A/N: GAH! So sorry for the late update! And thank you everyone for all the lovely reviews and support!

"Adam, we need to talk," Kurt began slowly, holding his hands tightly together as if to keep himself from wrapping his arms around Adam. The singer's shoulders tensed visibly, and Sebastian didn't blame him. The phrase "we need to talk" never ended well for anyone.

"Sure, do you want to come inside?" Adam asked warily, vaguely pointing at the house behind him. Sebastian glanced at his friend, waiting for some sort of response to go by. When Kurt refused the offer and insisted that they talk outside, Sebastian knew that Kurt wasn't going to go back on his decision. This was it. This was actually going to happen. And he sincerely wished that Santana was standing in his place. If her past behavioral pattern was anything to go by, she was much more prone to angry outbursts of revealing the truth and talking some sense into people (all disguised as a string of insults, of course).

"I found someone else."

Sebastian inhaled sharply at the words and turned to Kurt, who was standing tall, his eyes locked onto Adam. It was as if Kurt had developed a whole new identity just for this occasion.

Kurt wanted so badly to reach out and touch Adam, smile at him and tell him there was no one else in the world but him. Because those were the truths. There could never be anyone else. He couldn't imagine being in love with anyone other than Adam.

But that was the problem. He loved Adam too much. He couldn't prevent his family from finding out, as long as they lived together, and Sebastian and Santana had pried into his life to the point where knowing about his condition had become inevitable. But that's where he had to draw the line. He couldn't put Adam through this. Not when Adam had so much to look forward to.

Adam was a world-famous singer. He had years of success and fame ahead of him. He had an image to upkeep, and unlike him, Adam could meet anyone he wanted and be happy. Kurt may have started off wanting this just as badly, but he wasn't capable of being downright selfish.

"You...found someone," Adam began slowly, after about a minute of standing completely still, barely blinking. "I don't follow..." he faltered, glancing at Sebastian as if to get some sort of an explanation.

"Adam, I need someone who can always be here with me, and...well, Sebastian and I are together."

Sebastian felt ill. This was wrong. All wrong, on so many levels. Would it be too late to just step in and put a stop to all this? Would Kurt hate him or appreciate it in the end? Was it even his decision to make or did he even care at this point?

"...What?" Adam breathed, looking back and forth between Sebastian and Kurt, waiting for one of them to start laughing and say "Just kidding!" but none came. He watched in silence as Kurt linked his arm around Sebastian.

"I'm sorry. I was going to tell you, but I ended up avoiding your calls and texts. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that," Kurt continued, ignoring the blank expression on the other man's face. "Look, Adam. You're a celebrity, and yeah, what we had was great, but let's be real. It was never going to work out."

"Tell me you mean this," Adam finally replied, taking a cautious step forward. Kurt felt as if Adam's eyes were boring a permanent impression on his souls.

"Adam. It's over. I just thought I should tell you in person. Good bye."

Kurt turned around abruptly, and Sebastian didn't miss the pained expression on his friend. He briskly made his way towards the car, his arm wrapped tightly around Kurt. He was at a breaking point as well, which meant he had to leave the driveway as soon as possible. As Sebastian rushed away from the house, he made the mistake of glancing at the side mirror and seeing Adam's face. It was the same one Kurt was wearing, and it made him want everything to just stop.


Something wasn't right.

Sebastian placed his hands together, palm to palm, and pressed them against his nose and mouth.

Something was definitely not right.

He had pictured how the entire thing would play out in his head. He was prepared to handle the questioning, begging and even crying, but none of it happened. Adam didn't even make an effort to stop Kurt or demand a proper explanation. And it didn't make any sense. He didn't want to think that he had been wrong about Adam. The man was madly in love with his friend, and there was no way that it was all an act. So what was it then?

Things only got weirder a few hours later.

He received a text from Adam, asking to see him in person, without Kurt. Sebastian wasn't too worried about Adam coming after him with a knife (that just wasn't him), but he was worried about having to come up with a plausible excuse for how all this happened. He contemplated notifying Kurt but gave up after realizing that Kurt had his phone turned off.

He wondered if he should just ignore the message but decided against it. Adam was going through enough as it was. There was no need to add to the problem, even if that used to be one of his favorite hobbies.

Sebastian sat by the bench, having arrived early. He didn't know why he did that, because now his brain was working overtime, coming up with possible scenarios for how the meeting was going to go down. It ranged from anything between Adam crying and begging for him to let Kurt go or Adam shooting him point blank in the face (his brain had surpassed all rational thinking process at this point).

Adam arrived with a minute left to spare, looking as if half of his soul had been sucked right out of him overnight. Sebastian wondered how long the singer was planning on sticking around now that Kurt had basically broken everything off with him.

"Hey," Adam greeted, surprisingly cordially, even forcing a smile that actually made Sebastian wish that Adam would punch him and get it over with.


"I just wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah...I figured. Wanna sit?"


They sat side by side, and Sebastian wished that Adam would just say something so he could go home. He wasn't sure if he could endure it till the very end without just snapping and telling Adam everything.

"I know."

Sebastian turned to Adam in confusion. Of all the things to come out of the other man's mouth...He wasn't expecting those two simple words. What did he know?


"I know you aren't with Kurt."

Sebastian stilled in surprise. So he wasn't wrong about Adam afterall. He opened his mouth to deny the claim, for the sake of his friendship with Kurt, but stopped himself. It was useless. Adam wasn't an idiot, and he was tired of this pointless charade.

"Then why did you let Kurt go?"

Adam let out a strained laugh, his lips curved into a heartbreaking smile.

"Because he wanted me to."

"...Because he..." Sebastian began and paused, taking in how Adam was now staring at his own hands resting on his knees. "Because he wanted you to? What kind of bullshit answer is that?" Sebastian snapped, a sudden shot of anger running through him.

"I wanted to ask...if you can tell me why he wants me to."

"What difference is it going to make? Clearly, you're not going to go after him."

"I never said that."


"I never said I was going to give up on him."

Sebastian fixed the singer a hard look, silently demanding an explanation.

"I'll always give Kurt what he wants, and right now, he needs me to stay away from him."

"And what makes you think that he's going to change his mind?"

"I just know."

"I sincerely hope you're listening to yourself."

"So can you tell me the reason?"

Sebastian could see the determination in Adam's eyes. There was still lingering sadness and confusion, residual hurt in the blue pools, but most of it was replaced with unquestionable faith he had in what he and Kurt shared. And when Adam smiled ever so softly, Sebastian couldn't handle it anymore.

"Fine. And just a head's up, you don't have much time to spare if you're going to get him back."


"This is for you," Sebastian muttered, pushing a small box towards Kurt.

"What is it?"

"Not sure. It's from Adam."

"I don't want it then."

"Bullshit. Don't be such a fuckin' drama queen and just take the damn box. Anyways, I'm off."

Kurt only nodded in response, running his fingers across the box now in his hand.

"And Kurt? It's not too late to call him and change things around."

Kurt watched the door close behind his friend and turned back to the object in his hands. It was a small white box, lined in gold around the middle. He wasn't sure if he should dare to look inside, but he figured he could let himself keep the one thing other than the copy of the recording they've done together. He gently pulled the box open and gasped when he saw a velvet box lying inside. It was so painfully obvious what it was, that his eyes began to sting again.

He took the velvet box out and opened it, revealing a simple, platinum band with a thin stripe of emerald, sapphire and tourmaline aligned next to each other, perpendicular to the ring itself. As soon as he saw the colors, he couldn't hold the tears back anymore.

They were the very stones that Adam would often compare Kurt's eyes to.


Adam couldn't bring himself to return home even after Sebastian was long gone.

So he continued to sit on the bench, oblivious to how people were beginning to notice him. The whispers, fingers pointed at him, and pictures being taken were dead to him as he sat there, replaying the words over and over again in his head.

Kurt was dying. He had less than a year left, according to the doctor's most optimistic estimates. Kurt was dying. His heart was giving up on him.

When it hit, everything hit all at once. The confusion, the anger, the desperation and the prevailing sense of hopelessness all flooded in at once, blinding him. It hurt. It hurt so badly, knowing that the person he loved had been counting the days when he had been so oblivious to everything and going about doing his work. He was attending meetings, spending time with people who didn't even mean much to him in the first place, scribbling lyrics down and strumming his guitar...when he could've been by Kurt's side, where he belonged.

Everything in his life seemed so insignificant now. He promised Sebastian to give Kurt one day. Just one more day and he was never going to leave Kurt again.

Needless to say, he spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed, practicing more self control than he thought possible to keep himself from running out the house and driving straight to see Kurt. When the Sun was up again, Adam was up as well, unsure of what to do with himself.

He was on his way to the kitchen when his phone began ringing. He had specifically told his agent and manager to not call him for the duration of his visit to Lima unless it was a complete, total emergency (not that any emergency was going to matter now), so he was ready to ignore it unless it was, of course, Kurt.

He stopped midstep when he saw Sebastian's name.

While he wasn't exactly a psychic, he instinctively knew something was wrong. He picked it up immediately, willing his heart to stop beating so loudly in his head. He wasn't entirely sure that he'd be able to hear Sebastian's voice over the deafening sound.


"Kurt's in the hospital."

Adam felt his blood run cold, prickling his veins and scraping against even inch of his insides.


Adam ignored the nurse's demand to not run in the hospital.

It was as if he couldn't propel himself forward quickly enough. So he ran and ran, sprinted through the hallway, turning sharp corners and barely avoiding crashing right into a patient on a wheelchair. He wished he knew his way around so that he didn't have to waste precious time making wrong turns.

He came to a halt only when he spotted Santana and Sebastian standing in the hallway, both looking like they had just lost the last of their willpower to go on.

"Where is he?" Adam asked hoarsely between strained gasping for breath.

"He's in here," Sebastian began and put his hand out to stop the singer from barging into the room. "You can't go in right now."

"Why not?"

"...The doctor and the nurses are with him."

"What's going on!" Adam demanded, in a voice that was uncharacteristically harsh.

"They're stabilizing him."

"Why? What happened?"

"Stop! Just shut up, both of you!" Santana screeched, her eyes red and swollen from all the crying and furious rubbing. "Just shut the fuck up..." she continued in a strangled voice, dropping onto her knees, her palms pressed against her eyes.

Sebastian pursed his lips and turned on his heels to face the wall behind him. Adam stood still, his hands lying limp to his sides. He had so many questions. He wanted so badly to just march right in and see Kurt for himself. He wanted to get some answers from the doctor. But ultimately, he just really wanted to see Kurt in the flesh with his very own eyes.

All three of them zoomed towards the sound of a nurse walking out of Kurt's room. Santana pulled herself upright, her eyes almost frantic. Adam took a step forward, ready to ask if Kurt was alright when he saw the familiar face of his father.

His father was walking out of Kurt's room. Wearing a hospital gown.

His father.

"...Dad...?" Adam began slowly, his own voice sounding distant. The moment was so surreal that he began to see things in slow motion, in painful detail. He could see how his father was staring back at him, equally, if not more, shocked at seeing his son standing in the hallway, looking just as devastated and fragile as Kurt's two friends. It wasn't unreasonable to find his son there, considering that Kurt and he had become acquainted over the course of the two weeks spent living together. What he had a difficult time understand that was how crushed he looked. Had the two become that close?

"...Adam? What are you..."

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Adam began and squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment before continuing. "Nevermind. I..is that Kurt in there?"

"How did..oh, right, yes he is."

"Is he alright?"

"We've managed to stabilize him. He needs rest, so only immediate family is allowed to stay."

"What about-"

"His parents are in there with him."

"Dad...you knew about this, all along..."

Dr. Crawford stilled and signaled for the nurses to give him some space. The two nurses nodded curtly before heading down the corridor. Sebastian and Santana exchanged a brief look before retreating as well, quietly announcing that they'd be back in a few.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me?"

"You know very well that I adhere strictly to doctor-patient confidentiality. Now what is this really about, Adam? What's going on?"

Adam looked away, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by everything that had befallen onto him over the course of less than 24 hours. His father was Kurt's doctor. His father had known all along. It hurt to realize that he was the only one who had been kept out of the loop. He had been such an idiot, completely oblivious to everyone's pain.


The words refused to come out easily.


"Dad, I'm in love with him."


"Kurt and I are together. I mean, we sort of are, and oh God, what's happening...I can't...You knew. Dad! You knew!" Adam ran his fingers through his hair, now pacing around space surrounding his father.

"How long has this been going on for!" Dr. Crawford demanded. There wasn't anger in his voice, but there was definitely something forceful enough to make Adam stop.

"Dad, I need to see him," Adam pleaded, already heading towards the door. His father stepped in, effectively blocking his path.


"No! And we're going to have a talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about! I need to see him!"

"What the hell's goin' on out here?"

The two Crawfords turned towards the third voice and came face to face with one worn-out Burt Hummel watching the other two with a confused yet stern stare.