This is an important chapter - but it wont become clear until later. I want to thank everyone for sticking with me through this with me. I'm using this as a personal therapy so it means a lot that you're all still reading this. Rates and Reviews are always appreciated.


Sam didn't sleep well that night either. Tossing and turning through the night, regionals played through his head over and over. If they were going to lose, Sam didn't want a false dance step or an off pitch note to cost them the competition - Not when they were so close to victory this year they could taste it. So whenever a nightmare would wake him up, instead of texting Blaine, he would run through the whole routine in his head.

When his restlessness became too much to deal he finally got up out of bed. After a shower, he dressed in the New Directions outfit picked out for this year and tied the lime green tie to seal it off. His hair fell in his face just perfectly, as it always seemed to do. Sam walked downstairs and started on breakfast. Today his dad would take his brother and sister and his Mom would grab Blaine and take them to school.

Breakfast went smoothly enough, though his mom got irritated a few times for humming the songs they were going to be using over and over again. Once his siblings were packed up and his dad had left the house, he helped his mom quickly clean the dishes and the table so that they could be on their way. The killer thing about regionals is that, since it was held on a Friday, the New Directions got to skip all their classes and go straight to the competition.

The drive to Blaine's seemed slower than usual, maybe because Sam's mom was such a careful driver. But it didn't really matter if they were on time today so Sam wasn't particularly worried. When they got to Sam's, he shot Blaine a quick text and the boy came shuffling out. Sam thought Blaine looked better in the suit than he did but it didn't matter to him.

"Hey," Sam said, getting out of the coupe so that Blaine could get in the back.

Blaine went to get in but Sam stopped him, taking him by the shoulder and kissing him before he pulled away and said, "Good morning, Blaine"

Blaine, though a little shocked, smiled, "Good morning, Sammy."

As he got situated in the back and put on his seatbelt, he looked at Sam's mom, "Hello Mrs. Evans, how are you?"

"I'm great Blaine," she said, "And how are you? Excited for the competition?"

Blaine nodded as Sam pushed the seat back and got in, "I am. I'm also a little nervous for it. I really think we can win this time."

"Then why are you nervous?" she said, finally pushing on the gas.

"He's facing his old choir group, The Warblers" Sam said

"Oh," she said, with a tone of sympathy, "Are you ok with that?"

Blaine nodded, though she couldn't see from her seat, "Yeah, they're all really good guys. I see them every so often still. It's just a bummer that only one of us can advance to Nationals."

Sam's mom pulled off on the way to school to grab the boys coffee. Blaine always felt sort of bad when Sam's mom would do stuff like this because they didn't have a lot of money. Blaine actually protested the first time it happened and Sam's mom wouldn't hear anything of it.

"If money is so hard for us to come by," The words echoed in Blaine's head, "Then you must be pretty important to use it on, eh?"

Ever since then, Blaine has done his best to push the guilt from his mind. It was ridiculous too, he tried to order around it, by ordering a small, and Sam's mom would get him a large anyway. In that way, he saw a lot of his Mom in Sam. It was only another five or so minutes to school and when they got dropped off, they went straight to the choir room. It was surprising to see, that despite being late by almost ten minutes that they weren't the last one in the room.

Sam strode in, Blaine at his side, "Who are we waiting on?"

"Brittany and Santana, and then we can get out of here." Finn said, Rachel fussing with his tie.

"Gay people time," Kurt said, practicing a particularly difficult dance move, "None of us can be punctual."

Everyone chuckled at that, As Santana and Brittany walked through the door. Schuester rounded all the students up and led them outside, bags in tow. They loaded up on the bus and set out for regionals.

– – –

The bus had been moving for about an hour at this point and everyone was sort of lulling to sleep. Blaine and Sam were wide awake thanks to the coffee that they had earlier. The group however, wasn't doing so well.

"Look at Tina," Blaine said, "She's totally drooling."

Sam looked back - Sure enough, there was drool, though not a lot, dripping out onto Mike's shoulder.

"This bus is just dead right now," Sam said, "I guess everyone is still exhausted."

Blaine grimaced, "We should perk them up somehow, we're not too far from the convention center and then we go on an hour after that."

"What did you have in mind?"

Blaine smirked, "Just - back me up alright?"

Blaine stepped into the bus aisle and the people who were awake all looked at him.

Blaine licked his lips before he began singing lyrics that sounded familiar to Sam. Blaine was secretly hoping that he knew the song. It took a second before Sam realized it to be Life Is A Highway. He only knew all the words because the Rascal Flatts did a cover of it last year and it became really popular. He's not sure he would've known it other wise.

Up and down the aisle Blaine went, singing the lyrics to the song while Sam provided a beat with his lips making it sound almost hip-hop. Soon the New Directions joined in one by one and those who were asleep were woken up to sing-along as well.

As the song came to a close, the group was energized again. Feeling alert, everyone took turns singing songs and taking solos

– – –

When they arrived at the convention center, Schuester led them in like a shepherd. New Directions were looking all about - They were competing against ten other groups today and there was a lot of competition to be found.

"Alright, We go on in an hour, I want everyone in Warm-Up room B in 30 minutes. I'm serious." Schuester said before heading to the registration desk.

Everyone split up in different directions but Sam stayed hooked to Blaine when he saw a tall brunette boy approaching them.

"Blaine Warbler," he said, "It's a shame we couldn't get you back - It's going to be a big bummer when we're at Nationals without you"

Blaine cocked his head with a grin, "Aw, c'mon Sebastian, You know that New Directions beat the Warblers last year, right?"

Sebastian smiled a toothy grin, "Yeah, well, I wasn't in The Warblers last year. And Vocal Adrenaline is here. Tough competition."

Sam felt a pang of frustration, "Yeah, well, we've beat both teams before. This wont be any different."

"Oh hey, Blonde McJagger," Sebastian noted, with a definite arrogant tone, "You guys are still together?"

Blaine hooked his arm, elbow to elbow, with Sam, "Yup, Happily."

"Shame." Sebastian countered, "Well, good luck, you guys... You're gonna need it."

Sebastian turned on his heel and walked away, likely joining the Warblers. Blaine could see that Sam was red in the face, "I don't know why you're friends with him - It's obvious he wants you."

Blaine took Sam's hand, "He's harmless. I only have eyes for you Sam. I promise, there's nothing to worry about."

"I don't trust him," Sam said, "He rubs me the wrong way."

"Oh, I get it," Blaine responded, turning to face Sam, "You're intimidated that he's cuter than you..."

Sam's face drooped for just a second before he saw Blaine's goofy smile, "He is *not* cuter than me."

"Are you sure?" Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's it," Sam said, pulling Blaine to him very close, so that their lips were just barely not touching, "I am the hottest guy here Blaine and I wont be beat out by some preppy, skinny boy who looks like he's been perpetually sucking on lemons."

Blaine raised his eyebrow, "I'm glad you finally realized it."

Blaine leaned in to kiss him, right there, in the middle of the foyer. Some people were staring, including Sebastian, who hadn't gone as far as they had originally thought. Sam was surprised, it was unlike Blaine to not only make the first move, in public, but also to be so brazen about it. Sam could only guess that this was a display to show how serious Blaine was about this whole ordeal. When they broke from their kiss, Blaine took Sam's hand and they walked around the convention center, looking at the other groups and seeing all the colleges there to recruit bright upcoming stars. The different kiosks and counters were filled with information but there wasn't much time to look. Sam made a mental note of which booths that Blaine seemed to take a particular interest in so that they could come back after the performance. But for now, Sam looked at his phone and knew that they had to be in the warm up room soon.

Sam showed Blaine the time, and then, holding onto his hand tightly, they jogged together to the room. When they got there, again, they weren't the last ones into the room. Finn and Rachel were missing. Sam figured it was because she was looking at schools or scouts or whatever else offered her the promise of being a big star. Schuester began warm ups and ran through the basic scales on the piano as Finn and Rachel finally came through the door with Finn in tow.

Rather than do the choreography in such a small room, they simply ran the songs to make sure that they were pitch perfect and that everyone was on cue for all of their parts. At this point, Sam figured, it didn't matter - if they didn't have it by now they didn't have it. That's why, as warm ups were coming to a close, he didn't feel that normal pang of nervousness when he was about to go on. The team worked their butt off, there was nothing they could've done differently at this point to change the outcome of the competition.

Schuester brought them into a circle, "Alright guys, this is it, you have this - don't let anything stop you now. That trophy is yours, right?"

And everyone put their hands up and yelled in agreement. Sam took Blaine's hand and they walked through the door that connected to the auditorium to the practice room. This was the first time New Directions was on first, since they were the previous years champions. They were about to set the tone for how the rest of the competition played out. Sam dropped Blaine's hand and walked to his spot a few paces away. They looked at each other fondly before the curtains came up to signal the start of their performance.

– – –

They sat in the auditorium for the big threats. Vocal Adrenaline was powerful, as always, and their choreography was tight, but they always seemed to lack a certain passion that a lot of the other groups exuded. The Warblers were heavy hitters, especially with Nick and Sebastian leading the solos. It was definitely worrisome at times. It was nice though, to just sit and watch and hold Blaine's hand.

Sam had cared about a lot of people. When he was dating Santana and especially when he was dating Quinn and Mercedes. He had a lot to give and people around him seemed to pick up on it. And although his relationship with Mercedes never got to foster properly, he thinks that the person who cared most about him back was the person he was connected to now. It was different, for sure, to love another man. But it was in silly ways. People asking who is the 'man'. People wanting to know who does what, and where they do it. Silly questions you don't really think about until asked. But as it stands, Sam was just as happy with Blaine as he could ever imagine being.

After the final group performed, everyone was dismissed to lunch. It was difficult to eat when everyone was so nervous, but they attempted to eat the quaint boxed sandwich meals that were given to them by the competition planners. It was quaint small talk at the table - everyone too fixated on the competition to really talk about anything of substance. What little they could eat, they ate quickly and the rest the group just stowed away or ended up tossing it. After what seemed like ages, The P.A. announced that it was time to convene back into the auditorium for announcements.

It took awhile before everyone got seated. It was sort of the same ordeal at all of the competitions - Read out the important people, then the sponsors then the judges. It seemed so unnecessarily long. Sam wondered briefly, if this is what being an adult was like - if it was, it wasn't something he was looking forward to. He wasn't particularly good at ass kissing.

The announcer finally got the finalists. He called up the Warblers first, which made Blaine and Sam look at each other with little surprise. The next group to be called up was a group they hadn't heard of - So when the last name called on stage was prepared to be read, the grip on Sam's hand became tighter. And when New Directions was called on stage? Sam and Blaine kissed each other and the group ran down the aisle and up to the stage with more energy than they showed all day.

When they got on stage, Sam made eye contact with Sebastian who threw him a nasty glare. The two didn't break eye contact until the announcer began speaking again. Sam looked forward, holding Blaine's hand tightly behind Puck where no one could see. The team that no one heard of got called out for third place, that shouldn't have surprised anyone. What Sam guessed was more surprising was that Vocal Adrenaline wasn't up there competing with them. Sam attributed it to the girl who fell midway through the B-52's mash-up they were doing.

The announcer waited for third place to shuffle off the stage before he took the big trophy from the hostess's hands. It seems gargantuan, gleaming in the light. Sam's breath quickened, as did it seem like everyone in New Directions did, when Blaine grabbed his hand.

"I love you," Blaine whispered.

"I love you too," Sam said back

"And it was close, this year," The announcer said, booming over the mic, as if he was a lord, "But we do have a winner."

The grip that Sam had on Blaine tightened, "The winner of the 2012 Regionals Tournament, with a bid to nationals is..."