"So, let me get this right. You're telling me that you guys have been friends all this time."

"Yes." Santana shrugged at Rachel's question looking disinterestedly at her nails while Brittany nodded with a smile. Their large group plus Rachel and Brody were sitting in a private room where Blaine had just told the newcomers the cliff notes version of what had been going on this summer with the help of Santana's ongoing commentary. It was more for Rachel's benefit than Brody's considering he was just going with the flow.

"Okay. And you were in this city and are friends with him too?" Rachel then proceeded to look at David Karofsky who to her much shock was also a part of the interesting group of people she found tonight.

"Yes but I moved here only two years ago," Dave answered her question which seemed to appease Rachel for the time being before she moved on to point at the group of former warblers. "And he was not in touch with you guys since high school?" She received a unanimous yes with some underlying emotion that Rachel decided not to dig since she didn't know the whole story.

She turned to her right where Blaine was sitting and asked gently, "Not even you?"

"Yes." This was the first time she'd seen the smile that Blaine was sporting all night fade away which made her pause. There was no trace of any lie in Blaine's eyes and it made her question everything Kurt had told her about Blaine's involvement with Sebastian. Clearly, there was another side of the whole story that she was completely unaware of which seemed to be far more truthful than whatever her best friend had fed her but right now it wasn't the time to think about it.

"But now everyone is friends and you love him?" Rachel asked folding her arms and leaning back in her chair.

"Yes," Blaine answered in a clear confident voice with his smile back on place.

While almost everybody else was letting Rachel come on board about all the revelations on her own speed, Santana cut to the chase to know if there was going to be another meltdown. "And he kissed him in front of us earlier. Is that going to be a problem, Berry?"

But instead of answering Santana Rachel asked turning to Blaine, "can I talk to you, alone?"

"Sure."

While Blaine was walking away with Rachel to find some place alone to talk, Sebastian was in the car with his mother on their way to his grandparents' home for the 'surprise' celebration party.

"You look happy" Annalise, his mother observed from the thousand megawatt smile he was wearing.

Sebastian shrugged seeing no point in denying, "that's because I am."

"This is a different kind of happy," his mother commented a few moments later and Sebastian had to give to her for having excellent intuitions, which were further proved by her next question. "Is it something to do with Blaine's backstage visit? Something happened between you two."

Considering it was more of a statement than a question, Sebastian agreed, "It did."

"Sebastian…" she sighed.

"Not that way, mom. We talked, he said some things and…" Though he didn't complete his sentence, Annalise understood what had happened. She had been expecting it for some time. "Seb, baby I know that Blaine is a good person but I worry that"

But before she could complete, Sebastian cut in, "Mom, you don't need to worry. You know I can take care of myself."

"I know but I'll always worry because I'm your mom and I don't want you to get your heart broken again." Annalise took Sebastian's hands in one of hers and other softly touched his hair as she continued, "what I was saying before you interrupted me is that if you're going to be with him, I just want you to make smart decisions this time."

Though Sebastian would've preferred to not have this conversation this soon, he could see where his mother concerns were coming from given the past so he agreed but was far more grateful that they had reached their destination and the conversation could end for now.

On the other side of the city, Rachel was trying to clear up her worries about Sebastian with Blaine. "Are you sure about him? Does he even love you back?"

"Rachel, I just told him tonight after the show. We didn't get time to talk much as he had to go, but I'm sure of how I feel about him. He just gets me in a way nobody else does, he's different with me; he always was," Blaine sighed trying to make her understand. And it seemed that his statement hit home as she found whatever she was searching in his eyes.

"You really love him?" Rachel commented in a gentle tone, which made Blaine nod and look down.

"Then it'll be okay. He'll be an idiot if he doesn't love you back."

"You don't know the whole story, Rach."

Blaine's subdued demeanor made Rachel realize how deep Blaine already was and she wanted his smile back. "If those songs were about you then you don't need to worry. That kind of love doesn't go away."

While Blaine didn't comment on Rachel's observation, he did make one of his own. "You're taking this way better than I ever expected."

"I think having heard him before finding about everything is a big deciding factor. What I saw earlier, that doesn't come artificially Blaine. I can see what you say about him being different." As easily Rachel could question Blaine's feelings she didn't want to lose him again. "If he's honestly what you want, I can't really say much about it, can I? You know him better than I do."

"High school Rachel would've blown a gasket and called the whole McKinley troops by now."

"She needed to grow up and she would've never gone to today's concert by any chance," she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, she wouldn't."

"I'm happy for you Tony. You look like you've got everything together for you." the use of that nickname brought a smile to his face before he replied, "Almost everything Maria." Blaine pointed out as they hugged each other.

"Don't worry, the last thing will fall into its place too. Give it time," Rachel told him before taking his hand. "Now come on, let's go back."

Santana asked when they got back, "so, all sorted, Hobbit twins?"

"Yes it is Santana," Rachel told her before taking her seat again. After that, the conversation resumed and ran a gamut of topics. There was some discussion about the bet that had been going on among the group and apparently Blaine's elder brother Cooper was the winner.

Brody seemed to fit right in the eclectic group with his own brand of sarcasm and humor and it didn't feel like they hadn't just met. Everything Kurt had said about the warblers seemed to just a bunch of lies. Not only they weren't uptight, they weren't egotistical, as he had told them many times.

Brody asked remembering one of Kurt's late night visit a month before, "One thing I don't get is why Kurt believes Blaine is in love with a man he met on vacation?"

"That would be my doing," Thad smugly rose his hand.

"And technically it's true," Santana supplied.

Rachel didn't understand, "Explain."

But before anybody could launch into the story, Blaine turned to her, "Rachel I know that he's your best friend but I don't want him to know just yet about all this. He hates Sebastian with a passion and I don't want him ruining anything before it's even started."

Brody said when he saw Rachel not responding promptly, "Of course Blaine, we're not going to say anything to him. Right, Rach?"

"But he's bound to find out pretty soon considering how Sebastian's comings and goings are reported," she pointed out.

"And we'll deal with that when that happens but don't tell him just yet. He's finally stopped stalking me, I want to keep the peace for as long as I can considering one can only imagine how he'll blow off when he'll find out his biggest nightmare has come true," Blaine told them.

Sophia who turned out to be Wes's girlfriend asked, "Why is Kurt even a topic of discussion? You two have been separated for over a year now and divorced for more than a half."

"Tell that to him. He's been stalking these guys and me; trying to talk and wanting to reconcile which I absolutely don't want." Blaine told the group considering not everybody knew what was going on. "So, Thad and Hunter fed him with a bogus story about how I've already moved on. I called him a few days ago to verify it and he agreed to stop harassing everyone."

Rachel was shocked to hear that. "I didn't know that he was being that bad. You should've told me, Blaine."

"Honestly I didn't think it would work and you guys are so close, I didn't want to put you in a position."

"Don't worry, I won't tell him cause it's not my place to tell," she told him.

Brody agreed too, "and neither will I."

"Thank you, both of you."

By the time night was ending, Brody and Rachel had mixed right in and new friendships had been forged. It was nice to find a chill group of people who weren't their 'work' friends and were the same age group as them. Rachel said as they stood out on the curb, "It was nice catching up with you Blaine and meeting all your new and old friends."

"Yeah, they seem like a cool bunch. Not how we were told they'd be," Brody added in.

Blaine was happy that while years later, his friends from both the schools had been able to hang out and have a great time together. "I'm glad you could judge them for yourselves and it was nice catching up with you two."

"So, are you going to his place?" Rachel asked.

"No, his family is in town. They're celebrating."

"Tomorrow then," she suggested.

Blaine told her, "He's off for a well-deserved vacation soon, but I'm sure we'll talk sooner than later."

"You do that and maybe someday we can have a double-date."

"I'll see what I can do," Blaine told her with a smile as they parted when Brody flagged down a cab.

Brody asked with a brow arched, "double date huh? That's a one-eighty from the tune you were singing before."

Rachel just shrugged, "What can I say, I had a change of heart. When we stepped out of our apartment earlier, the last thing I expected to have was a mini McKinley reunion. Tonight has been a revelation, on many fronts."

"And you haven't even met the man of the hour."

"I heard enough about him from various sources, I can give him a second chance based on that, at least for Blaine."

"You really miss Blaine, hm?" he asked gently seeing the changed in Rachel's face.

"I do. It broke my heart when he distanced himself from us over the years and then during their divorce, I just lost him. If I've to give Sebastian a second chance to have Blaine back in my life, I'll happily do it."

"So this isn't about Sebastian, it's about Blaine."

"Not completely. I don't know if you noticed it or not, Blaine looked genuinely happy and content for the first time in a long time. He looked a lot like the warbler that I first met. Happy, confident, and completely sure of himself. If Sebastian is the reason for it then, I'll try to be all for it. He can't be that bad, can he?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I just hope that Kurt doesn't ruin anything for Blaine when he finds out about them. I honestly didn't know that he was being that bad. Stalking, really?" Talking about Kurt was bringing up the pent up anger that she had been able to mask earlier. He had not only fed her countless lies, he had been manipulating her too.

"I know. We just need to try to be there for both of them in equal capacity so that you don't loose Blaine again because I don't think he's going to give up or ruin it with Sebastian this time at any cost."

"I agree," Rachel solemnly agreed.

While his friends were going back to their places after the lovely dinner, Sebastian was outside on his grandparents' terrace alone. All night he had been dissecting the events that had occurred earlier once he came down from the high of Blaine's confession and it had caught somebody's eyes.

"What are you doing out here all alone and before you lie, I noticed that you were in your own world during the whole dinner. So what's on your mind?" Odessa asked as she stepped out.

For the longest time, he didn't reply waiting for her to take a hint that he didn't feel like talking and leave but all Sebastian got in return was an eyebrow raised and a hand on the hip from her.

"Blaine told me that he loves me." If there weren't a silence around them, she wouldn't have heard him.

"Why do you sound so surprised? Or… like you don't believe him."

Sebastian grunted as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "I don't know what to believe right now or even to do next… never mind. Let's go inside."

"No, we need to talk before you go and ruin a good thing."

"D please, not here," Sebastian almost pleaded.

But Odessa wasn't having it, she ordered, "No right here; talk, now."

For a moment she thought Sebastian would leave as he paced a couple of times but it looked like he had been getting his thoughts in order as he told her all that was going through his mind, "… and everything just feels so redundant now. What was the point of these last six years when we could've gotten to the same place a lot easier back then?"

She had to take some time to think her answer. "You're not the same people you were before, maybe that's the point. Maybe that Blaine wasn't right for that Sebastian but the present one is."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"I'm not but you have a chance to find that out. And it's not like you don't love him. We both know that you never really stopped loving him." Odessa pointed out. While she could've helped Sebastian to sort out what was going on in his mind but she believed it was his journey to make so she left after giving him the final advice. "Talk, fight, but at least resolve whatever that is going in your head before you dissect everything to death. And if it's worth it, take a leap."

It was well past midnight when Blaine's phone chimed with an incoming message, which turned out to be from Sebastian. Are you sleeping? – It read which brought a smile on his face, as he replied- no, not yet :) What up? There was an immediate reply.

Sebastian: I'm at your building

It was a surprise but a welcome one. He quickly sent a reply saying he was coming down, as he got dressed before quietly locking up without waking anybody else sleeping in the apartment. When he got down, there was a car waiting at the curb and he knocked on the window.

Blaine said when the window was rolled down, "Hey Bas, wanna come…?" But there was something he saw in Sebastian's expression that made Blaine's heart fall to his stomach and stop mid-sentence.

"You've changed your mind," he noted.