Tuesday, three in the afternoon
Blaine was getting worried every time he looked at the clock. Kurt's appointment with the doctor was at eleven that morning and he still hadn't come back. He whipped out his cell phone the moment the bell chimed, signaling the end of classes and the school day. Kurt, you're worrying me. Where r u? Blaine texted, probably for the sixteenth time in the span of the last two hours. He tried to remember if he had something that morning explaining his current absence.
"I'll be back before you know it, Blaine." Kurt said, looking in his mirror as he straightened his red bow tie over the top button of his blue gray button down with a dark gray vest over top of the shirt adorned with a scissor brooch with a chain attached to a black button on the vest.
Blaine sighed and walked over to him from where he was leaning on the doorframe. He wrapped his blazer covered arms around Kurt's waist as he rested his chin on his shoulder. "I know, it just feels… a little lonely when you're gone." Blaine squeezed him gently as he spoke. "Call me when you get there? I'm still worried whenever you're gone with him still out there." He said bitterly.
Kurt turned around in Blaine's arms, so that his arms were now resting on the small of his back. "I know, but the FBI'll catch the belligerent vermin soon. I'll be fine, my dad's going to be with me. And think of it this way, if there's no news, that means he's still running and he'll make some stupid mistake and run into a police officer while getting… a slice of pizza or something. They'll catch him, love, and he'll pay for everything." He brought his hands up to cup Blaine's face and kissed him softly.
Blaine pushed all of his emotions into his lips as he kissed him back, hugging him closer. Suddenly, he felt a vibrating feeling on the front of his leg. Kurt broke the kiss, but remained in his arms as he pulled out his iPhone from his tight fitting gray brown plaid patterned pants.
"My dad's waiting for me. I'll call you when I'm done." He pecked Blaine on the lips. "I love you."
Blaine smiled back as he released him from his arms. "I love you more."
Kurt chuckled. "You're not winning that one, Blaine."
Just as he was about to pick up his bag, Blaine grabbed his arm and whipped him around; pulling him into a passionate kiss that rivaled any movie kiss. "Wanna bet?" He whispered into his lips as they broke apart.
Kurt laughed lightly as he smacked him on the shoulder. "No, but I really do need to go if you don't want my dad to bring out his crowbar, Blaine. I love you." He pushed his way out of his arms playfully and walked out of his room.
Blaine was broken out of his daydreaming when he heard someone call his name from the end of the hall. He turned around to see a stout man with graying hair and mustache coming towards him. "Hey, Professor Sarles." He addressed his math teacher in surprise.
"You need to come with me right now, Blaine. Don't worry, you're not in trouble." He said to him after he stopped. "But you need to come with me."
"What's wrong?" He asked as he followed the teacher with a quick pace.
"I can't tell you right now or right here, Blaine. But it has something to do with your sister." Came the terse reply.
Blaine's face quickly blanched and his stomach dropped as he stumbled in his fast paced walk to the headmaster's office. When they reached the handsomely carved mahogany door of the office, Professor Sarles opened the door for him and motioned for him to go in. Inside, Blaine saw two familiar people dressed in dark blue clothing, a man in a suit, and Dalton's headmaster sitting in front of the desk.
"Hello, Blaine." Tyler lifted his head when he heard the door open. He gave him a small smile as Blaine nervously sat down on the leather couch.
"What's going on? Why are you two here? Is it because of my father? Are Lauren and Joey safe? Is Kurt safe? What's happening?" Blaine stammered, clearly overwhelmed at Tyler and Julia as well as the headmaster in the room.
"Calm down, Blaine. We have news, but we need you to stay calm and not panic, okay?" Julia said, crossing the gaps from where everyone was sitting and settling down on the seat next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
Blaine nodded as he shut his mouth, not trusting himself to talk. He looked around nervously at the two SWAT members and his headmaster, whose face had a grave expression.
"Hello, Blaine. I'm Detective Luke Ludtke. I was assigned to your case when you and your friends were found." The man in the blue suit said to him, offering his hand to Blaine.
"I remember you. You were in the room when I gave my statement in the hospital." Blaine said, a bit surprised.
"Yes, I was." He smiled briefly before expression turned somber. "Now, we do have news on your father." He pulled a few papers out of the brown leather briefcase by his feet. "Do you recognize this building?" The detective handed him a picture of a white stone structure surrounded by bright, cheery flowers.
Blaine looked surprised. "Yeah, it's the school my sister goes to in California. Madeline Thames Academy. Why?"
Tyler and Julia looked at each other, their mouths set in a grim line. "We believe that your father was seen in the vicinity of Lauren's school. Does this look like him?"
Blaine looked down as another picture was placed into his hands. It showed a dark blue truck with a man inside the cab with black hair, a mustache, and sunglasses. "It somewhat does, but I can't be sure. My bastard of a father never grew a mustache or wore sunglasses, though." He admitted, still looking down at the image. He was oblivious to the grim looks the adults were wearing as they looked at him. His breath caught in his throat as he connected the dots in his head. "Wait. Does this mean… Is Lauren… Why…?" He asked, too many thoughts swirling in his head to get a complete sentence out.
"Calm down, Blaine. Like I said, we do have news." Julia said soothingly to him, her arm still around his shoulders.
"The school contacted the FBI branch in California after his man and the truck made several trips past the school, slowing down every time he reached the back of the school which is where - "
"The dorms are." Blaine breathed out, his eyes wide. "Detective, please tell me my sister is safe."
Detective Ludtke nodded. "She's fine but she doesn't know about this. Our plan at the moment is to keep her in the dark, so to say, and we're upping the security at her school. We think that, if indeed that man is your father, he might be targeting her next. But like, we said, we don't know if that man is your father."
Blaine let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Do Jason and Sarah know about this?" He looked towards Julia beside him.
She nodded, her green eyes bright. "Yes. And so does your brother's middle school; we're going to up the security there as well as a precautionary measure. We're still going to keep the security here with the two of us so everyone'll be safe."
His eyebrows knitted up. "What about Mairead?"
Tyler nodded reassuringly. "We're setting up security details at her school as well. Everyone's going to be safe, Blaine. I promise."
"I'll let you know, also, that we've seized several personal computers from your father's printing company. The company will not be jeopardized in any way. Currently, the vice president is taking over and will handle everything so you won't have to, Blaine." The detective said.
"I thought he already was?" Blaine asked confused.
"Well…" the detective hesitated before continuing. "Truth is, Blaine, operations had been stopped for several weeks while we interviewed everyone in the company about your father. We had no choice but to investigate everything your father might have left clues or accomplices that aided in your kidnapping. But now everyone is back in the company and working."
"Oh, if that's all then… I'm fine with it." Blaine shrugged it off as he handed the two pictures back to the detective.
"That's all we have so far, Blaine. We need to talk privately, now, but if you need us, we'll be in the teachers' quarters." Tyler said.
Blaine nodded and stood up, shaking hands with Detective Ludtke before walking out. He could feel the wind the door created behind his back as it closed. Letting out a sigh, he could feel the anger boiling inside him. It was a miracle he could walk up to his dorm room without breaking anything on the way. Once in his room, however, it was a completely different story. Blaine threw himself onto his bed, uniform and all, and started screaming profanities face first into his pillow, pounding his fists into the mattress beside his head. His cell phone rumbled and shook in his pocket insistently, but he ignored it in favor of taking out his anger on the soft mattress. It was finally when his ringtone sounded he could stand it anymore and pulled it out and answered it without checking who was calling. "WHAT?" He exploded angrily into the Android.
"Hello to you, too." Mairead's voice said drily. "Mom just told me what happened."
"Can… can I just rant for a minute, Mari?" Blaine said through gritted teeth as he rolled over onto his back.
"I was just going to ask you if you wanted to. Give it to me." Mairead said.
Blaine felt the anger boil over as he yelled into his phone profanities laced throughout about his father, about how unfair that he had to be the one to hold together his now fragmented family, how his mother was dead way before it was her time to go, about everything she would miss out on in all of their lives, and so on and so on.
"Better?" Mairead asked kindly.
"Yeah… tons." Blaine said, opening his eyes and staring up into the ceiling for the first time he landed on his bed. "I just don't get why the bastard won't give up. He has the authorities looking for him all over this freaking country."
"Well, he's not going to be free for much longer by the way the FBI are putting a bounty on his head." Mairead said harshly.
"I… I just don't get why he had to do this. Just because I'm gay? Just because I prefer guys?" Blaine murmured, running a hand over his face.
Mairead sighed from the other side of the call. "Don't think about it too hard. Think about other things. Trust me, thinking about this is going to keep you up all night and I know you haven't been sleeping, Blaine." She accused.
"Kurt?"
"Kurt."
Blaine sighed. "It's the nightmares, Mari. They won't stop. I keep seeing you, Joey, Lauren, and Kurt dead or about to be dead."
"Well, you're not losing me that easily. I'll fight tooth and nail to stay alive. You still sound stressed, Blaine. Why don't you go box the punching bag? Get some of that anger out." Mairead suggested. "I have to get back to doing homework and I need to practice viola, too. I just wanted to call to get you to release some anger before Kurt gets back from his appointment."
"Kurt!" Blaine bolted upright in the bed. "Mari, he hasn't gotten back yet. His appointment was at eleven and now it's…" He looked at his watch, "It's four o'clock. It was just a follow up appointment. I'm actually getting scared, Mari."
"Blaine, he might have stopped at home or gone to visit his friends at McKinley. I'm sure he's fine. Just calm down and go box." She ordered him over the phone.
"Alright, I guess." He said sullenly.
"Blaine, go. I love you and I'll talk to you later."
"Love you too. Bye." Blaine hung up after her reply. He sighed one last time and checked his text messages he ignored earlier. The first one was from Kurt, saying he would be back shortly and the next one was from Mairead, asking him to talk. He got up off of the bed and into his closet, looking for his white tank top and mesh workout shorts. A few minutes later found him boxing the hell out of a punching bag with his right hand, he didn't want to risk reinjuring his left wrist while it was still weak from weeks of being in a cast and brace. Blaine kept imagining the face of his father and everyone who had ever hurt him. It drew the attention of the other boys in gym working out on various apparatuses alongside him.
"Blaine?" Flint called softly from where he was sitting up from bench pressing weights. His voice the only sound in the gym other than the loud thumps of Blaine's boxing glove pounding the hanging bag.
"What?" Punch.
"Are you okay?"
"I." Punch. "Am." Punch. "Perfectly." Punch. "FINE." Punch. Blaine growled with every punch. "Why?" He panted, punching the bag one last time before stopping and realizing everyone in the gym was looking at him. "Don't you all have stuff to do?" He half-shouted at all the boys.
Everyone almost immediately went back to their tasks while keeping a wary eye on him. Flint stood up and walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get something to drink."
"So, what's going on?" Flint said as they sat on an uncluttered wooden bench in the empty locker room, chugging down bottles of Gatorade.
Blaine sighed as he took the bottle away from his lips after swallowing half a bottle of the berry flavored drink. "My father's in California. Near my sister, the police think. It's scaring me to death that he might get to her the way he got to me and Kurt." He looked down at his hands.
"So what are they doing?"
"They're setting up security stuff but even with all of this going on, I can't help but think about the worst case scenarios, you know?" Blaine told him before taking another sip of his Gatorade.
Flint nodded. "I know what you mean. All the bad thoughts that just pop up and the most inconvenient times?"
Blaine bobbed his head as he screwed the orange cap back on the half empty bottle. He played around with the ends of the wrapping he encased his knuckles with before answering the burly Warbler beat boxer. "More like all the time." Blaine said quietly. "I just don't know what's going to happen with him still out there, Flint."
"Nor should you. The future doesn't exist, Blaine. It isn't set in stone what people do or don't do. Everything is up in the air and it's not up to us whether they happen or not." Flint told him wisely.
"But what I can do is-"
"Is not to worry too much." Flint cut in before Blaine could finish. "Your brother and sister are going to be safe. Mairead's going to safe and so are you and Kurt. Blaine, worrying too much about everything is only going to hurt you. What you can do is be there for your family; and let your family be there for you as you're there for them. I mean, look at us? If you told me a year ago that the Warblers would be heading to a regional show choir competition, I would have throttled you across the wrestling room mats and called you completely insane. And now look what we've done?" Flint flung his arms out.
Blaine smiled and ducked his head in defeat of Flint's excellent argument. He held his hands up and grinned more confidently at him. "I surrender. You got me, Flint."
Flint laughed. "Once you stop and think about it, it's actually kinda abstract." He stood up with his bottle of orange Gatorade in hand. "I'm going back out, wanna come back out and punch some more?"
Blaine shook his head, his muscles already aching from being used too much after not using them enough before today. "Nah, I think I got most of my anger out; until someone steals my guitar again." He joked.
Rolling his eyes, Flint headed towards the door. "I'll the guys to leave you alone. Just remember, don't worry about anything. It'll come in time." He abruptly stopped in his footsteps as a blush colored his face. "That sounded so wrong." He said bleakly in embarrassment.
Blaine couldn't stop the laughter from accenting his voice. "Flint… just… just go!" Blaine laughed, his stomach hurting from the gales of laughter trying to explode out of him; he only restrained from full out laughing to save his friend some shred of dignity.
Once he heard the door slam unintentionally shut, Blaine straddled the bench and lay down on his back while he laughed until he ran out of breath. Feeling considerably lighter, he got up after a bit and changed out of his sweat soaked clothing. Just as he was unrolling the wrappings from his right hand, he heard his Android rumble on the shelf of the dark brown colored wood locker. Kurt's name popped up as he unlocked his phone, a text message ready to be read.
Meet me on the Masters' Staircase?
Blaine texted back as he slipped his shoes on. Let me shower first, I was just in the gym.
Just as he was about to leave the locker room, Kurt texted him again. No. Blaine, just meet me on the staircase. I need to tell you something… important.
Blaine frowned slightly as he changed direction in the hallway he was walking in, instead heading towards the Warblers' room and then the staircase. As he approached, he could see Kurt a little less than halfway up on the spiral stairwell; running his hand along the smooth iron railing and looking at the portraits of Dalton's headmasters on the curving wall underneath the mirrors that hung high up. "Hey." Blaine called out to him as he started to ascend the marble steps.
Kurt smiled as he waited for Blaine to make his way to him. He planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Hello. You look very nice like this, you know?" He raised a hand up to Blaine's hair, curls popping free of the gel when he was boxing.
Blaine slipped over Kurt's on the railing. "You said you had something you wanted to talk about?" Kurt nodded but Blaine continued on. "I have something to tell you, too."
Raising a delicately plucked eyebrow, Kurt responded, "Oh? Do tell."
Grimacing, Blaine told him about Matthew being in California near his sister and the new security being put up around them. The entire time, he could feel Kurt's hand clenching ever so slightly under his.
"Maybe I shouldn't do this then…" Kurt mumbled under his breath as Blaine finished up, hoping he didn't hear.
Blaine, however, did hear his little murmur. "Kurt, what shouldn't you do?"
Kurt took a deep breath before starting. He looked down at Blaine, since he was higher up on the staircase than he was. "Do you remember how I first met you? On this stairwell? We're almost at the exact same spot we first saw each other." Kurt said softly.
Blaine looked around and found that he was right, they were both standing the exact same way, too. He nodded his agreement.
"Do you remember why I transferred? To Dalton?" He shifted his gazed towards their hands layered against the other.
"To get away from Karofsky. Kurt, what's going on?" Blaine asked, his voice laced with concern.
Kurt nodded and lifted his glasz pupils to meet Blaine's hazel orbs. "Blaine, Karofsky, his dad and my dad… arranged a meeting in Figgins' office today at McKinley."
Blaine's eyes went wide, his mouth gaping open and his heart pounding in his chest as he imagined what in the world they could have said to each other.
Giving him a small smile, Kurt continued. "Karofsky wanted to apologize for everything he did to me while I was still at McKinley. Turns out his diabolical ulterior motive was to get him and Santana the monarchial titles of the school's biggest social event coming up soon."
Blaine nodded, not trusting himself to speak quite yet. He wondered if only apologized to prevent anyone from finding out his secret.
"Anyway," Blaine's attention snapped back to Kurt. "He and Santana created the 'Bully Whips' to apparently stop anyone bullying in the halls. So far, it's working and he's reformed underneath Santana's caring wing." Kurt rolled his eyes.
Blaine gave a breathy laugh. "So if he's apologized, what does that mean to you, love?"
Kurt took his hand off of Blaine's and raised both hands to cup Blaine's face. "You know I love you, right? I love you so much that it hurts me to tell you…"
Blaine lifted his own hands to grip Kurt's wrists gently. "You're transferring back to McKinley, aren't you?" He tried to say without getting too choked up.
Kurt averted his eyes to the steps beneath them. "I want to, Blaine. I want to be with my friends again. As much as I love you and the Warblers, I miss them."
"Kurt."
The brunette looked back up to see tears in Blaine's eyes as his heart sank to the bottoms of his feet. Kurt opened his mouth but Blaine kept talking.
"I want you to go back."
Kurt stood there stunned. "But, what about-"
Blaine pressed a finger to Kurt's lips. "We'll be fine. We'll still call each other every day and Skype whenever we can; and we'll see each other as soon as school lets out for weekends and breaks; and we'll be together every minute of this summer. I promise; I'm not mad or sad. I'm happy that you're going back to the New Directions. You deserve to be happy, Kurt."
Before Blaine could get another word out, Kurt pressed his lips to his and kissed him emotionally, tears slipping down both of their faces. "You deserve to be happy too, Blaine. I love you and I would never leave you." Kurt whispered when the broke apart.
"I know." Blaine whispered equally as quiet. "I love you, too."
The two of them walked down the staircase holding the other's arm, a soft orange light filtering from above through the frosted glass ceiling window with the elegant black iron detailing throwing shadows across the walls as they lovingly walked together.
Wednesday, one in the afternoon
"…So effective at the end of school tomorrow, I will no longer be a student at Dalton Academy." Kurt said as he completed telling the Warblers about his transfer back to McKinley. "I want to thank you all for making the past few months an experience I won't soon forget. Being part of the Warblers has been one of the best moments in my, admittedly, young life and I can't thank you enough for accepting me into this amazing choir."
Silence reigned after Kurt finished. Most of the boys had stunned or surprised looks on their faces, not fully realizing that one of their own was about to leave their ranks. Wes was the first one to regain his voice. "Kurt, while this is unexpected, I'm sure all of us will miss you quite sorely. Thank you for what you've contributed to the Warblers." He blinked away tears and cleared his throat to hide the fact that he was devastated before continuing onto other business.
Kurt sat down beside Blaine on the comfy brown leather couch, taking Blaine's hand and squeezing as Blaine smiled at him and squeezed back. Mainly focused on running his thumb over Blaine's knuckles, Kurt barely paid attention to Thad, Wes, and David talking about the future performances of the Warblers before being dismissed for the evening.
"Blaine, can you stay back for a few minutes?" David called out to the pair just as they were about to walk out.
The two turned, still holding hands, and Blaine nodded.
"I'll be in my room, packing up my clothes." Kurt murmured in his ear as Blaine leaned into kiss his cheek.
Once Kurt was out of sight, two of the Warblers still in the room shut the door hurriedly. Blaine looked back in the room and saw everyone was still there. "Guys… what…?" He asked the room in general.
"Blaine, sit back down." Thad directed. Blaine sat back down in his seat as a cacophony of conversations sounded around him.
"What are we going to do?"
"Do you think The Fray's Cable Car?"
"How about Colby Calliet? Should be easy enough…"
"I think we should do Coldplay's Yellow; we can substitute the drum parts for Flint's beatboxing."
The gavel sounded three times quite loudly and all the talking stopped. Blaine looked bemused at everyone. "What's going on? Why's everyone still here?"
David sighed. "We need to talk about a sendoff song for Kurt. We do it for every Warblers who leaves us during the school year."
"The last we did was for James, a year and half ago. Before you came, Blaine." Thad added.
"Turns out he transferred to a French school when his mother got promoted to a U.S. delegate's assistant." Wes added as he was on his iPhone and was scrolling through something on the screen.
"So you need me… why?" Blaine asked carefully.
"We want you to sing solo. Since you two are dating and close. What song do you think we should sing to him?" David asked, looking at him seriously.
Blaine dug through his brain as everyone around him were on smart phones or laptops looking through song lists. Some of them murmured suggestions but Blaine remained still and silent as he tried to think of a good song to sing to the soon departing Warbler.
"What about…" Blaine began softly, hesitating at his choice. "What about Keane's 'Somewhere Only We Know'?"
The room fell silent once more as everyone pondered at his choice. Blaine waited, hoping everyone wouldn't question it.
"Sounds good to me!" Jeff said, breaking everyone's thoughts. "I mean, it shouldn't be too hard."
"Yes, Jeff, but what about the melody? If we're going to do that song, we'll need boys with high voices to harmonize with the baritones to balance out the choruses. And the only boy with a high enough voice is Kurt." Wes said, quickly typing something on his iPhone.
"And there's also the question of where we're going to sing this to him. I mean, when we sang to James, it was at the entrance of the school right as he was going to leave." David responded.
"How about we go to McKinley?" Blaine suggested. "Kurt's not going to like making a huge spectacle in front of Dalton and it'll make him feel more guilty than he already is for leaving." He left out the part about Kurt feeling guilty for leaving him. "And I'm sure we can get the New Directions to help out with singing the song."
"Alright, let's get started." Thad plugged his iPhone into the iPod dock that connected to the room's sound speakers. "Grant, you take first run."
A boy to the right of Blaine nodded and left the room. "First run?" Blaine asked as everyone watched him exit though the doors.
"It's just to make sure Kurt doesn't suspect anything. We'll take turn standing guard in the dorm hallway to make sure he doesn't come here. Blaine, can you talk to the New Directions to organize rehearsal with them tomorrow? Maybe in the evening?" Wes asked of him.
Blaine nodded and the Warblers began practicing. It wasn't until nearly midnight they adjourned. Blaine dragged his feet back to his dorm and opened his door to a dark room. He decided to keep lights off and undressed in the dark, feeling for his pajamas and redressing in the t-shirt and sweatpants. Sliding under the covers, his cheek hit a piece of paper on his pillow. Squinting, as he already took out his contacts, he read the words in elegant cursive:
I'll see you tomorrow morning during Calc. I love you, Blaine Anderson. –K
Blaine smiled and tucked the note beneath his pillow and drifted off with the words of Somewhere Only We Know sounding in his head.
Thursday, three in the afternoon
Burt slammed the trunk door down on Kurt's Navigator and told him he would be waiting in the car. The Warblers along with a crowd of Dalton boys were standing right outside the gates.
"Well, this is good bye." Kurt called out to the boys. "I'll miss you all and I'll come back and visit some time. Thank you guys, for making me feel welcome."
Kurt tried to keep his tears back as he hugged a few of the boys he had grown to be friends with, from either classes or just passing the hallways of the school. Everyone walked back into the school, except one who hung back after everyone left.
Blaine walked up to Kurt, holding a rectangular parcel wrapped in brown paper in his hands. "Hey." Blaine said softly, leaning in close to Kurt. He wound his fingers though Kurt's.
"You know how much I love you. I don't want to see you hurting, Blaine. Please don't cry." Kurt pleaded quietly, sensing that Blaine was close to tears.
Blaine blinked rapidly to keep tears from falling. He held out the wrapped package. "Here, something to remind us when you're back at McKinley."
Kurt smiled as he took the present and ripped open the wrapping. It was a picture of all the Warblers celebrating on stage after singing "Raise Your Glass" at Regionals. He smiled as he saw Blaine and him in the center, swamped by all the other boys around them.
"Mairead rush ordered the picture online after I told her last night. She got the frame, too." Blaine told him.
Looking at the black iron surrounding the glass covering, he admired Mari's choice. The vines wound around the rectangular shape, occasionally sprouting two leaves on both sides of a vine. What really made the frame memorable was the color of the leaves; half of the leaves were blue and the other half purple.
"She managed to get our two favorite colors painted on the leaves. Her mom's friend works a Hallmark shop so it was easy to get it painted right away." Blaine explained. "And here, one more present." He pulled out a key from his pocket. "This key; it's the key to Mairead's house. If you want to come see me when I'm there, use the key." Blaine placed the key on top of the picture frame.
"Blaine…" Kurt breathed out. "I…" Tears started rolling down his pale cheeks and dripped off his chin to the ground.
Blaine gently rested a finger on his lips, his own tears coming down. He leaned in and kissed Kurt softly but passionately. Both of their faces were wet as they stood there.
"Kurt, let's go, kiddo. Carole's made a special dinner for you and we'll be late if we don't get going now." Burt called out with the passenger side window rolled down.
The two broke apart and looked towards the back windows of the Navigator. Blaine smiled as Kurt looked him in the eyes, already red rimmed from the tears. "I love you, Kurt Hummel." Blaine whispered.
"I love you, Blaine Anderson, and I'll never stop loving you." Kurt whispered back. The two kissed one last time before Kurt climbed into the car.
Blaine stayed where he was, in the entrance of the gates until he couldn't see the black car anymore. He wiped his eyes and nose on his shirt sleeve and walked swiftly into Dalton's student parking lot where Jeff was waiting in his car along with Nick and Trent. Blaine quickly opened the door to the seat behind Jeff and buckled his seat belt as Jeff revved up the engine and screeched out of the parking lot. The other Warblers were already en route to McKinley.
He sniffled and started to wipe his nose on his sleeve again until Trent offered him a tissue box. Blaine smiled gratefully and thanked him. Jeff and Nick were already singing along with the radio as they turned onto the highway. Blaine leaned his head back into the seat and looked out the window, going over the lyrics in his head. Before he noticed, he had drifted off. Trent shook his shoulder as they pulled into the student parking lot of McKinley High School.
"Hey, Blaine." Mercedes said as she hugged him after the four of them located the New Direction girls and the Warblers in the concrete courtyard rehearsing.
"Hi, Mercedes." Blaine answered into her shoulder. "Thanks for letting us do this."
"Aw, it was nothing. Although it was a pain to keep it from Rachel, though. If she knew, this whole thing would be for nothing."
"Speaking of Rachel, where is she?" Blaine looked around.
"She's out with Finn and the boys. Finn got your text, so he's keeping them and Rachel busy while we do our thing here." Mercedes explained.
Tina, Santana, Lauren Zizes, Quinn, Brittany, and the other Warblers were fooling around while they waited for Blaine to come. Blaine could hear the band warming up behind them. The two groups rehearsed until it became too dark to practice anymore. Brittany was used as the Kurt substitute the whole time and seemed to enjoy it considering that she was about to follow the boys when they went back to their cars, Santana stopped her before she could get in the same car with Thad and the other two Warbler council members.
Blaine yawned as he looked up at the ceiling of his room when his phone rumbled with the prospect of a text. He put his glasses on with one hand as he read that he missed seventeen text messages from Kurt, most of them asking why he hadn't texted him back; the last one threatening to come back to Dalton. Texting back, Blaine reassured him that he was okay and that he was just doing some extra credit movie review for his Latin class.
Turning off his cell phone, Blaine tried to sleep but the nervous feeling in his stomach wouldn't allow it. He tossed and turned until two in the morning. Having enough of the sleeplessness, he resorted to turning on his MacBook laptop and going to YouTube and went to a video of Keane singing the song he would soon sing to Kurt. Putting it on repeat, he finally dozed off.
Friday, five minutes before noon
Taking out his pocket watch, he fidgeted with the clasp from where he was hiding out with the Warblers behind a brick wall that concealed them from the court yard. He had snuck a peak of Kurt when he saw him walking to the top of the stairwell. Blaine couldn't help but smile at how happy Kurt looked in his black pants, white heeled shoes, startling white jacket, and a black top hat. Spying something shiny at Kurt's neck, Blaine's heart gave a little jump when he saw the key he had given him hanging front and center of his key necklace that was attached to the front of his shirt collar.
Blaine took a deep breath as he heard Mercedes proclaim to the New Directions that it was noon and then Kurt's shout of his transfer back to his friends. He jumped slightly as Wes put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled while they wait for Mercedes to say the phrase that would bring him, David, and Wes out before the rest of the Warblers joined him. He looked nervously at the courtyard full of the students and then heard Mercedes half shout the phrase.
Blaine walked down the first flight of stairs and faced Kurt, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him as he spoke. "Kurt, Dalton's going to miss you. You were a great addition to the Warblers. You made us a better team." He swallowed before continuing, keeping his voice steady. "I'm sad to see you go, but we all know that this is something that you really want." Blaine glanced side to side at Wes and David nodding solemnly. "I'll still have you after school and on the weekends, but these guys won't so they wanted to say good bye." He motioned to the two boys behind him with his hands and smiled.
"And thank you, Kurt." Wes added.
Wes and David started the song just as the other Warblers filed in, in perfect formation and Blaine started singing.
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sent by the river and it made me complete
Blaine walked towards Kurt, the Warblers following him and spreading themselves out, smoothly executing their routine down the stairs.
Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
Running down to the piano, he could feel his still healing leg protesting but he pushed away the pain. Blaine's left hand and fingers ached with the sudden exertion of playing the faux ivory and ebony keys but he willed away the pain.
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know
This could be the end of everything
Watching from the corner of his eye, he saw the Warblers coming down the steps to stand behind him. As they did so, Blaine couldn't help the torrent of memories flashing through his mind of the two of them; from when they first met that faithful day on the stair case to their first kiss.
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know
He stopped playing on the piano, walked up to Kurt, and pulled him lovingly down by both hands, taking in his smile. All of the New Directions joined in with the acapella choir as the Warblers continued singing as he harmonized with them, elongating certain words. The boys came up and clapped him on the shoulder or hugged him as their final farewell before joining the New Directions back on the stairs.
Somewhere we know
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know
Blaine joined back in as Finn and Mercedes hugged him.
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know
Blaine looked down and struggled to keep the sob that was fighting its way to the surface.
Kurt pulled Blaine into a tight hug. "I'm never saying good bye to you." He mumbled into Blaine's ear. They only broke apart when a bell sounded, signaling the end of the period.
Blaine gave him one last look before following his friends up the stairs and out of the courtyard. Stopping halfway up, he looked back to see Kurt surrounded by the New Directions and crying softly. Blaine smiled as a tear slipped down his own face and he started to walk back up the steps to go back to Dalton, surrounded by his friends squeezing his shoulder.
Going back to his dorm room after coming back to Dalton, he locked the door and flung himself face down on his bed, uniform and all. He sobbed into his pillow out of happiness that Kurt was back at McKinley, sorrow that Kurt wasn't at Dalton anymore, and just crying for the sake of releasing the emotions he had been holding back from exploding out of him all day.
Two hours or so passed and Blaine was looking at the wall, calming himself down when his cell phone rang. He had been ignoring the rumblings of his Android but he couldn't avoid the shrill ringtone. "Hello?" Blaine answered dully, not even bothering to read who was calling before pressing the green button on his touch screen to answer it.
"Skype. Now." Mairead's voice answered him sternly.
"Not in the mood, Mari." Blaine grumbled, rolling over onto his back.
"Do I need to get Jeff to break into your room and force you to get on your computer?" She demanded. "I know what happened today and you realize what time it is?"
Blaine stayed silent, not really caring about the time; not really caring about anything at all, actually.
"It's half past four and none of the boys haven't seen you at all since you all got back. Nick told me that you locked yourself in your room and refuse to answer anyone's texts. Including mine." Mairead sighed. "Look, Blaine… I care about you, Kurt cares about you, everyone at fucking Dalton cares about you. So, please… get on Skype with me 'cause I really am worried about you." She concluded quietly.
Hearing the pleading tone in her voice, he acquiesced. "I'll be on in a few minutes." With that, he ended the call without hearing her response. Blaine dragged himself to his desk and powered up his MacBook. Once it was on, he looked at his desktop image of him and Kurt hugging a few seconds before clicking on his Skype link on his toolbar. Just as he was about to click Mairead's name on the left side of the Skype window, he wasn't surprised that she called first. Her face popped up on his screen.
"Thank you." Mairead said, her face relaxing in relief to Blaine's appearance on her screen. "You look tired." She said softly, adjusting her hands under her chin.
Blaine sighed. "You think?" He said sarcastically.
"No, I mean you look tired. Not just physically, Blaine." She ignored his previous statement. "When's the last time you've just relaxed? Or had fun?"
Blaine blinked. What? He thought inwardly for a moment, trying to comprehend her question. "Um…" was all he could manage as he searched his brain.
Mairead raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She asked dryly. "You haven't had to hose down the chem labs yet from Jeff and Nick? Even last week when they mixed hydrogen peroxide and Heckland's mystery solution that basically made foam fill the room?"
Coughing out a laugh, Blaine remembered the incident. "No, but I remember that I was frantically trying to remember the stoichiometry formulas for the test I had to make up after class that day."
"Okay, here's what's going to happen." Mairead shifted on her bed, the pillow nearly disappearing underneath her arms. "You're coming home this weekend and we're going to have fun."
"Sure, I guess." Blaine said listlessly, his mind turning back to Kurt.
Mairead's gaze turned from joking to serious. "And besides, your mom's gravestone was delivered to the cemetery today. I'd thought you and Joey would want to go and visit her, too; since you're coming home anyway." She paused to let him soak in the news. "My mom and dad have a present for you, too. And Lauren when she comes home in June."
Blaine looked mildly surprised. "Care to tell me?"
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a present, would it?"
"…Touché."
Blaine grinned as she laughed on the other end of the Skype call. The two of them talked together about various other things before Blaine had to sign off for homework.
"Yes, I promise, I'll meet your dad at the front gates after school Friday and we'll have fun." Blaine rolled his eyes after Mairead threatened not to let him off the call until he promised.
Mairead smirked. "Love you, Blaine."
"Love you, too, Mairead."
Flipping the screen shut, he leaned back on his chair feeling happier. Blaine changed out of his uniform into a casual pale black button up with a white and gray t-shirt underneath, worn dark blue jeans, and his gray Converses. As he walked down the spiral staircase to go to the dining hall, he stopped at the place where Kurt first introduced himself to him. Blaine closed his eyes and let the memory replay in his mind and when he opened his eyes again, he couldn't help but smile broadly.
"So why don't we go, somewhere only we know…" He sang softly to himself, smiling, before he continued on his way to Dalton's dining hall to have dinner with his friends.
Hi guys, I just wanted to thank you guys for your kind words of encouragement and support last chapter. Life still... sucks, but I'm toughing it through. Like I said last chapter, the updates are going to be irregular but I promise to keep going on this story.
Thank you so much, guys. And like always, please leave a kind word or two in a review. :)
4-2-12