Author's Notes: I edited the first chapter just a tad just to clear up the timeline. This chapter takes place in November 2018, 3 months before the wedding.

"So, Kermit," Cam began.

"Emmitt," Shane corrected.

"Emmitt, you said that you were a performer. What kind of performing do you do?"

"I play guitar and sing," Emmitt answered, and then sipped his tea. "I've done some acting too."

"Is that so? Where? Off-broadway? Community theater? Dinner theater?" Cam asked smugly.

Shane glared at Cameron. "Emmitt was a star in Paramus."

"Do they even have a theater in Paramus?" Cam asked as he lifted his sandwich to his mouth. "I thought that they just had a lot of malls."

"Oh, they do. And I've played gigs in several of them. But they have the Musicology Performance Center, where I taught. My mom taught piano lessons there, and I gave guitar lessons. They've only been open for a few years, but before that, I taught private lessons to teenagers and played at local bars and cafes. It paid the bills," Emmitt answered with a smile.

"So how do you meet Shane? He doesn't frequent the gay club scene much, especially not in New Jersey. At least I didn't think he did," Cam said as he stared at Shane. Shane dropped his eyes to the floor.

Emmitt didn't seem to notice. "Oh, I moved here last year, for school. I'm a senior at NYU. We met at Acoustics about six months ago. I think I was supposed to just be a hookup, ya know, just to help him get over his ex, but I guess Shane decided to keep me around. That guy really hurt him," Emmitt explained as he wrapped his arm around Shane's shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"Actually, I heard it was the other way around," Camden retorted, glaring at Shane.

Shane shifted his eyes away from his ex and to his current boyfriend. "Emmitt, have you put in a song yet?"

Emmitt smiled sweetly at Shane."No, I haven't yet. Did you have something you wanted us to sing together, babe?"

"Uh, yeah. Why don't you put in one of our regulars?" Shane replied as he took another sip of beer and pretended to thumb through the song catalog.

"Sure, sweetie. I'll go put it in now. I'll be back in a bit, Emmitt said, kissing Shane's cheek gently.

Cameron cleared his throat. "Six months? So I guess "take as much time as you need" translates into a few months, huh?"

"I intended to wait, Cam, I did, but it was a lot harder to let you go than I had anticipated."

"I see that," Cam replied bitterly.

"I tried. I meant what I said. I wanted you to feel free to choose who your heart wanted you to be with. And for weeks I hoped that you would turn around that day and tell me that you had a mistake, but you didn't. I waited for weeks. You never called, not once. It ripped my heart out. I guess I just expected more of a fight from you."

Cam looked like he had been slapped in the face with the way his cheeks burned with anger. "You told me to go. Actually, you left me. Do you remember that? You took my suitcase from my hands, packed, and left in the middle of the night after we made love. I thought you'd change your mind, and you'd still be in my arms in the morning."

Shane's gaze shifted to the floor. "You said one last time. If I hadn't left when I did, I wouldn't have ever been able to walk away. But I told you I was letting you go, and I wanted to keep my word. I thought it would hurt less if I gave you time and space. But it broke me, Cam. Dylan actually convinced me to go to Acoustics with him after a month of moping around the house."

"I thought we had always said we'd go through hell and back for one another, that we'd fight whatever odds we faced together, but instead of fighting for me, you let me go," Cam almost yelled.

"Why haven't you told him about us? You've been together for six months, and you never told him. We were together for two years, Shane. I loved you. Hell, I still do."

"And yet, you didn't love me enough to stay faithful to me."

Cam jerked his head around as if he had been slapped. "Did you forget that you were the one who talked me into getting Whitney pregnant in the first place. I would've never slept with anyone else. And you know how horrible I felt about the whole situation, but I never wanted to hurt you."

"But you did," Shane blurted. "I loved you too, but-"

"SHHHHHHHHHH!" hissed a lady at a nearby table who was trying to focus on the current performer.

"Do you love him, this Rocket guy?" Cameron asked so only they could hear.

"Emmitt. His name is Emmitt."

"Ok, Do you love Emmitt?"

"I've never told him that I do, not yet."

"That doesn't answer the question." Cam reached for Shane's hand, his eyes staring into Shane's intensely as if searching for any hesitation or doubt.

"I, I'm not-"

"Hey, we're up next." Shane jumped at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. He immediately jerked his hand out of Cam's grasp. "You ok. What were you two talking about?

"I was telling Cam that he better put a song in if he wants to sing. The slots fill pretty quickly here.

"Yeah, he's right. You gotta do one of your songs. I bet the pianist could play it. Or if they knew who you were, they'd let you play for yourself."

Cam smiled. "Actually, I have the perfect song. "Love Triangle" from Boleyn.

Emmitt cocked his head sideways. "I've never heard of that show. Is it new?"

Shane shook his head. "It never made it to the stage. It was the first show Cam and I ever worked on together. It was about Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII."

"Oh my God! You two must do it. I'm gonna tell Tom right now," Emmitt exclaimed, clapping his hands, and running off to the KJ.

Kurt almost flew out of his chair at the sound of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" blaring from his iPhone speaker. Kurt grinned as he hit the talk button. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, Kurt. Carole wanted me to call 'cuz I got this photo thingie in the mail, and she wanted me to make sure it wasn't a misprint or something."

Kurt felt a sense of panic wash over him as he snatched the 'Save the Date' from the refrigerator. He let out a sigh of relief as he read over the invitation. "I don't see anything inaccurate. Dad, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Son, you know we don't make jokes about heart attacks. You do know that February 16 is in 3 months?"

"I do since I mastered calendar skills in first grade," Kurt teased.

There was a long pause on Burt's end of the line. "Hmpf. I thought you always said that you wanted a long engagement."

"Said the man that was engaged for two weeks," Kurt laughed.

"Fair enough," Burt replied. "I shouldn't be surprised. You're a Hummel, and when we Hummel men meet the love of our life, we don't give them a chance to get away. And the theater?"

"In honor of you and mom. It's such a beautiful venue. And of course, Blaine and I both have ties there. Besides, it wouldn't be an obvious place. That way we can be discreet."

"I'm still not sure that I understand all this secrecy. I mean, some of the guys at the shop wanted to come. You grew up around those guys, and they love you."

"I know, it's just," Kurt sighed. "Blaine's a celebrity.

"You ain't tellin' me anything that I didn't know. I even watch that Partners show that he's on, and he does a damn fine job, although I kinda wish they didn't show the blonde's ass so much. I mean, you said he's Blaine's best man, and I have to look at him with a straight face after all of that," Burt chuckled.

"I'm serious, dad. The guys at the shop can come, but you have to get them to promise that they won't let the date or venue leak. It's important," Kurt said. "You haven't already told anyone, have you?"

"No, but I think Carole told Finn."

"Finn, God, now the whole East coast will know!"

"I still don't see what the big deal is. People know that you and Blaine are engaged."

"Yeah, and some don't approve, ok," Kurt replied.

"I don't really like the sound of that. What aren't you telling me? This isn't like that situation in high school with the bully, is it?"

Kurt sighed. "No," Kurt lied. "It's just the paparazzi. They'd kill to get photos. This is my wedding, dad. It's supposed to be private, intimate. I don't want anything or anyone screwing it up."

"It'll be alright. I can ask Finn to get some of his football buddies to stand outside of the theater. Better yet, ask the football coach at McKinley. She'll kick some serious ass if anyone tries to get in that isn't supposed to be there. It'll all work out."

"You're right."

"I always am," Burt laughed. "I read your latest article. It seems to me you're getting the main article almost every week now."

"Yeah, I'm actually the official head writer now. I get to cover all the big fashion events and everything!" Kurt gushed.

"That's great, son. I bet Blaine is extremely proud of you."

"I haven't told him yet. He's kind of had it rough at work, and I didn't really want to rub it in. But I know he'll be happy for me. We can certainly use the money, especially with all the hoopla regarding this lawsuit."

"I thought that the network has that under control, right?"

"I hope so," Kurt replied, running a hand through his hair. "I have to meet with Quinn and the rest of the legal team Friday. It's just not what I need to be focusing on right now, with the wedding coming up, awards season, the extra workload, Fashion Week. It's just a lot."

"It'll be alright. I mean, if I was the judge, I'd take one look at that Seabiscuit kid, and throw out the case. I've never thought a character more deserving of being hit by a bus."

Kurt laughed. "Yeah, apparently, Blaine pitched that idea to the writers, and they ran with it. I might have messed up the remote by hitting the rewind button a few hundred times."

"Well, tell Blaine that I said hi, and I'll definitely be there. You done good with him. He's a great guy. I'll tell Carole not to tell anyone about the wedding, kay kid."

"Thanks, dad. I'll talk to you later," Kurt said as he hit the end call button and sat down his iPhone on the computer desk.

"Was that your dad?" Blaine asked, placing a kiss on Kurt's cheek.

"Hey, babe. How long have you been home?"

"Just a few minutes. How's your dad?"

"He got the save the date today. He just called to chat about it, I guess."

"I heard the tail end of it, not that I was snooping or anything. Why didn't tell me you were promoted again."

"Um, yeah. That's what Isabelle wanted to talk to me about. I haven't actually told her for certain or not if I can accept it or not."

"Wait, of course you will. This is your dream," Blaine replied.

"Yeah, but it couldn't come at a worse time, with the wedding plans and this lawsuit with Seabiscuit, I mean, Sebastian."

Blaine snickered. "You know that's what everyone calls him now. And it'll be fine. I spoke to legal today and David assured me that Sebastian doesn't have much of a case. And as for the wedding, we have all the major things taken care of. I mean, I thought you were kidding when you told me that you had multiple wedding binders put together, but it made everything so much easier. Everything will be fine," Blaine assured him, kissing him sweetly.

"I hope your right."
"Of course I'm right. Now, no more of this worrying allowed. We have a promotion to celebrate," Blaine said as he tugged on the drawstrings of Kurt's pajama pants.

Author's Notes: Sorry this is late, guys. Real life has been absolutely crazy. I've been writing and editing, but most of you know I'm also writing something else. I've been working on this children's series, and I really want to have the first book done by the end of the year. It's a lot of work.

As for the chapter, don't forget to review. I love hearing from you guys. It absolutely makes my day.