Blaine wriggled around in his bed. He felt... off. He called out to his mom, who came running right away, as he had expected. She looked deeply shaken by his outcry. She hurried over to his bed and starting stroking his head soothingly, telling him he would be alright. As good as it felt, babying didn't solve anything. "We need to go to the hospital, mom," said Blaine, "Something's wrong. I can just feel it." He was calm, even if he felt panicked underneath it all. She got dressed quickly and left a note for Blaine's dad when he woke up, so he wouldn't worry. Blaine packed himself a bag, knowing how the hospital visits always ended up. It wasn't urgent. He was breathing fine and that, he just had a pain in his side that he knew shouldn't be there. It was a little too familiar to be comfortable.

After the long, stressful visit in the waiting room and his mom gripping his hand too tightly, Blaine was admitted, not to his surprise. The doctors confirmed that it wasn't a further cancer related issue- he was still in remission, as far as they could tell- but his appendix had ruptured. After the surgery, Blaine was fine. There weren't any problems.

It didn't stop his mom from crying at his bedside. He assured her that she was fine. Lots of people got their appendixes taken out. It wasn't exactly a rare surgery- not like his cancer treatments.

Before they let him leave, they checked him out for his cancer issues some more- there was still nothing to worry about, but Blaine's drugs weren't working quite as well as they could be. They decided to try a new set of drugs- his medicinal cocktail growing by a few bottles. Remission was the best they could hope for- and that was that they had. Blaine was lucky.

His mom carted him off to support group every Wednesday after school. The support wasn't groundbreaking- they chatted with each other and sipped lukewarm coffee, sharing their feelings as they went. Jess, a pretty, twenty-something breast cancer survivor, ran their group. She wasn't bad looking, Blaine supposed, but she was so enthusiastic. He had grown to accept the enthusiasm in a way newcomers didn't. The support group was like an odd game of cancer roulette- the attendees were ever changing, new people arriving and old people leaving- aging out or just leaving totally. That was why they were constantly introducing themselves- Blaine, seventeen, pancreatic cancer but in remission. They sat in a circle on the floor, kids always preaching about how finding God changed their whole perspective on their cancer. Jess always asked them if there was anything anyone wanted to share, and she always looked right at Blaine. He never offered any thoughts.

"Blaine?" She asked brightly, "You were in hospital this last week, right?" He shrugged.

"Yeah. It wasn't exciting, though. They took my appendix out- totally not cancer related- and changed my drug regime. It honestly wasn't worth my time." He didn't ever mean to be a downer- but there were twelve year olds who had just had a final surgery, a final round of chemo, something more exciting to share. Jess forced a smile.

"Great! Want to add anything?" She said. Blaine shrugged again. Jess called on the next in the circle, hoping to add something more inspiring to the conversation, he guessed. They closed the meeting the way they always did- reflection. Being thankful for their remission and stuff like that. That wasn't Blaine's favourite part of the meetings.

There were a broad range of people who attended the support group- on this occasion Blaine found himself being flirted with by a younger girl, probably thirteen or fourteen, who went by the name of Sky. She had the same enthusiasm as Jess- that no matter how much she forced it, it wasn't quite infectious. He smiled back, taking her number when offered, and never giving her his in return. Life was too short to waste time texting Skys.

Sky tried to follow him around a bit like a helpless puppy, while he joked around with some of the regular guys. He didn't know any of them enough to go as far as calling them his friends, but he could be cordial when he wanted to be. He managed to offload Sky onto one of the younger guys, her twirling her hair and pushing out her completely cancer free breasts at him, hoping to get some attention. It turned out she was at the support group as family-of-cancer-victim, not as a cancer victim herself. Blaine thought that explained a lot.

Blaine forced himself from bed the next day to go to school. He met up with his best friend Wes at the school gates, hugging him in a way that would suggest to any onlooker that they had been friends long before Blaine was diagnosed. They sloped off into school together, Wes filling him in on what had happened the night before with whichever girl he had gone out with. It wasn't until they had made it into the hallway and headed toward their English class that Wes brought up the night Blaine went to the hospital.

"So you had another cancer scare then, huh?" He said. Blaine shrugged.

"I guess. It was just my appendix, Wes. Heaps of people get their appendixes taken out." Blaine said. Wes shrugged too.

"Sure, but you aren't heaps of people. You're one guy who had cancer." Wes was always far more reasonable about these things than Blaine.

"That's true."

"You aren't particularly talkative today, are you?" Blaine sighed. Was he ever particularly talkative?

"I'm just not exciting, is all. Keep telling me about this chick."

"You, my friend, are the single most exciting guy I know."

For a teenage guy with a friend who was in remission, Wes talked about death an awful lot. He couldn't help it- the idea of the unknown finality of death lingered with him all the time.

That afternoon, Wes and Blaine sat in Wes's attic bedroom, playing some first person shooter together. "You know they'd let you fire these things for real, eh, Blainers?" Wes joked.

"Cancer perk," Blaine agreed, pressing some buttons on his controller, shooting one of their opposition in the head, yelling "HEAD SHOT!" before being shot himself in the midst of his victory. He respawned at their base and continued to search for the goal. Wes was chattier than Blaine was- as much as he liked blowing stuff up, the shooters weren't always all that was on his mind.

"Have you ever thought about making a bucket list?" Wes asked, as he paused the game and turned to look at Blaine. Blaine unpaused it and kept playing. Wes paused it again. Blaine put his controller down, holding his hands up in a way that would suggest someone was unarmed.

"Have you?" Wes repeated. Blaine shook his head.

"Life has more important things to it than making lists of what those important things are."

"That is the worst excuse I've ever heard."

"Why, have you?" Blaine asked. Wes nodded. "Want to share what's on your list?"

"If you make a list, Blaine, I'll share mine with you. Start with ten things- that isn't many- and then you can see the first ten on my list."

"How many are on your list?"

"Only fifty or something. But I repeat myself a lot, I think. I haven't revised in ages."

"Fine. I'll make my list then." Wes smiled to himself, thinking his counselling skills as a best friend were dramatically improving. He unpaused the game and took a clear shot a Blaine.

"We're on the same team, doofus!"

"Woops." Wes chuckled, and Blaine couldn't help but chuckle too.

Kurt Hummel was world famous, and he knew it. He hung his coat up on the rack by his door in his New York penthouse apartment after coming in from a busy day of photo shoots and interviews. His personal assistant and closest confidante, Leah, followed him in, hanging up her own coat and getting Kurt a glass of water, as was their usual routine. She passed it to him, kicked off her heels and relaxed on the couch. Clicking through her phone to see what they were getting up to tomorrow, she chatted mindlessly with him about The Bachelor. She liked the bouncy redhead Carla best, whereas Kurt preferred the sexy young Tara. As surprising as it was, Kurt had a whole day off tomorrow, simply scheduled for a dinner date with his agent.

His agent was quite possibly the craziest talent agents could get without being checked into a mental hospital. Her name was Charlotte, and she got him the right interviews and appearances and auditions, so he couldn't complain. Despite her insanity, Charlotte was among the best agents in New York- and she charged for that. Leah made certain to always be on the best terms with Charlotte she could manage- all her pays went straight through her, even if it was Kurt who employed her personally.

The next day Kurt woke late and wandered to the kitchen, finding Leah had ordered breakfast in. He nibbled a muffin- he didn't have time for calorie counting- and sipped his latte, while Leah went over their plans for the day- or their lack thereof. She suggested clearing the fan emails and letter bag, but he declined. Today was going to be all about him.

While Kurt indulged in a bubble bath in a penthouse apartment in New York, Blaine was fitfully resting in bed, trying to maximize his Saturday as a quiet day for resting. It wasn't long until both their cell phones rang.

For Blaine, it was Wes. "Man! Get over here as soon as you can! Mom bought me the new Born Rivals game! You gotta get over here and play it with me!" Blaine groaned, pulling himself into a seated position.

"Okay, but dude, would you mind waiting for me to get dressed and brush my teeth?" Blaine could practically hear Wes's trademark grin over the phone.

"'Course. See you in a little while, then." Wes said, as Blaine clicked their call to an end.

He headed for his bathroom. It was decorated in a way that would tell you it was none other than Blaine Anderson's. The upper section of the walls was black, whereas the lower portion was dazzlingly shiny red tile. He had a shower, a toilet and a sink with cupboards and a nice, big mirror. On the opposite wall he made an effort to find some art he liked to compliment his bathroom- ending up with a Spiderman poster.

Blaine ran the water in the shower as he brushed his teeth. As the water got to a bearable temperature, he undressed, stepping into the steam at the last possible moment. The moment before he hit the water was his favourite.

He emerged from the bathroom with nothing on but a towel slung low around his hips. He crossed the hallway to his bedroom, but was intersected half way there by none other than Support Group Sky. Her mouth hung open for a second before she squeaked out, "I was just looking for the bathroom!" Blaine gestured toward the bathroom he had just come from, and Sky hurried in. He heard the lock click, and continued on the way to his bedroom.

He selected a plain white t-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans, grabbing his Converse from their regular spot beneath his bed and taking them downstairs. He passed through the kitchen on his way to a seat in order to put his shoes on. Blaine dumped his shoes on the counter and helped himself to a glass of orange juice.

"Good afternoon," his mom joked, when she heard him come in, "Nice to see you out of the vampire lair." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"What's Sky doing here?" he asked impatiently.

His mom smiled. "Oh, is she your friend? I got to talking with her dad while I was waiting for you in the parking lot. They just popped in for a cup of coffee, sweetie." Blaine rolled his eyes again. "Would you mind taking your shoes elsewhere? I cook on that surface, you know." He took his shoes from the countertop and carried them through into the living room, where he saw a middle aged man, who was clearly Sky's father. He stood up when Blaine entered the room.

"Mister Anderson, I take it? Nice to finally meet you." Blaine shook his hand and sunk into the couch, unlacing his Converse.

"Uh, Blaine. You can just call me Blaine."

"Blaine... what kind of a name is that?"

"I don't know. The one my mom gave me, I guess." He said with a shrug. Sky's dad chuckled.

Sky wormed her way into the room. She had taken longer than anyone would have expected to go to the bathroom, which made Blaine suspicious of what else she had been up to.

She rushed to her dad's side, and perched on the arm of his chair. "I see you met Blaine, daddy." She said, trying to smile in a way that Blaine took to be seductively- but ultimately failed. There was only so much sexiness a thirteen year old could grasp.

Blaine's mom came in with two cups of coffee and passed one to Sky's dad, whose name he never picked up. She took a seat on the sofa next to Blaine, who had resorted to untangling the knot in his lace with his teeth. His mom held out her hand expectantly, and Blaine passed her the shoe. She untied the knot with ease. "I could've done that myself you know, mom. I'm not five." He said.

"Well no, you aren't... but you clearly couldn't do it now, could you?" Blaine pouted and pushed his feet into the shoes, tying them quickly. "Going somewhere?" His mom asked, and Blaine turned to her.

"Yeah, I'm going to Wes's. He just got a new game and he told me I should go and..." She cut him off.

"Aren't you going to stay here and keep Sky company?" Blaine sighed.

"I already told Wes I was going."

"Then take her with you! Doesn't that sound nice, Sky?" Sky nodded and looked at her dad.

"Can I go with Blaine? Pretty pretty pretty please?" she begged. He finally gave in, and Blaine sighed again.

"I was going to take the bike."

"No reason why you can't take her." Knowing he wasn't going to win this one, he texted Wes.

Change of plan. Mind if I bring someone?

The reply came quickly. Helz yea! U gt a chik, my frnd? All grls r welcom at casa de Wesley.

That would do. Blaine stood up and his mom grinned. "Okay then. C'mon, Sky." He sauntered over to the front door and took his leather jacket from the hook. He found a slightly smaller one, which had been his- when his dad used to cart him around a few years ago- and passed it to Sky, who was following almost a little too close for comfort. She hesitated for a moment before putting it on. Then he led her around to the garage.

He got to the bike and grabbed the helmets from their comfortable position on the handle bars. He handed one to her, and she put it on. Blaine opened the garage door and walked back to the bike, this time straddling it and flicking the kick stand up. He turned to Sky, who was still standing there expectantly. "Are you coming or not?" She climbed on behind him. "Okay, now you might have to actually hold on or something. These things don't have seatbelts." She lightly wrapped her arms around his waist. "Now, you may need to be a bit tighter than that..." she tightened her grip. "See? That's better. It's only a short trip to Wes's, so you'll survive." He started the bike and kicked off, accelerating out of the driveway.

From the window of the living room, Blaine's mom and Sky's dad watched them race off. "A motorcycle? That kid knows his romance." Sky's dad said. Blaine's mom laughed.

"Romance? Blaine can't tell a rose from a rabbit."

While Blaine stressed about his issue of having one crazed girl think that he loved her, Kurt was having, for once, a stress free week. He delighted himself with taking a bubble bath. He had been flipping through some magazines, seeing what had been printed about him.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

It was, for lack of any better word to describe it, appalling. Just as the bubbles stopped providing a stress free zone, Kurt's phone rang. He dried his hands again quickly and answered.

"Hello?"

"Kurt, darling. I have a proposal." It was Charlotte.

"Couldn't this have waited until dinner?"

"Was that tonight? Oh, honey, I've got to cancel. I'll see you at our session next week, yes?" She hung up on him. She hadn't even said what she wanted to propose.

Leah knocked on the door of Kurt's bathroom. "You still alive in there? You went in over an hour ago." Kurt rearranged his bubbles.

"Yeah, I am. Come in, hun." She did. She found Kurt the fluffiest towel the penthouse stocked and passed it to him. He dried off and put his bathrobe on instead. "Charlotte cancelled dinner. She didn't even tell me why she needed to."

"She's crazy like that, Kurt. Don't let it get to you. We'll order a pizza instead." Kurt sighed.

"Okay. Say, any advancement on the publicity front?"

"Uh, no. Everyone else is more... exciting than you, at the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"People are being charitable, and you're just being, well, fabulous."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"You're going to turn Kardashian soon, Kurt! You have to do something about it, otherwise you'll end up famous for being famous."

"I don't see your problem."

"We need to find you something to make you like glowing. Angelic. And you need to do it soon."

At Wes's house, Sky followed nervously behind Blaine, not taking off her jacket no matter what happened. She found herself in Wes's bedroom, perching on the edge of the couch that sat in front of the TV. Blaine pulled his leather jacket off and chucked it onto the bed. Wes grabbed Blaine's arm and dragged him back down the stairs.

"This is the chick?" he said. Blaine nodded.

"I didn't want to bring her, really. Mom made me. She's from support group." Blaine explained.

"Oh, so she's a cancer chick." Wes said.

"Nah, I think her brother died or something."

"Right then. Will she be cool with us playing Born Rivals?"

"I dunno. Ask her."

Wes shrugged. "Whatever. Say, did you finish that bucket list?"

"Uh, no."

"Do it now then, dude!" Wes pressed paper and a pen into Blaine's hands, and told him to sit and write it. He wasn't allowed back into the bedroom until he had ten things that he wanted to do before he died.

He started with a brief but broad comment.

Love.

Knowing well that Wes couldn't just grant him that, he started scrawling other things. Once he started thinking about it, there was a lot that he wanted to accomplish.

Love. See a Broadway show. Get well known for something. Be a hero to someone. Successfully complete high school.

Things got a little harder after that. He tried to think bigger, thinking about things that he could strive for.

See another J.K. Rowling book. Meet Kurt Hummel. Earn money for something other than household chores. Master the art of calculus. Walk in Central Park with someone worthwhile.

That made ten. He didn't care how achievable any of those were- he was making a bucket list purely so Wes would let him back into the bedroom so he could play Born Rivals.

Wes looked over Blaine's list. "Dude, some of these are awesome." Blaine grinned. "Some of these are kind of hard for me to help you get. And some of these you can do by yourself."

Leaving Sky alone in the bedroom again, Wes pulled Blaine into the hallway. He put asterisks next to two things on the list.

"I didn't tell you this earlier," Wes started, "but I nominated you to a charity. You know, 'The Wish Factory'? They help sick kids get something out of their lives?" Blaine was familiar with them. He nodded. "They've given you a wish." Blaine grinned. "The catch was that as the nominator, I have to sort it out- so this was a way that I could more or less trick you into telling me how to run your trip. I'm noticing that you don't want to go to Disneyland?"

Blaine chuckled. "I've already been."

Wes grinned. "I know exactly what your wish will be. Now I just have to reply to that email..."

That night after Blaine went home- he had to drop Sky back at her place, before doing so- Wes sat down to start his email to The Wish Factory. He got stuck after starting, and sent a text to Blaine instead.

checkin the scres frm Brn Rvals tday. Sky kicked yo ass, dude. Invte her ovr mre.

It was only a matter of seconds before he had the reply.

I wish you would use English grammar properly, Wesley. And she did not.

She ttlly did. Gotta finish ur email now. Laterz.

Bye, Wes.

After some consideration, he started writing.

Dear Ms. Woodrow,

I am writing in response to the previous emails we exchanged about Blaine Anderson. After a lot of thought, I have decided what wish I'd like to help Blaine grant.

For as long as I can remember, Blaine has been a fan of three things- video games, musicals and the teen drama "Highlands". Naturally, thanks to his passion for the trashy TV show, he developed a bit of an obsession with one Mr. Kurt Hummel. As you are no doubt aware, he recently was a voice actor for Prince Julio in the new "Born Rivals" game- a series which Blaine and I are huge fans of.

For his wish, I'd like to help him get to New York City. Two things would be amazing for him- to see a show on Broadway and to meet Kurt Hummel. I'm aware that he lives in New York at the moment and I would love to help Blaine see his dream of finally meeting Kurt come true.

I hope you can organise this for Blaine.

He signed it off, and sent it away. Now they would just have to wait until they got a response- so they could get cracking with it. For once, Wes thought he might be the most awesome best friend a cancerous teenager could ask for.

Charlotte stormed into Kurt's apartment later that evening. "Where have you been? I thought we were having dinner!"

Kurt didn't even look up from his magazine, comfortably seated in his living room. "I thought you cancelled." He said, infinitely calmer than Charlotte was.

"I wouldn't cancel on you, Kurt! We needed to discuss important matters!" She moved over to the sofa and sat down. Kurt removed his glasses and set them down with the magazine on the coffee table.

"I'm all ears."

"So, on the publicity front- I have an idea. There are charities- amazing charities, doing amazing things for sick kids- we get you to front one of them. We get you to look like you really care, even though you'll only be a spokesperson."

"I see. Okay, sign me up."

Charlotte's lips curled into a smile. "Fabulous, darling. Now, they want to renew your contract for the next season of Highlands- I know Elliot was written out at the end of last season, but they want you back."

"I'd be happy to be back. I must say Elliot is one of my personal favourite roles I've ever played, and the cast and crew are fun to work with."

"You can cut the sap, Kurt. You want to renew your contract, right?" He nodded, "Then we'll arrange a meeting for you for that. Great, well, I think that was everything. I'll be on my way." Charlotte stood up and left, bumping into Leah. "Oh, don't worry about it- I'll text you the details later." Charlotte said. Leah thanked her and she headed on her way.

Little did anyone know, the path fate was choosing was not one, but two. To bring the paths together of two very unsuspecting people.