Ah, thank you! This chapter was tough going. Zoiks.

I'm always so impressed by the way you fit everything in with canon and remember all the different threads...

I am so happy to hear this! I spend a lot of time wrangling the timeline into my outlines and trying to fit it all together, trying to make sure I remember all those little bits and pieces about the characters and events. And trying to foreshadow sufficiently well the stuff that happens later...

So I'm glad you liked Blaine here. DWS forced me to revise a bunch of stuff in my early outlines to accommodate it and Blaine's increasing levels of not okay. :S

I'm also glad you liked both the opening and the closing scenes. It was a hefty tonal shift. They make it look so easy in the show. :) But then life is like that. I'm pleased you found Kurt's reactions moving.

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments! I appreciate it tremendously. <3