Chapter 26:

Camilia:

"Is your room clean?"

"Yes, daddy."

"And you ate your carrots at dinner?"

"Yes, daddy."

"And your homework is completely done?"

I sighed. Daddy asks the same things every night. "Yes, daddy."

He finished fixing his tie in the hallway mirror. I was sitting by the door waiting for Bb and Kurt to get there. They were babysitting me tonight so mommy and daddy could go out. I hoped that going to dinner would make mommy smile. She hadn't smiled in a long time. Not really smiled. Grown ups think I can't tell when they have pretend smiles, but I know. Like when my teacher does it at school when Grayson paints mustard and ketchup on his nails like nail polish or when daddy talks about grandpa or when mommy sees our neighbor that talks to his plants. I'm not stupid, I know mommy is sick. But she will be better soon. I know it.

Tonight would be so fun, though. I was so excited! Kurt told me we were going to have so much fun and that he would bring a surprise! I had so many ideas for games we could play. We were definitely playing wedding and I was going to marry Kurt even though Bb says I'm a home record (whatever that means.) But anyway, they already said we could play any game I wanted and there are no take backs. Daddy gave me a gross, wet kiss on my face and I squealed from my seat by the window. Grown ups were always kissing your cheeks or pinching them. So weird!

"Daaaddy! I have to wait for Kurt and Bb!" Daddy rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure they will be here soon. Why don't you-"

"Cooper, could you come help me with my dress please?" Daddy stopped talking when mommy called out for him. He had his worried face on, but then he looked at me and gave me a pretend smile.

"Coming, sweetheart!" He ran off to the bedroom as I continued to color by my place at the door. I think mommy was hurting today. She stayed in bed for almost all day while daddy worked and I kept her company. I heard a car outside so I jumped up and looked out the window, but the car just drove on by. I sighed and went back to my picture.

"Lex, I can call Blaine and Kurt and tell them you're not up to it. If you are...tired..."

"No, I'm fine. I want to go out for a little while. You deserve a break. And plus, Cam has been so excited about them coming to babysit her."

I listened to them talk quietly where they thought I couldn't hear. I hoped they wouldn't cancel their plans. I really wanted to play with Kurt and Bb. There was another car driving by outside and I jumped up as I heard the doors slam and the hum of voices. They were here!

Kurt:

Blaine shut the passenger door as we arrived at Cooper and Alexa's to babysit Camilia. I had picked him up a few minutes ago from his house. It was almost funny to see him acting so shy as he buckled his seat belt, face blushing and a big grin on his face. He had looked down at his shoes, dark eyelashes fanning out over his cheeks. I had asked him for a kiss, which he gave me, and then I grabbed his hand. It was so weird seeing the normally confident boy who constantly flirted with me act so coy. After...last night happened, we had stayed cuddled together just enjoying the moment and whispering 'I love you' until I knew I needed to go home. His mom still wasn't home yet when he gave me one last passionate kiss at the door.

As he walked around my car, my hand found his again. "I'm so excited!"

"Nah, I know what you look like really excited. This is like, level two."

There he was. I smirked at him.

"Hey, no inappropriate talks around the child."

Blaine rolled his eyes and slid his hands onto my waist and then down onto my ass.

"I guess I better get some squeezes in while I still can then." I smiled into the kiss he gave me and wrapped my arms around him.

"We are going to have so much fun! Camila wanted to play dress up and watch movies and...oh!" I paused as I remembered the bag in my trunk. Blaine whined in discontent when I broke away from his hold and rushed to the back of my car. I pulled the bag out with a flourish. Blaine looked unimpressed.

"Um, babe...this is not a slumber party. Coop and Lex are just going to be going out for a few hours." I held up my finger.

"I brought my tea set! From when I was little!" I grinned and bounced on my heels.

"Wow, I am so much cooler than you."

I narrowed my eyes at my jerk boyfriend. "Screw you. Cam will love it."

Before he could retort, the front door flew open and I was almost knocked to the ground by a pink-clad blur and her fluffy companion.

"Kurrrrrrt! You're here! Did you bring it? Did you?" I looked down into Cam's warm brown eyes and noticed she was missing a tooth.

"Bb is here too! Just in case anyone cared..."

Cam giggled and jumped into Blaine's arms as he spun her around.

"I love you too, Bb." She giggled as he put her down and bounced back over to me.

"Are we going to play dress up?" I held her hand and followed her into the house.

"Of course." I scoffed.

"Are we going to play wedding?"

"Only if I marry Kurt." Blaine interjected.

Camilia stamped her little foot as we stepped out of our shoes. "I'm marrying Kurt."

Blaine stuck his tongue out at her and I swatted at him. Camilia pulled me towards her bedroom.

"Are we going to have a tea party?" I nodded.

"Yes, I brought my tea set and I even brought some tea!" Camilia squealed happily as Blaine picked up a pig-shaped pillow off of Camilia's window seat and tossed it into the air.

"I will make the tea while you set everything up and Blaine will make the cakes-"

"I'm not doing that."

"Blaine will make the cakes and then we can play dress up." I said, ignoring my smirking boyfriend.

"Can we play dress up as princesses while we have tea?" Camilia asked while holding up a tiara.

"Of course." I said obviously.

She clapped her hands and then started getting dress up things out.

"I call Ariel!" Blaine said, throwing the pillow at me. It smacked me on the face and fell to the ground. I glowered at him and threw it back, flipping him off discreetly as it missed him completely. Then he laughed at me. I crossed my arms.

"I though you were too cool to play princesses with us? Plus your hair is the wrong color to be Ariel."

He smirked at me the sexy way he knew I couldn't resist. "First of all, The Little Mermaid is the best Disney movie. Don't even try to convince me otherwise, because you would be wrong. Secondly, that's hair bullying and I won't stand for it. Can't believe you would bully me, Kurt."

"You shouldn't bully people, Kurt. My teacher says it's not nice and it's not acceptable." Camilia said solemnly as Blaine nodded along obnoxiously.

"I'm not bullying Blaine, he's just being a baby. And you have been hanging out with Brittany haven't you?" He shrugged.

"I have to do something in glee club when you're flirting with Sebastian." He smiled and I knew he was kidding, but I was ready to throttle him.

"Whoa, what are you all doing in here?" Cooper asked, poking his head into his daughter's room. He looked very nice in a dress shirt and tie, clean shaven and hair styled carefully. I felt myself blushing when he winked at me and then Blaine shoved me when he noticed.

"Daddy! I was picking out our things for dress up! We are going to be princesses at a tea party!" Cooper was biting his lip to hold back his laughter and nodding politely as Camilia told him all she had in store for us. He was soon joined by Alexa, who looked tired, but beautiful in her red dress, matching head wrap, and sparkly gold earrings.

"Oh mommy, you look beautiful!" She ran to her mom and wrapped her arms around her hips in a big hug and Copper smiled softly. I clasped my hands behind my back as Blaine draped an arm around my shoulders.

"You do look gorgeous, Alexa. Red is definitely your color." I smiled at her and she returned it.

"Thank you everyone."

"Every color is her color." Cooper stated while wrapping his arms around his wife's waist. She shook her head, but was smiling and blushing a little. After kissing him gently, they both gave Camilia hugs and kisses goodbye and Cooper gathered their coats. He helped Alexa get hers on, then he put on his own as we followed them into the living room.

"You okay, Kurt?" Cooper asked me as he was buttoning up his jacket.

"Yeah, why?" I asked him, puzzled. Maybe he knew about the fight Blaine and I had a few days ago.

"Oh, you just seemed to be walking funny and I thought maybe you hurt something during cheer or sat on something- ouch, Lex!"

Blaine started blushing and so did I as Cooper rubbed his arm where Alexa had pinched him. Shaking her head, she took his hand and waved with the other.

"We will be back after the movie. It will be late, but feel free to find a snack if you get hungry or watch a movie after Cam goes to bed. Blaine has both our numbers if you need us and emergency numbers are on the fridge."

I played with Camilia's braids as she waved to her mom and dad. Cooper pointed at us and arched an eyebrow wickedly.

"And no fornication until the munchkin is asleep. She's like a ninja too, so you have to be careful- ow! Lex, stop pinching me!"

"Stop trying to embarrass everyone and I'll stop pinching you! Now come on and take me out like you promised, Cooper Edward."

The door shut and Camilia looked up at me backwards. "Does fornication mean something I will understand when I'm a grownup?" I bit my lip nervously as Blaine shook with silent laughter. I shot him a look and patted the little girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, honey. It does." She grabbed my hands and started swinging them between us.

"Did you really get hurt? Are you okay?" Blaine choked with laughter, grabbing onto the couch for support when he almost fell over.

"Oh, I'm fine. Your uncle is about to be hurt though if he doesn't cut it out." I ground out through a forced smile. Blaine wiped his eyes and Camilia tore off towards the kitchen screaming about it being time for the tea party.

"Yeah, laugh it up now. Just wait until it's my turn, Anderson." I hissed at Blaine. He stopped laughing and swallowed hard. "You won't be able to walk for a week." I gave his body a heated once-over and then swished away towards the kitchen.

"Kurt! Come on, you can't just say shi- uh, things like that! Kurt!"

...

Blaine:

It was times like now that I could see how much like Cooper this little tornado was. I just knew he had hyped her up on sugar or drugs or something because she and her little pig friend were bouncing off the walls with insane energy as we moved from one activity to the other.

Kurt had made some tea (decaf, thank god) and I grumbled as I made tiny play doh cakes for the tea party (okay, so it was actually kind of fun. No way was I admitting that.) Then we donned our tiaras and feather boas (I wore a red one on my head so Kurt couldn't say shit about my hair not being red like Ariel's. And yes, I made it look good) and drank our tea and talked about what princes were cute. After that, we kept on our princess getups and had a sing/dance party. It was way more fun than I thought I could have with a six year old in tow, to be honest. Cam was pretty amazing though. We had to sing that song she loved from Babe about ten times and then she drug out her coloring books, paper, and crayons. She then instructed us (I said she was bossy at first until Kurt shushed me and said she was being instructional.) to color pictures for her mommy.

"Okay," Kurt nodded as he adjusted his tiara. I had to admit that he could work it. "Does she like flowers?"

"Oh yes! She likes the yellow ones that are really tall!" Camilia handed him a yellow crayon and blank sheet of paper.

"Sunflowers?"

"Yup. So you draw that. Bb, you can color this picture of Moana since mommy likes her and you can't draw." I scoffed as Kurt giggled. Jerk.

"I can too draw. Who told you I can't? Daddy?"

She shrugged. "No one has to tell me, Bb. I have eyes."

Kurt snorted again. "Ooh, burn." I pushed Kurt over and ignored his squeak of protest as I colored my stupid picture.

It was quiet for a little while, all of us concentrating on our tasks. Kurt was a little too concentrated though, eyes focused and the tip of his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth a little. He was too damn adorable for his own good. I cleared my throat.

"Hey, why don't we color some pictures for you too? There's got to be a piglet coloring book in here somewhere."

Camilia shook her head without looking up from her work. "Nah, I don't need a picture. Mommy does."

Kurt glanced up at me, a puzzled expression furrowing his brow.

"You mean mommy likes them?"

She shook her head, her tiara slipping a bit. "No, she needs them." Camilia pushed the tiara back up onto her head without looking up from her picture. "She told me that my pictures make her feel better and she hasn't been better in a long time. So, if I give her lots of pictures she will get better quicker."

Kurt looked back at me, tears clouding up his perfect blue eyes. I swallowed around the lump in my own throat as I put my crayon down. Cam noticed us not coloring and she smiled up at me.

"What's wrong Bb? Did your crayon break?" I shook my head and put my hand on hers.

"Did I ever tell you that you are the bravest person I've ever met?" She smiled again.

"Braver than Babe when he attacks the wolves?"

I nodded and gave her a watery laugh. Kurt wiped quickly at his cheek. I figured he was thinking about his own mom.

"Yeah, way braver than a little pig." I squeezed her hand and started coloring again. "Alright, let's get busy so we can knock a few of these out before bedtime."

Kurt smiled and continued working on his picture too. We finished our project after about thirty minutes and Cam whined when Kurt declared it was her bedtime.

"Don't give me those Anderson puppy dog eyes! You have school tomorrow and you have to get your rest."

I stuck my lip out too and begged him to let her stay up. He groaned and threw his head back.

"Not you too! We are supposed to be the responsible ones, Blaine."

Cam grabbed his hand and drug him off to her room.

"I'll only go to bed if you read me a bedtime story and sing the song again."

He agreed to the terms, asking me to gather up the pictures. I put the crayons back into their slots in the box and stacked the drawings up in order. Stopping to admire the sunflower my talented boyfriend had drawn, I noticed a word written at the top of the page. One word, but it made me tear up again. Courage. Moments like these were the ones that made me realize how much I loved one Kurt Hummel. After straightening up the living room a bit, I took the pictures and crayons to Camilia's room and stopped at the scene I came across. She was in her pink pajamas, tucked into her bed with her little plush pig as Kurt sat by her feet reading from a book.

"People looked out their windows. Abiyoyo had disappeared! They ran across the fields. They lifted the boy and his father up on their shoulders. They said, "Come back to town. Bring your silly ukulele, we don't care anymore!" And they all sang, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo..."

Kurt smiled as he closed the book and kissed Camilia gently on the forehead. She saw me standing in the doorway and demanded I give her a kiss as well. I complied and she smiled at me as her little eye lids drooped closed. We both walked out together, our hands clasped. My heart warmed in my chest when I saw them together. It just felt so... right.

"She said she wanted me to read that one because I could read and sing at the same time-" I pulled Kurt in and kissed him firmly on the mouth, catching him off guard. As I broke away, he smiled hazily at me in surprise. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" He whispered breathlessly. I brushed the pad of my thumb gently against his cheek, just admiring the way his eyes sparkled and the cute spattering of freckles dotting his nose.

"Nothing. Just because you're you."

He grinned, showing off all his teeth as I led him into the living room. He snuggled onto the couch while I went to prepare some ice cream I found in the fridge for the two of us. When I got back, music was playing softly from Kurt's phone. I handed him his bowl and climbed onto the couch, covering up with his blanket and tangling our legs together. We sat on opposite sides facing each other so we could talk. Kurt licked his spoon clean and smiled at me over his bowl.

"So, you never told me how dinner with your parents went Friday night."

"Well, I would have yesterday but you were all up on me so..." He smirked at me as I dipped my spoon back into my bowl. I knew he would back off if I asked him to, but I was trying to be this new guy that shared feelings and shit. Also, now I didn't automatically feel rage every time I thought of my dad either. That helped.

"Anyway, it went well. We went for pizza and even though I'm pretty sure mom and dad are never ever getting back together, they tried to be civil for me. Dad didn't say a whole lot, but I think he was just trying to be careful not to say something dumb. Oh, and he asked about you."

"Did he?"

"Yeah, asked how we met. I explained the whole ordeal and how you pestered me until I cracked and punched you-"

"That is not what happened."

"And then he spent the rest of dinner giving me relationship advice." I looked down into the dregs of my almost-melted ice cream and swirled it around with my spoon. "It felt like... like old times. Like when I was a kid. It was good. It felt good." Kurt rubbed his foot against mine and looked at me until he got eye contact.

"I'm really glad he came around," he said with a soft smile. "You deserve it, Blaine. You should feel loved every second of every day and I'm glad your dad finally gets that." I put my bowl down on the coffee table and tried to wipe the traitorous tear that slipped out discreetly away.

"You make me feel loved, Kurt."

He gave me a soft look and set his bowl down as well, standing up and reaching for my hand. I looked at him questioningly, but took the offered hand as he changed the song. I smiled as I recognized it and buried my face in the crook of Kurt's neck.

"Well, I'm glad because I love you and I thought you should know it."

The song was an acoustic version, slowed down enough so that we could just sway to it.

Oh no, did I get too close oh?

Oh, did I almost see what's really on the inside?

All your insecurities

All the dirty laundry

Never made me blink one time

Unconditional, unconditionally

I will love you unconditionally

There is no fear now

Let go and just be free

I will love you unconditionally

Come just as you are to me

Don't need apologies

Know that you are all worthy

I'll take your bad days with your good

Walk through this storm I would

I'd do it all because I love you, I love you

Kurt sang the words quietly into my ear with such sincerity that I knew he meant every single one. We stayed like that for long after the song had changed, just wrapped up together for several songs after. I had never felt so close to another person in my life and after a lot of messed up situations, things were finally looking up for me. The playlist ran out, but we continued to sway together in happiness, Kurt's strong arms tight around me and his lips pressed into my neck. It was quiet except for our breathing and heartbeats, but I realized the quiet didn't bother me so much anymore.

...

Songs used:

Unconditional- Katy Perry

Book quotation from Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger