Fic: Put Me Back Together
Title: Put Me Back Together
Author: truthaboutglee
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Discussion and detailed description of an injury resulting in a lot of blood, needles and a person having a phobia of blood and needles. If you have any kind of medical squick, I would suggest not reading this.
Word Count: 7,000
Summary: Kurt and Blaine were looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home together, when a kitchen accident forces them to make a trip to the emergency room. Kurt is left trying to comfort a very terrified Blaine. This is pure hurt/comfort & fluff.
Author's note: Thank you to gameboycolor and Caroline for looking over this for me. This fic is set in my A Broken Fall 'verse (in the future), however both of my betas have read this without reading the 'verse and they enjoyed it, so it can be very much stand alone, but it helps to read the 'verse to get an understanding of the characterizations.
Warnings: Discussion and detailed description of an injury resulting in a lot of blood, needles and a person having a phobia of blood & needles. If you have any kind of medical squick, I’d suggest not reading this.
“Hi! I’m home!”
Kurt set down the knife he was holding on the counter and wiped his hands with a towel. Blaine had been working late every night for the past week and Kurt was anxious to greet him at the door. They had barely seen each other since the weekend and Kurt decided to cook them both a nice dinner so they could catch up and make some plans for the weekend.
He grabbed the wine glass filled with Blaine’s favourite Cabernet and walked over to the foyer, where Blaine was shedding his shoes and jacket and shoving his bag on the floor.
“Hi, Blaine! You’re home early,” Kurt said, leaning over to peck Blaine on the cheek and hand him the glass of wine.
“Mmm, thanks, love,” he said, kissing Kurt’s lips softly in return. “I didn’t have much choice. I received a text message from some guy named Kurt Hummel, who said he’d withhold sex for the weekend if I wasn’t home by 6pm.”
“Sounds like a smart guy,” Kurt said playfully, wandering back into the kitchen.
“The smartest,” Blaine agreed. “So, what are you planning for dinner?”
“I was thinking about the penne primavera that you tried that last time when we went out to eat at that little Italian place around the corner. I’m trying my hand at it.”
“Sounds delicious! Do you need any help?”
“Actually yes,” said Kurt. He grabbed the knife he had discarded earlier and handed it to his boyfriend. “You can chop these veggies up while I take care of the chicken.” Kurt knew better than to let Blaine be in charge of anything that required the use of the stove.
“You know, maybe if you tried to teach me how to cook properly, I wouldn’t burn anything,” Blaine whined.
“Well, Blaine, I don’t really feel like risking the chance of our apartment going up in flames if I have to leave for a minute to pee or something,” said Kurt, lowering the flame on the burner in front of him as a precaution.
“I saw that, Hummel,” said Blaine, poking him in between the shoulder blades before turning back towards the counter to start cutting up the vegetables in front of him.
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Blaine. Now, get going on the vegetables. I want to actually eat at a decent time tonight.”
Blaine huffed and got back to work. He chopped as Kurt minded the sautéing chicken and bubbling sauce on the stovetop. They conversed freely about their day; Blaine talking about finishing the project he had been working hard on all week and Kurt about the designs he had drawn that day in class.
“Oh, and Rachel called and left me a very interesting voicemail. Something about Jesse St. James and a change of heart and how he’s a different person or something like that. I haven’t called her back yet. I don’t even want to deal with that can of worms on our weekend off together,” said Kurt, disdainfully.
“Jesse St. James? Really?” Blaine asked exasperatedly, turning towards Kurt while still chopping vegetables. “I know I wasn’t around for that whole fiasco, but I’m pretty sure once someone throws eggs at you and then shows up a year later to ask you to the junior prom, while also single-handedly insulting everyone in your Glee club, there’s a….” Blaine cut off with a soft gasp. The clang of the knife hitting the counter caused Kurt to turn around from the stove.
“There’s a what, Blaine?”
Blaine stood perfectly still at the counter with his eyes look downwards at his left hand. Kurt followed Blaine’s gaze to see blood gushing down from his fingers onto the white cutting board before inhaling sharply and moving into action.
“Blaine…” he called out, trying not to panic. “You’re fine. It’s okay.” Kurt grabbed a clean dishtowel from the drawer across from him and went over to Blaine, who was looking paler by the minute.
He grabbed Blaine’s trembling hand and wrapped his fingers tightly with the dishtowel.
Pressure to stop the bleeding, he thought, reverting back the simple first aid training he had taken years ago. Get him away from the blood.
Kurt turned the burners off on the stove and moved the pots and pans so the food wouldn’t burn. He grabbed another clean dishtowel and his cellphone before leading Blaine to the living room.
Blaine was silent in shock beside him. It was no secret that Blaine was terrified of blood. The first time they had turned on the heat at night in their apartment, Kurt woke up to the sound of Blaine falling off the bed. Apparently Kurt’s nose had started to bleed because of the dry air and when Blaine had woken up to see blood covering Kurt’s face and pillow, he had literally fallen out of bed out of fear.
“Blaine…are you okay? Do you want some water? Are you going to throw up?” Kurt asked, still trying to remain calm. He didn’t know how deep the cut to Blaine’s fingers was or if he’d needed to drag Blaine to the ER to get stitches. Blaine remained silent and stared at Kurt with glossy, unfocused eyes.
“Blaine!” Kurt snapped his fingers in front of Blaine’s face, trying to garner a response from his boyfriend.
“Shit…”he mumbled. He grabbed his cellphone and hit speed dial #3.
It rang several times before Blaine’s mom answered the phone with a terse,“Dr. Anderson.”
“Hi, Sara. It’s Kurt.”
“Oh! Hello, Kurt darling. How are things?”
“Um…not so good, Sara. Blaine accidentally cut his fingers when he was cooking and they are bleeding quite a bit.”
“Did you apply pressure?” she asked.
“Yes, I did. I wrapped a dishtowel tightly over them.”
“Alright, are they still bleeding a lot?”
“I don’t know…it just happened two minutes ago. I haven’t had a chance to look. Blaine’s acting strangely though. I don’t know what to do.”
Blaine was still standing still next to Kurt. He was barely blinking and he was breathing slow, heavy breaths. His face was as white as a sheet, and he almost looked a little green around his lips.
“Is he just sitting there and not saying anything? Really pale? Almost looking like he’s going to vomit?” Sara asked.
“Yes, he does.”
“He’s in shock. Just give him a little slap on the cheek. He’ll snap out of it and go into panic mode.”
“And by panic mode you mean…?”
“Well, he’ll probably be in hysterics. Right now he probably has enough adrenalin in his system to numb the pain. But once he snaps out of his trance, he’ll realize that he’s bleeding and that he’s in pain. And he’ll panic. It won’t be anything you can’t handle, Kurt. I’m sure of it. You might not even need to go to the Emergency room, but you’d better take a look at his fingers and tell me what you see. Or, you could send me a photo.”
“Alright. Um…I’ll put you on speaker. And I guess I’ll slap Blaine?” said Kurt, worriedly.
“Kurt, I know it sounds harsh, darling, but it’ll be fine. I’ve done this before, trust me.”
“Okay….”
Kurt put the phone on speaker and placed it on the table. He eyed Blaine warily, before reaching out and slapping him straight across the face. Blaine recoiled and blinked a few times in confusion.
“Kurt, what the hell? Why did you…oh.” Blaine looked down towards his towel-wrapped hand. Despite the layers of the towel wrapped around his cut fingers, blood had seeped through and was staining the topmost layer of the towel red.
“Blaine, look at me. Do not look at your hand right now, do you hear me? I’m not losing you again to a shock-induced trance.”
Blaine’s eyes snapped up to meet Kurt’s; the colour in his face was slowly returning, but he was still quite pale.
“Blaine…your mom is on speaker. Do you want to talk to her?”
“Uh…hi, mom,” he says shakily.
“Blaine, darling, Kurt and I are going to handle this properly, alright? No worrying. Just listen to us and breathe.” Blaine’s shoulders visibly slump in the comfort of his mother’s reassurance and Kurt wraps an arm around them.
“Now, Kurt. I want you to take a look at Blaine’s hand and take a picture with your phone and send it to me,” Sara calls out.
“Okay, yes. I can do that.” He could feel Blaine’s posture stiffen at the mention of his injured hand and he decided to ignore it. He knew that if they were going to get through this, he couldn’t coddle Blaine every time he stiffened, or nothing would get done.
I need something to distract him while I take a look at his hand…Kurt thought. Oh! I know!
Kurt grabbed the television remote and turned on the TV. He flicked through the recorded shows on the PVR until he settled on the latest episode of Jersey Shore.
Blaine’s guilty pleasure….he hasn’t even seen this episode yet. That should keep him distracted.
“Here, Blaine. Watch Jersey Shore until I finish taking a look at your hand. Whatever you do, do not take your eyes off the screen. You know how you get when you miss a particularly trashy moment.”
Blaine smiled slightly before turning his head and focusing on the television. Kurt let out a sigh of relief before gingerly taking Blaine’s injured hand and unwrapping the dishtowel that was covering it. He tried not to panic when he noticed that the small patch of red that had seeped through the layers had almost doubled in size since he first started talking to Blaine’s mom on the phone.
Kurt double checked that Blaine was focussing solely on the TV and not on whatever Kurt was doing before he removed the towel completely.
Kurt bit back a gasp. Blaine’s hand was completely covered in blood. Most of it was dried and slightly dark, but Kurt could immediately spot the source of the blood. The knife had hit Blaine’s fingers at an odd angle and both his index and middle fingers sported a small, deep cut. Thankfully the knife had managed to miss the topmost knuckle on both of his fingers but Kurt was quite sure that the knife had cut deep enough to hit bone.
“How does it look Kurt?” Sara asked.
“It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it was going to,” Kurt said, pausing when Blaine flinched at his side. Thankfully he kept his eyes glued to the TV. “Should I clean his hand? It’s kind of hard to get a good look at it with all of the um…you know.” Kurt was terrified that even the mention of the word blood would send Blaine back into a tailspin. So he really just hoped that Sara would get the point of what he was trying to say.
“Are his fingers still bleeding quite a bit?” Kurt squeezed his eyes shut at Sara’s misstep and took a deep breath. He patted Blaine’s knee comfortingly (he had tensed up again).
“Not as much as before. They are still bleeding pretty steadily though.” As Kurt said this, he reached for the dishtowel to mop up the blood that was currently threatening to drip onto the floor. The blood was flowing in a slow stream now compared to the gushing that was happening earlier.
Thank you Dad for forcing me to take basic first aid before I started working in the garage…
“Go ahead and rinse it off with cool water. Do not use any kind of soap or rubbing alcohol. Just water. I’ll let you go do that and once you’ve cleaned him up a bit, send me a picture and I’ll call you back, alright?”
“Sure. Thanks, Sara.” Once he hung up the phone, Kurt turned towards Blaine and rubbed his shoulder to get his attention.
“Blaine, let’s go into the bathroom and get this cleaned up, okay?”
Blaine whimpered quietly, but followed Kurt’s lead into the bathroom without looking at his blood covered hand.
“Okay, Blaine, are you ready?”
“Kurt..I-I…shit. Is it going to hurt?” Blaine asked, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking slightly.
“It’ll probably sting a little, baby. It won’t be too bad. The faster we can do this, the faster we can get this taken care of, alright?”
Blaine let out a shuddering breath. “Okay, can you tell me what you’re doing though? I don’t want to open my eyes and see.”
“Of course, B. Don’t worry. You know you can trust me.”
Blaine made a small noise of agreement and nodded his head. His lips were trembling and Kurt could tell he was trying valiantly not to cry. Kurt positioned Blaine’s hand over the sink and put his hands on his boyfriend’s hip, encouraging him to stand straight in front of the sink. Kurt placed a cool hand on Blaine’s flushed cheek and scratched his fingers through Blaine’s curls.
“You know,” Blaine murmured, “If you could simultaneously give me head scratches while washing the blood off of my hand, I think I’d be alright.”
“Blaine just because you think head scratches are the cure to everything doesn’t mean they actually are,” Kurt teased. “I promise I’ll be really fast, okay?”
Kurt turned the tap and waited for a couple seconds for the water to turn a less icy temperature before taking Blaine’s hand back into his own.
“Okay, Blaine. I’m going to stick your hand underneath the tap now alright?”
“Alright.”
Kurt guided Blaine’s hand to rest under the steady stream of cool water. He worked quickly to rinse Blaine’s hand with the water, rubbing the skin until there were no traces of dried blood left. He washed Blaine’s cut fingers last; ignoring the tense hiss of pain that resulted.
Once Blaine’s hand was all cleaned up, Kurt dried it gently with a clean towel.
“There, Blaine, all done. It looks like the bleeding has gone down a lot, too. I think you’re in the clear now,” Kurt reassured.
Blaine exhaled loudly and relaxed his shoulders. “Good. Do you think I’ll need to get stitches?”
Kurt knelt down to get a better look at Blaine’s cut fingers. He wanted to gently pull the edges of the cut apart to see how deep it was, but he didn’t want to cause Blaine any more pain than he was already experiencing. The cuts seemed deep, but he had no idea if his boyfriend would need stitches or not.
I hope he doesn’t, he thought. Blaine has gone through enough suffering with this already. We don’t need to introduce stitches into the mix.
“I don’t know, baby. Let’s let your mom be the judge of that, alright? I hope she can get a good enough idea from a low quality photo,” said Kurt.
He led Blaine back into the living room and encouraged him to sit on the couch while he took a picture of the cuts on his fingers.
Within a few seconds of sending the photo, Kurt’s phone started ringing. Kurt answered quickly and put the phone on speaker.
“So what do you think, Sara? Does Blaine need stitches?”
“I’m afraid so, darling. The cuts look quite deep and we can’t risk them becoming infected.”
Blaine whimpered next to him and Kurt tugged him in close to his side. Blaine rested his head on Kurt’s shoulder and Kurt rubbed his cheek into Blaine’s soft curls.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered into Blaine’s ear. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time.”
“Do you have any idea of how long we’ll have to wait, Mom? I just don’t want to end up waiting for 8 hours to get a few stitches.”
“Go to Mount Sinai, I have good connections there. I’ll call ahead and make sure someone sees you quickly enough.”
“Thanks, mom. I appreciate it,” said Blaine, thankfully.
“Of course, love. Now, get going. I’ll expect a call and a photo of the end result later, alright?”
“Okay mom, love you.”
“I love you both,” she responded. “Chat soon.”
After Kurt hung up the phone, Kurt wrapped Blaine’s hand up once again with a clean dishtowel before forcibly dragging him into the foyer and helping him put on the jacket and scarf he had abandoned earlier.
“Kurt, I can do it myself. You don’t need to help me,” said Blaine, annoyed with Kurt’s babying.
“Blaine, tell me you aren’t contemplating running into the bedroom and locking yourself in there for the rest of eternity right now.”
Blaine blushed slightly and averted his eyes from Kurt’s.
“That’s why I need to help you. If you were left to your own devices right now, we wouldn’t make it out of the apartment. I know you hate needles just as much as you hate blood, but we need to get this done.”
Blaine pouted but nodded, allowing Kurt to do the buttons up on his jacket and drape his scarf gracefully around his neck before putting on his own jacket and scarf and grabbing his messenger bag.
“You’ll be brave for me, right Blainey?” Kurt leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Blaine’s lips, leaning his forehead against his before pulling away.
“Of course,” said Blaine, giggling a little, “but only for you.”
“Good,” said Kurt, “let’s get going.”
After they left their apartment building, they got a cab and made it to the hospital within 15 minutes. Thankfully they were fortunate enough to live close and that the traffic was good.
They made their way quickly to the emergency department and were given several forms that needed to be filled out. Blaine’s good hand was still a little shaky from the shock and pain from the injury on his left, so Kurt took it upon himself to fill the forms out for his boyfriend.
When he was finished, Kurt handed the clipboard back to the charge nurse and sat back down next to Blaine.
“This freaking sucks,” Blaine mumbled sadly, leaning his head on Kurt’s shoulder. “We were supposed to have a nice romantic dinner and spend the whole weekend together, but then I had to go ahead and accidentally cut myself and now everything is ruined.”
“Oh, shush. Nothing is ruined. We’ll still be able to spend the weekend together. It’s not like we’re going to be sitting in a hospital waiting room for 3 days, right?” Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine’s temple and curled an arm around his shoulders.
“I know…but Kurt. I had plans.”
“Plans?” Kurt asked curiously.
“Yes, Kurt. Plans.” Blaine said grumpily.
“Well…”said Kurt, “I’m sure we can figure something out.” Kurt waggled his eyebrows and Blaine’s eyes widened once he realized what Kurt implied.
“I never thought about that…” said Blaine.
Kurt was just about to respond when a nurse in black scrubs called out Blaine’s name out into the waiting room.
Both boys got up and followed the nurse into a little room, which was quite reminiscent of the exam rooms at a family doctor’s office. Blaine took a seat on the padded table and Kurt sat down in the chair next to it.
“Alright, so, my name’s Trish. I’m just going to ask you a few questions and take your vitals so I can make up a chart for you, alright? I did receive a note from one of the plastic surgeons saying that she was to be paged as soon as you were admitted and to send you straight to a bed in the ER, which was kind of strange.”
“My mom’s a surgeon and she comes to New York a lot for special surgeries and stuff. She said she had connections here,” said Blaine sheepishly. “Not that I need them or anything. I’d be perfectly fine if I had to wait.”
The nurse laughed and patted his shoulder. “It’s alright, honey. You should be thankful. If you didn’t have special connections, you’d probably be stuck out there for 6 hours.”
Blaine grimaced and nodded.
“Okay, so, I’m just going to rattle off the information that you wrote down here on the chart so I can confirm it and we’ll get started.”
After running through his birthdate, his past medical history and his insurance information, Trish took Blaine’s blood pressure, pulse and temperature.
“Everything looks alright. Your blood pressure and pulse are a little high, but I’m assuming that’s because of nerves.”
“It’s definitely because of the nerves,” said Blaine, voice wavering.
“Are you scared of hospitals, Blaine?” Trish asked sympathetically.
“No, actually,” Blaine laughed. “I volunteered at a hospital back home for years before I moved here for college. I just don’t like blood or needles.”
Trish nodded and scribbled down something on the clipboard that held Blaine’s threadbare chart.
Trish led them through a maze of hallways before stopping in front of a long row of hospital beds with ugly blue curtains as partitions.
“Just wait here for a second. I need to page the doctor and then we’ll get you to a bed, okay Blaine?”
“Sure, thanks Trish.”
After a couple of minutes standing awkwardly in the surprisingly quiet area, Trish returned with another nurse.
“Laura, this is Blaine and his boyfriend Kurt,” said Trish, gesturing to the boys. “Blaine, this is Laura. She’s going to be your nurse while you’re here. I’m going to let her take over now. It was nice meeting you both,” said Trish. “Good luck with the stitches.”
“T-thanks,” Blaine stammered. Kurt could tell he was on the fine edge between genuineness and complete and utter fear, so he took Blaine’s uninjured hand and gave it a squeeze.
“She told me about your blood and needle phobias,” said Laura. “Don’t worry. I’ll speak to the doctor. Maybe we can get you an Ativan or something to calm you down. I think we’d all rather have you completely mellowed out than passed out on the ground.”
“Me too,” Blaine eagerly agreed.
Laura laughed and led them to one of the beds. “Okay, Blaine. I’ll get you to take off your jacket and your shirt and put on this hospital gown. You can keep your pants on though. I’ll be right back with your chart and I’ll take a look at your fingers, alright?”
As she left, Laura tugged the curtains resting at each side of the bed so that they covered the area around the bed completely.
“She reminds me a little of Caroline, except without the accent,” said Kurt, while starting to unbutton Blaine’s jacket.
“And the cheesy endearments,” Blaine added. Caroline was one of Blaine favourite nurses back at the hospital he used to volunteer at in Lima. She has incidentally taken care of both himself after his attack when he was a teenager and she had taken care of Kurt after he had broken his arm on the day that the two of them met. Laura was blonde and perky, just like her, except she was missing Caroline’s signature southern accent and bouncy curls.
“We should call her tomorrow,” said Kurt. He helped Blaine remove his jacket while gingerly minding his injured hand and then helped him to tug his polo off and over his head. Kurt grabbed the hospital gown that was resting on the bed and guided Blaine’s arms through it and tied up the sides.
“Thanks for helping me, babe,” said Blaine gratefully.
“Take advantage of it while it lasts,” said Kurt playfully.
“Kurt! I’m not an invalid,” Blaine whined.
“Did you hear what I just said?” asked Kurt. “Take advantage of it while it still lasts.”
“Noted,” said Blaine seriously.
Kurt laughed and settled down into the chair next to Blaine’s bed. He grabbed Blaine’s hand and stroked it idly, waiting for the nurse to return.
Shortly after, Laura popped her head in between the curtains and once she realized everyone was decent, she opened them completely.
“Dr. Mason is on her way. She wanted me to get you prepped before she got here, so I brought some supplies with me. Also, I brought you this.” Laura handed Blaine a tiny medicine cup with a little white pill inside.
“What is it?” asked Blaine.
“It’s Ativan. I told the doctor about your issues with blood and needles and I asked her if she would be alright with giving you something to help calm you down for the procedure. It’ll make you a little sleepy and a little loopy. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to.”
Blaine stared at the little cup for a few seconds before asking Laura for a professional opinion.
“Take it,” she said promptly. “Don’t question it. It’ll make everything go by a lot smoother than it would be if you were positively flipping out over everything the doctor was doing.”
“How long is it going to work for? I don’t want Kurt to have to drag me home when I’m high as a kite.”
“Blaine, I’d rather take care of you while you are a little sleepy and relaxed instead of having to see you cry and shake and be in pain, okay? Just take it,” said Kurt, firmly.
Blaine nodded and accepted the paper cup of water Laura held out for him and took the pill; grimacing as it went down his throat.
“How long does it take to kick in?” asked Blaine.
“Not long,” said Laura. “By the time we get you cleaned up and the doctor gets down here, you’ll be a very happy boy.”
Blaine smiled warily and stayed quiet. Laura was flitting around the little area, situating a small rolling table at Blaine’s left side. She plonked a medium sized bottle of what looked like water on the table, along with a small white wrapped package.
While she set up, she chattered happily with the boys, asking them about school and how long they had been together. Blaine was so caught up with the pleasant conversation that he didn’t even notice when Laura snapped on a pair of gloves from a box above his head and started to peel away the towel that was wrapped around his hand. She was just about to take off the towel completely when Kurt reached out and cupped his chin. Kurt slowly turned Blaine’s head to look at him on the right side of the bed instead of the left where Laura was working.
“Look at me, okay Blaine? Laura’s going to take the towel off and I’m pretty sure your Ativan hasn’t kicked in yet,” said Kurt. “I don’t want you to see, okay? Just like before.”
Blaine gave him a thankful smile and Kurt rested his forearms on the bed so he could lean down comfortably at Blaine’s eye level.
“You know what we should do this weekend?” asked Kurt softly. “We should go to the zoo. I saw online that there were lots of new baby animals born recently. There’s nothing better than some cute baby animals, right?”
Blaine smiled widely. “That’s sounds like a great idea. We haven’t been in so long!”
Kurt cheered internally. Blaine loved the zoo. Plus, he figured the suggestion would distract Blaine for a little bit. In the corner of his eye he saw Laura looking closely at Blaine’s cut fingers and frowning slightly.
“Blaine, I’m trying to get a better look at your cut so I can flush it out, but it’s difficult because of the angle. I need to pull the skin apart a little, so it’s going to hurt a bit, okay?”
Kurt watched as Blaine tensed at Laura’s warning for the incoming pain she was about to cause. As Laura started to get a better look at the cuts, the grip of Blaine’s hand against Kurt’s became vice-like and they both let out a hiss of pain.
Okay, now would be a good time for the Ativan to kick in, Kurt thought absently as Blaine continued to crush his hand with his own.
Blaine’s eyes were squeezed tightly closed and Kurt peered over his boyfriend’s shoulder to see what Laura was doing. She had pulled and positioned Blaine’s arm so that her eyes were mere centimeters away from the cuts in Blaine’s fingers. She seemed satisfied with what she was seeing and she picked up a large plastic syringe that was resting in a bottle of clear fluid beside her.
“Everything looks good, boys. I’m going to start flushing the wounds with saline,” said Laura.
“Are you sure that’s necessary?” asked Kurt. “Blaine’s mom told me to run his hand under cold water to clean it when we were back at the apartment.”
“It’s just to make sure that any debris inside the wounds gets flushed out. The pressure from the syringe I’m going to use is really going to help flush away anything that might be hiding inside those cuts. I know it seems a little redundant, but we just want to make sure that nothing is left under the skin when the doctor stitches Blaine back up.”
Kurt nodded in understanding and left Laura to her work. Before she could start, Blaine’s stopped her.
“Is it going to sting?” he asked with a wavering voice.
“No, honey, it shouldn’t sting. It’s just saline solution,” she reassured.
As Laura worked on Blaine’s fingers, Blaine’s grip on Kurt’s hand was becoming weaker and the tension of his body started melting away.
“How are you feeling now, babe?” asked Kurt softly.
Blaine blinked at his sleepily and smiled. “Better. I like this stuff they gave me, Kurt.”
Kurt giggled and kissed Blaine’s forehead. “I’m glad. I don’t want you to be scared anymore.”
“I’m not, ‘cause you’re here,” Blaine mumbled.
“Love you, B,” said Kurt.
“Love you too.”
Affection for his adorable boyfriend was blooming in his chest and happiness settled over him, calming the stress and panic that he had been hiding away for this whole ordeal.
A few minutes later, Dr. Mason appeared at Blaine’s bedside. Her white lab coat was pristine and wrinkle free and she was wearing a gorgeous Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress. Kurt had to hold himself back from squealing and reaching out and rubbing the fabric between his fingers. Dr. Mason looked to be around the same age as Blaine’s mother. She was sporting a friendly smile and greeted both Kurt and Blaine cheerfully.
“I wish we could have met under better circumstances, Blaine. I’ve heard so much about you. I swear half the emails your mother sends me are about you.”
“I’m her pride and joy,” said Blaine, shrugging carelessly.
Kurt laughed. “You’ll have to excuse him. I think the Ativan has taken away his filter.”
The doctor laughed and patted Blaine’s knee. “Feeling alright, Blaine?”
“I feel sublime,” he responded dreamily.
“I’m glad,” she said. “Now, let’s get started on those fingers, shall we?”
The doctor rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat and snapped on a pair of gloves from the wall. She talked with Laura for a bit before wheeling a stool over and sitting down at the left side of the bed. She reached for Blaine’s hand and looked at it carefully; pulling the tender skin around the cuts just like the nurse has done earlier, to get a better look. Blaine paid no attention this time around. The medication had him feeling calm and relaxed and Kurt figured that since Blaine was feeling a lot calmer, the pain he felt was less amplified like it was earlier.
“Laura, can you draw up 5cc of lidocaine please? Either a 22 gauge or a 25 gauge needle will be fine.”
“Sure thing!” she replied. “I also grabbed you a suture kit and a couple of different sizes of sutures. I wasn’t sure which ones you would need, so I grabbed most of the smaller sizes.”
The doctor set up her work area quickly while Laura prepared the medication to numb Blaine’s fingers for the procedure.
Thankfully Blaine was drifting off into sleep as the doctor and the nurse prepared to stitch Blaine’s fingers up. Laura was handling a syringe with a large needle to draw up medication from a glass bottle and Kurt felt a little queasy at the thought of a needle that large going into Blaine’s skin. When she was finished, Laura pushed up the safety device on the needle before twisting it off and twisting on a much smaller looking needle. Kurt sighed with relief and made sure that Blaine’s eyes were still closed and that he wasn’t watching what the nurse was doing. Kurt quite liked the shirt he was wearing and he wasn’t prepared to have Blaine puke all over it because of his fear of needles.
After a few minutes, everyone had settled and the doctor told Kurt that she was ready to begin. Blaine was dozing peacefully on the bed and Kurt felt horrible for waking him, but it had to be done so Blaine wouldn’t panic when the doctor started to numb his fingers.
“Blaine…wake up, sweetie. The doctor is ready to get started,” said Kurt, rubbing Blaine’s shoulder.
Blaine’s eyes opened slowly and he smiled lazily.
“Hi, Kurt.”
Kurt suppressed a laugh and patted Blaine’s cheek lightly. “Did you hear me? The doctor is ready to start now, alright? You need to pay attention to what she says.”
Blaine’s eyes widened and looked over to where the doctor was sitting.
“Okay, Blaine, here’s what’s going to happen: First, I’m going to clean the wounds with some betadine, an antiseptic solution. It might sting a little, but it won’t be too bad. Next, I’m going to inject lidocaine all around the areas where the cuts are. That’ll be the worst part, but after that you won’t be able to feel a thing. Are you ready?”
“L-let’s just get it over with,” said Blaine, voice wavering with incoming panic.
Kurt reached for his hand again and squeezed it. Blaine tilted his head towards him without prompting and Kurt leaned down once again to meet Blaine’s eye level.
“I’m right here, okay? Everything is going to be fine. I give you permission to squeeze my hand when it hurts, but please don’t try and break my bones like you did last time, okay?”
Blaine gave him a sad little smile, before the sting of the betadine solution on his open cuts made him wince.
“I’m going to start injecting the lidocaine now, Blaine. There’ll be a couple of big pinches. I promise I’ll be fast though, okay?”
Blaine’s hand immediately squeezed Kurt’s hand so hard his knuckles were white. Kurt ignored it and started spouting off random nonsense to try and distract his boyfriend.
Blaine visibly jolted with the first injection and Laura and Dr. Mason both told him to try and stay as still as possible.
Blaine’s whole body stiffened, but he only flinched with the next injection. As the doctor continued to inject more of the medication around the areas of the cut, Blaine became more and more undone. He was shaking slightly and Kurt saw a few tears roll down his cheeks. Kurt’s heart panged and he willed himself to stay strong for Blaine, even though tears threatened to leave his own eyes at the sight of his boyfriend in so much distress.
“Almost done, baby, she’s almost done. You’ve been so brave for me today. I’m so proud of you,” Kurt babbled, trying to soothe Blaine.
“Shit, Kurt it’s hurts so much,” Blaine whined, his voice thick with tears.
“All done, Blaine. The hard part’s over,” said the Doctor cheerfully. “You did very well!”
Blaine slumped back on the bed and took a few shaky breaths.
Kurt pulled up sleeve and used it to dab at the tears that rested on Blaine’s cheeks. He leaned over and pressed his lips softly over Blaine’s and Blaine hummed appreciatively.
“Now comes the easy part,” Kurt whispered to him. “You can let go of my hand now.”
Blaine loosened his grip, but he kept Kurt’s hand in his and brushes his thumb back and forth over Kurt’s own.
“Thank you for being here with me,” said Blaine.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” said Kurt, kissing Blaine quickly.
As the boys lost themselves in each other for a little while, Dr. Mason started stitching together Blaine’s cuts and before they even realized, she was taking off her gloves and throwing all of the used supplies in the garbage.
“All finished!” she said happily.
Blaine and Kurt both looked up in shock at the doctor.
“That was fast!” Kurt exclaimed.
“I didn’t even know you started doing it!” Blaine added.
“Well, what can I say? I’m good at my job.” She winked and started scribbling something on a clipboard that Laura handed her.
“It was a quick job though, three stitches in each finger. Now, I just have a few instructions for you and a few papers for you to sign and you’ll be all set to go, okay?”
After dealing with all the paperwork, the doctor started giving them instructions on how to care for the stitches at home.
“First of all, the stitches stay in for a week. I made a note here for someone to make an appointment for you next Friday to come back and get the stitches removed. You’ll need to keep the stitches dry for 24 hours. After that, you can remove the dressing and clean the area with warm water. I’ll give you a few gauzes and some tape to bring home so you can apply a new dressing. But before you do that, I want you to apply some antiseptic cream I am going to give you before you put the new dressing on. After 48 hours, you won’t need the dressing on anymore, but make sure to mind the stitches at all times and keep them away from any soaps or solutions that’ll irritate them. Once the dressing comes off, I want you to continue to clean the area with warm water and apply the antiseptic cream twice a day so the area doesn’t get infected. Do you have any questions?”
‘I don’t. Do you, Blaine?” asked Kurt.
“No, I think I got it. Thank you for everything, Dr. Mason.”
“You’re very welcome. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.” She handed Kurt a business card along with a small paper bag filled with gauze, tape and the tube of antiseptic cream that she had promised earlier.
“You’re all set to go. Laura will walk you out once Blaine’s changed out of his gown. I’ll see you next week, alright?”
“Definitely,” said Kurt.
“Oh, and before I forget, Kurt, once the lidocaine wears off, Blaine’s fingers will probably be sore. Just give him a normal dose of ibuprofen and it should take care of it.”
“Thanks! I’ll make a note of it,” said Kurt.
Dr. Mason gave him a quick smiled before walking away and closing the curtains around the bed behind her.
Kurt stood up from the chair and stretched before helping Blaine get up and dressed. It took at least ten minutes of fumbling and avoiding the dressing that wrapped Blaine’s first and middle fingers together until he was dressed properly. It took another twenty minutes to get out of the hospital and catch a cab back to their building, but finally, finally, they were home.
Once Kurt had unlocked the door and taken off both of their jackets, Blaine practically threw himself into Kurt arms and clung onto him for dear life in a bone crushing hug.
“Thank you for being the best boyfriend in the whole entire world,” Blaine mumbled into his neck.
“I was just returning the favour, my love,” said Kurt, nuzzling his face into Blaine’s soft curls.
Blaine pulled away slightly, looking at Kurt with confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it wasn’t too long ago that a certain Blaine Anderson was there to be there for me when I broke my wrist slipping on ice.”
“Oh, right.” Blaine smiled bashfully and wrapped himself properly around Kurt again, squeezing him tightly.
“Come on, spider monkey. Let’s go call your mom and order a pizza. I’m starving.”
“Can we get pineapple on it?” Blaine asked, flashing his puppy eyes at Kurt. “Before you say no, I’d just like to remind you that I was injured and put through emotional hell today.”
Kurt rolled his eyes and nudged Blaine’s shoulder. “Fine…But just this once.”
“I love you, Kurtsie.”
Kurt laughed at the endearment. “Love you too, Blainey. Let’s go.”
Author’s Note
Well, hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? This fic is a part of my A Broken Fall ‘verse but not really because of any specific plotlines or anything, I just wanted the same characterizations for Kurt, Blaine and Blaine’s mom. If you’ve read Dissolved and The Fashion of Panic, you’ll kind of have a general idea of where my headspace is for this one. Blaine and Kurt aren’t finished with college yet, I’d say they were in maybe their second or third year? I just had this idea stuck in my head, so I hope you enjoyed some hurt/comfort medical fluff (my favourite kind of fic). My knowledge of the admitting process for the ER in the States is non-existent and I’ve never been admitted to the ER here, so I’m kind of just mashing everything I know together. I know for sure that all other medical info is legit. I can’t make any promises on when I’ll return to you with a new fic, but I am officially on summer vacation (also I am officially a third year nursing student) so hopefully I’ll be cranking out a few new things this summer. Feel free to come say hi to me on tumblr, I’m always around. I’d like to say thank you to Katrina and Caroline for looking over this for me and thank you for reading!
Author: truthaboutglee
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Discussion and detailed description of an injury resulting in a lot of blood, needles and a person having a phobia of blood and needles. If you have any kind of medical squick, I would suggest not reading this.
Word Count: 7,000
Summary: Kurt and Blaine were looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home together, when a kitchen accident forces them to make a trip to the emergency room. Kurt is left trying to comfort a very terrified Blaine. This is pure hurt/comfort & fluff.
Author's note: Thank you to gameboycolor and Caroline for looking over this for me. This fic is set in my A Broken Fall 'verse (in the future), however both of my betas have read this without reading the 'verse and they enjoyed it, so it can be very much stand alone, but it helps to read the 'verse to get an understanding of the characterizations.
Warnings: Discussion and detailed description of an injury resulting in a lot of blood, needles and a person having a phobia of blood & needles. If you have any kind of medical squick, I’d suggest not reading this.
“Hi! I’m home!”
Kurt set down the knife he was holding on the counter and wiped his hands with a towel. Blaine had been working late every night for the past week and Kurt was anxious to greet him at the door. They had barely seen each other since the weekend and Kurt decided to cook them both a nice dinner so they could catch up and make some plans for the weekend.
He grabbed the wine glass filled with Blaine’s favourite Cabernet and walked over to the foyer, where Blaine was shedding his shoes and jacket and shoving his bag on the floor.
“Hi, Blaine! You’re home early,” Kurt said, leaning over to peck Blaine on the cheek and hand him the glass of wine.
“Mmm, thanks, love,” he said, kissing Kurt’s lips softly in return. “I didn’t have much choice. I received a text message from some guy named Kurt Hummel, who said he’d withhold sex for the weekend if I wasn’t home by 6pm.”
“Sounds like a smart guy,” Kurt said playfully, wandering back into the kitchen.
“The smartest,” Blaine agreed. “So, what are you planning for dinner?”
“I was thinking about the penne primavera that you tried that last time when we went out to eat at that little Italian place around the corner. I’m trying my hand at it.”
“Sounds delicious! Do you need any help?”
“Actually yes,” said Kurt. He grabbed the knife he had discarded earlier and handed it to his boyfriend. “You can chop these veggies up while I take care of the chicken.” Kurt knew better than to let Blaine be in charge of anything that required the use of the stove.
“You know, maybe if you tried to teach me how to cook properly, I wouldn’t burn anything,” Blaine whined.
“Well, Blaine, I don’t really feel like risking the chance of our apartment going up in flames if I have to leave for a minute to pee or something,” said Kurt, lowering the flame on the burner in front of him as a precaution.
“I saw that, Hummel,” said Blaine, poking him in between the shoulder blades before turning back towards the counter to start cutting up the vegetables in front of him.
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Blaine. Now, get going on the vegetables. I want to actually eat at a decent time tonight.”
Blaine huffed and got back to work. He chopped as Kurt minded the sautéing chicken and bubbling sauce on the stovetop. They conversed freely about their day; Blaine talking about finishing the project he had been working hard on all week and Kurt about the designs he had drawn that day in class.
“Oh, and Rachel called and left me a very interesting voicemail. Something about Jesse St. James and a change of heart and how he’s a different person or something like that. I haven’t called her back yet. I don’t even want to deal with that can of worms on our weekend off together,” said Kurt, disdainfully.
“Jesse St. James? Really?” Blaine asked exasperatedly, turning towards Kurt while still chopping vegetables. “I know I wasn’t around for that whole fiasco, but I’m pretty sure once someone throws eggs at you and then shows up a year later to ask you to the junior prom, while also single-handedly insulting everyone in your Glee club, there’s a….” Blaine cut off with a soft gasp. The clang of the knife hitting the counter caused Kurt to turn around from the stove.
“There’s a what, Blaine?”
Blaine stood perfectly still at the counter with his eyes look downwards at his left hand. Kurt followed Blaine’s gaze to see blood gushing down from his fingers onto the white cutting board before inhaling sharply and moving into action.
“Blaine…” he called out, trying not to panic. “You’re fine. It’s okay.” Kurt grabbed a clean dishtowel from the drawer across from him and went over to Blaine, who was looking paler by the minute.
He grabbed Blaine’s trembling hand and wrapped his fingers tightly with the dishtowel.
Pressure to stop the bleeding, he thought, reverting back the simple first aid training he had taken years ago. Get him away from the blood.
Kurt turned the burners off on the stove and moved the pots and pans so the food wouldn’t burn. He grabbed another clean dishtowel and his cellphone before leading Blaine to the living room.
Blaine was silent in shock beside him. It was no secret that Blaine was terrified of blood. The first time they had turned on the heat at night in their apartment, Kurt woke up to the sound of Blaine falling off the bed. Apparently Kurt’s nose had started to bleed because of the dry air and when Blaine had woken up to see blood covering Kurt’s face and pillow, he had literally fallen out of bed out of fear.
“Blaine…are you okay? Do you want some water? Are you going to throw up?” Kurt asked, still trying to remain calm. He didn’t know how deep the cut to Blaine’s fingers was or if he’d needed to drag Blaine to the ER to get stitches. Blaine remained silent and stared at Kurt with glossy, unfocused eyes.
“Blaine!” Kurt snapped his fingers in front of Blaine’s face, trying to garner a response from his boyfriend.
“Shit…”he mumbled. He grabbed his cellphone and hit speed dial #3.
It rang several times before Blaine’s mom answered the phone with a terse,“Dr. Anderson.”
“Hi, Sara. It’s Kurt.”
“Oh! Hello, Kurt darling. How are things?”
“Um…not so good, Sara. Blaine accidentally cut his fingers when he was cooking and they are bleeding quite a bit.”
“Did you apply pressure?” she asked.
“Yes, I did. I wrapped a dishtowel tightly over them.”
“Alright, are they still bleeding a lot?”
“I don’t know…it just happened two minutes ago. I haven’t had a chance to look. Blaine’s acting strangely though. I don’t know what to do.”
Blaine was still standing still next to Kurt. He was barely blinking and he was breathing slow, heavy breaths. His face was as white as a sheet, and he almost looked a little green around his lips.
“Is he just sitting there and not saying anything? Really pale? Almost looking like he’s going to vomit?” Sara asked.
“Yes, he does.”
“He’s in shock. Just give him a little slap on the cheek. He’ll snap out of it and go into panic mode.”
“And by panic mode you mean…?”
“Well, he’ll probably be in hysterics. Right now he probably has enough adrenalin in his system to numb the pain. But once he snaps out of his trance, he’ll realize that he’s bleeding and that he’s in pain. And he’ll panic. It won’t be anything you can’t handle, Kurt. I’m sure of it. You might not even need to go to the Emergency room, but you’d better take a look at his fingers and tell me what you see. Or, you could send me a photo.”
“Alright. Um…I’ll put you on speaker. And I guess I’ll slap Blaine?” said Kurt, worriedly.
“Kurt, I know it sounds harsh, darling, but it’ll be fine. I’ve done this before, trust me.”
“Okay….”
Kurt put the phone on speaker and placed it on the table. He eyed Blaine warily, before reaching out and slapping him straight across the face. Blaine recoiled and blinked a few times in confusion.
“Kurt, what the hell? Why did you…oh.” Blaine looked down towards his towel-wrapped hand. Despite the layers of the towel wrapped around his cut fingers, blood had seeped through and was staining the topmost layer of the towel red.
“Blaine, look at me. Do not look at your hand right now, do you hear me? I’m not losing you again to a shock-induced trance.”
Blaine’s eyes snapped up to meet Kurt’s; the colour in his face was slowly returning, but he was still quite pale.
“Blaine…your mom is on speaker. Do you want to talk to her?”
“Uh…hi, mom,” he says shakily.
“Blaine, darling, Kurt and I are going to handle this properly, alright? No worrying. Just listen to us and breathe.” Blaine’s shoulders visibly slump in the comfort of his mother’s reassurance and Kurt wraps an arm around them.
“Now, Kurt. I want you to take a look at Blaine’s hand and take a picture with your phone and send it to me,” Sara calls out.
“Okay, yes. I can do that.” He could feel Blaine’s posture stiffen at the mention of his injured hand and he decided to ignore it. He knew that if they were going to get through this, he couldn’t coddle Blaine every time he stiffened, or nothing would get done.
I need something to distract him while I take a look at his hand…Kurt thought. Oh! I know!
Kurt grabbed the television remote and turned on the TV. He flicked through the recorded shows on the PVR until he settled on the latest episode of Jersey Shore.
Blaine’s guilty pleasure….he hasn’t even seen this episode yet. That should keep him distracted.
“Here, Blaine. Watch Jersey Shore until I finish taking a look at your hand. Whatever you do, do not take your eyes off the screen. You know how you get when you miss a particularly trashy moment.”
Blaine smiled slightly before turning his head and focusing on the television. Kurt let out a sigh of relief before gingerly taking Blaine’s injured hand and unwrapping the dishtowel that was covering it. He tried not to panic when he noticed that the small patch of red that had seeped through the layers had almost doubled in size since he first started talking to Blaine’s mom on the phone.
Kurt double checked that Blaine was focussing solely on the TV and not on whatever Kurt was doing before he removed the towel completely.
Kurt bit back a gasp. Blaine’s hand was completely covered in blood. Most of it was dried and slightly dark, but Kurt could immediately spot the source of the blood. The knife had hit Blaine’s fingers at an odd angle and both his index and middle fingers sported a small, deep cut. Thankfully the knife had managed to miss the topmost knuckle on both of his fingers but Kurt was quite sure that the knife had cut deep enough to hit bone.
“How does it look Kurt?” Sara asked.
“It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it was going to,” Kurt said, pausing when Blaine flinched at his side. Thankfully he kept his eyes glued to the TV. “Should I clean his hand? It’s kind of hard to get a good look at it with all of the um…you know.” Kurt was terrified that even the mention of the word blood would send Blaine back into a tailspin. So he really just hoped that Sara would get the point of what he was trying to say.
“Are his fingers still bleeding quite a bit?” Kurt squeezed his eyes shut at Sara’s misstep and took a deep breath. He patted Blaine’s knee comfortingly (he had tensed up again).
“Not as much as before. They are still bleeding pretty steadily though.” As Kurt said this, he reached for the dishtowel to mop up the blood that was currently threatening to drip onto the floor. The blood was flowing in a slow stream now compared to the gushing that was happening earlier.
Thank you Dad for forcing me to take basic first aid before I started working in the garage…
“Go ahead and rinse it off with cool water. Do not use any kind of soap or rubbing alcohol. Just water. I’ll let you go do that and once you’ve cleaned him up a bit, send me a picture and I’ll call you back, alright?”
“Sure. Thanks, Sara.” Once he hung up the phone, Kurt turned towards Blaine and rubbed his shoulder to get his attention.
“Blaine, let’s go into the bathroom and get this cleaned up, okay?”
Blaine whimpered quietly, but followed Kurt’s lead into the bathroom without looking at his blood covered hand.
“Okay, Blaine, are you ready?”
“Kurt..I-I…shit. Is it going to hurt?” Blaine asked, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking slightly.
“It’ll probably sting a little, baby. It won’t be too bad. The faster we can do this, the faster we can get this taken care of, alright?”
Blaine let out a shuddering breath. “Okay, can you tell me what you’re doing though? I don’t want to open my eyes and see.”
“Of course, B. Don’t worry. You know you can trust me.”
Blaine made a small noise of agreement and nodded his head. His lips were trembling and Kurt could tell he was trying valiantly not to cry. Kurt positioned Blaine’s hand over the sink and put his hands on his boyfriend’s hip, encouraging him to stand straight in front of the sink. Kurt placed a cool hand on Blaine’s flushed cheek and scratched his fingers through Blaine’s curls.
“You know,” Blaine murmured, “If you could simultaneously give me head scratches while washing the blood off of my hand, I think I’d be alright.”
“Blaine just because you think head scratches are the cure to everything doesn’t mean they actually are,” Kurt teased. “I promise I’ll be really fast, okay?”
Kurt turned the tap and waited for a couple seconds for the water to turn a less icy temperature before taking Blaine’s hand back into his own.
“Okay, Blaine. I’m going to stick your hand underneath the tap now alright?”
“Alright.”
Kurt guided Blaine’s hand to rest under the steady stream of cool water. He worked quickly to rinse Blaine’s hand with the water, rubbing the skin until there were no traces of dried blood left. He washed Blaine’s cut fingers last; ignoring the tense hiss of pain that resulted.
Once Blaine’s hand was all cleaned up, Kurt dried it gently with a clean towel.
“There, Blaine, all done. It looks like the bleeding has gone down a lot, too. I think you’re in the clear now,” Kurt reassured.
Blaine exhaled loudly and relaxed his shoulders. “Good. Do you think I’ll need to get stitches?”
Kurt knelt down to get a better look at Blaine’s cut fingers. He wanted to gently pull the edges of the cut apart to see how deep it was, but he didn’t want to cause Blaine any more pain than he was already experiencing. The cuts seemed deep, but he had no idea if his boyfriend would need stitches or not.
I hope he doesn’t, he thought. Blaine has gone through enough suffering with this already. We don’t need to introduce stitches into the mix.
“I don’t know, baby. Let’s let your mom be the judge of that, alright? I hope she can get a good enough idea from a low quality photo,” said Kurt.
He led Blaine back into the living room and encouraged him to sit on the couch while he took a picture of the cuts on his fingers.
Within a few seconds of sending the photo, Kurt’s phone started ringing. Kurt answered quickly and put the phone on speaker.
“So what do you think, Sara? Does Blaine need stitches?”
“I’m afraid so, darling. The cuts look quite deep and we can’t risk them becoming infected.”
Blaine whimpered next to him and Kurt tugged him in close to his side. Blaine rested his head on Kurt’s shoulder and Kurt rubbed his cheek into Blaine’s soft curls.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered into Blaine’s ear. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time.”
“Do you have any idea of how long we’ll have to wait, Mom? I just don’t want to end up waiting for 8 hours to get a few stitches.”
“Go to Mount Sinai, I have good connections there. I’ll call ahead and make sure someone sees you quickly enough.”
“Thanks, mom. I appreciate it,” said Blaine, thankfully.
“Of course, love. Now, get going. I’ll expect a call and a photo of the end result later, alright?”
“Okay mom, love you.”
“I love you both,” she responded. “Chat soon.”
After Kurt hung up the phone, Kurt wrapped Blaine’s hand up once again with a clean dishtowel before forcibly dragging him into the foyer and helping him put on the jacket and scarf he had abandoned earlier.
“Kurt, I can do it myself. You don’t need to help me,” said Blaine, annoyed with Kurt’s babying.
“Blaine, tell me you aren’t contemplating running into the bedroom and locking yourself in there for the rest of eternity right now.”
Blaine blushed slightly and averted his eyes from Kurt’s.
“That’s why I need to help you. If you were left to your own devices right now, we wouldn’t make it out of the apartment. I know you hate needles just as much as you hate blood, but we need to get this done.”
Blaine pouted but nodded, allowing Kurt to do the buttons up on his jacket and drape his scarf gracefully around his neck before putting on his own jacket and scarf and grabbing his messenger bag.
“You’ll be brave for me, right Blainey?” Kurt leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Blaine’s lips, leaning his forehead against his before pulling away.
“Of course,” said Blaine, giggling a little, “but only for you.”
“Good,” said Kurt, “let’s get going.”
After they left their apartment building, they got a cab and made it to the hospital within 15 minutes. Thankfully they were fortunate enough to live close and that the traffic was good.
They made their way quickly to the emergency department and were given several forms that needed to be filled out. Blaine’s good hand was still a little shaky from the shock and pain from the injury on his left, so Kurt took it upon himself to fill the forms out for his boyfriend.
When he was finished, Kurt handed the clipboard back to the charge nurse and sat back down next to Blaine.
“This freaking sucks,” Blaine mumbled sadly, leaning his head on Kurt’s shoulder. “We were supposed to have a nice romantic dinner and spend the whole weekend together, but then I had to go ahead and accidentally cut myself and now everything is ruined.”
“Oh, shush. Nothing is ruined. We’ll still be able to spend the weekend together. It’s not like we’re going to be sitting in a hospital waiting room for 3 days, right?” Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine’s temple and curled an arm around his shoulders.
“I know…but Kurt. I had plans.”
“Plans?” Kurt asked curiously.
“Yes, Kurt. Plans.” Blaine said grumpily.
“Well…”said Kurt, “I’m sure we can figure something out.” Kurt waggled his eyebrows and Blaine’s eyes widened once he realized what Kurt implied.
“I never thought about that…” said Blaine.
Kurt was just about to respond when a nurse in black scrubs called out Blaine’s name out into the waiting room.
Both boys got up and followed the nurse into a little room, which was quite reminiscent of the exam rooms at a family doctor’s office. Blaine took a seat on the padded table and Kurt sat down in the chair next to it.
“Alright, so, my name’s Trish. I’m just going to ask you a few questions and take your vitals so I can make up a chart for you, alright? I did receive a note from one of the plastic surgeons saying that she was to be paged as soon as you were admitted and to send you straight to a bed in the ER, which was kind of strange.”
“My mom’s a surgeon and she comes to New York a lot for special surgeries and stuff. She said she had connections here,” said Blaine sheepishly. “Not that I need them or anything. I’d be perfectly fine if I had to wait.”
The nurse laughed and patted his shoulder. “It’s alright, honey. You should be thankful. If you didn’t have special connections, you’d probably be stuck out there for 6 hours.”
Blaine grimaced and nodded.
“Okay, so, I’m just going to rattle off the information that you wrote down here on the chart so I can confirm it and we’ll get started.”
After running through his birthdate, his past medical history and his insurance information, Trish took Blaine’s blood pressure, pulse and temperature.
“Everything looks alright. Your blood pressure and pulse are a little high, but I’m assuming that’s because of nerves.”
“It’s definitely because of the nerves,” said Blaine, voice wavering.
“Are you scared of hospitals, Blaine?” Trish asked sympathetically.
“No, actually,” Blaine laughed. “I volunteered at a hospital back home for years before I moved here for college. I just don’t like blood or needles.”
Trish nodded and scribbled down something on the clipboard that held Blaine’s threadbare chart.
Trish led them through a maze of hallways before stopping in front of a long row of hospital beds with ugly blue curtains as partitions.
“Just wait here for a second. I need to page the doctor and then we’ll get you to a bed, okay Blaine?”
“Sure, thanks Trish.”
After a couple of minutes standing awkwardly in the surprisingly quiet area, Trish returned with another nurse.
“Laura, this is Blaine and his boyfriend Kurt,” said Trish, gesturing to the boys. “Blaine, this is Laura. She’s going to be your nurse while you’re here. I’m going to let her take over now. It was nice meeting you both,” said Trish. “Good luck with the stitches.”
“T-thanks,” Blaine stammered. Kurt could tell he was on the fine edge between genuineness and complete and utter fear, so he took Blaine’s uninjured hand and gave it a squeeze.
“She told me about your blood and needle phobias,” said Laura. “Don’t worry. I’ll speak to the doctor. Maybe we can get you an Ativan or something to calm you down. I think we’d all rather have you completely mellowed out than passed out on the ground.”
“Me too,” Blaine eagerly agreed.
Laura laughed and led them to one of the beds. “Okay, Blaine. I’ll get you to take off your jacket and your shirt and put on this hospital gown. You can keep your pants on though. I’ll be right back with your chart and I’ll take a look at your fingers, alright?”
As she left, Laura tugged the curtains resting at each side of the bed so that they covered the area around the bed completely.
“She reminds me a little of Caroline, except without the accent,” said Kurt, while starting to unbutton Blaine’s jacket.
“And the cheesy endearments,” Blaine added. Caroline was one of Blaine favourite nurses back at the hospital he used to volunteer at in Lima. She has incidentally taken care of both himself after his attack when he was a teenager and she had taken care of Kurt after he had broken his arm on the day that the two of them met. Laura was blonde and perky, just like her, except she was missing Caroline’s signature southern accent and bouncy curls.
“We should call her tomorrow,” said Kurt. He helped Blaine remove his jacket while gingerly minding his injured hand and then helped him to tug his polo off and over his head. Kurt grabbed the hospital gown that was resting on the bed and guided Blaine’s arms through it and tied up the sides.
“Thanks for helping me, babe,” said Blaine gratefully.
“Take advantage of it while it lasts,” said Kurt playfully.
“Kurt! I’m not an invalid,” Blaine whined.
“Did you hear what I just said?” asked Kurt. “Take advantage of it while it still lasts.”
“Noted,” said Blaine seriously.
Kurt laughed and settled down into the chair next to Blaine’s bed. He grabbed Blaine’s hand and stroked it idly, waiting for the nurse to return.
Shortly after, Laura popped her head in between the curtains and once she realized everyone was decent, she opened them completely.
“Dr. Mason is on her way. She wanted me to get you prepped before she got here, so I brought some supplies with me. Also, I brought you this.” Laura handed Blaine a tiny medicine cup with a little white pill inside.
“What is it?” asked Blaine.
“It’s Ativan. I told the doctor about your issues with blood and needles and I asked her if she would be alright with giving you something to help calm you down for the procedure. It’ll make you a little sleepy and a little loopy. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to.”
Blaine stared at the little cup for a few seconds before asking Laura for a professional opinion.
“Take it,” she said promptly. “Don’t question it. It’ll make everything go by a lot smoother than it would be if you were positively flipping out over everything the doctor was doing.”
“How long is it going to work for? I don’t want Kurt to have to drag me home when I’m high as a kite.”
“Blaine, I’d rather take care of you while you are a little sleepy and relaxed instead of having to see you cry and shake and be in pain, okay? Just take it,” said Kurt, firmly.
Blaine nodded and accepted the paper cup of water Laura held out for him and took the pill; grimacing as it went down his throat.
“How long does it take to kick in?” asked Blaine.
“Not long,” said Laura. “By the time we get you cleaned up and the doctor gets down here, you’ll be a very happy boy.”
Blaine smiled warily and stayed quiet. Laura was flitting around the little area, situating a small rolling table at Blaine’s left side. She plonked a medium sized bottle of what looked like water on the table, along with a small white wrapped package.
While she set up, she chattered happily with the boys, asking them about school and how long they had been together. Blaine was so caught up with the pleasant conversation that he didn’t even notice when Laura snapped on a pair of gloves from a box above his head and started to peel away the towel that was wrapped around his hand. She was just about to take off the towel completely when Kurt reached out and cupped his chin. Kurt slowly turned Blaine’s head to look at him on the right side of the bed instead of the left where Laura was working.
“Look at me, okay Blaine? Laura’s going to take the towel off and I’m pretty sure your Ativan hasn’t kicked in yet,” said Kurt. “I don’t want you to see, okay? Just like before.”
Blaine gave him a thankful smile and Kurt rested his forearms on the bed so he could lean down comfortably at Blaine’s eye level.
“You know what we should do this weekend?” asked Kurt softly. “We should go to the zoo. I saw online that there were lots of new baby animals born recently. There’s nothing better than some cute baby animals, right?”
Blaine smiled widely. “That’s sounds like a great idea. We haven’t been in so long!”
Kurt cheered internally. Blaine loved the zoo. Plus, he figured the suggestion would distract Blaine for a little bit. In the corner of his eye he saw Laura looking closely at Blaine’s cut fingers and frowning slightly.
“Blaine, I’m trying to get a better look at your cut so I can flush it out, but it’s difficult because of the angle. I need to pull the skin apart a little, so it’s going to hurt a bit, okay?”
Kurt watched as Blaine tensed at Laura’s warning for the incoming pain she was about to cause. As Laura started to get a better look at the cuts, the grip of Blaine’s hand against Kurt’s became vice-like and they both let out a hiss of pain.
Okay, now would be a good time for the Ativan to kick in, Kurt thought absently as Blaine continued to crush his hand with his own.
Blaine’s eyes were squeezed tightly closed and Kurt peered over his boyfriend’s shoulder to see what Laura was doing. She had pulled and positioned Blaine’s arm so that her eyes were mere centimeters away from the cuts in Blaine’s fingers. She seemed satisfied with what she was seeing and she picked up a large plastic syringe that was resting in a bottle of clear fluid beside her.
“Everything looks good, boys. I’m going to start flushing the wounds with saline,” said Laura.
“Are you sure that’s necessary?” asked Kurt. “Blaine’s mom told me to run his hand under cold water to clean it when we were back at the apartment.”
“It’s just to make sure that any debris inside the wounds gets flushed out. The pressure from the syringe I’m going to use is really going to help flush away anything that might be hiding inside those cuts. I know it seems a little redundant, but we just want to make sure that nothing is left under the skin when the doctor stitches Blaine back up.”
Kurt nodded in understanding and left Laura to her work. Before she could start, Blaine’s stopped her.
“Is it going to sting?” he asked with a wavering voice.
“No, honey, it shouldn’t sting. It’s just saline solution,” she reassured.
As Laura worked on Blaine’s fingers, Blaine’s grip on Kurt’s hand was becoming weaker and the tension of his body started melting away.
“How are you feeling now, babe?” asked Kurt softly.
Blaine blinked at his sleepily and smiled. “Better. I like this stuff they gave me, Kurt.”
Kurt giggled and kissed Blaine’s forehead. “I’m glad. I don’t want you to be scared anymore.”
“I’m not, ‘cause you’re here,” Blaine mumbled.
“Love you, B,” said Kurt.
“Love you too.”
Affection for his adorable boyfriend was blooming in his chest and happiness settled over him, calming the stress and panic that he had been hiding away for this whole ordeal.
A few minutes later, Dr. Mason appeared at Blaine’s bedside. Her white lab coat was pristine and wrinkle free and she was wearing a gorgeous Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress. Kurt had to hold himself back from squealing and reaching out and rubbing the fabric between his fingers. Dr. Mason looked to be around the same age as Blaine’s mother. She was sporting a friendly smile and greeted both Kurt and Blaine cheerfully.
“I wish we could have met under better circumstances, Blaine. I’ve heard so much about you. I swear half the emails your mother sends me are about you.”
“I’m her pride and joy,” said Blaine, shrugging carelessly.
Kurt laughed. “You’ll have to excuse him. I think the Ativan has taken away his filter.”
The doctor laughed and patted Blaine’s knee. “Feeling alright, Blaine?”
“I feel sublime,” he responded dreamily.
“I’m glad,” she said. “Now, let’s get started on those fingers, shall we?”
The doctor rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat and snapped on a pair of gloves from the wall. She talked with Laura for a bit before wheeling a stool over and sitting down at the left side of the bed. She reached for Blaine’s hand and looked at it carefully; pulling the tender skin around the cuts just like the nurse has done earlier, to get a better look. Blaine paid no attention this time around. The medication had him feeling calm and relaxed and Kurt figured that since Blaine was feeling a lot calmer, the pain he felt was less amplified like it was earlier.
“Laura, can you draw up 5cc of lidocaine please? Either a 22 gauge or a 25 gauge needle will be fine.”
“Sure thing!” she replied. “I also grabbed you a suture kit and a couple of different sizes of sutures. I wasn’t sure which ones you would need, so I grabbed most of the smaller sizes.”
The doctor set up her work area quickly while Laura prepared the medication to numb Blaine’s fingers for the procedure.
Thankfully Blaine was drifting off into sleep as the doctor and the nurse prepared to stitch Blaine’s fingers up. Laura was handling a syringe with a large needle to draw up medication from a glass bottle and Kurt felt a little queasy at the thought of a needle that large going into Blaine’s skin. When she was finished, Laura pushed up the safety device on the needle before twisting it off and twisting on a much smaller looking needle. Kurt sighed with relief and made sure that Blaine’s eyes were still closed and that he wasn’t watching what the nurse was doing. Kurt quite liked the shirt he was wearing and he wasn’t prepared to have Blaine puke all over it because of his fear of needles.
After a few minutes, everyone had settled and the doctor told Kurt that she was ready to begin. Blaine was dozing peacefully on the bed and Kurt felt horrible for waking him, but it had to be done so Blaine wouldn’t panic when the doctor started to numb his fingers.
“Blaine…wake up, sweetie. The doctor is ready to get started,” said Kurt, rubbing Blaine’s shoulder.
Blaine’s eyes opened slowly and he smiled lazily.
“Hi, Kurt.”
Kurt suppressed a laugh and patted Blaine’s cheek lightly. “Did you hear me? The doctor is ready to start now, alright? You need to pay attention to what she says.”
Blaine’s eyes widened and looked over to where the doctor was sitting.
“Okay, Blaine, here’s what’s going to happen: First, I’m going to clean the wounds with some betadine, an antiseptic solution. It might sting a little, but it won’t be too bad. Next, I’m going to inject lidocaine all around the areas where the cuts are. That’ll be the worst part, but after that you won’t be able to feel a thing. Are you ready?”
“L-let’s just get it over with,” said Blaine, voice wavering with incoming panic.
Kurt reached for his hand again and squeezed it. Blaine tilted his head towards him without prompting and Kurt leaned down once again to meet Blaine’s eye level.
“I’m right here, okay? Everything is going to be fine. I give you permission to squeeze my hand when it hurts, but please don’t try and break my bones like you did last time, okay?”
Blaine gave him a sad little smile, before the sting of the betadine solution on his open cuts made him wince.
“I’m going to start injecting the lidocaine now, Blaine. There’ll be a couple of big pinches. I promise I’ll be fast though, okay?”
Blaine’s hand immediately squeezed Kurt’s hand so hard his knuckles were white. Kurt ignored it and started spouting off random nonsense to try and distract his boyfriend.
Blaine visibly jolted with the first injection and Laura and Dr. Mason both told him to try and stay as still as possible.
Blaine’s whole body stiffened, but he only flinched with the next injection. As the doctor continued to inject more of the medication around the areas of the cut, Blaine became more and more undone. He was shaking slightly and Kurt saw a few tears roll down his cheeks. Kurt’s heart panged and he willed himself to stay strong for Blaine, even though tears threatened to leave his own eyes at the sight of his boyfriend in so much distress.
“Almost done, baby, she’s almost done. You’ve been so brave for me today. I’m so proud of you,” Kurt babbled, trying to soothe Blaine.
“Shit, Kurt it’s hurts so much,” Blaine whined, his voice thick with tears.
“All done, Blaine. The hard part’s over,” said the Doctor cheerfully. “You did very well!”
Blaine slumped back on the bed and took a few shaky breaths.
Kurt pulled up sleeve and used it to dab at the tears that rested on Blaine’s cheeks. He leaned over and pressed his lips softly over Blaine’s and Blaine hummed appreciatively.
“Now comes the easy part,” Kurt whispered to him. “You can let go of my hand now.”
Blaine loosened his grip, but he kept Kurt’s hand in his and brushes his thumb back and forth over Kurt’s own.
“Thank you for being here with me,” said Blaine.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” said Kurt, kissing Blaine quickly.
As the boys lost themselves in each other for a little while, Dr. Mason started stitching together Blaine’s cuts and before they even realized, she was taking off her gloves and throwing all of the used supplies in the garbage.
“All finished!” she said happily.
Blaine and Kurt both looked up in shock at the doctor.
“That was fast!” Kurt exclaimed.
“I didn’t even know you started doing it!” Blaine added.
“Well, what can I say? I’m good at my job.” She winked and started scribbling something on a clipboard that Laura handed her.
“It was a quick job though, three stitches in each finger. Now, I just have a few instructions for you and a few papers for you to sign and you’ll be all set to go, okay?”
After dealing with all the paperwork, the doctor started giving them instructions on how to care for the stitches at home.
“First of all, the stitches stay in for a week. I made a note here for someone to make an appointment for you next Friday to come back and get the stitches removed. You’ll need to keep the stitches dry for 24 hours. After that, you can remove the dressing and clean the area with warm water. I’ll give you a few gauzes and some tape to bring home so you can apply a new dressing. But before you do that, I want you to apply some antiseptic cream I am going to give you before you put the new dressing on. After 48 hours, you won’t need the dressing on anymore, but make sure to mind the stitches at all times and keep them away from any soaps or solutions that’ll irritate them. Once the dressing comes off, I want you to continue to clean the area with warm water and apply the antiseptic cream twice a day so the area doesn’t get infected. Do you have any questions?”
‘I don’t. Do you, Blaine?” asked Kurt.
“No, I think I got it. Thank you for everything, Dr. Mason.”
“You’re very welcome. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.” She handed Kurt a business card along with a small paper bag filled with gauze, tape and the tube of antiseptic cream that she had promised earlier.
“You’re all set to go. Laura will walk you out once Blaine’s changed out of his gown. I’ll see you next week, alright?”
“Definitely,” said Kurt.
“Oh, and before I forget, Kurt, once the lidocaine wears off, Blaine’s fingers will probably be sore. Just give him a normal dose of ibuprofen and it should take care of it.”
“Thanks! I’ll make a note of it,” said Kurt.
Dr. Mason gave him a quick smiled before walking away and closing the curtains around the bed behind her.
Kurt stood up from the chair and stretched before helping Blaine get up and dressed. It took at least ten minutes of fumbling and avoiding the dressing that wrapped Blaine’s first and middle fingers together until he was dressed properly. It took another twenty minutes to get out of the hospital and catch a cab back to their building, but finally, finally, they were home.
Once Kurt had unlocked the door and taken off both of their jackets, Blaine practically threw himself into Kurt arms and clung onto him for dear life in a bone crushing hug.
“Thank you for being the best boyfriend in the whole entire world,” Blaine mumbled into his neck.
“I was just returning the favour, my love,” said Kurt, nuzzling his face into Blaine’s soft curls.
Blaine pulled away slightly, looking at Kurt with confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it wasn’t too long ago that a certain Blaine Anderson was there to be there for me when I broke my wrist slipping on ice.”
“Oh, right.” Blaine smiled bashfully and wrapped himself properly around Kurt again, squeezing him tightly.
“Come on, spider monkey. Let’s go call your mom and order a pizza. I’m starving.”
“Can we get pineapple on it?” Blaine asked, flashing his puppy eyes at Kurt. “Before you say no, I’d just like to remind you that I was injured and put through emotional hell today.”
Kurt rolled his eyes and nudged Blaine’s shoulder. “Fine…But just this once.”
“I love you, Kurtsie.”
Kurt laughed at the endearment. “Love you too, Blainey. Let’s go.”
Author’s Note
Well, hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? This fic is a part of my A Broken Fall ‘verse but not really because of any specific plotlines or anything, I just wanted the same characterizations for Kurt, Blaine and Blaine’s mom. If you’ve read Dissolved and The Fashion of Panic, you’ll kind of have a general idea of where my headspace is for this one. Blaine and Kurt aren’t finished with college yet, I’d say they were in maybe their second or third year? I just had this idea stuck in my head, so I hope you enjoyed some hurt/comfort medical fluff (my favourite kind of fic). My knowledge of the admitting process for the ER in the States is non-existent and I’ve never been admitted to the ER here, so I’m kind of just mashing everything I know together. I know for sure that all other medical info is legit. I can’t make any promises on when I’ll return to you with a new fic, but I am officially on summer vacation (also I am officially a third year nursing student) so hopefully I’ll be cranking out a few new things this summer. Feel free to come say hi to me on tumblr, I’m always around. I’d like to say thank you to Katrina and Caroline for looking over this for me and thank you for reading!