"Ow!"

"Stop pulling. You'll make it worse."

"No, you made it worse when you washed out the gel."

Blaine groaned and ran one hand over his face, agitated as Cooper ran a comb through his curls, carefully styling it.

"Blaine, don't go crazy. It looks fine." Cooper laughed a little. "Remember the first time I helped you gel it?"

"Dalton." Blaine answered. "My first day. I begged you because I didn't want anyone to..."

He fell silent, and Cooper squeezed his shoulder comfortingly, knowing his brother was refering to Sadie Hawkins. Neither spoke for a little while.

"Coo?" Blaine said after a while.

"Yeah?"

"What are we gonna do? About Mom, I mean."

Cooper bit his lip as he helped his brother up.

"Don't worry about it. You just focus on wiping the floor with Vocal Adrenaline. Okay?"

Blaine nodded, playing idly with the hem of his light blue t-shirt.

"Blaine, I'm not gonna let her hurt you." Cooper's fingers curled gently under his chin and tilted his head up so their eyes met, hazel and blue connecting. "I promise you that."

---

"How was your visit with Cooper?" Kurt asked softly, looping his arm around Blaine's waist as they and Mike headed back up to their hotel rooms after going over choreography for an hour and a half.

Blaine looked at Mike nervously, but his friend simply smiled and nodded before slipping into the boys' room.

"Blaine?" Kurt said tentatively.

His boyfriend said nothing for a moment. Then,

"It was fine." he said quietly. A brief pause, and, "I missed him. I really did."

Kurt rubbed his arm comfortingly.

"What did he say?" he asked.

"Not to worry about her...but of course that had the opposite effect." Blaine stared at his shoes dejectedly. "Kurt, I hated seeing him get hurt when we were kids. I hated her for doing it -- I still do."

The countertenor pulled him into his arms and murmured soothing words in his ear, trying to calm him.

"She can't do that anymore," he said. "She can't hurt him, Blaine, and she can't hurt you."

The curly haired boy looked at him, terrified.

"What if she shows up tomorrow? What if she's off her medication?" he said, voice rising as he began to grow hysterical. "Kurt --"

He was cut off as soft lips moved slowly against his own, felt the gentle brush of Kurt's tongue sliding against his as his boyfriend slid it into his partially open mouth. He kissed back, desperate for anything to put his mother out of his mind.

A hoarse moan left him as Kurt pulled back, only to press their foreheads together.

"You'll be fine." he whispered. "I told you -- I won't let her hurt you. I promise."

Blaine buried his face in the slightly taller boy's neck and sighed.

"I love you." he said.

"I love you too."

---

Cooper tried not to lose his cool as he sat in the audience the next day, waiting for the competition to begin.

It was sort of hard to do when he saw his own mother sitting three rows in front of him, acting perfectly normal, chatting with the woman sitting next to her.

His phone was out in a flash and he sent a rapid succession of texts to Kurt -- the two had exchanged numbers for emergency purposes back when he'd visited Lima in April -- and this definitely fell into the 'emergency' category.

To: Kurt
She's here.

To: Kurt
Don't say anything to Blaine. Keep him calm.

To: Kurt
I'm keeping an eye on her. If she tries anything I'll step in, okay?

Kurt's response didn't take long.

From: Kurt:
Okay.

Cooper pocketed his phone, tapping his foot impatiently as the judges -- what the hell were Perez Hilton and Lindsay Lohan doing judging a high school show choir competition? -- were introduced.

Then he heard,

"All the way from Lima, Ohio, from William McKinley High School please welcome the New Directions!"

He enjoyed the performance of Edge of Glory, as well as It's All Coming Back to Me Now. The kids closed with Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meat Loaf.

Vocal Adrenaline took the stage next, and when New Directions came back to their seats. Cooper grinned at Blaine when he caught his brother's eye and flashed him a thumbs up.

Blaine smiled back, but then it faded, and it took Cooper a moment to understand why: their mother was trying to get his attention, yelling his name.

Kurt touched his shoulder and said something to him, which seemed to calm him enough to sit down.

Cooper resolved to talk to his brother at intermission, when the judges would be deliberating.