"Blaine, honey, will you let the dog out? I'm just about done with this dress…" Kurt said from the dining room, which he'd taken over for the purpose of designing Rachel's wedding dress. He had all of his supplies and measurements out, and the manikin was dressed in the long, beautiful gown. He just had to put the finishing touches on.

"Sure, babe," Blaine said, getting up from the couch where he was reading his book. He smiled and kissed Kurt's cheek as he passed him, heading towards the front door of their house. He whistled loudly, calling for their pet. "Dexter! Dex, come on, boy!" The young black lab, who hadn't grown to its full size yet, barked excitedly as he ran towards Blaine. He jumped up and propped himself up against Blaine's legs. Blaine smiled fondly and scratched behind the dog's ears before opening the front door. Despite the puppy's young age, he was a very loyal hound, so Blaine knew he could trust him to come back after he'd… done his business. Blaine left the door open to let some of the Autumn breeze into their home, and so that Dexter could get back inside when he was finished.

"Thanks, Blaine!" Kurt called to him distractedly, focusing mostly on his work as he thanked his fiancé. They were both twenty-eight and just itching to finally get married, but they didn't want to leave Ohio. It was home, despite the bad memories it held. Sure, they could just fly to NYC and have a beautiful wedding there, but they wouldn't be legally recognized as domestic partners when they returned to Ohio. So, they both agreed it would be worth the wait. Kurt had proposed when they were twenty-one, so they'd been engaged for quite some time now. But neither man was complaining. They had a great life together, and they were starting their family with their new puppy, which they'd adopted about two months ago.

Blaine took his seat on the couch once again and went back to reading. Kurt glanced at him and smiled to himself, biting his lip when he thought about what could happen in the next few years. They could be married, maybe even looking into adoption or a possible surrogate if they found someone nice enough. They would be spending the rest of their lives together—that much he knew for sure—and Kurt couldn't wait to make it official.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the alarming noise of a car's horn going off outside, right in front of their house. He startled and hissed in pain when he pricked himself with a needle poking out of the stitches of the dress. He saw Blaine put his book to the side in alarm as well and they shared a concerned glance before rushing towards the front door. Kurt looked out the front window and gasped, covering his mouth and shaking his head before dashing full-speed out the door and towards the street.

"Kurt, what—"

Blaine cut himself off when he saw what Kurt was running towards. There was an accident. People were already crowding around the car and its victim.

"Dexter!" Kurt cried, pushing through the crowd of people to get to his dog. "Someone call 9-1-1! Please!" Suddenly Blaine was at his side and had his arms wrapped around Kurt, who was kneeling on the asphalt next to the bleeding and whimpering puppy. After a minute, Kurt hears someone say that an ambulance is on the way. Normally, with a less serious injury, they would have driven Dexter to the vet by themselves, but this was definitely serious. His leg was severely injured and that was obviously what had received the most damage. He also appeared to have a pretty bad cut on his head, either from hitting the ground or the hood of the car.

"Sir, please step aside," a woman said from behind Kurt and Blaine gently tugged Kurt to the side so he was out of the way. Kurt clung to Blaine as he watched Dexter being carried carefully into the back of the ambulance. It wasn't an ordinary ambulance, and it was obviously made especially for cases like these where pet owners couldn't move their injured animal on their own. Kurt was grateful for the fact that the nearest veterinarian's office had one of those on hand.

"Blaine, what if he doesn't make it?" Kurt asked, terrified, as Blaine ushered him into their car to follow the ambulance.

"He's gonna be just fine," Blaine promised, kissing Kurt's forehead before getting in the driver's side and pulling out of their driveway. He drove as fast as he could towards the nearest vet. "The nurse said so. She said he was lucky the car tire didn't go over anything too important. He's going to make it."

Kurt nodded, barely listening to Blaine as they drove into the parking lot after the ambulance. He ran inside, Blaine following close behind, and dashed forward to the front desk. He asked where Dexter was and she told him a room number. He was speeding through the halls before she finished saying what she had to say. He rushed into the room where they were already working on repairing Dexter's leg.

"Mr. Hummel, you need to take a seat outside," the vet told him sympathetically. Not bothering to hold back his tears, he reluctantly stepped outside, taking a seat on the bench just outside the room. Blaine soon joined him.

"They won't let me inside," Kurt said, near hysterical by the time Blaine had wrapped his arms around his fiancé's shoulders. Kurt cried into his shoulder. "I'm a terrible pet owner," he sobbed, distressed. "We haven't even had him for two whole months and he's going to die because I couldn't take a two-minute break to go outside and watch him."

"Kurt, sweetie, this isn't your fault," Blaine soothed. "I promise. It was just a terrible accident. And there's no use moping over what we could have possibly done to prevent this. All we can do is hope for the best."

"Dex is going to die," Kurt said miserably, clutching at Blaine's shirt.

"He's not going to die," a nurse's voice said, coming out of the room. "Your dog is going to be just fine. He's a fighter," she smiled kindly. "They've managed to set his leg so the bone can heal properly. Considering that the bone wasn't shattered completely, he is a very lucky dog. It could have been a lot worse." Kurt listened intently and nodded a 'thank you' before pulling Blaine with him into the room.

"He's breathing, right?" Kurt asked in an irrational panic. "Please tell me he's breathing normally…"

"He's doing just fine," the vet said. He smiled reassuringly at them. "Everything appears to be normal, and right now what he needs is plenty of rest and time to heal. The worst is over."

"What injuries does he have beside the broken leg?" Blaine asked, his arm wrapped around Kurt's waist.

"He got a bit of a bump on the head, but it's nothing too serious. Just a cut that we've already stitched up. As long as he stays off that leg for a while, he'll be good as new in about a month." The vet smiled at them before leaving the room.

Kurt slumped against Blaine's chest in a breath of relief. "He's going to be okay," he breathed out into Blaine's neck, closing his eyes in content. "He's going to be okay."

"He is," Blaine agreed, wrapping both arms around Kurt and smiling softly.

"He's already like family, you know? It would kill me if we lost him…"

"Well, we got lucky this time," Blaine murmured. "We get to keep him around for quite a while now."

"I like the sound of that," Kurt smiled against Blaine's shoulder.

"Of what?" Blaine grinned. "Of keeping Dex around for a long time?"

"Yes, that," Kurt laughed lightly. "But also… family. I like the sound of family."

A/N: This turned out sadder than I thought it would… But at least the dog didn't die :) And I snuck some fluff in at the beginning and the very end. I love cutesy one-shots! Review ^^