Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 30th cycle. Now cycle 31!

Hear that little bird twitter! Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!

New video available via gleekathon twitter, please watch...

"Step Four Keep Breathing"
Kurt & Brittany, Brittany/Santana
Paper Heart #5 (Sequel to Step Three...)

It had done them both so much good, to not only get to breathe, to settle with this news, but to lie down and get some sleep, waking up to a new day. They had cried the first panic-drenched tears, and now they had entered a new phase… So they were pregnant; they knew that much… but they hadn't decided what they were going to do yet. They knew it was coming, but the first time they had tried talking about it the subject was still too fresh, and they had retreated from it almost instantly. Now though it was a brand new day, and they didn't know what to expect from it.

Kurt had debated whether to even go to school, but then he saw himself and decided he looked alright… he had managed to sleep, keeping his eyes from wearing dark circles. But more importantly he was thinking of her. If she was going to be there, then so would he. No matter what happened, he had to be there for her, to support her. He knew Santana would do that, too, now that she knew, and he imagined her like some sort of force field, barring any kind of intrusion around the blonde. And, yes, when he arrived and saw Brittany, there was Santana by her side, but when she saw him approaching she gave him a small nod and retreated, leaving the two would-be parents on their own.

"How's she doing?" he found himself asking Brittany about Santana, looking at her disappearing down the hall. Brittany was looking too.

"She's scared… We all are… She doesn't want me to know, but…" she slowly looked back to Kurt as silence set in. They were both very aware of how many people were around them at that point.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm okay," she bowed her head. "I slept, but then when I woke up, I…" she looked around before miming that she'd been sick. Just doing that though, it looked like it had brought back the memory, judging by the slight green tinge her face had taken. "Breakfast sucked," she frowned.

"So everything's fine with… everything else?" he asked, hoping his attempts at being covert weren't going to fly over her head. Maybe Santana had a talk with her, but Brittany got it.

"Yeah," she confirmed. He sighed, looking back at her. To everyone else she would still look like same old Brittany, but he could see something else in her eyes… something you had to know was there to even recognize it; he probably had that, too.

"Do you think you'll be ready to go home today?" he asked, easing into harder topics. Her whole body inhaled on this, hands fidgeting together.

"Can you… can you come with me? Not to say anything, I can't… not yet, but… just to be there?" she asked, turning her eyes up to him.

"Of course," he promised, and she let out a breath.

"Thank you, Kurt," she felt the need to hug him, and she went for it. He was startled by it initially, but he could feel her trembling, just a bit, and he put his arms around her as well.

"You're welcome," he spoke the words, more on reflex than anything else… they felt wrong right away, in this context, but she didn't mind them, so he let them go, concentrating in stabilizing her tremor.

This was yet one more reason for him to be at school that day, and all days after it… This place was a minefield for anyone with a secret. They had all seen Quinn's secret spread to the four corners of McKinley High, and somehow he still felt partly responsible for that. He'd seen how much it had made trouble, and he didn't want that for Brittany. Neither of them knew what they were going to do yet, and they didn't need everyone talking behind their backs while they were trying to make this decision. The smallest thing could set off the gossip bells, something he was very aware of as they stood there, holding on to each other. He was just glad Jacob had been out sick all week or else…

It wasn't Jacob who saw them, but really he wasn't sure if it was better or worse that it was Mr. Schuester. Kurt saw him, over Brittany's shoulder, and he could see the teacher face working its way over him. "Brittany, if anyone asks, your cat is sick, okay?"

"What?" she asked, with a different panic now.

"No, he's not, but pretend he is," Kurt corrected. He didn't have time to explain further, as Will came up to them and they pulled out of their hug.

"Brittany, is everything okay?" Will asked, concerned. She looked to Kurt, just out of their teacher's line of sight, miming something to her that just barely made sense in time before Schuester could catch on.

"My cat is sick…" she recited, and it worked like magic. Will gave her some words of encouragement, but then he carried on his way, leaving them to stand there. "It worked…"

"Yeah, so just stick with that if anyone asks if you're okay," he suggested, and she nodded.

They eventually had to go to class, and this meant from one time to the other that they would end up separated. At times Brittany would have a class with Kurt, other times with Santana, once with both, but some with neither. No one bothered showing concern for her being spaced out in class anymore though, so she breezed on by. Then came Glee Club.

She had Santana by her side, and Kurt just behind her, but her eyes couldn't help but travel sideways, and the other two soon figured out why… She was looking at Quinn, sitting there with her hands laid on her growing belly. It was dawning on Brittany now that this was what would happen to her, and the idea of it continued to boggle her mind. After a while Quinn would catch her looking – and quickly turning away – but she would write it off, like so many others, as nothing out of the ordinary for her. To Kurt though it was a sign that maybe he should start a new attempt at their unspeakable subject.

On the way to her house that afternoon after Glee practice, when they were on their own, he looked at her. "Brittany?" he started, and she looked at him. "Have you thought about… about what we're… going to do?" he hesitated at using 'we,' but his whole stance had been that he was going to keep on standing by her no matter what, so he hadn't corrected it. She didn't say anything at first, and he wasn't sure if he should elaborate or…

"I don't know… I try to, and when I do I…" she shook her head, looking out of breath.

"Okay, it's fine, you don't have to…" he stopped her, and she let out a sigh. They were quiet for a few seconds, while he thought about it to himself. He may have had certain views on the matter, but like he'd told his father none of those views could be used to sway Brittany from ultimately choosing what would happen to her body, if she would see this baby carried to term, and then if they would give it up or… He couldn't influence her, wouldn't. But they couldn't keep putting it off, because then either the choice would be taken out of their hands by other people knowing, or by nature taking its course and revealing it out for all to see as she would show. So he came to an idea. "I know you're not ready, but we need to be, so… What if we wait like… a week, maybe two… where you can take that time and really get yourself into a place where you can decide or at least talk about it." She didn't speak, but she was listening. "Is that okay?" he asked.

"Yeah…" she carefully nodded.

And then they were in front of her house. The old 'my cat is sick' excuse wouldn't work here, they both knew it, and in that place there would be two people who had possibly the best shot at figuring out something was off with her, but she looked confident – maybe shakily so but confident nonetheless – that she could get past them without tripping any bells, so long as he was there to spot her. He would do it. He would stay there until she felt secure enough to send him away… That was how it was going to be, and he would carry on, until they would finally be able to talk about everything.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!