Disclaimer: I do not own Glee in any way.

A/N: As ever, there is implied sex between Kurt and Finn, but nothing explicit.

Kurt's dreams are strange. He's running through dark tunnels, trying to outrun something - but he doesn't know what it is. All he knows is that it won't give up. Maybe, if he keeps running, he'll reach that light in the distance, and find safety.

Every minute or so, little creatures peek up at him.

"Please wake up, I need you, Kurt. I love you so much." A bat tells him.

"Everybody misses you, kid." A centipede says, and Kurt flicks it off his arm with a small shriek.

"I can't lose you. Not since I've just found you. She needs you too, Kurt." A little sparrow flies by him, and takes the left path in a fork when Kurt takes the right one.

"You're the best friend I've ever had, and I can't… I can't lose you." A mouse squeaks as Kurt hurries by.

"Kurt. Don't leave me. Alone. Laura, please - it can't be his time yet. Please."

Kurt stops, almost stumbling.

"Dad?" He whispers, and peeks to the side. There's a smaller tunnel, and there's no light there.

He looks up. The thing that is running towards him is still coming, and Kurt can hear it growling.

The light is tempting - it could be so good - but Kurt knows.

His dad needs him. Finn needs him.

And hell, Kurt still needs all of them, too.

He dives into the dark passage, and hits his head -

"Ow," Kurt whines, and his eyes open.

Kurt woke up slowly, to hear a beautiful soprano voice, clear and unwavering in song.

"Silver wings, they fly... They know the call of freedom and they're blessed. Some black hands against hte sky - with twisted rocks that run to the sea. Living on your western shore. Saw summer sunsets, asked for more. Stood by your atlantic sea and sang a song of Ireland…"

He looked up and saw Brittany sitting beside him. She was holding his hand.

"Brittany?"

"Oh!" She gasped, sitting up, and beaming at him. "You're awake!"

"Yes..." Kurt looked around the room. It was white, and cool, and rather forbidding. "Why... what... How did we get here?"

"Santana drove me over. She's making Finn and Quinn eat lunch. They haven't eaten since you fell asleep yesterday."

"Brittany - are we in the hospital?" Kurt sat up, and gasped as he fell right back, a sharp, burning pain in his chest.

"Oh - I'm supposed to call..." Brittany stood and ran to the door. "Calling the nurse! Calling the nurse! Kurt woke up!"

Kurt heard the sound of racing footsteps.

"Kurt!" Finn ran through the door, followed by Quinn and Santana. He said nothing more, just rushed to his boyfriend's side, and grabbed his hand.

"Hey," Kurt smiled at him. Finn's eyes were suspiciously damp.

Quinn grabbed Kurt's other hand and promptly burst into tears.

"It's okay," Kurt said, bewildered.

"No, its not," Santana said shortly.

"Why... what happened? Why am I here?" Kurt pleaded.

"That… that bastard got you," Finn choked out.

Kurt squeezed his hand.

"It was Gibson," Santana said crisply. Finn and Quinn looked far too upset to tell the story.

"He got you in the parking lot. We don't know how long he was beating you until Karofsky came along."

"Karofsky?" Kurt was even more confused.

"He pulled Gibson off of you, and was yelling until someone came. Ms. Pillsbury called 911… Mr. Shue got the club together, and we all came with."

"You're going to be okay," Quinn continued. "The doctor said your ribs are healing already, but you're going to be one big bruise for a while."

"I was so scared," Finn whispered, trembling, almost not believing that Kurt was awake.

"Gibson's going to jail," Santana added.

"Too bad," Finn snarled. "Makes it harder to kill him."

"Finn!" Kurt barked.

The other boy looked at him, worried again.

"I'm here," Kurt whispered, and pulled Finn in as close as he could with his weak arms. "I'm not leaving you."

"Good," Finn groaned, and he pressed his lips gently, cautiously, to Kurt's mouth. Kurt growled, and kissed him fiercely.

"I'm not dying, Finn. Kissing me isn't going to hurt me."

"Actually, kissing has been known to quicken the body's natural healing processes."

Kurt and Finn reluctantly looked away, and smiled nervously up at the doctor who had just come in.

"Hello, Mr. Hummel. I'm Doctor Humphrey. It's good to see you're awake. That means your concussion isn't as bad as it could have been."

"Yay," Brittany said cheerfully.

"Good," Finn whispered.

"There should be no permanent problems. But I'm recommending you stay here for another two days, allow your ribs to heal some more, and then confine you to bed rest - at home if you so choose - for a week."

"A week?" Kurt gasped. This was going to be awful...

"No need to be grumpy, now we all get to take care of you," Mercedes said happily. "Open up, airplane's coming in."

Kurt glared as he opened her mouth and allowed her to spoon feed him. Mercedes had insisted on feeding him, and she wouldn't take no for an answer. Normally Kurt wouldn't allow this sort of thing, but his arms still hurt… And that homemade chicken noodle soup smelled just smelled so delicious.

Finn and Quinn giggled like little girls.

"Vroom!" Mercedes said as she slipped the first bite into Kurt's mouth.

Kurt chewed slowly, looking supremely dignified.

His best friend looked at him expectantly.

"It's delicious," Kurt proclaimed.

"The mission was successful, Red Leader," Mercedes said in her deepest voice. "Returning to the base… Second run, captain?"

"Yes please," Kurt rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile. His friends knew just how to make him feel better.

It had been four days.

Four days of drudgingly miserable classes. Not even Glee was enough to cheer him up… Not without Kurt there.

Four days of strictly hands-off Kurt… His body was still one big bruise (every time Finn changed those bandages, he wanted to kill Gibson - damn the US legal system), so there was no hungry, possessive, you're-mine-and-I'm-never-letting-anyone-near-you-again sex happening.

"If I was a Colombian drug lord, I wouldn't have these problems," Finn muttered.

"What?" Kurt looked confused.

"Uh, do you want a cookie? My mom baked some for you."

"No thanks," Kurt sighed, then added, quite mischievously. "I'd rather have you."

Finn looked at him with wide eyes.

"I miss touching you," Kurt whispered.

"God, me too," Finn groaned. "But I don't want to hurt you."

"Not all of me is injured," Kurt lifted an eyebrow. He moved a hand to his waistband.

Oh, so it was a dare.

That explained how Finn's mouth went from Kurt's lips to another place in about twenty seconds flat. An embarrassingly short time later, Finn sat back up, looking quite satisfied as he licked his lips and carefully tucked Kurt back into his boxers.

"Ahhh," Kurt sighed blissfully. "I think you made my brain melt."

"Like ice cream." Finn grinned unrepentantly. "Only better." He kissed Kurt deeply, letting his boyfriend taste himself on his tongue.

Kurt smiled against Finn's lips and gently let his tongue slide along Finn's. It was good - just slow, and sweet as Kurt quivered through the last of his aftershocks. They stayed like that until Kurt ran out of breath.

"I love you." Finn said simply, and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend.

Kurt snuggled closer, and said those words right back. Amazingly enough, every day, he fell in love with Finn a little bit more.

He didn't think things could get much better than that.