Steve was out of town for the week. He hadn’t told Kurt until the day before he left, but Kurt despite being caught unawares had been fine with it, jumping back into his work.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in!” he called and kept working.

“Wow,” Amie breathed, “it’s beautiful.”

Kurt stepped back. “Isn’t it? I have a whole line for children planned out. Of course I have to actually figure out this whole designer thing out professionally, but I’m thinking I could even just have a small preview show or something and invite some big names and maybe do it anonymously.”

Amie nodded slowly.

“I really don’t want my name to open any doors for me, you know.”

He moved back to the dress, trying to find anything that could have a fault.

“Kurt,” Amie said gently.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

He nodded and tried not to look towards Amie. When Steve was around, there had been a distraction, something to keep him busy outside of working on his designs, but then he was gone with so much short notice and Kurt had just thrown himself into making the dress but as it turned out, keeping his hands busy didn’t necessarily mean that his mind was being kept busy too.

So, instead Kurt had contemplated everything that happened that night almost two weeks before and he had thought about Blaine enough to rival how much he’d thought about Blaine back when they were teenagers and still hadn’t gotten the courage to tell each other how they felt.

Kurt felt defeated and discarded. And yet there was hope. Blaine had kissed him back and he’d admitted there was still something between them and that was enough for Kurt to let himself hope that maybe he and Blaine were still a possibility.

“I’m alright,” he said.

“Blaine told me what happened,” she said, “I kind of wish I had stayed a little more sober but I don’t know, I was having my own issues that night.”

“Oh.”

Kurt hadn’t spoken to anyone about it and he was surprised that Blaine had gone to Amie. He’d seen Blaine once since then and it had been awkward. He was with Mia, walking towards a children’s playground and he and Steve had been headed out to get lunch.

“So, how are you really?”

Kurt let out a laugh. “Coping, I guess.” He paused for a moment to drop his needle and the bag of sequins on his table, making sure the needle was where he could find it later.

“It’s just like getting a taste of something wonderful and then having it snatched right from under you. It’s yearning for something and getting only a small part of it before you can get the rest, worse because you lost it once before.”

Before the kiss, Kurt had almost accepted it. He had put Blaine and a relationship on a list of things that were impossible, but everything changed after that night and it was worse to know now what he was missing because a memory of what they’d had in the past wasn’t enough.

“Oh, Kurt,” Amie said.

Kurt let her engulf him in a hug, but pulled out of it as soon as he could, still eying the dress.

“It hurts,” Kurt said, “but I know why it has to be like this.”

Amie nodded. “His daughter. But I don’t get it, not really. I mean, lots of people with children get divorces or just separate and they can do it and Blaine would do his best to make sure she’s alright with everything. He wouldn’t just take her away from Nick for good.”

Kurt smiled sadly and grabbed her hand. “Come on,” he said pulling her out of the room and then down the hall to his bedroom. “More comfortable here,” he explained as he toed off his shoes and climbed on his bed. Amie followed suit.

“Blaine never really talks about it but when his parents split up it was really hard on him. It was before you met him. His mom developed a drinking problem. I think it was a coping mechanism of some sort. She sort of lost it. Drew was having an affair, I think, sort of funny – ironic I guess – and Blaine was just caught between them.”

He paused long enough to fold his legs into a better position and then continued, “When they divorced she managed to prove she was sober and that due to his job, Drew could not take care of Blaine. I guess being married to a lawyer teaches you some tricks to use at court, or maybe Drew just didn’t fight hard enough for him. I think he knew working for the family meant Blaine would be neglected or bored. Still, she got primary custody with an agreement that Drew could take him a week in a month or something. The thing is while all of this was happening he was never asked what he wanted.

“With his mom Blaine was on his own devices, but he was lonely and he was no longer a part of this world. With Drew he was too involved; dragged along to meetings, brought to the house and left here sometimes while I wasn’t even here to entertain him. One time Drew forgot him here, thought he was with his mom. That’s when my dad started taking an interest in him and Blaine sort of became a part of the family.”

Amie was listening intently, hugging a pillow to her chest. She watched Kurt as he stared towards his window as if everything was playing out in his mind.

“What happened?” She asked.

“Well, his mom still wasn’t doing very well with the drinking and one night Drew appeared with Blaine and left him here. She tried to kill herself. She was depressed. She’d lost her husband and Blaine was slowly wanting to spend more and more time with his father rather than her and after that Drew got full custody and paid for her to go to rehab. She went and got better and she met some guy and even though Blaine still visited her, suddenly he wasn’t the best thing in her life. About a year later Drew insisted he go to Dalton with me and she agreed and moved to England. Blaine hasn’t really seen her since.”

It was strange thinking back to things that he only knew about because Blaine had filled in all the holes later, after they had all happened. But he remembered some of it himself and if there was one thing he didn’t want, it was for Mia to suffer like Blaine had. Kurt was sure that somehow things wouldn’t end up the same way, but it was still such a hard thing for a child to go through. Blaine would never want Mia to feel what he had.

“So, he doesn’t want Mia to be stuck in the middle, so to say?”

Kurt nodded. “I don’t think she would though. Blaine wouldn’t let it happen, but there’s always the fear, you know? The what if somehow everything got screwed up and she did? She deserves to have her two dads together.”

Amie frowned a bit and then reached for his hand. “I know it’s a legitimate fear, but what about later down the road? What about when Blaine begins to regret staying with Nick and they just start fighting all the time? How is that better for her?”

“But who says that will happen?” Kurt asked, “who says they won’t be happy?”

“The fact that he admitted he’s in love with you and always will be,” Amie said.

She got up from the bed and straightened her clothes. “It’s a mistake what the two of you are doing. Mia loves you, Kurt, and maybe at first it won’t be ideal, but think about the fact that maybe she’ll still have a steady home with you and Blaine in addition to getting to see Nick and understanding that he is her father too.”

Kurt shook his head, his eyes wide in surprise. “I can’t fill that role. I wouldn’t presume to.”

Amie rolled her eyes. “If only you knew,” she muttered and without much else to say left the room.

Kurt stared after her, wondering what she meant.

- - -

“I think we need to talk”

Blaine almost jumped. Two weeks, he’d been sending flowers to the gallery, and two weeks he’d been trying to get himself to actually call Nick and try to get him to come back. He hadn’t expected for Nick to just appear one day in their living room as if he’d never left in the first place.

“Nick,” he said and after a moment of surprise let himself smile widely. “I – yes we do. I’ve been – wow, okay, this is so odd – I’ve been thinking about what I’d say for days now and all of a sudden it’s all just gone…but you’re here.”

Nick smiled a little and then patted the spot next to him on their couch. Blaine walked towards him. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he muttered before sitting down next to him.

“Where’s Mia?

Blaine hated himself for a moment for not having found a better babysitter, but Amie after that first time had gotten better and Carole was around most of the time as were Shelby and Mike so Blaine knew that she’d be alright.

“With the Hummels,” Nick said for him.

Blaine nodded slowly, “only because Mrs. Roberson had a surprise visit from her son and was busy for the day.”

Nick nodded, but didn’t look very happy about it.

“It’s probably for the best,” Blaine said, “that she’s not here for this…it’s been hard enough to try to explain to her why you’re not here. She misses you a lot.” After a pause he added, “I miss you.”

Nick hesitated before speaking, but Blaine knew that he would have to be the one to do it first. So, he waited and tried not to seem impatient.

“I’m still not over you cheating on me,” Nick said and then shook his head, “no, that’s not really it…I’m not over you doing it with Kurt Hummel. Kurt is…he’s the one person I can’t compete against when it comes to you because he’ll always win and he’s – the two of you belong together.”

Blaine wrung his hands together and tried to keep his eyes on Nick as he spoke, keeping himself from speaking out all the while.

“I want to believe,” Nick said, “that if we do try and make us work that one day you’ll love me like you love him, but it’s not something we can be certain about. You hid things from me, Blaine. You lied to me. I couldn’t handle it if it happened again…because I keep asking myself if you would have just swept that kiss under the rug, just decided it wasn’t something I didn’t need to know if I hadn’t been there to witness it.”

Nick crossed his arms and let himself sink back into the couch and he eyed Blaine. “I do love you,” he added, “so much…but I don’t want this to be a mistake.”

“It’s not. It wouldn’t be,” Blaine said, “that kiss was the result of feelings that resurfaced that I was sure I was over years ago, but I guess I’m not so over him, but when that moment was over and when I realized what I’d done, I knew it could never happen again. Deep down I knew it wasn’t – I can’t go backwards, everything’s different now and you are my family. You and Mia and I don’t want this to be over.”

But there was still that niggling doubt that told him that maybe he should just end it and rather than jump into any kind of relationship just stay alone and look after Mia and let everything figure itself out.

“I want you to tell me if you’re doing this because you don’t want Mia to go through a rehashing however better of what you did as a child, or if it’s this overwhelming feeling that the world wouldn’t be the same if I weren’t at your side…and I’m not saying I won’t stay if it isn’t the second but I just need to know before I put my all in this.”

It wasn’t the second. Mostly it was the former. Still, Blaine knew that it was more than just Mia. He and Nick had been together long enough that it couldn’t end just like that because of a kiss that had happened in the spur of the moment. They had to try and stay together even if it didn’t work. He’d been thinking about that in the last few days.

“How would you feel about professional help?” He asked, “you’re not…I can tell you’re unsure still and it might help.”

“Like couples’ counseling?” Nick asked.

Blaine nodded.

“I guess…maybe. Just, are you sure, Blaine?”

“Yes. I can’t promise that this will be forever, but I want it to be. That should be enough.”

“Okay,” Nick, “I guess that’s, yeah, we can do that. I really did miss you.”

Blaine grinned and moved closer, “come here?” he asked and tried not to look at Nick too pointedly.

Nick scooted towards him. “Never been weird like this,” he muttered.

Blaine laughed but nodded. “It’s why we’re breaking the ice.”

Holding Nick was different than having Kurt in his arms, but Nick was still familiar and comforting and Blaine was half surprised to find that he had missed this terribly and he sank into the hug and knew that to some small extent he did belong there with Nick. The only thing missing was Mia, but they’d go and fetch her later.

When they eventually pulled back from each other, Blaine stood up. “I forgot what I came here for. I was stopping to pick something up before going to get Mia. But never mind that…I’m so glad we’re working on this. Do you want to come with me?”

Nick seemed to consider it and then he nodded. They walked together to the door and Blaine looped their arms together.

“Will Kurt be there?”

“I don’t know,” Blaine said, “you have to realize I haven’t spoken to him since and unless I truly have to for family business, I won’t…not when it could damage this – us.”

They grabbed a cab and Blaine spent the entirety of the ride twining his and Nick’s fingers together on his lap and reassuring himself that he’d made the right choice, but even just the fact that he needed to reassure himself was enough to bring doubt to his mind again.

Nick hadn’t gone with him to the Hummel residence before and Blaine half expected him to remain behind waiting in the taxi until he had fetched Mia, but he declined and they let the cab drive away.

“Impressive place,” Nick said, “but I should have expected nothing less.”

“They own pretty much the entire block,” Blaine said, “rented out of course, but that small garden around that corner was actually the late Mrs. Hummel. Carole takes care of it now. There’s a swing and monkey bars there now too from what I’ve seen. Mia likes it.”

Nick nodded. “A personal park, of course,” he muttered as they entered the elevator.

When they got up to the foyer they heard laughter before the elevator opened and when it did, they saw a blur that was Shelby running.

“She’ll be around here somewhere,” Blaine said and led Nick towards the living room.

Nick was a bit stiff and uncomfortable as he walked next to him and Blaine reached over to take his hand.

“Blaine! There you are.”

Blaine pulled away from Nick long enough to hug Carole who as soon as Blaine had moved away was extending out her hand to Nick.

“I’m Carole,” she said, “and you must be Nick. It’s great to meet you. Mia should be around here somewhere. They’re playing tag.”

“Pleasure,” Nick said, “won’t they break something?”

Carole waved her hand, “that doesn’t matter. They’re being careful enough, but you know, children.”

Nick nodded and took a moment to look around and Blaine smiled a little as he saw Nick spot the pieces of art that the Hummels had hanging from the walls. He knew at least three of the pieces in the room they were in had been there when he had first been brought to Hummel Plaza by his father. Others were newer additions. They were all still authentic pieces gathered from around the world. Burt knew his art and he was sure he’d gotten that from Kurt’s mother.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Carole asked, “you work at an art gallery don’t you? You’d probably love the art hall at the country house. Blaine, you have to bring him sometime. Maybe Thanksgiving? It’s in a few months yet, but we always spend it there and it’d be great if you could join us. No one would mind.”

Nick glanced back at them and Blaine could see in his widened eyes that he wasn’t ready to commit to something like that specially with the probability that Kurt would be there.

“We’ll have to let you know, Carole,” Blaine said, “we don’t know what our plans will be, but we’ll keep it in mind.”

Mia appeared then, making perfect timing. She was followed by Amie. Nick stepped back from the piece of art he’d been staring at and it was only then that Mia noticed him and she ran towards him, grin clear on her face, arms extended to be lifted.

“There you are my little princess,” Nick said and picked her up, “I’ve missed you.”

She began to rattle on about her day. Blaine watched them.

“Hey,” Amie said, “so I guess things are working out just how you wanted them too.”

Nick noticed her, then and he walked back to Blaine’s side with Mia in his arms still talking a little.

“Hello,” he greeted.

“Hi,” Amie said and didn’t add anything more although Blaine could see that she wanted to say something else. “I’ll go get her things.”

Mia reached towards Amie, “I’ll come too!” she cried and Nick had to let Amie take her from his arms.

Blaine saw it the moment it happened. Mia was in Amie’s arms and seeing them like that together even wearing similar colors in what Blaine suspected was the very universe trying to mess with him, it wouldn’t give anyone any doubt that Amie and Mia were related.

Nick gasped and then he turned to look at Blaine. Amie walked away with Mia.

“I can’t…woah…I guess our talk isn’t over, is it?” His voice was hard and disappointed.