Things were different with Kurt. It was almost as if Kurt was a part of him. Their hands fit perfectly together.

And now they would probably never ever see each other again. And 'ever' was a very long time for a six year old.

Blaine's drop in mood and activity over the next several weeks after Kurt's adoption had Ms. Rose and the other adults worried. Especially considering he was usually one of the nicest boys there. And how would Blaine ever be adopted if he seemed dreary and dull to the parents who came to visit?

Except, Blaine's new and quiet personality was exactly what finally got him out of the orphanage.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were on a mission. Theirs may not be the best reason to adopt a child, but, for the Andersons, it was good enough for them and their futures.

They were an important family, always traveling on business or in their offices contacting important people. Not considered the best situation for adopting a child, but their business was exactly why they wanted one. After all, their intent was that their child would take over their business in the future once he or she grew up.

To Mrs. Anderson's credit, she really was looking forward to having a child about. For her there was that added benefit; it was not all just business to her. Even if she knew she might not get to be around enough to see the boy or girl anyway.

The problem with their big plan was that Mrs. Anderson was unable to get pregnant. So for them to have someone to take over in the future, they would have to adopt, because the thought of going through all the process of having a surrogate mother and then actually raising the child was just too tedious.

Adopting an older child would make things much easier for them. Not that they would not treat the child well just because they wanted one for their own purposes. Their future child would definitely be well cared for.

When they arrived at the orphanage and were led in by Ms. Rose, they were both already doing heavy thinking about what they had decided would be the best qualities to look for in the child they would adopt. Specifically they were looking for a child who was smart, not super loud or rowdy, talented, and decent looking; a child who, once older, would represent their business well and be able to handle operating it. And hopefully a first impression would be good enough for them. First impressions were important to the Andersons. If someone made a good first impression then the Andersons would be most likely to be more pleasant to deal with. If a bad first impression was made...well, then they were never really as interested to deal with the person then.

If they were lucky they could even find a child that slightly resembled at least one of them as well. Mrs. Anderson was of average height, with dark brown curly hair and green eyes. Mr. Anderson was rather tall, with short, neatly styled black hair, and had brown eyes. Hopefully they could find a child that might encompass both aspects of their features. That way their future child may at least look like he or she was actually their real, biological child.

Ms. Rose led them into the main play room. There were a few other couples milling about, interacting with the young children. The loudness in the room somewhat bothered the Andersons, who preferred quiet, orderliness. Thanking Ms. Rose, they went over to the side a bit, scanning the room.

It did not take their eyes long to spot Blaine.

The boy was sitting at the piano bench, staring sullenly down at the keys. He looked like he was doing some sort of heavy thinking or something. At least he was not running around yelling like the other children.

Sharing a brief look, the Andersons went over and joined the little boy. Mrs. Anderson sat down on the piano bench next to him. "Can you play?" She asked.

Her sudden appearance and question startled the boy who had only just then noticed their presence. He looked even slightly confused as to why they would be talking to him in the first place. Slowly though he nodded and then turned back to the piano keys. "Would you like to hear?" He asked quietly.

"That would be lovely." Mrs. Anderson smiled, nodding. She was rather fond of piano music.

The boy lifted his hands and set them down on the keys. As he started to play he closed his eyes, having played the song a multitude of times before and, therefore, knew it by heart, including where to place his fingers as they swept delicately up and down the keys.

The song was not entirely happy nor was it entirely sad either. It was a mellow piece, fitting to his mood that day.

When he finished he turned his gaze back up to Mrs. Anderson. "Did you like it?"

Mrs. Anderson nodded, looking over at her husband for a brief instant before turning back to the boy. "I did. You're very talented. I'm Jeannette Anderson, and this is my husband, Jerry."

The boy looked up to finally take a look at the tall man. Mr. Anderson was rather intimidating looking. "I'm Blaine." He finally replied, somewhat shyly. "It's nice to meet you both..."

"When you're introducing yourself to someone, Blaine, it's polite to hold out your hand like this." Mr. Anderson demonstrated, holding his hand out to Blaine. Mrs. Anderson seemed about to protest at the sudden comment by her husband, but she held her tongue and said nothing.

Blaine looked slightly confused for a moment but then he did what he figured he was supposed to and reached out to take Mr. Anderson's hand in his. His feeble attempt at shaking the adult's hand was apparently unimpressive, considering the look on Mr. Anderson's face.

"Well, you'll get the hang of it..." Mr. Anderson shrugged, dropping Blaine's hand rather quickly.

Mrs. Anderson smiled and placed a hand on the small of Blaine's back. "Well, it was rather nice to meet you. We need to talk to Ms. Rose real quickly, but we'd like to come say farewell before we go. Okay?"

Blaine almost shrugged but caught his shoulders in time and just nodded. "Okay."

The two adults left Blaine to sit at the piano alone as they went to find Ms. Rose. The lady in charge was talking to another couple in the lobby but finished quickly before she turned to the Andersons. "Hello again! So, how was the playroom? I know it can get a bit noisy in there, but the children are all really sweet."

Mrs. Anderson nodded in agreement. It really had been rather noisy in there. "We were wondering if we could see the information you have for Blaine?"

Ms. Rose seemed surprised. The Andersons were the first couple to ever express any interest on seeing further information on the boy. It was even more surprising considering Blaine had been rather unresponsive as of late, considering his separation from Kurt.

"Oh, of course. Come this way." Ms. Rose smiled and led them to her office where they could sit and look over Blaine's papers. Once there and seated, Ms. Rose reached across her desk and handed them Blaine's folder.

"Blaine's an exceptionally bright and talented boy. He's been here the longest out of all our children, as you can see from his background papers." Ms. Rose explained.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson both looked over the papers in the folder. "He definitely seems quite talented. His piano playing is exceptional for a child his age." Mrs. Anderson commented. "Is he normally so quite and sullen?"

"Ah," Ms. Rose sighed, "no, he isn't. I mean, he's normally not as loud and rowdy as the other children, but he normally isn't all quiet and moody as he is right now either. His best friend here at the orphanage was adopted several weeks ago and it's been hard for him to cope. We've tried taking his mind off of the situation, but he refuses to cooperate. It's not normally our idea to just let a child be when they're as upset as he is, but, honestly, we don't know what else to do by this point. I assure you though that normally he is very cheerful, friendly, and well mannered. His grades are the highest in his classes and he probably practices piano more often than he does anything else."

The Andersons were both quiet for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts. The boy had made an okay first impression, plenty of room for improvement. And he seemed to hold plenty of the qualities they were looking for. Finally Mrs. Anderson spoke up again. "How did his parents die?"

Ms. Rose indicated to the folder Mrs. Anderson was holding. "It's in there, on one of the papers. Their deaths were...somewhat a mystery; double suicide, apparently. The two were found in the river during a vacation. There wasn't much evidence to convince anyone that it was homicide, so their deaths were labeled as otherwise. Blaine, who was only two at the time, was staying here in Ohio with his aunt and uncle. They were unable to continue taking care of Blaine, due to the fact that they already had several of their own kids. No one else in the family wanted him either so he was sent here. It seems that his parents weren't very well liked in the family. So I guess that was why no one else wanted him."

"He's been here since he was two?" Mrs. Anderson found the background sheet and skimmed it. Sure enough it said about the same information Ms. Rose had just told them. "Does he know about how they died?"

"No." Ms. Rose shook her head. "Once he was old enough we told him they were killed in an accident. We figured it would be easier for him to accept that. If he asked more questions then we would have just told him it was a car accident."

Her reasoning made sense to Mrs. Anderson somewhat. After all, how could you just tell a child that their parents both possibly committed suicide? That just might lead to a whole bunch of questions the head of the orphanage could not answer. Like, exactly why did they commit suicide? Or even, did they not love Blaine enough then to want to stay alive just for him at least? It was a sad thought.

And it made Mrs. Anderson care just a bit more for the young boy. Sure she and her husband were looking for a child they could raise to take over the business, but for her, even more so than her husband, she also really did want a child to love and watch over as either he or she grew up.

"I see..." Mrs. Anderson nodded, looking back down at the papers she had laying on her lap.

"Maybe you would like a few more visits with Blaine before deciding? After all, there are plenty of other children here as well if you're perhaps still undecided. It's a big decision, after all, to adopt a child." Ms. Rose commented.

Mrs. Anderson looked towards her husband. She was unable to tell what he was thinking. Knowing him, he'd probably want to get things done and over with as quickly and with as little problems as possible. It probably didn't matter as much to him as to whether the child was perfect for them or not, just as long as the child would be capable of representing their family well and was quite possibly able to take over the family business in the future.

And Mrs. Anderson was sure Blaine would be capable of all that, and of being a wonderful son. Not to mention he kind of looked like a combination of the two of them, considering his black curly hair and hazel eyes that combined the green and brown of both the Andersons' eye color.

"He's perfect." She replied to Ms. Rose. Even though it was a joint decision, in the end Mrs. Anderson knew she would be the one making the call.

"We can get our papers and information to you by tonight if we fax them, right?" Mr. Anderson asked. Ms. Rose nodded and wrote down the fax number for them. "How long will it take to get the other papers and background checks finished then?"

Ms. Rose thought about it for a second before replying. "I would say about a week, or a week and a half. We'll contact you as soon as they're finished."

"Perfect." Mr. Anderson stood, his wife following suit.

"May we say farewell to Blaine before we go?" Mrs. Anderson asked. She could almost sense Mr. Anderson thinking that that would not be necessary, but, for herself, she wanted to say farewell. The boy was rather nice after all. And she wanted to make sure he at least liked the idea of coming to live with them.

Ms. Rose nodded, smiling brightly as she led them out of her office. When they reached the playroom however Blaine was no where in sight. "Oh...where could he be?" Ms. Rose thought for a second. "Ah, the library! He loves to read so it's a safe bet to assume he's there now." She indicated that they should follow and led them to the library.

She assumed right. When they entered the well lit room they found Blaine curled up on a couch, a rather big book in hand. Upon closer inspection they could see it was a huge book containing all three Lord of the Rings novels. Mrs. Anderson was quite impressed to see the six year old reading those books.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"Hello again, Blaine." Mrs. Anderson sat down on the couch next to him. Mr. Anderson chose to remain standing as Ms. Rose stood off to the side to let them talk to him. "We're sorry to disturb you while you're reading, but we just wanted to say farewell."

Blaine had been through this before. Most of the time any of the adults who visited and spoke to him for a bit never said farewell, or came back to talk to him. On occasion though some of the people would come back to at least say farewell and tell him that they might come back again.

They never did. At least not to visit him anyway.

So Blaine did not expect much different from the Andersons. Which was why he was surprised to hear what Mrs. Anderson said next.

"My husband and I were wondering what you might think about coming to live with us."

"What?" Blaine's eyes widened in disbelief and he about dropped the book he was reading. Not that he would be worried about losing his page; he had read this particular book probably about fifty times by now. He had lost track ages ago. Sometimes he did not understand all the words, but there was a dictionary he could use from the library to help him if he needed it. Ever since he had met Kurt it had become one of his favorite books because he liked how the elves reminded him of Kurt – who was really nice, and pretty, and perfect. The elves in the story were not nice all the time, especially if they were fighting, but that still reminded him of Kurt too; because Kurt could get really snappy and somewhat scary when he was angry.

Mrs. Anderson smiled a tiny bit. The boy looked so small and vulnerable to her; she found herself wanting to tell him everything would be alright, that she would protect him. "I'm basically saying that, well, we would love it if you came to live with us."

Blaine's heart was racing. No one had ever asked him that before. It was an exciting prospect – finally getting the chance to leave this place – but at the same time...it terrified him; the unknown. What sort of life would he have? And what if they changed their minds, for some reason found him undesirable and sent him back? And more importantly...

"Where do you guys live?" He asked, curiously, tilting his head to the side a tiny bit.

"We live here in Ohio." Mrs. Anderson replied. "Just about three hours away from here, actually."

Blaine almost breathed a huge sigh of relief. So he would still be living in the same state. He had no clue where Kurt lived now, but from what he had heard it was still in Ohio. There was a chance they might still be close then.

"We'll be coming back to visit within a week or so." Mrs. Anderson added. "That'll give you plenty of time to think about it. It'd be lovely if you joined our family. I'd really like that." She smiled warmly at him.

Not wanting to get his hopes up too highly, Blaine just smiled back and nodded. "I think I'd like that too..." The Andersons did seem nice enough. Well, at least Mrs. Anderson did, anyway. And maybe they could help him reconnect with Kurt. Who knew what could happen.

Mrs. Anderson smiled brightly and stood. "Lovely. We'll be back as soon as we can. Definitely continue giving this thought, because ultimately this is not just our decision but yours too. We want to make sure you're happy as well." She reached down and gently brushed a hand through his curls.

Blaine was slightly startled at the gentle contact. Mrs. Anderson definitely sounded really caring. He felt kind of safe with her already. And it was kind of weird because he had not felt this safe with anyone since Kurt had left.

"We must be off now." She turned to Ms. Rose. "Thank you so much for letting us visit, Ms. Rose. You do a great job." She smiled then turned to wait for her husband to move towards the door.

As Mr. Anderson stepped away from the side of the couch, Blaine stood and shyly held his hand out to the man. "Er...bye?" He figured shaking hands was not just for greeting and introducing yourself, and, considering Mr. Anderson didn't seem entirely thrilled about being here, Blaine wanted to make sure he left a good impression on the man. After all, what if Mr. Anderson decided he did not like him and told Mrs. Anderson to pick another kid instead?

Mr. Anderson looked down at Blaine's outstretched hand in slight surprise, but then the corner of his mouth twitched up the tiniest bit and he took Blaine's hand in his own to shake it. "You're a quick learner. I like that." He let go of Blaine's hand then. "Farewell, Blaine."

The Andersons let themselves out of the building then, heading for home.

Ms. Rose smiled lightly down at Blaine after they were gone. "Well, looks like you'll finally get to get out of here, Blaine. The Andersons seem like a nice couple. I'm sure you'd be happy living with them."

Blaine nodded, not really replying. Now that the visit was over he kind of felt sad again. He still could not stop thinking about Kurt. And he was really trying to not get his hopes up about the Andersons really wanting to adopt him.

Sensing Blaine was going to probably go back to being silent and withdrawn again, Ms. Rose sighed softly and reached out to place a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's about dinner time. Why don't you head on out to the dining room and join the others?"

Nodding again, Blaine went over to a bookshelf and replaced the book he had been reading back onto the shelf. Then he left the room for dinner.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

By the end of the next week Blaine had pretty much given up hope on the Andersons returning. And it made him kind of angry at himself for allowing himself to get his hopes up. So now, not only was he still depressed over losing Kurt, he was angry and upset with himself over getting his hopes up over something he knew most likely was not going to happen.

He decided the best thing to do would be to just forget about the couple who had visited a week ago. It was not as if he was not used to this happening. It probably just hurt more this time because he was already hurting as it was. So he put them out of his mind and, instead, continued thinking about how much he really missed his best friend.

It had not been difficult at all to convince his self that the Andersons would not be coming back; which was why, when they came back halfway through the second week, Blaine was really surprised.

He spotted them through one of the front windows of the playroom. His heart started pounding a bit and he felt slightly nervous. Were they really back to see him again? Might he finally get out of here after so many years?

When Ms. Rose finally came to get him from the playroom a half hour later, Blaine was really trying to tell his self to not get his hopes up.

"Blaine, dear, the Andersons are back." Ms. Rose informed him. "They were really hoping you would talk to them again. I'm sure they're anxious to see if you've given any thought to coming to live with them." She smiled and led him to her office where the Andersons waited.

When Blaine sat down in the small chair next to Mrs. Anderson she smiled and reached out her hand to him. Still feeling rather nervous and shy, Blaine hesitated for a moment but then reached out and placed his small hand in hers.

"It's lovely to see you again, Blaine." Mrs. Anderson spoke softly.

Blaine smiled shyly and nodded. "It's nice seeing you guys again too."

Mr. Anderson was sitting in the chair on the other side of his wife. He looked like he was ready to go already. Blaine still found him rather intimidating.

"Did you give any thought about coming to live with us?" Mrs. Anderson asked Blaine quietly.

Blaine was silent for a few seconds. He had definitely given it some thought, of course. It was the final decision making part that had been the tough part. "I did..." he paused, biting his lip nervously until Mrs. Anderson's questioning gaze made him continue, "and...I'd really like to..."

There. He had said it. And now all he could think was that they would now laugh and tell him it was all a big joke; that they were kidding and would never want him to come live with them. No one else ever had. Why would these people?

Maybe he should not be thinking so negatively, but sometimes he just could not help it.

So when Mrs. Anderson smiled at his reply and told him that since their paperwork was finished he could come home with them as soon as he would like, Blaine started to feel emotionally overwhelmed.

He really would finally be getting out of here. These people actually wanted him to come live with them.

Blaine managed to actually smile then. Something he had not been able to do since Kurt had been adopted and taken away from him.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Blaine had never really thought that his departure from the orphanage would be an emotional one. After all, having been there for so long, he really was ready to get out and experience life. And actually have a family he could call his own. But it was also because he had been there for so long that leaving it made him rather sad. The orphanage had been all he had known the past four years. It had been his home. It was kind of sad to think he may never see it again, or Ms. Rose. She was not that bad, really. And she could always be counted on for help if needed.

So when Blaine was walking out the front door of the old building with the Andersons, he paused for a second then turned back to give Ms. Rose a hug. The head of the orphanage looked surprised for a brief second but then smiled and hugged him back. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson waited by the sidewalk where their shiny, black car waited for them.

"Thank you." Blaine told Ms. Rose, smiling.

Ms. Rose smiled warmly and nodded. "You're welcome, Blaine. And before you go, I have something for you." She held up a finger for him to wait a second and then went back inside the building. A few minutes later she returned and held out a rather big, old book. "I know just how much you love this book. None of the other children are really interested in it so I wanted you to have it. I know it'll be in good hands."

Reaching out to take the book, Blaine realized it was the huge Lord of the Rings book he loved reading so much. His eyes lit up and he looked up at Ms. Rose in awe. "Really?"

"Really." She nodded.

And that was when the overwhelming emotions of it all finally got to him. He burst into tears and set the book done so he could throw his arms around Ms. Rose's waist. "Thank you so much! I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too, Blaine." Ms. Rose replied softly, smiling fondly down at him. "It was nice having you around."

Blaine was trying to get his crying under control when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Mrs. Anderson smiling down at him and holding out a tissue. "Here you go, darling. Are you ready to go?" They had a long drive ahead of them after all.

"Thank you." Blaine sniffed and used the tissue to clean his self up. He nodded at Mrs. Anderson's question then crouched down to pick up the book.

Mrs. Anderson and Ms. Rose shared a few last words while Blaine just sort of looked about, trying to make sure he could imprint the place into his memory so he would never forget it. Then Mrs. Anderson was holding her hand out to him and he placed his small hand in hers. They headed for the car and Blaine waved farewell to Ms. Rose from the curb before he got into the back seat. Mrs. Anderson shut the door and then got into the front passenger seat, shutting the door as the car started and they pulled away.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Blaine did not remember much of the drive to his new home. For the first hour he stared intently out the window, wanting to see as much of the outside world as he could. After a while though he grew tired and sat back into the leather seat, yawning slightly. He asked the Andersons a few questions about their house and if he was going to get to go to a regular school. Mrs. Anderson answered most of his questions – yes, he was going to get to go to a nice public school just down the street – but Mr. Anderson did put in a few comments here or there. His comments were nothing to long; always straight to the point.

After a while Blaine must have dozed off because the next thing he knew Mrs. Anderson was shaking his shoulder gently and telling him to wake up because they had arrived. She unbuckled his seat belt for him and took his hand again to help him out of the vehicle.

Blaine's eyes widened a bit when he saw the home he would now be living in. It was huge. From the looks of it three floors even. The outside of the house was neatly kept, the lawn mowed and the bushes well trimmed. Small rose bushes lined the walkway up to the front door. Everything looked picture perfect.

"Your house is really pretty." Blaine whispered in awe.

"It's your house too now, Blaine." Mrs. Anderson chuckled. "Would you like to see the inside?"

Blaine nodded and hugged the Lord of the Rings book to his chest with his free arm, keeping his other hand in Mrs. Anderson's as they headed up the walk to the front door. Mr. Anderson was getting Blaine's bag out of the trunk of the car to bring it in behind them.

When they reached the front door it was opened by a pretty, tall, older lady who was smiling at them. "Hello! Oh, Jeannette, is this Blaine? He's adorable!" The lady looked down at Blaine and waved. "It's nice to meet you, sweetheart!"

Mrs. Anderson smiled and nodded at the lady's question. "Yes, this is Blaine." Blaine looked somewhat confused, though he was still smiling at the lady. "Blaine, dear, this is Amelia James. She helps about the house, especially when Jerry and I are away on business trips."

Blaine wondered if he was supposed to shake Amelia's hand, since it was the polite thing to do. Except both his hands were occupied so he could not shake her hand anyway. He just hoped a nice smile would do. "Hi." He smiled, a bit shyly. His mind was also rather occupied with what Mrs. Anderson had just said about business trips. Did that mean they would not be around as much? Or did they only go on business trips occasionally? He really hoped it was only occasionally. It would kind of suck if his new parents were never around. New parents...it was so weird thinking that. It made him wonder what he was supposed to call them. Was he supposed to call them mom and dad yet? Or was there some sort of rule or something and he had to wait a few days or weeks? Maybe he could ask later. Then he wondered if Kurt had had the same problem with trying to figure out what to call his own new parents. Thinking about Kurt made him sad again.

"Come along, darling. It's a big house and there's much to see." Mrs. Anderson smiled. She led Blaine through the front door and Amelia followed along as Blaine got a small tour of the house.

Mr. Anderson was barely through the front door when the phone rang. "I'll get it." He called, setting Blaine's bag down inside by the front door after closing it. He disappeared into another room; they could hear Mr. Anderson talking to someone for a bit until his voice grew too quiet as their distance from him grew.

"Sorry about that." Mrs. Anderson apologized to Blaine. "We get a lot of calls from important people here for work related things. You won't have to worry about answering the phone because either I or Jerry will usually get it if we're home. If we're not home then Amelia will get the phone and transfer the calls to us."

Blaine nodded silently and continued looking about the house. The house was just as neatly and perfectly kept on the inside as it was on the outside. The d�cor matched throughout every room, from the carpet to the furniture and to the paint on the wall. Blaine liked how everything matched, but he could not help feeling like there was not much cheer and warmth to everything in the house. Like everything was just placed there for show, like in a doll house. Even the people were there to make the perfect home picture fit. Well, he shouldn't be too quick to judge. Maybe it was just because everything was so new to him and he was not used to the house yet.

"Your room is on the third floor." Mrs. Anderson told him, leading him up the second flight of stairs to get to the third floor. "There's your bedroom, a second bedroom – which Amelia stays in - a bathroom for each of those two rooms, and then a sort of storage room since we don't really have an attic and the basement has been converted into an entertainment room." She explained, leading Blaine over to the two bedrooms. "Here's your room." She smiled, opening the door for Blaine to go inside.

Blaine stepped into his room and his eyes widened again. It was a really big, nice room. There was even a wide, cushioned window seat that he could sit on and read by the window if he wanted to. He hesitated for a second then dropped Mrs. Anderson's hand and ran over to the window to look outside. From his window he had a marvelous view of the neatly kept back yard. There was even a pool outside! Later he was going to have to go out back and explore. For now, he turned back to look about his room. The bed was over in the corner, a wooden nightstand next to it with a lamp on top. A desk was along one wall with a comfy, wheeled chair for it. The tall, wooden dresser near his closet was seemingly the same type of wood used for the nightstand. In fact, all the wooden pieces of furniture in his room matched, not only that but with all the wooden pieces through out the house as well.

"Do you like your room?" Mrs. Anderson asked him from the doorway where she still stood.

"Oh yes!" Blaine replied happily. "It's really nice! Thank you." He smiled brightly. Spotting a second door off to the one wall he went over and opened it. It led to his bathroom. He looked about and saw it was just as perfect looking as his bedroom.

Once he was finished looking about he went back over to Mrs. Anderson and took her hand again. "Thank you so much...for everything." He told her shyly.

"Aw, darling, you're welcome. I really am glad you agreed to come live with us." Mrs. Anderson smiled.

"Um..." Blaine shuffled his feet nervously for a second before looking back up at Mrs. Anderson, "I was just wondering...what I should call you and...Mr. Anderson?"

Mrs. Anderson thought about it for a second before replying. "Well, I'd understand if you didn't want to call us mom and dad right off the bat. I'm sure it might take some getting used to, after all. Until then you're welcome to call us Jerry and Jeannette, if you'd like. I just want to make sure you're comfortable with everything."

"Okay..." Blaine smiled; glad to know now that he could take things at his own pace if he wanted to.

"Would you like some lunch?" Mrs. Anderson asked. "Amelia usually makes lunch around two so we're just a little bit behind." It was currently almost three o'clock.

Blaine was rather hungry so he nodded. "Yes, please." He wanted to see if he could find his way back down to the kitchen without being shown the way, so he told Jeannette that he would lead the way.

Luckily he managed to find the kitchen with out too much trouble. It probably helped that there were yummy smells coming from the room so all he had had to do was follow his nose. Quite pleased with himself, Blaine skipped into the room, dragging Jeannette behind him.

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, a rather big, warm something barreled into Blaine, knocking him over and causing him to shriek in surprise. There were shouts of 'No, Dawson!' and 'Get off, boy!'" And then something was licking Blaine's face. A lot.

Once Blaine was free he managed to push his self up to a seated position on the tiled floor. He used his sleeve to wipe his face off which was covered in drool...dog drool; from a really big dog.

Mr. Anderson had a hold of the dog's collar and was holding on tightly as the dog strained to get away. Blaine had seen pictures of lots of dogs in a book the library at the orphanage had. He could tell right away by looking at it that it was a Great Dane. Well, the Andersons had kind of forgotten to mention that during the ride home.

"You okay, boy?" Mr. Anderson asked, looking down at Blaine. The dog whined, continuing to try and free itself.

Blaine nodded, feeling somewhat small – smaller than usual anyway, considering how small he was already - when Jerry Anderson looked down at him like that. "Yeah...er, is that your- our dog?"

Jerry nodded as his wife bent down to help Blaine up from the floor. "Yep. Dawson's been with us for five years now. He's friendly so you have nothing to worry about. He just gets a little excited at meeting new people."

"Here, you can pet him while Jerry's holding him back." Jeannette told Blaine. "Maybe that'll help him get used to you a bit."

Blaine was a bit scared to go near the dog – Dawson was bigger than he was, considering he was pretty small for a six year old – and the dog did look somewhat intimidating despite Jerry saying he was friendly.

He knew he would have to get used to the dog though, since they lived in the same house now, so he took a deep breath and went closer to it. Holding his hand out, he let Dawson sniff at his hand. Then the dog started licking his hand and he tugged it back. "Ew!" he squealed, giggling. "That's gross, Dawson!" The dog gave him a slightly puzzled look then lunged forward licking at Blaine's face, causing him to squeal and laugh more. So maybe the dog was not so scary after all...just really big.

Mrs. Anderson could not help smiling as she watched. Even Mr. Anderson just about smiled watching their new son interact with the dog. Well, at least they would not have to worry about making sure they got along. And as friendly as Dawson was, he was also very protective of his family members so Blaine would be safe if he ever ended up being home alone for some odd reason.

"Alright, why don't we eat lunch now?" Jeannette suggested. "Dawson isn't really allowed to be in the kitchen unless it's time for him to get fed, so he's going to have to either go outside or roam somewhere else inside." Blaine asked if he could go play with Dawson later maybe outside and Jeannette told him of course he could. That made him smile quite a bit.

Jerry took the dog outside and then came back in to sit at the kitchen table with them for lunch. Amelia had made some really yummy looking sandwiches and soup.

Blaine did not know it, but the Andersons had not sat at this table together in over seven years.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

After lunch Jerry excused himself to go up to his office on the second floor. Amelia cleaned the dishes up as Blaine asked Jeannette a few more random questions about the house. Then he asked if he could go outside and explore for a bit.

"Of course, sweetie. Just be careful, okay? The swimming pool is covered for now until the summer, but you could still get hurt around it."

Blaine nodded and promised he would be careful. Then he went out the door he had seen Mr. Anderson go through to take Dawson out. Once outside the huge dog came bounding over to say hi again by trying to lick his face. Blaine laughed but sternly held a finger up and said a loud 'No!'

Dawson gave him a rather sad, pouting look, but obeyed and just followed alongside Blaine as he walked around the back yard to explore. There were a lot of huge trees outlining along the edge of the property, and a small garden along the length of one side of the rectangular pool.

All in all, a very nice, big back yard for him, and the dog, to play in. Dawson brought one of his tennis balls over and dropped it at Blaine's feet, begging him to toss it. So they played for quite a long time, the dog barking every so often whenever Blaine would tease him with the ball.

At one point though the ball rolled underneath one of the big trees and Dawson just went over and started barking a lot at the tree. He was kind of too big to go underneath the thick greenery and get the ball.

Blaine knew he was small enough to get under and grab the ball, but it was kind of scary looking and he did not want to. Dawson really wanted his ball though and kept barking, looking back at Blaine every few seconds or so to whine at him.

"But...Dawson, I can't..." It was kind of dark underneath that huge tree. He just wasn't brave enough.

But then again...wasn't he who had written the word 'courage' on a piece of paper and given it to Kurt when he had to go out and sing? How could he tell someone else to have courage, but not tell himself the same thing?

So Blaine took a deep breath and went over to the tree, kneeling down to get a good look to see where the ball was. Luckily it was not too far back, but it was just far enough that his arms were too short to reach it. Taking another deep breath he went for it, shoving his way through the rather thick lower branches to try and grab the ball. One of the sharper edges on a branch left a long, thin cut along his cheek as he went, but he ignored it and kept going. Dawson was counting on him to get the ball. Finally he felt his fingers close around the toy and he wiggled his way back out.

"Here you go, boy!" Blaine smiled, tossing Dawson the ball. The dog caught the ball in his mouth but then dropped it and moved closer to Blaine, sniffing at him then licking his cheek where the cut was. It really stung when he did that and Blaine winced, holding his hand up to his cheek to cover the cut. "Ouch, don't do that, Dawson. It hurt."

Then he heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Amelia coming over. "Hey, sweetheart. I heard Dawson barking a lot and came out to see if everything was okay."

"M'fine." Blaine mumbled, trying not to cry cause his cheek was really bothering him now.

"You have leaves and stuff stuck in your curls, goof. Here, hold still." Amelia sat down on the grass next to him and reached over to start picking all the stuff out of his hair. Dawson had taken off and was lying on the patio by the back door that Blaine had come out of earlier. "What did you do to your face?" She asked, noticing the cut on Blaine's cheek.

"Nothing...it was just a tree branch when I went under there to get Dawson's tennis ball." Blaine explained. It really did sting quite a bit now. His eyes were watering quite a bit.

"Aw," Amelia frowned, "why don't we get you inside and get this cut cleaned up? Come on." She took his hand and stood, pulling him up gently.

They went back inside and Amelia took him up to the third floor to her room. "Here we go," she made Blaine sit down at the edge of her bed as she went into the bathroom to find some band aids and medicine for the cut, "I have colored band aids. Would you like one of those?" She sat down next to him and held out the box.

Blaine looked inside the box and decided to just pick one at random. It was bright pink. He liked it and held it out to Amelia who grinned. "Nice choice."

She put medicine on the cut and then placed the band aid securely over it. "Now you're all patched up and you didn't even cry. How about a hug for being such a brave boy?"

"But I almost wasn't brave..." Blaine mumbled, looking rather saddened.

Amelia smiled lightly and reached over to pull Blaine onto her lap, hugging him close and letting him rest his head on her shoulder. "You were though. And even if you hadn't been that's okay too, because you're allowed to not be totally brave all the time. It's part of being human."

But Blaine had to be brave all the time. He had to be brave for Kurt, even if Kurt was not around to be near him. That way if Kurt was scared Blaine could rescue him...

Blaine grew sadder when he remembered that even if Kurt was scared and needed him now...he could not even go and rescue him, because he had no idea where Kurt even was.

Before he could stop his self he was crying again, hiding his face against Amelia's shoulder. His sobs were loud and Mrs. Anderson heard them as she was coming up the stairs. She had not seen Blaine outside and, worried, had gone around the house looking for him.

Appearing in the doorway to Amelia's room, Jeannette gave the two a concerned look. "What's wrong? Did something happen? Is he alright?"

Amelia looked over at her and semi-shrugged. "I don't know. Blaine?" She looked down at the sobbing boy in her arms. "Blaine, sweetie, what's wrong? Is it the cut?"

Blaine shook his head against her shoulder, continuing to cry. He felt like a wimp for crying so much, but he just could not stop.

Jeannette came into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed next to them. "What's wrong, darling? We can't help you unless you tell us what's wrong."

Blaine knew that was true, but he was not even sure they could help him. After all, even if they asked the orphanage for Kurt's new family's information, the orphanage might not be allowed to give it to them. In which case, he would most likely never be able to find Kurt ever. That thought made him cry even harder.

Mrs. Anderson was somewhat frightened by how hard her new son was crying. She was trying to remember what Ms. Rose had told her about why Blaine had been so quiet these past few weeks, but she just could not remember.

Amelia, who was in her sixties and still going strong, had raised two children of her own and was good at handling weepy children. She rocked Blaine gently, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his head. "Your mother is right, Blaine. We need to know what's wrong so we can help you."

"I want Kurt!" Blaine finally managed to get out, his words somewhat messy from his sobbing.

Amelia looked to Jeannette. "Who's Kurt?"

Jeannette shrugged. "I don't know."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

It took the two ladies a while but they finally managed to get Blaine calmed down...until Jeannette asked who Kurt was and Blaine started crying all over again.

Feeling somewhat frustrated – she had no idea how to handle sobbing children who just wouldn't stop – Mrs. Anderson finally had to leave to get something for her growing headache.

While she was gone, Amelia continued trying to comfort Blaine. She even sang softly to him for a bit.

The singing seemed to really work well. As soon as Blaine heard her singing he quieted, trying not to cry anymore so he could hear her sing for she had a really pretty voice. He rubbed at his red eyes a bit until Amelia pulled his hands away, continuing to sing.

When she finished her song, Blaine sniffled and rested his head against her shoulder again. "You sing really nice." He told her quietly.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Amelia smiled, glad she had gotten him to quiet down a bit. "Now...do you want to talk about K- your friend or something else instead?" Maybe he just did not want to talk about whoever this Kurt person was just yet. Amelia knew pushing him to do so would not help matters at all.

"He's my best friend." Blaine told her really quietly. His gaze was down at his hands that were just lying in his lap. His right hand was lying in the palm of his left hand. That was the hand – the right one, not the left – that Kurt usually held...had usually held. And just by thinking about it Blaine could almost feel Kurt's hand in his.

"You mean, back at the orphanage?" Amelia asked, rocking Blaine back and forth slowly.

Blaine nodded against her shoulder.

"Is his still there?" She asked.

"No." Blaine shook his head. "He was adopted several weeks ago, before I was. And now...now I'll never get to see him again!" He burst into tears all over again, his left hand clutching tightly at his right, holding it hard against his chest. All he wanted was to have Kurt next to him again, holding his hand like they used to.

Amelia did not want to upset him by asking anymore questions so she just let him cry against her shoulder. After a while it seemed Blaine had cried himself to sleep, so Amelia just stood and carried him to his own room next to hers and laid him down on his bed, covering him up with the blankets. She had to go finish up some things around the house before it got too late. And then she would wake the boy up for dinner.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The next three days, after that first one, were kind of fun for Blaine. Of course he was still sad about Kurt. He did not know that Amelia had talked to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson about possibly trying to find and contact Kurt's new family – Mr. Anderson had shot the idea down, stating that the boy was probably far away and Blaine would be much happier to not dwell on the past; he needed to move on and be happy with the life he had now. Blaine would make plenty of new friends once he started school the next fall.

Amelia had not liked that reply, but who was she to do anything about it? After all, she was not Blaine's parent. It was not up to her to decide what was best for him.

So Blaine remained oblivious to this decision, which was probably good because otherwise he might be even more devastated and hate Mr. Anderson quite a bit.

Blaine spent those next few days exploring the house and playing with the dog or Amelia. His new parents were seemingly very busy all the time around the place. The phone rang a lot and Mr. Anderson was usually the one to answer.

The fifth day was the morning he woke up to find it was only Dawson, Amelia, and his self in the house. And that it would be like that for the next two weeks.

He had felt like a total cry baby again when he cried after Amelia had told him his parents had left the night before, while he slept, for an emergency business trip to New York. Apparently Jeannette had come into his room to say goodbye but he had not woken up. So she had kissed his forehead and then left with Jerry for their trip.

Amelia had felt really bad so for lunch that day she took him to the grocery store and let him pick out any kind of ice cream he wanted for dessert.

Once they got back and were eating their lunch, Blaine was rather quiet. Eventually though he spoke up quietly. "Do they...do they go out a lot on trips?"

"Yeah..." Amelia replied, sighing, "It's kind of required for their work. It's why I'm generally here, watching the house and Dawson." The Great Dane was currently lying under the table at Blaine's feet – the dog had taken well to Blaine and generally followed him about everywhere.

Blaine poked at his mac and cheese sadly. He wanted his parents to be around, not always off on some business trip that kept them away for weeks at a time.

"At least you'll have me." Amelia grinned, trying to stay on the positive side.

Blaine smiled weakly and nodded. He really liked Amelia. She was really nice to him and cared about him a lot, just as if he was her own son. Well, they would find stuff to do while his parents were away.

Then he had an idea. "Oh! Can we...could we possibly watch a movie after we eat?"

Amelia looked up from her food and nodded. "Of course! Did you have anything in mind? I know we have a lot of movies downstairs in the entertainment room."

"Disney movies." Blaine told her. "Kurt told me about those and I've never seen any..." He added quietly.

Amelia's gaze turned somewhat sad when she heard Blaine mention Kurt. She always felt sad when he mentioned his best friend from the orphanage because she was pretty sure his chances of seeing Kurt ever again were rather low. "Of course we can, sweetheart. I'm sure we have some of those now." The Andersons had tried to get at least some kids movies before adopting a child, figuring it would be entertaining for he or she since they would not be around as much. "Until we're done eating...do you want to talk about Kurt yet?" She was rather curious about Blaine's best friend. Especially considering how much Blaine cared for the other boy and missed him so much.

Blaine was silent for a few seconds, continuing to poke at his food, but then gave in. He told her all about Kyle and then Kurt and how sad he had been to lose both of them, but how much worse it had been to lose Kurt. He even told her about how their hands had fit so well together, like puzzle pieces. And he was glad he did not cry the entire time he talked about Kurt, even though he was really sad thinking about him.

Amelia listened quietly the entire time. She was somewhat in awe over how close the two boys seemed to have been, even for at such a young age. Blaine and Kurt...to have separated them seemed like such a terrible thing to do in her eyes. Well, there was nothing she could do to fix the problem, just hope that Mr. Anderson was right and that time and new friends would help get rid of Blaine's sadness over having lost his best friend.

For now all Amelia could tell Blaine was to not give up hope. "You never know what the future holds." She explained.

They finished their dinner, continuing to ignore the Andersons' rule about Dawson not being allowed into the kitchen besides when it was time to be fed – they even fed him a few bits of food to his delight. After cleaning up, which Blaine helped with because he liked helping people and Amelia was so nice to him, they grabbed their ice cream and went downstairs to the basement.

The basement was called the entertainment room because, well, that's what it was. There was a huge flat screen TV, with lots of couches and comfy chairs facing it, so big groups of people could watch. There was a little drink bar over in the corner for whenever the Andersons had business people over for a little business party. A big pool table also was in the room off to the one side. A huge sound system was set up as well, speakers hanging all around the room near the ceiling.

Amelia and Blaine set their ice cream down on the big coffee table near the couches and then went over to look though the glass cabinet of DVDs. Along the bottom shelf was a whole bunch of kid's movies. And, to Blaine's delight, almost all of them were animated Disney movies. He wanted to watch them all at once, but figured it would just be better to go in order down the row.

He pulled out the first one – Beauty and the Beast – and handed it to Amelia who got the movie all set up. Blaine was rather excited as the movie started. He did not want any sad thoughts to ruin his good mood, but he could not help wishing he could tell Kurt that he was finally getting to watch the movies he had told him about.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

After the first movie was over, Blaine begged Amelia to play another one. By the time dinnertime rolled around they were on their third movie. After it was over, they cleaned up and went back upstairs, Blaine talking nonstop about how awesome the movies were.

He continued talking about them the whole way through dinner and did not even stop until he was finally getting ready for bed. "Can we watch more tomorrow?" He begged Amelia.

Amelia laughed, having been rather amused by all of Blaine's chatter. It was the most he had spoken since arriving here and she loved it. He was a darling boy. "Of course. We have quite a few more to get through, don't we?" She tucked him into bed, kissing his forehead. "I'll leave my door open as usual just in case you need me during the night."

"Thank you, Amelia!" Blaine smiled warmly up at her. She was starting to become one of his most favorite people ever. "Night!" He snuggled down, getting all comfortable as Amelia turned the lights off.

"Night, Blaine." She replied, smiling fondly back at him before leaving for her own room.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Dawson came into his room shortly after Amelia left. Blaine heard him and patted the bed. It was a pretty wide bed so there was plenty of room for him and the big dog to share. And it made Blaine feel safer at night as well. Plus Dawson did not mind it when Blaine cried on him. He would just lick Blaine's face and hold still, not moving until Blaine had quieted. Then he would usually rest his head close to Blaine's and roll up against him.

Tonight was one of the nights Blaine cried on Dawson until he fell asleep. He had been rather excited to watch the Disney movies, but now all he could think about was how his new parents had left for that darn trip and would not be back for two weeks. And he really was most likely never going to see Kurt ever again.