When they arrived, they unpacked the playard first. Kurt set it up in front of the large set of windows that had a fantastic view of the mountains while Sebastian changed the girls. He put them inside the playard and placed a few of their toys in it with them. They brought things so that as one was going out the other was going in so they could keep an eye on the girls. Rose had been getting a little more bold now that she could walk and they were unsure of whether she would try to pull herself up and over the playard.
About 15 minutes later, they had managed to get everything inside. Sam and Trina were going to stop and buy groceries on their way that night, so they had only packed enough food for themselves to make lunch and dinner. They left out what they were going to eat for lunch and put the other food in the cabinet and refrigerator. Kurt set the girls' new folding chairs up and fastened them to the wood dining chairs at the table while Sebastian warmed the girls' food up. Once he finished with the chairs, Kurt grabbed the sandwiches they'd packed and toasted them in a pan. He put the bags of raw veggies and the container of dip on the table with the sandwiches. Sebastian brought the girls' food over and they fed them, taking bites of their own food in between.
"The view out the window is spectacular. I bet the sunset will be amazing at least once while we're here," Kurt said. "We can sit outside on the deck and watch."
"I'm looking forward to it."
Both girls were unusually quiet during the meal, spending most of their time looking around the big open room.
"I just hope they're okay and can relax and sleep here. I want all of us to enjoy our time here," Kurt said.
"We want to travel with them. We have to get them used to it. My parents used to take me everywhere with them. I loved it. I think they'll be fine."
"I'm sure you're right. It's just not something I did, so it's just really different." He rolled his neck around in a circle a couple of times.
"Is your neck bothering you?"
"Just some stress from the last part of the drive through the narrower roads and then the gravel road."
"When the girls go down for the afternoon nap, I'll give you a massage."
"Mmm. You give great massages."
"I'm glad you think so."
"After you do me, I'll do you."
"Oh, really?" Sebastian snorted.
Kurt rolled his eyes, but then turned to look at Sebastian. "Of course. As long as we don't wake the girls up, I'm up for anything."
"Anything?"
"Absolutely."
He leaned towards Kurt and spoke where the girls couldn't hear him. "How about that striptease you gave me a raincheck for?"
"Of course." He turned and kissed Sebastian.
"Muah!" Rose said, and then clapped for them. "Wub!"
"Yes, Rose. Daddy loves Papa very much."
"Wub!" she repeated enthusiastically.
"Yes, Rose," Sebastian said. "And Papa loves Daddy too."
"Done," Rose said. "Down?"
Sebastian said, "Not yet. You have to wait until Aliza, Daddy, and I finish."
Once Aliza finished, Kurt and Sebastian cleared the table and left the raw veggies out on the counter to snack on. They cleaned the girls up and put them back in the playard. They set up the baby monitor and went into the room that had two twin beds in it and set up the playpens they had borrowed from Dotty and Richard. They hoped that the girls would feel comfortable enough in them to sleep in them in a new place since they were used to sleeping in them already. Sebastian had left the girls' suitcase open on the bed when he pulled out the changing pad earlier.
Kurt said, "Let's just leave their clothes in the suitcase for now. We're hoping to get them to nap in an hour. We're going to have to do something to use up some energy or that's not going to happen. They lounged around on the drive here."
"Sure," he said. "How about a kiss?"
Kurt turned around and kissed him. "Horsey rides?"
"That will make all of us tired."
"True, but they love it."
"Sure. For a little bit. Then walking practice."
Sebastian had the baby monitor with him when he entered the bedroom on the opposite side of the living room from the girls' room. All three rooms had a large bay of windows that looked out over the mountains.
Kurt turned to look at him and smiled. "I just have a few more things to hang up."
Sebastian put the monitor down and grabbed a hanger and helped Kurt finish quickly. "Ready?"
"Sure, but don't you want some music?" Kurt stepped back a bit and reached for the top button on his shirt.
Sebastian reached up and wrapped his hands around Kurt's and stopped him. He pulled them up to his lips and kissed across his knuckles before he leaned in and kissed Kurt gently. "We both need our clothes on."
"Okay." Kurt kissed him gently. "What about the strip tease?"
"I do want that, of course. I always want that. I'm 20. But, come with me." He pulled a blanket out of the closet. He kept hold of one of Kurt's hand. "Grab the monitor." He paused long enough for Kurt to pick it up before he pulled him to the sliding door that led out to the deck. He opened it and let Kurt step outside first and he slid the door closed.
Kurt kept hold of his hand. Once he turned around from closing the door quietly, Kurt cupped his face with his empty hand and kissed him. "The view is beautiful."
Sebastian met Kurt's eyes. "It is."
He walked towards a double Adirondack-style chaise and he dropped the blanket into the seat. "Help me move this back against the wall of the cabin. The view will be better because we'll be able to see over the railing."
Next, they grabbed the matching double ottoman and moved it closer. Kurt waited for Sebastian to spread the blanket out to sit down. Sebastian took his hand and interlaced their fingers.
"It's going to be so cool to go hiking tomorrow," Kurt said. "It's so quiet and relaxing here."
"It is. That's why I wanted to sit out here for a little while. We've had a lot of stress and and sometimes we have sex to relieve some of that stress and we've talked about how we're both fine with that. But I just want you to know that I love you for a lot more than just that."
"I know. I really do. I love these calm moments with you too. I didn't want to marry you just so we could have sex. We could have done that without getting married if we had wanted to. We could have stayed single parents that lived together. You could have moved to the master suite and we could have put the girls in separate rooms and taught Aliza to call you by your name and taught Rose to call me Kurt. But I fell hard for you. I greedily wanted more than just your amazing friendship or a friends with benefits arrangement. I wanted all of you. We both had a overabundance of baggage, but we've been working through all of it. I love you so much. You make me feel like I can just be. I've told you lots of times, but it means so much to me."
"You can just be because I love you the way you are. I know you know that. I don't love some future 'more perfect' version of you. I love the version of you that you are now. We'll both change as we get older. We'll make fewer mistakes if we learn from the ones we make now. And we'll keep making 'new' mistakes, and then learn from those. And I will keep loving you."
"You always say the sweetest things to me."
"I mean them."
"I know you do. That's what makes it so amazing."
"You do all of these little sweet things for me. You leave me little treats and notes in my bag. You make every day special in some way."
Kurt didn't let go of Sebastian's hand, but he pulled it up and over his shoulders and scooted closer. He turned his head and Sebastian met him halfway for a kiss. They kissed for a few minutes before it began to get heated.
"I still want to do that striptease for you."
"Yeah? I don't want you to feel pressured. It started off as me teasing you."
"Oh, I know it did, but I've thought about it each time you've brought it up. It took me a while to get it through my head that you were serious. And I've finally gotten to the point where I realize that you'd actually really enjoy it."
"Enjoy is an understatement, but yes, definitely. You dancing for me is like one of my top um, well, never mind that. I definitely would enjoy you dancing for me."
"Your top what? Now you've got me curious."
"Top fantasy daydreams."
"Oh."
"Does that bother you?"
"No. It's actually really hot." He pressed back in and kissed Sebastian until they were both breathless. "Let's go inside. Or do you want me to start the striptease out here?"
"You'd strip out here?"
"Only my shirt."
"Let's' go inside."
When they heard the girls stirring, they were in towels after their second shower. Neither one of them was crying, so they pulled out clothes to get dressed before going to get them.
Kurt wrapped his arms around Sebastian's neck and kissed him gently. "That was an amazing way to spend the afternoon."
"It was. You stripping for me was even more sexy than I had imagined."
"Maybe next time, you can strip for me?"
"Sure, I'll give it a try, if you want me to."
"I'm pretty sure that you know how much I want you after what we've been doing for the last hour and a half." He winked at Sebastian.
"Mmm. The next time the girls spend the night at your parents'."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I set up our stay from you winning the murder mystery dinner."
"Perfect, except I'm not sure that I want anyone else's hands on me." He pushed Sebastian enough that he stepped back and ended up against the wall. "Actually, I"m 100% sure that I only want your hands on me." He kissed him again.
"You're insatiable."
"You bring it out in me. I told you being with you brought out desires that I had never had before." He slid his hand down and undid Sebastian's towel. He listened again and it seemed that whoever had stirred had quieted back down. He looked at Sebastian, who nodded.
Sam and Trina arrived that night and put their stuff in the upstairs bedroom above the room that Rose and Aliza were in. They came back down afterwards and help to finish putting the groceries away.
"I love the layout of this place. All four bedrooms and the great room all have amazing views of the mountains," Trina said. "I know we can't see out now, but I bet the view is spectacular."
"It is," Kurt agreed. "There was a really nice sunset tonight. There's no rain predicted for the next few days, so we should get some more pretty sunsets while we're here. How did your family dinner go tonight?"
"It went great," Sam said. "Everyone loved Trina like I knew they would."
Trina smiled and shrugged. "What's not to love?" she teased. She stepped closer and wrapped her arm around Sam's waist. "Stevie and Stacey are adorable and Dwight and Mary were very welcoming."
Sam said, "Stevie and Stacey were annoyed that you were there while they were at school. They told me that I should have let them stay home to see you, and then taken them to school late."
Kurt chuckled. "I'd like to see them too, of course, but I know that asking elementary age kids to keep secrets is not a realistic thing to do. I know you don't have any contact with any of the New Directions right now, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen. I'm just not ready yet. I like our bubble. I'm not ready to be judged again. I've not reached a place where I don't feel like I have to defend myself. I'm closer than I was, but I'm not quite there yet."
"Does that bother you, Sebastian?" Trina asked.
"Not at all. If I didn't know these people, then yes, it would. But knowing them, I understand what Kurt is facing."
Kurt saw him bite the inside of his jaw and turn to open the fridge before Trina could catch his eyes filling with tears. He stepped towards him. "Stop. You know that was a long time ago."
Trina said, "I'm sorry. I'm not sure what I said that upset you."
Sam said, "It's just that at one point, a long time ago, Sebastian was part of the problem. He would have been one of the ones judging Kurt. We've grown up, but some of the people we knew then haven't really changed, and they' will most likely still act the same way they did as stupid teenagers."
Sebastian took a deep breath.
Kurt reached up and wiped Sebastian's eyes and kissed him gently.
Sebastian turned back around and faced Trina and Sam. "I was stupid. I was angry. I was 17 and did things I regret." He sniffed. "Kurt forgave me. Sam forgave me. But they have a lot of people they used to be friends with who haven't forgiven me. If Kurt had married someone else and had two kids with him, he wouldn't have any need to hide his family from them."
"Stop right there, Bas. That's not true at all. Not at all. I wouldn't tell any of them about being married or having two daughters – no matter who I had married."
"Really?" Sebastian scanned Kurt's face for confirmation that he meant what he had said and found it.
"Absolutely." He wrapped his arms around Sebastian and pulled him into a hug. "Can you excuse us, please. We'll be back in a few minutes."
Trina nodded. "Yeah, sure. We'll just sit by the fire and relax."
Kurt led them to their bedroom and closed the door. "I'm so sorry, Bas. I had no idea that you thought I was keeping everything hidden because I married you. That's not it. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I'm so, so sorry. I'm not embarrassed by you. I'm not ashamed to be your husband. I love you so much. You remember how my dad was. 'Why did you do this, Kurt? Why did you give up your Broadway dream? Why are you here in Ohio?'"
Sebastian nodded. "Yes, of course."
"Everyone else will ask the same questions. I talked about getting out of Ohio like it was the most important thing to me. Everything else revolved around me not being in Ohio. When I agreed to take on the role of Aliza's father, I stepped outside of everything I had ever planned for myself. And that leaves me in the position of feeling like I have to defend my choices to everyone. If one of my teachers from McKinley saw us together, they'd have no idea who you are, but they would look at me the way they look at the girls who get pregnant in high school – like one more Lima Loser who lost any hope at a future."
"I get it. I knew it had a lot to do with the fact that you didn't want anyone else to figure out who Aliza's biological father was. I hadn't considered the rest."
"I'm so sorry that you've felt like I was ashamed of you in some way." Kurt reached up and turned his face gently. "Bas, look at me, please." He waited for Sebastian to look him in the eyes. "When we perform at the Bicentennial Concert in a few weeks, everyone is going to know that we're together. I can face the fallout from the Warblers. And I'm sure it won't take long for someone to spill their juicy info in a way that makes it back to the New Directions. And that's okay." He cupped Sebastian's face. "I love you. If you want me to, I'll kiss you on the stage after we sing. I'm planning to write Kurt Hummel-Smythe on my name tag. I'm just not going to add 'Father of two beautiful girls' underneath my name. Honestly, I'm hoping to make it to next winter break before anyone in the New Directions finds out about the girls. By then, it will have been long enough that we could have adopted the girls. And no one will automatically try to do the math. If we don't make it that long, we don't. I'll just have to deal with it."
"Okay."
"We're good?"
"We're more than good. I shouldn't have assumed. Assumptions are dangerous. Earlier we talked about learning from our mistakes. I'll do my best to just ask and not assume."
"I know. You're a great husband and dad."
"I try."
"And you succeed. Let's' go back and sit with Trina and Sam and enjoy the fire."
Sebastian kissed him before he opened the door.
When they went back into the living room, they found Trina and Sam roasting marshmallows in the fireplace.
"S'mores?" Trina asked. She offered them each a long skewer with a handle and pointed to a plate with marshmallows, graham crackers, and unwrapped Hershey's bars on it.
Kurt and Sebastian both took a skewer and stuck marshmallows on the ends.
"So, is that why you won't meet up with me and Sam when we do things with my friends? When I first invited you, you said that it would be too difficult to do with not having someone to watch the girls."
"Which was true, but not the whole truth. Marley was friends with Unique, who is friends with Mercedes, who used to be my best friend, but is now friends with Santana, who is friends with Brittany, and on and on. Not everyone in the group is friends with everyone, but they're all interconnected. If Marley mentioned me having two cute girls to Unique, she might very well start the information being spread throughout the whole group. Plus, none of them know where I am and if Marley tells Unique that I hang out with her and her new friends–"
"I get it."
"We've been friends long enough that I don't mind you knowing everything, I just don't feel like rehashing all of it. But if you want to know and Sebastian is up for telling you, then it's fine with me."
Sebastian turned to look at her and she nodded. They got up, grabbed their jackets, and they went and sat out on the back porch.
"So, are you ready to live in Ohio again?" Kurt asked.
Sam ignored his question, responding with his own instead. "You're going to let Sebastian tell her about Finn?"
"She's your girlfriend, Sam. You're my best friend. Do you think she shouldn't know?"
"I trust her."
"And I trust you."
"And yes, to answer your question. I'm ready to live in Ohio again. Five months is a long time to commute every other weekend. Three plus hours doesn't seem too bad the first few times, but I'm ready to not do it anymore."
They talked aboutt he classes Sam had chosen for a while.
About 15 minutes later, Trina came back in wiping her eyes. She sat down next to Sam and scooted in close. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his chest. After a few minutes, she sat back up a bit. "I'll never tell anyone unless you say that it's okay. I get it now."
Kurt nodded. "So, tell us about this camp the two of you are going to work at."
Trina and Sam left Saturday morning to stop at his parents' place and pick up all of his stuff and to have lunch with his family again before heading to Ohio. Kurt and Sebastian stayed in Pigeon Forge for lunch and stopped at a couple of stores and bought some souvenir t-shirts and bodysuits for the girls, a few fun things like some sauces and flavored honey to try before they made one last stop at Smoky Mountain Knife Works. The girls went down for their afternoon naps when they left. They drove as far as they could while the girls sleep. They stopped for diaper changes and dinner after they woke up. Kurt climbed into the back to entertain them the rest of the way back home.
The follow Monday, their summer classes started. The girls' US Passports finally arrived the middle of the week.
Nick, Jeff, Wes, and David returned to Ohio the following weekend because their classes having ended later than OSU. They spent time the next several days working on their piece for Bicentennial Concert.
Thursday afternoon Kurt and Sebastian stopped by their favorite bagel place for a snack on their way to drop Rose and Aliza off at Richard and Dotty's for the afternoon and evening. After they got the playard set up and got the girls inside. From there, they drove to Dalton and took their drinks and bagels with them and headed out into the gardens. When they finished, they walked back into the gardens, heading away from the main buildings.
"It's strange to see you here in uniform," Sebastian said. "I've only ever seen the videos with you in a Dalton uniform and you looked so young then."
"I know. I still hadn't finished growing yet. That's why I had to let the hem out on my slacks the other day after I tried them on. I had to take them up a bit too. I'm thinner than I was then."
"You're hot is what you are." Sebastian stopped abruptly and took a turn to the right. When he stopped again, he slipped his hands around Kurt's waist and kissed him. When he stepped back, he winked at Kurt. "Bucket list – fantasy version."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah." He blushed.
"Oh, that's a fun reaction," Kurt said, teasingly. He stepped closer and licked along the edge of Sebastian's ear, causing him to shiver. "What else is on the fantasy version of your bucket list?"
"Mmm. Well, you've already fulfilled most of them."
"Only most?"
"Well, I'm a bit more of an exhibitionist than you, so I'm pretty sure that a few will remain on the list."
Kurt kissed along his jaw. "You'll have to tell me before I can say whether or not I'm willing to participate."
"Later tonight."
"Okay." Kurt kissed him and slid his hand up behind his neck pulling him in and kissing him breathless. When they broke for air, Kurt kissed up along the other side of his jaw. "I might be more open to your ideas than you think."
"God, Kurt," he said breathing hard. "How am I going to walk in there like this?" He looked down.
Kurt rotated him a bit and slid the bottoms of his own pants up above his knees and knelt gently using the bag from the bagels to keep his knees from getting dirty.
"Are you serious?"
Kurt unzipped Sebastian's slacks.
They came out of the restroom near the front entrance and got in line to pick up name tags. They had talked about it and decided to only put their first names on their tags for the day. They wanted their small group number "reveal" to be a surprise. They headed towards the Warblers' practice room. They ran into quite a few students along the way. Kurt didn't recognize any of them, but a few nodded or waved at Sebastian.
They found the notice on the door that told them where to go to practice their pieces. They headed down the hallway and stepped into the room at the end. Kurt balked a bit as they went inside. Sebastian felt his hesitation, even though they weren't holding hands. He looked up and saw Blaine standing near the window talking to a few people. Kurt saw Wes and David and walked towards them.
Wes moved to the center of the room, indicating for Sebastian to follow him. "We'll be practicing the songs from the two years that I was the head of the Warbler Council and the two years that Sebastian was lead singer. We'll start with 'Misery'. After that, we'll move on to 'Animal', 'Stand', and 'Live While We're Young'. Now, a few of our members were unable to make it for the concert, so I have asked a few people from within these two groups to fill in as needed. I hope everyone has practiced with the videos we sent out. Everyone in 'Misery', take your places please. The rest please find a place to sit along the windows and be our audience."
Everyone moved around and took their places.
"I know this is going to be a challenge at first, but I'm sure that we can pull it off. The oversight committee wasn't thrilled with the lines about panty snatching, and the overall theme of underage drinking of 'Raise Your Glass', but we never actually finished out choreography for 'Misery'. Let's see how they look combined." He played their starting note. Blaine started the song.
Oh yeah!
So scared of breaking it that you won't let it bend...
After a few times through, Wes recorded them singing. He played the music through speakers so they could work on their dancing without wearing their voices out. After several more times through, they moved on.
"Alright, next up is 'Animal'. We will not have any scaffolding or a bubble machine, but on the upside the guys who could do back layouts can still do them, so let's go."
They took their places in a U-shape. Blaine came in from the back singing the beginning of the first verse.
Here we are again.
I feel the chemicals kicking in.
Kurt entered from stage left and began the second verse.
I do it every time.
You're killing me now.
They sang together for the rest of the song.
After a few times through, Wes let them take a break, and they grabbed bottles of water.
They worked on the choreography with a recording like they had with the previous song. Once they had it down, they ran through both songs again and Wes recorded them.
Sebastian moved to the center. "Next up is 'Stand'. This song was fully choreographed, and I assume that each of you studied the performance video. Places."
Kurt got up and stood in Liam's spot. Russell, who was the bass from Sebastian's senior year and the Warblers' current moved to stand where Charles had stood. Blaine looked perturbed to see that Kurt was getting to perform when he wasn't. The run-through went much more smoothly because the song had been performed in a completed form before.
They moved on to "Live While We're Young". Blaine's face tightened even more when he saw that Kurt stayed and took Hunter's place this time. Four of the current Warblers came into the room to fill in the spots of the four other Warblers that had been suspended for taking steroids.
When they finished a couple of run-throughs, Wes said, "You all look great. I'm impressed with the six of you who stepped up to fill in. I'll record this time and we'll all head to the dining hall. We'll practice more afterwards. We'll meet back here at 7:00."
Kurt sat between Nick and Jeff at dinner, with Sebastian across from him between Wes and David. The food was as delicious as Kurt remembered it being, but he noticed that Sebastian hadn't taken much and was eating much slower than usual. He didn't want to ask with other people around, so he just continued to eat while everyone sat and talked for a while. He and Sebastian said very little and mostly listened to the others sitting at their table.
After they finished, the six of them headed to one of the classrooms. They had texted the room number to Russell and Jon, who met them there. They worked on their small group piece where they had enough room to spread out and practice without anyone seeing them. They sang through the song a few times and let Russell and Jon get comfortable singing with them. They ran through it once more with the choreography before they thanked Russell and Jon and let them leave.
"I think it sounds really good," Wes said. "So, are we all sure that this is what we want to do tomorrow?" He looked around and saw everyone nodding.
"Yeah," Jeff said. "We're done hiding. Honestly, the only reason we never told anyone while we were here was because we liked being roommates too much to let the administration find out and separate us. Holding hands in the hallway or around campus did not come close to getting to spend every evening and all night together."
"We had that as well as not being able to let David's grandpa know about us."
"I can see the appeal," Kurt said. "I would have been inclined to do the same thing." Kurt looked at Sebastian.
"Oh, I definitely would have." He winked at Kurt.
Jeff said, "Everyone thought you were hooking up with all the gay and bi guys on the sly. And then going out and hooking up in clubs when you ran out of guys here."
"Yeah. That was the general idea. I got left alone that way. It was stupid though. Totally stupid. But I'm really happy now though."
"I'm glad for you," Wes said. "You deserve to be happy. So, now that we're all paired up and happy, we're going to out ourselves to everyone." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We can meet up right before dinner tomorrow and go through the song again if you want, or we can just wing it. We'll already be warmed up from singing since were in the second half of the concert."
"Let's just wing it," Nick said. "There are going to be a lot of people here and it'll be really hard to find someplace where we can be sure we won't be seen or heard."
"Alright, then. Let's head back down to the commons," Wes said. "We have more rehearsing to do. I'm beginning to think I should have just chosen our performance numbers, but I like 'Animal' so much more than 'Candles'."
"I agree," Kurt said. "We'll be down in a minute."
Wes, David, Nick, and Jeff left.
Kurt stepped close enough to Sebastian to wrap his arms around him. "I love you." He kissed him. "I just want to remind you of that before we go back down there and I pretend to be besotted with Blaine."
"Yeah. That's rough to watch. Really rough. Outside, before we came in, is what I keep thinking about."
"Good idea. Keep thinking about that. And remember that what you're seeing is me acting."
"You're too good at it. It looks real."
Kurt let go and moved towards the door and turned the lights off. "Well, I appreciate the compliment, but it's definitely not real. Not at all. If you want a repeat of what we did outside, you can move over to the other side of the desk near the window. No one will be able to see us. I'll give you something new to think about."
"My turn. You move over by the wall."
"Okay."
They arrived just on time. Kurt took his place along the side and began to sing with the rest of the group until it was time for him to come in. He flirted his way through the song, playing up his best besotted look. Unfortunately, he seemed to be doing well enough at it that he could tell that Blaine seemed to think it was real too.
Damn.
He refocused on what he was doing. When the song ended he moved back to his starting point, away from Blaine. They reset and ran through "Misery" next. Blaine moved to the audience and watched Kurt, and only Kurt, during both "Stand" and "Live While We're Young". It was unnerving, and it was annoying Kurt. He did his best to keep it from letting it affect his performance. When they finished, everyone milled around for a bit while Wes and Sebastian looked through the last video.
Blaine followed Trent as he approached Kurt. "I didn't know you could do flips and stuff," Trent said.
"Oh, well I did try to get the Warblers out of their shuffle-step rut, but no one was really all that interested in my ideas at that time."
Trent nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
"As for being able to do flips, I was a Cheerio my sophomore year."
"I didn't realize."
Blaine piped up. "I was a Cheerio my senior year. That doesn't prove anything about being able to do flips."
Kurt ignored him and spoke to Trent. "I think all four pieces sound and look really good given that we've only been able to practice today. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the pieces tomorrow."
"Me too," Trent said. "I know you were headed to New York. Are you still there? Maybe we could meet up for lunch some time or see a show or go to a concert. Not as a date. Just as friends."
"I'm not actually in New York right now. I transferred to another school. If I were there, I'd definitely go with you though. If I'm ever going to be in town, I'll let you know."
West clapped his hands to get everyone's attention
"I'll get your number later," Kurt said, as he turned his focus to Wes.
"Sure."
Wes went through the final details that everyone needed to know and dismissed everyone.
Kurt texted Wes.
-Please keep Blaine busy while Sebastian and I make our way out. He followed Trent to be able to approach me.
Wes slipped his phone back into his pocket and walked over to where Blaine was standing and began talking to him, giving Kurt and Sebastian time to get out of the room and out of the parking lot before Blaine made it out the front door.
"He broke the agreement by talking to me," Kurt said. "But I'm not sure it's worth pursuing. My hope is that he'll just go back to California."
"We can hope. If he approaches either one of us again, we'll tell Daniel."
They drove straight to Richard and Dotty's. The girls were still awake when they got there, which was what they had expected. Dotty had dessert ready for them. Earlier that afternoon, she had made an apple pie and Richard had made homemade ice cream, which he pulled out of the freezer to serve.
"Grandma, you spoil us. This is so good."
"Good! Mmm." Rose declared, as Dotty fed her some diced baked apples with cinnamon on them.
"Mmm." Aliza imitated and opened her mouth for Richard to put a bite of baked apples in.
"How did your rehearsal go?" Dotty asked.
"It went really well," Sebastian answered. "I'm looking forward to seeing Daniel and the older Warblers performing tomorrow." At dinner in the dining hall, it had hit him that his own father should have be amongst the older Warblers. A tear escaped and he wiped his eye quickly.
"Yeah, I know. Your dad should be there with you," Richard said. "We'll be there to watch for sure."
Sebastian nodded. He struggled to get the rest of his dessert down, despite how delicious it was. "This is really good. Maybe one day, you'll give us the recipe."
"Maybe," she teased.
After they finished eating, Kurt and Sebastian changed the girls' diapers and put their pajamas on so that when they fell asleep on the way home, they'd be able to move them to their cribs without waking them up.
They sat down and read books together for a while before giving them their bottles and putting them in their carriers.
"Thanks for watching them," Sebastian said.
"It's our pleasure, as always. You know that we love having the four of you here."
They hugged Dotty and Richard before they grabbed the girls and their bag.
Once everyone was situated, Kurt pulled out of the driveway and headed home. "I hadn't thought about your dad. I'm sorry. I remember you once saying that he had been a Warbler."
"Yeah. I hadn't thought about it either. It actually dawned on me in the dining hall when I saw Daniel sitting with a group of men his age. We've been so busy with school and the girls and working on our own pieces that I hadn't really thought about the previous groups working on theirs."
Kurt reached over and took Sebastian's hand and placed it on his thigh. He squeezed it before he let go to put his hand back on the steering wheel.
"My parents came to watch all of our competitions. These are the times when it's the hardest, when something normal happens and they're not here."
"I know."
"I know you do."