Okay kids, here we go again. This chapter is emotional and in places so fluffy it will spontaneously combust into a flurry of feathers and stuffing...but it's Klaine and they needed some happiness. It moves forward in time a little now and you get to see them develop more.

Warning* - I have the end of this story plotted, so review and let me know what you would like to see here before it ends.

Disclaimer : I own Glee now...Psych!...yeah I so don't.

Love you all, and I appreciated each review, alert or comment as always. xoxo

Bittersweet Symphony

Chapter 17 – Hope

(KPOV)

The dream was always the same. When I dreamt, it never changed.

My sleeping patterns had always been like a record on repeat, they were meant to frighten but now it was a kind of scary normalcy. This was the first time in recent years though that I noticed something different, something good actually, and that was what startled me the most I think. Since when was my dream different, since when did it not end badly?

I was in a large house, a mansion I guess, but it wasn't a home. The large 19th century inspired hallways, the delicate detail of the fabric wallpaper's intricate designs, and the dark stain of the wooden door frames, it was always the same.

I felt like I was trapped in a Tim Burton movie from years ago, all the colours here muted and pale, even in the clothes that I wore. I would walk down the hall, ever panicked, trying to open the never ending set of identical doors, becoming equally frustrated when they wouldn't budge. They never budged.

It seemed like I was walking the green mile, the burning of anticipation that would never come to fruition as I tugged at any door, trying to get out of this never ending tunnel of paled beauty but forced confinement.

I would shake in fear, knowing that I had to get out, I had to reach some sort of impasse when all of a sudden, and as per usual, a black door would open in front of me, seemingly out of nowhere.

Feeling the cool and bitter breeze on my face was the only saving grace in my unending dream, because now that one freedom was made, I was facing another confinement in front of me. I was facing a forest; a forest of dead trees.

My resurgence of fear continued as always, my dreams always manifested fear.

The house I was in would vanish, leaving me at the brink of the dying woods as my will pushed me down a path that looked far more dangerous each time I imagined it. It was as if I had no control over my feet but let an unseen spectre push me in the direction of its choosing.

Progressing into the forest I remained lost, I was always lost, roaming around never getting anywhere, always seeming to be in the exact same spot even as I ran. The trees looked more menacing, the sound of silence filling my ears because I couldn't even hear my own breathing in here. The silence wouldn't allow it.

No matter the insanity of it all, I would try and call out for someone but I would never hear my own voice, like it was quieting me from within. That or I was silencing myself, and the world around me from it.

The beauty of the solitude surrounded me but frightened me as it always did. The more I dreamt of this place the more familiar I was with it, and I think that's what always scared me awake; the knowledge that I had created a silent hell in my own head that was beautiful and enchanting in the same ways it was terrifying.

I would run, always running in the direction the silence would push me, and I never found a way out. I would collapse on the ground and sob for reasons I still don't know. The loneliness of it all would consume me and I would wake, whenever the silence would let me, and I would be back in my real world, the one that haunted me more sometimes that the dream.

Only this time it was different.

I didn't crumble on the ground of scattered dead leaves, but stayed standing and watching ever hopeful at the path in front of me.

I saw it and for a moment I swore that it wasn't real. It was a dream within a dream surely but I felt something in me then that I hadn't ever felt in my vision before: hope.

A figure clad in black blending into the dead foliage around, the only thing making him stand out was an orange scarf around his neck. Yes I figured it was man, somehow I already knew that. Something like a heartstring plucked as I found my own footing and ran to the figure in front of me. He didn't turn around, not hearing my approach but casually walked down the path, hands seemingly in his pockets as if he were strolling in Central Park, following his own silence I guessed.

Before I could reach out to turn him around, he found his heel and faced me on his own.

Blaine.

He smiled, not the brilliant, full, sun blinding smile that I knew in my waking life but a confident closed mouth one. I tried to tell him how happy I was to see him, how relieved I was and at the same time telling him to run away from here and never return, but as usual nothing came out as I mouthed the words I willed him to hear.

Blaine kept smiling, cocking his head to the side with a relieved expression. He blinked and it was then that I noticed his eyes. The colour of molten amber and showered gold, the one true thing in this place that had true colour, true life.

It warmed me in an instant...this dream was different.

He held out his hand, the gesture seemed so foreign in this place, like showing affection was something the silence would not allow. He looked towards the path ahead, as did I, and I swore it looked less treacherous now with him by my side. The path ahead was something better, scary but something better, and Blaine was offering to walk with me.

It could only be better because he was there. Taking the hand was like feeling the warmth of the world all focused on one spot in your body, the sheer difference in temperature I felt in our surroundings was extreme. He looked at me fondly and then to the road ahead.

It was the first time that someone else moved me down the path besides my silent spectre, and it felt for once a little less like failure. It was the first time I hadn't given up.

I woke up not screaming for once in fear or frustration, I woke up with the tiniest of smiles, which only grew bigger when I took in my true surroundings.

The dream hadn't taken another small part of me with it, for once it had given me something to hope for, and that hope was what I woke up to.

The grip of dream Blaine's hand was not so much a dream, nor was the steady sound of his heartbeat as it grew louder in the position I was in. The radiance of his amber eyes in my dream were replaced my the dim light of the fireplace in my living room, and only then was I comforted in my true surroundings.

Blaine and I lay on the floor, immersed in the blankets and throw pillows still, my body was lazily draped over his, my right leg entwined with his and my head was nestled on his warm chest. I'm sure my breath was tickling his chest, the small amount of it that was exposed from his shirt being mussed a little, but the thing that caught my attention most was the sure grip Blaine had on my right hand. Our fingers were laced together in sleep, a bond so tight that it fought its way into my dream as he held it to his heart.

It was with this unconscious gesture that I felt a swoop in my stomach that I hadn't felt in a long time. The love I had for this man could and hopefully would aid in the recovery of what I had told him last night. His understanding and pained expressions were hard to see on his face but with the unsung gestures of love he showed me, even now in his unconscious state, holding me in his arms, protecting me from the silent evil I always created for myself, showed the true depth of our bond.

Hope. My hope was here, wrapped around me, and I around him. I would get through this okay, Blaine would make sure of it. For once I had a guide, in life and dreams. We would guide each other, the deaf leading the mute, it was ironic but I knew that we would guide each other, I knew that for a fact now.

I hugged my saviour closer, we really were made to be each others guide and I couldn't be happier in this moment of awoken realization.

"I love you, thank you for finding me." I whispered into his neck, hopping to not wake him this early in the morning. I got back a nonsensical hum but his hold on my hand and light nuzzle told me he heard me, maybe not in words but understanding.

(BPOV)

Kurt thought I wasn't awake but he had been mumbling for quite a while now. I lay there holding him, listening to him, and looking down through my eyelashes at the sometimes pained expression on his face. I thought about waking him but it seemed like startling him awake was probably not the wisest course of action. If he seemed more distressed then surely I would but for now, I just watched him swirl in his dream and hoped me holding him would suffice.

Truthfully I hadn't slept well, if much at all that night. I knew that it was probably close to 5 in the morning now, and I was stiff from lying on the floor all night, but I was still too wrapped up in my own thoughts of the previous night's conversation.

Kurt had been raped, violated and internally bashed for everything that he was, and he had finally shared his everything with me. All the pain, all the hurt, everything. I was thankful and exhausted but mad as hell too.

I knew that he was closed off for a reason, I had done the same myself but his reasoning was so different than my own, and so painful to even think about that I had lay awake pondering most of the night and well into the morning.

The sheer exhaustion of the intense conversation had me fall asleep holding him, only to be awoken with the intense need to hold him tighter and drag him away from whatever I could. I needed to protect him.

It was funny. I had always thought that someone would need to protect me, to shield me from the monsters that my own subconscious had created in fear of abandonment. I guess Kurt did that in his own way, he made me feel safe but I hadn't ever thought I would be strong enough, or see myself as enough of a fighter anymore to return the gesture. He made me a fighter, and it was this strength that I would give back to him in spades even in the smallest of ways.

He had mumbled things like, "Can't get out" and "So Lost". These words kicked in the protective need and nature that was our relationship. I held him closer, feeling the weight of his body relax into mine as I held our joined hands to my heart, willing him to find a release from his dreams hold on him. I needed him to know I was there.

Somehow not too long ago his weight shifted on me and I could feel him somehow relax. I did that for him, and he responded to my touch and it was as if a wave of relief passed over me. It was here in his most vulnerable state that my touch, and my aura of attempted calm found him in his darkest of places. His soul was still bared to me, the wound of past nightmares still so fresh and it was the first time I could see him willingly allow me to treat his wounds.

We would be okay, we could do this because we were together.

I closed my eyes, still awake but more comfortable with Kurt relaxed in my arms as I felt him shift. I knew that he had woken but I didn't have the heart to let him know I had been watching over him just yet.

I could almost feel his realization, his recognition of where we were and what had happened the night prior as he woke up from sleep's grasp, and it was then that he shifted, hugging me tighter and whispering into my good ear.

"I love you, thank you for finding me."

I let loose a soft hum before I could stop myself because that was the one sentence I always wanted to hear but never knew it. I nuzzled inot the sound of his voice and feel of his body, loving the moment we were sharing even if he didn't know I heard him.

I will always find you my love; you'll never lose me.

I waited a moment until I knew I had to say something, but instead I opened my eyes only to meet the deep pool of oceanic blue and green that I loved more than any others.

"I love you too beautiful."

He blinked, not surprised that I was awake but more glad that he could see me smiling down at him now, and it made me so happy to see that he was alright.

"Hi."

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah...just overwhelmed. I love you so much Blaine, just thank you." His voice was rough still from sleep but I knew that he meant every word, and so did I for that matter.

"I love Kurt, never thank me. I don't say I love you to hear it back...I say it so you'll never forget."

The smile that Kurt gave me was only a greater reassurance that despite his pain and my rage for the way the world treated him, the simplest of words, ones like I love you, could still bring the most joy to the man I love.

"I will never forget. I promise."

He leaned up and kissed me, an action that surprised me in its intimacy but I could never deny him anything, and when our lips met it was chaste, sweet but perfect at sealing our silent agreement. We would be there for each other and glue back the pieces of our lives, the ones that we hadn't before noticed were scattered about in front of us. We were the ties that bind, the glue that holds and never before had I felt more at home with him. There were no more secrets.

His voice brought me out of my revere though when he cleared his throat.

"Babe?"

I held him tighter and closed my eyes loving the warmth from his body, the blankets and the smouldering fireplace beside us.

"Hmm?"

"Would you, well would you like to ummm..."

"Kurt I would do anything with you...tell me."

"Would you like to have a bath with me? We can umm...talk more in there about, well last night, if you want that is. Just thought it w-would be more comfortable than on the floor.."

He was really cute when he rambled.

"I think that sounds like an amazing idea, but honey you don't have to tell me anything. We don't have to talk about it at all if you don't want."

Kurt leaned up on his elbow and kissed me firmly as if that was the accentuation to his point.

"I want Blaine. I think we should talk about it more, I want you to talk to me, I need to here it from you, and I want more than anything for you to tell me the truth in how you feel."

XXXX

That morning we soothed each others nerves. The warmth of the bath, the calming quality of his body pressed against mine wasn't sexual but calming and relieving at the same time. He talked more about how everything in his past was real, and even more real since he had met me. The reality of his life seemed to crash down when he met me and its true worth stemmed from my silent strength with allowed him to see his own.

I expressed my rage without anger at the horrible events his past haunted him with, and I could tell we were making some progress in opening up to one another about our fears and regrets. I feared that I would disappoint him, that I would be less brave than he thought of me.

He opened up about his dream, the one he had every time he slept soundly enough to do so, and the change in last nights vision. I had been right and I had seemed to help him, and that even in his subconscious he searched for me, and even then I seemed to act like a hero I never knew I could be for another.

It was this conversation that calmed my nerves and anger towards the men that showed this gorgeous man no consideration or respect in the past. I felt myself become less tense because Kurt and I were talking freely now about things that we had always kept closed off to others, and pushed far back into our own minds.

We had somehow become each others best friends and confidants as well as lovers that day and I hoped it was something that we could keep up for many year to come.

The comfort level didn't change the rest of the day, and I had almost completely forgot it was my birthday until Kurt pulled me to him in the mid afternoon sun as we took a walk out for coffee when he reminded me.

The kiss was something out of a movie. Two men clad in fashionable pea coats, holding each other close in the winter sunshine, the light glistening off Kurt's skin and the warmth of his wet lips on mine making me smile into the kiss.

The world could have dropped away and I would still be holding him and never noticed the difference. Only when he moved back a little, the first chances of a true smile on his face in probably what seemed like years to him, gracing his features as he spoke with his eyes closed.

"Happy Birthday Blaine. I love you."

I moved my gloved hand to his face, soothing his skin as he opened his eyes, and I could see the genuine relief and love that reached all the way to his eyes. His gaze not holding a secret anymore but only the love that he had for me and something that resembled peace.

"Love you too, more each day. Thank you for the best birthday gift ever."

Kurt looked a little confused but held my hip with the one hand that didn't have his coffee in it.

"What gift?"

"You, all of you. It's the best gift I could have ever received, all the good and the bad. It just makes you more real."

That day, my 25th birthday, was the first day in forever that Kurt and I really knew each other. Despite the elaborate gifts he gave me later that nigh,t or the dinner he insisted on taking me out for as well, it was this moment that I would treasure as the day that Kurt gifted me with his entire self...and loved it more than I thought possible.

XXXX

The following weeks were tough when we weren't together. Despite the reassurances we told one another being apart had become increasingly hard. Yes I was in love more and more each moment but it was difficult being this exposed for the first time in god knows how long. I had opened up to Cooper about what Kurt and I had shared, Kurt said it was okay to have an outlet that would remain confident, so I used my brother to bounce my feelings off of.

Cooper had been more than understanding, he even told me that it would be a good idea to find a release for myself that wasn't Kurt, and he could benefit from this as well since he still hadn't gotten over what Steph did to him.

Since he needed to take the courses anyway, Rachel's agent having signed him a week prior, we had both signed up for vocal lessons, him needing to brush up his talent for possible coming auditions, and he said it would be good for me to regain some of the confidence I had been lacking by actually singing out loud again.

I had told him that boxing would have the same effect and Coop's response was, "You can't go around beating shit up when you need a release squirt. I'll make you a deal, we'll go to the gym once a week and you can try to beat up your older brother, try key word, and once a week we sing together...like we used to, deal?"

Coop was right more often than I ever wanted to admit sometimes, and ironically Santana seemed to come along for the ride whenever her shifts would allow it too. She said she missed singing and would shy away when we said that it was he softer side showing...ironically enough she usually insulted me or smacked me in the head playfully, but I did love to tease her saying we had always known that she wasn't that tough. Santans and I had become close, and she played off well with my brother too, so we spent a lot of time together when we could, singing and working out, and just relieving tensions that we all still held on to.

Kurt had the same kind of theory regarding his own life. He poured himself into his students in a fashion that made me proud. He of course had passed his all his exams prior and was now in the home stretch in his final semester and he was living his schoolwork and his teaching.

His strange outlet came from going to yoga and doing various things with Brit. He of course never neglected Rachel, and their bond was stronger than ever, but Kurt's rekindled relationship with his ex-girlfriend, that thought still weirded me out, was one that I saw brought such happiness to his face. I guess it was Brit's childlike innocence that had people gravitate towards her, and I could tell they had a friendship that was best described as silly love.

Brit loves Tana, Kurt loved me...but there was something about the two of them together that told me they would have been in each others lives even if it weren't for Tana and myself. Kurt and Brit loved each other on a level that young siblings did. Kurt loved her oddities but sincerity and I guessed Brit loved her dolphin because he loved her for her.

So it was at least once a week where I would get texts from Kurt or sometimes Brit about their adventures, and most of the time I had to ask for a translation from Kurt or Santana when Brit texted me. But I was getting better at reading them, it was like learning a language centred around animals and filtered through rainbows or something.

It as also in text form that Kurt and I kept our reassurances for the other alive. We knew that we were both insecure about the openness that we were now sharing but each day was punctuated with a text message that would soothe the other. My hearing still sucked and I seemed to always wait for people to abandon me, and Kurt was so worried that exposing himself meant that someone would hurt him emotionally, physically or both again. So the message of the day tradition was born, each of us sending the other something sickeningly sweet but no less true to make the other smile and know they were loved.

Since you're a star – I'll be your sky. I'll hold you up and never let you fall. xo - B

I don't need someone who makes my heart whole, instead I need someone who will never let me feel broken, and that's you. xo - K

Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over, and one I wouldn't change for the world. xo - B

Love is when you don't want to go to sleep - 'Cuz reality is better then a dream. Then you meet someone who's made your reality seem like a dream, I love you. xo - K

Before I met you - I never knew what it was like to look at someone and smile for no reason, because love isn't a reason, it's a reality. xo - B

A person doesn't have to be perfect...To be exactly what you need, you being perfect to me is just a blessing.. xo - K

These were the kind of things we would tell each other. Each of us delving into famous quotes made by others in love but giving it our own twist sometimes. And on the nights where we couldn't be together and the unsung need for more than a few words arose, we would send each other things like this.

Why I love you is a hard question to answer. I love you because you care for me like no one else I know. I love the way I feel in your arms, so safe from the dangers in the world. I love your eyes, so hypnotic and mesmerizing, beautiful to gaze into, and yet revealing everything to me at the same time. I can't explain every way that I love you because that is impossible. But I can say I love you because you are you. xo – B

I want a boy ... who would shove ice cream in my face. Who would wrestle with me. Who shows me off to his friends & family. Who treats me with respect. Who would call me at four in the morning just to tell me that he can't stop thinking about me. Who sings to me, even if he can't.
Who could break my heart, but would never even dream of it. And I have that boy, and he makes me feel safe, loved and so lucky everyday. xo - K

These were the words that we sent one another, and it was these unspoken truths that had us soothed when we woke from nightmares, laughing and smiling on the subway, or giggling like teenagers so love struck that honey would taste bitter. Every little thing helped.

XXXX

The remainder of the winter this was the pace at which things went. Kurt and I would spend all the time we could wrapped up in one another. He would listen to me play, and sometimes I would sing with him when he was rehearsing something for his kids.

I slowly decided to hand over my assistant head of the department job in favour of becoming a part time tutor only, the money I had now allowed me to focus only on the kids I was mentoring and the rest of that time I wanted to compose because songwriting had always been my dream, and I wanted the time to finish my symphony. Kurt supported this decision wholeheartedly, knowing that whatever made me more comfortable, he would get behind.

He would listen to me grow more confident with my limited hearing and help me improve the quality of my voice for my classes each week with Cooper as well, and I would make dinner for us, and give him massages to help relax him whenever he was stressed and sometimes overworked.

Our relationship was open and sweet, and passionate when the need for it arose. He and I would make love, each time Kurt would allow me to feel him closer but he still couldn't release the control he always set himself up with, but each time I could feel he would release its former strong hold so it was progress. It was getting better but I wouldn't push, him trusting me alone with ihs body and mind was more than enough.

Everything was progressing with us, and for once it wasn't in a backward direction. We had been together for 6 months now, spring now in full bloom in New York despite it's cooler mornings still and as I lay wrapped in Kurt on my couch in my living room, I had an idea pop into my head. Too be honest I had been thinking about it for a while now but it never seemed like the right time.

It had been a busy few months, Kurt was prepping for his final exam and those for his students as well, and I was prepping to finish the last few weeks of classes before I ceased being a department head. We had been busy and time with him was limited which never made either one of us happy...but that was life I guess.

It was Saturday morning and I insisted that we have a lazy day to just spend on the couch watching old musicals and that was exactly what we were doing. I could find myself actually loving old musicals again because I could close off the closed captioning and for once hear all the muted sounds of the glorious music of older times, and greater composers.

Kurt held his coffee in his hands, hugging the warm beverage to him as the blanket fell across his torso. The blanket gave the illusion that our bodies were one, not seeing where his legs crossed my own and it was a comforting thought and feeling. His warmth always did that to me. The movie in the background brought me back to the moment I was in and the question burning in my gut.

My Fair Lady played softly in front of us and the scene was ringing true in the what I was going to say, if only slightly the same, but the meaning was one of the utmost similarity. Looking at Rex Harrison's face as he had this revelation, I looked at Kurt whom was engrossed near the end of the film.

I've grown accustomed to her face. She almost makes the day begin. I've grown accustomed to the tune that she whistles night and noon. Her smiles, her frowns, her ups, her downs, are second nature to me now, like breathing out and breathing in... I was serenely independent and content before we met! Surely I could always be that way again... And yet... I've grown accustomed to her looks, accustomed to her voice, accustomed... to her... face

"Kurt?"

He turned to look at me with a soft smile, sipping his coffee and I couldn't repress the smile and sigh that escaped me whenever he looked at me like that. I wanted to see it more, if not all the time.

"I love you..."

"I love you too." His tone was bright as he smiled, placing his drink on the table and holding my hand as the movie played on in the background.

"Kurt I...move in with me?"

The End

Shit sorry ha! Okay no I'm not that mean, but I will leave you here for a little bit now while I finalize the remainder of this story. Let me know how I did and what you would like to see from this story before its conclusion. Love you all and reviews do help the creative process, and I hope this lighter chapter made you smile. xoxoxo... 2 days till Prom-asaurus...eeep! Adieu my fanfictionites.

Ta!