One minute Blaine was having the breath kissed out of him by his ridiculously gorgeous, soaking wet boyfriend, and the next Rachel Berry was standing in his hallway babbling apologies, and Kurt was gone.  Shit.  Blaine slipped on the wet floor as he scrambled to get his shoes back on and follow Kurt, but Sam stopped him with a look and a hand to his shoulder.

“I'll go.  You stay here.”  And then Sam was gone too, leaving a dripping, wobbly, still fairly tipsy Blaine alone with Rachel.

“Blaine, I'm so sorry,” Rachel crooned, her voice high. “This is not what I planned for tonight at all.”

You can say that again, Blaine thought, feeling slightly ill.  He hopped over to the kitchen table, having lost track of his cane, and no longer very concerned with how awkward he looked.

“Are you okay?  You're all wet!” 

First prize for stating the obvious.  “Rachel, what are you doing here?”  I haven't seen you for two years, why have you just shown up in my home and chased away my boyfriend.  If I could stand up I might kill you, he thought grumpily.

“I'm here for a few days apartment hunting.  Sam said I could stay here.”

“Really?  Because Sam and I are pretty close,” Blaine chose his words purposefully to make Rachel wonder what exactly he meant, too annoyed with her to play fair, “and he didn't mention anything about it.”

“Sam said he was looking forward to seeing me.  I didn't know exactly when I was going to be here, I didn't make precise plans.”  Rachel must have seen that Blaine wasn't buying it, and dropped down in the chair next to him, a pleading look on her face.  “Fine, it's possible I wasn't completely clear.”

-----

Kurt stood downstairs inside the entryway, arms wrapped tightly around his torso, looking out through the window at the rain.  Suddenly Sam burst through the stairwell door, almost crashing into Kurt.  “Kurt!  You're still here!”  He skidded to a stop next to him, grabbing his shoulders with both hands.  “Don't leave, I can explain…”

Kurt angrily shrugged away from Sam.  “Back off.  I'm not Blaine, you can't just cuddle me and make it better.”

“Hey, that's not fair.” Sam let go, his hands in the air.  “You can be pissed at me, I get that, but Blaine didn't have anything to do with this.”

“Right.  Like he didn't know she was going to be here.”

“No, he didn't, and I'd really appreciate you chilling out for a minute and listening to me.  You really think Blaine would do anything to hurt you?  He's happier than he's been in years, dude, actual multiples of years.  Why would he fuck that up?”

Kurt studied Sam's earnest face, and something inside him melted.  He didn't actually think Blaine would do anything to hurt him, it was true, although he thought it was possible that Blaine would have set up a surprise meeting with Rachel to try to reconcile them.  But if Blaine didn't know about Rachel being here, he was probably sitting upstairs just as confused as he was.  And somewhere outside of his current panic, a little part of his brain danced with glee – Blaine was happier than he's been in years – because of him!

The intense need to put as much space as possible between himself and Rachel was dissipating, but he still didn't know what to do.  Kurt slid to the floor, not even caring about his clothes anymore, given how completely drenched he already was.  Sam came and sat next to him, self-consciously leaving space between them.

“All right, Sam, spit it out.  What's going on?”

Sam wiped his hands on his jeans and turned towards Kurt.  “Mercedes and I keep in touch, you know that, right?  She mentioned that Rachel was going to be coming back to New York, and I said cool, great, it would be nice to see her, whatever.  I told you and Blaine this a while ago, remember?  When we talked about making dinner for her?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“So guess Mercedes told Rachel, and Rachel decided that meant she could show up on our doorstep.  She's here to look for a place to live.  I swear I didn't know she was coming today, Kurt.”

Kurt nodded, accepting Sam's explanation.

“But I still don't really get why it's so horrible.  She said you guys had a misunderstanding, and she wanted to clear it up…”

Kurt tensed, the anger coming back.  “A misunderstanding?  That's what she called it?”

“Ease up, Kurt, that's all she told me.”  Sam stood and paced back and forth as he spoke, his hands waving around.  “Look, I don't know what's going on here.  Why don't you just come upstairs and dry off, and let Rachel explain?  If you go home now, you'll just be all angry and mad, and nothing will change.  Give her a chance.”

“You think I should let her explain?”  Kurt said coldly.  He had done that once – he had listened to her biggest secret, had promised not to tell – and that was the last he had heard from Rachel Berry.

“Yes, what's the harm?  You're going to have to face her eventually, since she'll be back at NYADA and everything –“

“Wait, she's coming back to NYADA?”

“Yeah, that's what Mercedes said.”  Sam shrugged.

“Why didn't you tell me?  Why is she coming back?”  Kurt hated the way his voice was starting to squeak, and his throat hurt from the effort of trying not to cry.

Sam just shot Kurt a look and shrugged.  “I get that you're upset, Kurt, but don't you think you should be asking Rachel these questions?” he said evenly.  Sam's phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket to read the text.  “Blaine's freaking out.  Can I please tell him we're on our way back up?”

-----

Blaine met Kurt at the door, his eyes wide and shoulders stiff.  Sam slid past them into the apartment, grabbing Rachel by the wrist and heading down the hall.  “We're going to talk,” he said, directing Rachel into his bedroom.  “You guys get changed and warm up.”

Kurt smiled hesitantly at Blaine and then pulled him in to a gentle hug.  Any romance from kissing in the rain was long gone, replaced by the reality of cold, soggy clothes stuck to their shivering bodies, but it still felt like coming home to hold Blaine against him.  He felt Blaine relax, his hands coming up around Kurt's waist.  “You did promise to let me get you out of these wet things,” he said lightly, pulling at the drenched polo sticking to Blaine's back. 

Blaine laughed softly into his shoulder.  “Come on, I've got a collection of warm hoodies I'm willing to share.”  They made their way back to Blaine's bedroom, Kurt reflecting on how this night could have been a lot more fun if dear Ms. Berry hadn't made an appearance.  Blaine made a quick visit to the bathroom and returned in a gray NYU sweatshirt and black sweatpants, his curls patted dry and messy, and then it was Kurt's turn.  He avoided more than a cursory look in the mirror – his hair was a disaster, and he didn't have time for a rescue mission.  Kurt had found a thin heather blue hoodie in the back of Blaine's drawer that he was pretty sure had been his in high school, and he sighed a little as he pulled it on, snug now across his chest where it used to be loose.  A lot had changed since he was seventeen.  From his brief glance at Rachel, her hair pulled back in a reasonable ponytail and just a touch of makeup on, it looked like she had grown up too.  And if she wanted to talk about the dispute that had cost them their friendship, then he could be adult enough to listen to what she had to say.  Even if he felt like he was going to burst out of his skin just being in the same room with her.

Blaine was in the kitchen making tea when Kurt emerged from the bathroom, and he gratefully accepted a steaming mug.  “Thanks.”  He inhaled appreciatively.  “Camomile?”

Blaine nodded.  “Thought something calming might be a good idea.”  He was setting several more mugs out, and Kurt realized that Rachel was going to be joining them any minute.  His stomach clenched, and he put the mug down on the table.

“Blaine?”  Blaine tilted his head at him in response, and sat down next to him at the table, extending his hand.  Kurt took it, marveling once again at how good it felt just to hold this man's hand.  He took a deep breath.  “Remember you asked me if the reason I hadn't talked to Rachel in so long had to do with Finn?”  Blaine nodded.  “It did, but it was for a different reason than you might think.”  It was all going to come out now, and Kurt was a little afraid of how he was going to react, hearing the whole story again.  For that matter, he was a little afraid of how Blaine would take it.  Finn's death had hit him hard, too.  “I couldn't tell you before.  I couldn't tell anyone.  I promised Rachel I would keep it a secret.”  And look how well that's gone, he thought dejectedly.

“Do you think you can tell me now?”  Blaine asked gently, stroking Kurt's hand with his thumb.

“Why don't you let me tell it,” Rachel said, sitting down at the table across from Kurt and looking up to meet his eyes, her gaze steady. 

Damn, someone needs to get that girl a bell, Kurt thought. Here goes.  “No more secrets?”  Kurt challenged.

“No more secrets,” Rachel agreed. 

Sam joined them, setting down two more mugs of tea, and looked around the table at everyone's tense expressions.  “Well, this is very dramatic,” Sam mused.  “Guess that's not surprising.”

Blaine snickered and then slapped his hand across his mouth, looking abashed.  “Sorry.” 

Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes. Now or never. “Go ahead, Rachel, get on with it.”

Rachel sat up straighter and squared her shoulders.  “About two months after Finn died, I realized I was pregnant.  I hid it for a while, no one could tell anyway, they all just assumed that any departure from my usual professional standards was because of my grief.  It got to the point where I had to make a decision about what to do, and that's when I told you, Kurt.”  Kurt swallowed hard, and looked away.  The memory of that conversation was not a good one.  “Kurt was furious at me, for not telling him sooner, and for not being certain about whether to keep the baby.  But Funny Girl had just opened, and my entire career was on the line.  This was my life we were talking about…” Rachel's voice cracked, and she paused, sucking in a deep breath.  “So Kurt and I fought, and I moved out.  The directors replaced me with someone else, and that was that.  I went to L.A. and never looked back.”

Kurt glanced up at Blaine, whose hand was clutching tightly to his.  He looked as if he was struggling not to cry, which was pretty much the way Kurt had felt ever since Rachel appeared in Blaine's apartment.  “Rachel, that's not exactly what happened…”

“Wait, what happened to the baby?”  Sam asked, confused.

“I miscarried.”

“Oh, Rachel,” Blaine turned towards her, his face falling.  “I'm so sorry.” 

“Me too, Rachel,” Kurt said slowly, as Sam reached over and put a hand on her knee.  “But how does that change anything?”

Rachel shot Kurt a withering look.  “I'm not going to go there with you again, Kurt.  I was just trying to talk about my options with you, the one person I thought I could trust, and you totally shut me down.”

“No, I didn't -“

“Besides, it wasn't Finn's baby.”

“What?”  Now Kurt was really confused. 

“The last time Finn and I had intercourse was Mr. Schue's non-wedding, months before I got pregnant.”

“But, you were with him after that…” Kurt protested.

“Yes, when I came to Ohio for Blaine's admittedly lovely and over the top proposal, I saw Finn.  But we didn't have relations, Kurt.  We were still trying to figure things out…”  Rachel's face crumbled.

“I don't understand.  If Finn wasn't the father who was?  You weren't dating anyone else.”  Kurt searched his memory, trying to remember if Rachel had been talking about any love interests in the weeks before Finn's death.  “It wasn't Brody, was it?”

“No, it wasn't Brody,” Rachel said, managing to sound offended in the midst of everything else.  A look flickered over Rachel's face that Kurt couldn't quite catch, and she took another a deep breath.  “Three days after Finn's funeral, I slept with one of the dancers in my cast.  It was a mistake, obviously.”

“What?”  Kurt felt like he kept saying the same thing, and was starting to feel like an idiot.  “Why didn't you just tell me?”

“Oh, because deciding what to do about a stranger's baby was so much different than if it had been Finn's?  It was still my baby, Kurt.  Not to mention that I was so incredibly ashamed - here I was, wracked with grief over losing Finn, everyone watching me, and consoling me, and saying how sorry they were for my loss - and I go and do something unquestionably stupid with another man.  How is that the way to honor Finn's memory?” Rachel was starting to cry, even as she held her head up.  “I didn't want you to know what I did, and I couldn't figure out how to keep talking about it without telling you.”

“But you just left, Rachel.  You left, and you wouldn't return my calls.  I wasn't in exactly the best shape then either, you know.”  I needed you too, he thought.  I was grieving, too.   I lost my brother, I was losing my fiancé, and you were my best friend.  Kurt could almost feel Blaine's sympathetic eyes on him, but he couldn't look back, knowing that any push right now would send him over the edge.

“I'm sorry,” Rachel sobbed out.  “I know I should have called you.  But I thought you were just going to yell at me.”

Kurt's heart was breaking.  Yes, it had been tough, listening to Rachel tell him that she was pregnant, thinking that they might be able to keep a piece of Finn with them, and then realizing that she might not keep it.  But he never meant to try to tell her what to do. 

Kurt felt a hand on his shoulder as Blaine stood up.  “Okay if we leave you guys to talk?”  Blaine asked softly. 

Kurt nodded, and watched as Sam handed Blaine his cane and they made their way back to Blaine's room.  Taking a deep breath, he slid over into Blaine's vacated chair, and gently put an arm around Rachel, who was leaning on the table, her head buried in her arms.  “I'm sorry, too.  I'm sorry you thought I was trying to tell you what to do.  I would never do that, Rachel.  That's not who I am.”

“But you seemed so excited when you thought I was having Finn's baby,” she sniffed.

“Of course, I was excited about it.”  Kurt tried not to imagine a little mini-Finn toddling around the house, how happy Carole and Burt would have been.  “But that doesn't change the fact that it wasn't my decision to make, whether Finn was the father or not.”  Kurt rubbed Rachel's back comfortingly.  She accepted this for a moment or two, and then sat up.  Her eyes were red and puffy, but she was still Rachel Berry strong behind them.

“I'm going back to NYADA,” she said, wiping her face.

“I know.”

“I could really use a friend there who knows his way around.”

“Me too, Ms. Berry, me too.”