Their afternoon passed fairly quietly as they started to settle back into their routine. Kurt spent some time on the computer, trying to catch up on the course work he'd missed, sometimes with Madeline cradled carefully in his lap, and sometimes without, but always with her nearby.

Blaine had spent most of the time wandering around the house – tidying up, and doing laundry, ignoring the college work he'd missed in favour of lying on the floor with Madeline, and just generally wasting time, enjoying being home.

Kurt had watched nervously as Blaine bathed Madeline in the baby bath, expertly holding onto her tiny, wiggly body as he washed her, pulling her out and placing her on the towel Kurt held when he was finished.

"Do you want me to help you dress her?" Blaine asked, watching the way Kurt bit his lip as he looked down at her, remembering Kurt hadn't had a lot of experience at any of this – first he was unconscious, then all his time was being wasted in either physio, eating or sleeping – leaving him with very little time to learn how to look after his newborn daughter.

Blaine knew Kurt hadn't had to dress her by himself yet, and seriously doubted he'd ever changed a nappy.

"Please." Kurt answered softly, sighing in exasperation. "I feel a little useless... I don't really know how to do anything..."

Blaine smiled at him, reaching out to rest a hand on his cheek. Kurt leant into the touch, hands gently rubbing at Madeline's arms as she gurgled and cooed up at him.

"We'll just have to teach you then, won't we?" Blaine asked, watching Kurt's face light up as he nodded eagerly.

Blaine pulled a nappy and a pink onesie out of Madeline's nappy bag, instructing Kurt to lie Madeline down on the couch beside him.

Patiently, he talked Kurt through putting the nappy on her, before repeating the process with the onesie, each gently dressing an arm and a leg as Madeline flailed, obviously enjoying the attention.

Finally, the last button was clipped into place, and Kurt's frown of concentration relaxed into a smile.

"We did it!" he cheered softly, cradling Madeline to his chest as Blaine sat beside him.

"Now, I guess it's time for her bottle?" Blaine asked as she started whimpering, nuzzling her face against Kurt.

"Must be." Kurt giggled, and Blaine quickly fetched a bottle, heating it up and testing the temperature before handing it to Kurt.

"We're really starting to get the hang of this."

"Mm." Kurt agreed non-commitedly, moving a pillow to the arm of the chair so he could rest his arms comfortably. They sat in silence for a little while, contentedly watching Madeline drink, before Kurt spoke up.

"Blaine?"

"Mm?"

"What's for dinner?"

Blaine paused, letting out a short laugh.

"Whoops. I forgot we didn't have a cafeteria." He chuckled. "Do we have any microwavable meals left?"

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "I've been in hospital for three weeks." He laughed. "But knowing you, you haven't cleaned out the fridge…so even if we did, they'd be off or at least very stale by now."

Blaine laughed.

"I guess its take-out then? I'll go shopping tomorrow for groceries…and then we can settle."

Kurt grinned at that. "Back to our old lives?"

Blaine grabbed Madeline's foot, stroking it gently.

"Not quite."

^.^

The next major problem came at bedtime.

Madeline refused to settle in the bassinette, screwing up her face and crying every time Kurt tried to lie her down. Kurt had attempted to rock her to sleep before lying her down, but she just woke up again as soon as her body hit the mattress.

She was exhausted – cranky and upset, and not quite knowing what she wanted – and it was stressing Kurt out.

Blaine came upstairs to find Kurt rocking her tensely, patting her back as he tried to soothe her.

"Give her here." He said softly, holding his arms out.

Kurt surrendered her with a sigh, collapsing onto their bed and rubbing his fists over tired eyes.

"Come on baby, calm down." Blaine cooed softly. "I know, it's all different, and funny, and it doesn't feel like your bed." Madeline stilled in his arms, looking up at him as her eyes started to droop and she yawned. "That's it Maddy, time to sleep."

Madeline yawned again, nestling into his arms. Blaine held his breath as she closed her eyes slowly, and finally she was asleep.

Grinning triumphantly, he turned to lower her into her crib, and Kurt sat up with a panicked cry.

"What?" Blaine sighed, freezing in place.

"Don't put her in her crib. Every time I did she just woke up again."

"Then where is she supposed to sleep?" Blaine frowned, cradling Madeline back against his chest.

Kurt bit his lip, thinking hard until he finally exhaled in a rush.

"Did we bring her blanket home?"

"Yeah, it's downstairs."

"Hang on a second, I'll be back." Kurt told him, making his way out of the room.

A few minutes later he was back, slightly out of breath from climbing the stairs.

"Babies are supposed to have a really strong sense of smell right?" Kurt asked, carefully spreading the blanket out in her bassinette.

"Yeah, so?"

"So I think Madeline's problem is that it doesn't smell like her bed."

Blaine hid a laugh.

"That seems a bit... silly."

"Just try it." Kurt sighed. "It can't hurt. And I really want to go to bed."

Blaine bit his lip, lowering Madeline into her bed slowly and steadily before easing his arms out from underneath her.

They froze as she wriggled a little, whimpering, but she quickly settled down, and both Kurt and Blaine sighed in relief.

"Time for bed?" Blaine whispered, grabbing at Kurt's arm as he swayed unsteadily.

"Please."

^.^

Madeline woke them up three times that night, easily settled back into sleep with a bottle and a nappy change, but by the time they got up, both Kurt and Blaine were exhausted.

"Why does it seem so much harder to get up at night now that we're home?" Kurt asked, barely awake as he leant on the wall.

"Because our bed is comfortable. And we both fit properly for once. And because we can actually turn the lights out." Blaine asked tiredly from the floor, Madeline cradled in his arms as he fed her her bottle. "Why are you up anyway? You need more sleep then I do."

"No I don't." Kurt argued, lying back down anyway and peeking at Blaine over the edge of the bed.

"You're still recovering. Go back to sleep."

"No."

"Don't be difficult."

"Stop treating me like a child."

They glared at each other for a minute or two before breaking out into tired laughter.

"No fighting please?" Kurt requested. "And yes, I'm tired, but I'm probably going to end up sleeping all day anyway."

Blaine nodded. "Fine." He agreed with a sigh. "Coffee?" he asked pleadingly, and Kurt grinned at him.

"I suppose." He teased, rolling over and stretching lazily. "Oh, you wanted me to make it?" Kurt smirked, peering at Blaine's exasperated expression.

"Well, I'm kind of busy right now..." Blaine trailed off, gesturing to Madeline and sticking his tongue out at Kurt.

"Mature." Kurt laughed, rolling off the bed and standing up. "Are you coming downstairs? I don't think I could climb the stairs holding cups of coffee..."

Blaine smiled at him.

"I'll be down as soon as Maddy finishes her bottle."

^.^

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Blaine hovered nervously over Kurt, car keys in hand. He was supposed to be going grocery shopping, but he was far too busy worrying about leaving Kurt and Madeline alone to actually leave.

"Blaine." Kurt cut of his protests. "We'll be fine. Everything we need is downstairs, including the bathroom, and everything I'll need to look after Madeline. You'll only be gone an hour or two at the most and I've already promised to call you if I need you. Stop stressing."

"But Kurt..."

"Blaine. We'll be fine."

Blaine sighed, stopping his next protest and leant over Kurt to kiss him gently, dropping a kiss on Madeline's forehead before he straightened up.

"Okay. I believe you. Just..."

"Blaine, I'll ring you if I have a problem."

"Okay, I'm going now."

"Bye Blaine." Kurt called after his boyfriend, smirking a little as he readjusted Madeline. "Daddy's a bit over-protective of us isn't he?" he cooed to her, smiling as she gurgled and blinked up at him. "Alright sweetie, why don't we have a nap?" he suggested, shifting her until they were chest to chest.

Madeline seemed to understand, laying her head down and closing her eyes as Kurt petted absently at her back.

"And when we wake up, why don't we have some tummy time? I really should do a couple of my stretches, so Barbara doesn't get upset with me."

Madeline grumbled and Kurt smiled.

"Sorry baby, I'll be quiet now."

It wasn't long before the house filled with the sound of their sleepy breathing.

^.^

"Kurt, we have a party to plan." Blaine said excitedly, waking Kurt up as he bounced back into the house.

"No. Sleeping." Kurt told him, cuddling further into the couch. Blaine laughed, scooping Madeline off of his chest.

"But Maddy's awake, so you should be too!"

Kurt groaned, rolling over and burying his face into the cushions.

"Sleeping."

Blaine sighed, taking Madeline into the kitchen and sitting down next to the phone, holding her carefully supported against his stomach with one arm.

"Now, who should we invite?"

^.^

Madeline behaved herself for the hour Blaine was on the phone – talking to Burt and Carole, Finn and Rachel, Wes, David, Nick, Jeff and Trent – (He hadn't spoken to them much recently, but they were still his friends, and he didn't want them to miss out on too much of his life) – and inviting them all over the next afternoon.

He spent a great deal of time wondering if he should call any of Kurt's friends, and decided against it, calling Rachel again instead and telling her to organise them – the only guidelines being that she couldn't tell them why.

Madeline started whining just as Blaine was talking to Rachel, and he excused himself quickly, hurrying through the details before hanging up.

"Shhh." Blaine soothed, rocking her as he stood, and grabbing a bottle out of the fridge, putting it on to warm up.

Madeline's fussing got louder the longer she waited, rubbing her face anxiously against Blaine's shoulder as he paced.

Finally the bottle was warm, and Blaine grabbed it, testing the temperature on his wrist. Easing the tip of the bottle into Madeline's mouth, Blaine sighed in relief as she quieted, her eyes fixing on his as she drank.

"Good girl." Blaine praised, sinking into a kitchen chair. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise how long it'd been since your last feed."

Madeline pulled away from the bottle long enough to coo up at him, and Blaine grinned.

"I guess Daddy forgot to feed you." He whispered, kissing her forehead and breathing in the baby-smell that still clung to her.

"Daddy and Madeline were sleeping." Kurt's voice interrupted from the doorway, yawning. Blaine grinned at him, and Kurt rolled his eyes as he sat next to Blaine, tracing his fingers over Madeline's cheek.

"How long have you been home?" Kurt asked, rubbing at his eyes.

"An hour or so." Blaine replied easily. "I was calling people, inviting them to the party."

"Who's coming?"

"Carole and Burt, Rachel and Finn, Nick and Jeff, Trent and David, Wes... I wasn't sure who you wanted to invite, so I got Rachel to invite them for us."

"Okay..." Kurt sighed. "Do they know about Madeline?"

"I didn't tell them."

Kurt smirked then, taking Madeline as she finished her bottle and resting her against his shoulder as Blaine flicked a tea-towel under her.

"Tomorrow's going to be interesting."