Kurt stayed in the hospital for 3 days. The hospital needed time to fill him up with blood since he had lost an almost deadly amount during the ten minutes he had sat bleeding in his room. Therapists needed time to ask him questions without actually listening to the answers. Doctors needed time to look at him for 5 seconds and write pages worth of notes. Some nurses made it a point to glare at Kurt for being selfish and week, while others made it a point to smile at him, hoping their small ounce of charity would help a lost soul. His father had stayed with him every night, leaving only for food or the bathroom.

Burt was so scared to bring Kurt home it was driving him mad. He couldn't fallow Kurt to the bathroom or school; he couldn't be next to Kurt every second to make sure his precious son wouldn't try yet again to take his life. Burt loved his son so much he couldn't imagine what a world without Kurt would be like. He remembered catching a glimpse of what that would feel like the night he found Kurt covered in blood. For a good minute Burt had thought his son actually was dead. That minute had been the worst time of his life, far surpassing the death of his wife Elisabeth. The thing Burt wanted more than anything in the entire world was for his son to be happy; to find Kurt hated his life so much he would rather die than live it was like daggers to Burt's heart.

Finn and Blaine were by Kurt's side as often as possible. Finn seemed to have taken the role of body guard, taking up the temporary duty of protecting Kurt from the bitchy glares of nurses and dirty cups that probably didn't carry deadly diseases, but Finn seemed determined to never let Kurt get hurt ever again. He had even eyed Blaine suspiciously every now and then as if Blaine was only sitting there to break Kurt's heart for the fun of it.

Blaine was a comfort for Kurt, and they had seemed to reach a strange understanding. Blaine knew that Kurt was incapable of concentrating on such mundane things as relationships and attraction. Blaine felt the exact same way; he could not even imagine how such things were at the height of his things to think about list only a few days ago. The only thing important now was to make sure Kurt knew he was not alone.

Conversations with Kurt for both Blaine and Finn were incredibly awkward in a painfully sad way. Kurt never said much, responding only with 2 or 3 words and usually drifting off into his own little world. They had found him crying silently, even if one of them was next to him, countess times. Blaine was always holding Kurt's hand in a hope that physical contact would let Kurt take a part of Blaine into his daydreams, taking away any loneliness that might creep up in them.

Kurt wasn't completely oblivious to the affection his loved ones were showing him. There was something nice hidden in holding hands with Blaine that Kurt cherished, in fact one of the times Blaine had seen him cry was because Blaine had let go of his hand. Kurt had found himself dreading go home. His eerie hospital room felt like a sort of limbo between two worlds. The world he had left had been a world of secrets and pain, silent sobs and locked doors. Kurt knew closed doors would no longer be an option, he wouldn't be surprised if he came home to find his room searched for anything that had the potential for danger, and in the new world everyone will know his secrets. He wasn't looking forward to entering this new word, and wanted to stay in his little room of limbo where there was no need to move or to talk.

It felt strange for Kurt to see his family. He had been so sure that those special moments he had planned would be the last time he would see them that every second with them felt like an extra moment, added time to the already used up limit. Kurt was scared to go back to school were the bullies prowled waiting for their special victim. Sometimes Kurt though the news of his attempted suicide might tame them down a bit. Death was such an extreme, such a powerful human fear, and such an incomprehensible unknown that maybe they would be a bit frightened of Kurt because he had felt deaths warm embrace.

Then there was always the option of trying again with more energy to succeed. It scared Kurt a little that the thought of trying to kill himself yet again was still welcome. Sometimes he found himself brainstorming sure fire ways to get it done efficiently, and preferably less painful. He didn't, of course, tell anyone else this. Kurt went along with everyone saying things would get better, smiled faintly when he heard people say he would get through this for the ten thousandth time.

Over the three days he spent in the hospital Kurt had become strangely dependent on holding hands with Blaine. It seemed the world became even worse when Blaine wasn't there, but when they were holding hands, that little slither of hope would make its way into Kurt's view.

On the second night of Kurt's stay Burt had grudgingly allowed Blaine to stay the night with him and Kurt in the hospital room. Blaine had his hand in Kurt's as usual, hoping this small gesture would let Kurt take Blaine with him into his dreams. As Kurt lay sleeping Blaine thought Kurt wouldn't mind if he let go of their hands for a minute or two so he could go use the bathroom. He had just let go of Kurt's hand and headed towards the door when he heard Kurt whimpering.

"Blnnn, blainee." Kurt was whimpering sleepily while using the hand usually held by Blaine to search around the covers for what Blaine guessed was his hand.

Burt looked at Blaine with wide eyes and then looked back down at his son.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked out loud. Kurt just kept whimpering and searching for his hand, his movement becoming more desperate. He looked like he might rip one of the stitches on his wrist. Blaine guessed Kurt was still asleep, but even still he couldn't stand seeing Kurt call out to him like that and not do anything about it. He quickly went over to Kurt's bed side and put his hand near Kurt's so he could find it. When Kurt's sleepy hand slapped down on Blaine's, the hand grabbed it tightly as if afraid it might scuttle away, and went back to sleeping quietly, a single tear falling down the pale cheek.

Blaine smiled to himself, hoping this was some sign Kurt was clinging on to something in the outside world. He looked up at Burt to find him looking and Blaine with a look of mixed suspicion and worry.

"Blaine," Burt whispered, trying not to wake Kurt, "I don't know what that meant, but if you plan on letting Kurt get attached to you when he's in this state, you better know what you're signing up for. The last thing Kurt needs right now is to get attached to someone and then have them walk out on him, so if there's even the faintest chance you won't be able to handle this, you need to leave now before Kurt gets his hopes too high." his voice was stern and protective, and Blaine knew Burt would not stand by and watch his son get hurt.

Blaine didn't reply at first. He looked down at Kurt and tried to think about what Burt had said. At the moment Blaine felt like leaving Kurt would be like attempting to jump off the planet, but Blaine knew that things changed over time. People changed, he changed. Would Kurt's vulnerability and pain become more of an annoyance to Blaine over time? He didn't think so, at the moment all he wanted to do in the world was help Kurt get better, but emotions and intentions changed. Blaine might get impatient or frustrated. Then he thought of Kurt, poor Kurt who never deserved any of the pain he had faced in his life, would Blaine be able to add to that load? How selfish could he be to put his own frustration above Kurt's pain? He concluded that times might get hard, and people may change, but he loved Kurt and would never do anything to hurt him, no matter what.

After a couple minutes Blaine looked back up at Burt to whisper as softly as possible, "Mr. Hummel I love your son, and I know times will get harder and things will change, but I would never, ever do anything to hurt him, especially when he's hurting so badly in the first place."

Burt processed these words. The kid loved his son. He wondered if that was really true. "Do I have your word, boy?"

"Yes, sir."

Burt seemed to be looking at Blaine skeptically, and behind those stern eyes Blaine could see pain beyond anything he had ever seen or experienced. After a few seconds Burt gave a curt nod, and looked back at his son, who was silently sleeping, looking like a wounded angel.

A few members of the glee club stopped by to see him, though they were quite unaware of why Kurt was in the hospital, Kurt keeping his arms under the covers at all times. Thought Mercedes, Santana, Brittany, puck, and Rachel had all asked relentlessly why he was there, he had only told them no one had beaten him up and to keep their noses out of it. Even though they didn't know the exact reason for his hospitalization, they couldn't mistake the sorrow in Kurt's eyes and the effort it took him to socialize. Finn had looked like he was going to punch puck when he cracked a particularly nasty gay joke, glaring at Santana when she burst out laughing, looking like he might even be thinking about punching her too. Finn had yelled for a good 5 minutes at them about how they were ignorant and shouldn't even think about making fun of Kurt when he was in this state. When it looked like Finn was about to let out Kurt's secret in a haze of fury, Kurt had to yell out his name to shut him up. After that Finn had told everyone to get out, and even eyed Blaine evilly when he had stayed. Kurt knew that the news of his attempted suicide would reach the glee clubs ears eventually, and he was not looking forward to seeing their faces when he was forced to go back to school.

By the time the doctors decided Kurt was ready to go home, Finn and Burt had packed up all the small things around the room, like Kurt's Broadway collection carol had brought that lay untouched and a couple flowers from random members of glee club who came to visit him, Kurt was feeling like everything was about to turn worse than it was before he had even held a razor to his wrists. As he walked out of the hospital with Burt's hand on one shoulder and Blaine's hand intertwined with his on the other side, the only thing that kept kurt walking was the small slither of hope that had blossomed as Blaine held his hand.