"I love you," Blaine whispered as he turned off the light and eyeballed the recliner, which was comfortable enough to sit in during the day but he wasn't sure about all night. Oh well.
"I love you too, baby."
Joey woke up twice in the night to be fed and changed, leaving Kurt and Blaine in reverse positions on the couch and recliner as Kurt had enough diaper duty for one evening thank you very much. At half passed five Roxanne's cries from the bedroom woke them both up but Kurt volunteered to go check on her as Blaine and Joey had only gotten resettled about half an hour before.
Kurt walked into the bedroom and saw Roxanne curled up in the far corner of the bed, crying. He gently sat next to her.
"Honey what's wrong?" He asked gently. She shook her head, tight lipped and shoulders shaking. Kurt cautiously reached out to stroke her hair but retreated when she jerked away. "Did you have a bad dream?" He wondered aloud. She shook her head again. Kurt looked around for her stuffed bear, hoping it would soothe her. He began moving around pillows and bedding when he noticed the large wet spot in the middle of the bed. Roxanne heard his gasp and began crying with renewed vigor. Oh.
"I-I…." she wailed miserably. "I had a accident." Kurt tried to stay focus on the upset little girl in his bed and not the fact that there was now a considerable amount of pee on his expensive Egyptian cotton sheets.
"Well, that happens sometimes. Let's, let's get you changed and some new sheet and we'll be all fixed." Well, she did say "kinda," potty trained and this whole experience must be scary for her, Kurt reasoned as Roxanne wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and let Kurt take her by the hand to stand next to the bed while he stripped the sheets.
He changed her into another of Blaine's old shirts and quickly washed her underwear in the sink because it's not like Cooper left them with another pair Kurt thought irritably as he used the blow dryer to dry them. He flipped the mattress and put on new sheets while the little girl clutched her bear.
"There," he remarked triumphantly. "Good as new."
"Thanks…hey, what's your name?" Roxanne asked.
"Kurt. I'm Kurt and my boyfriend is Blaine." She nodded in her understanding. He lifted her back into the bed and kissed her on the forehead before even realized what he was doing. She smiled up at him.
"I like you. You're nice."
"You're nice too," he said with a smile, bopping the little girl on the nose, "now go back to sleep."
Thoroughly awake now, Kurt gathered up the laundry and headed down to the basement to throw the soiled sheets in the wash. He went back up to their apartment and made a pot of coffee, pouring himself a cup when the phone, finally, rang. Accidentally splashing himself with piping hot coffee Kurt dashed out of the living room just as Blaine shot up (jolting baby Joey awake in the process) and reached for his phone.
"Where the HELL have you been?" Blaine demanded into the phone. Kurt sat down next to Blaine so he could listen in.
"I'm sorry alright. Relax. You're good with kids, right?" Cooper spoke into the phone, his voice raspy.
"I repeat. Where have you been? You were supposed to leave them with me for an hour, not a day."
"Look I had to figure some shit out. I don't even think they're mine. Can you call their mom for me? I really have to get back to LA." Blaine's face flushed in anger.
"You fucking child. This baby has your exact eyes. Just, goddamn it: give me their mom's number. Wouldn't want to keep you from your precious career."
Cooper rattled off the number and ended with a "thanks man! Chao!" Before hanging up the phone.
"Unbelievable. Unbelievable," seethed Blaine. Kurt rubbed his back distractedly while he dialed the number Cooper had given them.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
A hacking cough greeted them as the line picked up. "What?" asked the voice, which sounded far older than Kurt or Blaine had been expecting.
"Uh, hi…is this Amber?" Kurt asked hesitantly, wishing he had a last name at least. Thanks Cooper.
"No. I ain't seen her in three days."
"But you know her?" Kurt pressed.
"Of course I know her I'm her mother," the voice snapped. "Why do you wanna know?"
"Ma'am, my name is Kurt Hummel and my boyfriend Blaine Anderson –"
"Boyfriend, eh? I knew you sounded like a fruit loop."
"Yes, well, Blaine and I are here with Amber's children – Joey and Roxanne?"
"Joey and Roxanne? Why the hell are they with you?"
"It's a bit of a long story but Joey's father, Cooper, left them in our care and we've been trying to reach Amber."
"Cooper? That asshole – I haven't seen him since right after Roxy was born. I didn't know he was Joey's daddy too. "
"We didn't realize he was Roxanne's either."
"Yeah well that's Amber for you. Like I said I don't know where she is though."
"Okay," Kurt said steadily, "but do you know anyone who might know where she is or any other way to contact her?"
"Listen you ain't gonna find Amber if she don't wanna be found, and if she doesn't wanna be found she's probably not in any state to be around those children anyway."
"I see. Is there somewhere we could meet you then?" Kurt reached.
"Meet me? Why do you wanna meet me?"
"Don't you want your grandchildren back?"
"I raised my babies. I told Amber if she wanted those brats she had to take care of them." Kurt swallowed and handed Blaine the phone.
"Miss?"
"Collins, Rosemary Collins."
"Is that Amber's last name too?"
"Yeah – unless she got married without telling me," Rosemary said with a laugh that ended with a cough. "Listen, I got things to do. If I see Amber I'll tell her you're looking for her, okay?"
"O-kay….well, don't hang up yet! Let me give you my number and our address first." Blaine waited for her to grab a pen and repeated both of his and Kurt's numbers and their apartments address for the woman. After they hung up Blaine stared blankly from Kurt to the baby that was starting to stir in his arms to the bedroom where Roxanne slept.
"Well, this just got interesting," said Kurt dryly, picking up the baby and heading into the kitchen to make up a bottle.
Blaine rubbed his eyes with the backs of his palms. Okay, he thought, I must have like…hit my head making breakfast yesterday after Kurt left for his rehearsal and now I'm in a coma at the hospital because this – whatever this is – this. is. not. happening.
"We have to call a social worker, or Child Protective Services…or…something," Blaine stated as he padded into the kitchen. Kurt hummed in agreement.
"And you should call your dad again, maybe he can make Cooper come back or help us find Amber."
"Yeah. I just, it feels like we like, kidnapped two kids or something."
"When really they just showed up at our door," Kurt finished for him.
"Where's mommy?" a small voice asked. Blaine turned to see a messy haired Roxanne, his t-shirt trailing along the ground it was so long on her.
"She's uh….still working. We talked to your grandma," Blaine explained. Roxanne grimaced.
"I don't like her."
Blaine picked up the little girl and lifted her up to pick out a cereal for herself.
"Why not?"
"She's mean. She hits. You're not supposed to hit." Blaine held the girl a little tighter.
"That's right. Gosh you're smart." She pointed towards the Rice Crispy cereal and he helped her pull it off the shelf.
They didn't have booster seats so Blaine kept the little girl on his lap while she ate her breakfast. One-Handed-Wonder Kurt made them both coffee and bowls of cereal of their own and then sat across from Blaine at the table. Kurt held two fingers up to his temple and closed his eyes.
"I see our future for today, it involves lots of waiting in line," he joked to break some of the tension. Blaine smiled, grateful that he could always count on Kurt in a crisis.
"Yeah. After breakfast we should get cleaned up and god – I don't even know where to start. There's that police station like 8 blocks uptown, which might be a good place to start. I don't know what we're going to tell them – our story sounds pretty crazy. Hey officer my douchebag wanna-be famous brother showed up at my boyfriend and I's apartment yesterday and dropped off two small children saying their mom says they're his but he doesn't thinks so but we can't get a hold of the mom and the grandmother doesn't want to help us find her either. That doesn't sound ridiculous at all."
"Life's never boring, hmm?" Sympathized Kurt.
"Crap, we don't even have clean clothes for them."
"Yes we do. I started a load earlier. I had to wash the sheets on our bed. Roxanne had a little trouble during the night. I'll go switch around the washer and dryer after we eat then we can all shower and go."
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