"Hey boys."

Blaine and Kurt looked up from the table where Kurt had been showing Blaine how to do some maths problems. Blaine caught on surprisingly fast.

"Here you go Blaine." Burt dropped a envelope on the table in front of him. Blaine looked confused and picked it up.

"I can't name a slave on my books. So I can pay you weekly so you have money to go out this weekend."

Kurt smiled widely whilst Blaine looked down at the envelope still a little stunned.

"I'm going out to pick up a few things, you can come with me if you want."

Please say yes, Kurt thought.

"Yes." Blaine said.

Kurt hid his smile.

"You did good this week Kid." Burt said as he walked out.
----------------------------------------------------

Kurt looked between the two music sheets, he didn't know which Celine Dion song to learn for glee. He turned around to ask Blaine if he had any opinion, though he knew Blaine would say that he was sure whatever Kurt choose would be brilliant. But Blaine was not behind him. He looked around the room and saw him stood staring at the piano in the corner, suddenly the finger tapping made sense to Kurt. Blaine played the piano, and when he thought nobody was looking he practiced on a imaginary keyboard.

Kurt walked over to him and smiled when he looked up.

"How long have you played?"

Kurt didn't get his answer because the shop attendant walked past them right at that moment.

"Feel free to play guys."

Blaine's eyes widened and he looked over at Kurt. Kurt gave him a small nod, he was excited to hear Blaine play and have one of his mysteries about him answered.

Blaine sat down and stared at the keys for a moment then slowly and confidently he began to play. As the piece of music went on Kurt watched him closely. He was growing calm and seemed to be contented and lost in the music. Kurt didn't know the piece his knowledge of classical music was not as good as his knowledge of musicals and current music. It was a complicated piece and Blaine was playing it entirely from memory.

"That was brilliant, what is it?"

Blaine looked down.

"Nothing." He muttered.

Kurt was silent he didn't know what to make of the silence.

"I wrote it." Blaine said quietly after the silence had stretched into discomfort.

Kurt couldn't stop his shook.

"That's amazing!" He said it so loudly that he found himself looking over his shoulder at the group of young men staring at him. He dropped his voice down low. "Blaine, will you play me another one."

"All the others have words." Blaine said his cheeks blushing red in an adorable way.

"Then sing." Kurt said it as if it really didn't matter but actually he wanted to hear Blaine's song more than anything.

Blaine stared down at the keys again for a while before he started playing Kurt saw that his fingers were trembling on the keys. He seemed so scared to be showing anything of himself but this time Kurt was going to push, with his silence he was going to push.

Slowly Blaine seemed to find his rhythm and then he started to sing. His voice was quiet but it sent a thrill down Kurt's spine and made him freeze on the spot. It was an amazing voice, it was a pop-stars voice, clear, pure, emotional.

"I've been alone
Surrounded by darkness
I've seen how heartless
The world can be

I've seen you crying
You felt like it's hopeless
I'll always do my best
To make you see

Baby, you're not alone
Cause you're here with me
And nothing's ever gonna bring us down
Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you
And you know it's true
It don't matter what'll come to be
Our love is all we need to make it through

Now I know it ain't easy
But it ain't hard trying
Every time I see you smiling
And I feel you so close to me
And you tell me

Baby, you're not alone
Cause you're here with me
And nothing's ever gonna bring us down
Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you
And you know it's true
It don't matter what'll come to be
Our love is all we need to make it through

I still have trouble
I trip and stumble
Trying to make sense of things sometimes
I look for reasons
But I don't need 'em
All I need is to look in your eyes
And I realize

Baby I'm not alone
Cause you're here with me
And nothing's ever gonna take us down
Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you
And you know it's true
It don't matter what'll come to be
Our love is all we need to make it through, ooh

Cause you're here with me
And nothing's ever gonna bring us down
Cause nothing, nothing, nothing can keep me from lovin' you
And you know it's true
It don't matter what'll come to be
You know our love is all we need
Our love is all we need to make it through"

"That was beautiful, truly beautiful. What were you thinking when you wrote it?"

Blaine shrugged.

"Tell me, please?"

Blaine looked reluctant.

"I won't ask you anything else personal for a month, I just really want to know the meaning of that song it's so beautiful."

"I started writing it for a crush but I changed it at the very start of my training, before I became, well before I became this, before the first sales when I thought everything would just magically go back to normal." His voice was bitter and his eyes distant." I just..." Blaine sighed and looked down. "I was just imaging things could be different one day."

"That you wouldn't be alone?"

"That I wouldn't be helpless, that I could ... that I could offer comfort to somebody else. " Blaine shrugged again. "It's stupid."

"No, Blaine, It's not. Who were you thinking of when you wrote it?"

"That was more than one question."

"So I have to wait a month to ask?"

Blaine nodded.

"Or order me to tell you." He said his face suddenly dark.

"I'm not going to do that. I'm sorry I pushed you."

"Talking to you is not as bad as I thought it would be."

"You can tell me whatever you want to you know. I won't judge."

Blaine shook his head.

"No, I think that's about all I can tell you."

Kurt stepped forwards and rested his hand on Blaine's shoulder.

"For now. This conversation is getting you down, why don't you play something to cheer yourself up?"

Blaine's lip quirked up slightly. He looked down at the keys and started to play something light and cheerful that Kurt knew but couldn't quite place.

"What are those?"

Kurt spun around at the sharp voice. He had not heard the attendant walk up behind them. Kurt followed his gaze and saw that the sleeves of Blaine's t-shirt had pulled up and the tattooed slave numbers on the back of his wrists were showing.

"You let a slave play my piano?" The attendant asked outraged. "Get out!"

"Hey, he plays beautifully you have no right..." Kurt stopped when he felt a hand on his arm he looked over and saw Blaine shaking his head and pointing to the exit. Kurt wanted to argue, he wanted to fight for Blaine but he knew Blaine didn't want any trouble so he shot the attendant his best bitch expression and walked out the door.

Outside Kurt took a deep breath, he was literally shaking with anger.

"I can't believe him."

"Kurt?"

"No, it's not right, how dare he." Kurt grabbed Blaine's wrists and held them up looking at the black numbers.

"These mean nothing Blaine."

"Kurt please."

"No, I'm going to fight for you."

"Thank you, but Kurt, this has been a good day, can we just enjoy the rest of it?"

Kurt felt his anger deflate. Blaine was having a good day. He was actually happy.

"Okay." Kurt said. "Now clothes or C.D.'s?"

"C.D's hen clothes."

Kurt smiled, Blaine was definitely opening up.

Blaine didn't talk much after the music shop. There were a few nods when buying clothes and a 'whatever' when they stopped for dinner. But Kurt was now comfortable with his silence. The new knowledge that Blaine had been happy and that Kurt now knew how to make him happy.
---------------------------------------------

"Kurt?"

Kurt turned around and saw his father stood in the kitchen doorway.

"Hey."

"Have you got a minute?"

"Sure." Kurt followed his Dad into the kitchen and they sat down.

"How are you doing Kiddo? Good day?"

"Yeah it was, thanks Dad. Me and Blaine had a great time."

"Blaine had a great time?"

"Well he said he was having a good day."

Burt nodded with a smile.

"Good to hear. Kurt, you know I'm going to be in Washington all next week."

"Yeah, I know Dad."

"Do you think Blaine will be alright working back in the shop?"

"I guess. I can ask him. Would it be alright if he took a break?"

"Whatever his comfortable with."

"Hows the fight going?"

"I've had other things on the table to deal with, but Jim Grange is being and ass. He keeps teasing me about you and Blaine, and Anderson has got fire up his as since the divorce. He's really going on the Anti-Gay stuff. But we've heard that there's going to be a vote called for the later part of this year."

"A vote?"

"It's on some new laws concerning the slave trade. Not a complete ban but laws on ages of slaves, where they come from and then a clause that means three month health checks for registered slaves. If it passes it'll actually make it illegal to kill a slave, basically giving them the right to life."

"That's not enough."

"It's a step in the right direction, a big step."

Kurt nodded.

"I guess."

"These things will take time. I'm guessing Grange is going to use this whole thing with Blaine against us."

"Or we could use it to strengthen our own argument. Blaine is fantastic Dad. He's so talented. He's a song writer, we could record it. We could show people what he could do, how nice he is, how he works so hard in the shop and...What's that face?"

"Nothing." Burt said with a smile.

"Dad?"

"It's just that it seems to me that you're pretty passionate."

"I've always been passionate about the slave trade"

"I wasn't referring to the trade."
-------------------------------------------
"This one here. He's been sold."

Blaine woke up to the banging on the bars of his window. He looked up and saw two of the familiar maintenance men opening the door.

"Get up."

Blaine obeyed straight away.

"Sold within two days of going on market hey? I knew when they brought him in he was going to be a popular toy."

"You should have seen his asking price, somebody obviously want this ass badly."

"Hurry up will you!"

Blaine nodded and hurriedly followed them down the cold hallway, he was led through the familiar punishment rooms. Had he really been sold? What would that mean for him? He would be away from the trainers but the trainers had rules to obey, what if his new master was crueler? What if he couldn't please him, he'd have to try his best that was the only way to keep alive. It might feel wrong to be so lowered that the only way to stay alive was to appear happy when giving pleasure to a man who you care nothing for but Blaine was going to keep alive. That was the only thing he had left, waking up in the morning and saying to himself 'I am alive'. He may not have belongings or dreams or a home but he had his own heart beating in his chest and his own lungs filled with air.

Blaine was led to a room he had not seen before, it was the strange cross between a doctors office and a storage room with medical table and syringes and man in white coat and piles of boxes in a corner.

"Put these on."

Blaine picked up the grey tracksuit. It felt like it had been a long time since he had worn clothes.

"You take them off when you get to your masters house, understand?"

Blaine nodded.

He didn't want to think about what his new master would be like, the possibilities were too much for him. He was not scared, he was accepting of his fate, he had no other choices, fighting just led to more pain and possible death.

"Lie on the table." The doctor told him.

Blaine did as he was told and watched as the syringe was filled up with yellowish liquid and the needle pushed into his arm. It burnt and for a brief second Blaine panicked at the idea that it was poison and that the last thing he would see in this world was a syringe being pushed into his arm and some dirty ceiling tiles. Then there was nothing.
------------------------------------------
Blaine was aware only of the pain in his head and a strong feeling that he might throw up. Slowly he became aware of other things, like the jostling movement and the cold metal below him. He opened his eyes, he was strapped to a gurney. At first he thought that maybe he was ambulance but as he looked around he realized the truth. He was in the slave transport system. There was five more unconscious slaves in the van with him. They were lying on two lots of three tired metal bunk beds. Blaine tried to wiggle against the tight straps that were biting into his arms but it was no use so he just laid back and allowed music to flow through his mind in the way he did late at night once training had finished and the screams of the newbies had died into quiet sobs.

The van stopped eventually. Another of the slaves across from Blaine was stirring a young woman. He hoped this was where he would be getting out and he wouldn't have to have another injection the pressure behind his eyes made them feel like they could pop out at any minute. The man who opened the door looked like any ordinary mail-carrier. He looked at his clipboard and at the beds.

"You." He said when he saw Blaine. He walked over and undid the straps holding Blaine down.

"Follow me."

Blaine got up, he felt his head spin and stumbled forwards putting his hands out against the sides of the van to steady himself.

"I said follow me!" The carrier said with a sharp slap to Blaine's backside. Blaine pursed his lips and looked down and followed him out. He could not see much of this new house because he had been told to keep his head down until a new master tell you to look up. He listened to the confusing conversation between the mail carrier and two other voices. Was he going to be sent back already? Please no. He did not want to go to the incinerator. He wanted to look up and shout at the high pitched male that he would do whatever he wanted that he would please him in every way he knew how, if he just took him, if he just let him live.

But he didn't and it turned out to be unnecessary, he was told to take the tracksuit off. He must work extra hard to please his new master , it seemed he was an unexpected and not entirely wanted gift but he would work hard and show them that he was worth keeping around. He risked a small look up to see his new master.

He was young and he was angry but he was also very beautiful.