A/N: Hey guys! Happy New Year! Sorry I haven't updated for a little while. With any luck, this will help you forgive me.
By the time he and Barbara got out of the cab, the full situation had caught up on him and now he was beyond anxious. Barbara was not helping as she watched the cab leave over her shoulder as though it might be watching them before gesturing for Blaine to lead on. She then kept glancing around as though keeping a perimeter- which she might be doing upon further consideration.
Blaine was actually anxious enough about what he'd gotten himself into that where he was didn't fully hit him until he and Barbara were nearly across from Rachel's appartment. He didn't really get to think about it though since Barbara yanked him to a stop.
"That's the building?" she asked. Blaine nodded. She glanced over her shoulder again before studying the building. Blaine wondered how he'd missed this calculating, controlled aspect of her. "Can you point out Rachel's apartment from here?"
"It's in the back, you can't see it from the street," Blaine informed her. She didn't seem pleased with this.
"That makes it more private for an attack," she mused. Blaine didn't have time to react before she was pulling him with her down the block. "We'll have to go in quickly since they'd be going for capture if they are here already and we have the element of sur-" They stopped as Blaine's phone beeped. He quickly read the incoming message and felt some relief.
"Rachel's not here," he reported. Barbara didn't seem relieved which made Blaine worry that Rachel's being out would be a problem, but Barbara seemed to want clarification so he provided it. "She said she can't talk because she's on a date."
"Okay, then we should assume they already have her apartment because-" Barbara turned and started to walk in the other direction.
"What about her roommate?" Her blue eyes flashed with surprise as Blaine attempted to stop all the other things he'd shut in that box back and focus on simply the practicality of Rachel's roommate as though said roommate was a stranger.
"Roommate? Why didn't you tell me she had a roommate? They'd be in as much danger as Rachel!" Blaine had been anxious about Rachel, but now he was terrified. "New plan. You need to go in there and get the roommate out. I'm going to keep an eye out for trouble." Blaine nodded and hurried towards the building as his companion disappeared into an alley (Blaine might have been surprised under other circumstances). As soon as he was inside and thus could do so without being suspicious, he broke into a run. If something happened to Kurt because he had been trying not to think about him…
Blaine pounded on the door, breathing heavily from his run up the stairs. The door was pulled open and there was Kurt, flawless as ever, promptly shattering any fragments of Blaine's "things I cannot currently worry about" box. Blaine forgot about his terror for a moment in the shock of seeing the man he was in love with face to face. Reality caught up quickly, just as Kurt's face contorted into one of anger. That's when Blaine remembered that convincing Kurt to come with him for any reason, let alone one that sounded as ridiculous as the truth, was going to be very difficult.
"What the hell are-"
"Kurt, you need to come-"
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Kurt snapped. Blaine had almost forgotten how bitchy he could get when angry (not that he didn't deserve every bit of this- in other circumstances he would really welcome Kurt's anger). "I don't trust you anymore, remember?" Blaine winced slightly because of course he remembered and that was another thing he'd never forgive himself for.
"You don't need to trust me, just listen," Blaine pleaded, snapping himself out of his emotional issues and focusing on one thing- Kurt was in danger and he had to keep him safe. For a second, he thought Kurt was going to agree, but Kurt snapped back quickly.
"Goodbye Blaine," he snapped and he went to slam the door.
"No, wait!" Blaine lunged forward, wedging his leg in the door to prevent it from closing. This wound up being a bad idea since the door was heavy and Blaine now felt the need to curse because of the throbbing pain, but at least he could still talk. Kurt backed away from the door and Blaine followed him into the apartment. "Kurt, you're in danger and-"
"I know," Kurt snarled. "My ex-boyfriend seems to have lost it."
"Kurt!"
"Blaine, get out of-" The first bullet hit the light fixture and shattered it. Blaine lunged on instinct, catching Kurt and pushing both of them onto the floor. The first shot was followed by four more but they came in close enough succession that neither of the adrenaline filled men could have told you the number.
After the last shot, the apartment was eerily silent, disturbed only by their breathing. After about a minute, Blaine chanced raising his head from where it was lying next to Kurt's. He couldn't see much (just some broken glass and the legs of furniture) without getting up and in every movie he'd ever seen, getting up was usually the best way to get yourself shot by the sniper.
"Those were gunshots," Kurt was pretty much whispering, and though it was a statement, Kurt's eyes said it was partially a question.
"Are you okay?" Blaine asked instead of confirming something they knew. He figured the response would be positive since Blaine had landed on top of Kurt and it he was fairly confident that he had not been shot. Kurt nodded up at him.
"What's going on?"
"It's sort of a long story," Blaine observed, starting to roll off Kurt (he figured that as long as he didn't get up it wasn't likely he'd be shot). Kurt was clinging to his shirt though, so they wound up lying on their sides facing each other, noses inches apart. Blaine suddenly found it really hard to remember all those things he was freaking out about. In what seemed like a minute but was likely a few seconds, the pair realized what was happening, Kurt released Blaine and the both shoved themselves a few inches backwards.
"So- what's the long story?" Kurt was trying to pass the question off as casual, but he was obviously flustered. Blaine tried to convince himself it was just because of the bullets because Kurt almost certainly hated him right now, and it was only going to hurt him more to think anything else.
"There's a crime family coming after Rachel." It occurred to Blaine there were gentler ways to break that news, but there was a lot going on his mind right now. Kurt stared at him.
"Sorry- what?"
"My friend's in witness protection but the guys who are after her got her confused with Rachel." Kurt looked like he might explode but there was a crashing noise and the pair flinched into each other's arms.
"Blaine?!" He withdrew his head from Kurt's shoulder at Barbara's voice. She appeared in his line of sight from around the couch (he'd have wondered how she got to that side of the apartment without seeing him, but he figured between the loud crash and his new assumption that she could do almost anything that she'd come in through the window). She was obviously concerned, and he thought she looked more like Amanda with that much emotion on her face.
"We're okay," Blaine offered, glancing over at Kurt for confirmation. Kurt nodded. Then they realized they were still curled together, and quickly released each other. Blaine pushed himself to his feet and offered Kurt a hand.
"Thank god. I'm so sorry, the damn trigger jammed when I hit him," she explained- her voice was angry but he felt the anger internal. Blaine passively wondered if this was what he looked like for the last month.
"We're fine," Blaine reminded her. She nodded.
"Who the hell are you?" Kurt had come out of his shock and was unsurprisingly rather angry.
"Barbara Gordon." Barbara seemed unaffected by Kurt's glare. "I'm assuming you're Rachel's roommate?" Kurt paused and glanced at Blaine. Blaine decided to explain more.
"Barbara transferred right after- in early November," Blaine caught himself, though he figured Kurt knew what he was going to say. "Barbara, this is Kurt." Barbara blinked.
"Oh." Barbara sent Blaine a look which told him she understood exactly who this was. Kurt raised an eyebrow, presumably wondering what Blaine had told her about him. "Anyway, we probably have twenty minutes or so before they realize they didn't successfully kill Kurt. We need to find Rachel. Any ideas?"