#Medical Coding Audit in new york in US

[hiddenwiki13]

Fall In Love With HIDDEN WIKI

Reviewing the 1970s, "darknet" was truly not an awful term: it just inferred networks that were detached from the standard of ARPANET for security purposes. Notwithstanding, as ARPANET changed into the web and a brief timeframe later ate up basically the wide extent of various PC networks out there, the word came to perceive areas that were connected with the web yet not really of it, hard to track down on the off chance that you didn't have a guide.

 The alleged weak web, a catch-all verbalization covering the pieces of the web not reported through web crawlers, is the stuff of shocking legend. Notwithstanding, as with most legends, the fact of the matter is a touch more ordinary. This shouldn't deduce that that astonishing stuff isn't accessible on dull sites, in any case, some of them murmured staggering stories you might've heard don't make up a large portion of the exchanges there.

 We watched out for some security experts who offered to offer us somewhat a guided visit through the web's lower zones. Ideally, it will demystify things each.

 New weak locales spring up dependably...

 A 2015 white paper from danger data firm Recorded Future analyzes the linkages between the Web you know and the darknet. The ways regularly start on complaints like Pastebin, from the outset proposed as a direct spot to move long code tests or other substance yet now regularly where partners with the dark Tor network are saved a few days or hours for contributed individuals.

While looking for dull locales isn't only likely as essential as utilizing Google—the reality of the situation is to be truly subtle, considering everything—there are approaches to manage discover what's there. The screen gets under was given by Radware security analyst Daniel Smith, and he says it's the eventual outcome of "altered substance that go out there and find new URLs, new onions, dependably, and from there on show them. It's like Geocities, yet 2018"— an energy that is helped along by pages with names like "My Deepweb Site," which you can see on the screen get.

 ...besides, many are totally authentic

Matt Wilson, the central data security counsel at BTB Security, says that "there is a sensible/weak side to the weak web that would presumably shock an extensive number of people. You can trade some

cooking plans—with video!— send an email, or read a book. Individuals utilize the dull web for these smart things for a plan of reasons: an impression of the area, insight or following of web tendencies, or just to accomplish something in a substitute manner."

 [ Prepare to change into a Certified Information Security Systems Professional with this broad web course from PluralSight. Before long contribute a 10-day free starter! ]

 It legitimizes auditing that what thrives with the darknet is material that has been kept somewhere else on the web. For instance, in 2015, in the wake of the Chinese government stopping any tomfoolery with VPN relationship through the claimed "stunning firewall," Chinese-language conversations ended bouncing up on the darknet — all around flooding with individuals who essentially expected to exchange with one another in agreeableness.

 Radware's Smith brings up that there is an assortment of media sources on the weak web, going from the news website from the hacking group Anonymous to the New York Times, which appeared in the screen get here, all considering individuals in nations that adjust the open web.

 A few spaces are by hi from a certain point of view

 Plainly, not all things are so faultless, or you wouldn't endeavor to look at this article. Considering everything, "you can't simply be starting up your Tor program and mentioning 10,000 Visa records, or passwords to your neighbor's webcam," says Mukul Kumar, CISO and VP of Cyber Practice at Cavirin. "A gigantic piece of the checked 'delicate' information is simply open to those that have been affirmed or welcome to express friendly events."

 How should you get a hello to such dull locales? "They should see history of terrible conduct," says Radware's Smith. "From an overall perspective, it takes after a mafia trust test. They need you to show that you're not a prepared proficient and you're not law execution. In like manner, an enormous heap of those tests will be something that a specialist or law need genuinely can't do."

 There is shocking stuff, and crackdowns mean it's harder to trust

 In reality, as a year earlier, different weak web business networks for drugs and hacking associations included corporate-level client care and client audits, making exploring less staggering yet rather safer for learners. Nonetheless, since law essential has started to stop messing around with such protests, the experience is more stunning and more hazardous.

 "The entire considered this darknet business center, where you have a partner outline, where individuals can survey calms that they're purchasing from transporters and get up on a get-together and say, 'in all actuality, this is real' or 'No, this genuinely harmed me'— that has been diminished since faint business living spaces have been taken withdrawn," says Radware's Smith. "You're seeing unapproachable vendors open up their own shops, which are all things considered, hard to vet yourself truly. There won't be any audits, there's not a lot of escrow associations. Also, in this way, by these takedowns, they've really fired up a business opportunity for extra misleads to hop up."

 Surveys can not be right, things sold under contortions—and a ton is on the line

There are still protests where medications are evaluated, says Radware's Smith, regardless, review that they ought to be taken with a gigantic grain of salt. A specialist may get a high from something they purchased on the web, at any rate not like what the medication was that given it.

  One explanation such errors are made? Different weak web drug makers will in addition buy pill presses and tones, which retail two or three hundred dollars and can make risky clone drugs. "One of the later alerts that I could imply would be Red Devil Xanax," he said. "These were sold as some super Xanax bars when truly, they were simply horrible medications expected to hurt you." Everything You Wanted to Know About hidden wiki and Were Too Embarrassed to Ask

 The weak web gives discount things to striking nearby retailers...

 Smith says that some standard remedy cartels utilize the dull web networks for dissipating—"it disposes of the subject matter expert and awards the cartels to send from their own stockrooms and spread it on the off chance that they need to"— yet inconspicuous administrators can also give the individual touch at the neighborhood level following to purchasing drug produced combinations discount from China or somewhere else from areas like the one in the screen get here. "You know how there are loads of neighborhood IPA microbreweries?" he says. "We in addition have a ton of nearby little investigation workplaces. Around there, there's obviously, notwithstanding, one child that is gotten canny and recognizes how to arrange drugs on the darknet, and make very few solutions to offer to his neighborhood affiliation."

 ...who utilize the gig economy

 Smith depicts how the darknet meets with the unregulated and passed on the universe of the gig economy to help reasonable hold. "What about we expect I need to have something bought from the darknet transported off me," he says. "I'm not going reveal my authentic territory, isn't that so? I would have something like that passed on to an AirBnB—a territory that can be discarded, a burner. The case appears to be the day they lease it, by then they put the thing in a Uber and send it to another space. It winds up being astoundingly hard for law need to follow, particularly in the occasion that you're going across different domains."

Not all things are open to being purchased on the dull web

 We've contributed an enormous heap of energy looking at drugs here purposefully. Smith calls narcotics "the genuine foundation" of the weak web; "cybercrime—selling attempts and inadequacies, web application assaults—that is the electronic foundation. Basically, I'd say a ton of the darknet is in reality medications and children analyzing little encroachment on get-togethers."

 A piece of the truly terrifying sounding stuff you get some answers concerning being open to being purchased as frequently as potential breezes up being by and large gossipy treats. Take weapons, for example: as Smith puts it, "it would be less hard for a criminal to buy a firearm, truly, versus the web. Going to the darknet is adding an additional development that isn't huge for the association. Precisely when you're administering confirmed hoodlums, they will recognize somebody that is selling a weapon."

 Unequivocal specialties are in

 Notwithstanding, there are some sure darknet specialty includes out there, regardless of whether they don't have the very impression that tranquilizers do. One that Smith made me notice was the universe of skimmers, gadgets that fit into the openings of genuine credit and ATM card perusers and get your money-related harmony information.

 In addition, giving another outline of how the darknet weds certified articles open to be purchased with information available to be purchased, similar complaints likewise give information manual sheets to different standard ATM models. Among the jewels accessible in these sheets are the default passwords for a couple, praised web-related models; we will not give everything away here, in any case for a couple, it's a similar digit emphasized on different events.

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[outweek30]

Rewriting the Social Contract

How come we're the only industrialized country besides South Africa without national health care? The simplest answer to that question would identify what else we have in common with South Africa — a pervasive history of racism deeply rooted in our national history. The lack of federal provision for the well-being of all Americans is directly tied to the fact that many Americans are left outside the social contract — and this means poor people, people of color, gay men and lesbians.

[...]

The U.S. missed a chance, just after World War II, to extend the reforms of the New Deal to the health care system. President Truman fought a long and losing battle against the American Medical Association (AMA) to implement universal health care. Doctors banded together to defend their economic and social privileges, claiming that universal health care was the thin end of the communist wedge.

Instead, the U.S. subsidized widespread hospital building in rural areas and improved the health care infrastructure. Federal funding of research through the National Institutes of Health burgeoned.

In the 1960s, President Johnson engineered the greatest expansion of the welfare state since the New Deal. In 1965, LBJ signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. Medicare, disguised as an addition to Social Security insurance for the elderly, would provide health care for people who were over 65 or had been disabled for over two years. Even then, old people had to pay for many of their own prescription drugs. Only in 1988 was an amendment passed that would provide for coverage of outpatient prescription drugs by 1991 — and this amendment is under attack by the well-organized lobby of retired Americans, which op- poses the tax surcharges (of up to $800 a year) to be imposed on the mote affluent recipients.

Medicaid was intended to provide health care for the poor. But because the criteria for implementing the program were left up to the states, over half the poor don't qualify. And those that do qualify are subject to routine bureaucratic brutality and careless medical attention. Even when good doctors attempt to treat Medicaid patients, many are driven away from the effort by relentless audits by cost-conscious bureaucrats like New York State Health Commissioner David Axelrod.

American is a diverse country, more diverse ethnically than the European and Japanese countries which do have national health care. The provision of universal coverage to all their citizens occurred during periods when many of those nations were ethnically homogeneous. [...] And the social contract which prevailed from FDR to LBJ, and which provided at least the illusion that all citizens were entitled to certain basic equities, has been wholly revoked during the last nine years of the AIDS epidemic. President Bush, a "kinder, gentler" Reagan, won office on the basis of crudely coded racist and nationalist appeals to white heterosexual voters.

Under Bush's social contract, the hundreds of millions spent on AIDS research in the last nine years will help only the few people who have the knowledge and the money to obtain HIV antibody testing, quarterly T-cell testing and early AZT and PCP prophylaxis. According to a paper published in the September 14, 1989, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), this will cost about $9,637 a year per person. Add just one additional drug (like high-dose Acyclovir for herpes, or perhaps fluconazole for candida) and the bill for early intervention could easily double.

About 600,000 Americans could use early therapeutic intervention for HIV infections now. The total tab will come to about $5 billion a year, if someone would pay for it. The Vietnam War effort cost the U.S. government $1 billion a day. It's easier to get Washington to pay for dead bodies than for living ones.

We need to rewrite the social contract to include everybody. We need to demand that our government distribute the fruits of its anti-AIDS research to everyone who needs them, now.

— Mark Harrington, OutWeek Magazine No. 14, September 24, 1989, p. 30.

[daniels09stuff]

Medical Billing Services In New York (NY)

With the advancement in the healthcare industry, it has become imperative for healthcare providers to hire professional full-time medical billers and coders. The cost of hiring a medical billing service provider is also too high. Therefore, we at 24/7 Medical Billing Services have come up with a solution to all your problems with reasonable cost services for practitioners of all sizes in New York (NY).

Our services (offered in the past) have the record of reducing operational costs by 50% and increasing revenue by 10%. Take a look at the services offered by the team of 24/7 Medical Billing Services in New York:

Medical Billing Services – From the first appointment of patients to accounts receivable follow-up, our team monitors and organizes each and every process for you. Patient information is entered and their medical eligibility and verification is done. Latest coding is used in the coding documentation by CPC, CPC-P, CPC-H, CPM, CPMA, CPCO, CIC and COC certified coders. At each step of the billing, quality is reviewed by our quality review team. Till the very end of the operation i.e. revenue payment by the payer, we deliver our best.

Coding reviews – Apart from the certified coders (mentioned above), we have a team of the best American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) & American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) certified auditors. Our team works steadily to remove loopholes from the system. This reviewing process leads to fewer claim rejections and denials.

Analysis of documentation is also done to check the performance of the employees and eliminate mistakes/errors if any. Due to the lengthy procedure involved, providers sometimes refrain from resubmitting claims. We offer full assistance in ensuring you get paid for all your services.

Speak to our Experts on

+1 888-502-0537

End-to-End Medical Billing Services provider across entire US.

GET IN TOUCH

ICD-10 training – To be in line with the current healthcare regulatory rules and regulations, we provide effective training to our employees on ICD-10. Just knowing is not enough for precise medical billing and coding, as knowing when and where to apply the code is extremely important. Our team uses up-to-date technology for coding that saves time and ensures precision.

Auditing – Auditing is an extremely important but often overlooked process. 24/7 Medical Billing Services  provides auditing and consultation services to all clients to help them upgrade their services and fill in the gaps.

All our services lead to 99% error-free claim submission and timely payment. We are at your service in New York to upgrade your healthcare providing services.

Read More : 

[instapayhealthcareservices]

[orbemnews]

Online Cheating Charges Upend Dartmouth Medical School HANOVER, N.H. — Sirey Zhang, a first-year student at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, was on spring break in March when he received an email from administrators accusing him of cheating. Dartmouth had reviewed Mr. Zhang’s online activity on Canvas, its learning management system, during three remote exams, the email said. The data indicated that he had looked up course material related to one question during each test, honor code violations that could lead to expulsion, the email said. Mr. Zhang, 22, said he had not cheated. But when the school’s student affairs office suggested he would have a better outcome if he expressed remorse and pleaded guilty, he said he felt he had little choice but to agree. Now he faces suspension and a misconduct mark on his academic record that could derail his dream of becoming a pediatrician. “What has happened to me in the last month, despite not cheating, has resulted in one of the most terrifying, isolating experiences of my life,” said Mr. Zhang, who has filed an appeal. He is one of 17 medical students whom Dartmouth recently accused of cheating on remote tests while in-person exams were shut down because of the coronavirus. The allegations have prompted an on-campus protest, letters of concern to school administrators from more than two dozen faculty members and complaints of unfair treatment from the student government, turning the pastoral Ivy League campus into a national battleground over escalating school surveillance during the pandemic. At the heart of the accusations is Dartmouth’s use of the Canvas system to retroactively track student activity during remote exams without their knowledge. In the process, the medical school may have overstepped by using certain online activity data to try to pinpoint cheating, leading to some erroneous accusations, according to independent technology experts, a review of the software code and school documents obtained by The New York Times. Dartmouth’s drive to root out cheating provides a sobering case study of how the coronavirus has accelerated colleges’ reliance on technology, normalizing student tracking in ways that are likely to endure after the pandemic. While universities have long used anti-plagiarism software and other anti-cheating apps, the pandemic has pushed hundreds of schools that switched to remote learning to embrace more invasive tools. Over the last year, many have required students to download software that can take over their computers during remote exams or use webcams to monitor their eye movements for possibly suspicious activity, even as technology experts have warned that such tools can be invasive, insecure, unfair and inaccurate. Some universities are now facing a backlash over the technology. A few, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, recently said they would cease using the exam-monitoring tools. “These kinds of technical solutions to academic misconduct seem like a magic bullet,” said Shaanan Cohney, a cybersecurity lecturer at the University of Melbourne who researches remote learning software. But “universities which lack some of the structure or the expertise to understand these issues on a deeper level end up running into really significant trouble.” At Dartmouth, the use of Canvas in the cheating investigation was unusual because the software was not designed as a forensic tool. Instead, professors post assignments on it and students submit their homework through it. That has raised questions about Dartmouth’s methodology. While some students may have cheated, technology experts said, it would be difficult for a disciplinary committee to distinguish cheating from noncheating based on the data snapshots that Dartmouth provided to accused students. And in an analysis of the Canvas software code, The Times found instances in which the system automatically generated activity data even when no one was using a device. “If other schools follow the precedent that Dartmouth is setting here, any student can be accused based on the flimsiest technical evidence,” said Cooper Quintin, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization, who analyzed Dartmouth’s methodology. Seven of the 17 accused students have had their cases dismissed. In at least one of those cases, administrators said, “automated Canvas processes are likely to have created the data that was seen rather than deliberate activity by the user,” according to a school email that students made public. The 10 others have been expelled, suspended or received course failures and unprofessional-conduct marks on their records that could curtail their medical careers. Nine pleaded guilty, including Mr. Zhang, according to school documents; some have filed appeals. Some accused students said Dartmouth had hamstrung their ability to defend themselves. They said they had less than 48 hours to respond to the charges, were not provided complete data logs for the exams, were advised to plead guilty though they denied cheating or were given just two minutes to make their case in online hearings, according to six of the students and a review of documents. Five of the students declined to be named for fear of reprisals by Dartmouth. Duane A. Compton, the dean of the Geisel School, said in an interview that its methods for identifying possible cheating cases were fair and valid. Administrators investigated carefully, he said, and provided accused students with all the data on which the cheating charges were based. He denied that the student affairs office had advised those who said they had not cheated to plead guilty. Dr. Compton acknowledged that the investigation had caused distress on campus. But he said Geisel, founded in 1797 and one of the nation’s oldest medical schools, was obligated to hold its students accountable. “We take academic integrity very seriously,” he said. “We wouldn’t want people to be able to be eligible for a medical license without really having the appropriate training.” Updated  May 8, 2021, 5:12 p.m. ET Instructure, the company that owns Canvas, did not return requests for comment. A Hunt Begins In January, a faculty member reported possible cheating during remote exams, Dr. Compton said. Geisel opened an investigation. To hinder online cheating, Geisel requires students to turn on ExamSoft — a separate tool that prevents them from looking up study materials during tests — on the laptop or tablet on which they take exams. The school also requires students to keep a backup device nearby. The faculty member’s report made administrators concerned that some students may have used their backup device to look at course material on Canvas while taking tests on their primary device. Geisel’s Committee on Student Performance and Conduct, a faculty group with student members that investigates academic integrity cases, then asked the school’s technology staff to audit Canvas activity during 18 remote exams that all first- and second-year students had taken during the academic year. The review looked at more than 3,000 exams since last fall. The tech staff then developed a system to recognize online activity patterns that might signal cheating, said Sean McNamara, Dartmouth’s senior director of information security. The pattern typically showed activity on a Canvas course home page — on, say, neurology — during an exam followed by activity on a Canvas study page, like a practice quiz, related to the test question. “You see that pattern of essentially a human reading the content and selecting where they’re going on the page,” Mr. McNamara said. “The data is very clear in describing that behavior.” The audit identified 38 potential cheating cases. But the committee quickly eliminated some of those because one professor had directed students to use Canvas, Dr. Compton said. In emails sent in mid-March, the committee told the 17 accused students that an analysis showed they had been active on relevant Canvas pages during one or more exams. The emails contained spreadsheets with the exam’s name, the test question number, time stamps and the names of Canvas pages that showed online activity. Questions Arise Almost immediately, questions emerged over whether the committee had mistaken automated activity on Canvas for human activity, based on a limited subset of exam data. Geisel students said they often had dozens of course pages open on Canvas, which they rarely logged out of. Those pages can automatically generate activity data even when no one is looking at them, according to The Times’s analysis and technology experts. School officials said that their analysis, which they hired a legal consulting firm to validate, discounted automated activity and that accused students had been given all necessary data in their cases. Class Disrupted Updated May 5, 2021 The latest on how the pandemic is reshaping education. But at least two students told the committee in March that the audit had misinterpreted automated Canvas activity as human cheating. The committee dismissed the charges against them. In another case, a professor notified the committee that the Canvas pages used as evidence contained no information related to the exam questions his student was accused of cheating on, according to an analysis submitted to the committee. The student has appealed. The committee has also not provided students with the wording of the exam questions they were accused of cheating on, complete Canvas activity logs for the exams, the amount of time spent on each Canvas page and data on whether the system flagged their page activity as automated or user-initiated, according to documents. Dartmouth declined to comment on the data issues, citing the appeals. Mr. Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation compared Dartmouth’s methods to accusing someone of stealing a piece of fruit in a grocery store by presenting a snapshot of that person touching an orange, but not releasing video footage showing whether the person later put back the orange, bought it or pocketed it without paying. Dr. Compton said the committee’s dismissal of cases over time validated its methodology. “The fact that we had a large number of students and we were very deliberate about eliminating a large, large fraction or majority of those students from consideration,” he said, “I think actually makes the case well for us trying to be really careful about this.” Campus Tensions Tensions flared in early April when an anonymous student account on Instagram posted about the cheating charges. Soon after, Dartmouth issued a social media policy warning that students’ anonymous posts “may still be traced back” to them. Around the same time, Geisel administrators held a virtual forum and were barraged with questions about the investigation. The conduct review committee then issued decisions in 10 of the cases, telling several students that they would be expelled, suspending others and requiring some to retake courses or repeat a year of school at a cost of nearly $70,000. Many on campus were outraged. On April 21, dozens of students in white lab coats gathered in the rain in front of Dr. Compton’s office to protest. Some held signs that said “BELIEVE YOUR STUDENTS” and “DUE PROCESS FOR ALL” in indigo letters, which dissolved in the rain into blue splotches. Several students said they were now so afraid of being unfairly targeted in a data-mining dragnet that they had pushed the medical school to offer in-person exams with human proctors. Others said they had advised prospective medical students against coming to Dartmouth. “Some students have built their whole lives around medical school and now they’re being thrown out like they’re worthless,” said Meredith Ryan, a fourth-year medical student not connected to the investigation. That same day, more than two dozen members of Dartmouth’s faculty wrote a letter to Dr. Compton saying that the cheating inquiry had created “deep mistrust” on campus and that the school should “make amends with the students falsely accused.” In an email to students and faculty a week later, Dr. Compton apologized that Geisel’s handling of the cases had “added to the already high levels of stress and alienation” of the pandemic and said the school was working to improve its procedures. The medical school has already made one change that could reduce the risk of false cheating allegations. For remote exams, new guidelines said, students are now “expected to log out of Canvas on all devices prior to testing.” Mr. Zhang, the first-year student, said the investigation had shaken his faith in an institution he loves. He had decided to become a doctor, he said, to address disparities in health care access after he won a fellowship as a Dartmouth undergraduate to study medicine in Tanzania. Mr. Zhang said he felt compelled to speak publicly to help reform a process he found traumatizing. “I’m terrified,” he said. “But if me speaking up means that there’s at least one student in the future who doesn’t have to feel the way that I did, then it’s all worthwhile.” Source link Orbem News #Charges #Cheating #Dartmouth #medical #Online #school #upend

[marketreportsupdates]

Computer-Assisted Coding Market Analysis Including Growth Trends And Forecasts To 2027

The research report titled Global Computer-Assisted Coding Market is an all-inclusive document containing crucial data pertaining to sales and revenue of the Computer-Assisted Coding industry. The evaluations are done on the basis of the analysis of leading market segments such as types, applications, regions, technological advancements, and dominant players of the global Computer-Assisted Coding industry. The report provides historical data (2017-2018) of the industry and provides valuable forecast information for the period of 2020-2027. The report is formulated with the analysis of current and emerging trends based on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has changed the dynamics of the market and has drastically shaken up the economic scenario of the world. The report covers an impact analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic and offers a futuristic outlook of a post COVID scenario. It also covers trends, demands, and growth rates impacted by the ongoing crisis.

Get a sample of the report @ https://www.reportsanddata.com/sample-enquiry-form/3224

Key participants include 3M, Cerner Corporation, Optum, Inc., Mckesson Corporation, Nuance Communications, Inc., Artificial Medical Intelligence, Inc., Athenahealth, Inc., Craneware PLC, Dolbey Systems, Inc., and Streamline Health Solutions, Inc., among others.

The forecast estimation states the global Computer-Assisted Coding market is expected to dominate the economic sphere of the world with significant growth in the coming years. The growth is boosted by a change in demand patterns, rapidly developing infrastructure, technological advancements, and product advancements. The current and emerging trends are expected to shape up the industry and help in gaining a strong foothold in the global market to contribute to the revenue generation.

The Global Computer-Assisted Coding market is further analyzed on the basis of key companies operating in the business sphere and major geographical regions where the market has a substantial size and growth rate.

Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

  Natural Language Processing Software

  Structured Input Software

Support and Maintenance

 Education and Training

Mode of Delivery Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

Web-Based Solutions

Cloud-Based Solutions

On-Premises Solutions

To read more about the report @ https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/computer-assisted-coding-market

Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

Automated Computer-Assisted Encoding

Clinical Coding Auditing

Management Reporting and Analytics

End Users Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

Hospitals

Academic Medical Centers

Physician Practices

Clinical Laboratories and Diagnostic     Centers

Others

Zonal Partition of the Market: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.

The report covers extensive analysis of market segments that are anticipated to lead by the end of the forecast period (2020-2027). The report puts a special emphasis on the upstream raw materials, downstream buyers, industrial chain analysis, technological and product advancements, and production and manufacturing capacities of the Computer-Assisted Coding market. Moreover, the report provides an in-depth analysis of the core segments of the market by analysis of the applications, types, consumption patterns, market drivers and restraints, and challenges to be faced in the market.

The research study focuses on the emerging development patterns and manufacturing processes anticipated to boost the growth of the market. It also includes extensive profiles of prominent contenders of the industry and provides a complete analysis inclusive of their market share, market size, production capacity, sales and distribution network, import/export activity, and product portfolios.

Major objectives of the Global Computer-Assisted Coding Report:

·         Analysis and forecast estimation of the Global Computer-Assisted Coding Market based on the market segmentation into types, applications, and regions

·         Analysis of micro and macroeconomic factors affecting the global Computer-Assisted Coding market

·         Valuable insight into the major drivers, limitations, opportunities, and challenges faced by the global Computer-Assisted Coding market and its players

·         In-depth analysis of the prominent contenders along with their business strategies and expansion plans

·         Strategic recommendations to the established companies as well as new entrants to assist in the formulation of investment plans

·         Comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape of the Computer-Assisted Coding industry

To summarize, the report provides a better understanding to the reader about the Computer-Assisted Coding industry by offering a detailed explanation of the competitive landscape, industry environment, market projections, growth driving and restraining factors, limitations, entry barriers, and opportunities. The report also covers the regulatory framework, investment opportunities, and other growth driving factors. The report allows the reader to gather insightful information about each segment of the market and provides a historical, present, and prospective outlook of the market.

Thank you for reading our report. To know more about the report or for any queries regarding customization, please connect with us. Our team will provide excellent assistance and make sure the report is tailored to meet your requirements.

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Computer-Assisted Coding Market:- http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/computer-assisted-coding-market-booming-by-recent-trends-developments-in-manufacturing-technology-and-regional-growth-overview-to-2027-1309767.htm?utm_source=djournal&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=distribution

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[daniels09stuff]

Medical Billing Services In New York (NY)

With the advancement in the healthcare industry, it has become imperative for healthcare providers to hire professional full-time medical billers and coders. The cost of hiring a medical billing service provider is also too high. Therefore, we at 24/7 Medical Billing Services have come up with a solution to all your problems with reasonable cost services for practitioners of all sizes.

Our services (offered in the past) have the record of reducing operational costs by 50% and increasing revenue by 10%. Take a look at the services offered by the team of 24/7 Medical Billing Services in New York:

Medical Billing Services – From the first appointment of patients to accounts receivable follow-up, our team monitors and organizes each and every process for you. Patient information is entered and their medical eligibility and verification is done. Latest coding is used in the coding documentation by CPC, CPC-P, CPC-H, CPM, CPMA, CPCO, CIC and COC certified coders. At each step of the billing, quality is reviewed by our quality review team. Till the very end of the operation i.e. revenue payment by the payer, we deliver our best.

Coding reviews – Apart from the certified coders (mentioned above), we have a team of the best American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) & American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) certified auditors. Our team works steadily to remove loopholes from the system. This reviewing process leads to fewer claim rejections and denials.

Analysis of documentation is also done to check the performance of the employees and eliminate mistakes/errors if any. Due to the lengthy procedure involved, providers sometimes refrain from resubmitting claims. We offer full assistance in ensuring you get paid for all your services.

Speak to our Experts on

+1 888-502-0537

End-to-End Medical Billing Services provider across entire US.

GET IN TOUCH

ICD-10 training – To be in line with the current healthcare regulatory rules and regulations, we provide effective training to our employees on ICD-10. Just knowing is not enough for precise medical billing and coding, as knowing when and where to apply the code is extremely important. Our team uses up-to-date technology for coding that saves time and ensures precision.

Auditing – Auditing is an extremely important but often overlooked process. 24/7 Medical Billing Servicesprovides auditing and consultation services to all clients to help them upgrade their services and fill in the gaps.

All our services lead to 99% error-free claim submission and timely payment. We are at your service in New York to upgrade your healthcare providing services.

Read More : 

[khalilhumam]

How to make telehealth more permanent after COVID-19

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/how-to-make-telehealth-more-permanent-after-covid-19/

How to make telehealth more permanent after COVID-19

By Nicol Turner-Lee, Niam Yaraghi The coronavirus outbreak, or COVID-19, has fundamentally transformed our lives and communities, contributing to economic declines, disruptions in schooling, and distressed hospital systems. However, the pandemic has generated some silver linings, including the widespread adoption of telehealth that has helped to mitigate the risk of community spread by reducing unnecessary hospital visits and ensuring real-time access to medical providers for millions of Americans. According to a report by McKinsey, in the aftermath of COVID-19 epidemic, medical providers have rapidly scaled their telehealth offerings and are seeing 50 to 175 times the number of patients via remote access platforms than they did before. Some patients have even come to prefer virtual office visits as medical providers have been less resistant to the change and even more willing to administer remote care from an internet-enabled device. Last month, the Trump administration lauded their efforts to relax the legislative and regulatory restrictions limiting the use and adoption of remote medical care. And rightfully so. Early reports indicate various benefits from cost reduction in both medical and mental services to quality improvement, as well as increased patient satisfaction.  But given the ravaging effects of the pandemic on U.S. citizens and the focus on health care leading up to the national election, will telehealth still be available, or potentially be made permanent, as an option for patients in need of immediate, primary, or secondary care? Will previous regulatory guardrails be reinstated on emerging models of health care delivery, potentially suppressing the number of providers and patients accessing such resources? To start, certain conditions must be instituted to ensure long-term delivery of telehealth services, starting with access to high-speed broadband among patients and providers, national interoperability, new fraud detection methods, and more lenient and favorable federal and state policies towards its use. Further, as people of color, especially African Americans, become disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in both infections and deaths, the adoption of telehealth practices to address and potentially reduce the immediate and long-term delivery of care will be important. Across the U.S., African Americans are dying at a rate of 88.4 deaths per 100,000 population, more than twice the rate of white Americans (40.4 deaths per 100,000 population).

Broadband networks (especially 5G) will be critical to telehealth delivery

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reported that more than 18 million Americans do not have access to high-speed broadband networks. This lack of access to digital connectivity has far-reaching impacts on more vulnerable populations, including those with medical conditions or those who live in areas with limited access to quality health care facilities. Having access to broadband is a prerequisite in telehealth’s use. Patients require access to reliable internet connections that support high-speed transmissions to use remote health care services and attend virtual office visits. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has revealed the relationship between poverty, geography, education and a host of other variables on one’s access to broadband in the U.S. For rural populations, access to health care is constrained by the lack of local quality services and infrastructure, doctor workforce shortages, fewer dollars, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Low-income, urban populations experience similar problems, making the emergency room their first point of contact for service. Given the historical effects of being “socially distanced” from medical care, telehealth can mitigate health care access, costs, and even remediate certain chronic diseases of vulnerable groups, including seniors, who were more likely to be both impacted and isolated by COVID-19. During the pandemic, Congress appropriated $200 million in funding as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support the ability of health care providers to offer connected care. The COVID-19 Telehealth Program enabled reimbursements to the providers and last month, several lawmakers requested details on its progress and called for its continuation. But expanding the eligibility and payment of telehealth services are just parts of the larger problem of a widespread digital divide that forecloses on its use by vulnerable populations. One specific area of broadband expansion that will be critically important to telehealth delivery will be the availability of 5G, which can enable mobile phones as the prime point of contact for providers and patients. Smart phones are now much more common and ubiquitous than personal computers and laptops. The type of latency and resiliency embedded in 5G networks can accelerate more reliable virtual connections as well. Further, a virtual doctor visit is a very private exchange, which is a concern expressed by a large majority of Americans. While a PC is limited in portability and often shared by multiple members in a household, a smart phone typically has a single user, and allows for encrypted communications that enable a higher level of patient privacy over digital connections. In addition to incentivizing and reimbursing providers for telehealth use, it is imperative that next-generation mobile broadband networks be made available in both rural and urban communities to accelerate adoption.

Support nationwide interoperability

Physicians should be able to share medical information between themselves and their patients in order to enhance the quality of medical services and avoid redundancies. National efforts to enable interoperability between different healthcare providers have not been successful. Particularly, lack of interoperability between different electronic systems across the healthcare delivery system is one reason for delay in reporting of the COVID-19 test results. To enhance the quality of virtual visits, physicians need to have access to their patients’ medical data including medications, labs (such as COVID-19 testing), hospitalizations, and imaging data. For example, New York City’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform made it possible to merge the patients’ COVID-19 testing data with their prior medical data. This enables a much better understanding of patients’ clinical conditions and more importantly, allows providers to identify high-risk populations and prioritize them in their prevention efforts. Despite their importance, interoperability efforts have not been successful in many parts of the U.S. This is in spite of the more than a decade of nationwide efforts, trying many different approaches to interoperability and billions of dollars of incentives and grants. While there are still some technical barriers to exchange of health information, the most important impediment to interoperability continues to be economic disincentives for providers to share data. COVID-19 has led to fundamental changes in expectations of patients, providers and payers about data exchange. Given the circumstances, patients are much more willing to receive their test results through online patient portals. It is now in the best interest of providers to willingly share clinical data with public health officials and other providers as part of a community effort to fight the epidemic. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has just provided effective guidelines to overcome the technical barriers to health information exchange and more importantly, has set specific rules to identify information blocking and sever penalties for violators. These significant economic, legal and technical changes have created the most favorable ecosystem for health information exchange platforms to emerge and expand. Healthcare organizations and IT vendors should take advantage of this environment to streamline their data exchange processes. Otherwise, demand and enthusiasm for telehealth services will wither as the epidemic gets under control and we go back to normalcy.

Institute new fraud detection methods

While telemedicine facilitates legitimate medical services, it can also make it easier for fraudsters to abuse the system. In one commonly-used scheme, fraudsters recruit Medicare patients to visit physicians for unnecessary reasons and get prescribed expensive medical devices which Medicare will ultimately pay for. In a recent incident, DOJ charged a network of telehealth companies, physicians, and patient recruiters in a $1.2 billion Medicare fraud scheme. Given that telehealth is a new medium for delivering health care, the areas of more susceptible to fraud may be unique and unknown to the federal agencies, making it more difficult to detect and stop. DOJ and HHS may consider collaborations on new models or systems that proactively monitor, and audit unusual billing behaviors related to telehealth services. Considering that the pandemic suddenly increased patient demand for remote care, new fraud detection methods may also improve upon data collection, service coding, and move away from reimbursements based on parity laws to maintain the high quality of services.

Continue lenient rule making and favorable policies

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been extremely proactive to implement a wide variety of policies to expand telehealth services during the COVID-19 epidemic. These policies include waiving limitations on the types of clinical practitioners that can furnish Medicare telehealth services, allowing hospitals to bill for telehealth services  to Medicare patients registered as hospital outpatients even when the patient is at home, increasing the payments for telephone visits to match those of in-person office visits, and expanding payments for telehealth services to rural health clinics and federally qualified health clinics. While these policies were implemented as emergency measures in response to COVID-19 epidemic, more than 5.8 CMS beneficiaries took advantage of remote office visits, especially in the areas of mental health. While it has taken decades for Congress and state regulators to operationalize limited remote health care, it took just weeks to implement such changes nationwide. Bipartisan lawmakers are currently pushing for the permanence of telehealth options post-pandemic in a letter that continues to receive more signatures. Despite the last few months of provability in cost savings and care remediation, the fate of telehealth is still undetermined, especially in an election year where health care is often a partisan issue.

Leverage telehealth to address health disparities

Finally, the challenges of being stricken by multiple health factors that impact is all too familiar among vulnerable populations. Lack of access to doctors, insurance, nutritious food, and safe workspaces, among other areas can all contribute to the persistent and growing health disparities impacting people of color, especially African Americans and Native Americans. These heightened risk factors for people of color can trigger a host of chronic ailments, including diabetes, pulmonary failures and disruptions, cancer, and other rare conditions. In cities where Black people comprised the majority of the population, COVID-19 related illnesses and deaths have been disproportionately high and correlated with such underlying medical conditions. For all the reasons previously stated in a May 2020 Brookings report, telehealth can improve upon the health inequities that have debilitated communities of color through real-time delivery and availability of care, provided that broadband access and lenient CMS policies were still made available to these populations. Vulnerable populations would also benefit from the institution of new and improved fraud detection monitors to avoid the deceptive practices of bad actors in the medical community who prey upon people of color, the elderly, and their frail conditions. In the end, measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have accelerated the availability and adoption of remote health care services. However, as the last six months have largely represented a national pilot to creatively redress the challenges of social contact, the federal government and the next administration must determine whether telehealth can continue to play a competitive and complementary role in health care. The regulatory conditions, the incentives for doctors, and the political will of the country to remedy health disparities and care fragmentations will largely determine if telehealth becomes permanent.

[jennyvergeese]

Best Mental Health Billing Services In New York, USA

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We are a medical billing company that offers ‘24/7 Medical Billing Services’ and support physicians, hospitals, medical institutions and group practices with our end to end medical billing solutions. We help you earn more revenue with our quick and affordable services. Our customized Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) solutions allow doctors to attract additional revenue and reduce administrative burden or losses. Contact:  24/7 Medical Billing Services Tel: +1 888-502-0537 Email: info@247medicalbillingservices.com

[dancekickboxcardio]

Gawd, I don’t know 🤷🏼‍♀️ how I look 👀 like already. I love ❤️ that I put make up 💄 today and how I wish I bought more. The stuff the pricey 💲💲💲💲 Marc Jacobs and Laura Mercier we’re passed over for like a Lululemon bag. 🙄 It’s totally inconsequential because they are not steal steal steal. I have like all the bag 💼 that I need. An entire collection of Voorays. I found the exact backpack 🎒 still available at Nordstrom 🛍. I am not sure 🤔 if is indeed ok for purchase.

I actually had enough time to prepare. More than what I needed. I showered 🧼 and I wish I have a heavier scrub. I could have applied my skin medication 💊 but I did not. I use my brush for that. Yeah, I could use it for that what the heck. But that’s what’s two-in-two. Clear delineations.

I am actually starting late ⏱ and I have a schedule 📆 that has been made up. I sent it to my BFF but I do not believe there is enough space to fit it in here. Give like a heads up. I could take off the Wharton app 🎧. Nah— I shouldn’t water down 💦 my thang because it certainly makes you uncomfortable. I am so sorry 😐 you feel little. Yeah, ok. You have a prob with yourself. You didn’t try hard enough. I hate it that everything has to be given like to me. Why can’t I sweat 😓 it like everybody else and not sit around. Everything has to revolve around me. I don’t have to make my own money 💵. Wait, isn’t that where most people get who they are. Yeah, so much that their kids ended being the royal 👑 screw up that I really am—drug addicts, can’t hold jobs, criminals, spreads STDs, home wreckers, no holder of a diploma the list of irresponsibilities and vagabondcies keeps on. Like a flimsy copy. Yeah— They sell those in the streets of New York 🚖. Ugh 😑, I have tons to prepare before we travel 🛣 to the city 🌃. I should call 📞after I post this.

I am slowed and I am actually not fighting it. New approach right. Right. Do no meet them there. Make them sell whatever it is they need money 💵 for. Do I look 👀 like I don’t want to make my six figs 💰? That’s a lot of dough. Yeah, potentially I could make 50% more conservatively coding 🔣🔢 💻 and with your name. Yeah, who cares about stupid advertisement. Everybody wants to audition 🎥. You have to try. I didn’t know that. They simply called me. Here you go. I know I have not a laundry 🧺 list of good things that rake in the revenues. I slept 🛏 all day. I would like to say I completely hated it 50 gray body is a wonderland daycare. I’d rather getting things done ✅. We want to do something that they want to meet you there. They want me to know them and recognize them and like care. Why should I? It was wild 😜 unheard off and I ate mostly trail mix. I should add that to my grocery 🛒 list. I ate one good meal 🍽 and yay 😃 🎊, it wasn’t as tasteless as the ancient grains 🌾.

I didn’t enjoy 😊 the retail experience 📦 as much opening my stuff in a hurry ✨. The FedEx guy didn’t even knock 🚪. Hello 👋🏾, I’d rather be given a heads up. I was actually looking 👀 forward to it because I want my mat 🧘🏼‍♀️. It was very meticulously packed. Mom could have gotten the same used returned topper. I really didn’t care. I received a brand new one when all I wanted was a price 🏷 adjustment. I got a giftcard. I complained about it freaking out that I might ran out of the product. It’s not really necessary. Like I could spend it on another Cole Haan 🧥. You guys know that the style which I wanted four more colors 🎨 ran out of stock. They only have black which is not me. I gave my still good Northface parka to my Mom. I don’t have any use for it. For thirty bucks more, I got the keychain 🔑 which I said is for the women locker key’s 🔐 that sometimes does not contain a safety pin. It has a clip that says “Not for Mountain 🏔 Climbing 🧗🏼‍♀️.” Really? I am quite sped up. Not cool 😎. Not cute. No what I want. Water 💦 bottle attachment.

I feel good actually. I better be. I am so well rested. Grabbed my coffee ☕️ cup. I haven’t used my cheapie ban.dos stuff. I want more make up 💄 and perfumed lotion 🧴. I love 💗 the keychain. It is very nice. Why do we get Lulus again? To fit in? To sell? To make more money 💵? To appear rich? To seem big? It’s made of s I believe. Slow down. Savor. Senjoy 😊. Yeah, ok. I am actually wearing the socks 🧦. I love them 😍. I said that word a lot like I have no responsibilities and bills 🧾 or worries esp security to pay for in the world 🗺. They are so much better in person. They are thicker. It’s not very tensile on the body but the top part is. It doesn’t bunch up. I feel that it is greatly made particularly in thickness. The feet 🦶🏻 area does not size bigger than for my measurement 📏. My Dad asked me what it’s for? I told my Dad that it’s for the cold 🥶 ❄️ even if it’s not snowy. It’s 31 degrees and can still be freezing 🧣 🧤. I again went back and told him that I didn’t get it for that but it’s ballerina 🩰. I want that bod and I love ❤️ again that word it’s not February dance 💃🏼.

You is important. Affirmations that’s what I am paying for 😌.

[sophie-chou]

For this investigation into the US Citizenship and Immigration Service’s failure to vet the doctors that perform immigration medical exams, I was the lead reporter, pitching, investigating, and writing the story. After several failed attempts to FOIA the information, I scraped USCIS’ online directory of civil surgeons, automatically entering every zip code for the top five states for green card applications (California, Florida, Texas, New York and New Jersey). For each doctor that showed up in the search results, I looked up their disciplinary records from state medical board data, and categorized the nature of their offenses by reading through those records. A lot of digging, phone calls, and investigating ensued. The story was co-published with Univision in Spanish.

At the 2020 NICAR conference, I explained how I used hidden APIs to scrape government websites for this story.

[semissouristate]

SEMO Loves Alumni

We love our alumni and aren’t afraid to shout it! Every semester, graduates from Southeast go out into the world and start new chapters in their journeys. And every unique story is another opportunity for us to be proud of the magnificent work they do. Here is just a snapshot of what some of our alumni are up to these days.

Roy Thomas ‘61

Roy Thomas graduated from Southeast in 1961 and is from Jackson, Missouri. Roy is a comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Roy was responsible for writing many comics, such as Conan the Barbarian and Justice Society of America. Roy has also written for Marvel's X-Men and The Avengers, and DC comics All-Star Squadron. Roy was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2011 and is the recipient of numerous national awards.

 Kimberly Speight Nordyke ‘97

As managing editor for The Hollywood Reporter Online, Kimberly Speight Nordyke has helped inform and entertain millions. She began as a reporter and copy editor in 2000 and by 2017, she was promoted to managing editor. In addition to editing breaking news and features, she is also responsible for overseeing awards show coverage (Oscars, Emmys, Globes, Grammys, etc.), coordinating and optimizing the rollout of print stories to online, working with the public relations team and top editors to promote approved content, and coordinating with their sister publication, Billboard, on music coverage. At Southeast, Kimberly earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication with an emphasis in journalism. She also holds a Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Missouri.

 Michael Bricknell ‘07

Michael Bricknell was employed as a cartographer for the West Point History of Warfare, The West Point History of the American Revolution, The West Point History of the Civil War, and The West Point History of World War II. After finishing nearly five years with an educational startup in New York City, Michael has begun working as a data visualization designer for the Council on Foreign Relations since July 2018.

 Andrew Bauman ‘11

Andrew Bauman recently graduated from law school at Saint Louis University School of Law in May 2018, earning his J.D. with a concentration in urban development, land use, and environmental law. He then passed the Missouri Bar Exam and has recently begun work as an attorney at Wegmann Law Firm in Hillsboro, MO. Andrew also won first place in the 35th Annual Smith-Babcock-Williams Student Writing Competition with his law paper “Legally Enabling a Modern-Day Mayberry: A Legal Analysis of Form-Based Zoning Codes,” which he wrote as a third-year law student. This contest is open to law students and graduate city planning students across the country. The paper will also be published in an upcoming publication, The Urban Lawyer, a national law journal which is the official publication of the American Bar Association's Section of State and Local Government Law. “I credit the SEMO History Department and the historic preservation program for helping me foster this interest in place making and the built environment as an undergrad, which has proved instrumental in shaping my areas of interest of municipal/local government law and land use law,” said Andrew.

 Geoffrey Ogden ‘11

After graduating from Southeast, Geoffrey Ogden commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He attended SLU law, and proceeded to active duty where he spent the majority of his time as a criminal defense attorney. He plans to transition to the Marine Corps reserves and begin civilian employment with the Department of Justice. Geoffrey studied political science and history at Southeast. “History is something I have always been passionate about, and I chose it because I intended to either teach or go to graduate school. Professor Joel Rhodes’ lectures were always captivating, and he had a way of making history come alive. He could tell a story better than anyone, and it's a skill I have tried to develop and perfect as a trial lawyer,” said Geoffrey.

 Jessica Halter-Powell ‘93

After interning with Boyd Gaming during her senior year at Southeast, Jessica Halter-Powell secured a job with the gaming company's advertising agency, which eventually led her to Las Vegas and work at the marketing firm that represents many of the city's casinos. From there, Jessica moved to Chicago and joined Leo Burnett working on the Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line brands. Since then, she’s worked for some of the world's biggest and best advertising agencies such as McCann, DDB, and David&Goliath. Her latest role as the vice president of marketing and brand strategy for the Bellagio brought her back to Las Vegas. “Southeast allowed me to create an interdisciplinary studies major, with concentrations in graphic design and mass communications that provided the hybrid education I needed. Southeast taught me nothing is handed to you. Work hard and show perseverance and people will want to help you. Dr. Bodenheimer and Dean Jones helped me find the scholarship opportunities and part time jobs that not only got me through college but set me up for a wonderful career,” said Jessica.

Jan Pensel ’72, ‘74

Jan Pensel received her Bachelor of Science in education and Master of Arts in education from Southeast. She is retired, having worked as a teacher, elementary counselor, and a computer programmer. Jan and her husband, Ron, have been living in the Northwest since 1976. Jan enjoys quilting and, several years ago, decided to help the community by donating her quilts to a nearby hospital. In addition, Jan makes prayer pillows and port pillows for patients. The hospital uses the quilts as lap quilts for neonatal patients, the prayer pillows are given to the hospital chaplain so they can put their business card in the slot on the pillow to give to families in need, and Jan makes port pillows for those patients that have surgically implanted ports to help cushion the port while wearing a seat belt. Jan has often said that if she worked in a quilting or fabric store, she would never come home with a paycheck. In addition, one of Ron's Navy buddies has asked if Jan ever comes up for air because she quilts so much.

 Rosemary Jones ‘64

Rosemary is a retired public housing social worker, medical social worker, and refugee resettlement worker. Serving as chair of the Jamaica Pond Association, secretary of the Howard Benevolent Association, and active member of JP@Home, which is a program of Ethos, the senior services organization that helps seniors and disabled individuals age in place. Rosemary considers “chronic volunteer” to be her new job title in retirement.

 Caitlin Clark ‘07

Caitlin Clark has developed her corporate real estate career with what is now Cushman and Wakefield (formerly CTMT, Cassidy Turley, and DTZ). Her current role as associate vice president in portfolio administration is a specialized focus on lease audit and recovery, which aims at forensic accounting and research of corporate tenant leases to validate expenses. She leads a team that negotiates overcharges with landlords on behalf of corporate clients. Caitlin earned a degree in business administration with a focus in integrated marketing communications from Southeast. “I had a lot of good core classes that led me into my ultimate focus in a finance role. I currently use my degree as I have been elevated in a more sales and marketing role to expand our services to new clients,” said Caitlin.

 If you are a Southeast graduate, share your story with us!

[anderstarblaine]

The One with the Flash. || Seblaine

Date: February 8th 2017

Location: Lenox Hill Hospital and The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower

Who: Blaine Anderson and Sebastian Smythe

Notes:  When Sebastian is sent to the hospital because of a freak accident, Blaine rushes to his side despite neglecting his duties as Nightbird. Blaine is determined to stay with Sebastian until he wakes up.

flash /flaSH/ verb 1.(of a light or something that reflects light) shine in a bright but brief, sudden, or intermittent way. "the lights started flashing" synonyms: light up, shine, flare, blaze, gleam, glint, sparkle, burn; blink, wink, flicker, shimmer, twinkle, glimmer, glisten, scintillate; literaryglister, coruscate "a torch flashed"

“Your life can change in a flash.”

...

Blaine Anderson:

After the night Blaine and Sebastian had spent together at the other’s place, he felt extremely guilty. He lied to Kurt about going to Sebastian’s, claiming he had spent the night with one of his girl friends that he knew from auditions. He felt awful for kissing Sebastian-- he was a married man, he cared for his husband even if Kurt really didn’t like him much anymore. Even if they weren’t happy he still knew better than to sneak around.

But on the other hand, when Blaine was with Sebastian he felt happy and that was something he hadn’t felt in a really time. He felt happy and he could feel some of his old confidence trying really hard to dig itself out from under all of the self-doubt that Kurt had shoveled on top of it over the years. So he ignored some of that guilt, promising himself he would not let it get any more out of control than it did that night, and he continued to see Sebastian. They went out the following weekend to take photos and new headshots, that only lasted Sebastian about an hour before Blaine's eyes had had enough of the bright flash coming from Sebastian's camera. He made some lame excuse to cut the photoshoot short, hoping Sebastian wouldn't really question it too much.

They finished their day off with dinner and then they decided that they would at least have dinner with each other a few times week. He couldn’t and he wouldn’t stay away from Sebastian-- he deserved to be around someone who made him feel good, who made him feel happy.

He was very excited on the days that he had a dinner date with Sebastian, he would have an extra spring in his step as he left for his auditions-- he felt he performed better, too. This day was no exception. After all of his auditions were done for the day, Blaine went home and changed his clothes, not avoiding a small argument with his husband before he made his way to Sebastian’s office building, waiting outside at his usual spot, knowing Sebastian would be down any moment. Except….he wasn’t. Checking the time on his phone, Blaine frowned a little, sighing softly. Sebastian was late. It wasn’t like him.

After twenty more minutes of waiting, Blaine got antsy and decided to go in and check on him. He went into the building, going up to the girl at the front desk, clearing his throat. “Um, hi, excuse me?” He said politely with a smile. “Could you tell me where I could find Sebastian Smythe?”

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian’s life had grown enriched with Blaine’s presence. After their little night together they continued to spend more time together. What Sebastian had been afraid of was all just in his head and when Blaine called him up to go out to dinner, he happily accepted. He loved spending time with Blaine and having dinner with him after work was something he always looked forward to.

The day before he and Blaine agreed to meet once more for their regular dinner date, Sebastian had been tasked by his boss to cover a minor story about a local scientist being nominated for a prestigious award. It was his first real chance to write an article! Sure, even if the piece was deemed good enough it would probably be tossed somewhere far behind the front page. Still, to be a published writer… Sebastian thought about how he consoled Blaine that night and decided to take his own optimistic advice.

He had agreed to meet with the esteemed scientist, Professor Garrick, discussing the award very briefly and snapping a few photos in his makeshift lab. He arrived on location, the interview taking place with a large skylight above them, the shelves cluttered with vials and flasks filled with multi-colored liquids. Although he was nervous, Sebastian kept Blaine in mind and did his best to be optimistic and keep cool as he dove right into the interview.

Everything happened so fast. Both interviewer and interviewee were so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn’t even heard the thundering rumbling close by. Though Sebastian was no scientist, he was genuinely interested in Professor Garrick’s achievements and progress he had made with his experiments. The nearing thunder was so loud that the building shook and just as Sebastian had opened his mouth to make a comment, a bolt of lightning crashed through the skylight and struck him down. He blacked out immediately. Sebastian remained unconscious when the paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital. The broken flasks scratched him up considerably and the bolt of lightning had created a large burn across his chest. The doctors were convinced the lightning strike had stopped his heart and were baffled as to how he hadn’t died instantaneously. Regardless for the lack of explanation, Sebastian was moved into intensive care to be closely monitored.

Without any emergency contacts, the only people that knew of his condition were his co-workers at The Observer. Professor Garrick had managed to escape the incident with only a few scratches and informed Sebastian’s supervisor that he had been rushed to the hospital. So when Blaine had arrived at the office, the girl at the front desk dropped her jaw, unsure of how to respond.

“Oh, um… Are you one of his friends?” She asked delicately, “He was in a freak accident last night-- got struck by a lightning bolt and he had to go to the hospital.” The thought of her co-worker in the hospital had her fidgeting with her fingers. “I hope he’s okay… Last I heard, he was still in the ICU. Do you know his parents’ number? The doctors were asking us if we had that information but we don’t have any idea who to contact about his condition...”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine really couldn't believe what he had just heard. Sebastian had been struck by lightning? Who gets struck by lightning? In New York City? A cold rush of worry washed over his entire body. "He-he what?" He shook his head a little, his first instinct was to get there. Get to Sebastian. He nodded quickly. "Yes, I'm an old friend. I'll call his parents." He said in a rush before asking which hospital he was at, rushing out the door before she could even finish.

He didn't bother calling a cab- he needed to get there now. So he checked his surroundings quickly before disappearing off into one of the nearest vacant alleyways. He knew it was a little dangerous to fly during the day but it was so close to dusk that he could get away with it. All it took was one good jump and he was airborne, shooting up through the air and over the buildings. Thankfully he could fly fast enough and he was so far up that if anyone noticed him at all they would just assume it was a giant bird. The thought always made him snicker because of his chosen name.

He was at the hospital in less than a minute and because he flew; he landed on the roof. He slipped inside the door and down the stairs unnoticed, thankfully he had learned to sneak around dark shadows very well. And when he did run into people, he could charm them into letting him go. He rushed down the stairs, listening very hard to see if he could hear where Sebastian was. When he finally got down the the ICU level of the hospital, he heard Sebastian's name through all of the murmuring of the doctors in the floor.

He rushed down to the room Sebastian was in, catching the nurse as she was leaving. It took some charming and a white lie for him to be allowed to see Sebastian but it worked and he went through the door.

"Seb," He said, his breath barely heavy from the running he had done in the hospital.  His stomach churned as he saw him lying there in that hospital bed, the worst kind of thoughts running through his mind as he got closer. He started to get a little teary eyed, coming up to Sebastian's bed, careful not to touch him yet. "Sebastian?" He whispered.

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian had been unconscious since he had been struck by lightning and the sound of Blaine’s voice hadn’t been enough to wake him up. His chest was exposed, many wires connected to his chest and head with electrodes. An EKG machine spit out rows of jagged lines, displaying his heart activity while the EEG machine next to it did the same for his brain. There was an oxygen mask covering most of his face, helping him to breathe. Spread across his bare chest were bandages that covered a nasty, bloody wound; though it was covered up, the smell of burnt flesh was still prominent.

“Who are you?” A doctor approached Blaine from behind, pulling the chart from Sebastian’s bed before he looked over the machines’ results. “Are you a family member of his or something?” The doctor eyed Blaine suspiciously, wondering how he gained access into the intensive care unit. He could tell from the look on Blaine’s face that he was obviously worried about the patient. “Well, whoever you are, you shouldn’t be here to see him like this… He’s not stable and his heart--” Before the doctor could finish his sentence, the EKG machine started beeping erratically and the doctor shouted out “Code Blue” which summoned an entire team of doctors and nurses to rush around Sebastian’s bed. Blaine was forced away and a nurse approached Blaine, gently escorting him back so the medical team had room to work.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine sniffled softly, still not touching Sebastian, he was scared to. He didn’t look good at all, it made Blaine feel like he was going to throw up-- he had never seen something like this before, and he had seen a lot.  He had no idea the survival rate of someone who had been struck by lightning-- surely it was okay? Surely he would be fine? He was freaking out on the inside as his eyes welled up with more tears. “Oh, Seb.” He sniffled. “C’mon, you have to be okay. We just found each other again.” He whispered softly, his words and train of thought were interrupted by the doctor.

“Oh,” He sniffled, taking a step back, nodding quickly. “Yeah, I’m-I’m his husband.” He lied, knowing he wouldn’t be allowed in otherwise. He realized then that he could’ve claimed to be his brother but they didn’t look anything alike at all. It wasn’t important-- he just needed to be allowed in the room. “I-I was so worried about him, I just need to see him, I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sorry at all, though. “Is he going to be okay?” He asked but then one of the machines Sebastian was hooked up to started making an awful noise. “Wha-” Everyone started rushing around him he looked over at Sebastian, looking at the nurse that was guiding him out of the way. “What’s going on?” He glanced over at the the machine and then back at her, his forehead wrinkled with worry.

He knew whatever was happening wasn’t good, judging by the way people were rushing around and speaking and the loud beeping coming from Sebastian’s machine. He looked at the nurse, his body trembling slightly. He felt very overcome with fear, he just got Sebastian back. He couldn’t lose him.

Sebastian Smythe:

The medical team had their hands full with Sebastian. The EKG machine continued to flatline and it seemed that the young man’s body was shutting down. Whether it was from the shock or that his internal organs were failing, they weren’t sure how they could help. A doctor brought out a defibrillator and they attempted to restart his heart. It wasn’t until after Sebastian’s condition was determined stable when the doctor from earlier addressed Blaine. “So, you said you were his husband?” He asked, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be frank with you, Mr. Smythe, “ the doctor started, flipping through Sebastian’s chart, “It doesn’t look good; He was struck by a bolt of lightning and when the paramedics brought him here, he was barely alive. His condition is declining and every time we think he’s stabilized, he flatlines. What’s astonishing is that even when his heart stops beating, his brain activity is off the charts. It’s just-- I-- It’s unexplainable; I don’t know how to treat him.”

Sebastian continued to lie plane on the hospital bed, unaware of his surroundings. It was unknown to everyone in the hospital how long he would be asleep and both his mental and physical condition remained undetermined. It was very plausible that he could be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Eventually, Sebastian was moved out of the ICU and into a private room. His heart still needed to be restarted and when Sebastian started suffering seizures, it only made the doctors more perplexed with his condition.

Three weeks after the incident-- three weeks of restarting Sebastian’s heart over and over again while having no clue what else to do-- there was discussion of a DNR order. If Blaine thought it was the right thing to do, they would stop trying to restart Sebastian’s heart and let nature take its course.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine cried really hard that night, harder than he did when he realized his marriage was failing, harder than he did in a really, really long time. He didn’t leave the hospital, either. Not even for a moment-- he struggled with himself on the day of his big callback, thinking that if he didn’t go, whenever Sebastian woke up he would be really upset with him. But on the other hand if Sebastian woke up or if the worst happened while he was gone, he would never forgive himself.  So he went and he felt like he did horribly because his mind was preoccupied. Judging by the casting director's face, he wasn't too impressed. He rushed back to the hospital immediately after.

He stayed as close as they would let him get, never leaving. He texted Kurt and made excuse after excuse, thankfully Kurt no longer cared so it was easy to get away with. He called Sebastian's parents but their answering machine said they were in Paris and wouldn’t be able to be reached until they came back.

So when it came time for the choice of the DNR option, and since he had lied about being married to Sebastian, it was his choice. He honestly didn't know Sebastian's stance on the subject and he didn't really care either, he was going to be selfish and he decided against the DNR. He waited and he waited and he waited, praying multiple times every day that he would wake up.

He wished he had some sort of power that would help Sebastian but he didn't; he felt powerless, helpless.

Sebastian Smythe:

The medical staff continued to resuscitate Sebastian whenever they needed, as instructed by Blaine. Though they warned that constantly restarting his heart continued to cause strain to Sebastian’s body and might cause later issues with his brain, they kept up with it.

Days more of waiting and seeing what would happen passed, and before anyone realized it, January became February. Sebastian had been asleep for nearly a month and Valentine’s Day was right around the corner. It was a rainy afternoon when the sound of a weak, quiet voice broke through the silence of the dreary hospital room. “...Blaine?” Sebastian opened his eyes after having been asleep for weeks, the only familiar thing in his blurry view was his friend’s figure. Sebastian awoke groggy and weak, he felt like his heart was about to pound out of his chest. As he blinked to correct his focus, Blaine’s worried face came into view. “Where..?” He mumbled, unaware of what had happened or his surroundings.

Strangely enough, Sebastian didn’t feel terrible. His chest didn’t hurt from where the lightning had struck him and he felt well enough to get out of bed, even. But first he had to address his best friend and figure out what exactly had happened to him. “Where am I…?”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine continued to stay at the hospital, he hadn’t slept at home since Sebastian had been there and he had barely left for longer than an hour on some days when he had to run an errand or two. He hadn’t spoken to Kurt except a text message once a day to let him know he wouldn’t be home again for whatever stupid reason. As far as Kurt knew, Blaine had been staying with a friend, going to Ohio for a visit, or any of the other lies he had come up with. He knew Kurt didn’t care, he didn’t really know why he bothered to lie. Or at least he thought Kurt didn’t care.

It was the last week in January and he received a text message from Kurt, unprompted. He raised his eyebrows when he heard his husband’s text tone in the middle of the night, sitting up a little in his chair to reach for his phone. He swiped his finger across the screen to unlock it, tapping on the envelope icon to open up Kurt’s message. It was long and wordy; he apologized to Blaine for the first time ever. He begged, pleaded. “Please, I want to try again. Let’s try to fix this.” Blaine sighed heavily, leaning back and running his face over his hands. Kurt wanted to meet on Valentine’s Day-- have a date. The thought made Blaine queasy, he knew exactly how the night would go. Kurt would be nice for all of ten minutes, Blaine would say something that pissed him off and they would fight in the middle of the restaurant. He didn’t reply at first, thinking he might not and wait until the next day, but then his phone chimed again. “Blaine, please. I miss you.” He closed his eyes and let out a long, deep sigh. Texting back an “Okay.” before tossing his phone over to the chair next to him. He wasn’t sure if he really meant that or not-- because he didn’t know if Sebastian would wake up before then.

He thought about the text message a lot over the next few days, fighting with himself over it. He read it over and over and over again until he pretty much memorized it, he didn’t really need to read it again. He thought about their relationship and how much better he had felt spending time away from him-- how happy he was those days that he spent with Sebastian, how he always dreaded going home every day. Maybe he and Kurt were fighting a losing battle. Maybe they were done. He and Kurt never were really right for each other-- there were things he didn’t know about Kurt and definitely things Kurt didn’t know about Blaine. He had no idea about Blaine’s little giant secret, and he never would.

Blaine was exhausted. He was so tired and anxious with Sebastian in the hospital and now with this new pressure put on him by Kurt-- not to mention the chaos that had ensued without him out patrolling the city every night-- big black letters on the front page of the newspapers asked where he was. He only showed up when it was desperately needed-- muggings, and if someone were in danger of being seriously hurt. He let small robberies, and crimes where people weren’t harmed go. Sebastian needed him more than the city did. He felt extremely guilty but he would make it up to everyone when he got back into the game.

He was just sitting there that day, sighing heavily as he read an article that was speculating what had happened to him. He laughed at some of the more ridiculous ones-- like maybe a giant cat had eaten him. People were silly. He tossed the paper aside and let out a soft sigh, looking over at his friend still just lying there fighting for his life. A worried wrinkle settled in his forehead, he willed Sebastian to wake up-- he needed him to. He needed him. He wasn’t ready to let go just yet now that they had just gotten back in touch.

His heart jumped up into his throat when he heard Sebastian’s voice, quickly going to his side and taking his hand. “Oh my god, Sebastian.” He said softly, his eyes welling up a little, he had waited for this moment for a really long time. After thinking he might lose him for good, it was music to his ears. “Hi,” He whispered, running his hand over Sebastian’s hair gently. “You’re in the hospital. God, I knew you would be okay. I knew you would pull through.” He smiled, chuckling and sniffling softly. “They wanted me to give up but I didn’t. I couldn’t give up on you.” He rambled a little, realizing that it probably would be a better idea to be calm and tell Sebastian what had happened. He took a soft breath to calm himself before calmly speaking to his friend. “You- you were struck by lightning, Seb.”

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian blinked his eyes a few more times, groaning as he tried to sit up. “Hospital?” He parroted back to his friend, panic and adrenaline running through him as the realization set in. His eyes grew wide like saucers when he heard the word “lightning”. It sounded absolutely incredulous that that could even be possible. He pressed his hand over his chest and a phantom pain ran through him as the memory of looking up through Professor Garrick’s skylight flashed before his eyes. The heart monitor he was hooked up to was blinking red yet it didn’t beep loudly like it did when it flatlined. His heart rate was 160 beats per minute and climbing.

“I… I was struck by lightning? How does that even happen? How am I alive?” Sebastian had a million questions for Blaine, his chest heaving with short breaths as his brain felt scrambled. Getting a closer look at his friend, he noticed the man look very tired; his hair was a little disheveled and there were distinct bags under his eyes. He felt Blaine’s hand over his hair and grabbed for it, desperate for the physical touch as he tried to wrap his head around what had happened.  “H-How long have you been here? How long have I been out?”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine got a little closer, trying to help Sebastian sit up carefully, moving his pillows a little more to help support him. “Y-yeah,” He nodded softly, suddenly unsure if he should have told the other what had happened yet or not, not really thinking clearly at the moment. “I-I don’t really know how it happened, but it happened. They didn’t think you were going to make it.” He looked down a little, sighing, his forehead wrinkling a little as his eyes got a little watery-- he was so relieved that Sebastian was awake.

“I-I didn’t know if you were going to be okay.” He sniffled softly, fiddling with Sebastian’s sheets a little. “You’ve been out for a few weeks.” He spoke carefully, even though it didn’t really matter how carefully he spoke, it wasn’t going to soften the blow that he had been in a coma for practically a month. “I’ve been here almost the whole time. I haven’t left except for less than a handful of times.” He said, glancing over to Sebastian’s heart monitor, his forehead wrinkling a little bit at how fast his heart was beating.

“H-hey,” He said, placing his hand on Sebastian’s. “Calm down, handsome. Let-let me go get the nurse, okay?” He gave the taller’s hand a squeeze before quickly going to the door, peeking out and grabbing the first nurse he could find, alerting them that Sebastian was awake.

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian sat there with a dumbfounded look on his face, still trying to figure out what happened to him. He felt fine and he was going to insist so to the doctors so he could get the hell out of that hospital. He frowned when Blaine told him that he had been out for weeks and his frown only deepened when he learned Blaine had been by his bedside for a majority of the time. Though the sentiment warmed his heart, he thought first of Blaine and he knew that the other man should’ve been focusing on auditions and his callback. Before Sebastian had a chance to ask anymore questions, Blaine was dashing out the door to fetch a nurse.

He and a nurse both returned fairly quickly and the nurse seemed both astonished and worried that Sebastian was sitting up. She looked at the heart monitor and the color drained from her face. “How do you feel?” She asked, an unsure tone in her voice as she waved a small flashlight into Sebastian’s eyes to check his pupils. “Dizziness? Pain? Anything?” She pressed the call button to page the doctor, knowing that though she was a perfectly capable nurse, she was way out of her depth with Sebastian’s case. “Do you feel light-headed at all?”

“I’m fine, I guess,” Sebastian murmured, his eyes wandering from the nurse back to his friend to seek reassurance. “A little disoriented since I’ve been out for weeks, apparently. I’d really like to know what exactly I missed,” then he pointed to his friend, “And about that callback of yours.”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine hurried back with the nurse, it being second nature now to take a step back whenever there was a nurse or a doctor in the room so they could do their job and help Sebastian heal quicker. He looked at Sebastian as he pointed to him, chuckling softly. Of course he would be concerned with that rather than his health.

“C’mon, Seb.” He said with a fond smile. “Let them check you out a little and I’ll catch you up when we are alone again.” He assured him. He dreaded catching him up on the developments in his married life, but he knew Sebastian would be happy to hear that he left him at least long enough for his callback. Blaine crossed his arms, biting on his lip a little as the doctor came in, trying to pay close attention to what they were speaking about, deciding it would be okay to go to Sebastian’s free side and hold his hand.

Sebastian Smythe:

The doctor entered the room and went over a general exam to gauge Sebastian’s awareness and recollection. His mental health seemed to be normal; Sebastian remembered his name and birth date though it seemed to the doctor that there was only one setback and that was his recollection of his apparent husband. “And can you tell me who this person here is?” The doctor asked, pointing at Blaine. Sebastian looked up at his friend with a bright smile.

“Well, of course I do; This is my very special friend, Blaine Anderson.” Sebastian answered, giving the other’s hand a light squeeze. When the doctor asked how he knew Blaine, Sebastian didn’t quite know how to answer. “Uh, well, he and I met at Dalton Academy when we were both in high school.” When the doctor motioned to emphasize further, Sebastian shook his head slightly and looked at his friend with confusion.

The doctor furrowed his brow. “You don’t remember that you and Mr. Anderson are married?”

Sebastian’s eyes grew wide and he was suddenly extremely lost. Married? “Jesus, how long was I out? I thought you said it was a few weeks--” When he looked over at his friend, equally wide-eyed, he read panic and picked up on the very slight shake of his head. It only took Sebastian another moment to put two and two together. Of course Blaine would have to have been related to Sebastian somehow to have stayed as long as he did. “Oh, shit, right-- Of course, how could I forget that Blaine is my betrothed. Yes, he and I are married and live together. I can even tell you our address to corroborate. I promise, I remember.”

The doctor eyed the two boys suspiciously but continued on with his exam, moving onto the physical part of it. Loosening his hospital robe, Sebastian had his chest exposed and was able to look down at the large scar across his chest. “For the most part, your injuries healed with only that one scar to remember the experience; you had many scrapes and scratches since the skylight above you shattered when the lightning struck but those healed without much mark.” The doctor explained, examining the scar before listening to Sebastian’s breathing with his stethoscope. Sebastian felt like he was put under the spotlight, not having been that exposed in front of Blaine in a very long time. Though he couldn’t say anything about it, not wanting to raise any more red flags for the medical staff. “I’d like to keep you overnight for observation and if you’re feeling well in the morning, I don’t see why we can’t discharge you as long as you come back for a follow-up. Your heart rate is extremely fast and I’d like to monitor that.”

Sebastian begrudgingly agreed and the medical staff left the two men alone. Sebastian put his arms back into his robe’s sleeves before settling back in his hospital bed. “So… We’re married, hm? Clever little lie you told to get yourself into the Cool Kid’s Club here,” Sebastian chuckled, speaking quietly enough that no one outside could hear him.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine stayed close to Sebastian as the doctor asked him the obvious questions, raising his eyebrows when the doctor pointed towards him and he felt a slight wave of panic to run through him. He hadn’t even thought about the doctor bringing up the fact that he and Sebastian were ��married’, of course Sebastian wasn’t going to remember that, it wasn’t even a real thing. His eyes widened a little bit and he looked at Sebastian, nodding and giving him the international signal for ‘Just go with it!’. Sebastian was smart enough, he knew he would figure it out on his own. He smiled at the other, squeezing his hand gently. “See?” He glanced at the doctor when he eyed him, nodding. “Married.”

He exhaled heavily when the doctor left, sitting back in his chair next to Sebastian’s bed, chuckling as the taller teased him. He shook his head, blushing slightly. “I-I’m sorry.” He grinned a little, biting his lip. “I panicked and said the first thing that popped into my head.” He said, looking at the other, still smiling a little, he was so happy to see him awake and okay. “Don’t worry, we can get a divorce as soon as you get out of here.” He teased, winking at his friend.

Blaine looked at Sebastian for a moment, taking a deep breath of relief. “I’m so happy you’re awake, Seb.” He shook his head, scooting his chair closer. “I was so worried about you-- they weren’t sure you were going to make it. They even wanted me to sign a DNR.” He frowned slightly, shaking his head once more. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what your views are on that but I couldn’t do it. And it was my choice since we’re “married” and your parents weren’t here-- which, by the way, I tried to call them but they’re in Paris and unreachable.” He rambled on a little bit-- the not really talking to anyone in weeks thing catching up to him, that and he didn’t want to tell Sebastian yet about Kurt’s text messages. “How-how are you feeling? Okay?”

Sebastian Smythe:

“Well, I’m glad that you told that lie. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I woke up in the hospital by myself. Have you been here the whole time I’ve been out? What a devoted husband,” Sebastian chuckled and smiled at his good friend. “I hope you didn’t bail on your callback because of me.”

He took Blaine’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “A DNR form? As in-- ‘do not resuscitate’? Jeez,  I’m sorry you had to deal with that; Even though it’s kind of morbid, I’m really grateful that you didn’t let me die. Thank you, Blaine. I really appreciate you, y’know.” He smiled gently and then chuckled to himself, “Man… I’m going to think up something amazing to make this up to you.”

Sebastian took a breath and paid attention to his how he felt. He didn’t need the heart monitor to tell him that his heart was beating unusually fast but he was didn’t feel in pain at all. In fact, it didn’t even feel like he had been struck by lightning. “I honestly feel perfectly fine; maybe a little light-headed from being asleep for so long.” He chuckled and turned his head a bit to the side to nuzzle against the pillows. “How are you feeling? You look like you could use more rest than me; I think you ought to climb into bed with me. I know I’d certainly feel better about it, anyway.” He tugged on Blaine’s hand, pulling him closer as the snarky little grin on his face he usually had grew wider.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine smiled sweetly at his friend, shrugging a little with a nod. “Yeah, I’ve been here the whole time. I only left if I absolutely needed to-- mostly had food delivered. I did leave the day of the audition, though.” He said, looking at Sebastian. “I knew you would be pretty upset with me if I missed it.” He chuckled softly, biting on his lip. “But other than that I’ve been here the whole time-- I was scared that if I left you would…” He trailed off, not wanting to say the words to finish his sentence.

He nodded again when Sebastian asked about the do not resuscitate option, looking down and sighing, running his thumb over the taller’s hand. “Yeah, I-I couldn’t let them stop. I didn’t want to lose you again.” He said, looking into Sebastian’s eyes. A grin spread across his face as Sebastian pulled him closer, shaking his head. “Well, if it will make you feel better.” He said as he gave in, carefully climbing into the hospital bed next to his friend. He cuddled close to Sebastian, slipping his arm around his waist tightly, burying his face against his neck, careful to not put too much pressure against his chest. He took a deep breath. It felt nice to breathe him in even though his usual scent was very faint, being washed out by the harsh clean, hospital smell.

“Mm,” He closed his eyes, sighing softly. “I’m feeling okay. I’m kind of tired but I’m okay. I’m glad that you’re feeling good, though. I was really worried about you. I missed you.” He said softly, tilting his head up to look at his friend, smiling softly. “No more getting stuck by lightning or getting hurt at all, okay?”

Sebastian Smythe:

“I’m sorry that I made you worry; I promise I’m not going anywhere and that you’re not going to lose me. I’m here.” Sebastian carefully shuffled to the side to make room for Blaine. The single hospital bed didn’t allow for much space to occupy the both of them but neither one of them seemed to mind at all. It was nice to have Blaine so close again and having been out for the past couple of weeks, Sebastian felt like he was exactly where he belonged with Blaine right beside him. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to breathe his friend in. “And I promise no more getting struck by lightning again,” Sebastian chuckled, “Maybe the next time something crazy happens to me, it’ll just be me winning the lottery.”

A quiet moment passed where they both just enjoyed each other’s physical touch and closeness. Sebastian broke said silence by bringing up the callback; he hoped that by resuming normal conversation it would continue to put Blaine at ease that he was still his regular self and he’d forget all this trauma. “So how did your callback go? Did they totally love you and hand you the part on a silver platter like I said they were going to do? Oh, we definitely have to go out and celebrate!” Sebastian became visibly enthusiastic, even going so far to mention celebrating on Blaine’s opening night. “You have to get me tickets to this thing on opening night so I can be among the first to see how awesome you’re going to be.”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine chuckled, raising his eyebrows. “Yeah, please win the lottery. And please share because, I need a new apartment that doesn’t come with Cinderella’s mice.” He teased with a little more laughter as he nuzzled a little more against Sebastian, really enjoying the feeling of being close to him. It was nice to feel so comfortable after being so stressed for so long.

He looked at Sebastian again, the way he spoke of Blaine and his callback making him grin from ear to ear, even blush a bit. It felt really good to have someone support him so much, no one had ever believed in him as much as Sebastian did-- no one had ever said the things to him that Sebastian did. It was extremely nice to hear and it made him feel good. The kindness and support made him fall a bit harder for the other even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud.

“My callback went okay.” He sighed, shrugging. “So, I don’t know. I’m supposed to hear about it soon. Hopefully I was good enough for something but I don’t feel too confident about it-- I don’t feel as if I did the best that I could at both the acting and singing portions of the audition-- I feel like I did really horribly at the dancing audition but who knows. Maybe I’ll get lucky but I’m not getting my hopes up.” He said, Kurt’s words running through his mind. “I promise I’ll always get you a ticket to anything I’m ever in.” He smiled sweetly. “It’s the least I could do for my biggest fan.” He said, giving a slight wink, crinkling his nose slightly.

Blaine’s nice little moment with Sebastian was interrupted briefly by the sound of his phone going off a few times right in a row-- he knew it had to have been Kurt texting him again. His phone hadn’t gone off that much in a while-- especially since he hadn’t been jumping to save every little thing in the city. The thought that it might be Sam hadn’t crossed his mind considering he knew that Sam knew not to bother him with minor problems-- to only alert him if something major was happening. Blaine sighed heavily, his body rejecting the thought of getting up to check his phone. “Ugh,” He groaned. “My husband has finally noticed my lack of presence apparently.”

Sebastian Smythe:

“I don’t need to win the lottery to get you a new apartment; just come move in with me and all your problems are solved!” Sebastian scoffed and laughed, joking with his friend. Though to Sebastian no time seemed to pass since the last time he’d seen Blaine, it always put him in good spirits whenever they were able to joke around and be in each other’s company. Though his invitation passed as a joke, he truly wished Blaine would come to the light and see that he would be better off moving in with him instead of staying with Kurt in their sad apartment.

Sebastian rolled his eyes at Blaine’s lack of confidence. “You probably did better than you think you did. A few weeks without me has probably been Hell for you; I can only imaging Kurt has been force-feeding you his usual shit this whole time.” He hated how much Kurt got onto him and countlessly put him down. Sebastian’s memory hadn’t been affected by the lightning incident and he could recall Blaine complaining whenever they were at dinner. “I’m surprised he’s even texted you; I still remember there were some nights when we stayed out really late and he never cared to even text to ask where you were. Now he’s texting you in the middle of the day?” Sebastian was confused as to why Kurt was suddenly interested in Blaine again and it immediately made him wonder if perhaps something had happened while he was out.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine shrugged a little bit as Sebastian rolled his eyes, he hadn’t really spoken much to Kurt about anything at all, so he hadn’t been subjected to the usual abuse he dealt with daily in a while. But he realized that he didn’t have to be around Kurt to hear his voice in his head every day and he really hated it. “Well,” He started, sighing softly. “I haven’t really spoken much to Kurt, and I haven’t been home, so the only thing I’ve been hearing is his voice in my head telling me I suck. He hasn’t had the pleasure of actually telling me since you’ve been in here.” He said, looking at the taller. “I’ve only spoken to him a few times here and there to let him know that I wouldn’t be home.”

He bit on his lip gently, sighing heavily as he sat up a little, leaning on his arm and looking at Sebastian. “He also texted me last night.” He said carefully, part of him not really wanting to tell the other about what Kurt had to say. “He...he wants to go out for Valentine’s. Try to see what’s still there.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek looking down and fiddling with the sheet a little bit. “I..I don’t know if I want to or not, honestly.”

When his phone went off again a couple of times he decided he should probably check it. He reluctantly got up out of the bed with a groan. “I think with me being gone so much lately had made him start to realize how unfairly he’s been treating me.” He said, grabbing his phone out of his bag. “He even apologized to me.”

Sebastian Smythe:

Hearing that Kurt had asked Blaine out on a date had thrown Sebastian for a loop. Of course the two were married but the way that Blaine had been treated lately had given Sebastian the impression that they were on a course towards divorce. Sebastian wanted what was best for Blaine and he knew that he was infinitely better than his so-called husband. Still, he wanted to be a good friend and if Blaine’s marriage was salvageable and Kurt was genuinely trying, then he hoped that they could work things out. The devilish and selfish side of Sebastian would find some way to sabotage their relationship further but with Kurt reaching out maybe it was the opportunity that Blaine and Kurt’s relationship needed to get back on the right track. “He wants to take you out, hm? Seems like he finally realized what he’s missing out on. Y’know, people are stupid and don’t realize what they’ve lost until after they’ve lost it; maybe with you spending all your time here, he’s finally come to his senses. You might as well give the little elf another chance-- better you go for it than not and spend the rest of forever wondering what could’ve been had you gone.”

Though his tone wasn’t very enthused-- it was no secret that Sebastian didn’t care for Kurt at all-- Sebastian spoke with a calm expression on his face and made sure he sounded sincere. “I can’t stand the guy but y’know… he’s your husband-- your actual husband.” Sebastian shot Blaine his usual smirk to relieve some of the seriousness in the air between them. “Just remember that whatever happens, I’m always right here when you need me. And I’ll actually be here this time; no more unconsciousness from me. I promised, right?”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine chuckled softly, shaking his head as he grinned from ear to ear when Sebastian smirked at him. “Well,” He scoffed slightly as he swiped his thumb across his phone to unlock it. “Between you and me, you’ve been a better husband while you’ve been unconscious than he has the past three years.” He muttered, trailing off a little as his eyes fell to his phone, noticing the texts that were blowing up his phone weren’t from Kurt but they were from Sam.

He was apologetic about bothering Blaine, but he figured that Blaine would like to know that there was an invisible terror running around causing a commotion at a nearby bank. He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes and mumbling to himself. “How cliche.” He had been ignoring the small crimes that had been happening around the city ever since Sebastian had been in the hospital, he only left if lives were in danger. He thought about skipping this one too until he scrolled further to read on, seeing that there were hostages. Sam also encouraged him not to ignore this one even if it was during the day, the city was starting to notice that their hero hadn’t been flying around at night keeping them safe from harm’s way. He needed to pick back up or they were going to turn against him most likely.

He went back and forth in his head for a few moments, chewing on the inside of his cheek. He glanced at Sebastian before looking at his phone again, letting a sigh escape through his lips, sending Sam a text letting him know he was on it. He decided that his blonde friend was probably right-- he had been neglecting his duty for far too long. He felt uncomfortable about leaving Sebastian even though he was awake and okay but he knew that he had to. He shoved his phone in his pocket, suddenly in a big rush. “Hey- uh,” He thought quickly of an excuse as he went over to give Sebastian’s hand a squeeze. “I will be back tonight, okay? I have to go meet a couple of people about the audition. I’ll bring back your favorite food or something.” He leaned down to kiss the taller’s head gently. “Stay awake, kay? Love you, bye! ” He said before rushing out of the room, making his way quickly and unnoticed to the roof where he safely transformed from his regular clothes - discarding them behind one of the air conditioners on the roof - to his suit, slipping his mask on his face as he jumped from the hospital to the neighboring roof.

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian watched Blaine curiously, unsure what to make of the other man scrolling through his phone. With his phone receiving so many texts suddenly, it made Sebastian think that perhaps something bad had happened. It wasn’t until Blaine spoke with him, clearly distraught and troubled, that Sebastian concluded something was definitely amiss. “Is-- Is something wrong?” Sebastian tried to ask but before he could really get a word in edgewise, Blaine was already out the door. Sebastian stay put in his hospital bed, the top of his head tingling from where Blaine had just kissed him. “Love you too…” He replied, though Blaine was already well out of earshot.

While Blaine was gone, Sebastian was able to arrange for a nurse to bring him his mobile phone and he thanked God that it wasn’t entirely broken, though he made a mental note to get a new one because the screen was cracked. He called his boss to let him know he was now awake and made arrangements to go back to work fairly soon though everyone seemed to be able to manage without him just fine. Sebastian didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing; he knew he wasn’t an integral part of the team but he was at least grateful his job wasn’t in jeopardy due to his recent trauma.

Sebastian continued to wait for Blaine and he passed the time by watching TV, channel surfing until a certain live news story caught his attention. Apparently there was a bank robbery with a hostage situation, and someone had spotted a cloaked being soaring over rooftops. Sebastian knew in an instant it had to have been the same caped crusader that helped fight crime at night. It was rare to see him during the daytime and Sebastian wished he was well enough to grab his camera and take pictures for the newspaper.

Knowing that the bank wasn’t too far from here, Sebastian decided to text Blaine to see if maybe he was close enough to the commotion to know what was happening. Did you hear on the news that that bird guy is at the bank? Also, bring back pizza please.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine reached the bank in a matter of seconds- it felt extremely good to be out and to metaphorically spread his wings. He busted through the doors of the bank and everyone gasped, and murmurs of relief hummed in the air-- While he did what he did not for himself but for others and to keep them safe, he had to admit that moments like this were extremely good for his ego. It never got old to feel needed.

Blaine immediately knew who he was dealing with when he arrived at the bank. It may have been a while since he had been in the game but with the lights flickering and the report of an invisible figure, he knew exactly who it was. His very own arch nemesis. “Really? A bank robbery with hostages?” He said out loud, eyeing the room carefully, chuckling and shaking his head. “Oh, Doctor Light. Been watching too much television lately? Don't you think this is a bit cliche?” He asked, giving the people around him a gentle nod to let them know that he was going to handle this and that they'd be okay.

He felt extra confident in fighting her on this particular day because since he was called to action during the day, he had a special mask to block out the bright light so his enemy didn't have an advantage over him. And it was helpful because with the mask he could just vaguely make out the outline of the villain. It took him no longer than twenty minutes to get all of the people out of the bank safely all whilst trying to fend off his enemy, pleased that it seemed to throw the other off that Blaine wasn't too bothered by the lights she was trying to manipulate to throw him off his game.

Unfortunately by the time Blaine had the people out of the bank, Doctor Light had gotten away, not taking a single dollar with her.  As he stood there in the now empty bank, Blaine was completely puzzled by this fact. Why was she holding people hostage if she wasn't trying to take the money? He was distracted from his thoughts by a tug on his cape. He turned around to see a little girl with loose curly blonde hair, looking up at him with big blue eyes. “Thank you for saving us, Nightbird.” She said in her sweet little voice, handing him a sucker that she must've gotten from one of the bank tellers before all hell broke loose. He smiled, glancing around to see no one else but her inside the huge bank. He bent down to hug her tight, picking her up.

“No problem at all, princess. Now let's find your mommy.” He said, tapping her nose gently as she giggled. He walked over to the windows, looking out. He didn't really like to interact with people as Nightbird, he liked being as anonymous as possible. When the little girl pointed out her mother he quickly went outside to hand her over, saying a soft “You're welcome” when the mother thanked him before he took a giant leap and flew up to the top of the building just out of sight. He took a moment to check his phone, grinning to himself and chuckling as he saw Sebastian asking about “that bird guy at the bank”. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he weighed his options, he could either go all the way back to the hospital and change his clothes and go all the way to the pizza place and back or he could just call it in and pick it up as is and break his rule again of interacting with people, he wanted to get back to the hospital as soon as possible to check on Sebastian. He quickly made his way to the pizza place after calling in the order, tipping the pizza guys extra to keep it quiet that he had been there and he quickly flew back to the hospital roof, changing back into himself and making his way to Sebastian’s room.

“Hey handsome, pizza delivery.”  He said as he came into his friend’s hospital room, smiling at him brightly. “Miss me?” He asked, coming over to the bed and placing the pizza down on Sebastian’s lap, glancing at the TV, seeing the news was on, speaking to some random guy outside of the pizza place he had just been at. The pimply-faced kid who he had spoken to at the pizza place was telling the interviewer how he had sold a pizza to The Nocturnal Avenger himself. Blaine scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Well that was a waste of a twenty dollar tip. Big mouth.

“Oh, huh, I guess I just missed that bird guy.” He said casually as he sat on Sebastian’s bed next to him, smiling sweetly. “Hey you, how you feeling?”

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian continued to watch the TV with awe, amazed to see that the apparent superhero could handle the robber without much trouble. Though cameras couldn’t follow him into the bank, moments within his arrival, hostages began to flow out of the bank. The cameras caught a glimpse of the masked man leading a little girl back to her mother before Nightbird was soaring through the sky once again. Even though they’d caught him on film multiple times, no one seemed to know who this guy really was. The media called him “The Nocturnal Avenger” and “Nightbird” among a few names. Sebastian personally thought that “Bird Boy” was the funniest and he wanted to know the man himself thought of these names he’d been given.

He continued to watch the TV and then laughed when he saw a pizza delivery guy speaking with the reporter, claiming that Nightbird had bought a pizza from him just moments ago. Sebastian supposed that even a superhero needed to eat to recharge.

When Blaine came through the door, Sebastian’s his whole face lit up at the sight of his friend. “Hey, that was quick; did you get your audition stuff settled?” Sebastian asked as he helped himself to a slice of pizza. “I’m feeling okay; I’ve just been watching some TV since you’ve been gone.” Pointing up to the TV replaying the footage of the caped crusader, “I bet the bird guy flew right over your head and that’s why you didn’t see him. Can you imagine that-- Being able to fly? That’d be freaking awesome.”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine was relieved at times like this that Sebastian was somewhat dense to things happening around him. Anyone who was paying real close attention to the timing of everything would have been able to begin to put two and two together. But thankfully his friend was too focused on pizza and thinking about how cool it would be to fly.

Sebastian was honestly the cutest thing. He wondered if more people ever got to know that side of Sebastian- the cute, dorky side. He knew that in high school Sebastian really liked keeping his reputation as a snarky asshole that you didn't want to really mess with. Blaine was really the only one to know the real Sebastian, the nerdy Sebastian who geeked out over superheroes and all kinds of nerdy things, and while he was really thankful to be special enough for that, he really wished others could know Sebastian the way he did. Then they wouldn't have spoken about him the way they used to and they could've loved him like Blaine did.

Well, not exactly like Blaine did. Blaine had always had a special soft spot for the taller, it was more than just a friendship love he felt. Always more.

He grinned, chuckling as he took a piece of pizza. He knew how it felt to fly, obviously, and it was the most exhilarating experience and he loved it. He wished he could tell Sebastian and let him experience it, but he knew better than to let him in on the secret, for his own good. It wasn't a good idea. “Yeah, flying would be incredible.” He nodded as his phone went off, a text message with praise from Sam.

Man that was AWESOME! Sucks she got away though. We'll get her next time! Have a good day with Seb.

He sent a quick thank you before putting his phone away and smiling at Sebastian, taking a breath and relaxing a little bit, his adrenaline still pumping fast through his body. “Uh, yeah.” He nodded, taking a bite of pizza. “There was some information they needed to clarify. All is good now.” He lied, totally forgetting that's what he had told Sebastian he was off doing. Whoops. “I'm glad you're feeling better. That makes me happy.” He said, looking at the taller fondly. “It makes me really happy to see you awake.” His smile faltered slightly as he remembered how scared he had been. “I-i was so worried I wasn't going to ever speak to you again. I was afraid I had lost you again.” He said softly, placing his hand on Sebastian’s. “I can't lose you now, I just got you back.”

Sebastian Smythe:

Though the coincidence was uncanny that Blaine had been in the same place at Nightbird and the two were not spotted at the same time, Sebastian had never suspected the two were one in the same. Blaine was kind-hearted and he knew the man wouldn’t hurt a fly; in his mind there was simply no way he could be the individual that went around beating crooks up and flying through the night sky.

“You aren’t going to lose me,” Sebastian reassured Blaine once again. “I promise, I feel fine. All that resting must’ve energized me or something because I feel great. I wish they would just discharge me tonight… I hate hospitals.” Though he couldn’t complain that he was with his best friend and he was willingly staying cooped up with him, Sebastian hated that he was confined to his hospital bed until the next day. “But since I’ve been out for so long, you’ve got to catch me up on everything that’s been happening. I mean, has there been anything exciting going on lately? In your life, with Bird Boy, or anything else?”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine smiled at his friend, taking his hand and squeezing it gently as he crinkled his nose. “Well, I'm glad. And don't worry, we'll get you out of here in no time.” He was the one to reassure Sebastian now. He knew the taller didn't like being in the hospital- he didn't like it either. He was more than ready to get back into their normal routine again.

As he took another bite of pizza, he gave a gentle shrug, shaking his head a little. “Honestly I don’t have much to report-- I’ve been here with you.” He chuckled, looking at his friend. “I might as well have been in a coma too.” He sighed, thinking for a moment, thinking back on the time that had passed. “I came to meet you for our usual dinner after fighting with Kurt when I found out that you had been struck by lightning, then I came here and stayed until my audition. I only left the hospital less than a handful of times because I was afraid to leave you for too long, I was so scared something would happen.” He said, remembering the time or two he had left for minor Nightbird reasons. “I went to the audition-- I honestly feel awful about how I did. I didn’t do my best. I’m honestly going to be really shocked if they call me back.” He sighed softly, shaking his head, looking down and picking the toppings off of a slice of pizza, placing them in his mouth. “I need to start going to auditions again now, I’m running out of money.” He chuckled softly-- being a superhero wasn’t anything like the movies, it was pricey. Especially when living in Manhattan.

He looked at the other, sighing. “And now the new development with Kurt,” He looked down, shaking his head. “I don’t know if I want to go. I mean...I really feel like I’m fighting a losing battle here with him-- It took me being out of sight for weeks for him to text me. He didn’t care enough to call me-- he texted me to tell me he misses me and to ask me out on a date.” A wrinkle settled in his forehead as he looked at Sebastian again. “I don’t know, part of me wants to go and see what he has to say...maybe even end it..” He said quietly, sighing heavily once more. “I really don’t know anymore.”

Sebastian Smythe:  

Sebastian frowned as he listened to Blaine speak. It was saddening to hear that because of him, Blaine had kept himself cooped up in the hospital just to be by his side. Sebastian as least wished that he could’ve been conscious to actively appreciate Blaine’s continued presence. “I’m sorry that I’ve been out for so long and you didn’t really get much of a chance to do anything,” Sebastian apologized, “I wish you could’ve known then that everything would be alright and I’d be back to my old self in no time; at least then you could go out and live life, go to auditions…”

At the mention of Blaine’s callback, Sebastian knew he had to reassure him that everything was fine and it was important to boost the other’s confidence. “Do you think maybe you could call the director or whoever up and explain the situation-- That on the day of your callback you just weren’t yourself because of me being in the hospital? I mean, they should be understanding enough to give you a second chance, right?” Sebastian asked, though he really didn’t know much of the theatre process. Though he and Blaine were both part of the Warblers, Sebastian wasn’t nearly as interested in music or performing like Blaine had been. Sebastian liked the spotlight but being part of the Warblers was just for fun during high school.

“As for Kurt…” Sebastian took a heavy sigh and collected his thoughts. He didn’t want to let loose all his negative feelings towards the other and wanted to approach the situation as a friend, not a rival. “If he’s really wanting to give you two a second chance, then I think you should go for it. The worst that can happen is that it doesn’t work out and if you don’t try for a second chance then that’s how it’ll end up anyway, right? Go see what he has to say and I’ll keep that night open so you can call me up or come over regardless of what happens. Sound good?”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine’s forehead wrinkled and he shook his head, reaching to give Sebastian’s hand a gentle squeeze again. “Hey, no.” He said gently, looking at the other seriously. “Don’t you apologize for anything-- you don’t have anything to apologize for. It’s not your fault.” He pat his hand gently, lifting his hand up to cup Sebastian’s face gently, brushing his thumb over his cheek. “I wanted to be here with you.” He whispered softly. “I didn’t want you to be here alone, didn’t wanna leave you again.”

He smiled a little at the taller, shaking his head once more in response. “No, that’s not really how it works. They would most likely laugh in my face. Directors, casting directors, and producers don’t really care-- you drop everything at the audition door and you give it your all no matter what or just don’t show up.” He shrugged. “It’s okay, though. You never know-- I mean, they liked me enough to call me back once. Hopefully they’ll remember that and give me a break.” He chuckled softly, crinkling his nose. “It’s okay, Seb. No worries.”

His gaze fell to the sheets once more as Sebastian spoke of Kurt, sighing heavily and nodding his head. “I guess, I just-- I’m afraid of letting him in again and him hurting me even more than he has.” Blaine shook his head, looking at Sebastian. “It’s been such a long almost seven years-- honestly, I’m exhausted.” He pursed his lips a little, exhaling through his nose before nodding again. “Okay, okay, I’ll go. But… You don’t have to do that; I would hate for you waste your night just waiting on me..” He said, shaking his head once more. He looked at his friend, feeling a little guilty for talking to him about this. He knew how Sebastian felt about him, and he knew how Sebastian felt about Kurt. It really wasn’t nice of him to talk to the other about this-- but he didn’t have anyone else and Sebastian was always the one person he could talk to about everything under the sun.

“I’m sorry,” He said, voicing some of his thoughts. “It’s not really nice of me to be in bed with you and discussing him. Knowing our history and our…” He trailed off a little, unable to find the words to describe them and what they had going on, making a hand gesture to imply what he was speaking of. “You know...this.” He chuckled, blushing a little and shaking his head.

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian offered Blaine a gentle smile and a half-hearted shrug, shaking his head as Blaine apologized. “You don’t have to be sorry. You and I both know there’s really only one guy I’d really want to spend Valentine’s with and it seems like he’s already got a date so, really, it’s fine,” he let out a breathy chuckle, “Waiting for you isn’t a waste. It hasn’t proven to be a waste yet, has it?” Sebastian winked at his friend as he tossed the crust of his pizza back into the box.

Although he didn’t want Blaine to go through anymore pain and suffering, he secretly hoped that Kurt would show the other his true colors one final time. Perhaps with Sebastian’s presence, Blaine would feel both safe and brave enough to finally leave his husband. It didn’t matter if Sebastian had to completely support Blaine financially until he got back on his feet; he knew that being there for Blaine would ultimately be the best thing for him in the long run. Even if things ended up fine between Blaine and Kurt, it didn’t mean the end for Sebastian’s relationship with the former as they were both seemingly determined to remain friends no matter what.

“Go see him and hear him out.” Sebastian told the other once again, his thumb subconsciously rubbing against the top of Blaine’s hand, their fingers intertwined within one another. Sebastian nudged Blaine carefully, pressing into his touch. He loved the way the other was always so gentle with him and very obviously cared for him in more ways than one. “Just don’t forget about me, alright, killer?”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine’s heart sank a little and he felt even more guilty when Sebastian spoke of only being interested in one particular date. He felt the slight urge to tell him to forget about Kurt and ask him on a Valentine’s date instead. But he knew better than to do that-- he was already almost playing with fire as it was and if Kurt really wanted to try once more he really should attempt too. Blaine shook the idea out of his head slightly, just giving Sebastian a sweet smile. “I’m really lucky to have you, you know?” He said gently, pushing the pizza aside, sighing softly as he scooted closer to the taller.

“I don’t deserve you.” Blaine said as he pulled his hands from Sebastian and moved to stretch out on the small bed next to his friend, thankful for his small frame so he was allowed to do this. He cuddled close to him, nuzzling against his chest, sighing contently. His body relax as he got closer to the taller, he always felt so comfortable and safe near Sebastian-- which was kind of ironic considering he was the superhero and he should feel safe always. But he was so busy trying to make everyone else feel safe that he rarely had time to stop and make sure he felt that way.  “I really don’t understand how someone hasn’t just snatched you up already.” He leaned on his elbow, his chin resting in his hand. “It’s because there isn’t anyone deserving of you, huh?” He crinkled his nose a little.

He knew it was extremely selfish because he was married but he loved the fact that Sebastian was still single, the thought of the other with someone left a bad taste in his mouth, no matter how selfish it was.

His ears perked up a little as he heard the television talking about how it was a nice surprise to see Nightbird out during the day-- or even at all. They were starting to worry that their hero had left them to fend for themselves. He glanced down for a moment, feeling a bit of guilt. He was being selfish all over the place lately, apparently.

Sebastian Smythe:

Being as good-looking as he had been, of course Sebastian had had his share of passes and opportunities to date. Though he occasionally dated casually, he always somehow found a reason to avoid. His go-to excuse was his career and how he wanted to work hard towards his goal of becoming a successful writer. “I’m not interested in dating anyone else,” Sebastian replied to Blaine honestly. “I mean, I’m pretty busy with work anyway; I’d be a pretty bad boyfriend.”

As the pizza box was set aside and Blaine made himself comfortable on the hospital bed, Sebastian welcomed him and wrapped his arms around him. With a content sigh, he pondered on Blaine’s statement. “Kurt and all those snobby Broadway people don’t see what I see-- You’re an incredible guy, Blaine. You’re a hard worker, you’re generous and kind, too. I think that you deserve everything that you could possibly desire.”

Sebastian heard the television and he wondered to himself if perhaps now his favorite superhero was now appearing during the daytime that it give him a greater chance to catch him on camera. He noticed Blaine semi-paying attention to the news report and decided to comment on the topic. “I’d kill for a really good picture of that flying guy; I’ve seen crappy, blurry pictures of him and I think he has some kind of insignia or logo on the back of his cape. Or oh, I wish I could interview him. Man, getting the scoop from Nightbird himself would definitely get me in the paper! It could rocket-launch my entire journalist career...”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine scoffed, his forehead wrinkling as he shook his head. “Please, you would be an incredible boyfriend, Seb.” He chuckled, looking down and fiddling with the sheets a little. “I think so, anyway. I mean, you’re the most amazing best friend, you’re very sweet. Very affectionate.” He sighed softly, blushing slightly. “I mean...I think anyone would be extremely lucky to have you as a partner.”

He lifted his gaze back to his friend’s, giving a slight shrug. “I think you deserve everything too, y’know.” Blaine bit his lip gently, feeling extremely torn in that moment about what he should do. He knew he agreed to go with Kurt on Valentine’s Day, but the more he spent time with Sebastian the more he questioned his choices. His feelings for the taller had grown significantly over the past weeks and he was very much confused by them, extremely torn between staying faithful to a vow and throwing those words out completely and going with his gut and his heart.

He was going to speak again but decided against it when Sebastian started in about Nightbird. Blaine couldn’t stop the tiny grin that popped up on his face. The flying guy. Blaine thought it was cute how Sebastian liked Nightbird, it stroked his ego big time. “Oh yeah?” He asked, his eyebrow quirking and the gears in his mind started slowly spinning. He had never thought of that-- of how much Nightbird could help Sebastian’s career. He would have to come up with some way for Sebastian to get a really good story about Nightbird -- without revealing himself -- and he would be the one and only person to have the information and the guys at the paper he wrote for would just be dying to have Sebastian on as a full-time journalist. He could give his career a really massive boost. “Well, you’ll have to keep your eyes and ears out-- if anyone can get the scoop on Nightbird-- one of the biggest stories in the city -- it would be you.” He said confidently, crinkling his nose. “You would be famous and everyone would know your name and who you are.”  He said before he started to tease, sighing dramatically. Although he knew that wasn’t realistic considering Sebastian would be safer submitting his stories anonymously when it came to Nightbird if her were to have big scoops. “You’ll be so wanted and famous that you’ll forget all about little ol’ me.”

Sebastian Smythe:

Sebastian couldn’t help but chuckle happily as Blaine complimented him. It seemed that even though Blaine was bound by a vow and what was left of his feelings for Kurt, in his mind and in his heart he already knew that Sebastian was the better choice. Though he had done away with being malicious years ago, Sebastian secretly hoped to himself that something would happen to Kurt or at least to their relationship. The thought made Sebastian feel a little guilty; he knew that if anything were to happen to either Kurt or their relationship, Blaine would be hurt and that was the last thing Sebastian wanted. A strong sense of protection flowed through him whenever he thought about Blaine.

“I don’t know if I’d be famous for getting the scoop on Nightbird; if anything, it’d just make that guy even more famous than he already is. Some people don’t actually think he has abilities and that it’s all just tricks and gimmicks to distract us from something else. I want to get the story straight and know why this guy is going around sticking out his neck for everyone.” Sebastian explained, though Blaine’s teasing made him laugh. “And besides, I couldn’t ever forget about you-- Soon you’ll be in the limelight on Broadway and you might forget about me, though. But hey, headliner journalist and breakout Broadway star? We could be New York’s next power couple.”

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine’s smile grew a little as his friend chuckled, he really liked the moments when he made Sebastian smile or laugh, it was nice knowing that he could do that still. That someone smiled because of him. He didn't get that much anymore at home.

He internally rolled his eyes when Sebastian started talking again about what people thought of Nightbird. He supposed he could see where everyone was coming from but it still made him a little upset that after all he had done to prove himself, some people still didn't believe in him. He wished he could show and tell Sebastian right then and there what all he could do. He wondered what he really thought of Nightbird- he knew he liked him a lot, but he wondered if he believed in him. “Well, maybe he just figured that he was given those abilities for some reason and why not help people if he can?” He cleared his throat slightly, raising his eyebrows. “What do you think? You think he’s legit with his abilities?”

Blaine grinned a little, shaking his head gently, letting out a soft chuckle as Sebastian suggested they could be the city’s power couple. “Yeah? We could, huh?” He crinkled his nose. “Trust me, Seb. There is no way I could ever forget about you.” He bit his lip gently, looking down and letting the moment get a little more serious. “I tried after high school. It never worked. And now that we're here again, I know that it would never happen. You're supposed to be in my life.” He said honestly, looking at the taller again and giving a little shrug. “I don't want to forget you either. Not ever.”

Sebastian Smythe:

“I believe anything is possible,” Sebastian replied, “I mean, Nightbird isn’t the first we’ve heard of people with abilities. There was an alleged news report in Illinois about a girl who could walk through walls. There was skepticism about the report itself since said girl wasn’t available for interview and people just passed it off as one of those National Enquirer stories but I don’t know… The thought of people out there having abilities? That’s really cool, don’t you think?” Sebastian mentally put himself into Nightbird’s shoes and thought to himself on what he would do. Saving people and being a hero sounded like it would be fun but he would want to be a little selfish, too. “What I don’t get is why he’s doing the whole ‘saving people’ thing-- I mean, if I had powers, I’d use them to my advantage. If I could fly, I’d take a bunch of money-making pictures and I’d always be in the right spot to get the scoop on whatever story was happening. Y’know, rocket launch my career and act dumb when people get suspicious-- The whole ‘right time, right place’ line.”

Taking a hold of Blaine’s hand, Sebastian gave it a tight squeeze and smiled brightly. “I couldn’t ever forget about you, either. I’m glad you finally figured it out that you can’t get rid of me. Sorry to burst your bubble but you’re stuck with me whether you or Kurt like it or not.” He gave his friend a snarky little grin and chuckled with amusement, leaning back in his spot on the bed. Sebastian was very happy to have found a place back in Blaine’s life again and he hoped that with time, he would find a place in Blaine’s love life again soon, too.

Blaine Anderson:

Blaine nodded his head as Sebastian spoke about the girl in Iliinois. He knew exactly who he was speaking of. He remembered having had met her once with Sam; the young girl had begun to develop her abilities when she was a teenager, very much like Blaine had and she reached out to him when she found out about him, wanting some sort of guidance to dealing with being so different. She was a very sweet girl who went by the alias Shadowcat and her abilities were very impressive. “I think it’s extremely cool to think and believe these people have actual abilities and that they’re out there helping people. Because where there’s good, there’s bad and we need someone to fend off the bad people with God knows what kind of abilities.” He said, nodding, looking at the taller as he recalled some of the people he had fought over the years, knowing that had he not been there the city and people he saved would’ve perished.

Blaine smiled gently at Sebastian, shaking his head. “You would be a very cute superhero.” He said, crinkling his nose. “You running around, saving people, doing your thing. Everyone would   just be so in love with you.” He bit his lip. “I mean you’re pretty irresistible as it is, I can just imagine you going around in some little super suit fighting crime and helping people.” He couldn’t help the giddy grin that spread across his face and he rolled his eyes a little, chuckling. “I dunno if I could resist you anymore.” Blaine winked, nudging at his friend. He stopped for a moment, feeling slightly guilty then, sighing softly as the thought of Kurt crossed his mind. He shouldn’t be flirting with Sebastian if he had agreed to try again with Kurt, but his flirtation was sometimes an unconscious, automatic response to being with Sebastian. He looked down for a moment, fiddling with Sebastian’s fingers a little as he held his hand. He was very torn.

His thoughts were interrupted just half a moment later when his phone started ringing. The special ringtone let him know that it was Sam and he knew there must be something going on. He sighed once more before letting go of Sebastian’s hand and getting up. He went over to his phone, picking it up and sliding his finger across the screen. “Hey Sam, what’s up?” He asked, glancing at Sebastian before raising his eyebrows as Sam spoke in his ear, letting him know that Doctor Light had been spotting at a nearby loading dock and that it might be a good idea to follow the trail to hopefully stop whatever it was the Light planned on doing and it also might be a good idea to hurry because she was moving slightly fast. “Okay, okay. Thanks, I’ll be right there.” He told the blond before hanging up and slipping his phone into his pocket.

Blaine got closer to Sebastian, taking his hand again. “Hey, I have to head out for a bit, okay?” He nodded, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ll come back and check on you as soon as I can. I’ll text you, I-” He bit his lip looking down. “I have my date with Kurt coming up and I’ll let you know how that goes, okay?” The shorter leaned down to kiss Sebastian’s hand before giving him a sweet smile. “Love you, Seb. Stay well, okay?”

Sebastian Smythe:

It was nice to be taken serious and hold a conversation with someone who shared his interests about these unusual people who had capabilities unknown to the common man. Usually when this topic of discussion came up at work, it was brushed off as media distractions and hoaxes created by tabloids; even Nightbird was sometimes still considered a publicity stunt despite his several obvious appearances.

Sebastian quirked a brow as Blaine’s phone rang again, this time he made a mental note that Sam had a special ringtone. For a moment he wondered if perhaps he and Sam were a thing on the side but that couldn’t be possible; last time he’d heard, Sam was straight and the two were just close friends. “Hey, don’t worry about me.” Sebastian replied with a genuine tone and motioned for Blaine to leave, chuckling all the while. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself; if you don’t come back then I’ll keep you updated on when I get discharged and I still owe you a dinner too, so maybe we can catch a bite to eat at a location a little nicer than this bleak hospital room.” He mirrored Blaine’s smile as the chaste kiss left a tingling sensation on the back of his hand. Though he never really considered himself to be romantic, he could appreciate acts of physical affection-- especially whenever it came from Blaine. “I’m always here if you need me,” Sebastian winked at his friend, watching him leave the room, “Love you too.”