Finn was laughing out loud when he approached Kurt after Mike and Tina performed their comedic duet in Glee. It was hard for Kurt to hear that laughter and see that smile without reacting.

"Wow." He shook his head admiringly, watching over his shoulder as Tina hugged Mike and twirled him around. "That was really great. Okay, maybe he really can't sing, but… I sometimes forget how good he is at what he can do. Mike's a hell of a dancer."

"They were funny." Kurt watched Finn's eyes cover the ground between them and Mike. It made him blink a little. By the time he thought about saying anything about it, Finn's gaze had returned to him.

"Okay if I take the bus today?"

Finn's voice was steady, but Kurt though he heard something in it. He looked carefully at Finn.

"I'll drive you over to Carl's," he said quietly, "if you need a ride."

He watched as Finn's face went red. "No — no! I mean… I've sure as hell been thinking about it, but… I'm not ready to see him yet. Not like that."

"I know." He hesitated, aware of just how many of their friends were within listening distance, and finally dropped his voice to a whisper before leaning in to Finn. "I sent him a text earlier."

"You — okay?" Finn looked startled, and a little wary.

"I told him I want to go with him to the coffeehouse the next time he goes. To see Blaine."

Finn didn't flinch at Blaine's name, but he was getting pretty good at his school poker face, so Kurt wasn't sure he trusted what he saw. It was probably just as well. He nodded.

"I know I said I couldn't do it," Kurt said, hearing his voice come out low and quick and more desperate than he'd thought he was feeling, "but I think I have to see him. I have to see if what Santana and Carl and Ms. Pillsbury saw was really —"

"Kurt," said Finn. Kurt stopped talking. His face was so gentle. "It's okay."

Kurt pressed his lips together on the tears that threatened. He was almost grateful when Finn walked away, because it made it easier not to keep crying. All this crying at school was playing havoc with his complexion.

Brad vanished after Glee. It took a while for everyone else to drift away. Kurt took the opportunity to sit at the vacant piano and put his fingers on the keys, playing chord progressions to calm himself down. For several minutes, he thought he was alone in the choir room. He was halfway through his song for Adam before he realized Rachel was standing there, listening.

"Don't stop," she urged when he jerked to a halt. "Kurt, that was beautiful."

"Thanks." He remembered just how anxious he'd once been about sharing that song with anyone, especially with Adam. Now, he'd played it at school without a thought. When he smiled, she smiled back and sat down on the bench beside him while he played the rest. She applauded at the end.

"Was that your composition?"

Kurt nodded. She looked honestly impressed.

"You're very talented." Rachel sounded wistful.

"Thank you. So are you."

She sighed. "Yes, well, that may be, but talent isn't getting me very far with Finn. We originally rehearsed a wonderful duet together. We definitely would have won the competition with it. Then we got into all these arguments about winning and honesty and relationships, and now he doesn't want to do a duet with me at all."

"It's not about you, Rach," Kurt said. "I mean, okay, maybe Finn is confused about the way things are between the two of you, but that's not the reason he doesn't want to do a duet with you. This is about Noah."

She nodded, stroking her fingertips over the worn yellow wood of the piano. "He said things weren't going so well. Have you talked to him? How much longer does he have to stay in juvie?"

"We… don't know." As much as he didn't like lying to Rachel, he wasn't about to explain what little he knew about what was going on with Puck. That would definitely get him crying again. "We're all worried about him. I think Finn's more worried than he realizes. So don't feel bad if he's distracted from school things right now. He could use a little space."

"I'm trying," she said softly. "It's just… I miss him. Even when he's right there, he's somewhere else. I'm lonely for him."

"Finn has a lot of personal responsibilities competing for his attention."

"I know! And I don't do so well with competition." She picked up Brad's sheet music and began collating it. It looked like organizing was Rachel's nervous habit.

"It's really not competition, Rach. Not with us."

She shook her head. "You don't understand. For me, it is. It has to be competition — and in a group, it's even more so. Everybody's automatically out to get me. I have to be the leader, or else I get stepped on and crushed. I can't trust a group. I just feel — left out."

The flood of words stopped as abruptly as they'd begun. Kurt eyed her as she sat there, looking embarrassed.

"I don't want you to feel that way," he said softly. "You know I'm not your competition, right?"

"It's not like you can fix it, Kurt. It's just the way it is for me." Her eyes flickered over the floor. "I don't really belong anywhere. But with him, I feel… accepted. More than that."

"Cherished," said Kurt. She looked up in surprise, then smiled, nodding.

"Yes. Do you feel that way with him too?"

"Yes." He laughed to himself. "I figured out last year that… pairing off isn't exactly my thing? It's not what satisfies me the most, anyway. But Finn, he always makes me feel just the right kind of happy."

She touched his fingers with hers, and he took them, holding her hand.

"We have something in common, then," she said. "How we feel about Finn."

It wasn't a surprise, but Kurt felt suddenly aware of that particular connection between them in a way he hadn't been before. He sat there looking at her for a long time. It could have been weird, but she did the same thing, the two of them studying one another curiously, without judgment.

"I think we should sing a duet," he said.

"But the competition is over."

"I know. This would be our duet, for — how we both feel about somebody." He nodded at her astonished expression. "Nobody would make assumptions about you and me singing together. Everybody knows I'm gay. I'm not a threat."

"You said." Her smile was tentative. "But he would know."

He nodded. "He'd be the only one, but… it would mean something. To me, too."

With only a little awkwardness, Rachel reached out and hugged him. Kurt was surprised to find himself hugging her back. "Okay. Yes. I would love to."

"I remember you have an amazing record collection at your house? Maybe I could come over and we could choose a song together."

Her eyes sparkled a little. "Actually, I already have two ideas."

It was surprisingly difficult for Sarah to get Tatenui to agree to let her take the bus to Mansfield to see Jake. It made Sarah more than a little grumpy. She wasn't used to Tatenui saying no to her.

"You've got to forgive me for not exactly trusting the older Puckermans a whole lot right now," he told her. "Or the middle younger one, for that matter."

"Jake's mom's not a Puckerman," she insisted, shoving the phone at him. "She's a Roth. And she doesn't like my dad any more than you do. Come on, she can help."

They talked to Jake's mom for a long time, Carole on one extension and Tatenui on another, and they shut the doors firmly and wouldn't let her listen on the third extension in the upstairs sitting room. She sat in her bedroom for two minutes, then wandered restlessly through the house from room to room, listening with half an ear to Kurt and Rachel rehearsing their mashup of "Come On Get Happy" and "Happy Days are Here Again."

Finn was in his own room, lying on his back in the middle of his bed and quizzing himself on Spanish vocabulary.

"I can help with that," she said. He gave her a funny look.

"You've only taken Spanish for two months."

"I know as much as Noah. Déme esas páginas." She held out an imperious hand, and he gave her the papers, grinning. It might have been the first time she'd seen him smile since Noah had taken off, but she didn't mention that.

He knew the meaning of most of the words, even if his pronunciation was terrible. Every now and then, they'd pause and listen to Rachel and Kurt. She could hear them stop to argue, each one talking over the other, and then dissolve into laughter, and eventually sing another stanza.

"They sound really good together," she said. Finn nodded.

"We had this duet competition in Glee. I'm glad they're doing one."

"Who did you sing a duet with?"

Finn shook his head, looking away. "Nobody. Rachel, originally, but then… we sang something else, just so we'd lose. It was complicated. Duets…" He waved a hand at the wall. "I'm not so good at those."

"You've got a lot of duets," she said. "Even though you have a quartet, there's always duets too."

"Yeah, well." He gave her a restless shrug. "When it's a competition, that automatically means you end up with a whole bunch of losers."

"So?"

He sighed. "So, some people really hate to lose."

"What about you?"

"I hate to see people I care about lose."

She wrinkled her nose. "I hope you never have to play football against Blaine, then."

"I don't think there's any chance of that happening." He wasn't smiling anymore. She wanted to hug him or something, but he didn't look like he was in the mood for a hug.

"I'm sorry Noah's such a screw-up."

He looked up at her, surprised. "That's not your fault, Sarah."

"It used to be just us," she said. "After my dad left, my mom was kind of useless for a long time. Me and Noah, we did whatever needed to be done to keep her out of trouble. We were a really good duet. But a lot of that went away when you and Kurt took over. And then he got his new duets with Blaine and Bethie."

Kurt sang a sour note, and he and Rachel started arguing again, but Finn didn't appear to be listening to them. He was watching her.

"How old were you when your dad left?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Five or six. It was after Noah got back from soccer camp. I spent the summer with Blaine and Frances when Meemee took off, and then my dad… I don't know, I guess he gave up. He was gone by fall."

Finn almost smiled when she mentioned Blaine as her babysitter, but his face got serious again quickly. "But you forgave him."

"Eventually." She snorted. "I'm such a sucker."

"You weren't the only one who was starting to believe he had Noah's best interests at heart."

Hearing him say Noah like that made her heart beat funny in her chest. "You don't call him that," she said, a little too loudly.

"I do, though." That wasn't a smile on his lips, even though the corners were going up. "Sometimes. When he needs to hear it."

She couldn't think about it right now. "And you've got duets coming out your ears. You've got one with Noah, and one with Kurt, and one with Carl. And Blaine. And Rachel, right?"

"Yes," he said. He looked tired. "Rachel."

"Only some of them are solos right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying… it's harder not being needed than being needed, sometimes." She jerked her thumb at the door, indicating the voices singing together down the hallway. "Case in point."

Finn swiveled his gaze toward the door and stared at it. "You mean… you think that's why Kurt is doing this stuff with Rachel? Because he — he needs to be needed?"

She rolled her eyes. "He's not the only one, right?"

"I like Rachel," he said. Then he stopped. The confused expression on his face almost made her laugh, but that would have been super mean.

"Okay, Sarah." She looked up to see Tatenui standing in the door, looking defeated.

"Okay?" she said.

"You win. You can go see Jake on the bus tomorrow after school."

She scrambled to her feet and hugged him, not bothering to be careful not to squeeze too hard. She was too small to do any kind of damage, even if he was still recovering from his heart attack. He hugged her back.

"It's not about winning," she said. "I'm doing this for Noah."

"I know." He pulled back far enough to frown at her. "But I don't want you to feel bad if it doesn't help."

She scowled back. "It's gonna help."

"You might as well listen to her," said Finn. "She's smart."

"I already knew that," Tatenui murmured. He brushed her hair out of her face. "But smart's not always enough to fix other people's stupid."

"It's my part of the duet," she said. "I'm just coming in when I'm supposed to."

Jake and Jake's mom Tanisha met Sarah at the bus stop. Jake leaned over across the back seat to open the door for her.

"Thanks," she said to Tanisha right away. Her face in the rear-view mirror looked a lot like Jake's.

"Don't thank me yet, Sarah. I'm a police officer, not a vigilante. Your brother's in a lot of trouble, but so far, it appears to be legal."

"She figured out where he is," Jake said. "Where that camp is, anyway."

Sarah felt a pulse of excitement in her stomach as he showed her a route into the mountains of Oregon on his printed map. "That's a long drive. Dad's even more nuts than I thought he was."

"There aren't too many organizations who aim to do something like this," said Tanisha with a look of disgust. "Trying to change kids from the inside out. If you ask me, they're messing with things they shouldn't be allowed to touch, no matter what they think about being gay. It's not right."

"I read that web site, Sar. He had to agree to be there, to consent. Both Dad and him." Jake actually looked worried. It was more emotion than she was used to seeing from him. "Do you think Noah would really say yes to something like this?"

"Here's the thing about Noah," she said. "He has a hard time figuring out what he wants. He's really stubborn and doesn't like to follow rules. But if somebody he cares about tells him, this is what you should do, he's probably going to listen. Which is why Finn and Kurt are good for him, because they have way better judgment than he does."

Jake's house was all by itself at the end of a dirt road. They parked on the long gravel driveway and were met by an enormous orange cat on the way in. Jake stopped to pick him up, absently petting a bent ear.

"Longfellow always knows when people are freaking out about something," he said.

"What are you freaking out about?" she asked. She accepted the armful of cat uncertainly, but she mimicked the way Jake had held him, and he seemed to tolerate her.

Jake made a face. "I'll tell you later. I'm really not ready for my mom to hear about this."

Sarah petted Longfellow while Tanisha showed her the information she'd gathered about the J4J organization. It supported what Lauren had discovered about their "adventure camp."

"How did you figure out where it was?" Sarah asked.

"We followed up a lead we got from a concerned delivery guy," Tanisha said. "Apparently he brings bananas up the mountain to their kitchen every week. He didn't have specific complaints, but what he gave them is enough for the local police department to justify making a visit and asking some questions. If Noah is there, they'll find him."

Sarah nodded, nibbling on the pita chips Jake had put in front of her. "And then what?"

"Well, I think that depends on what they find when they're there. If this group has been able to stay under the radar all this time, they're probably being careful to follow the letter of the law. But even if they're not doing anything illegal, there might be cause to send any children home while the police are making an investigation." She looked sympathetic. "What happens after Noah comes home is, unfortunately, up to your father."

She swallowed. "You mean what happens to us. He could take us away from Tatenui and Carole."

Tanisha nodded. "As long as he's your legal guardian, yes. He could."

Sarah didn't say anything more. Talking about running away in front of a police officer, no matter how nice she was, wasn't going to help anybody.

Jake brought her downstairs to show her his dance studio. She had watched some of his YouTube dance videos, which were amazing, but seeing him dance live was way more awesome. He did a classical ballet routine Toby had taught him.

"What's this?" she asked, picking up a pile of sheet music from the card table in the corner. Jake dropped into the chair next to her and snatched it back.

"It's nothing." His face was more red than it should have been, even after the exertion of dancing.

"Dude. You've been listening to me talk about all sorts of stuff online for the past couple weeks. You can't give me nothing."

"Well, okay." He dropped his voice, glancing nervously at the stairs. "It's… I've been singing."

"Singing?"

"With Katie, from our online group. There's this web site where you can add your voice to somebody else's, and record them together? She gave me a link to hers." He shook his head, his eyes big. "Sarah, she is amazing."

"Toby was her dance teacher, for a little while, at school, right? Vocal Adrenaline. He's a singer, too." She watched him curiously. "I didn't know you could sing."

"I wasn't sure I could either, but she's been helping me."

"Well, come on?" Sarah gestured toward the computer. "Aren't you going to play it for me?"

"Shit," he muttered, but he loaded the web site. "You can't tell her I let you hear it. You know what she said about the kids at school finding out, about her singing like a girl. She still goes by Wade in front of them."

Sarah sat there and listened with her mouth hanging open from the first note of Katie's rendition of Rihanna's "Only Girl in the World." When Jake's harmonies came in, he covered his face, turning away.

"Hey, you sound good!" Sarah protested, tugging his hand away. "You don't have to be embarrassed about sounding like that. I was all prepared to tell you something nice but you actually sound good, Jake."

"I'm not embarrassed about how I sound," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm embarrassed about — about how I feel about her."

"Oh!" She paused, trying to cover up her surprise, then shrugged. "Well, that's okay, too?"

"Is it? I mean, yeah, I like her a lot. She's smart, and wicked talented. But I'm freaking out because she's trans and I don't know what that means about me. Like, if I think she's hot, am I gay, or what? And if I'm not, what would we even do together?"

"Jake, just — for fuck's sake, slow down." Sarah couldn't help laughing. She kept hold of his hand, and gave it a squeeze. "First of all, how likely is it that you're even going to get a chance to find out? She lives in Akron. Have you talked to her about it?"

"Kind of?" He sighed, his whole body deflating, and he stared at the screen, displaying the visual of their two intermingling audio tracks. "It's pretty stupid, isn't it, considering I haven't ever been in the same room with her. But we've talked, voices and Skype and text, and… I told her I like her. At least she doesn't think I'm totally lame, even though I'm younger than she is."

"No way. She wouldn't even think that. She loves you."

Jake went immediately red, and he looked away again. "Would you stop?"

"You can't deny it. I barely know her and I can tell." She didn't poke Jake or anything, but he flinched a little like she had. "Don't you all love each other? Everybody in that group?"

He didn't respond. After another few moments of restless sitting, he turned off the computer and switched on his stereo instead, some mindless thumping beat. Immediately he threw his body into motion on the dance floor. This kind of dancing was entirely different from the ballet he'd done earlier, but it was just as fluid and powerful. It was hard not to stare.

"Has she seen you dance?" she called.

"Online," he replied, without stopping.

"How about the rest of them?"

"How the hell would I know?"

That meant no. The look of concentration on Jake's face as he danced was familiar, but she wasn't sure where she'd seen it before.

"So what if you were gay?" she said. "Nobody who mattered would care."

"I care," he shouted.

That made her mad. "You mean you think our dad's right?"

He was facing the mirror on the far wall, and he met her eyes in the reflection. "No! Look, it's not because I think being gay is wrong. It's because I never thought I was before. And if I'm wrong about that, then — then maybe I'm missing other things, too. Things I should have realized about me."

She nodded slowly. "Okay. I guess that does sound kind of scary. You really think you should have all the answers?"

"Don't you?" he shot back.

She laughed. "Point."

Sarah waited for Jake to get the dancing out of his system. After the music ended, he stood beside her, breathing hard, then took a long drink of Gatorade while he toweled off his sweaty neck.

"I told you already," he said. He sounded a lot more calm. "I don't think being gay is wrong. I think what Dad is doing to Noah is totally shitty."

"But you think everybody would look at you different if they knew you were hot for Katie."

"Maybe." He shrugged hopelessly. "Everybody already thinks I'm gay because I'm a dancer."

"How do you think she'd look at you?"

He let out a little laugh. "She already does look at me like that," he admitted. "At least over Skype."

"I don't think being attracted to a girl means you're gay," she said. "No matter what kind of girl she is. And I don't think you'll really know if you're attracted to her until you're in the same place with her. Until then, just keep talking to her."

"Yeah." He sighed as he dropped to the floor next to her. Then he added, "What about how everybody else in the group is gonna feel about this?"

To anyone else, she probably would have said it's not anybody else's business, but in this case, it clearly was. It was true, Sarah had only been part of Jake and Mar and Ry and Ricky and Katie's conversations for a few weeks, but the kind of affection they had for one another seemed to cross friendship boundaries in much the same way Finn and Kurt and Noah's did.

And mine and Francie's, she thought. She cleared her throat.

"My brothers have this rule," she said. "No lying, no hiding."

"No lying, no hiding," Jake echoed.

She nodded. "It's pretty much their only rule. Well, that, plus using condoms with everybody else."

"Good rules," said Jake, nodding. She grinned at him.

"Also? I kissed my best friend yesterday. She's definitely gay, but I'm still not sure about me. Which is just to say I'm also not sure about other things."

"That's okay."

"So… I think you get to take some time to figure out whatever words you want to use for yourself."

He nodded again, looking a little more settled. "Yeah. Okay."

"So you told me how you felt about Katie," she said. "And you told her. Who's next?"

He only took a moment to think about it. "Everybody," he said. "I'm gonna tell the rest of the group. Once I run it by Katie, I mean. No lying, no hiding, right? Everybody gets to know."

She ignored his sweaty tank top and gave him a signature Puckerman hug. It felt good when he gave her one right back. At least we can be proud of one thing we do well, she thought. Puckermans give kick-ass hugs.

"What about you?" he asked. "What are you going to do about your brother?"

"Well." She looked up at him, steeling her resolve. "I kind of already have a plan. You think you can you keep one more secret?"

Kurt didn't hear a knock, but he looked up when he heard Finn's voice coming through their shared bathroom. "Dear Griffin… it's so straight forward I could cry. We need to meet on middle ground."

He sat up, smiling. "If the bathroom is where we need to start, so be it, but I'd rather have you in my bed."

Finn's return smile in the doorway was sheepish. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you yesterday, then."

He laughed, beckoning Finn into the room. "You know you don't have to apologize."

Finn waited until Kurt put his books and notes aside to crawl onto his bed and lie down beside him. They both sighed as Finn wrapped him in his arms.

"Just because I know you'll forgive me doesn't mean I shouldn't apologize," he murmured. "Sarah and I were listening to you and Rachel singing together. You sounded amazing."

"Thank you." Kurt was obviously pleased, although it was hard to tell if that was about the compliment or about the way Finn was holding him. "I wasn't sure how you would feel about me and Rachel doing a duet after the conversation we had."

"I'm not at all jealous of you and Rachel," Finn assured him. Kurt began to laugh.

"Trust me, I'm not going to start dating her, too."

"I didn't think you were," said Finn. "But I really like the idea of the two of you being friends."

Kurt snuggled closer. "You just want one big happy family, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, I do. We sure have a big enough house for it. Space enough for everyone we've got, plus anybody else who might need a place to be. Yeah, all right, I love not having to say, no, I'm sorry, I'm already taken, but it's more than that. It's…" He paused, trying to formulate words. Kurt supplied some for him.

"It's that you want everyone to feel welcome. You want everyone to get what they want."

"I want everyone to get what they need," he corrected. "It's sometimes different. Like with me and Carl."

They were silent together for a long moment, until Finn sighed, and Kurt hugged him closer.

"Do you know how much I absolutely love you?" Kurt said.

"Yeah." Finn kissed his cheek. "It makes all the hard things so much easier."