Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

A/n: Well, I haven't had as much of a response as I would like for this fic, but I'm going to continue because I really like this one and it's one of those weird things I can research to my heart's content (cause I'm a geek like that). Hope y'all enjoy!

The heart monitor had been beeping steadily for two days, thankfully without ever stopping. It was a relief to Kurt every time he heard it beep, because that meant that Blaine was still alive. That the bastards who had attacked him hadn't succeeded in killing the boy that Kurt was so madly in love with. The ventilator was gone; the doctors had slowly weaned Blaine off the medication that forced him to remain unconscious and he'd been able to breathe on his own once its effects wore off. But Blaine had yet to open his eyes or give any indication that he was alive besides the heart monitor and the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"He's stubborn… doesn't give up for anything." Kurt looked away from Blaine for a moment, surprised by the face in front of him. He hadn't seen Blaine's brother yet, and the resemblance was striking. Alex appeared to look more like their mother, who had been born in the Philippines, but he and Blaine had the same dark curly hair and ridiculous triangle-shaped eyebrows. Even their physicality was similar, with the two only being an inch or so apart in height and almost identically built.

"Do you think it'll be enough?"

"I have to hope it will be." Kurt turned back to watch Blaine as he slept, crossing his arms. "He talked about you… all the time. Too much for you to be just a friend, despite what Wes and David told my parents."

"But I am just a friend. We never talked about it…" Kurt began.

"He wants something more. I know my brother." Kurt felt tears begin to sting his eyes as the older boy spoke.

"Sorry… do we really have to talk about this? I'm… I'm just not really comfortable talking about this with someone I don't know."

"I understand. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Kurt felt Alex put a hand on his shoulder for a moment. "He's a strong kid. He just needs some time." Kurt didn't look away from Blaine, even as Alex finally moved his hand away from Kurt's shoulder and started to move away. Kurt heard the curtain covering the doorway move, signaling that Alex had left the room.

Kurt moved his hands, taking Blaine's free hand in one of his and using his other hand to run his fingers through the older boy's mess of curly hair for a moment before he pulled away and started to leave the room.

A groan stopped him. Kurt turned around as soon as he heard the sound, knowing better than to hope that it was Blaine starting to wake up, yet at the same time praying that the older boy really was coming back to him. "Blaine?" Kurt watched from the doorway as Blaine's eyes slowly fluttered open. He watched in silence as Blaine reached up with his right hand, rubbing his eyes for a moment. "Blaine?"

Kurt was disturbed by the fact that Blaine didn't respond at all. He moved back towards the bed, reaching out to touch Blaine's hand. Before he even realized what was happening, Blaine had grabbed him by the wrist and was squeezing it. He could hear that the heart monitor had quickened its pace. Blaine seemed to recognize Kurt's face and he started to loosen his grip. "I'm… I'm sorry. You scared me." Blaine's eyes closed again and Kurt could tell that he was trying to calm himself down.

"It's okay… it's fine. Just relax." Kurt pushed the older boy's hair out of his face again, brushing the curls away so that they wouldn't end up in Blaine's eyes. He'd let his hair grow out a good bit since Kurt had come to Dalton, letting it curl freely more often since Kurt had commented on how good it looked.

"Why won't you say anything?" Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand, confused by the older boy's question.

"What are you talking about?"

"Please just say something… just talk to me." Kurt watched as Blaine opened his eyes, looking at him. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Blaine, I'm talking to you right now…" Kurt watched as confusion spread over the older boy's face and the heart monitor sped up again. Blaine had obviously realized that something was wrong.

"I can't hear you… I can't hear what you're saying. Why?" Kurt shook his head, not knowing how to answer. It wouldn't have mattered much anyway, given the fact that Blaine wouldn't know what he was saying. "Wh… where's my mom? Can you find her?" Kurt just nodded, squeezing the older boy's hand briefly before he pulled away. He wasn't sure why he was nervous; Blaine was awake and Kurt should have been happy. But the boy's first words after he woke up had Kurt concerned and upset.

A nurse walked into the room as Kurt was leaving it, saving him the trouble of stopping at the nurse's station to tell them what was going on. It didn't make the fact that Kurt had to tell Blaine's mother what was going on any easier. He couldn't leave out that fact; Mrs. Anderson needed to know what was going on with her son.

Kurt made his way down the hall, stopping just inside the door of the waiting room where Blaine's mother was waiting.

"H…he's awake. He asked me to find you. He… he couldn't hear me." Kurt watched as Blaine's mother rushed out of the room, ignoring the questioning looks that came from the other members of the Anderson family and the two other Warblers who had shown up with him.

"What do you mean?" Kurt turned as he heard David's voice. "Kurt, what's going on?" There was no way Kurt could keep the tears from sliding down his face.

"He woke up and he was talking to me, but he didn't even know I was talking back to him, not until he could see me talking to him. I… I think he realized something was wrong. He just wanted his mom…" Kurt watched as Mr. Anderson hurried out of the room, followed closely by Blaine's siblings. He sat down on the ridiculously uncomfortable couch letting his head rest against his right hand, closing his eyes.

"Maybe it's temporary…"

"What if it isn't? What if he's… what if it's permanent?" Kurt couldn't even bring himself to say the word that he was thinking. Deaf.

"I don't know. It'll get figured out – Blaine's family will do whatever they need to do to help him," Wes replied, sitting down and putting an arm around Kurt's shoulders.

"It's getting late… we need to get back to school before curfew." Kurt nodded, letting Wes and David force him to his feet and out of the waiting room towards the elevator. He had too much on his mind to really pay attention to what was going on around him.

"…need to figure out what we're going to do about Regionals." Kurt looked up as he heard Wes and David start discussing Warblers business.

"Are we really going to talk about all of that while we're still at the hospital?" Kurt asked.

"Sorry. We just… we have to be prepared. Blaine's not going to be back in time for Regionals, no matter what happens at this point." Kurt leaned back against the wall of the elevator, closing his eyes and letting the tears that he'd been holding back slide down his face. He wasn't sure why, but something in the pit of his stomach told Kurt that even once Blaine healed, things would never be the same again.