They slip back into room 6, and Kurt immediately starts to unzip another dress.� They don’t really have time to waste, though he does try to talk her through her problems with the last dress while he works on getting a second one for her to try on.

“So, is there anything specific about the last dress that bothered you?” he asks, looking back at her over his shoulder while he works the next gown free of the plastic.

Rachel sighs, staring at her reflection in the mirror.� “It looks like it’s swallowing me,” she says.� “I want to be the star, not the dress.� If that makes sense?”

Kurt finally gets the new dress free, but leaves it hanging for now.� Instead, he crosses the room and helps Rachel out of the first dress, smiling down at her as he unzips the Moncelli.� “It makes perfect sense, sweetheart.� We’ll find it.”

She agrees quickly, and Kurt goes back to the second dress.� “Now, this is completely different from your first dress, okay?� The waist is dropped lower, and this one’s got lace and bead detailing across the bodice and raining down into the skirt.� The last one’s detail was all in the skirt, so I thought we’d try a detailed top and see how that makes you feel.”

Rachel studies the dress with a bit of a skeptical look, but finally nods.� “I like it.� Let’s try it.”

Kurt grins up at her.� “That’s what I like to hear.� Now let’s get you pinned in.”

***

Rachel stares at herself in the mirror, the Monique Lhuillier dress seeming to be the only thing staring back at her.� Kurt hadn’t lied to her about the dress – it’s a lot of what she asked for.� Ballgown, sweetheart neckline, detailing… but there’s something about it that just seems off.

Kurt stands beside her, waiting for her to make a decision.� His voice echoes in her head (“dropped waist in tulle, with a satin ribbon just under the bust, flower detailing cascading into the lower half”), and she shakes her head, trying to clear it somehow.

“I don’t want to show them this one,” she finally says, looking over to him.� “Can you help me out of it?”

He tries to bite back his surprise, but he can feel his brow furrow.� “I was sure you’d like this one,” he says, but nevertheless moves to unzip her.� “What made you not want to show them this?”

Rachel smooths her hands down the bodice, feeling the many bumps and dips in the material from all the added details.� “I don’t know,” she says, frowning.� “I thought I knew what I wanted in a dress, but… none of these seem to be working.”

Pulling the dress carefully down her (after all, this one is incredibly expensive, so he’s not going to do anything to possibly wreck the sample), he helps her step out of it before moving to hang it back up.� “Maybe the dropped waist just wasn’t right for you.� We’ll find it it, Rachel.”� He holds up the third dress, which is almost the polar opposite of the one she just stepped out of.

Her eyes widen a bit, and she nods.� “Definitely that one,” she says, and Kurt beams internally.� His bride is smiling again.

“Then let’s get you into it, shall we?”

It takes them a few minutes to slide the dress into place, using the giant clips to tighten it around her small frame, but once he finishes, Kurt takes a step back and smiles at her.

“You look beautiful,” he finally says.� And she does.� Though the Badgley Mischka gown hangs far too long on her (she really is tiny), it fits her like a glove.� “Sweetheart neckline, empire waist in organza and beaded embroidery, with a sweep train.� Now, it’s expensive, but-“

Rachel cuts him off, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet.� “I love it!� Can we go show them?”

Kurt laughs and heads behind her, grabbing the train so that she doesn’t trip.� “You don’t have to ask.� Let’s go.”

***

The third dress is a flop, which surprises Kurt more than anything else has thus far in this appointment.� Both he and Rachel are so sure that this will be one everyone will love, but their faces all say differently.� And their faces are the only things talking, because they all fall dead silent as soon as she walks out.

She steps up on the podium, looking at herself in the mirror with a grin one last time before doing a little turn and facing her friends and family.� “So?� What do you think?” she asks, her smile broad across her face.

Her brother just kind of stares at her, arms crossed awkwardly across his chest.� He looks to the groups of people on either side of him, practically begging for someone else to say something.

Finally, one of her fathers speaks up, and Kurt can see Blaine breathe out a sigh of relief that he doesn’t had to be the one to break the silence.� “I think it’s… working against you,” he says, trying to be delicate.� “Normally the high waist is very flattering on women, but here it just makes you look… tiny.� I think that dress is better suited for someone with a bit more height to them, angel.”

Rachel’s jaw drops a bit, but she isn’t about to give in so easily.� She turns to her friends, eyebrows raised high in a silent plea for help.� But there is none to be found.

“I think I agree with your dad,” one of them (Mercedes, Kurt’s mind supplies) says.� “It looks like you’re playing dress up, not getting ready to walk down the aisle.”

His bride huffs, crossing her arms across her chest, right across the satin band, and turns to her brother.� “And I suppose you agree with them?”

Blaine stands, coming to stand beside her.� With gentle hands on her waist, he turns her around until she’s staring in the mirror again.� Then, looking to Kurt for a split second, he grabs the tulle of the skirt and pulls it all behind her, making the silhouette of the dress a much slimmer one.� Immediately, everyone behind them perks up, nodding with their oohs and ahhs.

“See, that looks so much better,” the blonde girl supplies.� “I think it’s the big skirts that are just eating you up.”

Rachel pouts.� “But I’ve always wanted a ball gown.”

Blaine rolls his eyes playfully at her.� “Stick that lip out a bit further and a little birdie might come land on it.”� She swats at his shoulder, and he just laughs.� Some little part inside Kurt twists in jealousy, wishing he’d grown up with a sibling.� Finn, his step-brother, came into his life when he was seventeen.� Basically already grown.� But he snaps his attention back to Blaine and Rachel, who are still bickering in front of the mirror.

“I don’t want a skin tight dress, Blaine!” Rachel says, exasperatedly.� “I play Mimi almost every day.� A day out of painted on clothes would be nice, you know.”

Blaine brings his forehead to rest on her shoulder with a heavy sigh.� “I’m not saying you should wear something that clings to you that tightly, Rach.� I’m just saying that maybe more of a sheath silhouette would work better for you.”

Kurt’s head perks up at that comment, and he goes to stand on Rachel’s other side.� “You know dress styles?” he asks, meeting Blaine’s eye through the mirror.

The other boy colors a bit, giving a slight shrug.� “I did a lot of theater stuff growing up too.� You spend a lot of time in costuming.”

Narrowing his eyes ever-so-slightly, Kurt studies him for a moment before saying, “Well, since you obviously know your sister well, and everyone seems to like your opinion, why don’t you come into the back with me?� Maybe between the two of us, we can find her a dress yet.”

Blaine blinks up at him, turning to look at his profile rather than his reflection.� “I can do that, yeah,” he says, his voice suddenly much softer.

Kurt’s eyes never leave the mirror.