Chapter Twenty-Two

Weeks later, after Ella's room was painted purple, after Blaine's things were neatly organized in a few of the drawers in Kurt's bedroom, and the florescent green cast on Ella's arm had been removed, the four had slowly settled into a routine.

To some part of Kurt, it was still strange, the ways in which his life had changed. The way that he still felt as though he was constantly struggling to make things all right again. Yet, he was doing just that, and rather successfully at that.

It was a couple of weeks into March, a month after the move-in, that already a problem seemed to crack the surface of that new-found sense of normalcy. Kurt watched the clock on his dashboard as five, then ten, then fifteen minutes passed. The cars in the school parking lot had, for the most part, all left, and Kurt's stomach churned slightly as he unbuckled his seatbelt, checking his cell phone once more. However, there were no missed calls from the school, and Kurt pocketed the phone, climbing out of his car and making his way up to the school.

He froze as he reached the front doors of the school, the bottom of his stomach completely dropping out as he was certain he recognized the sound of crying. The sound of Ella crying, he was sure of it. He quickly followed the sound around the corner of the building. And sure enough, there she was, sitting at the bottom of a tree, her face hidden in her hands, another small figure close beside her, tiny arms wrapped around her.

He slowly approached the two children, quickly recognizing the boy as Mike and Tina's son—Mikey, he was pretty sure was what he went by. Kurt frowned, kneeling in front of them, resting a hand on Ella's arm.

"Ella, sweetheart?" he asked carefully, but the girl merely continued to cry, and Kurt helplessly looked to Mikey.

"Andrew Cooper was saying mean things about her Uncle Blaine again," he said, and Kurt's frown only deepened. "I tried to tell, but Miss Davenport wasn't really listening..."

Kurt nodded slowly, almost feeling worse when he wasn't surprised by the boy's words. "Come here, baby," he said gently, taking Ella in his arms. She clutched at him tightly, continuing to sniffle in his shoulder as he stood, holding her close. "Is your mom waiting for you, Mikey?" he asked the boy, and he shook his head quickly.

"I usually take the bus, but Ella was so upset..."

"Come on, I'll take you home," he told him, and Mikey uttered a quick 'thank you', snatching up his and Ella's backpacks, following Kurt to the parking lot.

The ride home was quiet. It was bad enough before they reached the Chang house, Mikey sitting in the back of the car with Ella, clasping her hand in his until he was dropped off. But after he left, Ella sat, still sniffling, her forehead pressed up against the cool glass of the window, and Kurt wished more than anything that he could simply say something to make it all better.

After they finally arrived at the house, Kurt carried Ella to her bedroom, tucking her into bed and setting his laptop to play The Little Mermaid while he waited for Blaine to get home in their room, because this wasn't trivial or easily amendable. Not that it ever had been, he reasoned with himself, but suddenly he was filled with the sneaking suspicion that this was a common occurrence, and Ella was keeping it a secret from the both of them.

"Hey." Kurt glanced up at the sound of Blaine's voice, offering him a weak smile. "It's so quiet in here. I almost thought nobody was home." He padded across the floor of their bedroom, sliding beneath the blanket to sit beside Kurt.

"Ella's taking a nap," he told Blaine softly, "and Aiden's still over at Jamie's house."

Blaine nodded. "Everything all right?" he asked, suddenly sensing the atmosphere, and Kurt sighed heavily.

"Some kid at school is giving Ella trouble," Kurt told him, closing his book and setting it aside.

"What for?" Blaine asked quickly, and Kurt was quiet, shifting slightly. He opened his mouth to respond at last, but Blaine cut him off. "For me," he said knowingly. "Because I'm gay."

Kurt swallowed thickly. "Blaine, I—"

"No," Blaine said, shaking his head slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I... I figured—sooner or later..." He sighed. "I suppose I should talk to her."

Kurt nodded. "I thought maybe we could meeting with her teacher as well," he said. "Or, at least, you could—"

"No, you're a big part of her life now," Blaine told him. "You should come, too." Kurt nodded slowly, and Blaine drew in a deep breath. He snaked his arms around Kurt, pulling him close. "I'll talk to her when she wakes up," he said softly, and Kurt nodded again. Again, he felt that aching desire to be able to find the words to just make things okay.

It was a few days later, the just an hour or so before the scheduled teacher conference that Kurt's phone rang. He recognized the school's number and he answered quickly, expecting to hear some disappointing news about their meeting being rescheduled, or something of the sort.

Instead, Kurt's heart dropped and he grabbed his keys and immediately headed for the school, his mouth dry and his stomach churning.

Because, god, he hadn't expected that call.

"I suppose that it's just as well we had our meeting scheduled for today," Miss Davenport sighed, adjusting her glasses slightly as he sat down across from Kurt and Blaine, Ella sitting between them, hanging her head and staring at her hands folded on her lap.

"Is she going to be in a lot of trouble?" Blaine asked warily, glancing from his niece to the teacher. The woman frowned.

"Obviously we can't not punish her," she said slowly. "Andrew's nose didn't seem to be broken, but he was bleeding rather badly." Blaine groaned at this, burying his face in his hands. "But I do understand that he's been giving her quite a bit of trouble..."

Ella didn't speak the entire meeting, while they discussed the repercussions of her actions, as well as the assurances that Andrew wouldn't go unpunished either. Miss Davenport assured Kurt and Blaine that she wouldn't be suspended, but she would be expected to serve detention during recess and after school (separately from the other boy, of course).

It wasn't until they returned home that she said a single word.

"I'm sorry," Ella said in a tiny, broken voice. She looked up to Blaine. "I'm sorry, Uncle Blaine. I just didn't want him to say those things anymore."

Blaine sighed, kneeling down in front of her. "I know, sweetie," he told her softly. "But—but doing... that... that doesn't make you any better than him."

She nodded slowly. "I know," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was bad, Uncle Blaine." She sniffled slightly, swatting at her eyes. "Does that mean I can't go to Mikey's birthday party this weekend?"

Blaine took a deep breath and brushed some of the curls out of her face. "You can still go," he told her softly. "Just promise me you won't do something like this again."

"I promise," she said, nodding violently.

"Good," he said. "Now get up to your room. We'll talk again in a bit." She nodded, running off, and Blaine stood, walking with Kurt into the kitchen. He sighed, running his hand over his face, leaning against the counter. "Sometimes I just feel like I'm doing this all wrong," he said, helplessly staring at the ceiling. "Like, I sit back and just look at the job I'm doing with Ella and just think—you know—god, what the hell am I doing?" He laughed bitterly. "I always thought that... not that it would be easy, but at least maybe I wouldn't be this terrible at it." He licked his lips, glancing at Kurt. "When my brother and Julia died, Taylor, Julia's sister... god, she threw a fit. Tried to get custody of Ella any way that she could. Tried to say that I'd be an 'unfit' guardian or whatever. Sometimes I wonder if Ella would be better off with her. At least she might have a better clue about all of this."

"Blaine," Kurt said quickly, leaning up against the counter with the other man, quickly slipping his hand into his. "You're wrong." Blaine glanced up at him, and Kurt sighed, shaking his head. "You're so wrong. You're doing such a fantastic job with Ella. I was older than her when I lost only one of my parents, and to see her coping as well as she is..." Kurt took a deep breath. "You didn't sign up for this whole... single parent thing. At least in my position, I... I always knew there was some possibility it could be just me and Aiden. I never wanted it to be, but I knew that the worst could happen. You were just thrown into this, at what was already a miserable point in your life. You've done a far better job than I would ever expect of most people. Definitely better than you would see any of those poor fools in rom coms..."

Blaine smiled weakly at him. "Sometimes I just wonder if she's right, though. Julia's sister, I mean," he quickly clarified. "She said that I would be making Ella's life harder because of who I am and my choices, or some bullshit like that."

"Well," Kurt said slowly, "you've already acknowledged that that's bullshit. And, given that she said that, would you honestly rather your niece be raised by a narrow-minded bitch?" He raised an eyebrow at the other man.

"Definitely not," Blaine assured him. He sighed. "But what if what she said isn't bullshit? What if she's right? Because given the fact that Ella's currently sitting in her bedroom after beating up a boy who called her uncle a faggot, I'm not sure anymore."

"Do you think I'm an unfit parent?" Kurt asked, a slightly cool edge to his voice.

"Kurt—god, no—"

"No, Blaine, I'm not... insulted," he went on with a sigh. "I just... Do you think that I don't worry about Aiden having to continue fighting my battles?" He shook his head. "I'm terrified of it, and it isn't fair. Because I know that I'm a perfectly capable father. More capable than most of the straight mental cases in Hollywood that claim to be parents. But still, when Alex and I were starting the adoption process, I paused for a second because I had to think if I thought it fair to possibly put my child through the prejudice that I knew was still out there. And when I was younger, I used to wonder if it was fair to do that to my father." He squeezed his eyes shut. "But the realization that I came to was that I just had so much love I could give to a little boy or girl. And maybe that would be enough. It should be enough. Even if it isn't for some people, it's enough for me, and it's enough for Aiden and Ella, and it should be for you, too."

Kurt felt as Blaine placed a gentle hand on his cheek, pulling him in for a small kiss. "It is enough," he said, pulling away. "You're right. You always are."

Kurt smiled slightly at the other man. "Well, I suppose I can't argue with that..."

"Feels like you and Ella both are always talking sense into me, lately," he said with a grin.

"You've done the same for me countless times," Kurt reminded him. "I just don't want you to ever think that Ella's better off without you or whatever similarly ridiculous thoughts that cross your mind. Because it isn't true. You told me so long ago that you needed her, but the truth is she needs you even more than that." He smiled. "She's lucky to have you. And so am I."

"Thank you," Blaine said, pressing another swift kiss to Kurt's mouth. "I'm pretty lucky to have you, too."

Kurt hummed in response. "I was going to tell you not to sell yourself short, but I thought you might assume I was making a tasteless joke," he admitted, and Blaine laughed.

"Thanks for avoiding that one," he said.

"I figured it was for the best," Kurt assured him, smirking. "Now, go up there and talk to your niece, and give her all the love you've got. Because not only is that what matters, but it's what she needs right now."