A/N: Apparently I'm on a roll of updating once a month. I'm working on this. I don't like taking so long to update, and so I'm doing my best to improve.

Also, I'm a big fat liar. Because I promised you old school Klaine. Turns out, this chapter ended up a lot longer than I expected when I wrote that, and so it's being split up, because while I know you'd love a 10k chapter, I don't really want this one random double length chapter, and would rather keep them a bit more even in word count if I can.

Lydia walked back into their room with a satisfied smirk on her face. Grace rolled her eyes.

'Were you with Eli again?'

'Yep, sure was.'

'He's a bad influence on you, you know?'

'Please, we're young, he's hot… it's not like it's doing any damage.'

'Another detention for uniform infractions, like wearing your skirt too short, and your shirts too tight and it will start to do damage.'

'How? They'll tell my Dad? How utterly terrifying.' Lydia flung herself onto her bed. 'I think you're the one who needs to loosen up. It's already December so… we don't really have time, but, when we come back… we'll have a late new years party and you can see just how fun being a little bad can be.'

'Sure I will.' Grace didn't bother to hide her eye-roll.

'But that's for a different day. Right now, we have one week until Christmas break and this plan needs to go flawlessly.'

Grace grinned at the change of topic, this is was something she was excited about. 'All four of us together. It's kind of lame that Blaine decided that because he didn't want to go to New York, you couldn't either.'

'Yep, I agree. So, I've organised for Casey Stanley to fix our hair tomorrow night. She's pro, so don't worry, it'll look exactly the same, and we're going to have to use make-up, because there are some subtle differences that they might be able to notice, so with make-up, we should look exactly the same. And on Saturday Eli's going to drive us to the mall so we can get a couple of outfits that are exactly the same too. We can't leave any room for error.'

'Great. I also think we should both call both of them dad. It'll add to their confusion, and we can't slip up on it. Call Dad, Kurt once and it'll all be over. Your ass will be hauled back to Sandusky and that'll be that. We also need to remember our terms and conditions. All four of us, in New York for Christmas, and we'll only reveal who is who on Christmas Eve. Because by then it'll be too late to turn around and go back to Ohio.'

'And we both need to be responding to each name. All the time. We cannot have them call us out on that, because my dad will try.'

'So will mine. It'll be the first thing he does.'

'Just one step ahead… it's all we need to be. You've gotten in contact with your friend about Bryant Park right?'

'Yes. Shannon's dad was all for closing the rink for an hour on the 23rd just for them, it's booked in for about nine pm. We may have amped up the story a little bit to him. But it's happening. We're going to get to watch them fall in love all over again.' Grace squealed.

'You mean, watch them realise they never fell out of love?'

'That too.'

'I'm with you though. It's exciting.'

'It'll be perfect.'

x x x

Christmas break came around quickly, and Lydia and Grace had formulated their plan. They now looked the part of identical twins, and got plenty of practice of responding to the others name as their friends, and teachers a like kept mixing them up. By now, everyone in the school knew of the story of the twins, separated at birth, it was becoming a bit of a legend already. Some had even taken to calling them 'Lace' to avoid the confusion.

They both told their father's to pick them up from school at 9am. Grace and Kurt had a 2pm flight out to New York, Kurt was going to want to say goodbye to Burt and Carole first, and Lydia was sure it was enough time for her and Blaine to get a flight out at a similar time of day.

They stood in the school's parking lot, identical sets of bags between them, both wearing dark jeans, and a plain white shirt with their hair down, arms folded across their chest as they waited.

Kurt pulled up first. He parked the car and got out, sweeping his sunglasses up to rest on top of his head he stared at the two girls and sighed. He walked up to them and shook his head.

'No. Not happening girls.'

'Hi Dad.' They both said, with identical grins.

'We're waiting for Dad to get here and then we're going to have a talk.' Grace said.

Kurt eyed them suspiciously. 'Is that so?'

'Yes.' They both nodded.

'Grace,'

'Yes?' They said at the same time.

Kurt sighed. 'Never mind.'

They didn't have to wait long. Blaine arrived just five minutes later. Like Kurt, he took one look at the girls and sighed heavily.

'Do I want to know?' He asked.

'Great, you're here.' Lydia said.

'We want to talk to both of you.'

'Ok, what do you want to say?'

'We want to spend Christmas together.' Grace said.

'The four of us, together.' Lydia added.

'In New York.'

'Girls…' Kurt said. 'That's not…'

'Oh, but it is.' Grace said. 'The alternative is you can both take a gamble, pick which daughter you think is yours, and potentially spend this family holiday with the wrong one.'

'And how are you planning all of us getting to New York?' Blaine asked. 'I highly doubt that there'll be any tickets on flights left.'

'But there is.' Lydia produced a piece of paper. 'A list of flights this afternoon and tomorrow morning that are still available.

'And what about Mason?'

'What about him?' Grace asked.

'He had planned to spend Christmas with us instead of his family this year.'

Grace shrugged. 'It's up to him.'

'Yeah, if he wants to come to New York for Christmas, then let him.'

Blaine sighed. 'Girls, you can't just do this.'

'Fourteen lost Christmases.' Lydia reminded him.

'Ok, you're Lydia.' Blaine pointed to her.

'Can you be certain though, Dad?' Grace asked, with a perfected Lydia smirk.

Blaine opened his mouth to respond, then quickly shut it again with a frown.

'We all go to New York. Or the two of us will turn right back around and stay here for the holidays.'

'Why can't we stay here for Christmas then?' Blaine asked.

'Because Dad K can't get the time off.' Lydia said.

'Dad K?' Kurt asked amused.

'It was too difficult to call you both Dad, and Pop is for Pop, and Daddy is for little kids. So Dad K and Dad B it is.' Grace explained.

'Right.' He turned to Blaine. 'What do you want to do?'

'This wasn't in any parenting book.'

'Pretty sure 'split up your twin daughter's' wasn't in them either.' Grace said.

Blaine narrowed his eyes at her. 'Lydia?'

'Yes?' They both said in perfect unison.

He sighed.

'We, ah, we've done Christmas in New York as friends before.' Kurt pointed out.

'It was supposed to be mine and Mason's first Christmas together.'

'Bring him along. My apartment is big enough for the six of us.'

'Six?' Blaine asked.

'Oh, Rachel will definitely invite herself along when she hears about this.'

'Right. Rachel.' Blaine said. 'Ok… Ok, one of you girls has to come with me while I go home and pack ad book flights, the other can go with Kurt.'

'Are you sure?' Kurt asked.

Blaine looked at him and nodded. 'I think we kind of owe them this one.'

Grace and Lydia grinned at each other and high fived.

'Ok, who's coming with me and who's going with Blaine?' Kurt asked.

'You have to pick.' Lydia told him. 'It's part of the whole… You not knowing who we are.'

'Ok… You come with me, and uh, you…' He pointed to Grace. 'Go with Blaine.'

The girls shrugged and picked up their bags.

'I'll see you in New York then?' Kurt asked Blaine.

'Yeah.' He nodded. 'Oh, wait, can I um…' He fished around in his pocket for a moment before producing his phone. 'I'll need your phone number. And your address for when we get there.'

'Right.' Kurt went a little pink as he typed his number and address into the phone before handing it back to Blaine.

'I'll let you know what flight we're on.' Blaine smiled.

'Right, yeah… I guess I'll um, I'll see you in New York then.'

Lydia and Grace hugged each other goodbye; Lydia gave Blaine a quick hug too before walking back to Kurt's car with him. They were first going to go to Lima so Burt and Carole could give them presents, and then head to the airport. As they climbed into the car Kurt turned to Lydia.

'Any chance of you telling me which one you are?' He asked.

'Nope. Not a chance.'

x x x

'But babe, it's supposed to be our first Christmas together.'

Grace cringed at the term of endearment coming from Mason's mouth as she sat awkwardly in the living room. Blaine and Mason were in the kitchen arguing over the fact that Blaine had decided to go to New York. She felt uncomfortable, and like she was intruding, but there she was anyway.

'I know. And it will be. In New York, it'll be romantic.'

'Yeah, staying in your ex-husbands apartment with your twin daughters in tow will be super romantic.'

'Mase… come on. This thing is kind of a little bit bigger than the two of us. The girls they… they deserve this. After everything we did. It's the least I can do, letting them have a Christmas together for the first time.'

'But why do we have to go. Can't you just send Lydia on her way and stay here?'

'Lydia is my daughter, my family. I'm spending Christmas wherever she is. That's final.'

There was silence for a moment and Grace strained to hear what was going on. She then heard the distinct smacking of lips together and a heavy sigh.

'Fine. But one, I'll fly in Christmas Eve and fly out Boxing Day. Two, I get a least a few hours alone with you, at some point. Three, I'm not staying at your ex's apartment, it's weird and creepy, and I don't want you staying there either. It's not you I don't trust, it's him.'

'You don't know him.'

'I know, but… come on… he comes back into your life, right when you get engaged… that's suspicious isn't it?'

Blaine laughed. 'Hardly. We both sent our daughters to a school we thought would be good for them, because we both had a great experience there. Come to New York, meet him, and you'll see, there's nothing between us anymore. We're doing this for the sake of our girls.'

Grace rolled her eyes. Nothing between Blaine and her dad? Yeah… right… Even though it wasn't necessarily something she wanted to dwell for too long for, there was tension between them. Tangible, evident, tension, and Blaine was kidding himself by saying that there wasn't. It was kind of gross to think of her Dad doing… well, anything, with anyone… but what was there between him and Blaine was there. No matter what Blaine said.

'Fine. Ok.'

'Good. I'll see you in New York then? We have to get going if we're going to get to the plane on time.

'Ok. I'll see you soon.'

'Love you.'

'Love you too.'

x x x

Lydia had never been to New York City before… and as they were in the taxi driving through the city she was realising the slight flaw in their plan. New York was a dream. New York amazing. New York was… New York. And everything she'd ever dreamt of it being. However, she had to refrain from sticking her head out the window and staring in wonder at it all because that would be a dead giveaway that she was Lydia. So she had to keep it cool, and act like it was normal, like she'd been here her whole life.

Burt had known. She had no idea how he was able to tell them apart, but just before they left the house in Lima he'd pulled her aside, and said Merry Christmas, and to pass his wishes onto to Grace. When she'd stared at him in shock, he'd just winked.

No further explanation.

One thing she hadn't realised was that when Grace had talked about growing up in New York City, she'd meant… New York City. They were now in Manhattan, and buildings definitely weren't getting any smaller in size. She let herself fantasise about the life she could have had. Growing up with Kurt, and her Dad, with Grace… in this big city. Being able to walk to Times Square, and getting frustrated at tourists stopping every three seconds to take photos, thinking nothing of the beauty of Central Park, because it was just a normal part of her life…

She wanted it so badly.

The cab pulled up on the street, and Kurt handed over the fair with a thanks. Lydia climbed out of the car and helped him get the suitcases out of the back of the car. The lobby of the building wasn't anything too fancy, but it was more than Lydia had expected. She kept her face steadily neutral.

'Glad to be home?' Kurt asked.

'So glad.' She sighed.

They got off the elevator at the top floor. There was a short, narrow corridor with only two doors, opposite each other. Kurt went to the one to the left and pulled a key out of his pocket to unlock it. Lydia had known from day one that Grace was a fancy girl from the city… and she had most definitely heard of Hummel Designs, and had guessed from that, that Kurt was rather well off.

But the Hummel's were, in a word, loaded.

She was standing in what looked like the luxury suite of a grand, expensive hotel. Except it was an apartment. This was the place her sister and her biological father called home. It was huge. In front of her was a front row seat view of Central Park, with the city skyline off in the distance, but for a moment, you could ignore the buildings and forget you were even in New York, it was stunning. The windows of the apartment went right along the wall, from the floor to the ceiling. Lydia couldn't have dreamed up a better view for a New York City apartment if she'd tried.

Kurt chuckled. 'I'm sure you remember where your room is… I'll leave you to settle in. Blaine and… the other one of you should be here in about two hours. I have a few work things to catch up on now I'm here.'

Lydia nodded. She thankfully did know where 'her' room was. Grace had drawn her a detailed map in case this happened.

Grace's room was a decent size. Not quite a big as hers at home (to be fair though… she lived in a big house on acreage… Grace lived in a penthouse apartment in NYC), but it spaciously fit a large bed, huge wardrobe and a desk, in front of a window that also looked out at the city. Lydia dumped her bags and lay down on bed, sighing. It only took her a few minutes to realise that she only had a couple of hours alone in Grace's room to scope the place out, and snoop around. So she sat up, and her eyes fell on the wardrobe.

'She's been holding out on me.' Lydia whispered as she opened the door to the walk-in, it was small for a walk-in, but still bigger than any wardrobe Lydia had ever had, and was packed full of clothes. There were high end, expensive things, as well as a tonne of stuff for Forever 21, H&M and Target. 'I have died and gone to heaven.' She muttered. She took note of everything she wanted to take home with her (she'd talk Grace into letting her), and for fun, slipped on a Ralph Lauren sweater.

She poked around a little more through Grace's things. Unfortunately, Grace was good at leaving a place spotless. There wasn't even an old embarrassing diary left by her 12 year old self and Lydia to read and laugh at. Bored, Lydia made her way through the apartment and to Kurt's workroom, shyly standing at the door watching him sew. It was a navy dress he was putting together, and just stood and watched him for a moment, wondering how on earth she was actually related to him.

He finished off the seam and looked up at her.

'Want to model this for me?' Kurt asked holding the dress up. 'I know it'll be long on you but-'

'Yes!' she burst out instantly.

'Ok, but be careful, not everything is stitched down properly.'

Lydia walked into the small bathroom (that was really just a toilet and a sink) adjoining the room and put the dress on carefully. It was obviously unfinished, and like Kurt had said, long on her, but she loved it anyway. She held the dress up so the bottom of it didn't drag on the ground and walked out, grinning.

'What do you think?' She asked.

Kurt analysed the dress. 'I think, I need to take it in a little around the bust and re-evaluate where I'm putting the all sequins.' he sighed. 'It's going to be cliché city if I stick with where I'm going now.'

'Um, ok...' Lydia said, suddenly remembering that Kurt didn't actually know whether she was herself, or Grace.

He put a few pins into the dress and stepped back. 'Ok, that'll look better.' He tilted his head to the side. 'Navy looks really good on you. I don't know why I never realised.'

Lydia grinned. 'It's the Dalton blazer, my skin has probably adapted.'

Kurt laughed. 'That actually doesn't sound anywhere near as ridiculous as it should. Ok... you can take it off now.'

Lydia nodded and returned to the bathroom, being careful of the pins as she took the dress off. As she returned it to Kurt who started to put it on the mannequin she took a deep breath and spoke.

'Are you ready for Dad B to be here?' She asked.

'Not in the slightest. But then I remember that it does mean spending Christmas with both of my daughters for the first time and I realise that I can do it.' He glanced at her with a smile.

'Do you still love him?'

'Still... n-no. No I... I mean, of course, feelings because, you know? But time... so, I don't, I... can't.'

Lydia stared at him completely baffled. Kurt glanced over to her.

'What?' he asked.

She shook her head. 'Nothing, nothing at all.' She omitted the part where he hadn't actually spoken a full sentence. 'Is there anything I can do help? Set up the guest room maybe?'

'The guest room! I haven't set up the guest room. They're due to be here anytime now, and I need to put clean sheets on the bed, make sure the bathroom is clean and... There's so much to be done.'

'Relax, Dad K. I'll go and do all of that. You work on the dress.'

'Right. The dress. I'll do that then. Good.'

'Good.'

Lydia set herself to work, changing the bedding on the guest bed, trying not to think about the fact that in a few nights her dad and Mason would be sharing it... they probably shared a bed all the time, but she was at Dalton, so didn't know about, and she liked it that way. There was a part of her objective enough to see that her dad was a relatively attractive man, but it wasn't a thought she liked to dwell on.

As she was halfway through her task, the doorbell rang. And she paused, listening carefully to see if it was Blaine and Grace.

'Kurt! Hi!' A distinctly female voice said loudly.

'Rachel,' Kurt hissed. 'Blaine is due here any minute, and I don't want you here then.'

'But Kurrrtt. I haven't seen Blaine in years.'

'Exactly.'

'Can I at least say hello to my favourite niece?'

Kurt sighed. 'She's setting up the guest room, go ahead if you must.'

Lydia quickly resumed putting the pillow cases on the pillow when there was a knock at the door.

'Come in.' Lydia said, a short, brunette woman, grinning from ear to ear stepped into the room. Lydia racked her brain, wondering why it felt like she should know who this Rachel was. 'Uh… hi.'

'Grace! Come here and give your Aunt Rachel a hug. I missed you so much sweetie.'

Lydia stood hesitantly. Aunt Rachel… Grace had definitely spoken about an Aunt Rachel, but in that moment, Lydia couldn't think of one thing Grace had said about her.

'Um… yeah, I missed you too.' Lydia let the strange woman fling her arms around her tightly for a brief second.

'Gracey, what's… oh my god!' She exclaimed 'You're not-'

In a panic, Lydia covered Rachel's mouth with her hand. 'Sshh, Kurt doesn't know.'

'Where's Grace?'

'Coming with Blaine… the only way we could get them to agree to this was by not telling them who was who. Kurt doesn't know which one of us is here at the moment.'

'I love movies in real life! This is just like The Parent Trap!'

Lydia rolled her eyes. 'Yes, exactly like it.'

'Well, Lydia, it is lovely to meet you. I'm Rachel, your dad's, Kurt's, I mean, best friend, and I baby-sat you a few times when you were just a tiny little baby.'

'I'm sorry if I ever threw up on you.'

Rachel laughed, 'Apology accepted.'

Lydia nodded and bit her lip, not really too sure what else to say. Rachel, however, seemed to have enough grace to recognise the silence.

'I should get going. As much as I'd love to stay to see Blaine, I'll be back again tomorrow, to see the real Grace and see Blaine again. It was lovely meeting you. I can't wait to get to know you.'

'It was nice meeting you too.' Lydia said.

'Before I go, just between us girls... how do things look for Klaine?'

'Klaine?'

'Kurt and Blaine.'

'Oh... we're working on it.' She said.

Rachel grinned. 'Good girls. They belong together.'

'That seems to be the general consensus.'

x x x

The taxi stopped outside of an apartment building, they were unmistakably in Manhattan, and Blaine couldn't figure out if he was pleasantly surprised by this, or if it was expected... he couldn't figure out much of what he was feeling, because it was either that he was experiencing such a mix of heightened emotion, or that he had just gone completely numb.

He was in New York again.

He'd managed to avoid New York for fourteen years, and now... here he was again. About to spend Christmas with Kurt.

Their last Christmas together had been... tense. There was so much unknown about how much their lives would change when their twin girls were born, Kurt had started working longer hours, and Blaine could feel loneliness creeping in. Back then it had felt like the twins were going to fix everything. That they'd come into their lives and everything would just be better... Only it didn't. It got worse, and Blaine had walked away from the shining city lights.

'Come on Dad B, you gotta pay the man.'

Blaine turned his head to his daughter, one of them, which he still hadn't worked out. Some moments she was just so... Lydia, and then she give him a bright smile he hadn't seen on his daughter before and wonder if maybe it was actually Grace.

'Right, sorry.' he smiled at the taxi driver and handed over the exuberant fee before climbing out of the car, where his daughter had already gotten their bags out.

'You ready?' She asked.

'As I'll ever be.'

He wasn't ready at all. But he had to be.

He shouldn't have been surprised to find that the floor number in Kurt's message was actually the top floor of the building.

He shouldn't have been surprised that when Kurt answered the door he had that fresh, red, flustered look he got when he'd just finished working hard.

He shouldn't have been surprised that Kurt's apartment was sleek, modern, but still homely.

He shouldn't have been surprised that the apartment smelt like Kurt.

The only thing that didn't surprise him was the one thing that should have.

Walking to the apartment felt a little bit like coming home.