May - Part 1 (of ?)

"Listen to what the doctor said," Carole chided him. "You are still on bed rest for a few more days. He wouldn't have released you if you hadn't agreed to that."

Burt sighed and sat back on the couch. It had been a week since he had woken up in a hospital in Columbus and after much begging and promises to be good, the hospital had finally agreed to release him the day before.

With his boys' graduation just around the corner he was itching to start walking around but for now he had to count it as a small victory that he had managed to convince Carole that bed rest didn't mean he couldn't rest on the living room couch.

He wanted to downplay things at first but seeing how worried everyone still was about him made him realize what he had nearly done to his family by playing with his health and ignoring multiple doctor's advices.

It made him realize that he had been selfish, not thinking about his family when he was ruining his health. So he didn't protest when Carole and Kurt presented his new diet even though most things he loved were now forbidden.

As soon as Carole left the living room, Blaine and Kurt came downstairs and took her place. He understood that they just wanted to check on him and were afraid to let him out of sight but it made him feel a bit like a prisoner in his own house.

"You know, I won't make a run for it if you leave me unguarded," he tried to joke but his son just glared at him. "The light is better down here," he lied.

Burt looked over to Blaine who was bouncing up and down nervously. "What's going on? You look nervous, Blaine," he observed. Before Blaine could explain, Kurt cut in, obviously excited about whatever made Blaine act like that.

"Blaine is valedictorian and is freaking out about his speech. I don't know why though. I know he is going to be amazing," he explained.

Burt blinked and stared at Blaine. "Wow, this is amazing, congrats kiddo," he told him. "I'm really proud of you." Blaine gave him a huge toothy smile, eating up the praise like he always did, which in turn always made Burt feel sad because no kid should get this excited because someone told them their were proud of them.

Soon the smile vanished though and Blaine looked a bit sick again. "I don't know what I'm going to say. God, I should have just flunked one of my exams so Quinn could have the honors," he moaned.

Burt saw Kurt give his boyfriend a fond smile. "You'll think of something and we will be there to cheer you on," he told Blaine as he started to massage his back and Blaine moaned again but it was definitely a sound of pleasure now.

Burt cleared his throat and Kurt blushed. "You know, the light might be better upstairs after all for speech writing purposes," he mumbled before he and Blaine fled the room.

After the boys left, Burt was alone for the first time since his return home and it left him alone with his thoughts. He had been confused when he had first woken up, panicking a bit until the tube had been removed from his throat and machines had been disconnected.

The moment the doctors had declared him stable, his teary eyed family had run into the room and Burt had started to realize that something must have been seriously wrong with him. The last thing he remembered was his left arm hurting and feeling dizzy again, so at first he had assumed he had just collapsed a second time.

He had been shocked when he learned that he had been in a coma for over three weeks and that things hadn't been looking good for him. The thought of having an object implanted in him was also disconcerting but if it kept him from getting sick again any time soon, he'd gladly live with it.

Burt was brought out of his musings when he heard the stairs creak behind him and Ethan came around. The young boy sat down in the armchair facing the couch and just stared at Burt.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" he asked as he patted the space next to him. Ethan stood up slowly, before crossing over and sitting down gingerly next to him.

"You're not going back to sleep, are you?" Ethan asked in a small voice and it took Burt a moment to understand that he was talking about the coma. Burt shook his head. "I don't plan to," he said, not wanting to make promises he wasn't sure he could keep.

"I'm sorry I scared you buddy," he continued. "Carole told me you came to see me in the hospital all the time and I just wanted to say that that was really nice of you," he told the boy who reminded him so much of Kurt.

"They wouldn't let me in, but I didn't want to leave you alone. I don't like being alone when I'm sick."

Something told him that Ethan had been left alone a lot, even when he had been sick and it gave him another reason to get healthy again. He wanted to be there for Ethan in the future.

Burt opened his arms for Ethan and the young boy moved closer. Burt waited until Ethan had fallen asleep in his arms before closing his own eyes as well. He was still more exhausted than he cared to admit.

He was on his best behavior over the next couple of days so he would be fit enough to see his sons receive their high school diplomas. Carole had other ideas though trying to convince him that watching it on tape would be better for his health. Burt would budge however.

"I'm sorry Carole. I don't care if I have to stay seated on a chair the whole time, but I'm not missing my boys graduate. I do whatever you want me to do afterward but nothing will keep me away from that."

He knew he had won when Carole grumbled about getting him a cane for it, but Burt couldn't care less. As long as he could be there, he'd even accept using a wheelchair and giving up his favorite flannel shirts.

Kurt looked at his red graduation robes in distain, whishing he was allowed to alter them. Blaine was standing next to him, trying on his own robes in front of the mirror and Kurt wondered – not for the first time – why all kinds of uniforms looked good on his boyfriend while he looked terrible in them.

"Thanks for helping me with the speech," Blaine said when he caught Kurt's eyes in the mirror. Kurt just smiled and waved him off.

"It was my pleasure. There are things I've always wanted to say to the students at McKinley but never had the platform for. Maybe I should have run against Brittany for student council president," he mused. He still had a hard time understanding how Brittany was allowed to stay in office when she had been in danger of not being able to graduate with them.

"And you would have been a great president," Blaine assured him before leaning in for a kiss. Minutes later Kurt couldn't wait to get Blaine out of his robes.

xXx

The next day, Kurt, Carole, Ethan, Finn and his dad piled into Carole's SUV and made their way over to the school. His dad was to stay off his feet under any circumstances, and Kurt had instructed Ethan to make sure he complied if Carole wasn't with him.

All the members of New Directions were waiting together next to the stage for their final performance and Kurt and Finn joined their teammates after promising to let Carole take pictures later. Even Kurt was a bit teary eyed after they finished singing 'We are the champions' and he grabbed Blaine's hand when they got off the stage and led him back to their families.

To his and Blaine's surprise, Cooper was standing next to Tala, but before they had a chance to say hello, Carole pulled them aside and started taking what felt like a million pictures.

Kurt could see that Blaine was still nervous and when principle Figgins took the stage and announced Blaine's speech, he pulled Blaine into his arms, not caring about disapproving looks, and whispered into his ear. "Go make me proud."

Blaine stepped up to the microphone, nervously reaching for his tie yet again, before he leaned forward hoping to remember all the words to the speech he and Kurt had worked on.

"Hi, my name is Blaine Anderson, for those of you who don't know me," he started, clearing his throat when it came out more like a squeak. He straightened his posture and put on his game smile when he spotted Kurt giving him a thumbs up.

If he could sing solos in front of a thousand people he could pull this off as well.

"Now, I know we all want to get out of here as soon as possible so I promise to keep this short." A few people laughed and Blaine relaxed a bit.

"I am aware that not all students of this school are going to like what I'm going to say, but this not for them, this is for the rest of us who couldn't wait to be done with high school." This earned him a few cheers but also confused looks.

"Those who are sad that high school is over and that they are suddenly thrust into the real world might not like where this is going" he continued. "I'd like to speak for everyone who didn't have a voice these past four years, but whose messages were just as important.

In my life I have heard a lot of 'you can'ts' and 'you shouldn'ts'. You can't do that, people wouldn't like that. You shouldn't follow pipe dreams. I'm sure many of you have heard those as well over the years.

However, I'm saying now is the time to say we can and we should. If we don't follow our dreams while we are still young, when should we? And if we always hold back and hide ourselves because others might not like it when we don't, would we ever be happy?

You might think that in school we learn a lot of useless things and when I look at our schools' curricula I have to agree. We often don't leave our schools book smart but we learn things nonetheless.

We learn that life isn't always fair, that often the good doesn't trump the bad and that people can be oh so cruel. We are forced to grow up faster that we might like. And we learn to distrust a system that protects those among us who are valued because they can throw a ball around better than the next kid even when they hurt others because… Because what? Because they can, because they don't have to fear punishment, because it's fun? I wish someone would have told those kids, you can't and you shouldn't.

When I think about McKinley, I don't want to think of my time here as my glory days, but as the time of my life that trained me to fight for what a believe in, for what I want. To not let bullies get me down. Let the bullies have their high school glory days. The rest of us, we're going to take the world by storm."

He was met with loud applause from his glee mates and all other students that had been told they weren't important because they didn't like the 'right' things, while a few former football players glared at him. Blaine couldn't care less. He was done with petty high school hierarchy.

With a smile he took to the mic again. "I present to you, the class of 2012. Thank you and have a nice life."

As soon as he got of the stage he was pulled into a hug, first by Kurt and then by Cooper. Blaine still couldn't believe his brother had chosen his graduation over an audition, but he was glad Cooper was trying for him.

I have never written a speech like this before ... so I hope it didn't suck.