Blaine set the last of his boxes down on the ground, ready to bring them out to the moving truck. It hadn't taken long to pack up all of his things. He stood in the empty foyer and looked around. The house looked just as it did the day he moved in. It didn't feel the same.

It'd been two weeks since Kurt left and the house felt different now. The warm feeling of home Blaine had felt since he'd first walked through the door was gone. Blaine sighed and rubbed the back of his neck thinking, not for the first time, that maybe it was never the house that gave him that feeling in the first place.

Blaine had spent the first few days after Kurt left just walking around the house, sitting in the living room, standing in the kitchen where he first met Kurt, laying on his bed half hoping Kurt would walk in at any moment. Eventually he realized that wasn't going to happen. It was okay, it hurt like hell, but Blaine knew it was what Kurt had hoped for. Besides, no one could stay a ghost forever.

On the forth morning after Kurt left Blaine called his Realtor and asked her to put the house back on the market. He'd spent the rest of his time there mostly sitting at his piano and playing. His fingers seemed to move of their own accord as melodies, chords and harmonies filled Blaine's head.

He kept thinking about his last few hours with Kurt and the song he'd needed all this time practically flowed out of him. The movie big-wigs had loved it, Blaine was almost sad to give it to them but in the end decided not to keep it to himself.

Cooper came jogging down the stairs interrupting Blaine's thoughts with a dopey grin on his face. "Is that the last of the boxes?" He asked.

"Yeah." Blaine nodded. "Once we get this in the truck we can lock up and get out of here."

"And how do you feel about that?" Cooper said walking up to him.

"I... I feel like..." Blaine sighed, something he kept finding himself doing. "I feel like my time here is over. I feel okay."

"Okay? Just okay?"

Blaine laughed, "Yes, just okay. But that's good for now."

Cooper placed a hand on his shoulder, his face growing serious. "Are you sure you don't want to come crash with me in L.A for a little while? It would be a great way to network and find your next job."

"No Coop. Thanks but no. The pay from my last job will last me a long time and I think I need to get away from California. Clear my head."

"Yeah, but staying with The Parents?" Cooper made a face. "That doesn't seem like it'd be good for your sanity."

Blaine rolled his eyes, "They aren't that bad." he said lifting a box and heading towards the door. "And you don't have to worry about my sanity. I told you, I'm okay."

Cooper grabbed a box as well and shook his head, "Fine. But a few days in, once you remember what living with them is like, you'll be begging to crash in my guest room."

Blaine smiled, "Well, we will wait until then."

After the last of the boxes were loaded up Blaine took one more glace around the empty house. There was nothing left for him here. He walked out, closed and locked the door behind him and pushed down the tears in his throat.

"You sure you're okay Squirt?" Cooper asked.

Blaine wiped his eyes. "I will be." He smiled, "And don't call me Squirt."


Being back in Ohio for more than just a short visit was strange. Blaine passed all the old places he used to go as a teenager, drove the same streets, it all seemed smaller now, less intimidating. Staying with his parents was going alright. They didn't know the details of what had happened to make him leave California like Cooper did, but they knew Blaine was struggling with it and they gave him space.

The problem was Blaine didn't know if he needed space. Space gave him time to think and remember. It made him miss Kurt all the more. His parents meant well though and it wasn't like he could really talk to them about Kurt anyway. Not in anything but very vague explanations.

One afternoon Blaine decided that he needed to get out of the house. He'd spent the last weeks at his parents' home writing music, keeping to himself and... not moping exactly. Okay fine, he'd been moping. So today he decided to get some coffee and sun just to get himself out of the rut he was in.

He walked into the Lima Bean, a place he hadn't been to in years. He ordered a medium drip, one of their big cookies he never finished on his own and sat down in the corner with a book. He tried to keep his mind occupied and away from visions of blue eyes and perfect hair and a soft laugh that melted him. He wasn't doing a great job at it.

Blaine's thoughts were interrupted by his cellphone ringing. It was a number he didn't recognize but it could be about the movie, or something business related so he answered.

"Hello?"

"Uh... hello." Said a familiar voice that Blaine couldn't quite place. "Is this Blaine Anderson?"

"Yes, it is."

"Blaine Anderson who recently moved here from San Francisco?" Blaine thought he recognized the voice now.

"Yes sir. Is this Mr. Hummel?"

"Good I got the right one." Mr. Hummel said "Yeah, it's Burt. I had a little trouble tracking you down. I remembered that you said you used to live in Westerville, so I looked up your parents and they gave me your number."

Blaine didn't remember mentioning Westerville but the whole time he spent with Mr. Hummel was still kind of a nervous jumble in his head. "I'm glad you found me. What can I do for you Mr. Hummel?"

"Well..." He said "Your folks told me you were back in town, which is great. I was going through some old things and I... found some things of Kurt's." He said a little awkwardly.

"Okay..." Blaine answered not understanding, but his heart was beating faster at even the mention of Kurt. His heart was such a traitor.

"Thought you might... I don't know. Wanna look through some of his things and see if there is anything you want?"

"I..." Blaine was stunned. "I... why would you ask?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to overstep, but you seemed close to him. I don't know if it is anything you'd want. It's stuff I should have gone through years ago, but I couldn't... let go. I'm keeping some of it, but I thought before I gave the rest away, someone who... who cared about him might want to take a look."

Blaine's heart thudded in his chest. Did he want to look through Kurt's old things? Did he really want that reminder that Kurt was gone? Kurt died for Mr. Hummel over five years ago. Kurt died for Blaine only a month ago. The pain of it made it hard to breath. Blaine let out a long breath before answering, "Yeah." He said in a choked up voice. "I'd like that."

"You free this evening kid?"

"Yes sir, I could swing by this evening." Blaine wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"How about you swing by and stay for dinner? It's family dinner night."

"Alright." Blaine said before he'd had a chance to think about it. "That sounds wonderful Mr. Hummel."

"Great! Be here around 7pm. I'll text you the address. Oh and Blaine?"

"Yes sir?"

"Call me Burt."


That evening Blaine pulled up to the address Mr. Hummel... Burt had text him, at 6:55pm. He sat in his car and looked at the house, wondering if it was the same one Kurt grew up in. He didn't know why he'd agreed to this. Missing Kurt hurt like an ever present knife wound and being with Kurt's family would probably just make that worse. However, he had agreed to come, so there was nothing else to do. He walked to the front door and lifted his hand to knock, but the door swung open before he had a chance.

A woman with soft brown hair and a lovely smile greeted him "You must be Blaine! I'm Carole."

"So nice to meet you." He said "I brought wine." Blaine handed her the bottle.

"Oh you are a gentleman." She said giving him a quick hug and motioning him in.

Blaine was surprised by the warm greeting, but happy about it too. He stepped into the house and Burt came up and shook his hand warmly. "Good to see you again." He said with a huge smile on his face. He looked younger than the last time Blaine had seen him.

"Good to see you too. Thank you for inviting me."

The three of them stood around awkwardly for a moment before Carole spoke up, "Burt how about you bring the wine to the kitchen and see if dinner is almost ready." She said handing off the bottle and giving Burt a glance that Blaine didn't understand.

"Blaine" She said cheerfully, how about we wait in the living room?"

Blaine followed her in and looked around the room. It was warm and homey with pictures of the Hudson-Hummels lining the walls. Blaine spotted a picture of Burt, Carole, Finn and Kurt and went to get a closer look. The boys must have been in Highschool when the picture was taken, it made Blaine smile, while also chipping away a piece of his heart.

Carole walked up behind him and nodded towards the picture. "That's my son Finn. He is living in New York right now. And there's Kurt of course."

Blaine looked at Kurt's young smiling face and his eyes started to tear up. He took a deep breath determined not to ruin the evening with crying. Blaine turned and smiled at Carole who was practically beaming at him.

A warm sensation filled Blaine up to his toes. It hurt to see Kurt's face and not have him here but somehow standing in Burt and Carole's house and having them be so welcoming and kind towards him, he felt like he'd come home.

Blaine was listening to Carole with a smile on his face as they waited for Burt in the living room. She was talking about all the trouble they had gone through to get that family picture taken.

"Both Burt and Finn didn't understand why they had to wear suits." Carole said. "They would have worn flannel if Kurt and I had let them. Kurt ended up picking out everyone's outfits."

Blaine laughed, his heart growing warm thinking about Kurt and having the chance to talk to someone else who loved Kurt too. "Yeah, that sounds like him." Blaine said. "He used to spend hours going over Vogue magazines and..."

Blaine heard a noise by the doorway and both he and Carole turned to look.

He couldn't finish his sentence. His mouth just stayed open. He couldn't move. He wasn't sure if he was still breathing.

Because there in the doorway standing by Mr. Hummel was the most beautiful person he'd ever known. The man who had stolen his heart. The one person who made Blaine feel complete.

"Kurt?" Blaine whispered but he wasn't sure anything came out.