The Piemaker stared blankly ahead the entire way to Coeur D'Coeures hardly taking in the enormous fields of daisies on either side of him. “Blaine. Blaine Anderson.” The words reverberated inside his skull like the sound of a gun going off inside of an empty theater. Mercedes had stayed silent for most of the trip but finally she caught the bullet and spoke.

“Alright. Kurt. Tell me what's going on. You obviously knew this kid, who was he?”

“Just a friend. We were next door neighbors as kids.”

Mercedes fixed him with a sidelong disbelieving look from the driver's side. “Mhmm. Friends.”

“Alright fine. More than friends. We kissed when we were nine. At our parent's funerals. My mom, his dad.” Originally excited by the prospect of new gossip, Mercedes' face darkened at the circumstances of their first kiss.

“Did.. Did you have anything to do with that?”

“I sort of accidentally killed his dad. I didn't know. My mom died and I touched her and she came back but a minute later his dad dropped down outside while watering the lawn.”

“Oh Kurt. I'm so sorry.”

Mercedes Jones did something unexpected. She reached down from the steering wheel and touched the Piemaker's hand. Initially he flinched away at the contact but when it continued to rest on his hand he grudgingly allowed it to stay. He had forgotten that touch could be a good thing as well as bad.

At this very moment at the Longburrow School for Boys, Young Kurt is 15 years, ten months, eight days, six hours and fifty-nine minutes old. Two weeks, three days and five hours ago Young Kurt discovered that there was another gay boy at the Longburrow School for Boys. Two weeks, one day and eight hours ago he was asked by the other boy to be his boyfriend. Their secret love affair had ended twenty minutes previously when Young Kurt forgot the barriers he had set in place for himself and had held his 'boyfriend's' hand in the hallway. Eight of the other boys had proceeded to take Young Kurt behind the school and brutally beat him with fists powered by misplaced religious zeal. This was the moment when Young Kurt learned that touch only led to pain. Either through his gift, which he was coming to regard as a curse, or through the fists of others for being what he was. The school nurse had attempted to patch Young Kurt's cuts but whenever her fingers touched his skin he would back away. Eventually she left him alone to place the band-aids over his wounds and Young Kurt learned another valuable lesson.

Everyone left him in the end.

They pulled up in front of the Coeur d'Coeurs Funeral home and Kurt prepared himself for the worst. Or perhaps the best.

The visitation room was warm and homey. Dark wood and comfortable chairs to invite people to stay. It was a room where it was acceptable to cry but built and designed to have someone there to hug you when you did. The room was empty.

“Come on Kurt. Let's do this.” Mercedes encouraged. He nodded and walked into the adjoining room where the body lay. This room was also empty, nothing but a large white casket in the middle of the room and a few potted plants surrounding it. The same wood paneling covered the walls as in the visitation room. Kurt cautiously made his way to the closed casket and opened the lid. He gasped. There lay Blaine. He had changed over the past fourteen years or so but he was obviously the boy next door. The dark black curls that had been everywhere as a 9 year old were slicked back on his head. A neat black suit covered him. It fit perfectly. 14 years later he was still beautiful. Kurt set the one minute timer on his watch.

Only Prince Charming could at that moment know how the Piemaker felt. He knew he was about to bring his childhood sweet-heart back to life with a touch. But where to touch him? The lips, too forward. The cheek... Yes. The cheek.

Flash.

The sheen of gold spread from Kurt's finger as it touched briefly against Blaine's cheek. Blaine's eyes shot open and his arms lashed out to grab the sides of the coffin. Kurt backed away immediately to avoid brushing against Blaine's arm again. A quick scream emmited from Blaine's lips as he looked around and his eyes fell on Kurt. “Wait...Kurt?” His large eyebrows were scrunched in confusion.

“Yeah... Hi Blaine. How...How are you?” He winced, “Bad question. Do you know what's going on?”
“I...I'm dead? I mean I'm in a coffin and... I'm dead. Aren't I? Are you dead too? Are you like an angel or something?”

“Not that I know of. Yes, Blaine, you're dead.'

“So how am I...”

His question was left unfinished, what was he? Alive, undead, re-alive? What do you call something that will only be alive again for one minute.

“I...I never told you what I can do Blaine. If I touch something dead it comes back to life. But if I ever touch it again it dies forever.”

“So you... touched me? How long do I have?”

“A min...”

A beautiful thought entered the Piemaker's head. What if Blaine didn't have to die again?

“Only a minute, 31 seconds left now. Blaine, can you tell me who killed you?”

“31 seconds... Kurt... There's so much I wanted to say to you, I never saw you again after the funerals, never heard from you again...”

“I know Blaine, I'm sorry. I couldn't... go back. You were my first kiss. And my last.”

“You were my first kiss too.” Blaine smiled warmly at the memory.

“So, quickly, I really need to know who killed you.”

“I'm sorry Kurt, I really don't remember. I was on a cruise and I went to get ice and then... oh... someone came behind me and put a plastic bag over my face. That's all I remember, then I woke up here with you.”

Kurt looked at his watch, five seconds. The look in his eyes told Blaine everything and Blaine reluctantly sat back down in his coffin.

“Goodbye Kurt. I'm so glad I got to see you again.”

“Me too Blaine. I'm sorry about this.” He reached down to touch Blaine's cheek again but couldn't quite get his finger to touch the skin. He couldn't kill Blaine again. Not now. He needed more time.

The watch hit the one minute mark. Then 61 seconds. Blaine was still alive. Blaine looked at Kurt questioningly, “Well, aren't you going to do it?”
Kurt was stunned. How had he let this happen? But it was Blaine... Blaine was alive again. But who had died?

“What if you didn't have to be dead...?”

Blaine laughed. “Well that would be preferable, but isn't there some sort of cosmic price for keeping me alive past a minute?”

The Piemaker considered his response.

“No.”

It was a lie. There was a cosmic price and the universe cashed in on the extra life in the world by taking the life of the funeral director, Lawrence Schatz. This was not a great loss as the funeral director ran a neat side business of pawning fine jewelry and stolen accessories taken from the bodies of his customers. He was 42 years, 47 weeks, three days and eighty-five minutes old when he fell dead against the funeral home bathroom wall.

“But you can never touch me. Ever. If you do, even a brush of the fingers, you'll die again forever.” Kurt said urgently, his high voice rising.

“So a kiss is out of the question?” Blaine responded a little teasingly. Kurt's eyes fluttered as he considered the proposition offered to him. No of course they couldn't kiss, if only they could.

“I'm sorry. I just lost my train of thought. Now we have to work out how to get you out of here. Do you mind if I close the coffin again? I'll come and get you but you'll have to wait. Don't worry, I'll come back.” He promised and closed the lid of the coffin sadly.

“I know you will Kurt, you already came back.”

Mercedes Jones knew that something strange had happened in the room when the Piemaker didn't return after the usual minute. The look on the Piemaker's face told her everything, that he had not only touched Blaine but that he had forgotten to touch him again.

“He's still alive, isn't he.” She demanded, slightly annoyed and slightly happy for Kurt.

“Yes. He is, I couldn't.... Couldn't lose him again.” Mercedes rolled her eyes but understood. If she had the ability Kurt had and the opportunity to bring back what she had lost... She would have done the same as him.

“So who died instead?”

“I don't know, it's a random proximity thing.”

“Ah hell to the no, I was in proximity bitch.”

As the Piemaker's face attempted to return to the stony mask it usually was, he felt cracks begin to appear in its surface as the thought of Blaine returning to his life continued to make him smile. As Blaine lay in his coffin waiting for the Piemaker to return he contemplated how strange it was that his life had to have ended before he saw the Piemaker again.

The pallbearers took the coffin away and Mercedes and Kurt followed close behind it waiting for the opportunity to snatch Blaine away. Mercedes had not been pleased with the idea at first but recognized how important it was for Kurt and had eventually agreed. When they arrived at the graveyard, Mercedes distracted the gravediggers and Kurt ran to the coffin to free Blaine. He wished he could offer his hand to help Blaine up but Blaine scrambled out of the ground and they both ran to the car.

“Mercedes Jones, Blaine Anderson. Blaine, this is my partner, Mercedes.” Kurt said by way of introduction. Mercedes held out her hand for Blaine to shake and Blaine looked nervously to Kurt and asked,

“Is it safe?”

“Yes, you just can't touch me. Anyone else is fine.”

Blaine nodded and shook Mercedes' hand warmly.

“Nice to meet you. Kurt and I were neighbors when we were kids.”

“Oh I know. Kurt told me all about you two. Welcome... back to life I guess.”

Blaine blushed a little bit at Mercedes words and looked over at Kurt, Kurt shrugged.

They returned to the Pie-hole and Kurt introduced Blaine to his life's work.

As Blaine tasted his first bite of the Piemaker's Seven Lemon pie, he experienced the pleasure of nostalgia, butter, and the tart yellowness of lemons.

“Oh my gosh, Kurt. This is amazing. I had no idea you could cook like this. It's just like your mom used to make.”

The Piemaker stiffened at the mention of his mother and expected the usual burst of pain but found it was obscured by the presences of Blaine. Blaine who reminded him of the good parts of his mother's life and not her unfortunate death.

“Thank you.” He managed.

“So you said you and Mercedes were partners, do you bake too?”

Mercedes laughed before responding, “No. I just eat. I'm a private detective. Kurt helps me with murder cases.”

Blaine set down his fork as he realized what it meant. “So I'm a murder case. Is that why you brought me back?”

Kurt longed to reach out a hand to rest on Blaine's arm but as always he kept his hands to himself.

“Of course not. Well, yes. That's why originally.... but then you were you and...” He flashed a shy smile. The smile felt strange on his face, like had hadn't used those muscles in a while. Mercedes rolled her eyes at the suddenly increased levels of love in the air. She still wanted her money and was still a little ruffled that Kurt had risked her life just to bring back a boy he had had a crush on when he was nine.

The boy called Blaine shared his own smile with the Piemaker. He hadn't told the Piemaker how often he had thought of him. How he hadn't thought of anyone else in the same way since the fateful day of the double funeral. He kept these thoughts to himself for the time being.

“Okay. I get it. Now when are we going to find out who killed lover boy so I can get my money?”

Kurt and Blaine broke off their silent conversation in each others eyes and Kurt replied,

“Right. Of course. Where should we start? The travel boutique you used maybe? Did anything strange happen before the cruise, or during the cruise?”
“Not really. The cruise was totally normal I guess. Shows, food, water, and then I was getting ice from the vending machine and got strangled with a plastic bag. But before the cruise... the girl at Boutique Travel Travel Boutique, Deedee. She just gave me the cruise for free. Well, she said I had to pick up some monkeys but besides that. That's strange isn't it? A free cruise?”

“Monkeys. The news said you went to Tahiti, there aren't monkeys in Tahiti.” Mercedes interjected.

“No, no, ceramic monkeys. I picked them up on the island and they were in a silver briefcase and I took them home.”

“Sounds suspiciously drug mule-y”

“I wasn't a drug mule! Was I?” Blaine looked to Kurt for conformation.

“It sounds kind of like that Blaine... we should go talk to this Deedee girl.”

The Pie-maker and his companions left the Pie Hole, and left Chandler wondering who this new man was and why the Pie-maker couldn't seem to keep his eyes off him. The private detective, the Pie-maker, and the boy who was not quite dead arrived at Boutique Travel Travel Boutique to talk to Deedee Duffield but there was a problem.

She was dead.