Art had picked Kurt and Sebastian up at the airport a little after 10pm the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. When he pulled into the garage and parked, they hopped out of the backseat, grabbed their bags, and followed him inside. It was the first time that Kurt had actually been inside the home that Sebastian grew up in. He had seen the outside of it as he waited for Sebastian to grab his suitcase nearly nine months previously. Nearly nine months. Kurt took a deep breath and looked around. Since they had come in through the garage, they walked through a mudroom on the way in. There was an alcove with a bench with a window above it and shoe storage underneath with a small closet on each side.

The other side had two regular doors across from the closet door and about 12 narrow mirror sections that were about three inches across and about four feet tall. They were placed far enough apart that no one could see their reflection, but the light from the window would reflect in them and light up the room more..

"That's a half-bath," Sebastian said. "And that's a galley-style pantry that leads to the laundry room."

Kurt nodded.

The mudroom led to the kitchen, where Nina was preparing them sandwiches. She placed them on the counter bar right as they came in.

"Thanks, Mom," Sebastian said. "We'll go wash up and come right back."

Kurt followed Sebastian back into the mudroom. Both of them put their bags down on the bench and went into the bathroom to wash their hands. They sat down at the counter together.

"Thank you, Nina. This looks delicious."

"Sebastian gave me your recipe for chicken salad."

Kurt smiled and nodded. "He does like it quite a bit."

She poured them some water and put it in front of them. "We're glad you're here. We're going to go ahead and go up to sleep. We haven't moved anything around since you left for New York, Sebastian, so you should be able to find anything you need."

He nodded and swallowed. "We'll see you in the morning. Thanks again for our almost-midnight snack."

"You're welcome, honey."

Art followed Nina out of the room.

Kurt turned to Sebastian and waited for him to look. When he turned, he kissed him gently. "Your mom is sweet."

"She is."

"You're sweeter."

Sebastian shrugged.

"Hey," he tipped Sebastian's chin up. "You've been unusually quiet all afternoon and evening. Is everything okay?"

Sebastian took a deep breath. "Let's finish eating and go up to my room."

"Okay."

They showered separately for the second night in a row. Kurt was confused since they hadn't shower separately in Florida when Art and Nina were there, but he let it drop. He showered first, put pajamas on, and went through his moisturizing routine quickly while he waited for Sebastian to come out of the bathroom. Sebastian came out wearing pajamas as well. He climbed into bed with Kurt. He moved around a few times trying to get comfortable, but failed.

Kurt turned over from his position as the little spoon and faced Sebastian. "I know something has been bothering you. I thought it was because you had that big paper due yesterday morning that you've been working on for a couple of weeks because last night you told me to go on and shower without you and go ahead to sleep because you had to finish before you could go to bed, but you've still been really pensive all evening – on the way to the airport, during the whole flight, and on the way here."

"You're right, but I don't know how to explain it because it doesn't make any sense, yet it's true. And I'm afraid to tell you. I was hoping that we could enjoy Thanksgiving together first, but obviously it's weighing really heavily on me. I can't push it out of my mind to focus on the here and now."

"I don't want you to be afraid to tell me anything, ever. Why would you be afraid to tell me?"

"I don't want you lose you."

"I don't see how that's possible. You're my best friend and I love you so much."

"You might not feel that way once I tell you."

Kurt's heart sped up. He felt dizzy and sick. "Please just tell me. You're freaking me out."

"I–" He stumbled to get the words out. "Two weeks ago, on Thursday after my lab was over, I left campus and walked towards the sporting goods store."

"I remember. You told me about going to get the deep navy Columbia fleece vest you had on that evening. You said you needed something to wear over your shirts, but under your lab coat because you were cold, but when you put a hoodie on under your lab coat it made your sleeves uncomfortable and the hood wouldn't lay right underneath and your lab instructor told you that the hood couldn't hang out over the lab coat collar."

"Yeah. So, I was walking along through campus and a guy came up from behind me and called my name, so I turned around. And he kissed me. I was stunned. He ran off before I could say or do anything."

"That's super weird."

"It was. I didn't say anything because I figured it was some kind of stupid fraternity dare. I figured someone who knew that I was gay picked me as the target of a dare. I just tried to push it out of my mind."

"But?"

"But last Wednesday, I was in a different place on campus and it happened again. A guy who was walking down the stairs when I was walking up quickly pushed me back into the wall on the landing between flights and kissed me. He didn't say anything and managed to kiss me a second time before I pushed him off of me. We were the only two in the stairwell as far as I could see. He ran off when I pushed him away."

"That's even weirder."

"I know. But it happened a third time yesterday. You mentioned that huge Arts Humanities paper I've been working on."

"Yeah. That's why I thought you had been so absent. You'd been spending a lot of time at your desk instead of cuddling with me on the sofa and studying. I thought you just couldn't focus with me next to you. But you still ate and showered with me and we cuddled in bed, so I just chalked it up to you being tense about your first really big college paper."

"I'm sorry. I was... I don't even know. Yesterday, I turned it in about ten minutes before the deadline through Blackboard and went to class. Afterwards, I went outside and sat down on the bench alongside the building like I do frequently. I ate the lemon poppy seed cupcake that I took with me."

"Mmm hmm." He ran his thumb across Sebastian's cheek where a few tears had managed to escape.

"A guy sat down next to me. Not long after I finished it, he moved quickly to straddle my lap and kiss me. I managed to move my legs fast enough that he barely pressed his lips to mine and hit the ground instead of my lap. He swore and asked me what my deal was. I reached down to help him up, but used some of our self-defense training to turn him so he facing away from me, and I pulled his arm up behind his back, keeping him from moving."

"Oh, God. This is intense."

"I asked him why he was he kissed me. He started complaining about how the ad didn't mention anything about being roughed up, and how he wanted extra compensation for that."

"What?"

"I know. Finally, I got him to explain himself. He said that he had seen an ad on Craigslist when he was looking for anything he could do quickly to make some money. He mentioned helping people move, painting, odd jobs or whatever. He said that he found an ad from me that said I was looking looking for someone to help me with an art project about the art of surprise or something. He said the ad required him to get someone to take photos of us kissing with him catching me by surprise. The initial response had a photo of me attached to it and a list of my classes with the times and locations so he'd know what I looked like and where to find me. In order to get paid, he had to email me the photos."

"Paid?"

"Yeah, $300 for a brief kiss. $500 for a more passionate kiss. $1000 if he could manage to French kiss me."

"That's insane."

"It is, but I swear to you that it's true. I told him that I didn't put an ad on Craigslist. He told me he didn't care if it was some kind of practical joke, and then begged me to let him French kiss me while looking surprised. He said that his roommate had moved out without warning and he needed the money for his December rent. I told him 'No fucking way.' A few people noticed our less than friendly stance and approached, asking if there was a problem. I told them that we'd resolved the issue and that he was leaving. Fortunately for me, one of them took a photo of his face. I let him go and he walked away."

"So, someone is specifically targeting you to get photos of you kissing other guys."

"Yeah. I swear to you I don't know any of those guys." His breathing became more ragged as he started to cry harder. "I never wanted to kiss anyone but you."

Kurt wrapped his arms around Sebastian tighter and kissed him.

"I should have told you after the first one, but I really did think it was some stupid hazing frat thing."

"I get that." Kurt's voice was terse.

"You're angry."

"I am, but not at you, sweetie." He ran his hand along Sebastian's back. "You were sexually assaulted three times in the last three weeks. I'm not angry at you." Kurt kissed him again. "I'm angry that someone took out an ad on Craigslist and hired people to sexually assault you. Beyond angry." He moved his hand to wipe the tears flowing down Sebastian's cheek. "You didn't do anything wrong. Well, I wish you had told me from the beginning so that I could have reassured you that I'm here for you. Always. I know that you love me, Bas."

"I do. So much."

"It's okay." He wiped the tears off Sebastian's cheeks again and kissed along the tear tracks. "I'm not upset with you, but I'm going to roll over and get my phone." Once he had it, he held it where they could both see. He pulled up Craiglist and looked for the ad. Once he found it, he bookmarked it and sent it to Santana with an explanation. "Now, we'll wait. Once she gets a reply, I'm going to check to see where the email is coming from. I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

"You're really not mad at me for not telling you the first time or the second time?"

"I'm not. I'm a little sad that you thought I'd be mad." He rolled over and put his phone back and turned the light on the side of the bed on and aimed it away from the bed. He lay back down facing Sebastian. "I know that you're aware of my sore spot about cheating, but this was not cheating. I'd think that I would have gotten the photos sent to me or emailed to me if someone was trying to set you up as cheating on me, but perhaps the person is waiting to collect a pre-determined number of photos from guys before contacting me. You know, hit me with five different guys at once or something, for maximum impact and heartbreak."

"I guess that's a possibility. I know you were sad about me not showering with you the last two nights. I'm sorry about that. I just feel gross."

"I do understand that feeling."

"I know you do. I haven't forgotten what you told me." He sighed. "I don't think anything like that about you, so I know that it's just a reaction to what happened. Now, that I think about it, maybe we shouldn't kiss anymore. I tried to keep from kissing you yesterday, but I didn't want you to think I was angry with you. Maybe I should go have an oral STI test done. I'm just really grossed out."

"If that's what you want, I will go with you Friday morning. We'll just have to find some place that's open. I will miss kissing you, but we can just snuggle a lot."

"You're okay with that?"

"I'm okay with whatever will make this better for you. You were assaulted three times. My heart hurts for you, Bas. I want to find whoever put up the ad and punch them three times."

Sebastian smiled. "I might join you, even though I know you'd never really do it."

"I didn't think I would, but honest to God, I might. This is just so wrong. How do you want to sleep?"

"Can I be the little spoon instead?"

"Of course. I want us to take our shirts off, if you're okay with that. It's pretty warm in here."

Sebastian pulled is off and tossed it on the end of the bed and flipped over. Kurt took his off, turned the light back off, and scooted up behind him. He began placing gentle kisses along Sebastian's shoulders.

"Gorgeous." Kiss. "Sweet." Kiss. "Loving." Kiss. "Mine."

Hearing Kurt claim him like that sent a shiver down Sebastian's spine.

"Are you cold after all?"

"No, I'm fine."

Kurt went back to kissing his neck. "I just want you to know that I love you. Nothing has changed about how I feel."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you after the first time."

"I forgive you. I'm not angry with you. Not at all. I'm just glad you told me before it drove a wedge between us. I love you. We're fine."

"Okay. I love you too. I don't want anyone else to know right now. I want Thanksgiving to be fun. We can talk to my parents Friday morning before we go out."

"I'm excited to see Jillian and Marley. Alexis too. I'm glad your family invited Millie."

"They would have invited your parents too, but you said they were going to Zanesville."

Kurt squeezed Sebastian a bit. "Let's try to sleep. We're supposed to get up at 6:00."

"Yeah. Hold me tight, okay?"

"Sure." Kurt scooted impossibly closer and reached for Sebastian's right hand from the edge of his pillow. "Slid your hand up to mine."

Sebastian slid his hand up and placed it in Kurt's. He took a deep breath and relaxed. He still loves me and he's not mad at me.

Kurt thoughts drifted to finding the culprit and making them pay.

Thanksgiving morning was rowdy and fun as the youngest generation took over the kitchen to make a big breakfast for everyone while the turkey was in the smoker outside. Kurt spent most of his time teaching Alexis how to make muffins because she thought they would make her more popular at school if she took them to share with her friends. She helped him make Sebastian's favorite lemon poppy seed with mini blueberries, as well as chocolate and apple cinnamon. Once they got them all in the oven, he switched gears and started on the gravy because he was the only one who knew how to make it. Sebastian had made biscuits that had gone in with the muffins and moved on to work on the eggs. Marley chopped up fresh fruit for a fruit salad. Jillian had cooked the sausage and moved on to making pancakes. Randy and Norris made coffee, tea and fresh orange juice, and set the table before taking everyone's drink orders and making them.

With Kurt's help, they had timed everything well and gotten everything done to serve it all hot. The adults all sat around the large table and waited for the food to be brought out. They brought everything in and took their seats.

"Well, this is a fair bit fancier than our previous Thanksgiving breakfasts," Laura said. "One of you has more culinary skills. Marley or Kurt. Or maybe both."

Marley laughed. "I cut up the fruit. It wasn't me."

"Ah," Laura said, "Kurt then."

Alexis answered, "Yes, it's Kurt. He's too polite to brag. But he kept us all on task and taught me how to make all those muffins."

They started passing the plates of food around. Once everyone had what they wanted, they all started to eat.

Art got everyone's attention. "So, for our surprise family activity tomorrow, we have chosen a pottery class at Columbus College of the Arts. We'll need everyone here at 9:00 to make it there on time."

"That sounds cool," Isabelle said. "I haven't taken a pottery class since I was in college."

"Do we have to make something specific?" Alexis asked.

Nina answered, "You can make whatever you want within the limits of your skill and our class time."

"Hmm. I'll have to think," Alexis said. "How long do we get?"

"Two hours," Art answered. "Then we're going out for lunch in Germantown. We already made reservations for everyone."

They broke into groups talking about what they wanted to make and the places they wanted to visit in German Village.

"I know phones aren't allowed at the table, but Marley and Millie have never been to German Village," Jillian said.

"It's fine, Jilly. You can use your phone for that," Victoria responded kindly.

Everyone went back to talking and eating. Once they finished, the adults excused themselves to the living room while the table was cleared and the dishes were done. Once the kitchen was restored to its previously neat state, they switched. Victoria, Antony, Laura, Ben, Nina, and Art moved to the kitchen. They started on the pies and things that needed to be baked or prepped for their Thanksgiving dinner later that afternoon.

Millie offered to help, but Isabelle snatched her away. "You cook every day of the week. Let them have a chance."

Millie smiled and followed Isabelle back to the dining room where Sebastian and Jillian had moved a stack of board games. Both sets of grandparents had joined the five grandchildren, plus Kurt and Marley, and were setting up several of the games. The six who were cooking came in and joined at different times until it was time to clear the table for dinner.

When the adults put a movie in to watch after dinner, Kurt finally got a response from Santana, who told him that she respond to it from a coffee shop with WIFI so that the ISP address would come from place in NYC like he had told her to. While he was out of the room, he looked up places they could go early the next morning to get the STI tests done. Once he saved the directions, he headed back downstairs and slipped in next to Sebastian and then scooted into the space in front of him and leaned back into his chest. Sebastian wrapped his arms around Kurt and propped his chin on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt showed Sebastian Santana's reply discretely.

Initially, Blaine had shot to the forefront of Kurt's mind when Sebastian had explained what happened, but the ISP wasn't in Columbus. It was in North Carolina, He took a deep breath and tried to relax. Whoever was behind it seemed to be on vacation, which brought the idea of looking for the culprit to a grounding halt. Not that it had been a well-thought out plan. Kurt still just wanted to pummel whoever it was.

Kurt and Sebastian put all of their nervous energy into their pottery wheel work Friday. Neither one of them realized how often they kissed until they were told to hold off for a week until their test results came back.

Kurt worked his clay on the wheel, hoping that he'd have time to make three small bowls. Sebastian worked to make three small bowls as well. They weren't attempting to make them identical, just close in size. They planned to used them as small serving bowls when they had people over for dinner for things like different types of salsa and sour cream. At the end of the two hours, they had managed to make the six they wanted to and glaze them all the same color of green, which they hoped would coordinate with the colors in the living room.

They enjoyed their lunch at Schmidt's before breaking into three groups. Millie, Victoria, Nina, Violet, and Cecile opted to sit in one of the coffee shops nearby after visiting an antique store. Art, Antony, Ben, Leland, and Thomas went off together in search of dessert, having opted to not have any with lunch, knowing full well that they'd eat fudge whether or not they had eat dessert already. They also did their usual Christmas shopping in the local shops while their wives were elsewhere.

Isabelle went with her nieces, nephews, Kurt, and Marley to go explore the area, which included visiting the fudge shop as well.

Everyone met back up before dinnertime. Marley, Jillian, Alexis, Randy, and Norris left together to go to spend the night at Sebastian's place. Art and Nina went to Victoria and Antony's place for the night.

As soon as everyone arrived, Sebastian put in Pirates of the Caribbean, which had been the group consensus on the series to watch. By the time the second movie was starting, they were getting hungry and they ordered pizzas. They watched all four movies before they went to bed.

By lunchtime on Saturday, Kurt and Sebastian were the only two left. They cleaned up the kitchen and warmed up leftover pizza for lunch.

"Babe, I'm already going crazy. Come hug me again," Sebastian said as he mostly play pouted.

Kurt smiled and walked into Sebastian's arms and wrapped himself around him. "I know – six more days. We can make it. We made it whole weekends without even touching last spring."

"But that was before I knew how amazing it was to kiss you. I didn't know what I was missing out on back then."

"That's true." He smiled smugly, teasing Sebastian. "Tonight, I'll give you a massage – everywhere."

"Okay." It took him a second to realize what Kurt was implying. "Oh. That sounds amazing."

Kurt stepped back when the oven beeped and winked at Sebastian. "I should hope so. I wondered there for a minute," he teased.

Art and Nina were back in time for dinner. Kurt and Sebastian warmed up leftovers from Thanksgiving day and they sat down to eat. Once they finished, Sebastian told them what had happened to him.

"Sebastian, honey, that's three sexual assaults in three weeks."

"I know, Mom. I know. Kurt did some preliminary sleuthing on Thursday. Whoever is behind it went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving break."

"I'd like you to forward me the email, Kurt," Art said. "I'll have one of the guys at my old firm go through it for cyber footprints. He's an expert in people using ways to block their and hide behind fake ISPs. He'll be able to see if the person behind this is doing that."

Kurt nodded. I'll do that."

"Once we find out who is behind it, what do you want to do, Sebastian?" Art asked him.

"Well, I don't know. I hadn't really thought about anything besides making it stop."

"That's my top priority." Art said firmly.