This had to be one of the longest weeks of Blaine Anderson’s life and it was only Monday.

Blaine let out a longing sigh and desperately tried to focus in his third period AP Calculus, but it was no use. Trying to focus on anything that wasn’t Kurt Hummel was a lost cause. He turned to his left and whispered “Friday” to Tina, her face light up in an excited smile that was almost. Kurt and Mike Chang, Tina’s boyfriend of over two and a half years, would be flying home for their spring break after Kurt’s last final on Friday, and it would be the first time both of them will see their boyfriends since Christmas. Only for Blaine, this visit would be extra special. Friday would mark the two year anniversary of being with the man of his dreams. It baffled his mind that he and Kurt had been together for two years already. At times it seemed so much longer and shorter than that. They’d been through so much together, and two years later they were still together despite people’s attempts to break them up. But now wasn’t the time to think about Sebastian and how he still couldn’t seem to take the hint after over a year, and had all but cornered Blaine over the past weekend and demanded a date. Shuttering at the memory, he focused on what really mattered: Kurt was coming home in a matter of days. Blaine was quite proud with himself and the romantic plans he had made for his and Kurt’s anniversary. This weekend he was going to blow Kurt’s mind… among other things.

Blaine let out a groan of frustration as he began to feel his pants begin to tighten out of his desire for Kurt and that wonderful cock of his. It had been way too long since Blaine had his mouth, hands or any part of his body on Kurt’s cock. They’d had many naked Skype sessions and the occasional dirty text or phone sex, but it wasn’t the same. There was nothing that could compete with hearing the ungodly sounds Kurt made and seeing him writhe beneath Blaine as he came completely undone. Just thinking about all of the things he was going to FINALLY be able to do to his boyfriend that weekend made him harder than he wanted to be at school. Last year when Kurt had been there it wouldn’t have been a problem, they could have just snuck away into one of the many, many supply closets in McKinley and had a quickie before going on with their day. With Kurt off at NYU though, there was nothing Blaine could do about his growing problem other than think of Rachael and the fugly sweaters his sister used to wear before the infamous sweater intervention of ’10 that he and Kurt had organized.

Kurt. Sarcastic, loving, gorgeous, perfect for him in every way Kurt.

Another groan escaped Blaine without his permission, causing Tina to give him a sympathetic look.

“They’ll be here before you know it” Tina said to him as they headed to their lockers after class.

“I know,” Blaine replied as he fumbled trying to get his locker open, “I just miss him so much, and it’s been so long… I just wish it was Friday already.”

Just as Blaine exchanged his books for his next classes, all hell seemed to have broken loose in the crowded halls of McKinley.
“What the fuck?” Tina said as she turned to Blaine with a confused and slightly apprehensive look on her face.

“I have no id—“ as Blaine began to reply he was cut off by the unmistakable sound of gunfire in the halls.

Panic set in as Blaine grabbed Tina’s arm and began running down the hall with the rest of the students chaotically trying to get to safety.

“BLAINE ANDERSON” an enraged voice yelled.

Blaine turned at the sound of his name to find none other than Sebastian Smythe standing in the middle of the frantic halls. A manic look on his face and a gun in his hand.

“Oh God” Blaine uttered paralyzed with fear as Tina screamed and tried to pull him down the hall into a nearby classroom that teacher hadn’t managed to lock yet.

“I don’t think so Blainers” Sebastian said with a manic laugh, followed by the loud bang of a gun.

Blaine fell to the ground as Tina let out a blood-curdling scream. Pain the likes of which Blaine has never experienced was shooting through his left hip. He collapsed on to the ground sobbing in excruciating pain as Tina tried to stop the blood pouring out of the wound the bullet had made.

“You should have just said yes to me Blaine, we would have been so happy.” Sebastian leered as he approached the two seniors on the ground.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!?!?” Tina cried as she mopped up Blaine’s blood and applied pressure to the wound to get it to stop bleeding. The edges of Blaine’s vision were starting to darken.

BANG

There was a piercing cry, and suddenly Tina was on the ground next to Blaine clutching her now bleeding arm.

“I don’t believe I asked for your opinion Goth Girl” Sebastian sneered, smirking as he finally arrived just feet in front of the two wounded students gun still held tightly in his hand. “All you had to do was dump that pathetic excuse of a boy and we could have been happy, but you just wouldn’t see reason. I really wish there was another way Blaine, but you’ve made your choice. I’m sorry it had to end this way.”

Everything was almost dark to Blaine now. Sebastian was nothing more than the blurr of colors of the Dalton uniform in front of him; Blaine could almost see the rough shape of a gun if he squinted his eyes.

“POLICE! FREEZE AND PUT THE GUN DOWN!”

“Kurt…” Blaine moaned as Sebastian let loose one last manic laugh. The sound of gunfire was the last thing Blaine heard as his world went black.

*break*

Kurt sat up suddenly, nearly falling out of his seat. Beside him Mike tried to contain his laughter by coughing, but was failing miserably. Kurt shot him one of his milder bitch glares and casually reorganized himself and tried desperately to focus on the lecture the professor was trying to give. He honestly had no idea why he was even in class that day. It wasn’t like they were going to be learning anything new since their midterm had been the previous week, but Kurt never had been comfortable with the idea of skipping class, no matter how pointless the class was. And it didn’t get much more pointless than Intro to Environmental Studies. The only reason he was taking the class was so he could get his stupid science requirement out of the way. Given his way he would have much rather taken Improve and Comedy 101 or some other class that would go towards his theatre major, but instead he was stuck listening to the harms of DDT for an entire semester. By some miracle he had convinced Mike, who as a dance major only needed the basic science requirement, to take it with him.

After repositioning his laptop and textbook oh his makeshift desk in the lecture hall, Kurt tried to focus and shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong. He didn’t believe in God or signs from some higher power or whatever, but he couldn’t shake the thought that something was horribly wrong. In an attempt to get his mind off the tiresome lecture, and unexplainable feeling of unease he felt Kurt opened up his web browser and went to his fave celeb gossip website. He knew it wasn’t the best idea to blow off taking notes, but reading the ridiculous events of the Hollywood elite always seemed to put him in a better mood. (plus he got a major kick out of seeing the truly horrendous outfits some of these people thought were socially acceptable.)

Instead of his usual gossip articles, Kurt found a much more disturbing headline on his laptop screen: “OHIO HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING RESULTS IN THREE INJURED AND ONE DEAD.”

Kurt gasped as he felt the color drain from his face and it suddenly felt like there wasn’t enough air in the lecture hall. There was no need for him to panic; there were thousands of high schools in Ohio. No need for worry whatsoever. But still… Kurt quickly opened up a new tab to Google “Ohio high school shootings” just to make sure, as much as he loved his gossip sites, they were gossip and he needed to make sure this wasn’t some cruel joke. While the results loaded Kurt just barely noticed out of the corner of his eye, Mike looking over at what was on his computer.

“SHOOTER INJURES THREE AT LIMA HIGHSCHOOL”
“MCKINLEY HICH SCHOOL SENIORS IN HOSPITAL AFTER SCHOOL SHOOTING” “SHOOTER AT MCKINLEY IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER POLICE HAD TO USE FORCE TO TAKE GUNMAN DOWN”

“Mike… look…” Kurt breathed as he could continued to glance over the headlines, unable to believe what was right in front of him and which one would give the most accurate information. He clicked on an article that had a picture of two familiar looking forms being loaded into the back of an ambulance. One of them had dark hair that was breaking free of the gel that usually kept the unruly curls in place.

“no, No, NOOOOO” Kurt was screaming as the tears started falling from his face in a way they never had before. He was vaguely aware that he was still in class, and that everyone was looking at him. He knew he was making a scene, but he didn’t care. The picture wasn’t high quality and looked as if it might have been taken on someone’s phone, but Kurt would have recognized that hair anywhere. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the perfect curly headed boy in the picture, the one covered in blood being lifted into the ambulance. All that mattered was that Blaine was hurt and Kurt wasn’t next to him.

“TINA! NOOO!” Mike yelled in a voice and pitch Kurt had never heard the talented dancer utter before.

“What the hell is going on?” their professor explained, clearly annoyed at the two boy’s outbursts.

“Sorry sir…” He sobbed, “school shooting… his girlfriend, m-m-m-yy b-b-b-oyfriend. Oh god, BLAINE! I’m sorry, we have to go” Kurt was only slightly aware of the concerned looks from his fellow classmates and his professors murmered apology as he and Mike bolted out of the lecture hall.

Mike seemed to have gained a little bit more composure than Kurt, who was amazed he was still standing.

“B-b-b-laine. No, don’t do this-s-s-s. D-d-d-on-t-t lea-a-avee m-m-mee” Kurt sobbed, not quite sure when he ended up on the ground in the middle of the side walk.

“Kurt!” Mike all but yelled, as he pulled Kurt to his feet, “Listen to me. We need to stay calm and just focus on getting to them as soon as possible ok?”

Kurt took a few deep breaths and nodded as Mike continued “Go back to your dorm, throw cloths into your carry-on bag. You have thirty minutes to get your stuff together then we’re going to JFK and getting on the first flight back to Columbus. From there we’ll have one of our parents get us from the airport, or take a damn taxi if we have to. We WILL get to there and we WILL see them again. Got it?”

Too numb to do much else, Kurt just nodded and started running back to his dorm. No sooner had he entered his dorm building than the thought to call Rachael and tell her what was going on occurred to him. Without looking at his phone, he dialed her number and on the second ring heard a very annoyed Rachael Berry.

“This better be important Kurt, I’m about ready to head into an audition and you know how I get bef-” She started to say in a hushed, but clearly angry voice.

“There was a shooting. At McKinley… B-b-blaine… how soon can you get to JFK?”

*break*

The heavy Ohio rain pounded on the windows of Kurt’s old Navigator as Burt drove him, Mike and Rachael to Lima. It was almost like the sky was providing the tears Kurt’s body could no longer make. Kurt leaned his head against the cold car window, relishing in his the fact it enabled him to feel anything. Sometime during their flight he had stopped sobbing and had just gone numb. As they got more details as to what had happened, he only found himself getting more and more numb. When they landed Rachael and Blaine’s dads had gotten a hold of Rachael and filled them in on what had happened at school that day. Blind furry the likes of which Kurt had never felt before flared up inside of him when he found out it had been fucking Sebastian that had shot his love. Finding out that persistent whore had been the one to shatter his world… Kurt let out a satisfied smirk when he found out that Sebastian had died from blood loss. Apparently the police had clipped a main something or another when they had to shoot him to take him into custody.

“Hello? Do you have any updates Dad?” Rachael’s voice shook Kurt out of his own thoughts as he strained to hear any news about Blaine.
Rachael’s face fell and suddenly was paler than Kurt had ever seen it. NO, please… please let him still be alive. Come on Rach, say Blaine is alive. He HAS to be. Please, please, pleaseee say he’s alive. He can’t be, he just can’t be dea- No. Kurt wouldn’t even allow himself to think that word. Thinking it meant he was allowing it to be a possibility, and that was never going to happen. Blaine was everything. Kurt wanted, no needed everything with Blaine. It didn’t matter that he’d had to settle for NYU instead of NYADA, it didn’t matter the bumps they’d had in their relationship, Blaine was his life, his soul mate. And just thinking about the very real possibility that he wouldn’t be there anymore…

“Rach… please say something” Kurt pleaded, surprising himself with how devoid of emotion his voice sounded.

The slightest hint of a smile spread over Rachael’s face as she said her good-byes and hung up the phone.

“He made it out of surgery, he’s still heavily drugged and won’t be up for hours, but when we get there we can go see him.”

Kurt let out his breathe, not even aware that he had held it while Rach had been talking. Blaine was alive and soon Kurt would be able to see him, to hold him.

“Any news about Tina?” Mike hesitantly asked.

“She’s ok and awake. They were able to get the bullet out of her arm, but it’s going to take some time for it to heal fully, but from what my dads said it looks like she’s going to make a full recovery.”

“Dad, how much longer till we get there?” Kurt asked suddenly even more impatient to see Blaine than he had been since he first heard the news.

“We should be there in about twenty minutes bud,” Burt replied, accelerating ever so slightly. “Hang in there Kurt, you’ll be with him soon.”

Kurt nodded as he absently took Rachael’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze. She was probably the only one who could come close to understand all of the emotions he was feeling, Blaine was her little brother after all.

“We’ll see him soon, it’s going to be ok” Rachel took a moment to pause and smile before continuing, “Knowing him you’re going to be the first thing says and person he asks for once he wakes up.”

Kurt smiled softly at the truth in her words and sunk back into his own thoughts as the continued on towards the hospital, never letting go of Rachael’s hand.

The remainder of the car ride passed in a dreary blur. Once they reached the visitors parking at the hospital however, everything was thrown into sharp focus.

“Kurt! Wait for the rest of us son!” Burt yelled after Kurt who was out of the car and running as soon as his father had parked. Kurt ignored him as he ran into the hospital and all but slammed into the front desk.

“Anderson! Blaine Anderson. What room is he in?” Kurt asked the bored looking receptionist.

“I’m sorry sir, but that information can only be given out to family” she replied in a monotone voice.

Kurt heard someone approaching and found a very indignant looking Rachael Berry next to him with a blazing look on her face the likes of which Kurt hadn’t seen in years.

“I’m his older sister and Kurt is family. With that all cleared up, tell me what room my brother is in NOW.” Rachael smirked in satisfaction as the receptionist flinched at her words.

Once they got Blaine’s room number, they tore off down the hall running at top speed. Kurt couldn’t help but be filled with the same dread he had felt when he had been there when his father had his heart attack. No, what he was feeling now was far worse. While it would have been awful to lose his father, the pain of losing the love of his life was far more crushing. Kurt had known for a while that Blaine was the love of his life, but somehow almost losing him had made it more real to him. If he were to lose Blaine he would lose everything.

Rachael came to an abrupt stop, Kurt crashing into her and trying to regain enough of his balance so that he didn’t end up on the ground.

“Room 361” Rachael whispered as she grabbed Kurt’s hand as he went to open the door.

“Sweetheart. Kurt.” One of Rachael and Blaine’s dads engulfed Rachael in a back-breaking hug, but Kurt bearly noticed anything other than the gorgeous boy lying in the hospital bed in front of him.

“B-blaine” He tried hard to fight back his tears as Kurt sat down in the empty chair by Blaine’s bed, taking his boyfriend’s hand and placing a gentle kiss on it. If it weren’t for all of the tubes and machines hooked up to him, Blaine could have passed for sleeping peacefully. As horrible as the situation was, Kurt had never seen his boyfriend look more angelic. His curls were loose from the gel that usually imprisoned them, and he had a serene peaceful look on his face. The only indication of the shooting was the bulge of bandages on his hip underneath his hospital gown.

Kurt felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see one of the Mr. Anderson-Berrys giving him a half hearted smile.“The doctors said he should be awake anytime now. He’s going to be ok Kurt.”

“I know” the conviction in his own voice surprised Kurt “I’ll just feel better once he’s awake. Seeing him like this… knowing he can’t feel me holding his hand or hear me tell him how much I love him, I hate it.”

Only letting go to momentarily wipe way his tears, Kurt stayed there and held Blaine’s hand for what felt like forever, patiently waiting for his boyfriend to wake up. Kurt was vaguely aware of his own father leaving about half an hour after they had arrived saying Carole was giving him a ride back to the shop, but he was leaving the Navigator with Kurt so he could come home when he wanted. While the Anderson-Berry family and Kurt waited for Blaine to wake, Mike stopped by briefly to assure them Tina was ok. Her arm was in a sling, but she would make a full recovery and just to be safe the doctors were having her spend the night for observation. After a few hours the assurance that everything was going to be ok started to leave Kurt, undiluted fear taking its place.

After what felt like forever, Rachael asked the question that had been nagging at Kurt for the past half hour, but he was too scared of the answer to ask.“Papa, shouldn’t Blaine have woken up by now?”

Rachael’s dads exchanged a worried look at their daughter’s question.

“Let me go get a doctor and see if we can figure out what’s going on here.” With that Rachael’s Papa stepped out after a brief embrace with his husband and daughter. Time seemed to slow even more as they waited for some news from the doctors. Ten minutes later, Blaine’s father returned with a doctor and a grave look on both of their faces.

Kurt stepped back so that the doctor could do a more thorough inspection of Blaine’s condition and why it was taking so long for him to wake up. Blind fear began coursing through Kurt’s veins. What if Blaine wasn’t ok after all? What if he never woke up? Was it really going to end this way? Was Kurt doomed to sit idly by and watch as the love of his life died? No, he couldn’t think like that. Blaine was going to be ok, he had to be ok.

“Mr. & Mr. Anderson-Berry, I’m sorry but it seems your son has slipped into a coma.” It was a good thing the chair he had been sitting in was nearby or Kurt would have collapsed on the floor. Once again someone he loved dearly was in a coma, only he had so much more to lose this time if they never woke up. He tried to listen as the doctors explained what their speculations were for why Blaine had slipped into a coma, but all of it was lost on Kurt. All he could do was sit there letting the tears fall and he desperately clung to Blaine’s hand occasionally placing tender kisses on his comatose boyfriend’s hand wondering how long he would have to wait this time. Knowing that as more time passed the chances of ever seeing Blaine awake and smiling again grew decreased.

*break*

Over the next few days Kurt rarely left Blaine’s bedside, only leaving when the hospital kicked him out and even then he’d managed to spend the night a few times. Thanks to the media coverage, it seemed like everyone knew what had happened to Blaine and they were all coming to Lima to see their old friend. It touched Kurt to see all of his old friends from New Directions and the Warblers. He didn’t like to admit it, but he’d slowly started to lose contact with a bunch of them in the months since graduation and it was nice to see everyone again. Just not under these circumstances.

For the most part Kurt was pretty good at holding himself together and realizing the sympathetic looks from his friends were meant to be comforting, but they still felt like pity to him. Most people were at a loss of what to say after their initial “I’m so sorry”, making things even more depressing and awkward than before. Kurt found in interesting that his and Blaine’s friends from Dalton seemed to have a better grasp on dealing with the situation than Kurt’s old McKinley friends. The first time Kurt had been able to laugh since finding out about the shooting had been when Nick and Jeff had shown up with a mini Christmas tree covered in the most ridiculous bowties Kurt had ever seen. (He’d found out later that night that the one on top of the tree glowed in the dark.) Where they had managed to find a Christmas tree in Ohio in the middle of March was a complete mystery to him, but he was so grateful for the gesture he didn’t even bother to ask.

Friday morning dawned bright and early, and Kurt couldn’t help but feel like the weather was mocking him as he drove to the hospital. How could the sun shine when Blaine was in a coma on their two year anniversary? Why did the sun decide to penetrate the ever present Ohio clouds on today of all days? Kurt entered Blaine’s hospital room with his spirits more dejected than he had thought possible.

“What the –“ But the rest of Kurt’s sentence was cut off as Mercedes enveloped him in such a tight embrace he was fighting for air.

“Sorry Boo, I wish I could have been here sooner” She whispered in his ear as she loosened her hug, still keeping Kurt close to her. “We all know how hard today is gonna be for you, so we all wanted to be here for you and Blaine.”

Kurt could only stare at his friends in the room with what he was sure was a look equivalent to being hit over the head with a club. He’d seen most of them at some point this week; Mike and Tina had been there almost every day with him and Rachael. The Warblers had been in and out, only Nick, Jeff, and David were still in Lima, Wes had reluctantly had to leave the day before. But having all of them in the room, giving Kurt their love and support on his and Blaine’s anniversary, was so touching Kurt couldn’t help but cry softly.

“I’m not going to lie to you Kurt” Rachael began, “When you and my brother fist started dating I had some serious reservations” Kurt scoffed as the vivid memory of Rachael’s most spectacular fit ever came to mind when she has accidently walked in on them making out on the Anderson-Berry couch.

“It seemed absolutely ridiculous to me. My best gay and little brother dating? As if! But as time went on I saw how happy Blaine was with you and you with him. You two love each other so much a blind deaf mute could see your love.” Rachael’s voice cracked as she tried to fight through her own tears as she continued, “I used to think no one would ever be good enough for my little brother, until you Kurt. You make him so h-happy…”

Kurt took Rachael in his arms and they held each other for what felt like hours as they let the tears flow. When they finally broke apart, Kurt had the faintest smile on his face under the tears

“Thanks you guys, but if you don’t mind I’d like a little time alone with Blaine” Everyone nodded at Kurt’s request, quietly shuffling out of the room into the hall.

“We’ll be right outside if you need anything” Jeff said as he gave Kurt a quick hug before leaving the room.

Kurt walked over to his usual chair and sat down as he took Blaine’s hand in his own.

“Happy anniversary Blaine. I love you more than you will ever know.” Kurt pressed a light kiss to his forehead as he began to sing softly to his still boyfriend.

Live in my house, I'll be your shelter
Just pay me back
With one thousand kisses
Be my lover and I'll cover you, yeah

The truth of the words and the scene in which the reprise took place filled struck so close to home, Kurt didn’t even try to hold back the tears as his eyes started to well up.

Open your door, I'll be your tenant
Don't got much baggage, to lay at your feet
But sweet kisses, I've got to spare
I'll be there and I'll cover you

I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are my love
On life, all my life

Kurt had entirely given himself over to the song and was unaware of Rachael, and the others who had been in the hall, slipping back into the room.

I've longed to discover
Something as true as this is
So with a thousand sweet kisses, I'll cover you
(If you're cold and you're lonely)
With a thousand sweet kisses, I'll cover you
(You've got one nickel only)

With a thousand sweet kisses, I'll cover you
(When you're worn out and tired)
With a thousand sweet kisses, I'll cover you
(When your heart has expired)

Kurt didn’t notice as Rachael and the others joined in for the last refrain. He didn’t notice the sun breaking through the dreary Ohio sky. He wouldn’t have noticed Patti la Pone if she’d come strutting in right at that moment. The only thing in the universe was aware of was the slight tightening of the hand he was holding in his own. Of the very faint noise that escaped his boyfriend’s lips. Kurt’s heart swelled with hope as he finished the song

Oh lover, I'll cover you, yeah
Oh lover, I'll cover you
(525600 minutes)
(525000 seasons of love)
I'll cover you, oh

“K-Kurt… I love you Kurt” Kurt burst into tears at hearing his boyfriend’s voice and seeing him finally open his hazel-green eyes.

“BLAINE! I’m right here baby. Oh god, DOCTOR!” Kurt began sobbing uncontrollably as he began peppering his boyfriend’s face in quick gentle kisses.“Shh, everything is going to be ok. I’m right here Blaine, I’ll always be here. I love you.”

Blaine looked up at Kurt, tears filling his eyes, as he locked eyes with his boyfriend in what he hoped was a look that conveyed just how much he loved him.

“Always” Blaine sighed, unable to keep the smile off his face.