Days after the conversation with his dad, Kurt still hadn’t decided what to do about Blaine. On one hand, he had made a promise to Blaine, and going back on his word would hurt Blaine, and on some level, himself. On the other hand, his dad had a valid point when he brought up the complications that arise when you’re in a fake marriage.

At least he was given some space to work things out because the day after Blaine’s work visa arrived, he started his new job. His hours were all over the place so Kurt and Blaine had little interaction. Blaine was still sleeping on the couch and Kurt was trying to avoid him at all costs. The only time they were around each other was over dinner where they had Santana as a buffer.

However, Santana was getting tired of their shit. She had warned Kurt before he got into this situation; she warned him that something like this would happen. She had known Kurt for years and she knew, even if he didn’t, that he wanted out of his arrangement with Blaine. But over the past month and a half Santana had grown to almost like Blaine. He helped with rent, dinner, shopping, and cleaning. And strange as it was she could honestly say she enjoyed his presence, not that she would ever admit it out loud. Of course she felt obligated to side with Kurt, considering all he had done for her, but there was something about Blaine that made her want to protect him.

It could’ve been the fact that she knew where he worked. To make some extra cash she had started moonlighting as a bartender, which meant she frequented establishments such as the one where Blaine danced almost every day and/or night; which is why she felt the need to confront Kurt about his behavior.

She knew stripping was only a temporary job until they got married and Blaine could start pursuing his dream of being a singer or performer or whatever; this was just a stepping stone for him. But if Kurt backed out of the engagement what would happen to Blaine? Blaine, who had nowhere else to go, who took a job he didn’t enjoy just to be able to contribute something. Without Kurt, Blaine had nothing.

So the next night that Blaine worked the night shift Santana decided to have a talk with Kurt. The two were at the table digging into a tub of ice cream.

“So do you want to tell me what’s going on with you and Blaine?”

“Nothing’s going on with me and Blaine,” Kurt rushed out.

“Sure. That’s why he’s been on the couch for the past week. What happened? You guys were fine. You actually passed for a real couple.”

“Blaine and I ran into Rachel last week.”

“Nothing good can come of ‘I ran into Rachel’ but continue.”

“She saw my ring and told Finn, who told my dad, and then we had this big argument and he just… He got me thinking. What if this doesn’t work? What if I find someone else? What if he finds someone else? What if we get caught?” Kurt put his head down on the table and mumbled, “What have I gotten myself into?”

“I know it’s cliché, but I told you so. I told you that you shouldn’t do this. But now I’m telling you that you are going to marry Blaine.”

Kurt shot up in his seat, “What?”

“You made a promise to him. You said you would marry him and you moved him into this apartment. His life basically depends on you. And I won’t let you do this to him,” She was getting pretty angry by this point, “You knew that this was a fake marriage, you knew exactly what you were getting into, and you said yes anyways. You can’t go back on this now. You promised,” With that she dropped her spoon into the tub and went to her room, leaving Kurt in a state of shock. He wasn’t expecting Santana to react that strongly, he didn’t even know she liked Blaine.

Kurt went to bed that night feeling even worse than he had all week. Both his dad and Santana had valid points. But he still wasn’t sure what he wanted. He must have been tired enough to fall asleep though, because when Blaine came home he woke up. Every night when Blaine got home from work he would take a quick shower, then sneak into Kurt’s room to grab some pajamas. Tonight was no exception.

As Blaine pulled on his pants Kurt spoke, “You can sleep in here tonight.” Blaine was surprised Kurt was awake, so much so that he tripped and crashed into the dresser.

“I did not think you would be awake.”

“I haven’t been sleeping well. You probably haven’t either; I know that couch is uncomfortable. You can sleep in the bed again.”

“I do not think that is a good idea Kurt. You are mad at me and I do not want to bother you more,” Blaine grabbed his shirt and rushed out of the room.

‘Maybe I won’t even have to make a decision. Maybe he’ll just leave.’ Once Kurt thought that he felt terrible. He didn’t really want Blaine to leave. ‘How hypocritical. I don’t want him to leave me but I’m considering kicking him out. What am I going to do?’ Kurt barely slept that night, knowing that Blaine was probably out on that couch even more miserable than him.

Santana may have been a lesbian but she still appreciated the way Blaine moved his body against that pole. He had been here for a few weeks and he was already one of the most popular dancers. There was no doubt that Blaine knew he was attractive and he made sure everyone in the club knew it too. He was completely confident up on that stage; dancing around in his underwear for total strangers. Santana was sure that after this Blaine would have no problem singing in front of a crowd.

Santana watched as Blaine crawled to the edge of the stage so the men could shove bills into his tight briefs. One of the men was particularly handsy with him and Santana was reminded why she kept moonlighting here, even though she could’ve made more money at a straight strip club. Blaine may have known what he was doing up on that stage but he was still pretty naïve about some things.

Santana never wanted him hurt or taken advantage of; she didn’t want anything to ruin the only innocence he had left. Blaine had no idea how some men could be.

Kurt had mentioned in passing how he was Blaine’s first everything. As far as she knew, Blaine had never experienced how spiteful men could be when rejected.

Therefore, Santana decided she would serve as guardian angel until Blaine got out of this place.

Kurt brought up his holiday plans over dinner one night, one that all three were present for, “I talked to my dad today. He gave me permission to buy us all plane tickets with my emergency credit card to fly back to Ohio for Thanksgiving.”

“Don’t bother buying one for me. I’m not going back.”

“Why not, Santana? Don’t you want to see your family?”

“I really don’t.”

“Well we can’t just leave you here by yourself! That’s too depressing.” “Then leave Blaine here with me.”

“I can’t. My family wants to meet him and my dad thought this was the perfect opportunity.”

During this exchange Blaine just sat there looking confused, “I am sorry to interrupt, but what is this ‘Thanksgiving’?”

“It’s basically a holiday where we celebrate stealing land from the Native Americans.” That didn’t clear up any of his confusion, but he kept his mouth shut, assuming someone would explain it to him better later. But apparently he was going home with Kurt to celebrate it with his family.

“Are you sure we should have left Santana all alone?” Blaine felt guilty for abandoning her on what seemed to be an important holiday.

“She’ll be fine. I’m sure she already has company over,” Ever since Blaine moved in Santana had been reluctant to bring girls home. He was sure she was already taking advantage of the fact that he and Blaine were out of the apartment for a few days.

“Okay.” Kurt knew Santana better than he did so he took his word for it. “The only time I was on a plane was when I come here. I was so scared and hungry because the food was very bad. The whole flight was horrible.”

“I’m sure. Luckily the flight’s not that long.” What Blaine failed to mention about that horrible flight was that Blaine had terrible airplane sickness.

The first glimpse Burt Hummel got of his son-in-law to be was not the best. The boy he assumed was Blaine was sitting on a suitcase drinking a bottle of water and looking very pale. And there was his son wiping Blaine’s face with a wet paper towel. Burt walked over to the pair.

“Hey, son.”

“Hey, dad. This is Blaine.” Kurt didn’t even look over; he was so focused on making Blaine feel better.

“Hello Mr. Hummel,” Blaine said in a truly pathetic voice, “It is nice to meet you finally.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Blaine got really sick on the plane.”

“I got that. Do you think he’ll be okay in the car?”

“Can I lie down in the car?”

“Of course you can, honey. Come on, let’s go.”

Once they were all back at the Hudson-Hummel household they had a proper reunion. Blaine had fallen asleep in the car, but when he woke up he felt better and ready to meet Kurt’s family. They all knew the reason Blaine was here; Burt had explained the whole ‘green card’ business. It didn’t stop Carole from giving Blaine a hug or admiring Kurt’s ring. Burt had met the boy at a weak moment, so any intimidation he planned was derailed. Kurt was still mad at Rachel, and by extension Finn, so Kurt had little contact with him until he pulled Kurt aside and apologized to him. And so began Blaine’s first night with the Hudmels.

Thanksgiving morning found Kurt and Blaine at the grocery store. Carole had forgotten all about dessert so she sent the boys out to get something premade. However, Kurt was not having anything premade for Blaine’s first Thanksgiving. He stood looking at the different pie fillings; pumpkin pie was classic, so he needed to make at least one. But he wanted something different.

“But they were just so big! How did those people control them?” Blaine had watched his first Thanksgiving parade this morning with Burt and Finn, and he could not stop talking about it. Kurt almost felt bad about taking Blaine to Ohio, Kurt might have even taken him to the parade if they were home. Maybe. He was in the middle of his musings on pie and parades when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Apparently Carole didn’t have enough green beans for the casserole.

“Blaine, can you go get a couple cans of green beans? Carole doesn’t have enough. I’ll meet you at the checkout, okay?”

“Of course, Kurt! I will be fast.” Blaine was so eager to please sometimes.

Kurt finally decided that apple pie would be a good alternative to pumpkin. He put the filling into his basket and headed towards the checkout.

“Kurt!” He turned around at the sound of his name.

“Dave. Hi.” He hadn’t seen Dave Karofsky since the beginning of his senior year.

“So what did your mom forget?”

“What? Oh! Dessert. I got some ingredients for pie.”

“Cranberry sauce.” He held up two cans of said food.

“So, how are things going? Do you still live in Lima or?”

“I go to OSU. And, um,” he lowered his voice, “I have a boyfriend now.”

“That’s really great, Dave. I’m glad you found someone.”

“So what about you? I heard you moved to New York.”

“Yeah, I live with Santana Lopez.”

“Wow. That must be…fun. Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Um, not exactly.” Kurt had unconsciously brought his left hand up to fidget with his scarf, which didn’t go unnoticed by Dave.

“Oh, I guess it’s more serious than that then.”

“What?”

“It’s a nice ring.”

Kurt looked down. “Yeah, it is.”

Blaine had chosen that moment to reappear with three cans of green beans. “I hope I got the right ones, Kurt.”

“You did. Blaine, this is Dave. We went to high school together. Dave, this is Blaine, my fiancé.”

“It is nice to meet you Dave. Are we leaving now?”

“Yeah. We really need to get started on the pies. It was nice seeing you, Dave.”

“You too, Kurt.”

They were on their way back to the house when Blaine asked, “Was he your boyfriend?”

“What? No. I mean I know he liked me but I didn’t feel the same.” He spared Blaine a lot of details because he really didn’t want to go into right at this moment. Maybe he would tell Blaine someday in the future. Then something occurred to him. “Were you jealous of him?”

“No. I was just wondering because of the way he looked at you. I thought you might have been close.”

“Well we weren’t. Can we just drop the subject?” The rest of the ride was sat in silence. Blaine knew Kurt wasn’t telling him something. But then again, there were things Blaine was keeping from Kurt too. So he decided to let it go for now, but he knew everything would eventually come to light.

When they got back to the house, Kurt and Blaine made the pies. Kurt made the pumpkin and Blaine made the apple. While the pies were in the oven Kurt thought about everything he needed to do in the next few weeks. He had work to finish, Christmas shopping, and either finalizing or canceling wedding plans.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a clatter and a curse in a language he didn’t understand. He rushed over to Blaine where he had been chopping vegetables. “What did you do, Blaine?”

“I accidentally cut my hand.”

“Here, run it under the water,” Carole said. “It doesn’t look that deep.”

Kurt turned to rummage through the kitchen drawers, knowing that they had first aid supplies in one of them. He located the roll of gauze and some medical tape,“Come here and let me wrap it up.” He moved Blaine out of the kitchen to sit on the couch before wrapping his hand with gauze and taping the end. “There. All better.”

“And that is why I don’t cook.”

“Dad, you don’t cook because you’re just not good at it. I’m going to go finish the vegetables. You,” he pointed at Blaine, “stay here.”

“Bossy, isn’t he?” Blaine ignored Burt’s words. He knew Kurt just wanted him to be okay and not hurt himself again.

“What are we watching?”

“Football.” Blaine was confused. “That is not football.”

“American football.”

“Oh. I like it.”

The rest of the day passed without incident. Dinner was full of conversation, laughter, and a lot of food. After the dishes were clean, three Hummels, a Hudson, and an Anderson gathered in the living room. The game was over and it was Kurt’s turn to pick something to watch.

“How does Moulin Rouge sound to everyone?”

“Not again, Kurt!” Finn protested.

“I’ve never seen it,” Blaine stated from his position next to Kurt.

“Then it’s settled. Sorry Finn.” As the movie started, Blaine moved closer to Kurt. Kurt gestured to his bandaged hand, “Does it still hurt?”

“A little.” Blaine held his hand in front of Kurt’s face. “Kiss it better?” Kurt couldn’t deny him when he pouted like that. He took Blaine’s hand and kissed right over the gauze. He put Blaine’s hand back down gently on his own chest, over his heart. At this point Kurt should’ve been relaxed and happy. But while Zidler, Satine, and everyone else pitched their idea to the Duke, Kurt’s thoughts were racing. He thought about his run-in with Karofsky at the grocery store. He wondered how different things would be if he never gave Karofsky the chance to make amends in highs school.

He remembered sitting next to Dave in the hospital, talking about all the possibilities for the future, wishing that he had done something to keep this situation from happening. He knew that he wasn’t to blame, but he felt that he should’ve noticed something. Him and Dave weren’t exactly friends, but when he was getting constant calls from him, he should’ve realized something was wrong and picked up the phone, instead of ignoring it.

Kurt wondered what would have happened to Dave if he never made that trip to visit him. If he were never there to reassure Dave that it would get better. That he wasn’t sick like his mom told him. Would he have remained in the closet, marrying a woman and being unhappy for the rest of his life? Would he have tried to take his life again? Kurt would never know. All he knew was that Dave seemed happier now than Kurt had ever seen him, even when he was one of the most popular guys in school. But he supposed that there was something to be said about giving someone a chance.

Kurt was brought out of his thoughts when Blaine laughed at something on the screen. What if Kurt never gave Blaine a chance? What if Blaine got deported because he couldn’t stay in the country? Kurt knew there was no way Blaine could come out in Russia, so sending him back would be a life sentence to everything Kurt had just thought about: Blaine having to marry a woman, or never getting married at all, spending the rest of his life unhappy because his only chance for a real life was taken from him. Kurt couldn’t do that, not to Blaine. Blaine, who had tried so hard to be everything Kurt wanted, even going so far as to meet a family he may never be related to.

From then on, Kurt decided, he was going to make this work. He and Blaine were going to have an amazing wedding, and they were going to get Blaine permanent citizenship status. Everything else would work out eventually.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully, with all but Carole and Kurt falling asleep by the end of the movie.

As Carole got up to put the movie back in its case, she finally commented on their situation. “Are you sure you want to marry Blaine? He did fall asleep during your favorite movie. That’s no way to start a relationship.”

Kurt smiled, “He’s just really tired, first Thanksgiving and all. I think I can forgive him this one time.”

Kurt knew better on the flight back to New York. A couple hours before their flight he gave Blaine some Airborne, and the flight was much more enjoyable for everyone involved. He called Santana when they landed; giving her a warning to get any company she had out before they got home.

They had left Friday around noon, Blaine having to work that night. Kurt had foregone Black Friday shopping, needing to save money for the wedding that was happening.

Like usual after a night shift, Blaine came home, showered, then went into the dresser to retrieve his clothes. Tonight, Kurt had set an alarm to wake him up before Blaine got home.

Blaine opened the bedroom door in nothing but a towel. He was surprised that the light was on, and even more that Kurt was sitting up waiting for him. “Hey. Why are you awake? It is after 1 in the morning.”

“I just really needed to talk to you, but we were both so busy when we got home that we didn’t have time. And I didn’t want you to have to sleep on the couch tonight. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I’ve been really weird and distant these past few weeks. I was having second thoughts about this whole thing. But now I’m sure of it. I know I am. And I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”

“Are you really sure?”

“Yeah. I talked to my boss today about this place she said she could get; a place for us to get married. It’s short notice but she said she can get it for us. And I told her we’re definitely getting married and we definitely want it,” Kurt rushed it all out excitedly, as if he just realized that he gets to plan another wedding.

“I just didn’t want to be, um, left at the alter? I want to make sure you are sure.”

“I am. Very sure.” If Blaine needed any more convincing, Kurt’s kiss took care of it, “Believe me now?” Kurt smiled as he pulled back.

“I think I am needing more convincing.” Kurt slid his hands from where they had rested on Blaine’s shoulders down to his hips where the towel was secured. One quick tug at the towel and it was off.

“Maybe this will convince you.”