For the rest of the week, Kurt spends lunchtime at work trying to read up more on the condition of autism, children with autism and autism management. Blaine and Tina have shared stories with him before, and with all the information that he has now, he is really confused. For example, he's not sure whether he is supposed to use a child's favorite item to calm her down before trying to reason things out, or to remain firm and calm the child down using behavioral cues. In the end, he thinks that there's no way he's going to be convincing trying to use behavioral cues, so he'll just have to bribe Jamie anytime she acts up.

It's not so black and white at home, especially when Jamie takes out a crayon and starts doodling on the marble kitchen-top when Blaine isn't looking, much to Kurt's horror. He almost wants to give up and tell Blaine, but when he eventually decides to slip a piece of paper to Jamie to distract her and it actually works, he thinksmaybe it's okay, just maybe.

One day, Kurt's halfway through reading an article on his work computer written by an autistic person about what an average day for them is like, when somebody just saunters into his office. He looks up in annoyance. "Sugar, you should knock before you come in."

Sugar stares at him, then she walks back to the door to knock it. Before Kurt can say anything, she walks back over and sits down before him.

Kurt narrows his eyes at her. He may not be the top dog at this firm, but he is still respected by all the others as one of the quicker and more creative thinking young designers. He was the only one in his batch who managed to be promoted to 'Senior Designer' over the last few years and had a room of his own. It's bad enough that Kewell still treats him like a clueless newbie, and now Sugar isn't taking him seriously either.

He mentally slaps himself for getting annoyed so easily. He hardly even talks to Sugar; it's a wonder she is here in the first place. "So... how may I help you?"

"I don't need help," says Sugar. "I'm bored and there's nobody to talk to."

Kurt leans back in his chair, his eyes flickering back-and-forth the article and Sugar. He's not really sure he wants to engage in conversation with Sugar, but decides to go with, "Why didn't you join the rest for lunch?"

"I never join them," says Sugar, immediately.

Kurt looks at his half-eaten burrito before him. "Oh. Uh. Did you have your lunch?"

"I ate a sandwich." Sugar frowns. "Food is boring. Talk about something else."

Kurt snorts. "Sugar, you're the one who's bored. You can initiate a conversation about something you want to talk about."

She reaches over and picks a photo frame off Kurt's desk before he can protest. "That's Blaine," she says, jabbing at the photo.

Kurt raises his eyebrows. "You remember him?"

"He's the music therapist at the LAC. I like him," says Sugar. Then she leans over and in a conspiratorial whisper, she adds, "I used to love him."

Kurt backs away from her so fast that he nearly bangs his head against the wall behind him. "...what?"

Sugar puts the photo frame down. "He's very nice to me. He asks me how my day is and looks at my designs and says nice things about them. He never laughs at me like all the people here do. And he always smiles and looks so handsome." She pauses, then nods seriously. "He has a nice butt too."

Kurt can't help laughing. He knows fully well the kind of vibes that Blaine sends to straight girls, and Blaine pretty much knows himself. The story of how Blaine ended up drunk French kissing an ex-colleague during the LAC's dinner-and-dance still tickles him immensely.

"I was obsessed with the taste of her rose lipstick," Blaine had added defensively after he had related the story, as Kurt dissolved into giggles next to him. "Besides, how can you not be turned on by somebody who wants to have 'vaguely Eurasian babies' with you? It's a massive compliment to my gene pool and I'm proud of it. And can you stop giggling? Oh my God."

Kurt sobers when he sees that Sugar is now staring impassively at him. "Sugar, you do know... that Blaine is gay, right?"

"He told me when we were at the LAC," says Sugar. "It's okay. Anyway, I think blond guys with almond-shaped blue eyes are cuter now."

Kurt suddenly thinks that Sugar might actually be a good fellow Vogue model-critic.

"But you don't think so," Sugar continues, tilting her head slightly. "You and Blaine are boyfriends."

Again, Kurt can't help but smile. It's so surprisingly refreshing to hear a lack of emotion behind the word 'boyfriends' that it's almost comforting. "Yeah."

"That's so nice. You're not like everyone else, but you have somebody who is like you."

"Sorry, I don't follow you...?"

Sugar doesn't answer him; she idly plays with a mini-tie that Kurt hangs on a mini-fashion model on his desk.

"Sugar?"

"Have you been to the LAC before?" she asks, still staring at the tie.

"Um, yeah?"

"I am like everyone else in there, but we are not like everyone else out there," Sugar continues to say cryptically. Then she gets up. "Thank you for the conversation, I had a nice time."

Kurt stares at her. "Um, okay, me too."

"I think that red doesn't go very well with the purple," she says, pointing at a rough sketch Kurt has done at the corner of his desk. "Try green."

"Green?"

To his surprise, Sugar smiles – the first time he has ever seen her smile, and she looks incredibly sweet when she does so. "Yes, green."

With that, she leaves, and Kurt looks at his computer screen, where the author has written,

Sometimes I feel like the mirror in my room is fake. The person I see in it is not the person other people see. Otherwise, I don't understand what is so strange about the girl in the mirror that makes people say or do things differently about her. I try to tell them that I want to be friends, but when I hold out my hand and smile, they laugh at me. My therapist told me to smile more, but I don't want to anymore because it doesn't make friends. I don't know whether autism means that I'm missing something or that I have too much of something. I don't know whether it is really because of autism that everything around me feels strange or it is because of me as a person. It is not till twenty years later that I see things a bit more clearly, that I am not defined by my condition and that it is a constant learning process for both me and the other people out there. But when I was twelve, it was a game where I was the only player and it sucked.

Kurt swivels his chair slightly to face a full-length mirror he has in the corner of his office. For a moment, he sees a little boy of twelve clad in a simple black coat and pants with no frills, his wide eyes a dull shade of blue and his bottom lip quivering. Then he blinks, and he sees himself in fitted blue shirt and patterned pants, with brilliant blue-green eyes and a firm set jaw.

Suddenly, he knows exactly what Sugar meant.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Every day this week, when Kurt comes home from work, he's greeted by the sight of Jamie drawing circles on the drawing block. Yesterday he did think,Thank God it isn't the marble kitchen top, but mostly it just makes him feel a little awkward since it reminds him of the very first day he met Jamie. He usually just says 'hi' and walks straight to his room. He's tired after all; if she stabs him with a color pencil again, it won't be a pretty situation for both of them.

Today, however, the way she is so focused on drawing makes him rather curious. He walks over to the sofa and puts his briefcase on it. Then he rounds the table and kneels opposite her.

"Hi, Jamie!"

She closes the loop of a circle and starts on another.

The first step to having any form of civil communication with the girl would for her to acknowledge him. Yet, for all that he has read up on, Kurt still feels apprehensive about trying to distract Jamie with visuals or even simple touching of her hand. As if to remind him, the back of his hand throbs inexplicably.

Kurt casts a quick glance at Blaine, who is busy preparing soup in the kitchen. Then he draws a deep breath and begins to hum a tune. Eventually, he starts to sing along,

Who cares what they're wearing
On Main Street or Saville Row
It's what you wear from ear to ear
And not from head to toe

A soft harmony chimes in – Blaine divests himself of the apron and walks over, his light, jazzy voice weaving a refreshing tune over Kurt's.

Remember,
You're never fully dressed without a smile!

Blaine sits down and looks expectantly at Jamie, who is still drawing.

Kurt eventually stops singing and sighs. "It doesn't work."

Blaine smiles. "As I said, trial and error. Maybe it's because I work with her at music lessons so she associates music with me."

"And what would she associate with me?" asks Kurt. "Clearly not drawing."

"Kurt, you'll be surprised at what kids think of us," says Blaine, with a light laugh. He has unconsciously placed his hand next to Jamie's, and she immediately slips her left hand into his without pausing in her drawing.

Kurt swallows hard. It's nearing the end of one week and he isn't getting any closer to knowing more about Jamie or getting her to be comfortable with him. He's tired trying to squeeze the creative juices out of his brain so that he can come out with a stellar new collection to shut Kewell up, and yet he can't complain because Blaine has his hands full what with managing kids in school and trying to get Jamie relatively adjusted (and yet not overly attached) to her new place. He misses Blaine in his bed (save for that one night) and he misses sitting on the couch with him at the end of the day just chilling out on trashy reality shows. Now, every night, Blaine has to prepare Jamie for bed with a story and prep her in advance for what happens the next day, like what she is having for breakfast and what dress she is wearing to school. He knows it's exhausting for Blaine and it's exhausting for himself to watch it go on.

In short, he's still not used to the little girl being around.

He decides to push the conversation in a different direction. "Are you still planning to record that acoustic cover of 'Teenage Dream' that you've been working on? I've been waiting for what, five months already?"

Blaine gives him a rather strange look, then pulls his hand out of Jamie and leans back on the sofa. "I... I haven't exactly practiced in a long while."

"I know," says Kurt, pointedly. "That's what I meant. You were so enthusiastic about it once you had completed the re-arrangement and it's really good! You should get that dusty YouTube channel of yours up and running again. I visited it some days back and people are clamoring for you to do another video."

He still remembers when Blaine would come running out of the Creative Room waving sheet music and yelling at Kurt to come listen to his latest re-arrangement of a hit song. He loves the way Blaine's eyes shines every time they track the YouTube comments and statistics together. The view count literally goes into the hundreds of thousands, and Kurt is more than convinced that Blaine could easily release an independent EP of his own and get it into the iTunes charts.

Instead, Blaine just stares at his hands. He runs his nails across the pad of his fingers. "It'll take some time for my callus to grow again."

"You can play the keyboard instead of the guitar then," says Kurt, at once.

"Kurt," says Blaine, and the weariness in his voice is evident. "Let's have dinner before the soup gets cold."

And once again, the conversation is cut off by dinner. Kurt isn't quite sure if his exasperation is showing, but he somehow hope it does, even if Blaine is pretending not to notice it.

"Dinner time, Jamie," says Blaine, gently, and the girl puts her color pencil down immediately. She looks up to stare at Kurt, then gets up and follows Blaine. Kurt sits where he is for just a few minutes longer, watching as Blaine scoops the soup into bowls and Jamie clambers onto the chair to get a better vantage point of the whole process. She excitedly points at the ladle and Blaine laughs. He whispers to her and she says, "More" loudly.

Kurt looks back at the drawing block and remembers what he read this morning.I don't know whether it is really because of autism that everything around me feels strange or it is because of me as a person.

Strangely enough,he thinks,it doesn't take autism for a person to feel that way.

-.-.-.-.-.-

On Friday, Kurt takes the entire day off work and heads to the LAC.

Every time Kurt comes to the LAC, he's either with Blaine or waiting for Blaine at the carpark. This time, the compound feels so unfamiliar now that Blaine is not in the equation. He straightens his skinny tie, then makes his way to the lobby area. The security guard there arches an eyebrow at him.

"Whaddya want, kid?"

Kurt frowns. "I'm twenty-eight."

"Still a kid ter me. Who're yer lookin' fer?"

"I'm uh, here to uh, observe a child's lesson. You know Jamie Chase?"

"I know every single one of 'em," says the guard, proudly. "Ain't she the prettiest of 'em all." He points to the far end of the compound. "Them kids be there."

Kurt bristles at having been compared to (and therefore infantilized by the category of) 'kids', but manages to politely thank the guard and head towards his destination. On the way, however, he meets a familiar face - it's Mike Chang, the LAC's sports therapist.

"Kurt!" Mike exclaims from a distance. "Wow, you're really early."

Kurt hasn't seen Mike often, not since Tina broke up with him (to be with Artie, but that's just far too sensitive). It's always rather awkward meeting him ever since and Kurt usually just greets with him a simple nod and smile. Now he actually has to speak to him.

"Hey, Mike," says Kurt, with a bright smile. "I'm actually... not here for Blaine."

Mike instantly looks confused.

"I'm here for Jamie Chase," says Kurt, but he doesn't have to explain further when recognition dawns upon Mike.

"Right!" Mike grins. "The kid's staying with you, isn't she?"

Kurt tilts his head slightly, then says politely, "I just wanted to see how she does during therapy and class and all that. Is that okay?"

"Why, sure," says Mike. "I believe she's in Blaine's class now, actually."

Kurt raises his eyebrows. Considering he has never really seen Blaine in the classroom setting before, this could be a good opportunity to observebothof them.

Mike has no more lessons for the day, so he brings Kurt over to the kids' side, at the same time pointing out some of the facilities that they have and some of the children's artworks and writings on the wall. Kurt is particularly impressed by one picture that is covered completely with pencil drawings of cute (and by cute, Kurt means like cartoonist-standard cute and not little kid drawing-standard cute) animals squashed together which Mike adds was done by a seven-year-old in less than ten minutes. He briefly wonders what Sugar would have drawn at the age of seven, and then whether Jamie would be able to draw anything else other than circles.

Eventually, they stop by Blaine's classroom where he is teaching the kids how to sing 'Home On The Range'. Kurt peers through the window and can't help smiling. Blaine is holding up a pop-up picture of a farm range set against a sunset backdrop with stick-on pictures of buffalo, deer, antelope and a farmer, while a few kids surround him to pick at the pictures. They are rather restless, singing off-key and looking all around. Only one of them is actually singing along properly; the other two are more interested in the pictures and are pretty much singing gibberish, but Blaine doesn't seem to mind as he continues singing,

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play

Seated on the floor is a boy who is completely not paying attention. He keeps shaking his head and blowing bubbles out of his mouth, but instead of going over to get his attention, Blaine gently reaches out to one of the girls who's talking loudly to herself and holds her hand. She immediately stops talking and Blaine tells her in a slow but crisp way,

"Ida, can you teach Ryan to let the deer and antelope play? You can sing for him."

The girl immediately goes to the boy and holds out both her hands. "Please let the deer and antelope play. I will sing for you."

When Ryan doesn't respond, Blaine gently reminds Ida, "Hold his hands."

She squats before Ryan and gently reaches out for his hands. She repeats her request, but this time she tugs at his hands such that he actually gets up and follows her. She hands him the deer and antelope pictures, all the while saying a lot of other random things, but surprisingly, Ryan follows her instructions and moves the deer and antelope according to Blaine's singing (Ida had decided she wanted to continue talking instead of singing).

Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day

"Blaine's one of the best in the Center at empowerment," whispers Mike. "That's why Sue thought he was best suited to teach the kids. Through music as a medium, he gets the ones who connect easily with aesthetics to reach out to the others who aren't so quick to do so. It hones the socialisation skills of the higher-functioning kids and also provides a connection with the lower-functioning kids who may not click so easily with adults."

"It's amazing," Kurt whispers back, his eyes trained on Blaine who is somehow able to take his time to give each kid some attention time even while the others are engaged in other forms of distractions. "He'samazing."

"Aren't you here to see Jamie, not Blaine?" asks Mike, amused.

Kurt blushes. He cranes his neck to see Jamie huddled next to a table in the foreground. "Eh, what's she doing there? How come Blaine isn't focusing on her?"

"It might be a time-out," says Mike. "It's when the kid has significantly lost focus and is given something he or she likes for a time period, like two minutes, so as to regain focus. Usually when the time is up, the kid will automatically go back to the main activity. Look, she has a timer with her."

Sure enough, there is a timer next to Jamie and Kurt notices that she's busy drawing on a drawing pad. Circles again.

"She will just stop?"

"Wait and see."

Kurt's gaze drifts back to Blaine, who has distributed the pictures to each of the kids and asks them to sing the song while putting the pictures in place. Kurt thinks the instructions seem complicated, not least when the kids start to wander away from the board and start to play with their pictures. Yet somehow Blaine manages to catch their attention the moment he sings the first note, which perks up the kids immediately. Within a few seconds, they start singing along and turn around to walk over to the picture board to stick their pictures.

Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle," explains Mike. "Blaine has associated the song with the pictures and how they form a larger story, so the kids are now focusing on placing the pictures to form the story. The music is actually a subtle undercurrent to help them remember."

"It's like conditioning," says Kurt, skeptically.

"In a way," says Mike, grinning.

"And Blaine..." It dawns upon Kurt. "He's not reallyteachingmusic, is he? You said he uses music as a medium, and I suppose it's to guide them to piece things together?"

"It's a powerful medium," says Mike. "Just like how I use physical activities to work with both the kids and adults. You see... at the LAC, we use a three-pronged method of kinaesthetic, aesthetic and visual cues and mediums to develop the participants' understanding and encourage their expression. At the adult level, we tone it down to about one or two prongs, depending on the individual, because their learning curve and scope tends to be a little more rigid. But for the kids, we try to engage them from all angles."

Then Mike laughs sheepishly. "Sorry, I sound like a walking advertisement for the LAC. Sue had us all memorise our whole philosophy and like, literally write it out on paper a hundred times. All the trees we killed... and the brain cells!"

Kurt suddenly feels rather small. It is only now that he realizes the true meaning of Blaine's dedication to his work. Even though he is passionate about music, his role at the LAC has not been so much as to impart his skills and knowledge of music to the children, but to use his passion for music to supplement his desire to grow the kids in many other ways – to use it as a channel to inspire the kids. The knowledge of why Blaine has always refused to become a musician or a general music teacher in favor of teaching the autistic kids is so overwhelming that Kurt has to clutch at his chest.

How often at night where the heavens are bright
With the light of the glittering stars
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours

"You okay?" asks Mike.

"Yeah," whispers Kurt, even though his eyes feel a little wet.

Blaine catches sight of them and gives a little wink and smile. Just then, the timer beside Jamie goes off and Kurt jumps a little. Just as Mike said, Jamie puts aside her drawing and colour pencil, gets up, walks over to Blaine and sits down before him.

"Wow," is all Kurt can manage.

Mike checks his watch. "About five minutes to the end of lesson. If you don't mind, I'll make a move first – I need to –"

"Yeah, sure," says Kurt, at once. He smiles. "Thanks for taking time out to explain stuff to me, Mike. That was incredibly helpful of you."

Mike looks slightly awkward. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to –" He laughs nervously. "Not trying to make up for anything."

Kurt is confused for a moment. Then he realizes what Mike is trying to say and his eyes widen. "Don't be silly, it wasn't your fault. Tina always told Mercedes and I how amazing a man you were, and you treated her right." He reaches out to pat Mike's shoulder. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

Mike looks at him gratefully. "I'm good, no worries. Right, I'll leave you here then. All the best!"

Kurt waves goodbye, then looks back at the classroom where Blaine is getting the kids to tidy the place up. Jamie is methodically shifting all the mini-chairs into a particular position, and she occasionally lets out a cry when somebody else knocks a chair out of place.

"Goodbye, children!" Blaine calls out.

"Goodbye, Mr. Anderson!" Two of them chorus, while Ryan is mumbling to himself as he packs his bag. Jamie is still concentrating on the chairs, so Blaine walks over and blocks the next chair from her line of sight. "Goodbye, Jamie," he says firmly.

Kurt briefly wonders if it's confusing that Jamie should say goodbye to someone who would be bringing her home, but to his surprise, she replies in a steady voice,

"Goodbye, Mr. Anderson," before circling Blaine to push the chair in.

"Does she call you that at home?" Kurt can't resist asking as he walks into the classroom. "I don't remember hearing her use that."

"Eh?" Blaine is caught off-guard for a bit, then he shrugs. "I haven't actually got her to call me at home yet. But she was told to call me Mr. Anderson from the very first day. She hasn't used it at home."

Kurt bends over. "Hi, Jamie."

As usual, Jamie doesn't seem to notice him. Suddenly, he feels a surge of courage and reaches out to touch her wrist and angles his head slightly to catch her attention. "Hi, Jamie," he repeats.

"Hi," she says, once she has met his gaze.

A sense of relief floods him.

"Kurt," he offers.

"Hi, Kurt," she adds, then twists her wrist out of his grasp and goes towards her bag, next to where Ryan is still rummaging in his.

Kurt's eyes widen. He straightens up to see Blaine grinning.

"Told you it'll take time," says Blaine, with a wink.

Kurt tries to look nonchalant. "Slow and steady, I guess."

"So, what made you come by?" asks Blaine. "Kewell actually let you off early?"

Kurt rolls his eyes. "Like I need his approval." Blaine's still all beaming, so he can't help smiling. "I just thought I'll swing by to see..." He pauses, then looks intently at Blaine. "You know, this is the first time I've seen you teach a class."

Blaine sighs loudly, surprising him. "I wish I had a little more time per period to just wrap things up a little better. Get them to think more about their actions, their words... you know, access their feelings a bit more and learn to articulate them."

Kurt arches an eyebrow. "You're giving yourself far too little credit. I would have given up within five minutes of just trying to catch everyone's attention."

"Ah, but you see," says Blaine, grinning as he reaches out for Kurt's hand. "That's why you're not teaching them. If you were, you would know that as long as you can hold one kid's attention, that's some measure of success for both you and the kid."

"How is it that you have so much positivity for other people but none for yourself?"

Blaine looks innocently at him. "That's what you're here for, no?"

Kurt gives him a mock annoyed look.

"Are you okay, though?" asks Blaine, seriously. "It's been a long week and I know you've been trying hard to get to know Jamie and all that..." He trails off with a questioning look.

"Yeah, no worries," says Kurt, breaking into a smile once again. "At least she has acknowledged me! That's one step down."

"But –"

Kurt leans in to silence him with a kiss. Beside them, Ryan says loudly, "Yuck!"

Kurt pulls back and instinctively glares at the boy.

"Relax, he's just being a typical kid," says Blaine, laughing.

"Gross. Boys kissing. Gross," Ryan adds, and gets ready to go out.

Kurt shifts his glare to Blaine. "Typical, alright."

Blaine's smile is now completely wiped off his face.

"Ryan!" He says sternly. However, before he can get Ryan to face him, Jamie goes over to stand in front of the little boy.

"I want to go home," says Ryan. "Go away."

"That's mean," says Jamie.

"I said it's gross, not mean," replies Ryan.

Jamie steps aside, but not without calling after him, "You're mean! You didn't say sorry!"

Blaine and Kurt exchange surprised looks.

Kurt takes a few seconds to recover. "Wow."

"Wonders never cease," Blaine agrees. He observes Jamie for a moment, then walks over to her and squats down. "Ready to go home, young lady?"

Jamie bounces a bit on her toes. "Yes, Blaine!" And immediately, she swings her backpack on her back and heads towards the door.

"She... she just called you Blaine," Kurt says, puzzled. "But you said –"

Blaine scratches his head. "I'm not sure how that works either..."

"Home!" yells Jamie, and she bounces on her toes again.

Blaine walks over to take her left hand. Then he looks back at Kurt and tilts his head to the right. Jamie's right hand is waving freely, as if beckoning someone to take it.

Kurt scrunches up his nose, then walks over to take Jamie's right hand. He's tentative when he reaches for it, but to his immense surprise, she grabs his hand without any reservation and proceeds to weigh down on it in her attempt to swing between the both of them. Then he realizes she's humming the tune ofHome On The Rangeas they walk on. He looks at Blaine, who is regarding Jamie with his eyes shining bright with affection. And then he feels his own heart burst with affection just seeing the two of them so happy.

For the first time that week, he thinks that things aren't that bad after all.