Disclaimer: Only the stuff that didn't happen in canon is mine. Otherwise, what you see belongs to Fox and Glee and whoever else. Love me some beta extraordinaire GLee68.

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Chapter 49

"NATIONALS" was written on the white board as the Glee club members entered the choir room the Monday after Prom.

"Holy shit, you mean we're actually going to TALK about Nationals before we get there this year?" Puck said rudely.

"Yes Puck, we are," confirmed Mr. Schuester as he strode into the room and stood before the class. "Now, I realize that perhaps arriving in New York completely unprepared last year was not the greatest idea I've ever had…"

He was interrupted by most of the room coughing and mumbling under their breath, saying things like "Ya think?" "Obviously," and "No shit, Sherlock."

"All right, all right. Calm down, folks. So yes, today we're going to spend some time brainstorming themes for our set list."

"Excellent," Kurt broke in. "Blaine and I spent a couple of hours recently coming up with our idea of the perfect set list, and we think it'll be absolutely fabulous."

"That's great, Kurt. I'm sure we'll all be glad to hear your ideas," said Mr. Schuester, "but I'm sure the others have some thoughts, too."

Other members of the Glee club shared their ideas for themes. "Love songs" came from Rachel. Puck suggested Billy Joel, as he was one of Puck's favorite Jewish artists. Lauren wanted to do songs about sports. Mercedes was all about R&B artists.

Tina tentatively raised her hand. "Mr. Schue?"

"Yes, Tina?"

"I don't think we should create a new set list at this point in the game. I think that if we REALLY want to win this thing, we should do the songs that have served us well. The New Directions' Greatest Hits, if you will."

Mr. Schuester nodded, and Mike squeezed Tina's hand approvingly. "That's actually a really good idea, Tina." He grabbed a dry-erase marker and uncapped it, poised to write down suggestions. "Now, what songs do you guys all feel were our best?"

"Somebody to Love!"

"Rachel's Don't Rain on My Parade was probably the only reason we won Sectionals our first year."

"We Are Young pulled us all together as a group."

"We HAVE to do Don't Stop Believin'. It's kind of our anthem."

Mr. Schuester scribbled on the white board until it was full of suggestions.

"It's too bad it's not winter time," Blaine lamented. "Kurt's and my Baby, It's Cold Outside would've brought the house down."

Mr. Schuester smiled. "I don't know, boys. I saw the looks on your faces right after you finished that song, remember? I think you would have BURNED the house down, not just brought it down." Blaine and Kurt both blushed as the other boys whooped and hollered at Mr. Schue's insinuation.

"Touché," Kurt mumbled.

"There are a lot of songs on here, Mr. Schuester," Rachel worried. "How are we going to choose from them all?"

"Well, we're going to have to prepare six songs. We will need to perform three for the first round of competition, and then if we get called back, which I'm certain we will, we will need three different songs for the finals."

As a group, they all decided that it was important to be able to show off all the talent their little family had, so they chose some numbers that had lots of different parts.

They decided to open their first round of competition with Sing by My Chemical Romance. Rachel and Finn would take the leads on that song as they had done before. Another easy decision was their rendition of We Are Young by fun. They were able to showcase nearly everyone's voices in that one.

The surprise of the day, though, came in the form of Santana's suggestion that their middle song be Perfect performed by Kurt and Blaine.

"I thought you hated it when we sang that song," Kurt said warily. "In fact, you made some derogatory comments involving sucking and Blaine's and my sex life in reference to our rendition."

"I don't admit this easily," she started, "but I was being an asshole. What I said to you was awful, and I'm sorry. You guys did awesome with that song."

"She's right," Mercedes added. "In fact, you guys were WAY better than us when we sang it for you at Prom. Probably because you've practiced it in the car so much, singing it to each other and being all cute and stuff," she teased.

Kurt rolled his eyes at Mercedes, but grinned at her enthusiasm. "Thank you, Santana," he said quietly. "That song means so much to Blaine and me – we were rather hurt when you trashed it in front of us."

"All in favor of Kurt and Blaine taking the second song?" asked Mr. Schuester. Everyone in the room raised their hands, including Brad at the piano. Kurt beamed, and Blaine caught Brad's eye and made the sign for "thank you" in his direction. Brad tipped his head just slightly to acknowledge him.

They spent the rest of rehearsal discussing the second set of three songs they'd have to have ready to perform. Don't Stop Believin' and Somebody to Love were pretty obvious choices to them, but it was hard to decide which song they should use as their third. After much debate, it was finally decided that Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine would fit the bill perfectly. Tina was both excited and terrified, knowing that this was her most important solo of her high school career. Kurt, who was sitting right next to her, reached his arm out and dragged her in for a congratulatory hug.

"It's about time," he whispered in her ear.

"I know. Thanks for mentioning it to the group."

"Any time."

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The New Directions went to daily after school rehearsals to bring their older numbers out of mothballs, and also to bring Blaine up to speed on harmonies and choreography since he hadn't been around when they performed most of the songs. Thankfully, it took almost no time at all for him to catch on, and with him being so musically inclined, he was able to suggest some things to make their performance even better.

They spent so much time preparing for the competition that the days flew by and pretty soon it was time for Kurt and Blaine to leave for New York. Once Regionals was over and they learned that they would be going to New York for Nationals, Kurt and Blaine made plans to fly into the city several days early to explore the city and look at potential places to live, essentially killing two birds with one stone. Kurt was extremely antsy to get there and see all the things he didn't get to see when they were at Nationals last year. They were so busy being forcibly cooped up in the hotel to write their competition songs that aside from Kurt and Rachel's side trip to rehearse at the Gershwin, no one got to do anything fun while they were there. And that was something that Kurt was not willing to risk a second time.

The boys boarded their plane that arrived in New York three days before the first round of competition at Nationals was to take place. They landed at LaGuardia and were immediately greeted by a well dressed man offering car service to anywhere in the city for a flat rate. Kurt figured that they could probably get a better rate with a cab or perhaps even some sort of bus or shuttle service, but he and Blaine were both tired – they had had an early flight, made even earlier yet by the long drive into Columbus, so they said yes to the man, who grabbed Kurt's bag and immediately began speed walking to the parking ramp.

Kurt briefly glanced at Blaine and began to trot to keep up with the driver. Kurt was already beginning to learn exactly how fast-paced the city really was, if this man was any indication. After what seemed like about a half a mile walk done in about five minutes, they reached a shiny black car where the driver was already loading Kurt's suitcase in the back. Blaine rolled his up to the trunk and slung it in. He barely had a chance to catch his breath before the driver was hopping into the car, getting ready to go whether the boys were in the vehicle or not. They jumped in, and the split second their asses touched seat, the driver was barreling out of the parking spot and onto the highway.

The drive into Manhattan was what truly made Blaine and Kurt realize that they just weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. There were so many people. Wall to wall people. And the roads! This driver had obviously grown up in New York and knew the ins and outs of getting through traffic as quickly as possible, but Kurt and Blaine were torn between fearing for their lives and being in awe of how fast this man could weave in and out of traffic and how close he could get to other vehicles without causing an accident.

Once their initial fear had died down, though, the ride to their hotel was actually quite fascinating. The driver sensed that they were ready for a bit of a tour, and he proceeded to tell them all about what buildings they were passing, which bridges and bodies of water they were crossing, and little bits and pieces of information about visiting the city that they might find helpful.

When they finally arrived at their hotel (in one piece each, thankfully), the driver unloaded their baggage, and the boys tipped him well. Despite their initial panic that they were going to die, they really did enjoy their ride, and it was much more comfortable than a bus would have been.

They got settled into their hotel room and immediately abandoned any notions about unpacking in favor of heading out to grab a bite and explore Times Square, which was only about a half a block's walk from where they were staying. Their hotel was on somewhat of a dingy side street with nothing remarkable on it, but as soon as they reached the end of the street, all the lights and billboards and grandeur of Times Square greeted them. Kurt stopped in his tracks and just stared in awe. They hadn't had time to really LOOK at anything when they were here before.

Finally snapping out of his New York induced stupor, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and dragged him across the street. "Look Blaine, it's the red steps! Just about any time you see Times Square on TV, you see the red steps! And the TKTS booth is underneath! You get cheap theatre tickets there. We should see if there's anything good playing tonight! Oh, and look! There's the How to Succeed in Business billboard with Nick Jonas – I wish we had been here when that guy who really looks like you was playing. I heard he practically caused riots at the stage door, he was so popular! And look! The Wicked billboard! Oh, that was one of the best moments of my LIFE being on that stage – I wonder if we can get tickets to see that! And there's RENT and Avenue Q and…"

Blaine just grinned at his boyfriend. Kurt was really in his element here, and it was a beautiful thing to see. He couldn't wait 'til they were living here permanently. He hoped that Kurt's excitement for the city would never change.

Blaine heard a clicking sound – Kurt was snapping his fingers right in Blaine's face to get his attention. "Hey, where'd you go? Am I boring you?"

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "Not in the slightest. I'm just enjoying watching you fanboy over Times Square. It's adorable."

Kurt pouted. "I can't help it. It's… it's NEW YORK, Blaine! In six months, we'll be living here! It's so close, I can taste it. I can already tell I'm not going to want to go home on Sunday."

"Well, pretty soon, you won't have to, baby. I'm already loving it too. Come on. Let's walk around some more. Find somewhere to eat because I'm starving, and then we can do some more gawking and drooling over the sights. Maybe check out ticket prices and see if there's anything we can afford to watch tonight. I'm all for catching a show, but we can't see everything or we won't have any money to move here with," Blaine said sensibly.

"All right," Kurt sighed, knowing that Wicked probably didn't fall into the category of "tickets they could afford." "You're right. But Blaine, if there's ever a point in our lives where money is no object or we just get a really good tax refund or something, I want to see as many shows as we can until we run out of room to store our playbills."

Blaine grinned. "You better start buying lottery tickets or praying to a God you don't believe in, because to have that kind of cash at our disposal is probably going to be nothing short of a miracle, but if it ever happens, I'm in."

Kurt leaned over and gave Blaine a quick peck on the lips, thrilled that this was New York and that kind of thing happened all the time without anyone ever batting an eye. He pointed down the street at a large deli on the corner. "Come on, honey – there's a HUGE deli over there. It'll be quick and less expensive than eating at a sit-down restaurant, and then we can get back outside to walk around."

Wrapping their arms around each other's waists, they set off down the street to get their lunch. Upon ordering their food, they were surprised at how much even a plain club sandwich cost in the city, and of course, absolutely everything was a la carte, as well. Two sandwiches, two bags of chips, two drinks, and nearly $30 later, they left the deli, their appetites sated but their wallets noticing the loss.

"Damn, we really AREN'T in Ohio anymore, are we?" Blaine commented.

"Yeah, I don't remember it being this expensive last year, but we didn't have much for free time, either," Kurt agreed.

After gawking for a few more moments at the city around them, Kurt and Blaine decided to take one of the big red tour buses. They chose the Downtown Loop tour, which would take them past all the most iconic New York City attractions: the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Grand Central Station, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, and all sorts of other places they had only heard about.

They chose to sit on the top level of the tour bus to make it easier to get great pictures. The top was partially covered, but because the plexiglass covering was so scratched up from previous riders, they sat at the back where there was no protection from the elements. It was a bit brisk out, but they were bundled up well, so they settled back and enjoyed their ride.

Their tour guide, Mindy, was a good one. She had lived in New York all her life. In her heavy Bronx accent, she shared with them all sorts of bits and pieces of trivia about everything they passed. They learned that Macy's was the world's largest department store, that the large needle and button sculpture on "Fashion Avenue" had holes in the button in the shape of an F in honor of the Fashion District's logo, that Grand Central Station is not actually a station but a post office, and that the Flatiron Building held the newspaper for which Spiderman's Peter Parker was a freelance photographer. Kurt eagerly held out his camera and snapped a photo of nearly every inch of New York that they passed, and Blaine absorbed every tidbit of information their guide offered. When they were nearing Greenwich Village, Mindy offered a piece of information that Kurt and Blaine hadn't counted on.

"Um, Blaine? Did she say what I think she just said?"

Blaine turned slowly to face Kurt. "God, I was hoping I was just hearing things, but if you heard it too, I don't think I was."

The disturbing piece of information that Mindy had shared was that "most apartments in Manhattan averaged around $2000-3000 per month." Kurt knew it would be quite expensive to live in New York, but that price range was even higher than he had figured.

While they were mulling over this new development, they missed their stop for Ground Zero. Kurt was upset as this was something he had really felt the need to see, but Blaine pointed out that their bus tickets were good for a full 24 hours, so they could just hop another bus at another time and go back there sometime before the tickets expired.

Shortly after their missed stop at Ground Zero, the bus made its way toward Battery Park and a view of Lady Liberty herself. Not wanting to miss another of their country's important landmarks, they hopped off the bus and made their way towards the water's edge.

The Statue of Liberty was on Liberty Island a ways out into the harbor, but from where they stood, they could still get a decent view of her with the zoom on Blaine's camera. He snapped pictures obsessively for a few moments, and then he wandered away from Kurt to get a good look at the large boat that would take sightseers right up close to view the statue.

Kurt remained where he was, leaning up against the fence that separated him from the water. He stood, staring out at the island, at the statue, at the immigration building, and finally just at the water itself. The view was calming, and Kurt took every moment available to just stand and reflect, to breathe in the fresh air from the breeze off the harbor, and to enjoy that particular instant in his life.

Blaine, having wandered off a little farther than he had planned, abandoned the oversized seagull he had been stalking with his camera and turned to retrace his steps back to Kurt. As Blaine approached his boyfriend, he noticed that the sunlight was hitting Kurt "just so" so that his hair and his face glowed. He looked angelic just standing there, the most relaxed that Blaine had seen him in quite some time. He snapped a few photos of Kurt before he could notice him returning to him and put away the camera.

Blaine walked up behind Kurt quietly and wrapped his arms around his waist. Kurt jumped slightly at the unexpected contact, but his body recognized the arms and he immediately melted into Blaine's embrace. Blaine rested his chin on Kurt's shoulder and said, "I know I say this a lot, but you're so beautiful, Kurt."

Kurt's face flushed as it always did at the compliment. "I don't think I'll ever get used to it, but thank you. And I know I say this a lot, but you take my breath away."

Kurt clasped the hands that were still wrapped around his waist in front of him, and Blaine placed a soft kiss on Kurt's heated cheek.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's catch the next bus and continue our tour. We should be back in time to figure out if there are any good deals on a show to see tonight."

Kurt nodded and the two set off hand in hand towards the tour bus stop to continue their trip. The second half of the ride was less interesting than the first half; the first half was filled with famous landmarks, but the second was mainly views of regular people going about their daily lives as they always did. Chinatown didn't interest Kurt in the least, at least as far as shopping went – he was interested in deals on designer merchandise as much as anyone else, but he preferred that his outfits were comprised of legitimate pieces and not shoddy quality knockoffs and fakes.

Blaine, losing interest in snapping pics of everything he saw, set his camera in his lap, at the ready, but no longer in constant use. He curled up against Kurt in the uncomfortable plastic bus seats and watched the city go by. He took a few obligatory photos of the United Nations as they passed by, but his interest was not truly piqued again until they reached Rockefeller Center. After consulting the bus route map, they decided that the trip around parts of Central Park would take more time than they were willing to give it and disembarked at Rockefeller Center; their hotel was within walking distance, so it made sense.

As soon as the bus dropped them off and continued on its route, Blaine spotted the Lego Store at Rockefeller and bounced up and down in excitement. "Kurt! Look!" he said excitedly, pointing at the building. "Let's go inside and look!" Kurt readily agreed – he may have been a boy who preferred dolls and tea parties growing up, but EVERYONE loves Legos, even him.

The first thing they saw was the Lego logo. Upon close inspection, they realized that it was made up entirely of the tops of minifigure heads. Blaine whipped out his trusty camera and took pictures of the whole sign and a detailed photo showing the heads. "I wonder how many minifigs they had to decapitate to make this sign," he said.

Kurt giggled and replied, "I wonder if there's some sort of Headless Horseman style minifigure graveyard out there somewhere. I can see it now – thousands of headless Lego bodies, arms sticking straight out in front of them, wandering aimlessly searching for their heads."

Blaine laughed, and so did some people nearby who had heard their exchange. Grinning, Kurt placed his hand on the small of Blaine's back and pushed him through the doors to see what was to be seen inside.

There were some amazing Lego creations inside: Atlas with the world on his shoulders, wall murals, a giant green dragon twisting his way around the upper level of the store, "Hey Kurt, LOOK! It's the Death Star! And the Starship Enterprise!" Perhaps the most impressive sculpture of all was the model of Rockefeller Center and the skating rink below. Blaine tried in vain to get the whole thing in one frame with his camera, but it was no use – that thing was HUGE! It was so detailed, right down to all the skaters on the rink.

Kurt allowed Blaine a few minutes to stare in awe through the glass at the Lego model, and then he pulled him away gently to continue on their way back to their hotel, where they would change their clothes in anticipation of a night at the theatre and then head out to obtain said theatre tickets.

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A/N: So anything touristy that Klaine do in New York is based on my trip to New York when I saw Darren in H2$ - it was my first time there, and Kurt's no expert and we'll pretend Blaine's never been, either, so I figured my experiences could help the accuracy some. I know I wouldn't have had any clue what to write had I not been and probably would've moved Nationals to Minneapolis so I WOULD know what to write LOL

I've done a LOT of writing on this story. I have about two larger plot points and a little bit of filler to write and that's about it. However, as far as YOU guys know, this story is nowhere near complete - you should get 40-50K more words after this point to read based on what is written and what is left to write.

Also...ZERO reviews on the last chapter? I know the subject matter is a little dry at this point in this story, but did it stink that back? Did I lose my loyal reviewers in my writers block? I'd love to see some of y'all again - swing by to say hello, please!