Rolling over helplessly in bed, Kurt felt his whole body sweat profusely. Trying to get up the courage to scream for his dad, a large shooting sting went through his head which made his whole body tremble. Falling out of bed to try and get his dad's attention, he dragged himself across the carpet to bang on his bedroom door. The knocking was too excruciating for Kurt to endure, he let out a shriek to try and mimic the pain he was feeling, he felt his body go completely numb and everything went black.

Burt looked around the plain and boring room, tapping his fingers against the chair. Jumping at every noise he heard near the door, he waited impatiently for the doctor to come in. After 10 minutes, the door creaked open and Burt shot up to shake the man's hand. Sitting back down as he reached his desk.

''Hello Mr Hummel, it's nice to meet you. My name is James Wilson and I am the Doctor that has been assigned to your son. I have to ask, but will Kurt's mum be joining us today?''

Burt shook his head slightly, ''She will not – err, no. She passed away last year.'' He looked down to his lap and began to twiddle his thumbs nervously.

James jolted slightly in his chair, ''I'm so sorry, that should have been in his fi-''

Burt interrupted ''-honestly, don't worry about it. We are here for Kurt, so have you found out what is wrong with him yet?''

Reaching down for his files, James flicked through some of the paper and nodded, ''Yes...I'm so sorry to tell you that it isn't good news either. It wasn't something we were expecting. It's not something we ever expect. Now, as soon as I tell you what he has it is going to be a shock and you will think the worse straight away, I know. But I can assure with the right treatment we think that he will be able to get through this. But, there is never a guarantee for full recovery. I'm so genuinely sorry to tell you this, I really am, and this is the downfall of the job. All the tests we ran and cleared the past couple of days all show that Kurt has leukaemia. If we found out any later than we did, there wouldn't have been much we could do. We believe we have caught it in time, you were so right to bring him in when you did.''

Standing up quickly Burt was shaking his head harshly ''cancer? No, this isn't happening. My son doesn't have cancer. No, he doesn't. You're lying, you have the wrong file and you've got it wrong! I'll sit and wait for you to correct your mistakes and tell me what's wrong with my son...I'm telling you he doesn't have...cancer'' he shouted before falling to his knees in heart-breaking sobs, resting his face in his hand, sobbing hysterically. ''He can't have cancer, my boy - my boy...he is only nine years old. Just nine. Please tell me you're lying...'' Burt felt the air fill his lungs and trapped in the back of his throat, making his speech scattered ''please.''

James ran to his side and rubbed his back. ''I'm so sorry, we're going to do everything we can to keep him alive.'' He helped Burt back into the chair and knelt down next to him. ''The world is cruel, I know. But I am going to do everything in my power to help your boy and I will not stop till he okay, I'm going to be there to help him with everything that he needs. I don't make that promise as a doctor, I make it as a father.'' He rubbed Burt's thigh and perched himself on his desk. ''I can explain this to Kurt, if you would like me to, I can answer any questions he may have or may be difficult for you to explain?'' Burt couldn't do anything but nod shortly at James, not being able to show how truly grateful he was.

Kurt could hear a beeping of some kind very close to him; he could pick out small chattering voices and the sound of rushed people. Opening up his eyes slowly he saw brightly coloured walls full of painted dinosaurs, animals and Disney characters. The sight made him smile slightly, but then looking around he saw other children in hospital beds. Why was he at the hospital? He didn't feel ill but then over the sound of his own thoughts the shooting pain came back, making him chuck his head into his hands to try and support or stop the throbbing. A nurse in a blue uniform came running over to his side and rubbed his back.

''We're going to get you some medicine sweetie; the pain is going to go away.'' The nurse put some medication into the tubes linking into his arm and the pain subsided slightly. ''Now honey, the doctors are just talking with your dad and he'll be right back. Do you want me to stay with you while he isn't here?''

Kurt tried to hold back the tears and grabbed hold of the nurses hand, ''Yes please mam...I would really like that.'' He laid slowly back down to his raised pillows and looked around. ''Why am I here?'' he asked muddled.

She looked at him kind-heartedly, ''well a few days ago you were really ill and your dad brought you in to let the doctors make you all better.''

Kurt looked at the nurse confused; he didn't remember being brought in. How long ago was it? He thought to himself for a moment and squeezed the nurse's hand. ''Oh...okay....' He shook his head slowly and thought again for a moment 'if I could please ask what is your name mam?'' he asked sweetly.

Giggling quietly she rubbed Kurt's arm, ''my name is Carole sweetie. It's a pleasure to meet you.'' She looked behind her for a moment at the sound of deep muffled voices ''oh look your dad is back, you can chat to him.'' She smiled and let go of Kurt's hand, as she walked past Burt she sympathetically put her hand on his shoulder and walked off without saying anything. Kurt shook it off and sat up at the sight of his dad, ''daddy, you're here!'' he said raising his voice slightly but regretting it after when the pain come back doubled.

''Hello son, how are you feeling? Sorry I wasn't here for when you woke up, got chatting to the doctors'' he sighed and sat in the hospital chair next to Kurt's bed.

''What's wrong with me daddy? Could you please tell me?'' he asked curiously.

Burt looked around him for some kind of support and looked at the man standing in a white coat behind him and nodded.

He stepped forward and he too patted Burt sympathetically on the shoulder. Kurt furrowed his brow slightly. ''Hello Kurt, my name is Doctor Wilson and I'm your doctor. When you came into the hospital the other day I got the job of finding out exactly what is wrong with you. Now, we run some tests when you were sleeping and we discovered that you have a disease called Leukaemia and it's a type of cancer. I know that these words may not be understood by you, but this illness is very dangerous, they are to anyone. But because you're young, we have to be extra careful with how we treat it. We are going to be putting you through something we call chemotherapy, to try and get rid of the cancer but it is going to make you even more ill before you can get better.'' The doctor looked at Burt sobbing in his chair and moved closer to Kurt leaning on the bed rails. ''You have nothing to worry about bud, the hospital is where you need to be.'' He nudged Kurt's arm playfully and smiled. ''If you need me or have any questions, just ask for Wilson and I will be right here.'' He winked and walked back slightly, patting Burt again before he walked back out into the hallways.

Kurt didn't really understand what the doctor had told him and looked at his dad with pain filled tears, ''daddy why are you crying?''

Burt wiped his face and head with his hands and jumped up. ''I'm not, I just don't like seeing my boy ill.'' He smiled and looked around. ''Do you want some ice cream son? I'm sure the lovely nurse Carole will get you some if you ask nicely enough.'' Kurt nodded excitedly as Burt called out for Carole.

The smiling nurse walked over quickly ''what can I do for you two boys?'' she asked cheerfully.

''Well, could I pretty please have some ice cream?'' Kurt asked sweetly. He lowered his voice and spoke directly to Carole ''it's for my dad really, he was just too scared to ask.'' Burt chuckled and Carole laughed with him.

''Sure honey, what's your favourite flavour? Or Burt...what's your favourite?'' scrunching her nose she giggled lightly.

He thought for a moment ''His favourite is erm – Vanilla...please.'' Grinning widely.

She nodded happily, ''I'll be right back sweetie!'' Kurt shouted ''thank you'' as she skipped off.

''So, how are you feeling son, do you want me to get you anything?'' Burt asked, not really knowing what to say.

''The nurse gave me something erm –'he shrugged 'but it made me feel much better thank you'' he thought silently for a moment ''what does cancer mean dad?''

Burt's heart dropped to his feet. How was he going to explain this to his nine year old son?

After a long moment Burt shook his head, ''look son...you need to under-'' Burt's voice cracked as he tried to think of a way to explain it and he was fighting the tears again. Their privacy curtain drew back slightly and a woman appeared from around it. It was another one of the parents from the oncology ward. It was a woman, who had her brunette curly hair tied back into a pony tail and beautiful hazel but tired eyes, the dark circles were hard to miss. She didn't stand very tall and wore a baggy sports top and jeans; she looked at Burt compassionately and then to Kurt, she walked over to Burt's side and guided him out of view from Kurt and then walked back to his side. ''That is a question for Doctor Wilson, he has all the answers you need.'' She smiled widely. ''Kurt is your name, right?'' he nodded slightly and the lady smiled at him. ''Well hello Kurt, my name is Annabelle. Is it okay if while I just have a little chat with your daddy, you could keep my son company, I'd really appreciate it if you could?''

Kurt nodded again slightly. ''Yeah, okay.'' He smiled at the lady and waved to his dad who had his back to Kurt, barely in sight.

''Why thank you'' she pushed back the curtain to as far as it could go ''this is Blaine Anderson.'' She smiled and walked away with his dad.

Looking over at Blaine, Kurt happily waved ''hello.'' He said sweetly.

Blaine smiled widely over at Kurt, Blaine was a small boy who had lost a lot of his hair, and he had dark circles around his eyes just like his mom and was the palest Kurt had ever seen someone.

Blaine waved back and shyly spoke ''Hi. Do you have cancer too?''

Kurt nodded, ''Yes, well...I've been told I do. But I don't really know what it is. Are you okay? You don't look very well. How old are you? How long have you been here?'' Kurt kept asking question after question not really leaving enough time for Blaine to reply. At the moment Blaine opened his mouth to talk; Carole walked in with the ice cream and passed it to Kurt with a spoon.

''Thank you so much'' he said gratefully and then lowered his voice ''could I have another spoon please?'' She creased her eyebrows and reached into her pocket ''taa-daah!'' Kurt reached for the spoon and thanked her again as she walked back into the busy corridor.

''Hey, would you like to share this with me, Blaine?'' Kurt asked kindly as he hopped out of bed, wheeling his drip with him.

Blaine sat up weakly and nodded happily ''yes please! Is it vanilla? That's my favourite!'' Kurt passed him the spoon and rested the ice cream between them. ''so how old are you?'' he asked again reaching for a mouthful of ice cream.

As Blaine done the same, he stopped to answer ''I am eight.'' He smiled weakly and looked back at Kurt. ''How old are you?'' he asked finishing his mouthful of ice cream.

''I am nine.'' He half smiled and continued to stare at Blaine; he was worried about how pale and ill he looked. ''Are you okay?'' he asked again.

Blaine nodded, ''yeah I am okay, just tired. I had some chemo today and it makes me really sleepy.'' He put down his spoon on the bedside table, ''thank you for sharing this with me but I would really like to get some sleep now.'' He yawned widely as his eyes shut closed without a warning. Kurt stared at Blaine for a moment, ''sleep well'' he whispered and got up silently, trying to tiptoe back to his bed, he realised how tired he was too, he climbed under the covers and closed his eyes, letting himself go to sleep as soon as his eyelids met. Unaware of the years he had ahead of him.