"Kurt!" Carole exclaims from the couch. "You're home early, you-" As good as he was at hiding his tears Carole was a mom, she always knew. "Hey, hey what's wrong?" She guided him over to the couch. He thankfully fell into the arms that she opened up for him, and began sobbing onto her shoulder. He stops just long enough to get the words out.
"He's awake." He stayed in her arms for a couple of minutes, trying to compose himself so Hadley doesn't have to see him like this. "I-uh," he wiped his eyes, and nose. "I have to bring her to him."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I'm good but thank you. I-just. I'll just go get her."
Kurt finds her in his old room, which they had turned into a little nursery for her when she stays over. She's in his old crib because his dad had never thrown it away. Kurt lifts her up gently, trying not to wake her. She squirms slightly but she she's back in a deep sleep in no time.
She's still asleep when Kurt pulls into the hospital parking lot. This time when he picks her up she's awake with in moments. "Daddy?" She groans, voice adorably scratchy with sleep. "Where are we?"
"We're going to meet someone very special to you." They walk past Lizzy and she musters up her best reassuring smile. Kurt nods a thanks and slips into Blaine's room.
Even though he hasn't seen her in a year, he knows there is no discretion to whether or not the little girl in the doctor's arms is his daughter. Black wild curls, olive skin, and even though her eyes are a brilliant blue they were large and round, the same shape as his. He wants to reach for her. He wants to finally have her in his arms after all this time, and he never wants to let go. But she doesn't really have a clue who he is, and the last thing he wants to do is scare his little girl.
"I…wow." He says airily, his voice shaking and cracking all at the same time. He doesn't even know if it was audible. It hadn't really felt like he'd been out for a year until this moment. Seeing his baby as… not a baby anymore. He realizes he hasn't just missed her learning how to walk and talk, he's missed every day. He can never get them back, they'll belong to Kurt and he's going to have to find some way to be ok with that. But today is not the day he figures out how. Today all he wants to do is hold his baby girl and never let go.
He reaches out a hand, Kurt pulls back slightly. The action makes his stomach flip; please just- she's all I have left.
"Hadley do you remember when I brought you in here before?" Kurt's voice is soft but not babying. She shakes her tiny head and curls bounce around he bright eyes. "You don't remember me telling you who this is?" Another shake of the head, no. "Hadley, honey, this is your dad." He pauses, the words hanging thickly in the air. "Do you remember now?" He prods.
"No." Her voice is small and she looks up to Kurt with big questioning eyes. "I thought you were my daddy?"
"In a way, I am. But," Kurt points to where Blaine is waiting as patiently as he can possibly manage. "He's your dad too, and he really, really misses you. Do you think you could give him a nice big hug? I bet he'd really love that."
She nods animatedly. "I love hugs!" She says with a squeal of delight. She wriggles from Kurt's arms and throws herself onto the bed. Blaine lets out an, "oomph", as he catches her, squishing her to his chest. They each hook their chins over one another's shoulders. Suddenly it's like he's holding her for the first time all over again.
"Just breathe, honey," Sebastian instructed, letting go of Hannah's hand to take hold of his husbands. Blaine's breathing evened out, and as soon as he wasn't hyperventilating anymore Hannah let out a howl of pain that started him right back up again.
"Jesus, you'd think Blaine was the one pushing a watermelon out of their lady parts." Hannah quipped. That only seemed to make Blaine more guilty and jittery. Sebastian forced the shorter man into the chair in the corner of the room to stop his obnoxious pacing.
"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous."
"No really? I couldn't tell." Sebastian smiled lovingly at him and Blaine returned it only looking more exasperated than loving. He sighed and leaned back in the chair. His leg began to bob, and the taller man groaned.
But neither of them had time to be nervous, or annoyed just a few short minutes later when they heard a pitiful cry rip through the room. The doctor handed her to Sebastian. Before Blaine had the chance to stand of from the chair he had been refined to, Sebastian had made himself a seat on his lap. Blaine sat speechless as their daughter cried herself red, and tired and soon fell asleep. He didn't think he'd ever heard a more beautiful sound. All the music in the world couldn't compare to this.
Blaine stroked her flushed cheek softly, not wanting to wake her; but just needing to touch her, to be assured that yes, she was really here, he really did have a daughter. He was a dad.
Her little face scrunched up, her little nose twitched. Blaine swore that he would never see anything cuter than that. That was until Sebastian carefully placed her in his arms and the cutest little yawn stretched over her whole face.
Sebastian snapped a picture as Blaine caught the yawn bug, and the two had wide-open mouths, eyes squinted and noses scrunched. Sebastian had loved the picture, but Blaine couldn't get past the double chin he sported. But secretly Blaine had always loved the photo; it was just the first that his husband would take of them where they could have been mistaken for twins.
The embrace is over far too quickly; soon she is crawling off the bed and back onto the doctor's lap. Blaine hates that he is jealous. He should be grateful that Hadley had someone who cared so much about her to look after her while he couldn't. But it's hard to know that your baby doesn't think of you as daddy anymore. She doesn't know who you are. She doesn't know how much you love her.
Blaine is broken from his stupor when a little voice pipes up from across the room.
"If you're both my daddies, how come I only see you daddy?" She looks pointedly at Kurt. "Aren't kid s'possed to see their daddies everyday?"
"Uh- well honey…" He trails off, where do he go with this? "Hadley you know wha a doctor does right?" She nods yes. "Well you know I'm a doctor right?" Another nod. "Well daddy was very sick, Hadley."
"You were?" She looks scared, she doesn't want her daddy to be sick.
"No I wasn't, your-uh-other daddy was sick. And I had to take care of him. You see?" Nod. "Well now that he's better, after he gets his strength back he's… he's-uh." Kurt breaks off and chokes off a strangled sob. He wipes his eyes quickly, begging her not to notice, he replaces what ever look of pain is surely on his face with a smile. "He's going to take care of you." He finishes with a rush of breath.
"Why are you sad daddy? Daddy being back is good! Right?" Kurt meets Blaine's eyes over her head. He looks beaten, guilty. He knows what he's doing. But he also knows this is his daughter. He didn't ask for this. He didn't ask for some stranger to fall in love with his daughter. Kurt knows that, but he still has to force out the next words. "Yeah baby, daddy being back is a really good thing."
xXx
"I took Hadley to the daycare so that we can talk… logistics." The patient looks to where the doctor stands crossed armed in the doorway. He wonders if he looks this pissed at all of his patients, or if he's pissed because Blaine had the audacity to wake up and want his child back.
"Ok." Blaine just purses his lips and waits for the doctor to continue. Kurt clears his throat, dipping into the chair next to the curly haired man's hospital bed. He finds himself staring at those curls. They are so much like Hadley's, so is it wrong for him to find the look of unruly, dark curls, incredibly attractive on Blaine and at the same time find them beyond adorable on her? Jesus, Kurt. Get a grip, please; you have serious issues to work out.
"I figured we would start out with the easier stuff. So right now I am here as your doctor, and only your doctor." He refers to Blaine's medical records as he talks. "Since your muscles have gone unused for so long you are going to have to go through extensive physical therapy before you can be released. Especially since um-"
"Especially since I'm alone, and I have no one who could take care of me." He supplies, Kurt cringes.
"So, You'll have physical therapy everyday for a month, and we'll see where you are then. Don't worry, you'll like the physical therapist, she's a good friend. For now you'll be kept under hospital care, until you're able to move around more."
"And this is just a guess but I won't be able to get her back until I'm out of here. Am I right?" Kurt sighs.
"I would love to give her back to you Blaine but she can't live in a hospital. And I know you hate the idea of me taking care of her any longer, but I promise you, you'll be able to see her whenever you want. Well whenever you want to see her when I'm not totally slammed with work. She either goes to the daycare here when I work, or she stays at my dads right down the street. So just ask one of the nurses to fetch me and I can try to swing it ok?"
He nods. Before he even has a chance to think about it, his next words are spilling from his mouth. "What if she doesn't like me?" Kurt is so taken aback by this. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind, much like the thought of Kurt actually leaving her hadn't crossed his mind. He hadn't let it. Yes he knew it was coming, but he couldn't let himself think that one day he might have to say goodbye to her for good. But now he couldn't help but think about it.
He couldn't get the image of Blaine dragging her away from him from his mind. And he prayed to the god that he didn't believe that it would never happen, though somewhere in the back of his head something was telling him that it was only inevitable. She's kicking and screaming bloody murder and he just wants to hold her. He just wants to scoop her into his arms and never let go. But he just keeps on pulling and eventually Kurt loses his grip. Loses her. Forever.
Not now, Kurt. He scolds himself. Right now you are here as a professional. "You're her dad, she already loves you." He doubts his strangled mess of words sounded the least bit encouraging, but he's surprised when Blaine turns his honey eyes towards him, with his lip trembling he nods slightly.
