Thanks to Kurt's insistence, Blaine and Kurt sang Blaine's song at glee club on Monday. Mr. Schuester loved it and decided that it would be a perfect way to fill out their nationals set list. The only decision left was who was going to sing it. Blaine wanted to insist that Kurt sing it – as a solo no less. But Kurt was more lenient, despite his ambitions, and said that whoever Mr. Schue deemed most worthy – rather than Rachel or Finn – should get to sing it. It ended up working perfectly in Kurt's favor, as it was decided it should be a duet between him and Mercedes.

Nationals was now fast approaching. Since all the songs were written, Blaine spent all his time in glee club sewing with Tina. He was only able to turn out one costume piece for every three of hers, but he was improving.


He and Kurt went out for dinner the night before the New Directions were set to leave for New York. Blaine could tell Kurt was trying his hardest not to talk constantly about the trip. Finally, he decided to end the boy's misery.

"You can talk about New York, you know, Kurt. Just because I've wanted to go there doesn't mean I'm going to burst into tears hearing that you're going there. Anyway, it's more your dream than mine. I'd like to go anywhere at all, I'm not picky."

"I just hate that you have to miss our last chance to perform together this year, especially since we're singing your song."

"You know I don't mind, Kurt."

"I know," Kurt said, "but I feel so bad that not only do I get to go to New York, but I also get to sing your amazing song at nationals, and I'm going with all our friends. I feel like I'm abandoning you."

"You're not, Kurt. Really. I've been alone before. I can handle it for a few days while you take your future home by storm."

Kurt grinned and held Blaine's hand tightly. "You really are the best boyfriend, you know that?"

"I try," Blaine said. He also tried his hardest to not show how sad he was when Kurt dropped him at his house that night.

The next day in school was brutal. Not only was Kurt not there, but neither were his usual protectors. Blaine sat alone at lunch and was slammed into lockers at least three times during the course of the day.

Friday was even worse. After getting slushied after fourth period, Blaine went to the library for lunch. He hadn't done that since before he joined the New Directions. He only had the weekend and Monday left to deal with this, though. Then his friends would be back, and hopefully with a trophy, too.

That weekend, Blaine moped in his house all day. He read his book for English class twice. He worked ahead on his math homework. He outlined the last few essays he would have to write before the end of school. Sunday evening, the phone rang. A moment later, Blaine hear Scott shouting his name.

"What?" he asked.

"Phone!"

It had to be Kurt. Blaine ran to the kitchen to answer it. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hi Blaine," Kurt said.

"How are you? Is New York amazing? Did you guys win?"

"Whoa, Blaine, slow down!" Kurt laughed. "I'm good – no, great actually. New York is fantastic. This is definitely the place for me. Rachel and I snuck out for breakfast at Tiffany's and then we sang "For Good" on the Wicked set! Nationals wasn't as good, though. Rachel and Finn kinda messed it up. We weren't even in the top 10!"

"Wait, how did Rachel and Finn mess it up? They didn't even sing together!"

"Well, you know how everyone comes together at the end of 'Not Alone'? Yeah, well they were getting really into it... and then they kissed. On stage. In front of everyone."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it was awful. I think Santana was ready to kill them, but Brittany held her back. Anyway, we'll hopefully be back in Lima by 5 tomorrow, so do you want to get together for a coffee or something then? I'd say we could go out, but dad and Carole want to have family dinner."

"That sounds great, Kurt. I'll see you tomorrow night."


Blaine opened the door and ran into the driveway before Kurt had even parked his car on Monday night. The two boys embraced and Blaine got into the front seat.

"You look amazing Kurt. I'm serious, New York has done wonders for you," Blaine said.

It was true; Kurt was smiling wider than usual and seemed so much more content that he usually did.

"Well there's one big thing that New York doesn't have, and that ruined my weekend a little bit," Kurt said.

"What?"

"You, silly," Kurt said. "I missed being there with you. I wish we could have been the ones to mess up New Directions' chances at winning by kissing on stage!"

Blaine laughed loudly. "I'm sure a New York audience would have been a lot more accepting of the two of us kissing than an Ohio audience, but I'm still glad we didn't screw up. Rachel and Finn can have that one. What is their status now, anyway?"

"I don't even know," Kurt said tiredly. "Finn's been moping around because he 'really, really loves her' but she's decided to be totally career focused, which means that she can't have a man distracting her. Honestly, I don't even know what to think about those two anymore. It's like a bad teen soap."

They pulled up to the Lima Bean and took their usual table.

"I got you something," Kurt said shyly.

"You didn't have to, Kurt," Blaine said, but Kurt just rolled his eyes.

"Here," Kurt said, holding out a small bag.

Blaine opened it carefully to reveal a small snow globe of the New York City skyline. "It's beautiful," he said reverentially.

"It's to remind you of me and our future. Even if we are separated again, we can always be together in New York."

Blaine didn't have the heart to tell Kurt that his future was most likely in Ohio – either as a minimum wage employee or at a community college with all the other burnouts.


School ended a few weeks later, and with summer came freedom. Kurt worked a few days a week at his father's tire shop, but he spent the other days with Blaine and other members of New Directions.

A few weeks into summer, Scott and Diane had an announcement for Blaine.

"We're going to visit my parents again," Diane told him casually as he helped her clear the dinner table.

"How long?" he asked.

"A week or two," she said. "I left you some money and our numbers on the counter. Don't break anything."

The next day, they were gone.

A few days later, Blaine woke up to the ringing phone. Right, he reminded himself, Scott and Diane are still gone. Their vacation wouldn't be over for another week. Blaine rolled out of bed and answered the phone before the final ring.

"Hello?"

"Blaine?"

"Yes," Blaine answered, not recognizing the voice.

"It's Melody, your social worker."

"Oh. Um, hi."

"Yes, I'm just reminding you that you have your appointment with the cardiologist tomorrow. I'll pick you up at seven in the morning. When I bring you back, I'll also do your check up."

Blaine was about to agree and crawl back into bed when her words clicked. "Wait – you're doing the inspection tomorrow?"

"Yes, Blaine," the social worker said with a slight hint of exasperation in her voice.

"Um, okay," Blaine said quickly. "Yeah, great, bye."

He hung up the phone and felt panic rising in his stomach. Blaine ran to the other side of the kitchen to find the note that Scott and Diane had written their numbers on. He quickly called both of them and left messages. Blaine was too wired and too worried now to go back to sleep. He merely paced around the house for the next couple hours. When the phone rang again around noon, Blaine almost jumped out of his skin.

"Hello?" he answered eagerly.

"Hi Blaine," Kurt said.

For the first time in his life, Blaine was disappointed to hear Kurt. "Oh, hi Kurt," Blaine said.

"Is something up?"

Blaine weighed his options. If his foster parents couldn't get back by tomorrow evening then this would be his last day with Kurt. "Yeah," he finally decided. "But I'd rather talk in person. I can be at your house in a little bit, okay?"

"Sure," Kurt replied.

Blaine dressed and left Scott and Diane's house within 10 minutes and began his walk to Kurt's house. He had purposely not told the boy or Burt that he was staying alone again after the last time it had happened. He didn't want to cause an inconvenience for them. When he arrived at the Hummel-Hudson house, he nervously knocked on the door. Finn was the one to answer it, bowl of cereal in hand.

"Blaine, dude, I didn't know you were coming!"

"Hey Finn," Blaine said tiredly. "Where's Kurt?"

"In his room, I think. One sec." Finn turned toward the stairs and bellowed, "Kurt! Your boyfriend's here!"

Blaine smiled. "I'll just wait in the living room."

"Yeah, sure, man, come right on in," Finn said as he closed the door behind Blaine.

When Kurt came downstairs a few minutes later, Blaine had worked himself up again.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked before even greeting the boy.

"Don't get mad," Blaine quickly warned.

"That's not a comforting way to start a conversation," Kurt said slowly.

"Just, please don't say anything until I'm done talking, okay?" Kurt nodded in assent. "So, Scott and Diane left to go on vacation a couple of days ago." Kurt made a small gasp, but said nothing to Blaine. "They'll be back in about a week." Blaine paused there, and Kurt waited patiently. "I got a call from my social worker this morning. I have to see my cardiologist tomorrow. I can't reschedule the appointment because it takes forever to get in to see him since he's the only one in the area.

"My social worker wants to do the inspection tomorrow when she drops me off after the appointment." Kurt's eyes grew wide as he realized what Blaine was saying. "I tried calling Scott and Diane, but they weren't answering. Plus, I don't think they care enough to come back. If Melody sees that they left me alone, she's going to take me away."

"So," Kurt finally said, "what does this mean?"

"It means this is my last day in Lima."

"What?"

"Well, if they aren't even there, she's definitely not going to let me stay in the house for even a day longer. If there was anything else I could do, I'd do it. But unless I want to wait another six months to see my doctor, I can't think of anything. Besides, it'd look pretty suspicious if I canceled the appointment now."

"So, you're leaving?"

"I'm not choosing this, Kurt. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't have much control over what goes on in my life!"

"I don't want to lose you again," Kurt said in a small voice.

"I won't let that happen this time. I'll try again for emancipation, anything I can do. I love you, Kurt."

There was a shocked silence between the two boys. Neither of them had ever said that before.

"I've never said that to anyone before, ever," Blaine said in a small, stunned voice.

"I love you, too, Blaine," Kurt replied.

The smile that broke across Blaine's face was at once heart-breaking and beautiful. Kurt kissed his boyfriend deeply for a moment before jumping up from the couch. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" Blaine asked.

"If this is your last day, we have to make it count."

Blaine grinned in spite of everything. "Oh? What are your plans for the day, Mr. Hummel?" Kurt grinned and held out a hand.


After an exhausting day of shopping, walks in the park, and visits to everything that Lima had to offer, Kurt and Blaine returned to the Hummel-Hudson house for dinner. The smiles had been wiped from both faces as they realized the implications of the next day.

"Busy day?" Carole asked the two exhausted teens.

"Oh yes," Kurt gushed. He launched into a lengthy explanation of everything they did while Blaine picked at his food. He didn't think he'd be able to eat without throwing up. Never before had he wanted to stay in a foster home so badly.

"Is something wrong with the food, dear?" Carole asked. Blaine looked up in surprise. His plate was still mostly full, while everyone else had emptied theirs.

"Uh – no, I guess I'm just not very hungry," he muttered.

He stayed and watched movies with Kurt until 10 pm. Burt was watching the two boys, and before leaving, Blaine walked up to him.

"I, uh, I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me these past few months," Blaine muttered, holding out a hand to shake Burt's.

"You going somewhere, kid?" Burt asked, nonplussed.

"Yeah," Blaine replied vaguely. "Bye, Mr. Hummel."

Blaine struggled to get out of Kurt's car that night. They spent a good half hour saying goodbye until Burt called Kurt to ask where he was. The boys embraced one last time, and Kurt drove away.

Blaine couldn't help but be reminded of the last time they'd said good-bye. Kurt would probably move on. He had good friends, a good family, and a bright future. He really didn't need Blaine to hold him back. This was all for the best. Blaine fell into a fitful sleep.


The next day seemed to pass tauntingly fast. All too soon, Blaine and Melody were driving up to Scott and Diane's house. Blaine followed her up the walk as she knocked at the door. Unsurprisingly, no one answered, so Blaine opened the door and invited the woman in. She looked around the house, then turned to Blaine, who was still standing at the door.

"Where are Scott and Melody?" Blaine shrugged.

"Out," he said.

"Out where?" Blaine shrugged again. "Did you tell them about the inspection?" Blaine nodded.

Melody took out her cell phone and dialed their numbers, but received no answer. She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Then she walked towards the back of the house to look over the bedrooms. When she came back out, she looked angry.

"How long have they been gone?"

"W – what?" Blaine asked, not making eye contact. He was a horrible liar.

"Cut the crap, Blaine, I can tell when a house is being lived in by more than one person."

Blaine sighed. "They left for vacation a couple of days ago."

"Shit," Melanie swore. "Alright, pack your bags."

Even though Blaine knew the words were coming, they still hurt. "Please, Melody, please let me stay. They left me money for food. It's not like they abandoned me. Plenty of parents leave their kids alone at the house."

"Yes, but those parents aren't being paid by the state to care for the kids."

At the hurt look on Blaine's face, she softened her tone. "Look, Blaine, I can tell that you like it here. But I can't let you stay here. That would be neglect on my part, and I could get fired."

Blaine knew that was true, but it still hurt as he went to the bedroom and pulled out his two ever-packed bags and walked slowly back to the front of the house. He dropped his key on the kitchen counter and followed Melody back to her car.