Author's Note:

And so ends another of my stories ... I'm so glad I've managed to finally wrap up this story, which has been more than five years in the making.

Thank you so much for coming along on this journey and for your never-ending patience and encouragement. I could not have done this without you or my faithful beta hkvoyage.

What's up next? Well, I've got several more WIPs to work on, and I've signed up for the Klaine 3-2-1 Prompt Bang, so you will get new material from me one way or another :-)

By all means, let me know what you thought of the ending - I love hearing from my readers.

Chapter 15: A Place for Us

In the two years that followed, Blaine often cursed his optimism in taking on this renovation project. There was so much to plan, to do and to check that it was downright overwhelming. And since he depended on so many other people to make it all happen, everything took more time, more energy and more money than he'd originally thought.

The people from the Historic Preservation Grant Program were nit-pickers. Each week, one of them came to check on the progress that had been made, and Blaine had to fight tooth and nail for his renovation plans, which they were forever finding fault with.

"You can't take that part of the wall away here," said one such inspector to Blaine. "Not if you want your renovations to be historically accurate."

Thankfully, Blaine had done his homework and had done it thoroughly, scouring the city's archives for anything that might help prior to the start of the renovations.

"I assure you they are accurate, sir. Look! As you can see on the original plans for the store, dating from 1915, this dividing wall wasn't here. According to this document, the wall was added in 1946, by a Mr. Philips, who owned the store then. But it's not an original feature of the building, so I choose to restore it to the way it looked when it was first built."

There was always a lot of hemming and hawing before the grant inspectors gave in with bad grace and let Blaine renovate the building the way he wanted to.

The contractors caused Blaine tons of headaches, too. Just coordinating the work of the various craftsmen was a tour de force, with so many conflicting schedules. Also, the workmen had to be watched with a hawk's eye to make sure they did everything as Blaine had told them to, because they had their own ideas about what the end result was supposed to look like.

Blaine even went as far as to replace the contractor who was to renovate the staircases in all the buildings, most of them with priceless wrought-iron banisters. The guy he'd initially found kept cutting corners and using low-quality materials. Finding someone else set him back a few months, but in the end, it was worth it. The new guy was an art nouveau specialist whose work was impeccable and who stayed on as an advisor about other art nouveau elements.

The glazing contractor tried to raise the prices for every new building he started on, citing rising material costs, but Blaine told him he'd better keep the same prices throughout the whole project, or he'd lose him as a client, and did he want to lose out on the chance of re-glazing more than twenty buildings from top to bottom?

The glazier wisely settled for the prices they'd originally agreed on, and never mentioned price increases again.

Then there was the weather that had to be taken into account. You can't renovate a roof when it's raining, and it rained for months.

It was just one thing after another until Blaine just wanted to scream in frustration.

Meanwhile, he was also trying to sell the house in LA and the penthouse in New York, as well as his properties abroad, except for the Paris apartment.

His realtor told him he'd chosen an excellent time to sell, and she proved to be right. The New York penthouse on its own yielded more than half the amount he owed Mrs. Dolloway, seeing as there were three people interested in it and determined to outbid each other. In the end, the winning bidder paid more than five times the asking price. An avid gamer, he'd asked Blaine to leave Sebastian's game room as it was. "It's perfect, just what I was looking for!"

The LA house also sold for way more than Blaine had hoped for. A good thing, too, seeing as the renovations proved so costly.

It wasn't until, one by one, the properties abroad got sold that he started thinking about buying a house where he could live with Kurt.

When he asked Kurt where he wanted to live and what kind of home he wanted, Kurt didn't have to think long about the where part. "Here in NYC, of course. I love this city. I know real estate costs a lot here, though, so I'm okay with a small apartment. Maybe slightly larger than this one, though, with enough closet space for the both of us."

Blaine smiled. "We can afford more than just a small apartment, love. Can I show you a few houses I have my eye on?"

In the end, they chose a brownstone that was close to both the Condé Nast building and The Dalton. Normally, beautiful townhouses like these would have been snapped up before they even got wind of it, but as luck would have it, Blaine's realtor was friends with the people selling it, and got permission to show the house to Kurt and Blaine before it came on the market.

They instantly fell in love with it, and bought it on the spot.

Thankfully, the house was ready to move in. Blaine didn't think he'd have had the energy and patience for another renovation project.

K&B

Even projects that seem interminable have an end date, and Blaine had never felt lighter of heart or prouder than when he took Kurt to see the now completely renovated street.

Kurt, who'd only seen the buildings as they were before, gasped as he looked around, and told Blaine he'd worked magic. "This is amazing, Blaine!"

"I know, right? Now all I have to do is find people who'd want to rent the shops, and a manager and staff for the hotel. I only want to provide the evening entertainment, I don't want to run the place."

Kurt nodded. "Well, I'm completely sold on the tailor's shop. It's perfect, so count me in. And if you can assure me the rent won't be too high, I'll ask around. I know Elliott - from Parsons, remember, the guy with the bedazzled top hat at Parsons Festival? – well, that guy and his business partners are looking for a bigger place to rent. They have a tiny tattoo shop over in Hoboken, but it's really too small. I think the antique shop would be ideal for the four of them. Callie does sell antiques, next to the tattoo business. Small pieces of furniture, antique books, mirrors and jewellery boxes that she restores beautifully. Vintage jewellery and clothes and hats too. You should see her enamel brooches, oh, they're gorgeous!"

In the weeks that followed, one by one, the shops found a taker.

The manager of the delicatessen shop near Kurt's apartment had been complaining for weeks that his landlord was raising the rent so high he'd be forced to leave the property when his lease was up, at the end of the year.

Blaine approached him and offered him a bigger shop for the same rent he was paying now.

The manager accepted with alacrity. "Really? Then maybe I can have a small bistro as well!"

Elliott alerted his friend Nigel, who'd attended culinary school, to the fact that there was a whole street of shops to let at reasonable prices, and Nigel took the bakery off Blaine's hands. Through word-of-mouth, his former classmates took the butcher's shop, the fishmonger's shop, the combined ice cream parlour and tearoom as well as the coffee shop. Three other buildings became restaurants – French, Italian and Japanese - and another a micro-brewery.

Dani, another friend of Kurt's, took the florist's shop, and her girlfriend Ahana took the hair salon.

Dani told her yoga instructor about this opportunity, too, and soon, Blaine's street boasted a gym and exercise studio as well, with a small sports bar attached to it, where you could also buy specialty health food.

Kurt's friend Artie took the photographer's shop, planning to turn it into an art gallery.

The bookstore, too, found a willing taker, who planned on adding an arts and crafts section and offering weekly workshops. "There's room enough for it in the back. Woodworking, knitting, crocheting, sewing, origami, there's so much we can do. And maybe I can talk to the others here in the street about doing a workshop too? The baker can teach us how to decorate cakes, and the hairdresser can teach us fancy braiding, maybe?"

"Sounds amazing," Blaine agreed.

Through Nigel, Blaine also found the staff he needed for his hotel, and soon, he was escorting Mrs. Dalloway into the ballroom of the hotel as the guest of honour for its official opening night.

He'd shown her around the street first, and she'd had nothing but praise for him, saying that it felt like she'd stepped right back into her childhood upon seeing the restored storefronts. "You've worked wonders, young man, wonders!"

In the short time that the shops and restaurants had been open already, the street had become the place to be for hipsters, who flocked to it en masse, and tourists were starting to follow.

As soon as the website for The Dalton went online, reservations started pouring in. Though the hotel was opening its doors for the first time since its renovation, the ballroom was quite full of guests.

Blaine had no idea how many of them were fans of his great-grandnephew, but he was determined not to let any of them down. He was going to make his first show in the renewed Dalton hotel one to remember.

Beforehand, he'd enlisted Kurt's help to compile a set list of songs both old and new, a mixture of popular music and Broadway classics, so that there would be something for everyone's tastes.

Kurt had sewn him a suit, shirt and tie just like the ones he'd been wearing the first time they'd met, and just like he wore in his portrait, which now hung in the ballroom. Blaine chuckled as he looked at himself in the mirror. People would probably think he was beyond vain, commissioning a portrait of himself to hang in his hotel, but he didn't really care. He and Kurt knew what the painting meant to him, and that was what mattered.

He had some last-minute nerves just before going on stage, but as soon as he was there facing the public, he felt everything fall into place. This was where he belonged. Always had, and always would.

Energy thrummed through him, and he beamed at Kurt sitting in the front row before welcoming everyone to The Dalton and encouraging them to sing along or dance as much as they liked.

An hour and a half later, he bowed as the audience applauded, and when they started chanting that they wanted an encore, he first dedicated a song to Mrs. Dalloway, "who made all of this possible". She looked charmed and touched, and he saw Kurt give him a subtle thumbs-up as a "Well done, you!" message. The song was a golden oldie, and Blaine was happy to notice Mrs. Dalloway singing along.

After that, he said, "The next song is for the person who gave me a second chance at life. Who saved me, in more ways than one, and showed me what life truly is about. Who gave me the courage to start over and do things right this time. Kurt, love, will you come up here and sing with me?"

Kurt looked a bit taken aback, but hopped on stage and took the microphone one of the waiters handed him, whispering to Blaine, "What's the song?"

"You'll know it," Blaine assured him, and when the music for "Somewhere" started to play, Kurt nodded, his eyes shining.

They'd watched West Side Story so many times. It was one of Kurt's favourite musicals, and now one of Blaine's, too. And the lyrics of this song fit them to a T, in Blaine's opinion. Hadn't they defied the odds to carve out this existence? Fought ignorance and malice and even transcended time and space to be together? Oh yes, this song of hope and dreams fit them very well indeed.

And with that, Blaine started to sing.

"There's a place for us,

Somewhere a place for us.

Peace and quiet and open air

Wait for us somewhere."

Kurt took over for the second verse. His voice moved the audience, many of whom wiped away a tear at its crystal clarity and wealth of emotions.

And then their voices weaved together, effortlessly and beautifully, and Blaine drew closer to Kurt and took his hands in his.

When the song was over, Blaine paid no attention to the applause, looking only at Kurt, and he slowly sank down on one knee. He took a small jewellery box from his pocket, popped it open and asked, "Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, I love you, and nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my days with you. Will you marry me?"

Kurt's lips trembled and his eyes filled with tears, and for one moment, Blaine was scared he'd miscalculated with this very public proposal, but then Kurt tugged him up and into his arms, chanting, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Blaine slid the ring onto Kurt's finger and quickly pecked him on the lips. "Want to sing one more song together?"

Kurt shook his head. "I want to sing for you."

Kurt pushed Blaine onto his own seat, conferred with the band, and then made everyone's jaw drop when he sang "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston, in the original key.

That ended the first night's entertainment on a high, and Kurt got just as many compliments as Blaine from the hotel guests.

Mrs. Dalloway seemed impressed too. She came to talk to Blaine after the show, and told him straight off that he belonged on Broadway. "You're wasting your potential here. I could talk to people, open doors for you."

Blaine smiled at her gently. "Mrs. Dalloway, I take this as the highest compliment. Truly. But the thing is… I don't want to get back into that world. I've had fame, and more than enough of it. I've been on TV, in the cinema, on billboards, in sold-out stadiums, everything. I've even done a stint on Broadway, filling in for someone else just for a few weeks. And that was all wonderful, yes, but it came with a price. I wasn't allowed to be myself. I'd become a product, and other people decided how I should look and what I should say and do. I'm afraid that, if I go back down that route, I'm going to lose myself again. And I don't want to."

Mrs. Dalloway pursed her lips together. "Hmm, yes, a child actor, were you not? And then there was that whole business with the Smythe kid. Nasty piece of goods, that one."

Blaine winced and nodded.

She patted his arm. "Now don't you go blaming yourself for his death! He would have come to a sorry end one way or another, even if you hadn't dumped him. I've heard stories about him that made my skin crawl."

Blaine shuddered. "I can imagine."

"Seems like you chose better this time," Mrs. Dalloway said. "A designer, huh? And doing very well for himself already."

Blaine beamed. "He dressed Florence Pugh for the Oscars this year."

Mrs. Dolloway smiled. "Ah, young love! Well, if I can't persuade you to become a Broadway actor, I will have to come here every now and then to hear you sing."

"We will welcome you with open arms," Blaine promised her.

"And with more of those scrumptious crêpes Suzette? Your chef is excellent. I'd come here for the food alone!"

"I'll tell her," Blaine said. "She'll be so pleased to hear that. And we strive for perfection in everything we offer our guests."

Mrs. Dalloway took her leave, and Blaine mingled with the other guests, accepting their compliments and congratulations on his engagement and answering their questions.

By the time he and Kurt headed home, it was quite late already, but Blaine was perfectly content.

"That went well, didn't it?" said Kurt. "Was it everything you'd hoped for?"

Blaine shook his head. "It was more. Much more."

"And you really won't regret not doing Broadway? I'm sure Mrs. Dalloway could get you great roles."

"I really won't. And I'll tell you why: because nothing is more important to me than to spend my life the way I want to."

Kurt hummed thoughtfully. "And how do you want to spend it?"

"With you. I want to wake up to you and go to sleep with you next to me. I want to be able to surprise you with lunch when you're so busy working on your designs that you forget to eat. I want leisurely weekends with you that we spend mostly in bed. I want to go for long walks in Central Park. I want to take you to Paris and show you around. You know, I wouldn't mind bringing out an indie album in a few years, and maybe do some concerts for it. But… I don't want my days to be so filled to the brim that life just rushes past without me being able to enjoy it."

Kurt pulled Blaine close and kissed him. "That all sounds amazing."

"So what do you say? Shall we live happily ever after?"

"Let's live happily ever after."

Behind them, unnoticed, Nana Miri smiled broadly and whispered, "You will, chikno, you will."

THE END