How did my life come to this? I mean seriously, it wasn't bad enough that my biological parents gave me up at birth and that I've been from foster home to foster home all my life only to end up with a psycho foster mom and a manipulative foster brother? Obviously not, seeing as I'm now sitting in a black Town Car with tinted windows next to a big guy who's equally large partner is sitting in the driver's seat and could be taking me anywhere. Why did I get into this car anyway…?

It had started as a day like any other for Kurt Hummel.

"Kurt! Is your lazy ass still in bed!" 'No, but I know yours is' Kurt thought as he pulled his shirt over his head. "Get to the store! We need milk and while you're there pick up my smokes!

Kurt couldn't help but scoff at the voice of his foster-mom filtering from her place in her bedroom, 'Typical'. And honestly, there was never a truer statement. Kurt had been staying with Mary and her son Alex in this foster home for the past year and a half and they'd done nothing but take advantage of him the entire time. Their interest in him extends just far enough to make sure they still get their cheque every month for "taking care of him" and they don't even use that money on him. It primarily goes towards little shopping trips like the one he's just been ordered to go on. "Can't even be bothered to go and spend the money meant for me themselves."

However, despite Kurt's obvious disdain for his foster-mom's mildly abusive behaviour, he also knew that should he refuse Mary's "requests" he could end up getting kicked out of the house and land himself in a home where the foster family's behaviour was more than 'mildly abusive'.

So he made his way downstairs, passed the living room – ignoring his chunky foster-brother's order of "Get me some of that ice cream I like when you're there" – and toward the front door. He slipped on his trendy-in-an-uncommon-kind-of-way blue spring jacket he had found at a thrift store to shield him from the still chilly late-march weather and laced up his equally trendy black boots to protect his skinny jeans from the last dregs of slush that could be found on the sidewalks.

When he was fully prepared to brave the outside world he stepped out and looked around the empty, early Saturday morning street. As he began the twenty minute trek to the nearest store Kurt turned his musing inwards. He had woken in a strangely good mood that morning. It was unusual for him to actually be looking forward to the day. It almost felt like something good was going to happen. 'Which is ridiculous since I never seem catch a break. "Good things come to those who wait", my ass. I've been waiting 17 years for something good to happen to me. Well, he thought, I guess I could have ended up in a trash bin as a baby instead of just being left in a hospital – maybe I used up all my luck then.'

Kurt had never connected well with the world. Maybe he had "adjustment issues" like his social worker liked to put it but he had always felt at odds with the people around him and the places he found himself in. It was almost like he didn't belong. Not just because he's a foster kid or because he's basically the only out gay guy in this ridiculously small back-water Ohio town. 'It's like there's this gap between me and everyone else. Like everyone and everything around me is existing on a completely different level.' He was shaken from his thoughts as he reached the automatic doors of the store and slipped between them as they opened for him.

Ten minutes later Kurt stepped back outside with two bags in-hand. One with Mary's milk and cigarettes, 'nasty cancer sticks', and Alex's rocky road ice cream, 'I have no idea how he manages to eat that stuff – I mean, the calories in that one tub alone?' Distracted by his mental criticisms of his foster family's requested items, Kurt didn't notice the sleek black car pull up to the curb next to him or the two - rather large – men who got out of it and walked towards him. He did however notice when one of them called out to him...

"Kurt Hummel?" Kurt's head whipped up at the sound of his name being called by a very unfamiliar voice and was met instantly with a sight that terrified him. He'd watched enough of Alex's action movies to know that two big guys standing in front of a black car with tinted windows calling your full name should set off just about every flag in your head signalling danger and yet... "Yes?" was all he responded in his high, melodic voice, his calm tone belying his internal freak-out. 'Seriously? Yes? Why am I standing here? Why am I not running away as fast as I can? Oh, God. They just looked at each other...and smiled! Why are they looking for me? Wait! Who cares?' "Can I help you with something?" 'Oh. Apparently I care! What the heck is wrong with my brain-to-mouth filter right now?'

"We'd like for you to get into the car, please. There's somewhere we need to take you," he heard one of the men respond. 'Are they crazy? Do they seriously think that just because they ask nicely that I'm going to just...' Kurt couldn't really finish that thought. I mean, if he really thought about it, these men seemed...different somehow. They didn't belong in this place. They seemed to stand out so clearly from their surroundings while everything else faded into the background. And yet he didn't feel at odds with them. Like these people were standing on the same level as him, a level he had thought he was stuck on alone – that he had been stuck on alone his entire life – and the feeling it gave him to see other people so completely, so clearly, made him want to cry with relief. It was like he had finally found a place he belonged. 'How insane is that? I don't even know these people! They're strangers; potentially dangerous strangers...' "Unless you'd like to go back to your family of course," the first man continued. And that was all it took. Before Kurt could think twice about it he took the few steps to the back door of the car which the second man held open for him and slid in. As the second man got into the driver's seat and the first man walked around the car to get into the back seat from the other side all Kurt could think was, 'Mary is going to kill me when I get back', the shopping bags filled with the items he came for sat abandoned on the sidewalk outside the store where Kurt had dropped them.

Little did Kurt know that the trip he reluctantly began that morning would be the beginning of a trip that would last much longer, take him much farther and be much, much more meaningful than a trip to the nearby store for milk, cigarettes and ice cream.