Tree without Blossom - Chapter 20a/20
Feb. 11th, 2012 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunmontueRating: M/NC-17
Word count: ~11,500 words for this chapter (~125,000 overall)
Warnings: None that the rating doesn't cover already
Summary: A future!fic set in 2025 where Kurt and Dave's lives intertwine again, proving just how small the world really is, and how Fate has a twisted sense of humour. AU from end of Season 2.
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews and alerts and favourites etc. This is the last chapter. Then an epilogue. Then it’s over. Thanks for your reviews, alerts, favourites, understanding and encouragement. Thank you for putting up with my spelling, typos and confusion between bought and brought (I do know the difference, I just don’t type it!) I re-read this, and spotted so many errors, so thanks for being patient with me as I started out as a completely new writer. As always my gratitude to
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
debraelq for helping me out.CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13 CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER 17 CHAPTER 18 CHAPTER 19
The final chapter was too long so had to be split into two parts
CHAPTER TWENTY – MARCH 2026 (part three "a")
It’s been a while since he’s been to a funeral, and never to one where the coffin was so tiny. Dave has spent the service stoic, silent, eyes hard and unforgiving. He’s recognised a couple of other people, Dave’s workmates, and they have all looked similarly sombre. He supposes that this type of occasion allows for nothing else, and as the family trail out after the coffin and everyone gathers outside some of them come up to Dave, grip his arm, most of them murmuring ‘we’ll get the bastards.’ He doesn’t know the details, doesn’t know if he wants to, if his imagination is much worse than reality, or whether the reality of this would horrify him. He suspects it would, so he keeps quiet. The silence is broken by Dave’s softly spoken words to him.
“Thanks for coming. I…just. Thanks.”
“Anytime. What do you want to do now?” He has no idea as to what Dave might want to do now, whether he wants to go to the family gathering or what the procedure is in this case.
“I need to go to work.”
He’s not surprised at that, so he simply nods, surreptitiously linking his fingers through Dave’s and giving them a quick squeeze before allowing his hand to drop away again, arms still brushing slightly.
“Can you drop me off at Mercedes? I’ll get some work done before spending the rest of the afternoon with Blaine.”
He feels bad that just for a moment he considers Blaine as second-best. Blaine, while sometimes annoying, is still one of his oldest friends. And while he’s only planning on spending time with Blaine because Dave will be at work, he needs to appreciate the fact that Blaine has come here to spend time with him. Not with Greg, who hasn’t exactly warmed toward him.
“I don’t think Greg likes him very much,” he muses.
“Who? Blaine?” Dave snorts softly. “Greg can be too sensitive for his own good. Blaine’ll grow on him. Like a fungus. ”
He takes it as a good sign that Dave’s joking, even if his smile is small and hardly reaches his eyes.
TWB
There’s a quiet sense of urgency in the station, everyone working, none of the usual joking banter that’s an almost daily occurrence. It’s been like this all week, ever since they received the news on Monday afternoon. He’s been there for over two hours, a sandwich Karen bought him eaten at his desk, when the Captain sticks his head around the door after knocking sharply.
“Dave, had a chance to look at that proposal I gave you?”
“No sir, not yet...”
He’s completely forgotten about the folder, and he’s pretty certain it’s already buried under the pile of paperwork to his left. He’ll have to dig it out and take it home to read it, not something he likes doing, but there’s always a flurry of extra paperwork and appointments after a death. People are suddenly more vigilant, more possible cases of child abuse are reported and he and Karen are rushed off their feet. It’s good in a way, because it keeps them busy, but that so many of the reports actually lead somewhere is depressing on an entirely different level.
“No rush, just curious as to what you made of it. I’ll let you get back to work.”
TWB
Kurt returns to Dave’s apartment to find Blaine and Greg sitting in silence. He holds back a sigh of exasperation and roll of eyes. They don’t like each other, but he’d thought that maybe they’d be able to be mature enough to actually be polite and friendly towards one another. Apparently not. And he has no idea who is more to blame, but suspects it’s been a vicious circle that has spiralled out of control. He pretends like there’s nothing out of the ordinary and smiles at them both, removing his jacket and falling into one of the soft squishy armchairs.
He’s equal parts exhausted and jittery, the tension between the other two in the room isn’t helping. He can’t decide what he wants to do, doesn’t want to make a decision. He doesn’t have time to think before Blaine is launching himself up into a standing position, suddenly full of energy and looking eager to go out.
“Come on. You’ve got to show me the highlights of Chicago.”
He heaves his body out of the chair, and smiles at a relieved looking Greg. He knows the answer, but asks anyway.
“Sure. Greg, do you want to come with us?”
“I’m good. Think I’ll go and have a decadent afternoon nap or read a book or something…you two have fun.”
He rises and Kurt bites his lip to hide his amusement at Blaine’s clear admiration of Greg’s body. Blaine has always been quick to admire, and he isn’t discriminatory, he admires pretty much everyone, for all different reasons, male, female, all races, always informing Kurt that beauty is everywhere, and sounding incredibly corny while doing so. Although from the slight drawdown of Greg’s brows he’d put money on the other man being less than appreciative of Blaine’s attention. He disappears down the hallway to the guestroom and he turns to Blaine.
“So, what do you want to do?”
“Dessert. I really need some sugar.”
“Okay then…” Kurt replies, and even after all this time he’s not sure if he’ll ever get used to some of Blaine’s weirder moods.
TWB
He’s got the name of a place that does good desserts from Dave and finds a park relatively easily, although it’s taken him a while to find the place, despite his GPS and Dave’s directions. Blaine has been silent almost the entire time, which is completely unlike him. He suspects it’s Greg related, but he doesn’t know if he can handle a Blaine level-of-drama right now, already feeling emotionally drained from the entire week. However he knows he’ll give in to his curiosity and ask within minutes of being seated.
He’s asked within three.
“It’s nothing. Just…Greg. Nothing. It was nothing. Just a disagreement.”
“You two actually spoke enough to disagree about something?”
Blaine raises an eyebrow and Kurt knows if he were younger (or drunk) he’d be poking his tongue out. Instead he knows he’s about to be wound up. Or teased. Or both. It’s refreshing actually, maybe exactly what he needs.
“Well, we have one area of common interest. The fact that our exs are dating. But let’s just say we had to agree to disagree and leave it at that.”
“Oh no. You can’t say that and just leave it… that’s tantamount to cruelty you know. Especially for me. Unless you were discussing our past sex life, then I don’t want to know.”
“Huh. Well no. We didn’t discuss sex. But I’m sure we could have disagreed about that too.”
“What did you disagree about then?”
“Happiness. He has some funny ideas about being happy and not being responsible for another person’s happiness. And long distance relationships. And…I disagreed. On pretty much every aspect. He’s pretty defensive.” Blaine shrugs, but he’s looking thoughtful. He knows that isn’t the end of it.
“What does Greg think then?”
“That long distance relationships are always doomed. That someone always has to sacrifice their own happiness and compromise, and that will drive them apart in the end anyway.”
He opens his mouth to rebut that statement and snaps it shut again.
“What do you think?”
“I think that if two people want to be with one another then they’ll be together and a little factor of geography won’t stop them.”
“That’s incredibly optimistic. Not to mention simplistic.”
Blaine snorts.
“You sound like him. He pretty much said the same thing. Don’t you think that you and Dave want it bad enough?”
“I…we want to be together. But his life is here. His family. Friends. He could never leave Chicago. I’d never ask him to. We’ll manage with the time we can have together. I know it’s early days, but it’s working well so far.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. Greg…well, he’s wrong.”
“He’s entitled to his opinion. Even when it clearly opposes yours.”
Blaine huffs and Kurt hides a grin in his menu.
“LA is a lot closer than London anyway. I think he’s just sour that Dave and him couldn’t do long distance…”
“I…don’t know where to go with that. I don’t think anything is that simple. And it’s none of your business anyway.”
“It’s yours. You’re going out with Dave.”
“I am. And I don’t care about all the reasons why Dave and Greg are no longer together, but I’m sure it’s not as simple as Greg moved away…” Liar liar. He bites his lip, and Blaine is looking at him as if he doesn’t believe a word he’s saying either. “Oh shut up. I know him moving away played a big part, but just because that was the driving force doesn’t mean they would still be together now if Greg still lived here.”
“Mmm. You’re going to ask Dave about it tonight aren’t you…”
“Shut up Blaine.”
TWB
Dave’s amused, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut. Kurt and Blaine are both singing out loud, drowning out the radio. They’d apparently gotten stuck into the ‘special’ coffees, which are all half-alcohol, and they’ve both had several each. Along with three desserts each rather than having dinner, which are also alcoholic in nature. He knows Kurt is going to crash down from this self-inflicted sugar high and alcoholic buzz, and is grateful that at least Blaine won’t be his problem tomorrow. Or even later tonight. He pulls up outside Mercedes’ and turns off the car, turning towards the other two men, who haven’t even noticed that their accompanying music has been shut off. He waits out the song, because even drunk they have nice voices.
“So…first stop for the evening. Blaine. Your bed awaits…”
“Mmm. Pity it’s empty.”
Kurt starts giggling then and Dave’s filled with horrified curiosity about what the hell they’ve been talking about all night. Fuck he hopes it’s not been him. He’s never talked about sex with his best friend. Mike’s just not an appreciative audience, which suits him fine. Keegan would probably jerk off thinking about it later. And as much as it terrifies him to think about it, Karen probably would too. He just hadn’t thought that Kurt would talk to Blaine about his sex life. He’s not sure how he feels about it.
Blaine finally gets the safety belt unfastened and gets out of the car, weaving up the garden path and Dave watches as the door opens and Mercedes waves. He doesn’t think she can see them, but he waves back anyway. Kurt’s hand has reached for his thigh and he reaches over and places it back on his own thigh. He doesn’t need that type of distraction when he still needs to drive home. He watches the front door close and starts the car back up again, and a quick glance to his right proves that Kurt is staring at him intently.
“I love you…quite a lot you know.”
“I love you too. Now keep your hands to yourself, I need to drive,” Dave states, feeling ridiculously adult and responsible as he removes Kurt’s hand from his crotch.
“Spoilsport. He’s obsessed you know… Seriously obsessed. He’s probably going to jerk off thinking about him…”
“Huh? Who?”
“Blaine. Greg.”
“I…okay. Really? That’s kind of…incestuous if I think about it too much.”
“Pfft. It’s kind of hot is what it is. He was Blaine’s fantasy material, and now he’s seen the real thing in the flesh and he won’t shut up about him. I feel bad for him.”
“Who? Blaine?”
“No. Greg.”
Dave’s a bit lost, not sure if this conversation is actually going anywhere, and despite the day he’s had Kurt’s slightly inane ramblings are light-hearted and distracting, and the hand he’s sneaked back to his thigh, just resting, is a warm steady presence.
“Maybe Blaine a little bit as well.”
“Why both of them?” Dave asks, solely because keeping Kurt talking will make the trip back to his apartment so much faster.
“Greg, because Blaine is like a lecherous puppy when he looks at him. Blaine because when Greg looks at him he’s like a horrified virgin who has just been told of the desires of the flesh or something…”
Dave can’t hold back his laughter; he hasn’t seen any evidence of what Kurt is talking about, but he can just imagine the looks on their faces, just the way Kurt has described them.
“What else have you noticed?”
“That they can’t act like mature adults. They had a fight and were both sulking.”
“This from the guy who just had three desserts for dinner. Yeah. You’re the epitome of mature.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me. At least I didn’t argue with the dessert. I’m going to have to run for like five hours tomorrow. I hate running.”
“Wait, did Blaine argue with his dessert?”
“Well, he kept on comparing the desserts and talking about how there’s always room for more dessert. I’m pretty sure he complimented them as well… I think there’s something wrong with him. I didn’t know what he was talking about…”
“So pretty much like me now…”
“What?”
“Not knowing what you’re talking about.”
“Oh. Yes. I suppose.”
“You know, if you hate running so much you could always come swimming with me instead…”
“As much as I hate to pass up the opportunity to see you in just your swimsuit I will have to decline. The chlorine ruins my hair. If Greg still lived here do you think you’d still be with him?”
“I…what does that have to do with swimming?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“I – you know, don’t worry about it.” He can’t keep up with how fast Kurt flicks from one subject to another and can only conclude that his brain must be a fascinating place.
“You’re odd when I’m…not sober.”
“Well, at least you got that statement right,” Dave mutters, and he’s grinning as he turns his car into his apartment building parking lot. He can tell that Kurt is coming down from his combined sugar-alcohol induced high and he pulls into his assigned parking space and turns the car off again.
“You didn’t answer my question…”
“Which one? Oh… Greg? I don’t really want to talk about him when you’re doing that with your hand…” Kurt’s hand immediately stops rubbing his cock and he lets his head hit the headrest with a soft thump. He turns to look at Kurt to find him watching with the same intense expression as before and he lets out a long sigh.
“I…don’t know. I… no relationship is perfect. They all have ups and downs, and I think that me and Greg were having more downs than ups towards the end…it’s what helped him make the decision to move to London. And why neither of us really wanted to try long distance. Still, it’s always hard when a relationship ends. We struggled sometimes to make it work when we lived together. He’s incredibly messy. Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed…”
“That’s because he’s a guest. Guests are meant to be tidy. He leaves clothes lying around, shoes of death all over the place which I was always tripping over, food left on the bench…”
“Ah, the ultimate sin.”
“He was good for me…for a lot of reasons. But he needs to live in a big city. Bigger than Chicago. London suits him. New York would as well I suppose, but too many reminders for him there I think.”
“So, you think you would have broken up if he stayed…”
“I can’t say for certain. But maybe. Probably. Him moving was a good reason for a nice clean break. He loves London.”
“Mmm.”
“Come on, let’s get you to bed before you fall into a sugar induced coma.”
TWB
He doesn’t feel great the next morning. That much sugar in his system makes him feel sluggish. He knows Blaine will be bouncing off the walls all day, which is only going to make him feel worse when he eventually gets to Mercedes to do a few hours of work. Dave has already left, kissing him slowly and thoroughly with a cold mint-flavoured mouth over an hour ago. Maybe longer. He drags himself into the shower, letting the shower fill his mouth several times and rinsing it out. He dresses in basic jeans and shirt, definitely one of the perks of working in Chicago, he doesn’t feel the need to wear a full suit. When he heads in to the kitchen Greg is eating chocolate frosting out of a container with a spoon and his stomach churns.
“Frosting? For breakfast?”
“I needed something chocolaty.”
“Erg. You’re as bad as Blaine. I feel sick just even thinking about eating that.” He opens the fridge and pulls out the bottle of water and cut fruit that Dave has left for him. He could get used to this. When he looks up Greg looks pensive, slightly worried.
“Hmm. He can be a bit, uh, intense, can’t he?”
“In regards to what exactly?” Kurt replies, and he’s considering sculling back the entire bottle of water. Intense is an odd choice of words.
“Uh, me I suppose?”
“Hmm? Oh… well. I think he’s a bit in awe of you.”
Greg grunts and Kurt can tell he’s not happy with the answer.
“It’s not completely because of your looks. No. I’m lying. It is. But…he’s not awestruck because you’re slightly famous. He deals with famous people on a daily basis. He’s in awe of your looks… I know it might sound completely shallow, but Blaine looks at beauty as a form of art. He really appreciates good looking people, both men and women. It’s like someone going and staring at a painting, to admire the work, talent and skill that someone has put in to create it. Blaine admires beautiful people, but he finds something beautiful in everyone.”
Greg studies the bench in silence for a while and he wonders whether that explanation has helped soften Greg towards Blaine somewhat. He doesn’t need them to be friends, however it would be nice to have dinner tonight with Mike and Mercedes and not have to deal with the tension between the two of them.
“Look, I know he can be annoying and a bit self-centred, but if you could just… I don’t know. Give him a chance? He’s harmless. Honestly. Like a puppy. Just wants to please everyone.”
“An annoying and self-centred puppy…”
“Or toddler. One that flirts. He kind of flirts with everyone. You need to be pretty confident when you’re with him, that the flirting means nothing.”
“If this is how you talk about one of your friends I’d hate to hear how you talk about someone you don’t like.”
“Hmm. Don’t get me started on that. Anyway, I have to go do some work and deal with a puppy hyped up on sugar. Would you believe he ate three desserts last night?” He fails to mention that he had three as well, that they’d pretty much split the dessert menu between them, sharing a piece of everything until Blaine had started getting territorial over the crème brûlée.
“Really? Interesting,” Greg replies, his frosting filled spoon hovering half-way to his mouth and he can’t tell if Greg actually finds that fact interesting, or whether he’s slightly mocking his lack of conversational skills at this point in time.
“Right. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
TWB
He heads over to Mercedes. His aim is to work his arse off this morning so he can spend the rest of the day with Blaine. It was going to work well in theory, except he is ready to kill Blaine and convince Dave to help him hide the body. He’s lying on the floor, stretched so his legs are resting against the wall, and as Kurt had thought, he’s clicking a pen and tapping his foot against the wall in a steady thump-thump. It’s infuriating, not to mention distracting.
“Blaine, I’m trying to work, can you please just…shut up for a moment?”
“I’m not even talking!”
“You’re banging your foot against the wall, probably scuffing up Mercedes’ wallpaper, and you’re clicking that fucking pen. I’m working. I need to get this done.”
“Hmpf. You’re all grumpy.”
“How about you take Theo for a walk. You’ll burn off some of your energy.”
“You know I don’t like walking…”
“You don’t like a lot of things, but it’s either that or you end up not liking me screaming at you.”
Blaine sighs and looks incredibly put out but he twists his body and lowers his legs to the floor. Kurt heaves a sigh of relief. He really needs to focus, the detail on the collar of a Victorian gown requiring all his attention, because this is his fourth and hopefully final draft.
“Fine. I know when I’m not wanted. Theo and I will go and make ourselves useful elsewhere.”
“Yeah, you can go and chase some squirrels in the park.”
“You know, I’ve always kind of wanted to do that…”
“Oh my god Blaine, just go already. Please.”
“Fine,” Blaine huffs, and then there’s blissful silence.
TWB
He’s finished by the time Blaine gets back, which is a relief, because Blaine is literally bouncing and Theo is jumping around just as excitedly and he knows he won’t be getting anymore work done today. He can deal with that, the entire weeks pretty much been a write-off, but he’s ahead of himself anyway, a place he always tries to be due to experience teaching him it’s the best way to allow for the unexpected changes that always seem to be thrust on him at the last moment. He packs everything up, leaving Mercedes office cleaner than when he moved in. It’s working well, being able to come here and know he’s here to work, and being able to Mercedes on a regular basis makes him feel spoiled in a way that only time with a best friend can.
He gets everything into the car and drags Blaine from the backyard where he’s throwing a Frisbee, directing him to grab a change of clothes for going out tonight. Dinner plans out, because Dave is doing his whole dinner party thing tomorrow night, and Kurt is looking forward to seeing Santana again, along with a few of Dave’s other friends, especially now that he feels more secure in their relationship.
TWB
There’s movement on the case, evidence the other officers have been collecting and compiling for months finally coming together. Results, including the autopsy, his and Karen’s report and the warrant for arrest is issued. It’s too late to save a life, but he knows it’s a watertight case, he’s poured over the evidence files with Adam and he’s seen scumbags go to prison based on less conclusive material. His heart clenches, knowing that if they had been one week earlier…
He knows it’s a vicious thought cycle to get into so turns his mind to other things. He has other cases, other kids to see, lives he can still affect for the better. He needs to focus on that. He’s glad that he’s made it to the end of the week fairly intact, and knows Kurt’s presence has helped, along with Greg’s and Mike’s. He’s looking forward to tonight and the weekend, knowing it’s going to be social and it will be a complete change of his pace from his work week. He can’t wait.
PART B
