This chapter was bit harder to write. I hope you guys like it... XD
Kurt arrived at Blaine's apartment in the midst of chaos. Katherine was yelling at the top of her lungs, and running around the apartment crazily. Penny was crying in a corner, Blaine was trying to calm her down. And Jessica was still in her crib, her hands grasping the edges of the bed and shaking the whole thing so it scooted across the floor, and screaming at the top of her lungs.
Kurt took in the whole room, his eyes roaming from Katherine to Blaine and Penny. Taking a deep breath, he calmed his nerves, and walked to the back bedroom to get Jess.
Bringing the youngster out to the living room, he grabbed Katherine with one hand, and sat her on the floor. She stopped yelling long enough for him to put the baby in her lap, and her look of confusion made him smile.
"Hold your sister for a few minutes, while I make something for breakfast, okay?" Kurt asked softly, his voice low and soothing. Katherine blinked, and looked down at her baby sister, who looked back up at her adoringly. She reached out one little hand and grabbed her sister's finger, pulling it to her mouth and chewing on it.
"Owie!" Katherine shouted, causing the baby to start crying all over again, and Kurt counted to five, just like his father had taught him when he was younger.
"Katherine, you have to keep your hands from her mouth, okay?" He asked gently, looking toward Blaine who was now sitting quietly with Penny as he dried her tears, cuddling her to him. "Here," He added, passing Katherine a teething ring he had pulled from the freezer. "Let her suck and chew on this. Just hold her, don't let her crawl away from you, okay?" Katherine nodded, her little eyes round as she watched her very hungry sister chewing happily on her teething ring.
Blaine finally stood up from where Penny was, and lifted her into his arms. He hugged her once more, and put her down beside Katherine and Jessica. As she played gently with her sisters, Blaine wandered into the kitchen, where Kurt was preparing bowls of cereal for the girls.
"What a morning," Blaine said, his weary face showing so much emotion it was impossible for Kurt to not feel bad for him. "Penny and Katherine came into my room at four this morning. The thunderstorm woke them up," Kurt nodded, even he had been awoken by the ear-splitting thunder which had shaken his apartment. "Jessica slept through it, although I'm not sure how, but I ended up staying awake and calming their fears all morning. They haven't been back to bed, nor have I, and on top of everything else, I think I'm… I'm… a-a-achooo!" Blaine ended by sneezing fiercely, covering his mouth and nose with his hand. Dashing to the bathroom, he grabbed a handful of toilet paper and wiped his nose, mouth and hand, then washed his hands and face. When he returned to the kitchen, he finished his sentence: "I'm catching a cold."
Kurt smiled softly, and looked at Blaine from the corner of his eye: the other man really didn't look very good, and if he was sick, it was most likely the cold that Kurt had had first. He felt bad for passing on his germs.
Blaine looked at his three girls, playing on the floor in the living room, and took two of the bowls Kurt held in his hands. Kurt followed Blaine into the dining room, gathering up Jessica and placing her in her high chair and handing her the bowl. Blaine placed the other two bowls on the kids' table, then looked at Kurt.
"Would you like some breakfast, Kurt? I have bacon, eggs, toast?" Kurt shook his head softly, another light smile gracing his lips.
"No thanks, I grabbed a muffin earlier. But go ahead and make something for yourself. I've got things covered in here," He motioned to the room at large.
Blaine wandered into the kitchen, and stared around him owlishly. He really wasn't in the mood for food, but no wonder, with the way he was feeling. Even the thought of toast with butter made his stomach clench painfully, and he released a little groan of agony. Turning back around, he made his way back to the living room, squinting at Kurt through the dull pain of his headache; wait, when had he developed a headache?
Kurt took one look at Blaine's greenish tinge, and sprung to his feet in alarm. Upon reaching the other man, he took hold of his arm, and directed him back to his bedroom. With flaming red cheeks, Kurt stripped Blaine of his pants, noting in passing that Blaine wore boxer briefs, and shoved him into the messy bed.
"You stay there," Kurt ordered, searching the house for a bucket to place beside Blaine, just in case, and finding a little bottle of aspirin in the top of the medicine cabinet. He brought Blaine two tablets, and a glass of water, and watched as Blaine swallowed them. He left the glass beside his bed, in case Blaine needed more water.
Blaine blinked feverishly in the bed, his eyes focussing and sliding away from the man taking care of him, and refocusing while his eyes rolled in his head. Blaine had never been fond of being sick, but not for the reasons you'd think; when Blaine was sick, he was sick. He usually got everything twice as bad as anyone else; it was like he was cursed.
Kurt felt Blaine's forehead, and pulled the digital thermometer from the top of the hall closet. Upon reading the temperature, he was startled to find it a very high 104.3 degrees Fahrenheit. He shook his head softly, and Blaine looked up into Kurt's eyes with panic.
"You're not going anywhere today, buster," Kurt muttered, drawing the blankets up to cover Blaine's trembling torso. Blaine promptly kicked them off, and resumed his trembling.
"I'm hot," Blaine whimpered, his eyes cracked open only slightly with the force of his head splitting in two. Kurt shook his head.
"All right, I'll be back in, in about ten minutes when you decide you're freezing," Kurt commented dryly, and he left Blaine alone in the room.
True to his word, Kurt came back after ten minutes, and Blaine was shivering, curled up in a ball on the bed.
"Why do I feel so horrible?" Blaine whined, his limbs controlling him, rather than the other way around. "Can I just die now? Please, Kurt?"
Kurt was looking critically at the prostrate man lying on his bed, and once again flicked the covers over him.
"No, Blaine, you are not allowed to die. You have three little girls out there who love you too much to let you go. Besides, they are just as sick as you are," He added offhandedly, gesturing towards the living room. Blaine's eyes widened in remorse, and he attempted to push himself from the bed to stumble to their aid.
"Oh, no you don't!" Kurt cried, manhandling Blaine back into the bed. He fought, but was eventually subdued by Kurt and thrust back into the warmth of his covers. "I am taking care of you and the girls, and if you don't stop squirming, I won't be able to take care of them properly." At that, Blaine stopped his struggling, and lay back, utterly spent.
His brain was trying too hard to focus on the man beside him to worry about much of anything else.
Kurt turned on the television, and allowed it to play in the background as he went to each of the three girls, taking their temperatures. They all had fevers, and Penny was complaining about being "scratchy". It took a few minutes for Kurt to understand what she meant, and as he looked at her belly, where she was scratching, he noticed a few little red dots. His eyebrows shot up quickly, and he checked over Katherine as well. She had a bunch of the same type of dots all over her back, and some on her belly and arms, but Jessica was by far the worst.
Chicken Pox!
Kurt occupied the eldest girls with colouring, and placed the baby in her swing, before returning to the back bedroom to have a talk with Blaine.
"Blaine," He murmured, and the shorter man opened his eyes blearily. "Blaine, have the girls ever had chicken pox?" He was certain of the answer, even before Blaine shook his head gently; his head was still pounding.
"I haven't had them either," Blaine whispered in the darkness of the room. "I figured I was immune when I was younger. They went around my school twice and I never caught them." Kurt shook his head softly, and pulled down the covers from Blaine's chest. Blaine's eyes popped open in alarm, and he scrambled to grab the covers back.
"Blaine! Stop that!" Kurt ordered sharply, making Blaine pause in his actions. "I have to check and see if you have any spots," He added, a little gentler this time. "If you do, I'm going to have to run to the store and pick up Calamine Lotion, and a couple of other things as well," He added thoughtfully, as he yanked up Blaine's shirt, pulling it completely off to allow himself to check Blaine thoroughly.
As Kurt had suspected, Blaine's chest was dotted with the same red spots he had seen on the girls; what he had not suspected, however, was the reaction his body would take when confronted with a shirtless Blaine. His body didn't seem to care that Blaine was sick; his cheeks flushed, his pupils dilated, his breath started getting quicker, and his stomach began doing flip-flops in his belly. Oh come on, he thought to himself weakly. The guy's laid up in bed and I'm being creepy by feeling this way towards him right now. Kurt firmly pushed all thoughts of feelings from his mind, and tried to concentrate on the task at hand.
He took Blaine's temperature again, and pulled the covers back up to Blaine's neck. Blaine fell asleep between one moment and the next, and Kurt was left staring at his employer in stunned silence. Blaine was gorgeous when he slept. His face wasn't slack, but it was serene. Even flushed, his features were beautiful; Kurt reached his hand out to brush the sweaty curls from Blaine's forehead, a look of contentment coming over his face as he dreamed.
Kurt then retired to the living room, cleaned up the girls and put them all down for their afternoon nap. He took Blaine's spare set of keys from the key holder in the front hallway, and locked the door on his way out; he had to make sure he was back quickly to take care of the girls. In his current state, Blaine wouldn't be able to take care of himself, let alone his three daughters.
Kurt opened the apartment to silence. He was hoping all the girls were still sleeping, and he placed the paper shopping bag on the kitchen counter. Opening it, he pulled out Calamine Lotion, Baking Soda, and three types of soup, four cans each. He also pulled out a couple of different types of frozen juice, and placed them in Blaine's tiny freezer, leaving a can of grape punch out on the counter to thaw.
He heard a soft mumbling coming from the back of the apartment, and wandered down the hallway. Instead of it being Blaine or the two eldest awake, he was surprised to see Jessica standing up in her crib, mumbling nonsensical words in her infantile fashion. She looked at Kurt as he walked in, and held her hands up to be picked up.
Kurt smiled gently as he walked over and released the little girl from her prison, carrying her back out to the living room. Since everyone else was still sleeping, he had the opportunity to sit and play with Jessica for the first time since he had met the family.
Kurt wasn't really sure what kind of games he could play with the baby. She was only eight months old, and he'd never been able to figure out what to do with them that young. Even when Finn's kids had been that young, Kurt hadn't had to do anything with them; he'd gotten to hold them, but anytime they started crying he'd panicked and given them back to their parents. He held Jess loosely in his lap, wondering what she might like to do.
Jessica took that opportunity to turn herself around in Kurt's arms, and look at him straight in the eyes. Kurt blinked, his eyes growing round at the intense concentration the baby seemed to have. Then one tiny hand reached out, and grasped his nose. He winced; Jessica's nails needed to be trimmed. Then her other hand found his cheek, and she patted it softly, carefully, as only babies that small can do.
"Hi," He whispered softly, his breath making the tiny curls of her hair sway gently. She giggled, her toothless smile bringing about his own smile right back.
As she played with things like the collar of his shirt, his hair and his ears, inspecting everything, Kurt felt his heart melting just a little bit more. He had never had a little one around to play with, but this wasn't so hard. He just had to keep her entertained for a bit, until her sisters woke up.
Then Jessica gave a startled hiccup, and started crying. Kurt was surprised; what did he do wrong? Jessica began crying harder, louder, and Kurt was lost. How did he help the little girl to stop crying? Where was the off button? He couldn't help but think, as she let loose with a particularly sharp scream in his ear.
Blaine stumbled from the bedroom, his hand on his pounding head, and he tottered towards the two on the couch. He sat, and reached for his daughter, who Kurt had no problem handing over.
Blaine did a quick test. He checked her bum; no dirty diaper. He checked her teeth; it was possible she was teething, but he wasn't certain. He knew she had eaten before going to sleep, Kurt would have made sure of it, so he didn't think she was hungry. So he propped her against his shoulder as he leaned back on the couch, and began rubbing her back with firm but gentle strokes.
Kurt was amazed. He had never seen anyone able to calm a baby so quickly; Blaine had a gift. When Jessica let loose with a huge burp, Blaine sighed softly, a small smile gracing those perfect lips.
"There," he murmured quietly. "I bet that feels better, doesn't it?" As he continued rubbing her back, she stared at Kurt from the vantage point of her father's shoulder.
Kurt took the baby from Blaine's trembling hands, lifting and carrying her over to the swing. Now that she felt better, her crying was done and she was happy to swing while murmuring to herself quietly. Kurt returned to Blaine's side, sitting beside the man who looked like he was going to pass back out at any moment.
"Hey," He nudged Blaine's arm gently, catching the other man's attention. Blaine blinked and looked over at Kurt, his eyes weepy and filled with sleep. "Come on, let's get you back to bed," Kurt added, slinging Blaine's arm around his shoulder and standing up, heaving the stockier man to his feet with a huff.
Together they shuffled down the hallway, Kurt bumping into Katherine as she came out of her room, followed by Penny. The two little girls followed Kurt and their father to his bedroom, jumping up on the end of Blaine's bed as they tried to help make him more comfortable.
"Okay," Kurt announced as Blaine slid slowly between the sheets, his voice mumbling something about dinner. "I'm making dinner and you have your choice; we can have soup, ummm… soup, soup or soup! Which would you prefer?" He asked Katherine, his eyes twinkling with repressed laughter. Blaine smiled softly, and looked toward Katherine for her answer.
"I want chicken fries!" She exclaimed, drawing a quick burst of laughter from her father and a look of confusion from Kurt.
"What?" Kurt asked, looking back and forth from father to daughter and back again.
"She means chicken nuggets, like from McDonald's." Blaine advised gently. "Sweetheart," He added softly to his daughter. "If you have chicken fries your throat will get scratchy and it will hurt, okay? If you eat soup for today, and possibly tomorrow, then when everyone is better, we'll take a special trip and go to McDonald's for you, all right?" Katherine appeared to mull this over for a bit, and then turned to Kurt with a grin and announced: "Soup!"
Kurt chuckled, and nodded his head.
"Soup it is then, soup it is. Now, what kind? We have vegetable, chicken noodle, and hearty beef."
"Chicken noodles, chicken noodles!" Penny and Katherine both cried at the same time, their faces lighting up with glee. Blaine laughed quietly, and Kurt smirked.
"Blaine?" He looked over at the prostrate man, lying on the bed, and wiggled his eyebrows at him, making Blaine feel like laughing again.
"I'll have some of that hearty beef, if you don't mind," Blaine requested, adding a soft "Please and thank you," to the end of his request.
"Please and thank you! Please and thank you!" Katherine and Penny chanted; they were really enjoying themselves now. A squeal came from the living room, and the littlest girl playing in the swing.
"Yes, and vegetable for you, my dear," Kurt called out, laughing along with Blaine and the girls. Blaine lay back in his bed, patting the pillows for his daughters to come rest on, as Kurt left the room. He brought Jessica into the bedroom to be with her family, as he returned to the kitchen to begin making dinner for everyone. It was a simple thing; place the food in the bowls, add a bit of water, and stuff it in the microwave. It was fast, it was simple and it was nutritious. He heated up Jessica's first, and then the other two girls, placing them all on the table to cool before going into the room and bringing them out to eat.
Then he heated up Blaine's soup, and brought it to him in bed. He helped Blaine sit up in bed, and made sure he didn't need anything, before returning to the kitchen to prepare a bowl for himself.
He had just sat down on the couch, ready to eat, when Blaine called him into the bedroom to ask him something. He placed his bowl on the kitchen counter, and walked back to the bedroom to talk to Blaine.
"First of all, thank you, Kurt," Blaine began, his eyebrows lowered in concern as he tried to determine how to say exactly what he needed. "I'm immensely grateful to you for being here. I know I pay you for it, but you've definitely gone above and beyond what you were hired for, and you didn't have to," His eyes found Kurt's, and a small hint of shame graced them. Kurt couldn't understand what Blaine had to be ashamed about.
"Kurt, I have to go…" Blaine blushed, the heat in his face intensifying the fever ravaging his body. Kurt quirked his eyebrow at him.
"You have to go where?" He asked, not understanding what Blaine was getting at.
"No, Kurt, I have to go," Blaine whimpered, his entire body feeling flush at the implications. "I have to go pee," He elaborated, and all of sudden Kurt understood why he was so red. Kurt began to colour in embarrassment for him.
"Oh! Ummm… all right," Kurt temporised, his arms coming around the other man, flicking the blankets off with one hand and pulling Blaine to his feet with the other. How on Earth had he been able to walk down the hallway earlier, if he was having so much trouble staying on his feet now? As Kurt walked Blaine to the bathroom door, Blaine tripped, and nearly slid down the wall to the floor. Kurt grabbed him quickly around the waist, hauling him up and forcibly carrying him into the bathroom.
Kurt sat Blaine down on the edge of the tub, rising the lid of the toilet and helping Blaine scoot over to have a seat. He averted his eyes as Blaine removed himself from his underwear, both flushing a deep red as Blaine voided himself. After finishing, he tucked himself back in, and Kurt hauled him back up to his feet, propping him up against the sink to allow him to wash his hands, and pass a cloth through the cool water.
Helping Blaine back to the bedroom was less eventful, and he slid his employer back beneath the covers. Handing him back the lukewarm bowl of soup, Kurt retreated back to the living room.
The girls had finished eating, and were now scratching all over. Kurt sighed, looking forlornly at his bowl on the counter, and grabbed the hands of the two eldest girls. He also grabbed the box of baking soda, and the Calamine Lotion, and brought them into the bathroom.
He filled the tub with warm water, adding a generous sprinkling of Baking Soda to the water to help reduce the itch. The girls were delighted, until they realised the powder didn't make bubbles in the water. Then they pouted a bit.
Kurt washed the two, making sure they washed all over, and pulled them out, wrapping them in thick towels.
He directed them to their bedroom, pulling out their pyjamas, and asking them to put them on while he bathed the baby.
He got Jessica all bathed, making sure she was washed all over as well with the Baking Soda water, and changed her and put her to lay down in the crib. Then he returned to the other girls' bedroom, to find they had decided to play instead of getting ready for bed. He grabbed Penny and pulled her pyjamas on, and directed her to cleaning up the mess on the floor. Then he grabbed Katherine, who was still naked, and got her into her pyjamas as well. Then all three cleaned up the room, and Kurt got them into their beds. He pulled out the Calamine Lotion, and covered all of their spots with it, before putting them both to bed with a bedtime story.
Once the lights were out, he checked on Jessica, who was sound asleep, and then on Blaine, who was also sleeping, and retreated back to the living room. He reheated his soup, and ate quickly. He cleared up the dishes and put them away, and tidied up the living room. It was now almost eleven at night, and there was no way he could go all the way home to sleep, because he would have only had two, maybe three hours' worth.
Shrugging slightly, Kurt pulled a blanket from the hall closet, threw it on the leather couch, and lay down, turning on the television on a low volume.
As his eyes drooped closed, and his breathing evened out, he slowly realised that he was content here.