Thank you to my wonderful beta, Christine!

"Dude, I need you to come with me to Santana's birthday party tonight."

But now that he was actually there, Blaine had no idea why Sam had asked him to come if he was only going to be wrapped around a pretty blond girl on the couch, his tongue usually down her throat, less than an hour after they'd arrived, leaving Blaine standing in the corner of Kurt's living room, a half empty beer bottle in his hand, surrounded by a bunch of strangers, feeling more and more like a lost puppy as the minutes ticked on. Maybe it would be better if he'd at least seen Kurt, or even Santana, but the only face he recognized was Puck's—and he was across the room flirting with a short brunette.

"You know you're not going to see him for the rest of the night, right?" a voice said to his right. He didn't need to turn and look to know that voice belonged to Kurt.

"Hey," Blaine said, grateful for a familiar face.

"Hey."

"Does he even know her?"

Kurt laughed, "That's Quinn Fabray. She and Santana were sort of-kind of-best friends in high school. They're probably still that way now. She and Sam dated for a little while."

"And now?" Blaine questioned. Sam had never mentioned Quinn before.

"Well, now they just hook up sometimes when she's in town," Kurt told him, "But if you ask me, they'll be the next of our merry band of misfits to get married."

Kurt tried to keep the resentment from his voice, but he could tell by Blaine's reaction that he hadn't succeeded.

"You almost sound bitter."

"No, not bitter," Kurt said taking a sip of his beer, "Has my life turned out exactly how I wanted it to? Absolutely not. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to see my friends happy. We all went through a lot in high school. If and when Sam and Quinn decide to stop playing games and realize they still love each other, I will be sincerely happy for them, the same as I was, and am, for Mike and Tina, our other friends who live in Chicago."

It was true. He'd be happy for Sam and Quinn, and even Brittany and Santana if they ever figured their shit out and got married. It wasn't their fault that his life had been thrown off course. That the vision he had for himself at seventeen was no longer a reasonable dream. That this fairy tale didn't end with 'and they lived happily ever after.'

"I don't have any of the really good stuff, but I've got beer. You want another one?"

Blaine looked down at the beer in his hand, and then glanced at Sam on the couch whispering something into Quinn's ear that made her smile. He understood the way Kurt felt about his friend's happiness. He was happy, but it made him all the more aware of the curveballs that life had thrown him.

"Sure."

"I'll be right back."

"Blainers, I think I like you," someone said from behind as an arm was swung around his shoulders and Santana came up beside him. She was well on her way to shit faced and he could smell the alcohol on her breathe.

"And why's that?" he asked smiling. Santana was endearing when she'd been drinking.

"Because the second you showed up in their lives, something changed."

"They?"

"Kurt and Kadie. And I suppose if the two people I love the most in the world like you, you must be alright."

"Uh, thank you?"

"He's been happier," she told him, softly, her mouth close to his ear, like what she was sharing was a secret for only him to know, "He doesn't have that 'my ex is a piece of shit' look on his face anymore. He looks like Kurt."

"He didn't look like Kurt before?"

"You haven't known him as long as I have. You're just beginning to see the Kurt Hummel who I sort of hated in high school. That Kurt Hummel didn't let the shit in his life bring him down. But that asshole almost did him in. So whatever arrangement you two figured out, it made him him again."

Blaine didn't respond. How could he? What would he even say? And how much weight could he put into Santana's intoxicated sharing?

"Don't fuck it up," she said, "If you hurt either of them, I'll rip your balls off so hard you'll wish you were born without them."

"I won't," Blaine promised, but he never got Santana's reaction because a moment later—almost as if she hadn't heard him—she was running off in the other direction, shouting in Spanish.

"What did Santana want?" Kurt asked upon his return, two beers in hand.

"To tell me she likes me," Blaine said with a proud smile.

"Really? She must be really drunk," Kurt said handing Blaine his beer.

Blaine feigned insult, "You don't think I'm worthy of Santana's approval?"

"Of course you are," Kurt told him, "It's just that Santana isn't usually very free with her approval. Or at least her public declaration of it."

"Well then, I must be special."

"Yeah, you are."

Kurt smiled brightly and Blaine hoped that the Kurt he was seeing was the real Kurt, the one Santana spoke of. Because this Kurt was sure as hell special too.

Blaine heard it even before the "Mr. Anderson! Ms. Rose!" was being called from the corner of the classroom where the kids were supposed to be organizing the toys they'd used. He had been sitting at his desk, discussing lesson plans with Marley, when he heard the distinct sound of someone vomiting. It was that time of year again and the stomach flu had now officially infiltrated his classroom. Over the next few weeks Blaine would likely have multiple kids out because of it but he hoped that this was the only case that would present itself inside his classroom.

Hurried, Blaine moved from his desk towards the group of kids, all of them verbalizing their disgust, all circled around patient zero. He heard Marley yell something about going to get a janitor and did his best to brace his own stomach. No matter how many times he'd dealt with vomiting five year olds, it was almost as important that he not gag as it was to deal with the sick child.

When he saw the head of brown curls in the middle of the circle, a rancid pile of vomit at her feet and on her clothes; when he saw the sad blue eyes looking at him, filled with tears, Blaine felt his heart drop down into his gut.

"Everyone to their seats," Blaine commanded and the crowd slowly dissipated until it was just him and Kadie.

He squatted down until he could look Kadie in the eye.

"You don't feel good, do you?"

A fresh trail of tears ran down Kadie's cheeks as she shook her head.

"You want to go to the nurse and call your daddy?

Kadie nodded. A moment later, Marley came back into the classroom informing Blaine that a janitor would be there shortly.

Blaine stood, "Ms. Rose is going to take you to the nurse, okay Kadie?"

Marley extended her hand toward Kadie, her soft smile welcoming. But Kadie shook her head and reached for Blaine's hand instead.

Marley shot him a look and he remembered how Monday morning Kadie had drawn a picture of herself, Kurt and Blaine sitting on the couch in their living room. Marley had given him the same questioning look that day that she was now. The one that asked what was going on. He hadn't told her the whole story on Monday, but he explained how he'd run into Kurt and Kadie at the park, and they'd gone back to Kurt's for the afternoon. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn't want to keep explaining it. Especially to himself.

"I can take her," Blaine said.

Marley nodded and called attention of the rest of the class just as the janitor showed up with a mop and bucket.

"Come on, sweetie," Blaine said.

Blaine and Kadie walked down the hallway, hand in hand, towards the nurse's office. When they arrived the nurse was nowhere in sight, until he heard a now familiar sound coming from the bathroom and Nurse Penny poked her head out of the door.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, Mr. Anderson."

Without much thought, Blaine pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Kurt's number. He wondered if Kurt would answer; it was just after noon on a Thursday and Blaine knew that he was at Hummel's getting ready for the weekend shipments.

"Blaine?" Kurt said picking up just before it went to voicemail.

"Kurt, hey."

"Is everything alright?"

"We're okay right now, but Kadie got sick in class. I think she's got the stomach flu. We're in the nurse's office right now."

"Why didn't she call me?"

"Because it's seems to be an epidemic. She's with someone else right now."

"Shit," Kurt said, "Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah, hold on."

Smiling, Blaine handed Kadie the phone, "Kadie, your dad wants to talk to you."

Kadie put Blaine's phone up to her ear. Blaine could hear Kurt speaking on the other end, but couldn't make out his words.

"Hi Daddy."

"My tummy hurts."

"No."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"I love you too."

"Ok."

Kadie handed the phone back to Blaine who put it back up to his ear.

"Hey."

"Hey. I can't get there now, we're short staffed. But I'm going to have my dad or Santana come pick her up and take her back to my place until I can get out of here."

"I'm going to stay with her until someone gets here."

"I-Thank you, Blaine. I mean it more than you know."

The moment Kurt got off the phone he knew two things: the first was that he needed to call his dad. The second was that he needed to call his dad before he broke down. He could feel it, the pressure was building behind his eyes, his chest felt like there was an elephant sitting on top of it and his head was racing through a million thoughts a second. Is she okay? What if she gets sick again? What if something happened before his dad could get there? What if something happened to his dad on the way there?

But he forced himself through the fog of 'what ifs' to pull out his phone and call his dad.

"Kurt, what's up? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Yeah-I-I am."

"Kurt, what's wrong?"

"Uh, Blaine called—can you pick her up—I don't think I can leave."

"Whoa, Kurt. Slow down buddy. What's going on?"

Kurt took a deep breath, "Uh, Blaine called. From school. Kadie—he-he thinks she has the stomach flu. I need someone to go get her."

"I'll be out of the door in five minutes, Kurt."

Kurt took the first real breath since Blaine had called, "Thanks, Dad."

"Kurt, it's going to be okay. I'll just take her back to your place and she and I will eat saltines and watch that movie about the fairies like we did every day until she started school. It's the stomach flu, Kurt. It's not the first or the last time she's going to have it."

"I know—it's just-," Kurt stopped the rest of his sentence from escaping his lips, but it didn't stop it from running through his mind.

And his father knew exactly what he wasn't saying.

"I know, Kurt. But that's what grandparents are for."

"Thanks again, Dad. I love you. I don't know I'd do without you."

"Well, there's no need to think about it," Burt said, "I love you too. Now go back to work and don't think about anything. I've got this."

Burt hung up before Kurt could say anything else. Before he could cry to his daddy because he was scared. But it had been the first time that Kadie had been sick that there wasn't someone that could get to her right away. When Daniel was around he would work during the day and Kurt at night and there was always someone there.

Kurt walked to the back and into the tiny room he called his office. He closed the door behind him, locking it just in case someone decided to come looking for him. He should be out there; the short staff was the reason he couldn't hurry to his daughter's side right away. But he needed to take a minute for himself. He needed to take a minute and break down the way he tried so hard not to do in front of all his staff and while he was on the phone with his father. So he sat down at his tiny desk, put his head in his hands and just let every bit of fear and sadness flow from his eyes, run down his cheeks, and fall onto the order forms that littered his desk.

When was the last time he'd done this? When was the last time he truly saw the world for how cruel it was and just let the pent up anger and sadness and fear pour from inside him?

Too long.

He didn't have the time. He worked all day to make sure that Hummel's was successful and that he could provide for Kadie, and he spent his night's making up for being away from Kadie all day. And now that she was in school, there were only so many hours left in the day, between dinner, homework and baths, to make sure that his daughter went to bed with a smile on her face. And in the rare moment he had for himself, Santana was dragging him around in search of fun.

And truthfully, it was hard to do it all by himself. It wasn't until these moments that Kurt appreciated his father for raising him after his mother died. He'd never been more grateful for his help now, and never felt guiltier for relying on him. Because his dad didn't have someone to rely on. Kurt spent the time that his father couldn't be home with the neighbor, whose son grew into one of his tormentors in high school. But once he was in school there were extra curriculars and the day he joined Glee Club was the day he knew that, eventually, everything would be okay. But now, sitting in his office, tears rolling down his cheeks, his whole world feeling like it was crumbling bit by bit, he wondered where okay had gone. He had okay, he had wonderful. But now he felt like the only peace he truly got was at the end of the night, Kadie wrapped around him, asleep on his shoulder, reminding him that despite the dark, there would always be the little beacon of light in his world. It would always guide him to okay. It would always guide him home.

It was twenty minutes before the door to the nurse's office opened and Burt Hummel walked swiftly through the door, Blaine immediately recognizing him from the open house. He would have gotten up to greet the man, but Kadie had fallen asleep against him—the same way she had in her living room a few weeks prior—and he couldn't bring himself to move.

"You didn't leave the rest of those kids alone, didja?" Burt asked him by way of greeting.

Blaine shook his head quickly, "No, of course not."

"She been out long?"

"A couple of minutes."

"How is she?"

"Nurse Penny says she has a fever. But she hasn't gotten sick since we got here."

"I wonder how long we have to wait until we can tease her about this," Burt said smiling down at his granddaughter, "Though if she's anything like Kurt we won't. Kurt got sick at the mall once. We weren't ever allowed to bring it up for fear of him killing us with his death glare."

Blaine laughed, a smile on his face at the thought of a young Kurt being intimidating to his parents.

"I know all about you and Kurt," Burt said bluntly.

"I'm sorry?" Blaine looked up at Burt, startled.

"I know there was something going on between you and Kurt."

"Oh."

"And I know that you two have a lot to figure out when it comes to your relationship."

"We're friends," Blaine told him. And regardless of any other feelings he may have had—and still had—for Kurt, it was the first time that those words rolled off his tongue that didn't leave a strange taste in his mouth.

"So I've been told," Burt said, "But can I give you some advice, Mr. Anderson? Because you seem like a nice guy."

"Uh, sure."

"Maybe the reasons you've both been denying yourself are the reasons you should both give in."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Burt said, "Listen, all I know is that you two ain't together right now, and you still took care of Kadie. You went above and beyond what any other teacher would do and that's because you care. About both of them."

Blaine never got the chance to tell Burt that, of course he cared about both Kurt and Kadie. Kurt was his friend and Kadie was one of his students. Maybe he'd keep the part about how both of them were becoming so important to him to himself, but he never got the chance to say any of it because the little girl who'd fallen asleep against him was now awake. Kadie took one look at Burt and immediately burst into tears. Because her tummy hurt and she was scared, and as much Kadie had shown a preference to Blaine in the classroom, this was her grandpa. He was safety and love and she flung herself out of the chair and into his arms because even though her tummy hurt, seeing Burt reminded her that everything would be alright. She could go home to his arms, to her house, where she wouldn't have to leave until she was ready.

Blaine said goodbye to Kadie and her grandfather and headed back to his classroom. When he walked in Marley looked at him from the corner where she'd gathered everyone for story time. He'd never been more grateful for Marley as he was then. He sat down at his desk and tried to put his head back where it belonged, in the classroom, but he couldn't help but hear the words of advice Burt Hummel had just given him as they replayed over and over.

Blaine: How's Kadie feeling? We've missed her the last couple of days.

Kurt: She's almost back to normal. She'll be there bright and early Monday morning.

Blaine: That's good to hear.

Kurt: Thank you again, for taking care of her. I don't know how to repay you.

Blaine: Don't worry about it. I'll just be glad if half the class doesn't get sick now.

Kurt: So are you being dragged out tonight?

Blaine: Yep.

Kurt: Good. You're on my team. I hate bowling.

Blaine: Nobody hates bowling.

Kurt: Kurt hates bowling.

Blaine: Is Kurt just bad at bowling? Only people who are bad at bowling hate bowling.

Kurt: You just said no one hates bowling.

Blaine: I'm amending my previous statement.

Kurt: Ugh. Yes. I'm not great a bowling.

Kurt: You can bowl for both of us and I'll just watch you.

Blaine: You can go once and if you're really as bad as you say you are, I will give myself carpal tunnel for you.

Kurt: My hero!

Blaine pulled his car into Kurt's driveway just past midnight. Through the curtains he could see the light still on in the living room, and the truck parked at the curb belonged to Burt, who was inside watching Kadie, who was likely asleep by now. But even though there was someone waiting for him, Kurt didn't jump out of the car the moment Blaine moved it into park. He was quiet—they'd talked a bit on the drive over, but it was mostly Kurt complaining that Santana had insisted she drive him, but mysteriously couldn't drive him home leaving him to catch a ride with Blaine. Blaine looked over to meet the blue of Kurt's eyes which seemed to be watching him.

"Thank you," Kurt said, his lips curving up into the faintest of smiles, "for actually bowling for me a couple of times and for the ride home. I don't know what was up with Santana."

"It was my pleasure, both the bowling and the ride," Blaine said, "Though you weren't as bad as you think."

"I'm good at a lot of things, but not that. But with your help I didn't come in last."

"Puck's face when he realized he lost was pretty amazing."

Kurt took a deep breath; it was late and he didn't want the night to end, but bringing Blaine in at this hour, with his father inside would give the wrong impression.

"I should get inside, let my dad go home."

"Yeah, of course. I'll, uh, see you later."

"I was told that we're doing something every Friday night for a while. The group of us, I mean."

"Are we?"

"That's what Santana said. She says we should all do more than sit around, drink and work. That's what she does. The rest of us have other responsibilities."

"But it is nice to get away from them, even for a little while. I've never seen Coop as happy lately as he is when I tell him I'm going out."

"I have been having fun."

"Good," Blaine said, "You deserve it."

"I should get going."

"Alright," Blaine said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Kurt got out of the car, and with a wave, watched as Blaine pulled out of the driveway and down the street. He turned to the door, ready to send his father home with a warm hug and crawl into bed when his phone rang in his pocket. As he dug it out, he wondered if it was Santana calling to apologize for disappearing or if something had happened to Blaine in the thirty-seconds he'd been gone. But when he finally looked to see who was calling—the name brightly displayed across the top of his screen—he stopped in his tracks, a cold shiver running through him that had nothing to do with the chilly October air. He was frozen in place under the glow of the porch light.

Incoming Call…

Daniel Valente

AN: If I smile innocently, will you not be too angry? :)

An unexpected Monday update! Thanks for reading, lovelies! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!