The first thing that occurred to Blaine was that he was missing something.

He was lying next to Kurt in the tent, daylight streaming in through the parted entryway.

Brec. Tash. Kurt. Pain.

His mind was a strange jumble of confusing information, but his body felt oddly amazing.

Blaine stood up, his limbs flowing like liquid, the specks of dust in the beam of sunlight at the entryway unusually detailed.

Wait. Had Kurt healed him? But why? What had happened?

And why were they both sleeping? Surely that couldn't be safe.

Blaine stretched, his breath catching at a slight tenderness in his side. He moved his hand to his ribcage and found a smooth stripe, like a new scar.

And then he remembered.

He'd been stabbed.

Blaine cast his eyes around the tent, looking for his sword.

When he didn't see it, or any other weapons, he grabbed the dagger he kept hidden at the bottom of his satchel and crept warily outside.

The first thing he noticed was the cage.

Oh, yeah. Kurt did that.

Then there was the smoking pile of something...or someone. Yes, that would be the smell of burning flesh in the air.

And then he saw Tash.

Humming to himself as he looked through their supply of herbs and dried mushrooms.

Tash looked up, laughing when he took in Blaine's befuddled expression.

"Come on over, I'll fill in the blanks for you. I imagine you're feeling quite well, so you can help me make a stew. Kurt's going to need something hearty."

Blaine continued to stare at him. Tash sighed.

"I'm on your side now, if I'm on anyone's. At least until I can get to Z'auli, I figure that's closest."

Blaine's hand flexed around the dagger in his hand.

"Oh, for- I'm not going to burn you, Blaine! I already took care of Brec, isn't that enough?"

"You- you did that? I thought Kurt-"

"Kurt was in no state to do anything. Brec damn near killed both of you. And then Kurt damn near killed himself when he healed you. He shouldn't have even seen it through, you were too far gone."

"Hence the stew," Tash added gently at Blaine's stricken expression. "He's going to be weak for a little while, and he's going to need you to take care of him. But he's going to be fine, Blaine, I promise you."

Blaine smiled through the inevitable tears that had started to flow.

"Thank you," he whispered, before sitting down next to Tash.

Kurt didn't wake up for another several hours.

Blaine had been checking on him regularly, and almost didn't hear the soft, pleading cry that came from the tent as the evening began to spread across the sky.

"Blaine?"

It was so quiet that Blaine wasn't entirely sure if he heard it with his ears or his heart, but he leapt to his feet and was beside Kurt in an instant.

Kurt's eyes were heavy, and he did seem very weak. Simply raising his head seemed to be a struggle.

"Kurt," Blaine whispered, throwing himself down onto the blankets beside him, and squeezing him tight.

Kurt hugged him back with as much energy as he could manage.

Blaine eased Kurt back down onto the blankets. Kurt simply stared up at him with wonder.

"You're alive," he murmured. Blaine laughed.

"Yes. You saved me. Again. But it was dangerous, Kurt, you shouldn't have..."

Kurt groaned. "Hush. Blaine, please kiss me."

Blaine did.

"I love you so much," Kurt sighed. "Stay here with me?"

Blaine smiled, settling down beside Kurt. "Of course. You should eat soon, though. Tash and I made stew."

"Tash..." Kurt murmured. "Killed Brec, you know. Tash did."

"I know."

"Not sure we can trust him, though, Blaine."

Blaine stroked Kurt's chest gently.

"I think he just wants a ride to Z'auli, Kurt. He stayed here and kept watch until I woke up. He could have left with the horses."

"Mmmm, I suppose."

"And do you know what else?" Blaine asked with a sly smile.

"Hmmm?"

"Having a third person to rotate watch with means that we can sleep together again." Blaine kissed Kurt's cheek. "I've missed holding you at night."

"Me too," Kurt sighed, attempting to snuggle closer. Blaine pulled him in so that he wouldn't have to expend his energy.

Kurt sighed contentedly and closed his eyes again.

Blaine felt Kurt's stomach rumble as he slid his palm across it.

"You need to eat, Kurt. Healing me took a lot out of you."

"Too tired to eat," Kurt mumbled.

"You won't get any less tired until you eat. Come on."

Kurt whimpered, flopping his head onto Blaine's chest with exaggerated effort. "Don't want food. Just want you, Blaine."

Blaine kissed Kurt's forehead. "Well, what if I carry you outside, and hold you while you eat? Then you can have both."

"Not a baby," Kurt grumbled.

"No, you're not a baby. You're my hero. Let me show you how much it means to me by taking care of you."

Kurt managed a smirk, his hand sliding under Blaine's tunic and across his stomach. "Mmmm...I can think of another way to show me."

Blaine laughed. "Kurt, if you're too tired to eat then you're definitely too tired for that."

Kurt sighed. "Yeah. Just want to keep touching you, though. You're so warm."

"Are you cold?" Blaine asked. Kurt shrugged slightly, but burrowed closer to Blaine.

Blaine moved to fetch their warmest blanket, which was folded up at the foot of the tent. Kurt whined pitifully.

"You're too far away," he whimpered.

"I'm right here, Kurt," Blaine said softly, crawling back toward him with the blanket.

"Hey," Blaine said with concern. There were tears in Kurt's eyes. "Kurt..."

"You're alive," Kurt said, looking at him. "Blaine, I was so scared...I just need you close right now. Please."

Blaine leaned down and planted soft kisses across Kurt's face. "I'm not going anywhere," he said.

Blaine wrapped Kurt in the blanket and carried him out to the fire that Tash had started. Kurt's protests over being carried were half-hearted at best, and before long he was snuggled against Blaine with an expression of pure bliss, seeming to forget any objections he may have had to start out with.

They sat by the fire and Kurt allowed Blaine to feed him, which surprised Blaine tremendously.

He had never seen Kurt in anything like this state before, and it was endearing. Blaine certainly preferred Kurt fierce and strong and acerbic overall, but it was also sweet to have this small, temporary exposure to an altogether vulnerable Kurt who allowed Blaine to take care of him.

It was simply another part of Kurt to love.

After he had eaten what Blaine deemed a reasonable amount, Kurt rested his head in the crook of Blaine's neck and sighed deeply. The warmth of the blanket and the fire and Blaine, together with the bit of stew in his stomach lulled Kurt back into an easy sleep.

Blaine looked over at Tash.

"You...you can stay in the tent when it's your turn to sleep if you want to..." Blaine began awkwardly.

Tash snorted. "Thank you but no. That tent is, uh...well, I believe it is strictly a two-man tent. Let's leave it at that."

Blaine looked slightly abashed.

Tash shrugged. "If you can spare some blankets, I'm happy to sleep outside. I can always clear some space in the carriage if it rains."

Blaine smiled. "Well. If you're sure."

Tash nodded. "Why don't you go ahead and lie down with Kurt right now. I'll wake you when I start to get tired."

"I...well...thank you. Just be sure to wake me as soon as you want to get some sleep. You've had less rest than I have recently."

Tash shrugged. "It's just nice to be out of that cage, to have some energy again. Go on. I'll be fine."

Blaine pondered Tash as he carried Kurt back to the tent. If the Sidhe had an angle, Blaine certainly couldn't figure it out.

Still. He would be glad to deposit him in Z'auli. Having him along was making Blaine a little bit uneasy.

Kurt was roused slightly when Blaine eased him onto the nest of blankets where they slept. He murmured Blaine's name and grabbed at his arms, seeming afraid that Blaine might be leaving him there alone. Blaine was pleased to note that his grip seemed a bit stronger than it had earlier.

Blaine pulled Kurt into his arms and simply lay there, enjoying the feeling of Kurt's body against his. "I love you," Blaine whispered into Kurt's hair. Kurt replied softly, his voice slurred with sleep, and it took Blaine a moment to decipher what it was he had said.

He had said I Love You as well. But he had said it in his native tongue.

They slept.

A few hours later, Blaine awoke to Tash's voice, and carried Kurt back outside so that Tash could get some sleep.

Blaine sat by the fire holding Kurt, his sword beside him. Thankfully it had been cleaned of most of his blood.

It was hard to not simply drift off again, the warmth of the fire and Kurt's soft breathing against him creating a very strong but undeniably false sense of safety. Blaine fought the urge, focusing instead on the way that the firelight danced across Kurt's delicate features, and running his hands through Kurt's soft brown hair.

Kurt finally woke up, and Blaine helped him find a place to relieve himself. There was no awkwardness or embarrassment; nothing but the complete comfort that they had come to feel with one another. Blaine realized that he had never in his life felt this completely at ease with another person before. And then he laughed at the context of the realization.

They made their way back to the fire, Kurt insisting on walking now, though he was still leaning on Blaine for support.

Once Kurt had settled back in front of the fire, Blaine hung the cauldron over it and brought Kurt some fruit and leaves to eat while they waited for the stew to heat.

"You've really become quite the nursemaid," Kurt said, snuggling back against Blaine as he sat down behind him.

"Well, I'm just glad that I finally have the opportunity to take care of you. And I'm glad that you're letting me do it."

Kurt turned his head to kiss Blaine as his arms wound around Kurt's waist.

"You always take care of me, Blaine. We take care of each other."

Blaine pulled him back into his lap. "Yes we do. And I don't want us to stop. I want us to take care of each other forever."

"I want that too," Kurt said softly, leaning his head back onto Blaine's shoulder.

They sat in silence until the stew began to bubble, letting the words sway and echo between them. Now was not the time to finish this conversation, after all. Now was the time to keep things gentle and tender between them.

They ate, Blaine encouraged to see Kurt take two helpings of stew, and sat in comfortable silence with occasional murmured conversation until the sky began to pinken with the rising sun.

They heard Tash begin to stir on the other side of the fire, and then he was up, heating more stew and telling them to go on back to the tent to get some more rest.

They did go back to the tent. But, to Blaine's surprise, rest did not seem to be on the agenda just yet.

Blaine had just closed his eyes when he felt the press of warm lips against his neck and a smooth hand sliding up his bare abdomen. He blinked in surprise and turned his head to find himself staring into lust-darkened eyes.

"Kurt, aren't you..."

Kurt smiled. "Well, Blaine, if you don't mind taking a more active role this morning, I...just want you so much right now. I want to be as close to you as possible."

"I want that too," Blaine murmured, turning t o face him. "That is, if you're sure..."

Kurt laughed softly. "I'm sure. Just don't expect me to move too much."

Blaine laughed as well. "I think I can work with that."

Given the magnitude of Kurt's most recent healing, Blaine produced the red flowers quite easily, feeling incredibly grateful that Tash did not look over at him when he crept out of the tent to do so.

Kurt finished undressing himself just as Blaine returned, and Blaine quickly shed his own clothing as well. He lay down next to Kurt on his side, propped on an elbow, while Kurt gazed up at him, lying flat on his back.

Blaine smiled and unfurled a flower, drizzling the contents across Kurt's chest and stomach and groin, and then down his thighs. Kurt closed his eyes and sighed deeply as Blaine began to massage the oil into his skin, starting with his shoulders and slowly working his way down. By the time he reached the downy hair between Kurt's legs, they were both fully aroused.

"We should probably try to keep quiet," Blaine whispered into Kurt's ear. "Tash..."

Kurt nodded his assent, eyes still closed, breath ragged with pleasure.

Blaine took Kurt's length into his hand and began stroking slowly, watching Kurt arch his back and moan softly. Blaine decided that he would never get enough of seeing Kurt this way, that it was simply not possible to ever lay eyes on anything sexier or more fulfilling.

Blaine paused just long enough to unfurl a second flower, and then resumed stroking Kurt with his right had while he dipped three fingers of his left into the newly opened flower.

He nudged Kurt's thighs apart with the back of his hand, and Kurt complied by spreading them wide. Blaine began to gently stroke Kurt's entrance, Kurt's breath catching on a stuttering squeak of pleasure.

As he began to push the first finger inside, Kurt groaned, low and deep, and opened his eyes to gaze at Blaine, glassy and unfocused.

"Blaine," he breathed. "Oh, Blaine, that feels...I love you...gods..."

Blaine leaned in to kiss his lips while both hands continued to work between Kurt's legs.

"I love you," Blaine said when he pulled back. "I just want to make you feel good, Kurt."

"So good. So good, Blaine. Please...more..."

Blaine slipped in a second finger, thrusting in more deeply and stroking the little pleasure-nub when he found it.

Kurt let out a piercing cry, and Blaine willed himself not to focus on the fact that Tash had definitely heard that, because nothing could be done about it now.

Besides, he really couldn't bring himself to actually ask Kurt to stop making noises like that. Not when those noises kept going straight to Blaine's cock.

Blaine added the third finger, thrusting and stretching until Kurt began whimpering and pleading for Blaine to make love to him.

Blaine slicked himself up, gasping at the feeling, knowing that he would never get entirely used to the sheer intensity of it. He gently ran his hands up Kurt's long legs, hooking his ankles over Blaine's shoulders as he pressed forward, sliding completely into Kurt in one fluid motion.

Kurt threw his arms behind his head and arched his back impossibly high, his moan of pleasure blending with Blaine's, and yeah, poor Tash. Because there was no way he could possibly think they were sleeping right now.

Unfortunately for Tash, however, the two men in the tent had moved well past any thoughts of his welfare as they began moving together, lost in nothing but the feel of their bodies merged in sheer ecstasy and blinding love.

Blaine grunted as he thrust into Kurt, planting erratic kisses to his neck and chest and face, his lips shimmering with flower-oil. He was utterly lost in the taut, slippery heat inside Kurt's body, in the slick, silken skin of his thighs against Blaine's hips.

And Kurt cried out again and again as the angle of Blaine's thrusts kept hitting that spot inside him every time, like bolts of lightning zinging through his body, and Blaine's warm skin and hot breath against him made him feel like he was home and alive and he never wanted it to end.

Kurt reached down to touch himself before realizing that he really didn't need to, that he didn't want to come just yet, so instead of stroking he squeezed himself at the base, holding off on his release, whimpering with delight as Blaine's thrusts grew harder and deeper, the jolts of pleasure more and more intense.

"Blaine," he breathed, "T-tell me when you're getting close."

Blaine responded with a deep moan, pressing his face into Kurt's neck, his full lips causing a kiss-shaped glow of sensation to bloom across his throat.

Kurt buried the fingers of his free hand into Blaine's hair, gently holding his head in place and gasping as Blaine continued to slide in and out of him.

"Kurt," Blaine groaned, muffled, against the flesh of his neck. "I'm...I'm going to..."

"Yes," Kurt whispered, and released the grip on his own erection, giving himself four firm strokes before completely coming undone, wailing Blaine's name with no thought to his volume, clenching down around Blaine's final, deep thrust, the end of Blaine's name overlapping with the beginning of Kurt's as Blaine found his own release.

Blaine gently lowered Kurt's legs and fell on top of him, hearts thudding against one another.

Their breathing slowly returned to normal, their heartbeats calming to a soft, comfortable rhythm, and Blaine finally whispered "I love you," and Kurt said it back, lifting Blaine's chin to kiss him.

They almost fell asleep like that, but eventually Kurt began shifting uncomfortably beneath Blaine's weight, the shifting making Blaine realize that he was far too sensitive to stay inside of Kurt, no matter how much, in theory, he never wanted to leave.

Blaine cleaned them up with water from their flask and their last clean cloth, and then lay back down beside Kurt, pulling him close.

Kurt was mostly asleep when Blaine settled in beside him, but he moved instinctively into Blaine's embrace.

"Blaine," he mumbled, his voice thick and dreamlike, "don't ever leave me again."

"I won't," Blaine replied, "but you have to promise me the same." He gazed over at Kurt to see his reaction.

But Kurt was already asleep.