Kurt couldn't remember the last time he felt so relaxed. He, Sam, and Jeremiah had made sandwiches, cut up fruit, made pasta salad, and took out some bottled water out of the fridge and Puck had spread a blanket out under one of the trees. They ate and just talked and enjoyed each other's company.

It didn't take long for even the small amount of exertion to tire Finn out and he laid on his side next to Kurt. Puck retrieved a football from the shed and started tossing it around with Blaine, and Jeremiah joined them after a few minutes. Kurt was a little surprised that Sam wasn't the first to join, as he normally couldn't wait to do anything involving sports, but Sam remained by Kurt's side.

Sam was both easy to figure out and very complicated. Sam's main need was that the boy needed to feel like he was needed. After the blond had moved back to Lima, every time he'd gone home to visit his family, he came back with the confession that he felt like they were moving on without him. They were always happy to see him, they still loved him, they missed him, but they didn't need him. Because of that, he felt more at home in Lima, with Kurt and Finn and New Directions, than he did in Kentucky. The hard part about figuring out Sam was the needs the boy kept hidden. Sam, like Finn, hated being left alone without knowing where Kurt was, and after a few weeks under Kurt's roof, Sam always needed to know where Finn was as well. A bond had developed between his newest boy and his brother and Kurt encouraged it. He wished all his boys would get along so well, especially Blaine and Puck who were mostly at each other's throats.

Kurt had actually lost touch with Sam after he graduated. He'd heard, from Mercedes, that the blond had gone to Nashville to pursue a Country music career but had never been able to get the break he needed. Kurt had run into him singing on a street corner, not homeless but struggling to make his rent, and before he knew it, Sam was sitting in the seat next to him on the plane. Sam still wrote and played music, still hoping for a break one day, and Kurt did his best to support his boy. He wanted all his boys to feel successful and satisfied with their lives, and if he had to set them free for that to happen, he would. It would be hard but he wanted them all to be happy.

To anyone who didn't know about Kurt's complicated relationships, Sam was his cook, housekeeper and handyman, just as Jeremiah was his gardener and maintenance man. Both were paid and if they ever chose to leave, they would have quite an amount of money saved in bank accounts Kurt had set up for them. The biggest problem would be getting them to accept the money, as both thought the work they did for Kurt paid their rent. Kurt had more than enough money to provide for them all thanks to his design firm, investments and some buildings he owned that he rented out to people. One of the proposals he had to look over was actually a company looking for rehearsal space for a dance showcase and he wanted to give them a good deal. Just because he hadn't been able to achieve his performing dream didn't mean others shouldn't have the opportunity, and if he could help in any way, he wanted to help.

He still wanted to reward Sam for taking such good care of Finn while his brother had been sick. Kurt hated that he'd had to go into work and leave Finn alone but Jeremiah and Sam had been more than capable of watching Finn for him. And from Jeremiah's reports, Sam had been by Finn's side most of the time, only leaving when Finn was asleep to do his chores, even though Kurt had left no specific instructions to Sam about Finn. The cuddling the night before was a reward for behaving and not getting into a fight with Puck but he still wanted to make sure Sam knew how much he appreciated it.

Punishing Sam was easy. The boy hated being idle so a little corner time usually was enough for most wrongdoings and if Kurt sensed Sam was approaching crossing a line, the threat of taking away from of his chores and making him watch someone else do them was effective in stopping him. But with rewards, Kurt didn't want to add to Sam's chore list, even though the boy would be thrilled to be given more to do; Kurt just couldn't bring himself to look at chores as rewards. Sexual rewards were out of the questions, at least for now. A few weeks after Sam had moved in, he'd confessed to Kurt that he was questioning his sexuality and Kurt had made sure Sam knew that no one would push him into any label under his roof. He was always available to Sam if the boy needed to talk but it wasn't something anyone but Sam could decide. Sam loved alone time with him but Kurt didn't want to use the same reward.

He remembered Sam mentioning wanting to train for a triathlon that was coming up in a few months. Kurt had been hesitant to allow Sam to train, knowing the boy would push himself too hard to be perfect and come in at a time he wouldn't view as a disappointment to everyone. As much as he would have loved to immediately give Sam permission, he didn't trust the boy to manage his health without a training partner who would give Kurt honest updates on how hard Sam was training. He'd solve the problem of who'd train with Sam later but now, he had a boy to reward.

"Sam?" he said, drawing the boy's attention away from the game of catch.

"Yes?"

"I've decided you can train and run that triathlon," he told him, watching Sam's face light up. He loved making his boys happy. "I do have some conditions though."

"Okay," Sam nodded eagerly.

Kurt smiled and threaded his fingers through Sam's locks. "Someone's going to be training with you and they will tell me if you're pushing yourself too hard. And you're going to meet with a nutritionist and find out what you should be eating and how much. If you can't take care of yourself while you're training, I will pull you out. Understand?"

"Yes," Sam's expression didn't darken in the slightest at the conditions. Now all Kurt had to do was find Sam a partner.