"So you're Beyond?"

"Mmm."

"But you're here," Cameron said flatly. "In the Between, but you're–"

"Beyond, yeah," Thomas agreed for the fifth time. "That covers it. Unless you need to ask again."

Cameron only stared at him. His mind was blank, his thoughts little cotton balls clogging his ears. He couldn't believe anything he'd just heard over the past two hours. Thomas Gaskins, his boss for years was actually Beyond, but his Beyond meant staying in the Between. This was his endless peace. Staying here and helping everyone who struggled to help themselves.

"That doesn't make any sense," Cameron said from his side of Thomas's desk.

"Oh, don't start that again," Thomas complained. He rolled his eyes and kicked his feet up on his desk. "Honestly, we've spent the better part of two hours repeating the same things because you won't believe. I knew you were stubborn, but really?"

Cameron bristled a little at his words. Believing things, particularly something outside of everything he'd been taught for years had never been easy for him. It was an inborn stubbornness he'd slowly recognized but never fully acknowledged as problematic. For most of his life it had guided him and done him a lot of good in the business world. In his personal life, however, it hadn't given him more than loss.

First Adam, who he still considered the greatest friend of his life, and then his youngest grandson.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" he wondered. "About you and Blaine? What difference does it make to anything I need to do if I know what his Beyond could be?"

Thomas looked at him for a long moment. It wasn't a gaze Cameron had ever been able to hold. Today was no different. He glanced at the wall behind Thomas instead, eyeing the landscape painting hung over his head. It wasn't a large picture, but it was beautiful and simple. A simple field, probably somewhere in the mid-west, and for a moment he could picture himself there. Like he was back in his boyhood once more, playing in the fields that had once blanketed Ohio, with his sister, the family dog, and Adam. His best friend of over twenty years lost to him for the same reason he'd taken Blaine out of his life.

"Because you need to understand," Thomas said finally. "Beyond isn't some place called Heaven, and I know you've been thinking that for the longest time. But it's not. Some people do go to a gentle place, they do. Kurt's mother has her peace and your wife, too. But Beyond can be so much and so little, depending on how everyone defines it. If you limit what it could be in your mind, it'll never amount to anything."

Like Thomas and Blaine. Two rarities in terms of what he'd assumed Beyond meant. But no, Thomas's was an option to stay here and guide everyone that needed assistance, and Blaine's...

Blaine's was potentially more wonderful than Cameron had ever dared to dream up.

"So mine, if I reach it," Cameron started slowly.

"It's mostly up to you," Thomas said. "There are some limits, but those are defined by each individual's case."

Cameron slumped, actually slumped, down in his chair and thought. What could he possibly want besides peace where his wife was? He couldn't follow Blaine to his Beyond, that was clearly out of the question, but nothing else made a lot of sense to him. His head was aching with how full it felt.

"Just think on it," Thomas said as he stood up. "But not a lot. You're still got to get through this and welcome Blaine back here, remember. You two need to be honest and open."

With a nod, Cameron watched Thomas leave. No wonder he always seemed so calm and cheerful. His Beyond was already with him. There was no need for worry or anxiety over messing up or being tied back to his life. All of that was past now.

Cameron headed back to his own office on a whim. He could return to his rooms, sit around and do nothing for the night, and try to forget everything he'd just learned. But he couldn't bring himself to make it past his office door. After staring at it for a long time, he scratched gently at the letters on the glass panel that announced: "Cameron Anderson, GSM Division, Lima District". Head of the Gender and Sexuality Minorities in his area against his will and many of theirs. He'd been appalled to hear his assignment that first day, after Blaine had dropped him with a group of men and women, Thomas's dark skin standing out starkly among them. At the time he'd treated Thomas worse than anyone else. Racism, like homophobia, had saturated his upbringing.

But he'd come a long way since then. He stepped into his office and sat down at his desk. It had been years since he'd struggled to realize that people were people, regardless of appearances or who they fell in love with. The choices they could make were what defined and shaped them, not the elements of themselves they couldn't decide.

He sighed loudly and looked around his office. If he'd come so far, then why was it still so difficult to put into words what Blaine meant to him? His grandson had been one of the brightest parts of his life, with his smile, his talent, his delight in every simple thing.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he said to nobody.

The office echoed with his words, then dripped with silence. In his own life, he'd loved a silent office. He'd taken great pleasure in only the scratching of his pen or the clicking of his typewriter. No extraneous voices, no bumbling footsteps, nobody but himself and his strictly set up world. Nobody could upset everything he'd believed and been taught.

"Sir, there's someone here to see you."

Cameron glanced up from his spreadsheets neatly set up on his desk. He was still fairly new to the company, only a year out of college, but already the secretary treated him with the same respect she gave to his boss.

"Who is it?"

"Adam Calvin, sir," the woman said. He'd meant to call her by her name, but it was only at this moment, after a year of seeing her daily, that he realized he didn't know it.

"Send him in."

She left quickly and a few minutes later, Adam appeared, fidgeting his bowler hat as he closed the office door.

"This is an ace set up, Cam," he said in greeting. Cameron watched his best friend glance around and then whistle low. "Wow, what a view. You can see for miles."

Adam shuffled around the desk and stared out the window Cameron's back faced. It was aimed west. Cameron had learned that his first day in the room. It was time to leave when the sunlight stopped glaring over his chair.

"Ha, I think that's where we used to play," Adam said, pointing outside. Cameron glanced at it, too, but it was only a distant field. Too far away to make out any details.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Cameron asked, offering Adam the room's only other chair.

Adam took it and continued to twist his hat. "It's, well, I have big news."

Cameron looked up from his work. "You got the job at the newspaper?"

"Uh, well, yeah, but that's– this is different, Cam," Adam said quietly. "It's personal. But it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

Cameron closed his notebooks and grinned suddenly. It was about time Adam had a girlfriend. He was already married with his first on the way. Yet Adam had barely paid any attention to girls, not in middle school, high school, or college. He'd always been secretive about his personal relationships, which Cameron both admired and detested. It was proper to not talk about such things, but as Adam's best friend, he thought he at least deserved to hear her name once before they married.

"What's her name?" he asked slyly.

Adam swallowed, clutched his hat, and stared at his knees. "Richard. H- his name's Richard."

He must have heard that wrong. Richard was a man's name. What significance could a man have in Adam's life?

"I know this is odd to you," Adam continued in a rush. "But he's– we're moving to New York. The newspaper job is in New York where he's starting his master's at Columbia. I'm– we're– Cam, we're in love. We're moving to the city so we can be together."

"With a man," Cameron echoed. Adam clutched his hat so tightly he almost tore it in half.

"Yeah, I'm, well, I love him, Cam. Please say something."

"Get out of my office."

"But you're my best friend! Please just try to–"

"Linda!" Cameron hollered. Yes, that was her name. The secretary bustled in. "See Mister Calvin to the door."

"Cam, would you just think about it?" Adam said as he was ushered out.

"There's nothing to think about," Cameron said as he opened his files again. "Enjoy life in the city."

"But–"

Linda closed the door before Adam could finish.

That was the last time he'd seen Adam. In an office remarkably like this one, but different. This office was a haven, might have been one to Adam at some point. Cameron would never have an answer or closure to what had happened to him.

Not unless...

Cameron fumbled with his screen and searched. For ten minutes he scrolled through a long list of Adam William Calvins, finally finding the one he thought was right. He sat there for an even longer time, trying to convince himself to open it, to access his once best friend's fate.

This was his best friend. A man who had written him week after week for three years with no reward. Nothing by silence. That's all Cameron had ever amounted to. Eventually, Adam had done the same. If Blaine had lived that long, would he have given up on him, too?

He opened Adam's file.

Name: Adam William Calvin

Date of Birth: March 6, 1888

Date of Death: August 13, 1974

That wasn't surprising. The odds of Adam still being alive – being over 120 years old – where too ridiculous to contemplate. But he'd made it. He'd survived and lived out an incredibly long life just like he had. They could have been best friends into their eighties if he hadn't been so foolish. Cameron kept scrolling, reading through the biographical information, and finally stopped at the list of relationships. It wasn't long, but he hadn't really expected it to be. Instead, the first dates surprised him. 1904. When they were both just sixteen. There was so much Adam had had to keep from him, had known even in high school that Cameron wouldn't understand. A bitterness seeped into him as he read through, finally stopping at Richard Haymouth. It ended there, with the year Adam had left Lima all the way until the end of his life.

They'd made it. Some part of Cameron unclenched as he read it over. At least one of them had made it. He hadn't ruined Adam's life like he had ruined Blaine's. But had he? Was everything that had happened to Blaine really his fault like he'd assumed for so long?

He stared at Adam's file, at the short list and Richard's name for so long he went cross-eyed. It couldn't be his fault, not entirely. Not if Adam and Richard had made it. This was beyond his own stupidity and disgust. This was Time at work. He hadn't made either of their lives simpler, but Blaine's fate – what ultimately happened in June – had to do with Blaine and not him.

As he exited Adam's file, Cameron stayed at his desk, eyes filled with tears. He felt suddenly empty and full like an inflated balloon. Like something significant had finally poured into the crevasses he'd chipped into himself since he was young. Blaine was going to be okay, too. It might have taken decades longer, but he would find his solace, and Cameron would be ready to meet him when he came back to the Between one last time.

On his screen he brought up Blaine's Timestream and looked in on the two boys, snuggled up together and napping while the television flashed in the corner.

"Happy Valentine's Day, boys," Cameron said quietly. "Enjoy it."

The last time Kurt had been excited for Valentine's Day was when he was eight years old. That was before the cancer had clogged his mother's pores. Before his father's forehead had taken on a permanent crease that Kurt had tried to erase when his big purple eraser while he'd slept, and before Blaine had been anything in his life. But this year, he had something to look forward to. Blaine, his boyfriend, was here with him to share a day he'd rolled his eyes at for almost a decade.

"So I made sure Quinn and Finn go to her house after," Kurt said as they shuffled across the icy parking lot. All around them girls in heels were wobbling and doing the splits against their wills. "Dad and Carole are going to Bartholomew's down in Dayton, so the house is ours for a while."

Blaine hit a slick spot and nearly toppled over. "Kurt Elizabeth, are you seducing me with an empty house? I'm shocked and appalled."

"Oh, shut up," Kurt snapped, swatting at Blaine which sent him tumbling to the ground. "Oh, sorry!"

Blaine groaned and tugged his hat over his eyes. "I'm just going to lay here until spring."

"Are not!" Sam appeared and before Blaine could sit up he'd been scooped up and tossed over the larger boy's shoulder.

"Put me down, Sam!"

Kurt laughed as Mercedes appeared and looped their arms together. They followed after Blaine's shouts until he was finally set on his feet on the salted steps into the building.

"That was," Blaine grimaced and wiped dirty icy and snow off his pants, "unnecessary. I have legs, you know, I can use them just fine."

The two boys continued to bicker as they hurried into the warmth gushing out of the doors and towards their lockers. Kurt and Mercedes trailed behind.

"So are you two doing anything, y'know," she grinned and nudged him, "for Valentine's Day?"

"Just staying in," Kurt said, blushing all over. "Making dinner, maybe watching a movie."

"And?" Mercedes pressed. "I know you've got real plans. Like, oh, making out half the night and maybe a little something more?"

Kurt stared at his locker and tried to remember the combination. What he'd said was true. They'd make dinner together, eat by romantic candle light in the dining room that rarely got used, and then head down to his room. The same room where they always put in a movie, and forgot about it twenty minutes in. They hadn't done what Mercedes was suggesting – all clothes still stayed on – but they'd taken quite a few quick leaps with each week that passed. Kissing, especially kissing Blaine, was thrilling beyond anything he'd imagined. It was warm and sweet and felt wonderful to feel Blaine's heart pounding against his chest.

"We're–" Kurt's blush grew brighter as he screwed up his combination. "We're taking things slow," he settled on. "We've never even seen each other shirtless."

"Then maybe you should," Mercedes whispered as Blaine shut his locker and Sam ran off to his own upstairs. "I'm not saying all the way, but if you two want it, then get it, boy."

As Mercedes disappeared after Sam, and Blaine took Kurt's hand and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, Kurt's belly flooded with heat. It wasn't the first time either. Since that day in the stairwell a few weeks ago, his stomach had pulsed hotter and more wantonly every time they had twenty minutes alone in his room. He wanted more than a sweet make out, or their hips both purposefully tilted away from each other, or the sharp inhales that proceeded one of them halting before they got too hard.

"So about this Valentine's seduction," Blaine said as they walked towards their first class. "When should I arrive and how shall I dress for the occasion?"

"Naked," Kurt blurted, head still lost in his thoughts. "I'd like you– oh my god, I did not just say that."

Blaine had stopped walking. There was a dumbfounded look on his face like the idea had never once occurred to him, and maybe it hadn't. Maybe sexual activity was just as foreign to Blaine as the fifties were to Kurt.

"That's– well, it's a bit cold out to walk all that way in my birthday suit," Blaine finally said as Kurt's face burned like an asteroid in the atmosphere. Maybe the rest of him would burn up, too, and he'd never have to look Blaine in the eye again. "How about something easy for you to, um, strip off? I– are you– are we, um, ready f- for that?"

Kurt looked up and was horrified to see Blaine poking his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "Oh my god, you aren't hanging out with Puck and Sam anymore," he said in disbelief. "Not if they're going to teach you things like that. That's so crude."

"Well, that is what you're suggesting right?" Blaine mumbled as they started down the hall again.

"I–no," Kurt decided. He wasn't ready for that. "Just, s- some skin? Or a little further than we've, um, been going. God, I can't believe we're having this conversation in the hall."

Blaine stopped again, this time outside their homeroom. "Well, we can talk about it when we get there. Tonight. Um, I'll be at your house around six?"

Still blushing, Kurt agreed and they hurried inside. For the rest of the day, Kurt avoided Blaine's eyes to keep himself from blushing. Mentioning them pushing more boundaries at school had been a horrible idea. Neither of them could focus, and more than once Blaine was late for his own class because he and Kurt lingered too long at their lockers. By the time he dropped Blaine off at his apartment and got home, his dad and Carole were finishing their outfits and getting ready to leave.

"We'll be back late," his dad said as he adjusted his tie and sadly removed his hat. "We might stay at Carole's. In case Finn gets any ideas."

Kurt tried not to blush at the implications. If his dad could see into his imagination right now he'd never leave the house again. He hugged them both goodbye and went downstairs to change into a new outfit. It took the better part of the two hours he had to find a pair of jeans to go with his vest and shirt, and then he had to change it again once he'd shimmied into them and realized just how tight they were.

Instead, he dug through a drawer of pants he'd never worn, all gifts from grandparents and aunts and uncles, and pulled on a loose pair of blue jeans. He looked at himself in the mirror and only blushed more. He'd spent close to nine hours blushing today. And these pants made his intentions almost too obvious. At least he had the gift he'd been making for Blaine. There was that to look forward to, even if there was a part of it that made him nervous.

At five to six there was a knock on the door and Blaine stepped in, covered in snow.

"It's r- really coming d- down," he stammered. Kurt helped dust him off and then found himself pressed against the wall in an eager kiss. "Hello, Valentine."

Despite all of his worries, Kurt smiled and stroked Blaine's cheek. Existing with Blaine was always easy. "I never thought someone would be saying that to me."

"Yeah, me either," Blaine agreed. They kissed again until Kurt pulled back and made to tug at Blaine's usual bow tie.

"No bow tie tonight?"

"Uh, no," Blaine said, cheeks turning red. Kurt wondered if they'd both end up with permanently red cheeks by the time tonight was over. "I thought it might, well, get in the way. I mean, it usually does when you kiss my neck."

"Right," Kurt said. "Let's cook dinner?"

Blaine quickly agreed. They spent a long time making dinner together. There were mustard greens, a fresh salad, and a dish of what Blaine deemed chicken lasagna, but looked nothing like any lasagna Kurt had ever seen. Together, they lit candles and sat in the dining room across from each other, eating and laughing and talking. It was a wonderful, relaxing way to start the evening and by the time they'd cleaned up and headed downstairs, Kurt had almost forgotten what they'd yet to talk about.

Blaine picked a movie, an old Disney one Kurt had seen several dozen times.

"So, are we, um, going to watch this o- or talk?" Blaine said as they laid back together.

"Um, well, do we ever really watch movies anymore?"

"Your dad thinks we do," Blaine reminded him, staring towards the screen and barely paying attention.

Kurt sat up on his feet and waited for Blaine to sit up and take his hands.

"So, we've been making out a lot," Kurt started awkwardly.

Blaine nodded, his thumbs stroking over Kurt's knuckles. "Yeah, we have. We're getting pretty good with our tongues."

"Oh my– I just, I don't want to go all the way right now or anything, but," Kurt bit his lip and took a deep breath before plowing on. "I want us to, like, let ourselves feel more? Like, um– god, I can't say it."

"You want to climax together."

"You sound like a textbook," Kurt said in embarrassed horror.

"What else do you call it?" Blaine replied, looking more curious than embarrassed.

"Well," Kurt looked over Blaine's face and then Blaine's thumb rubbing his knuckles. He was safe here. Nobody else ever made him feel as safe and comfortable as Blaine. There was no reason to be so awkward about this. "A lot of people saying coming, and there's orgasm, too. And, um, jizz, spunk."

"Sounds dirty," Blaine said with a giggle. "Like, I dunno. They all sound pretty silly."

Kurt grinned and let Blaine tug him back against the pillows. "Yeah, I guess they are. So how are we going to do this?"

"Well, not by talking through a step-by-step process," Blaine said. "Just lay here and relax with me and when we feel like kissing, we will."

"Okay."

It took less than five minutes for them to roll away from the movie and start kissing. Their kisses started rougher than usual, a greedy tug of Blaine's lips against Kurt's as they smiled and rolled to their favorite position.

"Mmm," Blaine murmured as Kurt's arms tangled around his back. "I really like laying on top of you. Is that weird?"

Kurt kissed his jaw and smiled shyly. "It's weird that you're talking right now."

"Well, I mean, if we're going to do what we've been talking about then," Blaine plucked at his sweater and then Kurt's layers. "We might want to remove some of this. So we don't overheat."

Blaine sat back and carefully pulled his sweater off, leaving him in only an tight tank top and more bare than Kurt had ever seen. "Is this okay?"

Kurt groaned as he sat up and pulled Blaine back to him. "Totally okay," he breathed as he yanked Blaine back down on top of him. "Keep kissing me."

Blaine did, sucking at his lower lip as their legs tangled and their hands fumbled with each other's sides and hips. It was clumsy and rougher than they normally were, but there was a new thrill they hadn't experienced before. Kurt let Blaine lay against him, sucking gentling over Blaine's neck and around the sensitive skin under his earlobe until Blaine was twitching and groaning weakly against his cheek.

"K- Kurt, I'm," Blaine paused to whimper and then his hips jerked. Kurt froze at the sensation, at the hard press of Blaine's erection against his thigh. He'd done that. His lips, his kisses, had turned Blaine on until he was hard and panting above him. "I– sorry."

"You feel good," Kurt assured him. "Really good. Can we–" he motioned to his own zipper and Blaine's face, neck, and the visible parts of his chest turned a deep red.

"Really?"

"Y- yeah, just let me take some of this off."

They sat up again so that Kurt could take off his vest and shirt, leaving him in his own undershirt and very grateful he'd worn loose jeans tonight. He was harder than he ever thought he'd been, pulsing and wishing he could feel every part of Blaine's body against his.

"You okay?" Blaine mumbled as they sunk back down and carefully arranged their hips, Blaine settling down between Kurt's thighs.

Kurt leaned up to kiss him as Blaine stroked his cheek. "Mhmm, I'm with you, aren't I?"

"Yeah, I'm just nervous, I guess," Blaine said as Kurt kissed his jaw and rested his shaking hands on Blaine's hips. "I never thought I'd ever get to– but I love you and I–"

"Y- you love me?" Kurt stammered, pulling back to stare up at Blaine's dazed eyes.

Blaine only nodded and then kissed him once more, slowly dropping himself onto his elbows until they were chest to chest. It was almost a suffocating weight, but at the same time it made a warmth spread through Kurt that vanished the last of his worries and uncertainties. With Blaine he was always going to be okay.

"I love you, too," Kurt murmured as Blaine's hips tentatively shifted against his. Kurt's breath hitched as Blaine repeated the motion. "Let's keep doing that," Kurt said immediately. "That's so– just move and kiss me."

"Yes, sir," Blaine laughed. Then he moaned against Kurt's mouth as Kurt's hands slipped into his back pockets and grabbed. "I-I-I– fuck, Kurt. I'm gonna–"

Kurt's eyes grew wide as Blaine's hips thrust down against his, his boyfriend's mouth pressed open and gasping against his neck. A few spasms against him, and Kurt felt his own erection start to ache with the same urge. He moved uncertainly up against Blaine and when Blaine responded with another deep groan and thrust, Kurt's stomach exploded with heat and his head jerked back. His eyes drifted shut, his stomach pulsing as he came.

For a while, they just laid there, not talking or moving. Kurt pressed his nose against Blaine's forehead and breathed deeply. Part of him was embarrassed at how short-lived that had been. But another part was thrilled at sharing such a thing with Blaine.

"We're gonna have to work on stamina, aren't we?" Blaine mumbled against his neck.

And then Kurt was laughing, loud and uncontrollably. There was a beauty in having these moments with Blaine, someone as unsure and lost and innocent in love as himself.

They cleaned up separately, bashfully meeting back beside Kurt's bed for a long, slow kiss.

"We'll have to do that again," Blaine decided. "Maybe in sweatpants cause I'm pretty sure I cut myself on my zipper."

Kurt crinkled his face as they sat back on the bed. "I have something for you," he said after a moment. "For Valentine's Day. It's kind of silly, but I think you'll like it." He rolled over and pulled a thick scrapbook from under his bed. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Blaine took it gently, looking stunned as he traced the words on the cover: Kurt and Blaine's Life in New York.

"Kurt, did you–"

"Open it."

Blaine flipped to the first page, finding a tribute page to a pretend high school graduation with photoshopped pictures of them standing together in red caps and gowns. He smiled and laughed as he turned through it, from his dreams at Julliard, to their first, horrible little apartment, to piano bars and first Broadway roles, and then–

"O- our wedding," Blaine stammered in surprise. There were no pictures of them here. Only a few created notes and invitations. A picture of two beautiful silver rings, a cake, and a certificate of marriage with their names written in. "Kurt, this is– it's beautiful. I–"

Kurt flipped to the next page for him, hoping Blaine didn't freak out like he thought he would. He'd put too much of himself into their relationship already. Showing Blaine this, making such a thing for him when it could never happen, was proof of that.

Blaine stared down at the pages, decorated with little booties and cartoon pictures of teddy bears, bottles, and storks. "She's beautiful, Kurt," Blaine managed to choke out. "She– I can't believe you did all of this."

"Well, I know we can't ever really have it," he said, pressing his cheek against Blaine's shoulder and staring down at the little sleeping baby in the picture. "You can't ever have it, but I wanted to feel like we could. Even if it's just a scrapbook. It's silly and weird, I know, but–"

"It's the best present I've ever been given," Blaine said. "Thank you." He sniffled and traced the picture of the baby's face. "This makes my Valentine's gift look really stupid. Show off."

Kurt wiped his eyes and shook his head. "I bet it's just as amazing."

"It's not," Blaine said, but he scrambled for his sweater and pulled something out of his pocket anyway. "Here," he said, setting a small ring box into Kurt's hand. "No, it's not an engagement ring."

Kurt wilted a little, but popped the box open. Inside was a ring, a handmade one in the shape of a bow tie. "Are those gum wrappers?"

"Yeah," Blaine said nervously. "It's not much, but I can't buy a real promise ring and I'll never get the chance to buy anything beyond that. It's just Juicy Fruit and Rigleys."

"What are you promising?" Kurt said quietly as he popped it out of the box.

"To always carry you in my heart. For now and until I don't exist anywhere in the universe. But while I'm here, I promise to watch movies with you, and tell you if your outfit doesn't match, and to stand by your side no matter who tries to block our way, and to just love you, even after our chance is gone."

Eyes full of tears, Kurt slipped it onto his finger and looked at it. "I'm going to be in love with you forever," he whispered. "Even when you're gone and even if I move on, you'll always be the greatest love in my heart."

Kurt pulled Blaine into a kiss, then snuggled down against Blaine's chest and let the other boy's voice lull him to sleep.