Title: Fairytale
Author: Claddagh Ring

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.

AN: Written as a companion piece to berrywarbler's Love is a Losing Game and Doors Unopened & Locked - which you should definitely read for two reasons. One, it is absolutely wonderful, and two, this probably won't make much sense if you don't. Because Seblainchel.

Rachel kicked off her shoes as she walked in the front door, feeling an instant relief in the tiny bit of freedom after being on her feet all day, first in last minute rehearsals with her opposite lead's understudy and then on stage for performance well into the night. It had been a rare occurrence where neither Blaine nor Sebastian had been in the audience and she spent the better half of her second act trying to remember the last time they had both been absent; she pegged it as sometime right after Alyssa had been born.

She was four now, and their lives busier than ever as Rachel secured the leading role in the biggest new musical to open on Broadway in the last ten years, as Sebastian became flooded with work from his law office due to his clever abilities to keep the worst cases out of court. Even Blaine was on the fast track to becoming the most sought after producer for the prominent recording company he'd gone into fresh out of college on a whim. And yet, somehow, their daughter kept them tripping over heels more than anything else combined.

The quite large apartment had a quiet hush about it, though several lights were still on down the hall, as Rachel tiptoed across the floor. She turned the corner, towards Alyssa's room to check on her and nearly jumped out of her skin when she ran into a solid, but otherwise warm wall.

"Sebastian!" she hissed at her husband, rubbing her nose in annoyance more than actual pain, "what are you do-?"

He shushed her, pulling her arm until she was forced to stand with her back against the actual wall this time, his hand over her mouth gently. His attention left hers almost immediately as soon as he realized she wasn't going to shout at him, and finally whispered to her, "Blaine's telling 'Lyss a story."

"He does this every night," she mimicked.

"This one is about us," he clarified and suddenly Rachel's interest was just as piqued as Sebastian's. She leaned around him, inching closer to the door until she could just barely make out her second husband's figure, sitting on the edge of his daughter's bed. He looked at her with absolute adoration and Rachel's heart involuntary swelled at the fact that he loved Alyssa as much as they all did, that he had adopted a role of father for her even though the little girl's deep green eyes and sable hair bore no resemblance to him at all. Biologically, she belonged to Rachel and Sebastian, but Blaine loved her with the same heart he loved them all.

"The princess was special," he was saying in a lulling cadence. Alyssa looked up at him with rapturous attention, her eyes blinking slowly to fight off her obvious need for sleep. "The birds had given her their own voices so that she could sing to them, and her songs were so beautiful that there wasn't a person she ever met who didn't love her. But that's not what made her so special, right?"

"No!" Alyssa said with excitement, her small voice filled with wonder. "No, Daddy, it's because she had two hearts."

"She had two hearts," he laughed, tucking her back under the covers she had fallen out of, "and with those two hearts, she had so much love to share that not just one person could love her as much as she loved him. She was sad for a long time, until one day, she met a singer in the town hall. She felt like he could have loved her two hearts, but the singer didn't see her and left before she could talk to him. But he did see her, he was just afraid of her. He had heard of her songs, of her love and though he already loved her from afar, he didn't think she would ever feel the same. So he hid in the shadows from her until she met another man, one who wasn't afraid of her like he was, but was afraid of her for a different reason."

"Because being in love is scary too," Alyssa finished for him.

"Love is a wonderful thing," Blaine nodded, a tiny smile on his face, "but he only had one heart to give while she had two. If he let his heart be broken, he would die and she would carry on and forget him. But the man was willing to try, and the singer realized he would lose his chance if he stayed hidden anymore. So he came out of the shadows and the princess loved him as much as she had when she first saw him. She loved the man too and didn't know what to do.

So the man and the singer had secret contests – who could make her laugh first, who she would kiss the longest, all kinds of silly things – until she would say who she loved the most. But the princess found out and she cried, telling them she could never love them unless they loved themselves enough not to hurt her like they were. And she ran away, the birds singing for her because she couldn't find her voice. Weeks passed and the singer and the man found they both had broken hearts and while they loved each other too, they didn't know how to love without the princess. The singer looked for her everywhere, but he couldn't find her and went to the man for help. The man said he would find her, but the princess was hard to find with no voice to follow. Finally, she appeared to the man and he begged her to come back."

Alyssa had snuggled into pillow at this point, little arms tucked around a purple monkey. Her eyes were closed and Blaine hesitated until she whispered sleepily, "She had something to give them, right Daddy?"

Blaine smiled, leaning over to kiss the little girl's forehead and switch on her nightlight. "She did," he agreed. "When she was sure the singer and the man both loved her, and that they loved themselves and each other, she gave them each one of her hearts and they gave her half of theirs in return and the other halves to each other. They knew then, that no matter what happened or how many people didn't understand, they would always have each other with them."

Alyssa smiled happily before dozing off to sleep, as only the young could, completely oblivious to Blaine as he straightened a few of her scattered toys and eventually turned off the light on her bedside table. Rachel stepped back from the door, her eyes filled with tiny glowing tears that threatened to spill over her smile; with a quick glance, she could see Sebastian shared her elation, absent her girlish tears.

Blaine looked startled to see them outside the door, even more so when Rachel launched herself into his arms. "I didn't know you were home," he chuckled, his arms gathering at the small of her back. "You should have come in to say goodnight."

"And ruin your little fairytale?" Sebastian quizzed, his voice light and teasing, though Rachel knew he was merely compensating for how enamored he himself had been. "You goddamn sap."

She could feel Blaine's blush spread through his chest as he muttered something about having to make something up when Alyssa started asking him how they had all met. Rachel quieted him with a light kiss. "It was lovely," she beamed at him and felt Sebastian pass around her, circling his arms to hold the both of them, his own lips pressed to Blaine's neck as he whispered his own agreements, ones that Rachel wished hadn't taken place right outside their daughter's door. But she was sound asleep, Rachel reasoned, and this was somewhat of a special occasion.

"And they all lived happily ever after," Sebastian chuckled as Blaine leaned up to kiss him properly.

"Except your princess would like an escort to bed," Rachel quipped, laughing as they both scooped her up in her arms and their makeshift caravan fumbled down the hallway towards the room they all shared.

I write, you read, you review, and I'll write more... at least, if I ever do write more Seblainchel, this is where it will go.