At three-thirty Kurt was sitting in his car in the Anderson driveway. He'd been sitting there for a half hour already and had Blaine's homework in his lap. He was nervous. His heart was beating fast and he was trying to convince himself not to leave. He'd already decided he was going to go inside. Today was the day he'd re-meet Blaine, but actually doing it was another thing entirely. Imagine meeting your soul mate, knowing that person was your soul mate, and wishing that they knew it too.

His head was filled with questions like: what if he doesn't like me? What if I say the wrong thing? What if his parents are mad at me and no longer want me to come around? Yeah… he was nervous. I can do this, he told himself. He took a deep breath and got out of the car. He looked up at the house the Anderson's had recently bought in Lima just before school had started. It was white with black shutters and a red door, very suburban. They had planned to remodel the house, inside and out, but with Blaine happening, they had only managed remodeling the master bathroom and having a masonry worker redesign their driveway and walkway. It looked like The Anderson's hadn't had any more work done since before the accident.

Kurt, Carol, and Claire, Blaine's sister, helped Blaine's mother with the gardening around the front and back of the yard. He also helped Blaine pick out the color scheme and decorative design of Blaine's room. All the paint was bought, but the room was yet to be painted.

He remembered the day Blaine told him he was going to be transferring to McKinley. He almost cried… almost.

Blaine had picked up Kurt for a date in August and drove up to the house. Kurt asked what they were doing there and Blaine said he liked the house.

"You do?" Kurt asked. "It's nothing compared to the mansion you live in. This house looks like an unfinished garment."

"It needs some work, yes, but I think my parents bought a great suburban home for me, my sister, and Mom and Dad to live in. Maybe if they re-sided the house in vinyl with a cream color and had hunter green shutters with a door in the same color."

"I don't know about cream. Maybe some form of yellow- Wait… Did you just say that you parents just bought this house?"

Blaine smiled his perfect smile and Kurt leapt across the seat. He wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck and pressed his lips to Blaine's. "Really?" Kurt squealed. "This is two blocks away from my house. We're practically neighbors."

"Yes really."

"Are you still going to Dalton?"

"Nope. McKinley."

Kurt smashed his lips to Blaine's again dipping his tongue into Blaine's mouth.

"You inspired me, Kurt. When you came back here and faced all those people who chased you away… You're amazing and I can't imagine going through life without honoring what you did. If I stayed at Dalton, I wouldn't feel worthy of you. I had to be just as strong as you. I love you."

That was the point where Kurt almost cried. "Babe, you don't need to prove anything. After the year we had… James, Thad, Zach… I'm pretty sure we fought hard enough to prove we belong together. I'm just so happy I get to spend my senior year with you."

"Our senior year," Blaine corrected.

Back in the present, Kurt's ears were ringing with his own words: after the year we've had. It was true. Last year was fraught with anxiety and drama. Between distance and people getting in their way, it almost ruined them. We were supposed to ride off into the sunset together. Live happily ever after. Kurt took another deep breath and started walking towards the house. Maybe Quinn was right last year. Happily ever after doesn't exist. This is my reality now. He'd gotten as far as the walkway when Henry Anderson opened the front door. He looked like he was trying to open and shut the door as quietly as possible. Kurt stopped in his tracks when Henry shut the door and faced Kurt completely. "H-Hi, Mr. Anderson," Kurt stammered. He swallowed hard.

Henry met Kurt at the bottom of the porch steps. "You know the mailbox is over there," he stated more informatively than sarcastically. He pointed to the end of the driveway.

"Yeah," Kurt said apologetically. "I'm really sorry. It's just that I was-"

Henry waved his hand to stop Kurt from explaining. "I don't care. I'm not going to ask why you haven't been answering our calls or come to see Blaine, who's been asking to see you since he woke up in the hospital. But you would have known that if you answered the phone once in a while." Kurt opened his mouth to speak, but Henry cut him off again. "As it is, you're here now and this isn't about you or me. It's about Blaine. Now, I'm going to go back inside and you're going to ring the doorbell. Blaine will answer the door. Try not to look as sad as you do right now. It makes him upset because he thinks this whole thing is his fault and when people are sad he thinks he's letting them down."

Kurt took a deep breath. "Okay. I can manage a smile."

"How long are you staying?"

"I hadn't really made a plan."

"Dinner?" Henry asked.

"If you'll have me."

"Unless Blaine kicks you out, which I doubt, you're welcome to stay as long as you want." Without another word, Henry turned and slipped back inside.

Kurt concentrated on his breathing and counted to one hundred. He pressed his finger to the doorbell and waited. Less than a minute went by and the door opened. His heart was beating fast and hard. It was like time slowed while his heart beat quickened. The door opened and then there was a curly haired, hazel eyed, olive skinned boy in front of him.

The two boys stared at each other for a while in complete silence. They took in each other's features as if seeing each other for the first time all over again. For Blaine it was the first time, but for Kurt he was still taken with Blaine's sheer manly beauty.

"H-Hi," Kurt finally said, breaking the silence.

"Hello," Blaine answered.

"I'm K-"

"Kurt. You're Kurt. I recognize you from the pictures."

Kurt nodded and there was silence again.

"Do you want to come in?" The discourse was awkward, but Blaine seemed to be mildly in a state of awe. Not overdone, but it was there.

Kurt's face appeared to perk up. He almost smiled. I love you, he said in his head. Simply because I love you was Kurt's first reaction, Kurt's heart sank. He wanted to say it out loud. He so desperately wanted to say it. "Sure."

Blaine stepped to the side of the door and let Kurt come in. Once inside, Kurt slipped off his shoes and an older voice called out his name. He turned and saw Blaine's brother, Jared, walking towards him with a smile. "It's really good to see you." He gave Kurt a quick hug.

At least someone's happy to see me, Kurt thought. He'd always liked Jared.

"Really good to see who?" asked a voice off in the distance. Kurt heard heels on their hardwood floor. "Oh Kurt!" Blaine's older sister, Claire, was the epitome of a gorgeous girl. Long, dark, flowing hair. Wavy, not curly like the Anderson men, but just as shiny. She had Blaine's perfect features: full lips, honey eyes, and high cheekbones. She was taller than Blaine, 5'10" easily. Model height. She could probably be a model if she wanted to, but no, she chose the family practice: law. As a matter of fact, Blaine was slated to be the only child to not be a lawyer. Not that he parents pressured him into anything after he came out. They used to, but since Burt Hummel entered Henry's life, Henry became a whole new man.

Claire swept Kurt up in a hug and pecked him on the cheek. Kurt was her favorite shopping partner whenever she came for a visit. Kurt flashed a glance at Blaine. Clearly Claire's reaction to Kurt confused Blaine.

The commotion roused Blaine's parents from another room. "Who was at the door? Kurt!" Henry exclaimed happily.

Kurt knew it was an act, but he played along. "Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, hi." Kurt extended his hand and shook Henry's hand. "Sorry it's taken me so long to come by."

"Oh it's all right, Dear. You're here now. Blaine's been asking about you," Beth commented with a smile. Kurt assumed this was an act too.

"Mom," Blaine said, sounding embarrassed.

"Oh, Honey," Beth soothed. "Kurt, it's actually good you're here. Blaine's been having trouble with his math homework. Would you mind?"

"No. Not at all. I used to help you with you math homework all the time." Kurt directed his comment at Blaine because he began to imagine everyone talking about Blaine like he wasn't there too frequently and it made him feel bad for Blaine.

"Okay," Blaine said. "Um. Let's go in my room." Blaine headed for the stairs without another word to anyone and Kurt followed.

From the stairs Kurt could hear Blaine's radio playing from his bedroom. Once inside, Kurt started laughing. "What?" Blaine asked.

"Katy Perry?" Kurt smiled. "Man, even without a memory, you're still stuck on her."

"I just started listening to her this morning. Is that bad?" Blaine sounded self-conscious. Like Kurt's opinion was the be all end all. "I've been going through my Ipod. I like her."

"No!" Kurt was quick to assuage him. "She's famous and a real icon. Her music is great. It's just that you used to have a slight obsession with her. You sang her music all the time."

"Oh," was all Blaine said.

Kurt left out the part about Teenage Dream being their song as a couple and how Blaine sang it looking right at him the first time they met. He looked around the room. It had been a while since he'd been in it. Nothing was different. All the pictures were still on the wall. Kurt, Blaine's family, Dalton, and the Warblers could be seen smiling and laughing back at Blaine. "So… Math?"

Kurt helped Blaine for a couple hours on not only his math homework, but history as well. Kurt found that knowledge based things only gave Blaine a little trouble remembering, but memories of learning them had disappeared. Some things, like objects, he would ask what they were called or what they were for, but that didn't happen often. Other times, if it was experience based, he had forgotten about it completely. For example. He didn't remember the quadratic equation for algebra, but if you showed him the formula, he'd know how to solve the problem without needing an explanation. He knew the formula, but didn't remember the name of it or ever having learned it. It was all very bizarre, but it made things easier, so Kurt didn't challenge it.

"It's like," Blaine began, "it's not automatically there when I'm searching for an answer, but slowly it creeps up. I don't know why. There's a delay, but most of the time the answer comes. I really like music because it doesn't take long for me to learn. Sometimes I start humming it when I hadn't heard it before. I don't know the words, but sometimes, once in a while, I'll know the tune."

"That's nothing new," Kurt laughed. "You're kind of a musical genius. You played almost every instrument and, man, can you sing."

Blaine smiled a genuine smile. He liked the way Kurt had a way of talking about things didn't make him feel like he was expected to be the same person he once was. Kurt recalled a memory about Blaine, but talked like he was just another person that Blaine might eventually meet. Kurt was comfortable to Blaine. He liked that more than he could say.

"What's it feel like?" Kurt finally had the courage to ask.

"Um. At first I thought it felt like nothing. Emptiness, like nothing was in here." He tapped his head. "Now it just feels like everyone knows something I don't. Like, a secret or something, that I'm not a part of."

"That's awful," Kurt accidentally slipped out.

Blaine shrugged. "It's all I know. I don't know any different. It's normal for me."

"Doesn't mean that it's right. That can't feel too nice."

"Yeah, well…"

The way Blaine shrugged his shoulders a second time and looked away from Kurt told Kurt to let it go. "Have you started reading The Scarlet Letter yet?" They went back to Blaine's homework.

"Your voice is higher than I imagined," Blaine commented after a while of Kurt summarizing a few chapters of The Scarlet Letter. Kurt's eyes brightened and he was about to laugh. He mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out. He didn't know what to say in response to that.

"I-I," Blaine stuttered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it in a bad way. I probably shouldn't have said anything."

"No. It's fine. That was kind of funny actually. Don't feel bad."

"It's nice actually. Your voice, I mean. It takes on a happier tone. Everyone else seems like they're pretending to be happy around me."

"They are happy. They're happy you're alive, Blaine."

"I know, but I can't help thinking that I'm letting them down,"

"You're not."

"You haven't been around to see things the way I do." Kurt felt a pang in his chest, but Blaine wasn't trying to make him feel bad. "They keep showing me old videos and pictures. They tell me stories and they get this look on their faces like, no matter what, they're hopeful that some stupid detail about what color frosting I had on my tenth birthday cake would make me remember everything. It always ends the same. I shrug my shoulders and shake my head. Nothing comes. I never remember. I don't even feel like there's something I should be remembering."

There was a pause. Kurt decided right then and there that he'd never treat Blaine the way his parents do. Silently, he knew that Blaine's parents only missed their son and was trying their best, but didn't know what they were doing. Kurt missed Blaine too. Then something came to him. Blaine didn't go anywhere. The curly haired dream was still sitting in front of him and Kurt was tutoring as he usually did. The only difference was that Blaine didn't have the memories. It hurt, but Kurt had vowed to be there for Blaine, no matter what. It's about Blaine, he thought. Not you. He needs you. He raised his eyebrows and took in a big breath. "I can see where that'd be frustrating."

Blaine scrunched his eyes and tilted his head. He didn't expect Kurt to say something like that. He sighed and relaxed his face. By now, he'd learned to just go with things, but Kurt's quick empathy and support was refreshing. The corner of the left side of his mouth turned up slightly. "Why is it so easy to talk to you?" Blaine asked.

The question startled Kurt. "I don't know, but if it helps, you were always able to tell me anything."

Blaine smiled fully this time and they stared at each other in silence for a matter of minutes. Kurt wanted to look away. He was afraid that if he continued to look at him he'd give in to his want to tackle Blaine to his bed and kiss the memories back; if that were even possible.

Inside Blaine's head was a different story. He was actually happy. He enjoyed it when Mike and Tina visited, but for the first time since he woke up in the hospital, Blaine actually felt light. He had forgotten that he didn't remember his life and felt like Kurt was just someone he was meeting and becoming friends with for the first time. At the same time, he also felt proud that some part of his old self emerged without having to try for it. He wasn't trying to be his old self, but feeling like he was somebody and not nobody was very special and substantial.

Blaine wanted to tell Kurt how wonderful he felt and how happy Kurt's presence made him. He'd only known the fair skinned boy for a few hours and already he felt like he knew him and he preferred his company to anyone else's. He wanted to say all that, but didn't know if it was appropriate and didn't want to send Kurt running in case he didn't feel comfortable with Blaine saying it.

Kurt broke the silence first and turned his head. "You don't ask a lot of questions about your past," he said.

Blaine licked his lips, an action Kurt didn't fail to notice. "I only ask when I care to know. How come you aren't as eager as everyone else to recall anecdotes and then ask if it rings any bells for me?"

"Truth?"

"Truth."

"Because it hurts too much to think of something happy, knowing that you won't remember."

Blaine bit the corner of his lower lip, obviously deep in thought and the light feeling dimming slightly. "You're a sensitive type of guy, aren't you?"

Kurt laughed breathily, but quietly. "Yes."

"Do you get made fun of for it?"

"Not anymore."

"What changed?"

Kurt paused. "I met you." He stared Blaine down. He wanted to convey a message to Blaine to ask. He wanted him to care enough to ask about them. Of course, Kurt didn't want to talk about their relationship, but he felt like he owed to Blaine, the old Blaine, to not be forgotten. I can talk about the old Blaine to the new Blaine and not sound preachy, right? If it's a story for entertainment value without expectations?

Blaine opened his mouth to say something, but Kurt would never know what Blaine was going to say because Carol sent him a text asking if he was going to have dinner at the Anderson house or at home.

"Who is it?" Blaine asked.

"My step mom. She wants to know what my dinner plans are."

"You can have dinner here, if you want," Blaine quickly offered.

Kurt grinned as he took in Blaine's excited expression. I guess some things just stay apart of people and are impossible to leave, Kurt thought. "Careful. You're puppy dog eyes are showing."

"What?" Blaine asked, tilting his head to the side again and looking even more like a puppy.

Kurt giggled and brought Blaine over to his full length mirror. "Here. Look in the mirror and ask me again."

"Kurt, do you want to stay- Oh my god, you're right!" Kurt laughed, but Blaine studied his face some more. "Do I do that a lot?" He looked sideways at Kurt.

Kurt licked his teeth behind closed lips then grinned again, hoping the mood was still light hearted. "Yeah. I think it's something you do naturally, but since I brought it to your attention, you do it on purpose whenever you want something."

"And it works?"

"With some people, yeah. Mainly the girls because they think you're so darn cute." He left himself out of the equation because Blaine's sexuality was not a first meeting conversation.

"They do?"

Kurt looked back disbelievingly. "Seriously?" Blaine didn't answer, just looked like he was expecting one. "Ooo-kaaayy. Yes. There isn't a girl in our school that doesn't swoon whenever you smile at them."

Blaine smiled again, looking flattered and proud. "Hmm. Nice." There was silence for another minute. "So will you stay for dinner?"

Kurt thought. He wanted to, but then realized dinner was going to be with the entire family and not just Blaine. "I'd love to, but I think you're parents are mad at me and just for tonight, it'd be awkward."

"Why would they be mad at you? They looked happy to see you."

"Yeah. No. That was an act. They hate me for not answering their calls or coming here sooner."

"Oh. Are you always this honest with me?"

"Yes." Kurt said it as if it was a no brainer.

"So you're leaving soon then?" Blaine sounded almost sad.

Kurt checked the time on his phone. "Actually I should leave now because my family eats around 6:30 and it's almost that time."

"Will you come back tomorrow?" Blaine smiled and his puppy dog eyes came back.

Kurt smiled back. "If you want me to."

"I want you to."

"Then I'll be here." Kurt stood up and gathered his things together in his messenger bag. When he was done he simply turned to Blaine and stared.

Blaine looked almost sad again. There was still a light in his eyes, but the disappointment was there. "I'm really glad you came," he said, still sitting on his bed. He wasn't ready for the comfort of being around Kurt to dissipate.

Kurt was able to read Blaine's expression and he sighed. I love you, he thought. "I'm glad I came too."