"Is he going to make it?" The ICU nurse looked to the surgeon as they stood next to the man who had recently been brought in from surgery.

"I don't know. He's lost a lot of blood. We patched him up as best we could but there was a lot of damage to his organs." The doctor breathed out in exhaustion. He had been at it for hours, frantically trying to find and stem all of the internal bleeding. "He has more broken bones than not too. Even if those wounds heal though, the head injury is what concerns me the most. We have no way of knowing if he'll wake up from the coma."

The nurse checked the man's stats and made a note in his chart. There'd been no one to claim him. He was carrying no I.D., just a pocketknife and a teenth of meth. The knife was so covered in blood that they'd assumed he'd stabbed himself accidentally in the fall.

Here was the confusing part though. In all of the lacerations and breaks and bruises on the man's body, they could not find a stab wound.

The hospital had handed the knife and drugs over to the police right away for evidence. What the surgeon found out later from a friend on the force had disturbed him greatly. Much of the blood on the knife belonged to another person. The case had officially gone under police investigation.

Alex ran in blind confusion. (What have I done? What the hell have I done?) There was blood all over him. (Where did it come from? Oh yeah, the man, the knife... Oh god...) He needed a hit and he needed it now. He had no idea if he was still being chased... someone had been chasing him right? It wasn't just in his head? He quickly ducked down an alley and looked back out beyond the corner, breathing heavily. No one was there. Was that good or bad? Nothing seemed real or made sense anymore. All he knew was that he couldn't handle the fear or pain or panic. He quickly knelt to the ground and dumped what was left of a pack of crystal on the ground. Crushing it carelessly he snorted a line, and then another, and then another.

Soon he was higher than he'd ever been before. He was strong again. He could do anything. No one could touch him.

Brightly colored lights began to swirl in front of him. The lights were the source of his power, he innately knew this. He followed them, for what seemed like hours... right off the edge of an overpass. Tires squealed and horns honked as he fell silently down toward the highway, bouncing off the hood of a ford expedition before landing with a sickening crunch.

"Puck! No no no no no! Stay with me! You're gonna be fine!" Kurt authoritatively ordered everyone who was crowding in to "back the hell up."

Quickly, but cautiously, he turned his friend over from his crumpled up, face down position. Promptly assessing his main wound to be in the left shoulder, he looked it over and put pressure on it to slow the bleeding. The wound was deep, but not life threatening. What concerned him was that Puck was unconscious. He spotted a swelling, along with bruising, forming on the right back side of Puck's head. A head injury. (Shit.)

"Puck, listen to me. I need you to wake up." He grabbed smelling salts from his bag and waved them under Puck's nose.

"Wake up, right now." This time he slapped him lightly on the cheek.

"I mean it. Don't fuck with me, Noah!" Kurt slapped him harder this time and his voice cracked slightly.

"Kurt..." Blaine's soft voice was in his ear and a hand was on his shoulder. Kurt ignored him and shook his friend slightly in an attempt to wake him.

"Kurt, he's not... the ambulance is almost here..." Blaine spoke quietly, trying to calm the doctor. Sirens were growing louder in the background.

"He can hear me, I know he can. Listen, Noah, don't be an asshole..." Kurt's voice was thick with emotion now and his tone lacked conviction. (Please, God. Oh please...)

"Seriously, Hummel? I'm dying and you smack me and call me an asshole? You seriously need to improve your bedside manner."

Puck's eyes were still closed and if it hadn't been for the tiny smirk on his face, it would have seemed as though the weak sounding voice came from someone else's mouth.

"If I wasn't busy trying to stop you from bleeding to death I would so punch you right now."

Blaine pulled the second lasagna from the oven and let it drop when it was just an inch away from the stove top, yanking away his hand as he burned the tip of his finger.

"Hmmm, looks like you might need some medical attention." Kurt wrapped his arms around the other man's waist from behind and raised the burned finger to his lips to kiss it. Blaine turned in his arms, and held the finger in the air once more with a mock pout.

"Yup, I'm seriously injured. I may even need to hire my own private doctor."

Kurt pulled him close and kissed him tenderly. "I think..." kiss, "that I might..." kiss, "be interested..." kiss with tongue, "in that job."

Blaine ran his unburned fingers down the doctor's back and breathed him in, placing small kisses down his neck. "Mmmm, I'll need to check your references. Do you offer sponge baths?" Kurt groaned in response and leaned into the other man deeply, pressing him back against the oven.

"You can't say things like that when we have a house full of guests! I won't be able to get you naked for a least four more hours!" Kurt contradicted himself by pulling slightly at the bottom of Blaine's shirt, trying to untuck it. Blaine swatted his hand away with a grin.

"Control yourself doctor!"

"Dudes! Nobody wants to see that!" Finn walked into the kitchen. He pretended to cover his eyes with one hand but had a grin on his face.

"Whatever, Finn. Like I didn't have to walk in on you groping Rachel a million times in high school." Kurt attempted to ignore his brother, still holding Blaine tight and kissing at his cheek and ear. Blaine blushed brightly and gently pushed him away.

"Geez, you are such a cockblock." Kurt punched his brother in the arm lightly, rolling his eyes with a smile.

"Daddy, what's a clockblock?" Addy stood at Blaine's feet tugging on his pants. Blaine gave Kurt a death glare and Kurt grimaced apologetically.

"Not clock, honey, it's... just... don't worry about it. It's a word for you to learn when you get older." He scooped her off her feet and headed to the living room, trying to seem mad but only looking exasperatedly amused.

"Yo, Hummel, when is dinner. The injured man is starving!" Puck joined them in the kitchen, left arm tied up in a sling, Elliott hanging upside down by his hands and feet from Puck's right arm.

"Elliott Brendon Hummell! Stop that right now!" Elliott jumped down from his perch immediately, eyes wide. His daddy never yelled at him. Kurt got down on his knees, feeling terrible about the scared look in his son's eyes, and rubbed the small back soothingly. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, buddy. I know you didn't realize you were doing anything wrong. You just need to remember that Uncle Puck was hurt really bad only five days ago. You can't jump on him like you normally do until he is all better, okay?" Elliott nodded solemnly, looking at Puck with regret to see if he was upset too.

"Hey sport, come here. You are just fine. Daddy is just being a good doctor and worrying about me too much, k?" Puck hugged the small boy and sent him back to play the other kids, a small smile back on the child's face.

"What the hell, princess, overreact much?" Puck shot Kurt an amused look as he leaned over to sneak a bite from the cooling pan of lasagna.

"Excuse me for being concerned about one of my best friends who was recently almost knifed death in my backyard, " Kurt shot out defensively, slapping Puck's hand away as he started to cut the lasagna.

"Kurt, don't even go down the blaming yourself road. You're too smart for that." Puck spoke up with the intuitiveness that was surprising if you didn't know him well. "I knew exactly what this job was from the beginning. I had the police right there on standby. I was just stupid enough to miss that little knife in his hand. He only got one lucky poke at me anyway and if I hadn't been busy yanking his hand back to pull the blade out I would have noticed his other hand bashing my head against the tree. I still can't believe a methhead got the best of me." Puck shook his head in disgust. "That's gonna mar my record forever."

Kurt laughed and shook his head. "At least you're alive to keep adding to that record. That one lucky poke could easily have been fatal." Puck shrugged it off, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

Finn looked at the two and smiled to himself. Puck had been his best friend through most of high school, but somewhere during senior year his friend and brother had formed a rather unlikely bond. No one would have paired the flamboyantly gay kid who was way too into musical theater and the rough around the edges, fresh out of juvie bully, yet somehow it had happend. It had started with an agreement. Kurt would help the delinquent improve his grades so that he could graduate and Puck would keep the jocks at bay who liked to make Kurt's life a living hell. It wasn't that Kurt couldn't fight his own battles, he had a razor sharp wit that kept most the jock's heads spinning and he was quick on his feet. It was just that he had enough on his plate prepping for pre-med at Columbia and this would be one less thing to worry about. Tutoring Puck was easy by comparison. They slowly became close though and realized that they had more in common than they originally thought. Kurt shared how he wanted to become a doctor to help people and Puck shared how he wanted to become a police officer to do the same... well, 'take down all the assholes and send them to prison where they can be someone's bitch instead of hurting people' were his exact words. If you asked them when their friendship had started officially they would have told you the exact same story...

"Hey, fairies! Why don't you go take your faggyness somewhere less public!"

Kurt and Puck turned to the voice that called to them from across the hallway in the mall. Puck was surprised. All they had been doing was walking next to each other. Kurt was not. He got this all the time.

"You're just jealous, douche! This is the hottest guy in Lima!" Puck threw an arm around Kurt's shoulders and kept them walking. Kurt moved along in stiff surprise, peeking at the other boy out of the corner of his eye nervously.

"Um, dude? You know we're not really dating, right?" Puck pulled his arm away then, glancing at Kurt.

"Uh, yeah... Do YOU realize that we aren't dating?" Kurt looked at him like he was nuts.

Puck just smirked, "Okay then. We're cool."

Rachel poked her head through the kitchen door. "Gentleman, I have two 'Finn-sized' baby boys growing in my uterus that are demanding food. Let's get the lead out." All three men quickly grabbed the last of the food and headed to the dining room. The last thing they wanted was a cranky pregnant woman on their hands.

Two card tables had been set up on either side of the dining room table to make room for everyone. Nick and Wes were already seated at the table, talking animatedly about the upcoming football season. Jeff was leaning up against the back of the couch, eagerly discussing upcoming theater plans with Wes' wife Marie, who was sitting on her husbands lap, an arm around his shoulders. Rachel and Blaine were gathering up the kids, bringing them to the table. Finn and Puck helped Kurt get everything into place as they all settled in and started passing the food.

Puck cleared his throat, "Um, I was kind of hoping I could pray before we eat... If you guys don't mind."

They all stared.

"Um, yeah, sure, I guess..." Kurt was looking at his friend in extreme confusion. No one at the table was particularly spiritual, though Jeff had grown up going to church regularly. Kurt knew that Puck was very aware of his own views on religion.

"It's just, I could have died and shit..."

"Language!" Marie hissed, glancing at Micah who was sitting between his parents and watching the interactions with interest.

"I could have died... and stuff... and I just feel like it'd be good to say, you know, ...thanks. I won't though if it offends anyone," he added quickly, looking uncomfortable.

"Puck, it's fine. Go right ahead." Kurt looked at Blaine in surprise and Puck nodded to the curly haired man in thanks.

"Yeah, man, I just wouldn't say shit during your prayer if I were you." Finn grinned.

"Language!" It was Kurt's turn to complain as he covered Elliott's ears.

"Says the man who just taught my daughter the word 'cockblock' in the kitchen." Blaine murmured out of the side of his mouth.

"What's cockblock?" Elise asked.

"Well done, guys. I'm fairly certain she'll be repeating that one at grandma's house." Nick rolled his eyes at his friends while placing a kiss on the top of his daughter's blonde head.

"Let's move on from the discussion about curse words and pray. Go ahead, Puck. I think it's a really nice idea." Rachel smiled kindly at the mohawked man and reached to grab her husband's and daughter's hands. In turn, Wes grabbed Micah's and Nick's hands. Nick looked at him as if to say, 'Are you nuts?'

"I saw it in a movie once. The whole family held hands while praying. Just go with it." Wes spoke solemnly with his eyes closed and refused to let go of the other man's hand. The table broke out in laughter but all joined hands anyway.

"So, God. Uh, thanks for helping me not die. Thanks for a doctor for a best friend who made that happen... and thanks for everyone here at this table. We love each other. We're family. Amen."

Silence.

"Wow, that was seriously one of the most awkward things we've ever done." Jeff announced loudly. The table erupted once more in laughter and conversation.

Kurt looked over at his friend with a smile as they dug in. He now knew what had been going on in the man's head. Sometimes it was just hard for a tough guy to find a way to say thank you... and that he loved you.

"Oh my word, this feels incredible!" Blaine sighed with contentment as he sank down between Kurt's legs and into the hot water, settling back against his chest. Kurt grabbed a loofah from the side of the tub and lazily scrubbed at the other man's body in slow sensual circles.

"Was this what you had in mind when you mentioned a sponge bath?" He whispered into the nurse's ear and nibbled it gently.

"So much better actually." Blaine turned his head around to kiss the other man's lips. It was slow and languid and just perfect.

It was pretty late and they knew that they should probably be in bed, but Kurt had gotten the idea of a bath from the conversation in the kitchen and wouldn't be denied. After all of their friends had gone home, and Elly and Addy had been tucked in, Kurt had filled the tub and lit candles all around the bathroom. Walking into his bedroom where Blaine was pulling pajamas out of a drawer he shook a container of bath salts enticingly and said, "Ready to play doctor? I'll take good care of you?" They finally made it into the bath two handjobs later, sticky and tired and incredibly content.

The last few days had gone by in a haze. Between Puck's injury and Alex's disappearance they had been pretty overwhelmed. Thankfully Puck was healing well, and since the incident the police had taken on the case as a priority and were not only searching for Alex, but guarding Blaine and Kurt and the kids as well.

Then there had been their whole little sexual awakening. Every time they were alone one man was groping or rubbing or sucking until the other was moaning brokenly. They felt like sixteen-year-olds again. After everything that had happened with Alex they knew that the whole 'waiting to Blaine was divorced' thing was not gonna happen, so they just went with it... happily. One particularly memorable time together was in the car...

Blaine was driving them into work. It was a particularly early morning shift and they were both tired. Kurt looked over seductively and slowly lowered his head into the other man's lap. Blaine gasped as he felt his scrubs pants being pulled down.

"Say you'll be my boyfriend." Kurt placed a gentle kiss.

"What?"

"I really want you to officially be my boyfriend." A small lick.

"So, you're bribing me with road head so that I'll agree to be your boyfriend?" Blaine tried to sound offended, but Kurt had started sucking actively at that point and it came out in a high-pitched whisper.

Kurt just smiled around his mouthful.

"Okay." Blaine smiled back and concentrated on not crashing his car.

They knew that, at least to an outsider, the pace of their relationship was moving incredibly fast. They also knew the truth. They had been looking for each other forever. Now that they had found each other, nothing was going to get in their way.