The mark disappeared and Kurt was left crying next to Blaine's bed. Doctor Crawford came running into the room with nurses following him closely. They tried to push Kurt outside the room to check on the patient's vitals but it was as though the man was tied to the bed and to Blaine. He wasn't moving - now that he knew, nothing could make him move away from his soulmate.

"You have to move, Sir. We have to check on your friend-"

"My soulmate! He is my soulmate! I'm not leaving him, I'm his and he is mine. I don't want to leave him, let me stay!" Kurt sobbed violently, tightening his grip around Blaine's fingers. His body was shaking and uncontrollable tears were running down his cheeks.

The nurses looked at the doctor, waiting for some instructions. Instead the doctor quickly looked around, analyzing the situation, all the monitors were running smoothly and his heartline wasn't too high to be alarming, and his perfusion seemed to work perfectly. When he saw that his patient was in no danger of dying, he motioned to the nurses to leave the room, staying behind with the two men.

"Sir, we're gonna have to talk."

"It's Kurt, Kurt Hummel." The designer corrected for the first time in years.

"Are you sure you're Mr Anderson's soulmate?" Kurt snapped his head up and he opened his mouth to bark back a comment, violence showing on his face, but before he could do it the doctor moved closer to him and put his hand up in sign of peace to stop him.

"You are, that's alright, that's good. His grandmother told me they weren't sure, but I guess it make sense now. Mr Hummel, your soulmate is suffering from Denying Syndrome." Kurt didn't know what shocked him the most: his last name in someone else's mouth or the fact that Blaine had been suffering because of him during all this time.

"Now I know it must be quite a shock for you to first recognize him as yours after being in denial for some time, and even more difficult to see Mr Anderson lying in bed. I just want you to know that it's not your fault. Not completely. So please don't go blaming yourself for this and instead work hard to make things better, for him and for you."

"Of course it is, I put him in that bed." Kurt snapped bitterly, angry at himself and at what he had done to his soulmate, to the person he had longed and hoped for only to kill him little by little from the inside.

"You didn't know, that's the thing with Denying Syndrome. People don't know the other is their soulmate and they can't or won't acknowledge a bond. You're both at fault in a way."

"No, he tried to tell me. I was just too stubborn to listen." Kurt sighed and turned away from the doctor to step closer to his soulmate. "I should've listened to him, I should've trusted him and trusted us. I was trying to protect myself by being a coward, and look where it's lead me."

"Mr Hummel, blaming yourself won't make him better. Thinking about how you handle things is good, but those are in the past. The things you're going to do in the next hours and in the future are what define you."

Kurt nodded, at a loss for what to say. It was too much too quickly. Too many things in such a little time. His body had stopped hurting moments ago when Blaine's mark had disappeared but now, now he just felt hollow and wrong and a little dizzy from everything. He felt like he had just been in the washing machine, full spin. He felt exhausted, emotionally drained.

The doctor walked out of the room and asked the nurses to come back to check on Blaine. They did it quickly, walking around Kurt. When they all left the room the doctor said something about coming back later and Kurt was left alone.

Why, why did the mark have to vanish when they finally got things right? When they finally got each other? Now all they had was the memory of a mark and a dark bold line. But no name, no future and maybe no bond.

Why did it have to be that way, why did everything have to be hell and then to become even worse? The only thing that was left of who they were to each other was the cross on Kurt's chest and he needed to see it, to touch it. Kurt rapidly got rid of his shirt, only to find his chest empty of any mark.

He ran his finger where the bold line had been and the name before it over and over again, unable to react in anyway. It felt like the end of something. He had no idea what, he wasn't even sure if it was the end. It just felt final, in a way.

His chest was pale, just like the rest of his skin, no trace left of it. They were both unmarked.

Silent tears started to roll down his cheeks. It had been too little too late all along, letting things getting worse and worse until they were unsolvable.

A soft hand on his face startled him, he hadn't heard Suzie come in. The woman dragged the chair around the bed to put it next to Kurt, sadly smiling at him.

"So I guess that makes you Kurt Hummel, right?" Kurt looked down, ashamed that it was all out and so obvious now.

"Yeah," the designer breathed out. The woman wiped his tears and grabbed his chin to make him look at her.

"He loves you. He always did even when you were just a name on his finger, even when you were a stranger in a coffee shop and even when you were the perfect asshole that you've been all along with him. He loves you, every version of you. Don't give up on him now that you found him. Beside I'd like some great-grandchildren before I'm too old to count my teeth, so better start working on that, preferably by giving him the best orgasm ever once he wakes up!"

"Suzie!" Kurt chuckled lightly, forgetting for a second where they were. The lady had that ability to be naturally invasive and rude and so charming at once; it was impossible not to fall for her.

"I don't know how to bring him back." Kurt finally admitted after a few seconds of silence. Suzie patted his hand and sighed.

"I was listening to what you told him, hey don't look at me like that, had to make sure you weren't screwing things up once again! Anyway, I was listening and you told him everything that was important and that needed to be said. Now I guess we have to wait for that stubborn brat to decide to wake up." The woman shrugged and sat there, bringing an OMG! Magazine out of her bag.

"Um..."

"What? They have a good article about ballet!" The woman joked when she resumed to ogling the page with the Boqari's ads for underwear.

They stayed in the room for hours. Suzie fell asleep and Kurt started to talk to Blaine, about his childhood, about how he was bullied in high school, how he ended up rooming with Puck and Bas. How much he loved him. He told the man everything he could think of.

Kurt stayed up all night until dawn. It felt like days or weeks when it had only been hours since they had broken up in front of the bar.

When the doctor came back, Suzie was still sleeping so he only spoke to Kurt.

"I have good news and bad news." Doctor Crawford started. "The bad news is that his mark is gone and it's something unheard of. We can't say why it happened or even if he'll get another one someday. The good news is that he survived the first night. Normally people suffering from the Denying Syndrome die after only an hour after falling into the coma, so it's a pretty good sign. All his vitals are good and we're thinking that your presence here and the fact that you're talking to him is really helping. Good job Mr Hummel."

"Thank you..."

"Adam. My name is Adam Crawford. Keep hope, he'll wake up."

"How do you know that?" the doctor smiled gently at him, tilting his head to the side.

"Because all the patients who survived had their loving soulmate by their side, when they finally stopped denying them. And you're here. So you know, scientifically speaking, the same causes provoked the same effects." Kurt nodded at that and turned his head back to Blaine.

"Do we know when he'll wake up?"

"We have no idea, again it's quite amazing that he survived the night. Not all cases are that lucky and people who survived it woke after a day or a year. It depends. We're all different when it comes to that disease."

They didn't say a word after that, the doctor looking over some machines, writing things down and walked out of the room.

"Hey, you! English Doctor!" the man turned around and was greeted with a saucy grin.

"Well hello, Sexy." Sebastian said when he finally caught up with the man. He crossed his arms over his chest and leant against the wall, obviously breaking all the rules about personal space with the doctor. The English man didn't move, though, and Sebastian took that as a sign.

"Wanna ditch the whole 'I think I have cancer when in reality it's just a headache' kind of stuff you have to do next and do something fun with me?" Adam smiled sweetly and tilted his head closer to the man.

"I'd love to have a drink with you." Sebastian crooked an eyebrow at that and shook his head a little.

"Not what I was offering."

"But what do you think about it?" The doctor answered anyway. "If you want that much to have sex with me having a drink is just going to be a formality." Adam added, smirking now.

Sebastian bit his lip and frown a little in confusion. He was used to people either jumping at the proposition or calling him out on his bullshit. He was not used to hot doctors calling him out on his bullshit by offering him something else. This was different and a little surprising. But definitely interesting.

"So," Sebastian started, looking a little down where the man had his badge. "Adam?" Sebastian took a step back, shock written all over his face.

"Adam." The man repeated like he was tasting the sound of it. "Crawford?" This time it was the doctor's turn to frown a little and he pointed at his badge, hanging over his chest.

"Well that's what my badge says, yeah." When the cocky man didn't say anything else Adam asked worriedly, "Is there a problem?"

"I...Shouldn't you been checking on patients or something?" Sebastian snapped defensively, looking away. The doctor's frown deepened, not understanding what was going on.

"Are you sure you're –"

"I'm fine, God. Just go play Doctor House somewhere else!" Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest defensively, not looking at the doctor anymore and blushing slightly. Adam studied the man and smiled sweetly before quickly grabbing the man's hand, shoving them into the nearest closet. It happened too fast for Sebastian to really understand what was going on and the man was fucking strong anyway, so there was no point in fighting it.

They were pressed against each other, the closet being the smallest Sebastian had ever seen in his life. So of course, their faces had to be millimeters apart. Actually Sebastian was able to smell that the man had had a hot chocolate probably minutes ago, as the doctor's breath ghosted over his skin.

"I'm sorry, that's the most intimate I could find in that perimeter and in that amount of time."

"Are you going to molest me, Moriarty?" Sebastian snapped again, but this time the doctor smiled knowingly at him.

"I've been dying to meet you, Sebastian Smythe. I kind of have your name inked on my skin." The doctor smirked at his own words, blushing at the same time.

"Oh for god's sake, really? That's what you're going with? Fine, yes. I'm Sebastian Smythe and yes, I kind of have your name on my skin too. Now can we get the fuck out of here? It's kind of crowded."

Instead of opening the door, Adam moved even closer to Sebastian and put his hands on either side of the man's hips, letting his head fall into the crook of Sebastian's neck.

"I can't believe you're here, Bas. I missed you so much." The Englishman murmured. Instinctively Sebastian brought a hand to Adam's hair as the other circled his waist, keeping him in place, close to his heart.

He wasn't going to admit it but he couldn't really believe that his soulmate was here either. Life was giving him another chance, and he wouldn't stand in his own way this time.

"So I remembered being offered some amazing sex by a really sexy and really arrogant guy."

"Yeah, and I remember you having standards and asking for a date first. So let's stick to that plan, alright?" Adam nodded a little at that and tried to step out of Sebastian way in the little room they had, only to open the door and manage to hit Jeff's back at the same time.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Adam asked worriedly to the blond.

"Yeah, I'm fine, what... Sebastian?! What were you doing in that closet? Oh look, you came out of the closet! You get it?! You came out of the closet, like not even metaphirac... metapha... metaphorically speaking! Come on, laugh a little, I'm hilarious! It was hilarious! Why aren't you laughing?" Jeff pouted a little, waiting for both men to say something.

Sebastian took Adam's hand in his and walked away, shouting loud enough for Jeff to hear.

"I have no idea who that is."

"Hey! Rude, man!" Nick came behind his boyfriend and Jeff turned around, nuzzling into the man's neck. "I was hilarious, Nicky!"

"I know babe. What happened here?"

"Something went down in that closet and I think it was Sebastian, if you know what I mean." Jeff wiggled his eyebrows, earning a loud snort from his boyfriend.

Waiting had never been Kurt's strongest point. Especially when it was one of the people he loved the most that was in a hospital bed. Fortunately Nick and Jeff had been the best, bringing him some magazines, water and cheesecake. Bas, however, had been a dick and didn't even show up.

Kurt had continued to talk to Blaine, about everything and anything: where he'd like to travel and what he wanted to see; how he saw their life in the future and he even start to name their children - that was when Suzie told him to get out of the room and get some fresh air.

The grandmother was patiently reading her magazine when something caught her eye. She put it down and looked closely at her grandson and indeed, his eyelash started to flutter. The man's hand started to move a little, and he whined before going back to sleep. The woman called the nurses, who checked everything and then called the doctor.

"He's waking up. He is going to feel weak because of the past weeks of mistreating his body and he is going to doze on and off. It's normal and it's nothing to worry about. Don't be more than two in the room, don't ask him too many questions, and basically don't overwhelm him." Adam instructed while looking over all the vitals of his patient.

The woman agreed and resumed her place. Like the doctor said Blaine fell into unconsciousness only to regain it minutes later. When Kurt came back and Suzie explained what had happened he rushed to hold the man's hand and studied his face and body for a sign, for anything.

Nothing major happened, and Blaine didn't wake up fully during the day. The old woman had to go home at some point, not feeling well enough to stay much longer in the hospital but not without threatening Kurt to burn his clothes if he didn't call when something happened. Kurt had refused to move and stayed there, waiting anxiously.

He must have fallen asleep, because a soft brush of fingers in his hair woke him up. The man looked up and heard the most beautiful thing in the word.

"Hello," Blaine said, a little smile on his lips. Kurt studied him, in shock. The designer started to smile and cry at the same, emotions overtaking him.

"You're here, you're alive and you're here. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I was wrong and everything I did was just to protect you and to protect myself as well but I messed everything up and I'm sorry." Kurt rambled, soaking Blaine's shirt with his tears as he hid his face into his chest, half relieved and half panicked.

"But you're here now." Kurt stopped and looked up at Blaine, locking eyes with a warm pool of amber.

"I am. I'm here." Kurt acknowledged, intertwining their fingers together "And I'm not going anywhere. Unless you want me to." Kurt added as a second thought, afraid of pushing things.

"I want you as close as possible, if you stop running and stop pushing me away every time you've got an opportunity to do so." Blaine argued weakly. Kurt brushed some of the man's curls over his forehead and worked his thumb over Blaine's frown to make it disappear.

"I won't. I... I" Kurt took a deep breath, he had said it before but Blaine had been asleep, it was all so different now. It was an end and a beginning at the same time, it was winning and losing. It was once again a little confusing.

"I love you too, Kurt." Kurt's eyes grew wide at that.

"I'm sorry?" the designer choked out, mouth agape.

"I heard everything you said when I was sleeping. In the coma? Anyway, I heard it all. It was weird, like I was dreaming and living it at the same and I couldn't answer you but I could hear you and... It's nice to finally meet you. I've been dying to, for a long time now."

"Blaine!" Kurt warned, glaring at the man.

"Yeah, probably too soon. You're right." They chuckled lightly, happy to forget about the heavy topic.

They talked for a long time, only looking at each other and sometimes Blaine said Kurt's name. Because now he could, because now he knew.

"There is something you need to know." Kurt whispered, hoping that this wouldn't have too much of a negative impact on Blaine's health.

"Our marks disappeared. You don't have yours anymore and mine is gone as well. I don't know why and the doctors don't know if they'll be back one day."

Blaine frowned at that, and pursed his lips. He looked at his finger where his mark had been previously. Instead he found olive skin but no trace of any mark.

"I don't particularly like that." Blaine finally said after having studied his finger for long seconds. "It's like I'm being punished because we weren't fast enough to get there."

"I'm sorry." Kurt added automatically.

"Don't."

They didn't get the time to talk more, to sort anything big or little out because Jeff stumbled into the room, followed by Nick, Wes and Trent, Sebastian still missing. They all hugged and hit him gently on the shoulder, threatening to do stupid things to him if he ever did that again. Then it was a dance between all the nurses and the doctor, friends and Suzie. They never had a moment to themselves. There was always someone there, with them.

Blaine quickly regained some weight. It was mostly due to the fact that he was no longer emptying his stomach and for that he was forever grateful. He still looked pale and malnourished, but his vitals were good, he was recovering well. Not really fast, but he was getting there.

After a week, Adam sent him home, saying that now all he needed was some rest and someone to cook for him and take care of him. Every single head had turned automatically to Kurt who blushed furiously. He had no idea what to expect. They hadn't said much to each other. They hadn't talked anything over, it was just a tad awkward between them.

When they got to Blaine's place, Suzie stayed after everyone had left, making them promise to call if anything happened and especially if Blaine got better enough to party. She cleaned up a little, as the two men sat in silence in the living room, glancing at each other and smiling awkwardly.

"Well, talk about being embarrassing!" Suzie exclaimed as she put her coat on. "Don't do anything dirty, Blaine isn't healthy enough right now!" The woman shouted and then closed the door, leaving the two men finally alone.

"Well, that's definitely awkward." Blaine stated, trying to break the ice. Kurt stood up and closed the gap between them, sitting next to the man. He looked scared, more than Blaine had ever seen him.

"I... I had this speech ready and it was all written down and I knew it by heart but I forgot the paper in my room and now I can't remember the words." Kurt blurted out, half laughing half sobbing.

Blaine smiled broadly at him, chuckling a little. He didn't say a word, though, and waited for the man to say something else.

"Okay, alright, I got it. I think." Kurt straightened himself a little and turned a little to fully face the musician. "I'm Kurt Hummel and I know I'm yours. I don't need a mark on my skin to know that. I'm yours and if you give me that right I want to call you mine. Will you give me that right, Blaine?"

"I was always yours, Kurt." They both smiled at that. Blaine had been saying Kurt's name more and more, and it felt just right. "But first I need to know stuff, I need to ask questions. First I want to know who you are. Not Porcelain, but Kurt Hummel."

"Anything you want."