When Kurt heard about the shooting, he immediately started packing his bag and getting ready to jump on the first plane back to Ohio. Rachel tried to calm him down and begged him to at least wait until Friday, so he wouldn't miss any classes, a reasoning that only made Kurt angry, because how could she possibly be thinking about classes when Blaine could have died in that shooting? Blaine needed him, so he had to go. Now. But then he got a call from his dad, telling him that Cooper had come home for a while, and that Blaine would spend as much time as possible at home for the next couple of days. Cooper was leaving again on Friday morning, so they agreed that Kurt would fly home on Friday afternoon. Blaine would then come over for Friday night dinner with the Hummels and stay there for the weekend until Kurt had to go back to New York.

As he was sitting next to his dad in the car on Friday afternoon, Kurt could only think of how it must have been like in that choir room. Of how scared Blaine must have been. How horrible it must have felt to not be able to call his parents to tell them what was happening. To not be able to talk to Cooper. Or Kurt. He closed his eyes, trying to force those thoughts away, but the only thing he saw when he did was Blaine sitting on the floor of the choir room in his Cheerio uniform, completely curled in on himself, hugging his knees, his body shuddering with violent sobs. It made Kurt feel sick to his stomach. He couldn't bear that image, so he opened his eyes again, breathing heavily and fighting the bile rising in his throat.
"Hey, buddy." His father's voice brought him back to reality, and when he looked up, he was surprised to see the car was already parked in front of their house. He hadn't even noticed they were home. How long had they been sitting here?
"He's going to be okay, you know," Burt said, putting a hand on Kurt's shoulder and looking him straight into the eyes. "Of course he's still scared after what happened. It's only normal. We're all still upset and shaken. But you're home now. If there's anyone who's able to make him feel safe again, I'm sure it's you. So go in there. He needs you."
Kurt looked at his father with tears in his eyes. His dad was right. He'd come home because he needed to see with his own eyes that Blaine was safe. He needed to make Blaine feel safe. But in order to do that, he had to put his own fears and worries aside, just for a moment. Him breaking down would not help Blaine to feel better. So he wiped the tears from his cheeks, said "thank you", hugged his dad and got out of the car.

As he entered the living room, it was as if the world around him suddenly stopped existing. He could only see Blaine, sitting on the couch with his arms around his drawn up knees, his head resting on his arms so Kurt couldn't see his face. The image was so similar to what he'd seen when he'd closed his eyes in the car that he physically couldn't stay standing there. It was too much, he just had to feel Blaine in his arms. He wanted to walk right over to the couch and pull him against his chest, but Blaine hadn't heard him enter the room, and he didn't want to scare him, so he called out first.
"Blaine?" It was barely a whisper, but Blaine heard it nonetheless and immediately turned his head towards the sound of Kurt's voice. His eyes were shining with unshed tears, and the tear streaks on his face showed that he'd already been crying before. When he saw Kurt, he drew a deep, shuddering breath and it seemed like some of the tension flowed from his body just by knowing Kurt was in the room.
"Kurt?" Blaine's voice was scratchy, probably from crying. He looked at Kurt with his big, shining eyes and Kurt couldn't stand the distance anymore. "It's okay, I'm here," he said and he rushed across the room. As soon as he was within reach, Blaine threw himself into Kurt's arms, the sobs he'd been holding in for God knows how long wrecking his tiny body. Kurt had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't start crying himself. He had to stay strong for Blaine. There would be plenty of time for him to break down later.
"Shh, it's okay, honey. I'm here, you're safe now, I promise," he whispered in his ear. They stayed standing like that, in the middle of the living room, until Carole told them it was time for dinner.

~~~~

Later that night, when the alarm next to his bed read 2.27, Kurt was lying awake in his bed. Alone. He'd almost gotten into a fight with his dad trying to convince him to let Blaine sleep in his room. He'd come all the way to Lima to keep Blaine safe, there was no way he'd leave him out of his sight now. But Burt had insisted that no matter the circumstances, there were still house rules that had to be obeyed, and Blaine had assured Kurt that it was okay, that he would be perfectly fine sleeping in the guest room like he always did, but Kurt suspected he only did that to prevent a fight between father and son.

So now he was just lying there in bed, worrying about Blaine, unable to sleep without the most important person in his life next to him. He'd left his door open though, so if Blaine needed anything, he'd know he could come in. At 2.31, he was glad he'd left his door open, since it allowed him to hear Blaine's soft whimpers. He was out of his bed before he'd even fully registered what was going on. He just knew that those whimpers meant something was wrong, and he had to make it okay again. He rushed out onto the hallway and knocked softly on the door to the guest room.
"Blaine? Sweetheart, are you okay?"
No answer. Only more whimpering and unintelligible murmuring. So he opened the door and what he saw and heard completely broke his heart. Blaine was lying on his side, hugging a pillow as close to him as humanly possible, whispering Kurt's name over and over again, tears streaming down his face. Kurt wanted to do something, wanted to wake Blaine up and tell him everything was going to be okay, but he couldn't make his legs move. So he just stood there as Blaine's cries grew louder and louder, until he was almost screaming. "Kurt! Help me, please! I don't want to die. Kurt, I love you, please, Kurt!"

That's what finally made Kurt move. He couldn't take another second of Blaine being in distress like this. He sat down on the bed and softly touched his shoulder. It was obvious that Blaine was having a serious nightmare and that he was scared to death, he didn't want to scare him any further.
"Blaine. Honey, wake up. It's just a nightmare, it's going to be okay, you just need to wake up, Blaine, please."
Suddenly Blaine jumped upright on the bed, breathing heavily and still crying. His curls were poking in all directions, which Kurt would find entirely adorable if Blaine wasn't looking more scared than he'd ever seen him before.
"Shh honey, it's alright, you're safe," Kurt whispered, cupping Blaine's face in his hands and making him look him in the eye. "It's just me, I'm here. You were having a nightmare, but it's over now. I'm here with you and I won't let anything happen to you."
"Kurt I was so scared," was all Blaine said in response and his face just broke as he said it. Kurt could feel his heart shatter into a million pieces and he couldn't possibly hold the tears back any longer. "I know, darling. I know, and I wish more than anything that I could take all your pain and fear away, but I can't. And I'm really sorry for that, but I'm here now, and I'll do anything you need. Just tell me what you need, Blaine, please."

They were both full out sobbing, but maybe that's what they needed. To simply let it all out and catch each other when they fell. "You. I just need you, Kurt, please."
"Okay, okay, come here," Kurt sobbed and he pulled Blaine into his arms, holding on to him as hard as he could, just as much to comfort Blaine as to assure himself that everything really was going to be okay.

They stayed like that for what seemed like eternity, until they both felt like they had no more tears to cry. When they'd calmed down a bit, Kurt whispered: "I love you too, you know."
"What?" Blaine pulled back just a little so he could look at Kurt, slightly confused about where that came from.
"When you were having that nightmare, you were talking. You said you loved me. I love you too, and I want to be with you again. I want you to feel safe and loved every single moment for the rest of your life and I want to be the one to make you feel that way."
Blaine pulled back further in surprise. "Kurt, I want to be with you again too, of course I do, but I don't want you to do this because you think it will make me feel better. I love you, I really do, but I want us to get back together for the right reasons."
"I'm not doing this to make you feel better. I'm doing this because being apart from you during these last couple of days has made me see that I can't live without you any longer. Not knowing if you were alright, it was killing me, Blaine. I can't do that anymore. And it made me realize that you're the only one for me. You're the only one I want to share the rest of my life with."
Tears were gathering at the corner of Blaine's eye again, and Kurt reached out to wipe them away. Blaine shouldn't cry ever again.
"I want that too. God, Kurt, I want it, but what about..." He didn't finish his sentence, just looked down at his lap instead.
"What about what, Blaine? Talk to me, please."
When Blaine looked up at Kurt again and answered, his voice was barely audible and he looked so insecure, as if his world was about to crumble down all over again.
"What about Adam?"
"I broke up with Adam two weeks ago." Kurt's answer took him so by surprise that Blaine couldn't say anything. He needed to let it sink in for a while.
"I didn't tell you about it yet because I didn't want to give you false hope. I wasn't ready to come back to you again, but I am now. "
Kurt took a deep breath, cupped Blaine's cheek and continued. "I know we still have some things to talk about. I don't want to make the same mistakes as we did before, we need to talk things through more thoroughly. But I don't want to talk about any of that stuff tonight. I just want to hold you close and know you're safe. Is that okay?"
"God, yes, that's so okay."
"Good."
Then there was only silence as Kurt settled back against the headboard and pulled Blaine into his side. After about two minutes of comfortable silence, Blaine was the one to speak up.
"Kurt?"
"Yes?"
"Can you do something for me?"
"Of course, sweetheart," Kurt answered, concern in his voice. "What do you need? Just tell me."
"Will you kiss me?" Blaine looked so uncertain when he asked, as if he couldn't believe they were actually back together again, that he could ask for things like this again.
"Of course I will. You don't have to ask for that, silly. I'll kiss you wherever and whenever you want."
Blaine couldn't help but let out a breathy laugh as Kurt echoed the promise he'd made in the McKinley hallway over a year ago. But any thoughts about McKinley were driven from his mind as soon as Kurt's lips were on his.

Yes, everything was going to be okay again.