"What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't."

"What's for dinner?"

"Did you really call me just to ask what's for dinner?" Kurt smiled as he pressed his phone between his shoulder and ear. He was currently cutting up some carrots for the very same dinner Blaine was asking about.

"I was hungry, so, I figured I'd ask. Get myself all hyped up for your awesome food," Blaine laughed through the phone.

Kurt responded to his laughter with his own as he chopped through a carrot and tossed the pieces into a pot on the stove, turning on his sass in reply, "Ah, dear, you're so sweet to me."

"It's just because I love you." Blaine had aimed for playful, but like always, ending up sounding sincere and love-struck.

"I love you too," Kurt chuckled. "How was work?"

He heard a sigh come through the line, "It was fine. I spent most of the time wishing I was with you."

There was a thunk as the knife sliced through some broccoli, hitting the cutting board. "So, basically like every day?"

Blaine's voice turned dreamy, "Of course."

Kurt shifted as he started cutting the broccoli up into smaller bits and adding them to the dish of carrots. He'd been debating bringing up this topic for a little while now, and for some reason, right now seemed like the best moment, even if it was over the phone.

"So, I was thinking… we said that when Maddy started school, we'd–"

"Hold up," Blaine cut him off, Kurt could almost feel his tan hand come up to stop his words, "I know where you're going with that Mister, and I just want to say, yes."

The brunette stopped chopping and looked up at the cabinets, as if he looked hard enough, he might see Blaine driving down the highway in the wood, "Yes?"

"Yes," Blaine replied, a smile in his voice.

"Yes!" Kurt squealed with delight, grabbing the phone in his hand as he did a small hop in the middle of their kitchen.

Blaine's laughter could be heard quite clearly and Kurt had to put down the knife so as to not hurt himself in his joy as he danced in a bit of a circle around the room.

"We had a plan, didn't we?" Kurt could hear Blaine's smirk through the line.

"Are you only in this for the plan?" He teased back, wishing now that he hadn't brought this up over the phone so that he could leap on the other man and smother him with kisses. As he grinned he found himself wondering why he had been so nervous to bring it up in the first place.

"Of course not, you know I want to– Jesus!" The light tone changed suddenly on Blaine's end, the sound of a horn echoing into Kurt's ear.

He wiped the smile off his face as he realized that he had thought holding a knife was dangerous in this state. Blaine, however, was driving. "Oh, Blaine, god, I'm sorry. You're driving. I shouldn't have brought this up now."

"No, Kurt, it's fine. Really. Some people just don't know how to drive unfortunately. It's fine. Everyone's fine." Blaine's voice was reassuring, calming Kurt. Blaine was a good driver, but there were always other people on the road who weren't as prepared.

Kurt spun around, chopping vegetables forgotten. He leaned against the counter and frowned, "Should I go? Should I hang up? Let you focus on driving?"

Blaine chuckled lightly, "You can't bring up a topic like that and expect me to just wait until I get home to continue the conversation. Plus, we don't want Maddy to know yet, do we?"

"No, we don't," Kurt said, spinning back around and picking up the knife again. Dinner wouldn't prepare itself.

Kurt had a tendency to be the one to make dinner every night. He usually got home before his husband, and he enjoyed it too. This way he could make sure that the food was all healthy and prepared correctly. Blaine picked up many of Kurt's tricks on the stove, but Kurt always ended up hovering, making sure everything was the way he wanted.

And, besides, Blaine always got to make breakfast, as he woke earlier than his husband on most days. He always made it such a spectacle, saying that he had to include all the kinds of foods Kurt wouldn't allow for dinner. Some mornings he'd just whip up some eggs, and other mornings there'd be pancakes and potatoes and toast and waffles and anything he could find in the refrigerator. Everything was still healthy, as that was the only food in their house, but if Blaine could, he'd fill the table. Kurt would grumble through his fond grin on those mornings. That was secretly his favourite way to start the day. Maddy's too.

"Where is she now, by the way?" Blaine asked, turning away from the phone momentarily to cough lightly.

Kurt's expression softened as he thought of their daughter, "Oh, sitting in her room, going through all the things she got today. Last time I checked in on her she was drawing. She can't wait for you to get home."

"I really wanted to be there, she knows that right? I wanted to take the day off, like you, but–"

"But you couldn't. It's okay. We both know that. It's fine." She had pouted slightly when Kurt waltzed into the school to pick her up without Blaine, but then remembered she had a million and one stories to tell him about the day and got caught up in those instead.

Blaine's voice got a little crackly through the reception for a moment, "I still feel really bad. It was her first day. She didn't get to tell me everything when we picked her up."

"No, but she told me, and I know she'll be thrilled to recount it all over again at the dinner table." Kurt was sure that even if Blaine had been there to pick her up she'd still go over everything that happened at least 4 more times before bedtime. "She made a friend."

"Yeah?" Blaine asked, and the picture of his face in Kurt's mind lit up.

"She was really happy about that. His name's Nathan." Kurt pressed his phone harder between his ear and shoulder as he picked up the slightly filled pot and swept some chopped vegetables off the cutting board into it.

He could picture Blaine's eyes scrunching up as he squealed, "Oh, that's adorable. I'm just picturing it."

Kurt raised his eyebrow at that, "How are you picturing it? You know nothing about this Nathan."

"It still sounds cute," Blaine defended.

"I guess," Kurt said as he lifted the pot back up onto the counter. He shifted it over into the sink and spun the tap over to add some water. Normally this would be an easy task, but trying to deal with cooking and holding a phone to one's ear at the same time wasn't quite that easy.

It had been quiet for almost a minute when Blaine's voice filled Kurt's ear again, "What about Rachel?"

"What?" Kurt froze slightly at the change of topic, temporarily thrown.

"Rachel. Can we ask her again?" Blaine insisted.

Kurt nodded, understanding the track this conversation had jumped to suddenly. "No, she's a big Broadway star now, she wouldn't be able to. I can just hear her, 'You know I'd love to guys, but with my busy schedule and demanding lifestyle, I just wouldn't be able to devote enough time to produce my best efforts. I'm so sorry.'" Kurt's voice lifted up higher as he impersonated their friend.

Blaine hummed for a second, "What about Tina?"

"Hasn't she got enough of her own?"

"Britt can't, San won't."

"Not Sugar. I'm sorry, she's lovely, but no."

Blaine laughed outright, "I thought we ruled her out last time."

Kurt smiled as he lifted the pot out of the sink and placed it on the stove, "Yes, but I have a feeling we're more desperate now, with Rachel out."

"There's Quinn," Blaine suggested. Kurt knew his shoulders must have shrugged as well. Blaine had always been closer to Quinn than Kurt after they struck up an easy friendship at the end of her senior year. She'd been an option last time, but they'd gone with Rachel instead.

"Actually… she might. We could ask her, I guess," Kurt stepped back from the stove, deciding that he should figure out where Blaine was before actually turning it on. He turned back to the cutting board, deciding to chop up a few more carrots first.

He could hear the smile in Blaine's voice as he planned, "We could ask her over this weekend, and talk about it then… you know, you never told me what was for din–"

It was right at that moment that the world stopped while simultaneously lurching forward, all with a sound that Kurt knew he'd be remembering for the rest of his life.

It was the sound of a crash. The sound of glass, of metal. Screeching of tires. Shattering and breaking. What might have been a body hitting an airbag. The world crashing around him. He swore he heard his own name. It seemed to happen in a split second, but go on for hours as well.

And then it was silent.

Kurt had dropped the knife from his hand.

"Blaine?"