Thursday morning, Kurt left early to go to his scheduled appointment. By the time he got there, he was quite upset again. The weight of what he had done, combined with the total lack of explanation made him feel like he was going crazy. Dr. Mansfield was a pleasant woman in her late 30s who had the ability to make someone feel comfortable in her presence immediately. Kurt sat down and recounted what had happened over the course of 30 minutes.
"Kurt, I'm really sorry to say that I've never read any evidence that taking those two medications can cause anything like what you've described."
"I know. I've taken them simultaneously before and never had anything like this happen. That's why I went and had the drug screening. I thought maybe there was a minor chance that I had accidentally taken one of my dad's or my stepmother's medications instead of, or in addition to, the two I was taking. It just seemed like the most logical possible answer. Some weird drug interaction."
"I agree. Even from my perspective with years of work in this field, nothing comes to mind as a cause of what you described."
"Well, that's disheartening. I really don't want it to happen again and without knowing what caused it, there's no definitive way to prevent it. I've already decided that even on the rare chance that it was some fluke interaction, I'm not ever taking those two medications together again. Actually, I've quit taking the Ambien altogether. Since I moved in with my boyfriend over the weekend, I've slept well every night with no need for it anyway."
"Well, now there's a solution doctors can't prescribe: move in with your boyfriend to solve your insomnia," she laughed. "But really, I'm glad that you've been sleeping well."
"So am I."
"Well, Kurt. I'm sorry to say that I don't really have an answer to your burning question of 'How did that happen?', but just from our brief talk today, I do think that you might benefit from twice-a-week sessions for the rest of the semester to help you work through the anger you still feel toward your ex and your high school friends. Is that something you'd be interested in setting up?"
"Well, I've already decided that they are my ex-friends, but I think that dealing with the anger would be better than not. I'll definitely set up some appointments. I really want to leave all of this behind. Adam's great and my ex-friends are never going to accept him as part of my life. I need to figure out what I'm doing. There have been a lot of changes happening quickly. Maybe talking will help. At least I don't see how it could hurt. Thanks for your time."
Kurt stopped by the receptionist's desk and made the recommended appointments. He walked out of the office, down the hall and exited the building. He sent Adam a text instead of calling first because he honestly couldn't remember whether he was in class. He called right back. Kurt didn't want to go over his session on the phone, but they decided to meet in a nearby park for lunch.
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Kurt's face lit up when he saw Adam approach. "Now there's that smile I love. Good news, darling?"
"Not really, but I still feel somehow better. Maybe it was just talking about it. Dr. Mansfield has no idea what caused me to behave so out of character, but she's offered to help me work through my anger towards my exes."
"Exes, as in plural?"
"Yeah, my ex-boyfriend and my ex-friends."
"Ah, I see. Well, if you think she'll be helpful, then I'm all for it. I brought your favorite sandwich from the shop down the street." Adam handed Kurt a brown paper sack. He peeked inside and smiled again.
Kurt and Adam ate in silence for a while. Kurt checked his email and spoke suddenly. "I can't be alone."
"What do you mean, love?"
"I just saw the email confirmation. Blaine signed for the letter yesterday. It won't take long for him to realize that he cannot contact me by phone or through social media. He's persistent. I have no idea what happened to me in Ohio. I can't have it happen to me here too. He'll come here when he realizes that he's been completely blocked."
"Do you really think so? Sending him a letter asking him not to contact you and blocking every other method of contact isn't enough of a brick wall for him to get the message?"
"I doubt it. He doesn't take 'no' for an answer any better than Rachel does."
"I see."
"They really would have been perfect for each other if he were bi."
"Kurt?"
"Oh, it's a long story. The short version is that before we were dating, he got drunk, kissed Rachel, had a mini sexual identity crisis, went on a date with her, then decided that he was certain that he was gay after he kissed her sober."
Adam looked perplexed.
"Anyway, she would have been a perfect match for him. At the time she said something along the lines of him being able to give her 'slightly Eurasian looking babies and keep up with her vocally.' Never mind that I have a broader range than Blaine. We're back to the 'I'm not man enough.' issue. That seems like a recurring theme. I should add it to my to-talk-about list with the psychologist."
"Well, I have no doubts about your masculinity," Adam said as he smiled and pulled Kurt in for a kiss.
Kurt pulled back slowly. "Not that I don't enjoy this particular activity, but I have to figure out how to keep him from getting anywhere near me for the next three days, which seem to be the most likely time for him to show up unannounced since it's the weekend."
"Well, baring hiring a bodyguard, I can't think of anything immediately. I have a class in 30 minutes. What time do you finish today?"
"Well, I'm done at 2:00, but I'm supposed to go work at the garage for 2 hours starting at 3:00."
"Alright then, love. I have a plan. You go fix some cars and I will be there when you get off and we'll go home together." They walked back to campus and headed on to their classes.
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Kurt walked into his history of theater class to find Rachel waiting for him. It had slipped his mind that she was in this class with him.
"Kurt," she attempted to speak quietly, but Rachel being Rachel, her voiced carried anyway. "Can we speak after class?"
"No, Rachel. I have to go to work as soon as class ends."
"How about after you get off from work."
"I have plans already."
"Tomorrow."
"I have plans then as well."
"Why are you refusing to speak to me."
"I'm pretty sure you could figure that out if you think about it hard enough. I am not interested in having any more conversations with you."
"I know what you did to Blaine."
"I'm sure that everyone knows what I 'did to Blaine'," he said using finger air quotes.
"Kurt, you're being unfair."
"Rachel, you say that a lot, but what's unfair is that you don't take my answers at face value. We have nothing to talk about. End of conversation."
At that point, their professor walked into the room and Rachel stopped trying to talk to Kurt. Unfortunately, Kurt's luck didn't allow for Rachel to remain quiet for long. As soon as class ended, she started up again.
"You moved out without a word, you broke up with Blaine, you quit the diner."
"Rachel, stop talking. This is no one's business but mine and everyone within 15 feet can hear you. Just hush."
Kurt walked out the classroom door, down the hallway, and opened the door to get outside. Rachel was practically on his heels. He didn't really want to waste the money, but he motioned and whistled for a cab and jumped in and shut the door behind him quickly. The cab pulled away with Rachel still standing there. He asked the cabbie to take him to the next subway stop, he got out and went into the subway and made his way to the garage.
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He slipped into the provided coveralls and got to work on the task he was given. The owner stopped by a few times to check on his progress. He moved on to the rest of the things he was asked to do and at the end of the two hours, the owner was impressed with his efficiency. "Today went well and you handled the tasks well and got them done quickly. Can you come in on Monday evening? I have a few harder jobs that I'd like to see you work on to see first hand that you can handle them."
"I can come in Monday at 7:00. I know you're not usually open that late, but would that work since you want to observe me?"
"That's fine. I'll see you then."
"Just a question, do I leave the coveralls or is this my personal pair?"
"Leave them for now. There's a bin in the changing room. Once I've decided to keep you, I'll order you a personalized set."
"Okay. I'll be back on Monday." Kurt left and changed his clothes.
Kurt sat in the waiting area for Adam to arrive. While waiting, he opened his phone to check for any messages, not really expecting any since only 3 people had his number now, but to his surprise there were several and they were all from Carole. Rather than text, he decided to step outside and call her.
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"Hey, honey. I figure you've seen my texts by now."
"Yeah. I figured this would start, but I had hoped it wouldn't."
"Well, Finn came home from McKinley this afternoon asking where you were. Of course, I told him New York. I asked him why he was asking. He said that Blaine told him that he wanted to talk to you, but that your phone seemed to be broken and that Rachel told him that you hadn't been home this week. So, he wanted to go see you since he missed you so much."
"Oh yeah. That was about 10% true. I will tell you what's going on, but you can't tell Finn. Finn just needs to know that I'm fine. If you want me to tell him myself, you can put him on the phone at some point. Now, that I think about it, do you have your phone password protected?"
"No, sweetie. I've never seen any need for it. Of course, your father's is because he gets government emails and things that could be private."
"I need you to go ahead and password protect your phone because I just can't trust Blaine not to come up with a way to get my number from your phone somehow."
"Ok, honey. I'll add a passcode as soon as we hang up."
"Well, here's what's happened. I changed my number, deleted my social media accounts, blocked Blaine's email, and I moved out of the loft. That last part was the 10% he had right. I haven't been at the loft since Rachel and Santana came back Sunday. I've decided that I'm not going to deal with people who do not treat me with respect. Right now, I'm only speaking to you and Dad, and I guess Finn by default because he's my brother. But I figured that Blaine would try to use him to get information on me. At least I know my suspicions were right."
"What do you mean?"
"I left something out. I sent the engagement ring and a breakup letter to him and he signed for it yesterday. So, I figured it wouldn't take him long after that to figure out that I had blocked him from contacting me. My suspicion was that he couldn't take 'we are never getting back together' as an answer, no matter how officially the message was sent. I figured he would show up here looking for me."
"Oh, honey. Where are you staying? Wait, never mind, don't tell me. Are you safe where you're staying? You're not at a homeless shelter or something are you?"
"No, no. I'm perfectly safe. I'm living in a small apartment."
"Oh good, I was scared there for a minute."
"Sorry about that. I'm fine, well at least physically. Is Finn still home?"
"Yes."
"Okay. When we hang up, tell him I'm calling him now and you put a passcode on your phone."
"Thanks for calling, sweetie. We need to talk more, but we can do that later." She hung up, told Finn that Kurt would be calling, and put the passcode like she said she would.
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Kurt blocked his outgoing number and called Finn. "Hey, Finn. It's Kurt. I'm fine there's no need to worry. I'm not living in the loft anymore. If you need me for something right away, just have your mom call me. I'm not giving my number out to anyone but her and Dad right now. I'm not going to talk about Blaine. Please do not bring him up. Not a topic we'll talk about."
He finally ended his monologue and Finn responded, "I know you said not to talk about him, but why did you say 'yes' to start with? I was there when he broke your heart. Why would you agree to marry him after all this time apart?"
"The truth is that I just don't know. I've gone to a doctor and I have an appointment with a psychologist. That is not information for you to share. Feel free to reassure him and anyone else that asks that you spoke with me and that I'm fine. Other than that, share nothing about me with him or anyone else. No more talk about him. If you ever need to talk to me about anything but him, let your mom know. She'll text me and I'll call you as soon as I can."
"Okay, dude. I have no idea what's going on here."
"Do you know why the moon doesn't crash into the earth?"
"Um, no not really."
"Well, this is just like that. You don't have to know what's going on to know that I am okay. I'm fine. Blaine and I are never getting back together. I gotta go now. Bye, Finn."
"Bye, Kurt."
By the time, he finished, Adam had been standing there for quite a while.
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"So you heard that, right?"
"I did."
"Well, Blaine told Finn that he had heard that I hadn't been to the loft since I came back from Ohio and that my phone is broken and that he's missed me so much that he needed Finn to tell him where I was so he could come visit me."
"Oh, darling. You were right, weren't you? I had hoped you were just overreacting because of the difficulty of everything that's gone on."
"Nope, not overreacting."
"So, now what?"
"Well, I figure he'll be here tomorrow because he'll know that he can track me down at school."
"What are you going to do? There's no way to ban him from entering the building. He hasn't actually done anything to harm you physically."
"Well, I guess I am too sick to go to class tomorrow. I'll email my instructors tonight around 9:00, explaining that I am too ill to attend class. That should prevent him from finding me easily, but I am sure that he can get someone on campus to give him your address. I know the building is locked, but that won't prevent him from hanging around outside. I don't have to work this weekend. I can just hole myself up at home."
"Cuddle and movie marathon?"
"I was thinking rearrange clothing, sort out unneeded items, empty all those boxes?"
"Well, my idea is more fun."
"I agree. Maybe if we're quick, we'll have time for both. I have quite a bit of schoolwork too."
"I think we need to stop at the grocery and stock up for the weekend."
"I agree. My budget can't take us ordering in all weekend. I've paid for too many taxis lately. I had to take one earlier today to escape from Rachel."
"What?"
"I'll tell you when we get home."
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An hour later and loaded down with as many bags as they could carry, Adam and Kurt made their way up the stairs and back into the apartment. They got everything put away, made some dinner and ate it. Kurt recounted Rachel's "intervention" while they ate. After they finished, they cleaned the kitchen up and moved to the living room.
"I'm tired of the drama for now. Do you want to hear the song I'm working on for my voice final?"
"Definitely. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to you sing."
Kurt docked his iPod, started the music, and sang along.
"Darling, that was beautiful. When do you perform?"
"Next week." He collected his iPod and put it bag in his bag.
"I really appreciate you letting me stay here with you. I'm still struggling with understanding how you can be here for me and not just want to toss me to the wolves. I mean I am the one that said 'yes', even though I have no idea why. And there's no indication that drugs were the cause."
"Come here, love." Adam pulled Kurt onto his lap. "Look me in the eyes." It was a struggle for Kurt, but he did. "That's right, love. Listen to me. You came to me the instant you returned to New York. You told me the truth. I have seen your former friends' odd compulsion to back your ex and be on his side. I don't know what kind of hold he has over people, but it seems to be more than just you that he's manipulated." He turned to sit diagonal and pull Kurt up against him. "I knew you were leery of going to Ohio. You never specifically said why, but knowing what you have been dealing with, I can surmise." Kurt nodded. "You have sought legal counsel and a therapist. You have blocked him from contacting you in every way that you can think of. There is nothing more that you could even try do to prove to me that I should believe you."
Kurt started crying.
"Oh, love. I believe you." He just held Kurt tight while he cried. After a few minutes, he calmed down a bit.
"Thank you. I don't know what I would do if you didn't."
"Well you don't have to worry about that, now do you darling?"
They sat snuggled up on the couch for a while. Eventually, they got up to work on some things around the apartment. Kurt emailed his professors. Fortunately, he didn't have any presentations to give the next day. He'd attempt to get notes from classmates.
While Kurt was busy on his laptop, Adam had opened his as well and found that he had been sent a bunch of private messages and Rachel had posted on his FB wall. He unfriended Rachel and all of Kurt's ex-friends and deleted Rachel's post. "They are relentless, are they not?"
Kurt looked up. "What?"
"Rachel's taken to pestering me on Facebook, but I unfriended her. I unfriended the rest of your ex-friends too. I'm changing my settings. No more unwanted posts to my page. No one can view my photos, for now at least. I'm locking everything down."
"I'm so sorry Adam. This is all my fault."
"Hey now, love. We've been over this. Only things you do can be your fault. Things someone else does cannot. You do not control other people's actions. Rachel needs to grow up. She got Fanny. Broadway stars do not troll their previous best friend's boyfriend's Facebook, and I use that term loosely because I'm not sure that she's ever been a friend to you. I think it's a good thing I never ventured into the realm of other social media sites. Locking down one is daunting enough."
"That's why I just deleted my other accounts."
"I understand, but I share what I'm doing with my family through Facebook. I may just have to delete everyone who is not a family member for now. I think that's what I'll do. I'll delete all non-family members. If people notice and still want to be my friend, they can send a request. That will get rid of the lurkers without blocking out my family."
"I've had enough drama for today. How about we have a nice relaxing bath and go to bed early."
"Why don't you go run the bath and I'll finish this up and I'll be right in."
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The next morning, Kurt made breakfast and Adam headed off to his classes after they ate.
Kurt decided that he'd go ahead and sort the clothes on his own because as much fun as a "fashion show" sounded, it was really just a lot of grunt work to try things on one after another. He spent several hours sorting clothes into piles of definitely keep, definitely sell and a pile of things to try on – each within their own subgroup of pants, shirts, coats, etc. Once he had everything sorted, he got to work on his task.
By lunchtime, he had made decent progress and had reboxed the items he wanted to sell. While eating, he looked up resale shops, looking for the right location to take his stuff. He eventually found a place, but it was a little far from the apartment, but he bookmarked it.
After lunch he went back through the stacks of items he was keeping and neatly folded all of the winter-only clothing and packed the clothes in boxes and marked them WINTER KEEP in big bold letters.
Having taken a decent break from trying the clothes on, he went back to trying on the last of them. The jackets were the hardest. Jackets were costly compared to other items, but he just had too many. He tried them all on and eventually paired them down to a more manageable number.
He took a tour of the apartment. It was really quite small, but since Adam had lived there alone, he hadn't had to maximize the space. Now, Kurt needed to come up with some not-too-invasive ideas for how to make some more room. He didn't want Adam to feel like he had moved in and taken over his apartment.
He realized that Adam had a small desk and the kitchen table, which wasn't a good place to do his work since he and Adam both actually cooked and ate at home most of the time. He was going to need his own desk, even it had to be a small one. He checked Adam's bed frame and found that it was the type that could have bed risers put under it. He opened all of Adam's drawers, not riffling through them, but just looking to see how well they were organized and whether they were full. He checked the closet for potential improvement. After thoroughly examining the whole apartment, he had a fairly short shopping list. He didn't want to invest in much since Adam's lease was up in a month and he was graduating.
Adam was graduating. It hit him like a ton of bricks. He'd known all along that Adam was a senior, but with his dad being sick and the constant Rachel and Santana drama, somehow matching "Adam is a senior" with "Adam is graduating" just never happened. What was Adam doing after graduation? Is he going back to England? Kurt began to cry.
Adam walked in the door after class to find Kurt on the couch crying. He could see that boxes had been moved around. "Did you hurt yourself with the boxes, love?" He moved to Kurt's side and stroked his cheek. "Are you injured?"
"No. I didn't hurt myself. I actually made a lot of progress. I even found a place to sell the stuff I'm not keeping."
"Well, that's good."
"How was school?"
"Why were you crying?"
"You first."
"Blaine showed up with Rachel after lunch. My guess is that she had gone to meet him at the airport and brought him back to NYADA."
"Go on."
"She took him to wait outside the classroom you should have been in this afternoon."
"Tell me you took a photo of this."
"I did."
"Good."
"I tried to disappear into the crowd before she saw me, but to no avail. She followed me with him chasing after her. I managed to slip into a classroom until they had gone past and I double backed and went out the opposite side of the building. But I doubt it will take her long to find someone willing to give her my address or at least my phone number."
"The only upside I can think of is that he'll go back to Ohio by Monday. At least I think he'll go back by then so he doesn't miss more school. The downside is that he might come back every weekend. His parents are loaded."
"Oh."
"Can you log onto your Facebook account?"
"Sure, love." He handed Kurt his phone. Kurt navigated to Blaine's page. He had everything set to public.
"Oh. My. God." Kurt nearly dropped the phone.
"Show me." Kurt handed the phone to Adam. His face hardened and his eyes narrowed. "That is… I don't even know."
On the screen, a photo of Kurt appeared with "Lost in NYC. Have you seen my fiancé?" at the top of it and at the bottom, "Text sighting locations, with photo if possible, to ***-###-****." It had already been shared over 1000 times.
"I bet he posted it to his Twitter and Instagram too. I can't leave the apartment."
"I'm taking a screenshot this. I'm going to legal aid services tomorrow morning. This is just insane." Adam was fooling with his phone. I can't see anything on Twitter or Instagram without an account. I guess I could make accounts quickly just so we can see if you are right." Adam quickly made accounts and searched for Blaine's accounts and sure enough, he had posted the same photo and it had been shared thousands of times.
"This is just a nightmare."
"Back to my first question. Why were you crying when I came in?"
"You're graduating."
"Yes, you knew that."
"What are you doing afterwards?" Kurt began to cry again. "This afternoon when I was looking around and thinking of ways of increasing the storage space in here without crowding you, I realized that there was no point in doing anything permanent because your lease is up in May. And then I realized that you may have been planning to leave in May since you hadn't said anything about moving to a different apartment."
"Well, love. I had planned to go back to England for the summer. Then I was going to come back and start auditioning for roles."
"Everything is so insane. What am I going to do? Even if I manage to get that photo of me pulled down, it's been shared so many times already that I'll never get it to go away."
"Well, I've taken screen shots of the photo on Twitter and Instagram. I'm going to show the lawyer tomorrow morning. Even if all of his appointments are full, I'm going to sit in the waiting room until he sees me. I'll probably end up having to have you on the phone to get him to answer questions since the case isn't actually mine."
"Whatever it takes. Are there any second-hand shops nearby?"
"Yes, there's one a couple of blocks over."
"Is it still open."
"I think so."
"I have a crazy idea."
"Let's hear it then, love."
"Go down to the shop, buy a long sleeved dress, size 14. Get a hat and a cheap wig. Anything long enough to cover my neck. Something that looks a fairly natural color. I'll go out to legal aid in the morning in drag. I'll do my make up. No one will recognize me. I can't go to class like that, but I can sneak out long enough to try to get something done about this."
Adam left and came back about an hour later. Kurt put the dress on. He knew it would probably be a bit big, but he didn't want to risk it being too small. He put the wig and hat on. "There. It's perfect. With some make up, I can do this."
"Well, you're not much to look at, love. That dress is so not your color." He laughed.
"Thanks a lot, Adam. Aren't you supposed to be telling me that I'm lovely no matter what I wear?"
"Yes, dear," he teased. "You look lovely."
The day had been too overwhelming, Kurt just couldn't try to figure anything else out. He and Adam ate the salad that he had prepped earlier and had stored in the fridge since he hadn't known exactly when Adam would be home. While they ate, they tried to relax on the couch and watched episodes of Doctor Who. After a few episodes, Adam collected up their bowls, utensils and glasses and put them in the sink to soak.
He walked back to the couch and pulled Kurt up. "Come on, darling. Into the shower with you. You and that lovely dress of yours have somewhere to be early tomorrow morning."
Adam and Kurt showered and got into bed. "My hope is that neither of them suspect that you'd be at school tomorrow morning since the only weekend classes are extension classes. We'll take the subway, but I'll walk 10 feet back from you or so. That way if they are camped out looking for me, maybe you can get past them before they notice me. I'll meet you in the legal aid office, unless I can't get in the building without them seeing me. Then I'll just text you and we can come up with another plan." Adam turned the light off and got back into bed.
"I wish I could just turn this nightmare off. I should have never gone back to Lima, like ever."
"Well, we can't undo what's done. Let's see what tomorrow brings. Good night, love." He pulled Kurt close, kissed him and held him tight.
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Unfortunately, their rest was short-lived when Kurt's phone started ringing endlessly. He got up and finally caught it on the third ringing cycle. "Yeah, Dad it's me. It's late. Why are you calling me? Oh, that. I'm not missing. I'm fine. I'm where I have been this whole week. I'm also not his fiancé. I'm seeing a lawyer in the morning. I'll let you know what I find out. I'm sorry he scared you with that picture. Really, I'm fine. I'm in my new apartment. I was sleeping in my bed. Dad, I'll call you tomorrow. Get some sleep. Bye."
Kurt went back and got in bed. "Well, the photo has gone around enough that someone called my dad saying that they had seen the picture and wanted to know if I had been found yet."
"That must have scared your dad."
"He doesn't need this. It's just ridiculous. How long do you think it's going to take someone to bump this to the news? 'Ohio Congressman's son missing in New York City – details at six'," he said in his best news anchorman voice. He moved and lay on Adam's chest, listening to his heartbeat, wondering if it would have been easier to just play the role everyone had cast him in. Eventually, he fell asleep.
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The next morning went more smoothly than Kurt could have hoped for. He and Adam made it to the legal aid office with no interference. And fortunately, there was an opening. It seemed that university students liked sleeping in on Saturdays enough to take the later appointments.
The lawyer looked through the screenshots and was surprised. "I honestly thought you were being an overdramatic theater student last week. I did what you asked because that's my job, but I didn't expect to ever see you again."
"Well, I may be a theater student, but I'm not the type to cry 'wolf'. I don't bother people or ask for help unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I know you aren't going to like this and I need your permission to do it, but I really think you need to speak to Madame Tibideaux."
"Seriously?"
"I'm afraid so. Is okay for me to call her to come down here? While she's on her way, I'll explain why, but getting her here will expedite things."
"Ok, that's fine."
Kurt and Adam moved back to waiting area while Mr. Langston called Madame Tibideaux.
"You can come back in. She's on her way. It will be about 30 minutes. Don't be concerned that she will be upset with you for bothering her. She may seem a bit closed off, but she really does care about her students."
"I know. I just hate to bother her."
"As for why I called her. I can't just make this go away. You know as well as I do that photos on the internet are impossible to remove. I'm honestly not sure where you stand legally on this whole issue. Defamation of character doesn't fit. This just isn't my area of expertise and although it does affect your schoolwork, it's not technically a school- or work-related issue, like a contract which is mostly what I deal with. Back to why Madame Tibideaux is needed - even if we can prosecute him for something related to the false photo and we pursue a restraining order since he violated the cease and desist letter, none of that is going to fix this problem in time for you to be able to come to school Monday and finish out the last three weeks of the semester. Legal processes take time."
"I understand."
"I'm going to have my secretary call my other appointments for this morning and reschedule them. I'll be back in a few minutes. Hopefully, Madame Tibideaux will arrive soon."
About 10 minutes later, Madame Tibideaux walked into the office. "Mr. Langston, Mr. Hummel, Mr. Crawford," she said as she took a seat. "What can I do for you gentlemen this morning?"
Mr. Langston asked Kurt, "Is it alright for me to explain your situation? I need your express permission to share confidential information with Madame Tibideaux. I also need your permission to record this conversation."
"Yes, to both."
The recorded session began. "This is Mr. Langston speaking with Kurt Hummel, Adam Crawford and Madame Carmen Tibideaux." He explained the situation to her. He showed her a copy of the cease and desist letter, the photo of Blaine at the school waiting outside Kurt's classroom and then the three screenshots of the picture of Kurt.
After she had heard everything, she spoke, "I am sorry to hear all of this. I do believe that we can come to a resolution for your school work. As for your personal life, I'm not going to be of any help with that. I will leave Mr. Langston to do whatever he can for you and refer you to others if he is unable to help you. Please end the recording now."
Mr. Langston stopped the recording. "Would you like me to file for a restraining order? It won't help with the current issue, but it may be of future use."
"Yes, please write up whatever you need me to sign."
"Very well."
"Mr. Hummel, while Mr. Langston is working on that, will you and Mr. Crawford please follow me to my office? I will send them back later to sign paperwork and speak with you further, Mr. Langston."
"Yes, Madame Tibideaux. Thank you for coming in so quickly."
"Gentlemen. Follow me, please." Kurt and Adam followed her to her office.
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Once inside, she turned on her computer and pulled up Kurt's file. "You've done well this semester, Mr. Hummel."
"Thank you."
"With the courses you're taking, I think you have a few papers, a few tests and a couple of presentations to complete before the end of the semester."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Given your high school GPA, your grades this semester, your work ethic and your level of commitment, as evidenced by your determination to escape into the streets of NY unrecognized, I'm certain that I can trust you to do the last two weeks of coursework without coming to class."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I know it's not ideal to complete the work on your own, but neither is you trying to sneak around in a costume. That would cause a lot more disruption to my school than allowing you to finish through independent study these last two weeks."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Given the completely unusual nature of your situation, I will have you come in very early next Sunday morning to demonstrate your dance technique to Miss July. There are no extension classes until afternoon. So, the dance room will be unoccupied. Hopefully, you can prepare at home to some extent. She will be made aware of your situation."
"How many vocal presentations do you have?"
"Just the one for your class, which I have already been working on, Madame."
Adam smiled, "It's lovely. I've heard him practicing."
"I'm sure it is. For the sake of ease, I am going to consider your performance at the Winter Showcase in place of the one for my class. You will receive an A."
"Thank you, Madame."
"Your other coursework, the papers and exams will be brought to me by Mr. Crawford. And I, in turn, will give them to the appropriate instructors. I will be counting on your honesty and Mr. Crawford's for you to complete the exams unaided by anything but your own recollection of the materials."
"Thank you, Madame."
"Mr. Crawford, I know this situation puts a lot of stress on you as well. I know you have a few final projects, but no actual exams and you've already completed the performance requirements for this semester."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Graduation is in 3 weeks. You've done a nice job here, Mr. Crawford. What are your plans for after graduation."
"My plan was to go back to England this summer and then return in the fall to start auditioning for roles."
"Good plan."
"Now, gentlemen I will let you make your way back to Mr. Langston's office. Mr. Hummel, be here in the dance studio at 8am next Sunday. I will have a security officer waiting to let you in the building at the side entrance. The building is not usually open that time of day. Miss July will be informed of your test time."
"Yes, Madame Tibideaux. I'm sorry about the trouble I'm causing you."
"Mr. Hummel, did you post a photo of yourself claiming to be lost? Did you intentionally get that photo shared by thousands of people?"
"No, ma'am."
"Then you did not cause this."
"Thank you Madame Tibideaux," Kurt said as he and Adam stood to leave her office.
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Mr. Langston had drawn up the paperwork to file for a restraining order. Kurt signed in all of the appropriate locations. "I will contact you once I have a hearing date. I will speak with a colleague about what your options are for the photograph. I will let you know what I find out. I will not share private details about your case."
"Thank you for all of your help."
Kurt left the building and took a taxi. Adam saw him get in and walked the other direction to take the subway to the next stop. They met and got back on the subway going the other direction going back home. They rode in silence.
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Once they were back in the apartment, Kurt took off his disguise and went to take a quick shower to get all of the make up off.
"Well, that went better and worse than I had expected."
"What do you mean, love?"
"I had hoped there could be something more expedient. But I am thrilled that I won't be flunking all of my finals and papers because of the situation. I'm not sure how I can practice dance here at home, but hopefully Cassie will give me 10-15 minute to warm up and practice a bit before she tests me."
"She may be hard-nosed, but she's not unreasonable." Kurt nodded in agreement.
"I don't think I have ever stayed home for two weeks straight since, well ever. I guess I won't need that desk I thought I'd need. I can just use yours while you're at school and I'm stuck here."
"Hopefully, Mr. Langston's colleague will have some useful ideas."
"Let's hope. Otherwise, I'm going to have to find someplace else to spend the summer. I can't stay here with no place to live and I can't go back to Lima. Maybe DC. Dad knows a lot of people there. Maybe he knows someone who will be out of the city all summer and wants someone to housesit for them or something. I don't know. The only things that come to mind are all either ridiculous or out of my budget or both."
"Well, we have the rest of today and I'm not feeling one bit like doing schoolwork. How about we do that fashion show you mentioned a few days ago and maybe some interpersonal skill building?" he smirked and arched his right eyebrow.
"That could be quite educational, I'm sure." They moved to the bedroom to begin their "work" for the afternoon. Adam modeled all of the clothes he had previously stacked on the box. Kurt gave him scores from 1-10 and cheered for his favorites. After that was done, they spent quite a bit of time on personal exploration and intimate communication, which ended in a delightful nap. After they woke up, they showered and dressed in their pajamas.
"We are going to get quite lazy hanging around in our pajamas all the time if I have to be a recluse for several weeks."
"It will cut down on the laundry though," Adam smiled. "We could just forego any clothes at all and save a lot on laundry."
Kurt threw a pillow at him. "We'd never get anything done. I'd never get a single word written on my papers if you were just walking around in your birthday suit all the time."
"Spoilsport," Adam grabbed him and pulled him close for a big smoochy kiss.
They made their way out to the kitchen and had an early dinner since neither of them had been in the mood to eat lunch when they returned earlier. After eating, they watched Doctor Who and eventually headed to bed, determined to spend the next day working hard on their schoolwork.
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The next morning at 8:00, the buzzer went off. Adam made his way from the bedroom to the intercom box. "May I help you?" he asked sleepily.
"Yes. I want to see Kurt." Kurt moved next to the intercom and turned his camera app on and used the forward facing camera to capture both him Adam in the shot. Adam saw what he was doing and waited until the recording started.
"This is Adam Crawford's apartment."
"I know that. I also know that Kurt is in there."
"Well, you may think he is in here, but I am not coming down to let you in."
The buzzer went off again. Kurt started another video.
"Yes?" Adam answered.
"I want to see Kurt."
"I can understand that, but I am not coming down and to let you in. And if you manage to get someone else to let you into the building and you knock on my door, I will call the police on you for trespassing. This building is for tenants and their guests and you are neither."
The buzzer went off again.
"I've told you to go away."
"I want to see Kurt."
"Were you dropped on your head as a child? No, means no. I am not letting you in. Stop buzzing me." Kurt turned off the recording.
The buzzer went off every five minutes for an hour.
"Do you think the police would come if we called?"
"I want to do something first. Mary's apartment has a view of the front stoop from her balcony. Let me have your phone."
Adam went up to Mary's apartment and knocked. She opened the door. "Good morning, Adam. What's got you up so early?"
"There's an annoying git buzzing me continuously. I need to film him doing it. Mind stepping out on your balcony and pressing this button and recording him for a few minutes?"
"Yes, of course. I heard the buzzing. Come on in." Mary took the phone, stepped out onto her balcony quietly and caught Blaine's incessant buzzing on video. After managing to catch him twice in five minutes, she stepped back in and gave the phone back to Adam silently. Adam shut off the recording.
"Thank you, Mary. I want proof so that he doesn't just say, 'I wasn't ringing the buzzer, officer. I was just waiting around for a friend of mine' or something else equally inane."
"I hope you get him to go away."
"Me too, See you, Mary. Thanks again."
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Adam went back down to his apartment and Kurt let him in. "He's still been buzzing the intercom every five minutes."
"I know. Mary caught him on video twice. With the date and time on the earlier recordings and this, hopefully it will be enough to show that he's harassing you. I'm going to give him one more chance to go away before I call the police."
The buzzer went off again. Kurt started the recording again. "What do you want?" he said as calmly as he could.
"I want to see Kurt."
"Not going to happen. Even if he were here, I would not let you in to see him. You were told to stay away. Are you unable to read the letter you signed for?"
"I read it. I want to see Kurt."
"Listen carefully. Not going to happen. Go away." Kurt left the recording running until the buzzer sounded again, then he turned it off.
"I'm calling the police now."
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Adam went up to Mary's apartment again. He and Mary slipped out onto the balcony awaiting the arrival of the police. As the police approached, Adam began recording again. He managed to get an angle where the camera could record Blaine and the police without them seeing him.
"We received a call of a disturbance. You need to leave this area and not come back. You don't live in this building and have no reason to be here."
"I've come to visit someone and I'm not being a nuisance."
Mary spoke up from the balcony, "Yes, you have been. You've been standing down there for over an hour buzzing someone in this building. I could hear the faint buzzing coming from downstairs and I stepped out to look. I heard the person you're buzzing tell you to go away more than once through the intercom."
The officers looked at him. "Leave this area and don't come back."
Blaine was frustrated. Unfortunately, he did not looked deterred from his goal, but he did walk away.
Adam stopped the recording and slipped back inside before Mary. "Thank you again, Mary. I'll be sure and bring you up some biscuits the next time I bake some."
"Thank you, dear. You know I love your biscuits. I hope that young man stops bothering you."
"Me too."
Kurt let Adam back into the apartment. "Mr. Langston gave us an email contact, right?"
"Yes. I have it here."
"Great. Let's upload these videos, burn them to three CDs and send a copy of the last video to Mr. Langston, the one with the police in it. I'll drop of a copy of the CD with all of the recordings to his office tomorrow. This way he'll know to hold off on filing for that restraining order until he gets the CD." Kurt uploaded everything, burned all the files to CDs and then emailed Mr. Langston.