AN: Have some 'fluff' before the angst fest continues. Glee last night was hard to watch as it is.

Chapter 12: Aftermath

Kurt

With new government restrictions in place Kurt suddenly had a lot more freedom. His mom was furious that she had to find a job though, but apparently the alternative, being charged with neglect or something like that - Kurt wasn't so sure about that - was worse than having to stay in his company.

Blaine came by every day after school while Kurt still had to stay home, bringing him homework they worked on together while his mom was out looking for a job.

His first medical check up after Sectionals, which Burt and Blaine drove him to, the doctor declared that Kurt was allowed to go back to school, but unfortunately he wasn't allowed to sing yet.

Mrs. Hoffs had made it clear to his mom that he was to be allowed to choose his own after school activities as well as meet friends like any other teen, not that he could have tested it yet because of his injuries. The Glee topic hadn't been mentioned again, but Kurt was sure he'd be allowed to go back. He would just have to sit still and listen in Glee until he was better again.

As much as he wanted to go back to school after being holed up in his basement room all day for nearly a week he was also a bit apprehensive, because what if one of the bullies got to him and upset his injuries or people were making fun of him?

It was probably all over school by now that the school freak got beat up by his dad and everyone saw. To his relief, Blaine picked him up the morning of his first day back at school like he had in the past.

"Ready for your first day back?" his asked after taking Kurt's backpack and helping him into the car. "As ready as I'll ever be," Kurt told him.

"Don't worry. Everyone in Glee will be looking out for you so no one can hurt you," Blaine assured him and Kurt felt relieved. In the past he would have been embarrassed that he needed bodyguards at school to ensure his safety, but that was then and things were different now.

When they got to the school, Rachel was already waiting for them, bouncing on her toes excitedly. Kurt had refused to let anyone see him while he was recovering at home, still not wanting anyone apart from Blaine to see his house.

"I'm so glad you are back, Kurt," she told him and Kurt smiled at her because the loud girl was growing on him, though her sweaters made him want to gouge his eyes out. If he had money for clothes he would never wear the hideous things she wore.

"Blaine and I are your escorts this morning and Noah will make sure people leave you alone in homeroom. The Glee club worked out a schedule to help you out. Well, everyone but Finn, because he is afraid to anger his precious football team," she added with a frown.

Kurt didn't understand why she was dating the big quarterback again when she could do so much better and deserved more in a boyfriend, but he kept his mouth shut. Who was he to comment on other people's relationships when he had never been in one himself?

"That's okay, Rachel," he told her instead. "Thank you."

He hadn't looked around yet, focused on Rachel and Blaine who were each walking on one of his sides, but when he looked up he noticed that pretty much every student was staring at him, some whispering to one another.

"They all know, don't they?" he sighed and Blaine tensed next to him.

"This jerk Jacob Ben Israel was at the competition because Mr. Schuester wanted him to write an article about Glee for the school paper. He recorded everything and put it online. Coach Beiste made him take it down when she found out, but not before most of the school had already seen it," Rachel recounted furiously.

Great, Kurt thought. That was exactly what he needed right now. He wouldn't be surprised if people still dared to make fun of him. He didn't know what would be worse – their pity or their mocking.

"But like I said, Noah threatened to take care of anyone who dares to say something." He didn't need people to fight all his battles, but he also didn't want to seem ungrateful, so he just nodded and kept his head down for the rest of the walk through the parking lot.

Just as they had promised, at least one member of the Glee club was with him between every class and he and Blaine met up during lunch break at their usual table in the library, where Kurt accepted half of Blaine's sandwich but only after forcing Blaine to take half of the PB&J sandwich he had made at home.

"You doing okay so far?" he asked concerned and Kurt nodded. "Just a bit tired but that was to be expected. It's better with the new meds though," he explained.

"We don't have to go to Glee. I could drive you home after class or you could just take my car and Rachel could give me a lift to your place afterward," Blaine suggested and Kurt's face fell, because there was still so much about his life Blaine didn't know.

"I don't have a driver's license," he admitted "and I really want to hear your song." Blaine had refused to tell him what song he had planned for Kurt's return to Glee and he was dying to find out. If he knew Blaine it would probably be perfect.

Blaine didn't comment on the driver's license thing thankfully and just smiled at him bashfully. "Okay then, I hope you like it."

Finally his last class was over and he followed Tina and Mike to the choir room. The whole group was already standing around the piano and when they stepped back, they revealed a banner spelling "Welcome back, Kurt!" over a trophy on top of the piano.

"It didn't feel right to celebrate with out you here," Mercedes explained and Kurt put his hand over his mouth in shock, not having expected such a nice gesture. "Thank you guys," he whispered.

"Now, your friends have prepared a little something for you. Blaine, do you want to start us off?" Mr. Schuester spoke up and Blaine took Kurt's hand and lead him over to a chair in the middle of the room. Blaine's touch was electric and though it wasn't the first time Blaine had touched him, it was the first time they held hands since they were kids. Their hands fit perfectly together in his opinion, but all too soon Blaine let go to join the rest of the club and stepped in front of them.

When you're down and troubled

And you need some loving care

And nothing, nothing is going right

Close your eyes and think of me

And soon I will be there

To brighten up even your darkest night

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I'll come running to see you again

Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you have to do is call

And I'll be there

You've got a friend

If the sky above you

Grows dark and full of clouds

And that old north wind begins to blow

Keep your head together

And call my name out loud

Soon you'll hear me knocking at your door

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I'll come running to see you

Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you have to do is call

And I'll be there

Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend

When people can be so cold

They'll hurt you, and desert you

And take your soul if you let them

Oh, but don't you let them

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I'll come running to see you again

Winter, spring, summer or fall

All you have to do is call

And I'll be there

You've got a friend

The rest of the club started harmonizing behind Blaine after the first verse, joining him on the chorus as well and Kurt thought they sounded amazing singing a capella. He was especially touched because he was sure they must have rehearsed quite a bit.

Tears were streaming down his face by the time they were done and he allowed those of the club who wanted to hug him carefully.

"Thank you. I wouldn't know what to do without all of you. Especially Blaine," he added not caring for once whether he ended up blushing or not. He hoped Blaine knew, Kurt was beyond grateful to have him as a friend, but it couldn't hurt to remind him.

Blaine just gave him his thousand-watt smile and took his hand again.

"Come on, let's get you home. I think that was enough excitement for one day."

Blaine

After Blaine dropped Kurt off at home he drove over to his dad's shop to help out for a bit. His dad was bent over an old Chevy when Blaine walked in, but looked up when he spotted him.

"Kurt have a good first day back?" he asked and Blaine smiled brightly. "Yeah, everything went fine."

He quickly changed into his coveralls and joined his dad in the garage again. Looking at the old car his dad was working on at the moment gave him an idea.

"Kurt told me he doesn't even have a driver's license and so I was wondering if you couldn't teach him how to drive like you did with me when I was younger," he suggested and his dad looked up. "I think that's a good idea. The kid needs to be able to get out more."

"Yeah, and I thought maybe we could rebuild an old car with him. He liked helping when we were kids. I thought we could give it to him for Christmas, but I would pay for the parts and stuff of course."

His dad raised an eyebrow at that before giving him one of those smiles Blaine never knew what they meant and nodded. "Sounds great, but you don't have to pay for it. And I think it be good for social services to see that we include Kurt in our lives whether he lives with us or not."

Blaine pulled his dad into a hug, ending up with some oil on his cheek but he didn't care.

"So I take it that Kurt liked your song?" his dad asked a while later when they took a quick coffee break. "It made him cry," Blaine admitted.

"Well, I'm sure it wasn't because you sucked. I had to listen to you and your friends practice each night for the past few days after all." There was that smile again. "What?" he had to ask. His dad just smirked. "Oh, nothing."

Blaine rolled his eyes at his dad before going back to another car that needed a tire change. It often snowed crazy early in Ohio and so people started getting their winter tires early but neither of the Hummels was complaining because it meant an increase in business.

"Don't forget that Mrs. Hoffs is coming by tomorrow afternoon to tell me the results of my background check and if we are financially stable enough for a foster kid," his dad reminded when they were closing the shop and Blaine swore. He had promised Kurt they would spend the afternoon together, but if he went to football practice he wouldn't have time for Kurt if he wanted to attend the meeting as well, which he did. Strength in numbers, like the coach used to say.

Kurt looked sad when he told him the next morning that he had to change their plans, and because he liked smiling Kurt a lot better than unhappy Kurt, he decided that skipping football practice just once without a good reason wouldn't get him killed by the coach.

"I thought we could go to the Lima Bean for coffee instead after school," he suggested and Kurt perked up. "What's the Lima Bean?" he asked, reminding Blaine again that so many things that were normal for teenagers were experiences Kurt had never had.

"It's a coffee shop. They make amazing lattes," he gushed hoping Kurt would like them. He preferred drip coffee but Kurt looked like someone who could like lattes.

Kurt's face lit up. "Oh, I've always wanted to go to one," he told Blaine excitedly and suddenly skipping football practice seemed like the best idea ever.

An excited Kurt pretty much bounced over to Blaine's car after classes were over, but Blaine still had to help him inside the car, afraid Kurt would upset his ribs due to his excitement.

The Lima Bean was rather empty this early in the afternoon and Blaine led Kurt over to a table in the back, before heading over to the counter to order for him and Kurt. When he returned with his medium drip and a latte for Kurt, Kurt looked less excited though all of a sudden.

"I forgot I don't have money for this," he said, voice tinged with sadness and so Blaine just gave him a big smile. "It's on me dummy. After all I pretty much forced you to come here," he joked and Kurt relaxed a bit.

"Maybe I could help out in your dad's shop a bit to earn some money," Kurt suddenly suggested and Blaine perked up at the idea. They could spend even more time together and if he really wanted to rebuild a car with Kurt and his dad, it wouldn't hurt if Kurt could get some practice first.

"I'll talk to my dad," Blaine promised before they launched into a discussion of the songs Kurt wanted to sing in Glee as soon as he was allowed to sing again. Thanks to the daily rides in Blaine's car, Kurt was more up to date with current music now and they chatted about that for a bit.

Blaine didn't have much experience with dating but he had always imagined a good first date should be like that and he wondered why he felt more comfortable with Kurt than any of the few boys he had been on a date with.

The topic changed then to the movies Blaine still wanted Kurt to see, but after while Kurt's expression became a bit pained and Blaine thought it was time to drive him home to get some rest. It was only his second day back after all and he didn't want Kurt to exhaust himself.

Mrs. Hoffs' visit thankfully went off without a hitch. As expected nothing had shown up in his dad's background check and owning a business was apparently a big plus as well. There were still a lot of bureaucratic hoops they would have to jump through to get custody of Kurt, should it turn out that he couldn't stay with his mom. Blaine was torn on the issue. He wanted Kurt to be happy with his mom, but he also couldn't forgive her that easily for what she had allowed Kurt's father to do him.

With the help of the Kurt protection squad the rest of the week was uneventful apart from football practice on Thursday. Blaine usually didn't have to join the rest of the team for their practice, focusing on working on his kicks, so he was caught completely off guard when Karofsky suddenly tackled him while he was preparing for a kick.

He went down like a sack of potatoes, Karofsky being a least a few inches taller and probably a hundred pounds heavier. For a moment the breath was knocked out of him, but before Karofsky could do more damage he was pulled off by coach Beiste, who was furious.

"Do you want to be benched for the next game, Karofsky?" she yelled. "We only have one kicker and you think it's a good idea to throw him to the ground."

Karofsky just stood there and glared at Blaine. "Just wanted to remind him not to skip again for a homo date," he growled before coach Beiste grabbed his arm. "Hit the showers, you are done for today."

Blaine took a step back when Karofsky made a move to come at him again, but must have decided it wasn't worth getting thrown off the team over, as he stalked toward the building, yelling "this isn't over," at Blaine.

"You okay kid?" the coach asked him after she told the rest of the team to get back to practice. Blaine nodded, because although everything hurt, he was sure Karofsky hadn't managed to actually hurt him.

"I'm sorry about yesterday coach. I should have said something. It's just that Kurt had no one else to drive him and with his injuries he still needs help," he explained. The coach gave him a sympathetic smile.

"It's okay. Just tell me next time you need to be somewhere else. Like I said, we need you so I'd rather you miss practice a few times than not have you at all.

Blaine nodded shaking out his sore limbs. "You want go as well?" coach Beiste asked and Blaine immediately shook his head. It would be a suicide mission to go into the locker room while Karofsky was still around.

"I think I just need to sit down for a few minutes," he told her and the coach nodded before heading back to the rest of the team.

Kurt's second check up on Saturday went well as well and the three of them drove over to his dad's favorite diner for a late lunch. For once Blaine let it slide when his dad ordered a steak and he watched happily as Kurt dug into his own food.

"Blaine said you're interested in helping out in the shop as well?" his dad asked Kurt while they were waiting for dessert and Kurt nodded. "You any good with computers? I need someone to type stuff up for me and maybe you could to that until you're well enough to start on the cars."

Kurt nodded enthusiastically again. "Alright then. Blaine usually does Saturday afternoons so maybe the two of you could work together that day," his dad suggested and Blaine nodded eagerly as well.

The shared some cheesecake for dessert and when Kurt excused himself his dad slid a pictures over to him. The car in the picture looked like it had been involved in a bad car crash and his dad confirmed his suspicion.

"The owner pretty much paid me to get rid of it because his insurance will pay for a new one. I though we could fix it up for Kurt. It's nothing special but it will get him around."

Compared to his own Navigator the green Ford was a piece of junk, but Blaine was sure Kurt wouldn't care what the car looked like as long as he actually had one and knew how to drive it.

"It's perfect," he told his dad.

Kurt was eager to start working and so they drove over to the garage after lunch, after Blaine made sure Kurt really wasn't too tired. He took a look at the green Ford hidden in the back, while his dad showed Kurt what to do on the computer, before he joined Blaine outside.

"Will we get it done till Christmas?" Blaine asked, because the car looked even worse in reality than it had in the picture. His dad shrugged. "It's not like I can teach him how to drive until he can wear a proper seat belt again, but I'll see what we can do."

Four hours later, Blaine and Kurt left the garage together. Kurt was staring at the envelop in his hands containing his first pay check. "I haven't had my own money since my neighbor died a few years back," he confided in Blaine and Blaine again felt the urge to visit the jail and punch Kurt's dad. Then he had an idea though.

"You know how Rachel always tries to get me to go to the mall with her. How about I call her and the three of us can go tomorrow? That'd be okay with your mom?" he asked, hoping to find out what was going on at Kurt's home as well this way.

Kurt's whole face lit up. "I'd love to. And I haven't seen much of my mom these past two weeks. She says she is out looking for a job, but as long as she leaves me alone, I couldn't care less what she does. At least I don't have to be afraid anymore, every time I come home," he added.

Blaine was relieved to hear that things were kind of all right at the moment, but he still wished Kurt could come stay with them, where people actually cared about him.

Rachel was ecstatic when Blaine called her and invited her to a trip to the mall and so he picked up Kurt Sunday morning and they drove to the mall together. He knew Kurt had never been and knowing that he put the smile on Kurt's face when he first entered it made Blaine beyond happy as well. As it was, he was always the happiest when Kurt was happy.

He knew Kurt wouldn't be able to buy much because his dad couldn't afford to pay them more then minimum wages so he steered him over to Target. Rachel had other ideas though.

"I think you should get a hair cut first. I can barely see your face with how long they are." Kurt tensed a bit but Blaine knew Rachel wasn't trying to be mean. Kurt was looking longingly at the clothing store and so Blaine shot Rachel a look to tell her to let it go for now.

"Let's find you a shirt," he told Kurt before he took his hand and led him into the store. One hour later, Kurt had finally found something he was willing to spend his first paycheck on, and Blaine thought he looked great and the light blue button down shirt. He was sure it would go well with Kurt's eyes, though Rachel was right, one couldn't really see them anymore behind the bangs falling into his face.

"How about this," Rachel perked up then. "You let me pay for your hair cut – it's not expensive," she quickly added when she saw Kurt's expression, "and in exchange I let you pick an outfit for me."

Kurt stood for a moment, probably weighing the pros and cons but in the end his desire to make over Rachel must have won out, because he gave her a tiny nod.

Not wanting to be in the way, Blaine offered to get them some food from the food court while Rachel took Kurt to the hairdresser. After assuring Rachel, that yes he hadn't forgotten she was a vegan, he walked off, cursing the long line at the only place that had food Rachel would eat.

When he came back, Rachel was standing next to a tall and skinny boy in a light blue shirt, whose brown hair was artfully styled and he froze when he realized it was Kurt.

Kurt's eyes were still as beautiful as he had remembered them and though he had never thought Kurt was ugly, he couldn't deny that he thought he was hot now.

He quickly schooled his expression because the last thing Kurt needed right now was his friend drooling all over him. Because one thing was certain. Kurt didn't need a boyfriend right now – what he needed was a best friend who supported him and was there for him, not a friend who suddenly developed a dirty mind when he was around.

AN: Fic rec: This is hands down the best story I have ever read in this Glee universe. It's simply heartbreaking and I started reading it again because chapter 13 is a bitch to write right now. It's called 'You wear it well' and can be found on whitings livejournal. Go check it out (later parts are NC-17 though)