Friday, ten at night

Blaine slammed his calculus notebook down, frustrated with the equations. He slumped in his chair, stretching his left leg under the richly stained wooden desk.

"You're stuck, too?" Jeff asked him grumpily. "I can't get the derivative of it. Damn it."

Blaine groaned, his head starting to hurt. Yes, he did like being back at Dalton, but Calculus was killing him slowly with an upcoming test along with two other tests he still had to make up. "Don't remind me. I still have to make up the last two units of tests. How the hell did Kurt get both of them before I did?"

"I dunno, maybe he's Professor Xavier or something? Maybe he read all the teachers' minds when you guys were recovering and did the work subconsciously." Jeff wondered out loud, which made Blaine snort. "Speaking of him, where is he?"

Blaine shrugged. "He's doing PT and went home for the weekend. Something about having girl time with his friends from McKinley and helping them with their wardrobe selections for their benefit concert."

"How come you're not going ho- I mean, back to Mairead's house?" Jeff caught himself before too dark a look came over Blaine's face.

Sighing, Blaine told him "I just need some time for myself. I love Kurt and all, but sometimes a guy's gotta have some alone time, you know what I mean?"

Jeff nodded, understanding. "Dude, having three sisters, totally understand that. In the summer, I nearly have to kill myself every time they paint their nails or something… it sucks having younger twin sisters and another even younger one. Want to come over this summer and help me burn their Barbies?"

Blaine laughed. "Gladly. Those dolls creep me out so much. Tell me again why they absolutely need to use human hair?"

The two of them talked like that for a bit, the math homework lay abandoned. Blaine tried to keep the conversation going, but his headache got worse and his stomach was protesting at the lasagna he ate earlier at dinner. "Hey, I'll be right back. I just need to use the bathroom."

Jeff stood up from where he was laying on the rug by Blaine's bed. He straightened his grey shirt with green sleeves as he nodded. "I should probably go, it's getting late and I want sleep."

"See you tomorrow then?" Blaine said, trying to hold the smile on his face as he fought the urge to sprint to his bathroom.

"Yeah, see you at breakfast." Jeff grinned and walked out, his books and cell phone in hand.

Once the door was shut, Blaine ran as fast as he could, not caring about his leg, into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. He expelled everything that had substance in his stomach and more. Blaine stared as the mixture perfumed the air with half digested pasta and tomato sauce. Vomiting a little more, he flushed the toilet and leaned his back against the bathtub with his eyes closed. Groaning, he tried to feel for his cell phone in his jean pocket but the remembered that he forgot it on his desk. He got up slowly, using the tub and the counter of his sink to pull himself up. Blaine limped out, hanging onto the wall until he reached the desk and sat down heavily. Pulling up Mairead's number, he texted her. Hey, u there?

He put his head in his arms, his hand still holding his Android, and closed his eyes while trying to beat down the nausea. His phone vibrated a few seconds later.

What's up?

Slowly moving his fingers on the touch screen, his chin leaning on the cool surface of his notebook, he texted her back. I just threw up. Don't tell your mom. What do I do? Should I take the meds or not?

Her response was nearly instantaneous. WTH did u eat? Don't tell me Flint was cooking again.

"How…?" Blaine whispered to himself as he read it. Just lasagna for dinner tonight, I wasn't feeling 2 hungry. It should have been fine, though. I've had it loads of times and Jeff was just here and he didn't look like he had a problem with it.

Dude, u've got what we call, 'food poisoning'. Just take the meds with the absolute minimum of water as u can and don't eat anything else 2night or until lunch tomorrow. Just drink OJ and a bit of toast for breakfast tomorrow.

Blaine stared at his phone before texting back. But how? No 1's ever gotten food poisoning before. All the food's probably safely cooked to perfection like it always is.

Hmm… were u there when u got the plate?

No, Wes got it for me since I was saying good bye to K before he went home for PT and the weekend.

It was a little bit before she texted back. Blaine nearly dozed off when he felt the familiar buzz in his hand. Sorry, my mom was just asking me a question. Maybe it was out for a little bit or something?

Oh, we'll figure it out later. Just go take your meds and sleep. I'll text u tomorrow?

Blaine sighed before slowly moving his fingers lethargically across the smooth surface of his phone. Yeah, I'll text you if I feel worse. Goodnight, Mari.

Night! She texted back to him quickly.

He slowly sat up, leaning into the back of his somewhat cushioned desk chair. Blaine slowly stood up and walked over to his bathroom again, wrinkling his nose at the lingering smell. He had finally convinced the doctor in Dalton's health office to let him have his med in his bathroom, reasoning that it took too long with his crutches and legs to go down several flights of stairs and elevator was on the other side of the dorm building. Blaine blindly grabbed the correct orange tinted bottles and shook out a pill from each before swallowing them with the smallest sips of water.

Collapsing into his bed after changing into his long sleeved t-shirt and sweatpants he wore to sleep, he sighed at the softness. Blaine slowly swung his legs onto the mattress and under the covers, shivering even though he felt warm. He tried going to sleep but something seemed wrong with how he was sleeping. Blaine tried to hug a pillow to his gut, trying to have his arms hold something tangible. As he unsuccessfully tried to drift off, he breathed in deeply through his nose. His eyes opened as he realized why he couldn't sleep. Kurt's scent of lotion and shampoo lingered on the pillow he was holding.

Just as he was about to sit up, his phone vibrated on the nightstand. It was Kurt calling him. "Hello?" Blaine said raspily, clearing his throat afterwards.

"Hello, love." Kurt's voice sounded. "You okay? You sound a little off."

"I'm… sort of okay. I threw up." Blaine admitted, rubbing his face as he talked.

"Do you need me to come back to Dalton? Are you okay? Because I can wake Finn to drive me back if you need me to." Kurt said worriedly. Blaine could just see his eyebrows knitting up from his room in Lima.

"No. I think I'll be fine. I texted Mari a little bit ago. She thinks I have food poisoning."

"Did Flint cook something again? I swear-"

"No! Flint did not cook anything that I ate! And how did she know about that? She asked the same thing." He asked, getting a little annoyed.

"I didn't tell her. It was probably… never mind. It wasn't me, I promise." Kurt said convincingly from the phone into Blaine's ear.

"Oh, never mind. Anyway, she just told me not to eat anything until lunch tomorrow other than toast and some juice. It's probably something in the lasagna I ate for dinner. Kurt, I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Blaine sighed, swinging his left arm and braced hand across his face to block out the dim light coming in from the window. "You go to sleep. I promise I'll call you if I get worse, I already promised the same thing to Mairead."

"Really?" Kurt said flatly.

"I promise. Call her if you don't believe me." Blaine grinned slightly into his phone. "Hey, I really do promise. Now go, I know you're usually tired after PT. Have fun with the girls tomorrow, tell them I say hi. I love you."

"I'm holding you to that. I love you too, Blaine Anderson. I'll see you Sunday." He said back.

Blaine smiled as he hung up and put his phone back on his night stand. Hugging the pillow closer to his body, another wave of nausea threatened to erupt from his stomach. He flipped over onto his chest and stomach, hoping the pressure would subdue the feeling. Blaine breathed in again through his nose and once again smelled Kurt on the pillow.

Sighing, he sat up on the edge of the bed. Walking over to his desk with only his own two feet, he grabbed his laptop and charger and opened his door slightly. Blaine checked the hall before silently opening the door to the dorm next door, Kurt's room. He sighed as he lay down on his boyfriend's scarlet three thousand thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. He, like before, swung his legs under the blanket and relaxed into the mattress. Reaching over for a moment, he plugged in the chord for his charger and turned on the laptop. Blaine shifted the pillow to support his neck more as it booted up.

As he clicked on his YouTube bookmark in his browser, he typed in "McKinley High School" after thinking about his slight visit last fall when he came to help Kurt confront Karofsky about kissing him. The results came up and Blaine scrolled down the page, passing a few videos students had made for their Spanish classes, business classes, English classes, etc. He clicked on one that was titled "McKinley High School Sixth Consecutive Cheerleading National Title" after he saw the blond woman in a red track suit at Regionals. Clicking on it, it was a news segment showing two of Kurt's New Directions classmates and someone quite familiar to Blaine's eyes. "No freaking way." Blaine whispered, his eyes widening under his glasses. He slowly smiled as he watched the whole video and bookmarked the link for when Kurt got back on Sunday night. Watching a few more videos of various things, such as a skateboarding dog to an incredible dancing violinist, his stomach settled down to a point where the nausea went away for the most part.

Blaine yawned as he finally started to feel sleepy and powered down his laptop. Flipping the lid down, he set it on Kurt's nightstand; flinching when he knocked over several bottles of lotions and moisturizers to the floor, he ignored them. Blaine pulled the blanket over his shoulders and fell asleep with Kurt's scent in the pillows comforting him.

Something tickled his cheek as he slowly woke from his sleep. Blaine smiled as he drew his arms closer to himself, trying to keep the warmth of the bed to his body. "Stop that. I'm still sleeping." He murmured, squirming to try and dissuade whoever was doing that. Suddenly, a somewhat familiar clicking noise sounded. Blaine froze, now not feeling a tickling sensation but the cold, metal point of something on his face. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing even as he slowly turned his body to lie on his back. Opening his eyes a fraction, the unforgiving gray barrel of a gun was pointed at his nose, a figure wearing all black in the dark room holding it to his face.

"Say one word, you and everyone in this building is dead." A man's voice said lowly. "Did you really think that I would leave you and the rest of your damn friends alive?"

No… Blaine thought, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Opening his eyes slightly more but not wide enough for the man to see, so he hoped, Blaine looked on in horror as he saw a black haired girl, a taller boy with wavy black hair, and a pale brunette tied up and taped across their mouths on the ground in front of the bed. They all seemed unconscious, slumped against each other or laying down on the carpet in painful positions. His breath caught in his throat as he opened his eyes fully. Blaine stared cross-eyed at gun pointed in his face. "You know what? I think you did, because you're too much of a fucking son of a bitch who doesn't care about anyone other than yourself, Dad." Blaine shouted to his face as he scooted quickly away on the bed from him.

Matthew laughed darkly. "You asked for it." He turned the gun away and shot someone on the ground, the gun expelling an ungodly loud bang as it fired.

"NO!" Blaine screamed, scrambling out of the bed only to discover that his feet were tied at the ankles. He dragged himself off the end of the bed, falling heavily on the ground as the gun quickly shot another bullet into someone else. Blaine pulled himself to protect the closest body he could touch, draping himself over them. "Stop it, please! Kill me, not them! ME!" He shouted as he felt the warm body beneath his arms and chest.

Laughing manically again, his father shot another round into Blaine's leg, the same one he shot before.

Blaine felt nothing, the adrenaline blocking everything out; making him focused one thing as he looked at the blood flowing from the heads of the black haired girl and the boy who looked similar to him. "Why, Dad, why?" He whispered brokenly at the man in black.

Matthew didn't answer, instead shooting a bullet into the warm object beneath his left hand. The brunette's forehead exploded with sticky wet liquid as the impact sent shockwaves through his left hand.

"NO! KURT!" Blaine shouted, agonized. He lurched forward to cover his now still form with his own body even more. "You monster. You sick, fucking, cruel, piece of shit!" Blaine screamed as Matthew crouched down to his level.

The man laughed softly as he rested the gun point-blank on his son's forehead, brushing a few curls aside to make room on his skin. "Well, now you know why. Because of you."

Blaine closed his eyes as a bang sounded and shook his body as he felt himself falling to the ground.

"Blaine!"

He felt his name being called from far away, his body still being shaken. It was as if the afterlife was torturing him by being cruel.

"God dammit! Blaine, wake up! Wake up, for fuck's sake! It's me, Wes. God dammit, wake up!" A voice shouted.

Blaine could hear another sound, nearly overpowering Wes' voice; a sort of screaming with what sounded like words mixed in. It sounded out of place with his friend talking to him. The shaking wouldn't stop either as all three sensations nearly made him black out.

"Blaine, wake up! You're okay. Kurt's okay, we're all okay!" Another boy's voice said from close to him.

Blaine suddenly realized that the screaming was coming from him, his own throat. He opened his eyes fully only to have bright white lights blind him. Blinking rapidly, Blaine saw a group of boys around him; some of them were on the bed while Wes and David were right in front of his face.

"Blaine, you're okay. It's just us." David said calmly, his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "We heard you screaming when Heckland told us to go bed after the Halo party."

He nodded, closing his eyes and covering half of his face with a shaking hand. Blaine took a deep breath before saying, "Did anyone else… hear me?"

"No, I think it's just us. Trent and Flint had to break through the door to get in here." Wes said quietly from the foot of the bed. "Blaine, what's going on? We've… never heard you this upset before."

"It's… it's just a nightmare. I'm fine." Blaine murmured, the nausea coming back up. "Seriously guys, I'm fine. Go to sleep, you guys have that assisted living home performance tomorrow."

"But Blaine-" Thad started from somewhere behind Flint and Trent.

"No, I'm fine. Either you guys go or I'm not going to try and sleep." Blaine said firmly, his hand still covering his face and eyes. "You guys need sleep if you don't want to sound like a bunch of hung over old men."

A few of the boys chuckled, some of them rolling their eyes. Most of the boys said good night to Blaine before heading out, Flint and Trent gingerly shutting Kurt's door and making close shut as best as they could. Only Jeff and David stayed as everyone went to their own rooms.

"Blaine, this is serious. We all are really worried for you. Does Kurt know about this? Do your par- I mean, Mairead's parents know about this? You screaming in your sleep?" Jeff asked him.

"… only Kurt knows. I don't want the others to know, especially Mairead. They already have enough on their plate with the legal issues and all. Kurt only found out because I told him I can't sleep without him." Blaine told them, hesitating.

The three of them stayed silent for a few minutes, digesting the information. "We should probably get to bed, Jeff. Blaine, are you sure you'll be okay alone?" David questioned, a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Once again, I'll be fine. Just leave the lights on when you leave." Blaine said raspily, his voice restrained as he tried to keep from spewing vomit on his two friends.

He could feel the mattress bouncing up as David and Jeff stood up. "Hey guys," he stopped them, "thanks, really. I mean it."

"Any time, Blaine. Anything for another Warbler." Jeff said, a little… sadly, Blaine inferred from his tone of voice.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow after the performance. Have a good time." Blaine gave his best smile that he could manage.

He opened his eyes and watched, blurrily, as the two boys walked out of the busted door. Like before, as soon as the door was somewhat closed to the best extent, he dragged himself to Kurt's bathroom and opened the lid to the toilet. He heaved into the bowl, a few more remnants of his now regrettable dinner coming up along with the acid in his stomach. Blaine leaned his head on his arm on the rim of the toilet, tired just from vomiting again. Seriously? I don't think food poisoning would be this bad… at least Lauren wasn't like this after she told me about the time she ate the potato salad at her French camp last summer. He closed his eyes, trying to muster up the energy to stand up.

Blaine stayed there for what felt like hours before he actually could stand up. Hanging onto the towel bar, he slowly used his weakened legs to lean against the wall. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Blaine flushed the toilet; wincing at the sound as he suddenly found that the lights were too bright. Blaine squinted as he made his short way over to the sink. He automatically filled up Kurt's clear glass cup with cold water and rinsed his mouth out, spitting out the taste of his vomit into the sink. Looking around, Blaine grabbed a small white plastic bin on top of Kurt's counter and dumped out the small white rectangular sponges.

He walked quite slowly back into the room. As soon as he sat back down on the bed, Blaine put the bin on top of his laptop; just in case he had another urge to regurgitate his dinner again. Blaine pulled Kurt's comforter over his shaking body, even though he still felt warm despite the cold water he splashed onto his face when he was in the bathroom. Sighing, he turned on his side as his stomach rolled turbulently at the movement. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off into a disturbingly dreamless sleep.

Saturday, one o'clock

Blaine could feel fingers running along his forehead as he drowsily came to. He curled, shaking, tighter into himself and tried to fall back into the inviting darkness. Hearing murmurs, he couldn't make out the words but they sounded worried. Blaine could feel the weight of the blanket being tucked around his shaking body as he fell back asleep.

He woke again to a banging sound and bolted upright in the bed, his eyes snapping open. He squinted as he saw two men at the entrance holding the door and a hammer. One of the muttered an apology and went back to banging on the hinge of the door. The sound made Blaine wince and hold his already aching head. Suddenly, a warm feeling traveled from his stomach to his mouth and he quickly felt for the bin on the nightstand. He threw up the vile smelling liquid; this time only fluid came up, with very small particles of food dotting the gross liquid.

Blaine coughed into the bin, emptying his mouth. His ears started ringing as he felt quite light headed when he opened his eyes blurrily, looking vaguely inside the bin with the thought of laying back and going back to sleep. Blaine heard a voice next to him and turned his head, his eyes already half-lidded with dizziness. He tried to make out the words the blond haired boy was saying but gave up and fell back on the bed, forgetting that the bin was on his legs.

Blaine could feel the bin sliding off of this lap but didn't spill as the boy grabbed it before it could fall. He curled up again on his side and tried to fall back asleep but the persistent noise of the workmen repairing Kurt's door prevented that. The boy crouched down to his level and spoke something again. Blaine stared blankly at his friend's lips and tried to read them but he could do nothing but grunt in a neutral voice, not really caring what he said. He closed his eyes and felt something sliding around his head and suddenly everything was silent. Blaine made to move his hands up to take them off until a soothing piano tune sounded in his ears. Exhaling a deep breath, he just listened and finally fell asleep again; listening to the gentle sounds of the music.

The next time he woke up, he opened his eyes to someone sitting against the headboard next to him. Blaine squinted his eyes and stared up, grateful that the light was dimmer than before. Sliding the headphones off his ears, he could see a head of styled brown hair looking forward at something. "Mmgh, Kurt?" Blaine murmured sleepily.

"Looks like someone woke from their slumber. I was afraid I would have to kiss you to wake up." Kurt's voice said amusingly.

Blaine could feel the mattress shifting as Kurt moved. "Mmm…" Blaine hummed, closing his eyes again and pushing his head more into the pillow. "At least you'd be my knight in shining Alexander McQueen designer armor…" He murmured, feeling the lull of sleep persuading him back.

Kurt chuckled quietly. "I know I'd be. And you're not going to sleep yet, Blaine."

He could feel him peel back the blanket from his body, still in a fetal position from his last sleep. Blaine protested at the sudden loss of warmth that was covering him.

"Nope, c'mon. You need to drink and eat something and then I'll let you go back to sleep; okay, love?" Kurt said gently but firmly.

Feeling Kurt's arms sliding under his arm and chest, he obliged, sitting up against the headboard as his boyfriend settled the blanket around the lower half of his body. He opened his eyes and felt something being put into his hands. Blaine put his glasses on and the world came into clear focus. He turned his head and watched as Kurt, dressed in jeans and a yellow designer jacket, leaned over and grabbed something off the floor.

"I thought you were going to stay in Lima for the weekend. Weren't you going to help Mercedes and Tina with their clothes for the benefit concert this Thursday?" He spoke slowly, still trying to wake up.

Kurt straightened back up, a bin, not unlike the one Blaine threw up in, in his hands. He carefully pulled out a glass filled with a golden yellow liquid with a straw in it. "Drink, it's orange juice." Kurt said as he held the glass for him. "And to answer your question, I was in the middle of doing that when Jeff texted to tell me that you were throwing up again." He arched an eyebrow. "He also told me that you were screaming in your sleep last night."

Blaine drained half the glass before letting go of the straw in his mouth. He leaned the back of his head against the wall and sighed. "It's nothing, Kurt. I was just having another nightmare…" Blaine drifted, remembering. He shivered, from both the memory and how cold he suddenly felt. Blaine was about to lay back down until Kurt stopped him once again.

"Ah. Not yet, you." He grabbed something else out of the tub in his lap. "Eat this and you'll have to take these pills. You know you've been running a little warmer than usual."

Blaine groaned as he held his hand out to him. Kurt placed a pudding pouch in his hand, the cover peeled off and a spoon already in it. Blaine cautiously placed a spoonful in his mouth, swallowing it slowly. He sighed in relief as his stomach didn't rebel against the food. "Have I? I feel really cold, though." His shiver emphasized his point. "

Kurt dropped two white pills in his hand along with the glass of orange juice. "Your body is just reacting to the lasagna. You'll be fine soon, I hope."

"Hmm…" Blaine hummed, drinking the orange juice after swallowing the pills. He felt his stomach now starting to fight back against the small amount of food. "Ugh, kill me." He muttered as he handed back the empty glass, screwing his face up in discomfort. "Who knew food could taste so good yet make you sick for days." Blaine slid down the bed, clutching his hand to his stomach as he lay face down on his pillow. His glass slid up his nose and onto his head.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt set the empty glass back in the white tub. "Go back to sleep love, the pills should kick in soon and you'll feel better."

"O-o-okay." Blaine yawned, snuggling next to Kurt as his eyes started to droop down. "But, I need to do homework for tomorrow…" He murmured, already half-asleep.

Kurt tucked the blanket back around his body and kissed him lightly on the cheek as his eyes closed. "Shh, go to sleep. I'll take care of it. I love you."

"I… love you… too…" Blaine breathed, finally falling over edge into the comfortable darkness.

Kurt smiled and brushed his hair back from his forehead, taking his glass off his curly hair and setting it on the nightstand. He grabbed Blaine's laptop off of the nightstand after putting the glasses in the same place. Kurt flipped the top open and waited for it to boot up, thinking of chatting with Mercedes about her latest diva moves of which he found absolutely ridiculous.

Blaine slept though most of Sunday, with Kurt at his side on the bed, doing his homework and talking quietly with the other boys that came in and asking about Blaine. He made Jeff and Nick do Blaine's homework after threatening to tell blackmail them about their prank on the roof of the school a few weeks ago. He still had not woken up, except for the few moments where Kurt shook him to get him to drink some water and medicine, on Monday when school started again. Kurt silently got up, being careful not to jostle the bed too much as he started to get ready. Blaine remained sleeping, oblivious to any of the noise; which included some boys running down the hall to get to the dining hall for the first chance of bacon and pancakes.

Peeling a post it note off the pad, he stuck it on the cup he filled with water with two pills next to it. Drink me! Kurt wrote on the yellow sticky paper in black ink. He heard the clock chime the hour and kissed Blaine on the forehead quickly, brushing the few curls that had fallen over his slightly olive colored forehead in the night. Kurt walked out and quietly shut the door behind him, hearing the small click of the doorjamb as he saw Jeff stumbling out of his dorm room. Rolling his eyes, he walked back the boy as he smirked.

Hearing the phone vibrate on the wooden nightstand, Blaine blearily opened his eyes and shot a hand out to grab the Android. He bumped something smooth and cold before closing his fingers around the black device. Blaine withdrew his hand and dropped the phone beside his jaw before reaching to feel for his glasses. Groaning at the light of his phone, he poked himself in the eye with the arm of his glasses before seeing the text message Kurt sent to him.

U okay?

K, I literally just woke up to your text.

It was a few minutes before Kurt texted back. Oh. Did u see the meds I put on the nightstand? Drink them. I'll be back soon, it's nearly last period.

Blaine knit his eyebrows at what he read. Turning his head to the side, he saw the glass of water and the two small pills by its side; along with the clock announcing that it was fifteen minutes before two. How long have I been asleep? Exactly? He texted Kurt back as he rolled his eyes and groaned.

U've slept nearly twenty six hours, love. U needed it so don't tell me that you had to do this and that. Jeff and Nick did your homework for you along with copying their notes for u from today. Blackmail goes a long way with those two.

He snorted when he read Kurt's reply. Nice. We're still going to the concert tonight, right?

Kurt took a little bit to text back. Blaine swallowed the pills in the meanwhile, and sat up a little bit; hoping that his stomach was cooperating with him. If u feel up to it, B. How's your stomach? Did u take the pills yet?

Blaine thought for a bit. I'm fine, I just took them and besides, I want to support your friends.

He didn't hear back from him so he decided to go to the bathroom and try to wake up more. Blaine grimaced at his reflection in the mirror, screwing his eyes up at it. He looked a little thinner and paler than usual with his hair all over the place; he showed signs of not shaving for two days, a light black shadow covering his upper lip and jaw. Sighing, he sat down on the closed-lidded toilet and unfastened the Velcro straps of his left leg, wincing as air hit the skin of his leg. Blaine looked closer, somewhat intrigued by it. His leg was definitely thinner than his right leg, probably from the weeks in the fiberglass cast and then the nearly twenty four hours in his brace. The skin felt and looked weird, like it was constantly wet or soggy. Blaine ran his hand over the thin red line at the bottom of his knee, grimacing.

"Oh, there you are. I was worried when I didn't see you on the bed."

Blaine looked up and smiled. Kurt was standing in the doorway, wearing his Dalton cardigan today instead of the blazer. He came towards him, setting down a cup of coffee on the counter in the process. "How're you feeling? You look better than before." Kurt asked as he placed a palm on his boyfriend's forehead, feeling his temperature.

"Kurt, I'm fine. I told you already. And besides, have I told you how sexy you look in that cardigan?" Blaine grinned.

The brunette blushed quite deeply, his cheeks coloring a deep pink. "Oh hush, I know I look fabulous in this. I can rock anything this school gives me." Kurt took his hand off of his forehead.

Blaine laughed and pulled Kurt's head towards him, angling his up for a kiss. They both kissed each other sweetly, breaking off with a sound. "I know you do. Is this the same one from when I first kissed you? From before Regionals?"

Kurt smiled as he leaned his forehead against Blaine's. "Mhmm. The same one." He initiated the kiss this time, deepening it from the start. They only broke apart for air. "C'mon, my dad's going to pick us up soon. You need to get ready."

Blaine groaned, both at the loss of Kurt's lips and thought of finally changing out of his pajamas. "Alright, alright. And I know you need your bathroom."

"Be back here in an hour or so? That way I know you won't wear something embarrassing in front of my friends." Kurt said, helping him up by holding his forearms. "Are you sure you'll be okay without your brace? Blaine, you don't even have a knee brace like mine."

"Kurt, for the last time, I'm fine. I'll be perfectly fine. The only thing I'm not fine about is how I smell right now which is probably pretty nasty." Blaine reassured him. He ran his braced hand over a strand of Kurt's hair that had escaped from the side of his head.

"Now that you mention it," Kurt said while making a face, "yeah, you do kinda smell."

Blaine laughed and pecked Kurt on the cheek with his lips. "I'll be fine. I'll be back in an hour, happy?"

"Very."

Walking into his own room, he squinted at the soft light streaming in his window. He grabbed a pair of boxers and went to take a shower. Blaine looked closer at himself in the mirror after he shut the door. His face looked more haggard now that he saw the small bags and lines under and around the corners of his eyes. He gave up looking at himself and went to turn on the nozzle for his shower

Blaine opened a drawer, he contemplated what to wear. It was a concert after all, so bright colors wouldn't do. He finally settled on a black t-shirt he bought on a trip from Chicago, really dark blue jeans, black shoes, and his dark green pea coat; deciding that it had enough color yet wasn't too disruptive. He gelled his hair and walked over to his closet where he kept his wallet. Blaine opened a small draw in the back of the small alcove, pulling out another box. Opening it, he grabbed a hundred dollar bill out, knowing the even though admission was only ten bucks, he decided to thank them for coming to the funeral and everything else.

He knocked on Kurt's door and creaked it open as he heard him to come in. Smiling, Blaine took in Kurt's outfit. He was wearing a gray shirt with a little bit of a frill at the collar, a gray jacket, his hippo pin over the pocket on the left side of his chest, and fitted tight black trousers with gray stripes going down into calf high boots. "Kurt, you look amazing." Blaine told him, gazing at how well he pulled off the gray color.

"Why, thank you. I thought you wouldn't notice." Kurt said, fluttering his eyelashes as he fixed his hair again in the mirror. "You look amazing yourself. I love how you look in green."

Blaine laughed as he sat down at the foot of the bed, rolling up the bottom of his jeans so they wouldn't drag on the ground when he walked. "What time is your dad coming here?"

"In about fifteen minutes. He's going to drive us back after, but he can't stay for the concert since he told me he had something at the shop he had to work on that couldn't wait." Kurt replied.

The two of them sat there chattering until Burt called his son. The drive to Lima was uneventful, the clouds slowly taking over the sky. It looked like it was going to rain right as they pulled up into the garage. Kurt and Blaine had dinner with Burt and Carole, Finn was at McKinley getting prepared for the concert.

"C'mon, I'll show you around before it starts." Kurt pulled Blaine gently by the hand as soon as they were dropped off at the main entrance of the school.

"Wait, Kurt. Slowly, I didn't wear the brace tonight. I still can't run up the stairs like you do." Blaine told him, hanging on to the railing with his similarly unbraced left hand.

Kurt raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow as he saw his hand gripping the iron bar as he walked up. "Why? Why didn't you wear them?"

Blaine shrugged. "I was getting sick of wearing them all the time. I'd thought this would be a nice break from the two things."

Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation. They finally made inside when the lights turned on in the nearly empty parking lot behind them. Kurt showed Blaine the office, the cafeteria, and various other classrooms while walking inside the dimly lit hallways. Clearly the school didn't invest in heating the brick and linoleum halls as it was as cold inside the school as it was outside. Blaine kept his hands inside of the pockets of his jacket.

"And that was the Spanish classroom." Kurt said, pointing it out as Blaine looked. "And of course, you know the choir room." He waved a hand towards it. Blaine looked briefly, noting the people in the room warming up.

"Hey, you guys better get in the auditorium. The show's about to start." A voice said in front of the two of them. Brittany was pushing Artie towards the choir room.

"It's gonna be a full house y'all. Better get there early to get a good seat." Artie said enthusiastically.

"We'll be there in a minute." Kurt told the pair. "I'm just showing Blaine around."

Just as they were about to go into the room, they stopped. "Thanks for showing up and supporting us, guys. It's really cool." Artie told them with a smile.

Blaine smiled back as he noticed the look of longing on Kurt's face as he watched his two friends disappear into the open doorway and out of sight. "Aw, you miss them." He said gently to the brunette, noting how his face dropped a little as he held his hands behind his back.

Kurt opened his mouth to say something but a male voice sounded from behind them.

"What the hell are you two doing here?"

They both turned around to see Karofsky, dressed in a sweaty red cutoff sweatshirt with an equally sweaty gray t-shirt underneath sneering at them malevolently. "We're here for the benefit." Kurt replied stiffly, his eyes serious. "Don't tell me you're going."

"I wouldn't be caught dead. I was pumping iron in the gym when one of the guys in the gym told me you two were here spreading your fairy dust all over the place." Karofsky told them with a mocking tone.

"Would you just give it up? You can live whatever lie you want. But don't pretend what the three of us don't know what's really going on here." Blaine demanded, his anger growing at the jock who threatened to kill his boyfriend.

"You don't know squat, butt boy." The jock threw back.

Something snapped inside Blaine and he shoved the massive linebacker. Karofsky shoved back while Kurt was trying to separate the two of the in middle.

Santana came out of nowhere and pushed the two of them apart. "Hey, hey, hey. No, guys, stop!" She said as the two of them backed up away from each other.

"Real brave with your fists, but you're a coward when it comes to the truth." Kurt told him, his eyes slightly widening at what just happened.

"Truth about what?" The Latino girl said.

Karofsky glared at Kurt before shifting his gaze towards her. "It's none of your business, J-Lo." He told her before glancing back at Kurt.

"First of all," Santana started, "anything you do became my business after you decided to toss that slushie up in my grill."

"I think I can take a couple of queers and a girl." Karofsky sneered.

Santana laughed evilly. "Huh. Okay, so here's what's going to go down. Two choices, you stay here and I crack one of your nuts; right or left, that's your choice. Or you walk away and live to be a douchbag another day." She told him, getting dangerously close to him. "Oh and also, I have razor blades hidden in my hair. Mhmm, tons. Just all up in there." She moved her hands around her head.

Blaine looked on in admiration as Karofsky made a disgusted sound half ran the way back down the hallway he came from. "We've could have handled that." He admitted as she turned towards Kurt and him.

"It was more fun doing it together." She told him, giving him a small smile.

They both smiled as her cell phone vibrated audibly. Santana pulled out her phone from the shoulder of red dress and quickly read the text message. "Oh crap." And without a second glance, she marched quickly between the two of them, her boots clacking on the linoleum floor, into the choir room.

Blaine stood there after she walked away, staring at the place where she stood. Kurt saw a dark look come over his face. "Hey, let's go to the auditorium before something like that comes up again." He told him quietly, taking his hand.

He sighed, nodding as Kurt led them towards the doors of the auditorium. Walking inside, there were only four other people there. The two of the looked at each other as they took seats in the front row of the up half of the theater. Blaine could see a bald man dressed horribly in a cream trench coat and a pale pink polo with khakis, a small blond haired girl in a Cherrios jacket, a boy with a ridiculous afro of brown hair and glasses, and a bulky African-American boy in a varsity jacket.

"Oh hell no." Kurt muttered to Blaine as they sat down with programs in their hands. "Please, please don't tell me what I think they're going to do."

Blaine turned his head before glancing down and reading the program. Apparently the benefit was fitting named "The Night of Neglect" benefit concert and all proceeds would be going towards sending the McKinley academic decathlon to Detroit this weekend for the finals and towards paying for transportation, food, and hotel for the New Directions trip to New York next month for Nationals. He read the list of songs, a little impressed they were singing songs by artists he barely heard of; Lykke Li was one he heard of somewhere but didn't really hear much of. Blaine read bemusingly at the name of the person singing Adele's "Turning Tables." "Hey Kurt, who is this… Holly Holliday? Did they have a new person join the New Directions after Regionals?" He asked, leaning towards him.

Kurt groaned. "Oh Gaga. She's the substitute teacher we have whenever she comes in for teaching any class in this school. She's a good voice, really, but to have her in this…"

Blaine laughed. "I'm sure she'll be great. Let's just see how this goes and we'll visit them at the intermission." He kissed him on the temple just as the lights dimmed. He saw a boy with a Mohawk briefly pop his head in on the side of the auditorium before popping back behind the wall. "Hmm… Artie said the auditorium would be a 'full house'. I wonder where everyone is." Blaine whispered curiously as he took a good look around at the now black seats.

The stage curtains lifted up and a xylophone started the concert off. Kurt smiled as he saw Tina come out in the black satin dress, black knee high socks, and high boots he helped her pick out before he came back to Dalton. She was dragging the microphone stand by her side as she slowly walked with attitude towards the audience. The spotlight was on her as she started singing and swayed her arms to the music.

"You suck!"

"Where's Rachel Berry?"

"Show tunes, show tunes!"

Blaine's mouth fell as he heard what the four people were shouting at the Asian girl on stage. "What. The. Hell?" He said, not even trying to quiet his voice. Kurt's face was identical to his when Kurt looked at him with his eyes still glued to the stage. The four people continued to boo and hurl insults at Tina until she stopped singing, looked horrified, and ran off the stage, the background stopping abruptly and at different times.

"What is your problem?" Kurt stood up and screamed at the four people. "She was singing beautifully and you barbarians just had to ruin her moment of glory!"

Blaine tried to pull him back down to his seat but he was gripping the front of the wooden divider pretty tightly. "No, Kurt. Just…" Blaine couldn't come up with a reasonable solution.

"Hey Lady Boy, sit down before I make you sit down!" The boy in the varsity jacket stood up and face him. "You're going to be sorry as soon as you don't and my fists come singing into your face! This ain't singing, this ain't even I would let my dead dog listen to."

"This is why you're a sack of grain who's good for nothing but a dumb crash mat." Kurt said angrily.

A girl with long blond hair in a red cardigan and cream dress entered with baskets hanging from the elbows of her arms. The baskets were filled with pastel colored candies and boxes of what looked like the same candy. "Who wants saltwater taffy?" She asked the four of them in a musical voice. The two boys ran from their seat towards her as she walked towards the girl in the Cherrios jacket. "Take as much as you want. And remember, vote Quinn Fabray for prom queen."

"Quinn!" Kurt yelled from where she was walking along the row of chairs. He and Blaine waved their arms for her to come over.

"Thanks for coming you guys." She told them as she came up. "Sorry that you had to see this." She slightly tilted her head toward the four hecklers.

"We're sorry you have to go through this." Blaine told her sympathetically. "What are you selling?"

She held up the half full baskets. "Saltwater taffy. Want some? Mr. Schue had us try to sell this to pay for Nations and… well, as you can see, it didn't go so well."

Blaine reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet; he grabbed the twenty dollar bill behind the hundred. "Here, I'll take four boxes. My brother loves this stuff and it's his birthday soon, so why not?" He handed her the bill as Kurt grabbed the two remaining boxes in the basket for him.

"Thanks, Blaine. Really. I'll get you two more boxes when it's intermission." Quinn smiled as she took the twenty.

"Don't worry, we'll come see you guys. We can get it then." Kurt told her as the lights went down.

She smiled again at the pair of them and hurried out as a blond boy in a green shirt and jeans came out on stage and talked into the microphone. "And now, please enjoy the dance stylings of Mister Mike Chang as he busts some moves to Jack Johnson's 'Bubble Toes'"

The only light that went on now was spotlight on an Asian boy in a white shirt, black vests and pants dancing along excellently to the happy tune. Blaine laughed a few times when he saw him holding a mop with a red robe, symbolizing the girl in the song. The hecklers couldn't make a sound, their mouths full of taffy; they could only make arm movements but they were silent nonetheless. The song ended and both he and Kurt stood up clapping.

"Whoo!" Kurt cheered out.

"Bubbles! Yeah!" Blaine shouted, cupping his mouth between his hands as Mike bowed and ran off stage smiling.

The lights went up and the three student hecklers filed out, their hands still full of taffy. Kurt looked at the program; even though there were supposed to be three performances, one was after Tina but before Mike, it was apparently already intermission. "C'mon. I'll take you to the choir room." Kurt took Blaine hand as they walked out.

Walking into the choir room, they smiled at the group chattering happily. All of the smiled and called out Kurt and Blaine's names when they came in.

"You guys were amazing out there!" Kurt said as Quinn handed Blaine his other two boxes of taffy. "Tina, you were absolutely fabulous on that stage. Forget Azimio, Jacob, Becky, and Sandy. You were amazing!" He grinned at her when she hugged him.

"Mike, that dance number was outstanding. Even the Warblers would be impressed with your moves. Then again, we were already jealous of you and Brittany after we saw you at Sectionals earlier this year." Mike grinned as he clapped Blaine on the back.

"Oh, Mr. Schue. Here, the money for the tickets for tonight." Kurt said as he slipped a twenty out of his jacket pocket.

The older man smiled, the wrinkles showing at the corner of his eyes as he did so. "Hey, thanks, Kurt. Really. Just coming here tonight really means a lot."

"Not to mention Blaine bought four boxes of taffy. He paid twenty dollars for them." Quinn said brightly, handing the bill to the teacher.

"Actually," Blaine said slowly as he pulled his wallet out. "I wanted to give you guys this, for everything that you've done for the two of us recently." He handed Mr. Schuester the hundred dollar bill.

All of the New Directions' eyes were bugging out of their heads. "Dude, are you like a millionaire or something?" Puck asked, his jaw hanging open.

"I… Blaine, I couldn't possibly-" Mr. Schuester began.

He held a hand up and shook his head. "Please, take it. I mean it, if you guys need it, take it. I have enough as it is and I'm more than happy to help you guys. Like I said before, this is my way of thanking you guys for everything." Blaine said sincerely.

"Thank you, Blaine." Sam said on behalf of the show choir.

"Where's Lauren? And Mercedes and Rachel?" Kurt asked as he looked around.

"Something came up. You guys go back out in the auditorium, intermission's about to be over!" Mike said.

They said their good byes and hugged before walked out, the door shutting behind them. Kurt put the taffy boxes they had been holding right outside the doors so that they would remember them when the concert ended. Walking back in, they only saw the man in pink clothing sitting in the back row of the front section of the theater.

"Where is everyone? Let's get on with it!" The man yelled, flapping his arms and shoulders in a horrible cowboy impression.

"You're a really horrible person, you know that?" Blaine told him, irritated and angry. Kurt rolled his eyes and patted Blaine's shoulder as they walked back.

"You sound like my court appointed therapist." The man said to his back.

As they sat down, a woman in a green and black track suit came in and walked behind the man, whispering something in his ear. Then he stood up and left the auditorium with the woman, but not before Mr. Schuester came in and said something to her as she walked out.

"Of course it had to be her." Kurt said exasperatingly, pinching the bridge of his nose with his two fingers.

"Who is that? She was at Regionals with that other show choir." Blaine asked, remembering her from the competition and that YouTube video he had yet to show him.

"That, my dear boyfriend, is one of the most vile and eloquent people you will meet." Kurt groaned.

Mr. Schuester took a seat in one of the front rows of the auditorium as Sam's voice announced, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Holly Holliday."

The lights darkened and the curtains pulled up, showing a tall woman with her hair in a bun in a black dress with a string orchestra full of what looked like fifth graders behind her. Blaine recognized the beginning chords of Adele's "Turning Tables" song. The performance was beautiful, but seemed slightly out of place with Mike and Tina's performances.

All three of them clapped after she was done, but didn't stand. "That was really nice of her to do this." Kurt whispered as the curtain came down.

"Yeah, I like how her voice sounded. It was a nice tribute to Adele. I like the orchestra in the back, but aren't they a little young to be doing vibrato?" Blaine asked, looking at him.

"Doing what?" Kurt said blankly.

"You know, the…" Blaine demonstrated with his left hand, wincing slightly as he moved his hand. "Oh, never mind. I'll ask Mari later."

They waited as they heard a bit of a scuffle coming from behind the curtain; the instrumentalists were probably moving around for the next song. Soon, the lights dimmed again and a familiar xylophone melody started. Kurt grinned as the curtain raised and Tina came out, walking the same way as before, and sang her song in full. The both of them cheered the hardest when it ended while Mr. Schuester clapped and stood up. She bowed and walked off stage, grinning exuberantly and waving to them. The man dressed in the pink polo came back in and took his prior seat.

Suddenly, everyone in the New Directions except for Rachel, Mercedes and Sam came in. They waved down the two boys and pointed to seats close to where they were all sitting.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Mercedes Jones." Sam said, smiling.

The curtain was quickly raised up, revealing the African-American teenager in a beautiful sequined midnight blue gauze dress with a matching hair piece. Blaine smiled as he listened to her belt out the Aretha Franklin song, enjoying it immensely. It was too soon when the song ended. Everyone stood up and gave her a huge standing ovation.

"You guys were all amazing tonight. Thanks for inviting us." Blaine said as he received everyone's hugs as Kurt called his dad to pick the two of them up to go back to Dalton.

"Tonight wouldn't have been a success without you two. Money or no, you two made it amazing, not us." Santana told him.

Kurt and Blaine said their good byes and walked out, grabbing Blaine's taffy boxes on the way out, and out to the front door where they waited inside the doors. They waited as soon as the car pulled up to the curb and, walking somewhat slowly in the rain, they made it out to the car laughing at the water dripping in their eyes from their hair.

"You two boys have a good time?" Burt asked as the windshield wipers swiped across the long piece of glass separating the outside world from inside the car.

"Yes, Dad. You should have been there." Kurt said as he continued to tell him the highlights of the concert, even leaving in the part of the hecklers.

They soon were at Dalton and the two boys thanked Burt before they dashed out of the car and into the austere brick building of their dorm rooms.

"Tonight was pretty awesome." Blaine said as he sat on Kurt's bed and slipped his leg back into the brace.

Kurt did the same thing next to him. "Yeah, it really was." He said a little distractedly.

Blaine looked at him worriedly as he fastened the straps around his hand brace. "Hey, at least you know that they'll be putting the money to good use next month."

Sighing, Kurt lay down next to him and pulled the blanket over their bodies. "I know. I'm glad we went." He smiled. "I love you."

Blaine smiled back and kissed him. "I love you, too."

The two boys drifted off, the sounds of the night accenting their dreams.