"Which hat should I wear with this outfit?" asked Blaine as he stared at his closet shelf.
"You know I have always loved that black fedora on you."
Blaine smiled as he placed the hat carefully on what was left of the white hair on his head.
"Dreamy as ever," Kurt softly said.
Blaine walked slowly to the coffee shop on the corner. His ankle was healed up from where he fell and broke it a year ago, but it would never be the same. He pushed through the door and breathed in the heavenly smell of coffee and baked goods.
"Good morning Mr. Anderson!," chirped the young African-American woman behind the counter. "I have your usual coming up."
"Thank you…" Blaine paused as he looked at her name tag. He could never remember her name even though she had worked here for half a year or more. "Jasmine."
"Kurt! I'm home."
"I am upstairs getting the box of Christmas decorations out!"
Before Blaine could move upstairs, the doorbell rang.
"Ethan! Hannah!" Blaine gave each of his children a hug. "What are you two doing here on a work day?"
They exchanged looks. "Papa we wanted to talk with you," said Ethan.
"What is wrong? Are the kids OK?"
"Yes everyone is fine Papa." Hannah steered Blaine to the couch and sat down next to him. "We are just worried about you."
"Dad has been gone for two years now Papa." Ethan leaned forward with his elbows on his knees as he sat in the chair. "Even though Hannah calls to remind you every day we aren't sure that you are taking all of your medicines."
"You are here by yourself all the time. We thought…." Ethan paused. "We thought that you might be less lonely if you moved to the assisted living place that you looked at. You thought it was a nice place." Blaine began to shake his head, but Ethan continued. "You could meet some new friends. Just think you could have a whole bunch of people to sing along with you as you played the piano."
"I am not alone all of the time. Sam comes over every Wednesday for dinner."
"I worried about you cooking too, Papa." There was that one time I came over, and you have left the eye of the stove on.
"This house belonged to your Dad and me. I am not leaving it!" Blaine felt his eyes fill with tears.
Hannah grabbed a tissue for herself and Blaine. "Papa we grew up in the house. We don't want you to have to leave it, but you know that Dad wouldn't have wanted you to stay by yourself forever. He would have wanted you to be somewhere you could have some fun with friends and where you could be cared for in case you needed it. Please promise me that you will at least think about."
Blaine slowly nodded his head.
"Papa, Hannah has to go back to work now. Would you like me to take you to lunch?" asked Ethan. "We could talk about this some more."
"No thank you, son." I just want some time to think about things.
"We love you Papa." Ethan hugged Blaine.
"Bye Papa. Love you." Hannah said as hugged Blaine and then closed the door behind her.
"They are right you know."
Blaine looked toward the voice, but of course there was nothing to see. He hadn't seen Kurt in two years, but he could still his voice.
"I can't leave here while you are still in this house."
"Who said anything about me staying here? I live wherever you live."
"But you always stay in the house whenever I go out. I have asked you to come along before, but you always say that you have something to do here."
"That is because I want you to go out and have some fun, but other than an occasional visit with Rachel or Sam I don't think you are having fun. You go to the store and the coffeehouse and that is all. That is why you should take the kid's advice and move. You still need to show that star talent at the piano and doing whatever else makes you happy. You aren't going to lose me."
Through his tears, Blaine started to smile. "I love you."
"And I love you. Always."