Kurt let the matter rest. Blaine seemed to go a step further and pretended that he still had no mother. But when they went to regional theatre summer stock auditions in Philadelphia in February, Kurt brought Melanie up once again.

"You know," Kurt said over lunch on Friday afternoon, their first full day in Philly, "Melanie's profile said she lived in Pennsylvania."

"So?" Blaine asked.

"So, maybe you should call her. See her. It'll be ten times easier to do it in person rather than over the phone."

"Kurt, you know I - "

"Blaine, if you do this one thing for me, and it doesn't go how you wanted it to, I will never bring Melanie up again. Ever. But, please, just call her. Blaine, I would give anything to be able to see my mother again – my biological mother and Elizabeth. But they're dead and I don't have that chance anymore. You do." Kurt knew it was a dick move to play the "both of my mothers are dead card" but it had to be done.

Blaine sighed. "Fine," he said, pulling out his phone.


Saturday night, Blaine walked to a Starbucks in Philadelphia, just a few blocks from the hotel where the rest of the NYADA students were staying. He ordered himself a coffee, just to have something to do with his hands, and sat at a table and waited. Every time the door opened, he would look up, hoping for it to be Melanie. Their meeting time had almost passed when a woman came rushing through the door. She looked around, and when she saw Blaine sitting alone in the back, she rushed over.

"Blaine?" she asked breathless.

Blaine didn't stand, smile, or offer his hand. He only nodded.

Her face broke into a huge smile. "You're so big," she gushed. "And so handsome, too. I never imagined – but you're here."

Blaine just nodded curtly.

"So, do you want to talk?" Melanie asked uncomfortably.

"Look, I don't really want to be here," Blaine finally said. "The only reason I called was because my boyfriend forced me to, saying I'd regret it forever if I didn't. So here I am."

"Boyfriend?" Melanie asked with a shy smile.

"Yeah. And if you have a problem with that, I'm getting up right now."

"No – not at all!" Melanie rushed to say. "I never considered, but that's – that's wonderful. What's his name?"

"Kurt."

"I'm happy you found someone."

There was another awkward silence while Blaine sipped his lukewarm coffee.

"Do your – parents know that you're meeting me?" Melanie asked hesitantly.

Blaine laughed. "Don't have any." He felt a little bad for the Warrens who were like parents to him, but the statement was true enough.

She immediately looked concerned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I was never adopted," Blaine said.

"But – but the agency said that there were plenty of parents lined up. Everyone wanted a baby boy."

"They wanted a healthy baby," Blaine shot back bitterly. "Not one who might die in his first six months. Not one who would come with tons of expensive hospital bills."

"What do you mean?" Melanie asked, aghast.

"The entire right side of my heart was undeveloped when I was born," Blaine said. "By the time I'd gone through all the surgeries that might save me, I was three. Most people didn't want a toddler, and those that did didn't want one with a medical history longer than he was tall."

"Blaine, I – I didn't know," Melanie said quietly.

"Of course you didn't!" Blaine exploded. "Because you abandoned me!"

"Blaine, please, I was sixteen years old. I hadn't even graduated high school. I couldn't take care of myself, much less an infant. My parents were furious that I'd even gotten pregnant. They wanted me to get an abortion, but I wanted to do what was best for you."

"So you left me to a bunch of strangers instead."

"No, Blaine, I didn't -"

"Maybe you should have gotten the abortion," Blaine said quietly, standing up. Melanie looked horrified, but she said nothing. "I don't even care anymore. I survived. I finally got out of all those shit homes and I got to New York. I don't need you, and I don't think I want to know you."

Blaine turned and walked away, leaving his coffee behind. Melanie dropped her head to the table and began to cry. She didn't even care about the gaping stares of strangers all around her.

Blaine stormed back into his hotel room and slammed the door. He was prepared to just collapse on his bed and pretend the last hour had never happened. But he hadn't expected his roommates to be in the room.

Kurt, Rachel, and their friend Tasha all looked up at him in shock when he came heaving and sobbing into the room. Only Kurt knew anything about where Blaine had been.

"How – how did it go?" Kurt asked tentatively.

"How do you think?"

"That bad, huh?"

"I told her she should have gotten an abortion," Blaine whispered so only Kurt could hear.

Kurt looked taken aback. "You don't really believe that, do you, Blaine?"

"Of course not. My life is shit, but I would never give you up."

"Good," Kurt said, taking his boyfriend in a deep embrace. "Now, shall we head down to the bar and have a few drinks and forget this whole night ever happened?"

Blaine nodded numbly.

Rachel and Tasha ended up accompanying them to the bar, and Tasha, being the only one who was actually legal, was sent to buy the alcohol.

"What's going on?" Rachel demanded as soon as Tasha was gone.

Blaine hesitated, but then remembered that Rachel had had her own share of Mama Drama a few years back. "I was just meeting with … my biological mother."

Rachel's eyes widened. "I thought you didn't know her," she whispered.

"I found her on one of those reunion websites a few months back."

"And?"

"And she has a family and a life and she doesn't need me."

"Come on, Blaine, did she really say that? I mean, if she was trying to find you, that has to mean something," Rachel said.

"Rach, she abandoned me. I could have died when I was born, and she didn't even care to ask."

"Blaine, we were all a bit stupid when we were 16," Kurt said levelly.

"Are you defending her, Kurt?" Blaine demanded.

"Of course not. I'm just saying that you might regret this in the future."

"I have all the family I need," Blaine said stubbornly. "I have you and your family and I have Mark and Elise and Callie and Ethan. I don't need Melanie just because she and I share DNA. It takes a lot more than that to be a family. I thought you'd understand that, Kurt."

"Of course I understand, Blaine. I just don't want you to act too rashly."

"Weren't you the one telling me this was a bad idea when I first suggested it?"

"Well, now that Melanie's reaching out to you, I don't really think it's a bad idea anymore."

Tasha came back with their drinks, so Blaine resolutely ignored Kurt while downing his in one gulp.

The two girls watched Blaine wide-eyed while Kurt tried to reign in his criticisms. "Fine, Blaine. Do whatever you want," Kurt said, walking away.

Blaine didn't seem to mind that his boyfriend had left, downing Kurt's drink for him instead.


Blaine was beyond hungover the next morning when they took their bus back to New York. He'd somehow managed to persuade Tasha to buy him another drink. When she and Rachel left, he had taken to flirting with the bartender until she overlooked the fact that he was still only 19.

Kurt was still giving Blaine the cold shoulder, and it had only been exacerbated when Blaine had come stumbling to their room at 3 in the morning, stinking of alcohol.


A week later, Blaine opened his email to find an interesting message:

Hi Blaine,

I know you said you didn't want to see me, and I respect that. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Have a great day.

Melanie

For some reason, the email annoyed Blaine more than it should have. He wanted to hate this woman, but here she was doing exactly what he asked and remembering his birthday and being so nice.

He tried to go through his classes without thinking of her, but he was constantly distracted. So when Kurt approached Blaine about spring break plans, Blaine blurted out something that surprised both boys.

"I want to see Melanie," he said.