Three months later.

Blaine wanders down the hall to the back of the house with Libby wobbling alongside, grasping onto his finger. Pushing open the door to Kurt's office, he smiles to see him drawing, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in that cute way he has, as he frowns, erases something and tries again. He nods to let Blaine know he's seen him, but carries on sketching for the moment and Blaine is happy to lounge in the doorway and wait, watching Libby crawling around after the cat until eventually Kurt looks up from his drawing board and smiles.

"Hey, it's my two favorites."

"Hey," Blaine smiles as Libby toddles over to be lifted onto Kurt's lap. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You can say no if you want."

"O-Kay?" Kurt says, pushing back from his desk as Blaine steps further into the room.

"Do you think...maybe...I could invite Edward to the party?"

"If you want to," Kurt shrugs. "I don't see why not."

"It wouldn't bother you?"

"Why would it bother me? You're friends with the guy, he seems nice. He likes Libby. Ask him."

"Is it a bit weird? To ask him to fly here for a kids first birthday party?"

"It's Libby," Kurt says matter-of-factly. "People are coming from all over- Joe's flying up from Mexico."

"True."

"Besides," he says, covering Libby's ears. "We all know it's not really her party. She has what? Five kids from baby music coming? And Livvy. It'll be once she's in bed that the party will really start."

"Even so...I don't know."

"Do you think it's weird, Blaine? If you do, then why are you asking?"

"I just wonder if he'll think it's strange, that's all. But there will be a lot of people he knows, and he's a nice guy."

"He seems it," Kurt says. "I haven't spoken with him since that day in Chicago, but he seemed pleasant enough. Is this work related, or friendship related?"

"Bit of both," Blaine admits. "I've not spoken with him since then either, but we've exchanged emails a few times, and we're friends on Facebook."

"Like that makes a difference, you never go on there," Kurt laughs. "I tag you in all these family pictures, and it makes me look like a crazy because you never comment."

"I know," Blaine smiles. "I will, one day. You'll be wondering who this person is liking all your pictures from five years ago. Anyway. I just thought it'd be nice, really, given that a lot of people from the symphony are coming, to ask him too. Riccardo is thinking of organizing a joint concert in New York this summer."

"And you'd be up for that?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you asking?" Kurt laughs.

"I told you, I thought I'd be polite. No way in hell I'm playing in New York. He could maybe stay here?"

"Well everyone else will end up doing that anyway," Kurt says as he sets Libby on the floor. "It doesn't bother me, Blaine. If you want to ask then go ahead and ask. I like the guy. He apologized for hitting on you so as far as I'm concerned that's over and forgotten. Now come here and kiss me because it's been at least an hour."

"Hmm," Blaine grins as he walks slowly over to Kurt and slides one hand to the back of his neck. "Hey, do you remember when I visited you in New York? We had sex against the wall."

"We also didn't have a nearly one year old or a cat," Kurt reminds him as Martin winds between their legs. "But yes, I do remember that very clearly," he says before Blaine's lips are on his and he sighs happily.

Blaine pulls back before it gets too far, knowing that the second Kurt's tongue is in his mouth he will feel compelled to pin him against the wall and indulge in a hot make out session. "We're gonna rush to Target for party supplies before baby music time if that's okay?" he asks, voice already taking on that sultry edge it has when he's aroused.

"Of course. Man, life sucks sometimes."

"It really does," Blaine agrees. "Oh, the things I could do..."

"Go," Kurt laughs, shoving him lightly in the chest. "Leave. Go to Target and forget all about me, sitting here...alone..."

"Come with?" Blaine offers, but Kurt is already shaking his head.

"I can't," he moans. "You know that."

"But you've never been to music time with us," he pouts.

"I know, but it's been non stop since New Year," Kurt points out. "We knew it would be. And I'm trying to find a balance," he carries on. "If I come with you now then that's nearly three hours lost, by the time we've done Target, music and then called in to see your dad. And then that's three hours away from you guys tonight, meaning no bath time, stories and cuddles for Libby, and no time alone with you."

"Okay, I was just asking," Blaine says defensively, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I didn't mean for you to get so worked up."

"Sorry," Kurt says sheepishly, sliding his arms through Blaine's and bowing his head onto his shoulder. "It's just...I wish I could come, that's all."

"I know," Blaine says lightly, kissing his cheek. "But you're right, we'll get you tonight. So get back to it," he jokes, tapping his backside. "And we'll see you later."

"Our baby is one!" Kurt cries happily, four days later. "Our baby is one!"

Blaine sits, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes as he tries to wake up properly. "One," he croaks. "Ha! We've had her a whole year. Wow. One."

"Let's go get her, " Kurt says excitedly, bounding from the bed, then he stops. "Oh. Good morning, by the way," he grins, crawling over the bed to kiss Blaine's lips. "Now let's go get her."

Libby is clueless, of course, but nevertheless she enjoys tearing pretty colored paper off elaborate and expensive gifts from her daddies, who have really gone to town for their daughters first birthday. What was once Blaine's recording studio is now transformed into a large and bright playroom, and Libby heads straight for her brand new toy kitchen where she starts stuffing a random assortment of toys into the oven.

"And here, Lib," Kurt calls. "There's also a tool bench, cause daddy and I don't want to be those parents who only buy really girly stuff...though if you don't want to play with it, that's more than fine by me."

"Hey!" Blaine objects. "Don't you want her to learn to fix cars, like you?"

"Hmm. I guess," Kurt shrugs. "But only if she doesn't break a nail."

"Kurt!" Blaine laughs, tossing a ball of wrapping paper at him. "Ignore your papa, Libby," he jokes, though the little girl is far too busy now trying to fit herself in the oven to listen. "Hey, was that the door?"

"Santana, probably," Kurt notes. "Either that or someone's broken in."

"I love how alarmed you are by this," Blaine laughs as Kurt starts assembling a toy train set. "But no, it's Santana, I can hear her footsteps."

Sure enough the playroom door is thrown open and Santana stands there, grinning broadly. "Libby is one!"

"I know!" Kurt squeals, jumping to his feet and hugging her hello. "It's her birthday," he calls, as Blaine shakes his head and falls back on the floor. "We're gonna party like it's her birthday."

"Hey Libby," Santana coos, crouching beside her. "Happy birthday, sweetheart. What'cha got, huh?"

"Bear," Libby says pointing to the oven.

"Did you get this? Did you get this smart kitchen? Do your daddies think you're in the fifties?"

"She got a tool bench too," Blaine adds quickly.

"Bear," Libby says again.

"Bear? Did you cook bear? Huh? Oh you did," Santana says, opening the oven door and taking the orange bear out. "How nice. You love bear, don't you?"

"Bear, ahhh," Libby coos, rubbing her face against it.

"That's because I got it for you when you were growing inside me," she tells the little girl. "So it's naturally your favorite."

"Oh behave," Blaine laughs. "I'm gonna make coffee," he announces. "I'm assuming you're now here for the rest of the day?"

"Yes. Where else would I be?"

"Wes and Kathy will be here soon, and Burt and Carole are picking dad up about eleven."

"Gifts now, or later?" Santana asks. "Now that I actually have a job, I might have just spent my entire first paycheck on a certain little one year old."

"Now, if you want."

"Okay, well I'll wait for you to make coffee."

When the doorbell rings, Blaine strides down the hallway, assuming it will be Wes, and he pulls open the door with a big grin on his face...only to find Lacy standing there.

"Fuck off," he snarls, his good mood evaporating instantly. "I mean it. Get the fuck away from my house now."

"Do you know where I can find Santana?" she asks, biting her lip nervously.

"Yes I do, and no I'm not telling you. Now leave."

"Please, Blaine. I need to speak with her. I need..."

"You need nothing," he hisses vehemently, getting right up in her face and forcing her to take a step backwards."You hit and you hurt my best friend, and you show up here wanting to see her? No. Fucking. Way. Now go, and don't ever turn up here again, or I will call the police and tell them everything."

"Blaine, please, I..."

"I am THIS close to hitting you," he yells, shoving her out onto the driveway as he loses all composure. "Hitting you like you hit her, only I don't know if I'd be able to stop."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Kurt's alarmed shout makes Blaine turn to find him running outside in just his socks, wedging himself between them. "What the hell is going on?"

"She wants to see Santana."

"Oh hell no," Kurt snaps immediately. "Just leave."

"Do you know where she is?"

"I'm here," Santana calls from the doorway where she stands with Libby on her hip. "Please go, Lacy. I meant what I said three months ago. It's over between us. I can't forget what happened."

"Tana, please..."

"You heard her, now go!" Blaine roars, oblivious as Libby starts to cry and Kurt cowers back. "Get away, just go! Leave now before I make you leave! Get the fuck away from me, my husband and our daughter and most importantly, Santana, or I'll...I'll..."

"You'll what?" Lacy yells back, having been forced back to her car by Blaine's yelling, angry face in hers. "You know, you've always been the cause of every tension in our relationship, you know that? You and him," she says, gesturing to Kurt. "Because of you, and your selfish demands for a child, she wouldn't have one with me. Because of you, and 'oh Blaine's turning forty, I have to be there,'" Lacy mimics bitterly, "We couldn't talk things through the first time. Yes I made a mistake, I lost my temper and I shouldn't have, but you...always you...sticking in where you're not wanted or welcome. Tana is an adult, which you might not have noticed, but she's capable of deciding for herself if she wants to see me, it's not your decision."

"It damn well is my decision when you show up on my property!" Blaine screams, then menacingly pins his arms either side of her, trapping her against the car and when he speaks, his voice is low and seething with anger. "Get the fuck away from my family or I swear to god I will seriously hurt you."

"Whoa! Easy now, Blaine." Wes comes running toward them at the same time Kurt arrives from behind, pulling Blaine away and manhandling him back to the house. A sobbing Libby is thrust into Kathy's arms and Santana makes her way to the car.

"You heard him," she says quietly. "Just go."

"I heard him threaten me, yeah," Lacy snaps bitterly. "What a lovely guy."

"He is a lovely guy, you know that," Santana says with a shake of her head. "He's also fiercely protective, and I don't think he will ever be over seeing me with a black eye."

"I'm sorry, Tana," Lacy cries desperately. "How many times?"

"Not enough," she shrugs. "There will never be enough times that you can apologize, Lacy, because I'm not prepared to hear it. You know, it's Libby's first birthday today," she says tearfully. "I don't want a baby of my own, but as her aunt I have a responsibility to her, especially as she's growing up with two guys. I need, as does Rachel and Kathy, to be a role model to her. To show her how to be strong and independent yet loving and kind. I need to show her that it's okay for a woman to stand up for herself, and I need to show her that she should never settle for second best. How can I do that, if I've settled for you? For someone who can turn around and claim to love me one minute, then hurt me the next?"

"So it's over because of the baby? Always, that family."

"My family," Santana states firmly. "They are my family. And it's over not just for them, but for me. Because I'm stronger than this, and I deserve better. Please, Lacy, don't contact me again. And certainly don't contact Blaine if you know what's good for you, I've never seen him so angry."

"Whatever," Lacy snaps, pulling open her car door. "You've lost the best thing you could have had, you realize that?"

"On the contrary," Santana says with a small smile as she steps away. "I think right here and now, surrounded by people who love and care about me, is the best thing I've ever had, and I'm never throwing it away."

She makes her way back into the house to find all hell broken loose in the living room between Kurt, Blaine and Wes, and she sneaks down the hall to the playroom instead to find Kathy with the babies.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Kathy asks, rushing to her side and hugging her tight.

"Yeah, I'm good. I think. Actually..." She trails off, sinking into a bean bag chair. "I'm not great. I'm quite shaken up...but it sounds like I'm faring better than Blaine, anyhow."

"Oh Kurt and Wes are giving him hell," Kathy confirms. "Stay in here with us girls and bake tools instead."

"I'm not sure that was what Blaine and Kurt intended when they got the tool bench," Santana says as she watches Olivia chewing on a plastic screwdriver and Libby piling everything else into the oven.

"No, but they're too busy yelling at each other to notice."

"But you made Libby scream, Blaine!" Kurt yells. "She was frightened of you!"

"And I'm sorry," he cries in despair. "Christ, Kurt, don't you think I feel bad enough about it? But I was angry."

"Oh I noticed," he fumes, standing defensively with his arms folded and staring down at Blaine, who sits on the couch. "You might have thought you were quiet, but Wes was halfway down the street and he heard you threatening to seriously hurt her, as we all did."

"She's lucky I didn't threaten to kill her," he admits. "I stopped myself just in time."

"Jesus Christ, Blaine! You're...you're...you're a complete idiot!" Kurt screeches.

"Okay, Kurt, I get why you're mad," Wes starts, "but I really think we need to calm down here. It's Libby's birthday and we have just over an hour until her party. She's already been upset," he says, with a glare at Blaine. "And I don't want her day to be spoiled. She won't remember it, but you both will. Now, Blaine, I think you should go to your room."

"Excuse me?" Blaine stands, completely take aback. "What did you just say?"

"I said go to your room," he repeats. "Let Kurt calm down a bit and then we can all be friends again, okay?"

"He'll be lucky," Kurt snaps bitterly, falling into the spot on the couch Blaine has just vacated, as his husband storms from the room.

"Can I come in?"

Blaine looks up from where he's lying on the bed to see his father-in-law, Burt, poking his head around the bedroom door. "You will anyway."

"Yup. So, I hear you're banished?"

Blaine nods, sitting back against the headboard as Burt sits on the end of the bed and looks at him. "You should come down. Your dad's waiting to tell you off, and he can't manage the stairs."

"I made Libby cry," Blaine says quietly, pulling his knees up to his chest.

"So I hear."

"She was frightened of me."

"She wasn't frightened of you," Burt says evenly. "She was scared for the situation, and alarmed at hearing you shout, that's all."

"Still, I yelled. I lost my temper and I threatened someone while my one year old daughter looked on. What kind of dad does that make me?"

"You didn't yell at her, though," Burt points out. "And really, it's not like she's gonna remember this. Put it down to a lesson learned, Blaine. We all make mistakes."

"Kurt was really mad."

"Kurt was in shock," Burt corrects. "But he's not mad. In fact, I'd say he secretly quite liked it, seeing you get so protective like that."

"I'd like to say I'd never have actually hit her but..."

"You wouldn't," Burt chuckles. "When all this first happened, your dad and I had a long discussion about hunting Lacy down."

"You...and my dad?"

"Yeah. All bravado, of course, though she would have had me yelling and screaming too if I'd arrived a half hour earlier. We're all angry at her for what she did, but you wouldn't have hit her, because you know that makes you just as much of a monster as she is."

"Do you think Santana will have her back?"

"No," Burt says firmly. "I don't. Some people stay with abusive partners, some keep going back and forth and others, like Santana, are strong. I mean, she's not strong, she's crumbling inside and what's happened today will be a major setback for her, but she knows she can't stay with her. She's one of the lucky ones, in a way."

"I surprised myself with my anger."

"You didn't surprise me," Burt shrugs. "I could sit here and list all your family and friends and I know you'd defend every single one of them in the same way, because that's you. You care about people you love, Blaine. That's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm the same."

"Yeah, about that," Blaine says, suddenly remembering. "I have a question for you. Now that I'm a dad, I have this overwhelming need to protect Libby from everything. Like, I never want her hurt. I don't want her to fall and scrape her knee, I don't want her to be called on in class and not know the answer, and above everything, I never want another person to hurt her, or break her heart. So why did you ever let me date Kurt? I came to you in the hospital and asked and you said yes...when he was sixteen years old. He was so young, and naive, so completely inexperienced at...life, really. And I just want to know...why?"

"Because I knew you'd never break his heart," Burt says simply. "I won't pretend it didn't bother me, because it did. A lot. I used to pace, endlessly when he was out with you. Either that or channel hop so much that Finn and Carole would both yell at me. And when you asked if he could sleep over, it made me feel sick with worry. But as a parent, you have to trust your kid, Blaine. I had to trust that Kurt would keep in mind all I had said to him and of course, I had to trust you. But I did. I do. I've always known you have his best interests at heart because I've always been able to see how much you love him. The first time I ever met you, in the garage when you had a flat, I was alarmed, sure, and I couldn't get your age out of my head. But when you'd left, that wasn't what stayed with me. It was the looks you two had shared, the way your face had brightened when you spoke about him.

Libby is tiny right now, and reliant on you for everything. But as she gets older, I think you'll be surprised. I think you'll want her to spread her wings, however much it pains you, and however often you need to be there to pick up the pieces, because you'll want her to explore and learn for herself. And if one day she brings someone home, and she looks at them like you and Kurt look at each other, then you'll know, and you'll want her to be happy no matter what."

"You're a good dad, Burt," an emotional Blaine tells him as he slides up the bed to hug him.

"I know. And so are you. Please don't beat yourself up over this, just focus on today and making a huge fuss of Libby. Now come on, let's go find your husband."

A humble and contrite Blaine finds Kurt and Libby in the dining room setting out plates of food, ably assisted by Kathy, who makes herself scarce the moment Blaine appears, and closes the door softly behind her.

"I need to apologize to Libby," Blaine says, his voice small.

"Right." Kurt hoists her higher on his hip. "Well, here she is."

"I'm sorry, baby girl," Blaine says, smoothing a hand over her hair. "I yelled, and I frightened you, and I'm sorry. I really do promise not to do it again. You see, sometimes people try to hurt people that I love, and that makes daddy mad. But I didn't mean to scare you, and I can't promise I won't get mad ever again, or that I won't defend my friends and family, but I can promise that I'll never make you frightened. I love you, Libby Darling." He kisses into her hair, surprised when Kurt hands her over so he can clutch her tight to his chest. Libby laughs, giving tiny wet kisses as Blaine swipes at his tears.

"I think she forgives you," Kurt says softly.

"And you?"

"Of course I do," Kurt tells him with a small smile.

"You're not mad?"

"No. I mean, it wasn't the best situation, and in all honestly you frightened me too, but I get why you did it."

"She just..."

"I know, Blaine. I've seen you lose your temper like that twice before. Once in that bar when you hit Adam, and once in the school parking lot when you floored Karofsky because he called us fags. You love passionately, Blaine, and you defend with equally as much vehemence."

"Is Santana okay?"

"She will be. Wes is with her now, and Carole."

"I am sorry, Kurt. I'm sorry for losing my temper like that."

"Really don't worry," Kurt says, stepping close to wind his arms around his neck. "Honestly, when you get angry...as long as it's not directed at me...it's really hot."

"Behave," Blaine says with a blush, but he's laughing as he looks down shyly.

"It is," Kurt protests. Taking Libby, he opens the dining room door and sets her down in the hallway. "Baby on the loose!" he yells, and Burt calls back. "Coming!"

"Better." Kurt closes the door again and sidles up to Blaine, wrapping his arms around him once more. "Angry Blaine is hot," he repeats. "And you know what you said about the wall, in New York?"

"Kurt," Blaine warns, but Kurt's breath comes hot in his ear and he can't help but whimper.

"I can't stop thinking about it," he whispers. "All the time."

"You always do this," Blaine groans as his eyes close in pleasure.

"Do what?"

"Turn me on when I really shouldn't be turned on."

"Sorry."

"Don't be," Blaine grins, and then he's kissing him, deep hard and rough, hands framing his face as he directs the kiss and Kurt moans happily at the feel of his tongue. "I love you."

"I love you too...oh!" he smiles at the sound of the doorbell. "It's party time!"