The storm is the worst Burt has seen since he was a kid. Rain pelts the house unmercifully and strong gusts of wind are creating horrendous noises that woke him and made him shake before he was even fully conscious. His first instinct is to roll over and pull his wife to his chest. Then he finds that side of the bed empty and he remembers.

So Burt decides to check on Kurt. He pads down the stairs after finding Kurt's room empty, comforter neatly folded on the bed. He must be in the kitchen getting water, Burt figures.

Just as he turns to enter the kitchen, he spots a mound of blankets on the couch, a small frock of hair peeking out from under them that he would have missed if not for the crack of lightning that lit up the foyer and caused the lump to whimper pitifully.

Ah, shit.

Burt sneaks to the couch, not wanting to scare him. "Kurt?"

A long pause follows. Burt is just about to try again when two arms shoot out from the blanket and grab him around the waist. "S-sorry daddy, I'm sorry."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Burt takes both of his son's hands in his own to kneel in front of him. "What're you apologizing for?"

Kurt's head is bowed, but Burt can see wet streaks on his flushed cheeks, and his body is shaking trying to stop the flow of tears. It makes every nerve in Burt's body ache with guilt; what made his boy think that he couldn't come to him if he was scared?

"It's okay, Kurt," Burt wraps an arm around Kurt, "don't worry, buddy." He doesn't know what's wrong or what he's trying to convince Kurt of, but this is all he's got at the moment.

Kurt is still stammering apologies when he brings his hands up and curls them into tiny fists in the front of Burt's worn oxford, wrinkling the fabric and pulling his dad closer to him. The movement isn't even enough to make him rock on his feet, but he still moves to sit on the couch and pulls his son onto his lap, rubbing soothing circles on his back as Kurt finally lets himself cry into Burt's neck.

It's after Kurt has fallen asleep on Burt's chest and the rain has diminished to a soft drizzle in the early morning that he notices the blanket wrapped around Kurt is white with red roses hand-sewn around the words "Julie & Burt".He recognizes it as the blanket Julianne made when she and Burt first moved into their first apartment together in Lima to warm the cold nights when they couldn't afford the heating bill. After so many years of use, its threads were tattered and the red had faded into a dusty pink. It had previously been draped across Burt's bed, and Burt comes to the realization that Kurt must have snuck into his room to take it without waking him. It makes him wonder how long Kurt had been downstairs by himself before Burt had woken up.

He has a corner of it in his mouth, chewing absently on it as a makeshift pacifier as he sniffles softly in his sleep. If a quilt can soothe his son better than he can, then Burt has no clue how he's going to do this alone.

Burt will wake up hours later to find Kurt wiping his face with determined little hands, and remember that he had cried himself to sleep.