"Carole?"

"Blaine? Is Kurt okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. I was just wondering if you could do me a favour?"

"Favour...what kind of favour...?"

"Well." Blaine grinned. "He's been doing physio...and he's not coping well...I was wondering if you could come and help him through it? He needs some support and he won't let me come in."

There was a chuckle. "When do you need me?"

"In about an hour?" Blaine glanced at the wall clock.

"Alright. I'll see you then."

"Bye, thanks Carole."

Blaine hung up and grinned, rocking Hepsibah slightly as he paced outside Kurt's hospital room.

"You're actually getting kinda heavy." He told her, shifting her to one arm so he could shake out the other, swapping arms and repeating the procedure. "Do you reckon we should go back in yet?" he asked her idly, glancing at the door to Kurt's room.

Hepsibah cooed at him, and Blaine smiled, kissing her nose.

"Okay then." He agreed softly, pushing the door open quietly. "But you'd better not cry and wake him up, understood? He needs his sleep."

Blaine settled her against his shoulder as he crossed the room, holding her easily in place with one hand, using the other to tuck the blanket up over Kurt, kissing his cheek and pushing his hair back off his face. Checking the time with a sigh, Blaine sat in the chair next to the bed, resigned to waiting for Kurt to wake up.

^.^

Kurt woke up to the sound of Blaine and Carole's quiet voices, and Madeline's gurgles. He opened his eyes, smiling at the sight of Blaine gently patting Madeline's back, grinning as Carole gently stroked her face, cooing to her granddaughter.

Kurt's legs hurt, and he stretched them out without thinking – a bad decision. His eyes opened wide as his body screamed at him and he moaned in pain, trying to curl into himself.

"Ow." He whimpered as Carole and Blaine turned worried eyes on him.

"Babe? You okay?" Blaine asked, letting Carole take Madeline as he reached toward Kurt.

"Hurts." Kurt whimpered. Carole stood, placing Madeline in her cot before leaning over Kurt.

"Where? Can you show me?" She prompted him gently.

"My legs... stomach." Kurt sighed, letting Carole's gentle hands move him until he was lying on his back. Carole's hands shifted to his calf muscle, feeling it gently as Blaine hovered nervously.

"Blaine, feel that?" Carole asked, placing Blaine's hands on Kurt's leg, so he could feel the tense muscle. "That's why he's in so much pain. His muscles are too tense to let him move properly."

Blaine's hands stilled where he'd been stroking Kurt's leg comfortingly.

"What can I do?"

"Try to massage the knots out." Carole instructed, picking Madeline back up as Blaine started kneading Kurt's legs.

Kurt sighed, and whimpered as Blaine gradually massaged the knots out of his legs, until he could finally move without pain.

As he finished, Jackie walked in, the wheelchair in front of her. "You ready Kurt?"

"No."

"Do you mind if I come with him today?" Carole asked as Blaine tried to negotiate with Kurt, kissing him and slowly moving him toward the edge of the bed.

"No, of course not!" Jackie smiled. "It might be helpful to have someone else there to help look after Madeline while Kurt's busy anyway."

Kurt huffed at that, crossing his arms across his chest as he settled into the wheel chair.

"Don't you want to be able to walk?" Carole asked him. "What would happen if you couldn't run after Madeline?"

Kurt shook his head.

"I want to walk, I don't want the pain." He mumbled defensively. Blaine sighed, kissing him one last time before kissing Hepsibah's cheek.

"Good luck."

^.^

Blaine spent the day wandering the halls of the hospital aimlessly. By the time lunch came around, he still had two hours to kill, and he hadn't done a thing.

"Morning ladies." He approached the nurses' station.

"Afternoon Blaine." They all replied, smirking at each other.

"I'm bored." He pouted, leaning on the front of the station. "Do you guys need any help?"

One of the nurses laughed. "Waiting for Kurt, are you?"

Blaine nodded, dropping his lower lip even further.

"Do you want to do flower runs?" one asked and Blaine perked up.

"What are they?"

"You take the flower cart and replace the old flowers in each room."

"I can do that!" Blaine said brightly, and one of the nurses turned her head to hide her laughter.

"You'll have to run down to the main floor to get the cart – ask for the flowers for Maternity, and tell them that Maria sent you." One of the older nurses instructed. "The flowers should have room numbers on them, you just have to hurry, and make sure you finish before naptime, and I'm sure I don't have to remind you to be polite." She stressed, a little nervous.

Blaine grinned at her.

"Easy. I'll be back in about ten minutes – naptime starts at one doesn't it?"

Maria nodded and he grinned triumphantly, before thanking them and running down the hall.

^.^

It was ten minutes to one when Blaine finished his flower run, and he returned to the nurse's station with a smug grin.

"All done, and the flower cart is back where I found it."

"Thanks Blaine." One of the nurses said, looking up from her notes.

Blaine glanced at the clock again and sighed, slumping over the counter.

"I'm bored again."

"Already?" a different nurse teased. "You do realise you still have at least another week of this right?"

Blaine's eyes widened.

"Oh no." He said softly, dropping his head against the counter with a thud. "What am I going to do?" he whined.

"Paediatrics always needs extra help." One of the nurses suggested softly. "They never have enough people to make sure all of the kids are happy and entertained."

"And you play guitar, don't you?" asked one shyly, peeking up at Blaine for an instant before returning to her work.

Blaine's eyes lit up. "Oh my god that is perfect!" he grinned. "Thank you!"

She nodded with a small smile, her eyes trained on her work.

"In the mean time...can I play to you guys?" he asked, and the nurses all looked at each other.

"That sounds like a pretty good idea. You can entertain us."

Blaine nodded eagerly and hurried back to their room, grabbing his guitar and swinging the strap around his neck before returning to them.

He'd been playing to them for quite a while when a little girl approached him. She was probably only three or four, an older sibling to one of the new babies in the ward, and Blaine grinned at her, glancing up at where a relative hovered in the door to a room.

"Hi."

"Hey." Blaine greeted.

She bit her lip, studying him.

"I have a new baby sister."

"Do you? What's her name?"

"Elizabeth... Do you play guitar?"

"Yes, why?"

She bit her lip again.

"Mommy asked who was making the pretty music, so i came out to see, and-" she hesitated. "Do you think you could come play for Mommy and Elizabeth?" she asked pleadingly.

Blaine glanced at her relative again.

"Only if it's okay with your Mommy." He told her, and the person gave him a nod, holding a hand out to the little girl.

"Come on Amanda, let's ask." He smiled at her when she grabbed his hand.

The nurses grinned at Blaine, and seconds later Amanda raced back.

"She said yes!"

Blaine grinned and stood up, swinging his guitar around and waving to the nurses, before following Amanda into the room. He crept in quietly, biting his lip and smiling slightly.

"Hello."

A young woman lay on the bed, a tiny baby - a little bigger than Hepsibah - in her arms. Amanda took her place on the edge of the bed.

"Hey there." Blaine grinned. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." she smiled. "And thank you for coming and playing for us."

"No worries." he laughed, taking a chair and setting himself up. "Anything in particular?"

Amanda raised her hand, and Blaine had to stifle a laugh.

"Yes?"

"Can you play Taylor Swift?"

Her mother smiled gently.

"I think I can manage something. Do you know 'Love Story?"

"That's my favourite!"

"Alright...feel free to sing along." Blaine grinned.

A few songs later, and Amanda was fast asleep, tucked against her mother's side, one hand clutching at Elizabeth's blanket.

"So, what brings you to the hospital?" Amanda's mother asked kindly. Blaine bit his lip, strumming quietly.

"My b...partner, just gave birth."

"Oh, congratulations! A boy or a girl?"

"A girl. Madeline Rose." Blaine grinned. "She's a bit smaller than your Elizabeth though."

"How old is she?"

"Almost three weeks."

She blinked in surprise.

"Forgive me for asking, but why are you still here?"

Blaine's eyes closed.

"There was a few..issues with the labour. My partner ended up having a caesarean, and d-died on the table... It was a bad week. He's in physio now, with Hepsibah, learning to walk again."

"Hepsibah?" she asked in confusion. "I thought you said her name was Madeline..?"

Blaine blushed.

"Her name is Madeline, but Kurt kinda named her Hepsibah while he was a bit out of it on drugs, and then he was unconscious for a week, so I sort of got into the habit of calling her that. But then he woke up, and we named her properly, and he's almost always annoyed at me for using the wrong name." He explained in a rush.

She blinked a couple of times. "Kurt?"

Blaine's eyes widened and he mentally cursed himself. "Um. Uh...her parents...wanted a boy."

She nodded, frowning slightly.

Panicking slightly, Blaine glanced at the clock, and saw to his relief that it was just past two.

"It was lovely talking to you, but I should get going. They'll bring my partner back soon."

She smiled, waving as he quietly backed out of the room, almost running away as soon as the door shut behind him.

He got back to their room just as Kurt was being transferred from the wheelchair to the bed, unsteadily grabbing at the shoulders of the two nurses helping him and collapsing onto the bed with a sigh.

Blaine put his guitar on the ground, and beamed at Kurt.

"Hey...how'd it go today?"

Kurt managed a small smile. "I walked."

Blaine's smile grew. "You walked! Yay!"

Kurt laughed, leaning back against the pillows, and Blaine climbed onto the bed. They waved the nurses goodbye, before continuing their chat.

"So what did you get up to today?"

"Well...I wandered around the hospital...and then I talked to the nurses...I put new flowers in the rooms, and then I played for some woman!"

Blaine laughed at the expression on Kurt's face.

"She had this little kid, and she came out to get me to play for her mom and new baby sister." He explained, and Kurt's face cleared.

"Oh." He yawned, resting his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"Tired?" Blaine asked sympathetically.

"A little, but I don't want to sleep yet. I want to do something. Can't we go outside or something?" Kurt whined, glancing longingly at the window.

Blaine bit his lip, hesitating.

"Madeline hasn't been outside yet. She's almost three weeks old, and she still hasn't gone outside!"