When Kurt woke up, it was light outside. He had known he would fall asleep at some point in the night, but he had hoped he wouldn’t sleep this long.  He rubbed his eyes and sat up straight in his armchair.

To his relief Blaine was still asleep on the bed. He was sleeping on his stomach with his face turned to the side, so his black eye wasn’t resting on the pillow. Kurt figured it must be the position that caused him the least pain. He couldn’t get over how small the other boy looked, his cheeks sunken in and the circles under his eyes still prominent.  Blaine looked as peaceful in his sleep as Kurt wished he would feel while awake, but he knew that once the slave opened his eyes, the haunted expression would be back. The assumption that Kurt had terrible things in store for him would be clear in his eyes. Kurt couldn’t hold it against him, but that didn’t mean he knew how to deal with it. There was nothing he could say to put the boy at ease, he could only give him time.

Kurt’s stomach growled. He decided to let Blaine catch up on some more sleep, which Kurt figured he desperately needed, and snuck out of the room as quietly as he could.

He found his family having breakfast quietly in the kitchen.

“Morning.” He said upon walking in. He received a chorus of good morning wishes in return.

“How is he?” Carole asked softly. “Finn filled us in on what happened last night.”

“I don’t know.” Kurt admitted. “He hasn’t been sick since I put him back to bed, so I guess that’s good. He’s still sleeping now.”

“Poor thing.” Carole sighed, glancing towards the staircase. “You should try to get some food in him soon, he looks so weak.”

“He pretty much passed out on Kurt last night.” Finn said, nodding in agreement.

Kurt sighed, considering what he should give Blaine for breakfast. He was grateful that it was only Saturday. He would have a whole weekend to help Blaine adjust before he went back to school. Maybe he could even talk his dad into letting him stay home for a couple of days…

“We’ll have to get him a collar.” Burt said with a disapproving frown on his face.

Kurt sighed, but nodded.

If a slave without a collar and owner identification is found in public without supervision they are either taken to a collection centre where they can be collected within a week, if the owner did want them back or they become property of the city, depending on the state one lives in.

All of the Hummel-Hudson slaves wore collars to work, since the street outside the tire shop was considered a public area and Burt didn’t want any trouble with the authorities.

“It’ll be a while before he’s in any condition to wander off on his own, so I don’t think we need to rush that.” Carole pointed out.

Kurt put down his fork. He was starting to feel sick again. He didn’t want to think about strapping anything around Blaine’s neck. Blaine wasn’t a dog. Although technically, Blaine was less than a dog, Blaine was his property, to do with as he pleased. The boy who was sleeping in his bed had cost him about as much as a new DVD. Kurt swallowed hard when he realized he owned socks that had cost him more than Blaine’s life had.

Kurt excused himself from the table and started preparing Blaine’s breakfast, hoping that Blaine would be able to handle a piece of toast and some tea. He could feel his dad watching him, but he didn’t acknowledge it. He placed the plate with the toast and a fresh cup of tea on a tray and headed upstairs.

When he opened the door he could tell Blaine was awake, by the way his breathing was slightly faster and his muscles were slightly tenser than before. What he couldn’t figure out was why Blaine would pretend to be asleep.

“Good morning.” Kurt said quietly. Blaine’s chest stopped rising as though he was holding his breath, he slowly turned his head from its sleeping position to look at Kurt who was standing in the doorway, tray in hands.

“Good morning, Si-Kurt.” He whispered hoarsely, sitting up and lowering his eyes. Kurt could see he was holding on to his blanket rather tightly. “I- I’m sorry, I don’t- I don’t remember falling asleep here.” He stuttered, fear evident in his eyes. “If I may, where are we?”

“This is my room. You kind of fell asleep on us last night and when Finn was done with your room it smelled so much like disinfectant that it almost made me sick. So I thought you’d probably be better off in my room.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and slowly placed the tray over Blaine’s lap.

Blaine seemed confused by the food in front of him.

“You should eat this slowly, small bites and small sips so you won’t get sick again, okay?”

“Thank you.” The boy said, reaching for the toast, not taking his eyes off Kurt for a second.

“I’ll go find you some clothes while you eat then.” Kurt announced, he didn’t want to watch Blaine eat. He opened his closet doors and went to work looking for simple clothes that were too tight for Kurt to wear anymore. Thankfully, he found quite a few that didn’t fit him anymore since his growth spurt a year ago.

“What would you like me to do today?” Blaine asked quietly, nibbling on his breakfast.

Kurt abandoned his search in favor of looking at the boy in his bed. “Well, I’d like you to either have a bath or a shower, though a bath would be better for your legs I guess and we’ll have to clean your wounds and dress them. I think that’s it, you should probably rest as much as you can.”

Blaine didn’t answer, he was staring at the tea on his tray instead and Kurt wandered what Blaine thought he would want him to do. He went back to looking through his clothes.

5 shirts, 2 pairs of pants and another pair of pajama should tide Blaine over until he was well enough to go out with Kurt to get his own clothes, Kurt figured.

Blaine was sipping at his tea, holding the cup as though it was made of thin glass. Kurt was starting to feel awkward, he didn’t know what to say to Blaine.

A knock on the door saved him from having to come up with something.

“Come in.” Kurt called.

“Ah… hey, just letting you know, Rachel’s coming over later today.” Finn said. “Morning, Blaine.” He added upon looking at the bed.

“Good morning, Master Finn.” Blaine answered, lowering his eyes to his mug.

“Thanks Finn, are dad and Carole going to be home or does that mean you want privacy?”

“Nah, they’ll be here, so we’ll just be in the living room. You can totally come and hang with us.” Finn said, obviously not satisfied. “Erm… Blaine too, of course.”

“Okay.” Kurt smiled. “We’ll see if we’re up for it.”

After Blaine had finished his breakfast, Kurt led him to the bathroom. Blaine was much steadier on his feet this time around, so Kurt let his hands hover near Blaine’s waist and shoulders just in case, instead of having to hold him upright like he had the previous day.

He sat Blaine down on the closed toilet seat, before adjusting the temperature of the water pouring into the tub.

“Please take off your shirt so I can remove your bandages.” Blaine obliged, instantly fumbling with the buttons on his pajama top before letting it slip down his arms. He caught the fabric before it could drop to the floor and clutched it to his chest, closing his eyes and leaning forward slightly to give Kurt access to his back.

Ever so carefully, Kurt started peeling off the bandages as gently as he could. He realized that this was the first time he had seen the broken skin on Blaine’s back up close. He could see old scar tissue on the parts of skin that hadn’t been freshly torn open, this wasn’t the first time Blaine had been whipped bloody.  Kurt swore to himself that he would personally make sure that it was the last time though.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you.” He whispered when the last bandage was removed and the full extent of Blaine’s injuries was laid bare before him.

Blaine flinched. “I deserved it.” He whispered.

Kurt squeezed his eyes closed and took a deep breath before asking, as calmly as he could. “What could you possibly have done to deserve this?”

Blaine shuddered, clutching the shirt harder. “I soiled the market’s property. I was forbidden from… going, but I… I couldn’t hold it anymore and I… oh god, I’m so sorry.” He whimpered, covering his face with his hands and curling in on himself as if he was expecting a blow.

Kurt was kneeling on the floor in front of Blaine in an instant. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, you should have the right to do…erm… whatever you need to do whenever you have to.” Kurt sighed, he shouldn’t have pressured Blaine into telling him. He wasn’t helping the boy, he was only upsetting him.

“I shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” He didn’t even know what the right thing to say was, but Blaine was looking at him, his face as unreadable as ever, but not as fearful as Kurt had dreaded it to be.

“How about you get in the tub, it’ll make you feel better. I always feel better when I’m clean.” Kurt suggested standing up. Blaine nodded and allowed Kurt to pull him to his feet by one hand.

He let go of the shirt he had been gripping and placed it next to the sink carefully. His pants followed and Kurt was looking anywhere but at Blaine until he heard the sound of someone sitting down in the water.

Kurt handed him the washcloth and some shower gel. “Are you going to be alright for a moment?” He asked the boy in the tub.

“Yes, Kurt.” Blaine answered, looking up at him uncertainly.

“I’ll be right back.” Kurt promised, heading out of the bathroom.

He collected the pile of neatly folded clothing he had found for Blaine and brought it to the guest room, stacking all the clothes apart from jogging pants and a long sleeved shirt into the cupboard.

After getting Blaine’s meds from the kitchen he headed back to the bathroom, but stopped short in the doorway.

Blaine was resting his head against the edge of the tub, running his fingers through the water in random patterns, scooping a handful of water up and letting it drop through his fingers back into the tub with a smile on his face. He sighed happily.

Kurt couldn’t help but smile at the look on the boy’s face. He couldn’t believe that there were people out there who had willingly hurt him, raised a hand or whip or worse against him for no reason.

Blaine noticed him standing in the doorway and immediately sat up straighter and started scrubbing his skin with the washcloth again.

“No need to rush.” Kurt said, placing the salves and pills on the counter next to the sink alongside with the fresh clothes “Take your time. Let me know if you need more hot water in there.”

 “Really?” Blaine asked and for the first time Kurt could hear actual excitement in his voice.

“Of course. Enjoy your bath.” Kurt said with a warm smile.

“Thank you.” Blaine sighed, sinking back into the tub.