Chapter Ten

By the time Blaine catches up with Skylar, the alter has already found a hiding place in the pantry off the kitchen. The door is closed but Blaine can hear the muffled sound of crying coming from inside.

"Skylar?" He calls out, gentle and calm. The crying stops immediately, as though the alter has clapped a hand over his mouth to avoid detection. The thought makes Blaine's heart break a little but he continues anyway. "Honey, it's just me." He raps softly on the door. "Will you open the door, please?"

There's a small sniffle and a beat of hesitation before the handle turns and the door creaks open just a crack, just enough to see Skylar flash back into the far corner again. Blaine opens a bit wider and sits down on the floor.

"Why'd you run, Skylar?"

Skylar's small voice trembles, partially muffled by his hands half-hiding his face. "Scared." Blaine reaches in and takes the alter's hands. When he speaks again, his voice is no longer muffled but still just as shaky. "The man was yelling at Finn and I got scared."

Blaine squeezes the alter's hands. "Sweetheart, you don't have to be scared of him. Do you know who he is?" Skylar shakes his head. "That's Kurt's dad. His name is Burt and he's the nicest man I've ever met. He's like a dad to Sebastian and I, too, and I know that if you tell him who you are, he's going to love you just like he loves Seb."

Uncertainty and fear are plain as day on Skylar's tense face but Blaine presses on. "Will you meet him?" The words are met with charged, nervous silence. "Did you know that when Kurt was your age, he lost his mom?"

Shock flickers across Skylar's countenance at the sudden turn. "Lost her? Where'd she go?"

"She died," Blaine answers, slow and quiet. "She was really sick—"

"Like Matthew?" Skylar wonders, curiosity winning out over his nervousness.

Blaine's mouth twitches down at the corner. "Sort of. She was sick for awhile and then she went to sleep and didn't wake up. And it hurt Kurt so bad to lose his mom like that, so he was sad a lot—"

"I don't want Kurt to be sad," Skylar says, wide-eyed and earnest, shaking his head.

Blaine gives him a small smile. "He's okay now, honey."

"Good." The alter nods once and Blaine squeezes his hand.

"But," Blaine continues, "When he was little, he was sat because he missed her, and whenever Kurt was sad, Burt used to stop what he was doing and he'd put on Mary Poppins because it always made Kurt feel better."

Skylar's eyes are cast to his lap, shy and thoughtful. "That was nice of him."

"He's a nice person. They'd watch Mary Poppins and when Kurt was ready to say what was on his mind, Burt would always be there to listen."

A choked, shaky voice from behind him makes Blaine turn to find Kurt standing in the doorway a half-step ahead of Burt. Kurt's hand comes to cover his mouth, tears sliding freely down his face. "I can't believe you remember that," he whispers, coming to kneel next to Blaine. "I told you that years ago."

He frames Blaine's face with his hands and kisses him lush and full on the lips. "I love you so much, Blaine."

Blaine smiles as Kurt kisses him again. "Love you, too, Kurt."

A socked foot collides with Blaine's knee. He looks up to find Skylar's face scrunched in distaste and he can't help but laugh. "Sorry, buddy," Blaine apologizes, smiling. He clears his throat and his expression is a bit more serious. "So, will you meet Kurt's dad? We'll be right here."

Skylar worries his lip for a moment, debating, before he finally nods. "Okay."

"Okay," Blaine echoes, doing a half turn to face Burt and nodding, gesturing the man over. He shifts to the side and opens the door the rest of the way. Kurt sits next to Skylar as Burt kneels down.

"Hey, buddy," Burt starts, not the least bit awkward. "I'm Burt. It's good to meet ya." Skylar flushes and glues his eyes to his pulled-up knees. "You don't need to be shy around me. I ain't that scary am I? Ever seen Kurt mad? He's scarier than me."

A small smile threatens to lift Skylar's lips and Kurt and Blaine breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Burt carries on, undeterred. "Now I don't know much about you apart from the fact that you look like Sebastian—"

"I don't," Skylar interrupts, timidly meeting Burt's eyes for the first time. "Seb is all grown up. I'm just a kid. We look way different."

"How many of you are there?" Burt wonders.

"Four. There's me. Travis. Sebastian," he ticks off on his fingers, "And the one who won't tell me is name. I don't like him. He yells a lot."

"Yells at you?" Burt asks, concerned.

"Sometimes. Mostly, Seb, though."

Blaine breaks in. "Skylar, will you come out and sit with us?" Skylar nods and reaches for Blaine's hand.

"Do you know when Sebastian will come back?" Burt asks Kurt in an aside as Blaine helps Skylar to his feet and leads him toward the doorway.

"Well, he's been under a lot of stress today and that's normally when an alter—usually Skylar—comes out. It helps him cope. Skylar is usually really cooperative with us in terms of bringing Seb back out, but it's easier for Seb when he comes back if he's in a more neutral sort of place," Kurt explains. It's the first time he's ever really had to verbalize an explanation.

The living room is empty when they all file in, Skylar dropping down between Kurt and Blaine. Burt watches from his chair. Kurt's the one to speak. He takes Skylar's hand. "Skylar, do you think we could have Seb now, please?"

Skylar nods and closes his eyes. It takes less than a second for Sebastian's eyes to flutter open and scan the room. He takes a breath. "Well, I'm assuming that since we in full-on 'family meeting' mode and Finn is nowhere to be found, it was pretty bad."

Blaine shrugs and nods. "About what we expected."

"Skylar?"

"Yeah. Burt yelled at Finn and Skylar bolted, but it's okay," Blaine returns. "We got it straightened out."

Sebastian's brow creases and he rubs at the back of his neck as he shifts toward Burt. "I'm sorry for—"

Burt holds up a hand and shakes his head. "Don't you dare, kid." Burt's tone is final. "Now, Carole called a few minutes ago. She's on her way home with pizza. You three go set the table and get Finn while I get cleaned up."

He claps Sebastian on the shoulder as he leaves and for a reason he can't quite put his finger on, Sebastian feels warmth flood through his chest and a catch in his throat. Kurt squeezes his hand.

—x—

After the dishes from dinner are all cleared away, Finn and Blaine disappear into the living room to pick a movie. Carole smiles as they go and gives Kurt and Sebastian a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry, boys. Early shift tomorrow," she apologizes with a small smile. She reaches up to frame Sebastian's face. "It has been so good to see you, sweetheart."

Sebastian just smiles as she kisses his cheek again and heads to bed, leaving Kurt and Sebastian standing with Burt in the kitchen. "So, should we go see what train wreck of a movie those two picked?" Burt asks with a grin.

It takes less than fifteen minutes of the Michael Bay monstrosity of Blaine's choosing before Kurt is out cold against Blaine's side and Finn has eaten the whole bowl of popcorn and they have to pause the movie so Finn can go get a handful of cookies.

"Hold on," Sebastian whispers, easing himself off the couch and grabbing his and Blaine's empty soda cans. "I'll come too."

They both blink against the bracing brightness when Finn flicks on the kitchen light. They work in silence until Finn speaks, slow and hesitant. "Hey, Sebastian?"

Sebastian doesn't turn from where he's getting two more Cokes from the refrigerator. "Yeah?"

"What's it like?"

Sebastian turns then to find Finn leaning against the counter watching him. "What's what like? Being plural?"

"Huh?" Finn's whole face screws up in confusion. "No, I meant having more than one person in your head."

"Finn, that's actually the definition of pl—" He stops at Finn's vacant expression, a small smirk on his face. "Nevermind. I don't really know how to describe it." He laughs once. "It's sort of like being trapped in a car with three other people who all want to drive."

Silence reigns for a beat too long before Finn, in all his deep, insightful eloquence, says, "That's gotta suck, huh?"

And Sebastian can't help but laugh and with a wide grin answer, "I'll live."

—x—

Blaine and Sebastian wake Kurt up just long enough to wrangle him to the car. He lays down across the backseat, passes out, and sleeps all the way back to Columbus. They don't even turn on any lights when they get home, just a half-asleep stumble down the dark hallway before collapsing into the unmade bed, clothes magically shed on the way.

—x—

There's a moment of ice cold panic when Blaine rolls over at 3:00 A.M. to find Sebastian missing. He almost wakes Kurt up but catches himself at the last second and takes a breath, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. It's then that he notices the yellow cast of lamplight under the door. He slides out of bed as carefully as he can and sneaks out of the room.

He makes it to the end of the hallway before he sees Sebastian hunched over on the couch, a small tremble in his shoulders. Sebastian is so preoccupied with the journal in his lap that he doesn't hear Blaine until he's right beside the couch.

"Seb?"

Sebastian jumps and jerks his head toward Blaine. There's emotion in his eyes that colors his voice. "Hey, baby," he tries casually. He holds up his arm and lets Blaine settle into his side before clearing his throat and tries again to push away the darkness in his tone. "What are you doing up?"

Blaine isn't fooled. "I could ask you the same thing. What's the matter?"

"I think X gave me a memory and I had to write it down."

There's a shocked crack in Blaine's voice and it comes out bit too loud for 3:00 A.M. "X shared a memory?"

Sebastian's face screws up in concern, but there's a kind of detachment in his voice. "I never knew my dad hit me. I know he hates me and is an asshole, but I never knew he hit me. I'd wake up with bruises and stuff. I thought I'd been sleepwalking or something, but it was him. He used to beat the hell out of me."

"And X…?"

"Used to be the one who took it." Sebastian takes a deep breath and blows it out. He shakes his head. "God, no wonder he's so fucking angry."

Blaine is speechless so he just squeezes Sebastian's hand and rests his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. Sebastian presses an absent kiss to Blaine's hair and pats his thigh.

"Why don't you go back to bed, baby? I'll be there in a minute."

Blaine nods and kisses Sebastian on the lips before standing up. "Don't stay up too late."

"I'll be right behind you, I promise."

One more kiss and Blaine goes to bed. Sebastian waits until he hears the click of the bedroom door closing before turning to a fresh page in the journal and writing, "I'm so sorry."

He stows the journal back in his bag and shuts off the light before going to join his boyfriends in bed.

When he checks the journal again the next day, there's a single sentence written in red on the page.

"It's not your fault."

A/N: Reviews are always appreciated! :)