Kurt shrugged. "You were busy with rehearsal, I didn't mind. You might have gotten in the way of my fabulousness anyway."

They were seated at their usual table at the Lima Bean, something they hadn't been able to do for a while because of rehearsals for West Side Story. Rachel, more than Artie, was driving everyone insane and Blaine was feeling more pressure than anyone.

Blaine broke off a bit of the cookie they were sharing and put it in his mouth, savoring the treat.

"Anyway it was my dad that did everything anyway," Kurt said, "and it's not official yet but he's thinking about running against Sue as a write-in-candidate."

"Oh, really?"

Kurt nodded as he sipped at his coffee. "Carole researched it and I can't wait to start designing buttons and signs if he does decide to go for it," he said after gulping down his coffee.

"But?" Blaine prompted.

"But I'm worried about him," Kurt said, not in the least surprised that Blaine had picked up on his slight issue with the entire matter, "he was just in the hospital last year and with the stress of the campaign and then what if he wins? It's not going to be an easy job. I just worry about him."

Blaine reached over and grabbed Kurt's hand. "Your dad will be okay, Kurt. He's been eating right and exercising. You and your stepmom have been taking care of him. He'll be fine."

Kurt moved his hand so he could intertwine their fingers instead. "I think I'll always worry about him."

When they finished their coffee, Blaine picked up their empty cups and took them to the trash while Kurt gathered their things and then they headed out to Kurt's Navigator.

"Yours or mine?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't care either way."

On the two days that Blaine and Kurt weren't stuck staying after school for play rehearsals they spent them going to the Lima Bean and then doing homework at one of their houses. Since McKinley didn't exactly give them any truly challenging homework, they barely had to spend an hour on all of it before they just hung out for the rest of the day.

"Mine, then, and you can join us for dinner because I know if I leave you to your own devices you'll be having take out."

Blaine grinned, "I'm okay with that."

Blaine's parents were travelling which was the usual for them while Blaine was at school. When Blaine had gone to Dalton it hadn't been something he really noticed, but now that he was living back home he realized how much time his parents spent on their separate careers around the world. So, since they'd left a week earlier, Kurt had been bringing home for dinner as often as he could. Blaine specially liked it when it was Kurt's turn to cook dinner and he could just sit and watch him at it because Kurt refused to let him help.

"I once saw you burn a boiled egg, Blaine," he'd exclaimed, "the only thing you're good for are sandwiches and bowls of cereal."

So when they go to what Finn had named the Hudmel House, they headed directly to Kurt's room, leaving the door open as per Burt's rules before Blaine settled himself on Kurt's bed while Kurt put his shoes away and went to turn on his ihome.

"What do you have to work on?" Kurt asked, "I only have Calc."

"English," Blaine shrugged, "just some reading really."

They settled into their usual routine, the two of them sprawled out on Kurt's Queen sized bed during their homework silently while some sort of music played in the background. Depending on the song, Blaine wouldn't be able to stay still and he'd get up and dance around the room while Kurt watched and continue to scribble down his answers.

"Are you even reading?"

Blaine shrugged. "Sort of."

They heard the door open downstairs and heard it close again and then two voices carried up, laughing.

"Who's that?" Blaine asked.

"Sounds like Finn, but that's definitely not Puck or Rachel."

A few minutes later they heard footsteps on the stairs and then Finn and Rory following behind him appeared, looking a bit nervous.

"Oh, hey," Finn said, "I didn't know if you guys were going to be here or not. But, cool. I convinced Rory that he should join glee and we were going pick out a song for him to sing tomorrow."

Kurt perked up at once. "You can sing, Rory?"

Rory blushed and nodded. "Yeah. I used to sing back at school in Ireland. It was an a capella group though."

"Really?" Blaine asked, "Kurt and I were in the Warblers last year. It's the glee club at Dalton Academy. Can we help?"

Rory looked between them and Finn. Finn shrugged at him.

- - -

"I want to dedicate this song to my parents," Rory said and tried not to look in the direction of Blaine and Kurt, "who I miss so much."

Before going to Finn and Kurt's house the night before Rory hadn't known the song he was singing, and he was starting to realize that if he was going to be in glee he'd have to actually make an effort to learn music from this time.

When he was done, the other kids clapped and Rory grinned before he took the available seat next to Finn and Finn patted him on the back. Blaine – he really needed to stop calling him Papa before he said it out loud – leaned forward to grab his shoulders.

"You did great," he said.

"Thanks," he muttered back.

New Directions, Rory learned that day, was chaotic. It was absolutely insane and nothing like the glee club back at home.

When it had come time to choose where Rory was going to go to High School, his Papa had been adamant that he attend Dalton Academy, and although Dad had been a bit reluctant to send him there he'd finally agreed but only on the condition that Rory not dorm there.

"I don't want to only see him on weekends and holidays, Blaine," he'd said, "before we know it he'll be off to college and then when will we see him? No. Friday night dinners are mandatory."

So, even though Rory had gone back and forth for elementary school in New York City and Ohio, the family made the permanent move to Westerville, Ohio the summer before his freshman year.

His dads were both often flying off to New York for work related projects or even on occasion California though they tried to keep the trips to a minimum and if there was one thing they didn't miss, it was Friday night dinners. Friday night dinners were sacred. Sometimes his Grandma and Grandpa Hummel would join them or if not them then Uncle Finn or Uncle Rachel if they were in Ohio.

Rory hadn't told his dads until after he got in, that he'd tried out for the Warblers. He hadn't been lead singer or anything like his dad, but then he was only just starting his Sophmore year and he had gotten to sing a few lines on his own during their sectionals competition the year he got in.

But the Warblers were organized. They had the council and they picked songs and gave solos out fairly. They weren't so loud and rowdy. He couldn't understand how his dad wasn't freaking out about all of it. What was worse, the teacher couldn't even really keep the order in the room.

Before the end of practice Rachel had gotten up and sung something that she deemed absolutely perfect for sectionals. There had been some protesting and then when they were finally leaving after getting absolutely nothing done, a few of the members including Kurt stopped to look into another classroom where Aunt Brittany and Aunt Santana were practicing with their glee club. Rory walked with Blaine.

"You have a really good voice," Blaine was saying, "we're really lucky we got you. I don't know if you know the rules about competing but we're actually supposed to have at least twelve members and with Brittany and Santana and Mercedes going off to join the Trouble Tones we need anyone we can get."

When they walked past Kurt and Tina looking into the other club's rehearsal, Kurt smiled at them and excused himself to walk to with Blaine and Rory.

"Hey, do you need a ride home today, Rory?"

Until that moment Rory hadn't realized he'd have to wait for Brittany and Santana to be done with their practice to get home. Brittany's mom had picked them up on his first day, and then Santana had taken him and Brittany home the next day.

"Oh, um, yeah. Thanks."

"No problem. I just have to stop at my locker."

"And I have to head to the Auditorium," Blaine said and to Kurt added, "we're practicing Tonight again."

Rory tried to look away if they were going to mushy with their goodbye, but instead Blaine just looked around the hallway and reached up to touch Kurt's cheek and then he was off down the hall. Rory frowned.

"We can't really indulge in PDA in school," Kurt told him as if he were reading Rory's mind which was a genuine fear of his in the future because his dad always knew when he was up to something,

"Oh," he said.

"Not that we'd be one of those couples, you know," Kurt continued when they got to his locker, "but I'd like the option, I guess."

Rory wanted to tell him then how in the future no one really cared. Well, that wasn't true. Of course some people still cared and gave them looks, but it wasn't something that couldn't be dealt with. He wanted to tell his dad how even in Ohio he and Papa would hold hands while grocery shopping. But he couldn't. Instead all he could say was:

"Maybe in the future things will change."

"Yeah, Rory, I like to think so," Kurt said, "but anyway come on." He closed his locker door.

Luckily they didn't meet any bullies on the way out and when Rory expressed his surprise at that Kurt just smiled.

"They're at practice now. It's one of the ups of being in glee. Has it really gotten bad?"

Rory shrugged. There had been a few locker slams and he'd been shoved a few times. Then there was the kid that had told him to go back to Mexico. He told Kurt as much.

"Mexico, eh? I used to tell them they'll all work for me one day and, Rory, if they can't even figure out that you're not even the closest to being Mexican then that theory might still be true."

Rory laughed. There was so much of his dad in this younger version of him and yet there was also a lot missing. They walked to the car and Rory got into the passenger seat wordlessly.

"How are you liking it here so far?" Kurt asked when he pulled out of the parking lot, "coming from Ireland it must be hard."

"It's like a whole new world," Rory said and it was an entirely truthful thing to say. It was nothing like what the future would be, "but it's okay and having friends makes it less lonely."

Kurt nodded and he turned into another street that by now looked familiar to Rory. He didn't know the area of Lima very well because in the future though it hadn't changed all that much, he'd only ever visited his grandparents who still lived in the same house Kurt and Finn lived in now, and to see Aunt Brittany and Aunt Santana and between just going to those houses he hadn't really explored Lima.

"But you miss your family," Kurt said.

Rory nodded and didn't look in Kurt's direction. The worst thing was that it wasn't like that time he'd stayed at Dalton in a friend's dorm for a week because his dads were both going to New York and finals week had been delayed because of the weather and there was no changing their plans. At least then they'd been able to talk on the phone and use video chat. And his Papa had come home early, even.

Kurt parked his car outside Brittany's house. It was large two story house with chipping white paint and red shutters. Exact replicas could be found on the street, but in slightly different colors.

"You'll be home in no time," Kurt said, "see you tomorrow?"

"Thanks, Kurt. See ya."

- - -

Rory sat down in a randomly chosen chair in the choir room. Only Mike and Tina were already there, but they were too busy with each other to notice him. Artie rolled in a few minutes later though and he eyed Rory from afar at first, before he wheeled himself towards Rory and came to a stop directly in front of him.

"Hey, Rory, so I was thinking if you wanted to you could be in the musical. It's only a week to practice, but it should be enough time since it would only be a small part. What do you think?"

Rory was flabbergasted. Artie Abrams, who in the future would become a major Hollywood director and whose movies Rory loved was asking him to be in the musical that inspired Artie to follow his dreams and go to school for film.

"I…um, yeah. Of course."

"Cool," Artie said.

A few more members wandered in. Puck who in the future Rory had only met once and had not sported the Mohawk he had now had a strangely dreamy smile as he walked to his seat and Quinn who followed after him looked confused.

The only person that Rory hadn't known in the future was Quinn, although he knew of her. Quinn Fabray was an actress and a good one at that. Rory faintly remembered that in the future she played one of the lead roles in some tv show that his dad watched. But above all, Quinn was absolutely beautiful. In the future and now. Quinn had only ever been mentioned a few times by his parents and their friends. Some of them, he knew, still kept contact with her.

As the rest of the club trickled in, Rory began to realize how strange it was to be in a room with people that someday would be known throughout the world at least some extent. Not all of them of course, but it was still an awe inducing thing to know that he was in the same room at award winning director Artie Abrams and the beautiful Hollywood actress Quinn Fabray, and then there was Rachel Berry to consider and his own parents.

"Hey, Rory," Finn said when he sat down.

Rory shot a smile in his direction.

As every meeting went, it involved a lot of complaining, and Rachel getting up to sing what she deemed the perfect song for the occasion. Rory faintly recognized what she was singing that day, but couldn't put a name to it. At one point Finn made an attempt at calming every one down, but when Blaine tried to speak up in agreement, shot him a look that Rory would never have expected to come from Finn, especially when it was directed at his Papa.

Blaine shook his head when Rory turned to look at him and he saw his dad take his hand as if to calm him down. Rory couldn't help but smile at himself at seeing their hands. If there was one thing that was keeping Rory sane it was knowing that they were there and although they weren't the parents he knew, they were still together and as in love as ever.

"What we need is more members," Puck said, "we should focus on that instead of what song Berry's going to sing at Sectionals."

"We're not getting any new members," Quinn said, "there's no use trying. We can just use the band guys, it's the best option we've got."

Mr. Shuester nodded, "Quinn's right. We should focus on our numbers instead."

But they didn't because too much time had been wasted getting to that conclusion that Artie announced it was practice time and they really needed to get everything perfect for the musical. No one agreed or disagreed, so they all started gathering their things.

"Coming to rehearsal, Rory?" Artie asked when he hadn't gotten up to follow everyone else.

"Oh. Yeah."

All of the glee club was in the musical except for Finn which surprised Rory because he seemed to be the leader in the club.

Practicing for West Side Story turned out to be a lot of fun, specially because they were working on one of the big dance numbers and Rory enjoyed watching Mike and Brittany showing them all the moves. Being an extra turned into Rory having to play multiple characters. They were small roles and only one required him to speak. For the most part what he was doing was standing in the background or dancing in bigger numbers.

During the half hour that Rachel requested to practice her scenes with Blaine and Santana, Rory found himself with Kurt painting some of the set.

"The art students helped a lot," he said, "but they weren't really too happy to be doing it and Artie had no real vision for the set so I took it upon myself to work on it."

After a while he'd added, "plus it gave me an excuse to hang out here when I didn't have to and watch Blaine. He's just such an amazing performer. The best Tony."

Then, after Artie had told Rachel that she'd be fine and get to practice some more the next day, they ran through Santana's number, America. Artie had told him that he'd have to try and do an accent that sounded Puerto Rican but although he could pull off Irish well, he really couldn't do anything that even sounded remotely Hispanic.

Although Brittany and Santana were both there, at the end of rehearsal it was Kurt that drove him home again and this time it wasn't just his dad in the car, but Blaine as well.

"They're going out," Kurt informed him in the car, "Britt and Santana. You probably know already considering, but they're not just abandoning you or anything. Santana's just a bit…" he looked at Blaine for help, but Blaine was busy doing something on his phone. "A bit protective of Britt."

Rory knew the real reasons his Aunts tried to spend as little time with him as possible: Santana didn't want to know anything about the future and the two of them were busy trying to figure out what Brittany would need to build the machine to get him back home.

- - -

Friday night dinners were still as sacred to his father as they'd ever been, except that now they weren't just Kurt and his dad. Since before even the wedding Carole and Finn had been constants at their table in the old house, then about a month after Kurt started dating Blaine, Blaine also became a regular at their table. That Friday night was much of the same.

Carole was busy in the kitchen doing something with the boneless chicken breast she'd bought earlier in the week and spinach claiming that it'd make a delicious dish. She'd pushed Kurt out of the kitchen and told him to go watch tv with his boyfriend.

So, instead of helping in the kitchen, Kurt sat with Blaine in the living room. Finn and his dad were still at the garage and Kurt was glad for once because the tension between his boyfriend and his brother just kept rising with every glee meeting since the beginning of the school year and Kurt was just waiting for it to trickle into Friday night dinners.

Kurt had spoken to both boys and Blaine had only said he didn't really want to put Kurt in the position to be between him and his brother but then gone on to complain about how Finn treated him as an outsider in New Directions. Finn, on the other hand, had denied everything even when Kurt had used warm milk which usually made Finn tell him anything.

They watched a marathon of Doctor Who that was playing on BBC America. Blaine had introduced Kurt to the British show while they were both at Dalton, and that summer in between Blaine's Six Flags gigs and Kurt working on the Pippa Middleton musical, Blaine had gotten Kurt into the new series.

What really made Kurt love it was how consistent the show was. Every detail meant something even if you didn't think it did. They were just finishing an episode when his dad and Finn got home.

"Shower first," he shouted at Finn in a way of greeting and at his father actually called out a "hi, dad, how was work?"

"Same old, same old. Finn's getting better though. And yeah, I know, shower. Hey, Blaine."

"Hi, Mr. Hummel!"

It was lucky there were two full bathrooms in the house, the one in the master bedroom and the one Kurt had to share with Finn. That way when Finn came down his hair dripping everywhere, it wasn't long before his dad did.

He and Blaine set up the table, passing each other things in a well practiced manner. One night Blaine hadn't been able to make dinner, Kurt remembered, and it had thrown everything off for him. When Finn appeared with his towel draped over his shoulder everything was ready and he went to help him mom bring out the food.

"Everything looks delicious, Carole," Blaine said before taking his seat next to Kurt.

She beamed at him. "Thank you, Blaine."

Kurt loved how much his family liked Blaine. He'd won over Carole almost instantly with his charm and manners. His dad on the other hand had slowly warmed up to him after all the distress that he'd caused Kurt and his pushiness towards Kurt having to have a sex talk. But all in all, they'd found a common ground in sports and cars. Above all though it was the way Blaine looked at Kurt that had really gotten Burt to admit that Blaine wasn't only a good kid, but that he was just the kind of guy that Kurt deserved.

"We got a new member in glee," Finn announced when his mom asked him if there was anything new going on. "He's from Ireland."

"Oh?" Burt asked.

"He's an exchange student staying with Brittany's family," Kurt explained, "he's really nice, so of course he's being picked on."

Burt looked pensive for a moment and then he addressed just Kurt and Blaine, "is this kid like the two of you?"

"No," Kurt said, "well, we don't think so. He's just different so of course he's being bullied. It's not even just the jocks either. Santana said something to him the other day that sounded a bit mean."

"But it's Santana," Finn said, "she's mean to everyone."

Kurt shook his head. "He's the new kid who lives with Brittany, Santana was way out of line. She basically told him no one cares about him."

"And no one deserves to hear that. Especially not the new kid."

After that came more talk about Burt's campaign. Kurt had already begun working on posters and campaign ads though he hadn't shown them to his dad yet for final approval before they sent them out to be printed.

"We're not going to be home a lot," he told them, "Carole and I might be spending some nights out of town next week. Now I know you're all teenagers and I know the kinds of things that happen when parents are out of town—" he gave a pointed look at Blaine and Kurt, but it was Blaine who blushed a dark red "—and I don't want any shenanigans happening. Do you hear?"

It had become a joke among the Hudmel house in about Blaine's foray into drinking at Rachel's party. Blaine still blushed and hung his head when it was mentioned.

All three of them nodded.

"I'm trusting you," Burt said, "all three of you."

"Dad, Blaine's parents are out of town constantly and we've never abused that have we?" Kurt asked, "nothing will happen. Puck's too busy with Beth and Rachel has the musical to worry about. No parties."

What his dad wasn't considering, though, was that a house alone could be used for more than just parties. Kurt and Blaine had kept their physical relationship pretty tame so far, but of late Kurt had started to think that maybe he wanted more. This could be the perfect opportunity to even begin talking about it.