When I Hear Your Voice

Epilogue - Fearlessly and Forever

Hello again! The other day I noticed that today, the 19th of July, is the anniversary for when I finished this story. That gave me the idea to write this epilogue which takes place exactly one year after the last chapter ended. I hope you will enjoy reading this and to hear your thoughts on it after reading it would be incredible. Thank you beforehand and have a wonderful time until next time.

Xx Stina

xxx

A year has passed. A whole year on the day since Kurt came back to him. It still happens that Blaine wakes up thinking that Kurt returning was just a dream but all he has to do is open his eyes to see his beautiful Kurt right there next to him in the bed.

It hadn't been easy. For the first few months Kurt didn't even leave the apartment which slowly started to drive him crazy. The first real argument they had after Kurt had returned was in fact about this.

"I can't stand this anymore! I'm going crazy in here and you don't even seem to care!" Kurt yelled when Blaine came home after a day at work.

"Do you think it's my fault? I'm not the one who committed enough crimes to spend his entire life in prison!" Blaine replied because after a day at work that felt endless he couldn't just accept being yelled at as soon as he came home.

"You know what?! This is like a prison and you're the one thing that stops me from leaving it!" The same moment as the words left his mouth Kurt regretted them. He saw the pain in Blaine's eyes and before he knew it the shorter man had left again.

When Blaine returned a couple of hours later he barely got inside before Kurt was hugging him and both of them apologized. After that day Kurt had started to join Liz and Jan when they walked Perrie and soon enough he was out on his own.

Not everything had been hard either. The first time Kurt would meet Wes, Nick and Jeff was one of the times when things worked out much easier than they had dared to hope for.

"I know you said that they'll be okay with me being me but what if they want to arrest me instead..?" Kurt asked his boyfriend as they sat on the couch and waited for his friends who would come over to dinner.

"It will be alright, I promise," he replied and kissed Kurt's forehead.

"I could hide in Liz and Jan's apartment..." Kurt said, too nervous about it to just accept that everything would go as well as Blaine insisted that it would. Before he had time to develop the plan any further there was a knock on the door and then Blaine's friends came inside.

It would be a lie to say that things weren't a bit awkward at first but since they trusted Blaine's judgement and knew that Kurt in fact had saved Blaine's life when Sebastian shot him they soon couldn't hold back their curiosity any longer. By the time they got up to leave they promised to be back soon to hear more stories about Kurt's adventures and also how he had completely fooled all the men around the table at least a few times.

This morning Blaine wakes up before Kurt just as usually and shifts slightly so he can look at him. His heart still speeds up every time he sees him and today it does so even more than usually. Today is the day. Blaine has been planning this for weeks but that doesn't make him any less nervous. It's actually happening. It's not somewhere in a distant future, not a week from now, not tomorrow. It's today. With slow and careful movements Blaine gets up from the bed without waking Kurt up and then goes to prepare breakfast. He has planned everything about this so carefully that it feels almost like performing a play you have rehearsed hundreds of times. Once everything is ready he goes back into the bedroom to wake Kurt up.

He sits down next to Kurt on the bed and then softly pecks his lips.

"Time to wake up, sleeping beauty..." he whispers with a fond smile on his lips.

"I've slept for hundred years... I need another kiss to wake up..." Kurt mumbles and Blaine can see the smile on his lips before he leans down and pecks his lips again.

"Nope... Still not awake..." Kurt says which makes Blaine laugh before trying once more. This time it isn't just a peck and Kurt seems very satisfied with that as he kisses him back. That kiss leads to that the breakfast becomes delayed with almost an hour since Kurt had other plans for how the day would start.

Once they have cleaned up after the intimate way they started the day they get dressed and Blaine asks Kurt to go down to the car. He does so, but not before playfully trying to get Blaine to tell him what his intentions is. Once he realizes that it won't work he goes to the car where Blaine joins him together with the picnic bag with food and a blanket.

"We're going on a picnic?" Kurt asks with a smile as Blaine starts the car.

"How could you guess that?" Blaine replies in a teasing tone as he starts driving. Along the way Kurt asks where they're heading a countless number of times but Blaine just keeps telling him that he'll have to wait and see.

By the time Kurt finally can stop waiting and gets to see instead he is amazed. They're in a small park with a breathtaking view. They can see the entire New York skyline and even the statue of liberty and still the park somehow is completely empty. They place the blanket under a tree close to the water and there they fully enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and the food and more than everything each other's company. They laugh, talk about memories and sometimes just enjoy the comfortable silence.

When everything is finished Blaine quite nervously takes a deep breath and then moves closer to Kurt. The beautiful blue eyes that meet his are full of curiosity and widens when Blaine gets up on one knee.

"You are the most amazing person I've ever had the honor of meeting and the one I love more than everything else. I think I may have known this already before but a year ago when you came back to me I realized that I never wanted to spend a single day apart from you for the rest of my life. I know that I have my flaws and that things won't always be incredible but I want to spend the rest of my life with you, for better or for worse. So... Kurt... My amazing friend... My one true love... Will you marry me?" Blaine said and looked into his eyes.

At first he was just nodding softly. Then he started nodding faster and almost teared up before he basically threw himself into Blaine's arms as he kept repeating the word which at the moment was the most beautiful word Blaine could ever imagine. Yes.