"I can't believe it's been four weeks since I've seen Kurt," Blaine sighed, picking at the green beans on his plate.

His family always had family dinner on Tuesday nights since Blaine's dad didn't normally have to cover games on Tuesdays and his mom's classes ended at 3, giving her enough time to prepare dinner. Tonight was different since his dad had a dinner with a potential employer, so it meant Blaine and his mom had some one-on-one time.

"I know, honey. But he'll be here soon, right? Thanksgiving is next week and I know he's coming for a couple days then, right?"

"Yeah. But by that point it will have been almost SIX weeks since I've seen him. And I know that he couldn't come see our performance of Grease and he couldn't make it out for Halloween and I couldn't go up to see him either. I just…" he paused, trying to hold back his emotions. "I just miss him, mom."

She smiled. "He'll be here soon. I know me telling you this won't help, but it's the only reprieve I can provide at this point. I know you won't truly stop moping until he gets here anyway."

Blaine sighed. He knew he had been downright miserable and whiny lately. School had been stressing him out, with Sectionals around the corner in addition to his coursework and his presidential duties. Plus he was still worried about his dad, who hadn't heard much on the job front aside from the interview he had tonight.

His mom pulled him out of his thoughts, changing the subject. "So, what are we going to do next Saturday?"

He was confused. "Next Saturday?"

Blaine's mom stared at him, a little dumbfounded. "November 18th."

Oh my god, Blaine thought.

"Blaine, honey, did you forget your own birthday?"

He smiled sheepishly. "No. I mean, sort of. I just wasn't sure what to do since I didn't want you or dad to assume we had to do anything or that you guys would even want to do something. And Kurt and I weren't going to celebrate until he was here for Thanksgiving. So I just didn't think about it."

She rolled her eyes at her son. "Blaine, you're turning 18. It's a big deal. And it's your golden birthday. 18 on the 18th! Besides, you're always worth celebrating honey."

"Mom, you might have a slight bias in the situation, but thanks. Can I have a day to think about it? I don't want to do anything big, but maybe have dinner somewhere with some friends and you and dad? Is that okay?"

"Of course. But please let me know before Thursday so I can give your friends enough notice with their parents."

"I think I can manage that."

Silence graced the table for a few minutes, both Blaine and his mother in their thoughts, before Mr. Anderson came through the garage door exhaling sharply as he dropped his keys on the counter. The noise startled the pair, but before they could react, Mr. Anderson had found his way to his wife and kissed her on the head before moving to Blaine, hand extended toward Blaine's head.

"Dad, if you're planning on touching my hair..."

He laughed. "Me? I would never!" he said before clasping his hand on Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine's mom looked expectantly at his dad. He looked back at her and sighed. "I might as well tell both of you while you're both here, I guess."

He let go of Blaine's shoulder and sat down at the head of the table, resting his arms on the table as he clasped his hands together. Blaine shifted his attention to his dad and his mom took his hands into her own – making Blaine smile at these small ways that they showed the other how much they cared.

"The interview went well. Exceedingly well, actually. They offered me a position," he stated.

Blaine grinned. "That's so great dad…"

"I'm not done, kiddo," he said, without a smile.

Blaine's smile quickly faded. "Okay…"

"It's a smaller station, which I'm perfectly okay with. But if it happened, we'd have to move. To Kansas City."

"KANSAS CITY?!" Blaine shouted.

"Son, calm down."

"Dad! Kansas City is so far from here, from our friends, from our lives here. I just…"

"Look, I know none of us wanted to hear that. And, just so you know, I didn't give them an answer. I wanted to talk about it with my family and they were open to that. But Kansas City has more teams to cover and it'd be a great opportunity…"

"You can't take it," Blaine interrupted, his voice pleading and insisting at the same time.

His parents looked at him, shocked. His statement shocked Blaine as well – he never spoke to his parents like that.

"I realize this is hard for you to hear. We don't want to uproot either, but…" his dad started.

"No! Don't! Don't you understand how I can't leave here? Some of my best friends don't even go to my school, my boyfriend lives hours away, and even my only friends here live 20 minutes away," Blaine yelled, turning red as he fought for air after each word. "But no, that's totally fine, get a new job and move us hundreds of miles away and have me feel even more alone than I do now. Great. Just perfect. And if we're moving I guess there's no point in having a birthday celebration of any kind since these people won't be my friends for long anyway."

He shoved his empty plate forward and stormed away, running up the stairs and slamming his door. He didn't need to slam it as hard as he did, but he did it for effect. Blaine flopped on the bed seething from the conversation with his dad – he was so angry he couldn't even cry at how upset he was.

How could they do this to me? Why would he take an interview when he knew they'd have to move if he took the job? Are they trying to put him even further away from Kurt?, he thought.

At that moment, Blaine's phone started ringing. Without looking at the display, he picked up after the second ring.

"Hi," he said curtly.

"Hey honey! How are you?"

Kurt's voice automatically calmed him slightly.

"I – uh. Look Kurt, now isn't the best time. I just… had a fight with my parents."

Kurt paused for a second. Blaine could practically hear him thinking on the other end. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He sighed. "Yeah, just maybe not right now. I just ran up to my room maybe a minute ago and I'm still pretty pissed, so I'm afraid I'm going to say or do something stupid if I try to tell you about it right now."

Kurt laughed.

"Why are you laughing, Kurt? This isn't funny."

Kurt stopped quickly. "No… Blaine, that's not what I meant."

"I don't see how laughing would be any way to start a dialogue with me right now, Kurt. Just…"

"Blaine! Hold on for one second."

"Don't interrupt me!" Blaine said, raising his voice. He hadn't done that to Kurt before, and especially never over the phone.

Blaine sighed. "I'm so sorry, Kurt. This is exactly why I didn't want to talk about this now. I'm just beyond irritated that I know I need to chill for a minute. You know, think about things for just a second."

"I know, Blaine. The reason I laughed is because you're so much more mature than you think you are. Remember those times before when we'd fight and you'd just say what you thought, storm off, and then realize that you said something hurtful? You realize now that you don't want to do that and it shows growth."

Blaine ran his hands through his hair. "I guess. My maturity with you didn't stop me from doing exactly that with my parents just a few minutes ago."

Kurt paused. "I'm not going to pressure you, but do you want to talk about it? I can bore you and tell you a bit about my day if that will help give you time to process right now and we can discuss whatever is going on in a few minutes. Just let me be there for you."

"It's fine. I can tell you now. Just give me a second to breathe, okay?"

Kurt laughed cautiously. "I don't know why you always insist on running up your stairs. I'm sure that's probably more of the reason why you're feeling winded rather than the argument with your parents."

Blaine managed to chuckle a little through his anger.

"Ha! I knew I could make you laugh."

He smiled. "You always know how to make me laugh. It's one of your better boyfriend qualities, I must say."

"I try, Anderson. You feel ready now?"

He took a deep breath and went into details about the story; about the offer his dad had gotten, about potentially having to relocate to what felt like the middle of nowhere, about how he'd blatantly told his dad not to take it, and how he stormed out.

"And now I'm here, sitting in my room, talking to you."

Kurt was silent. Throughout his story he'd made noises to acknowledge that he was listening but didn't ask a single question, waiting for Blaine to get it all out before he offered any kind of comfort or advice.

"Kurt?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. I'm trying to figure out what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, I guess. I already feel a little better just getting it out there."

"I'm glad that you feel a little better, but you can't end the night with you still mad at your parents. That's not how you should be with them. You love and care about them, and the same for them with you. If you and I were fighting, would we go to bed without speaking?"

Blaine thought back, remembering the only night they went to bed not speaking was the night they had broken up. "Well…"

"I know it's happened once or twice, but how did you feel when we weren't talking?"

"Like hell."

"Know that I felt that way too. And I'm sure your parents would feel horrible if you didn't speak to them as well. Blaine, this is a huge deal and there are so many things to consider here."

"Kurt, please don't tell me you're siding with them - you know I can't-"

Kurt cut him off. "That's not what I'm saying. Trust me, I do not want you to move unless you're moving to New York. But look, you said that your dad wanted to discuss it as a family before he did anything. If you talk to him rationally and just explain how you feel, that's the best you can do. You might not be able to sway him, but I know he really cares about your opinion. It's your life too."

He sighed. How was Kurt always so wise? "I guess you're right. But I'm so pissed. Kansas City? Of all places! It's probably worse than Lima and I didn't know that was even possible."

"Maybe it is the worst, but maybe it isn't. Just talk to your dad. Tell him how you feel. But know that this isn't an easy decision for him. He probably doesn't want to move either and I'm guessing your mom doesn't either. She'd have to leave her students, her studies, the school she's taught at for years… just don't think that this is the end."

Blaine thought for a minute. "But what if it is?"

Kurt sighed. "If it is, then we will have to start taking planes to see each other more often. But it would only be temporary, Blaine. Soon you won't be in Lima or wherever your dad's job takes you. You'll be here, with me. So I think you could manage a few more months in the long run. Right?"

"I don't know. Kurt, it's so lonely here. I feel like I have nothing tying me to anywhere sometimes. And the only reason I still feel any ties to Lima or McKinley is because I think of how much of us is defined by those places. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me anchored."

"I understand. But Blaine, soon we'll have the best thing – each other, in the flesh. Trust me, it's hard for me to be here, too. I'm lonely. I miss you all the time. I don't have a ton of friends here and Rachel is flaky sometimes. But what keeps me anchored is you. The thought that you'll be here soon – that someday we'll be here to make new places that will share memories together. So don't dwell on the places that have memories for us – remember each moment that brought us to that place. Like dancing together at prom. You don't have to be in the gym to think about that, right?"

"No - normally I associate the gym with the stench of sweaty socks and Coach Sylvester yelling at me."

"See? Just think of us. Not the space. Just think of me and you, it's what I do. Go ahead and talk to your parents tonight and we can talk more in the morning, okay? It's late and I know you'll need a little while to talk to your folks before you head to bed."

Kurt always knew what to say, it was almost too much sometimes. One minute, he'd be overreacting about some sweater he saw online and the next, he'd have such sage wisdom that it'd blow Blaine away every time. Tears started bubbling from Blaine's eyes. "I swear, I cry more with you than anyone else."

"Thankfully they're almost all happy tears, so I guess I'll let it slide."

"Thanks Kurt. Thank you so much for… well, you."

"Of course, Blaine. I love you, you know."

"I know, I love you too."

"Always and forever?"

"You know it, Mr. Hummel."