Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters. Those would be the property of Ryan Murphy, Fox and so on and so forth.

Author's Note:

All right, I've decided to release you from that terrible cliffhanger. Lol. Because for once, I'm NICE! Lol. I try not to leave you guys on those evil cliffies for too long. ^.^ Anyways, it's late and I'm going to make this short. I hope you guys like the chapter! =D

-Casey

Reviewers:

Klaine Lover - Karofsky deserves many a bad thing to happen to him. He wanted to badly for Blaine to love him in his sick twisted mind...but alas, he's sick and there's just no excusing it.

klainediva - Yeah, I toyed with the idea of having it be one of them, but for some reason I just have to make so many bad things happen to Blaine. =( I'm mean. I know, Kurt's gonna flip when he finds out why! Lol.

fanficloverme96 - Totally a sick and twisted Romeo! Lol. I loved that interview with Chris and so glad you coined it as a catch phrase, that is way too badass. ^.^ But yes, I did indeed enjoy that fanfiction whether it was written in 30 minutes or not, it was cute!

tranghana - Man, we'll have to see what my evil mind came up with this time. =P

theslytheringleek - We shall have to see. =P

candylockwood – My goodness! I hope everyone at University doesn't think you're crazy! Lol. They need to understand that Blaine being shot is a trivial matter! Lol. My week's been pretty good, just busy…but still miraculously finding time for updates! Lol. How's yours been?

Lopedogg – I know, I know, I'm mean. Lol. I'm glad you admire my cliffhanging skills. ;D Tee-hee!

Azaelia67 – I hope this was soon enough! Lol. I'm writing these chapters like crazy! Hehehe. ^.^

GreggoAddict – Man, I didn't shoot Blaine! It was all Karofsky's doing! Damn that Karofsky! I wanted to get you all off that cliffhanger, so I wrote this chapter as soon as I got some free time. =)

flamealchemist15 – That is a positive. Dave has been caught! But now we have to see if Blaine will be all right or not. =/ Evil, evil me…

elphaba-army – Indeed, another evil cliffhanger. Lol. I'm glad you appreciate my very mean ability. Lol. =D

Starsleeper – Aww, your statement about "Bear-cub" made me think of "The First Time" when he mentioned being referred to as a bear cub. In the show, I actually have a soft spot for Karofsky…lol. I guess it doesn't reflect in my writing, but I genuinely found my soft spot when he started the bully-whips thing with Santana. ^.^ Anyways, I tried to update as quickly as I could. =D

MiaLawrence – She did love Blaine. We finished disc 2 of Season 2 just a few hours ago and she got to see Blaine and she's happy to see Kurt happy. ^.^ Aww, your sister's sick? *Hugs* I hope she's all right! Coffee and DVDs are the best! That sums up the perfect day for me. Today it was a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte, a blanket and Glee for me! Yay for Klaine cookies! I hope you have a great week too, hon!

GLEEKfreak101 – We shall see, my friend, we shall see. ;P

stupidamericanidioms91 – I know. Cliffhangers are the worst! But yet…I love to write them. Teehee!

ohheyjessica – I know, I know, I really am not nice with those cliffhangers. Lol.

riker-rocky-ross-lynchlover795 – Awwww! So I'm not evil, then? Lol. I appreciate the compliment, you are way too sweet!

gleek101Obsessed – I'm glad to hear that I've got you on the edge of your seat! =D It means I must be doing something right. ;D

AisforAwesome – Lol, yes, I am being mean…but hey, at least I get you a pretty decently quick update, right? *Hopeful puppy dog eyes smile* Lol.

Man, you guys are not happy with those evil cliffhangers, lol. It's funny, as a reader I HATE cliffhangers….but yet I write them like crazy…I'm sick. Lol. Well hey; at least it was a quick update. Thanks for the reviews guys! Motivation has been great as of late! Much love!

Chapter 16. "A Promise That Will Remain Unbroken"

Kurt stared at the doctor in disbelief, it couldn't be true, it couldn't. The words had to be some form of a sick joke.

"We discovered in surgery that the bullet tore clean through his heart. If the point of entry had just been a slight inch to the right, we could have repaired the damage. Unfortunately by the time we got him into surgery he had lost an extraordinary amount of blood and there was just no saving him. He flat lined on the operating table and we couldn't regain a pulse. I-I'm very sorry for your loss," The doctor said unemotionally as he must have been trained to do after probably giving this horrific news to a myriad of families before them.

Kurt's reason for being was over. He would never again hear Blaine's beautiful voice, feel the warmth of Blaine's arms around him, or feel the touch of his lips against his. It was all gone just like that. To hear that there wasn't even a glimmer of a chance of saving him destroyed Kurt. Blaine had been taken from him in the most violent of ways. It shouldn't have been like that; they were supposed to have been married for 50 years, had a family together and lived their life happily until the day that they were ready to part from this earth together. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

New York, Broadway, their whole future was gone just by a few simple words. All for what? Karofsky? Kurt couldn't bring himself to think anymore. His heart already felt like it was going to explode; thinking about it anymore was going to destroy him more than it had already. He felt his throat constrict to an almost unbearable tightness as he attempted to battle the sobs that were determined to inhabit his entire being.

"He's gone? Just like that?" Kurt whispered, the question coming out more as a statement.

Mrs. Anderson let out a high pitched sob and buried her head into her husband's chest who was no longer trying to keep a brave face upon hearing the news that his one and only son was dead.

Kurt looked from one person to the next as he took in their grief and felt smothered. He needed to be alone; he couldn't be here. As soon as Burt had placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, Kurt turned on his heal and ran straight for the elevator. Blaine was gone forever and Kurt was completely alone now. He just needed to get away from the hospital. Maybe that would make it seem less true? He sure it wouldn't, but he couldn't take in everyone else's grieving, he was too preoccupied with his own. He had to go somewhere; anywhere. He'd just lost Blaine, what else did he have to lose?

Kurt came out of his daydream with a jolt. His breathing was erratic as he slowly pulled his mind back into reality. It had been a sick daydream, that's all it was. When the doctor had come out to deliver the news about Blaine he had to excuse himself for a quick minute to inform a nurse of something. In his absence, Kurt must have dreamt the worst possible outcome he could receive. He thanked the powers above that it had been nothing but a horrible hallucination.

Once the doctor had reappeared into the waiting room, everyone rushed over to hear the much needed news about Blaine. Kurt couldn't bear to breathe until he heard whether or not the love of his life was gone forever. He couldn't even fathom the thought of his daydream even potentially being a reality. He prayed that the Doctor just got on with it because even if he wanted to, he couldn't hold his breath forever.

"Doctor Edwards?" Mrs. Anderson asked tentatively through her tears. She was shaking like a leaf as Mr. Anderson held onto her shoulders as tight as he could. Kurt could see that he was trying to mentally prepare himself for the worst. His breathing was deep and his eyes remained unblinking as he stared at the doctor awaiting the news of his son.

"I have just finished the surgery on Blaine," He started, taking a deep breath. The audience was hanging on the doctor's every word.

"The surgery was successful; we managed to recover the bullet that had entered through his chest which miraculously missed his heart. He is really very lucky to have survived this. If the bullet hadn't have been off by an inch or so, most likely it would have entered his heart and I would have had to come out to deliver worse news," The doctor finished.

"Worse news?" Kurt caught the last words the doctor had said. To him, it didn't sound good.

"Currently, Blaine is in a coma. Whilst the surgery was successful, we don't know for a certain fact if he'll wake up. He suffered a large amount of blood loss which caused his body to enter a state of shock. I remain hopeful that he will wake up and recover from this, but only time will tell if I'm right," The doctor went on with a hopeful look in his eyes.

A coma? Kurt felt his stomach flip as if he was on a never ending roller coaster. A coma that the doctor seemed hopeful that he would wake up from. Kurt had to count his blessings that Blaine wasn't dead, but at the same time, there was still a possibility that he could lose Blaine forever. A sudden wave of dizziness swept over him, thankfully his father was stationed behind him, otherwise he might have gone toppling to the floor. Thankfully no one had noticed; if they had, they'd probably instruct him to go home and rest, but there wasn't a chance in hell he was leaving this hospital.

"Thank you, Doctor Edwards," Mr. Anderson started, shaking the Doctor's hand gratefully. Even with Blaine in a coma, the man had saved his son's life. "When can we see him?"

"We've moved him from surgery and he is now in his own recovery room. You may go in now if you'd like, but for the time being, we'd prefer it be family only," Doctor Edwards replied before he left to have another word with a nurse.

Kurt felt his heart drop at the last part. He understood that it was only right that his family be the first ones to see him at this time, but felt downtrodden all the same as he was being denied to see the boy he loved. He turned around to go back to his seat as The Anderson's made their way over to the door but surprisingly they stopped before they went through it.

"Kurt, aren't you coming, sweetheart?" Mrs. Anderson asked before Kurt could manage to even take his seat.

"I-I'm not a member of your—"Kurt started but Mr. Anderson cut him off.

"Kurt, in our eyes, you are a member of this family now. You've been here this entire time for Blaine like no one else has. The way he looks at you…is like if you disappeared, life would lose its meaning. I know that feeling, it's the exact same way I feel when I look at my wife," Mrs. Anderson took her husband's hand as he continued. "Whilst I never understood the love between the two of you, I am learning and can see it now. We'd like for you to come with us," He finished with a light smile causing the skin around his hazel eyes to wrinkle. Blaine had definitely inherited his beautiful eyes from his father.

Kurt felt his heart swell at the words as he attempted to control the flow of tears streaming from his eyes. If circumstances had been different, he would have probably ran into Mr. Anderson's arms or something, but now wasn't the time. Instead, he smiled in gratitude and gave a nod as he turned to his father to tell him to go home to Carol and to await his call. Burt gave his son a hug and affirmed that he would do exactly that. Once Burt made his exit, Kurt went over to join the Anderson's on the journey to Blaine's room.

Once they arrived, Mr. Anderson pulled the curtains back revealing Blaine lying once again in a hospital bed, only this time, the circumstances were far more severe. He was in a coma that he could potentially not wake up from.

The Anderson's stayed together on the left side of the bed whilst Kurt walked to the other side. He lowered himself into the chair that was left by the bedside and took Blaine's hand in his on instinct; it was cold. Kurt bit his lip as his tears ducts once again betrayed him. Blaine looked peaceful as if he were only sleeping and would wake up, take one look at Kurt and ask him why he looked so upset. He was reminded instantly of when his dad had been in a coma. He could hardly believe that that had only been a year ago.

"I hate hospitals," Kurt muttered through his tears as he put Blaine's hand up to his lips and kissed it.

Mrs. Anderson grabbed Blaine's other hand as she sat down on the other side. Mr. Anderson remained standing behind her with his hands still placed in a comforting gesture on her shoulders.

"I never thought I'd have to see my baby in the hospital again," She said as tears of her own continued to fall down her cheeks. "In the past couple of years, we've spent too much time in hospitals. That first time from that dreadful dance and now all of this."

"He never deserved any of this…" Kurt stated softly as the very thought of Karofsky filled his mind. That bastard deserved every bad thing in the world to happen to him. Kurt normally didn't think this way, but given the circumstances, he was willing to change his mind for this occasion. He would never forgive Dave for preying on Blaine like this.

"I guess the only comfort now is that his attacker has been apprehended, so that when he wakes up, he won't have to live in fear," Mrs. Anderson hesitated on the when, she had been ready to say if but her motherly instincts told her to remain positive.

"Karofsky won't come after Blaine again ever," Kurt muttered darkly.

If there was even a chance that Dave wouldn't be behind bars for a good long while, he would probably kill the asshole himself.

"Kurt honey, are you sure you wouldn't like to go home and get some rest?" Mrs. Anderson asked when she and Mr. Anderson had returned from grabbing coffee from the cafeteria downstairs. She handed a cup to Kurt as she gave him a warm smile. Her eyes looked exhausted from all of the crying she had done all night. It had been a few hours that they had sat vigilant at Blaine's bedside. Kurt had spent the time on the phone as he had received some concerned phone calls from The Warblers asking how Blaine was doing and when they could come down and see him. He had just gotten off the phone with Jeff when the Anderson's had returned.

Kurt had been filled in a bit more on what happened from Jeff and he was relieved to find out that no one else had been hurt. He kept it very brief and said that he'd rather that Blaine tell him more about the Karofsky thing. He also said that he and The Warblers would be by to visit the next day. Kurt looked up at Mrs. Anderson to reply to her question and began by shaking his head firmly.

"I can't leave him, I just can't," Kurt replied, taking the coffee gratefully and sipped at it. "I know that it's a school night, but I want to spend every waking hour I can by his side. I made a promise that I wouldn't leave him alone again. Not when he needs me most."

"Sweetheart, I'm sure Blaine would want you to sleep. He wouldn't like it if you were risking your health by denying yourself much needed rest just to sit and wait for him to wake up," Mrs. Anderson tried again.

"I wouldn't feel right leaving him. I made a promise that I will not break…not for anything in the world," Kurt responded as he suppressed a yawn.

Mrs. Anderson excused herself for a moment as she went to speak with one of the nurses. Kurt remained in the room alone with Mr. Anderson for company. He hadn't spent a lot of alone time with Mr. Anderson, but after the past months, he'd grown less and less anxious when he was in his presence. He no longer looked at Kurt with a mixture of reluctant acceptance and confusion.

"I meant everything that I said out there you know."

Kurt looked up at Mr. Anderson who was staring back into Kurt's eyes with sincerity.

"Sorry?" Kurt asked in confusion.

"Outside in the waiting room when I told you that I considered you family; I meant every word of it, Kurt. At first when Blaine came home and told me that he had met a boy named Kurt and was talking of you non-stop, I dismissed it as what I had referred to as his 'gay phase'," Mr. Anderson continued appearing to be a bit ashamed by his words.

Kurt's cheeks warmed in a blush when Mr. Anderson mentioned the part about Blaine talking about him non-stop. He hadn't heard that before. He thought that in the beginning Blaine never even gave a second thought about him what with the whole Jeremiah thing, so he was pleasantly surprised at this news. Mr. Anderson smiled at Kurt's reddened cheeks as he continued.

"At first I didn't believe it when Blaine told me he was gay. I was hard headed and shall we say rather closed minded. I'm sure Blaine told you all about that summer that I had him fix that car with me?"

Kurt chuckled. "Oh yeah, he's mentioned that all right."

Mr. Anderson smiled in return as he combed his fingers unsuccessfully through his gelled hair; Blaine did the same thing when he was anxious and it was yet another silly tick he inherited from his father. "Yeah, it was most certainly not one of my brightest moments. I mean, I'm still learning, but I know now that what I did was never the way to go about it. I cannot control who my son can or can't love. Truth be told, I'll never know why I thought I could in the first place. Being gay just wasn't standard practice when I was growing up and having my son be gay was something that I was never prepared for. It came as a real shock to me when Blaine came out. There was never any indication that he was…I mean, he had girls around him all the time growing up…"

Kurt let out another chuckle at that. "In my experience, girls tend to cling to gay guys. From what I've been told, we make them feel safe and unthreatened. Plus, it doesn't hurt that we share um, similar interests. It's not the same for everyone, but it's more common than you'd think."

"Looking at it now, I suppose it makes sense, but at the time, it confused me. I never loved Blaine any less after he came out. I was just trying to make sense of it all. I didn't know what to do. I guess I was just trying to take the easy route out and see if I could…I don't know, make him realize he was straight after all. I know Blaine's harbored some resentment towards me for it," Mr. Anderson looked down at his son sadly. He took Blaine's hand in his own and held it tightly.

"I always wanted to tell him that I never meant to make him feel as if he'd disappointed me. He has never disappointed me, not one day in his life. How could he? He's tried so hard to be the perfect son: straight A's, well-mannered, respects authority, lead soloist of Glee Club, President of the debate team, how could I not be proud? I only hope that I can get the chance to tell him that," Mr. Anderson looked as if he wanted to cry as he gazed down at Blaine's comatose form. He let go of Blaine's hand and proceeded to place his hand over Blaine's forehead and brushed the loose strands of hair that had become un-gelled from his eyes.

Things grew silent as Mr. Anderson became increasingly lost in his own thoughts. Thankfully Mrs. Anderson returned before the silence had become too uneasy.

"Kurt, I spoke with the nurse and she said you are free to sleep in that unoccupied bed next to Blaine's. If I can't get you to leave Blaine's side so that you can get some rest, I'm going to make you get some rest here. I'm still a mom and want what's best for you. I also spoke with your father and he said that since we're here that it's all right that you stay. He said that he'll call you out sick for school tomorrow, but only for tomorrow," She spoke sternly, but smiled at the joy she could see in Kurt's eyes. "He also made it abundantly clear that he too wants you to get some rest. We'll wake you if anything changes. Do we have a deal?"

Kurt responded with a tighter smile and gave in. "All right, I'll try," He replied as he stood up. He looked down at Blaine with a sad smile before he brought his lips down to Blaine's forehead. "Good night, sweetheart. I love you," He whispered softly before he climbed into the bed next to him and turned so that he was still facing Blaine. He closed his eyes and soon enough fell into a very uneasy sleep.

Oooook! For once I didn't end it on an intense cliffhanger! YAY! Lol. I was so mean the past few updates. Lol. I'm sure I may have scared to guys with the way I opened this chapter, I'm mean like that…lol. Also, I know that normally there would be just the one bed in a hospital room, but I decided since it is fiction and Kurt won't leave the hospital that we would just pretend that another bed could be there. Kurt's gotta sleep! Lol. Well anyway, let me know what you think as always and we'll see if we can't keep this update trend going! =D