Epilogue

Gloria's looked as welcoming as ever; as if, in the weeks he'd been away, it hasn't changed at all. Well…it probably hasn't, but he has.

"This the place?" Noah asked, parking alongside the sidewalk and turning off the engine. Kurt nodded, biting his lip; his palms were getting sweaty all of a sudden. The minute they got out of the car, Noah reached out a hand and threaded their fingers together – Kurt couldn't help sending him a grateful look.

He didn't really know why'd he want to come to Gloria's. Well, aside from introducing Gloria to Noah, of course – he wanted her to meet him and didn't really know why, but he knew they'd click immediately; Gloria was a lot like Noah's Nana, based on what Kurt had heard about the old Jewish woman.

"Babe, calm down. I'm here," Noah smirked, flexing his bicep.

"My superhero," Kurt smirked back, leaning in for a kiss and taking a deep breath. "Let's go," he pulled on Noah's hand, leading the way inside.

Of course, the café hadn't changed at all. There low orange lights and dim atmosphere were still there, the same round tables and wooden chairs; the same Gloria with a magazine, sitting behind the bar, and—oh, crap. The same group of See the Light members sitting in the corner. Maybe it wasn't too late to back out quietly…

"Relax, remember?" Noah said low in his ear and Kurt blushed to the tips of his ears. Yeah, relax…

Suddendly, there was a shout of "Kurtsie!", echoing through the whole room, and Gloria was running on her high heels to hug the hell out of him. It felt nice, familiar; she still smelled like cinnamon rolls and herbs.

"How've you been, baby?" she cooed over him, petting his hair. "And what are you wearing?" she squealed a little too enthusiastically, smoothing down his white shirt and black vest with a peacock feather brooch. Only then did she notice Noah, standing on the side with silent amusement, too afraid to laugh out loud in case she'd assault him the same way.

"Oh, hello," Gloria said curiously when she spotted him, her accent dragging the words out. Her gaze turned to Kurt and back, questioning. "And who do we have here?"

Just as Noah was opening his mouth, not really sure what exactly was he going to say, Kurt came to his rescue, winding an arm around his waist.

"Emma told you about Noah, didn't she?" he asked, a little unsure.

"Of course she did!" Gloria looked at him like he just fell into her café from Mars. "She tells me everything!" Then, Kurt could literally see the train of her thought change direction as she turned to them.

"So you're—you're Noah?" she squealed again and Kurt could almost swear he'd heard a couple glasses crack behind the bar.

"That would be me, ma'am," Noah replied nonchalantly, and, in under three seconds, was hugged within an inch of his life.

"Oh, it's such a pleasure to meet you, I've heard so much about you! Here, come sit, come sit!" she ushered them to sit on the barstools, immediately setting water to boil and pulling out a cloth bag with a herb mix. "So what are you two doing here, anyway?"

Kurt shrugged. "I just wanted to see you. And, well…introduce Noah, now that we're back together."

"You're…" she almost dropped the bag she was holding. Kurt didn't really think it would come as a shock, given his history with Noah and his obvious change of appearance. "You're, like, together, together?"

They both nodded. In the next second they were being pulled into a hug – again, and Kurt had a suspicion Gloria was crying.

"Oh my God, honey, I'm so happy for you!" she was saying, loud and rushed and yep, defnitely crying; she was wiping on her eyes when she pulled away. "I can't even—you got out, didn't you? You broke it, somehow, that's so amazing, sweetheart…"

"Nah," Kurt blushed, "Noah got me out."

"Only because I'm a stubborn shit."

"And because you love me," Kurt grinned.

"And because I love you," Noah nodded, smiling and serious, his arms snaking around Kurt's shoulders. Gloria was looking at them for a while, unabashedly crying now, hugged them again and then excused herself to 'go wipe her eyes in the bathroom'.

And not that Kurt didn't expect it, but it still came as a bit of a shock when he heard the bite of Adrian's voice next to his shoulder.

"Why hello, Kurt. Fancy running into you here."

Kurt felt Noah's arms around him immediately tighten, pulling him closer to his boyfriend's chest, and how did this lanky, ginger son of a bitch make him leave that, anyway?

"Hello, Adrian," he replied, carefully schooling his tone into the best ice queen he had in his repertoire. "I was hoping we'd manage to avoid you."

"Ah, we," Adrian smirked, lazy and disgusting. "This has to be the infamous Noah, am I right?"

"Not a pleasure to meet you, dick," Noah growled and Kurt could tell he was barely holding himself back by the way his chest started vibrating.

"Whoa, whoa, there's no need to be so harsh. I just came to tell Kurt that his membership in See the Light is officially revoked, and wish you the most pleasant eternity of eterneties in hell." Then, he turned and walked back to the table, back straight, head held high.

"Blaine sends his greetings!" Puck shouted after him. The other boy's shoulders tensed for a while; then he just shrugged and walked all the way back to sit next to Marcus.

Puck snorted. "Is that the best he has? I mean, seriously, I'd at least expect the curse to fucking rhyme."

"How do you know about him and Blaine?" Kurt asked, still stuck on that one piece of information.

Puck shrugged. "The Hobbit and me have been talking a little – he's actually the one who told me to go get you back, because you're not that far gone. I should probably repay the favor."

"He could use a boyfriend," Kurt smiled; he might have had an idea.

"Do I look like Cupid?"

Kurt smiled and turned in Noah's arms, planting a kiss on his mouth. "You do. Like a very tall, muscular one who shot his arrow right through my heart and left me hopelessly co-dependent."

"Sap."

"You love me."

"Shut up."

Gloria chose that moment to stumble back from wherever she'd dissapeared to, holding another cloth bag and a piece of folded paper.

"My boys," she announced with a flourish when she reached them, a little red in the face, "I hereby officially name myself your fairy godmother and give you this." She held out the two items in her hands. Kurt took them, unfolded the paper and read through it.

When he finished, he looked at Gloria, shocked. "This is—"

"My super-secret herbal tea recipe than nobody in the world except me can make, yes. I've heard you have some pretty big plans in the good ol' big city – this will help you settle in a little," she winked.

"We can't—"

"Possibly thank me enough? Oh, please. Just graduate and drive off to New York and get married and have lots of babies who will call me Auntie Gloria, okay?"

Kurt would never, ever admit to getting more than a little teary-eyed. "Okay," he nodded, looking over his shoulder at Noah, who smiled.

They've spent several hours just sitting behind the bar, sipping tea, chatting with Gloria and holding hands on the countertop, which, especially with Adrian and Marcus and Grant and God knows who else watching, felt really good.

When they left, it was dark outside and a few wet snowflakes fell here and there. The street was quiet; it was Westerville on a Saturday, after all.

Coming out after them, most definitely by chance, were Adrian with Sebastian in tow, both holding a cigarette and hell, Kurt didn't even know they smoked.

"Noah, let's go," he tugged on his boyfriend's sleeve to pull him towards the car.

Adrian overheard, and smirked. "Just run. One day, you're going to see what a big mistake you've made."

And maybe it was the ouside chill, but, despite knowing his future with Noah was happy and just waiting to happen, Kurt couldn't help a shudder. He felt lost and suffocated again for exactly three seconds – then Noah took his hand and smiled, brushing a stray strand of hair off his forehad.

Looking over into his brown eyes, Kurt knew he'd already found everything he could possibly need.

~fin