Kurt realized that he didn't know which of the men he was going to see this morning had raped Blaine, or even if god forbid, they both had. Thinking back to when Blaine had first told them, he knew that the word "they" that Blaine had used implied that more than one of the men had been involved. There was still so much that he didn't know about that night and while he didn't want to force Blaine into talking about anything he wasn't ready for there was so much he needed to know.

He found himself searching the man's face for some clue as to what he'd done that night, just how much of the suffering both he and Blaine had had to endure was because of this man.

"Do you see the man who attacked you?" Detective Davies asked, once all the men had returned to their place in line.

"Number two," Kurt didn't hesitate, although his voice shook slightly, to his own annoyance. He hated that this man had the power to make him afraid. Despite his determination to not let any of this get to him he was feeling less than brave right now.
His dad put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Kurt gave him a small grateful smile in response.

"Are you sure?" Davies asked.

"Positive," Kurt replied, his voice sounding a lot steadier that time.

"Thank you, Kurt," Davies leaned forward and activated the intercom that allowed him to be heard in the other room.

"Thank you. You can bring the next group in now," he said.

The five men filed out.

Kurt didn't know how he was going to react to seeing the next man, but he definitely wasn't expecting the burning hot rage that flooded through him. This was the man who had pinned Blaine to the wall, the man Kurt had seen groping his boyfriend and kissing him. There was no doubt in his mind that he was the one who'd hurt Blaine so badly. Seeing him standing there with a smug smile, Kurt felt an overwhelming urge to leap through the window so he could wipe it off his face.

Perhaps most shocking to Kurt was how normal the man looked. In his nightmares he'd become something other than human, something feral and monstrous, but in reality he looked no different than the four innocent men who stood on either side of him.

They went through the same routine as before, only this time it wasn't fear that caused Kurt's voice to shake, it was anger.

"Number four," he said through gritted teeth. He felt, rather than saw, his father and Carole staring intently at the man he'd just identified and realized they too were trying to see the monster that was hidden beneath such a normal exterior.

Davies once again asked him to confirm it and Kurt answered a little more hotly this time.

"That's him, number four."

Davies just nodded before once again using the intercom to tell the officers to take the men from the room.

"Thank you, Kurt, you did an amazing job just then," Davies spoke once the other room was empty. Kurt hadn't taken his eyes of the man until the door had firmly shut behind him but now he turned to the detective in charge of his and Blaine's case.

"What happens now?"

"Well, we need Blaine to confirm the identification and then we'll begin questioning them. Hopefully they'll tell us who the third assailant was."

Kurt swallowed around the lump in his throat at the thought of one of those men still being out on the streets.

"I'll go get Blaine," Burt said, starting to head for the door.

"Sorry, Mr. Hummel, I should have mentioned it before, but none of you can speak to Blaine until after he's been through this as well. We can't risk the chance of being accused of tampering with the identification process."

"But that means he'll have to do this with just his mother, " Burt started to protest.

"Yes, Mr. Hummel, it's official procedure." Davies clearly didn't know why that would be something that any of them would see as a problem.

"If we'd known before, you could have stayed with Blaine, Dad," Kurt said sadly, but he felt guilty because a part of him was pleased that that hadn't happened. As much as he knew Blaine needed his dad's support, Kurt still needed it too.

"No, you're my son, Kurt, I would have wanted to come in with you regardless. But I just hope Natalie realizes how bad this could be for Blaine."

"I'm sure it will be fine," Carole tried to reassure them both. "She may be a bit clueless, but even she must know how big a deal this is."

Kurt just had to hope Carole was right because there was nothing they could do about it now.

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

Blaine was confused at first when Detective Davies came and fetched him and his mother and led them to the otherwise empty room. He thought at least Burt would have been waiting for him. Detective Davies explained that no one could be present for the identification twice, other than official people obviously, and Blaine understood at once. Of course Burt would choose to be with his own son through this; Blaine would have expected nothing less. Still he couldn't help wishing that wasn't the case.

Natalie stood next to him, nervously picking at her fingernails. He caught her eye and gave her a small smile which she returned gratefully.

"Are you ready Blaine?" Davies asked, and Blaine found himself slightly resenting the gentle way the other man said it.

He pulled his shoulders back and stood a little straighter before replying. "Go for it."

Five men filed into the room and Blaine made a point of not looking until they were all in line. He saw the man who had hurt Kurt immediately. He waited while the men went through the motions of the line up but he never took his eyes of the man responsible for almost putting Kurt into a coma. He was surprised at how nervous the man looked. If he didn't know what he'd done he might even feel sorry for him, but he did and so of course, he couldn't.

When Davies asked him to identify the man he did so without hesitation.

"Is that the man who..," Natalie trailed off, obviously unable to finish the question.

"No, he's the one who hurt Kurt," Blaine told her and she nodded in relief.

"This is all just so horrible," Natalie spoke again and Blaine offered her his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Distracted by his mother, he didn't notice that the five men had left the room and been replaced by five new ones. Not until Davies drew his attention to it.

"Just one more, Blaine. Do you see the man who attacked you?"

Blaine swung his head around in shock to see five new faces staring back at him. He saw him at once and he felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over him.

"Number five," he gasped out in shock. He felt his knees turn to jelly and was surprised that they were still keeping him upright. He grasped his mom's hand tighter in his and heard her cry out in pain but he didn't let go, he couldn't.

"Are you sure Blaine?" Davies asked and all Blaine could do was nod. Seeing how distressed he was, Davies quickly spoke into the intercom, telling the officers in the room that they could take the men out.

Blaine couldn't take his eyes of the man. He watched him turn to the right and follow the other men out of the room, and that's why when he turned his face back towards what must look like a mirror to him, Blaine saw it. He saw the sadistic gleam in the man's eyes and when he puckered up his lips and blew a kiss at the window, that was when Blaine's knees finally gave out on him. He sank to the floor sobbing and his mother went with him. She cradled his head against her chest and for once he didn't pull away.

"Get that scum out of there right now," Davies practically screamed into the intercom.

"It's okay, baby, they've got him, he can't hurt you anymore." His mom was speaking reassuring words into his ear while running her hand through the soft curls on top of his head.

If only that was true, Blaine couldn't help thinking, if only it was that easy. But what that man had done was going to hurt him every day for the rest of his life. Hopefully, he would go to prison for this, but even then one day he would get out, be a free man again, free to live his life any way he chose. Blaine didn't have that luxury. He was never going to be able to walk away from this. He was going to be a prisoner to it for the rest of his life.