Disclaimer: I'm not saying all religious people are homophobic assholes, but the ones appearing in my story are.

CHAPTER 16: Moving forward

Carole walked into the kitchen as Burt hung up the phone. "What's wrong? You look tense," she asked him while she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Burt took a sip of his own before answering.

"That was my mom. She invited herself and my dad to Thanksgiving, because apparently I have a family again now." "What's wrong with that? I told you my mom is coming too," Carole questioned when he didn't elaborate.

"Let's just say, the last time they and Kurt were together it wasn't exactly pleasant. Elisabeth left with him right in the middle of church and then didn't talk to me for months." "That bad, huh?" Carole raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Well, you know my mom can be a handful as well."

"Yeah, but your mom is going to love Kurt. My parents are probably going to say something offensive and then it's going to be my fault all over again. But I can't just tell them they can't come, they are my parents."

"Well, maybe it won't be so bad with all the people here." Burt sighed. He really hoped so. After all that's been happening lately he really craved a nice and quiet holiday. "Let's hope for the best." Carole kissed him on the cheek and smiled at him.

"We'll figure it out. We always do."

Their kitchen still looked like a battlefield when the doorbell rang. Carole, Kurt and Santana had been working hard on all the dishes while Burt, Finn and Blaine were watching a football game, after having set the table. Carole just hoped that it wasn't Burt's parents who arrived early, because she couldn't deal with them just yet.

She had met them a few times when they had come down to Austin to visit Burt and they had always been nice to Finn, but from what Burt had told her she was worried about this visit. Their house was a safe space for many of the teens in it and she didn't want anyone to poison the atmosphere with their hatred.

Carole quickly wiped her hands on a dishrag before hurrying toward the front door. "No need to get up boys, I'll get it," she yelled over to the living room. Not that they had even moved.

Luckily, the early arrival was just her mom, who hugged her, before thrusting her coat into Carole's arms and demanded to see her grandsons. Carole pointed into the direction of the kitchen and followed her mother as soon as she had put the coat on a hanger.

She heard Kurt squeak before she even entered the kitchen and when she rounded the corner, she saw her mom pinch Kurt's cheek. "Isn't he the cutest?" she exclaimed, clearly not realizing that she made Kurt uncomfortable. "He looks like a little china doll. You'd fit perfectly into my collection."

"Mom, let him breath. Why don't you go say hello to Burt and Finn in the living room, while we finish up in the kitchen," Carole said while trying to discreetly usher her mom out of the kitchen. "Nonsense, Carole. I'd rather stay with you two lovely ladies," she pointed at Santana, "and my adorable grandson."

Carole quickly shot Santana a look trying to tell her to please be nice. Santana being Santana had to ignore her of course. "What are you on, and where can I get some?" she asked Carole's mother. Her mom leaned in conspiratorially.

"I'll tell you, when Carole's gone. But let me tell you this. If you ever drop by down south, why don't you help me take care of my green house," her mother winked at Santana. "Mother!" Carole couldn't help but exclaim. She just hoped her mom was joking and wasn't really high, because that was the last thing she needed right now. Maybe her mom was just overly excited to see her family again.

Kurt, Carole realized, must have fled the kitchen at some point, and so to do damage control she took her mother's hand and showed her to the guest room where she could freshen up. Santana had been put in Kurt's room for the night because they got along best and luckily Burt's parents would stay at a hotel.

Thanksgiving dinner hadn't even started and she already felt a headache coming on.

Burt's parents had arrived shortly after the game had ended and everyone was sitting together in the living room while Carole finished up in the kitchen.

"So, who are those two then?" Kurt's grandfather asked, pointing at him and Santana. "I thought Carole only had the one son." Blaine sat up straighter in his chair. He didn't know if he should answer or let Burt explain this one. Luckily, Burt seemed to agree that it would be best if he provided the answer.

"Blaine and Santana. They go to school with Finn and Kurt," Burt explained. Clearly Burt's mother wasn't satisfied with the answer, as she raised an eyebrow at Burt.

"For reasons I can't really tell you they can't stay with their own families right now, so Carole and I have volunteered to take them in," Burt elaborated.

"Burt, that is wonderful. I always knew you were a good Christian, even after that divorce. Never liked that horrible woman very much though, with her liberal attitude and behavior." Blaine saw Burt flinch as Kurt paled.

"Mother, please don't say things like that in front of Kurt," Burt pleaded with his mother. "Come on son, Kurt's not a child anymore, he can hear to truth," Kurt's grandfather added.

"How's the house? Everything okay with it?" Burt tried to change the subject. Blaine wanted nothing more than to take Kurt's hand, but they had agreed that it might be better if they kept their relationship a secret to avoid negative comments from Kurt's grandparents. If they already acted like that without knowing the truth about Kurt, he didn't want to find out what they would be like if they did.

Luckily, Carole announced that dinner was ready before Kurt's grandparents could say more offensive things. Blaine, Santana, Kurt and Finn volunteered to help carry out the dishes, because neither one of them wanted to stay in the room alone with Burt and his parents.

Blaine pulled Kurt aside once they were out of sight. "Are you doing okay?"

Kurt gave him a stiff nod. "It's not like I didn't know that they didn't like my mom." "But still, I can't believe they would say something like this in front of you and call themselves good Christians," Blaine tried to keep his voice down, but it was hard.

Kurt shrugged. "Just ignore them. They are just bitter old people. They can't touch us or what we have," he assured Blaine. Blaine squeezed his hand for a moment before helping the others in the kitchen.

At least with everyone eating, his grandparents hadn't had a chance to insult him or his mom again. He had allowed himself to relax a bit, but in retrospect, he should have known that something bad would happen.

He had briefed Finn and Blaine on what not to say in front of his grandparents, but had forgotten about Santana. He'd known she would be a liability, briefed or not, but he had forgotten to tell her that his grandparents couldn't know he was gay. Especially not now when it seemed like his father was slowly coming around.

It seemed like an innocent question at first.

"So what are your plans for tomorrow?" his grandfather had asked the four teens. "Mom and Kurt are going to get up crazy early for Black Friday shopping," Finn had explained. "The rest of us are probably going to sleep in and play some games," he had continued.

That had earned him the first raised eyebrow. Apparently boys weren't supposed to like shopping. Unfortunately, Santana couldn't leave it at that.

"Kurt, Blaine, Britt and I are going on a double date to Breadstix tonight. We would have asked Finn to join us if he could manage to get himself a girlfriend," she had told the group. Kurt had enjoyed Finn's pissed expression for a moment before his grandmother had spoken up.

"How nice. Which of the boys is your boyfriend? Blaine or Kurt?" she had asked Santana who had nearly choked on her piece of pie. Kurt had kicked her under the table, but it had already been too late.

"I don't think I'm their type and they are not really mine either," she had sniggered. "Britt's my girlfriend," she had explained as she had been met with confused silence.

His grandfather had turned around to his father and had glared at him. "If I understood the lady correctly, your son and the other boy here are an item." It hadn't been a question; more of an accusation. His father's face had fallen.

"I thought we raised you better than that, Burt. God will punish you for allowing such sin into your house. You need to stop it immediately if you want to be saved," his grandmother had cried out. She then quickly had taken her husband's hand into her own and they had both bowed their heads.

"Dear Lord, please do not condemn our son's soul. He does not yet know the errors of his ways. And please help guide our grandson into the light and help him overcome his confusion. He is still young and if you open your heart to him, he will surely reward you. Please…"

His grandmother hadn't managed to finish her prayer, as his father had suddenly jumped up. "That's enough. Mom, dad, I think it's time you went back to your hotel. It's getting late and I'm sure you must be tired."

"But Burt honey…" Kurt's grandmother had tried to argue. "Blaine, Santana, Finn, Kurt, please go help Carole with the dishes while I show my parents out."

Kurt had been surprised. He had not expected his father to take his side against his parents. But he was glad he did because otherwise he might have said some not so nice things to the only set of grandparents he still had.

"Well, that was fun. We should do that more often," Carole's mom had suddenly piped up from next to him. She had stayed oddly quiet throughout dinner, quietly giggling to herself. Maybe Santana had been right. He could use whatever Carole's mom was on right now.

"I think you and that other boy make a lovely couple. You know I'm a child of the sixties, back then no one cared who you loved as long as you were having fun," she had winked at him. Kurt knew he was going to like his new grandma. He might have lost his biological grandparents, but whoever had invented the phrase blood is thicker than water, had clearly never met the Hummels.

Finn hadn't expected Thanksgiving dinner to be perfect, especially with Santana scowling at him whenever they happened to be in the same room, even though he had already apologized to her a few times, but he didn't think it would be that bad.

He'd met Kurt's grandparents a few times over the last couple of years and they had seemed nice enough albeit a little too conservative, but he very much preferred his grandma, especially after the evening they've had.

It wasn't that Finn was suddenly best friends with Kurt, he knew Kurt wasn't a fan of Finn's, but the dude had been nice enough to introduce him to the Glee guys and so he did feel bad for Kurt. If someone had said the stuff about his mom that Burt's parents had said about Kurt's, he wouldn't have been able to stay calm. You just didn't insult someone's mother, especially someone's dead mom.

He was just glad that for once he hadn't been the one that caused problems for Kurt, because he didn't want to disappoint his mom yet again.

That whole prayer thing had been weird and he was glad he was allowed to escape to the kitchen. He had been a little confused about what Kurt's grandparents had been saying, but he was afraid to ask someone because he didn't want to be called dumb again.

It was just. His mom had said that Kurt and Blaine were born gay and the preacher at church had said that everyone was God's child. Didn't that mean that God made Kurt, Blaine and Santana gay?

But then why had Burt's parents prayed for their souls? He was so confused. Maybe that PFLAG thing Burt wanted him to go to wasn't such a bad idea after all. He just hoped the people there didn't think his questions were stupid.

He realized he was still standing in the hallway staring into the air and quickly hurried into the kitchen to help his mom and maybe get another slice of pumpkin pie.

Saturday after Thanksgiving, Kurt and Blaine had plans to celebrate their first anniversary together which fell on the following Tuesday. They had decided to plan it together, because they considered their relationship an equal partnership.

They had hoped to spend the weekend in Columbus, but Kurt's father had said he'd only allow it if Finn tagged along. Kurt had tried to change Burt's mind, or at least get Santana as their chaperone, but Burt had argued that Santana wouldn't be as effective as Finn.

Kurt had to admit that his father was probably right, from a parental point of view, because Santana most likely would make a lewd comment and send them on their way.

He and Blaine had looked up gay friendly restaurants in the city, as they hadn't been out for dinner during their six months anniversary trip to Columbus. They had both agreed that they didn't need over the top romantic gestures to show their love for each other.

All he wanted was to be able to sped some time with Blaine somewhere where they could be openly affectionate without having to be afraid other people might object to it.

It was still nice out for late November and so when they arrived early Saturday morning, they went on a walk through neighborhoods where they weren't the only gay couple holding hands on the street.

Not having to hide their relationship in public for once, was actually the best present they had given each other. There would be other presents, but they had agreed not to spend too much money on them, especially since Kurt didn't have much at the moment.

They were walking through the German Village when Kurt told his boyfriend about his problem. "I'm probably going to have to sell some of my clothes on eBay if I want to have any money for Christmas presents," he complained.

Blaine, whose head had been laying on Kurt's shoulder, looked up, but then quickly looked away. "I know you don't like it, but maybe you could work at the shop as well. It's actually not that bad."

Kurt thought Blaine was lucky, because he only worked when Burt wasn't there, but he knew he probably wouldn't be as lucky and he wasn't too keen on having to spend more time with his father than was absolutely necessary. But maybe he could endure it in the name of fashion.

"Let's not talk about that today. Today is all about us," he deflected, nudging Blaine with his elbow. Blaine looked at him with so much love that Kurt felt his knees go weak for a moment, especially when Blaine leaned in and kissed him right in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What was that for?" he asked as soon as his heartbeat had slowed down again. "I just love you. And I'm not afraid to show it. Why should I have to hide how much I love you?"

"I know, let's just enjoy it today while we can before we have to return to the real world," Kurt said and then proceeded to show Blaine just how much he meant it when he leaned in and initiated another kiss that left both of them breathless and earned them a wolf whistle from a couple on the other side of the street.

They didn't do anything special during the rest of the day, but Kurt still thought it was one of the best days of his life. For one day, he and Blaine were like everyone else.

They knew it was stupid to believe that Columbus was this magical place where everyone was okay with their relationship, but if someone gave them looks, Kurt didn't noticed them because he only had eyes for his boyfriend.

They had dinner at a little tapas restaurant where they tried to feed each other bites of food until Blaine accidentally dropped olives into Kurt's lap and it was a testament to how much Kurt loved his boyfriend that he didn't jump up immediately to rush to the restroom.

Sharing dessert was thankfully more successful, mostly because Kurt was nearly sitting in Blaine's lap by the time they were done.

They were allowed to stay out till 2, courtesy of Carole Kurt suspected, and so they grabbed two blankets from Kurt's car and sat down bundled up in them in Schiller park, which was closest to the restaurant.

"Do you want your present now?" Kurt asked after they had sat snuggled up together in silence for a while.

"Being here with you is enough. I don't need anything else," Blaine whispered. Kurt was glad to know that he and Blaine were on the same page.

"It's not much, but I made it for you," Kurt assured him before he handed Blaine a small wrapped box. Blaine slowly opened it and Kurt could see his face light up even in the dark.

"You made me a bow tie with little music notes on it?" Kurt nodded. "They are the opening notes for "Baby it's cold outside" … the first song we sang together," he explained.

"I love it. I love you. I can't say it often enough. Thank you so much." Blaine suddenly pushed him onto his back and they kissed passionately for a few moments until Kurt remembered he was actually laying on the ground in a park and he gently pushed Blaine off of him.

"Sorry," Blaine apologized but the smile on his face told Kurt that Blaine wasn't sorry at all. "I should have gone first," Blaine whispered. "Mine's nowhere near as good as yours."

Kurt would never admit it, but he couldn't wait to see what Blaine had gotten for him. So he liked presents; sue him.

He eagerly accepted the flat package and quickly unwrapped it. It contained a framed picture of the two of them that someone must have taken while they were still at Dalton.

"Wes took it the Monday you asked me out. He didn't know we had finally confessed our feelings for each other and so he took the picture to show us how in love we looked to get us together. I totally forgot to show you the picture because I was busy freaking out over what to wear for our first date," Blaine explained.

"Wow, so it's an anniversary picture," Kurt exclaimed and hugged Blaine tightly. Once he let him go Blaine looked him in the eye before he spoke again.

"You see how happy we look in this picture?" Kurt nodded. "That's how happy you've made me every single day since the day that picture was taken."

Kurt felt tears welling up in his eyes. That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever told him. "Even when we fight?" he teased to keep his emotions in check.

"Even when we fight," Blaine promised. "I don't know what I would do without you."

Kurt couldn't keep his tears in any longer. Blaine had been his light in the dark those past few months, but it was a relief to hear that Blaine felt the same way about him.

He took Blaine's hand and helped him up. "Come on. How about we go back to my house and not watch a movie until we have to go back Burt's house," he suggested.

Blaine immediately pulled him toward the car. "I like the way you're thinking, Mr. Hummel."

Burt was under a costumer's car when he heard footsteps approaching. He slid out from under the car and to say he was surprised to see his son standing there didn't cover it at all.

"What can I do for you?" Why was it so hard for him to talk to Kurt? Their conversations always sounded stilted.

"Can I still work here? I need some money." Kurt answered quickly and Burt could see that it was hard for Kurt to ask that. He never wanted to be the kind of father his own kids feared, but here he was.

"I could use some help in the office. I don't really understand all that computer crap." There was no way he would let Kurt near a car until he had the all clear from his doctor.

"How much would you pay me?" Kurt demanded. " Same as Finn and Blaine. You can come in whenever you want as long as the work I'll need you to do is done by the end of the week. Sounds fair?"

Kurt seemed to consider his offer for a moment before he nodded. "Good, you can start tomorrow after school. I'll write you a list of things that need to be taken care of."

He was about to slide back under the car when Kurt's voice stopped him. "Thanks by the way for Thanksgiving. You didn't have to do that."

Burt knew what it must have cost Kurt to say that. "It was nothing. They shouldn't have talked about your mom like that and I don't care much about religion.

Kurt didn't say anything else so Burt just added, "See you at home, Kurt," before he went back to work.

He knew they still had a long way to go to just being comfortable in the same room, but it was a start.