AN: So after a long and lengthy debate with myself, here is what I had decided on for this story: There will be a slight Rinn/Fory romance storyline, but it is a buildup to Finn and Kurt getting back together at the end of the story. So yes tiny spoiler, but I hope that you will bear with me on the journey to that reunion. :o) Also in "Pot o' Gold" the whole Brittany/Finn argument had me feeling that Finn's shortness with Brittany seemed a little out of character, since I remember from somewhere it being said that they were friends for a long time, so I modified that little detail, and in my little story Mercedes doesn't talk to Santana to switch sides, and Santana does it in spite/same reason Mercedes left. So I hope that clears any questions if there is/was some confusion. Please Review! ~ Draco

Chapter 2

Starting to Mend the Fence

-Finn-

Finn couldn't sleep. It was as if his mind had decided to torture him that night. It had only been three days since Finn had met Rory officially, and it was apparent to him after Mercedes had brought it up that he found himself attracted to the Irish kid, since Kurt was off limits. Finn found Rory's personality enduring and Rory's ideas of all the different aspects about life in America that he's finding out are not as true as he believed to be funny and rather cute about him.

Plus add in Rory's blue eyes, his thick Irish accent, and that gorgeous smile and Finn found himself in trouble. Finn kept considering on talking to Mercedes about it since she offered, but he wasn't sure if she would keep it to herself, and not only tell Kurt, but everyone else since she was one of the top gossip hounds in the school. Finn also felt that Mercedes might have tipped Kurt off about Rory, when they were partnered in class on Tuesday morning, but he wasn't 100 percent sure on that either.

After falling asleep around 3:30 that morning Finn was dead tired when he woke up three hours later. Finn ignored both Burt's and Carole's outrage, when they walked into the kitchen to find that Finn had drank eight cups of coffee from their coffee pot. Finn fired off a text to his cousin Drew, and he went out the back door just as he heard Kurt coming down the stairs. Finn then drove over to his cousin's house.

Finn had barely pulled up when Drew came down the front sidewalk and opened the passenger side door to Finn's truck. "Good morning, cuz; might I ask why you're picking me up?"

Finn shrugged his shoulders. "Does Aaron need a ride?"

Drew shook his head. "No, he's home sick for a couple days. Apparently he got sent home yesterday during homeroom, and dad took him to the doctor and come to find out my little bro has come down with a lovely case of the Chicken Pox. Thankfully I had them as a kid. But you didn't answer my question."

Finn blinked, as he put the truck into gear. "Sorry to hear about Aaron, as for picking you up I just needed someone to talk to."

Drew raised an eyebrow. "Alright, why do I have a feeling that I am going to be uncomfortable with this?"

Finn sighed. "Josh isn't here anymore since he's off to college in Florida. I would go to Sam, but he moved. I would talk to Mercedes about it, but I don't know if I can trust her not to tell Kurt about it. I don't like Blaine, and you know why I can't bring myself to talk to Kurt about this."

Drew was quiet for a minute before he too sighed. "Ok I understand four out of the five that you listed in there. But I'm sure that if you asked Mercedes to not say anything I am sure that she won't."

Finn was quiet for a few blocks before he spoke. "I just…never mind."

Drew cleared his throat. "Okay, if you promise not to make this a complete chick conversation, I'll listen to you."

Finn glanced over at Drew and shook his head. "That might be a little hard to do."

Drew banged his head against the back of the cab twice. "Ok, fine. I'll listen and try to offer you advice."

Finn gave a half smile. "Thanks. Do you know who Rory Flanagan is?"

Drew seemed to think for a minute before he spoke. "Name isn't really ringing a bell, but continue with your story."

Finn stopped at light that was red. "He's a foreign exchange student from Ireland."

"Oh!" Drew exclaimed. "You mean Irish, he constantly wears green, has an accent?"

Finn blinked and frowned at the fact that Drew would be calling Rory Irish, like it was a nick name. "Yeah that'd be him."

"Sorry," Drew apologized as he glanced at Finn. "I have PE with him, and that's what that hockey moron Rick calls him. I never did catch his name before."

Finn started to drive again when the light turned green. "It's okay I guess. It's just I kind of ran into him the other day, while trying to avoid Kurt and Blaine, and he and I started talking and we're now friends."

Drew nodded. "That's cool, so what's got you all epically pained about that?"

Finn sighed. "Well on Tuesday I finally paid attention as to who was in my classes for the first time since school started and well, Rory's in my Folklore and Mythology class along with Mercedes."

Drew nodded to let Finn know that he was still listening. So Finn continued. "I got to acting pretty pathetic and Mercedes cornered me after class to ask if I like liked Rory. And I kind of panicked, because I didn't want to consider that."

"So…" Drew prompted Finn. Drew used his hands in a rolling gesture to get Finn to talk.

"So…" Finn began, but he froze up.

Drew sighed. "Look you're the one that wanted to do this, so you need to finish this, Finn. I am not going to sit here in your truck pulling teeth to get you to say something."

Finn stopped at a stop sign before he quickly turned a corner. "So, it wasn't until Mercedes said that that I thought about it. After she did, it was all that I could think of, about how attractive that I find Rory. But at the same time I don't want to act on it, because of all the emotional baggage that I'm carrying from mine and Kurt's break up."

Drew was quiet for a moment again before he spoke. "Do you know if Rory is straight or not? Because I think that would be a big problem if he was."

Finn shook his head. "I don't know if he is straight or not. Though the day that I met him, I had asked if he had any interests and one thing he said was that he was interested in girls mostly. Then he got quiet for a second before he said that he liked video games. But he also seemed comfortable with me being bi though."

Drew didn't say anything for five minutes until Finn pulled into the school parking lot. "I am sure that Josh or Sam would have something better to tell you Finn, because I am really not sure what to tell you. I honestly think that you should try talking to Mercedes, and just ask her to not tell anyone. But, hey what do I know? Rory might just be what the love doctor ordered to help you get over Kurt."

Finn pulled into a parking spot and shut his truck off. "Thanks Drew. You gave me something to think about."

Drew smiled as they both got out of Finn's truck. "No problem, Finn."

With that both Finn and Drew walked into the school.

-Kurt-

Kurt was a little shocked when he heard Finn's truck start and leave when he got downstairs that morning. But he brushed it off and grabbed a multigrain cereal bar, and a glass of milk, before he too was out the door. By the time Kurt arrived at school, Blaine was waiting for him at the front doors. "Morning, Blaine Warbler."

Blaine smiled at the nick name. "I could say the same to you, but you were never a Warbler."

Kurt smiled back. "That's probably a good thing. I don't think that I would have been able to pull off the whole boarding school look."

Blaine chuckled. "No, you probably wouldn't have."

Kurt opened the front door to the school and the two of them walked in. Kurt adjusted his bag as he spoke. "I got a question for you; do you know anyone named Rory by any chance?"

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "No, I don't. May I ask why?"

Kurt sighed. "Well, like you and Carole both said that I have been acting stupidly selfish lately, so I decided that I was going to try and make amends with Finn, before I can't."

Blaine nodded to let Kurt know that he was following him so far. "Well you know that yesterday during glee that Rachel was once again trying to convince Finn that they need to date again, and Finn bolted out of the room when Mr. Schue said we were dismissed. So I quickly tried to catch up to Finn and before I turned the corner I heard Finn talking to someone. Finn mentioned Brittany, and the other kid said something about Britt's cat, so I texted Britt and I found out through Britt that the kids name was Rory. So I tried to ask Finn last night if Rory was his new friend and I got brushed off from Finn with a flamethrower."

Blaine shook his head and sighed. "Look part of the reason Finn brushed you off the way he did is because he is still hurt by you saying that you guys were over. Back before he was shanghaied into going to, umm…for the lack of a better word, Candyland."

Kurt shot Blaine a dirty look, but Blaine shrugged it off. "Finn told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. He told me that he couldn't picture himself with anyone else. He then told me the one time he did talk to me after he got home, that you were the only thing that kept him going. Then you turned around and pretty much turned his whole world upside down, and shattered it like glass."

They arrived at Kurt's locker first. "So you're saying that this is my entire fault then?"

Blaine shook his head side to side. "Not entirely, mostly yes, but not entirely. Look at this way you told Finn that you felt he needed time to himself to make sure that a relationship between the two of you is what he really wanted and that if it was then you two could try it again. He told you at the end of July and right before school started that you were what he wanted. You told him when you broke up that you couldn't trust him. Then he told you he was ready you said that you weren't ready. And I believe your words in August as you told me were: 'I don't know if I can.' Did I miss anything?"

Kurt unzipped his backpack and started swapping out binders and books. "What is your point, Blaine?"

Blaine sighed again as if the answer should have been simple. "You told Finn that you would be willing to try again, and every time he goes to try again, you turn around and make it sound that you are less and less interested in having a relationship with him. I think Finn now thinks that you no longer want him, and that you are still angry with him over what he did."

Kurt shut his locker. "I'm not mad at him anymore like I was, before the truth came out. I just don't understand why he didn't think that he could trust me enough to tell me what was going on. I felt betrayed because I thought I could trust him and vice versa, but in actuality he couldn't trust me. How is a relationship supposed to function without trust? Let alone lies and secrets."

Blaine gave Kurt a sad look. "Look Kurt, you're going to find out that any relationship needs lies, just as much as it needs truth. You could say the same thing about trust."

Kurt gave Blaine an incredulous look as he walked away. Kurt turned and quickly followed. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Blaine looked over at Kurt. "I read it on a fortune cookie once; it sounded like a good time to use it."

Kurt stopped in his tracks as Blaine disappeared into the morning hustle and bustle before school started and tried to sort out what Blaine had told him. As Kurt continued to reflect on what Blaine said he then made his way to his morning class.

-Finn-

Finn had pulled together three desks so that he, Mercedes and Rory could begin that morning when class started. Finn was surprised that Mercedes beat Rory to class that morning, but he didn't say anything. Finn was even more surprised that Rory was especially quiet that morning and looking really down. They worked as a group on their packet, and Finn kept thinking that maybe Drew was right and he should give Mercedes a shot. Just as the bell rang Finn decided to swallow his pride and ask. "Hey, Mercedes, I was wondering if your offer to talk still stood."

Mercedes looked shocked that Finn had changed his mind, but she smiled to ease the tension. "Yeah, of course Finn, we can talk at lunch."

Finn smiled back. "Ok, thanks!"

Mercedes continued to smile. "It's no problem, Finn. I'll see you then."

With that Mercedes left and Finn turned to see Rory looking like someone had told him that his dog died. Finn nudged Rory's shoulder. "Are you okay, Rory?"

Rory shook his head. "No, I'm not."

Finn frowned at that. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Rory glanced up at Finn, and the look in his eyes had the look of pure terror. "No."

Finn just frowned a little more. "Look, I'd like to help. You've helped me a lot, and I'd like to return the favor."

Rory looked confused about how he was helping Finn, but he nodded. "I had some angry girl after me this mornin', because she knew that I have a crush on Brittany. And because Brittany thinks that I am a Leprechaun, she wants me to grant her a wish, because apparently I am like Brittany's pet Irish."

Finn frowned. "Was this girl about oh so high," Finn held his hand up to give a height, "and has kind of what looks like tan skin and black hair and wearing a WMHS cheerleading uniform?"

At Rory's vigorous head nod, Finn felt sorry for him. "I'm sorry about Santana; she can be kind of intense."

Rory shook his head. "She looked murderous."

Finn smiled internally at that one. "Look, don't let her get to you. Santana thrives on insults, insulting people, and fear."

Rory looked like he didn't want to have anything to do with Santana, and honestly Finn felt that was going to be a task easier said than done. With that Finn and Rory split to go to their next classes that they had.

Finn zoned out in his government class, and then he ran into Rory again as they went to Spanish. Finn found Rory speaking Spanish with and Irish accent about one of the most amazing things he's ever heard. The first time, that Mr. Schue had Rory speak in class, it was funny, but at the same time it wasn't. Finn shook his head to try and clear it.

Finn and Rory, walked by Kurt and Blaine and Finn noticed that Kurt seemed to scowl, and Blaine looked like he approved of them, which didn't seem to ease Finn's uneasiness.

"Finn, are you listening?" Rory asked.

Finn shook his head again. "Sorry Rory, I just have a lot on mind and I apologize for that. What were you saying?"

Rory looked like he was upset that Finn hadn't heard him. Finn sighed. "Rory, I promise I wasn't ignoring you intentionally. I swear that I wouldn't do that to you."

Rory gave a small smile. "What I said was that Santana came up to me in between classes last period, and she said that for her wish she wanted Brittany to go with her and join Mercedes in the other glee club that's here at school."

"Shit!" Finn swore. "Do you know anything else?"

Rory shook his head. "No, I don't, I'm sorry Finn."

Finn let his anger set to the side. "I don't blame you. It's just that if Santana and Brittany defect over to the other group then we won't have enough people to compete at sectionals."

Rory looked even sadder at that. "I'm sorry. I should have been honest with Brittany and told her from the start that I wasn't a Leprechaun. Then you guys wouldn't be in this mess."

Finn shook his head and he reached out and put his arm around Rory's shoulder. "It's not your fault, and this probably would have happened anyway."

They sat down just as Mr. Schue came into the room, and Finn fired a quick text to the guys about what Santana was planning, and Finn got from Mike and Artie a 'who's Rory' remark. After the bell rang for the end of class, Finn and Rory, made their way to the lunch room. Drew caught up with them just outside the cafeteria, and he had a hold of Puck by the arm. Drew then shoved Puck into the wall a little hard and then turned to Finn. "You'll never guess what cowlick here just did."

Finn knew that this couldn't be good. "Puck, what did you do?"

Puck pushed himself up off of the wall and adjusted his letterman jacket. "I had a little chat with Britt and Santana."

Finn thought he now knew how things felt as they went down the toilet. Finn could just feel everything spinning out of his control, and that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear. "What did you say, to them, Puck?"

Finn knew that Puck saw the crushed face that he was wearing and Puck's silence only seemed to make things worse in Finn's mind. Just at that moment Santana and Brittany walked by, and Finn saw that Brittany had tears rolling down her face, and Santana semi yelled out at them with a smug expression. "Thanks for my wish, Pixie boy. You do great work!"

Puck cleared his throat and talked like a much chastised child. "I lost my temper a little with Brittany, and told her that she was being stupid about thinking that Rory was a Leprechaun and that her whole belief in Santa last year…"

"Stop, Puck, just stop there." Finn rubbed his temples because this was just what he didn't want to hear at the moment. "You do realize now that we need to find two people to qualify for sectionals."

Puck looked like the idea hadn't occurred to him. "I didn't think of that."

Finn sighed. "Well Puck, I hope you're happy with the results. Not only did we lose two more people, but you have messed things up between Rory and Brittany."

Puck seemed like he wanted to curl in on himself. Finn just didn't care at that moment. "I'll talk to all of you guys later. I need to go talk to Mercedes."

With that Finn left Rory, Puck, and Drew, and Finn ducked into the lunchroom, where he saw Mercedes talking to her new boyfriend Shane. Finn didn't really know what to think about Shane really, but he did know that he thought Sam was a better choice for Mercedes.

Finn walked up to where he was in ear shot of them when he heard Shane speak. "Why do you need to talk to Finn?"

Mercedes let out a slight sigh. "eHHe's going through a tough time right now and he asked if he could talk to me about a few things. It'll be okay Shane, he won't hurt me."

Shane gave Mercedes a look but he nodded. "Fine, go talk to him."

"Thanks honey!" Mercedes said as she gave Shane a hug and then she turned to meet Finn. "Hey, Finn did you want some lunch?"

Finn nodded, he was trying to get his thoughts in order as he followed Mercedes to the lunch line, Finn saw Drew looking at him as they got into line, and Drew gave Finn a small knowing smile. Finn went through the line with Mercedes and he looked out at the sea of tables looking for a place to sit, and then his eyes settled on Kurt and Blaine. Kurt was looking right at Finn. Finn looked away and he then followed Mercedes outside to one of the picnic tables that afforded them at least a little more privacy. But on the way out Finn felt like he was being watched. Mercedes sat down and she gestured for Finn to do the same.

Once Finn was seated he sighed, as he continued to try and separate what he wanted to talk to Mercedes about and his frustration with Puck making Brittany and Santana quit just wasn't helping matters. Mercedes cleared her throat and then asked. "So, what's on your mind?"

"If I was being honest with myself, far too much than I care to have." Finn replied as he stared at the pizza pocket he got.

Mercedes gave Finn a small smile. "So how is your day so far?"

Finn was grateful that Mercedes wasn't asking about Rory right away. "It was ok, until right before lunch when Drew told me what Puck did to Brittany."

Mercedes gave Finn a puzzled look and was about to ask when Finn shook his head. "You'll know before the afternoon is up, but this isn't what we were going to talk about though."

Mercedes nodded. "You wanted to talk about Rory, and Kurt didn't you?"

Finn didn't say anything but Mercedes felt that she had her answer. "So which do you want to start with first? The easy topic: Rory or the hard one: Kurt?"

Finn sighed and he picked up his spoon and pushed around the applesauce he had grabbed. "I don't know, you pick, Mercedes."

Mercedes seemed to think for a minute and decided to just put Finn out of his misery. "Let's start with Kurt, shall we?" When Finn didn't say anything, Mercedes spoke. "So what's going on with you and Kurt?"

"I don't know." Finn replied. "You know that we broke up back in July."

When Mercedes nodded, Finn continued. "When we broke up Kurt said that he wanted to give me some time to figure out if a relationship with him was what I had wanted. Well I went to talk to him at the end of July and he said that he wasn't quite ready. So I waited until just before we started school, and he was like 'Well, I don't know if I can.' Cede, I know that I hurt him, and I know that after everything was out in the open that he understood why. But it's like he shut me out. We hardly ever talk at home like we used to. He doesn't come up with a glass of warm milk after we're done with homework. It's like a big part of me is missing."

Finn glanced up and saw the sad face that Mercedes was giving him, and then Finn felt the tears slide down his cheeks. "Sorry, I thought I was done crying about all of this." Finn said as he wiped at the tears.

"Finn, have you tried talking to him?" Mercedes asked softly.

Finn shook his head yes. "I did up until school started. I tried to every day, and all I seemed to get from Kurt was the silent treatment, and then when school started and he Blaine got together, it was like I went from being a vase or a picture, to not existing at all. At least up until the day I met Rory, and then it was like he needed to be all up in my business. He asked about Rory last night and I just got really irritated because he had like ignored me for so long and then he was trying to act is if the last two and a half months never happened."

Mercedes was quiet as she sorted through the information and she ate some of her chicken pot pie. "I think that you should try talking to him again and just try and get your guys friendship back. Look Finn, if it helps I know that he still cares about you. He asked me Tuesday to keep an on you and to find out about Rory. I didn't tell him anything, I swear other than that you were still not happy about how things were between the two of you."

Finn gave Mercedes a small smile. "Thanks, but you didn't really need to do that."

Mercedes returned the smile. "Yes, I did. And quite frankly, if you ask me, I think Kurt was an idiot when he let you go. Especially after you got back and the truth came out. I told him then that he needed to grow up because at the time, you needed him the most and he could only think of himself when he dumped you. I think I might have even slapped him too, but I don't remember."

Finn gave a small snort, which made Mercedes smile a little bit more before she continued. "But like I said, I think that before you worry about dating Kurt again, you should try and rebuild your friendship first. Get him to play a card game, or even a two player board game. Just something that will require very little attention, but it will give the two of you a chance to talk."

Finn nodded at that. "So what do I do about Blaine?"

Mercedes shook her head. "I would leave Blaine out of the equation at least for now. As for Blaine and Kurt being an item I don't think that they are, because Kurt hasn't told me anything. But I do see your point it's hard to think otherwise with the way they are acting around each other. While I'm thinking about it though, I think the problem between you and Kurt is that Kurt doesn't trust you."

Finn frowned at that. "Why wouldn't he trust me?"

Mercedes seemed to stop to think of how to phrase what she wanted to say. "This is what I think, and if I know Kurt, like I think I do this is probably it. The reason I say that he doesn't trust you is because that week before you left, and up until we all went to get you, Kurt was under one impression about why you left. Then he found the letter and found out that the reason you were gone was completely different from what he thought. So he finds out that you lied to him, and that you didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on. I think he's just not sure if he can trust you again since you did break his heart again. But at the same time I think he's waiting for you to show him that he can trust you again."

Finn blinked. With what Mercedes had just told him, it all seemed to make perfect sense now to Finn now. It now seemed like the last two and a half months just release most of the tension in Finn's shoulders and back. Finn felt himself relax and breathe deeply for what felt like in forever. "Thanks, Mercedes. You've just released a lot of my worries and concerns."

Mercedes smiled. "I can tell, you seemed to have gone from being stiff as a tree to play dough."

Finn smiled, and then quickly took a few bites of his pizza pocket. Mercedes also took the moment to eat a little bit more of her lunch, and soon a peaceful quiet developed between them, so they ate their lunch before they moved onto the next topic. Which Mercedes was more than willing to start, "So, now what's the deal with you and Rory."

Finn let out a small laugh. "Other than me finding him undeniably charming and adorable?"

Mercedes laughed. "Yes, other than that?"

Finn shook his head. "It really wasn't until you said what you had said after class on Tuesday for me to realize that I was…am crushing on him."

Mercedes smiled at Finn. "So what do you know about him?"

Finn shrugged. "Not much really. I know that he likes NASCAR, our president, Victoria's Secret Catalogs, music, he finds football interesting, and video games, and that he really likes this group called Celtic Thunder that's from Ireland." Finn smiled as he remembered Rory's comment about having what looked like a twin in the group. "Though he did say one thing that I guess, it just made me unconsciously start to crush on him, but I don't know."

"What did he say?" Mercedes asked as she stacked her and Finn's lunch trays together.

Finn chuckled. "Well I guess I should back up a little bit. I had ducked into a classroom to avoid Kurt and Blaine, and he was in there and he was looking at me like a little kid on Christmas does when they find out that they just got a whole lot of presents. Well anyway he knew who I was because I guess there is a video on You Tube of Rachel kissing me at Nationals. So we introduced our selves, and I told him about Rachel causing us to lose, and that I had a boyfriend. So then he asked if I was gay and I said no, and that I was bi and he seemed to be comfortable with that."

Mercedes nodded as she listened to Finn. "Then he was all like 'I didn't know there were gay people in America.' So I was like there was a lot, but when he was telling me about his interests he had said girls mostly. What do you think that he meant by that?"

Mercedes looked surprised to hear that. "I'm not sure what to tell you on that one, Finn. About the only thing that I can think of would be to talk to him about it. I mean what harm is there in asking, right?"

Finn gave a nervous laugh. "It would be losing a friend, because they think that their guy friend is coming on to them. That's what partially what was going through my mind when I freaked out on Kurt during our sophomore year, while we were all doing that theatricality assignment."

Mercedes nodded her head that she understood. "Well would you like me to ask him?"

Finn turned stark white and squeaked. "NO!" Finn cleared his throat and then said in a lower and calmer voice. "Sorry, but like I had said on Tuesday, I don't know if Rory likes guys, and let alone me for that matter. Besides there are a lot more attractive guys at this school any way."

Mercedes raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Finn sighed. "This is the first time that I have found myself attracted to someone other than Kurt, and it's just a lot for me to take in right now."

Mercedes smiled and she reached out and patted Finn on the arm. "It's understandable. It really is, and if you ask me I think you and Rory would make a really cute couple."

Finn scrunched his face at that as they stood up. "I don't know, do you really think that could happen?"

Mercedes shrugged as she grabbed her bag. Finn had his and had also grabbed the lunch trays. "I think you should talk to Rory, and if you and he hit it off, then great."

Finn smiled. "Thanks Mercedes. I finally feel like myself for once, and not swirling around in the ever flushing toilet of despair."

Mercedes laughed as she grabbed the doors to let them back into the lunch hall, just as the bell rang to signal the end of lunch and for everyone to head to class. Finn set the trays down after he cleaned them off and followed Mercedes out. "Mercedes, would you be able to keep this between us?"

Mercedes nodded. "I pinky promise Finn. I won't tell anyone, not even Kurt."

Mercedes held up her pinky and Finn stared at it for 30 seconds before he too raised his own pinky and joined his with Mercedes. "Thanks."

"It's no problem, Finn. If you want to talk about all this some more, I'm willing to be there for you to have someone to talk to. I can only imagine how you feel since Josh isn't here for you to go to for advice."

Finn nodded. "Thanks, again. I better let you go; my next class is on the other side of the school."

With that Finn and Mercedes went their separate ways.

-Kurt-

Kurt was annoyed with Blaine. Kurt had wanted to see what Mercedes and Finn were up to and Blaine managed to keep him seated all through lunch. But Kurt then managed to convince himself to wait to talk to Mercedes during their free period. So when his free period arrived, Kurt was practically fidgety and when he got to the library, he was surprised to see Mercedes there already.

Kurt went in and sat down across from her and pulled out his French homework. "So I noticed that you and Finn had lunch together today."

Mercedes looked up from what she was working on and glanced at Kurt. "We did, is that a problem?"

Kurt shook his head as he rooted through his backpack for a mechanical pencil. "No, it's just that I've never seen you two look so….um….friendly."

Mercedes looked back down at her work. "He is a friend, and he asked if he could talk to me about some things that he's going through."

Kurt felt like he missing something as he located his pencil and put his name on his worksheet. "What did you guys talk about?"

Mercedes looked up and glared at Kurt. "I'm not telling you. It's something that's staying between me and Finn."

Kurt shrugged his shoulders, as Mercedes went back to her work. "That's fine; I don't want to get in between yours and Finn's budding new friendship any way."

Mercedes set her pen down and glared at Kurt. "You don't know what's going on with Finn because you won't talk to him. He came to me because Josh isn't here anymore and neither is Sam, so just back off."

Kurt frowned at the mention of Josh. Kurt still felt that there might be something between those two even though they had only kissed twice before that Kurt knew of. "So, I take it I was the topic of conversation then? I only say that because Josh was Finn's go to person when he didn't know how to handle me."

Mercedes had barely picked her pen up when she gave Kurt an even angrier glare than before, and Kurt could tell that he was starting to make her mad and that he should probably watch his mouth. "You seem to be awfully full of yourself, Kurt if you seem to think you know what we talked about."

Kurt didn't say anything for a moment as he returned Mercedes glare with one of his own. "Ok, so I might be a little bit. I just don't see why Finn would talk to you is all."

Kurt knew instantly that he was in trouble when Mercedes slammed her book shut. "Look Kurt, you know that I love you as a brother, but I am not going to sit here and play 20 questions with you over Finn, or what Finn and I talked about. You think that this all revolves around you, because you want to have a pity party because Finn isn't confiding in you. I told you back in July what I thought about your decision to breakup with him and if you're upset because Finn might finally be moving on to someone else other than you, then I really do feel sorry for you."

With that Mercedes grabbed her stuff and she walked out of the library and Kurt earned himself a 'be quiet' from the old librarian, and Kurt then glanced down at his homework and glared at it like it was the cause of all of his problems. Kurt then took a moment to reflect on what Mercedes had said to him and both Carole and Blaine's comments about him becoming stuck up and self-absorbed and it all seemed to hit him at once. It was one thing to have Carole and Blaine say that he was only thinking of himself, but when your best friend tells you then you know that you have a problem.

Kurt just sat in the library wallowing in his own thoughts, and barely heard the bell ring for glee. Kurt stuffed his stuff back into his bag, and then he went on autopilot to glee. Kurt didn't even register what the assignment was, for all during rehearsal all he could was stare at Finn, who happened to sit in front of him. Kurt knew that Finn knew that he was being stared at since Finn had glanced back at him several times during rehearsal.

"Kurt!"

Kurt blinked and he realized that they were dismissed and that Blaine was waiting on him. Kurt cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just had something on my mind."

Blaine gave Kurt a small smile. "That's fine. So do you want to go get coffee with Rachel and Mercedes?"

Kurt shook his head. "No I don't think that would be a good idea. I'm kind of on Mercedes bad side right now."

Blaine's eyes narrowed at Kurt. "Do I even want to know what you did?"

Kurt sighed as he picked up his stuff. "No, you don't. I'm a little angry with myself for letting my anger getting out of hand, and I said something that was not fair to her, and it pointed out to me that I have become more self-centered than usual."

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Wow, um…ok, I'll just tell Rachel a rain check then."

Kurt nodded. "Thanks Blaine, I'm just going to go home and work on my homework."

Blaine nodded and he left to go talk to Rachel. As Kurt left he noticed that he, Blaine, Rachel, Artie, and Puck were the only ones left in the room. So Kurt let out a small sigh and he headed out to his Navigator and he went straight home. Once he pulled up he noticed that Finn's truck was also there and Kurt decided that he was going to chance on talking to Finn.

Kurt climbed out of his Navigator and walked over and went in through the kitchen door. Once he was inside, Kurt noticed two things. One: there were two mugs of warm milk on the table, and secondly: the two halves of the game Battleship also were on the table. And before Kurt could even ponder what was going on, Finn came walking back into the room and he paused when he saw Kurt standing by the door.

Kurt looked from the table to Finn. "So what's going on?"

Finn gave a small smile. "I was wondering if you'd like to play a game of Battleship with me. That and I thought that it would give us a chance to talk."

Kurt blinked, because this seemed a little too weird for him. But Kurt nodded and he went over and sat down at the table and he opened up his side of the game board. Finn had done the same. They hadn't said a word and once their ships were in place they both looked at each other. Kurt sighed. "Do you want to go first?"

Finn nodded, "how about B5?"

Kurt glanced down at his board. "You missed. May I ask what brought this on?"

Finn was quiet for a moment. "Mom was right the other night. You and I have practically become strangers to each other and I just decided that things need to be done, so that later on we're not even more of a dysfunctional family."

Kurt nodded that he agreed. "For my move, I want G7. I want to apologize for ignoring you all summer and then practically make you feel invisible when Blaine started coming around. I realize that I haven't been fair to you in that regards."

Finn smiled. "You missed. Thanks, I guess I did deserve it though. Um, let's go with H5?"

Kurt glanced down and noticed that Finn hit his submarine. "You made a hit. No, with the way that I treated you, you didn't deserve it one bit. I was being selfish, and I was hurting, and I just wanted you to hurt like I did. I just didn't think about what you had just been through, and I was being inconsiderate of your feelings. I think I want F9."

Finn shook his head. "You missed again. No I understand why you did though. I had broken your heart and I lost your trust. I broke that trust because I was being selfish in the fact that I wanted to protect you. I also think that's why you and I drifted apart is because you feel that you can't trust me, and in all honesty, I don't blame you one bit. I think I want H6."

Kurt was shocked that Finn picked up on the fact that he didn't feel like he could trust him. "Another hit. You're right, though. That's why I can't agree to a relationship with you right now Finn. It's because I just don't feel like I can trust you. I'll admit that I am glad to hear that you still did want to be with me after what you went through, but I admit that I sound selfish in saying this, but I still don't feel like I can trust you enough to go back down that road yet. Let me have A6."

"You have a hit." Finn said, but he didn't say anything. Finn was quiet for so long that Kurt felt like he might have said something wrong. But when Finn looked up, Kurt could tell that the smile Finn gave him was a fake one. "I understand, I really do, Kurt. Give me H7."

After that they didn't really go for the small talk anymore, and just continued to play Battleship, until Carole got home, Finn won by two ships, and she was glad to see them getting along for the first time in a while. Kurt felt that his opportunity to make things right with Finn may have shut, but he changed his mind as Finn told him about the whole Brittany, Puck, Santana drama that had gone down earlier in the day that Kurt missed in his space out during glee where Drew explained why Santana and Brittany weren't there and Mr. Schue being upset with Puck.

Burt even mentioned during dinner that he was glad to see them getting along again, and that it was a nice change from what it had been. After Kurt had taken a shower he had gone to Finn's room and he noticed that the door was shut. Kurt knocked on the door, and he waited until Finn opened it. "Um…hey, did you need something?"

Kurt let out a sigh. "Can I come in for a moment? I don't want to be in the hall and have dad and Carole over hear."

Finn shrugged and he moved aside to let Kurt in. Kurt hadn't been in Finn's room since June, and he noticed that there were a few minor changes. Finn went over and sat down on his computer chair and he watched Kurt before he spoke. "What did you want to say?"

Kurt turned to look at Finn, and he felt all his repressed emotions about Finn fighting to break loose. "I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciated what you did today. It was nice to talk to you for change rather than fighting."

Finn nodded that he understood. "You're welcome."

Kurt went over and sat on the edge of Finn's bed and he looked into Finn's brown eyes. "I also wanted to apologize for being nosy last night about Rory. It's not any business of mine, and for that I am sorry."

Finn gave Kurt a small smile. "Thanks, Kurt."

Kurt took a deep breath before he sighed. "I would also just like to say that, I would like to work out our differences and get back to being friends and brothers again."

Kurt thought he saw a small glimpse of sadness cross Finn's face, but it was gone before Kurt could really decide on what it was. It seemed like Finn was getting better at hiding his emotions from him.

Finn shook his head. "Yeah, that'd be cool Kurt."

Kurt wanted to say more, but he felt like Finn had just dismissed him. Kurt stood and he moved over to the door and he turned back to look at Finn. "Good night, Finn."

Finn glanced over from where he was "Good night to you too, Kurt."

With that Kurt left Finn's room and he went to his and fell into a restless sleep.