Kurt and Blaine smiled at each other with their eyes over their cups of coffee, knees pressed together under the table of an all-night coffee shop.  They had debated getting decaf, but Kurt shyly noted that they might be up all night anyway.  Talking, he was quick to add. 

"I love you," Blaine said between sips of creamy, hot coffee. 

Kurt looked up from his own cup, "I love you, too."

They sat for a while, just sipping and not talking, contented to finally be together after so much time. 

"I still dont get how you got past Tony," Kurt said at last. 

"Yeah, about that..." Blaine began, "Um, was there a guy named Andy who used to work at Pythons?"

Kurts eyebrows raised, "Andy?  Yeah, sure.  He was a sweetie.  Massive guy, but as gentle as they come, most of the time.  Kind of simple, though."  Kurt shook his head as if to shake off a bad memory, "He was always telling me I needed a boyfriend to take care of me.  He was probably right."  Kurt sucked in a breath, "At any rate, the best we can tell was he was out one night and interrupted a mugging.  He got stabbed in the leg for his trouble, and it was just one of those things.  Knife hit just right, and the guy-the one he saved from a mugging-he didnt know how to make a tourniquet or he didnt think the wound was that bad, or whatever, but Andy was dead before the ambulance got there.  It was a shame; he was one of the good ones."

"Im sorry," Blaine said gently.

"Yeah, me too."  Kurt took another sip of his coffee, "Why do you ask?"

Blaine explained about his encounter with the ghost of Andy, including Tonys surprise at seeing him for a second before he was knocked out cold. 

Kurt giggled, "Tony and Steve were always teasing Andy.  They could be kind of mean.  It served Tony right."

Blaine grinned. 

"But how did you even know to come to Pythons in the first place?"

Oh. 

Blaine put down his coffee cup and gently took Kurts cup from his hands, too, and set it on the table.  He took both of Kurts coffee-warmed hands into his own, and looked Kurt deep in the eyes, "Kurt," he explained softly, "your mother told me."

Shock registered on Kurts face, "You saw my mother?" he whispered. 

Blaine grimaced, "Not exactly."

Blaine explained about seeing the "Medi-Uhm" and how he had figured out that Elizabeth was behind the strange occurrences.  He relayed how he had called for her, and how he had found the business card tucked under the wine bottle. 

As Blaine wound down, he rubbed at his forehead and said, "That your mom-Elizabeth-was behind this makes a lot of sense.  Being an electrical engineer, working with computers would have been a piece of cake, as was disabling the subway and the thermostat in the bar.  Closing the bathroom door and barring the back door of the tavern would have been very simple acts of leverage, and planting the juicy fruit wrapper was a snap.  I suppose it would have been pretty easy for her to photoshop a flier, too.  The old lady ghost at the Empire State Building might have been an elderly relative of your moms who died long before you were born, and they had all been around long enough to cooperate with each other. 

"But the thing I cant figure out is how she knew how to find me.  If what Lord Tubbington told me was true," Blaine smiled a little sheepishly at Kurt for bringing up a conversation with a cat, but Kurt just reached out and stroked Blaines forearm reassuringly, "If what I heard was true, your mom wouldnt have known how to get to me-not until you came into the bar.  Im assuming that your mom is tied to you somehow, so she was probably only going where you were going.  Once you came into the bar, she could go there-especially if she encountered Uncle Charlie and Finn-but how could she make the flier if she didnt know where I was in the first place?  And if shed known all along, why did she wait so long to push us together?"

Kurt suddenly developed a deep and abiding interest in the cream swirls at the top of his coffee. 

Blaine noticed the marked change in Kurts behavior, "Kurt," he prompted, "what arent you telling me?"

When Kurt didnt look up and didnt answer, Blaine nudged him, "Ku-urt?"

"Well," Kurt said in a small voice after a time, not looking up, his cheeks stained scarlet, "I might know something about what happened."

"Darling, I just spent five minutes talking about ghosts and a cat who communicates with them.  You know you can tell me anything."

Kurt looked up and inhaled deeply through his nose, "I was lonely," he started, "and I missed you.  I never stopped missing you." Kurt began fussing with a paper napkin, making sort of a confessional origami, "Anyhow, I have this friend, Elliott, and one day he was talking about his friend Dani-who Id never met at this point-and he was saying how Dani was a waitress at this sessions bar thats owned by this gay guy, Blaine, and he was thinking about going down there to play, because you guys were doing a tribute to Queen.  And I thought, ‘How many gay guys named Blaine could there be, even in New York City?"

Kurt took a sip of his coffee and continued, eyes fixed on a sugar packet on the table, as Blaine stared at Kurt with an open mouth.  "So I got him to give me the name of the bar, and I took a day off from work and went down there.  I just...I just really wanted to see you again.  Not talk to you; just see you.  So I went early and I camped out at a coffee shop right across the street-which, by the way, has an excellent view of your bar-and I waited.  And after a while you showed up, and I...I...you just looked so good, even with the whole homeless vibe, and it turned out that just seeing you wasnt enough.  Not for me."

Kurt finally looked up, and he gave Blaine a small, embarrassed smile, "It was me.  I made the flyer, and I left it around the apartment for Rachel to find.  I knew she wouldnt be able to resist going somewhere where she could show off her voice, and if I could get her to decide to come, then I could tag along and be surprised when I saw you."

Kurt folded his fingers together and placed his interlinked hands on the table, "Im the reason.  Once I saw you, I had to talk to you.  I knew I shouldnt.  I knew I didnt deserve you, and I couldnt have you back in my life, but I just...I was weak.  Im sorry."

"Youre sorry?"  Blaine raised an eyebrow. 

Kurt grinned ruefully, "Well, given how things turned out, I guess Im not sorry.  Still, I should have been a man.  I should have just come to you, as soon as I knew where you were, and told you that I was sorry for how I behaved all those years ago.  I should have come clean about what Id become, and I should have...I dont know...I should have trusted you, because youre you, and youre wonderful, and I should have remembered."

Blaine pulled Kurts clasped hands to his lips and peppered the knuckles with little kisses.  "I think youre wonderful, too.  What do you say we get out of here?"

Not many minutes later, they were walking down the sidewalk, holding bare hands, fingers interlocked, despite the cold weather.  As they passed a tall, broad shouldered man in a striped scarf, he stopped and said, "Well, well, well.  Its Kurt Hummel."

It would have been rude not to stop.  Kurt said without inflection, "Hi, Carl.  Its been a long time."

"Too long, good looking.  Perhaps we should renew our acquaintance."  The leering look on his face gave no doubt to what he had in mind.

Kurt held up the hand that was holding Blaines, "Im with someone now," he said icily.

Carl shrugged as his eyes raked up and down Blaine, "Yeah, but Im sure youll be ready pretty soon for someone whos full-sized."

Kurt pulled himself up into his most erect posture, "I am quite certain," he said enunciating every syllabus clearly, "that whatever advantage you have in height cannot make up for the fact that you have half a brain and half a dick.  Come on, Blaine."  With that, he flounced away, Blaine hurrying to keep up. 

When they turned the corner, Kurt came to a stop and pulled Blaine to face him, an anguished expression on his face.  "Are you sure you want to do this, Blaine?" 

"Kurt.  What?  Of course Im sure."

"No, Blaine, its always going to be like this.  Theres always going to be guys, and I wasnt always discriminating.  Some of them are going to be...like Carl.  You dont deserve that."

Blaine grabbed Kurt, spun him into doorway of a closed business, and crowded him against the door.  Raising a little on his toes, he cupped Kurts face and pulled him into a tingly kiss, mouth open and tongues tangling.  Kurt tasted of warmth and desire and minty gum, and Blaine sucked at all of it, until his knees felt weak and he had to step back or slump against Kurts body.  He stepped back, but just a little. 

"Im in, Kurt.  It took me a long time to learn how important it is to forgive others and myself for the mistakes of the past, but Ive learned that if you dont, youll lose the things in life that are precious.  So Im yours, body and soul, for as long as youll have me.  No doubts.  No fear.  Just love.  The question is, can you forgive yourself and be with me, because if youre not in, then I need to know, so that I can walk away now, before it becomes impossible."

Kurt didnt respond for a long time.