"By means of water, we give life to everything." - Koran, 21:30

It was Christmas morning and Kurt and his daughter were already sitting on the couch waiting for everyone else to come downstairs so they could open presents.  A beautiful tree sat in front of the window, decorated with lights, tinsel, and ornaments all in blue and silver.  The little girl was squirming in excited anticipation and Kurt had to hold onto her tightly to keep her in place.  He couldn't hold her forever though, and as soon as Grandpa Burt made an appearance in the doorway she freed herself from Kurt's arms with a giddy squeal and toddled to Burt who, not missing a beat, leaned down to scoop her up into his arms and spin her around with a happy laugh.  This was already the best Christmas ever and they hadn't even opened their gifts or had dinner yet.

At least, that's how Christmas was in Kurt's dream the night before.  A dream he couldn't seem to shake off or forget throughout the day.  The image of his dad and a child of his own all in the same room made his heart flutter all day long, and he wasn't sure why.  It didn't feel good, but it didn't feel bad either.  It was just… there.  A persevering image and feeling that that was the way things should look and be.

But instead Kurt was resigned to spending the day following a flock of grouse, picking off the ones he identified as older males after watching them for awhile.  He wanted to ensure this particular group was able to reproduce despite his current hunt so he could track them again one day.  

Then in the evening he patrolled the perimeter of the town as a guard, bow always at the ready despite the fact that he had never had to free his arrows before when he was guarding.  He told himself that letting himself get comfortable and worry free was the way to invite trouble, so he was always on the ready.

By the time he returned home, it was well into the middle of the night and he would only get a few hours of sleep before morning.  No one expected him to be awake with the dawn, however, he needed to make the most of the autumn hunting before the winter set in and limited his ability to leave his hut.

Kurt expected to be able to curl up and just nod off when he did crawl into his bed, lulled to sleep by the crackle of his fire and the muted snores of his new neighbour, but instead the crackling of the fire was accompanied by humming.  He listened for awhile, and could piece together that Blaine was humming a song next door.  He didn't know the tune,  but it was evident that Blaine was awake enough to be doing it consciously.   The new lullaby put Kurt to sleep easily and, in what had to be a first, he returned to his dream of the night before, watching his daughter and dad open their presents with unmitigated glee.

“Kurt.”

It was his dad speaking to him, but not in his voice.  Kurt looked over at the man in confusion, wondering why his voice had changed.

“Kurt.”

Maybe he had forgotten what his dad's voice really sounded like.  It had been eight years after all…

“Kurt.”

No.  It was because it was a dream.

Kurt's eyes slitted apart and focuses slowly on the source of the voice - Blaine.  He bolted up into a sitting position and glared over at the intruder who stood so calmly in his little home, waking him up.

“What are you doing in here?”

Blaine's shoulders twisted as he shifted in place, “You were… ah… making noises in your sleep…”

Really, Kurt thought to himself, Blaine was complaining that he was making noise in his sleep and for the past week Kurt had accepted the breathy snores being broadcast next door?

“... crying.”

Kurt flinched at that.  He drew a hand up to his face and felt the wetness around his eyes.  He certainly didn't remember crying, and the dream he had been experiencing… had he been crying in it?  It was already fading from clarity in his mind.

“Are you alright?”

Kurt let his hand drop back to his side and looked back up towards the man hovering beside the door.  Blaine was looking much better rested these days, but despite that, he currently looked like he hadn't sleep with bloodshot eyes and fresh dark circles hugging the underside of his eyes.

“I could ask you the same.”

Blaine shrugged a little.  “Just… it's just been hitting home that I'm really away from everything.”

Kurt snorted.  Of all the things to worry about.  “Is that why you were humming lullabies to yourself?”

“Humming….?”  Blaine looked confused for just a moment and then made an o with his lips, “Right.  Yes.  Just was trying to soothe myself to sleep.”

“Well do me a favour and go back to worrying about your sleep and leave me to mine.” Kurt grunted and laid back down, pulling the pelt right up around his neck.

He didn't look to see Blaine go, but heard the quiet “Good night” and the creak of the door as it was opened and closed when Blaine left.  Moments later the humming picked up and Kurt listened to the lyricless song until he fell asleep again.

Back to Christmas.  Back to helping his little girl open her many presents he had spoiled her with until a warm hand settled on his back and a loving voice, his husband's, commented on how lucky they all were.  Kurt nodded easily and turned to look up into the eyes of his love.

Sweet, honey eyes.

That was all it took to wake Kurt for a second time, though mercifully, this time the sun was streaming in through cracks of the hut to let him know he was allowed to be awake and not have to suffer through more weird dreams.

As always, he washed and shaved himself with the last of his previous day's water rations and then went into town to get his fresh ration and breakfast, which he took with him as he went to check on the generators dutifully before patrolling the town until midday.

It was on one of his last rounds around the town that Blaine caught up with him.

“How are you doing?”

Without glancing towards the other man, lest Kurt catch sight of the same eyes that had woken him up in his dreams, he responded, though kept his pace up and his bow still readied.

“I'm fine.  I was fine last night too.  There was no need for you to barge in.”

“Sorry… I just… you sounded like you were being hurt.  I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”

“It was.”

“Okay… hey?”

“What?”

“Why don't you ever sit down for breakfast or lunch or supper?  I always look for you in the kitchen when everyone else is sitting down to eat but you never come.  I assume you must eat since it doesn't seem like you're starving -”

“That a fat joke Blaine?”

“What?!  Oh.  No.  I mean…”

Kurt smirked to himself.  He had managed to catch Blaine off guard with that playful quip, and something about his worried response amused Kurt to no end.

“It was a joke Blaine.  Don't piss yourself over it.”

That seemed to relieve Blaine as he let out a breath and pulled himself back together as Kurt explained.

“I don't like to eat with everyone else.  I grab my food to go.”

“Why not?  I mean… why don't you want to be with everyone else?”

That stilled Kurt.  He stopped in place and Blaine stopped with him.  As he spoke, his heart felt like old wounds were cracking open.

“It's not so much that I don't want to be with everyone else… it's that everyone else doesn't want to be with me.”

As he said it, Kurt's eyes caught with those amber eyes that haunted him in his sleep the night before, watching them flit slightly as Blaine tried to process his words with his brow furrowing and lips pursing as he tried to comprehend Kurt.  

“I don't understand.”

Managing to pry himself loose of the hold of honey eyes, Kurt sighed and turned away, continuing his patrol with Blaine hot on his heels.  “I don't expect you to.”

“You could eat with me.”

“That's alright.  Eat with your friends.”

“But… you're one of my friends.”

The statement irked Kurt, though he tried to maintain his pace and let it seem like it hadn't affected him at all as he kept his patrol up.  Blaine was clearly an idiot or had a really odd sense of what a friend was.  

“I'm not a friend Blaine.  I live in the same community as you and you've imposed being your neighbour on me.”

Silence for a moment, and Kurt dared not look back because he didn't want to see if the rejection had hurt Blaine, or worse, that it didn't affect him at all.

“You could still eat with me.  It's got to be better than being alone all the time.”

His grip around his bow tightened.  Why, why, WHY, was everyone so concerned with his want to be alone and mistaking it for loneliness?  He chose to be alone, not the other way around, so why was it anyone's business but his own?

“I'm fine Blaine.”

More silence, then Blaine's voice, quieted now, spoke again.

“Alright.”

Kurt didn't understand why Blaine didn't leave him then, but instead his footsteps were echoed by Blaine's for the last two rounds of his patrol until he saw Noah step out and nod toward him as his relief.  Relaxing his bow and tucking his arrow back into his pouch, he started walking towards his home, and even then, Blaine followed.

“Why are you so insistent on hanging out with me?”

Blaine had to walk quickly to keep up with Kurt, who, after years of practice, was adept at walking fast and had longer legs than Blaine to do so with.  

“Why are you so insistent on getting rid of me?”

“I'm not.  I just don't understand why you're wasting your time with me instead of Trent or someone more… accommodating.”

“Trent's told me to back off a bit, especially since they have that new medic in training there….”

Kitty.  They had selected Kitty as their new medic to train.

“.... and he's got a crush on her something fierce.  Even if he hadn't told me to give him space when she's there, I would have had to back off anyhow because all he does is gush about her and it's exhausting to listen to.”

Kurt let out a little snort - his best sound for a laugh these days.  “I can imagine.”

“Anyhow, I don't think you're as grumpy as you let on.”

“Oh really?”

“No.  You're not.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, out of view of Blaine.  

“Blaine, with all due respect, you have no idea what I am and no plausible reason to care.”

“Is there a reason I shouldn't care?”

At that, Kurt spun on his heels, causing Blaine to stop short in his tracks as he saw the chestnut haired man lock eyes with him.  

“Why are you pushing this?  Don't you get it?  I'm not in the market for friends, especially ones limited to spending a season here.”

Blaine's hands lifted up, palms out, in surrender, “Sorry!  I just… I just care okay?  In general.  About everyone.”

With a huff, Kurt turned and continued his trek to his home.  “Well you shouldn't.”

“Why not?”

“Because we live in a world where people die too easily.  If it's not The Others, then it's the struggle for food or resources, or just sicknesses we didn't worry about ten years ago.”

“Isn't that more of a reason to care?”

Kurt glanced down at his feet as he walked.  He needed new boots.   Another thing on his mental checklist to take care of.  

Not receiving an answer, Blaine kept talking.  “I get that the world is different from the one we grew up in and the world we expected we'd become adults in… but it's not that bad either.  It's how you respond to things that make the difference.  We couldn't control The Tides, but we can control how we react to them.”

“And how do you react to them oh wise one?” Kurt spat back with all too much sass in his tone.

“I try to be happy… I try to help others… I try to make my time here mean something.”

“How very cliche for someone who's a member of a group that didn't want to seem cliche by calling themselves the Wolf pack.”

Blaine chuckled at that.  “I suppose… but I honestly can't imagine just shutting everyone out like you seem to.”

“My business is my own Blaine.  Why can't you leave it at that?”

As they reached their homes, Blaine stopped and looked to Kurt as he moved to go inside his home.

“Who died?”

“What?” Kurt stopped and looked back, wide eyed, at Blaine.

“You said that people die too easily…. who was it that died for you?”

Kurt glanced down at the ground.  Even eight years later he still could feel the sadness welling up within him as he thought of his dad, laying there on the ground, while everyone around them was powerless to help him.

“My dad.”

“I'm sorry.”

Kurt shrugged a little, keeping his eyes locked with the dirt below his feet.  “It was eight years ago…. and everyone here has lost people.”

“Doesn't make it hurt less…”

Damn.  How true that was, and because everyone had lost family and friends in The Tides, no one truly grieved.  There wasn't time for it and it didn't make anyone feel more or less special because it was just the fact of this life they all led.  

“Do you like music?”

Kurt's head snapped up as Blaine posed the question, looking at him with a crooked eyebrow.  How did he go from talking about death to music.

“I… I suppose… but I don't play anything.  Some of the people in the community play instruments if you want to - “

“I asked if you like it.”

Kurt just nodded then, continuing to appraise Blaine critically as the curly haired man gestured with a finger for him to follow him into his hut, and because Kurt didn't know how else he could respond, he complied and followed.

Blaine had dressed the place up much more nicely than Kurt had his own home set up.  There was even a picture, hand drawn and rather crude, of a tree pinned up on the wall across from the door.  At some point Blaine must have dragged a real mattress from the community in and covered it with a couple blankets that definitely wouldn't be sufficient for when the snow came.  His cargo bins and backpacks were neatly lined against the wall opposite his bed, opened and sorted.  

When they entered, Kurt hung in the doorway, watching as Blaine walked deliberately to one of the backpacks and pulled out a familiar looking pouch, pulling from it one of the old cell phones that Kurt had rifled through on Blaine's first night in town.  He pressed a button, and then a few more, before holding it out to Kurt, who could just hear the faintest of sounds as it got closer to him.

“How…?  The battery…”

“I have a couple little solar power recharging things I found a few years ago… they take forever to charge on them, but it lets me have music - depending on what the owners of the phones liked.”

Kurt held the phone to his ear, and gasped softly as he could hear a melodic voice coming through, accented by instruments synthesized to play along with the voice.  It was beautiful and even though Kurt didn't know the song or the artist, the sense of nostalgia he felt was overpowering.  This was what he loved to do when he was at home.  Whether he was laying on the floor in his parents room, smelling his mother's old perfume from her old drawers, or simply doing his homework, he always had music playing.  Hearing it now reminded him of how empty his ears felt all the time.

“The guys think I'm crazy for wasting space in my pack with them… but nothing really means quite as much to me as the music on them…”  Blaine said quietly as he watched Kurt's reaction to the song playing.  “... I've got all the phones set up to extend battery life so I can listen as long as possible without having to recharge… which is a huge pain.”

Kurt's eyes closed as he kept the phone to his head, appreciating the mournful voice of the man singing.  This particular singer had a powerful voice that was almost ethereal, especially set against the instruments that Kurt was desperately trying to identify.  At least two guitars… a piano… drums…  it seemed like there might be more than that but Kurt was woefully out of practice when it came to identifying the ingredients of music.

“You can borrow it… until the battery dies… if you like.”

Kurt's eyes cracked open and he nodded to Blaine, backing out the door and walking towards his own home just a few paces away and all the while keeping the phone to his ear.  It didn't phase him that he had just accepted something of a gift from the man he had just earlier said he was not friends with.  Everything about the music was calming every part of him, and like a drug, he was not about to give it up for anything now that he had it.

That was how the rest of Kurt's night went.  He laid back in his bed, eyes shut, and just let the music permeate his brain, even when it started repeating the same songs he had heard earlier.  He understood Blaine's humming now, because once he got the gist of a song, he too began to hum along with it, hearing the voice within him that he hadn't let out in years.

And though he didn't mean to, it was how he fell asleep, with music cascading through any and all dreams he had.  He had been starving for song and he didn't even know it.  His body was eating it up, twitching in sync with the beat and fingers rapping on his stomach as the same tunes embraced him when he awoke in the morning.

He even stayed in bed, for the first time in how long, he didn't even know.  It wasn't until a little light flickered on the phone and the music died out abruptly that he got up and began going about his usual routine, with the addition of sneaking into Blaine's empty home and setting the used phone down on his bed to return it.

His ears instantly ached for more.

“You alright Hummel?”

Karofsky's voice broke him out of a reverie and as he looked over at the big oaf, who despite years of improving his fitness levels still looked chunky.  Karofsky's face was lined with bunches where his brow and lips had come together.

“You were singing to yourself…”

Kurt hadn't even realized he had been doing it, but he could understand why it would strike Karofsky as odd.  In all these years, despite having instruments and dances, Kurt hadn't sang since his father had died.  Not even so much as a hum.

He choose to shrug it off.  If he didn't make a big deal of it, then Karofsky couldn't make it seem like a big deal.

“So?”

“So you never do that.”

Kurt perked up an eyebrow, “And since when do you stalk me to know what I do all the time?”

Karofsky swallowed in a show of discomfort and shook his head, “I don't.  Geeze.  Nevermind.”

Karofsky may have come out of his closet, but he still distanced himself from what he thought appear to be gay.  Kurt smirked to himself as the much larger man left him alone again, on his patrol, and able to recount the lyrics of one of the songs once more.

“I take it you liked that particular album since you drained the battery overnight.”  Blaine said by way of a greeting when Kurt walked himself into Blaine's hut without introduction.

“I'll hunt for you… in exchange for time with them.”

Blaine lifted an eyebrow, setting down the book he had been reading on the side of his mattress on the bed.  The cover was well worn, but Kurt could make the title out as Patience and Sarah.

“Kurt… you don't have to trade me for - ”

“No.  I do.  Otherwise it's a gift.”  

Blaine worried his lower lip in between his teeth as he regarded Kurt quietly for a moment while Kurt impatiently stepped in place.  He wanted… no, he NEEDED more music.

“Okay.”

Blaine slipped out of his bed and crept to the bag with his phone collection, pulling a few out and looking them over thoughtfully before placing all but one back in the bag and pressing a few buttons on his choice.  

“If you liked that last one, you should like this one too.”

Kurt took it eagerly and placed it to his ear.  With a sigh of relief he let the powerful voice of a woman fill his head and nodded to Blaine as he left.  Again that night he curled up with the phone and let the music seep into his bones.

Two weeks this went on, with Kurt bringing Blaine small kills each day and teaching him how to cut and prepare the meat so he had his own food source.  He went so far as to take the pelts off some of the rabbits he had trapped for Blaine and stitched them into mittens for him.  All for the privilege of having music in his life again.

There were some artists he quickly grew to love, and others he loathed - though listened to anyhow.  Blaine showed him how he charged the phones - each day leaving a couple charging with the small solar panels pointed to the heavens to absorb the little daylight they were getting - and less each and every day for that matter as winter drew closer.

“Do you think maybe Matthew Bellamy was a little prophetic with that album?” Blaine asked of Kurt one evening as they worked together to chop firewood, a phone playing on a stump between them.

“Why?” Kurt asked before heaving his axe downward to split a piece of wood evenly into two. “Because he's singing about an unjustifiable war after talking about corrupt governments?”

Blaine shrugged, picking up a stack of cut logs and piling them up alongside his shack.  “There's a lot of lyrics about new world orders and missing those you love and -”

“That's true of most songs Blaine.  It sells.”

“New world order songs sell?”

“No.  Love.”

“Ah.”  Blaine said with a grin criss-crossing his features and Kurt peeked up at him from where he was readying another log to be sliced.  

“Ah what?  You've got a shit eating grin on your face.”

“I don't know.  It just strikes me as rather amusing that you, Mr. Frigid, would think that love sells.”

Kurt clucked his tongue up against the top of his mouth to make a tsking noise as he chopped the log while Blaine watched on.  “Prostitution is the world's oldest occupation.  I don't need to be in the business of it though to know it'll always have a market.”

“Touche.”  Blaine carefully darted around Kurt, picking up the pieces of timber he had cut to pile up in his stack so Kurt could continue his chopping without having to move.  “Even out here though, in the utopia of this new world, is there prostitution?”

Kurt snickered a little at the question and nodded once, “Let's just say I've been approached a couple times by ladies looking to trade time in bed for meat.”

He didn't miss it when Blaine's nose wrinkled up in that way that he had learned meant Blaine was thinking about something disdainful.  

“No.  I didn't take them up on the offer.”

That seemed to relieve Blaine, though Kurt wasn't quite sure why.  Since spending more time together, Blaine had told him about how some of the Warbler's had a woman in each of the communities they visited and with his sunny disposition and a body like Blaine's, Kurt was sure he could get his choice of women.  Maybe Blaine was just more of a god fearing man than he let on.

“So what's on the playlist for tonight than Kurt?  Muse?  Adele?  Micheal Jackson?”

Kurt set his axe pointy side down on the stump and propped his head up on the end of the shaft, buffered by his hands holding the axe in place.  “Hmm…”  He couldn't really go wrong any which way - so long as it wasn't the screamo stuff he had tried to sleep to one night.  That was a one time listen only.

Thoughts were interrupted though by a call from across the field and a figure running towards them.  Kurt squinted to try and make out who it was, but he recognized the voice before he recognized the face.  Brittany.

“Guys!  Beth!  In a tree!”  She huffed as she got closer to them, setting her hands on her knees as she puffed and caught her breath.  Brittany was typically in good shape, but somehow, and Kurt didn't want to know how, she was in her second trimester of pregnancy with what Santana was calling their baby.  Short of magic, there was no way only Santana and Brittany were involved in making that baby.

Blaine was quick to reach over and help Brittany support herself before she lifted her head and expounded on her quick comments from before.  “Beth climbed up a tree.  Quinn's gone hunting and Noah's off on a scavenging mission.  It's so tall.  We can't get her down and the kids are saying she's been up there for hours on a dare.”

“Oh for….” Kurt swore under his breath, lifted his axe, and slammed it into the stump to let it stay there.  “Take me there Brit.”

She led them both there, to a spruce which had aptly been nicknamed the Giant Tree.  The children of school age were encircled around the tree, looking upwards along with Rachel and Finn who were calling up to Beth's small, huddled form near the highest branches of the tree.

“Why hasn't anyone climbed up there?” Kurt demanded as he came up to the other adults.

“Finn tried but he's too big and can't slip through the spaces in the branches and I kept losing my grip…”

Kurt sighed and looked up the tree.  He'd have to come up with some kind of plan to get her down, and quickly.  Even from so far away he could see she was shivering and crying despite her classmates words of encouragement being called up to her.

“Okay… first of all, someone go get the medic on duty.  Brit said she's been up there for… hours?”  He looked to Rachel who nodded apologetically and tried to explain but Kurt cut her off before she had the chance to, “So she's probably cold and getting sick, if she's not sick already.  Now we're going to have to get some saw's and trim the pine off the branches as we climb up otherwise we won't fit and we'll get all cut up and -”

“Look!  Ear necklace guy is going up!” One of the children called out.  Kurt snapped his head around and followed the pointing fingers of several of the children to where Blaine was already hugging himself around the trunk of the tree and shimmying through the pine needles to work his way upwards.

“Someone just go get the medic…” Kurt muttered and without direction, Finn ran off to comply while Kurt kept his gaze set on Blaine as he worked his way up the tree.

With Blaine's ascension, everyone held their breath and just watched until he made it up to where Beth was.  They could see that words were exchanged between the two before Beth crawled towards Blaine and climbed onto his back where she locked her arms around his neck as he slowly moved back down the tree.

Mike ran up, alongside Finn, when Blaine reached the bottom to a chorus of cheering from the schoolchildren who then had to be pushed back by Rachel so Mike could have some space to check her over as Blaine carefully settled her on the ground in front of him.  The curly haired man was all scratched up, courtesy of the spruce needles and bark of the tree, but otherwise looked no worse for wear.  Beth on the other hand was pale and shivering, still sobbing, and also cut and scraped all over the place.

“Now explain to me… why the hell she was alone in a tree for hours.” Kurt snarled towards Rachel.

“Quinn said she was staying home sick today… she had.. or has a flu or something… Quinn had to leave to hunt for a bit while Beth was napping and, according to the kids, Beth got up and decided to go play with the other kids and was dared to go up the tree…. and then they went back to class when she made it to the top.  Afterschool one of them came here and saw she was still up there…”

“You really need to start teaching these kids about not being idiots.” Kurt muttered back.  

Rachel didn't bother with a reply to the statement, instead hovering over Mike to see how Beth was doing.  Finn was trying, and failing at, sending the other children home - at least until Brittany promised them all some cake and led them off to the kitchen.

“Geeze… I'm going to pulling those needles out of all corners of me for days…” Blaine muttered, causing Kurt to look over and see that he was indeed plucking spruce needles out of his coat and pants, which had him resembling a porcupine with how many of them were hanging onto him.

“You need to come to the clinic Miss Beth.”  Mike said, setting down the stethoscope he had been using to check her lungs.  Without prompting Blaine stepped over and scooped the girl up into his arms, letting Mike lead the way back to the town and to the clinic.  The whole time Beth cried into Blaine's shoulder, calling out for her mommy and daddy.

Kurt followed, but kept his distance.  Rachel announced she would see if there was any progress in finding Quinn and left them.  When Beth had been bundled in blankets on a bed and Mike continued to check her vital signs to determine the next steps for treatment, Blaine stepped over to Kurt.

“Why did they come to you for help?”

Kurt thought of making a snarky remark back, questioning what Blaine thought of his capabilities in rescue, but decided against it.  Blaine had just saved the girl after all and even carried her sick little body back here without question.

“I used to babysit Beth quite a bit when she was younger and Noah and Quinn both had to work… for whatever reason she attached herself to me.  Must have been my pleasant disposition.”  He added in that last statement, coated in pure sarcasm, because he knew that Noah and Quinn would have rather Beth attached herself to one of their own close friends.  It had been fluke that she had stopped her colicy crying when Kurt had held her one evening, and had always been calm for him when she was for no one else.  He didn't understand it any better than they had, but they had certainly utilized that secret power of his as she grew up.

“I didn't take you for the kid type.” Blaine said, continuing to try and rid himself of spruce needles one by one.

“I'm not.”

“Clearly you are.” Blaine retorted, playfully flicking a needle at Kurt who wrinkled up his nose disdainfully.

Mike came out of Beth's room then and both Kurt and Blaine looked attentively towards him.

“She's got a mild case of hypothermia, and is sick with someone, but I won't be able to tell until I get her temperature back up.  Kitty is getting her undressed now to put in the bath.  You mind going to get her some warmed milk and other hot foods to help her out?”

“On it!” Blaine stated and immediately rushed out before Kurt even had a chance to open his mouth, earning a chuckle from Mike.

“Hero of the day that one.”

Kurt snorted and rolled his eyes.  “Right.”

“Might be competition for you for Beth's affections.” Mike continued to tease.

“He can have her.”

“You don't mean that…”

Kurt huffed and sat himself down on the bench in the makeshift lobby.  “I do.  I'm not a kid person.  Hell.  I'm not even an adult person.”

“Only because you choose not to let people in….”

“Don't start your psychobabble bullshit on me Mike.  Take care of Beth.  She's the one who needs attention.”

Mike let out a short, sad sigh and nodded, returning to Beth's room.  For awhile, Kurt sat there, in silence, wondering why in hell he was still even there since Beth was being taken care of and he wanted to avoid catching whatever she was sick with.

“Kurt…”

He looked up then, seeing Trent in the doorway of his room, using crutches and the doorframe to keep himself upright.

“Well look at you….”

Trent smiled weakly.  It had clearly been an effort to hobble over to the door he was in and he was puffing in exhaustion.  

“Yah.  Look at me.  Regular Olympic champion.”

“You're probably better than expected…”

“Only because I have the right motivation.”

“Kitty?” Kurt said with a smirk.

A blush rose in Trent's cheeks and he just made a small nod before heaving himself over to sit by Kurt, each movement deliberate and requiring him to take in a deep breath.

“I wanted to thank you though.”

Kurt arched an eyebrow, “You already did - and I told you, any one of us could have picked up that call.”

Trent shook his head, “No.  I wanted to thank you for letting Blaine occupy space by you.  He told me you weren't exactly keen on the idea and now he has someone else besides me to hang out with…”

“I would hardly qualify me as someone Blaine hangs out with.” Kurt grumbled, turning his head away from looking at Trent's bad leg.  It was covered with a baggy pant leg, but still obviously warped out of position and Trent was focused on moving it so it was stretched out at a better angle while he sat.

“Still.  He's our social butterfly and he's always had a circle of people to talk and interact with, so it means a lot for him to have someone else to talk to here.  A lot of people have been really cold to him since they found our ear chains.”

“In their defense, they've never seen one before and it is just… insanely weird.”

“You seem alright with it though.”

Kurt shrugged.  He hadn't really thought about it to be honest.  “I only have myself to worry about.  If I had kids or a pair or something I might be worried about protecting them and what that ear chain really meant about the owner.”

“Blaine's a good guy.  He wouldn't hurt a fly.”

“Yes he has a necklace of Other's ears.”

“You have to in order to trade with renegades….”

“So I've been told.”

The conversation stopped there as Blaine came back in, holding a tray with a mug of something steaming and a piece of flat bread with stew spreading out over top of it.  “Dinner is ready for the little princess.”

“Come right in!” Mike bellowed from the room he was in, and Blaine bustled past Trent and Kurt with a smile and nod in their direction as he went to serve up the meal.

“He's a regular boy scout.” Kurt grumbled.

For whatever reason, that made Trent chuckle, and they were quiet again until Blaine left the room, empty handed now.

“They've got her in the tub and she seems to be a bit better.  Not crying anymore anyhow.” Blaine said as he stood before them.

“Good.  Back to work then.” Kurt said with a grunt as he stood up and placed his hands at the small of his back to stretch it out.  At some point he had become sore there, no doubt due to the lackluster support the benches in the clinic offered.

“You're just going to go and leave her?” Blaine asked of Kurt then, looking completely agast.

“I can't do anything more for her that they won't.  I imagine Quinn showing up is just a matter of time now, and I have a patrol to get to.  Plus she's sick.  I am not getting myself sick.”

Trent and Blaine exchanged looks, which Kurt ignored as he walked out and returned to the shack to collect his bow and arrows before starting on his patrol for the evening.  As he walked back into town, he heard Quinn shrieking from within the clinic, demanding to know how Beth was to whichever unfortunate individual was in there with her.  He had half a mind to go in there and demand to know why she had left Beth when the kid was sick, but no doubt part of her freak out was due to the guilt she must have been experiencing then since she had made that mistake.

At least, he knew he'd be feeling terribly guilty had he done the same.

Word spread quickly in the little community and Kurt was asked several times if it was true that Blaine had ascended the tree to save Beth.  Of course he had to admit that Blaine had done exactly that, though he thought he was getting entirely too much credit.  Had Kurt had a little more time he would have been the one being spoken about.

But then, Kurt wasn't terribly impetuous to begin with.

He was on patrol on the streets when he saw Blaine being chatted up by a couple younger women who were giggling and clearly, even from down the street, flirting with Blaine who seemed to take it all in stride with that face consuming grin of his.  Oh well.  Better Blaine had saved Beth then because such gestures from young women would have been wasted on Kurt.  

It didn't stop Blaine from waving towards Kurt though when he passed, and Kurt nodded to him in return, getting a look of irritation from the girls as they were the cause of their interruption with the communities newest, and now most popular, member.  Blaine surely wouldn't have a hard time finding people to talk and eat with now and Kurt could bet that he'd be forgotten soon enough.

At least he wouldn't have to tiptoe when he went to take a piss in the middle of the night anymore.

Blaine was home however when Kurt got off shift, and leaned back against the side of Kurt's hut, which looked like it could barely hold his weight up.  He half expected it to fall under the slight pressure from Blaine.

“No hot date tonight?” Kurt mused as he got close enough to his shack.

Blaine laughed at that and shook his head, holding out a phone to Kurt who slung his bow over his shoulder so he could take it in his hand, recognizing this phone for the music within it.  “Pop mix tonight hmm?”

“Beth's good by the way.”  Blaine said as he stood upright and removed his weight from the shanty.  “Mike's keeping her overnight for observation but they got her temperature back up and her flu should just run its course over the next couple days.”

Kurt nodded, closing his fingers around the phone as he drew his arm to his side.  He knew it wasn't Blaine's intention, but hearing the update from Blaine instead of waiting to find out for himself made him flood with guilt.  He should have stayed and waited for an update from Mike.  

“Hey…”  Blaine's hand found it's way to Kurt's shoulder.  He immediately tensed up under the unfamiliar touch and looked in panic at the hand on him.  Blaine removed it right away, seeing the change in Kurt.

“... sorry.  Anyhow.  She's fine.  Don't worry.”

Kurt nodded to him, letting the relief seep in as well as relaxing once Blaine's hand was off him.  He was rarely touched, and then only if he knew it was coming - like a physical examination or a hug from Brittany or Beth.  

“You should visit her tomorrow though.  She asked for you.”

Kurt looked up then, scanning Blaine's eyes for sincerity, “She did?”

Blaine nodded, “Yes… she said you tell her the best stories to help her get to sleep.”

That made Kurt chuckle involuntarily.  “It's been well over a year since I watched her last… almost two years actually.  I can't believe she remembers that.”

“She's a sweet kid.  Did a stupid thing, but sweet nonetheless.  Man is her mom upset though.”

“Quinn?  Yah.  I heard her screaming in the clinic earlier.  Probably just…”

“Guilt.” Blaine finished off for Kurt.  They nodded together, understanding in tandem.

“Anyhow.  Have a good night Kurt.” Blaine said softly before heading into his own home.

With the music, and the knowledge that the little girl that wasn't really his was okay, he was able to sleep, even when honey eyes permeated his dreams once again.