A/N: So here's a little one shot. Obviously, it's Future!Klaine. It doesn't take place in the same universe as Blame it on the Bachelor Party, because "spoiler!" I took into account Blaine and Kurt's plan to move to NYC from the finale and adjusted their lives accordingly (Also, I wrote a lovely little romance in my head for Rachel, because she and Finn do not exactly seem to be endgame). As for my ongoing AU story- yeah, I'm still evaluating whether to continue that. I know where it's going; I just don't know if I have the necessary energy to write it when the season's over and all that. Anyway, please read and review, because I love you guys! Oh, and after I wrote this, I realized Glee has already used this song, but I don't care. I don't want to rewrite it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the song All by Myself.
"I don't know what to do," Rachel sobbed as she sat on Blaine and Kurt's boldly patterned couch and hugged a throw pillow to her still slightly soft stomach. "Ranjit just got to Hong Kong and it's his first major project. He HAS to stay. But Francie thinks this is a career-breaker. If I don't say yes, I'll just be another promising starlet who gave up her career for a family. And GOD, I sound like my mother, and not in a good way." She made a helpless gesture towards her daughter, who was fast asleep in a carrier on their loveseat.
Blaine scooted closer and gave Rachel a hug. "Sweetheart, you are nothing like your mother. You've been one hundred percent committed to Idina from the minute you found out you were pregnant. You and Ranjit only got married a couple years ago; it's natural that you feel overwhelmed when he's out of the country."
"It's not just that," Rachel sniffled. "I mean, obviously his family wouldn't be an option even if they didn't live in Mumbai, (Kurt nodded understandingly; Blaine's parents were completely supportive gems compared to Rachel's in-laws, who seemed to equate Broadway actress with whore) because they'd find some way to never give her back or something. But even Dad and Daddy…I mean, Daddy's almost completely recovered from his stroke now, but he's not 'take care of a six month old baby' recovered, so I just can't ask."
"How long are we talking about, here? I know Ranjit's gone for four months, but surely the play will be out of rehearsal before then." Kurt asked.
Rachel swiped ineffectually at her mascara with her fingers. Kurt shuddered and handed her a pressed silk handkerchief from his suit jacket. "Keep it," he insisted when she started to hand it back.
"The play starts rehearsals in two weeks, and then we open for a month of previews in San Francisco three weeks after that. And it would just feel magical, because Kurt, I can tell, this is the one. The plot is just the right kind of old-fashioned and the music is fabulous. I was honored to get the audition, honestly, and now they want me." Her eyes gained even more luminosity as she struggled between her pride and her motherly instincts. "I'd win a Tony for sure, and it would run forever, and once I got BACK here I could take care of her easily with Tanya's help. I mean, I use her now, but she's got three kids in a tiny New York city apartment, so it's not like SHE can take her, either."
Rachel continued to ramble about how great a sitter Tanya was and how she couldn't ask a complete stranger from CALIFORNIA of all places to take care of her precious Idina, but Blaine and Kurt weren't listening because they were too busy having a silent conversation. Blaine raised his brows at Kurt, who gave a disbelieving open mouth in response, only to have Blaine counter with a nod towards his office and a tiny tuck of his chin that clearly indicated it would mostly be his responsibility, then rub Rachel's arm sympathetically and glare meaningfully. Kurt smiled softly at Rachel and shrugged a loving go-ahead. Blaine interrupted her gently.
"Rach, sweetie, it must be fate that I won that fellowship. I mean, I have the entire semester off and I was going to be home every day composing anyway. So…if you trust us with Idina, couldn't Kurt and I take her?"
Rachel stopped mid-sentence with her mouth hanging open. "But Kurt's just taking off as a stylist; you were complaining about his hours two days ago! Besides, you and Kurt…" She glanced at Kurt uncertainly.
"Would love to have her," Kurt said firmly, stepping up to the plate. "Honey, do you remember the Gershwin Theater? I will never be able to live with myself if I could have helped you become the star we both know you are meant to be and I walked away. You've been working yourself to the bone for ten years. You deserve this."
"I," Rachel blinked rapidly. "I promise I didn't come to you for this. I mean, THANK YOU. Wow. Oh my God, thank you so much. I love you guys so much and now my daughter will have the influence of two gay men during some of her most formative months, which will be such an important factor. I mean, she's bound to like music more than math after her time with you, even if Ranjit's an engineer, right?"
Kurt just laughed at Rachel's ability to go from zero to self-absorbed in two point eight seconds. "Let's talk logistics, but if she ends up with the good taste to like Julie Andrews, then I am definitely taking credit."
"How can I ever repay you?" Rachel whispered, suddenly serious again.
"Opening night tickets, and a promise that you will give it your everything and let US worry about your daughter while you're in San Francisco," Kurt said firmly.
"Well, and expenses," Blaine added with a laugh. "I've heard babies are kind of expensive."
"I'll take care of everything!" Rachel whirled around and hugged Blaine tightly, then bounced up to tackle Kurt. "You're still the best thing that happened to me in high school," she murmured.
"Love you too, you witch. I'm jealous and so, so proud," Kurt whispered back.
"Well, there's a baby in our living room," Kurt said faintly after they finally, FINALLY got a tear-streaked Rachel into a cab and on the way to the airport.
"Yeah, isn't she adorable," Blaine said happily.
Kurt squinted at Idina. She WAS adorable, of course. She was, considering her mother's petite stature, quite surprisingly long and slim, with closely cropped dark curls and deep, fathomless brown eyes. While not the vaguely Eurasian baby of Rachel's high school dreams, her father's Indian heritage had given her skin a pleasingly exotic tone. "She's lovely," he agreed finally. "Do you think we can keep her this happy and quiet the whole time?"
"Unlikely," Blaine smiled. "Say, can I use the Victrola cabinet as her changing table, do you think?"
Kurt turned a pale green. "That is an ANTIQUE, Blaine. It actually still contains a WORKING record player, which is extremely rare. I don't think baby vomit, drool, or anything ELSE which might occur there would be conducive to keeping it working, do you?"
"It's the only thing in the apartment that's the right height," Blaine whined. "I checked EVERYWHERE."
"We will find a solution," Kurt promised darkly.
The first week passed without major incident; helped, Kurt knew, by Blaine's tireless enthusiasm. He claimed that he was even getting work done. Kurt enjoyed coming home to dance with Idina in the kitchen, and Rachel's requirement for silky-smooth homemade vegetable purees not only gave him aesthetic pleasure when he got them right (although he LONGED to put at least a little salt in there), but also gave him a great excuse to pass the actual feeding off to Blaine, so most of his clothes survived the week intact. Early mornings at work meant that Blaine took most of the dirty diapers, too. However, while he enjoyed Idina's presence, he couldn't quite get over his fear—she was so fragile. He also cursed under his breath about his Victrola cabinet, which was currently swaddled in four blankets to protect the mechanism, but was, indeed, being used as a changing table.
However, the second week was pure misery. It started when Kurt came home from work in a hurry because he had been dealing with the client from hell and had only checked his phone late that afternoon to find a text from Blaine:
Took Idina to the Dr. She's fine, but I NEED you home by six.
Easier said than done when you don't get the message until 5:30, but Kurt frantically tried to make the deadline. He burst through the door with five minutes to spare. Blaine met him with a squalling Idina immediately.
"Oh, thank god. Idina has diaper rash; the physician says she'll be fine. He gave us a cream, but the director of the Chicago symphony called me to discuss the choral piece they commissioned just as we went into the office, so I couldn't talk and had to reschedule for 6:15. I need ten minutes to prepare." Without even a backward glance, he handed Kurt the baby and disappeared into the office.
"Now what?" Kurt asked Idina as she continued to wail at him. Maybe she could smell his fear? Maybe they should call the doctor again? As he bounced her gently in his arms, his mind ran through hundreds of nightmare scenarios. Then, the scent wafting towards him gave him a pretty good idea as to why she was upset. He wrinkled his nose and carefully laid her down on the Victrola cabinet, keeping one hand on her stomach as he frantically started pulling out baby wipes. "You're really gonna make me do this?" he asked incredulously as he stared at the vague tan showing through her diaper. "Well, hell."
Thirty minutes later, Blaine, feeling righteous and inspired after a great discussion with the CSO's conductor, came out to find Idina sleeping peacefully in her porta-crib. Even so, he could hear sniffles from the direction of the bedroom.
"Kurt?" he asked quietly. Kurt was lying across the bed, sniveling. "Are you okay, sweetheart? What happened?"
"She was bleeding," Kurt whispered, appalled. "I went to clean her up, and there were these spots of bright red, and when I put the cream on and my finger came back pink I suddenly realized what they meant. She's…she's in pain because we're terrible guardians; we didn't protect her."
Blaine sat on the edge of the bed and started rubbing Kurt's back. "Shh, no sweetie, I promise. I asked the doctor today, and he said that even ten minutes in a dirty diaper can cause diaper rash. It wasn't us. It happens to everyone. And the cream will make it all better. It'll be ok."
"You," Kurt suddenly fired up. "You left me with her when you know I had no clue how to deal with her!"
"Kurt, you did fine," Blaine pointed out. "She's sleeping happily, and the cream is supposed to help her heal. Not to mention, if this is the first dirty diaper you've dealt with, you are definitely not pulling your weight." A little anger had crept into Blaine's voice by the end of this speech.
"First of all, it's not the first dirty diaper I've dealt with; it's just the first one that smelled like THAT and that made me feel like a murderer!" Kurt's temper flashed in response. "And second of all, I know I'm leaning on you, but that's because she likes you so much better than she likes me!"
Blaine softened instantly. "Sweetheart, don't be ridiculous. She loves her Uncle Kurt. She just sees me more often. And I know you're crazy busy right now, but I think you're cheating yourself a little. Rachel trusted us with her CHILD, Kurt. That's such an enormous gift. You're holding yourself back from appreciating that, and I don't really know why. I thought you were ok with having her come stay with us?"
"I am! I'm fine with it. It's just…I don't mean to turn you into a househusband or something, but you're so good at this. Somehow the house is clean, the baby is happy, you're getting your work done… there doesn't seem to be much room for me to help. She's fun to play with, but the minute she starts to cry or seems unhappy, I get too impatient and I can't just bend her to my will like I can…"
"Me?" Blaine grinned. "Kurt, no lie, I am ready to tear my hair out after a week of trying to be the perfect stay-at-home temporary dad. My composing has been stilted at best, and as cute as Idina is, if you could have seen my face this morning when I found the diaper rash, you would understand how much I need you. Idina needs you too."
As if on cue, a wail began in the next room.
"C'mon, rescue me from myself," Blaine teased. "Let's see you pick up some of my slack." Kurt wiped his face determinedly and started to head out into the breach, only to be stopped by Blaine crowding him into the wall next to the door. Swiping a quick kiss over Kurt's lips, Blaine whispered, "Courage, love. I will be in my office if you need me. But Kurt, let yourself have fun."
Although Kurt tried wholeheartedly to follow his instructions, Idina's scrunched up face did NOT make him feel confident. He was practically near tears again by the time he finally coaxed her to sleep an hour later with a combination of a gentle belly rub and a lullaby. However, when Idina transformed literally over that night from a model baby into a sniffling, drooling, sobbing mess, Blaine was grateful that they'd had the conversation. He might have committed hari kari without it.
Five nights later, Kurt dropped his bag in their "landing zone" and raised his eyebrows at the sheer volume of the stirring strings of Celine Dion's "All by Myself" blasting from the bedroom. His exhaustion headache was already throbbing from the bass.
He started to stomp into the room and remind Blaine that, "Hey, there's a BABY staying here, in case you've forgotten, mister" but stopped dead at the sight in front of him. Idina was sitting in her baby bouncer in all her six month old, wide-eyed glory. And Blaine was earnestly kneeling next to her and turning an overstuffed mouse into a puppet that sang along to the song.
When I was young…I never needed anyone; and making love was just for fun…
Idina giggled and cooed at the puppet, but even from the door, Kurt could see her eyes fighting to close. Ok, it made no sense that THIS MUCH NOISE was making her tired since she hadn't slept more than a couple hours at a time in two gawddamned days, but Kurt paused and silently cheered Blaine on, hoping she would give in for a while. He was too busy fighting the liquid warmth pooling in his eyes to interrupt and suggest that they move her to the crib. Blaine's face was alight with love.
All by myself, don't wanna be…all by myself anymore.
The mouse puppet was singing about loneliness, but Blaine's face as he quietly sang along assured Idina that she would never, never be alone while her Uncle Blaine was there to hug, love, and slay dragons for her.
The musical interlude crescendoed and then Celine began her song over again, very quietly as she built up to her finale. When I was young, I never needed anyone… Idina yawned as Blaine cuddled the toy into her neck and then she absently rubbed her eye.
"I'm going to have children with this man," Kurt realized in a flash of clarity. He'd always known that Blaine was a natural nurturer, but until Idina came along he'd been perfectly happy to have Blaine nurture him and him alone. Now that seemed like a waste of both their potential.
"Hey," he murmured from the doorway when the song ended and Blaine tiptoed away from Idina's barely closed eyes to quickly shut off the computer before "Declaration of Love" could begin.
"Hi," Blaine whispered back. He looked exhausted, with a couple days' worth of beard and a sickly pallor, but it didn't matter. Kurt had never been more in love with him. "I didn't even think about dinner…" he began, but Kurt waved him off.
"We'll order in. Com'ere." Blaine fell into his embrace heavily.
"Please tell me that you're going to be home this weekend," Blaine practically begged.
"Took an act of God, and I had to call in a favor from Lily, of all people, but yes. I am all yours for the weekend. And we're getting Idina out of this house and taking her to Coney Island tomorrow, even if she screams the entire time."
"I think she might be teething," Blaine mused. "I spent the twenty minutes I wasn't carrying her around today looking it up on the internet. This might be just the beginning."
"That sounds like hell on earth. We're going to hire a babysitter for a couple hours after we get back from Coney Island and split a bottle of wine at a quiet Italian restaurant, too." Kurt decided. "Might as well gird our loins."
"Don't you think she's a little young for Coney Island?" Blaine asked.
"Who cares? We'll enjoy the cheesetastic-ness and maybe it will tire her out. Then I won't feel bad about leaving her with a bored fifteen year old." Kurt suggested. Blaine began kissing him enthusiastically. Kurt returned the caresses with alacrity, but broke it off after a few minutes.
"Blaine, as wonderful as this is, and as much as I have missed you the last two weeks..." Kurt began.
"Can we just take a nap? We can hire the babysitter for three or four hours tomorrow and find a hotel room if you want, but right now I just want cool sheets and some snuggling."
Kurt smiled. "That sounds perfect."