Welp. This is "the longest chapter of the story because it's the end and I have to tie up loose ends and stuff" because it's the last chapter, except for the epilogue next week!

Chapter 23

"We'll have to talk about this sometime," Kurt insisted, failing adorably at looking mad while sitting in a wheelchair in the Hummel's living room.

"And we will. But I told you, we have years." Blaine pointed out.

"Yeah, but the sooner we get the crap over with, the sooner we can go back to being that disgustingly adorable couple we were in high school." Kurt grumbled.

Blaine smiled before sighing. Kurt was right, and they had an empty house to themselves for the next hour or so. "Okay," he whispered at last, "But before you say anything, I want you to know that I'm not upset or mad about anything, and that I've already forgiven you for anything you could possibly apologize over. And that I am one hundred percent and completely in love with you and nothing you say now or ever could ever change that."

Kurt smiled shyly before looking up at Blaine. "Okay, but we still need to talk through everything if we're going to make this work. We've crashed and burned twice, and I'm not willing to risk that again." Blaine nodded and they stood there, staring at each other awkwardly for a moment before Kurt spoke up again, "Could you, by any change, help me onto the couch?"

"I don't know, you're pretty cute sitting in your chair." Blaine teased as he helped Kurt up.

"Don't make me come over there," Kurt grumbled, making Blaine burst into laughter. As soon as they were sitting (well, Kurt was more half-laying down, but Blaine was sitting) and facing each other, an awkward silence fell over them.

"So," Blaine said, "how do you want to start this?"

Kurt shrugged and they were both silent for a while before Kurt blurted out, "I'm sorry!" Blaine was taken aback by the outburst, but didn't get a word in before Kurt continued. "I'm sorry for everything. I know I've said is a thousand times, but I'm sorry for leaving you back then, and I'm sorry for cheating on you, and I'm sorry for being responsible for the bullying you had to go through your senior year, and I'm sorry for not being there for you when you needed someone most, and I'm sorry for coming back and screwing everything up, I'm sorry for breaking your heart a second time, I'm sorry for saying that you were a terrible father. I'm sorry for saying Rose doesn't deserve you." Kurt's voice broke. Blaine wanted to comfort him, but didn't know what to do that wouldn't hurt him more than he already was. Kurt turned his tearful eyes towards Blaine's concerned ones.

"That was probably one of the worst things I could say, and definitely one of the most untruthful. You and Rose are perfect for each other, and she deserves to have a father as amazing as you. The world screws around with everyone, but someone who was screwed up so badly, and who didn't let it get in their way of living is an incredible inspiration to everyone who knows them. And being the child of that person is the best thing for anyone. You're not broken, you're not stuck in the past, you're not anything I said. It's incredible how you've been able to move on, and how you've been able to raise such a wonderful little girl, and how you've touched so many lives through it all."

Kurt looked at Blaine and sighed, shrugging slightly. "I'm just, I'm really sorry."

Blaine gave him a half smiled. "I got my share of ugly words out, too."

"But not like I di-" Kurt started.

"Maybe not," Blaine mused, "but no one ever has a right to say hurtful things. And while appreciate you saying it's false, I have been stuck in the past. And you can't raise a child on love and inspiration alone. I haven't always been there for her like I should have, I told you the Grand Canyon story." Kurt shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hated thinking about that. "And she's magically turned out okay so far. But you don't have to apologize for the truth."

"But it wasn't the truth." Kurt insisted.

Blaine smiled ironically. "We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. But thank you anyway." They were both quiet, staring at their hands for a while. "You need to stop blaming yourself for everything." Blaine said at last.

"And so do you," Kurt replied, smiling faintly.

Blaine shrugged, but smiled timidly. "Maybe. But I'm sorry too, you know." Blaine said. "And not just for what I said in June-though I hope you know that I don't think you're a whore." Kurt laughed. "I'm sorry for blaming everything on you, when you really didn't do anything. I mean, I never said anything about it to you, but I guess I count that Christmas as 'the beginning of everything sucking,'"

"Which it was," Kurt interrupted.

Blaine laughed. "Still, that doesn't make it your fault. And while I have been blaming myself for everything, I guess I've been blaming you for everything, too. Like a joint blame. But it's not like you made their plane go down."

"And neither did you," Kurt said quickly.

"No, I didn't. It's just one of those things that no one really has control over, and it sucks, but the world sucks and life sucks, and I have absolutely no reason to blame you or me for it." And suddenly the resentment he'd been feeling toward Kurt—resentment he hadn't really known existed—evaporated. "And that I need to move on," he said suddenly.

"But moving on isn't the same as forgetting," Kurt said quickly, "It's okay to know that your grandparents and parents and sister and Jayden all died too young, but that doesn't mean you can't remember the good times and admit that bad things affect you, but without taking over your whole life."

Blaine smiled up at Kurt and leaned forward to kiss him. "I love you."

Kurt giggled. "I love you, too."

The next three months weren't easy by any means. Kurt had to go back home to New York for work, and Blaine had to stay in Lima at ELA. Even Rachel and Finn had found an apartment just outside Oceanside so they could still live near New York City but Levi wouldn't have to grow up directly inside the city.

But Kurt and Blaine made it work. Sometimes Blaine and Rose would make it up to New York for a weekend and other times Kurt would get to Lima for a few days. Rose loved flying in an airplane and seeing New York City, but she loved seeing 'Mr. Kurt' even more. Blaine started becoming friends with Kurt's coworkers and college friends. The more time Blaine spent in New York, the more he realized it was where he wanted to be.

But he couldn't tell if that was the city or the person who lived in it.

And everything seemed to be going, not perfectly, but better. Like everything was okay, and was going to be okay, and there were going to be bad things happening and there were going to be arguments and disagreements and Rose would throw temper tantrums and Stich would chew up half the living room furniture, but each bad thing wasn't 'added on' to the other bad things that had happened to Blaine. Every day was new and every bad thing that happened wasn't the end of the world.

And everyone noticed. While his students had always loved him, they commented that he was much happier than they'd ever seen him. Carrie said that he was smiling a lot more, even counting when he and Kurt had been dating the second time. And while Kurt wouldn't hear any of it, Blaine thought that it really was that he needed to grow up, just like Kurt had said. Blaine wasn't feeling like an eighteen-year-old wearing adult clothes doing adult things, like he'd told Mr. Schue, but he was actually an adult. And, he decided, that was what partly what was wrong with his and Kurt's past two tries at a relationship. Blaine had just needed a couple years to grow up.

And Kurt was, by no means, going to let Blaine take all the blame like he intended. In fact, if it had been up to Kurt (and secretly Finn and Burt and Carole, and not-so-secretly Rachel), Blaine would be getting none of the blame. Kurt had seriously told Blaine many times that Blaine hadn't needed to grow up, he needed to move on, and that it was Kurt who needed to grow up. They both took Blaine's disagreement as a sign that, this time, everything was going to be okay.

December rolled around and everyone agreed to go to New York for Christmas. As Kurt promised, he took Rose out just the two of them for dinner and Christmas shopping. She came home babbling about it excitedly. On Christmas Eve, without telling Blaine, Kurt took Rose to Rachel and Finn's house for the evening. After telling Blaine to dress up because they were going out for the evening, Kurt disappeared for a couple hours.

Kurt was finishing the tea that Rachel had given him when he walked over to where Rose was playing on the ground with Levi. "Hey, Rosie can I talk to you?" Kurt asked softly.

Rose nodded happily and followed him out of the living room and into the kitchen. "What is it, Mr. Kurt?" she asked.

Kurt set his crutches on the kitchen table and sat in one of the chairs. He pulled a chair out that was facing him and Rose, sensing what he wanted, sat down in it. "Is everything okay?" She asked.

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, everything's good. I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Nothing bad?" Rose asked hesitantly.

"Nothing bad." Kurt smiled. "Rose, you know how I feel about your daddy, right?"

"You love him!" she said proudly. "And he loves you back an awful lot."

Kurt grinned. "And we love you so much, too." Rose beamed and nodded. Kurt went on. "You know how Rachel and Finn, and my parents Burt and Carole, and your grandparents, and your friends' parents are all married?"

"Yup!" Rose said.

"And you know what marriage is, right?" Kurt asked.

Rose bit her lower lip indecisively. "I'm not completely sure." she said at last.

"When two people really love each other, and they don't want to ever be apart from each other, they get married and move in together, and then they share all their stuff. A lot of people do that without being married, though." Kurt said, "but getting married is the legal part of it."

Rose nodded, understanding the married part, but not really what it had to do with laws and stuff.

"You know I love your daddy so much, and that I don't ever want to be away from him," Kurt said and Rose nodded. "And I want us to live together-you, me, and your daddy-and share everything and be a family."

Rose's eyes lit up at the word 'family.' That was something she definitely understood. "You mean you want to be a part of daddy's and my little family?"

Kurt smiled. "Yeah, I do. I love you both so much, and I hate living so far away from you guys."

"So are you and daddy going to get married?" Rose asked.

"I want to ask your daddy to marry me." Kurt said simply, "But I wanted to make sure you were okay with it first, because it would effect your life too."

"Would that mean daddy and I could move here to New York?" She exclaimed.

Kurt laughed. "Maybe, we'd have to decide that all together."

"As a family?" Rose beamed.

"As a family." Kurt replied. "Anyway, when people propose to get married, they usually buy the person they're asking to marry them a ring. But I'm not just asking Blaine to marry me, I'm asking you to let me into your family, too."

"But I already see you as part of my family." Rose said softly.

Kurt held back his tears as he opened his arms wide, motioning Rose to come over. She crawled into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know, sweetie, and I consider you already my family."

"So what's the problem?" Rose asked.

Kurt smiled. "There isn't one." He pulled out a jewelry box. Opening it, Rose saw a silver ring with a light pink stone on top. It was on a silver chain. Kurt put it around her neck and fastened the clasp. "Rose, will you let me become part of your family?"

Rose hugged him even tighter. "I told you," she smiled, burying her face into his neck, "You already are."

When Kurt returned to his apartment, Blaine was dressed up (as instructed) and reading on the couch. Kurt walked over to Blaine and silently took his hand. Together they walked downstairs and Blaine found there was a horse-drawn carriage waiting for the two of them. Blaine laughed as Kurt urged him inside. After handing Blaine his crutches, Kurt climbed in after him.

After taking them on an hour long ride through a snowy New York, it dropped them off at a restaurant that Kurt had been promising Blaine he would take him to. They walked inside and there was a quiet table in the back waiting for them. After leaving the room for a couple minutes, Kurt came back with a bouquet of yellow and pink roses. Blaine wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry at the gesture, so he did both.

Kurt laughed with him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah?" Kurt replied, staring across the table at Blaine.

Blaine stared at Kurt for a moment. "I just really, really love you." He whispered.

Kurt laughed. "I know. I love you too." He smiled softly, "It's weird to think that ten years ago, we were singing 'Baby it's Cold Outside' in the Dalton library."

"And nine years ago we were singing 'Let It Snow' on Artie's TV Christmas special," Blaine added.

"And also nine years ago, I thought I was ready to marry you," Kurt giggled.

"With a gum-ring!" Blaine added.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "And eight years ago you really were planning on marrying me, and then I ruined it all."

"And then came back six years later and fixed everything." Blaine said softly.

Kurt laughed. "After I made it worse!"

The two ate their dinner and talked and laughed. After, Kurt and Blaine walked out to see a cab already waiting. "It's a pain to get a cab with crutches, so I called ahead." He explained.
They climbed in and when Blaine was about to tell them Kurt's address, Kurt told them to head to Central Park.

"Why are we going to Central Park, may I ask?" Blaine asked, but he was hiding a smile.

Kurt shrugged. "I felt like going on a walk."

"It's snowing." Blaine pointed out.

"Irrelevant." Kurt said, giggling. Blaine rolled his eyes and helped Kurt out of the taxi when they got to Central Park. Hand in hand, the two boys made their way down the snowy paths.

"So, I was talking to Rachel a couple weeks ago." Kurt said.

Blaine laughed. "I'm sure you were. You and Rachel seem to talk a lot. That's what, you know, friends do." He teased.

"Shut up!" Kurt laughed. "We were talking about you."

"Oh." Blaine said. "I suppose that could be different, then."

Kurt smiled. "We were talking about how I've probably permanently ruined Christmas and that one park for you."

Blaine laughed. "The park? Probably. Christmas? Less likely."

"Well," Kurt said, stopping. "I want to make it up to you. Christmas and the park." Blaine raised an eyebrow at Kurt, intrigued. Kurt took a deep breath and smiled.

"At work a couple weeks ago, some people were talking about regrets, about the one thing they wish they could redo. I thought about it and was surprised it didn't come to me sooner. If I had a time machine, I'd go back to my freshman year of college and yell at my stupid nineteen year old self for giving you up." Blaine opened his mouth to speak, but Kurt shook his head.

"The day I stopped you on that staircase, now over ten years ago, was the best day of my life. It was the day that opened me up to being who I truly was. It opened me up to what in life truly matters, and it opened me up to being in love. It was my window to really living. And it's all because of you. I heard my dad talking to you after his heart scare. He said that you were the best thing that ever happened to me, even if I'd forgotten. He's right, you know." Kurt shrugged. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

He smiled and put his hands in his pockets. "So I thought about how I could make up parks and Christmas to you. So here it is, Christmas eve, and we're in a park. Central Park, not the park in Lima, but a park nonetheless." Blaine smiled and kept listening.

"My doctor says I'm still not allowed to kneel, because of my leg, but I would it I could." Kurt pulled a box out of his pocket and looked into Blaine's. "I love you so much, more than anything, more than most people would consider sane. But I do. And we've proved in the past that we'll argue and disagree and yell at each other and hate each other, but we love each other so nothing else matters."

Kurt opened the black velvet box to display a simple silver ring with three small diamonds on the top. "Blaine Anderson, will you marry me?"

Blaine couldn't figure out why everything was blurry until he realized he was crying. After he wiped away his tears, he saw that Kurt was crying as well. "Yes." Blaine whispered. "Yes, yes, yes." He put his arms around Kurt's waist and kissed him. "Yes." He said again. And then he and Kurt were laughing and crying all over again.

As they started to walk out of the park, Kurt stopped again. "Wait, I forgot something." He pulled another box out of his pocket. This was another jewelry box. It looked worn, a couple years older. Blaine recognized it immediately.

"A long time ago, this really sweet guy bought me this engagement ring for my Christmas present. He wanted to marry me, but I decided to be an asshole and leave him. And I stayed away for nine years before I used my common sense and decided it was high time I married that boy." Kurt looked up at him hopefully. "I was wondering if I could wear it."

Blaine tried not to let himself cry again; this night was just too good to be true. Not trusting his voice, Blaine nodded. Kurt handed him the box and Blaine opened it, sliding the ring on his finger. "I love you. It's not enough to convey what I'm feeling, but it'll have to do."

Kurt smiled. "I love you, too."

Blaine laughed when he found out that, while taking Rose to Rachel and Finn's house, Kurt had 'proposed' to her, too. He even bought her a ring and asked her if he could marry her father. Christmas morning was a very memorable event. Rose couldn't stop talking about her ring and her Daddy's ring, and Mr. Kurt's ring, and how they were going to be a family.

The months went by quickly between work and wedding planning. The two were married on a beautiful late June morning. Everyone was there—Kurt's family, Blaine's aunt, uncle, and cousins, Kurt's coworkers, Blaine's students and coworkers, Cooper, Carrie (who seemed to hit it off quite nicely, despite Blaine's teasing about their eleven year age gap), Anna, Sara, everyone.

Rose was extremely excited when she saw her flower girl dress. It was supposed to be a quiet and small affair, but with as many people who cared about the two boys, they soon realized it was impossible. They had briefly argued whether to have it in Ohio or New York. Blaine knew less people would come if it was in New York and it would be as small as they had wanted it, but Kurt wanted everyone who wanted to be there to be able to. Blaine ended up relenting and they had the wedding in Lima.

Kurt had been in charge of most of it, per his request, but asked Blaine his opinion on most things (whether he listened to said opinion or not was irrelevant). The morning of, Blaine had to admit Kurt had done a wonderful job, and maybe he should've become a wedding planner. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Rachel came to tell him the wedding was starting.

The wedding and reception seemed to go extremely quickly, and soon he and Kurt were married. After leaving Rose with Carrie, the two set off to Catalina Island, off the southern California coast, for their six day honeymoon. They came home to a very excited almost-six-year-old.

"Daddy! Mr. Kurt! You're back!" she exclaimed, giving them both huge hugs.

"Yeah, we are!" Blaine laughed. "Rosie, we want to talk to you about something, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay." The two walked down the street until they found a small picnic table outside a dog park. They sat down with Blaine next to Rose and Kurt across from them.

"You know what married is, right?" Blaine said.

"Yeah! Mr. Kurt explained it to me," Rose nodded. "You two are married. Riley's mommy and daddy are married. It means that two people love each other a lot and don't want to be away from each other. That's why we're moving to New York."

Both adults nodded. "So now that Kurt and I are married, he's your step-dad." Blaine then explained what 'step-dad' meant. "But we were wondering if you wanted to make Kurt your real daddy."

Rose's eyes widened in worry. "Do you not want to be my real daddy anymore?"

"No Rosie, that's not it. Of course I want to be your daddy. I love being your daddy." Blaine said. Rose's confused look returned, but at least the sad look was off her face. "Riley has a mommy and a daddy, right?" Rose nodded. "Since I married a boy and not a girl, you can have two daddies. But only if you want to."

Rose's face turned from confusion to excitement. "Really? I can have two daddies?"

"Yes, you can." Kurt said. "But I don't want you to think I have to be your dad. It's okay if you don't want me to."

"I do! I do!" Rose insisted. Then her eyes widened. "But what will I call you? I mean, Daddy is already 'Daddy.' What would you be?"

Kurt shrugged. "Whatever you want me to be."

"To have Kurt be your real dad, then we have to have him adopt you." Blaine explained. "It just means that we'll have to go to a big courthouse and sign a bunch of papers."

"And then I'll have two daddies?" Rose asked.

"And then you'll have two daddies." Blaine replied, kissing her on the cheek.

Rosie grinned. "Good. Because I love you both. An awful lot."

Kurt smiled. "We love you an awful lot, too."

It was the day they were set to move. They finished loading the boxes into the cars (because the drive from Lima to New York wasn't that bad, and they were stopping somewhere in Pennsylvania anyway) and had begun to drive. Kurt, Blaine, and Rose were in Blaine's car and Finn, Rachel, and Levi were in a moving car.

A couple hours into the drive, Blaine's phone started ringing. "Hello, this is Blaine Anderson speaking." he said absentmindedly.
Kurt tried to hear the conversation, but wasn't entirely sure what the person on the other line was saying.

"But I didn't send anything in." He paused and Kurt continued to try to hear. "Yes, I'll be in town then." More talking on the other line. "Alright, I guess I'll see you then." Another pause. "Thursday night at seven? Okay. I will be there." He smiled. "Alright, good bye."

Blaine hung up his phone and looked confused. "Huh."

"Who was that?" Kurt asked.

"A private school in New York." Blaine said. "Apparently someone from my old school called in and told them that I was moving to New York, and that if I didn't send in anything, they should call me. They've never even talked to me and they want me to come in for an interview."

Kurt laughed. "Wow. What's the job for?"

"History and Glee club. Exactly what I was doing in Lima, minus kindergarten." Blaine said. "This is so weird."

"Are you going to go in for the interview?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Blaine shrugged. "I mean, usually private schools have all the teachers for the next year hired by now, and I was going to just take a year off, maybe work at a preschool or something, but if they're still looking for a teacher it probably means that they probably can't find anyone else."

Kurt nodded. "Do you want the job? You were talking about going full-time kindergarten."
Blaine shrugged and looked at the floor of his car. "I thought it would be easier to find. I'm not sure what I would rather do." He paused. "I guess I could take it, and if I hate it after a year try to find another job."

Kurt shrugged. "Whatever you want to do." There were a couple minutes of silence before Kurt spoke up again. "You were always set on being a performer in high school. What happened?"

Blaine shrugged and thought about it. "I guess it just didn't feel right anymore. I still love singing and dancing, but it just seemed so unimportant compared to everything that had happened. And then I decided, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I wanted to make a difference in people's lives, and in kid's lives. That if I was going to make myself live through hell, I might as well use it for something."

Kurt smiled and kissed Blaine on his cheek. The next evening, the group arrived at Kurt's apartment in New York, and two weeks after that Blaine got a call asking him if he would accept the teaching position he had interviewed for. Kurt, Blaine, and Rose found a school for Rose a couple days later.

One night Kurt and Rose had fallen asleep on the couch while watching a movie. Blaine looked down at them, finally feeling as if everything was perfect—complete. He suddenly remembered the conversation he'd had with Abby the Christmas eve that seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Well do you love him?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Then it will all be okay. I know it."

So I hope you like/have liked it, and I'll see you next week for the END end, and maybe talk about something else I've been working on, but lost when my computer crashed, and am currently deciding if it's worth rewriting. Blegh. Well, we'll see. Love you all!