“What?” Kurt tried to calm him down.

“Blaine, honey, wait-”

“No. We’ve waited. We’re done fucking waiting. Rebecca, he’s not yours. You’re the surrogate. He’s our baby; you can’t do this-”

“I told you, Blaine. I can’t give him up. I just can’t. I can fucking feel him. I’ve got a nursery, and I’ve child-proofed my house, I mean who thought I would ever do that? I can’t just suddenly tell everyone I don’t have a baby after all. I can’t lose him.”

“We can’t lose him! It was your fault we thought we’d lost him in the first place; we can’t go through that again! You told us you didn’t have a baby any more. That seemed easy enough.” It was Kurt’s turn to stare in disbelief. “Do you really think you can just keep him?” Blaine thought he was going to explode. His child was a metre away from him but it was still unreachable. He just wanted to hold him already, he wanted him and Kurt to be able to take him home, but his perfect family was being torn apart by his best friend. She’d been the one person he trusted as much as Kurt. She knew how much he wanted this. He’d spent nights rambling drunkenly to her about the future, about him and Kurt having kids, and she was supposed to be a part of it. She was supposed to be helping them get there, and here she was, stomping on every word they’d ever said to each other. “Do you think we’re just going to leave? We’re not leaving him behind, Rebecca! He’s ours!”

A voice interrupted him.

“Dr Harris? Is everything OK in there?” Rebecca looked Blaine straight in the eyes.

“No.” A man opened the door. He was surrounded by three other men, all in scrubs. The first one, a tall blonde, stepped in, puffing his chest out.

“We heard yelling. Is there a problem?” Her eyes didn’t move. She didn’t even blink. Blaine shook his head at her, his mouth falling open. She wouldn’t.

“Yes. Two problems, actually.”

“No problem, Becky. We’ll get them out of here. Come on, you two, I think you’d better go.” Kurt’s brow furrowed, showing his utter confusion.

“What? No, you don’t understand-”

“No, sir, I don’t think you understand. You think you can just storm in here and give Dr Harris a hard time? Think again, buddy.” Buddy? Becky? What was happening? Why was she letting them do this? The blonde grabbed Blaine’s arm, which was a bad idea when he was mid-rage. He shook him off, and when another man took his left arm, he swung at him, missing his face by an inch. Kurt jumped up.

“Blaine! Don’t, please! Becca, do something!”

“She doesn’t have to do a damn thing, pal.” Kurt winced. He’d never seen himself as a ‘pal’ kind of guy. “You’ve got some nerve yelling at Becky in her condition. This kind of stress could be dangerous.”

“We’ve got a nerve? Stress? Becca, what the fuck?” All four of the men had come in from the hallway now and were pushing and pulling them out. Blaine couldn’t move his arms. If he thought he’d felt helpless before, he was wrong.

“Get off me! Becca, you can’t do this! Christ, what is wrong with you? What the hell happened to you? I said get the fuck off me!”

“Please, leave him alone, you can’t corner him like that-” As Kurt reached out to try and pull them off Blaine, the other two grabbed him. He flinched and pulled back, craning his neck to look at Becca. “Will you tell them?” He kicked helplessly, his feet skimming the ground as he was lifted up. He could feel fingers digging into his shoulders and an arm across his chest. He tried to grab the door frame as they were heaved out of the office, Blaine’s arms pinned behind his back like a criminal. They were actually being escorted from the premises, as Becca watched from the doorway of her office. She grasped the bump, but she didn’t move. Her face was expressionless. Kurt had more or less given up, crying weakly, but Blaine kept thrashing and shouting. His voice kept catching as he was grabbed and pulled around and tears kept falling.

“No! You can’t! That’s our fucking baby, Becca! That’s our son! You just can’t! Don’t touch me, asshole, you don’t know what she’s doing, you have no fucking idea what’s she’s done to us!”

“Blaine, stop; it’s no good. Please, let him go-” They were marched through the lobby, Blaine still pushing against the two men who must have both been a foot taller than him. Everyone was staring, but they didn’t notice. Kurt was staring back at Blaine, his eyes streaming as he saw him in so much pain. Even though he’d stopped resisting, the men didn’t let him go. They carried on pushing him forward, away from Blaine and towards the door. Blaine was still straining, trying to get back to Becca, back to the baby. It was like it was happening all over again. Every time he saw her and the bump, their baby, he just got more angry and pushed harder.

“No chance. We want you both out of here. Nobody can talk like that to a pregnant woman. Calm the fuck down and get out, both of you.”

“Calm?”

“Blaine-”

“Becca! What the fuck! You have to give him to us, Becca, you have to! Let me go, fucking get the fuck off me-” His arm was twisted even further around his back, and he cried out in pain. He stopped yelling and lowered his head, closing his eyes. Kurt managed to get free from his guards and ran over to Blaine. They turned and were about to grab him again, but he slowly, softly, placed his hands on Blaine’s face. Blaine lifted his head and opened his eyes. Another tear slid down each cheek. His shoulders dropped.

“I know, Blaine. I know. It hurts again. I know we thought it had stopped hurting, but I promise you it will stop again.” Blaine started shaking his head hopelessly. Kurt held him still so head no choice but to look at him. “Listen to me. We will get him back. I swear. We’ll do whatever it takes. But right now, we need to leave. We don’t have a choice.” Blaine closed his eyes for a second, letting himself feel Kurt’s hands and pretend it was just them. He took a deep breath and the grip on his arms loosened as he relaxed. His breathing was laboured, but he gradually recovered as Kurt whispered ‘it’s OK, I’m here, I’ve got you’ in his ear and kissed his cheek and temple and forehead. They were still in the hospital lobby, where just an hour ago they had been sitting, laughing, clueless. And now they were broken all over again. Kurt glanced at the men surrounding them. They nodded to each other and let go, but still stood in between them and Rebecca. Blaine could barely stand, but Kurt put an arm around his waist and led him outside towards the car. They both looked back through the windows, but she was gone. Their baby might as well have been on the other side of the world.

They finally made it to the car. Blaine laid his palms against the bonnet, taking short, sharp breaths. He was still crying. He kicked the wheel, hard, letting out a shout of frustration. As his breathing got faster, Kurt thought he might start getting angry again and rushed to his side to soothe him, but as soon as he’d kicked the car once his head fell. He was sobbing. It was loud and uncontrollable and it forced Kurt to do the same, and as he put an arm around Blaine, he turned and grabbed him. Kurt was immediately pulled down as Blaine’s entire weight was shifted onto him, and he surrendered to it. They both fell to the floor, oil from the car getting on their clothes as they leaned against it, Kurt burying his face in Blaine’s hair and Blaine soaking Kurt’s sweater with his tears. They gripped onto each other, huddled against the cold, sitting on the floor, just like before. Kurt tried not to shake as he heard Blaine’s muffled cries. He concentrated on holding him. What else could he do? He wanted to promise to fix it, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know what to do. He just sat with Blaine, reliving the worst moment of his life.

Different city. Exact same heartbreak.