November 30, 2025. New York City.

Sebastian felt that he was more bundled up then he should have been. It wasn't snowing, it wasn't raining and yet he was completely encased in outerwear. Scarf around his neck and his navy wool pea coat. His eyes were a dull blue as he gazed out of the window in his kitchen, sipping on a lukewarm cup of coffee; facing him was a wonderful view of New York City and Central Park but he had seen it enough times to stop marveling at his beauty. On a day like today, him and Kurt would have both cooked a small breakfast for the three of them and they would have taken Moira on a walk through the park. Instead all he's had to eat or drink was coffee and he gave Moira a bowl of Cheerios. Granted, he was used to the fact that nothing would be as he expected it to be. He heard a shuffling sound coming in through the hallway and for a brief moment he closed his eyes and pretended that it would be Kurt; softly speaking his name and asking him if it was cold enough outside for a scarf.

The shuffling got closer until he felt a small hand tug on his pant leg. He opened his eyes and looked down to meet the eyes of his daughter; nearly two years old and her azure eyes sparkled and took a hold of him.

"You ready to hit the town?" Sebastian said with excitement and Moira just smiled at him. She lifted her arm so that Sebastian could take her hand and lead her out of the apartment.

It was cold outside, not quite enough for a scarf but Sebastian didn't want to go all the way back up to the house to take it off. Moira was wearing her favorite jacket, all blue and puffy with fur lining the hood. Once they were down on the sidewalk the chill hit them both to the bone. Moira began wining immediately about how cold she was, trying to put together words as best she could. She was so much like Kurt sometimes that it pained Sebastian. She demanded to be held and Sebastian couldn't resist her.

"You know, it's not a walk if I have to carry you the whole time." Sebastian said with a laugh in his voice. He knows most of what he was saying was lost of her but he couldn't help it; all these years and he was still used to banter. He always expected someone to bite back.

It only took two months after his conversation with Burt for Sebastian to decide to move back to the States. He didn't go all the back to Ohio but back to New York. Close enough that Burt could fly out to help him and close enough to the memory of Kurt, back in his favorite city in the whole world.

It took a bit longer for everything to get sorted in France. He signed the bookstore over to Marguerite the first chance that he got. It was an excruciating experience moving on from that part of his life. Le livre Porcelain had been the first piece of his life that he had built together with Kurt and now he was giving it to someone else and leaving it behind. It was something he couldn't do lightly. Of course Marguerite agreed wholeheartedly and promised to take care of the shop for him. The last thing she said to him was that any time he was ready to come back to it, it would be there waiting for him. So Sebastian packed up his life and moved himself and Moira back to New York City.

Burt and Carole came for a week to help him settle into his new apartment; Carole came mostly to play with Moira. Burt, to the best of his abilities helped to build furniture and unpack boxes full of mementos. Framed photographs of Sebastian and Kurt throughout the years, boxes of Kurt's old sketchbooks all jam packed with his design ideas. Sebastian spent hours looking through all of it with Burt, sharing their favorite memories of Kurt; even when it tugged on their heartstrings.

Sebastian opened the door to the cafe and memories came flooding back. The cafe looked virtually the same as it did eleven years before. The first time he had run into Kurt there he had only been popping in because he was desperate for a coffee break; he jumped into the first cafe he saw and fate had done the rest. He saw Kurt's gorgeous face, his eyes practically glowing with anger after Sebastian had knocked his coffee on his pea coat. It seemed like such an insignificant moment at the time, he wished he had known that he and Kurt were meant to end up together, he would have tried a lot harder and from the very beginning. He would have gotten his life together a lot sooner.

"Hello sir, what can I get you?" The barista on the other side of the counter asked, looking a little irritated that he had been spacing out in front of the menu; holding up the line. Sebastian smiled politely nonetheless.

"Can I just get a mocha and a child's hot chocolate." The mention of hot chocolate made Moira's eyes light up and Sebastian noticed with a smile as he paid the barista and moved off to the side to wait for their drinks. Moira tucked her head tiredly into his shoulder as he held her tightly in his arms. Once their drinks arrived however, he had to set Moira down. He watched her as she tentatively watched her surroundings, he always wondered what was going on in her head. He handed her hot chocolate down to her her and she took it with an excited smile. He had to warn her not once but twice that it was too hot to drink. They stepped out of the cafe hand and hand back into the chill of the morning. It was only a few blocks down the road to their spot, their favorite cast iron bench in all of Central Park. It used to case a deep ache within Sebastian because coffee in Central Park just made him think of Kurt and all their lazy weekend mornings; the endless conversations, hardly any lulls between opinions being thrown, Kurt was always so full of them. Now however, it was a tradition among Moira and himself, so the ache eventually became a dull sting.

They arrived at the bench and sat side by side, quietly sipping on their drinks. Moira leaned in close to Sebastian making him wonder if she was going to be clingy when she got older. He smiled at the thought.

He saw a woman off in the distance pushing a stroller in their general direction. She sipped on a coffee and looked utterly exhausted. Remembering the struggles he went through when Moira was that age he was overcome with the need to call Marguerite when he got home and see how she was doing. He knew that he never would have done it without her back then. The woman made eye contact with him and they both smiled at each other politely.

"It gets easier when they get older." Sebastian said, his eyes gleaming with a sense of pride for having made it this far; and making it out unscathed. The woman laughed slightly, looking with a curious eye towards Moira, who was concentrating solely on her hot chocolate; ignoring her father and the rest of the world around her.

"She's gorgeous." The stranger said. Sebastian's first thought was that this woman had no idea just how beautiful his daughter was. He was just going to offer a simple 'thank you' and have them both go about their days but just as he looked down at Moira, she looked up at him and their eyes met. Those perfect blue eyes gleaming up at him. He smiled slightly and looked back up at the woman.

"Thank you. She got all the looks from her father." Sebastian said with a sad smile that the woman didn't catch. She just nodded politely and continued on her way. Sebastian watched her figure retreat down the trail for some time.

It seemed like a long way to walk on your own but it was well worth the adventure.