The power was out again.

Blaine was on his knees, flashlight in his mouth, digging around with both hands in the bottom drawer of a kitchen cabinet to see if he could find the large vanilla scented candle he knew Kurt bought last week.

The weather had recently taken a turn for the worse, and though the hurricane that hit the Gulf never really quite got up to New York City, the residual storms were bad the past few days and power outages seemed to be the norm as of late.

"Aha!" Blaine exclaimed around the flashlight as he procured the candle and a partial box of matches.

He aimed the flashlight at his watch. It was 7:49 and Kurt was due back around 8:00. Blaine didn't have much time.

Quickly, but carefully, he made his way back to the living room. Though they had moved in about a month ago, there were still some boxes waiting to be unpacked. This bothered Kurt to no end, but even he didn't have enough time to get rid of them. Blaine was busy at the firehouse, having just been promoted, and Kurt was personal assistant to an editor at a fashion magazine and never seemed to have a minute for himself anymore.

Tonight was supposed to be special. Tonight Blaine needed the power to be on.

But it wasn't, so he just had to make the best of the situation.

There were already candles lit around the room (he had double checked that none of them would tip – how horrible would it be for a firefighter to set his own apartment on fire?), but Blaine wanted Kurt's candle to be the centerpiece for the makeshift picnic he had set up on the floor.

Blaine had planned to give Kurt a relaxing and romantic evening. He had filled the fridge with fresh vegetables, fruits and cheeses, bought the best bottle of wine within his limited price range, and made sure there were enough supplies stocked in their nightstand so they could potentially stay in bed together for a week if they wanted to.

Having to scrap some of his prior plans, Blaine tried to improvise a meal without having to open the fridge. He cut up some fruit he found on the counter and arranged them on a plate, hoping the presentation would make up for the fact that they were apples and bananas and not the strawberries and grapes that were buried in the fridge. The box of fancy crackers looked silly next to a canister of Easy Cheese, and instead of the cheesecake Blaine had bought for tonight, he had grabbed a half-empty box of Girl Scout cookies that was still in the cupboard. He was thankful the wine wasn't meant to be chilled, so the bottle was sitting out with two mismatched goblets flanking it.

Blaine knelt on the floor and put Kurt's candle on a tray in the middle of the picnic. He lit it and watched as its flame cast some additional dancing shadows across the room. He looked from his watch (7:54) to the picnic and sighed. He hoped Kurt would like it, or at least acknowledge that he tried.

Just as he was about to get up, he heard a key slide into the lock of the door in the hallway, a clicking sound, and then Kurt as he entered the apartment.

"Can you believe the power is out again? God, we should have picked that apartment on the second floor. I know we liked the view from here, but really…" Kurt's rant slowed to a halt when he entered the living room and saw Blaine kneeling on the floor, surrounded by the picnic and candles. His eyes widened as he gasped. "Oh," he whispered in awe as he brought a free hand up to his mouth.

Blaine scrambled to his feet, careful not to knock anything over. He was so worried about wanting to please Kurt that he took his reaction as a negative one.

"Hey! I'm sorry." Blaine made his way over to Kurt, talking with his hands the whole time. "I had this whole thing planned, but then the power went out and I couldn't get to the stuff in the fridge so I had to improvise, and it took me forever to find that candle that you bought that you said you didn't, but I knew you did, and I'm sorry I didn't change out of my work clothes yet, I had an outfit picked out and everyth-,"

Blaine's diatribe was cut off by Kurt's mouth closing in over his own. After the initial shock, a whimper escaped from the depths of his throat as he leaned into Kurt's kiss, their mouths moving together until they were both forced to stop and take a breath. Blaine went to continue his apology speech, but Kurt reached up and pinched his lips closed.

"Blaine Hummel-Anderson, I am tired of you apologizing all the time." Even though the room was dark, Kurt could see his husband's face flush in the glow of the candlelight. "Now, let me take off these shoes, and then we can enjoy this lovely surprise picnic you set up, okay?" Blaine nodded and Kurt gave him a quick peck on the lips that were sticking out between Kurt's fingers.

A few minutes later, the two men were seated across from each other on the floor. Blaine poured them both a glass of wine and each man raised his glass to toast the other.

Blaine jokingly cleared his throat, but then assumed a serious look on his face. "To my husband. My best friend. My life. I have loved you forever and I will love you for always." He started to choke up, causing Kurt's eyes to tear even though he had a huge smile on his face. "Happy Anniversary, Kurt."

Kurt leaned over and kissed Blaine chastely on the lips before settling back down. He wiped a stray tear from his eye with his free hand as he held his wine glass out toward Blaine. "To my husband. My best friend. My everything. I love you, Blaine." They clinked their glasses together. "Happy Anniversary."

They each took a sip from their glass and sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, munching on the food Blaine laid out for them. Both men were exhausted from their busy days at work.

After awhile, Blaine looked over at Kurt, who was looking around the room at the boxes that still needed to be unpacked. "Hey, it's only our second anniversary once. Quit looking at the boxes and let me feed you some Thin Mints."

Kurt scrunched up his nose, balled up a napkin and threw it at Blaine.

"Kurt! Watch the candle!" Blaine grabbed the napkin, even though it fell a good foot away from the candle. "Good thing you're married to one of New York's Bravest…" Blaine leaned over and wiggled his eyebrows at his husband. They both chuckled as Blaine held out a cookie. Kurt bit half of it, and then Blaine popped the rest of it into his own mouth.

"You know," Kurt swallowed the cookie and took a sip of his wine before continuing, "as terrified as it makes every time you go down to the station, I really can't imagine you doing anything else. You are brave and I'm so proud of you. I'm proud to be with you."

Blaine was taken aback by the compliment. They each told each other that they loved the other all the time, but he's always pleasantly surprised when Kurt says something like that, especially so nonchalantly. It made Blaine feel special and loved. He was always thankful that Kurt was back in his life and knew he was the luckiest man in the world to be his as long as they both shall live.

"Thank you." Blaine was still completely smitten with Kurt and probably would be forever. Who gets to marry their childhood best friend? "God, I love you. Remind me to call Finn and thank him for burning down your kitchen."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You tell him that every time you talk to him."

"I know. But that doesn't mean I mean it any less." Blaine got real serious real fast, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. Maybe it was the wine talking, but part of it was his heart aching constantly for the man who was sitting mere feet away from him. "I love you. And, I… when we… I just missed you so much, Kurt. When my family moved after the fire, there was just this hole…" He was starting to get emotional. He choked on his words as he made a hand gesture in front of his chest. "And then there you were…. But I can't lose you again, Kurt. I can't." Tears fell quickly down Blaine's cheek as he looked down at the floor.

Kurt's face crumbled a bit as he crawled over to his husband and wrapped him in a loving embrace. "Oh, Blaine." Kurt rubbed circles on his husband's back with one hand and ran his other through the hair near Blaine's neck. "Hey, I'm here. We're here. Okay?" Blaine nodded into Kurt's shoulder. "We can't change what happened. We can't. But you know what? It'll never happen again because you're stuck with me forever. I'm in this till death do us part, okay? I didn't just say that to say it. We're in this for the long haul, buddy."

Blaine laughed through his own tears and pulled back so he could look his husband in the eye. Kurt wiped Blaine's tears with his thumbs and then kissed him. "I love you so much," Kurt whispered against Blaine's lips. "So much."

When Blaine settled down and they were finished with dinner – "Blaine, I loved it, I swear." – they blew out the candles in the living room, left their empty wine glasses and plates for later, and stumbled their way to the bedroom. They would have tripped with the lights on. Kurt and Blaine were all over each other; attaching their lips to any piece of skin they had access to as they shed their clothes like leaves falling from trees at the height of autumn.

The power may have been out, but their love, need and want for each other continued to burn.