The next few weeks pass so quickly in a hectic routine of his Dad's inquiries and Rachel constantly being at his house (nowadays more often than not accompanied by Blaine, especially after the visits to his parents), Sebastian's snarky comments and dumpster tosses and slushie facials, not to mention the occasional locker check, that Kurt was taken completely by surprise when November rolled around without him noticing.

It was November the 9th when he finally realized that so much time had passed without any success whatsoever. Both Rachel and Blaine were still very much tied to this life and he was no closer to finding out what would help them move on. He'd had countless conversations with Glen on the graveyard, freezing half to death and practically begging her to give him some useful information instead of the knowing smirk that seemed to have taken up residence on her face ever since Kurt had first told her about Blaine.

So far, he hadn't been very lucky with that. After a few failed tries he'd focused on getting to know more of their life stories so he could at least make assumptions as to what their tasks could possibly be. Since they were constantly hanging around his house, he had no other friends, anyway, and his father was always working, that wasn't much of a problem. They just talked about Rachel's whole dramatic life story over a Project Runway marathon, Blaine being a bit more hesitant about sharing and preferring the relative privacy of Kurt's bedroom. To Kurt's utter surprise Rachel fully accepted Blaine's shyness on the matter (even though she probably already knew everything he'd be telling Kurt, anyway) and left the two of them alone.

At first, Kurt had been shy and awkward about those - for him at least - very intimate moments in his bedroom. But soon he discovered that talking to Blaine was easier than he could have ever imagined and from then on he looked forward to those precious hours almost every day after school. He still blushed deeply and had to look away whenever their fingers brushed a certain way and warmth would shoot through him, but despite his feelings, opening up to Blaine in a solely friendly way just felt so right Kurt couldn't help it, even if he'd wanted to.

Within no time at all, Blaine became his very best friend and most cherished confidant, Rachel a close second and Burt trying his best to catch up with everything. But as much as he loved this development and as little as he cared that things hadn't really changed between him and Sebastian since day one he could still feel the frustration pressing behind his eyes, trying to overwhelm him.

Here he was, weeks later, and still no step closer to solving the puzzle. While his conversations with Blaine really were more of chats about Kurt's day at school (since Blaine was too much of a gentleman to follow him around everywhere obnoxiously like Rachel and Sebastian) and Blaine's visits to his parents, those with Rachel were more like daily interviews about her life before her sudden death in desperate search of some detail that would make it obvious what to do.

Rachel had had big dreams back when she'd been alive. She'd wanted to become a huge star on the stage. She sang like an angel, Kurt would gladly be witness to that any time (and as much as he loved hearing her sing and the occasional impromptu duets they jumped into when no one was around and a broadway classic came up on one of his playlists, it did get a bit much sometimes). But the man she'd naively fallen in love with and who had promised her to help her make all her dreams come true actually hadn't had any of the money he'd told her about - all the expensive gifts and trips, it had all been on other people's money. People who didn't particularly care that Rachel had been innocent and hadn't even known about any of that shady business. And when the man of her dreams hadn't been able to pay them back and had left over night without so much as a goodbye, those people hadn't hesitated very long to take his left-behind fiancée's life instead.

Ever since that day she'd been dragged into a dark alleyway by three looming figures and the shot that had gone right through her heart had sounded through the night where McKinley High stands today, Rachel had did her best to help everyone crossing her path in hopes to find a way to move in. The problem was that there was only so much a ghost could do without anyone around. For the longest time the area had been practically deserted, first because of the atrocious crime, then because of the poor economy and finally the old buildings had been demolished and eventually replaced by what was now Kurt's high school.

The few people she'd actually come across she'd tried her best to help them achieve their dreams, but even when they had succeeded Rachel had never felt the pull that was a sure sign of moving on. Deep down, she knew that helping someone fulfill their dreams was what she had to do, she just hadn't found the right person yet. How Kurt was supposed to help her with that, he didn't know, since it couldn't be family. All her close relatives had died years ago and the family members remaining she'd already sought out and tried to help. Kurt couldn't really say he was surprised when she told him that they'd all been able to take care of their own dreams without her. They were Berrys, after all.

And since Kurt knew no more what - or rather who - they were looking for than Rachel, they were both at a loss what to do. All he could think of was telling her to keep an eye on every McKinley student she found even somewhat interesting in case they were having problems achieving her dreams or Rachel might feel that pull, even though they both had to admit they didn't have the highest expectations about that. After all, she'd spent several decades in the hallways of this school doing just that and she was still there. To be honest, Kurt was quite glad about that particular development but he wasn't about to tell her. Rachel didn't need to know that he was selfishly enjoying her company and friendship when she - in theory - should have been gone so many years ago.

For all the worries Kurt felt weighing him down there were just as many positive sides to the situation - from his point of view at least. For the first time since- well, since he could think of, he had real friends. Sure, they were ghosts and he was their medium, but still. Burt had warned him not to get too attached in case he should succeed sometime soon, but it had been halfhearted at best. He, too, had noticed the changes in his son's behavior, how much happier Kurt was when Rachel or Blaine were around - especially when it was Blaine. He didn't need to see or feel them to know they were there. Not only did Kurt not feel as restricted as in public in his own home and talked freely to them, but there was also a constant content smile on his face, a certain glint in his eye.

When Rachel started to leave them alone more often, Burt also didn't have a hard time picking up on when it was one of those afternoons. Kurt would look flushed and giddy and breathless and the grin on his face would be huge enough to hurt from looking at it. His demeanour changed the minute Blaine left and Burt always took those signals as his cue to mercilessly tease his son until he agreed to order them pizza instead of cooking some vegetable stew thing or other.

It was on another cold, harsh November afternoon that things started to change. Rachel was off doing who knew what and there had been an accident not too long ago and Burt was determined to finish that car today because the owner was in a hurry, so that meant he'd be out in the garage for a long time. Blaine and Kurt had met at the Lima Bean because he was gathering courage for another visit to his family - those still hadn't gotten any easier for him - annd the warm atmosphere of their usual coffee shop was doing much more to calm his nerves than Kurt's basement bedroom in the otherwise empty house. They stayed for a while, Kurt enjoying his nonfat mocha and Blaine enjoying the overall smell of coffee and the warmth, both relaxing in each other's company after a long day. When they finally had to part it was with much lighter hearts.

With the house all to himself for once, Kurt decided to take his time showering. Usually, he didn't draw his showers out too long because either Burt would end up chastising him for wasting so much water or he'd get paranoid that Rachel would come in and sneak a peek (he wouldn't put it past her), on especially horrid days he'd even feared stepping into Sebastian on his way out - he was sure his sort-of-enemy knew where he lived and would do just about anything just to annoy him.

The one thing he'd never expected to happen was walking into Blaine completely naked and dripping wet. Blaine had always been nothing but a gentleman and he'd never thought he'd intrude his privacy like this. But on that cold November afternoon, when Kurt stepped out of his very long and very relaxing shower, that was exactly what happened. For a moment, he was so stunned by the irony of it that he couldn't even move. But when it finally registered what situation he was currently in he started blushing madly and made a run for the nearest towel, covering himself as much as possible.

"Oh my God, Kurt, I'm so sorry!" an equally flushed Blaine stuttered out, though Kurt thought for a minute he'd seen something darken in his gaze. It was gone just as quickly and Kurt came to the conclusion it had to be the lighting. With a deep, steadying breath he prepared himself to take charge of the situation, since Blaine didn't really seem able to at the moment.

"It's okay, Blaine. No need to worry. Things like that happen," Kurt said, amazed at how even his voice sounded when inside, he was dying of mortification. His crush had just seen him naked, fresh out of the shower. It had been a very hot shower, too, so basically Kurt looked like a lobster or the way he did after a bad sunburn. Just great.

"Still, I shouldn't have just burst in here like that without knocking," Blaine murmured, still not meeting Kurt's eyes and instead fixating a tile on the bathroom floor. "I was just so excited I didn't even think about it..."

And Kurt remembered it. Remembered the short moment before his own nakedness had registered in his mind, before his brain had short-circuited with humiliation, when all he'd seen had been the bright light of uncontained joy in Blaine's eyes, something that was most unusual when he'd just returned from a visit to his parents.

"Blaine? What's happened? You usually don't look this happy when you're coming back from your parents." He felt insensitive for saying it like this but there were no other words for it.

And just like that the grin was back on Blaine's face, embarrassment forgotten. "Cooper's going to come home for Christmas! I'll be able to see my big brother again!" The smile on his face was so genuinely happy and excited that Kurt felt a wave of guilt crash over him for the way his selfish heart wanted Cooper to stay far, far away. For all he knew Blaine's brother could be the last piece in the puzzle and the one thing allowing Blaine to move on.

"Oh! Oh... That's great, isn't it.." he forced himself to choke out, hoping he either didn't sound as devastated as he felt or that Blaine wouldn't notice in his excitement.

"Yes, it is! I can't wait to see him again! It's been more than eleven years!" He was so happy he for once didn't even seem to mind the mention of how long he'd been dead for. Before Kurt could say anything else, Blaine had crossed the room in large strides, literally lifting him up in a hug. Feeling Blaine's arms so strong around him and his body pressed to his naked chest sent heat tingling all over his body, his cock also twitching more than slightly in interest to Kurt's horror. Blaine didn't seem to notice, nuzzling further into Kurt's neck until something made him jump away, blushing madly. As ashamed as he was, trying to hide his erection as best as he could with nothing but a towel at hand, Kurt was convinced it wasn't that. Either Blaine had been close enough to notice it for quite some time or he'd been too far away to notice it at all. Also, he was sort of staring at Kurt in shock without really seeing him. Not much of an indication that this was about Kurt's inappropriately timed boner.

Before Kurt could ask him if he was okay, Blaine turned around and left right through the closed door, leaving behind a very confused Kurt.