A few weeks later found Blaine quietly thinking about everything that had happened lately and what his life had become while playing with Emily in their living room. Thinking of the past month, Blaine couldn't believe that so much had changed. A month ago, he was a college student on summer break, about to start his last year of college, which would then allow him to become a music teacher, the job he has always dreamed of doing. A month ago, he thought he still had years in front of him before he became a father. He thought he would meet a guy he loved, and if they chose to do so, would have kids around the time they were in their thirties. Instead, here he was, 22 years old, and raising a beautiful little girl, of whom he was now the legal guardian. Life really had a funny way of working out Blaine thought to himself. Now that a few weeks had passed and the novelty has worn off, everyone seemed to have adapted pretty well to their new situation. Blaine was adapting well to fatherhood, and he could now change a diaper in under a minute (which his nose was often thankful for) and prepare a bottle in his sleep. Isaac was adapting well to his role of uncle, which he had determined that was what he would be a few days ago. He loved spending time with Emily, and his knowledge about children which Blaine still had no idea where it came from, had turned-out being a life-saver many times. When Blaine would find himself freaking out, which he was a little ashamed to admit had happened once or twice since Emily had come to live with them, Isaac would always be there for Blaine, and his reassuring words would often be what managed to calm Blaine down. As for Kurt, Blaine still couldn't quite believe how he was acting. After the first time where he had watched Emily while Blaine showered, he had told Blaine that he should ask him any time he needed someone to babysit Emily. The sentence had surprised Blaine almost as much as the scene he had walked in when he had come out of his shower. Since then, Blaine had to admit that Kurt was amazing with Emily. While the little girl seemed to enjoy spending time with her uncle Isaac, she absolutely loved spending time with Kurt, and the man was wonderful with her. Kurt would play for hours with her, and one time, Blaine had walked in on Kurt showing her one of his fashion magazines, and Emily being completely absorbed by the images she was seeing. Both of them had seemed so comfortable with each other and at peace, that Blaine had entered quietly in the apartment and just watched them be for a few minutes. The one person however, who seemed to be adapting the best of all, which still pleased Blaine to no end, was Emily. From just the few weeks Emily had been living with them, Blaine could already see the difference in how the little girl was acting. While Emily still didn't talk or try to communicate with them very much, she would now let out these little pleased sounds when one of them was playing with her, and she would babble quietly when she was playing by herself. Tina, the social worker, had told Blaine that she would eventually start trying to communicate more and make more sounds as Emily felt more comfortable in her new environment, and Blaine had worried that it might never happen. Hearing his niece babble and shriek with joy always brought a huge smile to Blaine's face, and was the confirmation that bringing Emily to live with him, even if he lived in a small apartment with two flat mates, had been the right decision. The change that pleased Blaine most of all however, was her smile. The first time Emily had smiled, it had brought actual tears to Blaine's eyes, and the man has discovered that Emily had the same smile as her mother. It was actually the first time that Blaine could think of how similar Emily and Laura looked, and not feel any pain. Blaine had been changing Emily's diaper, and he had been talking to her and tickling her the first time it happened. When Emily had let out her almost toothless smile, Blaine had felt his heart melt and fallen completely in love with the little girl. Since this day, Emily had been smiling a lot more, and the first time she had directed her smile at Kurt, Blaine couldn't help smiling goofily when he saw the pleased shocked look on the man's face.

“Hey baby girl” said Blaine, coming out of his thoughts. “I think it's time for a nice long nap Okay? That way, you can sleep a little, and maybe Dadd… Uncle Blaine can have just a little time for himself. And when you wake up, I promise you we will have so much fun eating purée, and we will finally know what Harry Potter's house will be , okay baby girl?” Blaine could feel himself blushing at his almost slip up, even though no one was there to witness it, and he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed as he picked up Emily to prepare her for her nap. Blaine had found himself thinking of himself as Emily's dap quite a few times now, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about it. It felt as if by saying he was Emily's dad, he would take up his sister's place and replace her. Still, he didn't know how to define who he was to the little girl. Emily had never known her mother, and while Blaine would never lie to her about the fact that he was her uncle and who her mother was, he didn't know if Uncle Blaine was really who he wanted to be for the little girl. With these thoughts in mind, he carried Emily who was now in small green pajamas to her cot in Blaine's room. The room was now part his, and part nursery, which Blaine knew wasn't the ideal situation, but would have to work for now, as they didn't have any extra rooms in the apartment. Looking around the room, Blaine couldn't help but smile as the memory of shopping for furniture flashed over to his mind.

*****

It had been quite an adventure. A few days after Emily had been living with them, Isaac had decided that they had to go shopping, as Emily would need to furniture, and couldn't sleep in Blaine's bed forever. With that thought in mind, the two men had dressed up Emily to go out, and after figuring out how to attach the baby sling to Blaine's front and putting Emily in it, which had took about half an hour in itself with both Blaine and Isaac working on it, they had finally all gone out and gone to Ikea for some well-needed furniture. The trip to the shop and their stay in the shop would forever stay marked into Blaine's memories as one of the best days of his life so far. Emily was watching everything with such curiosity that Blaine smiled softly when he looked at her. In the subway, Emily had avidly watched everyone around her, and seemed to charm everyone with the way she couldn't stop smiling while Blaine was trying to shelter her in the crowded subway. One they arrived in the store, the same thing had happened, and Emily seemed to be enthralled by all the colors and funny objects that could be found in the shop. She was looking everywhere around her, and smiling at everything. Seeing her curiosity and pleasure, Isaac and Blaine had then spent hours running around in the shop to show Emily around, and the little girl seemed to love it. When her eyes had fallen on a blue monkey, Emily had seemed so amazed by the stuffed animal that Blaine had decided to buy it for her. After spending the day showing all sorts of crazy objects to a smiling Emily, and laughing until he had tears in his eyes with Isaac, Blaine, Emily and her uncle finally had everything they needed and after paying to have all the heavy furniture such as the cot, delivered to their apartment, they made their way out of the shop. Blaine's happy thoughts as he left the shop however, became clouded when he thought about why Emily had acted the way she had in the shop. Seeing her behavior, Blaine wondered how often Emily had gone when Laura was alive. Seeing the state Emily was in when the police had found her, how skinny she was and the bruises that had now faded, but were all on her body when she had moved in with Blaine, he didn't have a lot of hope for Laura taking her daughter out very often. It still pained him to think of how his sister had treated her own daughter, but there was nothing he could do about it now, and he had decided that the Laura that had acted that way with Emily, was the not the same girl he had been raised with. When their parents had died, a part of Laura had died at the same time, and the woman who had treated Emily this way wasn't really his sister, not the one he remembered and loved at least. Still, it was in these moments that he felt rage at his sister's behavior, and he once again vowed to do better. Seeing Emily's reaction to being in a shop, Blaine could only imagine how she would react to discovering a big park such as Central Park for instance, and he promised himself to bring her out there as soon as he had the time to do so. Imagining Emily's reactions to the leaves, dogs, and squirrels around the park brought a smile back to Blaine's face, and he buried his dark thought. Emily was fine now, she was doing better, and she was a happy little girl.

*****

After having put Emily down in her bed, Blaine quietly exited the bedroom and started picking up her toys to put them away in the pink and green basket they had in the living room for all of her toys. Life had settled down, and after the few weeks taking care of Emily, Blaine had now settled down into a routine with the little girl which he loved. Still, summer break would be ending soon, and Blaine had to figure out what he would do. He had thought about registering Emily to a daycare, so he could manage to still go to classes, and pick her up in the evenings, but he didn't really feel comfortable with this situation. Emily was still settling down in their home, and he didn't want to upset her by introducing her to a new foreign environment, and risk every improvement she had made recently. He had then thought about hiring a nanny that would come during the day and take care of Emily, but finding a good one was very hard to do, especially one that would come in the middle of New York to babysit a kid in a student apartment. Plus, Blaine didn't feel comfortable leaving Emily with a stranger, at least not yet. So the only solution Blaine had found was to quit college, at least for now. He had enough money left from his parent's life insurances that he had never really needed to go in the first place, he had just always really wanted to. And if he didn't finish college; that meant all of his dreams of becoming a music teacher were out the window. Still, it was the only solution he could see, seeing as he couldn't trust Emily with strangers yet. The door suddenly opened interrupting his thought, and Isaac and Kurt came barging in the apartment, both smiling. Though Blaine had a hard time understanding it, Kurt and Isaac were great friends, and they seemed to share a special bond, and enjoyed spending time together. Isaac seemed to be able to manage Kurt when he was in a foul mood, and Kurt always seemed to be able to reassure Isaac and comfort him when Isaac had panic attacks. Blaine didn't know how these two met, but he knew that the bond between them was deep, and he envied them a little. Even if Isaac was without a doubt, one of his best friends, there was still a lot he didn't know about the young man, and he was sure Kurt knew a lot more. Seeing his dark face, Isaac turned towards Blaine and asked:

“Why the long face B? And where is my sweet Emily?”

“She's sleeping for the moment; she just went down for her nap. And it's nothing, I was just thinking about school starting back soon, and about what I should do” Blaine said, while sitting down at the table in the middle of their living room.

“What do you mean what you should do?” asked Isaac sitting down in front of Blaine, while Kurt went off to the kitchen.

“Well, classed are starting back in around a week, and I think I'm going to have to quit, or at least, postpone classes for a bit” Seeing Isaac frown, he rushed to explain “I know it isn't the smartest decision, but it's the only one I can see. I don't really feel comfortable leaving Emily with strangers yet, so daycare is out of the question. And it's impossible to find a good Nanny at this time of the year, so yeah, that leaves me… I really don't see what else I can do, and while I really wished I could finish my degree, Emily comes first now, and she's already been through enough, I don't want to be upset again. So If I have to sacrifice college, at least for now, then that's what I'll do”.

Isaac was looking at Blaine sadly, and Kurt that had come back from the kitchen sometime during Blaine's rant was sitting next to Isaac and looked thoughtful. He still pointed towards the mug of coffee, he poured coffee, and Blaine was surprised to see a mug pushed in his direction. He took a taste of the coffee and was even more surprised to see it was exactly the way he liked it, with a bit of milk and sugar. It seemed that Kurt had been paying enough attention to his flat mate to notice how he took his coffee, which surprised Blaine.

“Maybe you don't have to quit” he said quietly, interrupting Blaine's thoughts. Blaine opened his mouth to explain his reasoning once more, but before he had the time, Kurt continued speaking, while looking at him with a serious look on his face. “I understand why you wouldn't want to leave Emily with more people she doesn't know and in a foreign environment, I think it's a reasonable decision and a smart choice, however, Isaac and I aren't strangers.”

Hearing this, Blaine didn't really understand where Kurt was going with this. He barely registered that Kurt had technically just said that he was smart, and kept looking at Kurt, waiting for him to continue his train of thought. Seeing Blaine's perplexed face, Kurt continued to explain.

“What I mean is that, we have to pick out classes this week. And there are three of us, if we play this way, and with our eclectic schedules, I'm pretty sure we can make it so at least of one us is in the apartment at all times. So while the other two are in classes, there will always be one of us to look after Emily.” Kurt explained quietly.

Isaac had a big smile on his face, and he nodded enthusiastically “Yeah, that's a great idea! The three of us could watch her! Kind of like a shared custody you know? Even though none of us are her parents, and we obviously aren't divorced and…”

“Yeah Isaac, we get it” said Kurt in an incredibly fond tone.

As for him, Blaine was still astonished by what Kurt had just offered. It's true that this solution seemed ideal. Emily wouldn't be left with strangers, and would instead always be with one of the men that she knew and already loved, and Blaine would be able to take classes, and still get his degree at the end of the year. The solution was perfect, but what Blaine didn't understand was why Kurt was accepting it, or ever more, how he was the one offering it.

“Why are you helping me? Why would you be willing to do that? It's not like you owe us anything, somehow, I have a hard time understanding why you, of all people, are offering to do this.” Blaine asked seriously. He didn't mean to be offensive, but he didn't understand, it wasn't as if Kurt liked him, why would he help him with this. Hearing Blaine's answer, Kurt's face closed off, and he said “Look Blaine, I know we're not friends and we don't always get along, but I respect what you're doing for Emily. You don't know how better off she is with you, and what you're doing for her is more than she could have expected, even if she doesn't know it yet. So I'm offering a solution that will allow you to still go to college, and for Emily to be taken care of. Now, if you don't want to accept it, or you don't trust me with Emily or whatever, then that's your choice, it was just an idea.” With that being said, he stood up and walked up to his room.

“Wait Kurt, that isn't what I meant…” but Kurt just cut him off and entered his room.

“Yeah, whatever”.

Blaine turned back towards Isaac, who was still sitting at the table and looking disapprovingly at Blaine.

“This isn't what I meant” tried to explain the curly haired boy. “I didn't mean that I don't trust you and Kurt with Emily, of course I do, and I didn't want to sound ungrateful or anything, I just don't understand why he's offering to do this.”

Isaac sighed loudly, and after looking thoughtfully towards Kurt's closed door, he looked at Blaine with a determined face, having come to a decision.

“Look, I never wanted to say anything about this, and I won't tell you the whole story, seeing as it's Kurt's story to tell, but I feel that without you knowing, you two might never understand each other. I never told you how I met Kurt, did I?”

Blaine shook his head quietly in response to Isaac's question. He couldn't believe he was about to learn more about Isaac and Kurt's friendship, and maybe about the man he had such a hard time understanding.

“My mother died when I was six years old” started explaining Isaac, and when Blaine opened his mouth to apologize or say something, Isaac interrupted him “Don't apologize, I just need to tell you this story, and it isn't a happy one, so it's hard for me to do. But I know that you, of all people will understand.” Hearing this, Blaine nodded quietly, and decided not to interrupt Isaac until he was done with his story. “As I was saying, she died from cancer when I was six, and for a while, we were fine. I still had my brother, and my father. However, things soon turned to shit. My brother registered for the army, and he was deported to Afghanistan. A few months after being deported, he died. My father and I were devastated. We were losing a second person in only a year of time, and I was losing my big brother, the one I looked up to. After my brother's death, my father completely lost it. He wasn't the same loving person I knew, he was a different man, one that…” Isaac paused, and swallowed with difficulty, while Blaine's breath caught, beginning to understand where this story was going. He put his hand on his friend's, and squeezed to show his support. Isaac squeezed back, and continued with his story. “He started to beat me. At first, it wasn't a lot, only one or two times a week, when he was sad, but after a while, it was more and more frequent. He started to do it every day, and it started to show. People at school were beginning to notice how often I was bruised, and he did it so much that one time, a teacher from my school understood what was going on, and she reported him. After that, my father was sent to jail, and I was sent to social services.” Blaine was looking at the table with tears in his eyes, he didn't know what to say to his friend, couldn't believe the shy boy had been few so much, though it explained his behavior and occasional panic attacks.

“This is where I met Kurt” Isaac continued, interrupting Blaine's thoughts. “I won't tell you how he got there and why, this is his story to tell, and maybe if you and him learn to get along, he'll tell you himself one day. I don't even have the whole story I think. But anyway, we stayed in the same orphanage for many years. I was 8 years old when I arrived, and he was 10 years old, I don't know for how long he had been there. I had a hard time adapting to the place, I was still scared around people because of what my father had done, and the boys in there can be brutal sometimes. I was a little broken, and Kurt was the one that put me back together. He took me under his wing, and he protected me when the other boys were mean to me. I know he seems cold sometimes, but he had a heart of gold under his icy façade, and I hope one day you get to see it.”

Blaine whipped his head up, hearing that not only Isaac, but also Kurt had both dealt with social services before, and had lived in an orphanage like the one Emily was in before they took her in. This explained the deep bond between them, they had known each other for a long time, and had been through a lot together. This explained why Kurt was always able to calm Isaac down when he was having an attack, and why Isaac was able to put a smile to Kurt's face when the man was in a dark mood.

“When Kurt says he respects what you're doing, it's so much more that what you imagine. He knows what Emily could be going through right now, he knows that if him and me had had someone like you in our life, we wouldn't have had to grow up in an orphanage, and because of that, he not only respects you, but I think he admires you a little. This is why he is offering to help, this is why he will always be there for Emily. And if you let him in Blaine? You'll discover how amazing of a person he can be. Trust me, I know how much of a bitch he can be sometimes, and I don't know why when you first moved him he acted the way he did with you, but if you and him become friends, he won't only always be there for Emily, he'll be there for you as well.”

Hearing these words, Blaine couldn't help the tears that pooled into his eyes. He got up, and pulled his best friend into a tight hug. “I know saying this doesn't really make a difference, but I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this. Both you and Kurt. And thank you for sharing the story with me. I love you Isaac, and I want you to know, that whatever happened in your past, you have a family now. You have me, and Kurt and your adorable niece, Emily, okay?”

Isaac smiled softly at Blaine's speech, and nodded. Soon after the conversation, he announced he was going to bed, the emotional conversation having exhausted him. Blaine sat there for a while, and he thought about what Isaac had said to him. While this didn't explain why Kurt didn't like him when he first moved in, it explained so much about his behavior, why he didn't trust people, and especially all of his reactions with Emily. And now, Blaine had basically made it sound like he didn't trust him with his niece, and had offended the man, after he had been nothing but kind towards Emily, and his proposition was amazing. Deciding to make it up to Kurt, Blaine went to the kitchen to prepare a cup of hot chocolate, which he had noticed was Kurt's go to drink when he was sad, and he made his way to Kurt's room and knocked softly. When Kurt opened the door, he gave him the mug, and smiled shyly. Kurt took it, and looked at Blaine wearily.

“I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to offend you, or to insult you, I trust you a 100% with Emily, and I know she adores you and you're amazing with her. It was never my intention to insult you, I just wanted to understand why you were offering this, because it's huge… However, if the proposition is still on the table, I would love to take you up on it.”

Kurt sighed softly and took a sip of his hot chocolate. “Blaine, I know we aren't friends, but I understand Emily's situation more than you know, which I'm guessing Isaac explained to you.” At this, Blaine looks ashamedly on the floor, not knowing if Kurt would be mad with him knowing. “It's okay, I don't blame him for having told you, or you for knowing. At least now, you understand. And yes, the proposition is still up, if you want to.”

Hearing this, Blaine frowned a little.

“Kurt, why do you always insist on the fact that we're not friends and we don't get along? I mean, it's true, we didn't, but maybe we could now. I'm sorry if I ever did something to offend you when I moved in, I apologize for that. But we seem to have some things in common, hell, we even share a best friend. So who knows, maybe we could actually get along if we tried. Maybe we could even be friends? Put everything hurtful thing we said to each other in the past, and just start up new and be friends… What do you say?”

Kurt doesn't say anything for a while, and Blaine begins to worry that maybe Kurt will reject him, and just shut the door to his face. He doesn't know why the thought hurts so much. It's not as if they were friends yet, and he knew Kurt all that well, so he doesn't know why the thought of Kurt rejecting his friendship would hurt so deep.

“Blaine…” Kurt interrupted his thoughts. “It wasn't anything you did. I'm sorry if I'm cold with you sometimes.”

Understatement of the year, thought Blaine silently.

“But you're right” Kurt continued. “We could try and be friends, and just put the past behind us. I'll try not to get offended so easily, and not to be as cold. So we'll have a new beginning, a new friendship, deal?”

With these words, he forwarded his hand, which Blaine shook after a while, sealing their new friendship.

“It's a deal friend” he said with a goofy smile. He couldn't wait to see what his friendship with Kurt would be like, and had a feeling good things would come out of it.