"Hey princess," said Everett, smiling as Katie closed her locker door and saw him. "You did pretty good last night. Thanks for your help. I don't think I could have done it without you."

She shrugged. "You made a pretty good Charming," she said, smiling. "Hey, Everett, um…"

"Something you wanted to tell me?" Everett asked, raising an eyebrow. "I am intrigued. You have my full attention," he said, making her laugh and thereby easing the tension.

"Um, Everett. I really, really like you. I mean, as more than friends and I think that I…" she stopped as Everett opened his mouth.

"Katie, I.. I. Uh… I'm gay."

"What?" she asked in a whisper, her face falling.

"I'm gay Katie," he said, his eyes sad as they held her gaze. There were a few moments of silence between them before Katie turned and ran away.

"No! Katie wait! Please! I…" Everett said, shouting after her, but his expression dropped when it became clear she wasn't going to return. "I'm sorry," he said in a whisper to the ground.

A mixture of sympathy and concern flooded Kurt's face as his daughter ran past him crying on the way to her bedroom.

"Katie?" Blaine called in a whisper after her. "Katie?" he asked again in her doorway. "Oh sweetie, come here." Blaine slipped onto her bed and took his daughter in his arms, simply holding her as she cried and waiting till she was ready to talk, all the while a quiet anger building inside of him toward whoever had done something to make her this way.

Kurt smiled from the doorway as he saw Blaine holding their daughter as she clung to him, still crying on his shoulder. "It's alright, I've got her," Kurt said, taking Katie in his own arms as Blaine rose and slipped from the room.

"Daddy?" Katie asked in a tear streaked voice. "Daddy, when it all seems to good to be true, does that mean that it always is?" she asked desperately.

"I don't know Baby," said Kurt. "I don't like to think so, but I don't know." Kurt held her, simply closing his eyes and rocking them both gently until she fell asleep.

"Hey precious girl," Mercedes said as she slipped onto the bed beside Katie's sleeping form and started to stroke her hair.

"Aunty Mercedes," Katie asked in surprise, sitting up beside her. "What are you doing here?"

"Your Daddy called me," Mercedes answered simply. "I hear you've got something going on. Do you want to tell me?"

"It's awful," said Katie, almost beginning to cry again. "I thought he liked me too, but then it turned out he was…"

"Gay?" Mercedes offered.

"How did you know?" Katie asked, meeting her eyes.

"Because I went through the same thing in high school."

"What?" Katie asked, blinking.

"Didn't your Daddy ever tell you?" Mercedes asked. "No, I guess he didn't. Anyway, when we were in our first or second year of high school, we started hanging out and I ended up developing a little crush."

"Really?" Katie asked breathlessly. "On Daddy?"

"Yep," Mercedes said, blushing a little. "I hadn't realised he was gay see, and he's a pretty wonderful person. How couldn't you fall for him?"

"I suppose," Katie said, her insides cringing a little at talking about her father that way

"But the main thing is, we're friends now," Mercedes continued.

"So what are you saying, Aunty Mercedes?"

"Well, I guess, your Daddy didn't like me in that way, and it was hard for me for a while, getting over that, but then we were friends."

"So you think Everett and I could still be friends?" Katie asked hopefully.

"It might take some time, but yes, I don't see any reason why not."

"So there's still hope," Katie said.

"Especially seeing as he felt comfortable enough to be open and honest with you about it, like your Daddy was with me."