It was getting harder and harder for Kurt to force himself out of Blaine's bed every morning. This morning in particular he had to pull out his iPhone and look through his pictures of the kids to remind him why he was leaving this sexy devil, getting dressed, and walking out the door.

Kurt hopped in the bathroom for a quick shower, trying hard to not wake Blaine. Kurt looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't quite recognize the person staring back at him. Instead of the Kurt he had gotten used to seeing for the last year or so, he saw someone young, happy, and dare he even think, beautiful? He saw the Kurt Hummel who had gone missing from his life. The Kurt Hummel he never thought he would see again.

This Kurt Hummel had a hickey.

'Fuck!'

Kurt showered, and then spent the next half hour trying to find the best way to hide the huge purple mark on his neck.

Kurt heard a muffled knock on the bathroom door.

"Kurt?" a sleepy voice said. "What are you doing? It's..." A brief silence as Blaine must have turned to look at the clock. "Ugh! It's 5:30! A. M.!"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Blaine, I'm in the bathroom. What do you think I'm doing? I'm making a salad."

Kurt heard a sputtering laugh from the other side of the door.

"Okay, mister," Blaine chided. "No more tequila for you."

Kurt tossed on his shirt and walked back into the bedroom.

Kurt saw a naked Blaine climb back into bed, moving aside the blanket and patting the mattress, beckoning Kurt to join him. Kurt lay down beside Blaine. Blaine open his eyes to look over Kurt, eyes stopping on the mark on his neck.

"Nice." Blaine ran a finger over the bruise.

"Shit!" Kurt exclaimed. "You can still see it?"

"Yup," Blaine giggled.

"What's so funny?" Kurt frowned at him.

"It's just...you're hot when you curse."

Kurt had to smile.

"Now remember, I'll be by a little earlier in the afternoon, but I can't spend the night tonight."

Blaine frowned.

"Why not?" Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and started sucking on his fingers, one by one, trying to mimic the move Kurt had performed the night before on Blaine's finger.

"Because," Kurt murmured, trying to think straight with Blaine's tongue wrapped around his index finger. "Dave's speaking at a LGBTQ center downtown, and he has to leave early to beat traffic."

"What does he do there, anyway?" Blaine asked around Kurt's middle finger. Blaine sucked hard and Kurt moaned.

"He...God, Blaine...he volunteers a couple of days a week. Shit! He's giving a speech about...uh...about...bullying..."

"That's cool." Blaine smiled as Kurt snatched back his hand before the next assault.

"Yeah, well, it's very important to him and I'm not going to be the reason he doesn't make it. But..." Kurt leaned in to kiss Blaine chastely on the lips. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

Blaine smiled as Kurt's lips touched his.

'He kissed me!' Blaine cheered quietly in his head. 'And I didn't even have to ask.'

"I'm looking forward to it." Blaine yawned, and Kurt tucked the blanket around him, kissing him one more time on the temple.

Kurt thought that Blaine was right. He could get used to kissing Blaine.

Kurt took one last look in the mirror before hastily tossing a scarf around his neck. He blew a kiss to Blaine, who had already started snoring softly. The sun had barely start to touch the horizon when Kurt raced to his car, shivering against the early morning chill.

Kurt couldn't get his mind to shut down enough to have a peaceful drive home. The events of the night before played over and over again in his mind. Kissing Blaine. Blaine fingering him. Cumming in Blaine's arms. It was all so magical.

Kurt knew it all came with a price.

Kurt stepped quietly through the back door, hoping that no one had woken up yet.

He loved spending time with Blaine, but he missed the kids. And Dave. Poor Dave. No matter what, he didn't want to hurt Dave, but unfortunately there was no way out of this that didn't end with at least one heart broken.

Kurt started gathering pans and ingredients in the kitchen, preparing to put together the most elaborate 'I'm feeling guilty so I made food' breakfast he could scrounge up.

An hour later, the sunlight began to stream in through the open curtains, and children started wandering into the living room, lured by the aroma of eggs, bacon, and Junior's favorite pancakes.

Dave came in last, carrying little Elphaba in his arms. He smiled when he saw Kurt, busy in the kitchen, getting plates of food together for the kids. He watched Kurt ruffle Junior's hair, and kiss the girls. When he spotted Dave carrying the toddler, he came over smiling to kiss her on the forehead.

"There's our Kurt," Dave said softly. "We missed you."

"Yes, well, I've missed you guys." Kurt returned to the pancakes. "And I have to go to...uh...work...a little early today so I thought... since Dave has the day off we could all go to Legoland!"

A general cheer went up from the collected kids, who started in eagerly on their breakfasts so that they could start getting dressed. Dave looked at Kurt and smiled. A day with Kurt and the kids. This was more like it. This was the way things should be.

Legoland with the four kids was always an adventure. Junior and Dave usually went on any and every ride, which left Kurt with the three girls. Barbra had cerebral palsy - not to any extreme, thank goodness, but enough to  limit how far she could walk. Eva, being mildly autistic, was wary of loud noises. Elphaba was only two. The four of them spent most of their time in the various play areas instead of going on too many of the rides.

Kurt and the girls were laughing and avoiding puddles in the water play area when Dave and Junior met up with them. They had just ridden the last roller coaster they had gone on five times and decided their limit had been reached. Kurt had sent Dave a text telling him that Barbra and Eva had just about reached their limits as well, and now would be a good time to get going home.

Dave and Junior saw Kurt and the girls playing, completely oblivious to their presence. Junior jumped into a large puddle of water and managed to soak Barbra and Eva. Dave came up behind Kurt, who had Elphaba tucked securely into a baby carrier at his chest, and did the same. Dave thought that the look on Kurt's face as the splash of cold water hit his back, soaking his shirt, was well worth the wrath that he was about to unleash.

"David Karofsky!" Kurt bellowed as he turned around. Junior, still busy tormenting his sisters, stopped short and stared, transfixed in utter terror at what Kurt might say. Kurt looked into Dave's face. He knew Dave was waiting for the fury to fly his way, and yet, Dave's eyes were laughing. Kurt felt a pang of guilt.

This was his family, and they missed him.

Kurt sighed. He started to giggle, and everyone relaxed. The kids surrounded Kurt, wrapping their arms around him. Kurt felt for a moment like he was in the final scene of some sappy musical, and waited for a moment for the music to start.

"Oh no." Dave chuckled, staring at Kurt.

"What?" Kurt asked, looking down at himself, and his ruined shirt.

"Well, you have, leaves and stuff..." Dave couldn't finish. He slowly started picking leaf litter off of Kurt's shoulders and out of his scarf. Then he took the sleeve of his shirt and wiped water from Kurt's cheek and neck.

Kurt remembered the moment he saw the smile on Dave's face fall.  Kurt's hand flew instinctively to the mark on his neck. Dave adverted his eyes and cleared his throat.

'Shitshitshit!'

"Dave, I..."

"Come on, guys!" Dave recovered, smiling at the kids. "What do you say we grab some lunch and head back home."

The kids cheered knowing that lunch after Legoland meant Happy Meals. Junior took his sisters' hands and headed for the gate.

Dave started following them. Kurt grabbed his arm.

"Dave, please. Let me explain..."

Dave sighed. He turned back to Kurt, surprising Kurt with an almost shy smile.

"It's alright, Kurt," Dave said, taking Kurt's hand in his. "It's alright if you like him. You look happy, and I want you to be happy. Let's just...can we just go have lunch and not talk about...this?"

Dave's puppy dog eyes, almost as lethal as Blaine's, melted Kurt's heart.

"Of course." Kurt squeezed Dave's hand, letting himself be pulled along.

"Dave?" Kurt and Dave rushed to catch up to the kids.

"Yes, Kurt?"

"You're not getting a cheeseburger."

Dave laughed.

"The hell I'm not."

Dave's smile never faltered for the remainder of the afternoon. He joked with Kurt while they ordered their food. They talked over what Dave would say at the assembly tomorrow. When Kurt got ready to go see Blaine, Dave helped him into his jacket, smoothing it out over his shoulders, and then hugged him platonically good-bye.

Yup, Dave supported Kurt's new relationship 110,000%...on the outside.

Inside his brain he felt like he was riding the Titanic straight into the ocean.

Dave had always hoped that he and Kurt would end up together. Even in high school, when he didn't truly know himself all that well, he knew he wanted Kurt. The circumstances that led to them finally living together could not be considered ideal, to say the least. Dave had hoped that if something good could come from it, it would be that Kurt might fall in love with him and then they could be a real family.

Dave had a five-year plan. He would give Kurt space, and time, and try to be the best man he could be. He'd finish school, become an agent, and give Kurt and the kids the life they deserved.

So far, he had managed to fail spectacularly.

First, they had to leave L.A. when they couldn't afford to stay there. That took a big toll on the kids especially. Then Kurt had to get that job. Watching Kurt leave every night, watching him make those clothes that he had to wear, knowing that he touched men in sexual ways, killed Dave. Some nights, Dave stayed up crying in the living room. Every night he waited up diligently for Kurt to return.

Dave only ever saw Kurt cry once. After that, when he left for work, Kurt became a formidable ice queen.

No one ever saw Kurt Hummel sweat.

That's one of the reasons why Dave loved him so much.

Dave hadn't lied when he said he wanted Kurt to be happy, but Blaine Anderson was going to mess everything up.

Dave could see this ending in only one of two ways - either Kurt and Blaine live happily ever after, or Blaine breaks Kurt's heart and Dave wins by default.

Winning by default was still winning, but that's not what Dave wanted. Dave wanted Kurt to fall in love.

Kurt was falling love. Just not with Dave.