Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 59th cycle. Now cycle 60!

This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"Setting Pieces"
Blaine, Burt - Klaine

A/N: This story and all stories for two weeks (days 1240-1253) are dedicated to
a very dear and awesome friend on the occasion of her birthday ;) Here's to you, Anne!

His house had turned into a pre-Christmas battleground, and while some would have done their best to hide and stay out of it, Blaine was right in the thick of it. It wasn't until his father handed him the phone that he realized it had even been ringing.

"Hello?" he pushed the handheld between his ear and his shoulder, resuming his wrapping duties.

"Hey, Blaine? It's Burt Hummel." He almost dropped both the scissors and the phone.

"Mr. Hummel, what are you… Is Kurt alright?" his heart held for a beat.

"What? N… Oh, it's nothing like that, Kurt's fine," Burt promised him, and he let out a breath, shoving out any and all bad images he'd managed to concoct in five seconds flat.

"What can I do for you?" he finally got around to asking, putting the scissors down and going up toward his room so they could speak in peace.

"Listen, I know it's very last minute, especially with the date and all, and I'll completely understand it if you have to say no."

"Say no to what?" Blaine asked.

"I'm in New York right now, with Kurt," he explained.

"You are?"

"Yeah, there were some things I had to tell him, and it was better I did it in person."

"That sounds bad," Blaine sat on his bed.

"Not as bad as it could have been. Look, I'll come out with it, no point in hiding it, especially with what I'm about to ask you to do. I have prostate cancer." Blaine felt like he'd been told someone in his family was sick; in some ways, Burt Hummel was that.

"Mr. Hummel, I'm so…"

"Hey, it's alright, I'm alright. They caught it early, so it improves my odds a whole lot. The point is, I know the two of you have been apart for a while now, but I think it would do him some good if he could see you right now."

"But I'm in Ohio…"

"That's the thing I wanted to ask you about. If I buy you a plane ticket to New York, will you come?" If he hadn't been seated, he would have needed to be.

"Fly t…"

"Besides, it's Christmas, don't you two have this whole tradition about duets? Last Christmas he was already telling me about his 'top choices' for next year, it'd be a shame for you guys not to…"

"I cheated on him." He'd said it before he could help it. There was a moment of silence, and he almost thought he might have hung up.

"I know," Burt's voice returned.

"You… you do?"

"He didn't tell me, but I figured it out. Part of me would want to be more upset with you than I actually am, but maybe I'm being optimistic in thinking it was a mistake, and that it won't happen again."

"It won't," he swore.

"Good, because if it did, then I wouldn't be able to back you up, not anymore."

"I understand," Blaine breathed.

"I know you love him; I know that. And I've seen you around town. You've got the face of someone who knows they messed up. I'm not going to ask for details, or reasoning. But I will repeat my offer to you, about New York. You and me, we both have the same wish at heart. We want Kurt to be happy. Right now, that's you being there, even for a little while. So what do you say?"

"I'd need to check with my parents, but if it's up to me, then… I say yes."

After he'd hung up with his son's ex, and after calling the airline, he had gone back to sit with Kurt. Blaine's parents had agreed to send their son on to New York, and Burt could imagine him already getting ready to head off to the airport. They had figured out a time and place for them to meet, now all Burt had to do was to get him there in time.

He wouldn't have brought up the cheating if Blaine hadn't. For his part, he was ready to forget the whole thing had ever happened, like he'd said, so long as it never happened again. He knew Kurt had been hurt by it, and for that he had to hold the right to change his mind about the boy. Maybe it was Christmas, and his bad news, but he needed to be forgiving.

It wasn't even a matter of accepting his son for being gay anymore; he had already done that. If Kurt had been straight and he'd had with a girl what he had with Blaine, he would have done the exact same thing. He may not have known the innermost details of their relationship, but he wasn't blind to the presence the boy had had in his son's life, and the way they were for each other. He didn't want to meddle, but if he could just carefully nudge him in the right direction…

Soon Blaine would step out on to that patch of ice, to wait for Kurt's arrival. He would stand there, feeling nervous and anxious and scared and excited all at once. All he wanted was to see that look on Kurt's face, the one that told him he was happy to see him. He had tried to sleep during the plane ride, but he couldn't even nod off, he was wide awake. Once or twice he had felt his stomach churn and he couldn't make out whether that was his nerves or air sickness.

It was the holidays, a season for hope. Burt Hummel had held out a hand to him, and he took that as a sign that maybe he wasn't as sunk deep as he'd thought. Maybe Kurt and him wouldn't be reunited… probably… But it could be the start of everything else, everything that might grant them both the happy ending he had spoiled for them. He was willing to work for it.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!