Carole asked Finn how the Glee club meeting had gone earlier and judging by the evasiveness of his answer and the guilty look he shot Blaine, Burt had a feeling Finn hadn't been able to keep his promise to Kurt. He hoped that the other kids at least had enough sense to wait for now. The last thing either boy needed was to have to deal with all of Kurt's friends.

But Finn wasn't the only one shooting Blaine looks, just maybe the worst at hiding it. Burt himself spent as much time looking at the tired looking boy as he did his food, which would probably explain why he'd dropped pasta sauce down himself twice already.

"This is lovely Carole" Natalie complimented his wife's cooking "it's so nice to have a simple meal for a change, I get so tired of eating out at restaurants all the time". Burt fought back the urge to roll his eyes at the unintended insult.

"Well we have simple tastes" Carole replied with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "The last time Blaine came over we had this and he said he really enjoyed it so I thought it might be nice to have it tonight".

"Oh, well that was very kind of you" Natalie said."I didn't know you liked this kind of thing Blaine" she seemed a little put out that Carole knew something about her own son that she didn't, but Burt couldn't give a damn if the woman's feelings were hurt. She may be supporting Blaine a little now but she still had a long way to go before he could ever think of her as being as good a mother as Carole.

Blaine didn't reply just conttinued to push the food on his plate around, from the looks of it very little had actually made it to his mouth though. Kurt caught his eye and Burt knew he wasn't the only one who'd noticed.

"You've not eaten much" Burt said gently trying to get Blaine's attention.

"I know sorry, I'm not very hungry" Blaine admitted pushing his plate away with a sigh. "I'm just really tired" he ran a weary hand over his face and slumped further down in the seat.

"Well I'll just finish up here and we'll get going" Natalie offered.

"You're more than welcome to stay here" Carole offered. "There's the guest room that Blaine stayed in and I'm sure Finn would let you have his room and he can sleep on the sofa."

Finn to his credit nodded along with Carole's idea even though Burt knew there was no way he would fit his long frame onto that tiny piece of furniture.

"Oh no, we couldn't possibly impose" Natalie declined the offer, politely dabbing at her mouth with her napkin. Burt frowned, since when the hell did they have napkins?

Burt knew Blaine had said something from the way Kurt reacted but he hadn't heard what it was.

"I'm sorry Blaine, what did you say?" he asked getting up from the table and starting to collect the dishes.

"I want to stay here tonight" it was still said very quietly, but it may aswell have been shouted by the way his mom reacted.

Natalie reeled back as though she'd been punched and Burt thought he could see her eyes tear up.

"Don't you want to come home with me honey?" Burt could hear the tremor in her voice.

"It's not that mom" Blaine looked at his mom with sad eyes. "I just I think I'll sleep better if I know Kurt's here" he looked down after making the admission as though he couldn't bear to see his mom's reaction. Burt didn't like the fact that Blaine was still so worried about upsetting his mom, she definetely knew how to play the guilt card.

"But..." Natalie trailed off, Burt could tell she wanted to say no but she also didn't want to upset Blaine.

"Blaine's exhausted" Carole, ever the voice of reason, butted in. "Maybe it would be best if he stayed here, just for tonight".

"Please" Burt was suprised to hear Kurt say that, he knew he didn't like Natalie but he was ignoring his own feelings about the woman to plead on his boyfriend's behalf.

Natalie clearly wasn't used to standing up for herself and this time was no exception.

"Well if that's what you want Blaine?" he nodded and she sighed. "Okay, just for tonight then, I have some things I need to sort out anyway, maybe it would be best if you stayed here".

Natalie looked over at Burt then and he knew one of the things Natalie needed to deal with was calling Blaine's father. It was something they'd argued over earlier. Burt suprisingly had been the one who had insisted that she did. He had a feeling that Blaine's father might make things worse but it was unfair of them to not even give him the chance to support his son through this. Burt couldn't imagine how he would feel if someone kept something this huge from him about his son and even though he didn't like the man he deserved to know. He was going to need to know at some point anyway, there didn't seem much point in putting it off any longer. Natalie had disagreed, of course,. It had took more than a few heated words by both himself and Carole before she'd finally seen what they were trying to tell her.

Even though Burt thought this was for the best he had to admit it was probably a good idea if Blaine wasn't around to hear the conversation. Burt didn't like the idea of keeping things from him, but the boy needed a good nights sleep and he wasn't going to get that if he was worrying about his father.

As soon as dinner was over Natalie had left to make the drive home and Blaine had headed straight upstairs to have a shower before bed.

Burt knew Kurt wanted to ask him something and decided to put him out of his misery.

"What is it Kurt?" he turned to look at him putting the dishtowel down and leaning on the sink.

"Oh um" Kurt was taken by suprise by the question. He ducked his head and almost mumble his question. "Can Blaine sleep in my room tonight? I think he'll sleep.."

"Okay" Burt said but Kurt continued as though he hadn't heard.

"...better and I think I will too, we'll leave the door..."Kurt trailed off when he finally realised what his dad had just said. "Oh really, I thought..."

"Look Kurt I know what I said before about having boys sleep over in your room, but this is different. I think you're right, you'll both benefit from being near each other".

Burt knew his son loved him but he was still suprised when Kurt threw himself into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Thanks dad" the words were muffled against his shirt but he heard them well enough.

"You're welcome Kurt" he smiled down at his son.

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

Blaine walked through the woods on almost silent feet. It was so peaceful here and the way the light was shining through the branches cast a magical light onto the forest floor. Blaine took a deep breath, relishing the sweat smell in the air, it was a familiar scent, one that brought a certain blue eyed boy to mind and he took another deep breath.

The only thing that seemed odd was that there was no sound, no rustling in the undergrowth, no bird calls, just silence. It was a little unnerving actually and Blaine felt a cold shiver go down his back. Looking down at himself he wasn't suprised that he was cold though because he was only wearing a t-shirt and it was wet with something. Blaine frowned as he tried to figure out what the dark substance staining his clothes was.

His mind shied away from whatever it was and he hurried on his way. The light seemed to be dimming and tree's snagged at his arms and legs as though trying to keep him in place.

He took anothe deep breath trying to recall the lovely scent from only moments before but this one caught in his throat and he couldn't seem to draw enough air into his lungs. He tripped over a gnarled tree root and fell to his knees gasping. What had only moments before seemed like an idle setting morphed into something else and all he could make out was bricks and dirt. He clawed at the unseen fingers around his throat. There was a weight on top of him and he pushed frantically away.

Hands grabbed at his arms and he struggled against the grip, great racking sobs shaking his frame.

"Blaine please stop, please Blaine, you're scaring me" Kurt's words tore at his heart and his eyes flew open in response. Burt had hold of his arms but when he saw that he was awake now he slowly released them but didn't get off the bed.

"Kurt" Blaine gasped out and Kurt reached for his hand from where he was sitting on the floor. Wait a minute, why was he on the floor?

"Oh god Kurt I'm so sorry" Blaine cried as he realised he must have pushed Kurt off the bed on his panic.

"It's okay" Kurt reassured him as he climbed back in beside him.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" Blaine looked over Kurt as he waited for the reply.

"No of course not" Kurt answered and Blaine knew from the way his voice wavered that he was lying.

"I'm so sorry Kurt, I'm sorry you got hurt" and he wasn't just talking about tonight now.

"I know Blaine" Kurt sobbed back "I'm sorry you got hurt aswell".

"I need to have a shower" Blaine said jumping from the bed and fleeng to the bathroom. He slammed the door shut behind him, pleased that neither Kurt or his father tried to follow him. He turned the shower on as full as it would go and as soon as he was stripped off stepped under the scalding water. He srubbed at himself frantically before dropping the washcloth in defeat and just standing there whilst the water flowed over him.

He'd hurt Kurt, all because of some stupid nightmare. His weakness had caused the boy he loved pain, he would never forgive himself for that.