"Kurt, come in here, please!" Burt called out from the living room.

"H-hi, Dad," Kurt stammered out.

"Son, I gotta talk to you. I'm sure you're hurting right now and I'm sure the last thing you want to talk about is Blaine-" Kurt's face flinched at the sound of his name. "-but I talked to his father today."

Burt goes to see Mr. Anderson

Burt walked into the Christopher Columbus Diner at noon, in Columbus, Ohio. His buddy Nico said that Henry Anderson frequented this diner every work day on his lunch break at noon like clockwork. He always sat in the same seat: fourth stool in from the right at the counter. Burt didn't need a picture to see which man in a business suit was Blaine's father. Even from behind, he could tell.

Henry Anderson had the same black curly hair that Blaine had, combed over right to left with plenty of gel. Blaine obviously got his skin color from his father as well. The olive tint was very prominent in the warm diner. Burt counted his lucky stars that the stool next to Henry was empty. He had a plan to allude this man into talking to him about Blaine before he dropped the bomb that he already knew who he was.

He took a seat next to Henry and the waitress greeted him immediately. "Coffee please. Black," he asked.

Henry glanced over to the man next to him, thinking the voice sounded familiar. Burt caught his eye and said a friendly, yet manly, "Hey how ya doin?" and turned his face back to a menu. Henry was looking at a newspaper. "Hey, you got the sports section? I mean, if you're done with it."

"Yeah, sure," Henry said conversationally and thumbed through the pages, pulling out the entire section.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem."

The waitress came back and asked if Burt was ready to order. "Turkey on rye, no fries. Can I have a salad instead, please?" Burt hated skipping out on his french fries, but knew this would catch anyone's attention. The waitress went away to place the order with the kitchen.

"That's a first," Henry commented still looking at his newspaper. "I've never seen anyone turn down their fries here. They make them themselves."

Burt smiled, knowing he had an in. "Yeah, my son has me on a strict diet. I had a heart attack this past year and he'd kill me if he found out I cheated." Henry made a face. Burt pretended to be looking at the articles pertaining to baseball. "You know. That kid. He's so fast and in shape. I practically begged him to go out for his school's baseball team and he said he'd rather do glee club. Can you believe it? What kind of guy would rather sing and dance than have a bunch of girls rooting for you in the stands?" Burt hated pretending that he didn't support Kurt, but knew this had to be done.

Henry coughed. "Uh, my son's in his school's glee club too."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. The glee club at his school is a bit prestigious, so…"

"Your boy play sports?"

"He used to do swim team, but quit to focus more on his studies. He goes to a private school."

"Nice. Which one?"

"Dalton Academy."

"Oh no kidding! My son used to go there."

Henry perked up, suddenly very interested in the conversation. "It's my alma matter." He held out his hand. "Name's Anderson. Henry Anderson."

Burt took his hand and shook it. "Burt Hummel." He smiled pleasantly, but there was an obvious 'got ya' twist behind it. The smile on Henry's face fell and he slipped his hand out of Burt's grasp. "I'm Kurt's father." He waited, knowing Henry had put the pieces together, but didn't know what to say. "Kurt and your boy-"

"I know who you are," Henry interjected, trying not to yell. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Blaine."

"What about him?"

"Well, your son is great. A little troubled right now, but otherwise a real great kid. He's done a lot for my son." Burt eyed the curly haired man carefully. It was obvious there was something there that showed that he cared, but it was masked by the fact he was bothered.

"What do you mean, troubled?"

"Well, he just broke up with Kurt yesterday completely out of the blue with some bogus reason about how Kurt's the reason you hate him."

"I don't hate- I don't hate my son," he said in a hushed tone, glancing around.

"What are you looking around for? No one is paying attention and I'm sure no one cares that you have a son that's-"

"Don't say it."

"Say what? Gay? Why not? My son's gay. Hell, my son's gayer than Christmas. But, you know what? I love him anyway. He has an amazingly big heart, he doesn't throw himself around, he doesn't push his ways on anyone else, and he doesn't ask for anything." He paused to give the man time to process what he was saying.

Mr. Anderson looked like he'd been caught in a lie. "You don't care that Kurt is…"

"I gotta tell you, I learned a long time ago that life is short. Kurt lost his mother and I lost my wife when he was eight and up until last year, it's been just the two of us. If I let him down and treated him the way some other parents treat their out of the closet kids, I would be alone. I'm married with a step-son now because Kurt introduced me to the woman I am now married too. Kurt took care of me when I had a heart attack and continues to take care of me. He doesn't try to change me and I don't try to change him. He doesn't want anything from anyone. He only wants to be happy and what parent doesn't want that for their kid?"

"I think you and I have gotten the wrong idea about one another."

"I think you're right. If you don't mind, I'd like to buy you a cup of coffee and talk about Blaine. It's clear that you love your son. I don't disagree with you on that one, but I think you've lost sight of what his life is like."

Over the next hour, Burt and Henry drank several cups of coffee and talked about their sons: their relationship through the eyes of Burt, Blaine's struggles, Kurt's struggles, their friendship, nothing went left unsaid.

"I owe a lot to Blaine. Kurt was getting it so bad at his school and said nothing to no one about any of it. The second he met Blaine, Blaine took him under his wing with no questions asked. I'm not nearly as smart a man as Kurt already is, but I tried really hard to understand anything and everything I could to be there for him. Blaine just knew what to say and how to handle Kurt. I thought this kid was a savior sent from god knows where to help me deal with the shock that I had a gay son. I knew something was wrong though the second Kurt started bringing him around to our family dinners. Blaine never really wanted to seem to leave, even before they got together. You'd get this feeling that he was hanging onto the family aspect of it."

"Kurt and Blaine… are they…sleeping together." Henry was cautious when talking. He wasn't sure what words to say.

"Uh… I don't know, to be honest. I've caught them making out a few times and I've overheard a couple of their conversations, but I don't know if they're having sex."

"How do you deal with all that? Seeing your son being intimate with another guy."

Burt took a deep breath and thought about his words carefully. "Well, by now, it's normal, but at first it was almost like I had to get used to the idea that the hope he'd be with a woman wasn't a reality and was never going to be a reality. When I caught them kissing I'd make a joke about it because they were just as embarrassed as I was and if we all laughed about it, then it made it easier."

"How did you deal with everyone else's opinions?"

"To be honest, I didn't. I got angry. I still do. It's hard for a parent to see their child being shunned or treated like less of a person. Kurt's just a really good kid. The best kind of person. And Blaine… Blaine is like a whole different breed of person. He's got a great sense of humor, incredibly selfless, great taste in football and basketball teams, he's patient and protective of the ones he loves. He's driven and never fails to succeed. It wasn't until recently that he did something I didn't understand."

"What did he do?"

"He broke up with Kurt."

"You mentioned that."

"My step-son, Finn said that Blaine didn't seem like himself. They had a date last Saturday. Kurt came home happy, then Blaine ignored him for two days and broke up with him on the second day. I haven't heard anything from Kurt yet, but Finn told me that Kurt kept saying 'tell me the truth.' I really want to say my son didn't do anything, but I can't know that for sure."

Henry glanced at his watch. His lunch break had long been over. "What should I do?"

"Call him. Invite him home and instead of parading him around the country club, talk with him. Give the kid a hug. He needs it. It will be hard and uncomfortable, but you really need to meet your son. He's an amazing kid, despite what he's been through, and I think you'd be really proud. The fact that he's gay has nothing to do with it. He's attracted to other guys, so what? That doesn't change who he is as a person. I think you'll like the kid you meet."

"Thanks, Burt."

"You're welcome."

Back at the house with Kurt

"Why did you do that?" Kurt asked like he sounded guilty.

"Because I owed Blaine a favor. I don't know what's going on with you two, but he helped you when I didn't know how and I owed it to him be someone he could count on at least once.'

"How did you find him?"

"I do a guy's tires. My buddy Nico, is a private investigator. I worked in trade to find Mr. Anderson." He took a good look at his son. "How you hangin in there?"

"I've definitely been better, but Zach really helped me today."

"You guys definitely over?"

"I guess. I'm confused though. He told me to not contact him. He wanted me to stop calling him and all that, but today, I check my phone and he left a whole slew of calls and text messages asking me to call him. Dad, what should I do?"

"Call him. What's the harm in it?"

"You think? I don't know if I could handle anything else from him at the moment."

"Then let him know that."

"Yeah?"

'Yeah."

"Thanks Dad."

"You're welcome."