Chapter 7

'Finn, honey!,' called Carole, seeing her son in the entrance, and running towards him. Reaching his side, she became hesitant, visibly disturbed by his empty expression.

'Hi, Mom,' he muttered in a tired, unenthusiastic voice.

The rest of them lingered behind, their mouths slightly open in a painful shock. They certainly had expected a changed Finn; that maybe he'd mature, maybe he'd grow wiser… But it seemed every bit of hope and joy had been destroyed in him.

While Carole was keeping her son in an unbroken embrace, wetting his shoulder with her profusely shed tears, Burt took care of the formalities. Soon afterwards, Finn was wheeled into his room, doctors greeted him in their hospital, promising the best care he could wish for. All the while Finn looked like he wished for nothing whatsoever. He didn't even appear to be listening; he was just sitting there, with his gaze fixed on the floor, his body practically unmoving. Blinking was the only proof he was still among the living.

'Honey, how was your flight? Did they take good care of you?,' Carole asked with concern after the doctors had left.

'Yeah.'

'And do you need anything? Some pain medication?'

'No.'

'Okay… Maybe you want me to help you onto the bed?'

'No.'

Carole was becoming more and more desperate. There was nothing she wanted more than to be helpful to her son who had already been through hell. And apparently there was nothing she could do. Nothing he wanted her to do.

Suddenly, a sob came from the corner, where Rachel was standing, her hands pressed to her chest, as if she was having trouble catching a breath. Her eyes were wide open with terror, and filled with tears threatening to fall any second.

As all the gazes, except for Finn's, fell on her, she just shook her head frantically and ran for the door. Seeing Burt and Carole froze dumbstruck, Kurt followed her closely behind.

He found her at the end of the hallway, standing by one of the high windows. Her face was already flooded with tears.

'Rache…'

She turned around to face him in one swift movement.

'It's like I don't know him anymore, Kurt. Did you even see him?'

'Sure, we were all there…'

'I mean, did you see him? It's like Finn was… gone.' Rachel began to sob violently, trembling all over. Kurt caught her in an embrace, trying to steady her.

But soon enough they were both crying, clutching at each other.

***

The car on the way back to New York City was filled with an insufferable silence. Any attempt at breaking it failed miserably; none of them were capable of talking of petty things, when their minds were full of Finn, or whoever it was they just left in West Point.

Kurt had probably never seen Rachel this quiet, this introverted. Carole uttered not more than a dozen words during the whole drive back, wiping her eyes stealthily from time to time. Burt was almost as quiet as he was right after Kurt's mother's death; he was glancing anxiously over the others' faces to make sure everyone was relatively fine. He couldn't expect them to really be fine, but he hoped his son and Rachel were done sobbing in a tight embrace, the way he found them earlier in the hospital hallway. It couldn't get worse than that.

***

Rachel's face on Monday morning looked like that of a ghost. Or so it seemed to Blaine when he saw her in Madame Tibideaux's class.

'Hey, Rachel, is everything alright?,' he whispered to her, taking a seat behind her.

She smiled weakly in response.

'I'm fine, it's just that… Finn – Kurt's step-brother – was transported to West Point Saturday, and…' Her voice trailed off. She swallowed and sucked in a deep breath. 'Well, it's bad.'

'Oh.' Blaine couldn't find anything appropriate to say. 'Um- Can I… help or whatever?'

'No, unless you're some undercover PTSD expert. But thanks.'

He gave her a pat on the back, hoping to be reassuring.

The conversation with Rachel filled Blaine's mind with thoughts of Kurt, so when he bumped into him on the way out after classes, he was close to believing he drew Kurt to himself telepathically.

'Kurt! Hi, I talked to Rachel this morning, she told me about your brother…'

Kurt sighed.

'At least she's speaking again. She went kinda dumb over the weekend.'

'How are you holding up?'

With his eyes locked in the distance behind the open front door, and his lower lip trembling, Kurt shrugged.

'Um- Do you wanna talk?,' Blaine asked uncertainly. 'Coffee?'

Kurt looked into those warm, hazel eyes, and nodded.

'I could use that.'

***

The apartment seemed deserted now; Carole spent most of her time in West Point, helping Finn with everything, from eating to physical therapy, and sobbing in the bathroom, whenever she had a spare moment. Burt was forced to go to D.C. to take care of Congress business, and then to Lima, to check on the tire shop.

As a result, Kurt and Rachel had their place all to themselves, but instead of enjoying their reclaimed freedom, they simply felt alone. Neither of them was able to push Finn out of their minds, even though by some silent agreement he became almost a taboo topic in their conversations.

Kurt found comfort in the increasingly frequent coffee dates with Blaine, who was gradually becoming a trusted and objective confidante. Blaine seemed to always be there, whenever Kurt was in need of a sympathetic presence, someone to patiently listen or someone to be silent with.

Meanwhile, Blaine began to hang out more – especially in between classes – with Rachel, who appeared to be quite lonely as well. He soon found out neither in the Hummel-Berry friendship was keen on discussing the whole Finn situation between the two of them. So he took it upon himself to listen to both and be a sort of a silent mediator between them. Both Kurt and Rachel were aware of Blaine spending time with the other, but they never mentioned talking to him about Finn. Or the other.

They did mention each other to Blaine from time to time. Cutting their best friend out of a sincere conversation would be terribly difficult, after all, if not entirely impossible. With each of Kurt's references to Rachel, all his emotions towards his best friend could be read out of his face as from an open book; his love, his concern, his affection. And every time Kurt's name was mentioned by Rachel, she would glance furtively at Blaine, appraising his reaction (of which he wasn't entirely aware, and she found the results quite satisfactory).

On a sunny mid-October afternoon, Blaine was leaning on the wall next to the front entrance, when Kurt finally emerged from the school in a hurry. He seemed slightly nervous, but quite cheerful at the same time – especially when compared with the gloomy mood he was in for the majority of the few last weeks.

'Sorry I'm late,' he blurted out. 'And can we change the plans a little?'

Blaine took off his yellow sunglasses, eyeing Kurt.

'A little meaning how much?'

'Um, how about going to Greenpoint, getting groceries, and coffee and dinner at my place? With Rachel, obviously, she has to eat, too.'

It took Blaine a moment to answer. He opened his mouth and raised his eyebrows. Getting along with both of them was easy, when they were separated; there was no guarantee it wouldn't change with the three of them together in one room. And neither Kurt, nor Rachel knew exactly how much the other had been telling their mutual friend.

'Um- fine by me. But will Rachel be okay with that?,' he finally said.

Kurt shot him a doubtful look.

'You serious? She adores you.'

Blaine's eyebrows went even higher up on his forehead.

'Huh, really?'

'Come on, who doesn't?'

***

'You do like spinach, don't you? Because if you didn't that would sort of screw up my dinner plans.' Kurt looked at Blaine expectantly, only to see him slightly amused.

'Nothing against spinach.'

'That's a relief,' sighed Kurt. 'Then I won't have to drag you around the store for an hour, trying to figure out something else.'

Kurt managed to gather all the products he needed in under ten minutes and in another ten they were climbing the stairs to the Hummel-Berry apartment, laden with shopping bags (Blaine didn't let Kurt carry everything, despite his pleas). Upstairs, they were greeted by Rachel singing along to Barbra, before they even managed to reach the third storey landing.

'Well, that's pretty normal in here,' said Kurt.

'It seems more like NYADA dorms than the NYADA dorms.' Blaine grinned at him. Listening to Rachel all day long couldn't be considered an ordeal; the girl had a stunning voice after all.

Kurt set down a bag to ring the bell, sniggering. Rachel opened the door before them with a smile that widened the moment she saw Blaine.

'Oh, hi! Kurt didn't say you were coming!' And she sent Kurt a questioning look behind Blaine's back.

'Guys, this place is so cool! The dorms are a shithole compared to this.'

Rachel took advantage of the fact that Kurt was busy unpacking the groceries, and intercepted Blaine.

'Yeah, right? It's all Kurt though, you know, he did all this.'

'Seriously? Wow, that's awesome.' He looked positively impressed, and Rachel – absolutely delighted with herself.

'He even painted the walls and the furniture himself.'

'Rachel, please,' Kurt finally cut in. 'Don't make it sound like a big deal.'

'Are you kidding? You could easily make a living in interior design,' said Blaine. 'How did you get so talented anyway?' He grinned at Kurt, his eyes sparkling playfully.

And Kurt couldn't help it, but blush a little at the compliment. No guy has been this nice to him since… Well, since Chandler.

Before long, the three of them sat over coffee, as comfortable as ever. And as if by some magical force, both Kurt's and Rachel's minds were freed from the worries weighing on them for the few previous weeks. And both of them were laughing along with Blaine, like they used to back in the old times, before Finn joined the Army, before Rachel was rejected by NYADA, before Kurt was beaten up. And Blaine before he was beaten up. They drank their coffee, practiced their assigned songs for their vocal classes together, joked, teased and laughed. Kurt cooked, with a little help from Rachel, and Blaine asking if he could give them a hand every two minutes. They ate their dinner, Kurt's spinach-and-chicken cannelloni dubbed one of the best meals Blaine had ever tasted. And Rachel backed out into her room, leaving Kurt and Blaine to say goodbye on the threshold.

And she peeked at them through the crack she left in the door, while they hugged tentatively. And she smiled, when they smiled at each other with their final byes.

They all were feeling painfully, unbelievably normal.

And for that one short afternoon they all were whole.