Long Time Coming

by CrazedLunatic

When Blaine gets accepted into Harvard, Kurt and Blaine find out exactly how hard it can be to maintain a relationship when they discover how much their dreams conflict. Sequel to What Brings Us Closer Together. AU.

36. Chapter 27

"Okay. I don't want to be the pot calling the kettle black but have you spent more than four waking hours away from your tablet each day this week? That's not healthy."

Kurt, who was sitting in one of the campus studios late one night, looked up. "No. There's so much crap to get done and then we'll have to start planning for the end of year show and then graduation. That's only, like… four months away."

"Stop." Alec moaned, dropping into his usual seat next to Kurt. "You're making me want to shoot myself. Just my foot so I can have extra time for homework, but still…"

"I was here until two in the morning. David was home before I got home."

"Damn. Eric got home around midnight so he probably did too. They usually work close to the same schedule."

"Yeah. He left me something to eat in the microwave. I almost cried. That may have been because I'm so sleep deprived though."

"Yeah. Eric doesn't do that. Let's trade roommates."

"You're married to yours." Kurt laughed.

"Yeah, well, I'm open to a trade here. He's kind of driving me crazy and David is cute... Just kidding, though… My dad brought up that we could move back home and he could work at Cedars-Sinai and he's actually contemplating it." Alec sighed. "And I don't know why my dad would even suggest that. Since I started CCAD almost seven years ago, my parents have moved five times. You know, I don't even know what state their in. Or if they're in the country. Sometimes he has to go overseas."

"They've moved five times?"

"Yeah. He made a deal with his boss to have us stay in LA until I graduated high school. My parents thought I should be a 'normal kid.' As if that was ever going to happen." Alec laughed.

"Who was his boss?"

"Not this president, thank God… at least not actively, I guess. He wanted someone else for the job. He and Obama were like BFFs. That's probably why."

"Shut up! Obama was your dad's boss?"

"No, seriously. He is a Lieutenant General in the Marines. He usually works super close with presidents. Trump isn't so much interested in him, though, and Dad was in his position before Obama became president so he just kind of didn't leave… But now he's probably yelling at over 20,000 soldiers probably. That or at the training base… yelling at people there."

"Did you meet Obama?!"

"Yeah. We would have this dinner with him once a month. He really reminds me of a goofy dad." Alec shrugged. "Back to the point—Eric is actually thinking about moving there."

"Do you think he really wants to?"

"His family is there. He probably wants to. I don't know. If he does, though, he would have to pick between the general ER or pediatrics. I honestly don't think he'd want to give either of those up, though. Doing both is, like, his dream job." Alec groaned. "If I have to live near his mother, this marriage won't last longer than a year."

"That's not true." Kurt laughed a bit.

"I know." Alec sighed, twisting his ring around his finger anxiously. "I really hope he doesn't want to leave, though. I love New York City. Plus, I haven't had any job offers in LA."

"You will get them. You are easily the best in our year. Plus, you've gotten several here." Kurt shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about that."

"I'm probably only the best in our year because Eric's never home. All I can do is work." Alec sighed again. "The one good thing going in my favor is that Eric is not thrilled at the idea of working under his dad."

"Why?"

"His dad is very popular. He invented this tool that assists in heart surgery—he's a heart surgeon— and he has literally gotten millions for it. He works for 'fun' now. In New York City, Eric isn't just Dr. Dimitroulakos' youngest son…. God, I still can't pronounce it right and I'm married to him. How bad is that?"

"Pretty bad." Kurt laughed. "Is he going to take your last name? Have you all even talked about it?"

"No. We've been so busy… I don't think he should take my last name, though. That last name will be a lot better for him in his career."

"Would you take his?"

"I can't even pronounce it. Sometimes I spell it wrong. I can't take his name." Alec laughed this time.

"It is really long and has a lot of letters." Kurt smiled.

"Yeah. He should totally take mine. How are you and Blaine?"

"I feel like I haven't seen him enough since winter break. Everything is good. I think he's having a rough school year, though."

"He did look pretty stressed at the wedding."

"Yeah. Well, you were there when he talked to Eric about his panic attacks! You already know this! See how tired I am?"

"How is everything else with you two, though?"

"It's great. I mean it's been a year since we got back together and we really haven't even argued over anything… not seriously, at least. I don't know if we're not annoying each other as much as usual or if we don't see each other enough to make the other one mad."

"Is he feeling better, though? With the depression and anxiety?"

"I think… but I didn't even know he was feeling that way at all until last fall. He's so private. It kills me." Kurt sighed a bit. "I think he's doing okay… I think all that stuff with his family before just… I don't know. Pushed him a bit over the edge."

"That was so brave of him to do... about the camp."

"Oh my God. I know. Every time I think about it, I want to bawl." Kurt frowned.

"Is he okay with all of that?"

"He doesn't talk about it so I think he's doing better at least. If nothing family related happens, he can usually tough it through other stressful things… but once that kind of stuff comes up it's like everything's happened to him again, you know?" Kurt chewed on his bottom lip. "He says he's doing okay. Wes says he's doing okay. He must be okay."

Alec gave him a sad sort of smile. "I'm sure he is. You'd know. How are you?"

"I'm so tired. My eyes hurt from the tablets. My hand hurts from all the sketching. Not to mention I keep pricking myself with pins when I'm working on the actual clothing."

"Yeah. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing blurry but I've gotten used to it." Alec laughed a bit.

"Why did we do this to ourselves?

"I don't know. We're idiots?" Alec shrugged his shoulders. "Even that hurt."

"I know! I feel like this degree is aging me prematurely."

"Oh my God! Eric thinks I'm just whiny. He doesn't understand. He's been out of school too long, I guess."

"Blaine definitely gets it. I'll be glad when the school year is over for his sanity."

"It sounds like I should have married someone my age." Alec joked.

…

"Ugh."

Blaine, who was sitting on the couch and looking at his syllabus, looked up. Adrian had his phone held close to his face and kept turning the screen different ways.

"What are you doing?"

"Hoping if I move the screen enough ways, this syllabus will disappear. It's not working." Adrian huffed.

"The one for Bob's class?"

"No. The one for this for the Philosophical Foundations of Legal Ethics."

"You have a degree in philosophy. It should be fine."

Adrian gave him a look and pulled a thick stack of papers out of his bag. "This is the printed-out version of the syllabus. Bob's syllabus is a piece of cake compared to this crap. I may as well tell Matt it's over because I'll never have time to see him again."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "It doesn't look that bad."

Adrian sighed when Scarlett started to cry from upstairs and stood. "I'll be back."

Blaine nodded and grabbed his planner. By the time he had opened it, Adrian was back downstairs with a sniffling Scarlett. "Aw, boo."

"Aw boo is right." Adrian rocked her a bit and sat back in the arm chair he had been in. "If I'm the boo and getting sympathy for this philosophy class. What was I thinking? I could have been a geoscientist and lived in Washington or Kentucky… far away from Harvard."

Blaine snorted and stood. "Want me to take her?"

"No, I'm just complaining. I've got her." Adrian reassured him.

Blaine went over anyway, touching Scarlett's little fist. "She's so cute."

"I know and her little snuffling noises makes me want my own baby." Adrian admitted, smiling a bit. "In, like, ten years. Ten million, actually."

Blaine laughed. "You know, you are the favorite non-parent. She gets restless when I hold her."

"I think you're still nervous to hold her. The longer you have her, you seem like you get anxious." Adrian said. "They pick up on it."

"I do get anxious." Blaine admitted. "She's so tiny. I'm afraid I'll hurt her on accident."

"She's sturdy. Scarlett, say 'I'm a month and three days old.'"

Scarlett gurgled a bit, eyes on Blaine. She then smiled.

"I'm back, sorry." Wes came in the front door, dropping his bag on the floor and rushing over.

"She just woke up." Blaine reassured him.

"And I changed her diaper." Adrian added. "See? We did good."

"You all are lifesavers." Wes scooped Scarlett up. "Thank you so much."

"I can hold her if you need to, you know, pee." Adrian laughed.

"Good idea." Wes handed her back off and went down the hallway.

Blaine bent down, tickling Scarlett's tiny feet. She gurgled some more, eyes on him.

"Ugh, she's so cute." Adrian groaned. "I am secretly hoping the birth control fails and he puts off getting a vasectomy. I'll keep the second one. Matt will be okay with that executive decision, right? I'll just be a house-husband."

Blaine snorted.

"Not happening." Wes came back in, yawning. "It's happening next Friday after classes. Plus, we can't have sex yet for another two or three weeks anyway."

"Damn." Adrian sighed. "I mean, by the time she's ten months old you might want another one."

"Oh, no." Wes took Scarlett from him again and then cooed, "You can't mess with perfection."

Blaine rolled his eyes but smiled watching Wes with her. It really was the sweetest thing.

"Better make sure you keep it wrapped for a few months in case." Adrian warned.

"Trust me, we know." Wes nodded and sat down on the opposite end of the couch where Blaine had been sitting. "Did she sleep the whole time?"

Blaine, who had been with her since before Adrian had gotten home, nodded. "Until just now."

"Good. Alicia's worried she'll have a fit when one of you guys are alone with her." Wes made a face at Scarlett, who was watching him with big eyes.

"Worst case scenario, we're all crying when you get back." Adrian laughed. "When is AJ's last class over?"

"She's got a late lab but she may come home before it and go back… She's not having an easy time being away. She's never been away from her for more than an hour or two. She's cried twice." Wes admitted. "I wish that daycare would take Scarlett before she's two months old. I don't get it. AJ will feel better when she's there."

"Well, there are only two days a week she has to stay at the one on campus." Blaine said. "I know I don't care to watch her."

"I like to steal her when you're both home, so you know I don't." Adrian added.

"Thank you all so much for watching her when our classes don't overlap. It's a huge help." Wes looked at both Blaine and Adrian. "But as soon as she's two months old, she's going to the daycare. The very expensive day care."

"Don't worry." Adrian waved his hand. "This time next week, she'll probably be consoling me when I cry."

Wes laughed loudly and Scarlett gave a cute baby grin. For the last week, every time Wes would laugh, she would get the same adorable grin—it drove AJ crazy. She was already convinced they would be teaming up on her in no time.

"I think the only person that wouldn't want to watch her would be Matt." Blaine laughed.

"Oh, God. He's delivered babies and sometimes he has to hold babies after car accidents or whatever. I don't get it. It's like the uniform comes off and he forgets how to function around anything smaller than a five year old." Adrian covered his face. "I don't understand."

Wes laughed again, prompting another grin from Scarlett. "That's actually really funny. How much younger is he?"

"He's 23. Not young enough to excuse it." Adrian laughed. "He's so good, though."

"Wait, was he even allowed to legally drink when you two got together?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah but he hadn't been able to for long… I obviously didn't know he was that young at the time."

"How was he a police officer that young?" Wes raised his eyebrow.

"You can start at 19 in Massachusetts. Plus, his dad is the chief and his older brother is a sergeant so I don't think it would have been hard for him to get in if you know what I mean." Adrian shrugged. "Not that he hasn't worked his butt off because he has. He pretty much works 50+ hours a week... and he's the only one at his level who does."

"And that is how he has enough money to own a house at 23." Blaine said, grabbing his planner and fishing a pen out of his bag.

Wes stood and grabbed his bag. "We are going to try to take a nap before Alicia gets home. Perks of her taking the late lab."

"Are you sure you don't want us to watch her so you can sleep?" Blaine asked.

"Positive. Thanks, though." Wes made his way upstairs.

"He is so adorable with a baby… but if AJ gets home between classes and sees him napping, she'll be so pissed." Adrian said.

"We didn't hear or see anything." Blaine shrugged, opening his planner and his syllabi. "How is Matt?"

"Matt is perfectly fine and, no, there isn't a ring yet."

"Well I mean, half of the time you sleep over at his place so…" Blaine grinned. "But I never explicitly asked about a ring."

"Sure you didn't. This is why I don't tell people anything." Adrian joked.

Long Time Coming

"This is ridiculous that we even have to have a meeting about this. Why does everyone think we are merging? Or being bought out? Or buying someone else out?"

"I don't know but I am telling you that a lot of people are freaking out… especially after your three week vacation."

"I was at a conference. It wasn't even a vacation. That was three months ago! Why do people care now all of a sudden?"

Blaine walked into Bob's office, seeing both Bob and Ryan talking…. Somewhat heatedly?

"Well Jeff isn't really trying to squash anything and Vince is just playing right into it and threatening to jump to another firm." Ryan said, not even noticing Blaine had come in.

"Uh… hey."

"Motherfuck." Ryan jumped.

"It's fine." Bob sighed. "Good afternoon, Blaine."

"Hi, Blaine." Ryan sighed and then returned his attention to Bob.

Bob stood and went to close his office door as Blaine sat down at his own desk.

"If Vince wants to leave, I would probably send him a cake. I don't care how highly he's ranked or how many cases he wins. It isn't worth it with all the drama he causes. If Tammy would let me, I would have kicked him out six years ago after the homophobic comments about your wedding." Bob said.

Blaine, who was at least trying to pretend he wasn't listening, looked up at that.

"I don't care about that and you know I didn't then either. The issue is that there are a bunch of good people that are nervous because Jeff is like 'Oh yeah, I think we will merge.'"

"The worst decision I ever made was partnering with him. He barely even takes cases anymore and honestly I would buy him out if I could but next year Brady is going to Columbia." Bob stopped speaking when the door opened.

Brian Shepperd, one of the top lawyers in the firm, came in.

"Seriously?" Bob asked. "You too?"

"You have to do something. Tyler turned in a notice five minutes ago." Brian said.

"I am literally going to shoot myself in the foot to get out of here." Bob said, not quietly, as Tammy Jo came in. "This is getting ridiculous. I do have a job, you all know?"

"Is this really something we should be talking about with an intern in here?" Brian asked, apparently having noticed Blaine.

"Blaine has more sense than half of the people out there with their degrees apparently." Bob shot Brian a nasty look.

"Brian, we will handle it. Just go." Tammy Jo said before Bob could come up with something else to say to Brian.

Brian left, not even closing the door behind him.

"Jeff is telling people we are 'maybe' merging." Ryan told her as she pulled the door closed. "And Vincent is spreading rumors."

"I'm aware." She sighed. "Blaine, if you don't want to be in here for this you don't have to."

"He's fine." Bob said pointedly. "Jeff is the one that is not going to be fine."

Ryan dropped into one of the seats in front of Bob's desk, looking between the two of them.

"Then let's do it. Let's buy him out." Tammy Jo said.

"I've got one kid starting medical school in August and another starting at Columbia next year. I don't have the money to buy him out. Not to mention that most of my paychecks are going to my father's medical bills right now." Bob said, sounding more annoyed with every word.

Blaine looked up at that. Father's medical bills?

Tammy Jo's face softened and she nodded. "Then let's fire him. He still makes money off us, but he won't be causing any more trouble. It might be worth it to get rid of the headache."

"Or you could get rid of Vincent and send a message to Jeff." Ryan suggested.

"We don't even know if Jeff has done anything wrong. We can't fire him because he's an idiot." Bob sighed and added, "Unfortunately."

Bob's cell phone started to ring and he silenced it.

"What do you want to do?" Tammy Jo asked.

"You don't even want me to say it." Bob sighed as the phone on his desk began to ring. He then looked up at the ceiling.

Ryan picked it up, hung it up, and then left it off the hook.

"Fine. I'll fire Vincent tonight and we'll have a staff meeting in the morning to let everyone know that nothing is going on. Which is ridiculous because we are all supposed to be adults here." Bob said after nearly five minutes of silence. "There have been enough complaints on him within the office anyway. We have recourse here. Hell, we could have fired him six years ago for discrimination, but you wouldn't let me do it."

"And Jeff?" Tammy Jo asked, deciding to ignore his last statement.

"Get a locksmith down here to replace the doorknobs in every office in here but mine and yours. Make sure we have copies made of all of the new keys—but make sure they keep Jeff's separate. Everyone will think we're changing locks because we fired Vincent." Bob said a few seconds later.

"What time are you going to do it?" Ryan asked.

"Vincent leaves at 4:30 so I'll do it at 4:15."

"Most people don't leave until 5:00. Almost everybody will still be here." Tammy Jo pointed out.

"They'll figure it out anyway. I don't care to do it when other people are here." Bob shrugged.

"Fine. What if we don't find anything in Jeff's office?"

"Then we can't fire him and we'll have to bring somebody else in or I'll have to get into my 401K to buy him out. I don't know right now but I'll figure something out. Hopefully we find something on him good enough that we can fire him and push him out without buying him out. Either way, we'll know tonight."

"What about the office in New York?"

"We couldn't get out of it even if we wanted to. They're already working on fixing it up and I've already found three lawyers up there who are going to come to the office when we open it." Bob sighed. "We will get it all figured out. It will be fine."

Tammy Jo nodded.

"Alright. Well, I have court at 2:00 but I'll be back." Tammy Jo sighed. "I'll see you in a few hours. You better tell Sarah you'll be late tonight. If we're searching his office we probably won't get out of here until after midnight.""

"Bye." Bob waved a bit before sitting behind his desk. "Well, Blaine, how are you doing today?"

"… Better than you." Blaine said after a minute.

Bob actually laughed a bit before putting his desk phone back on the hook. It immediately began to ring again.

"Do you want to….?" Ryan asked.

"It's fine. Go on. Make sure the interns are gone by 4:00 if you don't care. We'll need to find someone to take on Vincent's intern obviously if you don't care to figure that out… tomorrow, of course."

Ryan stood and nodded. "Welcome to law, Blaine! Aren't you excited?"

"I don't think I should answer that right now." Blaine said, looking at Bob who had answered his desk phone.

"If you want to warn my intern in private, feel free." Ryan patted Blaine's shoulder. He then saw Blaine glance at Bob again and said, "He's fine."

Long Time Coming

"I can't believe it. The first twenty minutes half of the students were, for a lack of better word, fangirling over Bob." Adrian said. "I don't know if it's because of who he is, because it's a criminal law class, because they think he's attractive, or what."

Blaine, who was laying in his bedroom, blew his nose.

"Seriously. It's like he was a celebrity." Adrian said, grabbing another tissue for Blaine. "I didn't even know that he'd worked on so many high-profile cases."

"He is pretty cool." Blaine pushed himself into a sitting position. "I'm sad I missed it. I hope he doesn't dock me attendance points."

"I doubt it." Adrian sat on his bed, tucking his feet under him. "I think it's going to be a really cool class. I'm so glad I didn't drop it. It almost makes up for the philosophy one."

"I told Bob you were in that class and he literally winced." Blaine laughed a bit. "Then he said he never would have been smart enough to understand the introductory paragraph of the syllabus."

"Pfft." Adrian shrugged.

"I am so sad. I should have toughed it out and gone." Blaine whined. "I hate sinus infections."

"Blaine, I am serious. Fangirling over him." Adrian repeated. "I have never seen anybody react to a lecturer that way. I wish I had taken it as an elective earlier so I could have taken the second course."

"He only teaches once every five years. I think he's doing it because his friend is on sabbatical or something." Blaine sniffed. "I bet they're fangirling because he's younger than most of the lecturers are and he is attractive."

"Yeah, I can see that. He kind of is if you get past the whole terrifying thing."

"He isn't scary. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Blaine threw his hands in the air. "He's actually really nice. He works too many cases at one time so he's tired a lot but he is really nice. I think he was probably having a really bad day on your first day of the internship and took it out on you."

"Meh." Adrian shrugged and then admitted, "Ryan laughed at me every time I mentioned being nervous to take his class. I think they're close."

"He went to Ryan's wedding." Blaine sniffed. "And I'm pretty sure he and Tammy Jo are paying for the one intern's school this year. Her husband was in a bad car accident and they didn't have the money."

"He must be loaded."

"I don't know. Tammy Jo wanted to buy out Jeff and he didn't have the money for it." Blaine shrugged. "Oh! What ended up happening with Jeff?"

"I guess they couldn't find anything. He's still there… Tammy Jo and Bob didn't even come in on time either so they must have been there forever." Adrian said. "Do you need anything?"

"Something to pull all of the snot out of my face?" Blaine tilted his head.

"I meant water or an apple or something." Adrian laughed.

"Then I'm good." Blaine sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Did you tell Bob about your sinus infection?"

"No. I just told him I wasn't feeling well Friday morning… and then I texted him this morning and told him I was still mostly dead. Not in those words."

"Wait, you texted him? Like, you have his cell phone number?"

"Yeah. The work one and the personal one. Do you not text Ryan when you miss?"

"I don't really miss… but I always call in to his desk phone. Also, I do not have Ryan's number… he has mine, though." Adrian looked surprised. "Dude, you better change his name in your phone in case someone in class finds out you work under him. He's got a freaking fan club."

"Literally?"

"No, not literally. You really aren't feeling good." Adrian leaned over and put the back of his hand on Blaine's forehead. "You're still warm."

"I can't miss classes again tomorrow." Blaine moaned, falling back against his pillows.

"I'm surprised Kurt hasn't come. Doesn't he usually come when you're sick?"

"Yeah." Blaine sniffed. "I didn't tell him. It's just a sinus infection anyway. There's nothing he can do… Plus he didn't tell me when he had pneumonia… What he doesn't know is David cannot keep a secret to save his life. He literally told me right after he wrote the prescription."

"That's funny but Kurt would probably want to at least know you're feeling this bad. How have you gotten by just texting him since Thursday?"

"He's been really busy I guess… That or Wes told him I'm sick and he's annoyed I haven't told him… but then he probably would have come down." Blaine whimpered. "I don't know. Don't make me think. It hurts."

"I would want to know if Matt was so sick he hadn't been out of bed since Friday morning." Adrian gave him a pointed look.

"Well you have to drive across town to see Matt. Kurt would have to drive three and a half hours in light traffic." Blaine grabbed another tissue from Adrian and sneezed into it. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Adrian stood. "Better pretend you're asleep when AJ comes in or she'll try to take you to the doctor again."

Blaine groaned. "Don't leave me. I need human interaction."

"Sorry. I promised Matt I'd come and see him at the station. Last week and this week we've only been together when we were asleep." Adrian frowned. "Can I bring you anything back, though? Or do you want me to make you something to eat before I go?"

"No, it's fine. Thanks, though."

"Do you want me to bring you your antibiotics?"

"I took them. I wouldn't even have gone to the UTC if Wes hadn't been freaking out about Scarlett… I told him it was a sinus infection."

"Yeah, well, it is his baby." Adrian pointed out. "Text me if you want me to grab food or anything on my way back, okay?"

"I'm probably going to sleep but thanks." Blaine sniffed and then sneezed.

"You're sure I can't get you anything?" Adrian asked again.

"No. I'm good. Go be adorable with Matt." Blaine yawned.

"Well… text me if you need anything when I come back then."

Long Time Coming

"What are you doing here?"

Blaine, who was seated in Bob's office and trying hard to not fall asleep, jumped.

"You need to go home." Bob went over to him. "Seriously. I understand you're dedicated but you look like death warmed over."

"Oh, thanks." Blaine sniffed. "It's just a sinus infection."

"Just a sinus infection or not, you look like hell. You need to go home."

"I haven't been here since last Thursday. I've missed Friday and Monday classes. That stack of paper is eating your desk. I can't go home."

Bob looked at him like he'd grown two heads and then put the back of his hand on Blaine's cheek and then his forehead. "Are you kidding me? You have a fever."

"But I'm not contagious." Blaine protested. "It's not even really sick."

"No. Your entire sinus cavity is enflamed and leaking but that's not really sick." Bob sounded like an irritated parent.

"I can't miss my first Law and Social Change class. I already missed your class yesterday."

"You need to go home." Bob said slowly.

"I don't even remember how to get there." Blaine let his head fall against the desk.

"Are you kidding me right now? You have made it this far in life and you think you can go to school and work in this state but you can't remember how to get home?" Bob asked.

"I was kind of joking." Blaine raised his head up and then blinked a few times. "Maybe."

Bob shook his head.

"What?" Blaine pushed himself into a sitting position.

"I'm going to take you home."

"Please don't. The baby keeps crying."

"What baby?" Bob literally took a step back.

"The one that keeps crying." Blaine rubbed his face. "Nothing is okay and everything hurts. The people online are right."

"Do you have a baby?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know if you have a baby?"

"No. My best friend does. He and his lab partner. And she's Adrian's friend and we're all a big happy family or something but she literally won't stop crying. I'm going to cry or die. I haven't decided which. It's not like the Barney song, alright?"

Bob walked over to his desk.

"Where are you going and do you have to be so loud?" Blaine whimpered.

"Is Jamie coming today? Well can you make him? Blaine Anderson is in my office talking about Barney songs and God knows what else. Apparently, he doesn't even remember how to get home… This is not funny, Ryan… No, it's not… You are useless… Thank you."

Blaine blinked at Bob.

"Ryan's husband is going to come and look at you and give you more medicine. Then you're going to sleep on that couch and at 5:00 I will take you home."

"But my Law and Social Change class."

"Social change happens. Law adapts. That's the class, Blaine." Bob said. "What does Kurt think about you coming in today?"

"He doesn't know I'm dying so he doesn't think anything about it." Blaine sniffed. "Don't tell him."

"How would I tell him, Blaine? I have never even met him."

"I don't know." Blaine whimpered. "You're really loud today."

"I'm sorry." Bob immediately lowered his voice.

Blaine groaned and rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. "I didn't want to miss classes and I thought if I went to classes but not here you'd be mad at me since you're obviously going to know I missed the internship and not the class since you're teaching it."

"You're in that class?" Bob asked.

"Are you kidding me? You didn't even know I was in the class?" Blaine let his head fall against the desk again. "Why is this my life? I could have slept in my car."

"There are too many of you to keep up with attendance. I send a sheet around but put it in the shred box before I even leave campus. Don't tell anyone that. Honestly I'd rather not lecture at all but my wife gets mad when I don't use my third degree for more than a few years at a time."

"I wouldn't have come if I had known that." Blaine looked up when Ryan and his husband walked in.

"Sinus infection, huh?" His husband, Jamie, asked.

"Yeah. Since Friday morning." Blaine sniffled.

"What did they give you?" Jamie asked, grabbing Blaine's wrist and looking at his watch.

Blaine waited for Jamie to finish and then pulled a box out of his bag.

"Well I can give you something better but it's not going to help if you aren't getting to rest. Not as quickly, at least." Jamie checked Blaine's lymph nodes in his neck and behind his ears.

"My roommates have a month old baby." Blaine sighed a bit. "She's cute but she cries very loud sometimes…usually when I'm trying to sleep."

"Ours does too but he's one and a half." Jamie handed him a slip of paper. "Maybe sleep at the other end of the house or on another floor? That's what we have to do if one of us gets sick."

"Yeah." Blaine rubbed his face. "I guess. Thanks."

"I'm bored. I'll go pick it up." Ryan chirped, taking the paper from Blaine.

"How are you bored?" Bob looked at him.

"Because Adrian beasts through any paperwork that even makes it to my desk—half of the time before I even get to see it." Ryan shrugged.

"I can get it. I feel better now." Blaine protested, reaching for the paper.

"You were talking about Barney songs." Bob said. "Lay on the couch and I'll take you home at five. Don't even argue."

"He will go 'dad' on you, Blaine." Ryan warned him. "I saw him go 'dad' on his oldest son once. It wasn't pretty."

"Well, if he would have listened I wouldn't have had to 'go dad on him.' Emily is so much easier. She doesn't talk back… and when she does, it's funny because she is seven."

"She could murder somebody and you'd find an excuse for it." Jamie laughed. "Feel better, Blaine."

"Thank you for coming. How can I get my insurance to bill you?"

"Don't worry about it. Just feel better." Jamie laughed.

"Thank you, Jamie." Bob said.

"Anything for the husband's boss." Jamie joked before heading out.

"I'll be back with this, Blaine." Ryan said and followed him out.

"Don't judge me." Blaine whimpered.

"Come on. Lay on the couch and get some rest." Bob gestured to the couch.

"Okay. But I can drive myself home." Blaine sat on the couch.

"We will reassess at five. Is that a plan?" Bob asked.

"Sure. Thanks." Blaine rubbed his face.

"Get some rest." Bob closed the door to his office, unplugged his desk phone and then sat down at his desk.

"Are you really going to do your own paperwork?" Blaine asked, moving into a laying position.

"Don't sass me. I sign your paychecks."

"No. Ryan does. He signs all of your stuff." Blaine yawned, know that he must be sick—he never would have talked back to Bob if he wasn't. "What happened on Thursday night?"

"We had an IT guy going through his computers. Tammy and I went through every paper in his office. He may be an idiot but he hasn't done anything illegal." Bob sighed. "You should rest. Don't worry about that."

"I have eight million you can use to buy him out. If I ever find my checkbook, I'll bring one. Kurt says I need to keep track of it but I haven't seen it since undergrad…"

Bob shook his head. "Get some sleep, Blaine."

"What's wrong with your dad?" Blaine sat up a bit. "You said all of your paychecks were going to his medical bills."

"He has stage 4 Parkinson's… it'll be stage 5 pretty soon. He needs around the clock care, so we've had a couple of nurses in and out for the last year or so. Otherwise I would have bought Jeff out… but don't tell anyone here. Not many know."

"I won't say anything." Blaine sat up the rest of the way. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Blaine. We've been dealing with it for a while, though, so everyone is fine." Bob said.

"Even Mallory?"

"Yes. We're all doing okay."

"Have you—"

"If you don't lay down and rest, I will leave you in this room alone so you have no one to talk to. You need to sleep." Bob interrupted him, not unkindly.

"Fine." Baine sighed and laid down all the way, staring at the ceiling.

After five minutes of listening to Bob sort his own papers, he eventually fell asleep.

Long Time Coming

"Blaine Anderson, you are in trouble."

Blaine held his phone out, wincing.

"You didn't tell me you were sick! I would have come to see you!"

"I'm fine, Kurt. It was a sinus infection." Blaine reassured him. "But can you talk a little quieter? My head is still pounding."

"Blaine." Kurt sighed. "If you missed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday classes I don't think that's fine."

"To be honest I probably could have gone on Wednesday but that professor likes me a lot, so I… took advantage of the situation? I know. That sounds horrible. I blame sick-brain."

"You probably needed the rest. If I wasn't so busy last weekend, I would have come down… I would have come down anyway if I knew you were sick." Kurt sounded sad.

"Hey, I was fine. I am fine." Blaine tried to make himself sound more cheerful than he felt.

"I know you won't let anybody else take care of you when you're sick… and I know you like to snuggle up when you're sick… and I really want to make sure you know you're loved and supported."

"I do know that." Blaine moved his head and coughed a bit. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. If it was more than a sinus infection I would have. I got antibiotics for it at the UTC on Friday and then on Tuesday I went to work and a coworker's husband gave me better medicine… and they wouldn't let me come in. I feel better. Not great, but better. I mostly slept anyway… I also got some quality cuddling with Scarlett."

"I don't like when you don't tell me things." Kurt sighed a bit.

"I didn't want you to worry. I'm sorry. I won't do it again." Blaine apologized. "You have been super busy, though. You pretty much texted the whole time anyway."

"Yeah. I've done so many sketches that my fingers want to fall off." Kurt groaned. "They did give us tablets. Loan us tablets, I guess. They're the schools… It does make it a lot easier. If you make a mistake you don't have eraser marks on it."

"That's cool." Blaine pulled his heated blanket up to his chin. "You should get yourself one when you graduate."

"Maybe. If I knew it existed, I would have asked Dad to get it for me for Christmas." Kurt sighed a bit. "Have you had a fever?"

"On Tuesday but otherwise it has literally been just gross head stuff. It was nothing like last year when you came down to take care of me. Once I took over Adrian's bedroom and was able to sleep through the night, I stated feeling a lot better."

"Oh no. Is the baby crying a lot?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, she wakes up three or four times a night. I feel bad for Wes and AJ… On the bright side, Adrian has been staying at Matt's house a lot lately so I've just been sleeping in his bed since it's further away. I'm back in mine now… until bed time at least."

"I wonder if he will move out?"

"No. He already said he's staying through April. Honestly, we're all moving out right after graduation so we're just shortening our lease by a few months." Blaine sniffled.

"Did they make you the soup?"

"I made myself the soup." Blaine said.

"Okay. If you were good enough to make yourself the soup, maybe I am thinking it was worse than it was."

"I mean Tuesday sucked. I went to the internship. Bob probably thinks I'm an idiot. I asked him to not talk so loud, told him I didn't remember how to get home, and I even asked him not to tell you I was sick… you've never even met each other."

"I'm sure he doesn't think you're an idiot."

"He literally closed the door, unplugged his desk phone, and made me sleep until 5:00 on the little couch in his office. When he went to teach his class, he even turned the lights off… and he took me home. He had to take. Me. Home."

Kurt laughed a bit. "He probably thought the whole thing was really funny."

"I guess so. Apparently, he's a bigger lawyer than I realized. Adrian and I are in his Criminal Law class—which I missed the first Monday and Tuesday of— and apparently people were 'fangirling' over him. Asking all kinds of questions. They would ask questions about cases any time he'd take a break to breathe."

"I bet that was annoying."

"Yeah, I bet he thought it was too. I know he's had some high profile cases but I don't think he even likes talking about them. He does his paperwork, goes to court, wins his case, and just wants to move on to the next." Blaine shrugged although Kurt couldn't see it.

"I bet he's glad that you and Adrian are in the class then."

"The greatest thing is he doesn't even take attendance. He passes an attendance sheet and literally throws it away on his way out of the room." Blaine laughed a bit.

"It sounds like they would come to the class even if he didn't do that. He must be really good."

"I knew he was but I didn't expect to hear that. I thought about Googling him but I don't want to be creepy."

"I'll do it!"

Blaine moved himself into a laying position.

"Ooh. He was the prosecutor for the Boston Marathon bombing guy… although anyone who had him would have won that one. I bet they picked him for it because he's that good… Wait, he was on the Casey Anthony case… and George Zimmerman. Apparently, he flew down there and did it for free for the boy's family…."

"Wait. Robert Colloway? C-O-L-L-O-W-A-Y?"

"Yes. He helped prosecute a corrupt New York senator a couple of years ago too. Can you imagine being in the same room with a terrorist for any time at all? Let alone several times? I don't think I would be able to sleep for days. How many states can he practice in? Actually it says seven. Geeze."

"Wait. Is there, like, a picture? I know he's good but that sounds almost too good."

"Yep. Is he pretty young with dark hair, blue eyes, and pretty attractive for an older guy?"

"Yeah… but are you sure?"

"I just sent you a screenshot."

Blaine looked at his phone—a picture of Bob in court was there. You could literally see Casey Anthony in the background. "Holy shit. That is him. Ten years younger."

"I cannot believe you have had an internship with a lawyer this renowned for two and a half years and didn't even know it." Kurt said. "You have had dinner with this guy! You should ask him about this stuff."

"I mean… he may not want to talk about it. All of those cases were about some pretty terrible things." Blaine said and yawned. "I might. I don't know. That is crazy, though."

"Do you need to go to sleep? Are you sure you don't want me to try to come down there? I bet Alex could have helped too."

"I haven't really talked to him much since that day he drove me to your place… Mainly 'how are you' and 'good." Blaine admitted.

"What? Why?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know. I mean… he was so upset that day. He threw up when he found out about the camp and he cried because he feels guilty for leaving… but he didn't know I was gay and what our parents were doing to me…. And he said he never would have left and that if he had known I was gay, he would have told me to never come out to them… and he kept apologizing. I feel bad that he's this upset but at the same time… I mean, he didn't do anything."

"I think that's the problem for him."

"Yeah. I just… it's just too…" Blaine sat up again, struggling to come up with words for what he was thinking. "I don't know. I don't want him to feel bad. He didn't know… but also, if he knew how they were with him, why wouldn't he have at least asked? Tried to talk to me in private? Anything?"

"Can you imagine what was going through his head being around your parents after what they did to his unborn child? Honestly, Blaine, I probably wouldn't been able to think much past trying to get whatever done and get out of there as soon as possible. I can't imagine how hard it would have been to have to see them." Kurt sighed a bit. "I feel like your parents probably did a lot of other horrible things with him too, like with you… but he did move back here to be closer to you and I know it's weird for you. It's probably weird for him too… Danny hasn't called?"

"No. See? That means Alex is feeling weird about it too. It's been too long for it to be a coincidence."

"He's probably trying to give you space or let you come to him. I think you should reach out to him. Don't call, just text him… and maybe set up a time to see him? Alone?"

"That makes me really anxious to be completely honest."

"I think he's probably anxious about it too… but I also think that you all could end up having a really close relationship now that he's here. He obviously cares about you a lot. He cried."

Blaine sighed. "Thinking about this is making my head hurt."

"Sorry. I won't say anything else about it."

"You don't have to apologize." Blaine moved himself back into a laying position.

"You sound really tired."

"I am tired but I miss your voice."

"I love you so much, Blaine. I hope you feel better soon… all the way better." Kurt sighed this time.

"I love you too… I'm about to fall asleep on you, though."

"Then I'll talk to you tomorrow. Text me in the morning and let me know how you feel?"

"I will." Blaine yawned. "G'night, Kurt."

"Good night, Blaine."

Long Time Coming

"You look human again!" AJ chirped early Thursday morning. "How do you feel?"

"Better. Thanks." Blaine smiled and then yawned.

"I feel so bad you had to steal Adrian's room to sleep. I'm sorry." She brought him some orange juice.

"It's fine. Thanks." Blaine took a drink as Wes came in.

"Hey, look who is alive." Wes grinned. "You look a lot better."

"Thanks." Blaine covered a yawn with his hand. "The day I only have one class is the day I start to feel better."

"Well, it's probably better to miss in the beginning of the semester if it makes you feel better." AJ smiled and took his glass when he was finished.

"I could have gotten that." Blaine said. "Thanks…I've said that like five times."

"Four." She said, her back to him.

Wes rolled his eyes.

"Did Bob really bring me home?" Blaine groaned.

"Yes and he even made sure another human was home so you wouldn't, and I quote, harm yourself." Wes snorted. "He seemed nice."

"Yeah. I don't think he was very happy with me for going in, though. At one point I said I had to go to my Law and Social Change class and he was like 'Society changes. Laws adapt. That's the class.'" Blaine rubbed his face. "He probably thinks I'm an idiot now."

"He probably thinks you were sick, tired, and you couldn't rest because of a month-old baby living in your house." Wes said. "You said he's got four kids. I'm sure he gets it."

"I told him we had a big family and it was nothing like the Barney song. How do I even remember the Barney song?!" Blaine asked as Adrian walked in through the back door. "Thank you. I love you."

Adrian, who had slept over at Matt's the previous four nights, gave him a thumbs up before going straight upstairs.

"He is so weird sometimes." AJ shook her head as the baby started to cry from upstairs.

"My turn. I know." Wes stood and followed Adrian up the stairs.

"I really am sorry, though." AJ sat by Blaine.

"No. It's fine. Really." Blaine promised, grinning. He smiled as Wes came in with Scarlett. "I feel like she's gotten bigger."

"It's an illusion." Wes laughed, sitting down with her.

"Can I?" Blaine asked.

"Definitely." Wes handed her over and Blaine sat down, smiling.

"She's so cute." Blaine touched her nose, laughing when she made cooing noises.

Adrian came back down stairs in clean clothes and went straight to Blaine, but he was clearly coming to see the baby. He booped her nose with his finger, laughing every time her eyes tried to follow his finger. Every time he laughed, she would coo at him.

"God. She makes me want to barf sprinkles." He groaned before sitting between Wes and Blaine.

"How is Matt?" AJ asked.

"Matt is fine." Adrian mimicked her. "Why does everyone say it that way?"

Blaine snorted.

"You have slept over there the last four nights and don't even tell me it was the baby. You have literally slept through a tornado before." AJ looked at him. "You should just move in with him."

"It wasn't even a bad tornado, okay?" Adrian sighed. "I have a lease and, I mean, I know we quote unquote have been together for two years but honestly we didn't make it official until last summer."

Blaine, Wes, and AJ gave him the same look.

"What?"

"You are a lunatic." AJ said.

"I'm not a lunatic."

"You two have been together since two years ago when he stole your cookie. Come on." AJ gave him 'the' look. "Actually, probably when he pulled you over."

"That is not entirely true. We didn't go on a date until like two months after the cookie thing." Adrian protested and tilted his head. "He was cute."

"He's still cute." AJ looked at him like he was crazy. "And just because you put in a relationship on Facebook does not mean it wasn't 'official.' Come on now."

Adrian held his arms up defensively. "Okay, then. It's been two years."

Wes came over, stealing Scarlett from Blaine and then sitting back down.

"Also, it would have been two years and two months if you hadn't kept cancelling on him." Blaine pointed out as he typed out a text to Kurt.

"You know what? If I get a ring before April, I'll move in with him. Otherwise, you three can mind your own business."

"You will?" AJ looked surprised as she pulled two bottles out of the fridge and put them into the diaper bag she had sitting on the counter.

"Yes. Seriously." Adrian said. "If it wasn't so far, I would stay over there more but he patrols on this side of the town half the time anyway. Don't worry. Next week I'll be at your beck and call because he has to go out of town for work. At least Monday through Thursday… and then he's doing a double when he gets back so I won't even see him until like 9:00 on Saturday night. Ugh."

"Why would a police officer be traveling for work?" Wes asked. "Do cities share police officers? I'm confused."

AJ shot him a look and shook her head.

"I'm confused too. I don't know. Maybe some training thing? I didn't ask." Adrian opened his phone to his email, not having noticed AJ's look to Wes. "He's always taking exams and stuff for work and he's been getting extra shifts."

AJ gasped and dropped a bottle, which started to spill everywhere. "Nooo, I just pumped that. It wasn't even formula. Urghhhh."

Wes got up and handed the baby off to Blaine so he could help her clean the milk. They then started whispering to each other.

Blaine looked at Adrian, who shrugged. He then smacked his hand on the table.

"He's going to Boulder!"

"I hope not. You probably haven't even told him half of your family is deaf." AJ scoffed, tossing the kitchen towel into the sink.

"Shit! Why do I always do that?" Adrian groaned.

"Because it's normal for you." Blaine said. "You grew up with it."

"True but what if he's going to Boulder?"

"Then you'll be moving out soon?" Wes teased.

"He isn't going to Boulder." AJ said. "Besides, do people even ask for permission to propose anymore?"

"Was I supposed to do that?" Wes' eyes widened.

"No. It's fine." AJ reassured him.

"Why are you talking about proposing?! What the hell, Wes?!" Adrian's eyes widened. "Why else would he go?!"

"You are way too hyped up about that." AJ said, throwing a napkin at his head. "He is not going to Boulder."

"I don't know what's going on anymore!" Wes held his arms up defensively.

"Matt? Where are you going?" Adrian asked, putting his phone on speaker phone.

"Well, I was walking to the… bathroom?"

Wes snorted.

"No. Where are you going until Thursday?"

"I don't remember the name of it and the paper is at work but it's in New Hampshire. I'm taking a 2 day class for live fire team tactics, a 1 day class for trauma management, a 1 day course for tactical decision making with CAPS, and 1 day course of scenario based trainings." Matt said. "Why?"

"Wait, why would you be taking classes like that?" Adrian asked.

"Because I'm a police officer and because I have to go through certain trainings each year so I can move up in the world. Because my dad tells me to? I don't know." Matt sounded confused. "Why do you have law classes? For shits and giggles?"

AJ about lost it and Blaine had a very hard time not laughing out loud.

"So, you aren't going to the south western part of the country, then?" Adrian asked.

"No. It's in New Hampshire. Literally a few hours away. Wait a minute, why would you think I was going to the 'south western part of the country'? Wait, did you think-"

"I don't know. I gotta go. Bye." Adrian hung up. "Great. Now I look crazy. Thanks, guys."

His phone started to ring immediately.

Wes snorted. "Are you going to answer that?"

"No. I'm not." Adrian rejected the call – and the next two following it. His phone buzzed and he looked down at his screen. "He called me a little shit."

"You did just imply he was going to meet your family and then hang up on him? And reject his calls?" Blaine said.

"Wait." Adrian called him back. "What about your extra shifts? Why are you working more? Why do you need more money?"

"You're crazy. I'm going to be late for work because you won't let me pee." They could hear Matt asking, even though speaker phone was not on.

Wes snickered as AJ nodded her had in agreement with Matt.

"No, seriously. Why have you been working overtime?"

"Adrian, I really have to go to the bathroom."

"Well answer me and then you can."

"How have you lost your mind from thirty minutes ago to now? I just dropped you off. I have barely made it back to my house and your—I have to go. My mom is calling."

"You are hanging up because your mom is calling? Are you serious?" Adrian scoffed.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it? Bye, Adrian."

"Don't you hang…. He hung up on me. He's going to Boulder."

"He literally listed the classes he was taking and the days." AJ said.

"Fine. Now I have to pee." Adrian sighed and went upstairs, leaving his phone on the table.

"Boy is totally going to Boulder." AJ said when he was out of earshot.

"Really?" Blaine gasped.

"Yep."

"You did tell him half of his family is deaf, right?" Wes asked.

"Yes. I have been teaching Matt sign language on the weekends for three months now." AJ looked proud of herself. "I'm such a good best friend. He is so lucky to have me."

Wes snorted.

"Wait. Adrian doesn't even know that Matt knows half of his family is deaf? And you have been teaching him sign language?" Blaine asked, making sure he didn't speak loud enough that Adrian could hear him. "I miss everything!"

"Well he asked how to get in touch with Adrian's parents like seven months ago..."

"Seven months ago?" Blaine echoed.

"Yes. I know Adrian always forgets to tell people about his family so I asked him if he knew… and he didn't of course. So, any time I've been going on 'walks in the park,' I've actually been teaching him sign language on his lunch breaks. As soon as Matt found out his mom was deaf, he wanted to make sure she knew what he was asking too." AJ literally put her hand over her heart. "He's just too cute. I love his heart."

"That is super cute." Blaine nodded in agreement.

"You love his heart?" Wes echoed, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Yes, Wes. I do. It's perfect. He is a perfect ray of sunshine on an otherwise gloomy day."

"I don't know if I'd go that far… Wait, though. You didn't want me to ask for permission, right?" Wes repeated, suddenly looking worried. "Was I supposed to do that?"

"No. My dad would have thought you were nuts. Adrian's dad will be all for that." AJ reassured him.

"My dad will be all for what?" Adrian asked, buttoning up his shirt.

"Seeing Scarlett when we go to Boulder over spring break." Wes said without missing a beat.

Adrian pulled a face, grabbing his phone off the table. "Yeah, you all have fun there. Blaine, are we riding together?"

"My class isn't until one." Blaine said.

"See you all around six then." Adrian went to Wes, bent down to tickle Scarlett's feet, and then left the house.

…

"Oh, you're here today."

Blaine, who had come into Bob's office when he was at court, looked up and waved.

"Is it a Barney song again?" Bob asked.

"Oh my God. You know how you said we can have conversations and forget them the next day? Can this be one of them?"

"Oh, no. This does not qualify." Bob shook his head. "Plus, I said that outside of the office."

"You also said you're the boss and you make up the rules." Blaine pointed out.

"You're right. I did. I'd only do that if it suited myself better, though." Bob nodded and put his bag on the floor next to his desk.

"Thank you for driving me home the other day…"

"You are very welcome." Bob sat at his desk. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much." Blaine nodded. "You filed your own papers."

"You do know I functioned for 23 years before you, right?" Bob asked. "And when you have your own cases, I'll function without you too."

"Yeah but what am I supposed to do now?"

"I figured you were going to take the rest of the week off to be honest. You can if you want to." Bob looked at him.

"I need the money."

Bob gave him a look. "You offered me eight million dollars Tuesday morning."

"Maybe if I'm near you, it will be like osmosis and make my brain more knowledgeable." Blaine shrugged.

"I don't think it really works that way."

"Maybe you can tell me what I missed in your class?" Blaine asked.

"I didn't even know you were interested in criminal law."

"I'm interested in criminal law, civil caw, and business Law."

"Well that might have been good to know since I mostly do criminal law." Bob looked at him.

"Well you didn't ask when I first started and it seemed weird to bring it up." Blaine shrugged.

"Wait a minute, Blaine… you do know that torts are grounds for lawsuit in civil law?" Bob asked.

"Do you know how rude that comment was?" Blaine asked.

"I'm just saying you had an awful lot of trouble listing your torts and what they are about. You might want to freshen up on them…"

Blaine sighed.

"Okay, tell me the difference in criminal law and civil law." Bob said.

"Do you really think I don't know that?"

"I never said that. I want you to explain it to me."

"Criminal laws can be an offense against the public, state, or society even if the immediate victim is one person. Civil law deals with behavior that 'injures' and individual or other private party, like a business. Criminal law examples are murder, theft, and drunk driving. Civil is defamation, breach of contract, negligence, and property damage."

"See, you could have taught the first two classes. That's basically what it was... that's all I could get through, at least." Bob shrugged.

"I heard the first class was mostly people asking you questions."

"Yeah, the second one really wasn't any better." Bob sighed. "Usually by the second week that settles down. When I taught ten years ago it was bad because I was in the middle of this murder trial. The only way I got them to quit talking was to issue pop quizzes every single class. I even had to change the grading scale on the syllabus to make the quizzes worth more of the grade."

"Murder trial?"

"Yeah. Young mom wanted to party so she killed her toddler. She was on that stupid Nancy Grace show and everything."

"Was it the… Casey Anthony case, by chance?" Blaine cringed.

"You Googled my name." Bob looked amused. "I was wondering when you'd find out."

"Actually, Kurt did. He wanted to see how many high profile cases you've had."

"Seven. That one was the worst I'd had at the time, though. I mean, any one that goes public is going to suck regardless but when you've got a dead baby in the mix… not to mention, Sarah was pregnant with my youngest son at the time and she was a wreck every time someone mentioned it on the news. Ugh, that was horrible. That was around when she and Tammy became best friends because she was pregnant with her son then too. You can imagine they were both pretty traumatized I lost that case…"

"Oh my God. Tammy Jo and your wife are best friends?"

"Yeah. Sometimes on her days off, Sarah will bring Emily here to visit Tammy and not even come see me." Bob nodded, expression very serious. "Tammy's family comes over to our place every Friday. I've figured out if I'm down there at least 45 minutes socializing, Sarah doesn't get too pissy. However, if I play with Tammy's two little boys, I am the best husband in the world… Emily gets jealous, though. She doesn't like it when I play with boys."

Blaine snorted. "So that's what you meant that day when you told her she'd just come to your house if you wouldn't talk to her at the office?"

"Oh, yeah. She's come for other work things too… I think she knows I won't walk away from her with Sarah in the house."

"Is that true?" Blaine laughed.

"If she's bothering me at home, it's usually important." Bob sighed. "Plus, there's some things you don't want everyone else overhearing."

"You did the George Zimmerman case for free?"

"Yeah. I don't get into civil rights law that much but that one pulled me in. It astounds me how you can have so much evidence in cases like those two and they still get the 'get out of jail free' card. The worst part about the job is knowing what someone really is and them walking away with nothing. Everything, I guess, since they didn't lose anything." Bob looked thoughtful. "That one really bothers me still too. I had dreams about it for months. The world is in a pretty bad state when you've got children being murdered."

Blaine frowned. "Why do you do high profile cases?"

"Someone has to do them and I don't mind to tell the press to fuck off on live television. They don't approach you as much when they're afraid you'll say something bad live."

"How often do you do high profile cases?"

"Every couple of years. Not all high profile ones get quite as big as those, though."

"Are they all murders?"

"No. I've had political ones, capital cases, heinous crimes, organized crimes. They're usually the last two."

"Does your wife… like that? You being in the spotlight every couple of years?"

"She's never thrilled when I take high profile cases on but when I do, they're important ones. I still try to be careful, though, because I've got children. My address on nearly all of my paperwork is fake and the house is under her name—she didn't take my name when we got married. My first and last name aren't too uncommon. Most of the people in this office don't even know where I live."

Blaine nodded. "What does your wife do?"

"She's a pharmacist at the university's hospital. Theoretically we work the same hours. That's the idea, at least. It never really works out that way."

"How long have you had your own office? Well, this one."

"Oh God. Andrew was born when I was 22. He's about go to into medical school so he's about to be 23. That means I've been practicing law for 22 years which means we started CMJ ten years ago." Bob was looking at the ceiling. "Now I feel really old. Thank you for that."

"That means your 45."

Bob gave him a look. "I can take back that job offer, you know?"

"Hey, you've accomplished a lot for your age. You've handled a case that was on Nancy Grace." Blaine tried very hard not to smirk but didn't quite succeed.

"You are on very thin ice, buddy."

"You wouldn't take my job back because you would have to find somebody else to go to New York with you."

Bob made a face and said, "I could take that intern with the freckles. He's too loud though."

"See? I am the best option for your sanity. I know how to be quiet."

"Is that right?" Bob gave Blaine a look and then looked thoughtful. "That little baby was the happiest baby I have ever seen."

"Oh, Scarlett? She's adorable." Blaine smiled. "There's four of us so someone is always holding her… sometimes Adrian's boyfriend is over—a lot actually— so she is always getting attention."

"That police officer?" Bob asked. "Matthew Caldwell?"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded. " Well, we call him Matt."

"He's been here a few times when clients get too unruly. Brian had this huge guy who was making a fuss once and Matthew took him down in two seconds flat. The client had acted like he was going to lunge at Brian."

"Wait. How did you know they were dating?"

"I went up to Matt in his car the third time I saw his car in the parking lot. It was making me a bit nervous since there's usually something going on when the police are here. He told me he was waiting for someone. Ryan saw Adrian get into the car with him a couple of days later. It was the talk of the office for three whole days… They make a cute couple."

"Does stuff like that really happen here? The police having to come?"

"Yes, but not too often. It's more likely when you're a defense lawyer for a criminal. The clients can get pissed when you tell them they are basically screwed. Luckily you can usually tell if someone may be like that. If you call the police, they will usually have someone come by until that person leaves…" Bob nodded. "Sometimes eventful things happen in a law office."

"Oh. Matt really took the guy down that fast?"

"By himself. He's really thin but he must be all muscle. I don't know what they've got him on." Bob looked thoughtful. "Ryan had told me Matt was gay for three years but I didn't believe him… Ryan's usually right about people being gay, though. He was so sad when he figured out you and Adrian were dating other people."

Blaine snorted.

"There were a couple of people that were actually."

"Really?" Blaine asked, amused.

"When it's slow around here, people will talk about anything. Kind of like what we're doing right now."

"How was Vince when you fired him?"

"Said he had a feeling it was going to happen soon and apologized for causing so much drama." Bob sighed.

"Does that suck? Firing people?"

"I mean it's not pleasant, but this office pays mine and Tammy's bills. If it goes under, you all can find another job. So could she and I but we'd be out a lot more than just a job."

"How much does this office bring in a year? Am I allowed to ask to ask that?"

"You can ask whatever questions you want." Bob looked thoughtful. "Some years three million, some years up to seven million. Generally a case will be $2,000, we've got thirty active lawyers and at any time we may all have 10-15 cases each going on at one time—obviously not all of them are intense cases. When someone gets a high-profile cases, we bring in a lot more money but it's almost not worth the stress."

"Does anybody else do high profile cases?"

"Brian's had two. He's pretty young, though. He'll probably get more as he wins more and more cases. His name is definitely out there."

"So, does everybody work the same kind of cases?"

"No. We've got a lot of people in business law and criminal law. Two civil rights attorneys—they're making good money right now thanks to the county clerk refusing to sign off on gay marriages. We have a military lawyer but he floats between a few firms in three states. I even hired on an immigration lawyer last month which I am really excited about."

"Is Ryan one of the civil rights lawyers?"

"No, not usually. He was for a while but he had a case that… hit a little close to home. Something shitty happened to him when he was in undergrad and I think it's a little too personal for him to get involved with those kinds of cases. People don't really talk about LGBT cases in front of him. We don't want to trigger anything." Bob shook his head.

"Oh, wow." Blaine frowned, immediately thinking of Kurt.

"Brian and I are the civil rights lawyers. Ryan mostly does business law but sometimes he'll branch out a bit if we need him to. Also, almost everyone can work in two or three areas but they just prefer one over the others."

"How is everyone paid?"

"Mostly by the hour or salary depending on what kind of cases they handle or how often they do work representing CMJ. In criminal cases, it's usually set by what the client offers and if the lawyer thinks it's a good enough offer. If not, they turn it down. We never do contingency in this office and we don't force lawyers to accept cases either. A lot of places do."

Blaine nodded. "Can I keep asking questions?"

"I've told you to ask questions. Neither of us are busy. Keep asking."

"Okay, so, what if you have a client that you know is lying or doing something really bad?"

"There are exceptions to lawyer confidentiality, the biggest one being a dangerous crime being imminent. The only time I ever had to break that was when I had recordings of conversation and there was a discussion about kidnapping someone. The guy was a complete idiot to even give me the tapes—he thought I wouldn't legally be allowed to say anything. I took it straight to the DA and the guy was arrested two hours later." Bob said. "See? You could have asked this question in class and everyone would know the answer."

"Were you out your money, then?"

"I obviously didn't finish my job." Bob laughed. "So yes, but that's a small price to pay for a child not getting taken from their good parent."

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Not really."

"Are any of your criminal cases boring?"

"No, not really. Usually if they're coming to me if they're the defendant, they've done something really bad and if they're the plaintiff, something really bad has happened to them. I don't really do small cases anymore… which is why I have piles of crap everywhere and lock everything in my office if I'm not here. A lot of the paperwork I have in here is pretty sensitive. Tammy and I are the only ones with keys to the other's office."

"You let me go through papers, though."

"Yeah, the boring stuff. The sensitive stuff I keep locked up. Not that I don't trust you but when I'm in court I leave the office open for when you get here. Some people would have no trouble leaking classified stuff for money. I'd like to think nobody here would but… I would also like to think somebody who says 'grab them by the pussy' wouldn't become the President yet here we are…" Bob shrugged.

"Do you trust everyone at CMJ?" Blaine asked.

"I would trust Tammy, Brian, and Ryan with my life. You could go to those three with anything. Even if you've fucked something up big time." Bob said. "Which I've definitely done a few hundred times… Usually from getting angry running my mouth."

"You're mostly criminal law?"

"Mostly. I used to do business law also, but it got to be pretty boring when you compared it to criminal law."

Blaine nodded, looking thoughtful. "Is it super boring?"

Bob shrugged. "You may not find it boring if that's what you're interested in. It can bring in good money if you get the right clients. I work better under more pressure. Otherwise I get bored and 'grumpy' according to Sarah. Sam says I like them better because I get to yell at people… which could be true."

Blaine snorted loudly.

"Business law is equally as important. They're all important. You would do well to try different types of cases and see what you like the most and what you're better at. It's hard to know if you'll like them until you do it. I never wanted to touch criminal law with a ten foot pole when I was at Harvard and now I don't really like to venture out of it."

"You can just 'try different cases'?"

"Once you commit to a case, you have to see it through but there's nothing saying you have to take more cases if you don't like the area. You know that you could sit with some of the other lawyers and most of them would be more than happy to have you shadow them, to talk things through with you, and to answer any questions. The good thing about this office is that almost everyone is willing to help each other. Most of the people like when interns or new lawyers show interest in what they do. You all help us a lot doing the small stuff but it's important to learn stuff. We like to help you guys too."

"Can I shadow you?"

"Absolutely. The next new case I get, you can follow me through all of it. Of course, you can't talk about anything you hear outside of this room, though." Bob nodded. "Ryan would be good to shadow for business law. Brian does civil law cases often and you could watch him... Mallory is way too scatterbrained so don't shadow her. She's going through the change. If you watched her, you'd think it's a lot more overwhelming than it is. Those are the three you were interested in, right?"

Blaine nodded.

"Personally, I think civil law is boring… but, then again, I'm also the one that's had to have police officers follow me home numerous times after a bad case, so maybe I'm the weird one." Bob shrugged.

"Seriously?"

"Oh, yeah. Adrian's boyfriend has had to follow me home many a times when I've pissed my client or someone's else's client off." Bob nodded. "Speak of the devil."

Adrian, who had walked in, looked confused. "Me?"

"Yep. What can I do for you?"

"Ryan has asked you to please give me something to do so I will quit talking about environmental engineering." Adrian said.

"Level with me. Are you some secret low key genius or something? Who in the hell double majors in environmental engineering and philosophy?" Bob asked. "Why?"

"I also minored in Finance."

"Now I know why you were in the 99.9th percentile and got a 103 on the LSAT I guess." Bob shrugged. "How many hours did you study in undergrad a day?"

"I don't actually want to answer that."

"You didn't study, did you?"

"I studied three hours a week for environmental engineering classes but that's it." Adrian admitted.

"What?" Blaine asked. "How much do you study for law school?"

"Two hours a day usually. More on the days we have study group."

Bob stared at him. "And what were your grades last semester?"

"All high passes?" Adrian made it sound like a question.

"Are you serious? I study five hours a day… not including study group." Blaine stared at him as well.

"I'm sorry! I've always been that way!" Adrian threw his hands up defensively.

"Do you have photographic memory? Are you like that crazy smart kid on Criminal Minds?" Bob asked.

"I don't have photographic memory. I just… remember things really well and I'm a good test taker. I don't know. But Spencer on Criminal Minds is awesome." Adrian shrugged and looked at Bob. "Do you have anything I can do?"

"Do you want me to give you my job now or should I wait ten more years?" Bob asked.

"I would never want that much responsibility." Adrian said.

"In all seriousness, I don't have anything for you to do. What kind of law do you want to do?"

"Civil rights. I'm sitting with Mallory tomorrow."

"Oh, no you aren't." Bob went behind his desk. "She is civil law. But I have a question for you. Have you looked into environmental law? They can make some serious money right now with all of the global warming stuff going on."

Adrian shrugged. "I actually hadn't thought about it much. I mean, I know Harvard has the Environmental and Energy Law program but I really want to do civil rights."

Bob looked disappointed. "Oh, okay. You shouldn't write it off, though. You can always try it out and if you don't like it, don't do it again."

Ryan poked his head in. "Your sister is driving me crazy."

"She's going through the change." Bob said. "She's driving everyone crazy. At least you aren't related to her."

Ryan groaned. "Oh, God. Can I go ahead and put in a notice? I quit."

"You are not leaving me alone with all of these crazy women and Brian." Bob said.

"But Jeff will be here to keep you company." Ryan smiled sweetly.

Adrian could not help but laugh at Bob's facial expression.

"I can't believe you just said that to me."

"In all seriousness, can I go home? I have nothing to do here but about four loads of my childrens laundry to do at home. Also there is this new TV show about a high school glee club and if I watch it when Jamie is home, he judges me."

"He judges everything you watch."

"Yeah. I would watch it at my desk but Jeff gets annoyed when I watch shows at work. Can't you move me to an office back here and not next to Jeff?"

"So you can watch TV when you're bored? You are moving 212 miles away from him in July."

"That's seven months away."

Blaine laughed. It was a valid point.

"I am apparently between your sister who is going through the change and Jeff. Why do you hate me? I thought we were friends."

"Well, you did just quit." Bob sighed. "If you really want to move all your stuff over to this office next to me, go for it. But please don't listen to Hamilton or I'll kill myself… or you. Probably you. I have three kids at home to feed."

"Can I get the IT guy to move all of the computer stuff? I don't think I'm responsible enough to carry heavy electronics without dropping them."

"If you ask the IT guy to do it, that is fine. If he doesn't want to do it, good luck."

"I can help." Adrian offered. "Please. I'm so bored."

"Told you I had the best intern." Ryan grinned and went off to find the IT manager.

"Do you see what I have to deal with?" Bob asked, looking at Blaine. "Don't run an office."

Long Time Coming

"Blaine, what are you doing here?" Alex asked.

Blaine took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Alex moved out of the doorway, letting Blaine in.

"I don't know. I don't know why I…" Blaine trailed off.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm sorry I wasn't really… reaching out… or answering. You came back to the states because of me and we haven't talked in, like, two months." Blaine made eye contact.

"You've got a lot going on, Blaine. It's fine." Alex said as Elena began to cry. "Sit down. I'll be right back."

Blaine nodded, sitting on the couch and looking around. The last time he'd been there, the house was in disarray. Now it looked like a home—kind of messy with a lot of pictures and, probably, a lot of love.

"Sorry. She gets fussy if she can't see or hear Mia and I." Alex came back, Elena in his arms. "She is spoiled already."

"It's okay." Blaine looked at Elena, smiling a bit.

Alex sat down on the coffee table—okay, they were definitely brothers.

"Listen… you have nothing to apologize for. I shouldn't have talked about the things I brought up in the car. It was too much." Alex said, voice quiet and even. "Sometimes I get upset and everything comes spilling out… and I was so worried about you but, I mean, that's probably weird to you because you don't even know me that well. So, I'm sorry."

Blaine took a deep breath.

"I'm not crazy. I promise." Alex continued. "But I have been feeling horrible about everything since the day you, Kurt, and Kurt's dad met me to talk about the law stuff... seven years ago? . I don't even know how to explain it. I went away and made this life and I thought you weren't… who you are. The more I've gotten to know you, the worse I feel because you are such an awesome person… I wish I had kept in touch but, Blaine, but it was so hard and I just couldn't do it. I was upset and angry and not in the best place when I left the states and they would always gloat about how great you were, blah blah bullshit. You never even really said anything and sat in the other room and I honestly thought that you were their perfect cookie cutter rich bratty son who wanted nothing to do with your stupid, ungrateful brother… But I should have made sure. I should have called you because you were so sad when I left the states and the hardest part was literally leaving you."

Blaine bit his lip. He obviously couldn't remember that, but why would anyone make that up?

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't pick up on it because I should have. How many times did I sit on the couch at family stuff, on my phone and wanting to be able to run and hide in my room? Every time I was there, I was so focused on this signature or this paperwork and I wanted to get the hell out. You know, Dad still brings it up if I'm around him and we're alone? He even said he was glad she aborted the baby because that's what they should have done with me. So… I was never really in the best state of mind in that house… or even a functioning one, really. It was like autopilot. But I hated leaving when you were four. You were the only good thing about the family… I don't know. At Grandpa's funeral I should have tried to talk to you. I just… I don't know. I'm sorry. And I'm not saying this to make you feel bad for me or anything like that. I need you to know that I did care about you back then, I thought about you all the time, and that I still care about you now." Alex adjusted Elena in his arms.

"It's not your fault." Blaine said lamely.

"I can't quit thinking about how if I'd not been so self-absorbed, I would have known what you were going through… because you were exactly like me. Eating, sitting quietly until everyone was finished, and running to the other room where you were in sight but not with everyone… because if you tried to go to your room right after dinner they would get pissed. I don't know. If you don't want anything to do with me because I'm a basket case, I will completely understand."

"I don't think you're a basket case." Blaine looked up and into his eyes.

"Well I do." Alex laughed a bit. "I hate thinking about it… for me and now for you too. I want to be here for you now, though. If you want me to. And if not, I completely understand. I... wanted to say all of that since you're here."

"I would like that." Blaine took a deep breath, eyes tearing up. "Oh my God."

Alex moved, sitting next to him on the couch. He smiled when Elena stuck three chubby fingers in his mouth and pretended to chew on them.

"How can you be such a good dad after our parents?" Blaine sniffed.

"I don't know… I was really worried first, when Mia was pregnant with Danny. Then he was born and I knew I would never make him feel like our parents made us feel. I don't even know that I'm a good dad. Mia and I are kind of stumbling through it blindly… especially now that we have a baby again. It's been nine years so we're a little rusty." Alex sat Elena between them, but towards the back cushions.

"How old is she now?" Blaine asked.

"Six months. A whole half a year." Alex reached back, tickling her chubby leg.

"Did you find out about… a third one?"

"Third and fourth." Alex said.

"So they're doubling?"

"Literally and figuratively." Alex laughed. "Twin boys… all the twins in our family have been boys, though."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah… Mia's parents are actually going to come to the states to help us since we will be seriously outnumbered."

"Are you freaking out? Excited?"

"Both. Mia's huge now so its real real."

"You did tell me you all wanted at least four." Blaine smiled a bit.

"Yeah. We do. I don't think we were banking on three kids in diapers at the same time, though… we've been buying boxes of them with each paycheck we get. They are literally taking over the dining room… which we don't use for a dining room anyway. It'll be fun. We'll be fine." Alex sat Elena, who had toppled over, up straight. "Whoopsie!"

She giggled and crawled towards him.

"She started crawling two days ago and she's not stopped moving since." Alex turned her so she was facing Blaine.

Blaine leaned down by her. "Your chubby legs are so cute. All of you is cute."

Alex smiled. "Well, once they get to be Danny's age they aren't cute anymore. Okay, that's a lie. He's still precious."

Blaine looked at Alex. "I'm sorry I didn't call or anything after you gave me the ride and everything. I really did appreciate it."

"No. It's okay." Alex said as Elena crawled onto his legs.

"Family stuff is just… really sensitive still." Blaine bit his lip.

"Oh, I completely get it. I know. I… was just giving you time. I hoped you'd eventually reach out but I would have understood if you didn't." Alex gave a sad sort of smile. "I'm glad you did, though."

"Me too." Blaine nodded. "I really like that we talk now… Any time you would call or text me, I would get excited."

"Yeah… until it got to all the inheritance stuff." Alex sighed. "I was overly sensitive to, like, everything. Sorry I basically highjacked your phone the last time you were here. Sometimes I just can't pass up being an ass when it comes to Dad. Until the crap with your inheritance I would say what had to be said but as soon as I found that out… Ugh."

"I was actually glad that you did." Blaine smiled a bit. "It was entertaining to watch."

Alex laughed at Blaine and then stood Elena up on his lap. "When did you get so tall?"

Elena giggled, falling against Alex's chest when he let her arms go.

"You're short again. How did that happen?" He wrapped an arm around her.

Blaine laughed after she let out a loud giggle. "She's so cute."

"Thanks. She didn't get it from me." Alex laughed. "So, how is school? How many job offers have you had? How is your friend's baby?"

"Oh, the baby is tiny and so adorable." Blaine smiled. "School is… well, it will be over in May."

"Rough?" Alex looked sympathetic.

"Yeah. I've been having panic attacks when I get really stressed. Everything is fine. I think I just get myself worked up when I shouldn't."

"Try to not do that. Do the best you can do." Alex said. "You're already doing great. Don't add that extra pressure."

"That's easier said than done." Blaine shrugged. "But I've had twelve people offer me jobs."

"Twelve?" Alex's mouth dropped. Elena didn't miss a beat, shoving three fingers in his mouth—which he of course nommed on before pulling her arm back down. "That's insane."

"My roommate has had seventeen." Blaine said.

"Woah."

"Yeah. He pretty much leaves his phone on silent permanently now… I think seven of the places were from his hometown, though, and one is not relenting." Blaine shrugged.

"And Daddy's in IT." Alex said as Elena tried to turn herself around.

"How did you end up doing that anyway?"

"Shit, I don't even know. I helped someone fix a computer once and they gave me a job at their business and… now I know way too much about computers… hence the job at Google. The biggest part of it is making sure hackers don't get in, really. Like… who has time to do that? Honestly?" Alex laughed, grabbing Elena who was on her way to crawling right off his lap. "But they pay me the big bucks."

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Hold an entire conversation with this little human stumbling and clawing at you and trying to fall off the couch."

"This is nothing." Alex said. "This is a piece of cake compared to the toddler years. If they stayed this little, I'd have them all the time… But, to be honest, once Danny fell off the back of the couch. I think that's where my 'Daddy senses' kicked in. I felt so bad. I'm much better at multitasking now."

"He fell off the back of the couch?"

"Yes. It was awful. He was fine. I may have cried more than him in all seriousness… I still inwardly cry about that… probably because of how much the hospital bill was and he was completely fine but I was like 'Do all of the tests! Let me throw money I don't have at you!'" Alex grimaced. "I'm still convinced that fall might be why he's so weird."

"I doubt it." Blaine laughed when Elena crawled over to him. "Hi, there."

She giggled shyly.

"Thank you for coming today. Honestly it was kind of a crappy morning but this helped. I'm so glad to see you." Alex said.

"Why was your morning crappy?" Blaine asked.

"I don't know. Just in a funk." Alex shrugged. "Do you ever have those days?"

"Definitely." Blaine nodded as Elena crawled onto his lap again.

"Eventually she'll just die. Not literally. But she'll fall over asleep. That started out sounding way worse than I meant it too."

Blaine laughed. "Yeah. I was like 'Wait, what?'"

"Are you hungry? Let's go get lunch or something and you can tell me about Harvard and how you and Kurt are doing." Alex hopped up.

"I'm always hungry." Blaine said.

"That works out well because I always have a card for food." Alex laughed. "Come on. There's a good pizza place we can walk to from here. You don't have to get back, do you?"

"No. I don't have classes on Friday and my boss told me not to come in today. It sounded like he was going to be in court all day." Blaine said, smiling at Elena who was staring at him.

"Good. We can chat when she's in a stroller. God, I hope she can't worm her way out. Danny did that once too. I might not be a good dad. I think I mostly pretend and hope they don't die." Alex looked sheepish.

"I feel a lot better now." Blaine admitted.

"Yeah. I do too." Alex smiled at him. "Next time I'll come and see you. Maybe we can try to get together every Friday for lunch or breakfast if you don't have classes? When you're not swamped in homework of course."

"I would like that. We could do weekend days too if that's easier. Kurt usually comes down on the weekends so we have some time together."

"For sure. It'll be a party… I really like Kurt, by the way."

"Me too." Blaine laughed. "Please don't ask if we're going to get engaged."

"You're at that age. They'll ask until you are… and then it will be 'When's the wedding? Where are the babies? How much is in your 401K?'" Alex said. "Although I would be ridiculously excited to have my first gay wedding experience be yours and Kurt's."

"Hey, we aren't talking about that, okay?" Blaine laughed again.

"Sorry, sorry!"

…

"Oh my God. I am so glad that you went to see Alex!" Kurt exclaimed, coming into Blaine's house later that day.

"Hey!" Blaine smiled, going to hug him.

"Hi! I missed you!" Kurt gave him a big squeeze. "You smell like an orange."

"That is because I just ate an orange." Blaine laughed, pulling away. "How is your wrist?"

"Uh… let's just say we may have some difficulties this weekend. Sorry." Kurt grimaced. "Carole is worried I'm going to get carpal tunnel."

"Is it that bad?" Blaine frowned.

"No… at least I hope not." Kurt shrugged. "It's not like every day in life I'm making stuff for six classes and a fashion show. Ugh, shoot me. OH MY GOD, SHE IS SO CUTE!"

AJ, who walked in the door carrying Scarlett, looked up. "Do you want her? Because I need to pee."

"Yes." Kurt eagerly walked over and took the baby. "This is the cutest onesie I have ever seen."

Wes came in behind them, yawning. "Hey, Kurtsie."

"Hi." Kurt didn't even look up from the baby.

"It's okay. Only she exists now. I get it." Wes shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sorry. How are you?" Kurt asked, glancing up and then looking back down at the baby.

"Do you see this?" Wes asked when AJ walked back into the living room.

"You know what, Wes? At least strangers don't come up to you in public as much as they do me. This old lady was about to grab her out. of. the. stroller!" AJ said. "She probably thought I was a psycho but come on. I don't want my child catching your elderly cold or… God, people are so stupid."

"Do people really come up and try to touch her?" Kurt asked, surprised.

"Yes." Wes and AJ both said at the same time.

"But when Wes gives them a look, they back off. When I give them a look or say something, I'm a post-birth hormonal bitch. Sorry. Its been a month. It's not hormones anymore. I'm just a bitch."

Blaine covered his mouth to hide a laugh.

"I would tell you that you don't come off bitchy but you totally do." Wes shrugged. "I don't like it when people come up to her either."

"If I had a penis, I probably wouldn't have to be a bitch." AJ scoffed and then said, "By the way, Adrian, I saw you walk back out and you suck."

"I'm not home!" Adrian called from the kitchen.

"Ugh." AJ went over to Kurt and then gave Scarlett a bright smile and started cooing.

Wes looked at Blaine and shrugged. Blaine had to try really hard to not laugh. It was almost amazing (and hilarious) how AJ could go from pissed off to a sweet momma so fast.

"I felt that judgment, Blaine, and I don't appreciate it." AJ turned to face him momentarily before turning back to Scarlett.

"I wasn't judging you. I think it's funny."

"Somebody wasn't prepared for a surprise quiz this morning." Wes said.

"Well somebody else got perfect marks which works out just well for Daddy." AJ looked back at him.

"It's not my fault you spent all night reading for the other class. Sorry about your luck." Wes shrugged. "Scarlett, Mommy is giving my GPA a little more cushion."

"Yeah. Isn't it time for you to get ready to have your, as you so knowledgably put it, bits snipped?" AJ said.

"God. I hate you." Wes went upstairs.

"Wait, what? Is that today?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah. It kind of puts me in a better mood though. I'm very interested to see how he reacts to the pain. For scientific reasons, of course." AJ bent to kiss Scarlett's cheek. "If you two get bored of her, you can take her to Adrian. He said he would watch her."

"You are enjoying this way too much." Wes scowled, coming down with sweat pants.

"I felt bad for you until you made the GPA comment." AJ shrugged as Wes shook Scarlett's chubby leg and smiled at her. "Now most of my sympathy is gone. Okay, let's go. I will be very upset if we're late and they make you reschedule… again."

"Class ran over, okay?" Wes sighed. "I didn't try to be late."

"Good luck, Wes." Kurt looked sympathetic.

"Just think about all of the unprotected sex you can have in three months." Blaine said cheerily.

"Yeah unless the scalpel slips and they cut it off." Wes muttered. "See you guys in a few hours."

"Are they always like that?" Kurt asked.

"No. Apparently she's on her fist period since Scarlett was born. If I have to know this stuff, you all do too." Adrian said coming in. "Have you seen a goofy, tall thing? He said he was almost here five minutes ago…"

Matt came in the front door.

"Hey." Blaine smiled.

"Hey. Hi, Kurt."

"Hi!" Kurt looked up from the baby, who was now staring at Matt.

"Oh, she always does that." Matt said, looking uncomfortable.

"You are a mess." Adrian laughed. "All she wants is for you to love her and every time you've held her you look like you want to die."

"I don't want to break her and that has manifested into a phobia." Matt responded. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Also, hi, Adrian."

Blaine laughed.

"You literally carry stuffed animals and blankets in your trunk for kids— His police car." Adrian quickly added after seeing Kurt's facial expression.

"Yeah but that's different. I have to hold them at work sometimes. I mean if there's one crying because the parents are strung out, am I just supposed to walk back out and leave it there?" Matt asked. "Plus, I get paid to do that. The only three times I held her for more than two seconds, she exploded on me. Blaine, I see you laughing over there."

"I'm sorry. I am." Blaine apologized. "But it is kind of funny."

Matt sighed and looked at Adrian. "Okay, are we going somewhere?"

"I told you that I'm the designated baby sitter."

"You did not tell me that!" Matt exclaimed.

"Okay. You're right. I didn't. But I haven't seen you in five days so you're going to have to get over it." Adrian chirped.

"You just lied to a police officer."

"No. I just lied to an overgrown kid with muscles who happens to also be a police officer." Adrian corrected him. "Actually, I withheld information."

"That is so rude."

"I probably wouldn't have told you either." Kurt admitted. "She is still staring at you. Are you sure you don't want to hold her?"

Scarlett looked down, slobbering on Kurt's hand.

"I'm good." Matt said.

"Really?" Blaine asked. "Look at her. Look at her leg rolls and her cheeks. And her eyes. Mainly the leg rolls, though."

"I know I'm a horrible person but she's like a little alien. She doesn't even have all of her hair yet." Matt looked guilty. "I'm sorry! Quit judging me!"

Scarlett started batting her hand in his direction. She was too young to really reach for anything since she was only one month old, but she was able to get across when she wanted something… or someone.

"Oh my God, no."

"If you make her cry, I will have to deal with it and then you will have to deal with me." Adrian threatened.

"Oh fine." Matt went over to Kurt and Scarlett, looking like an 8 year old boy who was told to play with his little sister.

"Here." Kurt laughed. "Do you know how to hold her?"

"Yes. I took a class on that too." Matt muttered, adjusting Scarlett in his arms perfectly. "Is everyone happy?"

"Yes." Adrian said. "Good job. A class you took actually paid off!"

"They all—you know what. You are right." Matt shot him a look. "But I'm not dead yet so I think all of the classes have worked so far."

"If you weren't in regular clothes that would be a lot more intimidating. But now it's—"

"OHMYGODWHY!" Matt passed her to Blaine, spit up on his shirt. "Every. Single. Time."

Adrian snickered as Matt went upstairs to find a new shirt. "I was really hoping that would happen."

"That's horrible." Kurt shook his head.

"Yeah, probably… but you can't just ignore such a cute baby." Adrian shrugged. "I'll take her so you guys can… do whatever you want without a baby in the way."

Blaine pouted a bit when Adrian took Scarlett from him.

Kurt came over to him, tickling Scarlett's feet.

"She'll be here all weekend." Adrian grinned before walking upstairs and going, "Oh, Mattttthew."

"Do they always do that?"

"No, not really… But Matt also doesn't usually act like he's terrified of a baby, so…" Blaine shrugged a shoulder and went back to sit on the couch.

Kurt went to sit by him. "I still can't believe you didn't tell me you had that bad of a sinus infection!"

"Well you didn't tell me about the pneumonia so…"

"Wait. How do you know?!" Kurt's eyes widened.

"Are you kidding? David can't keep a secret to save his life. As soon as you say the words 'Don't tell anyone,' you pretty much guarantee everyone will know within an hour." Blaine gave him a look. "And that is a lot worse than a sinus infection."

"It honestly didn't get that bad. I had a cough and it got worse over three days and he told me I was getting pneumonia. Then he wrote me a prescription and pretty much kept an eye on me any time he was home when I was." Kurt shrugged a bit. "He told you?"

"Yep. Probably two seconds after he told you it was pneumonia." Blaine nodded. "Can he even write prescriptions yet?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Eric's pad but Eric knew, so… I don't know?"

"Wait, what? Is that illegal?"

"I don't know but it sounds like David is one of the best students… also, I really can't see David doing something he wouldn't approve of." Kurt looked thoughtful. "It's good to know he can't keep a secret, though. But since he can't…"

"Oh my God. What?"

"He and that nurse… well, if it's not a thing it should be. I am pretty sure that they were up to no good, if you know what I mean. I quickly and silently left the apartment so he has no idea I know." Kurt shrugged. "I don't think he knew I was home. Class let out early."

"I was wondering how long it would take." Blaine said thoughtfully. "I'm not going to say anything, though."

"What? Why? I need to know if they're dating!" Kurt looked at him.

"He will tell us when he is ready for us to know." Blaine shrugged. "He's pretty private sometimes… Don't tell Wes, though. Wes will be all over him with that… Especially since he'll probably be in bed all weekend with nothing better to do."

"He never sits still. This weekend will be interesting." Kurt said thoughtfully.

"Oh, he has been dreading this for weeks… not that I blame him." Blaine grimaced.

"So, how are you doing? Has changing your medicine helped?" Kurt watched Blaine for his reaction—mainly to see if Blaine was downplaying what he would say.

"I generally feel better… I haven't had a panic attack since before winter break… Then again, school has only been in session for a week. I do have two less classes, though, so I think it will be better. I don't know. I just hate that it's been happening at all."

"Everything has been hectic, though."

"Yeah. Especially with the family stuff." Blaine nodded. "It sounds like they found more fake patient folders… Unless five people are really spending $20,000 at a pediatrician's office which I highly doubt. How stupid do you have to be?"

"I saw that. I was kind of hoping you didn't."

"David's dad called me to warn me." Blaine admitted. "Both of their moms have been checking on me once a week too."

"David and Wes'?" Kurt asked, reaching up and touching an unruly curl.

"Yeah." Blaine nodded.

"What about their dads?"

"David's dad has always checked in every couple of weeks. Wes' dad doesn't as much but David's family like… really took me in. They dealt with the worst of it. Wes's mom would get so upset and when it was at it's worst, she was pregnant. I'm not not as close to them or anything. Wes' parents just don't know quite as much." Blaine shrugged.

Kurt wrapped an arm around his shoulder and Blaine gladly leaned into him. "You know, you have a lot of people that check in with you."

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure Bob has been acting like he has less work than he does so I can read at work. By the way, I told him that you stalked him."

"Oh God. You didn't use that word, did you?" Kurt gasped, sitting up.

"No." Blaine laughed. "But I asked him about the cases. He thought I googled him and I didn't want to seem creepy, so I blamed you… it was you, after all."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "He probably thinks I'm creepy."

"No. I think he's been waiting for me to figure it out, honestly… It was slow and I was bored. I spent three hours literally asking him all of these ridiculous questions but I am glad I did because on the next criminal case that comes in, I get to shadow him!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. He wants me to shadow people who do different kinds of law… so I asked him if I could watch him. I'm not allowed to talk about anything obviously… but I think that will be awesome." Blaine looked thoughtful. "I'm going to sit with other people too, obviously, but he seems like a really good teacher just from conversations we've had. I'm excited."

"Well I'm glad you're excited and that you have a good mentor." Kurt smiled.

"Yeah. Me too. Not that I don't have other mentors, but… well, you know." Blaine tilted his head. "I miss you."

"I miss you too." Kurt sighed. "I can't wait until you graduate and we can live together again. I really miss sleeping with you at night."

"Ideally I would like to move up there the day after I graduate but I know that's not super realistic." Blaine laughed a bit. "Hey, if this girl is already an ER nurse and David is technically a student, does that mean she's older?"

"She doesn't look older so if she is, it isn't by much. She's really pretty, though."

"I just hope he's happy." Blaine snuggled up to Kurt.

"I'm really glad you came to Harvard, Blaine. I think this has been really good for you." Kurt said after a couple of minutes of silence. "Blaine?"

Kurt leaned up a bit. Blaine was fast asleep, his head on Kurt's chest.

"Well, that was quick."

Long Time Coming

"I can't believe he went all the way out there and your parents told him no." AJ said the next morning, laying in Adrian's bed with him.

"I know. They suck." Adrian huffed.

"Poor Matt. He was so sweet asking me if I could teach him sign language so he could ask your mom too. That really breaks my heart." AJ sighed.

"They told him he wasn't good enough. That he wouldn't have been able to take care of me the way that Chad did. The worst part was they were sweet about it, though. Dad told him that Chad and I should have this happily ever after. Matt 'was nice and all' and then pretty much asked him to leave after that."

"He did not." AJ gasped. "Did Matt tell you that yesterday? He didn't seem as perky as usual."

"Yeah. Yesterday when we were watching the baby." Adrian nodded. "Apparently he came back that same night but I don't think he could bring himself to tell me he was back. It makes me so sad to think of him holed up in his house and thinking about that for four days. It is taking everything in me to not call Dad right now and go off… I need to just take a few days and cool off and then call him. I can't believe Dad did that, though. Ugh."

"Matt's the sweetest person." AJ frowned. "How can you look at his adorable face and not want it to be smiley? Your dad went and made it frowny."

"I know." Adrian huffed. "It makes me feel super territorial, too. Dad has always been a little too honest… but he's sweet about it which makes it even more annoying."

"I can see that. He annoys my mom." AJ nodded.

"Yeah. Your mom annoys him too… Matt told me he wanted to propose to me eight months ago last night. That's so long ago." Adrian took a bite off a cinnamon roll. "That was so long ago! He was 22."

"He loves you." AJ smiled at him. "So much."

"I love him too. He's just… really great."

"It doesn't hurt that he works out a lot and is really hot." AJ looked thoughtful. "How did he seem, though? Last night?"

"He is super sad about everything with my family but otherwise he's his happy, perky self. Yesterday he stopped traffic for a duck and her ducklings… He wasn't even on duty. People probably thought he was crazy, getting out of his patrol car in jeans and a t-shirt with the lights on."

"Awww. How can anyone not love him after seeing his smile and hearing, like, two sentences out of his mouth? Your parents need to get it together."

"Right?" Adrian took another piece off his cinnamon roll. "The worst part is they would really love him."

"They will really love him." AJ smiled when Blaine came in, half asleep.

"Saturday morning cartoons?"

"Saturday morning gigantic cinnamon roll. Please help." Adrian pleaded.

Blaine sat on the bed with them. "Matt brought this to you this morning, didn't he?"

"Of course he did. He woke up, went to work, got breakfast, and brought it to him before going back to work." AJ let out a sigh. "Because he is perfect. The perfect ones are always gay. Is Kurt asleep?"

"Yeah. He was super tired so he'll probably be out for a while." Blaine nodded and looked at Adrian. "Are you glad Matt's home?"

"Kurt's perfect too." AJ sighed. "You're all perfect. Why are gay guys better?"

"Yeah." Adrian sighed a bit. "So, Blaine, Matt went to my home and asked my parents for permission to marry me."

"I know! Wait, how do you know?" Blaine looked confused.

"Didn't go well." AJ responded. "They're hung up on his ex."

Blaine made a face. "Is Matt okay?"

"He's really sad. He thought they would love him and be happy." Adrian frowned. "Everybody loves him. It's no wonder he assumed it would go well... I mean, it should have gone well."

"He's so perky! God, I've eaten so much of this cinnamon roll and it's barely made a dent. Where did he even get this?" AJ asked.

"I don't know. He goes to bakeries and coffee shops all the time. Apparently, he and his partner want to hit each one in town at least once—while working. They're weird. Usually he only brings the one cookies though… we're going to have to have a talk about his sugar intake… and mine. You can't just bring me this crap and expect me to eat it... or to not eat it. But it's always good. Everything he brings is always so good." Adrian took a sip of water and then said, "He can eat all of his crap because he works out seven days a week. I barely have time to tie my shoes before leaving for class."

"Does he really work out seven days a week?" AJ asked. "No wonder he's so hot."

"Well Kurt thinks you're cuter." Blaine said to Adrian. "If that makes you feel better."

"Yeah because of that shirtless picture." AJ giggled. "That was a really good picture."

"Oh God. Please don't." Adrian whined.

"Did he propose?" Blaine asked.

"No. Not yet… he has the ring, though. The ring was delivered yesterday when we ran to his house. He was in the shower so I had to sign for it for him." Adrian laughed. "He was so pissed when he came out and I had the UPS box in my hand. The sticker even said the jewelers name on it and everything. He couldn't have picked a worse time to leave me alone in his apartment."

"Well, it's official that there will be a proposal if he's got the ring. Both of us will be engaged and married by thirty. One bucket list goal accomplished." AJ said.

"Pssht, I don't have the ring yet. Watch me panic and say no."

"I told Wes no." AJ said.

"What? Why?" Blaine looked horrified.

"Because I was in shock. I was like 'No…. no….' and he patiently waited for my brain to catch up and then I said yes… and knocked him into the coffee table corner trying to hug him. Go me." AJ sighed.

"Yeah. That bruise was there for two months." Blaine cringed.

"I can't believe you told him no!" Adrian said. "That ring, though."

"Well honestly I didn't even look at the ring until ten minutes after it was already on my finger." AJ said.

"You didn't look at it?" Blaine stared at her as Adrian burst into loud laughter.

"No! I think I kept staring at him trying to figure out if I was awake… I was."

"You would!" Adrian laughed.

"Well we'll see your reaction soon, buddy." AJ scoffed. "And when Kurt asks Blaine he'll probably turn into a puddle."

Blaine looked thoughtful and then nodded. "Yeah. Probably."

"You literally said no and injured him. Our reactions can't be worse than that." Adrian wiped his eyes. "I'm done… maybe. I just keep picturing you and your big belly staring at him and saying no. Poor Wes."

"Luckily he thought it was funny and wasn't offended." AJ shrugged. "But I literally had no idea it was coming. Honestly. We never even talked about getting engaged. I mean I wanted to but I honestly had no idea he was even thinking about it."

"I don't know if I feel sorrier for you or Wes." Blaine laughed.

"Feel sorrier for Scarlett. She has to grow up with them." Adrian teased.

"Speaking of Scarlett, Wes must have gotten up. She should have been crying for a bottle by now." AJ looked thoughtful.

"He is the cutest thing with her." Blaine sighed.

"Doesn't it just make you want to die?" AJ asked and then added, "In a good way."

"She's going to be like Wes. I'm already going to call it. She's only a month old and I swear I see that glint in her eye." Blaine laughed.

"Yeah. She's so silly already and she doesn't get it from me." AJ smiled.

"Okay." Adrian hopped out of bed. "You all can stay in here but I need to drink a gallon of water and eat vegetables to make up for that. Please, someone finish it."

"I should do homework." AJ groaned as Adrian left his room—completely unbothered leaving them in there alone. "But I think I'm going to get back in bed with Wes."

"Mommies sleep when baby sleeps." Blaine said.

"Yeah if she's still asleep. I forgot Wes and his nether regions 'problem'. Hopefully he didn't have to get her out of the crib." AJ giggled a bit. "Whoops."

Blaine cringed. "Don't make me think about things like that."

"Too late, sorry!" AJ chirped and left the room.

"Don't leave this whole thing for me to finish!" Blaine called after her and then relaxed against Adrian's pillow and continued watching Rug Rats. "Fine. Why not add four more pounds? I'm going to have to buy new pants soon because of law school. I used to have abs too."