Chapter Seven: We Didn’t Start the Fire

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.

There was silence for a moment as the three sized each other up, Shannon glancing back and forth between the two men in confusion.  “Hummel,” she said finally.  “What is this?”

“I was…” Kurt began.

“Kurt was just taking me…” Blaine started at the same time. 

Kurt could see the comprehension dawning on Shannon’s face as she looked down at their hands, still just-touching between them.  He yanked his to the side as Blaine took a step away.

“I see,” Shannon spoke after a moment.

Kurt‘s heart pounded as he waited for her judgment, his mind racing in want of a solution but finding none.  They had been so stupid, so naive to think they could get away with this.

“I was just leaving for the day,” Shannon said carefully, making pointed eye contact with both of them in turn.  “I didn’t expect to see anyone on my way out.  I haven’t seen you.  Until tomorrow, you understand?  I won’t lie for you two.”

Kurt stood there like an idiot, nodding at her words but not really hearing them, until he felt Blaine’s hand slip into his and tug gently.

“We understand,” Blaine was saying.  “Thank you.”  And then Shannon was walking past them, Blaine pulling Kurt along in the opposite direction, pushing through the heavy double doors that led out of the prison.

Warm sunshine caressed Kurt’s skin, and Blaine smiled at him, squeezing his fingers before he broke out into a run towards the blue sedan Kurt could barely see through the gate, forcing Kurt to follow.  Kurt had always hated running, but this time the rhythm of his feet pounding against the pavement felt different.

It felt like freedom.  It felt like hope.

*******

They made it to the car without incident, Blaine swiftly ducking into the back seat while Kurt settled up front by his father, both men keeping their heads down even though the car had tinted windows.  Kurt could sense that Burt was on edge, though outwardly he seemed as calm as ever, leaning over to adjust the volume on the radio.  It was a bad move on his part, because as soon as he did, Kurt noticed the music was country and promptly switched it off.

“Are your buddies coming soon?” Burt asked, the sound of his words startling in the now-silent car.

Before his father finished speaking, Kurt noticed a figure running full-speed from around the side of the gate, glancing back over his shoulder frequently as he did so.  “Shit,” Blaine said out loud.  All they could do was watch as Puck made his way swiftly across the lawn, Lauren stepping out of the shadows where she had been waiting by the gate to meet him.   Kurt half expected to see some of the guards chasing him down, but Lauren was already closing the gate again when someone else finally came into view.  It took a few moments to register that it was Sue Sylvester herself, and she seemed to be limping slightly as she hurled something indistinguishable at Puck’s head.

Puck and Lauren were almost to the car when the gates fully shut mere inches in front Sue’s angry face, and Kurt saw Lauren smirk at Puck before turning and giving the screaming woman the finger as she disappeared from view.  And then it was over; they were climbing into the vehicle, the door slamming shut in their haste, his dad flooring it. 

“That felt good,” Lauren said after a moment, and Kurt decided it was better if he didn’t turn around when he heard the unmistakable sound of kissing. 

All too soon, Burt was stopping with a screech behind Kurt’s parked car, leaving the engine running as everyone jumped out and tossing Kurt his keys.  Puck and Blaine exchanged a look that told Kurt that they’d already said their goodbyes.  There really wasn’t time now, anyway.

“Take care of yourselves,” Kurt called out awkwardly as he, Blaine and his dad relocated to his own vehicle.  “And that baby.  And thank you.”

Puck merely nodded at him, already settled behind the driver’s seat, and Lauren offered him a rare smile.  Kurt sighed heavily as he shut his door and started the engine, pulling onto the street with greater caution than his dad had shown minutes before.  They spent the rest of the drive in silence.

When they reached the house and climbed out of the car, Blaine immediately approached Burt.  “Mr. Hummel,” he said, extending his hand.  “My name is Blaine Anderson.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Burt looked a little taken aback for a moment before collecting himself and shaking the proffered hand.  “Call me Burt.”

Blaine nodded, and together the three men headed up to the house.  Once inside, Kurt turned to glance awkwardly between his father and soulmate.  “I’m going to go warm up dinner,” he announced after a moment, wincing internally at the thought of leaving Blaine and Burt alone to talk but knowing it was best to let his dad get it over with.

“So, tell me about this prison thing,” he heard Burt ask as he moved through the house to the kitchen and out of hearing range.

It was a relief to go through the motions: putting the chicken pot pie he had prepared the night before in the oven to reheat, cleaning and chopping vegetables for a salad, pulling the cheesecake out of the fridge to slice.  He needed something to do with his hands while he attempted to process the events of the last couple hours and prepare for what was to come tonight and over the next few days.

He was amazed that their plan had worked thus far—Blaine was no longer in prison, but instead he was here, safe at home with Kurt where he belonged.  Tonight he would be in Kurt’s bed, and tomorrow they would set out on a still riskier journey that would hopefully be the beginning of the rest of their lives.  Together.

There were simply too many emotions vying for his attention, but the mindless tasks of food preparation helped, and by the time Kurt ran out of things to do he felt calm enough to rejoin his father and Blaine.  Wiping his sweaty hands on a kitchen towel, he walked to the living room where he found them sitting companionably on the couch watching a football game. 

Blaine likes football?  Kurt was a little shocked, but then there were probably many things Blaine liked that Kurt didn’t know about yet.  The reminder of how new and unexpected their relationship was stung a bit.

Until Blaine looked up at him with adoration in his eyes, a smile growing on his face, and patted the empty space between him and Burt on the couch.  Kurt returned his smile tentatively, walking over and sinking down into his seat while deliberately not looking at his father, whose gaze had remained fixed on the screen the entire time.

He took Blaine’s hand.  “Dinner should be ready in about ten minutes,” he said to both of them.  Then, when no one replied, “did you two have a nice chat?”

Burt merely grunted in response, but Blaine gave his hand a little squeeze.  “I just told him about the circumstances that led up to me being imprisoned.”

Kurt stole a glance at his father, who was still pointedly staring at the television.  “Oh?  But I already told him about most of that.”

“I just wanted his side of the story,” Burt said simply, finally turning to look at his son and Blaine.  His eyes traveled to where their hands were clasped together before flickering back up to Kurt’s face, but his expression betrayed nothing. 

“And?”  Kurt prompted, not trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

“It’s just as you said,” Burt answered cryptically.  But then his face softened.  “Looks like you landed yourself a pretty good one, kid.”

Kurt felt his body relax at his father’s words, unaware until now that he’d ever been tense.  Burt could be hard to read at times, and he was always careful with what he said, but Kurt should have trusted that his father would be able to recognize all the good in Blaine and, hopefully, understand in the short amount of time they would have together why he was perfect for Kurt.  He didn’t want his father to be worried about him when he was gone, even as part of him understood instinctively that that was a bit of a pipe dream.

The timer went off in the kitchen.  “That’s dinner,” he announced more happily.  Kurt led the way to the table, the other two men trailing after him.

*******

Kurt had been afraid that the dinner conversation would be stilted at best, but Burt surprised him as soon as the salad had been passed around.

“So Blaine, Kurt tells me your folks sent you to Dalton.  What’s that like?”

Blaine paused his forkful of lettuce before it reached his mouth.  “Dalton is the name of the boarding school I attended, actually, they call the place beyond the border ‘The Olde World.’  It was quite an experience, to say the least.  Nothing like it is here.  People are so much… freer there.  More relaxed, more educated.  I’m really grateful to have had that experience.”

“You didn’t miss your parents?  I gotta say, I might have considered that for Kurt if it was really necessary and an option for us, but it would have killed me to see him go.”

Kurt smiled at his father, reaching over to give his hand a gentle squeeze.

Blaine looked thoughtful.  “My parents weren’t as… accepting as you are of Kurt.  They weren’t unkind, but they didn’t understand.  Sending me away was the best thing they ever did for me.”

Burt shook his head, looking a bit put out.  “I can’t say I understand how anybody can be any less than fully accepting of their kid exactly the way they are, but I’m glad you’re okay with it.”

“It wasn’t easy, but I’ve had a lot of time to accept it,” Blaine spoke earnestly. 

“What do you mean when you say that people there are ‘more educated’?” Kurt broke in.  “I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while…”

Blaine sighed, staring down at his wine as he twirled it around in his glass.  “How much do the two of you know about the Source?”

Kurt merely looked confused, but Burt’s eyes registered some recognition.  “It’s what’s behind the names, isn’t it?  What brings soulmates together.”

Blaine nodded, his eyes shifting back and forth between Kurt and his father.  Kurt wasn’t sure why, but he felt a new tension lingering in the air, as though something big was about to be revealed.  He twisted in his seat before standing to take the pie out of the oven.

“Many years ago,” Blaine began, “there was no such thing as soulmates.  Well there were I suppose, but people had no way of finding them.  They would fall in and out of love easily, marry—that’s kind of like what we call ‘bonding’—and break up at will.  Very few people ever found their actual soulmates, and the world was so sad that there was crime and war and violence the likes of which we’ve never seen today.”

Taking his seat again and distributing their dinner, Kurt couldn’t help but feel as though Blaine was reciting something from a textbook.  Then again, maybe he was.

“What happened?” Burt coaxed, his brow furrowed as if he was thinking too hard.

“Alien intervention.”  Blaine smiled as he delivered that line.  “It sounds crazy, but it’s true.  Their names have been lost to us, but finding us in such a state, they set about taking over and introducing the Source.  It wasn’t an easy process, and much of Earth’s population was wiped out in the struggle, but in the end they brought us peace.  The Source grounds us to the root of all that is good… to love itself, you could say.  It brings us life, and it gives us the names that will lead us to our soulmates.”

Kurt shook his head, feeling that something about all of this didn’t sit right.  “How is it that this world bans homosexuality then, if this Source is what gives us our soulmates?  If the Source is so good, how can people say it creates something that is wrong?”

Blaine considered him sadly.  “It’s not wrong, Kurt. When the Source first came, there was no prejudice.   In fact, homosexuality used to have a purpose in our world, and you can still see the remnants of that today.  Because two people of the same sex cannot naturally have children, they were upheld as natural leaders instead.  Power couples, of a sort, who were meant to govern, though some of them did have other roles in society and some even adopted.”

“That sounds beautiful,” Kurt said quietly, tears springing to his eyes as he pictured it.

“Yeah, so what happened?” Burt asked.

“Disease,” Blaine answered simply.  “A couple centuries ago, long after those that brought the Source had left, some sort of plague broke out on Earth and wiped us out nearly to the point of extinction.  And that’s where Rehabilitation first came in…”

“To help with repopulation,” Kurt supplied, beginning to put the pieces together.  As much as the idea made him sick, it did make sense.  “But why didn’t things go back to the way they were before, after that was taken care of?”

“The Source was weakened when the population dropped, and then Rehabilitation weakened it further because it caused people to go against their natural instincts.  Prejudice began to seep back in, and Rehabilitation continued long past the time when it was necessary.  The world began to view rehabilitated people as even more effective leaders, as the process appeared to cut them off from many of the emotions the rest of us fall prey to.  And so it continued.”

“And the Source?”

“It’s still weaker now than it was at the beginning, but our population, while still not what it once was, is strong enough to keep it going—at least where the names are concerned.  It’s much stronger in The Olde World.  That’s one of the reasons for the barrier; it’s to keep out all the bad feelings that make the Source weak.  In fact, The Olde World was only created because someone was smart enough to see the need to strengthen the Source.”

“That’s… a lot to process,” Burt said, while Kurt stood to get the dessert.

Blaine nodded.  “People are kept ignorant here for a reason.”

They finished the rest of their meal in silence, each man lost to his own thoughts, until Burt abruptly stood and announced his intention to retire.  “Big day tomorrow,” his voice was laced with emotion.  “I think I’ll go put on some music.  Loud music,” he clarified, glancing between his son and Blaine pointedly.

“Goodnight, Burt,” Blaine answered him with a smile, both grateful and amused.

Kurt only blushed.