Kurt wasn't at breakfast the next morning and when Blaine checked his bedroom it looked like the bed hadn't been slept in (wait, did Kurt even sleep in a bed or did he sleep in the samovar?). Worried that Kurt might not have left the game room the night before, Blaine headed downstairs to check. He wasn't there, but faint music was coming from behind the partially ajar door of the home theater room. The theater was spectacular, filled with twenty overstuffed reclining lounge chairs and a giant 12 foot screen, which retracted into the ceiling to expose a large curtained stage that Blaine's parents had added when Rachel began holding command performances of Disney songs as a child. Those performances were also the reason why the room had such good sound-proofing. There was only so many times one could hear 'Part of Your World' being practiced.

As Blaine entered the room, he saw that the Les Mis�rables 10th Anniversary Concert was playing on the screen, the music washing over the room. He found Kurt sitting in the second row of seats, knees pulled up to his chin and a rapt expression on his face. When he heard Blaine enter he swiveled his head around to pin him with an accusing expression.

"I can't believe that you waste your time listening to over produced pop music when you could be listening to this," he waved wildly at the screen, where Michael Ball and Lea Salonga had just stepped forward to sing their duet of 'A Little Fall of Rain'. "The romance, the tragedy, the comedy. Blaine, I have found my nirvana and it is Broadway."

"So, are you saying that you like it? Because I'm getting mixed messages here." Kurt threw a well-aimed pillow at his head, which Blaine casually side-stepped with a laugh.

"You don't understand. This is what has been missing from my life. Singing, dancing, and spectacle, what isn't to love? I couldn't sleep last night, so I decided a movie marathon was just what the doctor ordered. So far I have watched The Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge and I think Hairspray will be next after this is finished." He reached over to pause the movie on the screen. "God, that man's voice," he pointed up to Michael Ball on the screen, "I just want to wrap myself up in it like it is a warm blanket."

"If you think this is good, you should hear him sing 'Love Changes Everything' from Aspects of Love or 'Anthem' from Chess."

"Yes, please! Do you have those songs?"

"Remind me to show you how to use the computer today, so you can start downloading your own music." Blaine settled himself down in the chair next to Kurt. "I know you can just think about them and 'poof', there they are, but we should get you used to doing things the hard way."

"'Poof'? Really, Blaine? You think I make things go 'poof'?"

"That is the sound I hear in my head, yes. Not elegant, but fitting." He gave Kurt one of his patented wide smiles. "Anyway, Broadway, huh? You know, you should really talk to Rachel if you are into Broadway. I think she has every show ever performed memorized. It has always been an obsession of hers."

"Hmmm…I'll take that under advisement. Might be a good way to break the ice a little."

"Doesn't hurt to try. And I do appreciate it. You trying, I mean. I know she can be a difficult nut to crack, but I think you will find that she is worth it." Blaine gestured up to the screen, "We will have to make a trip to New York City soon. Take in a bunch of Broadway shows in person. Les Miz isn't playing any longer, but I'm sure we won't have any problem finding enough tragedy and melodrama to make you happy."

"Ohhhh, yes! All the melodrama!" Kurt squealed with excitement. "The last time I was in New York Broadway just consisted of shows like the Ziegfeld Follies. Chorus girls dancing around to random songs with no real plot —though the costumes were amazing, I must admit." He paused, considering Blaine for a moment, "So, speaking of melodrama… Santana. She is very…interesting."

"Ah, yes. She can be an acquired taste. Santana has been my best friend since we were little kids. Her family is 'new money', so they weren't easily accepted by a lot of Chicago society. I didn't care, though. The first time I saw her she punched a kid that was picking on me and trying to steal my bowtie. I have been in her debt ever since. She is also the one that helped me figure out I was gay. I had my suspicions and confessed them to her one evening, so she offered to kiss me to help clear things up. So there I was, kissing this incredibly beautiful girl and all I could think was 'Yep, I'm 100% gay'. It was enlightening. Of course, it wasn't all altruistic of her. Turns out she had been questioning her sexuality also and wanted to use me as a final test. We both got what we needed out of it, though. Anyways, here we are 13 years later and still best friends."

"It must be great to have someone who knows you so well and for so long," Kurt replied wistfully.

Blaine resisted the urge to give Kurt a big hug and just gave him a sympathetic smile as he settled into a chair to finish watching the movie.

Just as the finale song was finishing up, Blaine was surprised to see his mother entering the room, wearing a knee length fur coat and carrying a bright red rose in full bloom. "Mother, that is lovely, did the florist make a delivery today?"

"No," Helen replied in a dazed voice. "Blaine, would you mind coming out into the flower garden for a moment?"

She turned around and was headed out of the room before Blaine could answer. He gave Kurt a puzzled look and a shrug before following her. The men grabbed their coats and headed around to the side of the house where the flower garden was located. As they rounded the hedge that separated it from the main backyard Blaine came to an abrupt stop. He couldn't believe his eyes. The garden was always pale and slumbering in the winter, but not this time. All around him was a riot of color, with blooming roses poking out of the snow. Several members of the gardening staff were standing around with baffled looks on their faces, some taking pictures with their phones.

"The roses — all of the roses — are in bloom," his mother called from a few feet away, stating the obvious. "It is unbelievable. The gardeners can't explain it. Everything was normal yesterday and suddenly today they are in full bloom. It is astounding. Several members of the horticulture society are coming by later to take a look. I suspect they think I have been dipping into the wine a little too hard and am seeing things. We'll show them though."

Blaine made all of the correct noises at his mother, proclaiming his astonishment and taking a few photos of her next to some of the larger bushes. He could sense Kurt walking along behind him, but the other man remained silent. Blaine was afraid to look at him for fear that his expression would reveal more than he wanted his mother to know. They made their escape as soon as possible, leaving Helen with the gardeners to prepare for the upcoming onslaught of horticulturists. They walked quietly back to the house and hung up their coats without a word. Blaine walked into the living room and went straight to the back wall, where some decanters of alcohol were kept for pre-dinner drinks. He normally wasn't much of drinker, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Kurt, would you like to explain to me why my mother is currently standing in a sea of roses blooming at least 4 months early?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I forgot that I did that."

"You forgot?"

"Yesterday at breakfast Helen mentioned how much she missed flowers in her garden and I just wanted to make her happy, so I thought this would be a nice surprise to wake up to and roses are kind of my specialty. I forgot that I did it. I know we talked about me not using my powers and I'm sorry. This kind of thing is second nature to me."

"Do you know how dangerous this is?" Blaine yelled, losing his temper. "We talked about this and you promised me!"

"Why are you yelling at me? I don't understand why you are getting so upset about this. It is just some flowers," Kurt shouted back.

"They are going to have experts here this afternoon to investigate! You can't call attention to yourself like this."

"Do you think this is easy for me? Not being allowed to give people the things they want? The things they need?" Kurt cried. "This is who I am, Blaine and I am trying, I really am, but I just can't switch it off like you want me to. I know that times are changing and I need to change with them, but I see things that I don't like or that I can make better and sometimes I can't help myself. You wished that I would act like myself and you can't just take it back now. I like who I am and I'm not going to let you tell me there is something wrong with that." Kurt was really working himself up and was starting to lose control of his emotions. "You don't know how often I hold myself back. Did you see what your mother was wearing just now? A fur coat! A fur coat, Blaine! You know how I feel about that. I saw it and I just wanted to make her see how wrong it was, but did I? No!"

It looked like a storm was brewing in Kurt's eyes and Blaine took a step forward to try and calm him down, but saw that it was too late when a fur coat like the one his mother had been wearing appeared out of thin air.

"Do you want to see what I stopped myself from doing?" Kurt glared at the coat as it sank to the floor. Blaine watched in equal parts horror and fascination as the coat writhed about for a few seconds before transforming into a baby Lynx cat, which immediately began to making a mewing, crying noise. "Do you think she would continue to wear that coat if she was forced to meet the animal it was made out of?"

A gasp from the doorway sounded like a gunshot through the room. Both men looked up in shock to see Santana standing just inside the room, staring in disbelief at the Lynx sitting on the floor.

"What just happened? How...? There was a coat and then…then there wasn't. And then a wild animal. What…?"

Kurt swung his head back to the Lynx, which immediately blinked out of existence, but the damage was done. He tried to say something, anything, but could only produce some inarticulate noises. He wanted to run, but found himself paralyzed, frozen in place.

Luckily, Blaine was able to recover quickly and ran over to pull Santana into the room, closing the door behind her. "Santana, let us explain."

"Cat. There was a wild cat in your living room. And then it was gone. How can that be? Am I being punked?" Santana sunk into one of the side chairs, her legs no longer able to hold her up.

Blaine sat down beside her, glancing over to find Kurt still rooted to the same location. He reached over and grabbed Santana's hands, bringing her attention back to him. "I need you to take a deep breath and listen to me. Are you listening?" At her nod he took a deep breath and began a halting explanation of how he had met Kurt and what he had learned about the other man. When he got to the part about Kurt being a genie Santana let out a disbelieving laugh. She turned to look at Kurt and her laugh died in her throat at the look of despair on his face. Blaine continued his story, filling her in on what had happened since they reached Chicago and explaining the event she had just witnessed.

Hearing Blaine explain about the flowers and the fur coat finally forced Kurt out of his paralysis and he rushed over, sinking to his knees in front of the two friends.

"I don't know what happened! I don't do that kind of thing. I mean, I have trouble curbing the use of my powers, but I don't get angry and lose control like that. It just isn't me."

"Don't tell me, it was actually your evil identical cousin," Santana bit out. When Kurt only looked perplexed she sighed in frustration, "What, you don't get I Dream of Jeannie where you come from?"

"Santana, this is hard on all of us. Can you just be nice and reasonable for once?" Blaine pleaded.

"Reasonable? You bring a random stranger, who claims to be a magical being, into your home just days after you meet him and you want to talk to me about being reasonable? What do you really know about this guy, Blaine? If he isn't who he says he is you just started shacking up with a guy who isn't just a sandwich short of a picnic, but is missing the hamper and lemonade also."

Santana got up and started pacing around the room. "And, God! If he is who he says he is, then what have you gotten us all into? He already said he isn't always in control of his powers. What if we all wake up with a third eye or a tail? What if he makes your mother fall in love with a potted plant or something? Worse, what if he makes me think that I can actually stand Rachel and Finn? I don't think I could take that, Blaine. How much has he told you about genies and how they operate? He is cute and all, but really what were you thinking? Or rather what were you thinking with?"

Blaine wanted to defend himself against Santana's tirade, but he knew that she wasn't all wrong. He just looked at her with a lost look on his face, mouth open, waiting for words to emerge from his brain.

When she saw that Blaine had nothing to offer at the moment, Santana harrumphed in frustration and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, I just need to not be here right now. I am going to leave and have myself a drink or twenty. I suggest that you think really hard about this situation and how you can possibly see this working out." She stormed out of the room and then the front door, leaving the two stunned men behind.

"She hates me," Kurt whispered, tears glistening in his eyes. "Do you think she is going to tell anyone about me?"

"No, of course not. She is just shocked, that's all. She'll come around, you'll see."

"I try to be strong and not care what other people think of me, but it isn't easy, is it? Why can't I ever just fit in?"

"Hey, stop it. You'll fit in. You will! We just need to work on some things. Once we get you caught up on what you have missed in the past 60 years and work a little on your impulse control issues no one will ever have a reason to doubt who you are or think you don't belong." Kurt looked slightly more hopeful at Blaine's words, so he kept going. "Come on, let's get started on those computer lessons we talked about earlier. You will want to get started on your anthology of musical theater and you won't believe the amount of fashion available online. I might never see you again after you discover the wonders of the internet."

Kurt gave a watery laugh and allowed Blaine to pull him up from the floor. They retreated to Blaine's room, where Blaine pulled out his iPad and proceeded to tutor Kurt on how to use the device and how to locate all the information he was looking for on any subject that interested him. They sat together on the bed, reading about the newest celebrity antics and pouring over the latest fashions. After a while, Blaine opened up iTunes and started constructing a playlist of Broadway classics. As they listened, Kurt leaned up against him and laid his head on his shoulder, the tension from the morning slipping away as the music filled him.

An hour later, Blaine was just about to doze off when he heard the familiar strains of a favorite song coming across the speakers. "I haven't heard this song in years. I remember seeing this show as a kid and thinking this was the best song in the whole production. That should have been my first clue that I was gay."

"What song is this?" Kurt asked, watching as Blaine swung himself off the bed and began to dance around the room to the music.

Blaine stopped his dancing for a second and flashed Kurt a sly smile. "'Bring On the Men' from Jekyll & Hyde." He jumped up on his desk chair and began to sing along with the song at the top of his lungs, obviously reenacting some long ago seen choreography. "Join me…please?"

Kurt jumped off the bed as well and joined Blaine in a dance around the room, singing along on the chorus once he knew the words. They swung around the room at full speed, Blaine lifting Kurt up to stand on the bed, then swinging him down to waltz quickly to the window. By the end of the song, both men were out of breath and laughing from their efforts. They collapsed in a heap on the floor at the foot of the bed, draped over each other. "I can't believe we just did that," Blaine puffed out between heavy breaths, "I feel like are taking part in some horrible, clich�d rom-com. I'm just glad no one was here to get than on tape."

The sounds of Kurt's giggles made the embarrassing performance worthwhile and Blaine laid his head back against the bed, enjoying the moment. After they had both recovered, he glanced over at Kurt, afraid to ruin the moment. "Hey, Santana was right about one thing, you know; I do need to get to know you better and learn more about what being a genie means. Can we just talk for a while?"

"Ah, you seek the knowledge of the ancient race of genies," Kurt smiled, tensing up just a tiny bit. "Ask and you shall receive. Hmm… maybe it would be faster if I just gave you this." Kurt grabbed a piece of paper out of the air and handed it to Blaine. He looked down and saw it was a pamphlet like you would get in a doctor's office, with the title Lightning in a Bottle: The care and feeding on your new genie.

"Ha ha, very funny. Seriously though, I do have a few questions. And I'll take a cue from your wonderful pamphlet here and ask about your samovar. Do all genies have them or do some have lamps or bottles like we see in the stories?'

"Samovars are the most common, but there are cases where something else is used. However, we are never found in those clich�d lamps shown in the story books. How gauche."

"Of course not, I'm sure genies have very high standards, especially if your clothes are anything to go by."

Kurt preened a little, pleased by Blaine's observation. "Well, there is an advantage to being around as long as I have been. You see a lot of trends come and go and it becomes easier to spot the ones that work."

"Is it hard? Living so long? Always having to move on to the next person?" As soon as the question was out of his mouth Blaine regretted asking it.

Kurt's expression closed up a little and he crossed his arms, rubbing his hands up and down them as if he was cold. "The constant changing of connection, having nothing permanent, was easier when connections were more frequent. I don't often become emotionally attached to my connections — you have been told I can be a little standoffish — but genies were more common then and I was able to see my friends often. We interacted more with the world and I felt like I fulfilled my purpose so easily. I made people's lives better. Now with the longs gaps between connections I feel untethered and lost. I don't know where my friends are or if they even exist any longer. And as for making people's lives better, well, I seem to be more of a burden than a help lately. Making people happy and helping them through the challenges in their lives is what I am here for and without that I think I am losing myself." Kurt stood up and walked over to the window overlooking the backyard, tracing his fingers across the glass. "When I see how much people have access to through computers," he gestured towards the tablet sitting on the bed, "I can understand why people don't need to believe in magic. You just have so much at your fingertips. There is just no need for me any longer. I wonder how long it will be before there is no one left who will believe and genies will just disappear. Stuck in limbo forever, waiting for the next connection that never comes."

Blaine wanted to reach over and pull Kurt into his arms to offer comfort and support, but he had noticed that the genie wasn't totally comfortable with a lot of physical contact, so he settled for placing a comforting hand on his back and rubbing slightly. He realized that he hadn't given much thought to how asking Kurt not to use his powers would affect him. He wanted nothing more than for Kurt to feel useful and to know he was helping make people happy. They were just going to have to find a way to do it that didn't leave them feeling as if there were balanced on the edge of disaster. They continued to embrace for a few minutes, Kurt resting with his head on Blaine's shoulder. Finally, Kurt pulled away and turned back to the window, looking embarrassed that he had revealed so much.

Blaine noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced over to find Santana standing in the doorway, watching them with a strange expression. It was obvious that she had been standing there a while and had heard most, if not all, of what Kurt had been saying. Kurt hadn't yet seen her, so Blaine pretended to get a phone call and slipped out into the hall to answer it.

Santana was waiting for him, leaning up against the opposite wall, a large bag in her hands. "You know that nothing about this situation is going to be easy, right? Is this really the best time to be having to deal with something like this, what with the company and all? You can barely hold Quinn off as it is. If she were to learn about this you would be so screwed. She would blackmail you into marrying her so fast your little supernatural sex toy there wouldn't know what hit him."

"I know this isn't going to be easy, but I can't ask him to leave. I won't do that to him…or to me. It isn't obligation or a sense of duty. I…I just need him and he needs me too. I can't explain it. It just is."

"I was afraid you were going to say that. Well, luckily for you I am here once again to pull your butt out of the fire. Stand aside Richie Rich and let Santana work her magic." Blaine just stood there gaping at her. "No seriously, go away. I want to talk to Animal Crusader Barbie alone."

Blaine reluctantly made his way down the hallway, looking back every few seconds to find Santana still shooing him away with her hands. Once he had turned the corner she took a deep breath and opened the door to the bedroom. Kurt was sitting on the bed, listening to music playing from a tablet computer. He looked up as Santana entered the room, nearly dropping the device in his surprise at seeing her.

"So, I hear that you are a little out of touch with anything that happened since the Eisenhower administration. Well, don't worry. I am here to save the day. We are going to first bring you up-to-speed on a little pop culture," she held up a bag containing DVDs of Aladdin and all five seasons of I Dream of Jeannie. "Then we are going to talk about what you want to do with your life. Blaine will be heading back to work soon and you will need something to occupy yourself, so you, my dear genie, are going to get a job.

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this for me?"

"I would go anything for Blaine and he believes in you, so I guess I am stuck with you too now. Watch out, genie boy, you ain't never had a friend like me."