Kurt is very nervous. It is his first time on television. Sure, it’s Blaine who is in the spotlight and Kurt’s in the audience’s front row, but Kurt doesn’t mind swaying in the background for once. The whole fame thing still boggles his mind, so it’s nice to have a chance to watch a televised moment unfold from afar.

The last few weeks have been quite a blur for Kurt and Blaine. Career-wise, a lot has happened. His previous understudy, the one who took over from Kurt during his leave, has left the show to pursue a film role and Kurt is back on the principle contract. Blaine’s “creative juices” have somewhat returned and he’s working hard with his team on recording and producing.

They were supposed to get married this month, but now they’re occupied with other stuff.

The applause pulls Kurt out of his thoughts. The late night show happily introduces Blaine. Of course, the album isn’t finished yet, but Sebastian thought it’d be a good idea to already start some promotional stuff, so that people can get excited. It’s been working so far. A New Normal is a highly anticipated release.

Kurt watches Blaine walk on the set with so much poise and grace. He smiles charismatically and he thanks the host for having him. They talk easily and Kurt is charmed. This is Blaine at his best. He’s happy, he’s confident, and he manages to charm the entire audience with a couple of words. It’s quite a difference from the sadness and anger that have been haunting Blaine for the past few months.

And those little shits are still there as well, but right now, Blaine is doing what he’s best at and he loves it.

“Yes, of course, the past few months have been really weird for you,” the host says and the noise dies down. Kurt knew that the host was going to talk about the amnesia. Kurt gave his blessings, but now it is actually happening.

They’re going to talk about the amnesia for the first time since Kurt posted that Firmspring post.

Blaine makes a face. “Obviously.”

The host laughs and repeats: “Obviously.”

Blaine laughs along, but Kurt can see that it’s forced. So far, Blaine’s been his authentic self, but now, the media façade is coming up. Kurt knows that the camera will pan to him, so he also tries to school a neutral expression.

“I can imagine that it is quite a difficult situation to talk about, since this is very uncommon,” the host continues.

“Very, and I’m not going to lie, it’s been pretty terrible,” Blaine says and he shrugs. Kurt nods along. He doesn’t want to take his eyes off Blaine, but he knows that a cameraperson is focusing on his reactions. It feels weird. “We thank our fans for their patience and their continued support during these weird times. We also absolutely love our friends and family for their love and support.”

Blaine looks directly into the camera and mouths ‘thank you’. Kurt puts his hands over his heart and he also nods. He agrees with everything that’s been said.

And then it happens. Kurt knew that this was going to happen. A crew member holds a microphone in front of Kurt’s face.

Kurt keeps his neutral expression, but initially he tries not to freak out. He consented to this. He is going to show the whole world how much he loves this man.

The host turns to Kurt in the audience and says: “I cannot even imagine how strange it is to wake up 15 years into the future. If I may ask, how did you hold up?”

The I didn’t dies on Kurt’s tongue. No, now is not the time to share his personal burdens. He would like to keep that personal. Instead, he looks at Blaine and says: “I’m just happy that I have Blaine with me. He’s been nothing but kind and accommodating throughout this entire ordeal. We’ve really worked together. As cliché as it might sound… we’re a team. I didn’t expect to have a gorgeous boyfriend, but he’s here and he’s real and I love him very much.”

It’s cringy, but it is true, so Kurt doesn’t regret saying that.

The audience coos and applauds. The host talks about Kurt and Blaine as a couple and Blaine adds some fun stories.

Then, the big question gets dropped: “How did this amnesia happen?”

Kurt sighs and Blaine’s smile slowly disappears. “We don’t know.”  

In the past few weeks, there have been a lot of trips to the hospital. They’ve been happening ever since the ‘Brittana Visit’ (Isabel’s words, not Kurt’s). The hospital had called to talk about a certain new field in biology regarding DNA and memory.

At that point, Kurt had been desperate for an answer (he still is), so he said yes. Ever since, doctors occasionally have been running tests. Of course, Kurt is still in contact with the neuroscientist, but another field of interest cannot hurt, right?

Kurt’s also had to gather DNA from family members. He’s answered questionnaires about illness within the family. He’s even been in a weird brain simulator, since the biology department works together with the neuroscientific one.

Of course, nothing is done without Kurt’s consent. The doctors have explained it. His main new doctor, doctor Park, has explained it several times.

“Over the past few decades, the idea that DNA can heavily influence memory  has gotten more substantial empirical evidence,” she had said, “The genetic memory theory proposes that memory can be transferred biologically and therefore is stored in one’s DNA at birth.”

“Then, why aren’t babies fully-fledged humans after birth?” Blaine had asked. Of course, Blaine was with him most of the time.

“Because those memories are incorporated into a genome, waiting to be triggered by external stimuli,” doctor Park had answered, “Human development is a process and therefore all memories are not always accessible from the beginning.”

“This sounds like a sci-fi plotline,” Kurt had whispered to Blaine, but apparently, doctor Park has impeccable hearing.

“That is true, Mr. Hummel, hence the experimental aspect of all of this. After all, we do not have all skills from our biological parents whereas genetic memory theory predicts that all those skill memories are part of our DNA. Nevertheless, the idea that DNA impact memory has grown. After all, DNA already impacts almost everything else from disease to aging to hair colour et cetera. Some even claim that our DNA will become a storage for data. The idea that DNA can impact memory is no longer sci-fi.”

“But the thing is that I’ve lost memories, not gained them,” Kurt had said. He didn’t mean to sound condescending, but his head was hurting from this information dump.

Doctor Park didn’t comment on the condescending tone. “True, but if DNA can impact memory in general, then DNA might also impact memory in a negative way.”

And with that in mind, Kurt’s been doing experimental procedures and other kind of test. He’s not the only one working with the scientists, but due to privacy laws, all the participants are anonymous to each other. Honestly, Kurt doesn’t mind, but he does wonder if he’s not the only one with a huge chunk of unexplained memory loss, or if some people have different kind of memory problems.

He will have to wait and see. Kurt obviously is interested, but life goes on and he has other things on his mind. His wedding might’ve been cancelled, but his birthday is something he cannot cancel.

“Happy birthday, love,” Blaine is standing in the doorframe of their bedroom. He’s holding a breakfast tray.

Kurt puts away his phone and smiles. “Oh, so this is why you insisted on me staying in bed.”

“Well, I can’t make you breakfast in bed if you’re not in bed,” Blaine says. Something in Kurt’s memory tugs at that sentence, but Kurt pushes it aside. Not today.

Blaine hands Kurt the tray and he climbs into bed.

“Oh, I see how it is. This is a shared birthday gift,” Kurt jokes. Blaine rolls his eyes.

“Your actual present is in the living room. See this as a pre-game.”

“The word pre-game makes it sound like we’re hitting the clubs afterwards.”

“Aren’t we? Who knows!” Blaine says, “Maybe Rachel has organised a club night.”

On the day of his birthday, Kurt has to go to a surprise party. His surprise party. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Rachel begged Kurt to let her organise the party. Rachel really gets a kick out of organising lavish parties. She’s already planned seven different kind of baby showers.

“No one does gender reveal parties anymore, since that is so 2010s or early 2020s, so that means I have more time to plan other kind of parties!” she had said.

That includes Kurt’s 20^th or 35^th birthday party. But that is later in the afternoon. Now, he has breakfast and Blaine.

“Blaine, is this my 20^th or my 35^th birthday?” Kurt asks.

“I have no idea,” Blaine answers, “What do you think?”

“Well, obviously I feel 20, but I guess I am 35. I think this will continue for the remainder of my life. I will have two ages.”

“Does that bother you?” Blaine asks.

Kurt shrugs. “Like I said, I think it will always bother me. I might never get over this happening to me, but life goes on. I have reached a level of acceptance.”

“How very sophisticated.”

“Yes, especially for a twenty-year-old,” Kurt snorts.

“Well, I am actually in my thirties and I can tell you that being in your thirties does not grant you the wisdom of the world,” Blaine says.

“Ah, there goes my excuse of ‘well, I am technically thirty-five so I better sound sophisticated’.

Blaine laughs and he leans his head against the headboard. “Remember when we were kids? We all thought that all adults had all the knowledge in the world. Kids are so damn gullible.”

Kurt takes a sip of his coffee before saying: “I don’t think little Kurt could’ve ever predicted this. Hell, even teen Kurt had no idea what was going to happen. I never thought adulthood would be so medical.”

“Medical?” Blaine makes a funny face at the word.

“Wrong choice of words, sorry,” Kurt says, “But I mean with all the tests, and therapy for you and maybe for me, and all this talk with doctors and Mrs. Pillsbury about compulsions. It’s a lot.”

Blaine barks a laugh. “What an interesting thought on a day like this. Happy birthday, your adulthood is medical!”

Kurt also smiles. “Enough of that now. Today is a day for celebration. My ‘medical’ adulthood will have to wait.”

Blaine has his hands on Kurt’s eyes. He’s leading Kurt to the venue. Of course, Rachel has hired a venue.

Blaine whispers into Kurt’s ear: “Three… two… one…”

At the ‘one’, Blaine removes his hands and Kurt can see an entire group of people.

“Happy birthday!”

The loud crowd is deafening. Kurt looks around in shock. Dani, Clara, Luke, Elliott, Adam, Sebastian, Mae and Wes are here. Kitty and Roderick are standing next to Brittany and Santana. His dad and Carole are in the front of the group. Kurt does a double take when he sees that all of the New Directions is here.

He hasn’t seen some of these people in, well, years. They’ve all grown sixteen years. He’s seen Artie, Tina and Mercedes, but now everyone else is here as well. Sam has a ponytail, Quinn has dyed her hair red, Mike has grown a moustache, Puck is wearing too formal clothes and so on.

Then, behind all of that, Kurt’s friends and co-stars from his show are there.

He knows that not everyone in his life is here. A lot of people have come and gone in sixteen years. He’s forgotten most of them, which sucks, but right now, these people are here to celebrate him.

Kurt laughs when he sees Jesse at a DJ booth and Rachel has a microphone in her hand. “Let’s party!”

Quinn and Puck live in New Haven with their two adopted kids. Their son is named Finn and their daughter is named Lucy.

“Finn and Lucy are staying at auntie Frannie’s house in New Haven. We didn’t name Lucy, obviously,” Puck tells Kurt, “She was seven years old when we adopted her. That is why she’s older than Finn. Changing her name felt cruel. Besides, Quinn goes under the name Quinn, not Lucy, so it’s not like they both have the same name.”

“Finn was a name we both agreed on,” Quinn adds, “He was adopted as a baby, so we felt more comfortable changing his name. His birth parents never gave him a name, but the hospital called him Chad. What a terrible name!”

“But we kept it as a second name,” Puck sighs, “So our son is now called Finn Chad Fabray-Puckerman.”

Sam still lives in Lima and he is the glee club director, but he’s happy. Kurt still wonders if his relationship with Mercedes works out.

“Sure, we miss each other and we’re constantly talking about what to do next, but Lima truly is more my speed. I made my NYC dreams happen anyway. I assume that Mercedes has told you the story behind this,” Sam points towards his shirt. A photo of him being half-naked on a side of a bus in New York is printed on it. Kurt knew about the half-naked part, but not about the shirt.

Mike is married to an unknown woman named Miranda and they have an baby daughter. Mike’s wife and daughter are still in Chicago, since Miranda had work commitments.

“You don’t remember, but you love her!” Mike says while he swipes to the next photo of his baby. He coos when he sees a family photo. “Oh, Miranda was in such a sore mood, but Mei looked so cute in this romper. Miranda says hi, by the way, and she hopes that you can re-meet her soon.”

“Mike, Miranda and Mei?” Kurt asks.

“My father-in-law calls us the Triple Ms.”

Kurt loves hearing how everyone’s lives has worked out. He knew that all the New Directions members are successful, since Rachel and Jesse told him that months ago, but actually hearing it from these people in person makes him feel proud. Sure, he’s talked to them through messaging apps, but this is much better.

Rachel demands a performance and Kurt freezes in horror when the instrumental of Don’t Stop Believin’ starts playing, but he can’t deny that it’s their anthem. Mercedes takes him by the hand and the two of them join the others for a stellar performance.

It is a wonderful birthday.

Almost a full month after Kurt’s 20^th or 35^th birthday, doctor Park asks him to meet her. It sounded urgent, so Blaine cancels a meeting about scheduling an album photoshoot so that he can come along. They arrive at the hospital early in the morning. They scan their Springo’s to register and identify, and they take the elevator to the right floor. Doctor Park leads them to her office.

When the three of them sit down, doctor Park tells them something they did not expect to hear: “We might’ve found a highly possible cause for your amnesia.”

Kurt and Blaine look at each other in shock, before looking back to doctor Park.

“A highly possible cause?” Kurt asks in disbelief. He can’t believe it. He’s been waiting for this for nine months.

“What’s the verdict, doc?” Blaine asks, sounding cool, but Kurt knows him better by now. Blaine’s scared for a bad answer.

Doctor Park turns towards a monitor and Kurt’s test results and scans appear, but also something else.

“We’ve examined your DNA and we’ve found a small amount of a certain DNA methylation. This is a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence. DNA methylation is essential for normal development and is associated with a number of key processes. One thing that can happen is a case of amnesia.”

“And this is known?” Kurt asks.

Doctor Park nods, but she quickly says: “Before you ask me why we haven’t considered it before, let me explain. DNA methylation can indeed lead to amnesia in memory, but your amnesia is extreme. Your DNA had been checked before, but this aspect was quickly discarded. And we were correct, but only recently, we found out that there is actually a different kind of methylation. A hereditary one.”

“Hereditary?” Blaine asks.

Doctor Park nods solemnly. “A recent discovery has been made in Denmark’s microbiological field. Kurt, you are not the only one with this problem. Your condition is incredibly rare, but over the past three years, people have been experiencing a similar kind of problem.”

The monitor changes and ten dots appear on a world map. Two in Africa. One in Europe. Three in North America, one in Asia and, three in South America. “Ten people in a population of billions is nothing and who knows how many more people have flown under the radar. We might have to add an eleventh one, also in New York. This person decided to look for help after seeing you and Blaine on television. If there are already two in New York, then the chances of, for example, only one person in all of Asia is ridiculous.”

Kurt and Blaine look at each other again. Their story has made people seek help.

“Are you saying that a new condition is being discovered and Kurt is one of the registered people with this condition?” Blaine asks, amazed.

Doctor Park nods. She enlarges three other images on the monitor with a hand movement. She doesn’t even touch the screen. Some technological advancements are mind-boggling, even after months.

“This is your father’s DNA,” doctor Park enlarges one of the three images. Then she swipes to the second one. “This is yours. We’ve traced your bloodline. That is why we asked your father for a DNA sample. Other biologist over the world have done the same and everyone except for you had one thing in common: a change in DNA shared by a biological parent. Your father does not have this amnesia DNA part, but you do. And so do all the other ten people and their parent.”

“That doesn’t make sense!” Kurt yells out, “Then why are you associating me with these other nine people?”

Doctor Park looks him in the eyes and Kurt quiets down. Her stern stare makes everyone shut up.

“I was getting there,” doctor Park says and she swipes to the third image. It’s labelled DNA MOTHER. Kurt’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. His mother’s DNA?

Doctor Park sees the confusion and she explains: “We remembered that your mother has passed away twenty-seven years ago. You put it in one of our first questionnaires. Luckily for us, it is very common to be able to recreate DNA nowadays. We do that by using your DNA and your father’s DNA.”

“You can do that?” Kurt asks in surprise.

“It’s quite common, love,” Blaine says, “It’s on the news a lot. It helps solving criminal cases involving DNA.”

“It is 2028, Mr. Hummel, and a lot has changed since 2012. We sure can,” doctor Park says happily, “Your partner is right. It is a common practise and criminologists marvel over it. You can compare it with a simple math equation. If you add two and three together, you get five. Now, if you have the number five as your final answer and the number three as one part of the equation, you know that you have to subtract that three from five to get the other part of the equation: two. Of course, with DNA it is more complex than a basic math principle, but this is the best way to explain it. With this method, we’ve recreated your mother’s DNA.”

Kurt wants to comment on the possible unethical aspects of this, but doctor Park enlarges the image with his mother’s DNA. She puts it next to the image of Kurt’s DNA and it matches.

His mother had an amnesia DNA without knowing and she transferred it to Kurt.

Luckily, Kurt’s already sat down, because he needs a moment to process this. His mother probably didn’t know, since his father never mentioned it. His father probably doesn’t know either. Hell, he probably doesn’t know this amnesia DNA exists. Kurt didn’t know of its existence until a few minutes ago.

Next to him, Blaine has his head in his hands.

“Well, good thing I’m gay so I won’t be able to transfer this gene to my kids.”

But then Kurt remembers that it’s easier for same-sex couples to have biological children in 2028 and that he and Blaine were planning on having kids with Rachel and Quinn, so the terrible joke dies out.

“If you want to take a moment to yourselves, then I can lea-”

“No,” Kurt immediately says, “Doctor Park, I would like to ask more questions, if that is okay?”

Doctor Park smiles warmly. “Of course, Mr. Hummel, but do keep in mind that this is a quite recent discovery.”

Kurt nods. He still feels a bit numb, but his curiosity is stronger. If this is really happening to him, then he wants to know everything.

“So, my mother most likely had this condition as well?”

Doctor Park nods.

“Okay, then why didn’t my mother have this amnesia? My mother was in her thirties when she died and she didn’t have amnesia.”

“You pointed it out yourself, Mr. Hummel,” doctor Park says, “Your mother died in her thirties. Of course, we cannot account for your mother, but we can account for the other nine parents.”

“They all have amnesia like this?” Kurt asks, bewildered.

But doctor Park shakes her head. “No, not like this, but they do all have memory problems and some amnesia periods and all of that took place in their later years. These nine people all got some memory problems in their sixties.”

“So if my mother had lived, she would’ve been in her sixties as well. She would have had memory problems?”

“That is most likely,” doctor Park confirms, “There are hereditary conditions that get worse every new generation, like the Steinert muscle disease. That one becomes worse every generation, but problems also arise earlier every generation. Person A might get it in their eighties, offspring B will get it in their fifties, offspring C will get it during their teens, and so on. This is still a hypothesis, so speculation, but so far it looks like this is one of those hereditary conditions.”

“Wait, so I can get it again in my sixties? It can get worse?” Kurt asks and he immediately grips Blaine’s hand, “This can happen to me again?”

“Jesus fuck,” Blaine cries out. Blaine barely loses his cool in front of people like doctor Park.

Luckily, doctor Park shakes her head. “We can’t completely out rule it, but if it’s like the Steinert disease, then it will probably not happen again. Once it happens, it happens.”

“How will we know for sure, you know, that previous generations had it at a later age?” Kurt asks.

“That is what scientists are working on right now, but this is more difficult,” doctor Park answers and she lists: “First off, we only have nineteen people in our sample, not including your mother, which scientifically speaking is not a lot and as a result, it can lead to people questioning our validity. Second off, most people of your grandparent’s generation are dead. Third off, if those people all had memory problems at an older age, say eighty to a hundred, then it can easily be brushed off as Alzheimer’s or old age. And lastly, it’s still difficult to recreate DNA with only one DNA sample as a starting point. For your mother’s DNA, we had your DNA and your father’s, but for both grandparents on your mother’s side, we only have hers. Same goes for most the grandparents of all the other nine people involved. If I am correct, only the Brazilian person still has one grandparent alive, so we can take their grandparent’s and their parent’s DNA to recreate the DNA of the other grandparent, but that is only one person. Not only that, but your mother DNA is a remade, which creates even more problems.”

All the DNA talk boggles Kurt's mind, but he thinks he understands it.

“Bottom line, nothing is certain?” Kurt asks sadly.

Doctor Park looks remorseful. “That is true.”

Blaine takes a deep breath and Kurt thinks he’s doing his breathing exercises.

“But on the plus side, uncertainty means that the negative outcomes aren’t certain either. It is possible that this happened to you and that it is it. Of course, it has brought its problems-”

“You don’t say,” Blaine mutters. His voice shakes and he continues to breathe calmly.

“-but you can continue your life as ‘normal’ as possible,” doctor Park uses air quotes for the word ‘normal’. She also knows that these past nine months have shown a new normal.

Kurt has no more questions to ask and the reality sinks in. “Doctor Park, could we have a moment after all?”

“Of course,” doctor Park quickly gets out of her seat and she leaves the office.

“What now?” Blaine asks.

“Do what she says. We must live on, even with all this uncertainty,” Kurt says solemnly. He leans against Blaine. This is a lot to take in. “I think we should tell my dad about mom.”

“I’ll ask Mimi to put a call reminder in the calendar,” Blaine says weakly.

“Are you sad?” Kurt asks.

“Are you?”

“… I don’t know,” Kurt admits, “I just feel numb. These past few months seems surreal. I know that they’ve happened and I know it isn’t all bad, but it sounds like something from a story. This doesn’t happen to real people. This doesn’t happen to me. Besides, I have spent so many times grieving what I’ve lost, I feel like I don’t want to be sad about this and start all over.”

“You can be sad about this, love,” Blaine says.

Kurt nods. “I know. And I probably will be, but if there’s one thing that I’ve learned since New Year’s is that I must keep on living. I can’t act every day as if I’m going to lose it all, even when that is a possibility.”

And it’s true. Kurt will probably have bad days about this. There will be moments where it’s just too much, but he must carry on. He leans away so that he can look Blaine in the eyes. He’s not surprised to see that Blaine’s crying. Kurt doesn’t know why he’s become the more rational one in this relationship, but both of them crying won’t help anyone. He wipes Blaine’s tears away.

“Whatever happens, we’ll do it together.”

“Fearlessly and forever,” Blaine says back.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After they dry Blaine’s tears, they ask doctor Park to come back in to talk about their options. This sucks, but they have to go on anyway. Blaine has an album to release and Kurt has to do eight shows a week. Kurt loves his life, even though it didn’t go as planned, and this won’t stop him.