“What?!” Carole and Lieutenant Fitch both shouted, staring at Burt as Blaine burst into a fresh round of tears and Finn held his friend tighter, his own tears slipping down his face.

Burt looked between Carole and the officer. “We think he’s run away. He got rejected by the college he wanted to go to and I hadn’t seen him this morning but he’s been so quiet the last couple of days...Blaine here went to his room and found nothing but a smashed photo frame he’d given Kurt and when we looked some of his stuff is gone.”

“Burt are you sure? He could have just gone to a friend’s.” Lieutenant Fitch said, hoping his friend was just overreacting.

Burt shook his head and put a consoling hand on Blaine’s back, the teen was quiet, his head still bowed. “No. We’ve tried everywhere and asked everyone he knows. No-one’s seen him and the first place Kurt would’ve gone if he was upset woulda been us or Blaine. They’ve been dating over a year.”

Lieutenant Fitch nodded and sat down next to Blaine, the teen barely recognising his presence, over his shoulder Finn smiled sadly at him. The officer leant down and tried looking Blaine in the face. “Hi Blaine, I’m Mick. I’m an officer with the Lima police and a friend of Burt and Kurt’s. You’re his boyfriend right? Can you tell me what happened?”

Blaine looked at the other man, heartbreak clear in his eyes. “I came over to see Kurt and talk to him and Burt about what to do next about college but all I found was a photo I gave him but I never got to give it to him. I gave him monogrammed towels as a fake graduation gift and this was hidden inside. The frame’s upstairs it’s broken. He broke it. H-he’s really gone, isn’t he? We couldn’t find him.”

Lieutenant Fitch looked at the picture in Blaine’s hand; it was sweet and gave the impression of a very happy, loving relationship between the teens. It was in a cop’s first instinct to look at the partner of the missing person first but Blaine was so torn apart and Kurt’s family so supportive of him that it convinced the seasoned officer that Blaine wasn’t to blame. “We’ll find him Blaine. I promise.”

Kurt’s room was taped off. Everything that could be recorded, was and the other officers that Lieutenant Fitch called down took statements from all of them, noting how the NYADA rejection had changed the teen and how Rachel’s acceptance could have sparked Kurt’s complete meltdown and running away.

Lieutenant Fitch left with the other officers, taking down the names and numbers of all of Kurt;s friends and Will Schuester and Coach Sylvester and promising to return tomorrow with news.

Blaine shuffled his feet, looking down at the ground. “I-I guess I should go then.”

Burt and Carole looked at each other, a look of despair and heartbreak for the teen passing between them. In the hours that had passed Blaine had gotten paler and paler, even with his tanned face and had spent a lot of time crying. His clothes were no longer pristine but were crumpled and messed up in a way that would irk the normally dapper young man and his hair, from hours of running his fingers through it, had become unstuck, curling in messy rings. “No Blaine you’re staying here. You can sleep wherever you want to.” Carole said, looking to Burt who nodded reassuringly at Blaine.

Blaine’s eyes lit up. “Can I sleep in Kurt’s room?”

Burt bit his lip slightly, warring with the idea of Blaine getting hurt by Kurt’s things and smell being around him but not there and that it would help the teen to be around things of Kurt’s. Finally he nodded and Blaine sped up the stairs, getting ready for bed in one of Kurt’s pj sets and curling up under the covers.

Kurt sat in the motel room he’d paid for with cash for an hour.  He had no idea what had possessed him to run away, but now he had he couldn’t go back. His parents would be angry, his boyfriend would hate him and his friends would be disappointed. He had to run, go and make a name for himself far away. Kurt breathed deeply, he could do this. He opened up the hair dye box, read the instructions carefully, measured everything out and mixed it all together before putting the blond dye into his hair, massaging it in with the gloves the box provided, leaving it for the time it had stated Kurt got the tanning solution ready. When the time was up he showered, made sure all of the dye was out, towelled off and tanned himself then put in the brown contacts.

Kurt looked down at himself and then slowly up, taking himself in in the full length mirror. He looked so different. Good, he’d done an excellent job but different. He’d never look at himself as Kurt Hummel again.

Kurt picked up his stuff and for the second time, vanished.

The morning came quietly to the normally loud household. Burt trudged down the stairs, his footsteps heavier than normal on the carpeted stairs. He saw Blaine sat curled up in front of the TV, tears slowly tracking down his cheeks, his hair ungelled and wearing Kurt’s ‘Likes Boys’ shirt. He was watching the local news, Kurt’s face already flashing up with his details and ‘Missing Teen’ scrolling along the bottom of the screen. Fin rumbled past him and sat down on the sofa, almost landing on Blaine who shoved him slightly but Finn seemed determined to be as close as he could to his friend and proceeded to sit up close to him and steal the remote, flicking channels until he found one without the news running along the bottom. Cartoons, every child’s escape from the horrible truth of reality.

Carole walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, watching the scene of the two boys, joined in their pain, watching cartoons in the dark room, one trying to take the other’s mind off their pain.

Carole made breakfast and put it out before getting ready and phoning work to tell them she wouldn’t be in. They understood, the police had already been there the night before; following up on the hope that Kurt was there. When she came back down Burt was making a poster saying ‘Garage Closed Family Circumstances’ and the boys hadn’t touched their breakfasts. Carole walked over to the sofa and placed her hand on Blaine’s shoulder, both teens looking up at her. “Why don’t you eat some breakfast? You’ll need it today.”

Blaine shook his head. “I’m not eating until Kurt’s back.”

Finn leaned over and took the offered bowl from his mom, smiling slightly before digging in to the soggy cereal. Carole sighed just as Burt walked over. “You have to eat, son. Kurt will be back but he needs you strong, not starving yourself,” Burt said quietly, kneeling down and looking into Blaine’s eyes. The messy-haired teen opened his mouth to protest but Burt glared at him. “Eat. Now.”

Blaine’s eyes widened in fear and horror before taking the bowl and shovelling the food in, glancing up at Burt every now and then.

Burt left just before 10 to put the sign up and let anyone who could recognise Kurt know. He went to the store and asked of anyone had seen his son and looked in their garage. Kurt’s Navigator was gone. Burt breathed a sigh of relief; the police could track his car.

It was a little after 3 when Lieutenant Fitch came back. He knocked on the slightly open door and walked in. The hallway was empty. He looked around and saw the TV was on in the darkened living room. The blinds were shut tight. On the TV was the bulletin about Kurt, his smiling, youthful face staring out from the photos Burt and Carole had provided him with. On the couch, bathed in the light of the screen with his head lying on the couch and his knees pulled up to his chest was Blaine. Mick hadn’t really known much about Kurt’s relationships, that he had one had only been mentioned in passing before yesterday. His heart went out to the young man; he looked exhausted and grief-stricken. Even in sleep his eyebrows were knitted together, frowning in his dreams.

Lieutenant Fitch looked up as he heard footsteps. Finn was walking over to him.

“Have you found him yet?” Finn asked, his mouth full of the fitness bar he was eating.

The cop shook his head and looked down at Blaine. “I’d really like to talk to you and your parents. Are they home?”

Finn nodded. “They just got home; they’ve been driving around looking for Kurt. I wanted to go but I had to look after Blaine. He’s my brother too now,” He pointed at Blaine then walked into the back of the house, shouting for Burt and Carole before walking back over. “They’re coming.”

Lieutenant Fitch smiled at Finn as the tall teen opened the blinds, letting the sun in and causing Blaine to stir, whimpering slightly. “Can you wake him up?”

Finn looked down at Blaine, seeming shocked, as if he’d only just noticed Blaine there despite pointing at him only minutes ago. “Sure. Blaine, wake up. Yo B-man, Lieutenant Fitch is here to talk to us.”

In about 3 seconds Blaine went from groggy to wide awake as he leapt up and stared at the other man. “Have you found Kurt? Is he ok?”

Lieutenant Fitch shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not Blaine but we have had some news. After asking around it seems Kurt left a small trail before leaving town. He went to the bank, a drug store, a gas station and a Circle K. He paid with cash so we don’t know exactly what he bought but we’re reviewing the surveillance tapes now.”

Carole leaned forward, glancing at the man either side of her on the couch. “That sounds like a normal shopping trip. Where do you think he went?”

“He only had a small amount of cash on him, he can’t have got far.” Burt said, looking relieved.

The lieutenant shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry Burt but no. Like I said he went to the bank. According to the tellers Kurt wasn’t under duress and drove there alone so we’ve ruled out any outside influence so it means we know he ran away of his own accord, but, and I know this will be hard to understand but it seems he’s not planning on coming back. It seems Kurt cleaned out his account and the account you had for his college before leaving Lima.”  He looked at the family, each member staring at him, horror and realisation dawning in their eyes.

Finally Finn spoke up. “He took all his money and ran away? Why would he take the money?”

Lieutenant Mitch looked at them all sadly, Blaine looked on the verge of tears again, Burt looked horrified, Finn looked confused and Carole was already quietly sobbing. He took a deep breath. Kurt had a good head on his shoulders but it also meant he was intelligent and cunning. Kurt knew that to do to vanish and not be found, Mitch just couldn’t understand the purpose. “He didn’t want to be found.”

Carole and Blaine both screamed, both Burt and Finn wrapped their arms around them, Burt grabbing Carole and Finn grabbing Blaine, and then Blaine wrestled out of Finn’s hold and looked at the older man. “But why? How? I mean Kurt doesn’t blend in! He’s so different, so…special,” Blaine’s voice trailed off and the tears hit the carpet as he bowed his head, Finn’s arm wrapping around his shoulders. “Why would he leave us? Where’s he gone?”

Lieutenant Mitch put his hand on Blaine’s knee, making the teen look up at him. “Kurt was driving in his car and filled up on gas coming out of Lima on I-75. We lost him near Dayton; we believe he was heading towards Indianapolis.”

“You lost him?!” Blaine shrieked and Burt patted his back, calming him down.

“We only had the car plates to go on. He seems to have sold or left his car and bought a new one or hitchhiked somewhere else. This is all old leads though. I’m afraid we’re far behind Kurt on this one. Whatever he did in the motel room, filled up on gas and left the city; he did it the night he vanished or in the early morning before he was reported missing.”