Chapter 22

At first, Burt Hummel couldn’t tell, why the strange tightening in his chest felt so dreadfully familiar. But then, when the nurse on the phone broke the news of Kurt and Blaine’s attack, and he promised to be there as soon as possible and hung up, it came to him. The night he lost Elizabeth. That phone call was almost exactly the same. Except for the news.

He had to tell himself repeatedly that it was just a concussion. Whatever the reason was – and, god, he was pretty sure he knew what the reason was, and he’d always feared something like that could happen – his boy was alive and would be just fine.

Carole was with him when the phone rang. Seeing the fear creeping onto his face, his hand trembling, made her realize something was very wrong. When his body relaxed and he put the receiver down, she didn’t wait for him to speak. She enveloped him in a hug, and only then heard the news. Her breath hitched, tears flowing up to her eyes.

Finn chose that moment to come downstairs and froze on the living room doorstep.

‘What’s going on?,’ he asked, frowning.

‘Kurt- he was attacked. Him and Blaine,’ Carole said through her tears.

Finn’s eyes became wide.

‘What? When?’

‘An hour ago. The hospital called,’ Burt said, trying to hold on to the thought that Kurt was going to be alright to keep his calm. It was tough.

‘It was Karofsky. It had to be,’ Finn muttered, mostly to himself, without realizing he said it out loud.

Burt felt his concern mix with rage.

‘What? What did you say? You know who did this?’

Finn took a step back, terrified, not really of his step-father, but of what his step-brother would say, when he finds out he let himself slip like that.

‘No, it’s nothing.’

Carole looked at her son pleadingly.

‘Honey, if you know something, tell us.’

For a second Finn hesitated, dropping his eyes to the floor. Ah, screw this. He told Kurt he’d have his back. Even if it was going to piss him off.

‘There’s this guy at school- Karofsky? He used to be on the football team with me. Um- so he was being mean to Kurt and Blaine, and a little to the rest of us in Glee.’ He paused and glanced up at his parents. Burt nodded, encouraging him to continue; he was still mad. ‘And then- a couple of weeks ago- he kinda- um- harassed Kurt, and people found out that he plays for the other team…’ Burt’s eyebrow shot upwards in a silent question. ‘I mean, that he’s gay. And Mr Schue found out about that… assault thing and he took Kurt to Figgins to report Karofsky. And then they suspended Karofsky for over a month. So I guess he hates Kurt’s guts.’

He finished and bit his lip, waiting for Burt’s anger to explode, but it didn’t happen.

‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t Kurt tell me all this?’ He had really started believing they were getting along well enough for that now.

‘He didn’t want to worry you,’ Finn said.

Well, that did sound like Kurt.

‘Finn, sweetie,’ Carole cut in hesitantly, ‘what do you mean exactly by “he kinda harassed Kurt”?’ She was quite sure she knew that, though.

‘Um- I don’t know exactly what happened. I don’t think Kurt told anyone. Well, maybe Blaine. But I think he said he was “sexually harassed”.’ It felt strange telling that to his parents, and he could feel his cheeks burn.

Burt pressed his lips together, seething. The thought of his boy hurting was making him wish he could catch that Karofsky kid and give him a concussion. Carole nodded sadly to herself, but collected her thoughts enough to remember they had somewhere else to be.

***

Once at the hospital, Burt’s anxiety level reached its peak. He didn’t even think to check, whether his wife and stepson kept up with his pace, as he ran down the hallway to the room they were told Kurt occupied.

All he needed was to see that really his son was going to be perfectly healthy, that nothing was threatening him anymore.

He didn’t care to knock, and both Kurt and Blaine jumped up startled on the narrow bed, almost causing the latter to fall. Kurt squinted, trying to make out the figures in the doorway as clearly as possible. His eyesight was still quite fuzzy.

‘Dad?,’ he asked softly. The rumble at the door made his head pound a little harder.

‘Yeah, kiddo, it’s me.’ He leant forward over his son’s bed and grabbed him in a massive hug.

Kurt was barely able to breathe in his father’s rib-crushing embrace, but it didn’t matter; he felt as safe as he could. His dad was there, Blaine was lying right next to him, the rest of his family was just a couple of meters away. Nothing could ever feel surer or more secure.

Finally, after a long few minutes, Burt let his son out of his arms and grabbed his shoulders firmly.

‘Why didn’t you tell me, Kurt?,’ he asked, trying very hard not to get mad; the kid had been through enough for one night.

Kurt frowned, his brain working the tiniest bit slower than usually, but it put the pieces together in a moment. He bit his lip in a mixture of embarrassment and worry.

‘I handled it… Or the school did. It doesn’t matter anymore.’ He shrugged dismissively.

‘It does, Kurt, you always matter,’ Burt said. ‘Don’t keep things like that from me, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Kurt replied slowly, remembering not to nod, as the movement made him want to puke. He tried not to think what would happen, if he shook his head. That would be a disaster. He closed his eyes. ‘Can I just ask you something?’

‘Sure, shoot.’

Kurt inhaled a deep prolonged breath, lifting his eyelids. His vision was still crappy.

‘If I had told you, what would you have done to fix the situation?’

It didn’t take much time or consideration on Burt’s part to answer.

‘I’d find the son of a bi... guy who was hurting you, and I’d… teach him a lesson.’

Kurt couldn’t suppress a sigh. ‘Exactly, Dad. You would get yourself in trouble, if not with law, then with your health, but most of all, you’d be a little bit like him. I didn’t want any of that.’

Burt took the words in, hating to admit that his son was entirely right. God, why did he always have to be so damn right? Just like Elizabeth. An unconscious half-smile tugged at a corner of his lips.