Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, obviously. I just have fun taking what RIB have created & using it for my own amusement – which I naturally share with all of my fellow Gleeks. I make no profit from any of this, unless the fun I get to have counts in some way…

A/n: So… I've been a bit preoccupied with my other story lately (there's a lot going on over there), not to mention my homework for school (two classes with 100+ pages of reading each week – yikes!). But this story isn't ending yet, I promise! Oh, and I corrected the whole double-Christmas issue from the last chapter – I'm surprised no one noticed that I was about to make Christmas happen twice in less than a year in this story! So yeah, all of the references to Christmas in the last chapter are now references to Blaine's birthday instead. Sorry for any confustion!

Kurt wasn't sure if he was really ready for the prospect of having both of Blaine's parents and his entire family over at their apartment at the moment. It wasn't that he didn't want them to come; Kurt loved that they were taking time out of their lives to make an effort to make sure they saw Blaine on his birthday. But Kurt hated the way their apartment looked, because he had been too tired lately to deal with cleaning up. He didn't like asking Lily to do those things, either, because that really wasn't her job. Not that Kurt could really stop her from doing little things like that – Lily did them anyway. But even with her help, it still didn't seem to be enough to keep the apartment looking decent enough for guests.

"Kurt… they aren't going to care if it's a little untidy," Blaine commented from his place on the couch. The man had tried to help him, but Kurt knew that Blaine was still weak from his last treatment, and he'd forced Blaine to sit down the moment he saw Blaine's hands starting to shake.

"But I care… and I don't want your parents to think I'm incapable of taking care of you properly even with Lily's help." Kurt watched as Blaine smiled at him, shaking his head.

"You work forty plus hours a week with a sick husband at home to take care of… they know there's only so much you can do, and they aren't going to think any less of you just because you don't have an immaculate house." Kurt walked over and sat down on the couch next to Blaine's feet. "My parents… they're just thankful that you've stayed. Through all of this, you've stuck by my side and continued to take care of me. Not everyone would have stayed through all of this…"

"I stayed because I love you. I've loved you since my junior year of high school. And the day I married you, I promised that I would stick around through all of this. I keep my promises. Especially to the people I love." Blaine smiled as Kurt leaned over, pressing a kiss against his forehead.

"I love you, too. So much more than you'd ever know…" Kurt smiled as he let Blaine pull him to lie down, letting one of his arms lie protectively across Blaine's stomach. "I want you to be happy, okay?"

"We're not talking about this on your birthday, Blaine… any other day, okay. But not on your birthday. Not when our families will be here soon to celebrate…" Kurt sat up suddenly, remembering what he'd forgotten. "Shit… I didn't bake the cake…"

"Just call the bakery, see if they have anything pre-made they could hold until you get there…" Blaine replied. Kurt wasn't that surprised that the man wasn't at all upset about the lack of a birthday cake, but he still felt bad for forgetting that part of Blaine's birthday celebration. "It's okay, Kurt… it's just a cake. The only thing I really need is to have you here with me. You, and our families. That's all I really care about."

"You aren't upset?" Kurt asked. The other man shook his head with a smile.

"It's just a cake. I can't even really eat that much of it… sweet stuff doesn't sit well with me anymore. If anyone's going to be upset over the lack of cake, it'll be Finn. And it isn't even his birthday…" Kurt smiled, leaning over to press a kiss against Blaine's lips.

"Still… what's a birthday party without cake? I can at least go to the bakery and pick something up. It may be pink princesses, but it'll still be a birthday cake." Kurt couldn't help laughing along with his husband.

"Make sure it's pink and purple, if it's princesses. Everyone knows that real princess cakes have both colors." Kurt laughed and kissed his husband again as someone rang their buzzer.

"I'm going to go let whoever that is in, and then I'm going to run to the bakery to get you your pink and purple princess birthday cake." Kurt smiled, shaking his head as he walked over to the intercom system and pressed a button. "Hello?"

"Hey Kurt, it's Lily…" Kurt raised an eyebrow, but buzzed the woman in anyway.

"Did you know Lily was coming over today?" he asked, turning to his husband. The other man shook his head, looking just as confused as Kurt felt. "That's weird…"

"I thought you told her you were taking tonight off for my birthday…"

"I did… or at least I thought I did…" Kurt replied. "Although we probably should have invited her to come celebrate with us… she's been such a huge part of our lives lately."

"Then she'll stay… or we'll invite her to stay, at least. I'd like her to be here as a guest for once, not as a hired nurse." Kurt hurried over to the door as Lily knocked, smiling as he let her into the apartment along with a bunch of flowers.

"I know you gave me the day off, but I thought I would stop by with these… I thought it might be nice for you to have some flowers at the party, to brighten this place up a bit," Lily commented, making her way straight to the kitchen to find a vase for the flowers.

"That's really nice of you, Lily… thank you," Kurt commented, moving to the kitchen to help her with the flowers. He worked quickly, helping her cut the ends off the flowers and arrange them. "You should stay for the party… everyone will be here soon, and I ordered in enough food for at least ten people. We'd love to have you, if you have the time."

"I'd love to, but I have a date. And I've already cancelled on him once this week, so I really shouldn't cancel again," Lily replied. Kurt smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"There's a boyfriend? We didn't know that…"

"I did…" Blaine replied. "I didn't tell you about that?"

"No… you must have forgotten that one," Kurt replied with a smile.

"I would forget my head right now if it wasn't part of my body…" Blaine replied. Kurt raised an eyebrow at how quickly Blaine's mood seemed to have shifted. He'd gone from being happy and looking forward to the party to suddenly sounding as though he was seriously depressed over something. Kurt put down the flowers he'd been working on and hurried over to his husband, drying his hands off on a dishtowel on the way.

"Hey… what's wrong? Not five minutes ago you were so excited about this party…" Kurt watched as Blaine shrugged. "If it's the memory thing… it's not a big deal, okay? You have a lot going on right now, and I'm sure it'll be back to normal when you get better."

"I just… I hate forgetting everything. Not always knowing what's going on. It's almost as bad as the whole hearing issue… maybe worse, I don't know. I just need to get back to normal." Kurt smiled, leaning in and pressing a kiss against Blaine's lips, letting his forehead rest against the other man's for a moment.

"Hey… it's okay. You're going to get better, and then this is all going to be just another bad thing that happened in the past… something that will make us realize how lucky we are a few years from now, when we're stressing out about something stupid." Kurt rubbed his husband's cheek with his thumb for a moment, before he smiled and stood up. "Now, I need to go pick up a cake from the bakery for this party, so that we don't have to listen to Finn complaining all night."

"I can stay for a few minutes, if you need me to," Lily replied from the kitchen.

"You're welcome to stay, but it isn't necessary." Kurt stood up as his husband replied to Lily's offer. "I'll be fine while he's gone, but I always enjoy your company."

"If the two of you weren't gay and married, I would think Blaine was hitting on me."

"As much as I love you, Lily… you aren't my type."

Blaine really hated the fact that he was so sick. Sure, the medications made him feel lousy and he was weak and tired all the time. But the worst part of it all was that everyone seemed to be so worried about him all the time. Throughout the entire party, someone was always by his side making sure that he felt okay, that he didn't need anything. And to be honest, no matter how much he loved his family – all of his family, including his in-laws – it was about to drive him up the wall. And by the time the last of them were walking out the door, Blaine was thankful they were gone.

"I love my parents, but that was stressful…" Kurt commented as he finally closed the door behind Finn and Rachel. "Next time, remind me not to have everyone over here for a party."

"I think I'm as glad to see them all go as you are," Blaine admitted, patting the couch beside him as an invitation for his husband to sit down. "It was nice to see everyone and to have them here, but I sort of wish they'd been gone an hour ago… I'm so tired of everyone asking if I'm doing all right. I'm not an invalid. Not at the moment, anyway."

"They're just worried about you… they aren't here every day to see how you're really doing. All they've seen this time around is how you were doing today, and you're still feeling the effects of your last chemo treatment. They don't realize that you aren't always this sick." Blaine smiled, letting his head rest against Kurt's shoulder as the man put his arm around Blaine's neck and shoulders. He closed his eyes, snuggling up to his husband.

"I know. But it's frustrating… they wouldn't let me do anything for myself today. Every time I tried to get up for any reason, someone would tell me to sit back down and they would get me whatever I needed…"

"Did you see the look on Finn's face when you asked him how he was going to go to the bathroom for you?" Kurt asked. Blaine couldn't help chuckling along with his husband about that particular instance.

"I think he was actually trying to figure out how he could do that for me for a minute there…"

"Hey… my step-brother is nothing if not entertaining."