A/N This story takes place in a different world. It's not fantasy but since there is a war involved, I am very scared that I will get historic facts wrong and offend people. So this world, city, and war are all made up in my head.

The story, though, is based on a real one. It's an heart-breaking story, and maybe, if anyone ever reads this, I'll post the story as it has been told to me as a final chapter. :)

Prologue

Rain drops were quickly cascading down outside, much like the tears on Kurt's face that day he read the letter.

'Have you been hiding this from me?' Though the words were formulated as a question, they weren't spoken as such. Blaine stopped dead in his tracks, almost dropping dinner on the clean floor.

'How did you find it?'

'I didn't,' Kurt replied. His face wasn't showing any emotions but the tremor in his voice betrayed him. 'Ben did. He was looking for a sneak peek at his Christmas presents and instead he found this. He came downstairs, quite upset, demanding to know why we've been hiding this from him, only to find that I didn't have a clue what he was talking about.' He looked up at his husband with wide, teary eyes.

'Why, Blaine?' Blaine knew what his husband asked him. Why you? Why us? Why now?

'I'm so sorry.' Blaine couldn't help the lonely tear that slipped down his cheek. 'I'm sorry, Kurt, but we need the money, you know we do.' Kurt shivered, looking away from his love to glance around their small living room.

'Our son found that letter while looking for presents that weren't even there. We couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas tree, leave alone presents for our son or even a Christmas dinner would be a struggle. And yet we always seem to be working.'

'We don't need any of that,' Kurt replied, his chest heaving with his crying. 'I think our son would prefer having his father rather than Christmas presents. I could work all day as long as I'll get to sleep next to you at night.' Blaine was full on crying by then, clutching his curls in despair. All the anger Kurt had left inside of him crumbled at the sight and he stepped forward, wrapping his husband up in his arms.

'I just want to be good for you.'

'You're perfect, my love.'

Christmas Eve had never been colder as Kurt watched Benjamin and Blaine cry, clutching each other. He bit his lip to keep his tears at bay, averting his eyes and watching as the snow came falling down. Something that, in a painfully ironic way, reminded him of the way Blaine had carried a crying Benjamin into their house the last time it snowed. The boy had fallen off his sleigh and being the great father he was, Blaine had cheered him up in no time with hot chocolate ('With some extra marshmallows, but don't tell daddy!') and a Christmas story, read in turns by Kurt and Blaine to their son.

Kurt remembered saying goodbye to Blaine himself, slow dancing around the living room, singing Christmas songs into each other's ears and he remembered the way he tried to savor every detail, to keep it until he got to hold his husband once more, once this was all over. He had cried then, a lot. And now it was his turn to be strong as his son said his goodbyes.

And then he was gone. Gone was Blaine Hummel-Anderson, the kind-hearted father and husband, the hard-working man and loyal friend. Off to fight a war that would never be his own. Yet he was one of the many who paid the biggest price for it.

It was another cold Christmas Eve when it happened. The letter Blaine had always send them each month had stopped but the money was still coming in, so Kurt didn't think he had any real reason to worry. Until he opened his door to reveal two soldiers. Neither of them were Blaine but both had sullen expressions.

'We're sorry to inform you-'

'Missing in action-'

'Presumed dead-'

The world was closing in on Kurt and before he realized what was happening, he had blacked out and hit the floor.

The following months were the hardest in Kurt's life. He had to send letters to his father and Carole and to Blaine's parents and brother. To their friends and old schoolmates. Meanwhile he was going through his own grieving process (which involved a lot of denial, and very few tears) and he had to give comfort to his son. And right when everything was falling apart, he came around.

Sebastian.

Their guardian angel, as Kurt would later call him. He stopped by Kurt's door one day, the week before Blaine's funeral, and took over. He let Benjamin cry and talk, while he let Kurt come to term with what happened. He also took over the organization so that when Kurt eventually did break down and cry for hours, he didn't have to worry about anything but himself. Sebastian was their hero.

Being an old friend of Blaine's, the Hummel-Andersons had always kept contact with Sebastian Smythe. He used to be a rather sly, sometimes even foul boy but he grew up to be a generous and caring young man. He took over his father's business at the tender age of nineteen and did so gracefully. The company was running better than ever and he was rich.

He was generous and caring enough to give it all up for a broken little family. Two months after Blaine's funeral he found that he was spending more time at Kurt's then at his own home so he moved in with them, causing a relieved smile from Benjamin and a tearful thank you from Kurt. He kept his job, of course but the distance made it hard for him to do everything so he had to find a partner, which cost him a lot of his profit. But he never complained, ever so generously sharing his fortune with the Hummel-Andersons.

The whispers were everywhere though. Scandalous, they called it. An unmarried man, living together with a young war-widower? What was going on in there? What would that boy grow up to be?

That boy. Even Ben was being teased about it in school. He was told that his father was just sleeping with whoever coulAd give him money. Luckily Benjamin hadn't understood but Kurt had and after comforting a sobbing friend for a whole night, Sebastian decided their only option was to marry.

'If something were to happen to me,' he told Kurt. 'You'd be broke and homeless.'

'Please, don't say that,' Kurt had whispered but he knew Sebastian was right. So the decision was made and on Christmas Eve that year, the coldest of them all, everybody close to the Hummel-Anderson received the same card, announcing the engagement and upcoming marriage of Kurt Hummel and Sebastian Smythe.

And that's where our story begins.

A/N Please, let me know what you think! :)

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