"May I speak to Jared Anderson please?"

Burt listened to the normal 'elevator music' that accompanied waiting lines after the woman had put him on hold. He drummed his fingers across his tool bench as he listened to a recording of a perky woman's voice explaining all the things Anderson & Anderson could do for him, now and in the future. He held in a sigh of relief when Jared finally picked up his end of line, fingers stopping in their tracks.

"This is Jared with Anderson & Anderson."

Burt straightened his back and sat up further where he sat upon the wooden stool he had chosen earlier. "Yeah, this is Burt Hummel." he began, noticing how quiet the other line was. "You helped me and my son out last year, I was wondering if you had time to talk?"

"Yes, of course. Has something happened?"

Burt smiled and shook his head, forgetting for a moment that the other man couldn't see him. "No, it's about your son."

"Blaine?"

"Yes, it seems he's become one of Kurt's friends." Burt said, brow furrowing when the other man didn't speak for a few seconds.

"I see."

Burt frowned then, squaring his shoulders before launching into his next conversation. "Do you have a problem with your son being friends with mine?"

"What- No." the other voice began, a bit rushed. "That's not what I meant at all, I was just surprised since he is a senior and Kurt is a junior."

"He seems like a good kid, even took Kurt to go see..." Burt trailed off, his former wife's death still a bit hard to bring up. "On a ride." he continued, staring at a greasy wrench that sat next to his elbow on the bench.

"Wait, that was where he was all day?" Jared asked, sounding puzzled.

"Yeah, we even took him to dinner." Burt said, a little confused that the other man hadn't known where his son had been all day.

"He took off this morning claiming one of his friends were having Warbler issues...I didn't know Kurt had made it in?"

"I was surprised when he told me." Burt admitted, though all along he should have known Kurt would of loved that type of thing with the amount of times he had caught him and his mother singing together when he was younger. He had even caught him singing softly to himself a few times last year. Elizabeth always said that their 'baby was meant for more than they could imagine', but what did she mean?

"So if Blaine hasn't done anything, and there are no...issues in other departments, what can I do for you?"

Burt held in a sigh. Leave it to an Anderson to want to cut straight to the point. "I suppose I just wanted to thank you again for recommending Dalton." he began, reaching up to pull off his baseball cap. "And Blaine, well, he seems so close to Kurt." Burt paused for a moment, clearing his throat before continuing. "You haven't...told him have you?"

"No, I haven't." Jared trailed off. "Would you like me to?"

Burt thought for a moment, a image of Kurt's earlier smile flashing across his mind. This time he let the sigh fall from his lips as he continued to rub his forehead. "No. Kurt will tell him if he wants to." While logically he knew this was the best choice, a small part of him wanted Jared to tell Blaine so that the boy would treat his son with caution and care, the way he wanted him to. Though, he also knew that if someone else told him before Kurt did, it would backfire horribly. As much as he wanted to protect his son, he knew that eventually the other would have to stand on his own two feet again, and that wouldn't happen unless he could at least tell someone himself, instead of being forced by family, friends, and even his therapist, Amanda.

"Alright." Jared said, the phone line silencing once again. "You say close. How close?"

"What do you mean?" Burt asked, confused on what the other meant.

"Well…" Jared trailed off again, clearing his throat awkwardly. "As in, just friends...or something more?" Jared asked, deciding to just put it out there for the other. "I mean, Blaine and I have patched our relationship the best we can, but I still don't understand any of the things he goes through with...other boys."

Burt blinked, hand tightening on his cell phone as Jared spoke. "Oh. I don't know." he said truthfully. He began to think back to a few hours before, now remembering the odd looks he would sometimes catch on Blaine's face at the table in Breadsticks as he looked at his son. That didn't mean anything right? Surely it was just something like Kurt having spaghetti sauce on his cheek or something.

"If they are-"

"What?" Burt asked defensively, knowing Jared's back-story with his son. "Are you going to throw your boy out, just like that?" Maybe he was speaking quickly and irrationally, but fathers who would do that to their own flesh and blood, anyone for that matter, never deserved a place in his or his son's life and he wasn't about to let Jared be an exception to that rule.

"No, nothing like that." Jared spoke calmly. "Would it bother you if that was the case?"

Burt paused, mouth halfway open. He once again remembered how happy Kurt had looked earlier when Blaine was around, the light in his eyes actually returning to what they had been before everything had happened. "What about you?" he blurted, not comfortable with the shift in conversation at all.

"Considering all that Kurt has gone through, I think Blaine would have to tread very lightly." Jared began, an audible sigh leaking over the phone line. "I guess we'll just have to watch and see what this 'friendship' grows into before we can really label it. It would be wrong at the moment just to assume."

"Right." Burt muttered quietly, glancing over his shoulder when he noticed Carol walking towards him. His face colored slightly when he realized he hadn't noticed her enter earlier. How much had she heard? "Well, I'll let you go now. Let me know if something on your end changes?"

"Of course. I'll talk to you soon, Mr. Hummel."

"Might as well just call me Burt now." Burt said with a sigh. "I have a feeling we'll be getting to know each other even more now." He ended the call, putting his phone on the bench before running his hand across his face. "How much did you get out of that?" he asked his wife, glancing towards her when she walked up next to him.

Jared placed his office phone back in it's cradle before leaning back in his chair with a sigh. Of all the boys his son could have been interested in, it had to be Kurt. The one traumatized boy that would more than likely never really heal from what he had suffered through.

The only reason he had actually asked such a personal question about Kurt's relationship with his son was because Blaine had been acting different. Even if he had been home for only a day before this morning, he had overheard small tidbits of Blaine's conversations with his mother.

"The bluest eyes..."

"He's so talented, but he doesn't even acknowledge it..."

"...taller, but you know it doesn't really bother me, even if he is a year younger than me..."

"Patient...caring...amazing..."

Those were just a few things he had overheard on his way back and forth from his office to the kitchen. Of course his wife was ecstatic that Blaine was finally showing interest in someone after so long. The whole deal with Thad had really knocked Blaine for a loop, and Jared knew without a doubt that it was one of the main reasons why his son had never really felt the need to seek out a relationship. Though he didn't know what his son did at Dalton entirely, he was pretty sure he would have at least told his mother about the boy he was dating, if he did have one at this point in time.

He didn't know for sure that Blaine was speaking about Kurt, but with the way the boy had rushed off earlier that morning to go meet the other kind of made him think in that direction. Also, if he remembered correctly, Kurt did have blue eyes, though when he had seen them last, they had been dull and uninterested in all of their surroundings, as though the life had been sucked from them.

Had Dalton really changed the other teen that much in the few months that he had attended? Had he made friends that would actually understand what had happened to him if he told them, or would they abandon him because of the drama and pain? Would his own son even be able to handle something like that?

Jared Anderson sat at his desk pondering for another hour or so, his eyes focused on the open file in front of him on his desk. His attention was finally pulled to his office door when he head Blaine close the garage door. He waited patiently for his son to walk past before he spoke up. "Blaine." he called out, smiling when his son's curly head poked through the door way.

"Sir?" Blaine asked, a bit surprised his father wanted him, considering he never left his office during the days he was home.

"Did you...help your friend?" he asked, his smile growing slightly when a bright expression lit up his son's face.

"Yeah, it wasn't too serious like I thought it was though. It's all taken care of now." Blaine said with a shrug, waiting for his father to dismiss him. He was itching to call Nick and tell him the latest with his development with Kurt.

"Good." Jared said with a nod. "See you in the morning then." he said, smiling towards his son one last time before he disappeared out of view.

"What am I supposed to do?" he mumbled, closing his eyes as he rubbed his temples.

"You did WHAT?"

"Nick, stop yelling in my ear!" Blaine said, moving his phone a few inches from said ear to rub at it as it continued to ring slightly. "Isn't this a good thing though?" he asked, frowning when a soft string of curse words left the other warbler.

"Blaine, what part of 'take it slowly' do you not get?" Nick snapped, the sound of a guitar strumming in the background carrying through on Blaine's end.

"Nick, it's not like we eloped." Blaine said with a roll of his eyes. "I though this was really good progress." he continued when the strumming suddenly stopped.

"You don't understand, Blaine." Nick began, a sigh leaving him. "You've got to take this really slow. Kurt, he..."

"You know, I really don't know why you think he'll break if I touch him the wrong way." Blaine said in a irritated tone of voice. "Kurt would tell me himself if he wanted to back off, don't you think?"

"No." Nick answered immediately, causing even more confusion to take root in Blaine's thoughts. "What if you accidentally hurt him an-"

"You really think I would actually hurt him?" Blaine said, his tone of voice raising before he could stop it. "Nick, you know I would never do that!"

"Not on purpose, Blaine!" Nick shouted into the phone. "I mean on accident! What if you say the wrong thing, or do something that upsets him wh-"

"Why?" Blaine snapped suddenly.

"Why what?" Nick asked in a strangled voice.

"Why are you so worried about him, why do you think he'll run away and never be seen again if I do something he doesn't like?"

"Because-"

"Because why?"

"He's been hurt before Blaine, you can't just expect him to let things go as easily as some other people!"

Blaine froze, not caring that his ear was ringing yet again from the yelling match he and Nick just had. "Wait, he's been hurt before?" he whispered, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "What do you mean?" he asked, patience thinning and mind whirling.

"Shit." Nick muttered, a groan making it's way through the phone. "Look, just trust me on this, okay?"

"What, no way!" Blaine exclaimed, sitting up again. "You can't just tell me he's been hurt before and not tell me by who or how!"

"Honestly, Blaine." Nick said, his voice oddly calm. "What would you gain by knowing his past when he obviously doesn't want you to know?"

"How do you know that?" Blaine demanded.

"Well, I would think he would have told you by now if he wanted you to know."

Blaine glared at his bedroom wall, his free hand fisting tightly in the comforter that was beneath him. Blaine knew he had a bad temper whenever he was pushed to his limit, though he never would have thought he could say something as horrible as he was about to. "You know, I think when your dad was knocking you around, it rattled your brain a bit too much." he said darkly, his breathing heavy as he tried to control the urge to punch a wall out of frustration. A few moments of silence met his ear as he began to calm down, the guilt slamming into him as he repeated the words he had just said in his head over and over again. "Nick, I didn't mean-"

"You don't deserve him."

"Nick really, you know how my temper is, I never meant to say it-"

"You really think you can be with Kurt, the way you just throw words around like some careless idiot?"

"Nick-" Blaine pleaded, the hum of a disconnected phone line meeting his ear a second later. He tried calling, again and again, but Nick was ignoring him. How could he have said that, the most horrible thing he possibly could have?

Blaine leaned back on his bed, staring at his ceiling. He was a horrible person. Nick was right. How could someone like him deserve someone like Kurt who was so giving and caring to everyone around him?

Jeff looked down at his lap when his phone began to buzz with a incoming call. He grinned widely when he realized it was Nick and quickly got up from the couch where he was watching another Power Rangers rerun with his brother. "Night!" he called, quickly heading for the stairs, taking two at a time to get to his room faster.

Once he made sure his door was shut he accepted the call, pressing the phone eagerly to his ear. "Hey!" he said excitedly, sitting on the edge of his bed. He frowned when nothing but silence greeted him. "Nick?" he asked, wondering if the other Warbler had accidentally dialed his number like he had many times before if he sat down with his phone in his back pocket. He was about to hang up but a small sound caught his attention. He listened closely, recognizing it as a sniffle.

Jeff felt his heart quicken as he strained to hear. "Nick." he said carefully. "Baby, please answer me." he whispered, closing his eyes when a soft voice answered him.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know what else..." Nick whispered, clinging to his phone as he listened to his boyfriend.

"It's okay, what happened?" Jeff asked quietly, slowly standing up and moving across the room to slip his shoes on. He grabbed his coat before he headed down the stairs.

"I really...I need to tell you something, about Kurt." Nick said quietly.

"Kurt?" Jeff asked, pausing at the front door so he could signal to his mother. "One sec." he said, placing his hand over the bottom of his phone.

"Mom, I'm going to Nick's tonight!" he called out, thankful that by now his parents understood why he would go at such a late hour.

"Be careful, call me when you get there!" his mother called out, his father warning him about traffic just before he closed the front door to his house.

"Alright, I'm coming over, okay?" he said, scurrying towards his car so he could get in and turn on the heater.

"What? No, I'm okay." Nick said, trying to clear his throat.

"You never could lie very well." Jeff said in a light voice, trying to make the best of what he could out of the situation. "You can tell me when I get there, alright? I love you."

"I love you too, be careful." Nick said before ending his call. He hadn't wanted Jeff to come, but it wasn't like he could stop his boyfriend once he had his mind set on something.

He felt guilty but then relieved at the same time that he was going to tell Jeff about Kurt tonight. He had been carrying the secret for a few months now, but it felt like it had been years since he had found out. Jeff knew how to keep a secret, but Nick was worried about how he would treat Kurt now that he would know. Would Jeff be the same, or would he act strangely around Kurt?

Was Nick doing the right thing in telling him? Would it come back and bite him in the ass later? At the moment, with his feelings hurt, and wet cheeks he didn't care. He just needed to tell Jeff so he could make it better. Jeff always made it better, and maybe if he had one more person in the know, it would help Kurt out more in the end.

Maybe.