It was dark. Blaine didn't know where he was, but he could hear someone calling him. "Blaine! Blaine! Blaine! Please help me!"The voice cried. Blaine ran towards it. He ran through something thick and red. He was stumbling, falling, crawling, and drowning… But the boy couldn't stop. He had to keep going; he needed to save this person. He couldn't lose someone dear to him. Not again. The screams become louder, echoing inside of Blaine's mind, pushing at the back of his eyes until he couldn't see properly. But he kept running. The person's strident screams were making him deaf and dizzy and feel sick. He couldn't stop running.

When he finally reached the person, there was a faceless figure above them, a shadow holding a rusty kitchen knife. Blaine screamed, "No! Not again!" He wouldn't let it happen again. He was strong and grown up now. He could protect the people he loved. He gripped the shadow's shoulders, trying to pull it away, but with each attempt, Blaine felt weaker. His hands seemed to be getting smaller, and he was losing strength. When the shadow finally vanished, Blaine was a young boy again, wearing his old Spiderman pajamas and clenching on tight to a teddy bear. He looked down at the stiff body the shadow had been attacking moments ago. The person he could have saved. And there was more of that red substance. It was blood, now he could see it. Not only that, but it smelled and practically tasted like it as well. It was everywhere, staining his Spiderman pajamas, his teddy bear, and the lifeless hazel eyes of the Shadow's victim.

Lifeless hazel eyes.

His father's eyes.

"Walter!" Blaine jerked up, panting and wide-eyed, covered in sweat. His hands were gripping the sides of the futon. He look around the room. Kurt was sleeping peacefully in his bed. Blaine laid back down, biting his fist and closing his eyes to push the tears back down–– It was just a nightmare and he wasn't a child anymore. He wouldn't cry because of a damn nightmare.

Blaine felt claustrophobic inside of his room. He had to get out and take a shower. It was Saturday and usually, he didn't wake up this early. He stood, grabbed some clothes and crossed the hallway and walked towards the bathroom.

He supported himself on the sink, his breathing still a little erratic. Blaine couldn't believe he was having these kind of nightmares again. After Cooper's death, it became a normal occurrence in Blaine's childhood to wake up screaming and panting. But when he turned ten years old, these nightmares occurred less and less frequently until they stopped all together. Blaine couldn't even remember the last time he had had a nightmare like that. So why had they come back now? Especially now that he had to share his room with someone? Blaine couldn't even imagine what Kurt would say if he woke up to see Blaine screaming like a little girl.

"Fuck," He cursed, burying his face in his hands.

He washed his face in an attempt to clear his mind. It didn't work. So he took his clothes off and took a shower, hoping the cold water would wash away the heaviness feeling that suffocated him. That didn't work either. He got out of the shower, threw on a pair of jeans and a worn out t-shirt..

He went to the kitchen to drink some water, and maybe get something to eat, but he heard Walter on the phone with someone and stopped dead in his tracks.

"When will the body be released?" Walter asked, taking notes in the small copybook above the coffee table. "Oh okay… Can you send the report to my email?"

Blaine couldn't believe what he was hearing. Body? Why was Walter dealing with bodies again? The FDTC doesn't deal with dead bodies, only technology!

"Thank you, Josh yes, yes… tell Meg I said hi. Goodbye."

Josh? Blaine murmured, a million thoughts running through his mind. He only knew one Josh, Walter's only friend. But no, that couldn't be happening! Why would Walter...

"Blaine?" Walter said, standing up and almost dropping his phone as his son stepped out of his hiding place. "Are you hungry? I'll make some-" He began to say, but then he looked at his son, really looked at him, and felt the words dying inside of his mouth.

Blaine looked at his father and bit his lip, so many feelings overtaking him and being shown clearly in his eyes. "Are you working on homicides again?" the boy asked, the feeling of betrayal perceptible in his voice. How could Walter work with homicides again, after all that had happened? After Cooper's death?

"Blaine-"

"Why?" Blaine hissed, the pain audible in his voice. "After what fucking happened to Coop, how can you- What the fuck, Walter! How can you even step in crime scene again? How does it not remind you of him?"

Walter shook his head. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell Blaine the truth, this secret wasn't his to share. And besides, that would only put his son in danger. "Blaine, I'm not working with Homicides. It's not like that-"

"Oh is not like that, then tell me, What's it like?"Blaine yelled, crossing his arms. And then the realization hit him. If Walter wasn't working with Homicides again... "Oh my God!" The boy gasped, covering his mouth with a shaking hand. "You're trying to solve a murder on your own, aren't you?" he asked in an accusing tone.

"Blaine-"

"Stop! Just stop!" Blaine interrupted Walter. He didn't want any more explanations. His mom had been right. Barbara had been right this whole time. Walter would never give up being a detective, the greatest detective. He would never settle down and live a peaceful, safe life. He needed the adrenaline and to be the shining prince, the hero who catches all the bad guys! How na�ve Blaine had been, actually believing that Walter would stop putting his life in danger, and risking his and his family's life.

"I don't want to hear any of your bullshit anymore, Walter," Blaine said, his fists clenched tight at his side. "If you wanna risk your life dealing with this kind of shit again, That's just fine! Do whatever you want! Go back to being the greatest detective of all time, the hero of the 198th district who solved all these mysteries but never had time pick up his own sons from school!" Blaine shouted, knowing exactly what he was insinuating.

Walter felt Blaine words ripping apart his heart. "Blaine…" he murmured.

"You know what? Let's just pretend this conversation never happened. That's what the Andersons do, isn't it? We pretend that everything is fine, that we're not suffering or hurting each other... So let's keep doing that, let's pretend I didn't hear you talking to Josh on the phone, risking your fucking life," Blaine choked that last word, holding back a tear as he remembered his nightmare, the image of Walter lying on the ground covered in blood. "-when your family is already too fucked up because of grief and suffering!" The boy concluded, turning his back on his father and walking away.

He never said what he actually meant.

Please dad, I can't lose you too.

******

Kurt was sitting on his bed when Blaine stormed into the room. He wasn't in his pajamas anymore. Blaine and Walter's discussion had woken him up. The android heard some parts of it, and now he couldn't help but feel guilty. It was his fault Walter was lying to Blaine, so maybe it would be better if he told the other boy the truth, that he was an android and that his father had been murdered, and Walter was trying to figure out Kurt's origins.

"Walter is a good guy you know…" Kurt trailed off, trying to work up the courage to tell Blaine that Walter was a good guy and had only been helping him.

"Don't- Just don't," Blaine said, covering his face with his hands. He was still fighting to hold back the tears burning his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn't need Kurt telling him how great Walter was, not now.

He just wanted to be left alone. Couldn't Kurt see that?

Kurt stood, approaching Blaine "I just-"

"How about you stop meddling in my family's problems?!" Blaine snapped "Jesus, don't you have your own family?"

Kurt felt like he had been slapped across his face. He stepped away from Blaine, almost stumbling onto his bed. "No, I don't," he mumbled, feeling his eyes water.

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows together, confused. "What?"

"I don't have a family," Kurt said again, Blaine's words still echoing through his head and he felt releasing all the resentment, all the bitterness he had kept locked inside himself for the past few days. "My dad died days ago, and I don't even remember my mother! So I'm sorry, but no, I don't have my own family!" He snapped, throwing one last hurt glare at Blaine's direction before turning his back on the other boy and leaving the room. He slammed the door shut behind him.

"Fuck," Blaine murmured taken aback by Kurt's revelations. What had he said?

*****

Kurt was sick of that apartment. He felt constricted and claustrophobic. He needed to go out. He had already spent too much time of his life locked away and hidden from the world.

He knew he was being stupid, and as soon as Kurt walked through the living room and unlocked Walter's apartment door, a little voice inside of his head screamed at him and it told him that what he was doing was crazy and potentially dangerous, but Kurt just needed get away from there. He needed to get away from Blaine and from the confusing feelings he felt. The android wasn't thinking straight. He just wanted to breathe again and to clear his head.

And Kurt would have succeeded in this foolish attempt to leave the building, if he had paid more attention to where he was going. Running, he crashed and fell on an Asian girl, knocking her down along with the boxes she was carrying.

They both ended up on the ground, covered in white foam peanuts. Kurt was on top of the girl, and she stared at him wide eyed. She was shorter than Kurt, had long dark brown hair and wore a bright-blue dress with an elongated neck boasting decorative buttons and a Peter Pan collar.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Kurt gasped as he stood up and offered the girl a hand. "I'm really, really, sorry..."

"No, it's okay," The girl responded quietly. "There was nothing valuable in those boxes, you know, except the urn in which I kept my grandmother's ashes."

Kurt panicked. "Oh my God! Did I break the urn? I'm so, so sorry!?" He squealed, his voice going higher than usual.

"No, no that was a joke! A terrible, terrible joke! Don't cry, you didn't break any urn!" The girl rushed noticing that a single tear was streaming down Kurt's cheek.

"Crying?" Kurt frowned before touching his cheek. His skin felt wet. He had probably been crying when he ran away from Walter's apartment "No, I'm not crying because of this," He mumbled and shrugged.

"Did something happen?" The girl asked, kneeling on the ground to pick up the foam peanuts which were spread all over the place.

Kurt kneeled down as well and helped her. "I just- I feel so alone," he confessed, unable to help himself. "Oh God, look at me, talking about my problems to a complete stranger," he murmured, completely embarrassed. He couldn't be a bigger weirdo, could he? Stumbling onto strangers and then babbling about his feelings?

"Well in that case, my name is Tina Cohen-Chang, and it's nice too meet you!" The girl said, holding out her hand and smiling.

Kurt smiled back. "I'm Kurt," he said, shaking her hand.

"Well Kurt, now we're not strangers anymore," she said, standing up with a box in her arms. "So how about I make us some hot cocoa?" she offered, motioning towards her apartment.

"Hot cocoa?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! I make the best hot cocoa ever!" Tina assured him proudly. "And I'm new in town, and also what you would call a socially inept person, so I'd love to make a new friend…"

She flashed him a warm smile. Kurt still seemed a little reluctant.

"Hot Chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream?" she added and winked.

And well, it's not like Kurt could say no to that. "Okay!" he smiled, helping Tina with one of the boxes.

"Let's see if your hot cocoa really is the best cocoa ever!" He teased, making the girl giggle.

******

"You seem upset," Penny said to Walter as they stood in front of Artie's apartment door.

Walter had been strangely quiet this morning, and he didn't even complain when Penny had suggested they go to Artie's in her car, and he hated her car! And unless something was really wrong, there is no way Walter would lose a chance of driving around his big, 65' Pontiac Tempest GT.

Walter sighed, looking down at his shoes. "Blaine found out that I'm working on a case involving a murder and got mad at me. He said some pretty harsh things..."Walter trailed off and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Things I probably deserved"

Penny bit her lip. "D'you think he's suspicious about Kurt?" she asked, ringing Artie's doorbell again

"I don't think so," Walter mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. "But Blaine- he 's just so disappointed with me," he said, his eyes watering. "I didn't even make the kid's breakfast. He said some pretty harsh things and I-I just ran away."

The sigh he let out was weary and heartbreaking. "I ran away, like I always do."

"Don't say that, Walter. You know why we're doing this. Not for recognition or some job promotion, but to save Kurt's life. It's all to protect Kurt." Penny rubbed Walter's shoulders. "You will earn Blaine's trust again. You'll prove yourself to him, Walter. Trust me," she said and flashed a small but assuring smile at her partner as she lightly squeezed his shoulder.

"Thanks Penny... you really are ama-"

"HELLO." A metallic voice greeted the federal agents, making them jump.

"Jesus Artie-" Walter exclaimed, before looking up and realizing that it wasn't Artie standing at the door, but a huge, gray robot with a face drawn in with red marker. "You're not Artie..." Walter murmured, taken aback.

"NO. I AM EUGENE, ARTIE'S NEW HOUSE KEEPER," The gray robot said, stepping aside in order to make space for Penny and Walter to enter the apartment.

"Well, nice to meet you Eugene," Penny said with a small smile. "I'm Penny and this is Walter."

"THE PLEASURE IS MINE, PENNY. NOW PLEASE FOLLOW ME, ARTIE IS WAITING FOR YOU IN HIS LAB." Eugene gestured for them to follow him.

"Oh hey guys!" Artie said looking up from the computer in front of him with an eager grin on his face.

Walter took a look around and well, Artie's lab was a mess. It was chaotic. There were files and pictures everywhere, computers flashing numbers and Walter just had stepped on something sticky.

Eugene the robot was a terrible house keeper.

"I see you've already met Eugene," Artie said, taking a sip of his coffee. Eugene nodded, sitting in a chair beside Artie. "Some stupid punks threw a bottle on his head a few nights ago which damaged his system. but I took him in and fixed his central processing system.

"Cool," said Penny, her lips twitching upwards as she supported her weight on the table. "So did you manage to translate the book?" She asked, grabbing one of the files spread over the table in her hands.

"No actually I didn't-" Artie began to explain, before being interrupted by Walter.

"What?" Walter gasped. "But you said-"

"Calm down! I didn't, but Eugene over here did. He is fluent in French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, English and Greek."

"AND AYMARA," Eugene added, somewhat proud, as he held a small mirror and added details to the face on which he had already drawn, above the cold surface of his face.

"Aymara?" Penny rose an eyebrow.

"A NATIVE SOUTH AMERICA LANGUAGUE," Eugene explained, slightly tilting his head as he didn't understand Penny's lack of knowledge. "ARE YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH SOUTH AMERICAN NATIVE LANGUAGUES?"

"No one in this room besides you is familiar with South American Languages, bud," Artie answered, placing a hand on Eugene left shoulder. "But how about we focus on what's important here?

"SOUTH AMERICA NATIVE LANGUAGES ARE IMPORTANT," Eugene retorted, crossing his arms above his metallic chest and looking away. Walter was astonished with the robot's reactions, besides the lack of grace or fluidity in his movements, there was something so human about the way Eugene was crossing his arms, It was something almost childish. And one thing was to see such human characteristics in Kurt, who was fleshy and human-like, but it was weird recognizing such mannerisms in a legal model, a cold, metal robot.

"Of course they are!" Penny assured the robot. "And I would be thrilled to learn some of them later, if you can teach me, but right now we really need to discuss others subjects, Eugene."

"OKAY," Eugene said after a while, still watching Penny for signs of trickery. For the robot, South American Native languages were serious business.

"So what did you- I mean, what did Eugene find out?" Walter asked before Eugene decided to give them a lesson about native languages around the world.

Artie pointed to one of the screens behind him, where the book's pages were showing up with the translations. "As Penny suspected, there are pages from some diary which explains Kurt's building mixed with the pages of the original book," He said as pages of Saint-Exup�ry's work showed up on the screen. "Unfortunately, majority of the pages that contained information about Kurt were torn from the book. The only one we actually managed to read was page 18."

"And what was on the page? What did it say?" Penny asked, her eyes fixed on the screen.

"Well, they describe the difficulty of finding the perfect texture for Project Metempsychosis's skin-"

"Project Metempsychosis?" Walter raised an eyebrow.

Artie nodded. "Yeah, that's what they call Kurt. It's a Latin term that refers to reincarnation… Anyways, it uses a lot of scientific terms that probably won't make sense to you. Page 18 describes the struggles of "Sandra", who is trying to find the perfect texture for Kurt's skin-"

"Sandra?" Walter interrupted.

"Yeah, her last name's not there, but apparently the person responsible for Kurt's artificial flesh was named Sandra."

"Oh my God, we have a name." Penny blinked rapidly, startled.

"Two, actually," Walter added. "There's that Gunther guy."

"We have the names of two people who were involved!" Penny squealed excitedly.

"But no last names," Walter pointed out skeptically.

Artie grinned at Walter's pessimism. "Well actually, I may have figured out Sandra last name…" he trailed off.

"Really?" Penny eyes sparkled "How?"

"Well her name didn't seem strange to me. I've been studying the industry of robots that were use for sexual satisfaction for a while, trying to understand the Adam Jenkins's case, and there was this small company called Lucunditas-"

"ITS MEANS PLEASURE IN LATIN," Eugene clarified.

"Thank you Gene. Anyways... this small company was known for the manufacture of the most exclusive and realistic models," Artie explained, displaying images of the Lucunditas' most luxurious models. Walter was familiar with most of these models. They were quite popular in the black market of illegal androids, and the federal agent had lost count of how many he had already seized.

"And Sandra worked there?" Penny asked.

"If the Sandra mentioned in the book's name is Sandra Jordan, then yes, she worked there. She worked on developing the tissues that covered the androids' endoskeletons. None of Lucunditas's models had tissues as perfect or as flashy as Kurt's. But if someone is capable of developing something like that, given enough money and time, this person could be Sandra Jordan," Artie informed them, showing on the big screen behind him the image of a short haired woman dressed in a white coat, holding a test tube.

"We have to find this Sandra person," Penny stated, observing Sandra's features carefully. She was pale, had a heart shaped face, grey eyes, dark brown hair in a pixie haircut, a small, pointy nose and red lips.

"I couldn't find Sandra's location, but I found the address of her twin sister, Chloe," Artie said, grabbing a pen and writing down the address on a small piece of paper. "Here, it's an hour drive. She lives in Westerville, near an all boys school called Dalton Academy, or something like that."

Penny grabbed the piece of paper. She knew the neighborhood where Chloe Jordan lived. She used to spend her summers not far from there at her grandparents house. "If we go now, we can still be back before dinner."

Walter made a face. "And how we are going to impose authority by driving there in your car?" he teased jokingly.

"Fine, Walter. We'll take your car." Penny rolled her eyes. "My precious baby is too good for you, anyways," She retorted, walking away.

Walter muffed a laugh. "I guess we have to go now. Thanks for your help, Artie. Call us if you acquire any new information," He said following his partner.

"See you later Artie! I'll bring you more red vines!" Penny shouted from the living room, making Artie chuckle.

"CAN YOU BRING ME MARKERS? ARTIE DOES NOT HAVE ANY THAT MATCH MY SURFACE'S COLOR," Eugene shouted as well, standing up.

Artie raised an eyebrow, huffing a noise of disbelief. "What're you talking about, Gene? Red looks great on you!"

******

"Okay, tell me what happened," Quinn said as she bit into her cheesecake.

They were at the Lima Bean. Quinn Fabray had invited Blaine to eat cheesecake with her and she just wouldn't deal with anyone who was in a bad, grumpy mood while she ate cheese cake. It ruined the magic of her weekly cheese cake. Quinn had spent years starving to fit her mother's expectations of her weight, and she wouldn't have anyone ruin those sweet moment of rebellion, not even Blaine.

"Nothing happened." Blaine shrugged, still staring at his plate absently.

"You haven't even touched your cheesecake," She said and pointed to the plate with her fork. "You know how offensive that is? This is my weekly cheesecake ritual, and you can't be a part of my Weekly cheesecake ritual and not even touch your cheesecake!"

Blaine sighed, putting his fork down. "I was a jerk."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Blainey, it's not like you being a jerk is something exactly new… That's actually kinda your thing, you know, being a jerk."

"That was kind of offensive," Blaine retorted.

"Of course it was, because that's my thing. I'm a bitch, and being a bitch is my thing," She explained.

Blaine smiled. "I thought Santana was the bitch..."

Quinn snorted. "No, she's the Snix. Being "Snixy" is her thing."

Blaine raised an eyebrow playfully. "Snixy"?"

"Oh shut up," Quinn said and scoffed bumping her foot against Blaine's. "You know 'tana, so you know what I meant. Now tell me what's going on? Who were you a jerk to?"

"I fought with my dad," He admitted, looking down at the slice of untouched cheesecake on his plate. "And then Kurt tried to defend Walter, so I told him to stop meddling in my family's business and to worry about his own family... "

"I bet you've said worse things to him… That doesn't even sound bad."

Blaine sighed. "It wouldn't be the worst thing I've said to him if he wasn't an orphan... His dad died days ago and he can't even remember his mother... Kurt-h-he has no family."

"Ouch," said Quinn. She wince. "That really was a jerk move, Blaine."

"I know!" Blaine groaned, running his hand through his curls. "It's like you said. I'm a jerk, and I usually don't mind being a jerk, but I know what loss and grief feels like and I just- I don't know what to do, Quinn."

Quinn tilted her head in quiet consideration. "Apologize," she said, as if it was that simple.

"What?"

Apologize? He couldn't do that. He never apologized to anyone. He had probably forgotten how to do such a thing.

"You heard me. If you're feeling bad for what you said, apologize," Quinn said. "And then invite Kurt to hang out with us tonight at Santana's place," She added.

"Are you out of your mind?" Blaine echoed flatly. "I get the apologize part, but why would I invite him to hang out with us? I already told you, Kurt is not like us."

Quinn rolled her eyes, huffing. "I'm not going to even argue with you about how Kurt is so much more similar to us than you think he is, or how you are obviously attracted to him but don't have the guts to admit it." Blaine gave her a stern look, but before he could interrupt her, Quinn continued "But I know you think that Kurt is hiding something," she said, capturing her best friend's attention.

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked, looking less skeptical and more curious.

"You know exactly what I meant. The hypoglycemic crisis thing? That was bullshit and you know it. And there's something in that boy's eyes. Kurt is hiding something and we need to find out what," Quinn said, a wicked smile ghosting the corners of her lips.

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "And what's your plan? You think you'll invite him to hang out with us, and suddenly he'll tell you all his secrets?"

"You were the one who told me that Kurt has never had a cell phone, because he didn't have anyone to call. He probably doesn't have any social aptitudes." Quinn smiled at Blaine, flashing her perfect white teeth and leaning on the table "It'll be easier to get him to talk if we take Kurt out of his comfort zone. We have to go to a place where alcohol is effortlessly obtainable," She suggested with a smirk.

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Fabray, you are evil."

"I know," The pink haired girl said, licking her fork clean. "But like I said, I'm the bitch of this dynamic duo."

********

"So you're from New York?" Kurt asked between mouthfuls of a delicious chocolate chip cookie. There were sitting in Tina's kitchen, which was worn down but clean, with recent rudimentary steps taken to make it seem clean enough to live in. The tabletops and floor were as shiny as they were ever going to get, the plates and cups were arranged neatly on the counter and some recently washed things were hanging on the strainer.

"Yep," Tina answered and nodded, taking a sip of her hot cocoa.

"Oh my God," Kurt looked at her unbelievably. "And what brought you to Lima?"

Tina shrugged. "Work."

"And how long have you been in Lima?" Kurt asked, rubbing his fingers together in a feeble attempt to remove the melted chocolate from his hands.

"Only a few days! That's why the apartment is still a mess. I swear, I'm not a lazy person!" Tina laughed, handing the boy a cloth to clean his hands with.

"What happened to the old lady who lived here?" Kurt asked absently, as he cleaned his fingers. "Her last name was Chang, wasn't it? Are you two related?"

"Oh no, we're definitely not related… And I think she died," Tina whispered, making a face.

"Oh my god!" Kurt gasped. He didn't even know the old lady, but still...

"It was a cardiac problem or something like that," Tina murmured. "Hey, do you like musicals?" She suddenly asked, changing the subject for a lighter one.

Kurt's eyes sparkled as he looked up from his hot cocoa. "I love musicals! Why?"

Tina smiled. "I just really feel like watching Moulin Rouge. The box with my movie collection is actually one of the few boxes I've already unpacked. So what do you think? Do you want to watch it with me?"

"Oh my God, first this hot chocolate, then cookies, and now Moulin Rouge… What are you, an angel?" Kurt chuckled, wrinkling his nose adorably.

Tina was just so sweet, a little dorky and nerdy, and so very kind. He didn't tell her anything about himself, though. He didn't tell her about his father, or about why he was so sad. He just sat there, drinking hot cocoa and hearing her fascinating stories about New York, talking about music, clothes and crappy reality T.V shows. He was already feeling better and less lonely. And even if Tina was a little older than him, being 24 years old, for the first time in his life, Kurt had a friend.

"I'll get my laptop then!" Tina smiled, standing up. But soon as the Asian girl stood up, the clock hanging on the wall caught Kurt's attention. It had been hours since he had left Walter's apartment. It was probably time to go back.

"Tina, wait!" He called out. "I didn't even notice the time! It's getting pretty late, I should probably be getting home."

"Really?" Tina pouted.

"Yeah, but we can schedule a movie night or something," Kurt offered, smiling. "But only if you make more hot chocolate, because seriously girl, this is the best hot chocolate ever."

"Well, I can't argue with that," Tina said smugly. "My hot cocoa is in fact the best cocoa ever!"

******

Blaine was lying on his bed, going through his text messages. As soon as he heard the bedroom door open, his eyes shot up and found Kurt standing in the doorway. Blaine swallowed, turning white at the sight of the android. Immediately, everything felt too obvious. It was so obvious, how he was feeling guilty, the way he was sitting on the bed on purpose, hoping that Kurt would see him there and get mad, be bitchy about it, or maybe even yell at him. If Kurt yelled at him, Blaine wouldn't have to apologize. He was giving Kurt a chance to explode at him or something, so Blaine could skip the humiliation of saying he was sorry for his behavior earlier that day.

He held his breath, expecting a release of thundery rage. But nothing happened. Kurt just quietly crossed the room, setting up the futon.

"So I'm back on the futon, huh?" Kurt murmured, a little sarcastic but mostly resigned. After all, Blaine being nice? That wasn't something meant to last, right?

Blaine felt uneasy at Kurt's lack of reaction. Why wasn't Kurt getting mad? Why had he acted like that, as if he had already been expecting something like that coming from Blaine? Kurt was supposed to yell at him, and his silence only made the older boy feel worse.

"Walter sent a message saying he's going to be late," he said, and Kurt nodded grabbing a magazine from the bedside table. Blaine cleared his throat. "So, Where were you? You spent the whole day out…"

Kurt didn't even bother to look up from the magazine in his hands. "That's none of your business," he answered coldly.

Fuck, Blaine thought, closing his eyes. That was it. He was going to have to apologize.

"Kurt I- I was really upset this morning," Blaine stumbled on his words, and as they fell from his mouth, he knew they were coming out all wrong. He felt relieved, but it just had been so long since he had last apologized to someone and actually meant it…

"Being upset doesn't give you an excuse to be an ass," Kurt said, his voice sharp-edged and hostile. "And you know what, Blaine? I'm pretty damn upset too, I've been upset since day one, but that didn't give me any reason to treat you like shit, just so I could feel better about myself."

Blaine bit his lip. He got to his feet, clenching his fists tightly at his sides. He didn't know how to respond to that. Kurt was right, he had been an asshole, acting like a jerk from the beginning, but there just something about Kurt, about his damn blue eyes, that got to Blaine in such a way that drove the older boy mad. And he didn't like that feeling. It had the potential to become something he wouldn't have control over. Kurt was someone who Blaine could actually grow to care about and want in his life, and that wasn't how Blaine wanted to feel. He didn't want to feel like he needed someone. He knew very well that as soon as you let people in, it becomes easier for them to hurt you, and he was sick of being hurt.

"My brother… h-he was killed," Blaine said, trying to keep his voice from breaking. He didn't know why he was telling Kurt that, he just wanted the other boy to know that he wasn't just a stupid kid who treated other people like crap for fun.

Kurt looked up at Blaine. "What?"

"That's why I was upset with Walter, because he's risking his life again," Blaine confessed. For the first time in years, he was speaking about how he felt. "And for what? For a case. He doesn't even work with homicides anymore. There are thousands of cops out there who could be working on whatever case he's working on, thousands of cops that could be risking their lives, but no, it has to be my dad… He doesn't even have the protection of a badge anymore…"

"I didn't know..." Kurt felt a twinge of guilt in his chest. If Walter was risking his life, it was because of him, because he felt obligated to help Kurt to discover how he was made.

"It ruined my family you know?"Blaine looked at away, his factures being twisted in a mask of resentment and bitterness. "I didn't only lose my brother. I lost my mom and my dad as well. My family as I knew was reduced to ashes. And when I finally thought I would have a chance of maybe rebuild the relationship Walter and I used to have I discover he is risking his life again, just because he can't let give up being the greatest detective"

"Maybe your father is trying to help someone?"

"You just don't get it…" Blaine shook his head. "Walter is just trying to be a hero, Kurt. As he always does. But you know what happens to heroes in reality? It's not like in the movies, where they solve the mystery and catch the bad guy… In real life, things get ugly and whoever plays the hero dies alone in a dark alley , choking on his own blood,"

"Walter is not going to get hurt," Kurt responded, and his throat tightened. "H-he's not going to die like that."

Blaine let out such a bitter laugh, that the words that followed felt toxic inside his mouth. "You don't know that."

Kurt wanted to say that he knew what he was talking about. He wanted to tell Blaine that he was the reason Walter was putting his life in danger. He wanted to assure Blaine that he wouldn't let his father get hurt, that he would give himself up to those who were after him, before letting Walter or anyone, get hurt because of him.

But before the android had the chance to say anything, Blaine's phone rang loudly, ruining the moment and killing Kurt's courage in the process.

Blaine grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. "Are you coming or not? -S" a message coming from Santana read.

He looked at the message, considering all the possibilities. Millions of thoughts filled his head, about the talk he had just had with Kurt, the talk he had had earlier with Quinn, and how vulnerable and exposed he felt while Kurt stood across from him...

"You wanna hang out with me and my friends?" He asked, not believing what he was actually saying that until he heard his own words.

"What?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Blaine looked at the confusion on Kurt's face. It wasn't like he could screw up things more than he already had done, talking to Kurt about his feelings… So why not?

"Do you wanna go out or not?"

"But Walter! he's-" Kurt tried to say, his face suddenly feeling warm.

"He's going to think we're at Quinn's house, in the middle of a movie marathon," Blaine clarified, typing a text to his father.

"But you're not planning on going to Quinn's house for a movie marathon, are you?" Kurt asked, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," Blaine smirked, not staring at Kurt, but watching Kurt's face as the boy understood the implications of his words.

"I think I'm going pass on that. But don't worry, I won't tell Walter that you're not at Quinn's house. So you know, have fun doing whatever you're planning on doing," He assured Blaine, cheeks slightly the tone of pink.

"C'mon Hummel, live a little." Blaine's eyes met Kurt's.

Kurt gulped.

"I have this new issue of Vogue that I haven't read yet so…" He trailed off, holding the magazine.

Blaine snorted. "Are you really gonna spent your night, a Saturday night, reading Vogue? You're seventeen! Don't you think that now's the time to be adventurous? To live a little?" There was a smile in his voice.

Kurt gulped again, blue eyes still locked at Blaine's hazel ones.

"O-okay then" he murmured not aware of what he was about to get himself into.

**********

Tina ran her fingers through her hair exasperatedly, watching as her cell phone buzzed. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the buzzing sound echoing in her empty apartment, hoping it would stop.

It didn't.

She grabbed her cell phone and collapsed back onto the sofa with a huff, folding her knees up against.

"Is it him?" the voice on the other side of the line said as soon as she answered the call.

Tina bit her lower lip, closing her eyes. "Yes."

"Great. You know what you have to do now."

TBC...