On one lap around his living room, he spotted a bunch of paper scattered across his coffee table. The very top one was Kurt's song, which he had been steadily adding to over the past several months and had only last week added some after the whole Christmas thing. It hurt looking at it now and he was tempted to crinkle it into a ball or throw it across the room or burn it or something.

Instead he found himself picking up his violin and playing through the piece, tears falling steadily as he remembered all of the good times, the memories the different parts invoked in him. He continued playing even after the notes on the paper ended, his frustration, his sadness, his anger fueling him, adding more and more until there was a hard cresendo, his bow flying across the strings too quickly until he collapsed on the floor, the bow frayed as he sobbed.

888

The next morning, Kurt woke up a with an emotional hangover as well as an alcohol induced one. He managed to stumble down to Sophie's bathroom before emptying his stomach as queitly as possible. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he thought about the fight he had with Blaine and as soon as he was able to, he returned to the living room and found the spare key where Blaine had left it on the coffee table.

That meant it was real. Blaine was gone. He had quit and Kurt was sure he wasn't coming back. He debated on texting him, asking him to please come over so that they could talk it over, but the carefully blank look in Blaine's eyes as they argued gave him reason to pause and his cheeks burned as he remembered how he had acted, not taking no for an answer, stopped him. Blaine wouldn't want to talk to him.

He went to his bathroom, brushing his teeth and drinking a couple of cupfuls of water after he rinsed. His head pounded as he pulled off his boots and clothes. He still had a little while before Sophie was up and a shower would do him good.

888

Although he was loathe to do it, Kurt needed to find someone to replace Blaine as Sophie's nanny. He knew he would never find anyone as good as Blaine, but he had grown used to not having Sophie at the office and readjusting to having her back full time was hard because she frequently called out for Blaine, especially when she was tired. His heart ached because as much as Sophie missed Blaine, Kurt missed him just a little more.

He missed their early morning chats over coffee, he missed the way Blaine smiled at him, he missed the comfort Blaine gave him after a hard day at the office. He missed the way he would focus all of his attention on Sophie whenever she wanted him. He mostly just missed his friend.

And the new nanny was all right. She wasn't Blaine, but she did okay with Sophie, who tolerated her, often giving her what Kurt recognized as his patented bitch look from high school. She wouldn't eat any food given to her by Joy, the nanny, and she absolutely refused to go to bed. Kurt ended up having to let Joy go after only a few weeks.

888

Blaine had a hard time adjusting as well. He was so used to having Sophie around that he often imagined hearing little feet running towards him, only to turn and find the apartment empty. He added more and more to Sophie's song, playing it often as though to keep the memories alive. It helped a little and staved off most of the loneliness he felt.

He tried to add more to Kurt's song but couldn't bring himself to after that night. His heart ached every time he looked at the paper, the tear stains still evident even months later. He forced himself to put it away, hiding it on the top shelf of his music cabinet.

He searched for jobs but, since it was the middle of the school year, he didn't hold his breath. He wasn't concerned about money, thanks to the trust fund his grandfaher had left, but doing nothing all day made him feel useless. When a friend asked him to play for a benefit in the park one weekend at the end of April, he jumped on it, intent on pulling himself out of his funk.

He poured everything into preparing for the performance, honing his skills and memorizing music. Two days before the benefit, he was searching for some sheet music when he stumbled across both Sophie's song and Kurt's. Sophie's he felt was complete and, abandoning his search, he decided to add that to his set list.

Kurt's, on the other hand...

He held it for a long time, going over the notes again and again in his head. It was still incomplete, he felt. The rising cresendo at the end and then... nothing.

He began practicing.

888

When Kurt first heard of the benefit in the park, he was reluctant to go, but Leigh, his secretary, had pushed him, talking about how great the foundation was and how there was to be performers and it was supposed to be amazing. So he packed a picnic lunch for him and Sophie and bought two tickets. They sat on a blanket spread out on the grass and he watched as Sophie ran around giggling as the cool grass tickled her feet. Leigh had been right; the music so far had been amazing. He leaned back on his elbows, his eyes trained on Sophie as they announced the next artist.

Blaine Anderson

Kurt swallowed, his eyes moving to the distant stage. He couldn't see much but a dark mass of hair. He recognized the voice as soon as it floated through the speakers, mixing flawlessly with the piano. Sophie ran over to him excitedly.

"Baine, Dada!" she said, tugging on his shirt.

"Yes, I know, Sophie. Don't pull on Daddy's shirt, okay?"

She nodded seriously before climbing into his lap, plopping down roughly and making him go, "Oof."

They sat there listening as Blaine played song after song on the piano and sang along. Finally he stood from the bench, picking up his violin as he moved to the microphone in the middle of the stage. "All right, I have a new one for you guys that I wrote myself for a very special little lady. It's called Sophie's Song and I hope you enjoy it."

Sophie perked up when her name was mentioned and Kurt spent most of the song trying to contain her as she struggled to get to Blaine. He had managed to get her somewhat calm by the time he was finished, blushing as people around him turned to stare and Sophie continued to call out "Baine! Baine!"

"Thank you guys so much," Blaine said over the applause, smiling brightly. "That song means a lot to me and I'm glad everyone liked it. This next one is another original but it's incomplete because I don't think the story behind it is finished. Maybe one day but until then, I hope you enjoy."

Transfixed, Kurt listened as the music rose and fell, invoking emotions he had long squashed as he recognized the notes from the paper he had found at Blaine's so long ago when he was taking care of him, the one titled Kurt's Song. Tears sprung to his eyes as the music built, coming to a hard cresendo that moved Blaine's entire body as he poured himself into playing. It ended abruptly and Kurt came back to himself, realizing that Sophie had started crying for Blaine again. He quickly packed everything up and left, Sophie struggling in his arms.

It's incomplete because I don't think the story behind it is finished.

The words echoed in his head as they walked home and haunted his dreams for weeks afterwards.

888

August turned out to be a horrible month for more than the usual reasons. Within two weeks, two employees got into a fight that ended in both of them being terminated, another employee quit, one was offered a job in Paris and the computer system crashed on three separate occasions. Topping that off with the fact that Kurt had to register Sophie in pre school at a private school that required interviews and meetings and more time than Kurt had to spare, every night he fell into bed exhausted.

Her first day of school, he carefully dressed her in the uniform, making sure her shoes were laced and her dress was on straight. They walked to the school, Sophie holding his hand tightly. As they got closer, Kurt began searching his messanger bag for the name of Sophie's teacher. He hadn't had a chance to look at it and he wanted to be prepared before meeting him or her. They had just stepped into the courtyard when he found the paper and Sophie suddenly tugged her hand from his, running to a man squatting by some steps.

"Baine, Baine, Baine!"

Blaine scooped her up in his arms. "Why, hello, Miss Sophie!" he laughed, hugging her briefly before looking up at Kurt, who was staring at him. He gave him a gentle smile. "Hi."

Kurt smiled back. "Hi."

The end.