Lilly grumbled and turned down her music as she re-situated herself in bed trying to get more comfortable. Mornings were the worst time to try and test Mama’s limits; she was far less patient than Mom in the mornings. Mom should be with her now, but Lord Tubington IV had gotten sick too and Mama said they’d both be at the vet’s for most of the day, with no one to keep her company.

“Mama are you sure you can’t stay home with me?”

“I wish I could baby, but you know I need to go to work” Her mother walked into her room triumphantly carrying the missing keys. “Don’t worry my dear, I made a call to your uncles and one of them will be spending the day with you while I’m at work and Mom is at the vet’s with Lord Tubington. He should be here any time now.”

“Knock-Knock”

Lily and her mother turned around to find Lily’s uncle causally leaning against the frame of her bedroom door.

“No need to look so surprised Santana,” Lily’s uncle laughed to himself as he pulled Mama into a hug “I know you weren’t expecting me, but he couldn’t make it. Said something came up at work and it would be better if I went instead since I’ve already had chicken pox and he never has.”

Even though she was sick, Lily couldn’t help but notice how her Uncle’s face lit up slightly at the mention of his husband.

“If you need anything don’t hesitate to call me, but try not to need anything” Mama said as she kissed her daughter on the head. “Feel better soon sweetie, I love you.” With one final peck on the cheek for Lily and one for her uncle, Mama ran out the door to catch her subway to work.

“So, now that’s it’s just the two of us, what do ya wanna do Lilly-pad?” Lily scoffed at her Uncles use of her old pet name. Lilly-pad was ok when you were a kid, but she was nine and a half and would soon be hitting double digits and cutesy nicknames were for little kids.

“I thought I told you to stop calling me that” She said trying to muster up some of the venom she sometimes heard Mama use when she was upset and rambling in Spanish. “Nicknames like that are for little kids, not me.”

“Oh, I suppose your favorite story is also for little kids then hm?” Her uncle looked at her with amusement shinning in his eyes.

“NO!” Lily snapped back at him. “I’ll never be too old for that. But you should tell it again, just to make sure I still like it.”

Lily watched as her uncle laughed as he sat down next to her on the bed.

“Let’s see if I remember how this begins,” Lily smiled as she snuggled in closer to her uncle as he began, “Kurt grew up on a small farm in the country of Lima. His favorite pastimes were riding, plotting out new outfits, and tormenting the farm boy Blaine, but he never called him that…”

Kurt rode into the stables and picked a stray piece of hay out of his hair as he gracefully dismounted his horse. He straightened his tunic and began looking around for the family farm boy.

“Farm Boy,” he called out. At the sound of Kurt’s voice, a young man of about the same years as Kurt appeared, ruffling his dark curly hair and looking to Kurt to see what his newest task would be. “Polish my horses’ saddle. I want to see my face shining in it by morning.”

“As you wish” Blaine replied with a small smile on his lips.

With a huff, Kurt turned and stormed off towards the house. He loved tormenting the farm boy, he really did, but he couldn’t stand how the only response he ever got was “as you wish”. It was like his servant was mocking him, especially since lately he’d taken to saying it with a smile on his face.

Kurt set to work trying to find a new outfit to wear since his current one had gotten mud on it during his ride. This year might finally be the year he won most beautiful man in Lima, and while he knew it was a vain contest his family desperately needed the prize money. He had come close to winning in years past, but now it mattered more than ever since his father’s health had started to take a turn for the worst.

A few days later Kurt was strolling past the stables when he saw the farm boy sitting on a bale of hay tuning his lute singing softly to himself.

“Farm Boy,” Kurt threw his most distasteful glare at the lazy farm-hand, “I need you to iron my trousers by morning…”

Kurt nearly choked on his breath when his eyes met Blaine’s. He had looked his farm hand in the eye many times before but now there was something more there he hadn’t noticed before. A smoldering passion he couldn’t quite name.

“Please.” Kurt finished finally releasing the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.

“As you wish” Blaine replied, the intense look in his eyes even stronger than before.

Kurt took one final look at him before quickly walking away back to the house. He lay awake that night baffled by the realization that when Blaine had said “as you wish” what he really meant was “I love you”.

In the following weeks Kurt couldn’t help but notice little things about Blaine that had slipped his mind before. Like how when he smiled it reached his eyes, or how comforting the sound of his voice was. He was startling to realize just how beautiful this simple farm boy really was, not just in his looks, but his personality as well. How had Kurt never noticed before the way Blaine really listened when Carole, Kurt’s step-mother, spoke? Or the way he was able to carry a conversation with Burt about the horses and the more technical parts of running the farm Kurt had never bothered to pay attention to. Kurt had always taken Blaine for more of a simpleton: someone who was just content to go about his work and play music on his lute in his down time, never realizing there was much more to this kind and intelligent man.

Unable to fully process this information he was discovering about the farm boy he was pretty sure he was falling in love with, Kurt decided a nice long ride on his horse Pavarotti was needed. On his way out to the stable, Kurt was distracted by the loud thunk of wood being split in half. Knowing his father shouldn’t be doing such strenuous work in his current health, Kurt ran towards the sound ready to give his father a piece of his mind when he came to a sudden halt at the sight before him, nearly tripping over his own feet.

It wasn’t his father chopping wood, but rather Blaine; who had opted to remove his tunic while chopping the wood. Kurt stood transfixed to the spot as he watched the muscle in Blaine’s back move as he raised the axe, noting the thin sheen of sweat covering the other man’s body. Kurt jumped as the axe came down splitting the log into two perfect halves, startling him out of his revive as he let out an audible yelp and making his presence known to Blaine.

Blaine turned to look at Kurt, revealing the definition in his torso and the sharp V shape of his lower abs that dipped below the waistline of his trousers.

“Everything ok?” Blaine inquired, a touch of mild amusement mixed in with the obvious concern in his voice.

“Everything’s fine. Continue on Farm Boy.” Kurt quickly replied, trying his best to keep the blush off his face. He turned to leave quickly and tripped over a bucket he could have sworn wasn’t there a moment ago, causing him to stumble and fall flat on his face.

“Kurt!” Blaine cried and rushed over to his side; kneeling down to make sure Kurt was ok. When Kurt turned over and looked up it was to find Blaine hovering over him, love and concern bright in his eyes. “Are you hurt? Can I do anything to help?”

Kurt smiled softly before brushing some of the curls that had fallen over Blaine’s face out of the way, cupping the side of his face gently and fully looking into those warm hazel-green eyes that had been haunting his dreams of late.

“Kiss me.”

Blaine look startled for a moment before the biggest and most heartfelt smile Kurt had ever seen broke across his face.

“As you wish” Blaine whispered right before pressing his lips to Kurt’s.

Kurt’s breath caught in his throat at the soft feel of Blaine’s lips upon his. It took him a moment to realize Blaine was moving against his lips and upon recognizing this he enthusiastically returned the movement, slightly in awe of how perfectly their lips moved together and the warm feeling it caused to rise in his stomach. At the feel of Blaine’s tongue lightly tracing over his lip, Kurt readily opened his mouth to grant is access as he shifted his hand into Blaine’s hair grabbing a fistful of curls and deepening the kiss further. Kurt wasn’t sure which one of them moaned first at their tongues slowly slid against each other, battling the other for dominance.

“Blaine” Kurt gasped when they finally broke apart just starring at each other for a moment as they tried to get their breathing back to normal.

Blaine simple looked down at Kurt, a small smile playing on his face and amusement in his eyes. “Ah, so you do know my name” Blaine laughed at the blush that quickly developed on Kurt’s face.

Kurt gently pushed Blaine off him, standing and helping to bring Blaine to his feet as well.

Blaine grabbed his tunic from where it had been resting near his pile of chopped wood, putting it back on before taking Kurt’s hand.

“Take a walk with me?” Blaine inquired, still holding tight to Kurt’s hand.

Kurt smirked softly at Blaine as he said “As you wish”.

The smile that broke across Blaine’s face was unlike anything Kurt had ever seen before, it was so breathtakingly beautiful. As if a blind man was seeing the sun for the first time. Blaine led Kurt to a small hill with a willow tree on it overlooking the western field of the Hummel Farm. Sitting down so that his back was against the trunk of the tree, Blaine gestured for Kurt to join him. The couple just sat there for a while looking out at the field, admiring the peacefully beauty of the late summer day. Kurt let out a contented sigh as he dropped his head to Blaine’s shoulder and gazed up the beautiful man sitting beside him.

Blaine shifted so he could hold Kurt properly and be able to look at him.

“Not that I’m complaining or anything, but what changed your mind?” Blaine asked. “For years now I thought you only ever saw me as the farm boy”

“I used to,” Kurt laughed quietly to himself at his own foolishness, “Until a few weeks ago when things snapped into place and suddenly I realized oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you forever.”

Blaine leaned forward catching Kurt’s lips in brief and chaste kiss, before pulling him closer as they held each other under the tree.

“Now that I have you, I’m never letting go.” Blaine whispered into Kurt’s hair, placing a kiss on his head. “I’ll love you forever, Kurt.”

“I’ll love you even longer” Kurt replied as he snuggled in closer to Blaine’s chest, and fell into the most peaceful sleep he could remember.

As the summer continued on, Kurt could not remember a time when he was happier. His days were filled with joy and laughter with Blaine, basking in each other’s company and falling further in love. Nights were filled with music by the fire and stolen moments of physically showing their love to each other. During one such night towards the end of summer, Kurt was laying in his lover’s bed sated and listening to Blaine pluck away some nameless tune on his lute.

“I’ve been working on this for awhile now, and I think it’s almost done.” Blaine said as tuned his lute slightly, “And I’d very much like to know what you thought of it.”

Taking a deep breath, Blaine began to strum his lute and sing softly.

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

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?
Somewhere only we know?

No sooner had the song ended than Kurt was climbing into Blaine’s lap and capturing his mouth in a passionate kiss.
“I love it” He breathed over Blaine’s lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too” Blaine replied as Kurt settled at his side, nestling his head into the crook of Blaine’s neck he swears was made just for him.

The rest of summer passed far too quickly for Kurt’s liking. Even with countless days spent in Blaine’s presence, kissing and falling even more in love, there just didn’t seem to be enough time. There was never enough time spent laughing and playing in the daylight, and the nights they spent tight in each other’s embrace exploring their bodies never seemed to satisfy them.

Kurt dropped down onto the bed beside Blaine trying to catch his breath and calm his heart, laughing softly as he nestled into the crook of Blaine’s neck that seemed made for him. It was nights like these where he couldn’t believe just how lucky he was to have Blaine, and know that he loved Kurt as much as Kurt did him.

“Kurt, love” Blaine said placing a soft kiss to Kurt’s temple, “Sit up for a moment there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Raising an eyebrow at this request, Kurt leveled Blaine with a suspicious glare.
“Should I be worried?”

“I shouldn’t think so” Blaine replied laughing softly to himself. “But there is something I desperately need to talk to you about.”

Kurt sat up straighter and turned so as to give Blaine his full attention.

“I spoke with your father earlier, asking for his blessing for us.”

Kurt’s confusion must have been clearly written on his face as Blaine continued to explain further.

“His blessing for us to be married one day.”

At Blaine’s words Kurt felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him and instead filled with a happiness he had never experienced in his life before.

“Yes, yes, YES! A thousand times yes!” he squealed, throwing himself at Blaine and covering his face in soft frantic kisses.

“Easy love, there’s more.” Placing a final kiss on Blaine’s cheek, Kurt settled down and allowed his intended to continue. “Now I don’t have the money yet to give you the life you deserve, but I will soon. With your father’s blessing I’ll be leaving within the week to seek my fortunes across the sea so that upon my return I can give you the wedding and life you truly deserve. Until then however I have a token I wish for you to keep.”

Leaning over to the bedside table, Blaine opened the drawer and after some digging produced a pouch that he then presented to Kurt. Hastily opening the drawstrings of the pouch, Kurt poured the contents into his hand and found himself once again at a loss for words.

“Oh Blaine…” Sitting in his palm was what, in Kurt’s opinion, was the most gorgeous ring he had ever laid eyes on. It was a fairly simple silver band, slightly tarnished with age that had an intricate knot pattern etched onto its surface. The ring was looped through a simple yet elegant silver chain with an intricate toggle clasp.

“May I?” Blaine inquired, gently taking the necklace out of Kurt’s hand.

“This ring belonged to my father,” Blaine explained as he fastened the necklace upon Kurt’s neck. “It was the ring he wore when he married my mother. I want you to wear it now, so that when you look upon it after I have left you will be reminded of my promise to return home and marry you. So that I may place this very ring upon your finger as I take you to be my husband.”

As he finished speaking, Blaine let his hand rest for a moment over the ring where it now hung over Kurt’s heart. Clasping Blaine’s hand, Kurt brought it to his lips and placed a small kiss upon it before bringing it back down to his chest.

“Of course I’ll wear it my sweet Blaine.” Kurt said looking into his love’s warm hazel-green eyes. A thought suddenly occurred to Kurt and he felt his eyes being too well with tears before he realized how distraught his thought made him.

“Shhhh, love what is wrong?” Blaine asked as he gently cupped Kurt’s face between his hands. Kurt let out a shuddering breath as he nuzzled into Blaine’s palm.

“I fear as though I shall never see you again” Kurt admitted as he gave up at holding back his tears any longer. He felt Blaine tilt his head so that the next thing he knew he was looking into Blaine’s eyes and was slightly startled by the blazing look he found there.

“Hear this now; I will always come for you.”

“But how can you be sure?” Kurt replied barely being able to contain the sob he felt was about to escape his lips.

“Because this is true love; do you think it happens every day?” Kurt shook his head at Blaine’s words and brought him in close for a long kiss that could convey the love in his heart.

“I’ll never say goodbye to you.” Kurt pulled Blaine in for one last kiss before cuddling into his side. As he began to drift towards sleep he couldn’t help but think this might well be one of the last times for awhile that he was able to fall asleep in Blaine’s arms.

Two days later Blaine set out to seek his fortune.

Autumn slowly turned to winter and yet Kurt heard nothing of Blaine as the weeks rolled by. The more time passed and still no word of Blaine, the more Kurt worried that something had happened to his beloved, despite his family’s assurance that all would be well and Blaine would return soon. In an attempt to keep his mind off how desperately he missed the man he loved, Kurt took to helping out around the farm more than he had before. Suddenly each chore was another way to connect to Blaine, as well as provide him with a much needed distraction to keep his vivid imagination from picturing the worst.

Kurt was out chopping wood when his father approached him with a forlorn expression upon his face.

“Son, we need to talk” Burt began, “it’s about Blaine…”

Kurt’s heart swelled with hope. Finally after all these weeks, his finally had word of his Blaine who would hopefully be returning to him soon.

“His ship… it was attacked by the Dread Pirate Dalton son…”

“NO!” Kurt bellowed, collapsing to the ground in a fit of body shaking sobs.

He didn’t need to hear anymore. It was common knowledge throughout all of the kingdom of Lima that the Dread Pirate Dalton left no survivors. His beloved Blaine was dead. For weeks Kurt neither slept nor ate, content to simply sit in front of the fire trying to find the will to live. Whenever his father or stepmother would check in on him to see if he had eaten, they would often find him fiddling with the ring he still wore upon his neck.

Winter turned to spring, and yet Kurt’s mood did not change, until one day in early spring. Carole was coming in to collect Kurt’s mostly uneaten lunch when he turned to her, eyes filled with such heartache that it broke her heart to see in the man she regarded as her own son.

As he spoke, Kurt’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He was it for me you know.”

“I know sweetheart,” Carole said pulling her stepson into a tight hug, “But one day you’ll find someone else. Just as I found your father.” Pulling back Kurt shook his head.

“Not for me” he replied, “I will never love again.”