Blaine was running on nothing more than adrenaline. It had been an awful day: a boy with cancer; 5-year-old twins in a car accident whose mother hadn’t made it; a teenager who needed her stomach pumped after a party; now his twelve hour shift was finally over and all he wanted to do was go home and take a long bath with Kurt before he had to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. He barely noticed the slap on the ass from Santana as he held the double doors open for a gurney, turned his collar up against the snow and started making his way toward the subway.

He was half way through the standard heavy sigh when he heard a muffled noise down in the alley by the bins. He looked around, but nobody else seemed to notice it. He followed the sound into the shadows, and hidden in a cocoon of blankets he saw her. His heart stopped. She couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old, with dark skin and clean clothes. He stooped to pick her up, hugging her close instinctively, whispering ‘it’s okay, I’ve got you,’ over and over, trying to mask the panic in his voice. He ran back into the hospital.

“Can I get some help over here?” he shouted, “I- I found a baby outside!”

“What?” Mike’s head bobbed up from behind the counter. “Blaine, your shift’s over.”

Blaine stared incredulously at him for a moment.

“Mike. Look. Baby.”

“Oh, shit. Okay, well, I can take her for now until Lopez finishes up in 4. Head trauma. Go home.”

Blaine rocked the little girl gently in his arms, swaying from side to side to try and calm her down.

“Is she the only paediatrician on tonight?”

Mike held his arms out to take her, but Blaine held on.

“Blaine-”

“Mike-”

“You’ve been here for hours. Go home.”

“But I-”

“I know I only treat adults, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to break her. Come on sweetie,” he eased her out of Blaine’s grasp and her screams got louder. “Jesus. I’ve never heard anything like this before. Is she hurt?”

“Not that I can tell, but I didn’t get a chance to look.”

“Okay, I’ll check her out. Go. Home.”

“Sure, sure.”

He followed Mike into an examination room.

“Blaine.”

“I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

Mike sighed and ignored him, laying the baby down on the table. Her cries were deafening as Mike started to prod tentatively at her tiny frame. He tried to shush her but the second he laid the stethoscope against her chest she wailed even more.

“Come on, honey, where does it hurt,” Mike mumbled, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. “Could be pneumonia. How long’s she been out there?”

“How should I know?”

Blaine fidgeted in the doorway, desperate to pick her up and make her better, make her smile. She coughed, her chest rattling. Mike frowned.

“It’s easier when they can talk.”

“Oh, for God’s sake-” Blaine nudged Mike out of the way and lifted the baby up, wrapping the blankets snugly around her. “If you’d been abandoned in the snow, do you think you’d want somebody poking you? Look, you get back out on the floor. I’ll see if she’s hungry.”

“But your shift-”

“You’ve got an emergency room to run. Go.”

Mike glanced at the baby. She was already crying a little less frantically as Blaine whispered comfortingly to her and stroked her hair.

“If you cuddle her back to health, I swear to God-”

“She’s cold. I’m warming her up. I swear when someone else is free, I’ll go.”

Mike hesitated, but ran as soon as there was a barrage of noise from outside. At least he knew Blaine would take care of her. Blaine smiled down at the squirming bundle in his arms.

“Okay, sweetheart. Let’s get you something to eat.”

He wandered to the supply closet, where there was always some formula. Normally he’d have to get a nurse to do all of this while he took care of everything medical, but he wasn’t on duty now. They all offered anyway, but he knew they were too busy. He prepared a bottle, checked the temperature and found an empty room, all without putting the baby down, and as he sat down with her and slipped the bottle into her mouth, her cries finally stopped and she sucked greedily. He smiled when some milk ran down her chin, and wiped it up with the blanket. As he shifted her to his other arm, a note fell from the folds of fabric. He opened it and read:

Please look after her. I can’t do it. I’m so sorry. She deserves better than me.

Blaine folded it into his palm. He tried hard not to picture a teenager, exhausted and scared and shivering as she abandoned the baby, praying someone would find her in time. He forced himself to concentrate on the girl he could help now, rocking her and whispering to her.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you now. You’re gonna be okay.”

Santana cleared her throat at the door.

“You finished an hour ago.”

“It’s okay. You were busy.”

“Well I’m not now. I’ve called Social Services. Everything’s under control. You can go.”

“When are they getting here?”

“That’s not your concern any more. Give me the baby and go home.”

“Okay. You might want to get her some clean clothes.”

“She’s warm and she’s fed and she’s safe. You’ve done enough, B.”

“What’s going to happen to her?”

“Same thing that happens to all of them. She’ll go into care until they can find her parents. If they don’t want her, they find her someone who does.”

Blaine frowned. His arms tightened ever so slightly around the baby and she gurgled contentedly.

“I can hold onto her until someone gets here. You’ve got better things to do than sit around feeding a baby.”

“I can find someone else.”

“Santana-”

“Blaine. I know you’ve had a crappy time lately. I’m really sorry things didn’t work out, but won’t this just make you feel worse? Taking care of someone else’s baby?”

“I take care of other people’s babies every day. I just- I don’t want her to be on her own.”

She wanted to argue that this baby wouldn’t make up for anything, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“Okay. Shout if you need anything.”

He was barely listening to her, just smiling at the little girl as her hands grasped the bottle. Santana walked over to him, kissed his cheek and squeezed his elbow, and left him alone.

He found a romper suit that was too big for her (the paediatric ward always had spares), changed her diaper and wrapped her up again. He checked her pulse, her blood pressure, and as soon as he knew everything was normal he just sat down with her again, with another bottle just in case. Apparently she didn’t need it, and dozed off huddled against Blaine’s chest. Blaine hummed softly to her, letting her hand grasp his little finger, and his eyelids were just starting to droop too when he was startled awake by a cough. He blinked rapidly a couple of times, looking down to see if the baby was alright, and he heard a single, gentle laugh. He looked up to see Kurt standing in front of him with a paper bag in his hands.

“Hey, sleepyhead.”

“Oh God, Kurt, I’m so sorry, I should have called-”

“It’s okay. I called the front desk and Britt told me you’d be a while. I thought you might be hungry,” he held the bag up, “chicken and avocado. Your favourite.”

Blaine smiled, but he noticed Kurt wasn’t really looking at him. He was gazing at the baby. He’d walked in on the life they’d almost had, and his eyes were sparkling despite his soft smile.

“You’re an angel.” Kurt nodded and his smile faltered for a second. “Kurt? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine. I’m fine. She’s adorable.”

“Isn’t she? Somebody just left her outside. All alone, in this weather. It’s heart-breaking.”

Kurt nodded again. It was heart-breaking. He knew there was probably a story behind all of this, that some poor girl had been scared and not known what else to do, but it made him sick that someone could have anything this precious and just leave it. He knelt next to Blaine’s seat, stroking the baby’s hair with the back of his finger. He couldn’t help smiling a little.

There were purposeful footsteps coming up the hall, and a small brunette in a rabbit-print dress popped her head around the door.

“Blaine?”

Blaine’s heart sank. He wished he didn’t know everyone from Social Services so well.

“Hi, Rach. You here for this one?”

“I’m sorry it took so long.” She noticed Kurt. “Oh! Hi, I’m Rachel! I don’t believe we’ve met!”

Blaine stood up and introduced them, his stomach twisting at how cheery she was, even this late at night, in this room, knowing he would have to hand the baby over and never know what would happen to her. Knowing that she would probably be in care for years. That people don’t want to adopt mixed race babies with pneumonia.

“So do you have someone who can take her?”

She sighed.

“Not yet, I’m afraid. Group home until we can find her parents, but we don’t really have anything to go on. We’ll ask some other hospitals, see if they had any young mothers in, check records, but we’ll get her in a foster home as soon as there’s a space somewhere. Things are all stretched pretty thin right now. The bursaries aren’t enough to cover expenses, especially with babies, and nobody can afford to foster anymore.”

Blaine bit his lip as he handed the baby over to Rachel and she started crying again. Kurt’s face fell. Rachel bounced her up and down a little and shushed her, but she kept squirming uncomfortably and whimpering.

“We could take her,” Kurt blurted out without thinking.

“Kurt-”

“Well, why not? It’s better than some group home. We’ve got everything she’d need anyway.”

“Kurt, it’s not that simple. There are protocols and stuff; we’re not qualified-”

“Blaine, you’re a children’s doctor. How much more qualified do you need to be?”

Blaine glanced at Rachel worriedly.

“But… wouldn’t we need some kind of checks? References and stuff?”

She puffed her cheeks out, still trying to calm the baby down.

“Well, I- I could be your referee. I’ve seen you with kids enough times. If I maybe came back to your place to check it over, we might be able to work something out.”

Blaine’s eyes widened.

“Seriously?”

“You know this would only be temporary though, right? The best thing would be for us to find the mother and figure out a way to help her.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand, knowing he’d be thinking something along the lines of ‘the mother who left her to die; sounds peachy’.

“Of course, of course, but if we could help, just for now… we’ll do anything we can.”

“Gosh, hold on, just let me-” Kurt held out his arms and she gave him the baby so she could rifle through her bag for her phone. “I’ll call my supervisor and see what I can do!”

She disappeared into the corridor.

“Blaine, am I-” Kurt shifted her a little, “Am I doing this right?”

“Yeah, just- here-”

He moved Kurt’s arm so the baby’s head was resting on the crook of his elbow. Kurt let out a shaky breath.

“She’s so small.”

“Mmm.”

“I can’t believe somebody could…”

“I know. Kurt, are you sure about this? You don’t think it’s too soon? We haven’t even looked in the nursery since-”

“Blaine, she has to go somewhere. I know it’ll only be for a couple of days. I just want to help.”

“Think about it, though. You’re already invested after two minutes. Do you think you could give her back after taking care of her for a day? Maybe more?”

“Really, Blaine, what are the chances of them finding the mother? And do you really think she wants to be found? Or that she’d even be a fit parent?”

“Kurt.”

“I know. I know it’ll suck giving her up, but it’ll suck more if she gets moved around until they can find a place for her. I work from home anyway. Why not?”

“Because last week we-”

“You want this too, Blaine. You’ve just been sitting with her for an hour.”

He looked at the baby, and at Kurt’s arms holding her as if she’d always been missing from them.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“I don’t want her to be alone.”

Their eyes locked and Blaine’s hands stroked up Kurt’s arms where they were tensed, putting all of his energy into protecting the baby. She sighed gently and his eyes filled with tears. He reached up to kiss Kurt’s temple.

“Okay. Okay, let’s do it. Yes.”

Kurt tried to rein in his smile, knowing the more eager he looked the worse an idea it probably was, but it was hard to hold back. Rachel bustled back in.

“Right. Apparently we’re desperate. No offence. Is there a fax machine somewhere here?” Blaine nodded, his heart swelling as he felt the baby’s hand closing around his finger again. “Good. I hope you like filling out forms, boys, because you’re about to become foster dads.”

-

Rachel drove back to their apartment, showing Blaine how to strap the baby into the car seat – she had to have one in her car all the time in case of this very eventuality. She babbled incessantly about regulations and routines and boxes she would have to tick before she could leave them, and they both nodded, staring at the little girl in the car seat. Kurt was stroking her cheek with his fingertip, and Blaine was holding her tiny hand in his. When they got home, Kurt went into interview mode, politely showing Rachel around and offering her a drink while Blaine unstrapped the baby and fixed up a bottle for her. Rachel frowned a little when she saw that they happened to have formula in the cupboard, but continued to check things off her list and ask endless questions.

They got to the nursery. It was a little cold, but Kurt switched the radiator on.

“Sorry, nobody’s been in here for a while.”

“It’s okay. You know, she seems really comfortable with you, Blaine.”

“Good. We want her to be comfortable, even if it’s only for a little while,” he glanced pointedly at Kurt. “Is there anything else you need to know?”

“Well, I don’t want to pry-”

“You’ve been raiding our house for an hour. I think we’re okay.”

“It’s just- this. The room, the crib, the formula, you’ve got all this stuff for a baby- did you…”

“Oh. Almost. We had a surrogate, but there were some complications. She miscarried.”

“Gosh, I’m so sorry. Was it recent?”

Blaine opened his mouth but Kurt cut him off.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, actually. We ask that people wait six months after this kind of thing before taking on a new child. They need time to grieve.”

“Oh. Well-”

“That’s fine. It’s been… about eight months now?”

Blaine stared at him for a second, but the baby wiggled and distracted him.

“Right. I’m sorry,” Rachel said, nodding and patting his arm. She was annoying, but she genuinely seemed to care. “I know it’s never easy to talk about.”

“It’s fine.”

“Well, it’s unorthodox but I can’t see any reason why she can’t stay here. I’ll come back tomorrow to make sure everything’s okay, and as soon as we find the mother or another home, we’ll let you know. You’ve got my number, and I’ll give you an information pack that should cover everything you need to know.”

“Um,” Blaine manoeuvred the baby onto his other arm, “okay. Thank you.”

“Oh no, thank you. I shouldn’t say this, but I’d much rather she was with you than the group home. The people who run it are wonderful, but they’re already stretched as far as they’ll go. And some of the kids in there… they’ve had it pretty rough.”

“We’re happy to help; especially if it means we get to take care of this little angel,” he leaned over Blaine’s shoulder to smile at her and take her hand. He pressed a casual kiss into Blaine’s hair and showed Rachel out. As soon as he’d closed the door, he turned to see Blaine standing opposite him, no longer holding the baby.

“Why did you say that?”

“Did you put her down? Are you sure it’s not too cold in there?”

“It’ll be fine. She’s all wrapped up. Kurt, why did you lie?”

“You heard what she said about the other place.”

“Kurt. It’s been eight days, not eight months. It’s too soon.”

“It’s different for us. It’s not like we were the ones having… you know. It was just a phone call as far as we were concerned.”

Blaine didn’t have to correct him. They both knew he was lying. They both remembered clinging to each other that night, crying as if they would never stop. Blaine just stepped forward and took his hands.

“Sweetheart-”

“Don’t, Blaine. It’s just some rule made up by people who don’t even know us. Are you really telling me she’d be better off somewhere else?”

“No, of course not. It’s not her I’m worried about. It’s you. It’s us. They’re going to find her mom. Or they’ll find a registered foster home. We can’t keep her.”

“But we can keep her for now. For tonight. Just for a couple of days, there can be a baby in that room. And at least this time we’ll have something to say goodbye to.”

Blaine looked deep into Kurt’s eyes and slipped his hands onto his waist while Kurt’s slid up Blaine’s arms to rest on his shoulders. They were both trembling a little. They were undeniably still feeling the loss, the absence of something they’d never seen or held, something they missed so much it hurt. But there was a baby girl upstairs who’d been left in the snow, who nobody else wanted, who needed them. Blaine kissed Kurt, pulled him close and whispered, “Okay.”

“Really?”

Blaine nodded.

“She deserves someone who cares about her.”

Kurt kissed him again, the tension leaving his body. Never mind caring about her; he was already head over heels.