After dinner that evening, Kurt turned pleading eyes to Blaine. "Will you be okay if I do some work tonight? I've got this really big project at Vogue due on Friday, and I want to make sure everything goes perfectly." Kurt could see the tension Blaine was carrying and felt badly about asking. He knew his husband had had a long day at the studio. "Please? I promise to make it up to you this weekend. We'll send the baby to Rachel's and just have some us time."
"Okay. Go work on your project. I'll hang out with Finn for a while," he said, smiling over at their one-year-old son who was babbling happily in his high chair as he chased a green bean around the tray.
"Thanks. Love you," Kurt sang, putting his plate in the sink and planting a kiss on both his husband and his son. Then, he hurried back to his office. If he could just get a couple hours' work in tonight, he could take the rest of their evenings off this week and spend them with his family.
Blaine got up from the table. He went to the sink and began to clean the dishes from dinner, giving a heavy sigh at the number of pots and pans there were. He loved when Kurt cooked; the food was delicious, but he always used a lot of dishes.
He glanced over at Finn in his high chair and couldn't stop the grin that formed on his face. Finn was cramming green beans into his mouth with tiny fists, and giggling as he squished them between his fingers. He had marinara sauce from the pasta all over his chubby little cheeks, and even a red streak of it on his forehead. Blaine and Kurt were thankful that Finn was such a happy baby, but he was undoubtedly the messiest child they'd ever seen.
Blaine finished washing the last of the supper dishes, then dried his hands on a towel as he made his way toward his son."You're a mess!" he exclaimed as he pulled the tray away from the seat. Noticing the large amount of pasta that had ended up in his son's lap, he asked, "How about a bath? Do you need a bath? I think so!" He unbuckled the straps holding the boy in place, then picked him up beneath the arms. He held Finn away from his body as if he was a bomb. Though this shirt was not one he wore to work, he still didn't want red sauce stains on it.
Finn laughed all the way to the bathroom, happy to kick his legs around freely and slap at Daddy's arms with his dirty hands. When he was set down on the bath mat so Daddy could run his bath water, Finn immediately tried to pull himself up by the edge of the tub. That was a new trick he was learning. He was also trying to say Daddy and Papa occasionally, but tonight, he was more interested in getting as many surfaces as he could dirty, not trying to talk.
Once Blaine was satisfied by the level and temperature of the bath water, he set about undressing Finn. He quickly pulled off the tiny tee shirt, throwing Finn into a fit of giggles again. Then, he laid the baby down on his back. He shimmied off the little plaid shorts and whisked off the wet diaper, then set his son down in the water.
Blaine watched carefully as Finn splashed around in the water happily, grabbing onto his rubber duck and sail boat whenever they came floating by. Everything went into his mouth, and the duck and boat got many tastings, which made Blaine smile. After a couple of minutes, he set to work washing the baby. By the end, he wasn't sure who was cleaner, Finn or a very soaked Daddy.
Pulling the plug on the tub, Blaine lifted Finn out then wrapped him up in a warm Mickey Mouse towel, laying him down on the bath mat. Finn giggled as the hood of the towel was placed over his head, and he reached up with chubby fingers to pull the hood over his eyes. Moments later, he let go of it, laughing loudly at Daddy before promptly doing it again.
This time, Blaine joined in. "Where did Finn go?" he sang as he adjusted the baby on the floor. "Peek-a-boo!" he exclaimed, peeking under the hood at his baby.
That set Finn off again, and the two sat on the bathroom floor together, playing for a while, peek-a-boo turning into blowing raspberries and tickle monster. As Blaine picked Finn up to blow another raspberry low on his tummy, he felt something warm drip-drop onto his leg. He looked at the baby and noticed a wet, yellow spot on the front of the towel growing bigger and bigger. He hadn't put a diaper on the baby!
Quickly, Blaine laid Finn back down on the floor, covering as much of him as he could with the towel and hurriedly grabbed a diaper from the basket they kept next to the sink. As he looked down, he was happy to see that he'd caught on early. There were only a few drops on his pant leg and a few more dots on the floor; nothing that couldn't easily be cleaned up.
After a few more moments, he slowly pulled the towel back, relieved to see that the golden shower had ceased. He deftly removed the soiled towel from the baby, tossed it in the direction of the clothes hamper, and diapered up his son before carrying him to his bedroom. Looking around for a moment, Blaine decided that the safest place for Finn to be while he found some pajamas was on the changing table. He laid the baby down gently, making silly faces at him all the while.
Finn wasn't too thrilled, however, with his daddy's plan. Almost as soon as Blaine turned away to open the pajama drawer, Finn's little face, which had just been full of joy and laughter, screwed up in frustration. A loud wail escaped his little mouth.
"What's wrong, baby?" Blaine asked, rubbing Finn's tummy as he searched through the drawer. Pulling out a soft blue pair with feet, he closed the drawer and began to dress the baby, all the while talking to him. "There. Isn't this better? We got you all cleaned up in the bath, and you got a clean diaper. We'll put on these nice warm pajamas, and then you can have a bottle and go to sleep. Won't that be nice? Hmmm? Oh, come here, big boy," he crooned as he picked Finn up from the changing table, dressed snugly in his pajamas.
But, regardless of how gentle and soothing Daddy was being tonight, Finn was having none of it. Gone was the happy, smiley baby Daddy had had during dinner and bath time. Now, he was grumpy, and nothing Daddy did could make him happy again.
By the time that Blaine sat down in the rocking chair with the baby and his bottle, he was exhausted. Finn had wiggled and cried the whole way down stairs but had complained louder when Daddy tried to put him down to make his bottle. He'd cried so pitifully, in fact, that Blaine had no choice but to pick him back up again. This was a momentary fix, but as the bottle warmed, he began crying again, unhappy no matter how Blaine tried to hold him.
Knowing that Finn had been rubbing at his eyes more than once, Blaine was sure that the baby was just sleepy. He hoped that the warm formula and some soothing rocking would do the trick. Holding the bottle to the baby's lips, Blaine smiled gently when Finn immediately took the nipple, beginning to suck ferociously.
As he'd hoped he would, the baby drained the bottle in short order, the combination of warm milk and rocking putting him right to sleep. However, when Daddy shifted him a bit to stand, Finn woke up. The wailing began again, and no amount of rocking would put him back to sleep. Every time he'd get close to dropping off, he'd force himself awake again, fighting the sleep that he really wanted.
Eventually, Blaine gave up. Rocking wasn't working. So, he popped a pacifier into Finn's mouth, got him his favorite teddy bear from his crib, and laid down on the couch, the baby tucked in securely next to him, guarded by his right arm. He switched on some mindless TV and lay there, half asleep, waiting for Finn to drop off.
That's now Kurt found them nearly two hours later when he emerged from his office. He could see flickering light in the living room, so he padded down the hall toward it, assuming Blaine was watching something while he waited up for Kurt. As he entered the living room, he could see Blaine's form lying on the couch. He walked around the front of the couch and sucked in his breath, his heart doing a little flutter at the adorable sight his son and husband made asleep on the couch.
Blaine's left arm was draped casually over the arm of the couch, the other wrapped protectively around Finn, right hand lying on the little boy's hip and bottom. Finn had cushioned his head on his daddy's shoulder, one little hand resting lightly on Blaine's olive arm. Finn's little feet, cozy in his blue footy pajamas stuck out toward the edge of the couch. Both of them just looked so peaceful.
Kurt pulled out his phone and took a few pictures of them in the dim light of the TV. Then, he carefully and gently lifted Finn from Blaine's strong grasp, doing his best not to jostle either of them awake.
Despite his best efforts, Blaine woke anyway, rubbing blearily at his eyes. "Kurt?" he asked.
"I'm here," Kurt said softly, rubbing Finn's back.
"Finn 'sleep?" Blaine mumbled.
"Yeah," Kurt whispered. "You were both passed out when I came out here. And you looked adorable." He smiled at his husband who was still blinking sleepily.
"Finn was cranky," Blaine explained through a yawn, pushing himself up into a sitting position, "after his bath. Cartoons seemed to help. I guess I fell asleep." He shook himself, trying to wake himself up. "What time is it anyway?" he asked, yawning again and stretching his stiff muscles.
"Late," Kurt replied with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry you had a rough evening. Go to bed. I'll be there once I lay Finn down."
Blaine nodded gratefully, and Kurt headed to Finn's bedroom to lay him gently in his crib.
When he came back to their bedroom a few minutes later, he found Blaine snuggled down under the covers, blinking sleepily. Kurt quickly changed into a pair of pajama pants and crawled into bed, wrapping himself around his husband's warm body. "Thanks for taking care of Finn tonight," he whispered into Blaine's ear.
"Welcome," he mumbled.
"I finished my project."
"Mmm. Good."
"So, I promise to spend tomorrow evening with you and the baby."
"'Kay." Blaine wiggled just a little closer to Kurt, sighing with satisfaction.
Kurt smiled and brushed a kiss against Blaine's forehead . "I love you," he whispered.
No response.
Kurt waited a moment, then tried again. "I love you, Blaine."
This time, Kurt heard a gentle snore from his husband. With an affectionate smile, Kurt shifted just enough to switch off the bedside lamp, causing Blaine to whine a bit in his sleep. Kurt just snuggled back up against Blaine, pulling him close. He brushed one more kiss into his hair and with a contented sigh, closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.