It was as Blaine lay on his back on the couch, the day after their dinner date, absentmindedly smoothing his thumb over the engraved cover of his pocket watch that Kurt brought up the subject of the stories of magic Blaine had learned about.

"How much did you learn about those old magic stories?" Kurt asked, his voice breaking the lazy, content silence.

Feeling as though he was stirring from a doze, Blaine turned his head to the side to look at Kurt, his thumb stilling against the warmed metal of his pocket watch. Kurt was slumped in his usual armchair, a fashion magazine he had been flicking through dangling from his loose grasp, his eyes on the watch in Blaine's right hand.

Blaine frowned as he tried to remember everything he had read on the internet over the last week. "Um... Not much. Most of the writings on them seemed to be either ridiculing the idea or using it for fictitious purposes."

Kurt hummed in response, his expression contemplative as he stared at Blaine's pocket watch. "Did any of them mention time travel?"

Blaine shook his head. "No. That's why I never found out about them until a few days ago." He shifted slightly on the couch, moving into a position which was more comfortable for looking at Kurt. "We've ruled out science, so magic has to be what had brought me here," he added, for they had given up looking into scientific trials or research on time travel a week ago when they'd found next to nothing on the subject.

"I can't think of what else it could be," Kurt agreed, his tone still distracted and musing, clearly thinking hard about something.

Blaine watched Kurt silently for a moment, then tilted his head to one side, trying to catch Kurt's eye. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Blinking, Kurt met Blaine's gaze, his frown smoothing out as he gave Blaine a small smile. "I was just trying to remember - I'm sure someone told me about magic in the city, but I can't remember who mentioned it to me. I'm sure it was back when I first arrived here... One of my old classmates, maybe?" He kneaded his forehead with his fist, as though he could force the memory to the surface with the pressure. "I could try asking Rachel when she gets home. If I told her about it, she'd remember; she has a good memory for strange things like that." He leaned forward and tossed his magazine onto the coffee table.

Blaine followed its path with his eyes, nibbling unconsciously on his bottom lip as he gazed at the now-familiar mess of sheet music, books, magazines, and sketches that littered the coffee table. The novel he was reading was there, lying on top of a few of Kurt's sketches.

"Kurt," Blaine said softly, his lips moving of their own accord, the word leaving him subconsciously, his mind still focussed on that book on the table.

In the periphery of his vision he saw Kurt turn his head to look at him, his expression openly curious. "Yeah?"

"What if I don't want to go back?" The thought that had been hanging around inside his head for weeks left him without hesitation. The longer he spent in this time with Kurt the clearer and more potent that thought had become and he couldn't keep it to himself any longer; he needed to talk about it, needed to discuss it rationally with someone to make sure it was something he truly meant. He needed to be reassured he wasn't an awful person for wishing to leave his family and friends to stay here.

Kurt's head came off his hand where it had been resting and he sat up straighter, staring at him. "What?"

Dragging his eyes away from the book, Blaine faced Kurt. "What if I want to stay here?"

Kurt opened his mouth, closed it again. Blaine had no idea what his boyfriend was thinking beyond surprise at his words and he couldn't help but worry Kurt was about to react in the way he had hoped he wouldn't: by implying he was a selfish, horrible person for wanting to stay and insisting it was for the best that he went home.

A small frown line had appeared between Kurt's eyebrows. "Let me get this straight: you want to stay here in this year instead of returning to your own time?"

Swallowing, Blaine nodded. "Yes."

Kurt stared at him silently for a long moment, his face still impossible to read. Blaine fought with the urge to fidget under his gaze.

"What about your family and friends?" Kurt asked eventually.

"I know I seem selfish by staying, but it-" He licked his lips. "Everything that I want is here, in this time. Back in my time there's no equality, no acceptance for people like me, and little chance I'll get the life I dream of. I have to put on a false pretence every day from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep again. I can't be my true self around my family and if I told them the truth about my sexuality they would disown me in a heartbeat; they couldn't have someone like me staining their pure reputations." He breathed out heavily through his nose, the old tiredness creeping into the edges of his mind from the mere memory of what his life was like in his own time. "I'm tired of not being able to be myself around people or of being allowed to live my life the way I want to, and maybe it is cheating at life and maybe I am being cruel to my family by abandoning them, but I want to stay here."

Silence followed Blaine's confession. It was a silence so complete and still that Blaine could hear the soft hum of the refrigerator from across the apartment and the buzzing of a fly by one of the windows. He wanted Kurt to speak but at the same time he wasn't ready to hear his response. He didn't know what he'd do if Kurt told him he should go home.

Because even if Kurt assured him a thousand times that his wishes had nothing to do with their relationship, Blaine would still think it did, his mind just worked that way. Over-sensitive, his father had called him once.

Kurt was still frowning. "Are you sure?" he asked, his voice serious and, thankfully, not sceptical. "I mean, this is a big decision to make; it's not the simple, standard way of starting your life afresh, and I don't know if it's even possible."

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked, feeling puzzled.

Kurt twisted around in his chair until he was directly facing Blaine. "You being here must be messing up the space-time continuum - or whatever it's called."

"The what?"

"Never mind," Kurt said, waving the comment off with a small flick of his wrist. "The point is, you're not supposed to be here, and this has - had - to have had effects back in your time." Kurt's voice lowered, becoming softer. "To everyone who knew and loved you, you vanished without a trace one day, that will have made a huge impact on their lives. We don't know what damage you're doing by staying here."

Blaine stiffened, his fingers clamping tightly around his pocket watch. "I don't want to look into that, Kurt..."

"I'm not saying you should!" Kurt said quickly. "But - I don't know how this stuff works! What if you just drop dead or disappear one day because of universe time forces or something?" He rubbed at a spot above his left eyebrow. "I'm just worried about you. I wish we understood this better."

Getting to his feet, Blaine hurried over to Kurt's armchair and perched himself on the arm of it, shoving his watch into his pocket as he went. He placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder, rubbing at it soothingly with his thumb as he met Kurt's worried gaze.

"I know it's a risk and I know we're sailing in unknown waters here, but I-" He hesitated for a second, his heart leaping nervously in his chest. "I fully believe you and the life I have here is worth the risk. This isn't a spontaneous decision, I've been thinking about this for days, and I don't want to lose you or the life I have here."

Kurt placed a hand on top of Blaine's where it rested on his shoulder. He gave it a light squeeze. "The last thing I want you to do is leave, but I just-"

"Worry," Blaine finished for him. "I know." Biting his bottom lip, Kurt nodded at him, his blue eyes large as he fretted, his forehead creased into lines of worry. Blaine gazed at him for a moment, wondering if there was a way to help alleviate Kurt's worry - and his own; he'd be lying if he said the prospect of staying in the twenty-first century for good wasn't scaring him.

"How about this: we continue to research time travel and see if we can learn more about these tales of magic and see if there's any information out there that might help us."

Nodding slowly, Kurt smiled up at Blaine. "That sounds good. I'm not trying to talk you out of staying or anything like that; I just want to make sure you've considered all the consequences, and I don't' want you to get hurt."

"I understand." Blaine bent down and pressed a quick kiss to Kurt's lips. "Thank you for being so supportive."

Kurt smoothed his thumb over the knuckles of Blaine's hand. "You're welcome." He shifted in his chair. "Come here," he said, patting his thigh with his free hand.

Blaine hopped down and stepped around the side of the chair, hesitated for a split-second, and then sat down on Kurt's lap, trying to be as light as possible.

Kurt pulled him closer until he was leaning against his chest. "Relax," Kurt told him with a smile. He pressed a kiss to Blaine's temple. "You're tiny and I'm not made of glass."

With a soft sigh, Blaine settled against Kurt's chest, resting his head against his shoulder, and smiling as Kurt's arm wrapped around his waist as Kurt nuzzled at his head.

Absently tracing a line down Kurt's chest with his finger, Blaine said softly, "You know you're a big part of why I want to stay here but there are other reasons, too." He glanced up at Kurt as he felt his boyfriend lift his head off his own. "I can tell you're worrying that I only want to stay because we're in the early days of our relationship - and I'll admit, my decision is clouded by that somewhat - but if I stay here I'm free to be myself; I'm free to follow my passions and study music at college instead of law."

Kurt held his gaze for a long moment, his expression oddly conflicted, and then he nodded. "I know it's more than us," he said. "We'll do the research and discuss it more when we have more information, ok?"

Blaine hesitated, then agreed, returning Kurt's smile and snuggling back into his chest again. He knew Kurt didn't mean it that way, but he couldn't help but feel like he'd been brushed off. He wanted to talk about it more now; wanted to make sure Kurt really understood why he wished to stay and that it wasn't a hastily, spontaneously made decision. He needed to make sure Kurt wasn't blaming himself for this; that his mind wasn't following the route that if they hadn't met and become so close he wouldn't be questioning returning home to his family.

"Do you remember - way back in our early days of college - someone telling us old stories about New York?" Kurt asked Rachel, leaning against her bedroom wall and watching as she put away some laundry. "Like ones about magic and stuff."

"Um... I think I remember that, yeah," Rachel replied without looking round from where she was hanging up a dress in her closet. "It was some girl who was in one of your classes; we had coffee with her and a few others one time. I think her name was Kayleigh. She was a bit strange."

A memory began playing in Kurt's mind, flickering into view like a television being switched on: a tall, dark-haired girl telling tales that had been told in her family for generations, ignoring the disbelieving looks she was receiving as she talked about magic and spirits as though they were real. Kayleigh, Kurt remembered; her name was Kayleigh.

"Why?" Rachel wanted to know. She shot Kurt a curious look as she scooped up a couple of folded sweaters and went to place them in her dresser.

Kurt already had a cover story ready.

"My boss wants me to think about designs inspired by New York's past and rather than go for the obvious I thought I'd look into the more mystical, lesser-known parts and I remembered those stories."

Rachel didn't look even the slightest bit suspicious. "Kurt, you do know those stories were just that: stories."

Kurt shrugged. "I did a little research online and I'm going to look into it further; there's no harm in it, and it would be an interesting, unique source of inspiration."

"Only if those stories were true," Rachel rebutted, "which they are not." She placed the last article of clothing in her dresser and shut the drawer before turning to look at Kurt with a slightly superior expression, as though she thought Kurt was being stupid and ridiculous for even thinking about learning more about the stories.

"I'm going to try and talk to Kayleigh," Kurt told her.

Rachel shrugged. "Do whatever you want, but I think you're wasting your time."

She strode out of her room and into the living room, Kurt followed her absently.

"Did I add her on Facebook?" he wondered aloud.

Dropping down onto the couch, he reached for his laptop where Blaine had abandoned it, tugging it towards him and minimising the webpage Blaine had been looking at, loading up Facebook in a new window.

"Kayleigh Breen," he said after a minute or two of searching through his friend list on the site. He squinted at the profile picture. "That sounds about right, doesn't it?"

Rachel hummed in response, clearly uninterested and not listening, but Kurt hadn't needed a reply, he was positive this was the Kayleigh who had told him those stories several years ago.

He clicked through to her profile and scanned the page, noting her interests and the pages she had commented on: witchcraft, psychic readers, and supernatural stores; this was definitely the person he was looking for.

Blaine joined him on the couch as he sent Kayleigh a quick message detailing the same story he'd told Rachel and explaining how he remembered her stories and asking if it was possible for her to tell him more about them. Blaine frowned curiously at the message as Kurt sent it.

"This is the girl I was telling you about," Kurt explained, waving a hand at Kayleigh's Facebook page displayed on the laptop's screen. "The one who told me about magic in New York and will hopefully be able to help inspire some designs." He was acutely aware of Rachel's presence in the room and spoke carefully, not wanting a slip up maybe leading to Blaine's secret being revealed.

"Oh." Blaine's curiosity faded, being replaced by a renewed interest. "I'm glad to hear you were able to find her."

Kurt nodded, wishing he was able to discuss it properly with Blaine. He wanted to plan what sort of questions to ask Kayleigh and decide how they could find out the more specific details of time travel without making her suspicious. He glanced over at where Rachel was playing with her phone, wishing she would leave.

"What were you looking at on here?" Kurt asked Blaine, giving up on mentally yelling at Rachel to leave the apartment for a few hours and turning his attention back to the computer screen. He clicked out of Facebook and opened the page Blaine had been viewing.

"Nothing interesting," Blaine replied as Kurt looked over the old newspaper article on strange occurrences in the city that some people were putting down to magic. "I wasn't looking at anything in particular."

Like most other writings on similar subjects, when discussing the group of people believing magic was the cause of strange objects appearing in homes and reports of odd presences in buildings, the article carried a mocking tone.

Passing the laptop back to Blaine, Kurt watched as his boyfriend clicked off the newspaper article and continued looking through what appeared to be an archive of old newspapers, clicking on any that seemed relevant. After fruitlessly reading a few articles along with Blaine, a Facebook notification appeared - Kayleigh had replied to his message.

He pointed this out to Blaine.

"Let's hope she hasn't said no," Kurt said anxiously as Blaine opened the message up. They both scanned it with frantic eyes.

Kurt breathed a sigh of relief, falling against the back of the couch. Kayleigh had agreed to talk to them and invited them over tomorrow evening.

"That's good of her to agree to meet us," Blaine said, turning his head to look at Kurt. "Especially seeing as you said you haven't spoken to her for a while."

"Years," Rachel supplied from her spot in Kurt's usual armchair.

Kurt was surprised: he hadn't realised she was actually paying attention to them; she appeared to be absorbed in her phone. He shot her a withering look.

"It has not been years; more like thirteen or fourteen months." He looked back at Kayleigh's message. "It doesn't matter, we didn't have much in common and she's not the type of person to be bothered by details like that."

"Like not talking to someone for over a year and then calling on them for a favour?" Rachel wondered, lowering her phone to raise her eyebrows at Kurt.

Kurt scowled at her. "What is your problem?"

Rachel sighed dramatically and got to her feet, snatching up her purse and tossing her phone into it. "I don't know." She strode towards the door, her heels clacking on the wooden floors. "I'm going out for coffee - do you guys want me to bring you back anything?"

Kurt and Blaine both shook their heads and she left, sweeping out the door without so much as a 'see you later'.

Blaine stared after her, looking concerned. Noticing this, Kurt waved a hand in a blasé manner. "Oh, don't worry about her; she gets like this sometimes. She just needs some Rachel-time, she'll be fine." He'd seen far too many a Rachel Berry diva moment or stroppy mood swing over the years of their friendship to be bothered by them anymore. He shifted closer to Blaine.

"I'm glad she left, actually, it means we can decide what we're going to ask Kayleigh tomorrow and how."

Forgetting about Rachel, Blaine's expression turned thoughtful.

"Maybe just make it sound like you're particularly interested in time travel?" he suggested, not sounding at all confident.

Kurt sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration when his mind failed to supply him with anything other than the one thing he knew they couldn't do.

"I could say that I think time travel would make a better theme to centre my designs around," he said feebly. He gave his head a small, jerky shake. "Oh, who am I kidding? This whole idea is stupid; we'll never get any useful information out of her this way." He met Blaine's gaze, knowing he wouldn't like what he was about to say. "We have to tell her the truth. If we want her to tell us everything relevant that she knows about magic and time travel, we have to tell her why we want to know. She'll never believe these lame cover stories when we start asking her about the finer details. With the story I've told her she'll be expecting to tell us a basic overview of what she knows, but we need as much detail as we can get and we can't get it this way."

Kurt offered Blaine a small, apologetic smile when he finished talking. He didn't like backing Blaine into a corner like this, essentially forcing him to reveal his secret to someone, and a stranger of all people, but it had to be done. Kurt was still convinced that discovering how Blaine got here and learning how he could return home was information Blaine needed whether or not he was actually intending on going home. It may become dangerous for Blaine here, he might get extremely homesick, or he may one day simply decide he wanted to return and Kurt wanted him to have the knowledge required to return home. He knew Blaine wanted to keep his travelling a secret for fear of what people may do with the truth if they found out, and he understood and respected this, but in this situation he felt they had to tell someone else.

Blaine simply looked at him for a long moment, his expression surprisingly calm and accepting. Slowly, he began to nod his agreement.

"You're right," he said softly, "we have to tell her."

"She's trustworthy," Kurt reassured him. "In college she was known for being someone you could talk to about anything and not have her breathe a word to another soul."

Blaine nodded again. "That's good to know. I-" He looked at Kurt slightly helplessly. "I just don't want this to get out. I don't think it's a good idea if too many people know the truth."

Reaching for his hand, Kurt gave it a comforting squeeze. "I know."

Blaine returned the pressure. "It's for the best," he agreed.

Kurt found it extremely difficult to concentrate on his work the next day. Whenever he tried to make himself focus, worries about meeting Kayleigh would invade his mind, making it near impossible to work. By the afternoon he was feeling guilty about the lack of work he was getting done and mid-way through a discussion on fabric choices with his boss he had to apologise for his lack of concentration. To his relief his boss waved his apology aside, saying they were all allowed to have their off days. Kurt's guilt eased, and though he remained tense and distracted for the rest of the work day, he no longer worried about how his work was being affected.

He returned home to an anxious Blaine perched on the very edge of the couch, staring at the wall as he jiggled his right leg and circled his thumb around the circumference of his pocket watch. He didn't seem to hear Kurt come in or notice him dump his satchel in a chair before sitting down next to him. Kurt placed a hand on top of Blaine's, which was restlessly fidgeting with his watch. He felt Blaine's hand still and his boyfriend turned to look at him. He was wearing one of his bowties with a sweater vest and Kurt couldn't help but notice how young and adorable he looked with his slicked-back hair and large doe eyes, even though they were filled with a frantic worry.

"If you're not comfortable with this we don't have to tell her the truth," Kurt told him softly. "We can make something up - you never know, she might still tell us everything we need."

Blaine shook his head. His jaw had been clenched and it took him a second before he was able to speak. "It's fine; we should tell her."

Kurt eyed him worriedly. He was still bouncing his leg in an anxious, erratic rhythm, but his eyes had hardened with determination; he really did want to do this.

He leaned forward and pressed a lingering kiss to Blaine's lips. "It's going to be ok; you'll see. And one day you'll be glad you did this. I'm sure Kayleigh is going to give us some answers; I've got a good feeling about this." He gave Blaine another quick kiss before pulling back to look in his eyes. "You ready?" At Blaine's nod he stood up, tugging Blaine gently to his feet. "Let's get going. Kayleigh lives out in Brooklyn and it's going to take us a while to get there during rush hour."

Kurt kept a hold of Blaine's hand during the journey out to Brooklyn, giving it a comforting squeeze every now and then to remind Blaine he wasn't alone and that he would be there to support him throughout all of this. Blaine barely spoke and Kurt didn't try to force conversation, understanding Blaine would prefer to mentally prepare himself for what they were about to do.

By the time they reached the right building and had been buzzed in by Kayleigh, Blaine was pale and sweating. Kurt tried to appear calm and in control for Blaine's sake, but his stomach was squirming uncomfortably and his heart was pounding so loudly he was sure Blaine must be able to hear it. His hand trembled slightly when he lifted it to knock on Kayleigh's door.

Footsteps echoed from behind the door. Blaine's hand twitched in Kurt's. Kurt smoothed his thumb over the side of Blaine's hand.

The door opened.

Kayleigh looked just as Kurt remembered: long dark hair, intelligent brown eyes, and wearing a floor-length dress he was sure she had made herself. She smiled politely at Kurt and Blaine, her gaze taking in Blaine's shy smile and their joined hands.

"Kurt, hi!" she greeted him brightly. "Long time, no see! How have you been?" She stepped aside and waved them into the apartment.

"I'm good," Kurt replied, stepping inside with Blaine following closely behind him. "Busy, though. How about you? I heard you work for a fashion magazine now."

He paused a few feet inside the apartment. "This is my boyfriend, Blaine, by the way - Blaine, this is Kayleigh, an old classmate of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you," Blaine said, holding out his hand for Kayleigh to shake.

Kayleigh took his hand. "And you." She stepped past them and led the way through to the living area, talking about her job as she went. Kurt barely listened; he couldn't focus on pleasantries whilst worrying what was to come.

Kayleigh didn't leave them hanging. After getting them all drinks and discussing Kurt's work briefly with him, she brought up the subject of the message Kurt sent her.

"So, you wanted to know more about those stories I told you years ago?"

Exchanging a brief look with Blaine, Kurt nodded. "Yes, um- A similar subject was brought up recently which reminded me of those stories and I would really like to know more."

Kayleigh tucked her hair behind her ears. "What do you want to know more about?"

Kurt glanced over at Blaine again, silently asking him if he was still ok with revealing his secret and if he was ready to do so. Blaine inhaled deeply and nodded.

"Here's the thing, Kayleigh," Kurt began, turning back to face her. "This isn't about some fashion research for my boss, it's something bigger than that, but before we talk about it you must swear you won't tell anyone else; anything we discuss stays between the three of us, ok?"

Curiosity and confusion settled into Kayleigh's expression, drawing her eyebrows together into a frown and making her sit forward in her seat as her gaze flickered between Kurt and Blaine. "Ok," she agreed hesitantly. "I promise I won't tell anyone - but what's this all about?" A hint of worry crept into her eyes as she took in Kurt's serious expression and Blaine's nervous jiggling of his leg. "Is everything alright?"

Kurt licked his lips, moistening his dry mouth. "Almost two months ago Blaine somehow travelled through time from the twenties, jumping ninety-one years into the future. He doesn't have any idea how or why; we were hoping you could help us with that."

Kayleigh stared at him. Wide-eyed, mouth hanging open slightly, she appeared to have frozen with shock. Kurt gave her a moment to let the news sink in, squeezing Blaine's hand supportively when he felt it tremble in his own. Her shock and speechlessness was a good sign; it meant she was thinking about it and not being outright scornful and disbelieving. Or, at least, that's what he hoped.

The silence stretched on and Kurt's calm and collected armour began to slip as his worry and panic strengthened. The silence seemed deafening and time appeared to drag on and on, each second stretched out for what felt like hours. He could feel Blaine tensing up the longer the silence lingered, could sense his fear building, but just as he was about to say something to break the awful silence, Kayleigh spoke.

"You- You time travelled?" she said, turning her gaze on Blaine. She spoke slowly as though the words were foreign and she was struggling to pronounce the syllables. "You're not from this time?"

Blaine shook his head in a quick, jerky movement. "No, I'm from the year 1923," he all but whispered. His grip on Kurt's hand tightened.

Kayleigh glanced briefly at Kurt, then back at Blaine, as if checking to make sure they weren't fooling with her and playing some kind of practical joke. Finding no suppressed smirk or teasing sparkle in either of their eyes, her expression shifted, becoming less guarded and more sympathetic.

"And you want to go back," she stated softly, knowledgably.

Blaine hesitated, and then nodded. "Yeah, I do. I don't belong here and I've left all my family and friends behind."

As Kayleigh nodded in understanding, both Kurt and Blaine deflated in relief. Blaine's grip on Kurt's hand, which had become vice-like, relaxed, and Kurt swore he could feel the blood returning to his fingertips.

Slowly, and while looking thoughtful, Kayleigh sat back. Kurt watched her expression closely, hope swiftly replacing the fear she would react badly to Blaine's story. He couldn't have explained how much he was relying on her being able to help them. Even though Blaine wanted to stay here and seemed determined to do so, Kurt desperately wanted to make sure he would be able to return if he ever needed or wanted to.

"Do you remember," Kayleigh began, her tone as slow and thoughtful as her movements had been, "when I told you of how my ancestors used to practice magic in the city there were certain spots they used to go to do so?"

Kurt didn't, not really; all his memories of Kayleigh telling her stories of magic consisted of vague recollections of tales of strange happening with an underlying tone of amusement. He hadn't believed in things like magic and time travel back then, but Liam's betrayal had left him questioning the world and meeting Blaine had changed his perspective on many things. He was a different person now to who he was back then.

"Um- sort of," Kurt replied. He knew Kayleigh could tell he wasn't being entirely truthful; he also knew she didn't mind. He felt bad for all the times he had laughed about her beliefs behind her back.

"Well, because of this magic has become more concentrated in certain parts of the city," Kayleigh explained. "It has accumulated in these places over the years and since certain forms of magic strengthen during particular phases of the moon's cycle and such, it occasionally reaches a strength where it can no longer be contained and overflows, causing so called 'unexplainable' events."

Blaine shifted forward on the couch. When Kurt looked round at him he saw his boyfriend's face lit up with dawning understanding.

"Are you saying this is what caused me to travel?" Blaine asked. "An overflow of magic?"

Kayleigh scratched at her arm, frowning contemplatively at Blaine. "Possibly; I'd have to look into things to be sure."

"Would you be able to tell by seeing where I travelled?" Blaine wondered.

"I should be able to, yeah," Kayleigh replied, nodding. "Magic always leaves traces and if you travelled here by magic there will be some evidence."

Kurt shifted forward until he was perched on the very edge of the couch. "Do you have time to go look now?" he asked eagerly. He didn't want to wait around any longer; he was tired of wondering and hoping.

Kayleigh looked over at the clock on the kitchen wall. "Yeah, I have time. Where is it?"

"Manhattan," Kurt replied, already getting to his feet, tugging Blaine up alongside him by his hand. "Bleecker Street in the West Village."

There was a sudden scramble then as Kayleigh gathered up her keys and pulled on a coat while Kurt bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet by the door. Blaine looked rather taken aback and stood in silence, his hand still loosely linked with Kurt's. Kurt guessed he was surprised by how suddenly he could be about to learn the answers to the questions they had been pondering for months.

Out Kayleigh's building, along the street, onto the subway - they couldn't go fast enough in Kurt's mind. He had never really thought of himself as an impatient person - he could spend hours painstakingly working on the design of buttons for a waistcoat - but now he was desperate to know the elusive answers that had evaded him and Blaine for weeks.

By the time they reached the coffee shop darkness had fallen and the street was lit up by the lamps staggered along the road and the light pouring from the surrounding business and passing traffic. Kayleigh had explained the notion of the concentrated magic a little more on the ride on the subway, but Blaine had remained quiet, staring silently at Kayleigh as she spoke. And Blaine was still silent now, frowning as the three of them approached the exact spot by the café where he had travelled.

Kayleigh began scrutinising the area. "It was here, wasn't it?" She squinted down at the sidewalk, trying to see in the dim light of the shadow near the wall. She wasn't expecting an answer, too busy searching for clues rather than listening for a reply, so neither Kurt or Blaine responded, instead watching as she went over the area with a fine toothcomb.

"Here," she murmured eventually.

Kurt gave a little start and moved closer for a better look, Blaine following close behind. Kayleigh was examining what appeared to be a nondescript brick in the wall, but when Kurt got closer he noticed the crack she was tracing with her fingertip.

Sensing their approach, Kayleigh glanced over her shoulder at them.

"This is definitely a site of magic," she said, returning her attention to the cracked brick. She tapped the crack with her finger. "This crack here is evidence - you can tell by the shape. This is where the magic has been escaping from the concrete trapping it." She traced the length of the crack once more before letting her hand fall.

Kurt stared at the brick with a sort of stunned disbelief. Though he had hoped magic would be the answer, he hadn't honestly expected it to be. Now he had to accept the fact that magic was real; it was real and had caused Blaine to travel through time. The idea had been slowly dawning on him since the night Blaine had told him his secret - he didn't believe it was scientifically possible to travel through time and so magic was really the only other possible cause. And now it turned out that was the case. It was a lot to take in.

Blaine also seemed to be struggling with the bombshell they had just been hit with.

"It really was magic that brought me here?" he asked in a stunned voice.

Kayleigh turned away from the wall to face them. She nodded. "It looks that way. I'll have to test the strength of the magic in the area, but it looks highly likely." She looked between their shell-shocked faces, her eyes understanding. "As for whether you can return home, I'm not so sure. You need a very highly concentrated pulse of magic to time travel, and that may have only accumulated in the concrete due to being trapped for some time and then burst free just as you happened to be nearby. I don't know if it will be possible to harness enough magic to enable you to get home."

A sudden thought struck Kurt, snapping him out of his silent surprise.

"Even if you can get the magic for Blaine to go home, how can you control where he's being sent to? How can you make sure he's going back to his own time and not some other year?"

"It's simple physics," Kayleigh replied, shrugging. "Blaine being here is an imbalance, the universe will want to right itself, so when it has the energy to do so it will send him back to where he was."

Blaine frowned. "Will it be like no time has passed? Like this-" he waved his hand to indicate everything around him from the bright lights of modern-day New York to Kurt standing by his side "-never happened?"

Fear tightened every muscle in Kurt's body. No.

Worrying on her bottom lip with her teeth, Kayleigh's expression abruptly became strained. "I- I don't know. No one really knows anything about time travel; none of my ancestors or anyone who practiced magic here was ever able to achieve it."

Breathing shallow and heart pounding in erratic terror, Kurt turned to look at Blaine to find his boyfriend already staring at him, the same fear he was experiencing reflected in his eyes.

"You know, if you want to go home you can," Kurt said, speaking suddenly after a period of content silence while they ate dinner.

Blaine looked up from his mostly full plate. He had been toying with his food since they'd sat down to eat, a nagging thought at the back of his mind curbing his appetite. He watched Kurt chew a mouthful of food, feeling uneasy - he didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Your family, friends, and everything you know is back there," Kurt continued. "I can't expect you to leave all that for me."

Blaine stabbed at a piece of pasta, a horrible, burning feeling of hurt and worthlessness rising up inside him. He heaved out a deep, shaky sigh, trying his best to hold back the flood of emotions.

"I- It feels a bit like you can't wait for me to go home and you don't want me to stay," he admitted in a small voice, voicing the thoughts that had been disturbing him since they visited Kayleigh.

Silence met his response and he stabbed agitatedly at some of his food, before setting down his fork and cautiously peeking up at Kurt.

As soon as he met Kurt's eyes, Kurt spoke.

"Oh, Blaine," he said softly. His face had fallen into a more sober expression, his mouth turned down at the corners. "That's not what I meant at all." When Blaine only ducked his head, saying nothing, Kurt pushed his chair back and came round the table, dropping down into the empty chair next to him. He touched the back of Blaine's right hand lightly, and the fact that he was hesitant about taking his hand made tears prickle at the back of Blaine's eyes. He curled his fingers around Kurt's, keeping his gaze on his knees as he fought to keep control of his emotions.

Kurt rubbed at his hand gratefully, the slow movement of his thumb soothing.

"When I talk of wanting to help you go home I'm thinking of how I would feel in your situation, how much I would be missing my dad, my friends, the familiarity of home..." He shifted in his chair, his free hand coming up to cup Blaine's cheek. At his touch, Blaine lifted his eyes to look at him. "It will kill me if you leave, but I couldn't bear it if you wanted to go home but couldn't. Some day the reality of what staying here means will hit and I would hate for you to feel trapped here; hate it even more of it was only because of me you were staying." He smoothed his thumb over the length of Blaine's cheekbone and Blaine closed his eyes. "This decision has nothing to do with me. Do what makes you happy, but even if you stay I want you to know how to get home in case things change."

Blaine leant into Kurt's hand, imagining this all gone, never being able to see Kurt again, and not feeling free and happy with his life. He imagined having to go back to hiding and constantly feeling defeated, exhausted, and miserable as he lived to try and please his parents. He didn't think he could handle returning to that after experiencing all of this.

"I want to stay," he whispered - even he could hear the pure need in his voice. He rubbed his cheek against the palm of Kurt's hand. "I want to stay," he repeated, breathing the words into Kurt's cupped hand.

"Then stay," Kurt whispered.

Opening his eyes, Blaine looked up at his boyfriend, at the torn look in his eyes, the mixed feelings of hope, relief, worry, and guilt. Darting forwards, Blaine pressed his lips to Kurt's in a desperate kiss, deepening it when Kurt's lips began to move against his own. After a moment, Kurt dropped Blaine's hand and slid his arm around Blaine's waist, using it to pull him closer. His lips parted against Blaine's, his breath puffing out in short pants against Blaine's mouth.

"Stay," Kurt breathed out one time when he pulled away slightly to breathe.

Blaine slid his hand up Kurt's arm to tangle in the hair at the back of his neck upon hearing this, holding on tightly to his life in the future and the man he was falling in love with.