Saturday, March 10th, 10:07am – Dinky Dressing Room

"Wait, what?"

Trying to maintain his balance while squatting low, Blaine exhaled loudly. Motioning for his son to remove the earbuds from his ears, he nudged Everett with his elbow while snatching Amelia's light suntan tights from the clear Ziplock bag. "Ev, go stand in the hallway against the wall so we have a little more room, please?"

Glancing up from his iPad, Ev nodded and squeezed outside the door, leaning against the wall as he continued his game, his feet constantly moving through his upcoming tap routine.

Kneeling on the cement floor, Blaine scrunched the rhinestone tan tights down to the toe before helping Amelia slide them up one leg and then the next. Without looking over at Finn, he instructed, "You've got to scrunch them, Finn. They aren't like socks. Have her put her toe into them and then kick forward gently while you pull them up as high as you can before doing the same thing with the next leg. If you bend down, she can use your shoulders to balance."

"Like this?"

If he weren't so focused on the next ten things that had to be done, Blaine would have burst out laughing at the sight of Finn pressed tight into the corner, Anastasia standing between his stretched out legs, hands shaking as he tried to get her dressed. Shaking his head as he worked with the black fishnet tights, Blaine commented, "No underwear."

"No underwear?"

"Yeah, Finn. It'll show."

Grunting acknowledgement, Finn helped his daughter strip off her tan tights, then her underwear, tossing the offending undergarments in the vicinity of her duffle bag before struggling to get her tights back into place. "Okay, how 'bout now?"

"Looks good. Now you need to do the same with the fishnets … BUT you need to be super careful, because they snag like a bi—biscuit. You need to spread them with your fingers as you move them up her leg – to avoid the rhinestones." At this point, Blaine was stretching the shirt-skirt one piece up his daughter's torso, fastening the plastic clip that fell on the back of her neck, and positioning the suspenders. Lifting her up, he sat Amelia down on the counter so he could slide her stirrup socks and tap shoes on to her feet.

"And why are we covering up the rhinestones with fishnets?" Finn asked in exasperation. "I mean, what's the point? Can the judges really see them from their seats? Are points awarded for sparkles? Would they really not place as high if they just picked plain tights? I mean, Rachel was up 'til three in the morning one night gluing black rhinestones onto a black ballet skirt. You can't even see them."

"Ours is not to question why, ours is to get our kids ready regardless of whatever … divine … choices the dance teachers have made regarding costumes," Blaine grumbled, carefully touching up Amelia's makeup and hair. "Otherwise, I'd have really wondered whose bright idea it was to put Ev in a tuxedo unitard at the age of six. Or those disco one-piece pantsuits the kids wore last year. Anything that makes the bathroom an adventure – or threatens to cause an accident because it takes so long to get them out of it."

Glancing up at his image in the mirror, Blaine acknowledged the grey that was slowly working its way into the hair at his temples. Kurt insisted it made him look more distinguished, but secretly Blaine wasn't so sure. Shrugging, he helped Amelia down, handed the warm-up jackets she and her brother were to wear over their costumes, and waved her outside to join her brother. "Don't even think about going down those metal stairs without me," he warned.

"'Kay, Dad," she agreed.

Offering a hand to Finn, Blaine pulled his friend up off of the floor before turning his attention to Ana. "Lipstick and then I think you're good to go," he commented, holding out his hand while Finn fumbled to pull the tube from the front pocket of his jeans. With practiced care, Blaine applied an extra layer of the bright red color.

Finn slid her team jacket up her arms and held the door open for his young daughter. "Will our stuff be okay up here?" he asked Blaine softly.

Looking over his shoulder, Blaine nodded. "For the most part. I wouldn't leave the kids' electronics or your wallet, but no one's gonna touch their make-up or costumes."

Leaving the door to the dressing room open, Finn and Blaine each grabbed one of the girls' arms as they made the slow descent down the metal staircase, made especially slippery and dangerous given their tap shoes. Throngs of costumed girls kept running past them on the narrow stairs, on their way up to frantically change into their next costume and hair style.

By the time they reached the ground floor backstage area, speech was no longer possible. The music blared as Blaine took hold of his kids and maneuvered them through the bodies until they reached an indoor hallway where various dance teams were warming up their routines. While Blaine understood the why the dance teachers chose this area to loosen their dancers up, having ten or fifteen or twenty dancers working through choreography didn't leave much room for the other dancers and their parents to make their way to and from the dressing rooms.

"Blaine!"

Blaine stopped in between two groups of dancers, as the lead dance instructor hurried over, tugging a costumed girl behind her.

"Blaine, thank God you're here. Sashi's mom as the flu, her dad dropped her off. He managed to get her in her costume, but nothing else. Can you help? Ev's group is on in three numbers."

Taking a deep breath, Blaine nodded, pasting a smile on his face. "Sure. She have a makeup kit? Hairspray?"

Maya glanced down at her young charge. "Sashi? Did your dad give you your makeup?"

Sashi shrugged but had nothing further to add.

Feeling his blood pressure rise, Blaine tried to focus on the fact that nothing about this was Sashi's fault and emergencies came up all the time. "I'll take care of it. Who's the line mom for her routine?"

"Yolanda."

"Okay." Blaine turned to his daughter and niece. "You two stay with here with Uncle Finn. Make sure when they bring you back here you find him. Do not come upstairs without him, got it?" Seeing the girls nods, Blaine turned to look up at Finn. "Find a place against the wall, somewhere in this hallway and stay put. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"But – "

"Don't have time right now, Finn. Their line mom will come grab them in a minute and then they just need to be able to see you when she brings them back here. I gotta go. When the line mom comes, you can go grab a seat, but as soon as they dance you have to leave and come back here. You can handle this," he added.

Taking Sashi's hand in his own, Blaine began making his way back the way he'd just come.