Blaine had to resist the urge to rush over and kiss his boyfriend on the lips. Kurt the sleeping beauty who would wake from his slumber when the lips of his beloved met his. But Blaine knew this was no fairytale and he could never be Kurt's Prince Charming, not now.

Carole walked over to where Burt sat hunched but he hesitated in the doorway, not sure where he fit in.

Carole turned to him and smiled encouragingly, beckoning him over to the bed. He found himself sitting carefully down in the chair that was pulled up on the other side of the bed to both of them. He tentavily reached his hand out to lay it on the uncovered arm of the other boy. Seeing his hand, still coated in both his and Kurt's blood, laying against the perfect skin of his boyfriend's arm he couldn't help the sob that broke free.

"I'm so sorry Kurt" he choked out. Hearing those words Burt looked up, finally realising that he wasn't alone anymore. Seeing the boy across from him barely holding it together made it even harder to keep a tight grip on his own emotions.

"Blaine" he spoke drawing the attention of the stricken boy "can you tell me what happened tonight?"

The dark haired boys eyed flashed with fear and Burt almost felt bad for asking the question, but he needed to know.

"I don't know... I don't know how to..." Blaine trailed off.

"Why did they go after you two? Do you know that at least?" Carole asked although she had a suspision she knew the answer to that question already.

Blaine sat there in silence for a minute trying to decide what to say and how to say it. He could just tell them what they needed to know. He didn't have to tell them everything he realised, it wouldn't be lying, just maybe not the whole truth. Just enough to satisfy them and as for the rest, well nobody but him ever needed to know that. He could keep that for himself, keep it safe, keep it hidden and then maybe he wouldn't have to think about it ever again.

He took a deep, shaky breath and all of a sudden every ache and pain in his body made themselves known, including those he was trying so hard to ignore. In that moment he could feel himself on the edge of a precipice and he knew that if he didn't hold on, that if he allowed himself to fall he might never make it back. He closed his eyes and took another breath, all the while he could feel Burt and Carole's eyes on him waiting for him to speak.

"It was my fault" he finally said looking up and meeting Burt's eyes as he said those words.

Burt didn't say anything just narrowed his eyes and waited for him to explain.

"We got out of the movie about 9.30 and I wanted to go get coffee as we still had time." Once he started speaking he found that the rest just kept spilling out. "I reached down and held his hand and I think that's probably what drew their attention. We we're just walking out of the doors and they started taunting to us so we just kept walking, trying to ignore them. But...but they followed us and when we got to the alleyway at the side they grabbed us and dragged us down there, away from the lights. I don't really remember the details, it happened so quickly" he didn't meet their eyes as he told this lie. "But they pushed us around a bit and I remember us both being on the ground at some point and I heard Kurt scream when one of them stamped on his fingers." Burt's jaw clenched at that." Then one of them had hold of me." He trailed off as the memories were starting to take over now and he could smell the sweat of the men and blood and he could feel someone's breath on his neck.

Carole saw how distressed he was getting "Blaine it's okay, it's over now".

Blaine shook his head at the words knowing that it would never really be over. He carried on with the story, wanting to get it over as quickly as he could. "Then Kurt ran at them trying to help me and one of them just grabbed him and threw him into the side of the dumpster and he must have hit his head because he just dropped like a stone." Now for the big lie. "I think that scared them because they ran off then. I went over to Kurt and sat with him for awhile before I realised that we needed help and so I called for an ambulance." There he'd said it now he just had to hope they wouldn't question it too much.

He didn't need to look at them to feel their eyes boring into him, he knew they would have more questions, that he hadn't really told them anything. He just hoped it was enough for now. That they wouldn't probe too deeply. He was too tired and in too much pain to be able to say more without letting something slip, and that could not happen. Not now, not ever. He just needed to forget and then everything would be okay.

Blaine looked at them both again and could see the questions they were dying to ask " I know you want to know more, but can it wait for now" he pleaded. "I don't think I can talk about it anymore right now, it hurts to talk". That at least was the truth. The swelling in his throat had gotten worse as the evening wore on and it was getting hard to speak, his voice was a quiet, painful rasp now. But it wasn't just the physical pain he was talking about.

Burt gave him a look that spoke volumes about the fact that he would need more from him eventually and then nodded in acceptance. They all went back to watching Kurt sleep on, oblivious to the pain and suffering of those gathered around him.

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Carole watched as Blaine's head kept dropping from exhaustion. She glanced down at her watch she saw that it was almost 3am.

"Burt I think I need to take Blaine home" she broke the silence.

"No" Blaine sat up, suddenly wide awake " I want to stay here".

"You're exhausted Blaine "Carole explained gently "and I'm sure you'd like to get cleaned up" she gestured towards his matted hair and clothes.

"But what if he wakes up?" Blaine continued to protest.

"Then I will call you straight away" Burt joined the conversation. "How do you think Kurt would feel if he woke up and saw you looking like that? He'd never forgive me for not taking care of you and I'm not willing to put up with his bitch face even for you". Burt smiled at the thought of one of Kurt's huffs, He'd give everything to be on the receiving end of one of Kurt's tantrums right now.

"Come on Blaine" Carole continued "I'll take you back to our house, you can have a shower, something to eat and some sleep. That way when Kurt wakes up you'll be in a much better position to help him get over this. Burt's right, it would only upset him to see you like this."

Blaine finally admitted defeat and nodded at them. "Okay". He didn't want to leave but he was itching to rid himself of the ruined clothes he was wearing. He couldn't wait to wash the blood and filth from his body along with the smell. Just thinking about it made him feel sick again, God their stink was all over him. He'd never felt dirtier in his whole life but he couldn't help thinking that a shower wasn't going to change that, he couldn't imagine ever feeling clean again.

"Will you be okay honey?" Carole asked her almost as exhausted looking husband.

"Yeah you guys go ahead. You need to be there for Finn in the morning anyway, so you can explain what's happened."

Carole almost laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. How could she explain it when she didn't understand it herself. How could it be possible to understand the cruelty people were capable of. She dreaded telling Finn, of destroying some of his innocence. Sure they all knew that there was evil in the world but it was another thing to experience it first hand. She knew that not only the two boys but everyone who was close to them would be irrevocably changed by what had happened tonight. That their view of the world would always be tainted now.

She leaned down to kiss her husband on the cheek with tears in her eyes and then bent over further to do the same to Kurt.

Blaine rose slowly from his chair, his fingers reluctantly trailing along his boyfriends arm before walking over to Carole's side with a sigh.

" You promise you'll call?" Blaine asked from the doorway.

"I promise Blaine". Burt said turning back to watch his son. He heard the door shut quietly behind him and then the two of them were alone.

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As Carole pulled the car onto the driveway she was startled to see so many downstairs lights on. For a moment she was worried that Finn had woken up and realised that they were all missing before remembering that in their rush to get to the hospital they hadn't stopped to turn them off.

"We're here Blaine" she said to the boy beside her making him jump slightly. She was suprised that he hadn't fallen asleep on the drive home, but had instead spent the whole time staring out of the side window as if avoiding her gaze.

They made their way into the house and Carole couldn't believe how normal it looked. How could everything be as they'd left it, it didn't seem right that it could still be the same when everything else had now changed.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked the weary boy beside her, but Blaine just shook his head. "I'll just show you where the guest room is then".

They made their way upstairs and she pointed out the door at the end of the corridor on the left. Blaine walked towards it as if on autopilot. She quickly nipped into Kurt's room, trying not to pay attention to anything whilst she was in there. She grabbed some pajamas out of his cupboard and quickly made her way back to the guest room. Blaine was stood just inside the door as if at a loss for what to do.

"There's towels in the bathroom and don't worry if you get that bandage wet we'll sort it out in the morning. Just take a shower and try to get some sleep, okay?" she suddenly felt awkward standing there. Not sure what to do she smiled gently at the boy and gave in to the urge she had to hug him. She let go as soon as she felt him tense in her arms.

"Night Blaine" she said and shutting the door behind her she swiftly walked down the corridor to her own bedroom. She managed to shut the door and make it over to the bed before she fell apart. The soft bedding muffled the sound of her sobs as she buried her face in them.

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Blaine looked down at the sleepwear in his hands before placing them on the bed and heading towards the bathroom automatically. He looked in the mirror as he removed the bandage from his forehead revealing the still angry, but now much neater looking cut underneath. The bruising was coming out on his face and his eye was now completely swollen. He pulled the collar of his coat down to reveal the angry bruising that surrounded his neck. He could just make out what looked like hand prints in amongst the mottled mess and felt his stomach turn over at the sight. He turned quickly away from the mirror avoiding eye contact.

He cautiously started to remove his clothing. First to come off was his jacket revealing the torn and stained t-shirt below. Next he peeled off the tight dark jeans and let them fall to the floor next to his jacket. He winced as he pulled the ruined t-shirt over his head, the action pulling his ribs and igniting a fire in them. He was pretty sure they weren't broken as he could breath ok but they still hurt like a bitch. Finally he removed his socks and boxers, he refused to look at them as they dropped to the floor with everything else. As soon as he was naked he turned the shower on as hot as it would go and stepped under the almost scalding stream of water. He picked up the shampoo bottle and proceeded to wash the grime and left over gel out of his naturally curly locks. His fingers ghosted over the sore spots trying not to rub too hard. Next he grabbed a washcloth and rubbed the soap on it. He could feel a million little cuts and some not so little ones stinging as he rubbed the cloth over his body. The water turned red and swirled away around his feet. Despite his best efforts to switch off, his mind refused to let him and kept flashing up images to taunt him. He could feel fingers digging into his hips, hot breath on his neck, he could hear cruel laughter and worse. The more he scrubbed the worse it got and he knew that there was nothing he could do that would leave him feeling clean. With that realisation he dropped the cloth and sank to the bottom of the shower cubicle. He sat on the the floor with his arms wrapped around his pulled up knees. The water continued to pound down on him and as it ran down his face it mingled with his tears and washed them away.

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