There was nothing but darkness, for what seemed like forever he felt like he was floating. Silence filled everything and it was strangely peaceful. Time came and went without being noticed. How long he was in the darkness for he didn't know, but it didn't matter. Everything was so quiet, peaceful. No pain. No fear. No uncertainty. No mocking. There was only comfortable, loving silence that wrapped around him like a warm blanket. Eventually a murmur of voices broke through the darkness. He couldn't tell what they were saying, or whose voices they were, but they sparked curiosity in him. Who was there? Where was he? At some point he became aware of a hand holding onto his. Was it his dad? No, somehow he didn't think it was. Then who was it?

"Come on Kurt, please wake up" he heard a voice whisper. Or maybe they weren't whispering, but it sounded quiet and far away to him. His mind searched frantically, trying to figure out whom the voice belonged to. "Kurt... wake up" This time the voice was a little more demanding. Why couldn't he move? He wanted to squeeze the hand holding his back, but his muscles wouldn't listen. The voice suddenly registered and he remembered that it belonged to Mercedes. Finally he barely managed to twitch his fingers. Mercedes' hand instantly tightened on his. "Rachel! He's awake!" He heard her say and managed to twitch his fingers again, it took all the strength he could muster. A shuffling noise was heard and then he could hear Rachel yelling at someone. A small smile twitched at the corner of his lips. It was comforting to hear Rachel yell the way she usually did.

Then as he managed to twitch his eyes open, pain suddenly hit him full force. His entire upper body ached. It almost felt like he was on fire, and it was an odd contrast to the complete lack of feeling in his lower body. This scared him and he let out a soft groan. Mercedes was at his side immediately. "It's alright Kurt, just don't move, the doctor will be here any moment now. It's alright, we're here." A hand stroked across his forehead and moved some hair out of his eyes. A swift thought that his hair must be absolutely atrocious hit him, but it vanished as he tried to move a little and the pain intensified. It was hard to breathe and he suddenly realized there was a tube hooked up to his nose. Wearily he tried breathing in through his nose and found that it felt amazing. Clearly something was coming out of this tube because whatever it was felt heavenly.

"I…" he began, but his face voice broke and his throat felt dry. It was difficult to think and his head swam. "Don't try to talk Kurt, it's all right, just rest" This time the voice belonged to Rachel. Frowning he decided to try again. "W- where's dad?" he finally managed to croak. The silence the question was met with was deafening. Mercedes squeezed his hand, and the silence dragged out for what seemed like hours, but in reality was more like half a minute.

Soon there was a shuffle by what he assumed was the door and two female hands grabbed his hand. "Oh Kurt! I'm so glad you're awake!" Carole's voice sounded through the air. "C-carole?" he managed to stutter in a very pained and broken voice. It was frustrating that his voice wouldn't work right. His voice was his tool, he loved singing, and the fact that his voice wasn't co-operating with him was more than a little scary. "Yes Kurt, I'm here honey." Carole said gently as she stroked his cheek. His eyes threatened to close again, everything hurt so much, part of him wanted to scream because of it. "Hurts…" he muttered quietly and Carole nodded. "The doctor will be here and give you something in a moment" She reassured him, but her voice sounded so tired and shaky that Kurt got scared.

"What happened?" The fear seemed to jolt him further into reality as his eyes landed on his step mom. "Where's dad… I want…" he trailed off as a few tears slipped out of the corner of his eyes. The fact that his dad wasn't there scared him, because all logic said that his dad would never have left his side if he was in the hospital and clearly badly hurt. Carole's hand tightened on his and she took in a shuddering breath. "Burt is in the next room Kurt. He can't come see you right now" she said quietly. Kurt groaned loudly and the tears started streaming faster as he forced himself to sit up in the bed. Carole's hands tried to push him down, and it almost worked, but he was too upset and agitated to let her win and she didn't put up too much of a battle. "Where is my dad!?" he demanded loudly, his voice had finally found some strength, but it was still hoarse and talking hurt.

At that moment the doctor stepped through the door and walked over to him. "How are you feeling Kurt?" The man asked as he leaned over to look at a chart, taking some notes. Then he came over and looked at Kurt's eyes and checked his vitals. Kurt just shook his head a little. "Where is my dad?" he demanded again, it didn't matter how he was feeling, he wanted to know what was going on. The doctor sighed a little. "Kurt, do you remember anything of what happened?" The man asked? Kurt frowned and closed his eyes, why couldn't they just answer his questions? He was just so tired and his whole upper body felt like it was on fire.

There was a moment of complete silence in the room as Kurt thought about the question. A look of concentration had crossed over his face as his mind churned, trying to remember anything at all before the darkness he'd been cocooned in. "We were in Columbus…" he muttered quietly, his eyes still closed. "Shopping I think… and movies… yes… the movie theatre." His voice was barely a whisper and he wrapped his arms around his torso, which was when he noticed the massive bandage stuck there. "It was raining a lot." The expression on his face became strained as he tried to push past what felt like some sort of blockage, like he was walking into a wall. "I'm not sure… we were in the car…" His voice hitched as tears started rolling down his cheek in earnest, a small sob leaving him.

"This is stupid… I don't even remember and I'm crying." Clearly he didn't find his own behavior acceptable. His hands were shaking violently and it didn't help the pain. "Something happened… something happened to dad!" It was said in barely a whisper, his voice shaking so much it was hard to tell what he was saying. The doctor just nodded a little and smiled gently at him to tell him that he was still listening. "The car… drove off... off a bridge!" he finally remembered and started sobbing in earnest. "Is he- " There was a pause as Kurt just sobbed, his voice failing him. "Is he going to be alright?" he finally managed, but again it was hard to really make out what he was saying.

This time the doctor frowned a little and looked at him seriously. "Your father is in a coma Kurt. He had a heart attack, which was what caused you to drive off the road. It's critical, but he's stable." The voice sounded like it was coming from some place under water, and he felt like he was going to be sick. "When- when will he wake up?" It was the only thing he could think about, he could feel Carole's hand holding onto his tightly, but the only thing he could focus on was the doctor and the answer he might give. "We don't know. It could be any time. Kurt, his condition is very serious, but we're doing what we can to help him." The words weren't reassuring in the least. Why couldn't the guy just tell him that his father was going to wake up and be fine!? Because he might not. A small, unbidden thought made itself clear in his mind.

"Hurts…" he finally said, because the pain was becoming unbearable. The doctor nodded and fished a small vial from his pocket, with a plastic covered needle. Instead of inserting the needle into his skin, it was inserted into the IV. After a little while of desperate sobbing, the drugs finally started working, and he drifted back into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. The kind of sleep only drugs can provide.

OoOoOoOoOo

Waking up the second time was slightly easier. It took him a while to remember what was going on, and for a few blissful moments he felt comfortable. Then it all came crashing back and it was all he could do not to burst out into uncontrollable sobs again. Fresh tears cascaded down his cheeks. A hand wiped them away and his eyes drifted in the direction of the owner of the hand. Mercedes was still sitting there next to him, and she smiled gently as she wiped away some more tears. "Hey" he whispered quietly. "Hey Kurt" came her gentle response as she reached for a cold washcloth and gently wiped his face with it. Normally he would have reacted to being so helpless, but the gesture felt good. It was comforting to know his best friend was there with him. "How are you feeling? Do you need me to get the nurse so they can give you more pain medication?"

Kurt just shook his head weakly. Not that he didn't hurt all over, but he didn't want to go into drugged sleep again. Instead he wanted to find out what was going on. The crash was vivid in his mind now, every second of it replaying over and over again. It made him want to be sick, but he managed to keep himself from doing so. "Mercedes?" he whispered after a while and she just smiled gently at him. Worry was clear in her eyes as he looked at her, but he couldn't blame her, if the roles had been reversed he would have been worried too. "Yes?" She asked when he didn't continue. "I…" he frowned and tried desperately to move his legs. "I can't feel my legs" Again his voice hitched and the amount of tears intensified greatly.

Mercedes' eyes were sad as she looked back at him. "The doctors said that might happen" The reply wasn't comforting in the least. "They also said it might be temporary." Might be? His stomach churned and he hastily leaned to the unoccupied side of the bed, he would have fallen to the floor if it hadn't been for the fact that Mercedes had grabbed onto his shoulders. He heaved, but nothing came out, clearly he hadn't eaten anything for a good long while. It hurt like hell, dry heaving like he was, but he couldn't stop it. The sounds of his heaving and desperate sobs filled the room. A nurse came in after a while and tried to support him. She also put something into his IV again. Eventually he leaned back against the pillows, feeling utterly and totally exhausted. His eyes drifted closed and once more he was taken by a deep, dreamless sleep.

OoOoOoOoOo

The next time he woke up, he was seemingly alone. No one was holding his hand, and the room was dark. Slowly he tilted his head to one side, and then the other, trying to see if someone was still there. A figure was sitting in a chair near the window. By the shape of that figure it was one of the guys, and at a closer look he could tell that it was Finn. The guy was sitting with his head down on his chest and he was snoring lightly. The sound of Finn's snoring grated on his mind, and he wanted to scream at his stepbrother to wake up, stop snoring or leave. He did neither of those things because he didn't really think it would help.

Again he tried desperately to move his legs, and once more there was no reaction or feeling there at all. Fear gripped at his heart, what if he could never feel anything down there at all? He wouldn't be able to walk or even dance. The tears started up again, even though he felt like he couldn't possibly have any tears left. Then just as the tears seemed to be about to stop, his mind wandered to his dad, who was in the next room. No one had told him that anything had changed, so he had to assume nothing had. There was nothing he wanted more at that moment than to be with his dad, holding his hand. It wasn't like they were going to let him do that though. They'd almost gotten angry with him when he'd sat up earlier, something about tearing his stitches, but he couldn't help the incredible frustration that seemed to fill him completely.

Finn didn't wake up despite the sobs that filled the room. It wasn't the first time the guy hadn't noticed how broken Kurt felt. There had been times he'd cried himself to sleep since they'd been sharing a room, but Finn seemed to be able to sleep through almost anything. For the longest time he just stared at the edge of his blanket, his mind going over every worst-case scenario he could possibly think of. The thought of losing his dad was devastating. He'd have nothing left. His mom was already gone, had been since he was eight, the idea of losing his dad too was more than his heart could handle. Again his hands started shaking and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

No. His dad wasn't going to die; it just wasn't an option he was even willing to consider. They were both going to make it through this, and they were both going to be perfectly fine. Kurt was going to get the feeling back in his legs again and he was going to get up and walk out of here soon. Anything else wasn't acceptable in the least. His stubbornness kicked in and he clenched his jaw in determination. The rest of the night was spent wide awake, trying stubbornly to move his toes, much the same way he'd tried to move his fingers when he'd woken up the first time around.

Some time early morning he seemed to drift into sleep again, but since this wasn't a drug induced sleep, it also wasn't a peaceful sleep. He was plagued by images of the crash. His father slumping forward into the steering wheel, screaming out loud to try to get his father to wake up, then the car crashing into the water and a massive amount of pain. With a start, he sat upright in the bed screaming. He screamed and screamed. Finn was at his side, but he didn't notice. Nothing seemed to register, the only thing he could see was his father slumped against the steering wheel, blood trickling down his face. The screams eventually faded, probably due to the fact that someone had come in and given him another dose of some kind of medication.

This time he didn't drift off to sleep, his body became heavy and the screaming stopped, but it didn't do anything to help the images flashing through his mind and the pain in his heart that made him feel like dying. What would he have to live for if his dad didn't make it through this? There was Carole and Finn, but it wouldn't be the same. Carole, Finn… Glee, bullying, fear and loneliness. There truly would be nothing left, why would he even bother at this point? It was so temping to just give up. It took some convincing to remember that his dad wasn't dead, that he was in the next room and still breathing. There was no reason to think like this just yet. Again he tried to convince himself that they would both be fine. Eventually he finally drifted off to sleep once more, and this time the dreams didn't disturb him for the rest of the night.

-TBC-