For as much fuss Kurt and Rachel made about having the perfect road trip playlist, they sure weren't doing a good job of listening to it. About two hours into their endeavor to "rough it through the night", they both fell asleep. Kurt in the passenger seat and Rachel in the back. An hour and Blaine presumes several chapters of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe later, Quinn dosed off, curled up against Rachel, as well.

So four hours into their trip, Blaine only had his thoughts and the road to keep him company.

It was snowing, but it had been in the forties until the night before, so nothing was sticking. Still, it was pretty. Quinn's book slipped down to the rear floorboard with a soft thud, which Rachel followed with a soft, "No," and Quinn ended with soft, "Hush."

When Blaine bet Kurt a French press that Rachel and Quinn would find each other by the end of the school year back in August, Kurt said he was crazy. But Blaine was pretty confident that French press he had saved on his Amazon wishlist would be his soon.

Sure, it would be a surprise, he was sure, to the small population of Lima, that the once arch rivals would find love in one another, but if anyone can field the shock, Quinn and Rachel can. It certainly made things easier that Hiram and Leroy were, well, gay. Of course, there was still Quinn's mother, Judy, to worry about, but, the way Blaine saw it, after going through a teen pregnancy and a divorce, Judy was probably a bit more open minded and much more unconditional than Quinn thought she was. After all, Judy was attending the Berry Holiday Party along with the Hudson-Hummels this year.

The Andersons, however, were not attending. In fact, they were not even invited. Because they were not friends with the parents of Blaine's boyfriend or closest friends. Because, as far as they were concerned, Blaine did not have a boyfriend.

Yes, that was quite an issue.

They did know. Despite everything they said and did, they knew. They couldn't not know with all fights and bullying that took place before Blaine transferred to Dalton. And when Blaine all but stopped showing up to dinner, they had to have inferred.

Didn't they?

And it's not like he could have made it any clearer. In all four years of high school, he went on one date with a girl, and that was Rachel. For his sixteenth birthday, he only asked for Brokeback Mountain on Bluray. He had all the episodes of Will and Grace on DVD. Yes, he enjoyed watching football and baseball, and basketball, but what gay guy wouldn't enjoy an excuse to watch well developed men run around in skin tight pants and/or tank tops?

It was the only thing Kurt and Blaine ever fought about. After all, how could Blaine preach of acceptance and not hiding who you are when he couldn't even verbalize to his parents that he was gay?

But Kurt grew up with Burt. And in his mind, fathers were either good like Burt or bad like Russell. He couldn't understand that there were fathers in the middle. Fathers like Blaine's. Fathers like Michael Anderson who were to be both loved and feared.

Michael Anderson was a good man in the conventional sense. Like his father before him, he fiercely loved and served his country. He loved and respected his wife. He knew when to be stern and when to be soft with his sons. He could fix all the flat bike tires and stop all the leaky faucets. He taught his sons to throw a football, hit a baseball, and cast a fishing line. But when his sons began to fixate things he did not understand, like performance and music, Michael was expectedly out of his element.

In the beginning, he tried. He instituted the family tradition of marathoning Bing Crosby Christmas movies on Christmas Eve thinking that if his sons had to like musicals, they were going to love classics. And at first, it was great—everyone singing and drinking hot chocolate together. So great, in fact, that watching Easter Parade became an Easter Morning tradition as well while the boys enjoyed their candy. For a few years, everyone was on the same page, the family was together, and music filled the home. However, when it became apparent that Cooper was not going to follow in his father's footsteps and that Blaine probably should not, the marathons took on a slightly bitter hue for Michael—as did everything else.

Blaine could never justify making everything worse by sitting his parents down and actually coming out. Kurt argued that if his parents already knew, then there really wasn't anything to worry about. It would not come as a shock. While that was true, Blaine knew that for his father, there was a world of difference between knowing and announcing, proclaiming, declaring. He couldn't do that to the man who taught him how to tie a bowtie.

They were at an impasse, Blaine knew, when his father gave him Brokeback Mountain on Bluray, but also gave him the keys to a 1967 Mustang they were going to fix up together. It was his father's way of saying that he could be who he was, but he didn't want to hear about it.

The headlights illuminated the words, "Welcome to DuBois," so Blaine figured it was about time to check their progress. Careful not to wake Kurt, he gingerly pulled their map out from under Kurt's folded arms. The root they had chosen to take was highlighted in green, with all the major cities dotted out in red, courtesy of Rachel. They were a little under halfway there. According to the driving shift chart Rachel had attached to the map, Kurt was supposed to have taken over fifty miles ago, but then he would have to find a place to pull over and wake him up, probably waking everyone else up in the process. So Blaine kept driving. He wasn't tired anyway.

He just wished someone was awake so he could stop thinking about what he was going to do once he got to Lima. He wasn't going to miss spending Christmas with Kurt just to save his father's feelings. Not this year.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah, Kurt?"

"Is it almost my turn to drive?"

"Not yet, babe. I'll wake you when it is."

"Okay."

Blaine would have kept going until they got at least to Ohio, but they needed gas, he had to pee, and he was starting to get a little drowsy. When he pulled into Quik Trip, Quinn was the first one to wake.

"You took Kurt's turn, didn't you?" she asked after she had delicately extricated herself from Rachel, as she and Blaine were refilling their travel mugs.

"Did I? I didn't even notice."

"Looks like Purchase will take anyone into their theatre program."

"You may have a point there, Fabray. After all, you had me almost completely fooled into thinking you and Rachel were just friends. But now that I see you have brought her vegan creamer in with you so you can make her a cup of coffee, in reality you must be married."

Quinn gave the shorter man her trademark raised eyebrow and said, "Watch it, Blaine Warbler. I could easily use this to rinse out all of your hair gel."

"Hey now, no need to go to extremes," Blaine surrendered. "But for everyone's sake, I hope the Berry men are fans of mistletoe," he added with a conspiratorial wink, leaving to pay for his (and Kurt's) coffee.

Quinn took the last leg of the trip, so Rachel took the passenger seat, allowing Kurt and Blaine to sprawl out in the back. It was approaching early morning, and everyone was well rested from the trip. Of course, except for Blaine who was running solely on coffee. He was thankful to be able to close his eyes for a few moments while Kurt and Rachel argued over the iconic merits between Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby and Quinn played devil's advocate for them both.

When Blaine opened his eyes again, Kurt was telling him that they were just outside of Lima, and were stopping for breakfast at the vegan friendly diner Rachel had designated on the travel map.

They took a corner booth; Blaine slid in first, and Kurt and Rachel followed, with Quinn capping of the end. They made a scene, as per usual. Although it wasn't particularly difficult. They made up four of the seven total patrons. Kurt and Rachel babbled on about the upcoming party and whether or not they should try to coordinate some sort of reunion for the Glee club, with Quinn occasionally interjecting some classic idea she had gleaned from attending so many of Russell Fabray's business parties. Blaine, however, was content simply to watch. He was happy to have Kurt's hand in his as the four of them laughed and carried on. He knew that this would happen again and again in his life; that this was just the beginning of this new family.

He knew this because he spent all of breakfast pretending that he didn't notice Quinn and Rachel holding hands underneath the table.

After they dropped Quinn and Rachel off at their respective houses, Kurt drove Blaine to his house.

"Are you sure your parents will be okay with you spending Christmas at the Berry Holiday party?"

"I told you, Kurt. I'll take care of it," Blaine assured. "Even if I have to come late, I'll still be there."

Kurt smiled, but both of them knew that spending Christmas together was easier said than done. "Is Cooper going to be in town?"

"No, he landed a stunt double job for Days of Our Lives, that will keep in L.A. until the New Year," he replied.

"Well, if it is going to be just you and your parents, maybe you should spend Christmas with th—"

"Kurt, I want to spend Christmas with you," Blaine interrupted, "This year, and next year, and every year after that. My parents are just going to have to deal with it."

Kurt took a hand of the steering wheel to squeeze Blaine's. "Do you really mean that?" he asked, pulling his car into the Andersons' driveway.

"Do you really think I don't?" Blaine countered, kissing him. He pulled away, to get out of the car, grabbing his suitcase out of the rear passenger seat. "I am going to get some sleep. I will see you tomorrow at the Lima Bean, bright and early, so we can finish our Christmas shopping."

"Yes, I will have your double shot hazelnut latte waiting for you," Kurt confirmed with a smile.

Blaine paused a moment before closing the car door. "I love you, you know."

Kurt blushed as he replied, "I love you too."

Blaine shut the door and stepped back. Kurt waved before he began to back out of the driveway, and Blaine waved back.

Once Kurt had driven out of sight, Blaine picked up his suitcase, and made his way to the front door of his childhood home.

It was freezing and windy, and, by all rights, Blaine should have been clamoring to get inside, away from the cold and to his warm home and waiting parents. But the only thing Blaine wanted to do was call Kurt to have him turn around and pick him up. He knew that the minute he stepped foot into his house, his East Coast family bubble would burst.

But just for four weeks.

Blaine took a deep breath, twisted the door knob and stepped inside the foyer. Once inside, his mother called, "Blaine, is that you?"

"Yeah, Mom, it's me," he called back.

"Michael, Blaine is home!"

"What?" came from upstairs.

"Blaine is home!"

"What?!"

"BLAINE IS—" The short curly-haired brunette woman corner that was June Anderson, burst into a smile and launched herself into Blaine's arms, "—home."

"Welcome home, son," his father said as he came down the stairs, giving Blaine a slap on the back once he hit the bottom.

Blaine's heart ached because in that moment, he knew that he was farthest place from.