Author's note: Two chapters at once because Chapter 19 was so short. This one is longer to make up for it. I've been making use of my time away (writing on my iPad which is horrible though). Thanks for all the lovely reviews and words of support (family member is stable and is seeing specialists). Rinn and Gaia, this is for you two. Enjoy.

CHAPTER TWENTY

He can't believe his Saturday night has been relegated to this. Helping Claire bathe Lily and Adam again. Twice in a week, it's a record. It's like trying wrestle an oily octopus that you don't want to strangle, and he's on his way from their nursery to the bathroom when the doorbell rings. He bites back a curse word, because impressionable young minds and all and Claire calls out asking him to answer it. He sighs. At least with a naked baby in his arms he can tell whoever it is to shove off easily enough.

He thuds down the stairs, arms holding on to Adam tightly as he giggles madly at the jiggling. His dad has gone to the grocery store for the weeks groceries, which is why he volunteered to help. He would have offered to do the shopping, but he always brings back the wrong things and either his dad or Claire has to do it again anyway. He pulls the door, ready to tell whoever it is that they're busy and he freezes. Kurt Hummel is standing on his front porch.

"Hi," Kurt says, and he looks a little embarrassed and a lot shocked.

"Kurt. Uh… hi."

"You're holding a baby," Kurt states, looking from Adam to him and then back to Adam.

"Uh. Yeah. He's not mine."

Kurt raises his eyebrows and Dave winces. Of course Kurt knows Adam isn't his. Idiot.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was just wondering if we could maybe talk, but I can see you've got your hands full…"

"Ah yeah, I –" He feels the warmth spread over his side and he pulls a face. Damnit, he should have known that standing in the cold entryway would make him pee. Everything makes him pee. Usually on him. "Gross. Look, come in. Just, uh, follow me. I need to go change."

Kurt hesitates for a brief second before stepping forward and closing the door behind him and he heads for the stairs, taking them two at a time because he doesn't like wearing a shirt soaked in pee. Especially in front of Kurt. Not that Kurt cares. Well, it's pee. He probably does care.

"Did he just pee on you?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately. It's better than vomit though…" He replies absently, and he knows Kurt has to be pulling a face right now, but he has a mild form of word vomit, completely caught off guard that Kurt's turned up at his house. He's kind of freaking out a little bit that he needs to go in to his room and get a clean shirt. Oh fuck. Kurt's going to see his room.

"Ew. That's disgusting."

"Yeah. Comes off fine in the shower. Here, can you hold him for a second?" Dave asks, pivoting outside the doorway to his room. Maybe he can distract him with Adam, he'll be too busy holding him to look around.

"What! No! He might pee on me! Or vomit!" Kurt exclaims, hands in the air and backing away from him. He huffs and Adam waves at Kurt, thinking the hands in the air are a wave.

"Dave? Everything okay?"

"Uh, sure Claire. Just a little pee-related emergency."

"Oh, did you wet yourself again?" Claire asks, and then cracks up laughing. Dave groans and rolls his eyes, and when he looks up Kurt has both lips caught between his teeth, but he can tell Kurt's trying his best not to laugh. He walks into his room and quickly grabs a clean dry t-shirt from a drawer. He can change in the bathroom or something. Kurt's thankfully stayed in the hallway and he motions with his head for him to follow him again. He pushes open the door to the bathroom and Lily starts splashing excitedly, Claire kneeling on the floor beside the edge.

"Uh, Claire, this is Kurt. Kurt, this is my step-mom Claire…"

He's never seen Claire's head whip around so fast and he hopes she'll be cool. She is most of the time, all of the time really, but he never knows when she might say something incriminating, or pull the whole I-am-a-sort-of-parent-figure-and-therefore-it-is-my-right-to-embarrass-you-as-much-as-possible.

"Oh. Hello Kurt. I didn't realize it was actually someone nice at the door… this is Lily. And I can see you've already met Adam."

"Yes. It's nice to meet you. All of you…"

"Here," Dave says, dropping Adam into the water and making sure he's sitting up and stable before letting go. "I'm just going to go use your shower if that's cool? We can talk once I'm changed, is that alright?"

"Go, go! Kurt can help me out if I need it," Claire says, and Kurt looks alarmed, and he'd laugh at him if he knew Kurt better, but he just smiles and nods before taking off for the master en suite.

He strips fast. He wouldn't put it past Kurt to bail as soon as the babies are out of the water, but he really wants to know what Kurt is doing here, what he wants to talk about that he couldn't just send by e-mail. Not that he minds Kurt turning up, but he still hasn't stopped freaking out. He's out of the shower quickly, it's a quick rinse, and he pulls his clothes back on over still slightly-damp skin. He throws the wet t-shirt into the hamper and shakes out his dry shirt and frowns.

It's a couple of years old, slightly too small and tight for his liking and he pulls at the hem around his arm in an attempt to stretch it out. He'd just go and grab another one, but there's no way he's walking around shirtless when Kurt Hummel is in his house. And the idea just seems so foreign. He walks back down to the main bathroom and Kurt is sitting on the floor, hand dangling into the bath and waving a rubber duck in the air for Adam and talking with Claire.

"You want to stay for dinner Kurt?"

"Thanks but I really don't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be, I'll be cooking for Paul and Dave anyway… it would be nice to have you."

"I… if you're sure."

"I wouldn't have asked if I weren't sure."

"Thanks then… I'd like that. I need to call my dad and just let him know that I won't be home until later though…"

"Sure thing. Can you grab two of those towels over there?"

Dave steps forward and grabs the towels, smiling at Kurt and hoping the startled look on his face isn't wholly a bad thing.

"Oh, great. Here. You can take her…just get her dry and a diaper and I'll dress her if you could go and make up the bottles?"

He nods, it's the usual routine. Even he can't muck up formula and water. Kurt stands, wiping his hands on his jeans and he follows Dave and Claire, it's like a human convoy, and he's ridiculously nervous, but at least Claire has given him Lily to dry. She lies there all placid and happy, whereas Adam tries to escape. He can feel Kurt watching him, and he works faster than usual, no blowing raspberries or peek-a-boo games with the towel. He puts a dry and diapered Lily in her cot, which she giggles at and he turns to Kurt.

"Uh, come on, we'll go down to the kitchen."

Kurt nods and follows him, and he feels so awkward. He pulls out the bottles and tin of formula, and Kurt makes himself comfortable on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, firstly I wanted to offer my congratulations on coming out. It's a big step… I would say I'm proud of you but it feels a little trite, not to mention condescending. But I am happy for you… that you've taken that step."

He blinks. It's the last thing he expected. He measures out the water and adds the scoops of powder.

"Uh, thanks. I mean… yeah. Thanks. It's been pretty easy so far. I mean, no one hates me or anything, but I'm being pretty careful."

"That's probably wise. Santana said last night that you'd told a friend as well. Azimio?"

"No. I haven't spoken to Az in a couple of months. I told my friend Nathan. He goes to Carmel."

"Oh…" Conversation grinds to a halt, and he has no idea how they're going to survive through a dinner if they can't last five minutes. "Do you enjoy going to Carmel?"

"Yeah. It's… different for me. I… don't care so much about what people think. Or at least I'm trying not to. Uh… Blaine isn't transferring to Carmel is he?" He doesn't really want to ask the question, to even bring Kurt's boyfriend, ex-boyfriend?, up in conversation, but he really doesn't want someone who used to know his old self to suddenly encroach on his new school life.

"I don't know what Blaine is doing. I have… contacted him and told him that he doesn't have to transfer, but I don't know what he will decide."

Dave stares at him, can't believe what he's just heard.

"Holy shit Kurt… I know you have a massive heart and are more than capable of forgiveness, but seriously? Having to see him every day? Are you going to be okay with that?" He doesn't know if he's okay with Kurt seeing Blaine everyday. He shakes his head. He's always known Kurt was strong, admired and hated him simultaneously some days for it, but everyone has a limit.

"I don't want to run again…"

Dave's head snaps up and he bows it again, staring at the bench top, and he knows exactly what Kurt is referring to.

"Sometimes running is the only option," Dave mutters, and he's thinking both of Kurt transferring to Dalton and his own transfer to Carmel.

"Sometimes," Kurt murmurs and he shrugs his shoulders. "But I can't run from things for the rest of my life. So… I know some days will be hard, but I am hoping that they will be outnumbered by the days in which I am fine."

He doesn't know what to say to that so he just nods and starts shaking the bottles.

"Also…I'm here on slightly selfish grounds. I was wondering whether… we could be friends?"

"Uh…" Another thing he hadn't been expecting. At all. "Uh, I don't mean to sound um… rude or anything, but like, we have nothing in common. But if you want to hang out, then we can…" He's rambling again, but he just can't get his head around it, that Kurt wants to be friends. After everything they've been through, everything he's done to Kurt, here he is, asking to be friends. With him.

"I don't expect you to suddenly like Broadway shows, music or fashion, but I also think that we don't know each other well enough to say we have nothing in common. We both love our families."

Dave inclines his head and shrugs, but he can't refute it.

"Are the bottles ready?" Claire calls out, and he checks quickly.

"Yeah, be up in a second!"

"Feeding time?"

"Yeah, they had their dinner before their bath. Mainly because they need a bath after they've eaten…"

"You like talking about them."

"Uh… they're easy to talk about. Neutral ground."

"Cute too."

"You wouldn't say that if you were here at two this morning…" Dave mutters under his breath as he screws teats on and checks the temperature on his wrist. He heads back upstairs and Kurt trails after him. He sets the bottles down on the side table, knowing Claire's going to need help. Adam has to be held, and if he didn't know better he'd think the kid was on crack or something.

"Kurt, do you mind helping? You just have to sit there and hold her; it's just that if you boys feed them then I can go start on dinner…"

"I…sure. I can hold her. Where should I sit?"

Claire directs him to the two-seater sofa and he sits at the other end, which still feels far too close, and he's kind of worried that Kurt might freak out. She's giving directions, which pretty much involve letting Lily hold her own bottle, because of course he gets Adam again. After settling Lily in Kurt's arms, and Lily is so laid back she just reaches up and places a hand on Kurt's cheek, he's given Adam, who promptly squirms and bites him on the chest. He yelps and Claire passes him the bottle quickly before she stands back and grins at them.

"You guys all look adorable. Let me just get a picture…"

He groans, because this is the embarrassing bit coming out, and he mumbles an apology to Kurt under his breath, promising he'll find the picture and delete it, and burn any copies she prints out. Kurt is laughing though, and it sounds good, and he suspects Kurt hasn't done a lot of laughing this past week.

"Right, dinner. If your dad's still not home by the time you put them down can you sing them their lullaby? You know they don't like my voice…"

Oh crap. He nods and a quick glance to his right shows Kurt's eyebrows have risen and he's being watched. Assessed. He's not singing in front of Kurt. He keeps quiet, making soft shh-ing noises and rocking Adam in an attempt to quiet him. Lily doesn't need it but he hears Kurt doing the same thing and his body moving beside him as he rocks Lily. When Adam is finished he lifts him and puts him down in his cot before turning and taking Lily from Kurt. He picks up the bottles and passes them to Kurt.

"Can you take these down to the kitchen? I'll be down in a sec…"

"Sure."

He breaths a sigh of relief and talks a little under his breath, telling them goodnight, waiting for the door to close. He sings quietly, just in case Kurt is in the hallway listening, which he doubts, but he's feeling a bit paranoid. Adam is asleep before he even gets to the third verse, and Lily is just lying there staring at him, so he finishes and heads down to the kitchen to find an amused looking Claire and a slightly shocked looking Kurt. He has no idea what to think, and with Claire there are no safe bets.

She turns away offers of help and sends him and Kurt into the lounge to talk. Which they actually manage to do, although it's nearly all superficial conversation now, which is fine with him. His dad comes home and looks a little surprised to se Kurt there but treats it as normal, which he's thankful for. Kurt excuses himself to ring his dad briefly and then dinner is ready. It's tortillas, which he realizes is a smart move on Claire's because he has no idea if Kurt is a vegetarian or anything like that. He isn't, and with his dad and Claire there as well conversation flows easily, although he still finds himself doing a double take.

They end up having coffee and talking about Kurt's dads' campaign a bit, and when Kurt leaves he shows him to the door. He watches Kurt drive off and when he closes the door Claire suddenly reappears, stupidly wide grin on her face.

"He's cute…"

Oh god.

"Shut up Claire…"