The boys finally stopped kissing when Blaine's stomach growled loudly. They noticed that the sun was up and they had missed the sunrise.
"Shall we go find something to eat, baby?" Blaine asked.
"That sounds like a great idea, sweetheart," Kurt answered and pecked Blaine one more time.
Blaine helped Kurt up from the nest of blankets and pillows and led him into the kitchen. Kurt volunteered to make omelets, eager to show off his cooking skills.
"These are perfect!" Blaine exclaimed after taking a bite of the steamy, golden eggs. "This is seriously the best omelet I've ever eaten."
"Thank you," Kurt answered. "I really love to cook. My dad used to tease me that if I didn't go into performing or fashion, I should be a chef."
"You'd be wonderful at it, I'm sure," Blaine said, grinning.
"What should we do this Christmas Eve?" Kurt asked after they had finished eating and cleaned up.
"I'm happy to stay here and lounge or go out and wander around the town," Blaine answered. "I honestly don't care what we do as long as we're together."
"I found this lovely spot when I was walking around the other day," Kurt remembered. "Would you like to see it?"
"That sounds perfect," Blaine answered.
They both went to their bedrooms and got ready for the day. Unbeknownst to the other, both jerked off in the shower with images of the time spent worshiping the other's body, hoping that doing so would take the edge off of any sexual tension they might experience while walking around. Both came with the other's name on their breath.
When they were dressed and ready to go, Kurt led Blaine through the city to the wooden doors that opened to nothing. Kurt told Blaine about the placard that described what the doors used to open to.
"This place really makes you take a step back and think about things, doesn't it?" Blaine asked, in awe of the site that was before him.
"It does," Kurt agreed.
"It makes me look at what was, what is, and what could be," Blaine explained. "What was, has fallen away, gone with time. What is, could be anything, anything at all. What could be, well, that is up to us."
"That's a wonderful way of looking at things," Kurt said, giving Blaine's hand a little squeeze.
"I choose to trust and love you through everything," Blaine whispered and then turned to look Kurt right in the eyes. "The past, while we can learn from it, is done with. We can't go back and change the mistakes we've made. What we can do is learn all we can from them and make sure we don't repeat them. When I look at our future, I see wide open spaces and blank canvases, ready for us to paint them."
Kurt had silent tears streaming down his face. "I want that so much, my love." Kurt loved the way calling Blaine "my love" felt rolling off of his tongue. And by Blaine's totally blissed out expression, he did too.
"Then, that's what our future will be. It will be whatever we make it," Blaine said and bestowed a chaste, though promise filled kiss on Kurt's waiting lips.
The boys found a bench near the doors that looked out over the valley. They held hands and simply took in the majesty of the scenery around them.
"What was your mom like?" Blaine asked after a while, breaking the silence. When he heard Kurt inhale sharply, he added, "You don't have to tell me. Not ever if you don't want to. Her passing just seems to have left some deep scars. And I thought...maybe I could help you mend them."
"I don't mind talking about her," Kurt said. "Your question just caught me a little off guard."
"Take however much time you need," Blaine said back to him. He leaned up and kissed Kurt on the temple, which was sort of awkward considering their height difference. He didn't care though. That was one of the most comforting things he had ever experienced himself, and he hoped like hell that it comforted Kurt too.
"Thank you," Kurt replied in a whisper. He sat there for several minutes, looking out into the valley and piecing together memories of his mother.
"There's not a whole lot I remember to be honest," Kurt said after he was able to compose himself. "I was 10 when she passed away. She had the best laugh, and my dad says that when I really let myself go, he hears that same laugh from me." Kurt chuckled as he shared with Blaine the last time he really, really laughed.
Burt had asked him to meet him in the auditorium the week before his high school graduation. When Kurt got there, he noticed two of his friends, Tina and Brittany, on the stage in very familiar outfits. Burt joined them, gave him a little speech, and then danced for him. It was one of the best and most memorable things his dad had ever done for him. Kurt was laughing so hard at the end, he had tears leaking from his eyes. He noticed his dad look up toward the ceiling and mouth the words, "Thank you, Lizzy." Kurt's grin widened at this. He knew that each time his dad heard him laugh like that, laugh her laugh, he would look upwards and thank her for their son. Kurt would always be their greatest accomplishment and their most precious treasure.
"She wore this one perfume," Kurt reminisced. "Red Door by Elizabeth Arden. It wasn't some fancy designer perfume, but god did she love it. And whenever I smell it, it makes me happy and sad at the same time." Kurt took a second to breathe and then laughed, "There are times someone wearing it will pass by me on the sidewalk, and I find myself following them for just a little bit, so I can smell it for the time being."
Blaine could picture Kurt doing just that. He guessed that his soulmate would never interact with whoever was wearing it. He could just see him walking behind them a few steps, so the scent could waft toward him for a while.
"I spilled some in her dresser when I was about eight. I wanted my stuffed bunny to smell like her, so it could help keep the bad dreams away. I ended up getting it everywhere. I still have that dresser, and, every now and then, I will go and open the drawer, either lean up against it or lay on the floor, and just talk to her." Kurt stopped there and looked at Blaine, expecting to see an inquisitive look on his face. Which is why it surprised him to see love and understanding instead. "Of course, he understands," Kurt thought. "He's lost a parent too."
"What else?" Blaine urged, sensing that this was good for his soulmate to talk about.
"Well," Kurt thought, "she loved musicals. Which isn't surprising to me, considering where my name came from." Kurt looked over towards Blaine again, seeing if he could figure it out.
"The Sound of Music," Blaine answered with certainty.
Kurt nodded. "That was her favorite. I remember watching it at least four times a year. It always amazed me that when I sang with Kurt's character on screen, I could hit all of the notes he could. She's where my love of singing came from too."
"Do you still watch it that often?" Blaine asked, feeling like this piece of information was significant for some reason.
"No," Kurt answered solemnly. "I don't really have the time anymore. Running my own business is nuts, and all of my spare time is spent catching up on sleep or designing for my customers."
"Maybe," Blaine said hesitantly, "when we get back to New York, we can have a date and watch it? It's been so many years since I've watched it, and I'm not sure I've ever really appreciated it. It was just something I was forced to watch with my grandmother."
"I'd really love that, Blaine," Kurt replied, feeling so much better after talking about his mom. "How old were you when your dad died?" He was hoping that they could talk about the bad stuff now and get it out of the way.
Now, it was Blaine's turn to inhale sharply. "I…I was 15," he answered softly.
Kurt put his arm around Blaine's back and held him close. "You don't have to talk about him if you don't want. But, like you said, talking might help mend some of the scars."
"No…um…I'm okay to talk about him," Blaine stumbled out. "I was in my freshman year; I was one of the older ones in my class, so that's why it seems like I should have been in the next grade up. It never really bothered me that I was older than most of the other guys in my grade; they were all pretty cool, and I got to hang out with other guys in glee. So, anyway, um…" Blaine took a breath to clear his head and stop his rambling. "Sorry. I ramble sometimes. It's...It helps me cope I guess. Anyway, he got diagnosed with cancer when I was 13, and he fought like hell for two years. The mass would get smaller and then come back with a vengeance. Eventually, he was tired, and we hated seeing him suffer over and over again. So, we decided to go the hospice route, and he seemed to be so much more at peace after we made that decision."
Blaine had tears running down his cheeks as he remembered one of the last talks he had with his dad. He had had several with him throughout his treatment, but this one seemed more final right from the beginning. Almost like his dad had known that this would be their last 'big' talk.
"Blaine?" his dad called one Sunday afternoon. "Could you come in here and keep me company for a little while?"
He went into his dad's makeshift bedroom. Adrian was too weak to climb up and down the stairs, so they had set him up in the den since it was the most convenient room that had a bathroom close to it. Blaine leaned down and kissed his dad's forehead before sitting in the armchair next to his bed.
"What's up, Dad?" Blaine asked. "Want to play some Rummy?"
"Maybe in a little bit," Adrian replied, loving that his son still liked to play cards with him. It had been something they had done as a family for as long as Blaine could grasp the game. They played Pitch with the extended family, but the four of them in their immediate family preferred Rummy. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your future."
"Okay," Blaine said reluctantly, not liking it when his dad talked about the future. He knew logically that his dad was going to die, but it wasn't something that he liked to think about at length at all. So he knew that this was going to be an 'after I die' speech and his eyes already had started to well up with unshed tears.
"I wish I could be here when you fall in love," Adrian said. "It's going to be one of the most epic love stories of all time. Do you know how I know that?"
Blaine's tears were streaming down his face. "How?" he asked.
"I know that, because I know you," Adrian explained. "You have one of the biggest hearts of anyone I have ever known. The love that you are capable of giving is insurmountable, and whoever is lucky enough to earn that love from you will be the luckiest man alive."
"Daddy," Blaine sobbed, feeling so very young, and lunged into the bed with his dad. "I-I do-don't wan-want you to go. There's sti-still so much we have left to-to do. You ha-have to see m-me graduate and fi-fi-figure out what I'm go-gonna to do with my life. You ha-have to be at m-my wedding and help M-m-momma walk me down the aisle. You have to meet m-my first ki-kid. I do-don't want you to miss a-all of that."
"Oh, my sweet boy," Adrian said, shedding several tears of his own and kissing Blaine's curls. "I won't miss it. I'll see every single accomplishment you have. When all of those things happen, I will be there. I'll send you some sort of a sign that I'm there; all you'll have to do is look for it."
"I love you so much," Blaine whispered and eventually cried himself to sleep, curled up next to his dad.
"What was the sign?" Kurt asked gently after Blaine had shared the memory with him. He often felt like the perfume was his mom's sign.
"Um…" Blaine chuckled as he dried his tears. "Pennies."
"Pennies?" Kurt questioned.
"Yeah," Blaine answered with another giggle. "The day I graduated high school, I found a penny near my car when I left the house. The day I got my acceptance letter from Columbia, there was a penny by the mailbox. Um…the day that you came to the villa, I found a penny when I walked to the market. I have all of them, and they all have the same year on them: his birth year. 1964."
"Wow," Kurt said, in awe of Blaine's story. They sat in silence for another few minutes, really taking in what they had learned about each other over the last hour as they gazed at the expanse of mountains beyond the craggy cliff.
"What do you say we go back to the villa?" Kurt asked. "This trip out has been much more overwhelming than I had originally intended."
"That sounds like an excellent plan. Maybe we could go for a swim after we eat some lunch?" Blaine suggested.
"It's a date, sweetheart," Kurt said and leaned in to kiss Blaine. "I love you so much," he said when they parted, voice low and emotional. "And I'm so glad that I am the one that gets to experience your love. Your dad was right. Even though we haven't known each other in this world very long, you've loved me through my dreams since I was 10. And I can just tell that the love you've shown is just the tip of the iceberg of what you're capable of."
"I love you, too," Blaine said, more unshed tears welling up in his eyes.