To his surprise, the kitchen light was already on and his Dad was standing at the island in the center of the room. Burt looked up in surprise when he heard his son shuffle into the room; his butter knife covered in white mayonnaise paused briefly above his slice of bread.

"Kurt, what are you doing up?" Burt asked as he topped the last of his sandwich and took the first delicious bite. Kurt sighed heavily as he sat down on a stool at the island.

"I'm worried about someone. It's just keeping me up is all." Kurt said vaguely.

"Someone from the Rehab center?" Burt asked, on the dot as usual and Kurt just nodded quietly. There was a long silence for a while as Kurt collected his thoughts.

"It would be rude, right?" Kurt started but his father only answered him with a confused expression so Kurt continued quickly. " To ask him what happened to him? It would be rude?" Kurt asked, as if getting his Father's confirmation wouldn't solidify what he already knew. Burt looked at his son with an expression that Kurt had seen many times before. Of course it was rude. Of course it was none of his business.

"You know it's not your place to ask something so personal to someone you hardly know." Burt said and yes, he was right. Kurt sighed and rested his hand on his cheek.

"I don't know why but I feel like I can help him. But how can I if I don't know what happened it him?" Kurt muttered to the open air as he sat with thoughts of Blaine rushing through his mind. He wondered over and over as to what could have happened to him that made his hand freeze up like that.

It was a couple of days before Kurt was able to go back to the Rehab center for his next volunteer shift. Part of him was incredibly excited to see Blaine again but he had his worries as well. Kurt took his time picking up his Volunteer badge at the front desk before he inevitably had to walk into the Red room and start interacting with everyone. He scanned the room and quickly found Blaine, sitting at his usual table by the large bay window that looked out into the front courtyard. He looked solemn and alone, as he always did, his fruit cup sat forgotten on the table in front of him. Kurt watched him for a few minutes; sometimes he felt he could just watch Blaine and time would slip away like it was nothing. Kurt tried to snap himself out of his thoughts quickly, out of his trance as he decided to walk over and speak to Blaine.

"Hey Blaine." Kurt tried to say casually. Before he even turned to look at Kurt, a smile erupted onto Blaine's face. He looked at Kurt with a happy look on his face; smiling with not just his lips but his eyes as well.

"Kurt. I was wondering when you were going to visit again." Blaine said.

"Well, rehearsals for regionals has kept be busy." Kurt said as he sat down across from Blaine, glancing at Blaine's untouched fruit cup.

"You haven't eaten." Kurt mentioned and Blaine just shrugged.

"I don't like peaches." He said, hardly even glancing down at the fruit cup in front of him, his eyes were stuck on Kurt. Kurt knew what he was about to ask, he just didn't know how to get started. He was mentally preparing himself for Blaine's friendly attitude to take a dramatic shift and it was causing his nerves to stand on edge.

"Listen Blaine, there was something that I wanted to ask you..." Kurt started as he took a quick glance up at Blaine, who had a curious smile on his face. Kurt's brain was yelling at him to stop, to not open up that emotional door in Blaine but his heart was telling him that it was important to know.

"Feel free to tell me that I am out of line," Kurt started, stammering over the words like he was a little kid. "...I was just wondering why...why you were here?" The smile left Blaine's face almost immediately and Kurt wished he could turn back time and take it all back.

"I'm sorry, I know it's none of my business. Somehow I just thought I would be able to help you if I knew..." Kurt's mouth was rushing to keep up with all the apologies swimming in his mind. To explain himself as quickly as possible but Blaine just waved off his words.

"You don't have to explain, you just caught me by surprise. I also assumed you would have asked sooner." Blaine said, smiling weakly. Kurt was shocked, he had thought for sure that Blaine would have shut down again like he had the other day.

"You're not angry?" Kurt asked, just to be sure.

"No, of course not. It's perfectly normal to be curious. Like I said, I'm just surprised." Blaine said and it immediately comforted Kurt. "It's just a difficult subject for me to talk about." Blaine added. Kurt felt a bit guilty at those words. He wanted to bring light to Blaine's eyes, not take it away. He didn't want Blaine to relive an upsetting past.

"You don't have to tell me..." Kurt mumbled.

"Dr. Bernard says it's good to talk about it with people so..." Blaine said and they sat in an awkward silence for some time until Blaine finally took a deep breath and started to tell the story.

"It was the Sadie Hawkins dance last school year, you know, the dance where the girls ask the guys. I had just come out to my friends and through the high school grapevine, everyone found out..." Blaine started and Kurt did his best to keep the surprise on his face to a minimum. So Blaine was gay and something about him being here had to do with that fact. He could practically feel his heart swelling up in his chest.

Blaine continued, "...so I asked a close guy friend of mine to go with me. We got dressed up, we went, we danced and everything was picturesque. After the dance we were waiting for his Dad to come and pick us up and these three classmates of ours came up from behind us and basically...beat the shit out of us." He struggled to keep his voice even towards the end. Kurt didn't know what to say so he just stayed silent.

"My friend turned out okay, just minor contusions while I got the worst of it. Taking a baseball bat to the back of the head effected all of my regular brain patterns and motor functions so I had to start going to physical therapy daily and classes to relearn how to spell and draw and such. So, that's why I am here." Blaine and he finally looked up from his hands and into Kurt's eyes; wanting to see how he was taking everything.

"I...I can't believe that you had to go through something like that." Kurt said. He could practically see the pain now, the fear beneath Blaine's eyes. He wondered how he hadn't seen it before. Blaine looked into Kurt's eyes and Kurt could tell that he was about to pull away. He was about to pull himself in and shut down completely like he had done the other day and Kurt couldn't let that happen. Not after Blaine had opened himself up so much just for Kurt, really gave Kurt a glimpse inside. To revert to such a introverted mess was the last thing that Kurt wanted for him. Kurt decided on the simplest of gestures. He reached across the table and laid his hand down gently across Blaine's balled fist. Blaine instantly froze, looking down at their hands and then back into Kurt's sure eyes.

"You don't have to be afraid of them anymore, they can't get you here." Kurt said. Blaine found himself smiling at Kurt, his chest tightened in a way that he had never felt before. For the first time since he had come to this place, broken and alone, he was moved with a feeling of happiness. They sat like that in silence for a long while until Blaine exclaimed that he was feeling tired and he wanted to go rest. This time he let Kurt escort him from the Rec room to his bedroom instead of waving over one of the nurses to do it. They walked together down the stark white halls until they arrived at the end of the hall, Blaine's bedroom. They looked at each other for a long while, both not knowing how they should part. Finally Blaine reached out towards Kurt, wrapping his arms around Kurt's neck; pulling him in what could only be called a loving embrace. Kurt hugged him back as hard as he could, burying his head into the crook of Blaine's shoulder; hoping that his feelings were being properly conveyed.

"Thanks." Blaine said simply before he released the hug. Kurt simply smiled weakly as Blaine turned and stepped into his bedroom. When the door shut with a click, his smile faltered a bit. He hadn't really thought his question through when he had asked it, he never through that Blaine would have been here because of some physical trauma; and emotional. He stood in the quiet hallway before glancing into Blaine's room once more. He looked so small in his room, like it was swallowing him whole.