Kurt would never have pegged Blaine as having a sadistic streak, so he was slightly surprised when he suggested that they pay a little visit to Rachel, who was nursing a massive hangover from the night before. Kurt had just been finishing up a magical dry cleaning job on his clothes from the night before when Blaine came into his room with an impish look on his face. He asked Kurt to grab his tablet computer and follow him over to Rachel's room, where they opened the door to find her laying on a chaise lounge near the window, arm thrown dramatically up over her head, eyes covered by a cold towel. Blaine backed out of the room and picked up the tablet to perform a quick search. A few moments later he raised a finger to his lips in a 'shushing' motion and tiptoed into the room towards the prone girl. He looked back at Kurt with an innocent smile before holding the tablet close to her head and pressing his finger to the screen.

Almost immediately loud heavy metal music began blaring from the device. Rachel screamed in terror, jumping so high she fell off the far side of the lounge. She reared up, yelling at Blaine at the top of her lungs, before dropping back with a groan, a hand to her head. "Oh god, just kill me now."

"Why Rachel, whatever could be the problem? I know you can't have a hangover, because you're just 18. The two drinks I saw you with last night were the only ones you had, right? Isn't that what you told me?"

"Blaine Anderson, if I strained my vocal chords yelling at you just now I will never forgive you. You might not care if you damage your instrument, but I treat my voice like the national treasure it is."

"Ooh, deflection and avoidance. I'll take that as a sign of guilt."

It took almost an hour and a whole pot of coffee before they got Rachel mobile enough to join them in the theater for a Julie Andrews marathon. They had finished The Sound of Music and Thoroughly Modern Millie and were almost through with Victor/Victoria when they were surprised by Helen coming into the room. In all the time that Kurt had been staying with the Andersons Helen had never joined them to watch a movie and hadn't really spent a lot of time with Kurt in general, so he was surprised when she chose to sit in the chair next to him, smiling over at him as she took her seat. He returned the smile and offered her a bowl of popcorn, which she accepted.

"This is one of my favorite musicals," she whispered, leaning towards him so she wouldn't disturb the others. "I just love Julie Andrews in this."

Kurt leaned in a little too, bring their heads close together. "Me too," he agreed. "Don't you think Blaine looks a lot like James Garner? They're both so dapper and handsome."

Helen craned her head to look over at her son, who was at that moment stuffing his mouth overly full with popcorn. "Definitely, though I always thought he looked a bit like Burt Reynolds too."

Kurt choked back a laugh and returned his attention to the screen, happy for the little unexpected moment.

When the movie finished, Helen turned to Kurt nervously and cleared her throat. "Kurt, I wanted to tell you how much I loved the dress you made for Rachel. I don't think I've ever seen her look lovelier." She cast a fond look towards the girl, who smiled hugely at the compliment. "Blaine told me that you also have some designs for ball gowns and I-I was wondering if you'd like to design a dress for me for the upcoming charity ball we're hosting? I know it's a lot of work, so please, feel free to say no, but—"

"Helen," Kurt interrupted, "I'd be honored. In fact, I think I have a few designs already done that would look wonderful on you." He was flushed with excitement and could barely control himself. "Would you like to see them?"

All four of them made their way up to Kurt's room to look through his designs. The theme for the ball was 'Theatricality', so Kurt's eye-catching style was a perfect fit. It soon became apparent that the only problem with Kurt designing a dress for Helen was going to be her indecision in choosing just one. Rachel of course wanted a dress too, so she and Helen poured over the sketches again and again. Once they had narrowed their choices down to just a few they started to work with him on customizing the designs to their bodies and preferences.

Blaine didn't participate much in the dress selection, just giving his opinion on a design whenever it was asked of him, but he was filled with happiness and couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his three favorite people in the world finally bonding. He couldn't believe that Rachel and his mom had finally realized how wonderful Kurt was and how much he had to offer. He was also glad that Kurt was finally able to see the warm loving sides of his family and not just the suspicion and icy politeness that had been sent his way.

When Helen and Kurt fell into a playful argument about the merits of feathers and lace Blaine slipped down stairs to get snacks for them all. When he reached the kitchen he was surprised to find that Rachel had followed him.

"So, what's the deal with you and Kurt?"

"I-I'm not sure I know what you mean," he stuttered, setting the bowl he was holding down on the counter behind him.

"Come on, don't play dumb. It's obvious you have feelings for him. Whenever you're together all you do is stare at him making heart eyes. When are you going to make your move?"

"It's not that simple. Life's complicated right now and Kurt is…he's my best friend and I don't want to mess that up by trying to take our relationship in a direction neither one of us is ready for."

"But —"

"Rachel, trust me. This is for the best."

"Fine. Be lonely forever. See if I care." She began to walk out of the room, turning just as she was about to disappear from sight. "I'm going over to Finn's so we'll just meet you guys at the restaurant tonight, OK?"

"What? Restaurant?"

"Finn and I are taking you and Kurt out for dinner? Spiaggia? 7 o'clock?" Rachel stamped her foot at Blaine's blank expression. "Ugh, you never listen to me! Typical. I just—"

"OK, OK! 7 o'clock. We'll meet you there. Calm down."

"Fine," she huffed. "See you then."

Blaine went back to working on the snacks and didn't see Rachel's calculating look as she pulled out her phone and typed in Spiaggia reservations.

Kurt and Blaine arrived at the restaurant a little before 7 and headed over to the maître d. They were led to an intimate table for two and when Blaine protested that the reservation should have been for four he was told that, no, this was the correct reservation. Just as they sat down Blaine's phone buzzed with a message from Rachel.

Sorry! Finn and I aren't able to make it. I didn't want to ruin your evening, so I changed the reservation to a table for two. Enjoy and don't do anything I wouldn't do! ;)

Blaine looked up at Kurt with a rueful expression. "I think we've been had. Rachel and Finn aren't coming and I don't think they ever were."

"Why not?" Kurt questioned, his puzzlement evident on his face.

"I think this is Rachel's attempt at matchmaking. I'm really sorry, Kurt. I told her we're just friends, but she obviously doesn't listen to me."

"Well, that's what little sisters are for, right? Or little sister-like cousins. Don't worry about it. Now that we're here let's enjoy the evening."

They ordered dinner from the hovering waiter and chatted about the progress on the dress selection until their food arrived.

"I was thinking that we need to take a trip to New York," Blaine stated, taking a bite of his meal. "I can take a few days off from work the first week of April so we could have three full days there. Do you think you'd be able to get some time off?"

"Probably. Sue's going to be on a business trip the last part of that week, so I think things will be slow around the office." Kurt clapped his hands in excitement. "Oh, I can't wait! I want to see the Empire State Building and Lincoln Center and Central Park and MOMA and—"

"Whoa, whoa! We don't have to see it all on this one trip, you know. There'll be other chances."

"Will there?" Kurt asked shyly.

"Of course, why wouldn't there be?"

Kurt paused for a moment, looking down at his lap to gather his courage. "This is working, right?"

"What is?"

"Me. The way I am. The way I'm using my powers. It's working, right? For you?"

"Of course, it's working, Kurt." Blaine leaned forward with an earnest pleading expression. "I'm more sorry than you'll ever know that I made you doubt yourself."

"No, I understand. I sprung all this on you and you needed time to adjust. I get that. I just…I'm really happy with the compromise we've got going and I just wanted to make sure it was still working for you."

"Absolutely. It's actually kind of fun seeing where the magic will pop up and if it makes you happy it makes me happy. It'll all be fine as long as you keep trying to be discreet and just…"

"Be careful with the roses?"

"Be careful with the roses."

It was late by the time they surfaced from their conversation and Blaine realized they should be leaving before the waiter started giving them dirty looks. Though he would go to his grave denying it to her, he was glad that Rachel had tricked them into going out. It seemed like each time they allowed themselves to spend time alone together they grew a little closer, understood each other a little bit more.

He was feeling peaceful and a little introspective, but it seemed Kurt was feeling differently. Blaine had been giving Kurt refresher driving lessons, so Kurt was in the driver's seat that night. As they stopped at a light, Kurt gunned the Corvette's engine, flashing Blaine a wicked smile and waggling his eyebrows as if threatening to drag race the car next to him. Blaine widened his eyes in disbelief, torn between being a little excited and a little scared at the prospect. Kurt gunned the engine again, getting ready, but when the light changed he let out the clutch slowly, driving away from the light at a snail's pace. The sounds of horse hooves hitting the pavement filled the car out of nowhere, as if they were in a horse and buggy, and Blaine collapsed in his seat, clutching his stomach as he laughed. Yep, each time he spent time with Kurt he understood him a little more.

By the time they got home and pulled into the garage they were still laughing. Kurt parked the car in its normal space and they took a few minutes to pull the cover over it. As they walked out, Kurt reached over to turn off the light and they were cast into near darkness. Blaine looked at him, wondering how he could be so beautiful, even in the dim light. He tentatively wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist and pulled him in for a hug. They stood like that for a few minutes, just resting against each other. Finally Blaine pulled back, but when he caught another look at Kurt's face his breath hitched. Why was he fighting this? Suddenly he couldn't contain himself any longer. He leaned forward, slowly bringing his face closer to Kurt's, but just before their lips touched Kurt pulled back and Blaine dropped his arm away, afraid he had made the wrong move.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. I didn't mean…"

"No, no, don't be sorry. I just…god. I just don't know what I'm doing. All my years on earth and I'm still so completely awkward and inexperienced with this kind of stuff."

"There's been nothing? Not a kiss or anything?"

"I never had a connection who might feel that way about me and it wasn't anything I ever felt that comfortable with, so I never sought it out." Kurt sounded so sad that Blaine pulled him back into a hug, though this one was only meant to comfort. "I love the idea of romance, but I told you how dangerous it is for genies to fall in love. I've always been too scared to take that chance and the idea of doing…that…without love never interested me. Do you hate me?"

"What? Never! I could never hate you. Your friendship means everything to me. Hey," he whispered, reaching out to lift Kurt's chin so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "Please don't feel bad. We're good. We are so good. You have absolutely nothing to worry about."

Kurt gave a tremulous smile and ducked his head again.

"Come on, let's head in. I'm sure Rachel and mom have left you a stack of notes about their dresses and you'll need some sleep if you're going to keep your patience when you read them."

Surprisingly, things didn't get awkward with Blaine after what Kurt was calling the 'near miss kiss'. Kurt went down to breakfast Monday morning expecting something to be different, but he was greeted with the same open smile, the same teasing banter, and the same casual touches on the hand that Blaine had for him every morning. He was beyond pleased that their friendship wasn't affected, but he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit that the evening's events had gotten him thinking. Was he ready to stop being just a spectator when it came to romance? Was Blaine someone he could see himself falling in love with? Was he willing to take that risk? There were so many questions running through his head that he found it hard to sleep and found himself distracted at work.

Maybe it was because he had love and romance on the brain, but a few days after the 'near miss kiss' Kurt was sitting outside Sue's office, scheduling models for some designer go-sees, when he noticed something odd: It was quiet in Sue's office. Now, that in itself wasn't so strange, but Sue was meeting with the building superintendent, Rod Remington, who had come in to hear some complaints she had about the building. From experience, Kurt knew that meetings where Sue aired her grievances were never quiet, yet today he could hear nothing.

Concerned that maybe Sue had killed Rod and was trying to dispose of the body (or vice versa), he crept up to the door and placed his ear against it.

"Can't you just magic-up your ears and do that from your desk?" Santana cracked from directly behind him, setting his heart racing.

"Shh," he warned, pulling her away from the door and back to his desk. "Sue's in there with the Mr. Remington." Santana just looked at him blankly. "And she isn't yelling."

"God, did she kill him?" she snorted.

Just then the door opened and Sue and Rod came out. Kurt and Santana immediately turned to look at his desk, pretending to be in the middle of discussing the go-see schedule. They listened in amazement as Sue politely thanked Rod for his time and told him she was looking forward to hearing from him regarding his progress on addressing her concerns. She watched him leave with a wistful expression before turning back to her office. Her strange mood lasted only a few minutes, though and she was soon back to rampaging around the office as usual.

At lunch time Santana did an end-run around a group of women who were dithering outside of Kurt's office, trying to decide who would ask him to join them for lunch.

"You snooze, you lose, ladies," she called out as she headed towards the elevator with Kurt on her arm.

They grabbed the last table at their favorite café and started to analyze Sue's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Maybe she's just softening up," Kurt suggested, taking a sip of his diet Coke.

"Ha! Doubtful. That woman came out of the womb criticizing the doctor for what he did wrong during the delivery. More likely it's a brain tumor. Or maybe hormone replacement therapy."

"I don't know. The look on her face when she watched Rod walk away… Do you think maybe she likes him?"

"Even if she does, you saw how quickly she reverted back to breathing fire. Her pining after him isn't going to do us any good. In order for us to turn her from a Dementor into a human being the impossible has to happen." She paused dramatically, widening her eyes for effect. "He has to like her back."

Kurt considered her statement for a moment. "I can't make him fall in love, but there may be some things I can do to push things in the right direction. We need to come up with a plan."

"Have I ever told you how much I love hatching an underhanded plot? 'Operation: Sue-mance' is now underway."

'Operation: Sue-mance' started out slowly, with Kurt and Santana first attempting to see how receptive Rod was to interacting with Sue. Two days after their lunch Kurt saw to it that a package meant for Sue was mistakenly delivered to Rod's office. Instead of calling up to the agency to have an assistant come by to get the box, Rod delivered it to Sue himself. Kurt took that as an encouraging sign.

The next day, while Kurt and Tina were in Sue's office giving her last minute updates on some upcoming projects the large window in Sue's office mysteriously cracked. Kurt helpfully offered to put a call into the building superintendent's office to have it fixed. Rod himself appeared to survey the damage and spent several minutes setting up the time for the repairs with Sue and Tina. Sue behaved herself for at least a half hour after that encounter.

As Kurt was concocting situations that brought Sue and Rod together physically, Santana concentrated on making sure they were on each other's minds at other times. Phase one involved simply bring up Sue's name around Rod and vice versa, even if the names weren't used in context. She and Kurt followed Rod to lunch one day and talked loudly about going to see SUE the dinosaur at the Field Museum and they had a lively discussion about hot rods outside Sue's office when her door was open. They also made sure to bring the other person up casually in conversation as much as possible whenever they were around either one of them.

Phase two involved telling complimentary stories about the other person. It was easy enough in Rod's case. They simply made sure to mention to Sue how helpful Rod had been with the requested fixes around the office, how nice he was, how good he was at this job. It was a little tougher to find nice things to say about Sue. Kurt had been adamant that they not lie to Rod in order to get the two together, so Santana had to resort to some creative compliments. Walking by Rod's office she commented loudly on how well the agency was doing and what a dynamic business woman Sue was, being careful to not mention her personality. She even got creative and convinced a couple of the guys in the office to follow Rod into the restroom and have a conversation about how Sue had signed the company up to be a major sponsor for a half-marathon a local charity was putting on and how the agency matched employee charitable donations.

A week into their plan Sue's left front tire suddenly went flat as she was driving out of the parking garage. Thankfully, she happened to be driving right by Rod at that moment and he stopped to offer help. That flat tire earned the office an entire day of 'pleasant Sue'.

By the middle of the second week, Kurt was frustrated. Though he was getting Sue and Rod together quite often, the length of each interaction was pretty short and they weren't taking any initiative themselves to move beyond those meetings. Kurt was going to have to find a way to get them to spend a longer amount of time together, hopefully without others interrupting, and it had to be soon. If things continued the way they were Rod was going to start thinking Sue was accident prone or actually causing the problems herself. Finally, inspiration hit while he and Blaine were watching old episodes of Grey's Anatomy. He noted how often the characters worked through their problems or spent time with other characters in the elevator. Hmm…the elevator. He could work with that.

On Friday morning Kurt was ready to make his move. He looked at Sue's schedule for the day and calculated when she would be leaving for her mid-day cleanse with her nutritionist. He set up a meeting with Rod to talk about assigning new parking spaces to some employees and set it to end just as Sue would be leaving. He watched from around the corner as they got on the elevator alone. As the doors closed he smiled and turned back to his desk, little bursts of color exploding in the eyes.

Rod's team of mechanics worked for the next two hours to get the elevator unstuck and they were baffled as to why none of their repairs were working. There just didn't seem to be any reason why the elevator had stopped mid-descent. Finally the car began moving again on its own and returned to the 25th floor. When the door opened the two people inside were slow to leave. Kurt and Santana watched through the glass doors of the agency, spying on the couple as the finally exited. Sue was a little flushed and was passing Rod shy little glances that were very uncharacteristic. Rod turned to Sue and touched her hand and they distinctively heard him say that he would pick her up at 8 o'clock that night and that she should bring her dancing shoes. Sue smiled widely as she watched him head off to the stairs and Kurt and Santana shared a silent high-five.

Everyone in the office was amazed when 'pleasant Sue' appeared in the office again on Monday and was still around by the time Sue left for her business trip Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday was a slow one at the agency, so Kurt took the opportunity to take a half-day and run some last minute errands before he and Blaine left on their trip to New York the next morning. When he finished he realized he was in the neighborhood of A Stitch in Time, so he decided to drop in and see Artie. When he walked in he noticed a few of the improvements he had suggested for the store had been made and was pleased that Artie had been able to put the money he had secretly sent him to good use.

Artie was with a customer, so Kurt gave him a friendly wave and started to wander around the store, examining the new merchandise. A display of vases caught his eye and he moved closer, thinking that the one in back would look excellent on one of the side tables in the Anderson's formal living room. As he reached to pick up the vase he saw a glint out of the corner of his eye. The vase forgotten, he moved over to another display shelf and pushed a large candlestick to the side, exposing the object behind it fully.

It was a samovar. Simpler in design than his own, it had a dull golden sheen and was decorated with slightly faded red and green designs. The spout was the most distinctive part, raising up as a graceful neck and ending with the head of a swan with its mouth open. Kurt's heart thudded in this chest and his breath caught in this throat. It couldn't be. He knew this samovar. He looked around the store desperately. He had to do something. He had to get someone to the store immediately to help him, but who? He thought for a moment then reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. He thumbed through his contact list until he found the number he was looking for. With a deep breath he opened a new text message.

Are you busy? I need your help…

Half an hour later, Kurt was talking with Artie at the front desk, keeping one eye on the samovar, when the bell rang over the door.

"This had better be good, Sir Prance-alot. I was in the middle of dangling the idea of me returning to law school in front of my father and you know how I hate to leave a good torture session unfinished." Santana sauntered into the store, tossing her purse on the counter.

Kurt made a quick introduction between Artie and Santana, thankful when another customer entered and pulled Artie's attention away. He led Santana to the back of the store to where the samovar awaited. "I know this is a lot to ask, believe me, but you're the only one who can help. It's just that you already know about…so you're the only one…I have to do something."

"You're going to have to finish as least one sentence if you want me to…" Santana's voice faded out as Kurt stepped aside, exposing the samovar to her view. She stood silently for a few moments, as if in a trance, before stepping closer. She lifted a hand to touch it, but pulled back before contact was made. She was quiet for so long that Kurt was beginning to worry that he had made a mistake when she suddenly turned around and called out to Artie, "Hey Professor X! Wrap this up for me. I'll take it."

It took only 20 minutes for them to reach Santana's house. She swept in through the door, followed by Kurt who was carrying the wrapped package. He set it down on the table in the living room and Santana dropped to her knees next to it to watch as he slowly removed the bubble wrap, uncovering the samovar bit-by-bit. When it was completely unwrapped he moved back and raised his gaze to meet hers. She reached forward and with a deep breath rubbed it with her thumb.

At once the air above the samovar began to shimmer. Kurt and Santana both held their breaths as a form began to appear, stretching and moving languidly before drifting down to the floor. The figure turned its head, glimpsing Kurt, who was still kneeling by the table. "Kurt! I can't believe it's you! I've missed you so much. Have you seen Lord Tubbington?"