I hope everyone likes this new chapter, because it had a heck of a journey getting here. My computer is in the shop, which resulted in me rewriting the first scene of this chapter completely on a different computer. I needed to save it onto my e-mail and then eventually download a new word program to transfer it to. All that, and I'm not sure I'm completely happy with it.

Also, it's nearly Christmas for some reason. Sorry, I don't know where that came from.

Chapter Four

Blaine Anderson was going to be very embarrassed when he woke up.

He wasn't having an erotic dream about Kurt; those were so mortifyingly frequent Blaine was almost desensitized to them.

Almost.

No, Blaine was now having cute 'coupley' dreams about Kurt. Buying a new house, introducing him to Blaine's parents (which always went so much better than how it would really go). And Blaine's absolutely most head-slapping favorite: His and Kurt's wedding.

That was what Blaine was dreaming about right now. Central Park in June, with a big band and hundreds of well wishers. Not that Blaine particularly wanted a big wedding. But every time Blaine fell further for Kurt, every time Blaine realized what a mess he was in, the throng cheering them in his dreams got a little bigger.

"And by the powers vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you married. You may now kiss as husbands."

They kissed, and the dream changed. Oh, the conscious part of Blaine's mind went. That's where the smut went.

"Oh god, Kurt," Blaine moaned, as Kurt ran kisses down Blaine's bare neck. "I love you so much."

"Blaine?" Kurt sounded more puzzled than aroused. In the back of Blaine's mind, he knew why that was, but couldn't recall it.

"I'm so happy right now," Blaine moaned.

"I can see that." Kurt. Sounding both awkward, and incredibly amused.

And then Blaine woke up. In the driver's seat of Kurt's vehicle mode. Hard.

Humiliated.

Kurt had vanished completely from the screen his image called home. That alone was an indication of how embarrassed Kurt was right now. "Perhaps it might be best if you went home," he suggested, far more blandly than Blaine felt right now. "You've been working over time, trying to get somewhere with the break-in. A rest won't hurt."

"It won't help, either," Blaine noted, latching onto the new topic with relief. Not that their lack of progress was much better a topic. They were looking at very little physical evidence, and since Artie wouldn't let the police onto the computers there wasn't much to go on. In fact, the police were starting to drop hints that without additional cooperation from KI, they'd be cold-casing the break-in in the not too distant future.

"Neither is being so worn out you're falling asleep reading and re-reading reports," Kurt pointed out. "You're not a machine."

Blaine frowned. He hated being reminded about how different he and Kurt were. "And what about you? Is that really all there is to your life, then?"

"Actually, I'm learning conversational Italian when I'm not working," Kurt told him, Kurt's smug face finally making a reappearance on his screen. "You know I love languages."

Blaine was immediately consumed with thoughts of Kurt whispering sweet Italian nothings into Blaine's ear. He sighed; it wasn't the best time for such thoughts. His re-tightening pants agreed.

It had started snowing more frequently the last few weeks, so when the flakes began falling with a frequency that required flipping the wipers from intermitent to low speed Blaine took driving control back from Kurt. Not that Kurt wasn't an excellent driver (Kurt had noted how ironic it was, given that he hadn't lived long to get an un-graduated license), but because Blaine had convinced Kurt to share the load. While Blaine dealt with mundane matters like steering and speed, Kurt could focus his attention on things like traction and braking. Kurt could do it all by himself if need be, but he appreciated that Blaine wanted to make things easier on Kurt.

"Looks like we're going to have a white Christmas," Blaine noted with a smile.

"So it seems." Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt's unenthusiastic reply, and Kurt had to smile at him. "I know you wouldn't know it to look at me now, but I used to be an indoor kind of guy."

"I probably should have guessed that by now," Blaine admitted. "One good thing, though. With all your sensors built into the inside, you pretty much get to be indoor all the time."

"I like the way you think, Blaine."

"So what do you want for Christmas?" Blaine asked, excitedly.

"Christmas?"

"Yeah. You know. Santa Claus, and ho ho ho. And mistletoe and presents to pretty cars?"

Kurt smiled at the joke, but his insides felt remarkably twisted considering they were all bolted into place. What did he want for Christmas? That was a question he'd never thought he'd have to consider ever again. "No dice, please. Other than that..."

"Okay," Blaine grinned, not seeming to have gotten how ridiculous a request this was. "I'll surprise you."

It was funny. Because there was only one thing that Kurt wanted for Christmas, and that was going to be more a surprise for Blaine than it was for Kurt. Lying on one of Artie's lab tables (or crammed into secure storage depending on how paranoid Artie was feeling at that exact moment) was another simulacrum, one that Artie was building for Kurt as a prototype and test model. Kurt wasn't sure exactly why he hadn't told Blaine yet. Part of him wanted to make sure that everything was working before Blaine got his hopes up. But he had to admit that part of him wanted to announce that Kurt Hummel was back by slipping naked into Blaine's bed on Christmas Eve. Which was entirely the wrong way to go about it, so he kept reminding himself that that would NOT be happening.

Of course, the reason why Artie hadn't said anything was much simpler. Artie just didn't talk to people anymore. Unless it was Kurt or Santana, who could literally force him to.

"Kurt is something wrong?" Blaine may not have been able to see the difference between a forced image of Kurt smiling and a real one (mostly because Kurt's graphics program was limited enough that there wasn't a difference), but he could read a silence pretty well. "You sound a little down. Is it about Christmas?"

Kurt decided he didn't want to have that conversation (especially since it might soon be a moot point), and decided to bring up the other thing that was bothering him. "Not specifically. You just reminded me of Artie, that's all."

"Ah." Blaine knew full well what Kurt meant by that. They'd never had an actual conversation about Artie, but they'd had several pieces of one. "You know Santana invited Artie to spend Christmas with her and her girlfriend if he didn't have plans?"

"Yeah, I knew." Christmas with Santana and Brittany, which Kurt would have jumped at if he could still jump. But of course, Artie had plans. Plans to tinker and re-tinker with his newest obsession. And Kurt, as much as he was concerned about Artie, didn't have it in him to ask Artie to slow down. "He's working on a side project right now that's taking up a lot of his time. Hopefully, it'll be done before then."

"It's not good for him to just be all work, all the time," Blaine pointed out, needlessly. "He's not a machine. And even if he was, we've already established with you that that's no excuse."

"Unfortunately, Artie doesn't listen to me." Kurt frowned at that. Artie was getting better at treating Kurt like he was a person, so Kurt was left with the unfortunate conclusion that Artie now treated everyone with the casual disdain he had for Kurt.

"I don't get why he can wrap his head around the fact that you're real," Blaine complained. "He built your vehicle mode; if anyone should understand that he brought you back, it should be him."

"I think his mind gets that," Kurt answered. "But once you mourn for something, put it in the past, it's really hard to accept that maybe it might really be back."

Blaine's face lost all expression, but his eyes were suddenly sad. "Is- Is that how you feel?"

Kurt considered that. "A little, I guess. This?" he gestured to the vehicle mode around them both. "It's not me. I'm a person, Blaine. At least I'm supposed to be. As long as I'm still in here, I'm not really back, am I?"

Blaine didn't have an answer for that, and fell silent. Kurt could only hope that Artie's obsession would prove useful, now. Hope that maybe he might actually be able to come back.

For Blaine.

"Excuse me, could I speak to Blaine Anderson-Hummel?"

Blaine pulled his phone far enough away from his ear to look perplexed at it. It didn't really help matters. "Could you repeat that?"

There was some indistinct talk on the other end, before the rather confused sounding woman returned to it. "You're Blaine, right? Your partner is Kurt Hummel the car?"

Now he knew that he referred to Kurt as his partner all the time, but Blaine had never heard of anyone making that big an error before. Although that did give Blaine a hint as to who it was who was calling. Santana's girlfriend, who Blaine had met only a few times but who'd left an indelible, if scattered, impression. "Kurt and I aren't life partners, it's more like how police detectives are partners. Is this Brittany?"

There was some shuffling around before the woman answered. "Can you see me? Did I call someone I was in the same room as again?"

"No, it was just a guess. I am a detective, remember."

"Oh, right," she laughed. "I actually need to hire you. Artie is missing, and Santana has her hands full with baby Sugar, so she can't go get him."

Missing? Blaine was about to go to high alert, when it occurred to him that this - the oddest conversation he'd ever had - might not be something to get worked up about yet. "Do you know where he was last seen?"

"Oh yeah," Brittany chirped. "He's at his lab. If you hurry he might still be there. Remind him that he's having supper over here."

Blaine exhaled in relief. "Sure thing."

There was another pause, and then Brittany was back on the phone. "Santana says she'd invite you to come along, but we don't have a drive through in the kitchen. It was a pretty close call last week, though."

And then she was gone. Blaine hung up his phone and headed out to Kurt's vehicle mode. "You know, for as long as I've worked there, you'd think Santana could stop being a bitch at least long enough to finish asking me for a favor."

But Kurt didn't give a smart response. In fact, Kurt didn't say anything at all. Blaine got in the vehicle mode, puzzled. "Not going to dignify that with an answer?" Kurt did know Santana from before, so maybe that was it.

Still nothing, though. Blaine flicked some switches, but the computer system didn't come back on. "Kurt?"

That was damn odd. Could the hard link with the Knight Industries Tower be down? Blaine tried to remember what Kurt had told him about his computer system. But he couldn't recall if the body of his 'programming' was at the lab (which would explain the shut down), or in the car. Obviously this had never happened before.

Not knowing what else to do, Blaine hit the starter switch, relieved to hear that at least the vehicle itself was still working. Putting the car into gear, he headed towards the KI Tower. Despite the fact that Kurt couldn't hear him (presumably), Blaine couldn't stop talking to him. "I hope that Santana doesn't mind if Artie's a little late. Because I'm not letting him go until he gets you up and running again."

It was a much longer ride without Kurt's company. He tried to reach Kurt on his watch communicator whenever he had to stop at a light or stop sign, but there was no response from that, either. Nor did anyone answer when Blaine tried to call the lab directly.

Not that that was unusual, though. Artie didn't even have a fifty-fifty track record of answering the phone without Santana there.

Blaine stepped off the elevator, feeling a little illicit going past the reception desk without Santana there. It had only happened once before, and he'd been too busy the night of the break-in to notice. He looped around the desk and went into the lab, intent on playfully scolding Artie about overworking.

The words died in his mouth.

Artie was lying on the ground. Surrounded by a single pool of light in the darkness. Just like he had been the night of the break-in.

Except his eyes were open.

And the angle of his neck...

"Oh god. Artie."

Blaine ran to Artie's side. Not sure what he could do, but certain he had to be doing something.

Blaine tried to shift Artie onto his back, intent on doing CPR. But he'd forgotten to secure Artie's neck, and his head flopped around like a macabre bobble headed doll. Blaine swallowed hard, forcing the bile rising in his throat to go back down.

There was no question about it. Artie's neck was broken.

No amount of CPR would help that. Artie was...

"Oh god. Artie."

Blaine was trying to get his mind working again, trying to remember what he should be doing right now, when he realized it.

Blaine wasn't alone in the lab.

Blaine's hand flailed onto the nearby workstation, practically of it's own accord. It hit the main lights, and Blaine had to squint his eyes at the sudden brightness.

When his eyes opened again, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Kurt?"

But it wasn't possible. Kurt was his car, he wasn't a person anymore. He couldn't just be standing there, looking as shaken as Blaine was.

There was only the two of them in the lab, though. And Blaine knew for sure that HE hadn't killed Artie.

Blaine had his gun on him, though it was force of habit rather than ever having needed it. So he was clumsy enough pulling it out, that it gave the murderer (who was NOT Kurt, dammit) a chance to shake off his own stupor and make a run for it. "Hold it right there!" Blaine shouted.

But Blaine couldn't quite bring himself to pull the trigger. The guy picked up one of the heavy car wrenches (one handed, which was itself a little shocking) and swung hard against one of the windows. It half shattered, half popped out of the frame. And as it fell into the street, the guy jumped right after it.

Blaine ran to the window. They were only on the second floor, and while the first floor had an impressively high ceiling, he knew they weren't far enough off the ground for the fall to disable someone.

But by the time he reached the window, whoever it was he'd just seen was already gone. Blaine returned to Artie's side, knowing he needed to call this in, but unable to really move for the time being.

Too late.

"Oh god. Artie."

Kurt ran. "I can't believe it. I've been a person for less than ten hours and I'm already wanted for murder."

That wasn't the worst of it, though. It was knowing that Blaine believed it.

Kurt honestly didn't know what had happened. He didn't know why Artie had decided they'd tested Kurt's avatar enough. Didn't know why Artie rushed to get himself downloaded into his own robotic body.

Didn't know why that avatar had then proceeded to kill Artie. Obviously, there was something critically wrong with it.

It had occurred to him that maybe there was a malfunction in his body, too. That would explain why when Blaine came in, Kurt was so frightened that he just stood in the shadows until Blaine saw him. Or maybe it was just that he wasn't used to having a physical response to his emotions anymore.

Dammit Artie, why did you think it was a good idea for me to sweat when I'm scared?

Kurt didn't know what to do. He needed help, clearly. And unfortunately, the one person he'd trust the most to help him now thought that he was an assassin.

There was one possible option, but he needed to download back into his vehicle mode to do it. Kurt ducked into an alley, wondering what he could do with his avatar so it wouldn't be found while he wasn't in it. There was a dumpster there, which was familiar if disgusting. Feeling a distinct sensation of deja-vu, Kurt crawled up the side of it, hoping that no one saw him going inside. At least he knew that the dumpsters in this area of town wouldn't be picked up for another two days.

Kurt closed his eyes, stretching who he was along the link between the car and the avatar. It was a lot harder to be inside the vehicle mode without turning on something that might give away his presence, but he didn't know if Blaine had gone back to the car and checking would give him away.

He managed to get Blaine's messaging system open, taking much longer than normal to make sure that when he was finished there would be no indication that he'd used it. He wasn't sure if he could reach Finn, but-

There. Finn had left Blaine his phone number. Kurt dialed quickly, and if he'd still been in his avatar body, he probably would have cried when it picked up. "Hello?"

"Finn. Finn, it's Kurt. I'm sending you an address by text, can you be there as fast as you can?

"I need your help."

(to be continued)