"Other than a few gay men who were never portrayed in a positive light on TV, you know they were always criminals of some sort, I didn't have any other experience with gay men. I did my best to raise you to be a good person, but I was told that gay men went to hell because they were sinners. I couldn't see how you were a bad child, so I figured that at some point you'd become like the gay men everyone talked about. You know, the ones that had sex with anyone willing. Cut me some slack, Kurt. I went to high school during the AIDS crisis and we were told from way high up in the government that AIDS was a plague on sinful, homosexual men. And that it was God's punishment for being gay. I didn't have access to any information that said anything different than that. In the '80s, computers were glorified typewriters and adding machines. They didn't even have any way to store information on them. We had to use huge floppy disks to store anything."

Kurt moved closer and threw his arms around Burt's neck and began to cry. "Thank you."

Burt wrapped his arms around Kurt. "For what, bud?"

"For loving me. For treating me like a human being, not just some pervert-to-be. So many things make so much more sense now."

"What do you mean?" Burt stepped back.

It was too hard for Kurt to maintain eye contact and answer the question. He turned and started to walk again. "I'd get comments from guys at school, saying things like, 'If I had been born a fag like you, my dad would have drowned as a baby.' Or 'If I was a fag, my dad would have made my mom put me up for adoption.' Different things that never made any sense to me. 'If I was a fag, my dad would have beaten it out of me.'"

"Sadly, I can see that being true. If I had married someone besides your mom, and if my parents had been alive when it was obvious that you were gay as a toddler, I'm sure that I would have been told to switch it out of you. I can just imagine my dad saying, 'Blister his bottom a few times and he's stop talking about marrying a prince. You need to get control of his little mind before it's too late.'"

"What you told me when you gave me the talk makes so much more sense now. When you told me not to throw myself around. You were actually concerned that I would just start to have sex with any and everyone. Well, guys."

Burt nodded. "Yeah. And all of the AIDS stuff came rushing back to mind. I didn't want you to get sick and die."

"Condoms are readily available for free now."

Burt about choked. "Yeah, I found that out when I went to the clinic and asked for the pamphlets, which was something I should have done before you were 17."

"True. But at least you did it. They were very informative and thorough." Kurt watched Burt turn red, and chuckled to himself.

"New topic."

"Why? Would you be turning red and changing the topic if I were straight?"

"Probably. It's just too weird for me to think of you… you know…"

"Having sex."

"Kurt!"

"No one can hear us. I'm 20 years old. I'm not a virgin, well not exactly. I guess it depends on your definition."

"I have no idea what that means, and I really don't want to know. All that matters is that you're being safe. I don't want you to get AIDS or anything else."

"I went to a clinic and got tested ages ago. I had only ever… My only partner had been Blaine, but when he cheated on me, I went to get tested then on the off chance that he had been sleeping with other people before then. And when I stupidly slept with him at the wedding, I went back and was tested three months in a row. I'm clean. Sebastian went too."

"I should hope so."

"What does that mean?"

He sighed. "I've heard rumors about him."

"Whatever they were, they were probably exaggerated."

"Good to know."

"I'd venture to guess it was Rachel."

"Yeah. She gave me an earful and it wasn't just about him being a … What did she say? A manwhore. It was about him blackmailing Finn and injuring Blaine."

"He's not a manwhore, not that it's any of Rachel's business how many people Sebastian has had sex with. It's the same number that she's had sex with."

"So, you're saying it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black?"

"No, I'm saying the pot is spouting off lies, well rumors that are false would be a more accurate description."

"I see."

"Sebastian did blackmail Finn. But at the beginning of junior year, Rachel gave a new student named Sunshine an address and time to audition for Glee Club – the address of an abandoned crack house, where Sunshine was robbed. All because Rachel was threatened by her talent."

"What?"

"Yep. And he did throw a slushie that injured Blaine's eye. But Blaine was stupid and didn't close his eyes when dove to block him from hitting my clothes with it. Clothes that would not have been injured like an eye. And yes, Sebastian and I have dealt with this. We dealt with it a year and a half ago a few weeks after it happened. It was all a bunch of show choir nonsense, like when Vocal Adrenaline TPed the choir room and egged Rachel. And when Rachel spied on VA and I spied on the Warblers. When Jane Addams school and the deaf school used songs from our stolen set list. And when Finn and Puck slashed VA's tires."

"He did what now?"

"Supposedly they paid Ms. Corcoran back, but I don't see how. He and Puck only kept their jobs at Sheets and Things for like a month. Tires for 26 Range Rovers would have cost a lot more than they could have earned in a month, unless somehow they got Terri Schuester to say they had worked a lot more hours than they did, which would, of course, be fraud."

"This talk is going in ways I could not have possibly imagined."

"I bet. It's been my crazy life."

"You said 26 Range Rovers?"

"Yep."

"At cost, that would be like $10,000."

"I know."

"There's no way they made $5000 each at Sheets and Things."

"I know that too. I was told it had been 'taken care of' and to mind my own business."

"I'll deal with that later. Just text me the person's name to contact."

"I can do that. I think the most frustrating part of Finn was that everyone thought he was this amazing all-American good guy, but he did his fair share of crappy things too. But somehow he was always like Teflon or a cute puppy that no one could ever actually bring themselves to discipline. Or he'd apologize and then go back to doing whatever it was, which isn't actually being sorry. He outed Santana. That was traumatizing. Her grandma still won't speak to her. But a few days later, everyone seemed to have just forgotten about it. Even Santana forgave him for it, and she rarely forgives. I don't really want to get into it anymore. He was Finn. He was loved. And he was human. And I know that Carole misses him desperately. She's not going to get to see him to grow up to be a good man. I think he would have. He had figured out what he wanted to do. He hadn't really gotten on the straight and narrow yet, but I was hoping he would eventually."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that Puck had kicked Finn's real roommate out and he was living with Finn in his dorm room. They were going to keggers and performing at them. And putting Slip-n-Slides in the dorm hallway. Puck bragged about how Finn told him that he let a girl in without paying in trade for her bikini top. Maybe Puck was making that up. I just know that Finn wasn't being the studious college student that you and Carole had hoped he was being. While I was killing myself in New York working two jobs and barely making ends meet, he was living it up and partying on campus and sleeping through his classes while you two were covering all of his expenses."

Burt stopped again.

"Look, I'm not angry. I chose to go to a very expensive school. You did not give Finn more money than you gave me. I wasn't angry about that part. I was mad that he was horsing around instead of putting his full effort into it. If he wasn't really ready to apply himself yet, then he should have just taken one or two classes at a time and lived at home until he was ready to be serious about it."

"That's a fair point. And I agree. I took his 'Everything is great.' at face value. I didn't inquire further. I was tired and didn't feel good, and I liked his answer, to be honest. I didn't want one more complicated or negative thing to have to deal with."

"I get that."

"And then I was complicit in an event that was negative for you and made your life complicated. That's actually one of the things I wanted to apologize for. I had told him no when he came to me asking my permission to marry him."

"Like I was some girl that you had control over. Ugh. Go on."

"But after I told him no, I went ahead and took you to the proposal, and I didn't listen when you asked for an out. When I realized that you knew and you didn't seem thrilled, I should have turned the car around."

"Probably. But things worked out. I love Sebastian. Really love him. We're equals. We're partners. I'm not one-sixth of Klaine."

"I don't know what that means, but I'm glad you are Sebastian are equal partners. When I got up to get a drink last night, I saw the two of you last night, outside dancing in the rain. At first, I was really uncomfortable, but I checked myself. And I really looked at the two of you. There was nothing risqué or inappropriate going on. You were wearing swim trunks dancing next to a pool. You weren't outside having public sex or flashing people. I realized that I have work to do on myself still. If you had been outside dancing with a girl in a bikini, I would have felt awkward too, but not as much. I'm used to seeing a guy and a girl be intimate. We see it every day on TV and in the movies. But there's no difference. None."

"Thank you for saying that. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to changing. That was one of the other things that made me feel terrible."

"What?"

"When you came in and found me kissing Brittany and told us to use protection and when you came in and found Blaine hung-over, dead asleep in my bed, you told me that I had been inappropriate. Seriously? And then you said that I couldn't have a guy over that 'might' be gay without your permission. You know what that meant, right?"

"I guess not."

"That I couldn't have any guys over because I wasn't going to question their sexuality before I invited them over. What was I supposed to say, 'Oh, by the way, I have to know whether you are sexually attracted to guys before you can spend the night at my house. That's my dad's rule.'"

"You're right. I was ridiculous. I knew you weren't really going to have sex with Brittany."

"Only because I turned her down about ten times. She was pretty determined. I was the only guy that had been on the football team that she hadn't had sex with and she was really determined to keep her perfect record. I had to move and re-move her hands numerous times. And I had to explain to her that I only wanted to kiss. She wasn't thrilled in the least by my continued disinterest. She told me that she was sure that she could get me 'interested' enough with her 'skilled tongue'." Kurt enjoyed watching Burt turn red.

"That's enough. That's more than I want to know about that topic."

Kurt laughed. "Okay, then. How many girls did you have sex with before you married Mom?"

Burt about choked. "That is not up for discussion."

"Suit yourself, but it's another double-standard you have. Since I'm gay, I'm the girl and I was supposed to stay pure for the man I'd marry. That's how it felt."

"Fine. Fine. You're right, but not for the reason you think. I didn't want you to do what I had done. I wanted it to be meaningful for you. I realized how different it had been with your mom than those other girls. I wanted you to have that. Not what I had done."

"You could have just told me that."

"You're right. I could have – if I had tried harder. That's on me. It's all on me. I was the parent and you were the child. And I had a lot of preconceived notions that were false. And it's taken me too long to get to where I am now, but as much as I would like to be able to turn back time, for a lot of different reasons – I can't do that. But I can change now and not make the same mistakes again. Stop for a second."

Kurt stopped and turned towards him.

"I love you as much as I am capable of loving anyone. You are my son. I will fight for your right to marry whoever you want, whether it's Sebastian or someone else later down the line. I will do everything in my power to make things better for the next generation of LGBTQ kids. I'd like to make a lot of changes and I'm doing everything I can. I'm going to keep going to therapy. I'm going to get over what's left of my ingrained homophobia. I want you to be happy. And I see that you are with Sebastian. Those things that Rachel said he did, so he was what? 16 or 17?"

"Yeah, 17."

"I was an ass at 17. If your mom had met me then, she wouldn't have given me a second look. He didn't mean to hurt Blaine? All the better. I wish I could say the same about myself. And blackmailing Finn? Sounds like Schuester did that and he was in his 30s, proving that some people don't mature – they just get older. I'm going to find out what he did, so you can tell me now or I'll just go interrogate it out of Schuester."

"He planted pot in Finn's locker and told him that he'd make it go away if he joined Glee Club."

"Great." Burt huffed. "I won't tell Schuester where I got the info. And be sure to text me whoever Finn owed all that money to."

"I'll do that."

"So are we good? I mean, I'm not asking you to just straight up be okay with everything. I'm just asking if there's anything else you'd like to tell me."

"No, but there is something I'd like to thank you for, off the record of course," Kurt teased.

"And what's that?"

"Getting the news of the proposal into Mr. Anderson's hands. He's not letting Blaine go to NYADA, so I won't have him hanging around trying to worm his way back into my life. He's going to college in Ohio."

"Oh, well that's good news. I have no idea what you're talking about though." He chuckled. "We have some good schools in Ohio. I'm sure he'll get a good education."

Kurt laughed. "I'm sure he will."

"I know I said that I saw you two last night. And I've seen you holding hands and walking side-by-side with your arms around each other here. Be honest with me. Are you really serious about him?"

"Have you ever met Mr. and Mrs. Anderson?"

"No, why? What does that have to do with my question?"

"How long did Blaine and I date?"

"Umm." Burt paused. "A year and a half?"

"How long have Sebastian and I been dating?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but somewhere around three months."

"And you and Carole are here, spending time with his parents when you never met Blaine's parents. That should say something to you. I've never met Blaine's parents either. Sebastian was excited to show me off, or whatever you want to call it. We came here and spent time with his family a little over three weeks after we started dating. He told me right after we started dating that he wanted his parents to meet me. He told his mom the day I asked him out. His whole extended family made me feel like I belonged from the moment I met them."

"And you're not drawn to him because he's not making you pay rent or because he has a nice family. You actually like him as a person?"

"Yes, very much so. He's funny, sarcastic, and sweet – and so smart. Seriously. It's ridiculous how smart he is. And I feel like myself when I'm with him. And that took patience on his part. A lot of patience. After what I had gone through with Blaine, the struggle to live with Rachel, you being sick, and Finn dying, I had walls like this castle. And some serious snark and smart-assery to guard myself. He showed himself to be a good friend when no one else was there for me. I told him I wasn't interested in anything more than potentially being friends. He never pushed me – unlike other people. He's never once acted like I was anything besides a competent person. He has never treated any of my interests like something I should be ashamed of or put me in a category with girls. He gave my TV shows a chance and now watches a couple of them with me. I've learned that being someone's partner isn't about compromising – it's about working together for a mutually enjoyable outcome."

"Well, that was a hell of a speech."

"Why did you ask me that anyway?"

"Because I never asked you what you saw in Blaine and that was clearly another one of my mistakes. I was uncomfortable that you were dating. I wanted to keep my distance and just be accepting. I'm not saying that I shouldn't have been accepting, but I should have helped you navigate your feelings and help you distinguish love from lust, friendship, admiration, and absolute desperation for anyone to listen to you because I wasn't doing my job."

"Stop being so hard on yourself."

"Stop being so easy on me. I need to have some sense knocked into me every now and again. You were right yesterday. Carole just glowed when I went over and showed her the smallest amount of affection. I can't keep being stingy with it just because I'm not used to it. If there's nothing else we need to deal with right away, let's go inside and find them."

They made their way to the entrance.

"We won't have to look. This is my second time here." Kurt took out his phone and texted Sebastian to find out where they were. "Let's go."

"We'll do better. Both of us. You'll be truthful with me and stop acting like you need to protect me. And I'll get the rest of the homophobia out of me, along with getting over my lack of communication. It goes both ways. I didn't share with you and you grew up keeping things from me. A perfect circle of miscommunication."

"No more of that. But you'll stop grilling me about Sebastian, right?"

"That boy looks at you like I used to look at your mom. I just wanted to make sure that you were in it for the right reasons. He has very little to gain by dating you. You're not going to help him up the ladder to being a physicist through nepotism or by financial influence. My being a congressman gets him exactly nothing as a physicist. He didn't choose you for any reason other than wanting to be with you."

Kurt nodded. "I know."

They went in the front and made their way through the fort to where everyone else was.

Sebastian stepped outside the room they were in so Burt and Kurt could find them easily. When he saw Kurt coming through the courtyard, his eyes lit up. When Kurt got within a few feet, Sebastian moved closer and reached out for his hand. "Hey, babe."

"Hey, sweetie." Kurt pecked him on the lips. "How's it going?"

"Well, Mom and Carole wonder how anyone lived to modern times."

Burt laughed. "Which room are they in?"

Sebastian pointed to the one on his left.

Burt nodded and walked toward the room to go in and look around.

"He saw us dancing in the rain last night."

"And? Is that good or bad or neutral."

"He grilled me to make sure I wasn't after your money or accepting family. He said that you look at me like he used to look at my mom and he wanted to make sure I was with you for the right reasons."

"Well, that's unexpected." He winked at Kurt. "Did you pass the interrogation?"

"I did. Be prepared for a bear hug at some point. It'll be your induction into the Hummel clan."

Sebastian laughed. "I can't wait." He squeezed Kurt's hand. "I'm serious, you know. I want your dad to like me. I don't want one of those adversarial relationships with him. I know he's really important to you and you're really important to me."

Kurt led Sebastian towards the room where the King of Spain's treasure was stored before it was taken back to Spain. He saw Carole look at his dad with a genuine, warm smile when she came out of the room since the room was empty. Nina and Art were right behind her. Carole took Burt's hand when he offered it.

"So up to the top to see the view and the canons?" Kurt asked.

Everyone nodded and headed towards the stairs. Once they were on the top of the fort, they could see out across the Matanzas River and out to the ocean on through the inlet at the north end of Anastasia Island, which was next on their agenda. None of them had been there, so they were looking forward to having lunch at the beach and hiking some of the nature trails and seeing all the different birds.

Kurt and Sebastian were walking along the edge and heard Burt talking to Carole.

He wrapped his arm around her waist. "I didn't say anything this morning, but I did notice how nice that dress looks on you. And I like the shoes too. Is that what you got yesterday?"

She nodded. "And one other thing, but you'll see that tomorrow."

He squished her a bit into a side hug and kissed her on the temple.

"What was that for?" she asked, bafflement on her face.

"Because I love you."

"I love you too, honey." She pointed out across the water. "That's where we're going next." She wiped her eyes. "I'm glad Finn got to see the ocean last summer when he was hiking around. He told me how amazing it was."

"I'm glad he did too. And it is really beautiful. It's no wonder so many people retire here."

Kurt and Sebastian walked up and stood next to them. "I have days when I think 'Why wait to retire here?'"

Carole chuckled. "That's true. You haven't settled down anywhere yet. I can see the appeal of wanting to live here."

The four of them moved down the wall a little ways where Nina and Art were listening to someone tell them about the use of the canons in the defense of the fort and the city. He was talking about how cannonballs fired from the ship barely had any effect on the coquina, which was the natural shell rock the fort's walls had been built out of. He pointed out over the water to the area of Anastasia Island where the rock had been quarried. He told them that at the base the walls were 16 feet thick and that it had taken 23 years to build the fort. When they finished listening, they moved on to walk around the rest of the top of the fort.

Sebastian kept hold of Kurt's hand and let the other four get ahead of them a bit. "Are things okay?"

Kurt squeezed his hand. "They are. They're better than they ever have been, really. We talked about a lot of stuff. He apologized and explained quite a few things that made a lot of other things make a lot more sense."

"I'm glad."

"Me too. Me too."