Blaine snickered as he fell back onto his bed. Kurt had just left in a frenzy of confusion which had been very endearing to watch. He didn’t remember many details about the night before, but he recalled enough to know that things were finally moving forward with Kurt. Something had changed last night; something had caused Kurt to loosen up, and Blaine had never enjoyed it more. Drunken Kurt was definitely entertaining.

Blaine’s phone rang. Smiling lazily, he rolled over to grab it.

“Hello?”

“Blaine? It’s Aaron.”

~~~
Rachel just couldn’t seem to get into character today. She was doing everything she possibly could to sing with feeling, but she couldn’t get rid of the notion that something was going terribly wrong. This was Wicked, for goodness sake. She had been preparing for this role for years. So why couldn’t she get this right?

“Cut!” The director yelled for what seemed like the thousandth time.

The other actors on the stage sighed. Rachel’s normally erect posture slumped as she got ready for the admonition that she knew she deserved.

“Take five, everyone; I want to sort some things out.” The director said as he beckoned Rachel over. “What’s going on, Berry? Why are you being so... so not you? You aren’t being bossy, you aren’t being overbearing, you aren’t even being a bit—“

Everyone in the auditorium gasped. Murmurs started to fill the room. Rachel wasn’t being the diva she normally was? Rachel was being...nice?

Rachel scowled angrily as she realised that everyone was eavesdropping on the conversation she was having with the director. Clearly, everyone wanted to see NYADA’s little princess kicked down a few notches.

Still glaring fiercely, she turned back to the director, who was looking at her fondly. “There, Rachel, see! That’s the face we all know and love.”

Seeing her face settle back into the glum expression that had been present for the last three hours, the director sighed. “Rachel, seriously, do you want to take a break or something? We can get back to this later.”

Rachel contemplated his offer for a minute. “Actually, yes. I’d like a break. We can rehearse later. How about five o-clock sharp, West Wing auditorium, no costumes? Thank you, professor.”

With that, she flounced off to do who-knows-what, leaving everyone staring after her in shock. Rachel never took breaks. Ever.

Suddenly, everyone knew that she was actually upset. Worried whispers trailed after Rachel as she left the auditorium.

~~~
Blaine slumped back onto his pillows, his mind a whirl of confusion. He didn’t know what to do or what to think. A few hours ago, Kurt had left, leaving him with the warmest, fuzziest feeling about the night before. But now... but now he didn’t know. Blaine turned over to gaze at the clock. Everything was going wrong. Aaron had called. Blaine’s heart constricted as he remembered what he had said:

Blaine, Kurt hurt you. He flirted with other guys in front of you. He didn’t even stop and think rationally.

He should be the one fighting to get you back.

None of this was your fault, why are you giving in so easily?

And the worst one:

What if it happened again, Blaine? What if Kurt did the same thing again?

It was inconceivable. Blaine refused to believe it. Kurt was the right person for him. He knew it. They had been inseparable through high school, and every New Directions member had voted them most likely to have a happy ever after. But that didn’t happen. Blaine thought back to the fight. Kurt didn’t mean what he had said at when they had fought. He couldn’t have. It simply wasn’t possible. Yet, there was a nagging voice in his head that reminded him that there always was a ‘what if’. That he couldn’t go back to Kurt like nothing had happened. The fight had happened whether he liked it or not. Kurt was the one who wanted to break up, leaving Blaine confused and heartbroken. No, Blaine knew that he definitely was not at fault. And as much as he wished that he could go back to pursuing Kurt without a care in the world, he knew that it was time to let Kurt do the fighting, to see if Kurt really wanted him or not.

Rain was pouring outside; the droplets leaving trails on the glass, mirroring Blaine’s own tear streaked cheeks. A gloomy New York City met his eyes as he blankly stared out the window. It was in this state that Chrystie found him a few hours later.

~~~

Banging the door open, she barged into the apartment, throwing her set of keys onto the side table.

“Blaine Anderson, where the hell are you?” She yelled.

Striding angrily through each room, she finally caught sight of him, his face facing away from her and to the window.

“Blaine! Blaine?” She knelt down beside him, snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Why didn’t you show up for work today?”

Chrystie watched as he seemed to come out of a daze. As he turned towards her, she gasped. Blaine’s face was dripping with tears, his eyes red and puffy. Her sisterly instinct kicked in as she frantically checked Blaine for obvious injuries. Finding none, she looked back at the man who was her boss, friend, and family. She recalled the first time they had met, so many months ago.

She was an experienced manager who had just come meet the emerging star. Blaine was still little known, but there was something about him that sparked Chrystie’s curiosity; a hint of ‘star quality’ that made her set aside her other potential clients and take him on. But it wasn’t just Blaine’s prominent talent that made her pick him. There was a look in his eyes, a raw emotion that he didn’t bother hiding. Chrystie could tell that he was hurting, and her heart ached for the boy that she had only known for a few minutes. She had sworn to herself at that moment that she would do anything to protect him, to ease the pain that seemed to be eating away at him.

Now, looking in Blaine’s eyes, she realised that the same pain, evolved and mutated, had come back to haunt him. And she knew that she would have to fight again, to ease the sorrow that had once more tainted the features that she had come to know so well.

“Blaine, what happened?” She asked gently.

He turned his unseeing eyes downwards, and then suddenly dropped his face into his hands, shoulders shaking in violent sobs.

Chrystie slowly and carefully stood Blaine up, and walked him over to the couch.

“Blaine, what’s wrong?” She asked, desperately trying to find the answer in his eyes.

~~~

From the moment he heard the door open violently, Blaine knew that Chrystie would want to know exactly what happened. Now, seeing her piercing gray eyes, he realised that he would have to tell her what he hadn’t told anyone else.

“Kurt.” He said, finally.

Chrystie’s eyes stormed violently as she clenched her fists. “Did he hurt you?”

Blaine shook his head quickly, eager to dispel and ideas of that kind.

“Then what?”

He sighed, bracing himself for the conversation that was sure to follow. “I never told you the extent of what happened between us; between me and Kurt.”

“You told me you had a fight, but never the specifics.”

“Yeah, well...” Blaine proceeded to tell her the story that no one else knew besides Kurt and Rachel (The last had been confided in by Kurt), raw pain dripping as he recounted the conversation that had torn him from the man of his dreams. Snippets of Kurt’s voice echoed back in his mind as he delved into the memories that he had tried so hard to forget.

“Blaine! He’s just a friend, I was just saying that because he’s my friend and that’s what friends do, they joke around and stuff... Honestly, Blaine. I think you are overreacting.”

“Maybe you and I... were just because there weren’t any other options.”

“It’s hard, you know? To be around all these people who could be interested in me, could have a great future with me. And I can’t give it a shot, because there’s always you, tying me down.”

“Goodbye, Blaine.”

````

Chrystie sipped her coffee, pensively gazing into space. In the few hours since she had seen Blaine, she had done a lot of thinking. Blaine was a mess; that much she was sure of. She didn’t blame him, however. If anything, Chrystie was surprised that he had gone so long without breaking down.

She sighed yet again. It was just yesterday that she had promised Blaine that Kurt still had feelings for him, and now... she just didn’t know. She hadn’t known the severity of the breakup, and she still didn’t know exactly what the occurrences of the night before. Whatever happened at the party had made Blaine more ecstatic than he was after meeting Katy Perry. Chrystie knew this much, but to hit rock bottom after being at that insane high? No. It was impossible. The whole situation was so complicated. Normally, she wasn’t one to meddle, but something simply had to be done.

There was no way, she reasoned. Knowing Blaine, he would have been lost under the depression long ago if he had had to face the previous year’s events alone. No, he must have told someone. He must have called someone. But there was no one who was he close to. No one he trusted enough to tell something as important as this.

Except Rachel.

Suddenly, Chrystie knew what she had to do. Her thoughts whirled as she suddenly connected the dots. She had seen Rachel once at one of Blaine’s housewarming parties. At the time, she had assumed that Rachel was an acquaintance or simply an old friend. But there had been a picture in Blaine’s apartment; a picture of all three of them in New York City: Blaine, Rachel... and Kurt. Rachel had to be only one Blaine could talk to. And Rachel was also the only one Kurt could talk to.

Rachel was the one who had all the pieces to the puzzle.

It was time for an intervention.

~~~~~~~~

The minute Rachel got Chrystie’s phone call, she dropped everything and called a cab. Never mind the NYADA professor who threatened to cut her from that month’s theatre production. Rachel knew she was a star. She knew she wouldn’t get cut because she was perfect for Elphibah. She also knew that he wouldn’t stand around twiddling her thumbs while two of her favourite boys were having relationship issues.

Less than ten minutes after the call, Rachel was standing outside the Bluebird Coffee Shop. Making her way inside, she rubbed her cold hands together, revelling in the toasty air that the coffee shop had to offer. Ordering a small chai tea (coffee stained teeth were every actress’s worst nightmare) she searched for the woman she knew only by association.

Rachel had met Chrystie Gray only once, but in that short time, she had gotten the impression of a respectable lady who had worked hard to achieve success. She hoped that someday, Chrystie would be her manager. Granted, the woman didn’t know who she was and that she sang, but Rachel wasn’t one to lose an opportunity. However, now most definitely was not the time to be thinking selfishly. She had abandoned everything (yes, even the Wicked rehearsal that she had scheduled herself) to come here, not a drop of time was to be wasted.

She started with surprise as someone tapped on her shoulder.

“Hi, you’re Rachel, right?”

Rachel smiled rather nervously at the startling gray eyes that were staring back at her. “Yes, you must be Ms. Gray.”

She nodded slightly, and then motioned Rachel toward a table. “Chrystie is fine.”

Rachel sat down, shifting worriedly. “So, I hate to be too forward, but I can’t help but ask... Well. I just want to know... Um, what’s going on? Why is... just what? Blaine, Kurt. What--- just. Argh. Why?”

Mentally smacking herself for blithering so ridiculously, Rachel stared determinedly at Chrystie. She had come for a reason, and there was no way she was going to leave without getting the answers she wanted.

Chrystie’s eyes twinkled with amusement that looked more forced that genuine. “You want to know what happened to your two favourite people in the world, am I right?”

Rachel nodded furiously. “They were getting somewhere, they really were. Kurt called me this morning, and he actually sounded happy, which is huge for him, because these past few weeks he’s been moping around. Not even the Prada bag I bought him would cheer him up. And we all know that Kurt worships Prada like it’s his religion! And now, just when Kurt’s actually sounding human for once, Blaine calls me, obviously nursing a sore hangover. And you know what he does? He starts tearing up on me, spouting this huge string of angst, sounding like he’s going to fall to pieces any moment, and I don’t know what to do... I just... I just hate feeling so-so helpless.”

With that last word, she slumped forward, burying her face in her hands.

Chrystie looked at the small figure across from her. She had known Rachel was a bundle of emotions, but she didn’t realise how meaningful her feeling was. When Rachel loved someone, she held on to them for all they were worth, and she never, ever gave up. “You really care about them, don’t you?”

Rachel glanced up, bewildered at the question.

“They were my first friends.” She said, as if the depth of her heart was the most natural thing in the world. “Of course I care about them.”

~~~~~~

Blaine fidgeted listlessly as he listened to his publicist drone on about marketing opportunities. Posters, billboards, interviews... the list didn’t stop. Blaine’s head started to ache and he wished for some fresh air.

Everything was going too fast for him.

All of a sudden, Blaine knew what he had to do. He motioned quietly to Chrystie, who gave him a nod and a look that told him that he could go. He opened the door and walked out, knowing that he had to go to the one place he knew would make him feel better.

Ohio.