He sipped from his glass as he turned the stove on and then grabbed some cooking wine from the cabinet while swaying softly to the music coming from Blaine's iPod dock on the counter. It was a peaceful night and it would be even better if Blaine was here to cook with him, and maybe even share a dance or two. Sadly he was working, like always.

It had been two months since they’d been married and it hadn't been the paradise that Kurt had hoped it would be. There were silly arguments over petty things like dishes and clothes because Blaine was a neat freak. If things weren’t organized, he lost it. He and Kurt had gone back and forth about dishes left in the sink a dozen times already. It’s not like Kurt wasn't going to clean them, because he was, just at a later time.

The stove beeped, confirming it was heated up and Kurt grinned, mixing around the vegetables with one hand as he opened the cooking wine. This was going to be perfect. He carefully poured the wine into the pan, stirring it around with a spoon. The next thing Kurt knew there was smoke everywhere and an incessant beeping. This was not how he pictured his new stir fry recipe to go.

With a heavy sigh Kurt turned the stove down and opened a window, waving some of the smoke away as he stomped back to the kitchen, his eyes narrowing at the little red light blinking above him as the beeping continued. What the hell was he supposed to do with this thing? He had no idea, so he decided to wing it, grabbing a screwdriver from one of the kitchen drawers and then dragging over a chair to stand on.

Kurt stared at the little white circle on his ceiling, wondering where to shut it off. Carefully he took the screw driver, poking at a few places, hoping to hit an off button of some sort. When that didn't work he started hitting it harder, just wanting the beeping to stop.

The fight with the alarm got to a point where Kurt won, meaning the beeping had stopped and the alarm was dead. Kurt stepped off the chair with a triumphant smile, placing the screw driver back in its place and finishing dinner as if nothing had happened.

Blaine opened the door to their apartment, eyes squinting slightly while he let out a cough. As he set his work bag down he was met with the sight of the fire alarm hanging by a wire in the kitchen. “Hey babe, I'm... home..” Blaine said casually, shutting the door behind him.

Kurt looked up from where he was setting the table, a large smile on his face. “Oh, hi honey!” He greeted, placing the plate down before running over to hug his husband.

“Hi, um, what happened here?” Blaine wondered, pulling back from Kurt's hug gently, his eyes glancing over to the fire alarm before focusing on his husband's face. He wasn't mad, if anything he was just amused.

“What do you mean?” Kurt asked, kissing Blaine’s cheek before turning on his heel, prancing off to the kitchen with an overly large smile, trying to avoid the fire alarm situation. “I just made dinner. Vegetable and rice stir fry.”

Blaine nodded slowly with his arms crossed over his chest, a smirk of adoration spreading across his face as he watched Kurt distribute the food. “Yes, I can see that, but I'm talking about that thing hanging from the ceiling.” He explained, pointing a finger at their fire alarm turned pi�ata. “Kurt, what happened to the alarm?”

Kurt waved his hand dismissively, taking a seat at the table. “What alarm?” He scoffed, placing a napkin on his lap and taking a hardy sip of his wine before pointing over to the kitchen just as Blaine had. “Pshh, that fire alarm? Nothing happened to it.” Kurt answered, shaking his head quickly. “No, it's fine.”

“You mean the one hanging from the ceiling that is oh so conveniently installed in our kitchen for cooking mishaps?” Blaine asked with a grin, walking to the table slowly with his eyes set on Kurt. “Is that what happened?”

Kurt sighed, fidgeting in his chair. “Oh…you mean that fire alarm...” He began, releasing a small sigh. “Well, I was trying a new recipe and it didn't really work out the way I wanted it to-”

“It caught fire?”

With a defeated sigh Kurt nodded slowly. “Yeah…Kinda…Yes.” He admitted quietly. “So, anyways, I got it under control, but the alarm wouldn't turn off so I started tinkering with a screw driver and-”

“You ended up just hitting it, didn't you?”

Kurt gave a shy smile, his eyebrows lifting cutely. “... Maybe?”

With a chuckle Blaine took a seat, shaking his head. “You are aware that you're married to a firefighter?”

“I am, yes.” Kurt answered confidently, shifting in his seat again as he picked at his stir fry.

Blaine nodded, pouring himself a glass of wine. “Mhm, and you are aware that you could have easily called me to bring home a new one to install?”

“Yes.” Kurt said quietly, not looking up from his plate and taking small bites of food. This was embarrassing. Blaine probably thought he was some kind of idiot.

“Good. Knowing is half the battle.” Blaine joked with ease, snickering as he stabbed at the stir fry on his plate. Suddenly there was a loud thud from the kitchen and a sort of dying buzz. The couple looked over to see that the fire alarm was no longer hanging from the ceiling, but laying dead on the floor, making Blaine's shoulders shake with silent laughter. “Let’s...let’s just eat. Please.”

Kurt glanced up from his plate after five silent minutes had passed, watching Blaine shuffle his food around with his fork, taking small bites.

“So, how was work?”

Blaine glanced up, taking his head off of where it rested on his hand. “Ugh. Rough day.” He said quietly, taking a sip of wine. “One of my guys got hurt on scene today. It just slowed us down a little.”

Kurt nodded, not wanting to say anything nasty. “Why did it slow you down? You have other guys on the squad to help out.”

“We do, but we have Carson out on leave for the week. His wife just had a baby so he's staying home with her.” Blaine explained nonchalantly, not noticing how Kurt's expression changed to something more serious.

“Well that's nice.” Kurt smiled softly. “You know.. Speaking of kids.. I had a little free time at work and I started um.. Looking around at stuff.” He admitted nervously, not know how Blaine was going to react.

Blaine's eyebrows were raised high on his forehead as he stared at Kurt. “You.. you started looking into having a kid?”

Kurt gave a small nod, flickering his eyes from Blaine's face to down at his plate, hoping this wasn't a bad thing. He didn't want to scare Blaine away. Talking about a kid was a big deal for them.

“Is that okay?” He wondered in a small voice. “I mean I probably should have talked to you about it first, but it’s not something I want to do right away, I mean, I was just looking and-”

Blaine smiled fondly as he held up a hand to stop Kurt from his nervous rambling. “Kurt, I'm totally okay with it. We're married now.” He pointed out, taking a deep breath. This kid thing was a big step, but it was what they wanted, and it had to be discussed eventually. “Having a kid, well, it's clearly the road we're heading towards.” Kurt finally looked at Blaine, smiling just as big as his husband. “There's no harm in looking into it. Just don't make any big decisions without me.” The couple laughed, breaking their gazes shyly as they went back to eating.

“Don't worry. I won't.” Kurt assured, his fork stabbing at a clump of vegetables. “So Carson's only out for a week? That isn't very long.” He pointed out, not wanting dinner to be too awkward and quiet.

Blaine nodded as he chewed. “He's gotta work, and I need him back on my squad.”

“Poor kid. Having to grow up and live in fear that his dad might not come home from work every day.”

A mildly annoyed sigh escaped past Blaine's lips. He really didn't want to discuss this right now. “Kurt, is there something you want to talk about?”

“I just.. I hate the thought of raising our kid like that Blaine.” Kurt said openly. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind about this. He felt strongly about Blaine's job and he wanted him to know it. What kind of marriage would they have if they didn't communicate? “And.. and like you said, it’s the road we're heading towards and I think.. I think we should really start to reconsider this whole...” Kurt bit his lip as he tried to conjure the right word. “Situation.”

“Here we go...” Blaine mumbled, rolling his eyes as he took a long swig of his wine.

Kurt frowned. “Don't give me that.” He said with a bite, not in the mood to deal with Blaine's pissy attitude toward the subject. “I'm trying to think of what's best for our family, and you staying at the station is no way to raise one.”

Blaine's eyebrows pulled together tightly as he frowned at his plate, not even wanting to look up. “Kurt, there are thousands of kids that have a parent on duty whether it’s firefighting, police, or military! They all seem to turn out pretty okay!”

“I don't care about those families, I care about ours!” Kurt shot back, a frown settling on his face as well. “I don't want to raise our child that way! It's not fair!”

This argument had always happened. It was a never ending cycle with Blaine's job. They would always fight about it, it would be good for a while after they make up, and then by some small miracle the fight would come up again. The new one would always be as bad as the one before it.

That comment set Blaine off like no other. He was fucking done with this cycle.

“You don't give a rat’s ass about our 'family'!” He yelled, feeling extremely defensive. “All you care about is yourself and how this is making you feel!” Blaine told Kurt harshly, sick of the jabs to his job. “That's what's 'not fair'! So stop using our fucking nonexistent baby as an excuse for your own selfishness!”

Kurt's mouth fell open, not expecting something so harsh like that to come from Blaine, especially with all that venom behind it. “Caring about your safety isn't selfish!” He defended, dropping his fork on his plate, not even hungry anymore.

“Well thanks mom!” Blaine said sarcastically, giving Kurt a fake, cheesy smile as he rolled his eyes yet again. “But I'm a grown man. This is my decision to make, not yours.”

“Now who's being selfish?” Kurt asked coldly, glaring as Blaine stood from the table and took his plate to the kitchen.

Blaine stepped up to the sink and groaned as he stared down at the cluttered mess inside of it. On top of everything else Kurt was doing to him, this too? This was rich. “Can you clean the damn dishes?” He yelled so Kurt could hear him from the dining room around the corner. “Or were you too busy trying to burn our fucking apartment down?” Blaine asked harshly, vigorously scrubbing at the dirty plates and pans Kurt had left behind.

Kurt huffed, shooting daggers at the wall separating him and Blaine. “Would you stop picking on me!” He called back, sighing internally, before getting up with his own plate and stalking into the kitchen to see Blaine cleaning the dishes at the sink. “They're just dishes, Blaine!”

As Blaine stood silently, cleaning the dishes as if he wasn't being spoken to, Kurt reached into the kitchen cabinet, taking a stack of plates off the shelf to put the leftovers of food on, placing one dirty dish after another in the sink as Blaine continued washing the others.

“What are you doing?” Blaine asked harshly, looking over at Kurt who just kept putting food on plate after plate, shoving them under Blaine's arm and into the sink.

Blaine reached his hand out to grab the pan from Kurt just to have it snatched away from him. “Oh! Am I upsetting you?” Kurt wondered in a fake, concerned tone, the pan cradled to his chest as he spoke to his husband in a nasty tone. “Well you know what, Blaine? I want dirty dishes in the sink!” He told Blaine smugly, placing the pan in the sink after dirtying one last dish to solidify his point. “I get to make my own decisions too!”

“Would you stop it?!” With a hard glare Blaine took the last plate from Kurt's hand before he could crowd the kitchen sink anymore, his knuckles white as he gripped it tightly. “You're acting like a fucking child!”

Kurt's eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh I'm acting like a child?!” He wondered dramatically. “You get uncomfortable talking about a subject that we need to talk about, so you pick on me about stupid ass dishes and I'm the one being called a 'fucking child'?!” Kurt yelled, fed up with Blaine and his childish attitude. “This is more than dirty fucking dishes and a stupid fire alarm for me. I don't care about that!” He continued, taking deep breaths to keep himself at some level of calm. “I can't believe that you're okay with going to work knowing that we are going to have a kid someday and that you may never come home from work!”

He took a deep breath before going on, far from over with his ranting. “And what do you expect me to do, huh?! Throw the ol' apron on and play 50's house wife and just sit around here worrying about you? No! I don't think so Blaine!” Kurt shouted, hands gesturing wildly around him as he spoke. “You can't even talk to me like an adult! You get all defensive and pick ridiculous arguments and-”

Blaine couldn't take it anymore. Without a second thought he held up his arm and slammed the plate that he held to the floor, shutting Kurt up immediately.

Kurt's mouth closed slowly as he looked down at the broken pieces of crockery on the floor, his heart racing from the shock.

“Shit, Kurt I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-”

Kurt's hand shot up in front of him, Blaine's mouth seizing. “No, I've had enough.” He said quietly, sounding completely drained of all emotion. “I... I'm going to go sleep at Rachel's.”

“Kurt..” Blaine mumbled, watching as his husband turned on his heel, taking long strides to their bedroom.

Blaine sighed heavily, following behind Kurt and stepping into the doorway, watching as he packed a duffel bag.

“You want to make this decision for the both of us? Fine.” Kurt grumbled loud enough for him to hear. He knew that Blaine was behind him. “But I need to be away from you right now.”

His heart felt like it dropped from his chest. He didn't love Kurt any less. He didn't want him to go. “You're seriously leaving?” Blaine wondered quietly, crossing his arms over his chest and feeling insecure about the whole thing.

Kurt didn't answer him. He just kept packing his bag, speed walking around the bedroom to make sure he had everything for work and all the clothes he needed for at least a few days.

Blaine frowned, arms tightening around his chest. “Fine. You know what, I could use some breathing room too.” He said coldly, eyes narrowing. His sadness toward the situation began to turn into anger when Kurt ignored him. “Maybe the house will actually stay clean.” Blaine muttered harshly, watching as Kurt's back went rigid.

“I'm so sorry I'm not perfect! But this is who you fucking married, Blaine!” Kurt yelled, his voice cracking as he whipped around to meet eyes with Blaine. His husband. The one he loved most. The one he still loved more than anything.

Disagreements were normal between couples, he knew that. Kurt just didn't know if it was normal for it to get this ugly.

“Well I guess I didn't realize how big of a pain in my ass you'd be!”

Kurt's eyes filled with tears as he bit the inside of his cheek, not really knowing what to say. Silently he took the bag off the bed, hoisting it up on his shoulder. Without a glance he pushed past Blaine, making a bee line to the front door, all the while feeling his eyes as they bore into his back.

Blaine leaned against the door jamb of their bedroom, watching as Kurt speed walked to the door, yanking it open roughly and slamming it behind him. It felt as though the apartment shook with the force of it, Blaine's eyes closing as he heard a crash from the living room.

His shoulders sagged in defeat as he dragged his feet to the living room, noticing a broken picture from their wedding lying on the floor, the glass smashed to dozens of little pieces within the cracked frame.

Blaine couldn't sleep, that was the last thing on his mind as he camped out on the couch, eyes glued to the front door, waiting for Kurt to come back, waiting to hear his keys in the door.

He hadn’t heard from him since he left and his mind was racing with worry, wondering if he had gotten to Rachel's okay, if he was safe. He had sent a text, but never got a response back, that being part of the reason he was still awake. There was no way he could sleep if he didn’t know the well being of his husband and that's when it dawned on Blaine... This is exactly how Kurt feels whenever he's away at work.