Chapter 2

Kurt woke to a soft hand on his back. He sighed at the touch knowing that only Blaines hand could caress him so softly. He turned his head to find Blaine just staring at him. "Im so lucky you know." Blaine said thickly. "I have you, my dad is okay, were married and going to school in New York. The list goes on."

"I know this sounds really strange, but Im so happy that your dad just had a heart attack. I know thats bad, but a hate crime would have been so much worse." Kurt said sadly.

"I still cant figure out how the message got so messed up. I didnt want to dwell on it for too long, so when mom told me how the message got so messed up, I just let it go." Blaine shook his head at the memory and panic that hed felt when it happened.

Kurt turned fully toward Blaine his morning semi hard on brushing against Blaines belly. He blushed at the touch. "I never heard the whole story. I figured youd eventually tell me what happened. Dont get me wrong Blaine. No matter the injury, we would have come home immediately. I dont care if he just stubbed his toe too hard. We did the right thing. Im glad we did, because as it was he did pass out and they did have to regulate his heart until the surgery."

Blaine laughed quietly and took a breath in. "I guess they were walking out of the courthouse when the stoplight on the street turned green. They were standing at the crosswalk and an older car was pulling out at the curb. When it pulled out, the car backfired so loudly it scared the entire crowd, who dropped to the ground as soon as it went off." He shook his head. "My mom said that people were startled and shaken up. When everyone started to stand up, is when she noticed that dad wasnt moving very fast. He was clinging to his chest and she thought that maybe he was shot. She panicked and called for help. There were some police officers and some nurses having lunch in the grass. They ran over and crowded around him and called 911. My dad was still conscious and was trying to get them off of him yelling that he was okay. My mom called granddad and said she didnt know. She was frantic and said something about hearing a gunshot but she couldnt see because there were some nurses helping until the ambulance got there. When the sirens were in hearing distance, she said she had to go."

"Well, that makes sense." Kurt caressed Blaines face lovingly.

"Then, granddad remembered the case they were working on. Its a discrimination case for a manufacturing company that was getting a lot of press. He said that it mustve been related to that since they were just leaving the courthouse." Blaine laughed gently again. "You know, it doesnt matter. My dad is okay. Hes going to be okay." There were tears in Blaines eyes. Kurt knew that Blaine hadnt showed his vulnerable side since before they arrived back in the states. Blaine wanted to be strong for everyone. He never wanted anyone to take care of him.

"Baby, its okay to cry. You love your dad." Kurt caught the stray tear that fell. "Youve been so strong for everyone these past few weeks. Its your turn to be cared for." Blaine lay his head on Kurts bare chest. He could feel and hear Kurts heart beating. It was real. Kurt was his and loved him unconditionally. "Ill take care of you always."

"I didnt want dad to see how scared I was for him and my mom." Blaine wrapped an arm around Kurt. "I want to be able to fix everything."

"Baby, you cant fix everything. You can help to make things better, but sometimes, it just cant be fixed. Sometimes the best way to help is to let someone else take care of it. Its about making the right decisions." Kurts arms were wrapped firmly around Blaine. "Im so relieved though. Both our dads are okay now. Well make sure that dad is okay."

Blaine lifted his head and smiled. "You called him dad again."

"What?" Kurt didnt know what he was talking about.

"You called my dad, dad, at the house when you were yelling at him and you just did it again."

Kurt looked shyly at Blaine. He didnt know how Blaine felt about that. As it is, Blaine really just got his parents back after years of a tenuous relationship with them. "I didnt realize." It was a, sort of, apology.

"Shh.. Its okay. I liked it and I think my dad did too."

"Are you sure thats okay?" Kurt looked worried. "I like calling him dad. It just feels right." Shy Kurt returned.

"I like hearing you call him that. I know you Kurt. You dont take any of that lightly, so to hear you say it means that you trust him and my family with everything you are."

"I do. I trust and love your family so much." Kurt was content to lie there all day wrapped up in Blaine, but boxes were calling them. "I guess we need to get up and shower."

"I have two weeks before I start that school seminar." They sat out on the balcony just reading and listening to music.

"What am I going to do when youre gone?" Kurt whined. "I cant just sit around all day waiting for you to come home."

Blaine laughed. "Kurt, were in New York City. This is your chance to explore. Go to museums, visit some parks, walk down Park Avenue. Im not gone all day. Im only gone in the mornings until noon. Ill be home before you know it. You can always try to find a job in the mornings. Maybe in the fashion district." Blaine wanted nothing more than for Kurt to be happy. "Besides, youre probably getting sick of me anyway."

Kurt put down his magazine and leaned into Blaine. "I dont want to do those things without you. Were supposed to explore the city together." He pouted a little at the thought that Blaine might not want to do those things with him, but even more so that perhaps Blaine was already getting tired of him. "Unless you dont want to do those things with me." Kurt put Blaine off a little with the worried stare.

"Dont get any ideas in that beautiful head of yours. I love you Kurt and I want to do all those things with you and more. I was merely suggesting that there are so many things to do here. I want you to learn the things that you like to do. I want you to be able to introduce me to the New York City that you fall in love with. Its different for everyone." He was so sincere. Kurt knew what Blaine wanted for him.

"I know. Im sorry."

"Dont be sorry, be Kurt. The Kurt I know would enjoy every minute of this city." Blaine pulled Kurt into a hug. "Now lets go for a walk in the park okay? Then maybe we can come back and unpack a few things."

"I dont want to unpack too many things. That would mean we have to repack and re-unpack, if thats even a word." Kurt laughed at his use of made up words.

"Okay, but lets at least get out." Blaine needed to get out a little. Relaxation would be something scarce very soon.

They ended up strolling Central Park with ice creams in hand. They sat together by the fountain and talked about the next two weeks of freedom. "I want to make love to you in every room." Kurt said very innocently like they were talking about movies. Then he licked his ice cream cone provocatively.

Blaine gulped. "Well, if you plan on doing anything to me like youre doing to that cone, Im all for it." Damn Kurt. He knew just how to get Blaine hot when he shouldnt be.

"Oh really." He licked from bottom of the ice cream scoop where it met the cone to the top of the ice cream before sucking some of the ice cream at the top into his mouth with a little slurp.

"You little tease." Blaine wiped Kurts bottom lip with his thumb before taking it and licking it off.

Kurts mouth turned into a big smile. "And you call me a tease. Does this mean youre all for my idea?"

"When did you ever know me to decline sex, baby." He pulled Kurts lips to him. Blaine licked Kurts lip.

"Were in public Blaine. I know were in New York, but there are still people out there that think were wrong." Kurt remained cautious about public display because while it was acceptable in a city like this, people were still people and there would be people that would not be happy to see them together and definitely not see them kissing and holding hands.

"I know. Lets go home them. As far as I know, weve only christened one room so far." Blaine winked at Kurt.

"You, sir, are correct." Kurt giggled. "So shall we pick another one?"

"Your choice, my love."

"Your love would love to make love to you." He quirked an eyebrow waiting for the answer.

Blaine smiled. "As my love wishes."

The little role play got Kurt thinking. "I kind of like this role playing. Maybe we need to explore that a little more."

"I would totally be into that my prince." Blaine winked again. They would definitely be trying that soon.

Before the boys knew it, two weeks had passed and Blaine was starting his seminar. Kurt worried, but never let on that he felt left out. He still had a month before school started, no job prospects, their place was running behind schedule so he couldnt spend the time unpacking.

"Ill be back later and well go to lunch, okay?" Blaine whispered to Kurt before kissing him goodbye. Today was the first day of his four week seminar. Blaine had been lucky to be one of three freshmen chosen to participate in this. It was a four week study of literature and its relation to history and impact in American culture. "Love you."

Kurt was depressed about the whole thing. He knew he needed to get used to being away from Blaine, but it was a hard concept to fathom when they had spent the better part of the last two years attached at the hip. Blaine also understood how Kurt was feeling. He gave Kurt his undivided attention for the last two weeks.

"Im going to miss you baby." Kurt said half asleep. "Im going to look for a job or internship today, k?" He went back to sleep.

"My love sleeps." Blaine gathered his messenger up after one last glance at Kurt. He headed to school. Blaine was a ball of nerves when he arrived. There were only twelve students picked for this seminar. At the end of the four weeks they would prepare a round table discussion with literary figures, politicians and local historians. It would be his first notable discussion with people of importance. The four weeks would be rigorous and stressful until school started, then school would take on the stress.

Dr. Stein was head of this group. Blaine ended up being thirty minutes early. He wanted to scope out the competition. Everything was a competition at Columbia. He knew that he was going to be with the best for this seminar and he wanted to be ready. The other eleven chosen students were filtering in slowly as each sat down saying hello, but no one exchanged names. Blaine smiled at every single one of them. He knew that he could learn a lot about each one by the way they responded to him.

"Welcome. Welcome." Dr. Stein counted the room of students and finished at twelve. "Looks like everyone is here. First things first. Here is a syllabus of what we need to cover in the next four weeks. I will be splitting you into groups of three or four. The groups will be mixed because it would be good to gain perspective from others in this seminar. You will create a presentation that will be done at the end of the four weeks. Each group will present for fifteen minutes on their topic after which time we will have a round table discussion with literary, political and historical heads." He passed out the papers that they would be covering for today. Blaine perused the papers as he looked around the room wondering who he would get paired with.

"Dr. Stein, when will we get our group assignments?" Blaine asked.

"Right now, Mr. Anderson." He was pulling another folder out of his briefcase. "We will meet here every day to discuss each groups findings and research. It will be a good way to test out your theories ahead of time. We want to be prepared when we meet with these important people in a few weeks."

Someone else asked. "Will we have time during this seminar to work on the research."

"You will have time during the class scheduled time, but you will also be required to meet outside of this time and complete any research needed " Blaines heart sunk a little. He knew Kurt would miss him dreadfully if he had to work on this every afternoon. "And here are the groups. Blaine Anderson, freshman, Justin Stapleton, Sophomore, Corinne Taylor, Junior and Lauren Ringer, Senior. You take care of this freshman here, girls." He put his hands on Blaines shoulders patting them strongly. "I think he may have something very important to offer the world someday."

Blaine smiled and shook hands with each of them. He eyed Justin who seemed a little stand offish. The girls were friendly and very, very smart. Blaine could tell immediately. While Dr. Stein got the other two groups together, they each talked a little about where they were from and what their major was. The older girls had heard of Blaines family, just as Dr. Stein said.

Lauren was the first to speak up. "Well have to split up research and plan some afternoon standing meeting times because well never get a good presentation together if we only work in the mornings." Blaine knew that Kurt would be so upset because now his morning seminar was going to be drifting into the afternoon some of the time.

Blaine nodded. "Sure. Can we pick days now so that I can make sure my husband is aware."

The three of his partners stared at him with open mouths. It was Justin who said. "Are you serious? Youre married?"

Blaine hated when people acted like this. "Yeah. I got married in June. My husband will be studying at Parsons." Blaine wasnt in the mood to deal with the questions right now and thankfully, Dr. Stein started to go over all the papers he handed out.

In the end, all four of them exchanged numbers and assigned who would read which items based on their strength in that subject. Blaine got Literature and politics because of his family. It was a good morning, but Blaine could feel the pressure already. It was going to be a lot of work, but Blaine had a really good feeling about it.

"Hey Blaine." Justin yelled out after Blaine as he headed to the exit. "So, your gay?"

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that?" Blaine narrowed his eyes.

"No, to each his own and all that jazz. I personally like girls. My girlfriend is here in the city too, but she doesnt go to school. Shes an aspiring actress."

"Oh, thats great." Blaine thought it odd that he would just tell him all this information without him asking. "Maybe we can all get together sometime."

"That sounds like fun. Ill text you." Justin said with a wave.

Blaine knew he didnt want Kurt to get worked up over him spending time with Justin. He felt some relief that Justin had a girlfriend. Kurt knew that Blaine loved him and only him, but he was human and Blaine knew that there would be a jealous side on the days they had to meet in the afternoon.

Eleven-thirty came quickly and the group decided that they would get started with research the next day. They left non-committal on the times reminding each other to keep time in the afternoon open in case they needed the extra time. Four weeks would go by very quickly, they all knew. Blaine was confident that they would make it through.