Oh god, late update. Eternal sorrys. (Don't hurt me)

Again, I'm sending out a plea for any help. Because I don't have time to watch CSI or old 24 reruns (I'm trying to though). So if you have any knowledge on secret service stuff or agents or anything, send me a message!

Thank you all for being so wonderful and patient and reading this.

In case you're wondering, A Walk in Central Park will be updated. I've just hit a bit of a block in it, so you might get Kurt and Blaine's first coffee date instead of a continuation of the current conversation. I just need to think.

Glee and Dalton belong to their respective owners, of course.

Kurt had been appreciating a less common bout of silence when the Tweedles burst into his room, pulled him up from his desk, and began carting him off towards the conference rooms.

He had been at the new headquarters for a little over a week, and this had already occurred over a dozen times. This fact did not stop the loud, embarrassing squeak that emitted from his mouth when his mind caught up to his body.

"And where do you think you're taking me?" he sputtered as the Twins dragged him along.

"You've been invited to a tea party, Alice!" exclaimed the twin on his left.

"And a royal tea party at that. You best not be late," added the other, wearing a grin identical to his brother's.

Kurt sighed, resigning himself to being pulled along. "Has it ever occurred to you two to just knock on my door and let me know, instead of carrying me to all of my meetings?" he asked as he concentrated on not tripping as they entered a staircase.

"It has…" said the one that Kurt had designated as Ethan.

"…we just ignore it, mainly," finished Evan.

Kurt rolled his eyes affectionately, shaking his head at the two. "So what do David and Wes want to talk to me about?"

"And the Red Queen. We told you it was a royal party," Ethan pointed out.

Evan nodded in agreement, "Yeah; you can't forget him."

Kurt rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. "Fine, and Charlie too. And Reed will be joining us I suppose?"

"Ah," Evan said, thinking for a moment. "I don't think the Dormouse is joining you. He's caught up in some update with the Bat from Walcott."

"They'll probably spend half of the conversation being awkward and dodging feelings though," Ethan added.

This received a raised eyebrow from Kurt. "You mean Shane? Blaine's younger brother," he clarified. The Twins nodded in confirmation.

"Anyways," said Ethan.

"We think that the Red Queen and others just want an update on your current projects," explained his brother.

"And to see how you're settling in."

They arrived finally arrived at the conference room, where the Twins unceremoniously dumped Kurt and burst into the room, quickly chorusing, "We brought Alice!" before leaving to wrack more havoc god- knows- where in the agency.

Kurt attempted to smooth out his blazer and adjust his hair with as much dignity as he could muster, entering the room once he deemed himself presentable. It was the same room where he had met the team on his first day, with only the top three seats filled. Charlie, Wes, and David all shot him a quick grin as he walked his way around the table to his regular seat.

"The Tweedles said you wanted to see me?"

Charlie nodded, shuffling some of the paper in front of him before leaning back in his seat. "Well, first off, how are you, settling in- wise?"

"Yeah, how is everyone, the rest of the Conspirators especially, treating you?" David chipped in.

Kurt mused for a moment, crossing his legs. "I'm actually all right. Dwight acts a little strangely all the time, and I rarely see Han-"

"No one really does," interrupted Wes.

"No one?" Kurt questioned.

Wes cocked his head, thinking. "The Twins once in a while, but he usually keeps to himself. Dwight and he usually communicate via Bluetooth or computer."

"Anyways," Charlie gestured with his hand for him to continue his explanation.

"The Twins are," Kurt paused, trying to choose the right word, "enthusiastic as ever, I suppose?" Over the course of the past few weeks Kurt had found himself participating, willingly or not, in a random series of field exercises orchestrated by the Twins, usually accompanied by whoever was caught in their way as they tore through the Windsor wings. "Reed is especially nice. I never see him during the Twins' exercises, but we talk a lot."

"About what, if you don't mind telling us?" Charlie inquired.

Kurt shrugged, not sure how much the strawberry- blond would have wanted him to disclose about their chats about Shane. "A lot of stuff; he's one of the few people that gives me a straight answer to any of my questions. Well, besides you three," he quickly tacked on. The three smiled in thanks. "Anyways, anything else you wanted to talk to me about, business- wise?"

"What about Blaine?" David asked.

"Don't think we didn't notice how you skipped him," teased Wes. Charlie merely smiled in a mixture of knowingly and teasingly.

Kurt lightly blushed as he struggled to maintain a straight face. In all honesty, he wasn't sure what to think about the dark haired agent. He had an old- fashioned charm to him, and had been nothing but gentlemanly towards Kurt. They seemed to had flirted a bit in passing, and Kurt figured that if they were normal teens, he could say he had a bit of a crush on Blaine. They hadn't known each other long, but the conversations they had had proved that they had a lot in common, and Kurt almost felt closer to him than most people. The main difficulty was the business they both were in, where it was more than a bit difficult to have a relationship, and kept them extremely busy anyways.

"What about Blaine?" he tried to ask nonchalantly, his mind drifting to all of the conversations the two had been having during his time at Dalton. They had all been brief and business- like, but there was always an undercurrent of flirting lacing every word.

"Well how have you two been getting along?" David asked in a sing- song voice.

Kurt sighed, half enjoying the air of normalcy not commonly found in an agency, and half reluctant to continue with the current topic.

"We've been getting along fine, for your information," Kurt answered in a somewhat clipped tone. The light blush continued to tinge his cheeks, and the other three smiled knowingly.

"Anyways, Hummel," Charlie changed the topic, sensing the agent's reluctance to continue talking about Blaine. He shuffled the papers in front of him. "We've really only called you to talk about how you're doing and some projects you need to finish soon."

Kurt nodded. "So where do you need me?"

Wes answered him, leaning forward slightly on his folded hands. "Some of the Stuarts are having a conference with two different agencies tomorrow, one from Russia and one from Japan. They need translators, since most of them are only fluent in French or Korean. You know Russian?"

"Of course I do," Kurt replied smirking. "Who's the other translator?"

"Baily Tipton, or the Gryphon, as the Tweedles call him. He used to work in Windsor, but he transferred when the head of the Stuarts requested him," said David.

"So is that all?" Kurt asked.

"Just about," Charlie said. "We just want to give you some info on the Stuarts, and how they- ah- work."

Kurt raised an eyebrow in apprehension. "What do you mean?"

The other three agents all shifted in their seats, looking discomforted by the topic. There was a pause before David replied, choosing his words carefully. "Just… tread softly, okay? The Windsors and the Stuarts usually don't get along, with the exception of a few, like Tipton. They're a bit… intense, you could say. There's bad blood running between us."

Kurt tilted his head in confusion, but nodded anyways. He'd ask someone, like Reed or Blaine, about it later. There certainly sounded like there was a bit more than just "bad blood" running between the two groups.

"Also, Hummel," Charlie interjected before he left, "the Hanovers have requested that you come and familiarize yourself with their part of the agencies, just for future reference. As they work with negotiations, it could entail foreign relations."

"Anything I should know about them?"

Wes chewed on his lip a little before answering. "I use to work with them before transferring to Windsor. They act a bit like the peacemakers between the Stuarts and the Windsors, but they're also very… secretive. There's almost no one in Hanover that doesn't have something they're hiding. But they're relatively normal, which is more than you could say for the rest of us."

"How serious are we talking about these secrets?" Kurt blushed at his forwardness, ducking his head. "I just mean… sorry. You don't have to answer that."

Wes shook his head, smiling good naturedly. "It's fine, it's fine. Your curiosity is expected; Dalton's not the most normal agency, despite appearances. I'm not going to say anything specific, but Hanover's its own brand of crazy. There's a lot to do with gangs and things like that, though," he finished, making it clear that he wouldn't say more on the topic.

Kurt made to leave, thanking the three agents, when there was a knock on the door and a certain dark- haired agent poked his head in.

"Hey Kurt," said Blaine, smiling charmingly. "I was wondering if you wanted to join me in the firing range? I- I mean," he stuttered, blushing. The three seated agents smiled at Kurt, unbeknownst to Blaine. "If you would like to join the Tweedles, Reed, and I at the firing range," he clarified.

Kurt's responding smile was probably too bright and his reply of, "Sure!" was probably too enthusiastic, given the widening grins on the three agents seated at the table.

"Just remember, Kurt: visit Stuart tomorrow, and Hanover at some time in the next week, okay?" Charlie said before he left. Blaine stiffened minutely at the mention of Stuart, but it was so quick that Kurt thought he was seeing things. He nodded, businesslike, following Blaine out of the conference room.

Well, he might have looked back once and stuck his tongue out childishly at the three smirking faces staring back at him.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked Blaine once they were climbing the stairs to the firing range.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? I'm with you obviously," Blaine answered, bumping shoulders with Kurt and winking at him.

Kurt tried to hide his smile, a blush climbing to his face. He focused though, determined to at least get some of this story out of someone. "No, I just mean, well, you reacted kind of oddly when Charlie mentioned the Stuarts."

The smile left Blaine's face and his eyes turned cold. "Oh, it's nothing," he said nonchalantly. "Just bad blood, you know?"

"You sure?"

"Mmhm."

Kurt sensed he wasn't going to get much more out of the dark- haired agent, but his reaction was enough to confirm his suspicions that there was much more to this story that he knew.

"So anyways, how has your day been?" he asked, changing the subject. Blaine's face turned warm again as he answered.

"Well, you see…"

Several rounds and a scary instance where the kickback nearly sent Reed flying back against the wall later, the five boys were removing their protective headgear, ready to call it a day. Blaine and the Twins were comparing target sheets, Evan and Ethan nearly matching each other shot for shot again. Reed and Kurt stood off to the side, chatting and waiting for the others.

"Hey Reed?"

"Yeah?"

There was really no better way to approach the way than being forward, Kurt reasoned in his mind. "What's the story between the Windsors and Stuarts?"

Reed suddenly looked very nervous. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to grin. "Just… bad blood, you know? Nothing more than that."

Kurt gave him his best "bitch- please" look. "Bullshit. You Windsors may be perfect liars, but you're horrible actors."

Reed sighed, running a hand through his strawberry- blond locks and shaking his head. "Really, Kurt, it's nothing. It's- it's just some stuff from last year. Ancient history."

Kurt rose an eyebrow. "Obviously not," he said, "if it still affects all of you like this."

He shifted his eyes to look at Blaine, catching Evan and Ethan as they shared a look of concern as they no doubt heard the conversation. Three pair of eyes glanced at Blaine, who hadn't heard.

Reed let out a breath, staring Kurt straight in the eye. "Leave it, Kurt," he said, more forcefully than he had ever sounded before. Kurt opened his mouth to ask another question, closing it when the Twins bounded over to them. Reed's face relaxed when Ethan threw an arm around his shoulders, Evan doing the same to Kurt. Blaine stood by the exit, staring amusedly as the four made their way out the door.

Kurt smiled, allowing himself to be caught up in the whirlwind that was Evan and Ethan, but the same thought pestered at the back of his mind.

In what situation, he wondered, is it worth opening a can of worms?

He stared at Reed, who still had a look of nervousness in his eyes despite his smile. He saw the look in the Twins' eyes as they overheard their conversation. He recalled the dark look that had passed over Blaine's face at the mention of the Stuarts. The way even Charlie, Wes, and David had appeared to be uncomfortable bringing up the apparently uptight research department.

Well I reckon it'd be one to happen at an agency like this.

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