Here's what you missed on Glee: Will and Emma decided to try for a baby, which is totally exciting for them. Blaine has his NYADA audition, which is totally nerve wrecking for him. Sam and Mercedes always go to prom together, which is super romantic for them. And Kurt decided to fool Blaine into thinking he wasn't going to make it back to Ohio for his audition, which is kinda surprising of him.

Chapter 8

"Prom week is upon us," said Will as he walked into the kitchen to see his wife making the two of them lunch.

"It is always a fun one."

"I must say I am sort of happy it has come now. If I say the words 'set list' in glee as much this week as I did last then, I almost certain that I am going to go mad."

"It is the big run up."

"There is more pressure this year after we did so well last year - "

"So well - you won!" Emma laughed, for the first time that day.

"Exactly. Babe, are you ok, you seem a little off - " he told her as he put his arms about her.

"Mmm," she nodded before she looked up at him. "I - my monthly turned up right on time today, that's all," she admitted.

"Emma, we have been married for two weeks. Sweetie, I know we are trying to have a baby but I think the two of us are going to have it a little time," she nodded.

"I know, I know," she nodded before meeting his eyes. " But you know me - when I make a plan I just want to get on with it and make it happen and - I just want to know it is going to happen."

She bite her lip and suddenly feared she was saying too much. She did not want to go all Terri on him.

Will put his arms about her and held his wife closer. "It is going to happen for the two of us and you are going to be the most wonderful mother. But we are going to need a little more time."

"Really? The way we have been going at it?"

He laughed. "It just means the two of us are going to go at it a bit longer."

She got the look in her eye when he loved. "Sounds like fun."

X x x

"Do you kind of feel like the two of us have done nothing but come home this year?" laughed Mike as he and Mercedes walked back into McKinley to get on with their jobs for the next month.

Chorography and vocals.

With Mercedes having laid down all her tracks and completed her reshoot and Mike's exams being done, they were finally all Ohio's again for a while. And by the two of them, that was just fine.

After all, home was where the heart was.

"Yes - pretty much," she had to admit as she laughed.

But then, that was something she liked. Of course, she could not say for sure but she did not think there had been a single Cheerio from the year before who had come back to help out as loyally as the members of glee club had. There were so many extra circulars who said there team's mates were like a family. But if there was a single club who had proved that to be the case then it was the glee club.

And the choir room was their home...

Walking round the only too familiar path, they arrived just before it was time for class.

"What are you doing here, dude?" Mike asked, as he saw the only one in the classroom so far was, of all people, Noah Puckerman. The boy who had in the end been desperate for graduation had come back too.

"I am here to do what the two of you are trying to do. Whip this glee club into shape for Nationals."

"You're mentoring?"

"What he is doing is trying to get into the pants of Lauren Zizes - unsuccessfully," added Jake as he walked into the room, went up to Mercedes and embraced her before greeting Mike.

"So far - but I am going to do it. The King Puckfasa is going to get his lioness, just see if I don't," he told the four of them who laughed gently.

"Well, she is putting up a good fight so far," Jake teased.

"Whatever. You here to get these guys up to speed with their moves, I take it?"

"That is the reason I am always here," laughed Mike.

And he worked them hard when the kids in glee did turn up. The limited time schedule meant that going easy on them was just not an option. But as Mr. Schue pointed out, they also had to work on the numbers they were going to be doing for prom. And so half way through the meeting, there was a shift in focus.

"I was thinking that the girls are going to do a number, and of course the boys," he said with a smile. For the past two years, part of the high light of prom for him had been when the boys had done their songs. It was fun to see them getting up on that stage of their own and doing their thing. It seemed to Will like the only night the male members of glee club could just have fun as a team. There was no rivalry or competition to think of. For that singular night a year, the rest of the student body had always decided that they were cool, even before glee's stigma had lessened somewhat.

"So, for today, I think it is a good idea if we give ourselves a bit of a break from all the Nationals, Nationals, Nationals talk that is going around. I have got a book of Disney sheet music here so you can all figure out what song you want to sing. Mike, for you, there is the sheet -"

"Mr Schue, it's a Disney week - let me get in on that. I can do more of the dance stuff tomorrow - please?"

Everyone, but Tina loudest of all, laughed at his comment. He was exactly the same boy in that moment who had confessed to her his love of dinosaurs and that was incredibly endearing. She was thoroughly able to see his point though. Quite frankly, it surprised her that they had waited so long to have a Disney week. She was only glad he was there to enjoy it so much.

There was no doubt in her mind some of the graduates were going to be sorry they did not get a chance to participate.

Will nodded gracefully. "Of course, you can Mike."

"Yes!" he smiled as he headed over to the piano with the other boys.

"This is just a hunch," Blaine muttered to Tina as he hung back. "But I think he thinks he is going to be at prom on Friday with you."

"That's because he is."

X x x

The high which was brought on by the thought of having a Disney week was soon balanced out for the glee club the next day when they arrived at the most dreaded part of gearing up for any competition.

Booty Camp.

Finn chose to stand on the side lines.

Mike, Mr Schue and Puckerman senior were leading the group, but without Brittany, it was clear that dancing was going to be more of a challenge for them that it had been before.

"I knew we were going to miss her when she went," Kitty admitted. "But I do not know just how much."

"Brittany is off at MIT pursuing her own dreams, guys - though one of those was to see us get to another Nationals competition. So let's do it for her!" Will tried to encourage the club.

But by the end session the only thing they were all able to agree on was it was a good thing they had near a month left.

They needed it.

"Mr Schue, is it ok if I skip tomorrow? I know we have a lot to do -"

"Blaine, right now, I know NYADA has to come first. How long to go?"

"Forty three hours."

Until the biggest day of his life.

"You are going to ace it, do not sweat," he tried to reassure him. But Blaine could not help but not be so sure...

The nearer he got to it the more he was able to feel the nerves build inside of him. The texts had already begun to arrive from his friends to wish him luck.

Trent, he knew, was still in contact with many at Dalton - no doubt that was how Nick and Jeff heard, and in turn he had heard from the two of them. No matter what, after everything, he knew he had some friends still at Dalton too. That, at least, felt good.

He picked up his bag and left the room, departing before the majority of the others. Practice was glee was over, but the day was not. He still had work to do.

As the senior left the room, Kitty went over to where Jake was standing with Marley.

"I take it you have heard the two of us are tying first place for prom king and queen with McKenzie and Steve," she said to Jake, smiling at Marley as she did so.

"That's great news. The two of you are going to be a great king and queen," Marley said to the two of them.

"Well, my gown is going to be blue so you had better match me. I'll bring in a swatch so you can pick a tie - or I will just go and get you one. You're a lucky girl, Marley - he is everything a prince charming should be."

"And I am a lucky girl to be his princess," she sighed as she embraced him.

"Well, you just remember that I am going to be his Queen come Friday night."

"For three minutes when we are having our first dance. And then I am going to be yours," Jake reminded Marley.

"I know - I know," Kitty said as she backed off.

"Do you have a date for the prom yet?" Marley questioned.

"Please, I had a date for prom the first day of school," She said as she left the auditorium.

"She totally does not have a date yet."

"I know."

X x x

"The only thought that is getting me through right now is the idea that I am going to get you to see you in two days. God, I can't wait." Blaine said as he sat down on the bed.

"Well, I am nearly all packed up," Kurt smiled through the laptop screen. "I have my last exam in the morning and then the two of us are going to be one another's for the rest of the summer."

"Are you all ready for the exam?"

"I have revising all week and if I am not ready now then I do not think I am ever going to be," Kurt shrugged.

"That's a good way to see it I guess."

"And that's the way you have to see this audition - god, I can't wait to hold you," Kurt said as they looked at one another's eyes. To be fair they were trying not to get carried away in the emotion of it all. They were trying to talk about NAYDA and exams...

But it was all coming back to the fact that after one wonderful night together in which they had not even managed to go... all the way - they had been separated.

Even after they had said that they were not going to be apart again. It was in its own way torturous.

"Me too," he sighed.

"Somehow it is worse knowing we are so close to the end of the week."

"Two days, Kurt. Two days."

X x x

"So, you ready to get your Pocahontas on with me on Friday night?" asked Sam as he put his arm round Mercedes.

"Ok, I do not know if you noticed but I am an African American woman, not a Native American woman."

"And I do not know if you noticed but one, I am the perfect John Smith, two, prom is sort of our thing, and three, neither of us believe in type casting, and four, in your words, I am crazy."

Mercedes turned to Sam and tried to be angry with him. But somehow she had never quiet managed to be. Even when the two of them were not together, they were tight. Ever since that summer it had been an unspoken pact that the two of them were always going to be there for each other.

"I always knew you were but this is a whole new level," she said as she shook her head and went on her way.

"But you are going to come with me, aren't you?" he asked as she walked down the corridor.

"You are going to have to wait and see."

"For what it is worth, I do not want to go with anyone else," he called out after her hoping it was going to get him a few brownie points.

"Well, you better hope I am feeling generous."

Later that evening, Mercedes was still on Sam's mind. With Finn out, there were only two people he could talk to about it.

"You know going to prom with Mercedes has always been - it's just the way it is - " said Sam as he sat down at the dinner table.

He loved his mom and his dad. The two of them were so brave for all they had been through. But to say he had not got to be close with Burt and Carole in the time he had been with them would be a lie. He had - they had given him a chance to return to school, to his friends, to being a teenager. Sam Evans was grateful for that and he was always going to be.

"I was not sure you were even going to want to go with Brittany just having gone," Carole said as she set the table.

"Neither was I - but me and Mercedes - I know the two of us are not going to end up together, but you know, there is always going to be... this is the last time the two of us can go to prom... it's, like, an unwritten rule we go together."

He did not know if she was just playing hard to get and teasing him, which there seemed to be a lot of going around what with Noah and Lauren or if she genuinely was not going to go with him. The one thing she had definitely not said to him yet, was 'yes.'

From across the table, Burt ran a hand down his face. Rapidly, the topic of teen romance was going up his pet peeves list, right up there next to Carole's unhealthy obsession with soap operas.

And he was so glad he had rushed back from DC for it... not.

"She is going to go with you, do not even sweat it," he said as he looked at the clock, wanting an end to the conversation... and to reassure the boy. He was not completely heartless.

Carole asked, seeing him looking at the time. "How long until the flight lands now?"

"A couple of hours. I got a call from LeRoy saying that as he had to go and get Rachel he might as well pick up and drop Kurt back here -"

"One minute, I thought he was not going to be back until the morning," said Sam as his surrogate father got up to go and have a shower.

"As long as that is what Blaine believes then that is all that matters to Kurt."

"Oh, he has brought it hook line and sinker."

X x x

"Of all nights for your lap top to break, I cannot believe it is tonight. I so want to see you."

"And in just under twenty four hours, you are going to. Just think by this time tomorrow night, the two of us are going to be in one another's arms and getting our Disney on," said Kurt as Rachel and he sat at Lima airport waiting for her dad to come and get the two of them.

Out of the corner of his eye he was able to see his best friend shaking her head.

He did feel a little cruel, but not so bad that he stopped.

"It seems like a dream. I cannot wait."

"When you wish upon a star, hey?"

"Something like that," Blaine agreed.

"Right go and get into bed," Kurt ordered at last. If the two of them stayed on the phone a lot longer then his desire to go straight to Blaine's was going to overcome him and he was going to spill the beans - and that was not going to be good for anyone, he reasoned.

It certainly was not going to get both of them back to NY come September.

"Is this one of those appropriate moments for me to say I wish you were going to be getting into bed with me?"

"Yes."

"Well, I do... I love you."

"Honey - you know I love you too. And I am going to be so damn proud of you, when you wow Carmen tomorrow."

There was no other option - not only because Blaine was too brilliant for it to go any other way... but because it was easiest way for the two of them to be together.

They would always find a way. But this was the easiest... and the best.

Blaine belonged at NAYDA.

"We'll see. See you tomorrow then."

"Not if I see you first."

Kurt hang up.

"And there was me thinking you were going to cave and put him out his misery."

"How little you know me, Berry."

Before Kurt knew it he was sitting in the back of LeRoy's car. To see Rachel reunite with her father had been a beautiful thing. In spite of the fact both of her fathers had been to the apartment and visited New York that year, it just had not been the same. Very much like he was close to his own father, she was a daddy's girl of the first degree.

His reunion with his own father, who had also been through the airport that day on his way back from Washington, was just as joyous if a little less enthusiastic.

Eleven was nearing and both Hummel's were feeling the strain of the week. With Kurt home for his first real prolonged stay since he had left for New York in the fall, there was no need for them to catch up on everything that night, though Burt was naturally eager to hear how his sons exams had gone.

Still, it did not change the fact that the two of them were soon heading up the stairs.

"Night, kid. It is good to have you home son," said Burt clapping his only child on the back before the two shared an embrace.

"Good to be back."

There had been a time in his life when he had thought he was never going to be able to say it was good to be in Ohio... and it was never going to be his favourite place in the world.

But sometimes you did not get to chose where your home was.

And as long as this was state where his father and the man he was loved resided - what else could it be but home?

X x x

Kurt snuck in and sat in the darkest place of the auditorium, five minutes before Blaine was due to go on. A conversation with Sam that morning had convinced him that while Blaine was going to be thrilled to have him home sooner than he had thought he was going too, it was not quite fair to spring in on him before he auditioned.

He was going to have been trying to get himself in to the right head space for days. The one thing he did not need was anything to throw him off of his game that late into preparation.

And so Kurt was just going to have to wait for his moment.

Placing the bouquet of yellow and red roses at his feet, he sat back and put his hands over his twitching stomach... he could not remember exactly, but he was pretty sure he was just as nervous this time last year when it had been his turn to go on to that stage.

He shut his eyes, and prayed to whoever or whatever was out there that Blaine had chosen a song that was both a risk and exposed his soul.

That was the only way he was going to get into the school of his dreams for sure.

"Come on," he whispered encouragingly even though there is no one yet on the stage.

He kept his silence even when Carmen came into the room. The last thing he needed was for her to give away his hiding spot. Kurt used her as a distraction. He watched as she removed her coat, as she spread her fills across the desk and then as she leant towards the microphone.

This is not a woman to be kept waiting.

"Blaine Anderson."

X x x

That morning, before Kurt left for McKinley, he text Blaine one word only: courage.

X x x

Blaine put his hands together as he prepared himself for the coming audition. Covering his face, he breathed in and out. In and out.

"You have got this," Sam said to him from his side. The two of them were brothers from another mother and there had been no way he was about to let him go through this on his own. Of course Blaine was not going to be on his own - his biggest fan was at the back of the auditorium ready to spring when he had finished his song.

But he had needed a pep talk to begin with. That job had fallen to Sam .

"I know - and I have gone over and over this so many times - and I have sung so many auditions but - just none of them have meant as much as this one does."

"I know, but listen to me, cause I am going to say it again: you have got this."

The two of them smiled at one another - Sam was saying it as fact. It was there for Blaine, all of it: New York, Kurt, NYADA.

The only thing he had to do now was allow himself to reach out and take it.

"Blaine Anderson!"

And that was just what it was time to go.

"Go get her, tiger!" Sam said with greater confidence then Blaine felt as he clapped his best bro on the back.

As soon as Blaine turned his back, the blonde took in a deep breath. His best friend was fantastic and this was what he had been born to do. Sam believed that. But that was exactly what they had all been saying about one Miss Rachel Berry the year before had and there was no need to recall the way they had turned out.

Sam waited in the wings.

"My name is Blaine Anderson, and today, I will be singing 'If She Can't Love Me,' from Beauty and the Beast."

X x x

It was not an obvious choice, he hoped as he turned his back and prepared to begin. There was not a 'she' or a 'her' in the world he could love...

But it did not change the message of the song. Not to him.

And in my twisted face
There's not the slightest trace
Of anything that even hints of kindness

Blaine felt the nerves inside of him fade as he opened his mouth... because he was not looking at Carman half way up the auditorium.

He was looking at the front of it, where he was imaging his boyfriend sitting, willing him on desperately, but also keeping him calm. Because at the end of the day, it was all going to be ok. They were going to be together. And soon he was not going to have to imagine Kurt - because he was going to be there with him in the flesh.

He was on the plane flying home as he sung his heart out.

And from my tortured shape
No comfort, no escape
I see, but deep within is utter blindness
Hopeless

The lyrics were mocking him now. He had picked this song when he had been near his lowest. When he had accepted he was not going to be walking down the aisle with the man he loved any time soon. When he had almost resigned himself to a life without Kurt - because after everything he had done - after every foolish decision he had made, how on earth was he meant to go on loving him? He knew he had no right to expect that of Kurt.

As my dream dies
As the time flies
Love a lost illusion
Helpless
Unforgiven
Cold and driven
To this sad conclusion

Four weeks ago he knew he would have been able to make this a lot more convincing. He was living the words... But there was a way to turn this on its head, and that was why he had chosen to stay with the song. Because he could if he had to tap into what he had been feeling. But no longer were those emotions all consuming. He suddenly felt able to share what he had felt.

No beauty could move me
No goodness improve me
No power on earth, if I can't love her
No passion could reach me
No lesson could teach me
How I could have love her and made her love me too
If I can't love her, then who?

Having made sure to act out the words, moving around the stage both tentatively and awkwardly at the same time he looked out into the audience. And there he was at the front. His own imagery Kurt.

Cheering him on and nodding - he seemed to be telling him that they were going to get to New York. That he was doing everything right to secure the future the two of them so desperately wanted.

Long ago I should have seen
All the things I could have been
Careless and unthinking, I moved onward

He had known he was going to be good - Kurt had known he was going to put everything he had into the performance. And knowing himself as he did, he had brought tissues. But the truth was as Blaine built towards the end of the performance; Kurt was nothing short of an utter mess. The words seemed to speak to him.

Yes, Blaine had cheated. Yes, he had (hopefully for one night only) been an idiot for what he had done. But he had chosen to forgive him. And now that song seemed to be about the loneliness the both of them had felt.

If the two of them were incapable of loving each other as they should be loved, then what was the point? What was the point to any of it?

A proud smile plastered itself on his face, as tears cascaded on to his cheeks.

God, Satan, Oprah and Obama all knew Blaine had this in the bag.

No pain could be deeper
No life could be cheaper
No point anymore, if I can't love her
No spirit could win me
No hope left within me
Hope I could have loved her and that she'd set me free
But it's not to be
If I can't love her
Let the world be done with me.

Having held the final note as long as he was able to, Blaine then looked down at the floor and held his body as ridged as he could. His breathing, which had been steady and controlled throughout his performance, seemed to catch up with him then.

After all the worrying - all the stress of getting ready for it, his NYADA audition was all but over. That was it. He could do no more.

He looked up to see Ms Tibideaux looking at him over her glasses.

"That was quite something, Mr Anderson," she said to him with a nod - then he recognised the phrase for what it was.

A dismissal.

He nodded. "Thank you so much for your time."

She gave another nod and he walked off stage calmly - until he was sure that she was not going to be able to see him - then he all but flew into Sam's waiting arms.

"Was that ok?"

"Dude, are you kidding me? That was some kind of epic!"

"You mean it, I - I didn't screw up?"

Maybe it was the adrenaline, but now he was off stage he found he was not even able to remember half of the performance. He only knew he had done it.

"No - not even a little bit," he said as the two of them embraced. Looking passed Blaine, Sam's smile got bigger. "There is someone here to congratulate you - which is my cue to go, cause things are about to get all M rated and I just don't need to see that."

Stepping back, Sam grabbed his bag. "See you later dude."

Completely confused, Blaine watched as Sam left the room and then turned.

And then sighed.

And then felt his knees go weak.

Because there, in all his glory, with a bouquet of their flowers in his hand, was one Mr Kurt Hummel.

And he was not imaginary.

For just a moment, there was a moment of perfect silence. They just smiled.

"You're home," Blaine started laughing.

Kurt nodded.

"And you saw all that."

He nodded again.

"There are some things in this world I miss... but your audition for NYADA is not one of them. You were incredible - in fact, I've never seen you so good."

Enough. Enough with the distance thought Blaine.

All but running to the elder boy, Blaine took the flowers from his hands and replaced them with himself in Kurt's arms, burying his face in Kurt's neck.

Immediately, hands strayed and lips met in a desperate union of longing.

"I can't believe you're here," Blaine said between kisses.

"Believe it, honey. I'm home. And your mine and I'm yours." With that, Kurt swept Blaine off of his feet and spun him around, the two of them laughing ecstatically as they did so.

"You were amazing!"

"One minute, one minute - last night - your computer."

"I couldn't skype you from Lima airport," shrugged Kurt.

"I hate you."

"You absolutely love me," Kurt corrected him as the two of them stayed locked in one another's arms.

Shaking his head, everything clicked into place for Blaine.

"I'm such an idiot. You got me good."

Cupping the face of the boy he loved, Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine's before drawing back and raising his eye brow.

"Best surprise ever though, right?"

"Right."

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