The next day, Kurt had gone back home to spend some time with his Dad. But it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was just being humored by his family during breakfast as they kept checking the time. He sighed loudly.

"Go on, I know you're busy."

"Sorry Kurt," said Finn apologetically. "But we are on a bit of a tight schedule."

His Dad just shrugged and smiled. He kissed Kurt on top of the head. The countertenor grumbled.

"It'll be worth it, you'll see," said Burt.

Carole, Burt, and Finn then left together, leaving Kurt and Juliet sitting at the kitchen table. Juliet was drinking coffee and discussing dresses with Kurt when Rachel let herself in.

"Juliet! Hi," said Rachel, taking off her scarf. She hung her jacket over the top of it and came up beside Kurt, kissing him on the cheek.

The red headed girl chuckled. "It's alright, you can kiss him more if you want."

"I'd love to, but we need to hurry if we're going to do what we're going to do first Kurt."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

Kurt winced and opened one eye. "Sneaking into McKinley?"

Juliet laughed. "Of course." She took a sip of her coffee.

"You mean, you approve?"

"Kurt," said Juliet. "It's your wedding and your friends. I'd freak out too if they tried to spring this on me."

"Then you'll help us?"

"Of course."

Rachel clapped her hands. "Perfect. We have an armored body guard. They wouldn't kill Juliet. Then we can offer our services, and—"

"But my services come at a price. I need help," she admitted. "I didn't exactly bring um, wedding appropriate clothes."

"I told her we could go shopping," said Kurt. "That's not a problem. With Juliet's coloring she can pull off most anything."

Juliet sighed. "Hopefully you can help me find something in black and white. Oh wait. The guys are in black and white. The girls are in pink and gre… Oh crap."

Kurt's eye twitched. "Pink and green?"

Juliet banged her head on the table.

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," said Rachel, sliding into a seat beside her. "I can understand black and white because uh, most of the guys will be wearing tuxedos. But pink and green doesn't match…" She looked back at Kurt, who was giving her a strange look with one hand on his hip. "You know."

"Yeah," said Juliet, stealing a glance at the door, like she was afraid Finn was going to walk in any minute. "They're not going to use those."

Rachel squealed, and put a hand over her mouth.

"Well, that... explains some things."

Kurt muttered and put his head on his arms on his lap.

"So what are we going to wear?"

"I... I couldn't tell you," said Juliet. "Quinn and Mercedes are holding that information hostage."

Rachel frowned, looking back at Kurt. She turned and smiled at Juliet.

"Well, thank you for what knowledge you have given us. Anything else that you'd like to speak now or forever hold your peace?"

Juliet bit her lip. She glanced at the door.

"It's... it's a theme wedding."

Rachel blinked a couple of times, letting the knowledge soak in.

"Okay, theme wedding. I guess… I guess I can see that." Rachel refused to look backwards because she already could feel Kurt panicking behind her. She patted his knee reassuringly.

"What theme?" asked Kurt hesitantly.

Juliet dropped her head. "If I say anymore, I'm pretty sure Quinn would show up and kick my ass. But I will give you a hint. It's something the club remembers the most about you two. And your trip to the Show Choir Nationals in New York."

Rachel turned around and looked at Kurt when she heard him scream into his scarf. He was holding the cream and light blue garment over his face.

"I know what it is. And lord help me, I'm going to kick Mercedes."

"What do you mean?" asked Rachel, confused.

"Think Rachel. What does the club remember us most for? The diva-off. Our trip to New York? We snuck off and went to the Gershwin theatre. Pink and green?"

Rachel gasped loudly, shock registering across her face.

"You've got to be kidding me. Kurt..."

"Oh yeah," said Kurt sarcastically. "They're doing Wicked."

Rachel scoffed. "There's no way. They wouldn't do that, would they? I mean, how…"

"Wouldn't they?" said Kurt, crossing his arms. "I'm sure most wedding supply and such are all sourced out for the holidays, but costume and prop places probably are not. And there are a couple of good ones in Cleveland. You know the decorations we got for Coach Sylvester's sister's funeral?"

"Oh god," said Rachel, putting her hand over her mouth as she thought about it. "You're right Kurt. Why hadn't we thought of that? We..."

"Yeah," said Kurt with a sigh. He readjusted his scarf over the fuzzy light blue sweater he wore. The v-neck was low enough that she could see the cream colored long sleeved pinstripe dress shirt and his necklace shining underneath. She reached over and tugged lightly on the chain so she could see Kurt's rings. He smiled at his wife, a thought passing between them.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"It's too obvious."

"It is."

Juliet's eyes went wide when they turned on her.

"Nice try."

"Nice try what?"

"We know our friends," said Rachel, crossing her arms. "They know literally next to nothing about Wicked. They'd need help if they were doing a Wicked theme. And it begs the question... who would be helping them if it was true?"

"That's not entirely true," said Kurt. "Quinn AND Tina saw it when it was touring—"

Rachel held up a finger. "Don't ruin my logic."

Juliet sighed. "Yes, I am fond of it. I own the novels, saw the musical about four times, and love Baum's original works. Finn and mine's first date was to see The Great and Powerful Oz. Happy?"

"Much," grinned Rachel. "I knew I liked you."

"Then you can marry her," said Kurt, getting off the kitchen stool he was sitting on and going over to Juliet. "I approve. She's cute."

"I think Finn might disapprove."

"Eh, he'll live."

"So, dress shopping?" stated Juliet, trying to change subjects.

"I"m thinking emerald green," said Kurt, rubbing his chin and pondering.

"Speaking of which," said Rachel, turning on her husband. "IF they were doing a Wicked theme, who would we be?"

"Who else?" said Kurt with a shrug. "Elphaba and Fiyero."

Rachel frowned. "I do hope I won't be dressed in black."

"Hello? Scarecrow?"

"Straw is itchy," giggled Rachel. "And I like your brain the perfect shape it's in."

"Alright, let's go," laughed Kurt. "We're over thinking things Rachel. There's no way they'd ever be able to pull that off for a wedding in three days. We'll go help Juliet pick out a dress and then later we'll see that they're doing something completely normal."

"You hope."

Kurt ignored the statement and pulled on his white overcoat before moving to help Rachel with hers. She adjusted his collar with a smile.

"You would be a cute Fiyero."

"At least in the end, we run away together."

Rachel laughed. "We did make it out of Oz." She took Kurt's hand and they walked out of the house. Neither one of them noticed Juliet texting.

They really are scary observant. Back on track. Will keep you posted. - J

Quinn felt her phone vibrate and she took it out and read the message. She gave a thumbs up to Mercedes as she picked up a can of paint to move it out of the way. While it was true they had abandoned McKinley for the actual wedding, they still needed it to work on things. They just had to work cleanly and orderly or Figgins would have all their heads, or at least their wallets. She dialed Santana, who was at their new location.

"Yo Q, what's up?"

"Plan is a go."

"So why are you calling me instead of Finn? By the way, where do you want all this sheer grey fabric? Because there's a fuck ton of this stuff."

"It wraps around the archway and a couple of other things. Did Mike get the fairy lights for me?"

"Little gold twinkling lights?"

"That would be them, yes."

"There's a crap load of boxes, so yeah."

"Good," said Quinn, moving the phone to her other ear. "I can start working on that once we finish here."

"What are all the lights and everything for anyways?"

Quinn smiled. "You'll see. You and Brittany and Mercedes are helping me."

"You're really getting into this, aren't you?"

The blonde haired girl smiled and admired her work. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for happy endings."

Santana scoffed and hung up.

"Looks great Quinn," said Sam as he came up beside her. "I would have never thought of doing fake apples like that."

Quinn picked up one that had already dried. It glimmered softly with the silver glitter covering the surface. The scrolls of paper to attach to their sides were ready to write the names of the guests.

"They're placeholders," said Quinn with a smile. She looked over to Tina, who was practicing her calligraphy on a "KRH" on the side of a book. Written on the front was "Our Fairy Tale."

"They'll never know what hit them," said the Asian girl with a smirk.

"Exactly," laughed Quinn. "It's a challenge, but I think we're going to make it."

Sam grinned. "Of course, we're a team. But don't you think Finn should be here helping with all the grunt work? I mean this is all his fault for suggesting it."

"Yes it is," said Tina, laying down the book. "But I get to practice calligraphy, so it's not such a bad thing."

"You're really good at it," said Quinn in approval. "You know, we could start our own wedding planning business."

"Ugh, but Bridezillas?" said Tina, wrinkling her nose. Quinn laughed.

"Alright, who ordered like a bazillion candles?" asked Puck with a huff. "There's like 30 boxes on the back of my truck."

"Perfect," said Quinn. "We can get the luminaries set up along with aisle runner. That'd be one thing down." She wiped her hands on a towel. "I still have to do the petals."

"I think Sugar's doing those actually," said Tina. "She had a big box of glitter and the petals and went outside."

"Good," said Quinn, nodding.

"Okay, can I just get everyone to stop and think a moment. We're planning a fairy tale wedding for Rachel. With Kurt. The Hobbit and Ladyface. I mean really," said Santana, coming up beside them.

Everybody shrugged.

"I mean, it is kind of fun," admitted Sam. "I got to play in the school shop building stuff."

"And I like calligraphy and decorating," said Tina.

"Besides," said Quinn. "How many of us have been planning since our junior year to get Kurt to do their future wedding?"

Almost everyone raised their hand, even Santana. Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Brittany wants him to."

"So we can all think of this as paying it forward," said Quinn. She turned and looked at Santana. "What are you doing here anyways? I thought you were at the gardens when I called you."

"Eh, I was in the car. We need Artie to come set up the sound system," said Santana. "Brittany went over to get him."

"Technology boy at your service," bowed Artie as he wheeled up with Brittany at his side. "But I would have expected the Botanical Gardens would have had their own set up."

"Not in our area," said Quinn. "It's meant to be a relaxing space with the trees and roses and simplicity."

"I'm just glad it's enclosed," said Brittany with a shiver. "It's cold outside."

"Yeah, the photographer's going to have fun framing those photos to not get the snow," said Quinn.

"We have a photographer?" asked Sam. "Since when?"

"Ask Burt Hummel," said Tina working on her next book and not looking up. "Man can work miracles."

"Speaking of working miracles," sighed Quinn. "Back to work everyone."

With a groan, they all complied. Quinn picked up her next apple. Her phone went off, and she laughed when she saw the number and starting walking away from everyone.

"Hi Shelby. Yeah, I called. I was wondering if you and Beth would be free for something. I know it's short notice, but..."

"You know," said Kurt, nibbling on a pretzel as they walked through the mall. "They haven't even asked us anything about the wedding party and who we'd want to be in it."

Rachel looked up from her fruit smoothie. "You know, you're right." She looked off into the distance, thinking. "I mean they can't really make mistakes. We love them all."

Kurt took Rachel's smoothie and she grabbed a bite of his pretzel. "I mean, changes could be made later I suppose."

Juliet smiled to herself and held her dress tighter. It was cute really, watching them debate things they had no clue about. She got a text from Quinn.

Blaine's coming to relieve you. I need your help. Finn will be waiting out front. - Q

"Oh hey Blaine!" said Rachel with a wave. She glared at Kurt as the dark haired boy approached the trio.

"Fancy meeting you here," said Kurt. "You buying clothes too? We just got Juliet's dress, which might I say, is spectacular."

"Oh no, my clothes are fine," he said, smoothing his hair. "Shopping list for Quinn."

"Oooh," said Rachel, diving for the large bag in his hand. Blaine pulled it out of the way before she could grab it.

"I'm afraid not," he said with a sad smile. "You can see it tomorrow."

Rachel rolled her eyes upward with a groan. "Of course."

"Wait, tomorrow?" said Kurt with a frown. "For some reason I thought Finn said something about the 28th this morning."

"No, it's tomorrow," said Blaine, rubbing his cheek and feeling paint flick off with a frown. "I can tell you no more than that."

"Wait, you're in jeans," said Kurt. "And a hooded sweatshirt. You rarely ever do this casual." He gasped. "I see paint splotches. Have you been painting Blaine Anderson?"

"Oh, no," he said, obviously lying. "These are just old clothes."

"For painting," sniffed Rachel. "Why do you smell like pumpkin?"

Blaine squeaked and smelled of his sweatshirt. He did smell like pumpkin. Some of the carriage they had made for the table setting must have worn off on him.

"Mom made some pumpkin pies," said Blaine with a shrug. "The smell must have gotten on me."

"Oh," said Rachel. She looked around.

"Wait, where's Juliet?"

Kurt and Rachel looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. They turned back to Blaine who was looking at them with an innocent smile. Rachel's eyes narrowed.

"She was just a decoy, wasn't she?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said the black haired boy, leaning his head to the side.

"Blaine," said Kurt. "Quinn and Finn are keeping tabs on us, aren't they? That's why he asked me if we could keep an eye on Juliet. She was keeping an eye on us. The sneaky, underhanded..."

"Basically... yes."

Rachel laughed, looking at Kurt. "Our friends are priceless."

"That's because they're not worth anything to anyone else," muttered Kurt.

"Oh I don't know," said Blaine. He motioned to a table, and they all three sat down in the food court. "I think we've all been a little busy in the world for a reason. We might be worth a little something," he said with a smile and slung the bag across the back of his chair away from Rachel's grabby hands.

"And you two are important to a lot of people in about three different locations, getting ready for a pretty big event tomorrow."

"Three locations?"

Blaine typed a quick message on his phone. "Yes. Maybe more if you count catering, cake and such."

Kurt and Rachel shared a quick glance.

"They really went all out, didn't they?"

"Well, they had a little help from your parents," said Blaine. "But yeah, it's after Christmas. Not exactly wedding season."

Rachel laid her head on Kurt's shoulder, and took his hand.

"Remember when we had this all figured out?"

"That was about four days ago when we stepped off the plane, yes."

"I think I like this one better."

Blaine smiled softly and changed the subject. "Anyone up for lunch? I'm kind of hungry, actually."

"Is it really a Wicked theme?" blurted out Kurt.

"I know nothing about themes," said Blaine, humoring Kurt. "Nor do I give out any details. Did Juliet say something?"

"No," said Rachel. "Just... a hunch."

"Huh," said Blaine. "Interesting... hunch." He stood and grabbed his bag as he saw Rachel reaching her arm around him for it.

"Hey!" said Mercedes, walking up to the three of them and giving Kurt a hug. "Did you two have a good Christmas?"

"Very good," smiled Rachel. She noticed Kurt staring at Blaine's hands. She bumped his hip.

"It was fine. Just fine," he said quickly. "Lunch?"

Mercedes shot Blaine a 'you owe me' look as she launched into telling the three what she had gotten for Christmas.

"Ugh, I should have known we couldn't trust Blaine honesty-is-my-middle-name Anderson. He'd tell anything to Kurt in a heartbeat," sighed Santana. She tossed Quinn back her phone. "I sent Mercedes to the rescue. She was nearby. They're going to lunch."

"It works," said Quinn, hand painting details on a silver mirror.

"Damn woman," said Santana, nodded her approval. "That really looks like ivy."

Quinn smiled and nodded her thanks.

"I think it's better they go to lunch. We have a lot of stuff we need to move out of the school since it's finished that doesn't need to be seen. Then Mr. Schue can lock up afterwards."

"Are we nearly that close to being done?"

Quinn nodded. "Anything else we see that needs to be done we can paint or fix in my basement."

Tina wiped her forehead, which was now covered in eight different colors of paint. "I think we may just pull this off."

"If Puck and Mike get that wall installed, I'd be happier and more confident," said Quinn.

"That was a brilliant idea as a backdrop," added Tina. "I love it."

"Luckily we got all those unused books for pennies," smiled Quinn. "You did some haggling."

"Didn't help that you kept turning around and showing off your 'assets'," said Tina with a giggle.

Quinn laughed out loud. "So what's why we got a good deal. I see."

Tina chuckled and went back to her work.

"Why did we never hang out?" asked Quinn. "You are so super nice."

"I don't know," said the Asian girl with a shrug. "It just never came up." She frowned. "As much as I love Mike, I'm beginning to think I really did spend too much time with him in high school when you guys were around." She sighed. "I missed out on a lot I think."

Quinn looked at her, confused. "But you two are going to get married right? Like Sam and Mercedes."

"I don't know, maybe?" said Tina. "It just makes me wonder if there's more out there, maybe something just a little bit different. Sometimes I wish things didn't have to be so... Asian."

"Like rich white girl problems," muttered Quinn.

"I guess we really can't get away from stereotypes," sighed Tina.

"Oh I don't know," said Quinn. "Kurt seems to be good at it."

"Are you kidding?" laughed Tina. "You turn Rachel into... Raphael and put her in some Polo or Brooks Brothers and she'd be just another..."

"Blaine."

Tina snorted in laughter. "I wasn't going for that image, but yes I suppose so. Rachel is very determined and knows what she wants."

"Interesting way of putting it," said Quinn. "Guess it really is more of an identity than gender."

"For some people at least," said Tina. "Love truly is blind sometimes."

Quinn laughed, her eyes dancing. "Thanks Tina."

"For what?" said the Asian girl, picking up the butterflies they had just painted and glittered.

"For making me understand something I thought I couldn't."

Tina smiled. "Well, I'm glad." She sighed and looked down at herself in Quinn's mirror.

"Now help me to understand how I'm going to get all this paint off before tomorrow evening?"

"Not yet," said Quinn with a sigh. "We're still not done, remember? And you and Brittany have a book to finish."

Tina groaned.

It was mid-afternoon when Kurt and Rachel promised Blaine and Mercedes they'd go back to Kurt's house. It took a lot of convincing, but Mercedes had pulled Blaine off in another direction, leaving them by themselves.

"You two still have trouble around each other."

"I think so, a little..." sighed Kurt. He was quiet.

"Hey," said Rachel, turning Kurt towards her. "You okay?"

Kurt swallowed hard. "It's just him, you know?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Boys."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "You girls are not much better."

Rachel laid her head on Kurt's chest as he buried his face in her hair.

"Hey, did you have a recording on the 28th?" frowned Kurt. "There's something bugging me about the date, and I can't remember what."

The brown haired girl pulled out her phone, checking it.

"Nope. I would have definitely remembered if I had."

"Huh," said Kurt, thinking. "There's something…" His eyes widened. "Oh. Shit." He covered his mouth with his hand.

"What is it?" frowned Rachel.

Kurt bit his lip. "Blaine's birthday is the 28th."

Rachel pulled up Facebook on her phone.

"You're right. Crap," sighed the Jewish girl. "We need to do something. Blaine is such a sweetheart."

"I can't believe I forgot," sighed Kurt.

"You can't remember everything."

"I have an idea," said Kurt suddenly. "Come on," he said, taking Rachel's hand.

"Let's go back to the mall. I also have an idea for a wedding thank you for everyone."

Rachel's eyes widened. "We need wedding thank you gifts?"

Burt nodded to Leroy as he passed him a beer. He, Carole, Leroy, and Hiram were all sitting down in the Berry living room. It had been a long day with everything going on. The kids had done more running around than they had, but they were still exhausted.

"When did we get old?" said Hiram with a sigh as he took a sip of his wine.

"Somewhere between birth and 18," said Leroy, rubbing his short hair.

Carole chuckled. "It's true. As parents we are so 'over the hill.' Once they turn six, we're no longer trusted with their secrets."

"I guess in a way, I'm lucky," said Burt. "I got to hold onto Kurt a little longer because of his mom, but he never trusted me with who he truly was."

"Sometimes a child knowing exactly who they are is not a good thing," said Leroy. "Rachel always wanted to sing and dance. She never did anything else."

"But she's driven, motivated," said Carole. "Finn floundered for a long time."

"He's a good kid," said Burt. "An Army man."

"Just like his Dad," Carole sighed. She took another drink of her wine. "I just pray that he never has to go off to war."

"We can hope," said Burt, agreeing.

"And here we are again," said Hiram. "So this time around?"

"I think there's nothing we can do to change things is there?" said Carole. "They've already snuck off and gotten married on their own."

"It does make the saying no part a little difficult doesn't it?"

"20 and 21 still doesn't seem much older than 17 and 18."

"They at least have a little more figured out that Finn and Rachel did," said Carole. "Kurt and Rachel both have work along with their schooling. They have a budget. Kurt even mentioned to me that they have insurance. Insurance, Burt. When did we think about insurance at 20 and 21?"

"We didn't," said Burt. "We flew by the seat of our pants."

"Guess that's the one thing about having kids who worry about the details," said Leroy. "They are in New York, you know. Not Ohio."

Burt nodded and took another drink from his bottle.

"I guess it's time that we finally have to let them go, isn't it?"

"More like they're standing at the classroom door saying: 'It's okay Daddy. I'll be alright.'"

"Rachel always has been a strong one, hasn't she?" said Carole with a smile.

"Very much so," said Hiram.

"Speaking of our kids," said Burt. "Where are they?"

"Finn phoned me," said Carole. "Something about going out for some fun later tonight since almost everything is complete."

"They deserve some fun," agreed Leroy. "They have been busy."

"So what do we get to do for fun?" laughed Burt.

"Sit back and calculate the monthly credit card bill for the next 12 months," groaned Hiram.