“Don’t worry about it, sweetie,” Blaine waved her off. “I can multitask with the best of them. Opening doors while trying to make my brother feel better about my colicky niece is nothing compared to what I could do.”

“And how is Miss Marina doing today?”

“Same as always, it seems.” He really did feel bad for Cooper and his fianc�e. After the thrill of Katarina giving birth to their daughter, Marina had become nothing but a crying machine. Blaine promised the couple next time he had a chance to get to LA he would take her off their hands for a night, but with the primary six weeks away he didn’t foresee any vacation time between now and November.

Judy set her cup down on her desk and grabbed a slip of paper. “By the way, Representative Hummel from the fourth District called for you this morning. Sounded important.”

Blaine froze as he was about to sip his macchiato, the name sticking in his brain. “Okay, thanks, I’ll call him back once I get settled in for the day,” he croaked out as he took the message from Judy.

It wasn’t like Blaine hadn’t kept in contact with Burt Hummel after the breakup, at least at first. Everyone assumed they knew Blaine’s plans for after high school: get into Tisch or NYADA, take Broadway by storm with Rachel, and finally settle down and tie the knot with Kurt. They would have been right six years ago. However, the future was never set in stone. First was the breakup, and as hard as it was to go through, Blaine knew it was the right thing to do. Kurt needed to experience New York without an anchor tying him down hundreds of miles from the shore.

Once Blaine returned to McKinley, broken yet free, he found himself really enjoying his run as senior class president. He focused on making the school a better place for both current and future students. The success he achieved after Brittany’s disastrous term, combined with the excitement of getting to vote in his first Presidential election and his dream of gay marriage becoming legal throughout the country, ended up shifting his career path quite a bit. Blaine realized he didn’t need to act, sing, or write to make a difference; he could do it from an entirely different platform. Once his finalist letter arrived from NYADA, he informed them he was no longer interested in a performance major. Then after a lengthy debate with his parents about NYU and why he planned on the city in the first place, Blaine finally confirmed his acceptance into his backup school, Ohio State University.

Now, nearly five years later, Blaine was out of Lima and had barely looked back. Majoring in political science while still dabbling a bit in singing on weekends took up so much of his time he almost never made it home. He kept in touch with many former New Directions members until school got in the way. Surprisingly this included Finn, who had taken over at the tire shop once he left boot camp. Because they remained in contact, Burt tried his best to get Blaine an incredible internship not only at his home base in Lima but also in Washington. He’d always have a soft spot for his son’s first love, but Blaine knew he couldn’t take the offer. Working for Burt would have been a gigantic step backwards from where he wanted to go. Just the proximity of Kurt possibly showing up scared him. Of course Blaine was dating, but not one guy had that spark that hit him back on that spiral staircase many years ago.

All of this led Blaine to his current position: creative consultant for Marriage & Family Equality Ohio, a non-profit trying to make headway in the movement to reverse the gay marriage ban; a break from school before he took his LSATs post-election; a decent apartment in Columbus that he’d moved into after sophomore year; and somewhat happily single. His last relationship, with a yoga instructor named Zach, left him satisfied in bed but not completely in love. In fact, love had been missing from his life for five and a half years now.

Blaine went through his usual morning routine in the office, checking his email, catching up on the news, and jotting down his plans for the day. He was grateful Judy gave him so much leeway in his job. With just the two of them on the staff and some volunteers, he sometimes ended up with twelve-hour days to keep up with everything. Once he realized the day was sort of light, he gave in and made the call he was dreading.

“Burt Hummel’s office,” a bored-sounding receptionist answered on the second ring.

He cleared his throat. “Um, hi. My name is Blaine Anderson, I’m returning Representative Hummel’s phone call from this morning?”

“Hold on,” she replied before Blaine was met with dead air. He took a few deep breaths. It wasn’t every day his ex’s father called him. Though since it was at work and not his cell phone, he did feel a bit relieved that it wasn’t something that happened to Kurt.

The line clicked back on. “Blaine? You there?”

Blaine was so startled he almost dropped the receiver. “Yeah, yeah, I’m still here, sir.”

He heard Burt’s hearty laugh over the line. “After all these years, your manners haven’t changed one bit. How are you, kid?”

“I’m fine, si…Burt. How about you? How’s Washington treating you?”

“Pretty damn well,” Burt replied. “Had a minor scare right after the last campaign, but the docs only had me ease down on the travel for a couple months. As soon as I came back to Capitol Hill I felt at home again.”

“Meaning away from Carole taking care of you nonstop?” Blaine joked.

“Among others.” He knew the meaning of that sentence. Suddenly Blaine was taken back six years to his eye injury and Kurt doting on him every moment between when he got out of school and his curfew. He picked a pen out of his utensil holder and flips it through his fingers a few times, just to get his brain off the subject of Kurt and focused back onto the phone call.

“So to what do I owe this phone call?” he asked.

“Actually, I was hoping you’d be up to meeting me for dinner tomorrow,” Burt said. “We have a long weekend so I’m coming home late tonight. I can drive down there to Columbus if you aren’t up to making it up here. Though I seem to remember you having a bit of a hankering for some of Breadstix’s special Chicken Alfredo back then.”

“It might be best if you want to come here. I have a couple deadlines coming up and leaving two hours early probably won’t sit well with my boss.” What Blaine wasn’t about to say was that he only loved their Chicken Alfredo because it was what he ate on his and Kurt’s first date.

“That’s fine. I can meet you somewhere, say, 6:30-ish?”

Blaine nodded even though Burt wouldn’t be able to see him. “That’s fine. There’s an awesome sports bar near OSU. I can send you the address so Carole and…and she wouldn’t know.” He mentally berated himself for almost saying the name.

Burt chuckled. “Sounds good. I still have my email for the shop, it’ll be easiest for you to send it to that one since everything here gets screened so much.”

“Gotcha. I’ll see you tomorrow, Burt,” Blaine said as he jotted down a reminder in his day planner to do that.

“See ya, kid,” Burt replied before he hung up. Blaine set the receiver back in the cradle and stared at his computer screen.

“You look shaken up,” Judy broke in. “I thought Burt Hummel was a supporter?”

“He is,” Blaine sighed, messing with the cuff of his shirt. “We just have quite a bit of history.”

“How much?” she inquired, taking a seat in the uncomfortable metal chair in front of Blaine’s desk.

“His son was my first love.” My only love, he thought.

“Oh, honey.” Judy sometimes acted more as a mother to Blaine than his own, so he wasn’t surprised when she reached over and clasped his right hand between both of hers. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“How much time do you have?” he grinned before starting in on the story of a spy, a bird, and two boys learning about life.

-------------------------

Blaine sat at the bar contemplating ordering a second beer. The work day had been rendered useless by lunchtime and Judy sent him home for the weekend, mostly to get his head together before he met with Burt. Even then at his apartment, every chore he attempted failed at stopping his brain from coming up with every potential situation. Most of them, naturally, revolved around to Kurt.

Even the drive to Buster’s did little to clear Blaine’s head. A brief end of winter snow squall clogged the interstates and left him in a miles-long jam before he found his way off 71 and through downtown Columbus. He was thankfully only ten minutes late until he remembered Burt had an even more tedious drive from Lima, which probably majorly delayed him.

In the end he went for the beer. As he took the first swig, a hand clapped his shoulder. “There aren’t any girls around to confuse you if you get too out of it, are there?”

Blaine turned around to face the man he’d been waiting for. Little had changed about Burt over the years. He was a little thinner and his hair was now completely gone, but he held the same rough exterior combined with a big heart towards those he loved. “Burt!” he said with a grin.

As Blaine extended his hand, Burt pulled him off the stool and into a tight hug. “How the hell are ya, kid?”

“No different than yesterday morning. How was the trip home?”

“Good,” Burt nodded. “Great to see Carole and Finn, of course, and to spend some time in the office.”

Blaine looked at him warily. “I hope you mean Lima and not one of the others.”

“Actually, I did spend the a bit of time in the Urbana office since it’s closer to here. Tried to get out before the snow hit but I wasn’t so lucky.”

“Burt, you didn’t have...”

“Nonsense,” Burt cut him off. “Now, no more talk about me travelling so much. I get enough of that from the old lady. Now, how do this place’s burgers stack up to Breadsitx?”

Blaine laughed, memories of the Hummel stubbornness creeping into his head. “Great if you haven’t had heart problems. But I don’t think I have it in me to inform Carole of what you do or do not eat while you’re here.” He took a few bills out of his wallet for the bartender and grabbed his beer so they could move to a table.

The conversation flowed throughout dinner. Blaine explained how he spent time interning for Judy the summer after his junior year and she invited him to be a full-time member of the team. Her goal was to have the ban on gay marriage overturned by 2020, and with 2018 giving them an open gubernatorial and Senate seat, she wanted Blaine to take charge and lead the fight. Burt talked about the committees he joined in Washington, how proud he was for the changes he helped make, and the great rapport he had already build with President Morrow.

“In fact,” he continued on after popping a tiny onion ring into his mouth, “I’m hoping it will help me with my next endeavour.”

Blaine was confused. “What do you mean? Shouldn’t you start focusing on your reelection soon?”

“I’m not running for the House again, Blaine. I’m ready to move on.”

“Burt, are you sure? You’ve made a name for yourself. Every time I turn on CNN and they mention you...”

“I know that, kid. That’s why I’m going to run for the Senate.”

Blaine nearly choked on his hamburger. “What?” he exclaimed.

“Have you looked at the candidates for each of the primaries?” Burt asked. “None of them stand for what I do. I feel if I can help my own little corner of this damn state, why not help all of it? Ashtabula to Cincinnati, it’s time to take charge.”

“That...” Blaine sipped the Coke he ordered to stay away from more alcohol and cleared his throat, “that sounds pretty incredible. Is Carole fine with it?”

“She supports me a hundred percent. I have the petitions ready to get signed and I hope I can formally announce right after the primaries.”

Blaine nodded. “You’ve got this all planned out then, don’t you?”

Burt shrugged and leaned back in the booth. “Not quite. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Yeah?”

“I have people working on the campaign already. Every issue from the economy to foreign affairs is covered, except for one...marriage equality. You know Mark wants to get an Amendment pushed through Congress, especially after Illinois reversed their decision and began allowing marriages last year. And I was hoping you would take that job.”

“Burt, I...”

Burt held a hand up. “You don’t need to give me an answer now. I can tell you love your organization and don’t want to leave your girl when this is a big year. I’ll work with her to create a schedule to make sure you can spend a few days in Lima and also work on your own thing.

“Obviously if I run there will be a ton of campaigning across the state, lots of travel well beyond Lima. However, since you are centralized right here in the middle it may not be so hard on you. And let me tell you, I’d rather have someone as passionate about a cause as you help me out so I don’t need to rely on a fresh-faced kid just in it for the spotlight.”

Blaine sat in silence for a few moments before working up the nerve to speak. “Are you sure? I mean, what if it leaks that your own son’s ex-boyfriend is working for you? Don’t you think that would be a problem?”

“What happened between you and Kurt is in the past. God knows I forgave you for cheating when you told me the problems you two were going through. You’ve grown into a good man, Blaine, and I would be honored for you to join the Hummel ‘18 team.”

The server walked up to drop off the check right then. As Blaine went to grab it, Burt slid it away. “Nope, not happening. I invited you.”

“Burt, it’s okay. You have a long drive back and probably need gas,” Blaine said.

He shook his head. “Don’t even think about it.”

After they were fully paid they bundled up to head outside. The snow had tapered off, yet left a small dusting on Blaine’s windshield. He started the engine and grabbed his snow brush to begin cleaning it off. “So when did you want an answer by?” he asked Burt, doing the same to his truck.

Burt turned around. “Say next Friday? Call my office to let me know, okay?”

Blaine nodded. “Alright, I’ll talk to you then.”

As he opened the door to throw the brush back in, Burt pulled him into another hug. “I miss you, Blaine,” he whispered. “I know you don’t think I should, but I do. We all do.”

Blaine shuddered at the last words. “I miss all of you, too,” he replied.

With one last squeeze, Burt broke away. “Next Friday, then?”

He nodded. “Drive safely, Mr. Hummel.”

“You too, kid.” Blaine waved back as he shifted out of park. His thoughts the entire drive back to Westerville focused on his decision. It was going to be a very long week.