Hi Everyone!
Here's the new chapter, enjoy! Please, let me know what you think.
I would like to share some amazing news with you. A few months ago, I applied for a history PhD program. Since my exam was about two weeks after my accident, I felt like crap back then and couldn't study as much as I wanted to, I thought that I had no chance to get in. I received my letter today and I have no idea how, but I did it!:) I'm sorry for keeping you up with the boring details of my life but I'm so-so happy right now. It has been my biggest dream since I was 12.
"This is the most horrible thing I have ever seen" Blaine muttered, watching the huge spider with wide eyes.
It was a peaceful evening or at least it had started as one. They had gotten back from work together, had eaten dinner with Danny and then watched TV for a while. When the boy had seemed tired, Kurt had sent him to the bathroom and then asked Blaine to help him feed Cat. It had seemed like a good idea. Blaine didn't really like the spider but he had never seen such a thing and he had been curious how these things worked. Well, now he understood why Kurt did the dirty job and didn't let Danny see this.
"He usually doesn't play with his food so long" Kurt said.
"This is disgusting" Blaine grimanced but leaned closer to watch the spider. "I feel like I'm gonna be sick but still... God, look at those legs."
Kurt raised an eyebrow in response.
"I know, I know. Back off and let him feed" Blaine sighed and joined Kurt on the bed. "Is everything alright? You're so quiet."
"I'm tired" Kurt answered.
"Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor? I don't think it's okay, Kurt" Blaine said in concern.
"I don't need a doctor, Blaine. I'm perfectly healthy" Kurt sighed. "I just need a break."
"It's only a couple of weeks" Blaine smiled and squeezed Kurt's hand. "You will have two whole months just for yourself."
"And you. And Danny" Kurt smiled.
"Well, at least the two of you can go on an amazing holiday" Blaine smiled.
"What about you?" Kurt frowned.
"I have to work, Kurt" Blaine said. "Hopefully, we will catch your stalker soon and you won't need us anymore. Which means we can have new cases. Something easy for a change, I hope."
"Do you really have to work?" Kurt asked, kissing Blaine's neck lightly. "I was hoping that you would take out a few weeks and stay with us."
"It would be great, yeah" Blaine nodded. "But I can't. I need the money from these jobs."
"I have enough money for both of us, you know" Kurt said.
"I would never accept that" Blaine said.
"Fine" Kurt sighed and lay down onto Danny's bed. "But don't come to me complaining if you get stuck with an annoying bitch while I enjoy my well deserved holiday in France."
Blaine smiled and looked at the bathroom's door briefly before joining Kurt. Since there was no sign of Danny, he hoped that they had a minute for themselves and quickly got beside Kurt, kissing him. Apparently, Blaine didn't see how close the edge of the bed was and as he sneaked his arms around Kurt, he lost his balance and fell from the bed, bringing Kurt with him.
"Ouch" Blaine groaned under the weight of the other man.
"It was a stupid idea" Kurt laughed as he got up, helping Blaine get back to his feet.
"I know" Blaine said.
"Are you alright?" Kurt asked.
"Yeah, I guess so" Blaine replied.
Unfortunately, as he tried to get up with Kurt's help, he hit his head into the edge of the half-open drawer and fell back down, hissing in pain.
"Why am I so unlucky?" Blaine muttered.
"I told him to clean up in his room" Kurt sighed, shaking his head.
He sat back down onto the bed and decided to finish Danny's job. He couldn't stand the mess the boy had left behind and as lucky as Blaine was, he would trip over something if he wasn't careful. Kurt grabbed a few toys from the bed and throw them into the box beside the bed and then went back to the nightstand. He was about to close the drawer when something caught his attention. There was another toy in the drawer and he had no idea why Danny kept it there. It seemed like... Did Danny try to hide it from him?
Kurt frowned and pulled out the toy, almost dropping it in surprise. It was the action figure Kurt couldn't get him for his birthday, the one his stalker had sent as a gift for the boy. Kurt remembered getting rid of it, he was 100 % sure that Danny couldn't get it. Which meant he had to get it somewhere else.
Horrible thoughts went down in his mind as he dug deeper in the drawer and pulled out a few letters.
"What are these?" Blaine asked as he joined Kurt, seeing how pale the other man had gone.
"Oh my God" Kurt whispered as he went through the first letter.
He wouldn't think too much of them if he hadn't been the target of a lunatic. But he was. And the sight of these letters made him sick, he knew very well why.
That was the moment when the bathroom's door opened and Danny stepped out. When he saw his letters in Kurt's hands, his eyes widened and stopped immediately.
"Where are these letters from?" Kurt asked shakily.
Danny knew that Kurt would be angry with him if he told him where he had gotten them. He bit his lip nervously and took a step back.
"Where did you get these letters?" Kurt asked hysterically.
"I-I found them" Danny said quietly, seemingly scared of Kurt's reaction.
"Where?" Kurt asked.
Danny gulped nervously and shook his head. Blaine stepped forward, putting an arm around Kurt. He knew what Kurt thought and he had a horrible feeling that he was right but if they scared Danny, the boy would shut down and not tell them anything. They had to calm down.
"It's okay, Danny. Kurt's not angry with you" Blaine said gently. "Right?"
After a moment, Kurt took a deep breath and nodded. He hated seeing that Danny was scared of him and he knew that he had to calm down for their sake. He forced out a small smile and stepped forward, crouching down in front of Danny.
"Danny, you have to tell us everything. This could be important" he said gently.
Danny let out a small sob and threw himself into Kurt's arms. He wasn't stupid, he knew that something was wrong. And it meant he had done something wrong.
"I'm so sorry" he said.
"It's okay, honey" Kurt said, running his hands up and down Danny's back. "Tell me everything. Where did you get these letters?"
"I found them in my bag" Danny said. "Someone left them there for me in the lunch breaks."
"Do you know who it was?" Blaine asked.
Danny shook his head.
"No, I never see them" he said, crying harder. "I did something wrong, right?"
Kurt looked at Blaine, not knowing what to say. Blaine shook his head. They had to get through the letters to know if they were right.
"No, Danny" Blaine said. "You didn't do anything wrong. But we need to read your letters, okay?"
"Okay" Dany said quietly.
"The toy... Did you find it in your bag, too?" Kurt asked slowly.
"It was a present for my birthday" Danny said, looking away.
Kurt pulled him closer, hoping that this way Danny couldn't see his horrified look. What if they were right? He was almost 100 % sure that they were. But if they were, it meant that his stalker got close to Danny without any of them noticing it. He tightened his arms around the boy as he thought about the horrible possibility of the stalker getting Danny, using him to get closer to Kurt.
"Let's go downstairs, okay?" Blaine said. He had a bad feeling that none of them would sleep that night.
~ o ~
They spent the whole night in the living room, going through every letter Danny had gotten. It turned out that there were dozens of them. Kurt freaked out when he realised that it had started months ago and it had stayed hidden from him for so long. He kept Danny in his arms who cried himself into sleep at one point but Kurt was too scared of letting go of him. Blaine offered him to bring Danny upstairs to his room but Kurt didn't let him. He was scared that if he let Danny out of his arms, he would lose him.
Everything went worse as they read the letters. They were all nice, too nice, and the sender must have known a lot about them. He knew how Danny felt, when he was upset. He knew what to write to get the boy's trust.
"I can't believe we didn't notice this" Wes sighed, shaking his head.
"It had started way before we got here" Nick said.
"He should have told me" Kurt whispered.
Blaine pulled him into his arms, kissing his forehead.
"Don't blame yourself" he said.
"I'm not" Kurt said. "I'm blaming you."
He tightened his arms around Danny and slightly pulled away from Blaine to look at the Warblers.
"How could it happen?" he asked. "You were supposed to keep him safe! You were supposed to find things like this!"
"Kurt..." Blaine started but Kurt silenced him with one look.
"No, Blaine. This is all your fault" Kurt said, raising the letter he had in his hand.
Blaine took the letter from him and quickly went through it. He understood why Kurt was so upset. A few weeks ago, Danny had received a letter in which he had been asked to meet the sender after school. Obviously, it hadn't worked since Danny had never been alone and had gone home after school every single day, but it had been too close.
Kurt reached up and wipped his face with a shaky hand. It wasn't the best time to cry. His son was in danger, he could have gotten caught by his stalker and he wanted to find the person responsible for this. He looked around and his eyes landed on Jeff.
"You were with him most of the time" he said, his voice dangerously quiet.
"You heard Danny. He got the letters in his lunch breaks when we were out of the classroom" Jeff said.
"You should have noticed it!" Kurt shouted.
Danny stirred in his arms but went still again.
"Kurt, I'm sure that it's not Jeff's fault" Blaine tried to reason. "He did his job. He followed Danny everywhere but you can't expect him to be at two places at the same time. It's impossible."
"You promised me that we would be safe with you" Kurt said as he turned to Blaine. "You said that he wouldn't go after Danny because he only wanted me!"
"We don't even know if these letters are from the same person" David said.
"They are" Kurt replied. "I received a handwritten letter on Danny's birthday, too, remember? It was from the same person, I would recognize his writing from anywhere."
"I will make another research" Nick said quietly.
"And you better find something this time" Kurt said angrily as he stood up. "I've waited for too long. I want you to find this man immediately. I don't care what you have to do to get to him but find him and make sure he's locked up in a cell where he can't hurt us anymore!"
"We're doing everything we can" Wes said. "This guy's clever and careful, it's not as easy as you think."
"It is" Kurt replied. "You get paid for this job, the least you can do is to keep yourself to our contract and don't let things like this happen to us! You promised me to keep my son safe, so you better don't let anything happen to him again or I swear, I will make sure you never get another job in this city."
With that, Kurt turned around and walked to the stairs, carrying Danny in his arms, leaving the five stunned Warblers in the living room. Seconds later, Kurt slammed his bedroom's door closed, letting them know that he wanted to be alone with Danny for the rest of the night.
"That was harsh" Jeff muttered.
"I should talk to him" Blaine said, looking towards the stairs.
"Leave him" Nick said. "I think he wants to be alone now."
"Yeah, he needs to calm down" David agreed.
"I can't believe he said those things" Blaine sighed.
"He's scared" Wes said. "I don't like this side of Kurt but he's kind of right. This guy's been fooling with him for months and on the top of that, he almost got Danny without any of us noticing it. It was a huge mistake."
"How was I supposed to know?" Jeff asked angrily. Okay, he was mostly angry with himself. He had been there with Danny most of the time and Kurt was right, he should have noticed that something was wrong. But damn, the kid was so smart.
"Nobody blames you, Jeff" Nick said, squeezing his hand. "Kurt didn't mean that."
"But I do" Jeff said. "I just don't understand. How could Danny keep it from us? I mean... We should have noticed that he was hiding something from us."
"He didn't know how important these letters were" Nick said. "He's just a kid. I don't think he understands what is going on."
"This guy told him what Danny wanted to hear" Blaine said. "It was easy to make him trust."
"I can't believe Danny almost met him" Jeff shook his head. "I don't want to think about what he wanted from the kid."
"That's why we have to find him as soon as possible" Blaine said seriously. "He's dangerous. If he went into all this trouble to get in touch with Danny, he could be capable of anything."
"But at least we are one step closer" Nick muttered.
"What do you mean?" Blaine asked.
"It has to be someone from the school" Nick explained. "An outsider couldn't just walk into the classroom, someone would have noticed it."
"You're a genius!" Jeff said, kissing Nick's forehead that made the man's eyes go wide in surprise.
"Alright, gentlemen. Let's get to work!" Blaine said. "We will find him this time. I can feel it."
~ o ~
The next day passed quickly. Kurt called the police in the morning and told them everything they had found out the previous night. Soon after that, two policemen arrived and questioned them, mostly Danny. The poor boy was so scared, they could barely get anything out of him, no matter how nice they tried to be to him. When they left, Danny went back to his room since he had nothing else to do. Kurt didn't let him go to school and was determined to keep him at home until they found his stalker. He was too scared of losing the boy and he was afraid that that lunatic was just waiting for the right moment when Kurt let Danny out of his sight. He couldn't let it happen.
Unfortunately, Danny didn't really understand Kurt's true intention and felt like he was punished for what he had done. It just made him feel worse than ever. He didn't talk to anyone, barely ate and usually stayed in his room, crying silently. He blamed himself for being so stupid, for believing that his letters were innocent. He should have known that it was too good to be true. And now he felt lonelier than before.
Blaine who tried to soothe Kurt before he could explode and make everything right between him and Danny, went to find him later that night after a pointless conversation with Kurt. Kurt was deaf to everything that didn't include new informations about his stalker and since Blaine and his team couldn't find anything new yet, Blaine gave up in the end and went to talk to Danny. He hated that he seemed so upset and felt like it was his job as Kurt's boyfriend to make sure he was alright.
"May I come in?" he asked as he peeked inside.
Danny was lying on his bed with his head buried into his pillow and didn't look up at him but Blaine saw as he nodded slightly. Blaine took a deep breath and walked inside, shutting the door behind him. He walked to Danny and sat down, hoping that the boy would look at him but it didn't happen. Blaine reached out and ran his fingers through Danny's hair, smiling. Danny had the same curls as him but unlike Blaine, he looked great with his curly hair. It was cute.
"How are you?" Blaine asked quietly.
"I ruined everything" Danny muttered.
"Why do you say that?" Blaine frowned.
Danny turned to look at him. He was crying again and he looked horrible.
"Kurt hates me" Danny said. "I didn't talk to him about the letters and now he doesn't want to see me."
"You two should stop doing this" Blaine muttered to himself. "Listen, Danny. I know for sure that Kurt doesn't hate you. Those letters scared him and that's why he acts differently. You will be fine once we catch his stalker."
"I didn't know that they were from him" Danny whispered.
"I know. We all know" Blaine corrected himself. "Noone blames you. To be honest, I would have done the same."
"Really?" Danny asked.
"You feel lonely, right?" Blaine asked and continued when Danny nodded. "I was just like you before I met the Warblers. I didn't have any friends and I felt always so alone. If someone had sent me letters, I would have thought that they cared about me. I would have trusted them."
Danny nodded and looked away sadly.
"I know that you're tired but I would like to ask a few questions" Blaine started slowly. He didn't want to scare Danny but he was their best chance to get to Kurt's stalker. If Nick was right, Danny should have seen the man, maybe even talked to him.
"Okay" Danny said hesitantly.
"Don't be scared" Blaine smiled. "There's no wrong answer, okay? And if you feel uncomfortable, we can stop."
"Okay" Danny said again.
"Let's start with the letters. Close your eyes and try to remember the first time you got one" Blaine said.
Danny did as he was told.
"It was after winter break" he said. "I was upset because Kurt worked between the holidays and we had to come back from grandpa earlier. I was jealous because my classmates spent the whole break with their families but Kurt wasn't here."
"How did you find the letter?" Blaine asked.
"I went back from lunch and reached into to my bag to get my things. That's when I found the envelope. I opened it and read the letter" Danny said.
"Why didn't you tell Kurt?" Blaine asked.
Danny opened his eyes, looking at Blaine in fear.
"It's okay. No wrong answer, remember?" Blaine said, trying to be as reassuring as possible.
"I was angry with him for avoiding me" Danny admitted. "I didn't feel like he deserved to know about them. But then they kept coming and I was afraid of telling Kurt because I thought he would be angry. I liked the letters, they always made me feel better. And I thought that Kurt would do something to stop them."
"He just wants the best for you" Blaine said gently.
"I know" Danny said, looking away in shame. "I was stupid."
"You two should talk more to each other" Blaine said. "Okay... Did you get other presents or just that toy?"
"Just that one" Danny said. "For my birthday. I wanted it since Brendon's birthday."
"Did you tell someone about it?" Blaine asked.
"Uhm... Yes, Mandy" Danny said.
"Anybody else?" Blaine asked. "An adult maybe?"
Danny lifted his head slowly, biting his lip nervously.
"It's okay. You can tell me everything" Blaine said.
"There was that man..."
~ o ~
"Nick, you have to make a research on one Mr Wilkinson. He works at Danny's school" Blaine said and he burst into the room.
"Who's the guy?" Jeff asked from beside Nick.
"Possible suspect" Blaine answered.
From what Danny had told him, it seemed like they finally had a lead. Something was wrong with this guy, that was sure but maybe it was something more...
"Seth Wilkinson" Nick said as he went through the informations he found. "Janitor at Danny's school."
"Since when?" Blaine asked.
"Since January" Nick answered.
"Danny got the first letter in January" Jeff said excitedly.
"It's not everything" Nick continued. "He worked in the theater, too. He got kicked out because... he tried to break into a dressing room."
"Kurt's?" Blaine asked.
"I don't know" Nick said.
They were silent for a few minutes, watching as Nick went through the informations about Wilkinson.
"Look at this" he said, pointing at the screen. "Wilkinson is his mother's maiden name. He changed it two years ago after he got out of jail."
"Jail?" Jeff asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. He was sentenced for abusing his stepbrother" Nick said, grimancing as he read the report. "This man's sick. He followed the kid across the state and threatened to kill him when he got together with his girlfriend."
"And they let him out?" Jeff asked in disbelief. "They-they let him work around kids? This is unbelievable."
"Call the police" Blaine said. "Let them know what we found about him."
"Got it" Nick nodded, reaching for his phone.
~ o ~
The next day, Kurt got an early visit from the police. The man working on his case greeted him with something unbelievable and he still felt like he was dreaming when he closed the door behind the man. Blaine who watched the scene from the corner of the living room, walked to him and sneaked his arms around Kurt.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I can't believe they found him" Kurt said as he took a step back and turned around to face Blaine. "I just... Is it real?"
"You heard him" Blaine smiled.
The police officer had told them that they had gone to Wilkinson's place the previous night and had found enough proof to lock him up for a while. Nick had also found some more since the idiot had paid with his credit card for the letter papers and the toy Danny had gotten, so even if he denied that he had anything to do with the case, he couldn't get away with it so easily.
"I'm not dreaming, right?" Kurt asked hopefully.
To be honest, he had imagined this moment so many times in the past few months but he had thought that he would feel relieved and happy. But now he didn't feel any of that. He was scared that it was just a dream.
"You're awake" Blaine said. "And this is real. Nick made a research and found a lot of things against him. I'm sure that the police has even more."
"Is it over?" Kurt asked hopefully.
"It is" Blaine nodded.
To his surprise, Kurt burst into tears and threw himself into Blaine's arms.
"Kurt? Are you alright?" Blaine asked in concern.
"I was so rude to you and I'm so sorry" Kurt cried. "You did it. It was you who found him."
"Don't forget my amazing team and your incredible son" Blaine said. "It was a team work."
"Danny?" Kurt asked in confusion.
"We had a talk" Blaine shrugged. "You would be surprised how much kids can remember if you ask the right questions."
"I-I should talk to him" Kurt said, stepping away from Blaine again. "And the others, too. God, I have so much to do. Everyone hates me right now."
"We will be fine. Go, tell Danny" Blaine said, pushing Kurt lightly towards the stairs.
Kurt smiled at him one more time before turning towards the stairs. Blaine sighed as he looked after him, his heart heavy for some reason.
"Does it mean we will have a party tonight?" Jeff asked as he left the camera room, seemingly very happily.
"I'm not in the mood" Blaine answered.
"Come on, Blaine, we deserve it" Jeff said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Be happy. We found the guy."
"I know but..." Blaine took a deep breath, shaking his head.
"Are you upset because your intuitions didn't work this time?" Jeff asked.
"They always work" Blaine muttered.
"Nobody's perfect" Jeff said. "Come on, let's celebrate! We really deserve it."
Blaine nodded hesitantly. Rationally, he knew that they did a good job and they had found the right person but still... Until Wilkinson had come into the picture, he had been perfectly sure that Jeremy was the guy they were searching for. He could feel it. But maybe Jeff was right and he only felt that way because he and Jeremy hated each other. Maybe he just saw things that weren't even there. There were still things he didn't really understand but he had to admit that the proofs were all against him. Rationally, they had found Kurt's real stalker and his boyfriend was finally safe.
He just hoped that his uneasy feeling would pass with time, too.
So... What do you think?