Kurt remained kneeling in front of Blaine, holding his breath as his chest threatened to beat outside of his chest. Blaine was being mercilessly silent, and Kurt watched as his face went from shocked, to awed, to thoughtful in turn. The process felt like forever to Kurt.

Finally Blaine spoke. "I... I don't understand...?" His eyes searched Kurt's face for the answer.

Kurt tried to keep himself from trembling as he kept a hand on Blaine's and stared up at him. It wasn't a rejection, but Blaine had obviously been taken aback. Perhaps rightfully so. They hadn't spoken about marriage. Until the past week they hadn't even talked about the future for them beyond Kurt's original plan to leave and putting Blaine on the throne.

"My dad, he met with Noblewoman Sylvester today and she said if you and I got married that the nobility would back your claim as king." Kurt explained, mentally reminding himself to breathe. "We need to ensure we have their support since the citizens follow their lead."

Blaine grabbed Kurt's hands in his and kneeled down in front of Kurt. "That's why you're asking me to marry you?"
Kurt nodded, now looking straight ahead at Blaine. His dad had come by and explained Sue's proposal to him while Blaine was interrogating the elite guards in the dungeon, and it made a lot of sense. It was probably the most logical thing that had come out of that woman's mouth.

Blaine smiled warmly, lovingly at Kurt, "That's the wrong reason to get married Kurt..."

Kurt's heart dropped and he turned his head away so Blaine couldn't see the disappointment in his face. He had originally thought he would have just explained to Blaine Sue's proposal in a direct manner and then let Blaine know that it made sense. Instead he had exposed his romantic side to Blaine and he felt foolish for it. Kurt, who had barely even considered ever having a romantic partner up until he came to Westerville, suddenly proposing marriage. It sounded ludicrous to him now that he thought about it.

"Oh... Kurt..." Blaine placed a hand on Kurt's face and turned his head back toward him again so they were once again eye to eye. "That doesn't mean I don't want to marry you.. I just want to make sure you want to... for the right reasons."

"It makes sense though Blaine..." Kurt began, on the defensive now. "They wanted my dad's army to stay and continue ruling, which is out of the question, but I'm a symbol of that army and if I was married to you then it would show your support for our liberation. It would even demonstrate the end to your father's homophobic policies. It's brilliant really."

Blaine nodded along with Kurt during his explanation. "I'm not arguing that Kurt. I did just say... in a roundabout way I guess, that I do want to marry you. I just want to make sure you actually want to marry me. Because you love me and want to spend your life with me, and not because some psychotic woman actually had a good idea."

Kurt glanced down at their hands. They fit perfectly together. It wasn't what Kurt had been planning to do, but he had already decided to stay with Blaine after he had been attacked. It was a natural choice. Something Kurt didn't even have to think about. Getting married was just a legal thing as far as he was concerned, for all intents and purposes, he had already committed himself to Blaine by staying.

"I want to marry you Blaine... this just gave me a good excuse to ask."

Kurt looked up from their hands, and back to Blaine's face which was beaming now. "I will absolutely marry you Kurt."

Kurt's breath hitched and a full smile crept over his face. He opened the hand that held the ring he had offered to Blaine. "This was my grandfather's ring. He was the king of Lima before it was taken over by Dalton years ago. If you wore this... then it would mean a lot to me. I don't have much to offer other than that."

Blaine smiled and gingerly took the ring from Kurt, slipping it on his ring finger. "A perfect fit..." He dipped his head in to press a kiss to Kurt and murmured, "You're wrong though."

Kurt hummed into the kiss and whispered back, "About what?"

"You have everything to offer me Kurt. You've given me so much already. Your acceptance, your kindness, your love, and let's not forget those tasty lips of yours." Blaine waggled his eyebrows suggestively causing Kurt to lean back and laugh.

Blaine laughed as well and Kurt protested as he was suddenly enveloped in Blaine's arms, "You're going to hurt yourself!" which was ignored as Blaine began kissing Kurt all over his face.

Kurt felt his heartbeat relax and he pulled his head away from the kiss attack, "Your beard is all scruffy and is making my face itchy."

Blaine smiled and held Kurt in place, letting his fingers roll up and down Kurt's back. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't giving yourself up for me... If you want to marry me, it should be because you want to. You've sacrificed enough in your life for those around you. You deserve to think about yourself for awhile."

Kurt tipped his head onto Blaine's shoulder and let it rest there. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you spoil me properly."

Blaine turned his head to press another kiss to Kurt's forehead and then held his head up to examine the ring on it. "We should tell your dad..."

Kurt blushed. "I suppose we should make an announcement."

Blaine pulled Kurt to him and murmured heatedly, "In a little while. I want to celebrate a little bit in here for awhile."

Kurt felt absolutely elated for the rest of the day. After exchanging kisses until their lips were chapped and Kurt's face was dry from constant contact with Blaine's scruff, they went to tell Kurt's father who had embraced them both at once in full hugs. It was not what Kurt had expected from his father, but it was better than anything he could have hoped for.

Burt helped them announce it to the generals, captains, and brigadiers in the main hall who cheered and clapped. They began to receive a downpour of congratulations and well wishes.

Along with those well wishes though came the questions.

"When's the wedding?"
"Will you both be kings?"
"What about an heir?"
"Where will it be?"
"Can I be your flower girl?"

That last question came from Brittany and Kurt acknowledged to her that they hadn't planned that far ahead yet but he would keep her in mind.

This they acknowledged they didn't know the answers to those questions, and were actually going to meet with the nobles to decide on some of the details together. Since the nobility would back Blaine if they were married, Kurt had decided that the nobility should decide on certain aspects of the wedding, including the date, to show the citizens of Westerville how they were officially backing the union and Blaine along with it.

Everywhere they went, they held hands and stole happy sidelong glances at one another. Burt had immediately sent for Sue and the rest of the nobility so the planning could begin. However Kurt had to deal with some questions on his own and as Blaine was getting his bandages changed with Quinn, Kurt excused himself to find the person who might be able to answer his questions.

Kurt found her outside, sparring with Noah. Santana was wild in battle and Kurt was sure she was one of the few who would continue on in the army when it broke apart. She was easily beating Noah whose strategy with Santana seemed to include a lot of dodging and ducking. He shot Kurt a grateful look when Kurt called to Santana and asked for some of her time.

They both went to the well for a drink of water before Kurt spoke. "Look. I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm going to be marrying Blaine and, well, I have no experience, in... ah... bed."

Santana snorted and sprayed water she had just been drinking up in a gleeful laugh. "You have been spending every night together for what, weeks now? And you haven't been locking bodies?! What have you been doing this entire time? Cuddling?"

Kurt huffed, his chest puffing up a little defensively and his face reddening. "Yes actually."

"Oh my..." Santana couldn't finish the sentence as she continued laughing and Kurt's ears went red.

"Look. If you're not interested in helping me I'm sure I can find someone else who's knowledgeable about this kind of stuff..."

Santana managed to reign in the laughter and looked over Kurt. "And here I thought you boys were just good at hiding a limp... Oh my." She shook her head in disbelief. "Well I suppose the first thing you ought to know is that even if you try really hard, you two aren't going to end up with any buns in the ovens."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "Yes. I knew that one. Moving on..."

"Honestly Kurt. I'm honoured that you're asking me and all, but have you even considered for a moment that I'm a woman... who's in a relationship with another woman? I'm sure I know what goes on between two men, but I'm definitely not the expert and from what I've gathered, your prince charming there isn't experienced either, so you have that on your side."

Kurt cocked up an eyebrow, "Why is that a benefit? If neither of us know what we're doing -"

"- then you can discover it together without any preconceptions of how things are supposed to be." Santana interrupted and finished off.

Kurt sighed and nodded to Santana, "That does make sense. I'm just..."

"Nervous." Santana finished off for him again and Kurt nodded. "That's normal. You see his special appendage yet?"

Kurt's blush which had just been starting to go away came back in full force and he turned his head away from Santana. "No..."

"I'll bet he had a fabulous one." She stated, and whatever bit of Santana that had just been giving him words of wisdom and actually helping was replaced by the Santana he knew - overly inappropriate and shocking.

Kurt coughed a little, trying to physically force the image out of his head. "Yes, well, for someone so disinterested in men, you seem to be overly interested in that."

Santana laughed again, "Only because I enjoy seeing you blush boy. Look. I know of a book that can help you out. I'll see if I can find a copy in one of the libraries here and pass it to you. I'll be discrete about it even."

Kurt looked back to Santana. "Thank you Santana. For all your crudeness, I know you're dependable."

"Oh sweet stuff, you know it." She winked and walked back to the sparring grounds, yelling at some random troop to get their ass over and play with her.