"Blaine?"

"Dad, what are you doing here?"  Blaine stood up from the bed and took a few hesitant steps towards his father.

"I came home early to surprise you and your mom.  What are you doing up here?" Tom looked between Blaine and Kurt.

"We were just-"

"Kissing."  Tom spat the word in Kurt's direction.

"No-"

"Don't lie to me! I walked in on my son and another boy kissing!"  Tom's tone forced Kurt to look down to his lap.  "Don't you dare look away from me, boy."  He started walking over to where Kurt was but Blaine stepped in front of him.

"Don't yell at Kurt like that.  It's not his fault!"

"Don't you dare tell me who I can and can't yell at in my own house. I will yell at whoever I damn well please." Once again Tom turns his attention back to Kurt, "You need to leave. Get the hell out. Now!"

Kurt got up and began running towards the door but before he could make it all the way Blaine saw the tears begin to fill his eyes and grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Wait, Kurt. Don't go."

"I- I" Kurt slumped his shoulders in defeat, "I'm sorry."  He covered his face with his hands and ran out the door.  The whole house was silent until they heard the front door slam shut.

"Explain yourself."

"It was nothing, Dad."

"Don't tell me it was nothing! You haven't seen that boy in years and suddenly I walk in on you kissing him?"

"THE KISS MEANT NOTHING!"

From the street, Kurt froze at Blaine's words with his phone in his hand.  He looked up to the open bedroom window where he heard the yelling from.  Instead of calling his dad to come pick him up Kurt put the phone back in his pocket and took off on foot.  He wasn't sure where he was going; all he knew is that he needed to get away.

Up in Blaine's bedroom Tom took a deep breath and sat down on the bed to try and calm down before he said something he regretted.  "How could it mean nothing? You were kissing a boy.  You were kissing Kurt."

Blaine sat down on the edge of his bed and placed his head in his hands.  This was his chance to come clean.  He could tell his dad everything about Kurt and him being friends for years behind his back, his problems with the football team, him questioning his sexuality.  He could finally have someone besides Kurt to ask questions to.  He would know if his parents would accept him if he was gay.  But then Blaine remembered the look on his dad's face when he had just walked in on him and Kurt.  He could see how disappointed he was.

Blaine couldn't tell him; at least not about himself.

"I was just helping Kurt out.  He came to me yesterday in school and asked if I could help him with something.  And then when he came over today he told me that he thought he was gay but he wasn't sure.  So, I offered to kiss him. I thought that maybe if he could kiss someone, a boy I mean, he would be able to figure it out.  We may not be best friends anymore, Dad, but Kurt still means a lot to me."  That wasn't a complete lie, but it was far from the truth. 

"So it's all Kurt's fault."

"No!" Blaine realized he had thrown Kurt under the bus, "No. It was all my idea.  I completely surprised him with the kiss."

"He didn't look too surprised when I walked in."

"Not everything is how it looks, Dad."

"But why him?  He made all of our lives a living hell after his mom died, remember?"

"No, Dad," the words came spilling out of Blaine's mouth before he could stop them.  "You made my life a living hell after Liz died."   Blaine hadn't said Liz's name since she died. It felt weird coming out of his mouth but he mental filter wasn't working anymore.  "You think I don't know about the fake phone calls to Burt? Or all the invitations to go to the Hummel's house that you turned down for me?  I figured it out no thanks to you."  Blaine was back on his feet now facing his father.  "You know what? Kurt and I have been friends for years! That's right," Blaine watched his dad's eyes grow at his words, "You remember when Cooper used to bring me to my friend's house all the time? Kurt. You know the person who made me smile again? Kurt.  You know the only person who has ever been there for me? Kurt.  You're not the only one in this house who knows how to keep secrets."  There was so much meaning behind his last sentence but Blaine couldn't let his dad see that side of him. Not now, maybe not ever.

Without another word Tom stood up and walked out of Blaine's room.  He knew the argument was far from over but he just needed to get out before things turned ugly.  Once safely behind his locked bedroom door, Tom let the tears he had been holding back go.

Kurt wasn't sure how long he had been running for or how far he had gone; all he knew is that he was sick and tired of crying.  Over the past few weeks and even years he had spent so much time crying: Crying himself to sleep because of the things Dave would say, secretly crying in his room when Blaine's dad would come home from his business trips and they couldn't hang out, but most of all he cried when all he wanted was him mom and he couldn't have her.

Kurt sunk down next to a nearby tree and put his head between his legs.  He felt dizzy and lightheaded and if it wasn't for the sure ground beneath him, he would have surely passed out.

It had been a little over five years since Liz had died and Kurt still had these moments, they were almost indescribable, but they were just moments when it would hit it that she was gone.  He would remember her walking through the door and realize she would never do that.  She wouldn't be there to take pictures for his prom, or his graduation.  There would be no mother/son dance at his wedding or anyone for his kids to call grandma.  He thought about how, at moments like this, all he wanted was to crawl into his mom's lap and cry like he was four years old again.  He needed to feel her arms wrapped securely around him, and to hear her whispering "It's okay" and "I'm here" in his ear.  Sometimes the memories he had of her just felt like a dream; like she had never really been there. 

Kurt found himself thinking that his little boy self had imagined up this perfect person and manifested her in his mind to be his mom.   But then he remembered the warm hugs, the soft kisses, and the smell of her perfume in the morning and he knows she was real.  She was realer than real; she was his. What Kurt needed now more than ever was his Mommy.  He needed to be coddled, and loved, and hugged, and protected from the world.  He needed to be innocent again.

Kurt knew his legs couldn't carry him any further so he gave into himself and started sobbing against the tree willing himself to just disappear.

"You mean to tell me that you've known about that?"  Tom's fist hit the table so hard that Tracy flinched away pulling Blaine closer.

"Yes, of course I knew, Tom."  Her voice was barely audible over the ringing in Blaine's ears.  "These boys, they're best friends. They mean everything to each other. I couldn't just break them apart."

"And the fact that I walked in on them kissing today means nothing to you?"  He spat the words at Tracy while he threw his hands in the air.

"Of course it means something, Thomas!  You think I'm just going to pretend that it's normal?"

Blaine felt his insides freeze as the word normal bounced in the now quiet room.  He looked between and mom and dad while they glared at each other.  Of course his parents would think a boy kissing a boy isn't normal.  Of course they wouldn't accept Blaine if he told them the truth.  He felt himself sinking further and further into this hole and he had just lost track of how to get back out.  Before he knew what he was doing he was up and turning to run to his room.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Anywhere but here."  Blaine ran to his room and slammed the door.

"What has gotten into him, seriously?"

Tracy didn't let her gaze fall from the stairs, "He is just going through that teenager thing, you know?"

"He isn't technically a teenager yet."

"But he's always been mature for his age."

Tracy knew there was something more going on here; she could see it in Blaine's eyes.  The way they glazed over as soon as they brought up the kiss or the way they would light up when they mentioned Kurt.  There was defiantly more there. And she was going to figure out what.

"Well, I still want the old rule standing in this house. No Kurt."

"That was never a rule, Tom.  You just stopped them from seeing each other.   You think that if they can figure out how to get around that at 8 they won't do it again at 12?  It's just going to get worse if you keep them apart.  They're best friends.  Think about this from their perspective; they've been through everything together.  You don't see it, but I do.  Kurt goes to every single one of Blaine's football practices; he is there on the weekends when you're too busy working.  And Blaine has always been there for Kurt, after his mom died, after his dad starting picking up more hours at the shop.  You can't just separate them."

"Well I don't want that boy coming near Blaine again.  He's going to turn him gay.  You and I both know it."

"And what if Blaine is gay, Tom? Have you ever stopped to think about that?"

"Of course I have. I don't want him to be gay.  I want my son to be normal."  At the serious topic change Tom sat down across the table from Tracy and kept his voice down so Blaine wouldn't be able to hear them.

"And what isn't normal about loving someone?  Whether Blaine is gay or not is he still going to be our son.  He is still going to need our love and support.  If he is gay, Tom, figuring that out is going to be ten times harder for him than it will be for you.  Are you telling me that you are going to have trouble with that?"

"Not even a minute ago you said that it wasn't normal for them to be kissing."

"Yes. It is not normal for Kurt and Blaine to be kissing because they have never kissed before.  They are just friends.  It isn't normal for friends to kiss friends.  But if they ever became more then friends then fine, it would be normal.  That's all I meant.  I will love and I will cherish and I will be there for my son no matter what, and you should too."

"I just-"  Tom took a long slow breath while he tried to gather his thoughts, "I just don't think I can."

The words took Tracy by surprise.  At first she thought she had heard him wrong but after a moment of replaying them in her head she exhaled sharply and got up from the table.

"Well, you better work on that, Tom, because that is our son up there and if you can't love him no matter who he is then you don't deserve to call him your son."

Blaine heard the quiet knock on his door before it creaked open.

"Blaine, sweetie, can I come in?"

Sitting up, Blaine wiped the tears from his face looking up at his mother with pained eyes.

"Do you want me to call Burt and see if you can stay at their house tonight?  I don't think you staying here would be the best idea right now.  Your father needs some time to think and you and Kurt have a lot of talking to do."

"Do you really think it's that bad, Mom?"

"Do I think what's that bad, sweetie?"  Tracy took a seat next to Blaine and wrapped her arms around his shoulder.

"That I kissed Kurt. Do you really think it's not normal?"

Tracy's breath hitched as she thought about what her words must have meant to Blaine.

"No, Blaine. No.  No matter who you are or who you kiss... I don't care.  I will love you.  You are my son; my baby boy.  I have watched you grow up for twelve years now, and do you really think who you like is going to change that?"

"But out there at the table you said-"

"I know what I said.  And I'm sorry.  That was a bad choice of words on my part.  No matter what I love you, okay? Never forget that."

"Okay. I promise."

"Now, do you want me to call Burt?"  Blaine took a moment to think before nodding up to his mom.

"Kurt and I we... need to talk, I guess."

"Blaine, sweetie..." Tracy wanted so badly to ask him.  If Blaine really was trying to figure out his sexuality then Tracy wanted to be there; nobody should have to go through that alone.  But then she thought about Kurt, Blaine will always have Kurt.  If Blaine wanted her to know he would have come to her.  "Nothing.  I'll go call Burt."

"Mom, is everything going to be okay?  With Dad?"

She tried to give a smile down to her son but he could tell it didn't reach her eyes.  "He just needs time, sweetie."

"What if that's not enough?  What if he never forgives me?"

"For kissing Kurt?"

Blaine worried his lip between his teeth wanting nothing more than to tell her everything.  "Ya, about that."

Tracy pulled Blaine tightly into her arms just like when he was little.  She wasn't sure when he had grown so much, or when things had become so complicated in his life.  She wasn't ready to let go of his innocence yet.  Even just a few more seconds of keeping Blaine safe and innocent would mean everything to her.  "We'll figure it out, sweetie. We always do."

Eventually she got up and went to her bedroom to quickly call Burt while Blaine started to pack a small bag of overnight clothes.  He would tell her.  Someday he would sit her down and he would spill everything; about the locker rooms, about Dave bullying Kurt, about his feelings for Kurt.  He would tell her someday; just not yet.  For now he had to go talk to Kurt.  He started to rehearse his speech to him.  Something that explained the feeling he got when they kissed, or when he saw him walking down the hall, or when Kurt gave the special smile he only had for Blaine.  He would tell him everything.

Far too quickly Tracy was back in Blaine's room with a panicked look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Kurt."  She ran her hand through her hair still trying to process, "He's missing."