"I'm coming, I'm coming," Kurt shouted in the general direction of the front door as he rushed around the apartment, picking up the things he needed and cleaning up after Claire's lunch. "Come on honey," he said to Claire, who was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed.

He slid down, and ran towards her father. "You're going to have a sleepover with Auntie Rachel," he said, and she clapped excitedly. Three more rapt knocks rang through the room, and Kurt made an irritated noise. "She can't even wait for one minute, that one," he said, making Claire laugh.

He opened the door, finding Rachel outside with her hands on her hips. "What took you so long?" she asked irritably. Kurt rolled his eyes. "I do have a three year old daughter to take care of you know," he answered. Rachel didn't answer, instead choosing to crouch down until she was closer to Claire's height.

"Your father should know that he never lets a lady wait," she said. Claire giggled, holding a hand to her mouth to stifle the sound. "I'm sorry Rachel, but this little lady is a more important part of my life than you are," he said, raking his fingers through his daughter's brown hair.

Rachel stood up again, facing Kurt. "So, where are you going tonight? Got a date?" she asked, nudging his side. He rolled his eyes at her again. "No," he said. "I'm just going out for dinner with some people from work." Rachel nodded. "Sure you are," she said with a wink.

"Let's go, Claire, I have loads of fun stuff planned for us to do." Kurt kneeled down to kiss the top of his daughter's head, giving her a brief hug. "Goodbye honey, have fun," he said, smiling. "I will," she said, grinning. He handed the bag with Claire's things over to Rachel, hugging her goodbye and thanking her again for taking care of her for him.

Kurt watched them disappear down the hall, disappearing around the corner, heading towards the elevators, before turning and heading back inside. He was just going out with some friends from work. It wasn't a big deal.

It wasn't as if he had a date or something. After his brief attempt at dating the previous year, he hadn't tried again. He had, however, started going out again, as he had done before Blaine's ... disappearance, two years before.

He went into his bedroom and opened the closet door, pulling out the outfit he'd put together earlier that day. After a quick shower, he got dressed in a pair of tight, black jeans that hugged him in all the right places and a crimson shirt Blaine had always loved.

He started fixing his hair, barely finishing when his phone beeped with a text from one of his coworkers. 'I'll most likely run late, but you can just start without me, and I'll catch up with you later.'

Kurt rolled his eyes as he tapped out a quick 'okay' message. Julie was always late to these things. But that also meant that Kurt could take some extra time getting ready, since he knew he wouldn't arrive later than her anyway. And so Kurt found himself on the couch, the TV turned off, relaxing for the first time in what felt like forever.

Work had been extremely stressful the past week, because of someone leaving unexpectedly. It had sent the entire office into overdrive, when they had to work extra for the person who had left. And if that wasn't enough, Claire had been hyper and energetic all night long. Even more than usual, that is. This meant that not only could Kurt get no slack at work, he couldn't get any at home either.

Without warning, Kurt had fallen asleep, exhausted from the stress of the past weeks. He woke up a while later by his phone beeping in his pocket. It was another text, this time from Michael, asking where he was. He checked his clock. "Shit," Kurt said to himself. He was nearly half an hour late.

After rushing back into his bedroom to check his hair, tweaking the few straws that weren't in place, he all but ran out of the apartment, down the stairs and out on the street, signaling for a cab. One stopped right in front of him, and he got in, telling the driver where to go.

When he arrived, nearly an hour late, the others were already seated at a table, a couple of glasses already empty. He bought the next round, seeing as how he was late. Julie arrived a few minutes later, buying another one, and somehow, the drinks just kept on coming. And Kurt kept on drinking, until he forgot all about the stress and the pain and the fact that he hadn't slept properly for weeks.

When Kurt got home that night he was drunk off his feet and barely managed to put his key in the lock. He collapsed on the sofa almost as soon as he came inside, without even taking his shoes off.

When he awoke the next morning, there was a loud banging in his head. Bang, bang, bang on the inside of his skull. He tried opening his eyes, but the daylight only made it worse, so he immediately shut them again.

His mouth was dry, and he was sure his hair looked like hell. The banging in his head wouldn't stop, but kept on going. And then he realized it. It wasn't in his head. Someone was outside his apartment, banging on his door.

His eyes flew open and, ignoring the way it made his head throb, he got up, stumbling blindly towards the front door. It was probably just Rachel; despite his instructions to not bring Claire back early in the morning, like she had last time. But then again, he really had no idea what time it was.

He opened the door, and was surprised as he was faced with a dozen red roses. "What –" Kurt began, thinking that there had to be some mistake, but before he could finish the sentence, the roses were moved away, revealing the man behind them to be, not a pasty faced teenage delivery boy, as he had expected, but a man with dark curly hair, hazel eyes, and a huge smile on his face.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked incredulously.