A/N I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. I ended up splitting it up, other wise it would have been close to thirty pages long! This chapter continues with Kurt's first week back at McKinley. I thought about adding this first part to the last chapter, but it was so long already, and I decided the good night scene would be a better place to end that chapter.

P.S. Trying to type while eating BBQ chicken is a challenge.

Reviews always welcome!

Wednesday

Wednesday morning, the sun was up, but a light haze gave everything a blurred quality. Kurt managed to eat a decent breakfast of fruit, yogurt, granola, and orange juice.

He drove himself to school that morning, since he was meeting Blaine later for coffee. He felt better this morning than he had the previous day. He knew the first test of the day would be when third period rolled around. He walked beside Artie as usual, and managed to make it to English Lit without having to use the other boy's chair as a crutch. He felt a little thrill of victory.

His feeling of triumph was short lived however. He went to the cafeteria for lunch for the first time since coming back to McKinley. He took his tray and sat with Mercedes, Tina, Quinn, Artie and Mike. The other members of New Directions soon joined them. They laughed and joked, and he was starting to relax and enjoy himself when the voice cut in.

"Yo, Hummel, how was it? Bet you liked it, didn't you?"

Kurt froze, his eyes wide with fear. Mercedes gripped his hand under the table.

"Back off, Azimio!" Mike hissed. The other Glee members were standing at his back, forming a wall between him and the football player.

"What, the little homo got some action and now wants to play the victim card? He probably enjoyed it."

The cafeteria was suddenly deathly quiet. And then something happened that shocked just about every member of New Directions, especially Kurt. A boy he passed in the hallways on a regular basis, whom he'd never learned the name of, who had witnessed the shoving and bullying but had never said a word, stood up and joined the Glee kids in glaring down the jock. "That was so uncalled for."

Another kid stood and joined them. "You're disgusting."

And another. "That was pathetic."

Soon every student in the cafeteria stood between Kurt and his tormentor. The Glee Club pulled Kurt to his feet and lead him out into the hall. Someone had gone and reported what was happening to Mr. Schuester. He and Coach Sylvester came running down the hall.

Mr. Schue stopped to make certain Kurt was ok. He was sitting against the wall with his head between his knees, trying to breathe as tears slid down his cheeks.

As Sue entered the cafeteria and saw the wall of students surrounding the large bully, she took a moment to smile to herself in satisfaction. It was about time the students in this school stood up for what was right.

"All right, break it up! You, big mouth, I should probably let the angry villagers tear you limb from limb! Move your butt to the principals office, NOW!"

She marched the offensive student out and down the hall, past the angry glares of all eleven members of New Directions, Who once again had formed a wall around Kurt and Mr. Schue.

The pale boy shuddered, wiping the tears from his eyes. His stomach turned, but he managed not to throw up. "Do you want me to call your Dad to come get you, Kurt?" Mr. Schue asked, his hand on the thin boy's shoulder.

He shook his head no. "I'm okay. I just want to lay down for a little while."

Will nodded and lead him to the nurses office. "You should at least let your Dad know what happened. Let him know you're ok. Figgins will probably call him anyway, so you might want to give him a heads up."

Kurt nodded, then lay down on the bed, facing away from the teacher, closing his eyes. He heard the click of the light turning off, and then another click as the door was closed. He waited until his breathing had calmed and the tears had stopped before dialing the number for the garage.

"Hummel Tire and Lube, this is Burt, How can I help you?"

"Dad?"

"Kurt, what's wrong? Do you need me to come get you?"

"No, no. I'm okay. The principal is probably going to call you though. I'll let him tell you what happened. I just wanted to let you know I'm okay. And Dad?"

"What kiddo?"

"They stood up for me. All of them. Everyone in the cafeteria. They didn't pretend not to see it this time."

There was silence on the line for a moment, and then his Father cleared his throat. "That's good, Kurt. I'm happy to hear that. Are you sure you don't want to come home for the rest of the day?"

"I'm sure. I'm laying down in the nurses office. Gonna take a little nap before my next class."

"Okay, son. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad."

Blaine was in a hurry. He'd forgotten he had promised to speak to Mr. Logan, his Social studies teacher, about the community project he was required to do a report on.. He had to discuss which project he planned to write about. And then he'd forgot his car keys and had to go back to his dorm and get them.

He pulled into the parking lot at the Lima Bean fifteen minutes late. When he arrived, he found Kurt at their usual table, but he wasn't alone. The fiery Latina was sitting with him. She looked up as he approached.

"Preppy! Good to see you again. I was just telling Porcelain about the aftermath of the little incident at the school today."

"What happened?" He asked, taking the seat across from them and noting the dark rings under Kurt's eyes.

Santana looked Kurt over. "Do you want me to tell him for you?"

Kurt shook his head no, and smiled at her. "Thanks, Tana. I'll be okay. And thanks for telling me what Figgins said, too."

"No problem, Lady Lips. I've gotta go. Brittany wants to try making fondue tonight. I need to be there to make sure she doesn't dip her cat in it."

Kurt laughed, albeit weakly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as she stood. "Take care of him, Preppy!"

"I will." Blaine smiled at her and watched her walk away. "So, what happened today?"

"I was eating in the cafeteria with the others, when Azimio made some disgusting remarks."

Blaine took his hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing the knuckle gently. "Would you care to tell me what he said?"

Kurt took a deep breath, making himself look the other boy in the eyes as he spoke. "He asked me if I enjoyed what Karofsky did to me. He figured I should have been grateful to, I quote, ' get some action.'"

Blaine made a scoffing sound, unable to believe someone would think something like that, let alone say it out loud. "What did you do?"

"I was too stunned to do anything. But then something else happened. Something I never thought would happen. Every person in the cafeteria stood up to him. They told him how disgusting and pathetic he was. Not just the New Directions, Blaine. Everyone!"

Blaine smiled. "That's great, Kurt! So what happened to this Azimio kid? Did he get punished?"

"Yeah, that was what Santana was telling me about. Apparently after what happened to me, the district has set new guide lines for handling bullies. There were enough witnesses to what he said, so they are suspending him until the next school board meeting, at which time they will decide whether he should be removed from the school permanently. They've decided to enact a zero tolerance policy like the one at Dalton." Kurt sighed. "Of course it remains to be seen if they will enforce it."

Blaine hoped they would. He hated the fact that it took a heinous act of violence for the district to wake up and do something about it, though. He squeezed Kurt's hand. "You look tired again. Let me get our coffees, and then maybe you could go over my French homework real quick before you head home? I don't want you to get exhausted."

Kurt nodded. "Thanks"

Blaine went to get the drinks, taking a few minutes to study his boyfriend surreptitiously. He could see that the ups and downs of these first few days back at school were wearing on him. He wished he could be there for the beautiful angel every minute of every day. He almost regretted convincing the other boy to stay at McKinley. He wanted him at Dalton where he could watch over him, and where he knew the students and staff would treat him as the wonderful, special, unique person he was.

As he carried the drinks back to the table, he briefly thought the other boy had fallen asleep. His eyes were closed and his head rested on the back of his chair, but those amazing eyes opened and he smiled sleepily up at him as he approached. Blaine had to resist the urge to beg the fairer boy to transfer, for his peace of mind, if not for Kurt's.

"So, French homework?" Kurt asked after taking a long drink of his grande non fat mocha. Blaine nodded and pulled the pages from his bag.

"I'm pretty sure I got it all correct, but I'm no where near as fluent as you are."

Half an hour later, with only one minor conjugation error found, Blaine walked Kurt to his car. "You're appointment with the specialist is Friday, right?"

"Yeah. Have to get up early to drive all the way to Cleveland. Mercedes is going to go with us."

"Would you mind if I was waiting for you when you got back?"

Kurt smiled. "I think I could live with that."

"Good." He kissed the taller boy, and watched as he drove away.

The phone was ringing when Kurt got home. "Hello, Hummel-Hudson residence?"

"Hello, Kurt? It's Angela McBride. I just wanted to let you know that the preliminary hearing for the trial has been set for two weeks from tomorrow. It's not required that you be there, but if you want to attend, with your Dad, it will be at nine in the morning."

"What is the preliminary hearing?"

"It means the judge will hear about the evidence in the case. He'll read your statement of the events, and then the defense will make a statement and enter their plea. If they plead guilty, then the judge will set a date to determine what, if any, punishment to enforce. If they plead not guilty, then the judge will set a trial date, at which time we'll present our case to a jury."

Kurt swallowed. "Will I have to testify if they plead not guilty?"

"It would definitely help our case if you did, but it is up to you." She sounded very sincere, and sympathetic.

"I'll tell my Dad when he gets home. Thank you for letting me know."

"You're welcome. And Kurt? I know you are strong enough to face this if it goes to trial."

He took a deep breath. "Thank you. Good night."

"Good night, Kurt."

The first thing Burt did when he got home was hug his son. After his conversation with Figgins, he'd been tempted to drive down to the school and drag his boy home whether he want to go or not. But the fact that the students at the school were finally standing up to the bullies and that Kurt needed to make his own decisions kept him from acting on his urge.

As they sat down to dinner, Kurt told them about the call from the prosecutor. "Do you want to attend the hearing?"

Kurt considered it. "Yeah. I do. I want to know what is going to happen."

Burt nodded and put his hand on his boy's shoulder. "Okay."

Kurt was yawning before dinner was finished, and excused himself to go up to his room.

He called Blaine as he lay on his bed in his pajamas. They talked about the hearing, and Blaine said he'd come too. Kurt yawned again.

"You're really tired, aren't you, babe?" Blaine asked.

"Mm hmm."

"You want me to sing you to sleep?"

Kurt sighed and smiled sleepily. "Please."

Nothing's gonna harm you
Not while I'm around
Nothing's gonna harm you
No sir, not while I'm around

Demons are prowling everywhere
Nowadays
I'll send 'em howling
I don't care, I got ways...

A/N Next chapter we'll find out the extent of the injury to Kurt's throat, and if he'll ever be able to sing again.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

NIFF is coming!