"I appreciate you coming with me even though I could have handled it on my own." Blaine said as he and Kurt pulled up outside of his brother's new house in Rhode Island.
He hadn't been to see his brother in the first two weeks of him being there. He'd planned on it since it was so close—but then school was slammed, the internship was putting a lot of extra work on him, and his family had decided to make his life a literal hell.
"I know that." Kurt made eye contact. "But you wanted me here even if you didn't say it. You've been super stressed out since school started back and I also really wanted to see you. Skype and phone calls are good but it's not enough."
"I'm sorry. I was supposed to be coming up every weekend and I've missed four." Blaine sighed a bit.
"That's not important. You are. You're in your last year of law school, working, and dealing with all of this money stuff." Kurt squeezed his leg.
"I can't believe they would choose now to do this. If they had waited eight more months I would be gradated and wouldn't have to take all this time from studying. They knew I was at law school somehow and this is just another fuck you attempt to ruin my life."
"We knew this was coming eventually. It had to." Kurt tilted his head a bit. "Maybe it's better to get this over with."
"Yeah. I guess." Blaine turned his car off. "Okay, let's go in. He warned me it's a bit of a mess."
Kurt hopped out and stood at the front of the car. When Blaine made it to him, he linked hands with him and gave Blaine's hands a big squeeze.
"I love you so much. I hope you know that." Blaine looked at him, eyes shinier than usual.
"I love you so much too." Kurt kissed his cheek. "Come on."
They walked to the front door and, before they could even knock, it swung open and Danny attached himself to Blaine's leg yelling, "BLAAAAAINE!"
Mia rushed over. "People have boundaries, remember? Just like how you can't go and hug random people in the store."
"Fine." Danny pulled back and looked up at Blaine. "Sorry I broke your boundaries."
Blaine laughed and bent down to hug him. "I'll forgive you."
"Come on in!" Mia smiled. "I'm so sorry about the summer trip. I figured you wouldn't want to spend your time in Italy in a hospital room with boring nurses."
"It's fine. The timing just didn't work out." Blaine came in, Kurt right behind him. "Do you consider this a mess? It looks nicer than my place ever does."
"Not in this room. This room is the first one that is completely cleaned, unpacked, and not full of crap everywhere." She smiled.
"My room is always a mess." Danny chirped from the couch where he was now sitting.
"Of course it is." Alex came in, ruffled his hair, and then went to hug Kurt and Blaine. "It's been forever and a week, Kurt!"
"I know. How are you?"
"Two-month-old child and a two-story house to unpack." Alex hugged Blaine. "I know how you are."
Blaine gave a smile that was more like a grimace.
"Are you not even going to offer drinks or snacks?" Mia gave Alex a dumbfounded look.
"I kind of moved a lot of boxes in front of it when I was looking for something. I'll move it later… unless you guys are thirsty?" Alex looked at Kurt and Blaine
"I'm good." Kurt said.
Blaine held up a bottle of Dr. Pepper he'd brought with him—times were tough. He needed the sugary caffeine. To hell with sugar and impending death. He was kind of in crisis mode and it was frowned upon to drink alcoholic beverages and drive.
"Great. Let's go before the baby wakes up and we can't hear what each other is saying."
Alex led them into the room which looked very chaotic except for the kitchen island that had a bunch of paperwork, a lap top, and an Ale 8... Kurt could tell they were brothers.
"I'm going to tell you something that was divulged to me by one of my high school friends who works at a neighboring pediatrician office which is really close to Dad's. There is an undercover cop posing as a new receptionist. She has been going through his files."
"How does he—what?" Blaine asked.
"Well Jenna, his wife and another one of my friends, is a police officer." Alex responded. "The undercover receptionist has gotten a few things that are definitely shady but not enough to arrest him yet. They found out that Grandma and Dad were using campaign and state money for sure… obviously using it for themselves. I don't know how exactly but word is he's also got a few 'patients' that aren't children which sent up some obvious red flags… You did know they were taking money, right?"
"Yeah. I overhead and it didn't go very well. I had a plate, it fell, and they found out I heard. Good times." Blaine attempted to smile in an 'oh well' way but it didn't quite work out for him. "He's been calling me three times a day and harassing me about how my inheritance money should never been put in my name."
"They tried to pull that shit on me when I was twenty-two. I lawyered the fuck up and they gave me access to a sub account holding my money. A month ago, they released all of my money but they noticed something weird was going on with yours. Some documents were missing and some of them looked tampered with on yours. The transactions from yours also looked very similar to when they believe money was taken from the city. Again, I don't know anything about the law so I'm just assuming it's some legal jargon. Something about a receivable and unrecieveable trust?"
"It's revocable and irrevocable trusts." Blaine corrected him out of habit. "The will was revocable which means it can be amended, money can be added in, and money can be taken out. A lot of them were set up as irrevocable trusts after the person passes away but they don't always do that. He trusted Grandma. He probably didn't know she was going to go into politics, turn into an evil witch, and do all of this when he died."
"You could have represented yourself." Alex looked at him, surprised.
"No. If I went on in school and went into that field, maybe. We learn some stuff for everything. If you want to work in one certain area, you go to school another three years and get another degree." Blaine said. "Basically they're paying extra attention to mine so they can get all of the correct paperwork, to see the original will, and to see if there's a correlation to when money was taken from mine at the same time. If the times match up, they've got enough evidence to pursue legal action against him for that. That can't be a coincidental but there also has to be more to the story. Somebody must have come out and said something." Blaine explained. "What does our lawyer say? Thanks for paying him for me by the way. I'll get the money back to you."
"Don't worry about it, Blaine." Alex shook his head. "I can't believe you sounded like a lawyer, though."
Kurt grinned shaking Blaine's shoulder. "He's going to be official soon."
Blaine nodded and chewed on his lip.
"Okay. The papers you need to sign before I forget." Alex looked around the kitchen. "Where did I—"
"On the microwave!" Mia called from another room before he could finish his question.
"It's so freaky how she does that." Alex muttered.
"I think it's cute." Kurt said. He liked Alex more and more every time they met—they were really getting to know each other.
"I guess you could look it over and sign it yourself. He did say to call him if you had questions, though. He doesn't want you to feel like you're signing stuff with no idea what's going on."
"That's as much as I want to be involved, honestly. I want it to be over." Blaine opened the folder and grabbed a pen. "Is this the same exact same paperwork you filled out?"
"It is." Alex nodded.
"Sounds good to me." Blaine bent over the kitchen island, signing and initialing several pages. He had closed the folder when his phone rang. It was always around the same time—3:30 in the afternoon. "I wish he'd leave me alone."
"Answer it." Alex said, stepping closer to Kurt and Blaine.
"But—"
"Do it." Alex nodded towards the phone.
Blaine accepted the call and put it on speaker phone.
"Heeeey, Dad. Long time no chat." Alex said after taking the phone from Blaine.
"What are you doing with your brother? Where is he?"
"Oh, he's standing in my kitchen. It looks like I picked the perfect time to come back to the states since you won't leave him alone." Alex said cheerfully. "So why don't you fuck off?"
Kurt's jaw dropped. That was the last thing he expected.
"My calls to him don't concern you. Give your brother the phone."
"Can you not even say his name? I know exactly what you are trying to do." Alex motioned for Kurt and Blaine to follow him as he went into another room in the house away from where Danny would not be able to hear anything. As far as Danny knew, he had a nice grandpa who gave him toys when he was in America. He was too young to understand.
"Well you seemed to have smartened up since you ran away to went to school in Italy." His father said, disgusted. "What is it that you think I am trying to do?"
"The same thing you did to me when I was twenty-two. Trying to take away the inheritance that is rightfully his by berating him, telling him he's a disgrace, something along those minds if I remember correctly. You know, harass him until he doesn't want to full with it and signs it over so you all can have it?" Alex said.
"Rightfully?" Blaine's father echoed. "He's a faggot. Are you serious? He is such an embarrassment to this family. It's a wonder your grandmother was even re-elected her last term after word got out that brother is gay. It was my fault trying to bring someone in to try to sabotage the relationship but I guess they split on their own. He has never been a part of this family like you never were."
"Actually, they're not split up."
Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand, squeezing it tightly.
Blaine didn't look upset, he didn't look annoyed. He stared at Alex unable to believe he'd picked up the call. Or that he had comebacks instantly.
"Put Blaine on the phone." Their dad snapped after almost a whole minute of silence.
"You're not talking to him. You don't deserve to after everything you've done to him. You pushed him down the stairs? You got violent when he overheard you and Grandma talking about the stolen money?" Alex asked.
"He has always been different. I told him once and I will tell him again—I wish we'd drowned him the day he was born. I know you can hear me, Blaine, and you are a poor excuse for a son and a grandson. Your grandmother was so upset you weren't at her side on her death bed."
Alex put it on mute so his dad couldn't hear him. "She never mentioned you once when I was there. He's trying to make you feel bad."
Blaine nodded. "I had a feeling it would come up."
"This is horrible." Kurt, who had been rubbing Blaine's arm the whole time, said. "Did he—"
Alex held up a finger when his dad made a point bad enough to upset him again.
"Your grandfather would have been so ashamed of you for your lifestyle choices. Running away and making your friends' families think we are mentally and physically abusive to you. Us?" His dad scoffed. "And your grandmother paying for that gay boy school, he'd be horrified you didn't thank her for protecting you."
Blaine unmuted. "First of all, you both only let me go there so I'd be hidden away during poll time. Second, I got half of a scholarship the last two years. Third, I'm pretty sure the only person he would be ashamed of is you and your mother for stealing money from the city and funding your own pockets like you didn't have fucking enough when you lived in a mansion."
Kurt watched Blaine, surprised. That was something he hadn't expected.
"We never took anything from anyone."
"Oh, really?" Blaine asked. "So why were there so many transactions from my account? One's that coincidently very similar to the ones stolen from the city's education fund!"
"You know nothing, Blaine. You're a faggot." His father scoffed.
"Just like Mia is a dago? Do you remember calling her that when you met her the first time when I didn't know how to speak Italian yet?" Alex cut in. "I can't wait until you go down. I really can't."
"I'm not surprised you feel that way, Alexander. But can you explain what we did to you that was so bad?"
Alex gritted his teeth. "Quit messing with Blaine or I'm going to turn your entire life upside down. I'm not running from you anymore."
His dad laughed. "The only thing you're good at is running away. Good luck getting someone to believe that story you've made up in your head. You and your brother deserve each other. I don't know where your mother and I went wrong but I'm done with both of you."
The call disconnected.
Blaine took a deep breath, shaking from the adrenaline of speaking to his father. He felt Kurt's hand on his shoulder and could hear him whispering comfortingly but he couldn't make out the words.
He hadn't wanted to talk to his father. He just wanted to come, sign some papers and hang out with his brother.
"I'm sorry I made you answer that call." Alex said, looking at Blaine. "I didn't—I— he can't keep harassing you. It's not right."
"It's okay." Blaine said. "I'm sorry you had to talk to him."
"For the record he is talking about me running away because when I was seventeen and my girlfriend got pregnant. He paid her family a lot of money for her to have an abortion. Her family pressured her into doing it even though she didn't want to." Alex chewed on his lip. "I didn't want you to think anything else happened."
"I'm sorry." Kurt said, barely audible.
"Thanks, Kurt." Alex forced a smile.
"They never said anything like that to me. They always acted like you went to travel and study abroad." Blaine frowned.
"Yeah. They probably told the same thing to people who asked questions about you when you began officially living with your friend's family. This family is so fucked up and likes to act like it's so picture perfect. It's always been that way with Mom and Dad. Grandpa even tried to talk to him a few times, but I don't even know." Alex shook his head.
Mia poked her head in. "Can you come give the baby a bottle? I've got stuff on the stove for Danny."
Alex walked up, grinning and taking the baby from Mia.
"You okay?" Mia asked, putting her hand on her arm.
"Yeah." Alex said and carried it over to Kurt and Blaine. "This is Elena. We are apparently naming our children in alphabetical order."
"She's so precious." Kurt dropped Blaine's hand and touched the baby's balled up little fist.
"Thanks." Alex smiled even more and then said, "You get to meet your uncle Blaine and your soon to be uncle Kurt."
Blaine rolled his eyes, but that did get a bigger smile out of him. It was nice to have someone he was related to like Kurt that much. Also, it was kind of surreal.
"She looks like Mia."
"Splitting image. Do one of you want to hold her?"
"Me!" Kurt said before even thinking. He then added, "Unless Blaine wants too first."
"You can hold her first." Blaine laughed.
Alex went closer, going to help Kurt situate the baby, but he took her with ease. "Have you been practicing?"
"Well my parents had a surprise baby about five years ago… although I really do want kids someday." Kurt admitted, still looking down at Elena.
Alex laughed and headed out to get her bottle.
"Are you okay?" Kurt asked Blaine, meeting his eyes.
"He's such a horrible person and he sounds insane." Blaine pulled a face and then touched Elena's chubby and tiny cheek. "Wes is going to have one of these in four months. It's so crazy to believe."
"He's going to be a perfect dad. He acts goofy but he's got the biggest heart of anyone I know." Kurt whispered. "Do you want her?"
"Yeah but it's been a while. I'll probably need help." Blaine looked excited.
Kurt eased Elena into his arms and then repositioned them a bit, smiling. "You didn't need that much help."
"I don't get how somebody can bring a baby into the world, care for it every day, and start to hate it because of one aspect they don't like." Blaine said quietly, looking down at her again. "I don't understand how you just turn it off. I'm holding her, I'm not even her parent, and I would never let anything like that happen to her."
"Nothing will. Somehow you and Alex turned out okay." Kurt bit his lip. "I have a feeling Alex is a very protective dad."
"I have a feeling he moved back here for me." Blaine frowned. "He said Mia was offered a teaching job, but she would have had to apply."
"You two are family and you both had very traumatic things happen by your father at a young age. I'm sure he wants to be close to the only family he really has left." Kurt rubbed Blaine's arm. "Would it really be so bad if he did come all the way back to be with you?"
"No but I would feel bad. And that whole call with my dad a few minutes ago. It's like 'Welcome back to the country. Let's bring up the worst event in your life' two weeks after getting here." Blaine sighed.
"How do you feel about it all?" Kurt asked.
Alex came back into the room with a bottle. "She looks awful comfortable, Blaine."
Blaine looked down, seeing a smile on her face.
"Supposedly they're involuntary but I don't buy it." Alex shrugged and handed him the bottle. "How are you?"
"I'm sorry that they did that to you." Blaine felt tears fill his eyes as he fed the baby.
"It's not your fault." Alex said, looking surprised.
"They're just so horrible." Blaine sniffled.
"They are but we both made it out and are lucky enough to have found people who love us regardless of what happened in the past and how horrible our family is. Blaine, you made it. You kicked ass and got into Harvard. That is amazing."
"It is." Kurt said gently.
"Yeah." Blaine fought back more tears. "I guess."
"You guess?" Alex laughed. "You did better than me. I'm only an IT tech for Google. That's not too hard."
"How long does it take to not feel like this?" Blaine asked him seriously, looking up from the baby.
"It took a lot of time but you're doing great. Try to focus on the people who care. That's what matters the most. Kurt, Kurt's family, David, Wes and of course myself and Mia." Alex sighed a bit. "It will be easier when this inheritance stuff is settled and you don't have to think about it anymore. I'm to the point where I don't think about them very often."
"Really?" Blaine asked.
"You'll get a job, you and Kurt will start a family, you'll play with your kids and you'll be so happy that you barely think about it." Alex leaned down, getting some milk off Elena's chin with a baby rag he pulled out of his back pocket. "Getting married is a big game changer. And then having kids… well, you won't have much time to think about anything but bottles and diapers for a couple of years. Then you'll get used to one being out of them and another one will come knocking."
Kurt squeezed Blaine's shoulder comfortingly.
"It's hard but if you can get into Harvard Law you can do any damn thing you want. Harvard!"
Blaine smiled a bit, feeling proud at that moment. It was pretty amazing he got into Harvard Law when you looked back on his first three years of high school.
"You've got this, you've got this. It's almost over and you will never have to have contact with them again. Change your number and block theirs. Take your damn money and put it away until you have a big gay wedding. That's the best 'fuck you' to them." Alex grinned. "Come on. I think Mia ordered a pizza and Danny has been demanding you for thirty minutes."
"Thanks, Alex." Blaine let out a deep breath.
"Anytime, Blaine… but hopefully never again."
Long Time Coming
"You all weren't joking when you said David is never home. When I see him, he's either asleep on the couch or running out the door in scrubs." Kurt said a couple of weeks later, looking into his webcam. "I saw him a little more before school started but that is pretty much it."
"Yeah. I talked to him on the phone yesterday and he was talking about how awesome you are cleaning the dishes he doesn't have time to do and leaving leftover food for him in the microwave." Blaine laughed. "How is the bigger apartment?"
"Amazing since I was pretty much in an oversize bathroom with a bed in it before." Kurt laughed. "How was your day? What have you been up to?"
"I have seven classes this semester so I'm either sleeping, in class, or studying for class." Blaine admitted. "Luckily when they have nothing for me to do at CMJ, I get to work on my homework. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have that time."
"You're so close to done, though."
"We both are! Are you kidding me? You keep acting like I'm the only one that's graduating!"
"Well I'm not graduating from Harvard Law. Parsons is probably nothing compared to what you have to go through. We create or critique things… you have to study cases, read tons of books, write tons of essays, and do presentations." Kurt protested.
"No, I don't even want to hear it! You're right there with me, okay? And we're going to do it together!" Blaine said.
Kurt laughed at him. "You took a shower, didn't you?"
Blaine's hands went to his hair and he nodded, looking annoyed.
"What? I don't get to see them much anymore." Kurt pouted a bit.
"You're coming down here this weekend, right?" Blaine asked after looking down at his book.
"Yes, I'm coming to you."
"Great. I mean, not great but it gives me more time to study or sleep… hopefully sleep." Blaine frowned but then got a very excited look on his face. "Kurt, you can feel the baby kicking now."
"You can?" Kurt smiled.
"Yeah. It's so cool. It kind of feels like a bubble bumping against her stomach. It's so cute. Wes is always talking to the bump." Blaine laughed. "It's sweet."
"Wes is one of the sweetest people I've ever known." Kurt said.
"You must not know the Wes I know." Blaine joked. "Seriously, though, the bump has gotten bigger since last Friday when you came over."
"I have a feeling she's going to keep getting bigger every week from here on out. How did Wes meeting her family go?" Kurt stretched his arms out and then yawned.
"They love him of course. Everybody does." Blaine yawned too and then playfully said, "I told you that you can't do that."
"I can't help it."
"I completely understand. I'm living off coffee and whatever food I can grab with little to no prep. The only time I eat a proper meal is on campus with Adrian between two of our classes." Blaine nodded.
"How is he?" Kurt asked.
"Oh, you know. Studying hard when he's not with Matt. Although Matt keeps bringing us food since all four of us are knee deep in final year homework." Blaine said.
"Matt is really nice." Kurt smiled.
"Kurt?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah?"
"I'm really glad that we're Skyping every night and seeing each other on the weekend." Blaine admitted. "It feels so much better than before. I know it's hard to be apart but… I'm jut glad we're making the effort and making time for each other."
"I am too." Kurt's smile grew. "Plus, I love seeing your curls every so often. I've missed them."
Blaine let out a loud laugh. "Really? That's what you love about us talking nightly?"
"Yes." Kurt nodded seriously.
Blaine shook his head, still smiling.
"I know what you mean, though. Everything feels so much… healthier."
"Yeah!" Blaine nodded. "That's what I'm trying to get out. Sorry, I'm super tired."
"You should go to bed."
"I can't." Blaine sighed. "I have a couple of things I have to do unfortunately."
"You need rest so I'm going to get off of here and I will talk to you tomorrow?" Kurt tilted his head.
"Yeah. Ugh, I'm sorry, Kurt." Blaine rubbed his face.
"Don't! Look, we're both busy and a bit in over our heads this year so when we have a short call, we have a short one. Trust me, my time is coming up very quickly." Kurt smiled reassuringly. "It's fine."
"Yeah." Blaine nodded. "Okay, well, text me when you go to bed?"
"I will." Kurt promised. "But don't stay up too late. You need rest."
"I'll try." Blaine flashed a smile. "I love you, Kurt."
"I love you too, Blaine." Kurt smiled back before waving. "Bye."
The image of Kurt left his screen and he shut it off and stood, sighing. The hardest part of seeing Kurt each day was having to say goodbye to Kurt each day.
Long Time Coming
"I have something to tell you but I don't want you to freak out because I'm doing that enough for three people." Alec pulled Kurt into a somewhat empty (or at least less crowded) hallway in the design building.
"What?" Kurt asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Eric and I are getting married the weekend after next." Alec blurted.
"What? Have you even planned anything?" Kurt stared at him.
"No because his mom was being psycho about wanting everything that a straight girl would want for her wedding. Whatever. But we're doing it our way and we're not telling our parents until this weekend."
"Wait, why so soon?" Kurt asked. "He's not sick again or something is he?"
"No, nothing like that!" Alec reassured him. "He's great, everybody is great. We've both been too busy to really put time into having a ceremony and, honestly, we don't really want the attention. I have a super small family and his is super huge… and loud."
"I thought you were having fun planning stuff."
"We were but everything got to be too much… so many people and so much food and so much rental stuff." Alec sighed. "We talked about a very small wedding, but his family wouldn't have it. You know, My Big Fat Greek Wedding? It's just too much. Neither of us want this huge thing where people give us home gifts of stuff that we've already bought ourselves, or the whole 'oh, you're married now. When are you going to have kids?' You know what I mean?"
"I forgot his family was so big… and you don't really get along with his mom anyway." Kurt nodded. "You all should do what you want. It's your special day!"
"We are going to go to this overlook off a trail we hike sometimes. It's really pretty and the pictures will be gorgeous." Alec sighed happily and then looked to Kurt. "I'm not crazy, right?"
"No. You two should do it how you two want it." Kurt said. "If that is what will make you both happy, then do it. It's not even about the wedding, you know? It's about a lifetime promise to each other."
"That's exactly how I feel." Alec nodded. "Thank God. I don't want people to think I'm crazy."
"You're not! At all!" Kurt reassured him.
"Will you come?" Alec asked. "And stand up there with me?"
"Of course!" Kurt grinned. "Really?"
"Yes. You're my best friend and you're the only one I would want up there with me… apart from Eric, you know." Alec beamed and then gave Kurt a bear hug. "Blaine is more than welcome too if he can get away but if not it's no big deal. I know he must be buried in homework up to his eyeballs."
"He's actually coming down next weekend anyway, so he'll be there." Kurt pulled away. "I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks. Me too." Alec looked more excited than… maybe than Kurt had ever seen him. He then added, "And if he can't stay long, we completely understand."
"I'll talk to him and see but I'm sure he'll stay as long as he can." Kurt smiled.
"So, what's up with you?" Alec asked, moving towards one of the main hallways of the building.
"Too much." Kurt sighed. "Blaine's dad is still calling him daily, so he's really stressing out."
"Did they get the paperwork and stuff set up?" Alec asked. He didn't know much but at least knew Blaine was about to get an inheritance.
"His lawyer said hopefully next week they will have everything they need to push it through. They found his grandfather's lawyer and he came down with the will. Apparently, he was Blaine's grandpa's good friend and he was very excited to meet Blaine and Alex." Kurt said.
"Good!" Alec said. "Blaine should spend it on all kinds of those colorful penis suckers. You know the ones girls use at bachelorette parties? And mail a whole box of it to him. It'd be better if he did a whole 18-wheeler semi full of them but that would be pretty expensive."
"I wish Blaine would do something obnoxious. He's so busy with school and work and he acts like he's over it, but I know he's probably really upset. His dad has done some pretty horrible stuff to him over the years." Kurt sighed.
"His dad is one of those?" Alec frowned.
"To the extreme." Kurt walked into their classroom.
"That sucks. I don't know how parents can do that… My parents were good about it. Eric's were pretty shocked when he came out since he was the 'perfect son' but after a couple of days his mom was back to babying him." Alec snorted.
"My dad already knew of course." Kurt laughed a bit, taking a seat towards the back like they always did.
"I'm sure mine did too but they didn't want to ruin the coming out. After my dad went and got a rainbow cake from Dairy Queen." Alec shook his head. "It was really good, though."
"I can't believe you guys are getting married next weekend. How does it feel?" Kurt asked.
"Honestly? We've been living together for a couple of years and have been dating since I was fourteen. It doesn't feel any different. It feels normal. How is your dad?"
"Doing better. He's back at the garage but only to do office stuff for another month probably… which means he is probably under a car right now anyway."
Alec laughed as the instructor came in. "Lunch after?"
"Sure." Kurt nodded and opened his book.
Long Time Coming
Blaine came into the kitchen a few days later, seeing AJ sitting at the table alone and wincing. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. She won't quit moving." AJ nodded, looking tired. She then laughed. "It's like she's doing somersaults in there. I feel like soon I'll see a foot popping out."
Blaine cringed in sympathy. He was extremely thankful he would never have to experience anything like that. "You were so excited for her to kick hard enough that Wes could feel it too."
"It's been a week and he still gets as excited every time he feels it." She laughed. "And he bought this maternity book and keeps asking me if I'm feeling all of the symptoms it lists in the weekly charts."
"He's so excited." Blaine laughed, sitting down at the table with coffee. "I don't think I've ever seen him look this happy."
"Yeah. He will be until he has to change diapers." AJ laughed again and stood up. Blaine hadn't seen her standing up in a few days since she was usually asleep when he got home, but his eyes widened. Before you could see the smallest of bumps, but her bump was a lot bigger compared to how slow it had started out.
"Oh, don't. Please don't ask if you can get me anything either. I can reach the shelf." AJ sighed.
"You've gotten so much bigger. I mean, in a good way." Blaine added quickly, lowering himself back into his seat—because of course he was getting up to go help her. "It's adorable."
"I've heard that from every third person I make contact with… even strangers I don't know." She went over to the cabinet, struggling to reach what she needed. After a few seconds she turned around and said, "Okay, please help me."
"The peanut butter?"
"No. The queso."
"Do you want the chips?" Blaine handed her the queso.
"Yes please."
Blaine passed that over as well, looking amused.
"Don't judge me; I'm Latina. I will cry and then eat your ice cream after I finish my chips and queso." AJ took her bag of chips and queso to the table. She then looked at Blaine. "Blaine?"
"Yes?" Blaine laughed.
"Can you put this in the microwave?"
"I'll do you one better." Blaine took a pizza pan over to her ant then put a bunch of chips and queso on it.
"That is going to be such a bitch to clean, but I am actually in love with you. Wes can go back to Ohio."
Blaine laughed again, this time louder. "Well, I'm taken."
"Yeah, the best of them are. I got a pretty good one, though." AJ smiled a little.
"He's the best." Blaine agreed, sitting at the table with her while he waited for the chips and queso to get nice and warm. "I had a huge crush on him when he was fourteen and then he got a little gavel crazy."
"Gavel?" She looked confused.
"You don't know about the Warblers, do you?"
She shook her head.
"Oh my God. He was too embarrassed to tell you! This is great!" Blaine laughed. "It was an Acapella group in high school. Wes was one of the captains and got a gavel—yes, I'm serious— which he would take everywhere and smack it on stuff anytime he wanted attention… even in the dormitories.".
"Oh, God." She shook her head. "He would. No wonder he didn't tell me… because I am going to make so much fun od him."
"Yeah, you wouldn't have liked him back then." Blaine laughed again.
"Sometimes I wonder why I like him now." She smiled. "He's with some people from the FBI right now."
"Wait, what? Did something happen?" Blaine asked.
"No. Apparently he scored really, really high on this random test we were supposed to do for the college but that we didn't get graded for. Ever since then, they've been calling and asking him to meet to talk about an upcoming position after graduation. He wasn't going to go at first because it's in another state. I guess he harassed them enough that he called them back."
"Have you all talked about that and what will happen?"
"Yeah. The current plan is to both go to interviews and whoever gets the best offer will accept the position and the other will find a job around there at least until the baby is a toddler. If we need to go somewhere else after that, we will but we are staying together." She sighed a bit. "I hope he doesn't end up resenting me if something comes up that he really wants but he turns it down because of the baby."
"He wouldn't." Blaine reassured her. "I've never seen him look at someone the way he looks at you—the way he's always looked at you. He is so in love with you and he is so excited for the baby to get here. It's endearing, really."
"Are you sure?" She asked, looking worried.
"I am positive. Everything will work out how it's supposed to be. He would never leave you and he could never resent you." Blaine made eye contact. "Seriously. Try not to worry about it."
Tears filled her eyes and she nodded. "This isn't the way it was supposed to go, you know? We hadn't really talked about long term but we both wanted it… and now I'm pregnant and I'm worried that we worked our way up this far and one of us won't find a job a-and it'll just… fall apart."
"No, no, no." Blaine shook his head, kneeling on the floor by her. "It won't. Wes won't let it fall apart. You both are the top in your class and there's no way you wouldn't get job offers anyway. It's okay. He loves you so so much."
She nodded and wiped her eyes. "Sorry. It happens out of nowhere, you know? I've never cried so much as in these last five months."
"Don't apologize. I know you've got a lot going on with school and the 'big' doctor appointment is next week."
She nodded again, sniffling and grabbing a tissue. "It is a lot sometimes. Classes aren't getting any easier and I've got baby brain."
Blaine went over to the oven and pulled out the pizza pan full of nachos. He then took it over and put it on a trivet on the table.
"You are an angel." AJ grabbed a warm chip with queso on it and looked like she was in heaven. "Thank you so much!"
"It's no problem." Blaine laughed. At least it was easy to cheer her up, but he'd still have to talk to Wes.
They both looked up as the backdoor opened.
It was Wes of course.
"How did it go?" AJ asked, covering her mouth.
Wes walked over and took a chip off the pizza pan. "Good, I guess. Kind of gave me flashbacks of when they showed up at my house after I found out that I was able to hack into their systems, though. I think that's the only time my dad has been mad at me."
"Wait, you did what?" AJ asked.
"I was sixteen and stupid. I thought it would be cool to hack into the FBI's computers. The FBI did not think it was cool."
AJ looked at him, trying to figure out if he was joking or serious. "Well what did they say?"
"They told my parents that I was too smart and to watch their backs."
Blaine snorted and then looked down, embarrassed.
"No, I meant today."
"There is going to be an opening as a public health microbiologist in July and they want me to take it. It was that stupid test they made us do on the first day. Apparently I'm a genius and you should all feel inferior." Wes dropped into a seat at the table.
AJ's mouth dropped and Blaine looked confused.
"Okay, so, what would you do?" Blaine asked.
"Okay, let's assume that there is a potential terrorist who mails a letter to a business or something. When the person opens the letter there's white powder or something in it that doesn't look right. They send that envelope to microbiologist to test it and see if it is the real deal or if it's a hoax. I mean it goes up to a much huger scale with like, say, someone puts some disease in a public pool and suddenly everyone that is in the pool gets sick and dies or they later find out a lot of sick people were at the same pool. They would take a sample of the water, run tests, and see if the water in contaminated and if it is, they would run a lot more tests to find out what it was contaminated with." Wes said and then let out a deep breath. "That was a very long explanation."
"You would be exposing yourself to stuff like that every day?"
"Yeah and theoretically it'd be some really awesome-slash-horrible stuff. Oh, they also do stuff with bombs. I wonder if they found out about that explosion last year in lab and that's why they wanted to meet me." Wes said thoughtfully.
"Wes, if they heard about your explosion, they probably wouldn't want you anywhere near their lab." AJ said before shoving another chip into her mouth. Then she said, "You couldn't pay me enough money to walk within a five-mile radius of that place. Nope."
"$93,000 a year might be pretty hard to turn away." Wes said. "That's just starting out."
AJ began to cough in shock, hand covering her mouth
"Woah." Blaine's eyes. "That is a lot of money. Where is the place?"
"New York City is where they want me for… It kind of sounded like if I wanted the job, it was mine. Which is weird because I haven't even graduated yet and I didn't apply to any jobs related to that."
"Wes, you are the smartest one in our class. That is why they are contacting you before you've graduated." AJ pointed out, pushing the empty pizza pan out from in front of her. "Also, the first day of study group in our first year you said you wanted to do that. You can't turn that down."
"I haven't turned anything down but is that really a job where you come home to a family with the plague cells on your skin?" Wes asked. "I also wasn't going to have a baby that is more susceptible to catching things with a little baby immune system."
"I'm sure those people go through decontamination or something." Blaine said. "Anyone who deals with stuff like that in clothes do at least."
"Yeah. They aren't going to let you walk around with something that might be the plague on you so you can cause an epidemic." AJ giggled a bit.
"What do you want to do then?" Blaine asked AJ. "The same thing?"
"No. Although it sounds cool, my father would probably drag me back to Colorado kicking and screaming." AJ sat up straight. "I either want to work in stem cell production or stem cell genome engineering."
"I'm studying torts and you two will be saving the world." Blaine sighed. "I suddenly feel a lot dumber. Thanks."
Wes rolled his eyes.
"I don't think I can get up, Wes." AJ looked at him.
Wes laughed.
"No, really. My lower back is killing me and my feet are swollen." She reached her two hands out. "Help?"
Wes went over and helped her up, which was the most adorable thing Blaine had seen in a long time. "Do we need to bring the living room chair in here for next time?"
"That would actually be great." She chirped. "I'm going to go lay down. It takes me three hours to get comfortable enough to sleep anyway."
"Do you need help up the stairs?"
"No, I'm not that fat yet." She called behind her as she left the room.
"FBI? In New York City?" Blaine asked. "Holy shit, Wes. Are you actually a genius?"
"I mean I am Asian. Why not fit the stereotype?" Wes shrugged. "I don't know. Math, Chemistry and Biology are interesting. When I do work projects or reading, it doesn't fee like work to me. It's kind of fun actually."
"Bragger." Blaine scoffed.
"You'll still make more money than me." Wes pointed out.
"That does make me feel a little bit better about myself but it sounds like you all deserve a lot more. That's so awesome."
"How was she today? This morning she was kind of…" Wes trailed off.
"I think she's getting scared because this baby wasn't part of the plan and she's worried that you'll 'resent' her or the baby if the perfect opportunity comes and you can't take it."
"That's not true though."
"I know that and realistically she knows that too but there are like three and a half months left or something. Also, that big test is coming up. It seems like she's a tiny ball of stress right now is all."
"Yeah. I'm a little nervous about the anatomy test too." Wes admitted. "There are so many things that can go wrong."
"The baby will be perfect." Blaine reassured him. "Are you two going to find out if it's a girl or a boy?"
"Yeah so we can start getting stuff… even though both of our parents have been collecting stuff already." Wes nodded. He then added, "What if everything isn't okay?"
"The baby will be perfect." Blaine repeated. "But you always have me, David, and Kurt for support if anything was to happen… and AJ obviously."
"Why is being an adult so stressful? I miss the Digimon marathon days when you were still this precious little angel baby who had curls and wasn't confident." Wes wrapped an arm around him. "You were so adorable."
"Please don't talk about Digimon where Adrian or AJ might hear." Blaine groaned.
"Don't you worry. I've told AJ enough adorable things about you to cancel out the nerdy one." We promised. "I'm going to head upstairs. Don't stay up too late."
"Yeah, good night." Blaine lazily patted Wes' arm when he stepped out of the semi-hug. "I'll go to bed soon."
Wes nodded and headed up the stairs toward his bedroom.
Long Time Coming
It was very rare for Kurt and David to be at the apartment at the same time, so Kurt was very surprised when David walked in early one afternoon.
"Hey." Kurt waved from the couch.
"Hey." David waved but it wasn't as enthusiastic.
"Are you okay?"
David glanced at his shoes which had blood on them. "I'm not doing great today."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurt watched him carefully.
He'd seen David laughing and having fun, he'd seen him mad as hell and defending Blaine, but Kurt had never seen him look like that.
"Maybe but I'm going to take a shower really quick." David dropped his messenger bag on the floor. "I'll be back."
"Sure." Kurt nodded, looking back at his sketchbook and not able to concentrate anymore.
It was hard to picture David as a doctor sometimes but the blood on his shoes made it a lot easier. What had happened? Was it David's fault or just one of those things? Why was he so upset?
"I'm fine." David interrupted his train of thought ten minutes later. "Tired and upset but fine.."
"What happened?" Kurt asked quietly. "If you want to talk about it."
"There's this kid that was brought into the ER several times for injuries and stuff but the parents denied knowing what was happening. His dad shot him in the chest today and he was brought to the hospital in so much pain. I mean we tried; Eric kicked some serious ass in there but he still died." David looked down. "Long story short I get too emotionally attached to a lot of the people I treat. It sucks because you know this kid is being abused, you tell all the authorities each time, and they don't do a damn thing about it. Of course, these people keep getting brought back until it's too bad to fix and I tried so hard to get that boy help but the system is so fucked up. You've got the wealthy people in the high horse priority—and it's mostly white men or white families. Then you've got the other side where they aren't priority. You can't find a job or feed your kids and your husband is abusive. Sorry, I'll take you and your kids to the hospital but after that you're fucked. Unfortunately, most of those families are not white."
Kurt watched him silently.
"When this stuff happens, I wish I could drop out of the program but I can't do that."
"You've worked hard to get this far." Kurt said quietly.
David sighed and nodded. "I know. Eric tries to keep me in pediatrics when he can. I'm usually called down when it's the worst stuff where they need more help. I'm just ready for this part to be over so I can focus on pediatrics. I want to work in an office where the kids are sick, you cheer them up a bit, give them some medicine, and they get better within a week. And I want to fine someone who will listen and try to fix this problem."
"That's a lot to deal with." Kurt frowned.
"It's a lot harder than Grey's Anatomy makes it look." David attempted to joke. "I'm going to call in tomorrow and make it up later in the week. I need 32 hours away from that place."
"You're going to go tomorrow." Kurt watched for his reaction.
"I always do." David forced a smile as the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Kurt hopped up and went to open the door.
A pretty woman was outside it, in scrubs. "Is Dr.—Is David here?"
Kurt glanced back, seeing David already standing up.
"Hey, Marcy." He said when he made it to the doorway.
"I'm just going to—couch, yeah." Kurt stepped back in and sat on the couch, far enough to where he couldn't hear what they were saying.
I thought David was single, he texted to both Wes and Blaine.
!
!
!
Calm down, Wes. It may not be what you think it is.
The hell it's not. I need photographic proof, Kurt!
Seriously, what does she look like, though?
Oooh, is she an intern? That would be scandalous.
I'm pretty sure she isn't an intern. She did come here straight from work, though. Maybe they are dating because he's pretty upset. She could be checking on him.
But then why are they talking outside in the doorway?
Oh my granola, what if it's his superior and they're having a secret relationship?
Or what if she is pretending to be a nurse but is really a patient that's obsessed with him? He is pretty good looking. But maybe she's going to kill him in his sleep after thirteen days.
All my granola? Really?
That is your response to a possible torrid affair with this boss? Or a murderer?
David closed the door, coming back inside.
Hey, guys. If you're going to speculate without asking me questions, you should probably remember to take me out of the text group.
Damnit, Kurt. You had one job.
I'm just here for Wes' conspiracy reactions.
Kurt looked back at David sheepishly. "Whoops?"
"It's okay." David laughed and went to get food from the kitchen.
Kurt typed out another text, removing David from the group.
Okay, I think it's real. He had a really bad day and now he's eating and he laughed.
YES, FINALLY.
I think I got water on my book from spitting it out. David might have an actual girlfriend? Not some Tinder hookup?
Never mind they work together.
I gotta go, Alicia's crying over a soup commercial.
"You took me out of it and they're still trying to figure it out, aren't they?" David asked, sitting on the couch with him.
"Yep." Kurt nodded.
"That sounds about right."
"I take it you won't tell me?"
"She's a nurse at the hospital. I guess she was checking on me. I honestly don't know how she got our address." David said. "There is nothing going on between me and Marcy or me and anyone else. I am the epitome of forever alone. The best I can do is have a one-night stand but the risk definitely outweighs the rewards."
"You're still committed to this whole not dating until after school thing?" Kurt asked.
"I just said that so you guys would quit asking questions about the break up." David shrugged. "After the first one, I mean."
"You and Mercedes were in a relationship twice?! Why doesn't anybody tell me these things?" Kurt looked at him. "When?"
"For about a week when I first moved here. We got it out of our system and now we stay far away from each other."
Kurt looked thoughtful and then said, "Marcy is cute."
David stood. "Not going there, Kuuuurt."
Kurt laughed as David shut his bedroom door.
If nothing else, at least David seemed to feel a bit better.
Long Time Coming
"I am so anxious for them to back." Adrian groaned.
He and Blaine were in the living room attempting to study, but that was hard to do when AJ was getting the 'twenty-week scan.' She'd gotten more and more nervous the closer it got, making them nervous as wel.
"She should have just skipped a class so we'd know earlier." Adrian continued.
"Wasn't the appointment four hours ago, though?" Blaine asked, confused.
"Sometimes the doctor is giving birth and you have to wait." Adrian shrugged. "That happened to Mom once when I was younger. Our family took up half of the seats actually… I bet they were ready for us to leave."
They both hopped up when the door was unlocked and it began to open.
"How did it—oh no." Blaine could tell AJ had been crying.
"No." Wes cut in. "Everything is going to be fine."
"What is it?" Adrian asked.
"She's not where she's supposed to be. The placenta is low." Wes said, rubbing AJ's arm. "But most of the time it raises itself up before birth… and if it doesn't, we'll have a planned c-section."
"I don't know what I did wrong." AJ threw her hand in the air.
"That's not your fault." Adrian said. "It happens a lot actually."
Blaine gasped. "You said she! It's a girl?!"
AJ nodded, starting to cry again this time into Wes' chest.
"She is a perfectly healthy girl. Everything looked exactly how it should and she was very active." Wes rubbed her back as she answered Blaine.
Adrian rushed over, easing her out of Wes' arms. "You're going to have a healthy little girl and I'm going to be the horrible one that spoils her with toys and affection when I see her. I apologize in advance."
AJ let him pull her into a hug—a somewhat awkward hug with her belly in the middle. She then sniffled and said, "She just kicked at you. She must like the sound of that."
"Who doesn't want to be spoiled every now and then?" Adrian asked as he scooted back. "Where should we go and look tomorrow? Have you all gotten anything?"
"I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out. I am happy." AJ sniffed. "I wanted it to be a girl."
Wes rubbed her arm to comfort her.
"She had a big head. I think she gets it from Wes." She laughed a tiny bit.
Everybody but Wes laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. We will remember this when we choose a godfather." He said seriously.
"She is going to be so freaking smart." Adrian said. "They are biochemists. What the fuck even is that?"
"I've tried to explain it to you five times. I give up." AJ laughed again, scooting back so she was leaning against Wes. "Baby wants nachos."
"The baby wants it?" Wes asked, pulling his car keys out of his jacket. "Okay. From where."
"Somewhere that doesn't have a drive through, please."
"Nachos again? Not a burrito or…?"
"I just want nachos. It's all I think about. I have dreams about them sometimes." AJ looked at him, expression serious.
"Okay. Is my daughter wanting something for anybody else?" Wes laughed.
"I'm good." Blaine said.
"No thanks." Adrian shook his head.
"I'll be back soon." He kissed the top of her head. "Bye."
"Bye… don't forget no beans or guac." She pulled back from him.
"How could I? You remind me twice a day." Wes winked and then closed the door behind him.
AJ sighed and went to sit in the middle of the couch, her hand going to her stomach.
Blaine went to sit by her.
"You're the perfect height for me to put my head on your shoulder without having to put strain on myself. You have to come to New York City after graduation." She cuddled up to him.
"I thought he was waiting to see what you get offered."
"It's too much money to pass up. Not many places hire you right out of school for that much money." She explained, rubbing her stomach. "She's been moving so much today."
"Probably because she knows you are stressed." Adrian, who had gone to the kitchen, came back with a bottle of water.
"I just wanted this perfect visit and for everything to be alright. I know it's not as big of a deal compared to some of the other things that could go wrong, but I'm still scared that the cord will get wrapped around her throat, or she'll drop down even more and be born too soon, that she won't have enough room to grow." AJ said taking the water bottle from him.
"It was a pretty perfect scan. She'll move up." Blaine reassured her.
"Yeah." AJ agreed. "It was. But if I have to get a c-section I better get an engagement ring as a push present."
"That would be nice." Adrian ruffled her hair. "You should tell him that."
Blaine snorted. He wasn't sure if Wes would be able to keep a straight face if she did, though, because he was actually going to be proposing to her the next day.