That night Kurt was sitting up in his bedroom, going over the next day's schedule when his phone started to vibrate.

Without taking his eyes off of the sheets of paper in front of him, he picked up the phone and answered it.

‘Hello?'

‘Kurt! It's Rachel' a shrill voice sounded from the phone.

Kurt smiled and put the sheets of paper down.

‘Rachel, hi, how are things?' he asked excitedly.

‘It's great! Never been better. I think you know about me and Greg?' she said happily.

‘Yeah Santana told me last year. I'm very happy for you two.'

‘Thanks – Anyway I'm calling to officially invite you to the wedding!' Rachel was literally yelling now. Kurt chuckled and held the phone a little way away from his ear.

‘Wow, that's great, thanks. When is it?' Kurt called.

‘July twenty fifth in a small park just outside New York' Kurt smiled. He had remembered all the wedding plans Rachel had whispered to him during high school when she was engaged to Finn. One of the many plans was to get married outside in a park under a magnificent marquee. It sounded amazing.

‘Wow, that's like what you've always wanted' Kurt said.

‘I know, I know! Anyway I'm sorry for not being in contact earlier, I've been super busy. You know how I was in Funny Girl right?'

‘Yeah, you couldn't shut up about it' Kurt chuckled.

‘Well anyway you know how…well how it flopped?' Rachel continued on a more sombre note.

‘Yeah Rach, I held you well you cried, remember?'

‘Well be that as it may, that was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me!'

‘Why, what happened after that?'

‘Well a well-known Broadway producer saw it and…well he loved me! He offered me a job in his newest production!'

‘Rach, that's amazing, when was all of this though because Funny Girl was years ago' Kurt said.

‘Well it only happened last year…I've been in training for a year, Kurt!'

‘Training for what? You are already an amazing singer and dancer.'

‘Well this show had a bit more…acrobatics in it. They needed to flex me out a little bit' Kurt laughed openly at the mental image that flashed through his mind.

‘That sounds…different. Are you enjoying yourself though?' Kurt asked.

‘Of course I am, silly. Now enough about me –‘

‘Whoa, is this Rachel Berry calling, or someone else because the Rachel I know does not talk about anyone but herself' Kurt laughed as he heard Rachel scoff on the other end.

‘Kurt, stop being silly, alright. Now what's been going on with you? I heard that you opened a shop, which sounds really cool!'

‘Yeah I opened a book shop with a café up top. It's really cute…but is cost a lot…I'm back living at home' Kurt said glumly.

‘Oh, Kurt, that's fine –‘

‘I know it is, but it is a little humiliating…but anyway I'm really enjoying myself there, I've only worked there for two days, though' Kurt sighed and sank back against his pillows and looked up at the celling.

‘Well that is really great, Kurt, I'm so proud of you! But hey, do you want to hear a little gossip?' Rachel asked, suddenly sounding a lot more like her high school self.

‘Always' Kurt said, suddenly more alert and attentive than he was before.

‘Well have you heard from Mercedes lately?'

‘No, I haven't heard from anyone in years…why? What's wrong with her?' Kurt asked, suddenly very fearful.

‘Oh nothing horrible, don't worry. She got a recording contract!' Rachel sounded really happy, but Kurt's heart sank, everybody was having their big dreams come true, and here he was, stuck in Lima like he had promised would never happen.

‘That's – great, it really is' Kurt said softly.

‘I know, she is so happy, you should see her Facebook. It blew up when she announced her album, everyone's really happy for her.'

Kurt smiled softly and tried to ignore the prickling in the corners of his eyes. ‘That is so great…anyway I have to leave, I've got a lot of work to do. So will you send me a proper invite?' Kurt asked.

‘Yeah I will, bye Kurt, see you at the wedding' Rachel said happily.      

Kurt ended the call and threw his phone back onto the bed. He then wrenched out his laptop and went on Facebook, something that he had refused to do for years prior.

He saw immediately that what Rachel had said was true. Mercedes most recent post was her smiling and hugging her producer. Kurt sighed and started to scroll through his old high school friends pages. He saw that Quinn had graduated with honours last year; she was now apparently dating Puck who was still in the air force. Santana and Danny were living together as Kurt knew, but they had adopted a kitten. Santana's profile was her smiling and cuddling Danny with their kitty held up between them, they looked so happy that it hurt.

Brittany and Sam and re kindled their romance and were now expecting their second child. That was too much. Kurt closed his eyes and didn't even bother to see what was going on in Tina's life, it was hurting too much seeing all his old classmates happy and out of Lima while he was stuck here, living a life that he had never envisioned himself living.

He was about to close Facebook when he saw that he had a new friend request. Curious, Kurt clicked on the icon and felt his heart leap, there was a picture of Blaine Anderson, scowling as usual, his matted hair flying everywhere and wearing a hideous brown shirt. Blaine had asked to be Kurt's Facebook friend. Kurt hovered over the accept button, deciding what to do. He finally clicked it.

Interest sparked inside him now. He felt a little stalker-ish as he went to Blaine's page, but he had sent the friend request, it wasn't too creepy. Kurt looked behind him to make sure his father or Carol weren't watching him, and then he went down Blaine's recent messages. There wasn't any. Kurt puzzled over this for a moment before he saw that he had only joined that night. Kurt gulped; he was Blaine's only friend on Facebook.

He quickly exited and shut his laptop off. He went back to the work that he had abandoned and picked it up, his mind wheeling about Blaine and his friends. He stared at the sheet for a whole minute without taking in anything, then sighed and stowed it back into the file it belonged in. He couldn't work at the moment.

The next morning, Kurt woke up at five am. He got ready and walked downstairs for a bite of quick breakfast. He was surprised to see Carol in the kitchen, sipping on coffee and looking very glum indeed.

‘Hey Carol, what's wrong.' Carol jumped a little when she heard Kurt but her face relaxed a little.

‘I-I couldn't sleep' she said softly. Up close, Kurt could see that she had been crying recently. She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled at Kurt.

‘I know it's silly, it's been ten years, but it still hurts' she said softly.

Kurt looked at her confusedly, and then it hit him, today was the tenth anniversary of Finn's death. His heart leaped, how the hell could he forget that?

Without saying a word, he walked over and pulled Carol into a hug. ‘It isn't silly, I miss him too, he was a big part of all our lives, we will never forget him and yes that does mean that it will hurt often.' They pulled out of their embrace and smiled at one another. ‘But that doesn't mean that it's silly to feel it.'

Carol patted Kurt's cheek clumsily and took another sip of coffee. Kurt gently squeezed her shoulder and then made his way over to the cupboard and pulled out a bowel and made himself some breakfast.

He heard Carol seat herself down at the kitchen island and place her coffee down. There was an awkward silence before Burt walked in.

‘Morning all' he said. Kurt turned and smiled at his dad. He saw him go over and kiss Carol on the forehead before he moved over to Kurt.

‘You ok, kiddo?' he said seriously.

‘Yeah dad, are you?'

‘Yeah' he looked over at Carol and lowered his voice, leaning closer to Kurt. ‘She is still having trouble with it –‘

‘Dad her son and husband died, it would kill anyone emotionally, think about it. What would you be like if I had died instead of Finn?' Kurt hissed.

Burt's eyes grew wide but he gulped and nodded.

Kurt gently patted his arm and made his way over to sit next to Carol.

‘So what are you planning to do today?' Kurt asked.

‘Well I'm going to visit F-Finn's g-grave and C-Christopher's and then come back home and relax.' She sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

‘Do you need me to come with you?' Kurt asked seriously as Burt pottered around in the kitchen, making his usual racket.

‘No-no, I'll be fine, anyway your father said that he would take me, he's taken the day off.'

Kurt looked down and said ‘we should all go, I think it would be nice to visit Finn and my mother' Kurt looked up into Carol's sad eyes and smiled weakly. ‘If that's alright with you, though.'

She let out a watery chuckle and pulled Kurt into another hug. ‘That'll be fine' she whispered into his ear.

‘So when do you want to meet, because I really should go to work.'

‘Midday. That's when-when it happened' Carol said, returning to her sombre attitude.

 Kurt patted her arm and looked over at his father with pleading eyes. Burt saw this and walked over to crouch next to Carol.

‘Carol, honey, just relax a little –‘Kurt vigorously shook his head. ‘I-I mean its ok, I know you miss him –‘Kurt nodded enthusiastically over Carols shoulder. ‘We all do, but just remember we gave him the best nineteen years of life we could have done and that he loved you so much –‘

Carol threw herself into Burt's arms. For one wild moment Kurt thought that they were making out but then he saw that Carol was crying into Burt's shoulder like it was her last day on earth.

Burt looked a little bewildered but he patted her on the back.

Kurt smiled and finished his breakfast and put his bowel in the sink.

‘Well I'm off, I'll see you at midday' Kurt walked out of the kitchen and out of the house to his car.   

As he walked up to his car, he saw a black Mercedes drive past. One of the tinted windows was rolled down, allowing a breeze inside. Kurt's heart jumped a little when he saw the figure of Blaine, scowling as usual (did he make any other facial expressions) inside. Kurt stood there, watching the flash car drive by, his keys to his old car held loftily in his hand.

He watched the car drive around the bend in the road and off out of sight. Kurt stood there for a moment before he shook his head and climbed into the front seat of his car.

He reached his shop in less than five minutes, parking in the special reserved spot for him and hopped out. He unlocked the shop and started to get things ready. He didn't notice that black Mercedes pull up outside the shop. As Kurt was straightening the cushions on one of the downstairs seats, the door tinkled open. He looked around and saw Blaine's father walk in wearing a different yet equally crisp suit.

‘Good morning' he said stiffly, looking around the shop dully.

‘Hello, welcome to –‘

‘Yes thank you, I've been here already. I'm as you probably remember, Blaine Anderson's father, Rupert Anderson' he held out his hand formally for Kurt to shake. He took it tentatively in his hand and shook.

‘It's nice to see you again. Did Blaine tell you –‘

‘Yes he did. I am here to formally thank you' he inclined his head a little. Kurt noticed for the first time that he had curly hair as well, except he had gelled his down to his skull, it was a rather jarring look.

‘Um…well that's ok' Kurt said, he was a little unsure about what was going on.

‘Well now that that's sorted out I must ask you to not keep him too long on weekdays, he still has his studying to –‘

‘Mr Anderson I am aware that Blaine is still in school and I am not asking him to stay too late, just until the shop closes. I have worked all this out with Blaine.'

Mr Anderson stared at Kurt for a moment before he inclined his head again.

‘Well this is your shop so I have no right to talk to you like that. I apologize' Mr Anderson looked up at Kurt, his eyes filled with coldness and something else.

‘Well is that all?' Kurt asked. This conversation was making him a little uncomfortable.

‘For now.'

Kurt watched awkwardly as Mr Anderson walked out of the shop. He shook his head lightly and returned to the counter.