It takes a week, but eventually, when Blaine goes online at nine as he has done every day since their fight, Kurt is there. The Skype call comes through, and Blaine accepts it quickly, relief flooding his face when Kurt appears.

"Kurt! Thank god. I've been..."

"I got the job."

"Huh? You….you got the job? Kurt, that's amazing!" Blaine cries, not even stopping to realize how emotionless Kurt appears. "I'm so proud of you!" He blows kisses enthusiastically at the screen, his smile faltering when his joy is unreturned. "Kurt?"

"Yeah. I uh...I got the job. So..."

"You're not happy?"

"I'm happy," he says with a shrug. "I mean, the salary is three times what I'm getting now, and it's doing what I love, so yeah, I can finally say I'm a fashion journalist based in New York. It's just that...I'm based in New York. I'll be stupidly busy."

"Yeah, I know, but I'll be there soon," Blaine grins. "And hey, you know what? It's senior prom in two weeks. I'd love it if you'd be my date?"

"Uh... no," Kurt says quietly, but firmly. "I won't be going to prom with you."

"Oh." Blaine swallows hard, hiding his disappointment behind a bright smile. "Okay, well, it's Nationals the week after, though for us it's not very national, since it's only in Kentucky," he laughs. "And then my graduation. Are you coming home for that? I must owe you like...a hundred dates by now. Plus, a big I'm sorry kiss. And more, maybe," he adds with a wink, but Kurt remains stony faced, shaking his head. "I am, you know," Blaine says quietly, his smile faltering. "Sorry, that is."

"I know you are, but I won't be home for nationals, Blaine, or your graduation."

"You...you won't?"

"No. It's not... I don't think you get this. I'll be working ridiculous hours. This isn't a nine to five job. This is doing some hours in the office, writing from home, attending functions, shows, events….it's on an entirely different level."

"Are we done?" Blaine asks in a small voice, not even daring to look up at the screen. "Are you breaking up with me? I really am so incredibly sorry Kurt, I..."

"No. I'm not breaking up with you. I'm just saying I can't come home for your little things all the time, that's all."

"Little things? Kurt, this is my graduation."

"But it's not just that, is it? Come and watch me at Nationals, come to prom, come to my graduation….you're asking me to come home three weeks in a row, Blaine, and I just can't do it."

"Okay, but I thought...maybe one of them, at least."

"You don't get it, do you?" Kurt suddenly explodes, making Blaine look up in surprise. "I'm not in high school anymore, Blaine! I'm living a real life, in the real world, with twenty six thousand dollars of debt to pay off, a shitty apartment where the lease isn't being renewed... I have nowhere to live, no spare cash to enjoy any of life whatsoever….you know, I was really excited about the salary, but now it's all gonna get eaten by rent for another place, there's no way I'll find anything as cheap….I call you to tell you about my job, not to mention to try and work out where you and I are heading, and all you can do is ask me to your fucking senior prom!"

Blaine blinks, like a small, frightened owl, and Kurt braces himself for the inevitable begging, but all he gets is a sad shrug, which hurts him far more than it should. "Okay," Blaine says with a small nod. "I didn't know...I didn't realize how bad the situation was, I guess. I should've asked...I should...I should have talked with you about that before saying about prom.

I'm sorry you feel that way though, about me. I kinda figured that a relationship was a two way street, like maybe you'd come support me at graduation, and then I could come to New York and help you find an apartment. We could even look over your finances together, if you'd let me, but….I don't know. Maybe you were right two years ago. Maybe Kurt Hummel isn't cut out for relationships. Sad, really, because the last time we talked, you told me you were trying to be the person I wanted...when in reality, you were exactly that person all along."

"What the actual fuck are you doing in there?" Kurt screams at his living room wall, and seconds later, Santana comes storming in.

"I have had it with you! I'm doing yoga! What the fuck is your problem, Kurt? I'm not making any noise. Just...either...I don't know, go and get laid or get drunk!"

"Oh yeah, that would be your answer, wouldn't it?" Kurt snipes, turning and burying himself in the corner of his couch.

"It used to be yours too, until you met Blaine."

"Who?"

"Yeah, pretend like he doesn't exist all you want, Kurt, but he'll hold your heart forever. Stop being so pigheaded and go home to work this out with him, face to face."

"I can't." He turns back to face her, and she is surprised to see him crying freely. "Too much has gone on in my life for it to ever be happy. I've given what I can to Blaine, but I still haven't given all of myself. All those years that I let myself be used I kept one thing back. My soul. I tell myself I love Blaine, but I still can't give that over to him. Hell, I can't even tell him those three words. Then there's my dad. What the fuck is wrong with me, Tana, that I was blessed with someone as amazing as him, and yet I've never managed to come clean? That I've lied to him about my entire existence, all these years? I wouldn't even know where to begin to tell him the truth."

"Start at the beginning," she says quietly, settling on the couch next to him and taking him in her arms. "You know what I think? He'll understand it all, but he will only understand it once you do yourself. You need to work out why you spent all those years sleeping around, drinking...what were you trying to forget? What were you trying to find? If you work that out for yourself, then you'll be able to explain it to your dad, and to Blaine, and then you'll be free from all those hang ups and really able to move forward. Great things are starting to happen to you, Kurt. The job, Blaine moving here...you need and deserve the chance to enjoy it all."

"Blaine?"

"I'm asleep."

"Sure you are." Burt walks across the dark bedroom, flipping the lamp on next to Blaine's bed, where he lies, looking lost and forlorn. "Come on."

"What?"

"Hug."

"Can't."

Blaine rolls over with his back to Burt, who pulls him upright easily, and into his arms. "Can," he says simply, and holds Blaine while he cries. "I hate this too," he says, rubbing his hand over Blaine's back. "Especially since things were going so well. But Kurt is Kurt, and there isn't anything we can do, except be here when he decides to stop freezing us out."

"What if I don't want to be here, though?" Blaine asks, grinding his fists into his eyes. "What if this time his broken promise is too much to bear? He stood there, Burt, in his apartment, and he promised me he'd never do this again; that it was the end of all the games and the ignoring us until it suited him. I was so happy when he called and I got carried away I know but...but now? Now it's three days until I'm supposed to sing at prom, and I can't, Burt, I just can't."

"Oh son, I think prom is the least of your worries right now," Burt chuckles. "Don't go if you feel that way about it. They asked the New Directions to sing, not just you, so the rest of the group can deal with it. You and I will head out for dinner, then I'll beat you at cards."

"Thank you," Blaine says with a sad nod. "I don't want this to be the end for me and Kurt," he admits quietly. "I love him with all my heart, Burt."

"I know you do, sunshine. I know."

Kurt Hummel strides purposefully through the offices of Marie Claire, until he reaches the office of Sarah, his line manager, and also, he sincerely hopes, his friend.

"Can I come in?" he asks nervously, and she looks up, and smiles warmly.

"Kurt! Of course! Come in, come in."

Kurt closes the door behind him, and takes the seat she is gesturing to, where he fiddles nervously with his hands. "I uh...oh shit. I don't even know where to start. Okay. You remember Blaine, right?"

"Of course I do! There's a picture of you two on your desk. Adorable. How is he? Are you still going strong?"

"We're still going," Kurt says slowly. "But strong isn't the word I'd use. Falling apart, is more like it."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sarah says sincerely. "Do you know why?"

"Well, actually, yes. The thing is, Sarah, I'm not...huh." He breaks off, composing himself with a few deep breaths before continuing. "I'm not a nice person. I haven't been, anyway. Not just to Blaine, but to anyone, especially my dad. I know what I want from life now, Blaine helped me realize that. I want him. I want a job that I love, and I want my dad to be happy. I've got the job, but I need to make amends with the ones I love the most, so that the rest of it can fall into place. Right now my life is one big mess and any problems between me and Blaine, or me and my dad...well, they're never going to be resolved until I resolve them myself."

"I'd agree with that," Sarah says with a nod. "I don't think anyone can ever move forward if they let their past hold them back."

"Exactly, and I can't let go of it until I've explained myself, particularly to my dad. I've been thinking this over long and hard, and as much as I love it here, I need to go home."

Burt Hummel doesn't tell anyone, but sometimes, when he's working on a car, he likes to pretend he's actually a surgeon. He secretly loves calling to Liam to hand him this tool or that, and he has conversations in his mind which involve him using complex mechanical terminology and referring to the patient instead of the car or truck.

"Wrench," he says, in his best concerned doctors voice. Liam silently hands him the tool, and Burt fiddles around under the hood of the Volvo, before handing it back. "Screwdriver."

A screwdriver is pressed into his hand, but Burt frowns, and hands it back over his shoulder. "Not that one, the flat one." The same screwdriver is returned though, and Burt gives a grunt of dissatisfaction. "Liam! I said the flat one."

Annoyed at having his daydream interrupted Burt turns around, and comes face to face with his son, and Liam standing behind him, grinning. "My boy!" Burt folds him up in his arms, as only Burt can do, and Kurt sags against him in relief.

"I'm home," he whispers into his dad's shoulder. "I'm home."

"Kurt, it is so good to see you," Burt cries happily, still not letting go.

Kurt clings on, grateful that his dad seems to have some intrinsic sixth sense, which tells him exactly when he needs to be held. "You're very pleased," he notes when he is swung around.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I thought you were mad at me."

"Never mad," Burt laughs, ruffling his hair. "Just waiting for you to be ready. Ha! You're home. Blaine is gonna go nuts! Are you meeting him at school? Does he know?"

"No, he doesn't know. I came right here, actually. I um...I need to talk to you, about a lot of stuff."

"Okay," Burt shrugs. "Liam! You're in charge. My son needs me. I'll be out for the rest of the day."

"Oh dad, you don't have to..."

"Yes I do," Burt declares, knowing that this is the moment he's been waiting so many years for. "C'mon, I'll buy you lunch."

Kurt starts to talk over sandwiches at the local diner. It takes a while for him to get going, and there's a lot of what Burt likes to call waffling to start, but eventually, remembering exactly why he's here, Kurt takes a deep breath.

"You were...or still are...an amazing dad," he says quietly, as he fiddles with the straw in his soda. "The trouble is, when I was growing up I was too young to appreciate it, then when I was an adult, I was too ignorant. I left Lima thinking New York was my ticket to a better life, and in many ways, it was. But when I got to college I was out of my depth, dad, and I didn't know how to tell you that, because I felt like you'd be disappointed in me. I was a virgin, and I was gay, those were the two biggest things for me. I found it hard to make friends, it seemed as though fashion was the course where you had to prove yourself, and everyone else around me seemed so much older, and more glamorous, and so much more certain of who they were, and where their future lay. I had gone from being a big fish in a small pond to the exact opposite, I wanted to come home. I wanted to run back to you, and tell you I'd made a mistake, only fashion and journalism was all I'd ever wanted to do, so in my confusion I set out to gain attention and friends the only way I knew how, by being promiscuous. Within a week, I wasn't a virgin anymore, and within a month I had guys begging me to take them to bed. I don't even know why, I don't actually think I was all that good."

"Kurt." He pauses to look at his dad, who looks heartbroken and incredibly close to tears. "Please."

"Hear me out, dad, because I need to explain all this to you so I can finally put it to rest. I'm stubborn, just like you, and I have a problem asking for help, just like you. College was draining all my money, mainly because I was out at bars for most of it. How I ever passed is a mystery. Jeremy was happy to lavish money on me in return for my silence and willingness to give him the physical attention he craved, and I told myself that this suited me. It didn't, of course. I remember I used to randomly throw up, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized it was every time I thought of his wife and kids. I had an affair with a married man. I broke the hearts of his wife and children without a second thought. I did the worst possible thing anyone could have ever done to a family. I see how Blaine feels about Spencer, well I was that guy. I was him. Jeremy dropped me right after graduation, as you know, and suddenly I was alone with three credit cards that needed paying, and no job."

"Kurt, why didn't you come home? I would've helped you, I would've cleared your debts..."

"I know." Kurt nods, wiping at his eyes, grateful that they're in a quiet corner of the diner. "But I couldn't let you down like that, I just couldn't. So I lied. I got a job in a coffee house, and told you I worked for Vogue, when in fact I wrote an unpaid column for them every week which was out online. I rented...or still rent, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, with damp on the walls, and which rattles when the trains go past. I was so depressed, so empty, and so disappointed that this perfect dream I had was shattered, that I tried to escape by going to bars. Guys were happy to buy me drinks if they knew I'd put out and pretty soon I became known for that. I couldn't even begin to count how many guys I've had sex with."

"Oh Kurt." Burt sighs, but it's sad, not judgemental, and that makes Kurt want to finish his story, to explain how things are now.

"I buried the real me down deep. So far that I could forget all about his existence. I was horrible, dad. I've done stuff that would make you so incredibly ashamed to be my dad, and I'm so sorry for that. The weekend I first saw Blaine in your house, the reason I came home was because I had slept with Jeremy's son."

"Kurt!"

"I know. I felt like it couldn't get any worse, but then there was Blaine. The boy wonder who swept me off my feet, and hasn't ever let me drop. He just...ignited something inside of me. It's been slow burning, and it's taken me a long time to truly change. Blaine knows a lot of the truth, but I don't think he truly grasps that I have no money, a pile of debt and that I'm still hurting. I'm actually grateful to him for telling you that time, because it's made me face up to reality. I don't want to lose you, or him, and I need to lay all my cards on the table here. This is me right now. I have a job at Marie Claire, thanks to Blaine's belief in me. Things are starting to get better. The thought of being a fully fledged fashion journalist terrifies but excites me. Right now, as of today, I have a month in Ohio. I still have to work, but they've scaled it back for me as much as they can so that I can do it all from here. I'm hoping I'm right to assume that this means they also have faith in me. The salary is better, and I'm happier, but in many ways, things are worse. The lease is about to run out on my apartment and the landlord won't renew it. I have twenty six thousand dollars worth of debt still to pay off, and I'm also, more than anything, worried that I've lost the two people I love most in this world. I'm sorry, dad. That's all I can say. I'm sorry for my behavior, for not being honest, and above all, I'm sorry for not being the son you deserved."

"I told you how much you mattered," Burt says quietly. "I tried..."

"You did," Kurt stresses, reaching across to hold his hand. "You really did. I went to New York dreaming of that, of finding the one, and falling in love, of marriage, and babies, and everything else in between. The trouble is, I couldn't find it, because he was still in elementary school."

"Who was? Oh! Blaine! You want all that with Blaine? Does he know?"

"He knows, and he wants the same," Kurt says with a shy smile. "But before you go building a crib, or booking some fancy wedding venue, just remember those things are a long way off. Blaine and I are just starting out, and if we make it that will happen way in the future. Don't forget how young Blaine actually is. I mean, in many ways he's still a kid."

"Uh...shall we move on?" Burt asks, and both of them manage a laugh. "We'll be arrested if people listen in on this conversation."

"Sure. So...Blaine was...is….young...yeah, but I know, I'm certain, he was put on this earth not only for me, but for both of us, to make us happy, and to complete us as a family. Not that I've ever felt something is missing, but..."

"He brings something that makes us whole."

"Exactly," Kurt smiles. "I just hope he'll hear me out, because I have a lot I need to say to him."

"I'm sure he will," Burt says with a nod. "Let's go home."

"Huh?" Kurt frowns, as his dad throws some bills down on the table, and stands up ready to leave. "That's all you've got to say?"

"Nope. But I want to say it in private."

"Sit," Burt demands once they're in the living room, and Kurt doesn't dare disagree. "Now you listen. Kurt, you never needed to explain any of this to me, but I'm glad you did. It helps me to understand you better, I think. I'm disappointed you lied, but I see why you did, because you hold the same streak of wanting to please people as I do. It also explains why you threw yourself around so much, because you were frightened of being seen as dull and boring. I don't know, maybe I should have told you that your big love probably won't be the first person you meet, but then for Blaine it was, so... I don't know. The whole affair thing was the lowest thing you could have done, but you realize that now, and it's dead and buried. I don't believe in dwelling on the past, Kurt. It's gone. It's happened and it wasn't great, but you can determine your future.

So here's what we're going to do. At the end of this month, when Blaine graduates, the three of us are going to New York. I need to sort out his dorms, and buy him some stuff anyway, but while we're there, we're going to find you a bigger and better apartment, in a nicer part of town. You want my advice? I'd ask Santana to room with you for a year, to help with the rent, then she can move out, and Blaine can move in, or you can get somewhere else, maybe. Either way, I'll pay your deposit, and first three months up front, and then for a year I'll pay half your rent each month. I'll do all that on the understanding that, one, you are always, always honest with me, two, you let me come visit, and three, you let me pay off half your debts."

"No way," Kurt says angrily. "That's stupid. It's my debt, not yours, and I'm almost thirty!"

"Yeah, and you're sittin' there telling me you want babies with Blaine, and marriage, and all the rest of it. You can't be starting all that with debt hanging over you. You might be stubborn, my boy, but I'm worse. You either take my offer as it stands, or you're on your own."

"I'd rather be on my own," Kurt grumbles.

"But?"

"But I accept your offer," he says quietly, as he starts to cry. "Thank you, dad. Thank you."

"And now you have to let me cuddle you."

"Whatever," Kurt says, but he falls into his dad's arms, with a grateful sob.

"And you have to take Blaine to prom."

"I hate prom," Kurt moans. "But yes, that's why I came home today, instead of tomorrow."

"Good boy."

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Kurt. Always."