Since Kurt refused to come out of his room, to even open the door, for diner, Carole figured she could talk to him about the Blaine situation later, once he wasn't hiding from them.

The next day then. But then it was Tuesday and her schedule was insane. She didn't even get to see Burt until she trudged past him on her way to their bedroom and collapsed face first on their bed. She only had the energy to flick her shoes off, change into her pajamas, and lift the covers so she could roll beneath them.

Wednesday school restarted at McKinley and Kurt stayed after for glee practice and looked so utterly depressed when he returned that she didn't have the heart to have such a delicate discussion with him.

It wasn't until Thursday, when she had off and he came home looking at least a little less depressed that Carole decided she couldn't put the conversation off any longer. She'd gotten off the phone with Finn an hour before and he'd said to expect him home. He'd also said he was going to ask Blaine about coming back to see Kurt.

Yes, Carole nodded to herself, she needed to do this now.

She caught him after he'd put his backpack down and before he'd had the chance to run upstairs to his room. "Kurt, can I talk to you a minute?"

His expression didn't change so she knew he didn't guess what she wanted to discuss. He mumbled an 'okay' and settled himself down on the couch next to her.

"Honey, I meant to talk to you about this before, but timing didn't work out for it. However, I don't think I should put this off anymore. Now, normally I wouldn't really interfere with this, I know how important your relationship with your father is to the both of you and I don't want to meddle with that in any way. But, honey, I'm pretty sure you lied to your dad about what happened all last month, and I want to know why."

Kurt stared at her with big, surprised eyes. "Uh..." His mouth fell open in shock.

Carole gave him a warm smile. "I saw how often you did your sheets. I know that's not normal."

Kurt flushed completely red. "We... I..."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." Carole wanted to pet him, but Kurt didn't always take well to physical contact. It was best to just leave him as he was for the moment.

"But I... You knew? How long did you know?" He seemed so utterly mortified.

"I figured it out after about a week." His eyes got impossibly wider. Maybe she should have said later, but, really, she was trying to make him be honest. Lying to him probably wouldn't help.

"So long - and you didn't tell - or ask about... Carole?" He swallowed roughly. If it wasn't such a serious topic his deer-in-the-headlights reaction would probably be hilarious. She could just picture him ten years younger after getting caught doing something he shouldn't have when he thought he was being so stealthy, that look of utter surprise plastered on his face. He was probably such an adorable child. She'd have to go looking for his baby books one of these days.

"It wasn't my place. I'm not your mother." Carole shrugged. "I might have married you dad and become your step-mom, but I'm not going to try and be a mother to you. I'd rather be your friend.

"And friends can tell each other things like this without fear. Unless you're doing something unsafe, I promise I won't tell your father if you don't want me too."

Something in him relaxed a little, but his eyes were still wide. "Promise?"

"Promise."

After Blaine left, Kurt kind of wanted to shut down. He spent the Tuesday before school restarted hiding in his bedroom and composing a thousand texts to Blaine that he didn't have the courage to send.

Then there was school and Rachel gushing about how Finn had called her everyday since New Year's, sometimes more than once, and that they texted almost constantly. She was so happy while Kurt felt so bad. He was happy for her of course, but he really couldn't handle hearing about it.

So he gravitated to Mercedes, but she'd never really been all that supportive of his relationship with Blaine. She didn't say it, in fact anything she DID say WAS supportive, but Kurt knew her heart wasn't in it. She was worried about him and the way things with Blaine had started and progressed, and that felt kind of good most days, but... He wanted to wallow.

Actually he wanted time to have stopped somewhere around mid-December and for Blaine to have never left.

Or for Blaine to have SAID something, ANYTHING, that changed the rules the way Kurt still wanted them changed.

But he hadn't, and Kurt had already put himself out there too much for him to risk it again. They'd been at a standstill on that front. And if Blaine even noticed, or cared, he hadn't mentioned it.

Kurt had nobody to talk about it. He'd gotten some comments from the rest of New Directions about their mid-night kiss, but a few words had gotten rid of most of them. He was alone to wallow.

Maybe that was why, when she asked, Kurt let everything, EVERYTHING, spill to Carole. He just wanted SOMEONE to talk too. And that someone ended up being his step-mom.

Thursday night he was terrified that she wouldn't keep her promise and would say something to his dad, but Burt didn't do anything differently than he would have before. He didn't say anything to Kurt, didn't even look at him funny. Everything was normal.

Normal sucked.

He didn't want normal. He wanted Blaine.

School started Tuesday and Blaine wanted to shoot himself in the head. Sitting through professors going over the syllabus was so boring, but he needed to be there so he wasn't dropped from any classes. He had to sit there and bare it.

He held his phone at all times, drafting texts to Kurt that he didn't send. He SHOULDN'T send them. He wasn't going to see Kurt again. If Finn asked about carpooling he'd make up an excuse, some project or meeting and he'd get out of it. Then, after a bit, he'd say they broke up. Something, anything so Finn wouldn't take him back to his house and he'd have to see Kurt.

It was kind of funny that he both wanted and didn't want to see Kurt again. Except for the part where it wasn't funny at all because it was just kind of sad and scary.

Blaine forced himself to pay attention to something he'd already heard too many times. And when that proved fruitless he looked around the room and made up personalities for all the people he didn't know and thought about who of the people he did know he should catch up with.

In his third class of the day, his only lecture hall this semester, he came across Sebastian sitting three rows and about forty seats to the left of him. Looking at the back of his head, one he hadn't seen his about three weeks before Thanksgiving, he decided Sebastian was someone he should catch up with.

Maybe being with another guy would get this Kurt fixation out of his system.