Chapter Ten

When Kurt woke up the next morning he knew something was wrong even before opening his eyes. Last night he fell asleep wrapped up in Noah's arms, and even though he knew he had a tendency to kick back the covers, or lovers if he was lucky and wake up alone on the side of the bed he instinctively knew if there was a warm body next to him, and now there wasn't.

Opening his eyes and looking to the other side of the bed Kurt sighed when it was proven empty, just like he thought. But Noah said he'd stay the night, there was talk of cake and breakfast and he had the day off! A little traitorous memory slithered into his mind, his brother telling him that Noah didn't do relationships and that Kurt had better look out. Finn had meant well, trying to protect Kurt and all but right now Kurt was pissed and Finn's voice in his head made him want to thump his brother.

Rolling out of bed Kurt made his way to the bathroom, telling himself he didn't mind, that Noah wasn't all that great and that if he was such a douche then Kurt was better off without him. He kept trying to tell himself that all through his morning routine and then while he was getting dressed and left the house to take the train to work. Each time he believed himself less. The traitorous voices in his head, the ones that always came when things went south were returning with vengeance, claiming that Kurt was a dirty little whore who was only good for a fuck. Kurt valiantly tried to ignore them because Noah wasn't like that, or at least he wasn't last night- he didn't make Kurt feel disgusted with himself like others have and he hated his own subconscious trying to drive him mad with shame.

As soon as he got to work he put on his smock, refusing to look at or speak with anyone else. He was going to do what he had to do, whatever it was that Chef Sylvester put in front of him and he wasn't going to think about Noah, and he certainly wasn't going to call him! Kurt sighed and put his phone back in his locker, shaking his head at his own behavior. He had more pride in himself than that- he wasn't going to call Noah and demand he explain why he left Kurt's bed because honestly, he didn't really want to hear the answer.

Things got a little better after that, mostly because Chef Sylvester was giving them her usual pre-work talk, telling them what she wanted done that day and if the mood took her, actually listening to what her staff had to say in return. As long as he was surrounded by people he was fine, Kurt told himself, because he didn't have time to dwell on his poor love choices, or humiliate himself by breaking down. But the thoughts came back, in tenfold when he was put to debone quails in his station, with the others backs turn to him, each doing their assigned task.

Kurt did his best to fight his own mind, trying to think about everything from favorite movies to little happy quails running free in the woods, though that last one was a seriously depressing thought in a whole different level- especially when he looked at the heap of quails in front of him, headless and plucked clean of feathers. They were such sad little birds it nearly broke Kurt's heart. But he carried on, because he had no choice and he wasn't about to let Noah ruin everything!

Looking down at the quail in his hands Kurt frowned, this was weird- all the others were pinkish in color, how come this one was bright red? It took Kurt a couple of bewildered seconds to realize that it wasn't the poor quail that was red, it was his own hand and the reason it was red was the big gash that opened on the back of it, bleeding quite freely. Kurt swallowed hard, his head getting lighter as the room started to spin around him. He grabbed his hand and looked up,

"Quinn…" He tried to cry out but felt like it came out as a whisper, "Quinn…"

Quinn looked up from the her station at the other side of the room, to see Kurt holding his hand, blood pooling on the floor and looking so pale she thought he'd faint. Cursing under her breath she rushed over, grabbing the first aid kit on the way to Kurt. Quinn Fabray was a rare creature in the world of high culinary- after years of working as a nurse in the hospital she was finally fed up with cleaning puke and being talked down to by doctors and decided to try her hand in a new thing and after a couple of years of trying out pretty much everything she met Sue Sylvester while working in an organic farm outside town. Sue took a shine to her and offered her a job in her kitchen- no degree or training necessary, and so Quinn started from the bottom working her way up slowly and steadily, with fierce determination that helped her stand up to all those culinary graduates who thought they were above her. And now, five years later she was the most senior staff member and the most respected, not to mention, the savior of the wounded.

Pushing Kurt gently to sit on one of bar stools she pulled out, Quinn grabbed his hand and put it under the faucet to clear the blood and see the damage. Kurt's head was still swimming and he swayed a little on his seat. He wasn't usually this squeamish about blood, even his own, so he put his reaction down to his deteriorating mental state, and naturally blamed Noah. Closing his eyes he forced himself to take deep breaths and stay calm, but the pain was finally registering in his brain and was making his hand throb and thus relaxing became a whole lot harder.

"Oh, Bambi, what did you do?" Quinn shook her head fondly, while this was nasty and quite alarming because of all the blood it was definitely not the worse she'd encountered- not even in this very kitchen, "Well, good news is, it's not too deep so you won't need stitches." She smiled up at Kurt who managed to return it with a shaky smile of his own, before looking down again, just as Quinn was tying the ends of the white bandage that was now covering most of his hand. "You're going to be just fine, medically, but I'm not sure how good you are with the boss." She added with a whisper and Kurt's head snapped up to see Chef Sylvester standing in the doorway of her office with her arms crossed. When she caught Kurt's eye she gestured sharply with her head, causing Kurt to gulp. Quinn stood up and gave him a bright smile and friendly pat on the shoulder, "Good luck, Bambi."

Sliding down from the stool Kurt took a deep breath before forcing his legs to move, they felt wobbly like two big cooked noodles, and he was quite surprised he could actually make them work. He opened the door to Chef Sylvester's office and walked inside, feeling like he was going to his own execution- sure people got injured all the time around the kitchen, but mostly that didn't happen because they were daydreaming while holding big, sharp knives and Kurt just knew that his boss could tell the difference between getting hurt because you were in a hurry and getting hurt because you were moping.

"Porcelain," Chef Sylvester said in a curt tone, "Sit." Kurt did as he was told, his eyes lowered while his right hand was fiddling with the ends of the bandage. Sue leaned back and pressed her fingertips together, say what you will- she actually liked that little porcelain doll, but that didn't mean she couldn't have her fun. "I know that I seem like a tyrannical bitch, whose sole purpose in life is to bully you around," She began with a conversational voice, smiling at Kurt's expression, "And don't get me wrong, I am. But I believe that making sure my staff remains in working condition during a work day isn't all that much to ask." Kurt winced a little at the words, knowing that he was completely busted and that Chef Sylvester had probably guessed exactly what happened- she had that weird psychic knack for it that frankly scared the shit out of him.

"I'm sorry Chef, it was an accident." He muttered, because really, what else could he say?

"You've been skirting around 'accidents' all day long." Chef Sylvester said flatly, and right now Kurt was really regretting being one of her favorites- because that meant she was paying him extra attention. "Care to tell me why?" Kurt shook his head,

"It's nothing," He said, a little too quickly, causing his boss to raise an eyebrow, which luckily he missed because his head was still bowed, "I… I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Does it have anything to do with that ridiculously chiseled firefighter you were talking to last week?" Kurt's head flew up so quickly that for a split of a second Sue was afraid it might come off his shoulders altogether, but that only confirmed her suspicions, and she sighed, "Man, I'm just too good at this shit." Fixing frightened Kurt with what she considered a kind stare she smiled, "Come on Porcelain, spill, I promise not to laugh." Although she tried to pass it off as making sure her staff was able to perform at all times, Sue actually loved gossip and more so, being on the top of her restaurant rumor mill- and this was by far the most interesting thing that happened all week!

"It's nothing," Kurt said, his cheeks reddening so fast, it was a wonder he had any blood left to spare after trying to chop off his own hand, "It doesn't matter, I'm ok now, I'll just get back to work." He made to get up but Sue was having none of that!

"Sit!" She commanded and Kurt sagged back into the chair, looking like he was about to cry. Pushing her burning curiosity aside, knowing that Kurt wouldn't give anything more- not even under threat of Waterboarding, there was still the fact that right now, Kurt had one and a half working hands and she needed at least two! "I cannot allow you to go back there, where there are sharp knives and heat while you're still pining over that firefighter." Sue said sharply, quite pleased to see Kurt's expression, "I have two choices here, either send you home to wallow away from me and my sharp utensils or keep you here and make sure you stay away from them." Kurt gulped, he had a terrible feeling he knew where this was going, "But letting you wash salad will be an insult to your talents and my money." Kurt nodded with difficulty, his whole body suddenly heavy with dread,

"You're sending me home." He whispered, trying to keep himself together, at least until he got out of here and could break down alone. He was being sent home- and in Sue's kitchen, being sent home meant you weren't coming back! He'd seen good cooks being sent off like this in shame because they did something to annoy his unpredictable and callous boss and now he was going the same way. How humiliating.

"That's right Porcelain." Sue Sylvester said with a flat tone. Kurt rose slowly from his chair, forcing his rigid muscles to work- because if nothing else, he was going to walk out of here with what remained of his dignity. He couldn't believe he just lost the best job he's ever had because of a guy! He's always prided himself at being better than that- but as it turned out he was just as sad and pathetic. "Oh, and Porcelain," Kurt stopped with his hand on the doorjamb, and closed his eyes briefly before turning to his former boss for one last piece of humiliation,

"Yes Chef?" He said, marveling that he manage to sound almost normal considering he was so close to tears.

"You make sure you get that wallowing out of your system by tomorrow morning and show up here with a fucking genuine smile and ten working fingers, is that clear?" Sue found she was working hard not to smile at Kurt's bewildered expression. Sure she had a reputation for being a tough bitch- hell, she's been cultivating it for years, and the rumor was that if you were sent home you didn't come back- and that was mostly true but damn it, she had a kitchen to run and she needed good people and Kurt was one of the best she came across and she wasn't stupid enough to let him go so easily. It took Kurt a couple of bewildered seconds to process what Chef Sylvester had just told him, before a small, relieved smile appeared on his face,

"Yes Chef, I understand Chef, thank you Chef!" Sue shook her head fondly, and waved her hand in dismissal before she'd let her mask slip- she still needed to save face in front of the staff, after all.

As soon as Kurt's apartment door closed behind him he let out a long sigh, sliding down the door to the floor. He was completely drained of energy what with the blood loss and the emotional torture his boss put him through. After a couple of minutes he managed to scrape himself off the floor and headed to the fridge- he needed food if he didn't want to end up passed out on the floor! The first thing that caught his eye when he opened the fridge door was the leftovers from yesterday's dinner, and that brought on an influx of memories- particularly Noah's little happy moans of appreciation. Disgusted with himself and his traitorous cock Kurt slammed the fridge door shut and opened the freezer instead, luckily there was still some homemade chocolate ice-cream left so that he didn't have to starve altogether. Grabbing the ice-cream, a spoon and a bottle of water he made his way to the living room.

It had been quite a while since he had a day off and didn't have tons of errands to run and Kurt wasn't quite sure what to do for the rest of the day until Mercedes came back from work to entertain him. Shoveling a big helping of his ice-cream he reached for the remote, and started channel-surfing between the day time shows. About half an hour later he realized he was quite engrossed in a Mexican soap, which surprised him quite a bit because he understood only about every sixth word but damn they were funny! Grabbing the ice-cream container he pouted when his spoon came back up empty. Maybe he should let Mercedes and Sam get him that ice-cream machine they've been harping about for his birthday- it'll make things a lot easier, and he could properly mope if he didn't have to work so hard to make ice-cream each time.

The sound of the front door slamming caused Kurt to startle and he realized that between Mexican soaps and ice-cream he fell asleep. Rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand he forced his body to move and get off the couch. His neck felt stiff and his eyelids kept drooping but he refused to succumb to sleep and went over to investigate what Mercedes was doing and why on earth was she making so much noise. Entering her room he saw his roommate busy throwing clothes around the place, muttering under her breath while she tried to find a sweater to go with her dress. Kurt leaned on the doorframe and watched with amused expression, until Mercedes turned around and spotted him, letting out a high-pitched shriek of surprise,

"Ahh! Fucking…" She breathed heavily, "You scared the shit out of me!" She accused loudly and Kurt shrugged and smiled, not entirely sorry. "What are you doing home so early anyway?" Mercedes nearly barked on her roommate, trying to regain her composure after Kurt frightened the hell out her. Kurt lifted his left hand, showing Mercedes the while bandages, "Oh, Pudding, what did you do?" She asked, shaking her head at yet another of Kurt's no doubt bizarre accidents. Before Kurt could open his mouth to retell the gory details though, she lifted her hand, "Wait, do I even want to know?" Kurt looked at his injured hand and shrugged,

"Probably not." He's been living with Mercedes long enough to know how squeamish she was when blood was involved, and sure- most of the time it was quite fun, he and Sam even had contests to see who could make her puke first but right now it didn't really seem like the time for it.

"What I do want to know," Mercedes said before Kurt could change his mind and actually tell her what happened to his hand, "Is what happened last night… Was it good?" She smiled suggestively, only to have Kurt's looking like a kicked puppy,

"Yeah…" He said, miserably and Mercedes sighed inwardly, this is not quite how this conversation was supposed to go! It seemed to her that whenever Noah was involved Kurt was always giving that sad puppy dog face and she actually started to feel guilty about telling Kurt that dating the guy would be a good idea.

"What happened?" Kurt shrugged, detaching himself from the doorframe to come and collapse on Mercedes' bed, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

"He left." He said simply.

"You expected him to wait in bed naked until you decided to come home?" Mercedes asked with a soft laughing snort, "Without handcuffing him to the bed?" She sniggered at her own little joke but it seemed Kurt didn't even hear her,

"I don't understand, is it me?" He asked miserably and Mercedes tried very hard not to roll her eyes. Usually Kurt wasn't so melodramatic, but on occasion he did succumb to his inner diva and Mercedes knew this could be explosive. "Am I that repulsive? I'm bad at sex, aren't I?" He moaned softly, his eyes leaving the ceiling to fix Mercedes with a horrified glance, "Oh, gods! He was too kind to say so, so he left when I fell asleep!" This time Mercedes did roll her eyes,

"You're not bad at sex." She intoned flatly, because their house was too small to have two mega divas and she had called dibs a long time ago! Besides, having a meltdown was one thing, having a meltdown and saying absurd thing was quite another!

"How do you know, we never slept together!" Kurt snapped back at his best friend, and both of them made a 'Thanks heavens for that' face subconsciously, before Mercedes smirked, with a suggestive eyebrow movement,

"Paper thin walls, Pudding, paper thin walls." Kurt winced; he seriously did not need to know that Mercedes was listening to what he was doing in his room!

"I don't get it," He said instead, immersing himself right back in his misery, because he had the audience and it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity, "I tried playing hard to get and that got me nowhere. I tried playing easy to get and ended up with Blaine." He heard Mercedes muttering 'Good riddance' under her breath but chose to ignore it, "And now I've tried being friends before and it still got me nowhere! What the hell am I suppose to do?" Mercedes stopped in the middle of examining yet another one of her sweaters to fix Kurt with a glare,

"Oh no, Pudding," She said with a sympathetic yet accusing tone, "You've gone and done it again haven't you," She sat next to Kurt, who looked at her with a puzzled expression, "You've gone and fell for Mr. August." Kurt's entire frame seemed to shrink and he let himself fall back onto the mattress,

"I didn't mean to!" He practically wailed, "What am I going to do?"

"Everything is going to be alright, Pudding." Mercedes said curtly patting Kurt's knee before she stood up again and picked yet another sweater,

"How, tell me how!" Kurt was seriously whining at this point but Mercedes decided to let him get it out of his system before she put her two-cents in, "I'm going to die alone surrounded by cats who'll eat my body when I finally snuff it!" Mercedes had to bite her lip to stop from laughing,

"Kurt," She said briskly as she hauled her roommate to a sitting position, "Nobody actually dies of a broken heart these days! You're going to be fine!" Kurt was still pouting, but she wasn't about to cave in, "And besides, there's no way in hell you're bringing a cat here!" Despite himself Kurt let out a small chuckle, and Mercedes was very glad the crisis was over because she really didn't have time for this right now. "Listen, I'd love to stay and commiserate, maybe even throw darts at Mr. August picture and stay for the full on pity party but I really have to run, I'm playing good girlfriend tonight and meeting Sam's parents for dinner."

"Oh, fuck, that's today?" How the hell did he forget? She's only been harping about it for the better part of two weeks! Meeting your boyfriend's parents was never easy and Mercedes had put it off for as long as she could- in fact, she somehow managed to get away with six solid months, but now Sam has had enough and he refused to hear any more excuses and so Mercedes had no choice. Jumping up from the bed Kurt rushed to Mercedes' closet, or rather, squatted on the floor where most of her closet currently was, rummaging through the heap of fabric before pulling out a sweater, "Here," He tossed it to Mercedes while hurrying towards her jewel box, "Put this on." It took all of two minutes to get Mercedes ready and looking radiant and Kurt stepped back to admire his work- at moments like these he wondered if he hadn't missed a calling as a stylist. "Now you go and be fabulous!" Mercedes beamed at Kurt before grabbing him in a bone crushing hug,

"And you try and cheer up and I promise that when I get back and we'll break into the ice-cream." Kurt chuckled and shrugged,

"Too late for the ice-cream, I'm afraid," He told Mercedes who actually looked crestfallen despite the fact she was heading out to dinner, "But I can scrunch up some cookies for when you get back." Giving him a big kiss on the cheek, Mercedes grabbed her bag and practically ran out of the door, leaving Kurt standing alone in the wreckage of her room.

Kurt slowly made his way back to the kitchen, looking around him. It seemed a little excessive to be making your own moping cookies instead of just opening a pack of Oreos or something, not to mention he should probably give his hand some rest if he had any hope of it being even half usable tomorrow. Pulling open the drawer he took out a notepad and pencil and started making a list. This called for at least three types of cookies, and chocolate milk, and probably some Ben and Jerry's! Kurt's stomach lurched in rebellion at the thought of all this going into it so in an afterthought he added carrots to his list. He had just been contemplating marshmallows when someone knocked on the door.

Kurt looked up, who the hell could that be? The only neighbor they were actually talking to, Emma Pillsbury had gone for a week of juice cleansing or something like that, and he had gone over to water her plants yesterday. Walking over to the door Kurt opened it a crack and nearly banged something important from shock when he saw who was on the other side,

"What are you doing here?" He asked suspiciously, and Noah shrugged, looking a little lost at Kurt's somewhat hostile tone,

"Um, I came to apologize." He gave Kurt what he hoped with an apologetic smile. In fact, no one was more surprised than Noah to find himself in front of this door again. He knew he messed up and he totally meant to call Kurt and apologize for it but somehow, instead of going home and doing it from a safe distance he was right here.

"Why?" Kurt looked genuinely surprised and Noah had to work hard not to push his way in and grab Kurt in a kiss,

"Because I said I'll stay the night and I didn't, and I really like you and I don't know what Finn told you about me but I really don't want you to think that I'm that kind of guy." To his utter shame Noah found himself babbling like an idiot and saying far more than he intended, but he needed Kurt to understand because he was pretty sure Finn had already told Kurt that he was that kind of guy. Kurt looked down, biting his lip- he came back, Noah came back to apologize! Well, Mercedes is going to be very pleased to learn about their cat-less future!

"I… don't, anymore…" He said softly and Noah face broke into a hearty grin that caused all sort of pleasant things to Kurt's stomach. He glanced briefly at his injured hand on the doorknob before pulling the door open wider letting Noah in, then closed the door and followed Noah to the kitchen, hiding his left hand behind his back. "Why did you leave then?" He asked, because as much as he enjoyed Noah's apology, he wanted some sort of an explanation as well.

"I got called in." Noah said simply, and Kurt frowned,

"I thought you had the day off."

"Yeah but one of the guy's wife went into early labor so the captain called me in." Kurt nodded, putting his hand discreetly on the notepad and trying to pull it towards him without Noah getting suspicious, using the fact he couldn't see Noah's eyes to try and center himself.

"Oh, is everyone alright?" He asked, lifting his eyes to see that Noah's dark eyes were boring right into his,

"Yeah, he was just nervous because it's his first time. He's got a boy." He said, taking a step closer to Kurt, his eyes never leaving Kurt's face, "You just looked so cute sleeping I didn't have the heart to wake you up to tell you I had to go, and when I got into the station I left my phone in my locker and didn't get a chance to even text you." Kurt could feel his cheeks burning up, partly because of the way Noah was looking at him but mostly because throughout his day of misery and self pity he never once thought about the option of Noah having to go to work unexpectedly.

"It's ok," He tried to smile; "You don't owe me an explanation."

"Yes, I do." Noah said as he took yet another step closer to Kurt, "Besides, I missed that cake…" Kurt let out a snort of laughter,

"I knew you only came back for that!" Noah grinned wide as he closed the remaining distance between them and wrapped his arms around Kurt,

"Not only for that…" He whispered huskily before swooping in for a kiss. Kurt melted right into the kiss, feeling better than he had in a very long time, even better than he did last night. Noah's fingers were trying to work their way under Kurt's shirt when he encountered Kurt's left hand, which he still tried to hide behind his back. Noah pulled Kurt's hand to him to affirm what he felt was bandage gauze, "What the hell, babe?" He asked, looking quite alarmed, as Kurt tried to shrug it off,

"I guess the quail rebelled…" When Noah gave him a look, Kurt sighed, "Trust me, you don't want to know. I'm fine, Quinn just like to show off with her bandaging." He smiled, trying to down play the whole thing because really- they were not going to be standing here and arguing about work safety when they could be doing much better things! "So… do you still want that cake?" It took Noah a couple of seconds to finish his inner battle but since Kurt seemed adamant that nothing was wrong he decided to play along for the moment- if he played his cards right, he could always harass Kurt about his injury later.

"Mmm, yeah, I'd love to eat if off you…" He leered, running his hands under Kurt's shirt over the smooth skin of his back, while his lips attacked Kurt's neck. Kurt let out a chuckle and pulled back a little with effort,

"Nice try mister, but no cake in bed!" Noah actually pouted at that and Kurt decided that if everything will go well tonight he'd bring cake over to Noah's place next time and let him eat however he damned like it- far away from Kurt's precious sheets.

"Ok…" Noah conceded defeat, "So cake first, sex after." Because he already missed cake once, he wasn't fool enough to do it twice!

"Deal!"

..oo00oo..

THE END!

..oo00oo..

Yes, I know… and I am so so sorry…

Hell, in the time it took me to actually finish this in my mind Kurt and Noah practically have grandchildren at this point!

So thank you so so much for not giving up, and I promise (well, I'll definitely do my best) not to take six months between updates in the future!