"The part where I finally made my move."

"Was that your move?" Kurt asked. "I thought your big move was when you pounced on me in the study lounge."

"I seem to recall there being some mutual pouncing involved."

"I didn't want you to feel unappreciated." Kurt smiled. "Especially not when you were thoughtful enough to make our anniversary such a special date."

"I had no idea you were so into St. Patrick's Day."

"I'm not. March 17 was Alexander McQueen's birthday."

"Only you would know that, Kurt."

"Lots of people know that. It's on Wikipedia."

"I didn't think to check Wikipedia before pouring my heart out to you," Blaine said. "I hadn't been planning for that to be our anniversary anyway. I'd meant to wait until after Regionals to tell you how I felt. I didn't want to get my heart broken right before a major competition, and I thought...I thought if we won, I'd have a better chance with you."

"Oh Blaine. Did you honestly think I could look into your big sad eyes and turn you down?" Blaine made big sad eyes at Kurt until he laughed and said "Stop it!"

Blaine closed his eyes and put his head back down on Kurt's chest. "I thought there was a distinct possibility that you'd look into my big sad eyes and tell me that you only liked me as a friend. Or that you were sick of dealing with me and you didn't even want to be friends anymore."

"I still would have wanted to be your friend," Kurt said, stroking Blaine's hair.

"Even after you went back to McKinley?"

"Yes. We were friends before I came to Dalton, so we could have stayed friends after I left."

Blaine had another question about when Kurt transferred back to McKinley, something he'd thought about off and on ever since it happened. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer, but since they were finally getting everything out in the open maybe it was time. "Kurt? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"If we'd won Regionals, would you have stayed?"

Blaine had wanted to win Regionals even after he and Kurt started dating. Just making Kurt happy would have been reason enough to want it. Of course there were the other Warblers to consider as well. They'd all worked really hard and they'd put so much faith in Blaine's abilities as a soloist. Blaine also had his own reasons for wanting to win first place. It would be a nice accomplishment to list on his college applications. It would be further evidence that he might really have what it took to make it as a professional singer. And maybe if he won, his parents would feel bad about not coming.

Not that he'd expected them to come.

He didn't have time to think about them anyway. In that last rush before Regionals, most of his time was spent rehearsing. Rehearsal time doubled as time with Kurt. They were largely successful in keeping their desire to "practice" from interfering with their actual practicing, although both agreed that a little break every couple of hours was only reasonable. Full choir rehearsals on Friday afternoon went well, and the Warblers headed off to Regionals on Saturday in high spirits.

Kurt was adorably nervous before they took the stage, but Blaine knew they were going to be good. And they were. The Warblers were even better than they'd been at Sectionals. If Blaine was brutally honest with himself he had to admit that he and Kurt were a little off pitch on "Candles", but Kurt's performance was as emotionally powerful as Blaine had expected. Inspired by Kurt, Blaine did better than usual in that department himself. He later heard from a reliable source that they reduced New Directions badass Noah Puckerman to tears.

The applause hadn't yet faded when they launched in to "Raise Your Glass". That kind of song was right in Blaine's wheelhouse, and all the other guys had their parts down cold. The audience loved it. Some girls started jumping up and down during the first chorus, and by the end of the song it looked like the entire house was on their feet. The Warblers had been fantastic. Blaine had no doubt they'd destroyed Aural Intensity.

The Warblers took their bows and fell into a victory huddle at the side of the stage. All the guys were whooping with joy and slapping Blaine on the back. Then Kurt ran over to hug him. That moment, with his friends all around him, his boyfriend in his arms, and the crowd still clapping and cheering for them, was one of the happiest of Blaine's life.

He did feel disappointed when boozy Second Lady Carla Turlington-Stevens announced that New Directions had won first place, but more for the sake of Kurt and the other Warblers than himself. They all clapped politely for the winning choir. Kurt turned to look at Blaine, and Blaine shrugged. They'd done their best. That would have to be consolation enough for the rest of the guys. As for Blaine, he couldn't even look at Kurt without smiling a little. They may not have won, but Blaine already had what he'd most wanted to get out of this competition.

Then Coach Sylvester punched out Mrs. Turlington-Stevens right in front of him, and the event ended in chaos. Sister Mary Constance, the nun who'd served as one of the judges, did manage to find Blaine backstage and tell him that the Warblers had won second place.

"I liked your duet," she said. She pointed at Kurt, who was talking to Mercedes and Tina a few yards away. "Is that other little boy your boyfriend?"

Blaine nodded. He didn't want to listen to a lecture about homosexuality, but for a nun she seemed pretty liberal.

"Well, you be sweet to him. It's a hard world out there if you don't have somebody who cares about you. Take my word for it. God bless you, child," she said, and walked away.

It had definitely been a memorable day.

Blaine helped Kurt bury Pavarotti on Sunday. Kurt had chosen a spot under one of the maple trees behind the school. He'd made a tombstone to match the casket he'd decorated, and he brought a red rose to lay on the grave. Blaine was touched by how much thought Kurt had put into giving the little bird a proper burial. He'd expected that Kurt would be feeling down about Pavarotti's death, but as they stood by the grave Kurt confessed that he was also upset about losing Regionals.

"I just really, really wanted to win."

"You did win. So did I. We got each other out of all this," said Blaine. "That beats a lousy trophy, don't you think?"

Kurt smiled at him, but he still looked sad. Blaine offered him his hand, and they walked back to Blaine's dorm room together. They spent much of the afternoon curled up on Blaine's bed, watching Singin' in the Rain on his laptop.

The days and weeks that followed were happy ones for Blaine. In a lot of ways his relationship with Kurt didn't change. They still did mostly the same things they'd been doing for months, like eating lunch together, going for coffee at the Lima Bean after school, catching a movie on the weekend, or just hanging out in Blaine's dorm room or at Kurt's house. They still had long conversations about nothing and everything, and silly arguments where they pretended to be appalled by each other's tastes in clothing and music. But it was so much better than before, because the unspoken tension that had been between them for so long was gone.

They also did things they hadn't done before they started dating, although they didn't have as much time alone to "practice" as they would have liked. Even when Tyler was gone there were a lot of interruptions in the dorm. Blaine had suggested putting a tie on the doorknob so his hallmates would know it was not a good time to ask about tonight's trigonometry homework, but Kurt objected.

"We are not advertizing to your entire hall when we're...being romantic," he said. "How could I look anyone in the eye? They'd probably stand around out there listening!"

Blaine leaned his head against Kurt's. "We could try being really quiet."

"We are quiet. Aren't we?" Kurt pulled away. "Oh God Blaine, can people hear us?"

"No, of course not," Blaine said. He knocked on the wall by his bed. "We've got nice thick walls." He knocked again for good measure. "Solid construction."

Someone on the other side of the wall knocked back. "Dude, stop banging on my wall!" a muffled voice shouted. Kurt's eyes went wide.

"Well, it's not like we're slamming each other into the wall," Blaine said sheepishly. "Unless you'd like to give that a try," he added, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You're awful."

"I'm an awfully good kisser. Just like my boyfriend."

Although their code word for make out sessions had originated as a joke, Blaine was learning that it actually was something that could be improved through practice. With experience it became easier to avoid bumping or squashing their noses. Kurt found out he could make Blaine shiver by flicking his tongue against the roof of Blaine's mouth. Blaine discovered that he could make Kurt's eyes roll back in his head by sucking on his neck. They both learned that it didn't take much to leave a mark on Kurt's pale skin. He wound up wearing a scarf every day during spring break.

Blaine would have liked more private time with Kurt, but any time they were together was special. It was so comfortable, so right, it hardly mattered what they were doing. Every morning Blaine looked forward to seeing Kurt again. He felt content just holding Kurt's hand as they walked down the hallway or sitting next to him during Warblers meetings. Blaine had never been in love before, and he wasn't sure if this was what it was like. He'd been wrong before. Maybe it wasn't love when you cared about someone and felt happy whenever you were together. If it wasn't though, maybe it was a beginning. Maybe this was the feeling that grew into love.

Yet there were moments when Blaine could tell that Kurt wasn't entirely happy. Their conversation by Pavarotti's grave had been the first hint that their relationship wasn't enough for him. Kurt was upset that they hadn't won at Regionals. He didn't say he blamed Blaine for this, but Blaine was the lead soloist and he'd chosen both numbers himself. If it was anyone's fault, it was his. Blaine was okay with second place, but Kurt's dream was to go to New York. If Blaine had done a better job he could have won that trip to Nationals for him.

Kurt's complaints about the Dalton uniform might have been easier to dismiss, if Blaine hadn't known how serious Kurt was about fashion. "You're so lucky you're a winter," he said to Blaine one afternoon at the Lima Bean. "You look great in navy and red. I just look washed out." He sighed. "I wish I could wear my own clothes." Another day, while retying his necktie after a heated "practice" session in Blaine's room, Kurt said "I'm so sick of this thing. You'd think they could at least let us wear a bowtie. Or an ascot. Or something." A few passing remarks about how Kurt's stepmother was working extra shifts seemed more serious still. Even the price of tuition wasn't necessarily an insurmountable problem if Kurt wanted to stay at Dalton. There might be additional financial aid available next year. But it seemed more and more like he didn't want to stay.

In April, New Directions held a benefit concert for the McKinley Academic Decathlon team. Kurt naturally wanted to go to see and show support for his friends, so he and Blaine made a date of it. They arrived early and Kurt gave Blaine a tour of the school. He showed Blaine his old locker, the rooms where his favorite classes were held, and of course the choir room. He had a lot of funny stories about crazy teachers and things he'd done with his friends, but he looked sad. Blaine didn't miss his old school at all, but he could see that Kurt missed his.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Karofsky had appeared in the hallway behind them, as if to remind them why Kurt had left McKinley.

"We're here for the benefit," Kurt said. "Don't tell me you're going."

"I wouldn't be caught dead," Karofsky sneered. "I was pumping iron in the gym when one of the guys told me you two were here, spreading your fairy dust all over the place."

"Would you just give it up?" Blaine said. This guy and his phony macho posturing really made him sick. "You can live whatever lie you want, but don't pretend like the three of us don't know what's really going on here."

"You don't know squat, buckboy."

That was it. Blaine shoved Karofsky as hard as he could. This was perhaps not the smartest thing he'd ever done, the other boy was easily twice his size, but Blaine was not going to let himself or Kurt be bullied. Not by some pathetic closet case who couldn't stand seeing other gay boys be happy.

It was probably lucky for everyone involved that Santana showed up just then. Karofsky didn't want to be outed to one of his classmates, and although he said "I think I can take on a couple of queers and a girl", three against one wasn't good odds. Especially not when the girl was a spitfire like Santana. "See, here's what's gonna go down," she said. "Two choices. You stay here and I crack one of your nuts, right or left, that's your choice, or you walk away and live to be a douchebag another day. Oh, and also, I have razor blades hidden in my hair."

Karofsky obviously did not know how to deal with this. He grunted and stormed off. Blaine couldn't help being impressed, but it was a little embarrassing to have a girl he barely even knew swoop in to defend him like that. He'd wanted to prove to himself and to Kurt that he could deal with a bully. He wanted Kurt to know that he didn't have to be afraid of people like Karofsky. Not when they were together.

"We could have handled that," he said.

"It was more fun doing it together." Santana smiled, but then had to rush off in response to an emergency text.

After the benefit, which had turned out to be one of the strangest concerts Blaine had ever attended, he took Kurt to get ice cream. The shop was full of noisy middle school kids who'd just come from a basketball game, so they took their plastic cups out to Blaine's car. For several minutes they sat quietly in the dark, eating their desserts.

"It was nice to see your friends," Blaine said. "Mike is an incredible dancer."

"Yeah, he's really good," Kurt agreed. "Can't sing at all, but great at dancing."

"Mercedes was fantastic too."

"She always is. That was her church choir doing backup. She took me to see them once, when...when my dad was in the hospital."

"She's a good friend," Blaine said softly.

"She's my best friend."

Kurt fumbled with his napkin and Blaine realized he was crying. Blaine put his ice cream in the cup holder and handed his own napkin to Kurt. "It's okay, baby. It's okay to miss her."

"I hate that I had to leave all my friends because of him," Kurt said fiercely. Blaine didn't need to ask who he was talking about. "I could have put up with everything else. Azimo would have kept throwing slushies at me, but he didn't want to kill me. Puck used to throw me in the Dumpster every morning, but he never wanted me dead. Before I left, he said..." Kurt's voice broke. "He said they could be like my Secret Service. Noah Puckerman would have been my bodyguard! And Finn, and Sam...even Coach Sylvester was going to look out for me. But it wouldn't have made any difference. You saw him. He was going to keep coming after me as long as I was there."

"You're not there anymore. You're safe now. You're safe at Dalton." With me, he added silently.

"I don't belong at Dalton."

"Kurt—"

"I don't. Everyone is so nice, but it's not...I just don't fit in." Kurt shrugged. "And there isn't even anyone else for me to not fit in with."

"What about me?"

"You're the Big Man on Campus! They should put you on the brochure!"

Blaine decided not to mention that his picture actually was in the Dalton Academy brochure. "Are you saying you want to go back to McKinley?" he asked.

"I don't know."

That meant yes, Blaine knew it meant yes, Kurt just didn't want to say so. Blaine reached over and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder. He wanted to reassure his boyfriend, but he also wanted to reassure himself. He wanted to say "Please don't leave me." He wanted to say "I love you." But he still wasn't sure if it was true, and he didn't want to manipulate Kurt. They said that if you loved someone, you had to set them free. He didn't want to let Kurt go, but he did want him to be happy.

"Kurt, if you wanted to go back," Blaine said carefully. "We could still be together."

"I want to be with you, Blaine. I just want to be with my friends too. I want to wear my own clothes. I want Carole to be able to relax on the weekends instead of going to work."

"And you want to go to Nationals."

"But I can't. Why are we even talking about this? I can never go back." Kurt wiped his nose again and put the dirty napkins in his empty ice cream cup.

Blaine wasn't going to be grateful to Karofsky, especially not for terrorizing Kurt. It would be wrong to be glad that Kurt was afraid to leave Dalton, to hope that fear would keep him there through graduation. He suddenly remembered Kurt with Pavarotti's cage, and the Burberry plaid cover he'd made for it. Did Kurt feel like Dalton was his cage? His safe, warm, designer cage? He didn't want Kurt to stay at Dalton just because he felt trapped there by the rest of the world. "Maybe something will happen with Karofsky. Maybe he'll get expelled."

"He was expelled before," Kurt said in a flat voice. "He came back."

"Well, maybe he'll run away and join the Army or something. You could go back then."

"Would that be okay with you?"

Blaine took a deep breath and said one of the hardest things he'd ever had to say. "Yes." He squeezed Kurt's shoulder. "If that was what you wanted, it would be okay with me. As long as it was safe."

The subject came up again a few days later, when Blaine and Kurt were at the Lima Bean after school with some of the girls from New Directions. They all gossiped for a while about the latest news, like Finn accidentally punching Rachel in the face and breaking her nose. She was okay, but the incident had left her contemplating a nose job. Mercedes and Tina were opposed, but Santana thought she should go for it.

Once this subject was exhausted, Mercedes said "You haven't asked us anything about our New York trip."

"Is it because it's too painful?" Tina asked.

Kurt nodded. "Yes, as a matter of fact! But while the New Directions are preparing to perform at Nationals, the Warblers are preparing to perform at a nursing home in a strip mall next to a National Bank." He forced a smile. "But I'm so proud of you guys!"

"We miss you so much," Tina said sadly.

"Isn't there any way you could come back to McKinley?" Mercedes added.

It didn't seem likely, especially not so close to the end of the school year, so it wasn't too difficult for Blaine to be the supportive boyfriend. "I told him, I would be all for it if it wasn't for Karofsky."

Santana had been spacing out ever since the conversation turned away from Rachel's nose, but she looked up now. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"Kurt needs to be safe," Blaine explained. He was a bit surprised that Santana was taking an interest, or that she had even wanted to come to see Kurt at the Lima Bean with Mercedes and Tina. According to Kurt, Santana had never really been friends with any of them. Then again, she had cared enough about Kurt to take on Karofsky on the night of the benefit concert.

"Okay, can we please change the subject?" Kurt said.

"I'm just saying that I'd like you to have the chance to go to Nationals too. As long as it was safe."

"It isn't safe though, and there's nothing we can do about that." Blaine didn't like to hear Kurt talk like that, like he'd given up hope.

"There must be something," said Mercedes.

Santana had been spacing out again, but now she jumped up from her seat. "I've got to gay. Go! I've gotta go."

Blaine smiled, wondering if this was a Freudian slip. Kurt had told him Santana seemed to have "kind of a Xena and Gabrielle thing" going with Brittany, the really blonde cheerleader, and at Rachel's party she had asked Blaine about schools for girls. Blaine wasn't sure his gaydar was calibrated for lesbians, but it was possible. That would explain why she was sympathetic towards Kurt despite not being his friend, and why she didn't like Karofsky.

By the end of the week, Blaine was once again wondering if he was the most clueless person alive. Santana had declared her love for Karofsky, who was apparently happy to use her as a beard. They were even running for prom king and queen together. She had convinced Karofsky to apologize to everyone in New Directions, form an anti-bullying club with her, and ask Kurt to return to McKinley. Kurt and his dad had a big meeting with the McKinley principal, Karofsky, and his dad, and came away convinced that Karofsky would no longer be a threat to Kurt.

"It turns out this is all Santana's bizarre Lady MacBethian scheme to win prom queen, but he really did seem sorry," Kurt told Blaine on the phone that evening. "He even agreed to form a McKinley chapter of PFLAG with me."

"Wow, that's amazing."

"You were right all along, Blaine. Something did happen with Karofsky, and I can go back now."

Blaine wasn't sure he wanted to have been right about that, but Kurt sounded so happy. "That's great. When will you start back at McKinley? Monday?"

"No. Tomorrow!" Kurt squealed. "Effective at noon. I'm picking out my outfit right now. This is the perfect opportunity to wear my new top hat."

"Tomorrow? That's...so soon." He'd thought he'd have at least the rest of the week with Kurt at Dalton.

"The sooner the better, we've got a lot of rehearsing to do before Nationals. I've got to go help Carole with dinner, but I'll see you at the Lima Bean tomorrow after school, okay?"

"I'll be waiting for you," Blaine said.

"Well, � bient�t, mon ch�ri."

"Babay, baby."

Blaine set his phone down on his desk. He wasn't sure what to do now. He definitely was not going to cry. It wasn't like they'd broken up. He'd see Kurt tomorrow afternoon at the Lima Bean, the same as always. Blaine had absolutely nothing to cry about. He should do something useful instead, like tell the Warblers Council that Kurt was gone. They had another nursing home gig coming up, and they wouldn't be able to do "A Little Bird Told Me" without him.

There were still lots of other songs they could do for the little old ladies of Minerva Park. Blaine knew tons of old standards. Patti Page's "You Belong To Me". Eddie Fisher's "I Need You Now". Vic Damone's "You're Breaking My Heart". Changing the setlist was not going to be a big deal. It would be stupid to cry about it.

The room was too hot. Blaine needed some air. He grabbed his coat and went for a walk across Dalton's back campus. There wasn't anyone else around, which was good because Blaine didn't want to see anyone. He came to the maple tree where he and Kurt had buried Pavarotti and sat down on the ground. Was this the place where it had started to end? Had he been losing Kurt almost as long as they'd been together?

He looked at the grave marker Kurt had made for Pavarotti and sighed. He was being stupid again. He was being stupid and melodramatic. Kurt wasn't dead. Kurt hadn't forgotten him. He was just going back to his old school. Blaine was in shock because it had all happened so quickly, but it wasn't some awful tragedy. He needed to find a way to deal with this.

Blaine looked up at the branches over his head and had an idea. It was either a very good one or a very bad one, he wasn't sure. He knew who to ask, though. He had to talk to Mercedes. He ran back to his room to get his phone.

An hour later, Blaine went to the dining hall to find Wes, David, and Thad. He broke the news that Kurt was transferring back to McKinley and explained his plan. Wes was a little reluctant, saying "I don't mean to be insensitive, but you do remember what happened the last time we did something like this?" Blaine assured him that he'd already checked with Kurt's best friend, and pointed out that the situation was quite different this time. The Council agreed to call an emergency meeting of the Warblers. By curfew everything had been worked out.

The Warblers arrived at McKinley just before noon the next day. They'd had to skip fourth period, but no one was too upset about that. Blaine led the way to the concrete steps outside the school, where Mercedes had said she'd be waiting with Kurt and their other friends. Everyone was there, just like she'd promised. Kurt's mouth dropped open when he saw Blaine, with Wes and David standing behind him.

Blaine had prepared a little speech. "Kurt, Dalton's going to miss you. You were a great addition to the Warblers, and you made us a better team. I'm sad to see you go, but we all know this is something that you really want. And I'll still have you after school and on the weekends, but these guys won't, so they wanted to say goodbye."

"And thank you, Kurt," Wes added.

Kurt looked really touched, and they hadn't even started singing yet. Blaine had thought of the song, Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know", the evening before when he was sitting under Pavarotti's tree. It was about being alone, and being afraid of losing someone, and wanting to go with them to a special place that no one else knew about. It was the best song Blaine knew to express how he felt.

He began singing, and all the other Warblers came down the steps to join in. The McKinley jazz combo, who Mercedes had asked to help out, came in on cue. It was perfect, it was like a movie, it was like every musical that Kurt and Blaine loved, only it was real. Blaine was going to sing his heart out for Kurt.

"And if you have a minute, why don't we go talk about it somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything, so why don't we go somewhere only we know?"

Blaine took Kurt's hands and led him down the steps to say goodbye to the rest of the Warblers. They filed past one by one, clasping Kurt's arm and slapping him on the back. Then Finn and Mercedes each gave Kurt a big hug. He was crying now, and Blaine was crying too. He was past being able to hold anything back.

As the song ended, Kurt threw his arms around Blaine. Blaine held him as tightly as he could. He didn't want to let go, but he knew he would have to. This was the right thing for Kurt, and his family, and all his friends here at McKinley. He'd see Kurt in a few hours, which wasn't a long time even if it seemed like forever right now, and Kurt would tell him all about his first day back. Blaine would be happy for him, he was happy for him even though he felt like his heart was being ripped in half, because this was what Kurt wanted.

"I'm never saying goodbye to you," Kurt whispered.

That was the moment when Blaine knew for sure that he was in love with Kurt, although he wouldn't say it out loud for the first time until a month later, after Nationals.