It took another week for Blaine to mention his family again. Kurt didn't press the subject and had avoided it vigorously in conversation, even though the thoughts of it constantly plagued his mind. He often debated whether he should just ask Rachel or not, but he truly wanted Blaine to tell him himself. Plus it would just open risky questions that he would have to answer with lies, since Rachel still didn't know Blaine was gay. Another thing that bothered Kurt but another issue he didn't press. Everything would sort itself out in due time.

It was a Tuesday, and both boys were feeling the vicious oppressiveness that was the end of the summer. They had just passed the halfway mark, and it was making the boys nervous. Blaine boarded at a school that was two hours away. It was why Kurt had never even met him till now, and Kurt went to crappy stupid worst bigot school in all of Ohio, McKinley. Were they going to have a long distance relationship, which Kurt was positive, never worked, or were they just going to break it off and break each other's hearts? Either way, it was a lose/ lose situation and though neither boy said anything about it, it was a big elephant in the room.

They were in Kurt's bedroom watching Moulin Rouge after relaxing at the sycamore tree all day. It was the one place where there were no weights around them. Time was inconsequential there, and the boys reveled in its magic.

"Kurt," Blaine said tearing his eyes from the screen.

"Mm?"

"I'm sorry."

Kurt looked at Blaine worry instantly etched onto his face. "For what baby?" he asked, not liking how sad Blaine looked.

"For not being as put together as I seem."

Kurt swore his heart broke. It's amazing how much Blaine can break and put his heart back together again. "I don't think that's something worth apologizing for," Kurt said softly.

"I don't know," Blaine said. "I really like you, like really like you. But I don't want to drag you into all of my family things. It's not a safe place to be."

Kurt cocked his head slightly playing with one of the soft curls above the nape of Blaine's neck. "Telling me about it doesn't drag me into it," he said twisting the curl gently. "If anything it makes me more prepared for if I ever do get pulled into the line of fire."

Blaine leaned back into Kurt's soft touch sighing softly. "How is it that you're always right?"

Kurt smiled. "I'm a genius remember? Why does this keep surprising you?"

Blaine smiled closing his eyes as Kurt kept playing with his curls. The pale boy had finally managed to talk Blaine out of blanketing his hair in gel whenever they were together, and it always took all of Kurt's self-restraint to not have one hand constantly in Blaine's hair. It was just so soft, and curly, and fluffy, and perfectly Blaine. It made Kurt happy, and luckily for him, Blaine liked having his hair touched or they have had a serious problem.

"It doesn't," Blaine said opening eyes. "I just like seeing the smile on your face every time I remind you of it."

Kurt blushed and Blaine smiled even wider, pulling Kurt's hand away from his hair and holding it in his. "So," Blaine said looking at his and Kurt's intertwined hands. "You want to know about my family." Kurt didn't say anything, and just watched Blaine who still didn't look up. "Where do I even begin," he asked breathlessly.

"I don't know," Kurt shrugged. "I hear the beginning's always a good place to start."

Blaine rolled his eyes and nudged Kurt with his shoulder. "Thank you," he said sarcastically. "I totally didn't know that."

Kurt shrugged again. "Don't hate, you're the one who asked."

Blaine ignored him in favour for stroking his thumb of his hand. It was a gesture that calmed him. "Okay," Blaine said breathing deeply. "Let's go like this. In my family there is me, my twin sister Rachel, my older brother Cooper, my mother, my father, and my mother's grandparents." Kurt raised his eyebrow at that information.

"You have a brother?" he asked before he could think better of it.

Blaine sighed. "Yeah," he said. "He's older by six years and has been AWOL since I was eleven."

"You mean—"
"Yeah, he just waited for his inheritance money and then left." Blaine's gaze was blank as he stared off into the distance and his voice was hollow, devoid of any emotion.

"Were you two close?" Kurt asked softly.

Blaine gave a deadpan laugh that was harsh against Kurt's ears. It didn't sound like Blaine. "Yeah, we were close. He was my best friend since before I could talk, and then he left without as much as a goodbye."

"And you don't know why he left?"

"Does it sound like I do?" Blaine snapped.

"Sorry," Kurt winced. "Stupid question."

Blaine deflated. "I'm sorry," he said with more emotion than there was before. "It's a sore spot."

"I can only imagine," Kurt replied squeezing Blaine's hand.

"Umm…where was I?" Blaine asked glancing at Kurt.

"Cooper leaving?" Kurt said softly not wanting Blaine to relive that blow. That must hurt, to have somebody you love just disappear like that. No, that must more than hurt. It must be heartbreakingly soul shattering.

"Yeah," Blaine said clearing his throat. "Um, well Rachel was heartbroken about that too, but strangely enough mother didn't seem that upset, just indifferent."

"What about your dad?" Kurt asked cocking his head. He knew that if he upped and left his dad would go full out ape shit. They needed each other.
"He umm…he was destroyed by it," Blaine said, eyes un-focusing again as he stared into nothing, most likely reliving a memory. "Cooper was his first son, you know? They were…they were close, and it really destroyed him. He threw himself into his work, and distanced himself from Rachel and me; like he was afraid we'd leave him too. It was hard."

Kurt didn't know what to say, so he rubbed soothing circles on Blaine's back, while his thumb rubbed circles on his hand, in the hopes to soothe him if just a little bit. Blaine had gone through some serious heart ache, and yet was somehow still so strong.

"And as you obviously know," Blaine continued. "I'm a bit more than well off."

Kurt scoffed, "just a bit.'

Blaine smiled a humourless smile. "Well it's my mother's company passed down to her by her parents. But my grandparents are old school and don't want a woman running the company, so she had to get married before she could get the rights to it, and even then the rights go to her husband. So she married my father who now runs everything."

Kurt nodded not one hundred percent sure where this was going. "And umm…well the company, it was supposed to go to Cooper, being the first born son and all that. They had him in business programs since he could talk and do basic math. It's like he was made just to take it over, and he never showed any signs of not wanting to do it. And now that umm...not that he's gone the business is going to belong to me."

Kurt gasped. "But that's not what you want to do!"

Blaine shook his head like he was trying to escape the reality of it. "Except that I don't really have a choice."

Kurt turned to face Blaine completely, "Blaine Anderson," he said firmly with a heavy gaze. "Look at me." The command wasn't forceful more so than pleading. "Look at me," he repeated when Blaine didn't move. Rolling his eyes at the short boy's stubbornness, Kurt placed his hands on Blaine's face and moved it so that he was looking at him.

They locked eyes. Blaine's eyes were overcome with sadness, while Kurt's were firm and forceful. Willing Blaine to believe everything he told him. "You always have a choice," Kurt said. "If it's not what you want to do, then don't it. Your future is yours and yours alone, nobody can dictate what you do."

"That's not true," Blaine argued.

"Yes it is," Kurt countered. "Choices are everywhere and can't be made for you. You're not their little doll they can play with. You're a human who has wants and dreams and aspirations and deserves the chance to reach for the stars."

"I can't be like Cooper!" Blaine yelled frustrated tears welling in his eyes. "I can't disappoint everybody I love!" Blaine wrenched himself out of Kurt's hands wiping angrily at the tears.

Kurt nodded his gaze still never leaving Blaine. "But you can't disappoint yourself either." He said quietly. "Do you really think you could stand it? Living everyday doing a job you hate because you were too scared to say no? You may love your family now," Kurt continued, glancing at their hands that were still intertwined. "But believe me, if you give into this, you will truly grow to resent them."

.o...0...o.

CURRENT DAY

"Cooper," Mrs. Anderson said in cold surprise. Her head cocked to the side, and it was only because of her years of etiquette training that her mouth didn't drop to the ground.

"Hello mother," Cooper said with a tight smile. He opened his arms in a way that suggested he was asking for a hug. But if Mrs. Anderson got the message, she certainly ignored it.

"What are you doing here?" she asked glancing at Rachel who looked ready to melt into the ground. "I'm sorry," she said laughing and shaking her head. "What I meant was; how did you get past the front gate? I'm pretty sure, nope, I'm one hundred percent sure you're black listed."

Cooper's arms dropped to his side. He glanced at Rachel wondering if he should get her involved or not, when she stepped up beside him, looping his arm in hers.
"Actually," she said with a fake smile on her face. "I invited him here.

Mrs. Anderson turned to look at her, surprise and contempt flashing through her face before the cool and collected mask slid back into place again. "Rachel," she cooed. "Why would you ever do such a thing?"

"Because," she said, her grip on Cooper's arm tightening to the almost painful levels. "He's my brother and I missed him."

"And he's been disowned," Mrs. Anderson said flatly. "He's not allowed on this property."

"Technically," Cooper said. "I am." Mrs. Anderson glared at him and Cooper just shrugged. "You didn't take it to court, and I didn't sign anything. It was more of a mutual agreement; one that no longer suits my benefits. Actually," Cooper said. "That agreement never really suited my benefits at all. It only suited yours. So let me reiterate. It was a mutual agreement you made, that I no longer feel like complying by. And there hasn't been enough drama in my life recently," Cooper said leaning against the door frame.

Mrs. Anderson looked furious, her face was calm but her body was tense and—

"Ow!" Wes yelled out. "Okay," he said. "I'm really sorry to interrupt but can you please let me go? Please? You have an iron grip, and I need this ear for Warbler practice."

Mrs. Anderson let Wes go. The Asian's boy's hand shot straight to his ear massaging it out. "Jesus," he breathed out.

"What do you want Cooper?" Mrs. Anderson asked, paying no mind to the pained boy next to her.

"That's the million dollar question isn't it? Luckily, you have a million dollars," he winked. Mrs. Anderson ran a hand through her long curly hair, a habit both her sons had inherited, growing impatient with her son.

"Answer my question or leave," she said. "I don't need your poison around my children."

Cooper laughed loud and sarcastically. "Oh my god!" he guffawed. "My poison? Are you shitting me?" Mrs. Anderson winced at his profanity but didn't say anything. "What did I do so wrong? I left, which isn't even true. You made me leave because I didn't want what you wanted me to want."

Rachel looked up at Cooper in confusion. "What?"

"Oh!" Cooper faked gasped. "You didn't tell your children? Of course not," he said with a smile on his face. "Why would you? I mean the truth was obviously never an important trait in this house."

"Cooper!" Mrs. Anderson threatened.

"What?" he asked throwing his hands to the side. "You don't like hearing the truth? Well you need to hear it. What I want, mother," Cooper spat like it was the worst word in the world. "What I came back for, was for the truth to be set free. There are too many secrets in this house. It's not healthy, and I know for a fact that it is killing Blaine."

Wes watched the banter with awkward eyes. He was intruding on something deep and personal. He shouldn't be here, but it would distract everybody if he just left now.

"Cooper," Mrs. Anderson said much softer this time.

"What?" he asked, sounding annoyed. "You ruined my life. Do you really think I'm going sit back and watch you destroy theirs as well?"

"It's not that simple," she said her voice losing the softness instantly.

"Sure it is. Rachel," he said turning to his baby sister. "Our mother is a lying whore." Mrs. Anderson gasped but Cooper ignored her. "She exiled me because I didn't want to run her company. I wanted to help people. I wanted to start my own business whose whole purpose was to help those people who couldn't help themselves. I told her this when I was seventeen. She gave me an ultimatum. Either I run her company, or I leave, forever."

Rachel gasped; her hand flew to her mouth looking horrified. "When you were seventeen? So you didn't even have any money?"

Cooper nodded solemnly, his hand running through his hair quickly. "Obviously you know what I chose."

"B-but," Rachel turned to her mother anger burning in her eyes. "How could you do that to your son?"

Mrs. Anderson rolled her eyes. "You're making this sound much worse than it is."

"I was on the streets," Cooper said. "I had no food, nowhere to sleep at night."

"It's what you wanted," Mrs. Anderson said, not even showing a small sign of remorse. "You had a choice."

"And you had the choice not to give me one!" Cooper yelled. The hallway became eerily silent, and Wes felt more out of place than ever. "You could have supported me, or at least given me until my eighteenth, when I had the money. But you didn't. You cast me out into the rain with nothing but the clothes on my back and the money in my pocket."

"Well you're okay now aren't you?" Mrs. Anderson said gesticulating to all of Cooper. "You're big, and strong, and handsome, and all that's good and righteous," she ended sarcastically.

"Only because I found good people," Cooper said his jaw clenching. "I found those with good souls who helped me simply because I needed help."

"Okay," Mrs. Anderson said. "And now you're Mr. Big Shot who's finally living his dream. I don't understand what the problem is here."

Cooper scoffed. "You don't understand what the problem is?" He took a step towards her, which was much more menacing due to the height difference. "Fine. Since it's so hidden from you, let me explain. I came back here with a list of shit to get done. Number one on my list was to resolve things with you. For years mother, I hated you. I resented the very ground you walked on and every word out of your mouth. But the one thought that kept me from breaking in here and doing something stupid, was the thought that maybe you regretted your actions. The tiny thought that maybe you missed me, and wished that I would come home. But fear of your rejection mixed with the hatred kept me at bay."

Mrs. Anderson looked at her son, a hint of something flickering in her eyes but it was covered by the thick layers of ice that surrounded her. "Then why did you come back?" she asked sounding not quite tired, but weary maybe. "Because I don't need your forgiveness."

"No," Cooper said sadly standing no more than a foot away from his mother. He locked eyes with her, blue to hazel, fire vs. ice. "I needed to give it. Mother," he placed a firm hand on her blazer clad shoulder. "I forgive you. For everything that you have done to me and everything you were willing to do to keep me here. I forgive you."

"Did you not hear me?" she spat, all weariness being replied by her vicious coldness. "I don't need your forgiveness."

"Yes mother, I think you do." She shrugged his hand off of her and she stepped back. "Don't run," Cooper said taking a step forward. "I don't know what happened to you, what made you so cold and heartless. But just know that I forgive you, and deep down, I still love you and I know you still love me. One disappointment isn't enough to destroy two decades of love. I am your son, and you're not as heartless as you seem."

"Get out," Mrs. Anderson growled.

"Mama,"

"Leave!" she yelled causing Rachel and Wes to jump. "I don't need you here. Get the hell out of my house! And Rachel, since you missed him so damn badly you can go with him."

"Don't push her away too," Cooper said reaching his hand out towards her.

"Did you not hear me?" Mrs. Anderson screeched. "Get. Out. Now."

Cooper looked at his mother with sad eyes before turning to walk down the hall. Rachel stared after him, frozen in place. His mother was seething, and quickly turned in the other direction stomping down the hall to her bedroom. Rachel shook her head sadly; her eyes were brimming with tears. This was all so much to take in. Biting her lip anxiously, Rachel quickly retreated into her bedroom slamming the door behind her. And once again Wes left in an empty hallway at a complete loss of what to do.

.o...0...o.

Kurt was starving. From the singing, and the confusion, and the sneaking he was positively exhausted, and still had no idea what Santana and the rest were up too. With a dejected sigh he stood up. "I'm ordering pizza!" he yelled.

Everybody turned to him and Kurt groaned internally. He was an idiot. Immediately, everybody yelled what toppings they did and didn't want. As if Kurt had asked them.

"Pepperoni!" Quinn said.

"Bacon and mushrooms," Mercedes called.

"Green pepper!"

"All meat!" Artie yelled and it took everything in Kurt not to make that into a gay joke.

"Anchovies!" Brittany called out. Everybody looked at her. "What?" she shrugged. "Lord Tubbington always asks for them on his pizza and they're surprisingly delicious."

Kurt shrugged not even bothering to try and understand Brittany and her witticisms. Today was not the day for that.

"Anything else?" he asked turning to the cell-phone girls.

"Nah," Stacey said smiling at him. "We know you'll just ignore everything anyway."

Kurt shrugged. "Well it is my money. But I do take everybody into consideration."

Stacey rolled her eyes. "Sure you do, lover boy."

"Fine," Kurt said walking by them to the stair case. "Believe what you will. I'll be back." Stacey waved at him, and when nobody moved to follow Kurt descended the stairs.

.o...0...o.

"Wes is taking a long time," Nick said from his perch on Jeff's lap. "Do you think everything's all right?"

"Rachel's probably just being stubborn," David said with a shrug. "Let the boy take his time."

"I don't know," Nick said. "My Warbler senses are tingling; I don't have a good feeling about this.

Jeff shook his head. "Honestly," he said with a fond smile on his face. "If you don't make the Warbler council next year I think I'll quit." He kissed the back of Nick's neck. "As for Wes," he continued mumbling against Nick's skin, sending shivers down the boy's spine. "If you're so concerned why don't we go look for him?"

"No," Nick sighed nuzzling back into Jeff's gentle touch. "David's probably right."

"What's David right about?" Blaine asked exiting the bathroom with nothing but a towel around his waist. He seemed much calmer, though there was tenseness to his body that wasn't usually there, like he was ready to pounce at any given moment.

"Dude," Jeff said staring at Blaine's beaten and still lightly bleeding hand. "You masturbated way too hard."

Blaine rolled his eyes at Jeff. "I wasn't masturbating," he said picking up the sweatpants he wore before and placing them on his bed before he sat on them. "I punched the shower wall."

"I think masturbating would have been more productive," Jeff said leaning back in the desk chair. "It would have put you in a better mood and left you uninjured."
Blaine didn't reply, but then again Jeff wasn't expecting one. It was Blaine in a pissy mood; it would take a lot to make him speak properly. Luckily a lot decided to walk into the room looking quite shell shocked.

"Whoa dude," David said when Wes entered the room. "Are you okay?"

Wes looked at him not really sure what to say. "Umm…I don't really know," he said. He looked around for a chair but opted for sitting on the floor when he realized they were all taken.

"What happened?" Nick asked looking at Wes.

"I think I just witnessed something I really wasn't supposed to see," he said putting his head in his hands.

"What was it?" David asked wanting to know. Wes was pretty excitable sure, but he seemed shell-shocked right now. Whatever he saw must have been good, or bad depending on the news.

"Family stuff," he said looking at Blaine.

The curly haired boys brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Cooper and your mother meeting again after six years," Wes said. "It was not pretty."

"Yeah well I hope she hit him where it hurt," Blaine said without remorse. "That's what he deserves for leaving."

"Yeah, about that," Wes said slowly. "That's not exactly true."

Blaine stared at him. "I'm sorry what?"

"That's not true?" Wes said again. "He never left willingly; he was kicked out. By your mother actually." Wes could tell that Blaine didn't believe him. The look of pure disbelief and skepticism on his face was enough. "You don't believe me," he said with a sigh.

"You're right I don't," Blaine said running a hand through his hair. "That doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't?" Wes asked cocking his head. "The fact that Cooper may not be as bad as what you believe?"

"No," he said solemnly. "It's the fact that that contradicts everything I've ever been told!" Blaine said in frustration.

"Maybe that's because your mother is a chronic liar," Wes said with a shrug.

"Don't blame this on her," Blaine said.

"Oh wow," Wes said with wide eyes. "Don't blame your mother he says," looking at Nick, Jeff, and David making sure they'd heard it to. "Now you're definitely hiding something." Wes said looking at Blaine again.

"Not really," Blaine said. "I just don't believe you."

"Does that seem wise?" David piped in.

"Oh," Blaine scoffed. "You would take his side."

"Get off your high horse Blaine," Jeff said from underneath Nick. "Let's be real. Why would Wes lie to you?"

"Whoa, whoa," Nick said standing up with hands out in a calming manner. "Simmer down everybody; we don't want to be taking sides here."

"Whatever," Blaine said crossing his arms.

"Look," Nick said looking from Wes to Blaine and back again. "Obviously Blaine is going to have a hard time accepting this," Wes made a face but Nick kept speaking. "Well look at it from his point of view, Cooper disappeared, shows up six years later, and then here's from you not him, that everything he knew was a lie? Now while I have no reason to believe that you're lying," he said directly to Wes. "I do understand why Blaine's being pissy—

"Hey!"

"This is a lot to handle and—"

"I don't understand why he didn't tell me himself," Blaine said putting his head in his hands. "He's had six years, six! That's a long time to stay away from a home you "didn't" run away from."

"He was scared," Wes said to his half naked friend. "He said it himself. As for the why he hasn't told you before? He did try to speak to you this morning, but as I recall somebody kicked him out."

"Don't make this my fault," Blaine said angrily. "The fault isn't mine."

"He didn't say it was your fault," David said with a shrug. "He's just answering your question. He tried to speak to you, you kicked him out of your room."

"He was leaving Rachel's room," Wes said. "As far as we know he could have been coming here to try again. But then he got kicked out…again."

"Wow," Jeff said. "Poor guy's been kicked out of a place he used to call home an awful lot."

"Despite your best efforts," Blaine said with a tight smile. "I still feel no sympathy for him. Now if you excuse me," he got up and slid the sweatpants he was sitting on, on underneath his towel. "I'm leaving." Walking into the bathroom he grabbed a t-shirt and a jumper throwing them on.

"Where are you going?" Wes asked borderline frantically. "We have plans!"

"Yeah well cancel them," Blaine said. "I'm really sorry I just…I need some time to think alone. This has been a very stressful day and just…too much to think about."
Before either of the Warblers could object, Blaine was out the door.

"What the hell just happened?" asked David.

"I don't know," Jeff said. "But the Girls are going to kill us!"

.o...0...o.

The "party" had managed to make its way upstairs because that's where food is. Or at least that's where it would be if the pizza guy would hurry the hell up. Everyone was starting to groan so Kurt snuck into his dad's stash of unhealthy food to tide them over. He'd been meaning to dispose of all that blood clotting junk anyway so now was a good a time as any.

Everybody was now spread out in front of the plasma T.V. Santana and Artie were fighting over what movie they wanted to watch, Mercedes was chatting with Quinn on the four person sofa, and Tina looked like she was trying to explain something to Brittany if her slightly frustrated expression was anything to go by.

"Boy," Stacey said from her perch on top of the kitchen counter next to Kurt. "If food don't get here soon I'm going to be as cranky as a bull in a china shop that was forced to pay for all the crap he broke."

"Is that even a real saying?" Kurt asked giving Stacey a weird look.

"Did I just say it?" she asked, flipping her long brown hair that was out of the high pony tail for once.

"I think we can establish that you did," Kurt said with a sarcastic flourish.

"Then it's real," she replied.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"But that's what you said," Stacey replied with a cheeky grin. "Now go answer the door and get my food."

"But it didn't ri—"

Ding-dong! The bell rang. Kurt looked at Stacey with an eyebrow raised in surprise. She just shrugged with a smirk on her face and nodded towards the door. Kurt sighed sliding off the counter towards the door making sure he had his money on him. He heard Stacey follow him, and wasn't surprised when he felt a hand slap his ass.

"Sorry, you're not my type," Kurt said flatly, not looking at her as he unlocked the front door.

"And you're hot," she said. "I couldn't stop myself." Used to Stacey's weirdness Kurt just rolled his eyes, but narrowed them when he saw who was standing on the porch.

"You're not the pizza man," Kurt said pointing out the obvious.

Stacey gasped next to him, her eyes wide and her hand covering her mouth as the other crossed across her stomach. It was like she was trying to fold in on herself to escape the horrible reality that had suddenly appeared before her.

"Jesus, Stacey," Kurt said glancing back at the blue-eyed man who seemed to be in the same state of shock as the southern girl. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," the man said snapping out of his surprise with a blink. "Allow me to introduce myself," He glanced at Stacey who was still frozen before holding out his hand. "I'm Cooper Anderson."

Before Kurt could process the name he had just heard, or what it could even mean, Stacey chose then to return back to reality.

"You. Fucking. Bastard," she spat, he face twisting in her pure and utter anger. "You FUCKING bastard!" Before Kurt could stop her, though he honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to, Stacy angrily slammed the door.