Two weeks had passed since the phone calls. Ryan hadn't yet gotten to Garden City. The police had almost found where he was hiding so he had to lay low for a while. But he had a window of opportunity in four days. He could get out of New York and get to Utah.

"Blaine, Kurt, we need to talk to you!" Hank called from downstairs.

A couple of minutes later, they were both settled downstairs at the kitchen table. "We've been thinking and we have decided you can go out tonight. Like into the town, as in you guys don't have to stay here tonight. We feel you've been trapped here long enough, go have fun"

"Really?" Kurt said excitedly. He had grown fond of the ranch but god, did he want to go out.

"Yes, go have fun; we will be out for dinner as well so we can keep an eye on you. But you know, go exploring, and just be back here by midnight and no using the internet or calling people while you are there. It causes a whole load of problems for the police force and stuff. Promise us that?"

Both Blaine and Kurt nodded eagerly. Hank gave them both a pat on the shoulder before leaving.

"So what are you gonna do with your night of freedom?" Kurt asked.

Blaine looked at the table for a while, thinking and then he replied with "Come for dinner with me"

"What?" Kurt asked, double-checking that his ears haven't failed him and Blaine did actually just ask him to go to dinner.

"Come for dinner with me. It'll be fun. Then again, you're probably sick of me being cooped here for weeks, I can always leave you alone for the night" Blaine said quickly.

"No, no, it will be fun. Sure, I'll come to dinner with you" Kurt smiled.

"About 7?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded.

"Cool, I'm gonna go for a run, see you later" Blaine headed upstairs to change. When he was alone, he did a secret celebratory dance to himself.

"Kurt, you ready?" Blaine said, knocking on the door of Kurt's room. "One second" came the muffled reply. Blaine moved away from the door and went to review himself in the mirror. He had left his hair ungelled after Kurt had told him a couple of weeks ago that it looked better when it wasn't 'under all that cement'. He had red jeans on and a black-and-white striped polo, with a grey blazer over the top.

"Ready" Kurt said, making Blaine jump. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Kurt laughed as Blaine turned round to face him. Both of them stared at the other for a moment. However, it was one of those moments where time stops. They both raked their eyes over each other and concluded that yes they were very much falling in love.

"Um, shall we go?" Blaine said, sweetly, offering Kurt his arm.

"Okay, okay, most embarrassing story from your high school years?" Blaine said chuckling.

They had been having a really nice night; Blaine had picked a small Italian restaurant that seemed to be the heart and soul of the small town. They had been laughing, eating and just really enjoying the company of one another.

"You can't judge me though"

"As if I would" Blaine said mockingly.

"I used to have a crush on my step-brother" Kurt said, looking down at the table. Blaine, however, had chosen that moment to take a sip of his drink and ended up spluttering it all down himself.

"I, err, am not sure what to say to that" Blaine laughed.

"Hey! It was at a low-point in my life and he was there!" Kurt protested but he was giggling all the same.

"Like I said, I don't judge!"

"This has been really great tonight Blaine, thank you"

"I've had a great night too Kurt" Blaine smiled and tentatively outstretched his palm on the table, waiting for Kurt to take his hand.

Which he did.

"Blaine I need to ask you something"

"Shoot" he replied, squeezing Kurt's hand.

"Is this a date?" Kurt looked up straight into those beautiful hazel eyes of Blaine's.

"Do you want it to be?" Blaine never once took his eyes away from Kurt's.

"I think I do"

"Then it is"

They smiled at each other, their hands never once loosening for the rest of the evening.

Back at the house, they sat on the upstairs sofa for a while, talking, Kurt's legs were curled up in Blaine's lap and he was absent-mindedly stroking Kurt's thigh.

"It's getting late, I should probably turn in" Kurt said reluctantly. He shifted his legs out of Blaine's grasp and held out his arms for Blaine to hug him which he did so willingly. Blaine kissed Kurt on the cheek briefly before Kurt moved back to his room.

Blaine leant his head back on the couch, a smile on his face. He felt like he was literally on cloud 9. Kurt was different from other guys he had dated, it seemed real with him.

Suddenly Kurt's bedroom door opened the scarf he had been wearing gone and the top button on his shirt undone, and he crossed the few strides back to where Blaine was sitting and pulled Blaine up by the hand.

"I couldn't go all night without knowing what this would feel like" Kurt said, before crushing his lips against Blaine's.

Staggering back in blissful surprise, Blaine snaked his arms around Kurt's waist and pulled him in closer, kissing him back just as passionately.

Stumbling yet their lips never parting Blaine sat back down on the couch, pulling Kurt into his lap, Blaine brought one hand up to cup Kurt's cheek as his lips moved down the chimney of Kurt's neck. After a while and many more kisses, oxygen became a necessity and they pulled back. Kurt rested his forehead on Blaine's and whispered "I've wanted to do that for a while"

"Me too" Blaine replied, kissing Kurt's nose, because it was okay for him to do that now.

Blaine sighed. "Now what?" he shifted so his back was now pressing against the couch, Kurt had an arm around his neck and was still sat in Blaine's lap. Kurt's fingers played with the loose curls at the back of Blaine's head. "hmm" Kurt murmured, "What do you mean now what?"

"This isn't the exactly the ideal place to start a relationship huh?" Blaine said.

"Not really. But my feelings are true. I really like you Blaine"

"I really like you too Kurt. From pretty much the first moment I laid eyes on you. Then things got a little messed up but my feelings never changed"

"Even when I was an asshole?" Kurt chuckled.

"Even when you were an asshole" Blaine laughed, lifting his chin to peck Kurt on the lips again.

"But I know what you mean" Kurt said. "I say we keep this little thing going here, but with a few more kisses and we wait until we get back to New York, where we can go out on a proper date and see if this goes anywhere" Kurt said, contemplating out loud.

"I'm pretty sure it will go somewhere" Blaine said, smiling before leaning forward to kiss Kurt again.

"Okay, this time I really do have to go to bed" Kurt said, pulling back reluctantly, glancing at the clock behind Blaine's head. It was getting close to 1 in the morning now. Blaine was about to reach in once more to say goodnight but Kurt stopped him.

"Why don't you come with me?" he asked hopefully.

Blaine stared at him, puzzled. "Didn't we just agree we were going to wait?"

Kurt hit him lightly on the forearm. "Not to do…that" he stuttered out. "Just to, you know, cuddle" he said, feeling a little foolish.

"Sounds good to me, lemme just get changed" Blaine said, eagerly.

Five minutes later, Kurt was sat cross legged on his bed, flicking through a book without really taking anything in. Blaine knocked on the door and stuck his head round. "Hey" he said quietly, shuffling into the room, a little awkwardly. They had seen each other in pyjamas before but it was different this time. Blaine had his thick-rimmed black glasses on instead of his contacts, a tight t-shirt and some old stripy pants that used to belong to his brother.

Kurt shut his book and smiled encouragingly at Blaine. As much as he wanted this to happen, he didn't think it would be this awkward. But isn't that the same with any new relationship? The awkwardness? Kurt had to bite back a smile – was this the start of a relationship? He hoped so.

Kurt wiggled underneath the cover and shuffled over to give Blaine room to get in as well. Feeling strong arms wrap around his waist, Kurt reached out one arm to switch off the lamp on the table next to him. Almost immediately, Blaine intertwined Kurt's hands with his own, resting them on Kurt's stomach. They both smiled to themselves, at how good, how familiar this felt already.

"This is nice" Blaine whispered, dropping a light kiss to the back of Kurt's neck.

They stayed like that for the entire night.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Ryan Davidson was sleeping rough under a dirty dripping stairway somewhere in the backstreets of New York. He was cold, hungry and pretty fucking frustrated that he couldn't yet leave to find those two guys. The ones who knew his face and could get him sent down for life. He had to wait for a phone call from Jack, his right hand man, so he knew if he could get outta New York without being caught.

A rat ran over his foot and he gave it a sharp kick, before sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He glanced at the phone, that was inside his jacket pocket and smiled to himself.

"I'll be there in 10. We can get out of here and be in Utah in three days. Get ready. Jack"

Ryan gathered up his belongings before pulling a brick out of the wall behind him.

Inside the crack in the wall, lay a single titanium gun.