Unfortunately, although calling Laurel was of top priority in Blaine's mind once he'd been drug out of his depression by Kurt, he hadn't had the chance all week. He'd been busy trying to get all of his make-up work from professors, spinning lies about how Alex's health was declining fast but he prayed and so Alex was actually getting better now—(not entirely untruthful)—so he would be allowed to make it up and hopefully finish out the semester with at least a straight C-average. All of his professors complied with the exception of one—History—but he'd gotten the notes from a friend in the class and was slowly catching up, cramming for their next test just before Thanksgiving break.

Which, incidentally, started yesterday afternoon when he'd finished with classes. He had the weekend, the week, and the following weekend to be off. His plane for home left tomorrow, but before he headed home, he had something important to take care of.

He needed to talk to Laurel.

So after Blaine finished packing his bags, he sat down at his computer, sent a quick text to Laurel to sign on Skype, signed on himself, and waited for her to show up as signed on. When she did, he immediately hit the "video call" button.

She answered almost instantly. "Blaine!"

Sometimes Blaine forgot how much he missed his older cousin, especially recently. "Hey, Laurel," he smiled, happy that modern technology allowed him to see her face as they spoke.

"You have some serious explaining to do," she said sternly; he could read on her face, though, that she was more worried than anything.

"I'm fine," Blaine reassured her. "Well, now I am. Things, uh…they haven't exactly been great recently."

"That better come with elaboration. You had me worried sick, you know. But Kurt kept in touch with me and made sure I didn't fly out there and jeopardize my job."

Wait, what?

"Kurt did what?"

"He called me almost every day with updates about Alex and you, although I admit his information on you was vague. Just that you were taking things hard but you'd be better soon. What was he talking about, Blaine? He told me Alex was doing just fine, great even. What were you taking hard? I assumed it was Dick and Aunt Charlotte but I wasn't sure. Is that what it was?"

"No," he said softly. Honestly, he was thrown off by the fact that Kurt kept in contact with Laurel after they broke up. So while they weren't together, Kurt was still visiting Alex frequently and calling Laurel. What did that mean for everyone else in his life? Did Kurt meet up with Carter for lunch every day? Did he call Wes and David too?

"Then what was it?"

Blaine took a deep breath, preparing himself for Laurel's impending overreaction. "Kurt and I broke up."

He shut his eyes and waited for it; waited for Laurel's shocked gasp, her following rant, her lecture, anything. But nothing came. All that was coming from his computer was silence. He had to peek to see that the call hadn't been dropped, but it hadn't; there was Laurel, sitting on the couch, her face just…sad.

"You're not going to say 'I told you so'?"

Laurel shook her head. "Why would I do that?"

"You've been telling me that Kurt and I were destined to break up ever since we got together. This was always the outcome you told me about. You're not going to throw that in my face?"

"Not when I can tell you've been hurting. That explains why I heard from Kurt and not you. He said your phone wasn't working but I didn't believe him. What happened?"

This is where things got kind of tricky, because in order to tell Laurel what happened, he'd have to tell her how he'd broken his implied promise to her.

"Laurel…I broke my promise to you. I didn't stop drinking. I…I just got worse. I got drunk that night, and every night after that for more than a week before Kurt finally got fed up and just said he couldn't do it anymore. He said…He said he couldn't watch me destroy myself anymore. It hurt him too much. And it showed that I didn't care about him at all because if I did I wouldn't put him through that. So he broke up with me."

As he explained what happened, he tried to avoid her gaze, but now he finally chanced a glance up at the computer screen to see her nearly on the verge of tears.

"Oh, Blaine."

"I know. I'm sorry. I really, truly am. I know it's bad. I just…I didn't know what else to do, Laur. But I promise I'm trying to change. And that's serious this time. I…I stopped going to class after it happened. You know how I get and I just…I couldn't deal with life, you know? Without Kurt everything just seemed so pointless. It was worse than after Trevor, Laurel. That's how bad it got…But all that time just thinking made me realize how stupid I was being and that I need to be better for Kurt. I'm really going to change. I hated myself, and if I drank, I could forget how much I hated myself, and then Kurt would always hold me and kiss me after and tell me how much he loved me and how good I was and I lived for those moments, you know? Those moments were great because even though I was a drunk, sobbing mess, I had someone holding me and telling me it was alright.

"But I realized that I can't live that way. And if I hate myself so much, I should just change the parts that I hate. I know that's something I should have figured out a long time ago, but let's face it; I'm slow to catch on to things sometimes."

His cousin sighed but a slight smile graced her features. "Yes, I guess that's true. For the first year you were with me, you kept thinking I was going to kick you out too. It took you that whole year to catch on that I loved you."

"But I came around eventually, right?" Blaine teased, returning the smile.

He was surprised at how easy it was to fall into this comfortable banter.

Blaine had lost his way. That was irrefutable. He got lost in his own life and didn't know how to handle things; before he even knew what was happening, everything just spiraled out of control. It was understandable given the circumstances, but not excusable. He had a lot to make up for, but this is where he had to start; with Laurel.

"It's taken me a while to get to this point," Blaine started, getting back to the more serious heart of their conversation. "And I'm only just starting on my road to get better. It's not going to be easy, and I'll relapse a lot and stumble a lot and make so many more mistakes. But the difference is that now I'll pick myself back up. You have to hit rock bottom before you can start your way back up to the top, right? Well that's where I am. I've hit rock bottom. Losing Kurt…that's my rock bottom. Now I'm starting on my way to go back up and be someone good enough for him.

"And before you say that I already am good enough just for being me, don't, Laurel. Because that's not true, you and I both know that. Who I am right now…I'm not capable of loving anyone properly until I learn to love myself. Kurt deserves someone who can love him the way he loves. That's just not me right now. It will be soon, but it's not right now. It may have taken me a while to get to that conclusion, but I finally made it here, and I'm not stopping until I have him back."

"What can I do to help?" Laurel asked, smile still in place.

Blaine smiled back and shook his head. "Nothing. This is something I have to do on my own. But I appreciate that, Laur. All I want you to do is make sure you're ready for me to crash your party tomorrow for my week-long Thanksgiving break."

"Oh, I am more than ready. I've missed you, Blainers. It'll be nice to have you home."

"Yeah," Blaine echoed, "home."

God, he missed being home.

While his conversation with Laurel was nice, he had other things to take care of as well. He still needed to see Alex one more time before heading home for the entire week.

Which inherently meant seeing his parents also. No matter how much he avoided them, it was something he'd be willing to endure to see his baby brother.

"You okay?" Laurel asked, bringing Blaine back.

"Yeah," he said quickly, flashing her a smile. "Sorry. I was just thinking about Alex. Listen, I haven't seen him since Kurt and I broke up, so I've got to get over there before I leave. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure, of course. I love you, Blainers."

"I love you too, Laur."

Blaine caught one more flash of Laurel's blonde hair before hitting the "end call" button on his Skype window and shutting his laptop. If he was going to see Alex, he wanted to spend as much time with him as he could, so he needed to leave now.

All he had to do was grab the new coat that had mysteriously ended up outside his door one day but looked suspiciously like something Kurt might pick out for him—(Carter must have told Kurt about the lost jacket)—and head out. Since Carter had left yesterday for Amanda's house out in California, Blaine didn't have to worry about notifying his roommate of his whereabouts this time.

Just as he was heading out into the cold November air, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Wes Calling

With a smile, he answered. "Well hello, Wesley. I was just going to be calling you today."

"Really? After nearly a month of no contact you randomly decided to call me today? Or are you just saying that to placate me since I'm calling you right now?" Crap. Wes was pissed. Within reason, but it still stung to hear that tone of voice.

Blaine sighed. "A lot has been going on, man. I'm sorry."

"So I heard. Your boyfriend keeps in touch with David and I better than you do, you know."

Aha. Blaine was right; Kurt had called Wes and David post-breakup.

"Did he fill you in on what's been happening?"

"Kind of. He gave us vague details that David and I had to compare notes on to ensure that he wasn't lying."

"And what was the verdict?"

"All truthful, but vague nonetheless, so why don't you fill me in on what's been happening before I fly from my coast to yours to put all the pieces together myself?"

"Aren't you home for Thanksgiving break anyway?"

"David and I have an apartment off-campus. We stay for short holidays like Thanksgiving. That's beside the point, Blaine. What happened?"

Wes was serious, and that was how Blaine knew this was bad. Because Wes was only serious when it was something he was really, genuinely concerned about. The reason the Warblers all perceived him as the super-serious head council member during his time at Dalton was because Wes cared about the Warblers so much that he wanted to see them succeed at everything they did. He sincerely worried over their successes and failures because he believed in the group and what they did and what they stood for.

Shivering against the cold and snow that had begun to fall, Blaine hugged his coat around himself but continued walking to the Cancer Center as he spoke. "It's a long story but I don't have much time to fill you in. Bottom line: I've been drinking. A lot."

"Blaine—"

"I know. Just listen. I told you when Alex first got sick and my parents came back, and I was helping him with his treatment by being his donor. All of that was going okay for a while. My parents and I had come to some unspoken truce that we were only working together for Alex's sake to make him better, but once he was healthy again they'd be gone. I was okay with that, you know? But then Alex's treatment wasn't working, and my dad…my fucking dad was just…you've heard how he can get. You know the story of how I ended up at Laurel's. You've seen or heard about all of that ugly and it just all started coming back and I couldn't handle it. So I coped the only way I knew how.

"I drank. It wasn't all the time at first, just occasionally, when stuff started blowing up. I'd wait for a frat party and crash it through a friend who's in the fraternity, get wasted on their free alcohol, and leave. But then…I started taking matters into my own hands. I started getting impatient waiting for frat parties and just went and bought my own liquor with my fake ID and drank on the street."

Wes exhaled on the other end. "Shit, Blaine. You got that bad?"

"Yeah," Blaine answered, shutting his eyes briefly at a crosswalk.

"I've never seen you that bad."

"I know. I'd never seen me that bad either. But I was that bad. And it only got worse. It was every night that I'd go and get drunk. Kurt took care of me every night, but it started to be more out of obligation than anything. He cares about me, but that's not easy to do all the time; pick up the shattered pieces of your boyfriend every damn night for weeks…I put him through hell. And he'd had enough."

"No," Wes breathed, and Blaine could tell that his friend was in just as much denial at the situation as Blaine was when it first happened.

"Yes. Kurt and I broke up."

"When was this?"

"Halloween."

"That's just not a good holiday for you is it?"

"I guess not. Anyway, after we broke up, you can imagine what happened…I did that thing where I go mute and hide away and shut out the entire world. I spent two weeks in bed. Literally. I didn't go to class, I didn't go see Alex; the only place I went was the bathroom. The only reason I ate was because Carter kept our grocery supply stocked enough to sustain me."

"He's a good roommate."

"The best. That's why you haven't heard from me in weeks. I kind of…died. In a sense." Blaine looked around and realized that he was about to walk into the Cancer Center. "Hey, Wes, I'm really sorry I've been shutting you out, but I'm about to visit Alex, so can we continue this later?"

"Are you asking or telling me?"

"Telling. We'll continue this later."

"Good answer. I'll have David later as well. He's had the browser window open on his computer to buy airline tickets to New York for a week now, ready to go at any moment."

How had it taken Blaine this long to realize how lucky he was to have friends like them?

"You know, I may call you guys Dumb and Dumber, but I do love you."

"We love you too, man. Call me back later."

"I will."

Just as he rounded the corner for Alex's hall, Blaine ended the call. Perfect timing, too, since his parents were in the hall talking to Dr. Pierson. The conversation screeched to a halt the second his father—both eyes now looking healthy again—noticed him coming and glared. Charlotte followed suit, and Dr. Pierson turned kind eyes on him, the only in the bunch.

"Where the hell have you been?" his father grunted.

"That stopped being your business when you signed papers legally releasing you of your parental duties to me, as you so love to remind me," Blaine returned, matching his father's cold tone.

Dr. Pierson cleared his throat. "Good to see you again, Blaine. I hope you're feeling better."

"Much, thank you."

"Kurt has been here often to reassure Alex that you would be coming soon, but I think he lost hope about a week ago. He's awake now, if you'd like to go ahead in and make his day."

Blaine smiled gratefully at Dr. Pierson. "I'd love to. Before I do, though, what were you three discussing as I showed up?"

"It's about Alex, Blaine. It doesn't concern you," Charlotte snapped.

"Really?" Blaine scoffed. "I only donated my bone marrow through an extremely painful procedure—twice—but no, Mom, you're right. It probably doesn't concern me at all."

Unbelievable. After everything he'd done for them, despite all they'd done to him, his parents were shutting him out against his own brother. What would happen when Alex was in remission for good and could go home again? How long would it be until he could see his brother again? Months? Years? Would Alex even remember him the next time they saw each other?

"Well," Dr. Pierson said, giving Blaine a pointed look and shutting his chart, "I have other patients to attend to. But just so we're clear, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, I was saying that Alex's numbers have been looking incredibly good these past few days. It's highly probable that your youngest son is going into remission and will be ready to go home soon. I'll be by later this evening for one final round before I head home for the night."

As he watched the doctor wink at him and walk down the hall, Blaine thought of not for the first time how much he loved Dr. Pierson. So, so much.

With one final glare at his parents, Blaine headed inside the room.

The look on Alex's face to see him was well worth anything the world could throw at him.

"B'aine!" Alex shouted, nearly jumping out of bed.

"Whoa, buddy, how about I come to you?" Blaine laughed, walking over to the bed and sitting down on the edge.

Alex immediately threw himself into Blaine's arms. "Where did you go, B'ainey?"

B'ainey. That was a new one. Laurel would be thrilled to hear it.

"I was sick," Blaine answered, giving Alex one final squeeze before letting go and settling Alex back down.

It was evident in the boy's face just how much better he was doing. The first time Blaine came to visit him, he was so pale and small, his breathing ragged and his eyes so tired. Now, Alex looked full of life. He had more color in his cheeks, a little more meat on his bones, and his breathing was great taking into consideration that he was excited at the moment.

"Like how I'm sick?"

"Not quite. How have you been, little man?"

"The doctor says I'm gettin' better!" Alex beamed, looking so proud of himself.

As he should be. The kid fought hard for his health. "That's good, Alex. Good job! I'm so proud of you."

If Alex was going to be stuck with Richard and Charlotte Anderson, he needed to hear that someone was proud of him as much as he could now.

"I don't have hair to play wif anymore," he said sadly, touching his head.

Blaine winced at the fuzzy blackness on Alex's head now, replacing the voluminous curls that were there before.

"That's okay, I can still do somethin' for you. How about I scratch your back? Sound good?"

"Yeah!"

Alex crawled to the foot of the bed to allow Blaine space to fully lie on the bed, then settled into his big brother's lap in their usual position.

For the next few hours, Alex and Blaine watched some cartoons while Blaine scratched Alex's back and arms, relishing in his time together with his brother. Their parents must have gone back to the condo to avoid being in the same room with Blaine, which was fine by him. The less he saw of them during his alcoholism recovery the better.

He asked Alex about Kurt and found out that Kurt had been checking up on him whenever the Andersons weren't there. It made Blaine smile to know that Kurt had been so concerned for Alex that he'd worked out the Andersons schedule just to sneak in and see Alex. It also made him smile to know that Dr. Pierson looked the other way as someone who wasn't family visited Alex because he knew Kurt and his connection to Blaine.

But that was something to focus on later, when he was in the dark place and needed happy things to consume his mind. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy what could potentially be his last few hours with his baby brother before his parents disappeared again, this time taking his brother with them.

…

November 18, 2012

It only took Blaine about 10 seconds after he stepped off of the plane before he spotted Laurel's little blonde head, standing at the wrong gate, looking for him. Laughing to himself, he walked over to the gate she was waiting at, tip-toed up behind her, and leaned into her ear to say, "Looking for someone?"

Laurel jumped and gasped, then turned around and slapped Blaine's arm. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"I hope not literally."

Instead of coming up with a witty retort, his cousin just grinned and threw her arms around him, holding him tight. It felt so nice to be hugged by Laurel again. Granted, he'd seen her for a short while in New York about a month ago, but that was nothing compared to knowing he had the week with her.

"I'm not even going to tell you how stupid you are because I'm just glad you're good enough to joke with me again," she said into his chest.

"You weren't even there to see me when I wasn't good."

"Sometimes silence speaks louder than words."

That was definitely true.

Blaine pulled away from Laurel with a watery smile. "Ready to go home?"

"More than ready."

They headed to baggage claim to get Blaine's suitcase, grabbed a quick lunch in one of the restaurants in the airport, and drove home. Blaine had almost forgotten how much his cousin meant to him in their time apart, but now that he was with her again and they had the opportunity to talk and joke and have fun and just enjoy each other's presence again, he was reminded of the very beginning of their friendship before he came out to his parents.

Their relationship had been great in those first couple of years, with Blaine texting her and calling her whenever he just needed someone. They had this habit of snapping random pictures of themselves and whatever they were doing and sending them to the other, that way it was almost like they were sharing their day together. He'd always wanted an older sibling to be close to, and although now he was that older sibling to Alex, he would never have that older brother or sister himself; but Laurel was even better.

After his parents kicked him out, everything he believed about love and relationships shattered. If love was supposed to be unconditional, why did his parents' love for him hinge on who he fell in love with? Parents were supposed to love you no matter what. If his own parents claimed to love him then left him, then surely no one else would stay. "I love you" turned from a promise of forever to a promise of abandonment. In Blaine's warped adolescent mind, the second someone told him they loved him, it sealed the deal that one day, they'd leave. And he would be alone, waiting for the next person to hold him then leave him in the dust.

That's why it took him a year of being with Laurel to realize that she wouldn't abandon him; kick him out on the street and leave him to fend for himself. She would be there for him for forever, really and truly. Laurel was his only constant.

"Blaine?"

He was pulled from his thoughts on the drive home when Laurel called his name, catching his attention. They were pulling into their driveway, and there was a figure on their doorstep.

"Yes?"

"Do you know that kid?"

Blaine squinted, trying to figure out who that was. He'd never seen him before in his life, but the kid was sitting on a suitcase, which means he'd been prepared to stay with Blaine for an extended period of time. Which meant they must know each other. Right?

"I'm not sure," he said, getting out of the car. Cautiously, he walked towards the guy—who looked about high school age—and gave a little wave. "Hi, there."

The boy stood up, looking startled. "Umm…"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Blaine asked.

"Your voice sounds different on the phone than in person," the kid said.

With that one sentence, Blaine instinctively knew who this kid was. "Scotty?"

"Yeah," Scotty said, nodding. "Yeah, hey. I'm sorry, I just—"

"What are you doing here?" His tone wasn't harsh, but more out of concern. Scotty was supposed to be in California.

"Blaine?" Laurel said, bringing his suitcase with her to the door. "Do you know this kid?"

"Yeah, this is Scotty, my roommate's girlfriend's brother. Who's supposed to be in California right now. Does Amanda know you're here?" Blaine questioned, redirecting his attention back to Scotty.

Scotty shook his head, and Blaine could see now that he'd been crying.

Laurel held up her keys. "Okay, how about this? Let's go inside and we can all talk and figure out what's going on with some ice cream. Sound good?"

"Sure," Blaine nodded, seeing Scotty's hesitant expression.

It was clear that Scotty was in a very similar place to where Blaine was when he was his age. Blaine's heart broke a little bit as he took Scotty's suitcase along with his own and rolled them both inside with him. Laurel headed straight for the kitchen but Blaine started for his room to put the luggage down. He looked behind him to see Scotty standing in the doorway, looking unsure.

"Do you want to come to my room?" Blaine asked him.

Scotty looked up like he didn't realize he'd been spoken to but nodded, so Blaine cocked his head in the direction of his room as a gesture for Scotty to follow. They headed down the hall and when Blaine opened the door to his room, he was almost shocked to see it the exact same way he left it. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but it was strange to be in his room that he hadn't seen in months and have it be the same as when he'd left.

He set the two suitcases down and flopped onto his bed on his back, shutting his eyes and sighing. God, he'd missed his own bed instead of that stiff dorm mattress. When he opened his eyes he remembered that Scotty was here.

"You can sit down or something, buddy. You don't have to stay standing like that."

Scotty only shrugged and kicked the carpet. Not good. Blaine refused to let what happened to him happen to Scotty. He had to get the kid talking again.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"You mean besides my mom dying and then my dad and being left with no one and having to deal with everyone at school harassing me on a daily basis with no sympathy for my family falling apart?"

Blaine winced. He'd wanted Scotty to talk, though, so this was progress.

"I'm sorry about your dad. Your mom too, but your dad was more recent, so I'm more sorry about that."

"That's all anyone seems to be saying to me these days. Unless you're the one that gave him lung cancer and killed him, I don't see any reason for you to be sorry," Scotty said, lying on his back beside Blaine.

He sighed, and just as he was about to say something, his phone began vibrating in his pocked. He caught Carter's name on the ID and immediately answered. "He's with me. He's safe."

Carter exhaled with relief on the other end of the line. "Oh, thank God. I was going to ask if you'd heard from him."

"Yeah, I just got home to find him sitting on my doorstep."

"Damn it, Scotty. Amanda has been losing her shit for hours looking for him."

"You want to talk to him?" Blaine asked, glancing over at Scotty. The boy beside him began fiercely shaking his head, eyes wide. "Actually, he's in the bathroom. I'll have him call Amanda later though. Just let her know he's safe with me."

"Thank you, man."

"Not a problem. We'll figure it all out tonight."

"Yeah. Bye."

Blaine hung up, tossing his phone at the pillows above his head. "Want to tell me now?"

"I just couldn't take it anymore," Scotty whispered. "Everyone was always crying. Thomas just shut himself in Dad's room and cried all day while Amelia ran all over the house calling out for him, like it was some stupid game of hide and seek. And Amanda kept trying to micro-manage everything. I know it's hard for her now that she has to take care of all of us, but she just runs around keeping herself busy with chores and never slowing down. First it was for the funeral, then it was for all the stuff in the will or whatever, now she's just being…like Mom. She does the grocery shopping and the cooking and the cleaning and takes us to school and picks us up. It's weird. She's supposed to be my older sister, not my mother. And she keeps a smile on all day long, but I can hear her crying at night.

"Carter being there helped a little bit, but he just had that pitying expression on and kept trying to get me to talk to him about everything, discuss how I feel or whatever. I don't want to talk about how I feel. I just want to mourn my dad on my own. Why is that so hard for everyone to understand? Then at school, everyone heard, but no one cares. Before I was one of those gay kids, which was alright because at least then I had all the other gay kids to identify with and hang out with, but now I'm that gay orphan. I'm in a group all by myself and no one really knows what to do or say. My friends are awkward around me now, so they've been pulling away, which leaves me wide open for all the homophobes to swoop in."

"What are they doing to you?" Blaine inquired hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

Scotty took a deep, shuddery breath; he was about to cry, and Blaine could tell. But that knowledge didn't prepare him for the quiver in Scotty's voice when he spoke. "They say stuff like the gay in me is an epidemic killing my family and it's only a matter of time before I die too. They…they keep telling me I might as well just kill myself now to save my brother and sisters while I still can."

"Fuck," Blaine breathed. "I thought San Francisco was supposed to be the gay capitol of the world, safe for you."

"So did I. I guess I found the one high school in San Francisco that isn't gay-friendly."

Blaine jumped when Laurel shouted, "Ice cream, boys!" but didn't move other than that. He knew Laurel deserved an explanation, but Scotty was now actually crying, not just having a couple tears. Blaine wanted to hold him the way Kurt always held him when he cried, but he knew that wouldn't help; he wouldn't be as good at it as Kurt was.

"Be right there!" Blaine called back, just so Laurel knew he wasn't ignoring her. She probably understood they needed a second.

Then the thought occurred to him: if he couldn't be like Kurt, why not just bring in the real thing?

"Scotty, I'm going to go get our ice cream really quickly and be right back, okay?"

His face was covered with his hands, probably embarrassed to be crying, but Scotty nodded so Blaine headed out. His cell phone was still on the bed, but he could use the landline phone in the kitchen. He went straight for the phone, bypassing Laurel and the ice cream at the table completely.

Laurel stared at him. "Who are you calling?"

"Kurt," he answered, dialing the number he knew by heart.

"Are you sure you should be calling him? I mean you two…"

"I know. We broke up. But Scotty needs him."

He waited a ring, two rings, three rings— "Hello?"

"Kurt?"

Kurt's voice sounded surprised. "Blaine? What happened?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, knowing Kurt probably assumed it was something bad with him. "I mean, something, but it's not about me. It's about Scotty."

"Scotty? Amanda's brother?"

"Yeah. He's here. I don't know how he got out here, but he's here and he's crying and I don't know how to fix it but you're really good at putting me back together so I just figured—"

"Yes, I'll be there in 20 minutes."

Blaine let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Really?"

"Of course."

"Thank you."

"See you soon, Blaine."

"Bye, Kurt."

It was weird having a conversation with Kurt that didn't end in "I love you," but he'd have to get used to it for now. He hung up the phone and faced Laurel. "Sorry. You know my roommate, Carter. His girlfriend, Amanda, has 3 younger siblings and one of them is Scotty. Their mom died 6 years ago and now their father just died a few weeks ago. He gets bullied at school a lot, too, and just having that piled on with his dad dying has been hard. He lives in California, I'm not sure how he got here, but he just needed someone to be there for him aside from the shaky family he has now."

Laurel pursed her lips but stood up, grabbing two of the bowls of ice cream from the table and offering them to Blaine. "Is he gay?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I just wanted to know. Here's the ice cream."

Blaine took the proffered bowls but stayed standing there, looking into his cousin's eyes. "Thank you, Laurel. Really. I promise I'll explain everything in a way that makes sense later, but for now, thank you."

"You're welcome."

He went back to his room and found Scotty now sitting up, tears wiped away. He held out a bowl of ice cream to him, which Scotty accepted, but other than that said nothing. They ate in silence, then set their bowls down and remained quiet, neither really knowing what to say to the other.

After a while, Blaine heard a knock on the door, and Laurel opening it, and voices. Except there were too many voices for it to be just Kurt, and one of them was really low. Who else did Kurt bring?

Blaine got his answer when both Kurt and Burt Hummel came into his room. He hastily stood up from the bed. "Hello, Mr. Hummel. Hi, Kurt."

Seeing Kurt again gave him a physical pain in his chest, but he'd revisit that later. Right now he was intimidated by his ex-boyfriend's father—who had become like a father figure to him—standing in his room.

"Blaine, why don't you let Kurt and Scotty talk alone, and you and I can have a chat in the hall?"

He gulped. That did not sound good. But who was he to argue with Burt Hummel? So with one last long look at Kurt, he followed Burt in to the hall and shut the door behind them. "Yes sir?"

"I told you if you ever hurt my son, I'd hunt you down. That's what I'm doin' now."

Shit. This is not how Blaine pictured he would die. "Mr. Hummel—"

"I think we're at the point of first-name basis by now, don't you?"

Blaine nodded, because he was too afraid to say anything in contrary to anything the man before him said. "Burt—"

"Tell me everything." The tone of Burt's voice in that moment made Blaine do a double take. Surely, he'd heard wrong, because it sounded to him like Burt's voice was more tender than stern.

"I'm sorry?"

"I want to know everything. Kurt is the master of making you think you know everything when really he's told you absolutely nothing. So I have no way of knowin' if I've got the story straight or not unless I ask you. 'Cause I know you'd never lie to me, would ya?"

"No, sir. I wouldn't."

"Good. So tell me what's been goin' on."

Blaine took a deep breath. Honestly, he was getting kind of tired of explaining this to everyone all the time. How many more times would he have to tell this story? Regardless, he dove in, explaining everything to this man that had become more of a father to him in a day than his biological father was to him in years. He was careful not to leave anything out, even if there was a chance Burt had already heard it, because there was also the chance he hadn't. So he told him all about Alex getting sick, and his parents using him as the donor, and his drinking getting worse and worse and then worst, and the broken shell of a person that he'd become, and the way Kurt stuck through it all even when he really should have left so much sooner. And he told him about the one night when, after everything, it was just too much, and Kurt couldn't put himself through it anymore, so he left.

It was funny, Blaine had regaled this story many times, but up until now he'd never really realized the weight of the situation. Kurt left. He was gone. They'd broken up. They weren't together anymore. To Blaine's mind, he and Soulmate were destined to be together forever, so he'd never really thought about this as anything more than a short separation until he got his shit together; but now, telling Kurt's dad, it seemed more real, more likely that maybe he'd been wrong, and maybe the universe really didn't want he and Kurt together. Maybe they'd been brought together for just one epic love, and now Blaine had screwed that up, and he'd lost it forever.

He didn't realize that he'd started thinking out loud, or that he'd started crying at the thought of losing Kurt forever, until he felt Burt clap a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Burt frowning at him.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, Blaine; you're family. I love you, Carole loves you, even Finn loves you, and despite everything, my son still loves you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I haven't seen Kurt cry over losing someone like that since he lost his mother. And you're still here for him to go back to." He had to break eye contact at that, because hearing it made that pain in his chest return. "But now that I've heard everything, I have a feeling he's been crying more for you than for the loss of you."

Blaine opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but closed it again, because he knew exactly what that meant. Kurt told him what that meant on That Day. He'd said that it killed him to see Blaine do that to himself, it was hurting him to see how much Blaine was hurting himself. Kurt was crying not only because he and Blaine weren't together anymore and he missed him, but because Blaine had been suffering and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

He thought back to the time when he could see his own hurt reflected in Kurt's eyes, after he saw his parents at the grocery store. He could tell that it was hurting Kurt to see Blaine hurting, that they really did share everything, the good and the bad. On that day, Kurt had been in pain because Blaine was in pain. Blaine never thought about that after that day, how his actions of hurting himself would hurt Kurt as well, just because they were that connected.

"I'm sorry I've put your son through so much, Burt. I'm working on making it better. I promise. I'm working on being good enough for him."

"He told me that much. I think he was more worried about defending you than anything when he was telling me you two ended things. He was concerned I'd bring my shotgun when we came here today."

In spite of the situation, Blaine laughed. "Yeah, I was a little terrified when I saw you here, too."

Before he knew what was happening, he felt himself being tugged into an embrace. "You're my son, too, you know. I care about your well-being just as much as I care about Kurt's. You may have hurt Kurt, but you were hurting yourself too, and I'm more upset with you about that."

That pain surged in his chest again, and he almost flinched when he realized it was psychological. His chest was aching because his heart was broken.

"Before the new year comes around, I promise to you, I'll be good enough for your son. I'll be worthy of the love he gives me, and I'll be able to give it back just as much."

"I'll remember that promise for December 31st."

"I'm counting on it."

When they pulled away, Blaine wiped at his eyes again, trying to rid his face of the annoying tears, and turned to re-enter his room.

"Hey, Blaine?"

Blaine turned around again to face Burt, hand still on the doorknob. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry about your parents. I know it wasn't easy for you to have them walk back into your life like that. And I hope you've come to think of me as kind of a father-figure, you know?"

"You have no idea how much that means to me, Burt," Blaine said, smiling. "I've thought of you as my father since that first night I spent at your house."

"Good. You can go on in there now. I'll go have a talk with Laurel."

That sounded daunting, but Blaine nodded and proceeded back inside his room. Kurt and Scotty were sitting cross-legged on his bed, facing each other, and laughing.

"Everything alright in here?" Blaine asked.

The two boys on his bed turned their heads to look at him. Kurt smiled. "Everything is going to be just fine."

"Except you didn't tell me you and Kurt broke up, Blaine," Scotty accused, eyes harsh. "Why wouldn't you tell me something like that?"

"You have your own stuff to deal with. I didn't want to throw mine on you too."

"After everything you've helped me with, it would have been nice to return the favor."

Blaine sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. He was about to say something when Kurt cut in. "I called Amanda, and we decided that it would be best if Scotty stayed the week here. He's off from school Wednesday through Friday anyway, so there's no harm in missing Monday and Tuesday. Scotty will be staying with you over Thanksgiving break to kind of get away from everything back home. I didn't think you would mind."

"Not at all," Blaine said, amazed at how well Soulmate could take a chaotic situation and have it completely under control in under an hour. "I'm afraid you'll be a little bored, though, Scotty. I have a lot of homework to catch up on."

"That's the understatement of the year," Kurt muttered, catching Blaine's eyes.

It looked like Kurt was fighting between an expression of amusement or sadness, so Blaine settled the battle for him by teasing, "Yeah, yeah. You could help me, you know. We have some of the same classes, even if we only have one actually together."

Kurt cleared his throat and stood up. "I don't think that would be a very good idea right now. But you're more than capable of completing the work on your own." Kurt turned his attention to Scotty and said, "You have my number if you need anything at all. Just call me and I'll come right over, okay?"

Blaine watched Scotty nod and thought of a time when it was Blaine that Kurt was saying that to.

"I'll see you later, Scotty. Bye, Blaine."

Kurt started heading for the door when Blaine stood up and followed him, catching him by the wrist. "Kurt, wait."

"Yes?" Kurt looked down at his wrist where Blaine was holding it and back up at Blaine. Their eyes met and Blaine almost fainted from the overwhelming desire to just kiss him.

But he couldn't do that. He wasn't allowed to anymore. "I, uh…"

"Blaine."

"I just wanted to say I miss you," Blaine finally got out, still gazing into Kurt's eyes.

Time stopped for a moment, and it was like it was just the two of them; just their breathing and their heartbeats and their bodies and their lives, and nothing else mattered. Kurt sighed and brought a hand up to cup Blaine's cheek. Blaine closed his eyes and leaned into it, but when he went to kiss Kurt's palm, Kurt pulled away.

"I miss you too," he said, and then he was gone.

Even after he'd left the room and shut the door, Blaine remained in place, staring at the void where Kurt's presence had been just moments before.

"I don't get it," Scotty said, breaking Blaine's thoughts, "if you guys are still in love, why did you two break up?"

Blaine shook his head and turned around, facing Scotty. "How do you know we're still in love?"

Scotty laughed. "I'm sorry, did you think I wasn't here when you two just did…whatever it was you just did? If that's not love I don't know what is."

The fact that even Scotty could see they were still in love was just the confidence boost he needed. Maybe hope wasn't lost. Sure, Blaine's heart was broken, and Kurt was evading spending time with Blaine even though it was so obvious he wanted to, but they still had a shot. There was still a chance Blaine could fix everything he broke.

First, though, he had homework to do.