Black Friday shopping had become a tradition for Kurt and Blaine now that they lived in New York and had such a great selection of stores. Lima had one mall, so it was nowhere near as fun as Black Friday in New York. This year was going to be extra special. Kurt and Blaine hosted Thanksgiving this year and everyone had come.
Burt, Carole and Pam flew in from Ohio. Rachel and Jesse came over and even Cooper flew in from Los Angeles to be there. It was great having everyone together, but what made this holiday so special was that Rachel was in her second trimester as their surrogate and was feeling great. She had long surpassed the morning sickness phase. This was the first grandchild for their family so Burt, Carole and Pam could not have been more excited. This Black Friday, their mission was to get a lot of baby items while the deals were so great. Burt, Jesse and Cooper had passed on the opportunity and instead decided to stay at home and watch football.
"Are you kidding me squirt?" Cooper replied when Blaine had asked. "Black Friday shoppers are ruthless and I can't risk anything happening to the money maker." he added pointing to his face. Blaine rolled his eyes at his brother.
"Whatever Coop." Blaine agreed. With his brother out, that meant that this shopping expedition was just going to be Kurt, himself and the girls.
The alarm blared in Kurt and Blaine's bedroom at 4 o'clock in the morning. Kurt instantly woke up and shut off the alarm. He pushed himself out of bed and practically skipped into the bathroom to get ready. Black Friday was the only day that Kurt was actually a morning person. Blaine on the other hand wasn't feeling as chipper. His throat was painfully sore and dry and he had a headache that had made residence in his temples. He couldn't ruin the day for everyone though, so he pushed himself up from the bed and went to get dressed. Instantly, as he stood up, all the blood rushed to his head and he felt very dizzy. He had to grab onto the bedpost to steady himself and keep himself from collapsing.
"You're fine." Blaine told himself. "It's just a cold. Suck it up." From there, he got ready and soon enough, both he and Kurt met up with Carole and Rachel in the kitchen.
"Where's Pam?" Kurt asked as he started up the coffee pot to brew a fresh pot.
"She went out to get everyone bagels. We all need to eat if we're going to make it through our marathon shopping session today." Carole replied.
"Very true!" Kurt agreed. "We have a lot on our agenda so that's a good plan. We have to get a crib, changing table, a bouncy seat...oh what else? Hang on, I have a list."
"We get it Kurt." Rachel replied with a laugh. "Lots of baby stuff. We'll get it all." Just then, Pam knocked on the apartment door and then opened it.
"I have bagels!" she announced as she set a brown bag on the counter. She opened it and began doling out bagels to everyone in the kitchen. As everyone dug into their breakfast, Blaine sat staring at his bagel. His stomach was doing flip flops and the last thing he wanted to do was eat anything. He tried to blend into the background and not draw any attention to himself. He really didn't want to be any trouble or ruin their plans.
When everyone was done eating, they pulled on their coats and headed out to shop. The first stop on the list was Buy Buy Baby. The place was crazy with people everywhere. "Okay," Kurt began. "Blaine and I are going to look for a crib. We're thinking white wood. Carole and Rachel, if you want you can look for a changing table. And Pam, I've heard from Blaine that you are the best at picking out rocking chairs, so that can be your mission."
"Sounds good to me!" Pam replied with a smile. Carole and Rachel nodded and they all headed off on their missions.
"Okay babe, I think that we have to go gender neutral on the crib bedding." Kurt began saying to Blaine. "We don't know the sex yet and also if we have more kids then we can use it again."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Blaine replied, wincing a bit at the pain in his throat. Luckily, Kurt was so focused on baby stuff that he didn't see how pale and pained Blaine looked. For the rest of the day, Blaine followed Kurt around and basically said yes to anything that his husband wanted. Blaine desperately wanted to look at baby stuff, but right now all he wanted was to go home and sleep.
Eventually, after what felt like hours, they met back up with Carole, Rachel and Pam. "We found a really nice changing table! It's white and wooden just like the crib so it'll match your nursery perfectly. And the best part is it was only fifty dollars! A total steal!" Rachel relayed back to them.
"It sounds perfect!" Kurt replied. "Is it going to be delivered?"
"Yes! It's going to come next week." Carole told her step son.
"Pam, did you find a good rocking chair?" Kurt asked.
"Yes! I tried practically every one! Only the best for my grandbaby!" Pam replied, clearly excited at her find. "You have to come and sit in it yourselves. You'll be the ones spending hours rocking that baby in it. Hopefully, this baby is better than Blaine was to me. I don't think I slept in a bed for the first three weeks. All he did was cry!" Everyone laughed and waited for a remark from Blaine, but it didn't come.
"Blaine, did you hear your mom?" Kurt asked with a laugh.
"Oh what? Sorry." Blaine replied. "I guess I zoned out."
"Looks like someone's getting a bit tired." Carole replied with a smile.
"No, I'm fine!" Blaine replied. "I'm ready to shop." he added, trying to sound convincing. "What do we want to look at next?"
"Your mom was just talking about this amazing rocking chair she found. We have to go sit in it." Kurt told him.
"Okay, lead the way." Blaine replied. The girls ran ahead and Blaine lagged behind. At this point, his body was aching and he was shivering with chills. He pulled his coat tighter around his body and prayed that no one would notice. When they got to the rocking chairs, Pam showed them which one it was. It was beautiful. It was upholstered with grey fabric that was very soft. Kurt sat down in it first.
"Ooh this is so comfortable." Kurt replied. "Blaine, you were right. Your mom is the best at picking rocking chairs! You have to try it." Blaine nodded and replaced Kurt in the chair. His husband was right. This chair was incredibly comfortable. Then again, what did he know? At this point, any chair, sofa, bed, Blaine didn't really care which one, was good enough for him.
"Do you like it honey?" Kurt asked.
"It's great." Blaine replied sleepily with a yawn.
"Better conserve your energy." Pam laughed. "You won't get any of it back once that baby gets here." Blaine nodded, knowing his mom was right.
"So," Rachel began. "Since we got a lot of the bigger stuff, I was hoping that we could look for baby clothes."
"If you want to!" Kurt replied. "It might be hard since we don't know the gender."
"You know I remember someone once telling me that fashion had no gender." Rachel replied with a smile.
"Well, that person sounds like a fashion genius." Kurt replied with a laugh. With that, they were off to look at baby clothes. Blaine threw his head back and pushed himself off from the chair. God, all he wanted was to go home. He fumbled over to the baby clothes section and watched as Kurt, Rachel, Carole and Pam held up various onesies and outfit sets and oohed and awed over each one. Blaine leaned up against a rack of baby clothes and tried desperately to stay awake.
Carole was the one who finally noticed that Blaine wasn't really with them. She saw the dark haired boy leaned up against the rack, his eyes were closed and he really did look exhausted. Now that she looked at him, Carole noticed how pale the boy looked. "Maybe we better get going." Carole replied. "My knee is acting up and I'm not sure if I can go much longer."
Blaine perked up at his mother in law's words. She was the angel to his prayers. "Oh okay, I didn't realize you were hurting." Kurt said immediately. "Let's pay and then we'll head home." They paid for everything at the checkout which was a process in itself, since the lines were ridiculously long. They left with three big bags of baby clothes and receipts for all the big stuff that would be delivered to their apartment later. Carole even convinced the group to take an Uber home so she could rest her knee.
When they got home, all three of the boys were in the living room watching a game. The girls and Kurt filed in and began talking animatedly about what they had bought. Carole looked back at Blaine. His eyes looked glazed over and he looked paler than Kurt, which was saying something.
"Blaine, honey, maybe you better sit down." Carole said quietly.
"I'm fi-" Blaine began, his words slurring. Carole had been a nurse long enough to know the signs of when someone was going to pass out. She reached her arms out just in time to catch Blaine as he collapsed to the ground. All the commotion got the rest of the family's attention.
"Blaine! Honey!" Kurt exclaimed as he ran to his husband.
"Burt, go get my bag from the room." Carole told her husband. "And Cooper, can you get Blaine some water?" Cooper nodded frantically and hurried into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Blaine began to come to.
"What happened?" he murmured.
"You passed out on us honey." Carole replied. Burt came back into the room and handed Carole her bag. She took out a thermometer, blood pressure cuff, and a stethoscope. A nurse was always prepared. "Here place this under your tongue." she told him and then slipped the cuff over his right arm. When the thermometer beeped, Kurt took it from his husbands mouth.
"101 degrees. Jesus, Blaine. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling bad?" Kurt scolded.
"Sorry. I didn't want to ruin the day." Blaine replied, letting out a harsh sounding cough. Carole finished taking Blaine's blood pressure and then took her stethoscope out of her ears.
"Your blood pressure is pretty low. That's why you passed out. Did you eat that bagel your mom gave you this morning?" Carole asked.
"I wasn't hungry." Blaine replied with a shake of his head.
"Well, honey, what you need is to get hydrated, put a little something in your stomach and rest. I think you probably just have a virus."
"I think you're right." Kurt replied. "Come on honey, let's get you into bed." Carole and Kurt helped Blaine up and then walked him into the bedroom. Kurt gave him a pair of fresh pajamas and then tucked him into bed.
"I'm sorry, I ruined the day." Blaine said quietly.
"Will you stop." Kurt scolded. "You didn't ruin anything. I just wish you would have said something. You could have stayed home. No one would have been mad."
"I wanted to get stuff for the baby too." Blaine replied. "I was really excited, until I woke up with the world's worst headache and a sore throat.
"I'm excited too." Kurt told him with a smile. "But this baby needs two healthy parents, so no neglecting yourself for other people."
"Okay, I'll be better. I promise."
"Good." Kurt replied as he pressed a kiss to Blaine's feverish forehead. "Now, you call if you need anything okay." Blaine nodded, although he new that the thing that he needed most was sleep. Collapsing into this bed was his favorite part of the day, but he hoped that it wouldn't be a part of next year's tradition as well.