Author's Note: I wholly believe that none of you reacted to "rapture" the way you reacted to the end of chapter ten. It makes me lulz. And I got to be a troll in review replies, so I'm happy about that.

I was putting off writing this chapter, mostly because of the angst and drama and the fact that there's only one chapter left. Ugh, my creys.

Also note that I wrote this during my "i'll sleep when i'm dead" week. So things are really random and thrown together like the rest of this fic, so it'll fit in.

I didn't understand what was happening. Kurt and I were falling a part, Wes and David simply disappeared off my radar and I was in my bed more than I should have been. I was confused. What was going on? Why were things falling to shit?

Even though I was being smothered by my bed sheets and comforter, I could still hear the obnoxious ringing from my cellphone in the living room. It was sitting on my coffee table, not having been picked up since Monday. It was Wednesday now, and I had only gotten up to use to the bathroom. I was hungry, but I didn't really care about eating. I only cared about silencing my phone with telekinesis powers that I did not posses. Eventually the ringing would stop and I'd sit in silence, only having my breathing to help me concentrate on anything but. And then my phone would ring again, and I'd wonder where my ringtone went. It was lame, but I had 'Like a G6' playing each time I got a phone call.

Suddenly remembering that, I sat up and pulled my bed covers away from me and headed to the living room. I picked up the iPhone on the table, immediately realizing that it was Kurt's. The caller ID read: Finn.

He must have forgot it, I mentally said, answering it.

"Kurt, what the hell, man. I've been calling you for years," a voice said, full of panic and anger.

"This isn't Kurt," I said, my throat dry.

His tone lightened then. "Oh, sorry. I must've called the wrong number."

"Uh, this is Kurt's phone actually," I said back, taking a seat on the couch as I closed my eyes. I was tired.

"Oh. Is he there or something? Who is this?"

I sighed. "This is Blaine, and no, he's not here. He probably forgot his phone was here or something."

"Who?" he asked.

My eyes opened. "Blaine. Anderson. He...didn't mention me?"

"Not that I know of. Are you two friends or something?"

Yeah. Boyfriends. Sort of. "Or something," I replied, sighing louder and closing my eyes again. I needed to get back to my bed.

"Do you know where he is? I tried Puck but he didn't know."

"Did you try his work?"

He laughed. "Kurt doesn't work. He's in school."

"No, he's not. He doesn't go to school," I replied, realizing that I just put my foot in my mouth again.

"He does...Why wouldn't he?" I could tell he was starting to panic again.

"Look, I'm sure Kurt will pop around sometime once he realizes he forgot his phone." Yeah, two days ago. "I'll let him know you called."

"Wait-"

"Bye."

Beep.

Yeah, the only safe for me in the universe was my bed.

A few hours later I was being woken up out of my fortress of solitude (or should I say mattress of solitude) by the sound of the doorbell. I didn't even know that it worked. I got out of my bed, checked the clock to see that it was late in the afternoon. My mouth tasted gross and my jaw hurt. I really hated the aftermath of naps; you were always left feeling dirty and groggy. I ignored all that and opened the door.

"I left my phone," Kurt said quickly.

I blinked. "Like, two days ago."

"Can I have it?"

I nodded and walked over to the coffee table and scooped up his phone.

"We should talk," he said to me when I handed it to him. I moved to the side and invited him in, which he hesitantly did. We wandered to the couch and sat farthest from each other, the only sound heard was our breathing.

"Say something," I spoke out, my hands starting to shake. This was it. It was all going to end here.

"I can't," he replied, his voice hushed and shaky.

"If you're going to break up with me, then do it."

His eyes flashed to me, they were wide and full of hurt. "Who said I was going to breakup with you?"

"Isn't this how it happens? We ignore each other and fight? This is the end, isn't it?"

"Do you really have such low hope for us?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I just know when things aren't working...and this isn't working, Kurt. We've hardly been together for a long time and now it's gone to shit."

"Blaine, this is a relationship. We're going to fight. We're going to have a bit of a falling out. But what are we if we give up?"

I didn't answer him. I didn't have anything to say. I didn't know what I wanted to say.

He turned his attention fully to me, but I looked away.

"Why do you want this to fail? Do you not want to be with me?"

I snapped my eyes to him then. "Of course I do. I love you, Kurt. God, I do. I just don't want..." I couldn't continue. I wasn't ready to face that.

"You're scared," Kurt stated then, light in his eyes. "It explains everything. You were paranoid that we'd end up like this and we have, so now you've given up because you're a coward."

"Of course I'm scared," I muttered. I glared at him and threw my hands up. "I'm fucking terrified."

"Why? What's to be scared of?"

"Everything."

"You're insane, Blaine. Of course this is scary, but it's real and it's wonderful and you're willing to throw all that away just because you're afraid that something will go wrong?" He looked away from me and smiled without humor to himself. "Tell me about Sam. What happened between you two?"

"Same as us. I got scared. So I ran, from him, from the relationship, even town."

"Why?"

I shook my head. "We were sixteen. I hadn't even come out but he was there waiting for me. It was amazing, first love and all that. But the hatred from everyone...It was awful, Kurt. I still have nightmares about it. I couldn't handle it anymore so I hooked up with a few girls. I told everyone that I had been on some drugs and went a little nuts and made poor decisions. Sam was left reeling, though. He had to deal with the back-lash, he had to deal with the homophobes."

"So you gave up on him," Kurt stated.

I nodded. "I've always been a coward, Kurt. And what's worse was that I loved him. God, I did. I didn't see anyone else like I saw him. And it killed me to do that to him. I watched him get his ass kicked and all I did was make-out with a girl I was using as a beard. It was awful."

"Did you ever get beat up?" he asked.

"Didn't you?"

He was quiet for a moment, which was equivalent to a yes.

"I just don't understand. You were scared of coming out, but that was high school. What about after? You can't honestly tell me that Sam was the only person you've ever been with."

"There's been others, but nothing more than hook-ups." I looked at Kurt. "I'm a fucked up person, but I wouldn't be human otherwise."

"So what? Did you plan on living your life alone?"

"I guess. I'm usually better off that way."

"No, you're not. Blaine, look at you. Look at how you live. You're like a zombie! You wake up and go to work. Over and over again. And when you don't work you just sit at home and mope about life. You're twenty-six years old. You really need to grow up."

He got up off the couch and headed for the door. I felt my heart pound.

"Kurt, wait!" I got up after him, reaching for his arm before he could get a hold of the doorknob.

He turned, his eyes wet. "Are you going to fight for me, Blaine? Make sure that I don't run from you the way you ran from Sam and the rest of your fears?"

"Are you going to let me?" I asked. "I love you, Kurt. I haven't loved anyone since Sam and I'm terrified that it'll end the same way. But I'm not going to force you to be with me."

"So this is all on me now, is it?" he replied. "I get the final vote?"

"Do you want to be with me? I sure as fuck want to be with you, but do you want me?"

A tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped at it with his sleeve. "I love you," he sobbed. "I don't know why. Maybe it's because when you look at me you're not angry or resentful. You don't hate me. It's like you've met me for the first time and you're willing to give me a chance."

"A chance for what?" I asked him, fighting back my own tears.

"A chance at life. You're the only person who truly cares about me. Think about Vegas? We hardly did anything but you still gave me the money. The flash mob? Mercedes? No one has put an effort in my happiness in years." He took a deep breath and collected himself, ridding himself of tears and shaky breaths. "I can't do this if you're so willing to give up. I love you, but I have the right to be selfish and I'm not going to put myself in a situation where you'll break my heart."

I laughed. "Haven't I already? Look at us, Kurt. We're so fucked up. I paid to fuck you. Ten fucking thousand dollars. That's not pocket change. That's fucking legit money and I just threw it to you like it was nothing."

"But I took it like it was nothing," he replied. "That part...the money and the sex and Vegas, there's something really wrong there but it happened and it was real and it was the best time of my life."

I felt his hand find mine and he closed the distance with his body, his other hand moving around my waist. His blue eyes looked into mine, flickering back and forth as he tried to take my entire face in.

"Look at us now. Two strangers, totally fucked up in the head, sure, but two strangers who fell in love," he said to me.

"Two strangers in love who are on the brink of ending everything," I added. "Kurt, I just..."

"Don't give me that, Blaine. Don't deny this. Don't pretend that you don't want it. You love me and I love you and I just need to know if you want this."

I looked at him, his eyes glued to mine with a ferocity I had never seen before. He was fighting for me, not the other way around. No one had ever done that before; not Sam, not my parents, not Tom or Wes or David. No one ever stood in front of me like Kurt and threw themselves out there like that. He was being honest and he was hurting but he was begging for me to not give up on us. Giving up was easy to do. I did it every day and it was all I knew. I never finished the things I started, at least not without being forced into it. I didn't like confrontation, but I wasn't afraid to speak my mine. I didn't like thinking about the future, but I dreaded thinking about the past. I was stuck in a never ending loop hole of living the same day over and over again. It was all a ritual: wake up, go to work, come home and do it all over again. I'd fuck a random guy here and there and never stick around to see what was there for me.

"I'm afraid, Kurt," I finally admitted, my eyes watering.

He frowend. "Of what?"

"Of this not working out. I don't know if I can sit down and be happy and make plans for a future. I don't know if I'm the type of guy who can live in the moment and yet prepare for the next day. I...don't know if I can handle all this commitment and then end up never having it. I can't handle the heart break, Kurt. I've seen it. I see the pain it causes and I'm so fucking scared."

By this time, I was crying. Tears spilled over quickly, warm drops of salted liquid falling off my cheeks and landing into the emptiness below me. Kurt watched them, his face scared and unsure but he understood. He pulled me into him, his arms wrapping around my neck as I put mine around his back, squeezing him tightly against me as I cried into his shoulder.

"Shh," he hushed in my ear. "I promise you. We're not your parents, Blaine. This won't end in disaster or heartbreak. We're different. We're not like the rest."

"How do you know?" I asked, my voice muffled from both my sobs and his shoulder, but he still understood me.

"Because we will be. We'll choose not to let things get the better of us. We'll choose to talk about how we feel and we'll choose to talk about our problems. Communication, Blaine. And love. That's all that matters." He pulled away and put his hands on either side of my face. Through my blurry eyes I saw him smile at me before he pressed his lips against mine. "We'll make this work. Trust me."

I nodded against his forehead, sniffling as I tried to suppress my tears. "I do. I always have."

"We're going to do this, all right," he stated. "We'll make this be the best thing that we could ever have."

I nodded once more and smiled. He grinned back and kissed me again before he pulled away.

"I have to go now, but we'll meet up later," he said, his hand finding the door knob again.

"Where?" I asked, wiping at my face.

"My parents' place. You're going to introduce yourself and they're going to love you and we'll be happy."

"You sound so sure," I replied.

He smiled and laughed. "I am. Trust me, Blaine."

"I do," I repeated.

"I love you," he said as he opened the door.

"I love you," I said back, watching him leave.

The door shut with a click and I took a deep breath.

We were doing this.

I could do this.

I would do this.

-:-

Kurt's family lived in Lima, which was unfamiliar to me. I had been to many places in Ohio, but I'd always avoided this town for some unknown reason. It was small and everything seemed "right around the corner", which was unusual from the city. This was probably a town where kids grew up together and where people always knew what was happening to their neighbors, even if said neighbors never told them. I had always wanted to live that kind of life, the one where you always had a second mom a few blocks away or where you'd meet up with your high school sweetheart and would be really happy for each other, no matter how much you missed them.

I wondered how keen Kurt would be to move back. Or maybe we could just move to another town where we could be alone and have a family and be happy and in love. But that was me going in over my head. Kurt liked the city; I could tell by his admiration for Las Vegas. And truthfully, the city was my home. I probably wouldn't survive a day without traffic hour or some type of crime scene from my window.

I pulled up to the house that Kurt had given me directions for. There were three other vehicles in the driveway and I fixed my collar in the rear-view mirror. Then I noticed I had a curl that was just sticking out in the wrong direction and it refused to do anything I wanted it to do. Frustrated, I gave up and left my car and crossed the grass to the front door. Before I could try to fix the curl one last time before I knocked, it opened and Kurt was standing on the other side, a grin on his face.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hi," I mimicked. He leaned across the threshold and kissed me, then pulled away and blushed. His eyes roamed over me and when he caught site of the rogue curl he giggled. His hand flew out and he tried to tame it, but to no prevail.

"Leave it," I said. He nodded and motioned for me to come in.

Inside, his hand found mine and he lead me down the hall. I could hear the sounds of people talking happily, a female laugh over shadowing the rest. I tried to take in the things around the house; photographs of Kurt and his family - the family from the restaurant. There was a photo of Kurt and the taller guy, who I guessed was Finn, in red graduation gowns and caps. They had each other in an embrace; a candid photo. But then I took in the other photos of him and Finn. They were further and further apart from each other, and when they were standing together it seemed forced and tense. I wondered about that but didn't get a chance to ask questions as Kurt took me to where the voices were.

"Dad, Carole, Finn, Quinn; this is Blaine," he said quickly. I hadn't even entered the kitchen when he introduced me, so when I finally saw the group they were staring at me as if I was an alien.

Kurt's elbow bumped into my side and I looked at him. His eyes flashed to his father and then back at me just as quick.

"Oh, right." I cleared my throat and extended my arm. His father reached out and took my hand in his and gave it a shake. "Hello, sir."

"Burt," he replied, releasing my hand. "This is my wife Carole."

I shook hands with the woman beside him, her smile making me feel a bit more relaxed - at least she didn't wanted to kill me. Yet.

"Finn," the taller guy followed, giving my hand a shake as well. "This is my fiancée, Quinn."

"Nice to meet you," the blonde said, using her free hand to greet me as well. The other was on her stomach, which was plump with a baby.

"Kurt's told me all about you guys," I said to them. I felt Kurt's hand make it's way back into mine and he gave it a squeeze.

His dad stood up straight and put a towel on the counter. "I wish I could say the same."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Kurt's left us in the dark on this. He just barely mentioned you about three hours ago, telling us to make a dinner for a special guest."

I looked at Kurt, my eyes narrowed. But he was looking at his dad, glaring.

"Why don't we all go sit down?" Kurt's step-mother began. "Dinner is just about done."

"Great idea," Kurt said, attitude-y and bitchy. He tugged at my hand and led me out of the kitchen and into a dining room. Burt had been following and he took a seat at the head of the table. Kurt sat beside him and pulled me down to the chair next to him. Carole and the others joined us, carrying dishes of food. There was a minute of silence as everyone got a plate and filled it with their food.

"Grace?" Quinn suggested. Finn was just about to put a fork of roast in his mouth but he stopped and put it down. He picked Quinn's hand up and then Burt's. Burt reached out for Kurt's, who reluctantly sighed and took it. Carole reached out for mine and I placed my palm in hers, smiling back at her grin. I watched as the table shut their eyes - all but Kurt - and shut my own, listening to Quinn thank God. I could feel Kurt's knee bounce against mine, and I realized that out of our whole time together I had never once asked him about religion. My mom was a Christian, as was Tom and Lucy, too. But I was never given a denomination, probably under my father's wishes. He was what he liked to call a "freelance Catholic", whatever that was.

"Amen," Quinn finished. All of us joined in and said it, even Kurt. Immediately we all picked up our forks and knives and began to eat.

"What do you do for a living, Blaine?" Burt asked.

"I'm unemployed at the moment," I replied.

"Why is that?"

"My father fired me."

His eyebrow raised. "Rather harsh for a man to do to his own son. I wonder why he did that."

"A misunderstanding," Kurt butted in. His eyes snapped to his dad. "Can we not do the interrogation, thing, please?"

"Then why'd you bring him over?" Finn asked.

Kurt looked at him but didn't answer.

"Kurt's right. Blaine's already his boyfriend and they're adults," Carole said, taking a sip of wine.

Quinn nodded. "Plus I'd rather not have negative energy around the baby."

"How far along are you?" I asked her. She smiled and I saw her hand go to her belly.

"Five months," she replied, looking at Finn lovingly.

"Congratulations," I said.

She smiled again, all white teeth and light. "Thank you. What about you?"

"Excuse me?" I questioned back, laughing a bit.

"Sorry, wrong wording," she started. "How long have you and Kurt been together?"

"About a month," he said for me. His shoulders were tense and he was constantly making eye contact with Finn, glaring at him.

"How come you're only mentioning him now?" Finn asked, staring back at Kurt.

"Because he and I have been trying to figure some stuff out."

"I talked to him today, you know," Finn threw out.

Kurt's eyes widened and he looked at me. "Really?"

I nodded and swallowed my food. "Yeah, he was looking for you. I told him to try Puck's or your work-"

Chaos broke out. Forks dropped. Carole spilled her wine. Burt looked like he wanted to shoot something, or someone.

"Puck? Work? Kurt, you're supposed to be at Ohio State," Burt growled.

Kurt took a deep breath. "I haven't been a hundred percent truthful."

Burt's hands curled into fists on the table. "Well you're going to start. Now."

I looked up at Finn. He was smiling.