Kurt came to a little while later, lying full length on the bench. Melanie and Blaine were standing nearby, deeply involved in an argument.

"No! We are not going to carry him off to your bed when he's in a weakened state like this. I don't know you from Adam and I'm not leaving him with some stranger." Melanie had her hands on her hips and was right up in Blaine's face.

"Well, what do you suggest, then? You keep saying he probably hasn't eaten for ages and just needs some food. Where are we going to get something this late?" Blaine ran his hands through his curly hair, clearly agitated and just wanting some action.

Melanie tapped her foot as she thought. "I'm pretty sure there was a late night diner near our hotel."

"Ummm... Guys..." Kurt said, his voice coming out softer than he intended. He tried sitting up, but didn't make it.

Blaine looked around. "I'll try to flag a taxi down. Stay here with him." He jogged off towards the busier road nearby.

Melanie sat down on the bench, only then noticing that Kurt's eyes were open. "Oh hey." She scooted closer; maneuvering so Kurt's head was on her soft lap. "How are you doing, buddy? You gave us a scare." She brushed the hair back off his face.

Kurt nodded, closing his eyes when the motion made him feel dizzy again. "I'm OK. A little dizzy."

"Andrew went off to find us a taxi and we'll get some food and coffee into you. You'll feel better soon." Her tone was caring.

Kurt gave a small smile. So he hadn't dreamed all that. "His name is Blaine."

A taxi approached, and Blaine and Melanie helped him into the back. Melanie hopped into the front, asking the cabbie for restaurant suggestions.

In the back of the darkened taxi, Kurt simply stared at Blaine. And Blaine stared back. Reaching out, Kurt ran his fingers down the side of his face. "It's really you."

Blaine's grin lit up his whole face, and he cupped Kurt's hand against his cheek. "Really me. It's really you, too."

The taxi stopped, and they went into the diner. Over their late-night meals, Blaine and Kurt took turns filling Melanie in on their story, except the most private parts. Kurt felt much better by the time they were leaving.

"Come back to my room?" Kurt asked, suddenly feeling a bit shy. There were so many questions, things they needed privacy for.

He was relieved when Blaine nodded.

---

It had been such a strange night, and it all felt so surreal.

Even stranger to be letting Blaine into his hotel room, in the quiet of the night.

Going to his suitcase, he pulled out a bottle of red wine and poured out a couple glasses. There was only a single bed in the tiny room, so they sat down on the mattress, leaning their backs against the wall.

"You mentioned to Melanie that you were injured and woke up in a regular hospital a few days later. No idea what happened?" Kurt asked, curiosity pushing him to ask.

Blaine gave Kurt a bit of a smirk. "What, don't I even get a hello kiss before I face your interrogation?"

Kurt's eyes widened, and he bit back a laugh. Moving closer, he was careful not to spill his wine as he leaned in. It felt a little strange to be near a man like this, it had been so long. But this was Blaine.

Blaine's lips were soft and yielding, warm and sweet. Kurt took his time, an unrushed, thorough kiss. Wanting to continue warred with wanting his questions answered.

"Mmmm..." Blaine sighed, giving Kurt a warm look. 

He looked up and to the right for a moment before speaking again. "I remember the crowd pulling us apart, and the ship lurching. I fell and slid along the deck. Not many memories after that, so I must have gotten injured then." He shrugged.

Kurt wasn't very satisfied with the answer. Obviously someone must have helped Blaine into a lifeboat, or he wouldn't have survived. It wasn't his father, or he wouldn't be so convinced Blaine was dead.

"Why did you use the name Andrew Prince though?" Kurt finally asked, going to the next part of the story he'd found confusing.

Blaine looked a little bemused at Kurt's agitation. He didn't answer, simply letting his eyes dip down to Kurt's mouth.

"Blaine?" Kurt finally asked, seeing if he'd react to that.

Blaine smiled. "Yes?" He sipped his wine slowly.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" Kurt finally bit out, feeling frustrated.

Blaine smiled in response. "Wasn't the going price a kiss a question?"

Rolling his eyes, he wondered if Blaine had found him flirty or just frustrating when he had done this to him before. "Fine." Kurt said with gritted teeth.

He leaned in, giving Blaine a firm kiss.

Blaine leaned over, placing his glass on the bedside table, and laid down on the bed, settling in.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked, glaring down at him. "I'm trying to have a conversation here."

Blaine shrugged. "Well, you aren't going to convince me to be any part of it with half-assed kisses like that." He closed his eyes, looking like he was ready to go to sleep.

Slamming his wine glass on the bedside table, Kurt kicked off his shoes. Fine, if Blaine was going to be like that, he'd kiss his socks off for a full half hour, and then ask whatever damn questions he wanted.

Turning on the bed, Kurt wedged a knee between Blaine's, and lowered his body on top of his. Blaine's eyes opened at that, twinkling up at Kurt and a little smirk on his lips.

Oh, he thinks he's got things his way, does he? Kurt gave a little smirk back as he lowered his mouth, teasing his lips back and forth over Blaine's. Nipping at them until Blaine lifted his head, seeking firmer pressure. Then Kurt sunk down into it, really kissing Blaine, feeling his arms pull him in closer. Felt a thrill of victory at Blaine's quickened breathing and the way he rocked up against Kurt. Aroused and just wanting more.

"Answer the question." Kurt said, pulling back a little.

Blaine opened his darkened eyes, blinking as he pulled out of his sensual haze. "What question?" He moved his mouth to Kurt's neck, kissing that spot he loved.

"Your name!" Kurt got out, pulling away from Blaine's distracting touches.

Blaine bit the skin near Kurt's ear gently. "Blaine Anderson." He said breathily into his ear, and then kissed down Kurt's neck.

With a frustrated huff, Kurt rolled off Blaine and stood beside the bed. "That wasn't what I was asking about."

With a yawn, Blaine sat up on the bed. "Look, it's getting late, and it's been kind of a crazy day. How about we just go to sleep and talk about everything in the morning?"

Kurt sighed. It was getting pretty late. "OK, fine. But you better give me some straight answers in the morning."

Blaine nodded. He reached down, and pulled his sweater off, throwing it towards the chair. Then he laid down, undoing the fastenings of his pants. Lifting his hips off the bed, he shimmied the pants down and then pulled them off. He was only in some boxers now.

Turning away, Kurt undid his shirt and took off his pants. He considered putting on the pajamas he kept for when he had a roommate share a room, but thought it was a bit much. 

Why did he feel so awkward around Blaine? Maybe it was just happening so suddenly. He'd only known Blaine was alive a few hours.

Turning out the light, he crawled into the bed, feeling a bit tense. He was half afraid Blaine would be all over him in the darkness, but he simply spooned him close and fell asleep.

It took Kurt a while to unwind, but he eventually fell asleep too.

---

Kurt woke up first, finding himself sprawled over Blaine. Easing back onto his side, Kurt just took the time to look Blaine over.

He looked a little thinner, but Kurt was thinner too. Kurt woke up often to troubling dreams about the Titanic, slept badly thinking about Blaine. He sometimes just forgot to eat.

Blaine's hair was curly. It was cut quite short, and not glued down with pomades or oils. His clothes were normal, working class clothes. Not fine tailored suits.

From what Blaine had said at that meal, he'd woken up in a regular hospital, given a false name, and never looked back. He'd found a way to feed and clothe himself, and ended up working in Vaudeville.

He'd thought Kurt had died, but done it anyways. Was he so desperate to be away from his father and his old lifestyle? Or was he doing it for someone?

Kurt glared at him for about a minute, jealously imagining him with another man. But the way Blaine had been kissing him last night; Kurt doubted there was anyone else.

Maybe Kurt had been so insistent with the questions because he just needed to understand Blaine now. Why had he made such a big change in his life?

Blaine stirred, and opened his eyes with a big stretch. He smiled sleepily at Kurt. "Hmmmm...last time I woke up to your beautiful blue eyes, I almost died later that day. Hope that doesn't happen today too."

His cheeky grin was damn adorable, but Kurt still wanted some answers. "Tell me about what happened after you woke up in the hospital."

"Sheesh! I never imagined I'd end up with Sherlock Holmes for a husband. Can you let the big mystery go for a few minutes and kiss me good morning properly?" Blaine was rolling his eyes and still looking damned adorable.

With a half-smile, Kurt leaned in and kissed Blaine, liking the feel of his stubble against his chin.

With a bit of a growl, Blaine rolled Kurt over onto his back. "Damn, you look so good, Kurt."

His kisses were hot and hard, his hands exploring over Kurt's body, one sliding under Kurt's ass to pull him closer. Grinding together.

Kurt liked the kisses and touches, but his passion wasn't coming up to Blaine's level. Something was holding him back.

After a couple minutes, Blaine stopped and sunk against Kurt. "This isn't working for you, is it?"

Kurt nodded slowly, taking Blaine's hand in his to play with his fingers. "I'm confused by it too. I'm so happy that we've found each other again, but there's part of me that can't fully let go and just be in the moment."

Blaine looked at Kurt, considering everything. "Well, your poor heart has taking a battering, hasn't it? First Paul, and then I finally convince you to give me a chance and it looks like I died the next day. You spend months mourning me, and then I show up and expect to pick up where we left off. Your heart doesn't trust me yet."

Kurt sighed, tucking his face into Blaine's neck. "I think you are probably right."

"I'll give you as much time as you need, my love. As long as I can still hold and kiss you." Blaine cuddled in close, kissing Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt nodded. "Yes, I like that."

---

After a large breakfast, they headed back to Kurt’s room. They both had to work in the evening, but they had the afternoon free. Blaine said he’d answer all of Kurt’s questions.

Kurt snuggled close against him. “Ok, ready?”

Blaine groaned. “What have I gotten myself into here…”

“Nothing bad. Just tell me everything you’ve done since I saw you on the Titanic.’ Kurt looked up at Blaine with his own little smirk.

“Tell me requests count as five questions. So you owe me five kisses.” Blaine shifted the pillow under his head, getting more comfortable.

Poking Blaine in the side, Kurt laughed. “There’s a time to haggle, and there’s a time to start talking.”

Blaine knew it was time to stop delaying. He thought of where to start. “Hmmmm… well, I guess I’d say when I woke up in the hospital, my two thoughts were being happy that I survived, and wondering where you were. It was weird being in a regular hospital, instead of the fancy places I’m used to. I was just one of the numbers to them usually, the staff good, but just too busy to give me that much attention. I had a broken leg in a cast and in traction, and a head injury. They kept me pretty doped up for a long time for the pain.”

“How long were you there?” Kurt asked, trying to imagine which hospital Blaine had been in.

Blaine shrugged. “Time was pretty blurry, with all the drugs. It was a least a month. By the end, they were lowering the dosage and I had more lucid periods. I’d borrow my neighbor’s newspaper and read a lot of the Titanic stories. I saw that my father, Kitty and Mrs. Wilde survived. I looked for your name, and couldn’t find it anywhere. I was so sure you were lost at sea.”

“And you told them your name was Andrew Prince.” Kurt prompted, wanting this story to continue.

Blaine nodded. “I knew if I told them my real name, my father would swoop down and I’d be back in my old life, and likely engaged to Kitty in the blink of an eye. Or some other woman. And I just couldn’t do it.”

Kurt propped himself on an elbow to look down at Blaine. “Why not?”

Sighing, Blaine ran a hand down Kurt’s shoulder to his elbow. “I was miserable over you being gone, and I didn’t want to have to act the part of the dutiful son anymore. I just wanted to be on my own, alone with my grief.”

“Do you think almost dying yourself changed things too? Made you want to live your life your own way, make your own choices?” Kurt asked, lifting a hand to play with Blaine’s product-free curls. They felt great under his fingers.

Blaine seemed to consider this. “It may be a small part of it, but I don’t even know what I want in life yet. But I do know I’m not as scared as I used to be to try it.”

Kurt nodded. “So, once you left the hospital…”

“I still had the cast and crutches, and owned nothing. I had no place to live. But one of the other patients in the hospital knew I was good at reading and bookkeeping, so he set me up with someone to do their books in exchange for room and board. They also gave me some old clothes.” Blaine continued, seeming to relax into telling his story now.

Chuckling at the image, Kurt pictured Blaine in old clothes working as a bookkeeper. “But you didn’t stay there that long?”

Blaine shook his head. “Just until my leg healed and I could get around better. The work was long, long hours with really crappy food and a dirty little room. Really depressing. I started hanging out at the local pub as much as I could to avoid being around there.”

Having seen Blaine in the General Room of the Titanic, Kurt knew he was good at making friends.

“Some of the people I was hanging out with were Vaudevillians, so I ended up being at the theatre more often, got to see what they did. And I remembered your comment about singing Fiona’s old songs on stage, so one night I borrowed a guitar and did it. I could play piano too, so they mostly took me on a musician.” Blaine grinned, laughing at Kurt’s expression.

“So, you’ve been playing in Vaudeville for six months or so?” Kurt was shocked. Stuffy Blaine Anderson had been living the lifestyle, and seemed to love it, for months now.

Blaine nodded. “Yup.” He looked around a little. “So, you are all caught up now, know everything I’ve been up to since that damned boat sank.”

“Why did you pick ‘Andrew Prince’?” Kurt cuddled in, pressing a little kiss to his neck.

Chuckling, Blaine looked down at Kurt. “They asked me my name, and I started saying ‘Anderson’ out of habit. But then I decided to use a fake name, so it came out as ‘Andrew’ instead. ‘Prince’ is from what you used to call me.”

Kurt scrunched his brows down for a minute. “Oh, the Rebel Prince, right. Well, that’s what you are.”

Giving Kurt a little squeeze, Blaine thought about the conversation the previous night. “How about you? You were at your parents’ place for a while, before going back to Vaudeville, right?”

Sitting up, Kurt sat cross-legged on the bed, taking Blaine’s hand in his. “Yes, not as strange a trip as the one you were on. But where do we go from here? Do you still want to stick to our old oath, or should we dissolve it?”

Blaine sat up, his eyes large and completely focused on Kurt. He shifted closer, his hand coming up to cup Kurt’s head before he leaned in for a slow but intense kiss. “Kurt, I love you more than I did back then, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. I definitely want to stick to our oath, use the remaining time to live together, see if we can really be happy together.”

Kurt blinked fast at Blaine’s words. He said them so easily, never hesitating. So much braver in his love. Kurt was much more cautious, afraid of getting hurt again. But still he nodded slowly, giving Blaine a little smile. “I love you too, Blaine, and want to give the rest of our time the best chance we can.”

“Should we talk to our companies then? See which one will have both of us?” Blaine asked, not sure how to approach this. Homosexuality in the theatre community was more tolerated as long as it was fairly discrete, but asking a manager to hire a partner was a big step.

“OK, we’ll talk to our companies tonight, and then discuss it together later.” Kurt said softly. It was strange making life decisions with someone like this. Besides that short period with Paul, Kurt had been on his own, his own boss.

Blaine laid back down. “Well, I think I’ve answered all your questions, lots and lots of questions….”

Looking down at his husband, Kurt’s earlier anxiety was gone. He was nervous and excited about their future together, but he understood Blaine better now. Knew more about what he’d gone through. Loved how open and loving he had been.

Crawling over Blaine, Kurt straddled his hips, and leaned down to take his hands in his. Pulling them up over his head, Kurt leaned down and took his mouth in a hard, intense kiss. Smiled to himself as Blaine groaned, arching up into Kurt in response. He continued to kiss Blaine, deep, dirty, pushing his tongue into his mouth to tease over his. Blaine pulled against his hands, and his body shifted under Kurt, but still he kept him pinned down to the bed for the long, sinful kiss.

When Kurt finally lifted his mouth, Blaine was looking a little dazed, chasing Kurt’s lips with his own for more. He gave a little whimper when Kurt moved to kiss down to his sensitive neck.

Kurt let go of his hands. “Leave your hands there for me, OK?” His eyes met Blaine’s hazel-green until he got a nod in return.

With a kiss to Blaine’s collarbone, Kurt lifted the hem of Blaine’s untucked shirt. His stomach was flat and that golden hue that contrasted so well against Kurt’s pale ivory shade. Shifting downwards, Kurt straddled Blaine’s thighs and leaned in to kiss all over his stomach.

This just felt right. Like home. Even in ordinary clothes and without his fancy toiletries, this was still Blaine. Kurt rubbed his cheek over the warm skin of Blaine’s stomach, nuzzling his nose in, breathing deep, relearning him. His skin felt the same. He smelled the same, tasted the same, sounded the same in his little moans and faster breathing. Kurt could feel his inner tension unwinding as he touched and tasted Blaine. Overloaded his senses with Blaine until it really sunk in that Blaine was really, really, really here… This wasn’t a dream he would wake up from. 

Suddenly ravenous, Kurt pushed Blaine’s clothes off until he was stretched out naked under him, a feast for his eyes and his touch. Blaine was moaning steadily, writhing slightly under Kurt, as he kissed and stroked over every inch of his skin. 

“Please, please…Kurt…” Blaine begged softly, his large eyes dark as he looked down as Kurt teased his nipple with swirls of his tongue and little nibbles that made Blaine arch off the bed. 

Smiling, Kurt rolled off the bed, slowly unbuttoning his shirt and undoing his pants, dropping his clothes to the floor and allowing Blaine to see him naked, knowing he was a little skinnier than he’d been before. But judging by the heat in Blaine’s eyes, he didn’t mind at all. He stretched out a hand, encouraging Kurt to come back to the bed. 

Lying together, skin against skin, Kurt hummed happily. He’d forgotten how incredible it was to hold each other like this. This wasn’t something he had done with his casual sex partners over the years, and even Paul hadn’t been much of a cuddler. Blaine held him like he was precious, and looked at him with wonder, his hands reverent as they explored.

Blaine’s hand found Kurt hard and his slow strokes brought out deep moans. It had been so long since he’d been this aroused. He hadn’t been touched by any other men like this since that last night on the Titanic. Months later, he had let a friend kiss him after a few glasses of wine, but quickly stopped things when he could feel no answering heat, no response. 

His hand went to Blaine, and smiled when Blaine’s groaned against his neck. They shifted to lie on their sides, sharing the same pillow, sharing kisses and looking at each other while stroking slowly. A sensual little bubble where only the two of them existed, and the outside world was miles away. 

----

-Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sherlock Holmes Fun Facts: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes story, 'A Study in Scarlet', in 1887. He wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring Sherlock over the next 40 years. He is the world's most popular fictional detective, and is in the Guinness World Record as the 'most portrayed character in movie history'. The phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" is never uttered by Holmes in the sixty stories written by Conan Doyle. Doyle was fascinated with the paranormal, attending seances and conducting psychic investigations. He supported spiritualism and looked for proof of life beyond the grave. Doyle was friends for a time with Harry Houdini, the American magician who himself became a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement in the 1920s following the death of his beloved mother. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery (and consistently exposed them as frauds), Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers—a view expressed in Doyle's book 'The Edge of the Unknown'. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Doyle that his feats were simply illusions, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two.