AN: Apparently updating every day doesn't work out right now, so I'm aiming for every second day.

Chapter 11: The Ugly Truth - Part 2

Blaine

Blaine was pacing in the hallway, questions running through his mind. How long had that all been going on? Had it already happened when they had been friends as kids? Why had Kurt never confided in him? Well, he could guess the answer to this, because he was sure he wouldn't have understood as a kid. He would probably have wanted to play the hero and protect Kurt like he had wanted to protect him from the mean kids at school.

Still, it felt as if he didn't know Kurt at all. Had everything Kurt had ever told him been lies? As much as it pained him to think about those things, he also didn't want to lose Kurt again. He couldn't let anyone take him away, just when he got his friend back.

"The police with Kurt?" his dad asked, who must have snuck up on him, because Blaine hadn't even seen him approach. Blaine nodded. "Your friends are all in the waiting room, refusing to leave before they get a chance to see Kurt. I told them, we'd probably want to ask him first." Blaine nodded again.

"Can Kurt stay with us?" he suddenly asked, his thoughts still preoccupied with worst case scenarios where social services moved Kurt to another city for away from Lima. His dad's shoulders slumped. "As much as I would want that too, I don't think it's that easy," he told Blaine and Blaine's shoulders slumped as well.

"But let me talk to the lady from social services for a moment okay?" his dad told him, pointing at an older lady approaching Kurt's hospital room.

"Excuse me, Burt Hummel, we spoke briefly already. I wanted to say that if Kurt needs a place to stay we'd be interested in taking in him permanently," his dad told the woman, who stopped to face them.

"Well, nothing is decided yet as I still need to speak to Kurt, but if you are really interested we can send someone over to your house on Monday, to go over the requirements with you and the vetting process," she explained and Blaine sighed because that sounded like a lot of bureaucracy would be involved and everyone knew the government didn't work very fast.

"We'd appreciate it," his dad told the woman. "But until we reach a decision regarding his mother, we would of course let Kurt stay with you if this is what he wants. We want what is best for his wellbeing," she added and Blaine finally managed to smile a bit again.

If all went well, Kurt would tell a horror story about his mother as well and then he would come to stay with them permanently and Blaine could take care of him and help him move forward.

He watched as the police officer left Kurt's room and the woman from social services stepped inside, sitting back down on the floor, his dad next to him.

"You doing okay here, kiddo? I know you're not a fan of hospitals?" his dad asked as they were sitting next to each other on the hospital floor. Blaine shrugged. "I feel better now that I know Kurt's going to be okay. But I still don't want to be back any time soon," he admitted.

The sat next to each other in silence for a while, Blaine answering the occasional text from New Directions about Kurt, but otherwise left to his thoughts again. He hoped Kurt would open up to him about his past, because he had no idea how to help him, if he didn't know all the awful details.

He had never wanted Kurt to get hurt and he felt like he had failed him as a friend by not protecting him or piecing the puzzle pieces together sooner.

Finally the woman left Kurt's room and told Blaine he could go back in. His dad was heading back to the waiting room with her and so Blaine got up and walked back to Kurt's room.

Kurt was sitting up now, his eyes slightly red, but looking a lot better than he had when Blaine had left him.

"So I have some questions," he opened nervously, but Kurt immediately shook his head. "Can it wait till I get released? I really don't want to tell everything again. Twice was enough," Kurt pleaded and Blaine nodded because he didn't want to force Kurt to tell him.

"So are you excited to come home with us tomorrow?" he asked instead and Kurt gave him a tiny smile. "We can watch every musical on the planet unless dad forces me to go to school."

"Well, I'm not sure I'm staying long enough for us to get through every single musical there is but I would like that," Kurt admitted and Blaine smiled even brighter, because if everything went well, Kurt would come to stay with them permanently.

Kurt

Talking to first the police and then Mrs. Hoffs from social services had exhausted him, especially after he had to assure her multiple times that he wasn't afraid to go home with his mom, now that his dad was gone and couldn't hurt him anymore.

Hospital policy forced Blaine and Burt to leave when visiting hours ended, but they promised to come back the next morning and to pass on to New Directions that he was grateful that they had all come but he was too exhausted at the moment to have more visitors. Truth was he didn't want them to see him in his hospital bed, looking even worse than he usually did.

Blaine and his dad brought him breakfast the next morning and with the help of the pain meds he could sit up fairly easily, though he still had to be careful not to jostle his ribs. After multiple check ups and another chest x-ray the doctor signed his release forms, but only after Kurt promised to take it easy and wouldn't try to move around too much. He'd have to come in at least once a week until he was deemed completely healed, but now that he didn't have to come up with excuses for his injuries any more, he didn't mind too much.

Blaine had taken his request to not ask him questions until they got back to his house to heart and was racing his hospital mandated wheel chair to the exit, though he was careful that nothing happened to Kurt.

On the way to Blaine's house, they filled his prescription, which Kurt was glad for because he knew how much injured ribs could hurt. Blaine and Burt helped him upstairs to their guest room slash office and Kurt settled on the bed, pillow behind his back to make it easier for him to sit up.

After putting a glass of water and his pills on the nightstand Burt left them alone and Kurt shifted awkwardly on the bed.

"You said you had questions?" Kurt finally asked when Blaine just kept sitting there and looked at him with a look on his face Kurt couldn't place. Blaine nodded.

"What happened? I mean I know what happened, but I don't understand how you could have kept something like this hidden for so long."

Kurt knew he couldn't hide from his closest friend forever and so for the third time in two days he told the story of his life, leaving out some details though to spare Blaine and because there were still some things he wasn't willing to talk about. He knew he should have expected it, but he still hated that he had made Blaine cry and wasn't it ironic that suddenly he was the one doing to comforting.

"God, Kurt. Why did you never tell anyone? I could have told my dad and he would have known what to do, I'm sure," Blaine said after he had composed himself a little.

Kurt shrugged because there was no satisfying answer. "Maybe I would have told you at some point if you had kept writing me or invited me to Columbus like you promised. But when I never heard from you again, I thought you didn't care about me anymore and so I never said anything. There never was anyone, I could have said anything to after you left."

He didn't want Blaine to blame himself, because they were just kids back then, but Blaine looked stricken.

"You thought I stopped caring about you? I cried for weeks when you stopped talking to me. I even talked my dad into driving to your house, but your mom said you were at a sleep over with new friends. I could see the light on in your room, so I thought you just didn't want to see me anymore."

Kurt's face fell. Had his parents really gone to such length to make sure, Kurt never had anyone in his life he could rely on or confide in?

"You did?" he whispered, a tear trickling down his face and when Blaine pulled him into a gentle hug, careful of his injuries, Kurt welcomed the embrace.

"I'm so sorry Kurt. I should have tried harder. I should have known you wouldn't just drop me the moment I left," Blaine cried into his shoulder and Kurt shook his head. "It's not your fault. There was nothing we could have done and I've forgiven you a long time ago. And even if I still harbored some resentment, it stopped the moment you told me you still wanted to hang out even though our project was done."

They cried against each other's shoulders for what felt like hours, before Burt knocked on the door and told them dinner would arrive in twenty minutes and to call him if Blaine needed help getting Kurt downstairs.

"I know you told social services that you feel okay about going home with your mom, but are you sure that's a good idea? After what she did to us?" Blaine finally asked, when they had both stopped crying.

"We don't even know if it was her idea, and I really believe that things will be better now with my dad out of the picture," Kurt assured Blaine. Maybe it was stupid to still hope for something like this, but maybe there was a way to get a least one family member back and to be happy.

He knew there would be regular visits from social services if he were allowed to go back home, so he doubted his mom could continue the way she was before. He needed to take the chance because it was still seven months till his eighteenth birthday and at his age no foster parents would be interested in taking him in. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to survive seven months in a group home, where he might be surrounded by people like Karofsky all the time.

"If you're sure. But please promise to tell me if she does anything to you," Blaine pleaded and Kurt nodded. His mother had never laid a hand on him before and he doubted she would start now.

Burt let Blaine stay home Monday to keep Kurt company. They managed to get through an illegal copy of Wicked, Cinderella and Sweeny Todd before Blaine excused himself because they had a visitor. Kurt's pain meds made him tired a lot any way, and so he took a nap until Blaine was back.

Tuesday, Blaine had to go back to school, but Burt stayed home with him, and Kurt even watched a few football games with him to show how grateful his was to be allowed to stay with the Hummels.

Later that afternoon Mrs. Hoffs came by to talk to him.

"We've interviewed your mother and if you still feel it's safe for you to go home, you can. There are things we require her to do if she wants to keep you like get a job, and agree to unscheduled visits by our social workers, and so far she had agreed to them to avoid getting charged as well. It's up do you, Kurt," she explained.

Kurt knew his mom wouldn't like having to work, but that would mean she'd be out of the house a lot more and away from him. And maybe all this had been a wake up call for her and they could be a real family now.

He knew he shouldn't get his hopes up, but there was nothing in the world he wanted more than to have a proper family.

AN: This pretty much concludes the first arc of the story. I have three arcs planned so I hope that answers the questions of those who asked if everything will be okay for Kurt from now on. Time to start working on Kurt and Blaine's relationship a bit.