"I swear I'm going to kill him" he said between gritted teeth.

"Who, Kurt or Blaine?" Carole responded, trying to hide her smile in the face of her new husband's anger.

"Both of them" he snapped back. "I said 10.30 and it's now gone midnight, what are they thinking, I thought they we're both more responsible then this?".

"I'm sure they're just enjoying themselves and lost track of the time". Carol knew what teenage boys could be like, Finn was always pushing it when it came to curfews. Still she realised that this was fairly new for Burt and she couldn't help feeling a twinge of worry for the boys. This was really unlike them.

"I'm going to try Blaine's phone again" Burt walked over to the where the phone sat. But before he could pick it up to dial it rang, startling them both. Only for a moment though before Burt snatched it up angrily.

"You better have a damn good excuse Kurt" he yelled into the receiver assuming that's who would be on the other end of the line.

"Mr Hummel" a quiet voice responded.

"Blaine?" Carole could see Burt's anger was still burning. "Where the hell are you boys?"

"We're at the hospital". With those four words Burt seemed to fold in on himself.

"What do you meant you're at the hospital?," Carol stepped forward at Burt's question "where the hell is Kurt? Put him on the phone Blaine".

"I... I can't" Blaine seemed to be struggling to say the words "he's unconcious".

"Are you at St Rita's?"

"Yes sir".

"We'll be right there" Burt hung up the phone on the other boy and turned to find Carole already standing at the front door with the car keys in her hand. Even in that moment he took a second to think what an amazing woman he'd married before he quickly followed her out to the car.

---------------------------------------------------------

Blaine pressed the end key with shaking fingers when Burt hung up on him then scrolled through the rest of his contacts until he found his mother's number. He hesitated for a moment and then hit send.

It rang a couple of times before a familiar voice answered "hello", she sounded suspicious.

Blaine found his throat closing up, unable to answer.

"Blaine is that you?" of course his name would have come up on her phone.

"Hey mom" he was surprised at how weary his voice sounded.

"Blaine it must be after midnight there, why are you calling?" his parents we're currently in Rome with his father's work, it would still be early evening there.

"Something happened mom, I'm at the hospital"

"Are you allright?" why did the concern in her voice surprise him?

"Yeah mom I'm fine" the lie seemed to come a little easier every time he told it, maybe at some point he's even convince himself that it was true.

"What happened?"

"Someone attacked me and my... friend..." he stopped when he heard his mother sigh and he knew immediately what she was thinking, not again.

"Do you need me to come home, I will if you want me too, but if you're not hurt then is it really necessary? I mean it's a really long flight" her voice had gone all business again like it always did in this sort of situations. God how he wanted to scream at her then, to yell, to say mom I need you, why can't you see that, I'm seventeen and three men just attacked me and my boyfriend, left him for dead and hurt me really badly, why can't you tell that I need you. But he didn't say any of that, instead he played along, just like he always did.

"No mom. you're right I'm fine" that word again "I just thought I should let you know, that's all".

"Well okay sweetie, take care, and we'll see you in a few weeks time" the relief in her voice at being let off the hook was palpable.

"Okay mom, I love you " despite his best efforts his voice broke slightly on the last word.

He could feel his mom hesitate "Are you sure you're okay Blaine?".

Just then he could see a nurse trying to catch his eye at the door to the waiting room.

"Yeah mom see you soon. I've got to go the nurse wants to speak to me, tell Dad I said hi."

"Bye Blaine, call if you need anything" and with that she was gone. Call if you need anything he thought to himself, what about if I just want my mom, is that too much to ask. She hadn't even asked about Kurt.

Seeing that he'd finished his call the nurse approached him.

"Hi are you the young man who came in with Kurt Hummel?" she asked smiling down at him.

"Yes " he said leaping to his feet in anticipation of some news. Turned out to be a bad idea as the room spun alarmingly.

"Here sit back down" the nurse went to grab his arm to help guide him but he automatically pulled away from her touch. Luckily he landed squarly on one of the chairs anyway.

"Are you okay?" she asked concern furrowing her brow.

"Yeah I'm fine" it was coming easier now, that time it didn't feel like acid was pooling in his stomach at the word "How's Kurt, has he woken up yet?"

"I'm sorry I don't know anything else, I was just coming to check on you actually".

"Me? No I told you I'm fine" he was going to have to come up with a new line soon or people we're going to start getting suspicious, just as he was starting to get used to it aswell.

"Well you don't look it and that's quite a nasty cut above your eye, it might even need some stitches".

Blaine frowned and reached a hand up to his forehead and hissed when his hand came in contact with the jagged edges of a cut, his mind flashed to the image of being pushed to the floor amongst broken bottles, he wondered if he had any more cuts on him, his whole body felt sore and bruised but he didn't think there was anything else requiring stitches hidden under his clothing.

"Let me take you back into a cubicle and get you checked over".

Blaine shook his head violently at the suggestion, "no, no I don't want to leave here, it's just that cut I'm fine, really."

"Well you have to let me treat that, otherwise it'll scar and we don't want to ruin that pretty face of yours do we" she smiled at him again, completly oblivious to the impact of what she'd said.

Blaine almost threw up as those words reverberated in his head "pretty face of yours" only it wasn't her voice he heard right now but theirs. For a moment he could feel fingers gripping his chin tightly and pulling his head forward.

He blinked quickly in the harsh lights and looked up to see the nurse looking down at him with concern. Why did these places always have to have flurescent lighting anyway, just to add to the overall shitty experience probably.

"Are you okay?" god how many times was he going to hear that question and how many times was he going to have to lie when he answered. He just nodded, not willing to trust his resolve at the minute.

"Come on let's get that sorted and we'll see where we go from there. I'm Kate by the way, what did you say your name was?"

Blaine opened his mouth to speak but before he could it was done for him.

"Blaine" Burt almost shouted as he came barrelling into the room Carol close behind him. "Where is he, where's Kurt? What the hell happened."

Once again Blaine, one of the most articulate boys any of them knew, found himself at a loss for words.

--------------------------------------------------------

Burt had driven like a madman to the hospital and Carole found herself just running along in his wake as he bolted for the entrance to the hospital.

A quick inquiry at the desk sent Burt running down the corridor towards the waiting room and the only person who seemed to have any answers for him at the minute.

"Blaine" Burt knew he was losing it but he couldn't seem to reign himself back in. "Where is he, where's Kurt? What the hell happened?"

In his worked up state Burt failed to take in the state of the boy in front of him but Carole saw it all. Blaine was wearing the dark jeans and brown jacket that he'd left the house in earlier, only now both were filthy. He had the jacket done right up to his neck and so every part of him other then his hands and face were covered up, but that was enough to see something terrible had happened to the boy. His normally smooth olive complexion was already starting to look bruised and swollen and his lip was split. Blood had coated one side of his face and ran down the shoulder of his coat. She could see that it had come from a nasty cut on his forehead that would probably require stitching. She looked down to where his hands were clasped tightly in his lap and saw they were covered in blood, more than there should be judging by the relatively small cuts and scrapes she could see on them. She could see that they were trembling and her mothering instinct took over.

"Blaine honey" she crouched down in front of him and reached to take his hands in hers, she stopped when he pulled his hands away sharply. Looking up into his golden brown eyes, one of which was already starting to swell shut, she was shocked at the fear she saw there. Fighting the instinct to touch the clearly terrified boy she chose to sit down next to him instead, even then she felt him move away from her slightly.

"What happened, who was driving?" Burt asked, his voice a lot calmer now that he could see how shaken up Blaine was.

Blaine started to shake his head at the question and when he spoke both of them were shocked at how the normally smooth voiced young man sounded.

"We...we didn't even make it to the car.." he started to say, his voice rasping over the words.

"I thought you were in an accident" Burt blurted out, confusion showing on his face.

"No" Blaine almost whispered, he cleared his throat and it sounded almost painful to Carole. "No accident".

"Then what the hell..."

"Some guys, they...followed us from the cinema and then they just..." Blaine trailed off, didn't know how to say it. Didn't know how to tell this man what had happened, what he'd let happen.

Carole could see Burt's face getting red and she reached out her hand to calm him down before his blood pressure went through the roof.

"Who?" he managed to bite out between gritted teeth. "Was it that Karofsky kid?"

Blaine shook his head "no I didn't recognise them but they weren't high school kids, they were much older" he tried not to picture their faces leering at him. He didn't know them from before but he knew that he'd never forget their faces now.

"How many?" Burt was trying to keep his anger in check but the thought of grown men attacking his son made him feel sick.

"Three" Blaine seemed to be fixated on his hands and Carole resisted the urge to cry at how broken he looked right now.

"Son of a bitch, why, why would they come after you?" Burt said and Blaine could hear their mocking voices in his head "Ahh look at the two little boys, how sweet, holding hands and everything". He shook his head trying to get them to shut up.

"Burt" Carole said seeing Blaine's eyes glaze over "maybe we can save those questions for later".

"Yes I really need to stitch that cut" Nurse Kate said from off to the side where she'd stood unobtrusively whilst the conversation played out.

"I need to wait and see Kurt" Blaine protested.

"Go honey we'll come and fetch you when we know something" Carol saw the doubt in his eyes "I promise".

"Okay" Blaine accepted reluctantly, stood up to follow Kate from the room. Burt sat down and put his head in his hands whilst Carole watched the weary boy slowly make his way out of the room.

"Oh god Carole" Burt said whilst still looking down at the floor. "How could this have happened, who would beat up two boys like that and where is the damn doctor with news on Kurt?".

Carole placed her hands and top of Burt's and gave him the only answer she had for now "I don't know".