Kurt filled Sam and Sebastian in on his plan as they ate the dinner that Sebastian had made the day before.
"Thank you for dinner. It was really good."
"Definitely delicious," Sam added.
Kurt and Sam washed and dried the pots and pans quickly and loaded the dishwasher.
"I like that hall tree bench that you put together. I think you're right. It will be a great place to keep our stuff organized. Three sets of hooks and a shelf to put wet shoes on to dry underneath. Good spot this morning," Kurt said to Sebastian.
"I'm glad you like it," Sebastian responded.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
At 7:00, Kurt got a call from Burt. Kurt turned the speaker on.
"Am I on speaker phone?"
"Yes," Burt answered.
"Can everyone hear me?"
"Yes," in three distinct voices could be heard.
"Good. I want everyone to listen carefully. Blaine Anderson and I are finished. Over. Done. Through. We are never, ever getting back together."
"But Kurt," Rachel started.
"Rachel, hush. You are a meddling harridan."
"Kurt!" Leroy said.
"Don't 'Kurt' me, Leroy. Ask Rachel what she's been doing. Ask her how my EX boyfriend that I broke up with two and a half months ago managed to find me ten hours away when I've blocked him from calling me and on every social media site and no one except my parents knew where I was."
"Rachel?" Hiram asked. "What have you been doing?"
"I just helped Blaine get in contact with his soul mate. He and Kurt are meant to be together."
"Rachel, darling. It's not for you to decide who should be together and who should not. Kurt has free will and he if chooses to not date Blaine any that is his prerogative," Leroy said.
"But Blaine," Rachel interrupted.
Hiram interrupted. "Blaine is a teenage boy who can meet other people in his lifetime. There is no such thing as forcing two people to be soul mates. If Kurt does not love Blaine, then you need to leave things be."
"Thank you, Hiram," Kurt said.
"Now, I have a bone to pick with the two of you without Rachel around. Can you please send her out of hearing range of the phone?"
"Rachel, dear, go down to the basement and practice your singing," Hiram instructed her.
"Give her a few minutes." Leroy closed the door to the basement once he could hear Rachel singing."
"What's the problem, Kurt?" Hiram asked.
"I want you to tell me the qualifications of the therapist that Rachel has been seeing all of these years."
"Well," Leroy hesitated.
"I'm waiting," Kurt said impatiently.
Leroy started again, "Actually, she's just a close friend of ours, the wife of a college friend of mine. She's not licensed or anything. When Rachel was younger, she struggled with getting along with other kids. Her pediatrician recommended her seeing someone to possibly help her. We thought perhaps, she just needed to spend time with a female adult. She loved seeing Annie once or twice a week. And Annie enjoyed talking with Rachel. She could never have kids of her own, so it worked out well for the two of them."
"Not so well as you might think. This so-called therapist has been feeding Rachel's already gigantic ego all of these years. She's told her that she should pursue her dreams at all costs. I can tell you a few of the things that Rachel has done over the years that you would be ashamed of."
"You can't be serious," Hiram stated.
"I am totally serious. I'll give you one small thing that happened in junior year. We had a new student at McKinley. She wanted to join Glee, which Rachel was initially happy about because we were short members and didn't have enough people to qualify to compete. But once Rachel heard her sing, she was threatened by how good this girl was and Rachel gave her the address to an old crack house as the location for her audition."
"What?" Kurt heard both of Rachel's dads say.
"It's true. The girl's music books were stolen. Rachel paid to replace them. But we lost the new student when she transferred to Carmel."
"There are other things besides this?" Hiram asked.
"Yes. One thing that concerns me is that she has been bringing Blaine to see Annie as well. And now Annie has convinced Blaine to 'pursue his dreams' too. Blaine has somehow come to the conclusion that I am still part of that dream - that our plan to go to New York is still valid. He drove ten hours to find me yesterday - to convince me that I was his soul mate and that it is our destiny to go to New York together with Rachel and Finn."
"Seriously?" Hiram asked.
"Completely serious. He was waiting for me at my place of work when I got off from work yesterday. Rachel used Finn's phone to find my location Monday afternoon. She must have grabbed it before it locked when he left it laying somewhere. A call came into the shop for me Monday, but when I got to the phone to answer, the line was dead. I couldn't figure out who would call me at my place of work when no one except my dad knew where I was working. Well, when Blaine showed up yesterday, I figured out who had called. He was trying to pinpoint my exact location after Rachel told him my general location. And then he drove here - ten hours from Lima."
"I see." Leroy said.
"Another issue is that she has been taking Finn to see her therapist as well. She convinced my dad that her therapist would be just as good as seeing your rabbi for premarital counseling."
"She never told us that she wanted to pursue premarital counseling," Hiram stated.
"I figured that she hadn't. I was actually the one who suggested it to my dad to recommend it for the two of them. They have nothing in common and neither one of them knows how to run a household. I thought they needed some help to work through their differences. Basically the way things work now is that Rachel gets Finn to do whatever she wants. All. The. Time. If he suggests something different, she whines or complains to get him to do what she wants. He's just given up and does what she wants to start with to save time and the hassle. That's not how to start a marriage. I may be young, but I'm old enough to know that a marriage built on just one person calling the shots won't last."
"Yes, of course, compromise is key," Hiram agreed.
"Rachel does not know the meaning of the word 'compromise'. To her it means badger the other person until they give her what she wanted to start with."
"Kurt, you're not being very kind," Leroy said.
"You're right. Maybe that was an unkind thing to say, but that doesn't make it any less true. You have no idea how many times she stormed out of Glee when she didn't get her way. Mr. Schue just started giving her what she wanted to save time. He saw her as our lead singer and did whatever it took to keep her happy. While she is extremely talented, we had other singers who could have had that role, at least from time to time. We won't sectionals without Rachel singing at all."
"I wasn't aware of that," Leroy said.
"I think there are a lot of things that you've been unaware of. A situation where Rachel did whatever it took that personally affected me was when she ran against me for Student Body President when she knew that she had a full CV for college applications. Then when she withdrew her candidacy, she stuffed the ballot boxes and got me disqualified. I did nothing wrong. But her choice disqualified me. She didn't think through her actions. At least that time, there were some negative consequences for her."
"What do you mean?" Hiram asked.
"She was suspended and barred from performing at Sectionals last fall."
Hiram spoke up, "I didn't know about any of that. I'm sorry that her actions caused you to be disqualified."
"Burt spoke up. How did you not know that Rachel had been suspended? I was called down to the school over the issue."
Leroy responded, "Hiram and I went on a trip last fall. Maybe this happened during the time we were gone? We left Annie's number as the emergency contact number for the school."
"Hiram, I appreciate your apology, but Rachel has yet to apologize sincerely. Actually, right now, I can't think of a time when she has sincerely apologized for anything. She's very narcissistic. And she views herself as the center of the universe."
"You are speaking quite caustically tonight, Kurt," Leroy said.
"I am quite fed up with her behavior. She did something else in the name of success that has to do with West Side Story. Why don't you ask her about that when you ask her about her suspension?"
"Why have we not heard about these issues before?" Leroy asked.
Burt spoke up. "Kurt kept all of these things to himself. He's kept almost all of the things that people in this town have done to hurt him to himself all of these years. He planned and worked and planned more to move away from here and get away from this. And then Rachel helped his EX find him where he had escaped to. I'm sure that's the only reason any of us ever found out about these things. It breaks my heart knowing that even the people he considered his friends did these awful things to him."
Kurt cut in, "I spoke to Rachel at the graduation party and I really tried to smooth things over with her. Finn is my stepbrother and if they go through with the wedding, Rachel will become my sister-in-law. I was trying to keep things civil. To be honest, she is very angry that I got into NYADA and that she did not. I thought I had gotten through to her that afternoon, but I'm guessing that she went to see Annie and she undid anything positive that had come out of our talk that afternoon."
"Well, we are going to have a talk with Annie. She cannot be giving Rachel and her friends advice that includes stalking people," Hiram said resolutely.
"I think she shouldn't be giving anyone advice and that perhaps she's in need of psychiatrist herself," Kurt retorted.
"Wow, that's a harsh statement," Leroy chided.
"Not really if you know everything else that I know. Be prepared to deal with Blaine's father once my dad goes to see him. When he finds out that Blaine has been seeing a fake therapist and taking bad advice, I'm sure he won't be pleased. Blaine is a minor and his dad is a lawyer."
"Fantastic," Hiram said sarcastically.
Kurt asked, "Can you go get Rachel and bring her back up?" Leroy went to get Rachel.
"Hello, Kurt," Rachel said softly.
"Rachel, this is your final warning from me. Stay away from me. I gave you a chance at graduation, a chance that you honestly did not deserve. When you get help and you're ready to sincerely apologize, you can contact my dad or Carole and I'll arrange a time to speak with you. Otherwise, leave me alone. Do not interfere in my life in any way. Stop meddling. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Kurt," Rachel said.
"The three of you heard that as well as I did. Rachel just agreed to leave me alone. If she bothers me, I will pursue legal action. I am done. I moved away from Lima for many reasons, and one of them was to get away from the constant drama. I'm done with it. I am an adult. I have a job. I have an apartment. I have bills to pay. When school starts, I will have schoolwork to do as well. My life does not and will not revolve around this nonsense anymore."
Hiram said, "I completely understand, Kurt. Leroy and I will consider what to do about what we discussed earlier as well."
"Well, I am going to hang up now. I think my dad has some more things to discuss with you that involve Finn. Good evening."
Kurt hung up.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
"The bitch is back!" Sam said in his best specter voice.
"What?" Sebastian said.
"It's from Casper."
"Oh, I haven't seen that," Sebastian replied.
"Well, way back in the day, Kurt was quite well known for the epic smack downs he would wield at the neanderthal jocks at school. He never fought back physically, but he was notorious for his epic rants that used words the jocks had never heard before. And he had quite the reputation for being a bitch."
"Well, I've been on the receiving end of what I would call the 'ice king smack down', which I totally deserved, by the way. I bet these tirades were magnificent."
"You sweet talkers," Kurt laughed and batted his eyelashes at the two of them.
"Hey, now. I'm smart enough to never be on the other end of one of those tirades," Sam said. "I'll just admire them from afar," he laughed.
Kurt tackled him and started tickling him.
"You win. I give, oh great ice king leader, ruler of all."
"Thanks for making me laugh," Kurt said. "I think I'm ready to call it a night though. I just want to take a hot shower and lie in bed and read for a while."
"Let's see if Casper is on Netflix," Sam said to Sebastian.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Kurt showered quickly and climbed into bed. He read for a few minutes, but just couldn't keep his mind focused. He kept being dragged back in to his past by his thoughts. He felt like he just couldn't escape. He hoped that Rachel's parents would actually do something to help her, like find her a real therapist - a good one like the one that helped Sebastian and Reid. He pulled out his phone and texted Reid to get her contact information.
Once he had it, he sent it to his dad and Carole suggesting that they take Finn to see her. Finn needed someone to help him figure himself out after spending time with Rachel's so-called therapist. Maybe Dr. Morris could recommend a good therapist for Rachel and Blaine to see.
About an hour later, Sebastian climbed into bed after his shower. Kurt was lying there, not asleep, just with his eyes shut. Sebastian lay down gently on his own side of the bed, trying to give Kurt space if he still needed it. It had been an emotionally draining couple of days.
Almost instantaneously, Kurt rolled over and flopped himself into Sebastian's chest. "Did you enjoy your movie with Sam?"
"Yes, he's fun. And he makes you laugh when you're down. He's quickly become my favorite person that's not a family member."
Kurt looked at him strangely.
Sebastian ran his thumb across Kurt's cheek. "You're already family. My family loves you. I love you so, so much." He leaned down and kissed Kurt gently.
"I love you too, Bas. Last night when you defended me, I felt invincible. I feel like he can't get to me when you're there."
"Well, he won't if I have anything to say about it. I will protect you. I will defend you. You did the same for me that evening in the record store. You know, Sam wanted to kick his butt, but he keeps his promises. He's a good guy. He really has become a good friend already. It's no wonder you love him so much."
"He's awesome. And yes, he keeps his promises."
Kurt hopped up out of the bed and went in the bathroom and came back. He pushed the covers back and sat at the end of the bed and pulled Sebastian's feet into his lap. He put some lotion on his hands and started to massage Sebastian's feet.
"Mmm. That feels so good."
"That's what I want - for you to feel good." Sebastian relaxed as Kurt continued to massage his feet.
Sebastian reached over and turned the remaining light off and lay back enjoying his foot massage.
After Kurt finished messaging both of Sebastian's feet, he moved back to his side of the bed and pulled the covers up over Sebastian partially and put the lotion on the floor by the bed. Sebastian snuggled up behind Kurt as the big spoon and lay that way for a few minutes.
After a few minutes, he said, "You know that today is our one month-iversary. You asked me a month ago to be your boyfriend and it's been an amazing month."
"We've spent so much time together and done so many things together that it seems longer than a month."
"It's been ten weeks since you gave me a chance."
"Best choice ever," he said, as he pulled Sebastian's hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Sebastian woke to the feeling of kisses being gently pressed into his neck.
"Mmm."
"Wake up, sleepyhead. I have a plan."
"Does this plan include you kissing me like this?"
"You like this?"
"Enough to make me wonder how your plan could be better than staying right here," he teased.
"Well, you'll never know unless you get up and find out." Kurt gave him one more kiss and climbed out of bed, grabbing his iPod dock and iPod on his way out to the living room.
When Sebastian came in, Kurt had already docked the iPod and it was playing a waltz.
"Mmm. You're right I will love this."
"Help me move the coffee table. We'll pick it up and then flip it over and put it on top of the dining table." Kurt had already pushed it back against the kitchen counter.
"Won't we wake Sam up?"
"He got called in to work because one of the morning counselors called out sick."
A few minutes later, they were waltzing their way around the living room.
"Now, I see why it was so important to you to make it harder to get out the patio door," Sebastian said, smirking.
"Yes, I envision us dancing around in the open space in here a lot more than going in and out the patio door." Kurt winked.
"Mmm hmm," he murmured as he enjoyed dancing with Kurt.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Sam and Kurt came back home from work to find dinner waiting for them on the table.
"We are going to be so spoiled by the time school starts," Sam said. "This is really good. I have no idea what it is, but I like it."
"Thank you. I'm glad you like it."
"I notice that our hall tree now matches the rest of the furniture," Kurt said. "What else have you been up today?"
"Well, I'll show you after dinner. First there's dessert." Sebastian pulled a pie out of the oven. where he had kept it hidden.
"What are we celebrating?" Sam asked.
"We are officially moved in. All of the boxes are empty and gone."
"Wow, you have been busy today," Kurt said, adding, "Mmm, this pie is really good."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Sam spent the evening in his room painting since a blank canvas had magically appeared on his easel while he was at work. He also found a collage frame on his desk. He texted Sebastian a thank you message.
Kurt and Sebastian spent their evening together in their bedroom as well. Sebastian had emptied all of the boxes like he said, but he hadn't managed to put away all of Kurt's stuff. He didn't want to overstep and look through Kurt's storage containers, so he had stacked them on Kurt's desk.
"Our closet is in serious need of organization," Kurt said. He moved the stuff from his desk to the bed to sort it better.
"Will it bother you if I go out and get the things we need and organize it tomorrow?"
"No, I've gotten over that hurdle, mostly," he smiled at Sebastian and moved closer to him and wrapped his arms around his neck. "You are really good at taking care of me. Even though it's not easy for me to let you, I'm not going to struggle against it anymore. It's finally gotten through my thick skull that you aren't going to lord whatever you do for me over my head as a way to control me later. Never once have you said, 'but I did X for you, you should do Y for me.'"
Sebastian kissed him, again and again.
"That's not doing something for someone. That's just a way of getting something for yourself."
"Exactly. You're not like that at all."
"Neither are you." The kissing resumed.
"Aren't we supposed to be putting this stuff away."
"I like the kissing better," Sebastian said as he resumed kissing Kurt.
"Me too, but I don't like sleeping on the floor," Kurt pointed out.
"Right. Back to putting stuff away. If you give me an idea of what to do with the stuff that's on the bed, you can get your books organized on your bookshelf the way you want them. Or we can do it the other way around."
"Okay, you can do the books. Reference books, next to bottom shelf. Non-fiction books above that, alphabetized by author. Fiction books above that, same organization. Any other stuff, top shelves to be dealt with later. The bottom shelf will be for my school books."
"Got it."
They worked for an hour or so and had everything cleaned up, except that Kurt had nowhere to put all of his sewing stuff, so he stacked it by his desk on the floor. While they worked, they talked about what to do with their photos since they hadn't hung anything on the walls in their room yet and what they wanted to do in DC. By the time they were done, Sebastian had a plan for the closet as well.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
While Kurt showered, Sebastian created a detailed shopping list for the next day using the Ikea website. Kurt wrote out all of his thank you cards and addressed them while Sebastian was in the shower. He was stacking them on his desk when Sebastian came back into the room. He came up behind Kurt and grabbed his hand and spun him into a hug. "Let's take pictures tomorrow morning when it's light outside. That way we can show our parents what we've done with the place."
"I told Carole I'd take pictures, so she'll be disappointed if I show up without any. I go in early tomorrow morning, but I get off early - at 2:00, so let's take them then."
Sebastian danced him across the room and backed him up to the bed and flopped them onto it. "I was going to suggest reading and snuggling, but I just want to snuggle since you have to leave so early. I can read after you leave in the morning."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Kurt dropped Sam off since the camp had called him in for a second day to cover for the sick counselor. "You've got to be tired after being there for 11 hours yesterday."
"Yeah, but just think of the extra money. I need to make it when I can. The great thing about the after-school job is that it's fixed hours and close enough to walk to. The downside is that if there's no school, there's no after-school care. So, fall break, winter break, spring break means no hours. I'll need to save up to cover for the weeks I won't work. Thanks for the ride. See ya!"
Sebastian didn't read that morning. He left right after Kurt and Sam and went to New Haven. He walked around the Yale campus for a while and on a whim, he went in the bookstore and bought himself a Yale t-shirt. He spent the rest of the morning in Ikea buying things to fix up their closet and to store Kurt's sewing supplies. He also bought several picture frames of various types, some collage frames for the walls and individual frames for the photos that Kurt had already printed. He grabbed lunch before he left.
He found a place to print pictures before he went back to the apartment. He printed out photos of himself and his parents from graduation, one from the night all of them went bowling, the one of him and Kurt in the giant insect playground, the one that Kurt had sent him in his graduation robe with the brooch on it, the one Philipe had taken of the three of them in front of Buckingham Palace, and various other photos that he really liked to put in one of the collage frames.
When he got back to the apartment, he put his photos in a collage frame. He put the photos Kurt had brought with him into standing frames and sat them on the upper shelves of his bookcase along with the one of Kurt in his graduation gown. He put his own graduation photo and a few others in standing frames on his bookcase as well. He hung the painting that Sam had given Kurt for his birthday on the short wall on the side of their bed where Kurt could see it while lying in bed. Kurt came in a little after 2:00 to find Sebastian in the living room reading.
"I'm going to shower. I'm just disgusting. I don't even want to explain what happened. Ugh. I'll be back."
Sebastian got up and made Kurt a snack and was waiting for him in the bedroom when he got out of the shower. Kurt came out wearing just a pair of pajama pants. He was clearly in a hurry on his way into the bathroom. Sebastian pulled him straight into a hug. "Surprise!" he said as he turned him around and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and then showed him the photos.
"Oh, wow. It looks great - so much more personal now. You even left me a collage frame to fill. Thank you. Oh, you put my painting up too. I like it there. I'll be able to see it sitting on the bed. You got me a small dresser for my sewing stuff?" Sebastian nodded.
Sebastian sat down on the bed, leaned back and opened his arms offering to hold Kurt, who had obviously had a rough day. Kurt grabbed an undershirt and put it on, and accepted the offer and climbed into Sebastian's arms and sighed and relaxed. Sebastian kissed the top of his head and traced patterns on his chest.
"Is the place you printed your pictures close by? I'd like to go there and print some of mine too."
"Yep, about ten minutes from here. Grab your DVDs and let's go over there. We can come back and put your pictures in the frames and then take photos of the apartment and run back and print them to take with us. I saw a Chinese place over near there and I went in to take a look and the buffet looked really good at lunch time. We can swing by and pick Sam up from the school and go eat there. I'm sure he's starving after being there for so long."
"Perfect plan. Let me get clothes on." Kurt walked into their closet. "Oh, my. The organization fairy visited while I was gone. The closet is fabulous." Kurt came out wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He practically jumped Sebastian with a huge bear hug. "You are awesome!" He gave him a big smoochy kiss too. "Ooh, you got a Yale shirt too. You have been a busy bee today," he laughed. "Come on. Let's go." He grabbed his DVDs and Sebastian's hand and they left.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
"This place is really good," Sam said. "Good find."
"I agree. Maybe we should make a splurge list and add places that are totally worth the extra money to eat at," Kurt said.
"Let's watch a movie when we get home. We can sit Sebastian's lap top on the coffee table and figure out a way that we can all three see," Sam suggested.
"That sounds fun. I have to go in early tomorrow though, so I can't stay up really late. I have to get used to early Saturdays. I work at 7:00 every Saturday morning. The shop doesn't even open until 11:00 on Saturdays, but the owner has a couple of guys work on the really hard jobs when no one is there to cause interruptions and slow the process down."
"Kurt and I took pictures of your room this afternoon. I hope that's okay. Carole wanted to see how the apartment turned out. If you don't want us to show them to her, we can just leave those pictures behind."
"No, it's fine. There's nothing secret about my bedroom. It's actually super cool and awesome. I've never had such a big space of my own. I can actually paint and work on projects in there."
"Yeah. It's already starting to feel like home," Sebastian said. Kurt smiled and reached for his hand under the table.
"Shall we head home?" Kurt asked.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
After the movie, Sebastian showered and Kurt pulled out the clothes that he wanted to take to DC. He laid them on the back of his chair. When Sebastian came out of the bathroom, Kurt grabbed the items he needed and packed his toiletries bag. He pulled out his duffel and sat it on his desk and folded the clothes he had chosen and put them in the duffel and left it open. He turned off the lights and climbed into bed with Sebastian.
"You can add your clothes to the duffel and put it in your car while I'm work. I'll come straight home, shower, change and we'll head to DC."
"I'll have lunch ready for you too. Something you can eat in the car."
"You take such good care of me. Thank you."
"Always."
Kurt was asleep on Sebastian's chest just a few minutes later.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
"How did I miss this?" was the first thing out of Kurt's mouth as he came in the door from work.
"You were really stressed out and tired yesterday," Sebastian said.
"Well, I love it. It's absolutely perfect."
Sebastian had ordered a wall cling and put it on the wall in the entryway to the apartment across from the coat closet. It said:
In this house
We believe in magic
Once upon a time and in a
Galaxy far, far away
we have wuv, twu wuv
to infinity and beyond.
We know the answer to everything is 42
& that the odds are ever in our favor,
that with great power comes great responsibility.
In this house
we have epic adventures!
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Kurt jumped in the shower. He came out the room ready to go 15 minutes later. Kurt hugged Sam goodbye. Sebastian and Kurt were on the road five minutes later. Sebastian handed Kurt his lunch.
"Thank you. This is delicious. It's some kind of chicken salad that I've never had before, but it's really good."
"I'm glad you like it. I'll add it to the 'repeat this recipe' list."
When Kurt finished, Sebastian reached into the back seat and grabbed a tour book for Washington, DC. "I know we didn't get our plans finished, so I went to the library this morning and got this book for you to look at while we drive. You'll like the library."
Kurt opened it up and read parts of it to Sebastian and they talked about different places and made a mental list of places to discuss with Carole and Burt.
About seven hours later, they had arrived at the townhouse that Burt had arranged for the four of them to use. It belonged to another congressman that had gone back home for the week.
Kurt and Sebastian knocked on the door and were greeted by Carole and Burt. Carole pulled Kurt into a hug and Burt shook Sebastian's hand. A few seconds later, Kurt was being bear hugged by his dad and Carole gently hugged Sebastian.
"It's nice to finally meet you," she said.
"You too," he replied.
Carole showed them around the townhouse. The main suite was downstairs and was locked. The ground floor had a living room, dining room, kitchen and half-bath. There were two guest rooms with their own bathrooms upstairs that the owner let people use when he wasn't in town. She showed them which room was theirs. Sebastian put the duffel on the dresser in the room and started to pull their clothes out to hang them up, which only took a couple of minutes. Kurt grabbed their toiletries and put them in the bathroom and handed the duffel to Sebastian to put in the closet. Carole was watching them intently as the scene unfolded.
"Dinner will be done in about ten minutes," she said and walked back downstairs.
"She likes you," Kurt said.
"Well, I hope so," Sebastian teased. "I want her to. And your dad too, but I'm figuring that will be a harder sell."
"Maybe not. Don't forget that he's been talking to your dad. I imagine that his opinion has improved dramatically from what it was."
"Well, that's good news for me. I've been really nervous."
"Come here," Kurt opened his arms. "It's going to be fine. Just try to relax." Kurt ran his thumb over Sebastian's check and leaned up and kissed him. "Let's go eat dinner. Carole's a good cook. We'll have whatever healthy thing she's managed to convince my dad to like."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Dinner went much more smoothly than Sebastian had anticipated. He wasn't grilled by Carole or Burt. They just asked general questions about his life, his family, his school and career plans. Kurt talked about his new job and Sam's. Carole seemed quite pleased that Sam was settling in and enjoying his job. She was every bit the mothering type that Kurt had described. He knew that he'd be next on the list for her to take under her wing. It was just her style.
After they finished eating, Kurt went upstairs and grabbed the envelope of photos of their apartment and a few of the two of them in France that he had printed to give to his parents.
They told stories on themselves about their adventures in furniture assembly. Carole laughed and told a few of her own. Burt watched the two of them interact. Kurt did not restrain himself from being affectionate with Sebastian and Burt had to remind himself that he wasn't going to behave the way he had previously. He was going to keep up his end of the bargain. He found himself actually relaxing and realizing that Sebastian was a calming presence in Kurt's life. Kurt wasn't holding himself back or stifling Sebastian. They were equals in a way that Burt had never seen except with Kurt and Sam.
Kurt and Sebastian talked about the things they'd done in France. They used Burt's laptop to share Kurt's photos from their trip while they talked. The awkwardness Burt thought would be there just wasn't. He found himself interacting with Sebastian fairly easily considering that they seemed to have no common interests whatsoever. Sebastian listened and participated, but didn't try to overrun a conversation.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Sebastian went upstairs and came back with some card games.
"Oh, that was a good idea to pack those," Kurt said. Kurt ejected his DVD and put it in the sleeve, turned the laptop off and they all moved back to the kitchen table and played a few rounds of Uno and got their tushes thoroughly beaten by Kurt. Sebastian just laughed at him as he did his victory dance. Burt laughed along with him, enjoying the fact that Sebastian didn't seem at all put out by the fact that he had lost.
They changed games and played Set. It was close several times, but Kurt came out the winner with 3 games to Carole's and Sebastian's 1 game each.
"I think we've had enough of Kurt's ass-kickin' tonight," Burt said. "I'm ready to hit the hay. We'll finalize our plans over breakfast. I'll see you boys in the morning."
Carole got up and went upstairs with Burt. "Good night, boys."
Kurt and Sebastian collected up the games and took them back upstairs.
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Once they were both in bed, Kurt said, "That went so much better than I had anticipated. My dad really kept up his end of the deal. He didn't give me the stink eye, not even once."
"He seemed to be having a good time to me."
"I know. It was great. This weekend is going to be so much more fun than I thought. I figured it would take a day or two for him to decide that you were not the bad guy. But he legitimately seems to like you."
"You sound so surprised. You said that spending time with my dad would have helped."
Kurt scooted up close to Sebastian, who turned over to be the little spoon while they kept talking.
"Yes. I'm sure it did. But he's never liked me liking a guy. He's always been verbally supportive, but deep inside, he was still bothered by it. He's been working through his issues obviously."
"Well, he clearly has no intention of losing you. You did give him an ultimatum."
"I know. I didn't want to, but I just didn't see any other option."
"Well, it seems to have set him on the path to getting over his issues."
"It does," Kurt said as he placed gentle kisses on Sebastian's neck. He whispered, "Let's get some sleep, mon choix. I love you."
"I love you, mon ange," Sebastian said as he pulled Kurt's hand up and kissed his knuckles.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o
Kurt and Sebastian went down to the kitchen, planning to make breakfast for everyone, but found that Carole was already in the kitchen prepping.
"Here, let us," Kurt said. "Sit at the counter and we'll cook while you tell us about DC." Kurt placed the tour guide book that they'd brought with them on the counter in front of her. "We've looked through there, but you've been here a lot. What do you suggest?"
Kurt started chopping veggies while Sebastian tended the turkey bacon that was just starting to cook in the skillet. Kurt switched to whisking the eggs once the vegetables were ready to use. Carole looked through the book, but she was mostly watching the two of them work together so easily. She had never seen that with Blaine, who always just seemed to get in Kurt's way in the kitchen. She smiled as she watched them. Little touches here, smiling at each other, a kiss on the cheek. She was well on her way to considering Sebastian family in a way that Blaine had never been. They may have only been together for a month, but they were already more in sync than Kurt and Blaine had ever had been.
"I forgot to thank you for the lovely trench coats that you left for me and Burt. They fit really well. I'm going to go get my phone. I had Finn take a picture of us in them." She came back a couple of minutes later. While she was finding the picture, she continued, "Oh, and those chocolates, those were really good. I even let Burt eat all of his, even though I'm sure they don't fit his dietary restrictions."
"I'm sure they don't, but a treat every now and then makes things more fun." Kurt moved to see the pictures. "They look good on you guys. Thanks for showing me."
"I'm sure we'll get a lot of wear out of them. You always give the best gifts."
Kurt blushed. "Well, I'm glad you like them."
Kurt moved back around to start the omelettes in the skillet that Sebastian had just pulled the bacon out of. He had placed the bacon on a baking sheet and put it in the oven that he had turned on when he started cooking the bacon.
Sebastian found a loaf of bread. "Will either of you want toast?"
"Sure, I'll have some. Just a slice for Burt." Sebastian toasted and buttered Carol's bread, slipped it on a plate right as Kurt had finished her omelette. He opened the oven and grabbed a few slices of bacon and laid them on top and then placed her plate in front of her. "Thanks," she said sweetly. She could see Sebastian looking around, and said, "Next to the fridge."
He nodded and pulled out a fork and handed it to her.
Kurt made Sebastian's omelette next. Sebastian plated his own bacon and toast and sat next to Carole at the counter.
"Is Dad coming down soon?"
"He was on the phone when I came down. I thought he'd be right behind me."
Kurt put Burt's omelette on the tray in the oven with the bacon to keep it warm and moved on to making his own omelette. Kurt sat with the other two at the counter and began to eat. "So, where do you want to go today?" he asked Carole.
"Well, honestly, I've not been to many of the places that people tend to visit. A lot of the time, I just relax and read or watch movies during the day when I'm here because I have to cram a lot of shifts into a short period of time to have the time off to come with Burt."
"That makes sense," Sebastian said. "Is there a place that you'd really like to go that Burt would never want to visit?"
"Well, Burt's not really all that into history and I'd like to see some of the stuff at the National Museum of American History."
"Excellent. Sebastian loves history. That's where we'll go tomorrow when Dad has meetings to go to. But for today, what's something you think Dad would like to do?"
"Oh, you know your dad. He'd probably like to sit here and watch some sporting event on TV."
"Yuck," Kurt said objecting.
"I know," she said. "That's not your thing."
Sebastian offered a suggestion. "Remember when we went boating with your grandparents on the Seine?"
Kurt nodded.
"Well, there's a river nearby. Maybe there's something like that here. Would Burt enjoy something like that?"
"You know, he probably would," Carole answered.
Sebastian pulled out his phone and started looking for options, while Kurt looked though the guidebook to see if there were any listed.
"I've found one that still has openings for this afternoon. Should I get us tickets?" Sebastian asked.
"Let me run upstairs and see why Burt hasn't come down yet."
While she was gone, Kurt and Sebastian collected the empty plates and the pan and Kurt washed them and Sebastian dried them. She came back down before he had gotten them put away. She left one plate and fork out and put the rest away. Kurt wiped down the counters and stove.
"He says the boat tour will be fine and he'll be right down." She handed Sebastian her debit card. He paid for his and Kurt's tickets and used her card to pay for hers and Burt's. Carole noticed that he didn't let her pay for all of the tickets.
"There are several new movies that came out in the last couple of weeks. How about we go see a movie afterwards?" Kurt suggested.
"Oh, now your dad will definitely like that."
Kurt used his phone to find the closest theater and pulled up the website and showed Carole the choices. Burt finally came in. Kurt got up and plated Burt's food that had been in the oven and let Burt sit on the stool that he had been using. Kurt washed the baking sheet that had been in the oven while Carole showed Burt the movie listings.
"Well, I don't know much about any of those. Is one of them a spy movie? That's the kind of thing we usually all go see together."
Kurt looked up the synopsis of a few that looked like potentials. Red Lights and Easy Money look like the closest. He showed them to Burt.
"Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver? I like them. Let's go see that one... Red Lights. Then we'll go out to dinner."
"Sounds like a plan," Carole said. "What time does the boat tour start?"
"1:00. There were earlier ones, but I didn't know about the traffic and how long it takes to get to the launch area. I'll pull up a map and directions." Kurt moved around behind Sebastian and was leaning on him with his arms wrapped around his waist, chin propped on Sebastian's shoulder, looking at the map with him. "It looks like it's about a 30-minute drive, so we'll leave at noon, just to be cautious?"
Everyone nodded. Carole and Burt were still in their pajamas and robes. Carole grabbed Burt's empty plate and washed it quickly and put it away. "Let's go sit in the living room."
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Carole and Burt sat on the couch. Kurt and Sebastian sat on the love seat across from them.
"So, let's get the dreary stuff out of the way so we can enjoy the rest of the time you're here," Burt said.
Kurt scooted closer to Sebastian. "Okay, Dad."
"I called Devon's office Thursday after you talked to me the first time. I got an appointment with Devon on Friday before lunch. People seem to clear their schedules quickly when a congressman and the state's attorney request an appointment together."
Kurt laughed.
"So, it was an enlightening visit. Devon was not aware that you and Blaine had ever dated. The last thing he knew about was Blaine dating Rachel briefly. And he knew that they had been spending a lot of time together again lately and he actually thought that maybe Blaine had just been confused when he came out and that he would be dating Rachel again sometime soon."
"I'm sure he was shocked to find out that Rachel's engaged to Finn, unless she's not anymore," Kurt said unsure of how things stood.
"Well, Finn broke up with her after he found out that she had used his phone to track your whereabouts. He thought you had gone to New York and was upset that you had hidden where you were going from him, but he was somewhat understanding when we explained to him why you had done that," Carole answered.
"Especially given that Rachel had done exactly what you thought she would if she knew where you were, which was tell people."
"I'll talk to him," Kurt said.
Carole nodded.
Burt began to speak again. "So, Reid played the video that you recorded in Connecticut for Devon. He was quite upset. He's looking into prosecuting Annie somehow, but hasn't come up with a way yet. Since he didn't pay for her services and she isn't actively presenting herself as a psychologist or a psychiatrist, there's not a whole lot that he came up with at the time. But needless to say, he is not happy."
"I called Dr. Morris and Finn will start to see her next week. I'm hoping that she's as helpful to him as she has been to you and your dad," Carole said to Sebastian. "Me too," he replied. Kurt took his hand and gently rubbed his thumb over Sebastian's ring.
"I hope Mr. Anderson gets Blaine some real help," Kurt said.
"I hope so too. I gave him Dr. Morris' contact information, but specifically asked him to get a referral from her to someone who specializes in the type of problems Blaine has."
"So, it's over," Kurt said, sounding relieved. "I mean I thought it was before and then he showed up where I work."
"Reid made it pretty clear that if Blaine showed up again in Connecticut bothering either one of you that he would file a for a restraining order. He presented Devon with a cease and desist letter, which of course is nothing more than a written version of 'stay away from someone or else', but nonetheless it was the first step in a process."
"Devon took it all very seriously after he had seen the video and listened to the audio recording. He seemed quite shocked, honestly."
"I can imagine," Kurt said. "If he didn't even know we were dating, it would be really weird to listen to that recording."
Sebastian asked, "What about Rachel?"
Carole answered, "Well, Burt came home from visiting the Berry's and he told me what had happened. I went and talked to Finn about it. I don't usually get in the middle of their romantic squabbling - you know that." Kurt nodded. "But this was different. I went up to Finn's room and told him that Rachel had used his phone to locate you and that she had given that information to Blaine and that he had gone to your place of work to try to get you to take him back. I left out any details. Just the bare bones. I figured it needed to be up to him to confront her if he wanted to."
"He came barreling down the stairs and ran out of the house, like his room was on fire," Burt added. "He hightailed it to the Berry's and confronted her."
"It seems like your lecture on 'saying nothing means you agree' had an effect on him," Carole said to Kurt.
"Good."
"About 30 minutes later, he was back. He told us that Carole was right - that Rachel had used his phone to track you down. He was doubly upset about her betrayal. He felt betrayed that she had used him to find you AND she had betrayed you as well by telling Blaine."
"He's given her the benefit of the doubt so many times, Carole. He has listened to her 'reasons' for her behavior. She is a master at persuasion and she always manages to get him to forgive her without actually apologizing."
"He did mention that, now that you bring it up," Burt said. "He said 'she's not even sorry'. That really bothered him. He said she tried the shift the blame onto Sebastian as a bad influence in your life and encouraging you to be shifty and hide yourself from everyone."
"Yeah, she's like that. Dad, I really did try to keep the peace. I tried to stay out of it. I knew that Finn loved her."
"Kurt, it's not got anything to do with you, honey. You're allowed to have a life," Carole said.
"Something I forgot," Burt stated. "Reid gave me a cease and desist letter for Rachel as well. I took it by Leroy's office and hand delivered it on my way to pick Carole up to drive to the airport after our meeting with Devon."
Burt spoke to Sebastian, "Your dad told me about some of his struggles on the way to Fort Wayne. He seems to be doing better with the help of Dr. Morris."
"Yeah, he does. I'm glad he gave her a chance. I think she can help Finn too."
Carole said, "I hope so. This last thing with Rachel really knocked him for a loop. He's known that she's difficult, but he was working to rebuild your trust, Kurt, and she used him against you. It's a struggle for him right now."
"I'll definitely call him and make sure that he knows that I don't blame him for the fact that she was being a sneak."
Speaking to Sebastian, Burt said, "Your dad and I had met before and run into each other at political functions, but we're going to try to find some time in our busy schedules for all three of us to get to know each other better."
"That will be good for my dad. He sits in his home office alone too much," Sebastian said. Kurt squeezed his hand.
"That's a really good idea, Dad. Thanks."
"Well, Burt and I better get upstairs and get ourselves ready so we can leave at noon," Carole said as she stood up. Burt followed her lead and got up as well.
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Sebastian spread his knees apart and patted the cushion. Kurt turned and sat in the open space and leaned against the arm of the love seat, pulled his feet up onto the cushion he had been sitting on, and Sebastian put his arms around Kurt and held him close. They both closed their eyes and enjoyed the closeness and calm that they felt knowing that Rachel and Blaine would more than likely leave them alone from now on. They could hear the water turn on upstairs. Kurt leaned in and started gently kissing Sebastian.
"Mmm," came from Sebastian.
Kurt startled when he heard a stair squeak. He pulled back and started to move, but Sebastian didn't let loose.
"Don't mind me," Carole said as she smiled, seeing them together. "I just came back to grab my phone off the counter before I end up not remembering where I left it." She was on her way back up in a flash.
"Sorry. I'm sorry, mon choix. I'm not embarrassed of us, I promise."
"I know. I really do. I know you're not ashamed of us. You were just startled. Just stay here and let me hold you. I'm here. I love you, mon ange. This has been a really tough few days and you've been holding it all in. I just want to hold you."
Kurt relaxed into Sebastian's arms and let his frustrations slip away.
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An hour later, Burt and Carole came down the stairs to find Kurt in the same position, sleeping in Sebastian's arms.
Carole spoke very quietly, "He looks exhausted. I'm glad to see that he lets you care for him. He's always working so hard and does more than he should for other people."
Sebastian answered back, almost silently, "It's been a rough few days, but he's tough. He's done the same for me before. We'll be okay."
Sebastian pulled Kurt up a little bit and spoke into his ear gently, "Mon ange, we need to finish getting ready to go. You're parents are ready now."
Kurt leaned forward and kissed him gently. "Alright, mon choix. I'll get up." Kurt stretched a bit and stood up. He offered his hand and pulled Sebastian up. "Let me go grab my boots and put them on and I'll be ready to go." Kurt headed up the stairs and came right back down and sat at the bottom of the stairs and put the boots on. "Ready," he stated enthusiastically.
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Over dinner, they talked about how much they enjoyed the boat ride and how the historical information the guide shared made the trip more interesting. They also discussed the movie they had seen, the parts the liked and the parts they thought could have been better. Carole asked them a lot of questions about their time in France. Kurt and Sebastian asked Burt about his position as a congressman. After a couple of hours, Carole got up and said she was going to head to bed. Kurt suggested that Sebastian shower first, which left Kurt and Burt alone together in the living room.
After the other two had gone upstairs, Kurt spoke first, "Thank you, Dad."
Burt looked at him inquiringly.
"For not interrogating Sebastian. For being different than you've ever been before. I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to be to not have to be on edge all the time."
"Look, Kurt. I did a lot of thinking after our long talk. I didn't like a lot of what I realized about myself. Talking the talk is good, but walking the walk makes more of a difference. I can SAY that I'm okay with who you are, but if I ACT like I'm not, that makes what I say mean nothing. You mean everything to me. I was holding on to you so tight that I was pushing you away. You deserve the kind of love I saw this afternoon in Sebastian's eyes. He put your needs above his own and just sat there and held you. You've always kept yourself so closed off from people that I never even considered that you would let someone in like that. But I'm glad that you've found someone."
"Me too, Dad."
"I do have a question for you. You're both wearing rings on your left hands. Are the two of you engaged already?"
"No, Dad. They're promise rings. We've been wearing them since we started dating about five weeks ago. But I see us headed that direction."
"I see."
"Look, I'm sure that it seems too soon to you. Maybe it is too soon to feel that way about him. But this is so much different than it ever was with Blaine. Looking back on all of that, I was desperate. When I met him, I was in a really dark place, maybe darker than you realize because there are things you still don't know." "I'm sure."
"Blaine was this beacon of hope at the time - this bright, shiny, outgoing, out teenage boy. I was like a moth drawn to a flame. It looked like warmth, but it burned. I got burned. Sebastian isn't like that. No, he's not perfect. He doesn't pretend to be. He's more than willing to share his list of negative traits. He and I spend a lot of time actually really talking to each other. We promised from the weekend I went to his house right after he apologized that we wouldn't lie to each other."
"Well, that's a good start."
Kurt nodded. "He's whole. I'm not sure if that makes sense. He's not one-quarter one thing, half something else, and an eighth that, and so on. He is himself. He isn't one person around his mom and then someone different around friends. Or act like a different person when we're alone. He's not trying to be whoever he thinks he needs to be in particular situation."
"I think I get it."
"And maybe some day we'll find something about each other that drives us nuts. But as I see it right now, the things he does that probably annoy people are the same things that I do that annoy people."
"What do you mean?"
"He's a neat freak. This week while I was at work, he steamed the wrinkles out of all of my clothes and his."
Burt laughed.
"He owns a small library. All of the books are organized by language, genre and author's last name. Our closet looks like it belongs in Better Homes and Gardens. You saw the photos."
"Yeah."
"He did that when I was at work. He makes the bed with me. He washes the dishes as soon as the meal is over. He cooks healthy meals. I let him do my laundry."
"Now, there's high praise indeed," Burt chuckled. "I get it."
"We're not identical. There are things he likes that I don't and I'm sure the reverse is true. But none of them are life-altering issues. We've spent five weeks together pretty much 24/7. We've not had a single disagreement that we couldn't settle amicably quickly. We assembled all of that furniture together without yelling at each other."
"Now, there - that's saying something," Burt laughed again. "Some of that stuff makes you wanna swear. It can totally try your patience."
Kurt nodded in agreement.
"Well, I just wanted you to know that I did listen and I'm not going to be the way I was before. I like him. He treats you right. I can see that. And you are so relaxed with him that it's actually weird to see, but good weird. I'm glad you brought him to meet us."
Burt stood up and headed toward the stairs. Kurt followed him.
"Thanks, Dad."
"You two have fun with Carole tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow evening."
"Good night." Kurt went in the bedroom and shut the door behind him.
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Kurt slipped into bed quietly after his shower. Sebastian was lying on his back. Kurt slid over as close as he could and lay on his back as well and gently took Sebastian's hand in his.
"Finally, you're here. I have determined something while you were not in the bed."
"What's that?"
"I don't sleep right if you're not in the bed." Sebastian rolled over toward Kurt and put his head on Kurt's chest. Kurt started running his fingers through Sebastian's hair.
"See, you've worked some kind of spell on me."
"Well, if that's the case, then it's mutual. You notice that I'm never asleep when you come out from your shower, even if you stay in the bathroom forever..."
"Hey, I never spend that much time in the bathroom," he retorted.
"Maybe it just feels that way because I'm the one waiting for you." Kurt tipped Sebastian's head up and kissed him.
"Maybe. Because it sure seems like you've been downstairs and in the bathroom for ages."
"Well, I'm here now."
Sebastian practically starfished him to the bed. "Yep, and I'm not letting you escape," he teased. "I love you too much to ever let you go."
"Shh, my parents are trying to sleep," Kurt tried to say seriously, but was laughing instead.
Sebastian lay back next to him again on his side and Kurt turned to face him and pulled him close and passionately kissed him. "I love you, Bas, so much."
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The next morning they went to the National Museum of American History. Carole had never ventured into the subway, but she decided that she'd give it a go since Sebastian and Kurt would be with her. Sebastian had packed their travel wallet pouches and Kurt put his stuff into Sebastian's and let Carole wear his and he knew what the next gift he was going to get for her would be.
They thoroughly enjoyed their trip and it gave Carole and Sebastian time to get to know each other better. Kurt knew that their interests were much more similar than Burt and Sebastian's. They got back to the townhouse in time to order pizzas for dinner, which was a big surprise to Burt since he was rarely given the opportunity to enjoy the 'finer' foods in life, as he called them.
They played card games again after they finished their dinner. Burt listened to them talk about all of the things they enjoyed about the museum. And as usual, Kurt won most of the matches.
"Sometimes I think he has x-ray vision," Burt said.
"If I had x-ray vision, I'd use it for something better than cheating at card games," Kurt laughed.
"Next time, I'm bringing the dominoes. At least I have a chance at that," Carole said.
"Oh, so there are games that he doesn't always win at? I need to know these things. Sam and I are always losing. We need some new games that we have a better chance at," Sebastian teased.
"Now, don't give away top secret information, Carole," Kurt admonished teasingly.
"I gotta head to bed, guys. I gotta be in meetings early tomorrow morning. I'm glad you boys came to visit."
Kurt stood up and gave Burt a hug. "Good night, Dad."
Sebastian stood to shake hands, and Burt surprised him by pulling him into a bear hug too. "See you next time."
"Good night, Burt," Sebastian said as Burt left to go upstairs.
"I'm going to take these games up and head to the shower," Sebastian said as he grabbed all the card games.
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Kurt and Carole moved to the living room.
"Oh, honey. He's so sweet. I really like him."
Kurt smiled.
"Your dad likes him too."
"I know. He told me last night. I was surprised, but really glad. I was afraid that Rachel had poisoned his mind ahead of time and that he wouldn't be able to let go of what she had told him. Dad tends to hold grudges."
"Well, I think I can safely say that Rachel is on that list now and not Sebastian. Your dad knows that teenagers do stupid things. Heck, adults do stupid things. But Sebastian sincerely apologized. He treats you so respectfully. It's actually really amazing to see."
"I hope Finn finds someone as caring. I feel sad for him because it's a big loss for him. When I realized what Blaine had done to me, it was heartbreaking. But I really hope that Finn can move past it and find someone who truly loves him. I really will call him and talk to him soon. I'll give him a few days to process what's happened first. I wasn't really ready to talk about it right away. I spent that whole weekend after I broke up with Blaine doing things with Sam and not talking about it at all."
"Puck was at the house killing things with Finn all weekend while his sister spent the weekend with a friend."
"That sounds like a good way to let out his pent up frustrations. He loves blowing things up."
Carole laughed. "I'm glad to see you happy. I can't honestly say that I've ever seen you this relaxed consistently."
"This is the new normal for me. That's why I came down so heavy on the issue of going after Blaine and Rachel. I'm not going to lose myself again. I discovered that I am not the uptight, unreasonable person a lot of people thought I was, including myself sometimes. I was incredibly stressed out and on edge all the time. This is me, the real me, the one that doesn't have to fight to exist. Sebastian doesn't think my habits are ridiculous. He enjoys me. He just likes to be with me. He doesn't try to push me to the background or upstage me. He does things for me just because he wants to. That's been hard for me to accept. That's probably been our biggest struggle. I've had to learn how to accept freely given love. No strings or paybacks."
"It makes me really happy to know that. I'm glad that you and Sam are going to be going to schools that you want to go to. And I'm glad that you have Sebastian now. I will probably be gone by the time you get up in the morning, so stand up so I can give you a hug before I go to bed. I'm really glad that the two of you came this weekend. I hope you have time to come see us every couple of months at least. Maybe when there's a break in Congress, we can come up and visit you guys for a day or two."
"We'd like that," Kurt said as he hugged her back.
"Good night, sweetie."
"Good night."
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This time Kurt showered quickly and starfished Sebastian by surprise.
"Oof. Well, hello to you too!" He grabbed Kurt so he couldn't escape and kissed him soundly.
"Well, you have the Hummel parents' seal of approval."
Sebastian let him go and rolled Kurt over into the little spoon position. He kissed Kurt's shoulder and moved his hand to cover Kurt's heart and said, "That makes me really relieved. Seriously. I mean I knew that you weren't going to leave me if they didn't like me, so don't think that. But I was scared."
Kurt scooted back and squished himself up against Sebastian's chest. "Well, no more worrying."
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Sebastian had chosen their destination for Tuesday. When they pulled into the parking garage, Kurt still couldn't tell where they were going. After walking a couple of blocks, he saw a huge, colorful modern building.
"An aquarium!" He hugged Sebastian and grabbed his hand and started walking faster.
They both thoroughly enjoyed their visit, but Sebastian enjoyed watching Kurt even more than looking in the tanks.