A/N: I'm trying to update quickly since I'll be leaving Wednesday night for a week in Florida. If I can get free wifi, I may be able to update, otherwise it will have to wait till I get back. Since I'll be making a stop in the Harry Potter park, I'm sure the Blaine in my head will convince me to work a trip into this story for him, although it won't be for a while since I already have the story mapped out through New Years, and school isn't even over yet for them. Enjoy the story and hopefully I can update one more time before my flight.
Also, in case you were wondering, I know there are a lot of sentance fragments and words that aren't really words, but since this a narrative in Burt's perspective, I tried the write the way he speaks.

When June rolled around, Kurt was back at McKinley and he and Finn were off to New York for Nationals. I was looking forward to a weekend alone with Carol, with the house all to ourselves. Thursday and Friday I closed the shop early to make the most of our time together. On Saturday, Carol had the night shift, so I planned a nice evening with some old movies since no good games were on. Around ten o'clock at night, the house phone rang. I immediately picked it up, thinking it was either one of the boys calling from New York, or Carol checking in during her break. What I didn't expect was to hear Blaine on the other end.

"Mr. Hummel? It's Blaine."

"Hi Blaine. Kurt's not here, he's still in New York until tomorrow."

"I know... I just... I shouldn't have bothered you." He sounded really upset at that point. He must really miss Kurt.

"You're not a bother Blaine. Is everything ok?"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know who else to call." At this point I could tell he was crying. This must be pretty bad; Kurt's the crier in that relationship.

"Are you hurt? Blaine? Tell me where you are and I'll come get you."

"I think so... I don't know... I'm outside the gas station... on the highway by my house in Westerville. It says Raceway, and it's by the traffic light."

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Stay in the convenience store where an employee can see you. Don't wait outside alone."

"OK... Thanks Mr. Hummel."

I hung up the phone and ran for my keys. Luckily I didn't need to grab any first aid supplies since Carol made sure all the cars had overstocked kits.

What normally would have taken me 45 minutes took only 25. Good thing there were no cops around.

When I found the gas station and pulled in, I saw someone sitting on the curb.

"Blaine? Is that you?"

I moved a little closer. Judging by the size and the curls sticking out from under the hood it was definitely him. He slowly looked up from where he was sitting and sobbing. I almost fell over when I saw his face. Besides the tears and redness from crying, he was a real mess. One eye was black and the other was starting to swell shut. He had a bruise growing on the side of his jaw, a split lip, and his nose was clearly broken. He looked like he went a few rounds with Mike Tyson. He was also holding his arm carefully against his chest, so that was probably pretty badly hurt too. The front of his shirt was covered in blood, and I hoped it was just from his lip and nose.

I immediately tried to think WWCD (What Would Carol Do- it always helps me in these types of situations).

"First things first. Let's get you out of the rain and someplace safe. Up you go."

I started to help him up, but he immediately recoiled and gasped in pain when I touched his side. Let's add some broken ribs to that list. Instead of helping, I ran over, opened the car door, and then carried Blaine to the car. He was really out of it. I decided on adding a few minutes to our trip to the hospital by going back to Lima. I'm sure Westerville has a great hospital, but Lima has Carol. And I know how to get there.

I could hear when Blaine started to come back around.

"I'm sorry I'm such a bother."

"No you aren't kid. Kurt loves you. That means you're part of the family."

"Thank you for getting me. I didn't know who else to call. Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital."

"You don't need to do that. I just need some sleep. I'll be fine in the morning."

"We both know that's not true. I'm taking you back to Lima. Carol's working tonight, so she can take a look at you."

Blaine was quiet for a few minutes, so I took the opportunity to call Carol and give her the heads up. I tried not to say too much, since I knew Blaine could hear me. I just gave her the essentials and said I'd explain when we got there.

I pulled into the parking lot and saw Carol waiting by the doors with a wheel chair. I helped Blaine out and ran to move the car to a real spot. When Carol saw Blaine's face she gasped and started to cry a little. She was clearly trying very hard to keep herself from pulling him into a hug. An hour or so later, I was sitting in a hospital room next to Carol while Blaine slept in the bed.

"Did he say what happened? Who did this?"

"Not yet, but I have an idea. I think it was his father. Let's wait till he wakes up and see what he has to say."

"What if it was his father? We can't let him go back there. He'll have to stay with us."

I didn't like the idea of Kurt's boyfriend staying just one room away, but Carol was right. We can't let him go back.

"I don't think we have an option. At least till we figure this situation out."

A few hours later Blaine came to. He was given some pretty strong sedatives before, so he was a little disoriented.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hummel? How did I get here?"

Carol was quickly at his side holding his hand that wasn't in a cast.

"Oh Blaine sweetie. You were beaten up pretty badly last night. You called Burt, so he got you and brought you here. You're going to be okay. You have a few broken ribs, a broken wrist, and a broken nose. You also have another concussion. But nothing is going to cause permanent damage."

"Does my dad know I'm here?"

"No. Do you want me to call him?"

At that point, Blaine sat up so quickly he almost fell out of the bed.

"No! Please don't."

That clinched it for me.

"He did this to you, didn't he?" I practically yelled it. I couldn't believe a father could do this to his own son. Eventually Blaine nodded his head a fraction of an inch. If I wasn't looking for it, I would have missed it.

Carol is always better at dealing with injured kids than me, and this time was no exception. She sat on the edge of his bed and held his hand again. With her other hand she lightly brushed some curls from his face. She's such a great mother even when it isn't her kid.

"Do you want to tell us what happened?"

"I guess so." Then he looked directly at me with pleading eyes. "But you have to promise me you won't tell Kurt. It would tear him apart."

I know I shouldn't have, but I agreed so he would go on with the story.

"Well, I decided it was finally time to tell my dad. About me and Kurt. I know I shouldn't have, considering what happened when I told him I was gay."

Carol, who didn't know the story, asked what happened then.

"Basically this, only not quite as bad. I didn't need the hospital, I just had some bruises. Based on what I feel now, I probably had a broken rib then too."

Carol interrupted again.

"You probably had a few broken ribs. Your chest x-ray showed eight healed fractures, of varying degrees, so probably over several years."

Blaine tilted his head to the side like he was thinking about it.

"I guess that makes sense. I couldn't breathe properly for a while afterwards. I told everyone at school that I fell down the stairs. Back to tonight. I decided it was time to tell my dad. I went into his study to tell him I had a boyfriend. At first he gave me the usual crap about it just being a phase, that if I'd just get a girlfriend, I'd see how ridiculous I was being. Then I told him it wasn't a phase. That I loved Kurt. Then he said 'No son of mine is going to be a faggot' and he hit me in the face. I was so surprised I didn't even defend myself when he hit me again. He got a few kicks in to. Then he told me to get out of his house and never come back again. I walked to the nearest pay phone to call you since I didn't have my cell. And then I woke up here. Please don't tell Kurt. I know him and I know he will somehow make this out to be his fault and I couldn't live with myself if he felt guilty."

"OK, we won't say anything for now, but you should tell him eventually. Secrets always have a way of coming out, and it's better to just tell him yourself. Maybe wait till you're a little better, so he won't immediately be reminded of exactly how bad this was."

Carol took the opportunity to ask Blaine some more questions while he was awake and fairly talkative.

"First off, I have to ask a few medical questions. Do you have any allergies to any medicines? We took a guess to get you to this point, but I wanted to check just in case."

He thought about it for a few minutes and shook his head no.

"Any other serious medical problems or illnesses in the past? Besides those broken ribs we already talked about?"

Blaine replied quickly, taking much less time than he did on the allergy question.

"Um, a few broken bones and sprains. Mostly from sports. My dad would sign me up to make me tougher, but I was the always the smallest guy on the team, which made me an easy target. I also got beat up pretty badly back in my freshman year. I took another boy to a dance, and some guys decided they didn't want us there. They beat us both up pretty badly while we were waiting for his dad to pick us up. I think that time I had 4 broken ribs, and one of them punctured my lung. I also had a concussion then, and a lot of bruises. That was when my parents decided to transfer me to Dalton."

Carol had tears running down her face and kept stroking the back of his hand soothingly. I never realized what he had been through. He always struck me as this confidant kid who acted much older than he was. I guess he had to grow up quickly.

"What happened to the other boy? The one you took to the dance?"

As soon as Carol asked, I knew the answer wasn't good. I could tell from the look on his face.

"Um... He didn't make it... He had a really bad concussion and went into a coma. He never woke up."

At this point both Carol and Blaine were crying, and I was finding it difficult not to. I couldn't help but think about the conversation I had with Carol while Blaine was asleep. If I wasn't sure before, I was positive now. We'd make it work somehow.

"I'm so sorry you've had to go through all this Blaine. We're going to get all your paperwork and medicine together and you're going to come home with us for a while."