December 17

Blaine thanks the clerk behind the counter at the Holiday Inn Express, where he’s currently staying, for giving him directions to McKinley High.  He turns and heads out the door, deciding to walk because it really isn’t that far.  It isn’t too much longer until the school comes into view, and he heads inside, stopping at the desk to get a visitor’s pass.  He’s then directed toward the choir room, and pokes his head inside, looking for Finn.  However, Finn isn’t there.  He goes into the room and looks at the pictures on the walls.  There are many, and he finds one dated 2007.  Kurt is in the picture, and Blaine just sort of stares at it for a moment.

“Hey, dude, what are you doing here?  Where’s Rachel?”

“Oh, I’m not sure where she is.  I’m staying in a hotel.  She’s mad at me.  I haven’t talked to her since Saturday evening.  And, I came to check out your glee club.”

“Oh.  Well, we’re actually going to start rehearsing in a few minutes, when classes let out.  It’s really weird, since it’s been a couple of years, and everyone in my grad class are like, legends now.”

“Did you graduate with Rachel and...?”

“Yeah, Rachel, Kurt and I were in the same grad class.”

“That’s awesome.  It’s also awesome that you get to stay in glee club.  You know, sort of.  With the coaching.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s kind of awesome.  It started as volunteer work back the year after I graduated, since our director like, had to go somewhere to help with some sort of campaign for the arts.  And I enjoyed it.  So, I stayed.”

“That’s so... great, Finn.  I’m jealous.  I saw you in some of these pictures over here.  You guys look like you had fun.”

“Yeah, you see this one?  That’s from when we won Nationals.  In our grad year, no less.”

“That’s epic.  You’re all ecstatic.  Is that the trophy over there?”

“Yeah.  Best moment of our high school lives.  That was when I was dating Rachel... and yeah, that’s the trophy.”

“It’s awesome.  I think you guys took more awards than we did.”

“You guys beat us at Sectionals the year after Rachel, Kurt and I graduated, though.  That was my first year coaching.”

“Ooh, yeah.  I remember that.  Wes was pretty excited about that one, when I told him.  Said we deserved it.  I didn’t know the New Directions’ coach was so young that year.”

“You guys were great that year-”

Finn is cut off by the arrival of his glee club members, twelve students.  He grins at them.

“Hey guys.  Special guest today.  This is Blaine...”

He glances at Blaine, not really knowing his last name.

“Anderson.  Blaine Anderson.”

“I’ve been told he’s incredible.  He lead the Dalton Academy Warblers for three years when he was in high school.  You guys want to show him what we’ve been working on?”

The students mumble a bit as they get themselves arranged and perform Locked Out of Heaven by Bruno Mars.  It’s a little unpolished.  When they finish, they sit down and look at the two men expectantly.

“That was... good.  Blaine, what did you think?”

“You guys were great.  Here’s what I noticed the most.  When you’re working on your footing, in that line group, make sure you’re counting in your head.  It’s really important to be in unison with that sort of thing.  Judges like visuals.  How long have you been working on the song?”

“A couple of weeks.  We only just started choreography last week.”

One of the students speaks up while Finn nods.

“Well, then you’re well on your way.  Vocally, some of you are a little slower than others.  Sing in the shower.  That’s what I’ve always done.”

“Thanks, Blaine.  Okay, guys, let’s work on those steps a bit.”

“Hey, Finn, which way is the little boy’s room?  I had like five coffees before I came here.”

“Oh, yeah, uh, head out, take a left, and it’s at the end of the hall on the right.”

“Thanks.  I’ll be back.  Maybe sing a bit with you guys.”

Blaine heads out of the choir room, turning to the left and walking down the hall.  His mind is on Kurt, and what it had been like here at McKinley for him.  He imagines Kurt and Rachel standing at their lockers talking animatedly, and continues down toward the end of the hall.  He spots the restroom on the right and goes inside, emerging a minute later to see a sign on the wall that clearly reads, ‘Auditorium.’  He glances around the empty hallway, and crosses the hall, going inside the dimly lit room.  There’s one spotlight facing the stage from above, and he walks toward it, trailing his hands on the rails of the stairs as he slowly steps up onto the stage.

“The snow’s coming down

I’m watching it fall

Lots of people around

Baby, please come home.

The church bells in town

All ringing in song

Full of happy sounds

Baby, please come home.”

He makes his way out onto the middle of the stage, staring up at the empty seats that face him.  Suddenly he finds himself overwhelmed with the emotion of missing Kurt.

“They’re singing ‘Deck The Halls’

But it’s not like Christmas at all

I remember when you were here

And all the fun we had last year.

Pretty lights on the tree

I’m watching them shine

You should be here with me

Baby, please come home.”

A slow clap echoes through the auditorium.

Blaine isn’t paying attention to the seats in the audience by the time he’s done singing, but the clapping from the emptiness draws his attention out.  He can’t see anyone out there because the light shining on the stage is right in his eyes.  A question mark is on his face.

“The emotion was there.  But you needed to be more polished in your technique.”

Feeling partially like a kid caught with their hands in the cookie jar and partially like the emotional wreck he really is, Blaine tries to see past the light in his eyes.  He knows it’s Kurt in the audience, but he can’t make himself talk.  Instead, he just stands there, furrowing his eyebrows and searching the empty black space for the source of the voice.

Kurt walks forward, stepping up on the stage and stopping a fair distance away from Blaine, his arms folded across him.

“How did I know you were just going to show up in Lima anyway?”

Blaine swallows hard, and it’s a moment before he can speak.

“I was already on the plane.”

“I left because I needed time to myself.”

“I followed because I needed you to know the truth.”

“And that is...?”

Stepping forward a little, Blaine clasps his hands and then restrains himself from going toward Kurt anymore.

“Kurt, I... I was just as surprised as you were.”

“Really?”

Kurt’s voice is still dry and emotionless.

“You really don’t believe me?”

“No.  I don’t.”

“Kurt... I haven’t even spoken to him since before you and I met.  I didn’t know he was going to be there.  Why would I have been bringing you, my boyfriend back to my apartment if I’d had something to hide?”

“I don’t know.  But you were kissing him.  He was there.  And something happened in the time that it took me to get upstairs to get the two of you to kiss.”

“I walked in, and he was standing there.  I asked him what he was doing there.  He blurted something out and then just kissed me.  It wasn’t anything more than that.  I wasn’t kissing him, he was kissing me.  And I made him stop.  And kicked him out.”

“It didn’t look like that.  It’s your words against my eyes.”

“You kissed Wes.”

“Yeah, but... that was your ex boyfriend.  I dealt with Wes.  That’s over.”

“I dealt with Eli.  That’s over too.”

“Why are you here?”

“Because I love you, Kurt.  I couldn’t just... let you think that I did that.  I didn’t kiss him.”

“I don’t know what to believe right now.  I shouldn’t have come in when I heard you singing.”

Blaine just stands there, looking at Kurt with pleading eyes and wrapping his arms around himself like he’s afraid he’ll literally fall apart any second.

Kurt, who hasn’t made eye contact with Blaine since he came on stage, turns around to walk away.

“Maybe we’ll talk later.”

The noise the escapes Blaine’s throat isn’t human, and the mumble that follows is hardly audible.

“...Kurt, don’t go.”

“I need to.  Goo-see you.”

Blaine suddenly wants nothing more than to run after Kurt and find a way to transfer his own memory to the other.  As much as he wishes for it, he’s still standing there, still with no way to make Kurt believe him, and still an emotional wreck.

Kurt walks off the stage and out of the auditorium, thankful that his back is to Blaine or Blaine would see the tears starting to fall down his cheeks.

Blaine remains there on the stage, standing in the beam of the spotlight, watching Kurt leave.  He stares at the spot where Kurt disappeared, and he listens as the door closing can be heard, echoing through the auditorium.  It’s another ten minutes before he composes himself enough to leave and head back to the choir room.

“Hey, welcome back, Blaine...”

The sound of a chair scraping against the ground is heard as Kurt stands up from where he’s sitting and walks out of the choir room, brushing past Blaine as he goes.

“Uh...”

Blaine tries to apologize with his eyes, feeling so very awkward.

“...Hey.”

“Do you, uh, still want to sing with them?”

“...Sure.”

“Okay... any song suggestions?”
“Do you guys know any classic rock stuff?  Maybe some Melissa Etheridge?  ‘If I Only Wanted To’?”

“A couple of you know that one, right?  Let’s do it.”

Blaine starts the group off, waiting for a couple of the kids to get into it.  He puts on his stage face and goes to town, wailing out the chorus with an ambitious front-row-seat kind of girl as he waves a shyer-looking kid up to the center of the floor.  He’s suddenly reminded of Kurt and turns to face some of the other kids, belting out the last few ‘oh’s of the song with just about everyone.

“Dude, that was great.  You and Leah had some great harmonies on the chorus.”

Finn gestured to the girl who smiles and winks at Blaine.

“Mr Hudson, if I may?”

“Yes, Chris?”

“While the emotion was there in the performance, some of us were lacking technique.”

Blaine’s mouth drops open and he stares at Chris.

“I-it was a great job for a first time singing it together.”

“It definitely was a great job.  Yes, Leah?”

“I personally thought that if some of us pulled their weight a little bit more, it would have been more of a success.”

“Everyone’s voices are different.  You just have to find out how to showcase your own.”

“Is Kurt coming back?  I really wanted to hear him sing.”

“Uh, I don’t know.”

Finn glances at Blaine.

“...You probably have a better chance of K-him coming back if I leave.”

“Oh.  Well, let’s keep working, guys.  It was great having you in with us, Blaine.”

“Maybe I’ll stop down for Regionals and see you guys.  Good luck.  Finn, it’s been real cool.  Thanks for letting me stop by.”

“No problem, dude.  See you.”

“Bye Blaine.”

“Bye Finn. Um, bye.. Leah... Bye guys.”

Blaine leaves the choir room and heads toward the exit.