Room for Two Hearts - Chapter Three – On The Town

The morning dawned with snow flying from the skies, and the view of Manhattan looked like a snow globe. Blaine woke up feeling a lot better than he ever thought he would after the revelations and wine from the day before. Kurt was still curled in sleep, his arms splayed across the bed in pure abandoned bliss, a smile on his lips. Blaine smiled and extricated himself from the tangle of legs and padded down the hall to the kitchen, pulling on a robe as he went.

They had only been asleep for a few hours, but Blaine was used to getting up at dawn, and it was a hard habit to break. The three years he had spent locked in the attic room had been cold in the winter. There were two thin blankets and the old mattress, which didn't help when the wind was blowing into the room through the broken window. So he had gotten in the habit of getting up with the dawn to try to get a little bit of warmth from the sun.

Then, when he went to live with the Hummels, Burt was always up at an early hour. Burt had really intimidated Blaine from the first day he met him. It probably wasn't intentional, but it had terrified Blaine until one day he came upstairs and was brave enough to ask Burt how to make coffee and he had been making Burt's coffee ever since. Blaine had cherished those moments spent with just Burt – to have an adult speak to him as if he mattered, as if his choices in life were good, and the unspoken acceptance of his sexual orientation – that meant almost everything to Blaine. He had fantasized sometimes about what it would be like if Burt were actually his father.

Blaine closed his eyes. He had something new to think about now. He had a real father, and it wasn't the horrible man who locked him up for three years and told all his friends he was dead. It was someone he had known his whole life, the person he loved without reservation from the time he was a baby. It was Cooper.

When the coffee was ready, he poured himself a cup and sat down at the table. He really should eat something, but he didn't want to cook right now. He would just sit in this warm kitchen and look out at the new fallen snow blanketing Manhattan. He closed his eyes again for a moment, thinking back on the Christmas mornings he remembered. They all featured Cooper at the center of each memory. Coop would help him open his gifts, help him put together models of ships and airplanes, stack blocks for Blaine to knock over, and play board games with him. He could recall running through the snow in the big yard, having snowball fights and building forts; and in the summer, they would walk over to the river and float paper boats downstream. And all the time, Blaine was beginning to recall, Cooper would watch him. He thought it was just a big brother thing, but now he realized it was Cooper watching the son that was stolen from him.

Blaine remembered that when Cooper would have to pack to go back to boarding school, there would be a terrible sadness in him. Blaine felt it and it made him so sad, he would hold on to Cooper with all his might, just to have his “parents” tear him away, threatening him if he continued to cry. It got so that Cooper would pack in secret and just be gone on those mornings, too distraught to deal with Blaine clinging to him as he left and later that day, Blaine would find something that Cooper had left him – a little car or toy boat, later a twenty dollar bill or a new CD or movie. And Blaine would make Cooper a card and draw flowers on it, or a dog and tell Cooper he loved him and he missed him and he would slip it under the clothes in his suitcase so he'd find it at school and remember Blaine was waiting at home for him.

Cooper walked down the hall to the kitchen, the smell of coffee wafting in the air. He turned the corner to see Blaine at the little kitchen table, his face in his arms, crying.

“Oh, Blaine....what's wrong?' Cooper asked, sitting down and wrapping his arms around his son.

“I was just remembering my childhood, about all the things we did together, how you took care of me, and how lost I was when you had to leave.”

“I'll never leave you again, Blaine. Never. I may not have had a choice when I was twelve, but I do now and I'll never leave you.” Cooper hugged Blaine to him, kissing him on the temple and rubbing his back. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but they didn't give me a choice. They threatened to take you away forever if I ever told a soul, and I believed them. I couldn't risk losing you, Blaine. I just couldn't.”

“I know. I'm not angry with you, I'm angry at what they did. I was angry about being locked up, but this...this is even worse. Oh, Cooper, how do we get over this? I don't know how to deal with this. But I do know one thing. If I had been given my choice of anyone in the world to be my dad, it would always have been you,” Blaine put his head down on Cooper's shoulder.

“I'm so glad, Blainers, I'm so glad.”

They sat still for a long time, sipping cups of coffee and remembering little things about their childhood until they realized it was afternoon and Kurt was padding down the hall to the smell of coffee.

“Oh, coffee!” Kurt smiled, still very tired from the night before.

“Ah....actually, this is the last of it,” Blaine said, tipping his cup toward Kurt to show him it only had a sip or two left in it.

“Oh.” Kurt looked dejected.

“Let's get dressed and go to lunch and get some coffee there, okay? Cooper suggested. The boys grinned and scattered to get dressed. Coop smiled and walked down the hall to get himself ready.

They walked through the new snow to the bistro around the corner, eating a hearty lunch and then walked further down the street to the park. There had been a few kids playing in the snow, but only around the edges of the park. Cooper and the boys trudged through to the center of the park, stopping from time to time to scoop up a glove full of snow to make into a ball and throw at one of the others.

“Let's make snow angels!” Blaine called and immediately fell backwards in the snow to make his. Cooper and Kurt laughed, but neither one wanted to get that cold and finally helped Blaine up off the ground, Kurt brushing the snow off of his backside.

“Just on the other side of the park is a little neighborhood group of shops, let's go window shopping,” Coop suggested and they all walked that way, Kurt and Blaine holding hands. They strolled around, looking at all the antiques and handmade things in the shops, buying a few things and then strolling back to Cooper's apartment when they got tired.

“Let's just take a nap, last night was pretty intense, for all of us I think, and then tonight we can go out on the town. Okay?” Cooper asked and the boys agreed.

“How are you holding up?” Kurt asked Blaine as they sat in the bedroom, leaning against the headboard.

“It still hasn't really hit me. I mean, I know that Cooper is telling me the truth, he wouldn't - couldn't - lie about such a thing. But to find out that the man I thought of as my brother all my life is actually my father. It's just too weird. Oh, my god...how did he ever live with that? I thought I was the one that my parents...well, I guess they're my grandparents...tortured. But to do that to Cooper, to let him see his son and never be able to acknowledge him, then send him away to boarding school. I just cannot wrap my mind around it,” Blaine said.

Kurt just had no idea what to say, so he held Blaine closer and kissed his temple, trying to give him some comfort. They finally just laid down to take a nap, Kurt pulling Blaine close to his chest and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

“Where are we going?” Kurt asked, wanting to know how to dress for the evening.

“I want it to be a surprise, but dress like you are going to walk the runway – semi-formal, okay?” Cooper said.

Kurt and Blaine went to their room to look through their wardrobes. They had packed for just such a contingency and it only took an hour for them to decide on what to wear and then they took another hour to get ready. Cooper knew the two and was perfectly aware of how long it took, so he had given them plenty of time. They emerged looking gorgeous. While Cooper wore a simple Armani suit, black with a powder blue silk shirt and a dark navy tie, Italian leather shoes and a dark gray overcoat. Kurt was wearing a dark charcoal suit made of some shiny fabric, probably a silk blend, with a dove gray shirt, brocade waistcoat in blues and purples, and a mauve bow tie. Blaine was wearing a dark blue cashmere suit, cream coloured shirt with a velvet vest to match the suit and a gray tie. They all smiled at each other as Cooper took out his top hat that matched his suit and asked if he should wear it, but Blaine was laughing so hard, he felt self-conscious and made out like it had been a joke. He didn't want to embarrass his son.

They went down to hail a cab only to find that Cooper had hired a limo for the evening. They were all tucked inside, Cooper opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate their New York trip and sat back to enjoy the views of Manhattan as they drove. The limo stopped in front of the Brooks Atkinson Theater and they all got out, the boys' eyes wide as they saw what was playing on the marquee.

“Oh, I read this book! I can hardly wait to see the play!” Blaine gasped, looking at the sign that proclaimed they were going to see “Peter and the Starcatchers”.

“Thank you, Cooper. This is just a dream come true. New York. Broadway. Wow...” Kurt enthused as he stepped away from the curb.

They made their way into the theater and found their seats, sitting mesmerized through the whole show, speaking only at intermission. After the theater, Cooper took them to a nightclub where they had a late supper and then joined some friends of Coop's on the dance floor. Blaine danced with several girls and boys, as did Kurt, until they finally caught up with one another for a song they both loved. The band was playing Halestorm's “Here's To Us” and Kurt sang it with Blaine as they held each other tightly and moved across the dance floor.

Kurt whispered something in Blaine's ear and the next thing was Kurt doing Patrick Swayze's part from Dirty Dancing as he did the bump and grind, holding Blaine tight in his hands, mimicking a sexual act that had the rest of the dancers clapping. He pulled Blaine very close and slid one foot forward so his leg was between Blaine's legs and he moved his hips, bucking forward and back while making moaning sounds into Blaine's ear. Blaine put his arms around Kurt's shoulders and kept up with his grinding motions as though they had practiced for months. When the song finally finished the pair were met with a round of loud applause and they went back to their table, sweating and trying to catch their breath. Cooper's eyes were just dancing and sparkling as he looked around at the adoration that was being heaped upon Blaine, and he was proud of him.

“I'll be back in just a minute,” Blaine excused himself, headed for the men's room as Cooper turned to speak to Kurt.

“He was magnificent, wasn't he? Oh, not to say you weren't, of course, Kurt, but I've never seen Blaine let go and have such a field day. Is he like this often, because I haven't seen it.” Cooper said.

“Not usually. I think the champaign helped a bit, loosen his inhibitions perhaps, but you're right, he doesn't normally allow himself to have so much fun. Do you think he's getting over the bad times?” Kurt asked, showing the deep concern in his blue eyes as he looked at Cooper.

“His therapist says he is making progress, but I really don't know what the hell that even means. He looked so happy tonight, but I am seriously worried about the news I told him, I hope it doesn't make him worse. But, I had to tell him, there was too much risk that Sasha might find him and I cannot imagine how he would feel if she had been the one to break the news to him,” Cooper put his hand over his eyes for a moment, trying to maintain control.

Kurt put his hand on Cooper's shoulder. “You have done the best you could do. Blaine understands what a position your parents put you in when you were just a kid yourself. That had to be the hardest thing to deal with I could ever imagine, Cooper. Let's just hope that with all the truth out on the table now, Blaine will have a better life,” Kurt comforted.

“Speaking of Blaine, where is he? He's been gone a while...” Cooper got up to go find his brother just as they heard a scream from the back of the nightclub. They both recognized it as Blaine and lost no time running for the noise.

“Blaine, what's wrong? Cooper shouted, bursting into the men's room to find a muscle bound man with long dreds on the floor, bleeding from his nose and curled up in a ball on the dirty tile floor of the men's room. Blaine was across the room, under the sink in the farthest corner his hands covering his face and his pants around his knees. A large man in a cowboy hat was trying to get the man with the dreds to get up but having no luck until another large man came to help. They got him to his feet before Cooper shouted again to ask what had happened.

“Someone came out to the bar and said there was something going on in here, that a young man was being assaulted, so we came in. He,” the large man pointed at Blaine, “had kicked this man and landed a pretty sweet right cross. I think he broke his nose and maybe his cheekbone. You know that kid?”

“Yes,” Kurt said, “He's my boyfriend,” before Cooper could get a word in.

“Get him out of here before any more trouble starts. If he's underage it won't go well for any of us. He's okay, I think. We got here before anything really bad happened. Just go.”

Cooper didn't stop to question, he and Kurt grabbed Blaine by his arms and scooted him out from under the sink, got his clothes back to decency, and walked him out the back door. Coop used his cell phone and they walked a half block and there was their limo waiting.

Kurt got in first, then Blaine and Cooper – who leaned forward and asked the driver to take them back to his apartment.

“Blaine?” Kurt asked, cupping his boyfriend's cheek and letting him squeeze into his lap, shaking. “Tell us what happened.”

Blaine's arms shot around Kurt as he tried to speak, but it just wouldn't come out. He shook his head.

“Did you get hurt, Blaine? Did that guy hurt you?” Cooper asked gently.

Blaine looked over at Cooper and shook his head 'no'. Blaine's wide eyes locked with Cooper's and he began to get a little calmer. He took a deep breath and held out his hand to Cooper who took it.

“He followed me in to the stall and asked me to drop my pants. I said no. He was a little drunk and tried to kiss me, but I wouldn't let him, so he got mad. I already had my belt unbuckled, so he tried to pull my pants off and I...I punched him. I felt his cheek bone crack,” Blaine shivered at this and put his head down, then shook it off and raised his head. “It was the boxing, Coop. It was as if I didn't even think about what I was going to do before I'd already hit him. Like a reflex. He was still determined to get my pants off, and he was really strong. I sort of panicked and kicked him. In the balls. He dropped like a stone and the other guy went running out for help, then you showed up. I'm fine, just scared and a little freaked out.”

“Did it feel like the time at McKinley when they slushied you and locked you in the bathroom?” Kurt asked.

“It did at first, but this time I felt like I could fight back and I didn't blank out. It was different,” Blaine said, and indeed he was much calmer than he had been on the occasions when he had a PTSD spell.

“I'm glad it wasn't worse than it was, Blaine, and I'm really glad you got those boxing lessons,” Cooper grinned, a little more proud of his son.

Back at the apartment, everyone got ready for lounging around and they put in a movie, Cooper and Kurt sitting on opposite sides of the sofa with Blaine between them, leaning on Cooper's chest with his feet in Kurt's lap. Kurt was massaging his feet, rubbing up his ankles and calves. Kurt giggled because when he squeezed a certain place on Blaine's calf, his toes spread out.

“Hey, quit laughing at me!” Blaine complained, which of course made Kurt do it all the more, Cooper joining in until Blaine grabbed a pillow and started hitting Cooper and it turned into a full-out combat and ended with all of them in a pile on the floor, giggling so hard not one of them could speak.

Catching their collective breath, they sat up and just looked at each other, still stifling a few giggles.

“Okay, I think it's time for bed. It's almost two in the morning, guys and a little birdie tells me tomorrow is someone's birthday,” Cooper said, grinning at Kurt.

“So, what are we doing today?” Blaine asked.

“Just a sight-seeing trip of sorts. I thought we might just drive around and see some of the best stuff – the Statue of Liberty, Museum of Modern Art, and the Public Library?”

“Oh, that sounds great!” Kurt said, really happy. He was already so glad with the things he had already seen – the fashion district, Parson's, Broadway; this would be the icing on the cake.

“And for your birthday itself, Cooper and I are taking you to Times Square to see the ball drop at midnight. New Year's Eve is the very best day to be born, I think. The whole world is partying!” Blaine said, kissing Kurt on the cheek.

“I haven't always thought so. It was just after Christmas, so nobody had money budgeted for presents, everyone already has a party to go to, all your friends are drunk. I really didn't appreciate it as a kid at all. But to see Times Square? Well, that is just a dream come true,” Kurt smiled.

Cooper went to his room and they could hear him snoring in just a short time. But the two boys lay in bed, not being able to fall asleep. Blaine was still upset with himself for getting in such a mess at the nightclub. If he had just asked Cooper or Kurt to go with him, he knew they would have. He still had no idea what gave that man the idea he would be cooperative in giving him sex – no words were exchanged, no looks or anything. The guy was just drunk and apparently thought Blaine was free for the taking.

It was still hard to function sometimes. Being locked up in the attic room for the first three years of puberty, Blaine had missed out on learning how to deal with his emotions and blooming hormones. He had come a long way in the year he had been living with Kurt, party due to his therapist. Sophia had found someone that specialized in cases like his, mostly through her connections with the people she knew from her years as a therapist herself.

Sophia had been a prisoner in a Nazi Death Camp during WW II, and as a survivor she had come to America determined to help her fellow survivors. She had gone to school and gotten her PhD in psychology and spent many years helping other survivors, then helping returning soldiers from Korea, Viet Nam, and more. She felt she was too close to Blaine to take him on as a patient – she was retired after all, she was in her nineties, but had found a wonderful woman that was helping Blaine. He was very thankful, but he sometimes felt he wasn't getting any better.

The other part of his recovery was the Hummel family. Once they learned his history, they had each in their own way bonded with him. He was most afraid of Burt. Loving Kurt as much as he did, he knew Burt would be the biggest obstacle. Burt was fiercely protective of Kurt and Blaine had no wish to confront him on that score. It wasn't until he had discovered that since he always got up at the crack of dawn and Burt did, too, that they had something in common, and they built on that.

Burt was often gone to Washington with his duties as a senator, and Carole went with him frequently. This left the three boys at home with only each other for company. They had eventually gotten a schedule down and Blaine was comfortable there, whether it was with Finn, or Carole and Burt, or Kurt. Well, he was always comfortable with Kurt.

The one that he was still on shaky ground with was Carole. The therapist got him to realize it wasn't Carole at all, but the memory of his negative relationship with his mother......oh. No, she was actually his grandmother. Wow, he'd have to get used to that. Anyway, that was coloring any relationship with Carole. He had screwed up all of his courage and asked her to sit down with him one day when they were in the house alone and told her what was going on in his head. She was quiet the whole time, just listening and finally telling him she understood and she had come to love him like another son. They had gotten on a lot better after that.

Blaine was happy at school. Once they got Kurt back out of the attic room, it had all been in the papers and he had no more reason to pretend he was Santana's cousin. The other students at McKinley treated him differently for a while, some asking him to tell them what had happened, but he was reluctant to say. He didn't like people he hardly knew asking him personal questions or backing him into a corner. Those days had been hell for a while and he contemplated just getting a tutor and not going to school, or maybe returning to Dalton. But somehow his friends: Santana, Puck, Rachel, Finn, Lauren, and Kurt had all let the word out to leave Blaine alone. And for the most part it worked, people got less curious after a while and he was able to fade more into the background.

Blaine was doing well in school, and he was able to avoid the jocks and their slushie-throwing bullying most of the time. There were some incidents and Blaine had ended up curled into Kurt's arms, trembling and crying several times. But a lot of the students had become very protective of Blaine and these attacks didn't happen often.

Probably the worst time Blaine had gone through had to do with Kurt, and it brought their relationship to the brink of collapse.

~*~*~*~*~

“Blaine, you know you said you love me?” Kurt asked one night as they were cuddled together in Kurt's bed.

“Yes, Kurt. I said it because it's true. I do love you, why?” Blaine answered.

“I was thinking. You were isolated for three years, and I was the first person you saw when you were finally free. I was the one that sort of saved you. Well, me and Puck.”

“Yeah. Your point?” Blaine was beginning to think this wasn't going well.

“What if you aren't really in love with me? What if it's just that I was the one that happened to be there, that I was the limit of your choices? I mean, would we have fallen in love if we met in the halls of Dalton Academy?” Kurt wondered, backing up a bit to look at Blaine's face, his own a portrait of worry and self-doubt.

“Puck was there, I didn't fall in love with him. Santana was there, I didn't fall in love with her. Kurt, I fell in love with you because you are the single most wonderful person I have ever met in my entire life. Now, quit with this ridiculous crap and just wallow in my deep pool of mushy love. Okay?” Blaine said, smiling at Kurt's expression because he hated mush. Or at least he claimed to, but Blaine had his doubts about that. Like when he brought Kurt a dozen red roses on Valentine's day. He saw the tears in Kurt's eyes and the trembling lip as he read the card with a sappy love poem Blaine had written just for him.

“What if you only think you love me? What if one day you wake up and realize that it was all just that you were grateful or something and you don't really love me? Will you pack your bags and disappear in the night like you did that one night when you snuck back to your house to get your harmonica? What will I do if you're just gone one day?” Kurt was close to tears.

“Oh, Kurt. What brought all of this up? Surely you know I love you by now? Has something happened to make you think this is all going away?” Blaine asked.

“I just had a dream last night. That you left, and I was all alone, and I started to think that there is no reason for you to love me – nobody else ever has. It doesn't make sense that a gorgeous, talented, sweet guy like you would love me,” Kurt said, his eyes sad.

“Oh, Kurt...please believe me, I love you. I love everything about you, from your voice like an angel to your beautiful chestnut hair to your azure blue eyes that make me think of the sea, from your long gorgeous legs that wrap around me to your warm arms that hold me, to your kind soul. Don't doubt me, Kurt. I do love you, with all my heart, and I always will.”

~*~*~*~

Blaine lay in the bed looking out at the moonlight shining down on the New York skyline. He was one lucky bastard, and he hoped he would always appreciate it. He was faced with a whole new thing to think about now. If his weird childhood wasn't enough, Cooper's revelation was still raw in his soul. How could he not know, just by instinct, that Cooper was his real father? Cooper was the one he went to when he was in trouble, when he was lost or sad. It would tear his heart out when Coop was forced to go back to boarding school. He must have always known. He remembered the days he spent with Cooper, walking in the woods, just talking. He missed him so much when he was gone. He was so happy when he learned to read because then he could write letters to Cooper and get them in return. Plus, Cooper sent him things. One day he came home from school to find a box on his bed that had come in the mail. Inside was a funny looking object – kind of the shape of a light bulb with a flat bottom. Inside were little black and white diamonds on thin wires that spun in the sunshine. It was called a 'radiometer' and Blaine could sit in the window seat in his room and watch it for hours. It turned as long as there was sun shining on it. He thought at the time it was the perfect metaphor for his life in which his heart only beat when Cooper was there to make it do so. Maybe he should tell Cooper that tomorrow.

“Hey, Blaine, penny for your thoughts?” Kurt nudged his shoulder. They were sitting in bed, propped up on pillows against the headboard.

Blaine smiled at Kurt a little shyly. “Sorry, I guess I was lost in thought. Did you want to talk or something?”

“Not if you were thinking of something, I didn't mean to interrupt. Your face would change from deep concern to happiness and back. I was getting a little worried you might be having a spell,” Kurt told him, taking his hand and squeezing to offer comfort.

“I was actually doing quite a bit of thinking. About all that's happened in the past year, about my childhood. About you.”

“Are you worried about us, Blaine? I thought we were fine. Is something bothering you?” Kurt asked, tightening his grip on Blaine's hand.

“Oh, no, Kurt. Everything between us is fine. I was thinking about how much I love you. I do, you know. It isn't just words, Kurt, it's …..I don't know how to describe it. It's like breathing. I don't consciously think about it all the time, but when it does cross my mind, I realize it's something I do every minute of my life, whether it's when I'm awake and aware or when I'm asleep. It's a function of my body, Kurt. Always with me,” Blaine tried to explain, but he felt he fell far short of describing the actual feeling. Maybe it was something that would always defy description.

Kurt looked into Blaine's eyes, those beautiful, soulful hazel brown eyes with their little green sparkles, and felt a shiver go down his back. He always felt like that when he looked deep in Blaine's eyes. Kurt knew they didn't need words when it got like this, they knew there was a connection that defied explanation. Most times they reveled in it. Some times they were in awe of it.

“Blaine, is there something going on in your head? I mean, we both know how much we love each other, but you seem to have something going on tonight. Is it something I can help you with?” Kurt asked in a soft voice, stroking his hand up Blaine's arm and cupping his jaw to look back into his eyes.

Blaine leaned closer to Kurt, breathing in the scent of his boyfriend, and closed his eyes. “I don't know, Kurt. I think I'm better, I keep believing I'm cured from all the bad things in my life. I don't have the fear spells I used to, I can separate myself from the fear when scary things happen, I can function. But just when I think the worst has been dished out to me – the imprisonment, the betrayal, the abuse of my parents, all the things I've overcome, just when I think it's over – it isn't.

“This thing about Cooper and all the lies I've been told all my life...I'm at a loss as to how to deal with it. I can't blame Cooper, but I also can't pretend I'm not angry. How could they do this to me?” Blaine sat very still, wanting an answer he was afraid he'd never find.

“C'mere, baby,” Kurt coaxed, holding out his arms to Blaine – who came into them with a sigh and let his head fall down on Kurt's shoulder. “It'll be okay, Blaine. It's just new and you'll get used to it. We can take it one day at a time, like we have done since our first day together. Trust in us, Blaine. We will get through this together, I promise.”

And they cuddled close together, whispering sweet comfort into each others' ears and kissed and fell asleep all tangled together, once more holding the rest of the world at bay.

~*~*~*~