Well, here we are at the end of the road. I want to thank everyone one last time for all their kind words. Writing has been rather difficult for the these last few months, and I don't know if I could have finished this without your support. Thank you so much.
Chapter Eleven
Carole was almost panicked by the time Kurt, Finn, Kasha, and Burt finally came trudging up the stairs from the basement. Only a teenaged boy could think a text stating 'going 2 arrest Sateen prez home soon' qualified as letting her know where they were going so she didn't worry. She was so relieved that she was even happy to see Kasha. "Oh my god. Are you all right?"
Burt gave her a hug that barely made her feel better at all. "It's okay, sweetheart. We're all okay."
"What happened?"
"That's going to take a while to explain," Burt told her. "Short story: the guy that went after you and Kurt is dead. And the President…. Well, he's in custody now. He can't hurt anyone anymore."
"He turned into a baby, Mom!" an excited Finn quantified. "An honest to god baby."
Carole wanted to hear all about this, but she couldn't help noticing how quiet and distressed Kurt was. "Is Jute all right? I thought he went with you." Burt HAD said that they were okay, so what was going on?
Kurt's jaw tightened; a move Carole recognized as a prelude to Kurt trying not to cry. "Jute's grandfather was behind everything. The break-ins, Ramie's compulsion to break up with Jute, even my mother's 'accident'." Kurt broke off, needing a moment to calm himself.
"Dear god. Kasha I'm really very sorry to hear that," Carole insisted.
"Thank you," Kasha replied with a weary smile.
Carole didn't have any idea who Ramie was, but she assumed that that news must have been crushing too. "Jute must be so upset."
"You have no idea," Kurt replied bitterly. "So much so that he's decided to stay on Sateen for the foreseeable… ever."
Kasha gave her son a tight hug. "Oh, Kurtling."
Burt put a consoling hand on Kurt's shoulders. "Come on, Kurt. Jute's just embarrassed right now. Give him a couple of days to get used to this, and I'm sure he'll realize how stupid he's being pushing you away."
Kurt pulled away from them both, not comforted at all. "Ramie knows now that Captain Rush basically brainwashed him into breaking up with Jute. What if in the next 'couple of days' Ramie pushes to get them back together?" Burt didn't have an answer to that. Neither did Kasha.
Surprisingly though, Finn did. "That Caysi guy seems to really like you. I'll bet if you call him, he'll help you figure out how to get Jute back."
Once again, Prince Caysi proved willing to provide more assistance than Kurt could have ever asked. Jute had decided that he was going to clear his things out of the Embassy House, and was feeling awkward enough these days that he was doing it alone. With Caysi's complicity, Kurt was able to find out exactly when Jute would be there and arrive a few seconds ahead of him.
Jute almost dropped the box of books he'd accumulated in his few days at McKinley when he first saw Kurt leaning against the counter in the kitchen. "Kurt! What are you doing here?"
Kurt had tried his best to maintain his cool demeanor in coming here, but seeing the yearning and slight dread in Jute's eyes almost undid him. "I would have thought that was obvious. I'm here for you."
Jute hung his head, but his voice was the calm maturity Kurt had come to expect from him. "Kurt, I really wish I could let go of this. But I can't. Whether you've forgiven me or not-"
"I've never-" Kurt interjected.
"Notwithstanding," Jute allowed. "I look at you and I feel shame. I can't live my entire life like that. It would destroy us. Maybe in a couple of years-"
"Look at me," Kurt demanded. When Jute didn't, Kurt stepped forward and literally tilted his head up. "You can't live the rest of your life feeling badly about something you didn't do. Even a couple of years is too long."
"I know. But I can't help how I feel."
Kurt sighed, trying to be as gentle as possible while noting, "Well how you feel is STUPID."
Jute's head had pretty much sunk down again by that point, but at Kurt's words it snapped back up again. "That's unusually harsh."
"Not really," Kurt told him. "I've just never had to be that brutally honest with you. But you haven't left me with a lot of options."
Jute seemed to consider that. There was still guilt running all over his face, but it was working in their favor now. "What would you have me do?"
Kurt smiled at that. "I have a proposal for you. Well, two proposals actually. My grandmother wants me to go in for the advanced water shaping training, which I can't return to Sateen for until I graduate here.
"I told her how you've adapted what you've learned into something I can use," Kurt revealed. "She's willing to pay to have you stay here and continue training me."
Jute was surprised to hear about Bebe's approval of this scheme of Kurt's. "I thought your grandmother would use this as an opportunity to lure you back to Sateen."
"I did too," Kurt admitted. "I'm starting to think she's coming to actually like Earth."
"It's a beautiful world." A smile; one uncomplicated by dark thoughts. Perhaps this might work after all.
"It has the advantage of having much fewer people on it who might look askance at you over what your grandfather did," Kurt pointed out. "And as you would be helping shorten the length of my official studies, it might help you with your guilt issues. We can call it atonement if you'd like."
Jute was tempted, Kurt could see that. There was a long pause before Jute finally answered. But when he did it seemed like Kurt might have actually vanquished the demons in him. "You have a good head for business, Kurt. I will consider your offer. So what was your second proposal?"
Kurt blushed a little at that. It was one thing to pull rank on Ramie. He wasn't completely comfortable teasing Jute with it, especially under the circumstances. "Well. I've gone over your resignation as my boyfriend. And I've decided not to accept it."
"You're not?" Jute replied, surprised.
But he didn't really seem bothered by it, which gave Kurt the courage to continue. "No. So what I have is actually a counter-proposal for you. Since I don't seem to be able to tell you I don't blame you, I'll need to show you. Ergo instead of breaking up, I think we should have sex."
Jute knew intellectually that it was fairly easy to get out of Sateen duel tunics and pants. But that didn't prepare him for how quickly Kurt's ended up in a small pile at his feet.
"Kurt you can't be serious," he gasped, shocked.
"I'm standing naked and aroused in your kitchen," Kurt deadpanned. "If I haven't proven my sincerity yet, I'm not sure what's going to do it."
Jute's eyes washed over Kurt's body, desire sweeping away that sad, awkward Jute that angered and hurt Kurt so much. Seduction was an old trick but Kurt hoped it would work. But Jute shook his head, annoyed at himself. "No."
"Jute-"
"Kurt I want you more than I can say," Jute admitted. "But bad enough that I feel shame for what my family has done to you. If I let you sell yourself to me like this, I would never be able to look upon you again."
"I know that."
"Then why try to bribe me like this?" Jute demanded calmly.
"Actually, the job was the bribe," Kurt countered. He'd be angry if it weren't for the fact that Jute wasn't refusing over guilt. This was the old Jute; the one who wouldn't invite Kurt for a round of meaningless sex because Kurt was too 'earthen.' "This was supposed to be for US."
"Oh." Jute smiled, taking the hand Kurt had on his chin and kissing it. "Well in that case, I accept BOTH of your generous offers." And then faster than Kurt could have expected (especially given how tall Kurt was), Jute swept Kurt up into his arms and carried him to the bedroom.
"That's more like it," Kurt laughed.
Jute laughed in return. "You are unbelievable," he replied in awe. His laughter quieted as he looked down Kurt's body again, but his awe didn't go anywhere. "So beautiful. I am so in love with you."
Kurt's heart leapt into his throat and he couldn't speak at first. "I-I love you, too. Too much to let this go without a fight."
"Your grandmother has taught you well," Jute told him, completely admitting defeat.
"Jute, we're having sex," Kurt replied. "Don't bring up my grandmother."
"Deal." Jute leaned into Kurt's arms and kissed him hard.
Kurt ran his hands over Jute's chest, buttons flipping open as they passed. As soon as Jute's shirt was on the floor Kurt sighed in pleasure. "Best idea I've ever had."
Jute's mouth slid down Kurt's throat, increasing the pitch of Kurt's moans. "Agreed," Jute answered. "So if I can ask: if you didn't feel pressured into this, what was it that made you decide to seduce me?"
"[Page 15, subsection C] of those shockingly complete and annotated notes of yours," Kurt told him.
Jute looked up from Kurt's neck with a raised eyebrow. "Really? You constantly surprise me, Holiness."
Kurt smiled down on him. "I've got a fair grasp of the theoretical. But I could use some practice, if you don't mind."
"Mind?" Jute chuckled. "By the time I'm through with you, the neighbors will be BEGGING for those notes."
When Caysi arrived at Bebe's sitting room, it was pretty much back to the way he remembered it. The biggest difference being that it was Kasha waiting for him. "Kasha! I- Wasn't expecting you." He almost fled, but he reminded himself that he was innocent in his father's schemes. And Kasha certainly didn't appear angry with him.
"My mother invited you here to underline that she doesn't hold what your father did against you," Kasha told him. "I wanted to do the same thing."
"Well, thank you," Caysi replied, releasing some of the anxiety he still felt. "I spoke to Prince Kurt-Hummel before I came here. I suspect the difficulties between him and my nephew are being resolved as well."
Kasha smiled, pleased. "That's a relief. I appreciate the effort you've put into helping them."
Caysi had thought he'd feel very pleased with himself. He certainly would have twenty years ago. But at Kasha's words he frowned. "I can only hope my nephew will forgive me for it. I wonder if not telling Jute I'd sent Kurt-Hummel to intercept him was something like how my father got started."
Kasha frowned as well, but it was out of concern. "I don't agree."
"I don't know that we can know how one starts on that path. And living in that house, I fear that I've gotten what the Earthers call a 'head start.'"
"If you're trying to convince me that Aramid raised you to be wicked, you're wasting your breath," Kasha insisted.
"But if-" Caysi broke off, unable to voice his fears.
"How about this?" Kasha suggested. "If you feel the need to meddle again, you can confess it to me. As long as you're not ashamed to admit it, it can't be that bad."
Caysi grinned. Now that was a conscience far more appealing than the one he already had. "You have a deal."
"[Prince Caysi.]" Bebe appeared at the door, smiling with delight at the scene before her.
"[Mother,]" Kasha greeted. "[Now that you're here, I'll take my leave.]" Kasha stopped once she took her mother's place at the door, turning back to face Caysi. "You're grown up a lot since we once worked together, Caysi. I like it."
Bebe sat down across from Caysi, understanding enough of what had been said to feel hopeful. "[A shame I seemed to have interrupted.]"
Caysi had practically been beaming as Kasha walked out. But with that he shook his head, memories of his father's machinations making him uncomfortable with his own feelings. "[Please no, Lifeblood. It's one thing that we're still friends. It's twenty years past time I stopped thinking of that.]"
Bebe shrugged. "[It's not why I called you here, in any case. The council has finished their deliberations.]"
"[Already?]" Caysi replied, surprised. Although in theory the naming of a new president was a simple matter of examining various qualifications, after what had happened Caysi had expected the decision would take much longer this time.
"[There was only one candidate who scored high enough in the required fields to satisfy everyone,]" Bebe told him. "[Congratulations.]"
Well that was certainly unexpected. "[Me? I would have thought that after my father-]"
Bebe waved off his concerns. "[If we disqualified everyone your father used and tricked over the last few years, we'd have no president at all. I really hope you won't let that stop you from accepting the post.]"
Caysi almost said no. But then he remembered Kasha's promise to be the angel on his shoulder. And he knew that with that support he wouldn't go wrong. "[If I have the support of you, and the rest of the council, then I accept.]"
Bebe beamed at him again, waving him to sit down across from her. "[Excellent. Tea?]"
"[Of course.]" And it was an indication of just how pleased Bebe was at this development that she poured herself tea as well, not just water. Caysi let his worries slide for now, letting other memories come to the surface. "[I was surprised to see Christopher-Hudson's boy here with your grandson the other day. I didn't know they were practically brothers.]"
"[Indeed,]" Bebe replied. "[I was pleasantly surprised myself. That's actually why I chose to reveal my presence to them both all those months ago, rather than wait until Kurt was alone. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though. Kurt no doubt sensed what I did.]"
Caysi raised an eyebrow at that. "[Then he's…?]"
"[Not so far as I've seen. But I think it's a possibility.]"
"[Does he know?]" Caysi asked.
Bebe shook her head. "[He knows his father was a hero. Anything else can wait until it becomes necessary.]"
Caysi thought about Finn-Hudson's father, and all those difficulties so long ago. It was a short move to thinking about that day Kasha had called to tell him about the funeral. Caysi often wondered if things might have been different if he'd stayed on Earth. "[Chris was a good friend to me, when I didn't particularly want one. I could wish-]"
"[Don't,]" Bebe counseled. "[Take it from someone with an excess of regrets. You would think feeling guilty might at least make other people happy, but my daughter assures me it's just tiresome.]"
Caysi nodded, still lost in thought. "[What happened with Chris might have just been random happenstance,]" he considered. "[If it's not, Lifeblood? I would very much like to be there when you tell him the truth about who his father was.]"
Bebe nodded with a pleased smile. "[If it comes to that, Mr. President, then I assure you that you most certainly will be.]"
The End
Kurt Hummel will return in 'The Star Child'
