Kurt's endless resentful silence had lasted three achingly long days. He hadn't said a single word, had slept each night on the couch and left Blaine cold and lonely and curled into a tight ball in their bed, tears slipping down his cheeks. Each morning, Blaine awoke with his stomach churning, only affirming his belief that he was carrying Kurt's baby.

On the fourth day, he chose to simply visit the clinic alone, just to be sure, just toknow. With the weight of his phone heavy in his pocket, something Kurt had foisted on him and taught him how to use in case of an emergency, Blaine walked into the tiny seaside town, disorientated by all the swirling sights and sounds and smells, and walked into the clinic, looking curiously around at the padded blue chairs, the people wan and shaking reading the magazines, and the pair of young children playing with toys in the corner.

Rubbing a hand wistfully over his belly, Blaine cautiously approached the desk with the neat marker labelledRECEPTIONon the wood, politely clearing his throat to announce his presence and murmuring, "I'm here for an ultrasound like in the books about pregnancy, do you do that?"

"Of course, sir," the blonde woman, in her blue uniform, said brightly. "Name please?"

"Blaine," he replied easily, smiling widely at her, blue eyes like the burnish of the sky and a welcoming smile.

"First and last names, please," she said, her voice a little more tense, like Kurt's when he had talked about how the hospital would experiment on Blaine if he tried to speak to a doctor. But these people were nice and smiling and welcoming, they would help him and show him how to make Kurt love him again.

"Um...Hummel," Blaine said immediately, a flush curling high in his cheeks, biting his lip as he wondered how Kurt would feel about Blaine using his name like this. "Blaine Hummel."

"Okay, Mr. Hummel, just take a seat and we'll have Dr. Jameson come through for you as soon as he's available," the woman said with a smile that Blaine returned as he sat down, watching the children playing, wincing when their mother snapped at them for being too loud.

He wouldn't treat his child like that. He would be a good and proud father, letting their baby run in the land and sea, growing up between their worlds, teach them to swim and dive and discover wonderful treasures in shipwrecks, and Kurt could teach them to sing and build sandcastles and cook. Perhaps he and Kurt could be betrothed as his people were expected to be by their eighteenth birthdays, but he had rejected due to not being able to find a suitable suitor. They would have a family, and be happy in their little house by the sea for the rest of their lives.

"Mr. Hummel?" came a questioning voice, and Blaine glanced up to see a dark-skinned man watching him from an archway, giving him a warm, comforting smile. "Follow me, please." Blaine obeyed the simple order, following him into a room filled with the shine of metal and a long chair in the centre, more like a bed. "Lie down on the chair, and tell me why you want an ultrasound?"

"Well, I think my boyfriend frequently and wonderfully making love to me has led to me carrying his baby, but he doesn't believe me," Blaine said, seeing the man's eyes widen and his eyes flicker down to his stomach. "I've been getting really sick in the morning, but I'm still hungry all the time, and my belly feels rounder and firmer if I touch it. I read that an ultrasound could show me the baby."

"Yes, it can," the doctor finally said, his voice a little quieter than it had been before, surprised. "Just lie on your back, Mr. Hummel, and I'll use this wand. You'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat and see him or her on this little screen. Do you want a picture to show your boyfriend?"

"Yes please," Blaine said brightly, lying back on the chair. He squirmed and giggled at the doctor's touch as he lifted his shirt up and smeared a cool gel over his belly, taking a grey wand and running it across the skin.

"Mr. Hummel, it would appear you are carrying a baby," the doctor said faintly after a moment, as a dull thudding sound filled the room that Blaine knew was his baby, his and Kurt's child's heartbeat. "Surely this is impossible." He turned steely eyes on Blaine and asked, "Would you be opposed to a few tests? Just to determine what has caused this occurrence?"

Kurt's words flew back to Blaine, and he wanted to shake his head, but the look in the doctor's eyes scared him, and he found himself nodding, and the doctor left him alone. Tears stinging at his eyes, Blaine unearthed his phone from his pocket and dialled his home with trembling fingers, desperately wishing under his breath for Kurt to pick up. "Hello?"

"Kurt, please help me," he begged brokenly, a tear slipping down his cheek. "I went to the clinic even though you told me not to, just so I could know, and I am pregnant, I am, I heard the baby's heartbeat and I saw him or her on the little screen, but now they want to experiment on me, just like you said. The doctor went to get some needles and something to test my blood, I'm so scared they're going to take our baby, please come and get me.Please."

"Blaine, what are you doing, I warned you not to go, especially not alone!" Kurt scolded, and Blaine choked out a ragged sob, because on top of everything else Kurt was angry with him. If Kurt didn't come, they would force him to let them experiment on his body, and they'd take the baby away. "No, honey, please don't cry, I'm not mad, okay. I should've made sure to come with you. I'm sorry, please just hang on and stay safe. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Please hurry," Blaine pleaded, cupping a hand protectively over his belly, whimpering at footsteps beyond the door, tears pouring down his cheeks. "I love you, Kurt."

"I love you too, Blainey," Kurt said softly. "Don't let them put any needles or tools near you, get them talking or something. I'll take my bike, I'll be about ten minutes. I'll sue them, I swear I will, we'll sue them for everything they're worth. Hang on, honey, I'm coming."

Kurt was gone with a clatter and a loud click, and Blaine held the phone against his heart, clinging to the knowing that Kurt was coming to save him and their baby, his other hand rubbing soothing circles over the beginnings of a bump, waiting for the sound of Kurt's voice.

The doctor came back in what could have been a lifetime later, accompanied by three others, a woman and two men, and coaxed, "Lie down, Mr. Hummel. We're just going to take a blood sample, and then we'll need you to put on a hospital gown so we can examine how you might have become pregnant."

Quaking in fear, Blaine watched as the woman revealed a silver tray of tools, a wicked-looking needle in her hand and a horrible gleam in her eyes as she came towards him. He shrank back against the chair, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms over his belly and whispering desperately under his breath, begging for Kurt to come, for anyone to realise what these people were doing wasn't right and help him.

"Don't touch him!" came a familiar voice, and Blaine let out a sob of relief as his eyes flew open and he saw Kurt in the doorway, hair windswept and cheeks flushed and chest rising and falling rapidly in time with his heavy breathing. He staggered upright and the room swayed as he collapsed into Kurt's open arms, sobbing brokenly into his chest.

"Did he consent to this?" Kurt snapped at the doctors, his arms strong and warm and familiar around Blaine, holding the fragments of him together. "Did he agree to let you shove needles into him and examine him like he's your lab rat? Just give us a picture of the ultrasound and we'll be leaving and not coming back." The people around them, looking terrified, obeyed Kurt's cold voice, handing him a picture and flushing guiltily as Kurt slid an arm around Blaine to guide him out into the sunlight, rubbing his shuddering shoulder.

Once they were outside, Blaine could calm down a little with the scent of salt on the wind reminding him of the world he came from and Kurt's lips moving gently across his skin, kissing his tears away. "I'm so sorry," Kurt whispered, sounding heartbroken himself. "I should never have left you in silence for so long. I should've known you'd resort to this so you could know and I never wanted you or our baby risked like this, I..."

He broke down in tears, and Blaine panicked, guilt rising in his chest at making Kurt cry. "I love you so much, Blaine. It scares me how fast I fell for you, and how much of this I don't understand. I'm only twenty, I live in a house by the beach that my dad left me in his will and suddenly my boyfriend is a mermaid and now expecting our baby and I don't know how we'll deal with the pregnancy or what's going to happen to him, and I dealt with it in such a stupid way. No matter what happens, I'm here to take care of you, and this baby is going to be so loved. He or she is our baby, and we'll weather every storm that might come because of this."

"I love you," Blaine whispered, and bounced onto his toes to kiss Kurt, wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing close. Kurt's hand found the subtle curve of his belly, his thumb slowly tracing the line, and Blaine smiled against his mouth and pressed closer, Kurt's arm wrapping around him to hoist him into the air, nearly sending both of them falling to the ground.

"Our baby," Kurt murmured reverently, spreading the fingers of both hands wide over the stretching skin, face open and shining brighter than the sun as he looked up at Blaine, who nodded eagerly and wrapped his hands over Kurt's, drawing them up over his chest and shoulders to cup his face so he could lean in to kiss Kurt once more.