It had been a few weeks since Blaine and Cooper had arrived in Lima, and now it was almost a routine for them to go scouting every day, rather than being cooped up inside the big three story house.

They were comfortable to say in the least, but currently they were all just surviving. What reason did they have to do anything anymore? And most of the time, they were bored. There wasn't much to do other than drink and fuck. And seeing as the only couples in the house were Finn and Rachel and Kurt and Blaine, there wasn't much of anything going on.

Blaine could tell that Kurt was trying to become intimate again, but to Blaine, it didn't ever feel like the right time. It wasn't because there was always someone else around and they were never really alone, or because they were constantly fighting to stay alive. It just… Blaine couldn't explain why he felt like he didn't want to be intimate. He only really figured it out when Kurt finally confronted him about it.

"What's wrong, Blaine?"

"What d'ya mean?" Blaine looked up tiredly, already half asleep.

"I've been flirting with you a lot and I've tried to be intimate. Hell, I've hand my hand on your thigh all night and you haven't reacted at all. Is it… Have I done something? Is it me?"

Blaine frowned, sitting up and looking at Kurt properly. He felt bad, he hadn't meant for Kurt to feel this way and he realised he should have explained himself earlier, just so he didn't his feelings. It was too late now, though; Kurt was already hurt, and now Blaine had to explain.

"Kurt… you haven't done anything. I swear. I just… I feel…" Blaine bit his lip, struggling for the right words to get his point across. "I honestly don't know, Kurt. I guess I'm… scared? Of everything that's happened in the last what… two months? I just… what if something happens to one of us? Any of us? I still feel responsible for Quinn's death. I feel like if I was there, to stop that thing… she'd still be with us. She'd be able to see Beth. She wouldn't be dead and rotting in a grave near Amarillo. I'm scared, Kurt. I'm terrified. And because of that I just… I can't, Kurt."

Towards the end of what Blaine said, he'd lost eye contact with Kurt and was looking down at the bed, close to tears and his breathing had turned shaky. Kurt frowned slightly and just wrapped Blaine a tight hug.

"It's okay… I understand. I'm scared too…"

And they just sat there, arms around each other; comforting each other. Because that's what they needed. Not sex. Comfort. Love.

It was soon late August; summer was going quickly. Their food was growing, but they still scouted. It was unspoken, but one of the reasons they scouted was to look for other survivors. They couldn't be the only people left alive; they were determined to find others.

~X~

It was around midday and there were only a few clouds in the sky and Blaine, Puck, Santana and Kurt were out, walking in broad daylight in the streets. Blaine watched as Kurt twirled his knife in his hands out of boredom while Puck and Santana were breaking into cars using a wedge and a car antenna and searching them.

"You know, you'd think they've done it before."

Blaine looks at Kurt and smiles. "Yeah, if they hadn't I'm pretty sure an alarm would have gone off by now."

Kurt sheathed his knife and glances at Puck as he stumbles out of a car while Santana laughs at him.

"They'll have to teach everyone how to- that's not normal." Blaine frowns in confusing but then follows Kurt's line of sight and sees and pile of dead bodies in the middle of the road.

"Have any of us done that?" Blaine asks over to Puck, nodding his in the direction of the bodies.

Puck and Santana look over too. "Nope…"

"So… unless these creatures have started stacking up their own dead… there are some more survivors around here."

They got moving immediately and went over to the bodies before deciding to scout in the four houses surrounding, separately. Kurt and Blaine shared a look before heading into one, a look that said 'be careful'.

Blaine wasn't far into the house when he heard a gunshot and a scream. Blaine was back out in seconds, running across the road, Kurt appearing by his side as Santana appeared out of the house she had gone into. The three of them went into the last house together, weapons at the ready, but were lowering them in milliseconds when they heard a girl's voice.

"Nick! God what have you done! Who are you!?"

Blaine, Kurt and Santana stepped into the main room to see Pucks gun lying at his feet while he stood in shock at the little girl who was around nine years old, and another guy lying on the floor, covered in blood.

"Puck was he alive!?"

"Oh my god."

Blaine ignored Kurt and Santana in that moment because even though he couldn't see the guy's face, he could see the girl. A girl who looked very familiar to him. Piper. Her name was Piper Duval.

The realization hit Blaine like a train and scrambled to the floor besides the guy who he could now hear was groaning quietly in pain. Blaine looked at the wound first. He had been shot in the right shoulder, and at a close range. And then Blaine finally looked at his face.

"Nick? Is that you?" Blaine asked quietly. His voice made the guy open his eyes slightly and brown met hazel.

"Blaine?"

"Hey."

Nick smiled a little, went to move and then grimaced in pain.

"Don't move. We'll take you back to where we're staying. You'll be okay." Nick nodded and Blaine looked at the others who were staring in shock. "Well!? Get moving! We'll take him back, see what we can do to help him. Puck, you and me hold him up, and don't give me that look you're the one who did this to him. Santana, would you be able to keep some sort of pressure on his shoulder to stop the bleeding while we carry him?" she nodded and Blaine turned to Kurt. "Kurt, could you-"

"Scout ahead. Kill anything that might be under cars and such. Make sure nothing is in your way. Got it." Kurt said, nodding. Blaine flashed him a smile before turning to Piper, Nick's little sister.

"Stay close to us Pipes. Nick'll be okay." Piper nodded. She had met Blaine several times and she trusted him, but she shot a wary look at Puck and stayed beside Blaine.

It took a while to figure out how to carry him while Santana had to apply pressure to the wound, but the eventually did it and they stumbled from the house and headed back to Sugar's. It took around half an hour to get back, and they were all exhausted when the they stumbled through the door, Sebastian and Jasper appearing and helping Blaine and Puck carry Nick further into the house. Sugar appeared and told them to take him to one of the spared bedrooms and lay him on a bed just before they lowered him to the couch. She followed them all up the stairs, Rachel right behind her.

When they got him to a room, Sugar ushered Santana, Puck, Sebastian, Kurt and Jasper out.

"My mom used to be a doctor, she taught me some stuff. Kurt go and get me some supplies please." She said before shutting the door on all of them and moving to Nick's bedside. Rachel was on the other side, and when Kurt returned with the supplies, they set to work together, Rachel doing whatever Sugar told her to do.

Piper sat vigil, watching their every move while Blaine told them what had happened, half expecting Piper to speak up and tell them, but she didn't, he went ahead and explained.

After a while, they had managed to remove the bullet and stitch him back up, then wrap him in bandages. He'd passed out from pain a while ago, and Piper was now sitting on the end of the bed while everyone else moved out. Sugar pulled Blaine to the side when they left into the hallway.

"I did what I could but I'm not a doctor myself, Blaine. I got the bullet and any fragments out. It didn't look like it hit anything major; Puck clearly isn't that good at aiming. I'll come back every so often to see how he is and change his bandages. And also, when we took his shirt off all I could think was 'daaaaaaaaaamn this guy is hot'. Is he gay? Cause it seems like all the hot guys are either gay, taken or dead." She grins. "See you later, Blaine!" And with that she left, following after Rachel, leaving Blaine stunned and wondering how she could jump from seriousness to… well, Sugar in three seconds flat.

He sighed and looked at Kurt tiredly. Kurt smiled slightly and held out his hand, which Blaine took and squeezed in comfort. Kurt led him to their room, leaving Piper to have some time alone with Nick.

They lay down on the bed and held each other.

"I'm proud of you." Kurt mumbled into Blaine's ear softly.

"Why?"

"Because back there, when Puck first shot Nick… you were the only one to react. You were brave… you acted like a real leader and… I'm just proud of you." Blaine smiles and looks up, quickly pecking Kurt on the lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

And they just laid there, thinking and holding each other.

A real leader?

Blaine had just acted on impulse to help his friend. He had been afraid back there, not brave. He had just simply not allowed himself the time to process the fear. Leader's think things through, he just did things.

Blaine wasn't a leader, and he didn't want to be.