Miracles can happen

When finally the song came to an end, the room descended into a stunned silence, punctuated only by the sound of tears being wiped away. Then Rachel was running across the stage to Finn and enfolding him in her arms. The couple held onto each other as they were reunited, still very obviously in love. It was Artie that noticed it. Noticed what was wrong with what he saw. In a stammering voice he suddenly said "She's holding him."

"We can all see that, Artie," said Puck, with a hint of sarcasm.

"No Puck, she is holding him… She shouldn't be able to hold him…."

Suddenly the implications of what Artie was saying dawned on them all, even startling Kurt and Blaine at the revelation. There was no way that Finn should be solid enough for Rachel to hold. "Has your mom…" began Blaine; but before he had the chance to finish he was confronted by Cooper running up to him, and pulling him into a tight bear hug. He could feel his brother's tears on his face, feel his warm arms wrapped around him…

"You are real, squirt. You're here, My Blainers… I love you so much. I miss you.."

"I miss you too, Coop. And I'm sorry I had to leave you… I had no choice. Just don't try and follow me, ok?"

Cooper held him tight, and then released him. "I'd better not hog you…sure that there is someone else needs a hug…" Sure enough, Sam now stood next to Cooper, waiting for his turn.

With a whisper of "Blam", Sam enfolded Blaine tightly in his arms. He could feel his tears falling on the side of his face; he realised that he was shedding a few tears of his own. He looked out across Sam's shoulder at the scene before him. Finn was no longer in Rachel's arms - instead he was being hugged by his mother and Puck, as Quinn stood to one side with tears in her eyes. Kurt meanwhile was in the arms of his dad, with Mercedes waiting for her turn. Tears were being shed, but this time for joy. Turning back to the boy in his arms, Blaine smiled and ran his free hand through Sam's hair, causing him to look up. "Guess this is my one last hug…and it is the best one ever."

With some reluctance, Sam let go with Blaine; no sooner had he done so than there was a scream of "Group Hug!" and Blaine found himself surrounded by seven Warblers, in a sea of arms as each of them tried to get as close as possible - that battle seemed to be mostly being won by Wes. He heard Kurt laugh until, with a squeal of delight, he found himself the target of the New Directions en masse. Finn wasn't fairing much better, with Carole having been joined by Burt, the Schuesters and Shannon Bieste. There was one person that Blaine observed to be standing alone, lost in her thoughts. A person that Blaine felt he owed an apology. He managed to extricate himself from the Warblers and walked over to Sue.

He could not meet her eyes. They were filled with the same shock as everyone else, but she was doing her utmost to retain her hard façade. "Sue," he began, "I want to apologise to you, for what you had to witness at close hand. I need you to know that I appreciate the sentiment, your desire to save me; but it wouldn't have made any difference, would only have delayed the inevitable. I had to die, Sue. I should have died that night in New York with Kurt. That was the design of the grand scheme - someone slipped up and I lived. That had to be set right, or the consequences would have been worse than all of this. I saw how you reacted afterwards…I'm just so sorry."

"It wasn't pretty to watch. Anyone could see how broken you were after Porcelain. The way you chose gave a certainty of death; that is why you chose it. Pills, cutting, even fire have a chance of rescue or failure. A bullet to the brain - well, there is no come back from that." Sue gave a wan smile, and started again. "You got him back though; you are whole again. I'm pleased for you, kid. Pleased that my sweet Porcelain looks so happy. I just….I never imagined saying this, but I miss the two of you. I want to kill that Hunter kid for what he has done…"

"Oh, don't worry about him… Kurt, Finn and I are making his life a living hell on a nightly basis," said Blaine with a wink.

Suddenly, the room resounded to the sound of someone clearing their throat with a loud "ahem." Burt gave a gasp as a fourth figure appeared on the stage. Kurt blushed and headed back to the stage. "I'm so sorry, I just got caught up in the moment. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my mom, Elizabeth." Blaine and Finn had also made their way back to the stage and could take in the mixture of shock and delight that Kurt's words caused.

"Good Evening," she began. "Now that the initial shock and euphoria is starting to wear off, it is time to move to the reason why this has occurred. But first, I'd like to thank Brittany for making this happen. Without her, this couldn't have been achieved."

"The night that Kurt died, a mistake was made. Not that he died, because that, to my horror, had been decreed from above. No, the fact was that he should not have died alone. Blaine should have died with him. Neglect and incompetence on the part of another angel meant that he survived to be tormented for two weeks - a period in which Kurt also felt so much pain. Now, I know what you are thinking - he unmasked Hunter's plot. If things had gone as planned, Sebastian would have flown in much earlier to be there for their joint funeral - he would have shown his text to Wes and Puck, and they would have made the breakthrough instead. I digress - a mistake was made, and it was felt that the boys deserved some recompense for their suffering. That is why they are here tonight, with you all, for a special event…."

There was a murmur of anticipation from all corners of the room at that point. Brittany's smile was beaming, and Sam looked as if he was about to burst from excitement. "We are here, in this form, until 3.30am. To perform a specific duty. To give these two something that they missed out on by less than a day…." And suddenly it became clear exactly what she was talking about. Faces lit up around the room. "Tonight, I will have the great honour of performing the marriage…" The rest of her words were drowned out by cheers and screams of delight from every corner of the room. This was the best news, the icing on the proverbial cake. Finally, unexpectedly, they were about to see the Klaine wedding they had all long anticipated.

Once the noise had died down, Blaine stepped forward. "So, all as planned apart from two significant changes. Firstly, my name. My parents are no longer in the equation - I do not wish to have anything more to do with them, and neither does Coop. In the afterlife, I was able to change my surname, so I'm no longer an Anderson. I chose a new name with a familiar ring - I'm now officially Blaine Warbler…" There was a squeal of delight from Brittany, laughter from the rest of the room, and even a grin from Cooper.

"Does that make me Cooper Warbler?" he asked.

"Unofficially, yes."

"I can live with that."

"The second change concerns Puck…"

"I know what it is, Mr Warbler, and it is more than okay. Finn deserves to be Kurt's best man, so I stand aside with pleasure."

"The thing is that we actually now need someone to help Elizabeth during the ceremony, so we were wondering if you would do that instead. If you want to, that is.."

Puck looked at Blaine with wide eyes. He had no idea what the new role entailed, but he knew in his heart that there was only one answer that he could give. "Of course, I want to do it. Who wouldn't want to play a part in the wedding of the year? So, what exactly do I have to do?"

"Essentially, you will be her assistant - holding the rings before the ceremony, making sure that everything is done as per the rules she will explain to you…"

"So, it's almost like I am doing the ceremony?"

"Almost. Seems to be pretty fitting to me, because the two of us might never have met if you hadn't suggested that Kurt go and spy on the Warblers. And I will be grateful to you forever that you did…"

A flurry of activity had begun around them as they talked. Rachel had ensured that all the wedding outfits that had been made with painstaking care and attention by the two boys for their attendants had been brought to the diner; everyone concerned was sent off to get changed into them. Wes instructed the Warblers to begin rearranging the furniture so that the chairs faced the stage in rows, and to begin ushering the guests to their places, as per the original seating plans, so that the wedding could get under way. Cooper found himself sat at the front, next to the Schuesters, across from Burt and Carole, in a state of shock. So much had happened and so quickly. It wasn't everyday after all that you found yourself at your dead brother's angel wedding to his equally dead fiancé. The worst thing about it was that he could never mention it to anyone outside of this room. Still, it did sound like a good plot for a film...

Then the moment finally arrived - several weeks later than intended, both of the grooms having died. Yet there they were, walking up onto the stage through the small congregation of friends and family, to where there attendants waited. To stand in front of Elizabeth, wide eyed and smiling. She had managed to pull off both looking official and mother of the groom at the same time. She had been formally introduced to Carole by Burt in a tense moment. Both had instantly thanked the other for taking good care of their son; found that they had quite a lot in common, and had realised that if Elizabeth had still been alive, they would actually have become good friends. With the two grooms now centre stage, the ceremony began, running in the traditional way, until just prior to its ending.

"Before declaring that Kurt and Blaine are officially husbands, I need to ask everyone else to leave the stage," said Elizabeth. As Finn ushered them all back to stand with the other guests, they looked at each other with curiosity. Elizabeth now stood alone with the nearly weds. "By the authority granted to me by the angelic council, I declare that Kurt and Blaine are joined together in marriage. They may now kiss for the first time as husbands." She took a step back away from them as they moved closer to each other, and their lips touched. As they did so, an ethereal light began to bathe the stage. Their wings appeared, and they slowly rose up, still joined together by hand and lip. They were watched in awe by the assembled friends and family.

"Now that is what I call a first kiss," remarked Puck, to no-one in particular.

What everyone failed to notice as they watched was that the same bright light that was shining around the grooms was surrounding all of them just as closely.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the two newly married angels broke off their kiss and slowly drifted back down to the stage, both of them radiant with sheer joy. The assembled company was without exception showing the same expression. A delighted Elizabeth turned to them and began to speak. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that when Blaine proposed to my son, he stated that he felt that he knew Kurt from another lifetime. He was correct. Their souls have been bonded to each other in four lives prior to this. What he did not know was that the souls fifth trip is always its last. Kurt and Blaine will now be together for eternity. They will never be parted again for any reason - this is endgame. I ask you therefore to welcome Kurt and Blaine Hummel-Warbler to the joys of married life"

The applause that followed was long and deafening. There was no heart that was not made light. All the troubles of the last few weeks, all the loss, grief and hurt were wiped out by a sense of exhilaration. They had defied the odds, fought against the injustice of their early deaths to triumph. To be united as husbands, to wear each other's ring with pride and a quiet dignity. To have had a wedding that would be talked about for years to come, even if it was only with in the close circle of friends that were the New Directions, and as Wes put it, the core Warblers. A miracle had taken place in a diner in New York, and as a result, everything had changed for the better.