A/N School is finally over! Freshman finals are FINALLY over! And you know what that means… consistent updates (let's hope)! I promise to really try to update much more frequently now that I have the weight of school off my shoulders.

Swim 'Til You Drown

Walking into the after school practice of Glee club was terrifying. The rehearsal was not only a half hour long like the lunch hour one had been, it expanded much longer. It was that much longer to sit in the view of furious, belittling looks of his friends.

However, he had a goal in mind. He entered the room with his shoulders squared, back straight and head held high. His shoes clicked indomitably against the tiles and he made strong eye contact with the ones sitting, staring over at him. Mr. Schuester, as it played out, was sitting off to the side looking over sheet music silently, and Kurt asked if he could sing something. Absently, though as curious as he was, Mr. Schue accepted and redirected his attention to Kurt.

He placed his bag next to the piano and took a deep breath, looking over the room and noticing, with both satisfaction and discomfort, that all members were present and staring him down.

"Hello," he started, fighting down the urge to bite his lip, "I'd just like to sing something today that, I think, accurately represents what I've been working through lately."

The glee clubbers remained stoic, if not for the occasional inquisitive look or the smile sent in Kurt's direction. Kurt took a deep breath and called for Santana and Brittany to join him up in the front of the room.

They both jumped over to him quickly. Brittany pulled him in for a quick hug and Santana let her fingers slide over his shoulder and back in what he interpreted as a supportive gesture. He nodded to them his thanks and then the music was filling the air. First came the deep piano, then the pounding drums.

"Trippin' out, spinning around, I'm underground," Kurt sang, pulling energy and encouragement from his friends behind him, who were currently swaying slightly, and, in Santana's case, shooting glares at whoever looked away. "I fell down, yeah, I fell down."

"I'm freaking out, where am I now? Upside down," Kurt's voice resonated around the room, "and I can't stop it now, can't stop me now."

"I, I'll get by; I, I'll survive.

When the world's crashing down, when I fall and hit the ground,

I will turn myself around, don't you try to stop me.

And I, I won't cry."

Hearing the two voices harmonizing smoothly behind him, Kurt continued, eyes staring untiringly at the windows above everyone's heads. He refused eye contact. "I found myself in Wonderland. I'll get back on my feet again."

"Is this real? Is this pretend?I'll take a stand until the end."

Kurt had gone into this song, although with the best of determination and confidence, thinking he would be in absolute tears by the time the song was done, or even proceeding the song altogether. Though, now, when he sang and his voice soared through the room, he felt nothing but anger and assertion, towards Karofsky, towards the glee club and even towards himself."I, I'll get by; I, I'll the world's crashing down, when I fall and hit the ground,I will turn myself around, don't you try to stop me."

Suddenly, it was as if the girls behind him and his friends in front of him were gone. It was his voice, only his voice.

He realized, as late as it may be, that none of this was his fault. For the longest time, even after he got out from under Karofsky, he believed he owed everyone everything he had - as if he was paying debt for something he never bought. This thought startled him fleetingly, and he faltered slightly in his singing.

"And I, I won't cry."

Why had he, subconsciously at least, blamed everything on himself, when he, in fact, knew everything to not be his fault? It made absolutely no sense! All this time, he had been getting down on himself for the most foolish of reasons. It was not his fault he ended up in an abusive relationship, his mind chanted, it was not his fault he felt the shocks and suffered through the aftermath.

None of this was his fault.

"I, I'll get by; I, I'll survive."

He didn't owe anyone an apology; he did nothing wrong. "When the world's crashing down, when I fall and hit the ground,I will turn myself around, don't you try to stop me."

But it's over - the song, the looks, the rumors, the anger - it's all over. Kurt nodded to himself and smiled as he sang out the last line.

"And I, I won't cry."

The accompaniment instruments slowed the ending to a stop, and if it wasn't for Kurt's deep breathing, the room would've been completely silent. Santana and Brittany started to clap behind him, and not a moment after, Rachel began to clap, too. Puck rose from his seat in a standing ovation of one man and threw his fist into the air with a cheer.

Idly, Kurt remembered that the only ones who were clapping at this point were the ones who had already made their standing point clear. They had already proven to be on Kurt's "side". Though, shortly after Puck's applause, Mercedes, with a repentant expression, started up a wave of hesitant praise and clapping.

Kurt gave a watery smile to Mercedes, who returned it full-heartedly, and at that, the rest of the club, and Mr. Schuester, began to clap.

At that moment, Kurt never felt stronger.

After arriving home that day, Kurt texted his father and told him to hurry home. It was urgent, but everything was alright.

A half hour later found Kurt and Burt in the living room, Burt staring expectantly at his son while Kurt played with his fingers in his lap. He was ready to do this, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous or that he didn't know where to begin.

"Son," Burt said, "You said this was urgent."

"Give me a moment, dad," Kurt warned lightly, "this is really important and… hard to get out."

Burt paused. "Does this have anything to do with you and that Karofsky kid?"

"Yes."

"Then let me say something first."

Kurt looked up, startled and confused. Burt gave him a sad smile. "I know, it's weird for me to say I'm sorry, but, Kurt, I really am."

"Why?" Kurt asked, incredulous. "I was about to tell you that I was sorry!"

"Maybe we both have something to apologize for, kid," Burt said ruefully, sighing and looking deep into his son's eyes. "I really am sorry for the way I've acted these past few days. First, letting you not see Blaine was just one of those cruel and unusual punishments, I guess."

Kurt started, "Dad-"

"No, let me finish." Burt shifted uncomfortably in his chair and tugged at his collar. "This isn't easy for me, either. I ignored you when you needed me the most and I'm just so, so sorry, Kurt. When you first told me… well, everything, the only that registered was that you were in a relationship with Karofsky. It was like my brain just ignored the fact that it was abusive.

"I think my brain ignored that because I couldn't stand the fact that you were getting hurt. Anything like that just tears me up, Kurt, and I couldn't bear to think that my boy was in that bad of a relationship. But then sometime later, it just clicked. You're my son and I would be a terrible father to just get up and overlook the crap you've been going through.

"So I won't anymore. It's just so hard to find out your son, your only son, has been going through so much and has been in so much pain - all without your support.

"We're all the real family we've got, Kurt. Just you and me. I need you to tell me this stuff."

By this point, Kurt had grown misty-eyed. He nodded, because it seemed like the only thing he could do at this point, and stood to walk over to his father. He was pulled into a strong hug, a shaking, strong hug. "I am so sorry, Kurt," Burt murmured gruffly into Kurt's ear.

"Me, too, dad," Kurt responded, speaking softly into Burt's shoulder, "I'm sorry I lied, I'm sorry I went behind your back, I'm sorry this escalated out of control-"

"That wasn't your fault, kid," Burt said, reaching a hand to cup the back of Kurt's head, "None of this was your fault. You just wanted a relationship, and that's only being human. You do know that, right? That none of this was your fault?"

"I know, dad."

A/N I bet ya'll can tell by now that it's coming to a close. If I named chapters, this one would so be called Empowerment or something of the sort.

This story is going through some revisions, nothing major, just cleaning up grammar and punctuation mistakes from the earlier chappies.