Saying goodbye to each other was heart wrenching in a way that it had never been before. Back when Kurt originally left Lima for New York, the initial separation had been hard because they had never been apart before and didn't know how to deal with the void between visits. When they broke up it had been devastating for obvious reasons, knowing that it was a final goodbye and they would most likely not see each other again. Last month hadn't been as difficult because they knew they'd reconnect in LA in a short time. But this time was different. They were in limbo, not knowing where or when they'd see one another again. Kurt not knowing if he really and truly could give up his life as he knew it and move west, and Blaine not knowing how he would survive if Kurt stayed in New York.

There was a lot unsaid, and there was a lot said.

Kurt got the stress induced babbles in the car on their way to LAX. It was amazing how fast he had wrapped himself up in the day to day workings of Blaine's life.

"Remember to tell Mr. Takahashi that I put that special bird feed in the garage" Kurt instructed Blaine who just nodded as he kept driving. Kurt had quickly befriended the little Japanese man who gardened for Blaine, fascinated with the stories of his childhood as he relayed them to Kurt while they both bent over and weeded together.

"And tell him that the one birdhouse over by the pond needs new shingles on its roof." he added, reflecting "I don't think I remembered to tell him...no I'm pretty sure I didn't. And I don't want the birds getting wet in their house."

Blaine continued to nod, a slight smile gracing his face.

"And Blaine - don't forget about the windows at night. You're not used to having them open so you might forget to lock them up." he advised looking at Blaine questioningly.

"Yes, Kurt. I'll remember to lock the windows." This seemed to satisfy Kurt.

Looking reflectively out the window, Kurt sighed and turned his head back to Blaine, saying softly "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be barking orders at you. I'm perfectly aware that you're capable of being on your own and handling the affairs of your household. I'm just wigging out here a bit".

"It's Ok Kurt" Blaine assured him as he pulled the car in to the short-term parking lot. Securing a space, he turned off the engine and reached over for his hand "I understand. It's kind of nice that someone actually cares about me like this" he smiled forlornly. "I know where it's coming from. You don't need to explain or apologize. I'm probably going to lose it the minute you walk through security, so anything you can do or say right now to distract the both of us is perfectly fine with me."

They gathered up his luggage, Blaine not believing how much more Kurt had acquired in such a short period of time and headed to the airline counter where Kurt checked himself and his luggage in and then proceeded to security. This was as far as Blaine could go and they were going to have to say their private good-bye very publicly.

Taking a deep breath, Blaine pulls Kurt in and holds on to him, not saying anything. There are no words to be spoken. Anything he says now would be completely incoherent as his brain's a jumbled mess.

But Kurt has words and speaks gently "Thank you so much Blaine for this amazing time. I love you so much. I'm going to miss you like crazy," kissing his ear.

Blaine still doesn't speak but he's nodding and then slowly parts so he can look Kurt in the eyes, both of them with pools of tears gathering. Finally he whispers "I love you too Kurt.... Always have, always will" with Kurt's hands over his heart.

Another hug and Kurt breaks it off, taking a deep breath, and kisses Blaine once more before turning to head in for the security check. He stops briefly and turns back saying softly "See ya Westcoast. I'll text you when I land" and he's gone.

Blaine watches until he's through and with a final wave he turns and leaves the building. What neither of them had noticed was a nondescript man standing a ways back, taking pictures with a zoom lens. He followed Blaine for a bit, and then changed course as Blaine head for his car.

In New York, Kurt is thrown back into the day to day throes of his job and his life with Rachel. They sat up late that first night with Kurt spilling everything to her over bottles of wine. She laughed with him as he told her about all the fun and silly things they had done and she cried with him when he recollected their professions of love they had finally made to each other at the Foundation. In short, she was the perfect best friend.

Kurt was worried about telling her that Blaine asked him to move out there, afraid she'd freak out about her own future, but she did nothing of the sort. In fact she leapt up and squashed him with a bear hug and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he'd be a fool not to go. That anyone who knew them knew they should be together. That, besides missing Kurt, she'd be fine; either finding another room-mate or live with some of her theatre friends.

It didn't make his mind up. He still had to talk to his Dad and he still needed time to think, but Rachel had been his biggest concern and the fact that he had her seal of approval just made the possibility more real.

The first couple of weeks back dragged by slowly. The cold was getting to Kurt. He missed the warm air of California. He missed the beach. He missed the little birds in the backyard, but mostly he missed Blaine. He missed falling asleep with him and he missed waking up to him. He missed everything about him and the life they had shared for those ten perfect days.

They kept in touch regularly, getting back into the familiar rhythm of email and text messages and on the following Thursday night Blaine called him to talk.

Kurt was just starting his pre-bedtime moisturizing routine, when he phone started to ring. "Hey Westcoast" Kurt answered it with a smile in his voice "How's my favorite person?"

"Your favorite person is doing much better now that he's talking to you." Blaine responded with a soft chuckle. And then sighing he confessed "Actually I'm feeling a bit lonely and sorry for myself right now and I needed to hear your voice."

Kurt doesn't know what about that confession caused the hairs on his arms to rise, but they did. It was hauntingly familiar - the whole situation: Kurt being in New York - Blaine not. Blaine calling him sounding sad and well, just off is the only way he could describe it.

"I know how you feel Blaine... I do. I miss you too" Kurt needed Blaine to know that he wasn't alone with his feelings. "I just need a bit more time to figure this all out - ok - on my own terms?"

"Yeah Kurt I know. I'm just tired and it's been a long day. Was in the studio all day and now I have to go out to some fundraising event tonight for my label, when all I really want to do is crawl into bed with my boyfriend."

"Well that's a little hard to do; with your boyfriend on the other side of the country don't you think?" Kurt snickered.

"Exactly my point Kurt..."

"Oh...ok... sorry... point taken"

"It's ok - like I said, I'm being a baby and feeling sorry for myself. I should have kept it to myself and not bothered you with it. There's no point in both of us being upset" Blaine admitted sighing again.

"No, Blaine. It's good that you told me. Remember what we discussed? If we're going to make it work this time we need 100% communication. No holds barred. Otherwise, we're going to fuck it up again, and there is no way in hell that I am letting that happen" Kurt told him. "Now go take a nice hot shower, and get yourself pretty and go out and have some fun... but not too much fun" he cautioned, with a smirk in his voice.

Blaine laughed lightly, "Ok love. A shower does sound like a good idea and maybe a couple of drinks will help me let go of this tension."

"Yes well" Kurt cautioning again "just a couple Blaine... and keep your hands to yourself."

"Yes Master - I'll be a good boy" Blaine promised with a smirk in his voice now.

"Hmmm.... Well you're always a good boy Blaine" Kurt answered slowly, his voice a clear octave lower, taking the conversation to a different level.

"Fuck Kurt" Blaine groaned..."you're going to be the death of me one day"

"Hopefully that's no day soon. Now go and have fun and I'll talk to you tomorrow. And remember, I love you."

"Love you too Kurt... so much."

And with that the conversation ended and Kurt went to bed thinking how lucky he was and how maybe this was going to turn out well for them after all.

He had no idea what was going to go down the next day.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Friday started like any other Friday would. Kurt got up at 6am, did the usual; shower, shave, dress, and left the apartment by 7am calling goodbye to Rachel through her bedroom door. He grabbed a latte at the Starbucks by their building and made his way to the subway station to catch his train to Brooklyn.

On the train and listening to his iPod while people watching, as he always does, he noticed a woman about his age, maybe a bit older. She glanced over at him every so often while she was reading her tablet. Making eye contact he smiled at her. She in turn gave him a quick smile and then, embarrassed, looked back down and never looked up at him again. Kurt didn't think anything of it and exited off at his stop and made his way to the school.

As he walked down the corridor to his office, he said hi to a few students that passed him, smiling but keeping their distance. No one asked how his trip to LA was, which he thought was strange seeing as they were all so vested in it before he left.

He was approached by one student, Chelsey, while he was getting his keys out to his office. He had helped her with her college forms before the break. "Hey Mr. H. I hope you had a great holiday!" she said smiling but shifting her eyes a bit so she wasn't quite looking at him.

"Hi Chelsey. Well as a matter of fact I did. Thanks for asking" he replied smiling back at her.

"Uh... great... Mr. H. Well I gotta go to class. So....yeah..." and she started to move on, and then stopped and quickly leaned to his side "Don't worry - we don't believe any of it is true" and with that she's off, leaving him there in the hallway staring after her, wondering what the hell she was talking about.

Shaking his head he entered his office, closed the door and sat down, already tired from the day. Something was definitely off, but he's not sure what.

Then his phone starts vibrating in his back jeans pocket and he sees a text from Rachel.

RACHEL

Kurt where are u?

KURT

At school?

Where else wud I be?

RACHEL

Can u talk?

KURT

Yes I'm in my office.

What's going on?

His phone starting singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" and Rachel's face is smiling at him. He swipes it to answer.

"Rachel? What's going on? "

"Kurt.... I just wanted to make sure...Kurt" she starts again "There's a story on the internet ... It's about Blaine... and it's got pictures of you... and, well, its not good Kurt" she adds. "I just wanted to make sure you knew."

"A story about me and Blaine?" he repeats, trying to pull his laptop out of his messenger bag as he talks to her.

"Well, not exactly. You're in it but its more about Blaine.... Kurt, did he tell you he was going out last night?" she asks quietly.

The hairs on his arms go up again and he doesn't like the direction this conversation is taking.

"Yeah... He had a fundraiser to go to. He called me. He was all disjointed and sad, and I told him to relax and go out and have a bit of fun" he recalls to her as he's logging in to check out the website.

"Well, it looks like he had some fun Kurt"....she says even quieter... "Look Kurt ... I'm sure there's an explanation for it all, and well... just don't jump to conclusions before you get a chance to talk to him ok? Promise?"

"Yeah Rach. I promise" Kurt says as he slumps into his chair, looking at the screen of his computer. A screen filled with pictures of Blaine from last night's event... with another man...they're standing very close to each other, oblivious to the photographer. And there's another one of them leaving the venue holding hands. And another of Blaine getting into a car that Kurt's never seen before, with the man leaning down and into the car in what looks to Kurt to be a kiss, but you can't tell because the picture's too grainy - its too dark.

"Rachel... I have to go" and he ends the call like that. No goodbye, no talk to you later. Just hits the end button and releases the phone to drop on his desk.

He spends the next half hour reading and re-reading the story. Apparently the man he's with is someone semi-famous and was once thought to be a love interest of Blaine's. There's speculation written of what they did in the venue "cozying up to each other at the bar" was one description and "dancing up a storm" was another. Then more innuendo on where they were going when they headed out to the car.

And then there was even more...it proceeded to lay out pictures of Kurt and Blaine from their week together. There were pictures of them at the beach in Santa Monica; another of them at the farmers market, checking out the melons. There was a picture of them sitting at their favorite Starbucks on Santa Monica Blvd. All of these pictures showed them in some form of PDA. They were holding hands, or they had an arm around one another; there was one taken from a distance of them kissing. The last of the pictures were from the airport, when they were saying goodbye. While they stood there, hearts breaking with tears in their eyes, some fucking asshole was taking pictures, turning their most private moments into a public spectacle.

They hadn't named Kurt though. Kurt wasn't sure why. Perhaps they just never found out who he was or didn't care. They insinuated that the "mystery man" had been the reason Blaine had been absent from the usual celebrity parties, and then with last night's event, they further intimated that the mystery man had broken it off and Blaine was out trying to mend his broken heart.

Kurt just sat there, tears welling up in his eyes, clicking through the photos, paying particular attention to the ones from last night. Who was he? Blaine had never gone into detail on anyone that he had dated. There hadn't been a need to. But you could tell from the photographs that there was history between them.

And why hadn't Blaine called him yet?

Suddenly Kurt was angry. He picked up his phone, calling Blaine's number up and hit send, breaking his promise to Rachel.

0000000000000000000000000000 00

Blaine woke up to the sound of his phone vibrating, except it wasn't on his nightstand and he couldn't find it in time to answer. He got up to retrieve the phone from his pant's pocket seeing that it was Kurt who had called. It was only 5AM in LA. Why was Kurt calling so early?

Just as he was going to call him back, it started vibrating again - it was David. What the fuck? He answered this time. "Hey David...bad timing. Kurt just called me and I missed it. Can I call you right back?" Blaine asked his friend.

"Kurt called you already?"

"Yeah, he called." Blaine's confused. "What do you mean already? What's going on?"

He hears David sigh "Blaine, there's a story running this morning on the internet. It's about you and last night and there are pictures of you and Gary. Pictures" he adds "that don't show you in a particularly good light my friend. What the fuck did you do last night?"

Blaine suddenly starts to feel lightheaded and sits down on the bed, resting his forehead in his hand.

"I didn't do anything David.... I mean nothing bad?" he offers racking his brain on the evening's events. "I went to that stupid fundraiser, met up with Gary, who I haven't seen in ages, and we just hung out. Danced a bit" he recalls, "talked his ear off about Kurt and stuff, and then we left to grab a coffee" he concludes. "After which he dropped me off here at home....alone....David, what the fuck is going on?" now with worry in his voice.

"Well, as usual, the paps have got pictures of you and Gary, and it looks like you're all over one another, and then there's one of you leaving holding hands, and another that looks like he's leaning into the car kissing you" David tells him.

"WHAT?" Blaine shouts leaping up, now looking frantically for his laptop. 'Fuck no! I did NOT fucking kiss him.... There was no kissing at all.... none... between us" madly trying to remember what happened in the car... "Goddamn it...no... he was leaning over to help me unhook the seatbelt that had got caught in the door!" he remembers. "Shit.... Kurt!" now realizing the magnitude of it all, "Kurt must have seen it too and is trying to call me" he says frantically as he types in the URL David gives him for the website.

"OK Blaine. Take a moment, gather your thoughts and words and call Kurt. He'll understand once you explain it to him. But do not... I repeat DO NOT take your sweet fucking time on this. Call him.... now!" and David hangs up.

Blaine hasn't noticed though because he's looking at pictures of himself. Pictures of himself with Gary, and reads the caption and suddenly he's nauseous and runs to the bathroom and throws up everything he consumed the day before. Wetting a washcloth with cold water for his head he goes back in the bedroom to find his phone and calls Kurt.

It rings three times before he hears Kurt's voice. Its quiet and its sad.

"Blaine"

"Kurt... I don't know what to say. I'm guessing you've seen the story online"

"Of course I have Blaine" Kurt replies flatly. "How could I not. It's everywhere and everyone I know is calling me now to make sure I've seen it. Oh, and the best call so far has been the one from my Dad, Blaine" Kurt continues "My Dad... who fucking well didn't even know we were back together. So, yes, Blaine I've seen the story. Who is he?" Kurt asks quietly.

Blaine hears Kurt sniffling, obvious that he's been crying, and it breaks his heart.

"Kurt I am so sorry. None of it is true. Whatever you are thinking, please please believe me. NOTHING happened. NOTHING" Blaine emphasizes. "Its just all bullshit written up by some asshole who decided it was a good night to try and destroy my life."

"Ok - so nothing happened you say." Kurt retorts abruptly "Who is he Blaine? You've never mentioned anyone to me before. And if pictures don't lie, it certainly looks like he's someone you knew well."

"Kurt," Blaine's head is back in his hand to try and stop the throbbing in his temples "his name is Gary. He's someone I know from a long time ago. Yes, we had a.... I don't know - a fling, but it was a LONG time ago, and we haven't seen each other literally in years" Blaine shares. "We were both at the fundraiser, and just spent the night catching up. He spent the night listening to me tell him how crazy I am about you. He was very kind about the whole thing. And then we left and got coffee and that was it" repeating the same story he told David "he dropped me off home... alone...and then I went to bed and now I'm waking up to this."

"And that picture in the car? I did not kiss him Kurt. He was bending in to help me with the seatbelt. I know it looks bad, but you have to believe me. I would never do that to you."

"You mean you'd never do that to me again."

Blaine sighs, knowing he probably deserves the barb, but barely able to keep it together any longer. "I will never do that to you...ever" he promises with a broken voice "Please Kurt, believe me."

There was silence on the line. Blaine doesn't know if Kurt had disconnected the call or is just being quiet.

"Kurt? Are you there?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'm here. It's just a lot to absorb Blaine and I've had too much time to blow it all out of proportion" Kurt admits. "I'm going to hang up now and sort this all out in my head."

"Kurt - you believe me don't you?" Blaine's quietly freaking out. "You have to believe me. Nothing happened. I would never do anything ever again to hurt you - please tell me you know that." he pleads with desperation now in his voice.

"Blaine - my heart believes you. But my mind is doing overtime right now and I need to think it all through. Just give me some time?"

"I'll give you some time, but I'm not going to let you pull away Kurt. I love you and this is all a huge cluster fuck created by some very very small people. I will not let this threaten our relationship Kurt. I promise you that."

"Ok Blaine" Kurt smiles wanly into the phone. "I believe you but I need to get off now. I'll talk to you tomorrow" and with that Kurt disconnects the call.

Blaine sits for a few minutes, tears streaming down his face, looking at the picture of him and Kurt on his phone, wondering if he's about to lose Kurt for the second time.

He goes back to his computer and reads the whole story, now fully realizing that they have also caught him and Kurt on camera, laying out their whole week together for everyone to see.

Motherfuckers

And then he knows what he has to do. Finding his phone he places a call "Hi, it's me. I need a favor."