"Blaine!"  Kurt tried to turn to tend to Blaine but Karofsky's arm caught him.  From the ground, Blaine's eyes began to flutter open again.  Kurt chanced a look down to Blaine as he blinked his eyes and began  to slowly sit up again.

Kurt began to open his mouth when Karofsky's hand flew to cover it.  "Shut it, ladyboy." He shoved Kurt back until his back hit the lockers trapping him under David's firm grip.  He slowly made his way forward so their faces were just inches apart, then, in one quick motion, he trapped Kurt's lips with his own.

Kurt's world began to work in slow motion.  Karofsky's weight against his ribs made his lungs slowly stop working, his hand around Kurt's neck got tighter and tighter, and all the muscles in Kurt's body seemed to slowly go limp.  He tried to shove David back but he was too weak and the lockers behind him combined with the grip on his neck disabled Kurt from being about to back away.  Thinking as quickly as he could with his bully's slimy lips against his, Kurt decided the only way he was going to get out of this was to play along.  Kurt opened his mouth, only for a second, to allow Karofsky's tongue in before he used all the force he had built up to bite down on it.

Immediately, David pulled back placing his hand over his mouth.  "You little shit!"  He looked down at his hand and saw blood dripping down his palm.

"Shut it, Karofsky. I've had enough of you." From the floor Blaine began to regain his strength, "Don't you see that all the stupid things that you do or say do nothing for you.  You don't look cooler for beating Kurt up.  He don't become stronger.  You've been fucking using Kurt as a punching bag to hide from yourself.  Well, I've had enough of you and your big mouth.  I'm not going to keep this to myself anymore."

"If you tell anyone, Anderson, I'll... I'll come after you and your boy here.  And trust me, next time I won't be so nice.  I've always wondered what your boy would look like handcuffed to my bed.  Maybe some hand shaped bruises all over his skin would do him some good."

The instant adrenaline rush helped Blaine stand to his feet in one swift motion.  He pulled his fist back and aimed it straight for David's jaw, but he was still too slow and Karofsky beat him to the punch. Literally.  Within seconds Blaine is back on the floor and Karofsky is out the door.

Kurt knelt down at Blaine's side and gently placed his hand on Blaine's cheek while he eyes filled with tears.  "Stay here. I'll go get someone."

"No! You heard him, Kurt.  Whatever he has planned for you I'm not going to let happen."

"It's just an empty threat."

"You don't know that! I'm not willing to risk it.  Just, give me a few minutes to regroup and then we can go back to class."

"Blaine-"

"Kurt. Please."  Even through his own tears, it only took Kurt one look into Blaine's big hazel eyes and he knew he had lost.  So, instead, Kurt sat down and leaned against the lockers.  He knew how gross the floor of the locker room had to be but it was honestly the furthest thing from his mind.  He reached over and pulled Blaine next to him before he turned and buried his face into Blaine's chest and let his tears go.  Blaine reached his arms around Kurt to pull him closer and let him cry.  He didn't even realize that he was crying himself until he saw a tear fall from his cheek and land in Kurt's hair.

The moment seemed never ending to either of them.  They both sat their replaying what had just happened over and over until Kurt suddenly got up and ran over to the toilet and threw up.  Blaine cringed at the sound but walked over behind him and ran his hand up and down Kurt's back.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt. I'm sorry. I should have stopped him. I'm so sorry."  Blaine couldn't stop whispering to Kurt who stayed bent over the toilet.  At some point, he went to his football locker and grabbed his water bottle, filled it with water from the sink, and brought it over for Kurt to rinse his mouth out.

"I need to go home. I need to shower. I need to get out of these clothes, Blaine. Please, call my dad and have him come get us. Please."

"Kurt. I can't. I won't let Karofsky come after you again."

"We can't let him win!" Kurt suddenly went into hysterics thrashing around in the bathroom stall.  He pounded his fist against the cool metal walls and scratched his finger nails into the paint.  Blaine reacted quickly be swallowing him into a an embrace trapping his arms down by his sides.  Kurt kicked around until the warmth from Blaine's arms kicked in and he went limp sitting there in the locker room.  "Please. Call him. Please."

Blaine pulled his phone out of pocket and hit his speed-dial five and held the phone up to his ear.

"Hummel Tires and Lube. This is Burt."

"Burt..."

"Blaine?"

"Ya. Kurt... well we, I guess... we need you to come get us from school."

"What's going on?" Blaine could hear a frantic shuffle in the background as Burt grabbed some keys.

"I'll explain everything in the car.  Just hurry please."

"I'm on my way, kid."

Blaine sunk down next to Kurt and pulled him into his lap.  Together, they let themselves break into a million pieces hoping that, one day, the pieces would fit back together.

The car ride to the Hummel's house was silent aside from Kurt's sobs and Blaine's occasional "It's okay. You're safe now," from the backseat.  Burt could tell that Blaine was trying to stay strong for Kurt, but the fear in eyes would be evident to anyone who had known him for so many years.  He also knew that, in time, the boys would open up to him; he just had to be patient and make them feel safe right now.

As soon as they walked through the front door Kurt ran upstairs and locked himself in the bathroom.  Blaine sat outside of the door until he heard the water for the shower start up and knew that right now he had to let him do his own thing.

Down in the kitchen Burt got out three cups and started heating up milk on the stove for hot cocoa.  Blaine came down and sat at the kitchen table staring straight forward without blinking.

"That's quite the shiner you got yourself."  Blaine reached up to his eye which, now that he thought about it, he supposed would be black by now.  "Look, kiddo, I don't wanna pull your teeth here but you gotta tell me what's going on."

And so Blaine did.

He started back when Kurt and Blaine had first met when Karofsky would push Kurt down on the playground, through middle school when Karofsky slowly started to include Blaine in on his bullying, to the locker room earlier.  About how he walked in on Kurt being cornered by Karofsky and how he tried to stop it but Karofsky was too strong.  About how Karofsky forced a kiss on Kurt and then threatened to do worse if they told anyone.  With every word that Blaine spilled he could hear all the opportunities he had to tell Burt or his mom or anyone about what was happening.  He could hear the disappointment in himself.  He could feel himself becoming a terrible friend.

"I'm so sorry, Burt. I should have told you sooner. It never should have come to this."

"You're right.  You should have told me, but I'm not angry with you.  You were scared, both of you were.  But I sure as hell am not going to let this Karofsky kid get away with it any longer."

"But, Burt, Karofsky will follow through on his threat.  If I know anything about him it's that he won't let anything threaten to destroy his reputation."

"That's before he had to deal with me.  I'm going to Figgins tomorrow and I am getting that kid out of that school.  You should both feel safe at school, Blaine.  That's what it's supposed to be."

"But, I'm not so sure Kurt can go back there. Not after today."

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"You're just as much a victim of today as Kurt is.  How do you feel about going back?"

Blaine thought long and hard about it.  He knew that he wouldn't be able to play football anymore.  There was no way he would go back in that locker room.  That gets him out of gym, too.  But as Blaine pictured the hallways at McKinley all he could picture now was Karofsky around the corner waiting for him or Kurt.  Waiting with the rest of the football team to attack.  Blaine shivered away the thought and shook his head.

"I can't go back."

"Well then," Burt reached over and took Blaine's hand.  The gesture was so simple, but it meant everything to Blaine, "We will find a place where you both feel safe."

No matter how hard Kurt scrubbed at his skin, he couldn't get the dirty feeling off.  Soon, his skin was red with scratch marks up and down his arms and his chest.  The water streamed out of the shower head and burned his skin on contact, but he didn't care.  There were a few times he thought he was going to throw up, but when he realized he had ridden all of his stomach contents back in the locker room, so instead he concentrated on getting every trace of Karofsky off of him.  After about twenty minutes, Kurt turned off the water and began to towel off.  On any other day he would spend the next thirty minutes picking out an outfit and perfecting his hair but right now nothing sounded more inviting than being in Blaine's arms.  So he threw on his only pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt and went into the kitchen to find Blaine and his dad.

As soon as Kurt walked in Blaine was up on his feet and at his side with two long strides.

"How are you feeling?"  Kurt simply shrugged in response before leaning over onto Blaine right there in front of Burt.  Blaine wrapped his arms securely around Kurt's waits playing with the soft material of the shirt, and pressed his chin down onto Kurt's shoulder hoping that his actions would help Kurt to feel safe again.  After only a few short minutes, Blaine pulled away and took Kurt by the hand and walked him into the living room where he sat down on the couch and pulled Kurt onto his lap.

Burt came in and left their two mugs of hot cocoa on the coffee table and sat down in his chair across the room.  The three of them all sat in silence consumed by the thoughts bouncing around in their brains.  Burt thought about the world and how it could be so cruel to the two innocent boys that sat as broken pieces on his couch.  Burt knew he would fight for both of their rights to be happy.  He didn't care about the consequences or the looks of disdain because those boys were in love, even if they didn't know it yet, and they deserved to have love and be loved by each other.  Blaine thought about ways to protect Kurt and to be there for him no matter what. He thought about a future with him where nobody would tell them no, or ridicule them, or tell them that what they are doing is wrong.  He just thought about a world where he could come home from work and have Kurt to look forward to.  He looked forward to Kurt being there for him and being there for Kurt because that's what people who love each other do. And Kurt thought of nothing, because he had never felt so worthless in his entire life.

For once, nobody rushed around the kitchen or to the store for whatever meal they planning to have for dinner.  Whatever was happening on the news or just down the street didn't even register.  The mistakes they had made that came back to haunt them didn't dwell in their minds.  This one moment, one kiss, one person had managed to take the lives of three free spirited loving men and turn their worlds upside down.

As soon as the bell rang Karofsky was out the front doors of the school.  Coach was going to have to live with him missing practice today because there was no way he was going to stick around.  Within minutes, Karofsky was through the front door of his empty house and up in his bedroom.  He slammed his face down on his bed and began to pound his fists in his mattress.  He has worked so hard at keeping his cover and within one moment of weakness it had all gone away.  Now Kurt knew and Blaine knew and it wasn't long until the rest of the school knew, too.  He had always hated himself for all the awful ideas of himself he reflected onto Kurt, but his fear of his father was much stronger than his need to be nice to people.  

David crawled under the covers on his bed and pulled his comforter up over his head until he was completely consumed by the darkness.  Then, and only then, did he allow himself to fall apart.  He began to cry so hard that trying to breathe felt like the world's most difficult task.  His throat was closing up from the lump that formed and there quickly became no dry spots on his comforter for him to dry his tears with anymore.  Soon, he flipped over onto his stomach and screamed into his pillow.  Then again.  And again.

Eventually, his voice went hoarse and he had no fight left within him.

Once he heard the garage door open underneath his bedroom, he got up and quickly washed his face in the bathroom across the hall before going downstairs and putting on his usual ‘good son' act for his parents.  Maybe one day he would be able to be himself in his own home.  Only maybe.

When Carole got the call from Burt she immediately made plans to drop Finn off at Puck's house before heading on over to the Hummel's house.  When she arrived the first thing she noticed was the silence that rang throughout the house.  It wasn't the kind of silence that just naturally happened, but instead it was the eerie silence that made you afraid of whatever was hiding  behind every corner.  Tracy and Burt were in the kitchen murmuring to each other and Kurt and Blaine were nowhere in sight.

Before she even sat down with them, Carole made a small pitcher of lemonade for the adults to sip on.  Together, they decided that there was no way they were going to keep the boys at McKinley; whether David was expelled or not, they would never send their sons back to a place that made them feel unsafe.

"You know... there is this all boys private school over in Westerville I hear about sometimes at work."  Both Burt and Tracy perked up at Carole giving her the okay to continue.  "Well, at the hospital we sometimes get these boys coming in for various reasons and their schools aren't safe for them anymore, so they have to find a new place to go.  It's expensive, though.  Only the boys with rich parents ever actually send them there, but apparently it has this zero bullying policy that make it like a safe haven for anyone who attends."

"Technically, McKinley has a zero bully policy."  Burt wrinkled his nose at the idea and turned away as if he was going to forget it was even mentioned.

"But at this place it's enforced. All the time."

"What's it called?"  Tracy pulled out a pen and paper from her purse.  This school was at least worth some good internet searching, right?

"Dalton Academy."