Kurt missed Blaine.  It had been almost four months since he had last seen him.  The first morning his Dad had come into his bedroom saying that Blaine couldn't stay the night had been hard for Kurt.  He had started to convince himself that he really had messed up and Blaine wasn't his best friend anymore.  And the more times Blaine couldn't see Kurt the more Kurt began to hate himself.  He spent his nights crying in his bed trying to hide from Burt because there were things that Kurt couldn't even tell him; like about Dave.

Things with Dave at school had gotten so much worse after his mother died.  The first week after Dave didn't do anything so Kurt thought that maybe he was going to stop now that his mom was gone but they didn't.  As Kurt tried to pretend he was okay Dave began to bully him again.  It started off with yelling at Kurt about how him mom had never loved him and that's why she left him.  Then when Dave overheard Kurt telling this girl, Mercedes, that he wasn't best friends with Blaine anymore Dave started to tell Kurt that he didn't blame Blaine for leaving because Kurt was so weird.  "I mean, who would want to be friends with you, you like to dress like a girl."

Then a couple weeks later Dave began to push Kurt down recess and kick dirt on top of him or he would always go after him when they played dodge ball in gym on Fridays.  Kurt couldn't tell his dad though, because he didn't want to disappoint his dad like he disappointed Blaine.

Things at the Anderson house were no easier for Blaine.  Ever since Liz died Tracy had become distant from the rest of the family.  She would go through her daily motions and go to work but she didn't smile anymore.  She wouldn't participate in the new family game nights that took place of dinner at the Hummel's house on Friday nights and she wouldn't take Blaine to the coffee shop anymore.  Blaine, of course, blamed himself.  Tom had never told Blaine about the many invitations to go play at Kurt's house and Tom would fake his phone calls to Burt to invite Kurt over hoping that Blaine would move on.  Blaine pretended to not care that he didn't see Kurt anymore and stopped asking about him but really Blaine cared more than ever.  He began to take after his mom and the two of them would rock in the chair for hours every night not saying a word.  Tears would silently stream down their faces, but they would never talk about it.   Blaine couldn't decide if he was sadder that about not seeing Kurt again or knowing that Kurt had to still be hurting and there was nothing he could do for him.  Sometimes only being eight years old was a terrible thing.

Tom would come home from work every day and watch his wife and youngest son waste away their lives practically dissolving with their tears.  Cooper spent more time away at friends' houses now than he did at home to avoid the situation.  He couldn't stand to see his baby brother, the one he used to give piggy back rides to, and push on the swings, and tell scary stories to, become so broken.

One Saturday morning Cooper found himself coming down the stairs faced with a day of no plans and a mother and brother who were yet again, rocking in the chair together.

"Hey, B."  Cooper walked over and pulled the shoulder of Blaine's shirt to get his attention.  Blaine didn't say anything in response; instead he simply turned and looked at his brother.  Coop took one look into his eyes and almost fell over; it was a look he had seen before in the mirror.  Blaine and him had the exactly same eyes so he could trace every emotion as if it were his own.  "I am taking you to the coffee shop for a strawberry smoothie.  No questions.  Let's go."

Blaine rolled off his mother's lap and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek before turning to his brother, taking his hand, and walking out the front door.

In the car the Anderson brothers sat silently.  Blaine gazed out the window and Cooper kept a close eye on him in the rearview mirror.

"Coop?"

"Yea, B?"

"If I do something will you promise not to tell Dad?"  Blaine looked into his eyes in the mirror.  He had no idea what on earth Blaine could want.

"Well, I guess that depends on what you want to do."

Blaine hesitated a little toying with the hem of his shirt, a trait he found he had picked up from Kurt.

"When I order my smoothie, can I say my name is Kurt instead of Blaine?"

Cooper had to look away from his brother in that moment.  He had known that Blaine never got over being Kurt's best friend.  He had also known what his dad was doing to them.  He and Tom had many talks about it over the last four months.  Cooper had stood up for Blaine trying to point out what not being friends with Kurt was doing to him but Tom would always tell him to give it a little more time.  He will get over eventually and Cooper would storm out of the house.  Now he could not look Blaine in the eyes knowing how much pain he was in.

"Sure thing, B."

Cooper hoped Blaine didn't notice that they were turning onto Kurt's street.

Kurt sat quietly on the couch watching his usual Saturday morning television when the doorbell rang. He got up slowly from the couch hoping his dad would answer it but he was out the garage working on his car and had obviously not heard it ring.

"Blaine..."

"Hi," Blaine couldn't help but let a little smile form but it quickly fell when he saw how upset Kurt was.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought him."  Cooper chimed in from behind Blaine.  "Is your dad home? I think we all need to talk about some things."

"Sure. Hang on."

Kurt didn't invite the Anderson brothers into his home on purpose.  Instead, he left the front door open as he ran off the garage to get Burt.

"Daddy!"

"What is it, bud?"

"Blaine and his brother are here."

"They... wait, what?"  Burt wiped his hands on an already dirty rag before heading into the house after Kurt.  He stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the front door and saw the faces of two boys he had known all too well.

"Mr. Hummel, I think you and I need to talk."

"Yea, I think we do."

Burt left Kurt and Blaine in the front room together to play while he brought Cooper into the kitchen.

"So... how have you been?"

"I've been good, I guess.  Just finishing up junior year so a lot of college stuff coming up so it can get a little stressful."  Cooper awkwardly tapped his fingers on the kitchen counter; he had always been intimidated by Burt but after what his dad had done to them it was so much worse.  "Listen, I'm not here to catch you up on my life, although, you were always way more open to things I wanted for my future than my dad... anyway, I need to tell you something."

"This is about Blaine."  It wasn't a question, just Burt helping Cooper along with the conversation starter.

"Ya.  It's kind of hard to explain if I don't explain everything though."

"Hey," Burt pulled a chair out at the kitchen table and sat down, "I've got all day."

Cooper went over and sat across from him and took a deep breath.

"Well, I guess I should probably tell you about my mom first..."

Over in the living room Kurt and Blaine sat awkwardly on opposite sides of the couch facing each other.

"Blaine?"

"Ya?"

"How come we aren't best friends anymore?"

One of the things that Blaine loved about Kurt was that he wasn't afraid to ask questions.  Sometimes when his Mom or Dad or even Cooper wanted to know something they would ask a whole bunch of questions and Blaine would have to try to figure out what they wanted, but Kurt didn't do that.  If he had a question about something he would simply ask it.

"Well, I don't really know.  I didn't know how to make you feel better after your mommy died and I made you real mad at dinner that night so I guess I always thought that you didn't want to be my friend anymore."

"What? Blaine you didn't make me mad at dinner. I didn't think I was allowed to smile yet cause I still missed my mom really badly, I still do, but I was wrong.  My dad said that it is alright to smile because she loved my smile so I can't hide it."

"I like your smile, too."

That made Kurt smile and in return Blaine smiled back.  Kurt missed this; he missed just sitting down with Blaine and talking and watching their favorite movies, and playing with all the awesome toys they had.  Kurt's smile quickly faded when he remembered that they weren't best friends anymore.

"But Blaine, how come you never wanted to come over when I invited you then?"

"You never invited me over, Kurt.  I would have said yes in an instant."

"Yes, I did.  My dad called your house the next day after dinner but he said your dad said you couldn't come over.  He kept calling but finally your dad said you couldn't be my friend anymore and he should stop calling."

"He never told me about that.  He told me that because I couldn't help you feel better at dinner that I needed to find a new best friend."

"Oh."  Kurt felt his stomach sink at the thought of Blaine having another best friend.   Blaine noticed the sudden sadness in his eyes and scooted over next to him on the couch.

"I don't have another best friend.  I wanted my old one back."  Blaine reached over and took Kurt's hand.

Kurt looked up at Blaine smiling.

Back in the kitchen Burt paid close attention as Cooper finished up explaining everything that had happened.

"I tried fighting for Blaine but he won't budge.  He told me that your family has hurt ours enough."

"That just doesn't sound like him..."

"A lot of things have changed since your wife's death, Mr. Hummel.  She was very important to all of us."

"She was a real special lady, wasn't she?"

"She still is."

Burt took a moment to let the memories of his wife flood his brain.  He thought about all the times he had sat back and just watched how she and Tracy would gossip like high school girls, or all the times she would treat Blaine like he was her very own son, even the time she gave Cooper girlfriend advice.

"So, do you want me to have a talk with your dad?"

"No!"  Cooper nearly shot out of his chair, "Trust me, that wouldn't work.  That would actually make it worse because then he would know that we were here.  I just thought that the two of you deserve to know what was going on.  However, I am willing to do this again.  You know, bring Blaine over here to see Kurt.  My dad doesn't have to find out."

Burt didn't like the idea of teaching the boys to go behind Tom's back at such a young age but then he thought about the last four months with Kurt.  He thought about all the times he would lay in bed and hear Kurt crying through the walls.  He thought about all the times he would pick Kurt up from school and he would just seem so sad.  He thought about the fact that he could count the number of times he had heard Kurt's laugh on one hand.

"It's not my favorite idea."

"I know, mine either.  But, sir, I don't think we have any other choice.  I'm not going to let Blaine tear himself apart anymore."

"And I'm not going to keep Kurt the way he is either.  I'm in."

"Perfect."

"So you're just going to tell dad that you ran into one of your friends from school and that I am going to take you to sleepover at his house tonight, alright?"

"But why can't we just tell Dad that I am going to Kurt's?"

"Because, Blaine," Cooper took a deep breath, "It's hard for me explain but we just can't okay? If you want to see Kurt again you're just going to have to trust me. Okay?"

"Okay."  Blaine felt nervous about lying to his dad.  He had never done it before but if it meant he got sleepover at Kurt's house he figured he could make an exception.

With the help of Cooper the two of them were able to easily slip the lie passed their dad and they were up in Blaine's room packing his clothes.

"Now if you want anything you need to call my cell phone, not the home phone, okay?"

"Got it."

"And I am spending the night at Andy's so I will be just a few minutes from Kurt's house."

"Coop. I've slept over at his house before. You're making me nervous."

"Sorry."  The two brothers finished packing their clothes and went back downstairs to say their goodbyes and left out the door."

Over at Kurt's house Blaine, Kurt, and Burt took their time to cook dinner together and laughed just like old times.  Blaine we nervous at first because he didn't know if he could call Kurt is best friend again, but as soon as he got back there he fell into routine like he had a million other times.

After watching The Lion King together Burt put the two boys to bed and went back downstairs to finish watching the game.

Right before Blaine fell asleep he noticed the large bruise that was on Kurt's lower back.