Kurt watched as Rachel tickled Olivia's stomach. Olivia giggled, and Kurt couldn't help but smile. "You and Blaine officially have the most adorable child ever," Rachel declared.
Kurt's pride was written all over his face as he looked at his daughter. "I know," he replied.
Rachel played with Olivia for a few minutes, then turned her attention to Kurt. "Speaking of Blaine, where is he? At a gig?"
Kurt shook his head. "No, he has one later tonight, but right now he's home."
"Why are you here, then? You and Blaine barely ever get time off together. Shouldn't you be home with him?"
Kurt looked away. "Blaine and I had a slight disagreement the other night."
"So go home and fix it," Rachel said. "Things aren't going to resolve themselves if you're hiding out across town in my apartment."
"Rachel, it's not that simple."
"Oh, come on, Kurt. It's you and Blaine. You two are the most solid couple I've ever known. I'm sure it's not that bad—"
"I told Blaine I resented him," Kurt confessed.
Rachel's eyes went wide. "What?"
"And that I didn't need him."
"Wow," Rachel said, a look of total shock on her face.
"I might have also implied that he was just mad because he wanted me to stay dependent on him forever because it was good for his ego," Kurt finished.
"Whew," Rachel replied. "Well, you've always had a flair for the dramatic, Kurt Hummel-Anderson." Kurt let out a little half-laugh at that, and Rachel's face got serious. "Kurt, I'm worried about you," she said gently.
"What? Why would you be worried about me? And what does that have anything to do with my fight with Blaine?"
Rachel adjusted Olivia on her lap, then reached out one hand to touch Kurt's. "Kurt, you are my best friend, and I love you. We've been through a lot together – the bullying and teasing back in Ohio, our first year in New York, with me dealing with my breakup with Finn and you missing Blaine like crazy, the stress of classes at NYADA, the many times of doubt and fear that we weren't good enough and that we would never make it… and through it all, you were always so resilient. No matter how much crap life handed you, you always fought through it, with your indomitable spirit and unwavering self-confidence. Even when you stopped going on auditions all the time and took that job teaching, you seemed happy and at peace with your decision. You weren't giving up, you kept saying, you were just restrategizing, and I admired you for that.
"But in the last few months," she continued, "you've seemed so… defeated. It's like the real Kurt got replaced by this hopeless, unhappy, discontent Kurt. I didn't say anything at first, because the real Kurt was still making frequent appearances, and I figured you were just going through some stuff. Over time, though, those glimpses of the Kurt I know and love have become more and more rare. I think the scariest thing, though, is that I can't even think of the last time I heard you sing, and that's not like you at all."
Rachel paused for a minute, and then added, "Look, Kurt, I don't think you meant most of what you said to Blaine, and I'm betting, because he knows you even better than I do, that he doesn't think you meant most of it either. But I do think you at least partially meant that you resent him, and that's not healthy for your relationship. What's going on with you, Kurt?"
Kurt leaned his head against the back of the couch. "You wouldn't understand."
"Why not?"
"Because you've gotten everything you've ever wanted. You've never had a day of hardship in your life, Rachel. You wanted to get into NYADA, and you did. I got waitlisted, and it was the most agonizing month and a half of my life waiting to hear if I would get in. You wanted to be a big star, and three months after graduation, you got that big part on Broadway, and everything just fell into place. It's almost ten years after graduation, and I'm nowhere, Rachel," Kurt said angrily.
"I've gotten everything I ever wanted? Is that what you think?" Rachel shot back. "God, Kurt, I would give anything to be you sometimes. You and Blaine love each other. You're married to the man of your dreams, and you have a beautiful daughter together. The love of my life stayed in Ohio, married someone else, and has two beautiful daughters, from the pictures I've seen in your apartment. So don't tell me I got everything I ever wanted, Kurt Hummel-Anderson.
"And as far as your career goes, I've told you a million times that I am more than willing to help you, with anything. I've got contacts and connections that will get you anywhere you want to go. If you want to write musicals, I know plenty of people who I can put you in touch with, and if they won't do it, I'll finance it and we can just put it on ourselves."
"I know you're willing to help, Rachel, but I want to succeed based on my own talents, and not based on my connections," he explained.
Rachel gave him an annoyed look. "Kurt, I don't want to help you because you're my best friend. I want to help you because you are one of the most talented people I've ever met, and I think it's a complete shame that the rest of the world hasn't had the opportunity to discover that yet."
"You haven't even read my musical," Kurt protested. "Nobody has. All the agents I've talked to have told me they didn't accept musicals from no-name writers because the chances of any of them being worth their time was almost zero."
"So send me a copy, I'll read it, fall in love with it, because you're incapable of writing anything that's not incredible, and then help you make it a reality," Rachel said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. When Kurt opened his mouth to argue, Rachel held up a hand to cut him off. "Look, it's not like you've failed because tons of people have read your musical and hated it, and I'm pitying you and throwing a ton of money at something that's doomed to fail. The system is flawed, Kurt, and it's not your fault that there's a huge wall between you and where you want to go. I'm on the other side of the wall, Kurt, and I want to help you get there too, because it's where you belong. If you don't give me your musical, I'll tell Blaine to send it to me, but one way or another, we are making this happen. You might as well stop fighting me."
Kurt took a deep breath. "I don't know, Rachel…"
Rachel gestured at Olivia, who was happily banging two soft blocks against each other in Rachel's lap. "Okay, look at it this way. It's twenty years from now, and this beautiful little girl wants to follow in her fathers' footsteps and go into performing, but nobody will give her an audition because she's a nobody and therefore not worth their time. Are you telling me you wouldn't tell her to call me and ask for my help?"
Kurt had never thought about it like that. If Liv wanted to be an actress, though, he would absolutely tell her to use their connection to Rachel if it would help her get where she wanted to be. Why should the rules be any different for him?
"I got through to you, didn't I?" Rachel said proudly.
Kurt laughed. "Yes, you did."
"I'm the best best friend ever," she boasted. Then she sobered. "So what are you going to do about Blaine?"
"Well, obviously, I need to apologize," Kurt replied. He thought about it for a minute, then said, "And I have the perfect way to do it. Can you watch Liv for a while? Her diaper bag has enough supplies to last for a couple days, because I always panic that I'm going to get stranded somewhere in one of those 20/20 special-worthy stories, so you should be fine."
Rachel grinned. "Absolutely. Now tell me about this plan…"