Kurt walked into his mom's bedroom slowly before peaking around the corner into their bathroom.  He promised Blaine he would ask her what was going on and Blaine was going to ask his mommy, too.  Staying tucked safely behind the wall he watched and she began combing her hair gently but with each brush a clump of hair would come out onto the comb.  He looked in the mirror and realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Mommy?"

Liz quickly wiped the tears and put a smile on her face before turning and looking at Kurt.

"Mommy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, sweetie."

"Then why are you crying?"

Liz sighed and dropped the smile from her face obviously defeated before she called out for Burt to come join them.

She walked over toward the side of the bath tub and sat down pulling Kurt up onto her lap sweeping the hair of out of his eyes.  Burt came around the corner and froze when he saw them sitting there.

"I think it's time we had a talk." Liz lightly kissed Kurt's forehead and looked up to Burt for reassurance.  "Kurt, have you ever learned about cancer?"

Blaine looked up from his plate of chicken nuggets at his mom.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he decided he couldn't put it off any longer.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"What... what's goin' on?"

"What do you mean, baby?"

"Well, on Saturday when Kurt was here we heard you talkin' to daddy and he didn't want us to be friends anymore and you said that something was happenin' to Kurt. And I don't wanna lose him, Mama. He's my best friend and I don't wanna lose him." Blaine began going to panic, "I don't know what I would do without him. He is my best friend and we talk every day and I need him. I can't lose him."

"Hey, hey, hey."  Tracy ran around the counter and pulled Blaine out of his chair into her arms.  "Calm down, baby boy. It is going to be okay, Kurt is not going anywhere.  Everything is going to be okay."

Blaine began to cry even harder onto Tracy's shoulder and she began rocking back and forth on her feet to try to calm him down.

"But, Mommy, if you're sick why don't you just go take a nap?  That always helps me feel better. I can rub your back like you do for me.  And I can help Daddy make you some soup."

Liz smiled down at her son with sad eyes.

"This is a different kind of sick, Kurt.  This is a really bad kind of sick."

"So, what's going to happen?"  Kurt looked between his mom and his dad and began to panic.  He could just tell that something was off.

"Well, buddy, that's the thing."  Burt rubbed his hand up and down Kurt's back, "Your mommy is going to have to go away."

"For how long?"

Liz and Burt shared a look and Burt reached up and wiped the tear from her cheek.

"For forever."

"So, Kurt's mommy is goin' on vacation to get better?"

"No, not quite.  She is really sick, Blaine.  A kind of sick that... well... it is going to kill her."

"But, then who will be Kurt's mommy?"

Tracy couldn't answer her son; she simply shook her head.

"But, everybody needs a mommy, right?"

"No, not really.  As long as someone has people who care about them and love them they can make it without a mommy.  So, Blaine, you have to be strong for Kurt.  And you have to show him that you care about him and be a best friend for him, okay?  Because Kurt is going to be really sad for a long time."

"I know how to cheer Kurt up, Mommy." Blaine's small toothless smile crept onto his face. 

The next day Kurt waited anxiously for his parents to finish getting ready so he could go over to Blaine's house.  Liz had another doctor's appointment to go to so Tracy was going to watch Kurt for them.  Kurt hadn't been able to get his mommy off his mind since he talked to her last night and he knew that  Blaine was the only one who could help him feel better right now.

"You ready to go, bud?"

"Ya."  Kurt ran out the front door and climbed into the back seat of the van.

Burt helped Liz into the front seat before getting behind the wheel and started down the road.

"Now, remember that you might have to stay at Blaine's house tonight.  If you do Tracy will make sure that you get to school tomorrow."

"Will I go to Blaine's school for the day?"

"No," Liz smiled back at her son, "You will still go to your school."

"Oh, okay." Kurt turned and looked out the window for the rest of the ride.

"So I asked my mommy about what we heard." Blaine and Kurt sat next to each other on Blaine's bed.

"Me too." Kurt barely whispered as twisted his fingers in the hem of his shirt.  This was starting to become a usual habit for him.

Blaine reached over and grabbed Kurt's hand.

"I know something that might cheer you up." Kurt looked at Blaine as a tear ran down his cheek, "Well... do you remember what you asked me on the Fourth of July?"

"Not really..." Kurt looked up to the ceiling hoping it would help to stop the tears.

"You asked me about there always being a mommy and a daddy." Kurt looked back and Blaine and gave a quick nod, "And I told you that I didn't know but I didn't think that someone could not have a mommy, right?"

Kurt's lips quickly turned down again and his tears began to build.  He wasn't sure how Blaine thought this might cheer him up because it didn't. All Kurt could think about was how he was going to have to live without his mommy one day.  He was not going to be able to run into her bathroom each morning and help her with her make up.  His mommy wouldn't be there to come into his room every night to read him a story before he fell asleep.  On Sunday mornings his mommy wouldn't be able to bring him to the coffee shop to meet Blaine and his mommy.  He would never walk downstairs and smell her perfume trail.  He wouldn't be able to hold her hand while he crossed the street or help her make daddy a birthday cake. He would be all alone.

"But wait, Kurt, don't cry... So I asked my mommy and she said that you can live without a mommy as long as you have people who love you."

"But I don't want to live without my mommy, Blaine."

Kurt could no longer hold himself together.  The tears fell freely down his cheeks and began soaking up his shirt.  He pulled both his hands into fists and began to pound at Blaine's mattress because he didn't know what else to do.  Ever since last night Kurt had tried to stay strong and be a good boy for his mommy because he knew that she needed him, but now his mommy was gone at the doctor and Kurt didn't know what was going to happen.  He didn't know if he would ever see his mommy again. A scream ripped from his lungs and he could barely hear Blaine's gasp over his own sobs.

"Kurt? Stop it, please. Kurt, I'm right here."  Blaine reached over and wrapped his arms tightly around Kurt's waist.  At first Kurt fought and tried to pull his arms away pushing on Blaine to back off, but after a moment the warmth from Blaine's body began to take over and Kurt leaned into it a little more.

Finally Kurt stopped thrashing and just continued to sob onto Blaine's shoulder.  Slowly he pulled Kurt up with him so he was resting on the headboard and Kurt lay next to him keeping his arms wrapped around his waist.

Tracy came running into the room with panic stricken eyes, freezing when she saw her son wrapped in Kurt's shaking body.

"Mommy, I don't think I can take care of Kurt on my own."  Blaine looked at his mom with wide eyes just pleading her to give some advice.

"That's alright, baby. We can do it together."

Tracy took a few short strides over to Blaine's bed and placed herself next to Blaine.

Kurt was only seven years old; how was he supposed to handle something as terrifying as losing his mother?  Blaine was just a few months younger than Kurt and he had to watch his best friend suffer through this.  Neither of these boys had ever done anything wrong.  She could see how much love these two boys had for each other, even if they didn't know it yet.  She and Liz had talked about it so many times before; they were both going to protect them from the harsh people in this world.  Let them know that they are free to love whomever they please.  Together they were going to teach their sons about acceptance; not only for others, but also themselves.  Tracy had never prepared herself to have to protect the boys from their own grief.  Tracy had never prepared to have to protect the boys on her own.  But she knew that in time she would have to.

In that moment Tracy Anderson decided that the world was a dark and cruel place.  She also decided that she would do anything and everything in her power to protect and love the three sons she had been blessed with. 

Tracy sat there with the boys for twenty minutes before they both had drifted off into sleep.  She stroked her finger through their hair as she thought about their futures.  Everything felt so uncertain to her now and she felt so lost.

Tracy jumped a little when she heard the light knock on the door.

"Is everything okay?" Tom stepped to the foot of the bed and took note of the sleeping boys who clung to each other.

"No, of course not.  Tom, I just feel so helpless; there is nothing I can do to save Liz and there is nothing I can do to help Kurt through this.  Not to mention how hard this is going to be on Burt.  She's my best friend, Tom."

"I know, darling. Come here." He walked over and offered Tracy his hand as he helped her up from the bed.  "There isn't much we can do but be there for them.  We can continue our Friday night dinners with them as usual and we can be there as support as much as we can but beyond that..." he let the empty space carry on his unspoken words.

They both stood there for a moment looking down at Kurt and Blaine.  Tracy let a small smile take over while Tom stood stone faced.

"Let's go to bed."

"I'll be there in a minute." Tracy left Tom in Blaine's room as she walked down the hall.

"Don't worry, buddy," He ruffled his fingers gently through Blaine's hair while he slept, "I'm going to protect you, son. I won't let you suffer for Kurt."

Tom was making that promise to Tracy as well, she just didn't know it.

He leaned down and gently kissed both boys on their hair before turning and walking down the hall to join his wife.