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: And another chapter down. I apologize for posting two in a row; I had that last chapter written for a few days, and I forgot to post it for some reason…

"Would you still love me, even if we had to learn sign language to communicate?" Kurt Hummel raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you think it's a little late to be asking that question?" Kurt asked, squeezing his boyfriend's hand. They were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital; Blaine would soon be going into surgery to get his first cochlear implant. "I'll gladly learn sign language for you. I've stuck with you this far, haven't I?"

"But it keeps getting more complicated…" Blaine began. Kurt could tell that he was worried about what this surgery was going to mean for him in the long run.

"What relationship doesn't get more complicated as time goes on? I'm not going to leave you just because things get a little hard, okay? I love you… that's the only thing that really matters here," Kurt replied, leaning over and pressing a quick kiss against Blaine's cheek. "After all, I drove all this way to be with you before and after this surgery. Do you really think that I would give up on you after I've spent so much of my time trying to prove to you that I don't care that you've lost your hearing?"

"I just… I can't help being insecure. I'm not the same guy I was when we met…"

"But you're the same guy you were when we started dating. I came into this relationship knowing that you might never be able to hear my voice again. Knowing that I would have to constantly worry about whether or not you heard what I was trying to tell you or if you understood me correctly. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with the thought that we might have to learn an entirely new language to communicate with one another.

"I just feel like I'm not going to be good enough for you… that you deserve something better."

"I don't want anything else. I don't want anyone else." Kurt watched as Blaine nodded slightly, closing his eyes and leaning his head against Kurt's shoulder. Kurt reached up with one of his hands and started playing with his boyfriend's curls, doing his best to help Blaine relax. He was mostly worried that Blaine was too stressed out and nervous about what was about to happen.

"Blaine Anderson?" Kurt gently shook the other boy, smiling slightly at the other boy as they got up and followed the nurse and Blaine's mother back into a small room. "We'll have you go ahead and get into the hospital gown. You'll need to take everything else off, including the brace." Kurt watched as Blaine started to change.

"Do you want me to wait outside?" Kurt asked, starting back towards the door as the nurse closed it behind her. He stopped when Blaine shook his head.

"Don't leave me…" Kurt nodded, smiling at his boyfriend as Blaine sat down on the bed to remove his shoe and the walking boot he was still wearing. Soon the boy was sitting on the edge of the bed while Mrs. Anderson gathered up his clothes and tucked them away in the bag she'd brought to the hospital.

"Nervous?" Kurt asked, perching next to Blaine. The boy nodded silently as Kurt took his hand and squeezed it gently. "You're going to be fine… you survived being beaten and left for dead in the middle of February. This is minor surgery, nothing like what you've already been through."

"They have to shave part of my head…" Blaine began.

"It'll grow back."

"I'm not sure about this… I'm scared." Kurt smiled, leaning in and pressing a kiss against Blaine's lips before the boy could say anything else about being afraid.

"Just think about how amazing it's going to be in a few weeks when they turn it on, though… if this works, you're going to be able to hear so much better. This is a big deal." Kurt pressed a kiss against the back of Blaine's hand as the nurse walked back into the room.

"Nervous?" she asked, walking over towards the bed. Blaine nodded. "Don't worry… you're in good hands. This'll all be over before you know it." Kurt was thankful that the woman didn't seem at all upset over his obvious display of affection towards his boyfriend. "I'm going to start your IV, and give you something to help you relax." Kurt continued holding Blaine's hand as the woman tied the rubber tubing around the boy's other arm and searched for a vein.

"Hey… look at me," Kurt said, turning Blaine so that he wasn't looking at the needle going in. Kurt knew that the older boy hated needles, and he really didn't want Blaine to flinch and make the nurse miss the vein she was going for. It would only make things worse in the end. "You're almost there, okay? In a few hours, you'll be back home resting and recovering, and in a month or so they'll turn it on and we'll find out whether or not it works." Kurt watched as his boyfriend nodded.

"Alright… I've got you all set up with your IV. I'm going to go ahead and give you something to help you relax, and then in a few minutes someone will be here to take you up to surgery."

The last few minutes before they took Blaine into surgery were pretty much silent; Kurt watched as the older boy slowly leaned back into the bed and started to close his eyes. "Whatever she gave him is working…" Mrs. Anderson commented as Blaine's hand slipped out of Kurt's. Kurt nodded, reaching up to turn off the hearing aids and take them out.

"You should probably take these… once he's out, he's out," Kurt replied.

"I'm worried… he was out for so long the last time he had surgery."

"But he'd just been badly injured then. He'll be okay this time." Kurt smiled at the woman, hoping that he was right; he'd been nervous for the same reason, but he hadn't wanted to say anything.

Once Blaine had been taken off to surgery, Kurt and Mrs. Anderson went back to the waiting room to wait. The surgery itself wasn't that long; two hours later, they were lead back into the recovery room. "He's starting to wake up… it's going to be another hour or so before you can take him home, but everything went well," the nurse commented as they walked.

"But he's okay?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"He's fine. We haven't been able to really communicate with him just yet… I'm assuming that you have his hearing aids?"

"Yes… we assumed they wouldn't need them once he was asleep. We just need the right one, correct?"

"That's right… he can't hear anything on the left side, even with a hearing aid. What little hearing he had left was destroyed when they implanted the device. If the device doesn't work for him, he'll be left with just what hearing he has in his right ear."

Kurt quit paying attention to the conversation as the nurse pulled back a curtain to where Blaine seemed to still be sleeping. He immediately walked over, ignoring the bandage that covered the left side of Blaine's skull as he put the hearing aid back into the boy's right ear. He smiled as Blaine groaned and woke up, looking at him for a brief moment.

"Hey…"

"It hurts…" Blaine whispered. Kurt nodded.

"I know… but you did so well. I'll see what they can do about the pain," he replied. Kurt looked over at the nurse.

"I'll be back in just a minute with something for him." Kurt turned back to Blaine and smiled.

"I'm so excited for you… this is such a big deal." Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss against Blaine's lips. "I love you so much."

"Love you… thank you."

"For what?" Kurt asked.

"Telling me to do this."

"Don't thank me until we know how this is going to work."