One week later

"So she just called Marley out of the blue?"

"Yeah, we were in Glee Club and then her phone started ringing. She went outside to take the call and said some stuff to her."

"What stuff?"

"She wouldn't tell us. But what she did tell us was that Unique's gonna be out of hospital soon, and she's coming back to McKinley."

"When?"

"On Monday."

"Alright."

Usually, Blaine loved talking to Kurt on Skype. They could gossip playfully and watch movies through the camera together. It was ideal as it was the only way they could retain proper contact while Kurt was in New York at NYADA. But now they weren't in relationship, Kurt was dating some guy called Adam, and Blaine had something on his mind that distracted him. It wasn't just Unique's predicament that was bothering him. It was his own.

"Do you think she's gonna be okay?" asked Kurt, continuing when Blaine didn't say anything.

"Who – Marley or Unique?"

"Unique, but… now that you mention it, I'm worried about Marley."

"Marley… she's got Jake to look after her. But I don't know about Unique. Everyone seems to have turned on her since the whole catfish thing."

"Does that include you?"

He was put on the spot by his ex-boyfriend. He couldn't pretend now.

"A little bit. What she did was wrong, but she doesn't deserve to be cast out. Maybe, if we hadn't reacted so badly…"

"Don't do that. I know what you're trying to do."

"What? What am I trying to do?"

"Pretend to blame yourself so that I'll have sympathy for you and somehow we'll end up falling in love all over again."

Blaine smirked. "Interesting analogy you came up with there. Is it fair to say that's what you were thinking? Or hoping for?"

Kurt was now the one on the spot. He laughed. "Oh don't start this, Blaine! I'm with Adam, you're… Well, single for now, but there'll be someone out there for you later."

"You, maybe?"

"Blaine…"

"Sorry." He could almost feel the engagement ring trying to break its way out the drawer it was confided to and fly all the way to New York and onto Kurt's finger. "Anyway," he said, changing the subject so that he didn't irritate Kurt too much, "I was thinking about doing something for Unique to, you know, cheer her up. Any ideas?"

Kurt scratched his head, thinking. "You could take her to Scandal's?"

"The gay bar? I don't know…"

"Based on what you've told me, Unique doesn't get much of a chance to be… Unique. She's always having to hide herself in clothes she doesn't feel comfortable in. You and I both know there are plenty of people like Unique at Scandal's."

"Not really."

"Yes, really!"

"Ironic name, then."

"I'm sure there are…" Kurt stopped, suddenly getting Blaine's joke. He chuckled. "You never fail to amuse me, Mr Anderson."

Blaine loved it when Kurt called him that. He bit his lip to stop himself from saying something he would regret.

"So," Kurt continued, "do you think it's a good idea, or have you got something else in mind?"

He did have something else on his mind, but it wasn't to do with Unique. He thought back to two weeks ago. He had been planning to propose then. Everything had felt so right; they had just won Regionals, Mr Schuester and Miss Pillsbury (no longer) had gotten married… But he kept putting it off, until it was the moment for Kurt to leave for New York. He chickened out in the end, and it haunted him every second that he spoke to Kurt.

"Blaine?"

He had drifted off. "Yeah?"

"What do you think about my idea?"

"Oh, umm…" When he said he had wanted to do something for Unique, he had meant as a group. He hadn't really talked to Unique much throughout the year. They had never had a conversation just the two of them before. Taking him to Scandal's would be awkward.

"I don't know," he said, showing uncertainty in his facial expression. "I thought that maybe we could… all sing him a song when he comes back?"

Kurt sighed. "You're kidding, right?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"That's all you guys ever do! Something bad happens to someone, and you attempt to cheer them up by singing them an inspirational, uplifting song. They then precede to pretend to be happy for a bit, but ultimately you haven't helped at all!"

"Hang on, didn't you guys do that when you were at McKinley?"

"Yes, and we never actually helped anyone! You need to do something that matters, and taking Unique to Scandal's will do him more good than singing some song."

"Fair point there. The problem is though: I don't really talk to Unique much, so I'm not going to be very good company."

"Make an effort! You wanted to do some good, so do it."

Blaine sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll take her too Scandal's."

"Don't say it like that, Blaine. You'll have fun! You might even meet some cute guys there!"

Blaine didn't want to talk about other relationships. "Okay, enough about me. What's the update on Rachel's call-back?"

Kurt groaned. "Still nothing, I'm afraid. She's starting to think she didn't get the part."

"Maybe there's still a chance." He smiled, but changed to a serious tone. "How is she?"

Kurt understood and also adopted a serious tone. "She's… okay. It worries me that she's barely talked about her call-back, but it's understandable. She's going through a tough time. She absolutely adores Finn."

"When did she get back?"

"Two days ago. She stayed a few extra nights at her parents and went to see Carol and my dad."

"Do you think he's okay?"

Kurt looked torn. "I'd like to think he's just going through another phase of backpacking, but it's unlike him to disappear without saying anything to anyone. I am worried."

"He'll be fine."

"It's been two weeks, though. I've tried calling him so many times, and the police haven't been able to trace his phone."

"Maybe he just turned it off because he needed time away from everyone else."
Blaine felt bad, because he had introduced Finn into the conversation and got Kurt worried. They had been trying not to talk about Finn, but it wasn't working. It always came back to him.
"What about you, Kurt? I…"

From Kurt's side of the connection there was the sound of a door clanging shut.

"Oh, that'll be Rachel. She was out with some of the NYADA girls, and I promised her we could watch a movie tonight when she got back."

Blaine feigned a smile. "Alright then. I'll talk to you another day."

"Alright, Blaine. Good luck with Unique. Bye!"

"Bye…" The connection was already gone.

"I love you… Will you marry me?"

He was talking to himself now.

** G ** G **

He had too much on his mind to concentrate, so the next day went by slowly. He barely heard any of what his teachers said, hardly wrote anything down, and only muttered a few replies to the questions his friends were asking. He didn't want to be moody around them, because they would comment that he was being an ass. Going by their logic, no one but Unique and Marley were allowed to show negative emotion. Sometimes Blaine hated the way his friends behaved.

At lunch, he was sat with Sam, Tina and Artie. None of them were really in the mood to do any talking, but the other three talked anyway to pretend that they were in good moods. They all had good reason to be a 'little' unhappy: Sam's girlfriend had left McKinley two weeks ago for MIT, Tina was still hurting that Blaine didn't love her back (she had claimed she was over it but it was going to take a while), Artie had been knocked out of his chair yesterday by someone accidentally and was sporting a large bruise on his cheek, and Blaine… still in love with his ex-boyfriend that he was trying to propose to. They were all unhappy today, and the Unique situation was just adding to the trouble.

"So I heard Unique's in school today," said Artie, not looking up from his phone as he said so.

"No, she's coming in for Glee Club," said Tina, who was also glued to her phone. Sam and Blaine were both resting their chins on the table, bored. "Marley said that she got to see Unique at home after she got discharged from hospital, and that she's just coming to see us first and then she'll properly come back to McKinley."

"Did she say that in Glee Club?" asked Sam, who was slightly more interested now.

"She Skyped me last night." The three guys exchanged glances, Artie now off his phone. "Yeah, I know. She's never done that before. I just think she wanted someone else to talk to other than her usual friends."

"So… um…" Blaine started, feeling Tina's gaze flick onto him. "What are we going to do about Unique?"

"How do you mean?" The way Tina asked made it sound like Blaine was suggesting they kill the cross-dresser and toss him in the river.

"Should we sing her a song, or…"

"We've already got that covered. I thought you were going to take her to Scandal's."

Sometimes Blaine wondered if Tina had hidden a camera in his room. "What makes you think that, Tina?"

"Kurt texted me, said that you were talking about cheering up Unique. So no, I haven't bugged your room, for your information. He told me to bring it up and make you do it."

Typical Kurt. "But are you sure it's a good idea?"

"Maybe. It's better than singing her a song."

Blaine laughed. "Kurt was talking about that last night."

Tina was so blatantly jealous of Kurt for getting to be intimate with Blaine in the past, but she bit her lip and said nothing of it. She was trying, bless her, to get over the gay student. It was slow progress, but she would get there one day.

When Tina didn't reply, Blaine continued. "So, any of you guys wanna come with?"

They all looked up from the table or their phones. They didn't need to say anything. Their looks answered him.

"Oh, come on guys! Please come with me!"

"It's probably not wheelchair-friendly," said Artie slyly.

"Actually, it…"

"I've got a Skype session with Brittney, so I can't go," said Sam awkwardly.

"You don't even know what night I'm…"

"I've got homework to do," said Tina matter-of-factly.

"But…" He looked at the three of them, all so quick to make excuses. "Fine, I'll ask someone else."

"You won't get anyone to go with you," replied Tina, back to staring at the screen of her phone.

"What makes you think that?"

"You and Unique are the only open gay guys in this whole school. No straight guy is gonna go with you because they won't get any action, and no straight girl will go because there won't be any other girls."

"I've seen a few…"

"Do they even have lesbian bars?"

"I… I don't know, actually. Maybe."

"Yep," said Artie. "There's a list of the top 15 lesbian bars in North America… I think I'm going to delete my search history now."

** G ** G **

Glee Club time. As usual, the group members filed into the choir room at different times. Kitty was already there, leaning back reading a book.

"Didn't know you could read," commented Blaine smarmily. "Or are you just learning now?"

"This bitchy thing doesn't suit you, Gel Princess," she replied not looking up from her book. "Why don't you just leave that role to me?"

That was all that needed to be said. Blaine couldn't help but like Kitty. He insulted her repeatedly as she did to him, but her 'I don't care' reactions made him think that they were – in a way - friends.

Not that he'd ever say that to her.

Taking his seat, he half-heartedly chatted to Tina as the rest of them filed in. In a matter of minutes, everyone was there, except Unique.

They all waited, hoping that she'd come. Once Mr Schuester was in the room, there was dead silence. Then they heard footsteps.

They got louder and louder.

Unique appeared in the doorway. She was dressed as Wade, and she had a half smile on. She looked weary, like she was ready to go to sleep. There was pain in her eyes.

"Hi," said Wade weakly.

No one knew how to reply. Mr Schuester thankfully took control of the situation.

"Afternoon, Wade," he said enthusiastically, though he didn't move from where he was standing.

"Come and take a seat."

Wade nodded and went to take his usual seat next to Marley. Marley smiled at him, but her smile was also weak. Before he could sit down, Marley jumped up and hugged him. Surprised, Wade slowly responded, reciprocating the embrace. They broke apart shortly after and sat down.

"Right then." Mr Schuester was quick to fill the silence. "Shall we begin?"

** G ** G **

Wade appeared to have had a good time, but the atmosphere was still tense. No one wanted to talk about what had happened, but if they ignored it then they would make it worse. Kitty surprised everyone. She went up to him, apologised for her snarky comments and said that the girls who were bullying her shouldn't bother her again. She then hugged him. Blaine was amazed at Kitty for being so kind, showing that she was caring when she wanted to be. He hadn't seen her be actually kind to someone since the day of the shooting.

They talked through possible songs for Nationals, Tina and Marley did some solos for Unique, and Wade just smiled through it all.

As they filed out at the end of the class, Blaine caught up with Wade. Marley and Jake were walking with him.

"Unique!"

The trio turned around to an approaching Blaine.

"Hi, Blaine," said Wade, surprised given that Blaine had rarely spoken to him before.

"Hi, I… um… I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Scandal's with me one night."

"Scandal's? What's that?"

"It's a… bar."

Wade looked confused. "When would you want me to go with you?"

"I was thinking maybe… tonight." He scratched the back of his head.

"It's a bit short notice."

"Yeah, um… I just thought that we could go tonight before you start going back to school, like… completely." He hated how he sounded when he was nervous.

"So you're trying to cheer me up before I go back to school."

"Err… Yes. You can bring people along if you want, it doesn't just have to be the two of us, I was just…"

"Yeah."

Blaine stopped mumbling. "Eh?"

"Yeah, I'll go with you. I'll have to talk to my parents first, but I'm sure they'll let me go."

"G-Great. That's great."

"They're just outside waiting for me, so I'll just go ask them. Be right back."

"Okay, s-see you in a minute."

Marley smiled at Blaine as she walked off with Jake and Wade.

"Never seen you so nervous, Blaine."

"What?"

Blaine turned round to see Sam leaning against a wall, smiling.

"Sam, what are you…"

"I was going to talk to you about something, but you ran off before I got a chance, so I followed you."

"So you heard all that?"

"Of course I did. I was waiting for you to finish."

"Oh. So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Kurt.

"Right."

"Did you… propose in the end?"

Blaine had almost forgotten that Sam had been with him to pick out the engagement ring. "No, I didn't."

"Good. That's good, right?"

"I… suppose, it is."

"I just wanted to know, in case you want me to go with you to return the ring."

"Why do you want to come with me?"

"That lady who ran the jewellery store was awesome. I wanted to talk to her again."

"Who says I'm returning the ring?"

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Come on, Blaine. It was a stupid idea in the first place, and it's only getting you down."

"How did you…"

"You were moping at lunch today. Don't tell me that wasn't about Kurt."

Sadly, Sam was right. This whole Kurt thing was only getting him down.

"Fine. You can come with me to return it."

Sam smiled, then realised he was being inappropriate. "Thanks man. It's for the greater good and… all that stuff."

"The 'greater good… and all that stuff'?"

He couldn't help it. He laughed, and then Sam laughed, and he realised just how stupid he was being. He was still laughing when Wade (without Marley and Jake) returned. He apologised and composed himself, but Sam was still smirking.

"I… err… I can go tonight, but I don't where we're going so you'll have to pick me up from my house. I'll text you the directions."

"Cool. That's great. One more thing, though."

"Yeah."

"I want you to come dressed as Unique. Not Wade. Unique."

Wade looked concerned. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me. It will be fine."

Wade smiled. "Okay then. Pick me up at… when?"

"Eight good?"

"Yeah, that's good. That's… great, even. I'll see you then."

Wade turned and left.

"You weren't so nervous that time," said Sam, returning to chuckling.

"Piss off, Sam."