Out

Chapter Eight

Date: March 19, 2016

Disclaimer: I do not own this fandom nor make profit from writing this fiction.

Kurt thrashed as well as he could while burdened by the multitude of wires, tubes, bandages and plaster that appeared to cover him from head to toe. He was drowning in the dark sea of his loneliness and volatile emotions. He was suffocating beneath the crushing weight that represented his life, his chest burning with the lack of air, his limbs on fire with the agony of oxygen deprivation. All at once he was out of control and undeniably restrained. He was a contradiction of fear and fight impulses that made his head and heart pitch and toss nauseatingly against each other until finally his chest was opening. No...he could breath, a wail of sound echoing as bittersweet, ephemeral relief washed over him. As the wail quieted, so did his turmoil and then he was sinking softly, gently into the darkness that no longer grappled him, but teased him downward with tender, sweet caresses. Kurt was no more as the darkness swelled over him, covering him, protecting him, healing him of the hurt, the pain and providing a presence to fill the lonely void. All went silent, quiet...soundless.

The high pitched trill that escaped the beaten teen had startled everything with ears for two floors. The nurses in charge of the youth's care had rushed into the room with their hearts in their throats as they rushed to find out what was going on with their charge. The large figure, the child's father was fretting as the woman that had accompanied him attempted to soothe the clearly agitated, thrashing figure that was fighting valiantly in his sleep on the bed. He refused to be comforted, lashing out even more violently, his eyes scrunched closed with all the strength he could muster until the doctor finally arrived in time to see two of the nurses take blows to the face and chest as they attempted to control the patient. Whatever he was fighting, it was clear that he was fighting to live, to survive. The doctor quickly administered the sedative directly into the teen's upper thigh, helping the nurses to hold him until it could take effect. Once the teen quieted back into a calmer sleep, the team of health care professionals began to work rapidly to repair the damage that the teen had done to himself in his fit.

Bandages were removed, the wounds inspected, stitching redone, lacerations bandaged once more, tubes reattached and more. While the nurses worked to address all the subsequent issues from Kurt's episode, the doctor turned to the teen's father and his wife to question them about what may have led to the youth's aggression. However, his interrogation was useless as they had been more interested in their introspective thoughts than observing the patient in the bed. What they could confidently say was that Kurt had moved from a comatose state to simply being unconscious. He would be more closely monitored as the episode that they had just faced was cause for concern about his mental state. They were worried about the disorientation that would come once he awoke and finally reemerged into the world.

With a hefty sigh, the doctor made a few more notations in Kurt's chart, before leaving the room to the sleeping teen and his parents. Burt's shoulders were slumped more than should be physically possible for a man of his build and size, while Carol seemed to have her hand permanently glued to her mouth with the shock and guilt that she felt in the situation. The elder Hummel was burdened with regret as he re-evaluated all of the memories he had dealing with Kurt's sexuality, his determined silence against those that had bullied him for being who he was as well as in most recent, strained interactions with his son. The results were not coming up in anyone's favor, most especially his son's as he realized just how sucked into the general mindset he had allowed himself to be. It broke his heart and filled him with such self anger, loathing and doubt. How could he have ever been considered a father with all that he had allowed to happen to his son both in and outside of his presence.

As much as Kurt hid from him, Burt was not easily fooled. However, he wanted to wait for his son to come to him, to ask him for help so that he would have something more than just his suspicions. The more he thought about it though, he realized that there had been several occasions when the flamboyant teen had approached him for help and he had brushed it off or ignored it in favor of doing something else for someone else. Kurt had not really, truly been his number one priority for quite a while and he could not even really pinpoint when this had become true. It was just another weight to the regret that was attempting to strangle him. He had let his boy down in so many ways, had been so closed off that he wondered if Kurt would ever be able to forgive, if he would ever be worthy of that same forgiveness. He had to do better, he had to be better if he was ever going to have a chance of rebuilding a relationship with his son, of building a better relationship with his baby boy.

The problem was, at this point, where did he begin. This was not something that would be solved with a new tiara or a Queenie jacket (Alexander McQueen). Not to mention that Kurt would more than likely still be leaving for New York come the end of summer, more than likely sooner if he could manage it once he left the hospital. He was stumped as to what he could possibly do and there seemed to be no immediate solution as to how he should begin, how he should open the door, a window, hell a crack would suffice. He could feel it in his bones that he was going to lose his child, his son, his baby if he did not do something to bridge the chasm that had grown so large between them. What could he do though? What could he do? What?

Puck, Santana and Brittany had only remained in the loop about what was happening with Kurt due to the fact that Puck had unashamedly romanced a couple of the floor nurses in order to obtain information. Santana would have gone outright for the doctor, but he was decidedly uninterested and Puck was not into any bats but his own. Santana was the one to keep in contact with the Warblers whom were stuck in Westerville for their final performances of the year. They were sticklers for keeping their word, so they were locked into their agreements to do these series of one day events for various charity organizations. Thus, Santana kept them updated on Kurt's condition, his improvements and the doctor's hopes and worries about the teen that they all mutually loved and adored for his inner strength and keen sense of self. Kurt was an inspiration to them all to be true to themselves and to stand up for not only what was right, but what they themselves believed in.

Of the three of them, Brittany was the one most effected by Kurt's plight due to the simple fact that against all odds, Kurt was able to follow her train of logic no matter how weird or extraneous it became. He was even better at it than Santana and Brit-Brit absolutely adored the Hispanic cheerleader. Not to mention, that Kurt was a great kisser and despite his continued refusals, she had a long-term plan in place that would ensure that she and the flamboyant teen made out again. She wanted to Santana to join in though because they always shared the really good things in life with each other up to and including boys. Life just would not be as fun without Kurt and the air-headed teen was all about the enjoyment of her life despite the fact that everyone else was always trying to put her down thinking that she would not understand or come to find out that they were insulting her.

Brittany was not the only individual desperately wishing for Kurt's return to the waking world. Puck was in desperate need of the only person whom had never judged him for anything beyond what the glock had done to him before joining Glee. Once they had overcome their tumultuous past, the two had remained distance, but civil until Babygate. During the drama with Quinn's pregnancy and the revelation that the baby was his, Kurt was the only person that had not treated him as though he was lesser for it. Kurt was also the teen that had helped him to find a stable job that did not involve selling himself to the neighborhood cougars. The flamboyant teen had also helped him to budget his earnings to that he could prepare for the baby once it was born as well as help Quinn with the medical expenses that she had been racking up. Then she had given the baby up for adoption without telling him, his little Beth was to be gone. However, that was not the reason that he acted out and landed himself in Juvie.

Kurt had stepped in when Puck had called him about the pregnant Cheerio's plans for after the baby's birth. He had pointed out that Quinn may be willing to give up her parental rights, but she cannot dictate that he do the same. Meaning that Puck could gain full custody of their child as long as he was willing to maintain his parental rights. As Puck worked with the social worker, an amniotic withdrawal of DNA was taken to determine paternity and it was found that Noah Puckerman was in no way related to the child that Quinn Fabray carried. It was a harsh blow, especially after all the heat he had taken, the slushies, the name calling and several of the fights he had gotten into since Rachel opened her over-sized mouth. He had just been so angry that he had not really thought about what he was doing, he just did it. Landing in Juvie was what had really cemented the bond of friendship between Puck and Kurt, even though they had not been open about. Kurt had been the only person, not even his mom, to see him at the detention center.

Kurt was a light at the end of dark tunnel to them all and no matter how much they tried, they knew that they would never be able to return that unique kindness to him. The smaller teen had been bullied, assaulted and ignored for so long that he could not see just how loved he was, how worthy he was of the people that he cared for. The countertenor could not see that he made those around him want to be better, to be worthy of him rather than the other way around. It was frustrating to watch just as much as it was painful because it only emphasized how much they had failed him not only currently, but throughout their lives in Lima. Kurt was so much more than that town would ever be and Puck was not afraid to admit that he wanted to latch onto the teen, to get help in leaving the town and never having to go back. He also wanted a chance to prove not only to himself, but to Kurt that he was truly redeemable and worth the effort that the young Hummel had put into him. For once in his life, Puck wanted to impress someone, he wanted to live up to and even exceed their expectations of him. However, with the other male in his current position, Puckerman could feel himself losing sight of the path that he had been building for himself with Kurt's assistance. He felt adrift, directionless and it was bringing back all of those horrifying emotions that had bogged him down before. He needed Kurt, Satan and Brit-Brit too. They were falling apart at the seams without him!

Finn Hudson could not remember much about the night of the party after about the first couple of hours. He and the rest of the jocks had been drinking pretty hard since the start and he had never been one to really hold his liquor. He vaguely remembered Puck leaving to help the girls home after they began complaining about the overall pathetic behavior of the guys getting drunk off their asses, but he was not sure if that was a real memory or not due to the excessive amount of alcohol. Most importantly, he did not remember Kurt returning home, though he did remember telling him the wrong date for the party. He had just not been able to catch up with Kurt later to remedy the mistake and by the time the party had come around it was too late. He figured his step-brother would just lock himself into the basement for the night or duck back out to spend the night with one of his girlfriends.

What the overly tall teen had not expected was waking up to the police breaking in the front door, guns drawn and sweeping about the room as though there were criminals afoot. It was something that he had only ever seen in movies before and while it had been cool there, it was not so cool to be on the receiving end of it. All of the passed out teens had been jerked out of the house no matter their state of dress or mentality by the officers to be questioned separately. After his confrontation with Puck, they had all been read their rights, arrested and placed in the back of several different cruisers. Once again, something like that looked great on the big screen, but Finn had the completely opposite opinion when it was happening to him. The one thought that resounded through his head was that Kurt had to have called the cops on them and he could not help but be angry that Kurt was still being such a petty person. His mom and Burt were gonna kill him when they got the call from the cops. With a groan he put his head down to avoid looking at the outside scenery that was moving way too fast for his queasy stomach to handle.

A/N: Sorry guys for making you wait for so long. A mixture of writer's block and a new obsession with a new series combined to make me very lackadaisical in my writing and updating. I have not forgotten you though. Hopefully the next update will not be as long in coming. As always, let me know what you think.

Cheers!

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