Author Notes: Thank you all so, so much for your feedback - not only on the last chapter, which I'm so glad you all liked, but also this whole story. It means a lot to me to hear how much this story has meant to some people, and that you even took the time to tell me. I've loved writing this fic, even if it's been pretty hard and challenging at times. I hope this is a fitting end for it, and thank you all again, so much...

Epilogue

"Hello? Finn? You there?" Blaine kicked the front door open, giving his key a slight jerk to combat the sticky lock.

"We're in here, dude!" Finn's voice hollered out of the door to Blaine's right. He closed the front door behind him, dumping his bag on top of a small crate full of god-knows-what, nearly tripping over an empty box on his way to follow his friend's voice.

"Woah!" Blaine's feet tangled as he tried to hop over a few more cardboard boxes adjacent to the door, and he toppled through, only to fall straight into his boyfriend.

"You okay there?" Kurt smirked at the Blaine-bundle in his arms.

Blaine righted himself, and sent a pleading look to Finn, who was sitting on his newly claimed bed, "Please tell me you're gonna find someplace to put all your crap. If I can nearly kill myself walking to your room, I don't want to know what'll happen to you."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Blaine. I've got a cataloguing system all planned out for Finn." Rachel came bustling out of the tiny bathroom that was next to Finn's room and started sifting through a pile of clothes.

Finn just shrugged, "I figured it'd just be better if Rachel did it."

Blaine frowned, "I'm not sure if-"

Kurt rolled his eyes at his step-brother, patting Blaine's arm, "Trust me, honey, if she doesn't do it, no one will, and I'm not visiting you if this place is allowed to sit at Finn's level of what he deems acceptably 'clean'."

"Dude, I'm sitting right here! You lived with me for over a year and it didn't kill you!"Finn protested.

"Yeah, but Carole won't be here, and this apartment is a lot smaller than our house." Kurt shot back.

Blaine just smiled happily, winding his arms around Kurt's waist, "When did they leave?"

The Hummel-Hudson family had arrived in New York absurdly early that morning, having to face the task of moving in two sons to their new homes. It had worked out cheaper just to hire a van and get them both settled at the same time.

Blaine and Rachel had met them at Edward Hall, the sole residential accommodation for NYADA freshers, where both Kurt and Rachel would be living for their first year of college. While their dreams may have involved the four of them sharing an apartment together in their first year of college, they had to concede to their parents' dislike of the prospect of the two couples sharing in such close quarters. Besides, as Rachel was quick to point out, imagine the contacts they could make, living amongst such like minded artists.

In contrast, Blaine had not been keen on the idea of halls, having a serious been there-done that attitude with his history at Dalton. Sure, living there, meeting the friends for life that he had, it had been brilliant. But he just wasn't that person anymore. So, when Finn managed to get the lone scholarship on top of his acceptance letter from NYU to study Musical Theatre and Performing Arts, the decision had been a simple one, and they found a small apartment for the pair of them to share. Blaine had moved in earlier in the week with his aunt and uncle's help.

Kurt steered Blaine around one of Rachel's organised piles to sit on the bed next to Finn, "They're still in New York. They're going to come back this evening to take us all out for dinner with Rachel's dads."

"Oh my god, Finn, what is this doing here?" Rachel screamed, leaping backwards, holding the offending discovery at arm's length between two fingers, clearly determined to touch it as little as possible.

"My lucky jockstrap! You found it!" Finn grinned, oblivious to his girlfriend's horror.

"Seriously Rachel? You have sex with the boy, but you can't deal with that?" Kurt deadpanned

At the same time, Blaine turned to Finn and asked curiously, "What makes it lucky?"

"Oh-kay, and this is where we change conversation topic!" Kurt said loudly, throwing a hand up to forestall any reply from his brother. "How was orientation?"

Blaine grinned widely, and Kurt's heart swelled to see the happiness of the boy in his arms, "It was brilliant! Some of the extra classes look amazing! I've already decided on Musical Composition, but there are a couple of others that I think I might look at. When do you guys all have to register?"

"Tomorrow" Rachel grinned, "It's going to be amazing!"

"Thursday." Finn smiled nervously, "But I've got a meeting with my tutor tomorrow to go over some stuff first. He seemed really…enthusiastic…"

"Welcome to the world of the arts, Finn." Kurt patted his brother's arm in an attempt to dispel the mildly terrified look.

"Welcome to college." Blaine grinned.

"Welcome to New York!" Rachel squealed, her face alight with happiness, "This is even better than winning Nationals! I can't believe we're finally here…"

"Hey! You ready to go? We're meeting Dad and Carole at their hotel in half an hour, and we're gonna have to leave time in case we get lost on the subway. I'm a little worried about Finn…" Kurt slid into Blaine's bedroom, taking in every inch. They had spent most of the afternoon in Finn's room, so Kurt hadn't had much of a chance to look around yet. "Oh! Sorry!" He whispered the last word, realising Blaine was on the phone.

"No…no, I promise Uncle Peter! Seriously, I'll be fine. Okay…Okay!" Blaine laughed, rolling his eyes at Kurt, "Yes, I know! I really do have to go now though, or we'll be late…yeah, love you guys too…"

"They get back to Lima okay then?" Kurt asked as Blaine hung up.

"Yeah. But now I think Uncle Peter's experiencing separation anxiety. I mean, I know I'm not the tallest guy in the world, but I think I can take care of myself!"

Kurt smiled, settling his arms loosely on Blaine's shoulders as he kissed him fondly, "He's as tall as Finn. To people like them, everyone else seems tiny."

Blaine pouted, "I'm not tiny!" Kurt giggled at his boyfriend's expression, and it was in that moment that it hit him, there, in the new apartment, with the sounds of traffic floating up from the streets below, the city lights splashed across Blaine's face as dusk began to fall. Blaine cocked his head slightly, noticing the change in Kurt, "What is it?"

"Nothing…" Kurt breathed, a contented smile ghosting over his lips as he lost himself in Blaine's eyes, "It's just…we're here… we got out… we made it…"

"Guys! Come on!" Rachel's voice yelled from the living room.

Blaine just smiled, settling his hands on Kurt's hips, his fingertips knowing every inch, every contour by heart. They had learnt each other in a beautiful cliché, a cliché that began with a perfect night after Senior Prom, and was followed by an incredible summer of heat and skin. Blaine hummed a few bars of a familiar tune, letting his voice flow gently over the ambient noise of traffic.

Kurt smiled ever so softly, reaching up to tuck a stray curl behind Blaine's ear, his eyes bright and shining as he murmured in reply, "Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred moments so dear…"

"You're crying…" Blaine said, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Good tears." Kurt clarified. "I'm just really happy to be here, that's all."

"Me too." Blaine grinned, thumbing a stray tear from Kurt's cheek before kissing him heatedly on the lips, "Let's get going. This'll probably be the last decent meal we eat until Thanksgiving…"

"Speak for yourself; I'm not living with Finn."

Blaine pulled on his best puppy face, "But you love me, so you won't let me starve, right?"

Kurt sighed dramatically, pulling Blaine by the hand out to the front door, "We'll see!"

Blaine grinned, knowing Kurt would never deprive him of his cooking. Besides, if he wanted a retreat from a crazed Rachel every now and again, he would need Blaine's help. And if worst came to the worst, Blaine could always consider withholding sex, but he wasn't sure if he could be that much of a martyr…

He double-locked the door, checking it twice before jogging to catch the other three up.

Tonight, after the goodbye meal with Burt, Carole and the Berrys, Blaine would go back to see Kurt's new room for the first time and help him unpack. And scope out this new roommate of his…

Tomorrow, Kurt would start his dream, the dream he had already worked so hard to achieve.

Tomorrow, Blaine would meet with his piano and voice tutors at Juilliard, because somehow, amidst all the horror and pain of the last year, he had kept on the path to his dream too. His only regret was that his dad hadn't been there during his auditions like Burt had been for Kurt; that his dad hadn't felt the same joy that shined on Burt's face when Blaine's acceptance letter had arrived that April.

Tomorrow, instead, Blaine would call up Uncle Peter and Aunt Sarah and tell them all about his first day, and then he would meet up with Kurt and find out all about his.

Tomorrow, he couldn't be in Lima or Westerville, but that was because tomorrow could now be so much more than That Day. The day he had dreaded all year, since he had realised what it would be.

Tomorrow, he would be happy. Tomorrow, he would cry. Tomorrow, he could say I miss you, tomorrow he will say I'll never forget you.

Tomorrow was One Year.

But tomorrow was also the start of his life.

FIN

Author Notes: So, I hope that was a good end for you all! I know some people wanted me to pick up directly from the countdown, but that wasn't really what I wanted for this story. I really hope you like their New York ending, and once again, thank you all so much for your support throughout the writing of this story. Thank you, and much love to you all! xxx