A/N: *hides* Explanation/apology at the end, because I don't wanna keep you too long.

They walked for many hours, only stopping to eat once.

Blaine tried to start a conversation. More than once. But it was like Kurt was back to his old self. And not just the old self, who at least saw Blaine as an ally - or possibly something more - but the old Kurt who wouldn't even look at him for more than a few seconds. It was wearing him down. He was paranoid with being in the forest and now he couldn't even talk, so he had to walk around with his thoughts alone.

Night time came again but this time Blaine didn't go to sleep next to Kurt. He stayed up to keep a watch on everything. When dawn was breaking, Kurt emerged from the tent and sat down by the fire; as far away from Blaine as possible.

"Wake me up in a few hours?" Blaine asked. At least Kurt made a tiny movement to indicate he would. Blaine sighed heavily and went into the tent, but he didn't sleep much. He kept twisting and turning, and when sleep finally found him, he had nightmares. Filled with screams and blue eyes and so much pain and blood.

He woke up to Kurt stroking a hand through his hair gently.

Or at least he thought that had happened. But when he fully woke up, Kurt was outside by the fire and he was still alone. Maybe he'd dreamt it.

xxx

Blaine crawled out from the tent and stretched until his back had made a cracking sound. He looked up to see Kurt rewrapping his bandages. Blaine felt a stab of guilt. He should be the one doing that. Or rather, he should've been the one protecting them yesterday, so Kurt wouldn't have been hurt in the first place.

When he saw the brunette struggling to fix it on the back, he quickly batted his hands away and did it for him. It was not an act he thought about first, he just did it. He was careful not to tighten the bandages too much, but still enough so that they wouldn't come lose.

Their second day walking was much like the first. Except Blaine didn't try to initiate a conversation. He kept quiet. Kurt was once again sitting on the horse; trying his best not to let out any groans of pain, judging by the way his jaw was tensed.

Some times during their travel, Kurt would turn to him and open his mouth. Then he would shut it again promptly. It happened every hour, as if there was something on Kurt's mind that he couldn't help but want to share, and yet he didn't. Couldn't, maybe.

That was what bothered Blaine the most. They'd been friends for a while - or at least he thought they'd been - and Kurt seemed to trust him, in his own way. And yet he didn't trust him enough to just open his mouth and press out a few words. Blaine wasn't looking for a whole monolog, but a yes, a no, maybe even a thank you. Just something, so he could get the sound of Kurt's scream out of his head.

When they stopped to eat lunch, Blaine was almost sure Kurt was about to talk to him.

Judging by the way his lips formed, he was about to call out to Blaine. But apparently he changed his mind and instead sunk his teeth into his bottom lip and looked away.

It was driving Blaine crazy.

They hadn't spoken - or had any kind of 'conversation' - for two days and he was getting sick of it. Not because he'd thought Kurt would magically become this chatty person, but because he knew Kurt could speak; and from all the times he'd turned to Blaine with an open mouth, it looked like he wanted to speak to him. But he never did.

To add to his stress Blaine felt like they were being watched. And not just by the animals around them, but seriously watched. He kept turning around to look if there was anyone behind them, but his eyes never seemed to catch sight of anyone. After a while Blaine noticed that Kurt did the same.

Maybe that's what he wanted to say, Blaine thought; slightly disappointed. He'd rather Kurt said his name again, than him saying 'oh I think we're being followed'.

Just as he thought this, there sounded a loud crack not far away from them and both boys tensed.

Blaine looked up into Kurt's eyes and the brunette nodded and moved back slightly on the horse to make room. Blaine swung himself up with ease and immediately pressed his heels into the horse's sides, urging it to go faster. He felt two hands grab him by the sides as he kept pushing the horse to go faster. They needed to get away after all. But his constant heel-pressing came to a halt as he felt the arms sneak around his waist and squeeze. He knew Kurt didn't mean anything by it, he just had to hold on to something, but Blaine was pretty happy to be that something.

When the horse came to a sudden halt, Blaine's head almost collided with the horse's neck. He leaned to the side slightly; surprised. He'd given no signal for it to stop. Then he looked up.

In front of them stood two women. One tan with long, black hair and dark eyes, and one pale with long, blond hair and eyes so blue, they could compete with Kurt's. When neither of the women said anything, Blaine felt like he needed to break the silence.

"Are you okay, ladies? Is there anything we can do for you?" He asked, as he swung himself down from the horse. He would never deny a woman - or man for that matter - his help, if needed. He was surprised to hear a soft thump behind him; indicating that Kurt too had landed on the ground. The blonde woman kept staring at him and it was the dark haired woman who spoke.

"We don't need anything from you," she said in a dark voice; sounding as if he'd just insulted her.

"Oh. I see. Well, we're kind of in a hurry, so if you ladies would excuse us," Blaine said politely and tried to stir the horse around them.

The blonde whispered something in the tan woman's ear quickly.

"Hold it, hobbit," the dark haired woman said and held up a finger. Hobbit? Blaine gaped. I'm not that short! "You can't just leave like that."

"And why is that?" He took a timid step in front of Kurt; protecting him.

"Because my lady likes your man, so now move your bubble-butt out of the way, so she can see him."

Blaine was frozen to the spot. The insult didn't even reach him. Her lady likes his man? Not that Kurt was ever his, but he got her intentions. He didn't want to move. Were women capable of raping men? What if- But because his mind got too busy, Kurt stepped out from behind him and took a few steps forward.

The blond girl's smile was so pure and angelic that Blaine instantly felt guilty for ever having thought anything bad about her.

"Hi," the blonde cooed. "You have such pretty hair." She held out a hand slowly, as if approaching a wild animal. Blaine was about to say something - Kurt didn't like strangers - but the brunette let the blonde girl thread her fingers through his hair.

She looked like she was stroking a cat.

"I'm Brittany, what's your name?" The blonde - Brittany - asked with a sweet smile as she kept running her fingers through the brown locks. Blaine wanted to interrupt again, just to save Kurt from the humiliation, but the girl didn't even wait for an answer.

"It's okay, little birdy, we'll go pick berries. Tana loves berries, don't you Tana?" Brittany asked over her shoulder; directed at the dark haired girl. She smiled warmly at the other and answered calmly.

"Of course I do."

Then Brittany took Kurt's hand - Blaine's eyes almost fell out of his skull when he saw that the brunette just let her - and started walking. He looked to the other woman, who just locked her dark eyes with his and then started walking too. Blaine hurried after her with the horse on tow and quickly came up to her side.

"Um, excuse me," he said slowly.

"What?" The woman - maybe she was more like a girl, Blaine decided when he came in close - said.

"Where is your friend taking Kurt?"

"Out to pick berries, just like she said. Are you death?" She kept walking with long strides and Blaine gulped. This woman was kind of scary, and she didn't seem to be in a very good mood.

"No," he mumbled, but even if she heard him, she didn't seem to care. She just kept her eyes locked on the back of the blonde girl walking in front of them; still holding Kurt's hand.

When the four of them - split into two and two - reached the house, Brittany lead Kurt away, while she chatted warmly. Blaine was about to follow, when he felt an arm grabbing his and turning him around.

"Leave them," the Latina girl said and took the horse from his grip. He had no idea where to put his hands or if he should really listen to her, but when she wondered into the house after tying his horse to a pole with water and food, he followed.

"Um, excuse me?" He said, still keeping his gentleman façade up.

"What now, Curly?"

"My name is Blaine," he said and had to hold back a childish pout. He hated when people made fun of his hair. He'd had enough of that all his life.

"Congrats, I don't care," she said in a bored voice and turned on the stove in the tiny kitchen they'd walked into and started heating water.

"Well," Blaine murmured. He didn't know what to say. He hadn't lied all that time ago, when he'd thought people normally liked him. They did. He'd never been treated quite like this before. Harsh words and punishments, yes, but not this… indifference. "May I know your name?"

"Wow, turn down the act, pretty boy," she laughed. It apparently took her a while to see that Blaine in fact didn't act anything. This was how he was brought up. "Santana," she finally said but didn't offer him a hand to shake or a form of courtesy to respond to, so he just nodded.

Blaine was mildly surprised when she offered him a cup of tea. He hadn't drunken tea in years - the soldiers were never really into tea parties - so he gladly accepted.

"So?" Santana said as she took the seat in front of him.

"So?" He asked back.

"What happened with you two? You're not exactly forest-types." Blaine really doubted the Latina would actually care to know what happened with them. She just didn't seem like the type to care about others. Then again she seemed pretty fond of that Brittany girl.

"I know. We've already encountered some of them," he answered with a bitter tone; trying to block out the memory of Kurt's scream.

"And yet you're still alive. Fascinating," she drawled, but didn't sound the least bit fascinated. "Now spill. What are you doing here?"

Blaine considered lying for a minute, but it wasn't in his nature to lie, so he ended up telling her everything. Every single detail - except for the fact that he was terrible in love with his travel partner. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that. Now that he'd confessed to himself that it was more than just a crush, he was in for a rough time.

"So you have no idea where you're going?" Santana said after he'd finished.

"No I just- We needed to get out of there. Fast," he explained.

"What about Kurt?" She asked.

"What about him?"

"Doesn't he have an idea of where to go? He seems more focused than you, at least."

"In case you haven't noticed, Kurt doesn't really speak," he snapped. He was trying to be polite - like any gentleman - but the woman kept insulting and provoking him. He was losing his patience.

"Not to you, maybe." That got his attention.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"What I mean, Captain Oblivious, is that he may not be having life-long conversations with you or me, but he seems perfectly capable of talking to Brittany," Santana explained in a bored voice, like she had to explain the simplest thing to a small child.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Cursing his stutter Blaine wondered what she meant. His eyes grew bigger the further his thoughts wandered. Had she heard Kurt speak? But he'd been with him for days and no one else had been around.

"Seriously, are you dumb or just born slow on the uptake?"

"Excuse me-" He was beginning to get upset with her again, but she interrupted - rude, Blaine thought - before he could snap at her again.

"Yes, excuse you. Excuse you for being such a blind asshat, because HELLO, look to your fucking left," she said and pointed.

"What do you- Oh." And oh indeed. Because out the window to his left you could see two persons walking around. One tall, slim and with short brown hair, the other a bit smaller with long, blond hair. It looked like they were talking. And maybe even laughing.

"Wh- I don't understand-" Blaine started.

"Of course you don't. Not many people do. But Britt has that effect on people." And that's when he saw it. That small sign of fondness on her face. She had an almost invisible smile on her lips and her eyes suddenly seemed so much warmer than then had before. Blaine couldn't help but wonder if maybe Santana was in love with her roommate.

"He's only just met her," he mumbled before he could stop himself.

"Does she seem threatening to you?" Santana asked; her voice turning colder again.

"No, but-" Blaine said and looked out the window. There was nothing threatening or scary about the smiling girl running wound with Kurt outside. He felt a stab of jealousy. "But he's been with me for weeks."

"That doesn't make you any less dangerous," the dark haired woman just stated. But it seemed like she felt slightly guilty when she saw how Blaine's shoulders slumped, because she placed a hand on his arm. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't like you, either," she said and removed her arm.

It doesn't mean that he doesn't like you. Blaine looked up at Santana with a small smile.

"Thanks," he said.

"Whatever," was her only answer, but she still filled up his cup with steaming tea, while they waited for their loved ones to come back.

Hi you guys. I know, I know, there is no excuse. My only one is that my life kinda fucked up. 'But you updated other stuff' - yes, I did. Because that other stuff didn't connect with all that went wrong in my brain these past few months. I kind of needed a break from this story, if it makes sense. It was never my intention to drop it or leave you guys hanging for so fucking long. I am so sorry.

I will not make any promises this time, but I am working as fast as I can without ruining the story. Again, I'm so sorry. I hope you're not, like, against Brittana, because I'm kinda planning on them staying there for a few days maybe.

Please send me your thoughts, because I'm really unsure about this chapter. Does it suck? Should I take another break and get back to it when I can actually write again?

THANK YOU FOR READING - AND ONCE AGAIN I AM SO, SO SORRY.

(also, it's 2am so forgive me if there's any typos; I just wanted to get this up as fast as possible)