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: And so another chapter has been finished; I actually really like this chapter, despite the fact that it's pretty much primarily used to set up the next (and what I hope will be the final!) chapter. Yes I actually have a pre-planned ending for this story (gasp!). So yeah, enjoy!

Kurt really wasn't sure what to expect as he knocked on the door of the Anderson house. He'd been texting and IMing with Blaine the whole time they had been apart, but being told what was going on with the older boy's hearing was a lot different than actually seeing how well Blaine was doing. Blaine seemed excited enough about his progress when they chatted, but given what Blaine was used to pretty much any improvement was a big deal.

"Kurt! I'm glad you made it. Blaine is going to be so excited to see you…" Claire Anderson commented, rushing out of the door and wrapping Kurt in a quick hug.

"I'm excited to be here… are you going to let me in?" Kurt asked, smiling. He wasn't all that surprised when Claire pulled him into the house, leaving his bag on the front porch.

"I guess I'll get his bag," Alex commented, walking past them as Claire continued to hurry Kurt through the house.

"He's still struggling with speech, but as long as you keep looking at him when you talk he's okay. And try to reassure him that everything's okay, that it's fine that he still isn't ready to talk to you on the phone."

"Wait… what?"

"He had this whole plan that he was going to call you today while you were on the way here. But he's been working his ass off for three weeks and he's still not quite there… the whole speech recognition thing is a little tougher than he expected it to be," Claire replied.

"But he's okay with that, right? He's not upset?"

"Of course he's upset. But he's taking it pretty well, considering." Kurt nodded, putting a smile on his face as they approached Blaine's door.

"Thanks, Claire… I think I can take it from here." Kurt knocked on the bedroom door, hoping that Blaine would actually be able to hear it. As soon as the door opened, Kurt smiled and leaned against the frame. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you," Blaine replied with a smile. "Will you help me?"

"With what?"

"I need you to talk to me… tell me about the Warblers, whatever." Kurt raised an eyebrow, a little confused. "I have to try to understand what people are saying with just the implant. No hearing aid, no lip reading. And the more new voices I have to deal with, the better. So I need you to talk to me." Kurt smiled, nodding and taking the boy's hand.

"I can do that. Does it need to be a conversation, or do I just need to talk to you?"

"Conversation is better… that way you can correct me if I misunderstand what you're saying," Blaine replied. Kurt nodded again, leading the boy over to his bed and sitting down with him. He watched as Blaine took off the hearing aid that he still needed on his right side.

"What does it sound like?" Kurt asked, not waiting for Blaine to look at him again.

"Weird. Voices were chipmunk-y at first, but they're getting better. Higher voices like yours still sound cartoon-ish." Kurt smiled.

"I don't sound like a Chipette, do I?"

"A what?"

"A Chipette… the chipmunk's girlfriends…" The look of confusion on Blaine's face didn't go away. "Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor?"

"Oh… no. No, more like Theodore." Kurt couldn't help but laughing at his boyfriend's description.

"Do other things sound different?"

"At first, background noise was really loud and kind of bad. I couldn't understand people talking at all until they turned on the noise reduction at my second appointment. I got so used to silence that I jumped a lot the first few days when I heard noises. It's gotten better, but alarms still scare me. And Claire's cell phone ringer is too loud."

"You hear her cell phone?"

"Only the ring… her nightstand is right on the other side of the wall," Blaine replied, tapping the wall next to his bed.

"You're doing really well…" Kurt commented, smiling at his boyfriend. "How much of it is you cheating and reading my lips?"

"I'm getting good at making educated guesses about what I'm hearing. But I am sneaking peeks at your lips to make sure that I understand…" Blaine admitted. Kurt shook his head, turning around so that Blaine couldn't see his face. "Not fair…"

"This is what you need me to do. You'll never learn if you cheat." Kurt wasn't that surprised by the way Blaine hesitated before he responded.

"It's not cheating… most of the time I'm going to be able to lip-read, too."

"Not on the phone."

"I'm still not even convinced that I'm going to be able to use the telephone anyway… that's the only time I really won't be able to read lips." Kurt turned towards Blaine at the comment.

"Even when you don't know what I'm saying, you still managed to have an answer to my comment," Kurt commented with a smile. He leaned in and pressed a kiss against Blaine's lips. "And you will be able to talk on the phone again. I believe in you. Next school year, we'll be able to talk at night before we go to bed while you're at Dalton and I'm at McKinley." Kurt watched as a confused look crossed Blaine's face.

"What…?"

"My parents can't afford another year of tuition, and since Dave's family is moving he won't be around anymore… not to mention that all of the other boys involved in what happened to you are going to be in jail until you're finishing college."

"But… will you be safe?" The older boy looked terrified at the idea that something might happen to Kurt.

"I'll be fine. My stepbrother and all of the guys in glee are going to have my back… trust me, my parents already talked all of this out with all of my friends from McKinley. It's going to work out." Kurt was a little shocked at the tears that were sliding down Blaine's face. "Blaine… what's wrong?" When the boy didn't respond immediately, Kurt turned Blaine's head to face him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want anything to happen to you… it's bad enough that this happened to me, and I don't want you to go through this, too. It's hell, Kurt. I just wish that I could protect you…" Kurt leaned in and pressed another kiss against Blaine's lips.

"Nothing is going to happen to me. Everything will be fine, okay?" Kurt watched as the boy nodded, smiling and picking up Blaine's hearing aid to help him put it back on. "Dry those tears, and we'll go downstairs to start celebrating with your family, okay? It's your eighteenth birthday."

"So… after the party, will you take me somewhere?" Kurt raised an eyebrow. "It's nothing weird or dangerous, I promise. I just want to go buy a lottery ticket."

"A lottery ticket? Really?" Kurt laughed as Blaine shrugged.

"I figure that my good luck won't last forever… I should take advantage of it while I can."

"Good luck?" Kurt asked.

"I survived having the shit beaten out of me by four Neanderthals. There was only about a fifty-fifty chance that this implant thing would work, and it does. This is about as close as I'm going to get to a lucky streak…" Kurt smiled.

"Okay. After the party, we'll go buy you a lottery ticket. But I draw the line at tobacco products, because those are horrible for you."

"Deal."