Finding Home 1/12
AN: Welcome to Finding Home, the sequel to Oh Father, where art thou?
It's Kurt's senior year at McKinley and now that he and his father are finally getting along, it's going to be magical. Right?
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If I did it would be the Kurt Hummel Show.
Rating: PG13 in general. If there are M rated scenes I'll warn in advance.
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 6.853
June
"I've made my decision."
"I thought about what you said, and I'm willing to give us another chance, another year. I'm staying." Carole immediately pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly.
Kurt had thought it would be a hard decision to make, but now, enveloped in Carole's arms and with his dad's hand on his shoulder, all his doubt was suddenly gone.
They were all the family he had left now, and maybe it was time to find his new home with them. The least he could do was try. He had another year after all.
Lima, OH, June 2011
Kurt had been quiet and withdrawn since his birthday party and at first Burt assumed it was because Blaine moved out the day after the party and was currently spending most of his time singing at King's Island.
It was Carole who reminded him that the first anniversary of Elisabeth's death was fast approaching and Burt could have smacked himself. With everything going on in their lives right now, he hadn't even thought about it once.
He had to do something to help Kurt, but as always he had no idea what to do. Carole's advice had been to just be there for Kurt in case he wanted to talk, but it didn't feel like that was enough. He had been trying to be a better father, and a good father wouldn't let his son go through something like that alone.
When he tried to talk to Kurt though, Kurt kept deflecting and told him everything was fine, when everyone could clearly see he was not okay. Burt considered talking to Blaine about it, but he didn't want to cause another fight between them.
In the end it was Kurt who helped him come up with an idea. One day after work he found Kurt curled up on the couch, two old photo albums on his lap. His son was crying but as soon as he noticed Burt standing in the living room Kurt frantically wiped away his tears.
When they had still been together, Elisabeth had always begged him to make family photo albums, but that had been another empty promise. Most of their pictures had ended up in a box he had never picked up from Enzo after he finalized his move to Texas.
Burt quickly made his way up to his bedroom to call up his former best friend, praying that the junk he left with him was still in Enzo's attic. He couldn't give Kurt his mother back, but he could at least make sure Kurt had things to remember her by other than the two albums Kurt hid in his bedroom.
Blaine was already waiting on a park bench when Kurt arrived outside of the cemetery. His boyfriend briefly hugged him tightly, before he was pulling him down on the bench next to him.
"Thanks for taking the day off and coming with me," Kurt told Blaine who looked close to tears as well.
"You know I wouldn't let you do this alone. I still feel bad about the way I treated you when all you were doing was trying to get me my mom back, especially when I can't do the same thing for you."
Kurt looked down on the floor, so Blaine couldn't see his face. There had been days, especially lately, when he had felt extremely jealous of Blaine. Rationally, he knew that they had both lost people in their life, because Blaine's father might as well be dead, but they had also gained people in their lives.
A year ago, he would never have wanted to have his father and stepfamily in his life, but by now he knew he could have had it worse. They had had a rocky start, but his father hadn't kicked him out when he found him with Blaine, and had grown as a person, Kurt didn't mind sharing a house with anymore.
"Ready, to go in?" Blaine asked, pulling him back into reality. Kurt clutched his mom's favorite flowers maybe a little harder than necessary when he nodded and they walked toward his mom's grave, holding hands, because in that moment he didn't care what others thought.
Blaine removed the flowers Kurt had left two weeks ago and Kurt carefully arranged the fresh daisies in the vase on the headstone.
As always, when visiting the cemetery, Kurt didn't care about his clothes, when he sat down next to his mother's grave, Blaine following suit.
"Hi mom. It's been a year and whoever invented 'time heals all wounds' had clearly never lost anyone. On some days, it's easier because I'm busy with school and Glee and I don't have time to dwell on the fact that I can't just come into the living room to tell you about my day."
Kurt accepted the tissue Blaine handed him with a watery smile, before he continued.
"But some days, I just smell pancakes in the kitchen and I expect you to be there, but then it's just Carole. There were times I needed you so bad this last year, but you weren't here for me. I know that's not your fault, but sometimes I just get angry, because it's not fair. Why did I have to lose you to get my father back? Why couldn't I have it all?"
Kurt suddenly found himself in Blaine's arms, sobbing into his shoulder. He could feel a splash of something wet drop onto his cheek and knew Blaine was crying is well. Sometimes he forgot how young they still were, when he thought about how much they had lost already.
"Is it okay if I say something?" Kurt just nodded, keeping his face buried in Blaine's shoulder.
"Hi Elisabeth, it's Blaine. I really miss you. My mom wanted me to tell you how grateful she is that you took me in last year when I had nowhere else to go. I know I told you how much that meant to me often, but I just want to say it again. You saved me, and for that I always will be grateful. You have raised an amazing son, and for that I thank you as well."
By the time Blaine finished they were both a crying mess. Still Kurt managed to look up when he heard footsteps approaching. His father was slowing walking toward them, a single white rose in his hand.
"I didn't want to disturb you, and I'll be gone in a minute, I promise." Kurt shook his head and let himself be pulled up by Blaine. He had said what he needed to, and even though sitting next to the grave and talking to his mom normally helped, it only made him sadder today.
"I have something for you when you get home," his dad called out to him as he and Blaine slowly walked back to his car. Whatever it was his father had for him, it could wait. He needed some cheesecake and ice cream first.
Together with Carole, Burt had managed to pick up the boxes he left at Enzo's house and she had helped him make a scrapbook that contained pictures from before he and Lizzy had gotten married.
Before putting the pictures into the book, Carole had taken them to his office and had scanned them into the computer to make a picture CD for Kurt he could easily take with him once he left for college.
Burt just hoped, Kurt didn't hate his idea, but he had no idea how his son would react. Carole found it sweet and he knew he could trust her intuition when it came to Kurt.
Kurt came back home late that night, but Burt wasn't surprised he had spent the day with Blaine. After all, a year ago, the boys only had each other. His son's eyes were still slightly red-rimmed, but he looked more put together than he had when Burt had discovered him at Elisabeth's grave. He himself had renewed his promise to Elisabeth that he would make sure Kurt would be happy in the future. A promise he hoped he would never break again.
"You said you had something for me?" Kurt asked as he walked into the living room where Burt had been waiting up for him.
"I don't know if you're going to like it or not, but I put together all the pictures I had of your mom that had never been put into an album." Burt picked up the scrapbook and CD and brought them over to where Kurt remained frozen in his spot.
"Um, Carole put the pictures on a CD for you as well, in case you want to have them on your computer." He awkwardly patted Kurt's shoulder as his son sunk down onto the couch clutching the book.
Burt watched in silence as Kurt flipped through the pages, but jumped up in alarm when Kurt started sobbing uncontrollably.
"What's wrong? Do you hate it?" Kurt shook his head, and Burt leaned over his shoulder to take a look at the picture Kurt was staring at. Elisabeth was standing with a group of smiling teens under a sign that identified them as McKinley High Glee Club 1990.
"Well, where did you think you got that voice from?" "I knew she was in Glee, but I've never seen a picture from that time. Mom said she lost the pictures during a move."
Because Burt had never done what Elisabeth had asked him for, she probably had believed they were lost when they moved to Lima. All those years, they had been sitting in a box in the garage until Burt had just grabbed everything stored in the garage and had taken it with him. It was his fault, Kurt had never seen pictures of his mother like that when he was growing up.
"So you don't hate it?" Kurt wiped his eyes on his sleeve, something so unlike Kurt. "I love it! Thanks so much, dad. I, I think I'm going to take it up to my room to look through the rest of them."
Burt smiled at his son's retreating form, glad that he had done something right for once.
The weekend before he and Rachel would start working as counselors at art camp, Kurt drove to King's Island to watch Blaine perform. Because he was in Texas the previous summer, he had never watched Blaine perform solo outside Glee club and he was dying to see him.
Blaine looked surprised, but happy to see him when he found his boyfriend outside the stage door, but they didn't get much time together, because his cast mates constantly had to "borrow" him for something that couldn't wait.
He was glad Blaine had friends here, but he didn't like how some of the girls were staring at him. He knew it was ridiculous to get jealous, especially over a bunch of girls, when Blaine had always been faithful to him, even when he had thought they had broken up.
While Kurt was waiting for Blaine to come back out, a tall blond guy came up to him, sighing dreamily. "Isn't Blaine the hottest?"
Kurt had no idea how to answer that. Of course he thought Blaine was hot, but why was this guy telling him this. "Just too bad the guy is straight. Otherwise I would be all over him by now." What the hell?
Before he could ask Blaine what that was all about, Blaine told him that the show was starting soon and Kurt had to walk over to the stage to secure a good seat.
The first couple of songs were group numbers and Kurt had to admit that the performers were all very talented, even stupid blond guy. Toward the end though, Blaine came on stage alone and sat down in front of the piano.
"This is for someone very special to me who is here today. I love you." The audience awed when Blaine started to play the song, and Kurt temporarily forgot he was mad at Blaine for lying about his sexuality.
...
It's a little bit funny,
This feeling inside.
I'm not one of those who can
Easily hide.
...
I know it's not much,
But it's the best I can do.
My gift is my song and
This song's for you.
...
Kurt found Blaine outside the stage door again after the show was over and after making sure Blaine's cast mates weren't close by he pulled Blaine closer.
"Why didn't you tell anyone you have a boyfriend? I just had to listen to stupid blond guy telling me how hot you are and how he would be all over you if you weren't straight."
Kurt had expected that Blaine would at least look guilty, but he just sighed.
"Look Kurt, this is Ohio and if I want to get hired here I sometimes can't afford to tell people about my private life. The audience here consists mostly of teenage girls who like to pretend they could have a chance with the performers and if you are nice to them, their parents tip you well."
Kurt understood where Blaine was getting from, but because he had never really been able to be in the closet he didn't see the need to pretend to be someone he wasn't. Nobody had asked him about his sexuality during his interview for the counselor position, but he would probably not tell any of the kids he had a boyfriend either, because not all parents were gay friendly.
"I just wish we lived in a world where we didn't have to hide our relationship to get jobs and stuff like that. I hate that we are discriminated against, and there's nothing we can do, unless we are prepared to take someone to court over it."
Blaine took a quick look around as well, before kissing Kurt chastely on the lips. "You know I hate it too, but next year we'll be in New York and things will be easier for us there. I promise."
Kurt reluctantly let Blaine go once his break was over and Blaine promised to visit him at camp on one of his weekends off. He hated that he barely saw Blaine nowadays because they weren't living together anymore.
Burt had just gone into the kitchen to get Carole another soda, when he heard his wife groan in the living room where they were watching a movie. "Not that guy again."
He quickly went back to her and watched the scene unfolding on screen. A middle-aged man was standing in front of an American flag as a voice over addressed the audience. The background then changed to pictures of the man posing with happy families, shut down adoption agencies and a proposed bill that would only allow married heterosexual couples to use surrogates.
"Don't you want your kids to grow up to become decent citizens? Then why would you let them be raised by homosexuals? A child needs a mother and a father, not two fathers or mothers. If you vote for me I promise to make sure that no child will ever be raised in such an unhealthy environment in Ohio again. I'm saying no to letting gays adopt children, no to allowing them to use surrogates. If you don't want to follow our rules, you're welcome to move. But I promise that in the future every child born in Ohio will have a mother and a father if you elect me as your next Ohio State Senator for district 12. I'm Richard Nelson, and I approve this message."
Burt's hands were balled into fists. "God, I hate this guy. He said in a newspaper interview that his laws wouldn't affect kids like Rachel because it's too late to save them, but if you illegally have a child under his proposed laws that kid will be placed into foster care. How can that be better than being raised by two loving parents?"
Carole patted the space on the couch next to her and put her arms around his shoulders after he had sat down.
"But it gets worse. You wouldn't be allowed to adopt a child your partner has from a previous relationship and kids would have to stay with the straight parent even if the other parent could proof the kid would be better off with him and her. People are afraid that if the law gets passed they wouldn't even be able to visit Ohio with their children without being in danger of having them taken away. And just when I found out Kurt could have kids after all."
"I know what you mean, Burt. The awful thing is that people are actually voting for him." He knew something had to be done to stop the guy, but he didn't know how. He was a mechanic not a politician and he didn't really know how these things worked. Could this guy really introduce a bill like this?
"The problem is that there is no opponent apart from the cheerleading coach from Kurt's high school, who isn't a real alternative. I don't really understand her crusade against the arts, when Kurt told us she gets all the funding and the only reason Glee club will exist next year is that Ms. Corcoran had taken them to Nationals as she had promised." Carole reminded him.
"At least it's still early in the elections. Maybe there will be other candidates before the vote in November." He really hoped so because what this man proposed was just horrible.
After a two-hour drive during an already crazy hot Ohio summer day, Kurt, Rachel, Jesse and Tina finally piled out of Kurt's car at Camp Art. Kurt had always found it funny that the creators of an arts summer camp couldn't come up with a more creative name.
Tina had been bummed when Mike told her he couldn't come with them because his father made him spend his summer at med camp, so Kurt was really glad his dad wasn't inferring with his artistic aspirations anymore.
The four of them would be sharing one of the larger cabins together with two other teens they had yet to meet and Kurt made sure to get a bed as far away from the window as possible, because he didn't want to be the first meal for all the bugs who always managed to find a way inside.
Tina took the bed between Rachel and Jesse because no one wanted them to fool around when they had to be in the same room. They all quickly unpacked, before heading over to headquarters - a fancy name for the biggest cabin on the campground, to pick up information about their classes and the kids they would have in them.
After having lunch with some of the other counselors they went back to their cabin to get changed into their swimsuits, so they could enjoy the lake before the children swarmed it.
A girl with long dark hair was unpacking her suitcase when they went back inside and introduced herself as Harmony, Rachel's co-teacher. Kurt thought she was nice enough but he could see Rachel sizing up the competition from the corner of his eyes.
The last of their cabin mates joined them just as they were preparing to leave for the lake and Kurt offered to stay behind to wait for the new boy because he wanted to keep his skin out of the sun for as long as possible.
"Hi I'm Kurt, the four that just left are Tina, Rachel, Jesse and Harmony. Tina and Rachel go to my school in Lima and Jesse is starting at Julliard this fall. He's Rachel's boyfriend. We don't know Harmony yet."
The boy looked at him slightly awestruck before giving Kurt a big smile and grabbing his hand to shake it enthusiastically.
"I'm Chandler. I'm from Lima as well. Can I just say you have amazing eyes. And that top - is that McQueen. Don't you just hate people who forgo style just because they are in swimsuits?"
Well, Kurt had most certainly not expected that. But it was nice to be appreciated for his style. Of course Blaine told him he was good looking, but that was sort of his obligation as his boyfriend.
"Well, I like you're hippo broche. I had one like that once but I lost it." "That's too bad, I'm sure you wore it well."
Kurt Hummel might have just found a new best friend.
They spent the rest of the day swimming in the lake and the girls, Jesse and even Chandler managed to convince Kurt to join them when they went off to play volleyball.
Chandler kept giving him cheesy compliments all afternoon, for which Rachel shot him what she probably thought were meaningful looks, but he just found it adorable.
Kurt had had crushes on boys in the past, but before Blaine, no one had ever crushed on him apart from Mercedes and maybe Brittany. It wasn't like he was flirting with Chandler, and he didn't think Chandler was actually hitting on him.
It wasn't forbidden to date another counselor, but it was only the first day and no one in his sane mind would risk causing an embarrassing situation this early by hitting on someone who might reject you.
Rachel managed to corner him on the way back to the cabin and she quickly pulled him away from the rest of the group.
"What are you doing? You have Blaine!" Rachel didn't just seriously imply he would ever dump Blaine for some guy he just met.
"Okay, first of all, I'm not doing anything to encourage him. And secondly, of course I have Blaine."
"Then tell him that!" "Come on Rachel, I don't even know if he's serious and what if I tell him and he tells others. You know not all parents would be happy about the fact that a gay guy is teaching their children. If he asks, of course I'll tell him, but until then it's really none of his business."
"Well, I hope you know what you are doing." Rachel finally released his arm then and they joined the rest of the group as they headed to one of the dinning halls.
Before going to bed Kurt managed to squeeze in a short skype conversation with Blaine before heading to one of the dreaded community washrooms to do his moisturizing routine, where he promptly bumped into Chandler again, who complemented him on his perfect skin.
"Flattery will get you everywhere," Kurt told him before starting to rub his skin cream into his face. He just hoped that Chandler didn't interpret what he had said as flirting.
On Monday they had their first day of work and where introduced to the kids and preteens in their group. Kurt had never been the biggest fan of kids, but most of them were just too cute.
The week passed quickly with lessons and hanging out at night with their group. Rachel still wasn't Harmony's biggest fan, especially after she learned that the girl had plans to move to New York the following summer as well. Kurt just liked that he had another girl who was obsessed with show tunes and always offered to sing with him.
They had the weekend off, but Blaine had to cancel their plans because he had been asked to fill in for a co-worker. In the end he decided to stay at camp with the rest of their cabin, because if he went home he'd have to spend time with his family as well and that wouldn't leave much time for Blaine anyway. They could skype instead.
Jesse had managed to get them a few bottles of wine and some beer and they ended up throwing a small party down at the lake with the counselors from another cabin, away from the watchful eyes of the camp director.
Kurt usually wasn't one for drinking, especially after Blaine's experience at Scandals, but he had to admit that he had had fun at some of the Warbler parties where he hadn't been the designated driver.
He, Tina and Rachel decided to split a bottle of wine, and before they knew it, they were on their second. Everyone was relaxed though and had fun and even Rachel admitted, when Chandler briefly left them, that she found his cheesy pickup lines and attempts at flirting adorable.
Kurt didn't really mind when the younger boy sat down next to him and listened with wide eyes as Kurt and Rachel explained their college plans.
"It's too bad I'm only going to be a junior this fall. Wouldn't it have been amazing if all went to New York at the same time? We could go to the front of the Plaza and reenact the end of 'The way we were'."
Okay, maybe that was laying it on a little thick, but Kurt felt pleasantly buzzed and just smiled happily while looking out over the lake.
The next morning, unfortunately came with an awful headache, but luckily Rachel had enough aspirin to supply the entire cabin.
During his skype date later that night, he was telling Blaine about their party and was about to mention Chandler's cheesy compliments, when Blaine's mom came in and asked if he wanted to go see a movie with her.
Kurt couldn't be mad about this. After all, he had been the one to push Blaine to reconnect with his mom, and it was good that Tala made the effort to spend time with Blaine. He could tell Blaine about Chandler another time. It wasn't really that important.
Or so he thought.
The first day of the second week, Rachel and Harmony got into a fight over who would get to sing a solo from Wicked, while Kurt was trying to shake off Chandler who had become even more clingy after the party.
Wednesday night, Kurt was sitting at the dock watching the stars after he finished a phone call with Carole.
A branch snapped behind him and Kurt shot up. He had seen enough horror movies in his life thanks to Blaine's obsession with them.
"Hey, it's just me. Can I sit with you for a moment?" Of course it was Chandler. Kurt scooted over a bit to make space for the other boy, but Chandler sat down close to him.
They sat in silence for a while, but Kurt turned his head when he thought Chandler had said something and suddenly lips were being pressed against his own. It took him a few seconds before he pulled back, out of shock, but once he did, he jumped up and took a step back.
"Chandler, I have a boyfriend." The other boy looked sad and Kurt felt bad for leading him on, even if he had thought Chandler just had a bit of a crush.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have asked first. Of course you have a boyfriend. You are gorgeous. Ah, sorry, I'll stop now."
"Chandler, wait. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Blaine sooner. I didn't mean to lead you on, but I didn't think you were really interested in me."
Chandler excused himself quickly afterward and Kurt let him leave because there wasn't anything he could do. For a moment he considered not telling Blaine about the kiss, but immediately discarded the idea. Not telling Blaine the truth about something had caused their last big fight after all.
He'd tell Blaine when he came up on Saturday and everything would be okay.
"I'm sorry Kurt, but I can't come up this weekend. Wes and David called and I made plans with them." He knew Kurt wouldn't be happy about that, but he hadn't seen the two older boys in over a year.
"But if you don't come then we won't see each other for another week, and we already didn't get to see each other last week. Can't you meet them another day?" Yep, Kurt wasn't happy.
"Kurt, I haven't seen them in a year and they are only in town for a few days. I miss you too, but I get to see you all the time." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.
"I never see you anymore. But I don't want to fight with you again - not about this. I wanted you to visit because there was something I needed to tell you, but if you prefer me to tell you on the phone, so be it."
That didn't sound good. Kurt never had problems with telling him something on the phone unless it was really serious.
"What is it?" he asked dreading the answer.
"There is this guy at camp and he kissed me. I didn't kiss him back or anything and he apologized when I told him about you."
Oh good, Kurt wasn't planning on leaving him for another guy.
"Wait, so this guy just kissed you out of the blue? He didn't force you right?" He didn't think the people at camp would be like that, but who knew.
"No, he ah, he's been paying me compliments all last week and we all thought he has a crush on me, but that that was it." Why didn't Kurt tell him about this guy? Blaine took a deep, calming breath. He was not going to jump to conclusions again and let Kurt explain first.
"Why did the guy who was hitting on you not know about me?" Maybe that had been the wrong thing to say again, because Kurt sounded angry when he answered.
"Like you told people about me. I didn't think he was seriously hitting on me and it was none of his business. If he had asked me, I would have told him of course, but I didn't know him that well, and was afraid he might say something in front of the kids about me dating a boy. I never confirmed nor denied that I'm gay when I was talking to him."
Damn, he had used that same argument when he defended his decision not to come out at his work place.
"I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I just don't like the fact that some guy was hitting on you, okay."
"Well, now you know how I feel when I have to watch other people hit on you. But I trust you not to cheat on me and I thought you trusted me as well, at least in that respect."
And they were back arguing about trust. He had forgiven Kurt about the situation with his mom, but Kurt just wouldn't let it go.
"I do trust you. Please let's not fight about this right now. Why don't you come down this weekend and join me, Wes and David. They are your friends too."
Blaine steeled himself for Kurt's rejection of the idea, because Kurt was nothing if not stubborn, but Kurt always zigged when Blaine thought he would zag, and agreed to go out with them.
Blaine hung up after promising to talk about the issue again when he saw Kurt in person, because he had promised Kurt to stop running away from problems and he intended to honor his promise, no matter how much he wanted to avoid dealing with certain issues.
Finn was out with Sarah and Kurt was still at camp, so Burt and Carole decided to invite some of their friends over for a BBQ.
The Lopez were busy with preparing their departure, but Hiram and LeRoy as well as Tala were sitting at a table in their backyard together with Carole as Burt flipped burgers on the grill.
It was nice to have an evening without any teenagers around and for a while they just enjoyed each other's company, catching up and enjoying Carole's mojitos.
The atmosphere changed though when Tala brought up Rick Nelson's campaign. LeRoy and Hiram were enraged, because the guy was directly attacking their family.
"I would run myself if I thought I could get elected," Hiram said furiously. "What we need is a normal guy that appeals to the people in our district regardless of party affiliation. You know the guy next door, who cares about what's wrong without distracting people with issues that shouldn't be issues."
Hiram of course was right. Nelson's campaign was based solely on fear and hatred. No word about the economy or health care. But if no one seriously challenged him, that would be the guy who be part of the Ohio State Senate for the next few years. The thought made him sick.
Carole distracted them all after a while by engaging Tala in a conversation about her fall plans, and LeRoy offered to take a look at Tala's prenup to figure out a way to get her out of her marriage without leaving her with nothing.
"Blaine and I are doing okay right now as it is, but I just want to be legally free from Jarred," Blaine's mom told them before turning back to Carole. Burt sat down next to his wife as the two women talked.
"Santana's parents have asked me if she could stay with me and Blaine until they come back from Africa." Burt was surprised to hear that. He had assumed Santana would stay with them again when her parents left Ohio.
"I'm not surprised," Carole told Tala though. "Santana had never been really happy about living with Finn. I know she told him to come back to Glee, but I don't think she ever really forgave him for outing her." Burt hadn't even thought about that, probably because it seemed like Kurt had been able to forgive Finn.
"Nothing is decided yet, though. I still have to talk it over with Kurt and Blaine, so please don't say anything to them, until we get a chance to talk. I really don't want to be the cause of another fight."
Burt knew how she felt, because from what Carole had told him, he had been the cause of a fight between the two boys once as well.
Later that night, when everyone was gone, Burt and Carole were sitting on the couch together watching the news. The anchor announced a new segment called Sue's corner and they both watched as McKinley's cheerleading coach went on and on about how schools spend to much money on the arts instead of on special education.
It was a low blow, because every decent person had to agree that special education was important, but most people weren't aware that McKinley didn't even have proper wheel chair access because most of the school's budget went to the cheerleading squad.
There wasn't much they could do though, unless one of them ran on the democratic ticket and that was just ridiculous. Why would anyone vote for a mechanic with no more education then two years of junior college?
Kurt called Carole after his mini-argument with Blaine because he needed to vent and he couldn't really do that at camp because Chandler was always around and Kurt didn't want him to overhear that he caused an argument between Kurt and his boyfriend.
Carole, as always, listened patiently without taking sides, which was why Kurt liked her so much.
"It's just. I hate that I never get to see him because of both of our jobs and when we have a weekend off together he wants to spend it with his friends instead. I don't expect him to spend the whole day with me, but we haven't been on a date in like forever."
And okay, maybe that was his fault as well, because he could have come down for a few hours the previous weekend but he had been pissed that Blaine had offered to fill in for a co-worker.
"The summer isn't going to last forever and before you know it school will start again and then you'll see him all the time," Carole tried to placate him.
"But it's our first summer together. We couldn't spend last summer together and next year will be preparing to move to New York, and it probably will just get worse."
Kurt knew he was whining but he couldn't help it. It had been different when he'd been in Texas and Blaine in Ohio because he had known there was no way they could see each other, but now it felt like they didn't make too much of an effort.
"Tell you what. Burt and I have discussed going on a family vacation at the end of July. Nothing fancy. We're just going to a small hotel in Grand Haven because I loved Lake Michigan when I was growing up. Why don't you invite Blaine to come with us? I'm sure you could both need a vacation."
After the year he had had, a vacation did sound nice, especially if it meant getting to spend a whole week with Blaine.
"Thank you Carole. I'm going to talk to Blaine about it. And thanks for letting me vent."
"Any time honey," Carole assured him before hanging up. Kurt walked further down the pathway leading to the lake and set down on one of the docks, after making sure he was alone.
Blaine picked up after the second ring and Kurt was glad he had caught him during a break.
"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" "Sure. You're not canceling our plans with Wes and David?" Blaine asked as Kurt took of his shoes and dipped his toes into the lake.
"No, I told you I'd come with you. Carole invited you to our family vacation end of July. We'll be heading up to Lake Michigan." Kurt was glad his family would stay in a hotel because after four weeks of camp he didn't want to sleep in another cabin for at least a year.
"Oh, that's really nice of her, but I'm not sure I can." "Why not? I know you can choose your own hours and with how much you've been working you can take a couple of days off."
"It's just not fair to the other performers." "Oh please, you fill in for them all the time. What's this really about? Don't you want to go on a trip with me?"
This was getting ridiculous. Every time he had a day off, Blaine couldn't do something with him because he had to work.
"Of course I do. But I need the money for New York." "Blaine, you have a trust fund. I know you don't like to spend your father's money, but that's different."
"Yeah, but what if I don't get that money?" Kurt gasped. "Did something happen?"
"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling because the family lawyer wants to talk to me about the trust fund before school starts."
That was is? He didn't understand why Blaine was so worried.
"He probably needs to discuss a few things with you. You know your father can't touch that money. You've told me it's from your grandfather who died before you came out."
Blaine sighed. "You're probably right. But I don't want to find out that I can't go to college with you because I don't have the money."
"Blaine, please. Will you just come with me to the lake and we worry about these things after you've actually talked to the lawyer. It's not like my family has a ton of money either. We'll find a way to make it work if push comes to shove okay?"
All he wanted was one week with Blaine, without arguments or worrying about the future. They could do that once they actually started their senior year.
"Alright, let's go on a holiday together. I mean, I do miss living with your family, so that should be fun."
Kurt felt relieved when Blaine finally agreed. He couldn't wait for June to be over because even though it had been better than last year, it was still his least favorite month nowadays.
AN: Elections for the Ohio State Senate will be held on Nov 6, 2012 and candidates have to announce they are running like a year before that. Unfortunately that doesn't fit the timeline of my story, so I'm taking a creative license. Elections will be held in November 2011 and citizens can announce their candidacy till the end of August.
The real district 12 doesn't have a democratic candidate either, so it was actually not too far fetched that Mr. Nelson doesn't have a proper opponent.
And yes, that means I spent way too much time researching Ohio politics ;)
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