They didn't resolve it that night. Kurt stayed away from the room for nearly an hour, during which time Blaine had thumbed through a few more of the entries, hoping that Kurt would not be too angry with him. He wasn't. When he had finally re-entered, Kurt didn't seem too interested in the fact that Blaine had still had the journal dangling from his fingers, and indeed, had done nothing more than drop down onto the bed before looking at Blaine pointedly, who, after a few seconds took the hint and joined him. Despite the light tension between them, within a few minutes, Kurt, with a huff, rolled over and placed his head on Blaine's chest, right over his heart, before closing his eyes.

Despite their late night, Blaine opened his eyes a little over six o clock, rubbing his hand over his face before sitting up, shooting Kurt a fond look. He had rolled away from him at some point, which made it quite easy for him to slip out of the bed and use the bathroom. Re-emerging a few minutes later, he looked at the bed, contemplating just snuggling back into the depths of the covers beside his boyfriend. The sound of something dropping from Finn's room followed by a bit off curse, decided the matter for him.

Snagging Kurt's spare robe (which suspiciously resembled the one he couldn't find while he had been packing for college) and pulling it on as he walked, Blaine went to Finn's room, knocking.

"Come in Blaine," came Finn's slightly flustered response.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked, closing the door.

"You knock five times," Finn told him, looking up from the pile of clothing he had scattered on the floor, "I didn't wake you?"

"I was up already, heard something fall and decided to investigate. What are you looking for?"

"My spare black shirt," he answered, starting to rummage through the pile again. "I sort of got mustard on the one we used last year and I didn't bother to get it cleaned and now's really not the time to be running laundry."

Blaine pursed his lips, resisting the urge to scold on Kurt's behalf. "I wouldn't think that it'd be in your tee-shirt drawer," he said instead.

"Did you see it recently?"

"Kurt re-organised. Haven't seen it since."

"Wasn't that in July?" Blaine muttered too himself, walking to the closet. He bypassed Finn's regular clothes in favour of the ones in the far end.

"Found my tie!" Finn declared happily, and Blaine snorted as he took in the condition of it. Finn could be so mature when it came to some aspects of his life that it was hilarious to see him floundering around like this.

"Success!" Blaine declared a minute later, pulling out the required shirt. "Make sure it fits," he bid, tossing it at him.

"I didn't gain weight," Finn protested, even as he started shrugging into it.

"You've gotten taller," Blaine retorted, dropping down on the edge of the bed and observing him. "It'll do," he decided. "A bit too short at the sleeves and hips, but the pants will hide it and I doubt anyone is really going to be staring at your wrists."

"Eh, we're still deciding on sleeves up or down," Finn told him. "I got to iron this."

"I'll do it," Blaine offered, extending his hand for it, "and the tie."

Finn gave him a wide grin, "You're the best, Blaine! I'll go shower by the time."

"I know. Are you eating?"

"No milk!" Finn called, half way out the door already, "I don't wanna risk puking!"

"Did you and Kurt work things out?" Finn asked a while later, around a mouthful of pancakes and syrup.

"We're still together if that's what you're asking."

"Told ya you were over-reacting," Finn smirked.

"Yeah yeah," he answered, sipping on a glass of juice, even as he wondered if he should have made Finn wear two napkins just in case of more spillage.

"Everything worked out?"

"Not exactly."

"Figured that," Finn admitted, "no other reason Kurt would have hid himself away in my room if you were here."

"He thinks he's burdening me," Blaine said shortly.

Finn stared at him for a moment before letting out a rueful laugh. "It's your turn huh?"

"What?"

"We've all gone through that phase," he explained further, his voice mildly consoling. "Ever so often he gets it in his head that he's too much trouble to deal with and we're all better off just leaving him to himself and going on with our lives."

"That's it exactly," Blaine responded, mildly relieved that it was not something isolated solely to him.

"I guess since you've left he's gotten a lot more insecure, but don't let it get you too down okay? He'll work his way through it. Just don't let him push you away."

"I wasn't planning on that happening," Blaine told him, "he's too precious to lose."

"And don't you forget that," Finn quipped, waggling his fork at him.

"I never will," Blaine responded sincerely. "Are you nervous for today?"

"Just the usual pre-performance nerves," he said after a moment's thought. "To be honest, the competition isn't that stiff. Once we do everything we're supposed to, we'll win, and then the real battle will begin. You guys coming?"

"Kurt hadn't decided. I'll ask him again once he wakes up. The muffins only have a few minutes left to finish baking."

"You should come back more often," Finn declared.

"To make you food?"

"Exactly!"

"Yeah well, if you keep up the flattery I might be persuaded to blow the dust off my mom's lasagne recipe."

"The one with four cheeses? Have I mentioned you're a deity among men?"

"And that will do it," Blaine said with a laugh. "I'll even throw in some double chocolate cookies into the mix for you."

"You are the champion my friend," Finn crooned, "and you'll be awesome till the end."

"Queen will sue you," Blaine told him with a mock-scowl as he rose to remove the muffins.

"I need to talk to you about something," Finn said then, "Something Rachel mentioned to me earlier."

"Oh?"

"Ain't got enough time to now, but it's about Kurt's college options."

"Seriously, that's all you're going to tell me?"

"Yup!" Finn responded with a mischievous grin.

"It's too bad," Blaine said with a smile of her own, "I really was looking forward to having some of those cookies, myself."

Finn's answer was delayed as they heard footsteps shuffling towards the kitchen. Both males smiled as Kurt walked in, rubbing one of his eyes even as he shot a sleepy glare at Blaine.

"I know, I know. You fell asleep with your boyfriend safely in your bed."

Kurt's grunt was the nearest thing to a reply as he headed for the pot of coffee Blaine had only recently made. "It's the weekend lil bro," Finn pointed out, "And early too. You can just steal fluffy head here, and go back to bed."

"Hey!" Blaine protested.

"You deny me cookies, Anderson!"

"The lasagne is now at risk too."

Kurt's jaw popping yawn delayed any rebuttal, and they turned to watch him. He didn't speak immediately; he took a long drag from a mug before he finally spoke up, his voice gravelly. "It's almost seven. We wouldn't have enough time to get ready if we went back to bed, and he," he stated, tilting his head in Blaine's direction, "didn't pack anything wearable. We'll have to rummage through the stuff you have stashed here, Blaine."

"We're going somewhere?" Blaine asked curiously, sharing a glance with Finn.

Kurt shot him a look that suggested that he was clearly being ridiculous. "You are taking me on a date this afternoon," he informed him, "so I hope you brought your licence cuz I'm not particularly in a driving mood. I already put in a booking at Mariano's for one, and we'll go to the lake afterwards."

"We're going to Westerville?"

"After Sectionals, yeah," Kurt told him, almost nonchalantly.

Both Finn and Blaine's eyes widened.

"What?" Kurt inquired, "I told you I'd decide in the morning. And I decided that I want to see you guys win live, so don't disappoint me."

With that he put down the now empty mug before heading towards the stack of pancakes.

"Well," Blaine said after a moment, "You heard the gentleman, Finn. You guys better win."

And luckily for Finn, New Directions did.

It was a little after three in the afternoon, and Blaine breathed in deeply, inhaling the crisp air of late November. Bundled as they were in long jackets, the occasional colder bite of the wind did nothing to perturb them besides leaving their noses pink. They had the area for themselves. Few people bothered to venture to a lake side in late Autumn and they were taking advantage of that, sprawled out as they were on one of the installed picnic tables. Occasionally, Blaine would turn his head enough to look at Kurt, laying quietly but peacefully beside him.

Briefly Blaine wondered if the Kurt of early that morning, the one who considered himself to be a burden had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination, given how...normal he seemed to be acting now, cuddling into his side, brushing his legs against Blaine and tangling them under the table during lunch amidst loving looks. But then again, he told himself, his mind drawing him back to Kurt's early days in Dalton, when he would miss multiple days of school for appointments or simply because he couldn't properly deal with the world. Perhaps that had just been one of those episodes? Blaine knew that he should address it, he truly knew that he needed to, but with just under a day left of his visit, he really did not want to break the peace between them.

"My mom met my dad while she was doing a semester abroad in France," he said instead, and felt Kurt shift slightly beside him, listening. "He himself was there for a year as part of a student exchange program, and mutual friends introduced them. They didn't hit it off at first, but the longer they interacted the more they grew to like each other. Except, they really didn't start developing feelings for each other until around the time when Mom had to come back to America. And then the real problem arose. An American woman and a British man fell in love in France back in the days when there wasn't cell phones or Skype. What on earth were they to do?"

"Lots and lots of letters?" Kurt guessed softly.

"Exactly," Blaine confirmed, "letters they have to this day. Dad finished school first, and, after a year, decided to head to America for his Masters Degree, and so they were reunited. Except, the next year after mom finished school, she got an internship abroad and had to leave. That's what happened for the next three years. They were still together, but inevitably always apart. And then Dad's father passed away, and just out of Graduate school he had to go back to England to take over the business; the curse of being the only child born quite late in life, and although Momma loved him and England, she didn't want to live there permanently. They parted, but they'd both still say that they never really considered each other to be broken up. It just didn't work that way for them. The letters and phone calls continued. Momma took a portion of her inheritance and established the company she runs today, and she was lucky enough to find a niche in a newly developing market and soon enough she was independently wealthy. Business started expanding and lo and behold, eventually she found herself on a business trip to, you guessed it, Britain.

"She and dad met up for dinner, and when it was time for her to leave, she just...couldn't. They conceived Cooper that night," he said with a slightly roughish grin, "although to her death Grandmother denies that, claiming that Cooper was just born extremely pre-maturely."

"She had to preserve her delicate sensibilities," Kurt teased.

"Mom didn't find out she was pregnant until a few weeks later, and when she told Dad, he flew out with a ring and a promise that distance be damned, they'd find a way to make this work."

"Well they're still married, so I guess they did."

"It wasn't easy," Blaine confirmed. "Neither of them wanted to move permanently but with their jobs they travelled enough that their parts collided a lot, and they made sure that at least a week a month they were together. Cooper was born here but spent a lot of his childhood in England. He alternated between being a boarder and a day student depending on mom and dad's schedule. After primary school he decided that he wanted to live in America, so momma enrolled him into Dalton's middle school. I was born his third year there but I've only really spent summers and a few Christmases in Britain. By the time I had come along, they had managed to co-ordinate their schedules so that at least their holidays' schedule collided, so the Anderson clan could be together.

"I'll admit it's not the most stable or conventional family structure or life, but it works for us and it works for them. Long distance relationships just don't seem like a lot of work for me, because I grew up with it. As long as the commitment is there, it'll work. It doesn't mean that I don't feel insecure at times."

"You feel insecure Blaine?" Kurt whispered.

"I do," he confirmed, "sometimes I wonder if you don't need me anymore. That you've grown so strong that I wouldn't be able to do any of the things I used to do for you. That I wouldn't be the one you turn to for help; that I wouldn't be the first one you think to talk to when you need something or just want to talk. That you'd decide that there wasn't a real space for me anymore."

"That's silly," Kurt stated, turning his head to look at him. "I'd never feel that way."

"Now you understand how I feel about what you said last night," Blaine answered softly, turning to look at him as well. "But it doesn't stop me from thinking it."

"Same here," Kurt agreed momentarily.

"But that doesn't stop me from loving you or wanting to be with you always, Kurt. Maybe you're right and there are things we need to change in our relationship, at least for now until you're with me in New York. But, there is no way that I am ever going to say that I do not want you with me and I am hoping with everything within me that you feel the same way."

"I do," Kurt said softly, his voice wavering slightly, "I do so much. It's just that I feel-"

"I know how you feel sweetheart. You've told me that and trust me I have listened. And truthfully, I don't know how I can stop what you feel or what I feel. Love and hope I suppose?"

"You know I don't hope in many things Blaine. Not since that time. It hurts too much to have your hopes and dreams crushed."

Blaine snickered slightly at that despite himself. "Name three things you hope or believe in."

"My family. You."

"A third thing sweetheart," Blaine pressed.

"Me?"

"Asking or stating?"

"Both?"

"I'll take that for now," Blaine allowed.

"I hope that I can help lead the Warblers to victory in both competitions next year," Kurt continued, "but I have no choice but to. The guys were so doubtful; I had to rally them to action."

"And you succeeded."

"Hopefully I will continue to."

"You will."

"I hope to be in New York with you this time next year."

"That's a beautiful hope."

Kurt swallowed then. "I hope we're still together five years from now. You'll be out of college then, I'll be finishing up. We'll probably be engaged by there because gay marriage will pass in all the states. We'll be happy. Everyone will be happy."

"I have those hopes too," Blaine admitted. "Except that I want fur-babies by then. I'm thinking at least two dogs, adopted from shelters."

"I want a cat.

"Then we'll have two dogs and a cat to rule them."

"And us," Kurt giggled.

"Exactly. See sweetheart, you have hope, and that's good. Hope is all that we can do as humans. If we lose hope, then why would we bother to go on?"

"You're right," Kurt decided. "Maybe hope isn't such a bad thing...in small doses."

Blaine laughed at that. "That'll do for now, sweetheart. One step at a time."

"So, do I have to remove my Klaine banner?" Jeff inquired, snagging Kurt's bag from his shoulder.

Kurt shot him an indulgent look, even as locked his car. "We worked out a lot of things. The banner can remain."

"So you're still together?"

"We are," he confirmed. "We changed up some of the things we had decided upon though. We're only keeping the Sunday afternoon Skype dates.B laine can go partying if he wants, but he's decided to limit any close contact dancing to the Dalton boys. And during our exam times or when we have a lot of assignments due, we'll make due with texts or Whatsapp messages and neither of us are to feel as if we're denying the other attention or ignoring them. We're also going to do letters, because…well, it's romantic. "

"Nice!"

"I'm still going to New York for New Years but we've cancelled our plans for his Spring Break. We'll have Regionals and the Accapella competition then anyway, so I'm going to be very busy."

"Sounds like you guys have everything worked out."

"It's a work in progress," Kurt amended, bumping into him, "but we're going to do this."

"Great for you guys," Jeff said softly, looking away.

Kurt stopped walking, and tugged at Jeff's blazer so that he looked at him. "I'll freely admit that I've been a bit preoccupied with Klaine drama, but now that that is all resolved, I can put my energy into something else."

"Like what?"

"Like you and Nick," Kurt said bluntly. "Now, let's start working on Niff"