His mom looked up as soon as he entered the room and shot him a nervous smile.

"Morning, Blaine. Sit down and I'll get you some breakfast," she said, starting to get up. She froze half out of the seat when Blaine's father spoke from behind his paper.

"Sit down, Natalie. Blaine's not a child. He's more than capable of getting himself something to eat."

Blaine could see the way his mom half-stood, looking between her son and her husband, clearly torn.

"It's fine, Mom, I just want some cereal anyway." Blaine gave her the 'out' she was looking for, and she sat back down, shooting him a grateful look as she did so.

Blaine walked over to the cupboard where the cereals were kept. Reaching up for a box, he couldn't contain a hiss of pain as the movement pulled on his injured ribs.

Turning back around, he saw both of his parents looking at him, but his dad quickly looked back down at his paper as their eyes met.

Blaine felt tears pricking his own eyes as he quickly turned back around under the pretext of getting a bowl.

"Well, I'd better get going." Blaine heard the scrape of a chair as his father stood up. " I have a busy day ahead."

"Will you be back for dinner?" his mom asked, and from the sound of things she had stood up as well.

"Yes. We'll eat together as a family tonight." Blaine heard the silent command in his father's voice. He was obviously expecting Blaine to join them for dinner.

Blaine turned back around, full cereal bowl in hand, just in time to see his mom give his dad a kiss on the cheek.

Bill Anderson walked out of the room without saying one word to his son.

As soon as he heard the front door close, Blaine slumped down into one of the chairs with a sigh.

"Are you okay?" his mom asked, pouring milk into his bowl.

"He hates me." Blaine didn't know he was going to say that until it came out, and he instantly regretted it, but that didn't make it any less true.

Natalie looked at him in shock.

"Of course he doesn't hate you, Blaine. He's your father… he loves you."

She sat down next to him and he saw that her hand was shaking as she reached out to put it on top of one of his own.

"Then why won't he speak to me?" Blaine couldn't believe he was being this open with his mom, but he just really needed someone to talk to, someone to ease this gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"He did...didn't he?" Natalie frowned, and it almost looked like as if she was replaying the morning's events in her mind.

"No, he didn't." Blaine could hear the anger seeping into his voice now, but he hoped his mom hadn't picked up on it.

"Well, I'm sure he meant to. He's so very busy, and he's got a lot on his mind." Blaine wondered if she ever got tired of making excuses for the man.

Blaine stood up, throwing her hand off. This was the last place he needed to be right now.

"That doesn't explain why he couldn't even look at me." The way his voice wavered, showing his weakness, annoyed him.

His mother didn't say anything, just sat staring at him, her mouth open in shock.

"You know what… it doesn't matter," Blaine said, grabbing his car keys off the shelf. "I'm going to Kurt's."

"Will you be back in time for dinner?" he heard her calling after him as he strode down the hall.

"Of course," he replied, resisting the urge to slam the door behind him. "Wouldn't want to miss a family dinner for the world," he muttered sarcastically under his breath.

He climbed into the car and backed out of the driveway. With every mile that went by, he relaxed a little bit more. It wasn't lost on him that the further he got from his own house and the closer he got to Kurt's, the better he felt.

Maybe this was what going home should really feel like.

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

Kurt knew something was wrong with Blaine the second he walked through the door. Not that anything had been right recently, but this was something new.

He didn't know what had happened after their phone call last night, but something had changed. The little bit of lightness he'd heard in his boyfriend's voice had gone, replaced by an even wearier sound than before. Kurt wanted nothing more than to take him up to his room and hold him close, until some of that weight was lifted from his shoulders, but Blaine seemed to want to spend time with the other people in the house as well. It was almost like he seemed to crave the company that Kurt's family provided. Kurt started to get a sneaking suspicion as to what might be wrong.

He watched as his dad and Blaine had some kind of coded conversation that left them both blushing a little. Whatever Blaine was telling Burt, something about some kind of problem having sorted itself out and things running smoothly now, had both of them looking relieved. Kurt didn't know what they were talking about exactly, but he was pretty sure it wasn't about Blaine's car.

He watched as Blaine helped Carole prepare lunch. Blaine seemed to enjoy the simple actions and while nothing of any great importance was said between the two of them, Kurt could see a little more of the tension leave his shoulders.

It wasn't until mid-afternoon that Kurt found himself alone with Blaine and although he was bursting with a thousand questions, he decided that for now they could wait. He didn't want to do anything to push him away again. Blaine needed to know that this was somewhere that he could run to, not somewhere he needed to run from. The two of them sat beside each other on the sofa in the den, their hands clasped together tightly, with Blaine's head resting on Kurt's shoulder. The television was on, but neither of them was really paying attention to what was on. Kurt felt himself starting to drift off to sleep when he heard Blaine speak.

"My dad got back last night." Kurt was immediately alert, sitting up a little straighter so Blaine was forced to sit up, too.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kurt asked, and although he half-suspected that might be the reason for Blaine's behavior today, it was still a shock to hear it.

Blaine just shrugged and refused to meet Kurt's eyes.

"Does he know?" Kurt asked gently.

Blaine nodded his head slightly.

"What did he...how did he take it?" Kurt asked, not really sure how to phrase any of this.

Blaine shrugged again.

"He was upset, I think," Blaine said, and those few words told a much bigger story than he probably knew. How did Blaine not know? What exactly happened last night to cause Blaine to be unsure of what his dad thought about all this?

"I don't...I don't understand," Kurt tried to meet Blaine's eyes, but it was impossible. "How do you not know? Didn't he say anything to you?"

"Not everyone's dad is like yours." Blaine spoke the words quietly, but Kurt heard them clearly enough. Blaine did look at him then and Kurt almost wished he hadn't because the amount of pain in those beautiful hazel eyes took his breath away.

The doorbell rang, making them both jump, and neither boy moved. Kurt knew someone else would answer the door and Blaine didn't really care one way or the other.

A few seconds later though, Burt stood at the entrance to the den clearing his throat to get their attention.

"You have a couple of visitors," he said, stepping aside to reveal who had been at the door.

Santana looked nervously between the two of them as though expecting one of them to jump at her any second. Brittany, on the other hand, just stood there smiling sweetly.