Kurt      

“Go on up Kurt, I just have to take care of a few things first,” said Blaine, pointing towards the Volunteer Services desk.

                Kurt shifted nervously on his feet. “Are you sure? I can wait for you here, it’s fine.”

                “Kurt,” Blaine said pointedly, giving him an annoyed look, “Just go. She’s waiting for us anyways.  All you have to do is introduce yourself; it’s not that big of a deal.”

                “I know…but,” Kurt looked down at the ground. “It would just be easier if we went together.”

                “Kurt Hummel I swear to god you are the most stubborn person I have ever met,” Blaine said, teasingly. He placed his hands on Kurt’s shoulders and forced him to the elevator. As if by magic, the doors opened on their arrival.

                “Fifth floor, room 218. I’ll be there in 15 minutes, tops.”

                Kurt let out an annoyed huff of breath. “Fine. But there’s nothing I have to do before I go in right…nothing special?”

                “Just use some of the hand sanitizer sitting outside of the door,” Blaine called out as he started to walk away.

                The doors closed and Kurt pressed the button for the fifth floor. He didn’t know why he was so nervous to meet Blaine’s best friend. Kurt knew Sierra was a very important person in Blaine’s life and he just wanted to impress her. He wanted to make it seem like he was a good fit for a friend to Blaine. As much as Kurt was personable around his friends, flamboyant, even, meeting new people was always nerve racking. Especially if these people have been best friends with his new best friend for much longer than he had.

                Kurt arrived on the fifth floor and tentatively stepped out of the elevator. The floor was surprisingly quiet, and Kurt was a little upset when he didn’t spot the vibrant blonde curls of his favourite nurse, Caroline. When Kurt had broken his arm and met Blaine, Caroline had taken care of him. She was one of the sweetest people Kurt had ever had the pleasure to meet. Kurt was hoping that she was around somewhere. He missed her!

                He made his way slowly down the hallway, checking each room number until he found 218. As he made his way down the hallway, he heard Caroline’s distinctive southern drawl coming from one of the rooms. He walked slowly and tried to figure out where the nurse was, when he stopped at room 218, the room in which the sound of her voice was the loudest.

                The door was wide open, but Kurt knocked to be polite. Caroline was blocking the view of the bed, telling it’s occupant a story that made they both break out into loud laughter. At the sound of his knock, Caroline whipped around. As soon as she recognized his face, she rushed over and practically tackled him in a hug.

                “Kurt! Honey, how are you?” Caroline broke away from the hug and held him at arm’s length, inspecting him. “I see the cast is holding up?” She took his left arm in her hands and ran her eyes over the black cast. When her smile grew a little wider during her inspection, Kurt knew her eyes hit the shiny, silver Blaine and the smiley face next to it on the underside of the cast.

                Kurt smiled with her ongoing enthusiasm. “I’m fine! And yes, the cast is still as annoying and clunky as ever. I haven’t had any problems with it. Blaine’s on his way up. He had to stop off at the Volunteer Services desk for some reason.

`               “They came to visit me, Caroline. Blaine thought it was about time that I met Kurt for real,” Sierra said.

                “For real?” Caroline asked.

                “Yeah, remember when Kurt came in and he passed out because of the drugs Dr. Robinson gave him? Blaine was visiting me when you told him to get fetch Kurt from the ER and when he didn’t come back after a couple of hours, I found him mooning over Sleeping Beauty.”

                “Um, excuse me? Do I look like a Sleeping Beauty to you?” Kurt said playfully. He ducked around Caroline and entered the room. He bit back a gasp and tried to keep his face in a playful smile so he wouldn’t give away any of the emotions that were currently running through his mind.

                Kurt had never seen a picture of Sierra before, but he was quite sure that had she not been incredibly ill with cancer, she would be absolutely beautiful. Instead, she lied in bed sporting oversized pajamas that absolutely flooded her tiny frame. She couldn’t have weighed more than 90 pounds. Despite her tiny body, her face was swollen and puffy and her green eyes looked glassy. She had the darkest circles under her eyes and her eyelashes and eyebrows were missing. Her head was wrapped in a gorgeous blue scarf and it took away from the oxygen tubes in her nose and wrapped around her ears. She looked exhausted and her chest was heaving every time she took a breath. Kurt was very alarmed. Blaine had never mentioned Sierra being this sick and he was instantly flooded with worry for this girl he didn’t even know.

                Remaining quite stoic, Kurt approached the bed and stuck out his right hand.

“Kurt Hummel,” he introduced. Sierra reached out a limp hand, laden with various tubes attached to the several IV bags hanging above her. Kurt shook her hand with a soft grip, attempting to not disrupt any of the tubing.

“Sierra Green. It’s nice to meet you finally. Blaine talks about you all the time.”

“Does he really? I don’t believe you,” Kurt said with a laugh.

“Oh god,” she rolled her eyes. “Every time I see him its Kurt this and Kurt that and oh, did I tell you what me and Kurt did this weekend? Christ. How are you two not dating yet?”

Kurt felt his cheeks flood with embarrassment and kept silent.

“You really like him, don’t you?” she asked softly.

Kurt sighed tiredly. “Yeah, I really do.” He sat down in the chair at Sierra’s bedside. He tried not to pay attention to the monitors above his head.

“So why don’t you stop being a wuss and do something about it?” Kurt was taken aback from the complete bluntness of her suggestion.

“Isn’t this a speech you should be giving to Blaine? Seeing as we barely know each other?”

“Oh, come on Hummel. I probably know more about you from Blaine constantly talking about you, than you know yourself.”

Kurt looked at her incredulously. She’s over exaggerating. Remind me to introduce her to Rachel at some point…or maybe Lauren Zises.

At Kurt’s lack of response to her accusations, she simply quirked her eyebrow. “Well?”

“I just don’t want to ruin our friendship by making a complete fool out of myself. I mean, I don’t know for sure if he actually has romantic feelings for me. Blaine’s probably one of the best friends I have ever had in my life. I’ve never known anyone like him and I..I just don’t want to lose him by saying something stupid.”

“Kurt, without trying to break my best friend’s trust here…I think you’re being a total idiot about this. I can greatly assure you that you have nothing to worry about.”

Sierra’s confession made Kurt’s heart sing for just a moment, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up, no matter what Blaine’s best friend had said.

He must have had a look of doubt on his face, because Sierra struggled a little bit to turn towards him and look him in the eye.

“Kurt, from what I’ve heard from Blaine, he appreciates your friendship just as much as you do. I’ve been friends with Blaine for years and I know being best friends with a girl and a sick one at that, isn’t the best friend to have when you are struggling to sort out your sexuality and who you are as a person. And sure, me and Blaine have had some amazing times together, but our friendship can’t be compared to something like what the two of you have. While me and Blaine kind of balance each other out and have similar interests, we can’t exactly relate to each other. I know he loves spending time with you Kurt. He loves being able to talk to someone about music and Glee and other gay stuff. The two of you know what it’s like to be bullied and what it’s like to be constantly told no. I was so happy for Blaine when he met you! It’s like suddenly he was allowed to be friends , real friends, with a boy who was gay. It’s like he was suddenly allowed to maybe even have a possibility to date someone and experience what it’s like. I mean, not only for the two of you, but the rest of the gay population in Lima, there aren’t many options for people like you.”

“Kind of like Lima is the heterosexual capital of the country,” Kurt mused sardonically.

“Exactly. You know, when I walked into your hospital room to see Blaine completely mooning over you, I dragged him outside and convinced him that it was okay to be friends with you, to start something even though you guys were strangers. I mean…I had just gotten readmitted and I was feeling kind of morbid that day and I thought...what’ll happen if I die and Blaine has no one to be there for him. It’s funny, because I was a lot better that day than I am right now.” She stopped and started to cough.

Kurt attempted to sit still and not run out the room to fetch a nurse. Eventually Sierra stopped coughing and gained control over her breathing.

“Sorry,” she said. “It’s this damn pneumonia. The stupid chemotherapy makes my immune system completely disappear, so I get infections all the time.”

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “My….my mom had cancer. So did my grandma. I know what can happen and I’m sorry.” Kurt looked away from Sierra’s curious eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to stop any incoming tears associated with remembering his mom being sick like Sierra was right now. Normally he was alright at controlling his emotions when he thought about his mom, but watching Sierra like this was flooding his mind with memories of his mom and visiting her every day after school and bringing her whatever craft he had made that day in school.

“Don’t be sorry Kurt,” she placed a cold hand on top of his warm one. “I’ll be fine. These infections always get me, but I always beat them,” she said strongly. Kurt gave her a weak smile in return.

“Back to what I was saying before, you and Blaine are so used to being told no. No you can’t do this, no you can’t like him, no you can’t dress like that, well…maybe that part doesn’t apply to you (which elicited an annoyed, Hey!, from Kurt). You have to give Blaine some time to really work through what he’s feeling. I know you might have it all figured out in your head, but for Blaine…it’s takes a little longer. Blaine is probably one of the smartest people you will ever meet. He’s amazing at math and can write an essay like no one’s business, but he’s really oblivious about figuring out his own feelings. He spends a lot of time making other people feel special and doesn’t take a lot of time to really think about himself. Just spend more time with him, he’ll figure everything out eventually. He goes back and forth a lot. He tries to convince himself that sometimes really good things won’t happen to him, because of his past and what he’s experienced. Just stick with him and he’ll come to accept that you’re there because you want to be.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are very wise for a sixteen-year old?”

Sierra shrugged. “I’ve been told it comes with the cancer. It makes you really evaluate life sometimes.”

They sat in silence for a little while, Kurt’s thoughts drifting over Sierra’s words.  Distantly, Kurt wondered where Blaine was and how he absolutely loved the blue scarf wrapped around Sierra’s head.

“I really love that scarf,” he mentioned, nodding towards her heard. “Where did you get it?”

Sierra looked at him seriously and rolled her eyes. “You and Blaine are so fucking soul mates it hurts.”

Kurt what just about to ask her what in the world she was talking about when Blaine bounded into the room. Somehow, he managed to gracefully collapse onto Sierra’s bed and wrap her in a hug without disturbing her many wires and tubes.

“Hi See! I missed you so much,” he mumbled into her neck.

“Hi Blainers, I missed you too. Now get off me.”

“Absolutely not,” he said in retaliation.

“Blaine…”she said, “I’m being serious. Please. I can’t breathe.” Her eyes were closed in some sort of distress and Blaine leaped right off of her when he registered the serious tone of her voice. Her chest was heaving with hyperventilation. She started to cough and wheeze again and Blaine just looked absolutely distraught.

Once she had calmed down, Blaine apologized profusely and he just had the saddest look in his eyes, even if he was trying to hide it. Kurt had absolutely no idea how he was able to handle this and it was breaking his heart.

Sierra had convinced Blaine with some of her biting wit that she was fine and suddenly they were conversing like nothing had every happened and that Sierra was fine. Kurt sat silently for the rest of the time, only slightly participating in the conversation between Blaine and Sierra. Only after about a half an hour, Sierra’s eyes were drooping from exhaustion and she was shooing them out of the room.

“Go enjoy your real people lives now, okay? I’m not going anywhere,” she said sleepily.  Kurt and Blaine started to walk out of the door when she called out to Blaine and apologized to Kurt, but she needed to talk to Blaine privately for a second.

Kurt nodded and walked out the door of the room, squeezing some hand sanitizer into his palms and rubbing them together.

Sierra

                Blaine looked at her like a confused puppy when she asked him to stay behind.

                “Get over here!” she whispered in a harsh voice.

                Blaine came closer to the bed and crouched down a little next to her head.

                “Blaine, are you freaking stupid? You brought Kurt here while I’m fighting pneumonia? You know how pneumonia makes me look and feel Blaine. For god sakes Kurt’s mom had cancer. His grandma had cancer. Could you not remember that? I was afraid he was going to fucking burst into tears just coming in here.”

                Blaine rubbed a hand over his face and groaned.

                “Shit. I totally forgot about his mom. I thought he would be fine because I’m used to seeing you like this and I just totally disregarded the fact that maybe coming to visit you could bring up memories he didn’t want to revisit. Which makes me sound bad. I’m sorry. But I wanted him to meet you really badly and I just kind of…”

                “Blaine,” she stopped him. “It’s okay. I get it. Now go fix it. Make it better. Use your magical hugging powers.”

                Blaine laughed and squeezed her hand. “Love you, See.”

                “Love you too Blainers, see you later.”

                “You bet,” he said with a wink. He waved once as he practically flounced out the door to join Kurt.  She looked at two of them, wistful. They were so much in love and they didn’t even realize it yet. Soon, she thought, before she drifted off to sleep.

Kurt

                Kurt waited alone outside Sierra’s door as he waited for Blaine to join him. He wondered what they were talking about and his cheeks flushed a little when he recalled the conversation he had with Sierra before Blaine’s arrival. Kurt felt heavy with sadness. Seeing one of Blaine’s most treasured friends like that hurt his heart. All he could think about was how his mom passed away from a complication of pneumonia. Like Sierra, the chemotherapy destroyed her immune system and the infection ended up ending her life.

                Blaine left Sierra’s room and bumped his shoulder against Kurt’s. “Ready to go?”

                Kurt merely nodded demurely in response. They walked silently to the elevator and Kurt could feel Blaine’s eyes on him. Once they had made it out to the car, Blaine stood in front of Kurt instead of unlocking the car doors and getting in.

                “Everything alright?”     

                Kurt didn’t even bother to hide the tidal wave of emotions that seemed to be flooding his brain.

                “How do you do it? Isn’t it hard for you to be around her like that when she’s so sick? Aren’t you scared?”

                Blaine pondered Kurt’s questions for a moment before answering. “I guess I’m just used to it. She’s been sick as long as I’ve known her and it’s just been a part of our relationship. It’s hard but…I try not to think about it. She usually looks a lot better than this, Kurt. I didn’t know she had pneumonia again. She looked a lot better when you were admitted and I met you. I haven’t seen her in a while. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you come. I know if must have been especially hard on you.”

                “It’s okay, I kind of forgot about it myself. It just kind of brought everything back up with my mom, you know? And it’s just so sad because she’s so young and…”

                Kurt was interrupted by Blaine’s arms wrapping around him in a tight hug. “I know. I get so scared sometimes too. But it’s easier just to think positive. Because she always gets better, she always does. And I’m sorry I made you experience that. I should have known. I was stupid about it. She’s going to be okay though, she’s fine,” Blaine rambled into his neck.

                Both boys comforted each other with soothingly rubbing each other’s backs. Once they pulled apart and discreetly wiped any stray tears from their cheeks, Blaine unlocked the car doors and they climbed into the jeep.

                “On a completely unrelated note, didn’t you love her scarf?” Kurt asked.

                “Oh my gosh, I know right? I got it for her for Christmas. I saw it at Macy’s and I absolutely could not resist. To this day I regret not buying myself one,” Blaine said, morosely shaking his head.

                Kurt was quite sure he was smiling like a total loon right now, but he didn’t even care.

                Soul mates.