"Let's talk about your home life." She suggested after about ten minutes of silence.

"You already know everything about my home life." Kurt said dully.

Fitzgerald smile coyly, fixing the frame of her wire round glasses. "Humor me." She said. "How are your parents?"

"They're fine." Kurt sighed.

"Oh? Everything with your father's business is well? How is Carole? Are you two still getting along?"

"The shop is great; we have tons of business. Carole and I are great, as we've been since they first started dating."

"Good, very good. And your step-brother, Finn. How have you been getting along?"

"Same, as usual. He's a simple minded giant. I'm the smaller man who looks out for him."

"Vice versa too, I presume."

"Yes." Kurt answered shortly.

"Good, very good. Now, tell me about your friends."

"What do you want to know about them?"

"Anything you want to tell. What do you do with them? How do you like to spend your time when you're out and about?"

"I don't really go 'out and about'"," Kurt admitted. "We usual stay in, watch movies and talk about whatever. Sometimes Rachel will drag me out to this place where they have people performing. It's pretty cool."

"And you don't perform, am I correct?"

"No. I don't." Kurt answered stiffly.

Fitzgerald nodded slowly, jotting something down on her pad. Kurt rolled his eyes, as if him not performing was anything new.

"Who is your best friend, Kurt?" She asked rather abruptly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your best friend. Who do you spend the most time thing? Who, out of all your friends, would you wanna be with the most?"

Kurt straightened, pondering on the questions. "Well, I guess I see Finn the most, but we live in the same house, so I don't think that really counts. Um, I love Rachel to death, but something's hanging out with her can be a little exhausting. And then there's Blaine."

"Blaine?" Her head shot up slowly. He had spoken about him a while back ago, but the subject of him never came up until now.

"Yeah. That guy, the one I met at Six Flags? We've been hanging out a lot. He's really cool. We talk about pretty much everything. He's down to earth, you know?"

"Do you talk to him about the incident?"

Kurt lowered his head. "No." He whispered.

Fitzgerald nodded, shifting in her seat. "So, you spend a lot of time with Blaine, yes?"

"At least three or four days of the week. I just finished up on his car, and he would come up and check out the work, and then we'd go and hangout."

"I see. Now, Kurt, tell me how you feel about, Blaine."

"How I feel? Well, I like him, obviously."

Fitzgerald lifted a brow. "You like him?"

"Yeah. He's smart and nice. He's really cool and really mellow." Kurt sighed, knowing he was missing something. "He's not scared to be himself." He added, his voice cracking at the end.

"So you look up to Blaine, I see."

Kurt shifted uncomfortably. "I guess so. He's gay, and he's been bullied before, so. . . ."

"You have something to bond about." Fitzgerald scribbled the information down on her pad, clearing her throat. "Now Kurt, when you say you like Blaine, how strong is that feeling?"

"I-I'm sorry?"

"You say you like him. How much?"

"A-a lot, I guess. We're good friends."

"Do you like him more than a friend?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have other feelings towards Blaine? Are you attracted to him sexually? Do you like him more than a friend?"

Kurt stared at her, his voice caught deep in his throat. His mind was going in a million different directions. Like Blaine? It was impossible! They were just friends and nothing more!

"What? No! No, of course not. That's ridiculous!" Kurt stated, his mood headed south.

Fitzgerald showed no sign of regret. Staying in her same position, she looked at him, her eyes trying to dig deep into his skin.

"Really? From what you told me, it would seem quite normal. You get along, you look up to him. I'm sure he's quite handsome, so it seems possible that you'd develop feelings for him."

"Well, I haven't. And I won't. I can't like someone like that. Not anymore."

"Of course you can." She said, as if it was easy as one-two-three. She didn't know. She didn't understand. No one could understand!

"No, I can't. Okay? So stop trying to prove something that is incredibly false!"

Standing from the chair, Kurt charged out of her office, practically running towards his car.

Dr. Fitzgerald watched from her window as he sped away. It was gonna be harder than she had thought.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Burt shifted from the counter, hearing a loud slam of a car door, following the slam of the front door and a very loud, aggravated "Ugh!" Walking into the kitchen was Kurt, a menacing look upon his face.

"You're home early," Burt said, stating the obvious. "Bad session?"

With his back to his father, Kurt gripped the sink, his breathing heavy. "You don't even wanna know!" He growled.

"Enlighten me." Burt said, intrigued, and slightly worried.

Turning slowly, Kurt let out a long sigh as he pinched the space between in eyes. "I just can't deal with it anymore. All she does is sit there and judge me, making stupid statements and 'diagnosis'!"

"She's your shrink, Kurt. What do you want her to do, bake a pie!"

Kurt sighed once more, long and slow, his head was pounding. "She thinks I like Blaine. Like, really like him. More than a friend. Can you believe that?"

Burt was silent for a moment as he watched his son from across the way. Taking a sip from his water, he asked "Well, do you?"

Kurt huffed, throwing his hands into the air. "For the love of-" Kurt stopped himself, not even wanting to go there. "No! I don't! Honestly, is it really that impossible for two gay men to be friends! I feel like Sally after she met Harry!"

"Hey, calm down, alright? It was just a simple question. You two have been spending a lot of time together. And he is gay, so he's kinda like a mentor for ya. And you said he was bullied, so you have stuff in common. It just seems natural for you to have, ya know, feelings for one another."

Kurt breathed outward for the third time; his lungs were beginning to ache, along with his head.

"For the millionth time: Blaine and I are just friends. We spend time together, because we're friends. Yes, he's gay. And yes, he's been bullied. But he still doesn't know about me or my past."

"Do you think you're ever gonna tell him?"

Kurt lied across the island, closing his eyes. "I don't know, dad. I mean, it's not something you really say. I can't just be "Hey, Blaine, ready to see the movie? And oh yeah, I was in a coma for over a month after getting beat in the head with a metal bat!"

Burt winced, shaking his head at the memory. Though he didn't admit it, Kurt wasn't the only one who dealt with nightmares during that time.

"I wouldn't exactly go about it like that, but if you're as close as you say, I think he deserves the rights to know. He's been patient, hasn't he?"

"Amazingly." Kurt said lazily. "No questions asked."

"I think you should tell him. And you know, I'm sure you already got an earful from Dr. Fitz, but it's okay, you know. To like Blaine."

"No, it's not." Kurt told him.

"If it's about Dave-"

"It's not just about Dave, dad." Kurt said, cutting him off. "I tried to be good and be normal again. But it doesn't matter, because no matter what I do, people aren't going to accept me. I stuck out once, and look what happened? Unlike Dave, who was never bullied, Blaine was. His car was attacked by homophobes, dad. Can you imagine what it would be like for him if he started going steady with me? It would be a total nightmare, and I can't do that to him."

"Kurt, you're not some virus. You're not gonna affect the people you touch; at least not negatively."

"Oh yeah? How many phone calls did you used to get when I was in school, from people telling you about how much of a fag I was? How the hockey team gave Finn crap for being related to a freak. They were too scared to hurt, Dave, but when it came to me or my family, they didn't give a rats ass, because they knew we couldn't do anything!"

Kurt's eyes glistened in the light, his voice shaking with anger. It had been so long since he got angry over something, and lately it seemed all Kurt did was get angry.

"I'm not going to put one more person in danger. Whether it's myself, or my family, or Blaine. I have to protect them! I have to protect you!"

"No, you don't."

"Yes! Because the last people who tried to protect me almost died!" Kurt sniffed, breathing heavily. "I'm done talking about this. Blaine and I will never be together. I promise you that."

Rushing past his father, Kurt locked himself up in his room, lying down on his bed. His body shook with the ache for him to cry, but Kurt refused. He stopped crying over useless things a long time ago.