Chapter 2

13-21 November 2010

Kurt and Blaine were practically inseparable. Well, except for the fact that they went to different schools and lived ninety miles apart. Blaine didn't seem to mind though. He'd come to Lima or Kurt would meet him in Westerville. They went to see rocky Horror Picture Show with about a dozen of Blaine's friends. Kurt had known theoretically how those viewings went but it was an experience to actually do it . Mostly of the time, they hung out together informally or went out with friends. Nothing that could be called a date. When they went to see Rent, Kurt had hoped it was finally a real date but it turned out that Blaine and several of his friends from the Warblers were going. One of them had to cancel so Blaine had an extra ticket for Kurt. Still, it was amazing and they'd stayed up late just talking in a cafe in Columbus before Kurt reluctantly drove home.

Kurt didn't jump for days after Blaine came to McKinley to help him out. Days turned to a week as their friendship blossomed. School was a living hell but he took it. Dave even threatened to kill him once but Kurt was sure he didn't mean it. Kurt had the power to out the boy and he hadn't so that had to count for something.

"You should transfer to Dalton," urged Blaine when he saw the latest bruise on Kurt's shoulder. "Please, isn't there any way your father can afford it? I'm really afraid for you."

"I'd have to wear those terrible polyester uniforms. The same thing every day? I'd die," complained Kurt trying to lighten the mood.

"Not true, you could wear your red sweater vest some days. Or your blue long sleeved sweater."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny."

"Seriously, think about how much fun we'd have going to school together. Boarding school has it's perks!" Blaine winked. He actually winked at that comment and Kurt wondered if now they were back on track for romance. Maybe if he didn't constantly seem like a victim, Blaine would see him as boyfriend material again.

"I'll talk to my dad and see what I can do."

Blaine made an excited noise and started literally jumping up and down.

"No promises!" Kurt insisted.

Kurt had a strategy. It had to work because if it didn't, he wasn't sure he could survive another day of Dave's abuse. He didn't want to give his dad another heart attack so he hadn't told him about the death threat. He'd mentioned things were getting bad but not how bad. It was worse since he'd refrained from jumping but he couldn't tell his dad that.

Kurt sat down at the kitchen table and rolled the dice. Three, one, five. It was his anchor. He went to the refrigerator and put magnets on the door with the corresponding numbers. He was getting better at this. Of course, it didn't work in most situations but here where he could plan, it had to.

He cooked his dad his dinner and called him in.

"Dad, we need to talk about school."

"What about it, Kurt? Are you having trouble?"

"Yes," he said carefully. "I need to transfer, Dad. I need to go to Dalton."

"Son, we've talked about this. I'm not going to send you to some fancy private school so you can hang out all day with Blaine. You think I don't notice how much time you spend with him?"

"It isn't about that." Not completely.

"Really? Do you think I'm dumb?"

"No, of course not. Dad, I'm being bullied at school and at Dalton they have a zero tolerance policy."

"How bad? We'll go to the principle."

"They don't care. Teachers just ignore it. Everyone ignores it. How bad? I'll show you how bad." Kurt stood and watched carefully as he lifted his shirt.

"Kurt! Who did this? I'll kill him. Tell me now!" Burt was starting to get red in the face.

"Dad, calm down. Please, you're sick. Calm down. This is why I have to go. Your heart can't take this kind of stress. I worry about you every day. If I'm in a safe school...Dad, please."

"OK, kiddo. I'm calm. Let's talk about this. Now give me a name."

"His name's Dave Karofsky. He's… been harassing me for a few weeks now."

"Harassing you how?"

"Just… Shoving me, and giving me a hard time."

"There's more. There's something else you're not telling me. You wouldn't be asking me for a transfer to Dalton if there wasn't more."

"He threatened to kill me."

"I'll call Principle Figgins in the morning and threaten to sue if I have to. We'll get this SOB expelled. No one threatens my son!"

Kurt kept his eye on the numbers on the refrigerator as he looked for a line where Burt gave in but there wasn't one. Apparently, they were going to try and get Dave expelled first.

He called Blaine on the phone later that night.

"So how'd it go?"

"Not good. Now my dad's worried about me. We're going to have a meeting with the principle and Karofsky's dad. It's probably going to make things worse."

"I'm sorry. I wish I knew what to do. It wasn't that hard for me to get my dad to send me here."

"Don't be sorry, Blaine. Don't worry about me. I'll make it work somehow."

November 22, 2010

Burt, Kurt, Dave, his dad, and Principle Figgins sat staring uncomfortably at each other.

"These are very serious allegations, Mr. Hummel," said Principle Figgins.

"You're damn right, they are," answered Burt.

"Nothing happened," growled Dave.

"I'll tell you what really happened. Mr. Karofsky…" started Burt.

"Call me Paul."

"Paul, your kid threatened the life of my son."

"Is that true, Kurt?" asked Principle Figgins skeptically. Kurt could tell he didn't believe a word of. He looked around and noticed that there was a line nearby where Coach Sylvester was in Figgins' chair. Weird.

"That's not true. I didn't say anything," insisted Dave.

"That's what he said. He said he would kill me if I told anyone," retorted Kurt.

"If you told anyone what?" asked Figgins.

"Just… that he was picking on me."

"He's making all this stuff up," snapped Dave.

"Oh, is that right?" asked Burt angrily.

Paul interrupted, "Hold on a sec. You have been acting differently lately, David. You used to get A's and B's. You're talking back, you're acting out, and now we're sitting here. So let me ask you: Why would Kurt make that up?"

"Maybe he's sweet on me," sneered Dave. But Kurt saw hope in his eyes when he said it. That and a little sadness.

"I think we're wasting our time here. It's your job to keep the kids safe," Burt snapped at Figgins.

"There's nothing I can do, Mr. Hummel. It's a case of he said, he said. If I suspended students every time another student accused them of something then the halls would be empty. The school board would never allow it. I'm sorry."

"Well, that's it then," declared Burt. "My kid ain't coming back here. Come on Kurt, we need to go talk to some people in Westerville about getting you into Dalton."

It took a few days to make the transfer. Thursday and Friday were holidays so Kurt would start at Dalton on Monday. He just stayed home in the mean time. Burt made it clear that he wasn't going back to McKinley.

Kurt and Burt sat silently together eating the heart heathy Thanksgiving dinner Kurt had cooked for them. When the silence was too much Kurt finally spoke.

"I don't like you being here alone. Maybe I should commute instead of boarding."

"Don't be silly, that's three hours a day on the road. I've already signed you up for the dorm. You'll be moving in January. You'll have to commute for the next month but it will get easier after that."

"Maybe you should start seeing Carol again."

"After what Finn said to you? Never."

Yeah, what had Finn said to him? Kurt didn't have any idea what version of the fight Burt remembered. Sure, he'd fought with Finn over decorating their room but he didn't really know why Burt and Carol had broken up. He hadn't lived through that timeline. He'd lost Carol unexpectedly when he'd jumped to avoid a particularly nasty dumpster dive. It wasn't a fair trade.

"That wasn't Carol's fault."

"How can you say that? She raised him. He called you a faggot, Kurt. I'm not allowing him in my house again."

Oh. Apparently the current Finn wasn't a sweet as some of them were. He'd thought the distance between them had been caused by their parents' breakup.

"That's just ignorance, Dad. Maybe he just needs a father. He never had one. I'd feel better if you gave Carol another chance. She was good for you."

"I'll think about it."

December 2010

Adjusting to Dalton was hard at first. Even harder was adjusting to Dalton Blaine. To Kurt's disappointment, he discovered that Blaine was like a different person during school hours at Dalton. At first, he almost feared he'd lost 'his' Blaine but he realized that it was just a front that Blaine kept up deliberately. It was all part of fitting in. He was still the boy that Kurt loved when they were together after hours. Kurt was expected to fit in as well and that was even harder. Ironically, in order to escape torment for being different, he had to be just like everyone else. At least, at Dalton he could. It wasn't even an option at McKinley. At Dalton, there were rules, uniforms, and codes and as long as you followed all the right steps you were good. Everyone was kind, polite, and generous despite being so uptight.

Sectionals was only a week after Kurt joined the Warblers so he hadn't expected to get a solo. He hadn't gotten a solo ever on New Directions so of course he'd been excited to audition. He shouldn't have taken it so hard when he didn't get it. He thought that he nailed his rendition of Rose's Turn but somehow it hadn't impressed the council. The Warblers tied New Directions for first place at Sectionals which meant they'd both be going to Regionals.

Unlike at McKinley, Glee wasn't most of his life at Dalton. He got along with all the boys and he found himself in the company of Blaine's friends often when they went out. But the school work was challenging and Kurt spent hours after school in the well appointed study rooms of Dalton before heading home. He and Blaine continued to deepen their friendship but romance seemed out of Kurt's reach. He didn't mind. Having someone in his life like Blaine was enough.

When Blaine asked him to sing "Baby it's Cold Outside" it was a dream come true. Kurt was sure it was a ruse to get a kiss but it wasn't. He even gave in to the temptation to look for lines where Blaine kissed him but there were none.

The day before Christmas break, they said their goodbyes for the holidays. They wouldn't see each other for two full weeks. Blaine and his family were flying to California to visit his mother's family for the holiday.

January 2011

Kurt moved into the dorm on Jan 3rd and was glad to discover that he had a room of his own. It was smaller than most of the dorm rooms because it was a storage space that had been converted into a dorm room years before. It was usually empty but occasionally, in special cases like Kurt's, it was assigned to mid-year transfer students. He brought his dice with him and rolled them every day even though he had no intention of jumping to any other line.

Burt and Carol started dating again much to Kurt's delight. Finn was friendlier though for some unfathomable reason he had dumped Rachel and was dating Quinn again. Kurt didn't dare ask if the fact that Quinn had cheated on him with Puck still bothered Finn because maybe she hadn't in this line. Finn vacillated between Quinn and Rachel so often that even when he stayed in one line, Kurt couldn't keep track. Kurt hadn't jumped since November and it was getting easier by the day. It helped that he didn't have dumpster dives and slushies to avoid. Life at Dalton was peaceful even though he missed being able to dress outrageously. The Warblers had accepted him fully and he was less neglected than he had been in New Directions. At least, everyone accepted their place in the group instead of fighting about it every week.

He was tempted to jump when he watched McKinley High lose the big championship game but it was easy to resist. After all, they would still lose. He'd be the only one moving to the winning universe. Besides, a football game just wasn't worth it. Maybe Finn and his dad could bond over losing.

12 February 2011

Kurt sat next to Blaine bundled up against the bitter cold trying not to let the bitter sink into his heart. He'd waited for Blaine for months only to find out that he was in love with someone else. The emergency Warblers meeting to plan the Warblers' Gap Attack had thrown Kurt for such a loop that he'd nearly jumped blindly just to get away from the pain. But there was no away was there? He wasn't in Blaine's arms in any of the lines that he could see, so why jump? He'd sucked up his pain and come with Blaine as a good friend.

He didn't see much hope for them after Blaine had sang such a sweet romantic song to Jeremiah. How could any one resist Blaine? When Jeremiah came out of the store, Blaine literally ran to him like a love sick puppy. Worse, the blond bimbo kissed him. Kurt's heart hurt more than he could bare. He searched for a line where this wasn't happened. He didn't care what he lost. He didn't fucking care. What had not jumping for months gotten him? Then he saw it. Jeremiah arguing and walking away. Blaine's face was devastated. He jumped.

Blaine walked back to Kurt and Kurt hugged him for a long while.

"So that was a no on the Valentine date?"

Blaine pulled back and snorted.

"That was a no on any sort of date. He never thought of me that way at all."

That was news. Blaine and Jeremiah had been secretly dating in the previous timeline.

"Tell you what. Why don't we go get some coffee? That always cheers you up."

Blaine was still bemoaning his romantic status when they walked into the coffee shop.

"It was the song. It was too much. Do you think it was inappropriate?"

"For someone you only went on two coffee non-dates with? Yeah. Probably." Blaine had confessed that he'd only met Jeremiah for coffee a couple of times and never actually been on a date with him.

"I can't believe I sang about keeping your toys in the drawer. When I Get You Alone...Why'd you let me sing that?"

Luckily, Blaine was looking away when Kurt heard the name of the song. His eyes widened in shock. Yeah, inappropriate was an understatement.

"I don't think I've ever made that big of a fool of myself. Which is really saying something because I've performed at theme parks. I just can't believe I made it all up in my head."

"OK, can I ask you something? You and I... we spend so much time together. We sing flirty duets together. You know my coffee order. Was I supposed to think that didn't mean anything?"

Kurt hoped all of that was still true otherwise he was going to sound crazy. Things couldn't be too different. He was still at Dalton. He'd been at the Gap Attack. He was sure he hadn't jumped very far.

"What do you mean?" asked Blaine with a puzzled expression. Uh oh. Maybe he was way off base but Kurt pushed forward anyway.

"I thought that the guy that you wanted to ask out on Valentine's Day was me."

"Wow. I really am clueless. Look Kurt, I don't think of you that way. When we found each other, I was just so happy to find someone that I had so much in common with. A true friend. I really, really care about you, Kurt. I don't want to screw this up with romance. I mean, I'm terrible at romance and I don't want to lose you as a friend. Boyfriends come and go but best friends..."

"Are you asking me to be your BFF, Blaine?"

"That's what I thought we were. Isn't that better than some stupid boyfriend?"

No, not really.

"So it's just like when Harry Met Sally? But I get to be Meg Ryan."

"Deal. Don't they get together in the end?" Blaine mused as he stepped up to the counter. "A non-fat mocha latte and a carmel macchiato."

At least his coffee order was still the same. He hadn't lost sweet tooth Blaine. Kurt wondered how far he'd have to jump for that?

"You know what? I have an idea for Valentine's Day."

They took their orders back to the table.

"What do you have in mind? Nothing sappy, please. I can't take it."

"A lonely hearts club dinner to honor the singles of the world. The Warblers could perform."

"Two off campus performances in a row? Dave's head might explode."

"It's good for them."

"True, they had a great time at The Warbler's Gap Attack."

"So it's a deal?"

"We'll have to sell the council on the idea but I think it's a great idea."

Later that night, Kurt carefully checked his dorm room for clues as to how far he'd jumped. His dice said the split was older than a day. Well, duh, he'd been expecting that. He needed to call his dad.

"Hey Kiddo, I was just about to call you."

"Dad," Kurt said with relief. "How are you?"

"Carol and I have big news. Can you come home tomorrow?"

"Of course, I just had things to do today or I would have come home already. What's the news?"

"Un uh. I need to tell you in person. But don't worry, it's great news."

13 February 2011

Kurt let himself into the house early Sunday morning and was surprised to see Finn. Finn, dressed in nothing but pajama pants, lounging on the couch, stuffing his face with cereal. His hair looked like it hadn't been combed in days. Kurt couldn't believe that he'd actually had a crush on this boy once.

"Morning, dude," he greeted Kurt cheerfully with his mouth full of milky cereal.

"God Finn, don't talk with your mouth full. And why are you sitting in my living room half naked?"

"It's Sunday, dude. Why should I get dressed? I'm only up because I got hungry. That and your dad and my mom said they have news."

Then it hit Kurt. Finn is living here. When had that happened? This had been a good jump. He had his dad and apparently Carol and Finn were living with them again.

"There you are, Kurt. I'm glad the two of you are here together. Carol, tell them."

"No, you tell them."

"No, no, we agreed that you'd tell them.

"He proposed! We're getting married!"

Kurt squealed and hugged Carol.

"What? When did this happen?" asked Finn.

"Come on, Finn," admonished Carol. "You can't be surprised. We've been living here for months."

Months. Uh oh, that was big jump.

Carol and Burt had just started dating again a few weeks ago in the line Kurt remembered. No use crying over spilt milk. Maybe not jumping for so long had messed up his control. Maybe it was the pain but either way he was just grateful that this line seemed better in every way than the one he'd jumped from.

"So when's the wedding?" Kurt asked excitedly.

"Soon! As soon as possible," bubbled Carol. "I'm so excited and...and nervous!"

"Oh, don't be, don't be," Kurt reassured her. He was so glad to have this Carol back. Maybe he could find his way back to things he'd lost after all. "Oh, my God, this is just what I needed. I will take care of it from here. I have a trunk full of wedding magazines hidden under my bed. I'm thinking of a periwinkle and champagne theme. Those are colors, Finn. Winter wedding colors."

"Nothing too extravagant, Kurt, okay?" his father admonished him.

"Finn, you...you haven't said anything," Carol pleaded to her son.

"Uh, I'm…I guess I'm just kind of stunned."

"Come on, honey. Be happy for me."

"I am, Mom."

"All right, now listen, Kurt, Mr. Wedding Planner, I want you to take care of one thing. I don't care about the food or the booze at this party, but I want one heck of a band. I've been eating right. I've been exercising. And I want to boogie with Carole at this wedding. And I will boogie."

"All right. It's already taken care of, Dad. I'm going to hire the Warblers as your band. Right? It won't cost you a cent. They're cheap, they're available. Long story short…you're having a Warblers' wedding."

"What about New Directions?" objected Finn. "Shouldn't they sing at the wedding instead of the Warblers?"

"Why?" asked Kurt.

"Because we're better. I mean - we can sing more stuff...because there are boys and girls."

"Really? That's your sales pitch? We have girls? We tied you at Sectionals and we're going to beat the pants off of you at Regionals."

"Now boys, let's not fight about this," insisted Burt with his arms around both or them. "Kurt could you design a wedding around two glee clubs?"

"Sure, Dad. I can do that."

Later that night, Kurt sat down at his computer in his dorm room to do some serious digging. The split between the line he was in and the one he'd just come from was months ago and he wanted to pin point just how far he'd jumped. He started with Rachel's' Facebook page. She was an obsessive documenter and a great resource for figuring out exactly what had happened when.

In a relationship with Finn Hudson. That raised Kurt's estimation of this Finn in his eyes. He didn't understand how any of the Finns could take Quinn back. As annoying as Rachel could be, she was a good person at heart and at least wasn't a cheater. Finn and Quinn had broken up last year when Puck had revealed that they'd been cheating on Finn behind his back. Puck had publicly humiliated Quinn by exposing the hypocrisy of the president of the celibacy club doing the nasty with McKinley High's most infamous sex shark and cuckolding the star quarterback at the same time. It had been going on most of the school year when clueless Finn found out. Of course, that's just the way Kurt remembered it. He was sure it had gone down differently in some of the timelines. He'd jumped countless times since then and maybe she hadn't always cheated on Finn.

Luckily, one of Rachel's obsessions, besides Finn Hudson, was documenting every performance the New Directions did. It was a great way to find when a timeline had split because song selections usually varied regardless of how similar the lines seemed to be otherwise. Even if the songs didn't, the performances certainly did. Kurt clicked on the Regionals performance from the previous year. He didn't think he could have jumped that far but he had to check. To his relief, it was the same.

He clicked on the video for sectionals of this year and was shocked by what he saw. Instead of Finn and Rachel, the New Directions started with a Quinn and Sam doing a duet. Wait, Sam Evans? When had the quarterback joined Glee Club? Kurt took a deep breath. That meant the split was over three months in the past. He didn't understand how he could have jumped so far without even realizing it. After Sam and Quinn finished their duet, Sunshine performed a solo instead of a duet with Rachel. It was like Mr Shue had decided to lock Rachel out of the spotlight or something. Not that Kurt disagreed with the idea.

He watched the Warblers performance too and was surprised to see that it was eerily the same. Not just the songs, the entire performance. He was sure there must be some small differences but not that he could remember. The outcome was the same, he was relived to find out. At least they'd still be going to Regionals.

Kurt found Sam Evans in his friend list which might have been strange but he figured once the boy joined Glee Club, he'd friended everyone in the club. He looked through the quarterback's history and found that Sam had joined at the beginning of the year at the same time Sunshine had. That revelation hit Kurt hard. That was before his father's heart attack. He'd jumped far enough to lose his father.

Kurt felt sick and put his head between his knees, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He couldn't jump that far. He couldn't risk losing Burt. He died in too many of those lines. Kurt looped on that thought for a long while before he realized the flaw in his logic. He wouldn't be here if his father was dead. Here at Dalton. If Burt died, he'd be sent to live with his grandmother in Cincinnati or his aunt in Seattle. Any timeline with Blaine had to be safe he realized to his relief. Blaine could be his anchor now. Not that he planned on jumping again but he knew it was inevitable. He might as well pretend he wouldn't eat or masturbate as believe he wouldn't jump again.

He contemplated this new information. He'd assumed that meeting Blaine and coming to Dalton only happened in time lines that split after that day in November when he'd come to spy on the Warblers. Obviously, there was some convergence in other timelines. He wasn't foolish enough to believe in fate - after all he couldn't. He had proof that things went horribly wrong an infinite number of times. Being here at Dalton made sense, though. Karofsky would have bullied him in nearly any recognizable version of himself. Maybe he didn't always kiss Kurt or threaten to kill him but often enough.

There was a knock on his door. When he answered, Jeff and Nick were standing outside his room.

"Hey, dude," started Jeff. "What to join us in the rec. room for a movie?"

"Depends, what did you guys plan on watching?"

"Repo! The Genetic Opera," supplied Nick excitedly. "Have you seen it?"

"Um...no. What's it about?"

"Oh, dude, that's not really possible to explain," replied Jeff. "You HAVE to see it!"

"Sure, why not. Is anyone else joining us?"

"No, just us," replied Jeff.

"So I hear that you roped us into a performance on Valentines Day," commented Nick.

"Where'd you hear that? We were going to bring it up tomorrow. I know it's short notice but even if some of the Warblers can't make it, I thought it would be fun."

"Blaine texted Dave and Wes, they texted Trent and Flint, who texted Jon, Aaron, and Thad. Then..."

"I get the picture, Jeff. So everyone knows. Do you think you'll come? Do you two already have plans?"

"I'm pretty sure that we'll all be there, Kurt," answered Nick.

Jeff and Nick were a couple as far as Kurt knew but he hadn't checked to see if that was still true. He found out soon enough when they got situated to watch the movie. Jeff and Nick were as cuddly with each other as he remembered. Kurt couldn't resent their love even though he was alone. They were just too cute.