“Get her inside,” Kurt says quickly, stepping away from the door so Blaine can tug his baby sister inside and shut the door.

“What do you mean she left you?” Blaine demands to know. “What happened?”

“She said you were gonna be home so she could go somewhere,” Bethany explains. “And she kept – she kept lookin’ at the clock like you do when she says she’s gonna be home for dinner. And someone called her phone and she was lookin’ at me a lot and then someone rang the doorbell and she said she had to go but you’d be home and that I was supposed to be good and not touch the stove.”

Blaine becomes absolutely livid, mentally calling his mother every single horrible name in the book. Bethany’s shoulders are trembling. He stands, picking her up as he goes and settling her on his hip.

“How long were you alone?” he asks, thinking back on the two hours he spent at Kurt’s house.

“I don’t know,” Bethany says, wrapping her arms around Blaine’s shoulders and shoving her head against his neck. “Spongebob came on four times. But I think it was really two times. ‘Cause you told me that it’s really two stories in one show.”

“She left you-” Blaine doesn’t finish his sentence, realizing that his mother left his eight year old sister alone for an hour without calling him. He hugs her tightly, just happy to know that she’s breathing. Bethany may not be a toddler anymore, but she still isn’t old enough to be left alone. She’s still as curious as a cat, and Blaine remembers leaving her alone a few months ago for twenty minutes so he could take a shower and when he got out, she had disappeared. He found her at the gas station on the corner of their street, discussing the educational merits of Winnie the Pooh with the store attendant. “You should have come over right away.”

“She said you’d be back real soon,” Bethany whispers.

“Is everything okay?”

Carole appears with Burt, the pair of them looking awfully confused. Bethany sneaks a peak at Kurt’s parents and Blaine makes a quick decision.

“I need to call my mother,” Blaine says, his previous nerves having disappeared to be replaced by a sense of authority and a mission in mind. “Can Bethany stay in here for a few minutes?”

“Of course,” Kurt says, answering for his parents.

“Will you go with Kurt for a little bit?” Blaine asks his sister. “I’m gonna go outside to call mom.”

Bethany immediately nods, reaching for Kurt like she’s known him for years. Blaine supposes she’s become quite used to him, considering she’s seen him nearly every day along with Blaine for the past week. Kurt takes hold of her and Bethany wraps her legs around Kurt’s waist, Blaine thankful for the trust she appears to have in his boyfriend.

“Come on,” Kurt says to her as they walk away, following Carole and Burt into the living room. “Let’s see which cartoons are on.”

Blaine watches them go. When they round the corner, he slips out the front door, sure to slam it behind him before reaching for his phone and calling his mother.

She doesn’t answer.

So he calls again. And again. And again. And again.

He loses count of how many times he presses the call button, and when his mother finally answers, Blaine thinks he might be ready to tear her into pieces.

“Hello?”

“You left Bethany alone?”

“Blaine, I-”

“You left my sister alone for an hour?” he asks, venom in his words. “You thought it was just okay to fuck off and do whatever you want and leave her at home alone? You thought it was okay to just – god damnit, mom! Why didn’t you call me?”

“You were busy, Blaine,” she states, sounding almost bored. “And I know how unhappy you get when I ruin your plans.”

“Fuck my plans!” he shouts into the receiver. “I would have come home to watch my fucking sister rather than leave her alone for an hour!”

“She’s not four anymore.”

“No, she’s just eight. And she’s an eight year old who likes to go against everything I tell her for the sake of proving she can. Why couldn’t you wait for me to get back? Why, mom? Why did you-”

“I case you’ve forgotten,” his mother interrupts, “I’m the adult in this family. You have no right to question-”

“If you’re the adult, maybe it’s time you act like it!”

“She’s not your daughter! I can raise her however I-”

“You know what? You’re right,” Blaine spits. “She’s not my daughter. But she’s obviously my fucking responsibility. You’re lucky she didn’t run off somewhere. You’re lucky she came to Kurt’s instead of winding up dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“You always have to make everything so dramatic,” his mother sighs. “I knew she’d be okay.”

“It is not okay to leave a precocious eight year old alone in a house,” he argues. “It is not okay to leave my baby sister alone, for an hour, to fend for herself so you can run out to play slutty-single-lady for another night.”

“How dare you speak to-”

“I’ll speak to you however I damn well please,” Blaine fights back. “If you want my respect as a son, maybe it’s time you start acting like my mother.”

“You can’t-”

“If you ever, and I mean ever, do anything like this again, you better be ready for what’s coming.”

With nothing else to say, Blaine ends the call, not surprised in the least when he doesn’t receive a call back. He closes his eyes, attempting to calm his anger and the need to punch something by sucking in deep breaths of warm, summer air. When he feels the rage in his blood temper from a boil to a simmer, he finally walks back into the house. Everyone’s in the living room, Kurt seated on the sofa with Bethany in his lap, Burt and Carole on either side of them.

“Thank you for watching her,” he says graciously.

“Is everything…okay?” Kurt asks in concern, placing a possessive hand on the back of Bethany’s head where it rests against his shoulder.

“Okay as it can be,” Blaine replies.

“Kurt,” Carole speaks up, “why don’t you take Bethany down to your room for a few minutes.”

“We should probably get going,” Blaine says, already realizing why Carole made such a suggestion.

“Hey, Beth,” Kurt says, ignoring Blaine’s want for a departure, “have you ever seen a record player?”

“What’s that?” Bethany asks.

“It’s an old music player,” Kurt tells her. “I’ve got one in my room. I think you’d like it.”

“No, really, we should-”

But Bethany and Kurt are already standing, ready to head down to Kurt’s bedroom.

“Talk to them,” Kurt whispers, kissing Blaine on his cheek. “Please. For me.”

Blaine sighs, watching as his sister toddles off with Kurt down into the basement. Once they’re out of sight, he turns his attention to Burt and Carole who both stand and lead him into the kitchen.

“Sit down, honey,” Carole urges, taking a seat across from Burt, leaving Blaine to sit at the head of the table. “We just wanna talk.”

“There’s…not much to talk about,” Blaine says, looking over his shoulder toward the basement door.

“She’ll be fine with Kurt,” Burt says. “She’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

“I just – I can’t believe she left her,” Blaine says weakly. He stares down at the table, resigning himself to the fact that he’s going to have to answer many uncomfortable questions.

“Does your mother leave Bethany in your care often?” Carole asks.

“Every day,” Blaine tells them. “I watch her every day.”

“Where’s your dad in all this?” Burt wonders.

“He is – he’s no longer in the picture.”

Carole looks to Burt with a pained expression, like she’s almost afraid to ask what she’s about to ask next. “Is he…”

“He isn’t dead, if that’s what you mean,” Blaine states. “Well, for all I know, he could be. My parents split up when I was fourteen. I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

“Does your mom work a lot?” Carole asks.

“Yeah. And I don’t – I don’t fault her for that. She works hard and I’m glad she’s able to make enough money to give us the things we need. But she just – she isn’t around as much as she could be.”

“Could be? Or should be?” Carole asks. “Because I – well, I know how difficult it is to be a single mother. It’s hard to raise one child on your own. I can’t imagine how it must be with two.”

Blaine looks up at her, suddenly remembering the feeling of her arms around him when she greeted him and introduced herself. Even at dinner, he could tell how close she and Finn are. Hell, he could see how close she and Kurt are and he’s not even her biological son.

“When Finn was little, did you-” he stops himself, afraid of continuing his train of thought because he doesn’t know these people. He only met them a few hours ago. Blaine doesn’t know if he has the right to even ask these questions.

“Go on, sweetheart,” Carole insists.

“I don’t – I don’t want to seem rude,” Blaine says, hoping it’s enough of a disclaimer. “But when Finn was little, were you there for him?”

“Of course,” Carole replies softly, almost like she’s surprised at the question.

“I mean…really, really there for him,” Blaine expounds. “Were you there to catch him if he fell off his bike? Were you there to soothe him when he had a tummy ache? Were you there to fix him dinner or make him breakfast, whenever possible, even with a hectic schedule? Were you there to hear about his days at school? Were you there to tuck him in? Were you there to – to make sure he was happy?”

“She was.”

Finn is the one that answers, standing in the doorway, looking extremely uncomfortable and awkward, but he’s there nonetheless.

“She was always there for me,” Finn says, taking a seat next to his mother at the table. “Even when she was working three jobs at once.”

Blaine’s eyes begin to water, and when he inhales, the breath is a quivering one that takes over his entire body. He can’t believe he’s saying all this, can’t believe he’s admitting this to people he barely knows but it’s all coming out and he can’t do anything to stop it.

He feels…broken.

“S’good,” Blaine says with a sad smile, wiping away salty tears from his eyes. “Because – because my mom isn’t. She was there for me,” he says. “She was always around to go to parent-teacher conferences and she was there to tuck me in at night. But…she isn’t around for Bethany. I’m the one that’s there. I’m the one that gives her medicine when she’s sick. I’m the one that reads the bedtime stories and I’m the one that takes her shopping for school clothes. I’m the one that slaps on the band-aid and tells her everything will be okay and I’m the one she crawls in bed with at night when she has a nightmare. And it’s been like that for the past three years, almost four now.”

“Oh, Blaine,” Carole sighs sadly. “You can’t take on-”

“And I’m happy to do it,” Blaine says quickly. “I’m – she’s my little sister. She’s my baby sister and I love her and I’d do it all over again if I had to because she deserves to be happy and she hasn’t done anything wrong. She hasn’t. But I just – sometimes I-”

“You’re just a kid,” Burt says, more softly than Blaine has heard him speak all night. “It’s too much responsibility.”

“It’s just the way it is,” Blaine concludes.

“Blaine,” Carole interjects. “Do you need us to speak to your mother?”

“No,” Blaine says swiftly. “God, no. Thank you but – but no.”

“Are you sure?” Burt asks, double checking. “Your family’s none of our business, but it ain’t right for someone your age to take all this on.”

“I’m sure,” Blaine says decisively. “This is – this is my family. And it’s hard. It’s really hard sometimes, but I’m not going to put this on someone else.”

“Well,” Burt says with a final nod, “if you ever – and when I say ever, I mean ever – need help in any way, you know we’re just down the street. And even when we move, we’re just a couple’a blocks away. I’ll make sure Kurt gives you both of our numbers.”

“If you ever need someone to look after Bethany for a few hours so you can have some time with Kurt or just for yourself,” Carole adds, “we’re definitely happy to do that.”

“That’s-” Blaine’s throat closes up, thick with the possibility of a good, long sob, “that’s really kind of you. Thank you.”

“Anytime, kid,” Burt says, thumping Blaine on the shoulder.

“Blainey?”

Bethany’s voice is small and unsure. When Blaine turns around, he sees her standing next to Kurt, her little fists clenching at the hem of her grass-stained t-shirt.

“I’m right here, Beth,” Blaine answers, rushing over to her side to grasp her hand. “You ready to go home?”

She gives a small nod and Blaine looks back to Kurt’s family. “Thank you,” he says again. “And thank you for having me over for dinner as well.”

“Of course, honey,” Carole says, standing and giving him a warm, strong hug. “You and Bethany are always welcome over here.”

“Sam.”

Finn blurts the name like an epiphany, looking directly at Kurt as he says it. They share some sort of understanding, knowing look, thoroughly confusing Blaine until Finn speaks again.

“You should meet Sam,” he says.

“Who’s Sam?” Blaine asks.

“He’s a friend of ours,” Kurt explains. “He and Mercedes just started dating, actually.”

“But – but why should I meet him?” Blaine wonders, still unable to piece the puzzle together.

“He has two younger siblings. Stevie’s nine and Stacy’s seven,” Kurt says. “Really sweet kids. Bethany might like to have some friends her own age.”

“That – that would be nice,” Blaine says, tears threatening to fall once again. He looks around at these people, at Kurt and his family, suddenly realizing how much he owes them all. He’s pretty sure he’s never met a nicer family. His gaze settles on Kurt and he gives his boyfriend a smile full of sorrow, yet laced with gratitude. “Thank you.”

“I’ll walk you both to your house,” Kurt says, looking back to his dad. “I’ll be back.”

“Hold up,” Burt says, hurrying over to one of the kitchen cabinets. He roots around for a few seconds until he finds what he was obviously looking for, pulling out a container full of chocolate chip cookies. “Here, sweetie.” He hands the entire container to Bethany.

“For me?” she asks, eyes instantly lighting up with delight. “Thanks, Mister-Kurt’s-Dad!”

Burt gives a deep chuckle, rubbing the top of her head with a large, gentle hand. “Sure thing, kiddo.”

“When I get back,” Kurt says levelly, pointing a finger at his father, “we’re going to talk about why we don’t hide cookies because we have a heart condition.”

Kurt’s father actually looks slightly contrite.

“Call me,” Kurt says when they reach Blaine and Bethany’s front door, “after she’s in bed.”

“I will,” Blaine promises. “Go inside, Beth. I’ll be inside in a minute.”

His sister wanders inside, leaving Kurt and Blaine on the front porch alone.

“I’m so sorry,” Blaine says as soon as she’s out of sight.

“What?” Kurt asks in disbelief. “What on earth are you sorry for?”

“I just – this isn’t how I expected the night to go,” Blaine sighs, carding a hand through his hair in frustration. “I really just wanted to meet your family. I didn’t know I’d end up explaining my depressing hardship of a life to them.”

“Blaine.” Kurt steps closer, placing his warm hands on either side of Blaine’s face. “Don’t apologize. Please don’t apologize.”

“I don’t want them to worry, though. I’ve got things under control here.”

“The fact is that it isn’t your job to keep things under control. You’re – we’re just teenagers.”

“I just feel like I dragged you all into this,” Blaine says. “None of this is your problem.”

“You know…I’ve never had a boyfriend before,” Kurt says, attempting a smile. “And I know you haven’t either. But from what I know, boyfriends and girlfriends are supposed to be people you can lean on. They’re supposed to be people you can trust. Just like any other friend. Just with…more kissing.”

Blaine snorts slightly, dropping his head to Kurt’s shoulder. “We don’t get to do nearly enough of that.”

“We will,” Kurt assures him, pressing a kiss to Blaine’s temple. “Because you don’t have to do this alone. Not anymore.”

As soon as the words leave Kurt’s lips, Blaine’s arms fly out to wrap Kurt up in a hug. His heart melts for this boy. His heart seems to beat for this boy.

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of everyone else,” Kurt says softly into Blaine’s ear, “but I don’t think Bethany ate dinner. She said she was really hungry when we were in my room and when I asked her what she last ate, she said you made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and that you gave her a bowl of goldfish for a snack later.”

“God,” Blaine breathes, finally stepping away from Kurt. “Some days, I really just want to slap my mother.”