Life Goes On

                   Chapter 7 - Life Happens

A few days after having their snowman building experience Blaine notices that Elizabeth is being overly clingy and quieter than usual. He picks up his daughter and sets her on the kitchen counter. “Elizabeth do you feel okay?” Blaine asks as he looks at Elizabeth and feels her forehead. “Troat hurt,” Elizabeth mumbles as she grabs her neck with her tiny hand and then sneezes into Blaine's face. Blaine wipes his face and then takes Elizabeth's temperature. When Blaine removes the thermometer he sees that it reads 100.2 degrees. Elizabeth is sick, so he decides he needs to take some action. He starts by giving her a dose of children's Tylenol wanting to make her feel better followed by food and liquids.

“Would you like some soup for lunch Elizabeth?” Blaine asks wanting to get her to eat and drink something. Elizabeth nods her head yes. Blaine warms the soup and spoons some into a bowl and places it down on the table and then sets Elizabeth down on her chair. Blaine goes to get her a glass of juice when he hears crying coming from his daughter. He turns around and sees tears rolling down her face. Blaine quickly gets the juice and the he walks towards her as she raises her arms wanting to be picked up and held. “Come her Elizabeth, Papa is going to take care of you and make you feel better.” Blaine whispers in her ear as he sits down in the chair holding on to Elizabeth and giving her a gentle hug. He gets a spoonful of the warm chicken noodle soup and feeds his daughter. She gladly drinks her grape juice without any hesitation which is good because Blaine is going to be forcing liquids down her to keep her hydrated. Blaine had gotten about ten spoonfuls of soup into her before her eye lids started getting heavy wanting to close. He carries her lovingly to her bedroom and sits down in the rocking chair and rocks her gently while singing her favorite Disney songs. When she was sound asleep he lays her down in her bed and covers her up making sure she will stay warm. Blaine kisses her forehead and grabs the baby monitor so he can hear her if she wakes. He quietly leaves her room as he slowly shuts the door and walks back to the kitchen. He finds his phone and sends a text to Kurt.

From Blaine:

FYI – Eliza is sick, has a cold – Temp 100.2 – Gave meds – Sound asleep now

          Blaine puts his phone down and begins to pick up the lunch dishes when his phone rings playing Kurt's ringtone.

“Hi Kurt, are you on a break?”

“No, I just stepped out for a minute after I read your text. So I see we have a sick little girl on our hands.”

“Yes we do. She's sleeping now. I had her eat some soup and I gave her a dose of children's Tylenol and that made her sleepy. I have the baby monitor nearby so I can hear her in case she needs me. Kurt, as long as I have you on the phone, would you be able to take off for a few minutes and pick Emma up from school?

“I wish I could but I don't think I can. They gave me this weird look when I stepped out now Blaine.”

“Okay, don't worry about it. It will only take a few minutes to go get her. I'll just bundle up Elizabeth and carry her.”

“Listen I need to go and get back to my meeting. I will try my best to get home as soon as possible.”

“Alright, see you later. Love you Kurt.”

“Love you too Blaine.”

Blaine ends the call and thinks to himself, “Thanks for helping out Kurt,” as he looks at his watch and sees he has about one hour before he needs to leave to pick up Emma. He walks to the study and starts practicing some new songs he thinks he might use during a set at The Train Station.

Blaine gently wakes Elizabeth and picks her up. He puts her coat on her and zips it up tightly. He puts her hat on her head and gloves on her hands. He ties a scarf around her face and neck and finally he wraps her up in a blanket and carries her to Emma's school. They arrive at the school just a few minutes before the dismissal bell. Blaine looks at Elizabeth and sees her tired looking eyes staring back at him. “We will be home in just a few minutes, I promise.” Blaine tells her when he hears the dismissal bell ring and students come rushing out of the doors. Emma sees Blaine and runs to him happily and gives him a big hug and says, “Hi Papa, What's wrong with Eliza?”

Blaine kisses Emma on the cheek and says, “She's not feeling very well today so are you ready to go because I want to get her home as soon as possible and out of this cold weather.” Blaine picks up Elizabeth after Emma announces, “Yup, I'm good to go.” They head back to the apartment and are there in record time. Emma takes off her coat and hangs it up on her hook and goes to put her things away while Blaine removes Elizabeth's coat, hat, and gloves. He takes her to the kitchen to check her temperature. The thermometer reads 99.4 degrees. It's down a bit but still above normal.

          Blaine gets out some grapes and juice for the girls to have as a snack. Blaine puts Elizabeth on his lap and she's holding him tightly when Emma returns and sits at the table. The sisters share the grapes as Emma tells them about all the things she did at school today like writing letters and numbers, drawing a picture, and listening to a story about animals. Blaine listens intently to Emma. When she finishes, he asks Emma if meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and squash sound good for dinner. “Mmmm Mmmm, Yup,” she replies happily before she heads off to her bedroom to play with her toys.

          Blaine is the kitchen cleaning up after dinner while Emma is lying on the floor watching The Little Mermaid and Elizabeth is curled up on the couch beginning to coughing and snuffing through her nose. “Papa, icky stuff is coming out of Eliza's nose,” Emma yells. Blaine grabs some tissues and tries to get Elizabeth to blow but she isn't getting the hang of it. The Little Mermaid ends and Blaine announces that it is bath time. Emma skips to the bathroom while Blaine picks up Elizabeth and carries to the bathroom and sets her down on the toilet while he gets the warm bubbly water ready. Their baths are finished quickly because Elizabeth doesn't feel like playing tonight. Blaine dries the girls off and tells them to get their pajamas on while he cleans up the bathroom. The girls return soon after to get their hair dried with the blow dryer. Blaine was putting the hair dryer away when he hears Emma shout from the living room, “Daddy! Daddy's home!”

          In the girl's bedroom Blaine is taking Elizabeth's temperature again since she feels warm. It reads 100.2 degrees so he gives her another dose of children's Tylenol. He picks her up off her bed and they sit down in the rocking chair. He holds her tightly as he starts to quietly sing her a lullaby. He stares into her beautiful eyes and she smiles back melting Blaine's heart. Blaine can sense that she will be asleep quickly as she keeps closing her eyes.

A few minutes pass and Kurt walks into the bedroom along with Emma. They see that Blaine and Elizabeth are sitting in the rocking chair. Blaine is mumbling some song and they both have their eyes closed. “Papa is sleeping.” Emma giggles as she points at the two. “Let's get you into bed and then I will get those two into bed alright, but we need to be very quiet so we don't wake them.” Kurt tells Emma. After covering Emma up and kissing her goodnight Kurt goes and takes Elizabeth from Blaine's arms. He kisses her forehead and gently puts Elizabeth in her bed without waking her up. He pulls up the covers around her neck making sure she is snug as a bug.     

          Kurt turns around and sees a worn out husband smiling at him with loving eyes. “You made it home before 11 o'clock tonight.” Blaine says in a mocking voice. “I'm going to ignore that comment because I can see you are tired and you have had a long day. Why don't you go take a relaxing bath and after I lock up and turn off the lights I will join you. How does that sound?” Kurt suggests as he walks over towards Blaine with his hands extended grabbing Blaine's and expecting him to stand up. Instead, Blaine pulls him down and Kurt finds himself sitting down on Blaine's lap as they begin to rock. “That sounds like a wonderful idea except I can't. I don't have the time to because I need to go practice for a few hours. I'm trying to master some new songs for my sets at The Train Station,” Blaine replies. “Can't you practice tomorrow Blaine?” Kurt begs. “Well I would but Jasper called me today and his boss will be at my performance at The Train Station next Friday night so I have lots of practicing to do before then. You're going to be there right?” Blaine asks concerned. “Yes I will Blaine, I promise. I will tell them tomorrow that I will not be working after hours next Friday night.” Kurt says as he stares into Blaine's eyes and then leans into him to seal his promise with a kiss. “I'll see you in a few hours Mr. Hummel Anderson,” Blaine says as he eases Kurt off his lap. Both men stand and quietly walk out of the girl's room hand in hand.

          Blaine finally makes it to bed a little after midnight. He quietly changes and then lays down carefully, not wanting to wake Kurt. As soon as his head hits the pillow he hears Elizabeth start to cough and cry. He quickly gets up not wanting Emma to be awakened by her little sister's crying. He lifts Elizabeth out of her bed and carries her into the living room to find out the reason for her tears. He gets her to stop crying and then gives her some water to drink to help with the coughing. He walks around the apartment humming with her in his arms until she falls back asleep. An hour after getting up Blaine makes it back to his bed after putting his daughter back in her bed.

          Blaine had been sleeping for a few hours when he heard coughing again by his sick daughter. He repeated the same steps as earlier except this time after she falls back to sleep he decides he would just lay on the couch with her.

          Kurt was awakened by the alarm sounding and found himself alone in bed. He got up to wake Emma and as he entered the girl's bedroom he quickly noticed that Elizabeth's bed was empty. After getting Emma up Kurt walks towards the kitchen in search of his two missing family members. As he walks by the living room he sees both Elizabeth and Blaine sleeping soundly on the couch. Kurt smiles as he sees Elizabeth lying on Blaine's chest with his arms wrapped around her. Blaine slowly wakes when Kurt picks up Elizabeth. “Hey there, I am going to put her in her bed. Why don't you go get some proper sleep and I'll make sure Emma gets to school.” Kurt tells Blaine as he heads down the hall.

          Kurt returns to the kitchen to find Blaine pouring himself a cup of coffee and stealing a bite of toast from Emma's plate. “I thought you were going back to bed? You need to take care of yourself too you know,” Kurt reminds Blaine. “I don't want to miss time being with you and Emma, and besides I need to go practice some more,” Blaine explains as he yawns.

          The next few days go by quickly with Blaine working constantly as he continues to nurse Elizabeth back to health and spending every opportunity he can get to practice his music. With all the practicing he is getting in he is confident that he is going to knock this audition out of the park.

          It's three days until Blaine's audition and he is sitting in the study practicing when he senses that his throat is starting to feel scratchy. Over the next few days his throat gets worse and he starts feeling like his head could explode. He knows he has a fever and now he is beginning to cough and his nose is running. “This can't be happening to me know,” Blaine laments to himself.

          Friday morning Blaine calls Jasper to explain that he can't perform tonight. “You have to perform tonight Blaine because tonight is the only time my boss can see until summer. He is going to Chicago to open up a new branch office,” Jasper explained. “If I perform it is not going to be my best though,” Blaine says concerned. “I'll explain that to him. I'll let him knnow that you are ill,” Jasper begs. “Okay I'll give it a try,” Blaine tells Jasper. “Great, I'll see you tonight. I suggest you just rest today,” Jasper advises Blaine as he ends the call.

          Feeling terrible and getting worse, Blaine is determined to put on a happy face so people won't notice how bad he feels and get through this audition. He has the girls dressed in their pajamas ready for the babysitter when the phone rings. Blaine ends the call and is upset because the babysitter cancelled because she got called into work. “What am I going to do?” Blaine says to himself. He decides to do the only thing he can do. Blaine calls to the girls, “Put your play clothes back on and pack some toys in some bags because you are going to work with Papa.” Blaine decides to text Kurt about the change in plans while the girls are getting changed.

From Blaine:

Babysitter cancelled – taking the girls to work

Kurt is focusing so hard on his work so he will be able to leave on time he doesn't hear his phone buzz. He looks at his watch and sees he has 30 minutes before he has to leave. Kurt wants to talk to Blaine before he starts his set just to calm him down and wish him good luck.

          Blaine decides that it would be best for everyone concerned to take a cab to The Train Station so he hails a cab and luckily one stops relatively quickly. He gets the girls, their bags, and his guitar all in the cab and they head out. During the ride he closes his eyes because his head is throbbing, his throat is sore and he feels terrible, but he keeps telling himself he can do this. The girls giggle happily as they look out the windows at the buildings that are lit up. They finally arrive and Blaine takes the girls to the room where they will be staying. He helps them unpack their things and get settled before he goes and gets his equipment ready for his first set.

          Kurt is walking out of his office excited about seeing Blaine perform when Stephanie, his boss says. “Kurt, can I see you for just a second? I want to tell you something.” Kurt sits down in the chair next to her. “I have some good news,” she says when her phone rings. ”I need to answer this Kurt. I will be back in just a minute.” She says as she walks out the door. Kurt looks at his watch and starts getting antsy. “I need to get going, come on Stephanie.” Kurt keeps saying to himself. He decides to text Blaine and let him know he is coming. He takes out his phone and sees that Blaine texted him earlier. Kurt read the text and his anxiety level tripled because Blaine was dealing with so much right now. He needs to be there helping and supporting him. Kurt looks to see if he sees Stephanie coming back. Kurt gets up and starts to leave when he hears her say, “I'll be right there Kurt. You can't go until I tell you this news.” Kurt is confused and doesn't know what to do. He looks at his watch and decides he will give her five minutes and then he is leaving. Stephanie finally returns and apologizes and says, “I wanted to tell you before you left that you are being promoted to assistant editor and fashion consultant. It is a fulltime job with benefits. Isn't that great Kurt! I am so happy for you. All your work and effort has paid off. You will start after the fashion show.” Kurt looks at her shocked as he says, “I can't believe it. It is a wonderful opportunity and I promise I won't let you down but I really need to get going. I need to be somewhere and I am afraid I am already going to be late,” Kurt said as he hugged her and thanked her again before he sprinted out of the building to grab a cab.

          Blaine connected the last cable when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned around and saw Joey. “Hey there, good to see you, in fact you are the person I need right now. Can you do me a favor?” Blaine asks in desperation. “Sure, what can I do for you?” Joey asks as he follows Blaine. “My babysitter cancelled and I had to bring the girls with me. Would you be able to keep an eye on them while I am performing?” Blaine asks as he opens the door and sees the girls playing. “I would be happy to but where is Kurt.” Joey asks. “He promised he would be here but lately work seems to be his priority,” Blaine commented. “That's strange because he is the one who arranged all your friends to be here,” Joey told a surprised Blaine. “He did what?” Blaine asked confused. “He reserved a table for all your friends to surprise you and support you.” Joey says as he looks at Blaine concerned. He grabs Blaine's shoulders and asks, “Are you alright because you don't look so good?” Blaine looks at Joey and replies, “No I'm not. I am sick but I have this important guy coming to see me perform tonight so I have to go on.” Blaine looks at his watch and says, “It's time for my set. Girls, Uncle Joey is going to watch you so do what he says okay.” The girls shake their heads yes and Blaine leaves and heads towards the stage. Joey says, “Come on girls, let's go see Papa sing.” Joey takes the girls out to his table.

          Kurt looks at his watch as he is wishes this cab was going faster. Kurt is thinking to himself that Blaine is probably starting his set now and I am stuck in this cab. Blaine is going to be so mad at me. The traffic is so slow that Kurt believes a turtle would be going faster. He begins debating with himself on whether it would be faster if he got out of the cab and ran to The Train Station or stay in the cab. A few minutes later Kurt was running to The Train Station.

          Joey makes it to his table and explains to the friends why he has the girls. Emma sits on Joey's lap while Elizabeth sits on Sally's lap when the announcer introduces Blaine. He walks on stage as the audience screams with joy. The girls cheer along with the crowd as they chant “Papa, Papa.”

Blaine starts the set with his guitar and sings the best his throat will allow him to but his friends can tell he is not on the top of his game but they still cheer loudly after every song. Blaine moves to the piano and gets the crowd going with ‘Piano Man' by Billy Joel. He looks into the crowd and sees Emma and Elizabeth dancing to the song and he forgets about how bad he feels. He smiles at the sight and he sings for his girls. The place is really jumping when he performs ‘Shout.' Blaine sees his girls having a blast as they raise the hands and shout along with the crowd. He closes with ‘Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry. The crowd demands an encore so he returns and says, “Thank you,” he says as Blaine looks directly at his daughters. “This song I am dedicating to those two angels who I love deeply and they remind me daily that as long as they are in my life I will never be alone. This song is called ‘Not Alone.' Emma and Elizabeth this song is for you.” Blaine sings this song with all his heart and when he finishes the song he simply stands, bows and blows a kiss to his girls. After he leaves the stage he sits down on the chair that is nearby. Happy he made it but feeling terrible and light headed.

Jasper sees him and tells him he was great. “My boss will be here for your next set Blaine and he is going to love you. Blaine just crumbles in the chair not knowing if he will make it through another set. Blaine stands up and gets a cold glass of water to drink. It feels so good and he drinks it straight down without stopping to breathe. He then finds a towel that he gets wet and wipes the sweat off his face. It refreshes him a bit but he prays to God to please let him get through one more set.

Kurt final runs through the door of The Train Station and sees the reserved table with all their friends and his daughters. He gets to the table just in time to hear the announcer introduce Blaine. Everyone starts cheering and applauding causing Kurt to smile. He is so happy and proud of his husband. Kurt even notices Jasper looking pretty happy as he is sitting at a back table with a man dressed in a suit. That man must be his boss Kurt assumes. He knows Blaine will ace this audition because he is so talented and has practiced so hard. Besides he has this music down pat. Blaine's dream is going to start coming true because was born to be a performer.

Blaine walks onto the stage and Kurt's optimism drops like a lead balloon. He immediately knows something is seriously wrong. “Joey, something is wrong. I'm going backstage. Keep an eye on the girls please.” Kurt whispers to Joey.

Blaine doesn't start with the guitar this set. He slowly walks to the piano and grabs the piano as he sits down on the bench. Blaine starts a song that he has played for years but is missing some of the notes. He is feeling light headed and sweating profusely as he tries to continue but is having trouble remembering the words and he feels his world starting to spin. He stops playing and sits for a few seconds as the crowd becomes quiet. “I'm sorry. I can't continue,” Blaine weakly says into the microphone. He slowly stands and starts to walk off the stage. He looks up and sees a blurry Kurt standing there and soon he is rushing towards him. Blaine makes it off stage and Kurt catches him in his arms as Blaine collapses.