A/N: I want to thank everyone who has either come back to this story or picked it up recently. I am going strong, have prewritten a number of chapters, and will continue updating daily for the time being. I also have a pretty good idea of how I'll be wrapping this story up. So, thanks again to everyone who's been encouraging me along the way with reviews and follows and favorites. This story - which has turned out to be a novel-length endeavor I never imagined it would become - is thanks to and dedicated to all of you. I hope if you are reading, that you will stick with me to the end (which should take place somewhere around or right after "Special Education" - the Second Season Sectionals Episode.

She knew she shouldn't have been eavesdropping. The indignation she'd felt at being sent to her room, though, fueled the rebel in her. She'd watched out her bedroom window for a car to finally pull up, and when a dark SUV finally did, she hurried to her door and slipped, as noiselessly as she could manage, into the hall. She closed the door with care and tiptoed, as slowly and quietly as she could manage, towards the stairs. It was difficult to hear anything more than tone. Everyone was speaking rather quietly. The words "Did you see..." floated up to her, as did a few other disjointed phrases. But then, suddenly, someone was walking purposefully to the area beneath the staircase.

Rachel gasped and clasped a hand over her own mouth as she ducked out of sight.

"Carter? Hey. Alison here. Calling you on that Anderson case." The voice paused. Rachel held her breath. "Right, exactly. We have what we need. Tell Drummond and get those warrants issued." The woman named Alison paused again. "Right," she said. "Thanks."

Rachel heard the sound of a click and then footsteps retreating. Warrants? The Anderson case? She didn't know for sure what was happening, but she bit her lip. Was it too much to hope that Blaine would be getting arrested and her life could go back to normal? Probably, she thought ruefully, I'm not that lucky.

Blaine should have known the night would be a bad one. The dream happened again, but this time, after rough hands pressed him up against the wall, he suddenly found himself face down on a bed. Even though it didn't look like Jeremiah's bed, somehow, he knew that's where he was. He wanted to move, wanted to fight, wanted it to stop, but there was nothing he could do. Someone screamed, and Blaine woke with a start, realizing the scream he'd heard had been his own.

Breathing heavily, Blaine wiped roughly at his cheeks and nose. Blearily, he felt around for his phone and found it tangled in his sheets. He ripped it off the charger and flipped it open. He'd missed two texts by going to bed early. One was from Bethany. The other, to his surprise, was from Kurt. He checked Kurt's message first as he adjusted his legs to sit cross-legged on the bed. He read the message in the greenish glow of his screen and smiled.

Charge your phone. ;) -K

Blaine typed out a reply.

Ur just full of helpful reminders. :P –B

To his surprise, his phone buzzed.

It's part of my charm. –K

Blaine felt his stomach flip.

Y u up so late? –B

I could ask you the same question. –K

Kurt lay awake in his bed. He hadn't been able to stop his mind whirring at an exhausting pace. The time with Blaine had been a nice distraction, but Karofsky's face kept popping up in his mind's eye. He hadn't expected a reply text from Blaine, having texted him on a whim before pulling out of the Berrys' driveway that evening. But when his phone did start buzzing, he couldn't help the way his chest expanded at the joking face Blaine sent him.

His phone buzzed again.

Bad dream. –B

Kurt frowned. The conversation had taken a suddenly serious turn.

Can I help? –K

You already did. –B

Kurt smiled at that. He couldn't help himself.

Blaine was smiling and softly humming Katy Perry's "Firework" as he skipped down the stairs for breakfast Tuesday morning. He'd woken up with it in his head and had been humming or singing it for about 25 minutes straight. Had he been alone in the house, he might have belted it out in the shower, but as it was…he'd tried to use his "inside" voice instead.

As soon as his foot hit the bottom landing he stopped humming, preparing himself to walk into the kitchen. Rachel was nowhere to be seen. LeRoy sat at the head of the little table with a newspaper in his hands and Hiram was at the stove flipping bacon. "Morning, Blaine," came Hiram's cheery welcome.

Blaine looked first at him, and then at his plate, where a small box sat wrapped in colorful paper. He stopped short right in the middle of his own "Good morning," and stared. Then, before he could ask, LeRoy lowered his newspaper and folded it.

"Go on, Blaine, open it," he encouraged. "It's nothing big, but we ordered it a while back and it finally came with the mail this morning. Hiram came over with the frying pan, and as soon as Blaine sat down and picked up the box – which felt somehow lighter than it should have, but heavier than he'd expected – Hiram shuffled some bacon onto his plate.

"What is it?" Blaine asked, even as he opened the blue and silver paper at the corner. He felt cautiously curious.

"It's something we need for you to have – and something we bought Rachel, too," LeRoy answered cryptically, a smile already playing on his face.

Blaine pulled the paper back, seeing what couldn't have been an apple symbol because surely, they would not have gotten him an iphone of all things. He stopped, heart thundering, gathered his courage and tore the paper off the rest of the way, letting it fall to the floor in one crumpled heap. He stared, dumbfounded. "Are you – are you serious right now?" In spite of himself, he was actually really excited. He hated his old phone. He looked up at the two men and swallowed thickly, then turned the box over in his hands, not sure if he could bring himself to open it.

"This is as much for us as it is for you, Blaine," Hiram said seriously. "When we tried to reach you yesterday and couldn't…I'll be honest, Blaine, it scared me silly."

LeRoy grabbed Hiram's hand and squeezed. "We're not saying you have to check in with us constantly, but the same rules that apply to Rachel apply to you as well. You must keep your phone charged. If your phone dies, you come straight home after school and charge it before going out again." He said the last bit more sternly.

"If you are going to be late for dinner, you call."

"If you are going to miss curfew for some reason outside your control, you call."

"On weekends when you are supposed to be home, if you decide to go out with your friends, you call."

"And if we call you after school hours, you answer. Understood?"

Blaine nodded his understanding, though he was still examining the box in his hands.

After a moment or two, Hiram took his seat and LeRoy asked, a smile on his lips, "Well – aren't you going to open it?"