"So, Blaine's coming over after school today?" Finn asked at lunch.

"Yeah. Staying for dinner too. Then I think I'm going to walk him home and see how his memory is at how to get himself home on foot. We only live a couple blocks away from each other so I think it would be good for him."

"Cool. It'd be cool to see him again. You said he's different, right?"

Kurt took a sip of his diet Snapple. "He's still Blaine, but there are little differences. He's got a smaller fuse as far as his temper goes."

"And you're sure he doesn't remember anything?" Rachel asked.

Kurt gave Rachel an annoyed look. For as pitch perfect as she was in glee, she was completely tone deaf to anything else. "No, Rachel," he said sarcastically. "I've spent every afternoon and evening with him for the past month and a half and I never once thought to bring up past experiences to check for recognition."

"Well, he and I dated for a week, so that has to mean something to him. I'll tell him all about it when we see him this afternoon."

"We?" Kurt asked rhetorically.

"Rachel, you're not coming," Finn added.

"What? Of course I am. You and I are hanging out this afternoon."

"We're hanging out away from my house, then I'm going home."

"Why do you get to see him and I don't?"

"Because I live there. I'm not even going home until later so he doesn't get overwhelmed with three people instead of two. That's why I asked if you wanted to hang out. So I had something to do." Rachel shot Finn a look. "And because you're my girlfriend and I love you and I would have wanted to hang out with you anyway," Finn quickly added.

Rachel rolled her eyes and turned her argument to Kurt. "But Blaine and I dated."

"Rachel, you dated him for a week and it doesn't count because he's gay and was just confused at the time. Not to mention you knew that and played his confusion card in your favor. You never did anything of importance with him. As important as you think you are, this isn't your call. You're not coming," Kurt snapped.

"But Finn-"

"No Rachel," Finn interrupted. "You're thinking of yourself and not thinking of Blaine. Blaine is meeting his second family. You were his friend, but our house was his safe haven. This is huge for him. He's already meeting three new people at once. The less people at a time, the better."

"Finn Hudson, if you weren't my brother, straight, and completely unattractive to me, I'd kiss you for saying all that." Finn half smiled, wondering if he was just insulted or complimented while Rachel hung her head for having been talked to like that.

The conversation ended as they reached a moot point and Kurt left the table when his finished his lunch. He decided to go to his locker early and miss the after lunch rush when the hallways would be almost too crowded to breathe. He had just finished grabbing everything he needed and giving his hair a quick one-over with hair spray, when Zach startled him by leaning against a nearby locker.

Over the past year, Zach and Kurt had grown rather close and described their friendship as "bromantic." While Zach was straight, he had no problem hugging or even holding Kurt's hand. Last year, when they met, there was a lot of confusion as to Zach's sexuality because of his overt nature around Kurt and Blaine was beyond jealous of them because "Kurt was his boyfriend and not Zach's." Zach was the cause of endless amounts of fights between Kurt and Blaine, but over time, Blaine came to understand Kurt and Zach's friendship and he accepted Zach as someone who was apart of Kurt's life now. Once Blaine gave Zach a chance, they were both surprised to find that they were fast friends. Now, through this whole ordeal with Blaine losing his memory, Kurt leaned on Zach more than anyone else while he was away from Blaine.

He told Zach everything he was feeling and thinking and spared no detail. "You know, you're bound to lose some brain cells from inhaling all that aerosol in your hairspray," Zach joked.

"When that happens then you won't feel so inferior to me. We'll be equals." Kurt smiled, shutting his locker.

"Did I hear right? Blaine is here today?"

"What?" Kurt scrunched his face up in confusion. "Pretty sure I would have known that."

"Oh. Well I heard from someone in passing that they thought they saw Blaine sitting in the principal's office. Is he coming back sooner than you thought, maybe?"

"Maybe. I don't know." Kurt raised his eyebrows. Unless that was a last minute thing they decided to do. How long ago did you hear that they saw him?"

"I don't know, ten-fifteen minutes ago. I heard it and came to find you."

"Come on." It only took Kurt a second to connect the dots of what Zach was saying and abruptly started walking to Principal Figgin's office with Zach in tow. When he got there, Kurt immediately went up to the secretary's desk. "Did Blaine Anderson stop by today?"

The nurse smiled brightly up at Kurt. "He did indeed. He's such a sweet boy. His mother and him are still in the office with Principal Figgins in fact."

"He is?" Kurt asked for clarification. The secretary smiled and nodded. "Do you know why he's here?"

"Mr. Hummel, you know that even if I did know, I couldn't tell you. Private and confidential, and all that."

"Do you know how long they'll be in there?"

"I don't."

"Damn. Okay. Well, I'm going to wait for them to come out if that's okay."

The secretary glanced at the clock. "I believe the bell will ring in seven minutes for class. I'm afraid you'll have to wait until after school to talk with Blaine, Kurt."

"I don't care. I'll skip or be late."

"That will only land you in detention. I suggest you go to class and wait out the two and a half hours until school ends."

Kurt huffed and marched out of the office, again with Zach in tow.

"Wow, are you always like that when it comes to Blaine now?" Zach asked.

"Yes," Kurt spat out. He wasn't sure where he was marching to because it wasn't time for class yet. He stopped walking and started searching through his messenger bag for chap stick. "Shit. I forgot my binder for Economics." Now he had a direction, back to his locker.

"I'm not saying that the way you take things when it comes to Blaine isn't bad; I'm only saying that it's intense. Not that you aren't always intense about him, but now you kind of seem like his protector."

"I am his protector."

They reached Kurt's locker and Kurt began twisting the dial on his combination lock. "Why?" Zach asked. "Isn't that the role of his parents? You act like you have complete control over everything."

"I pretty much do. His parents don't know what they're doing and they give me free reign. Seriously. Anything I ask, they let me do." The lock popped open and he opened his locker door.

"They don't know what they're doing?" Zach asked rhetorically. "Huh. When was the last time you dealt with someone with no memory? Do you know what you're doing?"

Kurt looked at Zach sharply. He knew Zach wasn't being accusative. Zach was just playing devil's advocate, as he usually does to help Kurt work through something. "I-" He paused. "No." He looked down during their moment of silence and grabbed his binder for Economics. "I guess I don't. They're careful and calculating. I'm always looking ahead at his future and trying to help him grow."

"I see. Okay. Well, how does he respond to everyone controlling him?"

"So far he's been fine. He doesn't know what he wants or likes, so he sort of just goes with it."

"That doesn't seem very fun."

Kurt shut his locker again and leaned against it. "We have plenty of fun."

"I'm just saying that people grow through experiences and not by watching everyone else have experiences for them."

"He has been a bit frustrated lately. He snaps at people, mainly me, a whole lot more these days."

"Snaps, as in, like, fighting?"

Kurt thought for a moment. "No. It's more like he's taking out his frustrations on me. He's starting to feel isolated. I took him out yesterday. It was a disaster, but we still went out. Today I'm taking him to my house, which will be big for him."

"Do you think what has him feeling frustrated all the time is that he might feel too controlled? He has to experience things for himself. I know that if I had people around me telling me what was best for me and constantly thinking of a former self, then I'd be pissed off all the time too."

"It's not like that."

"It isn't?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

Kurt thought about it. "Maybe a little. I'd just rather him be frustrated than overwhelmed."

"Oh, I see. Like ignorance is bliss, kind of thing?"

"Exactly. I don't want to give him too much and have him wish he was someone else."

"Or worse…" Zach trailed off.

"What do you mean?"

"Worse would be that he finds out what kind of person he was and hates it enough to dismiss everyone he used to know… yourself included."

Kurt put his head down. "How could he ever hate what kind of person he was? He was perfect and everything that was good in this stupid world."

Zach put his hands on Kurt's shoulders and leaned in close, almost hugging him, but clearly displaying an intimate gesture. "I'm sorry my comment made you upset. Even if he could ever not like his former self, I doubt he could ever dismiss you from his life. I doubt he'd want to."

"You mean that?"

Zach pulled Kurt to him and hugged him tightly, knowing his closest friend needed this kind of reassuring hug. "You know the connection you too have. There's nothing that could pull you two apart." He brushed the back of Kurt's hair, something only Zach and Blaine were allowed to do.

The bell rang and the hallway quickly flooded with people. Zach kept an arm around Kurt's shoulders and they chatted while he walked Kurt to class. Unbeknownst to them was a pair of honey eyes watching them walk away.

Blaine had grown bored in the meeting with the principal and didn't see the point of him being there while his mother talked paperwork with him. Blaine excused himself and lied, saying he had to go to the bathroom. In reality he just wanted to roam the halls. Hopefully he was see Kurt or someone who knew him who could tell him where to find Kurt.

"Oh Blaine!" The secretary beamed. "You just missed Kurt."

"I did!"

"Yes. He was going to wait for you, but I told him not to miss class."

"Is he in class now?" Blaine rushed out. His heart was jumping. He really wanted to see Kurt and tell him about his day. Blaine knew he'd be seeing him in a couple hours, but some part of him was really proud of himself for being out of the house and in a public setting without Kurt and not getting overwhelmed.

"No. The bell hasn't rung yet. I don't know where he went, but I do know he took a right when he left this office. Probably toward the lockers. If you take a right out of here, go to the end of the hallway and take a left, you'll start to see the lockers. Just look around and you might catch him. If you get lost on your way back here, there will be signs."

"Thank you!" Blaine smiled widely and took off running. He got to the lockers, but quickly found that there seemed to be endless hallways of them. Down two hallways had staircases and he didn't know if he should go upstairs to see if there were more lockers upstairs between the classrooms, the way these were. He finally turned the corner down the last hallway on the floor and he saw Kurt down towards the end with a tall blonde boy. He smiled and took a step. He was about to yell out to Kurt, but he stopped. He saw the tall blonde get really close to Kurt. Intimately close. Blaine watched curiously. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but something bubbled inside him. He was jealous. He didn't want to see Kurt that close to anyone. He didn't want anyone touching Kurt that gently and intimately.

The blonde pulled Kurt to him and held him tightly. Kurt didn't appear to be resisting in any way. He was accepting of the action and even looked comfortable like this was something that happened many times before. Blaine's smile left him. A bell rang in the hallway and he watched, with disappointment, as the two boys walked away with the blonde's arm around Kurt's shoulder.

His chest felt heavy. He had begun to wish that he never left the office. When he turned he realized that he had forgotten how many turns he made and wasn't sure how to get back to the office. Great, he thought. He could feel a lump rising in his throat. Taking a deep breath he stopped someone by touching their arm. "Excuse me, can you show me how to get to the principal's office?"

"Blaine?" The girl asked. "Oh my god!

"Oh my god it's Blaine," said someone else nearby.

Blaine's name spread through the hall like wildfire and soon, hoards of people were crowding him, saying his name and asking him questions. "Please, I just need to get to the office." He was starting to feel overheated very quickly and could feel his face getting flushed. His heart was racing and it didn't take long for him to abandon the thought of wanting help to the office.

Blaine tried to scoot away from the crowd that only grew in size by the second and ended up being cornered. His throat was catching and people were starting to touch his arms and shoulders, for reasons he didn't know because there were too many voices to be able to focus on one to find out why. He wanted to yell or ask them to leave him alone, but didn't want to seem rude. Surely the mob had no idea that they were being intrusive. "Excuse me," he said, trying to squeeze himself out to no avail. "Excuse me," he said again. The voices were only growing louder in his ears and his hands were beginning to shake.

"Guys move! Blaine! Guys get the fuck out of the way!" Came a male voice. Blaine had resorted to closing his eyes and trying to zone out. He heard the voice and then a strong hand grasped his arm. A gentle feminine hand found his on the opposite arm and he was being pulled through the crowd. "Leave him alone!" yelled the girl with the feminine hand.

He opened his eyes and saw Mike and Tina quickly pulling him through the hallway. He'd never been so happy to see a familiar, or two, faces. They pulled him into a near by room with instruments, risers, and more importantly, no people.

"Blaine, are you okay?" Tina asked. They were trying to guide him to a chair to sit down.

"No, I'm not okay!" he yelled, the lump in his throat now causing his breath to catch and the tears started flowing. "My memory. My god damn, stupid, fucked-up memory. I can't remember anything. I can't remember how to get back to the stupid office. I can't remember anyone I see. I c-" He was about to say I can't remember me.

"Blaine, what are you doing here?" A man with light brown curly hair, wearing a vest walked in holding a number of folders and a messenger bag. Blaine looked at him, wanting to scream, but saw the concern on his face. He looked older, so Blaine assumed this man was a teacher.

Blaine finally sat down, exhausted. The man was just the icing on the cake. Acting like he knew him, when Blaine had no clue who he was.

"Mr. Shue can you go get Kurt? He's in Economics with Mr. Gerald," Mike immediately requested.

"No!" Blaine interjected. "Not him." He wiped his face and the tears stopped instantly. Mike and Tina eyed each other for a second, both looking concerned and confused as to why Kurt was not what Blaine wanted. "I just want to go to the principal's office. I shouldn't have left. I'm stupid."

"No," Tina stopped him. "You're not. Blaine just take a minute and breathe. When you're calm we'll take you." She was crouched at his knees. Mike was sitting next to him.

"Guys, what happened?" Mr. Shuester asked.

"Blaine got bombarded in the hallway," Mike explained. "People here are idiots."

"Seriously. Couldn't they see what they were doing?" Tina added.

"I'm so sorry that happened," Mr. Shuester dragged a chair in front of Blaine and sat in it backwards. "Blaine, I'm Will Sheuster. I'm the Spanish Teacher and the Director of Glee Club."

Blaine was looking down. "Nice to meet you." He sounded tired.

"My pleasure," Mr. Sheuster answered. "What do you need in the principal's office?"

"My mom. We were here to discuss me coming back, but I left the meeting to explore. Then I got lost."

"Tell you what, I'm going to go get her for you. Stay put." He patted Blaine's knee and headed for the door.

Blaine did as he was told, sitting and taking deep breaths.

"Blaine?" Tina asked.

Blaine slowly brought his eyes up to her.

"Why didn't you want Mr. Sheu to get Kurt?"

"He's busy."

"No, really, dude," Mike insisted. "What's going on with you two? Did something happen?"

Blaine wasn't sure how to answer that question. Technically, the answer was no because Kurt didn't know anything Blaine was feeling. Or, for that matter, Blaine didn't know what he was feeling either. What was it about seeing Kurt in his dream that made him aroused. Seeing Kurt hugging another man made him feel…he felt… he didn't know. Upset? Disappointed? Jealous? Why?

"I don't know. Is it normal for-" he stopped and started again. "Before the accident, was I- Did Kurt and I- Is Kurt and-" He stopped once more and tried again. He itched his forehead and gave up. He looked at both of his friends. "Would it make any sense at all to either of you if I said I think I might have feelings for Kurt?" There. He said it. Now, it didn't matter. The words were out and they had to mean something.

Mike and Tina stole one last glance at each other, seemingly conveying a whole conversation in a second's worth of a look. They looked back at Blaine and at the same time answered, "Yes."