From the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you guys who has read, favorited, or reviewed this story. You guys seriously rock my socks.

This chapter is the longest one so far, and it is setting up some big things about to go down, especially with a certain soon to be budding romance.

Enjoy.

Within the hour, the Hummel-Hudson household was filled with people all waiting to see the return of Kurt Hummel to their little corner of the world. Kurt stood looking in the mirror as he gently fixed his tie and vest, trying to look as presentable as possible for the growing crowd upstairs, but deep down, all of this was not worthy to be spent on him.

Kurt knew deep down what had happened in New York, but no one here knew a thing about it, and he had tried to talk his dad and Carole out of making a big deal about his return home, but they didn't listen to him. Kurt sighed as he grasped a brush from his vanity and began to comb his hair when he heard someone coming down the steps behind him.

In the corner of the mirror, Kurt saw Finn making his way to his side of the room. "Hey." Kurt said softly, having not seen Finn much since he had arrived about three hours ago. Finn turned to see Kurt, and a smile formed on the former quarterback's lips as he walked over and gently hugged his stepbrother.

"Welcome home." Finn said softly as he pulled back to take in the form of his stepbrother. "Thanks." Kurt said softly, hugging his rather tall and awkward stepbrother back with a gentle, but firm grip. "It seems like forever since I left, I see you've done nothing with the place." Kurt said noticing how pretty much everything was as it had been before he left.

Finn looked around and then shrugged his shoulders in his normal "I don't really know what's going on, I'll just pretend I do" sort of way. "Something's really do never change." Kurt said laughing to himself knowing exactly what that shoulder shrug meant, giving him the first genuine smile and laugh of the trip.

"You know like everyone is up there waiting to see you, right?" Finn said grabbing his tie from his bed as he tried desperately to not choke himself with it as he attempted to put it on. "Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, like everyone is here." Finn said glaring at the tie with an intense glare, before Kurt chuckled and made his way over to assist him noticing the former quarterback's frustration.

"Yeah, I know they are." Kurt said slowly wrapping the tie around Finn's neck and beginning the process of tying Finn's tie for him. Deep down, Kurt wanted to tell Finn why he felt like such a fraud and why he felt this whole party was a waste, but he wasn't sure now was the right time to tell him, plus he wasn't sure Finn would understand.

"There you go, all done." Kurt said pointing toward the mirror, showing off Finn's perfectly tied tie. "Thanks, man." Finn said smiling as he turned from the mirror to face Kurt. "It's good to have you home." Finn said patting Kurt on the shoulder, before turning to head upstairs toward the party.

Kurt watched Finn slowly make his way upstairs, wishing he had revealed to Finn what he had been concealing from everyone, but he didn't. Kurt looked into the mirror, feeling his entire stomach in knots, knowing once everything came out, the celebration would be short lived.

Kurt sighed as he pulled himself away from his reflection, almost sickened by himself. "Hey guys, it's me, the biggest disappointment you know..." Kurt said softly to himself as he made his way up the steps toward the party.

Puck glanced around the room, noticing more and more familiar faces filling the room, giving him many memories to dwell on. He spotted Santana and Brittany both chatting away and enjoying some punch, while Mercedes and Tina both caught up by the kitchen, snacking on some of the finger foods.

Having almost all the Glee Club kids together (with the exception of Rachel, who had apparently landed some super exclusive pre-Broadway gig in Boston) kind of warmed the heart of the former Glee badass. He hadn't seen half these people in almost a year, because they had all sort of lost touch since their last performance as a team, which had garnered them a first place win at Nationals, much to their joy.

Puck glanced around the room wondering where the guest of honor himself was, considering all this was being held for Kurt, yet he seemed to missing in action.

Finally, almost as if Puck's wondering had somehow conjured him to appear, Kurt appeared at the door from the basement, causing much commotion as the ladies from Glee Club all surrounded him giving him a warm and very anxious welcome.

"There's the boy of the hour." Burt's voice boomed as he motioned Carole in with a cake that had written in big large purple icing: "Welcome home, Kurt."

Kurt looked down at the cake as the group of girls moved to allow him to see the cake, which only made the knots in his stomach turn harder. "I-I don't know what to say..." Kurt said looking from the cake to the faces of all the happy and excited people around him, each one causing the knots in his stomach to wind tighter and tighter.

"I-I don't deserve this!" Kurt exclaimed, finally feeling the anguish of the way too tightly wound knots in his stomach. "I don't deserve any of this. I'm not a hero, I'm a loser." Kurt began to finally come part, feeling all the feelings he had been suppressing for months bubbling up on the surface.

"Kurt, what are you talking about?" Burt said moving closer to his son, as Carole placed the cake on the table, also turning her attention to Kurt. "You're not a loser, honey." Carole said gently stroking the top of Kurt's head with her hand.

"You don't understand." Kurt said, feeling his eyes well with tears, sick of trying to hide everything and feel like some kind of fraud. "I-I dropped out..." Kurt muttered softly, tears now completely falling from his face.

Burt and Carole's faces suddenly went white as Kurt's words reached their ears. "…What?" Burt said slightly raising his voice as he looked at his now sobbing mess of a son.

Kurt couldn't face them, he had to get away. Kurt turned and ran for door, swinging it open and running out into the hot and sweat-inducing summer night.

All the guests of the party were too shocked and confused to move for the news of Kurt Hummel dropping out of school had taken them all by surprise.

"Well, that's a cheery piece of news." Santana said turning to look at Tina, Brittany, and Mercedes.

"What the hell happened?" Mercedes muttered as she turned to see Burt and Carole in an intense discussion.

"I bet it was the ducks." Brittany said with a look of "I have figured it out", exactly the opposite of what she had done.

Tina, Mercedes, and Santana all glanced at Brittany and shook their hands in second hand embarrassment.

"I don't know, but whatever happened, it's going to be some serious business when it all comes out." Mercedes said noticing someone go running out the front door after Kurt, someone with a dark strip of a mohawk on his head.