~*~*~*~

The next couple of weeks went by quickly. Finn had finally stopped tagging along with Kurt everywhere, finally realizing that the other was alright. He did worry about the bullies there, like Karofsky and Azimio, but they seemed to have decided to leave the other alone for the last little while for the most part... They gave him looks, glares... said their usual rude comments... but they didn't push him and they'd only slushied him once and hadn't done it again after Finn and Puck nearly went ballistic on both of them.

Kurt, meanwhile, seemed to have completely forgotten about what had happened to him... or at least that's what it looked like. It was like it had never happened. He smiled, held his head up high, threw out his customary snarky sarcastic comments to people when needed. Finn spoke to his mom and Burt about it... he'd told them about the freakout the other had had on the first day and how he'd just out and had a sudden personality change after throwing up in the washroom.

Burt had tried to talk to Kurt about it but the other had just insisted that he'd just needed to calm himself down and that he'd felt overwhelmed... but he didn't feel overwhelmed anymore. He brushed it off like it wasn't strange... like there was nothing wrong and he did the same thing when Carole asked about it. He almost snapped at them when they tried a third time, anger seeming to bubble up beneath the surface and they were honestly starting to think that maybe he needed counseling.

Kurt had started to eat meat a lot more regularly, especially red meat on the rare side. He'd started running every morning before school and before bed. He seemed to sleep more lightly, he noticed things more, he could smell things better and hear things better... It was strange but Kurt never seemed to notice. He just went on like nothing was wrong... like nothing was happening to him.

~*~*~*~

"Carole..." Burt murmured quietly as they spoke one evening. Finn had already headed back home and Kurt had slipped downstairs to give the two adults some alone time, "I'm scared... I'm so scared that something's seriously wrong... but any time I ask Kurt what's wrong he gets angry. I don't understand what's happening," he let out, trembling a bit as tears started to slip down his cheeks.

"Oh hunny..." Carole let out before pulling him into a hug as she sighed softly, "Post traumatic stress disorder can have a lot of different effects on different people. And we don't know everything that happened to him out there... he could have hit his head. Sometimes head injuries cause drastic personality changes in people. We'll do whatever we can to convince him to see someone but if that doesn't work... we just need to wait and pray that time can fix whatever's wrong with him. If we push him he will pull away from us."

Burt sobbed softly but finally nodded to her, letting her hold him. He hated to cry in front of others but this was really getting to him. He felt like he was loosing his son and it terrified him. He couldn't loose Kurt... He wasn't sure he could handle it. After his wife's death Kurt had been all he'd had and all that kept him going each day. Sure he had Carole and Finn now but... to loose Kurt... He couldn't...

Carole sighed, tears stinging at her eyes as well before Burt finally pulled away and gave her a weak smile, brushing tears from his eyes. She sobbed just a bit, chuckling weakly as she brushed her own eyes as they both tried to calm themselves.

The two of them talked for a while more, brainstorming ideas of what they could do to help Kurt and convince him to talk with a professional. If they had to get all his friends and family here to tell them how frightened he was making them and how worried they were then they would. They just wanted him to get better.

~*~*~*~

Kurt woke up to the alarm the next morning and groaned softly. He didn't feel like getting out of bed. He hadn't been able to fall asleep till about half-past midnight and all he wanted to do now was go back to sleep. He looked at the clock and groaned... six o'clock... if he wanted the chance to do his moisturizing routine and everything he needed to get up now.

He finally pulled himself out of bed and headed to the washroom, taking a warm shower before doing his moisturizing routine and brushing his teeth and brushing his hair. He slipped out of the washroom after and moved towards his closet to pick out an outfit.

At about half past seven Kurt was dressed and his hair was done and he had everything he needed packed in his backpack for the day. He slipped downstairs and smiled to his dad, moving over to give the other a peck on the cheek as he gave a cheery, "good morning," to the other.

"Hey there buddy... How are you?" he asked as he watched Kurt slip over to put some toast in the toaster. If he'd had time he'd have preferred to make himself some eggs and bacon, something that he'd begun to do since the attack. Burt had, of course, noticed the change in the others eating habits and had mentioned it but Kurt just pushed his worries aside as usual.

"I'm good..." he let out, waiting for his toast to come up so he could slather it in peanut butter. He glanced over to his father after a moment, catching a soft sigh from the other as he frowned, "Hey... I'm fine... I know you're worried but there really isn't anything to worry about. I'm alright."

Burt sighed again but nodded, "I still wish you'd talk to someone. Just... get it all off your chest. Even if it's only a one time thing it would make me feel a lot better..." his father let out in an almost pleading tone and Kurt just frowned and looked away, grabbing and putting peanut-butter on his toast when it came up.

"I don't want to see a shrink... or a doctor... or a therapist... or a psychologist or any of those... I'm fine. I don't 'want' to talk about it. I 'want' to forget about it," he let out, a slight tremble to his fingers for a moment before he shook his head, "I'm over it... why can't you and everyone else get over it... it didn't even happen to you. Why are you so worried about it when I'm not? Just forget about it... please..."

"Kurt..." Burt murmured as he moved to stand, staring at the other before sighing and nodding, "Alright... alright, I wont mention it anymore. But please... if you want to talk... I'm here... you can talk to me... you can talk to Carole or Finn or your friends or Mr. Schue... just talk to someone if you need to... promise me that..."

Kurt finally looked to him and sighed, nodding, "I will... if I need to..." he said before taking a bite of his toast, chewing and swallowing as he dad nodded, "good... I'm gonna head off to the garage, you make sure you get to school on time and I'll see you when I get home..." Burt smiled warmly before turning to head out. He was still worried but he didn't want to push Kurt away.

~*~*~*~

Kurt finally pulled into the school parking lot and stepped out of his car. He stretched a bit before closing the door and locking up the car and heading off towards the front doors. He was a bit relieved that his dad seemed to finally understand that he just wanted to be left alone... He didn't want to talk about what happened or think about it or have people constantly asking questions about it...

He slipped in the doors and walked down the hall, smiling a bit as he moved. He was glad Finn had stopped following him around... the other was seriously getting on his nerves. He didn't want people to treat him differently because they pitied him... he didn't want that.

Kurt yelped after a moment as his body was suddenly shoved to the side into the lockers, pain shooting through his shoulder for a moment. It was the shoulder that had been injured by both the knife and the 'dog' but thankfully, it was healed completely save for the scar. But being shoved so roughly hurt just the same.

He narrowed his eyes as they shot over to Karofsky who smirked, looking smug as he let out, "tch... fag..." before he turned to walk off. Kurt snapped at this point, rushing forward and grabbing the other by the shoulders in a tight grip. He felt like his blood was boiling... his whole body tense for a fight.

The moment he knew he had a good grip on the other, before Karofsky even realized what was happening, Kurt yanked him to the side, shoving him with a loud 'bang' against a set of lockers and pushing him into it, facing the lockers as he let out a low growl that only he and Karofsky would be able to hear as he leaned into the other.

"Don't... fuck with me, Karofsky..." he snarled into the others ear. Karofsky narrowed his eyes and tried to push the other off but Kurt just pushed him harder, almost smothering him against the lockers as he growled low in the others ear again, "I said... don't fuck with me... This ends today... try that shit with me again and I'm going to rip your pathetic worthless throat out."

Karofsky was panicking by this point... the smaller boy was suddenly too strong. He couldn't push the other away. It didn't make sense but he was scared... the growling and the harsh vicious tone in the boy's voice. All of it was too much and he couldn't help but tremble and let out a whispered utterance of, "alright... I get it..."

"Good boy..." Kurt let out, chuckling softly and smirking as he pulled away from the other, a glint of something feral in his eyes as Karofsky rushed off. The crowd that had gathered to watch the strange spectacle all stared at Kurt with wide eyes before the other narrowed his own and let out in as calm a voice as he could muster, "get... out of my sight..."

Everyone took his words to heart and they all quickly scurried off to their classes, leaving Kurt alone in the hallway... or almost...

"What the fuck just happened?" came a feminine voice and Kurt tensed as he turned around, spotting Santana standing there with a hand on her hip, "did you seriously do what I thought I just saw you do? Or was that some kind of freakish performance between the two of you?"

~*~*~*~