You tell all the boys "No", makes you feel good, yeah. I know you're out of my league but that won't scare me away, oh, no.

"Blaire...I don't know about this," Kate says as she stands in the bedroom doorway, watching her girlfriend flit around to get ready.

She stops for a moment, glances up and rolls her eyes. "They really have to get over things now, Kate. We've been together for 4 years; they can't expect me not to bring you along. You're my girlfriend, and I'm going to take you to meet my family."

"I'm just pretty sure they asked for just you, darling. And I really don't want this to end badly. What if they act rude?" Kate's fingers twist and tangle around the heel she holds in her hand.

Blaire walks up, Kate hardly able to keep her eyes from how the dress she's wearing hugs her perfectly with every step. Cupping Kate's face with her hands, Blaire locks eyes. "Katelyn, you're going with me and that's that. And if they're rude, we'll leave and I'll take you out to a nice restaurant all by ourselves, okay?" Planting a kiss on her lips, Blaire walks back to the bed. "Now go finish getting ready."

Kate smiles to herself, biting her bottom lip and turning to go to the living room. It had only been a couple of weeks since the call from the producers of Wicked, and Blaire seemed to feel much better. It had only taken a couple days and another call about Blaire mentoring the other girl, and she was back to smiling and being the happy girl she usually was. Kate just worried that this happiness would be ruined after this dinner with her parents, the parents that contacted her out of nowhere for dinner.

Blaire's parents have never really warmed up to the idea of their only daughter being a lesbian. They had always expected her to grow up and marry one of Mr. Anderson's colleagues' sons and marry into money and a good name. They obviously always had high expectations for her from the start. And she let them all down when she came out gay and told them that she wanted to work in music, nothing along the track that they had planned out for her. She was left to pay for school on her own, to pay for her apartment on her own too unless she found a roommate; the only support coming from her older brother, Cooper, who really had no objection to his little sister being gay. They especially weren't happy when they found out about Kate, knowing that no matter what they said, their daughter was on the fast track to nowhere and they couldn't help her.

It bothered Blaire, but she never let it show. She never wanted to make Kate feel bad so they hardly ever talked about them or mentioned them. The only family Kate had met had been Cooper, who had stayed at their apartment for a week when he came to visit.

"Ready?" Blaire asks as she walks into the room, fixing the silver bracelet on her wrist.

Kate looks up from the couch and smiles. "Yeah." She stands up and smooths her hand over her sides to fix her dress.

Blaire's eyes watch the path of her hands, her pink tongue peeking out to wet her lips. "You look so great," she murmurs, pressing forward and resting hands on her slender hips. "You know this dress drives me crazy."

A shy smile pulls at Kate's lips, her cheeks burning pink. "It's not too much right?" The dress is blue and contrasts beautifully against her pale skin. The neckline scoops down just so, not showing off too much but just enough for Blaire who can never take her eyes off of her while wearing it.

"No, no, you're beautiful," Blaire promises, kissing a gentle peck against Kate's pink lips. "Everyone is going to be jealous of me."

"You? Have you seen yourself? That stupid black dress of yours. I think every guy and girl around us will be watching." Kate's smile is held back, but just on the line of seductive.

"We need to stop before we don't show up. My parents will know exactly what happened. Come on." Blaire reluctantly pulls away and smacks Kate's ass playfully, causing her to jump and look slightly scandalized.

"You're ridiculous, Anderson."

*

"Is that them?" Kate asks quietly as they walk into the restaurant, people elegantly dressed milling about them. She's zeroed in on a couple already seated, an older man in a nicely pressed dinner suit and a woman with dark brown hair streaked with gray, dressed in a nice cream pantsuit. They lean towards each other, whispering and glancing around, perfectly in place with everyone else.

Blaire stiffens her shoulders as she lays eyes on them, her spine straightening under Kate's hand. She nods, swallowing thickly. "Yeah, it's them."

Kate looks over, face creased with worry at Blaire's reaction. "Are you sure you want to do this? We can go home now, you can call them later and tell them you caught something."

"No, no. I can't run from this, they're my parents, Kate. I can't stand them up." Blaire looks desperate and determined, though her eyes hold the slightest bit of fear for a moment before being closed off.

"If you're sure," Kate says, eyeing Blaire closely once more.

"I'm sure. Let's go, we can't keep them waiting too long." With a deep breath, Blaire grips Kate's hand tightly in hers and leads her to the table. The couple doesn't look up as they approach, and Blaire has to jostle them out of their conversation with a polite clearing of her throat. "Mother? Father?"

Kate doesn't even flinch at the formalness that Blaire uses with them, having heard so many stories from her childhood. The couple looks up finally, and she feels her chest constrict as their eyes automatically land on her. She can see where Blaire gets her hazel, a mix of her father's dull brown and her mother's striking green. She pulls Blaire's hand against her side, suddenly self-conscious as she watches Mrs. Anderson's eyes slide down her body then back up with a disapproving look that is quickly wiped away. "Blaire, it's nice to see you." Her voice is cold and biting, nothing like the warm, inviting tone of Blaire's.

"Um, yeah. Nice to see you guys, too," Blaire mutters, trying to bite back the steel that Kate could hear so clearly. "This is Kate Hummel, my girlfriend."

Kate caught the same flinch pass between the elder Andersons, and she stands a bit straighter knowing that this was not at all going to go like Blaire wanted. "How nice." The disapproving look was back in Mrs. Anderson's eyes as her gaze flicks back to Kate.

"It's really nice to finally meet you," Kate says enthusiastically, smiling and holding out her free hand.

Mr. Anderson clears his throat and throws a look at her outstretched hand. "Yes." When no one makes a move to shake her hand, Kate quickly drops it, her cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment. "I thought we had asked to talk to only you," Mr. Anderson directs to Blaire, her lips tight, and his voice hard.

Blaire squeezes Kate's hand, looking for courage while trying to send some towards her girlfriend. "Yes, I know. But Kate is my girlfriend and she deserves to be here just as much as mom does. She's your wife is she not? Kate is basically my wife, so she can be here if she wants. And I asked her to be here with me. I thought it was time for you guys to officially meet."

Kate was struck at Blaire's side, head turned to stare at Blaire in surprise. She has never heard Blaire ever mention to her as being her wife. They had never talked about it except wishful fantasies of future weddings, and that small statement sent a pleasant warmth rushing beneath her skin.

Though it obviously didn't have the same effect on her parents if the pinched looks said anything about it.

"Fine," Mrs. Anderson butt in quickly before her husband could continue to fight back. "Let's get seated and get this over with."

Blaire pulls out the chair across from her father for Kate to sit in before taking her own seat. Kate smiles politely at them, trying her best to keep looking presentable and not disgrace Blaire. She began to worry about her dress, if it was too show off-y for such a dinner. Maybe they thought she was some slut, or something equally degrading to Blaire's character. Blaire seemed to be keeping a good head though, even as she sat stiff in her chair.

Kate knew that she threw up those cold walls behind her eyes to get through this dinner. And she knew that when they left Blaire would act like everything had gone fine and her parents had loved Kate.

Once they were all settled and silent, a waitress came over to ask for drinks, all of them ordering some sort of alcohol. Kate, Blaire and Mrs. Anderson settle for wine, while Mr. Anderson asks for some sort of complicated mixture. When the drinks were given to them and food ordered, they all settle back into an uncomfortable silence.

Kate's hand stays in her lap, her eyes tracing the contours of her wine glass, watching the perspiration sink down over the stem. "So. Kate...is it?"

Kate looks up with surprise at Mrs. Anderson's voice. "Uh, yes?"

"What do you do? Where do you work?" Her perfectly manicured fingers curl around her wine glass, the red of her nails standing out against the dark purple of the wine.

"I...Um. I work in fashion. Well, sort of. I have a degree in fashion, not really a job yet. Though, I sometimes help at the schools when they need demonstrations or help with play costumes." Kate gives a strained smile when she finishes, swallowing down words that work their way up when she sees Mrs. Anderson give her another look.

"Oh. Living in New York, I expected you to have a good job. Living here isn't very cheap."

"Mother," Blaire hisses, glaring straight at the older women. Kate begins to wonder how these two people made someone as beautiful as Blaire. She can see where the looks came from of course—the dark curls obviously from her mother, though they were quickly thinning and graying. The full lips from her father, though his were usually pressed into a disapproving line. The olive skin comes from her mother too, also the curves that Blaire constantly complained about, both of them looking so alike but so drastically different on the inside.

"Blaire, I'm just wondering. Apartments around here are very expensive now a' days and I don't want my daughter to be wasting her life trying to pay for an apartment and groceries with a...significant other who doesn't help." Mr. Anderson nods along with his wife, eyes on Kate who holds back her hurt expression.

"We fair perfectly fine, mother. Kate tries to help when she can, it's not like she sits at home and doesn't try. She tries very hard. We both know that it's not easy living here, but we're doing well. My job at the music store doesn't pay well either but we're still living in a good apartment and having money for groceries. We don't need you to tell us how we're living when you don't even live in the city." Blaire closes her mouth, her teeth clacking together audibly. Kate's hand snakes under the table to rest on her thigh, giving a gentle squeeze to calm her down.

Her mother looks like she had just been yelled at, though Blaire had never once raised her voice. "You don't speak to your mother like that."

Blaire opens her mouth, but quickly presses her lips together before anything could come out. "Kathleen, hush," Mr. Anderson finally says, sipping from the sickening liquid in his glass and folding his hands on the table. "We're here for a specific reason and I think it's time that we get to that."

"I think so too." Blaire's voice comes out sharply and Mrs. Anderson shoots her a glare.

Mr. Anderson clears his throat. "There's been an opening at my company, they're looking for a secretary for one of the co-owners of the entire building. They're looking for someone they can trust and someone who can get the work done. I volunteered you, since you're my daughter, of course. It's a good job with good pay, far better pay than whatever job you have now."

Blaire's jaw goes rigid as Kate looks over with her breath hitching. Tilting her head up, Blaire does nothing but stare at her father.

Mrs. Anderson quickly interjects," Of course; you'd have to move back to Ohio. But if you took the job, your father and I would pay for your house in Columbus and whatever you needed to get settled. This man is very nice, and I think you would like him a lot."

Blaire's hand shakes over Kate's and she quickly pulls it into her own lap, Kate cupping it with both her hands. "It's a very good opportunity, Blaire."

Blaire was quiet, deathly quiet. Kate caught the wobble in her chin, the stuttering breath in the rise of her chest. "Darling...?"

"You both. Are sick," was all that she was able to get out.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Anderson was taken back, her eyes wide, the creases around them disappearing for a moment.

"I know exactly why you're doing this," Blaire whispers, her voice heavy with tears. She tore her hand from Kate's grip, "and I hate you both because of it."

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson act as if their daughter had struck them both.

"Why are you speaking to us like this?" Mr. Anderson asks, his voice growing louder.

"Because you both are sick people. Why can't you just be happy for me?" Blaire keeps her voice steady. "Why can't you just accept that this is who I am? That I love Kate, a woman, and that I'm happy with the shitty job I have right now. Because I'm happy, I am. I'm happy with Kate's job, I'm happy with the money we have, and I'm happy with our tiny apartment. One day we'll get there, but for right now I am the happiest person alive. And there is no way you can take that from me. I'm not moving back to Ohio, I'm not going to take that job. I'm not going to be that man's secretary and have you try to get us to hook up." Blaire's chin wobbles even more, and she begins to push away from the table, slapping her unused napkin on the top.

Kate quickly follows behind, letting out a high gasp as Blaire pulls her to her side. "Instead, I'm going to go home and make love to my girlfriend and be happy with the life I have now without you in it." Kate's eyes are wide as Blaire leans up and seals her mouth on hers, kissing her dirty and hard. When Blaire pulls away, she doesn't even hesitate to turn away and pull Kate after her. "Enjoy your food, and I hope you choke on it."

They leave the restaurant and are hit with the cool wind of the upcoming fall as their heels clack against the sidewalk. Blaire is on a mission, storming down the cement, dragging Kate stumbling behind her. "Blaire, Blaire, please stop," Kate begs.

Blaire just continues on, her curls falling from the tight bun on her head. She ignores Kate as she continues the trudge home.

"Blaire Anderson, stop!" Kate's voice shoots up, high and piercing as she stops walking, tugging Blaire back.

Blaire turns around, a look in her eyes that Kate can't quite place, "What?" she snaps.

"Do not snap at me," Kate scolds right away, ignoring the looks of passersby. "Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, I just want to go home." Blaire swings herself into Kate's arms and kisses her hard again. "I want to go home and do exactly as I said in the restaurant."

"I don't want to go home and have revenge sex against your parents," Kate whispers against Blaire's damp lips.

Darkness passes over Blaire's face before she shakes her head. "It's not revenge sex, it's you-look-damn-good-in-that-dress sex. Please, don't make me wait." Her voice tampers off into a whine as she begins to tug Kate once more back to the apartment.

Kate doesn't believe her, but follows after her anyway, knowing that it was either go with the flow, or sleep alone.