Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

A/n: So, is it bad that I'm kind of falling in love with my Nick? LOL… oh, and I met the REAL Nick on Tuesday! Curt Mega is SUCH a sweetheart – he'd been dropped off late because his parents were in town, so he was having some trouble figuring out how to get into the building. We met him on the street outside – we did a double take because we figured out who he was about the same time he did a double take because he realized we were wearing Dalton shirts. And then he got kind of excited because we recognized him. He was really awesome, and he signed stuff for us and took pictures and we just hung out for a few minutes until he had to go figure out how to get into the building. Meanwhile, like a dozen other Gleeks walked by and COMPLETELY ignored him, which kind of made me sad because he's a Warbler and he's AWESOME. Plus he drew an arrow from his signature to the picture of him on the back of my friend's Warblers CD, almost as if he wasn't sure we would remember who he was! Okay, end really super duper long author's note.

It was finally Friday, and Blaine had made an important decision. So he'd told Burt and Carole that he might be late getting home. He'd told Kurt that he might not need a ride home, but that he'd let him know. There was only one more part of his plan – Blaine had to talk to Nick. And after what had happened the last time he'd gone with Nick, Blaine wasn't all that sure that the boy would be willing to let him go.

Blaine walked up to Nick and Jeff, who were standing outside their Spanish classroom talking about the homework. He stood a couple of feet away at first, waiting for the two to finish their conversation so that he wouldn't be interrupting. It was only another minute or so before the conversation was finished and Nick turned to face him.

"Hey, Blaine. Everything okay?"

"Would you mind… are you going this afternoon?" Blaine asked. He didn't go into too much detail with his question, hoping that Nick would catch on and understand.

"Yeah, I was planning on it. Do you… do you want to come?" Blaine nodded in response to Nick's question, not sure that he could actually answer with words. "I can drive you home afterwards… it's not a problem. I'll just text my grandmother and let her know that I might be a little later than usual." Blaine nodded again, following Nick as the boy started towards the front doors of the building and his car. Blaine got into the passenger's seat, dropping his bag at his feet and doing his best with the seatbelt before Nick eventually took pity on him and finished putting the buckle in.

The ride was mostly silent again, only this time Blaine actually knew where he was going and what to expect when he got there. "Just remember… you don't have to talk if you still don't feel comfortable. But it will help, when you're ready." Blaine nodded as they got out of the car and walked into the church. Blaine scribbled his name down on one of the little stickers and carefully plastered it to the front of his sweater. He'd given up on the blazer after only a couple of days and had resorted to stretching out the sleeve of his cardigan instead to make it fit around his cast.

Blaine didn't make eye contact with anyone, even Nick. He was still a little nervous about the idea of talking about his personal life with all of these people he didn't know. But Nick said that it helped, and Blaine wanted to trust him. After all, Nick had gone through the same thing more recently than any of his other friends. So Blaine sat there and listened to what was going on around him for a few moments. One of the girls – she'd said her name was Kelly – was talking about the fact that her mother's birthday was coming up and it was making her rather depressed.

"Why don't we hear from our newcomer? Blaine?" Blaine looked up, biting down on his bottom lip for a moment. "Would you like to share?"

"I-I'm not sure I'm ready," Blaine admitted.

"You don't have to say anything unless you feel comfortable here. Why don't we start with something easy? How long has it been?"

"About a month. It's been… it's been hard."

"It is hard. And it's going to be hard for a while. But we're all here to help, if you want us." Blaine nodded at the group leader's comment. "Whenever you're ready." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before he began.

"My mom died… she was diabetic, and she always had trouble keeping her blood sugar in check. She had just gone to the doctor the day before… I got a call before my first class from one of the neighbors saying she wasn't answering the door or her cell phone. She was already in a coma by the time anyone got into the house…" Blaine glanced Nick as he felt the boy gently squeeze his shoulder. "She was in the hospital for almost a week… it was hell."

"What about your dad? Or your grandparents?" Blaine glanced over at a girl with dark brown hair and pink tips, shaking his head.

"My mom's parents got pissed off at her when she got pregnant with me. My dad was cheating on his wife with my mom… his wife didn't want him to have anything to do with me. I'd never met him before last week. They've always paid for everything… school, clothes, whatever. I hate it… I'm not good enough to be part of their family, but I can't ever fully get away from them because of the money." Blaine closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the back of the couch he'd chosen to sit on. "I think what upsets me the most is that I've grown up thinking I was an only child… last week I found out that I have five half-siblings that I've never even met. And I'm not allowed to meet any of them until I'm eighteen…"

"Wait… you're not allowed to meet your siblings? What kind of screwed up family would stop you from seeing them completely?" Blaine shrugged at the question, not knowing where it came from.

"A very rich and powerful family. Not quite like something out of Gossip Girl, but pretty close," Blaine replied. He sighed, reaching up and shielding his eyes with his good hand and closing them. "I've spent the last week trying to figure out how I feel about all of this, and I'm still not any closer to figuring it out. I can't even tell you what I'm supposed to feel about the whole situation – how am I supposed to deal with all of this, on top of everything else that's screwed up?"

"Don't think about what you're supposed to feel," Nick commented. "You're the only person who knows what you feel. It's not like a test, where there's a right or wrong answer. And it's different for everyone. Don't worry so much about what everyone else thinks you should think or feel or do… that's not always what's best for you."

"Nick's right. Don't push yourself to do something just because you think it's what everyone else expects you to do… there's no such thing as a normal way to deal with all of this. Everyone has to go through this his own way."

"I just wish there was some way to make all of this easier."

"We all do, Blaine. We all wish that we could make it so that no one else ever had to feel this way… that we could all just deal with this without it hurting quite so much. But it's something that you have to deal with, that you have to get through. You'll only end up hurting yourself even more if you don't take the time to take care of yourself."

Nick smiled at Kelly as he opened a can of soda and grabbed a second one for Blaine. Normally he would have stopped to chat with her, but at the moment he had something slightly more pressing to deal with. Nick felt as though it was up to him to make sure that Blaine was okay after everything that had happened over the last hour or so. Nick walked back over to his friend, handing Blaine the can of soda and sitting down. "You did a lot better than I did my first time here…" he began. Nick watched as Blaine looked up at him while he opened the beverage.

"Technically not my first time," Blaine replied. Nick shrugged at the comment.

"I wasn't counting that, since you didn't stay that long. Listen, I came every Friday for over a month before I could say anything. I wouldn't even stay long enough to talk to people before or after a meeting for another three weeks after that."

"How do you get through this every week? How do you listen to all of this every week and not break down?"

"It gets easier… you don't have to come all the time, if it gets to be too much. But you're welcome to ride with me whenever you want. It's not that far out of my way to drop you off in Lima on the way back to my grandmother's house for the weekend." Nick watched as Blaine smiled slightly at him.

"Thanks, Nick. I'll probably take you up on that offer." Nick stood up, holding out a hand to take Blaine's soda so that the curly-haired boy would be able to get up from the sofa more easily.

"We should probably get going… I'm sure you've got plenty to do without sitting around here all afternoon."

"I assume you're talking about the stack of make-up work sitting on my dresser at home…" Nick noticed the way Blaine paused after he used that word and the look of discomfort that passed across his face.

"Have you used that word before to talk about Kurt's house?" Nick asked, curious. If it was the first time, Nick could understand his discomfort. It was a strange thing, thinking of somewhere other than the house you had grown up in as "home." He watched as the older boy shook his head, clearly still a little upset over that particular slip.

"Not consciously… maybe once or twice without thinking about it."

"It's not a big deal, you know," Nick commented. "It may feel like it, but you'll realize that it doesn't really matter where you call home. It's not you forgetting where you came from or anything like that. It's just accepting that some things have changed." He unlocked the doors of his car and got into the driver's seat, cranking the car as Blaine climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Then why does it feel so huge?"

"Because it's new. It's different," Nick replied. He backed out of the parking spot and started towards the road, keeping his mouth shut so that Blaine could think about everything they had talked about. He certainly had no intention of pushing Blaine to talk more. They were pretty far away from the church before Blaine said anything else.

"Do you think it would be wrong of me to go to my dad's house?" Nick raised an eyebrow, a little surprised at Blaine's question.

"I… I can't tell you what to do, Blaine. But do you really think it's a good idea to force the Andersons to have a relationship with you when they're opposed to the idea?"

"I don't care about my dad or his wife. I care about the fact that I have six half-siblings that I've never even met and that I know absolutely nothing about except for the fact that they're all blonde and perfect looking, just like a political family is supposed to be."

"And you want to be a part of that?" Nick asked, a little surprised that Blaine was willing to purposely be the odd man out. "You don't fit into the cookie-cutter family they're trying to make themselves appear to be, Blaine. You look like your mom. And do you even know where they stand on the idea of homosexuality?"

"I hadn't thought about that…"

"Maybe you should look into that. Because that's kind of a big part of who you are, and you're going to have to tell them if you do ever want to have them as part of your life." Nick took a sip of his soda as he drove, turning onto the road that would take them to Lima. "You came to Dalton from a school that was full of kids who refused to accept you for who you are – do you really want to risk putting yourself into a family that feels that way?"

"I'm sure they already know… I mean, my mother had to tell them something to convince my dad to pay for Dalton. I don't know why she wouldn't tell him the truth."

"But do you know for sure that she told them that you're gay?" Nick asked. He could see Blaine shrug out of the corner of his eye. "I'm just saying all of this because you really need to look into this before you make any kind of decision… they've been letting you down your entire life, and you shouldn't let them screw things up for you just because you're related to them, okay?"

"I don't get how you know so much. You're younger than I am…"

"I'm just looking at things from a different perspective than you are. Right now, you're letting your emotions get in the way. I'm not emotionally invested… I can see the things that you're missing because you're too close to the situation."

"I just want there to be a 'right' way to do everything…"

"You'll figure it out soon enough. There is a right way for you… but it's sort of a trial-and-error process to figure out what that way is. Just give yourself some time, okay? A month isn't long enough to have it all figured out, especially not when you've had so many other things happen and go wrong." Nick glanced to his right as he heard the slight thud of Blaine hitting something and realized that the older boy had let himself fall over so that his head had bumped against the window. "Are you okay? Really?"

"I'm just exhausted. Physically and emotionally. It's been a rough month…"

"There will always be rough patches. You just have to remind yourself that there's a light at the end of the tunnel – eventually you'll get to a place where you really are okay." Nick smiled slightly and adjusted the volume on the radio so that Blaine would be able to get some rest if he wanted to. "Don't feel like you have to stay awake and talk to me… I'll be fine with just the radio to keep me company."

"Thanks, Nick. If you were gay and I wasn't completely in love with Kurt…" Nick smiled slightly as Blaine admitted what pretty much all of the Warblers had suspected ever since the countertenor had transferred into Dalton.

"Don't worry about it."

The pile of makeup work only really seemed to diminish on the weekends. Not that Blaine really got a weekend, given the fact that he had all of that homework to do as well as the random trips out to Reynoldsburg they kept making to attempt to take care of his mother's house. They were slowly starting to make some progress – some of the things from Blaine's bedroom had been brought over to decorate the guest room that had become his, and a lot of his mother's personal possessions had been boxed up for one of the local churches to hand out. Slowly but surely, everything was getting taken care of.

"What do you want to do about the cars?" Blaine shook his head, sighing.

"I have no clue… I know I'm going to need mine back when I can drive again. But other than that I don't really know what to do." Blaine felt Burt put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don't I take some of this stuff down to the church? It'll give you some time to think about what you want to do and to go through some of the other things we haven't gotten to yet." Blaine nodded and walked up the stairs, ducking into his former bedroom for a few minutes. It was a little strange being in there – after spending so much time at Kurt's house, this bedroom just didn't feel like home anymore. It was just strange.

"Need some help?" Blaine turned around at the sound of Kurt's voice coming from the doorway. "My dad just left to go to the church… I figured I would stay here with you. I'm not overly fond of churches, and I figured that you wouldn't want to be completely alone here."

"It doesn't feel right being here. I don't feel like I belong in this house anymore…" Blaine began, sighing. "I'm being ridiculous, right? It's stupid to get upset over the fact that I feel like this when I know that I don't really belong here. I belong with people who care enough about me to take me in when I didn't have anywhere else to go and who put up with all of my insanity."

"It's not that you don't belong here, Blaine… it's probably just that you feel uncomfortable here because of all the memories. I didn't feel right being at my old house without my mom after she died. But that feeling went away, and when we sold the house after Dad and Carole got married it was actually really hard to let go of it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're going to have to face that sooner or later… this house can't just sit empty indefinitely. It's going to be rough…"

"Just like everything else in my life right now," Blaine commented, sitting down in the desk chair. He closed his eyes and sighed. "I get it, things can't be easy. My life has to suck for a while…"

"Blaine…"

"I just… I don't think I can handle much more of this…" Blaine began, shaking his head and closing his eyes. He sighed as he felt Kurt wrap an arm around his shoulders. Blaine instinctively curled up next to Kurt, letting his right arm curl around the other boy's waist and pulling the two of them closer together. "I just want you… I want someone to hold onto."

"You can hold onto me for as long as you want… I'm not going anywhere." Blaine snuggled closer to Kurt, tightening his grip as well as he could. He felt safer there than he had in a long time, but it still wasn't enough. There was still something missing that he couldn't quite place.

It wasn't until he felt someone lifting him off the bed that Blaine even realized he'd fallen asleep. "'m awake…" he muttered, fighting to open his eyes.

"Just go back to sleep, kid. You need to get some rest." Blaine stopped fighting his heavy eyelids and fell back to sleep. He was in the car and buckled in next to Kurt the next time he knew anything. But considering the fact that Kurt and his father were talking, Blaine didn't bother to open his eyes. He wanted to know what they were talking about.

"I'm just worried about him… he's working so hard to catch up that I'm not completely sure he's sleeping at night. And I'm afraid he might be losing more weight…"

"It's rough for him right now… we just need to keep an eye on him and make sure that he's not self-destructing." Blaine sighed and faked a yawn, stretching slightly and pretending that he was just waking up.

"Hey sleepyhead…" Blaine sat up slightly and blinked, forcing a small smile as he looked up at Kurt. "Feeling better?"

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have fallen asleep…" Blaine began.

"You needed the sleep. It's not a big deal."

"We were in the middle of a conversation… I shouldn't have fallen asleep on you like that."

"You needed a nap more than you needed a conversation. We can finish talking later," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled slightly as the boy squeezed his hand, letting his eyes close again. "Just lean against me and go back to sleep. It's still a pretty long drive home."

"I won't sleep tonight if I go back to sleep."

"Were you going to sleep anyway?" Kurt asked. Blaine's eyes popped open again and turned to face Kurt, a little surprised. "You're working too hard… I'm just worried that you're burning yourself out and you're going to mess up and make yourself really, really sick." Blaine nodded as Kurt spoke, choosing not to argue with the boy.

"I am sleeping."

"But are you getting enough sleep? Or are you just sleeping for a couple of hours so that you aren't lying when you tell us that you've slept?" Burt asked.

"Depends on the night," Blaine admitted. "Mostly the last one." He heard the man sigh.

"Thank you for being honest. But you do realize that has to stop, right? You need to be sleeping more than that, and if you don't get enough sleep you need to let someone know so that we can get you whatever kind of help you need. You can't run on no sleep indefinitely. Understand?" Burt asked.

"Okay…" Blaine began.

"You aren't in trouble or anything like that… but you will be if you don't let us know when you need our help, understand?"

"Okay." Blaine turned to Kurt as he felt the boy snake an arm around his waist and pull him close again. "I… I just…" Blaine shook his head and sighed.

"You don't have to explain yourself, kid. Just keep us in the loop. Don't let things get out of hand before you ask for help."

"I won't."

The one good thing about what was happening with Blaine's life was that Carole and Burt didn't say anything to him or Kurt about the fact that Blaine kept going into Kurt's room at night to sleep.

"He's actually sleeping. And I trust Kurt not to take advantage of him or to let himself be taken advantage of. For now, we let them share a bed… in a few weeks we'll talk to them, when things have settled down some more."

"Would we let Finn have a girlfriend in his bed?" Carole asked. She smiled slightly as Burt sighed. "I'm just trying to point out the way this is going to look to Finn… it isn't going to seem fair to him."

"So what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know what to do any more than you do, Burt." Blaine felt the tears stinging his eyes as he listened in on the conversation from his hidden spot just outside the kitchen. He'd sort of gotten into the habit of eavesdropping on any conversation Kurt's parents had that involved him.

"Do about what?" Blaine was a little surprised to hear Finn's voice from the kitchen; somehow the boy had gotten into the room without seeing Blaine or vice versa. "If you're talking about the fact that Blaine and Kurt are sleeping in the same room, it's not that big of a deal. I think Blaine needs him right now."

"So you're okay with what's going on?" Carole asked. Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, not sure that he wanted to hear what Finn had to say on the subject.

"It's not like they're doing it. They're just sleeping together – trust me, I would hear everything that went on if they did decide to do something…"

"Thanks for the clarification, Finn. That's about all I want to know on the subject," Burt replied. Blaine glanced up as he saw a pair of skinny jean-clad knees in his peripheral vision.

"Eavesdropping again?" Kurt asked, smiling down at him.

"I just want to know what they're saying about me… I don't like being out of the loop."

"You could always just ask," Kurt replied, sitting down next to him. Blaine sighed.

"They're talking about the fact that we're sharing a bed…"

"I'm guessing from the look on your face that they want that to stop…" Kurt began.

"That actually wasn't what just got said. But I think that maybe we should stop. I didn't think about how it looked or what Finn might think if he knew what was going on… and it really isn't fair to him."

"It's up to you, Blaine. But until Dad and Carole say to stop or you decide you don't need it any more, my bedroom door will stay unlocked and I'll have room in my bed for you. As long as you want and need it." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt put an arm around his shoulders. "Come on… let's go get something to eat for breakfast, and then we should get to work on homework."

"I wish I could afford to just take a day off… not do any of the schoolwork that's piling up. It takes too long to catch up at Dalton…"

"You'll catch up… you're already getting there…" Kurt began.

"It's getting close to the end of the semester," Blaine replied.

"And you're going to get some extra time to catch up again because of everything that's happened… that's already been decided. Dad and Carole talked to the school, remember?"

"It doesn't really make me feel any better… I shouldn't have let myself get so far behind that I would need to be given extra time to finish everything. That was my fault."

"That wasn't anyone's fault, Blaine. You weren't in a good place… Nick has the scars to show exactly what can happen if you don't take care of yourself after something like that," Kurt replied. Blaine closed his eyes and let his head rest against Kurt's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself for any of this, okay? You needed some time to work through part of what was going on in your head before you went back to school."

"Do you think I'm going crazy?" Blaine could feel the taller boy moving, although he didn't see what Kurt's exact expression was.

"I think you're having a hard time. Which is a very different thing from being crazy…"

"Do you think I should talk to someone? Like a professional…"

"Blaine, look at me." Blaine did as he was told, leaning back and looking into Kurt's eyes. "I just want you to be okay. And if you think that might help you deal with all of this, then I think you should do it. But don't do it just because I think you should, okay? Do it because you think you need someone else to talk to who can help you get through all of this." Blaine found Kurt's hand with his own and squeezed it gently, sighing.

"I don't really know what I need anymore. I feel like every decision I make is a wrong one… like I can't keep it all straight anymore in my head. It's frustrating…"

"Someday you'll realize that no one really knows what they need… " Blaine looked up, realizing that Burt had come out of the kitchen and was now standing in front of them. "But if you want to try talking to someone else, then Carole and I can figure out how to go about doing that. But only if that's what you want…" Blaine nodded, knowing that his gaze had turned into a glassy stare.

"I'll think about it."

"All you have to do is ask, sweetie," Carole commented, walking up behind Burt and putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "And you can take all the time you need to think… just don't wait until it's too late, sweetie. If you really do need to talk to someone, just make sure you come to us before it gets too bad. We're here for you."

Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall. He didn't understand the emotions he was feeling; it was confusing for Blaine to suddenly feel so loved, when he'd spent the past several days feeling as though no one really cared about him. It was just more proof that his father's family and that whole relationship had really screwed with his head. "Are you okay?" Blaine felt Kurt squeeze his hand and shook his head, closing his eyes and pulling his hand away from Kurt's so that he could wipe away the tears that were starting to trickle down his face.

"I don't… I don't know what to do…" Blaine couldn't stop the tears, and he was thankful when Kurt pulled him closer and started rubbing gentle circles on his back, trying to calm him down.

"Hey… it's okay… you don't have to know what to do." Blaine shook his head, struggling out of Kurt's grasp and to his feet in a sudden urge to get away from all of them. "Blaine…"

"I just… I need a minute. I need to be alone." Blaine hurried up the stairs, shutting the door behind him as he walked into his bedroom. He knew better than to run off again after what had happened before. And given the fact that Kurt's house finally felt like home, Blaine didn't feel the need to run away from everyone the way he had in the past. He sank down onto the bed, trying to process the waves of emotion that kept coming. He was so confused about the feelings that came along with the realization that Kurt's parents weren't just taking care of him because they felt obligated to do so. They were doing it because for whatever reason they actually cared about him and his well-being. Blaine's own father didn't seem to give a rip about him, but these people who had absolutely no reason to take care of him were being so amazingly kind to him.

Blaine curled up into a ball on the bed, still trying to sort through everything that was running through his head. He'd never thought that being loved could be so… complicated. He'd never thought that his life would become this complicated, even with his mother being ill and his father being out of the picture. And yet here he was, trying to wrap his head around everything and failing miserably to work out the tangled web that his life had turned into. The tears didn't stop flowing as he sat there and thought through things. There was really only one thing Blaine wanted to do.

"Please, Mom… I just need to know what I should do. I can't deal with all of this… it's too much. How am I supposed to deal with all of this?" Blaine knew he wouldn't get an answer, but he didn't really care. Even just the thought of being able to talk to his mother again was comforting. And that comfort was what Blaine needed the most at that moment.