Blaine had decided that he was going to surprise his boyfriend by coming to whisk him away during Glee practice. Ever since Kurt had transferred back to McKinley quality time had become hard to come by. So he felt justified in steeling him away for an afternoon to 'catch up'.

There weren't many cars in the parking lot and the school was mostly vacant so he just strode right in. He figured it wouldn't be too hard to find the choir room, just follow the sound of singing, or yelling. Kurt's fellow Glee members seemed to be good at that.

He walked past a few classrooms but then paused when he heard a noise coming from the girl's bathroom. Blaine pressed his ear against the door trying to make out the sounds, yes someone was in there and they sounded like they were sobbing.

He hesitated a moment before looking around, there was no one in the halls so he just slipped in to see if maybe they needed help.

Blaine moved cautiously to the bathroom stalls where the noise was coming from. He saw the far end stall open with someone curled inside.

"Um excuse me, are you alright?" he asked as he approached the stall. He paused, frozen in place when he saw who it was that was crying.

"Santana?"

She looked up at him with genuine surprise. Her hair was a mess and her cheeks were stained with her black mascara that was running down with her seemingly endless tears.

"Go away," she croaked, clutching herself more tightly and turning away from him.

He knelt down and settled a hand gently on her shoulder, pulling her to look at him. He'd never seen someone this broken up, she reminded him of Kurt when he'd opened up about Karofsky. It was the look of utter hopelessness and anguish burning through her eyes.

"Santana what's wrong?" he asked softly, rubbing the pad of his thumb across her cheek trying to wipe away the tears.

She pursed her lips and shook her head, overcome with another wracking sob she fell into his arms. He held her close, smoothing out her unruly hair.

After a few more minutes she finally settled down enough to speak, "Dike, the called me a dike," she said quietly.

"Who called you that?"

"Some of the cheerios, they cornered me on my way to Glee practice and shoved me against a locker. They tried to cut my hair, said that if I wanted to go around being a dike I ought to look the part too."

He was completely still, was there no limit with these people? Could they honestly not leave people alone?

"I'm so sorry," he finally said.

"You don't deserve that, those girls and anyone for that matter, has no right to ridicule you for simply being who you are."

He hugged her tightly for a brief moment before pulling back to stand up, "Come," he said offering his hand to her. She took it hesitantly and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He helped her clean her face off and fix her hair before pulling her out of the bathroom.

They walked down the hall in silence. She kept her arms folded tight against her body. He'd never seen her so vulnerable before and it made his heart hurt. As they walked on he could faintly hear singing coming from down the hall.

Santana paused, looking in the direction of the choir room. "Why don't we skip practice today?" he suggested before grabbing her hand and leading her out to the commons.

They sat down on the steps and fell into silence but Blaine noticed the faint smile tugging on her lips.

"So you're gay and all?" she said, breaking the silence.

They both shared a laugh at the question. "Yes I am very well gay. And apparently you are very much a lesbian."

"I don't like labels," she said quickly.

"No one does, so how about I be Blaine and you be Santana?"

She smiled a little broader this time before her face grew serious again. "I'm just scared; I'm scared because before today I had always known that things like this could happen. I saw what they did to Kurt."

Blaine's fists clenched at the thought, he couldn't help the slight anger that boiled within him at the mention of Kurt's own terrifying bullies. Terrifying enough to drive him away from his own school.

"I just always thought that I'd be able to take it, like he did. But it just seems like everything is against me and I am left her all alone."

"That's not true," he said, resting a hand on her knee, "Kurt's here, he'd understand your situation."

"But Kurt has you and Artie has her," she said hopelessly.

"Brittany," he said softly. He didn't know why he hadn't figured that out sooner, maybe Kurt was right. Maybe he was a tad oblivious sometimes.

"I'm sorry, I know how it feels to have feelings for someone and not have them reciprocated."

"It's not just that, she loves me too, she said so herself. But what really got to me today was the realization that maybe it would be best if I wasn't with her."

"What do you mean?"

"What happened today was only a taste of what's to come. And I know that I'm strong enough to take it, but what about Brittany? She's just so, so..."

"Sweet," he finished for her.

"Yes, sweet and loving, and so many things that I don't want them to hurt her too," she said almost desperately.

Blaine watched her for a moment. It was amazing to see how much Santana cared for her. She had never really come off as the emotional type but it was obviously Brittany's influence that did this to her.

"I know that it may be hard, no one wants to see the one they love be pushed around," he said.

"Then how do you do it?" she asked.

"When it comes to the person you care most about you just have to believe that you'll be able to be enough; that when something bad happens to them that you'll be able to comfort them. It's impossible to protect them from everything, no matter how hard you try."

She nodded, letting it all sink in. "Thanks Blaine, I'm glad Kurt has you."

"I'm glad to have him. And Brittany is lucky to have someone that cares so much for her."

He realized that they weren't all that different. It pained him to hear the things that people had called Kurt or the horror stories of his time here before he transferred. They just wanted to keep the ones they loved safe, even if that meant getting shoved or have words thrown their way every now and then because they had someone that was worth it.

They walked back to the choir room where everyone was already leaving. Blaine spotted Brittany waiting at the door with arms open to receive Santana in. He smiled at the pair, things weren't exactly perfect for them but he hoped that someday they could be.

"Blaine!" He heard the familiar voice that he loved so much.

He turned in time for Kurt to practically jump into his arms. "This is such a huge surprise, I'm so happy to see you; I've missed you so much."

Blaine cut him off by pressing his lips to Kurt's. He sighed into the kiss; it was like taking a huge gulp of much needed air. When he reluctantly pulled back Kurt was beaming at him, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Thank you Kurt," he said softly.

"For what?" he asked.

"For being here, with me, thank you."

Kurt pressed his lips to his once more, "You know I'd never want to be anywhere else but here with you."