This happiness was dulled by the fact that Mr. Schue wouldn't stop trying to convince the group that a month-long study of Journey is exactly what they needed to gain an edge on the competition. Rachel was able to squash that idea fairly quickly, thank Gaga! At the end of glee club, Finn and Kurt were exhausted. Mr. Schue had decided that they were doing one of their infamous dance rehearsals. Finn was useless after them so Kurt drove the pair of them home. Usually he was good to drive, even after all the dancing, but he had had only three hours of sleep and it was getting more and more difficult to stay awake. He managed to do so all the way until one right turn…

Kurt woke up in a hospital bed, Burt asleep by his side. He heard the television and turned his head to see Finn watching Family Guy. Carole must have made sure they roomed together, as she worked at the hospital as a nurse. At the commercial break, Finn did his usual check-and-see-if-Kurt-was-awake-yet-glance. He was surprised to see that Kurt was awake and smiling at him. Finn was about to say something when Kurt put a finger to his lips, then pointing to Burt. Finn smiled and nodded, happy that Kurt was okay.

They watched a few hours of TV before the nurse came to check in on them around seven in the morning.

"Oh good! You're awake!" She whispered, smiling. Burt woke up at this, startled.

"Wha-? Kurt? You're awake! Why didn't you wake me up? I was so worried!" Burt quickly pulled Kurt into a gentle bear hug. Kurt tried to say "Dad! I'm fine!" but he found that when he tried to speak, his throat hurt, and he couldn't do it anyway. He noticed that his neck was wrapped with a bandage. He moved to feel it, noticing that his hand was in a splint.

"I'm going to get the doctor, do any of you need anything?"

Kurt shook his head, he was burning with questions, but he knew that the only one who would give him answers would probably be the doctor. He looked at his father, and gave him a tight hug.

The doctor came in about fifteen minutes later, Carol following behind. She sat down on Finn's bed and held his uninjured hand. Finn had already talked to the doctor. He got off easily, with only a single broken finger and a few scratches.

"Hey there boys. I'm Dr. Bennett. How are you both feeling?"

Kurt didn't want to try speaking, so he shrugged."

"I'm alright, my finger hurts though…" Finn commented

"Well, we will get you some pain medication for that okay Finn? " The doctor smiled, checking his chart. "Everything seems to be fine here, now lets check your brother. Kurt, I have a few questions to ask you, if you wouldn't mind answering them? I know that you hurt your throat so I got this dry-erase board for you to 'talk' on. Ok?"

Kurt nodded, taking the board. He looked at Dr. Bennett, waiting for the question. Dr. Bennett pulled a chair up beside Kurt.

"What is the last thing you remember before waking up? Can you remember what you were doing?"

Kurt thought about the questions for a minute before moving to write the answer. All I remember is starting to turn right and then I woke up here. Wasn't I driving home from glee practice?

"Yes, this is good. You don't have any amnesia, which can often happen in these situations."

Anything else?

"No, that's all I need to know for now. However, do you have any questions?"

Yes. Why does it hurt when I try to talk?

"When you hit the light pole after turning, the loose items in the car, well, one of your cell phones flew across the car and hit your larynx. Or in other words, your adams apple is damaged. The extent of the damage is not yet known; the x-rays are not yet developed. Once we get the x-rays develop, it will be easy to tell how damaged your voice is and if it is permanent."

Damage?... Permanent?

"There is a multitude of outcomes that are possible. I have to let you know about the worst possible outcome; but the good news is that there is a very low probability of it happening. The worst case would be that you would lose your voice permanently."

As in… No talking… No SINGING?

"Unfortunately no, but we don't know how bad the damage is yet, so it may just be that you would need to rest your voice for a few days and then be good as new. The x-rays will be ready in an hour or so. I'll come back when they are ready okay?"

Kurt nodded, and Dr. Bennett left to attend his other patients.

"I have to go back to work now, I love you both." Carol kissed them both on the forehead and left to work.

Three episodes of South Park later, Dr. Bennett came in, x-ray in hand.

"Hey Kurt. The x-rays are in. You ready?"

Kurt nodded, and watched him in anticipation while he set them up so that they were easily visible.

"So have you looked at them yet?" Burt asked, nervous.

"No, but it's fairly simple to diagnose these types of injuries." Dr. Bennett said, looking at the x-rays.

"So… how is his voice?" Finn spoke up after a few minutes of silence. Dr. Bennett turned to Kurt with a sad expression on his face.

"I'm sorry. It looks like, unfortunately, the damage to your voice is very permanent. The extent seems such that you have lost your voice. There is nothing that can be done." He took down the x-rays and left the room.

Kurt cried. He cried until he couldn't cry anymore, held by his father, and fell asleep. The luxury of sleep was one that could only last so long. Kurt was, for the moment, able to escape the burden of acknowledging the fact that he would never sing again. Never be able to make little snide comments, or speak in French, or anything. He was escaping the harsh reality that he could never fulfill his dream of being a star on Broadway.

Kurt and Finn were released from the hospital the next morning. The car had been practically totaled, so Burt was repairing the car little by little, which would take a long time. Finn had gone back to school right away, while Kurt had opted to stay home. He occupied himself with reading VOUGE and doing catch-up homework all day. He was allowed to take off the bandage, which he was grateful for.

When Finn got home, Kurt discovered that he had brought the entire glee club along with him. This made him feel bad; as they all had voices and could sing and talk and do things that he could never do again. Rachel… ugh, she was probably going to live out both her and his dream out on Broadway. He still wasn't over the whole not being able to use his voice again ever, so it felt like they were parading the fact that they could all still do the thing he most desperately wanted now.

However, when they all went into his room in the basement, none of them made a sound. They just sat around Kurt, just to be there. They each had pads of paper and pens and they wrote out what they had to say to Kurt. They were being mute that day, or at least during the time that they were around him, to show him that they cared. They wanted Kurt to know that even though he couldn't sing, he was still their friend. This bond with his glee family made him cry, and that made every single one of the girls cry with him. They just all sat in a huddled hug with the guys looking around awkwardly and the girls crying along with Kurt for a solid fifteen minutes.

They all wrote their goodbyes to Kurt-they had homework to do too- and left. Kurt felt in a way better; his support group didn't falter even though his most valuable asset was taken away from him. Finn came back down, saying it was time for dinner.

At the dinner table the conversation was mostly normal, but they all knew it had to venture into new territory sooner or later.

"Finn, how was school?" Carol asked, getting herself chicken, rice, and green beans.

"It was good. Everyone asked what happened, but I just said I wouldn't talk about it."

"Good for you, Finn. Stick to it. You know what's right." Burt praised, proud that Finn was taking care of himself and Kurt.

"I hear there's a new kid at school. I don't know their name, but he just transferred. Why would anyone transfer to McKinley?"

"Maybe his parents moved out here for a job." Carol suggested.

"Yeah that's possible, but still…" Finn shook his head.

"So, Kurt, when do you think you'll be up for school again? You can't miss too much, or you will fall behind." Carol stated.

I don't know. I'm afraid. I mean, things will have to change. I won't be in Glee Club anymore-I can't contribute. Not to mention that presentations will be pretty difficult without using my voice. And am I just gonna speak with this board forever? I think right now I'm more worried about what other changes this are going to cause than what changes it has already.

"Maybe you should take a few more days off. We can go talk to the principle and get things figured out before you go back?"

Alright. That sounds good. Carol's right though. I do need to go back. As much as I don't want to I need to.

Carol was proud that Kurt could distinguish his wants from his needs at a time like this. The road ahead would be hard, she knew, but it would be worth it to see Kurt happy again.

"Isn't there a language that people use with their hands? They don't make sounds at all but they communicate just as well as if they used voices." Finn wondered, trying to remember the name.

Sign Language? Yeah. I probably will have to learn that since I can't speak…

"That is true. But there aren't really any close by teachers in Lima…" Burt added.

"We will figure that out later, but tomorrow we need to talk to Principle Figgins." Carol stated.

With that the four of them finished their supper in relative silence.

The next day they all went to the school, Finn going to class while the rest of them visited with Principle Figgins, trying to figure out all the new issues in Kurt's schedule. When Burt mentioned sign language, Figgins actually got very excited.

"We got a new student yesterday, who is very good at many languages, and I'm pretty sure that one of them was sign language. I think I could get him to teach Kurt at least the basics of sign language and you would both get a language credit. That is if you are interested."

Kurt didn't really see any other choice so he just nodded.

"Good, I will call for him and you two can meet." Figgins had his assistant call the new student up to the office. A few minutes later a boy came to the office. His hair was dark, and was long curls. He was wearing jeans, a green t-shirt, and some worn out converse that was patched with duct tape. The boy looked curiously at Figgins, wondering what was happening.

"Kurt, this is Blaine Anderson. Blaine, this is Kurt Hummel. We have a proposition for you. Kurt here needs to learn sign language, and since you know how to sign, we were wondering if you would like to teach him for a language credit?"

Blaine looked at Kurt, in his black skinny jeans and blue top, and wondered why he would need to know sign language. "Ok. Sounds like fun." He smiled at Kurt, who just awkwardly waved.

"So you both have a free period on fourth, why don't you use that time for these lessons?" Figgins suggested.

"Sounds fine with me. What about you Kurt?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded, not really looking at Blaine.

"Its almost fourth now, why don't you two get acquainted with each other?" Figgins wanted them to get along, especially if Kurt was going to have to learn his whole language from Blaine. He ushered them out of his office while he and Carol finished paperwork making Kurt officially mute in the eyes of the school.

"So I'm new here. Just transferred yesterday."

I know, my brother told me. Kurt shared smirking.

"Can I ask what happened? … I'm sorry that was rude. You don't have to tell me."

I got into an accident and something happened that made me mute. Its ok, I have a feeling I'll be asked that a lot soon.

"Well, I'm sorry that happened."

Nothing we can do about it now. Can I ask why you know how to sign?

"Oh, my little brother is deaf, so I had to learn how to sign so I could talk to him. No big deal." Blaine said shrugging.

Wow, so you can sign well then.

"I'd like to think so, yeah. And you will probably be even better than me soon." Blaine smiled.

I doubt it… I probably will suck.

"Nah, its just like learning a spoken language, just not spoken."

You seem so sure.

"I am, and trust me, soon you'll be signing so much that someone might have to tie your hands to get you to shut up. Can I just point out something?"

Go for it.

"How is it going to do you any good to learn how to sign if your family and friends don't know? I mean, won't it be really frustrating?"

I never thought about that… I guess I will have to teach them a little at a time.

"You know, if you were up for it, I could probably give your whole family a lesson once a week on Saturday or something. It will help if you can sign as much as possible."

True… Okay new subject!

What classes do you have?

"Here's my schedule." Blaine said, pulling it out of his pocket and showing it to him.

Wow, that is crazy… we have the same exact schedule.

"Really? That's crazy! I guess great minds school alike." He laughed at his joke.

"Kurt? Hey everything is set. Ready to go home?" Carol asked, coming up to them.

Carol, Blaine says he is willing to give us all lessons in sign language once a week or something… It would be useless if I was the only one knowing how to sign.

"Oh, that's true. That is very nice of you Blaine!"

"Don't mention it."

"We might have to take you up on that offer, but I have to get to work, so we need to go. Nice meeting you."

"Yeah, nice meeting you too."

With that, Carol dropped Kurt off at home and went to work, while Blaine was stuck finishing school with Kurt stuck inside his head all day.