“Kurt? Kurt are you still there?” Cassandra asked after a moment.

Kurt forced himself to respond, “Y-yeah.”

“Do you happen to know where Bill has gotten to? He said he was going to go visit Blaine and he still hasn’t come home. I mean, assuming you and Blaine are still together…” She trailed off, clearly uncertain.

“I… you mean… you don’t know?”

“Don’t know what, sweetheart? Oh gosh, did you two break up? I’m so sorry if I’ve-“

“No, we didn’t. Well… we did, but we’re back together—that’s not the point. I mean that… Blaine’s in the hospital Mrs. Anderson,” He paused at her gasp, “And it’s because of your husband that he’s here.”

“W-what do you mean?” Her voice was quiet, “Surely you’ve got the wrong person.”

Kurt scowled, and when he replied his voice was dark. “No, I’d recognize him anywhere.”

“But he wouldn’t…” Cassandra paused, “He couldn’t. He loves Blaine. That’s why he dragged us out here. To see if Blaine would think about coming back to us. We were all so upset when he decided to distance himself from our family.”

“What… what?” Kurt shook his head before realizing she couldn’t see him, “No, that’s not what happened at all. Your husband kicked Blaine out.”

“No, Blaine told him that he wanted to try and fend for himself for a while…”

“No, Mrs. Anderson, he didn’t. Blaine was forced out of your family by his father and he hasn’t been allowed to return. Because he’s gay. Because he’s with me.”

“That’s ridiculous. Arthur has always been so accepting of Blaine’s sexuality.” Cassandra spoke so weakly and Kurt knew she was having her own doubts, but he couldn’t stop himself from snorting at the statement.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Anderson, but you have seriously be deceived. Arthur,” Kurt spit the name out, “Was never accepting. He hated me for turning Blaine gay, although he was clearly comfortably gay before we even met.”

“But he…”

“Why don’t you come to the hospital?” Kurt suggested, “So we can talk in person. I feel terrible doing this over the phone.”

“Okay.” She said and the line went dead. Kurt sighed. “Blaine what am I supposed to do without you. I was hoping I’d be able to make a good impression on your family this time.”

He held Blaine’s hand tightly in his own, and leaned down to press his ear to Blaine’s chest. He knew that he was alive but… he felt the need to hear his heartbeat. It was weak, but comforting. Kurt could still feel his breath ghosting his cheek and he felt more tears pool in his eyes. He reached up to cup Blaine’s cheek with his free hand, fingers roaming over his lips, the slight creases around his eyes from smiling. Kurt’s heart clenched painfully as a picture of Blaine’s warm smile, hearty laugh, the way his whole face lit up when he was happy. He even looked beautiful when he was sad. Blaine looked so… so strange like this, void of any emotion. Kurt leaned down to press a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, his tears falling onto Blaine’s face. He broke down completely and buried his face in Blaine’s chest as sobs wracked his body.

“Oh, Kurt,” Kurt jumped away from Blaine at the sound of Cassandra’s voice. She was standing in the doorway to the room with one hand lifted to her parted lips as the other held her steady against the doorframe. Her curly brown-black hair was all over the place and her shirt’s buttons were done up haphazardly, most not in the right holes, and she was still wearing the hotel slippers. “Oh, my baby.” She ran over to Blaine’s side, the one not occupied with Kurt that is, and pulled his other hand to hers. She was on the side that showed his wound clearly. “Arthur… he did this?”

Kurt closed his eyes painfully, “Yes.”

“Where is he now?” Her voice was strong and angry despite the tears in her eyes. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Anderson. He… he ran off before the ambulance was even called.”

“Kurt, honey, please call me Cassandra. You’re family. You’re the boy that my son fell in love with.” She reached across Blaine to place a hand on his.

Kurt let out a sob. “But I let him down… I keep letting him down.”

“No, honey, no.” Cassandra moved around the bed and pulled him towards her, Kurt couldn’t help but curl into her warmth as she stroked her hair. It brought back memories of when his own mother used to do that, and Kurt cried harder. “Blaine he… he changed so much after he met you. He wasn’t as closed off; he started sticking up for himself and actually talking to us. He… he was happier around you and you always bring out the best in him. You were so young when you met, and I knew that you were going to be together in the end, despite the fact you two were both young and naïve and took forever to admit to each other that you did, in fact, have very strong feelings for one another.” She lightly pushed Kurt back so she could look in his eyes, “You met so young, there were so many things that could go wrong, but just like I knew you would; you guys made it through it. I don’t know how bad it got between you two, but you’re together now, right?”

Kurt sniffed and nodded, even smiling a bit. “I love him. I always have.”

“I know, sweetheart. And I know he loves you too. I just… I wish I could’ve been there for you both when you had to go through whatever you had to go through.” She pushed his hair away from his face.

“I wish you could’ve been there too. Blaine’s had it… oh; it’s been so hard for him, Cassandra. When I first came to his apartment it was such a mess…” Kurt continued to tell her their story, not leaving out anything even if he was a bit worried when he got to the part about Ellington, but she took it all in stride. She didn’t call him any horrible names, even told him that it was okay, that he managed to realize he was wrong and that that was good. When he finished, Kurt felt so much lighter. Cassandra pulled him into a tight hug and Kurt returned it whole-heartedly.

“Do you… he’s going to wake up soon, right?” Kurt asked.

“I hope so.”

“Mrs. Anderson… I know this isn’t really my place to ask, but can you please make sure your husband stays away from him?”

“Trust me, Kurt; I don’t want anything to do with that man anymore.” She snorted, “And I’m the one with the money, so a divorce will be no problem for me.”

“I feel terrible for breaking up your family…”

“Trust me, I’d rather have no husband than one that lies to me and kicks our own son out of our lives. Without my permission.”

Kurt smiled weakly and they fell into a comfortable silence, simply watching as Blaine lay there. Both jumped at the slightest movement, and their eyes strayed to the heart monitor every half a minute. It was nearly four in the morning before Kurt let himself fall asleep, his head resting on Blaine’s chest and his hand still tightly holding Blaine’s.

“Mr. Hummel.” Kurt opened his eyes and looked around, taking in all the white. He sat up and everything came back all at once. His throat closed up as he looked down a Blaine, who hadn’t changed since the night before. “Mr. Hummel?” The voice repeated, more questioning this time. Kurt looked up to see a police officer standing to his left.

“Yes?” His voice was weak from disuse and the amount of crying he did yesterday.

“We’re here to ask a few questions about what happened yesterday.” Kurt looked the officer up and down, noticing that he was a bit younger and seemed nervous. “Would you mind if I asked a few questions?” Kurt shook his head. “Okay, let’s start with the basics. Where you and Blaine alone in the apartment the night before the attack?”

“Of course. We’d just gotten back from a lovely date and were exhausted, so we went to bed.”

“And then you woke up the next morning—it was you who woke first, yes?” Kurt nodded, “So you woke up the next morning and what happened?”

“I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and put the coffee on so I could go back to bed and cuddle with my boyfriend for a while.”

The officer nodded and wrote some things down, “And then?”

“Then I heard the front door open, and when I turned around Arthur Anderson was standing in our doorway. He looked furious when he saw me. Blaine had woken up then and was obviously still half-asleep so it took him a minute or so to clue in.”

“And you’re positive it was Arthur Anderson?”

Kurt laughed bitterly. “Of course I am. I’d recognize the man anywhere. He made Blaine’s life hell and has always hated me.”

“Right, of course.” The officer coughed, “What happened next?”

“There was a lot of yelling, and Arthur called us some terrible names-“

“What kind of names?”

Kurt glared at being interrupted, but forced the names out, a sneer on his face the whole time and his voice dripping venom. “Faggots, fag, he accused me of ‘turning Blaine gay’.” The officer nodded and told him to continue with his story, “Anyway, there was a lot of shouting and then the next thing I knew Blaine was pushing me out of the way, and I was on the floor. When I looked back up I saw Arthur’s cane connect with Blaine’s head and then he-“ Kurt’s voice cracked, “Then he fell to the floor.”

“And then you called an ambulance?”

Kurt shook his head, “I was trying to make sure he was okay, and I was holding him and trying to keep him awake. I told his father to call, but the fucking coward fled. Luckily our neighbour came in and called the ambulance for me.”

“Okay. That should be it. Thank you, Mr. Hummel.” Kurt nodded and watched the officer leave, feeling completely deflated afterwards. Cassandra came back into the room with a steaming cup.

“Here,” She handed it to him. It was coffee. Kurt offered a weak smile and thanked her, taking a sip. Despite the situation, it warmed him. That is, until he was reminded of when Blaine was in New York—the second time—and he had tried to make coffee on Kurt’s espresso machine. He had made such a mess. A bubble of laughter escaped him and when Cassandra asked what was funny, he told her the story. They both laughed and she told a story in return. Each was holding one of Blaine’s hands tightly in their own, but they tried to keep the mood happy with the silly stories.

“There was this one time,” Cassandra started, her head tilting to the side and a smile on her lips, “He had to be about seven and we went to the local park. I remember one of the little girls coming up to him and kissing his cheek. His face was priceless; he was so disgusted and ran off. I knew then he was gay.”

They both laughed again. “I have this one memory from High School. It was the week of exams and Blaine was so worried about his French exam. Of course, I’ve always been naturally talented in the language, so I didn’t need to study. But I thought I’d try and help out so I refused to speak to him in English. I remember, about half way through the day, he got so annoyed that he spent a good half an hour studying the dictionary and coming up with this phrase. I knew what he was trying to say, of course, but he ended up saying that ‘he was going to go to break if she wouldn’t speak English’. I laughed so hard, and he just couldn’t understand why.”

Cassandra laughed and looked at her son’s face. “He always has been terrible at French.”

A couple hours later Cassandra was half way through one of her own stories when Kurt thought he felt pressure on his hand. He waved it off, and tried to listen to her story, but it happened again. He looked down at Blaine, squeezing his own hand. When the pressure was returned Kurt let out a cry of joy and took Blaine’s face gently in his hands. His eyes slowly opened, and hazel met blue.