The next morning Blaine got up, showered, did his hair and spent a great deal of time picking out his outfit, lying to himself when he said it wasn't because of Kurt.

He ended up wearing a pair of oxford shoes, black jeans that he felt great in, a white and black striped pull-over and a soft burgundy button down sweater.

Blaine still felt guilt heavy in his gut, but he also really wanted to see Kurt again. A thought that surprised and frightened him a little.

He went downstairs, but no one was there. So he started making breakfast. Fried eggs, toast and some coffee. He ate and cleaned up afterward and still no Kurt. He started feeling antsy, Kurt had said they would talk again... but Blaine had no idea what was going on or where Kurt was when he wasn't here.

When he was tense he usually like to play the piano, but he couldn't make himself go upstairs to that room. Instead he decided he needed to get out of the house for a while, he was just reaching for the door when he heard Kurt's voice.

"Where you off too?"

Blaine smiled, relief filling him, his hand dropping from the doorknob before he turned around. "Just going for a walk. Want to join me?" Blaine couldn't take back the words once he said them, but he instantly knew he'd said the wrong thing as Kurt's face fell.

"I can't actually leave the house Blaine. Trust me, I've tried."

"I, god, I'm an idiot. I am so sorry. It just. Yeah, I forgot."

Kurt looked up at him sharply, "Forgot that I'm a ghost? Forgot that I'm dead?"

"Well, yes. Kind of?" Blaine answered rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Kurt's face softened, "That's actually really nice."

"So if you can't leave, where do you go? When you're not here?"

"I'm always here, you know, around."

"So what? When I can't see you you're still here... watching me?" Blaine asked with a slight smile.

"What! No! No. I'm.. I don't. I am just around, it isn't like that!"

Blaine laughed and took a step forward lifting his hands to place them on Kurt's shoulders before remembering and dropping them again, "I was just teasing Kurt. Don't panic."

"It's just that I finally have someone here, and you don't seem scared of me. And you haven't had a breakdown yet. I don't want to creep you out."

"You don't creep me out. Or scare me. And if I was going to have a mental break, I think I would have by now."

"Really?"

"Really."

They stood awkwardly staring at each other for a moment before Blaine broke the silence. "So no going out then. How about we stay in and talk. I have questions."

"Right." Kurt stood up taller and lifted his chin as if bracing himself, "You have questions."

"Wanna go to the kitchen? I could use some more coffee."

Blaine made himself another cup, almost offering Kurt some, but stopping himself in time. He sat down with his mug at the kitchen table across from Kurt who was sitting rimrod straight with his hands folded on the table.

"What did you want to know?" Kurt asked in a stiff voice.

Blaine hated putting him on edge like this, but he did feel like he deserved some answers here. "Well, for one... why'd you disappear when Cooper was here?"

Kurt looked a little relieved at the question, "I wasn't hiding or anything, it just that he wouldn't be able to see me, so there was no reason to let you see me. You would have come off a little crazy."

"Why can't Cooper see you?" Blaine asked in surprise, "Why can I?"

"You live here. This is your home. So you see me. No one else can. That's how it works."

"How do you know?"

"Well, you couldn't see me when the realtor was showing you the place could you? I was here, heard you gushing over my... over the house." Kurt cleared his throat, "But you couldn't see me until you moved in."

Blaine narrowed his eyes as he took in the new information, a question forming he really didn't want to ask, "But what about at night? When Cooper was here, none of the things that usually happen... happened."

Kurt's hands griped each other tighter, knuckles turning white as he took a deep breath, "Everything that happens still happened, but when someone who doesn't live in the house is here you can't see or hear it. It still... it still goes on though."

Kurt closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, "Have you... have you seen it?" Kurt opened his eyes and looked down, not able to meet Blaine's own concerned eyes, instead he traced the grain of the wood on the table top with his fingers. "What happens at night? You must have seen it."

"Yes, I saw. Didn't you see me? I mean I was right there. I tried... to stop him. I couldn't."

Kurt finally looked up a blush high on his cheeks, "You tried to stop him?"

"Of course."

Kurt smiled cheerlessly, "During the day, I am here. I can move around the house, I can talk to you. It is present day." Kurt's eyes were welling up with tears, "But at night, I just live through it over and over again. I have no control. I can't get away. I can't change what I do or say. He just... he... every night Blaine. Every night for five yearsI've been assaulted and killed. And you, you tried to stop it."

Blaine couldn't find his voice. He had no idea what to say to that anyway.

"Thank you." Kurt whispered.

"Thank you?"

"You can't stop it, but thank you for trying."

"You don't have to thank me Kurt." Blaine reached his hand across the table to hold Kurt's hand but he slipped through his fingers.

Kurt laughed through his tears, "You really do keep forgetting."

Blaine smiled, but only briefly, he wanted to change to subject but there was something else he needed to know. "You said he wasn't here, but every night..."

Kurt sighed, "He is here to kill me, but he isn't really around. I don't know how to explain it. I don't even know if it is really him. I don't feel like he is still here though. I don't know."

"Okay..." Blaine said, but he didn't really understand.

"Can we not talk about the man who killed me?" Kurt said his face somber.

"Right! Sure, of course. Well then... um... I told you all about myself yesterday. What about you Kurt? Tell me about you."

Kurt grinned, "I haven't talked to anyone in five years, you might regret asking."

"I won't."

Kurt blushed a little and then dove in.

Kurt talked and Blaine listened, adding a comment here or there or laughing at something he said. At one point he got up and made lunch, eventually they moved to the living room.

Blaine learned that they had both struggled growing up in Ohio, that coming out had been scary. He learned about Kurt's love of music and fashion and that they both had sung in show choir in highschool.

"Wait Kurt, if competitions had been divided up differently we could have competed against each other! We might have met!"

"I wonder what my life would have been like if I met you in highschool?" Kurt said shyly, "Instead I met Sebastian..."

Blaine could see Kurt getting upset again so he quickly changed the subject. "What about your family? Tell me about them."

It had been a good choice of subject. Kurt talked about his dad with great animation and love, he told Blaine all about his lovely step-mom Carole and his clueless but sweet step-brother Finn.

He mentioned his mother's death briefly only to say, "It is weird that I'm dead, but I'm still not with her. I miss her, you know?"

Blaine nodded sympathetically, always feeling like he didn't know what to say.

"I miss Carole and Finn too. And my friends from Glee club. But especially my dad. I miss him so much it hurts."

"Kurt" Blaine said leaning forward.

"The last time I talked to him we had a fight. He wanted me to come home for Christmas, but Seb... well he wanted our first Christmas married to be here, with just each other. I wanted to go home, but I also wanted to make Sebastian happy. I fought with my dad... and then I didn't even live to see Christmas."

Blaine felt his heart constrict and he wanted to cry, but tears were silently streaming down Kurt's face so he swallowed his own tears and scooted closer to Kurt on the couch.

"I am so sorry. I know those words don't change anything, but Kurt, I am so sorry. You didn't deserve what happened... and I..." Blaine didn't know what else to say.

The room grew quite for a moment, all Blaine wanted to do was wrap Kurt up in his arms but he couldn't. After a while Kurt spoke up.

"I didn't cheat."

"What?" Blaine asked in surprise.

"If you saw, if you were there... then you know Seb thought I had cheated on him. But I didn't. I never would. It was the anniversary of our first date, I lit a bunch of candles and tried to have everything romantic. We... we hadn't been getting along. But he got home and he was just so angry and started yelling about me cheating on him. Then he saw the candles and thought I was over-compensating for the cheating... and then... He was jealous, but I didn't cheat."

"I believe you." Blaine said, it was obvious that it was important to Kurt that someone did.

Kurt wiped his tears away the best he could and looked into Blaine's eyes with such sincerity and trust that Blaine's stomach started doing backflips.

"I'm glad you're here Blaine. I am so glad to not be alone anymore."

That night just before 1:00am Blaine walked to the music room, he waited quietly as candles started to appear, and the fire lit up and a big four post bed became visible in the middle of the room. Blaine didn't run, even as he felt the need to, instead he stood his ground and tried to get into Kurt's line of sight.

Nothing changed, Kurt couldn't see him, but Blaine wouldn't leave. Kurt had been alone too long, he wouldn't leave him alone in this. As the gunshot rang out and the room started to clear, Blaine scrubbed his face of the hot tears streaming down his cheeks and went back to bed.