Chapter 7: The Truth: Pt 2

When Kurt woke up, he saw that Blaine was watching him sleep. When Blaine saw Kurt's eyes opened, he blushed and looked away, apologizing.

"Sorry if I was being creepy…" he mumbled. "It's just… you're really beautiful when you're sleeping."

"That's not creepy," Kurt promised with a soft smile. "It's sweet."

Blaine grinned. "Good. I'm glad." Blaine leaned over and kissed Kurt softly, smiling when Kurt kissed back. "So, guardian angel," he said. "You're really here to protect me?" Kurt nodded, biting his lip. "But? There's always a 'but.'"

"I have to leave in six months. I'm still not alive, and I have to go back eventually."

"You're leaving," Blaine whispered, tears already building up. "So how does this work? We fall in love and then you leave me? That doesn't seem very productive; you know, leaving the person you're supposed to help with a broken heart." Blaine looked angry, but not at Kurt. He knew it wasn't Kurt's fault. "It's not fair."

"I know it's not…" Kurt sighed. "But… isn't it better to have loved and be loved… rather than never knowing love at all?" he asked slowly. Blaine seemed to think about it, but he just shook his head, letting more tears fall.

"I don't want to lose the one person who truly loves me," he murmured sadly. "The one person who I truly love…"

"You love me?" Kurt asked, brushing his fingers over Blaine's cheek as he smiled softly at the boy.

"Of course," Blaine insisted, almost desperately. "I've been telling you that this whole time. Why don't you just believe me?"

"I believe you now," Kurt said. "I think I always did… I was just scared. Scared of hurting you by getting too close and then leaving. I didn't want to do that to you. I didn't want to hurt you like that."

"And now?"

"Now I just want to make you the happiest you've ever been for as long as I can," Kurt said, choosing his words carefully. He knew he'd said something right because Blaine broke out into a grin, though he was still crying a little bit. "First, though… I have something I want your help with. You're the only person who knows about me, so I need your help."

"Anything."

Kurt smiled. "Well… I never really got to say goodbye to my dad or my step-mom or my step-brother before I… died. So I was wondering if you would help me convince my dad that I'm really here so he doesn't have a heart attack when I go see him."

Blaine smiled. He was glad that Kurt had a good relationship with his father. He didn't want anyone, especially Kurt, to go through what he went through. "Of course I'll help," he said. Then he remembered something. "Kurt… I think your brother works at my school." Kurt wasn't really surprised. He'd known Finn worked as a co-director for the Glee club. He was just glad he hadn't accidentally bumped into him.

"Finn Hudson?" Blaine nodded. "Wow… I guess it's a good thing he didn't see me around the school. That would have been a little awkward to explain."

Blaine laughed a little. "Yeah… You know, he sang a song about you in Glee Club and dedicated it to you. It was before I met you."

Kurt looked like he was about to cry, so Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and held him closer, careful not to hurt his ribs where he'd been kicked by Blaine's father. "I miss them," Kurt whispered into Blaine's shoulder as silent tears stained his cheeks.

"I know… I'm sorry I brought up Finn… I wasn't thinking."

"You're fine," Kurt said, shaking his head a little as he held Blaine close. "It's not your fault. Can we go see them tomorrow, though? I just… I just really miss my dad."

"Of course," Blaine promised. "Maybe he'll believe me easier if I play the sympathy card with my crutches," he joked. Kurt laughed lightly and kissed Blaine's chin.

"I just want to ease him into it so he doesn't freak out and have a heart attack," Kurt explained. "Thank you for this. I know it's hard for you…"

"I'm just glad that you get the second chance that I'll never get," Blaine murmured. "I want you to be happy."

"I love you," Kurt sighed, snuggling impossibly closer to Blaine.

"I love you, too."

The next day, Kurt drove them to the Hummel-Hudson house, growing anxious about seeing his dad again. It'd been a long year without his father's hugs, and he couldn't wait to wrap himself up in one. Gently, of course, because his ribs still ached where they were bruised.

When they got there, Kurt took a deep breath and leaned over the console to kiss Blaine softly. "Ready to convince my dad that his oldest son isn't as dead as he thought?" he asked with a weak smile.

Blaine nodded and kissed Kurt again, sweetly, before getting out of the car. He used his crutches to hobble to the front door and he knocked on the wood.

"Just a minute!" he heard from inside the house. He guessed that was Burt Hummel speaking. He waited for the door to open, and when it did he gave his best charming smile. "Who are you?" Burt asked.

"I'm Blaine Anderson," Blaine told him. "I'm… I'm a friend of Kurt's." He saw Burt's eyes turn sad and he knew this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Come in," he said gruffly, clearing his throat. Blaine took a seat in the living room and Burt sat in the chair across from him. "So what are you here for?"

"Well, I have something to tell you. It's about Kurt. And, well, I know this is going to be hard to hear but I need you to hear me out, Mr. Hummel."

"Alright…"

Blaine sighed, thinking for a moment about how best to phrase this. He couldn't exactly say your son has come back from the dead to protect me and hasn't said a word to you since. He didn't think that would sit well with Burt. "Mr. Hummel, do you believe in guardian angels?"

"My late wife used to tell Kurt stories about them when he was little," Burt said, doing his best not to get choked up.

"Well… I think—no, I know—that your son has become one. He was sent back here recently to protect me from the same fate he faced."

"Is this some kind of joke, kid? Are you just trying to rub it in my face that I'll never get to see my son again?"

"No!" Blaine's eyes widened. "I swear I'm not. I just… Kurt asked me to tell you about this so you wouldn't freak out when he—"

The door opened and Blaine stopped talking as they both looked at the open door to see someone standing there.

"Kurt..?"

Kurt watched from outside the window, able to hear what they were saying because the window was opened slightly. He panicked a little when Burt started getting defensive and angry, and he impulsively walked inside the house.

"Kurt..?" Burt asked in disbelief, standing up slowly and making his way over to his son.

"It's me, dad," Kurt whispered.

"How?"

"It's exactly like Blaine told you," Kurt said. "He wasn't lying."

Then Burt did something that nobody had seen him do since Kurt's funeral. He broke down and cried. Kurt rushed forward and hugged his father, wincing slightly when Burt hugged him back too tightly. Burt pulled back in concern and looked over his son. "You're hurt."

"It's nothing…"

Burt shook his head and lifted Kurt's shirt to see his torso speckled in bruises. Burt frowned and met Kurt's eyes. "What happened?"

"Blaine's father…" Kurt whispered, tears coming to his eyes.

"Kurt, I don't want you around him if it's dangerous like this—"

"Dad, I'm only trying to protect Blaine. He's had this and a lot worse from his dad for doing absolutely nothing."

"Kurt," Blaine piped up from where he was standing by the couch, looking panicked. "Y-You said you wouldn't tell anyone… I didn't want anyone to know!"

Ignoring his father's confused and worried expression for a moment, Kurt rushed forward and pulled Blaine into his arms, rubbing the shorter boy's back. "Hey, it's alright. It's my dad; you can trust him, I promise." Blaine nodded, burying his face in Kurt's neck and relaxing a little. He trusted Kurt more than anything, so if Kurt said he could trust Burt then he would trust Burt.

"Boys," Burt spoke up from behind them, making Blaine jump and making Kurt turn around with Blaine still leaning on him for support. "So… how does this work exactly? How long do you stay here, Kurt?"

"Only six more months," Kurt said sadly. "I'm not technically alive… I'm just here temporarily to help Blaine. But I wanted to say goodbye to you properly since I never got to do that before."

"But you just got here," Burt protested. "I just got you back. I can't just say goodbye knowing you're still here."

"This isn't about me," Kurt explained, hugging Blaine's waist and looking at Burt sadly. "If I don't help Blaine, then I'll be sent back even sooner. I can't just ignore that."

Burt smiled sadly. "Always the responsible one," he said tearfully. He stepped forward and hugged Kurt again, and Blaine backed away slightly to give them room. As soon as Burt backed away, though, Kurt tugged Blaine to his side again.

"I love you, dad…"

"Have you gone to see Carole or Finn?"

"No," Kurt shook his head. "I can't… I've already told too many people about this. Besides, if I tell Carole she'll start bawling and Finn won't be able to keep it a secret," he said, trying for a joke. His tears betrayed his fake smile, though.

"Alright," Burt said sadly. He understood but he wished that his wife and step-son could know.

"We should go," Kurt said after a few moments of silence. Burt nodded and watched regretfully as Kurt and Blaine left.

He couldn't help but notice the way Kurt was with Blaine. There was definitely something more there. He was glad that his son had finally found someone to make him happy, even if it was only for a short time.

Kurt and Blaine went back to Kurt's apartment and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and trying to heal before going back to school on Monday. Kurt would be going, but he wouldn't go to any classes for risk of seeing Finn. He would just walk with Blaine between classes to make sure no one bothered him along the way.

Blaine's parents didn't even notice that Blaine was gone, really. His father was always either at work or getting drunk, so he either didn't know or didn't care. And his mother just never seemed to notice because she got caught up in her work. Or maybe she just didn't bother with it because the violence left the house when Blaine did. Mr. Anderson never hit his wife, believe it or not.

For the first little while after Blaine was back at school, no one bothered him. Sometimes in class he would get ugly notes passed to him, but he could easily brush those off. He was so much happier now that he had Kurt, and now that Kurt wasn't pushing him away. He hardly noticed anybody else at school when he had Kurt beside him.

Then, it was when Blaine's ankle was healed a few weeks later that things changed.

Blaine started thinking about how every day it was one day closer to losing Kurt. The thought scared him. He never wanted Kurt to leave him. He knew that he couldn't stop it from happening. However, he did know a way that he could still be with Kurt. So he started plotting.

He started thinking about how easy it would be to just piss his dad off and let his father's anger do the job. He'd come close enough to killing Blaine before when Blaine hadn't done anything wrong, so if Blaine did something to upset him on purpose, he would definitely get it.

He thought about other ways he could get himself into trouble. He started picking fights at school when Kurt wasn't around. Or, rather, when he purposely avoided Kurt so some guys from the football team would beat him up behind the school.

It was so wrong and masochistic of him, and he knew that, but he didn't care. All he could focus on was the Kurt of it all. He wanted to follow Kurt when Kurt was forced to leave. He didn't know if he would make as beautiful of an angel as Kurt did, but it didn't matter as long as he could be with Kurt.

So, he just kept finding ways to hurt himself. He never could muster up the willpower to self-harm or starve himself, but he found other ways. He made other people hurt him by pissing them off. He sometimes snuck away to his dad's house after school when Kurt had to go to the store. That's where he knew he would get the worst of it.

This cycle went on for about two weeks before Blaine made his mistake. He was so weak and sore and tired that he didn't bother to make sure Kurt wasn't following him before he set off some violent hockey players.

Before they could hurt him too badly, Kurt got in front of Blaine's keeled over figure, blocking him from further harm. The hockey players just rolled their eyes and left.

"Blaine, what on earth were you thinking?" he asked as he helped Blaine sit up against the back wall of the school. He started cleaning the blood from Blaine's nose with a tissue from his pocket.

"The same thing I've been thinking for the past two weeks," Blaine laughed bitterly. "You haven't even noticed that I've been coming back to your apartment every day with a limp or a bruise somewhere or another."

Kurt frowned. "Sweetie, I don't know if you've noticed, but you do hide it well… You've been doing it all your life and when you want your injuries hidden you hide them well. How was I supposed to know that you're trying to get yourself killed?"

"I just don't want you to leave me," Blaine whimpered, meeting Kurt's eyes. "I thought… I thought that if I died, I could follow you when you had to leave."

"Blaine, the whole point of me being here is to keep you safe," Kurt said, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "I can't possibly keep you safe if you're working against me here."

"I'm sorry," Blaine murmured, pleading with his eyes for Kurt to forgive him. "I was stupid… I won't anymore, okay?"

"You better not," Kurt said softly, hugging Blaine. "C'mon, let's get you home." Blaine nodded and let Kurt help him stand up. He was aching all over from the past two weeks of daily abuse.

When they got back to Kurt's apartment, Blaine let Kurt clean his cuts and ice his bruises before he fell asleep soundly in Kurt's bed. Kurt lied down next to him and hugged him gently as he watched Blaine sleep.

Kurt watched Blaine with a sad smile, stroking Blaine's cheek lightly with the pad of his thumb. Blaine looked so peaceful and so much younger when he was sleeping. Kurt wished Blaine looked so at peace all the time.

Looking over Blaine's countless injuries from the past few weeks made Kurt realize that he needed to be more careful. He hadn't even noticed that anything was wrong with Blaine before. He thought Blaine was doing well. But all this time, Blaine had been looking for fights and basically trying to get himself killed.

Well, Kurt wasn't going to let anyone else hurt Blaine. Including Blaine, himself.

A/N: So sorry about the wait on this chapter! I thought I would have it done a lot sooner but school got in the way. Ugh, homework. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter! I'm thinking there will be 2-3 more chapters plus an epilogue. I'm not sure about the epilogue but we'll see.

Review! :)

Love you, my lovelies.