They challenged everything he said, always pushing him for more details; 'So what exactly is your relationship with Mr. Anderson?', 'Precisely how long was it between receiving the phone call and leaving your house?', 'And why did you decide not to call the police or take him to a hospital straight away?'.

He knew they were just doing their job, but he couldn't help but feel a little like he was a on trial himself here. He felt a wave of guilt at that thought, because if he was finding this difficult then how much worse was it going to be for Blaine? He hoped to God they would be a little less heavy-handed and accusatory when they spoke to him.

They finished with their questions and were half-way out the door before Burt was on his feet, calling them back.

'Do you…I mean does he, Blaine, does he have to do this now? Today? It's just, he's so…' He trailed off, gesturing vaguely with his hands, not sure how to finish the thought. One of the officers stepped forward and her face softened in a way that gave Burt some hope.

'We realise that this is going to be difficult, and we won't make him do anything he's not comfortable with, but you have to understand that in these cases, if we want to stand any chance of catching whoever did this, we need his statement as soon as possible.'

He nodded his understanding and they left the room.

He was only alone for a few seconds, however, before Carole appeared, holding Blaine's phone out towards him.

'Are they on their way?' His voice came out low and gravelly. 'When did I start to sound to old?' he thought to himself. She shook her head softly and his confusion must have been evident on his face, because she immediately began to explain.

'The home phone went straight to voicemail and both their mobiles were diverted to his secretary. They're out of the country on a business trip and she wouldn't give me a personal number, even when I told her it was about Blaine, that he was hurt.'

Burt didn't miss the anger that flashed through her eyes at this.

'She said Blaine has their insurance details and said she'll pass on the message and they'll call back when they can. Who goes out of the country and doesn't leave their child a way to contact them? What the hell is wrong with these people?'

They both stood in silence, neither able to contemplate leaving Kurt or Finn alone like that, not rushing to their side the second they were hurt.

They were interrupted from their thoughts as the young doctor from before entered the room. She told them that he had two broken ribs, a sprained wrist and had needed a tetanus jab for the bite mark.

'Other than that it's just some cuts and bruises. Nothing that won't heal.' They shared a look, that said they all knew that some things would take a lot longer to heal than bruises and broken bones.

'We can't let him go home, not on his own.' Carole spoke under her breath. Her eyes met Burt's across the room and they didn't need to finish that train of thought. Blaine was staying with them, there was no question about it.

'Excuse me?'

'No, I won't give you a statement. I'm not pressing charges, so there's no need.' Blaine tried to make his voice sound strong and confident, but it came out cracked and rasping and he hated himself for it.

'Son, we realise…'

'You don't realise anything,' he snapped back at them. 'I'm not pressing charges so just get out already.' Blaine shocked himself as his voice rose to a shout. He had never been one to lose his temper, but he just felt so out of control; of the situation, of himself, of everything. It terrified him more than he wanted to admit.

He let his head fall back against the pillow and pressed the heels of his hands tightly against his eyes, hard enough that he could feel the pressure building in his head and lights danced behind his eyelids.

He was just so sick of feeling like this, so utterly lost, and it had been one morning. Just one short morning. 'Is this how I'm going to feel for the rest of my life?' The thought hit him like a heavy weight and he couldn't hold back the choked sob that tore itself from him.

He heard a soft knock at the door.

'I'm not changing my mind, so you there's really no point trying to make me.' He looked up and felt a stab of guilt at how tired and dejected Burt looked as he walked over to him.

'That's alright, Blaine. No-one's going to make you doing anything you don't want to.' Blaine gave a short, humourless laugh and tried not to think about the things he had been made to do, and how little it had mattered if he had wanted to or not.

'But can I ask you something?' Burt sat down beside his bed, and waited for his nod of approval. 'What if it was Kurt?'

Blaine hadn't expected that, and he drew back slightly, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

'If someone did this to Kurt, hurt Kurt, would you want them to get away with it or…?'

'I'd kill them.' He spoke aloud before he had even thought it through in his mind. He didn't need to. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that if somebody had touched Kurt, laid a finger on Kurt against his will, he would find them and kill them.

He understood the point Burt was trying to make, but that was different, that was Kurt. Kurt was innocent and beautiful. He, on the hand, was just a pathetic little slut, who had brought this all on himself.

Burt watched as the emotions played out across Blaine's face. He knew he wasn't a particularly insightful kind of guy, it but it really wasn't hard to see exactly what Blaine was feeling, it was all right there on the surface. And so he saw the moment the disgust and self-hatred entered his eyes, and knew that he had to do something before the walls came up completely.

'Blaine, what happened to you, what they did to you was wrong.' Blaine started to turn his head away as his arms curled around himself protectively, and Burt knew that he was trying to shut him out.

He reached out a hand, hoping desperately that he wasn't crossing a boundary too far, and brought it to rest on Blaine's cheek, keeping his face turned towards his.

'You didn't deserve this, Blaine. Any more than Kurt would have if it had happened to him.' He kept his eyes fixed on Blaine's, trying to force the truth of his words into him. 'It wasn't your fault.'

They stayed like that for some time, neither breaking the gaze, even when Blaine's body began to shake and the tears ran down his face.

'I'm scared.' The words came out as a whisper, shaky and thick with tears.

'I know, kid.'