Prompt: Barney Stinson - "Sometimes we search for one thing but discover another." -'How I Met Your Mother'

I followed behind my mother slowly. I never felt more nervous about doing something as I did right now. I knew it was the right thing to do but that didn't mean I wasn't scared. I knew Burt was going to be angry, and he had every right to be.

"Couldn't you just tell him," I asked.

"No. It needs to come from you," she replied firmly, stopping in front of a doorway. She knocked on the open door as she stuck her head into the room. Moments later Burt Hummel was stepping into the hallway. "Finn has something he wants to tell you," she said, looking from Burt to me.

I took a deep breath as the big man glared down at me. "I'm responsible for throwing Kurt into the dumpster, well a friend and myself did. It was supposed to be a harmless prank to satisfy the rest of the guys on the football team with the ritual hazing. No one was supposed to get hurt."

"But he did get hurt."

"I know. And I'm sorry, though I know that doesn't count for a lot," I said, looking down at the floor now.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Burt finally spoke up. "No, it does count for something. It doesn't make what you did right, but I respect you owning up to what you did. Besides, I played sports in school as well, and am ashamed to say I was part of more than one hazing prank. Guess we got lucky that none of them went wrong."

"I'll never do it again," I assured him, looking up from the floor. I felt as if I was dodging a bullet having been prepared to get yelled at. "I'm going to go confess to Figgins first thing when I get to the school."

Burt looked briefly toward the hospital room and then back at me. "I don't think that's necessary," he said, surprising me. From the look on her face my mom was surprised to. "Kurt refused to even tell me who was involved for some reason. Given the circumstances, I think we should respect his wishes and keep this between us. I don't want to upset him anymore than he already is. But you need to promise me you won't be involved in bullying my son again."

"Absolutely," I replied, surprised by his decision. I had thought for sure Burt would be demanding the highest form of punishment possible for me and Puck.

"And I also think you should go in there and apologize to, Kurt," Burt added, with a nod toward the room.

I gulped. Somehow facing Kurt was just as hard as facing his father had been but my mom had wanted me to apologize to my classmate as well. Besides, Kurt deserved an apology even if I didn't deserve his forgiveness.

With a nod in response, I started past him and toward the room he had exited from moments before.