Breathing in the fresh New York air (only fresh if he ignored the gas fumes and his own body stench after having been on a bus for nearly two days), he found he had absolutely no regrets. Not yet, anyway. He only felt a bit of guilt about not telling Cooper where he was going. He was sure that by now his brother was laughing his arse of at his mother's panicking, which would probably only be outdone by Sebastian's agitation, so he didn't worry about it too much.

He supposed he had been a bit callous in his goodbye- note, though. Dear mum, dad, Cooper (and Sebastian), the note had read, I can't do this. I'm going away for a bit. Sebastian, I'm sorry, but I can't marry you. It's not you, it's me. Okay, maybe it's a little you. Or a lot. Anyway, sorry. I don't know when I'll be back. Love, Blaine.

In hindsight, maybe cello- taping his engagement- ring to the paper had been a bit much.

--------------------------------------------------

"You are never going to believe this," Kurt cheerily said as he walked into his office.

Puck looked up from his Rubick's Cube. Kurt didn't know why he still tried, he had been trying to solve it for the last two years. "You've got a date? Cause I'm not going to believe that."

"No," Kurt frowned, "And: ouch. No, apparently the Anderson kid just up and left so he wouldn't have to marry his fianc�."

"Sebastian?" Puck asked, before shrugging. "Don't blame him. Smythe's a slime."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, knowing he should be used to Puck's callous words by now, but not having expected him to just say that about a client.

"What?", Puck shrugged, "Dude tried to hit on me in front of Anderson. That's low, and that's coming from me."

"True," Kurt conceded. "He did come across as a douche when I met him, too."

Puck grinned, happy to have been proven right, before tossing the Rubick's cube over his shoulder in frustration at not being able to solve it still. "So what's got you so chipper then?"

"The Anderson's asked me to track him down and bring him back," Kurt grinned.

"Why you? I've been working with that family since we started this business. You only met them a day ago!" Puck protested.

Kurt shrugged, a smirk on his lips. "I don't know. Maybe because I'm in charge of the actual detective cases while you act as a bodyguard?"

"That's only because you forbade me from doing those cases since the MacMillan case," Puck grumbled, very nearly pouting.

Kurt raised his eyebrow again. "You were on the case for two months without finding Mr MacMillan. I found him in two days."

"How was I supposed to know he had a cabin in the woods?"

"And that," Kurt said while going over to sit at his desk, "Is why I am in charge of this case."

----------------------------------------------------

"I still can't believe you're here, dude," a dark- skinned man said from his place in the passenger seat of the car they were driving in. His eyes were locked on the rear view mirror, wherein he could see his friend seated in one of the back seats.

"Screw that," his Asian friend said from behind the wheel of the car, "I can't believe he finally left Sebastian."

The other man snorted. "I can't believe he did it by running away like a twelve- year- old."

From the back seat, Blaine rolled his eyes. "Yes, har har. I left him in a very immature way."

"Well, you did, Blaine," the Asian man said with a grin.

"Yeah, I know," Blaine sighed. "Thanks for letting me stay with you by the way, Wes."

"No problem," Wes responded, manoeuvring the car through the thick New York traffic.

"It's really sweet of you," Blaine continued, "I'm just not sure why David's here, too. I thought the glue keeping the two of you joined at the hips had dissolved some since graduation."

"Preposterous!", Wes exclaimed, at the same time David gasped out a "No such thing!".

Blaine fought the urge to roll his eyes again. He should have known his two friends wouldn't have changed a bit since their college days. Even though both of them had a steady, mature job now (Wes was active in law, while David was a doctor) they still liked to act like they were five. And that's when they were sober. Blaine planned on avoiding the bar they had taken him to on his twenty- first birthday whilst he stayed with them. He was pretty sure their pictures were still on the wall behind the bar.

"So," David said after a few moments of comfortable silence, "You're mother must be freaking the fuck out right about now."

Wes snorted while Blaine groaned. "Oh, dear God, please don't remind me," the curly- haired boy said.

"Did you at least leave a note?" Wes asked.

"I did," Blaine answered proudly.

"Was it any good?" David asked, obviously fighting to keep in his laughter at the look on Blaine's face.

"Not very, no," Blaine replied. "But at least I left one, right?"

"Yeah sure," Wes answered, steering them into a familiar looking block of streets. "We'll pretend it's the thought that counts."

Blaine dropped his head in his hands. Wes and David high- fived over the centre- console.

------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe you're actually going on a trip for this case," Puck complained from his desk. He had retrieved the Rubick's cube from somewhere and was busy trying to solve it again.

"Yup," Kurt grinned, before dropping a pile of files on Puck's desk. Puck hurried to remove his feet from where they had been laying on the desk. "You do, however, realise you're going to have to take over my cases while I'm away, right?"

"That's so not fair," Puck groaned. "How do you know he's not still in Ohio, anyway?"

"Quite simple," Kurt answered while pulling on his jacket. "All the pictures in his room are from his college days. Every single one of them features his roommates, the school building and the city. He didn't even have a picture of his fianc�. Kind of sad, if you ask me."

"Really?", Puck asked sceptically, "A few pictures told you Anderson left the state to go back to his college city?"

"Well, there was that," Kurt started, "And the fact that he asked the maid to call him a taxi to take him to the airport. There were only three flights that night, a flight to New York City being one of them. He went back to New York."

"So now you get to go back to New York to look for him," Puck grumbled. "Must be fun to go back to your college city."

"Right you are," Kurt smiled cheekily in return. "And all expenses are paid for by the Andersons."

"Where you'll visit old friends, go shopping and visit Broadway shows from, I'm sure," Puck stated.

"If Anderson's somewhere, I'll be there. If he decides to go see a musical, I'll be two rows behind him," Kurt grinned, not convincing Puck in the slightest. He picked up his travel bag and opened the door before turning back to his partner once more.

"Oh, and please do try to make headway on those files. Mrs Peterson misses Mr Snugglepuss a great deal."

The last thing Kurt heard out of Puck was the dull thud of the Rubick's cube as it collided with the door he had just closed behind him.