AN: I am sooooooooo sorry for the long wait. I found it really hard to get started on this chapter for some reason. I'm still not really happy with it, but just wanted to get it out to be honest. I know exactly how the next one starts though, so fingers crossed...

'Blaine? Dad?'

Blaine sprang away from Burt and stumbled backwards, eyes wide as he looked at the confused faces of Kurt and Finn.

'Boys, I thought you were getting back on Sunday afternoon.' Burt questioned, glancing nervously between them and Blaine.

'It is Sunday afternoon, Dad.' Kurt answered, but his eyes never left Blaine. He took in the bandaged wrist, the bruised face streaked with tears and the terrified look in his eyes.

'What's going on? Blaine, what happened to your face?' Kurt stared, face questioning, waiting for an answer, but Blaine was unable to provide one. He stood, shaking, his eyes flitting between Kurt, Finn and Burt.

Kurt took a step towards Blaine and reached his hand out to him.

'Blaine…' He stopped abruptly with a hurt expression when Blaine flinched backwards.

'Ok, will someone please tell me what is going on here?'

Carole stepped forwards, sensing how easily the situation could spiral out of control, trying to intervene before that happened.

'Kurt, Finn, will you take your bags upstairs, please. Burt and I just need to talk to Blaine for a minute.' She said gently.

'No.' Kurt was indignant. 'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on.' He felt a soft tug at his sleeve and turned to see Finn standing at his shoulder.

'I think we should go upstairs, Kurt.'

'No, Finn, I…' He trailed off as he followed Finn's line of sight. He was looking at Blaine, who had shrunk into the corner of the room at Kurt's outburst. His bandaged arm was held tightly to his chest and his whole body was trembling.

Kurt looked back to his father, desperate for an explanation.

'Please, Kurt. I promise I'll explain everything, but I need to talk to Blaine alone first.'

Reluctantly, Kurt picked up his bags, waving Finn away when he tried to carry his for him.

'I can carry my own damn bags, Finn.' Finn stepped back holding his hands up in defeat. He made a quick detour over to where Carole stood and enveloped her in a silent hug, before Kurt picking up his own bags and following Kurt upstairs, with a nervous look towards Blaine over his shoulder.

Kurt stormed up the stairs. He wasn't really angry, more frustrated and overwhelming worried, and it was easier to mask it in anger. And although he would never admit it, there was also that tiny twinge of jealousy he felt whenever he saw his father hugging, hell just interacting with someone else. It had just been the two of them for so long, he still hadn't quite come to terms with the concept of sharing him.

He stopped still at the top of the stairs, then stumbled forwards as Finn careened into him. The large hand gripping the back of his shirt stopped him falling on his face, but his eyes remained trained on his bedroom door. His open bedroom door. Through which he could clearly see an unmade bed and a pile of clothes in the corner.

'Dude, you left your room like that? Nice. I must be rubbing of on you.' Finn held his hand out for a high five with a grin on his face.

'I didn't leave my room like that. And don't call me dude.' Finn lowered his hand and shrugged.

'Then why is it…?'

'Blaine. Blaine's been staying here.'

Kurt walked slowly into his room, dropped his bag at the door and sat carefully on the edge of the bed, gently worrying the duvet between his fingers. A chair had been moved next to the bed, and there was a small silver packet just sticking up from behind the cushion. Kurt picked it up and looked at it closely. It was a prescription made out to Burt Hummel.

Kurt sat in silence trying to straighten out the mess of thoughts currently rushing through his head. Blaine, Blaine who a few minutes ago had been sobbing into his father's shirt, Blaine who had looked so tiny and frightened as he flinched from his touch, had spent at least one night at his house, and his father had, by all appearances spent at least some of that night sitting with him.

His anger and jealousy had long since fled. Now he just wanted to know what the hell was going on.

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause problems.' Blaine hung his head, his voice barely audible above the thuds and bangs coming from above them in Finn's room.

'Come on, none of that Blaine. You're not causing problems.' Burt took Blaine by the elbow and led him back to the couch.

'I have to tell them, don't I?' Blaine's voice was soft, but assured, as if he had already come to the decision.

'You don't have to do anything you don't want to,' Burt insisted, 'but I do think you should. They obviously know something's going on and you know what Kurt's like. He won't let anything drop.'

The corner of Blaine's mouth twitched in a smile. He loved Kurt's stubbornness.

'What if he's angry at me.' He asked Burt quietly.

'He won't be.'

'But…'

'He won't be, Blaine. And if he is, he'll have me to deal with.'

'Could…' Blaine tried to ask, but his voice came out as a broken whisper, barely audible. He looked down, tried to compose himself enough to carry on.

'Could you…I just… I don't know if I can say it again. Yesterday was…' He closed his eyes and shivered at the thought of it, saying those things, those awful things out loud to a room full of people.

'I can tell them for you, if you're sure that's what you want.' Blaine nodded his reply. 'Do you want to be here when I do?'

Blaine looked up at Burt. He thought about sitting there in silence as Burt told them the truth, seeing the look on Kurt's face first hand. However he responded, whether he was angry, disgusted or upset, he didn't think he could cope with that image, didn't think he would ever be able to get it out of his head.

'No.' He shook his head firmly. 'No, I…' He stopped. Would Burt think he was a coward? Foisting his problems onto someone else because he couldn't be man enough to tackle them himself. 'Is that ok? I just…'

'It's fine, Blaine. Whatever you're most comfortable with.'

Blaine looked up as Carole came to stand beside him.

'Do you want me to stay here with you while Burt talks to them?' She asked.

'No, no, that's ok. You should be there, for Finn.'

He watched them leave before looking back down at his hands. This was it. Soon Kurt would know what had happened and would want nothing more to do with him.

He knew Mr Hummel thought otherwise, but how could he know? He hadn't just ignored Kurt's advice, he'd laughed at him for it, and then spent an entire week ignoring him. He supposed in some way this was all karma. He'd been a terrible friend to Kurt and had paid the price for it through James.

The vast, all encompassing sadness he felt engulf him at the thought of losing Kurt's friendship dwarfed anything he had experienced over the past few days. Meeting Kurt had changed his life. He knew Kurt thought he was strong and brave, but in truth, they were the very traits he had seen in Kurt, that had drawn him to the other boy in the first place.

When he texted 'COURAGE' to Kurt on the first day they met, he hadn't been tellingKurt he neededto be courageous, just reminding him that he already was.

And as Kurt had come to trust and believe in himself again, Blaine had pretended to do so too. After a while, he almost began to feel like he wasn't even pretending anymore, like he really could be the person everyone thought he was and so desperately wanted to be.

But now it was all over. That small semblance of self worth he had discovered thanks to Kurt had been shattered by James, allowing the voices of his parents and former bullies to creep back in. And soon Kurt would be just a distant memory and once again he would have to face it all alone.

'This is all my fault.' Kurt whispered, tears already streaming down his face.

'No, Kurt.'

'But I knew. I knew he was meeting him and I didn't tell anyone. I didn't do anything.'

'You didn't know this would happen. You are not to blame, Kurt. No-one is, except that…that man.'

'Oh God, Blaine.' Kurt leant forward, resting his head in his hands. He felt liked he'd been sucker punched in the stomach. 'How could this happen…I think I'm going to be sick.'

He ran out of the room, the back of his hand pressed firmly to his mouth.

There was silence for a few seconds before Finn spoke for the first time.

'I don't understand.' He looked between Burt and Carole, confused. 'Someone hurt Blaine? Like, sex and stuff?'

Carole sighed.

'Yes, honey.' She took his hand in hers and reached up to stroke his hair. 'They hurt him very badly.'

'But…he's a guy. And he's gay.' Burt's expression darkened. 'I'm not being…you know, like I was…before...I promise. I just don't get it. Why didn't he try and stop them?'

Burt felt his anger bubble to the surface, and knew it would be so easy to let rip at Finn, just as he had done in the basement all those months ago, but deep down he knew that Finn was telling the truth. He wasn't trying to be cruel, he just truly didn't understand. He had a horrible feeling Finn wouldn't be the only one to ask these questions, and others might be a lot more blunt about it. He rubbed his hand over his head and tried to think of how best to explain it.

'Finn, it doesn't matter that he's a man, or that he's gay. Someone did things to him that he didn't want and that's not ok.'

Finn screwed his face up, as if trying very hard to comprehend the situation, before summing it up the best he could.

'He looked really sad.'

'Yeh,' Burt sighed, 'he is. And he needs us to be there for him and to not treat him any differently.

'What if I can't?' They turned to see Kurt standing in the doorway, eyes red and puffy.

'I…I don't know what I should say to him. He looked so….that wasn't Blaine, dad.' Kurt tried to keep his voice quiet, so that Blaine would not overhear, but he could feel himself losing control. 'He wouldn't even let me near him, he flinched away from me. He's always been so physical. He holds your hand and gives you hugs and…I don't want him to be different, I want him to be how he was. I need him to be how he was.' He was becoming hysterical now, his voice high pitched and pleading.

'Right now it's not about what you need, Kurt.' Burt admonished. 'It's about what Blaine needs, and he needs you to support him, be there for him. Just like he has been for you.'

'I don't know if I can, dad…' Kurt pulled hard at the bow tie, which was suddenly so tight against his throat, making it impossible to take a breath. 'I need some air. I'm going out for a bit, just …just to get some air.'

He turned towards the door, but what stopped by a hand grabbing his arm hard.

'No, Kurt.' His father's voice was loud and angry. 'If you run out now, do you know what he's going to think? He's going to think you're abandoning him. That you don't care, or worse that you blame him. I won't let you do that to him, Kurt. And frankly I'm disappointed that you would even consider it. I thought you had more compassion than that.'

As Kurt's face crumpled, Burt pulled him into a firm embrace.

'I'm sorry. I know this hard for you too and a lot to deal with, but this has to be about Blaine right now. I know that you understand that. He's your friend and he needs you to be strong for him. Can you do that?'

He pulled away enough to look Kurt in the eyes. Kurt nodded as Burt reached a hand to brush away his tears.

'I'm proud of you, son.' He whispered gruffly, before leading him towards the stairs.

Kurt took a deep breath as he reached the bottom step. He ran his hand through his hair and prepared himself to face his friend. But as he entered the living room, he didn't find what he had expected. He found instead an empty room and a hastily scrawled note of two words.

I'm sorry

AN: I hope people aren't too mad at me for holding off on the Klaine cuddles just yet - I just feel like Kurt is this 16 year old kid, and he's not going to be perfect and selfless and know exactly what to do.

Also, I was wary of the Finn section, but I know a lot of people do think like that. ...I finally told a friend of mine that I write fanfiction (I came out of the fanfic closet, yay) and when I said that it was about a gay character and he got raped, the first thing he said was...'Oh, and that's why he's gay?' I shit you not. And this is a seriously intelligent, not in the slightest homophobic guy. I think I've been involved in slash fandoms and general gay culture for so long, that I sometimes forget how plain ignorant most people are...

Anyways, hope it wasn't too sub par. Would love to hear from you all.