Disclaimer and all that jazz in part 1. Thanks for your amazing support guys.

*g*l*e*e*

Before reaching their twenties, the glee club boys had gone through another growth spurt that added a few more inches to their stature and a lot more grace to their movements.

Well, to all of them but to Finn, who was still all limbs and (even more) height that easily made Kurt disappear in a graceless but heartwarming bear hug. Once Kurt's teen infatuation and the pain caused by Finn's homophobic behavior had been put behind them, Finn had gotten better at freely showing Kurt the brotherly affection Kurt had never had any idea he would ever need, but was dearly treasured, especially during the last stages of Sam's illness.

"Happy New Year, bro!"

"Happy New Year, Finn." Kurt too had learned how to count on others, and the giant stepbrother of his and the larger than life girl Noah was currently crushing to himself had become the real rock Kurt had leant on through that six month period of crisis. "Thanks for meeting us here after all the excitement from last night."

Finn laughed. "What excitement? We're talking Lima, bro; nothing big going on there."

"Finn, please don't tell me you spent the last day of the year with mom and dad," Kurt said, rolling his eyes and already knowing the answer if the meaning behind Finn's sheepishly smile, the one where he lifted just the right corner of his mouth hadn't changed since Christmas, when he had last seen his brother.

"Just for a little while, then I went to a bar with some of the guys from the shop. It was fun, but a lot less exciting than your evening, I bet," Finn said, then, twitching his bloodshot eyes from Noah to Kurt, his lips went from an easy smile to a horrified gape. "And if it was, please keep me in the dark," he added hastily, screwing his eyes shut and sprawling his hands in front of him like a shield ready to block any triple x-rated image his mind could possibly conjure up. The pink in his cheek was definitely not because of the cold.

Now Finn may be okay with the whole gay thing, but he would go blind if he caught the slightest breeze of how Kurt and Noah had rewritten the Kama Sutra the night before. That if the seizures that certainly would follow didn't kill him first.

"Where's my boy? Where's my boy?" A blur made of jeans and magenta came barreling straight to Kurt's arms, almost knocking him off his feet and saving him from dealing with the consequences killing his brother by mortification might arise.

Laughing and spinning each other, Kurt and the girl from his very heart exchanged many enthusiastic happy new year, baby's locked in a tight embrace. "Let me look at you," Mercedes said and Kurt made a show of posing in all angles for Mercedes scrutiny, knowing that his friend wouldn't mince words to give Kurt a piece of her mind if she thought Kurt wasn't taking proper care of himself.

Mercedes whistled her approval and pulled Kurt into another hug. "Baby, you look fantastic. There's just something about you this morning. You glow, Kurt."

"I'm always telling you that religiously regular facial care will do that to your skin."

"Nah, this kind of glow can't be bought in bottles." She smiled mischievously, full of malice. "You have the glow of a thoroughly very well fucked bitch."

"Cedes!" Kurt squeaked slapping her arm. She just laughed again and he joined her. "That's because I was," he said without an inch of humbleness, glancing over her shoulder to where Noah was listening to whatever Finn was saying. "All. Night. Long."

Now it was Mercedes' turn to squeak and slap him on the arm. "Damn, I'm so fucking jealous, I hate you," she groaned. "All I did was hang out with my cousins and then head back to my tiny empty apartment and make do with my lovers Ben and Jerry. It was a cold, cold night."

Kurt winced. "That's too depressing, Cedes. Will it help if I tell you my fun didn't start until after we put the child in bed, and that said child woke us up in the middle of the night, just after we had finally fallen asleep?"

"No! Of course not, white boy. It just means that even with a child in the house you've been getting a lot more action that I have. Hell, than any of my girl friends have," Mercedes ranted and then laughed like eating a gallon of ice cream by herself on New Year's Eve was not such a big deal anymore when in truth Kurt knew it was. "I need food to make up for my bitterness. Why aren't we having this conversation inside?"

"As if I would talk about my very satisfying sex life in the presence of my brother," Kurt snorted.

"Too much information, Kurt."

Kurt jumped to find a blushing Finn, eyes screwed shut again, and a very smugly looking Noah behind them. "How much did you hear?" Kurt asked, fearing the worst.

"Satisfying and sex in the same sentence; that's enough of a trauma to last me for a lifetime, dude."

Mercedes and Noah laughed again and Kurt hid his face in Noah's chest. "I hate you, all of you."

"Not what I got after the fourth, or was it the fifth time we-"

"Shut up, Puckerman!" and "Holly shit, five times, really?" were shouted the same time their hostess approached their group, very composed despite the rosy tint taking over her face.

"Mr. Evans, your table is ready. This way, please."

Mercedes and Finn took the lead of the group, bickering things like That was freaking hot and Dude, what is it about chicks and two guys fucking?

Kurt rolled his eyes and reached out for Noah's hand. "Come on, stud."

Noah didn't move, instead he griped Kurt's fingers and brought their joined hands to his eye level. Noah fluttered calloused fingertips to the strip on Kurt's finger where his wedding ring would be if they hadn't buried Sam with it. For months after Sam's death, Kurt had worn his husband's ring in a chain. Kurt wasn't much keen on jewelry, but, Ben aside, that ring had been his last connection to Sam, and Kurt hasn't been ready to part ways with that part of Sam until three months ago, after he started believing that his getting back together with Noah wasn't something he should feel guilty about anymore.

"Noah-"

"You never told me what you did with Sam's ring."

"It's in a safe box for Ben, for when he's all grown up."

"This kind of connection with his dad will be important when he grows up." Puck smiled sadly. "I wish mine had left me something like this."

Kurt thumbed Noah's face, mapping with his fingers all the lines and scars that made Noah real and perfect, and smiled.

"Our table is ready. Let's go inside and celebrate."

*g*l*e*e*

One more chapter to go and that will be it. Thanks for reading.