Kurt sighs and leans back in the water, with Blaine resting against his chest. "Happy Thanksgiving," he murmurs, his eyes closed and hands smoothing over Blaine's shoulders. "I'm thankful for you."

"Same," Blaine says happily, catching hold of his hand and kissing the inside of his wrist. "Very thankful."

"I don't know if I say that enough," Kurt ponders out loud.

"You don't need to. I know."

"Yeah but...I should. I should be more romantic, maybe."

"Because waking me up with butterfly kisses and the promise of a hot bath waiting isn't romantic at all."

"Well it's not really, is it? Not like you, with your flowers and your little love notes."

"Kurt." Blaine turns so his whole body slides against Kurt, and their foreheads rest together. "I love you just as you are," he reassures. "My mom was right. I love your sass, I love your spark. I love that you sometimes order me to take my clothes off the second I walk through the door, but other times you just want to cuddle and watch TV. Romance isn't the grand gestures all the time, it's the little things you do, like folding my pajamas and setting them under the pillow, making me coffee in the morning without asking, meeting me after class. You're perfect, you dumbass. Perfect for me, anyhow."

"Hmm, well thank you, but I still think I should do better."

"I'm not listening to you," Blaine declares, spinning back around. "I don't like it when you doubt yourself. You're totally wonderful in every way, and I know just how much you love me from the way you look at me, and the way you always put me first. I matter to you, and that's all I need to know."

"Are you feeling okay about today?"

"I don't know," Blaine admits. "I really enjoyed last night but...I still need more, you know? I can't just say, 'oh we had a really great night playing cards and everything is fine.' I need to know what made her act like she did. Why did she have an affair in the first place? Did dad do something wrong? Why, when she knew how awful they all were to me, did she tell me to join in and be one of the boys? There must be a reason behind it all, and I need to know."

"You know sometimes, Blaine, the answer really is as simple as that person was being an idiot. There's not always a deep meaning behind everything. There wasn't with me."

"There was though," Blaine argues back, sitting up and turning to face him. "You were insecure, and frightened of being vulnerable."

"But why? Why was I?" Kurt persists. "No one had hurt me so badly that I couldn't love again. It was my head that wouldn't allow me to relax and let go. I had told myself that I was worthless, that I was undeserving of love, and I told myself that it was easier to act like a dick, instead of laying my heart on the line. Maybe your mom had the affair because she felt trapped or whatever, but it was her who did the trapping, not anyone else. Do you see what I'm saying? Am I making any sense?"

"Kind of," Blaine shrugs. "I guess."

"I know you want answers, honey, but I also know that those answers might not be as insightful as you want them to be, and I don't want you to be disappointed when you don't have enough reason to cling to. You, and only you, can decide to forgive your mom when you feel ready. No reason, valid or otherwise, will manage to sway you, that's a decision you need to come to by yourself."

"So you think I should ignore everything that's happened? Carry on as normal?"

"I didn't say that," Kurt tells him, gently taking his hands in his. "I know you want to talk to her some more, and that's fine, but don't spend so long wrapped up in it that you waste all her time here. Last night, when we all relaxed, it was good, right?"

"Yeah."

"So just go with it. If you get a moment to talk, then great, but if not, I wouldn't stress too much."

"Kurt?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I tell you something? Something bad?"

"Blaine, you don't do bad," Kurt laughs. "You're as pure as the driven snow."

"I know I'll never forgive her as long as she's with him."

"Oh Blaine," Kurt sighs, stepping from the bath and handing him a towel. "That's not bad, that's perfectly natural, I would think. But it's also not for you to dictate," he adds with a look. "You realize that, right?"

"Yeah. I know. I just...I don't see her being any part of my family while he's still in the picture."

"You won't ever see him again," Kurt says firmly, frowning as he thinks of Spencer. "I promised you that and I totally meant it."

Blaine lets out a funny little laugh, capturing Kurt in his towel and wrapping it around them both. "I really like it when you get angry," he whispers in his ear. "As long as it's not with me."

"Oh, you're done talking, are you?" Kurt teases, eagerly wrapping his arms around Blaine's waist. "You wanna play now?"

"I want to show you that I'm not as pure as you think I am," Blaine says, letting their towel drop to the floor. "I can be utter, utter filth."

"Blaine Anderson, I demand that you lock that door immediately and bend me over this bathtub," Kurt says quickly. "And if anyone dares to interrupt us, you'll see me angrier than I've ever been."

Blaine takes Kurt's advice, and he manages to have fun making pumpkin pie with his mom for the first time in years, while on the other side of the kitchen, Kurt and his dad make pecan pie and try not to kill one another in the process.

"Just put it in the damn oven!" Burt cries, throwing his floured hands up in despair. "What are you making it all fancy for?"

"Because look at theirs," Kurt says, nodding his head to where Blaine and Angie are neatly crimping their pie crust. "It looks better than ours."

"So?"

"So they can't win!"

"I wasn't aware it was a competition," a confused Burt replies. He tries to wrestle the pie away from Kurt, but he's having none of it, so he goes over to whine to Blaine instead. "He's being all fancy."

"Mmm," is the only reply he gets, as Blaine artfully cuts some kind of pattern, so he turns to Angie.

"They're so competitive."

"Well...you can't really blame Kurt," Angie reasons kindly. "Our pie is better."

"Hey!" Indignant, Burt huffs back across the kitchen, and starts angrily rolling out the crust again. "Okay Kurt, stand by. We're gonna win this thing."

"Like father like son, huh?" Angie says to Blaine with a smile, and he looks up at her with a grin.

"Totally."

"Funny, because you're so much like Carl as well. I wonder what would have happened if we'd had two? Whether that one would have taken after me?"

"Did you want more?"

"No." Angie stops, reaching out to touch his cheek briefly and leaving a flour handprint in her wake, which she gently rubs away. "You were always enough for me. I liked being able to devote all my time to you. What about you, Burt?" she calls. "Did you want more children?"

"Well, we did, but then Kurt was so...weird, that we decided against it, or rather, I did."

"What?" Kurt shrieks. "I was not weird!"

"You were. You're still weird, in fact. We were busy raising you, and then by the time you got to be two or three, you were wearing pearls and lipstick and rambling on about marrying a prince. I didn't know what to do about that, and then Elizabeth started making noises about wanting more when you got to be about five, and then she got sick, so that was that."

"I was weird?"

"Different, maybe," Burt says, sensing he might have offended his son. "I just...had this urge to protect you, to keep you safe, because I could sense that you were this beautiful, fragile boy who needed shielding from the outside world. Then, when we thought you might benefit from a sibling, your mom couldn't do it. Be thankful, anyway," he says, crushing Kurt in his arms. "That's how we ended up with Blaine."

"Well that's true," Kurt grins.

"I did want brothers," Blaine says quietly. "Then I got them."

"I don't think Spencer's done a bad job," Angie protests weakly. "Raising three boys on his own."

"Don't you?" Burt huffs. "Then we must have very different parenting standards."

"No, I just think that you have very different ideas of what makes a man."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Well, in Spencer's eyes, being physically strong, good at sports, and not showing any emotion, are all traits that good men should have. With you, it's being able to talk about things, not afraid to show affection. You've taught Kurt and Blaine to love openly and honestly, and they're stronger and happier because of it. To me, they're so much more real men than Spencer's boys could ever be, because they know about respect and love and emotion."

"Oh," Burt says gruffly, finally seizing the pie from Kurt and putting it in the oven. "It's a good thing. I see."

"A very good thing, I think," Angie smiles. "Wouldn't you agree?"

By the time Thanksgiving dinner is finished, Kurt is convinced that Blaine and his mom are as back on track as they can hope to be. Blaine is happy and carefree, Angie is completely entranced by him, and she also gets along well with Kurt and Burt, in fact, she offers to do the cleaning up, but Burt won't have any of it, insisting she relaxes with Blaine while he and Kurt do the work.

"Poor Kurt," Angie says, as Blaine shows her into the den. "I don't think he was too happy."

"Only because he wants to nap under the guise of watching tv," Blaine laughs. "He always falls asleep after eating too much."

"He's getting old," Angie teases. "You know, he's exactly in the middle of us? Eleven years your senior and eleven years my junior."

"Does that bother you?"

"No, Blaine, I'm forty. Most people seem to be my junior nowadays."

Blaine surprises her by sitting next to her on the couch, turning to face her. "I meant him being older than me."

"Oh. Well, no, not really. You've always been very mature. I mean, if you were fourteen and he were twenty five I'd be alarmed, but you're both adults."

"Are you glad you came to visit?"

"Very," Angie confirms, patting his knee. "Are you?"

"Kind of."

"Oh." She stops, taken aback by Blaine's answer, which she had assumed, given how happy he seems, would be an affirmative. "What does that mean?"

"I like this, but it's gonna end, isn't it?"

"I told you I'd visit you in New York for your birthday."

"Yeah but...you're going back to him, and I just can't figure out why."

"I love him, Blaine."

"Why?" he says sadly, his heart sinking at her words. "Why do you love him? How can you love dad, but then love someone like that? I don't get how anyone could love someone who treats them badly."

"Don't you? You still love me, don't you?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Did you ever stop?"

"No, but..."

"So there you go."

"No!" Blaine cries loudly. "It's not the same, and you know it's not."

"Whatever you think, Blaine, about how he treats me, it's not as bad as you're imagining. He's never hit me."

"Makes no difference," Blaine shrugs. "Spencer is a bully, a mean man who thrives on putting other people down. He might not abuse you physically, but god only knows the mental torment you must go through, living with someone like that. I had one year of it and that was enough."

"He is my husband, Blaine," Angie says firmly. "My marriage is my business and no one else's."

"Staying with him won't magically erase the guilt you feel over dad, you know," Blaine snaps.

"No, and burying yourself in Burt's arms doesn't make you a Hummel either," Angie bites back. "I am your mom, Blaine, and you won't speak to me like that."

"You're the woman who gave birth to me," Blaine says angrily, "But nothing more. I have two parents, one named Carl and the other named Burt."

He storms quickly from the den and into the kitchen, where Burt seems to almost be expecting him. "Come on," he says, holding out his arms, and Blaine goes and hides in the comforting embrace that he loves so much, warmed by the feel of Kurt's arms coming around him too.

Blaine mutters something completely incomprehensible, and Burt looks to Kurt, who gives a little kiss into Blaine's hair. "He says he wants Thanksgiving to be over."

"No you don't," Burt tells him, chuckling when he feels Blaine nodding against his chest. "You don't. Now lift your head up and tell me what's going on."

Kurt makes tea while Blaine talks, because he likes to feel useful, and then wonders whether he should take any to Angie or not. He decides against it, and leans against the counter instead, his head resting on his dad's shoulder, as Burt continues to hold Blaine tight.

"You know you both said stupid stuff, right?" Burt asks Blaine, who nods miserably against him. "And you need to apologize."

"I know that, but can I just stay here for a little bit?"

"Sure you can," Burt says, and puts his other arm around Kurt and draws him close too.

He'd never say it to either one of his boys, but he is entirely on Blaine's side in all this. He is a Hummel in his eyes, whether Angie chooses to acknowledge that or not. He knows it's important for Blaine and his mom to have some kind of relationship, and he certainly feels pleased, on the whole, with how these couple of days have gone. It's been nice to see them getting along, and he's come to actually quite like Angie, but Burt Hummel takes family ties very seriously, and he doesn't think he will ever be able to forgive her for the way she so readily abandoned her son in order to pursue her own love life.

Over the years, as a widower with a small child in tow, or just as a single man, Burt has had opportunities to date people, which he has, and also opportunities to take things further and enter into serious relationships with women, which he has not. For a start, he didn't really want to lay his heart on the line like that, not when he knew he would always belong to Elizabeth inside, but mostly, the reason he had steered clear, was Kurt.

Linda, whom he had dated for a good five months, was sweet, funny and smart, but she didn't want children, and when Burt, unable to get a sitter, brought a nine year old Kurt to dinner with them and she'd turned her nose up, that had been the end of that.

Rosalie was shy and quiet, but Burt had really brought her out of her shell, or so everyone said. The trouble was, their time together coincided with Kurt's coming out, and he had needed him more at that time, so Burt had let go.

Mary was great too, until Burt mentioned his son was gay, and then suddenly...not so great, or understanding, and Burt had never dropped anyone so fast.

So for the life of him, Burt cannot figure out why this debacle is still going on, why Angie was putting up the barriers again, and effectively telling Blaine that he wasn't a part of her life in that way.

"Oh."

Burt turns his head at the sound of Angie's voice, to find her standing in the kitchen doorway. "I see."

"You see what?" Burt asks, perhaps a little harshly. "You see me holding my boys? They're upset."

"And I'm not? Blaine called me the woman who gave birth to him, how do you think that made me feel?"

"I know," Burt sighs, acquiescing somewhat, "and I've told him about that. Blaine?"

"I'm sorry," Blaine mumbles. He turns around to face her, but stays close to Burt, one hand on his arm. "You're not just that, really, and I shouldn't have said that. You're more, so much more but... I want this to work," he admits, wiping at his eyes. "I keep telling myself things will never be as they were, but I still can't help but hope. Then you go and say you're going to stay with him, and..."

"I think you're too eager," Kurt interrupts, and he moves to the other side of Blaine, and talks directly to him, closing out everything else. "Baby steps, Blaine. Think how far you've come. Next week, when you're back at college and your mom's at work, you've both got some really great memories to look back on. So much has happened, and so much has changed, that this won't be an overnight fix. Just take things slow and give yourselves time to heal. Sure, there will be rough moments, like now, but overall things are already so much better, don't you think?"

Blaine nods. What he really wants to do, right now, is curl up on his bed with Kurt and cry until he feels better, and for Burt to bring him hot chocolate and cake like he sometimes does. But he's also aware that he's hurt someone who, no matter what, he loves very deeply, and for that he feels bad.

"Kurt's right," he says softly to Angie, who shrugs with tears in her eyes. "He always is, isn't he?"

"Amen," Kurt says quietly, then nudges Blaine toward her and smiles when they hug each other tightly.

"I only have tonight," Angie says sadly. "I really have had a good time, and I know we still need to work on stuff, but can we just...can we just have fun for this evening?"

"Of course we can," Burt says loudly, when Blaine gives a nod. "Boys, go find that trivia set we have."

"No," Kurt moans, "Not trivia. Please!"

"Tough," Burt declares, shoving them both out into the hall. "Go get it, and no sulking when you lose."

He knows that as soon as they get into the den, they'll be in each others arms, so he figures he has a good few minutes to spare. "Well," he says, turning to Angie.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" she asks, as she leans against the counter. "For going back to him?"

"Yep." Burt shrugs, then walks over to the fridge, grabbing two beers and handing one to her. "But I also think it's gotta be your decision. If there's one thing I've learned from raising Kurt, it's that if you try and force someone to live their life the way you want, it always backfires."

"I think...I think that's what Spencer might be trying to do to me," Angie admits. "Cutting Blaine out, making cruel jabs about my weight, my hair, my age..."

"Hold up. You're like...slim, and what? Nearly forty?"

"I'm forty now."

"Hardly old," Burt says, astonished. "Why would you want to put your own wife down like that?"

"I don't know," Angie admits. "And this is the part I can't explain to Blaine, because Spencer wasn't always like that. I had an affair with him simply because he made me feel so worthwhile and valued. That isn't to say that Carl didn't, but he was sick, Blaine was busy with school, and my life was just an endless cycle of being a caregiver or a mom. I didn't even feel like a wife anymore, because Carl was so sick and he couldn't...well, he couldn't make me feel like a wife should feel."

"I get ya," Burt says softly, and he puts a sympathetic arm around her shoulders.

"I know it was wrong," she carries on, and she doesn't even try to hide her tears, just lets them fall as she carries on talking. "I know I was the one who messed my perfect life up, it's just that I couldn't see it was perfect at the time. I ruined all the time I had left with Carl, but Spencer made me feel like a million dollars. Now I live with a man who tells me my opinions aren't worthwhile, who expects me to feed him when he demands, pick up after him...you know something? Last night when you gave me a beer? That's the first beer I've had in months, because he never even offers. Once, when I asked for one, he told me drinking beer wasn't becoming in a woman."

"Jesus," Burt says in a low voice. "Angie, I gotta say, this doesn't sound like a healthy relationship. Actually, I'd kinda like to kill the guy."

"It's not," she agrees sadly. "But I think I need to see if I can make it work, if I can get back the guy that he was."

"I don't think you will," Burt says with a sigh. "Cause I think he's been that guy all along. He doesn't have Blaine to pick on now, so he's turned his attentions to you. I'm sorry, Angie, but the guy is a bully, plain and simple."

In the silence of the hallway, Kurt gently tugs Blaine back into the den, where he holds him tight and kisses softly under his jaw. "I'm so sorry you had to hear that."

"I'm not going to see her, am I? When she goes back."

"Not for a while, no," Kurt agrees, "I think that she's trying to keep these two halves of her life separate for now. That doesn't mean it's right, but we just have to wait it out, like dad said."

"Kurt? This morning you said you're not romantic."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, you are. You've held me up these last few days, and I don't know what I would have done without your comfort. That's more romantic and loving than any bunch of flowers could be."

"So I never have to buy you flowers again?" Kurt teases lightly. "That's good. I never know what to choose."

"That is absolutely not what it means," Blaine laughs, as Kurt continues to kiss over his neck.

"All gifts are now revoked in favor of comforting words of wisdom."

"I hate you sometimes," Blaine says, and he laughs again as Kurt lies him down on the couch and falls on top of him.

"I know you do," he grins, then finally finds Blaine's lips and gives him a loving, sweet and slow kiss, which, although relatively chaste, still manages to take their breath away and make their heartbeats quicken.

"I'll be okay, you know," Blaine says when they part, his fingers sliding into Kurt's hair. "With you, and dad. I'll be okay."

"I know you will," Kurt whispers, as he holds Blaine close. "And your mom will get there, Blaine, really."

"I hope so."

"Wanna make out a bit before they come in?" Kurt asks with a wicked grin, and Blaine is eager to oblige, never tiring of the feel of Kurt's lips on his.

They are interrupted of course, by Burt's voice booming down the hallway. "Ten second warning, boys! Stop whatever you're up to, cause it's trivia time!"

Kurt breaks the kiss with a growl of displeasure, and reluctantly climbs off Blaine to let him sit up. "You know, all things considered, I'm really looking forward to going back to New York."

"Me too," Blaine says happily. "There's this film noir festival at the Rose, and I thought we could..."

"No, Blaine. You'll be flat on your back with your legs in the air for at least a week, so don't even make any other plans."

"Oh." Blaine looks slightly stunned, before he flushes pink and lets his hand find Kurt's thigh, just as Burt and Angie arrive in the den. "Well...that beats film noir any day."