This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I wanted to end it on a nice stopping point

I really really don't own Kurt or Blaine (although Chris & Darren are in the UK right now. I might choose to not let them leave…)

Kurt stood on his front step and looked up into the sky. It was imploringly dark and the light pollution clouded over the stars and even the moon was barely visible over Lima that night.

It was raining.

Although drizzling would be a more appropriate word, as Kurt could hardly picture himself watching this pour through his windows while he listened to Sarah McLachlan and had a moment. No, this was just wet and sticking his eyelashes together in clumps and pressing his bangs into his forehead.

He wondered if the wetness on his face was really just rain as his hand clenched the spare key he'd retrieved from under the mat.

He didn't want to go inside. Not yet.

Maybe this was what it felt like to go into shock, he thought as his heart pounded and his skin felt too warm to be plausible in the chilly and damp March air.

Maybe this, when the adrenaline wears away and the high has faded, this is what you're left with.

The trip to his house had been dismally short and it seemed that only moments passed between Blaine twisting a lever and the nauseating jerk of vertigo that struck as the TARDIS took off, and the crashing touchdown in the middle of the road outside Kurt's house.

He'd stepped through the door and stared at his house, before turning awkwardly back to Blaine who was rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

"I guess I'll…I'll see you soon, Kurt."

And he was gone and the TARDIS faded into the night until all that was left was a bright star, too soon covered by the clouds.

And then it had started to rain, and Kurt knew now that he was crying.

"Culture shock," Blaine would chuckle and squeeze his shoulders, propelling him somewhere; down a corridor, into a classroom, past a group of murderous robots from space. And Kurt didn't mind, it didn't matter where Blaine was taking him when he spoke like that and guided Kurt with such painful familiarity that Kurt knew he would follow this boy anywhere.

No matter who or what he was.

But Blaine wasn't at his shoulder or by his side. Blaine had vanished with an infuriatingly ambiguous smile and a whir of timeless engines and Kurt didn't know if he was ever going to see him again.

He hadn't missed the slight downturn of Blaine's lips when he'd said he'd wanted to go home, the faint darkness that fell upon his brown eyes as he'd nodded and turned towards the controls.

But Kurt only wanted to see his father and Carole and even Finn, had only wanted to sooth that ache in his chest that seemed to have settled there and was it really only that morning that his father had been clasping his shoulders and wishing him luck?

He was shivering.

Kurt took a deep breath, although what good would it do him, and turned the key.

The warmth of the house enclosed around him like a cocoon and he could smell Carole's cooking and hear Finn's music and the strains and cheers of a Buckeyes game on the television.

Kurt dripped on the carpet and inhaled deeply through his nose.

"Kurt?" Carole peeped out of the kitchen with a smile, wiping her hands on her apron, "Did you say you were coming home tonight?"

"I wouldn't miss it," he breathed and she smiled, hooked her head back into the kitchen, beckoning him after her.

"Come and taste this soup then, will you? I used your recipe but it's not quite the same as yours."

He followed her, kicking off his shoes as he went. The Converse mocked him from their position on the floor.

Carole held a spoon up to his lips to taste and the liquid burnt a trail of fire down his throat to his stomach.

"It's lovely Carole, really."

"Not as good as your recipe though."

He smiled.

"It was my mother's recipe actually. And I think you make it perfectly."

Finn lumbered in a while later as Kurt was stirring his finger idly in a glass of ice water and watching the rain trickle in rivulets down the window.

His mind was blank yet teaming with words and questions and emotions and he knew that one wrong word would snap him. But right now he didn't know if he would laugh or shout or cry.

"Dude! We won man! Did you see Rachel's face, I thought she was gonna kiss me! Sorry we didn't find you, that fire alarm really shook everybody up and then Mr Shue took us all to Breadstix which is kinda weird, but it was nice and all and –"

"Finn!" Carole reprimanded, "The soup's nearly done!"

He looked up guiltily from the fridge, swallowing a mouthful of cold pizza and dropping the rest back onto the plate.

"Sorry Mom. But Kurt…Kurt?"

"Hmm?" Kurt's head jerked up. He'd phased out Finn's seemingly inconsequential chatter in favour of staring out of the window again.

"Are you okay? I mean I'm sorry you guys lost and all and we did all look for you afterwards, but The Garblers –"

"Warblers."

" – had all vanished and then I was kinda busy. What happened to you?"

"I…um. Blaine and I…we…"

Finn stuck his hands over his ears, "La la la la! I don't wanna hear it!"

"Finn!"

"Because of the brother thing, not the gay thing Mom. God."

Carole swatted him with a spatula anyway.

"What's this I hear about a gay thing?"

Kurt turned and before he realised he was moving he had launched himself into his father's arms, breathing in the familiar scent of oil and smoke and grease and he felt tears burn in the behind his eyes.

"Woah kid," Burt wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

"Are you alright? I rang you after the competition you know. We weren't sure…"

Kurt pulled back, swallowing the lump in his throat and rubbing at his eyes.

"Yeah the um…some of The Warblers didn't take losing to well. So we all went back to Dalton. And then Blaine…dropped me off here. I just wanted to come home. I guess I just…missed you."

"You saw us this morning kid. Not that I'm complaining, you know I love it when you come home."

"Yeah."

And that was it, and they sat around the table and Carole served the soup while Finn regaled them with a rambunctious retelling of New Direction's antics at Breadstix.

Apparently there had been an incident involving Santana, Artie and two hundred stale breadsticks but Kurt stopped listening.

He just watched them.

He watched Carole roll her eyes and his Dad chuckle into his soup, sneaking in salt when he thought Kurt wasn't watching. He watched Finn wave his arms around and chew with his mouth open.

This was his life.

Kurt had never been one for the small-town life and he'd known since he was six that he wanted something so much bigger for himself.

He wanted out of the house, out of the state and into somewhere bright and beautiful and accepting. He wanted to live and laugh and make a name for himself in fashion or music or Broadway – it didn't matter.

But he'd always known that.

And he'd lived the quite life in Ohio with his father and their patchwork family in a sense of burdening anticipation, ticking off the days and the months on a yearly planner, counting down to that moment, that day he knew was coming.

He hadn't expected it to be today.

Because an ache had settled in his heart like a distant longing.

He thought that he'd just wanted to come home, to see his dad and to remember what it was like to have a normal day where you're not running for your life.

He thought he'd finally broken through the overload of ridiculousness that had been piled onto him in the space of six hours. That he'd wanted to run back to his old life and his family with their Friday night meals and home comforts.

But now that he was here…

Because now he knew.

Kurt had always known there was more to life than Lima, Ohio. He'd never really pondered the size and state of the universe and everyone who knew him was aware of his religious beliefs.

But the awareness that there was something bigger and better out there had always been settled comfortably in the back of his mind, like an idea he could draw out and remember whenever his life seemed to suck. Just in his mind, "something bigger and better" had translated to Broadway, or Runway Collections.

And now Kurt had caught a glimpse of something bigger and better than he could ever have even hoped for and that fragile idea of there being more to life had suddenly become a painfully tangible concept.

He'd seen ravenous robots impersonate people he was friends with; seen them survive without heads; seen and travelled in a blue box that was bigger on the inside.

He'd saved his best friend's life.

He knew there was more, now.

He knew, and he wanted and yearned and longed for it.

He wanted to see it all; everything there was to see and hear and experience. He wanted to run with Blaine and laugh and sing and cry and risk his life a million times over for the sake of an adrenaline rush.

He wanted to fly.

His phone buzzed as Kurt lay on his bed in the dark a few hours later, decidedly not trying to fall asleep as he knew he wouldn't manage it.

Blaine Warbler:

Go outside

Kurt's heart jolted slightly.

He scrambled from his bed, wriggling into his skinny jeans and black sweater as fast as was humanly possible, grabbing a jacket as he sped down the hall on tiptoes.

He could hear Carole and Burt murmuring quietly as he passed their closed door and could see the light of Finn's video games flickering under the door as he crept down the stairs.

He jumped the creaky bottom step and stuffed his feet into his black boots.

His heart hammered as he pressed down the door handle, stepping out into the darkness and the rain. The sky was still starless.

The box was still blue, even in the pitch black of the road.

Blaine was leaning against the closed door, his hands in his pockets. He'd changed out of his Dalton uniform into a pitch dark suit and his hair was curly.

"You're gonna get wet."

Kurt's voice was faint, barely above a whisper.

"Yeah. Well. I had some shoes to return."

He was holding up Kurt's black Dalton shoes, the ones he'd had to pull three extra shifts of the garage to afford, the ones he'd taken off to be able to run away from robots quieter, backstage after they'd lost Regionals.

He felt like crying again.

Kurt moved forwards a few more steps, holding out his hand to take the shoes but Blaine didn't move, didn't make any motion to hand them over.

"Was that it?"

Blaine looked at him. His eyes were dark and bottomless.

"I thought that maybe, as well…"

"Yes?"

"You could…well you could maybe…"

"Yes?"Kurt urged, stepping forward again and again until they were only a foot apart.

"You could come…with me?"

"Where?" He was breathless.

"Everywhere. Anywhere. Any time, any place. Anywhere that has or hasn't, or once or one day existed or will exist. Anything there is to see and hear and feel, Kurt."

He stepped forwards.

"You could see it all, the stars and the moons and the suns and every inch of the universe and more. God Kurt, haven't you ever wanted to just…fly?"

He took a sudden step back, a hand jumping to rub at his hair.

"That is of course, if you…you know. Wanted to."

Kurt's brain was screaming and he resisted the urge to jump up and down and clap his hands together, because a question had sprung to the tip of his tongue.

"Blaine, why me?"

Blaine cocked his head slightly to the side, considering.

"Kurt. Ever since I met you, from the first moment in fact, it's like you were looking for something. You were stuck and alone and lost in a world you hated, and I don't know. You just had this…sense. Like you were looking for something, but you weren't sure it existed. Acceptance or friendship or guidance or just…something more to the life you were already living. And I just thought that, seeing as you did save my life and all, and you're pretty much my best friend, that you might want to see if you could…you know. Find it. Out there, in the universe."

He was looking at his shoes as he spoke, as though meeting Kurt's eyes would confirm something he didn't want to see.

Rejection.

Kurt pressed a finger under Blaine's chin, tilting his head up to look Kurt straight in the eyes. He blinked.

"Hey. You seriously think that I, Kurt Hummel, would say no to that?"

"Well I mean I wasn't sure, I just wanted to check. And there'll be a lot of running you know, and possibly some jumping too. And it's dangerous all the time, and there won't be many opportunities for shopping and sometimes you might have to wear the same outfit and I really don't think you're…was that a yes?"

"Of course it was a yes, you idiot!"

Kurt couldn't help himself, threw his arms around Blaine's neck with a laugh, grinning so hard he thought his face would split in two. He felt Blaine's smile on his neck and squeezed him even tighter.

And then they were apart and Blaine was pulling him through the door and yanking his wet coat from his arms to drape over a railing, talking the whole time as he guided him up the stairs.

"Awesome! Because right now I really, really want to go somewhere hot and Space Florida is out of the window because…well let's just say they won't welcome me back after last time and did I ever tell you about Barcelona? The planet of course, not the country. Well I gave all the dogs back their noses and…okay they weren't very happy, so maybe we shouldn't go there although the suns are beautiful this time of year. I don't know."

He turned, spinning a pen between his fingers.

"Where do you wanna go, Kurt?"

"Uhh…I don't really…"

"Come on! Anywhere!" He grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him into a dance, spinning him around the console until they were laughing and dizzy.

"Any time, any place! Any country, any planet, any era, any decade!"

"Blaine I've never even been out of Ohio!"

Blaine frowned slightly. Then nodded and turned with a flourish, flicking a lever as he passed it.

"I have the perfect solution then, Mr Hummel. Hold on tight! Goodbye Lima, Ohio, United Sates of America, Earth!"

"Where are we going?" Kurt shouted over the whirring engines, stumbling forwards to clutch at the console.

Blaine grinned.

"Just wait and see."

Next Time:

Kurt's never believed in God, but when they arrive on a planet filled with shadows and burning churches, and meet a young blind man in a ripped suit, he may have to revaluate any preconceived notions he had about the nature of religion.

And then there's those dreams the Doctor has been having…