Thanksgiving morning was a hectic one. Even after their late night talk Kurt forced himself out of bed at 7am to start with dinner preparations. He knew that Chase would be waking up a few hours later and there was no need to involve him in cooking matters. Kurt made it to the kitchen freshly showered and dressed around 8:30 am. Carole greeted him from the stove “Morning Kurt” it looked like she was getting ready to make some scramble eggs.

Kurt walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek “Eggs? Carole wouldn’t you rather have some French Toast?” At this Carole’s face fell in surprise

“Kurt you eat French toast now?”

“Oh no, it’s just Chase’s favorite I am going to eat a hardboiled egg with some toast, I need to keep my figure.” Carole smiled at the declaration but was taken a back at how dedicated Kurt was to Chase with only being together for two weeks.

“Um, well that’s good honey” was all she could get out. Kurt gave her a questioning look, and quickly understood what she was thinking.

“I just want to make him feel welcomed, I’m sure that when Finn gets here the “man party” will begin and Chase doesn’t really like sports the way that…..” He stopped himself from continuing and looked over at Carole as she smiled, wiped her hands on her apron and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “No problem Kurt, I will just get stuff ready for your famous French Toast.” They danced around the kitchen for another 30 minutes preparing breakfast for the entire family. Finn was due to arrive around 9 and without skipping a beat as the clock stroked 9 Finn was coming through the door.

“Hey little bro” he chimed as he strode into the house with a smile on his face directed at Kurt.

“FINN” Kurt yelled as he held on to his brother, he hadn’t seen him since the morning after the break-up and even though he didn’t want to admit it, having him stick around might of made it a little easier.

“Are you making French Toast?” Finn asked while still holding his brother in a bear hug.

“You can’t go five seconds without thinking about food?” Kurt replied. At that Finn put down his arms and took a few steps into the kitchen.

“Kurt you hate French Toast, but thankfully I love it” he said trying to maneuver a piece away from the stove. Kurt batted at his hands to avert his attempt

“I don’t hate French toast I just know that it isn’t particularly good for you. Besides this isn’t for me it’s for Chase” he said while looking down at the pan and not chancing a look in Finn’s direction.

“Oh yeah Chase” Finn said trying to act non-chalant but failing miserably. He quickly tried to change the subject. “When did you get in?”

“Last night, Chase and I left in the morning and made it here in time for dinner”

There was that name again. Finn knew he should ask, it was the polite thing to do, but over the brief conversations that he had with his brother in the last month whenever he heard that name he made sure to avoid it. Finn wasn’t exactly buddy buddy with Blaine but he also felt for the guy. He knew what it was like to cheat on someone you love and if he was being honest with himself he really wanted them to reconcile. Finn tried to steer the conversation away from the Chase subject as quickly as possible.

“Sorry I couldn’t make it last night I was just putting the finishing touches on my new apartment”

“Oh yeah” Kurt had almost forgotten about the Finn’s new studio apartment. “How was moving?”

“It was fine; I had a bit of help. It’s amazing what you can make your students do when you are their teacher” Finn said with a smirk.

“Finn you can’t force the Glee club to do your work for you” Kurt said with an appalled look on his face.

“Kurt I didn’t force them, we made it a party. The New Directions came over and helped, it was fun we all had pizza and sang karaoke it was like Rachael’s party that one time MINUS the alcohol”

Kurt remembered that party very well, before Blaine and him were official. The night he kissed Rachel Berry, the first night he slept in his bed. All these thoughts were coming to him and were now apparent in his face. It almost seemed like Finn could hear his thoughts and chose to interrupt them.

“He was there, sorry I shouldn’t have mentioned any of this”

“No, no it’s fine. You work with Blaine, of course you are going to talk to him, it’s just sometimes I forget how much a part of the family Blaine was” as soon as those words were out he heard someone in the hallway. “Dad?” Kurt yelled

At that moment Chase appeared in the doorway “Actually it’s me, I hope I wasn’t intruding or anything” Kurt quickly recovered “No no don’t be silly I was just making you-“ at this he remembered the toast that had been sitting on the pan for the last 5 minutes. “Shit – Well I was making you French Toast but now it seems I’ve burned it” he ran over to the pan and picked it up to throw its contents in the trash.

“I will make you more-“Finn cleared his throat

“Oh no how rude of me… Finn this is Chase, Chase this is Finn my step-brother” They politely shook hands as Chase looked Finn up and down in awe of the stature. His face looked like it wanted to say “You are really tall” but instead he said “very pleased to meet you” after the introduction they all fidgeted and looked around knowing they were going to be in for a long day.

Thanksgiving day went by in a blur for Kurt, getting everything together with Carole for dinner. The same could not be said for Chase, he was stuck with the guys watching sports, eventually excusing himself to go back to his room to catch up on “work.” The divide did nothing to ease Kurt’s nerves in fact he felt like Chase wasn’t trying.

After dinner they all got up to help clean up, “Shouldn’t you be heading to sleep little bro? Don’t you have to be up in like four hours to get in early for the Black Friday sales?” Finn asked while picking up a few plates. “or now that you work in fashion are you above that?”

“You bite your tongue Finn” Kurt said while handing over more dirty plates to him. “There is no way that I am missing out on sales on all the normally overlooked gems here in Lima, Ohio. We are just leaving at 5 this year instead of midnight”

“We are?” Chase chimed in. At that they all turn to look at Chase “You never mentioned anything” he said hesitantly.

“Oh I think it just slipped my mind, is that okay? You don’t have to go? I mean it’s just my thing and I know it’s early and all – “ Kurt rambled “I know it’s silly but I just can’t pass up a good deal” The whole family was now quiet, trying to look away at a moment that felt more tensed than intended.

“Yeah, that’s fine I guess I should just head up to bed early then” He looked around “ Thanks again for everything, The food was delicious Carole, um… good night”  he said awkwardly and stepped out of the room. Everyone was still silent while the last of the plates were brought to the counter. Carole started  putting away the leftovers while Finn continued washing the mountain of plates. Kurt looked over to see his father leaning on the refrigerator looking at him with a pointed look.

“Don’t say a word” Kurt started

“I didn’t say anything” Burt replied taking a sip of his beer

“You don’t have to everything is written over your face” Kurt said with a sneer clearing the rest of the table of its contents. “I know what you are thinking” he said pointing at everyone in the room. They were all still quiet, silently performing their task. “I know what you are thinking and stop”

Burt smirked “We didn’t say anything”

“I’m going to bed”