Kurt received a text two hours before they were supposed to arrive and groaned.

"What's up, buddy?" Burt asked, glancing at him in the review mirror briefly before returning his attention to the road.

"Aunt Delia said she got waylaid at a friend's house and isn't going to be back in enough time to have lunch ready."

Finn let out a groan. "Aw, man."

"Why are you two upset? We'll just stop somewhere and eat."

"Because now we don't get Aunt Delia's barbeque," Kurt said, throwing his head back against the seat dramatically.

"I've been waiting all year for it," Finn whined, mimicking Kurt's position.

Burt rolled his eyes. "Suck it up, you know she'll make it at least four times this week."

Blaine poked Kurt, who flopped his head to the side to look at him. "What's the big deal?"

"My aunt makes the greatest barbeque the world," Kurt drawled. "It's amazing and we only ever get it when we come visit her the one week of the year. She usually has a whole big thing set out for us when we arrive."

"But not this year," Finn said mournfully.

Kurt nodded. "It's the only time I let myself indulge on anything, food-wise. Wait until you taste it, you'll never want any other barbeque again."

"Trust me, I've tried," Finn added.

They stopped an hour later to eat and Burt warned everybody to use the bathroom because he wasn't stopping again until they got there. The rest of the trip passed quietly as everyone took a nap except Finn and Burt, who had let Finn take over driving and was navigating from the passenger seat.

Kurt woke up a few minutes before they arrived, stretching as much as he could in the small space. He looked around, pleased to see that they were only a couple of miles away from his aunt's house. He was disappointed to see that Delia's car wasn't already in the driveway when they pulled up, but she had said she was out, so he guessed he really wasn't that surprised. He woke Blaine quietly and then slowly got Sophie out of her car seat, shushing her when she started to fuss. She burrowed her face into his neck and sighed, falling back asleep.

Burt was already digging through his keys, searching for the spare to open the front door while everyone else stretched their tight muscles and started unloading the car. Kurt followed his dad up the front door and into the house, right to her room at the lake house. He carefully laid her in the crib and turned on the baby monitor, grabbing its twin and heading back downstairs.

Blaine was standing in the middle of the living room, staring in wonder at the house, his and Kurt's bags around him. "The place is amazing," he breathed, looking at Kurt when he came to stand beside him.

Kurt looked around. He was used to seeing it; Delia had owned it since before he was born. He tried to see it from Blaine's point of view, to see why Blaine thought it was so amazing. The house was three stories tall, the rooms painted in warm colours, the carpet plush, the hardwood floor polished. The furniture was comfortable and arranged in a way that invited conversation. The entire house seemed to throb with a happy energy and Kurt took moment to breath in with Blaine before he picked up his bags and asked Blaine to follow him upstairs to where the bedrooms were. Kurt showed him to the room on the opposite side of Sophie's room, pointing out his room on the other side.

After everyone had put their bags away, they met back in the living room to talk. Blaine was in the middle of telling them about Sophie smearing cookie dough in his hair when the front door opened and a woman stepped inside. She threw her keys onto the table next to the door and hurried to where they were all starting to stand to greet her. She embraced Burt first, hugging him tightly, while Blaine noted the similarities between them.

Delia was about the same height as her brother, with brown hair the exact same shade as Kurt's and sparkling brown eyes. She was thinner than Burt but by much. She looked strong and sturdy, a woman used to working hard and not minding one bit. She turned to embrace Carole next, then Kurt and then, to his surprise, gathered Blaine into her arms. He hugged her back instinctively, inhaling the scent of wildflowers and wood smoke. She pulled away suddenly.

"Wait a minute, I don't know you."

Kurt laughed. "Aunt Delia, this is Sophie's nanny, Blaine Anderson. Blaine, this is my Aunt Delia, who has no problem giving hugs to complete strangers."

Delia looked at him critically. "Ah, so you're the infamous Blaine that has stolen our Sophie's heart. Very well." She held out her hand. "I am Delia Hummel, but everyone calls me Aunt Delia."

Blaine shook her hand firmly. "It's lovely to make your acquaintance, Aunt Delia. My name is Blaine Anderson but you can just call me Blaine." He leaned in close as if to tell a secret. "It's short for Blaine, you know."

Delia let out a peal of laugher. "I think I like you already, Blaine Anderson."

888

Delia hugged Finn and Jen and then they all sat down, once again getting caught up with everyone's lives, Delia's mostly. Kurt was heading to the kitchen to make drinks when Sophie let out a wail over the monitor.

"I've got her," Delia said, jumping up. "Go get us liquid refreshments."

Kurt continued onto the kitchen, listening as his aunt went up stairs. He started pulling the glasses down from a cabinet and jumped slightly when he turned and found Blaine standing at the doorway, grinning. "Holy crap, Blaine."

"Sorry," he laughed, not sounding the least bit so. He held up a sippy cup. "Thought that Sophie would probably want something to drink when Aunt Delia brings her down and figured I could help you with the drinks."

"Sounds fair enough." Kurt lined the glasses up on the counter in front of the fridge and began dropping ice cubes in them. "Hey, Blaine, will you grab the tray on the top of the cabinet over there?" Kurt asked, gesturing vaguely behind him.

"Oh, sure." Kurt heard some rustling and the sound of a cabinet opening. "Um, Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't, uh, I can't reach the top."

Kurt turned to find Blaine reaching up on his tiptoes, his fingers an inch from the bottom of the tray. "Think you could lend me a couple of inches?" he joked, glancing at Kurt over his shoulder. Kurt laughed and went to stand next to him, easily pulling the tray down.

"Here you go, shorty."

Blaine pouted. "I'm not that short!"

Kurt handed him the tray. "Still shorter than me," he teased, walking back over to the fridge.

"And you're still shorter than Finn," Blaine retorted, wiping the top of the tray off.

Kurt snorted. "Yeah, well, not all of us can be freakishly tall." He began setting the glasses on the tray when Blaine brought it over. "Do you mind filling these up while I get a bowl for crisps?" he asked. Blaine nodded and went to get the pitcher of tea out of the fridge while Kurt set about getting a bowl of crisps. By the time they entered the living room again, Sophie was happily bouncing on Delia's lap.

Delia held her there as Blaine walked in with the tray and Kurt followed with the crisps. The moment she was released, she ran to Blaine, hugging his legs.

"Hi, Bane," she giggled.

"Hi, Miss Sophie!"

888

That night, Blaine lay in bed, unable to sleep. It wasn't that the bed wasn't comfortable; it was probably one of the most comfortable things he had slept on in years. He just felt restless, nervous energy thrumming through his veins.

He flipped over, searching for a cool place, when he heard Sophie let out a cry. He tossed the sheet off and padded silently to her room.

"Hey, Miss Sophie," he cooed, reaching to pull her out of her crib (Kurt had told him that Delia forgot to put a toddler bed in). Sophie whimpered, clinging to him as he carried her over to the rocking chair in the corner. Blaine slowly rocked her, rubbing soothing circles over her back.

Come stop your crying
It will be all right
Just take my hand
Hold it tight

I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry

He leaned down, checking to see if her eyes were shut as her breathing evened out. Once he was satisfied that she was asleep, he placed her back in the crib gently and went back to his room, eventually falling into an uneasy sleep.

Kurt lay in his bed, listening as Blaine sang Sophie back to sleep. He had just stood to go to her when he heard Blaine enter the room and had listened, his heart aching once again because of this enigmatic young man. He curled around a pillow, holding it tightly as Blaine sang. A tear trailed down his cheek as the last note floated through the baby monitor and Kurt burrowed his face into the pillow as Blaine returned to his room.

888

The next morning when Kurt and Sophie came down to the kitchen, he was surprised to find Blaine flipping pancakes on the griddle while Delia fried bacon. He sat Sophie on the floor and reached to grab a sippy cup that Delia kept at her house. "I see we have the return of curly Blaine," he joked.

Blaine looked up, a brilliant smile on his face. "Good morning! And what?"

Kurt ruffled Blaine's hair. "No gel."

"Oh, that! Yeah, I figured if we were going swimming like we talked about yesterday, I shouldn't waste gel." He winked as he flipped another pancake. "Plus, I couldn't bring a big enough bottle on the plane."

"Well, you do use way too much. I hadn't wanted to tell you." Kurt deftly twisted the cap back on Sophie's now full sippy and handed it to her.

"Tant oou," she chirped, drinking greedily.

Kurt poured some orange juice for the three adults, setting the glasses beside the cooks. "Need any help?"

Delia gestured to the toaster. "You can make toast, if you want, or you can scramble some eggs. Whatever floats your boat."

Kurt started digging through the fridge. "Did you get egg whites for Dad? He can't have regular eggs."

"Of course I did," Delia said, rolling her eyes. "They're in the fridge door, top shelf.

Kurt looked up and pulled the container out, grabbing the carton of regular eggs as well and setting them on the counter. With the three of them working together, they had a full breakfast spread out by the time the two couples made their way down. While they were eating, they discussed their plans for the day.

Blaine wanted to see the area, since he had never been, and Finn just wanted to go swimming. Jen and Delia decided to go with him while Burt and Carole joined Blaine, Kurt and Sophie on their tour of the town. After they cleaned the kitchen, the group split up, Blaine bouncing excited beside Sophie's stroller.

They headed into town, Kurt spouting out facts about the town and some of the buildings. Blaine soaked it all up, asking questions and getting excited about the smallest of the things. He spazzed out when he spotted a second hand bookstore and immediately dragged Kurt with him, leaving Sophie with her grandparents.

"Look, they have a record section," Blaine whispered excitedly, tugging on Kurt's arm.

"I know, Blaine, I've been here before," Kurt chuckled, pulling Blaine's hand off and lacing their fingers together almost absently, patting it with his free hand.

Blaine tugged on their linked hands. "Come on, I wanna look at them."

Kurt allowed him to pull him to the carefully alphabetized and labeled records. Blaine dropped his hand and started sifting through them. "Do you even have a record player?" Kurt asked, idly thumbing through some of the records.

Blaine shook his head, shrugging. "No, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy looking through them."

"You know, Aunt Delia has a record player," Kurt said after a few minutes of browsing.

Blaine's head flew up. "Really? I'm so jealous."

"Why don't you get one, I know she won't mind you using it."

"Do you really think so?"

"Sure, I'm sure she'd love to have someone use it."

"Awesome." Blaine went back to his searching, now actually looking for a record to play. Kurt smiled, walking around and browsing through the different books. At the front of the shop, he nodded to the kid sitting at the counter. He spotted a record player, the top of it covered in a layer of dust. He ran his finger over the cover absently, his eyes wandering over the store before landing on Blaine, still digging through the records, a few laying on top of the others next to him. He looked back at the record player, idea lighting through his brain.

"Kurt!"

Kurt went back over to the record section where Blaine was waving at him frantically. "Hey."

"Hey! Can you help me pick a record?"

"Only one?"

Blaine shrugged. "I figured there was no point in buying several if I couldn't use them at home. So will you help me?"

Kurt smiled. "Show me what you have." He looked over the records: The Beatles, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra and- "Led Zepplin?"

Blaine laughed. "What? I like to rock out sometimes."

"I'm leaning towards The Beatles, though, it's one of my favourite albums," Blaine said, staring at the records spread out in front of him, missing the look that flashed across Kurt's face.

"Yeah, it's a good one," Kurt said quietly. Blaine hummed in agreement, staring for a moment longer before plucking the record from the stack. He started replacing the others when Kurt stopped him. "No, you go ahead and pay for that, I'll put these away."

Blaine gave him a brilliant smile, calling, "Thank you!" as he hurried to check out. Kurt took the remaining records and carefully replaced them, memorizing the titles as he did so. "Ready to go?" Blaine asked, reappearing beside him.

"Yup."

After they finished exploring the town, they headed back to the house so that Burt and Carole could lay Sophie down for a nap. Blaine and Kurt changed into their swim trunks and grabbed their beach bags. They quickly found the others swimming and tossed their things down. Kurt pulled out a bottle of spray on sunscreen and started spraying his legs as Blaine stripped his shirt off. Kurt straightened up, intending on taking off his shirt but catching sight of Blaine instead.

He had no idea how fit Blaine was. He wasn't overly muscled, but was tight in all the right places, his arms flexing as he stretched, his abdomen lean and every inch of skin tan and golden. Kurt swallowed thickly and was quickly rethinking taking off his shirt when Blaine held out a hand.

"I'll do you if you do me."

Kurt blinked. "What?"

Blaine motioned to the bottle in his hand. "I'll spray your back if you spray mine."

Kurt blushed. "Uh, I don't think I'm going to take my shirt off, but-"

"What? No! Come on, Kurt, you can't go swimming with a shirt on!"

"I most certainly can."

Blaine stepped forward, his hand pulling on the hem of Kurt's shirt lightly. He looked up into his eyes, his long lashes fluttering against his cheeks. "Please, just take off your shirt so we can go swimming."

Kurt fought drowning in his hazel depths but knew it was a lost cause. "Fine," he breathed, "but I want it known that I'm doing this under protest and duress."

Blaine laughed, stepping back and spraying his chest and arms. "Well, as long as you do it, I don't think I mind."

He rolled his eyes, motioning for Blaine to turn and accepting the bottle from him. He quickly sprayed Blaine's back, watching as his muscles shifted, before spraying his own chest and allowing Blaine to spray his back.

And then they were in the water, laughing and splashing like little kids with Delia, Jen and Finn.

888

The afternoon faded into evening, Sophie and Carole eventually joining them in the swallow water while Burt fired up the grill. By the time dinner was over, everyone was exhausted from the day's activities and everyone once again retired early.

The next several days were basically the same, full of swimming and exploring and Aunt Delia's mouth watering barbeque. Sophie's time was usually taken up by her grandparents and great aunt, so Kurt was free to do what he wanted and more often than not, he found himself in the company of Blaine. They watched fireworks on the beach on the Fourth, sitting too close on a picnic blanket as the bright colours exploded overhead, the light reflecting on the water.

Wednesday after dinner, Delia began playing the piano, playing various songs and eventually pulling Kurt over to sing with her. They ran through several songs before Kurt remembered Blaine once telling him that he played at least one instrument a day without fail, but Kurt hadn't seen or heard him play at all since they had arrived in North Carolina. He mentioned Blaine's piano skills to Delia, who at once relinquished the piano, insisting that Blaine play.

Blaine dug through his mental list of music he could play by heart, starting off with songs that Kurt knew. Eventually, he began playing Beatles tunes and remembered the record he had bought earlier in the week. After getting permission from Delia, he raced up to his room, grabbing it from his suitcase and going back downstairs to the record player Delia had set up. In his excitement, he once again missed the look on Kurt's face.

Carefully setting the needle into the groove, music began floating through the speakers. Blaine closed his eyes with content, enjoying listening to music the way it was supposed to be played, in the original recordings. He settled on the piano bench next to Kurt, possibly a little closer than necessary. When it came to Blackbird, he began singing along softly, letting the song wash over him. As it came to the final notes, Kurt stood, hurrying from the room with a rushed, "I have to go." The backdoor slammed shut and Blaine stood, making to follow him, when Burt caught his arm.

"Don't, son. He'll be fine, he just needs a moment."

Blaine looked at him. "Did I do something wrong?"

Burt shifted uncomfortably. "It's not my place to say, if he hasn't told you yet, but he's still coming to terms with what happened to Sophie's mother." Blaine stared at him, not sure what he was missing and wishing he knew. He didn't understand, he had played that song before, at Kurt's function, and he had seemed fine. "Just, he'll tell you when he's ready, okay? Don't, don't rush him."

Blaine nodded, staring at the back door, his heart aching for Kurt in an entirely different way.

888

Burt eventually took Sophie to bed, the rest of them following suit not long after. Blaine settled in for another long night of restless sleep and when Kurt made his way down to breakfast the next morning with Sophie, everyone pretended like the night before hadn't happened. After everything was cleaned and put away, they did the same thing they had been doing every day, swimming in the ocean and exploring.

That night, Blaine once again felt his limbs tingling with energy, though he was exhausted from lack of fulfilling sleep and the near constant activity they did around here. Giving up all pretenses of actually going to sleep, he blindly pulled off his pyjamas and found his swim trunks. It only took a moment to put them on and grab his beach bag before he was quietly heading downstairs and onto the beach.

Dropping his towel and bag on top of his sandals on the beach, Blaine immediately dived under the waves, swimming out his frustrations, his exhaustion, his worries. He swam to forget, he swam to think, he swam to get away. His mind was so conflicted and he was so deep in thought that he didn't realize he had company until he spotted a pale body near him when he surfaced.

"Jesus, Kurt, you scared the crap out of me," Blaine exclaimed, trying to catch his breath and slow his pounding heart.

Kurt laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep and then I saw you out here while I was walking on the beach. I tried to call out to you but I guess you didn't hear." His head tilted to the side as he studied Blaine. "Are you okay?"

Blaine nodded as his breathing evened out. "Yeah, just couldn't sleep so I thought swimming might exhaust me."

"Seems like it would be a good, as long as you're careful." Blaine could feel the shifting of the water as Kurt kicked to stay afloat, his arms spread out and his eyes closed, facing the moon as his soaked up its borrowed light.

"Yeah, and the view isn't too bad either," he breathed. Kurt peaked open one eye to find Blaine staring at him, his eyes sparkling.

He cleared his throat, opening his eyes. "Think you're tired enough to sleep now?"

Blaine nodded, finally tearing his eyes away. "Hopefully. Race you back to the shore?"

They took off, Kurt beating Blaine by seconds. "No fair, I'd already been swimming for a while," Blaine complained as they trudged up the beach to where Kurt had dropped his things with Blaine's.

"That just means you should have already been warmed up," Kurt said loftily.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's get rinsed off." They headed to one of the wooden buildings along the beach that had showers in them so that beachgoers could rinse the sand off before they went home or got in their cars. Blaine stepped in one, placing his bag on a hook and throwing his towel over the door. Kurt was in the stall next to his. He was just about to pull the chain to start the shower when he heard Kurt swear. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, the stupid shower isn't working," Kurt said over the wall.

Blaine pulled the chain and water began flowing from the faucet; he released it. "I've got water."

He heard Kurt moving from stall to stall, pulling on chains before finally giving up with a growl. "None of these stupid things work. I'll just rinse off after you're done."

Blaine opened the door to find Kurt standing outside. "That's nonsense, just come in here and rinse off with me. We can be more eco-friendly that way!"

Kurt shifted nervously, his mouth suddenly dry; he REALLY didn't need to be around Blaine in the shower, not after all the days of seeing him dripping wet from the ocean. It had been doing crazy things to his libido all week and being in close quarters, almost pressed against him, well, it couldn't end well. "No, that's all right, I'll wait."

Blaine rolled his eyes, grasping Kurt's wrist and pulling him in. "Just come on." He pulled the chain of the shower, setting the circle on the hook so that the shower would keep running. He began rinsing off, water flowing down his back, his muscles shifting. Kurt closed his eyes, breathing through his nose as he tried to avoid looking. "Your turn," Blaine said. They attempted to shift around each other but Kurt's foot caught on the tile and he slipped, pitching forward blindly.

Blaine caught him, his hands bracing Kurt's elbows. He slowly opened his eyes to find that they were quite close, their faces just inches away from each other.

"Blaine-"

Blaine swallowed thickly. Neither knew which was leaning closer, but suddenly their lips were so close, breathing each other's air while the water pounded on their heads.

Suddenly the sound of a door slamming closed echoed across the beach, making them jump apart in shock.

"We, uh, we should go inside," Blaine murmured, standing front of the door with his back to Kurt, who allowed the water to run over him for a moment while he tried to gather his wits. He released the ring from its hook, shutting the shower off. Blaine silently handed him his towel and he ran it over his head and chest, feeling Blaine do the same behind him in the small space. They both slipped on their shoes and headed to the house in silence.