Chapter 1
Life for Kurt and Blaine was perfect. They'd been strong enough to make it through the remainder of Blaine's senior year and they were living together in New York, happier than ever as fiancés. Blaine had successfully made it into NYADA – not that it really came as a surprise to Kurt, Rachel or Santana. The two boys moved into their own apartment and everything was perfect for them.
That was until one day when Blaine came across something that would unexpectedly change the lives of the boys forever…
The day started out fairly normal; Blaine awoke to the smell of waffles. He padded his way barefoot into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist from behind as his fiancé continued to make breakfast as if Blaine's presence didn't even phase him. Blaine giggled softly as Kurt ignored him before blowing a raspberry on the side of his neck.
"Blaine!" Kurt exclaimed, squirming in Blaine's arms.
"I love you." Blaine replied, placing a kiss to Kurt's cheek before sitting down at the table in their tiny kitchen.
"You're a dork," Kurt laughed, putting a plate of waffles on the table in front of Blaine before sitting opposite him with a plate of his own. "But I love you too."
Blaine giggled again; one of his adorable, shy giggles before beginning to eat his breakfast.
The two ate mostly in silence, occasionally breaking it to discuss how they were going to spend their day but mostly just concentrating on eating. Blaine mentioned how he was planning on visiting Santana – the two of them had become fairly close when Blaine moved to New York – and then he'd probably just spend the rest of the day in the apartment, holing up with college work or watching TV. Kurt just responded by announcing that he had a few things to do but he'd be back by dinner time.
When he was finished eating, Blaine stood up and walked towards Kurt, planting a kiss on hips lips before pulling away with a smile.
"You taste like morning breath and waffles." Kurt grimaced, scrunching his nose up adorably.
"Why thank you, kind sir." Blaine teased, quickly kissing his fiancé before running out of the kitchen when Kurt tried to push him away.
Kurt and Blaine both ended up leaving way later than they planned to due to an impromptu make-out session occurring, but they couldn't care less. When they finally made it to the apartment door, snug in their winter clothing, Blaine grabbed Kurt's scarf and hooked it around his neck, pulling him forward and kissing him once again.
"Uh-uh," Kurt laughed, pulling away from Blaine. "Don't start that again, we'll never make it out of the apartment again."
"Fine," Blaine replied with a pout, allowing his fiancé to pull a beanie over his head and press a kiss to his nose. "And you call me a dork."
"We're both dorks," Kurt shrugged. "That's why were perfect together."
"If you insist." Blaine giggled, leaning up to press a chaste kiss to Kurt's lips once again.
"Blaine…"
"Okay, okay, I'm stopping," Blaine laughed. "I'll see you later."
"Mhm," Kurt hummed. "I love you."
"I love you too."
The dilemma didn't occur until Blaine was almost half way through his journey to Rachel and Santana's. He was walking past a small store, waving to a few people that he knew when he turned the corner and saw a small bundle curled up on the street. It wasn't until Blaine got closer that he realised it was a little girl, no more than nine or ten, curled up into a ball but his heart stopped instantly when he did. Purely following his instinct, Blaine knelt down on the floor next to the little girl and tried to get her attention.
"Hi," Blaine said softly as the little girl looked up at him with fearful brown eyes, dirt smudges covering every inch of her frail body. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Blaine assured her, noticing how she relaxed a tiny bit. "How long have you been out here?" Blaine asked worriedly, having no idea how long the girl could have possibly been curled up on the street corner.
The little girl shrugged, her dark brown eyes darting around as if she was trying to make sure nobody could hear them. After a few moments of silence, the little girl let out a tiny whimper and buried her head in her arms again. "Hey, it's okay. I just want to help you, I promise." Blaine comforted, tentatively reaching out a hand to place on her icy skin, but pulling it back immediately when he felt how cold she was. "You're freezing," Blaine admonished, shrugging off his jacket and wrapping it around the little girl's body. "We need to get you somewhere warm. Do you want to come back to my apartment?" Blaine asked as the girl looked up at him with scared eyes, internally wondering how somebody like Blaine even existed.
Slowly, the brown eyed girl nodded and allowed herself to be eased off the floor by Blaine. Only once the girl was standing did Blaine apprehend how skinny and breakable she looked. She was clutching a light brown, tattered bear to her chest and she was dressed in a dirty white t-shirt and jeans. However long she'd been curled up on the street corner, Blaine was surprised that she'd survived the cold weather wearing only those thin, delicate clothes that were beginning to wear away from where they'd obviously not been changed in a long period of time.
Blaine walked the short distance back to his apartment with the little girl by his side and led her inside once they arrived. The girl looked warily around the apartment once they were inside; her beautiful eyes darting around quickly.
"It's okay, there's nobody here," Blaine assured her as she physically relaxed. "Okay, we need to clean you up. Come on, I'll run you a nice warm bubble bath." He said, leading her into the bathroom and beginning to run the water. Once it was done, he turned to the little girl who was still clutching her bear to her chest protectively. "Do you want me to go?" Blaine asked. The little girl seemed to consider it for a few short moments before shaking her head. "Okay, I'll turn around and once you're in under the bubbles I'll come and help you clean up." He said, the little girl nodding in reply.
Blaine turned around to face the door, waiting until he heard the splash of the water from the little girl climbing into the bath. He turned himself back around to see the little girl sat in the bubbles, looking at him expectantly. Blaine knelt on the floor by the bathtub and got a washcloth, gently scrubbing her clean. Once she was clean, Blaine left a towel on the sink and turned around again as she climbed out of the tub and wrapped herself in the towel. When he turned back to the little girl, she was clutching the towel around her tiny body, looking up at Blaine questioningly.
"I'll be back in one second, I'm just going to get you some clothes to change into, okay?" The little girl nodded slightly, allowing Blaine to leave the room. He returned a few moments later with one of Kurt's old t-shirts so that it would fit the little girl like a dress and handed it to her. "I don't have any bottoms that will fit you but this should come up quite big on you anyway."
He turned back around as the little girl changed into the t-shirt, only turning back when he felt a shy tap on his back. When he turned around, the little girl pulled her hand back as if she'd done something extremely terrible, looking up at Blaine with a scared expression. "It's okay," Blaine smiled softly, kneeling on the floor to become eye level with the child. Slowly and shyly, the little girl reached out with her tiny hand and placed it on Blaine's cheek. Blaine smiled, placing his own hand over hers and rubbing across it gently with his thumb. "Let's go get you something to eat, you must be starving."
Blaine smiled a little more when he stood up and the little girl reached up to take a hold of his hand. He began to lead her out of the room but instantly became alarmed when he heard her let out a strangled whimper.
"What's wrong?" Blaine asked worriedly. The little girl whined again and wriggled her hand out of his grasp, running across the bathroom to retrieve her bear from where she'd sat it on top of the toilet and made her way back to Blaine, hugging the toy and looking up at him from behind it.
Blaine began to lead the little girl to the kitchen, not holding her hand this time, and told her to sit on one of the chairs while he made something to eat. Once she had her food, the little girl mostly poked at it, looking up at Blaine as if she needed permission to eat it. Blaine nodded as she cautiously lifted the fork to her mouth and chewed slowly as if that one bite had to last her whole life.
Once she was finished, Blaine led her into the living room, switched the TV on and covered her in a fluffy blanket. The small child was asleep within the first ten minutes of watching the children's programme that Blaine put on for her, happily snuggled under the warmth of the blanket as she continued to grasp her bear.
When Kurt arrived home, he entered the living room and caught sight of a little girl curled up on the sofa, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion as to why there was a small child asleep on his sofa.
"Blaine…" Kurt said, entering their bedroom where he found his fiancé. "Where is there a little girl asleep in our living room?"
"Um…it's kind of a long story."
"I have time." Kurt confirmed, sitting on the edge of their bed.
"Okay well uh, when I left this morning, I was on my way to Santana's and Rachel's and I saw her curled up in a ball on the street and she was freezing cold and dirty and scared. So I bought her back here and gave her a bath and made her some food then she fell asleep watching the TV. I should've called you and told you, I know, but I just saw her and she looked so scared and I just had to help her and mmphh –" Blaine's rambling was cut off by Kurt crawling across the bed and pressing their lips together.
"It's okay," Kurt replied. "I'm not mad at you, I promise. Just please give me some warning before you bring a child into our home next time."
"Okay," Blaine laughed, leaning in to press another kiss to his fiancés lips. The two of them stayed like that for a few moments until they heard their bedroom door creaking open. Kurt and Blaine pulled apart and looked at the door to find the little girl peeping shyly inside. "Hi," Blaine said gently, noticing how she shrunk a little at the realisation of Kurt's presence. "It's okay, he's not going to hurt you."
Kurt was in awe at how well Blaine interacted with the scared little girl. It was one thing to be good with kids, but to be able to interact so well with a child that was on the streets was a whole different story.
The little girl slowly entered the room, holding her bear tight with one hand while she rubbed at her eyes in a childlike manner with the other. She made her way over to the side of the bed that Blaine was sitting on at looked up at him with big eyes. After a few long moments of hesitation, the small child lifted her arms up so that Blaine could lift her up and sit her on his lap. She cautiously rested her head against Blaine's chest and eyed Kurt warily.
Deciding that he'd probably scare the little girl more if he just stared at her, Kurt finally spoke up and said "Hi," extremely softly. The small girl let out a strangled wail identical to the one that she let out in the bathroom earlier that day and curled herself up into a ball on Blaine's lap. Blaine noticed how reluctant Kurt became to being in the room the second that the little girl hid from him just from look in his eyes.
"I'm gonna go get started on dinner." Kurt announced quietly, pressing a kiss to Blaine's forehead before making his way into the kitchen.
A little while later, Blaine led the little girl back into the living room. She looked up at him with questioning eyes, silently asking if she could go back to watching TV, so Blaine nodded and smiled as she climbed onto the sofa and fixated her view on the children's programme playing.
Blaine wondered into the kitchen and rested his chin on Kurt's shoulder. "Are you okay?" He asked, wrapping his arms around his fiancé.
"Yup," Kurt replied.
"You're lying."
Kurt sighed, turning around in his fiancés arms. "It's just…this is kind of weird. You don't know her name, her age, where she came from. Has she even spoken to you?"
"No, because she's practically a toddler and she's been left on the streets for who knows how long so she's probably petrified." Blaine snapped, stepping back slightly.
"I'm just saying, you're going through all of this trouble and you're probably never going to see her again."
"I'm helping her because she's a little girl and she has nobody to look after her! Why are you being like this?" Blaine asked incredulously.
"All I'm doing is looking at things realistically." Kurt shrugged as Blaine stormed out of the kitchen and into their bedroom, closing the door as softly as possible behind him so that he didn't startle the little girl.
About ten minutes later Kurt was knocking softly on their bedroom door and making his way slowly inside. "I'm sorry." He said as Blaine turned to face him with red rimmed eyes.
"I can't believe you could be so insensitive."
"I didn't mean it," Kurt began, moving to sit opposite Blaine. "I just…I know you, Blaine. You get attached too easily and I know that you're going to get attached to this little girl only to get her taken away from you."
"And being mean to me is gonna stop me from getting attached to things? Kurt, you have no idea how heart-breaking it was for me to see her on the streets today," Blaine choked out through his tears. "She looked so tiny and scared. She was covered in dirt and she looked all skinny and frail. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't just leave her there."
"I know," Kurt replied brokenly, enveloping his fiancé in a hug. "I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you for what you did. If anything I'm proud of you. If you didn't help her, who knows what would've happened to her eventually. I just know that it's gonna break your heart when she gets taken away from you."
"Maybe, but I'd rather see her go to a loving family where she'll be properly looked after than be stuck on the streets. So no matter how much it'll hurt me to see her go, I'd never ever regret making the decision to bring her here."
"That's exactly why I love you so much," Kurt whispered, pressing a kiss into Blaine's curls. "You care more about other people than yourself. You don't care how much you get hurt as long as you're making somebody else happy. I honestly don't get how you do that."
"Because I know what it feels like to be hurt so bad that it's unbearable, and I don't ever want anybody else to have to go through that."
"Oh Blaine." Kurt sighed, rubbing his fiancés back as he cried into his shoulder.
"I need to help her, Kurt," Blaine sobbed. "I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if I don't. She's just an innocent child, she doesn't deserve what she's already been through. It's not fair."
"Shh, it's okay," Kurt comforted. "We'll help her, I promise."
"Thank you." Blaine whispered into Kurt's shoulder as he sniffled lightly.