After a week of preparation and organization, Emily's birthday finally arrives. The little girl is going to turn one today, and Blaine can't quite believe this is his life now. Blaine Anderson, Senior in College, crushing on his roommate Kurt, and father to a one year old. Everything just seems surreal, yet, he wouldn't change it for the world. It's also hard to believe how much Emily has grown in a little over a month, and Blaine is so happy to get to celebrate her first year with her and his two roommates. If he was originally against the idea of a party, Kurt's and Isaac's enthusiasm have grown on him, and he's now really looking forward to it happening.

The boys had decided that considering how small their apartment was, they would only invite one person each, although this had come as quite a surprise to Kurt initially.

*********

“So, who are you going to invite to the party?” Blaine asked Kurt, smiling towards the boy who was playing with Emily. The sight definitely still warmed Blaine up to the core, and he didn't think he would ever get used to this beautiful boy playing with Emily.

“What do you mean who am I inviting….? I mean, since Em is your niece, I figured you would be the one doing the invitation… It only makes sense right?” asked Kurt uncertainly, turning towards Isaac to see what the man thought. At Kurt's question, Isaac just shrugged and continued on with his reading, but Blaine frowned and said:

“Well, since the three of us live here together, and the three of us are actually taking care of Emily together, it only makes sense that we all invite someone right? I mean, you probably both have people that you want to introduce Emily to right?”

“Of course I have” said Kurt eagerly “I've talked about her so much, that most of my friends are dying to meet her, I just didn't know it would be okay for me to do so, but it's great if we can!” answered Kurt with a huge grin on his face. Seeing Kurt's reaction, Blaine felt reassured and smiled towards the man. For a moment, Blaine had been afraid that Kurt didn't want to invite anyone because he was ashamed of Emily or something like that. Seeing the man's enthusiasm however, he could see that he had nothing to worry about and felt silly for thinking he did.

“Well, I've been thinking. Since the apartment can't hold too many people, how about we invite one person each? That way, we can introduce Emily to our closest friends, our apartment won't be jammed with people and it won't be to overwhelming for Emily.” Explained Blaine.

“Okay, that sounds great” answered Kurt with a smile and Isaac just nodded, still concentrated in his book.

*********

When the weekend finally comes, everyone is excited for the party, even Emily although she seems to be responding to the enthusiasm of the people around her, since she doesn't really know what's happening. Kurt invites his best friend Rachel, whom Blaine has only met a couple of times, Blaine decides to invite Mike who is his closest friend after Isaac, and Kurt now he guesses, and Isaac invites Marc, a friend from College who Blaine suspects Isaac has a little crush on. They also decide to invite Tina, since the woman has been so supportive and amazing from the start, and they think she would enjoy seeing Emily having fun and being surrounded by people who love her. The party seems to be going without a hitch, which really isn't so surprising since Kurt had planned everything to the last detail. Once the idea of the party had been launched, he had decided to take over organization since he loved that kind of stuff, and even though he ruled out themed parties stating that they were “so out of date they make you want to choke yourself” in his words, he still managed to decorate the entire apartment with banners and purple and white balloons, and have the result be pretty and not tacky at all. Kurt had even bought Emily a special outfit for the occasion, and the little girl looked adorable in her dark purple dress and white tights.

Blaine was nervous, and he couldn't quite hide it. Although only people they were very close to were invited, it was still a lot of people at once and Blaine was afraid Emily would be overwhelmed with all these new faces and noises. He was standing in the kitchen and pretending to be busy while quietly freaking out when Kurt came to find him and put both of his hands on Blaine's shoulders and squeezed gently.

“Stop freaking out Blaine. I know you're worried, and it's adorable that you are, but it's just a party and everything is going well. Look around you, the party is going great and everyone is having a great time, so stop worrying and be happy”.

Hearing those words, Blaine smiled gratefully at Kurt and turned towards where Emily was sitting on Marc's knees. The little girl seemed to love being the center of attention surprisingly, and Blaine couldn't help but smile softly when he saw how great Emily was doing. Marc was bouncing her on his knees, and Isaac was making faces at the little girl while occasionally throwing discreet glances towards Marc. Mike and Tina also seem to be hitting it off, and Blaine wonders if he maybe should have thought about introducing these two earlier. The more Blaine thinks about it, the more he thinks they could be great together. Although he doesn't know Tina all that well, he knows that they are both incredibly sweet people, and he's happy to see that they are getting along. Rachel too seems to be having a good time. She is sitting close to Isaac and Marc and seems to be enjoying watching Emily squeal with laughter.

Feeling reassured, Blaine turned back towards the cake and started to cut in up in pieces so that it would be easier to serve later on.

“Are you going to be okay?” asks Kurt, who is still standing next to him.

Seeing Kurt's worry, Blaine smiles warmly towards him and nods to answer his question.

“Thank you so much for everything you did Kurt. The party is amazing, and Emily is loving it. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without you and I can't thank you enough.”

“Don't even mention it” says Kurt smiling widely at the praise and turning towards Blaine, looking at him softly. Both boys stare at each other for a while and Blaine can't help thinking that this boy is beautiful. He feels transfixed by Kurt and can't help but lean a little towards the other man when they hear a throat clearing behind them. The moment is broken, and they both pull apart and turn towards Isaac who is looking towards them appraisingly. Blaine feels his cheeks heat up when he realizes that him and Kurt had been staring at each other for longer that would seem normal, and when he thinks about what he might have done if they hadn't been interrupted.

“Maybe we should do the cake and presents? Emily is getting a little tired and could use a nap soon, and she keeps crawling back towards the pile of presents, even if she'll probably be more excited about the wrapping paper than the presents in themselves.”

Kurt agrees and goes to pick up a happy Emily out of Marc's arms and once he left, Isaac turns towards Blaine and smiles knowingly, which Blaine chooses to ignore and advances towards where everyone is waiting around the pile of presents. Blaine picks up Emily and sits in front of the huge pile of presents to help her with opening them. The first present Emily opens (with little help from Blaine) is Rachel's present. Rachel got her a book of Broadway songs that have been readapted as nursery songs and seems to proud of herself even though Emily discards the present almost instantly seeing as it is a book. Blaine still thinks the idea is pretty neat and smiles warmly towards Rachel thanking her. Isaac and Marc both chipped in to buy Emily a very noisy toy which the little girl seems to adore instantly and Blaine already hates because of the headaches he can tell this toy is going to bring on. Isaac however, looks very smug until Blaine reminds him that he lives here too, and is going to have to hear the awful noises coming out of the toy all day long as well. Hearing that, Isaac's smile falls and Marc laughs loudly. Mike brought Emily a purple stuffed monkey which Emily instantly starts to chew on, and Tina bought a couple of very cute outfits that get her an impressed look from Kurt, who up until now, has picked most of Emily's outfits. Blaine had already given Emily her present this morning, and he brought her a limited edition of all 7 of the Harry Potter books which he thinks Emily will get a kick out of when she's older if she's a Harry Potter fan (which Blaine is determined she will be) and a mini-piano for children that Emily has enjoyed playing with since this morning.

Once they finish opening the presents, they all eat some cake, including Emily who seems to enjoy smashing the cake on her face more than actually eating it, and all the guest start to head out seeing as Emily is getting tired and about ready to take a nap. Once everyone has left, Kurt puts Emily down for a nap while Blaine starts clearing out the living room and carrying plastic plates and cups in the kitchen. He is joined a few minutes later by Isaac who is also carrying dirty plates with cake remains on them.

“So you and Marc seem to be getting along” Blaine can't help but point out teasingly, which has Isaac blushing slightly.

“We're only friends B…” Isaac starts to defend himself, only to be cut out by Blaine.
“It's okay Ise. From what I've seen, he seems like a great guy and I think you guys would be good together” Blaine reassures him.

“Yeah? Well so would you and Kurt for that matter.” Replies Isaac smugly.

Hearing these words, Blaine whips his head towards Isaac and starts denying them. However this time aroud, Isaac is the one to cut Blaine off.

“Come on Blaine, I have eyes and I'm not stupid. I can see how close you and Kurt are now, and I can see the way you look at each other, it's actually sickening but cute at the same time. I think you guys would be great together, and you should definitely tell him what you feel”

“There's nothing to tell” says Blaine too quickly “I don't think of him that way” which he knows deep down in a lie, “and even if I did, Kurt definitely doesn't think of me that way”.

“You're wrong B. And if you're too oblivious to see the way that man looks at you and does everything he can to spend all of his free time with you and Emily, then you're even more stupid than I thought” says Isaac laughing, and Blaine throws him an unimpressed glare at being called stupid. However, Blaine doesn't know what to answer to that. It is true that Kurt has been spending a lot of time with Blaine and Emily, and he doesn't seem to be going out with his friends nearly as often as he did before. In fact most of the time when he isn't in class, he's here in the apartment, taking care of Emily with Blaine. Seeing Blaine plunged deep in his thoughts, Isaac drifts out of the room with a fond look towards his friend.

Later, when all the plates have been cleared and all the present have been put away, Blaine and Kurt find themselves cleaning the apartment together. Isaac has gone out to have a few drinks with Marc “Just as friends B”, and Emily is still down for the night. Blaine and Kurt work in companionable silence and once they've finished cleaning, they both sit heavily on the couch, tired from having cleaned all the apartment even if it is small. Kurt turns to Blaine with a nervous smile and says:

“You know, I actually haven't given you my present for Emily yet, I'll go and get it right now” and with those words, he gets up of the couch and walks up to his bedroom, coming back a few seconds later with a gift carefully wrapped that he hands out to Blaine.

“We should wait until Emily is up to open this, since it is her birthday after all” Blaine starts to protest, but Kurt cuts him off.

“I think you should open it, seeing as you're the one who's probably going to enjoy it more until she is older” Kurt says with a nervous smile.

Blaine can't help but be intrigued by the present and wonder why Kurt is acting so nervous. It is only a birthday present after all. However, when he opens the gift, he suddenly understands why Kurt had been acting this way and he can feel his throat clench. In his hands is a photo album that Kurt had obviously made for Blaine and Emily, and on the cover, is a picture of Laura holding a baby Emily that couldn't be more than a few days old. Laura actually looks happy and is smiling softly towards the baby in her arms, and Blaine's breath catches when he looks at the picture.

Kurt who still looks nervous standing in front of Blaine explains: “I found the picture in a local newspaper with an article about your sister's death. The article was a little dark and morbid, but the picture was really lovely and one of the nurses took it a few days after she gave birth to Emily. I thought it could be something you might like to keep…” Kurt trails off uncertainly.

Blaine nods quietly without looking up from the album. He seems to be transfixed by the picture can't seem to stop looking at it even for a few seconds. When Blaine finally opens the album, he smiles softly seeing the pictures inside. There are quite a lot of Emily by herself, like one of her laughing with her mouth wide open to Isaac making funny faces out of the frame, or one of a concentrated Emily while she is standing, hanging on the table to stabilize herself. There are also some of Blaine and Emily together, one of them where Blaine is reading Harry Potter to Emily who seems so enthusiastic about what she is hearing even if she can't understand the story, and one of a sleeping Emily in the arms on an equally sleeping Blaine. There a few of Kurt and Emily or Isaac and Emily and there is even one of Blaine, Kurt and Emily playing together that Isaac must have taken. Kurt and Blaine are looking at each other in the picture and Blaine can feel himself blush when he recognizes the look of adoration that he has in his eyes while looking at Kurt in the picture, although he is quite happy to see that Kurt has a similar look in his eyes.

The last picture though, is the one that brings tears to Blaine's eyes. The picture is of himself with Emily in his arms facing towards the camera, and Kurt and Isaac on each side of him. None of them had noticed the picture being taken and Kurt is ruffling Emily's hair while Isaac is trying to teach her how to high five by hitting his hand against hers, both Blaine and Emily have huge similar smiles on their faces and the picture is breath taking. Blaine remembers this day, they had all been hanging out together and Mike had been there with them. He must have been the one to take the picture actually. The picture is so beautiful and Blaine adores it already. It's beautiful, and it's his family, and imperfect as it is. And no matter how strange the situation that brought them to become a family is, it's his, and he loves them all deeply.

Blaine gently puts the book down on the couch, and gets up to face Kurt that is still looking nervous.

“I'm sorry if I overstepped” Kurt starts to say “I know the picture of Laura must bring back some memories and I didn't mean to make you sad or impose, but it's such a beautiful picture and I think we needed pictured of all four of us now and…”

He is cut off by Blaine who goes for a hug and holds tight to Kurt, still with tears in his eyes. Kurt starts by tensing, but he quickly gives in to the hug and starts embracing Blaine back by putting his arms around Blaine's back. They stand there silently holding each other for a while, in an embrace that is a lot more intimate than two friends hugging, but neither of them comments on it. Blaine feels the affection that he feels towards Kurt increase, and in that moment, he wants nothing more than to tell Kurt how he feels and finally get to kiss his soft lips.

“Kurt, I really….. I really want to thank you.” He ends up saying, chickening out of confessing what he's been feeling. He realizes that however much he might feel for Kurt, he can't risk losing this. He doesn't know how Kurt feels and he doesn't want to risk losing his new friend, and for Emily to risk losing one of her favorite people in the world, one of her three parents. So he chickens out and holds on tight for one last moment, before letting go of Kurt and thanking him one again.

“I can't thank you enough for everything you've done.” He says with tears in his eyes. “Thank you for today and thank you for this present, it is the best thing I've been given in my life, and I love it.”

When Blaine goes to bed that night, he feels tingly all over and his heart feels heavy. He knows he really likes Kurt and it could grow into so much more than liking, but he can't let himself risk what they have for the moment, he can't put himself through that pain and more importantly, he can't risk ruining things for Emily. He turns towards the little girl that is sleeping peacefully is her cot and looks at her with a sad smile. As much as it hurts, he's willing to do everything for her, and he won't let her be hurt by what might happen.

“Happy birthday baby girl” he whispers before he falls asleep.