"I really think you need to let me take you to the Hospital."

"No, I'm okay."

"Kurt," Kurt opened his eyes and let his head roll slowly, shit even that hurt, to see Quinn staring at him wide eyed and chewing on her bottom lip. Her usually perfect pony tail lopsided with strands of hair coming loose and she kept drumming her left index finger on the steering wheel. The cheerleader's car was still stationary in the school's parking lot as the pair argued about where to go. "Kurt, please, let me take you to the ER."

Biting back a groan Kurt squeezed his eyes shut against the pain radiating through his entire body and shook his head. "No, no hospital...just take me home; I can clean myself up there."

Quinn's jaw tenses as she starts the car and pulled out of the car park in a stony silence, only speaking again when the car rolled up to a red light. "If I take you home you have to let me help. And if it looks like anything is more than bruised or sprained I'm taking you to the ER; I'll call Puck for help dragging you if I need too."

Kurt grunted out an agreement, head resting against the cool glass of the passenger side window.

"Your dad's at home isn't he?"

"Mmhm." Shit, his chest was killing him. If Karofsky's broken or even nicked a rib I'm going to be so pissed. Actually, now he wasn't as dazed as in the locker room pain seems to be originating from all over his body. From where he was just beat up...from where Karofsky pinned him down and pressed his..."Oh God. Quinn, pull over."

She did, quicker than he expected, possibly due to the green tinge Kurt's positive his skin was under the rapidly darkening purple and his knees slam to the dirty ground faster than he would have thought possible before he's emptying his stomach vaguely aware of Quinn crouching behind him, one hand gripping his shoulder to hold him steady while the other ran up and down his back.

"When did you get so good this?" Kurt croaked out, pulling a face at how rough his voice sounds while Quinn let out an almost-silent laugh as she tugged him until he slumped into her side.

"Well, it turns out having a baby kind of causes you to become immune to all gross bodily fluids, and apparently it's considered bad parenting to not comfort your child when she is upset or wants some attention. Who knew?"

Kurt coughed out a quiet and brief, because fuck that hurt, laugh. "When did you get a sense of humour?"

Quinn pressed a dry kiss to his left eyebrow before she got up to start helping him back into the open passenger side, "When I realised I would need one to raise the child of Noah Puckerman."

Kurt must have spaced out again in the car because he did not remember being driven to Quinn's house but he didn't recognise any of the decor so he that's where he must be when he's shoved through her front door and man-handled up a large white staircase to her bedroom.

"You told me your dad's at home; if you won't let me take you to the ER I doubt you want your dad to see you like this." One of her perfect eyebrows raised as if daring him to argue with her; he doesn't, Quinn's always been a bit scary. Kurt's gently pushed into her bedroom and onto the bed. He almost groaned at how soft it felt against his muscles.

"Wait here; I need to get our first aid kit."

Kurt closed his eyes; body curling forward to rest his head in his hands, elbows braced on knees, and took stock. He's been beaten up before. He's been thrown into dumpsters more times than he would care to remember. He must have been slammed into every locker at school at least once. But this? This was pain he'd never had before. Everywhere aches; from his toes to his Goddamn teeth.

It was difficult to breathe properly and Kurt almost prayed to a God he doesn't believe in that his ribs weren't broken. He couldn't go to the emergency room; they'd call his dad who's still sick. Kurt didn't want to think about what would happen to his dad's heart if he found out why he's so banged up.

He was vaguely aware of the front door opening and shutting along with the sound of Quinn greeting someone as he tried to pin-point where he hurt the most. It was a toss up between his head from hitting the floor and his torso from taking the brunt of the beating. For some reason the state of his recent still-hurts-sometimes nipple piercing popped into his head; he was in too much pain to think about moving to pull his top up to check but it didn't feel any worse than just after it was done. Maybe he'll be able to get Quinn to check for him - she was there when it was done after all.

"Kurt?" Quinn was kneeling on the floor in front of him, first aid kit slung on the bed and a baby in her arms as she stared at him. She frowned as he blinked stupidly at the pair. Beth tilted her head slightly, as if she was trying to figure out why mommy and daddy's friend looked so different before making grabby hands at him.

Quinn moved her over to the corner where a crib was shoved, placing the little girl down in front of a collection of stuffed animals and baby toys. Beth's lower lip wobbled as she glanced between Kurt still bent double on the bed and her mother. Kurt moved his head so she could see him, failing to hold back a pained whimper as she held her arms out in his direction. Her eyes watered causing Kurt to feel guilty; he'd always picked her up for a cuddle when she wanted it so far; every time Puck bought her with him to the garage or whenever Quinn asked him to come shopping with them.

"No baby, Kurt's not feeling very well right now so mommy needs to make him feel better first, okay?" Weather Beth could understand her mother or not she did divert her attention to look at Quinn. "Can you play with your toys for a little while mommy gives Kurt some medicine?" Beth blinked up at her, frowning, before letting herself become distracted by her teddy bear. Quinn kissed her forehead before getting up and moving back to kneel in front of Kurt, a concerned almost motherly look on her face.

Forcing himself back into a seated position slowly Kurt grimaced, "how bad do I look?"

"It's not that bad," the too wide smile on her face made Kurt raise an eyebrow at her, "okay it's not good but it could be much worse Kurt. You're just a bit bruised...it's still getting darker."

"Fantastic." He groaned. "I'm gonna need to utilise stage make-up to hide this aren't I?"

Quinn frowned, "Kurt you shouldn't be hiding anything."

"If my dad sees me looking like this...his heart is still a mess Quinn, I can't okay? This is just the way it has to be." He moved slowly into a seated position, cringing and biting his lip to hold back tears at the stabbing pain that shot through him. He closed his eyes to avoid the wide-eyed scarred look Quinn was giving him.

"Kurt, what he did...I, I don't....it wasn't just him beating you up was it? What I walked in on, that wasn't everything was it?" When he didn't answer but kept his eyes stubbornly closed he felt her hands grip both of his and squeeze gently. "Kurt."

Opening his eyes and sighing he shook his head but spoke quickly when her jaw tensed and hands quivered. "I can't talk about it, okay Quinn? Not yet. Please don't make me." He chewed on his bottom lip, gratefully leaning into her side when she moved to sit on the bed beside him, neither of them mentioning the fact that she's only moved because he'd started to sway; that she was necessary in keeping him upright. "Please, please don't tell, please. I'll deny it if you do."

"Okay," one of her hands moved up to rake his hair, undoubtedly a complete mess, back from his clammy forehead, methodically running it through the strands and using her fingers to untangle it. "I'm only going along with this because right now, I believe you." She sighed, "Right, we're going to clean your face up, use any stage make-up I have lying around to cover your bruises, we'll have to move your hair to cover the cut on your forehead or just hope it's not noticed and then we're going go to yours."

"But my dad - "

"You can barely move, you need to rest and you need someone to keep any eye on you for concussion or anything going wrong. We're going to have a sleepover okay? You're going to tell your dad whatever you need to and I'll distract him with my ridiculously cute daughter while you hobble to your room and pack a bag for tonight and tomorrow." Quinn squeezed his hands again before helping him move up the bed to rest against her many pillows while she stood and moved to pick Beth up.

"Is this going to be like the sleepovers we had while you lived with Mercedes?" He smiled tiredly as she placed Beth down next to him with her teddy bear, a ridiculously white fluffy thing with a bright blue bowtie around its neck.

"Sadly no, there will be no hormonal crying, no eating bacon on every meal...though I do miss that. There will also be no vomiting on my end, hopefully not on yours either, Beth however is a wild card." Her voice went up at the end in a teasing lilt as she grabbed the baby around the middle and tickled her lightly; face lighting up at the sound of Beth's laugh. "Right, let's get to work shall we?"

It went surprisingly well; his dad didn't question him at all and was so enamoured with Beth, who Quinn had passed over and was now sat on his dad's knee chatting away in a language only she could understand that he didn't notice Kurt's slow, careful movements.

"Sounds good kiddo...aren't you pretty?" He would probably be a bit offended if the baby his father was cooing ridiculously at wasn't the reason Kurt was able to avoid the Spanish inquisition, so he offered a smirk to Quinn and climbed slowly down the stairs to his room to pack his things.

He managed to hide the pain and stiffness from his dad rather well; he was clearly a much better actor than he'd originally thought, because even when his dad gave him a hug Burt didn't notice the held in whimper.

"That went well."

"Speak for yourself Fabray." Kurt closed his eyes, head tipped back against the car seat, breath hissing through clenched teeth. Quinn's hand landed on his knee, squeezing gently before she put the car into reverse.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a semi and then dragged fifty-thousand feet, so you know, all sunshine and rainbows over here."

"There's the Kurt Hummel we all know and love." He could hear the smile in Quinn's voice as her car drove the short distance back to her house. "Okay, umm, we need to get you inside; can you walk?"

Kurt gritted his teeth and nodded, "I'll be fine, just, gimme a minute?"

"Okay, I'll get Beth."

He did manage to get out of the car and stumble back up to Quinn's bedroom eventually; granted it was by throwing one arm around the Cheerleader's shoulder's and resting against her every few steps. He was grimacing as he flopped back down onto her bed. "God Quinn, your bed is amazing."

"Easy there tiger." Quinn settled Beth on the floor by her crib again before moving back to sit next to Kurt, grabbing a floral wash bag and tugging the abandoned first aid kit towards her.

Kurt let out a breathy laugh, regretting it the moment he did, "don't worry Q, you're not really my type."

Quinn giggled as she pulled out bottles and cotton wool pads from within the bag, dousing them in the liquid. "And that, my dear, is a crying shame. Okay, tell me if this hurts." She began to gently trace the soaking cotton-wool over where she'd placed the make-up earlier, paying careful attention to his every wince, making shushing and cooing noises whenever he whimpered or tried to flinch away. "Kurt, c'mon you can handle this. I'm all done with the make-up, I just need to clean the cut and check your ribs okay?"

He nodded weakly, trying to hold back a hiss at the sting of the antiseptic before she gently rubbed something creamy into his skin. "This helps with bruising...sometimes anyway. Okay, you're face is all done...Kurt, hey, c'mon just a little bit longer and you can rest okay? Sit up for me, we need to get your shirt off - thank God you wore a t-shirt today Hummel." the last part muttered teasingly as she helped him move the offending article up to his shoulders, worked his arms out and pulled it over his head.

"It's bad isn't it?" He kept his eyes glued to her face as he lay back down, hazy though they may have been he didn't miss them widening or her hastily trying to hide the mild look of shock on her face.

Sharp green eyes locked on his, shocking him at the watery film they had. "Quinn I can take it; I've been beaten up before."

"No, not like this."

"We went to different middle school's Fabray; you wouldn't know."

"I don't care, this is different than some dumbass kids fighting with you - " Kurt rolled his eyes at that because really, they'd kicked his ass most days, "stop it, don't you dare act like this wasn't more than that. He looked like he would've killed you." She bit her lip, scrubbed angrily at her eyes and started to clean over the places where the skin had broken along his torso. "I was really scared."

"He wouldn't have hit you. He's a Neanderthal and he shoved Tina that time last year but he wouldn't have come after you." He jerked in pain as her hand ran over a point slightly below and to the left of his left pectoral.

"I was scared for you, you idiot," she whispered, a frown marring her face as she let her hand follow his left side with more pressure, biting her lip every time he whimpered and jerked away from it. "I don't think it's broken." She still didn't look happy about not going to the ER as she pressed gently along his ribs, searching for anything. "I can't be sure but I don't feel anything."

"I'll be okay, I'll wrap my chest or something until it stops hurting - that's all they'll do at the hospital anyway." He can remember having his entire torso covered in different dressings as a child; there's nothing that can't be done here as far as he's concerned. "Some ibuprofen and ice and I am good to go."

Quinn's hand stopped, now resting a few inches above his navel. Kurt ducked his head to avoid her gaze, eyes widening when he finally caught sight of his chest, a chest that used to be pale white but was now littered with rapidly darkening patches of blue and purple, the area over his ribs beginning to look black. He blinked back tears roughly.

"Kurt..." Quinn bit her lip, one hand gently lifting his chin so he would look at her, "promise me you'll tell me if it gets worse? I'll know if you're lying, Hummel. I'll know."

Despite the tears in her eyes and in his own Kurt quirked his lip slightly, the mood was getting far too tense for what the two of them were used to. "How?"

Quinn let out an alarmingly watery giggle, "I'm a mom now; it's ingrained into my brain now to see when someone's not feeling right. You know I'm going to be watching now, more than I was already."

Kurt frowned, no one was fucking watching - why would they? They all had their own perfect little lives and problems.

"Hey, don't do that, I noticed. Puck noticed for fucks sake. Why do you think he spends every spare moment of his life at the garage? He knows fuck all about cars he does it because you're our friend Kurt, and he cares. We went through hell last year, and you were one of the only ones who came back to the hospital after Beth was born to see how we were. You did God knows how many food runs with me when I was living with Mercedes and you'd slept over because you didn't want to wake her up. You're juggling school, work and harassment alongside caring for your dad. Will you just shut up and let someone worry about you for once?" Her hand stayed gentle but firm on his jaw, ensuring that he couldn't twist his head away from her gaze.

"You two have a baby to worry about."

"Our baby is a perfectly happy and healthy eight-month old. She requires very little worrying over at this moment in time - I've elected to worry about you until she's old enough to date and I have to worry about Puck going all 'papa bear' on the poor soul she falls for. C'mon, let's get you into less tight clothes and watch some mind numbing kids TV."

Against Kurt's better judgement, and at the risk of most of his pride, he let Quinn help him out of his jeans and into his only pair of sweat pants and loose McKinley P.E. shirt before she let Beth join them on the bed, scolding the baby whenever she looked like she would jostle him.

He didn't remember falling asleep. But when he blinked awake sometime later he was on his back, the room dark. Quinn had pulled the covers over him and was curled carefully into his side, hands clutching his. Grudgingly he had to admit maybe this new developing friendship would be a good one to keep before he tilted his head to rest over hers and let sleep take him again.