December 20th. Her birthday. Normally Lee wasn't all that interested in her birthday, but Kevin was old enough now that he was wanting her to have a special day, which definitely made it much more important to Lee.

But Lee was also interested in what Blaine was thinking after he told her to make a note about his birthday. And considering he had asked to see her during the afternoon instead of after work like normal, it only added to Lee's curiosity. Plus, it wasn't like going without sleep for one day was much of a sacrifice for Lee.

So around 12:30, Lee walked up to Blaine's building carrying two extra large black coffees, one of which she had been sipping on. Juggling the coffees, Lee opened the door and made her way up to Blaine's apartment, knocking when she reached the door.

Honestly, Blaine hadn't gotten much sleep the night before; after work, he'd had something he was trying to take care of, and it took him longer than he expected. He didn't know why, because it was supposed to be something simple, but he guessed he was just nervous, and within reason. Once finally finished, he'd crashed on the couch.

And less than two hours later, he was awoken by a knock on the door, eliciting a few quiet surprised swears as he jumped to his feet and unlocked the door, still wearing his jeans from the night before and no shirt. Once all of the locks were unlocked, he opened the door and greeted Lee with a smile.

"Hey, and Happy birthday," he said; it was rather obvious he was running on little sleep, and yet his face showed that he was okay with this.

It didn't take long for Lee to hear Blaine moving around in the apartment, and not much longer after that before she felt him approaching from the other side of the door.

A smile was already on her face by the time he had all the locks open and was pulling the door back. ”Thank you,” Lee said, stepping closer. But as she looked at Blaine, despite the fact that he was standing there without a shirt, Lee's smile faded slightly. ”Looks like it's a good thing I stopped for coffee. Here.”

Handing Blaine the coffee she had bought for him, Lee stepped into the apartment and slipped her jacket off.

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep," he murmured. "But thanks," he smiled, taking the coffee and yawning a little as he let her in. He took a sip; just the way he liked it, though it was pretty easy to remember he liked his coffee black. Normally, he'd go ahead to the couch and wait for her, but today was different. He walked back to the desk, grabbing a folder off of it and then brought it over to her.

"Here. It's why I didn't get much sleep. I had to get it just right." he handed her the folder, nervously awaiting her response. He'd drawn a portrait of her, and he really hoped she'd like this one as much as she had her other ones.

He didn't get much sleep? Lee was confused by that comment,a small crease between her brows. A crease that only deepened as Lee hung her coat up when Blaine walked over to the desk instead of the couch.

But Blaine didn't stay there. A moment later, he was returning to her with a folder on his hand. ”What's this?” Lee asked with a smile as she took the folder. And looked inside. Lee's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the drawing inside. And her smile widened as she just stood there and looked at the picture of herself that Blaine had drawn.

”I love it!” Lee said, finally looking up at Blaine. ”Its beautiful! Thank you!“

He smiled, relaxing considerably when she said she loved the drawing, and he opted not to point out the trash can under the desk that was full of crumpled papers. But she loved his final work, and that's what mattered, even if the process was long and full of failure. "It took me awhile to get it perfect," he finally said. "But for you, I'd settle for nothing less."

He gave her another soft smile, sitting on the couch to drink his coffee. "I really am glad you like it, though," he said in between sips.

After smiling up at Blaine Lee's eyes drifted back down to the picture of herself that he had drawn. Though she did blush slightly when he said that for her, it had needed to be perfect. But, when she looked up again to give Blaine a kiss, Lee saw that he had already turned to go sit on the couch.

Following him a bit more slowly, Lee leaned over to give Blaine that kiss before she sat beside him. ”I'm probably going to have to tell my sister about you now,” Lee said softly as she sat down beside Blaine, glancing down at her picture with a happy smile. ”She's not going to believe this is just a random drawing one I hang it up.”

He returned the kiss tenderly, and smiled as she spoke. Hearing that she planned to hang the drawing up made him smile that much more, and he took another sip of coffee.

"How do you think she'll react?" he asked thoughtfully after a moment, not really knowing how this kind of thing was supposed to go. After all, he didn't exactly have anyone to tell. He'd been awkwardly silent with his family for years. There was no animosity or hatred there, he just...didn't know what to say.

Another brief pause, and another thought came to his mind as he looked into her eyes. "You think Kevin'll like me?" he finally asked, wondering why he was worrying about this stuff. But he guessed it was normal. Probably.

How would Rachel react to finding out about Blaine? Unfortunately, Lee didn't have to think very hard about that. ”She'll probably be disappointed at first. I swear she's been trying to figure out a way to get me and Tarin back together.

“Then, she'll be pissed that I've taken so long to tell her about you,” Lee continued. ”and then she'll want details. Every. Single. Detail. That she can drag out of me.”

Here, Lee did pause, taking a sip of feet long her coffee.”She's probably going to want to meet you,” Lee continued after a moment, then looked over at Blaine with a lopsided smile. ”Think you're ready for that?”

As she waited for Blaine's reaction, Lee sat on the couch sipping her coffee.

And then the really big question, the question that really mattered: would Kevin like Blaine? This was a question, or at least one similar to it, that Lee had been thinking about for a while now. ”I'm sure he will,” Lee said slowly. ”But we'll need to figure out how to introduce the two of you. This is something I'm just as clueless about.”

He listened as she went over her sister's likely reaction. The first part made him frown just a little, but the next part saw his smile slowly creeping back into place. He nodded slowly as she said she didn't know how to introduce him to Kevin.

"That is a hell of a question, isn't it? Guess we can always just take it slowly, like with everything else," he suggested, still sipping on his coffee as he thought.

And then his mind wandered for a bit, and he thought about Al and Candace, wondering how they were. But he shook those thoughts aside for now. After all, this was Lee's day. " We'll figure something out. But for now, it's just us."

Blaine didn't really say anything about meeting Rachel, but there was a bit of smile on his face. At least it was a better reaction than it could have been.

Take things slowly. Lee nodded. That probably was the best plan, but at the same time she was spending with Blaine, the more important it was feeling to have Kevin meet him.

And then Blaine said that for the time being, it was just the two of them, and Lee grinned. That was very true since she still had a few hours before she needed to go pick Kevin up from school. ”So, other than the amazing picture, did you have anything else planned for today?”

He shook his head, giving a slight shrug. "Actually....that picture was as far as I got," he admitted, his voice almost uncharacteristically sheepish. He finished his coffee, setting his cup down on the table and then turning to look at her. "I do like the idea of eventually meeting your family, though," he added with a sincere smile. Sometimes he thought about calling his siblings, if they even had the same number...besides, what would he say to them? He just hoped they knew that he still cared, in spite of everything.

"Though honestly, we never really have a plan when you come over. We always just see what happens; and I must say that hasn't failed yet." He smiled, having pushed negative thoughts out of his head for the time being. After all, right here, right now, he was happy.

Lee smiled at Blaine when he said that the picture he had drawn was as far as he had gotten with planning anything. ”It is a pretty great picture,”

And then Blaine said that he would like to meet her family. Lee's smile turned into a full fledged grin, not because she was eager for him to meet her family, but because it was a normal next step in what was, in actuality, a very normal relationship considering who they were. ”I guess we'll have to plan something, then,” Lee said.

Lee laughed when Blaine pointed out the fact that they never had a plan when she came over. And it was true, even when there was a plan of sorts, things tended to just happen. ”Alright, so no plan,” Lee said, glancing over at Blaine with a smile. ”Any preferences on what we do next?”[/color

Lee had some ideas of her own, but, well, it'd be best to hear Blaine's ideas first.

"Thanks, I really am glad you like my art," he said with a smile, sliding a little closer to her. Then he nodded, sort of feeling a nervous feeling in his stomach at the thought of meeting her family, and wondering if it was normal. It probably was, right? Yeah...of course.

He shrugged lightly when she asked about what they did next. "Honestly, no. I've told you I'm not the planner or the brains of this operation," he said lightly, looking over at her. "Though, I'm happy with just the usual, for now," he added, relaxing on the couch a little.

Lee did not fail to notice when Blaine slid closer to her on the couch. And speaking of Blaine's art, Lee leaned forward and set the the folder with the picture on the coffee table, placing her cup beside it below sitting back and leaning against Blaine slightly.

When Blaine told her that he was happy with the ‘usual’ and she felt him relaxing beside her, Lee couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Baby steps, she knew and understood, but the disappointment was still there. She did like spending time with him like this, but still sometimes…

It couldn't hurt to ask, could it?

”What about experimenting?” Lee asked softly, looking over sideways at Blaine, not sure that she wanted to turn her head to fully look at him.