Chapter 44 - Questions

When we got back to Dalton everything was abuzz. The hospital had let us spend the night in the room next to Nathaniel's, sleeping on beds that would normally hold dying patients, but we'd had to leave him behind when morning arrived. I hadn't got the best amount of sleep, so was still completely shattered when we set foot back in the grounds.

Everyone wanted to talk to us.

"Are you ok Kurt?"

"How do you feel?"

"How does Blaine feel?"

"What happened to Gabriel?" Every question drained me so I clung onto Blaine for support. He did a great job of fending everyone off until we got to Wilde, but the sight of Mr Banner, Mr Cox and two police officers standing outside the entrance was hard to avoid.

"Hello boys." Cox said once we approached. His face was stern and I imagined he also hadn't got much sleep, given what had happened in his school. "Meet Detective Constable Parkman and Detective Sergeant Petrelli." He signalled to the two police officers, one a large stocky man with dark hair and one a slim blonde woman with kind but serious features.

"Hello." Blaine said politely, causing the two to nod theirs heads slightly.

"If it's ok with you, these two would like to ask you both some questions. About the events of last night." My stomach dropped. I knew there would come a point where this would happen, especially with Gabriel now in custody somewhere – but I hadn't thought it would be so soon.

"Um…Kurt isn't really up for questioning…" Blaine immediately said, looking at me in concern and rubbing my shoulder comfortingly. I squeezed my eyes shut wishing I wasn't so pathetic.

"I understand Mr…"

"Anderson. Blaine Anderson."

"I understand Mr Anderson," the female officer said, stepping forward, "but I would say that to get the most accurate evidence it is best to interview the complainant as soon after the event as possible. And we have already lost an evening."

"I still don't-"

"-It's ok." Interrupting my boyfriend I opened my eyes, having taken a deep breath in beforehand. The two officers looked surprised but happy, immediately beginning to gather up their things.

"Great. We can do this in a comfortable environment for you, where would you like to go?"

"Umm…my room?" Mr Cox nodded his head in satisfaction and opened the door to Wilde for me. As we walked down the corridor Blaine still had a firm hold on my hand, and seemed worried.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked, concern evident in his voice. I nodded.

"Yeah. We might as well get it over and done with now. I'll be fine." He kissed me softly on the head and I sighed, before putting my foot on the first stair.

It seemed strange to be in my room again. Seeing the door, the bed – it all reminded me of what had happened. I could almost see the figure of Gabriel standing there, forcing his lips onto mine. The officers had pulled up chairs to sit on and were currently setting up some recording equipment, including what looked like a huge tape machine. I wanted to move but it was too late now.

"Ok Mr Hummel, can I call you Kurt?" the female officer asked after a while. I nodded my head solemnly and she smiled. "Great, I'm Kim." She sat down opposite me and leant forward to catch my gaze. "I'm sorry your boyfriend couldn't stay inside, but it's interview protocol." Briefly I glanced towards the door, where Blaine was currently waiting on the other side. The officers had tried to get him to come back later but he wouldn't budge. Mr Banner was acting as a guard with him.

"Do you feel ok, do you want a drink of water or anything?" I shook my head and she nodded, leaning back to have a hushed conversation with her partner before returning to me again.

"Ok Kurt. We're going to start the tape recorder and then we're going to ask you some questions about what happened to you last night. You don't have to answer anything you don't feel comfortable answering and if you want a break at any time you just say ok?" My head nodded again, every part of my body screaming to say I didn't want to do this, that I wasn't ready. The male police officer pressed down the button and the tape machine began whirring.

"The date is the 27th May 2011. Present in the room are Detective Constable Parkman and myself, Detective Sergeant Petrelli, as well as the complainant Mr Kurt Hummel. The time is 10:47am. Ok Kurt," Kim turned towards me, giving me that same comforting look again. "You are still ready for this interview to proceed?" I nodded, but she signalled towards the tape, looking awkward. "I'm afraid you're going to have to speak up Kurt." She whispered. Reluctantly I spoke.

"Yes."

"Can you please state your full name for us please."

"Kurt Hummel."

"And your date of birth?"

"5th April 1994"

"Ok." Kim got out some notes and briefly cast her eyes over them. The male police officer Parkman was fiddling around with the tape machine, probably trying to get the best sound quality.

"I'd like to take you back to last night, the 26th May 2011. Where were you at around 7pm?" I gulped. This was it.

"I was in my room."

"Ok, you were in your room. Were you with anyone else in your room?"

"No, it was just me."

"Had you been anywhere else before you went back to your room?"

"Yes. I'd been to see Gabriel in the medical ward because he'd been hurt."

"How had he been hurt?"

"Blaine had punched him in the face."

"And Blaine is your boyfriend right?" I nodded before remembering the tape.

"Yes." Parkman was now writing down notes - my eyes briefly focused on his rapidly moving hands, before I looked back at Kim again.

"How did you feel when you got back?" She asked. I dithered for a second.

"Um, well I was upset. Blaine and I had had a fight and Gabriel was hurt."

"How do you think Gabriel felt?"

"He seemed fine, he was actually very calm about it all."

"Did you see anything suspicious about his behaviour?" Cocking my head to the side I tried to think back to the moment.

"Um, yes. He'd said something before about Blaine never hurting him or anyone again. I thought that was weird but tried not to think about it."

"So his actual words were 'Blaine won't hurt me again?'"

"Yes." Oh Gaga. Now I thought about it, it had been obvious. Why had I ignored it?

"Right, how long were you in your room alone for?" Kim continued to question, still using the quiet comforting tone in her voice.

"Um, about a couple of hours. I fell asleep."

"And why did you wake up?"

"Because I heard a knock at the door." Without even realising my eyes darted towards the now closed door. Kim watched me and looked briefly to Parkman, who scribbled something down.

"Who was at the door?"

"Gabriel." Now the officers looked pointedly at each other

"Just to confirm, Gabriel is Gabriel Foston right?" I nodded.

"Yes."

"Ok. How did Gabriel seem?"

"He was really agitated. I asked him why he'd even left the medical ward and he said we needed to leave."

"We as in you and him?"

"Yes. He and I needed to leave together."

"Did he say why you needed to leave?"

"He said that Blaine was gone so we needed to leave."

"The exact words were 'Blaine is gone'?"

"Yes." Suddenly my mind went straight back to that night – the agitation on Gabriel's face as he'd grabbed hold of me. I'd been concerned. Concerned.

"And what did he do then?"

"Well I was very confused so kept asking him what was going on. He said he'd gotten rid of Blaine so we had to leave together."

"Did you understand what he meant when he said 'gotten rid of Blaine'?" I shuddered.

"No. Not until I heard the people outside shouting fire."

"What did Gabriel do then?"

"He was getting tired of me asking questions so he confessed."

"He confessed to what?" I gulped, building up the courage to say it.

"He said that he had got rid of Blaine, because he thought it was the only thing standing in the way of us being together. I asked him what that meant and he said that I was in love with him."

"Were, you in love with him?"

"No. Of course not." Now I was thinking about Gabriel's face – that manic expression as he'd swung my hand back and forth, the look in his eyes as he planned our imaginary life together. Tears began to build in my eyes.

"What did he do then?"

"He started saying all these things about Blaine, about how he was a horrible person and that I was better off without him. He said he'd had to do things to him to show me what kind of person he really was, and that I'd thank him later for it."

"What kind of things had he been doing?"

"He'd been stalking him – stealing his things, turning people against him, ruining his life." Oh Gaga. He had been doing those things. And I'd stood there and watched it happen. I hadn't believed Blaine.

"And you are completely sure of this?"

"Yes. He confessed to all of it." I was desperately trying to fight off the tears so Kim wouldn't see. She kept looking back to Parkman and exchanging nods.

"What did you do then Kurt?" She asked. I took another deep breath.

"Well I was panicking, so I came up with a plan to get away. I pretended to go along with his scheme so I could get out the room and find Blaine."

"So you went along with his plan?"

"Yes. I said I loved him and that we would leave, but I had to go and speak to some people first, Nathaniel." Oh my. My excuse had been Nathaniel. What had he been doing at that point? Did he know that fifteen minutes later he would be lying on the ground with a knife in his stomach?

"And he believed you?"

"Yes. But he…" Suddenly I remembered the worst part. Gabriel lifting his face to mine, his lips pressing against me, hard and desperate. Suffocating…

"He…"

"What did he do Kurt?" Kim had leant forward, her hand almost touching my knee.

"He…" I couldn't take it any longer. The tears I'd been trying so hard to hold back shot out of my eyes and I burst into loud, pained sobs.

"KURT!" Suddenly I heard a scuffle outside – Blaine was trying desperately to get into the room but was obviously being held back. Unable to stop myself I stood up and ran towards the door, ignoring the shouts from Kim and Parkman as I ripped it open.

When Blaine saw me he immediately broke free from Mr Banner, launching himself onto me and wrapping his arms tightly round my body.

"Oh Kurt." He said as I bawled into his shoulder. "Oh Kurt, sssh, Kurt…" I heard the two police officers appear behind us but Blaine pulled us both away.

"No more questioning." He said sternly, shielding me like I was his baby. "Kurt needs to rest."

"Ok." I heard Kim say, now sounding understanding. "That's fine. We got a lot of useful information anyway. Thank you Kurt." I heard them go back into the room, saying something to the tape recorder and beginning to pack up the equipment. Blaine pulled us further away from the noise and brought my head up so he could look into my eyes.

"Are you ok Kurt?" He asked, looking more concerned than I'd ever seen him before. "I stopped them, they're going away."

"Yeah." I mumbled, my eyes sore from crying and my vision still pretty blurry. "Yeah, that's ok. Thank you."

"They might come back tomorrow but they're going now." He rocked me from side to side, gazing down with utter love and adoration. I felt like crying again but for different reasons. "Do you want to come back to my house tonight?" He suddenly asked. "We can stay there, I checked with Mr Cox. Seeing as I don't have a room."

"No." I replied, finally finding my proper voice again. "I want to stay here. In Dalton. But not my room."

"Ok…" Blaine looked up to glance around the corridor, trying to find a solution. Suddenly he had an idea. "We could stay in Nathaniel's room. I'll check with the janitor." Grabbing hold of my hand he began to walk us to the end of the corridor, leaving the police officers and Mr Banner behind.

Nathaniel's room was just like Nathaniel. Everything was immaculate. I cast my eyes across the pin board adorned with notes and diagrams and tables, the desk with everything in pristine condition and formation, the closet with clothes in colour sections. It was almost like he had died and we were coming here to dispose of his things. But he hadn't. I'd stepped gingerly into the room and Blaine grabbed hold of my hand again. When we made it to the bed I sat down and he immediately leant back against the headboard and drew me towards him, letting me curl up so I rested on his stomach.

"Is this ok?" He asked, still sounding concerned. I nodded.

"Yes." The amount of questions I'd been asked today was crazy. I didn't want to have to answer yes or no ever again.

"Good." Running his fingers through my hair Blaine sighed. I tilted my head to look up at him and saw he had closed his eyes.

"I don't know how you can stand to be around me." I said plainly. Immediately his eyes flicked open.

"What?" He looked shocked. Now it was my turn to sigh.

"After all I've done to you. I almost got you killed." Blaine sat up straight, confusion on his face.

"Kurt." He drew me up towards him so I was sitting on his lap. Subconsciously I put my arms around his neck but then withdrew them, so he frowned.

"Kurt, you have nothing to be sorry about. I don't hate you at all."

"But I was so SELFISH!" I exclaimed. "I didn't LISTEN to you! I put you after Gabriel!" Feeling tears brimming in my eyes yet again I looked away, disgusted with myself. Blaine brought his hand to my chin so he could turn my head gently back round.

"You did what you felt was right." He said plainly, staring me straight in the eye. "I probably wouldn't have believed me either."

"But you're my BOYFRIEND! I'm SUPPOSED to listen to you!"

"Yes, but Gabriel was also your friend. I would have thought ill of you if you'd put me before everyone else all the time. Especially your friends." I paused, still unable to believe he was being so accepting about all of this.

"But he was psychotic..."

"You didn't know that at the time Kurt. Nobody did. We were just guessing, there was no proof. What happened couldn't have been prevented." Looking at me sympathetically Blaine brought his hand up to rub my back. I tried to shrug away but he persisted, frowning again.

"You were the one that suffered from this." I said. "Not me. I should be the one comforting you."

"You have suffered a lot Kurt. You've had to deal with emotional issues – I just had the physical ones. And people handle things in different ways. If I'm upset I will tell you, but for now I'm here, whatever." He moved his hand up my back to my neck and gently stroked the beginning of my hair. The feeling was so relaxing my shoulders slumped with pleasure.

"I don't deserve you." I mumbled, still feeling like I wanted to cry, but happy at the same time. Blaine let out a noise of indignation.

"Don't you dare say that." He said, pulling me closer again so our noses were almost touching. "You will always deserve me."

For a second we stayed in silence, just listening to each other breathing. Then Blaine moved.

"Come on, let's get some sleep." Sliding down so he was lying on his side he pulled me down with him and brought me in close, wrapping his arms around me so I was cocooned in his warmth. "You need some rest." I sighed, staring into his beautiful hazel eyes, taking in every part of him. I loved him so much. I loved him even more than I'd ever thought possible.

"I love you." I whispered. Blaine immediately smiled, rubbing our noses together.

"I love you too." He brought our lips together and we kissed deeply, trying desperately to suck out all the hurt and sadness the other was feeling, to heal ourselves and just be together. I felt myself drifting slowly off to sleep.