"I didn't even get a chance!" Chris pouted, sighing and flopping down on his couch miserably. Then he proceeded to text Sam with a short 'if things dont work out I'll b waiting ;)'.

Kurt was pretty sure Chris would be waiting for quite a long time. He felt kind of bad though, because it had been his idea for Blaine to just go for it anyway despite the fact that he would be moving back to Ohio by the end of the school year. And Chris had told Kurt that he had given up all his chances of one night stands the past few nights, just because he was willing to try this whole 'actually having a real relationship' thing as long as it was with Sam.

When Kurt asked him why it had to be Sam, Chris' face actually got red a little and he shrugged, looking anywhere but at Kurt. "I don't know...there was just something about him. We hardly even know each other, but I want to know more...I think about him a lot. God...please don't tell anyone about this, Kurt? Okay?" Chris looked over at him with a pleading expression. "I don't do this whole 'romantic feelings' thing. All I've ever done is random meaningless hookups. They're a lot safer. You can't get hurt."

"I won't tell anyone, Chris." Kurt assured him, patting his friend on the shoulder gently.

**~*~*~*~*~***~*~*

Mitch adjusted Kurt's tie for about the sixth time since they had arrived. Kurt, who had just about been to knock on Blaine and Sam's apartment door, paused, giving his boyfriend an amused look. "You've done that about six or seven times by now, plus I always make sure my outfits are impeccable, so it's fine, babe."

"Sorry...I thought it looked slightly crooked for a second, and you know how I get when I'm nervous." Mitch did have a tendency to fiddle with things when he was nervous. Which did not happen too often, considering the great amount of confidence he held, but even so...some times, like right now, he did get nervous.

Kurt grinned, leaning over to kiss Mitch on the cheek real quick before finally knocking on the door. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Two days after Kurt and Mitch's fight, Kurt decided that he was going to have Mitch, Blaine, Sam, and his self all hang out for a bit. He had brought the idea up to Blaine who had readily agreed. Kurt had no idea about Sam's thoughts on the matter, nor had he gotten to meet him yet either, so he was slightly anxious about that, but he was pretty sure everything would work out. Mitch had promised he would apologize to both Sam and Blaine for his behavior.

So now here they were, close to mid-afternoon, waiting for either Sam or Blaine to answer the door. What surprised them though was that it was neither of the two who finally opened the door. It was a rather tall, skinny girl, wearing white skinny jeans and a soft pink sweater. Her brown hair was long and curly, hanging just about to the middle of her back. Kurt immediately recognized her despite having not seen her in years.

"Abby!"

Recognition shown in the girl's eyes right before she squealed, lunging forward to hug Kurt tightly. "Oh my god, Kurt!"

Kurt was surprised at the enthusiastic hug, but he just laughed and hugged her back tightly. "I swear you've gotten taller over the past few years. Is that even possible? Or maybe it's just cause I haven't seen you in ages."

Abby giggled, shaking her head. "I think by the time I last saw you I'd basically stopped growing." She let go of him and took a step back so she could look over at Mitch. "And who's this? OH! I remember you! You were at the mall too. Mitch, isn't?" There was an odd edge to her voice for a quick second, but Kurt wondered if he had just imagined it.

Mitch did not seem to notice at all. "It is. It's nice to finally get to properly meet you. You're just as beautiful as you were all those years ago."

"Oh, stop, you're making me blush." Abby giggled, stepping back so they could walk into the apartment. She shut the door behind them and proceeded to take their coats and scarves, setting them aside. Catching sight of Kurt's gray scarf had her pausing for a moment, but then she just looked back towards them both. "I had no idea you two were coming over today. I'd just stopped by to bring Blaine some things. He and Sam are currently in the kitchen fighting over coffee or something silly like that." She rolled her eyes, gesturing for them to follow her. "There's no way I'm leaving now though if you two are here. I want to join the party."

"Plus I can get your measurements too before Mitch and I leave..." Kurt laughed. He gestured to the work bag he was carrying. "I was at an appointment before this; Mitch picked me up. So I didn't have time to go home and drop it off."

"That'll save us some time then." Abby grinned. "You have no idea how much this means to me, Kurt." She pointed to her leg as she walked. Kurt finally noticed that Abby did indeed have a bit of a limp. "I never thought I'd get an opportunity like this after my injury."

"Well, I couldn't think of anyone better to model for my designs." Kurt replied happily.

*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~~

"Do you want to use the chocolate stuff or the caramel stuff?" Blaine asked, biting at his lip as he considered the two bags of coffee he was holding. He and Sam liked flavored coffee once in a while and since this was a special occasion they had decided to make some. "I personally wouldn't mind the chocolate stuff."

Sam wrinkled his nose and shrugged. "I'm thinking caramel. It's yummy."

"But chocolate is yummier..."

"Nah, you're yummier." Sam replied, winking as Blaine looked over at him with a red face.

"Ugh, your guys' cuteness is causing me cavities." Abby giggled, shaking her head. There was a knock at the door and she hopped up from her chair. "I'll get it. You two keep fighting over coffee."

The two watched her go before going back to their coffee debate. "Caramel's sweeter though!" Sam protested.

"You don't need any more sweetness; you're already sweet enough." Blaine countered, attempting to shove the chocolate flavored coffee into Sam's hands so he could make it.

"Aw, you're too nice." Sam blushed, poking his tongue out at Blaine. "But I still say caramel."

"Aaaand I still say chocolate." Blaine laughed, trying to sound all serious but failing miserably.

Sam tried giving him puppy eyes, which normally Blaine gave in to but not this time. "No way, mister!" Sam pouted and leaned in closer, resting his chin on Blaine's shoulder. "No no no...well, fine, but how about we compromise?"

"And how are we going to do that?" Sam asked, amused that he was seemingly winning the fight.

Blaine got out the coffee scoop and put the right amount of coffee in the filter...half chocolate and half caramel.

Sam laughed loudly, shaking his head. "Oh my god...do you have any idea how that's going to taste?"

"No idea," Blaine laughed, shrugging, "we'll just have to find out. Let's not tell anyone though..." They both laughed, kissing just as they heard a throat clear near the kitchen entrance.

"You two finally work out your coffee issues?" Abby asked; an amused look on her face.

Blaine and Sam broke apart, both slightly pink in the face as they looked to see their guests watching them with amused looks. "I believe so..." They both laughed again.

"Let's all go out into the living room to sit." Blaine suggested. The group made their way out into the living room. Before sitting down though Blaine hugged Kurt tightly. "It's good to see you again, Kurt."

"Same." Kurt grinned, hugging his friend tightly before letting go. "Let me properly introduce myself to your boyfriend though." He playfully shoved Blaine out of the way so he could get to Sam. "Ooh, you're lovely. Hello, it's so nice to finally meet you!"

Sam's face was red as he shook Kurt's hand. "It's nice to meet you too. Blaine's told me so much about you. I'll admit though...his description of your voice is nothing compared to actually hearing the real thing. It's absolutely stunning. I was moved to tears during your solo the other night."

"Oh goodness." Kurt giggled, flapping his hand in Sam's direction. "You flatter me! It's always lovely to hear that someone appreciates your talent though, thank you. Blaine says you teach music, correct?" Sam nodded in response. "Do you sing as well?"

"Yes, but no where near as well as either you or Blaine." Sam laughed. "I generally just focus more on instrumental music."

"He's lying." Blaine cut in, giving Sam an amused yet adoring look. "His voice is marvelous." Everyone laughed as Sam stuck his tongue out at Blaine.

"I'm sure he's just being modest then." Kurt remarked, winking at Sam. "I'd like to say I'm modest, but..."

"You spent almost over two hours talking to my mom about your vocal talent the second time you came over to my house, remember?" Mitch interrupted, grinning.

"And then Kev went 'oh someone is full of their self, Mr. Kurtie'." Kurt laughed, his face pinkish. "Your mom didn't mind listening to me talk though! She said my voice was pretty." He sniffed, trying to look offended but failing when he could not help giggling again. "Besides, if it had been Rachel your mom would have had to sit and listen for probably four hours!"

"Mr. Kurtie, huh?" Blaine laughed, amused at the nickname.

"Yeah...that's what my little brother, Kevin, used to call Kurt." Mitch replied.

There was an odd look on Blaine's face for a moment, one that Kurt could not decipher. Things got even odder when he noticed Abby shooting Blaine worried looks and saw Sam reach out and take Blaine's hand in a seemingly comforting gesture. Once Blaine looked down at their hands though, he finally managed to smile a tiny bit.

Mitch wondered if the odd look on Blaine's face was because of his self, so he figured now was a good time to apologize like he promised Kurt. This was the part that made him kind of nervous. Kurt seemed to sense his nervousness though and reached out to hold his hand. Smiling a bit to himself, Mitch looked back over at Blaine and Sam. "I'd like to apologize to you, Blaine. And you as well, Sam." He took a deep breath; glad to see that neither Blaine nor Sam was giving him any sort of look that would suggest they did not want to hear his apologies. "I've been terribly rude to both of you and I shouldn't have said what I did back at that caf�. I love Kurt very much, and I was just kind of worried because for the longest time I was convinced he just didn't want to talk to or see you, Blaine. I hadn't known that his feelings and thoughts on the matter had changed, so I was worried that you would upset him by talking to him again. Now that I know that's not the case and can clearly see how happy he is for you two to be friends again, I'm glad you two finally got to talk, and I'm sorry I tried to get in the way."

"I understand." Blaine replied, nodding slightly. "And I should apologize too, because I may not have been as clear as to my intentions at first. I really just want to be Kurt's friend again. Thank you for apologizing though. I'd love for us to be friends." Actually Blaine had been pretty sure he had been clear about the fact that he just wanted to be friends with Kurt, nothing more.

"Same." Mitch grinned. "You just have to tell me any stories you can remember about Kurt from when he was little."

"What?" Kurt gasped, smacking Mitch on the arm. "You told me you wouldn't ask him that!"

"I never promised I wouldn't." Mitch laughed. He turned to Sam. "I wanted to apologize to you as well because I shouldn't have...well, called your feelings out like that. It should have been something you told Blaine yourself when you were ready."

Sam shrugged, shooting Blaine a shy look before smiling back over at Mitch. "It did kind of put me on the spot, but I suppose at the same time I should be thanking you. If you hadn't done that then Blaine and I might have never told each other about our feelings." He smiled as he felt Blaine squeezing his hand lightly.

"Well, I'm glad that all worked out then." Mitch grinned.

"Oh my god, you all are just so adorable!" Abby squealed, reaching over to hug the closest person she could reach which was Sam. "I wish Nick was here so we could share mushy stories with you all too."

Blaine grinned, reaching over to pat Abby on the head. "I think everyone here would go into sugar overdose if they heard mushy Nabby stories." Abby giggled. "Nick and Abby could probably win the title of 'World's cutest couple'."

"Nabby?" Mitch looked confused.

"I get it!" Kurt laughed. "You and your friends come up with pairing names too, don't you?" He turned to Mitch to explain. "It's not just for couples though, it can be used for friendships and siblings. Like Finn and I are 'Furt'. Finn and Rachel were called 'Finchel' back in glee club, and Brittany and Santana were Brittana. 'Nabby' is for Nick and Abby. Get it?"

"Abby and I are 'Blabby'." Blaine threw in. "Sam thought 'Slaine' would be good for us cause it reminds him of videogames which we both love, but I thought we should stick with 'Bam'. So that's what we went with."

Mitch thought about it for a second then nodded. "But wait...how come you and I never had one?" He asked Kurt, a questioning look on his face.

"We did!" Kurt laughed. "You were just oblivious...plus I didn't like it."

"Why? What was it?" Sam asked.

"Kitch." Kurt replied, wrinkling his nose.

"Kitch?" Mitch laughed. "That is dreadful."

"That's what I said!" Kurt exclaimed. "It reminds me too much of 'kitsch' which neither of us are the biggest fans of." He explained to the other three in the room. "It's tacky."

"So does this mean you and I get a friendship name too?" Blaine asked Kurt, a silly grin on his face.

Kurt giggled, thinking that was a great idea. He was not sure how much Mitch would like the idea though, which was exactly why Kurt was surprised when it was Mitch himself who gave them their name.

"Klaine!"

"What?" Kurt looked over at Mitch in surprise.

"Oh!" Abby giggled. "I like that!" Sam nodded in agreement.

"Well we can't put a 'B' at the beginning of your name...unless you want your friendship to be called 'Burt'..." Mitch explained to Kurt who started laughing.

"No, you're right. It'd be odd calling our friendship by my father's name." Kurt nodded. "Klaine it is!"

Blaine looked quite happy about that. "Yay! OH. Before I forget..." He hopped up and ran off to his room.

"Where's he going?" Kurt asked, amused. Blaine looked like an adorable puppy when he ran about. It was cute.

Sam watched Blaine go and shrugged. "No idea."

Only a few seconds later Blaine returned, an old box and book in his hands. "I wanted to show you this stuff, Kurt." He plopped down right onto the living room floor and waited for Kurt to join him.

"Oh Gaga, you told me about this stuff..." Kurt laughed, letting go of Mitch's hand to join Blaine on the floor. Everyone else gathered around to see what Blaine had. Sam already knew what was all in the box but he joined them anyway.

Before opening the box though, Blaine carefully handed over the old book. Kurt gently took it in his hands and gasped lightly. "Blaine, this is..."

"I know."

"But how?" Kurt carefully opened the book and flipped a few pages, brushing a hand over the pages with care.

"Ms. Rose gave it to me the day I left with the Andersons." Blaine explained. "She knew how much I loved it."

"I remember you used to read some of it to me almost every day during play time...we never got to finish though." Kurt smiled lightly. "I read the entire trilogy and the Hobbit during middle school."

"You reminded me of some of the elves." Blaine admitted, chuckling as Kurt handed the book back and he set it off to the side. "That's why they were my favorites."

Kurt was starting to feel slightly emotionally overwhelmed by all this talk about their time together in the orphanage. A small lump seemed to be growing in his throat.

"And now, fair warning, there will be glitter every where within the next few seconds..." Blaine grinned as he carefully dumped the contents of the box out onto the floor.

And indeed there was glitter everywhere. There were pictures, cards, and crafts and just an insane amount of glitter. Kurt stared in awe at all the things he had made. "I can't believe you've kept all these..." He whispered, carefully picking up one of the popsicle stick people he had made to be Blaine. It still had a crazy amount of brown yarn on the top that he had used for Blaine's hair. "Oh my god." He giggled, setting it back down as he looked at more of the cards and pictures he had done for Blaine so many years ago.

"You were my best friend, Kurt." Blaine replied quietly, looking through some of the pictures for one in particular. "I never thought I was going to get to see you again so I had to keep everything I could to remind you of me. I shouldn't have packed it away in my closet when I was younger, then maybe I wouldn't have forgotten you...ah, here it is." He showed Kurt a particular picture. "This one is my most favorite."

"I remember this!" Kurt smiled fondly down at the picture. The lump in his throat was getting bigger. Just seeing the small drawing of them holding hands and the words 'Kurt and Blaine best friends forever' stirred up too many emotions to handle. It brought back so many memories and Kurt once again felt that terrible sadness at remembering how they had been torn apart. It had not been fair.

Setting the picture down, Kurt continued looking at the other things in the box. Blaine was showing Mitch the sparkly piano picture Kurt had made. That was when Kurt spotted the tiny folded up piece of paper. Opening it slowly, he read the words that were written in his own childish handwriting from so long ago.

Blaine,

Maybe I'm jinxing us by writing this, but I have to just in case. Hopefully you manage to find this if one of us is adopted and read it.
I'll miss you when you're gone. You're my best friend and I love you.
Please don't ever forget about me, cause I won't ever forget about you, I promise. I want to hear you play piano again some day, hold your hand, and tell you just how pretty I think your eyes are.
Merry Christmas to the best friend I'll ever have.

Love,
Kurt

His heart seemed to stop for a moment as he reread the note once more. He remembered writing the note before the night of the open house thing and hiding it behind the picture on the Christmas card he made for Blaine, carefully making sure at least a tiny corner of the note was sticking out so somehow Blaine would find it.

Reading the note was what finally caused the lump in Kurt's throat to be too much. He had promised. He had promised Blaine that he would never forget about him and he had. He had let Blaine down. Granted Blaine had forgotten about him too, but still. And oh how Kurt had adored Blaine back then. He had not been lying when he wrote that he loved him. Kurt had really thought they would be best friends forever; no matter what.

And he still wanted to tell Blaine how pretty his eyes were.

"Kurt?"

Hearing Blaine's tentative voice, Kurt blinked furiously against the moisture building in his eyes and realized he had been way too quite for quite a bit of time. He picked up a few of the other cards and drawings and put them back into the box, on top of the little note. Once he was sure he was not going to randomly burst into tears or anything of the sort, he looked back up at Blaine and smiled. "Thanks for showing me this stuff. It really takes me back, you know?" He laughed weakly.

Blaine had seen what Kurt had been looking at. It was the little note Kurt had hidden in that Christmas card. The smile Kurt had on his face when he looked back up at Blaine was not fooling him one bit. For some reason that note had upset him and Blaine wanted to ask, but he was not going to ask in front of Mitch. Sure Mitch had apologized to both him and Sam, but Blaine still did not trust him too much just yet.

Plus, Blaine felt like that note was quite personal and he did not want to share it with anyone besides Kurt.

"I wish I had been good at arts and crafts back then too." Blaine smiled, carefully putting some of the crafts back into the box as well. "I would have made you lots of silly things you could have kept for this long. Do you want to take any of these with you?" He indicated to the contents of the box.

"You were quite bad when it came to arts and crafts." Kurt giggled, feeling slightly better now that his overwhelming emotions were more under control. "And no, keep all those. I gave them to you, so just keep them forever." He smiled fondly at Blaine.

"I think the coffee's done by now." Abby suddenly spoke, standing up from the couch. "Sam, why don't you take Blaine and Mitch to get coffee? I'm going to steal Kurt for a bit."

"Oh? Okay." Sam stood, reaching out to take Blaine's hand to help him up. Mitch shot Kurt a somewhat nervous look, but Kurt just gave him a reassuring smile and shooed the other three boys off to the kitchen.

"Alright, Miss Abby," Kurt laughed, "steal me away."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Abby giggled, going over to grab Kurt's work bag. Then she grabbed Kurt's hand and dragged him down the little hallway to the bathroom. Once inside she shut the door and locked it. Kurt raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, setting Kurt's bag down for him and going over to hop up and sit on the sink counter. "I don't want them to interrupt us."

"I doubt they will." Kurt laughed, digging through his bag. "Mitch would warn them about how I hate being interrupted while doing anything work related. He did it once and after a lovely fight has never done so since."

"Do you two fight often?" Abby asked curiously. At seeing Kurt's face fall she backpedaled and reached out to touch his arm gently. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't poke my nose into your personal business."

Kurt sighed, indicating for Abby to stand which she did so he could measure her height. "It's okay. I don't want to bother you with my relationship troubles honestly. Would you be uncomfortable taking your shirt off? It'll help, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable." He looked uncomfortable himself just for asking.

"Oh, that's fine." Abby laughed, shrugging before pulling her sweater off. She was comfortable with her body, and it helped knowing that Kurt was obviously not going to just use this opportunity to stare at her like a creeper. "And you really don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I was just curious, forgive me." Well, it was not just the fact that she was curious.

Abby was not dumb. She was highly perceptive and had always used her ability to detect others' emotions to her advantage; namely just to either help out her friends when she sensed they were upset, or while working and being around other people and just generally needed to know how certain people were feeling that day. Besides the pottery sets she made, she also had a part time job at a small caf�. It really was nice being able to detect when her manager was having an off day or not, because that lady could be quite a bitch when she was having an off day.

Abby knew for a fact that at least at one point in time Blaine had been attracted to Kurt. Whether the feelings had been mutual or not, she had no clue of course, but Abby did not need to know whether or not either of the two found each other attractive anymore: she could see it. It was painfully obvious just by seeing how the two watched one another, and even more obvious that the two men were in some heavy denial over their feelings as well. She would let them figure it out on their own though, for now she just wanted to know as much about Kurt as she could.

"Mitch and I have our...disagreements." Kurt started, focusing on taking her measurements as he spoke. "Dealing with them, fixing our problems, has never been something we've done appropriately though. Arms out..." He waited for her to spread her arms out so he could measure her arm length before continuing, "it's always been sort of a 'he apologizes, makes me dinner or gets me some cute little gift, and then we...er, you know, are intimate' and the whole thing is forgotten by the next day."

Abby wrinkled her nose, giving him an odd look. "That's definitely not the healthiest way to solve relationship issues."

"It isn't." Kurt agreed. "And the problem is that the main thing we fight about is Mitch's jealousy issues. He practically...interrogates every new guy I meet, especially if they're gay, because he's convinced they're going to, like, steal me away from him or something." He huffed, rolling his eyes. "I've always let it slide, you know? I just forgave him every time. Not anymore though. We fought about it just the other day and I...pretty much gave him an ultimatum: either he learns how to control his jealousy issues or the next time it becomes a huge problem I'm done. I don't even want to consider the possibility of us...not being together forever, because I really do love him, but when he's acting all jealous and we're fighting about it...it's just not the Mitch I fell in love with. He can be so mean and it's too much stress that I really don't need. Oh gosh, here I am rambling on and on. I told you, you don't want to hear about all this. I just haven't had a good girl chat in ages."

"Oh, its okay, Kurt, really." Abby grinned. "I haven't had a good girl chat in ages either. To be honest...I think you've made the right decision. It sounds like you two have been together for a really long time, which is great and I can see how it would be hard to consider living without him, but...Kurt, you're a really great guy and you deserve to be treated as such. Plus you're Blaine's friend again and that makes him super happy, which makes me happy, so now you're gonna be my friend and that means I won't like people who don't treat you well."

"Oh boy." Kurt giggled. "Well, I've heard you can be quite threatening when you want to, so if I need anyone scared off I know who to turn to."

Abby giggled too and nodded in agreement. "Of course!" Her smile dropped for a second and she looked down. "Look, I also...well, I don't want to make you mad of course, but I really am serious when I say I don't take it lightly when others hurt or upset my friends and family. When Blaine got beat up and was stuck in the hospital back in ninth grade...god, I just wanted to find those jocks and kill them. Besides Nick, Blaine is like my other half. If he wasn't gay I'd probably be begging him every day to marry me because god knows it's hard to find a great guy like him. I was really lucky to have met Nick, because he treats me like I'm...well, like I'm the most precious thing in the world. It's kind of overwhelming some times, but in a good way. If he ever asks me to marry him I'll say 'yes' without even having to think about it for a second. Blaine deserves that. He deserves everything good in this world and beyond, and I won't let him settle for anything but. His unhappiness is my own and when I hear things like your boyfriend was being all rude to him, well, it really pisses me off. So I am giving you fair warning ahead of time, and I'll warn him too, the next time Mitch pulls something like that I'm not holding back. I won't waste anything in speaking my mind."

"I understand." Kurt sighed. He rubbed at his forehead tiredly, writing down the last numbers he needed. "Okay, we're done." As Abby put her shirt back on he put his stuff back into his bag. "And I agree with you. Blaine is...he's perfect, really, and I honestly hope he and Sam can figure something out by the end of the school year, because I want them to be happy together. And honestly, we really need to have a girls' night or something because I want to hear all about Nick!" Picking up his bag he offered his other arm to Abby. "Shall we head back out?"

"Let's!" Abby giggled, taking Kurt's arm. "And I'll call you sometime so we can plan a girl's night."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Kurt and Abby made their way back out into the living room they stumbled upon their other three companions having a rather intense conversation about hair gel.

"Kurt, like, literally has a fit when he sees how much gel I use." Mitch was informing them as Blaine and Sam laughed.

"I can totally see that." Blaine replied. "When he and I ran into each other at Sectionals back in high school he insulted my hair and called it terrible. I've taken his advice to heart though-"

"At least someone does." Kurt interrupted, leading Abby into the room. "Maybe you can convince Mitch that it really does only take a tiny bit of gel to get the job done. Why are we talking about hair gel anyway?"

"He doesn't have as much hair as I do though!" Blaine whined, pouting. "I've got this huge mass of curls to keep under control. They don't listen to a word I say so I have to keep them on lockdown..."

Kurt burst out laughing, leaving Abby to go sit next to Mitch. "Lockdown does not have to mean using half a bottle of hair gel. I'll come over some time and show you a few tricks. And meanwhile I'll just try to keep convincing this one to tone it down as well." He shoved Mitch playfully. Spotting Mitch's coffee cup he picked it up and sniffed it.

"They make weird coffee, babe..." Mitch told him. "It's like...a weird mix of chocolate and caramel, they told me, but I don't think the way they mixed it was a good idea."

"I told Blaine he should have just gone with the chocolate- I mean, crap, caramel." Sam face palmed.

Blaine looked absolutely delighted as he laughed and poked Sam in the side, making him squirm. "HA! I totally would have won that argument if we hadn't compromised! Next time though, since I'm sooo nice, we'll just go with caramel."

"No, no, we can go with chocolate." Sam replied.

"Caramel!"

"Chocolate!"

"Cara-"

"Oh my god, boys!" Abby interrupted, giggling loudly. "You two are impossible. Is the coffee at least drinkable? I want some!"

Kurt took a sip of Mitch's. It wasn't that bad, but he did like his coffee differently than Mitch's. "It's not bad, but I think I'll get my own cup, because you put way too much sugar in this, Mitch." He wrinkled his nose and stood. "Do you want me to get yours, Abby?"

"I'll help." Blaine stood, setting his own coffee down. "I know what Abby likes. Plus I can show you where the extra cups are."

"Alrighty." Kurt smiled, letting Blaine lead the way into the kitchen.

*~*~*~**~*~**~*~~

Once they were in the kitchen, Kurt leaned back against the counter as he waited for Blaine to get two extra cups. It was so strange in a way, having not seen or been friends with Blaine in forever yet now here they were, friends once more and getting to spend time together again. It was nice. Kurt could not help watching Blaine as he got the cups down. If he tried hard enough he could see six year old Blaine standing in front of him instead of the twenty-some year old Blaine was now. The mental image surprisingly brought tears to his eyes and, as Blaine turned around with the cups, Kurt had to clear his throat and look away, blinking furiously to keep any of the tears from escaping down his cheeks.

Apparently Blaine was more perceptive than he thought though. "Kurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Kurt replied quietly, reaching out to take the cup Blaine held out for him.

Blaine did not let go of the cup though; he held on to it, stepping slightly closer so he could speak hardly above a whisper. "It's the note, isn't? And seeing all those things from your, no, our past."

"Blaine..." Kurt looked up, his voice catching in his throat as he realized his friend was a lot closer than he had thought. He could see Blaine's hazel eyes so much clearer up close like this. They were no longer just pretty; they were gorgeous. His heart was thudding in his chest and he could not explain why. "Can we...can we talk about this later? I don't want to ruin the evening. Plus..." Mitch is here, and Sam, and Abby. This was just too personal for him to talk about while there were other people around.

Blaine understood what Kurt had left unspoken and so he nodded and backed away, letting go of the cup. "Alright. Do you want to come over tomorrow? Abby won't be around and Sam has some teachers' meeting in the afternoon."

"Okay." Kurt agreed, knowing that he would not even have to tell Mitch anything because Mitch had to work all afternoon and probably would not get home until really late; which was kind of lame in a way, since the day after that would be Christmas and he had kind of wanted to spend all of Christmas Eve cuddling with Mitch. Mitch would probably be too tired to cuddle. "Now let's get back out there before they think we got lost."

*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They got their coffee and headed back out into the living room. Kurt sat down next to Mitch as Blaine handed Abby her coffee. Blaine was just about to sit down himself when the phone rang. "I'll get it." He laughed, sighing as he went back out into the kitchen.

Kurt watched Blaine go then spotted Abby giving him a look. He got the message and just hoped that she would go at least a little bit easy on his boyfriend when she spoke to him. "Sammm, Blaine has told me your room is very neat and you have an extensive collection of foreign fashion magazines. I think you should, as my new friend, show them to me!" Kurt exclaimed, jumping up and going over to grab Sam's arm, tugging at it to make Sam stand. "Please?"

"Oh..." Sam laughed, shrugging, "of course. And Blaine only found out about those cause he was snooping! I didn't want him to know just how much I fit that little stereotype, but it is kind of sad how many foreign fashion magazines I have."

"Psh!" Kurt laughed, flapping a hand at him. "You can never go wrong with fashion magazines, no matter what language they're in. We'll be right back, you two." He let Sam lead the way out of the living room.

Abby was pleased that she got a few seconds alone with Kurt's boyfriend. Of course she was not going to try and traumatize the guy, but she wanted to make a very clear point that she would allow no one to mess with her best friend. Crossing her left leg over her right, Abby folded her hands over her knee and looked back over at Mitch. "Well, that leaves the two of us then, which is marvelous, because I have a few things I would like to say to you."

"Really now?" Mitch grinned, not looking nearly as nervous as Abby would like him to be.

"Yes." Abby replied, giving him a very serious 'I'm not messing around' look. "First off: I don't like you very much. Generally I don't really like anyone who messes with Blaine, because he's my best friend. I will do anything to protect him, and I'm not kidding at that. Secondly: Blaine told me how you treated him at that caf�. Not to mention how rude you were to Sam. It's unacceptable and if I find out you ever treat either of them like that again I will personally dismember you and feed your body to any starving animal willing enough to eat you and your horrendous hairstyle. Understand?"

Mitch still did not look as threatened as she wanted him to be. "Scary. Look, doll, you wouldn't want to do that. It'd upset Kurt and then your friends wouldn't be too happy either. And for the record, Kurt may complain about my over usage of hair gel, but he loves my hairstyle."

"I'm not clueless." Abby looked slightly smug. "I know about the ultimatum Kurt has hanging over you right now." Oh, now Mitch looked a tad bit scared. That was better. "Things aren't going as well between you two as you'd like, which means that anything else you do wrong besides your whole jealousy problems may just cause things to get worse as well. I know you don't want that. So I would watch my back if I were you, and definitely do not do anything to upset Blaine or Sam; one, because you don't want to lose Kurt and two, because you don't want a pissed off Kurt and myself both coming after you." Mitch definitely looked more wary now, which was very good. Abby did not care whether he liked her or not. She just wanted to make sure she did everything she could to protect Blaine, and, on some level, Kurt, because she knew how important he was to Blaine. "You got all that?"

"I believe so." Mitch nodded in response, giving her an unpleasant look.

Abby felt somewhat better, figuring that for now she had gotten her message across. And, just because she felt like it, she decided to have a bit more fun. "I've seen Sam's magazine collection, thanks to Blaine, and it is quite extensive. They'll probably be a while." She hopped up and skipped over to where Kurt and Mitch's coats lay, picking up Kurt's gray scarf. "I'm so glad Kurt's wearing this! And it kind of makes his eyes look brighter."

"I think he got it a few days or so ago." Mitch replied, watching her. "He's been wearing it a lot lately, like every time he goes out. He must really love it."

"Oh, well, I'm sure he does." Abby giggled. "Blaine gave it to him. Kurt gave him this gorgeous red one in return. I asked Blaine if I could borrow it yesterday and he practically ran from the room and wouldn't give it up." She laughed.

Mitch's expression went from that of vague disinterest to annoyed in a heartbeat. "I know what you're trying to do. It's not going to work. I'm not going to get all jealous just because my boyfriend and his best friend swapped scarves."

Sure that was what Mitch was saying, but Abby could see the lie in his eyes. Mitch was jealous and it was obvious; way too obvious. "I don't know what you're talking about." She replied sweetly, shrugging. "I was just thinking that it's so nice how they're getting to be such close friends again. It means more to Blaine than he lets on."

"Would you just shu-"

"Aaaand helloooo, everyone!" Kurt practically skipped back into the room, holding a couple of magazines and looking like Christmas just came early. Sam followed behind him, smiling brightly. Seeing Abby holding his scarf and Mitch watching Abby, Kurt tilted his head slightly to the side and gave them a curious look. "What's going on?"

"Oh, I was just commenting to your darling boyfriend about how cute it is that you and Blaine swapped scarves." Abby informed him, looking as innocent as could be.

Whether it was the light or not, Abby did not know, but it looked like Kurt suddenly paled a tiny bit as he looked over at Mitch. "Really? I wasn't necessarily going for cute..." he giggled lightly, "Blaine just leant me his when we parted ways after the concert and then told me I could keep it, so I gave him one of mine in return. Have you seen it? The color's gorgeous for him." He turned to Sam, smiling brightly. "You should really try to get him into more clothing that color."

"I'll do my best." Sam burst out laughing. "He doesn't listen to my fashion advice, like ever. Maybe I can have you back me up on a few things the next time he goes clothes shopping."

"Oh, of course!" Kurt's eyes lit up. "I can never say no to shopping and giving fashion advice."

"I have to agree with Abby." Mitch spoke up, smiling faintly at the brown haired girl. "I think it's cute you two swapped scarves. I wondered why- er, when you had gotten it since I'd never seen it before. I think I know your wardrobe just as well as you do by now."

Kurt laughed, nodding. "That's probably true." He looked happy that Mitch had not said anything else, and Abby knew exactly what Kurt had been worrying about. She could not help wondering why Mitch had paused mid-sentence though. He had probably been about to say something that would have come off wrong that would lead to fighting later and had thought better of it. Well, good for him, Abby thought.

"Where's Blaine at?" Kurt asked, checking his watch. "Mitch and I should probably be heading off soon."

"I'll go get him." Sam replied, heading for the kitchen. "He's probably still on the phone."

When Blaine went into the kitchen to answer the phone he did not recognize the voice on the other line. "Hello?"

"Is this Blaine Anderson?" A female voice asked tentatively.

"Yeah." Blaine replied. Whoever it was sounded like she was kind of young, maybe around his age? He was not sure. "May I ask who is calling?"

Blaine heard the girl's breath catching on the other end of the line. She was silent for a moment before finally speaking again. "Sara Roswell. I'm your cousin."

He nearly dropped the phone in shock. "What?" Then he remembered: he had asked the police officer who had called to inform him about the truth behind his real parents' death to try and find some of his real family members for him. Apparently the guy had managed to do so and now here one was trying to contact him.

"I know, I know. It's really out of the blue and all, but I just found out about you myself and since mom and dad – your aunt and uncle – haven't made up their minds about whether to contact you yet or not, I figured I would just do it myself." Sara explained.

"Wha-" Blaine cleared his throat, feeling a strange lump of emotion settling there, "what are their names?"

"Ross and Whitney." Sara replied softly. "Mom cried when the police officer showed up to tell them about you. She had thought you were dead or something..."

Dead? What the hell? Blaine was confused. "Wait, I don't really understand. She thought I was what? I spent four years of my life in an orphanage before being adopted, and I was under the impression that none of my actual family members wanted me and that my parents had died in a car crash!" He fought to keep his voice quiet so the others in the living room would not be able to hear him. "Then this past year I find out that it was not a car crash; they were murdered! And now here you are telling me I had family who thought I was dead?"

"I can only tell you what I know." Sara squeaked, sounding quite distraught. "After my parents found out, they finally told me about you. Your parents had apparently not been in contact with any of the family in years, except for when they sent mail to let everyone know they had you. No one really cared apparently, since your parents weren't too popular for some reason, nor was my dad. My dad, your dad's brother, and my mom still liked your parents though, along with our dad's sister – June - so they sent a reply letter begging them to visit; which they never did, of course. June doesn't like our family and really can't stand my dad, so she never told us that you were staying with her and her husband and their kids when your parents had their accident, well, were killed. My parents weren't told much and weren't even able to attend the funeral because mom was in the hospital at the time sick and the funeral was held down in Tennessee where our grandparents live. My dad called June the other day after the officer visited and demanded to know why she hadn't told them you were still alive. Apparently she's gone off the deep end or something. She laughed a lot and just said she hadn't been able to take care of you on top of her own kids so she dumped you in the orphanage. Figured no one would miss you or something like that. It sounds even worse when I say it out loud, oh my god." Sara gasped for air, having spoken quite fast for the entire time.

Blaine could barely respond. It was a lot to take in and, honestly, it sounded weird and did nothing for his self esteem. Why did hardly any of the family like his real parents? No one in the family had decided they could work past their differences and help raise a boy who was only two? And how could June be so cruel as to let Sara's parents believe for so long that he was dead? Why hadn't they even tried to find out more about his parents' death? Then they might have realized he was still around and they could have contacted him or something.

"Blaine? Are you still there?" Sara asked nervously. "Oh my god, I've upset you, haven't I? I just wanted to tell you what I knew. All of that happened before I was born, honestly. Maybe I should have just let my parents talk to you, because-"

"Sara," Blaine interrupted.

"-they'll probably decide to come visit you or-"

"Sara..."

"-have you visit them-"

"Sara!" Blaine shouted as loudly as he dared, hoping to not attract anyone's attention from the living room.

"Yes?" His cousin squeaked.

"Breathe." He laughed. This situation felt...surreal. He was finally getting to meet one of his actual family members that were related to his birth parents.

"Sorry." Sara replied quietly.

"Where do you guys live?" Blaine asked curiously. "Can I visit? I can surprise your parents or something. Though I don't really want to come alone, maybe I could bring my boyfriend- oh god, is that going to freak you guys out?"

"You're gay?" Sara asked, slightly surprised. "Er, that's not a problem at all, honestly, for me anyway. Mom should be fine with it too. Not so sure about dad though."

"It's okay...my dad, er, the man who adopted me, isn't too fond of the idea of having a gay son either." Blaine sighed. He would just have to hope that the idea of seeing their supposedly 'dead' nephew would help them overlook the fact that he was gay, if it made them uncomfortable.

"That sucks." Sara replied. "Well, we live slightly outside of Westerville-"

"Oh my god, I went to school in Westerville!" Blaine interrupted excitedly. "Sorry, haha, I got a little excited there."

Sara giggled loudly over the phone. "It's alright. Wow, we were so close this time and didn't even know it! Why don't you come over for Christmas? I know it is short notice, but..."

"It is!" Blaine laughed. "Christmas is in two days! But I might be able to make it if I convince Sam to come with." If he went back to Ohio for Christmas then he could visit his parents and Amelia too. Well, maybe just his mom and Amelia, and Abby's family. His dad probably did not care whether he came home for the holidays or not.

"Yay! It'll make Christmas more fun too. We never do anything." Sara sighed.

They continued to talk a bit more, Blaine asking questions to get to know about his cousin more and his aunt and uncle. He lost track of time until Sam came walking into the kitchen.

"Blaine? Kurt and Mitch have to go soon...oh, sorry, you're still talking." Sam smiled sheepishly, apologizing.

"It's alright." Blaine replied, smiling brightly at his boyfriend. "Sara? I have to say goodbye to some people, thanks for giving me your number. I'll call you tomorrow once I figure out what I'm going to do." Sara said bye as well and then they both hung up.

"Who was that?" Sam asked curiously.

Blaine turned and went over to hug Sam tightly, burrowing his face against Sam's shoulder. "That was Sara, my cousin...from my real parents' family."

"Are you serious?" Sam exclaimed, hugging Blaine tightly. "Wow...I can't believe you finally got to talk to someone from your actual family! What did you two talk about?"

"Can we...can we talk about it later?" Blaine asked, looking up at Sam. "Let's go say night to Kurt and Mitch."

Sam nodded, kissing Blaine's forehead. "Of course. Let's go."

*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kurt stood as Blaine and Sam came back out of the kitchen. "It's getting kind of late so we should be heading out. Thank you so much for letting us come over."

"No, thank you for visiting, Kurt!" Blaine replied, grinning as he pulled Kurt close for a hug. "It was fun having us all together. And thank you for what you're doing for Abby." He whispered in Kurt's ear. "I was so surprised when she told me. You're amazing."

Kurt felt his face redden slightly. "Oh, you're welcome, Blaine. Honestly, I think she's going to be perfect for this. And I owe her a lot." He let go of Blaine and stepped back, smiling as Mitch helped him into his coat. "Thanks, Mitch." Kurt smiled at his boyfriend then turned to Abby and Sam. "It was nice meeting you, Sam. And thank you thank you thank you for these magazines. I'm so glad you had double copies. These are amazing. I say Blaine can keep you."

Sam laughed, his face reddening. "You're welcome, Kurt. And it was great meeting you too. You, as well again, too, Mitch. We'll all have to hang out again soon."

"I'd love that." Mitch replied, smiling as he felt Kurt taking his hand.

"Abby, don't forget to call me some time!" Kurt told Abby, giving her a serious look. "We need some girl time."

"Oh, definitely!" Abby replied, nodding in agreement. "I'll call you after the holidays, how about that?"

"Perfect!" Kurt nodded. "Alright, we're off. Have a great Christmas, everyone!"

The others said their farewells as Kurt and Mitch left the apartment, heading for the stairwell. "Well, that went well, and it was fun, wasn't?" Kurt asked Mitch as they walked, swinging their joined hands lightly back and forth.

"It...it was." Mitch nodded, not totally lying. His eyes strayed to the stupid gray scarf Kurt was wearing. Sure it looked great on Kurt, but now Mitch just hated it. Why did Kurt have to go wearing something that had belonged to another guy? Especially Blaine, of all people. Not only that...Kurt had given Blaine one of his own scarves as well. It was entirely off putting and Mitch hated it, but he was not going to comment. He knew if he did then Kurt would accuse him of being jealous again...and would this be enough to make him finally leave? No, Mitch did not want that; not at all.

They were both silent for a little bit before Kurt spoke again. "Um...aren't you going to ask about my scarf?" He asked quietly.

"What?" Mitch glanced over at Kurt, surprised. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just..." He shrugged, his face slightly pinkish.

"It's just a scarf, babe. And it's kind of nice that you have something of Blaine's, since he's your friend and all." Mitch smiled at him as reassuringly as he could.

Kurt was silent for a quick second. "It is..." He sounded relieved and his smile was a bit wider now.

Mitch sighed inwardly. Kurt had been worried that he would get all jealous over the scarf and say something about it. So it had been the right move to not say anything of what he was actually thinking. Well, at least he did something right for a change. Of course...not being truthful about his feelings towards these things meant he might have to do a lot of lying to Kurt in the future, and that thought made him a little ill. He felt a tug on his hand and snapped out of his thoughts, stopping in place when he realized Kurt had stopped moving. "What's wrong, baby?" He asked in concern.

"Nothing." Kurt smiled, yanking him close and wrapping his arms around his waist. "I was just thinking about how much I love you." He tilted his head up and kissed Mitch softly on the lips. "I really wish you didn't have to work tomorrow."

Mitch sighed, pressing closer against Kurt and kissing him again. "Me too, but they really needed people so I'm stuck. We'll spend the night together though and we don't have to be anywhere all day Christmas, so we'll just be lazy bums and cuddle. How about that?" Plus he had a big surprise for Kurt planned, which was even more why he was glad they were staying home just the two of them.

"Sounds lovely." Kurt replied. "We should probably get home before I decide I can't keep my hands off of you any longer..."

Mitch was tired, but he was definitely not that tired. Getting home suddenly sounded like the best idea ever. "Let's go." He grinned, keeping a tight hold on Kurt's hand as they walked off.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~

After everyone, including Abby, was gone, Blaine locked the apartment door and then flopped down onto the couch.

"That was very elegant of you, Mr. Anderson." Sam laughed, joining him on the couch.

Blaine snuggled up close beside Sam, shrugging. "Elegance wasn't something I was going for, but I'll try harder next time."

Sam poked his tongue out at him and Blaine laughed. "Tell me about Sara."

So Blaine told Sam about the conversation he had had on the phone with his cousin. Sam looked absolutely upset after hearing what June had done. It had definitely not been fair to Sara's parents to have to think that Blaine had been dead all these years. When it finally came to the visiting part though, Blaine got a bit nervous.

"Sam...I know its short notice, but...do you want to come with me to Ohio to visit them?" He asked tentatively, his fingers picking at the edge of Sam's shirt.

"Of course." Sam replied, nodding. "When were you going to visit?"

This was the part Blaine was dreading. "Uh...Christmas day."

"What?" Sam looked at him in surprise. "Blaine, that's in two days. We'd have to fly out tomorrow night or something, because you know I have that teachers' party tomorrow. As much as I'd love to skip that, I can't because we're getting this huge announcement or whatever from the superintendent. Hopefully it's something good considering they're springing it on us right before Christmas." He huffed, looking slightly displeased.

"I know...I'm sorry, maybe we can just go next week or something." Blaine bit his lip. "I just really want to surprise them and there's no way I'm going by myself, so you have to come with me. I could bring Abby, but I really want to bring you. Plus Abby's not a huge fan of flying."

"I'll definitely be coming with you, Blaine." Sam smiled reassuringly, kissing the top of Blaine's head. "I want to meet your family. We'll figure something out."