Stacey was floating in heaven. More like sinking. She was sinking into the warm sun that was Cooper. His kiss drew her in sucking the air from her lungs and making her heart beat faster. She was getting light headed, she was going to pass out she was sure of it, but she wouldn't even be mad. This was Cooper. He was here again and they were kissing and it felt oh so wonderful. Her hands had found their way into his hair, and she was pulling him in deeper not ready for their lips to part. She didn't think she was ever ready for them to part. They'd been separated for so long Stacey didn't think she'd ever get enough of him. Even now, she just wanted more.

Cooper broke away from her with a soft gasp. He didn't move far, just parted their lips and rested his forehead against hers breathing heavily. Their hot breath mingled together, and a soft smile crossed Cooper's face.

"Hi," he whispered trying to catch his breath.

"Hey," Stacey replied with a smile.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to sing that to you." Cooper tapped his hands softly on Stacey's waist where they were resting; wrapped around her tightly.

"I've missed you," Stacey said closing her eyes.

"I thought I'd lost you," Cooper replied. Stacey opened her eyes and looked up into Cooper's. She closed them again. She opened them. He was still here.

"I love you." Stacey said her voice breaking slightly. She looked down and licked her licks nervously before looking up at Cooper again through her eyelashes.

"Promise you'll never leave me again," Cooper basically demanded. His blue eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions but the one that Stacey saw was pain. Pain that she had put there.

"What am I doing?" She asked trying to take a step back, but not moving very far because Cooper's arms trapped her. "Let me go." She ordered.

"No." Cooper said shaking his head.

"Let. Me. Go." Stacey gave Cooper a cold look but he didn't loosen his grip. Instead he held on tighter and pulled her towards him, pulling her head into his chest. He held onto her tightly, arms winding around her back and his head resting on top of hers.

"I will never let you go." He whispered, a tear rolling down his face. "Not again."

Stacey tried struggling for a few moments before stopping, relaxing back into Cooper again.

"Why won't you let me go?" she asked her voice breaking again as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Because I'm not going to lose you." Cooper replied. "I can't. Not again."

Stacey pushed Cooper back taking him by surprise so that he stumbled backwards letting her go.

"What if I am no longer yours to lose?" She asked, the tears slowly rolling down her eyes too. She didn't know what she was doing. She didn't know why she was pushing him away. Stacey just knew that she needed to get away from him, from this beautiful demon from her past.

"I don't need your permission," Cooper said sadly, his eyes following the path of teardrops as they fell down her face. "I will miss you—I have missed you and I will keep on missing you until–"

"Until what!" Stacey yelled throwing her hands out to the sides. "What do you want from me Coop? You can't just waltz back in here and expect things to be fine and dandy. We're not the same people we used to be." She paused and said so quietly that Cooper almost didn't hear her. "I'm not the same person I used to be."

"It doesn't matter to me," Cooper replied taking a tentative step forward. "You are still Stacey Liza-Belle Morgan, and I don't care that we've changed. I care that we didn't change together. That we didn't get to grow, and change, and become better together." He reached out and softly took her hands, gently massaging them as he looked intently at her face, trying to pour all of his emotions out so that she could see them and feel them and know that he was telling the truth.

"Stace," he started. "I love you. I love you so fucking much. And yeah, you changed, and grew, and became harsher and a tad bit bitterer because life threw you a crappy hand. But I don't care. Honestly. I don't. I will date you until I can get the new you to love me as much as the old one did. But I know that you haven't changed that much. Not really. You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl." Stacey scoffed but Cooper continued on. "I bet that you still put your onion rings in your burger and never drink anything but Coke with your Mickey D's. I bet that you still sleep with socks on, and that your favourite smell is still petrichol; the smell of dust after rain. I bet you're still obsessed with your Spanish Soap Operas and that even though you're a slight little thing you can still take down a man twice your size. Texas, I am your Guitar Boy and that's never going to change."

Silence surrounded them as Cooper just looked at Stacey, scrutinizing her sad filled gaze. They locked eyes and nobody said a word, tension and electricity moving in sparks around them.

Suddenly a small round of applause started next to them. Stacey looked up in surprise to see Rachel clapping her lands loudly, tears pouring down her face.

"Oh my god," she sobbed, fanning herself slightly to compose herself. "Sorry," she said after she'd managed to calm down a few minutes later. "But that was beautiful, just A class stuff."

"Rachel," Mercedes hissed grabbing the brunettes arm and pulling her back.

"What?" she asked pulling her arm out of Mercedes strong grip. "That was beautiful and the theatrics were fantastic, but," she said stepping forward again. "We're going to need to hurry this along."

Stacey glared at Rachel, raising an eyebrow.

"Is this bitch for real?" Santana asked before Stacey could say anything.

"Unfortunately," Kurt said rolling his eyes.

"Hey," Rachel said offended. "No need to be rude, I'm just trying to keep us on track. I can see that this conversation is going to take forever, so I think its best we leave it till tomorrow. Give Stacey time to gather her wits and figure out what she really wants, which is Cooper by the way." Rachel stage whispered to Stacey. "I just don't want us to lose focus of why we're here. We need to get my family back together again, so Stacey, Coop, finish the scene. Kurt," she said turning to the pale boy who was sitting on the stairs next to the pizza boy who looked thoroughly uncomfortable. "Be ready, you're up next."

"You're aware this is real life, right?" Jeff asked Rachel with a quizzical look. "This isn't…it isn't a play."

Rachel just rolled her eyes. "Yeah I know. Now," she said directing her voice to everybody. "All of us, inside. This is a private convo." She ushered the crew towards the door with big waves of her hand. "You two," she said turning back to her brother and Stacey who were now standing a decent ways apart. "I'm giving you fifteen minutes, make them count."

They both nodded not really sure what else to say. In their moment they had completely forgotten that they're friends and relatives were standing right there.
"A word of advice?" Rachel said, still leaning out of the door frame. "Just admit your love sweetie; you can work out all of the kinks later. But if love isn't worth taking chances for, what is?" With that final word, Rachel entered the house and closed the door behind her.

.o...0...o.

15 Minutes Later

Rachel moved the curtain in the living room window, doing her best to see how her brother and Stacey were doing.

"I think you should give them their time," Kurt said from the floor with various piles of pizza boxes around him. Cooper had managed to use the pepperoni pizza in his proposal but it didn't leave much for eating and Kurt and the gang were still ravenous. Luckily for all, a thirteen year old kid is incredibly easy to manipulate and before they knew it, he left and returned with a brand new order that they only had to pay half price for. So everybody was pigging out, especially Kurt because boy could that guy eat.

"This stuff can't be rushed you know?" he shrugged.

Mercedes scoffed wiping her mouth with a napkin and putting it on her plate. "You just don't want to face Blaine."

"That's not true—"

"Well guess what pumpkin," Santana said from the couch with her legs draped across Brittany's lap. "You really don't have a choice."

"I'm not trying to say that—"

"Yeah," Artie said with half a bite of pizza in his mouth. "I mean I only saw you two together like once, but you were adorable."

"But I—"

"Even I could see the difference in you," Brittany said with a smile.

"And that's saying something," Tina finished. "No offense," she said after a brief pause. Santana just waved it away.

"That's not what I'm trying to say!" Kurt yelled with pizza half way to his mouth. "I just…this can't be forced! You can't just throw us together and expect everything to be good. We've talked already, encase you weren't aware."

"Yeah, but he still hasn't told you everything," Wes interrupted sadly. "He's hiding something."

"But Cooper knows what it is," Nick added as he walked into the room with a class of water in hand.

"How does he—?"

"Cooper knows everything," Jeff answered. "Everything."

A brief silence ensued.

Finally Tina broke it, her soft voice travelling through the heavy room. "I just want you to be happy."

"Tina," Kurt started. "I am happy."

"Don't lie to us," she said firmly shaking her head. "I won't let you lie to yourself anymore. You're angry, and hurt, and pissed off, and bitter and you know what? I bet you have every right to be. But you cannot sit there and tell me that you're happy. Blaine made you happy. He gave you your light back, you may not have noticed it Kurt, but life was getting to you, it was killing you. He brought you back."

"And then he buried me again."

"It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," Nick said sympathetically.

"Don't quote self-help books to me," Kurt snapped, standing and staring down the caring faces that looked up at him. "Don't patronize me like that."

"Boo, we just want to help," Mercedes started.

"Well I don't want your help!" Kurt exclaimed. "I didn't ask you for it so why are you shoving it down my throat. Look at this, look at how many of you are here. What is this, a fucking conspiracy? I don't want this," he said gesturing towards everybody. "I just want…" The porcelain boy trailed off.

"You want what, boo?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah smurf," Santana said. "Spill the beans."

"I just want to be whole again," he sighed sitting down again full of defeat. A sad quiet filled the room.

"And we want you whole," Rachel said speaking up for the first time since the conversation started. "That's what all of this is for, and if Stacey and Cooper can do it, you and Blaine definitely can."

"But they didn't break up!" Kurt exclaimed. "He didn't willingly break up with her and destroy everything because he felt like it."

"Now you know that's not true," Rachel scolded, leaving the couch to sit on the floor next to Kurt. "I've been…researching, and piecing things together as much as I can. Apparently there's a lot I didn't know, and even more that you don't know. But I have it on record that he didn't break up with you because he "felt like it," and you know that."

"Oh I'm sorry," Kurt replied rolling his eyes. "He broke up with me – broke up with. God that sounds so lame, but if I say anything more drastic I sound like an overdramatic loser. He broke us," Kurt started again. "Because he had to. That's what he told me. And apparently I got more out of it than he did; what I got were things I already have. I don't understand, he speaks in riddles and you know what? I don't even care anymore." Kurt threw his arms to his side. "Yeah I don't care."

"That's bullshit, Kurt," Rachel snapped. "And I'm not playing this game with you anymore. Cooper and Stacey's fifteen minutes are up. You," Rachel said to Wes. "Get them to come in now; we've got a mess to clean up."

"Yes sir," Wes mock saluted before hurrying outside to find the couple (?).

"And you," Rachel pointed turning her attention back to Kurt. "Get your act together or so help me I will give you the diva slap to rival all diva slaps. You love Blaine, you want him, you want, nay, need to forgive him, if not for him then for yourself. So shut up and accept the truth. You have," Rachel looked at the time on her phone. "Fifteen seconds."

Kurt huffed and crossed his arms, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Sometimes, he really hated people.

.o...0...o.

Blaine was falling asleep. The night sky and the peaceful calm that came with it were making his eyelids heavy. He should leave before he got too tired to drive safely, but his perch was so comfortable. This place was magic; he wasn't ready to leave this blissful cocoon; the place where nothing bad happened.

He sighed, when did he become an old man who sat and pondered over how his life got to this point. He was young, too young to have these sorts of troubles, and yet here he was, dying slowly in the raging river of his woes. Just god damn it all! What he wouldn't give for his parents to not be the owners of a multi-billion dollar company. It's just created problems that he was losing the energy to deal with. He was being swept up in the hurricane, and he no longer had the will to fight it.

.o...0...o.

"So," Stacey said wiping at her eyes softly.

"So," Cooper echoed.

Stacey sighed licking her lips nervously and avoiding Cooper's lingering gaze. "Where does this leave us?" she asked bucking up and looking him dead in the eye.

"I think this leaves us at the beginning." Stacey raised a brow.

"What do you mean—"

"Stacey," Cooper cut her off. "One date, it's all I'm asking for. You can act like you don't know me and we can just start afresh, repave our road, and remake our footsteps."

The southern girl shook her head licking her lips again.

"Why is this so hard to say yes to?" Cooper asked taking a soft hold onto her crossed arms. "What are you so afraid of?"

Stacey looked up at him her grey eyes blazing, threatening to overflow with tears again. "Why is it so hard for you to take no as an answer?" she countered ripping her arms out of his.

"Because I know you," Cooper said taking a step closer until they were barely a hairs width apart. His blue eyes searched her face looking for something, "and I know that something is holding you back. It's not a bad thing to give happiness a chance," he whispered. "Just say yes."

"I can't!" Stacey yelled tearing her gaze away from his and taking a tiny step away from him. "I'm not good for you, for us, for relationships in general. I'm broken Cooper, and I promise you that nothing can fix me."

"You underestimate the power of duct tape," Cooper said with a small smile.

"I'm not joking!" Stacey exclaimed licking her lips again and looking up towards the star filled sky. "I," she pointed to herself, "Am done beyond repair. I…I can barely stand being close to males who are bigger than me. Being in small places makes me hyperventilate and having something on top of me throws me into a panic attack. I don't like heavy breathing, or somebody not calling first if they want to come over. I…I barely trust anyone and I just…"

"And yet you kissed me back when I kissed you," Cooper said with earnest fire in his voice. "And when I held you, you melted into my touch. I'm sure I was breathing kind of heavily after that first kiss and you didn't lose your breath, you were perfectly fine."

"So you think I'm lying?" Stacey asked her brow scrunching in confusion. "You think I'd lie about this? Why do you think I asked Artie to drive us here? The boy is handi-capable and very sweet, but I could take him in a fight any day."

"No," Cooper said shaking his head. "God no, I don't think you'd lie. I'm just showing you that even though your mind doesn't want to accept me, your body already has. I…I'm familiar, you love me, you could never be afraid of me. I would never do anything to make you afraid of me. You know me Stace, when you say no I always stop.

Always. Mama didn't raise no fool."

"Coop."

"No," the eldest Anderson interrupted. "Stop fighting, please," he begged. "Just this once lay your swords down and let somebody else help you."

"I can't."

"Why?" Cooper asked running a hand through his hair. "Why won't you let me love you?"

"Because I don't deserve to be loved," Stacey whispered closing her eyes and licking her lips. The look on Cooper's face, though she had only seen it for a second, broke her heart. He looked so hurt and confused.

"Why would you think something like that?" Cooper asked, resisting the urge to step closer to her, to feel her warmth radiating off of her skin.

"I—"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," Wes said awkwardly from the front doorway. "But you're sister's kind of scary, and has ordered me to come get you."

Cooper nodded to him, though his eyes never left Stacey. "We'll be in in a minute."

Wes nodded and shut the door, taking a deep breath on the other side. Rachel was going to kill him.

"Well," Cooper prompted Stacey as soon as he heard the door close.

"I…"

"You are worth the world," Cooper said. "No, much more than that. You are everything; you are worth everything, more importantly, you deserve everything. Especially love."

"I…"

"I don't care why you think that, or what bitch told you that, or what fucker I'm going to have to hunt down and punch in the fucking face. I just care that you know and understand what I'm telling you right now. Stacey, my Texas, 'the greatest thing you'll ever learn is how to love and be loved in return.'" She smiled slightly at the Moulin Rouge reference.

"And guess what babe? You are loved. By me and all the great friends you have inside there, and you love them back. So obviously you do deserve to be loved and you need to let your walls down and let me in. Stacey baby, I love you. I've never stopped loving you, so open your heart to me, let me in, because god knows I think I might die if you don't."

Silence surrounded them and Cooper's heart was hammering in his chest. Suddenly, he jerked forward as Stacey pulled him by his tie for a deep kiss. They parted for air, and Stacey smiled the tiniest bit.

"Okay," she whispered, her lips brushing his as she spoke. "We start afresh." She took a step back and readjusted her shirt and hair. "Hi," she said sticking out her hand with a smirk on her face. "My name's Stacey."

Cooper smiled shaking his head. "Hi Stacey," he gripped her hand but instead of shaking it he kissed it softly. "I'm Cooper."

"That's cheating," Stacey scolded.

"I disagree," he replied smiling and locking his hand in hers. "It's using my charm." The southern girl rolled her eyes before sighing.

"We should go inside before your sister throws a fit."

"Yeah…"

"That was enthusiastic," Stacey said rolling her eyes.

"This isn't going to be fun," Cooper said solemnly eyeing the house with a grim aura.

"Was it supposed to be?" Stacey raised a brow at him and Cooper just rolled his eyes, squaring his shoulders.

"Fine," he said. "Lead the way…I love you."

Stacey smiled, leaning up and kissing his cheek softly. "I love you too. Now let's go spread the love bug to our little boys."

.o...0...o.

"Where are they?" Rachel asked when Wes walked in alone.

"Just give them a few extra minutes," the Asian boy said as placating as possible, staying as far away from the short girl as he could. "They're almost done."

"Honestly," Rachel huffed. "I cannot trust you to get anything done."

"I'm sorry?"

Rachel didn't reply and Jeff snickered doing his best to hold in his laughter. It wasn't often that one got to see Wes scared and pinned down by anybody, nevertheless by a loud short brunette girl. Where was a camera when you needed one?

"Sorry for the wait," Cooper said entering the room with Stacey's hand in his.

"You should be," Rachel growled.

"You need to work on your patience, Starshine," Cooper said with a patronizing smile. "Now," he said his eyes grazing across the room. "…I wasn't expecting there to be so many people."

"That's what happens when you drop in uninvited," Kurt deadpanned from his spot on the floor. "Things don't go according to plan."

Cooper paused confusion flashing across his features for a second. "Is there a reason you're so hostile?"

"Many actually," Kurt replied crossing his arms. Cooper didn't reply so an awkward silence swept over the crowd.

"Okay," Santana said looking from Kurt to Cooper and back again. "I'm down for another round of Karaoke, who's in?" Her question was met with various grumbles of agreement. Soon everybody was back downstairs in Kurt's room setting up the sound system ready to give singing another go. The only people left in the living room were Kurt and Cooper after Rachel was begrudgingly dragged out by Santana, Mercedes, and Stacey.

"So…"Cooper started.

"What do you want?" Kurt asked crossing his arms.

"No need to be so rude," Cooper reprimanded softly. "I'm here to help."

Kurt sighed rolling his eyes. "We've been over this, I don't need help."

"That may be so," Cooper answered. "But Blaine does."

"Blaine?"

"Unfortunately, my baby brother is lying in a grave filled with shit."

"Umm…" Kurt started. "Eew?"

Cooper rolled his eyes, throwing himself gracefully onto the couch. "What do you know?" the elder Anderson asked, crossing his legs and taking off his suit jacket.

"That's a long list," Kurt started. "I know that the sky is blue, my father's name is Burt, my mother's name is Amelia—"

"That's all well and good," Cooper interrupted. "But what I meant was, what do you know about your break-up?"

Kurt crossed his arms and fixed Cooper with a cold bitch stare. "Okay," he said cocking his head slightly. "I am not in the mood for games, so why don't you tell me what you came here to hell me so that we can all go on our merry way."

"Alright," Cooper said hiding a small smile. He could see what Blaine saw in this kid, he had spunk. "But you may want to take a seat."

Kurt raised a brow but heeded Cooper's words and sat in the armchair across from the crouch. He crossed his legs and kept his arms crossed. After a brief pause Kurt rolled his eyes. "Go on then," he said impatiently.

Cooper sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't really know how to say this," he started. "So I'm going to just say it. You and Blaine's break up, it was kind of my fault."

.o...0...o.

FLASHBACK

Blaine paced his room, frustrated tears gleaming in his eyes. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be doing this to him, why would she be doing this to him? Blaine never did anything bad, he was a great kid, respectful, never got into any bad things, straight A student with a 4.0 GPA. So why would his mother do this to him. Doesn't she know how much Blaine loves Kurt, how much he needs him? Kurt saved him, when he didn't even know he needed to be saved. And now she's asking him to throw that all out the window.

Blaine groaned in frustration and pulled at his hair trying to get a breath. His lungs were closing; this couldn't be happening this wasn't happening. The papers lay on his bed watching his every movement, mocking him, weighing him down. He knew what he had to because he loved Kurt, and would do whatever it took to protect him.

It occurred to Blaine that he could tell Kurt what was going on, but he knew his boyfriend, and he knew he wouldn't accept it. He would want to fight, but the thing Kurt didn't understand was that you cannot win a fight with Jane. Ever.

Blaine sighed, his hand clawing at his chest as if it was trying to rip his heart out; to make this easier. But this would never be easy. Blaine was trapped and the only exits were enflamed with heart break.

"Fuck!" Blaine yelled throwing a hard punch at his wall. The feel of the shock reverberating through his arm made him stop; stop breathing, stop thinking, stop moving. He stood there frozen and indulged in his ability to feel at all. His heart pounded in his chest, his blood rushed in his ears, tears stung at his eyes, and his muscles shook. His heart bled, and his soul was crying; a loud painful sound that made doing anything almost impossible. Blaine didn't know he could hurt this badly about somebody he truly hadn't known for that long. But his heart didn't care. He loved Kurt, and for the love God he didn't want to see him leave, let alone be the one who was sending him off.

Blaine punched the wall again. If he was hurting this much now, he couldn't even imagine what it would be like after. Or even during. To watch the pain anger and hurt flash through Kurt's eyes, to watch his heart break…Blaine took a deep breath and shakily lowered his arm. It was bleeding but he didn't even notice.

He wiped his eyes warily and looked around his room. He needed to tell his mother that he had made his choice, and that he would never forgive her for it.

.o...0...o.

Blaine walked to his mother's office. The door was closed but he could see light bleeding through from the cracks. He steeled himself and moved to knock when he heard his mother's voice on the other side. She was on the phone to…Cooper? It couldn't be. He pressed his ear against the door straining his ears to hear her conversation.

.o...0...o.

"Cooper," Mrs. Anderson said into the phone, her manicured nails tapping against her wooden desk. "This is your last chance to come back home and do what you were meant to do."

She paused listening to an answer. "Fine," she growled. "You're really going to let your brother give up the person he loves?"

Another pause. "Don't blame me for your shortcomings; you're the one who chose to leave. And you're the one who's choosing to do this to Blaine…you know I don't want to do this…I really don't care if he's gay or not…I just want you back here doing your job!...fine…it's done…I gave him 24 hours that leaves him with 5 to go…trust me Cooper, he'll do it…Oh no, it won't be me he hates, it'll be you. I'll tell him the truth…his brother wouldn't come home, you destroyed his life to keep your own…don't say things you don't mean, darling…I've got to go…I'm sorry but this is all your fault…you have less than five hours to change your mind…goodbye."

Jane hung up the phone and sighed. Children could be so stressful sometimes. Speaking of children; "Blaine," she called looking towards the door. "I know you're there you mouth breather. Come in, we need to talk."