Chapter Six: I Want to Break Free

Kurt's conversation with Lauren, when it happened, was interesting to say the very least.

He didn't wanted to tell her about the relationship between him and Blaine, unsure of what her reaction would be, so he merely mentioned that he was helping Blaine for "personal reasons."

Lauren looked at him with a sort of dazed curiosity before her expression abruptly changed to something far more sinister.  "Sex between dudes is hot," she declared with absolute certainty.  "I would ask to stick around and watch, but Puckerman's gotta lot of woman to get up on here, so I think we'll be busy for quite some time."

"Umm... Thanks?" Kurt responded, a little taken aback.

“No problem.”  Lauren pointed to herself.  “Zizes always speaks the truth.  So when do I get to meet my man?”

“I’ll have Blaine speak with him, see what we can work out.  I’ll let you know.”

*******

The next week, Puck signed up for Oboe lessons.

“The oboe?” Kurt exclaimed after group.  “You really think that’s believable?”

Puck shrugged.  “No one will be paying attention.  And the oboe is a cool instrument!  I actually wanted to play it back when I was a kid…”

“That’s fine, whatever,” Kurt said, nervously eyeing the guard that was still standing by the door watching them.  Most of the time the guards left to escort the majority of the prisoners back to the living areas of the prison, trusting to leave any stragglers alone with Kurt, but this guy Kurt didn’t recognize.  He had the rest of the group waiting outside the door and seemed determined to leave with everyone at the same time. 

“Yeah,” Puck said, glancing subtly in the same direction.  He met Kurt’s eyes and nodded his understanding.  “I’ll see you later this week for those lessons, then,” he spoke loudly, turning to go.

Kurt nodded back.  “See you later.”

*******

Kurt was very, very grateful that Lauren had come along; she was the perfect person to assist them with their plans.  She did, however, introduce a new complication.  Now they were going to have to break Puck out too, and they needed a new distraction.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the planning process was the substantial difficultly of effectively communicating with everyone involved.  Kurt could speak to Lauren freely when they were alone, but on the other end of it were Puck, Blaine, and Artie, who had to mind their conversations under the watchful eyes and ears of the prison guards.  Communication between the two groups was even harder to achieve and basically whittled down to the hour Blaine and Kurt had together on Mondays for his “lessons.”

Kurt had managed to introduce Puck and Lauren two days after they spoke, as Puck’s lesson was scheduled for Thursday afternoons.  Well, maybe “introduce” wasn’t the right word.  Kurt had very carefully snuck Puck out of his office (thankfully located in a sparsely-traveled wing of the prison) and into a nearby janitor’s closet where Lauren had been waiting.  He hadn’t even gotten their names out of his mouth to make a proper introduction when they started fiercely kissing right in front of him.  It was the most lewd thing Kurt had ever witnessed, and he had awkwardly slipped out of the small space as quickly as he could.  Puck reappeared in his office a few minutes before the guard came to retrieve him, looking dazed and grinning wildly.  Kurt strongly suspected they weren’t doing much talking at all during the hour they met each week, let alone planning.

In spite of all this, a second breakthrough did eventually transpire.

“I think we’ve found the distraction we’re going to need to slip away,” Blaine told him excitedly one Monday.

“Oh?”

“Quinn Fabray has agreed to…”

“Wait, what?  That quiet Goth girl in music group?  Why would you even think of bringing someone else into this, let alone her!?”

“Woah, calm down,” Blaine nearly snapped, coming over to Kurt and rubbing his hands soothingly up and down his soulmate’s arms.  “You really think I’d do anything to jeopardize our plans?”

Kurt brought his hands up to his face, sighing into them and rubbing his forehead.  “No, you’re right; I’m sorry.  Please explain.”

“I’m not sure it’s my place to tell you this,” Blaine began.  “Quinn is a very private person, and not overly friendly to be honest.  She’s had a rough life.”

“I can tell,” Kurt broke in sarcastically.

Blaine went on as though he hadn’t spoken.  “I think her motives for wanting to help, and our motives for helping her, will make sense.  Do you know why Quinn is in here?”

Kurt wracked his brain.  He had taken to reading the inmate files lately out of about equal parts boredom and curiosity, but there had been a lot of them and they all tended to blur together after a while.  “Is she the one with the kid?”

Blaine nodded, lowering himself to sit in Kurt’s chair and spinning around in it once before settling with his feet propped up on the desk.  “She got pregnant when she was still in high school, and it’s illegal…”

“It’s illegal to have a child with someone who isn’t your soulmate.  I’m not completely ignorant of the world around me, Blaine.” Kurt didn’t add that he wasn’t aware of the full penalty that law carried until he started his job.

“Right, sorry!” Blaine retorted.  “Anyways, her kid… well, I don’t know how to put this any other way but bluntly, so I’ll just say it.  Puck is the father.”

Kurt felt his jaw drop open at that and quickly snapped it shut.  “Wow, okay.  Does Lauren know?”

“He told her last week.  She took it well, from what he said.  I don’t think she’s quite the type to put much stock in chastity.”

“But Quinn is okay with Puck and Lauren?  I still don’t get why she wants to help.”

“Quinn is far from stupid.  Their fling was a long time ago, and she hadn’t seen him in a long while since she’s been here for several years.  It was just a coincidence that he ended up here too.  She knows better than to get emotionally attached.”

“Right,” Kurt said flatly.  “You’re beating around the bush here.”

“Their daughter went into foster care a couple of years ago.  Quinn’s mother was raising her, but she got sick and died and her husband didn’t approve of keeping a reminder of his daughter’s ‘shame.’  Puck promised Quinn that after he got out, he and Lauren would try to find her and give her a good life.”

“How is Puck going to do that as an ex-convict?”

“Not a clue,” Blaine conceded.  “I imagine it will involve some highly-illegal kidnapping and then an attempt to sneak across the border, but that’s not for me to know.”

“Okay,” Kurt said slowly after a moment.  “I think I get why you’re trusting her.  I’m not even going to ask how she plans to do this…”

“Probably for the best,” Blaine agreed.

Kurt approached the chair and plopped down in Blaine’s lap, curling up against him and burrowing his head into Blaine’s neck.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so snappy and that I doubted you,” he said quietly.  “I’m just so scared about all of this.  So much can go wrong, and I don’t want to lose you.”

Blaine’s arms came up to wrap around him and pull Kurt tightly against his chest.  “I know babe.”  He kissed Kurt’s forehead.  “I’m not going to lie to you, what we’re planning is very risky…  I don’t even want to think of the repercussions should we get caught.  But we just have to do the best we can and trust that it will work out.  It’s worth it if we can be together.”

They were silent for a while, lost in their thoughts and holding each other, before Kurt spoke again.  “Blaine, tell me about what our life will be like in The Olde World.”

Blaine smiled.  “It’s beautiful there, so much so that you can feel it.  Everyone is accepted and there’s love everywhere you look.  I’ll be able to go back to college, of course, and you can try out for the musicals they’re putting on all the time.  We’ll work hard and save up and buy our own house…”

*******

The next week Blaine brought the very news that Kurt had been anxiously waiting to hear: all was ready, and it was time.

They spent their hour together verifying all the plans they had made for Friday night, when they had determined that it was safest to attempt a break out due to typically strained staffing on the weekends.

“So, to start out the day my dad will follow me to work in an unmarked car and park it just out of sight of the building.  I’ll park in my usual spot, and my dad will sneak in when it’s clear during the day and move my car near the other one, so no one will see me leave in it or be suspicious when it’s still there.”

“Right, and Artie will set up the tech stuff during his afternoon rounds…”

“Do you have a key for the doors?”

Blaine shook his head.  “Don’t need one—when the security system goes down the doors will automatically unlock.”

Kurt nodded.  “What about the distraction?”

Blaine smiled.  “Like I said, Quinn has that all taken care of.  Also, Puck and I plan to leave through different exits, so hypothetically if they catch one of us they won’t be able to catch both…”

“Let’s not think about that,” Kurt broke in hurriedly.

“You need to be waiting for me outside of your office, and we’ll go from there.  I still don’t like you sticking around to leave with me, you know.  It’s not safe.”

“I’d just feel better if I was there,” Kurt repeated the argument he’d used every time this came up.  “I stay late all the time; it won’t look suspicious.”

“If you say so,” Blaine acquiesced.  “We’ll be leaving through the back door and all of us will meet at the back gate—Lauren’s on duty there that night—so your dad can wait for us there?”

“No problem,” Kurt agreed.  “Wow, we’re really going to do this, aren’t we?”

Blaine reached out and took his hand.  “Yeah,” he said with a squeeze.  “I guess we really are.”

*******

When Friday came, things went almost too smoothly.  Burt followed Kurt to work, assuring his son that he had plenty of car magazines to occupy him throughout the day, that he would not be seen, that he would remember to be there on time…

“Relax, buddy,” his dad said as they parted that morning.  “I know this is a big deal goin’ down today, but it won’t do anybody any good if you let the stress get to you.”

Kurt wasn’t sure that his father’s words were reassuring, but as usual, they were practical.  “Yeah Dad, I’ll try.  And… thank you.  For being so great.”

“Ain’t nothing special about it,” Burt countered.  “It’s called being a father.”

As the day moved on, Kurt tried his best to keep his mind focused on work—both to give himself something to do and to keep from attracting suspicion.  This grew increasingly challenging as his anxiety multiplied with each minute that ticked away on the clock.  He knew what his cues would be: the security camera in his office going blank, the code announcement over the intercom system, and then he needed to be waiting outside of his office.  If any of those things failed to happen, then the whole plan would be a no-go.

He stared at the black screen in shock for a moment as for the first time what he was about to attempt felt real.  His breathing sped up and his hands began to twist together as he waited, watching one minute click by on the clock, then another…

Four minutes had passed when the announcement finally came; he stood a little shakily and cracked open his door.  The coast was clear.  Glancing back to take one more visual sweep of his office, he turned and stepped out into the hallway, quietly closing the door behind him for the last time.

And then Blaine was there, moving quickly toward him.  Kurt could tell that he was fully alert, tense and ready should something troubling occur, but he knew that no one else looking at Blaine would see this.  His soulmate was a good actor.

He smiled at Kurt as he drew close, and Kurt fell easily into step beside him.  He was still nervous, but his anxiety was now accompanied by an unexpected rush of excitement.  Something about doing this—walking down the hall next to Blaine—felt so natural to Kurt, so right, that he had to struggle to hold on to his feelings of fear.  He had always been the type to follow the edict “better to be safe than to be sorry,” and now was certainly not an appropriate time to let hope tempt him into throwing caution to the wind.

Still, as they neared the back door of the building he began to relax and could tell that Blaine was doing the same.  Kurt couldn’t help the conspiratorial grin that crept across his face, and a glance at Blaine showed that he wore a similar expression.  Kurt inched a little closer to him, brushing their fingers together lightly before tentatively moving to take his hand…

A door suddenly opened at the very end of the hall, a guard stepping out of the room.  Kurt yanked his hand away, his smile falling instantly, as Shannon Beiste looked up and met his eyes.