to me, Kurt? I do have a law degree too, you know. And you've got a ton of witnesses who would have supported your claim. A judge could get in a lot of trouble for dismissing a claim with lots of backup without even giving it a fair trial."

"You mean like the judge in Ohio who basically said I was just being bitchy and to suck it up? I had witnesses then, too. Elliott even volunteered to testify, and Mike. Both of them saw it happen, and the judge thought it was nothing more than one gay guy being mad that another gay guy had the audacity to give him a compliment."

"Okay first, that judge is a fucking idiot," Wes said. "Secondly, Ohio is a stupid state. And lastly, I'd like to see a judge challenge an entire cast and crew full of witnesses. Not to mention, their biggest opponent of all. These days, you have one thing on your side, you didn't then. You know what that is?"

"What?"

"The world's fiercest judges. And they're called fans."

Kurt couldn't help the little laugh that brought out of him. "Okay, fine. Is it too late to file those charges?"

"Never too late, Kurt. I can draw the paperwork up for you by this evening at the latest."

…

Arrests Made In Attack on Magician's Stage Animal, as Well as Behind the Scenes Sabotage

Former Assistant Sebastian Smythe was arrested last night on charges of Animal Cruelty and Reckless Endangerment of an Animal, as well as Assault, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, and making Death Threats after he attacked Blaine Blackwell's other assistant, Kurt Hummel.

Smythe is accused of sending drugged fish to Raja the Tiger, part of Blaine Blackwell's illusions show. The animal received a massive overdose of Ketamine, a powerful sedative, that could have killed the animal. Sources tell our reporter that Smythe attempted to harm the animal out of retaliation for his dismissal from the cast just over a week and a half ago. Smythe claims Hummel was responsible for his firing, after filling Blackwell's head with lies.

Also arrested this week, Adam Crawford, Blackwell's former lead stagehand. Crawford is said to be responsible for various mishaps on the show, including the accident in Dallas that resulted in Kurt Hummel being injured. It is unclear at this moment what his motives for the sabotage are, although there have been claims of some kind of love triangle behind the scenes. Crawford is also being charged with being in the country illegally, as his work visa expired more than a month ago.

While Crawford has been released on bail pending an immigration hearing, Smythe is being kept under a seventy two hour suicide watch. Witnesses claim that Smythe attempted to kidnap Hummel at knife point after Wednesday night's performance. Hummel received minor injuries during the altercation, and was kept overnight for observation at a local hospital.

Blackwell's manager, Wes Montgomery, has scheduled a press conference for later this afternoon, where we hope to receive more details in both cases.

…

The moment he opened the hotel room door, Kurt had an arm full of tiger, as Raja nearly knocked him off his feet. He laughed, and hugged the gentle beast.

Blaine was torn, he knew Kurt was delicate at the moment, and the cat could accidentally hurt him without meaning to, but he didn't want to tell Raja to get down. Kurt needed the reassurance of the animal's presence just as much as the tiger needed to know Kurt was okay.

Kurt sat on the floor, ruffling Raja's fur and laughing as the tiger licked his face. "Okay, okay, boy I missed you too," he said, burying his face in Raja's soft fur. "I love you, sweetie."

"He's been on edge ever since I brought him back here last night," Elliott said, standing from the chair he was sitting in. He looked at Blaine. "Did you guys see the report that came out?"

Blaine nodded. "The nurse showed it to us as we were getting ready to leave the hospital."

Kurt frowned. "What was that BS about a love triangle, anyway?"

Elliott shook his head. "No idea. But it might have something to do with Adam's intentions to marry you. And his strong dislike of your attention to Blaine."

"As if I would ever marry a man like that. And what about Sebastian shouting that I stole his husband?"

Blaine sat down on the floor next to Kurt and wrapped an arm around him as Raja laid with his head in the blue eyed man's lap and Kurt stroked his fur. The magician wrinkled his nose. "Clearly he thought he was worthy of marrying me, even after I made it very clear I was never interested in him romantically."

Kurt let out a frustrated breath and let his head fall back against the wall. "Do you think Sebastian will get off on an insanity plea? He was talking kind of crazy last night."

Elliott was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. All that crazy talk kind of seems thrown in at the last minute. No one truly insane would have been able to orchestrate the meticulous plan he carried out leading up to that attack. But he was very convincing last night from what I heard."

Kurt was frowning again. "I think he was desperate. I don't know what his fixation on Blaine was about, but when he had that knife at my throat, I could feel him shaking so bad, it's a wonder he managed to keep his hold on me and the knife."

Blaine rubbed a hand across his forehead and sighed. "I've come to the conclusion that no matter how many times you say it, Sebastian will not accept no for an answer. He's used to everything going his way and getting what he wants. He didn't care that he wasn't what I wanted."

"Your mom knows his mom, doesn't she? I know his dad kicked him out, but he was still on good terms with her, wasn't he? Didn't she pretty much spoil him rotten his entire life?" Elliott asked.

"Unfortunately," Blaine muttered. "My mom always despised Mrs. Smythe. Even after her husband kicked Sebastian out, she was secretly helping him to stay on top with a bank account Mr. Smythe didn't know about."

Kurt shivered, and Raja shifted closer, bumping his head under Kurt's chin. "Sebastian always acted like he was so superior to everyone else, except Blaine. I wonder if maybe he really was interested in Blaine, or if there was an ulterior motive. Maybe Sebastian's dad found out his wife was supplying him with money, and cut them both off?"

"You think he was trying to marry Blaine for his money?" Elliott said.

Kurt shrugged. "He just seemed so desperate, that's all."

Blaine sighed. "We all know Sebastian considered himself God's gift to men, which let's be fair, he was far from. He's not as attractive as he thinks he is and I actually know a guy who slept with him, and he regrets it. He said Sebastian is terrible in bed. But that's not the point. I think his goal was to have a trophy husband."

Kurt glared at nobody in particular. "As if you would be the trophy anything! You're the forever kind of love, not someone's bling to show off."

Blaine kissed his cheek. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"And I believe that is my cue to leave," Elliott said. "Don't get too distracted, rehearsals in ninety minutes."

Kurt and Blaine watched him go before Blaine helped Kurt up and over to the bed. "Come on Raja. Family cuddle," Blaine said.

Kurt giggled as the large feline jumped up and immediately rolled on his back, all four paws in the air, demanding attention. "You're just a big baby, aren't you?"

Blaine just smiled, reaching out to scratch Raja's belly. "But he's a very well loved baby and this family wouldn't be the same without him."

Kurt smiled and kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you, too, by the way."

…

daisylovesblaine: Wow, I never realized what kind of drama went on behind the stage at a magic show. I'm glad GlaszandPorcelain is okay, and they caught the bastard who hurt Raja!

yadivagirl: I hope the bastard rots in hell for what he did to Raja! Glad Kurt is okay!

RajasRagina: Lord Tubbington is so angry that he used his fish bouquets to harm Raja! Those are very hard to get if you don't know where to find them, and now Lord Tubbington will have to find some other special treat for his friend!

sugarandfeyst: I saw the scuffle with the police from my hotel window last night! That was scary, but GlaszandPorcelain managed to free himself, and I think he broke Sebastard's nose and wrist! Good job, Kurt!

IStanKlaine: Sebastian Smythe, you've just made a powerful enema!

klainetkm: Glad Kurt is okay, and that they caught that monster! And Happy Birthday, Kurt. Sorry I'm a day late!

branches-are-looking-at-me: Is it safe to believe in magic again? No more scary stuff happening to BBlackwell and his cast and a crew?

SmellsLikeAdamLambert: Kurt Hummel is Totally BAMF! He took down that bastard all by himself!

BlaineKurtElliott: Good job kicking a$$, Kurt!

WildeKitty: The show last night was amazing, but it sounds like the after show was even better. Do you think they'd let me in the cell with that bastard for five minutes? I'd scratch his eyes out!

lestersbonnet (Formerly Kina4eva): Glad everyone is okay, and that they caught the creep that tried to hurt Raja and kidnap Kurt!

ItsANewDay (Formerly IShipBlina): Hopefully everything will be back to normal now at Blaine's shows. I can't wait to see him in Vegas. I got my airline ticket today!