Chapter 34

Kurt stepped out of the shower room feeling a lot more human than he had going in. Once it was clear that Kurt was going to be in the hospital for as long as Blaine, Carole had brought a wide selection of Kurt's products, as well as some comfortable clothes that Kurt would be honest, he was pretty sure he hadn't owned before.

Blaine looked up from where he sat cross-legged on his bed. It was late evening, and the hospital had quietened as visiting hours wound down. Their families had left just under an hour ago, so aside from the duty nurse coming in to check on them every half hour, they were able to enjoy some quiet.

The EEG sense test that afternoon had caused some excitement amongst the doctors, and Dr Monroe seemed positive. She had left them straight after the test, and according to Blaine's dad, was planning to present her preliminary findings to the hospital board and authorities tomorrow.

"What do you think?" Kurt grinned, giving Blaine a little twirl, "I call it hospital chic."

Blaine laughed, "Very nice. I really like how you've paired the grey of sweatpants with the blue of the t-shirt. Edgy."

Kurt plucked distastefully at the pants, "We'll have a burning ceremony when we're out of here." He flopped down on the bed next to Blaine, who shifted his legs to tuck his toes until Kurt's thigh. And then Kurt realised what Blaine was holding, "Where did you get a phone?"

One of the rules they had been subjected to since they had arrived was a complete lack of contact with the outside world except what was regulated by their visitors. That meant no television in their room, no internet, and no phones.

Blaine had the grace to look guilty. "I lifted it out of Mom's bag earlier. I know her passcode, and she's always leaving it around the house. She'll just think she misplaced it..."

Kurt swallowed back any feelings he had whenever faced with Blaine's mom. They still hadn't had that conversation, not fully. Not since Kurt had cut her off that night, and accepted her half-spoken apology. As far as Kurt was concerned, the full explanation needed to come from Blaine's mom, or not at all. Blaine knew something was off, Kurt could tell, but nothing more than that. Instead, Kurt prompted, "Well..?"

"You mean aside from the gossip from everyone at McKinley?" Blaine tried half-heartedly for humour, but at Kurt's unimpressed face, simply handed the phone over. "The news reports are varied. Most of it's garbage... and they say some really nasty stuff."

"About me," Kurt confirmed, scrolling through a few of the tabs. He quirked an eyebrow, "Wow, some of these are pretty imaginative." Maybe it hadn't been a bad idea for them to be kept away from it all. It was hard not to take some of these personally. Mostly because they were.

"But some of them are better," Blaine reached over, shifting casually into Kurt's personal space in a way that still never failed to make Kurt's heart stutter. He flicked through a couple of tabs before he found the one he was looking for. "These guys are talking about it more scientifically, with leading sense doctors. I recognise a few of the names from some reading I did after my first episode."

Possible Relief Treatment for High ES

High School Boys Beat the Odds

The Impossible Recovery

The headlines went on. Kurt let his hands drop into his lap, looking at Blaine, "Do you really think we've done it?"

Blaine shrugged, looping his arm into the crook of Kurt's elbow and resting his head on Kurt's shoulder, a lulling sense calm and comfort ebbing quietly between them. "I don't know. But I want to believe it. I feel better than I did even before we... before I enrolled in Dalton." The words before we broke up hung heavy in the air. "And Dr Monroe, our families... I think they're starting to believe it too."

Kurt leaned his cheek to the top of Blaine's head, "Took them long enough. We're in this for the long haul, and they're not taking our future, your future, away from us."

There was a sweep of love from Blaine, which then reeled back to something deeper. He pulled back, looking at Kurt. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Kurt frowned, unable to read the expression on Blaine's face, "What is it?"

Blaine paused, seeming to carefully weigh his words before he spoke. "For the first time, I'm starting to believe that I have something to look forward to. And it's not just a dream. I actually have a future where I'm not just going to survive, but I'm going to live, and you're going to be there." He took a steadying breath, and for a moment Kurt was lost in Blaine's eyes. "But... I need you to promise me something."

"Anything," Kurt said immediately.

"I need you to follow your dreams as well. I'm not saying it will come to it, but I never want you to stay with me out of obligation, because you think you owe me, or are the only one who can help me, or some other crap. No Kurt," Blaine cut him off before he could protest angrily. "I know we can't imagine being in a place where we're not in love, but we should know better than anyone how anything can happen. And I never want you to sacrifice your future just to give me mine."

Blaine's eyes were serious and earnest, and Kurt knew he couldn't just brush his boyfriend's words aside with useless placations. He swallowed tightly, taking Blaine's hand, "I promise. But I also promise that if it ever comes to the point where we don't want to be together, I will still be there for you, even if it's just as a friend. If you promise to let me."

"Deal," Blaine said quietly, sealing his promise with a kiss.

00000

"And Dr Hargreaves agreed!" Wes grinned, taking a sip from his takeaway cup of hospital vending machine coffee with a grimace. He was perched on the end of Blaine's bed, while Kurt sat in a chair next to them.

"I'm really happy for you Wes," Blaine said sincerely. "Dr Monroe must have been really impressed with you to agree to sponsor you."

Wes shrugged happily. He had dropped in for a visit that morning to see for himself how Blaine was doing, and to meet Kurt under better circumstances. Kurt would always be grateful for what the older boy had done for Blaine, from sending on the letters, to smuggling in Molly, to just genuinely having Blaine's best interests at heart.

And now Wes wasn't going to be punished for doing what he had believed was right. Dalton had agreed to let Wes finished off at the academy by sitting in a few classes a week, provided he spent the other days helping out Dr Monroe at the sense clinic. It would give him enough credits to get into the college he wanted to properly start his medical and sense training.

"So, when do you think you guys will be let out of here?" Wes turned serious, and Kurt was once again struck by how perceptive the other boy was.

Blaine shook his head, "No idea."

"Soon, I hope." Kurt added, "If they taken any more blood I'm not going to have any left."

"They've asked our parents to come in at two for an update," Blaine said. "But Dr Monroe has been in meetings all morning, so we've no idea what's going on. On the bright side, I've not seen the inside of a scanner today, so that's refreshing."

Wes laughed, "Well, let me know as soon as you guys get your release orders, and I'll bring Molly round. She was alright last week but has been pretty grouchy these last few days. If I didn't know better I'd say she knew what was going on..."

In the days following Molly's discovery in Blaine's room, and Kurt breaking Blaine out of Dalton, Molly had adopted Wes, who had temporarily moved back in with his parents while he waited first to hear from the Dalton academic board, and then for news about Blaine. Blaine's parents had tried to collect Molly from him, but the cat hadn't been having any of it, and with the stress of a missing Blaine and Kurt, the Andersons had had more pressing things to think about.

"Oh, she knows," Kurt said emphatically.

Blaine rolled his eyes, "You and Cooper talk about her like she's some sort of devil cat."

"Blaine, honey," Kurt said sweetly, taking Blaine's hand. "I love Molly, I do. But one day you're going to have to admit that your cat is straight up freaky."

"You know, it was prejudice like that which triggered the Salem Witch Trials," Blaine huffed, but he was grinning.

"And on that note, I'd better be going. Don't want to be late for Hargreaves." Wes hopped off the bed, shouldering his bag, "You take care of yourselves, Blaine, Kurt. I'll see you later. And ask one of your parents to give me a call when there's news?"

The genuine care in Wesley's voice made Kurt smile. It was nice to know how many people were on their side.

00000

Kurt and Blaine were reading outdated fashion magazines on Blaine's bed when the doctors finally joined them.

"Good afternoon boys," Dr Monroe breezed into their room, followed closely by another man Kurt knew they hadn't met yet. He was older, dark brown hair thinning on the top of his head, but he was smiling at least. And not in that condescending way Kurt hated either. Trailing behind the doctors were both Blaine's parents, Kurt's dad, and Cooper. "Blaine, Kurt, this is Dr Nordstrom. He's come all the way from Sweden to meet you."

Kurt's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but blurt out, "Wait what? Why?"

"Because he's pretty much the leading doctor in pioneering high ES therapy treatments," Blaine said. At Kurt's look, Blaine shrugged, "Like I said, I did a lot of reading."

"It is a pleasure to meet you both," the new doctor smiled kindly. "Dr Monroe has told me a lot about you."

"As I'm sure you've worked out by now, you've caused quite a stir in the medical world," Dr Monroe said wryly. "Now, we've already talked a little with your parents about some of the findings from this week's tests, and possible next steps."

"Dad?" Kurt turned his head searchingly, hating how his voice wavered slightly.

But his father simply smiled encouragingly, "Let the doctors explain, Kurt."

Taking a packet of documents from his colleague, Dr Nordstrom pulled up a chair and sat down closely, facing the boys on the bed. He then proceeded to spread out a selection of graphs onto the bedspread for them to look at. "This is a control sample," he pointed to six neatly labelled graphs. "These show the typical EEG results we expect to see when we do a simple visual sense test like you boys went through the other day. This pair is contact and non-contact for a typical individual with ES sub-1, these two are of your average adult, and these ones are what we would expect to see from someone of Blaine's level."

Kurt followed the doctor's finger with his eyes. The ones that matched his level were nothing more than a line of little wavy bumps, while the average graph was full of peaks and troughs, more pronounced in the contact test than the non contact. The ones that matched Blaine's expected reaction were an electric explosion of sharp, jagged peaks.

"And yet, when we look at Kurt's results..." The doctor drew out another sheet, and began tracing the line on the non contact graph, "No ES reading as usual, and then, boom! Large spike, dipping to a healthier level, but still not back to your normal output."

"That's when you showed Blaine the picture of one of his Dalton teachers, and I felt him," Kurt said.

"That's right," Dr Nordstrom said. "And now, we look at your contact test, and we see a remarkably healthy reading of someone who if tested blind would be graded at 3.2 on the scale. Except your readings are much more focused than a regular person's, because you are tuned to Blaine only."

Cooper grinned cheekily, "Radio Blaine."

Blaine glared at his brother, but the doctor chuckled, "Quite. But perhaps even more remarkable are Blaine's results." He placed the last sheet next to Kurt's results, letting Blaine look.

Blaine reached forwards, tracing the line of the top graph with his finger, the shards of emotions spiked onto the page, until one rocketed upwards in a mirror image of the one on Kurt's graph, before plummeting entirely to the same low level as the sub-1 control graph.

And the contact test was completely different from any of the controls. The level readings were much higher than those on Kurt's contact graph, but instead of the violent peaks there should have been, the waves were more gently curved.

Dr Nordstorm placed his finger next to Blaine's, not touching, smiling kindly. "Dr Monroe explained to me how you are able to sense Kurt as well as any other person, but that when you touch him, you aren't overwhelmed. I would actually go further than that. See how rounded this line is compared to the first? Kurt is somehow acting as a filter for you, giving you enough time to process your senses. As for this..." He gestured to the nearly flat line that followed the biggest spike on Blaine's graph, "I can only assume this was the silence you spoke about."

Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing. Here was proof, actual proof that he wasn't hurtful to Blaine. He might even be good for him. He took his boyfriend's hand, "I don't know when I'm doing it. Blaine told me afterwards that it'd happened again during the test, but both times before that we'd been touching." He pierced the doctor with his most determined stare, "Is there any way I can learn to control it?"

"That's why we're here, Kurt." Dr Monroe said, her face breaking into a shining smile.

Dr Nordstrom leaned back in his chair, studying both boys intently, "It goes without saying that Blaine no longer requires the help of this hospital or any sense refuge. His tests show no sign of sense control deterioration, which considering his medical record from the last few months, is remarkable."

"And for the record, both your mother and I have spoken with Dalton, along with Dr Monroe. They won't be pressing charges against Kurt for removing you," John said reassuringly, his face splitting into a wide grin.

"So we can go home?" Blaine asked hopefully.

"And more," Dr Nordstrom nodded. "The question we're looking at now is more for a long term solution. I want to see if Kurt's effect on you can be made to last longer to prevent you being completely reliant on his presence, and to help Kurt to see if he can learn how to focus it. In the end, I would like to see if Kurt's effect on you can be replicated to other cases, although that is a long way off. I plan to take tenure here for the next year to help you, if you agree."

Kurt squeezed his boyfriend's hand, relishing in Blaine's unbridled joy flooding him, a laugh bubbling in his throat as he murmured to Blaine, "I told you there was a future."

Blaine laughed as well, but the sound was broken slightly, his eyes wet. "Happy tears," he reassured Kurt.

"We've got some logistics to sort out, but Burt, John, if you just follow me we'll get the release papers signed for the boys," Dr Monroe said, her smile still permanently fixed to her face.

Dr Nordstrom rose, leaving the papers, nodding to both Blaine and Kurt with warmly, "I look forward to getting to know you both."

As their dads followed the doctors out of the room, Kurt felt a shudder of something from Blaine. "Mom? Why are you sad?"

Kurt watched as Emily Anderson paused, and saw a fleeting exchange pass silently between her and Cooper. Cooper glanced at Blaine, deciding, and then at Kurt, before nodding, "I'll give you guys a moment. I'll be right outside."

Blaine's mom seemed to freeze in the middle of the room, her actions warring with each other as she seemed to want to keep her distance, and reassure her youngest son. Finally, she compromised, sitting down in the chair Dr Nordstrom had vacated.

"I'm not sad, Blaine, not really," Emily said quietly, and Kurt had such a hard time equating this woman to the same person who had told him he was killing her son. In his head, he had built her up into a hostile force of anger and hatred, but now? She just looked tired.

And then, through Blaine's touch, Kurt felt an alien crackle of fizzing guilt and regret, much like that time in the choir room when he had sensed someone else's emotions with Blaine's help. And lit underneath the sparks was a love so deep, but woven with such desperate fear.

The night he and Blaine had been found, he had told her she didn't need to apologise, and he stuck with that. But he also knew she needed to tell Blaine. And hopefully, gain his forgiveness.

"Blaine... earlier this summer, I...persuaded...Kurt that he should break up with you, for your own good." Her words came out in a rush, and Kurt winced at the memory.

"What?" Blaine's sharp projection of betrayed anger was entirely his own. "I don't understand, Mom. How could you?"

Tears fell freely down Mrs Anderson's cheeks. "I was wrong, Blaine. So horribly wrong, and I will somehow have to live with what that put you through, put you both through. Kurt, I am so sorry for what I said to you, and Blaine, you deserved more from me."

"You're my mom..." Blaine choked, and Kurt could feel how much Blaine was trying to anchor himself to Kurt through their clasped hands. "You're supposed to trust me."

"I know," she said simply. "But even moms can be scared sometimes, Blaine, and make the wrong choices. That's not an excuse, it's just... I will always regret making that one, and I will never forgive myself for what it did to you."

Blaine was silent for a long time, staring at his lap before finally forcing himself to meet his mother's eyes, "Can you give me some time? I can't... not right now."

Emily's body seemed to judder, but whatever she was going to say was swallowed as she nodded, forcing a smile, "Of course, baby. I'll leave you boys to get your stuff together."

When she had gone, Blaine's whole body slumped. Kurt wrapped an arm around his shoulders, feeling the tension there. "I knew there was something you both weren't telling me," Blaine mumbled.

"I didn't want it to be me who told you," Kurt said softly. "You gonna be okay?"

Blaine nodded, still trying to process. The bittersweet edge of the moment hung in the air for a beat, but despite the conversation with Blaine's mom, Kurt couldn't help but feel hopeful.

They were going home.

TBC