This Love Is Not A Victory March

Part Four

"Kitty, go check on Blaine," Tina orders. "Rest of you, up, we're going to practise the Out Tonight choreography again."

"Why do I have to do it?" Kitty whines, fixing her hair as everyone groans and grumbles their way back onto their feet.

"You don't have a solo for Regionals, and you have the choreography pretty much down, now go make sure he's alright," Tina says, already half-absorbed in the choreography plans.

Kitty sighs heavily and trudges out of the auditorium, humming the song to herself and dancing a few of the steps as she navigates the twisted backstage corridors to get into the main body of the school. "Blaine, you doing okay out here?" she calls. "Are you okay to come back in now? Had enough air?"

She rounds the corner, brows furrowing at the lack of response. People can say what they want about Blaine's recent life choices, but he's a gentleman, and when he knows people are worrying about him, he would call out to her to tell her he's okay, whether or not he wants to come back and join them. "Blaine?!" She looks into the benched alcove where people go to sit when they need air during rehearsals - she's been there herself when Coach Sylvester gets incredibly bitchy when they're practicing - and can't see Blaine sitting there.

Panic is already curling in her stomach when she runs towards the alcove and sees Blaine on the floor, skin ashen and tinged with grey, eyes closed and lips a pale blue. "Blaine!"

"What's all the yelling about?" comes a voice, and she whirls round to find Artie there, eyes flickering from her to Blaine and resting, horrified, on the unconscious form of the pregnant boy. "Oh my God." He turns himself expertly around and cups his hands to his mouth as he hollers, "Hey, you lot, get out here and someone call an ambulance, Blaine's fainted!"

Marley arrives on the scene first, dropping to her knees and grabbing Blaine's wrist, pressing two fingers against the skin to take a pulse. "Grab his phone, we should get hold of his parents," she orders, and Kitty nods shakily, grabbing up the device.

"There's blood," Sam murmurs behind them, and their heads whip round in a synchronisation that would be comedic if this wasn't all so horrifying. "On the bench, and on the floor and, oh God, all over his jeans. He must...he must be losing the baby."

They all fly into a flurry of activity then, phones coming out of pockets from all over and everyone's voices loud and panicky, talking to emergency phone-line operators and hospital switchboards, Kitty with Blaine's father's dragon of a secretary and Sam kneeling over Blaine, brushing his hair back from his forehead and staring at him like he's going to die, and they're all going to miss him more than they could ever say.

"Kurt, where are you? It sounds so loud. Oh, right, dance class. Can you get out of there? I need to tell you-"

"What are you doing?" Brittany squeaks at Tina, her eyes wild with panic and staring at the girl with her phone pressed to her ear. "Why are you telling Kurt?"

"Yeah, I'll give you a minute to get out," Tina says into the phone, then presses it into her neck as she snaps, "You don't think Kurt would want to know if something happened to Blaine? I'm telling him, and don't try and stop me. We all know Kurt would want to be here for him, and there's no one Blaine would rather see when he wakes up."

"Ambulance is on its way," Sugar says, slipping her mobile back into her bag. "Is Blaine gonna be okay? Is the baby gonna die? I'll call my dad at the hospital and make him tell the doctors to do everything they can. We can't let the baby die."

Surprisingly, no one's crying, not even the usual suspects. It seems as if it hasn't quite sunk in yet, that they're all kneeling on the floors of the school around an unconscious friend who is very possibly losing a baby. "Guys, what are you doing out here?" Mr. Schuester calls sharply. "You're supposed to be rehearsing, back on-stage and let me see what you've practiced."

Unique stands up, stepping aside to put Blaine's form on the ground clearly in their teacher''s sights. "With all due respect, Mr. Schuester, there will be no more rehearsing until we've gotten Blaine to the hospital and we know he's going to be okay."

"Kurt's on his way," Tina says, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "I think I've just left the airport staff in New York to deal with a completely hysterical teenager attempting to buy a last-minute ticket to Ohio, but that's their job." She checks her watch, face pinched with worry as she looks down at Blaine, seemingly growing paler where he's lying, looking so peaceful. "How soon do you think the ambulance will be here?"

Sirens sound outside, and there's a surge of students running from their classrooms to see whether it's a police car, ambulance or fire engine. "Right about now," Jake says dryly, and him, Ryder, Joe and Sam all carefully manoeuvre Blaine into their arms, carrying his limp, heavy form out to meet the paramedics, who strap him onto a stretcher.

"He said he felt ill in rehearsal, and he went outside to get some air, and Kitty went to check on him and found him unconscious on the floor," Tina's telling one of the paramedics. "He just collapsed, I think, we left him alone out there because he insisted he was fine and we really needed to rehearse, the competition's in a week. There was blood where he was sitting and where he was lying and it's all over his clothes, he's twenty-six weeks pregnant, and we th-think he might be losing the baby. Please don't let that happen."

"We'll do our best, dear," the woman says gently. "You guys can't come in the ambulance with him, but you can all follow us there in your cars and I'll make sure to let reception know where we're taking him so they can direct you to a waiting room."

They all nod and stand back as the ambulance roars away with its sirens screaming. Then, and only then, do they allow themselves to shed tears as they climb into various cars and start off for the hospital.

Kurt's sitting in the waiting room, with Tina at his side, her head nestled into his shoulder and the creased material of his shirt wet with her near-constant tears, squeezing her hand gently as she sniffs, looking up to the clock on the wall to see they've been sitting here for close to three hours without any update on what's happened to Blaine or the baby, and it's been half an hour since Artie, Sam and Brittany left, begging them to text as soon as they knew anything, which they still don't.

For the last few weeks, he's been thinking about calling Blaine and asking if he could come to Ohio for them to talk, planning to tell Blaine he's still in love with him, that he's thought a lot and trusts him again and wants to try, and now he might lose him before he ever gets to tell him, or he might only have a broken shell of the boy he fell in love with, having lost the baby he waited so long and longed so passionately for. Even though it wasn't their baby, Blaine told Kurt so many times he couldn't wait to meet him or her, and now the baby might be gone and never know his father. He can't quite admit it aloud yet, but he has started looking forward to the idea of having a baby with Blaine, thinking about names and nursery colour schemes and quietly searching for an apartment to fit the two of them and their baby, and he's slowly watching all the plans for their future crumbling in the wake of the solemn face of the doctor who walks in and gently asks them, "Are you here for Blaine Anderson?"

"Yes we are, but we aren't strictly family," Tina says softly, tugging Kurt upright. "His parents and brother are out of town right now and we're the ones closest to him. I know information is confidential, but can you please tell us?"

"You are Kurt Hummel, yes?" the doctor asks, turning his gaze on Kurt, and he nods shakily, not trusting himself to speak without breaking down. "You're listed as Blaine's emergency contact, so we are permitted to tell you his situation." He pulls over a chair and sits them both down, face in a mask of comfort and reassurance. "Blaine had what's called a placental abruption," he explained, his voice solemn. "The placenta separated from the uterus wall, causing some serious internal bleeding. Both Blaine and the baby were under a great deal of distress and we had no choice but to deliver the baby via C-section. Because of the nature of the abruption, Blaine had some severe tissue damage which caused him to have a postpartum haemorrhage after the C-section and he lost a large quantity of blood. We managed to get the bleeding under control, but it was very touch and go. Blaine flatlined once, and if he wasn't such a fighter I wouldn't have expected him to pull through as he did. We're giving him several blood transfusions now and we've managed to keep him mostly stabilized."

Kurt takes a shaky breath, the doctors words echoing in his head as he pauses. Words like haemorrhage and touch and go and flatlined echo in his ears, loud as the beat of his frantic heart, and Kurt thinks he might be sick. Tina is shaking and breathing slowly next to him, her hand clutching at his wrist so tight she's making the tips of his fingers tingle with the lack of circulation the only thing keeping him grounded.

"Blaine is very lucky to be alive," the doctor continued after what he must deem an appropriate amount of time for this horrifying information to sink in. "Due to the amount of blood lost and the trauma he suffered, he is at risk for brain damage, but we won't be able to tell until he wakes up." He pauses again and looks between them, Tina dabbing at her eyes with the edge of her sleeve and Kurt ashen and frozen, unable to speak, the words lucky to be alive circulating through his head, cold stealing over him where he sits, before continuing, "The baby was taken to the neonatal intensive care. They are still doing all they can to save her, but because of the nature of the placental abruption and the fact that she's extremely premature I want you to be prepared that there is a chance she won't make it. I'll be back in to see you as we know more, and to inform you when you can see father or daughter."

The doctor leaves, slips back down the Intensive Care corridor, and Kurt doesn't realize he's crying until Tina presses a tissue into his hand and squeezes his shoulder, a thready sigh leaving her lips as she leans heavily against him. "Well, that's good, right?" she asks softly. "Blaine's okay, and they're keeping the baby alive, and it's a little girl. Isn't that good?"

Bursting into tears, Kurt shakes his head as she rubs his back in slow circles, sobbing out, "It's not, it's not good, Blaine could still die, he almost did, and the baby might die and Blaine would be destroyed, he wants her so much and...and so do I. I want a life with Blaine, with him and with the baby, and if she dies Blaine won't be himself ever again and we won't have a family. I just want them both to be healthy."

"Oh sweetie," Tina murmurs, and hugs him, hooking her chin over his shoulder and rubbing his shuddering shoulders gently. "He'll be fine, okay, and so will the baby. You're going to have your boyfriend back, and have a beautiful baby girl for both of you to love for the rest of your lives, and soon the doctor's going to come back and tell us we can see one of them."

An hour ticks by. Another half an hour passes, and then an apologetic nurse with a gentle manner and cool hands on their sob-wracked bodies ushers them out, telling them visiting hours are over but for immediate family, and there's nothing she can do. They have to go home and sit in helpless silence, unable to do anything but wait for their phone screens to light up, for some sign that Blaine and the new little girl recently welcomed to the world are both going to be alright.