Chapter Seven:  Fate Stepped In

Friday June 13, 2014

“Thank you, officers,” Blaine said, shutting the door behind the policemen after they left. He turned back to the couch with a heavy sigh.

“Daddy, I’m scawed,” Aly said.

Kurt bit his lip, looking up at Blaine with sorrowful eyes. Aly had been repeating that over the last two hours. He had failed as a father. He had failed to keep his daughter safe. Returning home to find his ransacked apartment had terrified him. Blaine had immediately called the police, who interviewed them both as well as collecting evidence. All of Kurt’s electronics were gone:  the TV, DVD player, iPod and iHome were missing. Thankfully, the jewelry that had once belonged to his mother had been locked in the safe hidden by a secret compartment in his closet.

“We can’t stay here,” Kurt said, cupping the back of Aly’s head with his hand. Aly was no longer safe here. Kurt had failed to protect her once; he would not let it happen again.

“I know,” Blaine said softly. “We can go to my house.”

“I don’t want to put you out,” Kurt answered with a blush.

"That’s not what I meant,” Blaine said, sitting beside Kurt on the couch. “I want you to move in.”

Kurt sucked in a surprised breath. He had not been expecting this. Yes, they had taken their relationship to the next level only three days ago, but never in his wildest dreams did he think Blaine would be asking him to move in. Not when they’d only been together for two months and Aly had scarcely been in Blaine’s presence prior to that week.

"I don’t know,” Kurt said hesitantly.

“You can’t stay here, Kurt. And I own my house so you wouldn’t have to pay rent.” Blaine took Kurt’s hand in his, squeezing it lightly.

“Have you ever lived with a child before?” Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a big commitment, Blaine, especially when Aly’s not your child.”

“I know,” Blaine replied seriously. “But I want this. I know we’ve only been together for two months, but I want us to be a family. I know it’s too soon now; I haven’t spent much time around Aly. But I know I want to be with you and her. This isn’t just some fling for me, Kurt. I love you. I love you both. So, please, will you do me the honor of moving in with me?”

“Yes,” Kurt breathed, surprised by Blaine’s speech.

Blaine smiled widely, leaning over to brush his lips against Kurt’s. He had not planned to ask Kurt to move in with him so soon, but after tonight he knew this was meant to be. It was like fate had stepped in and shown him it was time for them to take that one step closer to being a real family, even if they had been together for such a short amount of time. Blaine loved Kurt and he loved Aly, and he would do anything to keep them happy and safe.

“I’ll pack an overnight bag for Aly while you pack yours,” Blaine offered. “We can come back to get whatever you want to bring to my place tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Don’t forget Crystal or we’ll never get Aly to sleep. And grab the baby monitor too,” Kurt replied as Blaine stood up and headed down the hall to Aly’s bedroom. His heart fluttered at the pronoun usage. He could say ‘we’ now instead of ‘I’ when it referred to caring for Aly. He had never been able to do that before, at least not properly. Not in a way that wasn’t with his dad or Carole or Finn. With that thought, Kurt carried Aly through the hallway and into his bedroom. He deposited Aly on his bed, going into his closet to find his suitcase.

“Whewe aw we going, Daddy?” Aly asked when Kurt walked back to the bed and lifted his Rimowa Limbo suitcase onto it.

“We’re going to live with Blaine now,” Kurt explained patiently as he unzipped his suitcase.

“Foeber?” Aly asked with her bright cerulean eyes trained on her father. Kurt smiled at her pronunciation of ‘forever.’

“I hope so,” Kurt answered honestly, sitting next to Aly. He opened his arms to her as he said, “Come here.”

Aly eagerly climbed onto his lap. Kurt would be lying if he said he didn’t have his reservations about moving in with Blaine. He was worried Blaine would not be able to handle the responsibility that came with living with a child. Kurt’s greatest fear was Aly would grow attached to Blaine, only to have him change his mind.

Blaine walked out of Aly’s room carrying her pink overnight bag. He’d packed quickly, knowing they would return for the rest of her things the next morning. Blaine was about to step into Kurt’s room to see if he was ready, but stopped when he heard Kurt speaking to Aly. He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but Kurt’s voice saying his name caught his attention.

“Do you want to live with Blaine?” Kurt asked. “If you don’t, we’ll go stay with Gramps and Mimi.”

“I wike Bwaine,” Aly answered as if that settled the matter.

“I like him too,” Kurt said with a fond smile.

Blaine didn’t hear anything else from Kurt so he walked into the room. Kurt looked up, smiling when he saw him. He lifted Aly off of his lap, setting her on the bed.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t even started packing yet,” Kurt said with a blush.

“Don’t apologize. Take as much time as you need,” Blaine said, pressing a kiss to Kurt’s cheek as he passed him. He joined Aly on the bed, smiling when the girl crawled onto his lap.

Kurt watched them with a soft smile, glad that Aly had accepted Blaine, even if she wasn’t quite sure what that meant just yet. He turned away from them, looking through his closet for something acceptable to wear the next day. When he was satisfied with his outfit, he grabbed a pair of pajama pants for the night, folding the articles of clothing carefully and putting them in his suitcase. Kurt went into his bathroom, pulling out his Rimowa Limbo beauty case. He put all of his moisturizing creams and other necessities in the box. Returning to the bedroom, he was finally satisfied that he had everything he needed.

“I’m ready,” Kurt announced.

Aly jumped off of Blaine’s lap and ran to her father. Kurt lifted her up onto his hip, pressing a kiss to her golden hair. Blaine slung Aly’s overnight bag over his shoulder before lifting Kurt’s suitcase.

“You don’t have to carry that,” Kurt started to protest.

“I know, but you have Aly. She’s precious cargo,” Blaine said, reaching out with his free hand to tickle Aly’s side. Aly squealed, snuggling deeper into her father’s chest as she tried to escape.

Kurt bit his lip to keep his tears at bay. Ever since Aly’s birth, Kurt had known his life would be different from what he had planned. He hadn’t been able to move to New York or attend college. Instead, he settled for working at his father’s garage. Kurt had never expected to meet someone who was understanding of his unique situation as a father. He had never expected anyone would love his daughter. But Blaine did. He was constantly surprising Kurt, and Kurt couldn’t wait to see what other surprises lay in store for him and Aly.

He led the way to the parking lot, pausing at the sight of both his Navigator and Blaine’s Mercedes Benz. Blaine didn’t notice the dilemma and was already putting Kurt and Aly’s luggage in the back of the Navigator. Kurt lifted his beauty case into the trunk, turning to Blaine after he closed the door.

“What about your car?” Kurt asked with a slight tilt of his head.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Blaine said with a thoughtful expression. “Well, I’ll just get it tomorrow when we move you in. We’ll need it for all of your stuff anyway.”

Kurt couldn’t find any fault in the plan so he nodded before strapping Aly into her car seat. He opened the passenger door, moving his crutches out of the way before he slid into the seat. Blaine climbed behind the wheel beside him.

“Oh, crap, your crutches!” Blaine exclaimed, looking at Kurt with wide eyes.

“What about them?” Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow. He glanced over the crutches and didn’t find anything wrong with them.

“You’ve been walking around without them for the past few hours,” Blaine said seriously.

Kurt stifled a laugh. “Blaine, it’s been four days. I’m fine; it doesn’t even hurt to walk on it.”

“That doesn’t matter. The doctor said a week-”

“Blaine, I have more important things to worry about right now than a sprained ankle. Please, don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Either that or I’m still running off of adrenaline,” Kurt joked. Blaine couldn’t hide a soft chuckle.

“You’re using them again as soon as we get home,” Blaine informed him.

Kurt’s heart skipped a beat at the word ‘home.’ He had a home now with Blaine. He smiled as he replied, “We’ll see about that.”

Blaine lived on the other side of Lima, about two miles away from Burt’s house. Kurt spent the ride glancing at Aly in the backseat, who had fallen asleep not long after Kurt had buckled her in. His head snapped the front when Blaine pulled into the driveway of a brick one-story ranch house. Blaine maneuvered the Navigator into the left side of the two-car garage. The two halves of the garage were separated by a square column. Directly in front of the Navigator was a set of stairs that curved into the corner of the garage, leading up to the door of the house. Before the stairs began, there was a closed door to the left which Kurt assumed was used for storage.

“Here we are,” Blaine announced, shifting the car into park.

They climbed out of the car. Blaine slung Aly’s bag over his shoulder before grabbing Kurt’s suitcase in one hand and his beauty case in the other. This time, Kurt didn’t protest. Instead, he unbuckled Aly from her car seat and lifted her into his arms. He smiled when she didn’t wake, but nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck. Blaine led the way up the stairs to the door. He pulled his keys out of his pocket, selecting the right one before inserting it into the lock. Blaine pushed the door open, waiting until Kurt had crossed the threshold to close it behind them. With the door closed, they were plunged into darkness, the only sound the beep of the house alarm.

“Wait here,” Blaine instructed as he disappeared down the darkened hallway. The alarm was turned off and a second later light flooded the hallway. Blaine reappeared at his side. “Do you want to put Aly down and then I can give you the grand tour?”

Kurt nodded his approval. Blaine led him down the hallway, past two closed doors on the left and one on the right. At the end of the hallway was a sliding door. To the left was a wall opening which revealed a laundry room with a door opening onto a screened-in back porch. Blaine turned right, leading Kurt into the kitchen. This area of the house was open, with the kitchen opening into the living room on the left and the dining area on the right. Behind the dining area was another wall hiding the front entrance, and just past that was another hallway. Blaine headed down this hallway. On the left were two doors:  one closed and one opened. Another closed door was on the right and the hallway ended into yet another. Glancing into the open door, Kurt saw this room was the master bedroom. Blaine opened the door at the end of the hallway, ushering Kurt in.

Blaine reached to the right, flicking the light switch. Kurt’s eyes swept the room. Furniture was scarce, but he doubted Blaine had reason to use this room often. There was a closet with a sliding door beside the room door. There were three windows:  two in the right wall and one in the far wall. In the far right corner of the room a twin bed had been pushed against the wall. A dresser was against the left wall.

“It’s not much,” Blaine said with his eyes glued to Kurt’s face, watching his reaction. “We’ll bring Aly’s furniture tomorrow.”

“It’s perfect, Blaine,” Kurt assured him. He walked over to the bed. Blaine pulled the brown comforter down to reveal green sheets. Kurt gently lay Aly down, tucking the covers around her. He swept her blonde locks back, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. He whispered, “I love you, baby girl.”

Blaine smiled as Kurt turned towards him, reaching for his hand. He led Kurt from the room, closing the door behind them.

“How about that tour?” Blaine asked.

“It can wait until tomorrow,” Kurt responded with a yawn. “I need to call my dad before he hears what happened from someone else.”

Blaine stepped into his bedroom, turning on the lights. He tugged on Kurt’s hand until he followed him.

“You can call him in here. I’ll go get your bags.” Blaine brushed their lips together before disappearing back down the hall.

Kurt watched him go with a smile. He had definitely not expected this anytime soon. Returning from dinner to find his home had been broken into was terrifying. But at least some good had come from it.