Part Six

Kurt went to school the next day with the pessimistic feeling that things were only going to get worse.

He hadn't even tried to contact Mercedes. After he'd calmed down enough to tell his Mom what had happened, Kasha had done her best to try and cheer him up. But while the ice cream had been comforting at the time, neither of them had realized until then how depressing Kurt's favorite movies were.

Kurt had then attempted to distract himself by showing Kasha some of the music that had come out while she'd been gone. Kasha was delighted with Cher's 'Believe' album, but Kurt had started crying again in the middle of Strong Enough and that was the end of that.

All in all, Kurt was seriously considering skipping school and finding out where Jute spent his days.

Only to find out that Jute had, for some reason, decided to spend his days in an Earth high school.

"Okay, explain this to me again," Kurt told him. "You're legally an adult. You know more about science, math, and diplomacy than the rest of these idiots will ever possibly know. Why are you enrolled here?"

"I had to do something to fill my hours," Jute replied as he pulled out his books. "I don't need to work, and some of these classes are interesting. Look: French, Spanish - you know how much I love languages. I was going to pass on English until I found out it's actually English literature. I want to know more."

Kurt laughed, but it wasn't mocking. "Well, I'm glad you're here. Although I don't know what I'm going to do to explain you to the rest of McKinley."

Jute grabbed Kurt by the belt loops and pulled him closer. "Don't," he suggested with a smile. "As long as you know what to tell your friends, I don't see any reason why I can't be a frustrating enigma."

Kurt knew he was supposed to laugh at that, but he couldn't bring himself to. "After how Mercedes reacted yesterday, I don't think I'm telling anyone anything."

Jute listened to Kurt's report on the previous evening with concern and sympathy. After Kurt had finished, Jute considered this for a while before reluctantly asking, "Do you still want her to know?"

"Rather a moot point, isn't-" Kurt broke off when he realized that no, it wasn't moot after all. Fire shapers had the ability to erase entire personalities, removing a single conversation was no doubt nothing for them. "I don't know. I know she won't tell anyone, and I-"

"You want her to accept the truth, not forget it."

Kurt sighed. "Is that stupid?"

"She's your best friend. No, that's as far from stupid as you can get."

Kurt kissed Jute, reveling in the fact that now that they were officially dating he could do this whenever he wanted. "You keep up this understanding boyfriend gig, and you're likely to charm me right out of my skinny jeans."

"Ah, charm," Jute teased. "I was thinking when the time came I'd need to slice you out of those."

Kurt pulled back, playfully offended. "These jeans cost 300 dollars. Try it and I'll have you erased, myself."

Jute leaned in to kiss Kurt again. "Now that I know the secret for how to get them off, I won't need to."


Kurt and Jute were apparently too busy talking and kissing to notice that Rachel was watching them.

Rachel was worried. Whatever went on over the summer must have been serious for Kurt and Finn to be so circumspect about it. At first she wondered if Finn might have cheated on her, but that would warrant more lying and less silence. No something far more sinister was going on, and she wondered again what role Jute was playing in it.

Rachel continued on her way before her spying became obvious. Kurt seemed seriously smitten with Jute, something she didn't think possible if Jute was a bad guy. But then she considered herself just as level headed as Kurt, and Jesse St. James had managed to dupe HER. Why couldn't Kurt fall for a similar smooth talker?

"Mercedes!" Rachel saw Kurt's BFF up ahead and hurried to catch up. Finn wasn't able to tell her anything, but surely Mercedes would. "I'm so glad I caught up to you."

But when Mercedes turned around, she looked tired and distressed. "Rachel, I'm really not in the mood to pretend you're not annoying. If you need something, cut to the point."

"Okay. It's Kurt." Rachel was surprised to see Mercedes wince, but she persevered. "I need you to tell me everything you know about Kurt's new boyfriend and how they spent the summer together."

"Trust me," Mercedes answered grimly. "If Kurt doesn't want you to know what happened to him, don't push. If you do, you'll just end up finding out something you don't want to know."

"Oh my god, you know!" Rachel exclaimed. "Mercedes I'm really worried, and not just because of the threat to Glee Club that this represents."

"God! There's no threat, Rachel!" Mercedes seemed taken aback by her own comment, and she carried on much more subdued. "Look, the truth is that Kurt's family isn't what any of us were expecting. And it's really freaked me out. So just drop it."

Mercedes tried to walk away, but Rachel blocked her. "You can't really expect me to believe that."

"Why not?"

"I know that Kurt can be difficult to work with at times-" Mercedes snorted derisively. Rachel didn't know why, so she just continued. "-but he's Kurt. Even if his family is all Nazis, I don't believe that you'd turn your back on him."

This time Mercedes was too shocked to move. "Rachel…." But she couldn't respond beyond that.

"No, Mercedes. You may not want to tell me what's going on, but don't try to convince me you don't have Kurt's back. Because I know you."

Rachel stalked off. She didn't notice that Mercedes actually seemed shamed by what Rachel had said.


"Oh dear."

Jute looked up from Kurt's neck, surprised by how husky and aroused Kurt DIDN'T sound. "Something wrong?" Kurt pointed behind Jute's back. Jute turned around to see Finn being harangued by a petite brunette. "Who's that?"

"Finn's girlfriend Rachel. I think I'd better intervene. I'll catch you later." Kurt kissed Jute one more time, then charged across the hallway to intercept Rachel.

Jute's watch beeped twice as he watched Kurt go. Slipping into an empty classroom he flicked it on and his grandfather's holographic image appeared. "What is it grandfather?"

"I spoke to you a few days ago on the subject of Burt-Hummel's choice," Aramid reminded him.

Jute remembered it well. After dinner the other day, Jute had vented long on how hard this situation was on Kurt. Aramid promised he'd consider it further. "What have you decided?"

"I think it would be best if you got both sides of this. Visit Finn's mother today. I have her work address, and I think it might give you a better perspective with which to help Prince Kurt."

"I will. Thank you grandfather."


Kurt arrived just in time to place himself between Rachel and Finn. "Rachel. You seem upset. What's up?"

"Choir room. Now," Rachel declared as she swept down the hallway.

Kurt turned to Finn, confused. "Is there a Glee emergency?"

"The only emergency is you," Finn replied, worried. "She cornered me the second I walked through the door this morning."

Kurt was going to point out that it couldn't have been more than five minutes, as he knew full well Rachel was watching him with Jute earlier. But it wasn't relevant. "Great. At least I know if Rachel decides never to talk to me again, she won't be able to go through with it."

Kurt and Finn hurried to the choir room to find Rachel pacing back and forth. "Kurt I can't let you endanger New Directions any longer."

"How am I endangering us?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know," Rachel admitted. "And I hate not knowing. But I know something went on this summer that you're afraid to admit. And I'm not leaving here until I know what it is."

Finn sighed, but Kurt cut him off before he could speak. "You know what? Fine. Mercedes already hates me, you might as well hear the whole story."

"What?" Finn yelped. "No. No deal. I'm not letting you use their stupid prejudices as an excuse to let Jute take you away."

"Finn-"

"No! I'm sick of this!" Finn told him. "Everyone's waiting for your dad to decide who he wants to be with, and I get it. But nobody's asked me what I want. And I don't want to lose the first family I've ever had!"

Kurt's face softened. He'd never anticipated that Finn would feel this way about him. "I didn't know you felt that way."

Finn's reply was much softer, on his seeing that he was actually making an impact. "Well, I do. I know last year really sucked, but we went through so much this summer. And I feel like we're starting to be something really great together. And I hate that I just have to stand on the sidelines and wait."

Kurt had to stop himself from welling up at that point. He couldn't have stopped himself from hugging Finn even if he'd wanted to. "Finn, I- You're my brother, no matter what happens."

"Even if you end up on another planet?"

"Even if. Now I think it might be time you explained everything to Rachel," Kurt noted. "Given that she just heard you use the word planet."

"She did? Damnit! I knew I was accidentally going to do that."

Kurt and Finn looked over to see the reaction they'd gotten. To Kurt's amazement, Rachel didn't seem at all shocked. "I knew it! Well, I didn't actually know this specifically. But I've been wondering all this time how it was that someone with half my experience and training even had a hope of keeping up with me. It totally makes sense that you have millions of years of evolution backing you up."

Kurt looked at Finn, flabbergasted. Finn shrugged. "Well, It's going better than Mercedes."

Kurt shrugged too. No use looking a gift horse in the mouth. "How about I leave you two to go over last summer's travelogue, then. Prince or not, I still have Geography class."

"Yeah, go," Finn told him. "I got this."

Kurt nodded and left the choir room. The last he heard before the door closed was Rachel gaping between delight and shock. "Did he just say prince?"


Burt knew that he should be going home after work. He knew it when he set the alarm. He knew it when he locked the door. He even knew it when he took the left turn that sent in in the opposite direction of his house.

It wasn't like he didn't love Kasha. He still did, and he figured he always would. But every time he thought about coming home to her, he found his thoughts wandering back to Carole.

And here he was: going to see her.

Follow your heart, Carole had said. If Burt was being honest with himself, he knew that that was what he was doing now. What he didn't know was if he was capable of doing this for good instead of just an afternoon.

He turned the last corner onto Carole's block, and all thoughts of what he ought to be doing vanished from his head.

It was still daylight, but the comparison between what he was seeing, and what he'd come home to that spring were unavoidable. The taped off sidewalks. The fleet of police cars. All spreading out from the central point that was Carole's apartment building. "Oh my god."

It was hard finding a legal parking space, but the second he did Burt was bearing down on the police officer manning the barricade. "What's going on?" Burt asked.

Burt didn't know the cop, and the non-recognition was mutual. "Sir, if you'll just step back-"

"Wait!" Burt pleaded. "My- I know someone that lives in that building. Can't you just-"

"Burt Hummel?" There was another cop approaching, and Burt DID recognize him. He'd been one of the detectives that investigated after Kurt had been attacked. Thank god, the guy remembered him. "What are you doing here, Mr. Hummel."

"My- Carole lives in that building. What's going on?"

The detective's brow furled, worried. Rather than answering, he had another question for Burt: "What's her apartment number?"

"What does that-"

"The number, Mr. Hummel. This is really important."

Burt wasn't sure he wanted to know why, but he replied, "308."

"God damn it!" The detective turned to the cop at the barricade. "Get the chief down here. We've got a confirmed link to the case last spring."

"Wait a minute!" Burt demanded. "What the hell is going on? Where's Carole?"

"Another home invasion," the detective told him. "Luckily she doesn't seem to have been home. We're still trying to get a hold of her."

This comforted Burt not at all. "Carole should have been home by now," he worried. "And Kurt said that the guys that broke into our house were going to take him too. If she was here-"

"Mr. Hummel, those men are dead," the detective reminded him. "Yeah, it's a bad sign that they targeted her. But it's too early to subscribe motive yet."

Burt sagged as the detective went back inside. They still hadn't contacted her. Was she held up somewhere, or did someone have her?

He picked up his phone, and hit Carole's number on instinct.

It rang and rang and rang.

Voice mail. Hearing her voice cut through him like a knife. He'd worked hard putting Kasha in his past after she'd died. He couldn't do it again. Not with Carole. "Carole, it's Burt. Something's happened at your place. If you're okay, please call me."

He hung up and dialed again.

Voice mail. Another, more anxious sounding message.

Burt couldn't seem to stop dialing.

"Hello, this is Carole's voicemail…"

"God, Carole! Where are you?"

(to be continued)