Author's Note: I cannot believe we are at this point in the story now. I definitely enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Fox does...and RIB

Chapter Twenty Two

Back to the Future

"I'm sorry I didn't come see you yesterday," Kurt said, "no one actually told me you were sick. How are you?"

Rory was still sick. He hadn't gotten better from the day before, but not worse either. He still had a fever and it felt like something had crawled right into his throat and decided it was a good place as any to stay there.

His dad, it turned out, was just as good at taking care of sick people in the past as he would be in the future. He made Rory his special Chicken Soup that tasted like nothing else and made him feel a whole lot better because that soup was home, and after the soup he gave Rory a spoon of honey and lemon which was both tasty and effective in telling the tenant in his throat that it was time to move on.

"Maybe you should have gone home," Kurt said after he'd tucked Rory back into bed, "you're probably missing it more than ever."

"Actually," Rory said, "this is pretty familiar."

Kurt's phone had been going off the entire time that Kurt was busying himself around the room to make Rory more comfortable. His dad had actually cleaned the Pierce's guest room and only now he went to the check his phone and proceeded to giggle.

"Is that Blaine? He said he was going to come over."

Kurt frowned at him. "No, it's, um…it's no one."

Rory was surprised at how his dad couldn't look him in the eyes when he said that, but a moment later he was back at being himself and the phone had been put away. He ignored it every time it went off and Rory couldn't help but wonder who could be sending him so many texts if it wasn't Blaine. Of course, it could have been Santana, or Rachel, but wouldn't his dad tell him that?

His dad gave him the last bit of medicine for his fever before he left. "I'll bring you dinner later, but I promised Rachel we'd start looking at songs for NYADA today which is funny because I'm pretty sure she's been preparing Don't Rain on my Parade since she was two."

Rory fell right into a nap after his dad left, and he was woken up by Brittany and Santana staring at him from the doorway.

"Are you okay, Leprechaun?"

Brittany despite having built a time machine and seen Sugar leave just a few days before still didn't really know that he and Sugar had been from the future. Or, rather, no one was really sure if she did know.

"Just sick, Britt," he said and his eyes were drooping again.

Santana led Brittany away before she could say anything else. "Get better, Hummel Spawn," she added before closing the door and Rory didn't even notice that it implied she knew who he was.

The next time Rory woke up, it was because all the work the honey had done earlier had been for nothing and Rory felt like all he could do was cough. Rory really hated being sick. His dad showed up ten minutes later and he was alone again which confused Rory because he'd gotten so used to seeing his dad and papa together all the time.

"Where's papa?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"Ah…he told me he had a family thing," Kurt said, but he didn't look too sure about it.

Kurt had picked up food from Breadstix, so the two of them sat on Rory's bed to eat mostly because Kurt wouldn't hear of Rory wanting to get out of bed.

"You know, I think I'm really going to miss you when you finally get to go home," his dad said, "it's been really nice having you here."

"Even though now you know that papa's going to die?" Rory asked.

Kurt nudged him with his shoulder. "Hey," he said, "that isn't your fault. You didn't go making it happen and even though every time I think about it I just feel so insanely overwhelmed and ready to just stop because what even is the point if there's this ticking time bomb to when he dies? But, then I remember that I have loads of things to look forward to. Blaine and I are going to get married. We're going to have you. And on the day he dies, I will try my hardest to stop it and I know so will you and one of us has to succeed. And if we don't, well, that's life…and I will never regret any of this or what's coming. Knowing sucks, but maybe not knowing sucks more."

They ate in relative silence after that, and then his dad insisted on taking his temperature and giving him more medicine, this time some night stuff that was definitely going to make him drowsy. Rory thought he dreamt it, but he was sure his dad had kissed him on the forehead before he left.

Blaine knew that technically, having Kurt ignore him was exactly what he'd wanted, but they were in the choir room and weren't even seated far from each other, but Kurt was completely engrossed in his phone and Blaine could only think of one person that his boyfriend might be texting: Rory. Except that when Blaine stopped to see Rory that morning before going to school, Rory accidentally took the night medicine and so Blaine knew that Rory had to be very deep in sleep.

Still though, Blaine didn't say anything. It was good that Kurt could easily detach himself from Blaine and Blaine really did have to get used to his boyfriend getting new friends and not being around. It was all for the better. If there was a churning in his gut and a strange mixture of sadness and anger running through him, Blaine didn't acknowledge that it might have something to do with the entire situation that granted he had gotten himself into.

"Today you are definitely coming home with me," Kurt said when glee was over. He'd put his phone away and he was looking eagerly at Blaine.

It was the expression coupled with his own need to be near Kurt that made him nod and break the promise he'd made himself earlier in the week that he wouldn't hang out with Kurt that week.

"We can do that marathon we were supposed to do last week, and maybe I can sing the two pieces I've been considering for my audition? I need someone other than Rachel to give an opinion."

The very mention of NYADA made Blaine deflate, but he just smiled and nodded and followed Kurt out. They drove their two separate cars to Kurt's house and went directly to Kurt's room.

Blaine had always felt at peace in Kurt's room, so he took off his shoes and dropped onto the bed. Kurt in the meanwhile was putting away a few of his things and getting a bit more comfortable.

"Set everything up and I'll go get us a snack," Kurt said and ran out of the room.

Kurt's phone vibrated on the vanity where he'd left it. Blaine ignored it. It vibrated again. Then a third time. By the fourth time, Blaine had had enough. If someone was so insistent, then it had to be important he reasoned with himself. It could very well be Rory or the machine might be fully charged again. He swiped the screen with his finger and put in the password: 1109.

The messages app was already open and there were a bunch of texts back and forth between Kurt and someone named Chandler. But who was Chandler? At first, Blaine just stared at the name, but his eyes moved down and he read the latest text and he made a gasping choking noise and his eyes blurred. Was this what he had lead Kurt to?

Blaine wiped at his eyes angrily. He moved back to the bed, phone clutched in his hand and he scrolled up. They were flirting, exchanging silly pick up lines and winky faces, and worst of all when the pick up lines weren't being used, they talked about New York. Chandler who had probably never even heard Kurt sing was sending him praise and encouragement on something he'd picked out for Whiney week.

Kurt returned smiling and holding his tray, but he stopped short when he saw Blaine and the phone in his hands.

During their entire relationship so far, Blaine knew they had never really fought. There had been the whole incident before they got together with Rachel and bisexuality, but they'd gotten over that pretty quickly and back then it had only been their friendship on the line. A few times, they had fought about Sebastian, but none of those had really scaled mostly because Kurt hadn't pushed the subject and also because Blaine had always made it clear how much Sebastian meant nothing to him. But Chandler meant something.

They were both in tears by the end of it, and Blaine was fuming. He couldn't believe that Kurt didn't see it as cheating. He stormed out of the room and down the stairs out the door, glad that he had driven there. He sat in the car for a long time replaying their fight – Kurt so adamant that it was innocent and Blaine for once really coming to the conclusion that maybe they wouldn't make it past the year apart once Kurt was in New York if Blaine pulling away from Kurt for a week could drive his boyfriend into someone else.

There was a knock on his window. Blaine jumped and when he turned to look he almost expected it to be Kurt. It was Burt instead. Blaine rolled down the window.

"Hey, kid," he said, "are you alright?"

Burt was wearing a suit and tie which was weird but something that Blaine was slowly getting used to seeing as opposed to the plaid he usually sported.

"Yeah…I, no. Kurt and I just had a fight."

"I'm sure everything will be alright once you both sit down and talk about it," Burt said.

Blaine shook his head. It wouldn't be okay because even if they fixed this, Kurt was still going to get into NYADA and he was going to go to New York and leave Blaine behind and they would just fall apart.

"Blaine, I'm pretty sure you'll both be okay. Now, maybe you should just give Kurt some space and you guys can talk about it tomorrow or something."

Burt patted Blaine's shoulder and then walked towards the house, but Blaine didn't feel any better. He did turn on his car and then he pulled away from the curb.

Rory was still sick. He hadn't seen either of his parents the day before and he was hoping that they would come to him again soon. He had been feeling mostly drowsy, so despite wanting to do anything else, mostly he spent his time sleeping. He'd woken up when he heard the door open and close downstairs and then footsteps. He hoped it was his dad or papa. Instead, it was Brittany and Santana. He was starting to drift off again, but he stopped himself when he heard Santana.

"I really didn't see that coming," Santana said, "Actually, I don't believe it. Hobbit Blanderson is probably overreacting. Hummel wouldn't cheat."

What? What was Santana talking about? He sat up on the bed and almost groaned because his head throbbed.

"I don't know, San, can we go get our lady kisses on?"

Rory could hear them walking past his door.

"If this becomes a Back to the Future like situation with their kid fading away or something, I'm just—"

Rory yawned and sank back into bed. He couldn't even stay awake long enough to think about what Santana had just said. Instead he fell back asleep.

Rory awoke. He didn't know what had woken him up except for his very stuffy nose. He reached for the box of tissues that had a funny box that Brittany had drawn from him as a feel better present. He got out of bed slowly and headed out to the bathroom. He was feeling a lot better even if his nose seemed to now b in constant need of a tissue. He blew it again before leaving the bathroom and then went to wash his hands. He opened the tap with his right hand and then when he was putting them under the running water his eyes must have played a trick on him - or maybe he was even worse off than he thought - because it looked like his left hand was fading.

Rory reeled back. He brought his hands up to his face but right before his eyes they both faded. He screamed and shook his head. He was just hallucinating, had to be.

Rory still felt them though, as if his hands and fingers were all still there. They weren't though. And when he tried to touch his face he felt nothing.

Panic rushed through him and he had to fight with the door with what was left o his arms to open it and stumbled out. He had to get shoes, maybe a coat and then to find one or both of his dads. They had to fix it.

His cell phone was lying on the bedside table. Rory had to use his feet to slide to phone open and bring the backlight on and then despite the amount of germs that were probably on that screen he used his to tongue to dial his dad.

"Pick up. Please pick up."

The phone rang. Once. Twice. It led him to a machine. He dialed again. His phone felt slimy when he pressed his cheek to it.

"Dad! Come on, please. Daddy, I need you..."

"Rory," someone said. He was shaken.

They shook him again and the same voice called his name. It sounded like his dad.

"Dad?" he asked.

"Yes, now open your eyes."

He was tangled up in his sheets, the rest of his covers thrown on the floor. A cold sweat covered his brow and his hair stuck everywhere. His dad sat next to him on the bed, facing him.

"Are you okay?"

Rory lifted his arms. His hands were definitely still there. He sighed in relief.

"I am…yes. Just a bad dream. I guess it was kind of silly, really, more than bad." He grasped his hands together and kicked the sheet off of his body half because he was too hot and they were still twisted around his legs, and half because he needed to make sure that all of him was still there. Which reminded him…"dad, are you and papa fighting?"

Kurt looked unsure for a moment and then he nodded. "We are," he said, "I made a mistake. We haven't been communicating right which is partly my fault, I guess. I've been so focused on my audition and the time machine and his death. But, he's also been pushing me away for whatever reason and, well, I met this guy and we were texting and Blaine found out…he didn't take it well."

"Oh, dad," Rory said.

"Today he sang in front of the whole glee club. Everyone thinks I went out and cheated on him. All I did was exchange some texts. But, I guess we'll get through this – you're still here, aren't you?"

Rory shuddered. He could still picture his hands disappearing. Santana burst into the room, followed closely by Brittany. "It's ready," she said, "the machine is ready for you."

His dads had always been a bit too open about their relationship with Rory. They had painted falling in love like a fairy tale. How they met on the Dalton staircase and then the romantic gesture his papa made by transferring to McKinley, and how through care packages and e-mails and video calls they had gotten through the year apart, and then the proposal and the wedding and how they had decided after a few years that they were ready to have a baby and that baby had turned out to be Rory. There had never even been a hint that there was someone else – even as minimal as one of them texting another guy.

So maybe he had changed something. After all, if his dad hadn't been so focused on him and the time machine maybe this could have been avoided.

"Blaine will want to say goodbye to you," his dad said, "even if he's mad at me right now, I know he'll want to say goodbye."

Kurt knew that the only reason Rory refused to leave was because he and Blaine were fighting. Kurt had tried to assure him that he didn't have to worry, but in the end Rory had informed him that he needed to make sure they were together and happy.

"You don't know that we won't have more problems," Kurt had said, "every relationship goes through them, but it doesn't mean we're going to break up. Have you never seen us fight in the future?"

Rory had taken a while to nod, but then he had made a good argument for staying because he was still under the weather. So, Rory had helped him find a good Whitney song to sing to Blaine the next day because they both knew how much Blaine loved to speak through song. Kurt was still a little stung by Blaine's performance of the day before, but he was ready now to show Blaine how much he loved him.

Santana who had also been present throughout the entire thing had suggested that their problems really lay in Kurt hiding stuff from Blaine, namely the fact that Blaine was going to die in the future. She had agreed with him that it wasn't something he should know.

So, Kurt sang to Blaine and watched as his boyfriend got emotional even while he was trying to keep himself from crying, but afterwards Blaine just walked out of the room.

Later, he texted Blaine to meet him at Ms. Pillsbury's office to get couples' counseling. He knew she wasn't going to be much help in that department, but at least it would be a medium to get Blaine talking to him. And when it all came out, suddenly Kurt knew what had been bothering Blaine and he felt horrible. How hadn't he noticed that Blaine was worrying about the year they would have to be in two different states?

Afterwards, Kurt pulled him into an empty classroom. He leaned against one of the desks.

"I think," he said, "that from now on we need to be better at communicating."

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. I guess I thought if I pulled away that it would make things easier, but I didn't think that by doing that, that it might push you into someone else."

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt said and grabbed his hands, pulling him closer so that Blaine stood between his legs, "you have to know that I only ever thought of him as a friend. He made me feel good because it was an escape from everything else – from admitting that you kept making excuses not to see me and from thinking about Rory leaving because I'm going to really miss him. And don't you know, he is the very proof that the two of us are forever."

Blaine made that half laugh-cry that Kurt thought was the most adorable thing in the world – the one that he had never heard anyone else do. A Blaine sound. Then, they were kissing and Kurt felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Chandler would have never made him feel like this and Kurt would never have let him get this close to him to even try. He was Blaine's and only ever Blaine's. For the moment he let himself forget that there was a lot to come with the future that wouldn't be this happy bubbling feeling.

"But, you know, with Rory leaving soon," Blaine said between kisses, "we can get back off schedule."

"Hmm, yes. Definitely."

They kept kissing until the bell rang and Kurt knew that they both had to go to class. They pulled away reluctantly.

"After school?" Blaine asked while they fixed each other's clothes.

Kurt shook his head. "Nope. I didn't tell you earlier, but the machine is ready. Rory's going home."

"We can celebrate afterwards, then," Blaine said and lifted his eyebrows comically.

"Perhaps," Kurt said and threw him a teasing smile.

Later, they went to Brittany's house and entered, hands clasped together. Rory looked a lot better than he had in the previous days. He was in the living room, inclined back on a lazy-boy and watching tv. He jumped up when he saw them come in.

"You're together!" he exclaimed and hugged them both, pressed up between their bodies. Somehow, it felt absolutely right. Kurt wanted that feeling to last forever.

"We've talked everything over and we're fine now," Kurt told him, "we just need to keep talking and we'll be just fine even when we're miles apart."

"Good," Rory said.

"And whenever we start to forget how much we love each other we'll just have to remember that we have a son to look forward to. Now, I think you're needed elsewhere."

Rory nodded. The three of them went down to the basement and Kurt felt it was right for it to be just the three of them for this. Rory hugged them each again and Kurt almost started to cry when Rory held onto Blaine longer. He did cry when Rory came back to him.

"I'll try really hard," he whispered, "to make things right. I love you."

"I love you too," Kurt said.

Rory hugged a teary Blaine one last time and then he got onto the time machine. He turned it on, and just like Sugar had done, he pressed the big button and closed his eyes. In mere seconds he disappeared.

"Well," Kurt said, "I guess it'll be a while before we get to see him again."

Blaine wrapped his arms around him and dropped his neck on Kurt's shoulder. "I don't think I'm ready for a baby Rory yet, but I can't wait until the day comes."

"Yeah," Kurt breathed.

Author's Note: I loved writing this chapter. I thought this episode was going to be much longer, but it ended up not being that long. I also didn't think I'd be able to send Rory home until Choke, but it worked well here. So, next chapter will be different. I actually finished it this morning though I might change the ending of it. I don't really know what's going on anymore. haha.

Not much else to say next chapter will be up this week.

I'm also on tumblr where I will probably leave little progress reports on how my writing is going and occasionally previews for upcoming chapters. So stop by. tumblr: emquin.

Thank you for reading. Hope you all liked it.

Please Review.

-Erika