"Kurt, everything will be fine. I promise you, I will fix this."

"But what if you can't…"

"I'll figure out something. At the very least, we can figure out what it is that's causing you to have these…new abilities."

"New abilities? You mean the abilities that I've stolen from you? What am I saying! Stolen. That doesn't even make sense! And neither does what we're doing right now! I mean this is not normal!"

"Kurt just calm down and breathe…"

"Can you stop doing that." Blaine jumped as Kurt broke the silence in the elevator. "It's really not helping."

"Sorry." Blaine saw Kurt wringing his hands anxiously and reached out to cover them with his own, smiling as their eyes met. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open, revealing a floor identical to the one they lived on in their building.

They stepped out of the elevator and walked all the way to the end of the hall. Blaine stopped at the last door on the left that was painted red. "That has to be against regulation."

Blaine knocked on the door to room 623 and Kurt's heart began pounding painfully in his chest. The knock was answered by a tall and somewhat buff girl with long blonde hair that was tied back in a tight pony tail. She held the door open just enough so that she was seen, but nothing in the interior of the room was visible. "State your business." She sounded both bored and annoyed.

"We're here to see Melanie." Blaine answered.

"Password?" the girl leaned against the door frame.

"Lemon tart" the girl sighed and threw open the door before plopping down on the bed nearest the door and throwing on a large pair of headphones.

Blaine stepped through the doorway and entered the room, Kurt nervously following him in step. The room was decorated on one side with dozens of band and movie posters while the other side was white and black with a large television that had wires poking out of it from every direction. The wires were all connected to an array of expensive looking machines lining the walls that stood next to a messy bed with plain, white sheets. In the center of the outer wall sat a large oak desk and a black leather swivel chair.

The chair spun around "Blaine Anderson. And to what do I owe the honor of this visit." The girl who spoke looked to be about 11 and her wavy brown hair fell to her shoulders. She was dressed in baggy jeans and a red hooded sweatshirt. Her oversized glasses were sliding down the bridge of her nose and she took a finger and gently pushed them back into position. The ark circles under her eyes made her look as though she hadn't slept in days and empty mugs of coffee and dirty plates surrounded the computer screen on the desk behind her. "This is Wes's girlfriend?"

"I…Kurt needs your help." Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand and looked over at his boyfriend, encouraging him to speak.

"Well…" Melanie stared at Kurt as she pulled her legs up towards her body, almost like she was crouching in her seat.

"I have these strange abilities…"

"Yes, we all do. It's kind of a requirement to be here." Her concentration on Kurt was unwavering through her sarcasm.

"No, I mean, I have more abilities now. I have since this morning, actually, and I'm really scared." Melanie didn't blink. "What's wrong with me? Blaine said you could help…" He looked up at Blaine, feeling tears in his eyes and losing the confidence to speak as he realized there was no way this little girl was going to have any answers for them.

"Well then, Kurt, what exactly are these abilities that have suddenly appeared?"

"Well, I woke up today and my hair was red and then it changed back. And just now I set a book on fire and…" Kurt looked up at Blaine.

"He read my thoughts." Blaine's voice sounded broken and confused. Kurt tore his eyes away from his face to stare at the floor.

"Hmmm…What else can you do?" Melanie tucked one of her legs underneath her as she spoke.

"I can turn invisible and Blaine thinks…well, thought that I had some sort of a guard on my brain that kept him from reading my thoughts. " Kurt pulled his hand up to rest it on the back of his neck.

Melanie bit the side of her thumb as she thought for a few seconds, "Absorption."

"What?" Kurt dropped his hand.

"You can absorb other's powers and use them as your own." She said simply. Kurt felt Blaine shift uncomfortably next to him.

"That makes sense; he's taken powers from both me and Aimee. But how does he do it if he doesn't even know that's his power?"

Kurt felt his throat closing up and his heart pounding in his chest. He was almost positive he could feel each pump of blood as it left his heart and rushed through his veins. His eyes began to white over and he became light headed. "This can't be happening." He reached out and grabbed Blaine's arm for support.

"Kurt, do you know anyone who can turn invisible?"

Kurt forced himself to snap out of his panic attack long enough to answer "Yes, my cousin Lily."

"And what about someone with a guard or shield ability?" Kurt shook his head. Melanie pursed her lips for a moment. "I'd still say that's our best bet. But we need to figure out what the trigger is if we want to help him."

"It can't simply be from contact because he'd have dozens of abilities by now." Blaine seemed to be rather excited now that they were getting somewhere.

"But if that's the case, then it means that it has to be triggered by something in his brain, even if he doesn't realize that it is happening." Melanie swiveled her chair around to grab a plate with a half-eaten piece of pink cake before swiveling back to Blaine and Kurt.

Kurt's mind suddenly flashed on the last time he had seen Lily.

It was a chilly day in mid-October and the two 14 year-olds stood with their hands clasped tight as they watched Lily's father load the last of the boxes into the car. The movers hadn't taken long to clear out the furniture so there was still plenty of sunlight left in the crisp day. The way it hit their eyes made the blue orbs glisten even more with the tears that were threatening to spill over. She was leaving. Her mother had died and her father didn't want to stay in Ohio anymore. He claimed he just had to get away from everything. Apparently "away" meant far away.

He had known Lily for as long as he could remember. They'd been through everything together. She had been there when his mother had died, and now he'd done the same for her. For thirteen years she had been the sister his parents couldn't give him and now he felt like a piece of him was leaving with her, leaving a gaping hole in his heart. It just wasn't fair…

"I promise I'll visit you all the time." Kurt saw the sadness in her eyes. She knew she wasn't being realistic, but she didn't want to lose hope and neither did he.

"You're moving to Oregon, you probably won't even visit for Christmas." Kurt bit back the sob that bubbled in his throat.

"Well, then I'll write you. Every week, I promise." Tears were streaming down Lily's slightly pink cheeks now.

"You'd better." Kurt sobbed as they turned and clutched each other tightly for what seemed like an eternity.

"Lily, c'mon! We've gotta get going if we want to make it to the hotel before sundown!" Lily's father stood at the driver's side door waving at her impatiently.

"I'll miss you!" Lily sobbed as she clutched Kurt tighter.

"I'll miss you too." He let go of her. It took all of his will power, but he let go of Lily and he watched in silence as she climbed into the passenger's seat and the car backed out of the drive. She waved at Kurt as they made eye contact one last time, and then she was gone and Kurt was left standing in the driveway with tears flooding his cheeks.

A week later was the first time Kurt had ever phased. It had been strange because children were generally about 12 when their abilities began to show. His father had thought he had gotten off lucky when Kurt had turned 12, and then 13, with no trace of any powers like his mother.

"Oh my god…" Kurt realized that tears were now rolling downs his cheeks upon remembering that day. He had always felt that his ability was like a piece of Lily that had been left with him, now he knew that it really was a piece of her.

Blaine had his arm wrapped around Kurt in support while his left hand held Kurt's wrist. He had seen everything in Kurt's mind and he felt a dull ache in his heart seeing him in so much pain.

Melanie rocked back in forth slightly in her chair as she continued to shovel pieces of cake in her mouth while she watched them. "So…I was right?"

Kurt nodded weakly. He remembered how his first week at Dalton he'd been an absolute emotional wreck. Then when he'd run into Aimee later in the hallway, she'd held his hand as they walked together. He had felt so connected to her when they'd met, almost like he'd always known her. Then, just before in his room when he and Blaine had been kissing, he'd felt more connected to him than he ever had before. "That's it!"

"I…I think my power is linked to my emotions." Melanie raised her eyebrows, "My emotions and…physical contact." Kurt looked at Blaine on those words, whose eyebrows, too, were raised.

"Is it a specific emotion?" Melanie had now set down her plate, much more interested than she had been previously.

"Just…a strong emotion I think. A strong emotion that I'm not quite familiar with feeling very often. An emotion that makes me feel connected to the person I'm touching in some way." Blaine coughed slightly as the puzzle pieces began to fit together in his brain.

"Hmmm…that's peculiar." Melanie began to chew the side of her thumb again, "Well, I'll look into it and see what I can find. For now, just keep me posted if you remember anything else you think will be helpful." With that Melanie swiveled her chair back around and began opening new windows on her computer, clearly starting her research immediately.

"The usual payment?" Blaine asked as he and Kurt turned around to head for the door. The creepy girl with the tight pony tail removed her head phones and moved to open the door for them.

"S'fine." Melanie mumbled, already lost in her work.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Kurt collapsed as his body was wracked with violent sobs. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and held him, whispering soothingly in his ear as he stroked the small of his back. They stood like this for several minutes before Kurt regained control and kissed Blaine on the cheek, "Thank you."

"For what?" Blaine brought a hand up to stroke the tears off of Kurt's cheek as he gazed in his eyes.

"For everything." Kurt's voice cracked slightly.

"You don't need to thank me for doing something that I wanted to do." Blaine leaned his forehead against Kurt's and sighed. "Wes isn't a pedophile by the way."

Kurt burst into giggles, "Are you sure?"

Blaine grinned back at him, "Mel's 14 and Wes just turned 16 the past September. I think he likes dating someone who's actually smarter than he is."

"Still seems sketchy to me…" Blaine leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Kurt's lips before taking his hand and leading him to the elevator.

"So, we've figured out where you've gotten all of you other powers, but what about your guard?"

Kurt shrugged, "I have no idea. Right now though, I'm more worried about why all of these powers are popping up like this."

"I'm positive it has something to do with your encounter with Braeden, I'm just not entirely sure what that is just yet." Blaine growled slightly at this, his eyes darkening as he pressed the call button for the elevator.

Kurt gave his hand a light squeeze, "We'll figure it out eventually." The elevator doors glided open and Kurt stepped inside ahead of Blaine and leaned against the bar at the back of the small cabin, "But for now, I think we have some unfinished business, sir." Kurt reached out and tugged on the front of Blaine's sweater, pulling him flush against his body. Blaine smirked before slinking his arms around Kurt and closing the short gap between their lips with a tender kiss. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck and his hands found his hair as he smiled against his boyfriend's lips, all of his troubles melting away.