"Morning, sleepy-head!" Carol sang out as Kurt dragged himself into the room looking NOTHING like himself. His hair stuck out in every direction, there were bags under his blood-shot eyes and he was dressed in loose, grey sweatpants and a Dalton tee shirt.
"Geese, kid, have ya looked in the mirror today?" Burt took one look at Kurt and instantly knew something was terribly wrong. Kurt wouldn't act or dress like this ever, even if the world was ending.
After hearing the two very different phrases that were thrown at him, Kurt slowly put a palm to his forehead and trudged on to the kitchen, ignoring Burt and Carol questions. As he pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, Carol sheepishly slunk into the room.
"Kurt, honey, what's going on? Why are you so upset?"
Kurt gulped down half of the bottle of water before muttering something along the lines of "headache" and started to walk out of the kitchen when Carol grabbed his arm and pulled him into a bone crushing hug before muttering "I'm so sorry, Kurt, I should have seen this before. It's your Mother, isn't it?"
Kurt only nodded in response, but that was enough for Carol. "You wanna talk about it Bud?" Kurt seemed taken aback by the offer and declined like Carol knew he would. But this wasn't over yet. Carol was going to get him to talk, one way or another.
Three hours and one excruciatingly awkward talk with Burt later, Carol knew all she needed to know. Kurt was deprived of love. A mother's love. Because the mother he had loved with all of his heart was dead.
She had to fix Kurt.
Even if no one knew how to.
And everyone who had tried, failed miserably.
She knocked lightly on his bedroom door. A small groan came in return and Carol stepped quietly into the room.
"Ice cream?" the step-mother held out a small bowl of vanilla ice cream to the clump of blankets on the bed. Kurt emerged from the cacoon but shook his head in response. Carol lightly felt his forehead, which was normal, and sniffed. She at least had to get him out of bed. Her original plan was to hug him and comfort him and then have a long, heartfelt conversation about dead family members. And then he would be fine and go back to being normal Kurt. But that couldn't happen. Because Kurt hated to be touched by anyone except Burt and Blaine. Like, absolutely dreaded physical contact. Carol was astonished last night when Kurt let her hug him.
So carol made a new plan. Blaine.
"Oh, that's right! You wouldn't want to ruin your appetite for your date with Blaine."
That got Kurt's attention. His eyes popped out of his head as he sprang off the bed and ran to the bathroom. "When is it?" Kurt screamed over the shower.
Carol smirked to herself as she pretended to pause and then said nonchalantly "Five minutes ago."