The days that followed the kiss were slightly uncomfortable, with Kurt trying to pretend like it had never happened — but not quite succeeding — and Blaine looking guilty all the time. The day after their return from New York, Blaine went into work early and Kurt was able to avoid recapping the trip for Rachel by pleading a headache. He stayed in his room all day and did some serious thinking. Was he in love with Blaine? No, but the possibility was there, if nurtured correctly. The seed had been planted and if Blaine wasn't interested then he had to make sure that it didn't grow.

Kurt kept himself occupied by working on the gowns for Helen and Rachel, which were going to require much more time and effort than the clothes he was designing for Blaine and himself. He noted that Blaine was working longer hours than normal and often missing dinner. When he did arrive home he always stopped by to say a polite 'hello', but quickly retreated to his room, no longer staying for movie nights or reading in the library.

Rachel seemed to notice that something was off, but for once wisely decided not to meddle. She did stay around the house a bit more, though, as if waiting to be a shoulder to cry on if someone decided to confide in her. Thankfully, after about a week things started returning to normal. Blaine came home to find Kurt and Rachel watching old episodes of the first season of American Idol and sat down to join them. By the end of the episode they were all adding their own musical critiques while throwing popcorn at the screen whenever Simon made a hideous comment and just like that the ice was broken. Blaine started coming home in time for dinner and as the weeks passed his relationship with Kurt slowly returned to what it had been before.

Time passed quickly and suddenly it was mid-June and time for the Anderson's charity ball. Despite having hired party planners for the event, Helen had been immersed in the details of the party for months. The last week had been especially busy as the ballroom was decorated, catering menus finalized, and gowns finished.

Finally, the night of the ball arrived. The weather was warm, so the doors leading out to the pool area from the ballroom were opened and flooring was laid across the swimming pool to allow people to circulate outside.

Kurt had offered to help out with some last minute questions from the party staff, so he was the first person to arrive in the ballroom. He swept a critical eye over the room, which was decorated dramatically in black and gold to fit the theme of 'Theatricality'. The draped brocade on the walls, black velvet table coverings and baroque style fixtures were inspired by the 'Masquerade' scene from Phantom of the Opera. The ceiling was covered in several shades of blue chiffon and illuminated stars dangled on invisible wires, turning the air above them into a shimmering sky. Helen had been lost for decorating ideas and had jumped at the suggestion when Kurt made it. She was so impressed with the idea that she even started including him in her meetings with the party planners.

Kurt was just finishing up his last minute instructions to the staff when Blaine arrived. He watched as Blaine came closer, his eyes instinctively running over his ensemble to make sure that everything was fitting correctly. The black velvet tuxedo-style jacket with satin detailing fit perfectly and gold applique on the shoulders emphasized their breadth while the applique on the lower part of the sleeves served to bring the eye to his small waist. The elaborate appliques added a historical look to the jacket, as if it was something that Marie Antoinette would have picked out for her husband, if they were still living today. Kurt sighed with satisfaction. The look was theatrical yet still classically formal and just what he had been going for. Blaine came to a stop in front of Kurt and twirled once to display his outfit.

"You look amazing," Kurt declared, reaching up to straighten his black bowtie.

"As do you, kind sir. Remind me to congratulate the designer later."

Kurt's tuxedo was quite different from Blaine's. Though it was still dramatic in its own right, the slightly deconstructed pieces were much more in line with Kurt's own personal style. The white pants and unbuttoned waistcoat were traditional enough, but the white jacket featured a few straightjacket-like buckles and had black cutouts on the lapels and cuffs. He had finished off the look of the jacket with an antique silver broach in the shape of an old-fashioned timepiece. It was the black shirt that made the outfit deviate the most from a traditional tuxedo, though. The shirt was long in back, coming down to mid-thigh, and was draped in the front, curving up from the bottom until the two sides met to button at his waist. The look was eccentric and fashion with a capital 'F', so many people wouldn't get it, but Kurt felt confident and happy.

Within minutes Helen, Rachel, and Finn had also joined them in the ballroom. The invitations had asked the guests to dress in red, black, or white, but Helen, as hostess, felt empowered to deviate a bit from that color scheme. Her nude colored strapless dress shimmered as the light reflected off of the black crystals that heavily embellished the scallop-tiered full skirt. Kurt was perhaps most proud of this design, as the placement of the crystals had to be precise in order to produce the effect he wanted. Thankfully Helen hadn't inquired too much about how he had applied so many crystals in such a short amount of time.

Rachel looked lovelier than ever in her red strapless gown. The bodice and full skirt were made up entirely of layers upon layers of tissue thin chiffon ruffles, making her look like a fairytale princess brought to life. She and Finn stopped to say hello before continuing on to greet some friends who were just arriving.

About twenty minutes later, Santana entered the ballroom wearing a formfitting black lace dress with a high slit of the front and strategically placed solid black cut-outs. Kurt was only slightly surprised to see that she wasn't alone. Brittany was with her dressed in a red and black halter style dress made completely of feathers. The girls caught site of Blaine and Kurt and headed over, their pinkies locked together at their sides.

"Santana, were you mugged on your way in? It seems that half of your dress is missing," Blaine laughed, noticing how many men in the room couldn't tear their eyes away from her.

"Funny. I see you're wearing yet another bowtie. You seem to be wearing them a lot recently. Does Elf of the Shelf here have a kink I don't know about?"

Brittany looked at Kurt with concern. "You have a kink? Is it in your neck? 'Cause I give really good massages."

Blaine gave her a puzzled look, unsure if she was joking or not. She caught his look and wandered over to his side to give him a demonstration on her massage technique.

With Brittany occupied for the moment Santana pulled Kurt aside. "Kurt, she conjured up an enormous cat that she takes everywhere with her. I had to bribe her into not bringing him tonight. And she talks to him. I mean actually talks to him and hears him talk back. That isn't all in her head is it? She really hears him, doesn't she?"

"Brittany's always been able to communicate with animals in ways others can't. It isn't just in her head."

"That dress she's wearing? I had something nice and blend-iny picked out and she suddenly appeared in that feathered monstrosity and proclaimed that the birds who donated their feathers for it wanted her to send them pictures from the party."

Kurt snickered as he pictured a flock of featherless birds sitting by a computer, shivering as they awaited Brittany's update on the party. "I think that one might actually be just in her head."

"Yeah, well, I can't say that it's been boring. Yesterday she mixed up the dryer and the microwave and set a load of clothes on fire." Santana side-eyed Kurt as he laughed again, then joined in herself. "She called the fire department! I asked her why she just didn't put the fire out herself and she said it was because she wanted the firemen to come visit with their Dalmatian." She looked over at the blond massaging Blaine's shoulders with a fond smile.

Brittany finished up her massage demonstration and skipped over to stand next to Santana. Blaine followed up the rear, moving his head from side-to-side and rolling his shoulders. They talked for a few minutes before Brittany got a glimpse of the refreshment table and pulled Santana over to it.

Blaine looked after them with a bemused expression. "My neck feels fantastic. She should get a job as a massage therapist." He rolled his shoulders one last time and grabbed a sparkling cider from a passing waiter. "Santana seems really happy. Probably the happiest I've ever seen her, actually. I think she might be falling for Brittany. Is there any possibility that she might return the feelings?"

Kurt looked over at Brittany, who was busy smearing whipped cream on the tip of Santana's nose. "Brittany doesn't see the outsides of people, just the insides. Wait…that sounded kind of gross. I mean she sees things differently, sees people differently. I don't think she cares one way or the other —man, woman, or dinosaur."

"Hey Blaine, who's the hottie?" a slightly nasal voice interrupted from behind them. They turned to see a small brunette woman wearing perhaps the most extravagant and quirky dress of the evening. Kurt's eyes widened as he took in the enormous asymmetrical black silk and tulle gown. The yellow underskirt painted with large scale yellow and red pansies seemed to flash like a beacon in the room amidst the sea of black, white, and red.

"Sugar, it's nice to see you. That's quite a dress. Please let me introduce you to my friend, Kurt Hummel. Kurt, this is Sugar Motta. Her father is…"

"No, no boring talk tonight. You know how I hate to be bored." Sugar dismissed Blaine, zeroing in on Kurt. "You're the hottest guy in the room and I'm the hottest woman, so I think we need to dance and show everyone what they're missing."

"OK…?" Sugar was grabbing Kurt's hand and pulling him towards the dance floor before he had a chance to finish his sentence. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer than he felt comfortable with.

"You're gorgeous. Daddy is sending me to Europe for the summer and I've been looking for a yummy piece of arm candy that isn't intimidated by my looks and social standing. How about it, cookie?"

"Sugar, he's gay. Put your tongue back in your mouth," Santana called out as she danced by with Finn.

"Gay, huh?" Despite his embarrassment, Kurt smiled down at her disappointed expression and nodded. "Oh. Oh well." They danced in silence for a moment. "Are you looking for a hag? I've always wanted to be one."

Kurt sent Blaine a pleading look from the dance floor, but Blaine only responded with a wink and a smile and watched as they were soon swallowed up by the swirling crowd. Brittany, left alone for the moment while Santana danced with Finn, slipped in beside him, smiling out at the dancers and tapping her toe to the music.

"Brittany, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Anything except about what happened to Amelia Earhart. I've been sworn to secrecy," she answered, smiling innocently at Blaine's curious look.

"Um…do genies give off an aura or a pheromone or something that causes people to be drawn to them?" he asked, silently hoping that she would give a scientific reason behind his uncontrollable attraction to Kurt.

"No, there's nothing special about genies that would cause that." Brittany followed his gaze to where Kurt was still dancing with Sugar. "It's just because he's Kurt, not because he's a genie." She gave Blaine a gentle smile at his resigned sign and leaned her chin against his shoulder.

The music ended and Kurt was able to extricate himself from Sugar with a promise to consider her as a candidate for his hag. Blaine swallowed his laugh that threatened to erupt when he saw the hunted look in Kurt's eye and instead gave him what he hoped was a look of commiseration.

Santana also rejoined the group, having left Finn on the other side of the room with Rachel. "Blaine, you need to dance with me right now to erase the memory of Moby Dick over there. It should be illegal for him to be within 50 feet of a dance floor unless he's waxing it with buckets of his own whale blubber."

Blaine just rolled his eyes and wisely kept quiet as he took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Kurt and Brittany watched them from the edge of the crowd, admiring the ease with which they moved.

As they danced out of view Kurt grabbed Brittany's hand and looked down at her. "Britt, are you happy? Did I make the right choice?"

Brittany's face softened. "Kurt, I'm so, so happy. She needs me. Really needs me. I haven't felt like this since…well, I can kind of see it, but the memory's not really there, it was so long ago, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," he said sadly.

"She doesn't even mind that I am the way I am. We went to the mall the other day and I heard a noise that I was sure was the aliens invading, so I disguised Santana and myself as mannequins. When she could finally move her mouth again she told me it was just a car alarm, not aliens. She wasn't even mad that we were in that store for over four hours. Or that the weird guy dressed us up in frilly underwear and made us ride bikes in the window."

Kurt was still trying to picture Brittany and Santana in the window display of the department store when a flash of red caught the corner of his eye. He looked up to see Quinn entering the room, gorgeous in a flowing red gown, with a distinguished looking older man on her arm. They made their way around the outskirts of the room, reaching Kurt and Brittany just as Blaine and Santana rejoined them.

Santana took one look at the approaching couple and hurried off, Brittany in tow. Blaine shook hands with the man, introducing him to Kurt as Quinn's father, and greeted Quinn with a kiss on the cheek. They made small talk for a few minutes until Mr. Fabray directed the conversation to something work related. Kurt took the opportunity to examine the man who was in such control of Blaine's future at the company. He seemed like a pleasant enough guy and though the smile he had directed at Kurt hadn't been very genuine, he seemed to really like Blaine. How could he justify trying to interfere in Blaine's life the way he was? Did he really think that he could force Blaine to be something that he wasn't simply by having him marry Quinn?

Mr. Fabray brought Quinn into the conversation and shifted a little forcing Kurt to move to the side, pushing him out of their little circle. He had a satisfied look on this face as the glanced between Blaine and Quinn and slipped a slight glare towards Kurt that was probably subtle enough that Blaine missed it. Kurt felt distinctively uncomfortable and was about to excuse himself when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Blaine smiling at him.

"If you two will excuse us, Kurt and I have several guests we need to greet. Have a great night." With one sentence Blaine had made it obvious where his loyalties lay, at least that night. Kurt couldn't help but take a quick look back as he walked away and wasn't ashamed to admit that the shared sour expressions pleased him quite a bit.

Kurt and Blaine walked across the room to join Helen just as new group of guests entered the ballroom. When someone complimented Helen's dress she introduced Kurt as the designer and he suddenly found himself the center of attention as word spread that he had been responsible for the two best gowns in the room. He was discussing his point-of-view as a designer and his main inspirations when he again caught a glimpse of red and looked up to see Quinn slipping away into the crowd.

Sometime later the music came to a stop and the crowd's attention was drawn to Helen as she walked out onto the small stage built along the far wall.

"I want to thank you all for coming and for your generosity. Thanks to you, we will be able complete the renovations of Camp Wenatchee and will be able to host twice as many kids in the coming years." She paused to let the applause subside. "I have a special surprise for you all this evening. We have a few performances that will perhaps inspire you to sponsor a child at the camp this coming year."

Kurt clapped loudly as Rachel and Puck mounted the stage. He had suggested to Helen that including some musical performances might be fitting, since the purpose was to raise money for the camp, but he didn't know who was going to be performing. Rachel and Puck sang a duet, followed by Rachel singing a show stopping rendition of 'Don't Rain on My Parade'. As she left the stage Puck returned, this time joined by 15 children around the age of 10, to perform 'You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two' from Oliver! to the delight of the crowd. As they sang, Kurt couldn't help but notice that Quinn couldn't keep her eyes off of Puck.

The kids finished their song and made their bows to the loud applause. They filed off of the stage to make way for Blaine, who appeared carrying a guitar.

"Well, I can't believe I have to follow that, but I guess the show must go on, right?"

Kurt was spellbound by Blaine's version of 'In Your Eyes' and could feel himself flushing every time Blaine glanced at him as he sung. He felt his heart slip a little bit more out of his control. It wasn't fair that Blaine looked at him like that when he wasn't interested in taking that next step. The mixed messages were starting to drive him crazy.

The song ended and with it the performance part of the evening. Blaine left the stage and found himself surrounded by some admirers, so Kurt went over to speak with one of the staff members about a few notes he had for them. He was still speaking with the man, who had the most amazing dreadlocks, when he started to feel a prickle on the back of his neck, as if someone was watching him. He glanced up and saw several people in the crowd look away quickly to avoid making eye contact. He shrugged it off and went back to his conversation, but as the minutes passed he continued to feel more eyes on him. When the staff member left Kurt searched the room for Blaine, but everywhere he went conversation died as he approached. Something was definitely going on.

Rachel move toward him with an urgent note to her stride and curled her hand around his arm. "Kurt, I need to speak with you." She pulled him towards the outskirts of the room, away from the crowd and turned towards him with tears in her eyes. "I-I was getting so many compliments on my dress and Helen and I were mentioning to everyone that you were the designer. Things were going so well, then…"

"Rachel, what's going on?"

"Someone is spreading a vicious lie that you stole the designs for our dresses." The look on his face must have been more horrified than he realized, because Rachel's face crumbled a little. "I'm so sorry, Kurt. I don't know who would do this."

Kurt looked back at the people gathered in the ballroom and could see now that the rumor must have reached nearly all of them. Some were staring while others were trying to be discreet, but everyone seemed to be gossiping about him. He thought of all of the work that had gone into the outfits for the ball, the effort Blaine had gone to in New York with Anna Wintour. Was all of it wasted now? He had never felt this unhappy to be the center of attention. He was just standing frozen, wondering how he could make the floor open up and swallow him without people noticing, when he felt a presence beside him. He turned to see Blaine, one hand tucked behind his back and one extended in invitation.

"May I have this dance?"

Kurt turned to find Blaine, hand extended in invitation and his relief was instantaneous. "Yes, yes you may." The band was playing a waltz, so Blaine swept Kurt up in his arms and they glided out onto the dance floor.

"What will the bigwigs at your company think about you dancing with me like this?"

"Who cares what they think? I am so proud of you tonight and all you've accomplished and I don't care who knows it."

Kurt cast a rueful look around the room. "I think I can safely say that no one else here is thinking well of me at the moment."

"Don't worry, mom is taking care of it. No one gets away with telling lies about someone Helen Anderson cares about."

Puck walked purposefully across the room towards Quinn, smoothly putting off the few people who tried to engage him in conversation. When he reached her side he pulled her out into the service hallway used by the wait staff. "Quinn, how could you do that? What has Kurt ever done to you? You know you'll never have Blaine, so what did you think this would accomplish? What happened to you? You weren't like this before."

"Before what? Before I met you? Before I gave in to you in a moment of weakness? Before I got pregnant and my family shipped me off to Europe to have the baby in shame like I was in some Dickensian story? Before I gave my baby up for adoption? Before what, Puck? Tell me!"

He just gave her a look halfway between disappointed and disgusted. "You're better than this, Quinn."

"No, I'm really not," she called out as she walked away without a backward glance.

Helen paused as she approached a group of women and took a deep breath. She hadn't spoken to this particular group of former friends since just after the funeral, when she'd discovered how they had spread the gossip about her husband's mistress. It wasn't like she had avoided them on purpose. She'd just been staying at home a lot and hadn't seen them at any of the events she did attend. OK, so she had been avoiding them. She had thought they were her friends, but they'd been first in line to revel in her pain and embarrassment and she found it hard to even think about facing them again. But desperate times call for desperate measures and there was no way she was going to let some malicious coward get away with hurting Kurt or her son and how better to spread information than by starting with the worst gossips in the room.

She joined the group and gossiped with them for a few minutes, acting as if nothing was strange about her speaking with them after almost two years. Once they seemed comfortable with her presence she guided the conversation around to the fashions seen at the ball, then casually mentioned how she and Kurt had worked closely on her dress, how patient Kurt had been while making alteration after alteration to his design to accommodate her flighty suggestions, and how he had so many wonderful sketches she could attend a ball every night for the next three months and still not be able to wear them all.

By the time she left her frenemies behind with the excuse that she need to circulate amongst the other guests she had convinced them that Kurt was the sole designer of the Anderson women's gowns and had them itching for him to design for them. Within minutes the lies about Kurt were slowly being washed away, replaced by fawning over his design skills and envious looks to those in the room wearing his creations.

Standing by the doors leading out to the pool area, Quinn immediately noticed a change in the room. The whispers and accusatory side-long glances were being replaced with smiles and admiring looks in Kurt's direction. How had they managed to turn the situation around so quickly? It had seemed to take forever for her carefully placed lies to make it to all the right ears and now it was all for nothing.

She looked over at Blaine and Kurt, holding court over a circle of admirers who were now asking Kurt to design for them. Didn't Blaine realize that Kurt couldn't get him to where he needed to be? He claimed that Anderson Worldwide was important to him, had even given up the career he claimed to love in order to come back to the fold, but he wasn't willing to take that final step. Quinn had told him that she would be the most understanding wife imaginable and look the other way when he needed to get a little companionship that was more to his liking, but he'd been surprisingly resistant. She'd been wearing him down though, making progress, until Kurt showed up. Suddenly all of her logical reasons why a marriage between them would work were ignored, her arguments falling on deaf ears. She was sure that if Kurt was no longer in the picture she would be able to bring Blaine around, but he seemed to be there to stay.

She clenched her teeth, suddenly angrier than she had been in a long time. She shook her head curtly at a waiter who stopped to offer her a glass of champagne, but the serving tray full of drinks got her thinking. She'd been around Kurt enough to know that he never drank alcohol and had overheard Blaine teasing him about how he was such a lightweight and that they didn't want a repeat of last time, so she assumed that he was a bad, or at least a sloppy, drunk. She knew that it would probably take more than one drink to cause him to act out, after all no one was such a lightweight that one drink would get them drunk, but she didn't really care, she had to do something.

She overheard Kurt order a virgin daiquiri and followed the waiter to the service area where the drink orders were being fulfilled. She waited until he had made Kurt's drink then asked him for martini. When he turned to make her drink she poured out part of the daiquiri and added several shots of rum, giving the finished drink a quick stir with a swizzle stick. The waiter then handed her the finished martini, which she accepted with a smile before walking away back into the ballroom.

Kurt took a few sips of his drink, basking in the attention of a group of women who were interested in his designs. He made a mental to note to ask Helen what it was she had said to turn things around so quickly.

Suddenly the room began to move, the walls undulating back and forth as if they were trees swaying in the wind. He was about to lean over to comment to Blaine when he felt a familiar tickle deep in the pit of his stomach. In disbelief he lifted his glass up to the light and peered at it, as if looking harder would make it confess what ingredients it contained. Hoping against hope that the tickling didn't mean what he thought it meant he scanned the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He didn't see any problems and was about to let out a sigh of relief when he saw it. A slight movement from the ice sculpture in the shape of a swan as it slightly stretched its neck and ruffled its feathers.

He reached out desperately and grabbed Blaine's arm, smiling in what he hoped was apology to the people he had been conversing with. "My drink...alcohol," was all he could choke out as he returned to sweeping this eyes around the room, looking for other signs of this out-of-control powers.

"What?" Blaine too began to look frantically around the room and caught sight of the ice swan, which was now preening an uplifted wing. Thankfully, no one else was looking in that direction, but it wouldn't be long before someone saw it.

Kurt began to back out of the room, hoping to escape to his bedroom before anything more obvious happened, but a gasp from the woman at his side told him he wasn't quick enough. He followed her gaze up to the ceiling, where the hanging stars were now beginning to swing and twist around in little circles. Every once and a while one would spark and zoom off across the room, like a shooting star in the sky. The effect was beautiful and in any other circumstance Kurt would find it enchanting, but not tonight.

Everyone in the ballroom was now looking up, mesmerized by the spectacle above them. Suddenly a burst of light and sound erupted from a corner and the crowd gasped as one when tiny miniature fireworks began exploding over their heads, raining harmless sparks down upon them.

In his alcohol induced haze Kurt heard a commotion from the pool area and out of the corner of his eye he saw Santana and Brittany rush into the room. Brittany looked up at the ceiling, eyes wide. She giggled and clapped, enjoying the show until she glanced over and saw the panicked look on Kurt's face.

Her smile dropped and she directed her now swirling eyes back to the ceiling as she whispered, "Stop the violence."

With Brittany's words everything returned to normal. The fireworks stopped, the stars once again hung motionless from their wires, and the only movement from the swan sculpture came from the melting ice. She had counteracted his alcohol induced magic.

The sound of clapping snapped Kurt out of daze and he glanced over find Santana applauding loudly and smiling as she looked around the room. "Wow! That was amazing. Helen told me they were going to have a spectacular show to end the evening, but I had no idea. I'm going to have to get the name of her special effects guy."

Her words seemed to release the paralysis that had held the crowd and they all erupted into applause and cheering. People began to drift away, but from their excited conversations it was obvious that they all believed what they had just seen was a planned part of the entertainment for the evening.

Kurt stumbled over to Brittany's side and caught her up in his arms, hugging her tight. "You're my hero."

She hugged him back and whispered, "Next time, can we do the fireworks outside? People seemed a little scared of your indoor versions. Did you know they can make smiling faces and hearts out of fireworks now? I think they got the idea from that show I put on for the Chinese Emperor once."