I'M SORRY FOR FORGETTING YESTERDAY, IF YOU WANT MY EXCUSES THEY'RE AT THE BOTTOM.
Chapter 20
The months of summer went quickly. Blaine spent most of it making lesson plans, driving Rose to play dates and swimming lessons, and playing at the cafés and bars, even getting some calls from some people in Findlay, Kenton, and Westerville wanting him to play at various events. Which, if Blaine was honest, was literally a dream come true, since he'd thought he'd completely given up on anything musical long ago.
Soon school started back up though, and Rose was anything but upset about starting Kindergarten and making new friends. In fact, it was all she could talk about the last month of summer. October came quickly, and before Blaine knew it, it was Rose's fifth birthday.
Blaine snuck into his daughter's bedroom that morning around 7:00am. She was sleeping soundly with the teddy bear Kurt won her at the fair nestled in her arms. It almost broke Blaine's heart how much she missed her 'Mr. Kurt.'
But that was over now. It was fun while it lasted, but Kurt had moved back to New York, Blaine was still in Lima, and they hadn't made any contact since early June. Shaking his head quickly, as if to shake the memories away, Blaine made his way over to Rose's bed.
"Morning Rosie." He whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek.
She yawned adorably and turned to look at him. "Morning, Daddy."
Blaine grinned."Happy birthday, Princess."
That got her out of bed quickly. "Daddy!" She exclaimed, "I'm five years old today!"
"Are you really?" Blaine asked, feigning surprise. "Wow, that's so old!"
"Not as old as you." Rose said, kissing Blaine on the cheek and jumping out of her bed. "Now get out of my room. I'm five now. I'm old enough to get myself ready for school."
"Oh, you are, are you?" Blaine laughed. Rose nodded seriously and pushed Blaine out of the room.
Ten minutes later, Rose walked out in the most ridiculous outfit ever. Once he convinced her that she didn't really need three shirts or a tutu over her jeans, and that she did need socks under her tennis shoes, she looked suitable for school. As soon as Blaine was ready for work, he loaded himself and Rose into the car, ("Yes Rose, five year olds still have to sit in car seats.") they were off.
Unbeknownst to Rose, Blaine had gotten a substitute for his afternoon classes and talked to Miss Stephanie ahead of time to let her know he would be picking her up at 12:00. Rose still allowed him to hold her hand as he walked her to the front door.
He leaned down to give her a kiss. "Bye, Rosie. I'll see you later."
"Bye Daddy!" she replied, kissing him in return.
The day went fairly quickly. The kindergarteners in his class this year were all really fast learners, and were in turn really fun for Blaine to teach. Same with his high school classes, actually. It was almost like the world was deciding to give him a break for the first time in his life.
Not that I don't deserve it, after all I've put up with. Blaine thought. Which reminded him of Kurt and how Kurt had told him to stop feeling bad for himself. Which reminded him of the terrible things he'd said to Kurt. Which-ow-hurt. When 11:45 hit the clock and all the Kindergarten parents arrived to pick up their kids, Blaine grabbed Rose's balloon and cake from his office and headed next door. Stephanie glanced at him as she read the next page in the book she was reading.
Since the school was pretty big for the size of their campus (328 students ages five to eighteen all on seven acres), and the high schoolers had odd class schedules, the elementary classrooms got their lunches delivered to their rooms. The lunch ladies were setting up the kindergarteners' lunches when Blaine arrived. When Miss Stephanie finished her book, all the kids turned around to see Blaine standing in the doorway with a birthday balloon and a birthday cake.
"Daddy!" Rose squealed. Blaine quickly set the cake down on a table so he could grab his daughter as she flew into his arms. "Is this for my birthday?" Blaine grinned and nodded.
"Alright, everyone. Get in line for lunch. After you eat, we can have some of Rose's cake and sing her happy birthday." The kids chorused a "Yes, Miss Stephanie" before filing in to the line. Blaine watched as his daughter talked excitedly with her friends while their plates were filled with food.
Stephanie handed Blaine a plate (he usually ate in the high school teacher's lounge or in the cafeteria) and the two ate their own food. "Mr. A?" Riley, who was still Rose's best friend, asked. "Will you sit at Rose's and my table?"
"Of course I will." Stephanie handed him one of the tiny sized chairs. He took it, and his plate of food, over to Riley and Rose's desks. Then Blaine just watched. It wasn't very often that he got to watch his daughter interact with her friends. Recess, he supposed, since they had some recesses together, and when he came to get her from daycare after school, but usually he was teaching his own classes.
Rose, Riley, and Jared (their other table mate) were giggling about the pictures they drew that morning in art class. Soon enough, everyone had finished their lunches. They sang 'Happy Birthday' to Rose and ate their cake. When the festivities were finished (and it was time for recess) Blaine told Rose that they she could stay at school if she wanted or they could spend that afternoon together.
"Can we just go home and watch a movie? And then maybe go out to dinner?" she asked.
"Where would you want to go for dinner, honey?" he asked.
"Hm…" Rose thought hard. "Can we go to that bread place Mr. Kurt took us to after we went to the zoo?"
"Breadstix?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah!" Rose exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement. "And I can wear the new dress you bought me last week, and you can dress up too, and it'll be so much fun daddy!"
Blaine grinned. "Alright. When do you want to watch the movie?"
Rose bit her lower lip. "Can we go to the park first? I really like the swings there."
Blaine nodded. "Of course, sweetie. Let's go." Rose packed up her backpack, hugged Riley and Miss Stephanie good bye, and headed out the door with her daddy. They went to the park and she spent almost two hours swinging on the swings, hanging from the monkey bars, and playing in the sandbox.
Around two o'clock, she ran over and grabbed her dad's hand. "Okay, daddy. Can we go watch a movie now?"
"Of course!" he said, kissing her cheek. "What do you want to watch?"
They climbed into the car (and Rose in her car seat) as she pondered over which movie to watch. "Can we watch Lion King?"
"Um…" Blaine pretended to think about it, "Yes!"
Rose giggled from her place in the back seat of their car. "Daddy?" she asked when they pulled onto their street, "Who's car is that?"
Blaine looked and, sure enough, a rental car was parked outside of their house. They couldn't tell if anyone was in it or not. 'Maybe they're at the front door.' Blaine thought, 'It's hard to see it from the street…'
Helping Rose out of her car seat, the two walked to the front door. When Blaine saw who it was, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Mr. Kurt!" Rose exclaimed, launching herself at the older man.
"Hey, Rose." He grinned, hugging her as tight as he could. "I missed you."
Rose kissed his cheek. "I missed you. And you made it in time for my birthday! But you probably didn't know, but that's okay. I don't blame you. Are you here for a while? Are you coming to dinner with us? Do you want to watch Lion King with us?"
Kurt looked as Blaine's conflicted face. On one hand, his daughter loved Kurt. She loved spending time with him, and this would really make her birthday special. But on the other hand, wouldn't it make things incredibly awkward? He and Kurt didn't exactly end on good terms. He actually recalled himself yelling something along the lines of, "fuck you, I don't need you," and something about him being a whore...?
Kurt shook his head. "I'd love to, sweetie, but I really have to get back home. My plane leaves tonight. I just wanted to personally bring you your birthday present."
Rose's eyes lit up. "You remembered? Wow Mr. Kurt! What is it, what is it!" she was bouncing on her toes.
"It's in my car, let me go get it. Wait here." Kurt walked over to his rental car, and Blaine followed.
"Don't think you can't spend time with her because of me. You two can do something together alone tonight if you want." Blaine muttered.
"No, I really do have a plane to catch." Kurt said. "But thanks for the offer." They were both quiet for a moment, "I'm really sorry. About everything, but especially about how I acted last December, and last June. I guess I was still upset at my high school self, and ironically taking it out on you. You didn't deserve it, you'll never deserve it, and I'll never deserve you."
"Kurt," Blaine began.
"No, shhh. Just please, please, let me apologize. I know I can't make it up to you, and I know being around isn't going to make it better because I'm still in love with you. But everything I love ends up broken, and you've been broken enough without me. I know coming back just to tell you that I'm sorry and I love you probably wan't the best idea, but a text or email or even phone call weren't enough." Kurt stared at his feet and glanced up at Blaine, almost shyly. "I just wanted you to know that I'm really, really sorry, and that I'm on my way out of your life, and you'll never have to deal with me again. I mean, except if we accidentally see each other while I'm in town visiting my parents."
"Kurt," Blaine tried again.
"I'm almost done, I promise." Kurt said softly. "All I really want is for you to be happy, Blaine, and all I do it say awful things to you in fits of anger. I want you to find someone who will adore you and always love you and never give you crap and always be there for you instead of kicking you while you're down. Someone who will treasure you for the incredible person you are. Someone who will open you up enough to forgive yourself for things you had no control over, but blame yourself for nonetheless. Someone who will treat Rose like a princess and love her for every ounce of perfection that she is. And if you can find that, I'll be content about loving you from six hundred miles away."
Blaine was silent for a minute, trying to hold back tears. Finally he asked, "now can I speak?"
Kurt laughed, "Please do."
"I," Blaine paused, "thank you. That meant a lot to me." He grinned over at Kurt, "Now you better actually have a birthday present for Rosie or she'll be really upset."
Kurt smirked and pointed through the back window of his rental car. Blaine peered through the part-way down window, trying to see what Rose's present was. Curled up in the back seat was a little brown and black puppy with a pink 'happy birthday' bow around its neck.
"Kurt!" Blaine cooed, "it's adorable!"
Kurt blushed and smiled. "I know you two were talking about getting a puppy that one time when we were at the zoo. I called Carrie and asked if you'd gotten one yet, and if you still wanted one. She said you kept talking about it, and I understand if you want me to take him back, or whatever, but he's a rescue from the local shelter, I know you care about stuff like that, and he's nine weeks old, so he's still a puppy, but I can give you money for puppy training classes if you want, and he's part collie part coon hound, and he's really sweet and loves giving kisses all the time and… Blaine, are you going to say something?"
Blaine smiled widely at Kurt. "This is amazing. Rose will love him. Thank you so much." Kurt smiled weakly, as if he was afraid that Blaine wouldn't let him give the puppy to Rose. "Do you want to take him to her?" Blaine offered.
Kurt nodded and opened the car door. The puppy looked up and started wagging his tail lazily when he saw Kurt and Blaine. "C'mere honey." Kurt said. The puppy got up and walked towards Kurt, who picked him up and grabbed the bag puppy food. He asked Blaine to grab the small dog bed and the leash. Then the two boys took Rose her puppy.
She squealed louder than Kurt or Blaine ever had heard. "Mr. Kurt! Is that your puppy?"
"Nope." Kurt grinned, "he's your puppy!"
Rose looked at Blaine excitedly. "Really?"
Blaine grinned, happy to see his daughter so happy. "Really."
The three spent the next half hour or so deciding where to put all the dog stuff. They hung up his leash by the door, where Blaine kept his keys, and put the dog bed on the floor in the living room. The food was against the wall, under Blaine's school calendar, in the kitchen.
"What's his name?" Rose asked, scratching the puppy's belly.
Kurt shrugged and smiled. "He doesn't have a name. You get to choose it."
Rose took a long second to think. "But I can't think of any puppy names."
"That's okay." Kurt said. "You and your daddy can come up with one later. He doesn't mind not having a name for a little bit."
Rose shook her head, "but you have to go back to New York tonight, Mr. Kurt. And I want you to know his name!" She kept thinking for a few more minutes before her face lit up; she turned to Blaine and asked, "Daddy, what was that movie about the blue dog alien thing?"
Blaine and Kurt shared a confused look. "Lilo and Stitch?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah!" Rose explained, then paused looking confused. "Which one was the dog's name?"
Kurt laughed, remembering that she had fallen asleep half way through. "Stitch."
Rose grinned. "Yeah. Stitch. I want to name the puppy Stitch. Because all three of us were together when we watched it so it's perfect."
Blaine laughed. "Alright, Stitch it is."
Kurt smiled at the father, daughter, and puppy. "Alright guys, well I should probably head out. My plane leaves in a couple hours, and I still have to stop by my dad's house and drive to the airport."
Rose's bottom lip quivered at the thought of Kurt leaving. "But… But you just got here, and you already have to say good bye?"
Kurt nodded, trying not to let the girl's tears cause him to cry. "I'm sorry, honey. Here, I'll make you a deal. I'll come back over Christmas vacation, and if it's okay with your daddy, we can go Christmas shopping together. Just the two of us. Does that sound okay?"
Rose looked up at him and nodded. "Okay. That sounds like fun. How long until Christmas?" she asked.
Kurt smiled and hugged her. "Three months. I'll be back to see you in three months."
Rose looked at him. "You promise?"
Kurt smiled. "Promise."
Rose still wasn't convinced. She held out her tiny pinky. "Pinky promise?"
Kurt wrapped his finger around hers. "I pinky promise that I will be back in December and we will go shopping together. Maybe we'll even go to a movie, or a park, or lunch."
Rose went back to wrapping her arms around Kurt's neck. "I'd like that a lot."
"So would I." Kurt smiled softly. After a few more minutes of goodbyes (from Rose and Stitch) Kurt headed out the door.
So Rose and Blaine watched their movie and, as insisted by Rose, they dressed up and went to Breadstix. Once they were home, Blaine tucked Rose into bed (after putting Stitch's bed in her room as well, thanks to her persistence) and headed out to the kitchen, where their answering machine was lighting up. They had five messages.
The first one was from his substitute, telling him that everything had gone well that day and she'd left everything on his desk. The second was from Carrie, wishing Rose a happy birthday. The third was Jay's parents, wishing their granddaughter a happy birthday. The fourth was from the Principal at the school, telling Blaine that staff meeting tomorrow after school was postponed until next Monday. The fifth was Burt Hummel asking Blaine to call him as soon as he got this message, no matter what time.
Blaine opened his cell phone to see that he had seven missed calls and two texts from Burt, asking the same thing. So Blaine, now worried, hit the redial button. He only had to wait two rings before Burt picked up.
"Blaine?"
"Hey, Burt. I got your messages. I guess I forgot to turn the sound on my phone after school today. What's wrong?"
"It's Kurt. He was in an accident, and he's at the hospital."
Okay, so in my defense it's been a really drama-filled weekend. Thursday night my sister left to go to a Giants game with her boyfriend, Friday morning my mom (my school's Athletic Director) had to leave for a Volleyball tournament this weekend, and Friday afternoon I left to go to Chico with my church's youth band (where I sing/play bass). My phone died because it's battery lasts like, 0.4 seconds but around 10 I turned it back on to see how long the dead battery would last, and I got a text from my mom basically saying "Dad wasn't feeling well and he threw up a lot and he got very weak, passed out, and fell, so (my other sister) called 911 and they're in the hospital." Then my phone died again.
And so I was freaking out and called my sister on someone else's phone, and they had no idea what caused it and so we were all freaking out and stressing. My mom borrowed someone's car and drove home from the volleyball tournament that night. They let him leave the hospital around midnight and he's doing a lot better but he's really weak and tired and this is the second time this has happened, but the first he's gone to the hospital for it. He has to go in for more tests on Monday, but he's okay now. But yesterday when I got home from my trip, I was still stressing and freaking out so I wasn't thinking about much else...
Sorry for my long-winded story. If you're the type of person who prays, please pray for my dad and whatever's wrong with him and that we figure it out, if not, thanks for reading anyway. See you next week! :)