Thank you for your favourites, follows and reviews. They make me happy :D

I don't own glee or the characters.

Chapter Fifty Three

As Blaine sat, slightly bored, watching some sort of action movie that Sam was avidly glued to one evening, he heard his phone vibrating on the coffee table. Seeing Nick's name on the screen he smiled widely at the interruption and picked up the call, shuffling himself into the dining room and closing the door behind him, thankful for the reprieve of whatever was being blown up on screen at the time he had to leave the room.

"Hey Nick, long time no see. How are things?" Blaine asked brightly down the phone.

"Hey Blaine. Sorry it's been so long. We've just been so busy with senior year the time's just seemed to fly by. Anyway, um, I hate to phone you just because of a problem but..." Nick sounded awkward on the other end of the line, not wanting to have to rely on Blaine to sort out all his problems but needing him just the same. He had a twinge of guilt seeping into his voice at the fact that it had been so long since he had last talked with his friend and because he had a problem. He didn't want Blaine to think that he was only his friend because he could help solve their problems.

"Come on Nick, out with it. I don't mind, I know you're my friend no matter what you call me about." Blaine sternly told him down the phone good naturedly.

"Well, Dalton has given this guy, Hunter Clarington III a scholarship, just so that he can head the Warblers so we can win this year. None of us even had a say. Even Sebastian hates this guy and that's really saying something." Nick relayed what had been occurring with the Warblers lately. Blaine cursed to himself, he had hoped that with getting Nick in the position of Captain that that would manage to stave off any thought of Hunter Clarington coming into play. Unfortunately the Dalton school board had other ideas.

"Oh crap. Listen to me right now Nick. Do not, I repeat, do not take any drugs that he tells you to take, do you understand?"

"Yeah, of course. Why, what does he do?" Nick asked urgently, sounding a little panicked at the mere mention of drugs use. Blaine sighed and he could feel his brows furrow as he thought about what Hunter had done to destroy the Warblers good name and reputation in one fell swoop.

"Only ruins the Warblers reputation forever. Trust me Nick, you need to get rid of him as soon as possible." Blaine stated, not able to see any other way around it. They needed to get rid of Hunter, and the quicker they could, the better for their team.

"Ok, but how?" Nick quizzed his friend, sounding a little hopeless of being able to achieve what Blaine had suggested he do. The school board was behind Hunter one hundred per cent, how was he going to explain to the school board that Hunter was a bad guy?

"You need to tell the teachers about his steroids."

"But he hasn't shown us any drugs yet..." Nick plead to Blaine, not able to see what could be done. What if Nick never even saw these drugs? What then? Were the Warblers really doomed to non existence? To a life of shame and humiliation? Nick could not bare the thought of that. He loved the Warblers, he couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let Hunter win.

"Phone me when he does. You don't want him on the team come sectionals Nick. I mean it." Blaine told his friend firmly, already trying to think up a plan of action for how to get rid of the boy once and for all.

"Ok Blaine. Thanks for the heads up. Sorry to call you about this but..." Nick trailed off, sounding very emotional over the phone. Blaine's heart went out to his friend and he vowed to himself that he would help the Warblers again one more time.

"It's ok Nick. You're one of my closest friends. You can call me about anything, you hear?"

"Thanks. Bye." Nick replied, the sound of relief palpable in his voice. Blaine's heart gladdened. He considered Nick one of his closest friends and he would do anything for him, even go up against Hunter Clarington III.

"Bye." As he switched the call end button, flashes of ideas for future plans buzzed through his brain and he carried on thinking up the best plan of action throughout the entirety of the film Sam was absorbed in as he came to sit back down beside his shaggy haired friend.


As the Grease musical came ever closer, Blaine could notice the change in Marley's disposition. Not wanting a repeat of what happened the last time he decided that he needed to help the girl before it caused any more problems. Talking over the events of last time with Sam, the blonde haired boy had promised to have a talk with Kitty about how making Marley believe she was fat would have grave consequences to the statuesque girl, as Blaine talked with Marley about the dangers of bulimia. After searching the obvious places to find Marley, having a chat with her mother along the way and asking her if she could keep an eye out for Marley's eating habits because he was worried she wasn't eating properly to which she replied in the affirmative, concern covering her face, he finally found the young girl. Blaine discovered her fiddling around with her books in her locker and so he stepped up to her quickly before she could disappear from his view.

"Hey Marley. How are you today?" He asked, grinning pleasantly to her so as not to frighten her away.

"Oh! Hi Blaine. I'm good I guess." Marley smiled weakly, trying to pretend that nothing was on her mind.

"Do you mind if we have a little talk in private?" Blaine asked politely, pointing towards an empty classroom. He saw Marley's eyes go wider and she nodded, looking a little scared about what Blaine, almost three years her senior, would want to talk to her about in private. Blaine smiled warmly at the girl and they stepped across the hallway into the classroom and he shut the door behind them. He didn't want to frighten her in any way and she seemed quite worried about what others thought of her, especially those older than her.

"Have I done something wrong?" Marley blurted out suddenly, looking very scared with her large childlike, sky blue eyes pinned on Blaine's warm, honey coloured ones.

Blaine shook his head, sympathy and compassion filling his eyes as he spoke. "No Marley. Not at all. I'm just a little worried about you is all. You're beautiful, and the perfect weight, but you seem to think you've been gaining weight." Marley's eye's welled up at the mention of her weight, a sensitive issue for her, even if Kitty hadn't been interfering.

"I can't fit into my Sandy dress..." She whispered to the older boy, her head cast down, looking at the floor in shame.

"I know. Kitty has been altering the waist line to make it smaller every day. You aren't gaining weight Marley and don't ever let anyone make you think that you are. Don't listen to Kitty, she's just jealous that she didn't get the part of Sandy herself. She's jealous that both Jake and Ryder seem to like you and she's probably jealous that you're prettier than her. I know you don't have a lot of self confidence, but trust me Marley, you are a very attractive girl. Even I can see it and I like guys. You don't need to purge, it's not good for you. You'll get sick if you carry on like this, and none of us want to see that happen to you." Blaine appealed to the pretty girl in front of him, trying to keep himself from getting upset in front of her. With Marley he thought the best tact would be to be her rock and show her without a doubt that they cared about her, no matter what.

"But I..." Marley started, but Blaine wouldn't let her finish her excuses. Stopping her he decided to try and get her to understand the consequences of her actions on those around her.

"Marley, what if something happened to you? What if, say for instance, you starved yourself so much that you fainted during sectionals and cost everyone the competition and then your mum had to struggle to scrape money together to get you sessions with a therapist. How would you feel then? How do you think your mother would feel, seeing her daughter sick like that, or your friends in glee?" Blaine tried to get the girl to see the bigger picture, to try and question what she was doing. He could see her digesting what he had said to her as she bit her bottom lip in silence. Blaine patiently waited for her to reply, perching himself on the end of a desk.

"Awful, I suppose. My mum would be beside herself with worry. Do you really think all that could happen?" Marley asked, fear in her eyes at the thought of letting both her mother and the entire glee club down.

"Yes, if you carry on doing this to yourself. Please Marley, I'm really worried about you, so is everyone else. Trust me when I say that you don't need to worry about your weight and you never should. People should love you whatever you look like, and they will if they are true friends with you. You're mum, she's like the nicest person in the world, right?" Blaine stated watching Marley nod as a small smile spread across her face at the mention of her mum being what she thought was the kindest, most caring person in the whole world.

"Right." She told Blaine, her smile only increasing in size.

"You love her no matter what. Right?" Blaine pushed further, thankful that Marley seemed to be hearing his words.

"Right."

"Well then, it's the same for you too. Don't worry about things like that. You are who you are sweetie." Blaine told her and she came over to hug Blaine lightly, not knowing whether he was a person who liked hugs or physical contact yet. When he pulled her in further she giggled and just melted into him.

"Thanks Blaine. You're awesome." She told him, already looking so much better. He hoped that he had gotten through to her and that she would stop all this purging nonsense once and for all.

"Aww, you're welcome." He couldn't help but like Marley. She was truly a sweet and kind person and he wished all the best for her for future because she deserved it.


Sam, after having his scary chat with Kitty, who he thought was actually going to claw his eyes out at one point, watched his best friend and bro from the doorway of the choir room, sitting in one of the hard plastic red chairs, his phone glued to his ear. A look of worry evident on his face. As Sam padded into the room quietly and sat down next to his friend, it was clear that he was phoning Kurt and that Kurt was not responding. Blaine sighed and pressed the call end button as he noticed Sam sit down beside him, turning to his friend with a watery smile on his face.

"Well, not sure how my conversation with Kitty went dude, thought she was going to stab me in the eye at one point, but I think she got the message. Kurt not picking up?" Sam relayed what had happened between him and Kitty and then pointed to Blaine's phone when he launched into his question.

Blaine shook his head sadly. Sam thought he nearly always looked sorrowful lately and he hated to see his friend like this. "No." Blaine replied bluntly.

"Maybe he's on the subway or something." Sam told him overly cheery to try and make his friend smile again.

"Maybe." Blaine shrugged. It looked as though he had almost given up. Well, Sam was not going to let that happen. He knew how much Kurt meant to Blaine and he wasn't going to have his friend give up at the eleventh hour.

"What's up now, Blaine?" He asked his dark haired friend, perhaps a little too firmly as he watched Blaine shrink in on himself.

"I've been asking Kurt to come to the Grease performance all week. I told him I had a ticket for him, and that I'd hold another for Rachel if she wanted to come too, but he seems totally uninterested in coming to see it. In fact, he seems completely distracted whenever we talk. It's like he doesn't want to talk to me. Or tell me whatever is bothering him. He keeps changing the subject whenever I ask him what's wrong, or whenever I mention me coming to New York soon. I just... After last time, I thought we had sorted everything out, you know? But now it's like I'm practically back to square one." Blaine's eyes filled with unshed tears as he looked to his friend for guidance. Sam really felt for him at that moment. He seemed so lost, so utterly helpless as he looked up into Sam's eyes with hope. Because that was all Blaine had left. Hope. Hope that his friend could help him get through this, whatever it was. Hope that Kurt was not going to leave him all alone. Hope that everything could be fixed.

"Whoa. What do you think the problem might be?" Sam asked, shocked that things seemed to be unravelling this fast after Blaine's trip to New York. It had been less than two weeks. What the hell could be happening in New York anyway?

"I have no idea Sam, that's why I'm really worried. I have absolutely no idea what's going on at NYADA and New York in general and it terrifies me. Not knowing what's going on, not being able to be there with Kurt. It's killing me, slowly but surely." Tears were now falling freely and fast from Blaine's eyes and he clutched the seat's edge with his hands, trying to calm down before the others arrived for glee.

"Well, what are you gonna do about it?" Blaine shrugged, not having a clue how or where to start tackling this seemingly new problem.

Sam sighed. He could only think of one thing that could help and he didn't think Blaine was going to like it. But it needed to be done. "You know what I'm going to say, don't you?"

"What?" Blaine asked, his eyes drying as he looked reverently to his friend. Sam sucked in a breath and went for it. Blaine needed to tell Kurt and Sam guessed that if he wanted to keep him, he would need to do it fast.

"Tell Kurt. Everything. Dude, you need to tell him. Maybe that's why he's getting so distant. You promised him you would tell him and so far you haven't delivered. It may be your only option left."

Blaine sat in silence, chewing the inside of his cheek. What Sam had said made sense and Blaine was getting tired of keeping things from Kurt. It was getting to the stage that he didn't know what he had revealed and what he hadn't. Telling the whole truth seemed like the only logical option to him. "Maybe you're right Sam. Maybe I should tell him. Maybe I need to tell him. Maybe it's time to tell him." Sam looked at his subdued friend and nodded, patting him on the shoulder for support. He was glad that Blaine was finally seeing sense.

"I think you're doing the right thing dude." Blaine sighed and smiled wanly at his friend, barking a small laugh out as he thought about what he was going to do after so long.

"I think I need to talk to my future self and have a really frank discussion about what I intend to do." Sam was glad. All the major players should be there after all and future Blaine was the biggest part of it. After all he had instigated the whole thing.

"Do you need me there?" Sam asked offering his support and comfort to his best friend and almost brother.

"No Sam, I think this is something I need to do for myself. But thanks." Blaine turned to hug his friend and Sam pulled him in tightly, getting a small squeak from Blaine in the process and making him chuckle.

"Good luck bro."

"Thanks Sam." Blaine replied, suddenly getting nervous, the pit of his stomach flopping about like crazy. Was he really going to do this? After all this time?


Blaine knocked on the shabby looking door to his future self's apartment. He hoped for the last time. Blaine hated coming here, it reminded him of how it could all go horribly wrong if he didn't sort this all out. If Kurt really did leave for Paris. When future Blaine opened the door, looking more tired and gaunt than ever before, Blaine knew that he needed to end his suffering sooner rather than later. He sincerely hoped that by telling Kurt, that things would finally change for them both. But he had to be realistic. It may never happen. He may never be able to change future events, no matter what he did. He had to keep hoping though. For both their sakes.

"Hey Blaine. Come in." Future Blaine said tiredly, leaving the door wide open as he wobbled to the living room and laid himself down heavily on the couch, closing his eyes as if they were too hard to even keep open for any length of time. Clearly, he had not been fairing too well of late and Blaine felt a little guilty that he had not come by more often to see how he was doing. This was how he might end up, despite all of his efforts. He really owed it to himself to make more of an effort to look after his future self.

"We need to talk." He told the older Blaine, taking the chair in the room and looking around in disgust at all the mess surrounding him. Old take out boxes lay scattered everywhere, some which mould growing out of them, empty beer bottles littered the coffee table and every other surface available. Blaine really needed to sort this thing out with Kurt. It terrified him to think that he might end up this way in the future.

"Ok. What do you want from me?" The older man replied, not opening his eyes and looking like he might fall asleep at any minute.

"I think it's time." Blaine quietly and patiently told himself. The older Blaine opened his eyes at that and scooted himself up into a seated position.

"Time for what?" He demanded, frowning at his younger persona.

"To tell Kurt. Everything. But I need your help to do it. I'm not sure Kurt will believe me unless you're there too. So I need you to sort yourself out. Stop drinking, just for a short while. For Kurt." Blaine explained, hoping that his future self wasn't going to get too angry with his sharp words.

"You really think that this will work? That it will change things?" The older Blaine asked seriously and it took Blaine by surprise. He had never contemplated before now. But then, neither had Blaine.

"I can't say that it will change anything, but we have to try, don't we? What else can we do? We've tried everything else, haven't we? Look, Kurt keeps getting more and more distant with me and I'm worried that he's going to leave me at this rate. We need to act, and act soon. I'll give you two weeks to sort yourself out and then we're going to fly to New York and tell him together. Are you in?" Blaine asked eagerly, hoping that future Blaine would agree to his terms. Without him, he didn't know if it would work.

"Yes, I'm in. You can't imagine how tired I am Blaine. Tired of living like this. I want peace. If that means telling Kurt, then that's what we will do. Even if it doesn't work, at least I can know that we tried everything. I'll sort myself out. You worry about wrapping things up this end. I 'll worry about sorting myself out. I know you'll want to help your Warbler friends out against that Hunter guy and save sectionals for everyone." Future Blaine stated, as the younger Blaine smiled. He knew him way too much. But then, he was his future self. He probably would have chosen the same path.

"Thanks. I'll call you when I'm ready." Blaine told him as he stood up to go. He didn't really want to stay in this apartment any longer. It was starting to seriously smell and Blaine was doing his best not to show how much be not wrinkling his nose up.

"Sure. And Blaine?" The older Blaine called out as the younger left rapidly.

"Yeah?" Blaine turned around, curious at what his older self wanted to say.

The older Blaine stood up and wobbled towards the younger version of himself. Placing his hand on younger Blaine's shoulder, he patted it like a father would when he was proud of his son. "Thanks. I know I'm you in a way, but at the same time I'm not, and you've really been trying to help me, so... Thank you."

"Yeah well..." "You know." Blaine looked down, a little uncomfortable, squirming as he stood.

"Yeah, I do." With that, Blaine left. He needed to help Nick and then help with sectionals. After that, he would tell Kurt everything that had happened between them. Right from the beginning.