Burt cleared his throat and Blaine tensed, anticipating whatever it was Burt was going to say. After he'd finally calmed down last night Burt and Finn had left him alone with Carole and he was grateful to them for respecting his space like that. Carole had stroked his head until he'd finally fallen asleep and whilst he'd still not had a good night's sleep none of his other nightmares we're severe enough to wake the rest of the household. He was fully expecting Burt to bring up what had happened last night though and he cringed at the thought of Burt having witnessed him being so weak. But Burt clearly had something else on his mind.

"When did you say you're parents would be back?"

The question took him completely by suprise and he found himself unable to come up with a decent answer. He should have realised that this would come up at some point but he felt like he was juggling so many lies at the minute he'd almost forgotten about this one. Of course he'd known that at some point Burt would want to hand responsibility of him back to his parents but he'd honestly hoped he could just stay here for now, no questions asked. At least until Kurt came out of the hospital in a couple of days. He really didn't want to go home right now because whilst it was hard trying to pretend he was allright around all these people, he was worried what would happen when he was finally on his own, when he didn't have anyone to put an act on for. But the nightmare he'd had last night had obviously tipped Burt off as to how weak he was and he couldn't blame the man for not wanting to have to deal with all his insecurities on top of everything else he was dealing with. After all Burt had his own son to look after. It was probably for the best that he leave before Burt found out just how pathetic he really was.

"Um I didn't" he admitted.

Burt frowned at him. "Well why don't you tell me now then".

"I don't think they are, at least not any time soon."

"What?" Burt glanced at Carole narrowing his eyes at Blaine's admission.

"Honey do they know what happened?" Carole asked.

"Kind of" Blaine admitted.

"What do you mean kind of?" there was a steely edge to Burt's voice now.

"I told them I was attacked but I didn't really get a chance to explain everything" Blaine realised that he wasn't doing a very good job of explaining himself. But how could he explain the relationship he had with his parents. That it wouldn't really have mattered what had happened, that his dad would always put his reputation and standing in the community above all else and that his mother would never go against his father's wishes. Blaine hadn't told them much of what happened that night because he didn't want to have to face the fact that they really wouldn't have cared.

"Well maybe you should let me explain it to them" Blaine could tell that Burt was trying to keep his temper in check and he assumed his anger was directed at him. "Give me your cell phone Blaine". He put his hand out and Blaine knew there was no point resisting. He reached into his pocket and passed his phone over to the older man.

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Burt was trying very hard to not get angry as he scrolled through the names on the screen. He wasn't sure who he was more mad at Blaine for keeping so many things to himself or his parents for not digging a little deeper. He stopped on the word dad and hit send.

The phone was answered almost immediately and an irritated voice spoke. "Blaine I'm in the middle of a very important meeting right now can't this wait ".

"This isn't Blaine, Mr Anderson" Burt was impressed by how calm his voice sounded because that wasn't how he was feeling at all.

"Oh" that seemed to bring the other man up short. "Then who am I speaking to?"

"Burt Hummel, Kurt's father".

"Oh" that word again but this time Burt could hear the sneer in the man's voice.

"My wife and I we're wondering when you we're going to be back to see Blaine?".

"Well my business trip won't be finished until the middle of next week, so some time after that I would expect. Is there some reason that you're asking? I was under the impression that Blaine was fine, he told my wife that he didn't need to stay in hospital for any reason".

Burt couldn't believe what he was hearing from the man.

"He's not badly injured, but..." before Burt could say anything else the other man interupted him again.

"Then I'm not entirely sure why you're calling me Mr Hummel. Blaine is old enough to be able to look after himself by now. If I came running every time he has a run in with some bullies he's never going to learn to stand up for himself now is he?" God the man sounded patronising.

"This wasn't just some bullies" Burt could see Blaine squirming in his seat at the words. "These we're grown men that attacked our sons".

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before a slightly less sure voice replied. "I didn't know that". He seemed to pause to collect his thoughts. "Still it's not like Blaine hasn't been through this before, after all this lifestyle these boys choose to lead is bound to bring unwelcome attention. Blaine is just going to have to live with the consequences of his choices and man up".

Burt put the phone away from his ear for a moment and shut his eyes. He had no idea what to say to this man. When he opened his eyes he found Blaine staring back at him intently. His heart broke for the boy in front of him, Blaine had hinted before that his dad wasn't exactly accepting of him being gay but Burt had no idea that the man was this much of an insensetive jerk.

He put the phone back to his ear and let some of what he was feeling out "My son and yours we're beaten by three grown men who left them bleeding and alone in an alley. My son was knocked unconcious and yours had to sit with him in that disgusting place all alone until help arrived. I think Blaine knows more than enough about being a man" he saw Blaine wince at the word and tried not to think about what the boy must be thinking right now. "However he is still a seventeen year old boy who needs his family right now and if you aren't going to be there for him then my wife and I are more than willing to step up to the plate on that one."

"I really don't think that you have any right to speak to me like that about my own son" Burt was glad to hear that the man could get angry about something, he just wished he could feel as strongly about his son as he did about being insulted.

"I have every right, last night my son spent the night in a hospital bed and my wife spent the night comforting yours, I think I have every right to say whatever I damn well feel like saying to you."

"The fact is, this is irrelevant. I'm in the middle of a very important business deal at the moment. there's just no way I can just leave. I'm sure you can understand that".

"To be frank no I don't. When you finally decide just what is more important to you, Blaine will be at my house, I hope you don't take to long to figure it out" Burt hung up the phone without giving the other man chance to respond.

One look at Blaine's face made him wish he'd made the call in another room, the boy had enough to deal with without having to listen to him argue with his father like that.

"I'm sorry Blaine" he said putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Blaine shrugged it off though and stood up from his chair.

"It's okay it's not your fault" Blaine muttered under his breath. "I'll just go get ready then we can go see Kurt right?" he seemed to want to ignore everything that had just happened. Burt gave in with a sigh not wanting to upset him anymore.

"Yeah Blaine we can go see Kurt". Blaine gave a small smile and headed upstairs.

Burt waited until Blaine was out of earshot before exploding.

"That man is unbelievable, I just don't understand people like that?"

"That bad huh?" Carole hadn't said a word until now but Burt could tell she'd picked up enough from his end of the conversation to make her own mind up about Blaine's father.

"Do you know what he said? He said Blaine needed to man up" Burt voice cracked on the word man.

Carole just shook her head at that piece of information.

"No wonder Blaine didn't tell him much, he's got enough to deal with without his father dumping that sort of crap on him" Burt still couldn't believe the conversation he'd just had.

"Some people just..." Carole trailed off as Finn came into the room followed by Blaine. "Oh okay guys I guess we're ready then, let's go see Kurt."

Carole threw the unwashed pots in the sink to deal with later and the four of them headed off to spend another long day at the hospital.

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Mercedes and Rachel had shown up almost as soon as visiting hours started and the rest of the New Directions trickled in as the morning progressed, even Mr Schuester had popped in at one point to make sure Kurt was okay. His room was full to bursting point and he couldn't help smiling as he looked around at everyone. He knew he was so lucky to have such supportive friends.

"Anyway I spoke to my dads about all this" Rachel was saying " and they said to tell you if you need any kind of legal help, or someone to deal with the police for you then they'll be more than happy to help. Obviously this is something that they both feel really strongly about, what with them both being gay and all. Not that you need to be gay or anything to find this just awful. I mean I cried for about an hour last night after Mercedes rang to tell me what happened. I mean it's just so terrible what happened to you and Blaine."

Kurt glanced over to where Blaine was sitting at the back of the room, whilst prentending to listen to the small girls seemingly endless talking. Kurt was worried, even with all the bruising he could see that Blaine's uninjured eye was puffy from lack of sleep, when he'd leaned in to kiss him on the cheek earlier he'd been suprised at how sweaty he'd felt. Judging by the looks his dad, Carole and Finn kept shooting the other boy he had a feeling he wasn't the only one with concerns. He loved the fact that all his friends had come to see him but right now he wanted nothing more than to be alone with his boyfriend so he could really talk to him.

"Kurt did you hear what I said?" Rachel interupted his thoughts.

"Err something about your dads being gay right?" Kurt turned his attention back to her. The comment earned a chuckle from Puck.

"Not quite, I suppose I can't expect you to really pay attention with all the drugs they've got you on". Rachel conceeded. When Kurt looked back over to where Blaine had been sitting he was suprised to see the chair empty. As he looked towards the door he saw Santana slipping out of the room.

"I'll go check" she mouthed the words to him as he looked at him and he nodded to her, relieved that she'd noticed Blaine leaving. He turned his attention back to the other people in the room and tried not to worry too much.

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Blaine needed air. There we're just too many people in the room. He could feel himself getting hotter and hotter. Rachel's voice sounded like a jackhammer in his head making his already pounding head ache even more . He kept catching people glancing at him but every time he caught their eye they would look away as if embarressed . He tried to take slow deep breaths but the pain in his ribs was making that almost impossible and with every passing second the urge to vomit was getting stronger. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and he lurched to his feet and left the room trying not to draw attention to himself. As soon as the door shut behind him however he dropped all pretense and ran for the nearest restroom. Throwing open the door he noted with relief that he was the only one in there. He just managed to make it to stall before he fell to his knees and threw up into the bowl. All he managed to bring up was bile from his nearly empty stomach. The heaving and retching pulled on his already painful chest causing his eyes to water. He sat back from the toilet gasping as his vision started to grey around the edges. He tried to get to his knees, to stand and that's when his body finally gave out. His vision went black as he pitched backwards onto the bathroom floor.

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