If you haven't heard of Gerard Manley Hopkins, look up his poem 'As kingfishers catch fire'. The imagery is so beautiful, and I actually painted something earlier based on that poem's title. I'm kinda very proud of it :)

As so T&C, I want to keep going without taking another break. It has been a struggle as of late, and often I am starting to write chapter on Mondays, or even Tuesday evenings. But I shan't abandon it. Only a few chapters left.

And Paul; would you rather this chapter? A bit more snuggly. Or I might dedicate you the one where Cedes and her friend turn up. Yeah, we'll go for that. And that's a promise, okay?

Story so far...

Kurt, in a meeting to decide his possibly future path in fashion design, gets a call from a frantic Blaine, who tells him that one of his students is in hospital.

-*T&C*-

"Blaine!"

The Warbler director turned to see his boyfriend walking down the corridor. The walk turned into a run as Blaine stood up shakily, trying to smile behind his scared tears. Warm arms enveloped him and he dug his head into the chest he knew and loved so much. It was solid and warm and comforting. And he never wanted to let go.

Kurt shushed in his boyfriend's ear as he cried. He ran his hands over a lose head of curls, threading them through his fingers and petting the head beneath. He lowered his head to kiss soft kisses to Blaine's neck, not caring about where they were.

"How is he?" he asked.

Blaine was silent for another couple of minutes, just absorbing warmth. Finally he found the strength to speak and turned his head so his voice wasn't muffled. "Stable," he replied. "They're keeping him in but, really, this is it. He won't even make it to the end of the academic year."

Kurt swallowed. "He..."

Blaine nodded and buried his head into Kurt's shoulder again. He took a shuddered breath as he let more tears fall from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks.

"What if he doesn't make it out of here? What if these are his last few hours and he dies in this hospital? Oh god what do I tell the boys tomorrow?"

Kurt scrunched up his own face. "I don't know," he admitted. He found Blaine's hand and slotted his fingers with his. "But I know one thing. I'm going to be there with you. I'm not letting you out of my sight, okay?"

Blaine breathed in shakily, tightening his hold on Kurt's hand. "I love you."

"I love you too. And we are going to get through this. Together." A nurse walked past and Kurt thought they had better sit down and get out of everybody's way. "Where are we sitting?"

Ten minutes later, Blaine found himself on Kurt's lap. On returning to where he had been sitting, he'd snuggled as close to his boyfriend as he could, and eventually he had made it onto Kurt's lap. He nuzzled under his chin and tried to stay small. He didn't care that he was meant to be the adult in this situation, or that he needed to look like a teacher because that was what he was to Robert. For the past ten minutes, Blaine had asked to be distracted, and so Kurt had regaled Blaine with the tale of that morning, and how he didn't know if his work would be picked up or not. Now, they were sat in silence, and it was deafening the pair of them.

"Dalton. The boys. I just left. They have no cover. Oh god, they need cover!"

Kurt shushed Blaine and pushed him back down on his chest. He kissed his forehead softly. "I can ring Greg," he offered, "and tell him what has happened. He'll probably already know, of course, but it'll put your mind at rest. And you know Greg; if he can't find cover then he'll do it himself."

Blaine nodded dumbly. "Can you ring him now?" he asked. "Please?"

Kurt nodded, kissing Blaine again softly, before reaching into his jacket pocket, which he had hung on the back of his chair, not caring about creases for once, and searched his contacts for the head teacher's number.

"Hullo?"

"Greg. Hi. It's Kurt, Blaine's boyfriend."

Greg smiled as he continued to shuffle about his office. "I know who you are, Kurt. Besides, we had that conversation the other day. When... you know."

"...I know."

Greg sat down, hearing his desk chair groan. "I take it you're calling me about Blaine, then? I heard there was some sort of incident earlier? And I haven't seen him at all today."

"Um, yeah. It's... We're at the hospital."

Greg sat up sharply, eyes bulging. "What?!"

"Robert. They were all in the Aviary this morning and then he collapsed. Blaine called an ambulance. We're, um, still here now."

"Oh god. Shit. Sorry. Um, is he okay?"

There was a long pause before Kurt answered, and Greg's heart dropped.

"He's alive. But he won't last much longer. This is... it."

Greg heard a whimper from the other end of the line. He figured Blaine just have been there. "I guess that explains why Peter was playing up earlier. I mean, you would, wouldn't you?"

"Peter was playing up?"

"Peter? Oh god. What has he done?"

Greg shook his head even though Blaine wasn't there to see him. "It wasn't much. He was just causing a bit of problem with several teachers. He was sent to me a few times."

"Baby, what happened?"

"Just a bit of fooling about in lessons, honey. He's okay. Where is he now?"

Greg smiled fondly at the brief conversation he caught between his employee and his boyfriend. "We sent him back to lesson. But I think it might be better if we call him out altogether; if he's worrying about Robert then he won't settle down. And I know that you called up to worry about glee on Blaine's behalf, but it'll be fine. We don't have any cover in today, but I shall do it. Yeah, I know that they could just go home, but I think a state of normalcy would be better."

"That would be great."

"No, it's fine- shit. I have a date with... No, I'll just cancel it. Or I could ask her to... Anyway. Don't worry about anything; I'll sort it all out. And I'll pull Peter out of class. Get back to Blaine. Or just concentrate on him as by the sounds of it he's there. I'll call you later to check up, so don't even worry about letting me know about anything, okay? Relax as well as you can, given the circumstances. And, yeah, I'll be praying for him."

Greg put the phone down and exhaled. He drummed his fingers on his desk. Poor Robert. He had known from correspondence home that Robert was unwell. He'd known, from recent calls to his mother, that he wouldn't be around for much longer, but that Robert didn't want anybody to know. He just had no idea that it'd all be so... well, you know, real.

He sighed again and stood up, walking from his office and to Geography, where he had sent Peter to only quarter of an hour previously.

Kurt hung up and looked at Blaine, who was still nestled on his chest. "I've done it," he informed him. "He's pulling Peter out and will then do glee. We're not to worry about Dalton because he has it all under control. Okay?"

Blaine nodded dumbly. He was exhausted. He just wanted to go to sleep, and find it was all a nightmare when he woke up and he was still snuggled with Kurt in bed, having kisses pressed onto his bare chest. Yes, that would be nice.

But deep down, he knew that this was real. He knew that Robert was at the other end of the corridor, and that his student was a little worse for wear. More than a little. Dying. But he also knew that Kurt was here, and that Kurt had promised he'd stick by him, and that Kurt wouldn't leave until he was ready to go it alone. He had Kurt, and no matter what else happened, he knew it'd all be okay in the end.

As I've said before, I think I only have a few more chapters of this fic to go, and I should (hopefully) be done before 50. If you're wondering when this is set, it's the Thursday after Nationals (yeah, a lot has happened since the boys graced that stage...)

-* Don't forget to check out luspeak. wordpress. com for updates, deleted chapters and spin-offs! *-

Thank you for reading :) How about you tell me about your favourite fic? I want to add some to my reading list.