A/N: I don't own Glee. But I totally own the right to vote in this country!

"Hey, kiddo! You made it!"

Kurt smiled, as he melted into his father's crushing hug. Pain aside, he had other reasons to be in Ohio sometimes, and being here at his father's office, temporarily a hub of the Ohio GOTV (Get Out The Vote) effort, felt right. It was true that he could have supported the President from his home in New York, but it wouldn't have been the same. Before Hurricane Sandy had hit, he'd decided to go home, to put his volunteer effort where it counted, working the phones and going door to door in the battleground state. Rachel had only had her power restored yesterday, and repairing the damage from the flooding was an ongoing task all over the city, disrupting the routines of life.

"How could I not? Someone has to make sure you don't eat too many donuts." Kurt smirked at his father, and gestured at the table set up for the volunteers, stocked with donuts as well as home made goodies, bottles of water, and a coffee station.

"You think Carole's not on that? But hey, if it gets you home for a visit, sure." Congressman Burt Hummel smiled broadly at his son, searching his face. Kurt did look happy to be here, but his expression was still guarded enough that he didn't have to ask; things were still unresolved with Blaine.

Laura bustled up to the congressman's side, full of enthusiasm and smiles. "Fresh meat! Great, I'll be happy to get you start-"

"Um, Laura, this 'fresh meat' you refer to is my son, Kurt."

"Oops, sorry, sir!" The young woman's excitement looked momentarily dimmed. "Let me know when he's ready, I'll be right over there."

Kurt smiled at her retreating form. "You do have some enthusiastic people here." He looked at the long tables, filled with volunteers with open laptops, talking on phones, occasionally jotting notes.

"Coffee, son? I know it's not that fancy stuff you like, but it's not bad; Carole made it, and it's fresh."

"Thanks, dad. So, how's it going?"

"Me? The election? Both?" He paused. "Well, we miss you, you know that. But I'm getting a lot done, or at least what passes for a lot in Congress," he snorted. "I've got a great volunteer base here; they've been working hard for weeks on the re-election."

Kurt didn't have to ask whose. His father wasn't up for re-election yet, but they'd been strong Obama supporters from before he ever thought about joining political life. This election was crucial: the stakes were high, and no one was saying this time that the candidates were the same, who cares. Obama and Romney were indeed strikingly different in their views as well as modus operandi. And Romney's supporters, some of whom were quite powerful, didn't scruple to use their power to make voting difficult where it counted, notably battleground states like Ohio and Florida. Florida was already showing itself to be its usual third-world standard when it came to voting shenanigans. Ohio had seen a smattering of that kind of manipulation by the Republicans, but the Democrats were fighting back, in this case with a massive GOTV campaign fueled by the energy of hundreds of hardworking volunteers.

"Well, I'm here to help, dad. Home can wait, until after calling hours, anyway." Giving his father a squeeze to his arm, he walked over to Laura, who was finishing up getting another volunteer ready for action. He waited until she looked up.

"Hi! Kurt, I didn't know who you were, sorry about that." She was still smiling, but looked at him a little anxiously.

"Laura, right? No problem, it's not like I'm famous or anything. I'm just here to help." Kurt's tone restored her usual cheer, just as he'd intended.

"Great. Good, I see you got some coffee, good. All right, let's get you started over here," and he followed her to an empty space at one of the long tables. "Have you done this before?"

"I have, but it looks like the setup's a little different, so how about you walk me through it?" he suggested.

She showed him how to log on to the GOTV website, and signed in using the phone at that station, and he put on the headset. He listened carefully, nodding every so often, sipping his coffee while he had the chance. He put on the headset, and Laura consulted her clipboard.

"Well, we're going to have you work on one the targeted lists, all right? For you, most of the people who come up on your screen will be new voters." She pulled out a script sheet from her clipboard and handed it to him. "So, these are partly persuasion calls. You okay with that so far?"

"No problem."

"Okay. They're persuasion calls because while these people are registered to vote, they've never done so. Most of them probably registered as part of their civics homework," Kurt nodded, knowing she was correct there, "and the key here is get them to actually go out and vote."

He looked over the basic script, nodded. She continued, "feel free to improvise some, and record your response on the drop down boxes on screen. When you hit 'enter' you'll be getting your next call soon after, when it beeps. So, are you ready to go snag some votes?"

"Aye aye, captain."

"Great." She entered one last code, and the system switched from standby to ready.

Kurt hit his stride quickly. Calling at suppertime on a Sunday night, many of his intended targets were home, and he'd gotten good responses. The teens he talked to seemed willing, for the most part, to at least listen, and many committed to voting. The list was supposed to be for those who'd registered as Democrats, but it wasn't perfect; he'd gotten a few Romney supporters, a few of whom had been rude or even nasty. This was nothing; it took a lot more than that to deter Kurt Hummel.

He heard the beep through his headset, and looked at the screen to see who was next. David Karofsky. The name was uncommon enough, and scrolling down a bit, it was a Lima address.

"Hello?" A male voice answered.

"Hello, may I speak to David?"

"Who's calling, please?"

"Hi. My name is Kurt, and I'm a volunteer for the Obama campaign."

"Uh, I'll get him." He heard the phone being put down, and the guy, probably Dave's dad, calling for his son. He waited a moment, and then listened as Dave picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Dave? It's Kurt. I'm calling from campaign headquarters -"

"Kurt? Kurt Hummel?"

"That's me. How are you, Dave?"

"I'm all right. I'm going to Ohio State, home for the weekend. It's going good. I, um," and he paused. From the noises Kurt heard, it sounded like he was moving, and he heard a door close. "I came out, at college."

"I'm happy for you, Dave. How are you doing?"

"Well, good. You were right, Kurt. It does get better. At one time, I didn't believe it, but I do now. Thank you, so much."

Kurt sighed. They'd both been through a lot, but he was so glad things were turning out okay for his former bully. "You're welcome. I'm so glad, so happy for you."

"Why'd you call, though?"

"You came up on my new voters list. I'm at the campaign office to get out the vote."

"Oh. Right. Tell Laura I said hi." Dave laughed a little.

"What?"

"You missed me. I was there earlier today. And I already voted, but I know the system doesn't know that."

Kurt laughed back a little. "I'll tell her. Who'd have thought?"

"I know, right? Well, Kurt, I guess I should leave you to persuading some voters. It's nice to hear from you, though."

"You too. Thanks."

They ended the call, and Kurt shook his head at the computer. The progam they had was great, and worked well overall, but it had its glitches. Like, not deleting the names of known strong supporters! He took the moment of quiet to sip some more coffee, and took the next few calls.

He fell into an easy rhythm, easily shaking off the occasional abusive person, and gladly educating his targeted audience in where their polling places were, and determining if they'd need a ride to the polls or not. Laura looked up at him once or twice, and his dad made the rounds of the volunteers, passing out bottles of water, giving words of encouragement. He was looking at his dad, not the screen, when the tone for the next call sounded.

"Hello?" A familiar-sounding voice answered.

"Hello. My name is Kurt, and I'm a volunteer -"

"Kurt." He stopped short, his eyes now drawn to the screen. There it was, Blaine Everett Anderson. He was there, on the phone, and he hadn't had a moment to prepare (or log off before the call hit). He drew in a breath sharply.

"Kurt? Are you still there?" Blaine's voice was strained, urgent.

"Blaine. Yes, it's me. I'm here," he answered, his voice breathy from shock, and a wave of emotion at hearing the sound of his voice. The voice that he'd heard on so many voicemails, but hadn't been able to bring himself to answer. The voice that he heard in his head a hundred times a day, thinking of him, wondering what he'd say about some random thing he encountered on his commute, how he'd respond when he put on his favorite skinny jeans, how he'd tell him he looked perfect, even when he knew it wasn't true.

At first he hadn't called him, after that horrible night and the painful next morning, too upset to want to listen to him, hurt and oh, so angry. Then, as the days ground on and he became exhausted, working too much, eating too little, and hardly sleeping, he'd started to feel like a zombie. Moving through a haze of pain, but unable to get out of it, and not knowing how to begin to talk with the one person he wanted most. It reached a point where he had to admit Rachel was right, that talking to him was crucial, but he didn't want to do it any way other than in person. But when it came to it, coming home this weekend, with plans to stay until the day after election day, he'd gravitated towards his dad first, rationalizing that the purpose of the mission, as he'd told Isabelle, his boss, was to help in the Ohio GOTV effort. He knew he was being chicken, but hadn't planned on talking to Blaine quite this soon. And certainly not in this setting.

"It's so good to hear you." The voice on the phone sounded broken; as if the wound were hours, not weeks, old.

"It's good to hear you too," Kurt answered, meaning it. Though he hated how Blaine sounded.

"Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Where are you?"

He looked around, cleared his throat, and answered. "I'm here, in dad's office."

"How long?"

Kurt thought he knew what was behind that. Blaine would be wondering if he were still shut out, if Kurt had planned to see him at all; if he had any reason to hope. He decided not to answer that.

"Blaine, where are you?" He asked softly.

"Home. I was just doing some homework."

"Blaine?"

"Yes?" The voice sounded more hopeful now, responding to Kurt's warmer tone.

"Will you meet me at the Lima Bean?" The words were out before Kurt could finish thinking them, but once spoken he knew that this was now what he wanted more than anything.

There was silence a moment on the end of the line. Blaine answered, sounding like his voice was chocked with tears. "When?"

"Now."

Blaine managed a watery, "Okay."

"Blaine, I … I can't wait to see you."

"Kurt?"

"Um hmm?" Kurt's eyes were now shining with tears, and he was putting his coat on, getting ready to go.

"I love you."

"I know. I love you too."

Kurt barely had to explain, as his father had seen his son's state from across the room. Walking the aisle behind him, he caught the name still displaying on the computer screen.

"Go, son. I'll tell Laura, no problem. Hey, I'll even take up where you left off." He'd reached over to hug him, and sent his son out of the office with a gentle push.

Burt enjoyed talking to his constituents, but still felt relieved when the shift was over. He listened to Laura congratulating the volunteers on their efforts this day, and walked over to her when the group dissipated.

She grinned at him. "You think we're gonna see him later today?"

"I wouldn't count on it. Nice work, by the way."

"You don't think he suspects, do you?" She hadn't seen him leave, preoccupied in running the call center.

"Not a bit. I owe you one, kid."

She giggled. "More like you owe Derek over there," and she pointed at her boyfriend, as he logged off his computer. "Listmaster over there knows his stuff."

Burt smiled, and Laura noted how all the fatigue of recent weeks dropped away from his face. "You got it. I owe you both."

They joked a bit about the advantages of having a congressman in your debt, and Burt got away from the cute twentysomething couple as soon as it was polite to do so, happy thoughts of wanting to tell Carole all about it, and even happier thoughts of anticipating his son, maybe now on the way to mending his broken heart.

A/N: I've spent a good bit of time this election season, volunteering both on the phones and canvassing door to door. I urge you to vote, if you're in the US and eligible. This election is indeed crucial. There is no doubt in my mind that Burt and Kurt would both be on the side of the candidate who has declared in favor of marriage equality, not to mention a host of other issues congressman Hummel would probably support.

For me, klaine will always be endgame, and I think these silly boys really do need to just get together and talk it out!

I would love to hear from you, as always (well, except if you're a Romney supporter who wants to be nasty, then maybe not so much).