THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Forget what hurt you, but never forget what it taught you.

[Chicago]

Blaine Anderson stepped out of the subway at 51st street and into the chilly November air. He wrapped his scarf more securely around his neck and began the short walk to Provident Hospital, where he would be working the night shift in the ER department. When Blaine had first started doing nightly rotations it severely fucked his body clock up. After twenty years your brain was suddenly supposed to believe that daytime was for sleeping and night time was for working. But he'd quickly become used to it.

Blaine was in his final year at Pritzker Medical School at Chicago University, having completed four years of college previous to that. The pressure was on to secure a permanent residency once he fully graduated the following May, but Blaine still couldn't make up his mind where he wanted to go, what he wanted to specialise in and which hospital he wanted to start his career at, much to the frustrations of his Mentor and Professor.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket but couldn't bring himself to take his gloves off to check who it was as it was more than likely just a text from his roommate Sebastian. Blaine entered the hospital through the staff entrance with his swipe card, greeted the security staff and made his way to the locker room to change into his scrubs. When he finally checked his phone, sure enough it was from Sebastian.

If anyone asks I was with you last night and we watched disney films! Sx

Blaine chuckled to himself. He'd learnt a long time ago not to bother asking Sebastian to elaborate on whatever schemes he was up to. Staying clueless was honestly the best option if you valued your sanity, although Blaine could probably hazard a guess that a guy was involved somehow. To be honest, Blaine had lost count of the amount of times Sebastian had declared he'd found 'the one' only to break up with them days or weeks later.

Blaine clipped his pager to his trousers and pinned his ID badge to the front of scrubs before leaving the locker room, ready for yet another long night.

[NYC]

Kurt Hummel stepped out of the subway at 77th street, directly opposite Lennox Hill Hospital. It was a cold November evening and Kurt shivered as he made his way along the street that was so familiar to him now he could do the journey blindfolded and not even crash into any trash cans, not that he'd ever try it.

Kurt was a features writer at Vogue magazine and most of his co-workers didn't understand why he sometimes chose to ride the subway. He could more than afford the taxi fares so it was a no brainer, but Kurt loved the simplicity of it. His career was full of glamour, gossip and the finest things in life, so it was nice to have a balance with a more "normal" personal life.

He crossed over Park Avenue and bought an apple from his favourite fruit seller before going into his apartment block. His mail for that day contained an envelope featuring the stamp of William McKinley High School. He would have been shocked by the correspondence had he not been expecting it. Kurt got a call from his Dad the previous week to say his old school had contacted him asking for Kurt's forwarding address.

Kurt took his shoes off and then sat down on the sofa in his living room to open the letter:

Dear Mr Hummel,

You are hereby invited to attend the William McKinley High School Reunion - Classes 2012 and 2013. Numbers are limited due to the capacity of the venue, therefore we ask that you bring no more than one guest along. This event is being co-ordinated by Mercedes Jones (class of 2012) and Artie Abrahams (class of 2013). Please find their contact details on the attached sheet.

Venue: William McKinley High School
Date: February 13th
Time: 6pm
Theme: 80's Rock

Please e-mail the school (or the event organisers) to confirm your attendance or if you wish to contribute to the event. We look forward to seeing you.

Yours sincerely,

Principal Schuester

Kurt smiled at seeing the word Principal in front of Mr Schue's name. He'd heard the year before that Mr Schue had been promoted to the head job at McKinley, but it was a completely different matter seeing it in black and white.

It was more than eight years since Kurt had left Lima, with barely enough money in his pocket to survive more than a few weeks in the big city. But luck had been on his side and Kurt was eternally grateful for all those that helped him on his way to the top. Getting up from the sofa, Kurt went into his office to find his diary.

[Chicago]

Blaine went into one of the emergency department's cubicals, having been asked by his attending physician to suture a laceration on a patients knee. A little girl was sat on the bed and what Blaine assumed was her mother sat on the chair next to her.

'Hello Zoe,' Blaine smiled. He always tried his best to find out a patients name before seeing them, figuring they'd probably warm to you better. 'I hear you've hurt your knee.'

'My stupid brother pushed me over and I fell onto some glass.'

'Oh dear... well I'm Blaine and we'll have you good as new in no time. Is this your Mom?'

'Yeah.'

'Louise,' the lady said holding her hand out. Blaine shook it and then proceeded to pull on some gloves. 'Right, let's take a look shall we?'

Blaine looked closely at Zoe's knee and then applied a little pressure with his finger around the area, checking for any pieces of glass that may still be present and lodged in the wound.

'Well the cuts not too deep and there's no fragments of glass in there. I'll clean it up and then tie it together with a couple of stitches. Does that sound ok?'

'Yeah,' Zoe replied with a smile.

'I'll need to put some local anaesthetic in to numb the area, are you scared of needles sweetheart?'

Zoe shook her head. 'No, but Mom is really scared of needles.'

'Thank you honey,' Louise laughed, going red. 'I have a needle phobia; you must think I'm incredibly silly.'

'No not at all,' Blaine reassured her. 'My roommate is terrified of needles too, which kind of sucks as I can't use him as a guinea pig.'

Zoe giggled. 'Are you not married then Dr Blaine?'

Blaine smiled. 'No I'm not. But I'd like to one day.'

'Mom is getting married in three weeks; I'm going to be bridesmaid.'

'Oh wow, congratulations,' Blaine said to Louise.

'Thank you.'

'When I grow up I want to get married,' Zoe said as Blaine pulled his gloves off. 'Who should I marry Dr Blaine?'

Blaine chanced a quick glance to Louise who just rolled her eyes at him and tried not to laugh. 'Well the thing is you probably haven't even met the person yet, but make sure it's someone you love very much ok?'

'Ok.'

'I'll just get the things I need and be straight back.'

Blaine left Zoe and her Mom and went to the medical supplies room. He used his swipe card to enter and was about to grab a suture kit when his phone started ringing. He sighed when he saw whose name was displayed, but answered anyway.

'Yes Sebastian?'

'Blaine, hey man... you remember my boyfriend James right?'

'What are you on about?' Blaine asked, but then he remembered the earlier text. 'Oh... you're up to something huh?'

Sebastian laughed nervously. 'Yeah that's James; you've got a good memory Blaine.'

'You're twenty five Bas; you need to start acting your age.'

'So James wants to ask you something, we've been having a bit of a disagreement and- What? Ok, I'll put him on.'

'But I didn't say any-'

'Hello?' a new voice said. Blaine inwardly cursed Sebastian to hell before putting on his 'doctor' voice.

'James, hi. You have a question for me?'

'Um... yeah it's just... well... did you see Sebastian last night?'

'Of course, we had one of our disney marathons, although Sebastian fell asleep halfway through the lady and the tramp. He's not a big fan of that one.'

'Oh right... ok, well thanks.'

'My pleasure, say bye to Sebastian for me I've got to get back to work.'

'Sure, bye.'

Blaine ended the call and shook his head in disbelief. He didn't know how Sebastian got himself into these situations, but he certainly had a very colourful social life. Although a year younger than Blaine, Sebastian was in his final year of Law School at Chicago University, along with their mutual friend Nick who lived with his husband of three years, Jeff. If Sebastian had put the same effort into studying as he did fucking his way around the city, he'd be graduating with honours and the best law firms in the country wanting to snap him up. But as it was he would barely even be passing the following spring. Sebastian just had better things to do with his time.

Putting his phone away, Blaine got the supplies he needed and headed back to the little girl.

[NYC]

Kurt flicked through his paper diary (old fashioned, but he preferred to have everything written down) until he found the date of the reunion. Nothing had been pencilled in yet for that weekend in February so he scribbled 'Ohio?' and then sent a text on his phone.

To: Rachel
Did you get the McKinley invitation?

From: Rachel
Got it yesterday and already planning my outfit :) Thank goodness they gave us 3 months notice so I can book the time off from the theatre.
From: Rachel
Are you coming?

To: Rachel
If nothing comes up sure, I'll try.

From: Rachel
I e-mailed Cedes and Artie, it was SOOO good to hear from them. It's pretty shameful how we've all lost touch :(

To: Rachel
Well that's life I guess, we all leave High School with the best intentions. Will be amazing to see everyone again though.

From: Rachel
We should totally do an original ND's line up performance. I might suggest it to the guys!

To: Rachel
OMG cringe! Do you think Mr Schue still wears those ghastly vests?

From: Rachel
LOL. Yeah I bet he does! Will be nice to see him again too. I wonder if him and Miss Pillsbury ever got married?
From: Rachel
Act II is about to start, speak later :)

Kurt put his phone down on the kitchen table and went to the fridge to get a bottle of wine. He poured himself a large glass of red and smiled as he thought about his friendship with Rachel, which had had huge ups and downs since those first days in the McKinley High choir room.

When the lease was up on their first ever apartment in New York, they thought it would be a good idea to spread their wings and find other roommates. Rachel moved into an apartment with three girls from NYADA and Kurt found a place with two other Vogue employees.

For a while it was as though nothing had changed. They still talked on the phone, texted each other, had coffee dates, dinner, movie nights etc. But as Rachel began to get noticed in Broadway circles and Kurt's career at Vogue took off, they began to drift apart. They constantly had to cancel on each other due to busy schedules and eventually they both stopped trying.

But two years ago Rachel abandoned Broadway for six months to return to Ohio as one of her Dad's had been diagnosed with cancer. It was during this time that Rachel and Finn started talking again, and with not much to do other than visiting the hospital, Rachel hung out with Finn and they became inseparable. So it was no surprise that they decided to rekindle their romance, and when Rachel returned to New York after her Dad had successfully come though chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she wasn't alone. Finn started up his own garage business in Brooklyn where he and Rachel lived and they were very happy.

So Finn and Rachel's reunion was what got their friendship back on track again. Kurt visited Ohio towards the end of Rachel's time there and within minutes of seeing each other it was just like old times and they made a promise never to lose each other. Picking up his glass of wine, Kurt took it into his bathroom. He ran the water in the tub, stripped his clothes off and sank into the warmth and the bubbles with closed eyes and a relaxed mind.

[Chicago]

Blaine quietly let himself into his apartment. It was 7am and he didn't want to wake Sebastian if he was still asleep. But as he made his way down the hallway to his room he could hear the tv from the living room. Sebastian was sitting on the arm of the sofa, half dressed. He was wearing trousers and socks, and had a tie hanging loosely from his neck.

'Put a shirt on,' Blaine said from the doorway and Sebastian turned to him.

'Blaine Anderson, I love you.' Sebastian rushed over, grabbed Blaine's face in his hands and kissed him on the lips. As soon as he released him, Blaine wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

'Do you mind?' he asked but Sebastian just smirked at him.

'I owe you one after last night.'

'Got laid?'

'You bet,' Sebastian beamed as he picked his shirt up from the back of the sofa and proceeded to put it on.

'So what are you doing up at this ungodly hour?' Blaine asked.

'8am court hearing.'

'What charge are you up for?'

'Very funny B. Don't come crawling to me wanting free legal advice.'

'I won't, I'll go crawling to Nick instead.' Blaine laughed at his own joke and Sebastian poked his tongue out.

'Right I'm off honey,' Sebastian said, trying to kiss Blaine on the cheek, but he ducked out of the way. 'I've left a present for you on the fridge.'

Blaine walked into the kitchen after Sebastian had gone, and frowned to find a page torn out of a magazine on the fridge, displaying some crap new celebrity perfume. He took it down and the turned it over. His entire body froze instantly. Staring up at him was a photo of Kurt, sitting at a white desk and wearing a blue shirt which matched his eyes perfectly.

When Blaine finally managed to remember how to use his legs he sat down at the kitchen table with a racing heart. He then read the article which accompanied Kurt's photo.

Q&A: Kurt Hummel answers your questions.

Q. Everyone has a dream, was yours to work at Vogue?
A. No not exactly. As a teenager I had two passions, fashion and music. I auditioned for NYADA and when they didn't accept me I got lucky with an internship at Vogue and the rest is history.

Q. Your hair is always styled to perfection in photos; do you ever get bad hair days?
A. Oh yes. Sometimes I'm just way too tired when I get home so I fall into bed without doing my proper bedtime routine and then in the morning... yikes.

Q. Have you ever had your heart broken?
A. Yeah... of course, yeah. I wish someone would find a cure for it though. But until then there's always chocolate, disney and your best friends.

Q. Do you enjoy travelling to other cities for fashion week?
A. I love it, especially London fashion week as I get to be a total nerd for a few days and go sightseeing.

Q. When was the last time you got drunk?
A. I don't drink that often, but the last time, um... it was probably my Dad and step Mom's tenth wedding anniversary back home in Ohio.

Q. Do your friends constantly ask you for fashion advice?
A. Not as much as they used to. Once you guide someone through what colour shades, styles and fabrics suit them best, they tend to do ok after that.

Q. Are men's clothes boring?
A. They can be. I mean there's only so many ways to dress up a suit right? But anybody who knows me wouldn't say my clothes are boring and I probably do go a bit overboard sometimes. My suit to junior prom was pretty amazing.

Q. Are you in a relationship?
A. Not at the moment. Maybe I'm too high maintenance?

Q. What's the best perk you get for being a Vogue employee?
A. It's got to be the freebies. I think the number of friends I have would halve if the freebies got cut off.

Q. Is marriage overrated?
A. I don't think so. There's no bigger gesture in the world than getting married to the person you love and committing yourself to them.

Q. Have you ever regretted an outfit?
There's stuff I wore in High School that I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy.

Blaine took a deep breath and willed himself to just screw up the page, throw it into the trash and forget about it. But he didn't, instead he put it carefully back on the fridge and furiously dug his phone out.

To: Sebastian
You're a dick!

From: Sebastian
Love you too xxx
From: Sebastian
P.S. Kurt looks hot right?

To: Sebastian
Fuck off.

Blaine made himself a sandwich and a drink, then sat at the desk in his room, powering up his laptop. Once it loaded he checked his e-mails, replying to a few that needed his urgent attention. The last e-mail he looked at, and also the most recent, was from his Professor.

Blaine,

I'd like to offer you the opportunity for a 2 month rotation at Lennox Hill Hospital in NY starting on December 1st. All travel and accommodation costs are fully funded. There are only 2 placements available for students from Pritzker Medical School and I'm giving you first refusal.

Please get back to me as soon as you can.

Professor G. Watkins
Pritzker Medical School

Blaine slumped back in his chair. He'd been offered long distant rotations a number of times over the years, usually turning them down. But two months in New York over the festive period? Two months away from Sebastian? It was certainly very tempting and he hadn't visited New York over the holiday period since he his senior year at McKinley. But instead of making a snap decision, Blaine turned his laptop off and collapsed into his much needed bed.

Thoughts? :)

(*hands out Christmas cake*)

Well this is my new story and I'd love to hear what you guys think if you've made it this far, worth continuing or a pile of old tosh? I really hope the first chapter was enjoyable enough, despite the lack of Kurt/Blaine interaction. But I want to set the story up first, what they've both been doing since High School, how they're coping with the adult world etc. As you've read, Blaine's training to be a Doctor and I've tried my best but I have no medical knowledge whatsoever. I'm also not from the US, so if anything sounds a bit odd to you you'll know why. You should be able to foresee from this chapter the circumstances of Blaine and Kurt's chance encounter in December so feel free to have a guess :P And just to make it clear, there won't be any romantic Seblaine happening, so don't worry. I know I've had to stop reading a few Klaine stories because the author has suddenly decided halfway through to turn it into a Seblaine or Kurtbastian story. Klaine is always endgame ok? Haha!

JO :)