The next morning, Blaine lied in bed for a while after he woke up. He had woken up unusually early, and Emily was still sleeping in the bed next to him. He turned towards her to look at the little girl, who was so peaceful in her sleep. Watching her now, he couldn't believe she had already been through so much, and even if she wouldn't remember what happened as she grew up, Blaine was afraid that it would always unconsciously be with her. Seeing her in his bed this way reminded Blaine that he should probably go and buy furniture and other stuff for her. She couldn't sleep in his bed forever, and she would surely need all kind of things. He was once again hit by how unprepared he was for this situation, as he had no idea what you had to buy for a child this small. However, before he had time to panic, he figured he could always do some research later, or he could ask Isaac, since the man seemed to know a lot more than he did about kids. Blaine knew he was unprepared for this, and was still hurting from the loss of his sister, after having really acknowledged her death for the first time last night. However, he decided that he couldn't afford to question himself all the time. Emily relied on him now, and he had to put her needs before his. She didn't need her uncle and her last living relative to crumble under uncertainness and sadness, she needed him to be strong and keep going for the both of them, which Blaine vowed he would do. Sure, he wouldn't always be perfect at this, he would probably mess up, and make mistakes, but right now, he was all Emily had, so he would do his best, and hope everything turned out for the better. Thinking about the loss of his sister, Blaine couldn't help but think back at last night, how he had acted and more surprisingly, how Kurt had acted. He still couldn't believe that Kurt had actually held him for several hours on the floor, without complaining. He couldn't believe the words of reassurance Kurt had murmured in his ear, even if he realized they were just the polite thing to do in that moment, he had thought the man hated him. Never would he have imagined that Kurt would be the one to hold him when everything finally fell apart. And Blaine knew it eventually would all fall apart. He hadn't taken the time the grieve his sister, being thrown into the whole Emily situation, but Blaine sadly now had experience with grief, and he knew that he always took a few days to process everything, before eventually falling down completely. He just hadn't anticipated that it would be in front of Kurt, of that the man would be so… kind, a word he never in a million years would have linked to Kurt before last night. Blaine felt like he should feel ashamed about how he had acted last night in front of Kurt, he should feel embarrassed about how he had cried for several hours and had been clinging to the man. However, the feeling just wasn't present. Maybe it was because Kurt hadn't even shown an ounce of judgment last night. When Blaine had calmed down last night, he had been afraid that the man would now despise him even more, and would see him as being weak; however, the opposite had happened. When Blaine had calmed down, Kurt had been nothing but kind to him. He had stood up and helped Blaine stand up as well, he had asked the curly-haired man if he would be okay, he had even asked if Blaine wanted him to stay with him for the night. Uh, Blaine thought, I guess the guy has a heart after all. The events of the previous night gave Blaine some hope that maybe his relationship with Kurt would improve; maybe they could try to be, if not friends, at least civil with each other. With that optimistic thought in mind, Blaine decided to get up and prepare a bottle for Emily who would undoubtedly be hungry when she woke up, and some coffee for him and maybe some for Kurt as well.

Blaine had been up for a while, and had had time to drink his coffee, and feed a now awake Emily, and Kurt had yet to come out of him bedroom. Still, Blaine didn't let this faze him, and just played with Emily while he waited for Kurt to get up and maybe get the chance to talk with the man a little. When Kurt woke up however, things didn't go as Blaine had planned at all. The man walked out of his bedroom already dressed, and ready to leave the apartment, and when he saw Blaine and Emily sitting on the floor playing, he barely spared them a glance and simply nodded courtly towards them. Blaine couldn't help but feel disappointed and a little angry at his reaction. He had thought that after last night, he and Kurt could finally be friends, and that they had passed a certain milestone in their relationship. He had thought that they could at least be friendly towards each other, if not friends. He had apparently, been wrong.

“So it's back to being cold and distant now is it? Let's just pretend last night never happened, and ignore pathetic Blaine once again” Blaine couldn't help but say with a bitter tone.

The words made Kurt stop in his path to the door, and the man slowly turned towards Blaine.

“Excuse me?” he asked in a rather condescending tone, if you asked Blaine.

“You heard me Kurt. You had one night where you were actually a decent human being, and now you're back to being a robot. You can't be decent more than once in a blue moon, or you'll actually turn to stone or something?” he asked disdainfully.

“Look, because you've just been through so much, and I understand that you might not completely be yourself right now, I'm going to ignore your words and the judgment you just passed so easily on me, without even knowing me. I'm going to ignore it just this once.” Kurt said with an icy tone, and his words actually made Blaine cringe. “I am sorry for your loss Blaine, however, what happened last night doesn't make us friends. We still don't like each other, and we don't need to pretend like we do just because I was a, how did you put it? Ah yeah, a decent human being for once”.

And with these words, Kurt made his way to the door and banged the door when he left the apartment. Blaine instantly felt bad for his words. He had been marveling about how Kurt hadn't judged him at all last night, and there he was, judging Kurt harshly at the first occasion he had. Yes, he had only said what he said because he was disappointed in Kurt's reaction, and had hoped that they could be friends, but that didn't make what he said okay, and it didn't give him permission to talk that way to Kurt. He then turned to Emily, who was still playing quietly with a toy xylophone Isaac had bought for her last night, one mistake down, ten thousands to go, he thought to himself. What a great way to start the day.

*****

The rest of the day however, went in a far better manner. Isaac had woken up, and he and Blaine had played and taken care of Emily for the entire day. Blaine now realized that the internet was his new best friend. Each time they had a doubt about how to take care of Emily, how many baby food do you need to put in a bottle, is it hygienic for a baby to chew his own feet, how warm should the water for the bath be, how do you change a diaper, etc… They would search on the internet, and manage to find an answer. Most of the time, Isaac would be the one looking things up, while Blaine took care of Emily, he was determined to learn how to do all of this stuff, and he figured he had to learn these things now, even if Isaac who had more experience with kids offered to do it. Blaine was determined in being the best he could be for Emily, and he would master how to put this bloody diaper on, even if it killed him with its horrid smell. Throughout the day, Blaine also realized that Emily was acting in an unusual way; at least what he thought was an unusual way, even if he didn't know much about babies. Indeed, the little girl seems to be observing everything around her with curious eyes, like it's the first time she is seeing those things. The little girl still didn't make a sound, she didn't even cry, which Blaine thought was the most worrying thing of all. He didn't know much, but he knew that babies were supposed to cry, and even Isaac agreed with Blaine, and thought it was a little strange. Another thing his niece would do is whenever Blaine got up to go and get something in the kitchen or anything; she would stop playing and follow him with his eyes wherever he went. It was as if she was afraid that he would suddenly disappear, and it broke Blaine's heart a little. He wondered how often she must have been left alone for her to survey her surroundings and scrutinize his every movement the way she was currently doing. He hoped that as she got more comfortable, and felt more at home here, she would learn to relax and wouldn't feel the need to check where Blaine was at all times. He hoped that she would soon learn and understand that she was no longer alone, and that he wasn't going to disappear, like her mother had. Blaine had also noticed that Emily would sometimes look around the room, as if expecting her mother to suddenly come out of nowhere, and every time she did it, Blaine could feel a little bit of his heart falling off. He realized that it was probably unconscious, and that Emily wouldn't remember Laura as she grew up, but it didn't change the fact that she was missing her mother right now, no matter how awful Laura might have been with her. In those moments, Blaine doubled his efforts with the crazy faces, and the games to try and take Emily's mind out of what was going on, and try to ground her to the present and to her new life with him.

Several hours later, Isaac had had to leave for work and was long gone, and Blaine was quietly reading one of the Harry Potter books to Emily. He realized that the little girl didn't understand anything of what he was saying, and that it probably wasn't a very appropriate book for a girl her age, but it was the best he had for the moment, and Tina had said that the little girl needed to get used to hearing people talk, and that talking and reading to her would improve her language skills. Blaine added to his mental list of things to buy to buy some books, but in the mean time, this would do. He was sitting on the couch in their living room, and Emily was sitting on his lap and leaning completely against his torso, which he wasn't ashamed to say, completely melted his heart. She was playing with one of the black curls on her head, and she was so focused on the book that it looked like she could read the words herself. After about 20 minutes of quite reading, Emily started to fidget on his knees, and Blaine realized she was fed up with reading, and she wanted to go back to her toys and play. Blaine put her on the floor so that she could drag herself towards her toys, and he closed the book without bothering to save the page, seeing as Emily had no idea of where they had arrived in the book, and that Harry had just met Mr. Oliver to buy his wand. He swore in this moment, that as soon as this kid was old enough to understand, he would read the Harry Potter books to her, and introduce her to the marvelous world created by J.K Rowling.

Blaine had been playing with Emily for about 30 minutes, when he heard a key in the lock, and Kurt opened the door and entered the apartment. He barely spared a glance towards Blaine, and walked straight towards the kitchen. The action reminded Blaine how their argument this morning, and of how he had acted, and Blaine decided to apologize to Kurt for being so judgmental, and if he was honest with himself, for being kind of a dick to Kurt. He stood up quietly, and after making sure that Emily was safely playing, made his way tentatively towards their kitchen, he could once again feel Emily following him with her eyes, and turned towards her to smile and wink at her, showing the little girl that he was still there, and wasn't going to disappear. Kurt had his back turned to Blaine, and didn't turn around when he heard Blain clear his throat, which Blaine figured he kind of deserved.

“Look Kurt…” he said tentatively. “I wanted to apologize for what I said this morning.” Hearing those words, Kurt turned slowly towards Blaine, but said nothing and kept a blank face, which meant Blaine was unable to read Kurt's reaction to his words. He decided to pursue, and hoped Kurt would react well.

“You were right, I had no right to say what I did, and I don't really know you, so I have to right to pass a judgment like I did. You were really kind last night, and I repaid you by being a jer…. A mean man” he corrected, remembering the proximity of Emily in the room. The last thing he wanted was for her to learn how to swear because of him. He winced and turned to her to check on her, and after he saw that the little girl was still playing softly, while she looked up towards him every few seconds to check he was still there, he turned back towards Kurt, and he could have sworn that he saw an almost smile on the man's lips. His face quickly turned back to impassive however, and Blaine wasn't quite sure if he hadn't just imagines the smile. He pursued his apology:

“I really appreciate everything you've done, and I am really sorry for the way I reacted this morning. I have had a rough few weeks, but that isn't an excuse to treat you poorly, and I apologize for that.”

Kurt seemed to consider his words for a few seconds, and after a while, he simply nodded to Blaine and said “Okay”. While the reaction wasn't anything big, Blaine realized that this was all he was going to get, and that it meant that Kurt had heard him and accepted his apology somehow. This made what Blaine had to ask a little easier, even if he was still hesitant, seeing how he had acted in the morning.

“And Kurt…” hearing his name again, the man turned back towards Blaine “This is going to sound like I apologized only for this, which I totally didn't by the way, I genuinely am sorry, but well, I can't hold it anymore and...Do you think you could watch Emily for a bit? It's just, I really need to go to the bathroom, I have been holding it for like an hour, because I don't know if you are supposed to leave kids that young alone while you go to the bathroom, and I didn't want her to think she was alone, and I havn't had a chance to shower all day, and I would really apprecia…”

“Blaine” Kurt cut off his rant. “It's okay, go to the bathroom, I'll watch Emily while you… do what you have to do” he said, and Blaine swore there was that almost smile again. However, he didn't comment on it, and decided to rush to the bathroom, because he really couldn't hold it anymore.

“Thank you, I'll be 15 minutes tops!” he said while he rushed to the bathroom. He missed how Kurt shook his head at his antics while walking to go and sit on front of Emily to occupy her, while her uncle was doing his business.

Once Blaine was in the shower, he gave himself a few moments to think. Maybe he still wasn't friends with Kurt, and his relationship with the man was still stranded at best, but he was glad that he had apologized, even if Kurt's reaction hadn't been all that enthusiastic. He knew that the man had accepted his apology and even if he was still distant towards Blaine, maybe their relationship would actually improve with time, and they actually would become friends one day. In the mean time, Blaine decided not to force things anymore and that if him and Kurt were to become friends one day, it would come naturally. He enjoyed his first time alone since the beginning of the day, and despite what he had told Kurt, he decided to take his time in the shower, to try and relax. He already loved Emily, and loved spending time with her. He had only known her for a week, and he already felt so close to her and she often melted her heart, but he couldn't hide the fact that parenthood was hard, and that he was exhausted. As much as he loved Emily, it was good to have a few minutes to himself, where he could just relax under the warm water. After about 20 minutes in the shower however, he decided that he had imposed on Kurt enough, and should probably get out and go back to Emily. He dressed himself quickly with the clothes he had prepared previously, in the hope that Kurt would accept to take care of Emily for a few minutes, and made his way out of the bathroom quietly.

The sight that greeted him when he came out of the bathroom however, took his breath away in a way that was so unexpected. Kurt was sitting on the floor, and was playing with Emily, tickling her and talking to her in a sweet voice that Blaine had never heard before and amazed him. Kurt was so focused on Emily, that he didn't hear Blaine come back into the room, and was now blowing raspberries on Emily's stomach. When the little girl grabbed Kurt's hair and kicked her feet enthusiastically, Kurt let out a loud laugh, and he whole face lit up with it. The sight of Kurt laughing and playing with his niece was amazing and brought the first huge smile on Blaine's face since his sister had passed away. Blaine realized that he had never once heard or seen Kurt laugh before, and that the man truly was beautiful while doing so .