Blaine walked what felt like the whole of the hospital trying to get his emotions back under control. All he ended up with was a headache from the miles of strip lighting and pale green walls. His stomach continued to churn and a couple of times he had to fight down waves of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him . His neck felt like it was on fire and he could still feel fingers round his throat trying to squeeze the life out of him. He'd never felt so weary and worn down in his life. He felt as though he was surrounded by darkness and the only bright spot in his life right now, the only thing keeping him form being swallowed whole was Kurt. He found himself hurrying to get back to the hospital room, he needed to see Kurt and hold his hand again, it was the only thing that would keep him from spinning off into oblivion.

Walking into the hospital room for what felt like the millionth time he saw that Burt and Finn had returned and they'd brought pizza with them.

"Blaine" the relief in Kurt's voice was obvious. "Where did you go?" he realised he'd been gone a while and that Kurt must have been worried.

"I just needed some air, sorry" Blaine apologized as he walked over to the bed and took his boyfriend's hand in his. He could feel concerned eyes looking at him but he chose to focus on the pale blue ones in front of him instead.

"You okay Blaine?" Burt asked.

"Yeah I'm fine" he gave his standard answer.

"We brought pizza" Finn said pointing out the obvious.

"Great" Blaine faked a smile. The thought of eating anything right now set his stomach to churning again. He knew that he at least needed to make it look like he was hungry though and reached over to grab a slice. He bit the end off and chewed enthusiastically for the benefit of everyone else, whilst trying not to gag on the greasy piece of processed cheese and dough.

"I want you boys to know" Burt spoke between chews "that we're here for you,." Burt made sure Blaine was looking at him when he added "both of you. What happened to you two was horrible and I don't want either of you to feel ashamed or embarressed about whatever feelings you have about it. You can talk to us no matter what, you're not alone." Blaine knew he was talking to both of them but Burt never once took his eyes from his. He found the pizza in his mouth was even harder to swallow around the lump in his throat. "And Blaine I want to thank you" Blaine started to protest but Burt put his hand up to stop him. "No Blaine I mean it, if you hadn't called that ambulance and looked after Kurt until they arrived then lord knows what would have happened." Blaine felt another twinge of guilt though, knowing how long he'd delayed making that phone call.

"Before we came here Finn and I went to pick Kurt's car up from the movie theatre and we saw where it happened." Burt didn't need to explaine what he meant by that.

"Oh Burt are you sure that was a good idea" Carole interupted.

"No it was a terrible idea" Burt agreed turning to look at her. "But it made me realise how bad it must have been for you two down there and especially you Blaine. I can't imagine how terrified you must have been sitting there with Kurt" Burt voice broke slightly on his son's name. "Just waiting for help to come." Blaine could feel Kurt looking at him but he chose to focus on the bed instead.

Blaine wasn't aware of the tears running down his cheek until he felt the soft touch of Kurt's fingers wiping them away. He looked up to see tears glistening in the other boys eyes aswell.

"I just want you to know Blaine" Burt continued "that I am so grateful to you, for being there with Kurt when he needed you the most and I will never forget what you did for him."

Blaine didn't know how to respond to that so he just nodded. Kurt squeezed his hand a little tighter and smiled at him sweetly.

A slightly uncomfortable silence fell over the room as everyone tried to get a handle on their emotions.

"Oh yeah I should probably warn you, the whole of New Directions will be coming to see you tomorrow." Finn managed to say around a mouthful of pizza. "Mercedes called earlier, I managed to talk her out of coming today, cus visiting hours will be over soon but it took some doing. I think she'll be here really early tomorrow though and judging by the amount of texts I've been getting, everyone else will be with her." he reached for another slice and Blaine used the opportunity to put his own nearly uneaten slice back.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully and before they knew it visiting hours were over. The staff had been pretty understanding the night before when Kurt was unconcious but they wouldn't allow anyone to stay tonight. So it was that Blaine found himself saying goodbye to Kurt for the night without having had any time with just the two of them. It felt strange to be going home with his boyfriend's family without him there.

He pretended to be asleep in the car to avoid having to talk to anyone. His head was still pounding from earlier and the nauseaus feeling wasn't helped by the movement of the car. By pretending to fall asleep he was able to rest his warm forehead against the cool glass of the window without looking too suspicious.

He made his excuses and went straight up to bed when they finally got home, too tired to even check any of his injuries he changed into the pyjamas from the night before and climbed into bed. Closing his eyes he wished for a deep dreamless sleep to take him away.

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Finn threw the games controller onto the bed beside him. He'd hoped that he could take his mind of everything by playing it but the mindless violence on the screen didn't seem like so much fun anymore. He sighed and laid back on the bed with his hands behind his head. It was weird to think that it had been a little over 24 hours since everything had changed for them.

He was lost in his own thoughts so it took a minute for him to register the noises coming from the guest room next door to his. He could hear what sounded like the signs of a struggle and he was up and already opening the door to the other room before rational thought could kick in.

Of course what he'd heard wasn't the sounds of someone in the middle of a fight but instead the tortured sounds of someone reliving one.

The light from the hallway fell across the bed revealing the writhing form of Blaine trapped in a nightmare. As Finn watched he threw his body about and grasped his sheets in clenched fists. He was twisting and writhing all over the bed and crying out in both pain and fear.

Finn could hear snatches of phrases coming from the other boy and each one peirced his heart like a knife.

"Don't hurt him...please...no...I don't...please..."

The sobs and tortured cries seemed to be increasing but Finn just stood there feeling helpless, not sure what to do. Then all of a sudden Blaine was gasping for air. His eyes flew open as he clawed at his throat in a desperate attempt to release whatever pressure he could feel. This finally got Finn moving as he climbed onto the bed beside the terrified boy and tried to catch his hands in his.

"I can't breathe" Blaine gasped out, fighting Finn.

"It's okay Blaine" Finn tried to cut through the frightened boys confusion. "It's just a dream, just breathe". Finn managed to prise Blaine's fingers from his throat but he just seemed to be getting more and more agitated as Finn held his hands tightly trying to stop him from hurting himself.

"Let go of him Finn" Burt's voice came from the doorway. Finn had never been more relived to see someone in his life but he still didn't let go of the struggling boys hands. Blaine was in serious danger of hyperventilating now.

Carole appeared behind Burt and pushing past him she came and sat beside Finn on the bed.

"Let go Finn" Carole asked again "he thinks your one of them" at her words Finn dropped his hands quickly as if scalded. Blaine's hands immediately went back to his throat but this time Carole placed her own gently over his.

"It's okay Blaine" she said soothingly "you're safe now". Finn watched as the words seemed to penetrate Blaine's terror induced confusion . His amber eyes lost their frantic look as he took in the three people staring at him in shock.

"It's okay" Carole continued to coo. "Just take deep breaths, it's over now".

Blaine dropped his hands to his lap and Finn could see him trying to steady his breathing.

Carole reached up to run her hand through the teen's curly hair and at her touch Blaine gave a small sob.

"Oh Blaine" Carole pulled the shaking boy's head down so it was resting on her shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. Blaine didn't pull away and instead started to sob as she held him tightly.

Sat on the edge of the bed next to the pair of them Finn felt like he was intruding on something very private so he carefully got up from the bed careful not to disturb them and walked over to where Burt was standing. They stood and watched as the woman they both loved tried to offer some comfort to the weeping boy.

Finn felt his own eyes tearing up and looked around at Burt to see a single tear tracing a path down the normally composed man's face.

They stayed like that for awhile until Blaine's sobs started to taper off. Eventually he pulled away from Carole's embrace.

"I'm sorry" he muttered under his breath and they could all hear the embarresment in his voice.

"You've got nothing to apologize for Blaine" Carole tried to reassure him. "You've been through something terrible, no one expects you to be okay with all this".

Blaine looked over to where the two men we're standing and Finn could tell uncomfortable the other boy was.

"I'll go get you some water" he offered wanting to give him the space he so clearly desired. Blaine nodded at him and Finn could see the gratitude in the other boy's eyes. He made his escape with a sigh of relief. He felt like a coward for running away but he knew it was best to leave something this huge to the adults in the house. This was way out of his comfort zone.

It wasn't until he was holding the glass full of water in the kitchen that he realised his hands we're shaking.

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