When Kurt arrived at Sarah's office, he found Alyssa sitting sideways on the set of chairs, her legs spread out in front of her as she read.
"Hello," she said cheerfully, not even looking up from her book.
"Hi," Kurt replied. The two sat in silence for a short while.
"I don't want to be rude or anything, but you seem kind of…down today compared to the other times you've been here," Alyssa said, slowly closing her book and looking over to where Kurt was sitting.
"Have you ever…believed something…with everything you have, and then realized it's probably not even true?" Kurt found himself asking her, his voice sounding quiet and a little defeated even to his own ears. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's just…really painful."
Alyssa didn't reply for a moment."I don't know what it is you stopped believing in, but I just want to tell you something I've learned," she began, ignoring the soft buzzing noise coming from her bag. "Sometimes you just need to believe in impossible things."
She then reached into her bag and pulled out a cell phone, muttering something about being earlier than usual as she picked up her bag and stood up.
"See you next week," she said, waving as she walked away.
"So, Kurt, how was your week?" Sarah asked.
"Awful," Kurt replied, honestly. "There were some good parts, but mostly this week was just the worst."
Sarah looked at him, confused.
"How so?" she asked.
"Well first, my boss told me that I should take some time off," Kurt began.
"That doesn't seem so bad. I would kill to get some time off here," Sarah commented, sniffling a little.
"Well, I hate it, because it means I'm stuck in my apartment all day, and it's driving me crazy," Kurt huffed. "But , the good part is that the body they found wasn't Blaine."
Sarah actually threw her hands up in the air and cheered.
"I knew it!" she boasted. Then she looked back at Kurt, narrowing her eyes. "Wait…if it's not him, then why do you look so sad?"
"I ended up running into some jerk I knew way back in high school who was always trying to go after Blaine, and-" Kurt continued, quickly.
"Kurt, what aren't you telling me?" Sarah interrupted. Kurt fidgeted a little, refusing to look her in the eyes.
"I went looking in the woods again for Blaine after they told me the body wasn't his," he admitted.
"Did you find anything?" Sarah asked. Kurt closed his eyes and nodded.
"I found his wedding ring. And it had blood on it," Kurt told her, his voice a broken whisper.
"Oh, Kurt." he heard Sarah say. After a few moments, she came and sat down next to him, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders.
"I'm going back down to Lima for a little bit," Kurt told Sarah. "I think…I think I just need a break."
"Okay. Just come back whenever you're ready," Sarah said quietly.
Kurt didn't turn his phone back on when he landed in Ohio.
In fact, he didn't turn it back on the whole time he's there.
Lima is just as he remembered it.
Kurt can't decide if that's a good thing or not.
He spent his days helping out at the shop, walking around the town, helping Carole around the house, or visiting the Glee Club even though he doesn't know anybody in it anymore.
It's nice.
Sometimes, however, Kurt would walk by a certain place, like the Lima Bean or the park where Pavarotti was buried, and he'd feel like he was punched in the stomach.
Kurt learnt how to avoid these places.
He spent a little over a week in Lima, until his dad came up to his old room one day after dinner.
"Hey, kiddo," he said, sitting down on the bed.
"Hey, dad. What's going on? Do you need me to go grab something from the attic for you?" Kurt asked, carefully folding up his clothes.
"Nah, nothing like that. I just think that…maybe you need to get back to New York," his Dad replied. "It's kinda like when you stayed here for a little while after you didn't get into NYADA. You're hiding, Kurt, and I know I'm the one who told you that you should come down here, but now I'm realizing all over again how strong you are, and how much bigger you are than this little town. You'll make it through all this, Kurt, but right now, I think it's time you go back to where you belong."
Kurt carefully placed the folded shirt back into his suit case and sat down next to his dad.
"I was starting to think the same thing," Kurt admitted.
Kurt booked a flight back to New York for early that Monday, and called Sarah's office to let her know he was going to be able to make it to their usual appointment.
When he got back to the city, he only had enough time to quickly throw his suitcase on his bed before running out the door.
But for some reason, Kurt can't help but feel as if something's…different. He can't place what exactly it is, but there's something not right.
Kurt shrugged it off, blaming it on the time he'd just spent in Lima, and rushed out the door.
As he ran down to the subway station, Kurt thought he heard someone call his name three different times. But when he looked around, he didn't see anyone he recognized.
Sarah is waiting for him when he finally got to her office.
"Sorry I'm late." Kurt said. "My flight was a little delayed."
"Oh, it's no problem. I finally was able to get around to some of this paperwork I've needed to finish." Sarah dismissed. "How was your trip?"
"It was okay. I helped my dad around his shop, wandered around Lima. Nothing particularly exciting." Kurt replied. Sarah nodded.
"So, today, why don't we-" she started to say, but was interrupted by the receptionist knocking on the door and poking her head in.
"Dr. Williams, there's a man out here asking if he can talk to Mr. Anderson-Hummel," she said, sounding a little bored. Sarah looked at Kurt, both of them with matching confused looks on their faces. Kurt stood up.
"I better go see who it is," Kurt said, walking out of the office.
The man standing at the receptionist's desk was shifting his weight from one foot to another, his hands in his pockets, looking nervous. When he saw Kurt walk out of Sarah's office, however, his entire face lit up.
Kurt just stared, suddenly unable to move when he saw him.
"Blaine?" Kurt asked, once he regained control of his vocal cords.