Kurt remained emotionless as he escorted Blaine down the street, helping him limp along to the limo parked a block away and into the back of the vehicle which took off the moment Kurt closed the door behind himself.  It was in the limo that Blaine laid himself down on what was essentially a couch seat in the back, panting in soft breaths - part relief, and part exhaustion from straining himself through the walk.  His body was hurting more than he realized when he had been strapped to the pole, and coming down from the adrenaline rush made his body all the more tender to any motion or touch.

He could feel a cloth being swabbed gently over his face, though his eyes were locked shut so he couldn't see Kurt's face as he was cleaned up.  Blaine winced when the cloth dragged over the raw spot behind his ear and the cloth was pulled away the instant he let out an involuntary hiss of pain.

Not a moment later the vehicle stopped, and Blaine opened his eyes to see Kurt looking down over him, bottom lip being worried between his teeth.  He made to sit up, assuming they were back at the apartment, but Kurt gently held his shoulder down and Blaine saw the door open and two of the guards, different ones from those that had escorted them on their date earlier, enter the vehicle before it began to move again.

One of the men replaced Kurt, strapping on some latex gloves and rolling up the sleeves of his suit while Kurt explained.

“Jay has medical training.  He'll clean you up and check to make sure you're alright.”

Blaine didn't argue, much less resist, as the quiet dark-skinned man checked Blaine over, including shining a light in his eyes, his mouth, and into his ear.  What Blaine did suck in a breath for though was the sight of a needle being threaded in the mans hands.  

“You need a couple stitches behind your ear.”

The gash again went on fire, first as it was cleaned, and again when some kind of antibiotic ointment was applied before Blaine felt the prick of a needle into the flesh and he was sewn up like a rag doll.  

“They'll dissolve on their own.  You'll need to use two mirrors in order to ensure it isn't getting infected.”

After that, Blaine was subjected to an examination of his torso (bruised, but otherwise alright), and his wrists (swabbed cleaned and wrapped in bandages).  Finally he was given a shot of a painkiller that acted so swiftly that Blaine found himself smiling as the needle was pulled from his arm and dozing off to the sight of Kurt pulling a blanket up and over his body.

He had no dreams.

When Blaine awoke, his body was stiff and sore, but still relatively pain free aside from a numb feeling around his wrists and behind his ear.  He was still in the limo, which seemed to be parked, and on looking around, had been left alone with one of Kurt's guards.

“Are we back at the apartment?”

The guard shook his head, looking down to his phone and sending off a text message which beeped as it went through.  Blaine pushed himself up, groggily looking through the windows and tipping his head to the side as he wondered why, of all the places Kurt might choose to pit stop at before they went back to the apartment, NYADA was where they had parked.

“Where's Kurt?”  Blaine asked of the guard, though didn't really expect an answer - an expectation that found itself validated as the guard looked away from Blaine.  

Panic started to stir in Blaine's belly.  Perhaps they were here because Kurt was cancelling Blaine's programming - too worried about future threats against Blaine's life.  Blaine would find himself under even worse lock and key than he had been before.  Or maybe it was something as something as innocuous as picking up supplies for Blaine.

Of course though, Kurt would have just had those mailed to the apartment.

Blaine noticed it was daytime, and by the indent in the seat, it was clear he had been sleeping in the vehicle for awhile even if it felt like he had only been out for a few minutes.  Had they been driving the whole time?  Had they been parked for most of it?  Why didn't they just carry Blaine up to the apartment if he was under the effect of the drugs?  Maybe Kurt was worried about having to leave him alone while he went about his business.

A business that included being complacent in the killing of others Blaine recalled with a shiver.  Maybe they were still in the vehicle because the cops or other gangsters were checking out the apartment and it wasn't safe to be there.  

He felt antsy, just being stuck in the vehicle with the guard that may have well been mute, in a parking lot so close to where he wanted to return to and without any answers.  Blaine's stomach growled then, and the guard took a moment away from staring around the vehicle to reach into the little bar fridge by his seat to pull a sandwich out and hold it out to Blaine along with an orange juice.

It was purchased from a convenience store, Blaine noted to himself as he looked at the packaging, though that was hardly anything to stop him from peeling off the wrapping and biting into it as if he were starving.  The fact that it was from a shop and not the apartment told Blaine that they had probably been in the vehicle most of, if not all of, the night.

The door clicked near him, and Blaine watched as Kurt and the guard that had attended to him ducked in and sat themselves down.  Kurt avoided Blaine's gaze, and knocked on the glass barrier between the group and the driver, prompting the vehicle to start and drive ahead slowly.

“Why are we at NYADA?”  Blaine asked insistently, looking at Kurt even though Kurt wouldn't look back at him.

“I made a mistake.”  Kurt said quietly.

The limo turned into another lot at NYADA rather than pulling out onto the main street in front of it, and Blaine lifted both brows as they approached the student dorm building.  “What?  Did you take me out of NYADA?  Or was something wrong with my registration?”

“Neither…”  Kurt sighed, glancing out towards the building they were parking in front of.  “... the mistake was in judging my own abilities.”

“What?”  Blaine said with a shake of his head.  If Kurt was intending to be vague, he was succeeding.

Kurt nodded towards the guard sitting closest to him then, and as the vehicle stopped moving once more that guard reached to take one of Blaine's arms while the other snapped up the opposite arm.  In surprise, Blaine yelped and cast his wide eyes towards Kurt with fear and questioning.

“I thought that if I let you go… I would seem weak.”  Kurt began, still refusing to look at Blaine.  “But it was weakness that made me keep you.”

“But… what…?”  Blaine struggled weakly, and then paused as he realized the gravity of Kurt's words while the guards escorted him out of the limo and helped him walk on jello-like legs towards the NYADA dorms.  

Kurt was giving Blaine his freedom.