March

"The streets of Manhattan and surrounding boroughs will soon be home to another television series. A still unnamed musical series starring Academy Award winner Kurt Hummel will begin filming in New York City next month and sources say the show will feature the city prominently. No word on the exact plot of the show yet, but I'm sure we'll all be tuning in as long as Kurt's singing, right? It'll be fun to go see him filming and certainly a lot cheaper than tickets to Toy Story. Gosh, Broadway prices really break the bank these days, don't they? Check out our website for all the information we have about when and where the show will be filming."

"In other news, authorities at Cliffside Hospital in Rochester have notified police of a security break at their psychiatric wing which has led to the escape of at least two patients…" - ABC local morning news, March 28th, 2021.

=^..^=

"Watch this, Mr. A!"

Blaine watched, giving all his attention to Hazy, who gripped the metal bar with her hands on either side of her knee. She leaned forward and spun around the bar over-and-over again, making his breath catch a little each time she lifted her hands slightly to reposition them.

It was late March and the spring-like weather that week meant that the kids were once again playing on the monkey bars and jungle gyms that they'd ignored during the winter months. If they were going to continue to play on the bars like that he'd have to have Kurt give him some pointers. He could just imagine the kid's faces if he came out during recess one day and started spinning around on the bars himself.

He was running his eyes along the perimeter fence on an instinctual search for possible danger when he heard his name being called from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Mrs. Putney from the main office walking quickly towards him.

"Mr. Anderson, a message came in for you at the office." She handed him a slip of paper with Kurt's name on it. "It's Mr. Hummel. He said he tried your cell, but wasn't able to get a hold of you. Evidently it's very urgent."

Blaine patted his right jacket pocket, frowning when he didn't feel his phone inside. He must have left it on his desk after he'd taken a few photos that morning. He looked down at the message and his heart seized in his chest. Kurt never called him a work. At most, he'd send a few text messages, but a call? Never. Something must be wrong. "Thanks. Can you…I need to…"

"I'll take over as playground monitor." Mrs. Putney took the metal coaches whistle from him and made a shooing motion with her hand. "Go. Call him back. He sounded upset."

With an absent wave to the girls gathered at the bars, Blaine turned and jogged back to the school, racing up the stairs to his classroom. He had Kurt's number pulled up and dialed before he'd even caught his breath.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" Blaine asked as soon as Kurt picked up, not even waiting for a "hello."

"I got a call from the police." Kurt's voice was steady on the surface, but Blaine could detect a slight waiver underneath. "It's Rodney. He's escaped from the hospital and they think he might be coming here."

Rodney. Blaine hadn't heard that name in almost a year. Kurt didn't like to talk about his stalker and Blaine hadn't seen a reason to bring up bad memories when the man in question was locked up in a mental care facility after a plea bargain had kept him from prison. The bargain struck by the prosecuting attorney had stipulated that Rodney would remain hospitalized for an indefinite amount of time with quarterly checks on his progress. He was prone to violence and a danger to others, but the doctors at the facility had felt strongly that they could help him.

Blaine had been against the deal. Rodney hadn't seemed to him to be someone who didn't know right from wrong—he'd tried too hard to cover his tracks for that—but Kurt hadn't wanted the publicity of a trial and had been convinced that the hospital was the best way to go.

Due to patient privacy laws, Kurt wouldn't get updates on how Rodney was doing unless he was being considered for release, but he'd been okay with that, happy to leave it all behind. All they knew was that Rodney had been moved to a hospital in upstate New York under careful guard.

Not careful enough, as it turned out.

"He escaped?" Blaine asked, already pulling on his jacket.

"They don't know much. Just that he and another patient missed the evening check-in last night."

Blaine took the stairs two at a time. "Last night? So he's been out for over 12 hours? And they just called you now?"

"They didn't want to worry me, but I guess they found a bunch of photos and stories about us in his room when they searched it today."

Blaine stopped at the front office to get someone to cover his class, and within minutes he was sailing out the front door towards the street.

A cab screeched to a halt in front of him in response to his raised arm and he climbed inside, giving his address to the man behind the wheel and offering a large tip if they got there as quickly as possible. With a nod and gleam in his eye, the cabbie took off, weaving in and out of traffic like a race car driver.

Blaine kept Kurt on the phone for the whole trip, chatting casually to keep his mind occupied while trying not to give the driver any information he could turn around and sell to a reporter.

The buildings flew by and before he knew it, the taxi was pulling up in front of his building. He handed the cabbie the fare and the promised tip and ran inside. He didn't even have a chance to fit his key into the lock before Kurt yanked it open and leaped into his arms.

"I'm so glad you're here," Kurt breathed as he wrapped his arms tightly around Blaine's neck. "I'm sorry for bothering you at work. I know it's silly, but I just needed you here. I feel like such a scaredy-cat."

Blaine burrowed his face into Kurt's neck. "God, Kurt, it's not silly. I need you right now just as much as you need me. There's no shame in being scared. That guy terrorized you and you can't be expected to just forget that." He walked Kurt backwards until he could close and lock the door behind him and then led them over to couch. "Now, tell me everything."

Kurt collapsed down onto the cushions, tucking one leg beneath him with his back against the arm of the couch as he described the phone call he'd received that morning in detail. When he was done he twisted his hands together and grimaced down at them. "I guess he's been getting worse since all the publicity last summer. I didn't even think about what effect my being in the news so much would have on him. I do an excellent impression of an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand, don't I?"

With one tug on his hands, Blaine brought Kurt over onto his lap. "No one blames you for not wanting to hear about him, Kurt. He was getting help and that's all you needed to know. Spending any time thinking about him was a waste of your energy and will be again as soon as they catch him."

Kurt nodded solemnly and sank his weight against Blaine's chest as part of the tension in his body released. "The police promised to call when they had any more information. Distract me, please. How was your day?" He grimaced and dropped his forehead onto Blaine's shoulder. "At least the little of it that there was."

Blaine tightened his arms around Kurt's back and went into a dramatic recounting of what he'd decided to call the "The Great Superman Underwear Dispute of 2021". He even managed to get Kurt to giggle a few times, which he considered a major personal victory. Eventually, rumbling stomachs drove them from each other's arms and Blaine got up so that he could put together a quick lunch while Kurt wrapped himself up in a blanket and burrowed into the couch.

Before making his way to the kitchen, Blaine drew the curtains shut on all their windows and double-checked the lock and chain on the front door. Satisfied that the apartment was as safe as he could make it under such short notice, he pulled his phone from his pocket and called down to the doorman to notify him of the situation and make sure that no one was allowed in to see them.

He then called Bev and the police detective he'd spoken to back when Rodney had been arrested, getting the latest details with the phone tucked up between his shoulder and cheek while he put together a tray of crackers, cheese, and—at the last second—two heaping bowls of ice cream drizzled liberally with chocolate sauce.

Not exactly a traditional lunch but, if the light in Kurt's eyes when he saw the ice cream was any indication, it was just what the doctor ordered. They ate on the couch, the TV playing quietly in the background as the latest quasi-celebrity talk show host interviewed the contestant kicked off some reality show the night before.

Kurt made short work of his food—he was a self-confessed stress eater—and set the empty bowl back down on the tray, the spoon clanging loudly against the side. He bent his head back over the edge of the couch, looking towards the front door. "I think Elphie needs to go out. She's doing that little dance that tells me we've got about 10 minutes before things start to get messy."

"I'll ask Mrs. Ahjani if she'll take her out for her walk. She owes us for pet sitting Rosco last month."

The neighbor came down in short order and took the dog out for her walk. As Blaine closed the door behind her he noticed a thick envelope on the table with Kurt's name and "Pilot" written on it. He picked it up and carried it back to the living room. "Is this your first script?"

Kurt took the offered envelope and slid the top open. "I forgot. They delivered it this morning. We start filming in two weeks."

"Want me to run lines with you?"

Kurt flipped the script open to the first page and smirked. "Do you want to play my overly ambitious, but ultra-talented roommate—a little too close to home, by the way, Rachel's ears must be burning—or the casting director who wants to see how I'd look spread out on his couch?"

Blaine dropped a knee down on the cushion so that he could lean into Kurt. "Hmmm…the casting director sounds promising, though I'd probably just end up all indignant on your behalf. Let's go with the roommate. I've been dying to break out my Rachel Berry impersonation."

They ran through Kurt's scenes, doing them normally several times before starting to play and take on funny accents or horrible acting styles. A particularly funny version, where Kurt said everything as if he was the Queen of England, had Blaine gasping for breath, his fingers skipping over Elphie's—who had been since been returned from her walk—soft ears. "I don't want to jinx things, but this is really good, Kurt. You might have a hit on your hands."

"EGOT here I come!" Kurt crowed triumphantly. They grinned like idiots at each other for several seconds before Kurt's smile slipped away. "We're going to be filming all over the city. What if they don't catch him by then? What if he's still out there and I have to go in front of the cameras imagining him in every crowd? What if—"

Blaine clasped Kurt's hands tightly in his. "They'll catch him, Kurt. The detective I spoke to said they've got some good leads."

Kurt pushed his way off the couch and stalked towards the back wall, his fists clenched at his side. "God, I hate this! I've spent my whole life trying to not be a victim and here I am, holed up in my house hiding away again." He turned back to face Blaine with an agitated sigh. "Why am I so upset? We spent months dealing with the creep last time and I didn't let it get to me like this."

"Maybe because it came out of nowhere? I don't know about you, but this was about the last thing I expected to hear today."

"Exactly!" Kurt paced around the room, reaching out with one foot to kick a pillow that had fallen from the couch. "It's like one of those stupid movie endings when the hero doesn't make sure the bad guy's dead and he pops up at the last minute for one final scare. I hate those endings. Such a clich� and a crutch for bad writing. Yet another reason theater is better than the movies. When was the last time you saw a Broadway show where the villain rises from the dead right before the final curtain to attack the hero one last time?"

"Umm…"

"Exactly! Never!" The indignation drained from Kurt's face and he twisted his mouth off to one side. "Not that I'm saying I wish Rodney dead or anything."

"Of course not."

"I just kinda never wanted to hear his name again. Is that too much to ask?"

"Not at all." Blaine stood up and walked over to Kurt, rising up onto his tiptoes to place a kiss on his forehead.

"Rodney did do one good thing, you know," Kurt said, his lips quirking up on one side.

Blaine tried to guess what he was referring to, but came up empty. "What?"

"He brought you into my life. Without him we never would have met. I guess when you look at it like that we have a lot to thank him for."

"I'll bake him a cake when he's safely back in the hospital," Blaine replied, his tone dry as the Sahara.

A loud bang suddenly sounded from the kitchen and Blaine stepped between Kurt and the doorway, all his muscles primed for action. He heard Kurt's breath catch behind him and felt a hand wrap around his upper arm. There was a sound of movement from the other room and a shadow shifted and…Elphie trotted out of the kitchen carrying her food bowl clenched delicately between her teeth.

Relief coursed through Blaine's veins as he knelt down to take the bowl from her. "Are we neglecting you, girl?" he said as he ran his hand down her silky back.

"We are a couple of idiots," Kurt said with a giggle. "Were we really expecting danger to come from the windowless room that someone would have zero chance of getting in to?"

"I prefer to think of it as 'prepared for any situation,'" Blaine replied, happy to hear Kurt laughing. "Come on, let's feed the monster here and then, if you ask nicely, I might make you my famous manicotti, the recipe of which has been passed down in my family for generations."

Kurt raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Uh huh. Is this anything like your famous Sloppy Joes? Because I'm not sure I'm up for another bout of food poisoning tonight."

Blaine clutched his hands to his chest dramatically. "Hey! It wasn't my fault the bodega sent us bad hamburger."

"Yeah, bad hamburger. You keep telling yourself that."

Hours later, Kurt and Blaine sat in front of the fire, bellies full and bodies warm as they snuggled together beneath a blanket.

"I've been asked to coordinate Carlisle's end of year musical show," Blaine said as he wiggled his toes against Kurt's to warm them. "The choirs from each grade evidently perform and then awards are given for the top three songs. It's a big competition for bragging rights for the entire next year, so I need to come up with a great theme."

"You're going to come up with something so amazing those kids won't know what hit them. They are so lucky to have you. They don't even know how lucky."

Blaine flushed with pleasure at the compliment. "I'm pretty sure I'm the lucky one, but thank you. I did confirm that my running the show doesn't disallow the kindergarten from winning, so everyone else can expect to fight it out for second place." He began to describe some of the theme ideas he'd been thinking of, stopping only when he noticed a sorrowful look on Kurt's face. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"You just make me feel so safe and loved."

Blaine cocked his head to the side in confusion. "And since you look like you're about to cry I'm guessing that that's a bad thing?"

"No, no, of course not," Kurt rushed to reassure him. "It's just...you'd be such an amazing dad, but...I don't want kids. Never have."

The knot that had begun to tighten in Blaine's stomach loosened and he smiled with relief. "I know that, Kurt and it's okay. Really."

Kurt shook his head miserably. "I feel like I'm robbing you of your chance. Especially when I don't have a good reason. It's not like I hate kids or anything, I just…don't want any for myself. I'm horrible and selfish."

"Kurt, not wanting kids doesn't make you selfish or a bad person. It's good that you realize being a parent isn't for you now and not after you have kids. If you're looking for someone to make you feel bad about knowing what you want and don't want then you'll have to look somewhere else. I'm not like those old Prop 8 supporters who argued that the only reason for relationships was to have kids."

"Marriage."

"What?"

"They argued that the point of marriage was to have kids." A ghost of a smile crossed Kurt's lips. "And I'm pretty sure they meant the old fashioned way, which kind of leaves us out no matter what."

"That wasn't actually my point," Blaine chuckled and jabbed Kurt lightly with his elbow. "My point was that you don't have to be ashamed of your choice or worry about me. I've got my students and that's enough. Besides with my family background I'm not so sure I'm really parent material." He caught Kurt's look of disbelief. "Teaching is not the same as parenting. I get to hand the kids off after four hours. I don't have to deal with the really hard stuff. An aptitude for one doesn't necessarily ensure success at the other." Kurt still looked unconvinced. "Look, if you change your mind at some point in the future then we can talk, but if you don't, I'm not going to get to the end of my life and regret not having kids. I would, however, regret every second not spent with you. You aren't robbing me of anything. I'm not sacrificing anything. Okay?"

"Okay." Kurt paused and stared at the fire. "You know you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, right? That without you none of this would mean anything. I love you so much."

Blaine felt his heart melt in his chest. "I love you, too."

They were just about to kiss when Kurt's phone suddenly rang, causing them both to jump and stare at it as if it was a hissing snake.

"Do you want me to get it?" Blaine asked into the tension filled silence.

"No, I'll get it. I'm not going to hide behind anyone anymore." Blaine watched as Kurt took a deep breath and picked up the phone, sliding his thumb across the screen to accept the call. He lifted it to his ear and answered in a calm, low voice. "Hello, this is Kurt Hummel."

Kurt paused to listen to the other person speak, the hard set of his shoulders not giving any hint as to what they were saying. He gave a few polite, non-committal responses and then said "thank you" before hanging up. He dropped the phone back down to the table and spun around to face Blaine. "They caught him!"

Relief flooded Blaine's body and he jumped up from his seat to grab Kurt up in a full-body hug. "Thank god."

"Yeah. I guess he didn't even make it out of Rochester. They found him and the other missing patient in the back store room of a local department store. I guess they went in there to steal some clothes and then got accidently locked inside."

"Serves him right."

"I guess they think he got out by tricking one of the nurses. He evidently had her convinced that they were in love and that I was a scorned lover who'd had him committed out of spite."

Blaine felt a spark of anger flare at how Rodney treated the women in his life. "At least he's consistent."

Kurt reached down to pick up a jumping Elphie, who never liked to be left out of a hug. "They'll call tomorrow with more info. They just wanted me to know he was back in custody."

"I'm glad they did. They saved us from a sleepless night."

"I think I'm going to go call my dad. Do you mind if I…" Kurt tilted his head towards the bedroom door.

"No, go ahead. I'll just clean-up in here." He grabbed Kurt's hands and pulled him closer for a slow, deep kiss. "Smile, Kurt. This is good news. They caught him and everything's fine."

Kurt nodded and picked up his phone on his way towards the bedroom, but Blaine could still see shadows in his eyes. It would be a little while before he was able to relax completely. Blaine had seen it over-and-over again with his clients. It took the mind and body awhile to absorb and deal with harrowing situations.

He picked up the blanket they'd been using and folded it over the back of the couch, before sitting down and dropping his head back. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on the different muscle groups in his body and forcing them to relax one-by-one.

It hadn't been a horrible day, all things considered. Stressful and frightening, yes, but everything had turned out alright in the end and they were even able to uncover a festering wound that Blaine hadn't even known was there. He hadn't been lying when he told Kurt he was okay with not having kids. They'd talked about it before and he honestly hadn't given it another thought, but it was obvious that Kurt had.

Now that he knew Kurt was still feeling guilty, he could do something about it. He wasn't about to let something like that come between them and if they were going to take their relationship to the next level—which he wholeheartedly wanted to do—then they had to believe that they both saw the same future.

And that future was each other.