Author's Note:

Well, Blaine is safe and alive, but now comes the hard part ... keeping it that way. How are his friends and loved ones going to react to his disappearing act?

Okay, enough from me ... on with the show!

Don't know anything, don't know anyone, and certainly don't own anything. (I wish though!) Please feel free to review with constructive criticism, etc.

03 - Bastard

Dan woke up early. He mused that it was probably the first time that he was glad for that beginning of vacation period where your body clock was still on school time and up and raring to go for that seven o'clock start to the day even though this was the first day you were actually able to sleep in.

He was supposed to have done his restocking at the store last night and then be able to just lounge in bed this morning and not have to worry about anything until he met Shannon for dinner and then either dancing at Rosalita's or a movie, depending on how Shannon's day had been.

Today though, was going to be spent dealing with "the Blaine situation". He'd set things in motion the night before, but he would have to wait until the stores and offices opened up before he could really get started on anything. He was just wondering how Blaine would react. He hoped that he'd managed to chip away enough of the armor for Blaine to at least listen to him. That he would be willing to accept help even though he had obviously been opposed to asking for it.

Dan hopped in the shower and just let the hot spray envelop him and soak out the tension. He had the feeling that he was probably playing against purposes by still thinking about Blaine: what to do, how Blaine would react and how best to deal with it.

Once he was done, he dressed and went to check on Blaine. He was still sound asleep. He looked like it was the first time he'd actually relaxed in days. Dan went into his office and turned on his computer then removed it from its dock and carried it into the kitchen with him. He sat quietly at the kitchen bar and did some more research while he waited for Blaine to wake up.

Blaine groaned. He sat up slowly and said, "What? Where am I?"

"Morning sleepyhead," Dan said from the kitchen.

"Oh yeah," Blaine said groggily. "Morning. Be right back." Blaine got up rather unsteadily and walked down the hall to the bathroom.

When he came back he came to sit beside Dan at the breakfast bar. "Is that coffee? Please say yes..."

"It's tea, but I have some instant," Dan said.

"Anything, as long as it has caffeine," Blaine said.

"Cups are on the right of the sink, coffee is on the left, instant hot water by the tap," Dan said. "Choose your cup size and then your strength."

"Bless you!"

Dan laughed as Blaine headed around the counter and searched the cabinets. "Um, cups are on the right," Dan said as Blaine opened the left side cabinet.

"I was just checking to make sure it wasn't decaf. I'd have had to go stand out front and wait for a bus if it was."

"Am I that bad a host?" Dan laughed.

"No ... wait for it to hit me," Blaine said scooping the granules into his cup.

"Rough night?" Dan asked frowning.

"I was dreaming about Kurt all night," Blaine said now filling the cup with hot water.

"I'm not going to have to wash the sheets already am I?" Dan said.

"That, sir, is a comment worthy of your brother..." Blaine said glaring at him over his shoulder. Dan smiled. "No ... that situation would have to involve some amount of pleasure. I was dreaming that he was sticking pins into a voodoo doll of me ... only I was the voodoo doll ... he sort of skipped the middle man."

As Blaine came to join him, Dan tried to resist laughing, but he couldn't.

"He is going to be so pissed," Blaine said before taking a sip. He sighed. "Everybody is. I just ... hell I don't know what I'm doing."

"I know ... welcome to the real world," Dan said frowning. "I have a few plans that I'm working on..."

"Don't you always?" Blaine said grinning. "Honestly, when I saw you last night part of me wanted to run because of how embarrassed I felt ... but the other part of me said, 'thank God it's going to be okay'. I mean you fixed Dave and Kurt ... between you, Derrick and Bryce you guys got Sam on the right track. I know you're not miracle workers, but I know you'll do your damnedest to level the playing field."

Dan smiled. "Sometimes that's all you can do."

"Sometimes that's all you need." Blaine smiled, another of the genuine ones. Those were thankfully becoming a habit.

"How about some breakfast for starters?" Dan said. "We have ... toast and eggs. We actually have cereal, but no milk so..."

"Toast and eggs are fine, I'll even cook," Blaine said.

"You don't..."

"It's the least I can do for letting me stay over," Blaine said. "You'll just have to run me through where everything is. Any requests?"

"How 'bout just a good old fashion scramble," Dan said, "we've got a lot of stuff to get done today."

Blaine nodded, and with Dan telling him where everything was, he cooked the two of them breakfast and even cleaned the pan and put it away before joining Dan at the bar to eat.

"Are you always this polite and tidy or are you just ramping it up because you're a guest?" Dan asked.

Blaine thought about it, "No I usually put the stuff away so I don't have to worry about it when I'm done."

"Your dad's a bigger idiot that I thought then," Dan said making Blaine smile.

Once they were done and their stuff was put in the dishwasher, they went into the living room and put away Blaine's 'bed' and then sat on the sofa.

"Okay, we've got other stuff to work on, but I think it might be a good idea to work on Kurt first," Dan said. "After all, if he ends up killing you everything else becomes moot."

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, I guess that would a pain in the ass wouldn't it?"

"Okay, let's get the ball rolling," Dan said grabbing his phone and dialing.

"Wait..."

"My brother and I share that band-aid philosophy," Dan said as he waited for the answer at the other end.

"Mr. D?" Kurt said. He was clearly upset and had been crying if he wasn't still.

"Kurt, how are you holding up?" Dan said.

"So you heard?" Kurt said. "I haven't heard from him in ... for almost a whole week now ... I ... I... His phone's been disconnected, and I don't have a home number and..."

"Kurt, who's there with you?" Dan asked.

"Finn's here, Dad and Carole had to go back to work."

"Listen, I've got a few ideas to help out," Dan said, placing a hand on Blaine's shoulder. He was finally beginning to tear up hearing Kurt's voice. "Can you have Finn drop you off at my place?"

"I ... I don't want to not be here if..."

"You have your cell right?" Dan could almost hear Kurt nod on the other end. "He'll call you on your cell. Can I speak to Finn for a moment?"

"Hello?" Finn asked confused. Dan was fairly sure that Kurt had just handed him the phone.

"Finn, it's Mr. D," Dan said.

"Oh ... he just..." Finn said. "He's not doing good."

"I know, I'm going to help," Dan said. "Could you bring him by my place? I'll help him look and give you a break. I'll even bring him home later."

Finn almost sounded relieved. "I just can't help with this one," Finn said sounding utterly helpless.

"Just bring him over and I'll take some of it for a while. Don't forget to tell your folks."

Finn agreed and Dan gave him the address and directions. He hung up and looked over at Blaine. The tears were flowing freely but silently. He reached behind him on the table and grabbed the roll of toilet tissue that he'd grabbed from the bathroom on his way up the hall. "Here, I figured this might come in handy..." He handed Blaine the tissue and then squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

"Thanks."

The two of them waited for what seemed like hours, but was actually less than a half. The doorbell rang and Dan went to go get it. He walked into the entry and looked out the sidelight. He took a deep breath, then blew it out and opened the door. "Hi guys," he said to the two of them. "Thanks for bringing him over Finn."

"Thanks for helping," Finn said. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay, or at least come back and get him?"

"I got it ... you look like you could use a break," Dan said.

Finn silently nodded then headed back down the walk to his truck.

Dan looked into Kurt's tearstained eyes. "Take a breath Kurt." Kurt looked up at him and then did as instructed. He put his arm around the boy's shoulders and led him into the living room.

Blaine stood up from the sofa. He swallowed hard seeing Kurt's state, but managed to find his voice. "K...Kurt."

Kurt finally raised his eyes and took him in. There was a moment of shock and then Kurt rushed to his boyfriend and threw his arms around him. He hugged him so tightly that Blaine couldn't breathe, and then released him. Kurt then stepped back and slapped Blaine as hard as he could. "You bastard, I thought you were dead!"

Blaine stood frozen. The blow was so hard that it had knocked Blaine's glasses halfway across the room. Dan quietly walked over and retrieved them.

"I deserved that," Blaine said quietly. Dan handed him his glasses and he held them.

"And you," Kurt said looking over at Dan. "You knew where he was?"

"No!" Blaine said. "He just ran into me last night."

"Where ... have ... you ... been?" Kurt's jaw was clenched and he was somewhere between relief, terror and fury.

Blaine took a deep breath. "Did you see the newspaper?"

"What?" Kurt said, this time he sounded annoyed.

"There was a picture of us in one of the Dayton papers, one with Derrick and Bryce," Blaine explained. "My dad saw it and... We had words."

Kurt stood shaking his head.

"I took some of my stuff and left," Blaine said.

"Your phone's been disconnected."

"I figured as much," Blaine said, "that's why I left it for him."

"What?" Kurt asked.

"I filled three bags with what I could carry ... and I left," Blaine said.

"Then where have you been?" Kurt said. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"I slept in my car," Blaine said. Kurt's eyes grew wide. "I didn't want to burden you ... any of you."

The fury was coming back. "So it was better that you were dead?"

"I didn't ... I didn't even think about that."

"You're damned straight you didn't think!" Kurt yelled. "I thought we had a relationship! I thought we loved each other! I thought we could depend on each other!"

"S...someone already pointed out how stupid I was," Blaine said glancing over to Dan.

"What's your role?" Kurt said looking in Dan's direction.

"He found me," Blaine said. "I was at that twenty-four hour Super Wal-Mart. I sort of camped out there overnight so that I had a bathroom." He shrugged. "I was getting something to eat and he noticed me ... he kind of cornered me. Had he not, I probably would have run again."

"I should slap you again," Kurt said. "I want to slap you again ... but I guess I'll be nice and let everyone get in their licks." Kurt wiped at his eyes and Blaine handed him the roll of tissue. "Everyone is worried sick. Finn's been driving me around. Sam and Dave have driven around looking for you every night after work. Gaga knows, the Warbler's are probably scouring your Westerville haunts."

Blaine looked at him strangely. "You called them?"

"Of course I did!" Kurt said. "I called everyone I could think of to see if they'd seen or heard from you, hell I even called King's Island to see if you had made your audition."

"I..."

"People love you and care about you, you dumb-assed bastard!" Kurt said. He sank onto the sofa holding his head.

Blaine sat down beside him. "I'm sorry... I wasn't thinking, not straight anyway."

Kurt glared at him. "Really?" the word dripped with sarcasm.

"I am sorry," Blaine said, taking his hands. "I didn't give any of you the benefit of the doubt ... especially you, and I regret that the most."

Dan's phone rang and they both looked at him. He looked at it then answered. "Derrick can I call you right back?" He waited a moment then hung up. "Can I leave the room now without fear there'll either be blood or a corpse when I come back?"

They both managed to laugh. "I'm not making any promises," Kurt said.

"Come on, I just cleaned the place when school ended," Dan said with a pout. "At least no corpses, that involves police and I'm not ready for that many guests."

Kurt finally actually managed a real laugh. "Okay ... but just for you, he's still on my shit-list."

"Deal," Dan said. "Look as long as you promise not to kill one another, and promise to be here when I get back, I need to go run some errands." He walked over to the breakfast bar, and picked up his messenger bag and put his notebook inside it. He reached in his pocket and took out some cash.

"You guys talk ... and I mean converse, both of you need to listen too. I'm leaving some cash here on the counter; there are takeout menus in the drawer by the fridge if you get hungry." He grabbed a notepad and jotted something down and then placed it with the money. "Here's the address to give the delivery driver." He walked toward the door and paused, "I mean it, no death and no disappearing." They nodded and he left.

Once he was gone, Blaine began to recount the long painful story to Kurt. By the end they were both in tears again. Kurt because of what had happened and Blaine because of the poor way in which he had handled it all.

Soon they got hungry and took Dan up on his offer. They ordered Chinese and had a leisurely lunch, then sat arm in arm on the sofa waiting for Dan to return.

End note:

Hurdle one managed... Just wonder how everyone else will take it.