After everyone was worn out, (except Blaine, but he pretended, to make everyone feel better about leaving after only an hour) they headed back to the Hummel-Hudson home.

They were amazed to see how much was decorated in such a short time. Burt and Carole had expected them to be gone for at least two hours and were surprised when they rolled in after only an hour and fifteen minutes.

"Fan problems again?" Burt asked, looking to Blaine.

"Not really. It's just I'm the only one who knows how to ice skate." Blaine smiled looking over at everyone else's exhausted faces.

"We were going to mention that when you guys left, but you all seemed so excited." Carole giggled. brushing lint off Finn's jacket.

"So, did Kurt fall?"

"Right on his butt." Blaine laughed then mimicked Kurt's panic as he was swatting around the air before landing on his ass. Burt laughed along with him then patted Kurt's back. Kurt just narrowed his eyes at Blaine. He was glad Blaine and his father were getting along, but why must it be at his own expense?

Kurt and Blaine had been standing right by the stairs when Carole cleared her throat then looked at them and let her eyes glance upward. They trailed up and rested their eyes on the little bunch of mistletoe dangling between them.

"What are the chances?" Kurt grinned at Blaine, letting go of his hand. They were originally standing a few feet away, but Kurt had pulled them over here for some reason. Kurt snaked his hands around the back of Blaine's head and pulled him in. It was a harder kiss than everyone expected for the mistletoe, but they all stayed quiet.

"So, are you guys going to do this like a lot?" Finn questioned as he glanced at them from the couch.

"If you think this is bad. Don't hang around them in New York. They are always on each other." Rachel scoffed from the doorway to the kitchen. Burt sidled up next to her.

"Uh what?"

Rachel's eyes went wide.

"Burt, you're looking well. Have you been working out?" She turned her attention toward him while Kurt laughed. If his dad found out what they were like in New York, there would be zero question that his little boy was all grown up.

"Oh come on Finn if you were dating a rockstar, don't pretend like you wouldn't take every chance there was to kiss them." Carole crossed her arms and eyed her son.

"I mean sure he's good looking. But I wouldn't purposefully put us under mistletoe." Finn went on rambling and everyone squinted at him.

"Finn, I'm pretty sure she said a rockstar, not specifically this one." Kurt's jealous tone was evident, and he put a protective arm around Blaine's waist. Finn's face went red.

"I mean. I'm just talking like if I was in Kurt's position. Or uh position was the wrong word. Uh."

Blaine walked over and grabbed his shoulders leaning his head down next to Finn's on the couch. "You're a good-looking guy too, Finn. Now want to watch football and pretend that didn't happen?"

"Yes. Please."

"Ooo Browns are playing." Carole ran for the remote and squeezed next to Blaine on the couch.

"I still can't believe they've made it this far." Burt took his spot on the recliner. Kurt smiled at them all jammed in front of the game.

"Kurt are you going to watch? You can sit here." Blaine swiveled his head and patted his lap.

Kurt flushed at the offer. "No thanks, I would rather do literally anything else." He laughed, and Blaine turned his head quickly when he heard a cheer. They all threw their hands in the air and Kurt shook his head. Rachel was sliding one of her arms into her pea coat.

"Hey Rachel?" She looked up surprised. Her and Kurt hadn't been very close since they graduated High School. "Can I talk to you upstairs?"

"Of course, Kurt." She smiled and put her coat back on the banister.

She walked around Kurt's room looking at all the memorabilia. Things she had been a part of, things she had seen, and things she wished she had paid attention to while her head was in the stars. She smiled at the Born This Way shirt on the bed.

"I still have mine too." She picked up Kurt's shirt then sat where it had been.

"I was showing Blaine." Kurt chuckled. "He asked if he could wear it in a music video so all the teenage girls would get the memo."

"Are you going to let him?" Rachel opened up the shirt and held it out.

Kurt took it from her and placed it on top of a pile of clothes on the dresser. "I told him he could put a sex tape of us online and they wouldn't get the memo."

Rachel laughed then looked seriously at Kurt. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well it's usually something I would talk to Mercedes about. But the idea just hit, and I feel like you can give me a better answer because of your own experiences." Kurt took a big breath. "I don't know exactly how much you and Blaine talk about, but do you know he gave me this ring?"

"I thought it looked familiar when I saw it on your hand." She ran up and took Kurt's hand closely examining the diamonds on the ring.

"Is it—" Rachel hesitated, meeting his gaze.

"No, it's not an engagement ring. It's a promise ring." Kurt smiled down at it. "We had only been together a few days when he gave it to me."

"He moves quick." Rachel chuckled.

"I want your advice." She raised a questioning brow. Kurt smiled then laughed at himself then looked at her seriously, "I think I want to ask Blaine to marry me."

Rachel squealed then slapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. Continue." His narrowed eyes told her he had more to say.

"I thought it sounded stupid when I first thought of it in the car. After Finn said the thing about taking the person instead of just wearing their sweatshirt. You know." Rachel nodded along, smiling at Finn's adorable logic.

"It's not stupid, Kurt." Rachel pulled him over to his bed and sat him down.

"When he gave me the promise ring, he told me that it didn't feel like we were getting to know each other it felt like we were remembering each other and that's exactly how I had felt. Everything still feels so new. I still blush and get butterflies. But I also feel like I've known him for years and not because of his fame and interviews I feel like I've known the goofy Blaine that smiles at me all the time and sings in the shower and dances around everywhere. The one that won't take off my sweatshirt even when we're together because it makes him feel like he has a home. A place he can truly be himself, the self he has been hiding for years."

Rachel was starting to tear up. Her and Blaine had been friends for a few years, but he was still reserved around her. "Kurt, he loves you more than he has ever loved anything in his life. The way he smiles at you. He's never smiled at anybody like that before. It's like he randomly remembers that you're with him and in that moment it's all he can think about."

"I told him about Karofsky when we were at the ice rink." Rachel frowned at the memory. She put a hand on Kurt's. "That kiss you guys saw. He said the first one doesn't matter as much as the last one. That's when I made the final decision. I want to propose to him. Not just a promise, a proposal. Then I think I will go with him to Europe. The extra business from him hanging around the Lima Bean has given me enough savings and Brittney is more than capable of running the place on her own for a few months."

"What advice did you want from me, Kurt? You sound like you've made up your mind."

He looked over at her with a small amount of resignation, "Are we too young? Is this too fast? Look what happened to you and Finn. You guys were literally getting ready to walk down the aisle one day and now here you are only seeing each other at the holidays." Kurt was looking at her like he knew the same fate would befall him.

"Listen, Finn and I will always love each other. We are just working on different paths right now. And who knows? Maybe someday we will get married when everything is figured out." Kurt nodded, but still looked unconvinced. "Kurt, why haven't you dated anyone? There had to have been plenty of attractive men walking into your shop."

"I don't know, I didn't have the time."

"And you suddenly had the time when you met Blaine?"

"I guess."

"Nothing changed, Kurt."

"So are you saying I didn't date anybody because there was no chemistry until Blaine showed up?"

"I'm saying you make the time and effort for the people you love." She poked him. "You finally realized that you don't need to be in the coffeeshop every single day. And Blaine realized that he doesn't need to hang around bars and put every minute of his personal life into his career. You guys helped each other for the better. You brought Blaine back to the real world. He took you out of it for a little bit. You guys show each other balance and that is what makes relationships work." She looked at the door. Perhaps she thought she might be able to see through it to Finn. "If I could go back in time I would look to your and Blaine's relationship to make Finn and I's better."

"So I should do it?"

"Kurt, I trust your heart more than my own. Listen to what it tells you." She poked him one more time in the chest before heading for the door. She paused at Kurt's Prom Queen crown crooked on the skull. She straightened it and grinned at Kurt. "Did Blaine ever tell you he was voted King when we had a college Prom at NYADA?" She winked at him and opened the door.

He followed her out and downstairs. She went over and gave Finn a kiss on the cheek. "I'm heading out. Bye Finn. Bye Burt and Carole it was nice seeing you, I'll stop by again before I head back to New York. Bye Blaine." She lowered her voice and ruffled his hair. He gave her a strange look before glancing at Kurt and smiling. Kurt smiled back then opened the door for Rachel.

"Thank you." He whispered as she buttoned her coat and ran through the wind to her car.

"Okay. Games over. It's bedtime." Burt stood and stretched.

"Did they win?" Kurt asked with a laugh. Of course they didn't win.

"Bedtime." Burt stated sharply.

"Do you just want me on the couch?" Blaine pointed down and Kurt smiled at him and shook his head.

"You're staying with me." He lowered his eyes and Blaine hid a smile.

"Oh."

"Upon Kurt's insistence, you get a bed." Burt groaned and rolled his eyes. "But just so you are aware there are no mistletoe hanging in your bedroom so feel free to keep your hands off each other." Burt headed upstairs with Carole, and Finn cackled.

Blaine was blushing and looking away. Finn patted his shoulder before heading for the stairs. "Don't worry man, their bedroom is on the opposite end of the hall." Finn whispered then play punched Kurt and ran up.

"I would have been fine on the couch."

"But I would have been so lonely in my bed." He took Blaine's hand and dragged him toward the stairs, pausing at the bottom to kiss him again under the mistletoe.

"Kurt we should go to bed." Kurt's hands were groping up and down Blaine's body. They were both fully clothed, but Kurt was working hard to make that not the case.

"I'm not tired."

Blaine picked one of Kurt's hands up and dropped it on the mattress. "Kurt, no."

"What's wrong?"

"I just don't want to disrespect your father's wishes in his home." Blaine rolled away from Kurt after he had disconnected himself from his handsy boyfriend.

Kurt scooted closer, spooning him. "Can we at least cuddle?"

"I know what cuddling means for you."

"I'm serious we can just cuddle."

"Kurt your dick is against my ass, I know you have no plans for just cuddling." Blaine inched his way further from Kurt putting himself right on the edge of the bed.

Kurt grunted and propped himself up on an elbow. "Okay. What's the problem? You're not usually one to turn down a horny cuddle."

Blaine didn't answer. He remained facing away from Kurt on the edge of the bed.

"Blaine?" He pulled on Blaine's shoulder to get him to roll, but Blaine was putting a lot of effort into staying where he was.

Kurt pulled the sheets down and hopped over him landing on the ground in a squat, so his face was right in front of Blaine's.

"Hah."

"Kurt. Just go to bed."

"Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"I told you. Your dad told us to keep it to ourselves and I don't want to upset him."

Kurt put a hand on Blaine's cheek and rubbed the stubble that was there. "The mere fact that you think I can't guess there is something more makes me sad."

"Kurt. I'm sorry I just really don't want to talk about it."

Kurt sat on the floor with his back against the bed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Okay. But when you're ready. I'll be here. I won't leave until ask me to." He rested his head against the mattress and Blaine could smell his shampoo. He scooted minutely closer to it, closing his eyes and remembering all the times he had smelled it before. It was amazing how different parts of Kurt incited different memories.

He thought back on the first time he saw him, the first time he actually talked to him, the first time they made love, the many times after that. The more he thought about it, he realized there were almost too many good memories to single any out.

"Okay fine." Blaine sighed, kissing Kurt's temple and sliding down to the floor next to him. Kurt put a hand on Blaine's leg, but didn't turn.

"I can't get used to the way your dad acts around us. I feel like he should be angry anytime our hands merely brush against each other. When he told us there was no mistletoe in your room, that was the most I had heard out of him about the matter. Your whole family watched us kiss and there was no shattered glass…or bones."

"I understand if you don't want to tell me." Kurt finally turned toward Blaine, his eyes light in the dark room. "At Thanksgiving you were talking about your family and you said." Kurt didn't even know how to bring it up. He started again. "I always knew that you and your father didn't have a great relationship, you told me that on our first date but at Thanksgiving you mentioned—"

"That he was abusive?" Blaine knew it was hard for other people to accept and talk about. He'd been around it so long he almost forgot it was taboo.

"Yes." Kurt whispered gently removing his hand from Blaine's thigh.

"When I was eight, he got fired from the law firm he was at. Fraud or something. For a few years it was hard for him to get hired again, he had been blacklisted. That's when he started drinking." Blaine's face was blank, Kurt thought he would see anger or sadness, but it was just empty.

"At first it was just angry outbursts. Yelling. Throwing things. My mom could usually calm him down. We were scared that he might hit her one of the times. He never did." Blaine reached for the hand that Kurt had drawn away and placed it back on his leg. Kurt rubbed circles with his thumb.

"He hit me for the first time when I was eight. I was in a production of Mary Poppins at my school and I was so excited to be playing the chimney sweep, Bert. He told me that theatre was for the gays and I should join the football team. I liked football, but I didn't want to play it. I wanted to sing and act. I told him no when he told me to quit and he slapped me."

Kurt winced. He could imagine a tiny Blaine putting everything into the performance only to be punished for it. Blaine sighed then continued.
"It happened a lot after that. For random little things. When I got older it was less physical and more emotional but there was still hitting."

"Your family. Didn't they get hurt too? Why did no one stop him?"

"Cooper moved away when I was 10. My father never hit him or my mother. Only me. I wasn't the son he had pictured. 'If we had wanted a daughter, Pam, we would have had a girl.'" Blaine imitated his thundering voice.

"When you came out to him?" Kurt didn't press, but he was curious.

"I didn't hesitate to do it. But he had known for a long time."

"Blaine. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be it wasn't you who did it."

"But no child should have to go through that."

"I've made my peace with it." Kurt pressed a kiss to Blaine's cheek and gripped his leg.

"I'm sorry I made you talk about it. I didn't realize how bad it was."

"I'm glad I told you. I don't know why I kept it from you so long. It's part of who I am, whether or not I had a choice for it to be."

"You are the most courageous man I have ever known. I hope someday you can be a father, so you can have the chance to raise a child and show them the love you weren't given."

"Do you want a kid someday, Kurt?"

"Yeah. I think I do." He smiled down at his feet.

"I want her to have your heart." Blaine whispered.

"Her?" Kurt smiled at Blaine who scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "I want them to have your hair." Kurt ran a hand through Blaine's coils.

"Them?" It made him laugh and Kurt was glad to see him still able to smile after their conversation.

"My father won't hit you for kissing me, or touching me, or doing other things to me under his roof. I promise."

"It seems risky. Isn't Finn's room just right across the hall?"

"I've heard way worse come from over there. I can give you a rag to bite down on if that will make you feel better."

Blaine laughed at the thought but helped Kurt back onto the bed, kissing him softly and sweetly.

"I suppose, just this once, we can break the rules."